Hestia Prime stayed in Omega-1 for a few days, allowing Ratchet to check up on her intermediately on her cooling systems. She grew close to the Autobots, Smokescreen especially. She assisted in minor upgrades to their terminals and communication systems. Increasing their processing capacity and range of the coms. The human members of the team were enamored by her tales and discoveries.
"Like I told Optimus," she said. "I was in Greece looking for any indication of Cybertronian presence in Ancient Greek civilisation."
"Did you find any?" Miko asked. "We were there to find the Spark Extractor. I had to make up this 'Deus ex Machina' story to cheat the guards."
Hestia nodded. "The ancient tale of Talos. In Greek Mythology, a bronze automaton was created by the god Hephaestus. Given to the rulers of the island as a gift. It patrolled the island, hurling rocks at enemy ships. It's demise was met after Medea, a cunning sorceress, exploited a weakness in it's ankle. She manipulated it to graze it's ankle on a sharp rock and that's the end for Talos."
"That's it?!" Miko demanded.
"He just tripped and fell?"
"Anti-climactic, yes. Considering Crete is an island with rocky and steep cliffs, even Megatron would be hard-pressed to take a dive on that island."
"Was Talos real?" asked Rafael.
"You bet it was. They were Cybertronian. I found it's remnants scatted in the seas surrounding it. The people of Crete scatted a large parts of their remains in the seas while traces of Cybertronian metal were found in sacred items and weapons in weapons from that era."
"Died from tripping over a rock," Arcee noted dreadfully. "That's one way to go."
"From the story, Talos seem to be injured. Since they hurled rocks instead of firing blasters."
"But still," Miko pouted. "Talos died from tripping a rock."
"You try falling tripping from the stairs Miko," Hestia challenged.
"I see your point," Jack noted. Stopping the two from escalating. "Since you are not joining the Autobots, what are you going do while you're the thinking about it?"
Hestia sighed. "I'll be helping around. I am more Welfare than Leadership. I need to keep an eye on Prowl and Bluestreak. Prowl may just get an episode in just from the headache of Bluesteak leaning sign language. Then I got the trio of terror. Three younglings in Egypt that needs a nanny to keep an eye on."
"Younglings?!" Ratchet noted. "Here? On Earth?"
"Yes. Born 3 years ago. Somehow they follow human growth cycles. Lightbreeze is handling it well. Especially after one of the children was orphaned after the death of their parents' deaths. Lightbreeze is a disaffected Decepticons. She was left behind after her unit commander deactivated a spacebridge."
"So, she found the closest Energon," Ratchet concluded. "Earth."
"You got that right," Hestia said. "She established a great relationship with her human host family, the Amari. They own the Helix Securities. The most advanced security company you can ever find."
"Are you sure that a 'Con should be working with a security firm?" Jack asked.
"It's not my choice that the Amari too her in," she replied. "They have an agreement that they will never join active combat unless necessary. They're remaining neutral in this conflict. If Megatron or Optimus comes knocking with war trailing behind, best be assured that they will pull all the stops to take both of you down before the fighting starts."
"But Optimus-"Miko tried to rebut but was stopped by a hand gesture telling her to shut up.
"Both Optimus and Megatron are of the same rank. They are the leaders of two opposing factions that are at war with each other. That is a basic fact," The younger Prime stated. "Neutral parties can take the stance of avoiding the war or aggressive to both factions. That are more nomadic tend to avoid contact, while those who remain are will take offence when the war comes to their door and will shoot both sides."
Optimus turned to look at his younger Prime, "Those were quite the words from the someone are young as you."
"I may be of Earth, but lessons can be taken from the human history. Veterans of recent and older war still live. I learn from them, so we won't repeat the mistakes that humans had made."
Optimus nodded sagely. "It seems that we can still learn for humans," Optimus nodded.
"You got a human partner?" Miko asked.
Hestia was silent and gave a thought. "I do. Arc's my partner. Harriet Arc Lira."
"Where is she now?" Jack asked. "Is she in the States?"
"What? No. She's back in Borneo. She's still sleeping, I think. It's night-time there. Her family met me while in Australia, been with them ever since. We went on wild adventures together. Best one our Talos discovery. She's been complaining about the salt in her hair after the dive ever since. Colossus was a dud since it was just a giant statue."
