AN: I know I haven't updated this story in a while; but I've been busy with a few other things. Plus, I went back and did a complete rewrite of the first chapter. Just to clear up some of the grammar errors. And I'm also going to have to do that with any of the other chapters that have errors. So without further ado, let's jump into it.
Chapter 6: Darkness Rising
After Jack and Miko had their alone time, they reconvened with everyone in the command center. They were just in time to hear Optimus's instructions on what to do regarding the Decepticons. "And since you now know of our existence, I fear that the Decepticons now know of yours" Optimus said.
"So what happens now?" Raf asked.
"Well, I guess that there are still more questions to be asked; and more answers to be found. And after only having just met the Autobots, I can imagine that you both must be so curious. You probably want to know everything there is to know about them; because it's not everyday that you find out that aliens are real. But for right now, I think it's about time that we take you both home. I mean, after all, your families might get worried if you stay out too late." Jack said to both Raf and Miko.
"Yeah, right, look, I'm living a dream here in Botswana. And I'm not about to let anyone, especially my kind of a little too eager host parents, ruin it" Miko stated.
"Look Miko, it's not like I want you guys to leave. I mean, you and Raf are the closest, and possibly the only friends that I will ever make in this life. Because you are now allowed to know something, to become a part of something, that no normal person was meant to be a part of. And to have faith, to trust someone with that kind of secret, is a precious thing. But what you have to understand is that this isn't a game.
I love my family, and I always will; but when you live this kind of life, you realize that people are going to get hurt, and sometimes even die. It's what happened to my Uncle Cliff, and I don't want it to happen to anyone else. So if I seem a little concerned for your safety, then it's only because I know all of the bad things that could happen in a war. The Autobots brought you here to keep you safe, and that's all I want for you and Raf, period" Jack said firmly.
"Well said, Jack" Optimus murmured.
"Optimus, having one human at base is one thing; but three is just asking for trouble. If they get underfoot, they will go squish. Just as Jack could have long ago" Ratchet proclaimed.
"True, however, after sixteen years of raising a human child; I believe we have become well accustomed to watching where we step. Would you not agree, Ratchet?" Optimus inquired. It was then that Ratchet let out a sigh of defeat. He knew that he wasn't going to win this argument. Because Optimus always made protecting humanity, or defending the weak, his top priority.
Not long after that discussion, the base's proximity alarm went off. "What's that?" Miko asked as a image appeared on one of the computer screens. Jack knew all too well what that alarm meant; so he explained it to Raf and Miko.
"It's the proximity alert. It means that someone's up top. And my guess is that it's probably Agent Fowler." This came as a surprise to the other humans.
"I thought that we were the only humans that knew about the Autobots?" Raf said.
"No, Agent Fowler is there official liaison. He's kind of the go between for them and The Government" Jack informed.
"Given the circumstances, I believe that it is best that you do not meet him at this point" Optimus said.
Then the humans, with the exception of Jack, took a hiding position around the corner. Jack told them that since he was raised by the Autobots, that he has met Agent Fowler many times; and that it didn't matter if he saw him or not. When Agent Fowler exited the elevator, he was not happy. "Fender benders, wrecks, traffic jams, and reports of a speeding motorcycle of unknown make, and a custom black and yellow muscle car. So, anything you care to get off your tin chest, Prime?" Fowler questioned.
"We have the situation under control, Agent Fowler" Optimus said.
"They're back, aren't they?" Fowler inquired.
"If you are referring to the Decepticons, I have doubts that they ever left. Your planet is much too valuable to them." That answer didn't sit well with Fowler.
"Then it's time to wake up the Pentagon." This was not one of Fowler's best ideas. In fact, it was one that Optimus felt like he had to diffuse, right away.
"Hear me, Agent Fowler; we are your best, possibly your only defense against the Decepticons" Optimus declared.
"Says you" Fowler retorted.
"Agent Fowler, please; it wasn't their fault. I don't know if you've heard or not, but my Uncle Cliff was just killed the other day. So me and my mom decided to go for a ride to come to terms with his passing. And the next thing we know, we're getting chased down the highway by the cons. But my mom and the rest of my family, kicked their butts; and pretty much saved my life. So don't be so hard on them" Jack stated.
Fowler let out a sigh of regret, and then said "Look son, I'm sorry for your loss. But that's no excuse for reckless fighting. Someone could have gotten hurt, or maybe even seen the bots while they were having that little brawl in Jasper. So no matter what the situation, the bots have always got to have control" he said to Jack. Arcee didn't particularly like how Fowler was talking to her son; but she knew that they had more pressing matters to discuss. So she was going to let it slide, for now.
