Wow, that took longer than I thought. I know I said that I was also going to be working on other writing, but some other work came along and delayed this by a bit. Also, writer's block. Accursed writer's block.
Anyways, Here's the first chapter to Crossfire.

Crossfire, Part 1

Autobot Hideout - Missile Silo

"What is the situation report on the civilian?"

Division Major Aiko was sifting through her files per General Sharpe's request, whose face was displayed on the screen of her office.

"The situation is standard… or as standard as it can get with him. Jasper Judge has been mainly kept on base for training, and any outside activity is closely monitored and approved."

Aiko was calm as she recalled the info, careful not to overindulge in certain hidden facts. Though she understood Jasper's desire to occasionally go out and participate in his human life, the General might see that as a breach of security. If the General were to even learn he went out to date Roe, her daughter, Aiko would be raked across the coals. Thankfully, Jasper has not done much going out without supervision recently. As much as she disliked lying to her superior, she believed that she was entirely on top of the situation.

"Good to know. I've also read that there was another skirmish with the Decepticons, and that 'Hollowpoint' was involved. But you also told me that Jasper has a call sign during missions. Care to explain why 'Hollowpoint' was out in another battle?"

Aiko sighed, fully expecting the General to speak about that.

"We did not send him out expecting a firefight. It was supposed to be a simple Energon scouting mission, but they met with resistance."

"Did you tell him to withdraw?"

"... We did… He decided not to retreat," Aiko confessed.

"So the civilian disregarded the chain of command."

"I would agree, but his staying had a hand in neutralizing a high-ranking Decepticon–"

"A high-ranking Decepticon that you haven't recovered the remains of," Sharpe interjected.

"The Decepticons got to his remains first. Regardless of that–"

"–he still disregards orders. We follow protocol for a reason. If he is planning on staying alive and serving with the Autobots, then he needs to stop playing soldier and start being one. Understood?"

"... Understood, Sir."

"Good. I expect a progress report on the next call. Over and out."
The screen turned off, leaving Aiko to palm her face and sigh heavily.

Outside the base…

"Aaaaand… fire!"

Ironhide's words were followed quickly by Jasper firing an energy sphere from his claw blaster directly into a worn-down piece of junk on a tree trunk. That now-scorched mass was then sent flying into another tree, denting its tree bark and letting it fall into a large pile of junk.

Ironhide placed his palm over his mouth at the sight. He heard of Jasper's less-than-stellar CQC capabilities from Bumblebee during the training. So his expectations for ranged combat training were relatively low. But he was quickly surprised by the 'Bot's good aim.

All the while, Jasper silently thrust his fist in victory.

"I'm… surprised, really. You manage to hit your mark each time."

Jasper was looking at Ironhide with confusion about that statement.

"Well… In fairness, they are still targets. I'd feel a little shame if I couldn't hit those," Jasper said as he stared at his claw blaster.

"Why? Did you have previous practice?" Ironhide asked.

"I mean, I've been playing shooter games for as long as I can remember, but I don't really think that counts as practice." Jasper pointed out sheepishly.

"And yet, you're already a better shot than most non-combatants," Ironhide muttered before saying aloud, "If you're so confident, then let's up the challenge: hit three targets as fast as you can!"

As Ironhide was setting up multiple props, Aiko was walking out of the exit stairs of the missile silo. Her attention was on Jasper, who was analyzing his claw blaster.

Then Jasper noticed the Major staring at him and moved to greet her.

"Mis–Er, Major Aiko. How's it going?"

"... It is going well, Jasper. What are you doing?"

Where Aiko was expecting Jasper to answer, Ironhide was the one to step up.

"We're doing ranged combat training. Bumblebee already got his chance to make Jasper better at punching, so now it's up to me to make him better at shooting. It only makes sense, doesn't it?" Ironhide said while his cannons extended from his forearms.

"Hmm, ranged combat training… A good thought, really. It's always better to keep your enemy at a distance," Aiko pointed out.

Jasper extended his hand to Aiko, "See? That's what I'm saying."

