I want to thank everyone for taking the time to review!

There's a lot of action and drama coming with this chapter so fasten your seatbelts. It's going to be a bumpy read.

~Energon is Thicker than Blood~

Chapter 3: Rescued

Arcee tore through the desert that made up Nevada with Bumblebee right behind her. She had just received a message from Bulkhead saying that he was just outside the Decepticon flagship, the Nemesis, with Miko and Raf.

Oh, and Jack had been captured by the Decepticons along with Agent Fowler.

She unconsciously increased her speed as she thought about all the terrible things the Cons could be doing to Jack. He wasn't her partner. How could he be? He was just a human kid, her charge, and she seemed to already be failing at her new role as Jack's guardian.

For a brief instant her processor replayed the memory of finding Cliff's horn and a new image formed over that. This time she found Jack's bloody shirt and nothing more. She pushed her engine harder and heard Bumblebee yelling for her to slow down. With reluctance she eased up on the gas so that she didn't leave the yellow bot in the dust.

By the All-Spark, she couldn't lose someone she was responsible for to the Cons again. Her psyche wouldn't be able to handle it. She was bent, she knew that. Not yet broken, but it wouldn't take too much at this point. When she snapped, if she snapped, she didn't know what would happen, but she knew it wouldn't be pretty for whatever Decepticon that stood in her way.

She mentally shook herself out of her thoughts of how damaged she was and focused on the rescue mission. She would not lose another friend, be it bot or human, to the Decepticons.

She thought about calling Optimus, but he was even further away from the Nemesis than she was. She checked her position and saw that she and Bee were still about twenty minutes away.

'If Jack is dead, I'll offline every single Con on that ship.'

~Energon is Thicker than Blood~

Starscream was not pleased. He had shocked the human boy with the prod over twelve times already. Any normal Cybertronian usually cracked after nine. The boy twitched and jerked uncontrollable and his earlier wounds had only intensified through all of it.

His lesions had opened up more and his life blood covered his upper body. How interesting that a humans' life blood was red. At one point Starscream had heard something pop in the humans' left shoulder causing the boy to scream out in pain.

Yet with all the damage the human suffered, he didn't seem to be any closer to breaking or to revealing where the Autobot base was. The boy was foolish. He had nothing to gain by keeping his mouth shut.

Starscream toyed with the idea of just finishing the boy off and to start interrogating Agent Fowler instead, but decided against it. It now felt like a challenge to break this boy, and he would not lose.

Still, he had gathered some information from the boy, even if the info was basically useless. The fleshling had gotten tired of being called human or boy earlier and had told him his name with a growl.

Jack certainly had a backbone.

"You try my patience Jack! Where is the Autobot base? If you don't tell me, I may just have to try my hand at Agent Fowler and I don't know how long he would last. In any case, I doubt he will be as resilient as you!" Starscream growled at the boy and saw a flash of worry appear in the boys' eyes.

"You don't want me to do this to him, do you?" Starscream asked with a smirk and for a second he thought he'd won, until he saw the boy smirk back at him. "I can have him brought to me with a single command Jack, just as easily as I can end your life. Perhaps, I will do just that."

"But that would mean I won." Starscream's eyes flashed a dark red before he lunged at the boy and wrapped his servos tightly around the Jack's body. So the child had been challenging him!

"I'll I have to do is squeeze." Starscream growled as he tightened his grip to prove his point. He heard the boy grunt in pain and watched in amusement as the child bit on his lip so hard that it started to bleed.

Humans were so weak.

"Then what's stopping you?" Jack replied as he panted heavily. Starscream growled as he took a closer look at the boy. His body was bleeding and broken, but his spirit had only grown stronger through it all.

Maybe humans weren't so weak after all.

~Energon is Thicker then Blood~

Fowler cursed as he tried to get out of his chains again without being noticed by the Vehicons in the room. Jack had been stuck with that creepy Decepticon for a good hour now. The grunts in the room had already started a betting pool on whether Jack would live through his interrogation or not and his odds weren't looking very good.

