Before I go into this chapter, I thought I'd sit down and talk to all my readers. First of all, I'd like to say how honored I am that so many people like this. Second, I'd like to say that the actual things I can do on is so limited. So, for those of you who are very interested in this story I offer you the chance to go further into this world. Look up: The Human Prime on DevianArt. Here you can view the blank chapter covers for the story, read bonus chapters, and get a sneak peak of chapters to come. I even post the chapters earlier on this site then I do on this one. Another thing I opened up is the oppertunity to have a bonus chapter written with the characters you choose, even get to choose how they react with eachother.
So, without any more delay, chapter 12 of The Human Prime.
The Human Prime
Chapter 12: Arctic Freeze
June made Artemis turn her head back and forth seeing if she had recovered from stiffness. Next June tested her reflexes to see if she recovered from the numbness, though she didn't know Artemis had already gotten out of bed plenty of times to know she was doing fine. June tested one more thing before leaving for work, her heart beat.
"Well, you seem fine, don't push yourself to much, but I think you've recovered from the encounter. One thing, take off your sweater" June put her things back into her bag, the machines she borrowed from the hospital being returned days ago. Artemis looked at her clothing; the only things she wore besides her armor were pajamas so the clothing she wore now was very abnormal
"I'm sorry you've had to make so many house calls because of me June. You don't get into too much trouble, do you?" Artemis stripped off her sweater to a white t-shirt that lied underneath.
"Were you cold?" June put her arm up her shirt and pressed the stethoscope against her chest. "Breath."
"You could say that, sometimes my body shivers. I can still feel the water soaking me to the bone causing me to go into a cold sweat." Artemis took a deep breath then another when June moved from a different position.
"If you want, I could get you a good psychiatrist-"
"I'm fine; the only side effects are to my body. My mind is fine." June was about to respond to her, but Artemis interrupted with one final add on. "My sister tried to kill me two times prior to this, I'm fine." June didn't say anything after that, deciding convinced.
"Well you seem fine." She put her stethoscope away and started to walk down to her car. "And I put you down as a patient, so I have permission to come out here on these house calls."
"That's fine and believable." Artemis smiled and waited for her car to zoom out of the base before standing up on her own two feet. "I'm going to get cabin fever if I don't get out into some fresh air soon." Just then she heard the elevator behind her come down. Since Samantha was at school there was only one other person, Agent Fowler.
"Prime, I need your-" He stopped when he say Artemis out of her bed and walking, in bare feet but walking. "You seem better."
"I feel a lot better; you know I never got to thank you." She insisted, but he waved at her.
"Don't mention it, really." He looked up at Optimus who stepped closer to where the two were standing.
"You were saying Agent Fowler." Optimus brought his hand to the railing, but was gentle enough not to crush it.
"I need your help; I need you to take me to my meeting with my superiors. I have a feeling they'll be asking some serious questions about our recent fight with MECH." Artemis knew Agent Fowler was referring to Nemesis Prime. While she was bed ridden, the bots were faced against MECHs science project, an Optimus clone. All the information they pulled from her brain allowed them to sound just like Optimus, which had even the Autobots fooled. It frustrated her greatly that there was nothing she could have done to help being in her condition at the time.
"Maybe I should come too, Agent Fowler." Artemis asked, but Fowler shook his head.
"I want to try and leave you and the rest of the kids out of the story as much as possible. They don't need to know you're living here." He walked down the stairs after Optimus agreed to accompany him.
"I guess you're right, good luck Fowler." She watched him get into the truck before him and before he shut the door he yelled back to her.
"Yeah, I'm gonna need it." He shut the door and with that they were both gone.
After School
Sam sat on the couch, tapping her pencil on her forehead trying to figure out the homework that no one seemed to understand. Artemis was sitting at the computers, looking at the large screen with Ratchet. Optimus hadn't returned yet which meant something must have went wrong at Agent Fowler's meeting, but everyone tried not to dwell on it.
"An energy flux in the Arctic." Ratchet said almost questionably, Bumblebee and Bulkhead came to look at the screen as well and saw a small blinking dot.
"Energon?" Bulkhead went to touch the keys, but Ratchet smacked it away.
"Not sure, it's a little fuzzy. There must be a harsh storm going on." He tried to get better detail on the flux, but was unsuccessful.
"Why is it always in the Arctic, sorry if I don't sound enthused, but I'm not excited about freezing my servos off a second time." Arcee folded her arms knowing that despite her protest she might have to go anyways.
