Naruto belongs to Kishimoto Masashi, Viz Media, and Shonen Jump.
Transformers Prime belongs to Hasbro.

RxR- Read & Review please.

Chapter: Unintentional Illusions.

It took place within a room, one of small size and simplicity.

A little toddler, less than a few years old. He was playing in his room, off in his own little world. Of course, his mother was with him as well, sitting just a foot or two away from the boy. She was smiling, watching him play with the toys he had, even if he wasn't all that are of her himself.

Instead, the little boy was busy looking at several toys, all of were sitting around him like they had been lined up for him. They ranged from things like teddy bears, trucks, and even a few blocks. All of them were nice and colorful, something that made the toddler let out a little cheer at.

The little toddler cheered at that and nodded, a small giggle escaping from him.

But as his mother grinned widely at him, the toddler gazed off to the side and spotted something.

Right next to a set of building blocks, the toddler noticed something just underneath the pile of plastic bricks. Something red with a black outline. In truth, the item in question was a small paper fan, something that had been buried underneath some of the other toys that surrounded the tot. But with the curiosity that came with being a toddler, the little boy couldn't resist. So as such, he then crawled over to the strange toy and picked it up.

Upon picking it up though, June looked over at her son and giggled at what he had found, "Aw, whatcha got there?"

Turning back to the woman, the toddler lifted the toy up for all to see. And once she did see it, June smiled at her son's little discovery, "Hey, thats a pinwheel!"

June reached over and gently took the pinwheel from her son. Then, she calmly held the paper fan in front of his face and smiled at him, "You know what this is? Huh, honey? Well, watch what happens when I do...this!"

The little toddler watched intently as his mother brushed one of her fingers over the fan's sides. Then, with a small bit of pressure, June sent one of the pinwheel's edges spiraling. That little motion caused the red little fan to go spinning, spinning so fast that the original shape of the fan couldn't be seen anymore. Instead, all the little boy could see was the spinning, red circle.

A circle with a few black lines spiraling around its black center.

He almost seemed entranced by the strange contraption, his little eyes following its every motion. After all, it could be said that children were easily distracted by bright and colorful things, and the fan surely counted in that department.

But as the seconds passed by...something, strange happened.

It happened in an instant, while the little boy was just sitting there. But then, just out of nowhere, he just stopped. Stopped smiling, stopped giggling, and his eyes even started to tremble. It took June a moment to notice this but before she could say anything, her son started to cry. Well, it wasn't just crying. He was wailing, with his eyes suddenly snapping shut as tears started to slide down his eyes...

Tears that seemed a bit too...red than they should have been.

"Jack?" his mother asked, growing quite alarmed. She even dropped the pinwheel to the ground and rushed over to her baby's side. But despite her comfort, the toddler didn't stop crying.

In fact, his crying only started to get worse. It was like he was in pain, a excruciating pain for someone so young. And the mere fact that the tears that were flowing out of his eyes weren't tears at all didn't help. Even June could tell what was pouring down her son's chubby little cheeks.

Blood. Tears of blood were running down the toddler's face.

"Oh, honey its alright, its alright..." June cooed, trying to calm the young boy down. But with the red tears still flowing without stop, even June's calming words had little effect on the toddler. So much so, that even June herself was having a hard time remaining calm at the sight of what was happening.

"Oh, oh god. Robert! Call the doctor! CALL the Hospital!"

A muffled yell could be heard just outside the toddler's room, but it was barley able to make it over the infant's crying. It had grown so loud and so pained, that June's own eyes widened. She tried to pick the boy up in a attempt to rock him into a calmer state but like before, it resulted in no results. In the end, all June could do was hold him there, whispering gentle words into the toddler's ears.

"Come on honey, its all right...Jack, its okay. Mommy's here..."

"Its okay...just...hang in there..."

"Jack..."

"Jack..!?"

"JACK!?"

Deep within a lone house in the middle of a city that seemed far too out of the way for its own good, a young teen suddenly gasped before sitting up. With his lungs feeling as if they had been sucked dry, Jack kicked the covers off his feet and grabbed at his eyes...

"My-!"

While touching his skin, Jack could feel his hands tremble like he had been sacred out of his wits. But despite such a bone chilling sensation, the teen let out a sigh once he felt nothing but the sweat across his face. And with that fact surely in his mind, Jack let out another sigh and dropped his hands.

Even with that little fact quite clear to him though, Jack just sat still for a few moments, his lungs feeling as if they were burning from the inside out. For while his fears had been put to rest, the boy's body wasn't as calm as he needed it to be.

His body was chilled, caked in sweat along with his trembling nerves too. Everything felt so disorienting too, making it almost impossible for him to tell if he was awake or not. But after a second or two of breathing steadily, the teen let out a sigh and rubbed his forehead.

"A...a dream." he muttered, "It...was just a dream."