From what Fowler gathered from the various mutters of conversations from the Vehicons throughout the room, Starscream was a pretty vicious and abusive boss. Though apparently not as abusive as their leader Megatron. One Vehicon said he wished that some Con named Thundercracker was still around and that set the other Vehicons off.

Apparently, this Thundercracker had the respect and admiration of all Vehicons.

They went on and on about what a great comrade and teacher he was. How he always looked out for them, the grunts, and had even shared a few drinks with them from time to time. They all wished that he had been made Commander instead of Starscream, who was apparently Thundercracker's younger brother. Then they all cursed the Autobots for being the cause of their beloved ally's death.

The Vehicons' attention and Fowler's turned to the doors when they opened up to reveal the Autobots. Fowler watched in awe as he saw the Autobots take down the Cons in a matter of minutes, leaving them as nothing more than piles of scrap.

"Hey bots! Over here!" Fowler called and he saw that they had two new kids with them. "Two more civilians! Man you bots really go that extra mile don't you?" Fowler said in disbelief as Arcee took off his chains.

"Where's Jack?" Arcee growled.

"He's in the brig." Fowler answered as he stood up and stretched.

"I want you to watch the kids and stay here." Arcee said and left with the other Autobots before Fowler could protest. He shook his head at the whole situation he had gotten Jack into. Had he left the kid at the Autobot base or hadn't radioed his position for anybody to hear, then Jack wouldn't be stuck in this mess.

Fowler turned to look around the room, hoping to find some sort of weapon he could use to protect himself and the kids. In his search he spotted some weird math mumbo jumbo up on one of the screens and walked up to it.

"It looks like an algebraic equation." Fowler heard the boy say from behind him and he nodded his head in agreement.

"You got a computer on you right? Is there any way you can download that?" The girl asked and Fowler turned to see that the kid was already working on it.

"The encryption system they have is way too complex for me to crack. I don't think I can download it either." The kid answered as he pulled out a flash drive. "Maybe if I can find a port for this, I can download it along with the encryption codes and the Autobots can break it."

"Sounds like a plan little man. The name's Special Agent Fowler, you?" He asked the kid.

"I'm Raf and this is Miko." Raf said as he searched for a port on the alien console.

"Dude, what are you doing? You never give your real name to a fed!" Miko shouted from beside Fowler who shot her an irritated look. So far Jack and Raf seemed like good kids, but he wasn't so sure if he liked the girl.

After a few moments Raf was about to say that it didn't look like he could use his flash drive when the door opened and a Vehicon walked in.

"Let's go!" Fowler hissed as he grabbed Miko's hand and ran for cover.

He let go as her hand as they hid in an alcove and turned to look up at the Con, only to find it about to fire at Raf. Fowler charged from his cover and pulled the kid out of the way of the shots, cursing a little as one of the shots skimmed his right leg. As they found cover Fowler heard Raf shout something to Miko about taking a picture.

"Great idea!" Miko shouted back as she moved forward to get a better picture of the Vehicon.

"Not that! I meant take a picture of the equation!" Raf shouted and Fowler hit himself in the face when he heard her quite "Oh."

'These kids are going to be the death of me, I just know it.' Fowler thought as he made sure to grab both of the children before fleeing from the Vehicon who was in hot pursuit.

~Energon is Thicker than Blood~

Jack panted heavily as he tried to catch his breath. He'd lost count how many times Starscream had prodded him, but every vision that flash in front of his eyes was burned into his mind.

He had killed Autobots and while he hadn't killed any civilians, he certainly hadn't tried to save any of them. Starscream was torturing him, but not in the way that he thought. With every new shock of Energon the visions lasted longer and became clearer. And each Autobot life he took cut him deeper than the glass shards buried in his arms.

Then when Starscream had grabbed him, he had not only gained more visions, but he'd felt a pulse surge through him. He knew Starscream. It didn't make sense and there was no way for it to be possible, but it was true. Somehow he knew Starscream.

"My dear Jack, you do realize the Autobots have abandoned you." Starscream said and Jack felt his insides freeze.

