Ch. 1

Jackson "Jack" Darby was a normal kid as far as anyone was concerned. He went to a simple High School in Jasper, Nevada. He was in his schools' Army JROTC Program of which he was the battalion commander. He was a simple kid and even had a hobby most would consider slightly old-fashioned; he was a blacksmith and a master at using almost any type of blade.

His dad, Fred "Wolf" Darby was in the Special Forces; he was an ex Army Ranger turned government mercenary and had participated in some of the most secret and heavily guarded military black ops. He taught Jack everything he knew and practically molded him into a soldier as well. Jack had never minded this though, no one at school understood him, and his dad gave him a purpose and a trade to boot.

But that all changed for Jack; his father was killed in action in an arms factory explosion in Ukraine, just south of Pripyat. After his father's death, Jack became very reclusive; he hardly spoke with his mom and almost never went outside his home. Eventually, Jack began to talk to his mother again but very little. He was jogging home from school and made a quick stop at the K.O. Burger for a short break.

He was sitting on one of the benches outside polishing his personal Katana that he had forged himself, no one ever said anything because everyone knew Jack and his father and trusted them both. He was looking over the blade in his grip when a voice he knew spoke up."I swear Jack, you could spend entire day's polishing that sword; I'm surprised that thing hasn't been polished to perfection."

Jack looked up to see a friend he had made quite recently. Michael Grymm moved to Jasper during Jack's freshman year; they both were in ROTC together and had struck up a friendship when they were put in the same platoon. "Have you ever known me to be satisfied with the condition of my sword Michael?"

Jack smirked at the taller, but younger, boy as he sat down next to him. "Point taken; what are you doing out here anyways? I figured you'd be at your house working on some new sword." Jack smiled at Michael as he shook his head with silent laughter. Jack and Michael were both obsessed with the military and had applied for staff positions each year they were in ROTC; Jack started out as the S-1 for his battalion and Michael had served as the Alpha Company Commander.

During their senior year, Jack was named the Battalion Commander while Michael took up the title of Command Sergeant Major. Jack soon brought his attention back to the present and looked at Michael before speaking up in a casual tone. "Today's a P.T. day for me; you know me and my habits." Michael chuckled before speaking up. "Well, keep it up old friend; you might beat me in the pull up contest before the end of the year."

With that, Jack and Michael stood up before grabbing each other's forearms and pulling each other into a bro hug. Michael began to run down the road and Jack sat down once again as he looked at his sword. Jack was thinking back to the day he forged the ebony blade when he looked up and saw something that caught his eye with almost no resistance from Jack; a royal blue custom motorcycle with black trim and small specks of hot pink in smaller areas.

Jack stood up and sheathed his sword as he walked up to the blue two-wheeler. "Well, whoever put you together did an excellent job." Jack ran a single hand over the bike from the top of the gas tank to the back of the black leather seat. He slowly got on and got a feel for the handle bars. "There's some serious power in this girl." But before he could say more, two pairs of bright headlights shined on him. He looked over and saw two Dark purple muscle cars that looked, in a word, evil. This was confirmed as they revved their engines and sped right at him.

Earlier That Same Day:

Arcee, the young cybertronian First Lieutenant of Team Prime had been speeding down the lonely high-way of Jasper as well as several back roads. After the speech Optimus had given and the short ceremony the team had for the loss of Cliffjumper, Arcee's partner and close friend, Arcee had decided she needed to be alone. She started to walk away when she heard Optimus call to her in that gentle, yet still reverent voice he carried.

She knew her leader, and surrogate father, was just worried about her; but she didn't want pity. "Optimus, sitting around isn't gonna bring Cliff back. So if it's good with you, I'd like to get back to protecting humanity." She didn't like sounding so dismissive to the team, but after today's events, she couldn't bring herself to care. So she left the base to drive around and attempt to find some peace.

She had been through the war that destroyed Cybertron and had seen death before, but to lose another partner like this brought up memories she had long kept buried in her technological subconscious. She drove for what felt like hours when she finally decided to drive into Jasper and stop off at one of the small lots in the town. She stopped at what seemed to be a sustenance center for the humans. She pulled into one of many empty parking spaces and decided to collect herself before returning to Optimus and the team."Take five Sadie." And with that, the holographic human driver dissipated from Arcee's back.

As large as Jasper was, Arcee could tell not much ever happened here, so she observed her surroundings to try and find something to take her mind off the days' events. She was thinking about the golden days of Cybertron when she looked to one of the benches outside the small building. She saw a human sitting with one leg resting on top of the bench he was sitting on. He was young from the look of it, but even so he was well developed for a human; but what really caught her eye was what he held in his hands; it was a type of sword that she had heard Bumblebee talk about when he did some studying of the humans. 'What was it Bee called it, a katana?' She thought to herself.

She brought her thoughts back to the human and further observed him. She could tell from the way he held the blade in his hands and how he continuously looked it over while polishing the blade that it had deep sentimental value to the young human. She was so engrossed in her thoughts and observations that she didn't realize that the human was staring right at her.

She sat there watching him as he stood up and began advancing towards her. She could tell he held no hostility in him so she let him approach her. When he reached her, he began observing her up-close. But when the human spoke; Arcee felt her spark freeze over with a strange combination of shock, fear, and hope. "Well, whoever put you together, he did an excellent job."

Arcee couldn't understand why she felt as if she was connected to this human. 'That voice; why does it sound so familiar?' She continued watching as he slowly let his hand glide down from the top of her gas tank to the back of her black leather seat, and was further surprised when he complimented her. "There's some serious power in this girl." Arcee was baffled that he was able to observe so many minute details as well as somehow knowing she was a femme.

She was thinking about whom this human was that was sitting on her seat when out of nowhere, two pairs of headlights shined out on the human. She adjusted her mirror to see who it was and cursed mentally when she saw they were Decepticons. She saw them driving right towards her and the human, so she said two words that would change her life forever. "Hold on!"