When asked what it was they were looking for, Ratchet only replied irritably, "How should I know? We haven't found it yet." Despite his mood, he had offered only minimal protests when Miko and Raf had asked to come with him on his search. The mystery signal was relatively weak and less than ten miles from the Autobot base, so it wasn't like this was a dangerous mission.
It wasn't turning out to be a very exciting one, either. Ratchet's scans couldn't pin down an exact location, so he lumbered in a regular pattern while Jack, Miko, and Raf wandered around the landscape, looking for something out of the ordinary.
"So do we have any idea what it looks like?" Miko asked. "Like, is it going to be something cool and glowy or will it just look like scrap?"
"Well, it's got to be pretty small," Raf noted. They had unanimously decided that he should be on the one to carry the comm in the unlikely ("Highly unlikely, since I am the one with scanning equipment," Ratchet had been sure to inform them) case that they were the ones to find whatever was giving off the signal.
Jack stepped up on a rock and squinted against the Nevada sun. "Do you think it might look like a metal disc with a light in the middle?"
"Where?" Miko demanded, then pointed. "Got it! Come on, let's go see what it does."
"Miko…" But he really shouldn't have expected her to do anything but run towards the mysterious device. Jack sighed deeply and jumped down to jog after her.
Raf lagged behind him at a trot, more concerned with the comm. "Ratchet, I think we found something!" He began giving slightly breathless directions.
"Miko, don't touch it!" Jack called as Miko squatted beside the device.
Miko made a face at him, but she didn't start pressing buttons. "Whatever! It probably does something awesome." She looked expectantly at Raf when he caught up to them. "So what is it?"
Raf pushed his glasses up. "I don't know. It's definitely Cybertronian."
"It could be anything." Jack knelt down to get a better look. It was round, and the symbols on it did look like Cybertronian writing, not that Jack could read it. Miko reached for the light in the middle, and Jack started. "Miko, don't—"
He never knew whether she was the one to activate the device or not. The flash flooded his vision in white, and a strange tremor seemed to leave him slightly out of place. When he felt himself again, though, he was in exactly the same place as before, as were Raf and Miko—and the device.
"Ugh," Miko muttered, "I'm gonna be sick." Raf had taken off his glasses and squeezed his eyes shut.
"What just happened?" Jack asked. "Miko, what did you do?"
"I didn't do anything," she protested, "and I'm not going to. I do not want to do that again."
"Is everyone okay?" Raf asked faintly.
"I'm fine," Jack assured him.
"Blech," was Miko's response, but then she added, "I think I'm okay."
Raf blinked at the device, worrying at the comm. "Did you feel it? It felt sort of like a ground bridge." The sound of Autobot footsteps made them all look up. Raf brightened. "Ratchet, over here!" He waved.
Ratchet stopped and remained entirely still, watching them. Jack was used to him looking at them with annoyance or exasperation, but now he didn't have any particular expression at all, as if they were insects that had just caught his attention. "Interesting," he said. Jack got chills.
"Ratch, stop being a weirdo!" Miko yelled.
Ratchet didn't react to that. He strolled toward them, which was not as reassuring as it should have been. "Is this a tactic to confuse me, or did the burst of energy somehow tamper with your human minds?" he asked, but he did not sound as though he expected an answer.
"Uh, guys," Jack muttered, backing up. He put both hands out to draw the other two back with him. The more Ratchet spoke, the less he sounded like Ratchet.
"No matter," the possibly-not-Ratchet decided. "You avoided capture once, but I assure you, you will not manage it again."
"What's the matter with you?" Miko demanded. Jack wasn't going to wait on an answer, not when Ratchet sounded like he planned on capturing them. He grabbed Miko's arm and pulled her into a run away from the advancing medic.
Raf was already following. "What's happening?" he asked Jack, voice high.
Jack glanced behind them. Ratchet was not running after them; he was strolling, unhurried, and it was still more than enough to match them for speed. "I don't know. I don't know." Jack scrambled for his phone to call Arcee. Maybe she hadn't gone crazy.
A ground bridge opened directly ahead of them before he could dial. Two familiar vehicles came through—but not the vehicles Jack wanted to see. "Run for it—other way!" he bellowed, pushing Miko and Raf to one side. The three of them took off at an angle back toward the Autobot base.
