In the back roads of what used to be California, a lone vehicle was driving with it's lights off. It was an Autobot femme, perhaps the last one on the planet. She had been alone for a few days now, ever since her remaining friend was taken from her. They had all been taken from her, her trusted teammates, her leader whom she greatly respected, her human partner who was her best friend in the whole universe. They were all gone, snatched away by the Decepticons. They had failed to protect this world, now it had fallen under his rule. World leaders had bargained with the 'Cons to live under the warlord's dictatorship in absolute servitude. This was why she was driving through the back roads in the dark. It wasn't safe to stay on the main roads. The Vehicon patrols were mercilessly on the lookout for any humans who dared to break curfew. There was no due process, only execution. And as possibly the only Autobot left on Earth, she was marked for death. She wasn't long for this world and she knew it. She wondered why she kept moving, why she hadn't just tried her luck out there and gone down fighting. Why hadn't she just cut her own main energon line? She certainly thought about it. She had nothing left to live for and stood no chance of gaining anything on her own. What was the point of living? In the back of her mind, she had already made a decision.

She continued to drive down the dirt road when two deer ran out in front of her. She stopped suddenly and managed to avoid hitting them. They ran back into the woods that surrounded the road and left the femme alone again. Deciding to risk being found as to not run over any organic creatures that may be fleeing from Decepticons, she turned on her headlights. It was only now that she noticed the tire tracks in front of of her. These days, no one drove anywhere, except for the Decepticons. There was something in these backwoods. At first, she thought to get away from there as quickly as possible. But then, she remembered her decision and decided to stop running. So she followed the tracks, ready to accept her fate.

She drove for a few minutes, pulling off the road and into a path cut through the trees. Eventually, she found herself in front of a cave. An energon mine, it had to be. This worked for her. If she was going to the Well of the Allspark, she could at least go out with a bang and take a few Vehicons with her.

The entrance was unguarded. Understandable, since there was hardly anyone left on Earth who could oppose them. The femme transformed and entered the cave. She crept through, ready for whatever was waiting for her. What she found at the heart of it was something she didn't expect. It was a ground bridge, just like the one her team would use. But this one's fuel source was exposed. It wasn't powered by regular energon, but red energon. The femme had to know what they were planning before she destroyed it. With her stealth skills still as sharp as ever, she silently grabbed one of the Vehicon workers behind a rock and pinned him to a wall.

"What are you doing with that ground bridge? Talk!" She viciously said with a hushed tone.

The Vehicon tried to get himself free, but the femme was not allowing it. Finally, he gave in.

"It's a space bridge, not a ground bridge, Autobot."

"A space bridge? Why? Where do you plan on going?"

"Earth is already ours, but our Master wishes it to be less...organic. The space bridge is for transporting building materials from Cybertron to build him a proper kingdom, starting with a new Darkmount."

The femme remembered the sight of the Decepticon fortress. She never wanted to see it again, especially here on Earth.

"And the red energon?"

"Just an experiment he wanted to try, how the space bridge would react to being powered by it."

"And you all volunteered to be his guinea pigs?"

"Not us...the fleshies."

The femme's optics widened.

"Humans?!"

"Yep, trial and error with the meat bags. If it doesn't work, nothing of value'll be lost. If it does, then it's off to the other parts of the universe."

"What do you mean?!"

"Earth isn't enough. The rest of the universe is going to bow before our master."

The femme couldn't let that happen, for another world to be at the mercy of the Decepticons.

"Like the pit it will."

"You ain't gonna stop us. You ain't even makin' outta here alive."

"Autobot behind the rocks, come out slowly!" A femme voice ordered.

Despite not having a face, the femme could feel the smirk the Vehicon was giving her. She stepped out, holding him in front of her. Standing at the console was a Decepticon she did not recognize. She was a purple and pink femme with red optics holding an energon rifle. The femme could tell that she was no low ranker in the Decepticons, but must've messed up somewhere to be safeguarding the space bridge.

"State your name, Autobot!" She demanded as she pointed her rifle at the femme.

"Frag off, 'Con!"

"If that's how you want it. I could care less who you are. You should know that you're probably the only Autobot on this rock. The rest have been dealt with."