"Wish I can join you," Miko said. "But I need to stick to Bulkhead to learn how to be a Wrecker."
Hestia snorted. "I'll give you my recommendations be in the battlefield once you manage to capture a Decepticon alive by yourself," she said. "Otherwise, you need to stay put. Running into the heat of war is basically suicide."
"That was what I was trying to tell her," Ratchet complained. "They easily go 'squish'." Demonstrating being squished by his foot.
"I wanna see the action," Miko quipped.
"You heard the Medic," Hestia said. "If Triage was here, he would've tied you to a post to keep you grounded here. You got lucky you Ratchet let you off with warnings Miko."
Miko pouted and mumbled.
Hestia left after 10 days of observation under Ratchet's supervision. Hestia told them to send to her partner's backyard, in the outskirts of a rural town in Borneo. She said her goodbyes and told them that she will be taking more considerations on joining the Autobots. Optimus assured her that once she has found the right call, the Autobots will welcome her to their ranks. She nodded. Before Rafael opened the groundbridge, she gave them her comm for them to contact her. The she walked out of the groundbridge.
Several days later, Jack was done teaching Smokescreen the rules of the road and they were an empty parking lot just outside of KO Burger. Vince, the school bully had parked his car several feet away from them. As Jack was going to exit Smokescreen and was about to trash Vince's muscle car with expired food, a steel silver sports car parked right next to Smokescreen. "Now what. Another show off?" Smokescreen whined. A girl stepped out. She was wearing a black leather jacket and grey jeans. She has somewhat of an Asian look to her and her hair was in tied in a ponytail. She did some stretches. Inside Smokescreen, Jack was staring at her. He was mesmerized by her for some unknown reason. "Hey!" the 'Bot snapped. "Shake it off. We're here to even the score with Vince, remember. Now get to it and ignore the lady!"
Jack did get out of the Autobot but only to shyly approach the girl. "Hey, never seen you around here. Stopping by?" he asked.
"Oh," she turned and rubbed behind her neck with a little British accent hinted. "Hi. I'm new here. I'm an exchange student from Borneo. Name's Arc, Harriet Arc Lira. I'm on my way to the Darby's. June Darby and her family are the host. Nice wheels, a McLaren."
"Mom never told me about a hosting an exchange student," he said, confused. Isn't this the Hestia's partner? He thought.
"Wait. You're her son?"
"Yeah, name's Jack, Jackson Darby." The two shook hands. Smokescreen on the other hand was disappointed that Jack was going to drop the prank on Vince. He really wanted to get even with the bully when the threw a burger on his window. He was not cool with that. Soon said bully came out of the burger joint and saw Jack and Arc chatting. "Hey Darby! Who's the new lady?" he said with a seductive smile shown to Arc. Arc was disgusted by him.
"Jack, is he the local bully?" Arc asked Jack quietly.
"Yeah," the black haired teen mumbled. "Vince."
"Thought so," she concluded. Then turned to look at the bully. "So, you own outdated flames over there?"
"Yeah," Vince said with pride but his face faltered. "Wait. Outdated? You know that ride goes up to 180 miles per hour. It has NOS as well."
She rolled her eyes at him. "Seriously? NOS? What are you? A sore loser? The latest model of this is the Hellcat, where were you last season?"
"Oh yeah!" the bully challenged and punched the window but only to bruise his fist and ego. "What are your windows made of?"
"Bullet-proof glass," she bragged. "Can't be having this Aston Martin be hurt in a town near Vegas. Hey Jack, mind showing me to your house?"
"Sure," Jack agrees. He went back into Smokescreen.
"Hey! Since when I agreed on being a guide?" the rookie asked demandingly.
"Please Smokescreen. She's a guest." Jack pleaded. The rookie Autobot gave in to is plead with a heavy sigh.
By noon, they returned to the Autobot base with Smokescreen and Jack laughing. "Vince got it bad," Jack said in glee. "I'm so… posting this tonight. Hey Vince, how's your new makeover?"
"Yeah, who know that the girl living with you willingly use her lip coloring and paints to prank the scrap head."
"Arcee look." Jack said as he showed his guardian the masterpiece that the has done to his bully's car. The car was badly smudged with pink and red lipstick and several liquid makeup and glitter. On the windscreen wrote, 'The Drag Queen of Jasper' in curved letters in hot pink lipstick.