"You still need to learn melee combat, Jasper," Ironhide said dryly.

Jasper sighed, saying, "Do I really? I mean, I've got this blaster, I've got my tank form. I could be the support gunner. The big guns."

Wordlessly, Ironhide raised an optical ridge along with his arm cannons.

"Uhm, maybe just the support gunner. But the point is, I can help you guys from afar while you deal with the enemy up close. It's a good plan."

Aiko was silent at his sound logic. It made sense to specialize; To fulfill a role in a team. But the way he was saying it with such confidence and disregard…

Ironhide patted his servos clean, looking upon the three pieces of junk set up in a line, ready to be shot. The last piece, however, seemed a little more pristine than the others, looking a lot like a hand-held drilling device.

Just where did Ironhide get this junk again?

"It's time, Jasper. Are you ready?" Ironhide said with an expectant expression as he stepped to Jasper's side.

Jasper shook the thoughts away and stood facing the targets at a fair distance, his blaster arm down.

"Ready."

"Aaaand… Now!"

Squinting his optics, he powered up his claw blaster and a ball of bluish energy grew from the prongs. He brought up the blaster, releasing the ball within a split-second to nearly vaporize the first target. Thinking it took too many seconds to charge that ball, Jasper shot the next one much faster, letting loose a smaller ball that merely sent the junk flying. Then he charged up for the third shot, grinning that he hadn't missed a single–

A sudden 'Bang!' came from Jasper's right, causing him to jump and miss the last target by a wide margin. A faceplate of betrayal formed as he noticed Ironhide's arm cannon, the cannon end still orange with heat, right next to his audio receptor.

"What… What the… What was that for!?" Jasper demanded.

"Background noise," Ironhide plainly stated, "What, do you think it'll be peace and quiet on the battlefield? You'll have to get used to it if you want to be a soldier."

Ironhide then primed his arm cannon at the last target while a slightly frustrated Jasper looked away.

Suddenly, Ratchet poked his headpiece through the entrance with an investigative stare.

"Hey, Ironhide, can you tell me where you stored the waste pi–"

Ratchet was silenced by the powerful sound of Ironhide's arm cannon blasting the premium drill to bits. Oddly enough, Ratchet's faceplate was that of horror rather than surprise.

"Ironhide, I needed that!" Ratchet yelled out.

"Wha–I thought you wanted me to destroy the waste."

"I wanted you to store it, not use it for target practice!" Ratchet yelled out as he saw the blackened pile of scrap nearby, "I was going to try and repurpose all of this, and you had to scrap it all!?"

"Um, actually, I shot the rest of those," Jasper sheepishly said before raising his servos in surrender as Ratchet gave him the stink optic.

Ratchet rubbed his optical ridge in frustration and sighed.

"We'll have to delay your examination, Jasper, until I can find suitable replacements for the operation. Or if I can still salvage these… you complete blaster nuts," Ratchet muttered under his breath as he scooped up the scrap.

Jasper breathed a sigh of relief as he put down his servos.

"Welp, I guess that's the end of ranged combat. Guess I'm off to–"

"Hold on there, big guy," Aiko shouted as she gestured for him to follow her, "Your duties aren't done."

Jasper froze for a second before following the Major back down into the base.

"What, uh… What other duties do I have?" He asked hesitantly.

"Maintenance. As a matter of fact, that's why I wanted to find you. You need to do your part at the base."

Aiko then guided Jasper's optics right to… a large brush and bucket combo. It was then that Jasper's realization set in.

"You want me to clean up the base? Isn't that a job for a janitor?" Jasper said with slight offense.

"Everyone here contributes to the cleanliness of the base," Aiko stated.

"Everyone? Including Optimus?" Jasper said with disbelief.

"Yes, actually."

Jasper blankly stared at Ironhide, who was climbing down the entrance stairs. With no further clarification, Ironhide passed by Jasper and headed for the medbay.

"Where are you going!?" Jasper asked.

"I'm gonna see if I can fix up some broken tech so that Ratchet doesn't tear my headpiece off the next time we cross paths."

