Ch. 3

Jack had been wondering where exactly Arcee and her allies were taking him, Rafael, and Miko and when they would arrive at the place for a while now as they had been driving out in the desert for a good 10 minutes now. He was about to ask Arcee when they would be arriving when he looked ahead and saw that they were heading for one of the large rocky ridges on the outskirts of Jasper. Jack didn't say anything as they approached the large red clay and granite cliffs.

He watched as a door opened as they approached a perfectly flat wall like area of the cliffs and drove into a tunnel. They drove down the tunnel and reached a large open room with overhead cross-walks and a strange mechanical construct on one wall that was in the shape of a large circle leading into the granite wall. Jack got off Arcee as she transformed and he surprised himself when, rather than standing by Raf and Miko, he stayed right beside Arcee as she walked up to another large robot.

This bot had a red and white paint job with some red zigzags on the plating on his arms. Jack knew he was a medic when he saw the Red Cross on the large bots upper arm. Jack prepared himself knowing that, considering his mom was a nurse, an uninformed medic could have a very fierce temper. There had been times where Jack had seen his mother's wrath come down on his father a few times. "Arcee, what is going on? And why are there humans with you!?"

Jack didn't mind the angry medics' words and just let Arcee handle it. "There was a Decepticon attack. Jack here was close by and the Cons must have thought that he was working with us, as for the other two humans, that's a longer story." Jack couldn't help but notice that she only gave his name and not Miko or Rafael's names. 'She must have missed their names back in the drainage ditch.' The medic would have said more, but suddenly, another bot entered the room and everyone looked straight at him.

Jack was amazed and a bit awestruck; this new bot had to be at least 60 feet tall. He had a red and blue paint job and when he spoke, it was a deep baritone voice that spoke volumes about his character, and age. "Ratchet, calm yourself. Arcee, Bulkhead, and Bumblebee were merely doing what was best for the safety of these humans."

The large bot that Jack assumed was the leader of this team was very calm and very reverent as he spoke to the clearly agitated medic. "Optimus, I know where this is going to lead. We can't just let them roam around the base, I mean look at them." Ratchet waved a hand towards the three humans he was referring to. "They have no protective shell. If they go underfoot, they will go…Squish!" Ratchet tapped his enormous ped to get the emphasis across.

But Optimus remained calm during his medics rant and spoke plainly after words. "Then in the mean time old friend, we will have to watch where we step." While this was all happening, Jack had made his way up to one of the catwalks to make some silent observations on the large area he and the others had been taken to.

Jack looked up to see what looked like a large concrete slab at the top of a large shaft, along the sides of the shaft were catwalks and doors with black and yellow symbols on them. 'A missile silo; it must have been decommissioned so they could use this place as a base of operations.' Jack looked back to see that the large bot dubbed Optimus was now standing in front of him. "Greetings young ones, rest assured that no harm will come to you while you are here."

The simple greeting from Optimus removed a great deal of tension from the situation for the children, and with this Jack introduced the group. "Allow me to introduce my friends." Jack then looked over at Raf and Miko as he addressed them. "Rafael Esquives is the youngest of us, but he's one of the best computer techs that I've ever met. Miko goes to school with Raf and I; she's a foreign exchange student from Japan but she's taken to American rock music pretty well; fair warning Ratchet, she likes to play extremely loud music on her guitar." Ratchet suddenly looked straight up from his work with wide eyes; Jack could practically see the terror in them. 'Hehehehe, things are bound to get very interesting between him and Miko.'

Jack had looked back to Optimus, but he could feel a pair of cobalt blue eyes on him the whole time Optimus had been speaking. 'Why does she keep staring at me like that?' Jack knew that it was Arcee that was staring at him, but he couldn't figure out what it was about him that had her in such a state. However, Jack shook this from his mind and continued to introduce himself. "As for me, my name is Jack Darby." Once Jack had finished his introductions, he felt everyone pause for a moment at the mention of his name.

