Answers to reviews:
hawkeyestratos1996: The hell would he do that for?
Frostspiderman: I'm not saying anything when it comes to other Autobots showing up.
bigvic150: he's lucky to still be online after Arcee got through with him.
Disclaimer: I do not own Transformers Prime. I only own the OC George Edwards/Bladewolf.
Thankfully, Arcee was speaking to me again. Only took a few Solar-Cycles after the 'Speed Metal' incident and she apologized for causing me to be in the medbay, but I told her she had every right to have been furious as I was the one who needed to apologize for nearly seeing her in such a state that I shouldn't have seen her in. Arcee admitted she did have a little pent up anger from Vince's insult, and then nearly being seen in her Protoform spiked her anger and she had to let it out in a way she knew how.
So apologies were said and we both agreed to forget it ever happened. Now we were back to normal, chatting like any pair of best friends can do.
I had decided on trying to introduce the 'Bots to more human stuff, seeing as they can use their holoforms and I can just change back to human form. One of the things that had caught their attention, namely Arcee, Bulkhead and Cliffjumper's attention, was a game called Texas Hold 'Em.
A game we were currently playing right now.
I was in my human form while the three Autobots were in their holoforms.
"Fragging dammit!" Cliffjumper exclaimed after he lost the third straight hand he stayed in until the very end, this particular hand he had lost to Bulkhead.
Cliffjumper's holoform actually surprised me because... it was Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson himself! I mentioned this to him and he just did the infamous Rock eyebrow raise with a smirk on his holoform's face. If he's gonna sound like the Rock, then he wants to look like him. To each his own I suppose.
"It is not ridiculous, you just haven't won the last three hands you've stayed in." I said dryly, giving Cliffjumper an amused smile while Bulkhead collected the poker chips he just won.
"I still think you're cheating." Cliffjumper huffed, shaking his head in a frustrated manner as he started shuffling the cards since it was his turn to deal.
"Have you ever considered the possibility that your poker face sucks?" Arcee asked him cheekily with a raised eyebrow.
"Does not!" Cliffjumper protested as he finished shuffling the cards and started dealing them out while we chuckled.
I stopped laughing after a few micro-klicks and looked at my cards, I had been dealt an eight of hearts as well as a four of hearts.
'A good start for either a straight or a flush,' I thought to myself as I tossed the big blind into the middle of the table since it was my turn to pay it.
Bulkhead -who was sitting to my left- looked at his cards before calling the big blind.
Bulkhead's holoform was completely bald, but a large black beard covered his holoform's face. Standing at about six feet tall and with shoulders that were as broad as a human get could without looking like a cartoon character, Bulkhead's holoform looked like a very mean and intimidating bouncer. But the look in the blue eyes of his holoform gave away his kind and fun-loving nature.
Arcee's holoform was an attractive women about five feet ten inches in height with long light brown hair that would have gone well past her shoulders if it wasn't tied into a ponytail. Like the holoforms of Cliffjumper and Bulkhead, the eyes of her holoform were blue. But her eyes were a deeper shade of blue than theirs were, almost as deep a blue as my Cybertronian form. Overall, Arcee's holoform was a real head-turner.
"I'll raise," Arcee said, and then threw in an extra twenty five dollar chip after she called the big blind.
This is how the game was going for the next few klicks, however it started to get more interesting after Arcee looked at the flop for a few moments then she tossed two hundred dollar chips and a fifty dollar chip into the middle of the table.
Cliffjumper's eyes widened. "I'm out. 'Cee, you're insane if you think any of us are going to call that." He said to Arcee, quickly throwing his cards into the middle of the table.
I looked cross the table to Arcee again, two hundred and fifty was quite the leap from twenty five, especially for Arcee considering how she usually bet. Either she was bluffing, which she was very good at, or a card from the flop helped her own cards significantly. I had a feeling that she wasn't bluffing, but decided to take a risk anyway.
"Call," I said simply, causing everyone to look at me in shock as I called Arcee's bet by throwing the respective chips into the growing pile in the middle of the table.
"I guess I'm not insane," Arcee quipped towards Cliffjumper, causing Bulkhead to laugh as Cliffjumper sighed and mumbled something under his breath.
