"So, what are-" Jack stopped talking as Alto suddenly stiffened and looked at him imploringly.
"Please, I've been holding it back longer than I've ever had to." She said as her eyes started to glow red softly. "I'm starving."
Miko didn't seem to think this was a problem as she didn't realize what Alto ate. "Great, we can all get a bite."
Alto tilted her head. "Is that an offer?"
Before Miko could ask, 'An offer for what?' Jack spoke up quickly. "Uh, you had better get home now; I know my mom's going to be so mad for me staying out late." He said and Miko pouted before leaving with Bulkhead and Raf left with 'Bee, who Jack was still a little leery of at the moment as he didn't want to think that something was wrong with him after that last 'vision' he had.
Jack held up a hand to stop Arcee. "Uh, could you give us a minute?" he looked over at Alto. "This isn't going to take long is it?" he asked with a hint of nervousness in his voice.
"Aw, you think it's only going to take a minute." Alto cooed. "Didn't you hear me when I said I was starving? As in I haven't had any for more than a month?"
"You mean this is going to be a repeat occurrence?" Jack asked, looking even more nervous and he held the side of his neck for some reason.
Alto rolled her eyes. "Of course it is, or would you like to rectify the 'no killing' rule you gave me?"
"Okay, what are you talking about?" Arcee cut in sharply as she didn't like how hungrily Alto was staring at Jack. And that sentence was also a sharp reminder that Alto and Jack both have killed before.
"Simply put, I'm gonna drink Jack's blood." Alto said bluntly and shrugged off Arcee's look of disgust. "Hey, if I can't get at his soul, then I'm going for his neck." She said now that Jack thought this really gave new meaning to the term 'necking.'
"Like frag you are!" Arcee shot back. "Go find some animal to eat; I'm not letting you kill him."
Alto scoffed and pointed to the spot on Jack's chest where Knock Out's shard had lodged itself. "Do you have any clue how Jack even survived his first encounter with Knock Out to form a bond with him? He has a regenerative ability. It means he's going to be around for a long time, and that he can survive losing a few pints of blood!"
"It's true," Jack admitted, "I didn't know at the time that was why I survived, but it was and I am going to let Alto eat." He grimaced. "It's better than letting her loose onto the unsuspecting world hungry."
Alto smiled a sickeningly sweet smile. "I knew you'd agree with me." She said before giggling bubbly and dragging Jack off out of the control room.
"Arcee…" Prime said as the femme was about to follow after them.
The blue femme looked guiltily back at him and the medic, so focused on the rage she felt for Alto that she forgot they weren't alone. "I can't help it, she's tried to kill him once before, and loyal or not, what's to stop her from actually doing it. Look at Starscream for example."
"There is one difference though; Alto seems to genuinely care for Jack." Prime said wisely, despite his voice still sounding a bit raspy.
Arcee grimaced and before long, Alto and Jack came back, the woman looking all blissed out and holding the boy by the shoulder as he on the other hand looked pale and sickly. "I think it's time for you to leave."
Alto grinned surprisingly as her skin started to take on a more greenish tint and her hair faded to green and her eyes began to go from blue back to red and they caught a glimpse of her true form since meeting her. "I guess it is, but it's almost time for Jack to go to sleep. And then it's back to helping Jack avoid Knock Out in his dreams before he inevitably catches him. Oh, and you should probably always remember that you can't see his dreams either."
Arcee's optics widened and Jack sent Alto a glare. "Leave!" he hissed weakly and the woman patted him on the hair before fading away.
It became apparent that Alto was holding him to keep him from falling as Jack stumbled on his feet before balancing himself.
"Jack, what did she mean by that?" Arcee asked with a sinking feeling in her spark and she could very well guess what it meant. She knew what a spark bond entailed after all. "Have you and…Knock Out…?"
Jack started blushing, the stark contrast even more noticeable with his currently pale face. Give him white hair and he could look exactly like his father at this moment. "It doesn't count if it doesn't happen in real life, right?"
"Technically," The medic said gruffly and Arcee shot him a glare, "but it still happened."
"Oh," Jack said absently, "so how long before Red comes here for the 'real' thing then?"
Jack didn't get an answer, and he was fine with that. It probably wasn't good, and neither would mentioning how Red probably was going to come for him if what Starscream said was any inclination that he could.
Dante glanced over at his brother, because he was still reeling from the fact that they weren't trying to kill each other at this moment. Though he suspected that it had something to do with June exasperatingly telling them not to try kill each other when they left for Fortuna.
And because Dante liked June, he went along with it, though Vergil had looked annoyed when she let him hug her. Score a point for him.
Then there was that nagging feeling at the back of his mind and he thoughtlessly blurted out what he was thinking. "How do you even know where Fortuna if you made me bring you, have you actually been here before?"
Vergil glanced over at him, and Dante huffed to himself that he wasn't even worth a full stare. "Yes, I have been here, you idiot."
Dante scowled at him and thought that clearly the Demon World hadn't improved his personality much. Or that he didn't answer his other question. "Hey, remember that I'm the one who took care of your family that you threw away, so who's really the idiot?" he snapped and smirked at what he'd been wanting to rub in his brother's face for years now.
Not that he regretted helping June with Jack after taking them in. It'd had been one of the better parts of his life.
Vergil glared at him coldly and looked sorely tempted to break his promise to June. "I didn't throw them away. I did what I had to for them." He hissed. "I love June," he said seriously, and Dante noted that the 'and Jack' never came; a mistake he'd never made, "and apparently," his brother's expression turned darker, "so do you."
Normally, Dante wouldn't mind confirming that he did in fact like June, but since this was Vergil he was talking to and since he already hated his guts, he thought it wouldn't take much for him to try and kill him after their promise had been annulled. "No," he said slowly and carefully, tact being something he'd grown to use in situations that needed it; like when June made him shield his language around a much younger Jackie, "I don't." he added. "And she didn't like me much either."
"That's not what she told me and June has no reason to lie to me." Vergil said narrowing his eyes and Dante found it a small consolation that he didn't freeze in his tracks. "She told me how she's been faithful to me all these years, and I can tell by her scent that it's true…"
"That it is." Dante added nervously and knew where he was going with this.
"…despite all your previous attempts to persuade her otherwise, knowing that I wasn't dead." His brother finished and his glare was downright murderous. "And since we don't fall out of love, it stands to reason that you still are in love with her."
"But hey, nothing ever happened, doesn't that count for anything?" Dante asked chuckling weakly.
"It does." Vergil replied and for a moment Dante thought he was in the clear. "For her, not you." He said darkly. "And I suggest you watch your back from now on after this is over and I have retrieve Yamato."
"But you'll never go through with it because you'll be spending too much time catching up with your wife, right?" Dante was surprised to find that the words came out with the least amount of bitterness he could muster when talking about Vergil doing anything with June.
Still, Dante could still catch up with Jack if his father wasn't inclined to spend time with the boy and he could cement himself once again as 'cool uncle Dante.'
Though to a four year old who grew up with only one male acting as a paternal substitute, the word 'uncle' had been mistakenly switched on the odd occasion to 'dad.'
Not that he minded it of course.