A/N: So, hi guys, story I took a while to update, but here's the new chapter! We're finally getting into some interesting stuff here. MERRY (LATE) CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY (EARLY) NEW YEARS HOPE YOU LIKE THE CHAPTER!
Please Read and Review!
Knock Out took one last glance at the door Megatron and Sideways had gone through to leave the Med Bay. It was unbelievable, but Breakdown was back. His resurrection may have not spared the Med Bay but Knock Out wasn't really concerned about that.
Knock Out still grimaced at the sight of the smashed monitor and medical berth Breakdown had destroyed during his rampage, feeling fortunate he hadn't been Breakdown's target at the time. "Well at least you didn't manage to destroy the whole Med Bay or my paintjob,"
Breakdown snorted at that, the destroyed equipment and his paint job was the least of his problems. "Nothing's more important than your paintjob," he chuckled and Knock Out flashed him a grin.
"It's good to have you back," said Knock Out, before offering his assistant a servo to help him up.
"Good to be back," Breakdown said after a pause and Knock Out could clearly see the confusion in his friend's optics.
"Hmm, you're wondering how you're here," Knock Out hummed, before turning and motioning Breakdown to follow him, "I'll tell you what I know."
Breakdown simply nodded before following the crimson medic through the Med Bay to another examination table. As he approached the table, Breakdown managed to catch a glimpse of red armor not too far off on another examination table.
"Who is he?" Breakdown asked as took a closer look, seeing it was a mech and an autobot by the looks of it.
"Hmm, didn't really catch him name," Knock Out shrugged from his spot beside an empty examination table, before glancing back at Breakdown. "He's actually the real reason you're up and about." He added before patting the examination table for Breakdown to sit down.
"How's that possible?" Breakdown asked, not moving from his spot as he studied the autobot.
"You remember dark energon? The stuff used back on Cybertron to poison Cybertron's core?" said Knock Out before Breakdown gave him a light nod and he continued. "Apparently it can also be used to reanimate the dead but, there's a catch."
"Which is?" Breakdown asked, breaking his gaze away from the autobot and looking back at Knock Out.
"Normally when dark energon reanimates the dead they just turn into mindless savages," Knock Out explained, "Though, the autobot's dark energon was mutated somehow. Instead of turning into a complete savage he retained his consciousness, just like you did,"
"And why was I chosen to be brought back?" Breakdown asked suddenly, surprising Knock Out by the intensity of his optics.
"Well, you were the only suitable subject around when Sideways wanted to conduct his experiment." Knock Out replied, not really sure what Breakdown was getting at. Though, Breakdown only nodded and didn't say another word on the matter so Knock Out decided to start the examination.
"So, how long have I been out?" Breakdown asked after a while and Knock Out had to stop the examination to think about it. He let out a low whistle when the answer came to him.
"Has it really been that long?" Knock Out wondered before Breakdown got a little impatient with him.
"Knock Out, how long?" Breakdown asked again.
"About half an earth orbital cycle or so." Knock Out replied and Breakdown gave him a look.
"That's not very long," Breakdown replied and Knock Out shrugged a bit.
"It is when you've been living it," Knock Out hummed lightly with a bit of a smirk and Breakdown rolled his optics, not amused by Knock Out's joke.
"So, what's happened since I kicked the curb?" Breakdown asked as Knock Out took out a scanner and began to scan Breakdown's spark chamber. He remembered the things leading up to his death, like chasing after Arachnid but everything after that faded like it no longer concerned him. It was strange but it was the only way he could explain it.
"After your mission to dispose of Arachnid failed, we tried to look for your body, but you were nowhere to be found." Knock Out began, "It turned out M.E.C.H happened to be in the area and they stole it - your body that is. We didn't actually get your body back until Silas came to us, fused to it with the notion he wanted to be one of us." Knock Out added.
"HE WHAT!?" Breakdown yelled, his golden optics flashing to purple in anger before they faded back to gold as he shuttered lightly.
Knock Out couldn't help but chuckle a bit, earning a glare from his friend. "You should have heard his screams when we had to remove him for Sideways experiment."
"Still, I feel violated." Breakdown shuttered before getting the feeling that he was being watched. Glancing to the side the only thing Breakdown saw out of the ordinary was the unconscious autobot. He stared at him for a bit, wondering what his story was until the image of an energon explosion entered his mind.
He nearly jumped out of his protoform when a voice entered his mind, "Who are you? What are you doing here?" The voice asked, a tone of curiosity embedded in its questions.
"Uh, Breakdown? You alright?" Knock Out asked, raising an optic ridge at the blue decepticon.
"Are we the only ones here?" Breakdown asked, appearing to be on edge.
"If you're talking about the med bay, yes, that is, besides that autobot over there," Knock Out replied glimpsing over at the mech before looking back at Breakdown, "Why do you ask?"
"It's nothing," Breakdown replied, pushing aside what he had seen. He figured it must have been his imagination messing with him. Though, he still couldn't shake the feeling he was being watched.
"Well, alright then," Knock Out replied before picking up a syringe from his supplies. "I'm going to have to administer an anesthetic so I can run a few more tests."
"I don't understand why I need all these scans," Breakdown huffed softly, annoyed by the inconvenience. In all honesty, he felt fine, though it still rattled his mind how easily he was brought back.
Knock Out merely shrugged, "Megatron's orders. Sweet dreams." Knock Out smirked and Breakdown rolled his optics as the needle dug into his protoform and Knock Out injected the contents of the syringe.
The effects of the anesthetic took over almost immediately as Breakdown's optics powered down and he plugged into darkness. Though, as the darkness completely took over he felt something change. Breakdown felt something, that presence he had sensed before when he was in the med bay, only this time it felt closer and it was watching him.
"Who are you? And what are you doing here?" The same voice he had heard in the med bay asked, this time he it was coming from directly behind him.
Turning around, Breakdown's optics met with aqua green ones, belonging to a mech surrounded in the darkness. Breakdown could barely manage to see the hint of red of the mech's armor in the darkness but he knew it was the autobot that was strapped down onto an examination table in the med bay.
"Are you going to answer my question or just stand there?" the autobot asked as he stepped out of the darkness. The first thing Breakdown noticed about this autobot was that he was covered in chains, chains made out of dark energon.
Moving into a battle stance, Breakdown was surprised when he was met by resistance and looked down to see chains were covering his own body.
Looking back up at the autobot, Breakdown knew this was going to be an interesting day.
"I figured it was you that I heard before," Breakdown said, watching the autobot almost curiously as he stared at the chains around his body. He couldn't even begin to fathom the reason why he was seeing this autobot. Though, when Breakdown really thought about it, it didn't take a genius to realize it had to do with the dark energon the two of them now share.
The autobot's optics seemed to perk in understanding, almost as if he'd come to the same realization as Breakdown had. "That would make sense..." the autobot hummed. "Not that I understand what this dark energon stuff is," the autobot shrugged, rustling the chains in his movement.
Breakdown gave the autobot a look. Now the autobot can read his mind?
"Looks like it," The autobot replied and Breakdown was starting to get annoyed.
"Who are you?" Breakdown asked the autobot, but it sounded more like a demand than a question.
"Wish I knew myself," the autobot replied and Breakdown could literally feel the pain in the autobot's voice.
Pushing that feeling aside, Breakdown studied the autobot. Chains were draped all over the autobot's torso and arms, just like him. Now that Breakdown took a good look at the autobot he could also see he was a little smaller than him. Not to mention his crimson armor was flashy enough to compete with Knock Out. Though, that was as far as his fashion sense went when Breakdown noticed he was missing horn on his head, most likely from battle.
"So, you just going to keep staring, Breakdown?" The autobot hummed lightly as he looked over at Breakdown.
"How do you know my name?" Breakdown asked suddenly, demanding the answer. He wanted straight answers from this autobot, not this madness.
The autobot merely shrugged, "It just came to mind. Wonder if you can figure out my name." he asked as if it were a challenge to Breakdown.
Breakdown gave the autobot a good long look but the next thing he knew a name came to mind.
"Cliffjumper." Breakdown replied and the autobot seemed to perk up hopefully.
A grin formed on Cliffjumper's faceplates as he looked up at Breakdown. "Now we're getting somewhere."
Meanwhile, in Megatron's throne room, the decepticon commander was having difficulties concentrating on Sideways briefing on the experiment. His mind was elsewhere the moment he became aware of the fact that Breakdown and the autobot had started communicating with one another.