"Hey fleshy, did anyone get splattered on the freeway? Team Prime knows when to use force, and how much to use." Bulkhead said as he ripped off a piece of Ratchet's equipment, and crushed it.
"BULKHEAD, I NEEDED THAT!" Ratchet shouted.
"Enough, military action will only result in a loss of life. Perhaps you can condone widespread human casualties, Agent Fowler. I however, cannot" Optimus said.
"Then do us both a favor, and handle this, Prime, under the radar. Or I will" Fowler responded as he made his way to the elevator and left.
"Pretty big bearings, for a human" Bulkhead murmured.
"Agent Fowler is concerned for his world, Bulkhead; as he should be" Optimus said. Then over the course of the next few minutes, something strange happened. Cliffjumper's life signal popped back up on the computer screen.
"Blasted Earth tech, Cliffjumper's signal popped back online" Ratchet proclaimed.
"How is that possible?" Optimus asked.
"It isn't, another bug. The system's chalked full of them" Ratchet explained.
"If there's any chance Cliff's alive-" Arcee tried to say, but didn't even need to finish for everyone to get the point.
"Ratchet, prepare sick bay; we may need it" Optimus ordered.
"Hey, what can we do?" Miko asked.
Optimus looked at her and said "Remain with Jack and Ratchet." Then both Miko and Ratchet let out a sigh of disappointment, as they were both clearly not okay with that arrangement.
"Hey mom" Jack said, which caused Arcee to turn around and look at him. "Bring him back; and please be careful" Jack said.
"Don't worry, I will. I love you" his mom told him.
"I love you too" Jack said to her as she and the other Autobots walked through the Ground Bridge. When the Ground Bridge powered down, Miko and Raf were instantly filled with questions.
"What just happened?" Miko asked.
"I transported them to the designated coordinates via the Ground Bridge" Ratchet said.
"What's a Ground Bridge?" Raf questioned. Ratchet grew frustrated as he knew that he would have to speak more plainly to them. Or at least what he considered to be plainly.
"A scaled down version of Space Bridge technology" Ratchet answered.
But Jack thought that it would probably be a little more easier to understand if he explained it himself. "It's a teleporter. When they walk through it, it transports them to another location. You see, a Space Bridge can take you to any place in the galaxy; or maybe even the universe. Whereas a Ground Bridge can only send you to destinations that are a bit more local. So we can only use it to go to places on Earth." Jack's lesson on Cybertronian tech, then came to an end.
"Thank you, Jack, for that detailed if not simple explanation of Cybertronian technology. Since we don't currently possess the means or energon required for intergalactic travel-" Ratchet began to say.
"You're stuck here, on Earth" Raf said while finishing Ratchet's statement.
"With the likes of you, yes. But I constructed the Ground Bridge to enable travel from here, to anywhere on your planet" Ratchet said proudly.
"Whoa, does it work for humans?" Raf asked.
"Naturally" Ratchet answered.
"You mean, I could just shoot on over and visit my parents in Tokyo?" Miko asked.
Then an idea formed in Ratchet's head. "Within moments. In fact, allow me to send you their immediately, all three of you." Miko didn't find Ratchet's offer very amusing.
"Watch it, Ratchet" Miko retorted.
"Don't take it too personal. It's not you, it's him. Ratchet is like this with every human he meets" Jack assured them.
When the other Autobots walked through the Ground Bridge, they came upon an energon mine that was currently being excavated by the Decepticons. But that didn't matter to them at the moment. All they wanted was to save Cliffjumper, and bring him home. "Let's save Cliffjumper" Optimus said. When the Decepticons finally became aware of their presence, a fight ensued. They shot at them with their blasters, while the Autobots began to charge and fire back.
Each member of team Prime had their own unique fighting style. Arcee and Bumblebee relied primary on their speed and agility, while Optimus and Bulkhead focused mainly on brute strength and marksmanship. Some of them even alternated between bot mode and vehicle mode during the fight.
The Autobots were just taking down enemy after enemy; and it was clear that whatever the cons had in numbers, the bots more than made up for in skill.
Back at base, Ratchet found it difficult to ignore the humans and do his job at the same time. "What is this anyway?" Miko asked as she checked out one of the machines.
"Broken, don't touch" Ratchet answered. "Don't touch that either" he said as Miko reached for another part of the machine.
"Is there anything in here, we can touch?" she asked.
Almost immediately after she said that, an error sign appeared on one of the computer screens. "How come you guys are using human computers?" Raf questioned.
"It certainly isn't by choice. It was handed down from the previous tenants when we inherited this former missile silo. I make modifications as I see fit" Ratchet explained. Then more error signs popped up, to which Ratchet gave a sigh of annoyance to.
