Transformers Prime: The Ties That Bind III
Chapter Seven
Where ever he was it was dark, cold, and in the near distance there was strangest vibration that seemed to come from everywhere at once.
Am I dead? He asked himself silently through the shroud of fog that was slowly lifting from his mind. God…if I am, Arcee will kill me.
As pain slowly began to register across his entire body, Jack came to the slow conclusion that, even though he could barely see, he was, in fact, very much alive. The ache in his head and the darkness before him reminded him all too keenly of his time spent at the mercy of the reanimated Cliffjumper. That wasn't an experience he was eager to relive. The cold that seemed to permeate the air became ever more insistent, soaking through his clothes and numbing the side of his face that lay pressed against the unseen floor, hard and cool.
Metal floor? Am I still in the containment room? Still trying to shake off the haze in his mind, Jack willed his body to move, feeling ever more conscious as his limbs responded to his mental commands. Still unable to see exactly where he was, Jack tried to focus on the vibrations that rumbled through the metal underfoot and the walls around him. While the sounds seemed to come from all sides, a hand placed flat upon the nearest wall he could find, stumbling through the near darkness, gave Jack a sense of the vibration's source.
Well. Can't stay here. Obviously not the Silo. Have to find Arcee.
Taking one tentative step, then another, Jack felt his way down what he could only assume was a massive conduit of some sort, perhaps a ventilation pipe, larger then anything he had seen in his time with the Autobots. As he moved ahead, his thoughts wandered to how he had come to be here in the first place.
He began to recall what seemed only moments before, but what very well could have been hours, even days, ago, using Raf's augmented software for the Cognitive Patch to follow Arcee into whatever chaos awaited in the mind of Optimus's would be killer, the Autobot hero Coatzin. Raphael himself had warned him, trying to make Jack understand that the science behind what the Patch could do and how it might, or might not, work on a Human mind was almost even beyond the boy genius's understanding. Without Ratchet to verify the safety of what Jack had intended to do, there was a very real chance the damage to his mind could be fatal.
But Jack had known, somewhere deep inside, that Arcee would need him. That, whatever the risk, he had to try. He could not allow her to face the unknown alone. He then remembered essentially hijacking the containment room's systems and using one of Arcee's cognitive feeds to join the link between her and Coatzin. And now, he was…where?
This…can't be a dream. It feels…too real. He observed, feeling the cold metal of the tunnel wall under his hand as he walked. Regardless of his whereabouts, Jack focused on locating his Cybertronian love.
After what seemed like an eternity, Jack felt the vibrations underfoot grow steadily stronger, with new sounds drifting down the tunnel towards him, and a light, a strange azure glow that seemed to come from the wall's themselves, the skin of his hands and fingers beginning to tingle. It was something he had felt before, when in the presence of…
"Energon." Jack realized aloud. Only a few meters ahead, Jack could see the faintest glow of a new light source, far brighter, illuminating the tunnel. The pain in his body now almost completely faded, Jack broke into a brisk run, eager to understand just where exactly he was. The tunnel curved, appearing to at last open up to what seemed like Daylight. Jacked sprinted ahead…and only just managed to avoid plummeting to his death as the pipe suddenly ended at a drop into what seemed like infinity. Staggering to a stop, arms waving for balance, Jack felt his stomach twist into knots as he beheld the chasm of steel and light below.
"Holy crap." He said almost breathlessly. "Yeah, that would have…sucked?" Taking his gaze from the sight below, Jack felt his eyes grow wide at what resided above.
Stretched out as far as his sight could comprehend was a vast, Megalithic Metropolis. Spires of glimmering Steel and Crystal, sprawling concourses of living light, a veritable ocean of complex transparent moving networks of energy the likes of which his mind could have never imagined. Jack tried to process what his eyes could see and felt overwhelmed.
Somewhere, in his memory, he recalled quiet moments, where, enveloped in Arcee's embrace, he had listened to her tell stories of a time before the War, when she had lived in a place of such wonders no description she could offer could do it justice.
"You'd have to see it for yourself." She had told him, both joy and sorrow in her voice. Standing over a great, empty void, Jack beheld what she had wanted him to see.
"Cybertron."
…
It had taken Jack nearly a full half hour to recover from his discovery. Even now, having worked through a series of pipes and make-shift crawl spaces along the wall of the chasm, leaving the massive, though defunct, Energon conduit behind, he could scarcely wrap his head around the realization that he was on Cybertron. From the lack of devastation he also quickly surmised that it was sometime before The Fall, though how much before he could not even begin to guess.
After more then an hour of meandering like a mouse in a maze, Jack at last stumbled upon one of the transparent glass tubes that appeared to serve as a kind of transit system. Though the one he found himself slinking cautiously down did not appear to be in operation, he had glimpsed others snaking through the Cybertronian city, a steady stream of vehicle shifted figures speeding through them.
