Warnings: Character Death (both pseudo and for real)
Notes: In which I kill Jack again, and when you're a sapient swarm of metal and hunger, all your problems start looking like tasty snacks. Dialogue from the show is marked with an *
Swarm
Arcee did not have time to grieve. She'd gone into the tunnel after the Insecticon and found the body of her partner. He was lying against Vector Sigma with his head at an odd angle. The Insecticon was nowhere to be seen. Feeling numb, she picked up Jack's body and took the Key before calling for a space bridge.
The blue portal opened almost immediately, but before she could step through, there was a horribly familiar whirring noise behind her. Scraplets. They were too close. She wouldn't be able to outrun them. She tried anyway, but the swarm overtook her. She braced herself for the pain, but none of the scraplets bothered with her. They all flew into the space bridge, towards her friends. Arcee ran after them.
When she arrived, she was shocked by what she saw. All the scraplets had ignored her fallen friends and focused on one target—Megatron. Shaking off her disbelief, she approached Orion Pax with the Key. He seemed to recognize the Key to Vector Sigma if not her.
"Are you certain—what is that?"
Reminded of the corpse she was carrying, Arcee scowled, "Just take it."
At some point during the upload, Megatron vanished into a ground bridge, leaving the Autobots alone with the scraplets. Curiously, none of them attacked. Once their victim disappeared, they all settled onto the ground and turned to watch the light show. All of the Autobots stared.
"What are they doing?" Bulkhead finally asked.
"I don't know. No one's managed to study scraplet behavior, but it's safe to say that this is not typical," Ratchet responded.
"Can we leave before these things change their minds and eat us?"
Optimus nodded and had a ground bridge opened, but once again, the horde rushed through. Alarmed, the Autobots ran after them. When they arrived, they saw the swarm huddling in a corner on the ceiling while June and Agent Fowler being confused and alarmed by the invasion, Miko scrambling for a weapon, and Raf looking between the scraplets and the couch.
"They... They stole my laptop," he explained to the Autobots.
"They did what?" Ratchet glanced up, trying to spot the pilfered computer in the mass of scraplets.
Suddenly four of the little creatures broke off from the swarm and returned the laptop to Raf. He accepted it and looked at the screen before turning back to the Autobots, "Guys... where's Jack?"
Arcee seemed to wilt, "Here."
Jack's mother cried out and rushed to his side, checking desperately for signs of life before sobbing into a hand. The scraplets looked alarmed.
"Um, wait," Raf called. "I don't think—he's not—just read this!"
it's me jack. After the insecticon killed me I woke like this. I know this is hard to believe so ask me anything and i'll type the answers
Ratchet leaned down to examine the upheld screen before glancing between the corpse and the scraplets. "That's impossible."
One scraplet scuttled near Raf's feet and gestured for him to set the laptop down. He did so and it poked the keys to spell, clearly it is possible.
Raf picked up the computer and brought it to Mrs. Darby. She wiped her eyes to see the screen better, read the messages and looked blankly between her son's body and the scraplet that had followed Raf over.
"What... Who was Jack's best friend when he was six?"
edward smith he moved to australia when I was 8 please don't let her hit me
This last bit was directed at Miko, who had returned with the fire extinguisher, but stopped when she saw Jack's body.
"Jack? What happened?"
"Here," Raf showed her the laptop.
"Haha, you're joking, right? Jack's not..." She turned to the scraplet. "How many cats do I have? What band were we going to see when we got trapped in a cave-in?"
2 and slash monkey
Fowler approached, "What was your excuse when I first found you all with the Autobots?"
interning for extra credits in mechanics
June, looking a bit more hopeful when no one disputed their answers, leaned forward, "When you were in fifth grade, you got detention for the first time. What did you do?"
"So, how are you controlling all these scraplets anyway, pheromones? Are you their queen now?" Miko grinned.
