Chapter Eleven: Secrets and Suspicions
As Jack looked up at Arcee, his mother got a sneaking suspicion that more happened on the ship than was alleged by her son. June never had a reason to distrust her son, but with his newfound freedom as a part-time Bot, she was worried. For now, she put those thoughts in the back of her mind and concentrated on her son. Jack was no longer a boy she could coddle; June knew that much, but something about this didn't seem right to her. From what Hammerclaw had told her of Megatron, the fight between he, Arcee, and her son seemed too easy. She was broken from her thoughts by Arcee. "June," the two-wheeler said. "Once Jack and I destroyed Megatron's cannon, we called a Bridge." Jack walked up and smiled at his mother comfortingly. "We didn't give Buckethead time to attack us, Mom." June nodded and started toward her car. "I'll have supper waiting when you get home." June said with a smile before she drove away.
Arcee looked down at Jack and sighed. "You know you just lied to Mom out of your aft." Arcee said with mild aggravation. Jack could see the question in Arcee's voice as she said that. "I did it to keep her from freaking out, Arcee," he told her. "After what happened to Dad, I don't want her to worry about losing me too." Arcee shook her head at that as they walked to her quarters. "She's your mother, Jack. She will always worry." Jack looked up and nodded solemnly. "I just wanted to ease her fears." He said as he jumped on her berth without thinking. Once Arcee sat beside Jack, it clicked in his mind. I guess being half Cybertronian has its advantages. He thought to himself. Arcee returned Jack to the subject at hand. "She already suspects something." Arcee said calmly. Jack nodded in agreement. "How do we tell her?" He asked. "Is it as easy as 'Hi, Mom. I have a relationship with Arcee, and by Cybertronian standards, we're married.'?" He asked with a sigh. Arcee looked at him. "It wouldn't be the relationship that's the problem," Arcee said calmly. "It would be how far our relationship has gone."
As they were talking, a ship was coming out of superluminal space into the Sol System. The ship matched an old Wrecker's ship named The Jackhammer, but its lone occupant's optics peered, two blood red points of light, into the darkness of space between the ship and Earth. "My Liege," The unknown mech called out. "I have just entered the Sol System. I should be on Earth in a matter of hours." Megatron's twisted laughter could be heard on the other end. "Good. You know your orders, Enigma. Gain the Autobots' trust. Then, strike!" Enigma smirked as his pates shifted and changed to a perfect copy of Wheeljack. "As you wish, Lord Megatron." The mech said with a dark smirk as he approached the dirt-ball of a planet. "It won't be long now and I'll trip the Autobots' sensors." Enigma growled, very pleased with himself.
Jack smiled at Arcee calmly and was about to say something when they heard Bulkhead yell out in happiness. Arcee rolled her optics. Great. Another Wrecker. She thought as Jack laughed to himself before they walked to the Ops Center together. "…yeah, it's been pretty boring out here, Bulkhead. I was thinking about coming in for a little while." Bulkhead was ecstatic. "Yeah, Jackie. Those 'Cons won't know what hit 'em when you show up to the party." Enigma chuckled. "Yep. It'll be like old times." He said before he cut the connection. Jack couldn't explain it, but he knew something was wrong with the situation. Exactly what, he had no idea. I will find out though. He promised himself. Arcee smirked at her partner. "Late night recon?" She asked with a smile. He just nodded with a slightly worried look on his face. "I've got a bad feeling about this." He mumbled to himself as he and Arcee went home for a recharge before the mission later.
That night, around 0230 hours, Jack and Arcee put their plan into motion and slipped out of the garage. As they rode, Arcee rehearsed the plan. "We rendezvous with the ship and case it for tracers." "Then…" Trickshot added. "…if it turns out Cons are trying to trick us, we trade paint before the imposter can get to Base." Jack smiled to himself. This ought to be a cakewalk. He thought. He then scolded himself. "Treat every mission like it is the most deadly mission ever." He told himself as they rode off to the beacon. Once Arcee and Jack came up a rocky cliff, they saw The Jackhammer in the middle of the desert in the low-lying area below them. Arcee was immediately nervous. "Wreckers know better than to put their ships in plain view." She mumbled as her blasters hummed to life. She was about to scout the ship when Trickshot transformed and stopped her. "Let me go scope it out, 'Cee. I'm not known to off-world Decepticons like you are." He reasoned. Arcee looked at him with worry in her optics. "Call for backup when you need me, Jack." She said with a calm but stern look. Jack silently nodded and moved toward the ship with absolute caution.
