Arcee, Jack and Esther arrived in the KO Burger parking lot mere minutes before Jack's shift. They'd have been there sooner, but Arcee had had to argue with Esther for about half an hour before she agreed to babysit Jack again. Jack had been arguing for the same amount of time that he didn't need anyone to babysit him.
"Now this time," said Arcee before she drove off and left them to their time in Monotonyville, "actually stay here . It doesn't count as babysitting if you're dragging Jack into trouble with you."
Then she drove off, her hologram flickering to life.
"Still don't need a babysitter!" Jack called after her.
"Oh, give it up, Jack," growled Esther before dragging him inside.
Esther was starting to hate whenever Arcee went on missions. It always meant she was on official after school babysitting duty, and it wasn't even like any of these missions were to rescue Heather either. She was almost ready to give up hope of ever getting her sister back.
When Jack's shift ended, she was still in a foul mood thinking about everything that could be happening to Heather up on the Nemesis. Was she even still alive after two months? As the two of them walked out of the restaurant together, her musings were interrupted by the sudden appearance of Wheeljack.
"Hey, kiddos, get in," he said, throwing open both doors for them.
Esther needed no convincing, hopping straight into the driver's seat. Jack, on the other hand, seemed to be remembering the last time he'd gone somewhere with the two of them.
"Come on, Jack!" Esther called. "I can't watch you if you're not where I am. Besides, what else would you be doing right now?"
He looked like he was going to object, but then he seemed to think better of it.
"Fine," he sighed, climbing into the other side.
Wheeljack took off.
"So I picked up a signal today," he announced as they approached the edge of town.
Jack groaned.
Esther grinned, "Oooh… go on!"
"I think I've finally pinned down the Jackhammer's location."
Esther didn't need telling what this meant.
"We've found the ship…"
"You guys up for third time lucky?" Wheeljack asked them.
"Of course!" Esther agreed, as Jack shouted, "No way!"
"Optimus would be furious!" he said, when Esther glared at him.
"That's why we're going now," said Wheeljack, "when Prime's away on another scouting mission with Arcee."
"How long will they be gone?" Esther asked.
"From what I've heard," he told her, "Starscream's busy leading them on a wild goose chase around some European forest."
"Oh, so not long at all, then."
Wheeljack did the Autobot equivalent of a snort. He'd already told her about how Starscream had basically been a useless, insubordinate pain in Megatron's ass for eons, but yet until very recently had managed to hold on to the title of second in command.
"We'll be fine," he insisted. "We'll be back before they even know we're gone. Once we get the Jackhammer back we'll be home in no time."
"Let's do it." Esther liked the sound of 'third time lucky'. This time they'd find out where the Cons were hiding her sister, liberate her, and be home before dinner. Piece of cake.
This time, Wheeljack proposed a slightly more dangerous plan for getting onto the Nemesis. Since they couldn't rely on the ship coming near a convenient plateau that they could launch themselves off of again, it might be faster to ground bridge there. Unfortunately, since they were trying to hide their activities from Optimus and the rest of the Autobots, they couldn't use the ground bridge controls at the base. Instead, they decided to use one belonging to the Decepticons.
Wheeljack had been following the Jackhammer's signal all day, as it turned out. From what he could tell, it was headed for a Decepticon mining operation to the West. His theory was that the Cons would be ground bridging either personelle or supplies, and that the best way to get onto the ship would be to sneak through the portal between deliveries.
"I have a really bad feeling about this," said Jack, as they crouched behind a rock, waiting for their moment.
"Get in," said Wheeljack. "Our window's coming up soon."
He transformed back into a Lancia and popped open his doors. Esther climbed in, so did Jack a few seconds later. The second the Cons backs were turned, Wheeljack tore out from behind the rock and into the portal. They were through it before Esther even heard one of the Cons say, "Did you hear that?" and the other reply, "Nope."
They had made it through unspotted by the vehicons at the mine. The ones on the other side, however, weren't so lucky. Esther and Jack were ejected shortly after arrival as Wheeljack transformed and drew his swords. He'd sliced through the Decepticon holding the cargo manifest and the two standing guard nearby before any of them knew what hit them. Then the humans followed him out of the cargo bay doors and into the rest of the ship.
