I am sorry that this chapter might be a bit short, but it wouldn't be right to drag this one on. Hope you enjoy!
Chapter 4: Feelings and Revealing
Optimus stared at the scanners and at the computer. Arcee had just hung up after reporting of the events that took place at the hospital. Optimus was pondering over the news. First of all was the news of Laserbeak. When Soundwave or one of his minions was involved it was rarely a good thing. The thought that he almost got Jack wasn't boding well with the autobot leader. Especially since it would seem that the young man wasn't going to operate at full capacity for the next 16-20 weeks. Humans sure were slow to heal. And just the thought at how vulnerable Jack would be over that amount of time had Optimus worried more than he could afford to show. Megatron was at least right in one thing. Optimus had a soft spot for Jack. Sure he had a soft spot for all the human kids, but more so with Jack. Jack reminded Optimus so much of himself both before and after he became a Prime. He was like the perfect combination of both, though of course he was still young and sometimes would make mistakes. But that was rare, and he was more calculated and careful than the other two children were. Optimus couldn't help but to feel that if Jack had been a cybertronian, he would very much be like the son he had pictured he would have. Indeed even if he was human, Optimus thought of the boy as his own to some extent.
Optimus closed his optics for a while and let out a small saddened and frustrated sigh. Curse the fact that Megatron might have seen how deep Optimus felt for the boy. It would only make Megatron that much more interested in getting his servos on the boy. It didn't help in the matter that Megatron also wanted revenge on the boy, since he had manage to restore Optimus' memories. And now with these new matters about Jack maybe being special and the keeper of the key of Vector Sigma, Jack was bound to be Megatrons new number one thing to get his servos onto.
That was also worrying the autobot leader. The report Arcee had just given him about Jack and the key of Vector Sigma gave more clues to the fact that Megatron might be right about the boy being special. Honestly no one had known that, and therefore it wasn't the reason why Optimus had made him the keeper of the key. It was because he saw Jack as his potential son he had given him that responsibility. A responsibility that Optimus now regretted he had given the boy.
Optimus opened his optics and looked nowhere in particular. Maybe he was reading too much into Arcees report. The fact that the glowing of the key made Jack feel the way he did could be because he could feel the key doing its "magic". But as much as Optimus wished he could lie to himself like that, he had a grim feeling that it wasn't so simple. The fact that the key didn't even behave like that until after Cybertron had Optimus even more concerned. Something must have happened while Jack was uploading the information to the key. But what?
Since Optimus thought to be alone he couldn't help but sigh once again before tiredly hiding his face behind his servos. There was simply too much to worry about at this given time, and he most certainly didn't like that most of it was evolving around Jack. As Optimus walked down the hallway towards his own room, hoping to get some recharging done, Ratchet watched him with warily optics from his dark corner, having listened in to Arcees report and Optimus reaction to this whole ordeal. He couldn't help but to feel pity for his leader.
Ratchet walked over to the monitors after Optimus left. Ratchet usually displayed less than interested in the kids. Though after the incident with Rafael he guess everybody knew he wasn't entirely displeased with them. Ratchet felt the most connected with the 12-year-old boy, but that didn't mean that he didn't care about Jack. Ratchet was the first of the autobots to express that Jack was indeed very similar to Optimus. But Ratchet knew that Optimus had seen this in Jack for quite a while and he suspected that Optimus was much attached to Jack, even if he thought he wasn't allowed to show it. Ratchet looked at Optimus' search patterns on the screen. Optimus was very agitated about this business, and his every thought circled about Jack. That much was clear to the medic. But with this mystery evolving around the boy Ratchet also felt agitated. He hated when there was a thing or situations that he couldn't solve and this mystery that was Jack was now one of them.
At the hospital Arcees holoform looked at the sleeping Jack. He still looked to be slightly in pain, but the medicine definitely helped him. Still Arcee couldn't help but notice that even though he was sleeping he still had a slight frown to his face. Even sleep would not let the boy's thoughts rest. Arcee thought back to their conversation earlier. She liked the expression she got from Jack by being so honest about the way the healing made her feel. She liked Jack. She liked him as a partner, a friend… perhaps even as something… more? But Arcee wouldn't tell Jack that. She would never tell anyone that. They were too different, and the decepticons or the M.E.C.H. or Primus knew how many others there could be out there, would be after them, and use this to get to Arcee. No one could ever know. The holoform Sadie leaned forward a little and couldn't help but to stroke the boy's hair, smiling as she did so. She had seen this gestures be done by Jacks mother and was intrigued at humans constant need to be physical in showing their emotions. Arcee herself had never thought much of it, but as her affection for Jack grew, she found herself wondering how his hair would feel like. How touching his cheek would feel like. How… no, she wouldn't go there. There could be nothing between them.
Arcee thought his hair was very soft to touch. It felt much softer than she ever could imagine. She couldn't' stop herself from leaning in and take a quick sniff at it too. Even though he had been sweating and tossed around in the dessert. Even though he had been operated on and was pumped with medicine, it still smelled nice. Arcee could best describe the scent of the hair as one of their evenings, watching the sun go down and the humidity was starting to set around them for the night. It was their scent. Arcee smile widened at the thought of that; their smell. She heard an engine roar outside and took a peek. It was her replacement on the guard duty: Bulkhead. Arcee sighed and was about to shot of her holoform, when she leaned over Jack and kissed his forehead. Jack stirred a little from the touch, but Arcee noticed the frown disappeared. At least she could get him to relax. Arcee shot her holoform off and went to give Bulkhead an opdate of the situation.
Outside a couple of rooftops over a couple of red optics could be spotted through the night. If anyone knew they were to look for them. Laserbeak had kept an eye on the boy's room and had recorded the interaction between the femme and the boy. He also had the audio recording of their conversation earlier. It was time he returned to his master Soundwave, so he could report this to his master. Megatron was bound to be pleased over this discovery. Laserbeak sat off towards the decepticon warship Nemesis.
Later at the Nemesis warship Soundwave had just played both the audio recording and the little video about Arcees interaction with Jack. Megatron smirked. Not only had Jack confirmed his theories about his connection in Megatrons newest discovery, but also had the femme bot given him means to get Jack to come to him freely, hopefully without the other autobots interfering.
"Well done Soundwave. Airachnid and Dreadwing I have a job for you two. Don't mess this one up."
"Yes my lord Megatron" both said and bowed.
"It is crucial that I get this boy. He is very special indeed."
"Excuse me, my lord Megatron, but might we ask; why is he so special?" Airachnid asked.
"If my discoveries are correct, and I believe they are, after I saw what happened to Prime's femme bot, this boy is essential to find the Allspark that went missing during the war on cybertron. That is all I will tell you for now."
"The Allspark, the one that gives life to all cybertronians? The one that was the life of cybertron itself? That Allspark?"
Megatron smirked even wider. That was all the answer Dreadwing and Airachnid needed. Megatron looked out on the sky, standing with his servos behind his back.
"If we can get the Allspark first we can restore Cybertron, and I will rule both Cybertron and Earth. So get the boy. You can get him through Arcee. Soundwave, show them what Laserbeak discovered."
As all three of them left the bridge Megatron kept smiling. This was a perfect way to harm both Prime and Arcee, not to mention, when he was done using the boy, he could get his own revenge on the boy.
"Let's see how you deal with this, Prime".
