Chapter 8
Darkness.
That's all Arcee can see when she opened her eyes. She found herself in a black area, unable to see anything except the darkness around her. No walls, no floor, no doors, no light, just darkness.
"Hello?" she called out. There was no response other than the echo of her voice.
"Where am I?" she asked, again no response.
Arcee got up from the 'ground', curious to see where she was. The two-wheeler started to walk in one direction, which way that was, she had no idea. Arcee didn't know what to do. She tried her com-link but got nothing. She tried yelling out again but only got the echo of her voice in return.
Suddenly, a familiar voice called her name.
"Ar-arcee..."
"Hello? Who are you? Where are you?" Arcee called out.
"Arcee, pl-please help me..."
The two-wheeler started to panic. If someone needed her help, she needed to get ot them fast. Quickly, she followed the direction in which the voice came from. She ran through the darkness, hoping to find the person in need of help.
"Arcee..."
"I'm coming!" she yelled to the voice, running faster through the black abyss.
"Ar-arcee, hurry pl-please..."
Finally, she reached her destination as she saw two giant iron doors that towered over her. She pushed through the double doors which revealed a dark room. In the middle shone a dim light, revealing a surgeon operating on someone strapped to the seat.
"Arcee..." came the voice. The two-wheeler traced the sound to the person strapped to the seat.
Arcee ran forward, trying to get a better look at the person. Taking a couple steps forward, she bumped into an invisible wall, but not before taking a good look at the person being operated on.
"Jack!" she yelled, getting the teen's attention, his bloodshot eyes looking deep into her soul.
"Arcee...why, why didn't you come...why didn't you save me?" Jack asked in a pained voice.
Arcee fell to her knees, tears beginning to drop from her optics as she banged against the invisible wall. "I-I'm sorry Jack. I tried. I tried to save you. I-"
She was cut off by Jack's screams of pain. Arcee looked in horror to see the surgeon cut Jack's arm open, blood pouring out of the wound. The surgeon picked up a needle that lay on his tray and injected some sort of black ooze deep into Jack's skin, making the teen scream even louder.
"Arcee...help...me" he looked directly at Arcee's eyes. She could see the pain he was suffering from the strange substance inserted into his body.
Arcee tried to activate her blasters and blades, but it only came to nothing. "Stop! Please!" she begged, the surgeon not even giving her a glance as he continued his operation.
"Arcee...why won't you help me?...Why don't you care?"
"I do care!" she screamed back, tears dripping onto the ground. "Jack! I care! I care so much for you! You mean everything to me! Jack!"
"Then help me Arcee...help...me" His voice started to sound farther and farther away as he slowly closed his eyes. The surgeon cut open his other arm, injecting the black ooze again. Jack screamed again, his screams digging into Arcee's brain.
"Jack! I'm coming!" Arcee tried to get up but it was as if all her strength left her. She couldn't do anything except watch in horror as the surgeon operated on her human partner.
"You...don't...care..." Jack said slowly, his voice now becoming a whisper. His head dropped to the side, revealing dark veins running up his neck.
"Jack! NO! Don't leave me!" Arcee screamed back, struggling to find words. "I care Jack! I care about you! I'm sorry! Please, be strong! I-I love you!"
Jack didn't respond, his limp body lay on the seat.
"No..." Arcee whispered, "I love you. I love you Jack!"
"JACK!"
Suddenly, Arcee's eyes shot open as she sat up on her berth. Ratchet came rushing over, hearing her scream Jack's name.
"What's wrong Arcee? Are you okay?" the medic asked.
Arcee didn't respond. Her spark was pulsing at a fast rate while she tried to relax.
It was just a dream... She said to herself. It was just a dream.
She looked around and saw that she was in the medical bay, along with everyone else. Bumblebee still lay in stasis-lock, although his limps were attached back onto his body. Raf sat next to his friend, checking and double-checking Bumblebee's vitals.
Miko was next to Bulkhead, the two talking about something that Arcee couldn't hear. Miko said something funny which made Bulkhead laugh, the big green wrecker clutching his torso as he did. Bulkhead looked like he went through a successful recovery. His wound has been welded together and he looked like nothing ever happened to him.
Sitting next to him was Wheeljack, also laughing along at what Miko said. He too, had a quick recovery. His shoulder was back in place but he still had marks on his forearms from Agent 000's slashes.
Optimus lay on the berth across from Arcee, talking to June and Agent Fowler. Like Wheeljack, his arm was attached back onto his body and his lower torso has been healed as well. Arcee saw this and looked at her own torso. She could feel the repaired T-Cog inside of her and she could also see where Ratchet welded her wound. Arcee ran a finger down the line where she was cut.
