I do not own Transformers Prime or any characters it contains. I do, however, own this plot and any twists, turns and OC's it entails. Enjoy! ^_^
Chapter 7
Jack and Arcee stood outside a door with two guards, waiting to be let in to talk to the general.
"Man, my servos are started to get sore," Jack said as he reached down and started rubbing his knees.
"I know what you mean," Arcee said. "All this standing is started to get to me as well."
Jack walked over to a wall and leaned against it, wanting to take some of his weight off of his legs.
"Send them in."
Jack stood up straight as the door opened and Agent Fowler appeared.
"Come on in," he said.
Jack grasped Arcee's hand before walking into the office.
"General Bryce, I would like to introduce Jackson Darby and Arcee."
Jack watched as Agent Fowler closed the door.
"Okay, son, you can both drop 'em."
Jack nodded before looking at Arcee. They then both dropped their holograms at the same time.
"It's a pleasure to finally meet you, General Bryce," Jack said as his optics landed on the man in charge. "Agent Fowler has told us a lot about you."
"Good or bad?"
"Both," Jack said. "Mostly good but there were situations where you two didn't quite see eye-to-eye."
"Understandable," the general said. "So you are Jackson Darby, eh?"
Jack nodded.
"And this is the Autobot Arcee?"
Arcee nodded.
"May I ask why you two are so close, and holding hands?"
The two didn't say anything. Arcee just lifted her left hand and showed her ring to the man.
"Engaged," General Bryce said.
"Yes," Jack said. "Arcee has agreed to be my bride. And after we get married, we'll be starting our family."
"Adopting, I assume," General Bryce said.
"No," Arcee said. "I'll be having our children myself."
"You see," Jack stated, "we may be Cybertronians, but we do have the reproductive organs of humans."
"You mean to tell me you can reproduce?"
Jack pulled Arcee close as they both nodded.
"We need to study this," the general said.
"No," Jack and Arcee said together.
"We came here to train and that's all that's going to happen," Jack said.
"We will not let you poke and prod us until you're all satisfied," Arcee finished.
"I don't see that you have any choice in the matter," the general said.
Jack drew his blasters before pointing one at the man.
"I'm not human anymore and I'm willing to go any lengths to protect my family. If you think you can order me around, think again. I came here to train so I could help Optimus Prime. If this is how it's going to be, we'll work it out on our own."
Arcee nodded.
"And now if you'll excuse us, we must be returning to base," she said. She and Jack walked out of the room.
"Guards! Stop them!"
Jack and Arcee didn't stop as the guard walked toward them.
"Stop where you are!" one guard said as he raised his gun.
Jack grabbed the barrel and smashed the muzzle closed.
"Leave us alone," Jack said as he looked at Fowler. "I'll see you later, Agent Fowler." He then looked down the hall. "Ratchet, a bridge if you please."
A swirling vortex appeared down the hall.
"Goodbye, General. Maybe when you stop and think about who you want on your team will we come back to see about your offer. Until then, Jack and I are going to be out of contact with you and helping our family."
Arcee then led Jack into the portal where it closed as soon as they stepped through.
"Well done, General," Agent Fowler said. "You just threw away a great opportunity."
"I just wanted to do some tests."
Agent Fowler crossed his arms.
"With all due respect, sir, that was why they left. They came here to become covert operatives for the Autobots."
"But they said they would be having a family as soon as they were married."
Agent Fowler nodded.
"I heard. Arcee is going to be having their children."
"How did that boy become one of them? And how did Arcee become as small as him?"
"Jack explained that they swapped blood."
"What does that mean?"
Agent Fowler went on to lay out the details as best he could.
Jack and Arcee sat down on the stairs as soon as they got back to base.
"General Bryce wants to do tests on us."
Ratchet looked down at the two.
"What tests?" he asked.
"We told him about our reproductive ability. He then said that they needed to study it."
Jack looked up at Optimus.
"Looks like we're stuck here until we can get some training in."
"Not true, Jack," Optimus said. "We have found an Energon deposit thatwe needscouted. Follow Arcee's lead and you'll be fine."
Arcee smiled before looking at her future husband.
"Come on, hun. Let's get to work."
Jack smiled before looking at the ground bridge.
"Let's go."
They both took off at the portal when it came to life.
They both came out of the portal and took cover behind some trees.
"Keep your optics open and your guard up. We don't want the 'Cons to know we're here yet."
"Oh, it's too late for that."
Jack and Arcee whirled around and came face to face with Starscream and several Vehicons.
