The Autobot Seeker, Skyfire, bowed his helm in greeting. "Hello, little one."
"Uh…" Jack wondered if this is what a stroke felt like. "Hi."
Skyfire chuckled, but unlike Starscream's sadistic cackle, it seemed to be filled with good humor. "Skittish thing, isn't he?"
Jack's eye twitched. Arcee replied for him, "It's been a long night."
"So I see. Well, young Jack, it seems quite a few individuals are worried about your disappearance. Optimus has sent me to search for you two."
The boy's cheeks became hot at that. People were looking for him? Well, he did vanish in the middle of the night…
"He's fine," Arcee assured. "We were just heading back."
That reply seemed to satisfy Skyfire. The white mech nodded and with a brief farewell, jumped into the air and transformed back into a F-16 Fighting Falcon. Jack winced slightly at the explosion of sound from the Seeker's engines as he jetted away, flying slow and low to the ground. The teenager stared until Skyfire was out of sight, and even then he could only speak what was on the forefront of his mind.
"He's a Seeker."
"An Aerialbot, actually," Arcee corrected. "But yes, Skyfire is Vosian."
It took a minute for Jack to recall the limited knowledge he had of Cybertron. "Vos… Isn't that where Starscream came from? Aren't they allied with the Decepticons?"
"Half of Vos. The other half swore fealty to the Prime. When he returned to power, Starscream exiled anyone that refused to accept him as the rightful Prince of Vos. Those that left his command no longer wanted to be affiliated with the Seeker armada, so they called themselves the Aerialbots. On Cybertron, it was known as the Great Schism."
Jack mulled over the information. That sounded like Starscream. The Air Commander demanded absolute loyalty, and terminated anyone that denied him. Even the human could tell that from the brief time Starscream led the Decepticons during Megatron's deep stasis.
And yet, Jack never thought about flying Autobots. All the ones he had met were grounders.
"So are there any more special guests I should be aware of?" he questioned.
"No, that should be the last of them."
With that, Arcee folded down into her alt mode, revving her engine as the motorcycle pulled up beside Jack.
"Let's go."
The army brat frowned. He wasn't sure he was ready to face reality yet. At least here, it was an escape. Even if it was all too brief.
With a heavy, reluctant sigh, Jack climbed onto the saddle. The action wasn't as much as a struggle as it was the night before, but there was still a fine tremble in his limbs. The boy was partly grateful when Arcee drove to the hospital rather than directly reporting to Optimus. Last thing Jack wanted was for the rest of the Autobots to see him in his pitiful state. Yet when Arcee pulled up the building's back entrance, the army brat frowned at the figure that was waiting for them.
Lennox was leaning against the wall with his arms crossed over his chest. When the pair neared, the NEST commander's inscrutable expression morphed into one of relief.
"Ah, there you are," he hummed, stepping forward from his post. "We were about to send a search party."
"For me?" Jack gaped.
"You… looked for me?"
"Of course."
"You would think I would not?"
Jack carefully raised himself off of the saddle, gripping the motorcycle's handlebars for support. Only when he took a step onto solid ground, his body swayed.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Lennox gasped, launching towards Jack and catching him before he could crumble.
The army brat tried to bring himself to stand, only for his body to go limp against Lennox's chest and his nails frantically dug into the man's sleeve. Arcee rapidly transformed behind him in a panic, servos laying across his back. Jack thought he heard his name, but he was too busy trying to breathe properly to reply. Lennox frowned at him.
"You shouldn't be walking around," he scolded lightly.
The NEST commander's glare shifted to Arcee, whose wings fluttered in anxiety. It took a couple seconds for enough oxygen to return to Jack's brain, but even then, his mouth moved before he could think.
"It was my idea." Arcee and Lennox looked to him with surprised expressions. Jack gulped at the sudden attention and told lamely, "I-I wanted to get out. It was… nice."
Lennox blinked. He glanced back and forth between the human and the Transformer, like he was looking for a puzzle piece that was missing. Jack couldn't tell if he was satisfied or not when the man only gave a sigh.
