Hey my fellow Autobots and Decepticons. Before I start this chapter, I wanted to say something real quick: I saw in one of my reviews a worry that I might just copy the entire first season into this fanfic. I would like to bring some peace and tell you all that I am only gonna hit some of the big moments involving Jack, Arcee, the Autobots as a team, and Airachnid just for the scrap of it. Lol. JK on Airachnid; I have something special in store for her. ;) Anyways, just given everyone some peace of mind. Anywho, onwards to Chapter Five! XD
Ch. 5
Jack was now walking alongside Arcee out in the woods somewhere in the middle of Oregon. Jack, Miko and Rafael have been working with the Autobots for a few months now. When Jack and Arcee had entered the base on a Saturday, Ratchet had told Arcee that there was an energon signature in the northwestern area of the country and so he had sent Arcee to check it out. Just as she was about to go through the ground bridge, she turned to Jack and spoke up. "You coming Jack?"
Jack was happy that Arcee wanted him to come along and so he grabbed his Katana and his survival pack when he heard Ratchet speak up. "Jack, take this," Ratchet handed Jack a small ear piece that slipped over his ear like any head piece one would have with a phone. "This will allow you to stay in contact with Arcee should you get separated and it will also give you a link to us here at base."
With that Jack put the communicator over his ear and ran through the bridge with Arcee. Jack was slightly agitated by the large mosquitoes that were constantly biting him, he tried waving away a mosquito that was buzzing around his head and in doing so attracted Arcee's attention. "Quite the outdoorsmen aren't you Jack?" Jack looked up with a smirk before replying to the femme. "You wouldn't be making fun of my survival kit."
She gave him a small snicker before answering. "Maybe." Jack suddenly pulled out his Katana and gave it a flourish before continuing. "I might not have stinger-proof metal skin, but if any cons are in the area… well, you've seen what I can do with a sword." Jack slid his blade back into the scabbard on his back with a satisfying 'shink' and continued walking along Arcee. "You have your' tools, I have mine."
With that said Arcee looked down at the sensor in her hand. "Strange, Ratchet's scans were accurate; but subterranean energon deposits don't cause this kind of signal." With that Jack looked up and froze where he stood. "Arcee; ahead of us." Arcee looked up from the sensor to what was ahead of her and she too froze where her peds were. Ahead of them was a large crater with drag marks that were all moving in one direction.
Arcee readied her blasters and Jack drew his Katana; Jack ran forward, before Arcee could object, and hid behind one of the trees near the crater and peeked around to see what was ahead. He saw a large ship that likely belonged to a Cybertronian; Jack proceeded to turn on the com-link he had been given by Ratchet. "Arcee, I got a visual. We got a crashed ship, can't tell if it's Autobot or Decepticon though." "Stay put, I'm heading towards you."
Arcee had a battle hardened edge in her voice. 'God I love that voice.' Jack suddenly caught himself and bereted himself for thinking that in a possible fight situation. 'Eyes on the target Darby!' Jack thought to himself and turned just in time to see Arcee reach a tree directly ahead of him. He saw her look at the ship for a moment, most likely trying to find any identifying mark on the hull that would tell if the owner of the ship was friend or foe. "Autobot or Decepticon?" Jack asked Arcee through the com-link. "Can't tell, stay here and watch your' six."
Jack knew that Arcee could handle herself if it came down to a fight, but he couldn't help but feel as if something was wrong with the situation unfolding. "Arcee, something feels wrong here." Jack could see that Arcee had just entered the ship but was still able to hear through the open coms. "What do you mean Jack?" Jack couldn't help but feel like he had a target on the back of his head. "I can't it explain it Arcee, but… I feel like… we're being watched."
Jack waited for Arcee to reply in some way, most likely in a way that was along the lines of him being paranoid or that it's likely nothing, but Jack heard nothing but silence through the com-link. "Arcee?" Jack waited for a few seconds, nothing. "Arcee come in, what's happening in there?" Jack was about to try again when he saw Arcee run out of the ship and lean against the side, a look of horror on her face plates.
Jack immediately ran towards Arcee knowing something had her seriously freaked out. Jack reached Arcee's side in just a few seconds but even as he approached, Arcee looked straight ahead of her with a glazed look in her optics. "Arcee, what's wrong?" Jack said in a more urgent tone, but still Arcee didn't look to him. Finally, Jack put some volume into his next burst. "Arcee!" Jack was relieved when Arcee seemed to snap out of her fit and finally looked at him. "Arcee, what's wrong?"