They had finished verifying that it was indeed Jack, and moved on to other concerns. Like the fact that whether or not his mind was still around, there was a corpse to be dealt with. Jack's mom and Fowler were discussing their options quietly with Optimus weighing in now and then. This left Miko, Raf, and the other Autobots with nothing to do but speak with the base's newest bout of madness.
No, it's hard to explain, but it's like I'm all of them at once? Right now, I'm typing to you, but I'm also on the ceiling and walls. I was never this good at multitasking as a human.
At some point during Jack's interrogation, he'd brought down a second scraplet to help him type better. At the reminder of the other scraplets, everyone looked towards the corner of the ceiling where they were still gathered.
Bulkhead grimaced, "Why did it have to be scraplets? Couldn't you have found a nice nosoron to possess? Dwellers, maybe?"
They were there. And I don't remember getting a choice. One minute, the Insecticon's coming at me, the next I'm a bunch of scraplets. I kind of
The scraplet on the right started mashing the backspace key.
Miko leaned over, "What? What did you do?"
The two creatures shifted uneasily, glancing at their audience before explaining. I acted on instinct for a while there. Scraplet instincts
"I couldn't find the Insecticon who attacked you anywhere," Arcee said for the benefit of those who hadn't been there.
Yes, I ate him. I had already set some of the scraplets on him and when I took them over they were still eating him. I just kept going. I'm glad that you took so long to get there. If you'd come along while I was still in a frenzy
There was a rattling sound as all the scraplets shuddered simultaneously.
Arcee was not comforted by this, "If I had come earlier, I might have saved you."
Yes, well. At least I'm still here, right? And now I can really help in the war. I got Megatron himself to run away earlier.
"We'll see," Ratchet said.
The next day Jack did not get to go out with the Autobots. They came back with the spark extractor, though, so things worked out fine. Jack spent his time wandering around the base and experimenting with his new form. Careful testing proved that he could move individual scraplets across the base from him and still have perfect control, effectively being in two (or more) places at once. Using a laptop Fowler had dropped off, he convinced his mother, who had come by in the morning to see him, to carry one scraplet home with her. Now he could both keep her company and be an early alarm system in case MECH went after her again.
Speaking of that organization, Bumblebee was attacked while investigating an odd signal. He went out again anyway, but failed to secure the relic this time. The other Autobots decided that Jack should come with them for the next artifact hunt. When the time came, Jack sent most of the swarm through the gate with Optimus, Bulkhead, and Arcee, leaving about a third in the base.
When they arrived to find Knockout and Breakdown with the Forge of Solus Prime, Jack targeted Knockout first. He flowed around and over the projected field and went for the medic's hands, forcing him to drop the relic. He kept assaulting Knockout with the majority of his swarm while some scraplets started dragging the generator over to the other Autobots. While he had been focused on the Decepticon's medic, the other Autobots had been teaming up on Breakdown. They managed to get the Forge away from him. Arcee ran over and picked up the force field generator, addressing the group of scraplets with it as she did so.
"Jack, we need to go now."
The scraplets nodded, and the ones harrying Knockout began to break away. They followed the Autobots back into the ground bridge only to find the base empty of everyone but Ratchet.
While the majority of Jack was out in the field, the rest of him was not idle. When Fowler called, he had quickly typed out a word and sent a few scraplets to carry the laptop over to the screen.
Message?
He took down the possible coordinates then kept typing while he followed Bumblebee over to the ground bridge.
I'm coming with you
"Jack, we'll be going up against MECH, humans; you won't be able to scare them off like you did with Megatron."
I can still hurt them, act as a distraction. You need backup
Not wanting to waste any more time, Bumblebee agreed,"Alright, let's go."
Jack left the laptop in plain sight and followed Bumblebee through the ground bridge.
When they arrived at the MECH base, Bumblebee instructed Jack to go to the windows and burst in when he broke through the doors. As soon as Jack was in position, the scout smashed his way in. Jack streamed in just in time to see Starscream getting bowled over by a barrel. He set a few scraplets on the seeker to keep him from getting involved and focused most of his swarm on the MECH soldiers. It was about time that he paid them back for going after his mother.