Bulkhead shook the head of his holoform once his laughter died down. "Too rich for me," Bulkhead said, throwing his cards in the middle of the table, leaving our current hand as a showdown between Arcee and I.
After Bulkhead folded, Cliffjumper tabled another card and dealt the turn card, a queen of spades.
I looked at Arcee and saw something flash in the eyes of her holoform that looked like excitement, the look in her eyes was gone before I could properly identify it. But her reaction was still enough for me to deduce that at least one of her cards was a queen, possibly both of her cards. Not a good thing for me unless the river was a heart.
Arcee checked instead of betting any chips, she obviously was trying to make me think the turn hadn't helped her own cards.
I checked as well, but I knew that the river had to be a heart or I was guaranteed to lose this hand.
Cliffjumper tabled one last card and dealt the river card after I checked, the river was a seven of hearts, which gave me a straight flush.
'Well, that isn't a hand I thought I would ever get in an actual game.' I thought, keeping the surprise I felt off my face. Out the corner of my eye, I noticed Bumblebee arrive with Jack, Miko and Raf, seeing as Bulkhead and Arcee had been too busy to go pick them up.
Looking up at Arcee, I saw a pleased look in her holoform's eyes, she must think I don't have anything to beat her queens.
"All in." Arcee said, tone flat and serious as she pushed all her chips into the middle of the table, which was more for affect than anything else since she had more chips than me.
I saw that everyone else at the table was now looking at me curiously, waiting for my response to Arcee going all in. But I didn't pay them any attention, I just stared straight into the eyes of Arcee's holoform, and she stared right back. By this point, we were joined by Bumblebee, Jack, Miko and Raf, who remained silent. I'm pretty sure Ratchet was even watching from his workstation.
The look Arcee was giving me was guarded and calculating, the look she gave an enemy when she was figuring out the most efficient way to offline them.
After Arcee and I continued staring each other down for a full klick, while everyone else looked back and forth between us, I finally broke the silence that followed Arcee going all in. "That is quite the gamble on your part." I said, not breaking eye contact with Arcee as I spoke.
Everyone else at the table simultaneously turned toward Arcee to see her response. "Indeed," Arcee replied simply, also not breaking our staring contest as she spoke.
I had to fight off the smile working its way onto my face as everyone turned toward me, it was comical how they all moved simultaneously.
"You must be very confident that your cards can't be beaten." I said after another moment of silence.
"Yes."
"Yes."
"Hmm."
"Hmm."
Everyone else at the table looked back and forth between Arcee and I whenever one of us spoke. And with how frequent Arcee and I were responding to each other, it looked like they were watching a tennis match.
There was another long silence, I was aware that everyone else was still looking back and forth between Arcee and I as they waited for one of us to speak or break eye contact.
I once again was the one to break the silence. "You have four queens don't you?" I asked Arcee, completely guessing on the number of queens she had.
A ghost of a smile formed on the face of Arcee's holoform before it disappeared. "Maybe I do and maybe I don't." She said.
"Judging by how you smiled slightly, you do have four queens. And here I was just guessing at the total." I said with a smile of my own.
Arcee gave a short laugh. "Well then congratulations, you successfully guessed how badly you just lost." She said smugly, flipping both her cards over to reveal both the queen of clubs and the queen of hearts.
When Arcee started to lean forward so she could collect the poker chips, I stopped her by raising one of my hands. "I have yet to call or fold, so the hand isn't over yet." I said, then proceeded to push all my chips towards the middle of the table. "Now it's over." I leaned back in my chair and watched in amusement as Arcee got a very confused look on her holoform's face and looked down at the cards on the table.
After a micro-klick, realization crossed the face of Arcee's holoform and she slowly looked up at me. "You don't..." She said, leaving her sentence hanging as she gave me a frustrated but amused look.
"I do." I finished Arcee's sentence and flipped over my cards to reveal the eight of hearts and the four of hearts.
Cliffjumper laughed at the dumbfounded look on Arcee's face as she stared at my cards.
"N-No! Rematch!" Arcee said firmly as she looked at me. "I'm still new to this game!"
"Yet you did not too bad, to be honest." I admitted with a nod as I collected the cards. "But fine, we'll go for a rematch. Anyone else want in on this?"