"Well, then let me go." Artemis said which made them all turn towards her.
"What?" Ratchet asked surprisingly. "Have you fried your brain? You can't go out there; the conditions are far too extreme. Not to mention you're still recovering from-"
"I'm not recovering Ratchet, I'm recovered. And I have the conditions covered." She smiled up at them then looked back at the screen. "You don't think I spent twelve years developing only that pro-type armor, did you?"
Artemis POV
After Bulkhead left to go pick up my package from X-Tech, I opened up the large box with everyone eagerly surrounding me. The armor was polished black; each piece was built with metal layers to allow maximum movement with thick cloth on the inside for comfortably. The control panel on the left arm was made to adjust temperature control within the layer of insulation.
"Is this why you call it X-Tech? You take everything to extremes. What is this?" Sam went to reach into the box, but I slapped her hand away.
"X is the last letter of my last name. This," I brought out the helmet of the armor and handed it to Sam. "Is the environmental protected armor."
"What does it do?" Sam put the helmet on and looked up at Bulkhead who laughed a little.
"It's reinforced to keep out extreme environmental conditions. Not even the Arctic cold can get through this baby." I took the helmet of Sam's head and put it down on the ground so I could fish out the other pieces.
"I'm still not sure about you going to a frozen tundra." Ratchet said as he watched me remove each piece from the box.
"Ratchet, I'm fine and it's not like I'm going to be taking on Decepticons single handedly. I'm going to have Bulkhead and Bumblebee beside me and it's only a scouting mission." I looked up at him to find him seriously taking everything into consideration. "Sam can monitor my suits conditions if it would make you feel better, Rafael as well."
"Alright, but only if both Sam and Rafael keep a close eye on your vitals not just your suits condition." He walked over to the ground bridge to prepare the coordinates.
"How are we supposed to do that?" Sam folded her arms at me. I pointed to her computer which was sitting on the stairs.
"Bring it over and I'll sync my suit with it. That will allow you to access its program." I began putting on the layers upon layers of the new suit while Sam when to get her computer. When she returned, I used the control panel on my left arm to put up the program. After a few testing procedures, I went and put on my helmet. Luckily, I didn't sound too funny through the speakers. "Alright, ready boys?"
"Ready." Bulkhead raised his arm and Bumblebee copied him jokingly. Miko came to hug her bot good luck and complain that she couldn't come along even though she knew there would be no way for her to. Bumblebee assured Rafael that he would be safe and would come back in one piece.
"Wait, Artemis." Sam came running down the stairs. I didn't even notice when she left my side. "This is for you. Jack and I made it for you in metal shop." She handed me my small red blanket that I had worn before I made my chest plate.
"Uh, I hate to break it to you, but you're supposed to use metal in metal shop." I joked and went to go hand it back to her.
"No, silly, it's inside the blanket." She pushed it back in my direction. I unfolded the blanket to find a large Autobot emblem pin. It was about the size of my palm and weighed perhaps as much as my welder. Before I could ask her what it was for, she took my blanket and wrapped it over my shoulders like a shawl that came down to my elbows then pinned it together with the Autobot emblem on the left side.
"Styling like a rock star." Miko gave me a thumb's up as I went to look in the mirror. I had to admit, I looked pretty cool.
"Thank you." I watched Sam's face beam and Jack smile gracefully.
"Say it!" Sam suddenly burst out.
"Say what?" I wish my helmet didn't have so much tint so she could see my confused expression.
"You know, what Optimus says when it's time to go on a mission. Say it, please?" I couldn't help, but think how impossible she was and how embarrassing it was for me. Though, I guessed she wouldn't let me leave until I did what she asked.
"Autobots, roll out!"
Arctic
Forgetting to make proper modifications on my hover board before Bulkhead returned, Artemis was forced to search on foot. The three of them formed a horizontal line that stretched only as much as their vision so not to lose track of each other in the storm. Although Ratchet had detected an energy flux with his computers, out on actual ground, they weren't picking up anything.
Artemis found the cold seeping in somehow from some point; it wasn't enough to give her the chills, but enough to know that her warm air leaked out sometimes. She detected nothing on her own scanners and would find herself storming forward in front of the group in order to try and get any sign. Sometimes Bulkhead would have to shout over the snow storm in order to draw to her attention that she was getting too far ahead.
