Disclaimer
I do not own Transformers, Transformers Prime, Iron man, Iron man 2, Iron man 3, Skyrim, or any other characters from their own realms of games, movies, Book, comics, or other media.
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The rooftop was smaller than I had originally thought. Only maybe a third of the roof was allowed to be used by students, and that was filled with a couple of giant air conditioners. Also about those students? The roof was abandoned it seemed by the students, but despite that loss the view of the city was amazing.
The Hoffer tower could be seen in the backdrop of the city. The tower was cut off by other buildings but you could see everything past the 50th floor. Its white and shiny surface reflecting the sun's rays. And on the front side the Hoffer Corp. insignia shown proudly.
What was stain doing inside those walls? Was he trying to make money from selling weapons? He was obsessed with them. All this bull with stain brought memories of the plane crash to the front of my mind.
/….
Flash Back
/….
Pain in my legs and right arm. It felt like someone was stabbing my chest, my ribs felt like they were on fire. I could hear metal grinding against metal and a turbine spinning.
I opened and looked down at my chest and I froze in fear. A two inch thick jagged piece of metal was poking out of my chest just below my heart, and my Left arm was missing from below the elbow. I closed my eyes. So many things can flying to my mind. But I pushed them out of my head and told myself to focus on finding out where I was.
I opened my eyes again and looked to the left to see a spinning plane engine less than 10 feet away. How close was I to that when we crashed? I shift my eyes to my other side and see an endless expanse of desert.
Ok priorities. Got to move and find the suit. It has life-support systems on board. First step, get the metal out of my chest.
I placed my right hand on the blood covered metal. I felt a stab of pain run through me from head to toe.
"Ok how hard could, could it be? I, I can do-do this." I griped the spike and pulled. I felt like I was pulling my guts out. The edges of my vision blackened and I let go of the metal.
"Son-of-a-. Ok, ok I, I can. I just have to-"
/….
/...
"Your dad and Uncle used to work there." A soft female voice snapped me out of my day dream.
"What?" I asked turning my head to the left and up. A red haired girl with a pink shirt and black pants sat hanging off the water tower on the edge of the roof. She had a black tie hung loosely around her neck and a sandwich in one hand. Just from that quick look I could tell she had a small air of superiority around her.
"Your Jack Darby, I mean Jackson Hoffer of the Darby family. You worked there too because you never went to school after you spent time with you family in Japan. Privately tutored after your mother, um ha ha, never mind!"
She took a bite of her sandwich to try and stop herself from talking again so soon. Who was this girl and how did she now me?
"You're living with James Rhodes family. Their you're legal guardians now and you have like a Billion patents on file, and you were missing for 3 days after the plane crash only to show up at a hospital in Tra'vir'a on the west coast of Tamriel." I turned to look down at the street at some point in her fit.
"How do you survive a plane crash anyway?" her question caused me to snap my head back in her direction.
"I-I don't know, just lucky I guess. How do you know all this stuff?" She looked to the right with a smirk on her face then leaned forward with one hand to the side of her mouth.
"My dad's on the FBI task force that's investigating Obadiah Stain after your Uncles, you know 'accident'."(She used her hand to make quotes in the air when she said that.) "He had the most to gain after your Uncles death." My eye's widened with shock, and my mouth hung open. The FBI thought stain was behind my Uncles death. Stain selling weapons, giving me the cold shoulder in his office, and the heavy guard detail. What the Frick was happening with my families company?
"Hi! My name's Pepper Potts by the way." The girl, Pepper, said as she got up and left.
I stood there for a couple of minutes thinking to myself. I needed to find Rhodey and get to my garage.
This was turning out to be one hell of a first day.
/...
Chapter break
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"Jack! Wait up man!" yelled Rhodey as we ran through downtown New York.
"You should answer him. Jack...come on don't zone out on me to." axle said as I ran past a stopped truck.
After the talk with Pepper I ran through the school looking for him and told him about what she had said. He tried to tell me something about Pepper not being a reliable source for information but that didn't matter. Once a Darby has an idea it's impossible to stop us. I made a bee line through a crowd of people standing on the side walk, and could see the garage only a couple of blocks away.
It was painted in white, but it had faded in the year of my absence. The garage wasn't the biggest building in this area of the city, stopping at three stores high, but that was fine since it also was a home away from home.
"Wait man! Where are you going?"
Crossing the last block I stopped in front of the large car door and walked over to the right side. A Grey Box sat on the wall. Opening it I can see a control panel consisting of a nine-digit number pad, a eye scanner, and three large buttons on one side.
As I typed in the code for the door Rhodey had time to catch up to me.
"Finally, we stop." Rhodey said with his hands on his knees, only for the door to open and for me to walk in.
"Never mind."
Walking across the floor the light switch I hit the light and lit up the room.
The large main room was meant to hold up to 10 large SUV like vehicles and a connecting staircase lead to the second level of the room. Here sat a large metal table and chairs to the right, along the back wall were racks of old car parts.