'They wouldn't abandon me, would they?' Jack didn't think so, but then again why would they come to save him, especially after he had killed so many of them. 'No, that's not right! I never killed anyone! These visions aren't real; they have to be some kind of Decepticon trick!' Jack thought desperately. He ignored the doubt he felt towards his own thoughts and clung to the excuse he had made up for himself.

"I'm not a murderer and the Autobots will come for me." Jack mumbled out loud to himself, forgetting where he was at the moment.

Starscream shot Jack and odd look, but brushed off the child's words. His resolve was obviously starting to crumble, along with his mind.

"I am the only one you can rely upon now." Starscream continued as he moved closer to Jack, offering an easygoing smile that he'd perfected from his years of lying to Megatron.

Jack felt another strange emotion race through him at Starscream's words and he did his best to block out the new feeling. He knew Starscream was lying, that Starscream would probably kill him after he answered his question. But yet again Jack felt something towards Starscream that he knew he shouldn't.

It was with a sudden start that Jack recognized the feeling as trust. He felt trust towards Starscream!

He was so confused and scared by all of the emotions and feelings he was getting. God, he didn't even know whether he wanted to laugh or cry at the moment! He felt trust in Starscream, but he knew he couldn't trust Starscream. How was that even possible?

Jack shook his head in a useless attempt to get rid of his traitorous feelings. How could he be feeling this way towards someone who was hurting him, who was the enemy to his planet and the Autobots?

"So tell me what I want to know or…" Starscream trailed off and raised the prod threateningly towards Jack. Jack stared at the prod with weariness and fear. God, he was just so tried. He wanted nothing more than to breakdown, to give in and to be left alone.

Why was he being so noble anyways? He had killed Autobots before, so why was he was letting himself be tortured for them? That made no sense! Were they his friends? He had only known the Autobots for three days, so why? Shouldn't he tell Starscream, a person he trusted more than the Autobots, what he wanted to know?

Why should he give his life up for them?

Jack had never felt more lost and confused than he was right now. Suddenly, selfishness swelled up inside of him. Why should he allow himself be put through this pain for people who had apparently abandoned him? It was rule number one, always look out for yourself.

Just as quickly as his selfishness came, it left, leaving Jack feeling ashamed with himself.

"Stop no more… there in a government base… or was it a steel mill?" Jack muttered loudly enough for Starscream to hear. Whatever triumph Starscream had felt at the beginning of Jack's sentence had quickly turned into rage by the end of it.

The sudden pain surging through Jack's body told him that Starscream had not lied before. He really didn't have any appreciation for human humor. No images flashed before him this time, but Jack felt himself slipping into unconsciousness. Before he passed out, Jack thought he heard sounds from just outside the door.

…Jack hid behind a demolished building he recognized as the Pit Pub, his favorite bar. He looked over at Starscream and saw the seeker throw him a look of pure fear that Jack could easily understand.

Being caught in the middle of a battle that they had no place in was terrifying.

He moved from his cover to attack a group of fighters in front of them. Some dodged his missile, but it had mostly been a warning shot anyways. The two sides continued their fight with only a few bots from each side turning to fire at Jack and Starscream. Maybe that last shot hadn't been a smart move after all.

Jack didn't care if the Rebel Forces decided to fight against the Protectors of the Senate, but he did care that they had their fights in the streets of Iacon. This battle was a message that Jack understood loud and clear, the war was escalating.

"Starscream, transform and get out of here!" Jack shouted as he crouched to avoid the shots that had been aimed at him from both sides.

"I can't! My left wing is damaged!" Starscream shouted back in a panicked voice. Jack immediately searched for a safe path that they could take to get out of the battle zone, but found none.

"Listen to me Starscream; we're going to have to fight our way out of here. Do you understand?" Jack shouted and ducked as debris showered over them both. Starscream looked at him like he had a fried processor, but nodded.

Starscream stayed closed to him as they moved from building to building and Jack shot at anyone who was in their way. Starscream was only a student at the Iacon University, so he had no weapons and no experience when it came to fighting. Fortunately, Jack had learned how to fight because of his work as a Procurer.

Jack turned his head to look back the way they had come to see if they had been followed, never seeing the shot that had been launched at him from the front.

