Ha! Came up with this chapter fast, didn't I? Well, I had the time, 'cause I was sick. I head this annoying voice saying "Tell them about Jetfire's bondmate" over-and-over again, so I finally wrote it and my friend (I won't name names) shut the hell up. All well, enjoy people!

Shadows of Them

Turbine

It had been over a month since they had seen Red Alert, and Jetfire was glad. He seemed to have grown hateful toward Red Alert, even Fred and Billy pondered his strange behavior. Jetfire growled rather suddenly, "I hope that slagger's miserable." He snapped without outside provocation.

Kobe looked up in surprise, wondering if he should say something, but Billy put his hand on his shoulder and shook his head, "His ego's been toppled son, let him regain his confidence first."

"Optimus, I found the exact point Re- he disappeared from." Scattershot whispered; Red Alert's name was an unspoken word in the bases dictionary, it was unspoken. "Should someone check on him? The data says he was with another 'bot at the time of his disappearance…"

"Why should we bother?" Jetfire grumbled, shaking his head, "He doesn't care about us anymore. He's become as selfish as a Decepticon."

"Don't say that!" Lori shouted, a tear falling down her face, "Red Alert had to have had a good reason for leaving! He had to!"

"Oh?" Hotshot barked, "What would that be? Huh? You don't understand- we were supposed to be a team, he could've betrayed us for all we know!"

Zipline flew up to meet Hotshot in the optics, "Don't talk to Lori-ori like that! Ya meany-bieny-bofiny!"

Optimus moved over to Scattershot's side, "He disappeared through the first base didn't he?" Scattershot nodded, "Can you access the bases security system and get footage?"

Jetfire looked to Optimus Prime, "Do you think that it works after all these years?"

"It should."

Scattershot typed away for a good while before smiling, "I've got the most recent footage from the first base."

"Put it on-screen." Optimus ordered.

A femme appeared on the screen, she had snow-white armor and blue-green optics. She sat down as if she was waiting for something. Jetfire stared at the visual, suddenly whispering, "She looks almost like Destiny… But that's impossible. We were there when she was destroyed…"

Landmine looked to Optimus, "Do you think someone who looked like her tricked him inta thinkin' she was him?"

Optimus looked at the femme on the screen; then shook his head, "Red Alert wouldn't have been fooled even if the femme had Destiny's bonding bracelet. He always did say he felt that she wasn't really gone…"

Jetfire looked at Optimus in surprise, "You can't be serious! She would've wanted him to stay with us! Hec, she'd have wanted to join us again!"

Hotshot's optics widened, "Unless their sparkling survived like she did! Then neither of them would dare stay involved in the war!" He looked at Optimus, "If that's the case… should we try to contact him?"

Optimus looked to the floor a moment, "Fast-foreword the tape. Find how they left."

Scattershot sped the tape up, then said, "It looks like they went through the old warp-gate, but I can't tell where…"

Optimus shook his head, "There will be no need, once at the old base I can look through the data banks and find out where they went for myself."

Jetfire shook his head, "You aren't going alone. I'm going too."

"Me too." Override added.

"I'm coming too Optimus." Landmine answered.

"You aren't going anywhere without me!" Hotshot chirped.

"Or me." Scattershot quipped.

"Or us!" Jolt shouted, the mini-cons chattering in agreement.

"Or us." The kids shouted in unison.

"I'm going along aswell." Vector Prime added.

Billy looked to his boys, about to protest then shook his head, "I'd tell you boys not to, but then I'd be a hypocrite. Be careful boys. You too Lori."

"Don't worry about a thing!" Spelunk smiled, "We won't be jumping off any cliffs- will we?" He looked to Bud.

"Nah." Bud smirked.

With Scattershot's help, it only took a few minutes to program the warp-gate to take them to the last location it registered. It looked like a deserted island through the gate. Once through the gate, they searched the island. They searched for more than an hour before Jetfire called everyone over to the area he was searching.

"Watch." He said when everyone had arrived. He waved his hand over a certain spot and it looked like his hand disappeared.

"Whoa…" Bud looked like he was practically going to slobber all over the strange occurrence.

"It must be a warp gate…" Vector murmured.

"Well let's go!" Bud cheered, only to be picked up by Optimus and stopped, "Hey! What gives?"

"If it's dangerous we should go first." Optimus explained.

"Where are we anyway?" Lori piped up.

"The dead center of the Bermuda Triangle." Scattershot answered.

Lori bit her lip, "Did ya have to say "dead center" Scattershot?"

The portal led to a cave of sorts, the over-hang of a cliff above them. "I hope that thing doesn't fall on us." Kobe murmured, pointing skywards.

"No worries mate, we should be fine." Jetfire reassured.

"Ay there, who be ye?" a gruff voice growled. They spun around to see a 'bot with dark, shadowy-colored armor, he was barely visible in the rough yet lush terrain. He had a strange-looking blaster pointed at them, his optics narrowed, "I asked ye a question. Are ye friend or foe to Tolerace?"

"We are Autobots, we mean you no harm, we were just trying to find a friend of ours."

He shook his head, "Ay, Lady Prime warned us ye'd follow from Earth, I suppose those humans are proof enough that ye're who ye says ye are." He turned around, "Ye best follow close to me; ye don't want to get lost in these wood." They followed close behind the mech, wondering what to do. The old mech looked behind him to look at them, "By the way, m' name's First Line. I'm Tolerace's first defense against the monsters in this wood.

"Monsters?" Bud asked timidly.

"Ay little one, monsters. I'll tell ye all about it when we get to m' post."

