Ok so this is my third attempt at a story with Clare/Ascella. I'm changing a lot of things, but keeping some of it the same and I hope you all like it. This is just a pilot chapter, but if enough people like it and let me know it then I'll continue it. Constructive criticism is welcome, but no flamers please. Anyways, I only own the plot and OC, the rest of the characters and movie plots (barring the bits I change for creative purposes) belong to their rightful owners! I'm honestly not too confident with my writing ability lately, so letting me know what you think really helps me out! POV's are switching back and forth in this a bit, and will periodically through the story possibly!

Transformers is owned by Hasbro!

"Awww come on Clare! Just give me a ride to the lake party and I won't ask you for anything else until Christmas break!" A young, brown haired teen, with green eyes, and a lanky build, whined at the young female sitting next to him.

She seemed rather unimpressed with his attitude, her dark blue eyes narrowing as she glanced at him, having to push some of her long, raven colored hair out of her face. The icy blue highlights gleamed in the light of the sun shining overhead, making it harder to see the tattoos she sported on her left arm, which was bared due to the black tank top she was wearing. If one looked close enough, they could see that the markings went up her neck, and were even present on the side of her face, each forming a long, sweeping streak. "Sam whining isn't gonna get me to do what you want me to." She deadpanned, seeming bored and irritated all at the same time.

"Clare seriously?" He shot her an agitated look and shot to his feet, towering over her since she was sitting cross legged against the wall of the house they apparently lived in. "Ok let's go over options here, and remind you of my social status with everyone at school!"

She snorted and started playing with a lock of her thigh length hair. "Sam I think the better way to word that, is your lack of any social status worth noting at school."

"Wow really…? You just kill my self-esteem every time we talk!"

"You're the one that lets the truth hurt you."

His hands tightened into fists, teeth grinding together as he glared at her. "Ok instead of insulting me can you just listen to me plead my case?"

A small smirk formed on her lips, eyes drifting up to his face with barely concealed amusement. "Oh, please do plead said case Sam. I'm dying to hear your argument."

"Ok then just listen to me! My dad agreed to buy me a car, but you know him! He'll buy me a total piece of junk and give me some speech about how money doesn't grow on trees!"

"Because it doesn't, and you're lucky he's willing to buy you a car at all." She pointed out.

"Ok, yeah I get that, but I don't want to be seen at the lake party in a piece of junk car when I could be seen in an Aston Martin DB9! Come on Clare! Have some sympathy and compassion!" He clasped his hands together and gave her a pleading look.

Which prompted her to stare at him for a few long, drawn out moments, until she shook her head and looked away from him. "Sam, you need to stop caring what everyone else thinks of you and start being happy for who you are. Stop letting the opinions of others dictate your every move, and shape your future. You care too much what others think when they look at you, or see something you do and it's ridiculous. Now, take your ass inside and talk to your dad about going to pick out your new car."

He threw his arms up in the air and stormed inside, leaving her to roll her eyes at his antics. Why did he have to act like such a child all the time? Little twerp.

She sat there staring out at the fence, or more specifically the bright blue sky that didn't seem to have even a speck of a cloud obscuring it. A light breeze ghosted over her skin, creating the monotonous sensation of something crawling all over her. Goosebumps, she always hated feeling her skin prickle, and the hairs lining her body tickling her pale flesh.

But looking at the sky, well that always made her feel more at peace. Things didn't have to be complicated when she sat and looked at the clouds rolling by, or the lack thereof occasionally. But the soft color, and the gentle breeze just made it easy to forget things she didn't want to think about.

It was her solace.

Peace in a world that was wrought with more strife than most wanted to acknowledge.

But it was true that it could always be worse.

Still… these moments were something she enjoyed. Just peace, quiet, and time to think about nothing of real importance.

She could leave all the heavy stuff behind, or try to, yet it would always purvey underneath any sense of calm and serenity she felt. That was just how her life was, and she accepted it as something that would never change. Burdens never seemed to lessen with time.

It wasn't long before she heard the sound of Sam talking to Ron, the noise growing closer before the sliding door opened and the two stepped out. "Just please let me get something halfway decent please dad?"

"Sam I'm not going to spend a good chunk of my savings on a car that you'll probably crash in a week!" Ron responded as they made their way over to where she was sitting.

She stood up and stuffed her hands in her pockets. "He still going on about it Ron?"

The man in question just gave her a look like, 'What are you gonna do?'

"You want to come with and help him pick something out? You're pretty knowledgeable about this stuff."

"Sure, why not?" Like she was trusting the two to go anywhere alone.

"Alright just follow close behind us ok?" Ron made his way over to the family vehicle and climbed inside, with Sam quickly getting into the passenger seat.