Jasper was made speechless as Ironhide disappeared from his sight, and Aiko snapped her fingers while still pointing at the brush-bucket combo.

Jasper sighed before taking the brush and bucket in his servos and heading to the corner of the main room.

"Oh, and don't forget to clean Rascal's litter box. She's your responsibility."

Jasper gritted his dentas as he peered at Rascal, curled up in her cardboard box near the litter box, which was very clearly already used. By the time Jasper could say anything, Aiko had already entered her office. But inside, she was peering out the closed window shutters, observing the civvy reluctantly start his work while muttering under his breath.

Aiko really hoped that this would work.

Decepticon Warship - The Nemesis

In the medical room, Starscream stood tall while staring down at Megatron's table, the former Decepticon Leader now connected to a multitude of medical devices tracking his vitals and keeping him alive. The Vehicons and the higher ranks were glad to know their great Lord was alive, though barely.

A shame, too. Starscream really thought that he offlined Megatron back in the cave.

"Doctor in the house."

Starscream was stirred from his thoughts by the sound of a door sliding open and Knockout stepping in, brandishing a spinning detail brush meant for cleaning bodyframes.

"Knockout. I trust you are here to look after the patient?" Starscream said dryly.

"Not much to look after, really. Much of Lord Megatron's damage was repaired, so the most I can do is simply keep him topped up with Energon until he stirs from his slumber."

Starscream scoffed, "Such an undignified state for our former Leader to remain in. I would have preferred that he was offlined with dignity, but the drones seem to cling to the hope that he will return, stronger than ever!"

Starscream's hammy expression ended with a sigh as his optics landed upon Slipstream's body: more pristine than before, yet just as offline.

"You could not have done more for her, Starscream," Knockout stated.

Starscream growled silently, "I could have dragged her out of there myself. To spare her from joining Megatron in his inevitable demise. Then she wouldn't have been a sacrifice for a converter that no longer works," he said while giving a death glare to the cracked converter on another table.

"The only difference would be that she would be alive and well, leading the Seekers in my stead. But now, it's only me. And soon, I will find a way to destroy those Autobots as payback."

As if on cue, the alarms blared and flashed red.

"Are we under attack!?" Knockout asked as he quickly glanced behind him.

Starscream didn't answer, and turned on his radio, "Command Bridge, where is the source of the alarm?"

A drone answered with, "Lieuten–Lord Starscream, it appears the source is located in the training room."

Quickly, Starscream's concern devolved into light annoyance.

"We're not under attack. I have a feeling I know what's happening. Return to your duties, doctor."

Starscream then exited the medbay, leaving a very confused Knockout behind.

Starscream marched his way down the empty hallways and towards the door to the training room, and scowled as he heard cheering from inside. Immediately, he barged his way in, and the slew of muffled cheers became deafening as he found a large mass of Vehicons thrusting their servos in the air as they watched on. Impatient, Starscream pried his way past the smaller Vehicons, until he finally found a faceplate he could recognize in the form of a very loud Brawl.

"Brawl!... Brawl! What is everyone doing here!?" Starscream shouted over the noise.

Brawl stopped cheering and screamed out, "It's your Seekers, Starscream! They're putting on quite a show!"

With a scowl, Starscream powered his way through more Vehicons, and caught a full view of Thrust and Thundercracker flying at each other in robot form, their back thrusters fired at the max. They clashed, throwing their fists or thruster-aided kicks at each other. Eventually, they both flew back and landed on the training pad, staring dead at each other.

Thrust pointed at Thundercracker, "Ha! And you call yourself the next Seeker Commander!? Looks to me that I'm too quick for you!"

Thundercracker scoffed, "You're loud! Obnoxious! But fast!? A turtlebot could catch up with you!"

With both Seekers mad at the other, they flew at each other again. While the crowd cheered on at the violence, Starscream remained silent and disappointed.

