A/N: Well this took a little longer than expected. I'll explain why in the ending A/N.
So before we begin, I want to give a shout to the story 'Professor Shockwave' by 'KtyouVsWriting'. That's the story on this site that actually inspired me to make this. it's a really good story so I'd go and check it out.
Anyway, here's chapter 5. Enjoy!
The Carnivac looking monster that was foolish enough to attack found itself crushed under Arcee's foot. She only took the briefest of glances to confirm the kill before taking off into a sprint, leaving the disintegrating corpse behind. These few smaller monsters weren't a problem for Arcee. She was literally able to defeat them without using her hands. But that didn't stop Arcee from panicking.
The boy had stopped twitching now. His wheezing breath, along with the occasional pained moan, was the only indication that he was still alive. That red liquid still stained his body as it slowly leaked out of him. Arcee had guessed that this red liquid was for these creatures as energon for Cybertronians: he needs it to live. Without it, he dies. But how much could he afford to lose and still be fine? She didn't know.
"Damn it," she looked around as she continued running. She didn't even know where she was going. She could have taken him back to the ship, but then what? She didn't know their biology. Anything she could have done would have only made it worse. That was assuming she even had anything on the shuttle that could help him at all, which she knew for a fact she wouldn't.
She felt the boy stir in her arms. She slowed her running and looked down. His red stained face was scrunching up as if trying to see through the liquid. Parts of his body started to move slowly. It looked as though they were subconsciously reacting to pain. He was saying something under his breath. But thanks accidentally downloading their language earlier, she could tell it was incomprehensible muttering.
"Shhh," Arcee cooed as she tried to calm him down and stop moving before he accidentally made his injuries worse. "Shhh, you are going to be ok," she said softly as she brushed her finger against the top of his head as gently as she could. "You are going to be fine. Everything is going to be ok. Just rest and fall asleep, and when you come back you'll be as good as new. Just rest, please." This worked, as moments later he stopped moving. He still had a wheezing breath, but at least his injuries wouldn't get worse.
It pained Arcee to say those words to him. She heard Ratchet, Red Alert, and even Minerva say similar things to other Autobots on the field and in medical centers. They usually said it to Autobots too critically injured, who had little chance of survival. It was a final way to try and ease the pain. A lie of false hope. She hoped that her telling the boy he'd be ok wouldn't end up being a lie as well.
She had a plan. It was vague and she didn't have complete faith in it, but it was something. So many things on this planet were similar to how things were on Cybertron. From how these creatures looked, to their transportation machines, to how their towns were constructed. By that logic, the town they were at should have a main road that connects to another town, just like on Cybertron.
This was not a major city, so there had to be a road connecting it to another for supply runs. Plus, the attack on that town looked like it happened recently. So theoretically there should be a town down the road that wasn't attacked by these monsters. A town where she could get the boy help. It was all in speculation, but it was her only hope.
A roar behind her caught her attention. She looked behind and saw another one of those Carnivac beasts gaining on her. She quickly stopped and turned around, catching the beast off guard as she punted it off into the forest from where it came.
The beast catching up to her made Arcee realize something. She wasn't moving fast enough running. An idea came to her mind a moment later. "Would that work?" she wondered aloud. "It could possibly hurt him but-" The boy unconsciously moaned and squirmed a little in her arms. "... it's worth the risk."
Very carefully and slowly, Arcee transformed into her alt mode. Her arms remained as they would in her bipedal mode while the rest of her body shifted. Her arms normally would have made up what was the seats of her alt-mode, but now they were holding the boy. It wasn't the most comfortable thing, but it would keep him steady while she traveled in her alt-mode.
As she expected, she was able to travel much faster. But the joy was soon replaced with distress. Soon the area of trees became more and more concentrated and she had to slow down to swivel side to side to avoid them. Plus the boy's limbs were swaying around with each turn.
"Blast," she cursed under her breath. "I can run faster around these things and keep him more stable in my other form. Ah well, it was good while it lasted." She was about to transform back and start running, but she entered a clearing and immediately the heads of several of those larger monsters turned towards her.
