A/N: Apologies that this is a bit slow moving, this was originally going to just be a reunion fic, but there is going to be some action further into the fic.

Transformers:Prime - The Return to Earth.

Chapter Two.

Jack got ready for bed, then fired off a message to both Raf and Miko. 'Meet at my place 9.30 am tomorrow, double urgent, not even joking!' Although, with Miko, he capitalised 'tomorrow, 9.30am' and 'double urgent' plus a few extra exclamation points at the end to drive home how important it was. He was thankful that it was Friday, that the next day was Saturday, and that everyone should be available to attend. He was glad Raf's mom allowed him Saturdays free, and that Miko had not taken up a job yet, or become obsessed with boys, or girls, or whatever. Just as Ratchet was just Ratchet, Miko was just Miko, and Jack wondered if he should have warned Arcee about this. On the other hand, Ratchet had adapted her cell to call Cybertron within her contract allowance, something he wished he'd taken advantage of before Ratchet upped and left for Cybertron. As a result, he knew she spoke at length to Bulkhead pretty much every day, so not only might Arcee already be aware of this, but Miko might know more about what Arcee was going to tell them the next day than he did.

He hadn't expected a response within five minutes of sending the messages, but he got them. His phone buzzed with two texts.

Raf's read 'Great, will be there.'

Miko's read 'Bulkhead said he's got leave and wants to meet us!Especially me, the newest Wrecker, get ready to call for clean up if any Decepticons turn up! Hope I can borrow the Apex Armor again! SWEET! See you there!'

Jack put his phone down, set his alarm for 8, and read for a bit before turning off his bedside lamp and going to sleep.

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Jack jumped under the covers as his alarm rang, and he slapped it with an open hand to shut it up. He sat up, using one hand to finger comb his bed-head hair out of his eyes (he was so getting a shorter cut when he hit 18!) and flipped the covers back, swinging his legs out of the bed.

Even his mother was (pleasantly) surprised at how, teenager though he be, if required he could be wide awake and with it when he needed to be. Okay, at weekends he usually slept in late, but not this one. He had an important meeting to attend today, and he was more than ready for it.

He ducked into the shower, very careful not to skimp his 'feet, hair, crannies, bits and pits' as his mother put it, or any other area, and scurried out to dry himself, brush his teeth, and be dressed by 8.30. He grabbed his cell and shoved it in his pocket, made himself a quick bowl of cereal, drenched it with milk, grabbed a spoon, and ran through to the garage with it.

"Hey, Arcee!" he said. "The others can make it, they texted me last night," he said. He began eating his cereal rapidly.

"Yes, I got a message from Miko 3 hours ago," Arcee replied, gracefully changing back to robot form. "She's extremely excited at the prospect of meeting Bulkhead again. Apparently he texted her at two this morning to tell her he's coming today."

"Wow, Agent Fowler wasn't kidding when he said he'd get authorisation without putting a time limit on it, was he?" Jack said, impressed, and wondering if when he became an agent he'd hold the same sort of clout. "Um, Arcee, you think if I asked, Ratchet would do to my phone what he did to Miko's? I didn't ask because I wasn't certain it would work, and by the time it became apparent it would, and wasn't causing anyone any issues, Ratchet had gone back. That's why I haven't called you." He felt guilty, and Arcee was quick to reassure him.

"I get it, no call collect from Cybertron. I can take your phone and have it back in a human jiffy, Jack."

"Human jiffys don't have an exact time," Jack said.

"A Cybertronian jiffy is no more than 6 hours, Jack, probably considerably less if your phone is mostly, but not wholly discharged," Arcee said, and Jack could hear the amusement in her tone. He nodded, showing her his cell, that he'd forgotten to put on charge that night and had less than 20% power left. She nodded, holding her hand out, and Jack handed her his cell, feeling a twinge of anxiety about not having it on him. Jack didn't see where she put it but it appeared to be up her left forearm plating.

"I should warn you that apart from being about an inch and a half taller, and having red instead of pink hair, Miko hasn't changed a bit," Jack said.

