A/N: Thanks for the reviews! I've been getting a lot of questions about whether the pairing should be Jack/Arcee or not. Let me know what you think in your reviews.
Chapter 6
Jack awoke to the sounds of medical machines at work. He opened his eyes and found himself in a medical bed; he was in the Autobot med bay. His body felt like it had gone a through a meat grinder and his head felt worse. It throbbed in pain, the veins in his temple pulsing. He sat up and looked around; only Ratchet was present and he was hard at work looking over Jack's sword.
"Just how could such a small weapon be giving off such a unique energy signature?" He asked no one in particular.
Jack chuckled, "There's an explanation to that." The medic turned to fact the boy.
"Oh?" he raised an optic ridge.
"Where is everyone?" Jack asked.
"Waiting in the command center; they were all crowding up the space by your bed so I had to order them out."
"It's nice to feel loved, eh Ratchet?" Jack smiled.
"Just explain what the weapon is and how you got your hands on it. And for that matter, how did you survive falling off a cliff? Last time I checked, humans weren't all that durable."
"Sorry to disappoint," Jack shrugged. "It's a long story. And everyone needs to hear it."
Ratchet nodded, "Ratchet to command center. Jack is awake." Several minutes later, everyone was inside the med bay, surrounding Jack's bed.
"Jack," Optimus spoke first, "How are you feeling?"
"Sore, but alive." Jack said.
"How on Earth did you survive falling off a clip?" Fowler blurted out. June gave a shiver at the memory. Jack rubbed her back while shooting a slight glare at a sheepish Fowler.
"I guess I should start at the beginning," Jack started. "When I died."
ShadowStrike Rising
Aboard the JSDF Yunagi, the Shredder and Silas were hard at work deciphering the data they acquired from scanning Optimus Prime. The MECH scientists had accumulated a large amount of information before they were interrupted by a mysterious ninja. The young warrior had taken down their men, but strangely enough, there was only one casualty. He'd managed to free the Autobots and attempted to free Prime when the Shredder jumped him. After a brief confrontation, the ninja escaped with the Autobots and their human allies.
The Shredder found himself intrigued by the ninja; he noticed the fighting style he used and fighting styles were like DNA. He was certain that the ninja was Jack Darby, the human he'd thrown over a cliff mere hours earlier. He didn't know how the boy managed to survive the fall, especially with a blade in his chest, but he did. He managed to get onboard the Yunagi and freed the Autobots.
"Silas," the Surgeon said. "We've found something interesting." The two men walked over to a screen with the schematics of Optimus Prime. Alongside it was the schematic from MECH's encounter with Breakdown. "We've compared to the two and determined they're of similar exoskeletal type. While their body mass and outward designs are different, we've found something that they seemed to share."
A picture of large, cylinder-like device appeared, "We scanned the others while they were unconscious and found the exact same part. We believe this is the part that allows them to scan and duplicate a vehicle mode."
"So all MECH needs to do is build one of these ourselves," Silas smiled.
"That's a problem," the Surgeon replied. "We don't have a basis to build from. If we can get our hands on one of them, maybe we could replicate it. There is also the matter of whatever fuel they run on."
"It doesn't matter," the Shredder said. "Silas, focus all your efforts into replicating the parts on the screen. We will let them savor their victory for now."
"What about the ninja that killed one of our men?" one of them asked. "If we go after the Autobots again, he's sure to be with them."
Shredder took a seat and watched the sea go by, a plan formulating in his mind, "I am counting on it."
ShadowStrike Rising
"When I fell down the cliff, I died," Jack said, comforting his mother, who was shaking at the memory. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed Arcee shaking as well. "That's when I found myself standing before three of the Primes."
"What?" Bulkhead's optics widened. Bumblebee beeped in surprise.
"They were Prima, Liege Maximo, and a female whose name I didn't get."
"Solus Prime," Optimus said. "The Maker of Weapons. She forged some of Cybertron's most legendary artifacts of old."
"They told me that I was dead rather plainly," Jack looked at Optimus. "You Primes have a real gift for understatement don't you? Anyway, they told me that I could live again if I accepted some 'power'. They told me I could save if used it, but they also said I would have to do something in exchange for doing something for them."
"What?" Miko chirped.
"They didn't say," he shrugged. "But they said it was important and that I was the only one who could get it done. If you ask me, they should have chosen Optimus."
"Why didn't they?"
"I believe I can explain," a voice boomed. Before they knew, the "Bots and the humans were surrounded by ancient ruins. They were covered in ancient Cybertronian symbols. The sun shone around them all as the sand swirled in the wind. From the light of the sun, several figures emerged. The Thirteen stood, their armor gleaming in the light.
"Greetings," Prima said. "Congratulations on rescuing your comrades, young one."
"Yes," Liege sneered. "You sure took your time. And you were severely beaten by this 'Shredder' character."
"How did you know that?" Jack asked.
"You wiled Zangetsu and the Key to Vector Sigma," Alpha Trion. "Through them we are able to observe your actions. And despite Liege's comments, you did an excellent job."
"Now onto what we discussed earlier," Zangetsu emerged from the sword. "As I'm sure you are all aware, when Optimus Prime lost his memories, Megatron deceived him into joining the Decepticon ranks."
"Yes," Ratchet replied, "Truly our darkest hour."
"What you didn't know was that he had Optimus working on locating lost weapons of the Great War. Before Optimus' memories were restored, Orion Pax decoded the location of three Iacon artifacts here on this planet."
"So now we've got three weapons of mass destruction somewhere here on Earth?" Arcee asked.
