Smokescreen heard a high screeching as he stared at Jack's empty perch, horror coursing through him at the realization that Starscream had taken him, but when he felt Arcee and Bumblebee retrain him, he became aware of the fact the screeching was coming from him.
"Smokescreen! Calm down, Smokescreen!" Arcee shouted over his denial.
"Keep calm? How can I keep calm knowing that Starscream took Jack?!" Smokescreen retorted and tried to thrash out of their grips, but to no avail.
"Arcee, open the ground bridge." Optimus sounded over the intercom.
Smokescreen paused in his struggles, hope surging that Optimus had caught Starscream. "Please tell me you have Jack with you." Optimus' reply didn't help him. "I was unaware Jack had been taken along with the Omega Keys."
The portal opened and the three mechs came out, but there was no sign of Jack with them, and Smokescreen broke free of Bumblebee's grip to try and make a mad dash for the portal, but Bulkhead caught a hold of him.
"Hey, calm down." He said, but that just made Smokescreen even angrier.
"You all need to stop telling me to calm down!" he shouted and slumped when the bridge closed, wrenching himself away from Bulkhead and sullenly began to pace around. "I promised I'd protect him, and I couldn't even do that."
"We had no idea Starscream had red energon, or that he'd take Jack." Arcee said, but she sounded just as shaken as Smokescreen felt.
"Starscream would not have done so without reason, he must be planning to use Jack as a bargaining chip." Optimus realized.
"But the question is; to who?" Ratchet added.
"We shall see soon enough." Optimus said gravely.
Smokescreen stopped his pacing, his expression becoming serious. Secretly he hoped Starscream wouldn't go to the Decepticons; that he really would just try and trade back for something like energon. But he remembered Knock Out's words, about how Megatron didn't like Jack, and it made him see that they needed to find a way to get Jack back now.
Jack opened his eyes, his head spinning as he remembered the sudden black out he'd experienced. He wondered what had happened, but as he looked around at the container he was in, he didn't have to wonder for long. Jack had a pretty strong idea of who had taken him away, but he couldn't be sure he hadn't switched hands, given the look of the room he was in.
He could either be back on the Decepticon ship, or he could be wherever Starscream had holed himself up in. Jack pushed against the box, experimentally banging his fist on it, but it didn't even vibrate or shake under his hands. He looked at the ground, but could still see that it was completely encasing him, so how was he able to breathe freely?
Jack kept his breaths as calm as he could, as he searched around the box, looking out to give him some clue about where he was. He got his answer when the doors to the room slid open and a red mech walked in, his optics narrowing once he saw Jack was awake. He then grinned viciously at him.
"It's about time you woke up; I thought Starscream might have killed you when I checked on you last." Knock Out said flippantly.
"So I'm on the Nemesis?" Jack questioned.
"Yes, does it feel good to be back? Or did you not have enough fun climbing all over us the last time?" Knock Out questioned in a growl.
Jack felt himself freeze. They had all been aware of that? Then that also meant…Jack paled. "Didn't you have enough fun trying to kill me?"
"As I recall, that Autobot medic interrupted before I could get to the good part." Knock Out retorted. "I had to buff out not only your greasy little prints that were all over me, but also the thrashing I got for letting you escape."
"How is that my fault?" Jack snapped.
Knock Out glowered at him, and he leaned down threateningly over Jack's container. "Trust me; we can blame you for quite a bit. I happen to know that Starscream's not exactly thrilled with what happened between you and Megatron in those caverns. I'm sure he would have killed you outright if you weren't of any use."
Jack blinked, reeling in disbelief that Megatron could have let anyone know about what had happened there. "How do you know about that?"
"Let's just say, when Megatron escaped, he wasn't exactly happy about being spared by an organic." Knock Out replied. "You also returned the Prime's memories, and that was really irritating considering how long I spent putting that decal on him."
"Optimus was an Autobot through and through, he left the Nemesis of his own free will!" Jack snapped and Knock Out scowled back at him.
"I said I'd wait to kill you in front of your Autobot, but you just might tempt me to do away with you sooner." Knock Out hissed and lifted up the container, his servos wrapped around the cylinder as Jack staggered to keep his footing. His optics gave Jack a once over before he sneered. "I can't believe that a puny organic managed to snag themselves a Cybertronian. He's an Autobot, but this should not be able to work." He commented.
Jack glared at him. "What goes on between he and I is none of your business."
"He made it a liability with how much we saw from his head." Knock Out retorted. "It's really telling how much of a rookie that mech is if he didn't even know how inadvisable it would be to have a relationship in the midst of this war."
