DISCLAIMER: I do not own this franchise I am only using it and some of its characters as a base universe for this story.
Chapter 21- Crisscross
POV: Twinwave
" " Normal talking
": :" Bumblebee talking
(Note: this chapter takes place during season 1 ep 17 "Crisscross " Of TFP)
"Wait wait wait, he got himself grounded?" I Said with a small laugh, we were on yet another energon mine mission. Me, Bee and Arcee had been sent to collect some but as usual we were already in a fire fight. "Yeah his mom- hold on he's calling." Arcee responded. ":We'll handle them, you take the call:" Bee buzzed as I ran forward to cut yet another vehicon in two, "We really need to get better at stealth." I thought as I ducked from a blaster shot.
"Bee, Twinwave, can you handle it?" Arcee asked, Bee buzzed yes and I nodded my helm. "Let me guess, she's on her way home?" I said Arcee nodded before she called for a bridge. I looked at Bee and nodded, and his optics gave me the same look back. "Now this is going to be fun." I muttered. Bumblebee and I each took a running start towards the vehicons who were firing on us and jumped, landing on their shoulders. Bumblebee blasted his while I just cut mine in two, we each took one of the last two and jumped out of the way before they exploded into plumes of fire.
"I'd call this one a mission success, now let's grab some of the stuff they already mined and go before more of these things arrive." I yelled to Bee who just nodded and ran towards the energon mining drill to grab a few crystal shards before we went home. "Ratchet, can you bring Cee's bridge back except to bridge us to base?" I Asked nicely, there wasn't a begrunteled sigh, only the sound of the swirling vortex appearing behind me and the sound of padsteps coming our way. "Thanks Ratchet, Bee and I will be back soon with some energon." I said switching the comm off and helping Bee.
I grabbed a few crystal shards from him before we ran through the ground bridge as shots started to sound in our direction. "Thanks Ratchet." I said that had been one exhausting mission but at least we got some energon out of it. "Take those crystals to the storage." Ratchet replied to my thanks, not bothering to look up from his computer. ":Let's go Wave:" Bee beeped waving me to follow him to the storage unit.
"I wonder how Cee is holding up with Ms. Darby and Jack." I said as we arrived at the storage, Bee shrugged and set down his crystals amongst the others that lined the walls of the room. I put mine down too, these still had to be refined in order for us to eat them but at least we'd been able to snag some before the energon blasts blew the joint sky high like the last few we'd been to.
I heard the ground bridge sound again as Bee and I walked back towards the main base area, "Well you made it back." I said jokingly as I walked over and punched my best friends arm lightly. "So, how'd it go with Ms. Darby?" I asked, Bee was just as curious as I was and wanted to know what was happening too but knowing Bee he was far too modesty to ask. "Well, she almost caught me when I bridged into the garage and yelled at Jack in the process. And after all that she kind stormed off to work, oh and she thinks we're some sort of science fiction club now." Arcee said, remembering the conversation she'd had with Jack and his mother.
"That sounds… interesting, I'm kind of thankful she didn't believe him. Our cover would have seriously been blown and it doesn't help that I'm a giant metal fox." I said with a little sigh, sometimes I wished that I'd have a vehicle mode instead of my primal one. It'd be easier to go on missions and hangout with the kids. ":What time do you have to be back in the garage by?:" Bee buzzed, Arcee shrugged before nineish Nurse Dardy's shift ends around nineish and she's usually home not long after." Arcee responded, I nodded my helm. "We'll there isn't much to do around here but I could project my holoform, you, me and Bee could go on patrol. I think Optimus and Bulkhead are back now." Arcee smiled a little. It would only be my second patrol but at least i'd get to hang out with my two favorite idiots until Cee had to be bridged back to Jack's house in time for his mum to get home. "Sure, why not? I could use the air before I'm crammed into that garage for the night." Arcee replied, I gave a little fist pump of joy before I transformed into my alt and powered off so I could project my holoform. "Let's go." Amber said (She's my holoforms name, I'm not gonna use my real name because I thought this one went more with her design.).