"Scrap," Jack and Arcee said together.
"Well, well, well. What do we have here? A miniature Arcee? And who is this new Autobot?"
"You really need to learn to shut up, 'Con," Jack said. "You just might live longer than the next few minutes."
"DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA WHO YOU'RE TALKING TO?!"
"Oh, the mighty Starscream, Lord of the Decepticons, Emperor of Destruction, a pain in the ass with a stick up his ass."
Starscream gave a frustrated yell before transforming his hand into a blaster.
"Too slow!" Jack said as he and Arcee both jumped up and took off for the mine.
"Get them!" Starscream yelled to the Vehicons.
The 'Cons transformed before racing off after Jack and Arcee.
"We've got to come up with a plan," Arcee said as she looked behind her.
"Stand and fight?"
Arcee thought for a moment before pulling her ring off and handing it to Jack again.
"Let's show these 'Cons we mean business," she said as she drew her blasters.
Jack shoved the ring into his pocket before drawing his own blasters.
"I'm with ya, Arcee!" Jack yelled as he started firing on the 'Cons.
Arcee smiled as she watched the love of her spark hit one of the 'Cons in the optic, offlining him.
"Next!" he yelled.
Arcee refocused her attention on the other Vehicons as they tried to get out of the way.
"You 'Cons are going down!" Arcee yelled as she and Jack stood shoulder to shoulder and kept taking out all the Vehicons that were foolish enough to get in the way.
After a moment more of fire, Jack and Arcee trained their blasters on the only remaining target. Starscream.
"You still think you can take us out?" Arcee asked as she trained her left blaster at Starscream's faceplate.
Starscream started backing up before he slammed into a wall.
"Arcee to base. We have a 'Con. Requesting instructions."
Jack shifted his right hand back and placed it on Arcee's shoulder.
"We read you, Arcee," Optimus said. "I'm on my way."
A swirl of green energy appeared directly next to Arcee and Jack. After a moment, Optimus stepped out.
"Starscream," he said.
"He thought he could ambush us," Jack said as he put his right arm around Arcee's waist, his left hand still trained on Starscream. "I'm proud of you, Arcee. You didn't seek revenge for what happened to Cliff."
"Killing him won't bring Cliff back. Besides," she leaned into his embrace, "I've found the perfect partner."
Optimus kept his optics on Starscream as he approached the 'Con.
"You've been beaten."
Starscream was whimpering as Optimus grabbed him by his wing.
"Let's go," Optimus said as he started dragging Starscream to the Ground Bridge. "I will expect you two returning shortly," Optimus said as he looked over his shoulder.
Arcee nodded before lowering her blasters.
Jack then pulled her ring from his pocket and placed it back on her left hand.
"Let's go, love," Jack said as he looked at Starscream with a taunting smile.
Arcee smiled the same smile as she accepted the ring.
"Right behind you, babe," she said.
With that, both turned and entered the mine, walking around the scrap heaps of the fallen Vehicons, their fingers laced together.
"Who is that Autobot?! How could they have cornered me?!"
Optimus didn't answer as he dragged Starscream through the Ground Bridge. When they were in the base, Optimus pushed Starscream onto a plate.
"Sweet dreams, Screamy," Bulkhead said as Starscream looked down.
"A Stasis Pod?!"
In an instant, he was frozen in place as he was as the pod encased him.
"That's quite a trophy," Ratchet said as he looked at the captured Starscream.
"Where do we stick him?" Bulkhead said.
"Just stick him some place we can't see him," Ratchet said.
With a grunt, and a hand from Wheeljack, Bulkhead carried the Stasis Pod to the back where they were storing the Iacon relics.
Jack and Arcee laughed as they looked around the cave, talking about old times and things that happened in school with Miko and Rafael.
"She really did that?"
Jack nodded as he tried to catch his breath.
"She just looked up at the teacher and smiled. I thought the teacher would have blown a gasket."
"What did the teacher say?"
"He said, 'Slash Monkey might be your favorite band, but must you really play it at full volume at lunch?' Needless to say, everyone was covering their ears. I don't think she even heard him."
Arcee was holding her waist as she walked, trying to stop laughing.
"Oh, Primus! I wish I could have seen that!"
Jack smiled as he finally stopped laughing.
"No you don't. I had a migraine from that for a day due to all the Slash Monkey. Believe me, I wish I could have smashed Slash Monkey after that day."
Arcee nodded.
"Okay. Enough laughs. Let's get on with our job."
Jack nodded.