Since Starscream's 'sudden' promotion to leader of the Decepticons, the position of Seeker Commander was left vacant. And with his promotion combined with the passing of Slipstream, that left only two possible candidates. And how they did try to prove who was the better candidate. This was one of many training rounds they went through over the cycles to prove themselves, and this time a crowd formed. Not surprising. Short of Starscream and Megatron, his Seekers were the greatest example of Decepticon fliers. Thundercracker, the more analytical flier jetting around to find a weakness; and Thrust, the brash and up-close fighter that used his speed at most to close the distance and overwhelm with force and firepower. The match-up was a spectacle. Something worth cheering over.

'Would this end differently?' Starscream thought.

In one final clash, Thrust rushed for Thundercracker right as the blue Seeker transformed midair back into his robot form. Thrust punched upward, Thundercracker punched downward…

And both struck hard, only to end up on the ground.

A draw. As usual. Starscream hoped he would be wrong, and yet he was not.

Before he could turn back, Starscream noticed a rustle from both his Seekers. They got on their pedes, staring at each other with bright-red optics. There were no words exchanged. But their stances told it all.

They would not give up until the other did.

With a thunderous cheer, both combatants shouted a battlecry and ran at each other with their fists raised.

That was, until the ground between them was shot with an arm blaster from up high.

"That's enough!" Starscream shouted, hovering high in the air, then turning to the crowd, "Everyone, return to your posts at once!"

With some light groans of disappointment, the crowd dispersed and left the training grounds, leaving only the Seekers, Starscream, and Brawl.

"Blast it. I bet my rations that Thrust would win," Brawl muttered in dissatisfaction.

Both Seekers straightened themselves out and saluted Starscream. The first one to speak up was Thrust, looking worse for wear with a few dents in his wings.

"Lieutenant Star–"

"Lord Starscream, Thrust."

"Uh, Lord Starscream, we were simply determining who would lead the Seekers in your stead," Thrust finished.

"I can see that. And just like the other times you tried that, it ends with both of you banged up, leaking, and on Knockout's table. Stop it with these brawls, the both of you."

"Does that mean that you have chosen one of us as Seeker Commander?" Thundercracker asked, leaning his headpiece expectantly.

Though caught off-guard, Starscream said, "No, Thundercracker. There is little point with how few Seekers remain in the armada."

The Seekers were brought to silence for a few seconds, until Thrust stepped forward to Starscream.

"... My Lord, while Slipstream may be gone, we cannot falter. The Seekers require a strong, ruthless leader."

"Correction: it requires a Decepticon with smarts and perception, and I know that you lack both of those aspects, Thrust."

"Do you wanna go again, Thundercracker!? Is that it!?"

"You mean you wanna lose!? Then come on!"

Both Seekers quickly advanced to beat on the other, only being held back by an intervening Starscream.

Now angry, Starscream shouted, "I will put both of you in the brig if you can't get your act together!"

Brawl was displeased at the intervention, and said, "No, Lord Screamer, let 'em go at it again!"

Though Starscream was displeased at the incorrect title, Thrust was the first to speak.

"You are beyond lucky I don't have my combat augment with me! I'd fly circles around you before you could even raise a blaster!"

"If I had mine, it wouldn't even be a fight! It'd be a massacre!" Thundercracker quipped back.

Starscream was ready to tear into them… but stopped. Combat augments. Combat. Augments. That was it.

Starscream pushed both Seekers away from each other, a grin wide on his face.

"You two, cease the in-fighting and remain on stand-by. Brawl, call Soundwave onto the Bridge. I know just what we need."

Autobot Hideout - Missile Silo

Jasper found himself in a sour mood as he was cleaning out the corners of the base with a wet brush, metal music blaring in his headpiece as he did so. Of all the things he thought he would be doing–Energon scouting, training, even a simple patrol–he was relegated to cleaning? In his processor, while internally playing music with heavy beats, he thought of a million other things he would prefer to do.

But despite his annoyance at the task, he was quite thorough: washing the dirt off, drying off the surfaces, and even putting in a lot of elbow grease to completely clean out the long-dirty concrete walls and ceilings that he could reach with his robot form. The last thing he wanted was to redo the cleaning because someone said it was subpar.

