"And I can't just - " June sighed, rubbing her face as she and Dana conversed during their break. "Jack is a good kid, I know that. But I worry."

"Understandable," Dana shrugged. "I know it's hard for parents to punish their kids sometimes, but, we're little brats." That earned a laugh out of June. "We need occasional reminders to keep us in line."

June smiled. "I don't want to be too hard on him."

"Yeah. That's the plight of every parent, isn't it?" The younger nurse smiled, checking her messages and snapping her phone shut. "Well, I'm almost off break again. Are you still okay with me heading over to your place to grab that nursing handbook?"

"Ah! Yes, indeed. Here," Ms. Darby fumbled in her pocket for her keys, handing it to Dana. "Again, I'm so sorry for forgetting about it. This is my house key, in case Jack isn't home yet from work. Just slip it under the welcome mat when you leave. The handbook will be on the kitchen table."

"Got it," Dana placed the key in her pocket with her phone, green eyes sparkling. "Well, best of luck, Nurse Darby."

"Have a good shift, Dana," June waved her off, the older nurse looking at her phone and sighing. She wanted to believe Jack was not lying to her, nor that he had fallen into a bad crowd. It helped that she knew Dana, who had been his partner a few times and had connections to her son, but she still was left wondering. And that elaborate lie about his bike being a robot in disguise . . . What was going on in his head? Did he think she would really believe that?

June took another breath. They would have another talk when she got home.

>><<

When Dana got to the correct address the sky was dark, her shift ending about an hour before June's did. She figured Jack would still be at work, and as such helped herself into the house after parking her car on the street. It took a moment for her to navigate through the house, but it did not take long for her to find the kitchen.

The handbook was right where June promised it would be, the young nurse swiping it off the desk and making to go when she heard the garage door being forced open.

"So this is the Darby residence. Quaint."

She froze, not at all recognizing the voice and intuition telling her to back away from the connecting door in the hallway, the one that lead to the garage.

"Just leave the package here and let's go. He'll be home in about an hour."

Get out of the house! Dana made to run out the door but she stopped, hand almost touching the door handle. If they were outside, these people would surely see her running to her car; and she did not want to be thrown in the middle of trouble. Her instincts, however, told her that these were not good people and she had to escape detection.

"Does anyone else live here beside the two of them?"

"Records don't say as such. Why?"

"Because there is a car parked outside the residence. Perhaps it's a neighbor's?"

"We'll do a quick look through the house. Remember: no fingerprints, no DNA evidence left behind."

Her heart shoved itself deep in her throat and urged her to run, Dana scampering down the hall and immediately looking for a place to hide. She slipped into the closest room - Jack's, by the looks of it - and shoved herself under the bed, gathering her legs up and clamping a hand over her mouth.

About ten seconds later heavy boots clunked down the hall, quietly creeping the door open. She could have sworn she heard the sound of a gun being raised in the air, fabric shifting as the person moved their head and legs, looking around before leaving.

"All clear."

The young woman did not dare to release a breath of relief, keeping herself balled up under the bed even after she heard the garage door close. She quietly checked her watch. Jack would supposedly not be home for another hour. Could she hide that long? Would she hide that long.

Finally, Dana received the courage to slowly take out her phone, scrolling through her contacts and cursing when she realized she did not have Jack's number. Ten minutes passed before she was brave enough to slide out from under his bed, sneaking out of the room and looking around. The house was eerily quiet, and she tiptoed out of the room to look for a phone.

An odd sound from the garage captured her attention, the nurse ducking back into Jack's room and shoving herself under the bed, spooked. Her hands fumbled for her phone and she quickly dialed 911, finger hovering over the call button. If there were more intruders, she was calling the police.

Jack biked home under the cover of darkness, noticing Dana's car with some surprise and the absence of his mother's. The young man immediately slipped off his bike, bypassing the garage for now and realizing his front door was unlocked. His mom had said Dana was popping by after her shift, but that was almost two hours ago.

"Dana?" He called, looking around the home. "Dana, are you here?"

"Jack?" The muffled voice squeaked from his room, and the young nurse carefully peeked around the door. Relief flooded her face. "Oh thank goodness. I came by to pick up a nursing handbook, but then some guys came into your garage and then broke into your house. I was hiding . . . I don't know what they took, but there is definitely something in your garage and I didn't know if I should call the police - "

"Where is my mom?" Jack had other questions, but for right now his mother's whereabouts took priority.

Realization and fear spread across Dana's face. June should have been home by now. "I don't know."

