Chapter 2: A New Human

-one hour into the long walk from Jasper to the Autobot outpost and roughly halfway there-

As I judged, it was indeed going to be a long walk, what I didn't realise was how hot it was going to be during the walk. It was now around three or four in the afternoon; at best judgement; the sun was directly overhead and the sky was as clear as a bottle of water.

"Feckin hell…I just HAD to forget that this was NEVADA of all places…and of course because I'm bloomin' Scottish I'm not used to the heat and in fact, am better with cold" I grumbled to myself.

To keep cool and not die of heatstroke, I had, some time ago, wrapped my hoodie around my waist and wrapped my shirt around my hair; keeping my body ventilated and my body heat somewhat lower than before. There was no doubt in my mind that I was going to get a sunburn.

"I'm gonna be sore in the morning" I muttered.

'They said that my Exo would be sent down so that it would arrive today, and it would land close to the base so that they would find it. And through use of my DNA imprint on it, find me out here, so where the bloody hell is it?' I thought to myself, blowing out a huff.

"Well Jack, let's just hope things are goin' well for you" I muttered looking towards the spire that was still a large way out. I took a deep breath and let out a soft growl. "I'm gonna make it to you even if it kills me!" I yelled out, my determination reinvigorated as I set out at a soft jog. 'this should hopefully cut the time in half' I thought, keeping my eyes locked on the spire.

-inside the Autobot base; approx twenty minutes later-

"Hey, Miko?" Jack called out to her, she quickly turned around to face him and leaned her arms back on the railing,

"What's up Jakie-boy?" she replied, a smirk on her face as she saw his irritation,

"one. Don't call me that. And two. Who was that guy we passed on the way here? And I wonder if he's alright" he replied. Miko just shrugged,

"Don't know who he was, but judging from his voice, definitely foreign, probably from Britain or something, whether or not he's ok, that depends on his luck" she answered, "Though, the question I want answering, is why he was walking in this direction?" she contemplated. Jack looked at her before crossing his arms and looking to the ground,

"That…is a good question" he mumbled.

Suddenly an alarm blared through the base, but thanks to Ratchet already being at his computer, it didn't last long,

"That's strange…very strange indeed" he mumbled, though it was a more human level of normal talking,

"What is it Ratchet?" asked little Raf, looking up to the large bot with curious eyes.

"It would seem that an object is falling to earth from space, and my internal calculations, it will be landing not far from the outpost in just a few moments" he replied. Raf looked at him before Miko jumped forward,

"Cool, so it's like a meteorite?! C'mon let's go see!" she yelled in excitement.

"Miko, that is not the strange part, a meteorite wouldn't set off the sensor arrays like this" Ratchet replied grumbling, Jack then stepped forward and placed a hand on Miko's shoulder in an attempt to keep her still,

"Then what IS the strange part?" Jack asked, giving a slightly concerned look towards the towering bot.

"The strange part is that the object seems to be Cybertronian in nature, I will have to retrieve it before the public is aware of its presence, you three stay here, I will quickly go and retrieve it" he replied turning around from the computer and transforming into his ambulance alt mode before driving out the tunnel.

"So, what do you guys do for fun or hobbies?" Miko asked as she turned to Jack and Raf. Jack gave a soft sigh 'this is gonna be a long few minutes' he thought to himself.

-back to me-

I had lost the energy to continue jogging a few minutes ago and was currently trudging along, scraping the soles of my high tops across the gravel and sand. I wasn't that far from the Autobot outpost, just a few minutes out,

"Goddammit Primes, couldn't you have sent it a little earlier and had them bring me in?" I grumbled once more.

Keeping my eyes fixed on the tower structure, I saw a white and red ambulance shoot out of the side and speed off into the desert.

"huh, guess he must've caught a signal or somethin'," I mumbled as I continued my trudge.

A simple few minutes later and I was now leaning on the side of the gigantic rock spire, I looked off towards when Ratchet sped off to and saw something falling in the sky. This brought a smirk to my face.