"Then I consider myself warned, and am grateful that I have you as a partner, Jack. It seems although I didn't get the computer genius, I did get the responsible one."

"Hey, I can be responsible if I put my mind to it!" came a voice from outside the garage door, and Jack almost jumped out of his skin. As he activated the garage door enough to let the crimson haired teen in, he thanked whatever deity existed that Miko hadn't heard the first part of his and Arcee's conversation about her.

"Miko, you're almost an hour early!" he said, both amazed though not surprised at Miko's presence. Miko could, if let be, sleep well into the afternoon, but was obviously so hyped at meeting her Autobot friends again that she had gotten up early for today.

Miko rushed to embrace Arcee, who warily returned the hug.

"Hey, Arcee, are you still 'silent but deadly' these days?" She asked with a smile. Arcee, who had since received a schooling on what that meant on Earth, returned her smile.

"More silent, and more deadly," she replied. "Others smelt it when I dealt punishment."

"Hey, you said the rhyme, so you did the crime," Miko replied.

"Clearing up waste and recycling what's retrievable is no crime, even if it doesn't rhyme," Arcee replied.

"I don't have a reply to that, except that it does rhyme," Miko said. "So, where's Bulkhead?" She asked, as Arcee gave a welcoming wave.

"Not here yet, we'll be meeting at the Unit E building, travelling by GroundBridge on Earth, or SpaceBridge from Cybertron," Agent Fowler said, entering the garage with June right behind him. "Too many vehicles arriving here or there by conventional means will draw too much unwanted attention."

"Which is why Arcee needs to go into disguise so I can take the car out onto the drive to make room," said June.

"Jack and I will be bridged to the Unit E hangar first, followed by Miko and Fowler, and when he arrives, Raf will come through with you, Mrs Darby, you can call Agent Fowler to get a bridge sent," Arcee said. "I last night sent a message asking for Bumblebee and Bulkhead to be at the hangar for around 10.30 am local time. The Unit E coordinates are available to a few people and will given out on a need to know basis strictly," Jack looked at Miko, who nodded.

"Sounds sensible," he said.

"Saa-weet! The team will be together again!" Miko said. "Will Ratchet be there? Or Jacky?"

"We haven't heard anything else from Wheeljack since he took off to hunt rogue Decepticons who might otherwise join Starscream," Arcee said.

"Is that loser still trying to fight against the restorers of Cybertron?" Miko asked, disdain evident in her tone.

"He has enough disaffected willing to join him that his forces are growing, Miko. Don't make my mistake. Don't underestimate him," Arcee said, her face and voice both serious, and sad. Miko immediately reached up to hug Arcee again, which Arcee gently returned. Then Arcee said "Duty calls, Jack, if you would walk me out?" and flipped back into bike form.

As Jack's mom opened the garage door, Jack walked Arcee out of the garage, waited to the side as his mom took the car out, and then walked her back in. He grabbed his helmet as June got out of the car, walked to the garage, closed the garage door, and then Agent Fowler asked "Are you ready?"

There was suddenly a bang on the garage door.

"Hey, let me in, don't go without me, it's only gone nine!" Raf's voice said, sounding slightly panicked. June quickly opened the garage door high enough to let Raf, wearing a new but similar backpack to his old one, in, before closing it against prying eyes.

"Everyone else was ready, so we were going to send everyone ahead and then I would have taken you through," June assured the teen. Miko rushed forward and put her hands on Raf's shoulders. "We wouldn't have left you out, you're part of the team, right?"

"Right," Raf said with a smile, pushing his glasses back up his nose, a nervous habit he had.

"As we're all here now though, we can all go together," Fowler said. He took his radio off his belt and thumbed it on. "Epsilon, this is Fowler. Enter these coordinates and activate the GroundBridge." He rattled off a series of numbers. There was a crackle of static, and then a familiar point of turquoise light appeared and irised open into the distinctive tunnel of a GroundBridge.

"Okay, all, let's go," Fowler said. Arcee retook her robot form and the five humans and single Cybertronian walked through the GroundBridge.

Arcee quickly took over the controls from the soldier as all the humans, except Fowler, endured various levels of queasiness.

