LITD: Well, what can I say? Wow. I didn't think I would get two reviews let alone six. Big thanks go to Bella-eclipse, laureas, Dragonrider2203,prydainwonder, GaiatheHedgehog and someonewayoverhyper for being the first people to send me feedback on this fic. It is greatly appreciated and I hope to hear, not only from you guys again, but from any other reader who wishes to ask, complain or just talk to me because just like I said last time, motivation is needed at the moment since homework is beginning to pile up and take over my life no matter how much of it I take care of :(

Also I just have to say YAY simply because it has been confirmed that Transformers 3 is coming out on 1st July 2011, not 2012. Thank God because I don't think that I would have been able to wait an extra year for it to come out. If you don't believe me then you can read it on Michael Bay's blog or you can look it up on Wikipedia.

Disclaimer: I don't own Transformers, Pac-man or Linkin Park (you'll see why later)

Important Note: Just before I forget to mention, since I didn't in the first chapter, this fic is set about a couple of months after the 07' movie just incase people get a tad confused about the time setting of this fic. This also means that who ever was in ROTF and appears in this fic will be in their G1 appearance unless I decide that their ROTF appearance was cool then I might keep them that way.

Now on with the chapter!

Thoughts
'Comlink'

Out and About

I never thought watching a movie, eating a tub of my favorite ice cream while curled up on the sofa in my pajamas (which I had affectionately called pjs since I was about two years old) could be so boring. I guess I could blame my parents since they were currently away on a weekend vacation for their anniversary and just because I was sixteen, they thought that it would be okay to leave me behind. Unfortunately because of past incidents that I swear wasn't my fault (I can feel the little horns growing on my head) and to the fact that I am the little annoying brat of the family (according to Jack anyway, the fricking hypocrite) no one else could stay with me.

Which, as you can tell, sucked.

With a discontented sigh, I glanced at the clock that sat on the wall to the left of the TV. 7:13pm it showed…That was weird. Mom said they would be back around five. I shrugged the lateness off and decided to pin the blame on traffic, but what I did find even more strange was that I hadn't received a call from them explaining that they were going to be late.

Hmmm…

Since the strawberry ice cream was beginning to melt in the tub I took it into the kitchen and discarded the tub in the freezer. However, instead of going back to watch the rest Bad Boys 2, the doorbell stole my attention away from the TV and pulled it to the front door. I never bothered turning off the movie since I would be going back to it anyway.

Or so I thought.

I opened the door to find two police officers standing on the porch, both looked at me with grim expressions as if…as if something bad had happened.

"Are you Rachel Alexandra Hunter?" One of the officers asked. When I nodded he turned to who I assumed to be his partner as if he, not as if he couldn't, but more as if he didn't want to say why they were here.

Unfortunately their solemn expressions already confirmed my suspicions.

The lateness. No phone call. Police officers turning up instead of my parents.

I already knew what had happened, despite my best efforts to convince myself it was all a really bad dream. Unfortunately the shock of the news and the hard rhythm against my chest told that this was real.

Almost immediately tears were blurring my vision as I leaned onto the door, my knees turning into jello as the shock began to settle in. I shook my head in disbelief, unable to comprehend what was happening to me. "…No." Was all I could say, even though it came out as a whimper.

Why me? Why my parents, of all the people in the world, why did it have to be them?!

"I'm sorry…" the other officer started to explain what had happened although I was only fixated on the one fact that I was never going to see my Mom or Dad alive ever again…

I awoke with a startled gasp and found that my heart was pounding hard against my chest. It was that same dream. Why the hell won't it just leave me alone?! In the last six days since I arrived at the civilian side of Edwards Air Force Base, California I've had that same dream about that night when I was told that my parents were killed in a freak car accident.

It was weird to think a single visit from someone could be so life changing.

I guess the only consolation was that they died instantly so they weren't in any pain when it happened…

It had taken me about a minute to calm myself, but I also noticed the sweat tickling the back of my neck and face which I quickly got rid of once it began to irritate me.