What Trickshot saw when he got to the ship was an utter mess. "Primus! What happened here?" Trickshot mumbled as he saw the ship's interior in disarray. Exposed and sparking wires, seats chewed to bits, and a busted control dashboard made the ship look like a miniature war zone from the inside. "Damn, looks like mice had a field day in here…if they ate metal." Arcee heard that and got scared. "Jack, get out of there! The ship's infested with Scraplets!" Trickshot's helm scanned the room as his audios tried to pick up the smallest sounds within the ship. With the exception of buzzing from the console, all was quiet. The young mech didn't like this one bit. If Scraplets did invade the ship, they should have been all over him by now. That's when he heard a groan behind him. He turned on the sound in a flash to see an Autobot lying on the floor with Energon dripping from his mouth. "Arcee! We got a live one!" He yelled. As Arcee came down, Jack scanned the Cybertronian. Enigma smirked to himself. That medic trainee will never find my emitters. The 'Con thought to himself. Jack stared hard at the readouts on his HUD, but they made no sense. Add to that the lack of injuries from the supposed Scraplet attack, and Trickshot started to get nervous.
As the two Autobots helped Enigma to his peds, he grinned darkly and threw them to the dirt. Quickly rectifying the resulting dust cloud in his optics, Trickshot blasted the imposter in the back of his right ped. The Decepticon fell with an angry scowl on his faceplate. "You will pay for that, you slagging piece of scrap!" The 'Con growled as he glared murder at Trickshot. Then, he looked at Arcee with a sick grin. "…and I think I know exactly how to collect." Fury flooded Trickshot's faceplate. He then stood in front of Arcee and just gave Enigma a "Come and Get It" Motion with his servo. They clashed in a torrent of screeching metal and traded blows in a vicious brawl. One punch Jack was agile enough to catch. Trickshot just twisted the articulation between Enigma's right servo and his arm. The articulation groaned in protest as Enigma's faceplate betrayed his anger and pain. Trickshot's faceplate showed an anger and determination that rivaled Arcee's own when she fought Airachnid. Finally, the servo snapped away from its owner's arm with a metallic ripping noise. "Don't ever think about it, you pile of slag!" Jack growled as he stared into Enigma's terrified optics.
Unknown to any involved, a car rolled up to the cliff and observed the fight with mild fear as the person watched the Titans contend over the femme on the outside of them. She watched as the red mech beat the Pretender into submission. When the Decepticon threatened to Bond with the femme, the red mech lost it. The woman was amazed at the Autobot's brutality. Only one thing could make a mech lose his processor so easily. She thought as the mech reminded her of her love: Hammerclaw a.k.a. Eric Darby. Her husband was extremely jealous but not obsessively so. She could remember one particular instance when she had taken a wrong turn one night while driving home from the hospital. She ended up in a poorly light and rundown section of town that looked to her like gang central. A man came up to her window and glared at her as he pushed the gun in her face and demanded she get out of the car or be shot. The would-be carjacker didn't know what he was doing when he tried to take her car, but Eric had taught that man a lesson the hard way. The carjacker was in a full body cast for the next year in half. Her husband was jealously protective, and she saw the same thing in this mech. Then, it hit her. The femme was Arcee! She smiled to herself as the pieces fell into place. As Arcee and Trickshot Groundbridged back to Base, June smiled to herself and drove back to the Base to wait on them.
Jack and Arcee were in high spirits as they brought in the Pretender. Once Optimus and the rest of Team Prime were awake, they were stunned at the prize prisoner that was brought before Optimus. The Boss Bot let a small smile pass his lips as he noticed a certain human female enter the Base. "Ratchet, disable the prisoner's weapons and give him a dose of Energon." Ratchet was a little taken aback by the order. When Optimus saw Ratchet's hesitancy, he smiled and kindly looked the grumpy bot optic to optic. "We are not savages, Old Friend." He reminded the reluctant Medic with a smile. "I will interrogate The Pretender." Arcee was surprised when she heard this because she was usually the lead interrogation officer. Optimus gave a slight chuckle when he saw her surprise and sidestepped to reveal June. "I believe you and young Jackson have more important matters to discuss." Jack's first thought at seeing his mother was: Oh, slag! I'm dead!
June smiled and sat down on a couch in the human area of the Base. Arcee was wondering what this could be about. Then, she realized June knew. This is going to be The Pit. She thought with a groan. June sighed and tried to defuse the tension between them. "I'm not angry, just curious. How long has this been going on?" She asked calmly. "It started for me a few months ago when Jack discovered he wasn't completely human." Arcee told June as her cheeks took on a blue tent. Jack sighed. "I can't really tell you when it began for me. All I know is I love her, Mom." He said as he smiled up at Arcee. June could sense a cohesiveness between her son and Arcee that she never really noticed before. It was almost like… Her mind froze in shock as it made the connection. "Have your Sparks bonded?" This took both Arcee and Jack by surprise. June decided to explain. "I'm not a complete stranger to Cybertronian customs. I did marry your father after all." She said to Jack with a smile. All Jack could do was nod, beyond stunned that his mother was taking this so well.
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