Rian Moeru: Thanks to Shade Penn for putting this chapter together! I was busy for awhile there x.x

Shade Penn: No problem! Always happy to lend a hand. ^_^


The only thing worse than finding dark energon, why he was able to find it, was not knowing just what they were doing with it. Nothing had ever been said of the first chunk he'd found, and it made him continually uneasy not knowing what was going on with it. A fact that came to haunt him when the guards walked into the tunnel they were currently working on much earlier than they should have been.

Apparently Megatron thought the same, pausing in his work. "What's going on?" He asked aloud upon seeing the trio of guards walking in. They paused at the sight of he and Megatron, and began talking amongst themselves.

"That him?" The supposed leader of the group asked the others.

"Yes sir. He's the only one that's been able to find it. The other slaves have turned up empty handed, despite our efforts to fully excavate the previous tunnels." The mech answered swiftly, eyeing Jack, who took a step back.

"Very well. Take him."

Jack furrowed his brow, but his optics widened when he realized what it was. He stepped back again on instinct just as the two other guards grabbed his arms, hauling him forward. "Let go!" he struggled to get free, pulling and jerking against the grip of his captors. If this was about dark energon, then nothing good could come of being taken away.

"Where are you taking him?" Megatron demanded, stepping forward angrily as Jack was being manhandled.

One of the guards trained their blaster on him, and Jack stilled. "That's none of your concern. Back to work, slave."

Megatron narrowed his optics, but Jack shook his head. He wasn't going to let Megatron fall behind, or worse, just for him. The silver mech scowled, but he reluctantly stepped back.

The guard didn't lower their blaster as they began walking to the exit of the tunnel, the grip on Jack almost painfully tight. Jack glanced over his shoulder as he was dragged out, and saw Megatron was still watching. Jack vented deeply, and a very unsettling feeling came over him. Where was he being taken?

"I-I don't know what I did wrong-" He started to say, but was struck over the head, hard.

"Silence. Speak only when spoken to, slave." The guard snapped irritably, shoving him.

Jack's head throbbed, wincing at the pain. He gritted his teeth as he stumbled from the shove. It just got him another shove to go faster, which Jack wanted to point out how counterproductive that was. 'Probably just get whacked again for it,' he thought. He frowned though, because he couldn't shake the bad feeling that settled over him. This whole thing was bad, but not knowing was worse.

He groaned when he was continuously pulled, until finally he made it outside. Outside!

Jack jerked his head up, looking into the endless sky. At the sun, despite the glare it created on his optics. He never thought he could miss such a simple thing so much. Taking in the feel of the heat on his plating, warming him as he savored it like he'd never seen it before. Jack drank everything in, from the metal under his pedes, and an expanse of the desert. He could swear he even felt a windy breeze along his plating, but didn't know if that were true or just his mind wanting it to be real. For a foolish moment, Jack actually wondered if he was being let go. This exit wasn't the one he'd fallen down into haplessly before, that was for certain. The hope was just as ruthlessly crushed though, because Jack never would have been that lucky.

"Put him in." The leader stated, gesturing to the large convoy in front. Jack briefly wondered if this was a Cybertronian as well, but didn't have time to think on it before he was roughly shoved in. "Shockwave wants to see this one as soon as possible."

Jack's spark skipped, his optics widening. "Shockwave?!" he repeated, unable to keep his voice down. This couldn't be happening! He turned to question more, but the door was slammed in his face. Jack held his head, freaking out as that one word sent him in a tailspin. 'Why are they sending me to him? What is this about?' he thought.

Jack banged on the door. "Let me out!" he shouted. If Shockwave was anything like in his time, he didn't want to meet him at all.

"No no no." Jack murmured, distraught now. "I will not be some science experiment!" He shouted, slamming his cuffs onto the door repeatedly. Anything but him!

