AN: First off, I would just like to say thank you to everyone for their support. I know you've waited patiently for an update to this story. But I was busy with a lot of things; like some of the new stories that I wrote, or going back and correcting some of the errors in this and other stories, and real life caught up with me for a bit. I read all of your reviews; and sometimes I even respond to them. There is one person's review, who I would like to respond to now.
Ryu Wolf - I won't be making Jack a Cybertronian, or giving him a mech suit, or armor of any kind. Simply because I already have my own ideas for Jack. I plan on making him a badass, like John Wick, or Rambo. Or Mr. Smith, from "Shoot Em Up." There are already too many stories where he becomes an Autobot, or gets a suit of armor. And although I'd like to make a story like that in the future, I wanted my first story to be one where he was just incredibly capable. I hope that idea appeals to a lot of you. Because for me, it was a pretty fun, and somewhat original idea to play with.
Lastly, I would just like all of you to know that today's my birthday. I put off writing a new chapter for this story for so long, and I knew I wanted to get it done by my birthday. So now, here we are. So without further ado, let's jump into it.
Chapter 7: Darkness Rising part 2
It was the end of the school day, and Jack was starting to leave with the rest of the students. He almost made it to the front entrance of the school, when he was stopped by The Principal. He told Jack that he wanted to see him in his office. So he followed The Principal to his office. When they arrived, he had Jack take a seat before they discussed the issue at hand. "I heard you had an altercation with a few boys on school grounds yesterday. That's not a very good way to start your first day of school, now is it?" The Principal said.
Jack was finding this all a bit hard to swallow. This is why he called him into his office? Because he kicked the butts of a couple of jerks the other day? Then Jack began to wonder if The Principal even knew what started the fight. Or everything that Vince and his friends were doing before the fight. It was then that Jack decided to press the issue, and ask The Principal exactly what he knew about the incident.
"That's why you brought me in here? To scold me for beating up some jerks; who in my opinion, had it coming. Do you even know what started the fight? Did anyone tell you about what happened? Because if not, then I would be more than happy to enlighten you. I started my day on the steps of the school. I didn't even make it inside the building before Vince and his friends started hassling me. They pushed me down on the ground, and then walked away, like nothing even happened.
Then I saw Vince picking on Raf. He knocked his books right out of his hand, and then called him a nerd. And at the end of the day, he thought it would be a fun idea to mess with Miko. He took her phone from her, and when she tried to get it back, he pushed her down. I went and told him to leave her alone; he refused, and we got into a fight. But I wasn't the one to start that fight. He threw the first punch."
The Principal was aware of who Miko and Raf were. He also knew that Vince had a reputation as a bully. "That sounds like something that Vince would do. But no one's ever gotten that badly hurt by Vince picking on them. He shouldn't be bullying the other kids at this school; and he knows that. But he also knows enough not to do serious damage to his victims. Now, there's defending yourself; and then there's what you did. You took it too far. So, Jack, would you be at all interested in making restitution for what you did? Maybe at the very least, by apologizing to the boys you did this to." This meeting felt kind of one-sided.
Here Jack was, being disciplined for defending himself and others from a couple of jerks. While Vince and his friends are well known bullies; who might just get away with this, Scott free. "Honestly, not really." Jack said to The Principal.
"I see; then you leave me no choice. I'm going to need your mom's phone number." The Principal said as he picked up his phone.
"What for?" Jack asked.
"So I can call her and set up a meeting. We will have to have a talk about you and your behavior." For Jack, it felt like he was getting blamed for something that wasn't all the way his fault. Still, he knew now that the outcome was unavoidable. So he might as well get it over with.
"You don't need to call her. She'll be here soon. She's coming to pick me up today." After hearing this, The Principal put down his phone.
"Can I at least call her, and tell her what to expect?" Jack asked. Despite the situation, The Principal didn't see himself as unreasonable. So he agreed with Jack's request. Jack got out his phone and called his mom.
Arcee was driving to the school. She was almost there; when she suddenly got a call from Jack. "Hey sweetie, I'm almost there. I hope you're ready to go" said Arcee.
"Actually, mom, when you get here, The Principal would like to see you in his office" he told her.
"Why?" she questioned.
"It's about what happened on my first day. You know, the thing with the bullies" he stated.
