Author's Notes: Hi everyone! This is a fic I've been meaning to do for a while, but I wanted to finish a fic before I got started on this one. Well, now it's finally time and I'm excited to see where this goes! Also, I had a poll set up to determine whether Arcee and Cliffjumper would be a couple or just friends in this fic. The votes were: 8 votes for just friends and 4 votes for romance, so friendship wins the day! Yay! Anyway, I hope you enjoy this first chapter, and don't forget to leave a review :)

Chapter 1

In Memoriam

There was a lonely mound of rocks stacked purposefully atop a Mesa in the Nevada desert. An elevator was built into the top of the cliff, which had once acted as a missile silo and now served as a secret base for an alien presence. Two beings stepped out of the elevator, and the elevator automatically went back down to the underground base below. One of those beings was a large robot, and the other was a slender human teenager.

"Thanks for coming up here with me Jack," Arcee said warmly as she approached the grave of her deceased partner Cliffjumper, "I can't believe it's been six months."

"I can't believe you're measuring this in earth time," Jack replied in an attempt to lighten the mood, but his effort fell flat, so he coughed and tried again, "Cliffjumper must have meant a lot to you."

"I suppose he did," Arcee shrugged sadly, "I'm not really the type to make friends. I guess at the time he was my best friend. More than that though, he was my partner. A partner is special, Jack. A partner watches your back, and helps keep you sane. Cliffjumper managed to do the former while managing to drive me insane with his constant chatter. I really miss that about him; his way of being able to talk to anyone. He had a way of making me feel safe even when bullets were flying over our helms."

"Why do you think Starscream killed him?" Jack pondered as he looked down at the makeshift grave.

"He's a Decepticon, and Cliff was an Autobot. Simple as that," Arcee replied in an icy tone of voice, "I promise you Jack, one day I'll rid this universe of Starscream once and for all. Airachnid too."

These names were an eternal source of torment for Arcee. Starscream had murdered Cliffjumper, and Airachnid had made Arcee watch as she murdered her first partner, Tailgate, in cold energon.

"Hey, do you think we should make a memorial for Tailgate up here?" Jack suggested, "You know, to remember him by just like Cliffjumper?"

"I, well...No, I don't think so," Arcee finally shook her helm, "He didn't die here. This world wasn't his battlefield. When Cybertron is restored, then I'll set up a headstone for Tailgate."

For the next few minutes Arcee and Jack just sat on the Mesa and looked at the beautiful panoramic sunset. Arcee was grateful she wasn't alone on the six month anniversary of Cliffjumper's passing. She tried her best not to burden others with her grief, but the truth was she hated being alone with her own thoughts on days like this one.

She thought back to how casual their last conversation had been. It was still clear as day in Arcee's processor how smug he sounded when talking about taking on the 'Cons. She also thought about Megatron using Cliffjumper's body to create a mindless feral drone that lived only to do Megatron's bidding. It was disgusting what the Decepticons did not only to Cliffjumper but also to his memory.

Arcee hated to admit it, even to herself, but what happened to both of her partners defined a lot of her life now. She knew it wasn't the Autobot way, but all she had to live for now was revenge.

Arcee's reverie was interrupted when Ratchet comm'ed her to come down. She could tell from the tone in his voice that it was a mission. Good. She needed to do something to take her processor off her sorrow.

There was a lonely mound of rocks stacked purposefully atop a Mesa in the Nevada desert. An elevator was built into the top of the cliff, which had once acted as a missile silo and now served as a secret base for an alien presence. Two beings stepped out of the elevator, and the elevator automatically went back down to the underground base below. One of those beings was a large robot, and the other was a slender human teenager.

"Six months. It seems like a lifetime," Cliffjumper sighed mournfully as he walked toward the makeshift grave, "Arcee would've loved this view. Your planet really knows how to do a sunset."

Sierra laughed at his word choice, but then got serious a couple seconds later when she saw how solemn he looked. Cliffjumper wasn't the type to be reverent about things, so she knew this anniversary was really hitting him hard.

"You know kid, I always assumed she was too stubborn to die," Cliffjumper lamented as he stared out at the panoramic sky, "I wish you could've known her. Arcee wasn't the type to get close to people right away, but once she let you in, you were her friend for life."