(Time Jump and POV change. POV:Arcee.)
Me, Twinwave and Bee came back from out patrol just in time for me to get bridged back to Jack's house, when we got back to base I felt Wave's holoform fizzle out of existence and her padsteps coming towards the main area. Instead of transforming just to walk through the ground bridge I just decided to stay in my alt incase Ms. Darby was home earlier than expected. "Ratchet I need a bridge to Jack's place, preferably right in the garage." I told Ratchet, he didn't say anything instead he just tped in the coordinates and pulled the ground bridge lever so I could drive through.
I disappeared into a cloud of gold dust and drove through the portal into Jack's garage and put myself into idol to wait and listen for Ms. Darby's car engine. The garage door started to open and Jack's familiar face ducked under it as he brought his bike back after his shift. "Arcee, is mom home yet? I didn't see her car." Jack said as he brought his bike around my alt to put it back in its place. "Don't know. I just bridged from base to beat her here. Oh and there's a package for you." I said acknowledging the yellow paper envelope that I'd just noticed. It looked like the ones Agent Fowler brought with him when he had a top secret document he was carrying.
It was sitting on the desk in the garage up against Jack's helmet. He set his bike up against the wall next to it and picked it up to open it and then dumped its contents onto the desks surface. A phone, not like the flip on Miko had dropped onto it, it had some sort of weird casing around it and made a similar noise that came out of the computers back at base when Ratchet tapped a new frequency. "Hello, Jack." an all to familiar voice said through the phone's speakers. "What does Silas need with Jack? Didn't Bulkhead and Breakdown deal with M.E.C.H a few days ago when we almost got blown up?" I thought listening to Silas speak through the phone. Whatever he wanted it couldn't be good, he didn't seem like one to have a friendly conversation with the bots and their humans he was trying to dismantle.
I untransformed, and knelt on one of my knees so I didn't bust a hole in the top of the garage. "Silas." I said coldly and a little disgusted, I mean he did try to dismantle Breakdown and blow up three or four states when we'd first met the gut. So like I said he was bad news, "What is it? W-what's going on?" Jack asked nervously. "M.E.C.H." I responded still coldly, I had no energy to deal with these idiots today or any day really. "They know where I live?" Jack asked, still nervous but now surprised and honestly I was too. M.E.C.H knowing where Jack lived wasn;t a good thing, now he could be targeted and used to get to us if they so desired. "We know things about your family that even you don't know." Silas siad, he'd clearly been listening to our short conversation. "For example, do you know where your mother is?" SIlas asked. "What did you-" Jack started until Silas cut him off. "Understand, Jack, we have no intention of hurting her. In fack, we'd like to reunite the two of you as soon as possible. I just need you and Arcee to follow the GPS coordinates programmed into this communicator. They'll lead you to the temporary facility I've set up." Silas said.
I crept silently away for the communicator as I could and tried to contact Ratchet for backup. "Ratchet?" I whispered instead I was met with a frequency that felt like it was frying my processor like an egg. I started screaming because I hadn't been expecting it and well, it hurt like a Kaon pit. "ARCEE?" Jacked yelled running over to me as soon as he heard me start screaming. At this point both my servos were over my audio receptors and the top of my helm trying to get the frequency and the frying to stop. "Did I not mention our communicator scrambles the signal and your brains?" Silas said, but he sounded quiet to my audio receptors because of how loud the frequency had gotten, I'd doubled over because of it and until it stopped I didn't see myself getting up.
"Any break in communication or attempt to reach the other Autobots and Miss. Darby- well, I wouldn't want to feel responsible for the outcome." SIlas said finally turning off the frequency and turning on the GPS coordinates of Miss. Darby's location on his twisted communicator. Jack practically ran over to grab it, "Arcee, what are we going to do?" He asked, waving it arounded. I was pretty sure Silas still had an open connection with us and could hear every word we were saying so I had to pick and choose my next ones carefully. "We can't call for backup or contact your mom to tell her we're coming to get her without getting our brains scrambled, but she is your mom and I know she means a lot to you." I said before I transformed into my alt and revved my engine. "So grab your helmet and get on, we've got a human to rescue." I finished.