His spark sank as he felt the convoy beginning to move, and he picked up beating on the door. "Come on, give!" he snarled, and slammed his foot against it. He winced as shocks shot up his leg, but slammed his shoulder into it next. Jack groaned as he slumped down. "Okay, that was stupid." he muttered, cringing as he felt his shoulder throb. He staggered to his feet, and started to feel around for a lock.

"C'mon, there has to be something in here..." He hastily started searching around for a pad, for locks, hinges, anything he could tamper with so that he could make an escape. There was nothing to be found however, and Jack grimly realized that the locks must have been on the outside of the door.

"This...isn't good." He said to himself, looking around the vacant room he was in. "Not good at all."

He was stuffed inside what counted as little more than a giant box. There were no edges or seams in the corners of the walls or floor, nothing that could have given him some kind of leverage to get out. Jack rubbed his brow, grimacing. 'If I can't get out on the way there, I have to escape when I'm let out.'

It was risky, dangerous, and so very stupid...but if it kept him out of Shockwave's wretched servos... Jack sighed deeply, furrowing his brow. 'There's probably going to be guards wherever Shockwave is, so this isn't going to be easy.' It would mean having to run the second his feet hit the ground. And even if he did somehow manage to get away, where was he supposed to go? 'Anywhere else, I guess.' he thought dubiously. 'Just as long as it's away from Shockwave.'

The convoy didn't stop for hours later, but it was still all too soon for Jack. He jerked up when he heard footsteps outside, tensing when the door started to open.

The second it was cracked wide enough for him to escape, Jack was running. He slammed into a guard, knocking him to the ground and started to run in the opposite direction.

Shouting rang out behind him, but Jack didn't pay attention as he dodged a shot from a stunner. His spark pulsed rapidly, heating his frame as he heard the sounds of transformation behind him. He would have paled if capable. 'Scrap, I can't transform, but they damn well can.' He knew he couldn't outrun a vehicle, so he took a brief look around. His optics overlooked everything except something which could help him.

There! Jack spotted a crevice-maybe an alley?-big enough to fit through, but too small for a vehicle to follow in. Jack slid through the walls, wincing as his shoulder scraped against it. He gasped as he almost popped out the other side, before him a maze of alleys to go through. He took the one with a crevice he could hide in.

He vented heavily, forcing himself to calm and quiet, lest they hear him. He heard footsteps, froze, and then eased up when they moved beyond his space. Safe, for now-

The sudden sound of machinery made Jack jump. He winced as he hit his head on the roof, but peered out cautiously. There were no signs of the guards chasing him, but he narrowed his optics as further down a left alley, just beyond it he could see bots milling around and lugging equipment and metal beams.

The sound started up again, and Jack realized that despite the grating of it, it sounded a lot like a jackhammer would back on Earth. Jack got out of his hiding spot, still cautious as he slowly edge to another corner, peering around at the bots working. 'They don't look like the miners do; their plating isn't as worn, and they're mostly just covered in metal dust.'

Given what he could see, from the beams, the sounds and the equipment, Jack hazarded a guess that these were some kind of construction workers. 'So…construction works topside then?' he asked himself, but looked down at his cuffs. 'Maybe I can find something to get these off.'

He looked around, keeping a watchful eye out for his pursuers, then edged around the site carefully. On what looked like a workbench not far away, he saw an assortment of various tools. One of those had to get these off!

The spark of hope had him running over, and Jack was so set on his task that he hadn't realized someone had moved in his way to pick up a tool until he had already bumped into them. His aft made a grating sound as he fell, a familiar voice ringing in his receptors.

"Whoa there. You okay?" The mech asked him. Jack stared up, dumbfounded. He was still green, but lacked the majority of his scars, and had no Autobot symbol, but Jack could recognize Bulkhead's voice anywhere.

Jack's spark seized, his plating shaking as he had never been so relieved to find someone from Team Prime. "Bul-uh, y-yeah." He answered, quickly censoring himself as he couldn't give himself away. The thought hurt more than expected.

