Transformers Prime: Lost, But Found

Part Three

Two Hours Ago…

Jack slowly came too, somewhere in his mind aware that, in the last 24 hours, he had been unconscious at least two separate times. Were he not in considerable pain, he might have been annoyed by this realization to say the least. As it was, the circumstances into which he now found himself left Jack feeling none to pleased.

From what he could perceive with one good eye, he was alone in one of the abandoned mine tunnels. Set in the loose dirt nearby was a single gas-light lantern, it's dim glow cutting into the darkness for a few feet in every-direction, casting shadows on the tunnel's low stone walls. There was no sign anywhere of Arcee.

"Arcee?" Jack called into the darkness, the echo of his voice down the length of the tunnel the only response. Mind racing, Jack tried to recall what happened after Airachnid's trap had dropped both him and Arcee down into the mine. Try as he might, there was almost nothing he could remember save for slipping from Arcee's protective arms in the fall. From the new aches across his body it was likely he had struck the ground and had, once more, been knocked senseless.

Gathering his wits about him, Jack stumbled to his feet. Whatever had occurred since his blackout finding Arcee was all he cared about now. However, the possibility that it had been Airachnid herself who had left him alone in the tunnel, with a source of light for that matter, gave him pause. Was this another part of her twisted game, and if so what part was she intending for him to play?

'You already know the answer to that, Jack.' The teen told himself silently. 'She's still the Hunter, which means you're the Prey.'

Again, it didn't matter. He had to find Arcee.

Steeling himself for whatever the Decepticon had in store, Jack started forward, his desire to find Arcee willing him to limp along faster then was likely good for his already beaten body. The mine tunnel continued on, beginning a slow ascent after several hundred feet. Following the relatively straight route, Jack could begin to feel a change in the stale air of the mine, the scent of dust and decay easing. Somewhere ahead the tunnel was opened to the night. Where he would come out, Jack mused, was anyone's guess. Regardless, it was what Airachnid intended. For Arcee's sake, he would oblige her.

…

Coming out of the tunnel at last, Jack could scarcely believe what he discovered. Stretched out in front of him was an open field of desert earth, the wide clear space perhaps having once been used to store equipment intended for the mine. As if to confirm that, small stacks of rotted lumber and discarded iron girders dotted the area at random. What had taken Jack by surprise, however, was not the open area itself but rather where it ended.

Encircling the wide area was what could loosely be described as a wall, five to six stories tall. It's makeshift construction looked to be comprised of whatever could have been salvaged from the mining town as well as the mine itself. Broken concrete, weather worn beams, even the husks of abandoned vehicles. Seen together, Jack realized what this construct was meant to be, and felt his insides grow cold at the realization.

'It's an Arena. She led me into an Arena.'

Arcee had told Jack that, to Airachnid, this assault upon them was a game, a cross between revenge and her own twisted perception of the world. From the moment the Decepticon lunatic had launched the first rocket against them, the spider had been moving them like pieces on a chest board. Taking in the ramshackle arena before him, Jack wondered if Airachnid intended for this to be her checkmate.

Jack would not deny that fear raced through him, confronted with the idea of facing the murderous Cybertronian on his own. But he knew he wouldn't let it overwhelm him. Somewhere, possibly nearby, perhaps fighting her own battles to reach him, was Arcee. Futile as it might be, Jack would fight, just as relentlessly, for her.

Taking a painful breath, Jack eased forward out into the arena proper, trying to make, as quickly as his beaten legs would take him, for the nearest bit of cover. He had not walked more then a few feet from the tunnel when an explosion at his back sealed the exit behind him, followed by a spotlight, blinding to his limited vision, flaring to life, turning night to day.

Raising a hand to his eye, Jack was keenly aware of how exposed he was. Despite the searing pain from his broken ribs, Jack scrambled for the wood pile. Collapsing behind the makeshift barricade, the teen realized how futile his small cover likely was. Given that Airachnid had access to not only explosives but possibly other Cybertronian weapons, aside from those on her person, if the deranged Cybernetic woman wished to incinerate him it would be a small matter.

Trying to control his ragged breathing, each pull of air like a blade in his side, Jack waited in silence for his Hunter to make her move. As the minutes slipped by with only silence, Jack's frustration at not knowing what Airachnid had done to Arcee began to boil over, his anger getting the better of him.

"What have you done with Arcee, you twisted bitch!" Jack screamed out towards the source of the spotlight. There was no response. "The silent treatment, huh? That's ironic! I've lost count of the times I actually wished you'd shut your mouth, you psycho!" Again, his rage was met with silence.

"Come on! If you're going to come after me, I'm right here!" Jack taunted despite his better judgment. His face growing red with fury, Jack crawled slowly to his feet, exposing himself just enough to see over the edge of the woodpile. The glare from the spotlight made it impossible to see anything of the area in front of him, his left and right sides the only clear line of sight.

"What do you want, Airachnid? You've got me! If that's what this is about, getting revenge on the Human who torched your ship, then finish it! Just let Arcee go!"

The pop that suddenly blared across the arena caused Jack to jump involuntarily before reflex brought him down instinctively behind the meager cover. The pop turned to an audible screech, and Jack realized belatedly that he was listening to what had once been the Public Address system for the miners in the yard. When at last his enemy spoke, it was not at all what he had expected to hear.