"Oh… SLAG!" Arcee's wheels screeched as she braked and turned around. Her escape was cut off by one of the monsters as they all roared angrily at her. She backed up and just barely avoided a paw crashing down into the ground in front of her. The rest charged her and she did her best to keep the boy safe as she dodged every attack that came her way. "Oh no..." but she soon found herself backed up against a large tree, surrounded by the howling and growling monsters.
She was afraid that if she transformed they could get close enough during the process and the boy could be killed. "Blast it… I don't know what to do," she admitted out loud, as much as it pained her to do so. Her mind raced with dozens of thoughts, trying to find a way out as the monsters closed in.
"We have a gathering of Ursa over here!" Everyone's attention turned to the direction of the new voice. A small sparkly of hope welled up inside of her. That was the same language of-
"I see'em!" Another voice shouted, this one more feminine and interrupting Arcee's thoughts. "Waste them!" The air was suddenly filled with the cracks of fully automatic gunfire and the sounds of metal blades against flesh. The black beasts, or 'Ursa' as she heard them called, turned their attention away from herself and the boy and towards the new arrivals.
Arcee still couldn't believe what luck she just had. Was Primus watching over her? What were the odds that she'd run into a patrol of those creatures? This was perfect! She could leave him with them and…
And what, leave? She could, but if they saw her? A vehicle that needed a driver to move that was seen moving without a driver would look suspicious. If they spotted her they could investigate. The last thing she wanted right now was attention on her true form.
But more importantly, the creatures haven't reached them yet. If she left now, the boy would be exposed, and if one of those Ursa came back they could kill him easily. She would not allow that. Instead, she put the boy down gently on the ground and shifted her arms so she was fully in her alt mode. She leaned down over, but not on him, and waited.
The sound of gunfire and blades remained constant while the roars of the Ursa were dying off very quickly. Three Ursa came into her field of view, one being pushed back and the other two running away. Two more of those creatures immediately gave chase. One had white fur on her head, matching white clothes, and a feminine look. The other had a more masculine build and had the same uniform and weapon as the dead soldiers in the town.
Then, one of the strangest thing Arcee has ever scene happened.
The female drew out a sword with a handle guard and lunged forward. A strange holograph with some kind of hieroglyph appeared seemingly out of nowhere underneath her and propelled her forward. She flew past the two fleeing Ursa, landing blows and cutting their flesh as she passed. Another hologram appeared before her in mid air, allowing her to bounce off and head back to the Ursa, slicing them up. This repeated a few more times until the Ursa were nothing more than torn pieces of decaying flesh.
As more of the soldiers ran up with their rifles drawn and shot the other Ursa dead, Arcee was at a loss for words. What did she just see? It was obviously some kind of power she had, but so many questions entered her mind. What exactly was that? How do they activate and use it? Why didn't those other soldiers use that power? Could only certain individuals use that power? Did the power pertain to status or skill?
"Specialist, there's a motorcycle by that tree," one of the soldiers called out to the girl with the power while pointing towards her.
'Motorcycle,' Arcee repeated the word in her head. 'So that's what my vehicle is called.'
"There's someone underneath it!" The power girl called out. "Squad, perimeter! Medic, on me!" She barked out orders and the squad obeyed. More soldiers, bring the total up to six, ran up and took positions around them, making a perimeter while one soldier ran up to her with the specialist. He had a red cross painted on his helmet, exactly like the medics did back on Cybertron.
The medic ran up and crouched down next to the boy. He moved Arcee to the side, put a metal case down next to him, and started examining him. The specialist came up behind him moments later. She slightly grimaced at the boy's condition. "Corpsman, how bad is he?" she asked with concern.
"Looks bad, but I can't say for sure just yet," he replied as he took two vials out of his metal case. "I need to inject him with morphine and antibiotics before I examine him."
Arcee made a mental note to look the terms 'morphine' and 'antibiotic' when she could. While she didn't know what they were, she took comfort that this medic knew what he was doing. The boy was in good hands. He would be ok. As the medic injected the materials into him, the specialist's attention was drawn elsewhere. Arcee followed her gaze.
Off to the side, there was another person slowly walking towards them, peaking at what the specialist and the medic were doing. She looked young compared to the others and had the same color fur and eyes as the boy did. She wondered if they had some sort of connection. Her suspicions were confirmed when the young girl's eyes widened when she laid her eyes on the boy.