Then he said, "That's… good."
Not asking anymore questions, Lennox shifted his hold on Jack and draped the boy's arm over his broad shoulders. As the ex-Ranger was over a head taller than the teenager, the position was awkward. Still, Jack preferred it over Lennox carrying him like a baby through the hospital. The lieutenant colonel gently guided him to the double doors, but Jack paused to turn back to Arcee.
"Um… thanks," he said awkwardly, words once again escaping him. "Maybe... we can hang out another time?"
Lennox only cocked an eyebrow while Arcee blinked in surprise. Then her lips curled in a soft, warm smile.
"I would like that," she hummed.
Realizing there was no more she could do, Arcee transformed into a motorcycle. Lennox only shook his head when she drove out of sight.
"I don't know how the hell she managed to get her servos on you, but I learned when it comes to Transformers, it's better not to ask any questions."
Jack agreed with him.
Once inside the building, the teenager discovered that the medical staff had returned for the day. Doctors and nurses hurried to and fro, only focusing on the clipboard in their hand and their destination. Jack hoped it meant it could mean he could slip through unnoticed, only to be denied that wish when there were a few concerned cries.
Looking like a beaten, sleep-deprived ragdoll in Lennox's grip, the army brat supposed he made a startling sight. He tensed as several strangers charged toward him. Lennox must have felt it.
"I got him," the NEST commander quickly assured, even tightening his grip on the boy.
The nurses looked horribly reluctant, and after several minutes of banter, Lennox ushered Jack further into the hospital. The trip to his room seemed longer than his escape, and even then Jack found himself trapped in his makeshift cell all too soon. Lennox effortlessly lifted him back onto the bed and one of the nurses didn't hesitate to begin reattaching the monitors. Jack's heart sunk.
He had his taste of freedom, and it was taken away from him just like that. Leaving only bitterness on his tongue.
"Optimus told me once that we all have the right to choose," Jack recalled. "What if we don't? I never chose any of this…"
Lennox frowned at the boy's somber tone, but he spoke frankly, "You're right. Sometimes we don't always get what we want. We just have to pick from the cards we have in our hand."
The metaphor was a stretch, but Jack understood his meaning. The teen recalled Arcee's words from last night.
"We all have a light and a darkness in us. What matters is which one we choose to act on. That is what determines who we are."
"Arcee said something like that, too," he told. "That I have to decide who I want to be."
"And who do you want to be, Jack?"
The teenager swallowed at that and he considered the answer. He felt he had been asking himself that question his entire life. Was he like his mother or his father? Was he a boy or a man? Was he an Autobot or a Decepticon?
"I don't want to be like Megatron," Jack decided after a long time. He looked up to Lennox, his eyes full of resolve. "And I don't want to be like Silas or Airachnid. But… I'm not my father. I'm not Optimus Prime or Orion Pax or whoever everyone thinks I am. I… I want to be my own person. Jack Darby.
"And… I don't want to be in pain anymore. I want to be with my friends—my family. I want to live. If you're saying there's someone that can help me learn how, I… I want to talk to them."
Lennox stared down at him with an inscrutable expression at his speech. Then, his lips curled in a ghost of a smile.
"Alright," he nodded. "I can make the arrangements. And, I think this might help with that."
Jack watched the NEST commander curiously as he took a small, white box from the counter on the side of the room and dropped it on the teen's lap. Jack's eyes nearly popped out of his skull when he realized what it was.
"A smartphone?! Is this for real?"
Even as he said the words, the teenager was already tearing into the package to verify its contents. Lennox only shrugged.
"I figured since you lost your cell phone, you would need a new one," the man explained.
Jack didn't even know what happened to the basic flip phone he owned. No doubt it was taken when he was kidnapped by MECH, and the teenager hadn't looked forward to replacing it. Jack and his mother lived on a tight budget, as both their jobs were not generous, and most of their income went to the teen's college savings. Some months it was difficult just to cover the phone bill, never mind buying a new one. A smartphone was out of the question.