"The bully?' she asked as she walked towards the teen who showed her the picture on his phone. "Jack, you taught Smokescreen the things he never needed to know about him human cosmetics? Who's 'the girl'?" the femme asked demandingly.
"Hey, I just knew mom took in an exchange student. She thought it wouldn't work but here she is now."
"You never gave a heads up?" Arcee asked.
"Mom had forgotten about it. We were being chased by Airachnid at the day." Jack told her. "It's Arc, Hestia's partner."
"Is her ride Hestia?" Arcee asked.
"No," Smokescreen said. "No signal was coming out of her ride."
"Then we must not let his house guest discover our presence as it may endanger her as June and Jack did," Optimus declared. "Arcee you must maintain cover around her." Ratchet only huffed in protest but didn't say a word. He knew better to involve another human in their war.
"Umm… Arcee, you may need to stay have a tight space in the garage." Jack sad sheepishly to his guardian.
"What? She has a car?" Arcee asked cautiously.
"Yeah, a sports car that may leave both Smokescreen and Bumblebee in the dust,"
"Her parents are ultra-rich or something?"
"I guess," Jack shugged. "Her uncle seems to be rich. He lend her the car while she lived with us for the exchange. She personally hates bullies and would do anything to get even, in a non-harming way. Like pranks. In her country, nobody can prank someone as good as she did. That's why we 'redecorated' Vince's ride. Luckily, Vince was taking his time in the store."
"That was irresponsible of you two."
"What can I say? Work hard, play hard?"
"Yeah, No, humans were harmed in the making of these photos." Smokescreen said.
Optimus sighs. "If any case, Smokescreen you are to be her guardian if she caught wind of our presence or the Decepticons. Arcee…"
"Got it, keep quiet at Jack's." the femme sighed. The Prime nodded. Smokescreen and Jack took off again.
"I'm going training again. Jack, wanna come?" the rookie asked the human.
"Sure," teen agreed. Smokescreen transformed and Jack jumped into the mech's alt mode and the sped out of the base. On their way back, he called Arc to race him with her Aston Martin.
"Sure," she agreed. "Let me get ready and send me the pin."
Not too long later, they were at an abandoned street with Arc in her car, ready for a race. "Alright, I want a clean race and first one to the mile mark wins. Winner gets to be treated by the loser."
"You're on!" Jack accepted the challenge. They sped off with Smokescreen in the lead. He was whooping as he was leading. Arc smirked, she presses the gas pedal more and accelerated, gaining on the rookie Autobot. They raced across the desert road, not knowing a giant was forming from the sand in their wake.
As Arc was passed the Autobot, a giant Cybertronian foot appear out of nowhere and Arc swerved her car and barely hitting it, missing a head-on crash against the huge foot.
Smokescreen had no choice but to drop Jack to a safe distance and race to save Arc. He was putting the pedal to the metal as he went to catch up on the teenage girl. He was catching up to her. As he was tailgating her, the sand giant formed into a Cybertronian made of sand.
"What the scrap?!" the rookie cursed. "No choice but to reveal myself." The rookie transformed and was ready to face his sand rival. He activated his blaster an aimed at the spark chamber of the sand creature and it was charging at the rookie. With one precise shot, he took the sand creature down and it crumbled into a pile of sand. He turned to see that Arc has done a serious C-turn and drove towards him. It was seconds later, she halted next to the rookie and came out. "Whoa! An Autobot! Surreal."
"I am," he said proudly. "I heard you from Hestia. Now follow me. We need to get you to safety.
Arc nodded and picked up Jack as they went to the Autobot base, following the rookie's lead. Once arriving at their base, Arc turned to Jack. "Not bad of a base."
"It's a good place to go anyway," Smokescreen said after he transformed.
"Will you keep it down?" Ratchet barked to them as he fidgeted with the console, trying to contact the rest of the team. "Arcee! Bulkhead! Can anyone hear me?"
"What's going on Ratchet?" Jack called the medic.
"Our sensors located a second Iacon locator beacon," he turned and saw Arc. "What in the name of Primus is another human doing here?!"
"I'm Arc, Jack's houseguest and an exchange student from Borneo. You must be the medic of the Autobots. Hestia Prime told me. We're best buddies back in Borneo. She's doing some research and whatnot."
"You better not meddle with anything," the medic warned.