Ratchet saw that she noticed her torso. "It was important that I had everyone's injuries stabilized as soon as possible. Luckily, my medical expertise allowed me to repair all damages in a mere cycle. Your injuries were by far the easiest to fix. A slightly damaged T-Cog and an open wound took me no time at all to finish."
Arcee heard Ratchet but chose to ignore him. She was still trying to cool down from her dream but here was something on her mind, something that she said in her dream to Jack.
I said I loved him, she thought. I said I loved him and I meant it. Do I love Jack?
She slowly stood up from her berth while Ratchet continued.
"While the repairs were completed without any interference, I believe it would be best if you-"
He was cut off by the sound of Arcee transforming into her motorcycle form and speeding out of the medical bay towards the base's exit.
"-do not transform until further analysis." The medic rubbed his 'nose' and grunted in frustration.
"What's up with Arcee?" Bulkhead asked.
"I believe she feels responsible for Jack's disappearance and clearly our last encounter with MECH has made it worse" Optimus pointed out. "Her physical wounds may not have been severe, but her emotional wounds have left her in a terrible state."
Ratchet looked over to June who was now deep in thought. "How are you coping with this situation Mrs. Darby? I'm I am not mistaken, you are just as worried as Arcee is about Jack's well-being."
"Recently has been very tough, I have to admit" the nurse responded, hugging herself. "I've had my moments where emotions get the best of me but I remind myself that crying is not going to help find Jack. If we want to find Jack, we can't waste time feeling sorry for ourselves. So I keep them in, not for myself, but for Jack. Obviously Arcee is taking it much worse than I am, but that's reasonable. She and Jack have been very close since the day he met her. They're an inseparable pair and sometimes I wonder if one day, he'll get up and go with Arcee on some long adventure without telling me."
"Speaking of Jack, did you manage to find his location?" Agent Fowler jumped in. He didn't get a straight response as all the Autobots who went on the mission put their head down.
"We couldn't get a trace because we were busy with something else" Wheeljack replied blankly, shuddering from the memory of his arm getting sliced off.
"We were attacked" Bulkhead stated, looking at Wheeljack and knowing his friend was thinking about what happened.
"And what precisely attacked you? What could have caused this much damage to 5 highly trained Autobots?" Ratchet interrogated.
"You must relax old friend." Optimus said to Ratchet. "MECH has enlisted the help of a powerful individual."
"Who was it? Was it a 'con? Was he really big? What weapons did he have? Bulkhead probably took care of him right? He's probably in the scrap yard now right?" Miko questioned, she seemed to always be full on energy, even in the direst moments.
"Miko, it wasn't a 'con and I didn't scrap it, even though I really wanted to." Bulkhead smashed his fist together, slightly wincing form the impact. He still needed some time to recover before he could go start fighting again.
"Bulkhead is correct. The threat we face is a human with extraordinary abilities I have never seen before. He goes by the alias 'Agent 000' and has enhanced strength, speed, agility and reflexes. His power is inhuman like and he is ruthless; attacking Bumblebee when he was down. He is extremely dangerous but I fear that his skills are not natural. MECH may have chemically enhanced him for his blood and eye color was unlike any I have ever seen." Optimus explained.
The Autobots nodded while the humans looked shocked, especially Raf and Miko who looked at each other with disbelief.
"So you mean like a real life super soldier, like Captain America?" Raf asked.
Ratchet gave him a strange look. "The captain of what?"
"And what does he have to do with America?" Bulkhead jumped in.
Raf faced palmed. "Never mind..." he said with a sigh earning a snicker from Miko.
"Prime, did you manage to get a look at his face? Maybe we can put the image through our government's facial recognition scanners." Agent Fowler said to Optimus.
The Autobot leader shook his head. "I am sorry Agent Fowler but Agent 000 wore a mask that hid his face, leaving only his eyes."
Suddenly an idea popped into Ratchet's mind, something Optimus had mentioned before.
"Optimus, did you say that his blood was different than usual?" he asked.
"Yes" the Prime responded, "it appeared to be much darker than the normal human blood."
"Primus no," the medic exclaimed, the pieces of the puzzle coming together inside of his mind. "Optimus, as I was repairing your damaged sword, I noticed a strange substance residing at the end of the broken blade."
"Hah!" Wheeljack laughed. "That's from when the commander stabbed that little runt in the leg."
"Hmmm yes, yes. Well I took a sample to test later on but it seems it might be more of an importance to do that now. Allow me to retrieve it." Ratchet said before he ran off into his chemical lab. A minute later, he returned with a strange dark red liquid inside of a container.