He could not hear what their conversation was but the two were being rather loud. It was becoming so troublesome Megatron was about to order them to stop before silence finally came when Breakdown awoke from his induced stasis lock not long later. Sideways seemed to perk when Megatron visibly relaxed now that he could think clearly.
"They're communicating, aren't they?" Sideways asked, catching on fast. "I suspected as much, considering the energon they share."
Megatron shot Sideways a glare before shaking his helm, "Continue with your report, Sideways."
"Yes, my liege. As I was saying the autobot's injuries are healing exceptionally faster now that I have returned more of the energon shard," Sideways explained, "He should be fully healed in no time so we may commence the cortical psych patch with no further issues."
"Furthermore, in the experiment I have learned that the autobot has more control over his primal urge than Breakdown." Sideways added, looking up to his commander.
"How can you be so sure?" Megatron asked, raising an optic ridge.
"Based on your ship's reports the autobot has been missing for an earth stellar cycle." Sideways explained, "It seems reasonable to assume if he had no control then he would have been discovered much sooner by either us or the autobots." He said, before continuing when Megatron said nothing.
"It also appears the autobot only awakes to his inner terrocon when his life was threatened, considering he managed to sneak deep into an energon mine before he was attacked." Sideways before pausing a moment to consider something, "And after that, the terrocon has awoken twice. The first time was when the guards approached him and the second is when I did. He was controlled much easier."
"When Breakdown awoke from the dark energon he nearly destroyed the Med Bay before you were able to gain control," Sideways added.
"Do you have a theory as to why the autobot shows more control?" Megatron asked, tapping the arm of his throne as he watched his subordinate.
"Currently, no, Lord Megatron. I'll need to run more tests on the dark energon shard I possess," Sideways replied with a light shrug. "Perhaps it's just an unknown factor, something that happened in the time the autobot was missing or it may even be as simple as how his processor is wired but I need more information."
"Understood. Is there anything else you would like to add?" Megatron asked, already considering all that he's been informed of.
"Yes, there is something that has come to my attention." Sideways replied as a smirk curled on his faceplates behind his mask, "Once the autobot regains consciousness he could become a very valuable asset."
"Is that so?" Megatron asked.
"Yes, the autobot is no different from Breakdown when it comes to the dark energon within him that you can control to your will."
Suddenly, a cold sneer slowly began to form on Megatron's faceplates as he came to realize what Sideways was implying. In time, the autobot will become a very valuable asset indeed.
The Valley of Fire was buzzing with activity. Besides the normal crowds that come to the state park, miles away from any human activities a group of sentiment robots and their three charges were busy as they explored the park.
High above, sitting at the ridge of the canyon, Optimus sat beside Miko, telling her a thrilling war story. When Optimus suggested the story about a time during the war that Megatron was actually noble it sparked interest in Miko. She was eagerly taking in the details of the story that Megatron had taken in a platoon of decepticons stormed the Iacon Energon Refinery to set bombs to detonate the place.
The Prime spoke in detail when the platoon of decepticons were discovered and a battle ensued. Several decepticons were taken down and things were getting good until Megatron did something unpredictable.
Instead of escaping, the decepticon commander turned back to his fallen men and mounted a rescue mission.
"What do you mean he went back?" Miko asked the Prime, confused by the information.
"Let me explain," Optimus said, but he a small smile curled on his lips at her enthusiasm. "You were not the only one confused by his actions. I myself was caught off guard as I watched him through the scope of my blaster."
"Did you take the shot?" Miko asked, looking up at the Prime.
"No, I did not," Optimus replied, sounding far off. "His actions cause me to hesitate, thus, allowing him the time to rescue his men and detonate the bombs."
"Wait…You mean you let that metal-headed moron escape?!" yelled Miko. After describing that epic battle Optimus tells her he didn't take the shot? She thought he was telling her a good war story!
"That is beside the point, Miko." replied Optimus.
"I can hardly see why." She muttered, crossing her arms.
"I believe Megatron upheld the true values of Cybertron that day when he returned to rescue his men, rather than abandoned them to our forces." replied Optimus as he looked down at the others below.
"Still, while he was busy trying to get those cons out of there you should have taken the shot!" said Miko. "I mean, he blew up the place!"
"The past can't be changed, what's done is done." replied Optimus before he considered something. "Perhaps it was because I was caught off guard by the fact that I hadn't expected Megatron to return for his men and that was the reason I hesitated to pull the trigger."
"I guess no one would've guessed Megatron would ever be that noble." Miko shrugged as she kicked her legs against the cliff side. "You know, with how twisted he is."
Optimus nodded in agreement before looking down at the human, "Know this Miko, next time I get the chance, Megatron won't be so lucky." Considering how seriously Optimus was looking at her, Miko knew he would live up to that promise.
"I hear ya," Miko hummed lightly, remembering just before Optimus lost his memories he practically challenged Megatron to a battle to the death to end everything. When she heard their battle she knew Optimus would have killed Megatron if the volcano behind them hadn't spewed out dark energon.
"So, got any other stories?" She asked after a moment. A light smile formed on the Prime's faceplates and Miko couldn't help but copy. "You should smile more. It suits you."
"Perhaps you are right," the Autobot Commander hummed softly as his gaze dropped down to the canyon below.
Just below them, Optimus caught a glimpse of blue and white down by a river. He didn't need his superior vision to tell him that it was Arcee and Smokescreen down there, their race over. Though, just by the way Smokescreen's door wings drooped slightly behind his back, Optimus knew who had been the victor.
"Looks like you owe Arcee a case of axel grease, Smokescreen." Jack chuckled as he walked ahead of his guardian and Smokescreen beside the small river cutting through the bottom of the canyon.
"Come on, I nearly died when I swerve out of the path of that boulder." Smokescreen sighed, rubbing his shoulder where he landed on when he was forced to transform to avoid the collision.
"A bets a bet," Arcee chuckled as she walked alongside the rookie.
"Fine, fine." sighed Smokescreen as he took a look around the canyon and smiled.
"This place kind of reminds me of the Sea of Rust." Smokescreen muttered absentmindedly.
"Funny you say that." Arcee chuckled softly. "My old partner, Cliffjumper, said the same thing when we first arrived to earth."
"You don't say." said Smokescreen as he let out a light laugh. "So, where is this partner of yours?" He asked, not seeming to notice Jack had stop walking and looked back at Arcee.
"The Well of Allsparks, no doubt." Arcee stated simply as she turned to look Smokescreen in the optic.
"O-Oh," Smokescreen practically chocked out. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have asked!"
"It's fine; he's been gone for a while now." Arcee reassured the panicking rookie, though her words barely managed to calm him.
"Oh, I see…" Smokescreen muttered as he looked to the ground towards Jack. The teen simply gave Smokescreen a comforting smile to reassure him he'd done nothing wrong before continuing to walk ahead of them.
"So, you're Arcee's new partner?" asked Smokescreen as he watched Jack.
"That's right." Jack replied as he tried to keep his balance as he stepped over some loose rocks beside the riverbank. "We practically met the same day she lost Cliffjumper. It took a while for her to actually warm up to me." Jack added with a smile for Arcee.
"Don't think Cliff received any better treatment than you, Jack, I wasn't that warm and cuddly towards him either." Arcee chuckled, smiling at her human charge.
"What? Did you lose another partner that time too?" Smokescreen chuckled, meaning it as a joke before both Arcee and Jack both froze in their spots.
Arcee stared at Smokescreen with an icy demeanor while Jack just stood there looking like the world was going to end at that very second. Jack's expression alone signaled to Smokescreen he was a dead bot.
"You can go ahead and shoot me now..." Smokescreen sighed, lowering his helm, accepting defeat.
Meanwhile, not too far off down the river a pair of Wreckers stood in front of the fuming medic.
"Absolutely not, Wheeljack! You will not spar with Bulkhead in his current condition!" said Ratchet; glaring daggers at the two that would scare an average mech. Fortunately, neither Bulkhead nor Wheeljack were average mechs.
"Come on, Doc, I'm not doing to hurt the big lug." replied Wheeljack as he motioned to the green Wreaker. "Bulkhead needs to be whipped back into shape"
Ratchet simply groaned in frustration as he pinched the bridge of his nose strut. "And to think you were the one telling Bulkhead he needed to take it easy."
"A friendly spar isn't going to hurt him, Doc." Wheeljack reassured the medic. "I promise I won't even scratch his paint job."
After a moment of consideration Ratchet murmured something inaudible under his breath before giving the two Wreckers the go-ahead.