"There are only a few things that could be, and considering Ratchet sped off to it, there's only one thing it could be" I stated, looking deeper at the sky I glared at it. "You couldn't have made it easier on either of us could you?" I muttered before I gave a sigh and sat on the ground. "Let's just hope Ratchet doesn't blow a gasket when he finds that it belongs to me," I say with a soft chuckle before looking down to my hands that were now resting on my knees. "I talk to myself a LOT…gonna have to work on that…starting tomorrow" I mumble out before closing my eyes and waiting for the series of events that will unfold, to unfold.

As I look back towards the falling object, I only catch the tail end of it as it strikes the ground with a somewhat thunderous 'BOOM' and from within the dust cloud it kicked up, there is also a trail of smoke leading up into the sky. "Alright Ratchet, hurry up, grab it and get your giant aft back here" I muttered, crossing my legs and staring out into the desert.

After a few more minutes I began to see Ratchet in his ambulance mode heading my way, at this I stood up and stretched out my legs, wiping the dust from my clothes. Soon Ratchet began to slow down; he had seen me; before pulling to a stop a few feet away. I stared him down for a few minutes. The only noise in the ambience being the rumble of his engine.

"You just gonna idle there all day or are you gonna open the door and scan that case you just picked up?" I said to him, his engine audibly got louder, possibly indicating shock or surprise, "If you want I'll wait out here for you to confirm what I already know, 'cause you're gonna need me if you want to open it…Ratchet" I said towards him once more, this time with a slightly louder voice for him to hear it over his engine.

At this, his engine cut off,

"How do you know that I just picked up a case, and more importantly how do you know my name?" I heard him reply, with a tone of irritation,

"Well, for one the case belongs to me, and two" I started before grabbing the shirt from my head and putting it on, making sure the Autobot symbol was visible to him, "I'm a friend" I finished.

I heard him gasp before sputtering in confusion, after a few moments of befuddlement, the ground I was standing on started to lower before a large metal tunnel was directly behind me, I stepped back into it a few paces before Ratchet followed suit. The hatch closed behind him and as he came to drive past me his door opened up,

"Get in, you'll certainly have a lot of explaining to do" He growled out,

"I know, especially to Prime" I added before hopping into his passenger side and closing the door behind me.

He drove down the tunnel in silence, and I let it be, there was no doubt that he was thinking over the possibilities of how I knew where the base was, who he was and of course why I was wearing a T-shirt with a giant Autobot logo on it. Soon enough we came to the central command room where I could see Jack, Miko, and Raf standing up on a raised platform, it looked like they were chatting with one another.

"Hey look, Ratchet's back. So what did you find out there Ratchet?" I heard Raf ask, his eyes full of excitement.

"Yeah Ratch, what'dya find?" a somewhat bored Miko added.

Ratchet groaned slightly, obviously from irritation at Miko's newfound nickname,

"Miko, my name is Ratchet, not "Ratch"…even a stranger got that" he grumbled, that got Jack's attention,

"Wait, stranger? Did another human find out?" he asked, it was at this I decided to open the door and hop out,

"It's more like I knew beforehand," I said as I walked towards them for a few paces, before standing still with a hand on my hip.

The two teenagers and lone pre-teen stood in shock for a few moments, that is before Miko noticed my shirt,

"HEY! How come you have an Autobot shirt?! They're not public knowledge!" she yelled out. Ratchet then transformed behind me and stood tall, with the case in his hand.

"I also would like to know the answer to that, but first" he started before walking over to the computer and pressing a few buttons, the images of four bots appearing on screen, "Calling out to Arcee, Bumblebee, Bulkhead and Optimus Prime, do you read?" he added. It was a few seconds before he got a response.

"Arcee here, reading you loud and clear Ratchet, what is it?" she replied, sounding a good deal miffed,

"It would seem that another human knows of our presence here on earth…and from an educated guess, he knows who we are" he replied, pinching the bridge of his proverbial nose with his index finger and thumb on his right hand,

"WHAT!? RATCHET, HOW COULD ANOTHER HUMAN KNOW ABOUT US ALREADY? DID SOMEONE LEAD HIM TO THE BASE?! MIKO, DID YOU BLAB ALREADY?!" she yelled back quite enraged,

"Hey now, I'm sure Miko didn't blab, she's a rebel sure, but even I don't think she'd endanger anyone deliberately" came the voice of the gentle giant Bulkhead.

