Chapter 10: Shattered Glass

"Though often regarded simply as children's stories meant to teach youths sound morals, fables are often quite sound from a literary and storytelling standpoint." Professor Riker moved on in his lecture, making good points but none that high school students would really care about. Even I was only half-listening. The poor guy should have applied for a university position or something, he belonged in some more specialized course, not a mere eleventh grade English class, "Though the quality of the tale varies by the teller, the depth of the concepts themselves are universal. Often these stories deal with our innate flaws as human beings. Be they greed, lust, impatience, cowardice... each of these traits are negative points that we can all relate to."

I tried not to yawn, I really did. I mean it was interesting I guess, but just not to me, At least not after an all-niter working on the subtle mechanics of an energon shift-pulse regulator coil. Even the name was bothersome.

"For instance, the well-known story of King Midas, a miser who's desire for more gold led to him wishing for everything he touched to turn to gold. Such a tale has many depths that could be fleshed out by a writer. Perhaps Midas' greed and request stemmed from a desire to improve the world around him, but became twisted to something negative after some event. After all, psychologically speaking, why would he ask for the power to make things into something he was crazy about, by his own hand, rather than just wish for endless gold? Thinking of the reasons behind actions and the motivations of characters can lead to a greater appreciation for even the simplest tales and improve your own writing."

The bell rang just as I was running through the many failings I'd gone through the night before when trying to rebuild the complex coil mechanism that was vital to the autobot transformation process. Like a lot of my fellow students I was already getting up when the professor dismissed the class.

"Remember, due to the staff meeting today is only a half day. Those of you waiting for a ride should report to your home room until it arrives. Also, don't forget the essay that is due on Monday. Class dismissed."

I flexed my muscles slightly to get the stiffness out and turned to head out. I was looking forward to some extra time with Arcee, even if I was pretty much going to be spending it studying anyway. My trip was stalled a bit by a little thing I'd been doing a lot less of lately called human interaction.

Hugging her books to her chest, Sierra had fallen into step beside me as I moved from the class into the hallway, "So, are you done with your essay yet? I know you were having a hard time deciding what you wanted to do after graduating."

"Yeah," I went with a partial truth, "I'm actually going to an engineering school. Gonna work on the real high-tech stuff."

She smiled, "Suits you. You've liked cars and stuff like that for a while now."

I nodded, "You done?"

"Yep. I'm going to be a vet. Your probably not too shocked to here that though."

"Didn't you get a job at the zoo because you like animals?"

Sierra nodded, "I'm just a ticket girl, but sometimes the vets let me help out. I really love it. Even though it's hard when the animals are actually sick. It hurts to see them in pain."

Sierra's caring nature was one of the things I'd liked about her. Well, still like about her actually, but in a friend kind of way. When she started going out with Mark she used the old 'Let's be friends' line on me and it (for once in the history of civilization) actually happened. It helped that I was only a little broken up about it. Turned out what I had once felt for her was nothing more than a crush. Not that Mark believed me when I said I wasn't interested in her anymore.

Speaking of which, "Oh hey, Darby. I see you're walking with my girlfriend again."

Sierra sighed, "I'm getting sick of your jealousy, Mark. Maybe I should actually cheat on you since you refuse to believe I'm not."

I stepped away from her, "I've seen this movie. Don't get any ideas about kissing me to spite him. I'm not cool with that."

Sierra rolled her eyes, "I'm not like that. Mark, just get over your trust issues or call it quits. I'm sick of arguing."

Mark glared at me.

Sierra spotted it and glared at him in response, "And stop glaring at Jack, I'm the one that said that, not him." Walking by her angry boyfriend, she shook her head in annoyance, "Boys... You know I should have gone after a college guy or something. Maybe he'd be more mature."

Now that I think about it, I never got around to telling Arcee that she called it right. Not that it really matters anymore.

Mark called out to her, "Sierra! Come on, Baby, don't be like that. I'm sorry."

Sierra turned and shot back, "What are you from the '90s now?"