"I...think I can fix that" Raf said as he pulled his laptop out of his backpack.
"Really? You know this is complex technology, don't you? I mean, it isn't a child's toy" Ratchet finished with a chuckle.
"Now try" Raf said as he finished typing on his laptop. When Ratchet went back to working on the console, he was amazed to find out that all the errors had been cleared away.
"Wow, you know, I never thought that I would see the day that someone would actually out do Ratchet. But I guess there's a first time for everything" Jack said as he saw Raf work. Apparently, one of his new friends must have been a super genius. Or maybe he was just a little bit above everyone else in his class.
Back in the mine, the Autobots continued their assault on the Decepticons. They smashed their drills and plowed through them; before they transformed into vehicle mode and proceeded through the mine. They eventually came to a stop and transformed back to bot mode, just before they saw how big the con's mining operation really was. There were many Vehicons mining energon on multiple levels of the mine. At the center of the excavation site, there was a huge tube that connected all the way up to the Decepticon's ship, The Nemesis. "Wow, quite an operation" Bulkhead said before the shooting started up again.
As the Autobots fired back, Arcee noticed Cliffjumper's body on one of the upper levels of the mine. "It's Cliff, I have a visual" she said.
"We'll cover you, go" Optimus ordered. As soon as the order was given, Arcee charged her way through the Decepticon hordes, and scrapped anyone who got in her way. But when she finally managed to reach Cliffjumper, what she saw came as a shock to her. Both his left arm and the entire lower half of his body were completely gone; and there was some sort of strange purple liquid that was leaking out of him.
Then the platform that he was on collapsed due to all the shooting that the cons were doing. "CLIFF!" Arcee shouted as she reached out and tried to stop him from falling. "Let's get you home, partner" she said as she held on to him by his one remaining arm. But when Cliffjumper looked at her, she was horrified by what she saw. His eyes were now pure purple, and he snarled and roared at her, like some kind of monster. She knew that whatever he had become, it was no longer Cliffjumper.
He struggled and squirmed in her grasp, which caused her to lose her grip and drop him to the ground below. The next thing that could be heard was the sound of laughter echoing throughout the mine. It was revealed that the source of the laughter was a gunmetal gray Decepticon with a red horn in the center of his forehead; and jet wings that were sprouting from his back. His name was Starscream; and he was also Megatron's sniveling little SIC. "Prime, I'd stick around, but I'm squeamish" he said before he dropped a bomb in the middle of the mine, and transformed to jet mode so he could fly away to safety.
As the timer on the bomb started to count down, Bulkhead shouted "THE JOINT'S GONNA BLOW!"
The leader of Team Prime, then took action. "Autobots, roll out" Optimus commanded. Then they all transformed and drove off, in a desperate race to beat the clock. Not long after they started driving, the bomb went off and ignited the energon in an explosion of blue flames. As they tried to stay ahead of the flames, Optimus contacted Ratchet. "Ratchet, bridge us back. Use the arrival coordinates, NOW!" Immediately after he said that, a portal appeared right in front of them. The Autobots drove through it, in an attempt to avoid the explosion, and make it safely back to base.
The bots made it through the Ground Bridge, however, some of the explosion managed to follow them to their base. When Optimus reached the end of the tunnel, he transformed and skidded to a stop, just as the Ground Bridge shutdown and the blue flames came to a halt right behind him. All of the kids were in awe by this scene. It was understandable why Miko and Raf would think that it was cool; and even for Jack, that wasn't something that he saw everyday. "Cutting it a bit close. How about Cliffjumper?" Ratchet asked.
But their only answer to that question, were looks of sorrow. "What was that explosion? Was there a fight? Can I come with, next time?" Miko questioned.
"Look" Arcee murmured as she was getting frustrated.
But Jack, seeing that his mom was getting upset, decided to intervene. "Hey, hey, Miko; they don't seem to be in the best mood right now. So maybe you should hold your questions until later."
His attempts to calm the situation, actually left her a bit disappointed. "Ah" Miko whined in defeat.
"Arcee, what did you see? Optimus inquired.
"Not Cliff, at least not anymore. He was mutated, butchered; like something from those con experiments during the war."
Jack was saddened to hear about his uncle's fate; and worried when he saw his mother start to feel dizzy and collapse. "Mom, are you ok?" he asked as Bumblebee tried to help her up.
"I'm fine, just dizzy" she answered.
"Robots who get dizzy?" Miko said.
"Robots with emotions?" Raf said as he added to Miko's observation.
"Robots who can die?" Miko said as she finished their joint analysis.
"I told you they weren't the kind of robots that you were thinking of" Jack said. Then Ratchet gave Arcee a full body scan, and something funny caught his attention.