"J-Jaune?" She said with a croaking voice. As she got closer. "Jaune!" She cried as she ran towards. The specialist got in her way and stopped her.
"Joan, wait!" The specialist said to the girl as she held her back. "Stop."
"Please!" Joan cried again as she struggled to get past her. "You don't understand! I need to see him! I need to see if he's ok!"
"Joan, I know exactly what you're going through," the specialist said. "I'm an older sister too." At this Joan stopped and looked at her and Arcee's curiosity grew. "I have a younger sister," she started to speak more softly. "She's no older than your brother is. I love her and there's nothing in the world I wouldn't do for her." The specialist took her arms off of Joan. "We don't know how badly he's hurt. If you went to him like you did you could have hurt him."
"I..." Joan took one last glance at her brother, the boy who she now knew was named Jaune, before looking back at the specialist. "Yeah," she whispered out with a nod. "S-sorry."
"Don't apologize for caring for your little brother, but don't let your emotions take too much control of your actions. I've seen that become the downfall of too many people."
Arcee continued to listen and could help but be intrigued by the conversation, mainly at the mention of the words 'brother' and 'sister'. Brother and sister were terms also used back on Cybertron. To be called one of them meant that either you were born in the same group with them in an incubation chamber, or you had such a strong bond with them that you became family.
Arcee didn't remember anyone from her incubation chamber. Her family was her fellow Autobot she fought with on Cybertron against the Decepticons. Many of whom weren't alive anymore or she hadn't heard from in a while. Regardless, knowing that these creatures shared a very similar view of family filled her with a small ting of happiness and hope.
"Specialist Schnee," the medic called over.
"Medic, how bad is he?" The specialist, who Arcee now knew was named Schnee, asked with concern as she walked up, while Joan looked over Jaune with worry.
"Externally, he looks worse than he actually is. Wipe the blood off and bandage the cuts and he'll be fine" he replied as he put some vials in a waste bag in his case. "Internally is another story. His left arm is broken, the cut on his head indicates a concussion, and how his body reacted indicated that his ribs are bruised, to what extent I can't say. There's also the possibility of internal bleeding but I don't have the equipment for that."
Arcee winced when she saw Joan's twist with concern, collapsing and gripping Jaune's right hand in both of her hands, muttering something that she couldn't hear. While Arcee didn't understand what each part was, she could understand that Jaune's injuries were serious.
"Those kind of injuries on a civilian?" Specialist Schnee said with concern and amazement as she took a device out of her pocket. It was a thin white slab that extended into a rectangle. Arcee immediately recognized that it was another the same device she found in the town. "Rorke's Drift F.O.B. come in, this is Specialist Schnee," She said to the decisive as she walked away.
'Communication devices...' Arcee thought. 'But then how was I able to download their language? Unless it's a multi-purpose piece of equipment.'
"Medic," Joan abruptly and loudly said, taking Arcee out of her thoughts. "How is he? I-is he going to be ok?"
"Honestly ma'am, it all depends if he has internal bleeding or not. If he doesn't then he'll last a while, if he does-"
"Command, we have a critically injured adolescent here! We need that medivac! There has to be something available!" Schnee's shouted at the scroll, gaining the three's attention for a moment.
"...if he does have internal bleeding then he won't last long unless we airlift him out. But, that doesn't seem to be likely," the medic explained.
'WHAT!' Arcee shouted internal, almost letting it slip out. 'No no no no no! There has to be another way!'
"Aura!" Joan shouted. "What if I unlocked his aura? Will that save him?"
'Aura?'
"That could work," he said as he looks at a display on his own rectangle device, "but you and Specialty Schnee are in the orange, you're close to red. You might not have enough left to unlock his. If your aura gives out while trying to-"
"I don't care about me! Will it save him?!" She shouted again, her voice cracking slightly and putting much emphasis on 'him'.