"Hey, don't forget I'm your ride home!"

"Welcome to the age of cellphones." she spat back with extra sass, "I can get another."

I grinned as she whipped back around and walked away.

Mark wasn't as amused and he didn't hesitate in letting me know, "This is your fault, Darby."

"No, I'm pretty sure it's yours."

"Oh now you think you're clever."

I stepped up, "More than you at least. Care to prove me right by punching me again in the middle of a hallway with faculty everywhere? I'm sure Sierra will just love you getting in trouble for doing the thing that pissed her off to begin with."

He almost snarled at me as he realized I'd called him out on what he was going to do, "Oh, that just means I've got to hit you smarter, and when it goes down I gotta make it worth it."

"You know, you're not half as intimidating as you think you are."

"Oh, I'm every bit as intimidating as I think I am. You just don't know it yet."

I laughed, turned to walk away, "I have to admit that was a half decent comeback. I'd stay and trade barbs some more but I have better things to waste my time on."

"Oh, that's just more more strike Darby." he growled, "I mean that both ways."

There was one thing you could say about Prof. Riker's class, it did elevate the wordplay of the idiot bullies a bit. Elevated to actually existing I mean. It still needed some polish though.

I left the moron behind and headed to the parking lot. It was a month after the incident with the pods and the small disaster at the party. There was little sign of the decepticons hatching any major plots and aside from the occasional raid on an energon deposit, we didn't really see them. Ratchet, and many of us, assumed they were still sorting out their new recruits' issues with authority. Hot Rod and Arcee were on speaking terms but their was a lot of awkwardness there. So much in fact that Hot Rod spent most of his time out of patrol. Arcee brushed it off as just him being his usual independent self and Optimus just let him do whatever he wanted, same as the others. All the other bot's were doing the usual stuff. Miko was... well Miko. Raf and I were both learning Cybertronian tech in more detail, though he was learning faster... and not even specializing like I was. He's a genius though, so it only bugs me a little that I was so outclassed. All in all though, things were pretty normal.

Just like normal, Arcee was relaxing in vehicle mode in the parking lot. I hopped on and waved goodbye to Sierra, who was leaning against a lamppost a dozen spaces down. I assumed she was waiting for Mark to apologize, again, and rode away. The feel of a bike between me and the road making me feel at ease, even ignoring the fact that the bike was technically the woman I loved.

"Good day for a drive." I smiled, taking a turn with practiced precision, "I feel sorry for those teachers holed up inside on a day like this, but I appreciate them letting us enjoy it."

Arcee would've nodded if she had a head at the moment, "Yeah. Though I still don't get why they don't hold these meetings on weekends."

I shrugged, "They already have to spend their free time grading papers, why should they have to spend it on staff meetings?"

"Ah, good point." she conceded, "You want to hit the roads for a while or just head to base?"

"It's a half-day off so let's spend half of it goofing off." I grinned.

"Sounds good to me." pushed the side panels of her transformation slightly against my legs, she took over her controls and revved up, popping a wheelie as we made for our favorite driving spot, I can almost see the the mischievous grin she would have had on her face, "Hang on."

"Whoa! Slow down, I'll get another ticket!"

When we walked into the based about an hour later, I was glaring at a certain slip of paper. I waved it at Arcee in annoyance, "You're paying this one you know. This time it was all you."

She took it with the grin I mentioned earlier, which was still on her face, "I'll just get Fowler to take it off your record. Like he did with that license fiasco."

She was talking about the time I'd been pulled over and didn't actually have a motorcycle license yet. That had been annoying, "Hopefully. Three of these and I'll lose that license. What's got into you today?"

"I'm just in a good mood." she shrugged, "What? You didn't have a good time?"

"I'm not saying that..." I looked away, suddenly embarrassed by her talking to me in such a teasing tone, "You're just normally more careful."

"And I plan to continue that trend. Today was a special occasion."

I raised an eyebrow at her, then gave in, "Yeah, we don't get extra free time all the time. I've been really busy lately."