Searching the nearby rooms, they found the Jackhammer quickly. It looked like it was missing several important pieces, however, and a giant, red mad scientist-looking guy was bent over it, whistling while he worked.
"My baby!" Wheeljack growled. "What's he done to my baby?"
"Hey, hey, calm down, buddy," Jack said, waving his hands at Wheeljack.
The Autobot turned to the two humans. "We've found the Jackhammer. If you wanna get your sister, now's your chance. I'll distract everyone by ripping Knock Out to pieces. You have until I'm done."
Esther nodded and took off at a run.
Jack looked quickly from one to the other, as if wondering who it was a worse idea to stay with. Eventually he took off after Esther calling, "Hey! Wait!"
Esther took off through the halls, trying to search as quickly as possible.
When her tiny legs were no match for the giant decepticon ship, Esther eventually slowed down to a speed walk, breathing heavily. Jack, who'd somehow managed to catch up to her, breathed a deep sigh of relief. Seconds later, however, she was back on her assault, and he was scampering after her.
The further down the purple metal corridor they got the stomping of other beings became more prevalent. Just as they got close, Jack grabbed hold of Esther and dragged her into the guttering; running quickly and squeezing tightly into a small gap in the wall.
"Jack what the f-" Esther almost growled but was cut off by Jack slapping a hand over her mouth and putting a finger to his lips.
He pointed slightly to the hallway they had recently become a part of and she glanced out of their hole in the wall.
"Oh," came her muffled whisper from behind his slightly sweaty hand.
They were squished up against each other, trying to breath as lightly and quietly as possible while they waited for the armada of vehicons to pass through the corridor. Esther tried to get a look out from their hiding spot but was squashed in a too awkward position to get a good view. She was slightly worried about Jack - he seemed to be sweating quite a bit now and was having trouble controlling his breathing. Was he claustrophobic?
Jack shook his head suddenly and then leaned out past Esther into the corridor.
"They're gone," he said.
A second later, Jack shimmied out of the gap in the wall they'd been hiding in and stepped out into the guttering of the hallway. Esther was a step behind him but before they could discuss their next move, they heard the thundering of more footsteps coming their way.
Thinking quickly, Esther grabbed Jack and yanked him back into the gap in the wall. From this position, she was facing into the corridor while Jack was facing the wall behind her. She could just make out sharp, metal boots over Jack's shoulder.
"It's Bucket-hat," she breathed.
A few tense seconds later, Megatron had finally passed them.
"Do you think he's heading towards the fight or to Heather?" Esther asked as she shielded her younger companion with her body, back exposed to the world.
"Could be neither. Either way, we can't stay here any longer if we have any hope of finding your sister and getting out of here alive," he replied in a whisper.
"Let's follow him!" Esther hissed, darting out into the corridor and creeping after Megatron.
She thought she heard Jack let out some sort of strangled cry, but he quickly silenced himself rather than risk Megatron hearing them.
They followed the gigantic robot for a good hundred metres before they had to hide. A drone had almost crashed into his leader in his frantic run down an adjoining corridor. Luckily this caused enough of a distraction for the two of them to cram themselves into another alcove.
"What is going on on my ship?" Megatron growled at the drone.
"It's Wheeljack, sir!" he stammered back. "He's tearing through anyone who tries to get near the cargo bay!"
"Then I believe it's time I tore through him."
With the drone leading the bay, Megatron headed back towards the cargo bay.
"Crap!" whispered Esther. "We have to find Heather fast !"
"We don't have time!" said Jack. "Wheeljack's no match for Megatron. Against a hundred drones, sure, but Megatron is bad news , and he's not that far away. We have to get off the ship, now!"
"BUT WHAT ABOUT MY SISTER?" Esther screamed, starting to get a sense of deja vu. "Every time I come on this fucking ship I get so fucking close to finding her and then something ALWAYS goes wrong."
"Then maybe we should stop running off on vigilante missions and leave it to Optimus. Because there's another theme going on here and that's how every time we come on this ship because of you we almost die !"
Esther was still staring at Jack in shock when Megatron came back around the corner. With all of their yelling they had missed his approaching footsteps. That or they'd attracted his attention. Either way, Esther once again found herself staring into the eyes of the 30-foot Decepticon.
Steeling herself, Esther did the only thing she thought appropriate at the time.
