Chapter 10
The Funny Thing About Jack
"Oh thank Primus, it worked!" Ratchet exclaimed in relief, as Arcee walked through the ground bridge, with Jack in her arms, followed by the others.
In the background, Miko and Raf were cheering and June cried out with joy, as the returning Autobots surveyed the base. There was a pile of mangled machinery in front of the gate, near the main computer, and a few scorch marks over the floor and alongside the walls. Optimus came through last, feeling a weight lift from his shoulders.
Jack was finally home.
"Optimus, you're injured!" The medic bot came towards him in full doctor mode seeing the energon leaking from his shoulder.
"I'll be alright Ratchet." The Prime held up his hand to wave him off, he wanted to check on their friend first. He started to make his way over to where Arcee set Jack down, so his mother could examine him, but his stubborn SIC stood in his way.
"Of course you will be, after I fix you up. Now lie down and let me look at it!" Ratchet insisted.
Optimus knew better than to argue with his medical officer, when he had that tone. He sat on a berth near the corridor, and gazed around at the twisted mess by the bridge, as the rest of his team gathered round to wait their turn for repairs.
"Here, eat this." The red and white mech handed him some energon.
"What happened here, Ratchet?" The Autobot leader asked as he bit into it.
"Hm, what? Oh the projector." He said distractedly, as he was pulled out of his examination, when Optimus pointed to it.
"Projector?" Arcee wondered.
"Aw slag, not the one you made so we could shoot Decepticons while training?" Bulkhead moaned.
"Yes, the very same one, and no, I won't be fixing it now, since it was blasted into scrap." Ratchet confirmed.
"Was anyone hurt?" Optimus asked with concern, clearly recalling Megatron's laser fire passing through his double.
"Fowler hit his head, when he dived for cover, after shots came through the bridge." The medic replied gathering tools to start repairs.
"How is he?" The Autobot leader tried to peer around his SIC at the raised human area by the main computer.
"Sit still." Ratchet ordered pulling him back, "Other than a small concussion and dizziness, he's fine."
"I'll have another slice of cake, mommy." They heard the agent comically say and the medic bot grimaced.
"It's the concussion." He said embarrassed, as Bulkhead and Bumblebee started laughing.
"The projector got slagged and the walls a little scorched, but no one else was hurt." Ratchet spoke over the two giggling bots.
"How is Jack?" Optimus asked apprehensively, June walked over to answer.
"He's tired, and a little dehydrated, but he'll be good as new after he rests." She stated with obvious relief.
Just like that, the tension in the room suddenly dropped as everyone relaxed.
"That is very good news." Optimus breathed, as he stopped fidgeting, and sat still, so Ratchet could properly repair him.
"After I'm done with you, I'll grab the De-melder and get that disruptor off his head, before I examine the others." He said and cursed a little at the damage to the Prime's shoulder.
"I can't believe you fought with an injury like this." The medic shook his head in exasperation, not really surprised, but wishing his leader would have a sense for his own safety once in a while.
"Is it serious?" June asked.
"Seeing as he was hit next to his spark chamber I'd say yes, it's rather serious." The Autobot was beginning to get snippy as he always did when he had patients to fix.
"Lie down." The Prime complied and Ratchet bent over him.
"Will he be alright?" June didn't want the team to lose its leader, not after their success.
"Yes, he'll be alright, as long as he doesn't act like an idiot, over the next few days." The medic growled and gazed at the red and blue mech under his ministrations with a look. Optimus wisely stayed silent.
"So why did you need the projector in the first place?" Arcee interrupted him.
"Ask Rafael, it was his idea." The assembled bots turned to stare at the small genius standing next to Miko and Jack, who lay on a gurney with a blanket covering him.
"I only helped a little." He said modestly, shyly rubbing his head.
"A little? If it weren't for you Jack would still be in Megatron's clutches!" Miko exclaimed.
"Yes, don't sell yourself short, Rafael. You did good, thank-you." June said gratefully and she walked over and placed a hand on his shoulder.
"Well, Ratchet still did most of the work." He looked down sheepishly.
"I seem to recall you doing most of the editing." Ratchet muttered as he grabbed a wrench.
"So, what happened?" Bulkhead wanted to know.
*Flashback*
"I have an idea." Raf began.
"You said that the Impulse Disrupter uses voice commands to control people, right?" Ratchet nodded.
"As long as those orders won't contradict each other. So what?" He wondered
"So, maybe we could fool the disrupter, in believing it's being given a command, by imitating Megatron's voice." The bespectacled boy pitched.
"You think we haven't tried that?" The medic snorted, "When the disrupters were first in use, we tried voice changers, even actual recordings, but nothing worked."
"Why though, and how did you prevent the Decepticons from using them against you?" Raf queried.
"Cybertronians can update their systems to combat external threats that attempt to compromise the well being of their internal systems and processors. So, we simply improved our own firewalls, and gave them functions, to fight off the more vicious, invasive, things our enemies had at the time. It's now standard procedure for any new Autobot to have these defenses already installed." Ratchet stated matter of fact.
