Chapter Ten: Dreams that Dare Disaster
Arcee smiled at Jack as he told her that he would never let anything happen to her. Strangely, Jack was extremely tired that night and decided to turn in early because of it. On the way home from the base, Jack couldn't help but think of Megatron's latest weapon: The Sonic Disrupter. Jack always thought that even in war there were rules, unspoken, but rules nonetheless. I don't think Megatron cares about fighting with honor, Jack. Arcee told him in his mind with a sigh. "That's what worries me, Cee." Jack said mournfully. "Cheaters always win." He mumbled. Arcee looked up at him with an invisible glare from her alt mode. "We will win, Jack," she said confidently. "Figuring out how to beat him will be difficult, but we will find a way." She said with the hint of a smile in her voice as they pulled into the garage. "Good night, Arcee." Jack said with a smile before he went up to his room
As Jack drifted off to sleep, he hoped to see his dad again, but what he got was something much stranger. In the dream realm, Jack found himself on a ship of some sort. The walls were covered in organic sludge. Pale light lit the room he was in dimly. As he took in his surroundings, Jack noticed something familiar but, at the same time, strange about the craft. Its walls were Decepticon grey for the majority of the color. The rest was a mix of sickly yellow and florescent purple than lined the corridors and ceilings in a strange organic material that seemed to be all over the ship, as if The Nemesis was infected by an organic plague. As Jack walked down the hallways, his blasters hummed to life in preparation for a fight.
Jack froze when he suddenly heard movement and pressed his body against the wall in an effort not to be seen. As Jack looked around the corner to see what was moving, he gasped. It was a giant flea! The thing was at least ten foot tall and was accompanied by a small army of what reminded Jack of dirty cotton balls with spider legs. Jack glared at the monsters and jumped from cover "Eat Energon!" He growled at them with a glare as his blasters ripped into the evil cotton balls. Right as Jack thought he was winning; the flea-like creature exploded and released more cotton balls and miniature Vehicons that were mangled and walked like zombies. Jack shrugged and just kept firing until nothing moved.
As Jack was walking away from the firefight, Jack hit his knees and saw a hologram of Arcee. She was whimpering as if she was crying but her face had this lunatic smile on it that would make The Joker bolt in terror as the hologram rocked back and forth before leaving his sight. Jack glared at the beasts coming at him. These were sharper and more angular in design. As they saw Jack, they transformed and started shooting at him. Jack just sighed in annoyance and blew through the monsters with a glare. He didn't have time for this. Arcee was in trouble and she needed him. Nothing was going to stop Jack from getting to her.
As Jack butchered wave after wave of these creatures, his anger kept rising. It would get so high that during the "hologram episodes", Jack was surprised he didn't wake up. Sometime later, Jack's sight rumbled as a voice growled at him. "Come get your precious Arcee, little soldier." Jack glared at the semi-organic mass that invaded his mind. "Megatron, you will die for this!" Jack growled as he ran across the ship and slaughtered infected left and right until he came to a massive door that could have only led to Megatron. Jack steeled himself for what he might find and entered. The…Thing Jack saw on the other side made his stomach turn. "Megatron" wasn't Megatron but a seemingly completely organic mass. The creature only vaguely resembled Megatron's body shape but was twisted and horribly misshapen. "Claim your prize, little soldier," it mocked before it batted him across the room with a sneer. The monster then extended a tentacle which had Arcee in its grip. "Jack," Arcee managed, though her voice was very faint. "Go!" Arcee pleaded weakly. Jack then noticed the right upper quadrant of the femme's face. It was masked by a dark yellow blotch that seemed to be growing as the mass fed on her. Jack took careful aim, but when he fired at the monster growing from Arcee's faceplate, she flinched and screamed like a cornered animal. "She is nothing but an animal. Leave, human. Your Love is nothing but a shell." The monster growled as it laughed at Jack.
As that monstrous voice echoed in Jack's mind, he shot awake as sweat beaded down his body. Terrified, he called out to Arcee through their link. She answered with an action that sounded as if she was heaving down breath. Jack…what was that horrible thing?! "My fear…" He responded aloud as he started to get ready for the day in an attempt to get his mind off the horrid nightmare. He was walking down to the garage when Jack finally checked the time in on his internal clock. 0330. Jack thought to himself as a glare formed on his face. Then, he got an idea. As he walked out to the garage, Jack snuck into June's room, took her Groundbridge controller, and left a note. "Time to end this." Jack growled to himself as he walked out to the garage to see Arcee staring at him in anger. "Do you know how stupid and slagging insane you are?!" She asked as she glared harder at him. Jack glared back at her. "This war is slowly killing you and the other Bots." Jack told her as his voice shook with a whirlwind of emotion. "It's time someone took the head of this snake."