Arcee suddenly closed her optics and looked down at the ground. "I know who this ship belongs to…" Arcee said in a foreboding tone that made Jack wonder just what they had gotten themselves into. "Arcee to base, Ratchet? I need a ground bridge." Arcee said it in a calm voice but Jack could hear the slight tinge of what might have amounted to fear hidden in her voice. "Scrap, I'm just getting static. The ship must be emitting a high frequency scrambler pulse."
Jack was suddenly very worried, whoever owned this ship obviously had Arcee scared and distracted. "Arcee, what's wrong, who owns this ship?" Jack put a good deal of urgency into his voice, but Arcee was looking around ignoring him completely. "Jack, wait here." Arcee had completely ignored Jack's question and started walking through the woods, scanning the tree line for something…or possibly someone.
Jack slowly followed up behind Arcee, letting her take point as she searched for what Jack was assuming was the owner of the crashed ship. Arcee suddenly stopped again and was looking down at something. Jack walked up slowly to see she was staring ahead of her again in some sort of trance. On the ground about 15 yards away from where they stood was a tree stump with a bright green liquid on it, Jack walked up to the stump and took a stick from the ground to poke at the slightly glowing ooze.
To his shock and bewilderment, the liquid was greatly acidic in that it burned the stick down to the stump, nearly burning Jack in the process had he not dropped the stick. Jack walked back to Arcee who was still in her trance and tried once more to shake her from what Jack was beginning to assume was a flashback of something that had a deeply painful impact on her life. "Arcee!" Jack said with force, knowing that being quiet wasn't going to get her attention.
Once again, Arcee snapped out of her flashback and looked down at Jack with a growing sense of fear and what seemed like anger in her optics. She suddenly transformed and revved her engine. "Jack, get on." She said it in a commanding way and so Jack got on and held on tight to her handle bars. She sped through the forest a good ways, and soon jumped over a deep ditch and stopped at its edge.
Jack got off and Arcee once again transformed and placed her hand by her head where her com-link was set. "Arcee to base; Ratchet, come in." Arcee was once again met with static and was growing more aggravated by the moment. "Scrap, still no signal, the pulse must disrupt any long range communications!" Jack himself was getting aggravated at being ignored now and was still trying to figure out what was going on. "Arcee, will you please tell me just what the hell is going on?"
Jack couldn't help the irritation that showed up in his voice, but he was getting tired of being ignored. But Arcee once again ignored her human charge and once again sped off in search of the missing bot. Jack normally would have just stayed put, but he wasn't going to let Arcee handle this by herself in the state that she was in. 'If she freezes up when she meets this bot, then she might meet her end.' With this in mind, jack took out his homemade hand axes.
Each axe was as long as Jacks' forearm and had a serrated spike behind the blade and the blade itself extended out much like a Tomahawk. With both axes in hand, Jack ran to the edge of the ditch and jumped as far as he could towards the other side, he hit the side of the ditch with a hard thud, and the spikes of his axes embedded into the dirt about ten feet below the ledge of the ditch. With that, Jack caught his breath and climbed to the top to pursue his partner.
Arcee walked through the woods quietly with her wrist blasters primed and ready for what she feared was somewhere in these woods. She walked for a good 7 minutes when she saw ahead of her, a small tent occupied by a family of humans. She ducked behind a large tree and watched the area around the began to calm down around the 4 minute mark of watching the tent when suddenly, she saw the one bot she had hoped to not run into out here.
The bot in question had black armor plating with a pale white face plate, bright purple optics, and black face markings. Arcee then saw the bot change her form so that she walked on six legs that appeared rather insect like in nature, the bug bot began moving towards the tent and so Arcee attacked, tackling the bot into a dried up river bed where they both regained their bearings. The strange bot was the first to speak. "Arcee, small universe!" She said with a hint of amusement and what sounded like glee in her voice.
