"We're going under the radar, do you boys understand?" Arcee asked seriously, taking in her companions as they entered the ground bridge. "No street races with random racers, no knocking over telephone wires," she continued, looking at Bumblebee and Bulkhead in turn. "We can't have anyone finding out we went back."

"Optimus won't find out," Bulkhead said, taking a step out into the desert of Jasper. It had been a very long time since he had felt sand under his feet, and he remembered all the times Miko and he had gone flying over these sand dunes. It was almost a lifetime ago...

"There's the base!" Bumblebee exclaimed, pointing toward the hidden home the Autobots had once occupied. "It's so close..."

"Well, what are you two waiting for? This is why we came, right?" Arcee asked, hands on her hips as she looked at her fellow comrades. "Let's go! I want to see if the government ever re-confiscated the kids video games."

Bee and Bulk laughed, following the slim femme as she transformed and a hologram appeared as her driver. The two other Cybertronians transformed themselves, and drove toward the building each bot knew so well.

"Can you believe we're back?" Bulkhead laughed as they flew over sand dunes.

"The desert hasn't changed. We could've left yesterday and not have even known the difference," Bumblebee agreed.

"Do you think we could find the kids?" Bulk asked after a moment.

"On a planet this size? With its people as small as humans are? What do you think?" Arcee replied.

"I guess you're right," Bulk agreed. He knew that Arcee wasn't trying to mean, she was a realist. A practical applications Cybertronian, someone who knew what the odds were from the start and whether or not it would work.

"Maybe one of the kids moved back to Jasper? We could at least cruise through the town," Bumblebee suggested, and his friends agreed it would be nice to see how the town changed over the years.

It felt just like it always did when the group drove up the ramp into the base, the road beneath their tires as familiar as Cybertron. Arcee transformed inside the base, the sigh of metal brushing over metal echoing in the cavernous space. Her bright optics glowed in the dim light, and she waited while her companions changed into their larger forms. Three sets of bright blue optics traveled around the base, taking everything as if for the first time even though it was anything but.

The room was dark, and Arcee knew that the lights hadn't been powered on in quite some time. A dank must filled the room, something that just felt off. The base had always been so warm, so full of life, but now...The metal had rusted through in some places, and the computer's monitor had a large crack across its surface. The femme headed toward the computer hesitantly, laying a hand on the Cybertronian sized keys. Dust bunnies rose from the keyboard's cracks at her touch, and Arcee sighed. This wasn't how it was supposed to be.

"Bulkhead, activate the power routed to the base," Arcee told the wrecker authoritatively, her optics glowing with firm resolution.

"Yes ma'am," Bulk chuckled, a smile gracing his face plate. He turned to do as asked, his steps echoing in the large base.

Arcee didn't have to wait long before the overhead lights switched on, bathing the main room in light. A moment later the computer flickered to life, its programming rushing across the screen as it tried to reawaken from a twenty year sleep. Arcee surveyed the place she once called home in approval.

This is why she had wanted to come back.

This is what she wanted to see again.

Life.

"The game box is still here!" Bee laughed, his optics bright with delight. Bulkhead laughed seeing the couch still up on the balcony, slightly worn from years of disuse in an empty base.

"Just like we left it," Bulk chuckled. "We should go to town, see what's happening."

"You're right," Arcee agreed, turning toward the ramp that led out into the world.

"Wait, someone's coming!" Bee realized, hearing the faint whir of machinery that wasn't of the Cybertronians doing.

They had nowhere to hide as the elevator opened, exposing the bots. They tensed, readying themselves for fight or flight.

"Your mom helped save the world, Haru."

Arcee visibly relaxed as she heard the voice. It was familiar, a bit deeper than what she remembered, but familiar all the same.

"And all the trouble she got us into!"

Bee perked hearing the voice, and chirped his welcome to the newcomers.

Jack and Raf gasped, but were soon running towards the railing in excitement.