"Is that why you're so charming?" Jack asked sarcastically.
Instead of scowling, Knock Out just smirked in a frustrated sort of way. "I said 'relationships,' not 'casual one night stands.' That term really does suit you both more, there are just too many differences it for it to work out."
Jack glowered and defiantly crossed his arms. "What happens, happens." He said stiffly.
Knock Out continued like he didn't hear Jack. "Of course, if he 'likes it when your bad' maybe you really aren't his type." He said and smirked again, which caused Jack to bristle with the implications. "Or maybe it's just that he's not your type; a little more time with me, and we could do something very bad." He said leering and Jack grimaced as he tried to back further into the glass. Knock Out's expression evened out though. "That will have to wait though; we still need to retrieve your little human friends."
Jack felt his fear rise. "No, do want you want with me, but leave them alone!"
"Even when you and that rookie beg you're different." Knock Out replied chuckling darkly. "This isn't just about you, and as much as I want to take you up on that, we need all three of you. The Autobots really should have taken better care of their liabilities." He said and set Jack back down on the counter. "Don't worry though, maybe we can still play if there's enough time left." He said and walked out of the room, leaving Jack alone once more.
Jack pounded his fists on the glass again, but felt his shoulders slump and he slid down the glass container. How was he going to get out of this one? He didn't like the sound of what Knock Out was saying, and he couldn't even warn his friends about this.
Jack paused in his thought and he wanted to smack himself when he realized he still had his phone in his pocket. He reached in, and didn't know if he had enough time to call them both, but he did know the 'Bots could do something about it. He put the phone to his ear and waited for it to be picked up. "Arcee!"
"Jack?" Arcee sounded so relieved and disbelieving as she heard his voice. Jack could hear his name being repeated in the background. "Where did Starscream take you? Are you alright?"
Jack checked himself over. "Yeah, I'm alright. But Starscream, he brought me to the Nemesis."
"The Nemesis" Arcee repeated. "Jack, Ratchet is going to try and locate you, try and stay on the phone as long as you can.I see, well, we'll deal with that, alright? And then we'll come and get you. Hang tight." Arcee said and tried to sound reassuring. Her worried tone betrayed her real feelings though.
Jack saw the doors open again and he abruptly shut his phone before slipping it quickly back into his pocket as he saw that in the doorway was Starscream. "What do you want?"
"I believe we never had a proper introduction." Starscream said coldly.
"I know who you are." Jack said warily.
"Yes, and I know who you are. When you showed up in that cavern, with that drill, I had no idea that you had even encountered Megatron down there." Starscream began conversationally as he walked slowly up to Jack's container. "To think of how differently things could have gone. Had I known just who you were when I grabbed you, you wouldn't even be alive right now."
Jack was really worried now. Would Starscream try and kill him while he was in here? He certainly talked like he'd love nothing more than to do just that. "I'm supposed to be used later, they'll know it was you." He said grasping at straws.
Starscream didn't look like he was pleased to be reminded of this. "Yes, and when that time comes, I'll be the one holding your container. Who knows, my grip just might slip and you could have an unfortunate accident." He said and with one final glare, he stalked out of the room.
Jack let out the breath he'd been holding and it was then he'd gotten another idea. Going to one end, Jack ran to the other side and pushed against the glass. The glass didn't crack, but the container itself wobbled slightly and Jack did another run at it. It wobbled again and Jack continued to run until the container finally tipped over and it fell to the side. The top didn't break off, and Jack would have sighed if he didn't do something so incredibly risky.
He began to roll the container to the edge and with one breath; he pushed it over, and clenched his eyes shut as it impacted the ground. The counter wasn't very high, but it did break with enough force to give Jack several cut and scrapes, mostly over his exposed face and hands as the rest of him was mildly protected from the glass. His head pounded and he only lied there on the floor, stunned that he was even still alive.
Jack harshly reminded himself that it would have certainly ended with him dead if he'd been dropped at Cybertronian height. He grimaced at the ache that spread through his body and saw that one of the glass shards had cut his arm, through his sleeve. Jack bit onto the sleeve and pulled it with his teeth to tear it off and tied it around the wound. He then tentatively touched his face, wincing as his fingers came away with blood.
Shaking his head slightly, Jack needed to find some place to hide, as someone was bound to have heard that crash. He slowly walked over to the side of the counter where there were several crates and he hid behind them. He hoped the Autobots had gone to protect the others right now; he didn't want this to have been in vain.
They would come for him soon enough, he was sure of it. Because right now, that hope of rescue was all he had left.