Chapter 6: The Kids

After convincing Rhodey's mom and Pepper's dad that they were going camping for Fall Break, Tony, Rhodey, and Pepper flew to Lake Tahoe, Nevada, on the private jet that Stark International still allowed Tony to use. After arriving in Lake Tahoe, Tony and his friends bought bus tickets to take them to Jasper. While on the bus, they began to talk about the kids and the Autobots.

"What do you think Optimus meant when he said that the other Autobots are the kids' guardians?" Rhodey asked.

"I'm not sure, Rhodey," Tony said, "But I'm sure we'll find out."

"Optimus said that he brought us to their base because we were put in harm's way, right?" Pepper said.

"Yeah, so?" Tony said.

"So what if the other kids met the Autobots and the Decepticons the same way we did?" Pepper asked.

"That would explain why they weren't afraid of the Autobots," Rhodey said, "Do you think they knew who you were, Tony?"

"I'm not sure, Rhodey," Tony said, "I don't think Jack and Miko knew who I was, but I think Rafael seemed to recognize me."

"Okay, remind us who they are again," Pepper said.

Tony let out a great sigh.

"Rafael was the twelve-year-old with glasses," Tony explained, "Miko was the Japanese girl, and the kid with black hair, the armory computer said his name was Jack Darby, and he lives in Jasper, Nevada."

"Which is where we're going , right?" Rhodey asked.

"Yep," Tony said, "And we should be there in about an hour."

An hour later, Tony, Rhodey, and Pepper arrived in Jasper. They began to look around town for Jack and his friends. They were walking near the high school when they heard some commotion.

"Okay kid, hand over your lunch money!" a tall kid with blonde hair said to a kid he had pinned to a tree. Tony recognized the kid as Rafael.

"I don't have any money, Vince," Rafael said, "you took it all yesterday."

"Too bad," Vince said, "because now I'm gonna have to pound on you."

Tony and his friends ran over to stop the fight.

"Hey!" Rhodey yelled, "Leave that kid alone!"

"Or what?" Vince asked.

"Or we'll put the hurt on you!" Pepper growled.

"Well hello beautiful," Vince said to Pepper as he dropped Rafael, "Tell you what, I'll let Raffy here go if you go out on a date with me."

"My dad's an FBI agent," Pepper said in annoyance.

Vince started to look a little worried.

"Tell you what," Tony said, "I'll give you a hundred bucks if you leave this kid alone."

"Deal," Vince said.

Tony took out his wallet and gave a hundred dollar bill to Vince. Vince looked at Rafael with a frightening look and walked away.

"You okay, kid?" Tony said.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Rafael said.

"I'm Tony," Tony said as he introduced himself.

"You wouldn't happen to be world-famous Tony Stark, teenage genius and heir to Stark International, would you?" Rafael asked.

"Actually I am," Tony said, "You're Rafael, right?

"Yeah, but my friends call me Raf," Raf said.

"Well it's nice to finally meet you officially, Raf," Tony said.

"It's an honor to officially meet you, Tony," Raf said.

"Thanks kid," Tony said, "So Raf, these are my friends, Rhodey and Pepper."

"Yeah, I know," Raf said, "I recognize them from when you guys were at the base."

"So," Pepper said, "where are the Autobots?"

"Probably back at base," Raf said.

All of a sudden, a yellow muscle car with black stripes pulled up to the sidewalk. The passenger seat door opened and a beeping noise came from it. Raf walked over to the car.

"Hey Bee," Raf said to the car, "You remember Tony and his friends, right?"

Tony and his friends soon realized that the car was the Autobot Scout, Bumblebee. Bumblebee made a few beeps and tones.

"He says 'yeah I remember them'," Raf said.

"Wait," Tony said as he walked towards Raf, "You can understand him?"

"Yeah," Raf said.

"How?" Tony asked.

"I just can," Raf said, "I can't explain it, but I just can. Anyways, we're heading over to Jack's place. You guys wanna come?"

"Sure," They all said in unison.

Raf, Tony, Rhodey, and Pepper all got into Bumblebee and headed off. A few minutes later, they arrived in a suburban area near the outskirts of town. They stopped at the street corner and Bumblebee opened his doors.

"Why are we stopping here?" Tony asked.

"Jack's mom doesn't know about the Autobots," Raf said, "If she saw me getting into or out of Bumblebee, she might tell my parents and they'd get all worried."

"Oh, I see," Tony said.

Raf, Tony, Rhodey, and Pepper got out of Bumblebee and walked over to Jack's house. Bumblebee stayed at the street corner. They walked up to the front door of the house. Raf rang the doorbell. A woman in her mid-forties answered the door. Tony and his friends assumed it was Jack's mom.

"Why hello, Rafael," Mrs. Darby said.

"Hi, Mrs. Darby," Raf said.

"Who are you new friends?" Mrs. Darby asked.

"Oh just some kids from school," Raf said, "Are Jack and Miko here?"

"Yeah, there in the garage," Mrs. Darby said.

"Thanks," Raf said, "We'll go meet up with them."

"Okay," Mrs. Darby said.

Raf led Tony and his friends to the garage and knocked on the garage door.

"Jack? Miko?" Raf said, "Are you guys in there?"

"Yeah, we're here," Jack said on the other side of the door.

"Can you open the door?" Raf asked, "I brought some friends."

"Sure, hold on." Jack said before opening the garage door.

Raf, Tony, Rhodey, and Pepper walked in.

"Hey," Miko said, "You're the guys Optimus saved two days ago."

"Yeah, we are," Rhodey said.

"So, what brings you to Jasper?" Jack asked.

"Actually," Tony said, "You guys."

"I'm not surprised," said a female voice that came from Jack's sapphire blue motorcycle.

Tony and his friends recognized the voice and knew that the motorcycle was Arcee.

"You guys probably still have a lot of questions, right?" Arcee said.

"Actually, we do," Tony said.

"Jack," Arcee said, "Close the garage door."

Jack closed the garage door. As soon as it was closed, Arcee transformed into her robot mode, but since the garage was so small, she had to get down on her knees.

"Your mom doesn't know about the Autobots, does she Jack?" Rhodey asked.

"No, she doesn't," Jack said, "And I hope she never finds out."

Meanwhile

Stark Tower, Stane's Office:

"I want to know where those cars came from, O'Brian," Stane said.

"We're still not sure, Mr. Stane," O'Brian said, "but we're still looking."

"Your security team said that no one was driving those cars, correct?" Stane said.

"That's correct sir," O'Brian said.

"Do you know what we could do with that kind of technology?" Stane said, "Think about it. Self-driving tanks. It would be an industrial revolution of warfare, not to mention make us all very wealthy people."

All of a sudden, the computer beeped. Stane walked over to it and saw that he had an email.

"It's an email," Stane said.

"What does it say?" O'Brian asked.

"It says 'We've heard about your recent break in,'" Stane read, " 'If you want help with your security system, meet me at Central Park at midnight and bring all information you have on the cars. Come alone.'"

"Does it say who it's from?" O'Brian said.

"It just says 'Silas'" Stane said.

End of Chapter 6. Next Update: Chapter 7: First Battle.

Me: Well, what do you guys think. Is it getting interesting or what? I need some ideas on how the conversation between Stane and Silas goes. Mind you, this is before the episode "Convoy". Let me know what you think. None of these characters belong to me.