After Arcee put all the pieces together, she said "Alright, I'll be right there." When she came up to the school's parking lot, she checked to see if the coast was clear, and then activated her holo form. It was a hard light hologram of what she imagined her human form would look like. She had Raven hair, blue eyes, she wore blue jeans with black biker boots, and a black T-shirt with a navy blue jacket over top of it. The only accessory that her new form had, was a necklace with a small but noticeable silver pendant on it. The pendant was in the shape of the Autobot symbol. She got into the school, and then asked for directions to The Principal office.
When she arrived at the office, The Principal held out his hand to greet her. "Good afternoon, Miss-" He said, not knowing her name.
"Jones, Sadie Jones." Arcee said as she shook the man's hand, and then sat down.
The Principal then took notice of her necklace. "That's a very interesting necklace, Miss Jones" he murmured.
"Thanks" she responded.
"It's a family crest" Jack added.
"I'll get right to the point. I let Jack call you and explain things to you. But do you fully understand why I wanted to speak with you?" The Principal inquired.
"Because of the bullies who attacked Jack yesterday" Sadie answered.
"Well that's not what some of the other parents think. The parents of the other boys, felt as if Jack was the aggressor in the situation." The Principal informed her.
"Really, because according to Jack, those boys were picking on a girl that was half their size. And my son was the one to make them stop."
The Principal was feeling as if he should get to the heart of the problem. "Your son severely injured those boys. Whatever his intentions, there was no reason for that. Every one of those boys are covered in bruises. Vince and one of his friends both have black eyes. One was missing a tooth or two. And the last one might have a bad case of whiplash."
"But are either of them dead?" Sadie asked.
"Excuse me?" The Principal questioned.
"Are they dead?" she repeated.
"No" The Principal clarified.
"Good, because with everything he knows, it wouldn't be hard for my son to kill them. The fact that he didn't, means that he was showing restraint."
The Principal was getting frustrated, and he was going to have to try harder to get through to her. "Miss Jones, allow me to show you something." The Principal said as he typed on his computer, and showed them the result of his search. "This is a video of the fight, that was captured by another student. Who then uploaded the video to the internet" he said.
The video showed every part of the fight, including Jack helping Miko to her feet, and them exchanging numbers. "Did you really do all that by yourself?" She asked her son, in a somewhat impressed tone.
"Yes, ma'am" Jack responded.
"Good job" Sadie complimented.
"Thanks" was Jack's only response. He wasn't really sure where to go with the compliment she gave him.
"Those boys are in pretty bad shape. Meanwhile, your son doesn't have a scratch on him. How did he even do that? Where did he learn to fight like that?" asked The Principal.
"I taught him" she stated.
"What exactly do you do for a living, Miss Jones?" The Principal dared to question.
"I'm in the Army" she answered. That wasn't a total lie. Arcee was indeed in the Army; just not any army that belongs to Earth.
"You taught military combat to a teenager?" The Principal asked, as he felt shocked by her occupation.
"Actually, I started training him when he was a young boy" she clarified.
The administrator of the school, could now see that there was more to this problem than he originally thought. Instead of disciplining her son's behavior, she seems to be encouraging it. "What about Jack's real mother?"
Arcee wasn't sure where he was going with this, but she knew that she didn't like it. "What are you talking about?" She asked, sounding a bit ticked off.
The Principal then went through some papers.
"It says here in his file, that you're his adoptive mother. No father to speak of; so he must have left before he was born. And then not long after Jack is born, his mother dies, and he's thrown into the system. Until you adopted him not that long ago. Now I find out that you've been training him how to fight ever since he was a little boy. Maybe I was wrong with my initial assessment of Jack. It's clear that he has issues. With neither one of his parents around today, he probably felt abandoned. Learning how to fight probably gave him some sense of control, which you encouraged. Until eventually, he lost it, and attacked those boys. So maybe he did all this because he just really needed to hit something."
This guy was really starting to piss Arcee off. Who does he think he is, talking about her son that way? "You think he's damaged? Well let me tell you something; Jack's mom was my friend. And when she died, I went looking for Jack. I'm the only mother he's ever known. And when he was old enough, I finally made it official and adopted him. His mother would have wanted him to be raised by someone she trusted. There's no one in this world that loves him more than I do.