"Speaking of which," she smiled and motioned to the lad area, "Back to work, soldier."

"Doctor technically." I countered, and strode across to my workstation. Arcee headed over to do some maintenance on the security systems on the other side of the base. She'd been complaining about them acting up, and those systems were her specialty.

It wasn't long before Hot Rod came stepping out from the depths of the base, pushing one of the stasis pods along in front of him. I noticed the other ones we'd recovered we already in the corner that was reserved for things that needed repairs. Arcee stopped him, "What are you doing with that?"

Hot Rod pointed to the other pods, "Time for maintenance. We might not be planning on risking the spawning process but the 'forms still need to be preserved."

"Yeah. Go ahead then." Arcee let him by, "I'm surprised you're not running around on your little 'patrols'."

Putting the pod in place, he turned, "Actually I was just doing some chores while waiting for you."

"Oh?"

Hot Rod sighed, at her skeptical expression, "Look, we've been really awkward for weeks know and I found this great spot near one of those energon caches I think you'll really like."

"I'm not going out on a date with you, Hot-Shot."

He shook his head, "No, not a date. That ship sailed, I know. I just want to get away for a little while, spend some time together as friends, maybe patch things up."

Arcee thought about it, "Fine. I don't want to spent the rest of my life on this planet with the two of us walking on eggshells. Just as friends though."

I was immediately concerned, but decided to not act like Mark. Heck she wasn't even my girlfriend really.

Hot Rod's intentions were still an uncertainty though, "Great. We can get there with a quick trip through the groundbridge." he headed over to Ratchet and gingerly reached for the console controls, "Can I burrow your bridge for a second."

The tech stepped away, "Fine, just make it fast. I'm using that panel for other things."

"Right." fiddling with the controls, the screens blanked for an instant. "Crap, I hit the wrong button. I can fix it. No data loss."

"There better not be." Ratchet glared.

Arcee rolled her eyes, "Real smooth, Hot-Shot."

Hot Rod quickly fixed his mistake and opened a bridge, motioning for Arcee to follow him. I was tempted to crash the party, but again decided not to be a jerk. In hindsight, things might have ended up a lot differently if I'd just been a little more of a asshole that one time.

Instead of that, I went back to work pouring over my notes from Ratchet's last lesson and tried to get the device I'd been working on to actually do something. I was only at it for a few minutes before Ratchet grumbled something that broke my focus.

"What in the AllSpark?" he checked the information, "What is a groundbridge doing there?"

I headed, "Something wrong with the groundbridge?"

He shook his head, "This isn't ours..., but how..."

Raf, who'd been tucked away in his own station, looked over the readings, "Why is there a groundbridge in the training room?"

Ratchet tried to pull up security data but couldn't, "I don't know. Something's wrong."

I went wide-eyed... realizing what it had to mean, "Decepticons..."

Ratchet looked to the two of us, "Stay here and contact Arcee and Hot Rod, get them back now." opening his com he called for the others and went into action, "Autobots, we have a breach! Security is down, I'm heading to cut them off before they get out of the training room. I repeat, the training room has been breached, this is not a drill!"

Raf quickly worked on the console, but the bridge didn't open, "I can't lock in the last coordinates.

"No... it can't be..." I gawked in the bridge in disbelief, "Can you contact them on the long range com?"

Raf pressed a few buttons. "No. It won't go through."

"Dammit!" Having realized the truth, I gritted my teeth in anger and slammed my fist down on a nearby railing. "DAMMIT!"

Arcee's Perspective, a few minutes earlier.

I looked around at the dense foliage of the forest as the groundbridge closed behind us. I could see what looked like a cliff with a great view in the distance. I kicked myself a little for even agreeing to come with him. It was obvious that this trip wasn't entirely platonic in his case, and I went knowing that. It was just just my own dumb self trying to forget things and distance myself romantically from Jack. Of course we'd not done anything remotely romantic, not that anything of the sort was possible... but I still wanting to put walls up there. As stupid and nonsensical as it was. Honestly, I wasn't sure what I wanted and the briefest thought in the general direction of the issue made me go all kinds of stupid.

