It seemed like only minutes had passed in the time that they had their recharge, woken much too soon for Jack's own liking. The others probably felt the same, but were likely used it by now. Jack wasn't, given how groggy he felt, taking a few seconds longer than everyone else to gather his bearings.

It wasn't much rest, the knowledge made worse by the fact he knew they wouldn't be getting any more rest for awhile now. The guard ushering them out would make sure of that. Megatron was already up and about, grabbing his drill for the day. Jack pulled his from out under the bed, slow to start.

Jack followed Megatron swiftly out of the room, not wanting to be left alone with the others. It was a strange thing to think, but he felt safer with Megatron than he did with them. Megatron had been the only to help him, while they just stood and watched.

Jack looked around the area they were in, noticing there was something off about it that wasn't there before, such as how the surrounding metal looked a little bit darker than it did before.

"We're not going to the same tunnel as before?" Jack asked Megatron when he realized they were being led a different way.

"No, to get the best results," Megatron twisted the words bitterly, "everyone's location is changed to different tunnels after the recharge break."

Jack hummed noncommittally, his optics looking around at the metal walls and his gaze was drawn to the grooves and digs in it. It wasn't forked with different smaller tunnels like the other mine section. This one was rounder, wider and circular with crates at the wall.

"Get to work!" The guard yelled.

Jack glowered at the mech as he left, but noticed the medium-sized bulbs nestled in the corners of the ceiling. Because the tunnel was different, it made the cameras more noticeable. 'So we are being watched.' The thought was suitably creepy, and he uneasily took a spot some feet from Megatron before he started drilling into the wall.

Time went by slowly, as was becoming agonizingly familiar the more he stayed. His drill gave an odd lurch, and Jack pulled back with a flinch as the metal he was drilling cracked. Jack's vents huffed when the metal dust got on him as he brushed away the shavings. He blinked, and reached into the crevice as shards of metal fell out as he pulled out a strangely pale crystal. It was see-through, being almost white and just able to fit into his palm.

It was mesmerizing in a way, different from the blue energon shards and silvery Cybernite used for something to with Cybertronians. Jack glanced at Megatron, and made sure there was no one else looking. "M-er, D-16?" It was weird speaking the name aloud, because this mech was still Megatron to him. "What is this?"

Megatron's optics widened when he saw the crystal, and Jack jolted as the mech knocked it into Jack's crate, quickly grabbing the discarded metal shards and covering it. "Keep that out of sight." he hissed, looking around. "Even look away for a second and you could end up with your hard work being stolen."

Jack was about to retort, but knew it was pointless. Of course someone would steal it, but... "What is it?" he felt foolish for asking, especially as Megatron gave him an odd look, but didn't comment this time.

"It's called an adamant crystal. It is extremely resistant to damage, making it almost indestructible." he explained.

Jack blinked. 'This little crystal is that tough?' "It sounds...valuable."

"Extremely." Megatron replied, making sure the crystal was covered completely before moving away, giving Jack a sharp look that made him flinch.

"I..er...okay..." He murmured, confused. He moved a little, showing the hole he had drilled to find it. "There uh...might be more if you want to dig here?" He offered. It wasn't much, and there probably wasn't more, but he needed some way to repay Megatron for helping him earlier.

He was given a long, hard stare, in which Megatron's optics narrowed suspiciously before moving toward the area, drilling further into the pit. A 'hmph' was his reply when the metal cracked again, smaller, flaking pale bits of crystal falling out. Jack supposed that was as close to a thank you as he was going to get.

Jack felt the corner of his lip twitch up, but suppressed it. Just because he had decided killing Megatron wasn't the best option, didn't mean it wasn't hard to get over the giant hurdle of what he knew and what was happening now. 'Which, unfortunately, I still have very little knowledge of.' Especially of the outside world. He stepped back into Megatron's old spot, and started drilling again.

He continued digging for what felt like a good half hour or so when he noticed it- someone creeping closer to his crate that most certainly didn't belong on this end of tunnel.

"Hey!" Jack shouted out to the mech, causing Megatron to jerk his head in that direction as well. "Get away from my stuff!" Jack demanded, moving over quickly to keep the guy's grubby servos out of his crate of valuables. The mech jerked, but didn't back away and stood his ground, holding Jack's hard earned adamant crystal in hand. There was shoving, and then fighting, and Megatron moved forward-

It happened before either of them knew what had happened. There was a sharp, stabbing pain in his neck. Jack's servo clutched at his throat, feeling something warm and sticky flowing down over his plates. His energon. Suddenly Jack felt it difficult to even keep his optics open, his thoughts growing muggy as his life blood poured out of him. The voices of Megatron and his attacker were muffled, unaware of when Megatron tackled the other slave to the ground and ripped his head from his shoulders.

