Chapter 14
The Predacon was Jack. It was hard to accept at first, but now that the shock and rational part of her processor caught up, the realization hit her like Trypticon.
The Predacon was Jack! And…he was gone again.
"This-this can't be happening!" Arcee felt her control loosening, feeling like a failure all over again. "It-he- was trying to tell us and we just ignored it! How could we have been so blind?" she paced around the desert, Vehicon debris scattered around the area, but all her gaze went to was the spot in the sky where the wolf Predacon-Jack, she reminded herself-had gone.
No, not gone, he was taken away. Just like before. How could she lose him like that again? He was so close!
"We…" Bulkhead paused, his voice still a bit stupefied by the realization that each of them had gotten when the wolf-no, Jack- had yelled at the other Predacon. "We couldn't have known. We all thought it was a trick."
"That still doesn't excuse that we didn't do anything." Arcee retorted, guilt coursing through her.
The battle was still in her processor; the Predacon swooping in as Vehicons got the drop on them. They'd been too far away to hear what Jack had said to the Predacon after Jack bit him, and Arcee admitted to herself that at the time she hadn't been too interested in letting what she thought was a Decepticon trick into their base.
And then Jack had yelled loud enough for even them to hear clearly. "NOT NAME, NAME JACK!"
It had been like a gut reaction. The voice was so much like Jack's that Arcee had turned at the sound and fired. Her shot missed the Predacon's pede before it high-tailed it out of there with Jack and the last she saw of him was him struggling to get out of the Predacon's grasp as the ground bridge closed behind the Decepticons.
Arcee was not the only one who had thought Jack being turned into a Predacon was impossible, and now their refusal of that fact was catching up with them like it had done with her. Bumblebee was visibly upset, his wings drooped and whirling sadly. Bulkhead's stance was tense but his expression was despondent. Optimus was the only one who looked like he was holding himself together, but he gazed up at the same spot she had with an unreadable gaze in his optics.
Were his thoughts aligned with her own, that they had failed to rescue Jack when he was right in front of them? To not believe what they were hearing even as now it was so clear Jack was struggling to talk to them, to tell them?
Their refusal cost them. How could she have berated Smokescreen for his choice when they had done so much worse-
Arcee's thoughts stopped cold. The reminder of Smokescreen brought up a sharper thought; there was a satellite in the sky, and the feed was being transmitted back to Unit: E, where everyone was watching and knew what just happened.
Oh no, how could she face June after this? How could any of them explain to her that the reason they didn't save her son was because they couldn't bring themselves to believe it was him-until it was too late? To just think it was some Predacon experiment that got loose, that was made to taunt them?
They couldn't. And now Jack was gone again.
A/N: Just a bit of bridge chapter for here and the next. And now that things have gotten so serious, I'm debating whether to give Jack a new love interest since both Knock Out and Predaking wouldn't work anymore unless I give Jack Stockholm syndrome. I didn't give him that in 'Perfect', and I don't wanna do it here.
So serious question, new love interest or is it still possible to use both Predaking and Knock Out if I put them both through the ringer to make up for all the crap they pulled?