Jack was even more aware of the cuffs around his wrists, and he quickly, and awkwardly pulled his arms inward to hide them by overlapping his forearms. It must have looked weird, because Bulkhead just gave him another concerned glance.

"You sure? Didn't happen to hit your helm and knock something loose, did ya?"

"I-I'm fine." Jack stuttered. He lifted himself onto his pedes, and carefully got back to his feet. "N-nothing to worry about."

"Then what are you doing out here?" Bulkhead questioned. "This areas blocked off for road repairs."

"I...I was trying to find my way around. I'm new to the city and I don't know where anything is..." His voice cracked once or twice, Jack wincing each time. Hopefully his excuses were plausible ones. "I must have gotten lost again. I never was good with directions."

"If you're lost, there's a map screen around the block." Bulkhead pointed thankfully in the direction away from where he came.

"R-right, okay, t-thank you." Jack hated how his voice kept cracking. He was trying to keep a lid on his emotions though, and not freak out about seeing Bulkhead.

"Hey, Bulkhead!" A new, rougher voice called. Jack stepped back out of Bulkhead's sight, and quickly swiped a sharp enough looking tool. Maybe this could get the cuffs off. "What are you doing, you wanna get docked pay?"

Bulkhead rubbed his head sheepishly. "Sorry, Breakdown, but I was just helping this bot out."

Jack's optics went wide. 'Breakdown?!'

"Yeah, well, send him on his way and get going! We've got a lot of work to do if we want to get paid for this job!" The mech snapped irritably, casting a glance at Jack. Thankfully the mech didn't seem to think he was worth his time and turned. "And bring the welder! Some glitch cracked a beam and it needs fixing!"

"On it!" Bulkhead called back, and looked sheepishly at Jack. "You think you can find your way?"

Jack was still a bit shaken at not only seeing Bulkhead but also Breakdown, but he found himself nodding. "Yeah," he huffed as stood up straight, "it's just around the corner. I won't get lost just doing that."

"Go along the outer edge there then." Bulkhead pointed to the part of the road which had been blocked but not worked on. "You can use that so you don't get hurt with everyone moving around."

Jack nodded. "Thank you." He replied, and briskly made his way to -for lack of a better term-the sidewalk. He looked back, but instead of going to the corner, he ducked into the alleyway, making sure he was far enough in case the tool he swiped made any noise. He looked at the tip, and narrowed his optics. 'I really hope this is sharp enough to work.'

The point dug into his cuffs, sliding several times before Jack was able to dig it into a small line in the cuffs. He twisted it, burrowed deeper, ending up cutting himself in his attempt to break the thing off. Relief washed over him as he felt it starting to come loose.

With a final jerk, the cuffs let out a shrrk and fell to the ground. Jack leaned against the wall, feeling a little better despite his bleeding hand. He blinked though when the energon slowly stopped trickling out, and he watched in a morbid fascination as the plating in his hand began to shift, and closed the wound with little more than a faint scar.

'Okay, it's official; I can heal and it really is creepy.' Jack thought to himself. But good, right? At least he wouldn't have to worry about bleeding out unless it was a severe wound. 'Like in the mines...' He thought with a shiver. He never wanted to experience that again. "Now where am I supposed to go?" Jack asked himself aloud, at a loss. He couldn't go back to the mines to find Megatron. They'd just send him back...and he had no idea where Iacon was or where Op-Orion was inside it.

Much as it pained him, he would have to use that map it seemed. Or at least try to figure out how to use it. Maybe he could find a way to Iacon from…wherever he was. 'No one ever said where I was going, and I didn't ask what this city was.' He thought.

Jack frowned to himself, but at least now he could try and get an alt-mode. It would look less suspicious if he were to transform. Maybe he might even get a color change to further muddy the resemblance to this form. He looked down at the tool, but right now couldn't afford to be unarmed just in case he was found. 'I'm not going back there.'