"Please, I've been a librarian. I know quiet and the definition it." The medic huffed and turned towards the main console
"I can't reach Optimus or anyone, for that matter."
"I'll go," Smokescreen volunteered.
"Alone?!" the medic demanded.
"You have a better option?" the rookie asked.
After some very quick contemplating, Ratchet unwillingly agreed. "Fine," he growled, staring up the groundbridge and went back to the main console, trying to contact the Prime and the rest of the Autobots of Team Prime.
Smokescreen looked down at the two teenagers. "He says fine…but I don't really wants me to go alone," the rookie said with a suggesting tone.
Jack and Arc were the first one to appear from the swirling green portal. Then reality hit the boy.
"I…just pulled a Miko. Plus, I dragged my houseguest into it." Arc simply ignored him and looked at the surroundings as the Smokescreen came out.
"Let's go grab a relic!" he smirked, going ahead of the two. Jack and Arc followed him and they hid behind a pile of boulders. Jack peered behind the rock to see the Decepticons were excavating the cliff. When he looked properly, he saw they were trying to chisel out a sword.
"It's a sword," Arc pointed out in amazement.
Smokescreen zoomed his vision to see the blade embedded in the stone. "Not just any sword, it's the Star Saber. A legendary weapon forged by Solus Prime, as lore would have it…it's rumored to wield the power of the Matrix," he explained then grinned. "I'm gonna make Optimus proud."
Jack turned and his sights immediately zeroed in to a certain Decepticon. "Not a good idea," he interjected. That halted the rookie.
"Why?"
"Because Megatron's here."
"The Dark Lord himself," the rookie growled. The got up and gave a triumphant grin. "He won't know what hit him."
"Smokescreen wait," Jack warned, halting the Elite Guard. "Why doesn't Megatron just take the Star Saber?"
"Germaphobe?" Smokescreen shrugged. That made Arc raise a brow.
"Seriously, we need to wait for back up."
"He's got a point there, Smokes. If Hestie were right, he's not your generic cartoon war general." Arc added.
Smokescreen stood up and had a triumphant look on his faceplate. "You heard Ratchet," he said leaping on the rock. "Back up's not available right now." Then he went to get the relic.
Arc sighed in frustration, "Seriously. He is supposed to be like several centuries old and he acts like a teen." Then, blasted fire were aimed at the Smokescreen. He managed to get through and finish the Vehicons that were firing him. Once he was at the site of the relic the attempted to pull it out but only to fail. "Scrap," he cursed. "It's really in there tight." He was shot from behind and collapsed. The rookie turned to face up but only to see that he was surrounded by several Vehicons.
"Smokescreen!" Arc gasped on horror.
"No!" Jack whispered in fear. "This cannot be happening." He took out his phone and dialed for Ratchet.
Arc suddenly had goosebumps and turned to see behind. She gulped as she saw an Insecticon was behind the, snarling viciously. "Jack…" she tried to get the attention of her new friend.
"Ratchet, you gotta get Optimus here now. Smokescreen went for the relic. It's called the Star Sabe…" he said urgently until he heard a violent hiss and snarl of an Insecticon.
Both took off as fast as their feet could take them. "Where in the name of Cybertron are you?" Ratchet demanded from Jack's phone as the two ran for their life. Jack and Arc managed to avoid getting crushed by the tree which Insecticon managed to drive down with its weight. Jack tripped a stone and dropped his phone. Arc helped him up, picking his phone up in the process.
"There!" Jack pointed out to a gap between several rocks that looks like the cave. One of the Insecticon's arm were reaching out to catch them. The two barely avoided it and stumbled forward, nearly crashing against a boulder. The two turned to see the Insecticon lifting it's arm in the intent to kill. They rolled away from its path and tried to avoid being crush by their other limbs that are set to kill the two humans. Once they managed to avoid the Insecticon's limbs, they sprinted towards the gap now with several of the alien bugs behind them. The slid into the gap and went to the further into it.
Their hearts beating fast. "You okay?" she asked. The Insecticon rammed the hole they hid in.
"Not really," he said. Flinching each time, the hole shook from being rammed. "What are we going to do now?!"
Arc took a deep breath. This is now a matter of life or death now. She took his hands and placed them between hers. "You need to trust me," she said. "Please."
