Okay, so, not gonna lie, this chapter felt near impossible at times and I actually really hate it. It's mostly a transition chapter and setting things up for later on. I'm also really sorry that it took so long to write and post. I re-wrote it at least three times, and any attempts to make it longer resulted disastrously.


Chapter 13: The Things We Never Knew: Part Two

Titania didn't think of herself as being particularly selfish. She had given of herself, time and time again, for the sake of others without ever shirking from the thought of the pain she would be enduring on their behalf. She had dragged half-dead soldiers away from combat despite knowing it would only slow her down (and had once been forced to watch as a woman more selfless than her—or perhaps the opposite—ended her own life in order to force Titania to leave her behind), but she would also be the first to admit that there were times when she'd done some pretty selfish things. Kicker was always the first person to pop into her thoughts during such moments of self-contemplation as this, with the often cruel and dismissive way she had treated him haunting her regrets, along with the realization that she had never acknowledged that the pain of her father's death had affected him just as deeply as it had her (because, of course, he was her father, how could anyone else possibly feel his absence as keenly as she did? True selfishness if ever there was, she supposed.)

Still, all things considered, she didn't think she had ever intentionally placed her own interests before the well-being—emotional or physical—of others. That was something her father had taught her, and the brief, passing thought of him was enough to cause her to look over at the adolescent, slightly awkward teenage boy he currently was, wondering what he would think of her right now if only he was already the man who had raised her for those too short, eight years.

Considering the number of differences in appearance, (including the lack of several facial scars, a beard, and a thin, grim line for a mouth) it was easy to pretend Jack and her father were two different people—completely unconnected—if she tried hard not to think about it; but there was just enough of a resemblance—in the shape of the jaw and cheekbones, the exact same shade of eyes—to serve as a constant, niggling reminder that he was her father.

Or would be. Someday. Maybe.

The conversation he was currently having with Miko was throwing that into question at the moment.

"I can't, Miko, I already told you I have a date with Sierra tomorrow," he was saying, sounding irritated by the Japanese exchange student's persistence as she huffed at him from the other side of the couch on which they were both sitting, arms folded across her chest.

"Well, cancel!" She snapped back, "This is more important! And cool!"

"I already told her I'd be there!" Jack replied, "And a horror movie is not more important."

"But it's the last showing and I've never seen this one before!"

Jack's expression creased into one of bafflement at what was clearly her version of a logical argument, "Neither have I, it doesn't mean I'm going!"

"It would be fun!" the exchange student continued to insist, "A lot more fun than listening to Miss Cheer Captain go on about mascara!"

"Look, Miko, if you want to go that bad, go without me."

"But going alone is so boring!"

"Then you should have asked before I made plans!"

"Uggghhh!" Miko threw up her hands in frustration and violently slumped into her couch corner, turning away from him angrily. Jack sighed in response and rubbed at his forehead, while Raf, curled up in the armchair, kept his gaze focused on his laptop and pretended the two teens weren't there.

Something ugly—something selfish—bubbled in Titania's gut as she slowly digested the gist of the situation, or, rather, what she gleaned to be the most important piece. Her father was going on a date with a girl tomorrow.

A girl who wasn't her mother.

Her hand clenched into a fist at her side as her restless pacing before the monitors came to a stop. Ratchet glanced over at her only briefly from where he was waiting for the rest of the Autobots to call for a ground-bridge, signalling the end of what would hopefully be a successful Energon raid.

But the thought of that wasn't what was pressing most deeply on Titania's mind right now as she stared at the two teens who didn't realize that the product of their currently-nonexistent love was standing right in the room with them, deciding that, just this once, she had a right to be selfish as she turned and walked towards them.

"Who's Sierra?" She asked, and the question was perhaps just a bit too loud, and a bit too demanding as it echoed off the rock walls of the old silo.

A pulse of curiosity shot through Ratchet's Spark as he turned just slightly enough away from the monitors to keep a single optic on her, wondering, perhaps, why she had taken an interest in their aimless conversation now, when she had so clearly avoided their inane discussions just hours earlier.

Optimus, on the other hand, was still restricted to the medical berth, and had looked like he was recharging for the better half of the day. Titania knew better; his Spark possessed too much activity for him to be in recharge, so she supposed he had simply been resting, mind focused on other things she couldn't possibly know of.

Now though, at the sound of her voice, he turned his head slightly and cracked one optic open, observing her inscrutably from behind Miko and Jack, who had their backs turned toward him.

Titania ignored him and came to a stop in front of the two teens, folding her arms across her chest and frowning.