"Perhaps this will give us our answer." He quickly scanned the liquid with his scanner and inserted it into his arm where a small pad appeared, allowing him to determine the different chemicals that make up the blood of Agent 000.
"Aha! Just as I suspected" the medic exclaimed, getting the attention of everyone in the room. "After scanning the blood, I noticed a couple strange features. First, there is no DNA scan available meaning MECH has altered Agent 000's original blood line. Second, after removing the usual chemicals and elements that are in human blood; calcium, protein and so on, I am able to determine what kind of substance MECH inserted into Agent 000."
After Ratchet removed all the elements and compounds in human blood from Agent 000's blood, he was able to find what he was looking for. "The substance MECH injected into Agent 000's blood stream is a mixture of different chemical compounds. There are many complex mixtures that have been added but the most notable is this one; dark energon."
Ratchet looked up and saw everyone's eyes widen, but he could also see them putting the pieces together inside of their minds.
Bulkhead snapped his fingers. "That explains why they took the dark energon from the government base a week ago."
"It must also be why they stole that file on dark energon; so they can get more of the stuff and get another one of their super soldiers" Wheeljack added.
"And judging by the damages you took during your fight against Agent 000, he must have been the one who broke into the Pentagon" Agent fowler pieced together.
"Alright! Now that you know what MECH's been up to, you can go blow up their base!" Miko said happily, earning a groan from Ratchet.
"Look Miko, right now we're in no shape to go out there and wage an all out war against MECH. Besides, what'll we do when Agent 000 shows up?" Bulkhead said to his human companion.
"Huh, I guess your right" Miko said and crossed her arms.
"Excuse me" June jumped in, "Aren't we forgetting about finding Jack? We know the blood compound of this 'Agent 000' but we still don't even have the location of where my son is!"
The mood in room dropped slightly as the Autobots thought for a moment.
"When we asked Silas, he told us that Jack was killed in an operation they performed on him" Wheeljack said breaking the silence, earning a gasp from the kids and June.
Optimus noticed the human's reaction and quickly jumped in. "I believe that Silas was not truthful when asked about Jack. It does not seem logical for MECH to take a considerable amount of effort to kidnap Jack, only to have him killed in an operation. MECH must have Jack in captivity, however, the question becomes where are they holding him?"
Everyone in the room went quiet, deep in thought. They know that MECH has Jack captured but they didn't know much of anything else. Why are they holding him? Where exactly is he? What are MECH's intentions?
"Well come on guys think!" Miko said, breaking the silence. "If you were a secret organization who kidnapped a 16 year old and wants to hide him from giant alien robots from another planet, where would you put him?"
Miko's comment popped an idea in Raf's head. "In the most secure place possible!" He thought out loud. The Autobots looked at him as if he was crazy.
"Come on kid, you have to give us more than that" Wheeljack said to Raf.
"No, no, no. You're missing the point." Raf stated, "MECH may have an army but compared to you Autobots, those weapons are useless... except one person. Agent 000 proved that he can hold his own against you, no offense."
"None taken" Wheeljack replied, although he did rub his hand against the scars on his forearm.
"Well that's practically a giant arrow pointing to where Jack is!" Raf continued. "If they want to keep Jack away from the Autobots, they would put him behind their most powerful weapon, who just so happens to be Agent 000. I'm positive that Jack is somewhere in that MECH base and since they did fend you off, I doubt they moved at all."
"Very good analysis Rafael" Ratchet beamed at the young prodigy.
"Then it is settled" Optimus commanded while standing up from the berth. "When we are healed and Bumblebee awakens from stasis, we will launch an attack on the MECH base. We will attack as soon as possible fro we do not want MECH to replicate the substance to create another super soldier."
"Hold on Optimus" Bulkhead intervened, "what are we going to do when Agent 000 shows up. We can't take him and I'm not looking forward to being cut up again."
"Do not worry Bulkhead" Optimus replied, "I have thought a strategy that may work against Agent 000. Ratchet, when Bumblebee has woken, I will need to discuss how we are to approach this situation."
"Very well Optimus, but what about Arcee?" the medic questioned.
"Arcee will be informed in time" Optimus responded, "however at this moment, I believe it would be best if we give her some time."
Optimus looked towards the direction in which Arcee left and sighed to himself.
...