Yes, I taught him how to fight; and yes, he could have killed those boys. But he didn't, because it wasn't just me who raised him. It was me and my friends, my Army buddies. We became Jack's family. We taught him the cruelties of War. We taught him how to defend himself. We taught him the value of life. And we taught him right from wrong. That's why I know Jack didn't do anything more than what was necessary. But we are not here to discuss my son's character. We are here to discuss what to do about this problem. So, what are you going to do about it?" She demanded to know.
"Well, we could either suspend him. Or he could write a letter of apology to all the boys he attacked."
When The Principal was done speaking, Arcee felt like that was the final nail in this guy's coffin. "And what about the bullies who started this fight? What about this Vince kid? What are you going to do with him?" She wanted to know.
"I'll bring him and his friends in, and have a talk with them" he said.
"So you're going to talk to them, but you're going to punish my son by making him apologize, or suspending him. No, Jack won't be doing either of those. Get up, Jack, we're leaving" she ordered.
The Principal Rose from his seat, just as they did, and said "Miss Jones, We're not done."
Sadie then turned to face him.
"Oh, yes we are. Me and my friends homeschooled Jack for his whole life. But I let him come to school, because he told me that he needed to be around kids his own age. It's important to him, so it's important to me. So he will not be suspended. My son has a good heart, and he's not a liar, or a bully. So I trust him when he says that he was trying to help someone. So he will not be apologizing to those jerks either. If they don't want to repeat what happened yesterday, then you tell them to stay away from my son and his friends.
If I ever hear of them bothering him again, then I'll deal with it myself. And lastly, don't even think about suspending my son. Because I'm a high-ranking Military officer, and I have powerful friends. So if you make life harder for him; then I will become a living nightmare for you. I will rain fire upon you, and everyone else who works at this school. Got it?" Sadie asked as she turned away.
"Miss Jones-" The Principal said as he grabbed her arm.
Then Sadie turned around and grabbed the man by his tie, essentially strangling him. "GOT IT?" She repeated with more aggression.
"Yeah, I got it." The Principal said in a state of fear.
"Good." Sadie said before she let go.
"Go, mom" Jack murmured to himself. He knew that his mom would always protect him, but now he knew how far she was willing to go. Then Jack and his mom went to the parking lot where her motorcycle body was still waiting for them.
After her holo form disappeared, Jack put on his helmet, and got on the motorcycle. When they were driving down the road, Jack struck up a conversation. "Hey Mom, thanks for sticking up for me back there. But I've got to ask; were you really going to do those things you said?" He eagerly awaited his mom's answer.
"A part of me wants to say no. But there's also another part of me that would fight the whole world to keep you safe" she said. Both Jack and Arcee were satisfied with that answer. At this moment, Jack felt like he had the greatest mom in the world.
They then came to a stop sign. "Tighten your grip, Jack." Arcee said as she suddenly gunned it, and did a wheelie down the road.
"Whoa. What's with you, mom?" Jack asked as he was holding on.
She returned to driving with both Wheels before she said "Thought you might actually enjoy the ride if you weren't getting shot at."
Jack saw this as a challenge. "Oh, bring it" he said. In response to that, Arcee sped up. The other two humans were also having fun with their Autobot guardians. Miko was inside Bulkhead's vehicle mode; and she wanted him to drive down the side of a mountain with her inside. He objected to doing this, by telling her that he was supposed to protect her. She claimed that she was being protected, and convinced him to do it anyway. At another location, Raf was playing a racing video game with Bumblebee. To which Bee won. Although, Raf defended himself by saying that Bumblebee had been driving a lot longer than he has.
Back at the base, Ratchet was trying to get some work done. "Thank goodness for peace and quiet." He said before he looked into a microscope. "House guests can be such a bother." Then he heard a noise. He stopped looking in the microscope to look around. But when he saw no one, he got back to work. He then heard another noise. But this time he was curious enough to call out a name. "Optimus?" he said. The only answer he received was in the form of a small creature that was scurrying towards him.
"By the Allspark" he said in shock, referenced to the small creature that was now leaping at him. The creature was made up of the same piece of machinery that Bulkhead broke. Ratchet tried swatting the creature with a pipe, but it was too fast. It crawled on one of his consoles, and destroyed his microscope. "I NEEDED THAT!" Ratchet shouted.