"Yes!" cheered Bulkhead as he gave Wheeljack a fist bump.
"And to think you had little faith in me." Wheeljack grinned as he took a battle stance. Bulkhead in turn widened his distance from the fellow Wrecker and got into his own stance.
"Bulkhead, if you so much as strain one joint strut-" Ratchet started before being cut off by Bulkhead.
"Relax, Ratchet, the spar hasn't even started!" Bulkhead chuckled before Wheeljack made his first move and the battle was on.
Not too far off, Bulkhead and Wheeljack already had an audience.
Bumblebee watched, highly amused as Bulkhead and Wheeljack went about their spar. He couldn't believe the two Wreckers had somehow convinced the grumpy Ratchet to allow them to spar.
"Take it easy, Bulkhead, you're not at full strength. Wheeljack, don't push him too hard!" Bumblebee could hear Ratchet say over the spar.
"Relax, doc, I'm fine!" Bulkhead called out, but no matter how many times he told Ratchet he didn't seem to believe him.
"You heard 'em Sunshine." Wheeljack chuckled as he simultaneously dodged a punch from Bulkhead and a wrench from Ratchet.
"I have told you countless times never to call me that!" growled Ratchet and Bumblebee snickered softly at the two.
Suddenly, a small speck of orange appeared in Bumblebee's optic field and he perked up as Nightbeat came over and landed on his head. He smiled behind his mouth guard as he tried to look up at the tiny Cybertronian bird. Raf laughed softly at the two interact. At the sound of Raf's voice, Nightbeat perked and hopped onto the boy's shoulder.
The robotic bird tugged at Raf's shirt with tiny talons as he tried to get Raf off his feet. Bumblebee let out a series of chirps, his equivalent to a laugh when he realized Nightbeat wanted Raf to fly with him. Raf seemed to understand as well and began to laugh. "Hey, Nightbeat! I can't fly with you!"
Then, without warning, Nightbeat managed to raise Raf up just a few inches off Bumblebee's shoulder, surprising the pre-teen. "Whoa, you're strong! Hey, let me down, little guy!"
The little Cybertronian bird seemed to whine in disappointment before letting go of young boy. Raf yelped as he lost his footing and began to fall off of Bumblebee's shoulder. Bumblebee quickly grabbed for him before he could fall and couldn't help but laugh at Nightbeat's enthusiasm.
Bumblebee let out a series of clicks and chirps and Raf looked up at him surprised. "You want to fly? That's awesome! But you're just a car, how can you fly?" Raf asked curiously.
"Maybe you should try flapping your door wings," teased Jack as he walked over with Arcee and Smokescreen not far behind him.
In return, Bumblebee made a face before flapping his door wings a bit and Raf laughed.
"Maybe I should give it a try." Smokescreen chuckled as he flapped his own door wings a bit and the group began to laugh.
Just then the group heard a huge splash and they turned around to see Wheeljack in a throwing position, while Bulkhead was sitting in the river, drenched with water from head to toe. The group flinched as Ratchet threw a wrench straight at Wheeljack's helm before stomping over to help Bulkhead out of the water.
The group then heard complaining from high above and they looked up to see Miko and Optimus perched up at the top of the cliff. "What was that, Bulkhead? You can do better than that!" Miko called from where she sat. She may have been a little too far away but her message was clear.
A light smile formed on Optimus faceplates as he looked down at the young girl. "You should not be so hard on Bulkhead, he is still healing." He reminded her.
"You're right, Wheeljack made a cheap shot." Miko grumbled lightly as she crossed her arms, watching as Arcee and Bumblebee decided to spar. Both Miko and Optimus watched for a while in silence until they heard a familiar breathless voice call over to them.
"Hey, Miko, Optimus!" Jack called as he ran up to the girl and the Autobot commander.
Stopping for a moment to catch his breath as Raf caught up, though the younger boy shared Jack's look of exhaustion for climbing back up there without the assist of the bots. Optimus felt concern for them until Jack caught his look and reassured him they were fine as the boys took a swig of water from the bottles they had brought for the trip.
"So, what are you guys still doing here?" asked Raf after a moment as he put away his water and straightened his glasses from the jog up there. "You're missing out on all the fun."
"We should go explore around," suggested Raf with a carefree smile. "You know, before we have to go."
"Raf is correct," said Optimus. "The day will come to an end faster than you realize it."
"Alright, let's go then!" said Miko as she stood up and looped an arm around Raf. "You're smart, Raf. You know anything interesting about this place?"
"Uh sure, did you know that the Valley of Fire is the oldest state park in Nevada?" he replied.
"I said tell me something interesting!" said Miko as she began to walk down the path with him. "You're worse than Ratchet!"
"Uh, well, there are 3,000-year-old petroglyphs carved in the sandstone all over the place." Raf suggested with a shrug. "You know ancient pictures and stuff."
"Really? Let's go find some then!" Miko grinned widely before she picked up her pace and she practically dragged the younger boy the rest of the way down.
A smile formed on Optimus faceplates as he watched them go.
"Are you coming?" Jack asked as he watched the Prime. "Bulkhead and Wheeljack look like they need some help." He added as he glanced down the ravine.
Optimus followed his gaze and could just make out Ratchet and the two Wreckers down by the river. The medic didn't seemed at all pleased as he gave Bulkhead a scan while. No doubt he was scolding the two for their reckless behavior.
"I better attend to Ratchet before he blows a circuit." Optimus chuckled softly as he stood, Jack smiled before running off to catch up to his two friends.
Sometime later the group came together again, each of them sharing the time they had spent while exploring the beautiful Valley. At this time, Optimus felt quite at peace. This trip had surely boost morale among the group and allowed for a much needed break for his autobots.
He wished for it to last, but he knew that nothing lasts forever. Looking over the group, each were looking at one thing or another, somehow finding something in this Valley that would fascinate them. Except for Miko, who has already grown bored of the scenery around them. Optimus watched her curiously as she took out her phone and looked back at the group.
"Hey, guys! Group picture!" Miko called out to the team. "Strike a pose!" she ordered as everyone but Optimus and Ratchet pose in an amusing manner as Miko took the picture. The only reason Optimus remained still was because he wasn't sure what Miko had asked for until he saw the others.
"That's a keeper!" Miko grinned as she looked over the picture with Jack and Raf huddled beside her to take a look. Another small smile formed on Optimus' faceplates as he watched the children and his team as the group continued to walk through the valley, enjoying the sights.
"Hey, guys look there's a cave over there!" Miko said after a while as she dragged Jack and Raf over to it. "Let's take a look around!"
"Miko, I don't think that's a good idea." Jack sighed as he looked over at the bots who were talking amongst themselves or taking in the sights. None of them had seemed to notice Miko's discovery yet.
"Don't be a kill joy, Jack!" Miko said before running into the cave before either boy could stop her.
"Miko, wait!" Jack called before chasing in after her.
Raf sighed and gave Nightbeat a look. Nightbeat watched him from his spot on his shoulder curiously. "I guess we'd better go after them…"
He exhaled again before figuring they would be fine if they had Nightbeat with them. They'll just take a quick peek. Running in after his two friends it wasn't hard to find them. It was pitch black down there until Nightbeat activated a light, lighting up a majority of the tunnel they were in.
"Awesome," Miko grinned before she continued forward, taking a look at everything she could as they explored the cave. Though, as they continued to explore they didn't realize when they had lost track of time. After a while they tried to make their way back to the entrance but each turn they took led them to a dead end or a new part of the cave.
"I told you we shouldn't have come down here." Jack sighed as he felt his way along the cave wall. It was pitch black down there. None of them would be able to see if it wasn't for the fact Ratchet build in a light source inside of Nightbeat.
"How was I supposed to know we'd get lost?" said Miko as she walked ahead of him, staying in the range of the light.
The three of them had gone in only to take a peek inside and explore before it got too dark to see. Apparently, it didn't matter because at some point the three of them took a wrong turn and weren't sure how to get back outside.
"Maybe we should send Nightbeat ahead to find a way out?" Raf suggested, looking up at the metallic bird.
Raf was a lot calmer than Jack expected in this situation. Flipping out his phone, Jack checked for signal again. Of course there were no bars underground, he figured with a sigh. "Alright, it's not like we can call the bots for help down here. We can use our phones for light while he takes a look around."
Raf nodded in agreement before both he and Miko took out their cell phones.
