Sorry this took a good long time but I've got five things to write (four fanfics and my first novel). I post them in a system: KH3: Final Stand, Re: Katie Grace, DC Takeover, then Transformers Legacy. I go through the cycle as I post. So please be patient with me.

I would like to thank everyone who followed and favorited this story!

I own nothing!

Transformers belongs to Hasbro!

Katie belongs to StarLight837!

Please review!

Chapter 3

Jack pointed towards the place where the swirling green tunnel had been. "W…what was that?"

"A groundbridge…"

"Wat dat?" the robot's optics fixed on the youngest child, who stared up at him.

He sighed, "It's a scaled-down version of space bridge technology." The kids looked at him as if he was speaking a foreign language. "Uh… it sends you places…"

Katie walked about the base, hands clasped behind her back. She reached out for a small computer terminal, "Wat dis?"

"Broken, don't touch." The red medic called back.

Ratchet stopped working as the toddler came up onto the catwalk and watched him. "Wat you doing?"

"None of your…" a transmission from Optimus stopped him.

Ratchet, open the groundbridge to the arrival coordinates… NOW!

The swirling portal opened again and the bots drove in, an explosion coming up behind them. Optimus came last, the explosion right at his back bumper. He had no time to slow down as the bridge closed; he transformed and skidded to a stop, his metal body smoking from the explosion.

"Whoa…"

"Cutting it a bit close…"

Miko ran forward, eyes aglow. "Was that an explosion? Can I come next time?"

A glare from Arcee caused Jack to grab the girl's arm and pull her away. "Come on, Miko, let's see what the bots hide in their sock drawers…"

"Seriously…"

Optimus looked at the blue femme sadly, "Arcee, what did you see?"

"Not Cliff," the two-wheeler wrapped her arms about herself, "at least, not anymore. He was mutated… butchered… like something from those Con experiments during the war." Then, her legs buckled beneath her, and she collapsed.

"Cee!" Katie ran to the catwalk rail.

"I'm fine…" Arcee sat on a large crate as Ratchet began scanning her form, "just dizzy."

At this, the older kids' eyes opened to the full truth. "Robots who get dizzy…"

"Robots with emotion…"

"Robots who can die…"

As Ratchet continued to scan the femme, Arcee felt someone touch her shoulder plating. She turned her helm to see Katie, reaching under the bottom rung of the railing, balancing precariously on the edge of the catwalk. Her little hand reached out, touching her shoulder plating comfortingly.

Ratchet noticed a strange purple substance on her knee, he scraped some off onto a petri dish before ordering the femme, "Go take a decontamination bath now."

"Um," Jack cut in, "Optimus, I hate to but in… no bars." He held up his cell phone.

The Autobot leader looked down at the humans, more specifically, at the youngest. "A security precaution; the silo walls isolate all radio waves."

"Well, if I don't call my Mom soon, I'm sure the cops'll be out looking for me."

"Have you broken a law?"

"Curfew…" the boy scratched the back of his head, "It's past 10 PM and my Mom will flip if I don't get Katie home." He looked towards the toddler who sat by his feet, half asleep."

"And if I'm not home soon, I'll be grounded for a year." Raf cut in.

Optimus mused for a moment, "Human customs… I had not considered… but your safety remains paramount. Bulkhead…" he looked to the bulky green bot, "accompany Miko home."

"Sweet! My host parents will freak!"

"And maintain covert surveillance, in vehicular mode." The Autobot leader continued.

Bulkhead smiled, "Curbside duty… got it."

"Awww."

Turning to the yellow scout, the leader spoke. "Bumblebee will accompany Rafael home." The two smiled silently at one another.

"Ratchet…"

"Busy!"

"Arcee…"

The femme swayed dramatically, "Still dizzy."

"You're fine," the red and white medic spoke up, "says your physician."

Optimus nodded, "You will watch over Jack. I will accompany you to the Darby residence to watch over Katie."

"Optimus!"

"But Optimus," Acree stepped forward, "Who will watch the base? It's alright, I can watch over both of them."

"My decision still stands. Ratchet is more than capable of watching the base." Reaching down, he gently scooped the toddler into his giant servo before transforming around her into a blue and red eighteen wheeler. Jack came down from the catwalk and neared the truck; the passenger door swung open. Jack breathed a sigh of relief as he saw Katie asleep in the seat, the seat itself leaned back at an incline, and the seatbelt wrapped lightly across her.

Leaving the truck, feeling that Katie would be perfectly safe with Optimus, he climbed onto Arcee. Minutes later, the truck, motorcycle, SUV, and Camero drove out of the base towards Jasper.

As Optimus pulled up before the Darby house and stopped. He turned his attention to the small figure in the passenger seat as Katie awoke.