Unfortunately, they weren't fast enough. Breakdown thundered past them toward Ratchet, but Knockout was headed straight for them, and they didn't have a chance. He transformed just long enough to snatch them up and landed back in his alt mode, with them inside. "Breakdown, I've got them. Let's skedaddle."
Jack, trapped in the passenger seat, wrenched at the door handle, knowing it wouldn't do any good. Miko was furious. She kicked at the steering wheel from the driver's seat. "Let us go!" she screamed. "Let us go, you stupid—"
"Miko, what are you doing?" Knockout asked. Miko stopped to stare, and Jack couldn't blame her. Knockout's voice had an edge of real bewilderment, like he really had no idea why she'd be trying to break free of a crazy Con kidnapping. "And for that matter, where were you? Breakdown waited on you three for over an hour!"
"Well, he can keep waiting!" Miko snapped back.
Jack tried to be discreet when he hissed, "Miko, stop yelling at the Decepticon…."
But of course she didn't listen. "You just wait, you are in so much trouble—"
"No, you're in trouble, Miko," Knockout growled. His tone wasn't right; it wasn't smug or malicious or anything Jack had learned to expect from the Decepticon medic. He was mad. "If you think you're going anywhere but home, school and the Nemesis ever again, I have news for you." The engine gunned.
Miko looked at Jack and Raf and mouthed "School?" but neither of them had any answers.
Jack twisted around to see that Breakdown was close behind them. Great—even if he could somehow get the door open, the other Con would just run them over. "Knockout to the bridge. We have the kids. Get us out of here."
It was too late. The ground bridge opened up right in front of them, and with a familiar tug, they landed inside the Decepticon base.
This time, when Jack pulled on the handle, the door opened. He, Raf, and Miko all but fell out in their haste to get away. It was no use trying to go back; Knockout and Breakdown were between them and the ground bridge. Jack spun around, looking for some escape route, even a temporary one.
"She kicked my steering wheel," Knockout was complaining indignantly.
Breakdown looked at the three of them, and Jack froze in place until he returned his attention to Knockout. "You get whatever that device was?"
"I thought you had it."
There—a corridor, not too far away. Jack began pulling the other two toward it. Maybe, just maybe, they could make it away from—
"Ah, you found them."
Starscream appeared directly in the way of their only escape. They stopped, crashing back together. "I hope you're done berating them. It did not escape my attention that you left for the same area in which we noted strange readings. So if it's all the same to you, I will borrow the clever one."
He reached toward them, putting one hand palm-up on the floor. Jack scrambled to get in front the other two, not that it would do much good if Starscream decided to crush them. Miko resisted, but Raf needed no prompting to hide behind him. Starscream's smirk faded as he stared at Raf in particular. He curled his fingers and laid them on the floor with four light, impatient clicks. "Come along, Rafael."
"Leave him alone!" Miko shouted.
Starscream sneered a little. "Doctor, please control your charge."
"Can't," Knockout replied decisively. "This little number has been going on since we found them." His tone darkened. "Running from the Autobot terror medic, I might add."
"Gyuh—" Starscream's wings pressed back as he winced. "Ratchet was there?" he croaked. "Do you think he…" The Con leaned over Jack, Miko, and Raf, face contorted into some expression Jack couldn't place. "What happened? You are unharmed, aren't you?"
"Unharmed?" Jack repeated incredulously. At this point, he wouldn't have called Arcee even if he could have. Everyone but Miko and Raf was acting oddly. It was like something out of a science fiction movie—more of a science fiction movie than his life had already become, anyway. This couldn't get much weirder.
"Jack."
The universe had been listening, and it didn't like him.
That voice and the slow, thundering footsteps belonged to Megatron. Jack felt the blood drain from his face as he turned to see the Decepticon leader coming toward them. His gaze swept slowly over everyone present, but it was Jack that he looked to last. "What happened?"
"We've gotta go," Jack breathed.
"Yep," Miko agreed, and grabbed Raf's arm. All three of them set off in a dead run. The sudden movement was just enough of a surprise to ensure that they slipped past Starscream. Ushering Raf and Miko ahead of him, Jack disappeared into the corridor, leaving the Decepticons behind—for now.
Whatever was going on, they were in a lot of trouble.