Moving quickly, Jack skulked around the alleyway until he came out the front. He stopped as his optics widened. The other had been closed off, leaving little else. Now he saw just how bustling the city was. Vehicles of all sizes and frames moved along the road, and the few still in robot mode were steering clear from them on a sidewalk. There were no engine roars, but a strange hum that could only be this version of one, and he tore his gaze away to avoid stepping into another bot.

"Sorry about that." He muttered before quickly fleeing to the map, blinking as he found that there were no stop lights -because of course not-and instead a walkway to the other side. "If it's always busy, you'd need a way to cross the street." He muttered to himself.

He looked up, and saw that the air was just as busy as the ground- various vehicles of all shapes and sizes were going along the invisible paths of roads that he could only imagine.

"Or...maybe not...?" He said to himself, amazed. Nothing on earth could compare to something like this. The buildings were saw were so tall that he couldn't see the top, even if he bent backwards as far as he was able.

"This…is actually amazing." Jack said. His optics spied that even further up were air vehicles. He didn't know whether to call them planes or jets, as their designs were so alien compared to anything he'd seen. The closest he could say was that some looked similar to the jet form Megatron had on Earth.

Jack shook himself, coming back to the present. "Right, get to the map." He muttered. Jack still glanced over the edge of the walkway down at the cars, and up at passing jets. If he didn't know what lied beneath this shiny exterior, he really would have thought of this as a 'golden age.' 'But I know better.' He thought darkly.

Reaching the other side, Jack found a large screen on the side of a building, and he hoped this was it. Jack looked over the glyphs etched into the bottom plaque, and his optics widened as he realized he could read it. He saw strange markings, but his brain processed them as words he could recognize. "Kaon. So I'm in…Kaon." Jack bit his lip. 'Of all the places…'

It did seem like a gathering point for everything leading up to the Great War. Megatron, Orion, the council...he wondered where it was going to all lead to now. He wasn't sure and Jack was hesitant to find out. What if it led to something even worse than before?

'That would be just my luck.' Jack thought, finding a keypad to control the screen. After clicking several buttons, feeling embarrassed by how bots were glancing at him, he finally got the map to show a wider range. He looked around for Iacon, but when he finally found it-his optics were huge.

'Iacon is in the freaking north-pole?!' Granted, it wasn't that far off from Kaon, but the words 'north-pole' just sent an unpleasant feeling down Jack's spine. Did that word mean the same thing? It couldn't, because Cybertron didn't have snow, but it did have an electrical field most likely. 'This day just keeps getting worse.'

Shoulders slumped, Jack slid a hand shown his face. This just wasn't his day...

The murmuring around him was growing steadily more annoying, as well as more worrisome. Did he really stand out that much? He didn't think he looked that out of place beyond his poorly cared for armor and chipped fingers.

'Probably need money to get there.' his thoughts turned back to Iacon, the more important task at hand. 'Okay, first I get money, head to Iacon, find Orion-'

The feel of a blaster pressed again his head. Jack's optics went wide again. "What is this?" Playing dumb seemed the safer bet. Was he about to get mugged right in broad daylight. In front of witnesses? Then again that would be par for the course.

"Just take it easy and nothing has to happen." The feminine voice spoke and it sent a shock down Jack's spine. "You're to be taken in by order of the Kaon police force."

Jack gritted his teeth. 'I can't believe this. Of all bots, it just had to be...Arcee.' He really was having a bad day.

"I haven't done anything wrong." Jack insisted immediately. Too quickly. The blaster pressed a little more firmly against his head. "I'm not a criminal! Whatever they said I did-"

"Put your servos behind your back. Slowly." She ordered him. Jack gritted his denta, reluctantly lowering his arms. This could not be happening!

"I-"

"No talking!" Arcee snapped. She roughly pulled the tool from his grip. "Carrying a weapon, if you weren't to be detained only, I'd have you arrested on illegal weapon's possession alone."