Arcee suddenly spoke up with her blasters primed and aimed at the femme before her. "Too small Airachnid." Arcee said with a great deal of anger in her voice. "You still up in arms about the past? The war ended megacycles ago, I have a new hobby now." Arcee suddenly remembered walking into the crashed ship. The walls lined with severed heads of species that were hunted by the psychotic spider-bot. "I got a look at your souvenir case…"The disgust in Arcee's voice was highly evident and only strengthened the joy Airachnid was feeling. "You mean my trophies? I hunt endangered species; well they're not really endangered until they meet me."
Arcee was practically shaking with rage at her arch-nemesis who now stood across from her as the sick spider bot continued to speak. "When I stumbled upon this planet, I decided to add another species to my collection. And knowing you're here to watch just makes it all the more… delicious." Airachnid emphasized this with a lick of her metallic lips. "You're still the monster I remember from the war…" Arcee said with growing rage in her voice. "ARCEE!" Suddenly, Arcee looked over to see Jack standing at least 30 yards behind Airachnid.
Jack was somewhat enthralled at the sight before him; a large femme that resembled a large insect was circling Arcee who had her blasters aimed at the other femme. When Arcee looked over at Jack, the large insect bot shot something from her fists that sent a chill up Jacks spine, webs that stuck to Arcee and pinned her to the wall of the dried river bed. "A giant spider, this is getting interesting."
Jack couldn't hide the interest in his voice as he quickly ran up between the large spider's legs to Arcee's side, where he deftly cut through one of the webs holding Arcee's left arm down. As soon as it was free, Arcee raised her blaster and shot right at Airachnid. The blast knocked the large spider bot on her back about 80 yards away. Jack continued cutting through the thick web as Arcee began to speak. "Jack what are you doing here? I told you to stay put!"
Jack was starting to see just how hardheaded Arcee really was and yet he couldn't really blame her, her tenacity had gotten her through the war and it was how she lived. "You really think I'm gonna let you go fight alone Arcee? That's not how I operate; partners don't ditch partners." Jack would've continued cutting the web had Arcee not said something that struck a serious chord with Jack. "Get this through your' head Jack, we are not partner's! You're a liability, the only reason you're here is because this was supposed to be 'no risk'!"
Jack had a great deal of patience, but it slightly hurt him that he was called a liability. "For a war hardened femme, you're a terrible liar Arcee. I can see it in your' optics, you're scared and afraid." Jack knew that he was throwing a low blow saying this to Arcee, but it obviously hit a chord as she once again looked outwards in a flashback state. Jack didn't waste time trying to get her out of the trance and so went for cutting the webs off Arcee, so far he had been able to get one of her legs, arms and a majority of her upper body freed.
He would have continued had Arcee not suddenly began speaking. "You're right Jack, I am afraid. Afraid of losing you, I'm scared that I won't be able to keep you safe." Jack suddenly looked up when he heard the sincerity in Arcee's voice, but she was cut off by a gleeful and quite sadistic voice. "It seems you've moved on to a new partner Arcee. Sooner or later, you have to ask yourself Arcee; is it them or me?" Jack saw Airachnid standing behind them with a sadistic smile on her face plate.
Jack drew his other hand axe from the holster on his waste so that he held one in each hand, but his stand off was cut off by Arcee. "Jack, stay away from her, she hunts native species, and she's on Earth; that means humans!" Jack looked up and could see the fear now in Arcee's optics, but before he could speak she gave a simple but very clear command. "RUN!" With that, Jack took off up the river bed from where he had come and turned in time to hear what Airachnid said. "And that's why I work alone. It's so sad when you lose someone close to you. Oh but don't think I'm letting you out of this."
At this,Airachnid used her spider legs to scale the wall where Arcee was held so she was upside down over Arcee's face and continued to speak. "I fully intend to snuff out your' spark, and I promise you… I will make it hurt." At this point, Airachnid's face was now right next to where Arcee's com link was so she could ensure Arcee heard Airachnid's final promise. "But that will be nothing compared to the pain of knowing… that I'm going to add your' little human to my collection." Airachnid then turned around to pursue Jack who was now running like a mad man. But he was still within earshot to hear Arcee's scream. "JAAAAAAACK!"
Holy rusted scraplets, Chapter 5 is up and running! Hope you all enjoy it, coming up next: Jack learns just how to piss off a certain spider. Only time and my decision on writing the next chapter will tell if Jack survives... or not. Mwuahahahahaha. Anywho, read, review, and comment. Until next time my fellow robotic warriors, TRANSFORM AND ROLL OUT! ;)