Second Chapter: Meeting and Secret

It had been a rough night for Rachel as she slowly got up and wondered what to do for the day. Jack had gotten up and was speaking to Arcee right then.

"Arcee," he said. "Rachel's going to find out the secret. I think she should know."

Arcee's engine revved a little. "I know she's family, Jack, but can we trust her?" she asked.

Jack nodded. "Rachel can always keep a secret," he said firmly.

With another rev of her engine, Arcee contacted Optimus, who was surprised to hear of Rachel Darby, but decided that yes, she should know about them and so asked Arcee to bring both Jack and Rachel to the outpost.

Jack went upstairs and asked Rachel if she wanted to come for a motorcycle ride. She had been wondering what to do, and so agreed. She had been rather surprised he had a motorcycle.

"When did you get this?" she asked quietly.

"About eight months ago," he said. "She's amazing."

Rachel looked at him curiously. "She?" she asked.

"Oh, yeah. I call her Arcee," Jack said, quickly covering up his mistake.

Rachel looked at him oddly, but shrugged and put on the spare helmet and they took off. The wind blowing against her made her smile a little and forget everything but right then.

It wasn't too much longer until they arrived at a rocky butte, but instead of slowing down, as Rachel expected her brother to do, he just kept going.

"Jack?!" she called out over the noise. "What are you doing?!"

"Don't worry!" he called back. "Just watch!"

She was surprised to see the rock wall move and they were in a tunnel that opened up to reveal a large room with giant figures looking down at them. Rachel counted seven of them as she dismounted from the motorcycle which to her surprise transformed after Jack dismounted.

Rachel gazed around, her expression one of surprise, but she remained almost neutral despite that. She now looked at her brother.

"Jack?" she said, her tone quietly demanding he explain.

Jack took a deep breath. "Rachel, I'd like you to meet my friends, the Autobots," he said. "These are Ratchet, Optimus Prime, Wheeljack, Arcee, Bumblebee, Bulkhead, Smokescreen, and Ultra Magnus."

Each bot nodded as their name was called. Suddenly, a voice spoke up.

"Whoa, Jack! Who's she?"

Everyone saw a girl with pink and brown hair come up with a younger boy. Jack sighed. "Miko, Raf, this is my sister, Rachel."

"Dude, you had an older sister and didn't tell us?!" said Miko.

Rachel turned to Jack. "I'm surprised you didn't tell them about me," she said, her voice quiet.

Jack looked a little sheepish. "Sorry, I kinda forgot to. Plus, your last letter was a year ago. Why did you stop writing?"

Rachel looked down and shrugged. "Didn't have the time," she said, her voice even more flat. Jack was curious, but decided to drop the subject.

Optimus stepped forward. "Rachel, our kind is not known to the world," he said. "Jack, Miko, Rafael, Agent Fowler, June Darby, and now you are the only humans that know of our existence, besides a terrorist organization called MECH."

Rachel nodded. "I understand," she said, her voice serious. "As you are Jack's friends, I swear not to reveal your secret."

Optimus nodded. "Welcome to Team Prime," he said.

After Jack explained how he and the others had met the bots, it was time to head home. Optimus had decided that Rachel needed a guardian as well.

"Ultra Magnus, you shall be Rachel Darby's guardian," he said.

The Leader of the Wreckers looked surprised. "Sir, I don't know how to interact with organics," he said. "Are you sure I am the best choice?"

"Yes," said Optimus in a firm, but also gentle tone of voice. Ultra Magnus knew that Optimus never doubted his decisions.

"As you command, Sir," he said.

Jack turned to Rachel. "So, wherever you want to go, Ultra Magnus will take you and will guard you from the Decepticons," he said. "Are you okay with that?"

Rachel looked very serious as she turned to look at her newly appointed guardian and nodded. "Very well," she said, cementing her acceptance.

They were all silent and Magnus began to wonder why Rachel was so serious and seemed either angry or sad and he remembered what Arcee had commented earlier was that Jack had said his sister had changed a lot in the five years she was gone.

What happened to her that she is too serious now? He thought to himself as he silently decided that even though he didn't know how to interact with humans, he would try to for Rachel's sake and maybe find out what she kept under lock and key.

He didn't know that she was thinking to herself too.

Can I really trust these Autobots? She asked herself. Her phone went off with a text message and she checked her phone.

Concert in three weeks. Will be there to reunite. was the message and Rachel nodded once, knowing who it was from.

The only thing was now, how was she going to tell them what happened to her and how there was a little girl coming to live with them? She sighed deeply in thought and decided to cross that bridge when she came to it, so to speak.

Yes, Rachel has a secret that no one else knows. I will reveal it in a later chapter. Please review!

GoldGuardian2418