Jack couldn't believe this was Arcee. He gritted his teeth again as another set of cuffs were slapped onto his wrists. And he'd just gotten used to the brief moment of freedom. "You've detained me, now do I get to speak?"

"You just did." Arcee retorted. She paused, and from what she said next, he assumed she was speaking through a comm. "This is Patrol Officer Arcee, I have found and arrested the fugitive. Orders?"

"Where are you taking me?" Jack demanded of, pulling against her. He was rewarded with a sharp jolt from his cuffs, a surge of electricity pulsing through him. Thankfully he didn't pass out.

"Back into police custody, where you'll be processed and returned to the proper care of your owner." Arcee stated as simply as one would state the weather.

"I don't belong to anyone! People aren't things to be owned!" Jack snapped. He grunted as he was shocked again.

"People?" Arcee repeated, then huffed. "You all must be delirious if you're starting to come up with your own language down in the mines."

Jack would have kicked himself for the slip, but the point still stood and he continued struggling even as another shock went through him. "Do you even know what they're doing down there? It's awful in the mines and I'm not going back!"

"It's your place," Arcee retorted, the words just wrong from someone he knew so well. Or, thought he knew. Then again, she likely must have had a change of spark given what he remembered, "we all have a part to do, from the highest to the lowest."

"Your society is corrupted." Jack snarled out, beyond angry. This was someone he knew, that he loved like family. Even if she didn't know it yet...it was a hard pill to swallow that Arcee had actually been like this. It felt like betrayal. "And I am not going to Shockwave without a fight!"

Jack tore from her grip, and just as the shocks kicked in he grabbed hold of her arm, sending the surge of electricity through her as well. She screamed briefly before he released her. Arcee was shaky and weak, and now was the time for his escape.

Her excellent aim proved to be his downfall. Even as she was, Jack still felt a blast going through his head, tearing half his face off. For a second time, he felt the cold embrace of death.

The void surrounded him only for a second before it all came rushing back. The alien sensation of his face reconstructing itself as though nothing had happened was a horrifying sensation. He gasped when his mouth was restored and the missing right optic was returned.

Jack wondered why everything was sideways, before he realized that he was lying on the ground. He felt sick to stomach, squeezing his optics shut, cold as he felt his right optic blink as though nothing were wrong. 'She…she killed me.' He thought in disbelief. 'She actually killed me!' he heard Arcee scrambling to her feet, and bots screaming and running.

Though Jack couldn't see it, her optics were rife with alarm as she saw his still moving form, having witnessed his miraculous recovery.

"D-don't move! I won't warn you again!" She yelled, though it was with very little threat. What could she do against a mech who returned from being offline?

Still dazed from his recovery, Jack blinked as he heard her, but only stayed down because his limbs felt like jelly. 'This is just as bad as before.' He thought, but realized that with where he was, it was worse. 'How am going to explain this?' Did he have to? Arcee at least sounded freaked out, but that could just as likely go sour again.

And he really didn't want to die again-again. But he also didn't want to go to Shockwave.

"You saw what happened, I know you did." Jack called, struggling to look at her. "Do you really think shooting me again is going to do you any good?"

"I can still detain you." Arcee grounded out. A slight shake of her hands when she kept his back pinned told him all he needed to know about her state of being. "Requesting backup- immediately!"

Jack's optics widened, as not far off he could hear sirens. 'How many were looking for me?!' he thought incredulously. All this for just one 'slave?' 'Then again, they probably wouldn't want me tainting their perfect society'. He thought bitterly.

Jack tried to move, but grunted as Arcee's heel dug into his back. "Get off me!" he snapped. Arcee didn't budge though. Jack still struggled, but a swift kick to the helm dazed him even more. He groaned as he lay on the ground, grimacing as he could see the vehicles coming around the corner.

One of the vehicles transformed once close enough, and glanced between Arcee and Jack. "You've apprehended the fugitive?"

"He...struggled, but I was able to put him down." She responded with a nod.