Clare just shrugged and made her way into the garage, disappearing briefly, before the loud roar of an engine was heard immediately preceding a dark blue and purple, 2007 Aston Martin DB9 pulling out of said garage. She beeped her horn and Ron quickly started up his own car and pulled out onto the road, with her following close behind him.

She kept a close eye on them as she followed, periodically checking oncoming traffic just to be safe. It was just a habit of hers to do so, paranoia if you would. Not that she was prone to it, but one needed to be cautious regardless… especially with this crazy group she spent almost every waking moment with.

It didn't take them long to get to a car lot called Uncle Bobby B's Used Car Lot. They pulled in and parked, before getting out as a salesman walked up to them.

She eyed him for a moment, but kept her distance and looked over the cars around the lot and cringed at the sorry state of most of them. Well his social status was gonna drop even lower than it already was… well if that was even possible in any way, shape, or form.

There were Chevy cavaliers, Dodge Neons, Dodge Stratus, etc… and all of them were beat up and dirty as all hell. She was cringing… oh wow these choices were complete shit. "Well Sam… I almost feel sorry for refusing to cart you around everywhere." She commented as said kid made his way over to her, still sulking by the looks of it.

"Yeah thanks Clare… I could be riding around in a DB9… instead I'm gonna be forced to drive a piece of junk."

"Oh, suck it up buttercup!"

He grumbled something under his breath, but actually started looking at the choices with clear distaste showing on his features. There weren't many decent choices, if any at all to choose from, but she kept close and followed him around the lot, while keeping an eye on Ron while he conversed with the salesman.

She turned away after a moment and noticed that Sam had stopped in front of an old yellow Camaro. It was a 1977 model, with a riveted hood scoop, so overall not too bad considering where they were. There were rust patches here and there, chipping into the yellow and black paint, but overall the frame was in good shape. But something about it seemed off to her, and her eyes narrowed as she made her way over and looked it over alongside Sam.

Before she could look much further, Ron and the salesman came over to where they were standing. "Ah, an old 77' Camaro, not a bad car at all." Ron stated as he looked the car over.

"I don't remember this car being here." The salesman muttered.

She glanced at him and then back at the car, eyes narrowing further, but she didn't say anything.

"How much do you want for it?"

"Well considering the make and paint job… I'd say five grand."

Ron immediately shook his head. "I'm not going over four."

"Well I guess that settles it." Bobby B muttered. "I can show you a car that's worth four grand." He turned and led her companions around the front end of the Camaro, over towards an old Chevy Lumina beside it. "Now this car is worth four grand!"

She snorted and stood with her arms crossed, watching them look the piece of junk over, when a sudden bang had all of them jolting a bit. When she looked to her left, the door of the Camaro was buried in the side of the Lumina the asshole was trying to sell them.

The cheap sales bastard quickly skirted around the side and closed the Camaro's door, looking over the damage to the Lumina. "Huh? How'd that happen?" He scratched his head and shrugged it off. "Well I have a few other choices we could look at."

A sudden, piercing screech cut him off mid-sentence as the windows of every car in the lot shattered into thousands of pieces, glass spraying everywhere and showering down on the ground as everyone covered their ears to block the noise out.

As quickly as it'd come, it faded and each of them looked up, glancing around at the cars lining the lot. Each and every one of them sporting broken windows, all except for the Camaro, which had miraculously remained intact.

"I'll take that four thousand!" Bobby B suddenly muttered, voice strained.

"Deal." Ron responded instantly, and the two made their way into the office to finalize the deal.

Leaving her standing there with Sam, who was looking shocked, yet relieved. Poor idiot was probably happy that he didn't have to get that damn Lumina.

She glanced at the Camaro again and frowned, before gesturing for Sam to follow her across the lot. "You're going to the Lake party tonight right?"

He blinked and nodded. "Yeah you already know that. Why?"

"After you're done I need you to go downtown and pick up some detailing supplies at Auto Zone for me ok?"

"Why can't you just do it yourself?"

"Because I have something else I need to do you little shithead! Just do what I ask you to do please? Otherwise I'll string you up to a flagpole again."

"You wouldn't dare!"

"Oh, I would so don't tempt me." A teasing smirk came to her features as she spun and made her way over to her car and got in, waiting until Ron made his way out with the keys to the Camaro, and once they both pulled out of the lot in their respective vehicles, she followed.

(Bumblebee's POV)

It was a strange sensation not to be in control of my own alt mode. Every time Sam turned a corner I felt my relays adjust, without my consent, which was an unsettling sensation. I almost wanted to protest, turn the other way, take control of my frame back, but I knew that I couldn't do it or my cover would be blown. So, I had to resign myself to letting him control my every move for now.