"Doing pretty good, Jasper."

Jolted out of his automated state, Jasper paused his internal music and looked down to notice Ralph, laptop in hand, walking toward him.

"I'm just doing what I can with what I've got. I feel like something like this should be left to the people with the know-how. You know… like janitors."

"Jasper, we're in a top-secret location with highly advanced cybernetic beings from the stars. I don't think we can afford a janitor with such clearance," Ralph pointed out.

Jasper averted his optics and rubbed his headpiece at the obvious info, feeling rather dull that he had not thought of that.

"Also, no janitor could do this much work. I mean, wow," Ralph looked closer at the much paler concrete walls and said, "They almost look like they were just constructed today."

The sudden praise left Jasper a little speechless. Perhaps he wasn't doing half-bad of a job.

Ralph quickly pinched his nose and turned his head, "Ughh, your cat's litter box stinks."

… Jasper palmed his faceplate, knowing he had forgotten something. He transformed into his truck form, and his holoform came out to kneel at the litterbox, only to quickly turn his head the same way. Jasper may not have his sense of taste, but he still had his sense of smell, as unfortunate as it was.

Jasper's gaze turned to Rascal, sitting tall just a foot away from the box.

"Wipe that smug look off your face, little trash diver."

As he was scooping the clumps from the sand into a plastic bag, Jasper noticed Ralph's laptop screen displayed some strange symbols and designs he had never seen before.

"What the… Just what kind of Operating System is that?" Jasper asked, curious.

"Hmm? Oh, this is something the Autobots had in their ship. Or at least, a more dumbed-down version of it so it could run on human tech. They called it Teletraan-III, and it works quite a lot like their original Teletraan-I, just without the A.I."

"Interesting…" Jasper sat down next to Ralph with an inquisitive look on his face.

"Oh yeah, you were a Computer Science major, right? Perhaps you should start learning this. It would be a good stepping stone to use their actual computers."

"Hey, yeah, that's a good point. It would be real useful… I never had much experience outside of the Glass O.S., and that's just kinda standard… although… my old PC had some software that could run extra Operating Systems on it… not to mention other things that I've missed like games, social media, and such… Oh."

Jasper's face lit up with devilish excitement, leaving Ralph a little stumped on what he was thinking.

"Uh, Jasper, what are you–"

"Hey, Ralph, care to do me a favor? You think you could transfer a version of my PC to my processor?"

Though taken aback, Ralph gave it some thought, and said, "... Well, I can… But don't you still have to clean this up?"

"This? Cleaning can wait half an hour, at worst. If it's anything like what you did to my phone, then it should be done in a flash. Come on, think about it."

As Ralph thought of the benefits, Jasper was more focused on one other thought: simply put, he missed his machine by quite a lot. Not being allowed out on his own stifled a lot of potential entertainment he could do on his off-time. But this would solve all of that, and he could actually learn something useful with Teletraan-III. All pros, no cons.

Ralph stopped pondering, and said, "Well… We can do that. I'll call a ground bridge, but I will be with you the whole time, got it?"

"Hey, I don't mind, man. Now let's get moving!"

Jasper was quick to pet Rascal and toss the waste in the garbage before following Ralph toward the deactivated ground bridge, leaving his larger bucket and brush behind.

In the medbay room…

"And that… should be… all."

Ratchet spoke slowly over the loud and bright sparking of his servo-turned-welding-tool, as he merged the small gash on Bumblebee's chestpiece. The scout instinctively palmed the now fused wound, grey metal surrounded by painted orange-yellow.

"It's times like these I wish all of you could self-repair at the same rate as Jasper. Would save me a lot of time," Ratchet pondered as his welding tool turned back into a servo.

"I wish I could, too. Would save me a lot of trips to the medbay."

Ratchet rolled his optics as he turned to Ironhide, who was manning a table with a bunch of junk and worn-out tools that he was trying–and barely succeeding–to repair.

"Remind me again why you're doing this?" Ratchet said with an ill-impressed sigh.