Bumblebee retrieved his T-cog from MECH's creation and turned to leave, pausing at the door when Jack didn't follow. He turned and felt sickened by what he saw. Most of the soldiers were incapacitated, down on the ground clutching their mangled hands or gashes in their legs. Starscream pushed past Bumblebee to run out, transform, and fly off, a quartet of scraplets snapping at his heels. Most of the scraplets seemed to be focusing on a single target, though the scout couldn't see who or what it was. He addressed the scraplets that had followed Jack out.
"Jack, we need to leave now."
Immediately, the swarm came out and followed Bumblebee to the ground bridge. As they entered the portal, they encountered the rest of the Autobots going the other way. The scraplets with Optimus quickly reunited with the rest of the swarm and hid behind Bumblebee. The scout held his T-cog in front of him like a talisman.
"I can explain?"
When they made it back to base, Bumblebee was put into stasis, but Ratchet did not operate on him immediately. Optimus grabbed the forge of Solus Prime and pulled the medic aside, and they returned later with a functional voice box for Bumblebee. It wouldn't sound the same as his old one, but Bumblebee was sure to appreciate the surprise when he woke up.
Meanwhile, Jack took the part of the swarm that had gone with Bumblebee into the base to find a sink. After searching for a while he found what may have been a kitchen area. Luckily, there was still a sponge and some dish soap. He spent hours washing the blood off those scraplets, having them take turns under the water and line up to be scrubbed by the scraplet with the sponge. He ended up splashing water everywhere, but that would have to be dealt with later.
Jack returned before Ratchet was finished with Bumblebee, so he got to watch the scout wake up. All the other Autobots were already there to see how Bee reacted to being whole again. Raf had arrived and was waiting anxiously on the couch.
Ratchet stepped back from the table, "Alright, I'm bringing him back now."
Bumblebee sat up, "Whoa, why's everyone here? Did something happen?"
Every person (with the exception of the Jack-scraplets) in the room from Optimus to Raf were smiling at him.
"Uh, no, seriously, is something wrong?"
Ratchet shook his head, "No, nothing's wrong. How do you feel? Any different?"
Bumblebee transformed his arm into a blaster and back again, "No problems, everythi—my voice! Ratchet, I have my voice back!"
He lunged forward and seized the medic in a hug, which Ratchet awkwardly reciprocated before pointing the scout at another victim, "Optimus was the one who made your new voice box."
"Thank you, Optimus!" Bumblebee bounded over and embraced his leader.
The next day Agent Fowler called to complain about Wheeljack and an unknown Decepticon tearing up the landscape outside Omaha. Jack was left at the base to avoid scaring Wheeljack, who froze and looked to Bulkhead uneasily when he came back to the base.
"You do know that you have a scraplet infestation, right?"
"That's just Jack. It's, uh, it's a long story."
Jack sent some scraplets over with his computer, I promise to only devour our enemies.
Wheeljack raised an optic ridge and motioned to the rest of the swarm, "And what about the rest of you?"
Hive mind
The Wrecker took a moment to look up the phrase, "Good enough for me."
"If you're done talking, get over here, so I can see to that shoulder," Ratchet called.
A short time later, after Wheeljack's repairs were complete and Agent Fowler arrived and one wrecker stormed out with the other close behind him, Fowler turned his attention to Jack and Bumblebee. He approached them and spoke in a low voice.
"Listen, you two, I don't know what happened at the MECH base, and I don't want to know. I was one of the people investigating, and there was blood and fingers and bits of who-knows-what everywhere. No confirmed fatalities, though, which is the only reason my bosses are letting this slide for now, but whatever happened there does not happen again, got it?"
The two nodded, and the agent left them.
"What was that about?" Arcee sidled up to them.
Bumblebee and Jack exchanged a look. They had managed to gloss over exactly what Jack had been doing while Bumblebee reclaimed his T-cog, but if the government already knew...