Once he was certain of that though, Jack looked up and examined the state of his room. The bedroom was still covered in a thick coat of darkness, with nothing visible except for a few noticeable shapes in the distance. Such darkness easily told the boy that his dream had woken him up a bit too early, meaning that he had accidentally beaten his alarm clock to the punch...

Again.

But before the teen could sit back and try to drift off into slumber land once more, something on the other side of his room caught his attention.

Far across the bedroom was a small light, something that was far too small to be a night-light or anything similar. Instead, what Jack saw was a pair of almost unnoticeable red dots, both of which were floating a few feet away from his bed.

"Wha…?" he muttered, narrowing his gaze at the strange light.

But upon closer examination, Jack let out an aggravated groan when he realized what the lights were. For upon taking a closer look, Jack realized that he was staring at his mirror. And the two 'dots' he was looking at?

They were his eyes, glowing ominously in the dark.

He discovered this upon covering one of his eyes and noticing that one of the 'dots' vanished as a result. Of course though, this only could mean one thing for Jack. Even while he was asleep, his eyes had changed…again.

Another small characteristic that Jack had discovered about his eyes while he was young was the fact that when they 'changed', his eyes often glowed in the dark. Sure, it wasn't anything seriously noticeable, but within a darkened room and a mirror nearby? It was something that defiantly scared the boy when he first discovered such a trait.

It didn't scare him anymore thankfully, but it did make his head hurt whenever he noticed it. The pain from his eyes wasn't even the main source of his irritation though. That came from time his clock currently read.

-4:37am-

"Oh, come on…"

Tossing his arms up into the air, Jack let out a frustrated mutter and fell back onto his bed. He could already feel his eyes stinging again, and it wasn't even time for him to get ready for school yet! The teen still had one or two hours until his normal wake up time!

"So unfair." he grumbled, already feeling as if the day had gotten off on a rotten start.

Still, there was one thing Jack could hope for.

At least it couldn't get any worse from there…right?

-Later,The Autobot's base-

"Come on Jack, just do it again!" Miko whined at the boy, something she had been doing for quite some time now.

Jack though, he just sighed and crossed his arms before leaning back against the sofa, "Miko seriously? I'm not in the mood, so can we just...not and say we did?"

"Nope!"

Shortly after the trio of kids and their guardians returned to the Autobot's base, the two groups quickly separated with the bots heading off to do their respective duties while the children all gathered around the designated area. Such a place included a nice couch that Bumblebee had found (no one really wanted to ask where) and a small Television the kids could entertain themselves with. But even though they had such a device and their homework, Miko had something else she wanted to try out.

Even if it truly pushed Jack's buttons (especially due to his tired demeanor).

"I still don't get it." Raf, the youngest and most calm of the trio asked his friends, still fairly of the loop. For Raf was the only one of the teens who hadn't been at the Autobot's previous skirmish with the Decepticons, and so he had no idea what Miko was talking about.

Unfortunately for him though, she was more than willing to explain.

"Raf, it was awesome!" Miko excitingly told the boy, "There was this huge Con standing over me and Jack, about to slag us! But right before it had the change to blow us to bits -BAM!- Jack grabbed me and dodged everyone of its shots! It was awesome!"

Jack scoffed at the girl's exaggeration, "Come on, it was just luck! Seriously, you're making a big deal out of nothing."

"Nothing my butt!" Miko responded with a pout, "Now come on Jack! Just let me-"

Before Miko even got the chance to finish her sentence, Jack crossed his arms and shook his head, "No way Miko. We get enough balls thrown at us in Gym, so I'd rather go the rest of the day without having another one come even close."

School itself had been fairly tame for the most part, much to Jack's fortunate for one. There had been only a few bumps in the road, such as the utterly mind numbingly boring classes and a few students being their obnoxious selves. Although, Gym had been a pleasant surprise for the most part. Not only had they played dodge-ball for once, but Jack even manged to clobber Vince too!

His eyes had been an unfortunate (in Jack's opinion) advantage in that, but overall, not too bad of a day actually.

Although, such a day did help contribute to the present situation. After seeing Jack somehow being a bit too active on his feet while in Gym, Miko came up with a little 'plan'. A 'plan' that involved borrowing one of the same dodge-balls they had used during Gym and bringing it to the bot's base along with her. It was was all in the harebrained idea that Jack MIGHT be able to dodge it in a similar manner as he had back with the Vehicon (or even the dodge-balls back during Gym).

Of course, that would only happen if he DID catch it and not...well, get smacked upside the head with a damn dodge-ball. Miko was certain that such an outcome wouldn't happen. But Jack was a bit more reserved, especially since it concerned his noggin.

"Come on!" the girl tried again, almost on the borderline of whining, "Just once!"

"No."

"Please!?"

"No."

"Come on! Don't be a wimp!"

"No."

"Just once! Please!"

Shaking his head venomously, Jack crossed his arms and gave the girl a stern look, "No, Miko. And besides, I know you're going to do it. How do you suspect this is going to work at all if I know its coming?"

