January 12, 2013, 3:39 PM
"Hey, where's Arcee?"
Those were the first words out of Jack's mouth as he stepped out of Bulkhead. He looked around. He could see Bumblebee transforming with Raf in his hand. Ratchet was staring at his computer screen, while Optimus was translating the Iacon database. But there was no sign of Arcee.
"Arcee is in her berthroom. She hasn't left." Ratchet turned around and Jack could see a somewhat worried expression on his face. "She said that you may come in, but no one else."
"Okay..." Jack furrowed his brow in confusion. He turned around and walked down the hall. He knew that if Arcee was hiding in her room, that most likely meant she was having a breakdown.
Arcee's door loomed in front of him. He thought he could hear sobs coming from the room.
Ok. Definitely a breakdown.
Gently he stepped toward the door. He raised his hand and tapped on it. "Arcee? It's me, Jack."
There was a muffled squawk, then light pedes hitting the ground. The door slid opened and before Jack could react he was off the floor and in Arcee's arms, close to her spark.
"Arcee, what-" Jack began, but stopped when he saw her face.
Arcee had blue streaks down her face and Jack could feel her shaking. Broken sobs choked out of her and he could feel her spark beating erratically. Pain was written all over her face.
It was then that Jack realized something.
Arcee was in deep mourning.
After a moment Arcee, still holding Jack, walked over to her berth and sat down. She gently set him on the large smooth piece of metal.
"Arcee...what's going on?"
There was silence for a moment, then Arcee sighed. "I was mourning the loss of my kind."
"What?"
"Have you noticed that, except for Airachnid, I am the only Cybertronian femme? It's for a reason." With that she picked up a small metal cube with a small hole and pressed a button.
A holographic slideshow popped out of the hole. They were showing 3-D pictures of Arcee with her arms around other bots. They had a similar body shape as Arcee, and Jack looked up at her.
"They're femmes, aren't they?"
"Yes. There has always been more mechs than femmes on Cybertron. Then the war broke out. Most of the femmes became Autobots, but a lot of their boyfriends were Decepticons. Besides that, many Decepticons were desperate for femmes." She shuddered and looked at Jack, her eyes seeming to betray so much pain and horror. "If mechs are captured, they're tortured by Energon prods, cortical psychic patch, knives and swords. The femmes? They're spark-raped. Over and over and over. Sometimes by many different mechs every day." Her optics shuttered. "They're raped until their sparks and processors can't take it any more. Then, they just...just...offline.
"One of my friends, Moonracer, was captured by the Decepticons halfway through the war. We rescued her about 3 weeks later, but it was just too late. She died in a hospital; the scans on her spark showed that she had been spark-raped over...300 times."
Jack's eyes widened.
"And that story wasn't the worst."
He nearly choked. He almost asked her to stop, but the look on her face silenced him. She needed to vent. So he gently placed one hand on her digits and massaged it. "Keep talking."
She wasn't looking at him. "By the time the war was over, the Decepticons had destroyed every single one of us. Elita-1, Chromia, Moonracer. Not even Decepticon femmes were safe." She bowed her head. "It's moments like these that I wonder...why was I left? Every other femme except for Airachnid went to the scrapyard. So...why me? Do I have a destiny to fulfill? And if that's true, were the other lives worthless? What will happen to the Cybertronian race? And...what will happen to me?"
"Arcee, were you...ever..." Jack didn't have the heart to ask. But Arcee knew what he was trying to say. She slowly turned her optics to meet Jack's eyes. For a moment, they just looked at each other.
And in that moment, Jack saw immeasurable pain cross her eyes. Guilt. Shock. Horror.
Then she nodded.
"I was only captured once, when I met Cliffjumper. They tried to...force Cliffjumper...to...but he refused. So..."
"Don't." Jack's grip on her digit tightened. "It's in the past. Today is a new day. It doesn't matter what happens in your past as long as you don't let it affect you. And you don't have to think that just because you're the only femme means you have to be apart. You're not alone, Arcee. You're not. You know that, right?"
"I do. It's just...so hard sometimes." She pointed at the screen. "That day was when we went for a walk together. That one's Moonracer, that one's Chromia, that one's Elita-1, and that's me." She sighed. "Sometimes, when my world overwhelms me, I come here and relive old memories. Sometimes I walk out feeling better; sometimes I feel worse."
:Arcee, I need you at the control center right now!:
Arcee groaned. "Now, Ratchet?" she muttered before tapping her commlink.
:What's going on?:
:Come to the control center and I will debrief you there.:
Groaning, Arcee stood up. She held out her servo and Jack stepped into it.
When Arcee walked into the control center, she found all the Autobots clustered around a computer screen. It had a Decepticon symbol flashing on the screen.
"What's going on?" asked Jack.
"I have detected an Energon signal in Earth's atmosphere. It appears to be a Decepticon pod," replied Ratchet.
"As in, it fell from the Nemesis?" asked Arcee.
"No. As in, it is currently hurtling through Earth's atmosphere and is about to crash land," responded Ratchet. "I have the predicted coordinates as to where the pod will land. Right here." He placed on digit on the screen.
"Ratchet, place coordinates and activate the GroundBridge. Arcee, Bumblebee, you are with me."
"Got it." Arcee gently set Jack in the human section and turned to Optimus.
"AUTOBOTS, ROLL OUT!" With that the two mechs and femme transformed into their alt-modes. Ratchet tapped in the predicted coordinates and the GroundBridge swirled to life. The three Autobots drove straight through the green vortex.
They landed in a very windy area. The ground had sprigs of bushes, bur was mostly a grey color. The cold dryness bit at Arcee. Behind her Bumblebee gasped and pointed to the right. "What is that?"
Arcee turned. And blinked. She instantly turned to Optimus. "I think we found our Decepticon."
