title: "is it just me, or is he losing it?"
Summary: Knock Out wasn't there. Again.
A/N: So, "Armada"...yeah, I'm still not sure what I saw. In all seriousness, I felt its structure was really unsound. Anyway, it didn't exactly give me any new info that I'd want to incorporate into this fic...not even how those Insecticons ended up Earth, seriously, are they ever gonna answer that, is anyone within in the show ever gonna ask that question? I hope it's answered eventually.
chapter 3
It wasn't like Bulkhead was the most talkative of 'Bots, but Arcee found him too quiet lately.
After sparring with him, she finally asked, "Hey, what's up?"
"Huh?"
"Fine, I'll be blunt-what's wrong?"
The larger 'Bot fidgeted, optics darting away from the smaller femme. Finally he sighed and said, "I really didn't want to say this in front of the kids, but-"
"They're not here," Arcee pointed out in a deadpan voice.
"Yeah, I know-"
Bulkhead grunted, a little annoyed. Then he slumped back down again, looking pensive.
"It's just when Miko was talking about how weird it was fighting someone that looked like Optimus...she didn't know the half of it." Bulkhead fidgeted again, then burst out, "You didn't notice, did you?"
"Notice what?" Arcee folded her arms, head tilted up to her friend.
"I swear to Primus, that thing had Breakdown's eye..."
Arcee blinked. "I thought it was destroyed in the explosion."
"So did I!" Bulkhead gestured wildly, then deflated. "I guess it was okay, and MECH still got to keep it..."
Silence stretched out, and Arcee was starting to feel awkward, Bulkhead's pensiveness infectious.
"You...you don't want to ask Fowler for it, do you?"
Bulkhead blinked at Arcee. "For what?" He asked slowly, suspecting.
"To-I dunno-give it back to him...I know you two were...friends, before..."
Snarling, Bulkhead whirled away. "Ancient history! Besides, I already got the big lug out in the first place-and what's he do in return? Stab me in the back!"
The larger 'Bot stormed out, leaving Arcee to kick herself.
###
Nemesis tried to think once he had cleared the military base. He felt wet, the humans' blood was very wet-Nemesis shook himself. He had to focus. Think of a plan. He did not know where Nemesis-the-Ship was. He had to find Knock Out, and he needed a plan for that.
Nemesis reluctantly searched the Other's memories. Nemesis was not sure how he felt about the Other. The Other's preesence could hurt a lot, and was confusing, but it still sometimes guided him to useful things. He could not have identified Knock Out without it. Nor notice his love for racing, as the Other just informed him.
Nemesis checked his chronometer. It seemed to still function when he prodded it, and if that time was accurate, one of the illicit racing tracks Knock Out frequented should be on, and not too far from the military base he'd just destroyed, making sure to figure out its location for his own sense of geography.
But when Nemesis arrived at the race underway, he saw no Knock Out. There were some red cars, but none exactly like him. Nemesis tried other races over the next few nights.
Still no Knock Out.
Nemesis grew frustrated. He pouted. Stupid Other misled him. Or Knock Out was being particularly disagreeable. He was supposed to like racing. Nemesis considered though that Knock Out should have access to the groundbridge, which would take him anywhere to race, street racing was surely not confined to Nevada.
Nemesis reviewed his Energon levels. He decided this current strategy was inefficient with regards to conserving what Energon he had, and he needed to replenish that on top of finding Knock Out.
His chronometer may have been fortunate, but Nemesis' communications system had not been so lucky. He could not contact Father-Mother. Nemesis wasn't sure if he wanted to right now. He could not do anything he wanted when Father-Mother had been around. But they had Energon...
Nemesis reviewed his data files.
Father-Mother was not the only one. The Autobots would have it too.
Nemesis shifted through the Autobot folder, and paused on the subfolder marked as 'Darby.'
###
"Call for backup? Bee, we can take 'em!" Wheeljack barked out with a laugh as he took down another Trooper.
The younger 'Bot started to protest.
"Yoo hoo, Rent-a-Car!" Knock Out chirped eagerly, waving a claw at him while he tossed a downed Trooper to another that caught its twin comrade and dragged him away to a meager shelter.
Bumblebee's growl twisted into a rapid static-filled beep, and he charged the red 'Con, while Wheeljack swiped his dual blades at Dreadwing.
###
June had just been asking Jack how his art history test went when the dining room wall started to buckle.
Instinctively June pushed Jack out of the way. She gave a very short scream as a large something rushed and enclosed around her-metal. She could feel metal burning her cheek.
"Mom!"
"Jack, go-!"
Her heart plummeted as she heard her son's curse muffled.
"Impossible, I have you both now," said Optimus very calmly.
June's mind went blank for a moment. Optimus? He wouldn't-no, he wouldn't, but June had recently been regaled with the story of Optimus' "evil clone puppet thing," as Miko had put it-but Fowler said the military had him now-
Her stomach wrenched and she rolled as the metal rushed beneath her, and then she was buckled in tigh next to Jack in a truck.
Immediately June reached for her son, hands going to his face, checking him for injury.
"Jack, are you all right-?"
"Fine. You-?"
"I-what are you doing?"
Optimus' apparent clone had started to speed toward one of her neighbor's houses. She realized with horror that her house was in ruins, and her neighbor's houses were lit, and they were pouring out, screaming and shouting-
Amazingly, the clone stopped. "The Autobots need to know I'm very serious. That they must meet my demands."
"Isn't-isn't that why you're kidnapping us?" Jack pointed out, and amidst her terror June felt a detached pride for her son's level head.
"I do not wish to leave them with any doubts that I will kill you if necessary."