The exchange student opened her mouth to responded to that, but she quickly stopped when she actually thought about it, "Um..."

While the teen fumbled around with the idea of how she was going to pull her little stunt off, Jack turned to Raf with a small smile on his face. He kept the corner of his eyes on Miko to be sure, but he wasn't really worried. It was no surprise that Miko often acted on ideas before she had completely thought them out, and this was no different.

"So," Jack asked the younger teen, wanting to change the subject before Miko could come up with anything, "How was your day, Raf?"

"Oh, um..." Raf mumbled, "Well, it was-"

-THAWK-

Before Raf could finish his sentence, he was caught off guard when something red and large flashed by the boys eyes. Such a sensation confused the teen for a second or two before he finally found his senses again. Once his mind caught up with his eyesight though, Raf was greeted with the scene of Jack holding the ball just a few inches away from his head.

The same ball Miko had been holding seconds prior to that.

"Seriously, Miko. Don't do that." Jack muttered before tossing the ball back to the girl.

To her credit though, Miko merely let chuckled at the boy's tone and shrugged, "Hey, it seemed to be a good time to try."

Letting out a small scoff, Jack tossed the ball away while Miko turned her attention toward Raf, a excited look still present of the girl's face, "See Raf! See how cool that was!?"

"Um..." the boy muttered, not really sure how to react to such a display, "I..guess?"

Raf didn't really see what the big deal was. Sure, Jack had caught the ball with a impressive display of reflexes, but was that really so impressive? Surely other people could do something similar if they were in such a position. In fact, Miko should have been happy that Jack didn't just smack the ball back at her face instead of catching it like he had.

Despite the girl relishing in the fact that Jack had caught the ball without even batting an eyelash, the teen himself was even less impressed, "Miko, really? It was just a ball. Its not like I dodged a bullet or something. You're totally making a big deal out of nothing."

Such a comment easily snapped the girl out of her excitement. And upon seeing that Raf actually agreed with the boy's opinion on the matter, Miko merely huffed and crossed her arms at the pair, "Well, it was a lot cooler when a Con was shooting at us."

"I'm sure."

Once the girl's little 'demonstration' finished however, the teens and the rest of the base slowly drifted off into a state of peace that they rarely ever got to enjoy recently. For whenever the bots and their guests didn't have something to do, some kind of trouble normally found them at the worst possible moment. But despite that, it actually seemed as if the base would be quite peaceful for the rest of the day-

"Optimus, we're receiving a communication," Ratchet grunted, "And...its from Agent Fowler."

An audible groan escaped from a few of the present Autobots, the mention of that man's name was starting to become a massive headache for the crew.

"What does he want now?" Bulkhead grumbled, "Did he bust up another one of his rides and needs one of us to substitute for him?"

The local medic sent the Wrecker a glare due to such an idea, but it wasn't something he was completely doubting either. For the Agent in question had been asking quite a bit of the bots lately, with this most recent request almost causing a nuclear detonation that would have irradiated all of Nevada and four adjoining states surrounding it. Such a mission had the Autobots not only engaging Decepticons, but they were also introduced to another threat, one of the human variety too.

So, it was easy to see why the bots were a bit...aggravated by the notion that the Agent wanted something from them once again. After all, he normally never called them unless it was for such a reason.

Now, its not that the bots hated the man (mostly), they didn't. But they were rather open to the idea of getting a break from him if possible. Something like a temporary vacation from their liaison. But despite such a promising idea, each of the Cybertronians and their human allies knew that they wouldn't be getting off so easy.

So instead of dropping the call like so many of them wanted to, Optimus approached Ratchet's console and answered the call (while being careful so not to get blindsided by the mans screaming like he often did), "Yes, Agent Fowler?" he greeted the man, "Is there something you need?"

Everyone, including the children, quickly prepared themselves for the booming voice of the Autobot's liaison. After all, Fowler was quite known for just how annoyingly loud he could be when annoyed. In fact, he was like Ratchet in that way...

Only far more irritating.

"Prime, we've got some trouble."

That little statement didn't surprise anyone. Whenever Fowler came around, it was only for two reasons. To complain about something, or to give the bots bad news. And there was one of the bots that had grown quite sick of the latter of the two. So much so, that he approached the medic's console and addressed the agent personally.

"Again?" Bulkhead angrily questioned the man, "What now? What could you seriously need for us to do with you now? After all the recent scrap you've had us help you out with, what could you seriously need us to do now-"

"Its the Scrapyard."

Like the flip of a switch, Bulkhead and the rest of the bots froze. Shock was present all over their faces, an uneasy silence quickly following the agent's words. But for the kids, it just lead to more confusion. And it wasn't just because of the bot's reaction either. Much to nearly all of their expectations, Fowler wasn't his normal angry, overaggressive mood either. Instead, the man simply sounded worried for some reason. And for whatever reason that was, none of the bots had a feeling that they were going to like it.

