Ch. 17
The next morning, Jack woke up once again in a state of undress with a certain blue femme beside him. He looked up at her with a deep smile and clambered out of bed to take a shower and get dressed for the day. Jack entered the personal shower in his quarters and turned on a steady blast of warm water. As he stepped under the flow he thought of everything that had happened in the past few years.
He had discovered the truth about his father, joined the military; in which he became one of the youngest full bird colonels in the history of Fort Benning, and had fallen in love with a soldier of an entirely different kind. 'Primus my life has escalated quickly.' As Jack finished his shower, he stepped out with a towel around his waist as he looked into the fogged up mirror.
'What the heck?' Jack wiped away the condensation on the mirror and looked at his reflection. "What the!?" Jack saw in his reflection a pair of dark blue eyes that had a cyan glow to them. Jack quickly got dressed before running out and heading straight for the control room. "Ratchet, I think we may have an issue." Ratchet was currently looking at the latest system update of the base when he turned to see Jack running towards him.
"What is it Jack, something happen with... WHAT IN PRIMUS' NAME!?" Ratchet saw Jack's eyes glowing with a blue light similar to that of a cybertronian. Jack soon found himself in the med bay with Raf standing next to him, the young boy assisting Ratchet, as everyone began to file into the med bay to see what was happening. "Jack, what's going on; why are your' eyes glowing?"
Miko's tone was calm and collected as she spoke. 'God it's weird hearing her so calm…' "I don't know, I woke up and went to take a shower and when I looked in the mirror, my eyes were glowing." Jack looked over to see Arcee standing rigid with a slightly worried look on her face plates as she looked from Jack over to Optimus. "Ratchet, have you found any indication of what has caused this change in Jack?"
Ratchet turned to Optimus with a confused look on his face plates. "No, it doesn't make any sense Optimus, according to the scan I did of Jack's body, there doesn't seem to be any anomalies." "Uh Ratchet, that's not entirely correct…" Everyone looked at young Rafael as he spoke up. "I did a blood test on Jack to look for anything out of place, and… I found this."
Raf typed on his laptop for a few seconds before a set of data appeared on the monitor. At first everyone looked over it for something when Ratchet and Optimus gasped almost in unison. "By the Allspark; Optimus, is this even possible?" Ratchet had a bewildered look on his face as he spoke to his commander. "I am afraid that I myself do not know how this has come to happen."
Jack listened as Optimus' voice was a combination of confusion and concern. "Optimus, what is going on? What's wrong with Jack?" Jack looked over to see Arcee had a look of fear on her face that had Jack on edge. "Yeah, what did Raf find that has you and Ratchet so concerned?" Miko also had a slightly worried tone as she stood next to Rafael.
"According to the data supplied by Rafael, there are some substantial traces of Energon in Jack's blood." Everyone looked at Optimus as though he had just told them that he had defected from the Autobots. "How could Jack have energon in his body? Only Cybertronians have energon." Bumblebee spoke up with a puzzled tone. Bulkhead soon spoke up as well.
"Could it have something to do with when Jack blew up Airachnid's ship? He did come in contact with the energon it was leaking didn't he?" Bulkhead's sudden insight was short lived as Ratchet spoke up. "Jack did in fact come in contact with the energon from Airachnid's ship, but I doubt that the effects of simply coming into contact with energon would have this affect, even on an organic life form."
"Yeah, and that was years ago anyways, if it did have something to do with the energon, the affects would have happened a lot quicker." Jack spoke up as he realized that the time lapse between the incident and the discovery of his eyes was too large to have any connections. "Could it be from ingestion of energon?" The sudden words from Arcee shocked everyone, some for different reasons then others.
"And how or why for that matter would Jack have ingested energon?" The words from Ratchet were somewhat agitated. "Jack, last night; didn't you…" The sudden realization from Arcee's words hit Jack like a ton of bricks. 'I must have swallowed some of her energon when I broke the skin on her neck!' "Bumblebee, Bulkhead; please take Miko and Rafael outside for a moment."
