It had been two months since the battle against Unicron. It had been two months since Optimus journeyed to the core of the earth to use the energies of the Matrix of Leadership to put Unicron back to sleep. It had been two months since Optimus fell, and Orion reawakened to take his place.
"I still don't get it," said Fowler.
"Agent Fowler, you really know how to try my patience. When Optimus surrendered the energies of the matrix, he lost more than the collective wisdom of the primes, he lost himself as well."
"Now I'm lost," said Arcee. "Optimus knew how Megatron is."
"But they were like old buddies or something," said Bulkhead.
"True," said Ironhide, "And that begs the question why."
"Perhaps," said Ratchet, "But if Optimus didn't know his name…"
"What?" asked Bulkhead. "What is going on?"
"He's reverted back to his pre-prime state. From before he was bestowed with the title of Prime," said Ironhide.
"What does that mean?" asked Miko.
"Explain," said Fowler.
"He's no longer Optimus Prime, but Orion Pax, the Iacon Archivist," said Ratchet.
"Come again," said Miko.
"With the power of the matrix no longer in his mind, it would be reasonable to guess that he has reverted back to pre-prime state."
"So," said Fowler, "You're telling me that Prime thinks that he is some kind of Librarian? And a 'Con?"
"He isn't a Decepticon," growled Sunset, transforming into Lightningstrike Prime.
"Being a Decepticon is a choice," said Ratchet, "One I have a hard time believing that Optimus would make at any point in his life."
"But he isn't Optimus," murmured Arcee. "Not anymore."
"But if he's riding with the Decepticons," said Bulkhead.
"It's because Megatron is messing with his head," said Ironhide.
"You mean, it is just his mind that thinks he is Orion Pax?"
"Yes, He may think he is Orion Pax in here," said Ironheart, pointing his helm, then touching his spark, "But he is still Optimus in here."
"Well said," said Ratchet, complimenting his fellow medic.
"We must locate him to be sure, though," said Lightwave.
"Agreed," said Bumblebee.
"Hold up!" yelled Fowler, "I have a chip lodged in my behind that lets Uncle Sam know when I stop for Donuts. Are you telling me that you can't track Prime?"
"Optimus' signal hasn't reappeared since he left for Unicron. But we must get to work finding him if we have any hope of initiating his contingency plan."
"Contingency plan?" asked Ironhide.
"I never heard anything about this," said Arcee.
"What is it?" asked Bulkhead.
"The keycard," realized Jack, holding up the glowing blue/white key, "What does it do?"
"It grants access to Vector Sigma, the repository of the wisdom of the Primes," replied Ratchet, solemnly.
"Is it like some sort of Super Computer?" asked Raf.
"So, we could just download Optimus' memory back into him? Great. Which one is Big V? Over here? Over there? In the back?"
"Vector Sigma is more than just a super computer. It is a source of ancient mystical power…on Cybertron."
"I guess we have no choice. We have to get Optimus' memories back," said Jack.
"JACKSON DARBY! You are not going to another planet!" yelled June, pointing her finger at my face.
"I'm in," said Miko.
"No. Not when one of you can," said June, looking pointedly at the remaining autobots.
"June's right. Why send a boy to do a bot's job?" asked Fowler
"I'll do it," said Ironhide. Ratchet silenced him with a glare.
"What? If June isn't going to allow Jack to go, then he isn't going. I lived for 16 years as her brother. I know how she is. If she doesn't want Jack to do it, there's no way in hell he's going to be able to do it. Well, except that one time at the carnival…"
"Mark, shut up," said June.
"Yes, sis," said Ironhide, grinning at June.
"Because only a Prime can access Vector Sigma. Or one chosen by a Prime. Optimus gave the key card to Jack. It is now imprinted with his unique bio-signature."
"And because we have no other choice," said Sunset.
"Mom, Optimus is like a father to me. I have to do this. Like Sunset said, there's no other choice."
"So you mean Jack is like some kind of honorary prime?" asked Miko.
"But I am no Prime," thought Jack.