"The...what?" Jack asked, not liking what he was seeing from the bots.

Snapping out of their shock,, Ratchet let out a sigh while he pinched his 'nose', "Most of Megatron's forces are entirely made up of 'Vehicons'. Powerful yet disposable Drones that often come in either land based or air based alternative forms. In combat, these drones are often deployed in mass number and are often reduced to piles of scrap after the battle is settled."

"Once the battle is over though, Megatron often has his forces collect the remains of his troops and transports them back to the Nemesis, where they can be repaired and deployed again like nothing had happened."

"But this doesn't always happen." Optimus spoke, taking over for the medic, "Whenever a battle is located within a place where the Vehicons cannot be safely retrieved or if their failure is too great, Megatron often leaves them there as punishment for their defeat."

Agent Fowler took up the stage next, "And when the Cons leave their troops just lying around, its my job to collect them and store them so no one accidentally stumbles upon them and causes a panic."

While it was unlikely given some of the locations of their battles, the bots and Fowler agreed that leaving Vehicon corpses lying around wouldn't be the smartest of things. If there was even the littlest of chances that someone could stumble upon the remains, then both the Bots and Fowler would be in a loud of trouble.

"Okay," Raf asked, having understood what they had told the three, "But whats this...Scrapyard place you were talking about?"

"Its where we keep the remains of any Vehicon that Megatron leaves behind." Ratchet explained once again, "In short, its meant to be a highly secured warehouse that contains various off-limit equipment. But in truth, its simply a graveyard for Megatron's garbage."

The 'Scrapyard' was perhaps one of the most important and defining part of the agreement the Autobots had struck with the human race. For exchange for a place to hide Megatron's leftovers, the Government had a way to keep the Bot's presence a secret and actually study them (even if there had been quite a few guidelines added by Ratchet). It was a win-win situation mostly.

But from such a concept, Jack realized a fairly big issue with it, "Okay...but why not keep them here or something? You guys have plenty of room from what we've seen."

"Too Dangerous." Ratchet explained, "We can't risk even one of the Vehicons being tracked back here. It would mean catastrophic results for all of us if Megatron discovered out base."

From that, everyone could agree. With the giant warship that normally followed wherever the Decepticons went, the bots couldn't afford to have their secret base discovered by their sworn enemies. What could happen if such a turnout occurred was something that no one wanted to imagine, even slightly.

"That being said though," Ratchet announced before turning his attention back to Fowler, "What happened exactly? You've assured us that the facility is completely full proof, and that the records of its real cargo are unknown to nearly all outlets of your government."

Along with that, Ratchet had also helped design the place too. The medic had added a few unique security measures in case the Cons did try and track the ruined Cons. After all, Ratchet might not be willing to risk the base itself, but he wasn't going to let Megatron have his chance to get his claws on so many recyclable Vehicons without some form of protection.

He was careful, not stupid.

Despite not being there, Agent Fowler let out a tired sigh while he began to explain, "It wasn't something I wanted to bother you lot with at first. We merely thought that it was an power issue. A small black out or something."

From then on, the representative began to fully explain what had occurred. He spoke about how the base had gone dark, how some of the guards stationed there had vanished, and finally...the lock down. It was what made Fowler and his superiors aware of the situation itself and why it changed from a minor inconvenience to a major problem.

"All we know is that someone, a small force at the most, has invaded the facility." Fowler finished, "We haven't had any contact with the guards that were stationed there, and with the lock-down in place, it means that one of them manged to discover what was going on before he was taken out."

The situation seemed grim, and it surely wasn't something the bots could just ignore. The building did contain quite a bit of information on them and the Decepticons. Information the bots couldn't just let fall into the wrong hands.

"Alright," Bulkhead announced as he smacked his servos together, "Why don't we break in there and let you guess handle it?"

Remarkably, Ratchet and Fowler would have actually agreed with the Wrecker's suggestion. But of course, there was a catch, "What do you think we've been doing? We've tried to break in a few times, but the place is built like a fortress. Even you lot would need some time to get inside. Time that would just clue in whoever is doing this and speed up their attempts."

At the moment, their only advantage was the fact that the intruders had no idea that they were onto them. If they took their time, the intruders could find themselves examining the warehouse for quite some time. But if they know that help is coming, then the lengths they could go to find what they were looking for before they were caught could mean for an even worse turn out.

So, for the moment at least...brute force would just make things worse.

"Why don't you guys just Ground Bridge into the place?" Miko suggested, a smirk present on the girl's face, "I doubt anyone would suspect a group of giant robots to suddenly appear through a freaky portal!"

Now, that was something most of the bots could agree to. After all, if the intruders had already seen the remains of the Vehicons, then they wouldn't exactly have much more to hide from them. Sometimes, keeping themselves a secret wasn't all that important. But even so, Ratchet shook his head at the girl's idea.