"You are not without courage. That we will give you…boy."

The grating, broken voice which washed over him was not one he had ever heard before. At least not one he could recall. However, the voice was no humans, of that he was sure.

"Who are you?" Jack asked. "What is this? What do you want?"

The cackle that served as his response, jarring and clearly unstable, rang out over the arena, going on for some time. When at last it subsided the voice seemed to be speaking to itself as much as to him.

"What do we want? So much…so much that was taken from us. But…we can't get that back now…no, no we can't partner, not now…" Jack listened to the distorted conversation, growing more bewildered then fearful of this being who had reigned unceasing destruction down upon both him and Arcee.

"No, can't get it back, can't get it back. But…we can make them remember what they forgot…oh yes, partner, we can make them remember us…make her remember…"

That last caught Jacks attention. By her, Jack new the broken voice could only be referring to Arcee.

"Where is she?" Jack screamed out at the voice.

"Safe…safe for now. She'll remember, yes, she'll see. But…for now…it's just us, kiddo."

"It's me? You're after me? Why?"

"Because…you made her forget. Made her forget us. Together…for so long…through so much. Then I was gone, and she wasn't there…but she was there, wasn't she? No…not us that she found. That was…something else. But she should have been there before they killed us and she wasn't. She was always fast…so fast. But she wasn't there. Why? Why not?"

The voice rambled for several seconds more, as though trying to remind itself of something important, asking mumbled questions Jack could not discern.

"No…no, remember. Remember. She wasn't there because she was with him, protecting him instead of saving us. Then she forgot about us. Because of him…because of…because of HIM!"

And suddenly there was a new sound in the arena, one that Jack recalled keenly. Mere hours before, the same sound had preceded the mining town's flagpole being sheared clean through, and Jack recalled Arcee's chilling War story.

Hacks! Scrap…Jack thought before realizing that his cover would not be nearly enough to stop the carnage inducing device. Stumbling to his feet in a mad scramble Jack did the only thing he could do. He ran as though Death itself was at his back. Which, in a way, it was.

The high pitched whine of the Hack grew louder as it descended behind him, moving through the woodpile as though the planks had been made of mere paper. Rebounding off the hard pact and heat baked earth the weapon caromed off, striking the hard stone around the collapsed tunnel exit before cutting through the air once more, it's path chaotic but no less lethal. The walls of the arena where pact with enough material to keep the device rebounding off one service after another until, at last, it would possibly meet flesh and bone. Not that the last would slow the weapon much if at all. Jack wondered morbidly just how much longer the Cybertronian death dealer would continue it's ricochet long after it made a bloody mess of him.

'Yeah…that's what you need to be thinking right now.' Jacked berated.

Though his chest screamed in protest at the pressure his overworked lungs where applying to his one or more broken ribs, Jack continued to run, trying to make his path as erratic possible while listening for the telltale pitch of the weapon, the spotlight following his progress without falter.

"Right…be afraid, human. No hope…like we felt in that place, alone in the darkness…no hope…"

'Perfect,' Jack thought angrily. 'Arcee and I traded one nutcase for another.'

Feeling on the verge of collapse, Jack at last spotted a beacon of hope. Concealed partially in the dirt was the remains of a large metal slurry pipe with a slight breach visible along it rust covered length. There was no guarantee the aged sun kissed steel would protect him from the spinning blade, nor that something just as lethal had not made it's home inside. Weighing his options between the aerial weapon and a poisonous snake, Jack chose the more organic of two evils.

From over his shoulder, Jack could hear the whine of the Hack grow suddenly louder as it tore through the skeleton of a nearby vehicle. The device was coming his way. Without further hesitation Jack dove for the breach, knowing mid-air that his landing would not be pleasant.

Hitting the inside of the pipe like dead weight, Jack instinctively curled against both the pain and the sound of the Hack cutting a screeching swath along the track of pipe. Then it was gone, the sound of it's destructive path growing faint. For now, at least, Jack was safe. At least, from the weapon. There was, however, still the matter of his would-be killer.

"Smart, boy. Very smart. Didn't even notice that pipe. Eyes…eyes aren't what they used to be, are they? No…no they're not…" The voice behind the light seemed suddenly distracted, it's murmurs focused elsewhere before turning back to him. "Time…time to say hello again. But…I'll be back, boy. Don't you worry none. Yes…not done yet…not done."

Then the voice was gone, and Jack was alone. Try as he might, however, Jack could barely move. His injuries had been made worse by the plunge into both the tunnel and now the pipe. Save for a sliver of moonlight coming through the breach, Jack could see nothing of the pipe's interior. The gas-lantern remained behind the woodpile, if the hack had not destroyed it.

For all Jack knew, the pipe ended in a dead-end just meters away in either direction. It would not aid his escape from the arena even were he able to move easily. For now, he was trapped, just as his demented warden intended. For the first time, Jack began to feel truly hopeless.

Somewhere close by, Arcee waited. Of that Jack was certain, the voice's parting words seeming to confirm it. He had to get to her, to try to rescue her from whatever the twisted being had planned. The only question which remained was how.

To be Continued…