Jack started typing, Things got a bit bloody yesterday.
"A bit?" Bumblebee remembered the downed soldiers clearly.
Arcee looked concerned now, "Did you kill anyone?"
Their relationship with the government wasn't entirely ideal, but it could be much worse. If they thought that an Autobot or their ally had killed someone, even a criminal who had attacked them first...
The scraplets shook their heads, No, some of the soldiers might be crippled now, but that's what they get for being terrorists. Except for Silas, if we're lucky, he's dead, but I wouldn't count on it.
"I don't think that MECH has actually committed any acts of terror yet..." Bumblebee cut in.
Every scraplet in the room turned to stare at Bumblebee. Bumblebee, they tried to destroy the DNGS. That would have irradiated five states, and probably caused damage even beyond that. They maimed Breakdown. They maimed you. They tried to give me up to Arachnid and they went after my mother. I'm not going to be sorry if any of them don't make it.
Due to Jack's excessive violence, he was confined to the base the next time the Autobots went out to deal with a signal from Starscream. When they returned the outpost, Jack tried to talk them into letting him go after Arachnid with them, but was denied. Resigned to staying behind with Ratchet again, Jack saw them off.
Blast her for me, partner?
Arcee smiled at him, "Sure."
Later in the week, Agent Fowler contacted the Autobots while Optimus Prime was out. Jack was able to convince the other Autobots to let him come with them. When they arrived, the attacking semi truck turned to flee, causing Arcee to give chase with a few scraplets clinging to her handlebars. The rest of the swarm couldn't fly fast enough to keep up. The truck eventually came back to run her down, but the part of Jack with her managed to get clear and tore into the enemy's sides before it ran again.
Once they were back at the base Jack waited until Arcee woke up to report what he noticed.
That definitely wasn't Optimus. It's probably not a Decepticon either. At least, not like the one who impersonated Wheeljack.
"What makes you so sure?" Arcee asked.
Whatever it was isn't alive. When I attacked it, it felt more like when I was eating MECH's guns than when I went after Starscream or Knockout.
Ratchet nodded at this explanation, "No spark energy, it could still be a Decepticon trick, though. Soundwave would be able to control such a thing from range."
"There's another group who would like to drive a wedge between us and the government, one who has had a chance to study Cybertronian anatomy extensively and more recently had their greasy little hands on a T-cog to study," Bumblebee added darkly.
"MECH? Maybe..."
Optimus chose that time to return, and Agent Fowler and Arcee explained what had happened earlier. The explanation was interrupted by a call to Fowler. The impostor had attacked a base. Jack was ordered to stay behind this time. The Autobots returned almost as soon as they had left. The bad news was that the government was now against them; the good news were that they were sure that they were up against MECH.
"It drove off again," Arcee explained. "If the Decepticons were controlling that thing, they would use a ground bridge to move it around. MECH doesn't have access to that technology, though."
They narrowed the location of the MECH base down and the bots went out to search. Being able to cover a large area all by himself, Jack was allowed to come along this time. He was, however, ordered to avoid engaging any of MECH's soldiers.
When Bumblebee found the base, the Autobots and Jack converged on his location. By the time the scraplets finally arrived, Optimus was already in conflict with his doppelganger. The two scraplets that had been left in the base to communicate with Ratchet via laptop noted that Fowler was bridging in. Jack had the parts of him already present drop to the ground and scuttle forward, attempting to be discrete. Once he had the two combatants surrounded, he swarmed the false Prime, targeting its joints, weapons, neck, and face. As soon as his work was done, he backed off to allow Optimus a clear shot at the copy. Blinded, crippled, and soon directionless thanks to Fowler, the knock off was quickly dispatched by Optimus Prime, sending it through the roof of the bunker.
Panicking, Jack flew after the drone, and was relieved to find the agent unharmed by the fallen debris. Then government helicopters arrived and Fowler advised everyone to head back while he dealt with the humans.