"But you, being human, don't have such an ability, making it easy for Megatron to take advantage of you. The Impulse Disrupter then, becomes much harder to remove, as you would need either a portable De-melder, or a way to really fool the senses, because the device gets its input directly from its victims. You'd need to fool not just sound, but sight as well, and I doubt you could get Megatron, of all mechs, to cooperate." He finished curtly.
Rafael thought hard, "Could we take recordings and use one of your holograms to do it?" He looked up at the medic who shook his head.
"That wouldn't work on a Cybertronian, far too many sensors." He closed his optics.
"Uh, but Jack isn't Cybertronian." Ratchet's optics snapped open as Miko finished.
"And humans only have one visual mode." The medic said in dawning realization, "So your senses are easier to trick." Ratchet wanted to hit his helm on the wall.
"Slag it, why didn't I think of this before!"
*End Flashback*
"After that it was a simple matter of contacting Bumblebee for recordings, setting up the projector and uploading it with the proper images for realism, then editing the recordings and other sounds to apply to the image itself, which Rafael did. The rest you know." The red and white mech finished.
"I can't believe it worked too." Arcee commented musingly.
"Jack's weariness must have contributed, otherwise, I don't think it would have." Ratchet stated grimly.
"Impulse Disrupters weren't designed to be easily fooled, they were made by Decepticons after all, Jack is fortunate that our little stunt worked at all." This caused the others to grow quiet in contemplation and thank their stars they were so lucky. They didn't want to think about what might have happened, if they'd had to leave their friend with Megatron a second time. It was just too horrifying.
"So, can a disrupter give humans psionic powers, then, or did Megatron do something to him?" Miko asked seriously. Before the bots, and particularly Arcee, could panic all over again, June spoke up.
"Actually," She began nervously glancing at her son beside her, "Jack has had those abilities for a while."
Everyone, even Optimus, stared at her, then looked at Jack, who was still out of it, before they turned and stared at her again.
"Wait...what?" Bulkhead was the first to break the silence. Behind him Ratchet stood up and gave her a dumbfounded look.
"What do you mean he's had them for a while?" He almost blew a gasket.
June sighed in sadness and sat next to her son and grasped his hand in hers.
"When Jack was seven," She began.
"He had an accident and was in the hospital for five days." The bots were startled by this news as they listened with rapt attention.
"When he came home, he was different. He became quiet, kept to himself, and began sneaking off somewhere. Things would happen around him, too. When he got worked up about something, objects wouldn't be where they were left, things would smolder like they were catching fire. There'd be an unexplained electric charge in the air and whole rooms, when you walked in, would be freezing cold, even if it was ninety-five degrees outside." Jack's mother had a sad wistful expression on her face as she moved her son's bangs out of his eyes.
"My husband and I were worried, we didn't know what was happening, or why Jack seemed to be at the center of it. It got to the point that we'd started fighting, which upset my son. He came to us one night, and showed us his new abilities. To say we were surprised would be an understatement." June was getting tears in her eyes as she continued.
"My husband couldn't handle it, we had a huge row, and he left. I moved Jack and myself away from California and out here to Jasper, for the solitude, to start over." She finished, sniffling a little as she composed herself.
"But, how did Jack learn to control his abilities?" Arcee asked in confusion, "You couldn't have taught him, right?"
"For that matter why haven't we seen anything strange around him?" Ratchet rejoined, "I should've picked up something when I first scanned him."
"Why wouldn't he tell us about this?" Bulkhead wondered. "I mean if he's always had these powers, why didn't he use them to fight off the cons, when they were around?"
"I-" June looked down at her feet, "I made him promise not to use them. I didn't want something to happen to Jack if someone found out. As he got older though, things began to get out of hand and I had to take him to a meditation expert, who could teach him to calm his mind." She wrung her hands in her nurse's coat as she explained.
"Although, I don't know how he got so good at controlling his psionic powers, he must have found a place to use them openly while I was at work." Arcee got an expression of dawning in her eyes.
"The oasis." She said, "He must have gone there to practice and the Decepticon took him when it witnessed his abilities."
"That explains why Megatron was so adamant to use him." Optimus sat up a little on the berth, "He said Jack was special and we didn't know it." He lowered his head.
"Don't beat yourself up Optimus." Ratchet laid a hand on his arm.
"Yeah, I'll bet Jack didn't tell anyone because he didn't want something like this to happen." Raf spoke up
"Could you imagine if we'd known from the beginning, though? He could've given the Decepticons, or, or even MECH what for!" Miko told the small boy passionately, punching her fists at invisible enemies.
"Or they could've taken advantage of him, like Megatron did now." Arcee curb stomped the Japanese girl's enthusiasm while clenching her hand.
The room fell silent again.