Before I could have an answer, Ratchet piped up. "You'll have to put your game on hold for now. I'm detecting a subterranean Energon deposit somewhere in the Canadian wilderness."
"Maybe Wolverine's there." Raf joked, causing Jack and I to chuckle while Miko rolled her eyes.
"Nerds." She said.
"What?" Cliffjumper asked in confusion as he deactivated his holoform, as did Bulkhead and Arcee.
"Tell you later." I told him before looking at Ratchet. "Any idea on how big the deposit is?"
"Not that large... I'd say about ten storage containers at the most." Ratchet calculated with a shake of his helm.
"I'll go and check it out." I said as I turned to go to the Groundbridge, changing into Cybertronian form.
"Wait up, partner." I stopped and turned to Arcee as she walked towards me. "I'm going with."
"Hey, can I come?" Jack asked. "It's been too long since I've been off-base, and I need to do something other than fall prey to Raf's cheating." He said as he jokingly pointed a thumb at Raf.
"I am not cheating nor am I tricking you!" Raf protested with a laugh, knowing Jack was only joking.
Arcee looked at me and I shrugged. "I don't have a problem with it. He's your charge, and it's only recon. But at the first sign of trouble..."
"I'm sending him back." Arcee nodded. Ratchet activated the Groundbridge and we, along with Jack, went through and came out into a dense forest area.
"This is the Canadian wilderness alright." I nodded before looking to Jack. "Stay close, Jack. Various predators roam this wilderness."
"Like what?" Jack asked with a raised eyebrow as we walked on.
"Oh, wolves, black bears.. though they'll run from you, not that much of a threat to humans unless they get way too close. But there is the grizzly bear, those guys you don't want to go near or be spotted by." I said. "There's also polar bears, Canadian Lynx."
"Any chance we'll encounter them?" Jack asked nervously as he glanced around.
"Relax, Jack." Arcee said reassuringly. "You're with us. No bears or wolves will get you. Right?" She sent me a sharp look as if to say 'stop trying to scare him.'
"Like I said, stay close." I said with a shrug and walked on with a smile. it was all good jesting. "Oh! Watch out for the bugs as well."
"Thanks." Jack said dryly as he smacked a mosquito away.
"You're welcome."
We continued walking for the next ten klicks or so, with Arcee holding a scanner to try and find the subterranean Energon deposit. Along the way, I decided to change back to human form for now. However, as we walked, Jack started swatting at mosquitos buzzing around his head.
"Ah! I really wish I'd packed some insect repellent. The mosquitos out here on this routine recon are the size of vampire bats. And they drink just about as much blood." Jack aid before wincing as another mosquito bit him.
"Quite the outdoorsman, aren't you, Jack?" Arcee smirked at her human partner.
"You wouldn't be making fun of my survival kit?" Jack asked.
"Maybe." Arcee shrugged with a smirk.
"I may not have stinger proof metal skin like you two. But I can use my multi-function pocket knife, and fire starter to cook up some deep fried mac n' cheese." Jack said with a smirk as he patted his pouch of essentials.
"And now I'm hungry, thanks." I sent him a playful glare and he smirked at me. "But given my own arsenal, I can cook a fish within minutes so... "
"You boys have your tools, I have mine." Arcee said, gesturing to the scanner in her hand. Just as she says that though, it goes off. "That's odd. Ratchet's satellite scans were accurate. But subterranean Energon deposits don't cause this kind of surge."
'God, I knew this day was coming.' I thought grimly, knowing what episode events were going to occur right now. Arcee was going to kill me for this, I just know it. I'll be lucky enough to come out of this with her even wanting to talk to me.
Sometimes I hated having foreknowledge and rules against abusing it.
We kept walking until we came to a huge path of destruction, and at the end of it was a certain ship belonging to a certain Decepticon.
"What happened here?" Jack asked with awe at the sight.
"Crash landing." I answered with narrowed eyes as I changed my right arm into an Energon blaster, the same weapon Arcee uses.
"Stay behind us, Jack. low and close." Arcee ordered her partner as we walked on towards the ship, following the trail it left upon crashing. We hid behind a tree as we observed the ship, but it seemed deserted and abandoned.
