What's up everyone! We're nearing the end of this story. Hope you enjoy this chapter.
Chapter 25
Walking up the side of the mountain, Jack made his way to the very mouth of the volcano where his master was calling. No matter how much he hated it, he knew he had lost this fight. He only hoped that everyone could forgive him for what he was about to do to them.
Gathered around the giant berth, Optimus laid down upon it as Ratchet ran some tests and scans to see the extent of the damage that Optimus was in.
"Easy Optimus, you've been exposed to a large amount of Dark Energon. It seems your fight with Megatron has left you in a very serious condition Optimus. You have not only lost a substantial amount of Energon, but also the ability to move around for the next few days. Until I can fix you up, you're to stay in the base with minimal movement around. Doctor's orders." Ratchet explained as he finished his scan.
"Good thing that Megatron is also in a similar if not worse state after Jack pounded old bucket head into the ground." Bulkhead said.
"Where is Jack anyway?" Raf asked.
"Don't know. J.A.R.V.I.S see if you can find Jack." Miko asked.
""I'm sorry Miss Nakadai, but it seems that master Darby has deactivated his tracker and has communications. I am therefore unable to make any sort of contact." J.A.R.V.I.S answered.
"We have to find him!" Miko exclaimed.
"We will Miko, but rushing blindly without knowing where he is, isn't going to help us or Jack." Steve said, trying to calm the girl down.
"Why not use the coordinate from before?" Raf asked.
Making his way to the controls for the GroundBridge, Ratchet punched in the coordinates and pulled the lever to activate it, only for nothing to happen.
'Strange. Why would the GroundBridge not activate." Ratchet asked himself quietly as he went back to the computer and typed in a few more commands hoping to find the problem.
"J.A.R.V.I.S, run a diagnostics on the GroundBridge system." Ratchet asked
"Very well Doctor." The A.I answered.
"What I would like to know is what has happened to Jack. What caused him to just up and disappear like that?" Steve asked.
"Jack has been actin strangely for the past few days." Raf noted.
"How so?" Steve asked.
"Normally he would spend most of his days in his lab, going over blueprints on his computer or tinkering with some of his suits. But lately all I see him do is stay near us." Raf explained.
"Maybe he just wants to spend more time with us?" Arcee reasoned.
"Perhaps, but whenever he comes by I notice that he seems exhausted and tired. He tries to hide it but it is there." Raf replied.
"Maybe he's overworking himself?" Steve asked.
"I don't think so. Whenever he looks at any of us, I notice that he looks at us in fear, almost as if he's afraid." Raf answered. "The question is what is causing it?"
"Since when did you get so observant short stuff?" Miko asked.
"I live with a large family, I have to be observant and I'm rather smart." Raf boasted. Miko smiled and ruffled his hair.
"Scan complete. It would appear that Jack has disabled the GroundBridge after it deactivated." J.A.R.V.I.S spoke up.
"Can it be fixed?" Arcee asked.
"Indeed, it would require a manual reboot however." J.A.R.V.I.S answered.
"And that would take at least an hour. Enough time for Jack to completely vanish." Ratchet said.
Standing at the very edge of the volcano, Jack could barely see through the plume of smoke the lava that was bubbling on its very surface. The heat that was being let out caused him to wear his helmet again. It had taken him at least an hour to reach the top on foot, and while he could have flown all the way, he wanted to stall the meeting with his master for as long as he could.
He had heard Megatron laugh in victory earlier and saw the Nemesis fly over towards Megatron as a GroundBridge opened and Vehicons were spewing out, collecting the Dark Energon.
"You wanted me here as your Herald!? Here I am!" Jack shouted out.
Suddenly the entire volcano shook, the clouds rumbled and lightning arced wildly as another, thicker plume of smoke arose from the volcano. Slowly the body and face of his master began to form and before long, his master was staring at him, deep purple eyes that seem to show the chaos and destruction that he could cause.
"You finally accept your fate my herald. Good." His master said.
"Who are you?" Jack asked.
His master said nothing for a minute before speaking. "Surprising that you do not know of me Herald. I am the Chaos Bringer, Unicron."
"So let me get this straight! You're telling me that this Uber-con is somehow in the centre of our planet and is causing all of this!?" Fowler exclaimed, pointing towards the television.
"Indeed Agent Fowler." Optimus answered.
"What I don't understand is how he got there in the first place and still be alive." Steve asked.
"Such a thing is not unprecedented. Before the beginning there was Primus, and there was Unicron. One the incarnation of creation, the other of destruction. For eons Primus and Unicron battled, the balance shifting between them more times than could be counted."
"Only by creating those thirteen disciples of Primus were they able to defeat me and cast me out!" The now named Unicron thundered, causing the volcano to shake once more.
"Primus became one with the very core of our planet, creating life through the well of AllSparks. While Unicron was never to be heard from again, until now." Optimus said finishing his tale.
"Maybe we can find where this Uber-con left his hole when he dug himself all the way down there and fill it full of explosive!" Fowler said.