The creature then made another jump for him, but Optimus shot it to the ground. When it was getting back up, he then squashed it with his foot. "And stay broken. Now, what could have caused that?" Ratchet wondered.
Optimus did have a theory, which he shared with his old friend. "I have a grave suspicion, Ratchet. Dark Energon" Optimus said. He was referencing the purple liquid that Ratchet was examining.
Dark Energon was also referred to as the blood of Unicron. Whereas Primus was looked upon as the embodiment of creation by all cybertronians; they're also existed his polar opposite, Unicron. He was the ancient rival of Primus; and unlike Primus, he was pure evil. Which earned him many titles. Chief among them were The Destroyer, and The Chaos Bringer. But eventually, The Primes rose up and defeated him.
On board the Decepticon warship, The Nemesis; Megatron was admiring his Dark Energon Crystal. Megatron was the biggest and toughest Decepticon on the ship. He was Chrome silver, with a fusion Cannon attached to his right arm. He had merged Dark Energon with his very spark. It gave him a strange new power. A power that made him feel like he could do anything. His plan was to use his new might to help him take over the Earth. "It's as if the blood of Unicron The Destroyer, flows through my veins. As if I hear his very thoughts. I now know what I must do" he said as he plucked a shard from the massive crystal.
Starscream was also in the room with him. He was hopeful for a chance to prove himself useful to Megatron. "And what can I do to assist you, Master? He asked Megatron, in a kind of sniveling way.
Megatron had very little patience, or respect for Starscream. Honestly, he thought that he was more of an annoyance than anything else. "Quit groveling, and await my command." Megatron said before he turned into jet mode and flew away. Although Starscream was loyal to Megatron, he couldn't stand his master. He long waited for the day when he would lead the Decepticons. But for now, he was playing the long game.
From behind Starscream, Soundwave made his appearance known. Soundwave was their communications expert. So he was the eyes and ears of the Decepticons. He had a slim frame, thin arms, and no face. Instead of a face, he had a video screen where his facial features would have been. Out of all of the Decepticons, none was more fiercely loyal to Megatron than soundwave. Starscream felt as if Megatron was starting to lose it; and he decided to voice his complaint. "Soundwave, I fear that when our Master reached for the Stars, he came down with a touch of space madness."
Starscream then told Soundwave to increase the global surveillance of the Earth. Soundwave rarely ever spoke using his own voice, he usually preferred to play back the audio recordings of what other people said. As such, he used Megatron's voice to remind him of their Master's orders. Starscream didn't listen though. Instead, he claimed that as long as Optimus Prime and his Autobots we're alive, then they would always be a threat to the Decepticon cause. So he wanted to locate their base. That way, he could take out all of their enemies in one fell swoop.
Optimus was with Ratchet, as they disposed of his again, broken piece of machinery. "If the residue Arcee found on Cliffjumper, brought your broken equipment to life; it would stands to reason that the very same substance, brought Cliffjumper back from the dead." Optimus said.
Ratchet began to rack his brain on Optimus's theory. "That would account for his life signal inexplicably coming back online; but, Dark Energon. It's so scarce as to be virtually non-existent. What would it be doing on Earth?" Ratchet wondered.
"It was transported by Megatron" Optimus responded.
"For what purpose?" Ratchet inquired.
"To conquer this planet, by raising an army of the Dead" Optimus answered.
Ratchet found his answer to be downright laughable. The very thought that Megatron could find that many cybertronian dead on Earth, was preposterous. Then the kids arrived with their Autobots. They got off/out of their guardians, and let them transform into robot mode. When Bulkhead transformed, he felt as if something was off. So he opened up his chest, and pulled Miko's guitar out of it.
"Sorry, must have left that in the backseat" she said as Bulkhead handed it to her. Then Optimus addressed his Autobots. They thought that he was going to tell them to roll out. But in actuality, he told them to remain at base with the children. Instead, he was taking Ratchet into the field with him. But not before he put Arcee in charge. "Dude, you're biggest. You should be the boss" Miko said to Bulkhead.
"He never picks me" Bulkhead answered back.