They continued their way deeper into the cave.
"I don't see any Energon," Jack said.
Arcee looked up and smiled.
"Bingo!"
Jack looked up and smiled as well.
"Jackpot!" he cried before placing a finger on his temple. "Jack to base, we've hit the jackpot!"
Smokescreen was the only one to cheer.
"Let's get this mined!" Arcee said as she threw her arms around Jack's neck.
A vortex appeared and Optimus, Bulkhead, Ratchet, Wheeljack, and Smokescreen stepped through.
"Thanks for watching the Bridge, Raf," Jack said over his comlink.
"No problem, Jack," Rafael said.
"Jack, Arcee, you both can return to base. Wheeljack and Bulkhead can take over for defense now. If we need assistance, we will let you both know."
Jack smiled before walking to the vortex with Arcee's hand still in his.
"Oh, Jack."
Jack turned to look at Optimus.
"Your mother was wanting to talk to you. Something about planning for the big day?"
Jack sighed before looking at Arcee.
"Let's go, Cee," he said. "Otherwise my mother is going to go wild with the plans."
"What kind of plans is she talking about? Plans for a doomsday device?"
"Our wedding," Arcee said before walking through the Ground Bridge to the base.
"Wedding? They're getting married?" Wheeljack asked.
Everyone around him nodded.
Jack and Arcee arrived back at the Darby residence within an hour, thanks to their bike.
"Mom! We're home!"
June walked into the living room and embraced her son.
"Welcome home, honey."
Jack returned the embrace before noticing both General Bryce and Agent Fowler on the other side of the room with glasses of lemonade.
"Hello again, Agent Fowler," Jack said. "Would you mind telling me why that man is in my house?"
Jack held Arcee against his side, both glaring daggers at the general.
The general looked at the glass in his hand before looking at the two.
"I must apologize for my behavior. Your information caught me off guard."
Jack and Arcee didn't move. They just continued to glare at the man.
"I would like to extend an invitation for you to train with our best Covert Ops instructor. And I promise that no harm will come to you both. Nor will we try to run tests or experiments on you. You have my word."
Jack's grip on Arcee tightened.
"How can I trust you? Your first words after finding out about our reproductive abilities was 'we need to study this'," Jack said. "How can I be sure that you won't try it again?"
Agent Fowler stepped up.
"I made him see the light. He knows now that he's messing with lifeforms he's never messed with before."
General Bryce nodded before holding out his hand.
"My word is my bond. And if that isn't enough, I'll even give it to you in writing."
Jack looked at Arcee. She nodded before looking at the man.
"We'll keep you to your word. Something happens to either one of us, and we'll kick you aft from here to Cybertron," Arcee said.
General Bryce nodded.
"Fair enough."
Jack looked at Agent Fowler before slowly taking the general's hand.
"We're in," Jack said as he shook the man's hand. "But give us a day to get ready. I suspect we'll be staying at the base unless we're needed by the Bots, right?"
The general nodded again.
"I'll expect you at the base in forty-eight hours. You'll begin your training then."
Jack and Arcee nodded before walking away toward Jack's room.
"Oh, and General?"
The man looked at Jack.
"Arcee and I will be staying together," he said.
"You got it. Anything specific?"
"A strong bed," Arcee said.
Bryce nodded before handing the empty glass to June, bidding everyone goodbye, and walking out the door.
"I guess it's time for me to hit the road as well," Agent Fowler said. "Ms. Darby, always a pleasure."
June took Fowler's empty glass as well. She then walked him to the door. After taking the dishes to the kitchen, June walked to Jack's room.
"Jack?"
"Come on in, Mom," Jack said.
June opened the door to find Arcee leaning against Jack's chest while he was leaning against a wall. They had the TV on the floor and were in the starting credits of a movie.
"Come on, mister. Give me a hug before I go to bed."
Jack smiled before getting to his feet. He then helped Arcee to her feet before embracing his mother.
"I love you, Mom," Jack said.
June tightened her grip on her son.
"I love you, Jack."
Jack then pulled away and allowed Arcee to step forward. She then surprised June by embracing her as well.
"Goodnight, Mom," she said. "Thanks for being the mother I never had."
June smiled as she returned the embrace.
"Goodnight, Arcee. Sweet dreams."
Arcee nodded as she released her future mother-in-law.
June then walked out of the room and shut the door.
What an interesting visit, wouldn't you agree? ^_^
Next time, Jack and Arcee start basis training for Covert Ops.
Talon Earthstone
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