"And you couldn't be any more correct Bulkhead, because no-one lead me here or told me anything, not Raf, not Jack and certainly not Miko. I already knew beforehand, however, I'm aware that certain bots are beyond miffed, ticked off, enraged, whatever you'd like to call it. However, I WILL explain what I can once everyone gets back. Although I believe one of you was already expecting my presence to arise sooner or later" I said with a rather smug knowing grin. Then before anyone had the chance to interrupt another voice came in, one that was deep and filled with wisdom,

"We will give you a chance to explain your presence and your current actions once we return from out patrols, those farthest from the base make your way back and meet up with the closer units, we will regroup at base," said Optimus,

"Rojer that" came a very disgruntled Arcee,

"Got it," said Bulkhead, a few positive beeps sounded off indicating Bumblebee's acknowledgement.

The four Autobot faces disappeared from the screen, Ratchet gave a deep sigh,

"Alright, you're going to explain things later, I can understand not wanting to explain things twice or multiple times, but because it's going to take a little while for the rest of the team to get back, why don't you introduce yourself to the other humans? Meanwhile, I will be inspecting this" he said to me before holding up the case that; unknown to him or anyone but me; contained my exoskeleton. I nodded softly before making my way over to the raised area.

Jack looked at me with an intense stare, Raf a slightly fearful glance and Miko a bored look,

"Well, considering I already know who you three are and a bunch of other stuff, my name is Ross, Ross Sinclair, born and raised in Glasgow, Scotland…kind of," I said to them, holding a friendly hand out. Miko's eyes widened as she looked at me,

"wait a minute…Jack, isn't this the foreign guy we passed on Arcee on our way over here?" she asked,

"Was the guy singing?" I chuckled out, Jack looked me up and down,

"Yeah, he was" he replied warily, I proceeded to laugh a little,

"Then I'm sorry I had to butcher your ears with my singing voice" I responded with a smile stretched across my face.

"If it makes you feel any better we didn't exactly hear it, we DID kinda zoom past on a motorcycle" Miko added, making me chuckle,

"Just because you didn't hear doesn't mean Arcee didn't. Cybertronian hearing is a lot sharper than human hearing, whisper that Ratchet's a grouch and he will remind you of that every time without failure" I joked, turning to look at him over my shoulder and mumble at him "Isn't that right Ratchet?".

He grumbled with irritation before continuing his examination of the case. After a few seconds of looking at it, he looked at me from the corner of his eye or optic rather. He looked back to the small screen on his arm before grumbling to himself, he picked up the case and turned to us on the raised platform,

"It would seem that your DNA imprint is the only thing that can unlock this chest," Ratchet said as he placed the case on the ground behind me. I did a full about to look to him properly,

"I did tell you that you wouldn't open it without me" I replied with a soft chuckle,

"Indeed, although, I intend to find out how your DNA imprint came to be on ancient Cybertroninan technology that is over seventy billion years old," he said, looking at me with a soft glare, I ignored it and kneeled to the case,

"All will be answered in good time Ratchet, all in good time" I answered with a chuckle.

Setting one hand on the top and the other on the handle, the handle glowed a soft blue then a feminine synthesised voice came from it,

"Primary user recognised" was all it said before the seals clicked and hissed. I opened the case up by hand as to speed along the process.

"What's in it? What does it do? Can we use it?" Miko started to pester,

"Miko, it said "Primary user" that means that he's the only one allowed to use it and if he's able to register other users" Raf explained,

"As for what's inside, I could just show you" I replied, before grabbing a handle on the back of the Exo before holding it up in plain sight.

"A backpack? A Cyber-whatsit meteor falls to earth and the only thing inside, is a backpack?" Miko groaned, "Boring" she added. I smirked at this before I slid my arms through the metallic straps.

"Miko, you would do well to remember that when Cybertronians are involved, there is always more than meets the eye" I replied, 'Oh yeah, it felt good to say that' I thought to myself, my smile widening. I looked over the straps and found a lone button on it, "Well, no time like the present" I mumbled before pressing it.