Then Jack realized, "Wait a second… did-did you get this just for me?"
"I, um, thought you might appreciate it."
The sentence came out awkwardly, as if that was all that Lennox could think of to say. The man shifted his weight and rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly.
Jack was speechless. He hardly knew the NEST commander and Lennox certainly didn't owe him any favors. Yet the man went out of his way to find him a gift, a valuable one at that. All just to make Jack happy.
His body moved without him even registering it. Restored with new vigor, Jack lunged forward and wrapped his arms around Lennox's broad torso. The ex-Ranger started slightly in surprise, but quickly overcame it to carefully return the embrace.
A hand fell on top of Jack's head, but instead of possessively tangling in his hair, it was simply a warm weight. Lennox's arms were strong and sturdy. Protective. Just like Dad's.
Tears sprung from the boy's eyes, but he didn't know why. He was relieved his face was buried in Lennox's chest, or else the lieutenant colonel might see them. Jack was aware no words were enough, but he could at least try.
Though muffled, his voice was obviously trembling as his spoke, "Th-thank you."
"You're welcome, son."
Lennox kept his promise.
Jack was introduced to Dr. Rachel Gardner. She had spent some time on Diego Garcia and she tended to the shell-shocked troops there. At least she was aware of the secret war going on outside her doorstep. That didn't make their first meeting any less awkward.
She was a tall and lean woman, dressed in a professional blazer and matching skirt. Her blonde hair had begun to fade and there were crow's feet branching out from her eyes. However, her emerald eyes seemed to be sharp and critical as ever. Jack could feel them boring into him like daggers the instant the psychologist stepped into the room.
She at least tried to comfort him with a soft smile and sweet voice, almost combatting her stern appearance, but Jack was not fooled. Gardner started with asking personal questions, going so far as to interrogating about his early childhood. He kept his answers as brief as possible and stuck to silence when he could. The teenager hoped they could be satisfactory enough, but Gardner didn't give him that leisure.
"Jack, you realize I can't help you if you don't let me in," the psychologist told in a tone that the boy's mother would use against him. She was perched in the chair in the corner of the room, complete with a clipboard in her lap.
"I don't see how this has to do with anything," Jack retorted.
"I just want to get to know you."
"Then read my profile."
"I already read your profile. In this profession I've learned people aren't exactly the same in person as they are in paper. Don't you agree?"
Jack scoffed and rolled his eyes. "I've learned people aren't much better in person, either."
"What makes you say that?"
"People are liars."
"Some people," Gardner agreed. "Some people… want to find the truth. That's my part of my job: to peel back the layers of the mind and unveil true self underneath." The psychologist's analytical eyes meet Jack's ice-blue ones, as if she was trying to read his thoughts behind them. "And something tells me you like to seek the truth, too."
"I want to see the good in people," Jack corrected. "But lately I've been having a hard time finding it…"
"So are you going to give up? Are you going to keep trying?"
"Trying what?"
"To see the good."
Jack didn't know how to respond to that. How could he believe in the "good," after everything that had happened to him? He had been deceived, betrayed, tortured, and used. Giving up seemed like a logical option.
But then there people that still cared about him. Like Lennox. Arcee had told him that everyone had a light. Jack would like to see that light again.
"I… I would like to try," he murmured finally.
"Alright, Jack," Gardner nodded. She placed the clipboard in her briefcase and turned to her patient, ensuring him that he had her undivided attention. "Then let's try together."
She visited him frequently then. Gardner always came to his room, so the bedridden boy didn't have to crawl to her office. It was quiet at first, the army brat keeping up his guard even as the psychologist tried to tear it down. Then, like a damn giving way, Jack found himself spilling out more and more. He talked and talked—how his life experiences, how he felt, what had happened to him—and he never felt ashamed of what he was saying.
Gardner always listened.
Weeks went by, and then Jack began to walk.