"I know that already, you glitch! You 'Cons killed all my friends!"

"Friends? Oh...so you're one of the Prime's little followers. The Master did mention that one of you got away. Are you a fool or do you merely have a death wish to come here?"

"Maybe both, I don't know. But what I do know is that I won't let you condemn another world to the same fate as this one."

With that, she extended one of the blades on her back and cut down the Vehicon in front of her. She took aim at the fuel tanks of the space bridge by the console and fired at it several times. The Decepticon femme grabbed a nearby shield that was resting against the console and used to to protect the fuel tanks. The Vehicons surrounded the femme, arming there blasters. She extended her claws and began dodging energon blasts as she made her way to the nearest one. She swiped at his chassis before impaling him with her back blade. She lifted him off the ground and threw him at the Vehicons shooting behind her. She ran to the one on her right, impaling him was well. Then she turned to the one on her left, blasting him several times until he fell. The three on the other side of her had recovered and ran at her, blasters blazing. She jumped into the air and landed behind them. As they turned, she deflected the middle one's blaster, causing him to shoot the one next to him. She put her back blade through his neck and threw him against the wall. The final one was stabbed in his shoulders with the femme's blades, pulling him closer to her. She placed her blasters to his chassis and shot right through him. The femme let the Vehicon drop and turned back to the Decepticon. Before either could take action, more Vehicons had entered the area from another corridor. The femme took her stance, ready to take them all down. She ran for them with nothing to lose, only to blasted in the back by the Decepticon. She fell forward in pain, but extended her back blades to cut down the next Vehicon that got too close. The Decepticon fire into her back again, forcing her to retract her blades. The 'Con tossed her shield to one of the Vehicons, who pressed it against the femme's back to keep her from extending her blades again. She was lifted up by her arms, the shield still pressed against her back. She was made to face the Decepticon femme, who looked down upon her from the platform in disgust. The femme returned the look with absolute hatred.

"Bring her to the space bridge."

The Vehicons obeyed and dragged the defiant femme in front of the bridge. The Vehicon holding the shield knocked her in the back of the head with it into unconsciousness. He walked back over the the Decepticon and handed her back the shield. She walked over to the console and activated the space bridge. Normally, the vortex would be a mix of blue and white. With the red energon, it was a mix of white and green and it looked extremely unstable. The Decepticon looked at the coordinates, which she had set for Cybertron. They had been changed to an unknown location. She paid no mind to the change.

"Alright, let's test this thing already."

The two Vehicons held the femme up and walked closer to the unstable space bridge. They pulled her back before tossing her right in the center of it. The femme disappeared in the vortex which caused an unstable reaction. The space bridge began glowing brightly, casting off electric pulses through the archway and back through the consoles. The Decepticon saw the coordinates malfunctioning as the controls went haywire. Suddenly, the red energon was ignited, causing a massive red explosion that swallowed up the Decepticon, the Vehicons, and the entire cave. The blast could be seen from the near by road where several Vehicons were out on patrol.

There was nothing left of the cave or the space bridge. Several offlined Vehicons were scattered throughout the smoking rubble. The Decepticon was nearing her end as her torn frame lied beneath the remains of the cave. The last thought in her processors before her spark was extinguished was of where the Autobot femme was sent to.

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Arcee and Jack rode down the peaceful road of upstate New York. Initially, they wanted to ride around the city for a while. Unfortunately, Arcee had forgotten all about New York City traffic and spent most of the day trying to escape it. They had finally made it out of that hell hole and to the more rural part of the state. Both were enjoying the quiet ride through the beautiful autumn landscape. Arcee had to admit, sometimes Earth was prettier to look at than Cybertron.

But as always, the Decepticons had to ruin the day. Several Seekers were spotted coming from the rear and soared overhead.

"Well, there goes our day." Jack said.

Arcee sighed.

"Sorry, Jack. First the city and now this. I'll call for a ground bridge to send you back to base."

"Call for back up too, Arcee. I don't like you taking on that many Decepticons alone."

She shifted her mirrors to Jack.

"You worried about me, Partner?"