"Alright, find us a way out Nightbeat." Raf encouraged the Cybertronian bird as he took him in his hand. Nightbeat bobbed his small head slightly before jumping off Raf's hand and disappeared into the darkness.
"We'll wait here until he comes back," Jack said once Nightbeat was out of sight as he leaned against the wall. Miko and Raf agreed before standing beside him in the dim circle of light.
"Look at the bright side," Miko said after a moment of silence. "It's not like were trapped down here with decepticons."
"That's a great thing to bring up, Miko." Jack sighed, shaking his head, thinking back to the time they had been trapped in an energon mine along with their guardians, Megatron and Starscream. The dreary memory was the first thing that came to mind when he set foot in the cave. Did Miko really need to bring that up? "You might jinx us."
Miko just shrugged before beginning to whistle out of pure boredom.
"You guys never really talked about what happened," said Raf as he looked up at the older teens a little curiously. At this, Miko stopped whistling and looked up at Jack for a moment, Jack held her gaze.
"Let's just say I'm glad you don't like Hungarian shriek metal, Raf." Jack replied, offering him a smile, glad that the preteen had not been with them. The experience wasn't at all pleasant for either of the teens. They just thought they would go and see a concert after Bulkhead and Arcee investigated an old energon mine. They never thought in a million years that Starscream and Megatron would show up and cause a cave in.
"Maybe Megatron and Starscream wanted to see the concert and had the same idea to explore the cave like us?" Miko suggested.
"Us?" Jack asked, rolling his eyes. "Please, you ran in there and we had to follow you in."
"You had to admit, exploring an energon mine was pretty cool." Miko added with a grin.
Jack just shrugged looked back down at Raf who didn't have any lasting memories from the ordeal. Miko almost lost Bulkhead to a collapsing ceiling and Jack had a run in with Megatron while looking for Arcee. It was a pretty traumatic experience for both humans and autobots.
Suddenly, a light chirp echoed through the cave and a light brighten the cave as Nightbeat returned and perched himself on Raf's head. "Did you find a way out, buddy?" Raf asked Nightbeat as he took him in his hands.
The Cybertronian bird chirped again before hopping out of Raf's hand and flew to one of the tunnels ahead of them.
"I take that as a yes," Jack replied before the three of them began to follow Nightbeat.
Where ever Nightbeat was taking the three them was a bit of a walk. How big could this cave possibly be? At some point Jack was beginning to wonder if the little metallic bird where he was going until they saw a faint light coming from the end of the tunnel.
"Race ya!" Miko said suddenly as she bolted for the tunnel opening. Jack was taken a bit off guard as Miko pushed past him, wincing lightly as she brushed past his injured arm.
"Hey, wait up!" Raf called after he and he picked up the pace to keep up with the girl.
Jack sighed but couldn't help but smile as he began to run after them. It felt good to run again without it hurting, he probably hasn't run like this since before the accident. Though, Jack was so caught up in his own thoughts it barely registered to him that Miko and Raf had stopped at the mouth of the cave. That is, until he practically crashed into the two, earning two yelps in surprise from his two friends as they went down.
"Ow…" Jack muttered softly as he sat up, groaning lightly in discomfort. "Hey, what's going on? Why'd you guys stop?"
"Take a look for yourself," Miko replied, the usual cheer in her voice was gone, making Jack worried. To help him, Raf pointed over to the far side of the cavern they were in to reveal the light source they had seen before.
Only, the light wasn't coming from outside; it was coming from the wall of the cave. Jack's first thought was that the wall was covered in glow worms or something, but when he took a better look he realized the light wasn't natural.
"What is that?" Jack muttered softly as the three of them got to their feet and slowly made their way to the glowing light. Now that they had a better look Jack could take out strange symbols all over the wall in a consistent pattern. He almost jumped out of his skin when he thought he recognized a symbol as the one from the sparkling's head.
"I don't think they're those hieroglyphics you were taking about," Miko hummed lightly.
"Petroglyphs" Raf corrected as Jack took another step closer to the wall. "Uh, Jack, do you think it's a good idea to get close-?" Raf asked as Jack began to reach out to a particular symbol on the wall before he was at a loss for words.
The metal fragments that hung around their necks began to glow with the same light as the wall before they levitated and pointed to the wall.
"Okay, now that's freaky," Miko said after a moment of silence.
"It's Cybertronian." Jack muttered softly, his eyes widening in surprise, not really sure what else to say.
"Yeah, kinda figured that with the crazy symbols but what are these things made of?" Miko asked as she grabbed for her pendant and tried to figure out a reason why they were pointing at the wall.
"You think that's really important right now, Miko?" Jack sighed.
"Hey, considering what's going on here, I'm pretty sure it's important." Miko replied, crossing her arms over her chest defiantly.
Jack couldn't help sighing again as he also tried to figure out a reason for the small souvenirs from Cybertron to react this way. "Well, I don't know, I just picked it up somewhere on the way back from the mission," Jack replied before he looked around the large cavern. His eyes lit up when he noticed a small opening on the roof of the cave and he looked over at Nightbeat.
"Nightbeat, go find the bots, they need to know about this place," said Jack as Nightbeat bobbed his head, understanding what the teen wanted before hopping off of Raf's head and flew up to the opening. Within moments he was gone and the three were alone, their only source of light was the strange light coming from the wall.
"You think it might be a relic?" Raf asked before looking over at the wall again.
"We'll find out when the bots get here," Jack sighed.
"Or we can find out now," Miko suggested and before either boy could stop her, she reached for the wall.
"Miko don't-!" Jack called out as he reached out for her and grabbed her hand but his momentum caused him to scrap their hands over the strange symbols and they were blinded by a white light.
Meanwhile, Nightbeat had just found the closest autobots he could find. Both perked up at the sight of him, seeming a bit relieved, yet worried at the same time.
"Nightbeat, have you seen the children?" Optimus asked as the Cybertronian bird flew to him, concern was clear in his voice and it was obvious the autobots had been searching for the children for some time. The autobot beside Optimus offered him a reassuring him and Nightbeat remembered he was the newest arrival.
"I'm sure they're fine, Optimus. I mean, how much trouble could three kids get into?" Smokescreen asked before the ground began to shake and a beam of light shot through the ground a little ways behind them.
"Or not…" Smokescreen muttered softly as he looked to Optimus but the Autobot Commander was already in vehicle form, enroute to the source of the beam of light.
Back in the cave, the best way to describe it was chaos. The light intensified with every second that past by and the noise soared around them.
The moment the beam of light went off Jack instinctively tried pulled Miko away from the wall but when he tried he only found their hands were stuck there by some invisible force.
Fear surged through Jack and he tried to look back to where ever he thought Raf was. "Raf! We can't move! Get out of here!" Jack called over the noise whatever this device was doing, hoping Raf could hear him. He was surprised to feel a small set of arms wrap around his waist.
"No! I'm not leaving you guys!" Raf yelled over the noise as he desperately tried to yank his friends from the wall. Jack was about to say something else when his voice caught in his throat. Fear coursed through him again and he was back in the decepticon space bridge bunker.
Then, as the light intensified Jack pushed aside his fear and twisted himself and Miko awkwardly so that Miko and Raf were in front of him so that he could offer them the best protection he could offer.
"What are you doing, you idiot?!" Miko screamed over the noise, her face was practically buried in Jack's shoulder. Jack knew Miko knew he was trying to protect them and decided to say nothing as he closed his eyes and tightened his hold on his two friends.
Suddenly, the noise got louder, taking Miko's attention away from Jack as she looked past him to see a massive outline in the wall. To her, it looked like some kind of sword but it looked broken up. Then, another burst of light surged from something that was behind the wall, causing Jack to cry out painfully as he buried his head into Miko's neck.
She jumped back in fear which made her wrench arm painfully, having forgotten it was stuck on the wall. Miko tried to ask him if he was alright but he couldn't hear her. The pain surging through Jack was excruciating, though the only comfort he had was that he didn't hear Miko or Raf screaming so they probably were not experiencing what he was feeling.
Pain erupted in his back and arm, causing Jack to black out.
/My liege, I regret to disturb you but an energy spike was picked up by our scanners./ Dreadwing called to Megatron the moment the scanner picked up the massive energy spike.
/Elaborate, Dreadwing./ Megatron said after a moment
/Our reports indicate that the energy source appeared suddenly, originating from southern Nevada/ Dreadwing explained before taking a look at the readings again, /And it does not appear to be an energon source./
/This orbital cycle seems to getting more fascinating as it goes/ Megatron hummed lightly before Dreadwing continued.