Optimus spoke up as he looked between Jack and Arcee, suddenly piecing together what happened. "Got it Optimus; Bee, come on, let's take a drive with the kids." With that, the small group left the med bay leaving Optimus, Ratchet, Arcee and Jack alone. "Jack, Arcee; I sense that this may have something to do with your' recent increase in… activities."
At Optimus' words, Arcee looked down with what amounted to a blush for a cybertronian. Jack could obviously see that she was unable to speak and so decided to explain the situation to Optimus and Ratchet. "Things got a bit heated last night Optimus." With that Jack began with how Arcee and Jack had bit into each other's necks, breaking the skin in the process.
"If Jack was able to break the skin on Arcee's neck, it is possible that a small amount of energon found its way into Jack's mouth." Optimus spoke up in a neutral tone that was soon followed by a response from Ratchet. "Optimus, you should take a look at this." With that, Ratchet enhanced the image on the monitor. "I took the liberty of looking deeper into the sample of Jack's blood.
It seems that the energon is actively replacing the blood in Jack's body. We need to do a scan to see what affect this might have on the rest of his body." With that, Optimus contacted Jack's mom asking her to come and do a scan of Jack's body. Ratchet began analyzing what he could of Jack to see if the energon was having any negative effects on Jack when a very worried looking June Darby walked into the Med Bay.
"What's happened to Jack this time?" "Jack has inadvertently ingested a small amount of energon that is now multiplying and replacing his blood cells." Optimus spoke up with a calm voice. As soon as the words left the Prime's mouth, June became a blur of motion as she began running scans and diagnostics on Jack. Ten minutes in, June walked over to look at a small monitor before gasping.
"This is incredible…" June pulled an image showing an internal scan of Jack's body onto the main monitor before speaking. "The energon is altering Jack's major organs while actively multiplying, it's like they're causing Jack to run off energon instead of blood." "Are there any negative effects coming from it?" Jack spoke with a slightly nervous tone.
"No, it's just minor alterations to the organs in your' body. You should be perfectly fine." June's words received a collective sigh of relief from Arcee who the entire time had been standing behind Jack. "Ratchet, call the others back to base and inform them of what has happened. I believe we have harassed Jack and Arcee long enough."
With that said, Jack and Arcee looked at Optimus to find a smile on his face plates. "Arcee, you and Jack may do as you wish. Should we have need of you, we will contact you." With that, Optimus turned away just as a phone started ringing. Jack pulled out his cell phone and answered knowing who it probably was. "Jack Darby here, that you Agent Fowler?"
Arcee looked over as Jack suddenly froze up. "What happened, where are they?" With that, Jack was a blur of motion as he spoke on the phone. "Alright, I'm on my way now; E.T.A. ten minutes. Send me the coordinates." With that Jack hung up the phone before looking over to the others. "Agent Fowler needs me on a recon mission ten miles from here, something's going on but he didn't say what."
With that Jack looked up as Arcee kneeled down before speaking up. "You watch yourself out there Colonel." Jack smiled as he gave Arcee a short kiss before speaking up. "At ease Lieutenant, I'll be back soon." With that said, Jack went up to the helipad and left for his mission. Jack flew to the coordinates given to him by Fowler and was soon flying over what was left of an abandoned mining town that he had been called to.
Jack had been told only that there was possible terrorist activity within the town so he decided to land on the outskirts of the town and approach on foot. Jack found an open clearing and landed before putting on the sneaking suit given to him by Fowler. He finished the outfit by putting on some black and grey face paint.
With everything in check, he grabbed his weapons; which included his katana, a noise suppressed M4-A1, and a .45 Cal. USP. Jack reached one of the outlying buildings of the town and climbed up the side to the roof. He looked around through the scope on his M4 to see nothing but deserted streets. "Something's not right here…"
With that, he activated his ear piece and spoke up. "Agent Fowler, I'm at the abandoned mining town; this place is a dump. It looks completely deserted." "I can guarantee someone's in there Colonel, don't take any crazy risks." With that said, Jack suddenly felt an eerie silence fall over the already quiet town.