Jack seemed slightly startled by her sudden interest in their conversation, and she supposed that wasn't too surprising considering she had barely said two words to him since her arrival in this time.

He squirmed a little bit beneath her gaze as he replied, like a child who realized he must have done something wrong but didn't know what it could have been.

"She's…Sierra," he said, as though that should explain everything. Seeing that it didn't—based on her unimpressed expression—he hurried to elaborate, "I've had a, uh, crush on her since the fifth grade."

Titania felt her stomach drop out from under her at the same time as Ratchet's Spark began to churn with something like unease, and the Prime's tensed as though preparing for battle.

No, no, no, no! Cried the voices in her head. This couldn't happen, Dad had never mentioned anyone else in his old life! He couldn't go out with someone who wasn't her mother! He wasn't meant to!

For a long moment, Titania simply stood there, mind racing in a circle. What if her father ended up with a different woman because of what she had done? But that had to be impossible, right? She wouldn't be here if that happened, right? And she was here. That had to be proof enough that this was just going to be a brief fling or one-time thing, right?

Ratchet's words came back to her now; "Even though she is present in our timeline and can actively affect it, her own history is inerasable, even if the future she comes from ceases to exist."

Did that mean she would live to watch her parents love and marry other people? That she would never be born but continue to be anyway?

That she would never be able to actually fix this and give her younger self the childhood she should have had? That she would keep suffering while everyone else's lives became perfect?

Her blunt-edged nails dug into her palms as she clenched her hands into even tighter fists, teeth grinding as she tried not to let them shake as well.

Jack looked at her with something like concern and vague alarm, and she knew her temper—her rage at the injustice of it all—was probably showing.

On the medical berth, Optimus slowly began to rise, both optics now open as he eyed her warily.

"Titania," he said softly, but with a clear warning in his tone, forcing her and the others to look up at him. He only shook his head slightly at her, but she felt his message clearly enough in the oscillations of his Spark. Don't say it. It's not your place.

She grit her teeth at him, eyes shining with her disagreement—because, just this once, she wanted to be selfish more than anything—before she took a calming breath and turned to Miko, speaking in a much less angry tone.

"I'll go with you," she offered, though she honestly didn't care much for movies, considering she had never seen one because they were quite useless in her time. It didn't matter though, because Miko responded exactly the way Titania was hoping she would.

The Japanese girl glanced over at Jack, and slumped the barest bit with disappointment.

"Er, yeah, sure," she didn't sound very excited at the prospect, and Titania only gave the girl a nod of acknowledgement before turning on her heels and marching back to the stand by the monitors.

There was a chance she could still fix this.


Agent Fowler knew that General Bryce wasn't an open-minded individual. That was why he had painstakingly transferred and printed out copies of the photos from Titania's phone—date-stamps included—and placed them in a manila folder stamped with the bright red words TOP SECRET alongside the scrap of paper she had written the last coordinates of the Iacon database on.

But as he stood outside the man's office, waiting to be let in and going over his "evidence" for the umpteenth time, he had a sinking feeling that it wouldn't be enough for the moustachioed veteran. Nothing but irrefutable proof—not "possibly doctored" photos and a bunch of numbers in which only one had been proven correct so far—would fully convince the man that there was a living time-traveller currently enjoying the hospitality of the Autobots.

And, even if by some chance General Bryce was convinced, the man would still flip his lid when he found out said-traveller was a teenager, no older than his own grand-daughter who he frequently did his best to spoil rotten when he wasn't busy ruling the top secret "Unit E" with an iron fist. It certainly wouldn't help that he had recently had to reveal to the General that the civilian "consultants" helping the Autobots were all children (with the exception of Nurse Darby), due to the fact that the need for the Esquivel's relocation had warranted revealing the boy's part in destroying the Damocles satellite.

He had very nearly been relieved of duty after that, and it was only by pointing out that a twelve year-old had managed to hack into the Pentagon that Fowler had managed to convince Bryce of Rafael's value to the cause. (Pointing out that the children gave the Autobots a reason to care about humanity even if Optimus ever died had ultimately been the ace up his sleeve and saved his career though. Politics indeed).

But how was he supposed to convince the man to relocate the Autobots just because "some little girl" said so?

No matter how long he stared at the photo of a two year-old Titania Darby sitting in a high chair covered in tomato sauce with her father being only slightly cleaner, the answer wouldn't come to him.

Unless…but no, doing that would jeopardize Titania's identity. There was no way he'd be able to convincingly lie to Jack about why he needed a blood sample from the boy—the kid was simply too clever for that to work—Miko…he could maybe convince her it was just for science, but Jack would still figure something was up when he heard about it.

