Hey everyone! I meant to have this out sooner, but the website was having issues and wouldn't let me submit it. Was anyone else having trouble with that? Anyway, some familiar faces in this chapter, for everyone who's patiently waited thus far for them!


As with the other chapters, bold text= Cybertronian

Chapter 7

"Jackson Darby, what do you think you're doing?!"

Jack winced, hand frozen at the door controls. He turned to find June standing in the darkened hallway with a blanket wrapped around her shoulders.

"Mom, I don't have time to explain," he began, "There's...there's something I have to do."

June's one good eye glinted an angry ice-blue as she moved to intercept her son. "Whatever it is, it will wait until morning. You are not going out after curfew on a full-moon night and that's final!"

She watched the boy tug at his raven hair, frustrated, and winced as he uncovered the mark behind his ear. June reached out to cover it again, but Jack caught her hand.

"Mom," he said gently, "I know this doesn't make sense right now, but I need to be out there. I need to see the Anta."

June shook her head adamantly. "Jack, I worry enough about you when you're following the rules, but this? I don't need Tulle and her guards to have a reason to raid our house, Jack. I've had a hard enough time keeping the archives out of her reach."

Her son blinked suddenly, catching on the unfamiliar term. "What archives?" he asked in a slightly suspicious voice.

June lifted her chin, and the lamplight shimmered on her faction symbol. "The black books in the chests in your room aren't stories, hon. They're the historical records of life before the Cataclysm, dating back to the beginnings of human civilization."

Jack stumbled back against the door, surprised and a little in awe. It was a prodigious collection of books, many quite antiquated. He'd almost been sure one of them was even a William Tyndale Bible, but he'd thought that impossible given the value and antiquity of such a book.

Given what he'd seen of Magistrate Tulle, Jack had little trouble imagining what might happen if the corrupt woman were to get her hands on the precious records.

"Where did they come from?" he asked softly. June tilted her head and stared at him strangely.

"How can you have forgotten? They were your father's, before he was killed. And your grandfather's before that."

Jack swallowed hard and looked down. "Mom, if everything goes the way it should tonight, it'll be a step towards preserving that history," he said carefully.

If he and the others found the Autobots, Raf had hypothesized that their proximity could bring about the timeline reset before things got out of hand. Or before the timeline settled and their previous way of life was erased completely. There was a danger of being caught, of course, but Jack wasn't afraid of humans.

For a moment, he fingered the amber bead in his pocket-the gift from Frederica. He had a feeling that there were people in Jasper willing to hide them from the guards, if it came to that.

"Mom," he said quietly, "They say the marks behind my ear make me a Speaker for the Anta. If that's what I am, then I have a duty to perform. I have to listen before I can speak, and to listen, I have to find the Raa Anta."

He squeezed his mother's hand, and she suddenly became aware of a desperation in his eyes, a certain fragility that she could not ignore.

"If they take you-" her voice cracked.

Jack smiled. "I can take care of myself, Mom. I'm not worried about Tulle."

Slowly, he released June's hand as she whispered, "I meant the Raa Anta, sweetheart. They're completely unlike you or I. Who's to say what they might do if you just approach one at random?"

She stepped back, shocked, as her son swung a rifle over his shoulder with a practiced ease and slid the door open. "They would never hurt a human," he declared firmly, "Never."

Jack blew his mother a kiss and melted into the night. His workboots were loud against the stone, but as he apparently owned no other shoes, there was nothing he could do to change that. There was only one patrol in his part of town, and there was a good chance that they would be preoccupied with the street behind his - which was home to a rather uncouth set of individuals, Granite being among them.

As he ran, a chill came over him very like it had in the Forest and he almost stopped.

"Does he remember?" someone whispered.

"It is just another human, F'ar," a second whisper answered, "Why do you continue to torture yourself every lunar renewal?"

Jack stopped and ducked around a corner, listening.

"Because they are ours, Alkare! We failed them once before: never again."

And then Jack knew the speaker. Carefully, he touched two fingers to the scars behind his ear, feeling for the place beneath the skin where his comm chip had settled itself. Would it react to thought? It was at least worth a try.

Miko! Raf! I found them...or maybe they found me? I'm not sure, but I'm half a mile from the meeting place.

Something rustled in the shadows. "Stop. What was that?" the one called Alkare hissed, jet black against the sky.

"You felt it too?" F'ar murmured, "A private comm frequency."

A smaller shape stepped out from behind Alkare. "They're close!" she cried jubilantly.

A message from Miko flooded Jack's awareness, disorienting him. It was not so much that he heard her voice or saw words in his mind, but he somehow knew exactly what she was saying.

On our way, Raf hurt his ankle. Keep them there five minutes.

Jack sent an affirmative and stepped out from the shelter of the house. A strangled sound escaped F'ar as he stepped into the light.

"...Jack?"

The boy rubbed the back of his neck and smiled weakly. "Hey, Partner. We were starting to wonder where you guys were!"

Alkare blinked and loomed over him with a severe look. "What is your designation, Lion's Child, and why do you speak so familiarly to F'ar?"

Jack swallowed hard and shifted back a step. "Um...I...it's a little hard to explain."

Alkare's eyes narrowed as he stooped to view the human. "It's a little hard to explain...sir." he growled. Right at this moment, a huffing, puffing Miko arrived, carrying Rafael on her back.

"Save it, Commander," she gasped bad-temperedly as she lowered Raf to the ground, "We've got Thoron Anta inbound."

Jack knelt beside the younger boy. "What happened, Raf?" he asked quietly.