"Because if I didn't, you would talk my audio processor off about me destroying your stuff."

"Hmm, and what makes you think I still won't after you help me out?"

"Because you'll feel too guilty if you do," Ironhide answered confidently, causing Ratchet to scoff.

Their conversation stopped once Bumblebee beeped in acknowledgment from seeing Optimus walking in with Jackson catching up behind him.

"Boss," Ironhide said off-handedly.

"Optimus," Ratchet said with surprise.

"... Glad to see everyone's acknowledged," Jackson said dryly, then asked, "How's the resident scout?"

"All repaired and ready," Ratchet proclaimed while Bumblebee jumped to his pedes and did some mock punches into the air.

"Good. Ralph will be glad about that," Jackson noted.

"We are all glad about our scout's full recovery. How do you feel, old friend?" Optimus asked while placing a servo on the scout's shoulderpad.

The scout responded with light tones and beeps, an extra pep in his step as he did so.

Ironhide laughed at that, "Yeah, I can't blame you. That Barricade was a menace. It's a good thing you turned off his lights."

Optimus said nothing, and simply nodded his head at Bumblebee.

"Well, if half of what I heard of him was true, then where was he this whole time?" Jackson asked.

"I… I don't follow," Ratchet said, perplexed.

Jackson held out a folder, "I read your report, but that leaves me with more questions. If he was as dangerous as you said, then why was he… 'in stasis'... as you say?" Jackson said while giving the file a once-over.

Optimus was the first to answer, "Megatron valued order over sheer power. I believe he punished Barricade with stasis over Bumblebee's failed interrogation."

Jackson pointed out, "But Megatron's gone. It's Starscream leading the 'Cons. And if what you heard from that conversation was right, then he released him early."

"What's your point, Sarge?" Ironhide said with one optical ridge raised.

Jackson continued, "He was recruiting a 'Con. Bolstering his numbers. What would stop him–"

"From recruiting more?" Optimus interjected.

Everyone remained silent as they stared at the stoic Prime, Jackson especially.

"You thought about this… haven't you?" Jackson probed.

Optimus explained, "The war between Autobots and Decepticons had slowed down significantly on this planet. While we are few, we are strong, and can hold off the Decepticons while remaining out of human sight."

"So both of you were in a deadlock here. But… why?" Jackson asked, his curiosity peaked.

"... To prevent an all-out war on Earth."

"You must be kidding. Megatron wa–is not entirely one to show restraint."

Starscream was side-eyeing Soundwave as he spoke, while also manning a Bridge Room computer that showed exactly what he was looking for: the coordinates of a combat weaponry drop planted on the Earth many solar cycles before. Combat Modules included.

Starscream was shocked, however. They had these coordinates, knew exactly where the weaponry was, even had the tools to acquire them… and yet they never pursued this avenue?

"Why? Why would Megatron not seek this out?"

Soundwave pointed out, "Lord Megatron refrained from acquiring the weapons drop due to a potential Autobot response."

Starscream gave a short laugh, then joked, "What, he was afraid the Prime would attack even harder than before?"

Soundwave tilted his headpiece forward, "Megatron did not fear the damage the Autobots would do to the Decepticons. He wanted to avoid destroying the Earth."

Starscream was brought to silence by the proclamation. Megatron was… concerned for the Earth? That sounded more like Prime's reasoning.

"Last I recalled, it was the Prime that valued the lives of those fleshlings," Starscream commented.

"You misunderstand, Lord Starscream. Megatron seeks to rid Prime and the Autobots while keeping the Earth intact. So that when all of them are gone, he has a planet and its species to rule."

Though confused, it finally clicked in Starscream's processor.

"Aaaahh, and the Autobots would ramp up their numbers and weaponry if we did so, leading to a scorched Earth."

"That is correct, Lord Starscream."

"... Gather the troops. We're getting back our weapons," Starscream proclaimed.

Soundwave was silent. Unmoving. If Starscream knew Soundwave enough, he would have sworn that this was his look of confusion.

Starscream turned with conviction to his Communications Lieutenant.