Jack spent the next few days in a bad mood. The apparent survival of Silas had him snappish and irritable. He passed most of the time on his laptop, searching for stories of hospital thefts or the interception of transports carrying medical supplies. Not that he actually thought that MECH would be that careless or obvious, but he wanted to feel like he was doing something.
Miko finally brought him out of it by challenging him to see if he could still play games in his current form. After a bit of experimentation, it turned out that he could. He needed four scraplets to work the controller and at least one more watching the screen, but it was possible. He and Miko were playing a fighting game Raf had brought over when Optimus, Bumblebee, and Arcee exited the ground bridge with a large object. Jack sent a member of his swarm over to investigate and was surprised to see Arachnid. He paused the game and started typing.
Miko leaned back to address the Autobots, "Jack wants to know why you didn't let him come after Arachnid with you."
"We didn't know it was her until we got there," Arcee replied.
"Besides, you seemed kind of distracted," Bumblebee nodded to the game system.
Jack typed furiously. Miko glanced down at the screen, but before she could pass on Jack's objections, Bulkhead arrived.
"Guys, you are not gonna believe the day I had!" He noticed Arachnid, "Oh, you too, huh?*"
Jack waited by the ground bridge, tense with anticipation. This was it. The Nemesis was crippled, and the Decepticons were vulnerable. They would never get a better chance at ending the war than this. Optimus disappeared and returned with the spark extractor. Jack quirked his heads then typed a question. He had a scraplet nudge Miko to get her attention.
"Why don't you bring the other stuff too? I can't think of a situation where having the immobilizer or force field generator would not come in handy."
Optimus spared her a glance, "The spark extractor alone should suffice, though I suppose we would be remiss to not have backups. Bumblebee."
The scout raced down the hall while Agent Fowler insinuated himself into the raid. He returned with the two aforementioned relics and the polarity gauntlet. He tossed the gauntlet to Arcee and the generator to Bulkhead, keeping the immobilizer for himself.
Ratchet detected Dark Energon in use at the Nemesis crash site, and Optimus called for everyone to move out. Leaving two of his swarm behind, Jack followed the others through the blue portal.
When Jack arrived, he immediately spread himself out to avoid the beams emitted by the ship. The ship seemed to have difficulty locking on to targets as small as an individual scraplet. The Autobots, however, were much larger targets. Once he noticed that everyone had been frozen, Jack fell back and surrounded them, ready to attack any comers. Jack waited for the Decepticons to try to take advantage of his friends' vulnerable states, but no attack came. The ship changed course and no flyers emerged to come after the Autobots. Fowler called for Ratchet to retrieve the team, and Jack continued to stand guard until the final member had been dragged through the ground bridge.
After a brief discussion, Ratchet called the Nemesis. The response he got was enlightening. It was decided that now would be an excellent time to infiltrate the warship and retrieve a copy of the Iacon Database. There was a brief argument over who should stay and who should go.
"Look, Raf's our best tech guy and there's no way I'm staying behind when both Jack and Raf are going."
"Look, the last time one of you kids went on a mission for the 'bots things..." he shot a glance at the horde of scraplets that was now Jack. "...didn't really end well. I can't take you along in good conscience."
Jack poked Raf's leg until he reached down and picked up Jack's laptop, "What if we waited until the ship was distracted?"
"With tearing up the US?"
"With Jack. We send in Jack first. Scraplets are from Cybertron, so the ship will probably be able to detect them. He'll go all over the ship and distract it while we go in, get the data, and get out."
"That... would make it safer for us, but Jack," Fowler considered the swarm seriously, "Are you okay taking that kind of risk?"
Raf set the laptop back down where Jack could reach it.
I'll leave a couple scraplets here like usual, and there's still one at my house. Worst case scenario, the ship destroys most of the swarm, and I'm down to three bodies. I'm fine with that if I can clear a path for you all. There isn't time for you to get anyone else, and you know it.