Every moment Jack felt he was beginning to gain a grasp on the situation he would look up to see yet another technological marvel rising high above or streaking through the heavens. Arcee and the other Autobots had given both Jack and their other human friends mere glimpses into the world from whence they had came, but only now that he could set his own eyes upon it did Jack begin to comprehend the gravity of what they had lost and why Optimus was so fiercely determined to not see a distant history repeat itself on Earth.
The Transit-Tube took almost another hour to cross before it, at last, emptied out into the city proper. For the first time Jack felt his awe become replaced by dread. Though the circumstances of his being there were not entirely clear he was aware of one particular fact, namely that Humans where not known on Cybertron. To it's people, he would be as Alien as little green men. The consequences of him being discovered was not something he was anxious to test, not unless he was unable to locate Arcee.
"How do I find her?" Jack inquired aloud, realizing he had not given that aspect of his mission much thought. When he had made the choice to enter into the link to seek out Arcee and remain by her side he had assumed that, somehow, it would be an easy enough thing to locate his partner once he awoke within Coatzin's memories. However, awaking in the conduit, he had found no trace of Arcee. If she had arrived in the same place she had quickly departed it, leaving no trace. For all Jack knew she wasn't even within the City.
"No. Can't think that." Jack berated himself heatedly. "She's here. I know she is. Think, Jack. Remember what she told you about Home. Where would she go if she was back here?"
Before he could figure that out, Jack knew he would have to learn in which of Cybertron's many cities he currently resided. While Iacon was the Capitol City State, there were many other sprawls across the surface of the cybernetic world. Places with names like Kalis and Tarn. Given the epic grandeur of the city rising above him, Jack hoped he was in Iacon, though it's incredible width and breadth would not exactly aid him in locating one Cybertronian woman among many.
Following the Transit-Tube's exit ramp Jack found himself before one of the massive concourses that dotted the cityscape. Across from the ramp, past a broad neon lit thoroughfare, Jack caught site of the first unfamiliar Cybertronians he had seen, moving through what resembled a park back on Earth, though a decidedly mechanical one. Though they bore some physical similarities to the likes of Arcee, Bumblebee and even the giant Bulkhead, the cybernetic citizens of the unknown city were somewhat sleeker in appearance, seeming slightly less mechanical in nature. Almost organic.
Jack wondered if their native anatomy had to do with the lack of Human influences. The Autobots, even the Decepticons, had scanned human cars, jets and the like to blend in when in their respective vehicle modes. The augmentation to their bodies to accommodate the new Transformations altered their bipedal appearance, something that was easy to notice when in their company.
Arcee had told him once that she rather liked her appearance, though it had taken some getting used to. When he had commented that he rather liked her appearance as well she had given him a coy smile, saying, "You better."
It was a strange thing, Jack mused somberly, to see so many of Arcee's people together, seemingly living lives free of a conflict they did not even possibly know was coming; a war that would tear their world asunder. But he knew he couldn't dwell on that. There was still the question of where he was.
Staying low, Jack spied the thoroughfare before him for any traffic. Seeing none, he moved quickly across, mindful of how exposed he was, the luminescent lights of the city giving his jeans and jacket a slight glow. Entering the park proper, Jack sought the nearest concealing spot he could, hunkered in the shadow of a massive Sculpture that was both physical and holographic. Had he not been so fearful of discovery, Jack might have been in awe at the beauty of the thing.
Hoping himself adequately concealed, Jack waited for those strolling through the park to walk past, hoping to overhear some snippet of conversation. It was only as he spied an impressive Vid-Screen in the near distance, reporting some event in the city, that Jack realized he had overlooked one rather significant inconvenience. Seeing the indecipherable Cybertronian script moving across the bottom of the screen, Jack realized he was on a world where no being had even heard of Humans, let alone any of the dialects spoken on Earth.
"Scrap. Nice move, Jack-Ass. No one speaks English on Cybertron." Belatedly, Jack smacked his palm to his brow. "Damn it. How the hell do I find out where I am?"
Both his frustration and desperation growing, Jack slumped against the backside of the sculpture, feeling nearly defeated and fearful that he would not only loose himself in the Technological city but that he would never find Arcee in time to aid her. Lost in his thoughts he almost missed the sound of a heavy metal foot coming down behind him, spinning about Jack saw an alloyed hand descending for him just in time to roll away, leaving the space he had previously occupied empty.
Damn, can't be locked up in some Cybertron Area 51! He thought as he ran, all attempts at concealment forgotten as he tried to evade his pursuer. Darting between various other sculptures and artificial flora Jack did his best to avoid blundering into the path of the Cybertronians moving through the park. His attempts seemed successful as none made a move to intercept him.