The government agent sighed and snapped the folder shut, reaching a hand up to pinch the bridge of his nose as though that might stem the flow of blood to his brain and allow him a few blissful moments of having a mind completely free of such complicated thoughts.

It was at that moment that the door to General Bryce's office was swung open by a bare-faced, green-clad soldier who looked to be in his mid-twenties. Fowler vaguely recognized him as the soldier who had recorded his debriefing with the General after the "Nemesis Prime" incident. As such, he wasn't too surprised that, once he walked in, the younger man closed the door, locked it, and picked up the video camera that was sitting on a chair in the corner of the room.

Oh, hell no.

"Sir," he began immediately, before General Bryce, who sat behind his desk as gruff and stoic-looking as he always was, could even nod to the vacant chair in front of him, "I must request that all non-essential personnel are exempt from this meeting."

The General frowned and leaned forward, folding his hands in front of him, "Lieutenant Nelson is essential personnel, Agent Fowler," he iterated, "He has clearance to know of all the on-goings between the military and the Autobots, and it is his duty to ensure that all decisions regarding those on-goings are accurately documented."

"General Bryce, I insist—"

"Your request is denied, Agent."

With that, the General gestured to the chair before sitting back in his own, folded hands now raised in front of his face as he barked out, "Lieutenant, start the camera."

Agent Fowler could already see that was the end of the matter, and so, as he sat down in the proffered chair, he sent a prayer up to God that the Lieutenant standing in the corner was the embodiment of loyalty and sealed lips.

"Yes sir," the young lieutenant replied, and Fowler could hear the beep that accompanied the pressing of the record button.

The General wasted no time in getting down to business after that—small chat was for civilians.

"Agent Fowler, you've called this meeting on the grounds that you have received significant intelligence which has proven the Autobots' location to be severely compromised. Explain," the general's last word was nearly a growl through his gritted teeth as charcoal eyes bore into the agent, essentially telling him that, if there had been an information leak, he had damn well better have started plugging it before he even walked into the room. To Fowler, it was also a clear reminder that he was still on thin ice for having concealed the ages of his "consultants" for as long as he did.

Fowler resisted the urge to gulp—well aware that it was more than just his career on the line right now—and then carefully placed the manila folder on the sturdy, wood desk.

"Sir," he began slowly, picking his words carefully, and trying to ignore the fact that the camera was recording every damn bead of sweat on his forehead. He decided he might as well lead in with cold, hard facts that the General wouldn't be able to ignore before jumping off the deep end, "As you know, during the Damocles Incident, the Decepticons discovered the location of the residence of Rafael Esquivel and his family, resulting in the need to relocate them. As you are also aware, Jackson Darby's residence was also located by Mech, and the information was likely shared with the Decepticon known as Airachnid—and it was an oversight on our part not to have relocated the Darbys sooner."

"Yes, I am aware, Agent Fowler, and your point is?"

"Sir, all of the children live within a fifty mile radius of the Autobot Base, and we have strong reason to believe that recent events will have narrowed the Decepticons' search area to within a fifty mile radius of Jasper, Nevada. As of Saturday, the Autobots have also received confirmation that the Decepticons will destroy their base within a week."

Bryce's stare grew cold and sharp, "And how did you come by this confirmation?"

Nervously, well aware that everything was likely to be downhill after this, Fowler glanced at the camera and heaved out a deep exhale of air as he braced himself. Then, he stared his commanding officer in the eyes as steadily and unblinkingly as he could, and with as much gravity as he could muster.

"Sir, what I'm about to tell you is going to sound crazy and impossible, but it's the honest-to-God truth. At oh-eight-hundred Saturday, local time, while en route to Autobot Outpost Omega, Autobot Bulkhead and his charge Miko Nakadai were stopped on the highway by an injured and dehydrated sixteen year-old girl wearing armour and carrying Cybertronian-based weapons. Before collapsing in front of them, she asked them to take her to Prime."

General Bryce narrowed his eyes at that, and Agent Fowler waited for him to comment, a thousand differently (and far more politely) worded sentences that essentially translated to "shut up and listen damn it!" passing through his mind as he prepared to defend himself and the Autobots—once more—from his superior's mistrust and criticism.

He was relieved (and yet even more anxious) when the General, settling back in his chair and frowning deeply, merely ordered him to continue.