Fowler scowled, but nodded, "Fine, if we're gonna do this, let's do it now."
Ratchet didn't look any happier but handed a transfer drive to Fowler. He addressed Jack first, "I'll try to send you to a different part of the ship than them. You'll have to get out on your own. Just type when you need a pickup or if anything goes wrong. You three, stay in contact too. Anything goes wrong, and I'm bridging you back."
Jack went through the portal and emerged in the navigation room on the Nemesis. Ignoring the ship's shrieks and alarms, he sped down the hall, searching for his targets. Even if Optimus and the other Autobots were out of commission, he could still complete their mission. He split up his swarm at every fork, ignoring the Vehicons for now. (Megatron first, then Soundwave, Dreadwing, Knockout, then the Insecticons and Vehicons.) He found Knockout, but skipped that hall because he didn't want to bring the ship's attention to his friends. He started losing scraplets, he wasn't sure if they were being frozen or destroyed, but the sensation was jarring. He kept searching.
He found Dreadwing next and hesitated in front of the seeker. The last time he'd had the chance to kill a helpless Decepticon, he'd walked away, and that had been Megatron. This was the one Decepticon Optimus was hoping he'd be able to turn. Could he really...? He remembered Skyquake, remembered how Dreadwing's twin had turned down every peaceful overture in favor of following his last orders from Megatron. He also recalled what he knew of Dreadwing, how Wheeljack and Bulkhead had stayed up together telling stories about Seaspray until dawn, how the green mech had kept rubbing his chest where a bomb had been attached. Just because Dreadwing wasn't completely depraved didn't mean he wasn't a Decepticon through and through, didn't mean he wouldn't kill Jack's friends given half a chance. Jack closed the optics of the present scraplets in a brief silent apology and went for the seeker's throat. The least he could do was make it quick.
He found Soundwave next and dispatched him in a similar manner. Jack did his best to ignore memories of the Decepticon walking away from chances to kill him and his friends, both at the military base when he'd first met the 'bots and at the museum when they'd gone after the energon harvester. He moved on to search for Megatron. He found the warlord at the ship's power core, hand on a lever. Jack surged forward. Megatron's head fell.
Fowler, Miko, and Raf chose that moment to enter the room. "Whoa—Jack did you just—?"
"Jack! We need to pull that lever manually!" Raf interjected.
At the base, Jack whirred to get Ratchet's attention. Tell them to hide I'll bring the rest of my swarm in
Jack converged on the room, he couldn't move Megatron's body, even with the entirety of his mass, which was depleted by about an eighth thanks to the Nemesis. He gnawed Megatron's hand apart instead, leaving the lever free. As soon as that was done, he vacated the room and spread out over the Nemesis again, trusting the three humans to accomplish their goal. He doubled back to where Knockout was and finished off the last of the Decepticon command staff. Now he was free to destroy every Decepticon he encountered.
When the stasis started wearing off, the surviving Decepticons were quick to give up. Jack herded them to a large clear room near the center of the Nemesis. He wrote Ratchet to explain the situation. The medic had no useful advice other than to wait for Optimus to wake up. When the Autobot leader did unfreeze, he was immediately sent off to the warship to accept their surrender.
Now that the Autobots had taken over the Nemesis, they could hunt down the Iacon relics at their leisure. Starscream, too, would be dealt with in time. There were still issues to sort out, like what to do about Cybertron and where and how Jack would live and those Cybertronians scattered across the universe, unaware of the turn the war had taken, but the Autobots could deal with those issues as they arose. After all, they had the time now.
Notes: Sorry to all Decepticon fans, I just couldn't find a way to save them. As soon as I got the idea, I looked over the episode list to figure out changes and ripples and I saw "Flying Mind" and I was just like... 'That's it, that's where Jack eats everyone on the Nemesis.' On a different note, the scene with Bee getting his pipes back is in here like eighty percent because I completely forgot about that in Restless. Anyways, thank you for reading.