"What is this?" Ratchet said, referring to the strange purple liquid on her servo.
"Don't know. Cliff was covered in it, leaking it" she responded.
Ratchet scraped off the liquid with a scalpel and said "Go take a decontamination bath, now."
While Arcee stepped into a chamber for her decontamination bath, Miko found out that her phone had no cell service. "Uh, guys, I hate to be "that girl." But, no bars" she said, referring to her phone's poor signal strength.
Optimus understood her query, and chose to put it to rest himself. "A security precaution. The silo walls isolate all radio waves" he said.
"Well don't get me wrong, I'd much rather stay here and hang out with you guys. But I'm pretty sure that if I don't call my host parents, like now; then they'll probably have the cops out looking for me" she said.
"Have you broken a law?" Optimus asked.
"Well...sort of, if you count curfew. It's after 10:00 PM" she clarified.
"I better get home too, or I'll be grounded for a year" Raf exclaimed.
"Earth customs, I hadn't considered. But the issue of your safety remains. Bulkhead, accompany Miko home" Optimus instructed.
"Awesome, my host parents will freak!" she said excitedly.
"And maintain covert surveillance, in vehicle form" Optimus specified.
"Curbside duty, got it" Bulkhead responded. Then Miko whined in disappointment.
"Bumblebee, you'll watch over Raf" Optimus said. Raf seemed rather pleased with that arrangement. When Arcee was done with her decontamination bath, it was decided that since she was Jack's mother, that she would be given the responsibility of safeguarding him; to which she happily accepted.
"Jack, I'm sorry that I couldn't bring Uncle Cliff home. I tried, Primus knows I tried."
Jack didn't blame his mom for not being able to save Uncle Cliff; and he wanted her to know that. "I know you did, mom. And it's not your fault. You couldn't have known what they were going to do to him. I miss Uncle Cliff, but I also know that if you couldn't save him, then no one could" he said with tears forming in his eyes.
"Thank you" was the only response his mom had for him; and she knew that it was the only response that could truly express her gratitude for her son's support and understanding towards her efforts.
"Well...I guess we better get going. I'm really sorry for your loss. Will we see you at school tomorrow?" Miko asked.
"Yeah, I'll be there. So, I guess I'll see you tomorrow at school" Jack said before both Miko and Raf gave him a hug and then left with Bulkhead and Bumblebee.
"What could she possibly know about loss?" Arcee said in an upset tone.
Jack turned to his mom and said "Maybe nothing. But at least she knows to give sympathy when it's needed."
"Jack, look, I know we've talked about it before; but I still don't think it's a good idea for you to go to school. I worry about you enough when it comes to just the thought of you leaving the safety of the base; and now I have to worry about you being made a target by the Decepticons."
Arcee was a great mother, but she couldn't protect Jack from life; and he thought that it was high time that she understood that. "I'm sixteen. I can't stay cooped up inside the house forever. Look, I may have been a kid when you explained the cruelty of war to me, but I'm not anymore. You taught me how to fight, and to protect myself. But you also raised me to be responsible, and to make good choices. And part of that means learning more about the world around you. So I chose this, and I'll be responsible, I promise."
"Well, I'm glad to know you finally have a reason to use your phone, every single time you're in trouble. And you will have me or one of the others go with you whenever you leave the base" Arcee said with an authoritative smirk and while pointing a finger at him. So Jack and his mom agreed that he would call her if his life was ever in danger of Decepticon attack, among other reasons. Jack knew that it seemed like a steep price to pay for a little bit of freedom; but he also knew that the first step in attaining that freedom, was trust. He had to show his mom that she could trust him to do what's right.
The next day, Ratchet was hard at work in trying to identify the strange purple substance that he scraped off of Arcee. "The base elements of this goo, are like nothing I've ever encountered. It must be extremely concentrated to have affected Arcee so rapidly. Unfortunately, complete results are slow coming without the use of proper diagnostic tools. Thank you very much, Bulkhead." Ratchet said sarcastically, as he was moving the slide reel with the purple liquid on it. However, unaware to him, the liquid dripped onto the very same tool that Bulkhead broke. Then the piece of equipment started to mutate into something else, something Savage.
AN: And that's the end of the chapter. I'm sorry that you didn't get to see all of the scenes with the Decepticons. But I did say that the main focus of this story would be family. And the Decepticon scenes didn't seem all that important to me. The relationship between Jack and Miko will eventually start to heat up. If you guys want to see more scenes with the Decepticons, then let me know in the reviews. And remember, if you didn't like something, then that's all you have to say. Don't go out of your way in the reviews, to be mean. Be honest, but fair.
STAY AWESOME!