"While a possibility, Ground Bridging into the building was something I actually wanted to prevent." he sighed, "During construction, I had assisted Agent Fowler in setting up some filters, devices that would scramble a Ground Bridge's signal and prevent it from stabilizing."

Such devices were fairly simple, and yet amazingly effective. In fact, if the Autobots didn't use their own Ground Bridge so often, then Ratchet would have installed the same devices around their on base. Still, it made of quite a powerful defense against enemy insertion via a Ground Bridge. Too bad that the Medic's own devices were actually standing as a obstacle for them now.

"Although...that does give me an idea." Ratchet mused, something that shocked quite a number of the bots.

"The filters I set up disrupt and dis-stabilize a ground bridge's signal, but it doesn't completely block it." the medic explained, "If one were to generate a small enough bridge and kept it open for a short amount of time, then someone would be able to slip on in...in theory."

While many of the bots were a bit relieved that Ratchet had actually came up with a plan, the 'in theory' part didn't really inspire that much faith. After all, in theory often meant one of two things. It would either work, or fail horribly.

And the latter of the two options never sounded good.

"I may be able to generate a ground bridge small enough and just long enough for someone to slip inside. And from there, the individual could de-activate the lock down that is preventing Agent Fowler's men from entering."

"But..." Ratchet muttered before the bots got too comfortable with the idea, "The size of the Ground Bridge would have to be quite insignificant. That would be the only way for it to maintain its stability without collapsing on itself and..."

Thankfully, the medic didn't finish that sentence. After all, the idea of what would happen to someone if a Ground Bridge closed on them was not a happy thought. It was bade enough that they were often escaping a dangerous situation, but getting trapped inside one of them? Such an outcome wasn't pleasant sounding to anyone.

"How big are we talking about?" Bulkhead asked, not really liking the sound of 'insignificant'.

"Hm..." Ratchet mused for a second or two, "If my calculations are correct...only around three to four meters, give or take."

Frowning, the bots quickly realized that such a size would limit nearly all of them from venturing inside the compound. At most, Arcee's alternate form would be the only one that could fit. The rest of them would have to wait and see how things worked out.

But really, would the bots seriously send one of their own into a completely unknown situation without at least some form of back-up?

Well, not exactly.

-The 'Scrapyard'-

"This is insane."

Sighing, Jack shook his head at his irate guardian, "Well, it was either me or Miko, which one of us would you rather of had come along?"

A split second of silence was earned, resulting in a aggravated grunt from the femme, "Point taken."

Smirking to himself, Jack "So, why haven't you guys told us about this place before?"

After shifting through a rather small and unstable looking Ground Bridge, Jack and Arcee quickly found themselves in a dark, abandoned room. Said room was also filled with abandoned and dusty looking crates, but luckily, it seemed to be far out of the way of anything of importance too. Meaning that the intruders likely hadn't heard to duo's arrival either.

And they were thankful for that. After all, the mission the two had to do would be one better accomplished without being noticed. Sneaking inside and finding the security room was all Jack and Arcee had to do. For form there (and with the information Agent Fowler had told them), the pair should have no trouble with disabling the Lock-out. Without such a barrier would easily allow Fowler's men to ransack the place without giving any warning to the intruders.

With such a simple and straight forward plan, everyone could hope that all of it could be accomplished without any issues.

Hopefully.

"Well," Arcee whispered as she rolled through the portal, "Would you guys have honestly wanted to hear about where the busted up remains of the Cons we fight go? Just didn't seem like something one talks about."

Jack shrugged, understanding that idea, "True. Unless you're Miko, that doesn't seem to be good conversational material."

Arcee gave the boy that, but grew quiet as the duo approached the door to the room they had appeared in. While being ever so quiet, the pair gently approached the door and leaned it open. Peaking out of it, the duo let out a small sigh of relief upon seeing no one around.

"Okay, so what now?" Jack whispered, still scanning the hall for any sign of the intruders.

Flickering her mirror at the teen, Arcee mused on what the pair should do next, "You stay here. I'll go searching around for a bit until I can find a safe room to the security room. Then I'll come back, get you, and then we can both get out of here once you turn off the Lock-down."

A reasonable plan in the femme's mind, but it wasn't when it concerned her 'partner', "You can't be serious."

"What?"

"You're just going to drive around this place until you find these guys?" Jack asked, sounding as if the plan was utterly insane, "Really? Why don't we both go? We both find the security room, and we both get out of-"

Before he could finish though, Arcee promptly interrupted the boy, "No."

Her tone was flat and serious, leaving nearly no room for a rebuttal in the femme's decision. Jack himself just gawked at the motorcycle, but the glare she was giving him through her mirrors was more than enough to tell the boy that he had no chance to convince her otherwise.

With her mind made up, Jack reluctantly opened the door of the femme. From there Arcee quietly rolled into the hall before taking off, her alt. form sounding amazingly silent as it sped off down the hall.