"Of course I am." He said as if she should've already known that.

"Come on, I can handle a few Seekers."

"I'm sure you can, but they can still hurt you. They have the air advantage, ya'know."

"Scrap. You're right, Jack. I'll call for back up."

Arcee attempted to contact the base but was met with static.

"Comm links are being jammed."

"What?"

"Jack, when they come after us, stay down and keep your distance."

"Alright, Arcee. You be careful too."

"Don't worry, Partner. I will."

Arcee veered off into the nearby woods and transformed. She signaled for Jack to find a place to hide will she waited for the 'Cons to make their move. She did have to wait long before they began firing down upon her from the air. She looked back to make sure that Jack was far enough away from her. The trees took most of the energon blasts, Arcee dodging the few that made it through. Realizing their disadvantage, the Seekers transformed and landed around the two wheeler. There were eight of them, slightly uneven odds for the Autobot SIC. She shifted her arm blades and ran for the one in front of her. Moving between his shots, Arcee spin kicked the Seeker and kicked his chassis with her other pede before she landed back on the ground. The other Seeker went to shoot her, but ended up getting his blaster cut in half before being cut down himself. The remaining six attempted to shoot her down, but Arcee back flipped her way to a safe distance and returned fire. They exchanged blasts, Arcee moving around the forest while the less ground combat savvy Seekers remained in formation. The trees provided excellent cover for Arcee as she shot down one in the chassis and blowing off the helm of another.

Meanwhile, Jack watched from the behind the large rock, silently cheering his partner on. Sometimes, he understood why Miko wanted to be in the heart of the action. The sounds of several engines getting closer caught his attention. He looked over and saw several Vehicons of a type he had never seen before. With dark red and black colors, they were riderless motorcycles clearly not of Earth design. They zoomed past with incredible speed and were heading towards the battle.

"Arcee, Vehicons!" Jack shouted from behind the rock which got the attention of three of them.

"Scrap." He said.

"Jack, Run!" Arcee yelled.

Jack ran from his cover and Arcee took her alt to try and direct the Vehicons away from him. The Seekers tried futility to run after her, but it was the two wheelers that were able to keep up. Arcee saw the three chasing Jack out of her sight and decided to meet back up with him. As she changed directions, several of them had shifted to their chase modes where their top halves had transformed but they remained on one wheel to give chase to the target.

"Ugh, I always hated these type of drones." Arcee said to herself as she swerved from side to side to avoid their blasts.

Jack was longer within her sights and she was forced to transform to deal with these Vehicons. Jack, on the other hand, could not outrun these motorcycle drones. He had somehow given them slip and hid behind a fallen tree. The Vehicons were scanning the area to find him, so he dared not make a move or a sound. That did him no good.

"I found'em!" One of the Vehicons yelled, who turned out to be a femme.

Jack ran for it as fast as he could but was immediately bypassed by two of them. The spun around and began driving straight for Jack. He was stuck between the two and the one behind him. He desperately ran to the side but they began closing in on him, ready to cut him off. The sudden sound of a furious engine caused Jack to stop running. Before he knew what was happening, a black and blue sports car came from out of nowhere and headed straight for Jack. The two motorcycles veered off the the side to avoid crashing into this mystery vehicle as it set itself into a drift, still moving in Jacks direction. He attempted to move out of it's way, but the door flew open and he felt himself being tripped inside of it. The door slammed shut and the car took off with the Vehicons behind.

Jack gathered himself and took a looked around the vehicle's interior. He sat up and noticed the rear view mirror shift to look at him. Jack was confused, but he didn't feel threatened. He looked at the steering wheel and the the blue and and white Autobot symbol in the center. Jack sighed in relief when he was confirmed to be in friendly company.

"Thank you." He said as he scooted into the drivers seat.

Jack felt the seat belt wrap around him slowly, holding him in place. He knew it was for his safety but he couldn't help but feel like the seat belt was...hugging him?

"So...who are you?" He asked.

The seat belt suddenly tightened, seemingly becoming tense. Jack could swear he felt it trembling.

"Are you okay?" He asked out of concern.

The Autobot didn't reply for a moment. Finally, it worked up the will to speak.

