A/N: So basically, this is twelve years after Dark of the Moon. No Cemetery Wind. NEST is still around. But Ironhide's dead, mostly because that is important to the entire plot. As you can see from the summary.

Also thanks again to Sidekicks-anonymous, my beta, for their work on this chapter! :D

PAIRINGS: Past: IronhidexChromia, OptimusxElita, SideswipexArcee Current: WillxSarah, OptimusxElita

DISCLAIMER: I don't own any of the canon characters, they belong to Hasbro/Paramount/Etc! I technically own Shane, even if he does, of course have flashbacks to a past as Ironhide. He himself is my own creation so. XD Any other OCs are mine too!

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CHAPTER 1
New Faces in Town

He felt the pain again.

He felt as the mech he was supposed to be, Ironhide, eroded away. Demanding to know what the other Autobot—or he supposed, traitor—Sentinel Prime had done. He felt as his body was painfully torn apart, the pain beyond excruciating. He felt like he was dying, slowly, and he supposed that was because Ironhide was. With the last of his energy, he reached out, he tried to save himself...

That's when Shane Reynolds woke up on the bus again. He shifted his body slightly, blinking against the sun that shone through the window. He wasn't sure how long he'd been asleep, but he certainly hoped he hadn't been spotted by anyone. After all, a twelve-year-old by himself, sleeping on a twenty-four hour bus ride was definitely something that would seem off to anyone with common sense.

But then, he wasn't a normal kid, either. What normal kid lived in a foster care almost from birth? What normal kid had dreams of being a giant robot? That was something that'd haunted him for his entire life, those dreams. Was it a past life? Some sort of window in the past? A psychic ability? Honestly, Shane wasn't sure that he'd ever know, or fully understand the answer if he was given one. But he hoped, somewhere deep inside of him that maybe one day he would have an idea.

That's what had given him this crazy idea. Not to run away, no, that came from wanting to find his parents. A quiet, but honest dream that he'd had for some time now. No, that was what had given him the crazy idea to go to the Washington D.C. area. A place where his most vivid memories tended to be, other than an island, and then the farm that the Lennox's had once owned. It was probably crazy to think that it was anything but a dream. But ever since the Autobots made themselves known years ago, a part of him wondered if maybe it was real.

He went over his story again: His name was Shane Lambert. He had a friend with family in the Washington DC area who had, for one reason or another, agreed to this. Thankfully, he had the same first name, so he wouldn't be totally lying. He was finally pulled out of his thoughts as the bus came to a stop at a curb. Shane supposed that they must have reached DC by now.

He carefully picked up the ratty old backpack at his side, and stood up. A few people turned their heads, but he kept his head down. A hood concealed his golden brown hair and blue eyes. He knew he had to keep himself hidden, at least from people like the ones on the bus who lived where he did.

"Hey kid," The bus driver asked. "Anybody waiting for you out there?"

Shane turned towards the bus stop. Thankfully there was a man around eighteen hanging out there. He pointed a finger straight at him and nodded. "My cousin," Shane said, and dropped a couple of quarters in the tip jar. "Thanks, man. You have a good day."

He stepped off the bus without another word, staring around. Judging by the monuments in the distance, he could tell that he'd definitely made it to D.C.—thankfully. He waited until the bus drove away, then began to walk along the sidewalk, trying to remember, from his dreams, where exactly he was going. Sometimes his dreams were vague, but from what he remembered, he was looking for a place called NEST. Somewhere that doubled as the "Department for Health and Human Services".

Either that, or he could find the human most prominent in his visions: Will Lennox.

Until then? Shane had to keep his head down. He had to keep blending blend in with the crowd. What's more, he had to find either a youth shelter, or somewhere safe to sleep on the streets while he was here. Either way, avoiding cops either way would be easy; he'd had a few run-ins with them before.

Speak of the devil…he turned his head as the sound of police sirens reached him and multiple vehicles came into view.

He saw that people had started to point and shout. It wasn't hard to see why, either. Though he'd only seen them in dreams, he could recognize them as a few of the Autobots. A silver Corvette, a large blue Peterbuilt with red flames and a trailer, and then one, he didn't recognize, a police cruiser. The last one, though, did remind him of some dreams that had hadn't taken place on earth, about a mech named Prowl. If he wasn't mistaken, the other two were Optimus Prime and Sideswipe, two of Ironhide's closest friends.