We'd just dropped off the human femme that Sam had picked up at the party off at her home, and now he was driving me into town to get detailing supplies as the other femme had requested earlier. He parked out front of an automotive store and got out, shutting my door and locking it before making his way inside. This left me to sit idle while he was gone. The dull hum of traffic going by my only companion, and strangely enough it reminded me of what Cybertron was like before the war.

Bots coming and going in their alt modes. And endless cycle of them coming or going. So alike this new planet I'd come to find myself on. This monotonous flow of traffic, the dull hums of engines, tires screeching here and there, made me feel relaxed.

I sank a little lower on my axels, inconspicuous in the movement, not that I was worried a human would notice. None seemed to be paying the smallest amount of attention to my alt. Probably because it was an older model, and I'd added rust spots for effect to, hopefully, make myself less likely to draw attention. So far it seemed to be working too, much to my relief. I didn't understand humans very well yet, so I'd based my appearance off of what other Cybertronians would find displeasing. If one of the twins could see me now, they'd no doubt be disgusted about the rust shavings I was seemingly leaving everywhere I went. Oh well. The mission was more important than what I looked like anyways. I could always fix myself up at any time I wanted to anyways.

I settled in to wait for Sam to return, switching on my radio and listening to some earth music. They had a nice selection, though most of it was vastly different than Cybertronian music, there were still some songs that were good. While I was waiting a black Dodge Charger SRT8, at least according to my scans that's what it was, pulled up in front of me and parked. A moment later the door opened and a tall, blonde haired male stepped out and made his down the street.

I didn't think much of it, so I went back to listening to some song that almost reminded me of a Cybertronian screaming. Apparently, it was called metal, and was a form of rock n roll, or something. Maybe not the best choice considering…

Just as I was about to run a self-scan to make sure I was functioning properly another burst of static came through, only this time a masculine voice was clearly discernible within it. :I'm onto you mech.:

I tensed. :What? Who are you? How did you get this frequency?!:

The voice chuckled darkly and hitched, becoming somewhat garbled. :Who I am is no concern of yours. All that you need to know is that I'll be watching you, so you better watch yourself.:

:Watch myself? Are you a con?:

:No. Like I said, who I am doesn't matter. All that matters is that you keep yourself in check mech.:

Before I could respond again the link was cut, leaving me in an unsettling silence. I wasn't expecting another party possibly being involved… They had to be Cybertronian right? Surely humans didn't have the technology, or knowledge of our tech, to hack into our comm link system like that? They shouldn't even know about us!

So, it had to be another Cybertronian but, if not a con then who?

I was pulled out of my musing when my door opened, the sensation once again being weird since it wasn't of my own volition, and Sam climbed into the driver's seat with a bag. He sat it on the passenger seat and fastened his seatbelt, then put his key in my 'ignition' and started my engine.

When he pulled out of his parking spot I realized that the black charger was gone, yet I never even noticed it pulled out at all. Oh well, I was more concerned with finding out who had contacted me.

Once everything was clear tonight I needed to signal the others, and hopefully get a hold of Optimus to inform him of this newest bit of information. But for now, I was focused on paying attention to what my charge was doing. I was sort of worried he might crash me… but I was at his mercy as he drove us back to his residence. It luckily didn't take too long, and we made it back intact well after the sun had set.

Sam quickly grabbed his supplies and got out of me, before walking into the house.

I did notice that the other vehicle wasn't here, but didn't think much of it honestly. There were other things on my mind at the moment anyways, like the fact that I needed to wait until dark before going to signal the others. Hopefully they were within comm distance so I could inform them of the mystery mech who contacted me. Optimus would know what to do.

I sat and waited, watching the house and waiting until all the lights were shut off, which signaled they were probably resting for the night. Once I was sure they weren't going to come out, I quickly pulled onto the road and started on my way towards a warehouse district on the other side of the city.

Hopefully this new mech wasn't going to turn out to be an actual problem, though he seemed malevolent and dangerous from the way he spoke to me. It was odd that I never even sensed him around me, yet he had to have encountered me somewhere to even be aware of my presence. Was it possible that he'd seen me enter the Earth's atmosphere and had been tracking me since?

Was it possible that I'd just missed any signs that could've told me he was around?

I shrugged it off for now as I made it to an old junk yard and pulled in, making my way around the rickety old buildings and out of sight of the road. Once I was sure I wouldn't be spotted, I transformed and shined my headlights up at the clear night sky, panning from side to side, and flashing them a few times to signal the others to move in.