It was a long, strenuous process. At first the nurses tasked him with moving over to the chair in the corner. It was only a matter of feet, so it should have been a simple task. Instead the teen usually had to rely on the staff to half-carry, half-drag him across the room. While Arcee's support made him feel warm and safe, being surrounded by scrutinizing strangers watching him waddle across the floor filled Jack with humiliation. It was even worse when they gave him a walker.
Gonzalez tasked him with going from one side of the hospital wing to the other, insisting it was necessary. So everyone got to see Jack in all his glory, hobbling around with a hunched back like an old man.
It wasn't until the head physician became satisfied with the teen's motor skills that he cleared him for more intensive physical therapy. Jack was taken to another part of the hospital and given to the therapists there. They would make him walk between a set of bars, encouraging him to plant more weight onto his step. Initially the army brat would hold onto the bars for dear life, until eventually his legs no longer buckled when he stood.
His therapy moved onto more complicated contraptions after that—Jack was strapped into treadmills, placed in weight machines or tied to instruments he couldn't even name. With each new exercise, every muscle his body would scream with protest. His legs would ache terribly, hours after he was returned to his lonely bed.
More than once, the army brat's discomfort would agitate the blood-bond and he would receive an annoyed mental lash in response. Jack learned to be more careful, sealing his side of his connection. Megatron was watching him. The realization only tore his heart in two.
Jack's only relief were his visits with Arcee. They had gotten lucky when the Autobot first infiltrated the hospital that they hadn't gotten caught in the act. The boy doubted it would happen again. Especially considering the guilt look in her dull optics, telling Optimus Prime had likely scolded her for her antics. So there was a time that they could only communicate through messages—primarily through Jack's new phone. Although it was an adjustment, having a full keyboard displayed to him had proved far more convenient and faster than a nine-digit keypad. Sometimes Arcee would call him, and her voice was enough to keep him company.
It wasn't until Jack was finally freed from his restraints that they could meet. No longer fearing that the teen's heart could give out, Gonzalez removed the monitors, but stressed the patient would remain in his clinic for a while longer. Little did the doctor know, Jack used his newfound freedom to sneak out of the medical wing in the late hours of the night.
Arcee was always there to greet him. Sometimes they would linger by the hospital; other times they would go to the beach. Occasionally they took a drive around the base. The sound of the motorcycle's engine beneath Jack, the smell of the fresh, salty air, and the feeling of the wind rustling his clothes and running through his hair—it would rejuvenate him better any drug than any doctor could give him.
Maybe Arcee could take him out again tonight. Jack had started jogging today! It had only been for a few seconds, but it was something. Finally, finally, for the first time in weeks, he was getting progress. He was getting better! He couldn't wait to tell Arcee!
As if on cue, his cell phone rang. Like usual, there was no caller ID. Cybertronians could hack into radio frequencies in order to use human communication systems. However, the radio towers had no way to translate the complex line of code into any form of language.
Jack pressed the button and brought it to his ear, already pulling himself off the bed. "Hey, Arcee, I was just about—"
"Hello, Jack," Silas responded.
Jack's knees buckled.
All the air was ripped from his lungs and his heart stopped beating in his chest. He could feel the warm blood draining from his face.
No… no, no, nononono.
This was another nightmare. But even as Jack tried to dismiss the voice—the voice he never wanted to hear again—something cruel told him that it was real.
"H-how—how did you get this number?"
He didn't know the number, how did Silas—
"Surely you should know by now that MECH possesses an unlimited amount of resources," the bastard purred. "We've been looking for you for quite some time now—I was starting to think we would never find you, considering the last time I saw you…"
The last time Silas had saw him, when Jack was being taken away by Megatron. If the MECH leader was even there. Had he watched the destruction of his base from afar?
"I heard you were quite ill. How are you feeling?"
"I was doing better until you called."
"I've been there before. In a few months you'll be to yourself old self."
Jack didn't find that assuring. He knew Silas didn't call to check up on him. Apparently the anarchist was well aware of how the teenager was, if he had been monitoring him so closely. The single thought made Jack paranoid.
Were they watching him? How? Had they had hacked into the security cameras? Or was it the staff? Which one of his caretakers was a spy?