'I've never been in this building before. my parents maintain a lot of buildings for your uncle but they never let me in them. Jack?" Rhodey said as I walked up the staircase. Once on the second level I walked to the back to a large door leading to a hall way. the hallway had many doors on both side of it. I walked to the end of the hall way and put my left hand on the flat wall. A blue light lit up the wall and a crack ran down the wall on both sides of me. as the crack went up the wall they stopped and turned to each other and connected at the center to make a doorway. I pushed on the door and it move upwards for me to walk through.
"Jack?" Rhodey said from somewhere behind me
"Yeah?"
"What are you doing?"
"Showing you my new garage."
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Chapter break
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"Wow"
"I'll take that as a sign you like it." I said to Rhodey as he looked around the big room with his jaw hanging open.
the lighting was a lot dimmer than the other room. This room looked a lot like the last room but there was a recreational area in the far left side of the second floor with a flat screen tv and sofa in front of it. Instead of a single metal table there were four spread out around the right side of the floor with metal parts and papers spread out over them. in the the far back there was a door to other room, many of which were spare sleeping and storage rooms. on the main floor there was a expanse of spare parts on shelfs in the left corner. This room also had car in it. starting from the left there was a Black 2014 Mitsubishi eclipse with it hood popped open and parts laid out in front of it, than a dark blue 2009 Kawasaki-ZX-6R stood with its kick stand out , and finally a black KTM-Ducati stood leaning against a table.
in the center was an arrangement of three desks with one desk facing the stairs and one desk on ether side of it. It held a computer and a large pile of papers. the one to it a mediate left also held a computer but t computer monitors sat on it. the third desk was covered in a random assortment of metal and hard plastic pieces. and Finally in the right side of the room sat a large amount of tables and desks covered in papers, books, prototypes and screen placed randomly on them. The screen showed images, maps, pages of text, and Math equations.
"This is the garage you've been fixing up?"
"Yep." I said as I lean against a table.
"Ok so, J-Jack you have to take everything Pepper says with a grain of salt man. I mean shes a bit on the crazy side." Rhodey said when he reached me.
"Crazy or not, I think shes right."
I walked down the stairs to the desks in the center and typed in a command into the computer. A piece of the wall behind it lifted up and a large screen came out. It showed the Hoffer Corp tower.
"And I know how I can find out the truth." I looked over to the dirt bike to my left.
"Isn't that right Dun-runner."
At first there was no immediate response and Rhodey was looking at me like I had lost my mind, well What was left of looked like he was going to say something when the bike's head light turned on and the static came over the radio.
/-SSSShhkk...KM-satellite radio-SSShhkk...Are you ready to Rumble!-SSSShhkk-/
"What the F-"
The bike moved forward. Parts on the bike moved around shifting places and transforming in size and shape. metal shifting against metal was the only sound in the room now. when the parts on the bike finished rearranging it stood up. the bike had transformed into a 7 foot tall metal suit. its legs and arms were made from a assortment of metal pieces connecting over wires and hydraulics, its wheels shift upward behind its shoulders, and a complex hard-light metal face-plate stared right back at Rhodey.
/-SSShhkk-Reporting for duty captain-SSShhkk-Whats the emergence-SSShhkk-/
/What do you need Jack?/
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Chapter break
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"Ok so you gave him a name.'
"Of coarse not, He gave himself a name."
we sat in some chairs to the side of the main desks and had been for the last 5 minutes trying to explain everything to Rhodey. He wasn't as socked as I had originally thought. I guess spending so much time with someone who does the unthinkable almost every day makes you expect the unexpected.
"Ok so what are you going to do with Dun. Beat Stain up."
"Yes. that's exactly what I'm going to do. I going to go beat the truth out of him." The look of surprise on Rhodeys face was almost overshadowed by his smile of disbelief.
"Really?"
"No not really." I said as I turned to Dun.
"Dun has surveillance systems built in to his armor, I can use them to spy on Stain and see if I can Find out anything. Sucker." I had just enough time to turn back to Rhodey before he grabbed me. We pushed back and forth, laughing for a little bit until my heart-monitor went off I and I stopped slouching into Rhodey with a hand on my chest.
"Jack! I'm sorry, are-are you ok?" He said with his hand on my shoulder in concern.
"Yeah I'm fine. Its just a reminder alarm, I've got to recharge in an hour or so." as I typed a restart command into my watch.
"This is a bad idea, Jack. For about a billion different reasons. Your still hurt. If You don't recharge the implant in your heart its all over."
"I'm fine mom." I said over my shoulder to him as I got the last of Dun's armor and systems ready.
"Fine except for the implant in your heart. If you exert your self with Dun, or he losses power, or-or your hit by lighting, I don't know what but your will give out."
I turned to Rhodey as he finished his rant. I was done with him looking out for me right now. he needed to understand what was going on just as much as me. I looked down at Dun's arm as it split down the middle and opened along with the rest of the armor.
"I've got to do this Rhodey. For my Uncle. I couldn't save him, but I can stop Stain. I can save everything My family built." when I looked up at Rhodey he didn't look as mad or frustrated any more.
"Will you help me Rhodey." I asked as he looked at me.
"Fine, But the second anything hose wrong you get out of there. Got it?"
"Fine, you big cry babe." I said as we laughed.
I may never get my family back, but with Rhodey, maybe I can find out what happened to them.
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