The light was pouring through the blinds that were meant to cover the window, so it looked like I forgot to close them again. Tends to happen when you become a lazy/normal teenager. With a tired groan shortly followed by a yawn I staggered across my bedroom, which by now was a bombsite...I should really put up a warning sign or something just incase Jack needed to come in for some reason. I don't want the dipstick breaking his leg after tripping over something…

Meh, I'll tidy it later.

I decided to put on something plain today, just a black tank top and jean shorts since the UV rays were at full strength today. Then something dawned on me. Jack was back on duty tomorrow. Ha, I still have a whole month of summer left. Booyah!

Anyway, I decided that when I could barely walk straight to the door that I was caffeine deprived so it was straight to the coffee machine for me.

"Coooffffeeeeeee." Moaned tired little ol' me. Who wouldn't be at nine in the fricking morning? And it was a Sunday too.

Once I was finally basking in the coffee filled heaven I heard something trudging through the front door and I watched from behind the cup as Jack walked in huffing and red as a tomato. He looked like he had just run the equivalent of a marathon…wouldn't surprise me if he actually did. Boys and their fitness…although apart from chocolate and sweet cars, it does give a girl something to drool at. Ahhhhh, six pack.

A pillow came sailing my way after I sniggered into the cup, only just missing me by an inch. "Hey! Coffee in hand, Jay." I stuck my tongue out at the puffing man to show that I was annoyed at him for nearly making me spill my coffee down my front, which would not only mean I would have to make another cup, it would also hurt. Done it before and now I try to be very careful not to do it again.

"Hey Rach?" Jack backpedaled a few steps so that he was visible and not down the hall where he would be concealed by the walls. "I'm taking you out to meet some of the team today. They've wanted to see you since they heard you were coming to stay so at least when I'm on duty you will have some people to talk to." And then he was gone, not wanting to know if I had refused or not although I did hear him mutter 'please God, have mercy on their souls'.

I just shrugged and slurped another mouthful of caffeine. Eh, why not?

Did I forget to tell you that my brother takes forever to get ready for anything? Well, he took so long that I had fallen asleep on the sofa, curled up into a cozy ball by the time he was ready. Of course he would have to have a good plan on how to persuade me to get up…though, unfortunately for me, it involved a cup…and very cold water!

My eyes shot open at the sudden rush of coldness on my face, but I lay frozen for a few moments in shock before the realization finally sunk in.

That bastard just soaked me!

I practically leapt from my warm, now wet, spot and screamed at my loving sibling. "Jack! You are so dead! That attack was unprovoked!" And this then leads us to the inevitable chase scene.

"How else was I suppose to wake you up?! Sit on you?!" He shouted back though what made me even more furious was that he was still laughing between words and struggling to breathe properly as he ran.

I just noticed that we had entered into the kitchen, but fortunately for him the table was all that separated me from tearing his throat out.

My face scrunched up at the thought of having his butt in my face…ewwwww. "Why would I want your smelly ass in my face? You're the one that always stinks out the bathroom." But then I smirked and played my trump card. "How will you ever get girlfriend if you can barely keep me alive in the same house when you're always gassing me to death?" I don't know why, but Jack always seemed touchy when on the subject of girls. Hmmm, note to self, pick at the subject later in life…I'll never remember.

Oh well, it was his fault for waking me up in such an unfriendly manner so to protect me from his deadly glare for bringing up the subject (I swear I could hear necks snapping somewhere in the distance…I must protect myself!) I turned and grabbed the closest thing that could be used as a projectile…which just happened to be a bag of flour.

Eviiiiiil.

"En guard!" I exclaimed before my weapon was thrown from my hand. Jack, being the dimwitted guy that he is, did not duck, but raised his hands to protect his face instead…

I guess you can tell what happened next.