"You think she would've liked driving with us?" Sierra asked as she sat down next to Cliffjumper and placed her small human hand over his large robotic servo.

"With us? Probably not," Cliffjumper chuckled, "Arcee was the responsible type. I don't think she'd approve of some of the scrapes we get into."

"Remember when you and Bumblebee raced around the Grand Canyon with Raf and me?" Sierra asked; smiling at the memory, "I'll never forget how cheesed off Bee looked after you passed the finish line!"

"I'll never forget nearly falling off the edge when I jumped up in victory," Cliffjumper remarked, "Heh heh, yeah. Arcee would've had my hide for that one. Of course she probably would've also covered for me with Prime. That was the kind of friend she was. She'd chew you out but then have your back when you needed her. Days like this I really miss her."

Cliffjumper's conversation with Sierra was interrupted when Ratchet comm'ed him saying he needed to come down. Cliff could tell from the tone in Ratchet's voice that it was a mission. Good. He needed something to distract him from his sorrow.

Ratchet had located the Harbinger, or at least the half they hadn't already found before. This was where Starscream was located, and judging from the spike in energy that seeker was up to something. The energy was radiation powerful enough to poison the atmosphere for ten miles, and the radius effected by it was steadily growing. The Autobots had to investigate before it infected a human-populated area.

"Arcee, Bumblebee, you will need to be careful," Optimus warned them, "We do not know what Starscream has been up to since he left the Decepticons. He could have weapons aboard the vessel."

"We can handle it, Optimus," Arcee replied stoically; trying to hide how overjoyed she was that she had another chance to destroy that lowlife.

[If we can't, then we'll contact you,] Bumblebee beeped reassuringly.

"Good luck, you guys," Jack said encouragingly as he waved them off with Raf and Miko.

"Yeah, kick some 'Con butt!" Miko added enthusiastically.

With that the ground bridge opened, and Arcee and Bumblebee stepped through to face down the rogue 'Con. Arcee was ready. This one was for Cliffjumper.

Ratchet had located a strange energy signature. Since it matched the Harbinger, a derelict Decepticon ship that had been torn in half, they suspected that this was the missing half of the vessel.

"Cliffjumper, since it is unlikely the Decepticons have located this ship I am sending you in alone to investigate," Optimus Prime informed him, "If you run into any danger, however, you are to contact base at once."

"Of course, Prime. I know what I'm doing," Cliffjumper replied casually, "Hey, can Sierra come with me?"

"Yeah! I've never seen the inside of a Decepticon ship before! Please?" Sierra asked as she looked up at Optimus eagerly.

"I do not think that is wise," Optimus replied, and Sierra sagged, "While the chance of an ambush is remote, it is still not a safe place to bring a human. You are free to remain here and wait for Cliffjumper to return if you wish."

"Sure," Sierra agreed easily, "Hey Cliff, take my camera! I want lots of photos!"

Sierra then handed Cliffjumper one of the cameras from her collection, a large tripod camera with a custom lense. Photography was one of Sierra's hobbies, and she knew anything smaller than her tripods were too small for Cliffjumper to use with his large hands.

"You got it, partner," Cliffjumper replied with a winning smile.

He left through the ground bridge with the camera and hoped that this mission would actually accomplish something. Even a fight was better than boredom, after all.

Starscream had worked night and day, but after weeks of scrounging for tools and taking apart unnecessary pieces of the ship, he had finally reconstructed the ground bridge in the Harbinger. As soon as he powered it up he would be able to go anywhere he wanted, and then he could get energon anywhere he pleased.

He clenched his servo around the lever of the ground bridge, and hesitated. He was sure he had repaired the ground bridge perfect, but what if he hadn't? What if something went wrong? What if it fizzled out and he was left with nothing after all that hard work?

Pushing those doubts aside, Starscream started to pull down, but before he could finish pulling a ground bridge appeared right in front of him!

"Is the pressure too sensitive?" Starscream asked himself.

Before he realized what was actually going on Arcee and Bumblebee were running out of the ground bridge and Arcee was firing her blasters at Starscream! He shrieked like a girl and dove behind a console, and Arcee chased him into his hiding place!