It was a short walk to what looked like some type of observation tower, a snoozing, clearly over-energized mech guarding the door. He jolted awake at the sound of their footsteps, "Backup!" he drawled, "Backup on duty! Don't even think about- oh… hey First Line."

First Line rolled his optics, pointing to the people behind him, "We got some newcomers Lad, where's the Lass?"

"You mean Silent Suzie?" Backup had clearly had too many energons, his voice drawled, but it still held a tinge of mockery. "She wents up in the tower floor."

First Line shook his head, "Don't mind Backup, he's been on this job too long. Come in, come in, I'll get ye lot some nice hot energon."

Once inside, he took them into an elevator shaft; it took them up to the top of the tower. He told everyone to sit down and take it easy until he got back from getting them energon. When he returned, he gave each 'bot a energon, even small cups for the Minicons, and coffee for the humans.

"Wow!" Lori smiled drinking it down, "This is really good- have you had humans on your planet before?"

He nodded, "Ay little Lass, we've got to be prepared for newcomers of every species. But we haven't had any new human around in seven years."

"First Line- if you don't mind me asking, who was the Silent Suzie, the one that Backup mentioned?" Optimus asked.

"Ay…" He shook his head, sighed, but then finally answered, "Ta be honest, we don't really know. Ye see; that portal ye came through is the only way to get to this planet safely. Most outsiders arrive because Primus saved 'um and sent 'um here. More often than not, they come to us with minor injuries or memory lapses, some don't even remember who they are unless they see a familiar face- but the Lass was different…. when she arrived, she couldn't remember or speak- we checked her vocal', but there ain nothin' physically wrong with her. An' since she's arrived she's been absolutely on edge, the slightest sound shakes her up good."

"Poor femme." Vector murmured, shaking his head. "But why can't she speak?"

"She always seems to be looking for somethin'; we think it might've been the stress of warping through the galaxy. Ay, but we do know that she remembers why Primus had to save her. From what we can tell, she was an' explorer, an' a scientist. We suppose she was studyin' a meteor in a rock-belt, and while she was distracted got boxed in by meteors. Do any of ye know of a femme scientist?" No one said a word, but they all shook their heads, except for Jetfire; he looked deep in thought, and even in his own little world.

A crash was heard from one of the rooms, like glass breaking. Jetfire jolted up and shouted, "Criky! What was that?"

First Line shook his head, "Don't worry about it Lass, come in here, we have some newcomers." Override noticed that he always called them newcomers, not visitors, arousing her suspicion.

The door opened and a frail-looking yet shapely femme entered, her paint was dull silver with faded red stripes, her optics dull blue, she clearly transformed into a jet, but she lacked Jetfire's confidence. If she smiled she might look pretty Lori thought, looking at her hopefully.

Jetfire jumped to his feet, optics glowing under his visor, "Turbine!" He shouted, making the femme fall in fear.

"Ye know her? It's nice to know her name."

"Turbine, are you alright?" Jetfire offered her his hand, but she scooted away from him, slamming her back to a wall. Even with a facemask and visor, it was obvious his feelings were hurt. "What's wrong Turbine? Don't ya recognize me? It's Jetfire! I know I've had a few upgrades since ya last saw me, but I haven't changed that much!" he again offered her his hand, and she looked into his visor for the first time.

She shook her head and words escaped her lip components, "I don't know you."

"Ay Lass! Ye spoke! Remember him or not he triggered somethin' in ye." She stood up, keeping away from Jetfire. "Ay, so ye name is Turbine then?"

She shook her head, "How do we know he's being truthful?" Her voice was quivering, as if she was unsure of the voice that came out; but it was a sweet, kind, yet forceful voice.

"Why would I lie?" Jetfire shouted, "And how can ya not remember me!" She again seemed to shrink in fear of him. "Don't be scared of me!"

"Oh, well then how do I know you?"

"You're my bon-" he stopped as if he thought better of what he had been about to say, then calmly whispered, "You're me best mate." He voiced dropped even lower, "Don't ya remember how we met? Remember? The fourth-term class at Cybertron Academy, on the first day of class in the middle of class I got in a fist-fight with another mech, ya pulled me off of him and separated us- don't ya remember?" She shook her head, "I remember your first words to me- "Knock it off ya moron." Why don't you remember me?"

She shook her head, "I'm sorry, I just don't remember you. The farthest back I can remember is when I was out on that asteroid just before I was transported here. I'm sorry, I wish I could remember something, anything about my life from before Tolerace, really I do, but I just don't." Jetfire looked as if she had slapped him in the face, he was clearly hurt.

"Ay Lass, maybe a trip through town will clear ye head, and ye should take these 'bots to see some of the Ladies and Lords, get them knowing some of the important 'bots around, after all, they'll need to."

She nodded, "Thanks First Line. And I will- where should I take them first?"

"Ay… How about the Coleville tower? The one Lady 1 watches."

"Okay!" She chirped, clearly feeling better and more confident with her new voice. "Follow me!" she headed for the elevator, waiting at the door for them.

They slowly walked after her, Jetfire moving the slowest, falling a bit behind. First Line put a hand on his shoulder, "Ay Lad, don't worry, eventually almost all arrivals remember who they were before- I'm sure you're bondmate is no different."

Jetfire looked at him in surprise, "How did you-"

"I'm older than you, I've seen a lot of 'bot that're still in love with someone who doesn't remember them. Now go on with them." Being shooed, Jetfire ran off to join the others, hoping for the best. First Line smiled and returned to a window, waiting for them to emerge and go off, and keeping a lookout on the forest, he hadn't explained to them the dangers that lay in the forest, but Turbine knew them, and he knew they would be fine.

All done, wha'd ya think? RnR, I'll try to hurry with the next chapter.