Agent 000 walked down the hallways of the MECH facility. He had a lot on his mind and needed to get some answers. Ever since his run in with the Autobots, he's begun to question himself and what he is doing. For one, the biggest question on his mind is who is Jack? The Autobots seemed keen in finding him, especially the blue one, and he wanted to know why. Also along that line, he wanted to know more about who he is. He doesn't remember anything prior to becoming enhanced and while MECH has given stories about his past self, he knows better than to believe what they say. He needed answers, and he was going to get them.
He walked past he training area of the MECH base and saw a line of MECH soldiers practising their aim. He stopped to watch them as he saw a soldier trying to shoot the middle of a moving dummy. The man took two shots, both missing the target. The soldier took another shot which hit the dummy's shoulder and reloaded. Agent 000 chuckled to himself and took out his Desert Eagle. From the small door opening, Agent 000 took aim and shot the dummy right in the middle, blowing open the back and startling the soldier. Happy with his work, he continued down the hallway.
After a couple turns, he finally reached the room where he wanted. It was Silas' business room and he this is where he would get his answers. He walked in, locking the door behind him. Silas saw Agent 000 walk in and was surprised to see him.
"Hello Agent 000" Silas said with a serious tone, "to what do I owe the pleasure of this visit?"
"Answers, Silas" Agent 000 said as he took a seat across the desk Silas was seated, "I want answers."
The MECH leader raised an eyebrow, not knowing exactly what Agent 000 meant but he decided to play along.
"Very well Agent 000, I will provide any explanations you want."
"Good" Agent 000 said. "First off, who is this 'Jack' and why do the Autobots want to find him?"
Silas thought for a moment before responding, something Agent 000 took note of. "The Autobots are one of our many enemies who believe MECH's ultimate goal is non-realistic. They believe the world should work in peace and harmony, but as history has told us, that just doesn't happen. MECH sees a better world, a better life where we are in charge. We will set the tone for every country and punish those who disagree. We will lead this planet into the next golden age."
"And what does this Jack have to do with MECH's goal?" Agent 000 questioned.
"MECH's power compared to the Autobots is unmatchable. These alien life forms have weapons we have never seen before and we need that type of power to move our plans further along. Ever since we encountered these Autobots, we have been learning of their technology and using it to our advantage. Operation 000 was one of these ideas. With a combination of multiple chemical compounds and a rare substance known to the Autobots as 'dark energon', we were able to replicate a substance called 000 which can enhance a human's physical strengths. Jack was a perfect candidate for our tests, even though he does not believe in our cause. We captured him and used him in Operation 000 in which he sadly passed away. Our second attempt was much more successful when we put you through the operation. You survived and that is why you are who you are now."
Agent 000 took a moment to take in all the information. Most of what Silas was telling him was true but he believed there was more to Jack than he was letting on. Agent 000 was not dumb and knew that Silas was lying about Jack's death. He decided to put it to the side as he would do some more research on his spare time.
"And what about me?" Agent 000 interrogated. "Who was I before I became Agent 000. I don't remember my name, my family, where I grew up, or where I lived. All I remember is waking up and becoming Agent 000."
Silas again thought for a moment before speaking. Now Agent 000 knew that what he was about to say was going to be a lie. "We have already spoken to you about this manner Agent 000. You were a MECH agent who was injured in the field. You never shared your private information with us and have always been loyal to the MECH cause. You're real name is Nicholas McLaren. Now Agent 000, if you will excuse me, I have business to attend to." Silas motioned to the door.
"Very well" was all Agent 000 said as he left the room. He did not get the answers he was looking for and he knew now that what he's been told about his past was a lie. Not wanting to give up, Agent 000 made his way towards the communication center. He now knew that he could not trust MECH and if they were smart, they shouldn't trust him either.
When he got to the communication center, he opened the door startling the three MECH technicians at the control panel. The room was quite large and had monitors for cameras, maps, and other things Agent 000 did not recognize.
"You three," he said to the MECH technicians, "take 5. I have things I must look in to that are classified."
The three MECH technicians looked at each other with doubt. Agent 000 noticed this and addressed them again.
"Are you doubting a superior's orders?" he said in a menacing tone. He knew very well that people feared him and he had established his superiority during missions.
"N-no, sir. We will leave right away." The middle technician said as they quickly left the communications center.
As soon as they left, Agent 000 locked the door and began digging through the MECH files. He scanned through the data base until he found what he was looking for.
"Jackson Darby" he read out loud. "Age: 16. Location: Jasper, Nevada. Relatives: June Darby; mother, unknown father; deceased. Status: Alive."
Very strange Silas. Why tell me Jack is dead when it says that he is alive on your data base? Agent 000 thought to himself before continuing.