"Thundercracker!" Jack heard Starscream yell just before he felt something hit his left shoulder and was launched through the air. He hit the ground hard, but barely noticed it over the pain he felt burning into his shoulder.

As his vision began to fade he saw that Starscream was about to be blasted by the same bot that had shot him, only to see the bot blasted by another Mech. Jack saw the large Mech help Starscream to his feet and as they moved towards him, Jack realized that Starscream's savior was the leader of the rebel army, Megatron…

"Wake up you pathetic lump of flesh!" Jack heard Starscream shout and he jerked forward instinctively, looking to see if Starscream was okay.

"I'm up Starscream." Jack reassured him as he looked around them for any other attackers. His shoulder still ached terribly, as did the rest of his body. "Where'd that other Mech go, the one that saved you?" Jack mumbled as he tried to clear his head. He was certain that the Mech had been Megatron and he hoped that he was wrong.

He didn't want Starscream to get mixed up in the war.

"What are you blathering about?" Starscream said as he glared at his human prisoner. Jack looked up at Starscream in confusion and concern.

"You know, we were going to the Pit Pub and stumbled onto a fight between the Protectors and the Rebels. Did your processor fry because of the heat of the battle or something?" Jack asked as he smirked up at a stunned Starscream. It wasn't often that he made a joke so he could understand Starscream's stunned reaction.

Starscream stared down at the human with a bitter curiosity. He had been attacked on the way to the Pit Pub, but that was a long time ago and with his brother. Starscream shook himself out of his memories before he could lose his focus and filed away the oddly precise things Jack had said for later. Right now he needed to know where the Autobot base was or else.

Suddenly the door opened up behind him and Starscream turned to address the Vehicon he had sent out to inspect the earlier noise.

"Well?" He shouted and saw the Vehicon fall to the ground. Bulkhead shot at the other Vehicon who had been in the room and moved into the brig with Bumblebee, both armed and eager to fire. Starscream quickly brought out his own gun and pointed it at Jack.

"Not so fast." He growled and was rewarded with a tap on the top of his head. He looked up and saw the Autobot Arcee hidden above him, gun humming and ready to be fired.

"I wouldn't!" She growled and he smiled as he remembered that Jack was reported to have been seen with her.

"Oh, but I might." He taunted back and his smirk widened as she glared at him. Really, there was something attractive about her fits of anger. If he didn't know any better he would say that Arcee would fit in better with the Decepticons than with the Autobots.

They all stared at each other for a few moments and Starscream felt his confidence increase. The Autobots would not risk their humans' safety. Perhaps he should hang on to Jack a little bit longer then? Maybe use him as a bargaining chip in the future? The idea had merit, plus there was still the matter of breaking the willful boy.

"Now, Jack and I will take our leave." Starscream said and he watched with amusement as the Autobots shifted a little, whether from nerves or anger, Starscream could only guess.

"Yeah, Starscream and I have grown real close in our short time together. Heck, we're almost like brothers!" Jack said sarcastically as he warily eyed the gun aimed at his head.

He had come to his senses once Bulkhead had fired at the Vehicon. He had watched the standoff for a minute before he realized that the Autobots were waiting for the right moment to attack, so that meant a distraction.

As Jack had hoped Starscream shot him a look between revulsion and disbelief. Jack got the feeling that Starscream was about to go into a tirade about how a disgusting fleshling could never be his brother, before the Autobots opened fire on him that is.

Jack watched as Starscream weaved in and out of their shots and felt pride for Seeker as he saw the Decepticon get away. It looked like Starscream still carried his title as the fastest Decepticon Seeker. Jack paused to reexamine this last thought, but gave it up as a loss cause. He was really hurt right now and he didn't have the brain power or energy to think about everything he'd experienced within the last hour.

"By the All-Spark! Jack!" He heard Arcee shout and he looked toward her as she moved to undo his chains as gently as she could. He bit his already bleeding lip to stop himself from screaming out loud as she jerked his left shoulder painfully. She brought him close to her chassis, supporting him with both arms, and showed him to the others.

