Jack stared at the soul plane with a furrowed brow, a frown hidden by his mouth guard. He decided it was better to not understand why he was still in trigger form even when asleep.

He had bigger things to deal with.

Like why it looked like the soul plane seemed to be getting older and dustier by the minute. "What the hell happened to this place?"

"I have to say, if this is my new home; it's dump." A new and disturbingly familiar voice said.

Jack cautiously looked to see the succubus he had just killed standing there without a mark on her face or acting like nothing happened earlier. "Um, new home, I thought you were dead."

The succubus smirked. "Not true; in a sense anyway. "You see, once a defeated demon's soul is claimed, they become a weapon for the victor." She grimaced. "I'm just glad I was fighting you and not your father."

Jack froze up. "You know that he's my dad?"

"Of course." She replied easily, like it was obvious.

'He doesn't know, but other demons do?' Jack thought incredulously. 'He's not gonna like that.' He added. "Um, do you have a name I could call you?"

She grinned slyly. "You can call me whatever you like, handsome." She purred trying to move closer to him.

Jack put his hands up. "I think we should have a three feet rule, and, uh, you should probably tell me what you want to be called."

"So thoughtful." She murmured appreciatively. "Not many like that; like you." Jack really didn't want her to tell him what she meant by that. "Fine, you can call me Alto."

Jack blinked. "Uh, nice name."

Alto preened. "You really think so?"

A sudden glare of high beams washed over them and Jack lifted a hand to cover his face and blinked blearily once the lights went out. He knew who it was, what caught him off guard was the look on Knock Out's faceplate. His optics darted to Alto, and the three feet rule she was clearly trying to violate.

His red optics narrowed and he smoothly stepped between them, nearer to Jack and forcing Alto to back off. "Who are you and how did you get here?" he asked rather rudely.

"I'm Alto, and like I already told Jack, this is my new home." Alto huffed arrogantly. "I'm Jack's newest weapon, so I live here now."

"Hn." Knock Out sneered. "Nice hair. Green, really?"

Alto glared at him and sniffed haughtily. "Nice face."

Knock Out smirked. "Certainly better than yours." He said arrogantly. "Don't you think so, Jack?"

It took Jack a moment to realize that the red mech was not only talking to him, but he also said his name. Hell, he figured Red didn't even remember his name. Or didn't bother to anyway. "Does it really matter?" he asked blandly.

"Yes." They both snapped and looked at him.

Jack looked between them and really couldn't answer for harm to his body. "I really can't answer that."

Alto surprisingly backed down first, but there was a cheeky grin on her red lips. "That's okay, we can get to know each other later on, honey." She purred and sauntered away off, the tail of her dress billowing in an unmoving wind.

"Bitch." Knock Out hissed and turned to Jack with a harsh glare. "And you. Where have you been?"

"The Demon World." Jack answered. Then he went onto more pressing matters. "Why does this place look like scrap?"

"That's entirely your fault." Knock Out retorted.

"My fault? How is this my fault?" Jack asked in disbelief.

"Because of your absence, this place is weakening." Knock Out explained. "While neither of us wanted this bond in the first place, the soul plane had been rather stable, all things considered. But with you being 'out of range' so to speak, it is becoming unstable."

"How do we fix it?" Jack questioned quietly.

The way Red's faceplate twisted up told Jack he wouldn't like the solution. "We have to…strengthen our bond."

'Well, scrap.' He knew he wouldn't like the idea.

Jack subconsciously began to back away. "What?"

Red stared at him with a baleful glare and lashed his arm out, grabbing a hold of Jack's arm. "You heard me." He muttered. "At least you wore your nice shiny armour for this." He had to admit he liked the look of the gleaming white metal that acted as a protective second skin under Jack's clothes.

He felt his spark heat up and after all, shouldn't they both at least enjoy this rather than it being just a solution to fix the soul plane? He slowly pushed up Jack's sleeve and ran a digit over the metal skin, eliciting a shiver from the teen.

"What are you doing?" he asked suspiciously.

"I figured there's no reason for neither of us to enjoy this." Knock Out said smirking.

"Careful, I'd almost be tempted to think that you care about me." Jack retorted.

The red 'Con paused as he traced his digit long the arm and up to the neck. "I don't care." He said apathetically, but didn't dare touch the face. It'd be simply too personal if he did. "Besides, we are spark-bonded after all. And this is what spark-mates do."

Jack looked at him with some uncertainty before taking the time to really look at Knock Out. And he was forced to admit that despite the blind hate he held for him, he was very good-looking. "Okay, you're right." He said and tentatively brushed his own free hand along the 'Con's arm plating, his claws not even scraping at the paint. Then he remembered something. "That's right, we can heal faster now."

As if a switch had been flicked, Knock Out tackled Jack to the ground. "That's right isn't it?" he muttered. "And as much as I don't like it, we're on equal footing here."

"Heh, you make it sound like a bad thing." Jack retorted sardonically.

"It is." Knock Out shot back tersely.