Katie cringed in the dark and unfamiliar surroundings. Her eyes filling with tears as she began to whimper. "It's all right, little one," Optimus told her calmly, "you are not alone or in the presence of an enemy." The child just curled up, eyes brimming with tears. Optimus inwardly stiffened, not knowing what to do.

He felt somewhat relieved as Jack opened the passenger door; the boy noticed that the truck seemed sort of rigid, if a truck could look as such, and when he opened the door, he saw why. Taking his sister into his arms, he smiled at the titan. "Sorry, she gets a little moody when she's sleepy."

"No sleepy…"

"Course you're not," Jack smiled, cuddling his sister to his chest. "Good night, Optimus."

"Good night, Jack." Watching as the older boy entered the house with his the youngest child, he drove back to base.

Jack meant to speak with Arcee about what he witnessed earlier and he was sure it would be a slightly heated conversation, but he needed to put Katie to bed first. As he laid her in bed, he mentally slapped himself; how was he ever going to explain this to his mom? He hoped she would be understanding, but highly doubted it.

Even he doubted sticking around with these 'Autobots' but his sister's excitement and joy was enough to make him stay, and even he saw this as an opportunity to do and see things no one else would.

Maybe these bots would change their lives, for the better.

Katie awoke the next morning to the sound of a revving engine; a moment later, Jack came into her room. "Time to go Katie…"

"To see bots?"

"Yep…"

The little girl leapt out of bed and changed swiftly into some regular clothes before running down to the garage where Arcee sat. Jack followed behind a little more slowly.

"Jack," the femme said as the two got on, "we're going to meet Optimus at a park and let him take charge of Katie and then, how bout a ride… just for fun?"

The boy nodded, "That sounds good." The engine revved again and the three set off.

Katie giggled as the world rushed past, and then, as they entered the park, she spotted the red and blue semi. "Oppie!"

"Good morning to you, Katie." The leader inwardly chuckled as the tiny child nearly leapt off the bike and scampered across the grass to him. He opened the door as she slowly climbed her way into the cab, waving at her brother and Arcee before they took off.

"What we gonna do, Oppie?" Katie nearly vibrated with excitement.

"First we are going back to the base to check on Ratchet; after that, we'll see." The semi rolled onto the road and headed off to base.

They entered the base and saw, instantly, that something was amiss. Ratchet swung a wrench at a small yet vicious robot. Optimus transformed, Katie ending up in his right servo as his left transformed into a blaster and destroyed the tiny attacker.

Ratchet vented in relief before turning to the two new arrivals. Optimus set his charge on the ground before the medic spoke. "Now what could have caused that?"

"Smokey…" the attention of the two bots went to the toddler who's curiosity brought her closer and closer to the small, smoking, twisted body of the attacker. Suddenly, the thing leapt to life again, skittering towards Katie.

"Katie!"

The toddler screamed as it came closer. "Bad buggie! Bad!" It raised a razor sharp leg to cut into the toddler before it began to short circuit, and just fell over.

Optimus ran over and swiftly drew the girl into his palm, holding her close to his chassis as the child sobbed in fear.

"What made it stop? I was sure it was going to…"

"While I have no insight on how it was destroyed," the leader interrupted, not wishing to hear anything of Katie's near demise, "I do believe I know what caused it to come to life: Dark Energon." Little Katie looked up at her guardian in concern; the dark tone of his voice frightened her. As she squished closer to his chassis Optimus looked down in concern. He changed the tone of his voice to a lighter one, for her sake. "If the residue found by Arcee on Cliffjumper brought your broken equipment to life, if would stand to reason that the very same substance brought Cliffjumper back from the dead."

Ratchet glanced at the little girl before turning his gaze back to their leader. "But, Dark Energon is so scarce as to be virtually nonexistent. What would it be doing on earth?"

"It was transported… by Megatron."

"For what purpose?"

Optimus gently wrapped his servo comfortingly about the little human in it as he continued, "To conquer this world, by raising an army of the dead." Placing the child on his shoulder plating and allowing her to get a good hold before moving to pick up what remained of the metal creature. He placed it in a canister and out of sight.

"Well," Ratchet chuckled lightly, "Megatron will need to break quite a few toaster ovens. I mean, where on this world would he find that many Cybertronian dead?"

Optimus didn't have time to answer before the other bots drove into the base with their human charges. All seemed like they had a great time; Miko even brought her electric guitar with her.

Quickly forgetting her near death experience, Katie giggled at the sight of the others. "Hi brother!"

"Hi Katie!"

"Autobots," Optimus called, "prepare to…" his optics turned to the humans, specifically the little one on his shoulder plating.

"Roll out…?"

Looking at his soldiers, he vented, "Remain here." He handed Arcee the toddler before turning to the medic. "Ratchet, you will join me. Arcee, we will be out of communications range for some time; I am putting you in charge."