"Great..." Jack grumbled.

Letting out a small sigh, Jack retreated back into the room and leaned against a nearby wall. He wasn't going to risk roaming the building without at least some company, but that didn't mean he actually liked being ditched yet again.

Still, with nothing else to do, Jack let out a small sigh and simply waited for Arcee to return. This little decision lasted for several minutes, with the various storage boxes being the only company the boy had during such a wait. But after several boring minutes, the teen snapped to attention when he heard the sound of footsteps emerging from down one end of the hall..

Swallowing his breath, Jack cautiously started to inch himself towards the door. Luckily, the door had been only somewhat left ajar, allowing Jack a small chance to gaze out at the approaching figures. But what he saw wasn't something that would make his day any better.

Making their way through the hall were two humans, men from what Jack could tell. Due to their attire, which consisted of a full-body suit, a military style coat, and a mask covering their face, it was nearly impossible for Jack to tell exactly what gender either of the pair was. But in truth, that wasn't the first thin that crossed the teen's mind. Instead, the first thing Jack noticed was the rifles the men were carrying.

'Scrap!' Jack cursed before ducking back into the room.

Not only that, but their attire seemed oddly familiar, almost as if Jack had seen it before. Still, with the two men passing awfully close to the room he was in, Jack clamped his hands over his mouth and just sat there, being as quiet as he could possibly be.

"Think we should check this one?" one of the men asked just as they passed.

"Nah, we're looking for computers remember? The boss wants data on these giant metal...things." one of the men replied to his partner, "And do you really think theres going to be something in there?"

Shrugging, the other half of the pair simply shook his head as they continued on, "Guess not."

As silent as he could be, Jack watched as the two men continued down the hall, seemingly ignoring the teen's room completely. It was a relief that almost made Jack sigh, but he manged to catch himself right before he did so.

'That was close...' Jack inwardly sighed before leaning back again.

This time though, the teen's luck didn't seem to hold up. For the moment the boy reached out to rest himself against something, Jack's hand brushed up against a small box that had been stored just behind the door. Such a brief contact might not have seemed like much, but it was just enough to send the box teetering over the side...

-BANG!-THWACK!-CLANG!-

And crashing to the ground, sending all of its innards to spill out across the floor with a noisy shutter.

The moment this happened, Jack froze like a stature, almost as if he had broken glass or something. The teen remained still though, a small part of him hoping the the strange men who had just passed hadn't heard his blunder.

"What the hell was that!?"

"No idea...I think it came from that room though."

"Think one of the guards snuck away while we weren't looking?"

"Dunno. Lets check it out."

'Scrap!' Jack silently screamed.

With the two intruders slowly making their way back toward Jack's hiding place, the teen's mind went into overdrive as he tried to find a place to hide. There were so many boxes to hide behind that Jack had no idea which one to pick. But with time quickly running out, the teen also knew that he didn't have time to debate.

So by picking a place at random, Jack dived behind a set of boxes and sat in wait, hoping that he would go unnoticed.

A silent tension filled the air, the only sounds penetrating the room being the sound of Jack breathing and the footsteps growing ever closer to the room. These footsteps soon grew comfortingly loud, culminating when a low creaking was heard as the door was pushed open.

Nothing as said, not even a vague attempt at calling out 'Anyone there?'. The two intruders simply strolled on into the room, their weapons at the ready as they began searching through the room.

What followed was a near unbearable moment of two of silence for Jack. The teen could practically feel his heart beating as every second crawled by. It was almost as if his heart was trying to burst out of his chest. Not only that though, the teen also had to deal with his eyes too!

The tension, it was like a jump start for his eyes. The sprang to life and filled the boy's head with a sharp pain. IT was almost enough to earn a yelp from the boy, but he manged to beat it down for the moment.

Despite such developments though, Jack tried his best to ignore both his heart and his crimson eyes. Instead, he merely attempted to stay as quiet as possible. Several seconds passed in this fashion, with the men seemingly unaware of the teen in the room with them. But like all good things, Jack's luck seemed to give out on him the moment the guards were about to leave.

-RIIIIING!-

Eyes snapping open, Jack's looked down at himself and gasped at the sudden noise, 'Phone!'

Jack quickly tried to reach down and silence his phone before he was discovered. But by the time his hand touched his plastic device, it was too late.

The moment Jack actually manged to turn off his phone, the two men were already on him. In the quick seconds that followed, a strong arm reached over the boxes Jack had hidden behind and grabbed the boy by the back of his shirt. A quickly flick of said arm, and Jack quickly found himself dragged out of his hiding place and violently tossed across the room, landing atop a nearby table with a pain shooting through his back.

Groaning, Jack slowly opened his eyes after such a painful landing and was greeted with quite an unpleasant sight.

Two men standing over him, with a gun pointed directly in his face.

"Well now." one of the men, the one who wasn't pointing the gun at him, chuckled at the trapped teen, "Whats this then?"