"Agent Fowler. I do not believe that earth became Unicron's home, but rather that with time and gravitational force, debris collected around the slumbering titan." Optimus explained.
"Forming your earth itself." Ratchet intoned, finishing what Optimus was implying.
That caused all the humans to widen their eyes in shock. To think that the very planet that they reside upon was the created by the antithesis of their friends own home. Two polar opposites in terms of species, yet so closely connected by history.
"And he's only awakening now due to the magnetic pull created by the planetary alignment." Arcee exclaimed.
"Well what happens when Unicron wakes up?" Raf asked.
"Yeah, does he stretch and poof, no more earth?" Miko asked, emphasising her point by stretching her arms out slowly before thrusting her arms and legs outwards.
Silence reigned inside the Autobot base as Optimus did not answer immediately. Steve walked up to the railing and peered towards the Autobot leader.
"You don't know do you?" he asked.
Optimus shut his optics closed before opening them and answering "My guess is that Unicron has transcended physical form, nonetheless we must find a way to ensure that this force of nature never fully awakens. The fate of your planet depends on it." Optimus stated.
"Since you clearly do not have a physical form, what purpose am I to you?" Jack asked.
"You are my Herald, boy. You will do my bidding, but you will not be acting by my word, but rather how I see fit." Unicron stated.
"How?" Jack asked.
"I will take your body as my own. It is through you, my Herald that we shall bring chaos and destruction to the universe." Unicron answered.
"If you think that I'm just going to hand over control of my body to you, you're sorely mistaken!" Jack shouted.
"Arrogant fool! Do you think I care about your thoughts or feeling on the matter? No, I will take what is MINE!" Unicron bellowed as he lunged forward.
The entire plume of smoke that was Unicron slowly surrounded him and lifted him into the air. Once at a meter high the smoke that surrounded him slowly began to seep into his suit and somehow into every pore along his skin. Pain unlike any other erupted throughout his entire body, like needles stuck into every part of his skin. His mind was also not spared as he felt as if his entire head was being squeezed by a large hand, crushing him.
Jack screamed as the torture continued until he could scream no longer and passed out from the strain.
"What are we going to do about Jack though? We don't know where he is and have no way of contacting him." Steve asked as he, Miko, Raf and Agent Fowler roamed the halls of the Autobots base.
Ratchet was helping Optimus recover, hopefully finding a way speed up the recovery, while Arcee was on watching the monitors. Bumblebee and Bulkhead were in the training rooms.
"Maybe there's something in his lab that could tell us." Raf stated.
"I don't know, going through his files seems invasive, don't you think?" Fowler asked.
"We'll make sure to not peek into any of his files." Miko said
Making their way through the halls, the group soon found themselves in Jack's lab. Entering said lab, the group found their way to the table and began to look through Jacks stuff. Most of contained blueprints for weapons or suit designs, while other were notes on certain effects that Energon had on different metals.
Opening one the drawers, Miko found a small notebook on top of a stack of paper. Picking it up, Miko flipped the cover and saw that it was in Jack's handwriting, detailing his day to day activities.
"Guys, I think I found Jack's diary!" Miko exclaimed, causing everyone to quickly huddle around Miko.
"Should we really be going through his diary Miko? I mean that's really private stuff." Raf cautioned.
"Don't you want to know what happened to Jack?" Miko asked.
"Yeah sure, but-." Raf started only to be interrupted by Miko.
"But nothing, this might be our only way to know" Miko stated.
"As much as I hate to go through such private material, Miko is right. If we want to know what has happened to Jack, we're going to have to go through his journal entries." Steve stated, with Fowler nodding to the statement as well.
"Let's take a look at some of his recent entries then." Miko said as she flipped through the pages until she came to one of the entries that was written just yesterday.
December 2nd 2016
The nightmares are getting worse.
Used to be every night whenever I close my eyes, the nightmare returns and repeat itself over and over. The same volcano, with the purple lightning, and falling purple rock. The same voice in my head telling me be his Herald.
Now however, it's different. I see the Autobots defeated by this entity, then the Avengers. After that it's the Decepticons and finally earth's military. Nothing seems to be able to defeat this entity and when I looked at my surroundings, all I see is the rubble of a city and the dead husks of both Autobot and Decepticon, as well as the skulls of the human race.
I look up and see this monstrosity of a Cybertronian tower over me, and at his feet is a person wearing a large cloak with its hood over his head. For it can only be a male due to the stature and stance. I find myself unable to move and can only watch as the person pulls its hood down to reveal who he is.
It's me
Was that good? Leave a review to tell me your thoughts on it. Something I notice is that no one seems to get that i'm changing certain charateristics to fit this story. For Miko, I have her less adventerous because she's realising that it's not all a huge adventure for her and that her actions have consequences. Especially now after she was close to death.
I'm planning something for Jack and MIko, but that won't be revealed until the somewhere near the start or the middle of the second season.
As for Thanos, that won't happen until most likely after Cybertron is restored. Ultron won't be until somewhere in the middle or near the end of the second season.
Have an awesome day.