Any retort Jack had was cut off when their chests met and the tendrils appeared. Knock Out immediately tried to find the location of the Autobot's base, but to his surprise and frustrated disbelief, he couldn't find it because the second entity seemed to be guarding that information.

Though he did find something interesting.

"You like Arcee, huh?" he hissed.

The misty, unfocused look in Jack's red eyes didn't diminish. "Yeah, I d-" Then he seemed to realize exactly who he was talking too. "Uh, I mean, no, I don't." he rectified.

The damage had already been done though, as Knock Out grabbed Jack by his hair. "I saw your memories of her. This is supposed to be about us, now lose the face mask."

Jack nearly balked. He didn't know how to remove it, and he had a fair idea about what Knock Out wanted. He bit his lip and tried to concentrate. A moment later he felt the pressure of his mask slide off his face and Red stared at him critically. "What?" he snapped, even as he fought against the haze clouding his vision.

"I always believed that touching the face made things too personal, but right now, I don't really care." Knock Out said blandly, like he wasn't about to do what Jack thought he was going to do.

But he did.

Jack, sad to say, had never been kissed before (and mommy kisses don't count obviously), so it was really weird thinking his first kiss came from an alien robot. A 'Con nonetheless, even though he was technically registered as a Decepticon-and wasn't that always a cheery thought?

The lips against his felt smooth and cold, the cold being a twisted comfort from the extremely hot climate he was currently, or even the general climate of Nevada.

Just as Jack closed his eyes, his suddenly felt the lips and weight on him disappear and snapped open. To stare right into another pair of red eyes. His hand subconsciously went to his face, feeling the metallic face mask still in place.

"What?" he asked groggily.

"Time to leave." Vergil said apathetically.

Jack nodded and staggered to his feet from the hard bed he had slept on. "So, how far until we reach the Trismagia?"

"Not far. We could have been there by now if you didn't insist we stop to rest." Vergil replied coldly.

"But don't we need sleep?" Jack asked carefully.

Vergil again stared at him with a look that suggested Jack was an idiot. "In this place, being dead and being asleep have very little difference."

Jack frowned to himself. "I think I get it, d-uncle."


"Oof!"

Knock Out face planted into the asphalt as the organic just up and disappeared. He looked around at the newly fixed soul plane before glaring back at where Jack had been lying beneath him. "How dare he leave me wanting."

There was a sarcastic giggle. "Usually I'm not into voyeurism, but damn, that was hot." She then sneered. "Just remember though, I'm vying for him."

Knock Out glared at her as he got back up. "You think you can compete with me?" he challenged. "I'm his…mate. You're just his tool."

Alto glared back at him with equal force and sparks of black lightning seemed to emit from her. "Watch it, Reddy." She hissed. "Do you think it matters that you're his 'mate?' I'm a succubus, a demon, a supernatural being if you will."

"Your point?" Knock Out asked in boredom.

Alto sneered. "My point is; I will always have more in common with Jack than you. Besides, from what I can tell, there's a major love-hate thing going on between you two, heavy on the hate."

"I'm well aware of how it is between us." Knock Out retorted scathingly. "You better keep away from him, or else."

"Or else what?" Alto cackled. "Face it, while I'm Jack's weapon, I'm never going away. So you better get used to seeing me here."

The red 'Con glared at her until he disappeared from the soul plane.


Dante Sparda was going over the last 3 days in his mind. Finding out he nephew had been taken to the same place his brother-and he himself had gone for a brief period of time-was. He had spent the first two days trying to figure out a way to get to the Demon World without the use of Temen-ni-gru.

So far he had been stumped.

It almost made him resent the fact he hadn't asked Lady or Trish to come along. Almost. Lady and June had gotten along fairly enough, but all the comments about Dante looking exactly like Vergil made June hit Dante each time he asked her out to show she wasn't interested in him. And well, Trish and June just hadn't met, so it would've been awkward.

Then just yesterday evening when he had been out to get pizza, he had been approached by this teenage girl with pink and black hair in a large armoured van. She had rather bluntly stated that she had information on how to save Jack.

That alone had put him on the defensive, but when he tried to sniff out any demons, he relaxed, only slightly though as he now knew she was all human.

He had asked her what she knew and the girl in turn replied that he needed to see something.

…And holy shit was he surprised to find out alien robots existed. Then again, why should he be surprised? Dante had very reluctantly agreed to let them help him as long as he didn't tell June. He secretly thought she'd find out anyway.

Currently, Dante was checking to make sure had his sword Rebellion as the medic created a 'ground bridge' set to Greece; the apparent destination of Jack.

"Aww, you mean we can't go?" Miko whined.

"This is the Demon World we're talking about. If your skin isn't metal or you don't have an instant regeneration ability, then you're a liability." Dante explained bluntly.

Raf winced. "He's right, we have neither. Those demons would tear us apart."

"Damn straight they would." Dante stated before running into the ground bridge. "Now let's go save my nephew!"