Raf made a face. "I twisted it, that's all. It'll be fine by morning...but Miko knocked a guard unconscious."

The older boy gaped at her. "Primus, K'anis! What were you thinking?"

Above them, "Alkare" looked more and more discomfited.

"Where are the Thoron Anta now?" he asked sharply.

Miko pointed West. "They've got two Raptor Packs leading the way on foot, but from my sister's telescope I caught at least two Seekers coming in fast."

Jack loaded the rifle while still crouched. "Great. Just great. Figures we get attacked right when we find each other."

Above him, the familiar whirr of a weapon being equipped caught his attention and all three humans yelped and jumped out of Alkare's way as he stormed towards the gates.

"Alpha Trion's Beard!" Miko gasped, "Why didn't anyone tell me he had a Hyperflux Cannon? What'd he do, rip off Shockwave's arm to get it?"

Arcee smirked down at the girl. "Pretty much, yes. I think you'll find him a little more aggressive than you remember."

"And you're a little more...more than I remember!" Miko retorted, taking in the femme's appearance.

Armor that had been simple, blue and scratched was now more silver than anything else. Glyphs for fortitude and foresight were engraved on the edges of elegant swoops and curves of plating, giving her an air of almost barbaric splendor. She fit perfectly into the quasi-medieval feel of the village, and Miko could not shake the mental image of this Arcee leading troops into battle like an avenging goddess, a blade in one hand and a bird of prey upon the other.

"You look like Solus Prime!" Raf gasped in awe, and his glasses slipped down his nose a fraction.

Arcee laughed and ran her servos through his thick hair affectionately. "Why thank you!" With a wry smirk, she explained that the reformatting of the timeline had effected appearances as well as circumstances. "You ought to see the others!" she winked.

Then her smile faded. "Go home, all of you. Stay with your parents until this blows over." Equipping her own blasters, the femme moved to follow her companion.

"What? No! We just found you guys again, why would we leave?" Jack protested angrily.

"Jack, don't fight me on this," Arcee warned, "There are generations of protocol in place and I can't break them. We swore to protect Jasper: all of Jasper. I have to go."

Miko slammed a fist into her palm. "But we're a part of the team!" When Arcee did not respond right away, her face fell slightly. "...aren't we?"

The slim femme struggled with whether or not to say anything. It wasn't fair! Two years of searching and battle came the moment she found her partner? Arcee took that as proof that there was such a thing as the devil.

"Just...get back inside. Don't come out the the Forest alone: wait for us to come to you. Do you understand?" She met the angry silence with a glare of her own. "Do you understand?" she repeated. Jack's expression was unreadable as his inclined his head ever-so-slightly in acknowledgment.

Her optics softened and she sighed. "Please. I can't lose you again; I need to know you are safe while I'm out there fighting."

An explosion rocked the night and lit the sky a lurid orange. Jack took hold of Miko and Raf's hands and nodded to his partner. "Go. We'll be waiting."

Arcee's shoulder guards sagged in relief. "I'll bash some helms for you, Partner," she promised, "Hurry up and get out of sight before one of Tulle's patrols catches you! Call me paranoid, but there's something I don't trust about that woman."

With that, the Autobot—or rather, Raa Anta—disappeared over the palisade with a harsh war cry, adding to the confused sounds of combat.

Alkare stood at the north wall of the palisade, Hyperflux cannon aimed at the sky. "The girl was correct," he bit out sharply in their own tongue, "Two Seekers inbound. I downed one, the other turned back."

With a shake of her helm, "F'ar" drew two slim energon blades from her back and connected the handles. The two-sided weapon hummed through the air in spinning arcs as its wielder braced herself in a fighting crouch.

The Raptor Packs surged forward out of the trees, firing at guards, at the walls, but never at the Autobots. They had long since learned that the Raa Anta were the prey of none save perhaps Kerythcor or the Hakarmaskannar Anta. Arcee whipped her sword through the air almost too quickly to be seen, deflecting the larger missiles.

"Alkare, where are the others?" she shouted, barely catching a plasma grenade and hurling it back, "The Raptors have never been this determined before!"

Alkare swung a huge fist down, creating a shockwave that knocked most of the raiders off balance. "Iirt hunts with the Draug this night, do you not remember? He agreed to take your place so that you could search Jasper again."

His optics widened almost imperceptibly as a throaty roar shook the Forest. Everything stopped at once: the Sentries on the walltop trembled and raised their rifles to their shoulders as the Raptors raised a mighty cheer.

"Grendel! Grendel! Grendel!" they chanted.

"Not the gestalt!" Arcee groaned, switching back to English without realizing it. At her side, Alkare scowled and readied his guns.

"Ar is on his way," he murmured, "He will stop Grendel before he reaches the clearing."

F'ar nodded and grimaced. "We've got a while before the moon goes down," she clenched her denta. "This wall is not coming down with it." Suddenly, her internal comm hummed to life.

"F'ar, are you at the human settlement?" a younger voice piped over the link.

"Go ahead, Halya." she replied tersely.

The warrior sounded apologetic. "We're gonna be a little late. Tyaro and I just found the impetus of the attack."

Listening in on his own comm, Alkare interrupted unceremoniously. "Well, out with it, soldier!" The grim pronouncement froze both Autobots in their tracks.

"It's Kaivolkalma. He's the one who ordered the Grendel in as backup."

Arcee exchanged horrified glances with Ultra Magnus. "Kaivolkalma? But he never leaves the wastes unless..."

Alkare clenched his fists. "Unless Kerythcor is on the move."