"Autobots!?" Starscream half-screamed and half-squealed, "What are you doing here!?"

[We're here to investigate a radiation spike,] Bumblebee informed him, [What are you up to?]

"Uh, nothing," Starscream lied, "I, uh, I..."

"Save it!" Arcee snapped angrily, "You're poisoning the atmosphere, and we're here to stop you, once and for all!"

[Now Arcee, we're not supposed to kill him,] Bumblebee reminded her.

"Oh, you mean like he wasn't supposed to kill Cliffjumper?" Arcee asked, her tone laced with venom, "Forget it Bee, he's had enough chances."

Starscream could tell she was serious, and he needed to escape before she convinced the other one to take her side. Two Autobots against one starved seeker was hardly a match, so Starscream decided his best bet was his new ground bridge. He dove between Arcee's legs, and his wings lifted her off the ground so that she fell flat on her front. She got up, growled, and ran after Starscream!

Starscream activated the ground bridge hurriedly, but something went wrong. The vortex wasn't swirling green like it normally would, but rather an odd mixture of pink and white. Instead of swirling, it floated up and down like a lava lamp. Whatever this was, it wasn't a ground bridge.

The sides of the bridge crackled, and suddenly the force inside was pulling the three of them forward! Bumblebee grabbed a console and then grabbed Arcee's wrist to keep her from being sucked in, and Starscream grabbed hold of the lever. Bee tried to pull Arcee closer so she could grab onto the console herself, but his grip was slipping! He tried holding on harder, and it was becoming harder to hear their screams over the high pitched drilling sound of the pink and white vortex! Just when it looked like they were at a standstill, the bridge suddenly pulled harder and Arcee was forced into the vortex! Bumblebee keened loudly as he watched his servo slip and his friend fall through the vortex to who-knows-where. After Arcee fell through the portal crackled one more time, and suddenly all power was cut from the ship.

Everything fell down from gravity finally returning to normal, and Bumblebee and Starscream sat there in the dark in their respective positions. Bumblebee stared at where the violent synthetic storm had been a mere few moments before, and he felt helpless as he realized he didn't even know where to begin to look for Arcee.

Cliffjumper explored the derelict ship with a look that was a mixture of caution and boredom. The dust in this ship was several layers thick, so it was obvious that no one had used this place for anything in centuries. He looked around for a moment, and then decided to search the lab for energon and hope he got lucky.

He could hear his footsteps clank as he walked down the halls. He used his headlights to light the path in front of him, but other than that everything was completely dark. It took him several minutes to find the lab, and when he did it was as spooky as a dark abandoned Decepticon ship could be. There were protoforms hanging from broken storage tubes, a ground bridge that looked more like a cobweb with a gaping hole in it, and consoles with buttons that couldn't be seen over the dust.

Cliffjumper subconsciously wiped at his arms and grimaced. He wasn't a neat freak, but this place would be enough to make anyone feel dirty. A smirk came over his face plate as he imagined the Autobots capturing Knockout and then imprisoning the red germaphobe down here until he scratched his own paint off.

As he explored the empty room a sudden burst of light nearly blinded him! Cliff looked at the formerly broken ground bridge to see a weird oozing portal that was colored pink and white. Its force was pushing him away, but Cliffjumper was curious enough to try to walk toward it anyway. He was rewarded for his efforts by having random scrap pulverize him when it came through the portal!

"Hey! Ow! Quit that! Ow! Stupid piece of- ow!" Cliffjumper tried batting away the flying garbage coming his way, but he was only partially successful.

He backed away a little, but then his optics went wide when he saw something big hurdling right toward him! It was a screaming femme, and before Cliffjumper could get out of the way she had crashed right into him like a projectile!

"Hey! Get off me!" Cliffjumper complained as he struggled on his back to get up with a femme laying on his chassis.

"What the...?" Arcee got off whoever she was on and rubbed her sore shoulder.

She looked, and he looked, but when their optics locked neither one could believe it.

"Cliffjumper?"

"Arcee?"

For a moment they just stared at each other and didn't say anything, but then...

"Am I dead?" They asked in unison.