I watched Jack grab his helmet and the communicator, he put his helmet on and opened the garage door before gripping my handlebars to let me know he was ready to go. I pulled out of the garage and down the driveway. "So where to first?" I asked Jack because he was the one with our directions, "Head left, it's in kinda the same direction where you, Bee and Bulkhead had that throw down with Knockout and Breakdown over Vincent." Jack said. I revved my engine again and we sped towards the directions, every now and again Jack would tell me where to turn or to keep going in a curtain direction.
"If anything happens to her because of my connection to all this…" Jack started as we rounded a corner in the downtown area, I'd been driving at nearly full speed since we left the house so we were nearly there even if we'd been driving only a few minutes. "Jack, M.E.C.H is only interested in me. Once they get what they want they'll let your mom go." I responded, it was my attempt at comforting him though I didn't know how well it was working. "That's not exactly reassuring. You're family too." Jack said as we made the final turn into Silas' make shift base. "I'll be fine, Jack. I can handle myself. I was reassured. Silas' makeshift base was the old factory that connected with the harbours crate drop of sight. We pulled down the long road that led to it and stopped at the entrance.
Jack put the communicator in his pocket and went to go take off his helmet but instead we were met with a bunch of guide lasers from assumingly the M.E.C.H guards guns. All of them were aimed at Jack's torso as he sat on top of my alt. "So what's the plan?" he asked quietly, trying to make sure the guards couldn't hear us. "The usual." I responded, pulling closer to Silas to shine my headlight on him to illuminate his face and part of his body. "Brace yourself." I muttered, I popped my front tire up to block Jack's body from any incoming fire and drove right past Silas almost hitting him. Gunshots and bullets followed us as we pulled into the nearest hanger to get out of the bullets range and to continue with phase two of our rescue plan.
I pulled to a stop, my tires screeching on the concrete floor. " MOM?!" Jack's voice echoed in the hanger as he got off and took his helmet off. The crancling of metal points on concrete was his reply as the two of us looked to see where it was coming from. "Looking for June? She's hanging around here somewhere." Airachnid said faking sympathy. She was up on a wall of course, over the door way. The second I saw her I untransformed and stepped in front of Jack to block him from any of her attacks. "AIRACHNID." I hissed getting into my battle stance.
Airachnid opened her palms and shot strands of her webs onto my body glueing my arms to their sides and kept me kneeling on the concrete floor. "What's she doing here?" Jack asked, stepping out from behind me to an attempt to help me get the webbing off of my torso. Airachnid, SIlas and some of his men surrounded us in a circle guns aimed at Jack and I. "Help them, please. They're human, like you. You can't let Airachnid-" I said trying to reason with Silas, I wanted Jack and his mom to leave her alive tonight whether or not I was coming with them was a different story. But of course Silas cut me off, "A few human lives are a small price to pay for a miracle of science like yourself." Silas said almost as if he was obsessing over a senpai or something.
My reasoning didn't get through to him however because he nodded to one of his men who took aim and fired an electricity blast onto the webbing, knocking me out. The room was black of course, I could only hear Jack's distant voice calling my name. "I guess this is what Wave felt when she got herself captured by those programmers and then by Rainjet. I could feel then drag me onto some sort of table, it kind of felt like a med berth except lower to the ground, I could hear Silas and his men talking. Something about Airachnid double crossing them and them cutting and running, "Well what do you know? I guess they are going to try dissecting me today after all." I thought. I heard the faint and distant sound of a saw coming to life as SIlas finished his iconic line of "Open her up.".