Arcee wasn't too please with this decision. She wanted to go with Optimus, and get in on the action. She didn't think that Ratchet was fit enough to be in the field. However, Ratchet stated that just because he was old, didn't mean that he couldn't get the job done. Then Optimus and Ratchet went through the Ground Bridge, to arrive at their destination. "Ok, mom, what's on the activities list? " Jack asked his mom. But instead of answering her son, she decided that she and Bumblebee would go on patrol. Bulkhead tried to remind her that Optimus told them to stay put. But she just said that when he was in charge, he could call the shots. Then she and Bumblebee transformed and drove off.
"So, what's on the activities list?" Bulkhead asked the kids.
Then Miko hooked her guitar up to some speakers, and then made the unilateral decision that they would become a band. She asked Raf if he played any instruments. To which, he just showed her his laptop. She thought that playing the keyboard could really work for him. But when she got around to Jack, he revealed that he didn't play an instrument.
His Autobot training didn't leave him much time to practice anything else. So she told him that he could be their band's mascot, or something. She assigned Bulkhead to percussions. She started playing for a bit, until the proximity alarm went off. Agent Fowler was on his way down. So everyone with the exception of Jack, hid behind Bulkhead. Fowler exited the elevator in an agitated state, as usual. "PRIME!" he shouted.
"Agent Fowler, he's not here. Nobody's here, except us, of course." Bulkhead said while motioning to himself and Jack, in a nervous manner.
"Well, where did he go? Wait, don't tell me; he's out pancaking a mini mall. Now, I don't know what language you bots speak on your planet; but Prime promised he'd handle the Decepticons." All throughout his rant, Fowler was pacing back and forth. Bulkhead tried to keep up his movement so that Fowler wouldn't see Raf and Miko hiding behind his leg. But unfortunately, Miko's guitar chord got caught on Bulkhead's foot.
"And blowing a crater in the middle of Nebraska, is not what the word handle means in English. So you tell Prime-" Fowler stopped his tirade when he saw the cord going from Bulkhead's foot, to the speakers. "Since when are you bots electric?" Fowler questioned.
Knowing that the jig was up, Raf and Miko stepped out from behind Bulkhead's leg. "Hey, how's it going? " Miko asked Fowler.
"Contact with civilians. Team Prime has really gone off book this time. Wait, don't tell me ; the rest of you bots decided that you want to be parents too now. Well forget it. I let you get away with adopting one human, but I draw the line at three" Fowler declared.
"There...my...study group." Jack said, as he was trying to think of an excuse on the fly.
Agent Fowler did not look at all convinced by that answer. "Ok, let's move. I'm taking the two of you into Federal custody" Fowler said to Raf and Miko, as he walked down the stairs and made his way to them. "It's for your own protection" Fowler added.
Just then, Bulkhead's giant foot came between him and the two kids. "We're protecting them" Bulk proclaimed.
"Is that so? Well maybe you can explain that to my superiors at the Pentagon" Fowler said as he picked up a phone in the base.
"Don't use that phone. It's...out of order" Bulkhead said as he crushed the phone with his finger.
"This isn't over, Bigfoot. Not by a long shot" Fowler declared before he left.
Fowler was now flying in his helicopter, as he reported back to his superiors on what he saw. Unfortunately, the Decepticons picked up on his transmission. Starscream then told Soundwave to bring him Agent Fowler; so that he could then reveal the location of the Autobot's base to them. Soundwave sent his drone Laserbeak to capture Fowler. When the drone came upon Fowler's helicopter, a dog fight ensued.
Fowler was able to get the upper hand, for a time. He had snuck up behind the drone, and opened fire on it. This went on until he ran out of ammo. The drone then knocked the helicopter out of the sky. Before the chopper could hit the ground, the drone grabbed it with its tentacles. It then tried to grab Fowler out of his cockpit, it succeeded. But not before Fowler activated his emergency signal.
Back at base, there was a green flashing light, and a alarm that was blaring. "My ears" Raf said as he covered his ears against the loudness of the alarm.
"It's an S.O.S, from Fowler" Bulkhead mentioned as he went up to the control terminal. But he wasn't a technical wizard like Ratchet. He didn't know what buttons to push. Eventually, the sound of the alert stopped.
"Did you trace it?" Raf asked.
"The location scan was incomplete. Oh well" Bulkhead murmured before he walked away from the terminal.
"What do you mean, oh well?" Questioned Jack.
"Oh come on, Jack; Fowler's a jerk. You should know that better than anyone" Bulkhead stated.
