I was stunned at the end of the second season, but the pace and excitement of the episode was fantastic. I am writing this story to take a look at the four pairings we were left with at the end of the episode. This first chapter is a look at Jack and Arcee. The following chapters will cover Bulkhead/Miko, Bumblebee/Raf, and finally Fowler/June Darby. I hope you enjoy this one. I am using this to get back into writing for the Transformers universe and getting back to my stories Home and The Key: Aftermath. Gregg.

Disclaimer: I don't own, or profit from, these characters or franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

Jack and Arcee emerged from the ground bridge and Arcee immediately went to full speed, not caring if their were humans nearby. She knew what was likely happening at the base, and she needed to make sure that she and Jack were well away from any tracking that may have been done on their signal emerging from the vortex. Jack, thankfully, didn't protest, and she kept her thoughts to herself. She did a quick GPS check to find out where they were, and was glad that Ratchet had sent them where he had. She set a course and made a rapid escape from the area.

For two hours they rode in silence. Arcee was confident that they had escaped undetected as she had engaged her Energon signal disruptor right before they had entered the ground bridge. She turned off the road and entered a wooded area, sending out a very low frequency encrypted signal. Immediately ahead a shimmer appeared and she went through it, entering a long entryway of metal. She entered a main area and came to a stop. When Jack got off she transformed and went right to a bank of computer screens and tapped a number of controls and code sequences. The screens came to life and information began scrolling through them rapidly. When she was satisfied with what she was seeing, she turned to Jack who looked stunned.

"What is this place?" Jack asked when he was able to talk. He was not sure what was happening, and he was still in shock at how everything had gone to Hell so quickly.

Arcee picked him up and placed him on the main level designed for humans so he was at eye level with her.

"We designed and built a group of alternate bases over the last year, Jack," she told him. "This is one of them. We are shielded and our energy signatures are undetectable, so we're safe here. I'm assuming that Ratchet bridged all of us within range of the various bases so we would all have a safe haven until we can find each other and make our next move."

Jack didn't know what to say. He wasn't even sure why this had all happened. He wanted an answer.

"Why did you guys hand over the keys?" he asked. "You would have won the war, Arcee. Miko, Raf, and me didn't want that kind of sacrifice on our heads."

Arcee felt a genuine admiration for Jack, just like she had on Cybertron when he had said that he was willing to die rather than see them hand over the keys. But she also needed to set him straight on something.

"We had no other choice, Jack," she said with conviction. "If we had let the three of you die and gotten our home world back, then we would have been no better than Megatron and the rest of the 'Cons. We don't sacrifice family for our own selfish gain. Ever. And do you really think me, Bulkhead, or Bumblebee could have lived with ourselves if the three of you had died when we could have prevented it?"

"But your home-" Jack tried to say but was cut off.

"Is here, Jack," she interjected. "It has been for a long time now, and it took this to make us realize that. Now we have to find a way to end this war once and for all so Earth won't end up like Cybertron."

"What about the others?" Jack questioned. They hadn't been the first to go through the ground bridge but as they weren't the last ones out he wasn't sure if everyone else made it. The base had really been taking a beating by that time.

"I don't know," Arcee told him honestly. "The Bridge was open, but the 'cons were really pounding the base. We won't really know for a while, as Ratchet was the only one who would know the locations that each of us were bridged to."

"And Optimus?" Jack asked.

Arcee decided to be honest. "Someone would have had to stay behind and make sure no information about our whereabouts got out. I can't imagine him surviving, Jack," she told him.

Jack closed his eyes and let that sobering thought play out in his mind. "My Mom?" Jack asked the one question he feared an answer to more than any other.

"Fowler told us he had ordered Jasper evacuated when we went topside to see what he was so upset about," Arcee replied. "I hope she got out of there and away from what was going down."

Jack had a strange feeling in his gut that she would have attempted to get to the base to try and find him, so he was extremely anxious about her whereabouts, but right then he needed to be strong and deal with this maturely. Regardless, he had a feeling that it would be a long time before he would be seeing his Mom again.

"What did Fowler want you to see?" he asked.

Arcee got an angry glare on her face plate. "The beam from the Omega device transformed the desert outside of Jasper into a fortress, like some sort of New Kaon," she told him grimly. She had to be very honest with him at this moment, and it pained her to do so. "Jack, I need you to focus on something. Megatron considers you a valuable target of opportunity. Remember on Cybertron when he said that one who was chosen to revitalize the Matrix of Leadership was worth two keys. He will not hesitate to use you as leverage, or just outright kill you. You, Miko, and Raf are very much a part of this now in a tangible, battlefield way. This is likely going to be a guerrilla war now, and we need to operate on that assumption. That means that we need to work on your skills, and also work on you and me becoming much more in tune with each other's tactics and abilities than we have till now. It means we're going to be here for a while until we are ready to reengage the Decepticons."

"Bulkhead and Bumblebee will be doing the same with Miko and Raf, huh?" Jack asked.

"Yeah," Arcee said, closing her optics and mentally trying not to lose it at the thought of Miko and Raf becoming one more part of the war machine. She had seen what killing Hardshell had done to the young girl, and was certain that Miko and Raf would not emerge from this war unscathed emotionally, if they even survived at all. "We need to get some rest, recharge, and then we can begin to deal with the future. We have quarters outfitted in these bases, and enough human sized quarters and supplies to last a long time. Let's go."

Jack followed Arcee out of the main control room deep in thought. He had a lot to consider, but also a lot to worry about. The war had come home, and now all of humanity was involved. But they were alive for now, and that gave him hope. He fell asleep a couple of hours later thinking of his Mom and if he would ever see her again.]

For herself, Arcee went into recharge mode thinking of her partner and all that had happened. The dynamics between them were changing, and they would be changing much more rapidly now that all this had happened. The question was, would she be able to help him keep from becoming the jaded, sometimes caustic individual she was, or rather had been before meeting him almost two years before. Only time would tell.

A/N: There's the first chapter to this. We see the dilemma that Arcee and Jack are facing, and also some of their concerns. The next chapter I will look at Bulkhead and Miko. I hope you are enjoying this one. Gregg.