"Soundwave, Megatron may have restrained himself from powering up the Decepticons because of what the Autobots would do, but here's the simple truth: they won't have the chance to retaliate if we destroy them first."

Still silent throughout the explanation, Soundwave only responded with a curt nod of his headpiece. Starscream gave off a sly grin before returning to the monitor, his arms behind his back.

"We will brief within two hours. Then we arm ourselves."

Soundwave marched away, his visor stagnant as he stared onward, leaving Starscream behind in the Command Bridge.

"So you assume that Megatron wanted to dominate the Earth? And Humanity?... Just why? Why this planet of all planets?" Jackson probed further.

With greater thought, Optimus responded, "... Though I knew Megatron's quest for power, I could not say the same for his reasoning."

Jackson sighed at the non-answer, "That doesn't matter. Starscream is not Megatron. He could very well do something different. Something more radical. You need to prepare for the worst."

"I understand your concern, Sergeant Jackson. But you must also understand, that preparing for an all-out war could lead to the war beginning in the first place."

"Like in the Greek Mythology, where people took steps to prevent their demise, only to doom themselves to it," Ratchet added.

"I know my Greek Mythos, doctor… But if you're wrong, and you don't respond right, it could lead to something worse," Jackson said, a twinge of worry on his stoic face.

Silence took over the medbay at the heavy choice given to them, including Jackson. Two outcomes, each breaking the current status of the war into something more destructive. But what would they do?

That question was interrupted by hard footsteps as Aiko marched in, searching around for something.

Jackson broke the silence, "Division Major. What are you looking–"

"Have you seen Jasper?" Aiko asked with a furrowed brow.

Surprised, Jackson answered, "Oh, he's with Ralph. They were going out to fetch something. Why do you ask?"

In Kamilo…

"So this is where you lived?" Ralph said while Jasper opened up the door labeled '102'.

"Yyyyup. For all the four years of college. Best years I've had, really," Jasper said offhandedly.

Ralph entered the apartment and took in the sight: a standard unit with a smallish living room, kitchen, bedroom, and bathroom, all barely personalized and rather basic. Though it was clean of clutter, it was clear from the small layer of dust on many of the surfaces that the Human-now-Transformer didn't take much time for some spring-cleaning.

"It looks… nice," Ralph said as he scanned the room.

"Sorry, I didn't expect guests, else I would have brushed up a few of the shelves,"

"Just a few?" Ralph muttered.

Jasper quickly led Ralph over to his bedroom, which was sparse apart from one untouched bed, a countertop with a framed picture of Jasper with an older man and woman, and a desk topped with a bunch of papers and clutter. But the main attraction was the monster on the desk: a large, angular PC box next to a gaming monitor, both of which were colored forest green. Jasper turned on the PC with the stroke of a key on his bulky keyboard, and the PC lit up like a christmas tree with red lights and whirring fans.

"Just give me a second. I have to check on a couple things," Jasper excused as he sat down at his desk.

Ralph joked, "What? You have some files you need to delete?"

Jasper glanced at Ralph while his angular mouse was holding a file over the recycling bin on the screen.

"No…"

Ralph chuckled to himself as he picked up the picture frame and took a closer look. The man next to Jasper appeared more slouching, a collared shirt over his slightly bulging belly, while giving a wide, toothy smile. The woman stood shorter than the two men, yet was sturdier in her mass, giving off a light smile to the camera through her auburn, wiry hair.

"This your family?" Ralph asked.

"Yup. Dear old Mom and Dad sent me that pic so that I wouldn't forget what they look like. They're funny that way."

"I heard from Jackson that when you graduated, you didn't invite them. Why was that?" Ralph asked inquisitively.

Jasper paused as he seemed to give his answer thought, before shaking his head.

"Slipped my mind. Rather stupid of me, really."

Jasper did no further elaborating as he got up and sent his hands outward, as though he was revealing his PC.

"It's all yours. Do your magic," Jasper said plainly.

Ralph could not ponder as he brought out his datapad from his pack.