The next few seconds were a blur. The part of the Exo facing to my back deployed grips that affixed themselves to me, even through my clothes, then the top edge closest to my neck deployed a spine-like extension (think spider-man 2 Doc-Ock) that laid itself along my neck before; like the grips; it affixed itself to me. Then within an instant, there was a pinch and then utter joy. My eyes widened at this 'They said it'd be enjoyable, they didn't say it was THIS enjoyable' I thought as I gasped.

"WHAT IN PRIMUS` NAME ARE YOU DOING?!" Ratchet yelled. I looked at him with sarcastic eyes,

"Turning it on?" I replied as if it was normal, Miko gave a small 'snark' at this, "Don't you dare say what I KNOW you're thinking Miko" I grumbled pre-emptively.

"How do you know that I'm thinking what you think I'm thinking? Huh?" she replied. I gave a soft sigh,

"Because you and I are a lot alike in terms of humour and sense of music, so the very second it left my mouth I thought the same thing" I answered.

After a few seconds of standing still the back of the large pack split open before multiple parts spread out over my arms and legs. (somewhat like the Exos from Call of duty but when it gets to the forearms it completely wraps around the arm and hand, and also completely encases my feet and shoes). After that a helmet came up over the back of my head making a full head mask, locking in place. The visor was almost identical to those of Vehicons, the only difference being that the visor was a light green.

The visor quickly lit up and multiple loading bars spread across it. After the loading bars were done multiple languages spread across the screen before it stopped on English (UK English that is).

"Holy moly, that is so cool" I heard Raf say,

"I want one. Ratchet, can you make one of those?!" Miko yelled,

"No, I cannot, and even if I could, I wouldn't. I've known you for less than a day, you are too brash and too thoughtless to wear something like that" Ratchet replied,

"Have to agree with Ratchet on that Miko" Jack added.

At the same time they were talking various displays came up on the screen, including (but not limited to) a radar, targeting reticule, compass and even what looked to be a small map of the visible area. Then after all of them moved to their placements, top left, true centre, bottom left and top right respectively. After those settled, two more symbols came up, one a silhouette of a gun and the other a silhouette of a sword. Two copies of these appeared, one at the centre of both sides.

"So what can that thing do? Huh? What we packin'? Guns? Blades? Laser cannon? Grappling hook? Tell us?!" Miko yelled as she jumped in front of me, I groaned slightly,

"From what I can tell, all of that…and then some" I replied. As soon as I did two simple words appeared on the visor display, "systems: ready".

I felt the weight of the skeleton one second and the next it was gone. I moved my arms slowly, looking at my hands as I clenched them softly. I rolled my neck and popped a few joints, much to the disgust of Miko,

"Blech, dude, don't do that, you'll get arthritis," she said, making a gagging sound,

"No I won't, that's only a myth to get people to stop" I stretched my arms up and tilted back, popping a few more joints in my back. "Jack should know that's the truth, his mother is a nurse after all" I added.

"While that is true, how did you know that? About my mom I mean" Jack asked, I crossed my arms giving out a soft 'hmmm'

"At the moment, until I fully explain it when everyone is present, all I can say is that I've had a observe only view on today before, and a few other days too" I replied, nodding to myself "yeah, that's the best explanation I can give at the moment" I added, smiling to myself. Raf stared at me quizzically.

"So what? You're some kind of time traveller like Doctor Who?" he asked,

"That's a very good question, and the answer is both yes and no" I replied, Ratchet scoffed at this,

"HA! Time travel, that's only theoretically possible, no-one has even been able to successfully time travel by even a fraction of a second, and no human technology present or future will ever succeed in doing so" he said towards us.

I looked at him with a smirk under my mask and just barely whispered,

"Who said anything about human technology?" with his hearing so sharp this gave him a slight start. Before he could retort we heard the revving of engines coming from the tunnel. I gave a deep sigh and walked to the railings holding my hands up in preparation.

Arcee came racing though with Bumblebee close behind, both quickly transformed in motion, Acree instantly spotted me and moved towards me. Bumblebee got in front of her and started to 'talk', but the interesting thing was that as he was 'talking' a full translation was coming up on my visor.