/I also regret to inform the autobots already appear to be on site./
/Very well, send out a strike team to intercept them. If it's not energy, it may be another relic that they have uncovered. Megatron out./ Megatron said before cutting off the comm. link and rising from his throne.
"Sideways, return to your post and attend to your test subjects." Megatron ordered as he made his way towards the door.
"As you command, Lord Megatron." Sideways replied, watching him go until the metal doors closed behind him.
The moment Megatron was gone a small smirk formed on Sideways' hidden faceplates as he lean against the arm on his throne. Then, after a moment he projected a live feed to the location where the energy spike came from.
As he watched, Sideways absentmindedly tapped a small blade he had kept concealed in his forearm against the side of Megatron's throne. It wasn't an impressive blade, it wasn't big through to be considered a sword or a dagger and it appeared to be broken in several places. However, looks can be deceiving he thought, smirking lightly.
Sideways perked up a bit the moment he caught a glimpses of the autobots heading for the beam of light as it began to fade. Though, they were slowed down as the strike team arrived. The closest autobots to the beam of light appeared to be the autobot commander and the autobot rookie Sideways recalled to have fought before.
However, soon enough another group of decepticons intercepted them in the canyon just as Megatron arrived into battle. Predicable as ever, the Decepticon Commander went for his nemesis and the battle was on.
Looking down at the blade in his hand, Sideways stared at his reflection, wondering how the events would turn out. A small smirk formed on his faceplates as the metal on the blade began to distort a bit.
Jack wasn't sure where he was, he was surrounded by darkness once again and he was alone. At least he thought he was alone.
"You're back!" a voice chirped in the darkness as a small silver mass collided with his legs, causing Jack's knees to buckle as he crashed to the ground. A groan escaped Jack as he looked up, surprised to see a familiar set of pale blue optics staring down at him.
"You?" Jack asked, rather surprise to see the sparkling he had saved in his dream, though now he seemed a little bigger. Sitting up, Jack took a good look at sparkling, smiling when he realized how much he actually missed the little guy.
The last time he felt like he interacted with the little guy was a month ago during his near death experience. Since then he may have seen him during dreams but that wasn't the same. Seeing him now felt real to him like it did the first time he saw him.
"Don't tell me I'm dying again," Jack asked suddenly, remembering what was happening just before he got here. Though, the sparkling just looked at him a little confused as if he wasn't sure what he was taking about.
"Never mind," Jack said after a moment.
"What's this?" The sparkling asked, noticing the symbols on his arm. Jack stares at it, wondering the same himself, he looks at the sparkling and notices more symbols were on his body.
"I'm not sure," he replied, "Uh, do you know why I'm here?"
"Are you here to protect me from the monsters?" the sparkling asked, his optics brightening hopefully.
Jack gave the strange sparkling a look, wondering what he was talking about. Then, as if his question was answered, the ground beneath them began to shake violently. Clutching the sparkling, Jack looked up into the darkness as a pair of purple optics appeared and he froze in fear.
Jack immediately recognized the owner of said optics because he's seen it staring down at him several times in his nightmares, just like now. "Scrap…" Jack muttered before the darkness faded away and revealed the form of Cybertronians' most feared enemy.
"Unicron," Jack hissed under his breath but the planet sized monster didn't seem to notice him.
Suddenly, the ground beneath them began to shake before segments began to break up, revealing light as something began to emerge from the ground. In turn, Unicron let out an ungodly roar causing Jack to collapse and over his ears in an attempt to drown out the sound.
Then, the noise stopped and Jack felt like he was rising up. Looking up, Jack nearly fell again when he realized he was at eye contact with Unicron. He didn't realize how this was possible until he looked down and saw he was on top of titan sized Cybertronian.
Though, there was something different about this Cybertronian. He gave off waves of light while Unicron was cloaked in darkness, almost as if the two were complete opposites. Jack was so mesmerized by the two that he just realized the sparkling in his arms was crying.
"Do not be afraid, child." A voice deep voice rang out from the Cybertronian beneath them and Jack couldn't help but feel angry.
"Why wouldn't he be afraid?!" Jack yelled down at the Cybertronian before Unicron roared again and lunged himself at the other colossus mech.
The sudden momentum caused Unicron's opposite to stumble back and Jack lost his footing. Jack's voice caught in his throat as the feeling of weightlessness came over him and the sparkling screamed. He was falling off of this planet sized Cybertronian. He. Was. Falling.
They could have kept falling if Jack hadn't reached out and somehow caught a hold of something on the side of the colossus Cybertronian. He may have stopped himself from falling to his death, but it didn't help that Unicron and this Cybertronian were at it.
"Help," was the only thing Jack could say as he struggled to hold him and the sparkling up in the chaos. Then, while he was dangling there, something caught Jack's eye. Looking at his hand, Jack was surprised to see he was holding onto some sort of metallic cloth.
Figuring it was a strange thing to be on this giant Cybertronian, Jack followed to where the cloth led to. Jack yelped back in surprise and nearly let go of his lifeline when he saw it was attached to a golden mech. This mech looked ancient and he seemed to be surrounded by gears and even looked like he had some kind of flowing beard going on.
The golden mech stared down at Jack and the sparkling, regarding them a bit calculatedly. "I will assist thee only when the time comes."
Jack just stared at the Cybertronian in disbelief and began to panic the moment the golden mech began to disappear, taking away his only lifeline until it was completely gone.
Several things went through Jack as he and the sparkling began to fall again. Hurt, betrayal, confusion and above all anger. "You piece of scrap!" Jack screamed out to the golden mech, completely forgetting he was holding a sparkling in his arms, but he didn't care.
Suddenly, something grabbed them, stopping their fall and Jack almost thought it was the giant Cybertronian, until he looked up and saw piercing purple optics.
"You've got to be kidding me," Jack muttered softly before struggling to get out of Unicron's grasp, a grasp that which should have normally killed him.
In his struggle, Jack saw in the corner of his eye the other Cybertronian was on the ground. Looking back he could see he was surrounded in a purple haze that kept him down. Jack immediately came to the realization it was dark energon and it was poisoning him.
"Jack!" The sparkling cried out, tightening his grip on him and Jack turned back to him before looking up at Unicron.
His eyes widened when he saw the reflection in Unicron's optics warp to show an image of a planet. Jack's first thought was that it was earth until he saw bits of metal covering the planet. It was a techno organic planet, he realized and his first thought was that it was beautiful in a strange, alien way.
Suddenly, a deep rumble boomed through Unicron and the beautiful world began to shake as crevasses broke through it from deep within it until it shattered. When that world shattered so did everything else and Jack felt the familiar feeling of falling again as they plunged into darkness.
"Stop!" Jack screamed as he shut his eyes, wanting nothing but for this madness to end.
He didn't open his eyes again until he felt the sparkling slip from his grasp. The moment the sparkling was gone the cold struck Jack like a train. A scream escaped the two as they struggled to reunite, their fingertips barely touches before an unseen force separated them again.
"No!" Jack cried out as the darkness began to take a hold of him, threatening to shallow him.
Jack could hear the sparkling scream but he could barely see him anymore, just his optics shining with iridescent tear in the darkness. He didn't know transformer tears glowed…
Jack wanted to comfort the sparkling, tell him everything was going to be alright but he lost his voice.
Then, the last thing Jack heard before the darkness overtook him completely was the sparkling's screams and the last thing he saw was the stars and everything went dark.
"Jack! Wake up!" Jack heard Miko call out and Jack eyes shot open as he jolted awake, coming back to reality. A groan escaped him as pain surged through him and he began to see stars again. "Do you have to be so loud…?" Jack muttered softly, trying to push aside what he just saw.
Looking up, Jack could see Raf sigh and relax, probably relieved that he was alright while Miko just seemed ready to strangle him.
"What happened?" Jack asked as he looked between his friends, relieved to see neither of them looked hurt.
"You blew up the ceiling." Miko said bluntly and Jack almost didn't believe her until he looked up. Right above them was the stars. Jack didn't think the stars he had seen when he woke up were real. Turns out they were. "If I remember right, you were the one went to touch the wall," Jack argued, not wanting to be blamed for something that wasn't intentionally his fault.
"Whatever!" Miko snapped and Jack just realized how frustrated she was, "You're stupid, you know that? You made us think you were dead!" Miko yelled before forcing the older teen to sit up and embraced him tightly, surprising both Jack and Raf considerably.
"Ow…" Jack winced lightly as pain shot through his arm.