"Looks like a kid," the other man muttered, "In fact...hey! I know you!"

Gulping, Jack couldn't do a thing but yelp as one of the men grabbed him by the neck and pulled him upward. The two were now on even levels, with Jack able to look the man straight in the face (or mask, as it was), "This is the punk that was one the train! The one I told you about!"

Tilting his head to the side, the other man looked at his partner confusingly, "What? You mean the kids you say was on that train? The one where we tried to steal that...that, what was it called?"

"Dingus?"

Blinking the two men looked back to Jack, who was wearing a rather nervous look, "I...think it was called the Dingus..."

The duo seemed to process such a word for a moment, almost as if neither of them could believe that someone would actually name something that. But in the meanwhile, they unknowingly gave Jack enough time to finally remember where he had seen the two before. Or at least, their uniforms. They were part of that group that tried to steal the Dingus and almost got Jack, Miko, Raf, and all of Nevada killed!

'I...I think Fowler called them, MECH or something...'

"Yeah!" the man with the gun finally remembered, "Thats it! How could I forget such a stupid name!? You on the train with it! Holding a fire extinguisher!"

Jack seriously had to resist gapping at the man's memories, 'Thats what you remember?'

Despite his partner's revelation though, the other MECH agent found himself more focused on another question, "Okay, thats neat, but whats with the kid being here then?"

Freezing up, Jack felt his entire body go cold. Explaining to the two men why he was there would be nearly impossible. What serious excuse could the teen make up to explain why he was in a random military warehouse? It just didn't make sense! And unfortunately, it was something the pair picked up on as well.

"Yeah, you've got a point there." the agent holding Jack muttered. Turning his attention back towards Jack, the man tightened his grip around the boy's neck.

"So, kid. What'cha doing here?"

Feeling himself being pulled off the table, Jack felt his voice suddenly leave him. The pressure against this throat made it nearly impossible for him to speak. All the teen could do was stare into the man's expressionless face, the mask hiding any hint of the man's own expressions.

The other stranger shrugged, almost uncaring about whatever explanation Jack might give him, "Why don't we just bring him back to the boss? If the kid was there, maybe he knows a bit about those freaky robots?"

Musing on that idea, the man's partner pulled Jack a bit closer and seemed to inspect his face for a second or two, "Dunno. You think the boss will like that? You know how he feels about people dragging pointless things into his office."

Yet again, the man's partner shrugged, unable to deny such a fact. Still, he didn't really want to deal with Jack at the moment. The longer the pair wasted with Jack, the less time they had to complete their assignment. And despite how eager the other agent was about getting some information out of Jack, neither of them wanted to face their boss if they came back empty handed.

With nothing telling the man to stop though, the Agent holding Jack just continued on his way. But upon roughing the boy up a bit, the man noticed something a bit odd about Jack. Something he hadn't noticed before.

"You know kid, you have very weird eyes...you know that?"

The teen's breath hitched the moment his eyes were mentioned, the damn eyes were always popping up at the wrong time.

But while the man noticed the boy's eyes, he also stared into them. The red coloring and the tomoes. They weren't something he had ever seen before. But within those brief seconds of staring, something else began to happen. Something the man couldn't really put into words.

For before the man's very eyes, he could have sworn that at he saw Jack's eyes spin, like a pinwheel.

Then, without warning, it happened.

Just as the man began speak again, he froze. His entire body went frigid, all the muscles in his body went stiff and his grip loosed too. Even behind the man's mask, sweat dripped down his face, almost as if his heart had suddenly stopped beating. But while the man's body went still, his eyes continued to move.

-MECH Agent's subconscious-

"Wh..what?"

In an instant, everything seemed to change. The room vanished, Jack and the other intruder disappeared completely from the man's gaze. In fact, there was nothing even around for the man to see. It was all just darkness, likes someone had switched off all the lights in a pitch black room.

"What the hell is this!?" he man demanded, loking around the room almost frantically, "Kid! If this is you, knock it off!"

There was no reply to the man's demands though. Nothing, not even his partner sharing the same experience. In fact, the man seemed completely alone...

Almost.

For just standing a few feet away from the frustrated agent, was a figure. At first glance, one could easily confuse such a thing as silhouette. But in truth, it was much more than that. Whatever it was, the figure was massive, towering over the man like a skyscraper. Its entire form was, like the rest of the surroundings, pitch black. It nearly blended into the background even, no noticeable characteristics could be seen to separate it from the darkness.

There only thing that could be seen though, and that was its eyes.

Large burning orbs, cutting through the darkness like a knife. They were so intense that they even seemed to be glowing like a burning fire. In fact, everything felt like it as burning. The ground, air, and even the man's body. All of it felt as if someone had doused them in lighter fluid and set them ablaze.

Blazing...

Burning...

Like a fire...

-Back in Reality-

"The hell?"