"Where's my sister?" she yelled up at him, hands on her hips. "Where are you keeping Heather?"
Megatron seemed taken aback for a second, probably because a 5'3" human had just boldly confronted him. Then his eyes narrowed.
"I have no idea what you're talking about."
Then he turned and walked away.
"Why is he leaving? He's full of shit! Of course he knows where she is!"
"Who cares?" called Jack, grabbing her by the hand and dragging her down the corridor. "Run!"
"He knows something!"
Esther was hysterical, not paying any attention to anything else other than the look on Megatron's face. Why hadn't he killed them? Why had he just walked away when she mentioned Heather?
Jack continued to drag her down the corridor, ignoring her screeching. They ran down corridor after corridor and by the time they reached a familiar part of the ship their tiny lungs were burning.
"I'm going to kill him," Esther growled, leaning over her knees puffing. "He's keeping her here, I know it."
"I highly doubt you're capable of taking out a 30ft robot with daddy issues," Jack replied panting. "If you quit breaking onto the ship every five minutes, Optimus might actually be able to do something about it."
"He's doing nothing. I have to get her back, she's my sister."
"I know." Jack nodded, reaching out for her arm. "And we'll get her back, but right now we have to get off this ship before someone murders us."
She nodded and he dragged her off by her arm again, headed for where they'd left Wheeljack. Esther knew she'd be feeling it tomorrow, her joints already ached and her muscles burned under the strain of running for her life. They skidded in through the door of the cargo bay and dodged the swinging arm of the red decepticon.
"Hey, con!" Esther yelled up at the flamboyant, metal beast. "Do you know where my sister is?"
The con paused and peered down at her. "Sister?" She watched as the wheels literally turned in his head while he tried to figure out who she was talking about. Then a cruel smile spread across his metallic features. "Oh, you mean the little lab rat Lord Megatron gave me to experiment on! I'm afraid she… died in surgery."
"You LIAR!" she screamed up at him.
Just as she ran lunging towards the towering figure, Wheeljack reached out and his hand closed around her. She was yanked back towards him before she could do any damage. And she knew how to cause damage now. Wheeljack scooped Jack up off the floor in the same motion. He then got in a few blows on the red Decepticon, enough to let the three of them get into the Jackhammer and off the Nemesis.
Unfortunately, as Esther soon discovered, Megatron's armada featured more than just the regular Vehicons milling around the place. They'd barely cleared the ship before a flock of winged decepticons tore through the air after them.
"What the hell are those?" she screeched.
"Seekers," said Wheeljack, concentrating on flying.
Decepticons who could fly. Esther felt like this wasn't the best time to suddenly learn about their existence. Not when a whole armada of them had decided to blast holes in the ship the scooby gang were trying to escape in.
The Jackhammer shook each time they were hit. Every blast of energon jolted the two tiny humans about in their seats. Esther had learned to sit down and buckle herself in by now. During a particularly rough blast Jack was thrown from his seat and slid down the back of the ship.
Esther called out to him as he let out a cry and tumbled away.
"I'm okay," he called after a moment, finding a place to stabilize himself back there rather than risk climbing back up just yet.
"Are you sure you don't want me to help you back up here?" Esther called out to him.
He waved her off. "No, it's fi-"
Another energon blast rocked the Jackhammer. It ripped through the metal wall, leaving a gaping hole in the side. Esther was almost garotted by her seatbelt as the ship's computers began to scream out a warning. She didn't need it to know they were in trouble.
The Jackhammer was descending at an alarming rate, plummeting nose first towards the ground. The sirens were starting to make Esther go deaf. She covered her ears while she tried to think. At the same time, she watched Wheeljack diving between the controls, desperately trying to keep the ship in the air; or at least even her out as she fell.
"Tighten your seatbelts, kids," he said. "It's going to be a bumpy one."
Shit , Esther thought, suddenly remembering Jack.
She turned to the back of the ship and saw him lying near the hold unconscious.
"Jack!" she called.
The kid didn't answer.
Esther threw off her seatbelt and stumbled through the lurching spacecraft. When she reached Jack, she didn't bother trying to wake him, just dragged him to the cockpit inch by inch. Halfway there he woke up.
"Argh," he screamed. "It hurts!"