Miko looked up to her guardian, "Dude! You're the biggest; you should be in charge."

"He uh… he never picks me."

"Optimus, with all due respect, playing bodyguard is one thing, but babysitting!" Venting annoyed as she set Katie down. "Besides, Ratchet hasn't been on the field since the beginning of the war."

"My pistons my by rusty but my hearing is as sharp as ever."

Optimus looked down at his charge who came tottering up to his pedde as if to ask 'can I come', then he turned his gaze to the blue femme. "For the moment, it is only reconnaissance."

"Then why do I hear an edge in your voice?"

"Arcee," he told her, slightly sternly, "much has changed in the last twenty-four hours and we all need to adapt." Turning back to the medic who stood by the ground bridge controls, he ordered, "Ratchet, bridge us out." With a flip of the switch, the swirling portal opened and the two entered.

"So, what's on the activities list?" Jack looked up at his guardian.

Arcee growled, "I'm going on patrol… Bee you're with me." The yellow bot whirred in angst.

"But Optimus told us to stay put."

"When you're in charge, you can call the shots. Bulkhead you're in charge." She and Bumblebee transformed and sped out of base.

Bulkhead, clearly not knowing what to do, looked to Jack, "So, what's on the activities list…?"

A squealing caused them all to cover their ears/audio receptors. "How bout, band practice!" Miko had her electric guitar plugged in and strummed a few chords.

"But we're not a band…"

"Why so antisocial, Raf?" The wild girl exclaimed, "you play anything?"

The preteen picked up his laptop slowly. "Uh… keyboard…"

"Laptops and samples! Great!" Miko ran up to the large bot. "Bulkhead! Percussion! I'm going for a big industrial sound!"

"Uh…"

She looked over at Jack, "What about you?"

"I mess around sometimes on the harmonica."

"Do I look like country?" She scowled, "Just cover yourself and fake blood and jump around screaming." All raised an eyebrow/optic ridge at this; Miko's brown eyes looked too little Katie. "What can she do?"

"Oh no!" Jack picked Katie up and held her close, "You are leaving my little sister out of this. I draw the line there!"

"Fine… whatever…" She strummed her guitar and smiled, "Now you just have to learn the songs. This one is called 'My Fist, Your Face'." The squealing guitar filled the base. All tried to block out the noise.

Over the so called 'music', came a flashing green light and the same proximity sensor from the night before. "Hey, quiet… quiet!"

"What?" Miko whined, "You can't handle raw power?"

Ignoring her, Bulkhead went to the computer and activated to the security sensors atop the base. His optics widened, "Proximity sensors! Quick hide!" Jack and the others jumped behind Bulkhead's pedde, however, Miko still held onto her electric guitar.

"PRIME!" The elevator door swished open and Agent Fowler strode in angrily.

"Agent Fowler!" Bulkhead shifted his peddes to hide the four kids, "He… He's not here… nobody's here… except me of course…"

"Well, where is he… no, don't tell me, he's out pancaking a mini-mall." His blatant fury made the kids pull back behind the bot's pedde even further, but this made Miko's guitar squeal. The agent didn't seem to notice it. "Now, I don't know what language you bots speak on your planet, but Prime promised he'd handle of the Decepticons. And blowing a hole IN THE MIDDLE OF NEBRASKA is not what the word 'handle' means in English! So you tell Prime…" Miko's guitar squealed again, and the special agent noticed the cord going from the amp to Bulkhead's pedde. "… Since when are you bots electric?"

The three older kids froze while Katie stifled a giggle. Jack, with Katie in his arms, stepped into the open, with the other two following. "Hey…"

"Contact with civilians!" Fowlers face began to turn red with fury. "Team Prime has really gone off the books this time!" His eyes widened as he noticed the youngest one, in her brother's arms. "No, don't tell me… you're running a daycare center."

"We're interns!"

"Student interns!"

"Earning extra-credit in…"

"Auto shop!"

"Robotics!"

Katie cocked her head at the other three children. "Huh…?"

Fowler hung his head and sighed in exasperation. "Ok… let's move. I'm taking the four of you into federal custody, for your own protection."

Acting quickly, Bulkhead slammed his foot between the children the special agent. "We're protecting them!"

"Is that so? Then maybe, you can explain that to my superiors at the Pentagon." He reached for a nearby landline phone.

"Don't use that phone! It's…" Bulk reached down and crushed the phone box with his large digit, "… out of order."

Fowler growled before yelling, "This isn't over, big foot! Not by a long shot!" He stomped out, and took off in his helicopter.

"Meanie!" the little girl blew a loud raspberry at the elevator where Fowler just went into.

"You said it, shorty."

The green bot vented, "We're gonna be in a lot of trouble for this…"

"Oh yea…"

Katie squealed in alarm as a high pitched alarm echoed through the base.