Jasper could not believe it. He would have imagined it happening in half a century, but not today: an entire version of his PC, a virtual one, inside his own head. In his vision, a square view of his desktop, including the default wallpaper and 'activate' notification he never bothered to fix. He could see it in tandem with his phone screen, side to side, both operating far faster than they ever would have in their physical forms. And as long as he had a wi-fi connection, his PC could work normally. A warmth unlike any other passed through him as he felt the comfort of being in front of his screen, of being able to upvote posts on Bluedon, checking his Chaotik for notifications, and looking at his games list that has grown like a forest over the many years. It made him feel–

"Jasper?"

Jasper jumped back in surprise as Ralph stood at his side, inches away from his ear.

"There you are. You were daydreaming just then. If Aiko saw you like this, she'd chew you out," Ralph pointed out.

"Uh, yeah."

"Anyways, that should be everything," Ralph said as he put away his datapad, "When we get back, I can help you install a version of Teletraan-III, and I can teach you to use it."

Jasper hesitantly nodded, almost forgetting about the main reason he did this. Jasper led Ralph to the front door, ready to leave.

"Thank you, Ralph, for doing this for me."

"You know, I would have sworn that you wanted your PC in your head so you could just fiddle with it like usual. And while I can understand it to a point, if I catch you playing with it instead of doing your duty, you're not hearing the end of it. Clear?"

Jasper opened the door, and said, "Crystal. Now let's go…"

Jasper trailed off, leaving Ralph confused as he saw Jasper staring hard at a rundown four-door sedan. And that look was akin to… fear?

Ralph became tense, and whispered, "What is it? 'Cons?" Ralph reached into his jacket for his weapon.

Jasper nodded, "No, no, nothing that dangerous. But as an aside, why don't we leave as fast as we can, gotcha?"

Jasper immediately rushed for his vehicle form, trying to open the door in a panic. Ralph was ready to calm down the nervous Jasper, only to stop as he heard voices from afar. Voices which only made Jasper panic more.

The male voice spoke up first, "The office said 102, right?"

"They did. And we would have been there faster had you not held the conversation for ten minutes."

"The guy knew a bunch of famous spots here. Why not do some sightseeing while we're here?"

"Hun, Kamilo wasn't really the place for sightseeing. And I'm sure Jasper could take us to some places he knows."

Ralph tilted his head. These two knew Jasper?

"Oh, come on. You know that boy. All the traveling he does is from his desk to the kitchen for food, then back to his desk. He's not exactly the most outside… person."

Ralph turned from a frozen Jasper to find two people clearing the corner: a man and a woman. Both of which he felt he had seen before, but not in person. The older couple looked upon Jasper and Ralph with shock, then frustration, then happiness.

The woman was the first to speak up, "Hey, Jay. What are you doing?"

Jasper sighed before stepping down from his truck form to face the couple.

"I… was just getting here. Hey, Mom. Hey, Dad."

Ralph's eyes widened as he recalled: the framed picture. It was his parents. The parents that came here unexpectedly after Jasper failed to invite them to his own graduation.

It then clicked even further for Ralph: Jasper was in trouble.

Autobot Hideout - Missile Silo

In the main room, Ratchet was scowling as he was working on one of the computers. He couldn't handle it: his medbay was getting too full. Though he could handle patients, having multiple Autobots and humans encroach on his workspace grinded his gears. So he left Optimus as he was discussing strategy with Jackson, and simply secluded himself to do his own work: decoding the datapads related to Jasper.

"At least Ironhide's not here to 'help'... heh," Ratchet chuckled to himself as he scanned more lines of code.

Suddenly, a different application lit up on the screen, and Ratchet sighed while opening it up. And what he found was… strange. They were Decepticon in origin, yet they had encryption patterns that were over a hundred solar cycles old. But… that made no sense. Why would an outdated and almost ancient Decepticon signal pop up now? Did it happen on its own? Or perhaps the Decepticons activated it now? Whatever the reason, it could not be good.

Ratchet activated his radio, "Optimus, I need you in the main room. The Decepticons might be up to something."