"Bee!" Raf exclaimed excitedly, his glasses sliding down his nose.

"Arcee? Is that really you?" Jack asked, but a wondering smile let Arcee know her old partner still remembered her.

"Hey Jack," Arcee replied softly. She took the two humans in quietly. They had grown, their hair slowly getting tinged with gray, lines stretching over their faces with age. Arcee tried to find similarities to the Jack she remembered, and settled on his eyes. They were warm, still filled with a determination Optimus had admired all those years ago. His eyes were smiling, and Arcee had to smile back at him. She next turned her gaze to Raf, and while his hair was shorter than she remembered, he still had his red glasses and sweater vest.

"What are you guys doing here?" Raf asked eagerly, looking up at the three Autobots with the same wondering he had in the beginning.

"We just came to see what you guys were up to. And speaking of which, where's Miko? She hiding?" Bulkhead joked, looking at the two men expectantly.

Both lost their smiles instantly, something that unnerved the Cybertronian visitors.

"Bulkhead, I'd like you to meet Haru. He's Miko's son," Jack said instead, gesturing back toward a Japanese boy staring up at the Autobots with an expression that could only be described as horror.

"Hey Haru, I knew you're mom back in the day. She was a good friend of mine," Bulkhead said. "I'm Bulkhead, and these are my friends Bumbleebee and Arcee."

Haru looked like he was going to faint.

"It's okay, Haru," Jack said calmly, looking back toward the boy. He walked back to stand by the Japanese boy. "This is what your mom wanted us to tell you about. I don't think she realized they'd actually be here!"

"They're the good guys," Raf added. "They've protected our world for the longest time. They're like...the Power Rangers. Or Jedi Warriors."

"Oh, okay," Haru finally squeaked out.

"Speaking of which, where is your mom, Haru?" Bulkhead asked again. "Did she stay in town?"

"There's something you need to know, Bulk," Raf said quietly. "We didn't know either, not until Haru told us today. But, he should be the one to tell you."

"Tell me what?" Bulkhead asked confused, looking between the two men and the boy he barely knew.

"My mom, she didn't come," Haru began carefully, not fully convinced once he gave the sad news he wouldn't be crushed by one of the giants.

"No?"

"She's still in Japan. She's dying of cancer."

"What?" Bulkhead blinked. He felt as if his circuits had turned ice-cold.

"She doesn't have long, but she wanted me to come to Jasper to learn her secret. I didn't realize she was keeping something like this though!"

"Miko's...dying?" Bulkhead repeated, confused. He felt light-headed, and really wanted to sit down.

"But, she's Miko" Arcee protested.

The girl who had so much life, who got into trouble whenever she could, fought Decepticons with the same bravery as Autobots, the girl who was fearless and came out of terrible situations, who deserved her own Autobot insignia, was dying of a disease? How could that be possible?

"Mom...She's been sick a long time. We all knew she didn't have much time, but still she insisted I come out here. I'm sorry to be the one bringing sorrowful news," Haru said slowly. Bulkhead could see the pain and despair the young man was harboring, and wasn't sure what he could do. The truth was he felt the same way, as if he had been knocked over by a bull dozer.

"My Miko," Bulk whispered, at a loss.

"They say she's still got a couple of months left, but it's going to be a steady decline, and then again it's cancer, so she could just...die..." Haru couldn't finish his sentence, and broke down in tears. He had tried to keep it in for so long, to be strong as his father had raised him to be. But, the fact was that the doctors weren't even sure his mom had months left. It could be days, weeks, hopefully months, but it was only an assumption. A prediction. The truth of the matter was simple:

His mother was about to die.

"I think..." Arcee began softly, then shook her head. "No, I know, we need to go. We have to."

"Back to Cybertron?" Raf asked quietly, sad to see his old friends go.

"No," Arcee shook her head. She looked at the dumb struck Bulkhead and her resolve grew. "We're going to Japan."