Eventually, they decided to split up slightly, just enough that their signals were spread out, but not enough for them to lose each other. They did just that, inching away from each other as Bulkhead took away from the blistering wind, Bumblebee took the side, and Artemis went towards it due to her size being able to go under the wind much easier.
She could feel something that tingled her skin and warned her of its presence. However, nothing came up on radar. She doubted that the others had any success either because it was an eerie silence. As Artemis began to push along the edge of dead zoning, she found nothing, but an empty waste land.
"Artemis, Optimus has returned with Agent Fowler, perhaps it would be best to regroup and start the search after debriefing." The way he sounded, it seemed that hours might have passed since they left. She didn't doubt it the way her skin was beginning to feel the chill from the leak in her suit.
"Yeah, and your suit is in the warning zone, don't want it push it to the red zone now do you?" Sam asked through the com-link. If Optimus wasn't probably standing over her shoulder, Artemis probably would have responded to that with a yes. However, it would be best to fix the bugs in the suit anyhow.
"Alright, Bumblebee and I will meet up with Bulkhead; you can lock onto his position."
Autobot Base
Agent Fowler finished his story about how Optimus came beside the general's window and asked how he was, nearly wetting his britches. Artemis was busy spraying the possible leak point on her suit, anxious to go back into the Arctic, except this time with her partner Optimus.
"Optimus, we discovered an energy flux in the Arctic while you were gone. Bulkhead, Bumblebee, and Artemis went to investigate, but weren't able to locate it." Ratchet showed the flux he had recorded earlier that day.
"Artemis?" Optimus looked over at me with a questionable look. She held up her new armor's helmet which he took as a good enough explanation as to how. "Do you suspect it would be another Decepticon weapon or trap?"
"I can't be certain with the storm jamming the frequency." Ratchet put up the current reading of the Arctic. "All I know is that the flux is still there, somewhere."
"Arcee and I will return and pick up the search." Optimus walked toward the ground bridge arc and heard a thud then steps behind him. He turned to find Artemis tailing him.
"I'm not letting my truck go without me." She smiled up at him and slipped her helmet on followed by her shawl.
"You're not going to take no for an answer, are you?"
"Nope."
Arctic
Despite Optimus' better judgment, he allowed her to come under the same conditions as Ratchet advised her of. Artemis stayed close to Arcee in the beginning, but as Optimus became less and less concerned for her condition, she began to drift further from Arcee's side. Before long, Artemis was looking far from both Optimus and Arcee. With success becoming little and the weather becoming cruel on the circuits, the search party was beginning to debate whether to return to base or keep looking. Right as Artemis was about to suggest a retreat from the storm, a signal equivalent to the energy flux appeared on her sensors.
"Optimus, I'm picking up something." She waiting for a response and sure enough he did.
"Do not approach, we are in route." As the words were picking up on her com-link, she noticed the signal begin to move towards her. Artemis had to double check, but she was sure it was coming her way.
"Optimus, it's moving. It's moving towards me."
"Artemis, get out of there!" Arcee screamed through the com-link through Artemis could hear her voice echo over the frozen plain, meaning she was close by. She didn't have time to react. By the time Arcee screamed her warning, the signal was almost on top of her. The ground in front of her was crackling and rumbling. Artemis stumbled back and began running towards Arcee's and Optimus' direction.
The cracks of ice chased her until they were directly under her feet. She didn't risk moving anymore in case the ice was thin enough to shatter and cause her to fall who knows how deep under snow. Everything was silent, the cracks and rumbles deceased to low and almost inaudible churning of gears. Arcee and Optimus stopped right outside the radius of the crackling ice.
"Artemis, remain stationary, we will find a way to rescue you."
Artemis POV
"Artemis, remain stationary, we will find a way to rescue you." Optimus yelled over to me and honestly he didn't have to tell me twice. Even when I moved less than an inch, the ice crackled as if threatening me. I could see his brain working, trying to find me a way out, but honestly, I was more concerned with the whirring gears.
I focused on the sound until it was all I could hear. Not the wind, the hail against metal, or the whispering of the Autobots mere feet in front of me, only the sound of the gears. Five seconds, I could tell that the gears were real. Ten, I could tell they were metal and large. Fifteen, I could tell they were behind me and under me. Twenty, I knew it wasn't good. Suddenly, I could hear rumbling again and now I realized it was the sound of gears that had sped up into a roaring whirring beneath me.