The two of them immediately went to the garage, Jack looking around and letting his eyes settle on his motorcycle. Arcee remained still, realizing there was another person with him. She only vaguely recalled th other human; she had been Jack's project partner a few times for school.

"There! They said they left a package," Dana pointed to the table, where a manila envelope was waiting. Jack looked at it suspiciously, then opened it up.

"Hello, Jack," Dana recognized the voice coming from the communicator; it had been the same voice that spoke it the Darby's garage.

Archer transformed, now realizing there was no hope of hiding now; M.E.C.H. was involved.

Dana let out a ferocious scream and stumbled back, Jack immediately clamping a hand over her mouth and giving her a small glare. Now was not the time to be shouting. Arcee ignored the humans, focusing her angry gaze on the communicator.

"Silas," she hissed.

"Silas?" Jack turned his head to look at his guardian, not sure how to handle a sorely confused Dana at the moment, not while M.E.C.H, an extremely dangerous organization, was talking directly to them. "How did you find my house?"

"I know more about you than you'd care to know," Silas answered. If he was concerned by the screaming he certainly did not know it. "And I certainly know more than you do about your own family. Do you know where your mother is, Jack?"

Dana's eyes widened, darting back and forth between Jack's motorcycle and the communicator, one the talking appliance called "Silas." She wanted to ask a million questions, but Jack's hand over her mouth and the perceived severity of the situation kept her quiet.

"What have you done to her?" The young man demanded, his hands clenching into fists. 

"Nothing dangerous . . . yet," Silas mused. "But, if you want to see your mother again, you will follow the GPS coordinates on this communicator."

Dana watched as the bipedal robot turned away, her slender fingers touching the side of her head. She whispered something quietly, and then screamed in pain, clutching her head as something only she could hear and feel affected her negatively.

"This communicator has the ability to scramble your signal . . . and your brain. Should you try to contact the other Autobots, not only will you suffer the consequences, but Jack's mother will as well. I expect you both to be here within the hour. Good luck."

Jack let go of Dana to attend to his partner, making sure she was okay before a determined frown settled on his face.

"We need to get my mom."

"Wait a second," Dana shook her head, running a hand through her hair. "What is going on? Jack, what is that thing? Who was that on the phone?"

"That thing is a sentient robotic organism," Jack grabbed his helmet. "Look, I'd like to explain everything to you right now, but my mom is in serious danger. We can talk later, okay?"

"No, not okay," Dana flinched as the sentient robotic organism transformed back into Jack's motorcycle, still in absolute bewilderment. "Why can't we call the police? Who were those guys?"

"If we call the police, they hurt my mom," Jack swiped the communicator from the counter and found the GPS coordinates, grabbing Arcee's handlebars and wheeling her to the garage door, opening it. "Dana, I promise I'll tell you everything you need to know, but right now - "

"Then you can explain on the drive over, because I'm coming with," she announced, slipping June's bike helmet off its hook and following him. "If you're not calling the police, you need all the help you can get."

"Absolutely not." The motorcycle snapped, jerking away when Dana attempted to climb on. "This is between me, Jack, and M.E.C.H. And you have no idea what you're getting into. Just stay put here. We'll be back with June."

"Jack-!" Dana reached to grab him, but the young man had already hopped onto his motorcycle and sped away, leaving her in their driveway. She huffed, tossing the helmet back into the garage. "You are so not leaving me to call the police to find your missing bodies."

Running to her car she got in, easily pulling away from the house and following the motorcycle. It was difficult, and she almost lost them twice, but she found the facility they were heading towards - an abandoned, or at the very least closed down, factory. She did not directly follow them, instead killing her headlights and watching from a distance. Her gut twisted when she saw the men (or women) at the factory had guns trained on Jack, the boy and his motorcycle disappearing from view.

"Great," she muttered, hands tight on the wheel. The people they were dealing with were armed. 

She pulled away and sped down a couple of streets, trying to find another way in, perhaps even find Jack and get him out of there before the idiot got himself killed. Pulling up as close as she dared to the chainlink fence, an unusual sight caught her eye. Almost in the middle of the factory there was a figure of some kind, wrapped up in what looked like a tight sleeping bag, head lolling back and forth as they swung.

"June?" How she could have seen the woman from this distance was beyond her, but she thanked her nursing tuition and slipped out of the car, looking at the chainlink fence. Throwing a rock, she deemed it was not electrified, and began to scale it. The moment she was able to confirm it was June, she was going to call the police. This was too crazy to believe, but someone of authority had to step in. These people had guns for crying out loud.