"That's what you get for being a hero," Miko muttered softly before letting go.
"No, that really hurt…" Jack managed to say through the pain but he pushed it away before looking at Raf and Miko.
"I'm sorry…" Jack said honestly as he caressed his right arm, it was beginning to throb in pain more than usual. It was obvious by the downcast look in his eyes he was beginning to feel guilty for scaring his friends again.
"Jack, you okay?" Raf asked, noticing Jack was still holding his arm.
"It just hurts a little," Jack managed to say, before realizing he was also feeling the pain stretch to his back. His first instinct to the pain was to curl up into a ball but that only seemed to make the pain worse.
"Let me see," Miko replied, grabbing Jack's arm but not too forcefully to cause more pain. His sleeve was charred and burned so Miko had to peel away the fabric before she could see his injury. It surprised Jack that it didn't bother Miko until he saw her eyes widen. "Whoa. Jack, I know you're not a rebellious guy, so what's with the tattoo?"
Jack gave her a look, not sure what she was talking about before following her gaze to his arm. "What?" His eyes widen as he stared at a dark symbol that seemed to be seared into his arm.
"It looks like the glyphs that were on the wall," Raf said when he got a closer look.
"You didn't get any," Jack said when he looked at Miko's bare arm.
"Ah, too bad, they look pretty cool," Miko pouted before noticing the glyphs extended higher up Jack's arm.
"It looks like they go to your back too," said Raf, noticing as well. His suspicions were confirmed when he saw a majority of the back of Jack's shirt was black with soot.
"My mom's going to kill me." Jack said, slightly panicked as he covered his face with his free hand.
"And that's also what you get for being a hero," Miko hummed lightly as she let go of Jack's arm before Jack noticed something lying on the ground beside her.
"What's that?" Jack asked, reaching over to pick it up.
"The thing in the wall," Miko replied as Jack looked over the strange device that looked very much like a broken sword. It appeared to have shrunk, considering it was now about the size of Jack's forearm. "Got any idea what is it?" Miko asked the two boys. Both Jack and Raf shook their heads and perked when they heard a low muffled explosion from high above.
"What was that?" Raf asked they heard a series of plasma blasts high above them.
"Decepticons," they said in sync as they looked at each other.
"Why would they be here?" Miko asked.
"They probably detected the energy beam," Jack replied before getting to his feet, luckily the pain was already beginning to fade. "We need to get out of here. The cons can't find this," he added as he tightened his grip around the relic and looked up at the gap in the ceiling.
Suddenly, a large shadow appeared over gap and the kids froze as perching red optics looked down at them.
"Run!" Jack yelled before grabbing Miko and Raf and running back through the tunnel they had gone through. Not a second after they scrambled into the tunnel a black arm reach through the tunnel and clawed servos tried to grab for them. Fortunately, they were faster and managed to get away in time.
"What now?!" Miko asked as they ran through the darkness, unsure whether to stop or not.
"We find a way out!" Jack called back before noticing a flash of light in the opposite end of the cave. The three of them came to a stop and waited until the light flashed again and they knew it was cannon fire.
"Come on!" Miko said before waking her way to the tunnel the light was coming from.
"Miko, wait!" Jack called back, running after her with Raf not far behind.
Miko stopped right at the opening of the cave, Raf and Jack came up right beside her. It was a good thing she stopped; right outside of the cave was a wide open space, filled with both decepticons and autobots going at each other in a heated battle.
"Hey, guys! It's Optimus," Raf pointed out and Miko and Jack followed his gaze to the familiar autobot commander currently fighting a group of Vechicons.
"Hey, Optimus!" Miko called out, catching the attention of the Prime. The Prime's optics shot in their direction and recognized them before his optics widen. At first the three of them didn't understand until a deep chuckle rumbled above them.
"It seemed humans are more resilient than I thought," Megatron smirked as he cast an optic down at the children.
Fear coursed through Jack, paralyzing him as he looked up at the owner of the voice. He could vaguely hear Miko and Raf screaming at him to move to the safety of the cave but he just couldn't. Jack had seen Megatron after the accident but this time was different. He was just a few feet away him.
A devilish grin formed on Megatron's lips, revealing a row of shark like teeth before he noticed the relic in Jack's hands. The smile faded and his blood red optics widens for a moment in recognition before he hissed softly in anger, "It can't be!"
Megatron's sudden outburst caused Jack to snap out of whatever trace he had been and he was back in the game. Then, before Megatron even had a chance to grab for them, Jack got a hold of Raf and Miko, bolting towards the battle field as fast as he could.
The three of them barely managed to slip through Megatron's claws before a fire blast collided with Megatron's shoulder, knocking him back into the canyon wall.
"I've got you!" Smokescreen called out, swooping down to grab the kids and transformed before they even realized they had been rescued.
"Whoa, nice timing, Smokescreen!" Miko laughed, sitting comfortably between Jack and Raf in the rookie's vehicle mode.
"No problem," the autobot grinned before fire blasts around them got their attention.
Looking up, there was chaos as the others seemed to pour into the battle field, taking down decepticons as they went. The kids weren't surprised when they saw Wheeljack's ship fly overhead and tore through the decepticons' defenses.
Just then, a fire blast exploded a little too close to them and Smokescreen had to swerve to escape the blast. "Okay, that's our cue to leave," Smokescreen said before opening his comm. link.
/Smokescreen to base, requesting a ground bridge!/
/Smokescreen, do you have the kids? Are they safe?/ Bulkhead's voice came from the other side of the comm. link.
/What? You're at base, Bulkhead? You're missing all the action!/ Miko whined through the comm. link and the autobot seemed to relax at the sound of her voice.
/Sorry, Miko. Doc's orders./ Bulkhead chuckled.
/Alright, guys, I still need that bridge./ Smokescreen winced, narrowly escaping a collision with some Vechicons and swerves to avoid the cons.
/We can see that from Nightbeat's feed./ Ratchet replied, watching Smokescreen speed past decepticons on his monitor, /I'm opening the ground bridge now, Smokescreen/ he added through the comm. link and even before he finished his sentence a bridge appeared on the opposite side of the battle field.
/Got it!/ Smokescreen called back as he shut off his comm. link, heading straight for the bridge, occasionally swerving around enemies and shooting at a few to get past.
As Smokescreen boosted his speed as he made his way to the ground bridge, Jack had a sinking feeling. "Uh, Smokescreen, maybe you shouldn't be going this fast." Jack said to the autobot as they approached the ground bridge.
"No time! Gotta get you guys out of here!" Smokescreen called back just as they came into full view of the ground bridge and Jack noticed something off about it. Something was standing at the entrance, or more like it was someone. Smokescreen recognized the figure immediately as the decepticon that had been trapped with him in the deep space pod, Sideways.
"You're not getting in our way!" Smokescreen called out as he sped up and went straight for the ground bridge and Sideways. In a swift moment, Sideways began to strike his sword to the ground but at the speed they were going Jack knew immediately where the sword would strike down.
Just then, in the corner of his eyes Jack could see another bridge already open and his heart sank. They weren't heading for their ground bridge. In the chaos, Smokescreen made a mistake. He was heading for the open decepticon space bridge.
"Smokescreen, stop!" Jack screamed, trying to stop the head on collision but it was already too late, they were going too fast.
The stop came instantly as Sideways sword came down in time to plunged into Smokescreen's hood, stabbing straight through the rookie's spark chamber before sinking deeply into the ground. Jack knew what would come next even before the sword came down as the three of them lunged forward and crashed through the windshield.
Time seemed to slow down as Jack hung in suspended animation. He knew they were dead. They were dead the moment Sideways stepped out of the space bridge. Jack also knew they wouldn't survive the impact to the ground, they were going too fast.
Jack wanted to scream, feeling completely helpless as he looked around to try to find Raf and Miko before it was all over. Miko and Raf were in the air beside him, also seeming to be hung in suspended in the air. Miko's arms were wrapped protectively over her head while Raf appeared to be unconscious and his glasses were missing.
Though, as Jack watched them he slowly began to realize they weren't falling forward but they were going backwards. His eyes widened in shock as the three of them slowly slipped back through Smokescreen's shattered windshield. He was caught completely off guard by what was happening around them.
What's happening?
It was then that Jack noticed the broken blade in his hands was glowing intensely. It wasn't until he was sitting back down in Smokescreen's driver seat that he began to hear again. Looking around him, Jack became aware that Smokescreen was driving backwards, back into the fray of the battle field. Meanwhile, Jack barely managed to catch a glimpse as Sideways started to slip back into the space bridge.