"She's right." June said, "Before all of this, I was afraid the government, or some strange doctor, or, or something would take my son from me." She shook her head warding away the illusions of old fears.
"When MECH and that spider dropped the bombshell, it became fears about them stealing Jack from me. I made him promise extra that he wouldn't use his abilities out in the open, after that." She stated with conviction, looking towards the teen in a way only a mother could.
"Man, and here I was thinking we had it bad." Bulkhead said, to no one in particular.
"I still don't understand how we could've missed something like that." Ratchet complained, "I mean a human couldn't just develop new powers without it changing the functions in their brain. Whenever I scanned Jack though, his readings always proved normal."
"You probably did notice it, then." The Darby matriarch told him, "When Jack was in the hospital he had multiple CAT scans and MRIs done. He had some functions in his higher brain areas that the doctors chalked up as part of his recovery."
"Wait, you mean those functioning parts of his mind aren't just a sign of intelligence, as I thought?" The Autobot medic exclaimed. When June confirmed this he cursed.
"Primus, no wonder I didn't notice! Your medical knowledge claimed such activity in the brain wasn't uncommon, so I thought it was normal." If Ratchet were human he would've been pulling out his hair by now, as he paced, having completely forgotten about repairing Optimus.
"Gahh! I can't believe I missed that!" He cried.
"I think Ratchet has finally lost it." Bulkhead stage whispered to Bumblebee. The yellow mech whirred with agreement. Hearing the two of them, joke behind his back, the medic snapped at them.
"Be serious, this is important! Who knows how many other humans might have these abilities. Megatron could take any one of them for his twisted plans." He said and turned back to June.
"You said Jack got hurt and had changed after he recovered, but how did that happen? Where did he get these psionic powers?" He asked.
"I don't know." She said.
"Wha-but, how can you not?" The red and white mech demanded.
"Ratchet, calm down." Optimus ordered, his SIC whirled.
"Oh slag, your shoulder! I apologize Optimus I-"
"Don't worry so much, old friend, a lot has been on all our minds today." The Prime put his officer at ease and gazed back at Jack's mother.
"Please explain, Mrs. Darby." He entreated patiently, as Ratchet returned to his task of repairing him.
"My husband took Jack into the mountains for a hike. I don't know all the details, Jack doesn't like to talk about it, but he slipped on one of the trails and fell into a crevice." She adopted a worried face staring at her son.
"It wasn't very deep, thankfully, but something happened down there. When the rescue squads brought Jack out of it, physically he was fine, but he just wouldn't wake up." June sighed.
"I'm not even sure if he knows the full story, himself." She said unsure.
"If who knows the full story? What story? What did I miss?" Fowler chose that moment to appear, he yawned, then groaned and held his head as he walked over.
"How do you feel, agent?" Optimus asked, optics gazing in examination from where he lay.
"Like a Decepticon's been tap dancing on my brain. What happened to you, Prime?" The dark man wondered as he noticed the Autobot on the repair berth.
"Results from fighting Megatron." He stated simply.
"You mean him being a cheat." Bulkhead snorted derisively.
"It's good to see you up." June said to him from her place beside Jack.
"You guys mind filling me in?" Fowler asked as he looked around.
Optimus observed everyone as the government man was brought up to speed. Each of his team, except for Ratchet, had a few bad scrapes, Bulkhead more dents than the others, but they were relaxed. Arcee had a small smile of contentment on her face, Bumblebee was exchanging friendly conversation with Raf, as the Autobot wrecker stood near showing off his latest battle scars to Miko.
The worry lines that had been on June's face, since that morning, had melted, as she sat next to her son and explained to Fowler everything he'd missed. The agent, for his part, kept getting a growing look of disbelief on his features. As for himself and Ratchet?
"Optimus I need to put you under for this next part." The medic told him. The Prime looked up at him and nodded.
As he went into recharge, the Autobot leader couldn't hold back the surge of compassion he felt, for this small family.
'For all life is there to be cherished.'
Primus's words echoed in his spark.
Somewhere on Earth.
Starscream paced his small hideout in thought. He had just finished reading through the human notebook he stole from the Nemesis and plans were beginning to form in his scheming processor.
"I can't believe, after all this time, those useless flesh creatures were actually capable of something no Cybertronian has ever accomplished!" He snarled in frustration and picked up the book again, paging through it.
"How can a mere child do something the greatest researchers have spent millenia trying to perfect?" He fumbled and dropped the book, its papers bending every which way.
"Blast it! I must know how this has gone unnoticed, if all humans are capable of this-" He cut himself off as he picked up the small notebook and saw that two pages had been stuck together. He carefully pulled them apart and began reading.
"What, what is this?" His optics widened.
"If this is true," He glanced up with an evil smirk.
"I may finally have found the means to get rid of Megatron, and the Autobots, and take my rightful place as ruler of the Decepticons!" He clenched his fist and laughed.
"Soon, I will have all the power I need."