"Will, something's not right here; the way this place looks it's the perfect spot for an ambush… All these old buildings here give the perfect cover for people to hide in but it looks like no one's been here in yea,- UGH!" Jack fell forward as a heavy force hit the back of his head. "Son of a AAAAAAAGH!"
Jack suddenly felt the all too familiar sensation of a shock prod pressing into him, he tried to fight it but he soon felt himself falling unconscious. Jack fell forward as his assailants approached. "Jack!? Jack, sit-rep what's going on!?" A group of men in green and black sneaking suits walked up to Jack's limp body as the leader looked down with vicious intent in his eyes.
"The perfect hostage… men, take him to the chopper, we're bringing him back to base." With that, the two troops behind him spoke in unison; "Got it Silas." And with that, Jack was dragged away while Silas looked ahead as he spoke. "Soon, the whole world will know who we are." As the group dragged Jack away, Fowler was going ballistic before he picked up a phone. "This is Agent Fowler; get me a hot line to General Patton!"
Later at the Autobot base:
Arcee couldn't help feeling a sense of dread with Jack gone alone; she knew he wasn't a kid anymore and that he could handle himself in a fight, but she just couldn't shake the feeling of worry that gripped her when Jack left. 'I've got a really bad feeling about this…' No sooner had she let the thought pass through her mind did she here the elevator doors open and a frantic Agent Fowler run into the room.
"Prime, we got a serious problem right now! We lost contact with Jack and it sounded like he ran into trouble!" Arcee suddenly felt her spark freeze over as she heard those words and looked over to her commander as he spoke up. "Where was he when contact was lost?" "He was in an old abandoned mining town about ten miles from here. We had got a tip that there might have been a terrorist group forming there."
With that, Optimus looked to Ratchet. "Ratchet, activate the ground bridge; we're going to find Jack." With that, the Autobots all stood ready as the ground bridge powered up before Agent Fowler spoke up again. "Prime, I've got a special team from the Marines moving towards the town as well, they'll be assisting you in this one; don't worry, they know what's at stake if they say anything."
Optimus looked at the Agent before giving him a short nod and looking back to the open ground bridge. "Autobots, Roll Out!" Arcee was the first one to follow up behind Optimus as they passed through the green vortex and found themselves in the mining town. Optimus and the Autobots looked around for a few seconds with their weapons primed when Optimus spoke up. "Fan out, search for any sign of Jack!"
With that, the team spread throughout the town looking for any sign of their friend. On this occasion, Miko had been allowed to come with the Autobots and was now wearing an Air Force ACU with an ammo harness strapped around her. She was carrying an MP5 and had a Desert Eagle in the holster strapped to her leg. Arcee was frantic as she looked around when she heard Miko call in on her comm. link.
"Optimus, I got something!" Within a matter of seconds, the team had found Miko who was looking out towards the horizon. As the team looked up, they saw a large helicopter flying towards the town. "That's a Marine Corps chopper; it's a Sikorski MH-53 Pave Low." The massive chopper soon hovered overhead and dropped a pair of ropes from its side doors. "They must be the team Fowler was talking about."
Optimus looked briefly at Bulkhead before looking back at the chopper as several humans began to drop down the ropes at an alarming speed. As the last Marine hit the ground, he looked back with a serious face as he walked up to Optimus and the team and spoke up. "Sir; Sergeant Major Michael Grymm; we're here to help you find Jack." At that point, Arcee looked at the human with surprised eyes as Optimus spoke up.
"Do you know Colonel Darby?" The team looked down at Michael who had a grim set face as he spoke. "Yes sir; Jack and I were in the same ROTC platoon at Jasper High School." At that point, Miko went wide eyed as she suddenly spoke with a shocked voice. "Captain Reaper; I didn't expect to see you out here; It's good to see a familiar face out here." Michael looked at the young Japanese airman before he smiled and spoke up.
"Right back at you Miko, but we can chat later; we need to find Jack." With that, Michael turned to his men and shouted in a hardened voice that was all too similar to Jack's. "Fan out Marines; stay frosty!" With that, the Marines and the Autobots spread out into the town as they looked for any sign of Jack. Arcee was walking beside Michael when she heard Michael speak up. "Talk to me Ambrose, what have you got?"