Jack found his hand was trembling so badly that he could barely hold the smartphone. He transferred it over to his other hand, as if it was any better. It took a moment for Jack to collect himself. He couldn't sound weak. Not to Silas.
"What do you want?" he demanded. It wasn't as threatening as he wanted, but at least this voice didn't shake.
"Isn't it obvious? I want you."
The possessive statement chilled Jack to the bone, but he managed to keep up his brave facade. "And what makes you think I will just hand myself over to you?"
No response.
"You hear me, Silas? I'm not—"
"J-J-Jack…?"
Rather than the MECH leader's cold drawl, the voice was filled with fear, confusion, and a mother's worry.
"M-Mom?!"
Then there was a second voice, just as familiar.
"Just wait until I get out of these cuffs!" Miko was yelling angrily at her captors. "I'm gonna tear you ap—AH!"
Jack cringed as the girl's cry was accompanied by a loud slap of skin on skin, followed by a thud as Miko was thrown to the floor. There was a whimper—unmistakably Raf's.
Then Silas's voice returned, filled with smug satisfaction, "Is that enough motivation for you?"
Suddenly Jack forgot how to breathe. Mom, Miko, Raf… Everyone he loved… MECH had taken them.
"Y-you—you… bastard! I swear if you hurt them—" Jack started only for Silas to leisurely cut him off.
"Rest assured, your loved ones will remain unharmed if you agree to cooperate. An eye for an eye, Jack. Your life, for theirs."
Jack closed his eyes and cycled through a quick breathing exercise, trying to calm his racing heart. It didn't help much, but at least he could bring himself to speak.
"So I turn myself in, you'll let them go?"
"Oh, Jack, always the optimist." The teen scowled at the condescending tone, but could only listen as Silas went on, "That's only ensures that'll I'll keep them alive. If you want them to be set free, it's going to be at a higher price."
Jack's mouth was painfully dry. What was more valuable than him? He had to summon what was left of his courage to ask.
"And what would that be?"
"The Autobots, of course."
"No fragging way—"
"Though I'm not picky one about which one you choose to bring me," interrupted Silas. "Even that motorcycle will be sufficient enough. That one's yours, right? Arcee? Or we could finish our work with Bumblebee. My scientists quite appreciated his last donation to the cause—though, they find Optimus Prime far more interesting."
With each name, Jack's trembling worsened. Silas hadn't been only watching him. He had been watching the entire team. The teenager had been told there had been a mole buried NEST's ranks—he had been the one behind Jack's kidnapping from Diego Garcia and he eventually broke under interrogation. But how many more were there? Could anyone be trusted? Was anyone safe?
Jack's voice was harsh. "You're a monster."
Silas only let out a light laugh at his snarl. "Come now, we've already been over this. I'm not the only monster here. After all, I clearly remember that you killed an unarmed man."
"Marcus tortured me," the army brat retorted. He added hatefully, "You ordered him to torture me!"
"Do you think that'll excuse what you did? Whatever will Johnathan think?"
"Don't you dare say his name!"
"So it seems I struck a nerve."
Jack wanted to curse himself. In a flip of a switch, rage had melted the fear that frozen his body. Now his heart hammered in his chest and his breaths came out short and shallow. He took hold of the bed's railing in attempt to lessen trembling, his knuckles were a bone-white. Jack shut his eyes tight. He needed to calm down. He couldn't let Silas get under his skin. But the damage was already done.
The anarchist went on nonchalantly, "I've sent you coordinates. Have you received them?"
Jack dared to look at the screen on his phone, seeing an unopened text message. "Y-yes."
"Good. Bring an Autobot to me, and I'll let your mother and your friends go in one piece."
"Last time I played your game, you tried to have my mom killed. How do I know you won't go back on your word?"
"You don't. But you're not going to risk a life just for yours, aren't you?"
Jack gritted his teeth and the hand by his side curled into a fist. He wanted to hit something. He wanted to hit something because he knew Silas was right.