I noticed Hot Rod hesitating to follow me forward and looked back. The 'bot had a strange look on his face that I couldn't read at the time, "Come on. You wanted to show me this place right?"

He snapped out of whatever it was and smiled, "Yeah. It's just ahead. You'll love it."

He took the lead and we walked a short distance to a ledge that would have been a small cliff for a human. To 'bots it was more of a tall embankment, something you could vault if you were reasonably agile. That didn't affect the beauty of the landscape though, as the cliff was over a big lake that looked untouched by man, a majestic view of the mountains in he distance. The whole area was lush with greenery and there was even a clearing full of flowers on the other side of the lake with butterflies and everything. It was...

"Beautiful..."

"Yeah." Hot Rod said wistfully, and I didn't notice him looking at me as he said it despite how overwhelmingly cliché the act was.

Instead I was thinking about how much better it would be if I was with the very person I was trying to avoid thinking romantically about. I couldn't help but fret about it and my face turned to a frown. Hot Rod noticed of course and grabbed something he'd stashed ahead of time. Two handmade fishing poles.

I raised an eyebrow, "I never pegged you as the type to like fishing."

I smirked, "Hey, I admit to being a bit impatient, but that's exactly why I like it. It's kind of like training. Waiting and waiting for that moment of exhilaration when you reel in a catch, then needing just the right technique to avoid snapping the line. It's great."

"Putting it that way it actually sounds exactly like your kind of thing." I grabbed the offered rod. "I spend most of my time in the desert though, so I've never done this." I looked around, "Where are we anyway?"

"Around a hundred miles northeast of Toronto, about as far away from base as we can get and still be in North America."

He showed me how to bait the line, using a small fish as opposed to the normal worms for obvious reasons related to the size of his hands. I might have been able to bait a hook with worms, but there was no way he would be able to. It got me thinking about Jack again, and how he could help me use proper bait.

I shook my head, unsure of what had gotten into me so suddenly or what my rising unease was, "Does every part of this have to be tricky?"

Hot Rod laughed, "Yeah, this is the hard part. Oh, and you have to be careful not to cast the line clear over the lake. I did that my first time. Caught a squirrel."

"Haha, the poor thing."

Turning to the lake, I held the rod, expected him to show me how by demonstrating, instead he placed his hands on me, trying to guide my arms though the motions. I wasn't having any of that, "Boundaries, Hot-Shot. You said this trip was just friends."

"Sorry. I'll be good."

I turned back to the lake and got ready, "Show me by doing, not by groping."

"Yeah, you hold the rod in-"

Suddenly my com sprang to life, Ratchet sounded relieved and a bit frantic, "There, I cracked it. What in the AllSpark is going on with the console?"

"Dammit." Hot Rod stamped one foot. I assumed because the day was ruined.

I opened a link, but was stopped before saying something by the sound of a laser blast and a small explosion and a pained cry, "Ratchet, what was that? Is the base under attack?" Dead air, "Ratchet?" Nothing, "JACK?"
Hot Rod went wide-eyed, "The kids are there? Dammit! Aren't they supposed to be in school?"

"That's beside the point! The base is under-"

"Arcee." Ratchet struggling, cut me off, "The bridge... get the chil-"

I could hear him collapse as the groundbridge opened, "RATCHET!"

I hustled through the bridge, expecting to come under fire the instant I was through. I didn't notice Hot Rod reach out to stop me and miss. When I got through the place was full of blasted debris and broken vehicons. Bumblebee was unconscious under a pile of stones and 'con parts and Raf was in the wreckage trying to wake him up. Ratchet was out on the only slightly damaged console. From his wounds it looked like he'd taken some shots protecting it so we could get in and out. The scene looked like the end of the world... and it was.

