Chapter Text
Jasper, NV, 201X
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"We're moving." Jack Darby, 17, did not expect that.
He'd seen a lot already. His biological dad dying from a nasty painkiller addiction. Transforming robots from outer space. An ancient, horrific secret lying deep underneath the Earth, which would absolutely destroy human civilization if it ever awoke. Heck, that secret would likely cause severe cultural trauma if it was even known to the public, even if it stayed dormant. Top-secret government agencies straight out of the Men in Black. A 12-year-old who somehow was able to speak fluent Cybertronian. And the shadowy terrorist organization known as M.E.C.H., which before its dissolution had reportedly created a part-alien demonic cyborg vampire zombie out of a disgraced US Army veteran named Leland Bishop.
But none of that would prepare him for the news that his family was moving to the Australian bush one year before he was to graduate high school. News delivered directly to the voicemail on his Android phone, the perfect receptacle for earth-shattering news.
"I've talked to Señora Esquivel. She has offered to look after you for your senior year if you don't want to leave Jasper, but we'd really like it if you came along with us."
"Us? Who is this 'us'? Do you have a new boyfriend?" Jack replied by text.
"Just come home and I'll explain, okay?"
"k thx bye."
Jack walked the last block home from school. He was between rides at the moment. His prior bike had, ahem, left the country, and his house was still a quarter-mile from the nearest yellow bus stop. As he rounded the last bend, he was shocked to find a familiar red-and-blue semi truck parked right over the dead lawn of the foreclosed house next door.
"It can't be. He's on Cybertron, right? Didn't he like jump into the core to revive the planet and die? And where's the rest of the gang?"
He cut through the bushes, trying to avoid the optics of the watchful truck. He didn't want to be confronted if that was what he thought it was.
Jack sneaked through the backyard of Jodi Nguyen's place, on the other side, and opened the back door into the kitchen.
Where he was immediately greeted by all 5'8" of June Darby seated at the table, beaming, and rifling through assorted brochures.
"Mom, what's going on? I thought Optimus was dead or in space."
"Nope. He found a way for us to be together."
"Us?"
"Yup. When he re-energized the core of Cybertron, he also found a way to travel to a place where robots and autonomous trucks are able to live in the open, without having to hide."
"Is this what that 'Australia' thing is about?"
"Yes...kinda. In about a decade, Australia will have a well-established presence of autonomous mining trucks in the Outback, and Optimus will be able to freely live and work there for as long as he likes. And he found a way to get us directly there without the whole 'waiting ten years' thing."
"Wait...so it's one way? I'll never see Raf and Jodi and Sierra and Ms. Blakeley again?"
"Not quite...technically it's a slightly different timeline so you can still come back to Jasper whenever you wish. The exit is right through the GroundBridge at the middle of the old Autobot base, and Optimus and I have extended an invitation for you to come with us."
"Wait...you want to be his roommate or something? Or his safety driver? Or is it something more?"
"I'll let you figure that out for yourself. Hint: it involves high heels, perfume, and makeup."