Despite Optimus' orders, I took off running towards them. The ice shattering like glass behind me, but it wasn't from my quick movements. The thing was coming to the surface. The signal, the energy flux, the source of the grinding gears, was rising to the surface rapidly and I had to get a good distance away. Of course, Arcee and Optimus followed my lead, backing up from the crackling ice figuring it meant bad news.
It rose from the ground angrily, a metal worm-like machine with rotating sections that keep it from freezing. When it first burst forth from the ice it appeared reddish as if fire was burning within it then cooled into a silver metallic. I didn't have to look at the poorly painted Decepticon emblem to know that this monstrosity was the work of Mira's tinkering.
"Optimus?" I screamed hoping he could give me some guidance on what to do.
"Artemis, we can see this thing through the suits cameras. Why aren't you blast that thing to kingdom come?" Sam talked to me through com-link right on cue, despite it being a very bad time.
"Because this suit doesn't have any blasters!" When the Arctic worm came in my direction with its wide, teeth filled, mouth, I began to take evasive. Trying to stay far from the beasts grinding exoskeleton and, of course, its mouth, I drew my only weapon integrated into the suit, long blades on both arms.
"You have a temperate control that adjusts the temperature even when you have a fever, but no blasters?" Sam's voice screeched in my ears making me wince. I didn't have time to tell her that the blasters would cause a power overload in the suit, I had to keep moving.
"Artemis!" Arcee swept me up in her servos and skidded across the ice. All of sudden, as if the beast could cast bad luck over us, Arcee's foot got stuck in a crack in the ice that flung me across the tundra. I managed to stop skidding across the ice enough to sit up on my hands and knees.
It wasn't good; my helmets visor was completely shattered and was beginning to let in to much cold air for the systems to compensate. My teeth chattered as I tried to squint my eyes enough to see where Arcee and Optimus were. My hands could feel the ground shaking and it took me awhile to realize that it was coming from directly underneath me.
"I can't see." I mumbled under my breath. It was true, I couldn't. I tried my hardest to try and see figures, but it was no use. "Primus, if there was any better time to help, it would be now." As if he had answered my call, I could see again, but it wasn't like I did before. Purple energy that raged underneath me and I knew it was the worm. I skidded across the ice until I was safe.
The worm came up roaring and thrashing. It took me awhile to notice that in its jaws was Optimus, firing rounds into its mouth. In its trashing zone was Arcee who was covering her face from sharp ice shards that would jump up at her when the worm would slam its body near her.
"Does this thing have any weaknesses?" I found my eyes returning to normal, the ice and snow stinging at them, but in squinting to try and see again, I found a crack large enough for me to fit into leading underneath the beast. I crawled in, sighing in slight relief that I could get out of the wind that made my lips raw.
I found that our little Arctic driller was actually not as long as we thought it was. It's tail acted like an anchor, keeping it from falling in on its own weight. It explained why the rest of it was covered in armor and shooting it on the inside had no effect. There was a loop on the end of the tail that looked like it was yanked out unintentionally. I took off one of my suited gauntlets and stabbed the dagger in the center of it. I climbed back out into the blistering storm and found Arcee and Optimus fighting off the worms grinding jaws.
"Hey you! How about coming after something a little be easier to chew?" I screamed with a hoarse throat. The beast responded to me as expected.
"What are you doing?" Arcee screamed, not understanding my plan. I ran fast enough for it to barely reach me and to my amazement, it actually worked. The inner workings of the Arctic Worm were yanked out of it the closer it got to me. "What the-" I got to my knees trying to catch my breath in the too cold air.
"Arcee, does the words Hot cocoa mean anything to you?"
The Nemesis
Mira fixed up her Ransig beast, tightening the bolts and repairing damages parts from the battle with the Autobots. Knockout walked into the lab, looking around curiously. She looked over her should at him and found him looking for something in particular. Soundwave was staring at the screen as she asked him to.
"Where's that other thing you were working on?" Knockout asked as he walked up behind Mira and looked down at her recent work.
"I sent him out on a cold test run." Mira stopped what she was doing and looked at the screen as Soundwave brought up the blueprints to the Tunnel Thug. The red blinking light meant that it had been damaged if not destroyed.
"Looks like your pet got turned into scrap metal." Knockout watched Soundwave bring up the last images the Tunnel Thug took before it was destroyed. He zoomed in on Artemis' face that was visible through a shattered visor.
"That's okay; he was just for research purposed anyhow." She stood up and thanked Soundwave for his help. "Tell me Knockout, you seem good at creating a good appearance. How about copying one?"