Starscream walked into view, a missile pod aimed at me, but a voice waved him of, Megatron's. I looked over towards the blast doors the lead deeper into the base and spotted him, a very eager to pay me back Knockout and Breakdown, and enough vehicons to say I'd need to swim through their energon to get to Megatron after killing them all. It was hopeless... I was as good as dead... which meant... everyone else I couldn't locate probably was. Prime, Bulkhead, Miko..., Jack...

No... I had to believe in them, "What did you do with Optimus and the others you piece of scraplet scuzz!"

"Language, young lady." Megatron gloated, "You comrades are in the same condition as the ones you see here."

So not dead. Good. I noted to myself. Nice of him to underestimate us, but Jack and Miko are not in here... I have to think of something. I can't leave them here.

Suddenly I spotted Jack hiding behind one of the stasis pods. He was trying to get one of MECH's guns to work. Naturally I stepped slowly, and sideways towards him, trying to get to him without drawing attention to what I was moving to, "You'll pay for this, Megatron... if it means I bleed even last drop of energon from my body I swear you'll pay!"

The madman sighed, "Did I give you permission to try and save one of them, Autobot?"

What? I froze, my vision shooting over to Hot Rod, who looked from Megatron to me.

His expression turned... and not to the one he should have. It was the look of someone that knew they'd been caught and a was trying desperately to make an excuse. "Arcee, I-"

"No... Hot-Shot. You're a lot of things but you're not a traitor. It can't be true..."

"C.C.-" he wasn't denying it... he was about to try and explain why he'd done it! He was going to make excuses for himself! The truth was all over his face!

"You don't get to call me that anymore!" I yelled, "Decepticon!"

"I didn't have a choice!" he pleaded.

"How long?"

He couldn't even look me in the eye anymore, "They captured me before I even contacted you."

"And you just turned under the pressure?"

"It's not like that! I said I didn't have a choice." he stepped forward, "I tried to avoid it, the I couldn't anymore, so I tried to make sure you and the little ones didn't get involved."

"You think I'd want to be safe when my family was getting butchered? You think I'd ever forgive you?"

"You were never supposed to know what I had to do..."

Megatron was enjoying the shoe, but interrupted, "Enough of this. I have things to do. Kill her quickly and let us be off."

Hot Rod looked at him, pleadingly, "Please, Megatron-" suddenly he buckled a little, his optic dimming as he cried out in agony and nearly fell over, "GYAAAGGHHH!"

"Remember our... arrangement."

I backed up, trying to shield Jack, blocking him but doing anything by using my foot, "Hot Rod... you... don't do this."

He straightened himself slowly and turned his hand into a gun, leveling it at me with only a small room's worth of distance between us. It would be nearly impossible to dodge it, "I"m sorry. I have to. I can only defy a direct order one time. The second defiance will kill me."

Megatron pointed at me and commanded the traitor, "Kill her NOW!"

Hot Rod fired and time seemed to slow to a crawl. I didn't even dodge I was so stunned that he'd taken the shot, and watched as it missed me completely... somehow. I followed the shot as it collided with the stasis pod that Jack was hiding beside and saw it destabilize.

Megatron roared at him in anger, "You fool! This whole place will be obliterated!"

The 'con dove at Hot Rod, dragging him by the throat through the still open groundbridge, commanding his minions to follow. Most of them were right by it and already fleeing. At the same time I was transforming to vehicle mode, shouting for Jack to hop on. I had to get him away from the blast... I couldn't save the others... but I'd be damned if he and I were going to die as well.

But I was only half-way transformed when the pod detonated and everything went white. I felt a shock wave strike my entire form from behind, knocking me back into robot mode as I lost consciousness.

We were all dead... I was certain of it at the time. After all, 'atheists' don't believe in miracles.

Next Chapter: find out when it comes out

Preview: A miracle?

A/N: OMG PLOT TWIST! The title "Shattered Glass" is a reference to a comic and toyline for Transformers based on the concept of an alternate dimension where the Autobots are evil and the Decepticons are good. It that, Hot Rod (or rather "Rodimus") is the equivalent of Starscream and is constantly plotting to kill Optimus.