"I thought after all the Bridging we did last year, we were immune!" Jack said, trying not not to gag.

"I guess - a year's break - desensitised our systems," Raf said, gasping for breath.

"I hope I don't have to do that too often," June said as she took deep breaths and Agent Fowler rubbed her back.

"What's up with you two? That wasn't so bad," Miko said, seeming to be the fastest to recover.

"Here, have some water," the soldier said, bringing out some plastic cups and a bottle. The humans all took a cup and gratefully drank the water the soldier gave them.

"It's okay, Mom, you get used to it," Jack said. "We did last time, and we'll do so again."

'I'm hoping I won't need to," his mom replied. "After this, I hope I can leave the gallivanting by GroundBridge to the rest of you. I still have work to do that doesn't involve Autobots, or Decepticons, and I hope yours won't involve the latter either."

As the soldier refilled the cups, to grateful comments from the rest of the humans, and then retreated, Arcee moved to stand in front of the seating in the hangar.

"Okay, Team, grab a seat and I'll get you caught up on news before everyone else arrives," she said, and the five humans moved to comply. Once they had settled in, she blinked to focus her mind and began to speak.

"So, first, Knock Out has officially joined the Autobots, and is actually making an effort to learn how to do things the Autobot way, which sometimes differs significantly from the Decepticon way. It'll take time, but Ratchet believes he'll get there."

"How do we know he won't rejoin Starscream, if Starscream looks like he might succeed, given the chance?" Miko asked."

"We don't know, not really, but we do think it highly unlikely," Arcee replied. "However, he did betray Starscream to help us out, when we got back to Cybertron and Starscream engineered a prison break. Starscream holds grudges worse than I do, and you all know I don't forgive easily," Arcee said, and all the humans nodded. "In addition, it seems that Knock Out objects to Starscream quite strongly too, so we think a defection is highly unlikely, although there's always the possibility he could go rogue. However, during the war, what you might term "lone wolves" either stayed out of the fight, or got terminated quickly, so again, possible but not so likely," Arcee explained.

"I guess we should count ourselves lucky it's Starscream leading now, as Megatron is dead," Jack said. "By all accounts, Megatron had some sort of charisma amongst his followers, and could have lured Knock Out back to his side."

"Actually, that's another bit of news you need to know, Megatron isn't actually dead, however, he doesn't appear to pose a threat," Arcee said."

"But - we saw Bumblebee kill him, and making sure of it," Raf said. "How did he survive?"

"And how is he not a threat?" Miko asked.

"That's a very long story, but in summary, Unicron's energy form possessed Megatron's body and brought him back to life, as Megatron had Dark Energon in his system. Unicron, using Megatron's body, which he adapted to suit his needs, made his way to Cybertron from Earth, and came to Cybertron to destroy the core, which legend says is composed of our deity and Unicron's brother, Primus. Unicron raised an army of Predacon Terrorcons from bones in the land beyond the Sea of Rust, and led them in a charge to the empty Well of All Sparks, which led to Primus, and he planned to extinguish Primus' Spark and destroy our world totally." She took a deep breath before continuing.

"Meanwhile, Prime had gone with Wheeljack to retrieve an immensely valuable artefact called the AllSpark, which would be put into the well so the planet could create non-cloned life again. Prime used the special box forged to contain the AllSpark's energy to draw Unicron's energy form out of Megatron's body and trap it inside the box. The box is now locked up in the strongest vault in Iacon, hopefully forever.

You would have thought Megatron's body would either become lifeless or become a mindless Terrorcon shell, but it seems Megatron was actually alive and aware in there, having been trapped and tormented by Unicron, and was still alive and in control of his own body after Unicron was trapped. However, Megatron renounced the Decepticons, and flew off, and hasn't been heard of since."

"All right, so Unicron's no longer a threat, and neither is Megatron?" Raf asked.

"Ree-sult!" Miko cheered, punching the air.

"As long as Unicron remains in that box, he's no longer a threat, but it came at a terrible price," Arcee said, her optics dimming as her head dropped. Jack and Miko both ran over, both concerned, recognising the fembot's unhappiness, and Arcee dropped to a crouch to bring herself to their level. Jack put his hand on one of hers in an attempt at a comforting gesture, and Miko hugged her ankle.