"Seriously, Uncle Bulk. It doesn't matter if you like the guy or not. He's still a human being; and Optimus's number one rule is to protect humans, you know that." Jack lectured his uncle.
"And Agent Fowler knows your location. Our location" Raf said in a panicked state.
"And did we not just witness how fast Fowler backs down from a bot. The cons will totally make him squeal" Miko added.
It was then that Bulkhead started to worry. "But we lost the transmission. Fowler could be anywhere" Bulkhead inform them.
"Maybe I can narrow it down. About five years ago, The Government started microchipping their agents; you know, like owners do with pets." Raf informed them as he got out his laptop and started typing on the keyboard. Both Jack and Miko were looking at Raf with pure amazement. "What, I saw it on TV. Anyway, if I can hack into the Fed's mainframe, maybe I can pinpoint Fowler's coordinates." Raf told them.
"You know how to hack? But you're like...two years old" Miko said. She was clearly underestimating Raf.
"Twelve and a quarter" Raf responded.
At this point, nothing would surprise Jack about either of his two new friends. "Impressive; I already suspected that you were smart. But this shows a set of skills that are next level. You're really helping us out here, Raf. I'm proud of you" Jack said. Raf felt strangely good to hear Jack compliment him. It wasn't often that he got praised for being a nerd.
Raf eventually figured out Fowler's location. Bulkhead activated the Ground Bridge, and said "Okay, wait here." He then proceeded to walk towards the Bridge.
"Ah, don't break up the band" Miko whined.
"Uh, Jack, you're in charge" Bulkhead said before he ran through the Ground Bridge.
"Well, I guess it's just the three of us, then" Jack murmured. As he said that, he noticed that Miko was nowhere to be found.
As Bulkhead exited the Bridge, he came across a whole lot of Vehicons; as well as The Nemesis. He took cover and started to assess the situation. Not long after that, he found out that Miko had been crazy enough to follow him through the Ground Bridge. She wanted to be a part of the action. However, one of the cons came across her, and pointed his Energon blaster directly at her. She could tell by the hum of this guy's blaster, that she was in trouble. Bulkhead told Miko to get back; then he charged at the con. They engaged in a fierce wrestling match; which led to Bulkhead being the one on top. Miko thought that she could help by banging a rock against the con's head. When that didn't work so well, Bulkhead simply moved her aside.
Both combatants were now on their feet, and engaged in a grappling match of strength. Bulkhead knew that what he was about to do could be viewed as quite gruesome, so he instructed Miko to look away. She argued with him, but he insisted that she listen to him. However, she ultimately did not. In that moment, Miko was witness to the most epic scene of violence that she had ever seen. Bulkhead reached into the con's chest and pulled out his metal guts.
"Whoa" she said as the con fell to the ground, dead. Bulkhead then called Arcee, to inform her of the situation. At first, she thought that he was having trouble dealing with the kids. As if it was all some small human problem that was giving him trouble. But when he explained the full scope of the problem, she instantly became furious,; and both her and Bumblebee stopped driving.
Back at the base, Raf was starting to freak out. "What should we do? Bulkhead may not even realized that she followed him." Raf voiced his concern.
"Miko hasn't seen the cons in action, like we have. She has no idea. And she hasn't had the proper training to deal with a situation like that either. It was foolish of her to put herself in that kind of position, completely unprepared." Jack said, in an attempt to think rationally.
"Jack, we can't just leave her there. She's our friend, and she's in trouble" Raf reminded him.
Jack knew that he was right. Although, Jack also didn't just want to rush in without thinking things through first. But he never had any intention of leaving Miko to fend for herself. He started to come up with a plan. "You still have their location, right?" He asked Raf.
"Yeah" Raf answered.
Then Jack knew what he had to do. "Wait a minute" he told Raf, before he rushed off to another part of the base. Jack rushed to his room to get his Energon rifle; and then he also made a stop at the armory.
When he returned, Raf saw that he had a rifle strapped to his back. He wore what looked like grenades attached to two separate straps, that formed an X formation across his chest; and a big knife that was holstered to his waste. All in all, he kind of looked like Rambo, minus the bandana, of course. "Open the Bridge" Jack instructed. Raf did what was asked of him, and the Ground Bridge came to life. "Raf, stay here. You're in charge" he said as he walked towards the Bridge.