With an audible puff the bag practically exploded when it came into contact with his skin, creating a small, white cloud that consumed Jack's top half completely for a couple of seconds before it slowly dropped and faded away. What it left behind made me almost crap myself where I laughed so hard to the point where my stomach hurt and tears were streaming down my face. Jack's body was as white as a ghost…fricking lol and not only was his new image hilarious, but his expression was quite funny to look at too. As expected he was shocked at my method of retaliation (I have to admit I did go just a tad too far, but when you think about it, this is sibling rivalry so something like this was bound to happen sooner or later) his arms were still frozen in place, hovering in front of his body to try and protect (fail!) his face. That is until he got over the unexpected messy projectile.

Slowly his arms were lowered, fully revealing his facial features. What really unnerved me was that Jack seemed unusually calm considering we were meant to out the door to meet a few of his friends.

Unfortunately I knew what was coming next. Call it a sister's instinct…or common sense.

"Rachel," He sang as he picked up the near-empty bag of flour from the floor before turning back to me with a crazy smirk. My brother was about to retaliate…

Uh oh.

I took a quivering step back as Jack advanced towards me in a threatening manner, his newly received weapon held out in front of him, ready to use. "I, erm, uh, heh." Oh screw this! "Run away!" and run I did. Obviously Jack expected my retreat as soon as he obtained the flour from the ground and was hot on my tail instantly. However, my get away didn't last long thanks to the table that sat in front of the sofa in the living room. As I tried to pass it my knee clipped the edge of its wood and with a squeal I spun out of control before crashing onto the carpet. Jack, instead of being the kind and caring brother, took full advantage of my vulnerability and pounced on me before I could get up and dash to a safe distance. While I was pinned underneath his bodyweight, the bag was tipped upside down and the rest of its contents was emptied onto me.

The result being…lets just say it ended up being that we both needed a shower afterwards and that the living room floor was in need of a very large amount of elbow grease

It took us an hour to finally get out the door and that was after we cleaned ourselves (We had to throw our clothes into the washing pile so I put on a different pair of jean shorts on. Thankfully my blue converse were spared and my tank top was changed to a teal t-shirt that had Pac-man on it. Jack had put on a Hawaiian shirt, which I laughed at, but not too much since I didn't want a repeat of what just occurred, and a pair of navy shorts.) Once the unfortunate victim called the carpet was scrubbed down we finally proceeded down the street towards the main hanger. Jack insisted that we walked because he said I needed to get out and do more, so just to spite him I brought my Ipod with me and listened to Linkin Park for the first few minutes. Though for some reason I started to wonder about this place and that led to questions forming in my head.

Well, its now or never since you'll probably forget to ask later.

"Hey Jack?"

"Hmmm."

"Why were you kept here after what happened in LA? I mean, weren't you originally stationed in Vandenberg like it said in the letters you sent home?" My questions seemed to catch him of guard slightly as he froze for a split second before he continued walking down the path.

Jack was quiet at first as if he was thinking about how to word his explanation. Then he finally spoke. "You know that it was terrorists that attacked Mission City, right?" I nodded. "Well, I was reassigned here with the rest of the squadron so that we could help out around the place and/or just incase Mission City or anywhere else in California gets targeted again. Now we're the closest squadron that can give air support our superiors thought that it might be a good idea to keep us here." The way that he gazed at the ground made me think that he was keeping something from me, but I decided to keep my suspicions to myself because he was a wreck after the attack. Jack had lost several wingmates after the terrorists began to retaliate and even his own F-22 was damaged when something grazed his wing.

A shiver went down my spine when realization hit me like a train. I could have lost Jack that day then I would have been alone and-No! Bad Rachel! Pessimism is not needed or wanted right now! Get a grip woman!

My mouth opened again as I was about ask another question, but unfortunately the screeching of tires on the road beat me to it. We both turned towards the noise at the exact same time only to watch a red Lamborghini Murciélago proceeded to skid to a stop right beside us. (A/N – Guess who :P)

I think I was catching flies in my mouth by the time it was next to us. A Lambo on an air force base…yum.

"Hey Hunter!" The car's occupant greeted without getting out.

Now I know it's rude, but the very first thing I did was point and stare at the shiny, gorgeous car as if it was a large bar of gold. In other words, it was a really unexpected appearance to me. Really cool cars don't just show up and stop in front of you and company. And to top it all off, the driver was hot. Dark brown hair that flowed down to his shoulders and sparkling blue eyes. I think I'm in love…Hot guy with hot car equals chick magnet!