A blue glow emitted from their hand and Jack felt the sensation of being energized and tingling feeling. The last time he felt like this was when fingers were stuck in a socket when he was five years old. The boulders give way and the two now stood as Cybertronians. Jack now stood as tall as Optimus Prime and in front of him was Hestia Prime, holding his hand. Jack looked into Hestia's eyes and he didn't believe what he saw. "Arc, you were Hestia Prime?"
"Yes, now explanations aside and let's kick some Insecticon backside." She said as she took her stance and Jack only tried to mimic her.
Both teamed up to subdue the Insecticon. They punched it and Hestia activated her blaster and shot at it. Jack instinctively pulled his but became flustered. "How do I shoot?" he asked.
"Imagine puling the trigger to one of those arcade shooting games," she said. "Just harder. It'll kick back but you'll get used to it."
Jack nodded and followed her directions and shot at the Insecticon. Their combined fire manages to kill it.
"Good job Jack," she congratulated him. Then a groundbridge opened. A second Insecticon came charging at them. "By Liege Maximo's rusted pedes, these Insecticon are persistent."
Her blasters now switched to blade. "Cover me," she said. Jack nodded and aimed at the incoming Insecticon. She rushed towards it and swung her bladed right arm up, slicing one of the mandibles on its face. Jack shot it in the chest, stunning it before Hestia jabbed her blade in one of the crevasses on its chest. Slicing sideways. She blocked its clawed arm that swung at her. Arcee suddenly kicks it away from her.
"What are you doing here Hestia?" she asked. "And who's he?"
She sighed, "Explanations come later," she said. "Decepticons are about.
"I thought you were Australian," Jack told Hestia as he joined them. "Hey Arcee."
Arcee's eyes widen. "I know that voice. Jack?"
"Yep. There's so much questions and I need answers too. Like Hestia said, 'Cons are crawling about and Smokescreen just dragged himself into trouble."
"We settle this later," she glared at the other two. Hestia just shrugged while Jack had fearful look on his face.
They, went to aid the Autobots defending Optimus. Hestia's blade turned back to blasters and she expertly shot down all of Megatron's entourage behind him. When the elder Prime made the leap in his alt, it made everyone ceased fire. Holding their breath. Megatron managed to shoot him at the side but it didn't stop his momentum, he transformed. The sword recognized him, glowed and began to shine. The successor of Prima and the incarnation of the peacemaking Prime. Once the sword, was free from the huge chunk of mountain, Optimus went for a free fall.
Landing, a dust cloud was formed. It cleared, and the eldest Prime knelt in the middle of a large crater with the sword's blade thrusted deep into the ground.
"I loosened it for him…" the rookie muttered and received a slap on the backside of his head by Hestia. Gasping in shock and pain.
"That was for acting recklessly and for going suicidal. Seriously moron? Do you want to die? Knowing the odds were definitely against you?" she scolded.
"Arc?" he realized the owner of the voice.
"In the alloy. That there is Jack. Explanations later." Decepticons on the battle field retreated and Megatron ordered to release the gigantic chunk of mountain onto Optimus. The boulder fell and landed on the slope, rolling down at great speed. Optimus seem obvious to it but he seemed to be more interested in studying the blade. The Autobots, Jack, and Hestia held their breath as their leader was directly in the path of the boulder.
"Optimus, retreat!" Arcee yelled.
"Now!" Bulkhead shouted.
Optimus cocked his helm and turned slowly…before swinging the blade.
Slicing the mountain in two. Every one of the Autobots' jaws dropped, Even the Decepticons were stunned by the scene in half.
"Did he just…?" Bulkhead asked softly.
"Uh huh…" 'Bee chirped
Optimus looked up at the Decepticon warship and howl a war cry, swinging the massive blade. An arc of electric blue light burst from the blade and slammed into the ship. No doubt heavily damaging it.
"He can do that?" Smokescreen asked another useless question and earned another slap from Hestia.
"Arc! Stop it! I'm way older than you." Arc just rolled her eyes.
"How epic was that!?" Smokescreen shouted. "I was it with my own optics but… I still don't believe it!"
Optimus turned and to look at the two young Primes. He saw the uncanny resemblance of him and the young mech. He kept his suspicions to himself first.
"Hestia," he said. "I thank you for your assistance in today's battle. I thought you were still doing your deliberations."