"More than three," Solus stated. "When your planet was still young, we scattered several weapons and artifacts across its surface. Many of them are dangerous if placed in the wrong hands."
"Like the energon harvester," Bulkhead said.
"And the Requim Blaster," Nexus said. "The weapon used by Megatronus to kill Solus. It was among the weapons deposited on your world."
"So all we have to do access the correct frequency and we should be able to locate the artifacts," Ratchet inquired.
"I am afraid it is not so simple," Alpha Trion said. "These artifacts were hidden before Cybertron became the society it was. They have no tracers for you to locate."
"Then how do we find them," Bumblebee beeped.
"The Key to Vector Sigma implanted a sixth sense in Jack's mind. It will allow him to sense if a device is unearthed or if he is near it while the three that Orion uncovered should have devices that will activate upon unearthing."
"How powerful are these devices?" Jack asked.
"Incredibly," Solus said. "As you know, Cybertronian weapons and change their form to fit the size and needs of its users. If humans like MECH find these artifacts, this world is in danger."
"With the power we have bestowed upon you," Prima said. "We entrust you with their recovery as well as your instruction in leadership to Optimus Prime."
"Leadership?" Ratchet asked. "But Jack is not a Prime."
"One does not have to be Cybertronian to be a Prime. Consider Jack the first human to be bestowed with such an honor. And what shall you call yourself?"
"Huh?" Jack titled his head in confusion.
"You can't go around calling yourself 'Jack' on the battlefield," Nexus said. "You will need a designation to go by so Megatron does not discover who you are and kill you."
"Oh!" Miko bounced. "What about ShadowStrike?"
"Why that?" Raf asked.
"He's a ninja and ninja 'strike' from the 'shadows'!" she said excitedly.
"I like it," Jack smiled.
"Very well," Prima said. "ShadowStrike, you must find the lost artifacts of Cybertron and keep them far from the reach of Megatron and MECH. Failure would mean the end of everything." With that they disappeared.
ShadowStrike Rising
It had been hours since the Thirteen sent their message and everyone was tired. Miko and Raf were asleep on the couch, too tired to go home. June had cleared it with their parents before she left for her shift at the hospital. Ratchet had shut down the base for the night and the Autobots went into recharge. The only awake at the moment was Jack, his head swirling after today's events.
He was thrown off a cliff and died only to be restored to life by the Thirteen. Given a new form of power, Jack managed to infiltrate MECH's mobile base and free the Autobots. And like that, Jack's thoughts shifted to the MECH soldier he killed. Jack couldn't sleep because every time closed his eyes, he kept hearing sound of his bones crunching against his blade. He cries of pain were choked by the blood in his throat.
No matter how hard he tried he couldn't get the image of his prone body out of his mind. This wasn't something he'd ever experienced before; part of him told him that he was a terrorist and had taken innocent lives without thought. Another part told him that despite that, he was still a living person. A person whose life Jack had ended. What were his thoughts as he died?
Did he regret joining MECH and helping Silas try to usher the world into a new order? Did his life flash before his eyes and he relived all of the things he'd done under Silas' command? Did he have a family? What if he had children who knew nothing of his exploits as a terrorist? What would happen once they found out their father was dead?
What if Silas made Jack out to be a killer? A monster? Jack shook his head and tried to keep such thoughts out of his mind, but they kept resurfacing. He felt his eyes start to sting as tears formed. He didn't mean to kill the man, but something made him.
His "instincts", as Zangetsu said. How could Jack's natural instinct be to take a life without hesitation? He continued to mull on this as Optimus approached from behind, "Jack, why have you not taken to sleep?"
Jack jumped and turned around; his heart beating fast, "Couldn't sleep."
"Are still suffering from your nightmares?" the Prime asked.
"No," he replied. "I was just thinking and- Optimus, who was the first person you ever killed?"
The Prime's optics widened as he stared down at the boy, not sure of what to say, "Why do you ask?"
"When I was looking for you guys, I ran into some MECH goons and I unintentionally killed one of them. I know I shouldn't be feeling bad about it, but I can't get what happened out of my head."
"Jack," Optimus' eyes looked down at the boy in sympathy. Jack was still barely an adult by human standards and he had taken a life. "The first life I ever took was that of a Decepticon named Bonecrusher. During a patrol down an Iacon speedway, we were ambushed and Bonecrusher knocked me down to the streets below. He repeatedly kept at a close distance, preventing me from using my blasters. Finally, I managed to hold him off long enough to draw one of my blades and impale his spark chamber."
"How did you feel about killing him?" Jack asked.
"There was a multitude of emotions that ran through my mind when it was over," the Prime explained. "Taking the life of Bonecrusher weighed heavily on my spark then and still does now. It is not easy to kill for the first time and, in our case, keep killing for eons. I have tried to find a more diplomatic solution to taking lives but, sadly, none has presented itself."
Jack felt sympathy for Optimus; here he was, griping about taking the life of some MECH punk when Optimus had been killing his own kind for eons. Jack couldn't imagine how that must have changed the Prime.
"Thanks for listening," Jack said.
"It is my pleasure to put your mind at ease so that you may rest without worry," the Prime smiled. "Besides, tomorrow we begin your training in both leadership and combat and you will all the rest you can get."
Jack grinned, "Roger that."
ShadowStrike Rising
A/N: Hope you enjoyed. Next time: Optimus and Ratchet take Jack out to the desert to test his abilities. When the Decepticons unearth an unknown Iacon artifact, what will happen when the 'Bots confront them. In the previous version of Rising, I received several requests for the 'Bots to get the hammer instead of the 'Cons. Let me know what you think.