"Jack has had multiple encounters with the Autobots which has led us to believe he works with them. He holds information about the Autobots including their alien technologies and their base of operations. He has been seen riding around with the blue motorcycle known as Arcee and claims that he bought, and owns a normal motorcycle. Arcee seems to act as a guardian to Jack; use caution when dealing with her. The capturing of Jack was part of Operation 000's Phase II, followed by Phase III which involved operating on him."
So, Jack played a crucial role in Operation 000. Also explains why the blue one, Arcee, begged for his location.
Agent 000 finished reading about Jack and proceeded in searching for his own name.
"Agent 000: Succeeded product of Operation 000. Enhanced strength, speed, agility, reflexes, hand-eye coordination, and balance. Highly skilled in use of weapons and hand-to-hand combat. "
That's all you have on me? Something tells me you're hiding something.
Agent 000 proceeded in searching "Arcee" and read about her skills, weapons, relationships, and vitals.
"Autobots run on substance known as energon; the life blood of all Cybertronians and serves as their ammo as well. Energon signals can be tracked with use of highly concentrated energy scanners."
Agent 000 thought for a moment and quickly had an idea. He moved to the monitor tracking energon signals around the world and saw multiple blue dots scattered across the globe. He narrowed down the search to the town of Jasper, Nevada and saw a single blue dot, moving towards the outskirts of the town. Cross-referencing the data on Arcee revealed that it was her signal moving around.
Agent 000 quickly reset all the monitors and walked out of the communication center, heading for the vehicle area. He hopped into his Honda Civic and drove out, knowing exactly where to go.
...
Arcee sped towards the outer region of Jasper, driving through the town to the only place she knew where she could be alone. She needed to think and clear her mind. Recent events have made her emotionally unstable and she knew she had to fix that problem.
After a couple minutes of driving, Arcee arrived at her destination; the hill where Jack showed her the elegant night sky and the beauty of the desert. She transformed and took a seat in the grass, the exact spot where she sat the first time. Looking out, she stared at the stars and the beauty of the night time desert.
Everything was perfect, except for one thing. Something didn't feel right and Arcee knew exactly what it was.
"Oh Jack" she whispered to herself, she could feel tears starting to form in her optics. "I'm so sorry i couldn't save you."
She looked up at the full moon, wondering if Jack could see it as well.
"Jack" she yelled at the moon. She knew it was stupid but she hoped her voice would be carried by the wind to her human partner. "If you can hear me, know that I-I'm still going to fight. I-I'm going to find you and bring you home. I have to,,,"
She held her head in her hands and let it all out, her tears like a steady stream of love and sorrow. "I-I have to tell you how I feel." The two-wheeler cried out, more to herself than the moon. "You need to know, how much you mean to me Jack."
Arcee looked up at the moon and saw Jack's face smiling down at her. Of course it was only get imagination, but at that exact moment, it truly felt like it was him.
"I love you Jackson Darby!" she yelled out to the night sky.
She could only hope her partner had heard her as she continued to cry into her hands.
...
Agent 000 knew precisely where to find her.
Once he saw the signal, he knew she wouldn't move from the spot, so he quickly got into his car and drove there as fast as he could.
It was only an hour drive to her location but it felt more like a couple minutes.
He still didn't know exactly why he was doing this. Maybe he was feeling sorry for the female, or maybe he just doesn't have anything else to do. He knew he wasn't going to get more answers for his lifelong questions, but perhaps he could get some information from the other side. MECH was no longer as trustworthy as he thought they were, and Silas lying to his face proved it.
Nonetheless he was going, and neither MECH nor Silas was going to stop him.
Agent 000 got out of the car when he knew he was close enough for walking distance. While he was itching for another battle, his intentions at this moment were merely for talk so he'd rather not startle the female with the engine of his car. He also didn't want her radioing in for back-up or else things might get messy.
He slowly made his way up the hill, hearing a noise at the top similar to crying. He followed the sound to the person he was trying to find, the blue female crying into her hands.
Agent 000 moved over to the tall tree very quietly and couldn't help but look out to the starry sky. The night was so elegant and the gentle breeze made him feel warm inside, something very unusual for him.
He looked over at the one called 'Arcee', the female was still crying and mumbling about Jack.
They have a close relationship going, he thought to himself. Must be nice getting close to someone else, knowing who you are in life and what you should be doing.
He stared out to the night sky and finally decided to announce his presence. He had left his katana and Desert Eagle back in his car so he was unarmed. He hoped it wouldn't come down to him having to rip off metal with his bare hands. He still wore his mask though; it just didn't feel right if he didn't have it.
"Hello Arcee"