Cursing as the barbed wire snagged her scrubs and cut her arms, she threw caution to the wind and jumped down, miraculously staying on her feet, though her left heel smashed against the ground and most certainly bruised. Supressing more foul language, the young woman looked around, and then sprinted toward the unconscious woman.

Jack Darby was given a nasty proposition: find his mother in the allotted time given, or lose both Arcee and June to the insane spider Cybertronian that stalked his every move.

"Mom!" He shouted out, desperate. "Mom! June! Please!"

"Five minutes, Jack," Airachnid crooned from the shadows, her spider legs clicking ever closer to him as he ran through the darkness of the factory, desperate to find his mother.

He spotted the mess of webbing resting on top of one of the tall structures within the factory, the young man running despite the burn in his legs and lungs. His sweaty palms slipped on the metal rungs which lead to the top, where his mother lay, arms whining in pain yet he continued to the top.

And arrived to an empty coccoon.

"Mom!" He shouted at the top of his lungs, falling to his knees and touching the tattered webbing. Was this a trap? Had Airachnid set up false bait?

"Time's almost up," Airachnid grinned wolfishly, until her violet optics landed on the mess. "Where is she?!"

Jack looked at her, equally shocked and confused. "What - "

"Where is the human?!" Airachnid shrieked in anger, snarling and looming over the young man. "She was right here. How did you managed to cut her free?!" Her helm snapped up. "Arcee."

Silas grinned from his position in front of multiple monitors, grey eyes settled on two figures sneaking across the factory, one in terribly obvious red scrubs, the other struggling to get free and return to her son. Another player had unexpectedly entered the game, but he was not about the let the spider have the advantage of knowing that. Once they got the parts they could from Arcee, well, they'd leave Jack and his companions to deal with Airachnid's fury.

"I-I don't know what you're talking about," Jack stuttered as the eight-legged femme spat accusations at him. "I was just playing your game! The one you designed! It's your fault she managed to escape!"

Airachnid hissed at his insolence, prepared to spit venom, but then movement caught her optic. Tilting her head to the side, she saw two humans sprinting across an open expanse of factory, unprotected from sight. June, she recognized, the other . . .

"How clever," She slew webbing at Jack, effectively trapping him at the top of the structure. "You sent another one of your human friends to play. Well, since you cheated, I'll make quick work of them, and then add your head to my collection."

"Airachnid!" He shouted, struggling and clawing at the webbing, but it was to no avail. "Leave them alone!"

The femme laughed maliciously, scampering her way down the side of the tower and toward the fleeing humans.

Dana saw her descend upon them, the young woman shouting June's name and urging her to run, panic increasing her speed. The robotic organism laughed at their pathetic attempts to run and hide, though her optics narrowed when Dana managed to dodge the first onslaught of webbing. 

The younger nurse pushed June through a narrow walkway, one not even Airachnid or Arcee could possibly have hoped to slip through, the young nurse darting out of the way as more webbing was thrown at her. Airachnid growled in frustration, hissing something in her native language and firing again.

Her prey slammed on the ground with a nasty crack, Dana crying out in pain as her hands automatically broke her fall, resulting in scraped palms and forearms. Twisting to see what was wrong she screamed as Airachnid crawled above her, leaning down and showing off her elongated fangs.

"Thought you could escape the universe's deadliest hunter?" She purred, digit running down the human's face. "Jack was clever, using you to find his mother while he dealt with Silas. But, if there is one thing I hate more than a missed opportunity, it's cheating."

Dana struggled to pull her ankle free, glaring up at the massive optics of her captor. Airachnid just tilted her head, laughing.

"Don't worry, I'll make this qui - "

"You leave her alone!" June slammed a large metal rod straight into Airachnid's eye, the spider-bot screeching in agony as her delicate sensors slared in pain. Her servo reflexively backhanded the adult, sending her flying into a metal silo.

"June!" Dana felt searing pain on her arm, looking down in horror as green acid began to bubble and burn the skin just below her shoulder, the human girl screeching in alarm and scooting away from the puddle that had started to run towards her. Airachnid had attempted to spat venom in her face, but June's intervention had saved her life.

Tearing her shirt off she wiped the acid away, careful not to get it on her hands, tears pricking her eyes as she quickly inspected the burn.

"You will pay for that!" Airachnid wound up to spat again, this time at June, but another female entered the fray.

Arcee snarled and slammed her peded into Airachnid's face, driving her away from the two nurses. Blades slid out from the sides of her arms, slicing the air with each attack on her arch-nemesis.

Using the distraction to her advantage Dana tore the webbing from her foot, running over to June. The woman was dazed, but fine. 