How many people had already died because of him? The army brat had already lost his father. He didn't know what he would do with himself if he lost someone else.
Silas took his silence as an affirmative, continuing, "You have one hour."
"That's not enough time—"
"It will be. That is if you want to see your little 'family' ever again."
Before Jack could work up another protest, the line went dead with an ominous click. Suddenly his legs could no longer bear his weight. The boy fell back onto the mattress, and he had to keep his iron hold in order to prevent falling to the floor.
His mind was spinning, still trying to process everything that just happened. What was he supposed to do? What was he supposed to do?! Jack had no doubt that if he failed to comply to Silas's demands, he wouldn't hesitate to kill his captives. But the army brat wasn't a fool, either. Once Jack surrendered, MECH would kill them all. Including the Autobots.
The boy didn't even know how he would explain everything to them. What could he possibly say? Bumblebee and Bulkhead would no doubt go into a rage once they found out that their charges were in danger, and the rest of the Autobots would follow suit. They would tear apart MECH's entire base. They had already done it before.
Surely Silas should realize that by now, Jack thought. Taking a hostage isn't going to do him any favors.
Was that why he took three captives this time? More leverage to use against the Autobots? Or was he hoping they would get caught in the crossfire? When NEST forces sieged MECH's facility in order to save Jack, it had almost gotten him killed.
Not to mention the unsanctioned mission nearly cost the treaty. The spontaneous trip to Paris didn't help anything, either. Jack didn't want to think what would happen if Galloway caught the Autobots in the act for a third time.
What do I do? What do I do?
The words repeated in Jack's head, stuck in a loop, as he paced back and forth in the hospital room. He was painfully aware of each second passing by—getting closer to Silas's deadline.
An hour. How could he possibly convince the entire team, or a single Autobot, to comply in such an amount of time? It almost took the patient that long to limp out of the hospital! Rallying a counterforce was out of the question. Although NEST forces were relatively small and extremely disciplined, Lennox would need more time to mobilize his forces. Perhaps that was why Silas had given him such a time constraint.
So I have no choice but to do what he wants.
But why did Silas did want an Autobot as well? The MECH leader made it seem he was more interested in Jack, and how to use his condition to create the perfect soldier. Or was he plotting to reconstruct another Transformer, like the one the teenager had destroyed? If MECH succeeded, owning an army made of superhumans and a limitless supply of drones, they would be unstoppable. Jack had to stop them before that happened.
"Prove to me that this 'army' is worth my attention. And then, I just may consider their desecration."
The army brat froze as Megatron's words echoed in his head. Suddenly a sinful thought wormed itself into his head. He tried to slap it away, but it lingered, crawling to the forefront of his mind. Telling him he didn't have a choice.
Jack swallowed thickly and looked down at his feet. He stood barefoot on the cold floor, only a matter of inches from the foot of the hospital bed. It sat on wheels, but it was heavy, mostly made of metal.
It would certainly hurt. Then again, that was the point.
He steeled his nerves, all the while flaying back the layers he had sealed over the blood-bond. Then, as hard as he could, he rammed his foot into the iron pole of the bed.
Jack had to smother his yowl of pain as his toe was bent at an awkward angle and the fragile bone rammed was back into its socket. He gritted his teeth and held onto the rails to stop himself from hopping around like an idiot. The boy focused on the throbbing agony that cascaded over his foot, shooting up his leg and drowning almost all of his senses. He let it overwhelm his mind, so that the pain was the only thing he registered.
Like all the times before, the response was almost instant.
A tidal wave of darkness crashed over the blood-bond. It drowned his discomfort with black rage and sheer possessiveness, daring to challenge whoever had damaged what belong to him—
And just as quickly as the dominating presence appeared, it turned on Jack's psyche. The teenager choked on another cry as the darkness slapped at his thoughts. It was a sensation Jack wasn't unfamiliar with, but Megatron's mental assault wasn't less pleasant. Even if it was somewhat warranted, given how the human had chosen to abuse the bond between them.