Jack suddenly felt a sense of unease come over him. 'Do these guys know me?' Optimus suddenly spoke up once more, effectively pulling everyone out of their moments of pause. "My name is Optimus Prime; we are autonomous robotic organisms from the planet Cybertron." At this point, Jack knew these robots meant them no harm when he suddenly heard Ratchet speak up. "But you can call us Autobots for short." Ratchet spoke with a tone that was a strange combination of neutrality and what sounded like pride. 'How can someone put two emotions that contradict each other like that together?' Jack however cleared the thought from his head and kept his attention to where Optimus was directing his introductions.

Jack followed the eyes of the Prime and soon found himself once again looking at Arcee. "My First Lieutenant and current Second in Command, Arcee." Jack gave her a small nod as to give recognition, which she returned with what Jack felt seemed like some degree of respect. 'Okay, something is definitely up.'

Jack felt as if these bots knew him; but before he could press the matter, Optimus then continued his introductions. "My weapons specialist, Bulkhead." The large green autobots spoke up at this. "What's up little man?" He capitalized this with a simple smile. Optimus then looked back at the medic of the group. "Our medical officer, Ratchet." Jack gave what amounted to a highly respectful nod before speaking to the large medic bot. "My mom's a medic herself. Good to meet you Ratchet."

Ratchet looked over at Jack just briefly and then returned to his work on what appeared to be a large computer-like machine as Optimus finished up with one final introduction. "And finally our scout, Bumblebee." With that said; the slim, but still quite tall, Autobot spoke up. "Good to meet you guys." To most of the individuals present, Bumblebee's words were understood perfectly, but Miko was the only one that heard a combination of beeps and clicks that seemed unintelligible. "How do you know what he's saying?"

Jack couldn't help but snicker at the sight of Miko practically bouncing with annoyance at being the only one who couldn't understand Bee. "It's a lot like deciphering Morse code." Jack tried to explain to Miko and looked down to find Rafael smiling at him. "You must've read my mind Jack, that's exactly what I was about to say." Jack was suddenly happy, and thankful, for all those days his dad made him study Morse code on days he went with his dad to work.

Suddenly, what seemed to be an elevator opened up and out walked a dark skinned man in a blue suite with a white, button-up undershirt and a tie. He started talking to Prime in a very agitated voice. "Seven traffic jams, three fender-benders, and multiple reports of what are reported as: a dark blue motorcycle, a custom yellow muscle car, and a green 4x4 truck. There something you wanna get off your' chest Prime?" Jack could already tell this guy was former military by his quick temper and the way he acted.

That thought, however, quickly lost its place in Jack's mind when Optimus spoke up. "Agent Fowler, we had reason to believe a threat was present that may have endangered the lives of the humans in the town." This seemed to hit a nerve with Fowler as his mood changed from agitated to somewhat concerned. "They're back aren't they?" Fowler said to the Prime in a knowing voice that was confirmed by the large Cybertronian. "If you are referring to the Decepticons, I have my doubts that they ever left." With this, Fowler changed his mood to a take charge, running gun kind of mind set. "Then it's time to wake up the Pentagon. The Cons won't be catching us with our pants down in this."

Jack could tell that Optimus was worried about the agents' words; Jack suddenly spoke up, startling everyone. "Agent Fowler, involving the military in this will only put others at risk, I think it best to let Optimus handle this and wait on involving any more humans. At least until there's no other option." The Agent had seen the kids when he first entered but when he heard Jack speak up the way he did, he felt as if he were getting another lecture from Prime, so to try and get some answers, he decided to try and learn some things about this boy on the spot. "And may I ask who you are young man?"

Jack was a little aggravated at the way he was being treated like a child again, but kept a calm head and answered the Agent. "Cadet Lieutenant Colonel Jackson Darby; Jasper High School Battalion, Army JROTC sir." Jack couldn't help but throw in his position as his schools battalion commander into the mix, but something obviously struck with Fowler as his face became somewhat startled. "Darby, are you related to Fred Darby?" Jack was suddenly very interested that the CIA agent knew his deceased father, but then again, he was a Ranger. "Yes, I'm his son."