I could feel the saw blades cutting into my chassis plates and where my spark and subspace were, but they seemed to be trying to cut through the webbing first before they could get to me. "Did Silas not realize that the blast he had set was only enough to knock a human unconscious for a few hours and not an Autobot?" I thought, because I was very much still awake. "Jack, your mother wants to know. Don't leave her dangling." Airachind's voice sounded. "So they're keeping tabs on her, I can use this." I thought opening one optic to get a look at my situation. "You monster! Stop this!" June's voice yelled over the sound of the blades, now my intake (mouth) and both optics were open in a little shock and anger.
The saw blades stopped and two of Silas' men climbed on top of the makeshift operating table they'd created to open the webbing up from around my chassis. I quickly shut both optics and my intake as I felt them lift the webbing off. I needed to hurry but they might as well do all the work of getting this stuff off for me instead of me doing it myself. "We only have time to take one part. Go straight for the heart." Silas said to his men, a part of me wanted to get up right then and correct him but I waited. A drill sounded and it was getting dangerously close to my spark chamber and chassis. I felt it touch and then I sat upright and knocked the drill and the M.E.C.H soldier out of the way and another one coming at me with a chainsaw.
They both flew towards and landed next to Silas as I got up off the table to stand up, two more guards pointed their guns and started shooting at me while I got up. I transformed into my alt and sped out of the hanger thing taking the left towards where I'd seen Silas' camera capturing what might be June and Jack Darby's demise. "Hold on Jack I'm coming." I muttered.
When I got close to where Airachnid was keeping June and Jack I finally got to see what was happening. Airachnid was too close to June for my liking and had Jack pinned down by his hand with some webbing. I turned onto one of the support beams and drove at full speed until I reached the top of it and untransformed, kicking AIrachnid and letting gravity take her and me down to a separate platform to fight while Jack got his mom free.
When we landed on a conveyor belt below them, Airachnid took a swipe at me with one of her legs and in order to dodge it I did a few back handsprings to the middle of the belt to avoid her. I transformed my blades and got into a fighting stance, "M.E.C.H lost Breakdown- what are the odds they could hold onto you?" she remarked, taking another lunge at me on the belt, I jumped skyward to get out of the way but she used her spider's legs to regrab hold of me and drag me back down onto the belt with her. She took another slash as me and landed it on my chassis, it sent me flying backwards. I stabilized myself as I landed crouching on my peedes and using on servo to help slow me down and keep me upright.
I ran back towards her and threw a left hook at her faceplates and another at her torso and finally kicked her in there too, sparks flew as I landed each hit. We got further and further towards the top of the belt and I prayed that Jack and June had already left by the time we got up there. My kick sent her flying to a metal beam below, I jumped down after her but instead of landing she threw me to the ground below us instead. I groaned a little for the pain as I got up and did a back handspring again just nearly avoiding her leg. I scampered into a support beam and started to climb it, and of course she followed along with me. Because she was faster and had more legs than I did, Airachnid caught up in no time with me so I kicked her to knock her down a few feet. Instead of climbing back up to get me she opened her palms and fired blaster shots towards me as I climbed up to Jack who still hadn't gotten his mother out of the webbing. The blaster shots followed me and up and she started aiming for the platform they were on, as the shots hit it began to bend at the platform under the weight of Miss. Darby hanging from it's edge and from Jack standing near her.
I watched as Jack scrambled to the now top of the platform as it started to bend a slope downward from all the weight, I started climbing up to meet them trying to get to them before Airachind could. "JAAACK!" JUne screamed as Airachnid started climbing the silo below them to get to her. I wasn't too far behind and socked Airachind in the faceplates as an attempt to draw her away, instead she threw a punch back and knocked me to a platform just below them. She switched silos and started using her two front legs as knives in an attempt to stab me while I was below her (You know she really could've just used her acid and then it would've been all over for Arcee, but anyways.).