"Autobot or Decepticon?" Jack asked with caution.
"Decepticon." I said, causing the two to look at me.
"Who is it?" Arcee asked.
"Let's say it's not pretty." I said with a sigh.
Arcee was silent for a few seconds before she spoke. "George, stay here with Jack. I'll go check it out."
"Be careful." I told her with worry. She smiled and nodded at me before walking towards the ship and soon disappeared into it. I stood and paced, worried for Arcee. I knew what she was about to se eon that ship, the big clue to who it belonged to... and who was on Earth.
About 20 seconds passed before we saw Arcee coming out the ship, looking like she had seen her worst nightmare come to life. "Arcee!" Me and Jack ran over to her as she looked to be in a trace. I knew that it was her past catching up to her, memories of the interrogation she suffered at that damned Spider 'Con's servos.
"Arcee? What's wrong?" Once he asks again does it snap her out of her funk.
"I know who this ship belongs to." She ominously states, then her optics snap open with a nevomous glare aimed at me. I had this coming. "You knew, didn't you?!"
I sighed. "Yes, I did. But-"
"That's it." Arcee cut me off and walked off a bit. "Arcee to base, I need a bridge. Do you read?" All she got was static in response. "Scrap! The comm-link's dead. The ship has to be blocking our signal."
"A-Arcee? You're kind of freaking me out here." Jack said.
"Wait here." She states firmly without room to argue and leaves just like that.
"Come on." I said and we jogged after the femme until we found her crouched before some tracks in the ground.
"Arcee?" Jack asked, snapping Arcee out of her trance as she glanced at us before transforming into her vehicle mode.
"Get on." She snapped. Not wanting to argue, we get on with Jack in front, me at the back. "Hang on." At the tone of her voice, I hold onto Jack tightly.
"Whoa! Woah! Ahh! Whoa!" Jack yells as we speed forward faster than ever riding before along with the bumps that come with the terrain. I hold onto dear life while Jack does the same on the handlebars. "Arcee!" From Jack's freaked out voice, I barely see a small ravine ahead of us and hold on tighter as Arcee jumps it. We land hard on the ground before coming to a hard stop. "Okay, was that really necessary?" He complains as he takes off the helmet.
"Arcee to base. Scrap!" She's pissed when she doesn't get a response. Jack and I get off her
"Was that really necessary?" Jack asked but Arcee ignored him as she tried contacting base again but to no result.
"Wait here, I mean it this time." Arcee ordered.
"Okay, first you shut me out, and now you're ditching me?"
"Standing here as well." I reminded, though I did understand Arcee's attitude with me.
Arcee transformed and turned to us. "Jack, you're a kid! You two only came because this was 'no risk'. Well one of you knew." She said, glaring at me with the last part.
I rolled my eyes. "Arcee, this is not the time for this! Like it or not, we're coming-"
"No! This isn't your business." Arcee snapped and turned away but I changed into my Cybertronian form and got in front of her.
"Who knows the future? Me! So it is my business!" I said with a snappish tone of my own but all I got was a venomous glare from the femme.
"I don't care, you're still a kid, George!" She said.
"I think we can both agree that my life as a kid ended the second I died and was brought here." I argued with a growl.
Arcee shook her helm. "You don't know what I've been through. You just don't."
"Perhaps, but I was tortured by Decepticon hands as well, if you had forgotten!" I reminded her harshly. "My life was forever changed when I died and was brought here!"
"That doesn't change anything!" Arcee retorted.
""Stop being so stubborn on revenge. It's only getting the better of you!" I retorted.
That got to her. "How do you know anything about losing anybody?!" Arcee snapped, getting right in my face after a shove on my chassis
"I don't have a home to go back too!" I shouted back at her, shoving her against a tree that broke as a result. "You're lucky! You still have a planet out there to go back to, but I can't even go back home to my Earth! I can't go and see my family! My mother! My father! My brothers! My sisters! If I could go back and see them again, I would but I can't! I can never go back! I can't! I just can't! I can't..." My voice choked and broke off at the end there.