Arcee waited as she looked at Michael before his eyes became as he spoke up again. "Copy that, we're in route to your location." With that, the Sergeant Major looked up and spoke up to the blue femme beside him. "One of my guys found something, have your team meet us at the southern entrance to the town!" With that, Arcee spoke into her comm. piece and informed her team.
As the two teams converged at the southern gate, the found one of the Marines looking at what appeared to be tire tracks leading in one direction. "Looks like someone left here in a hell of a hurry." With that, Arcee looked down closely at the tracks as she passed a scanner over them. "These tracks are almost fresh; they couldn't have gone very far."
The group seemed to agree as they all moved in the direction indicated by the tracks and soon came upon the still burning wreck of Jack's Apache. Arcee felt as if she had just been stabbed through the spark chamber as she fell to her knees. "No…" Miko saw this and quickly began to look around the area, followed closely by one of the Marine squads, hoping to find some sign that Jack was alright.
In the mean time, Bumblebee was standing by Arcee with a hand on her shoulder as Bulkhead looked around the area of the crashed chopper. Optimus came over to the emotionally distraught Arcee and kneeled down in front of her as he spoke. "We will find him Arcee, I promise you now that we will not lose Jack." Optimus then called in through the communications channel to call for a ground bridge when Michael called out. "I got a live one over here!"
The team looked over to see him standing behind a man in a green and black sneaking suit with a trail of blood coming from a gunshot wound on his shoulder. The obviously angered Marine pressed the tip of his gun into the man's neck as Arcee walked up to him with her blades extended and she spoke up with a cold and enraged tone. "Where. Is. Jack?" With that, she pinned the man to the ground and edged her blade towards the man's head.
"Arcee, don't. We can't stoop to their level." Miko spoke up with a calm tone that shocked the team and caused Arcee to look back before retracting her blades and walking away. With that, Optimus decided it would be best to get back to the base. "Ratchet, this is Prime; we need a ground bridge." "Nurse Darby is here, she's been informed of the situation; Wheeljack is here as well. Did you have any luck?"
Optimus couldn't, answer as he watched the back of Arcee as she stood silently. A heavy silence came over the group as the ground bridge opened up. Optimus was about to pull the team back to base when he saw Michael walking towards the wounded soldier; the man was on his knees and the Sergeant Major came up right behind him with a look of silent rage.
The Autobots, as well as the platoon of Marines, saw this and couldn't help but wonder what Michael was planning when he did something that caused every eye in the area to look straight at him. Optimus couldn't find the words as he watched the young human pull up his rifle and shoot the man in the back of the head, causing blood to splatter on the front of his shirt and a few splats covered his face as well.
Everyone watched as the lead Marine began to head for the ground bridge; no one could know his reasoning behind his actions. With that, Optimus finally recomposed himself and spoke up. "Autobots, withdraw." As the group walked through the green vortex, the team seemed to pause as things unfolded. June saw Michael and ran up to him with shocked eyes. "Michael, what happened; where's Jack?"
The team looked at the Marine and suddenly felt the same pain he felt as the Autobots saw a single tear running down Michaels face. June wrapped her arms around the Marine as her own tears began to come down. Wheeljack watched as Miko walked towards the room she currently shared with Bulkhead.
Bulkhead saw this and began to follow his human charge with a grim look on his face plates; Bulk was quickly pulled to the side by Wheeljack who was unsure of what was going on currently. Arcee silently stood in a corner near the couch where Rafael and Miko would normally sit. Optimus saw that the team was struggling heavily with the loss of yet another team mate. Optimus moved towards the cargo elevator and rode it up to the top of the base as he had a single thought. 'Jack…I have failed you my friend; but I promise you, I will find you.'
Oh scrap... Jack's been kidnapped by M.E.C.H! What's he got himself into now? I'll get the next chapter up later so you can find out. Read and review. Until next time my friends. :)