"The girl was taken to Autobot Outpost Omega to receive medical treatment, and was treated by Autobot Ratchet and Nurse Darby for second, third, and first-degree burns, as well as energon radiation exposure; each was concluded to have been inflicted upon her during passage through a highly modified and unstable ground-bridge. She woke up at thirteen-hundred hours and was interrogated by myself, Autobot Ratchet, and Optimus Prime," He paused again, wondering how he should say the next part.

Frustrated with the constant pausing, General Bryce bit out, "And what did she tell you, Agent Fowler. Did she give any indication of who her contact was that fed her this information?"

"In a…way…sir," the agent sighed, rubbing at his eyes briefly before meeting his superior's demanding gaze again, "She told us that she's from the future, sir."

Agent Fowler waited for the inevitable topic of psychiatric counselling to come up—yet again—and was not disappointed as the General gave a long, tired sigh. He felt something…bitter…building up in him at the thought.

"Agent Fowler, perhaps we should post-pone this debriefing until you've had a chance to speak with—"

"It's. The. Truth." Fowler ground out, biting off the end of every word as he rose from his seat, sending it skidding slightly back, and flipped the folder open, ignoring his commanding officer's disapproving glare.

He flipped to a particular photo and slid it across the table to the General, jabbing a finger at its time-stamp.

"These photos were all taken from Miko Nakadai's phone. Her phone from the future. This one is dated January nineteenth, twenty-twenty," quickly, barely giving the slightly-stunned General time to take in the image of his own greying agent pointing towards the camera with his arm wrapped around a giggling two year-old girl, Fowler swept the photo aside and showed him the next one, "This one was taken on November thirteenth, twenty-twenty-three," it was of the same girl blowing out five candles on a misshapen, questionably edible cake as she sat on the lap of a man who bore an unmistakable resemblance to pictures the General had seen of one Jackson Arthur Darby, but then, that image, too, was swept away and replaced by numerous others, "twenty-twenty-four," a ruined street with a Decepticon body blocking the way forward, "twenty-twenty-five," an abandoned subway tunnel with numerous, armour-clad individuals waiting in a food-line, "and twenty-six."

Agent Fowler's finger lingered on the last photo the Miko of the future had ever taken, one of herself, curled up with her husband and their sleeping seven, almost eight year-old daughter between them. Bill had no idea why the photos stopped after that when it was clear the future Titania came from reached to at least November of 2034, possibly the beginning or middle of 2035. A part of him didn't really want to ever know the answer, and desperately passed it off as being because the battery had been lost.

The Agent waited with bated breath for General Bryce's reaction to his outburst, eyes never leaving the man's face as he tried to read the perpetually frowning expression for some sign of his superior's inner thoughts.

For a long moment, the man did nothing except pull the folder of numerous other photos towards himself. He began to leaf through them methodically, studying each and every one of them extensively. Once he was done, he set them aside, and frowned at a scrap of paper with numbers scribbled over it.

"What is this, Agent Fowler?"

"The coordinates of the last of the Iacon relics, sir," Fowler explained, "coordinates that have not yet been decoded by either Autobots or Decepticons, sir."

"Then how do you know they're accurate?"

"The Autobots have already removed one of the relics from inside Autobot Smokescreen, which, apparently, even he had not been aware of carrying. They have also recovered an identical relic from the second set of coordinates listed there," he explained succinctly, knowing that, if anything was capable of convincing the General that maybe, just maybe, time-travel really was possible, it would be the fact that it should have been impossible for any human to possess that information.

Once more, silence fell in the office, and Lieutenant Nelson did an admirable job of not shuffling his feet. He stood there rigidly, diligent and disciplined, camera trained steadily on them both.

General Bryce set the sheet of coordinates aside with the photos, and then took a moment to place the papers back in the folder and closed it.

"Agent Fowler…" he began slowly, clearly mulling over his words, and, for a moment, Bill dared to hope the man believed him, "You're a man who sticks by what he believes, and I can admire that."

At that distinctly ominous statement, Agent Fowler felt his hope sinking.

"But I have no use for an agent who brings forward that belief without any proof, and this," the General lifted up the folder and waved it in front of Bill's face as he stood up and leaned forward, "this is conjecture and assumption, using possibly falsified or stolen information! And while I'll admit that the circumstances of this girl's appearance cannot be easily explained, time-travel is not a viable conclusion!"

"You haven't met her!" Bill suddenly snapped, "You haven't seen the way she looks at people like they're ghosts because she watched them die!"

"ENOUGH!" General Bryce roared, face turning red, and Fowler reluctantly fell silent, fists clenched at his side.