"Not yet," said Orionsson. "But you have not found me yet. Find me, and all things shall be clear."
"Let's just say Jack is the only who can return Optimus to the Autobot we knew," said Ironheart.
"But why would Optimus willingly endanger a human, a child?" asked June in fear. "He's just a kid!"
"A…kid? Come on mom! I'm not a child anymore," protested Jack.
"Maybe there's more to Jack than meets the eye," said Arcee, "And Optimus saw that within Jack."
"All of which is moot. The key card is useless without a means of reaching Cybertron," said Ratchet. "Which we at present…do not possess."
"Dude, what about that?" asked Miko, pointing to the ground bridge.
"Miko, that barely got them into Earth's orbit, remember?"
"Yeah, but Ratchet built it. Can't he turbo charge the thing?" The medic was about to deny it, before a light of interest showed itself in Ratchet's optics.
|A few days later|
Jack was currently working, but right now, his mind was very far from it. All Jack could think about was Optimus. Since Optimus had gone missing, Jack had taken to always wearing the keycard around his neck be threading a chain through one of it's cracks. Jack looked at his watch and saw that he only had two minutes left. Someone handed him a paper sack, and Jack handed it to the person waiting in the car outside. "Two body slam specials, enjoy," said Jack, giving to paper sacks containing fast food. The car peeled out of the driveway, revealing Sierra, a girl from Jack's class at school.
"Hey Jack," said Sierra, smiling.
"Sierra."
"How come I never see you around?"
"What are you talking about? We have chemistry together. I mean chemistry class," said Jack.
"I mean outside of school," said Sierra, putting her hand behind her head, "I never see you at any parties or the mall."
"Well," said Jack, "I don't really have any friends outside of Raf and Miko to make me want to go to parties. And my family doesn't have enough money to just go buy things from the mall. Despite my mom being a leading doctor, she doesn't get paid much, and even with my job and my Uncle's job, we barely make enough to stay out of debt."
"Oh. So that's why you're always working or studying," said Sierra.
"Yeah. I need to save money so that I can go to college," said Jack. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Arcee park herself in the parking lot. "But I can give you a ride home if you want?"
"Thanks, but my mom's here. But we should talk more. See ya, Jack!" Sierra ran off waving, while Jack went and signed out, as his shift had just ended.
"Hey Arcee. Any sign of Optimus?" asked Jack as they rode back to base.
"Not today," replied Arcee, downtrodden.
"Not yet," countered Jack, his voice strong, as he gripped onto the key that was underneath his shirt. "He will be found."
"Yes. Anyways, let's go. Your shift is over." Jack nodded and left his hat and apron in the locker that was assigned to him to keep all the clothes that he was required to wear during work hours.
"See ya, Tom," said Jack to the store manager.
"Bye Jack. See you tomorrow," said the manager as Jack walked out with his motorcycle helmet in hand. Jack put on the helmet and climbed onto the motorcycle, before he and Arcee drove off.
|At Base|
Beep. Bing. Bong. Raf kept hearing different noises from the ground bridge, so he went over to check it out. What he saw surprised him.
"Ratchet? Are you turbo charging the ground bridge?"
"Tinkering. No need to get anyone's hope up yet."
|1 hour later|
"Ratchet? Are you there? This is an emergency, yelled Fowler over the intercom.
"Agent Fowler. Is it Optimus?"
"It's the 'Cons. And they're busting into the same research facility that they hit two months ago.
"What for?" asked Bumblebee.
"Another space bridge?" suggested Bulkhead.
"For all we know, Optimus is riding with them."
"Roll out," said Ratchet.
"Wait," said Sunset. "Fowler, get the humans out of there, now! Optimus wouldn't allow any human causalities, and neither will I." Sunset grew into Lightningstrike Prime. She had thin, but not too thin legs and arms, wings and a European style Claymore attached to her back. She also activated her facemask. "Now, let's roll out!" Sunset, ran through the ground bridge, followed by Lightwave, Bumblebee, and Bulkhead. When they got there Knock Out and Breakdown were leaving the premises with the power supply.