The medic reeled back at her outburst. "... you can," he said as he scooted over away from Jaune. "But I would like to say again-"
"I don't care," she said quickly as she scooted closer to her brother's head. She gripped it with both hands and closed her eyes. "For it is in our good deeds that we achieve immortality. Through this, we become an icon, an idol for all those younger than us to follow. Infinite in morality and unbound by evil, I release your soul, and by my shoulder, pass the mantle to thee."
As soon as she finished speaking, before Arcee could even begin to think about what was happening, Joan's body started to glow. It spread to Jaune and he too started to glow. The phenomenon lasted for several seconds. As soon as the glow was gone, Joan recoiled back slightly, grabbing her chest as she gasped for breath.
There were two beeping sounds, one coming from the medic's device. "That's it, your aura reserves are basically none existent. But it worked. Look." The medic pointed to the cut on Jaune's forehead. It was healing at an astonishing rate. "Aura's already working, rather quickly too."
"Oh thank god," Joan wheezed out with a smile.
Meanwhile, Arcee was once again at a complete loss for words. She couldn't comprehend what she just saw. She was glad that the boy would live and be ok, but nothing could heal wounds that fast! A healing regeneration power of that scale was something even the best scientists on Cybertron struggled to even come up with a basic concept of.
Whatever this 'aura' was, she needed to unlock its secrets, learn everything there is to know about it. If it could heal Jaune's injuries and stable him that quickly… the good that can be done with it was too good an opportunity to pass up.
"A low aura alert on my scroll went off," Specialist Schnee said as she quickly walked up to them, holding her rectangle device in her hand. "What happened?"
'Scroll.' Arcee repeated in her head. At least she now knew what those were called.
"Joan used what was left of her aura to unlock his," the medic explained while motioning between the two of them.
"I see," She looked towards Joan and Arcee noticed that the Schnee's eyes showed a hint pride and respect, and the corner of her lips turned up by the ever slightest margin. It disappeared as soon as she turned back to the medic. "How is his condition now? Will he be fine until a medivac arrives?"
"That would depend, when can we get a medevac for him?" The medic asked as he stood up.
"All air support is preoccupied and unable to help us. I'm not sure when we'll get a medevac for him," she answered honestly with a less than pleased expression. Arcee knew the feeling. Not getting air support when you needed most on the Cybertronian battlefield usually ended in catastrophe and many lost lives.
"I was afraid of that. With his bruised ribs I'm assuming he also has internal bleeding. I'm assuming the worst so I don't want to risk waiting for medevac if the internal bleeding could be bad enough to kill him before it even shows up."
"Damn it," Schnee cursed as Arcee thought the same thing. "There has to..." Schnee paused as she glanced downwards, towards Arcee. Joan and the medic followed her gaze. Arcee understood immediately what the specialist was thinking.
"Trooper! I need your climbing gear!" The specialist called out behind her. The trooper ran over as Joan and the medic stood Arcee up right on her kickstand. "Help me get the boy tied on and secured."
The spent the next minute gently lifting and placing the boy flat on the motorcycle's seat and securing him in place with the trooper's rope. One secured his legs while the other two were tied around his chest.
"Ok," The specialist wrapped her right arm around him. With one hand she gripped her sword and the left handlebar. "With Joan's aura down there isn't much else we can do out here. Pull back to the F.O.B. and I'll meet you there. Take no necessary risk," she ordered her troops and Joan.
"Yes Ma'am," they all responded. The specialist then summoned another hologram glyph below her and throttled the left handlebar. Arcee revved up the engine, despite the throttle being on the right, and accelerated forward. The glyphs allowed Specialist Schnee to glide along the ground next to her with ease a she guided them through the forest. Arcee hoped that they wouldn't encounter anymore trouble, especially those monsters, along they way. For Jaune's sake, they couldn't afford anymore delays.
A/N: So in addition to being backlogged on stuff, I actually wrote 2 different versions. One where Jaune lived and one where he died. For some reason my brain decided that potentially going a route where Jaune died and the pairing would be replaced with Joan was a good idea. Needless to say I went "Brain, that idea is stupid, no."
But for some reason I still wrote the alternate version. IDK why though.
Shoutouts to Auron215 for betaing and Cyerleader2000 for betaing and being my go-to-nerd for Transformers facts and continuity checking.
Thank you for reading, and I hope you have a good day :)