"What happened?" Jack asked. "Optimus saved the day, right? Saved both of our worlds, dealt with two threats, and I assume, as he brought the AllSpark home, Cybertron can live and produce life again? So you won, right?"

"Yes, Jack, we did win, but our victory came at a terrible cost. To trap Unicron in the AllSpark's box, the AllSpark itself needed somewhere to be stored until it could be restored to the Well. To that aim, Prime took it into his chest. However, his own Spark merged with the AllSpark, making the two indistinguishable from each other, and the AllSpark had to be replaced into the Well to allow new life to be created. He had to go into the Well, which he did, and release all the AllSpark, and that included his own Spark. That means he could not return, Jack, he sacrificed himself to allow our world to live."

"What - he's dead?" Jack asked, as Miko said "No way!" and Raf said "No, not Optimus!"

Agent Fowler jumped up. "I know I found running interference for him and his group an irritation at times, but this is a shock to us all. You know you're at risk of losing men in the field, but no amount of knowing the risks prepares you for when that risk becomes a man lost. It's heartening to know that he met his death with a purpose, knowing his own not-insignificant sacrifice was for the greater good." He bowed his head and put his hand on his heart. "He's going to be greatly missed." June was half turned away, wiping her eyes, but then breathed in and stood up straight.

"Even us nurses are upset at a loss, even if it's expected," she said.

"I'm sorry, all of you," Arcee said. "You needed to know. We're all upset, but it's best you find out from me before the others come through, then find out by making a comment meant well but that makes them upset. Bumblebee and Ratchet were especially badly affected, and for a while Bulkhead went AWOL to deal with his own feelings. I'm sorry to be the one to break the news, but someone had to do it."

"Arcee, I'm sorry," Jack said, stroking her hand as Miko murmured her own apologies.

"I wondered why he wasn't communicating with me a while back. You told me to leave it and he never mentioned it again when he returned," she said.

Raf came over, with tears in his eyes, and said "But if his Spark is indistinguishable from the AllSpark, isn't there a chance he'll be reborn again, and what happened to the Matrix? Jack doesn't have the key any more."

"The Matrix is lost to us, Prime told us we'll all be judged by our own actions and abilities, we have a new age ahead of us. We can learn from the memories of the past, but make new memories and a new society based on the present, not on the past. The Matrix knowledge is not entirely lost, the computer Vector Sigma has it all, but unless it wishes to give us the knowledge, there it shall remain." She softened her voice as she addressed Raf's first question.

"Our main belief is that sparks that have lived travel to a realm inside Primus, as energy, like some human religions believe in an afterlife. However, some beliefs involve the Sparks rejoining the Well after a time, in that circumstances, his Spark, or parts of his Spark, could come back in a new Spark. He had to do what he did or leave the planet barren. We had this sort of conversation with Prime, it was he who broke the news to us, he said he had to do it, and he wasn't resentful or scared. The Matrix - our version of Heaven - is supposed to be a wonderful place, so he had nothing to fear, but we must learn to live without him, hard though it be. My advice would be not to grieve the life he has lost, but to celebrate the multitude of lives he has enabled. I believe that is what he would want, I think he would approve."

Agent Fowler came over with his arm around June's shoulders, lending emotional support, and put his free hand on Raf's shoulder. "Remember him, and he's never truly gone, not from your heart and not from your mind. Think of how he would have approached a situation, and if it's applicable to your own, take that approach and learn from him. I found that the best way to deal with my father's death, and I'm passing that knowledge on to you." Raf turned as June put out an arm, and he hugged her as he quietly cried: Jack and Miko looked at each other uncomfortably, not sure what to do or say, so remained silent. After a few minutes, Raf wiped his face and nose with a tissue given to him by June, sniffled a little, and said "So what's next?"

"Take a few minutes to compose yourselves, and wait for Bulkhead, Bumblebee, and anyone else who might be arriving with them," Arcee suggested. "It's almost time."