"Scrap kid, they got you good." Bulkhead said in a low tone and Bumblebee let out some sad sounding beeps.

"I didn't tell them where the base is." Jack muttered with a small smile as he fell back into unconsciousness, proud of himself for being able to stay strong until the end.

"That's good Jack. You did good partner." Arcee whispered to him as Bumblebee transformed and she gently laid him in the back seat. "Let's go get Agent Fowler and the kids and get back to base." She said to Bulkhead and Bumblebee before she transformed and drove to where they had left the humans.

~Energon is Thicker than Blood~

It took a good half an hour before the Autobots returned back to base and all through the ride Jack kept slipping in and out of consciousness. Once they entered the base, Fowler found an old gurney that had been stored away and placed Jack on it. He began to administer first aide, but the old Army Ranger didn't know much.

Arcee had moved to operate the ground bridge, bringing back Optimus and Ratchet, who had been calling to be bridged back to base for fifteen minutes. Ratchet's medic sensors must have been tingling because the first thing he asked when he was bridged back was who had been hurt. Once Optimus and Ratchet had found Jack, Ratchet quickly went to work and Optimus demanded to know what happened.

The explanations seemed to go on for hours, but in truth they only lasted minutes. Then came the moment where everyone tried to take the blame for what happened. Arcee for leaving the base with Bumblebee and ignoring his orders to stay with the children, Fowler for taking Jack out of Bulkhead's care, and Bulkhead for allowing the children to come with him onto the Nemesis.

Optimus stared at the dower and guilty party in the room. In truth it was all their faults, however, had he not been so adamant on keeping his Autobots with their assigned children, none of this might have happened. It was just the way fate went sometimes. Even though a person can take every precaution necessary, things can still go wrong.

With those thoughts in mind, Optimus turned to look at Jack, a human who had bled for them today.

Optimus understood that Jack would make an easier target to interrogate than Agent Fowler. Jack was a youngling; whatever defenses or attachments he had should have been easily broken, as children are often weaker than adults. The fact that Jack had not broken and given up the location of their base was astounding.

What was even more amazing was the fact that Jack had consciously decided not to tell. He could have easily saved himself from pain, but had decided to protect them instead of himself.

Humans were far greater than he preconceived.

"Well, he'll continue to have muscle spasms for the next few days due to how much Energon was exposed to his nervous system, but there shouldn't be any lasting damage. The lesions are mostly shallow and insignificant; the only reason for why he bled so badly was because of the thrashing he did while under the influence of Energon."

"He won't need a blood transfusion, but he will be a little light headed and dizzy for a little bit. He has a mild sprain in his left ankle and severe bruising on his right ankle. His left shoulder had popped out of his socket, but I was able to put it back in while he was sedated. He should be waking up any moment now."

"You've done well, Ratchet." Optimus said as he nodded to his medic and oldest friend. He helped Ratchet put a brace onto his damaged arm and his friend shook his head in disagreement before he continued to speak.

"We are only fortunate that his injuries were not more severe or complex. What little knowledge I hold for the human anatomy is shaky at best. I see now that I must further my studies in human medicine, so that I can treat them if they need it in the future." Ratchet said as his optics landed onto the other children.

"What happened to you guys anyway?" Miko asked after she watched Optimus put on Ratchet's metal brace.

"We engaged an army of undead Cybertronian warriors." Ratchet said calmly as if it were an everyday occurrence.

"Zombies? You guys fought zombies and I missed it!" Miko shouted indignantly as she stomped her foot.

"What? Storming the Decepticon stronghold wasn't enough for you?" Fowler asked in disbelief.

"Bulkhead you exercised extremely poor judgment in allowing the humans to accompany you." Optimus said. He did not want a repeat of what happened to Jack to happen to the other children.

"It won't happen again Optimus. I promise." Bulkhead replied solemnly. Had he only fought harder to keep Jack at the base, the kid wouldn't be in the position he was now.

"But it wasn't Bulkhead's fault-" Miko started to say and was interrupted by Bulkhead.

"Miko, please." He whispered urgently.

"-and check it out. Recon!" She continued to say while ignoring Bulkhead.