If the battle between Arcee and Airachnid was epic, Dana did not see it. She was too busy hauling June to her feet and getting as far away as possible, seething as her arm continued to throb. The acid was gone and therefore not eating away at her skin, but the raw, exposed dermis stung in the chilly Nevada air.

"Mom!" Jack's voiced filtered in from above, Dana following his voice up to where she had originally rescued June. The young man - freed from his bonds thanks to Arcee - clambered down as fast as he could, reuinited with his mother. June was shaking, undoubtedly going to have a headache tomorrow, but she would be fine.

They were greeted by Agent Fowler after he assisted Arcee in driving Airachnid away, the Special Agent giving both Dana and June shock blankets while a medic also looked at the former's arm, able to wrap it but not do much else with it. Arcee approached the humans in her bipedal form - there was no use in hiding from them now.

"Ms. Dana," Agent Fowler reprimanded. "What you did was absolutely reckless, but, admittedly, it was also selfless."

The young woman raised an eyebrow. "Uh, thanks. I guess."

Agent Fowler looked at both her and June. "Because of your exposure to the Autobots - and M.E.C.H, you are now responsible for keeping everything you saw tonight, and everything you will ever see, a secret." He focused on the younger nurse. "Because you are a minor, you will need to be placed in protective custody of one of the team members on Team Prime. Ms. Darby, you on the other hand, as an adult, are exempt from this. I only do this to cover my butt so my superiors are happy. But, we'll worry about all of that tomorrow. You've both been through enough tonight."

Dana furrowed her brow. "There's a whole team of these . . . Autobots?"

"Yes. They have five members as of right now. Six including a . . . independent individual," Fowler nodded. "I'm sure you have a lot of questions, but they can and will be answered tomorrow. Jack and Arcee will more than happily escort you to base then."

The nurse nodded slowly, but she was less than pleased. She wanted explanations now.

And she needed a new shirt, before her parents asked questions about why she left the Darby household without one.

>><<

Though it should have not been too big of a surprise, considering Jack hung out with them more often than per usual, she was slightly caught off guard when Miko Nakadai and Rafael Esquivel greeted her eagerly. Her head spun the most, however, when she realized Arcee was the smallest of all the Autobots. Optimus Prime, the leader, was the tallest, but Bulkhead was the widest. Bumblebee was perhaps second-to-smallest, though Ratchet did not tower over him like Optimus did all of them.

They were huge.

"Another one?" Ratchet had whined the first time she had exited her car, a greeting she was unsure whether to be amused by or insulted. Introductions had been brief, as had the history lesson, though it was surprisingly easy to be integrated into the small team. They were easily distinguishable from each other, and Miko was eager to have another female join the human ranks. Those hopes were somewhat dashed, however, when Dana voiced reluctance to even be here.

"I have a job," she insisted. "And school. I don't really have . . . time for this."

"That is understandable," Optimus nodded once to her, his voice vibrating her bones. "However, we do ask you remain at the base when time allows, in order to keep maintain tabs on you. Our human allies have also proved useful when our mission does not allow for us to assume our true forms."

"Because you're robots in disguise," she affirmed, recalling what the tall Autobot had said. "Got it. But, also, my parents will ask some major questions if you guys start carting me around. I have my own car; replacing it with one of you would be conspicuous."

"I mean, Bulk only drives me places because I'm too young to have a license," Miko interjected. "And I really don't go anywhere but the Autobot base! Don't worry, you can keep your car! Besides, not like Doc Bot does curbside duty."

Ratchet's made an annoyed noise with his mouth. "Don't be ridiculous. I can't be her guardian. I can't be anyone's guardian! I'm here all day at base, I have no time to -"

"Which makes this situation perfect for you, old friend," Optimus Prime looked at the two of them thoughtfully. "Due to Dana's increased mobility, you would not need to leave the base as frequently as Arcee, Bumblebee, or Bulkhead."

"Optimus, you can't be serious," Ratchet turned to face the Prime and found that, in fact, he was. "I can't -! The purpose of a guardian is to protect their charge. I haven't seen a proper battlefield in years, and I'm the field medic! I can't protect her."

"I held my own against that, uh, spider thing," Dana furrowed her brow. "Airachnid. I can take care of myself."

"With help," June reminded her.

Optimus gazed at Ratchet. "Your responsibilities and duties would not exclusively extend to just her, much like Arcee, Bumblebee, and Bulkhead take care of one another's charges when needed. I have faith in your capabilties."

Ratchet sighed, but he did not push the argument further. His optics landed on Dana, the nurse offering him a brilliant smile.

"Looks like we're a team," she said, "It's nice to meet you, partner."