As I dodged her attack after attack more sparks flew as her legs collided with the metal of the platform I was standing on. Airachnid jumped down from her spot on the mill and Knocked me over the edge as I heard the mill's conveyor belt turn on and whatever this mill produced started to feed off of it and into a tube below. Airachnid took another shot at me with her leg before I jumped above her and landed right on top of her, knocking her into one of the mill's loads below. I landed in a lamp post as I nodded to Jack to turn the machine on again, I kicked the funnel over so it was over top of Airachnid's body. As the goop poured out of the funnel and onto her she stood up and it slowly dried around her so only the glow of her optics could still be seen.
"Huh, I guess they make concrete here." I thought as I watched Arachnid's body slowly stop moving because of it. "Aah! Jack!" June screamed. In all the excitement, I'd completely forgotten that she was hanging there. I looked down at Airachnid and saw the concrete around her servos start to crack as she flexed her digits, I walked the beam towards June and started climbing up to get her. "Hang on, June." I said as I started climbing. But apparently we didn't put enough concerte on her because Airachnid shot one of her webs and slugged me away from June and Jack, I crashed onto the ground near her and she pointed both servo-blasters at my helm and laughed.
Helicopter blades, well the sound of them and a few dozen helicopters surrounded our little fight party and began open firing on Airachnid. They didn't manage to do any good because they ended up knocking all of the concrete off of her and gave her a vehicle to scan as her alt, she knew she was outnumbered so like a coward she transformed and flew away. "No!" I yelled watching her fly, I was still pinned to the ground but In wanted the satisfaction of beating her after what she'd almost done to my partner and his mother.
The helicopters landed and Fowler stepped out, "Nice save Jack, nice save." I thought watching Fowler attempt to convince June of something, I transformed my semi-loose arm into one of my blades and cut the webbing loose from my body. I then got up and dusted myself off and began walking over to June and Jack, a little nervous of what she might say. "And she would be your…" JUne started trailing off as I walked over to them, "Motorcycle, guardian, Autobot, friend." Jack said, gesturing to me. I knelt down to get to somewhat of their height level to look June in her eyes when I spoke, "Call me Arcee." I said with a small smile. "Thank you, Arcee." June said standing up, and I gave her a small nod.
"I think it's time for that ride you once made me promise." Jack said, I nodded and transformed into my alt. "Grab a helmet and hold on tight." I said letting them climb on, by now the sun was starting to rise and this fight had taken up most of our night. But I figured we'd get back to base at around sunrise. We zoomed along the empty streets towards base, I didn't think introducing June to a ground bridge tonight was such a good idea.
As we got closer to the base the sun got higher in the sky, It was all the way up and no streaks of orange or pink were left when we got to the base door. They slowly opened as I slowed my driving to pull into the base's corridor that lead to the main area, we drove around the curve and into the base. As usual Ratchet was at his computer, Bulkhead, Miko, Bee and Raf were gathered around talking with the kids standing on what would've been bomb shell holders. Everyone including Ratchet turned to see us come in and the kids jumped a little when they saw Miss. Darby.
Optimus and Twinwave entered together from the hanger, clearly sparring again. Which usually meant Wave was angry about something but that would have to wait until our guest left. "Mom, meet my science-fiction club." Jack said as he and JUne took their helmets off and I came to an idol. "Alright everyone off." I said, of course Jack helped his mom get off after he got off himself and I transformed. "So, introductions. That's Twinwave and Bee, our scouts. Ratchet our medic, Bulkhead our in house wrecker. I think you've already met Miko and Raf, and this is Optimus Prime, our leader." I said pointing and gesturing to everyone in the room. They gave small waves and smiles as I introduced them. "While I would love to have you all stay, I believe that you should go home and rest." Ratchet said, eyeing up Jack, Miko, Raf and June.
Ratchet went over to the ground bridge and typed in Jack and June's coordinates. Bulkhead and Bee transformed into their alts to escort Miko and Raf home. And I headed towards the energin supply for a refuel and then to my room for a recharge.
I hope you enjoyed this chapter, feel free to leave some feedback for me so I can make it a better reading experience for you guys!
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