"Hmmm, Ratchet have a look. It may be of importance to Megatron." Optimus said as he moved back from Miko and turned to his friend.

"Megatron's back?" Jack whispered to himself from the gurney.

He had slowly been coming to at the beginning of the conversation, but the mention of the Decepticon overlord had struck a nerve. Jack felt anger and hatred burn through him and he clenched his fists so hard his nails pierced his skin. He came to his senses in a matter of moments and released his grip.

Jack stared down at his now bleeding hands in frustration, Primus why was he having these unnatural reactions to anything involving a Decepticon? He paused as he realized that he had just substituted a name he'd never heard before in the place of God.

What the hell was wrong with him?

He turned his attention back to the others in the room. They had carried on the conversation having not noticed that he'd woken up and heard Miko say that Raf was almost blown away by a Vehicon.

"Miko, Raf was almost killed today. This isn't a game or some little fairy tale that you stumbled upon. The Decepticons mean business, so stop acting dumb and wise up girl!" Fowler shouted.

"Um, we were all almost killed Fowler. You, me, Raf, even them!" Miko yelled back and looked away from Fowler, glaring at the floor.

"Well if this is just an average day with the Autobots then I don't want to be a part of it, not anymore." Jack said as strongly as he could from his bed as he struggled to get up.

Everyone turned to him and Fowler quickly handed him a pair of crude metal crutches that the Autobots must have made for him while he'd been unconscious. He staggered for a moment before he balanced himself and looked at the others in the room.

"Jack, putting you in harm's way was never our intent. However, it is no longer the safety of you three that is at risk, but the safety of all human kind." Optimus said and Jack interrupted him before he could say more.

"Optimus, look at me!" He shouted incredulously. He saw the Autobot quickly avert his eyes, and Jack felt like punching something out of frustration. Jack was hurt, yes, but he wasn't just talking about physical his injuries. His mind and feelings had been through hell and back today. He wasn't going to tell them that though.

"What if it had been Raf that they'd caught instead of me?" Jack said through clenched teeth and Optimus quickly looked back at him in surprise. Jack was simply showing concern for the others and was using his physical state as an example for what could happen to the other children.

Optimus's spark bridled with respect for the young human who stood before him. Young Jack was a credit to his species.

"Had the Autobots been any later, I don't think I could have held out any longer. Even though I knew Starscream would have killed me once I answered his questions." Jack said quietly, as if softening his voice would make what he'd gone through easier to bear. "Primus! How am I going to explain all these injuries to my Mom?" Jack said as he realized how upset his Mother was going to be when she saw him.

He completely missed the odd looks the Autobots shot each other.

"Well, we could tell her a partial truth. Say that you got beat up, but not by whom." Fowler said and Jack went over the excuse in his head. His Mother would become even more protective after this, but it was better than saying that he'd been tortured by a giant alien robot.

"That'll work I guess, can you pose as a local cop or something?" Jack asked and Fowler nodded before he ran off to contact his superiors to tell them why he'd never showed up.

"Jack, we will respect your decision if you wish to leave." Optimus said and it was now Jack's turn to avoid looking at Optimus. A sickening feeling swelled up in Jack as he realized how cowardly he must look to the other for running away like this.

Honestly, he was leaving because he hoped it would stop the strange things that were happening to him. He had a feeling that he would understand what the visions meant if he stayed with the Autobots and he wasn't sure if he wanted to find out. In fact he was determined to ignore the visions completely because they were simply far too horrible to be true.

Jack turned to Miko and Raf. He wasn't sure if they wanted to stay or not, but he wanted them to know that they had a choice. "Are you two staying?" He asked and Jack already knew Miko's answer.

"I'm staying." Miko said as she stomped her foot again.

"I'll be okay Jack." Raf said after he looking up at Bumblebee, though he seemed worried that his answer would upset Jack. Jack laid a hand on the smaller boy's shoulder and smiled down at Raf. Jack understood his reason for staying and if he hadn't been suffering from the visions, Jack felt he probably would have stayed too.