"Do you know this guy?" I exclaimed to Jack who was just standing there with a smug grin plastered on his face.

While his friend (until I get his name he is called Hotness from now on) was getting out of the car, my brother answered. "Yeah, he's a new arrival that came in last month. His, ah, nickname is Sideswipe or Sides for short." Damn! I wanted to call him Hotness…weird name for a guy though. I wonder…

Just as Jack finished Sideswipe was standing beside him with his arms crossed over his chest. Next to my brother he was about the same size, maybe about six foot two. Either way he was a lot taller than I am. "So this is your little sister." He hung onto the 'little' as if he knew that it would annoy me.

Taking the bait I sent him a glare and matched his crossed arm pose. "Vertically challenged, get it right." I deadpanned and stuck out my touch like a four year old.

"That's what they all say."

Before I could even inhale to say a snippy remark, Jack stepped in as if to sense an argument was about to breakout. I didn't want to give a bad first impression, but the guy just dissed my height. So what if I'm only five foot two…wait…okay, yeah I'm small. Damn! "So," Great way to stop a possible all-hell-about-to-break-loose argument Jack, typical. "Why are you here Sides? We were just coming."

"You do realize that you were meant to meet up with us over an hour ago." Sideswipe gave my brother a skeptical look as he stated our lateness. I was tempted to say 'Didn't you hear? We Hunters are the best at being the worst when it comes down to timekeeping' but I decided to keep my mouth shut. Angry strangers are not good to work with. "The others were becoming impatient."

"Yep, sounds like them. I take it that you came to give us a ride?" Once he got a nodded to answer my brother's question, we were packed into the back of the red Lamborghini, yum, and we were off to find the 'team' that were hopefully not too mad about our lateness. Well I could just blame it on Jack since everyone believes the little girl (most of the time) unless he's been telling lies (which are probably true, but I'll deny them anyway) then I'll have to put on the cute, helpless girl act.

It better work, but if it doesn't then…well, I'll make up an escape route if it's needed.

Now, off to the lion's den! Wish me luck!

'The signal dampener seems to be working. The Autobots haven't responded to either myself or Frenzy's presence at all.'

'Excellent! Now that Soundwave has announced his arrival we can begin phase two soon. Barricade, until he shows up keep an optic on the humans and the Autoscum just incase they become suspicious of our actions. I don't want them snooping around if they catch wind of our operations.'

'Not to worry Starscream. Things will go our way.'

'And until Soundwave arrives, for the love of Primus, keep Frenzy under control. I don't want him losing his head again because we actually need him fully functional... Also I don't want to give Soundwave a reason to shoot our afts off.'

Barricade let out a light chuckle. 'You mean your aft. You are meant to the one in charge until we get Lord Megatron back online so I can just blame it on you.'

TheSeeker growled, not amused by his comrades intentions if that was the case. 'Just make sure you keep the little slagger in line, Starscream out.' And with an audible click everything went silent. Barricade was left to ponder on what to do while waiting for Soundwave to announce his arrival. In the mean time, Frenzy recharged peacefully on his leather passenger seat, unaware that his creator was on his way to join them. The Saleen wanted to recharge like his small partner, but after the last few confrontations with the Autobots seemed to put him on edge slightly. Thankfully now that the Communications Officer was on his way, Barricade could finally relax in the lonely alley of Mission City, recently rebuilt after the battle that took place here not too long ago.

The only thing that let the 'Con know he wasn't the only one awake was the constant revving and the horns of the other passing vehicles in the background, something that made him despise the planet more.

Silently, he prayed to Primus that Soundwave would hurry up and preferably before his processor went haywire.

LITD: Ohhhhhhh, semi-cliffy. Decepticons are finally in the picture, though they won't be fully involved until later. Well I don't think there's much else to say apart from ask if there was anything wrong with the chapter.

Press the pretty button please. :)