Paramedic training taking control of her instincts, Esther froze and scanned Jack's body. One side of his t-shirt had been burned away and an enormous wound was oozing blood and blue liquid.
Shit, she thought again. Energon burns.
"What are you doing back there?" Wheeljack shouted. "We're going down! Brace for impact!"
Ignoring Jack's protests, Esther threw him into his seat and buckled him in. She'd just managed to fasten her own belt when the Jackhammer made contact with the ground. They skidded across the dirt, passengers bouncing in their seats. Esther's stomach wanted to empty itself, but she held onto her lunch with sheer determination.
Jack wasn't so lucky. The impact had probably driven the belt into his open wound. Groaning in pain, he threw up all over the floor of the cockpit.
"Eurgh," said Esther.
When the ship was finally still again, she unfastened her seatbelt, jumped over the vomit and let Jack free of his seat. Then she lay him on a puke-free patch of floor and rummaged in a cupboard for her medical kit. Ratchet had started insisting there be human-friendly medical supplies on-hand at all times given the growing population of Earthlings in the base. This included the Jackhammer, too, apparently.
Esther skimmed through the bag's contents until she found what she was looking for. Unscrewing the lid from a bottle of white liquid, she upended it over Jack's ribs. He hissed in pain, but her quick and dirty remedy did its job, neutralising the acidic properties of energon.
Jack began to stir, now that his brain was no longer trying to black out from the pain. His nose wrinkled.
"Is that… milk?" he said.
"Yep," Esther confirmed. "Ratchet and I recently discovered it has the perfect pH to neutralise energon."
The rest of Jack's face screwed up, too. "But… why did you just happen to have some on hand?"
"I'm a big cookie fan," she said. "Never know when you'll need a snack break. Plus, like I said, it's for the energon burns. This bottle was from my medkit." She surveyed his wounds. "Although, by the looks of this you might need the one from my cookie supply as well."
Jack struggled to sit up. "Uh, no thanks. I think I can make it back to base like this."
Wheeljack poked his head in through the hole in the ship. Esther hadn't even noticed he'd left.
"We won't be making it back to base any time soon without help," he announced. "The ship's totaled, and we are nowhere near Jasper."
"Shit," said Jack.
Esther didn't have time to congratulate him on joining the world of grown up language. Her heart was too busy sinking in her chest. Sighing loudly, she turned on her earpiece.
Ratchet was furious. She'd never heard him use that kind of language before either.
"Okay, okay- Stop!" she said, trying to get a word in. "I know I messed up, okay? But Jack's hurt. He needs medical attention, quickly, and I don't have the supplies here to help him."
Ratchet let out his trademark sigh. "What's your location?"
Wheeljack took over the conversation while Esther did what she could to bandage Jack's wound and dose him up on painkillers. She didn't have much in her medkit, but it was better than nothing. Shortly after, Optimus arrived, complete with Arcee and Bulkhead. None of them looked happy to see the Jackhammer's shipwrecked crew.
Optimus had put off reprimanding Esther until she'd made sure Jack was in a stable condition in the base. Now, however, she was sitting in a chair at face height, getting the full-frontal experience of his disappointment. If he'd been angry it might have been easier.
"This time you not only risked your own life, but that of a child who was supposed to be under your care," Optimus said.
Esther was silent. She knew there was nothing she could say. She had fucked up. Big time. Not only did she not have Heather, Jack was injured and the Jackhammer was now totaled instead of just in Decepticon hands. They'd come out of this one at a loss, and a lot of it was because she hadn't been able to hold on to her emotions.
"You leave me with no choice, Esther," he told her. "As of today, you're on probation. Until I say otherwise, you are no longer allowed inside this base. You will remain at home and perform your job as normal, and Arcee will watch over you, but you will have no contact with any of the Autobots until your punishment has been lifted."
He was grounding her. And Arcee was her jailer. The sleek, female bot had been furious with her since they'd returned. It was obvious why - Jack was her partner, and Esther had not only almost handed him to the Decepticons, he'd gotten hurt on the return journey, all while Esther was supposed to have been babysitting him. This was really starting to get to be too much.
Esther answered Optimus with only a nod. She got up off the chair and grabbed her things from around the base. Then she stood waiting near the driveway. Arcee appeared shortly after to take her into exile.
I'll find you soon, Heather, she told herself. Just got to wait out the storm for now .