A/N: The Avengers assembled and it was awesome! So much action, humor, and etc. Loved the movie and highly recommend it. Thanks for the reviews. MEleeSmasher asked me if I should team ShadowStrike up with the Avengers, but I wonder if there are too many crossovers in this story. Let me know what you think. As for Oni-Kage, he will return so enough.

Chapter 20

Jack and Chikara reached the training grounds in, large rock formations surrounding them.

"To be a ninja, you must possess Strength of body, spirit, and will," she explained. "We have noticed that you lack these abilities. To master your training, you must become stronger."

"I was already working on making my body stronger," Jack said. "How do I do the things you want me to do." Rather speak, Chikara walked over to a rock formation and took a stance. Channeling her power into her fist, she thrust it forward and shattered the formation. Jack's eyes widened as looked at him and gestured to another formation.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," he put his hands up. "There's no way I can do that. It'll take years of practice!"

"You need only channel your energy," she replied. Jack took a deep breath and walked over to the formation, doubts still swirling in mind. He stood before the formation and took a stance. Before he could try channeling his power, the formation before him changed, the rocks shifting around. The swirled like a vortex until an image appeared.

The Liege Maximo stood before Jack, his face a twisted grin, his red eyes bright with laughter. He said no words, only showed Jack Arcee's prone body lying in med bay the night she was hit by the Requiem Blaster. Jack's eyes narrowed at the Ultimate Evil.

"It's all your fault boy," he laughed. "She is dead because of you." Jack could feel his anger boiling, "You want to hit me don't you. Well, go on!" Jack punched the Liege, only for his fist to sting in pain, but he didn't care. He threw another punch only to me with the same result. He didn't care about the pain as long as he could relieve his anger by beating the Liege Maximo to a pulp.

"Enough," he heard Chikara said, but he ignored her. Jack kept imagining Arcee's body lying in med bay. He replayed Bulkhead blaming him, the glares he received from the other 'Bots. His family avoiding his gaze. And Optimus.

He didn't ask for much when he met the Prime's eyes, only understanding. The Liege Maximo had manipulated him and turned him against the 'Bots. Jack didn't deny he had a part in it, but all he wanted was for someone to understand. He thought Optimus would; a Prime of all people would know what it's like to have your good intentions thrown back in your face. But no, Optimus avoided his gaze.

Was it because he was ashamed of how Jack had acted? Did he think the boy should have been stronger? These thoughts swirled in Jack's mind as he continued punching the Liege Maximo to no effect.

"Enough!" Chikara shouted, running over to Jack. She placed her palm on the back of his neck and her right hand on his forehead. Jack felt a calming energy come over him and he stopped punching the Liege. His image disappeared and was once again replaced by the rock formation. Jack panted heavily as he felt pain in his hands.

He looked down to find the bloodied from repeated assaults on the rock, "What happened?"

"The rock shifted to form the source of your anger and insecurities," she explained. "It was great enough for you to ignore my commands. In order to become stronger, you must let go of your emotions. They only serve to hold you back during your training."

ShadowStrike Rising

In the Autobot base, June monitored the ground-bridge while the 'Bots were out searching for energon, Ratchet having gone with them to fill the gap left by Arcee. The medic was still making slow progress in repairing her body (ironically thanks to all of the distractions). Miko and Raf were watching TV, trying to keep their minds of what they were all thinking about: Jack. It had been three months since he disappeared and the Autobots hadn't found any clues. The Thirteen had tried to contact him, only to find their connection to him blocked.

Before, June was worried that her son might get hurt being on his own without anyone to help him. Now, she was worried that he might hurt someone in his fragile mental state. Guilt swelled in her heart as she remembered the look in his eyes. He was pleading to her for help; and why not? She was his mother; her job was to help him when he needed it.

Her baby had looked to her for help and all she did was look away, leaving him to defend himself to the others. The thought alone was enough to bring her to tears. Jack had helped so many times; he'd gotten a job at that awful K/O Burger joint to help keep a roof over their heads. He didn't interact with others in order to avoid falling in with a bad crowd, which left him isolated from most of the world. He'd basically spent his entire life trying to make up for his father walking out on her.

When Jack was born, June couldn't have been happier. She immediately felt a motherly connection to her son. She almost thought about quitting her job at the hospital to be with Jack full time, but all thought of that was abandoned when her husband left. He'd left her a note on the fridge, telling her how sorry he was, but he couldn't deal with the pressures of fatherhood. She had never heard such bull shit in her life.

They had both agreed it was time to try for a baby, they both agreed to do whatever it took raise him properly, and they both agreed to love him unconditionally. June had fulfilled her agreement, but her husband found that he could not. He missed spending time getting drunk with his friends and hitting on women. All June and Jack were to him were anchors, keeping him down. Thinking about that letter still made her blood boil.