"J-Jack?" the feminine voice said in clear distress.

Jack was taken back by this Autobot apparently knowing who he was. But before things could get anymore confusing, they came under fire from the three Vehicons. They were now in chase mode and firing upon the sports cars. The seat belt tightened even more as the vehicle began swerving through the trees. Such a thing was difficult for the likes of Bumblebee, Wheeljack, and Smokescreen, but this femme seemed to be really good at it. Unfortunately, the Vehicons had no trouble with their smaller forms and continued to shoot at the vehicle.

The femme began to slow down, allowing one of the Vehicons to pull beside her. She took aim at the window, directly at Jack. The femme quickly swerved left and smashed the Vehicon into a tree, crushing it's chassis. She sped up and allowed the remaining to give chase. Once she reached maximum speed, she went into reverse. One of the Vehicons was able to move out of her way, but the other was caught by her rear bumper and rammed straight into another tree with enough force to knock it over. The femme drove forward again, leaving the downed drone behind, and saw the remaining Vehicon coming for her. Once again, she went to her max speed and drove directly into the Vehicon, carrying it on her hood. The Vehicon attempted to aim for Jack in the driver's seat, but the femme began running down trees, causing more damage to it with each collision and kept it from firing. The injured Vehicon managed to break free and ended up on the passenger's side. The femme then swerved right and knocked it into the path of an oncoming tree at great speed. The Vehicon ran through the tree and stumbled forward in a poor state. The femme busted a u-turn and drove back for it. Before it could recover, it was run over and crushed by the femme's wheels, leaving a streak on energon in the dirt. She then drove away to get Jack to safety.

"Primus, that was intense." He said the femme loosened his belt enough for him to look over his shoulder. "You really save my aft back there."

The femme still didn't speak and Jack could steel feel her tension in the belt.

"Hey, who are you anyway?"

Again the belt tightened.

"And how do you know my name?"

He was met with more silence as the femme pulled off in another direction. She pulled up to the edge of a creek and released Jack from her seat belt. The door opened and he stepped out. He took a step back to look at the black and blue sports cars.

"What's wrong? Are you hurt?" He asked.

After a moment of hesitation, the femme began to transform. Jack took several steps back when he saw her. She knelt on one knee in front of him, her expression uncharacteristic of who she was. The look on her face was a mixture of disbelief, worry, and sadness. She reached out to touch Jack's face with her servo. When he flinched as she got closer, she pulled back. It seemed like the more she looked at him, the sadder she became. She looked to be on the verge of tears if Cybertronians were capable of it.

"Jack...don't you remember me?"

Jack said nothing, his nervous confusion visible.

"It's me, Airachnid, your partner."

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Welcome to my new story, A Shard of Glass. Starring Airachnid and Jack. A bit short, but it's only an introduction right now.

So, I'm not sure if you can call this a Shattered Glass story since it takes place in the cannon TFP world with only a single character from the AU. But yeah, the femme is basically Airachnid in the original world.

Now, I made a few changes to the AU. First thing, the factions haven't switch sides, the characters switched factions. The Autobots are now the Decepticons and vice versa, meaning that in SG Airachnid's world, Megatron was a Prime. I also changed Airachnid's alt mode. She still has her spider form, but her vehicle mode is some kind of sports cars. I found it difficult to decide what kind of sports car she would take for her alt, so I'll leave it up your imaginations on what kind of car she is. The reason for the change is because I wanted her relationship with her Jack to be like the one this Jack has with Arcee, in that they enjoy riding together and she drastically ups his cool points. I can't imagine them having that same chemistry with her stealth helicopter mode. As a result, this had caused a slight change to her frame design. Nothing too drastic, she more or less looks the same. I'll explain how her spider legs somehow work into her alt mode next chapter. Also, the Decepticon in the cave with the space bridge was Chromia.

Speaking of which, I have to be realistic here. I'll try and update this story as often as I can, depending on the reaction I get. But Old Nightmare remains my first priority and will be getting the most attention in updates and new chapters. But I'm already enjoying this story and am excited to go into it full time, ya'know, except for my job and all that. I hope you enjoy it too. Korova out.