It was clear the General was seriously considering ordering a court-martial for insubordination then and there, but, instead, he settled for straightening his posture and glaring down at his Agent unmercifully as he growled, "You will remember that you are speaking to a superior officer!"

"Yes sir," Bill barely prevented himself from spitting out the words, "Apologies sir."

The General glared at him for several moments longer, until he was convinced that Fowler was sufficiently contrite, before demanding, "Is there anything else you have to add to your report, Agent Fowler?"

"Sir," he began after a moment of consideration, voice much softer than before, "even if you won't accept that she's a time-traveller, you have to admit that the location of the Autobot base has been severely compromised by past events, and it would be prudent to relocate them—and all of the children—as soon as possible."

"That," General Bryce began, "is the sanest thing you've said since you walked into this room."

Fowler wasn't sure whether he should be comforted or be very, very worried for his career based on that statement. He decided to keep his mouth shut to be on the safe side.

"I'll have the arrangements made by the end of the week," General Bryce informed him, but the relief Fowler felt was dulled by the knowledge that he hadn't been taken seriously. "You're dismissed Agent."

Fowler considered arguing, but one look at the General's expression convinced him otherwise, and he turned to leave, pausing at the door just long enough to throw the last word over his shoulder.

"I didn't believe her at first either, sir."

And then he was gone, door closing gently behind him.

The beep of the camera as the recording ended was loud in the silent room, and Lieutenant Nelson stepped forward to place the small device on the General's desk, nodding at his superior respectfully as he did so before following Fowler out the door.

In the hall, the Lieutenant slowly pulled out a cell-phone from a pant pocket and flipped it open, holding it down by his thigh as he stared straight ahead and his thumb danced over the keys.


Miles away, a tall, thin woman with cascading locks of curly, fire-red hair pursed her lips thoughtfully at the words that had appeared on the screen of her cell-phone.

The neighbours are moving out. A shame; their kids were so helpful.

The cell-phone was snapped shut with a click, and the woman turned to stare over the railing of the catwalk she was standing on, where numerous individuals wearing masks and glowing, green goggles milled about around various pieces of unfinished machinery. Some were visible as no more than mere specks further down the length of the dead-end tunnel that opened into the cavernous room in which she stood.

Ruby red lips continued to be turned downward at the implications of the message. She would've preferred to wait a while longer yet, but…well, it couldn't be helped.

MECH's last opportunity was now.


So...yeah, looks like Titania's meddling is having unintended side-effects, hmm? I originally intended to put this particular part later, only to realise that wasn't really viable due to other plot points. You won't have to worry about me riddling this story with OCs though. Alright, review-answering time. (I'm sorry if I missed anyone with signed reviews, as I'm sure that I did, I tend to lose track of these things.)

Guest: I'm glad you've been enjoying it! I certainly don't intend to stop until it's finished, no matter how long that takes.

Doodlesnoodles: Yes, Jack is being something of a jerk, but for very good reason. He's been telling her from the beginning that she was going to get somebody hurt and now she actually has. Plus, Optimus is the closest thing Jack has probably ever had to a father figure, so he's doubly upset about it. But don't worry, Jack's going to be getting a few reality checks in the coming chapters, courtesy of his future-daughter.

LadyBarricade: First off, once again glad that you now have an account. Secondly, I had an "Oh, I'm an idiot" moment after sending a reply to your PM. Why didn't I just answer your review there? I apologize for my oversight, but will now happily answer your review here:

Miko and Jack are both going to develop their own suspicions about Titania throughout the rest of the story, though not necessarily along the same lines of thought. If Jack does end up with Sierra in this timeline (which shall be answered in the next few chapters), Titania would continue to be, the reasons for which Ratchet has already explained. You're also completely right about Wheeljack, his relationship with Titania is actually going to be quite similar to his relationship with Miko, and I tried to write some interaction between them during this chapter, but I couldn't quite fit it in properly. I'll try to put it in the next chapter.

What you say about Starscream is true, but Arcee doesn't really owe him a favour since she spared him first, and, as Starscream said, they're now "even." To me, that would indicate there was, at some point or another, something worth saving, but after being alone for so long and with the loss of his T-cog, it probably disappeared pretty quickly. Of all the Decepticons, I agree that Starscream's the one who will probably never change and definitely isn't the type to do something simply out of "kindness."

On another note, I love long reviews! So don't ever worry about writing too much, and any constructive criticism you have about this chapter would be much appreciated.

Okay, so I think that was everyone, and I apologize if I missed anyone. I'll try to have the next chapter out before the end of the summer, but I can't make promises as there's going to be a lot more set-up going on in the next few.