She wanted nothing more than to find him and beat him within an inch of his life for abandoning her and Jack (with Agent Fowler's help, that might be possible). She wanted to let all of her anger out somehow, but she could find no outlet. She did not drink or do drugs and she wasn't a violent person by any means, so contact sports were out of the question. In her quiet moments, her thoughts always used to drift to her husband what she would do if she ever saw him again. But more recently, she found herself thinking about the Autbots (a certain Prime in particular but she digresses).

Since meeting them, June was filled with a sense of awe at how "human" they were. They argued like any family she'd seen on TV. It was like watching a sitcom every time they got into it. They would never get violent with each other (Optimus made sure of that). June was slightly pleased at how much Jack had taken to them.

He considered them family, and so did she.

"June," Arcee called from behind her. She turned to face the blue femme, still surprised by Arcee's human appearance. The femme looked concerned, "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," she smiled. "What makes you think I'm-"

"Because Ratchet has been calling for pick up for the past five minutes," she gestured to the monitors. June looked to the monitors and her cheeks tinged with red. She opened the ground-bridge and was met with an irate medic.

"What in the AllSpark took you so long?"

"I got… distracted," she smiled sheepishly. The medic merely shook his head and sighed as the other Autobots stepped through. June greeted them and retreated to another part of the base to get over her embarrassment.

ShadowStrike Rising

Chikara led Jack down a large cavern; there, she would pass him off to Juto for his training in weaponry. Jack had tried to harness his inner strength and shatter the rock formation, to no avail. He had managed to leave several cracks in it, but his hands were severely damaged, requiring bandages. He and Chikara walked in silence, Jack unsure of what to say. Strength was apparently going to harder to learn than the others. Jack still didn't even know why he agreed to do this in the first place, but there was no going back now.

He was certain that Chikara was disappointed in him for not being able to get a grasp on Strength like he did with Spirit. Spirit came so easily to Jack, but Strength required that he go beyond instinct. They continued to walk in silence until she spoke, "Strength is not something easily attained. Even I had my fair share of trouble mastering it."

Jack looked up at her in surprised, "I half expected you to rip me a new one."

"I considered it," she smiled at him. "We are here." Jack looked around and found that they were in a room; a Forge. In the center of the room stood a large structure in the shape of a dragon, a fire burning in its mouth.

"Welcome," Juto said as he approached them. "You are here earlier than I would have expected. " He nodded to Chikara, who returned the gestured and disappeared. "As I am sure you know, Weapons are an essential part of any warriors training. This especially applies to ninja. We must be versatile, capable of wielding any weapon at any time."

"I know," Jack said. "I thought about becoming more versatile with weaponry."

"Good," he walked over to the Forge. "This Forge was crafted by true masters. All you need do is place your hand inside and you will be granted a new weapon. That is your first test." He stepped aside and allowed Jack to approach the Forge. He looked around for any tongs he might need to reach into the fire and found nothing. He would have to reach inside with (injured) hand. He reach forward but hesitated.

"Something wrong?" Juto asked.

"You want me to stick my hand inside a fire pit and you ask if something is wrong!" Jack shouted, but the ninja master kept silent.

"A ninja cannot possess fear," he stated. "Fear is not our enemy, but our weapon. We instill fear into our enemies like a seed into the ground. Our actions are the water that helps it grow into a powerful tree."

Jack took a deep breath, "Are you sure there is no other way?" The ninja master kept silent, making his stance on the matter clear. Jack sighed and reached inside of the Forge. Surprisingly, there was no pain. Jack stood there for moment, feeling something appear in his hand.

He grasped it and pulled out the sword the Thirteen had bestowed upon him. The blade retained it appearance, but Jack could feel something different about it. There was no trace of the Thirteen's energy in the sword.

"Behold your new sword, Getsuga!" Juto declared.

"It looks like the sword the Thirteen gave me," Jack said.

"It is the same blade, infused with the Tribunal's energy. It is no longer a weapon of the Primes, and you, no longer their puppet." Jack placed the sword on his back as he felt a familiar energy fill him. He transformed back into ShadowStrike for the first time in three months. The suit was still the same, "You are now ready to continue you training, ShadowStrike."

ShadowStrike Rising

Juto had passed ShadowStrike to Hisomi and the two walked in silence. Juto had explained to Jack that Hisomi was the epitome of Stealth. So much so that he never uttered a word. Jack wondered how he was supposed to understand the ninja master if he didn't speak. He couldn't even understand 'Bee and spoke in whirs and clicks!"

ShadowStrike Rising

A/N: Hope you enjoyed. I know I said I would explain the Tribunal's connection to the Shredder, but I'm still working on whatever it might be. Next time: Jack trains with Hisomi and learns of the Tribunal's connection to the Shredder.