"You better be." Jack growled toward the Autobots and saw some of them flinch, but Optimus simply nodded his head in response. Jack shook himself out of the strangely overprotective feelings he just displayed and turned to Fowler as the man walked towards him.

Ratchet opened up the Ground Bridge and with Fowler's help, Jack staggered down the stairs. Arcee stood in front of him and for a split second, Jack hoped she would try to convince him to stay.

"I know, I know, you don't exist." Jack said before she could speak as he hobbled around her and headed towards the Ground Bridge.

"Don't make me hunt you down." Was the quiet reply that Jack barely heard before leaving the Autobot base.

~Energon is Thicker than Blood~

"Please Lord Megatron! I meant no- Aaaagggghhh!" Starscream shouted as he was yet again hit by the ruler of the Decepticons. Starscream got up to his knees and wiped away the Energon that leaked from his mouth.

"I ordered you to await my command!" Megatron growled as the larger Mech clenched his fists and lashed out at his second in command again. Starscream cried out in pain as he crashed into the floor and slide several feet.

Starscream slowly pushed himself onto his hands and knees.

He hated it when Megatron would beat him like this, but it was even worse to have an audience witness his humiliation. It wasn't unusual for Soundwave to be there as the eyes and ears of the Decepticons was always with his Master. It was the times when the Vehicons were present that Starscream truly hated the most.

He was degraded in front of them and then they went to tell any other Con they saw about it. Probably the only bots who didn't know that he was Megatron's personal punching bag were the Autobots. Blearily, Starscream noticed some sparks erupt from different parts of his body and that usually meant a night in the infirmary.

"Instead your mindless agenda resulted in the disabling of my ship and the delay of my plans!" Starscream looked up and hastily pulled himself off the floor and away from Megatron.

He immediately fell onto his backside, the damages Megatron had already inflicted upon him taking their toll and rendering him unable to stand at the moment. Starscream crawled away as he saw Megatron continue to advance toward him, vaguely hoping that his honest explanation might spare him from more pain.

"My intentions were pure Master. I only wanted you to be rid of Optimus! Gaaahhh!" He cried out as Megatron's pede smashed into his upper body and he felt his chassis cave in from the sudden force.

"No one rids me of Optimus Prime, but me! Do you understand? Do you?" Megatron yelled as he applied more pressure and Starscream felt the heat of more sparks cover his body.

"Lord Megatron… I will make things right, I swear! I know how to set your plans back on course!" Starscream shouted in pain and desperation.

He felt circuits being crushed with every passing second and he feared that his Spark would soon be next. He felt the pressure instantly disappear and he only had a few seconds of relief before Megatron grabbed him by the throat and lifted him off the ground.

Starscream stared up at his torturer in fear as his body shook from the damage his leader had inflicted. He found himself staring at the red optics of his Master and was suddenly reminded of the color that was human blood. Yes, Starscream supposed that it was fitting name for the color of Megatron's optics, blood red.

"Explain Starscream, quickly." Megatron commanded and Starscream saw no reason to disobey this order.

~Energon is Thicker than Blood~

Mom had hugged him for a half an hour after Fowler had dropped him off. She didn't question or suspect that anything was amiss with the excuse Jack and Fowler told her. The cover story was that a gang had jumped Jack for money. He'd refused and they hadn't appreciated his stubbornness.

They had beat him up a little before throwing him through a window, which easily explained the cuts and bruises and he had jumped off a roof to get away from them, hence the injured ankles. In the end, they had stolen his new motorcycle and he had staggered to the nearest police officer he could find.

She had gone to bed not even ten minutes ago and Jack was now in the garage, working on his old ten-speed bicycle. The tinkering calmed him down and helped him focus his thoughts. He didn't know why, but taking things apart and putting them back together was common habit to him. The process felt vaguely familiar and always helped Jack feel better once the job was done.

A car suddenly pulled into the drive way and Jack raised the wrench in his hand up to protect himself. The headlights turned off and Jack realized that it was only Bulkhead and Miko. Miko got out of Bulkhead and Jack went back to working on his bike, trying to ease his suddenly too tense shoulders.