He was about to get into his alt mode, activate his mom's Groundbridge controller, and drive into the mouth of The Pit alone when Arcee parked herself behind him. "Where do you think you're going?" She asked with a slight irritation in her voice. Jack sighed. "I was-" Arcee transformed. "I still out rank you." She said with a sly grin. "Either I go with you, or you don't go. Understand, Trickshot?" She asked as her expression became serious. Jack nodded from inside his alt mode. "Let's do this!" Jack growled as he opened a Groundbridge to The Nemesis.
As they stepped through the Groundbridge to the other side, Jack was instantly on edge because it was the same exact area where the nightmare started, minus the organic goop on the walls. "Now, let's get moving!" Trickshot growled. "Keep your head on." Arcee said calmly. Trickshot kept himself under control but grinned when he noticed a camera and fired something at it with an audible *pop!* Trickshot smiled as he saw the camera go down for a split second before it came back up. Nice job, 'Shot. Arcee thought sarcastically as she shook her head at the seemingly pointless action. Trickshot smiled. "Raf rigged it up. It feeds a worm into the system that puts all the cameras connected to the system on a loop." Trickshot explained as they slipped past the cameras. "Thank you, Raf." Arcee said with a relieved smile.
Up in the Communications Hub of the ship, Soundwave sat in front of the monitors and saw something hit a camera just before the ship's entire system reset. Strange… The Mech thought as he got up and went to investigate. The Mech was startled when he saw two Autobots on the ship headed straight for him. Arcee noticed Soundwave and started blasting him. Soundwave charged her and started spinning. His blades overpowered Arcee's guard stance and threw her into the far bulkhead as Trickshot tackled The Communications Specialist. They went down and tumbled in a mass of spinning metal. Trickshot took advantage the glaring weakness in Soundwave's visor and tried to send his servo straight through the visor. Soundwave's head bounced off the metal floor from the force of Trickshot's punch, which turned the visor white with cracks. As Trickshot got off a now blind Soundwave, Arcee laid into The Silent Mech with a barrage of blaster fire. "Let's go, Trickshot." Arcee urged as they pressed on through floods of Vehicon drones summoned by Soundwave to aid the fallen warrior.
"Well, that cut down on possible hostile contact through the rest of the ship." Trickshot said calmly with a smile on his faceplate as Arcee just shook her head at him with a sigh and a small smile as she looked at her Sparkmate and leaned over him. Jack/Trickshot wasn't prepared for what happened next. His chest and the suit's hatch opened to reveal a glow that overshadowed his heart. Arcee blinked in shock at the blue pulsing sphere in Jack's chest. "Jack…your Spark It's so beautiful!" She told him with a smile. As Jack and Arcee kissed, both felt their Sparks merge before retreating back into their respective bodies and resealing themselves safely inside. "What was that?!" Trickshot managed as he stood up. Arcee smiled. "Our bodies and Sparks have bonded. We are now truly Sparkmates." She said with a smile.
Blaster fire returned Arcee to the mission at hand. She turned to see Cons surrounding them. Trickshot engaged his blasters while Arcee fought with her blades. After they turned the ambush party to a scrapheap, together Arcee and Trickshot marched into Megatron's throne room. The warlord was beyond shocked to see a femme and the hybrid mongrel glaring back at him. Instead of waiting time in a pointless superiority speech, the Leader of the Decepticons grinned and laughed as he readied his enhanced cannon. Trickshot tackled Megatron to the floor and ripped away Megatron's arm cannon as the latter screamed in a mix of rage and agony. Before Megatron could recover his lost weapon, Arcee blasted it to smithereens. "That was for my Dad." Jack growled. In a fit of rage, Megatron jumped Arcee. At seeing this, Trickshot gripped Megatron by his shoulder plates and threw the bewildered Former Gladiator of the Pits of Kaon into the wall so violently the ship shook.
As Jack caught his breath, Arcee called in. "Ratchet, we need a Bridge." In response, a vortex opened. Once they set peds back on base, Arcee and Trickshot faced June's burning glare. "WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN?! JACKSON DARBY, SO HELP ME-" Jack sighed, jumped out of the suit, and hugged June in hopes that it would at least curb the woman's wrath. "I couldn't sleep, so we decided to take out Megatron's weapon." June gasped and glared at her son. "That cannon's on his arm." Jack kissed his mother's cheek in an attempt to sooth his mother's anger. "…and we succeeded, Mo- June.' Arcee was relieved that she caught herself. She would have to remember to watch out for that until they told June everything.
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