"Arcee calm down, he said he would explain and Optimus said he would give him the chance to" 'said' Bumblebee,

"Bee's right, and he's been pretty honest with us" Raf agreed.

A second later Bulkhead drove in,

"Ok, so where is this new kid?" he said as he shifted into his robot form, I made a face under my mask,

"Hey, I'm not exactly a kid, I might act like one at times but I'm still nineteen" I retorted to him, he looked at me raising an optic ridge,

"Nice suit, never seen a human with one of those before," he said, I gave a slight shrug, my hands still up,

"I doubt anyone has, cause it's not human tech" I joked.

Then the last vehicle came through; the classic red and blue semi that anyone that knew it would recognise; and came to a stop directly on top of the Autobot symbol on the floor before transforming into the behemoth of a Cybertroninan.

After he quickly observed the room his eyes laid onto me,

"So, you are our new human companion? What is your name?" he asked, his voice calm, steady and full of wisdom.

"My name is Ross Sinclair" I replied calmly, looking up at him,

"You may lower your hands, Ross. You had said over the communications link that you would explain your presence here" he said, I nodded in response and lowered my arms slowly.

"Well, what would you like to know first?" I asked, giving a small shrug.

"I would first like to ask how you came to know of this location" he queried, I nodded in response,

"Well, it's a little weird to word out…I've known for around…three or four years now, because like I said to the others a little earlier, I've seen this same day happen numerous times, but only from a strictly observational point of view" I replied, "I know a good deal of other things too. Like your plan to keep the children safe while still letting them go about their human lives" I added. He hummed softly,

"And how do you know that?" he asked, I gave a soft chuckled and reached to scratch the back of my head before my encased hand scraped on metal, flinching back at the screech,

"damn, forgot about that" I mumbled, but at that second the helmet collapsed around my head and retracted into the pack, "oh, that's convenient" I mumbled once more, and initiated another scratch. "Well, as I said, I've seen this day play out, multiple times, and I've also seen the effects of said plan and how well it not only works out for the Autobots but the humans also" I replied.

"So you have seen our future?" he asked, I looked off to the side,

"Eeeeeh. I guess you could say that. I've seen what happens to this world where I haven't existed" I replied. It was at this moment that Raf stepped forward,

"Hold on a sec. are you saying that you're from an alternate world?" he asked, his eyes curious and excited, I smiled back at him,

"Not just an alternate world, an entirely alternate reality" I replied. Raf jumped with excitement as Ratchet looked at me like I was insane,

"Preposterous. I highly doubt that even an alternate reality of earth could come up with that level of techno-" he started before I interrupted,

"Ratchet, who said that the technology was from MY side? And again, who said anything about HUMANS being the ones to do it?" I looked at him with a knowing smile.

"Y-you can't possibly mean…?" he inquired,

"Indeed I am, I was brought to this reality from this side, by Cybertroninans" I answered.

"B-but who? What Cybertroninan could have that level of-" Ratchet started before he was interrupted once more but by Optimus this time,

"The original thirteen. I was them who brought you here, and it was they who gave you your equipment, was it not?" Optimus asked, looking towards me. Ratchet scoffed, loudly,

"PULEEZE, I highly doubt that the original thirteen would waste their power on sending a human from another rea-" Ratchet started,

"Yup. I have to say Solus was an incredibly caring Prime. Although a little overzealous, even she said that she got carried away making this" I replied turning to show them the pack on my back.

As I turned back I saw most of them; all of them bar (except) Optimus and the humans; look at me with a stunned expression. "So, how much training am I gonna need before I join the team?" I asked jokingly. Scratching the back of my head softly I thought to myself as I looked around 'Fowler is gonna be mega ticked when he finds out about this'

A/N: so after, what? Three, four days(?) I have another chapter up. Even I'm surprised at this so don't get used to it. When I work on something constantly, I tend to ramble and things start to go a little loopy, which, it got a little towards the end. I apologise for that. However, I'm still a learning writer and very doubtful of my skills as one. Thank you to those who have favourited and followed this story already. Especially my friend, YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE -chuckles-. Anyways, till next time~

S-Shadow.