A part of him wanted to rush out and flag them down right there. But that would likely result in him ending up a pancake, and he didn't want that. No, answers would have to wait, at least for now. But this did confirm what he had hoped for: the Autobots still had a base here. They still lived here.

But for the moment, he only disappeared quietly into the crowd.

...

:Sideswipe! Do you have a visual?:

Sideswipe groaned as Prowl commed him again from the back of the line. Sometime in the past few centuries, one would think he'd know the front-liner worked best without distractions. Unless it came directly from his twin, and partner-in-crime, Sunstreaker. But then again, the second-in-command seemed to pride himself in being a pest to the twins, so why was he even surprised?

:Yes Prowl, I have a visual on the 'Con,: Sideswipe grunted as he weaved through oncoming traffic. :I'm preparing to engage.:

:Negative, Sideswipe,: Optimus interrupted. :Do not engage the hostile until we have reached the position.:

:Prime, he's right there. I'm taking my shot.:

Perhaps it was a tad rude to turn off the comm link on them, but Sideswipe didn't care. He'd been itching for Decepticon action for a while now, and he could feel a rush of excitement. Transforming quickly, the silver mech rolled on his wheeled feet, swerving along the road. The Decepticon was only about ten meters ahead, disguised as a freight truck, but Sideswipe knew it wouldn't be for long.

It wasn't five seconds before he reached the mech that it transformed. Its colossal form towered over the younger mech as he retracted one of his arm blades.

"Hey ugly! When did you get into town?" He mocked as he swung his blade forward and into the Decepticons right leg. "And better yet, who told you you were welcome?"

The Decepticon gave a snarl in response before swinging his arm. Sideswipe felt the arm smack his face, but was careful to land in a way that didn't give them any human casualties.

"Ah, Sideswipe, I see that Prime is too scared to come out and face me himself," The mech gave a snort, looking over at him. "Then again, Optimus always was the type to run away while his minions did all the fighting."

Sideswipe rolled his optics. So it HAD been their old "pal", Grunt. And boy, the mech had learned nothing about talking smack in the vorns since their last encounter. "You're just hoping not to get your sorry aft handed to you again," Sideswipe replied as he again readied his blades. "Unless I'm remembering our last encounter wrong. I'm surprised you're even still functioning."

Grunt's red optics bore down on him as he again attempted to slam his fist into Sideswipe. "Yeah, well you were just lucky you had that weapons specialist of yours then," Grunt spat. "Good thing I happen to know that the old rust bucket isn't functioning anymore, huh? How does it feel to face me without the muscle to back you up?"

Sideswipe's anger flared at the comment, attempting to keep his mind on the battle. Of course, he had to drag Ironhide into this though, given their rivalry years ago. But the fact that only a little over a decade had passed since his death made any mention of him sting. "You know the good thing about 'Hide? He taught me well. And I've grown quite a bit since that encounter, too." He noted, throwing one of his blades violently. "Think fast, buttercup!"

The blade cut through a few wires, causing the Decepticon to roar in pain. Sideswipe grinned, allowing his blade to come back like a boomerang before slamming his weight into the mech. Grunt nearly toppled over, but reached forward, gripping Sideswipe by the leg. Sideswipe could barely yelp as he was tossed long the ground, groaning in pain.

The mech grinned, his optics flashing red, as he turned to him. "Ah, little front-liner. Your cockiness has yet to leave you, I see," He told him bluntly, cracking his knuckle. "A shame I'm not here to kill you. Or confront the Autobots at all, at least not yet."

Sideswipe groaned, pushing himself to his feet. "What's that supposed to mean?"

Grunt looked over his shoulder, amused as Sideswipe rolled toward him. This time, the mech grabbed hold of his arm, and slammed his foot hard into his chest. Sideswipe as his chest plate crushed inward-something that Ratchet was going to murder him for. "Trust me, you'll find out soon enough, Sideswipe," Grunt snarled. "But for now, I really must be on my way before your friends arrive."

The next kick slammed into his helm, leaving Sideswipe out cold. It was times like these that he did rethink his strategies. Especially considering the same insubordination he was known for now left him yet again in pain.

"I think he's coming to," He heard Prowl's voice as his optics finally onlined again. "I can see you've done a fantastic job of handling that Decepticon yourself."

Sideswipe groaned, sitting himself up. He shot a glare the mech's way. Sure, Prowl was right, but he didn't want to admit it. No, that would look bad for his reputation, and he and Sunstreaker liked their reputation. "Yeah, well, how was I supposed to know Grunt would show up?"