"OW!" Raf grimaced, "my ears!"

Lumbering over to the compute, Bulkhead exclaimed. "It's an SOS! From Fowler!" He paused before touching a few keys on the computer. The alarm stopped and the data vanished from the screen.

"Did you track it?"

"Location scan was incomplete…" the bot shrugged, "Oh well…"

"Oh well?!"

Little Katie placed her hand on the bot's pedde, "We got help him!"

"Fowler's a jerk!"

Jack gaped at this, "Whether you like the guy or not, the Decepticons may have him!"

"And Agent Fowler knows your location," the preteen gulped nervously, "… our location!"

"And did we not just see how fast he backed away from a bot!" Miko exclaimed, "The Con's will totally make him squeal!"

"But the transmission was lost, he could be anywhere!"

Raf pushed his glasses up before sitting down and powering up his laptop. "Maybe I can narrow it down. About two years ago, the government started micro-chipping their agents, you know, like owners do with pets." All looked at him in disbelief, except for Katie who was just confused. The boy looked up and shrugged, "What? I saw it on TV… anyways, if I can hack into the Fed's mainframe, I might be able to pinpoint his location."

"You know how to hack? But you're like three years old…"

"Twelve," the boy corrected with a smirk, "and a quarter. Katie's three…"

She giggled, "Yep, yep, yep!"

"Latitude thirty-nine point five," the boy called out after a few tense minutes of typing, "longitude one hundred sixteen point nine."

Bulkhead pulled the lever, activating the groundbridge. "Stay here…"

"Aw!" Miko whined, "Don't break up the band!"

"Uh, Jack, you're in charge," the green wrecker charged through the bridge and vanished.

The boy sighed, "Well, looks like we four have run of the place… uh, Miko, Katie?" Turning about, looking for the two girls, but they were nowhere to be found.

Bulkhead came out of the bridge in a large ravine, the large black Decepticon warship hovering nearby; guards paced about the top and below the ship, looking for any sign of the enemy. He gave a low whistle, "Looks like we found the whole Decepticon shebang."

"All right," a familiar female voice exclaimed quietly, "What's the plan?" Miko and Katie stood behind a rock nearby.

"Miko! Katie!"

The two girls weren't as hidden as they thought; a guard came nearby and spotted the two. His blaster charged up and pointed at the two girls. Miko grabbed the toddler and they jumped out of the way, as the blasts came close.

Bulkhead quickly jumped into action, punching the guard as the girls hid behind a rock. He gripped the Vehicon hard before turning his helm towards the girls. "Miko! Katie! Turn your heads away!"

"But…"

"Turn your heads away!" His servo drove into the Vehicon's chassis, violently pulling out his inner wiring.

Miko quickly covered the toddler's eyes before her own widened in amazement and excitement. "Whoa!"

"Eep!" the little girl squeaked as the hand came off her eyes and she saw the offlined trooper.

Bulkhead looked at the internal wiring in his clasped servo and back at the girls, "Uhh…"

Arcee and Bumblebee sped along the road. Bulkhead's voice soon came over the comlink. *Arcee Bumblebee, do you read?*

"Loud and clear, Bulkhead," the femme vented, wondering what in the universe could he need.

*I have a situation…*

"Bulkhead…"she inwardly rolled her optics, "they're humans… younglings, and one is only a sparkling. Just do… whatever…" The two bots skidded to a halt as his reply came in. "YOU'RE WHERE? THEY'RE WHERE?"

Raf pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose, "What should we do? He may not have even realized that they followed him."

"Miko hasn't seen the Cons in action like we have," Jack paced, his breath coming nervously as his thoughts went rampant, "And Katie… oh Katie… she'll be…" He plopped on the railing, head in his hands.

Raf typed on the computer before turning to him. "These are the coordinates, their destination is still locked in."

Jack sighed nervously as he went down towards the groundbridge opening. "Uh… you're in charge."

"In charge of who?" The preteen activated the bridge and charged down the stairs beside Jack. The portal opened and the two walked through.

Bulkhead stood behind a rock with the two human femmes. "I wonder what's taking Arcee and Bumblebee…"

The three turned and saw the groundbridge open; the robot's facial plating fell as he saw it was not his backup, but the two human boys.

"Whoa…" Raf shuddered as they came out, "Are your bones vibrating?"

Jack didn't have time to answer. The guards on the ship spotted them, pointing their blasters at them.

"Scrap…"

Katie's blue eyes widened, "Brother!"

It's not much of a cliffhanger since we all know what happens in the story, but yea.

After Darkness rising will thing get a little crazier and different but I think you guys will like it.

"But joyful are those who have the God of Israel as their helper, whose hope is in the Lord their God" –Psalms 146:5