The park, however, proved even more immense then Jack had initially perceived, the size of it appearing on par to New York's Central Park. The only benefit he could see was that the park grew more dense with the cybernetic flora he had seen in his wake. If he was lucky, Jack believed he could loose whomever was after him. Wondering at that, Jack could spy through the bioluminescent foliage a tall sleek figure moving through the crowd towards him.
"Got to keep moving." Jack urged, moving deeper into the artificial woodscape. The shimmering neon flowers and other flora became more densely packed, making further progress difficult. While woodlands back on Earth might have been more pliant, the artificial constructs that rose before him seemed comprised of alloys that, while light, did not shift aside easily.
"Okay. This might pose a problem." Jack observed. "Think, think." Looking about, the teen tried to ascertain a solution. Not far behind him, the sound of heavy footfalls heralded the imminent arrival of his would-be captor.
"Must have figured I'd get stuck in here. Smart." Jack fumed. His pursuer drawing close, Jack tried to find some escape, pacing back and forth his feet suddenly rattled upon something. Looking down, Jack could feel his hope for escape quickly renewed. Set into the quasi-organic surface underfoot was a large ovoid hatch of some sort. While Jack could not read the script on it's surface, he was familiar enough with Cybertronian engineering to get the gist of how it could be opened. Running his hand along the surface, the teen found the latch points set into it.
Pulling them back, Jack was rewarded with an instant click, the massive plate sliding back to expose what appeared to be a maintenance tunnel running beneath the park. The opening, built to accommodate a Cybertronian of even ample size, did not pose a problem, however the long drop into the tunnel did. For a being of Optimus's height the drop would be nothing, however, for Jack, the fall would likely end with a broken ankle.
"Great. There goes that plan." Jack's eyebrows suddenly rose. "Unless…"
Wasting no time, Jack moved, rolling into the artificial undergrowth, leaving the hatch open. Trying to nearly still his breathing, he waited. In moments, his Cybertronian assailant slipped into view, though from Jack's perspective beneath the glowing flora he could not discern clearly any physical details. The tall figure moved almost instantly to the Hatch, peering down into it's depths. After a moment, the Cybertronian gave the area one last look before dropping into the tunnel below.
"Eureka." Jack exclaimed silently. Rolling out from cover, Jack rushed to the Hatch, pushing the latches back into place. Immediately the hatch slid closed, leaving his pursuer no point of easy return. "Piece of Cake." He said proudly. His pursuit now at an end, Jack tried to retrace his steps back towards the Park proper.
If I stay low and work back around I might be able to hear something to help find… Something heavy struck him on the back, sending Jack spilling to the ground. Dazed, he tried to get to his feet, hoping to make for the open once more but a great metal weight suddenly atop his legs kept that idea from moving forward.
"Ugh! Get off me!" Jack growled, trying in vein to dislodge himself.
"You're not in a position to demand anything." Came a slightly metallic female voice from above.
"Who do you…!" Jack paused, realizing he had, in fact, heard what he thought he had heard. "Wait, I can understand you."
"Good. That'll make your interrogation a lot easier." The voice said. "Now. Stay still or I'll really put a hurt on you."
Doing as instructed, Jack ceased moving.
"Control, this is Patrol Unit CT-6305, I have unknown sentient in custody. Returning."
"Confirmed, Echo. We'll notify Central Security. They'll be interested in this, to say the least."
"Wait. You can't take in me. I'm not…whatever you think I am." Jack pleaded.
"I don't know what you are, that's the point. But if you aren't dangerous, maybe you shouldn't have been hiding like robo-rat in the shadows. Seemed like you weren't exactly keen on introducing yourself."
"There's a reason for that. I'm not…I'm not supposed to be here."
"We can both agree on that." The female said in a huff. "No, on your feet. And don't even think of running or, by the All-Spark, I'll lay you flat."
"You're making a mistake, I have to find…"
"Quiet!" The female sighed. "Figures. First day in Iacon and I get involved in some Planetary Security nightmare waiting to happen…"
"Iacon?" Jack asked, jumping at the recognition. Turning about he still couldn't see in the low light of the glowing flora the face of his captor. "I'm in Iacon? Do you know someone named…"
"I said quiet, or I'll take your voice off line!" the female growled. "Now walk."
Newly frustrated, Jack could do little else but follow instructions, walking out from the growth slowly.
The Cybertronian Security Officer continued to mumble to herself.
"Can't wait to log this report to Central. Primus help me." She murmured. "Wait till Wheeljack hears about this…"
Stepping out into the park proper, Jack almost stumbled at the familiar name. Turning about once more, risking his captor's ire further, Jack watched the security officer step out into the clear light.
"Did you say Wheel…?" Jack's words caught in his throat. "No way..."
Gazing down at him, Arcee's eyes narrowed. Without another word, she shot him.
To Be Continued…