The next thing Jack knew, the light of the broken blade in his hand began to fade and the moment it was gone everything came crashing back.
"You're not getting in our way!" Smokescreen yelled and it was deja vu for Jack as Smokescreen began to speed up. Jack didn't waste a moment before slamming the brakes and thrusting his free arm over to protect Miko and Raf, hoping for the best.
"Whoa! Jack, what are you-?!" Smokescreen managed to say as the moment Sideways stabbed his sword down just as Jack had seen before. Though, this time Smokescreen managed to stop just short of the sword, the blade barely scratched his grill.
For a split moment, Jack just stared at the masked decepticon and the lateral did the same. To Sideways, Jack's eyes appeared deranged while to Jack, Sideways optics were calm and calculative.
"Death will claim you, sooner or later," Sideways said coolly, sending shivers down Jack's spine, not once breaking eye contact.
"Not today..." Jack muttered softly before he shifted Smokescreen's gears and sent the autobot speeding backwards, away from the murderous decepticon and straight towards the second ground bridge off on the other side of the battlefield.
Smokescreen's optics widened a bit as he realized he had been driving towards the decepticon space bridge. Meanwhile, Optimus call a retreat just before they drove straight through ground bridge. Jack almost died of relief when they were in the safety of the base.
The moment Smokescreen stopped, Jack, Raf and Miko piled out of him and the rookie transformed. Whatever strength was in Jack's legs was gone and he collapsed against the nearest wall and he struggled to keep himself up.
"Jack?" said Raf and he looked at his friend before a wrench flew in the air and a loud clang echoed through the base
Looking back, the three kids were surprised to see Smokescreen on the ground, clutching his head with a rather big dent where the wrench had hit.
"How could you have headed towards the decepticon space bridge?!" Ratchet growled as he grabbed Smokescreen up by his arm and yanked him to his feet. "Do you realize how fatal your mistake could have been to the four of you?!"
"Ow, Ratchet! Let go!" The rookie cried out as Ratchet threatened to wrench his arm out of his shoulder strut. Just then the rest of the autobots piled into base and the ground bridge died down behind them.
"Ratchet, reframe yourself from harming Smokescreen, it was an honest mistake." Optimus sighed the moment he saw Smokescreen in Ratchet's grasp.
"Don't defend him, Optimus!" Ratchet practically growled, "You saw what happened!"
"More like what didn't happen…" Jack muttered softly, still struggling to remain on his feet when Arcee noticed him.
"Jack?" Arcee asked, kneeling down beside him, the two-wheeler took the boy in her hands and Jack didn't object.
"I'm fine…" Jack muttered softly before Bulkhead and Bumblebee went over to their respected charges.
Bulkhead, who had already been here with Ratchet quickly made his way to Miko and scooped her up in his arms and hugged the girl in a way he wouldn't crush her.
"Hey! Bulkhead!" Miko whined, a little confused by his actions but after what Jack just witnessed, he couldn't blame him. If Bulkhead were here, he and Ratchet would have seen what happened through the monitor, via Nightbeat.
Then, as if on cue, the Cybertronian bird flew in followed by Bumblebee as they made their way to Raf. Bumblebee followed Bulkhead's example and picked up the younger boy and gave him a series of clicks and beeps.
"I'm fine, Bee. Really! Why wouldn't I be?" said Raf as he adjusted his glasses.
"Okay, what's up with everyone?" Miko asked from her spot in Bulkhead's arms as she looked back at the group. "First, Ratchet's harassing Smokescreen, now everyone looks like they're about to cry, if it's even possible for you guys to cry."
The room fell silent until Ratchet let go of Smokescreen, causing the rookie to stumble towards Arcee. When he regained his footing he looked up at Jack and spotted the broken blade in Jack's hands. "Where did you get that?" he asked, recognition sparking in his optics.
"You know what this is?" Jack asked, looking at the rookie in shock.
"Yeah, I worked in the Hall of Records, remember? That's a Blade of Time, a device created by Vector Prime; the Guardian of space and time." Smokescreen explained before tilting his helm in confusion. "Did something happen?"
The room fell silent again as everyone else shared a look.
"Uh, we almost died," Jack said after a moment before looking at Smokescreen in the eye. "You actually died, Smokescreen, at least I think you did."
"The blow Sideways made would have struck Smokescreen's spark chamber," Ratchet confirmed, crossing his arms.
"What? You guys are just messing with me right?" Smokescreen said after a moment, trying to laugh it off before looking at the others but there was no humor in their optics. "Wait, you're serious?"
"From what we witnessed you went towards the open space bridge with the belief it was the bridge Ratchet sent for us," Optimus explained, "However, in reality it was the decepticons space bridge. The sudden stop Sideways cause had sent the children crashing through your windshield. None of you would have survived had it not been for Jack activating the Blade of Time and his quick thinking."
Meanwhile, Miko, Raf and Smokescreen just stared at Optimus in shock as they let it sink in.
"But it doesn't explain how Jack activated the Blade of Time," Smokescreen said suddenly as he looked back at the blade in Jack's hands. "From what I learned from Alpha Trion only a Prime can activate the blades."
Then the group all turned to Jack. Jack felt the pressure of their gazes and shook his head.
"Guys, I'm not a Prime!" Jack argued but his word didn't change their expressions.
"The data," Ratchet said suddenly and he looked to Optimus. Something seemed to be shared between them as they came to the same realization. "It was considered before but he's never showed the signs, at least until now. Though, it's unusual for there to be no incident in a month."
"Are you talking about the key?" Jack asked, picking out what he figured they were talking about. The only thing that happened a month ago was the mission to bring Optimus back.
"Yes, it's the only explanation there is as to why you can use the blade of time." Ratchet explained, looking down at the older teen. "It appears when the key was destroyed, you became the vessel for the remaining knowledge within it."
"Are you serious?" Jack asked him, his eyes widening in shock.
"Wait…is he like…the key to vector sigma now?" Miko asked, glancing over at the bewildered teen.
"I…wouldn't say that exactly." Ratchet replied after a moment. "If our theory is correct, Jack has merely become a vessel for the knowledge that remained in the key when it had been destroyed."
"So, he's like half the Matrix?" Miko asked, giving the medic a look.
"I'll need to run some tests to be sure," Ratchet sighed, bracing himself for Miko's endless questions. "Though, it is a possibility,"
"Okay, before we get into all this mystical stuff lets go back for a second," Miko added, getting the group's attention, already too far gone into her twenty questions mode. "Is it going to affect his mind just like when Bulkhead got at stuff stuck in his head? Is Jack going to start forgetting who he is?"
"Miko!" Raf yelped in fear and Jack looked equally as petrified.
"Calm down," Ratchet groaned, pinching the bridge of his nose, "There's no need to go to such drastic conclusions before any scans have been done."
"But, there might be a chance, right?" Jack asked, looking up at the autobot medic.
Ratchet remained silent and simply walked over to his work station, motioning Arcee to bring Jack. The two-wheeler complied and brought Jack over. It was then that Jack noticed his guardian's hands were shaking and he realized she was as scared as he was. As Arcee set Jack down on an autobot size medical berth Jack gave her hand a light pat to reassure her everything would be alright.
Just then, a roar of an engine echoed through the base as Wheeljack drove into base through the entrance. The moment Wheeljack was in the command room he transformed and leaned against the nearest wall, crossing his arms. "So, what the slag was that back there?"
"We'll know exactly what's going on momentarily," Optimus replied before everyone looked over to Jack.
"Here," Jack said, offering the Blade of Time to the Prime. Optimus took the blade but the moment he had it in his grasp it began to expand and grow until it was its original size. It immediately reminded Jack of the time Optimus had resized the Key to Vector Sigma for him to safe guard it.
"Well, this has been an interesting day," Wheeljack hummed, watching the whole spectacle. "This kind of stuff happens often when I'm not around?"
"Kinda," Miko replied, shrugging lightly.
Then, as Ratchet began the set up for Jack's scan the children went over exactly what had happened while they were exploring the cave. From finding the glowing wall to the beam of light to their pendants reacting to the wall (Ratchet had taken them to study them) and waking up to find the blade of time. Jack decided to keep the part with the vision to himself for the moment. He was already too overwhelmed with everything that was happening to burden the bots any more.
"That's about it," Jack replied as Ratchet finished up his scans.