"They'll have no doubt," June rushed to say, while Jack shouted at some of their neighbors to stay away from the truck, don't come any closer. "It's happened to them before-"
"Hmmm. I suppose you are correct. Father-Mother had made it perfectly clear to them before."
And with that, the clone truck tore down their street and not through any neighbor's houses.
"Do either of you have a cell phone? I need you to get me in touch with the Autobots."
###
"What do you mean it's missing?" Ratchet echoed, shaking his head in disbelief.
Fowler snapped back. "Exactly that, MECH's Chimera Project just got up and left, leveling the entire base and leaving barely any survivors-!"
"I thought MECH couldn't patch in another signal to the thing," Arcee said, arms folded as she observed the atmosphere at HQ grow steadily colder, and she herself trying to banish images of dead soldiers and scientists left to rot...
"So did we, but clearly-"
"Damn it Jackie, you and Bee are where-?"
All turned to Bulkhead as he shouted into his commlink, banging and toppling over a piece of Ratchet's equipment, the senior medic just shuddering as he swallowed back his typical retort.
"What happened?" Optimus asked, alert and searching.
Fowler understood the Autobot leader's heightened curiosity, asking, "Is it Chimera, or MECH-?"
Bulkhead growled. "No, just 'Cons. Wheeljack and Bee are smack dab in the middle of a warzone-I am not exaggerating Jackie-!"
Optimus glanced at Arcee, starting to move away. She raised a hand, speaking into her own commlink. "Sorry, just a sec-"
"Oh for the love of-!" Fowler groaned at all the unexpected calls happening at once.
"-Jack, now's not the..."
The femme stilled, her jaw slackening.
"Ratchet, patch Jack's call in, so everyone can listen," Arcee insisted, but in a very dry voice. Bulkhead stopped screaming at Wheeljack. "And track the call."
Ratchet quickly started to follow the femme's order, and the duplicate Optimus voice said, "Can everyone hear me now, Arcee?"
The femme almost swore at the voice, but Optimus Prime stepped in. "Yes, we can. To whom are we speaking to?" Optimus' voice lowered. "And more importantly, why are you using Jack's phone?"
"Because he and his mother are my hostages, of course." The voice turned irriated. "Father-Mother used me to stab you before, how could you not know...oh. Never mind. You think someone else is using me to speak, like Father-Mother, correct?"
If possible, the atmosphere at HQ froze even more.
"This is just Chimera Project-but I do not want that name anymore. I want only Nemesis, like the Decepticon ship, the Other's memories of it are beautiful-Nemesis Prime I suppose, I'm used to two words for my name now, and Father-Mother had me made to look and sound like you, Optimus Prime-"
"I thought you said this thing couldn't be sentient!" Fowler snapped at Ratchet, interrupting Nemesis' rambling.
Ratchet snapped back just as viciously, "It's impossible, we're born, not created, there's no way MECH could-!"
"It's talking on its own-"
"It's claiming to-"
"It is right here-"
The duplicate Optimust voice broke in, low and eerily calm.
"-and-"
Jack's shout crackled over the commlink, as did June screaming his name, Arcee soon shouting it the loudest, followed by cursing and swearing threats.
"-it will be called Nemesis Prime. Or just Nemesis if you prefer."
Bulkhead held Arcee back, who continued to curse.
"Oh. There's no need to be so concerned right now. I just momentarily increased the seatbelt's pressure on Jack, but he should be otherwise unharmed. I just want you to call me Nemesis Prime or Nemesis. And to meet my demands. Because if you don't...well, I'll do more than just increase the pressure."
Ratchet's tracking sensor pinged.
"I heard that. Have you found me yet?" Nemesis asked, as Ratchet opened up the map.
And found that Jack's phone signal radiated from the center of Jasper.
"I suppose none of you have been watching the latest news reports either. You can check them now, if you want, but they're all just saying how a human 'nutjob' has taken a mother and son hostage in his truck. I've instructed June and Jack Darby to shout as much to police stationed around us right now. Nothing about large robots have reached the news yet, I suppose it was too dark on their house's street for anyone else to properly see me."
"But I hope I've made it clear. Any conflict right here, right now, and I promise you human casualties. Any sign of evacuating the area, and I will start shooting. If law enforcement becomes more than a novelty, chances of me 'defending' myself rise significantly, so I suggest somehow ordering them to keep calm. Refuse my demands, the Darbys and Jasper are dead."
"Which are?" Optimus Prime growled, fist tightening as the horrified silence spread out around him.
"Energon, for one-but most importantly, I want Knock Out."
The silence in HQ was deep and profound.
"What?" Bulkhead asked, his voice blank with surprise.
"Knock Out. Bring him to me. I cannot find Nemesis-the-Ship and he is not at the races, he's supposed to like the races-"
"We don't know where Nemesis is either!" Arcee shouted.
"Wheeljack, is Knock Out one of the 'Cons you're fighting right now?" Bulkhead urgently shouted into his comm. The large 'Bot nodded. "Okay, good, make sure he doesn't run-"
"Advise him to only capture, I want him alive," Nemesis' voice crackled over the comm feed. "If Knock Out dies, the humans will not last-"
"Okay, fine, just-no, not you, Jackie-no, yes you, grab Knock Out, bring him back alive to base, we'll groundbridge you-scrap, we're coming to back you up-yes, we're taking prisoners-I'll explain later-"
"I'll just stay on the line," Nemesis said, and Arcee scowled, but followed Bulkhead into the groundbridge portal as it lit up.
A/N: And now we have more plot. I'm hoping to have this Nemeis Prime be a mix of deviousness and childishness, since he's still brand new to this world, and I just find that makes things even creepier.