Then everything was black, where Jack was aware of only the biting cold, and crushing emptiness of the void that had surrounded him.

Through the darkness, a voice spoke to him; deep, ancient, with the power of thousands, maybe millions of years behind it. "I did not send you back just to die so abruptly."

It was a voice Jack had heard before, when he was in oblivion and being remade. "Pr-Primus?" he asked hoarsely. Around him there was nothing, no other sense being than just the voice which spoke to him. Jack couldn't even be sure if he was hearing himself or thinking it.

"There are still things to be done, plans to be brought to fruition." The voice replied. "You will be revived as many times as is necessary for you to complete your task."

"Wait-what-" Jack wanted to ask so much, but he was cut off by the ache in body coming on sharp and clear. He gasped, the cold replacing itself with a warm heat. His spark pulsed once more in his chest, and his optics snapped open.

Jack coughed, sputtering energon everywhere. And onto a servo that was wrapped around the slash in his neck. It jerked away, and Jack was vaguely aware of wide blue optics staring at him as he propped himself up on his elbow. More energon sputtered from Jack's mouth, dribbling onto his chin and then his chest.

Looking up, he saw Megatron, who appeared shocked. It may have been his imagination, but Jack could of sworn he saw a touch of fear there too.

"W-wha..." Jack winced at his scratchy, static tone his voice had taken. "Wh-what happened...?"

"He slashed your neck trying to steal your metals." Megatron explained, and Jack saw the grisly remains of the thief lying in a puddle of energon, his head not far away. "You...I could have sworn your spark stopped beating- you were beginning to turn gray!"

Jack wasn't sure if he'd ever call Megatron panicky, but he was something close to it right now. It was the same kind of reaction anyone else might have had to such a thing, and it helped Jack focus on how this Megatron was different from the other one. "I guess I just managed to...heal fast." It was weak, but it was the only thing he could say. 'I came back from the dead by your deity' probably wouldn't go over well.

"You can heal from certain death?" Megatron asked incredulously.

Jack tried to smile, but with the energon still coating his neck and chin, it must have looked more off-putting. "If I was dead, you wouldn't have been trying to save me."

"I was doing no such thing-" Megatron scowled, when Jack flashed a small grin, pointing to his servos and how they were stained with his energon. "It was from him. Not from your neck. I was going to take that crystal for myself." He protested hotly, a fierce scowl set into his brow.

"A mech you killed to save me." Jack persisted, managing to stand up, leaning on a wall for some support. He scratched at his face, where the energon was beginning to dry and flake. It was very itchy.

Walking over to the corpse, Jack plucked the adamant crystal from the mech's servo, kicking him in the side afterward. Jack safely deposited it back into his crate, watching the other miners warily before turning back to Megatron.

It hadn't escaped his noticed that it had been Megatron's servo trying to stop him from bleeding out.

"I'm beginning to have second thoughts on ever extending my servo to help your sorry aft." Megatron snapped irritably.

Jack snickered. The sound surprised even him, because he hadn't ever thought he'd be here, actually teasing Megatron. It was enough to make him light-headed, or was the shock of coming back to life? "But then we couldn't have such riveting conversations." he drawled, but decided to spare him from any embarrassment. "So, where can I get this washed up?" he gestured to the energon on him.

"The next break, perhaps." Megatron answered gruffly, ignoring the stares a few miners gave the pair. A glower their way had them scurrying back to their dull work. "With your find it wouldn't be unlikely to be 'rewarded' with cleaning supplies."

"Joy." Jack muttered. His fingers felt along the slash in his neck, and he was morbidly amazed to find the injury had healed itself to only a faint raised line of overlapping metal along his neck. Like the robot version of a scar. 'Is healing going to be a normal thing, or is it just because of the undead experience I had?' he thought, but right now testing that theory was the last thing on his mind. "What's to be done with...him." he nodded to the dead miner.

"The guards will take the body to be scrapped." Megatron explained almost too easily. Like this wasn't an uncommon thing.

'Killing mechs or seeing them die?' Jack thought, and wasn't sure if he wanted to know the equally awful answer to that question.

"One thing the guards seem to care about, if you can call it that, is...keeping a clean mine." Megatron continued.

Jack grimaced, because given the terrible conditions of the actual mine, there was only one thing he could mean. And it had to do with the body lying a few feet away. "Are they just going to leave him there?"

"Yes, they'll leave him until the next rotation, as an example: to wonder what caused it this time- if he was killed or if it was an accident." Megatron explained, but glanced at the fact the body lied in one space with the head a few feet away, with there being obvious signs of tearing. "Though I think in this case the cause is quite obvious."