The inferno of fury had lessened to simmering anger and annoyance that Jack had tricked the Decepticon leader. Already the boy could feel Megatron building up firewalls over the blood-bond, blocking Jack's emotions from reaching him.
"Wait!" he called out. He wasn't sure if Megatron could actually hear him, but saying the word aloud somehow helped Jack send it over the blood-bond. Still, it took him several long seconds to speak. "I, I… um, I need your help."
Impatience shifted to curiosity. It wasn't strong, but it was there. Jack took at advantage of it.
"MECH… took my family."
The teenager sent a burst of thought, showing Megatron the brief memory of his conversation of Silas, of the storm of emotions swirling in his chest.
Jack didn't know how to translate Megatron's initial response. The warlord cared little for other humans, even the boy's loved ones. He certainly didn't care about whatever ill fate that came to the Autobots. However, just the idea of Silas plotting to steal his property was enough to fill Megatron with dark anger.
"You wanted evidence to go after MECH," Jack reminded the warlord. "Is this good enough?"
For several long moments, Megatron's end of the blood-bond was filled with silence. Then—
Where?
A mental image of the coordinates flashed across Jack's eyes.
Follow his instructions.
"What? No—"
The Decepticon leader had an idea. And it filled Jack with horror.
"Please don't make me," he begged aloud.
In response, assurance stroked against his mind. It would be alright. This time Jack was not going to face MECH alone.
"But the Autobots—"
Unlike the Autobots, Decepticons are not bound by human bureaucracy.
The army brat swallowed. That was what he was afraid of. He felt the darkness wrap around him in the shadow of an embrace. Jack shivered as the details of Megatron's plan whispered from the back of his mind like sinful thoughts.
He would have to wait. If he replied too soon, Silas would get suspicious. The closer to the deadline, the better.
The mere thought gave Jack anxiety.
"What if I get caught," he pointed out. "Or something happens. What if Silas won't wait that long—"
The thought was sliced in half before he could even finished it. The embrace tightened. It would work.
"How do you know?"
I know.
Jack shut his eyes tight. It was a gamble, at best. So many things could go wrong. But every other option ended in disaster. He didn't have a choice.
Soundwave will open a groundbridge soon.
With that, Megatron retracted his mental embrace and the darkness retreated to the back of Jack's mind. The blood-bond was still open—the boy could feel the warlord's watchful presence. It didn't make him feel any better.
Jack decided it was the longest hour of his life. He paced his room like a lion in a cage, even though he probably looked more like a newborn fawn. He was trembling madly and his legs had reached the point of exhaustion, making his stride wobbly and unstable. Jack ignored it, though, instead of spending his time counting every second that went by. It felt like he was counting to eternity.
Even then, Jack started at the loud pop as the groundbridge came into existence, filling the room with spinning bright colors. It only made his anxiety spike, realizing what was on the other side.
Who was he even doing this for? The Autobots, or the Decepticons?
You're doing this for your family, Jack reminded himself.
Mom, Raf, Miko.
And everyone else that MECH put in danger. They had to be stopped. Silas had to be stopped.
Summoning the last of his courage, Jack stalked through the groundbridge.
Phew, a lot went down in this chapter. I will never understand how it takes +5,000 words to get to Arcee getting stuck in a door and then it takes ten plot points to get to +5,000 words. The woes of writing.
First off, I know Skyfire's appearance was brief, but he will come into play later. Like Arcee promised, he will be the last Autobot introduced in this series. The backstory of of the "Great Schism" is of my own making.
Although Jack has rekindled his relationship his guardian and Lennox, I do not believe that means his mentality is automatically healed. He still has a long way to go, and he's now untrustworthy of strangers. Especially psychologists, whom he's had bad experiences with.
Yes, I know in today's age, a smartphone is nothing special. But Transformers: Prime takes when they were relatively just coming out (jeez, where does the time go). They even dedicated a commercial.
Which brings to the conclusion of this chapter. At long last, we've finally come to the climax of this story. I suggest bringing popcorn for the next few updates. ;)