"We need to transport him immediately." Jack heard the other mech state. "The owner is getting impatient. Another breem longer and we'll hear about this for the next orn."

"I don't belong to anyone!" Jack snarled again, swiping at the hands that reached for him. A fist slammed down on his head, and he groaned.

"Be quiet, slave. This is the least you deserve for leaving your owner waiting." The other mech said harshly, and just as firmly grabbed Jack and pulled him to his feet. Jack tried to struggle, but this mech was bigger and stronger than Arcee, and Jack was never more painfully aware he wasn't.

"Get him ready for transport. You're to stand and guard the slave to ensure he doesn't escape again."

"Yes, sir." Arcee said dutifully. Jack groaned as he was hoisted to his feet.

Jack was about to struggle, but Arcee's blaster was planted on his head again. "Stay still this time, unless you want a hole in you." She hissed.

The other officer looked back, frowning. "And make sure you put that blaster on stun. We can't have this one fried or it's our chassis."

Jack stiffened, his optics widening as Arcee looked chastised. "You-"

"Shut up!" she snapped. "I will not be lectured anymore by a slave."

Gritting his denta, Jack remained silent. There was nothing he could say or do that could change her mind. Whatever she may have been in the future, there was not even an inkling of the person he had known in her right now.

Again, he was shoved into another trailer. Only this time Arcee was forced to ride along with him to ensure he didn't cause any more trouble. The troubling glances she sent his way were hard to miss.

"Stop staring at me." Jack snapped irritably, curling his fingers.

"You should be dead, I hit you in the head, half your face came off." Arcee said finally, her gaze piercing.

Jack glared at her. "I guess I'm a fast healer." He spat.

Arcee scowled at back him. "There's healing, and then there's complete reconfiguration!"

Jack glanced at his reflection in the shiny metal. His optic didn't look out of place or even that there was any damage. He could hardly even see the scar that ran down his temple it was so faint. "I thought I wasn't supposed to be talking." He bit out. It hurt, but it was easier to deal with this by reminding himself this wasn't the Arcee he knew.

Arcee scoffed, turning her head. Jack continued speaking despite every part of him telling him to shut up.

"Guess it's lucky for you then, huh?" He smiled darkly, optics blazing brightly. "You weren't supposed to hurt me at all- how do you think Shockwave would have taken it if you had killed his newest experiment?" When her form tense, he continued, knowing he had struck a nerve. "Might have used you as the replacement. What's one cop to someone as great as Shockwave?"

The fist to the face wasn't unexpected, but it hurt as his head smacked against the trailer. Jack held his face as pain throbbed from a tear in his cheek. He brushed away the energon as it healed up.

Arcee glared at him, frowning as someone likely called her as she answered her comm. "Everything's fine back here. The slave just thought he could talk like he was someone who mattered."

Jack scowled fiercely at her. Bitterness pooled at the back of his throat. Words he never though he would say came spilling out of his mouth. "Good luck holding onto your partners with an attitude like that." He growled as he forced himself up. "It'll be a small wonder when they all leave you."

Arcee scoffed again, jerking her head up. "Partners only slow you down." She retorted. "I work better alone."

"Keep telling yourself that." Jack snapped.

The rest of the ride was endured mostly in silence, other than a scathing glare or a few harsh words towards each other. Dread filled Jack every time they slowed down or stopped, fearing they had already arrived.

Jack stubbornly stood back when the trailer was opened yet again. Arcee pinned her stunner on him.

"Move." She ordered, in no mode to play games.

Jack glared back at her, but he would rather go in awake than wake up not knowing where he was. 'It's a long shot, but if I can see just where things are, then maybe I can try and escape again.' It seemed like a pipe dream at this point, having his freedom back. He wouldn't give up though, it was just a matter of bidding his time.

With, Jack gritted his teeth as he climbed out of the trailer. He was immediately seized by two officers who kept a tight grip on his arms as he was dragged along behind them.