"And the scans, Ratchet?" Optimus asked, looking down at his oldest friend.
"Based on the results, for now it doesn't appear that Jack's mind is affected by the knowledge," Ratchet replied, seeming to lift a heavy weight in the room as everyone relaxed. "Though, it actually appears that the knowledge has merged with Jack almost perfectly. It may explain why it wasn't detected sooner."
"Can you get it out?" Arcee asked.
"I'm not sure, none of my equipment is meant to be used on a human and my knowledge of the human body does not extend fully to the human mind." Ratchet sighed, "I do not want to risk causing Jack irreversible brain damage without knowing exactly what I'm doing."
Turning to the monitor, Ratchet brought up Jack's scan and the group was surprised to see it was rather active.
"The human mind is rather extraordinary," Ratchet noted as he stared at the scan, "Cybertronian minds are filled with order and we are equipped with programs to store and catalog every memory."
"So?" Miko asked, looking up at the scan, then to Ratchet.
"Let me finish, Miko." Ratchet sighed before continuing. "When compared to our minds, human minds are chaotic and random. You have no such programs to hold and store every memory; it merely drifts in different parts of the mind. Yet, human minds have its own order within the chaos, it's quite fascinating." Ratchet said before looking down at Jack.
"Uh, thanks?" Jack said after a moment, not sure what else to say as he stared at his scan.
"Huh, looks like there's actually something up there, Jack." Miko teased and Jack just rolled his eyes. Miko couldn't help but smirk before looking down at Jack's arm, perking when she sees the cyber-glyph peeking beneath his tore sleeve.
"Uh, Jack not sure if it's related to it but maybe you should show them those tattoos of yours." Miko said, realizing the three of them forgot to mention it before in their explanation of what happened in the cave.
"What tattoos?" Arcee said, her voice turning stern as she shot Jack a glare. Jack cringed, Arcee sounded just like his mom.
"Hey, I didn't get this myself, I just forgot to mention it before," Jack said before pulling up his sleeve, revealing the cyber-glyphs spiraling up his arm. "I got these when we got the blade,"
Perking up at the glyphs, Optimus and Smokescreen moved closer to Jack to get a better look. What happened next was something Jack didn't expect. Smokescreen yelped back like he was shocked by electricity, jumping back, crashing into Optimus. Optimus remained still, barely moving and he just grabbed the rookie before he could fall on the ground.
It scared Jack when he saw the stern look in Optimus' optics.
"Uh, is something wrong?" Jack asked, looking up at the Prime and the startled rookie.
"For now, nothing, Jack." Optimus said after a moment and he helped Smokescreen to his feet and looked to Ratchet. "Ratchet, scan all of the cyber-glyphs. After that the three of you may return home. It's been a long day. We'll come back to this tomorrow." Optimus said, appearing more tired than usual.
"Okay?" Jack said, before Ratchet began another scan. Luckily, the scan could be done through his shirt, Jack, didn't want to take off what was left of his shirt.
"Don't worry, Jack. The glyphs aren't causing you harm." Ratchet said once he finished the scan and Jack relaxed a bit. "We just need to look into it more."
Jack couldn't argue with that as he got up from the oversized medical berth.
"You're taking this rather well, Jack," said Optimus as he watched the teen, the stern expression slowly melting away to his normal expression.
"It's hardly the first time I've dealt with trauma." Jack replied, offering the Prime a weak smile. "Though, I have to say it's the first time I've dealt with being a vessel to ancient mystical knowledge from another species."
A weak smile formed on Optimus' faceplates; it never ceased to amaze him how strong humans were. Optimus smile only widened a bit when he saw Jack visibly relax. Jack had to admit, it was comforting to see Optimus smile compared to seeing that stern look he had when he saw the glyphs on his arm.
"Hey, Ratchet? When can we get our metal fragments back?" Miko asked suddenly, getting Jack's attention as he looked over at them.
"Once I determine they're safe for you three to carry them." Ratchet groaned softly, putting a hand to his head. "If you must, you can wait a few minutes for the results."
"Sweet!" Miko grinned before looking back at Raf and Jack. "You guys gonna stay?"
"Pass," both boys said in sync before they made their way to their respected guardians.
"It's late, my mom's gonna kill me for staying out so late right before exams." Raf sighed as he walked over to Bumblebee.
"At least you don't have to explain to your mom you're the Vessel for the Matrix," Jack chuckled softly as he patted Raf's hair, not surprised to find Nightbeat already nestled on his head.
"Can't beat that," Raf chuckled as he picked up the Cybertronian bird and took him in his hands.
"Fine then, I'll come by with Bulk to bring them back then," Miko called back as she hopped onto Bulkhead's shoulder and the boys just nodded before leaving with their guardians.
A half an hour later Miko was just about ready to start falling asleep against Bulkhead's head until Ratchet finished the scan.
"Alright, they're safe." Ratchet sighed and Miko perked up as Ratchet handed her the three metal fragments. "You're free."
"Sweet!" Miko smiled, taking the pendants before looking over at Bulkhead. "Alright, Bulkhead, let's go see Wheeljack now."
"Uh, for what?" Bulkhead asked, raising an optic ridge.
"I have a little project for him," Miko replied with a small smirk before Bulkhead walked over to the elevator that would get them up to where Wheeljack's ship was hidden in a crevasse in the mountain side.
"You violated a direct order, Sideways!" Megatron practically growled as he glared down at his the horned decepticon. The attack in the Valley of Fire had taken a heavy toll on his ground units so he was not in the mood to deal with insubordination.
"I merely took advantage of the autobot's confusion and laid a trap for him," Sideways defended, already informed on what had occurred when the blade of time had been activated. The trap would have worked, killing four of their enemies had the human boy not activated the relic.
"That is beside the point, Sideways." Megatron hissed, clenching his fist in anger.
"And what of the Blade of Time?" Dreadwing asked, getting the attention of the two decepticons. Both had nearly forgotten the presence of the second lieutenant. "What's even further from my belief is how it could have been activated,"
Dreadwing was already aware of the properties of the ancient device and it was not the first time Megatron has dealt with the relic before. The blade of time had five separate components that opened a portal to Vector Prime's dimension. The ability they had witnessed was entirely new; it was like nothing they had ever seen before.
"Any relics tied to a specific Prime cannot be activated by those who are not Primes themselves," said Megatron, he too wondered how the relic could function without the presence of a Prime.
"It couldn't have been the autobot; he was dead before the time distortion," Dreadwing pointed out, remembering when Sideways' sword struck the ground it had just been short of the autobot's spark chamber. If the autobot had not stopped in the rerun Sideways would have not missed his mark.
"It must have been one of the humans." Sideways figured, seeing as there were no other options and Megatron tensed in anger, knowing exactly who it was.
"That human boy…Jack," Megatron growled softly before suddenly something clicked, "Of course, he's the only one could even have a remote chance to have the ability."
"Are you referring to the incident that had occurred two orns ago, my Liege?" Dreadwing asked, thinking back to what Megatron had briefed to him of earth upon his arrival and his promotion to his position as second lieutenant.
"I'm afraid I do not follow," Sideways replied, regarding the two of them with a raised optic ridge.
"An incident Dreadwing is referring to had involved the boy and the Key to Vector Sigma." Megatron explained as he turned to the decepticon scientist. "The key was used in a mission to restore the knowledge of the Matrix within Optimus after he used the contents of the matrix to send Unicron to sleep once again."
"I see," Sideways replied calmly but Dreadwing managed to catch an edge in his voice.
"The loss of that knowledge reverted Optimus back to his pre-matrix state, pressuring the autobots to take action to restore their leader's memory, however, things had not gone according to plan." Megatron continued as Sideways took in the information he was being told. "The key had been destroyed in mid-download while in the hands of the boy and the knowledge was thought to be lost but now I know that is not true."
"It resides in the boy," Dreadwing stated, it was the only explanation.
"It also proves something else that has been nagging at my processor but I'll need the boy to confirm my theory." Megatron added, earning a look from both decepticons.
"And what may that theory be exactly?" Dreadwing asked.
A cool smirk stretched across Megatron's faceplates as he simply walked over to the nearest monitor and brought up the footage of the battle. He focused the image onto his counterpart, watching the way Optimus holds himself, noting it was not the same way he had before the incident with the Key to Vector Sigma.
A/N: Hey, guys I hope you liked the chapter, I'll try my best to update again soon, I'm pretty sure I'm getting my muse back, so that's good! Please Read and Review! You're comments help me out a lot, thanks! :)