"In charge of who?" Raf said in a huff. Despite Jack's instructions, Raf went with him through the Ground Bridge.
"Arcee to base, come in." Arcee's voice came through the terminal. "Jack, listen up; we need you to Bridge us back. Hello?" When no one answered her, she figured that she and Bumblebee would have to step on it to get back to the base in time.
Fowler's arms were currently wrapped in chains that suspended him high off the ground. Starscream was interrogating him for the location of the Autobot base. However, Fowler was being very uncooperative. He answered every one of Starscream's questions with a joke. He constantly used his sense of humor to defy the commander. Starscream had very little patience, and a very low tolerance for human humor. Starscream was done playing around. So he told one of the Decepticon troops to bring him a prod.
Outside of the ship, Bulkhead was taking cover behind a boulder, while holding Miko in one of his servos. "What's taking Arcee and Bumblebee?" He said in a worried state.
"Dude, the cons could be putting the clamps on Fowler right now. Let's just storm the joint" Miko said. The next thing that either of them heard was the sound of their Ground Bridge opening up near them. "Finally, they're here" Bulkhead said. But both he and Miko we're let down to see that it was only Jack and Raf who came through the Bridge.
"Why don't those guys hang with their own bots? This is our one-on-one time" she said. Bulkhead just gruffed at this whole ordeal.
"Whoa, are your bones vibrating?" Raf asked as he felt weird from leaving the Ground Bridge.
"You get used to it" Jack informed him. They both came to a stop when they saw The Nemesis. This was the first time that Jack has ever seen the Decepticon's ship. On the deck of the ship, some Vehicons spotted the two boys, and pointed their blasters at them.
"Scrap" Miko and Bulkhead replied in unison.
Starscream asked Fowler nicely only one last time for the location of the Autobot base. Then Fowler told him to eat his Star-Spangled shorts. Having reached his limit, Starscream brought out a device that looked very much like a cattle prod, but one that was electrified with Energon. He pressed the prod to Fowler's body, and watched as he winced in pain. "As I suspected. Energon and human anatomy, don't mix." Starscream said with a grin plastered on his face.
Optimus and Ratchet we're walking down a dark canyon, that was littered with dead cybertronian bodies. Ratchet was really hoping that Optimus was wrong about all this. But he now knew that it was most unlikely. Then Megatron flew in, transformed into bot mode, and landed on top of one of the mountains. He then proceeded to mock Optimus, and his old medic. Ratchet was eager to wipe that smug grin off Megatron's face. "I know why you're here, Megatron." Optimus said in a rather unfazed tone.
"Hardly a surprise, Optimus. After all, you and I have been at this a long time. And your time has come to an end." Megatron said as he held up a shard of Dark Energon, and then threw it into the ground. The shard then interacted with the dead bodies, bringing them back to life, as some sort of Cybertronian zombies. "Rise, my army" Megatron commanded. The Dark Energon within him, seemed to give him some sort of symbiotic control over the Dead Cybertronians. The zombies then got up, and rose their weapons against Optimus and Ratchet.
"By the Allspark" Ratchet murmured.
"Behold, the power of Dark Energon" Megatron declared. As the zombies made their way towards Optimus and Ratchet, there was a moment of dread in the air. They faced down the undead, all while knowing that this was probably going to be the most difficult fight of their lives.
AN: I was a little worried in describing Arcee's holo form. I thought about changing the color of her eyes; just so she wouldn't look exactly like June did, before she died. But I absolutely believe that that's what Arcee would look like if she was a human. I thought that it would be logical to assume that if you start a fight in school, you would get called into The Principal's office. So of course Jack would have to deal with that at some point; so I just decided to get that out of the way now.
I had a lot of fun writing that scene. It might have been a little extreme; but I wanted to make it known that Arcee would support her son in what he did. Jack didn't start that fight, but he did finish it. There is no better reason to get into a fight, than to protect someone else. Now it's known that, Arcee would do anything to protect her son. She deserves a best mom ever award, in my opinion. If my Principal had ever blamed me for something that wasn't all the way my fault, without considering my side of the story; and then my mom came to my defense. Well, I would just think that she is the greatest mom in the world.
Also, if you didn't like something, then that's all you have to say. Don't go out of your way to insult me or my work, in the reviews. Be honest, but fair.
STAY AWESOME!