"Technically I still am," she said. "Circumstances changed after I was attacked by one of Unicron's stone puppets when Jack and I were racing on an empty starch of road."
"Jack?" Everyone asked.
"Me," Jack spoke up.
"That voice," Ratchet said. "Jack, is that really you?"
"How did this happen?" Bulkhead asked.
"It's me alright." Jack confirmed. "I don't know what happened either. She just held my hand and we shifted into Cybertronians."
"Ratchet," Hestia said. "I need to call Miss Darby to the base. She can explain Jack's condition more than I can." Ratchet nodded and contacted June to be present at the base.
"Mrs. Darby is on her way to the base," Ratchet informed. He then walked up to Hestia. "Your speech patterns changed. You sound like Arc."
"I am," Hestia said. Shifting back to as her humans forn, Arc. "Jack can do this too. I just gave his transformation a push since it was a life-or-death situation."
This stunned the rest of Team Prime a shock. Ratchet looked at the young Elite Guard sternly. "You took them to an active battlefield?!" he scolded. "What were you thinking?!"
"We are in need of other Autobot," Arcee added. "Not another child."
"Look Arcee," Smokescreen said. "I was wrong. I'm sorry, again. If you need me kicked off Team Prime-"
He was cut off by Optimus, "Disregard for human safety, anyone's safety. Will not be tolerated. Do you understand?"
"Fully sir," Smokescreen noted.
The proximity alarm sounded and the screen show's June's car approaching. Arc took it as a sign and transformed back as Hestia. As June came in, she parked her car close to the entrance tunnel, and ran out of her car. She gasped at the sight of Optimus and Jack in his Cybertronian form side by side. She began to sob and morphed into the well-known femme commander and bonded to Optimus, Elita One. She hugged them both, stunning the two but Optimus recovering quickly and hugging the two tightly to his chassis.
This made Jack more confused. Then his eyes glowed, taking him into a transient state. He felt his own spark-beat and he mentally reached the second energy source within him. He was suddenly pulled in another state of consciousness.
He was in a space where the floor was solid glowing light and the surrounding were empty and the sky was of dark. He was gawking at these strange surroundings. Then a flash of bright light caught his attention. He stood before a titan of a Cybertronian whose armor was emblazoned with gold, silver and titanium grey. He looked very regal and very powerful but something made him feel that he was currently weak and the grey was spreading on his armor.
"Primus," he gasped. Instinctively, he knelt with one knee touching the floor.
"Young Prime, it is good to see you once again," said the Cybertronian god.
"I've never met you my Lord."
"You've met me before, the first-born child of any Prime and a descendant of two. I knew you before you were created. You, my child, are the successor of the youngest and most influential member of the original Thirteen Primes, Optimus Prime."
"But he's still here," Jack interjected.
"Ah, he is. You see the one you see is the incarnation of him, now taking the role of my eldest Prime, Prima. Previously he was the peacemaker of the Thirteen and now, that role has now fallen to you. You have shown not only the qualities of your sire but his previous self as well. The moment he has given you the key to Vector Sigma, was the moment your matrix unlocked. I am asking you this, will you bare the responsibility of a Prime for the sake of the future of Cybertron?"
The youth contemplated the proposal of the god for a moment and nodded. "I will, to end this war and bring peace to Cybertron."
"Well said. Now go, Ultimus Prime. Bring peace to my kind."
Everything flashed brightly and Jack snapped back to reality. "Jack!" his name was called out. It was his mother's voice. The fogginess of his sight dissipated, and he saw a rose red femme, a bit taller than Arcee.
"Jack," she said. Jack realised that she had his mother's voice. "Are you okay?"
"Yes," he told her. "I was…summoned, I guess, by Primus. He told me that I was chosen as a Prime. Taking Optimus's role as the 13th Prime, naming me Ultimus Prime. What happened? I have so many questions." The turned to look Elita looking stressed and sad.
"I never wanted it to happen like this," she said.
"I'm sorry Miss Darby," Hestia said. "We were in a life-or-death situation by being chased by an Insecticon when Smokescreen left us."
"Us?" Elita asked. Hestia nodded, transforming back to her human form.
"Harriet?" she said. "You're Hestia Prime?"
"Yes," she nodded, transforming back as Hestia. "Long story on it's own. You first though, Optimus and Jack…Ultimus are dying to hear from you."
She sighed. "I knew that it was inevitable," she began.