"Now I understand why you had to rush home." Miko said as she walked into the garage.

"Don't you have something more exciting to do, Miko?" Jack asked impassively, hoping she would take the hint and leave. He honestly didn't know her as he'd only met the girl yesterday, but she seemed to have a dangerous thirst for adventure. She was a thrill seeker, the kind of person who got themselves and others in trouble or hurt.

"So this is where you hang, huh? Back home in Tokyo, I have loving parents and two pure breed cats, Chi Chi and Ding Dong. I went to the best school and took piano lessons since I was three." Miko said as she fiddled with something from behind him.

"How nice for you." He responded apathetically.

"No, how boring." He turned to look at her in confusion. That was the sort of life some kids would kill for. Sure it sounded a bit mundane, but that was the kind of life normal people wanted, right?

"It wasn't me. Why do you think I jumped at the chance to transfer here?" Miko asked and Jack scoffed at her.

"To Japer, Nevada? The entertainment capital of the world." He said sarcastically.

"Yeah, well, the brochure lied. Piano lessons were starting to look pretty good in fact, but then the last couple of days happened." She said in a burst of energy, her brown eyes shining at him expectantly.

"Do you have a point?" He asked wishing that she would just go. Nothing great happened today, yet Miko acted like it had been the best of her life. Did she not realize that he'd been tortured earlier?

"You bet! You protected me and Raf earlier today. If you hadn't gone with Fowler like you did, we could have been captured by the Cons too." She looked at him with awe and it sickened him.

He was no hero, not after the things he'd done. Images flashed before his eyes, dead Autobots, dead civilians, a dead Mirage. No, he definitely wasn't a hero and he didn't deserve Miko's praise.

"I've been raised to be responsible." He said as he grabbed the wheel he'd been working on and slowly made his way over to his bike. "To my schoolwork, to my Mom, my job." Jack continued as he sat down, because kneeling certainly wasn't an option with his ankle.

"Dude, hear me out. You're not a fry cook, you're a rock star! Stop trying to pretend your normal Jack, you'll never fit in. You were born to do so much more." Miko said, making his insides freeze.

He was normal, or he had been before today anyways, before he'd somehow gotten involved with a war he had no place in.

He was meant to be an average Joe. He would graduate from college, work a normal job, marry a pretty girl, and have a few kids. He wanted what every normal person wanted. The visions he saw today didn't matter, would never matter. He was done with the Autobots and anything else alien.

"Thanks Miko, but I think normal suits me just fine." He said in a harsh voice and Miko grunted in response as she walked out of his garage and got into Bulkhead.

"You know, she's right Jack and for what it's worth, I'm sorry I didn't stop Fowler from taking you earlier." Bulkhead said as he pulled out of the driveway and left Jack alone to stare at his bike.

He sat there for several more hours and just thought about what had happened today, about his visions, and about Starscream.

~Energon is Thicker than Blood~

That chapter was pretty long, just reaching over seven thousand words! Pretty good considering the first chapter was only three thousand five hundred words long.

First off, we need to build Jack and Arcee's relationship. Right now, he's just some pesky kid to her. Once she found him in the brig and saw how tough he was, her opinion changed slightly.

I've decided to have Fowler and Miko fight whenever they meet in the future. They just seem like people who wouldn't get along in real life.

I mentioned that Thundercracker was a Procurer and basically that's Cybertronian for bounty hunter and I'll brush up on more of that in the next chapter. Some of you are probably wondering why Jack hasn't seen any visions of Skywarp yet and that's because Jack hasn't delved deep enough into his visions, their just starting so give it some time people.

Jack leaves the Autobots again, but not for the same reasons on the show. He just wants to ignore the changes that are going on inside of him and being with the Autobots would probably only increase those changes.

I loved how nicely the original dialogue used in Darkness Rising Part 4 fit in at the end of the chapter. Miko telling Jack that he'll never fit in with normal people hit close to home and I just had to use it.

In the next chapter Jack has more visions as more pieces of his previous life comes to light and the Autobots try to stop Megatron from bringing a horde of Cybertronian zombies to Earth.

~Hexalys~