"Drop it!" yelled Lightningstrike, her servos transforming into blasters and firing at Breakdown as she ran at them. But she was stopped by air fire. Suddenly, a ground bridge opened. Breakdown ran through it.
"Don't worry," said Knockout, "We'll tell the Big-O, you said hello." Knockout then ran through the ground bridge, Arcee, close behind.
|Nemesis Warship|
Arcee exited the ground bridge, her wheel scraping against out of Knock Out's shoulders, before she continued on through the warship.
"Scrap," muttered Knock Out. Arcee continued through the warship, destroying any Decepticon that crossed paths with her. From blaster bolts to the head, to slamming them against the walls, Arcee demolished them like an enraged demon.
"Where is Optimus?" asked Arcee continuously when she found a Decepticon that had survived her onslaught. However, her journey to find Optimus was closed to a halt when she encountered Soundwave, who swiftly ground bridged her to a desolate place in the artic. "What the? NOOOOOOOO!" yelled Arcee,
|Back at Base|
"You weren't able to confirm the Decepticon warship location or if Optimus was even aboard ship?"
"I…couldn't confirm," replied Arcee, her head bowed.
"ARRGH!" yelled Bulkhead, slamming his fist onto a tool.
"Bulkhead I-"
"Needed that?" yelled Bulkhead, "The only thing I need is our Head Honcho back!"
"Bulkhead, simmer down," yelled Sunset, "Or I'll make you."
"You'll make me!" yelled Bulkhead.
"Calm down, you too," said Ironhide. "Bulkhead, we need all the materials we can get. We don't need you needlessly destroying them, got it? And for now, Sunset is in charge, so listen to her."
"It's not your fault," said Jack, trying to comfort his partner.
"If any one of us needed rescuing, Optimus would have found a way. I didn't. Simple as that."
"Well, what would Optimus do in this situation?" asked Bumblebee.
"We don't actually know because he's not here!" yelled Bulkhead.
"You're pretty good at stating the obvious, Bulk. Anything else you want to mention that we already know?" asked Arcee standing up to try and quell Bulkhead's rage.
"Nothing I can say in front of the children."
"Will all stop arguing like petty children?" asked a voice. Everyone looked at Sunset, who walked into the room. "Dad is out there with his life on the line, and you want to argue? Besides, at the moment he's not going to come willingly."
"And why is that?" asked Bulkhead.
"Because we're the villains. He's been brainwashed," said Sunset.
"How do you know that?" asked Arcee.
"Snuck aboard with Arcee."
"Whoa, aren't we forgetting the one positive thing? Nobody is talking about what did we just let the 'Cons get their claws on," said Jack.
"A power source for their space bridge," said Ironheart.
"And how would that be a positive?" asked Arcee. Sunset too looked like she had no idea how that could ever be a positive.
"We let them finish building their space bridge," said Jack, making Miko and Raf widen their eyes.
"Why? So they can bring more zombies back from Cybertron?" asked Bulkhead.
"No, so we can commandeer it," said Susnet.
"And use it to send me to Cybertron," competed Jack.
"Whoa," said Miko, "That's actually not a bad idea."
"Well, if Miko thinks it's a good idea," retorted Arcee.
"Nobody is saying it is going to be easy," said Jack, his eyes flashing a cerulean blue, "But you've seized a space bridge before."
"We blew one up," corrected Bulkhead, "That's a whole lot different that the six of us seizing and holding one."
"Where is it?"
"Bumblebee makes a good point," said Lightwave, "We don't even know where it is."
"Uh, hello! If it's a space bridge, isn't it?" asked Miko, while pointing up towards space.
"The term space refers to its transport range, not its physical location. And we've been earth orbit since the last one. We'd know if it were there," cried an exasperated Ratchet/
"So the bridge could be here somewhere on earth," said Jack.
"Like trying to find a servo in a scrap yard," muttered Bulkhead.
"Then maybe we should start looking," said Arcee.
"But the fact remains, we don't know what the Decepticons have in store for Optimus, or if he's truly safe upon their warship," said Ratchet, ominously.