At this point, everyone in the room looked straight at Jack with wide eyes. "Why do I get the feeling that my dad was involved in all of this?" At that, Optimus spoke up. "Fredrick Darby was the only other human besides Agent Fowler who worked with our team. He worked closely with our recently deceased comrade, Cliffjumper, as well as working with Arcee on a number of occasions." Jack was shocked to know his father had worked with the Autobots and as he looked around at the team, he noticed Arcee had a far off look in her eyes, but she was staring straight at him. "Jack, your' dad and I were in the same Ranger regiment at Fort Benning. He was a great friend and an incredible soldier. He…"

At that point, everyone looked away from Jack with a pained expression in their eyes. Jack suddenly put the puzzle pieces together. "My dad didn't die from that factory explosion, did he?" At that point, you could hear a pin drop anywhere in that base. No one said anything for a few moments as they gave Jack a moment to process this new piece of knowledge. "Sitting around moaning isn't gonna bring my dad back."

Even Optimus couldn't hide the shock at what Jack said, but the young human spoke up once again before anyone could comment. "He's dead, but he died fighting for what he believed in. So I'm proud to call myself his son." The words showed everyone present a new side of Jack. Optimus and Ratchet couldn't help but smile at this as everyone else was completely amazed at what was just said.

Jack suddenly looked over his shoulder at the blade on his back and his eyes went wide. Jack quickly pulled out the black katana and looked it over as if trying to find an answer to some unknown question there. Then, as though things couldn't get any crazier, Ratchet spoke up. "Where did you get that blade?" Jack's thoughts were then confirmed as he answered the medical officer of the team. "I made it myself, my dad had an old blacksmith forge on our property and he taught me how to smith my own weapons."

Ratchet came over and raised his arm up as a green light fell over Jack, as it covered the blade, sensors started going off and Ratchet's eyes went wide. "By the Allspark, this blade is made from cybertronian metal!" With this, Optimus spoke up. "I can explain the reason for this Ratchet, the metal which was used to create this blade was taken from the bodies of fallen Decepticons." Ratchet was obviously dumbfounded at this discovery, when Arcee suddenly spoke up. "I understand that part Optimus, Cliff told me that Fred would take shards of metal off dead con's when they ran into them. I guess he must have melted the metal down to make his sword."

Jack spoke up at this with a slightly authoritative voice that he had obtained as the leader of a JROTC battalion. "My dad had a pretty good sized stock pile of the steel at my house, he never told me and mom where he really got it, but he used a lot of the stuff." Fowler suddenly began making phone calls as he left the base, leaving everyone in a state of confusion at his sudden exit from the building. Soon the three young humans turned back to Optimus who in turn began to speak. "All this aside; until things are more clear to be understood, each of you will go home for now with one of my team as your' guardians."

Jack figured Miko would be the first to lay claim to one of the Autobots, but surprisingly, Raf was the first to speak up. "I'll go with Bee, since me and Jack are the only ones who understand Morse code and can understand what Bee's saying." Miko seemed happy at this and walked up to Bulkhead and leaned against the large bots leg. "I'm with Bulk; Looks like you're with Arcee for the night Jack." Jack looked back at Arcee who was looking at Jack with a neutral look on her face. Jack was about to say something when suddenly, Arcee spoke up in a somewhat peaceful tone. "It'd be nice to see how a human lives."

Arcee then transformed into her sleek two-wheeler form and spoke up once more. "Hop on Jack, lets' head out." With that Jack got on Arcee and the three humans left with their Autobot guardians. Ratchet looked up from his work and over to his leader and oldest friend. "You knew he was Fred's son didn't you Optimus?" Optimus didn't miss the smile on Ratchets' face when the old medic spoke and in turn gave a smile with his own response. "Jack is much like his father; he has 'Wolfs" bearing as well as his skill in battle if the looks coming from Arcee were any indication." With this, Optimus went up to his usual spot on the roof and Ratchet continued with his work.

YEAH BABY! CHAPTER 3 UP AND OPERATIONAL! I'M ON FIRE! Lol. Okay, ranting aside I am glad i'm getting things running so quickly; it gives me something to occupy my time. Hope everyone is enjoying the story so far. Review, comment and so on. ROLL OUT MY FELLOW AUTOBOTS! Lol. ;)