Without the man actively holding onto him, Jack quickly fell back onto the table, coughing his lungs out. But when the man staggered back and just stood there, his partner blinked behind his mask and just looked at the man confusingly.

"Hey, man...whats wrong?" the trooper questioned, his tone filled with utter confusion. But when his partner didn't reply, the MECH agent leaned over and nudged the man's shoulder. Instead of snapping out of whatever was happening to him though, the man just sat there, unmoving.

Not even a twitch.

"Hey! Whats wrong with you!?" the man snapped, even taking the time to slap his partner over the man's head. Yet despite that, the man still didn't get a response. If was as if the man's partner was unconscious or something. Completely separated from the world, his mind gone for the most part.

But when the man found his attempts failing, he turned his attention toward Jack with a raging expression underneath his mask.

"You! What did you do-" he growled.

Just before the man could even touch Jack though, the teen's foot shot upward. It happened in an instant, leaving the man no chance to react once Jack's shoe made contact with his chin. A thunderous crack followed suit, ending with the man staggering back before falling back onto the ground.

Out like a light.

With his heart beating like a drum, Jack sat silently for a few seconds. His gaze was shaky and his skin was cold, but the teen manged to keep his gaze on the two men in front of him. One of them seemed to be out cold, his chin meeting the bad end of Jack's foot. But the other...he just stood there, silent and as still as a rock.

'What in the...' Jack inwardly muttered, his throat still feeling a bit sore from the man's death grip.

Not willing to stand around and see whenever the man snapped out of his strange condition though, Jack stood up and cautiously motioned himself around the two men. A chill ran up the teen's spine when he passed by the latter of the two though, an unsettling feeling shuttering through the teen. Something about what happened to him...it unsettled Jack.

And his eyes...they weren't making the situation any better.

The orbs attached to his face were burning like a fire. Like a candle had been lit behind his skull, slowly roasting the inside of his face. Regardless of this though, Jack did his best to slowly make his way out of the room and into the hall. He needed to get away from the two, to be alone...

'Need some...eye drops too.' he muttered to himself.

"Jack!?"

Snapping out of his little stump, Jack looked up and let out a sigh of relief when he noticed a familiar looking motorcycle rolling down the hall. Offering the femme a small wave, Jack let out a sigh and leaned up against the wall as she drove up next to him.

"Jack?! What happened?" Arcee quickly asked the teen, having heard the commotion echoing down the hallway.

Taking a moment to collect himself, Jack shook his head and waved off the femme's concern. But before telling her that everything was alright, the boy's gaze trailed itself back toward the room itself...

And toward the unmoving form that belonged to one of the intruders.

"I..." Jack muttered, "I don't know."

-Unknown location, sometime later-

"Sir, I'm sorry to report that the men sent to recover the data from the military installation have failed."

Sitting across from the saluting soldier, a man let out a deep sigh. Silas had been hoping that the data that those men could find my shed some light on the mysterious beings he and his organization had discovered not so long ago. After all, he had spent quite a penny to learn the location of the 'Scrapyard' and MECH had hopped such an investment could offer them some hefty returns.

But, it seemed as if some things just weren't meant to be.

"How, unfortunate." Silas mused, shaking his head at the failure. He had been so sure that the men he had selected had been more than qualified for such an assignment. But, it seems he had been mistaken, "Still, it seems we will have to take a more direct route then."

Pushing himself up from his desk, the soldier stepped aside as his commanding officer walked passed him. Saluting the man, the soldier watched as Silas made his way toward the entrance to his office.

"Inform the Scientists to move our more experimental studies to a more remote location." he told his underling, "We'll need somewhere isolated, where no one will suspect our presence..."

Briefly allowing a few ideas and concepts to shift through his mind, Silas smiled deviously at a idea he had concerning such an operation. It would be quick, simple, and it would draw one of the titans of machines to them like a moth to a flame.

"In fact, inform all personnel to report to the Kamchatka Peninsula as soon as possible, we'll have plenty to work on before we're ready."

Nodding, the soldier saluting the commander once more before running off to complete his assignment, "Of course, sir. I'll get the scientists working on that right away!"

With his gaze swiftly following the man as he quickly ran past him, Silas shook his head at the man's eagerness,"See that you do, son."

"See that you do."

Author's Note:

-The idea for the 'Scrapyard' came from a question I always had. What happened to the remains of the Vehicons after they are often destroyed? Are they retrieved by Megatron to be rebuilt? Some Government sector to be stored and studied (And yes, that sounds familiar to me too)? The Autobots? Or are they just left there to rust? So heres my little solution to such a question!

-Sorry for the long wait. A LOT of things started to get in the way while I was writing this one. Money issues, family issues, College being a pain in the ass. Things like that. It was a mess.

-Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed this one and come back the next time around! Pop a review if you feel like it too. I'd like to hear your thoughts, and if you have any questions, thats where you can hand them in or send me a PM too. Either or is fine, just as long as you have a profile for me to respond to.

See you next time!