A moment later my HUD flashed with an incoming comm link from Optimus. I quickly crouched down just to be safe, and opened the link.

:Bee here. Everything going according to plan on your end Optimus?:

:Yes Bee, we're moving to enter Earth's atmosphere now. We should touch down at 18:00 hours tomorrow evening.:

:Got it. I'll bring Sam to the rendezvous point then, but Optimus we may have a problem on my end.:

:A problem? Is everything alright Bee?:

:Yeah everything is fine for now, but earlier today I made contact with a third party. Somebot who claims not to be an Autobot, or a Con. But they have to be Cybertronian because they hacked my comm link, and even referred to me as if they knew what I was.:

:Are you certain?:

:Yeah, he didn't say much, only that he was not a con, and that he was watching me. So far, he hasn't done anything to me, or made contact with me in any way since then.:

:I see. Well remain vigilant and we will be there soon. We should remain in communication distance from now until arrival, so if you run into any unexpected problems let us know immediately.:

:I will. Bee out.:

As I cut the comm link I became aware of the unsettling sensation of optics boring into my back. I tensed and whipped around, my ion cannon whirring as I prepared to fire at whoever was behind me… but there was nobot there.

There was nothing at all…

Just an empty junk yard, the same as when I'd arrived.

Had the mystery mech unsettled me so much that I was feeling this paranoid?

I shook my helm, before shifting down into my alt mode and making my way out of the junk yard. I exceeded the speed limit to make it back quickly, since I didn't want to leave Sam and his family unprotected for too long. With this other mech around, and the cons lurking on the planet, anything could happen.

A few kliks later, when I made it back and pulled into the backyard, the other vehicle was there. An Aston Martin DB9 if I remembered correctly, parked right next to the garage. There didn't seem to be anybot inside, so I didn't think much of it and pulled into said garage, shutting my engine off and settling down for the night.

Before I initiated recharge, I turned my scanners up, just in case the mystery mech, or any cons showed up. I needed to be cautious.

(Sam's POV)

I groaned as I trudged down the stairs and into the kitchen to get something to eat for breakfast, waving at Clare who was standing in front of the window. "Morning Clare."

"Morning Sam." She responded cheerfully, before turning to face me. "I decided we were gonna spend some time together today! Does that sound good to you?"

"Uh yeah sure. I don't have anything else going on today anyways. Well not yet anyways." I replied distractedly. While I got my breakfast around and sat down to eat. "Why are you so cheerful today? Normally the first thing you do is say, 'Good morning you little shit', or something else mildly insulting at best."

She gave me an affronted look, but I knew she was faking it. "Sam how could you think that I never have nice moments? I'm not always a bitch to you!"

"Most of the time you kinda are. Well in a semi playful way that is."

Her lips turned down at the edges in a pout. "Fair enough. But you should know by now that I'm just teasing you. If I wanted to be mean…"

"I'd be laying on the floor, crying and rolling around in despair." I deadpanned. She'd actually managed that before when she was in one of her particularly bad moods.

"Exactly. I'm trying to be nice today, and I figured you wouldn't mind riding around in a DB9 today."

I shot her a look. "What teenager would mind that?"

She smirked and crossed her arms over her chest. "None that I can think of. Anyways, wanna head into town and stalk Mikeala like the little weirdo you are?"

"Piss off Clare!" I snapped at her. Damn! She was being especially annoying this morning!

"Nope, can't do that for obvious reasons Sam. Now chop, chop! Let's get going!"

"What the hell has gotten into you today?"

She laughed at me and followed me upstairs after I tossed my bowl in the sink. "I feel like being especially shit-bitchy today."

I stormed into my room and slammed the door, stripping out of my pajamas and yanking a new pair of jeans on, along with a dark gray long sleeve shirt, and a black graphic t-shirt over the top. "You act shit-bitchy everyday so I don't know why today is any different!" When I flung the door to my room open she was standing across the hall, making faces at me. "You're really fucking mature Clare! You're how much older than me? Yet I have to act like the adult here?"

She snorted. "You shouldn't keep lying to yourself Sam. It's bad for your fragile little psyche."

"Screw you Clare." I stormed down the stairs and out the back door. "Let's just get going before you say something else that makes me want to kick you!" There was a laugh from her in response as I slid into the passenger seat as she revved her engine once, pulled out of the garage and started driving towards town.

I stared at her from the corner of my eye, then sighed and looked back out the window. Hopefully nothing too bad would happen because she was with me.

Please R&R! I really want to hear how you guys like the newest version of Duality. If it's not good enough I may continue rewriting and tweaking it. If you guys like it please review and let me know so I can start working on future chapters!