Prowl's optics widened. Sideswipe nodded. "My same response. One of Megatron's generals? Still alive? I thought Ironhide and I offlined him stellar cycles ago."

Optimus stepped into view after that, his own optics baring down on the young frontliner. As usual, the Prime looked to be the most worried of all of them. Perhaps out of fear that the Decepticon general's appearance was something more than mere coincidence. "This is not something we should discuss out in the open," Optimus replied. "Sideswipe, you're to report to Ratchet upon arrival back at base. Then you will tell me more about the encounter."

"That's it? Perfect! I thought I was gonna be in worse trouble."

"I'll let Ratchet decide that," Sideswipe's mouth gaped open at Prime's blunt honesty. "Come on, Sideswipe."

Sideswipe grumbled under his breath, staring off into the distance. That was when he saw the boy for the first time. While most humans had seemed to scatter from the attack... He was just standing there. Looking at them, watching. Sideswipe gave a grunt. Humans… The young usually weren't so bright. Yet he noticed that the boy was staring, not with awe, but with curiosity... With confusion.

He tried not to think of it as Optimus called out again, grabbing his attention back. After all, if he overthought every instance he was confused by a human, his processor would be more fried than Prowl's.

...

After coming across them again on his walk, Shane considered following them. Maybe he could get a hold of them, tell them everything. But at the same time, he knew that they'd probably call him crazy, and walk off. Especially since he'd noticed how aggravated the one mech, Sideswipe, seemed to be. No, he told himself, he needed a plan of attack, though he wanted to just storm in and demand answers they probably wouldn't even have. He took a deep breath and continued down the sidewalk.

He'd only walked a few feet before, against his judgement, he decided to try and follow the cars.

It wasn't long before he lost them, though. Eventually, he lost track of them, but also found the reason. Because he had walked no more than thirty more minutes when he found NEST. The same fake signs were there, the same guard post, even what looked to be the same uniforms. All a front of course, but to the naked eye no one would know the difference.

Making a quiet note of the area, he considered his options. First of all, he knew he needed to scout the area for somewhere to lay low. Somewhere that he could wait, and hopefully, eventually, run into someone there "accidentally". It was a stupid, childish plan. But then again, Shane was twelve, and what else could he do? After several minutes, he noticed that one of the guards had noticed him, and without hesitation, sprinted away.

He swore to himself that he'd be back later.

...

"You know you're going to get yourself scrapped one day."

Sideswipe grunted as Ratchet beat out the dents from his fight. The mech rolled his optics. Like he hadn't had enough of this talk with Optimus. He and Prowl had just left to speak about it to Lennox and other humans. Meanwhile, he was told to sit in the med bay, and, he supposed, wait for more lecture from Ratchet.

"Yeah, well, we all make mistakes." Sideswipe shrugged. "Besides, Ironhide always taught me to never back down from a fight."

Ratchet looked at Sideswipe with a sigh. He suppose he should have seen this coming. Ever since Ironhide had died, Sideswipe went through bouts of what could best be described as depression. Sometimes it made him act out, maybe because Ironhide had been the closest thing he had to a father and it hurt.

"Sideswipe, you can't keep doing this to yourself. I know it hurts, and I know you think fighting helps," Ratchet explained. "But I'm tired of seeing you in this condition in my med bay."

"Is that real concern I hear from you?" Sideswipe snorted. "I can't help that it still hurts. I can't get over it, I probably won't. I'm not Sunny, I can't just swallow my emotion." He snapped, surprising Ratchet a little, who slammed a wrench against the back of his helm. "Ouch! What was that for?"

Ratchet shook his head, looking him dead in the optics. "For being stubborn! You should still be in grief counseling with Rung. I've told you a thousand times you weren't ready to get out of it." Sideswipe stared off to the side, acting much like a five year old might.

It was a few moments before Sideswipe spoke up again. "Fine, I'll go see Rung if it'll get you off my back. And I'll go talk to Sunny too, since I know that's coming next. But I can't promise it's going to help," He said rather flatly. "I am who I am. And that's a stubborn mech."

He decided to zone out and ignore whatever else Ratchet had to say. Because in all honesty, when he got this way, he couldn't say he was really willing to listen to anyone. He didn't need this, he didn't need any of it. Because no matter the amount of counseling he had, no matter the friends he had by his side... It could never change the one thing that mattered.

It could never bring Ironhide back.

...

A/N: And so begins this latest little story of mine! I hope you all enjoyed the first chapter. :)