Jack looked away uncomfortably. "R-right." The weight of the situation finally settled over him. His fingers shook as he scratched the energon, his energon, the energon that had only moments earlier been gushing out of him. He flinched when Megatron shoved his dropped drill into his grasp. "What?"

"Work," he replied gruffly, "it's easier to deal with by focusing on something else."

Jack stared at him, but his shoulders heaved as he nodded numbly. Energon flakes shook loose with the gesture. "Right." he repeated quietly.

So that's what he did. Thoughts that had threatened to swarm him were now pushed at the back of his mind as he focused on the task ahead. Getting through this shift was the first task, and for once, thankfully mind numbing. Neither he or Megatron found more of the adamant crystals, nor had they expected to. Given how rare it seemed be he didn't expect to find another piece again.

While not as valuable, Cybernite was apparently necessary though, as Megatron explained when Jack saw he could only get a handful of that rather than finding any energon. And while Jack tried not to look at the body still lying several feet away, it was harder to ignore the stream of energon which began to seep out. And he was a little more than relieved when the guard finally came to check their progress. The guard didn't say anything but mark down the Cybernite in Megatron's crate.

When he got to Jack's crate, he looked over the energon staining the frame before he looked into the create and snorted at the 'scraps' before Jack reached in and pulled out the adamant crystal. Seeing it caused the guard to freeze.

Jack's grip tightened. "I'd..." he had no idea what would happen, but he needed to try and get the supplies to wash the energon off, "like some cleaning supplies."

The guard took the crystal, looking it over carefully. Jack froze thinking it was going to be taken, leaving him with nothing to show for it.

Then the guard nodded, pocketing the crystal into his subspace. Jack breathed a sigh of relief when he wasn't beaten within an inch of his life for his 'demand'. And wasn't that a sorry thought?

The guard left him, leaving Jack and Megatron in their own corner of the mines. The later was grinning at him.

"That actually worked."

Jack was just as surprised. "Yeah." he said almost breathlessly. "And since I'm probably never going to find anything like it, maybe I should have pushed for more."

Megatron snorted. "Save your demands for when you find a Lysken crystal."

"Lysken crystal?" Jack asked.

"Flawless cut crystals that the high caste like to collect for its prism. Functionally useless, but worth more than our lives." Megatron's grin faded as he scowled. "I've only ever seen one, and it had everyone fighting over who got to hand it in. Mechs killing each other over a little crystal." Jack optics dimmed, and Megatron vented deeply. "Too soon?"

Jack choked, torn between laughing and groaning. 'Did Megatron just make a joke?' he thought incredulously. "Well, I'd rather not die," 'Again', "so for now I'll stick to just cleaning supplies."

"Not unwise," Megatron hummed in agreement, "Best not to push your luck." He said, picking his drill back up, with Jack doing the same. Valuable crystal or no, they still had to work like the slaves they were.

Come time for the break though, Jack had been given the cleaning supplies he asked for- cloth, which he would have to return after using, and solvent to remove the energon. Jack was very relieved when he scrubbed away the energon, the itching sensation taking leave with it. Afterwards they returned to work after their break.

And it went on like that for quite some time. Jack lost count of the days, the daily grind settling into him with startling ease, something that never failed to bug him. Each day they were given a new tunnel to work with, sometimes finding only scraps, and others finding slightly more valuable material. Megatron was beside him for each of those days, and honestly he didn't know why the mech put up with him.

Jack was tempted to ask, but it was a combination of offending him and finding the mech surprisingly good company that kept him from voicing it. And that was the shock of it, Jack actually started to like being around Megatron. 'It's like everything's gone all screwy.' he thought, but on a deeper level, Jack could say he didn't mind because it gave him a closer look at what might have caused Megatron to become, well, Megatron.

'He's D-16 right now, there had to be a point where he became 'Megatron',' Jack thought. It was just a matter of finding out when and why he changed. Though grim to think, Jack began to realize that the 'low caste' as they were, likely weren't treated well if the conditions in the mine were anything to go by.

And really, Jack wondered if Megatron only put up with him because he really did see him as just 'his stray', or...and Jack found it harder to believe, but if he actually...liked his company too. 'It's weird, thinking maybe we could actually become...friends.' He blinked, and his shoulders heaved. 'It's still hard to believe; he tried to save me for crying out loud! And I wanted to repay him for everything...could there be a chance of us really being...friends?'

The idea would probably never stop being strange, sounding stupid even in his own head, but then again nothing about any of this was 'normal' to him. Distressingly though, it was starting to be.