Arcee's glare softened a little as I released her, watching my broken expression expression. But she shook her helm and her glare was back as she pushed past me. "I lost my partner to that monster and I'm not letting her get away with it, she needs to be destroyed and I'm-"
"KILLING AIRACHNID WON'T BRING TAILGATE BACK!"
Everything seemed to go deathly silent after I shouted that. Arcee had frozen in her steps and turned to shoot me a glare, her servos clenched into fists. When she spoke, she seemed to be resisting the urge to punch me and... I deserve it. "Stay. Here."
She transformed and drove off, leaving us behind.
"Dammit." I groaned. I shouldn't have said those words. I really shouldn't have. Regardless of what's going on, of the argument between us, I wasn't going to leave Arcee alone and I doubt Jack was as well. I transformed into my vehidle mode and opened my passenger side door. "Get in. We're going after her."
Jack did so and I drove off after the femme.
I hate forests. When you lose someone in them, it's pretty hard to track them down. I had been driving for who knew how long in search of Arcee until me and Jack heard the sound of fighting so I drove in the direction of it, where we saw Arcee fighting... Airachnid. I stopped to let Jack out before I drove and transformed, leaping at Airachnid and speared her into the ground before throwing her through several tress.
Turning, I ran over to Arcee as did Jack. "What part of stay out of this don't you understand?!" Arcee snapped at me as I tried pulling the webbing off her.
"Partners don't ditch partners." Jack answered Arcee instead of me.
"Get this through your head, Jack. You're not my partners, you're liabilities!" Arcee said in a pissed off tone.
"Oh quit kidding yourself, Arcee." I growled as I ripped off part of the webbing and tossed it aside.
"I don't believe you, I can see it in your eyes. You're afraid Arcee, and you're never afraid." Jack said. It took a few seconds for her to process what he just said. A flashback.
"You're right Jack, I am afraid, afraid of losing you. Both of you." She said looking at him, then me with worry.
A chuckle behind me caught our attention and we looked to see Airachnid had recovered from my tackle. "You sure have trouble hanging onto your partners, don't you?" Airachnid taunted Arcee before she eyed me and hummed. "Well well, who's this hunk?"
Now I love a bad girl, but the way this one looked me over made me feel disgusted as Airachnid licked her lips.
"Do you get it now guys? She's not interested in me, she hunts endangered species, and she's on Earth that means humans, you guys. RUN!" Arcee shouted. Jack and I had to listen to her and we ran up the hill and got some distance between Airachnid and us. But I'd make sure that bitch get what she deserves.
Nightfall had come. Me and Jack were still on the run from Airachnid. I had went back to human form so I wasn't too obvious for her to spot. We hid behind a tree as I looked around for the predator.
"What do we do?" Jack asked as he panted for breath.
I was silent for several seconds before speaking. "You run somewhere and hide... I'll handle Airachnid. Get to her ship, blow it up."
"She'll kill you!" Jack argued.
"I won't make it easy for her." I said as I shifted to Cybertronian form and gave Jack a look. "Now for Primus' sake, run."
Jack hesitated but did as I said and ran as I stood and came out of hiding, facing Airachnid who had been down a few meters from my position. Airachnid paused and raised an optic ridge before chuckling in amusement.
"A Techno-Organic, huh." She stated more than asked. "You will make a fine trophy... or a fine pet. Bet Arcee won't like that." I tensed at the mention of my crush, which she noticed and chuckled darkly at. "I saw how you were with her, the look in your optics as you stared at her. Shame she won't get to know... until I've shown her your head!"
With a hiss, Airachnid charged on her spider legs. I changed my right arm into a fusion cannon and fired at Airachnid who was quick to avoid the shows before unsheathing my swords. I charged at Airachnid who snarled and charged at me and I swung my swords but she blocked with a spider leg, then slashed me across the face with her sharp claws.
I growled before backhanding Airachnid through a tree. The Spider 'Con was quick to sue the trees to her advantage as she leaped from tree to tree while I fired at her before she shot webbing at my face. I growled before I sheathed my swords and quickly ripped the webbing off only to be tackled by Airachnid and we rolled across the ground, punching each other in the faceplate before I threw Airachnid off with my pedes.
Airachnid recovered and shot a line of web at me but I dodged it and grabbed it, swinging Airachnid towards my waiting fist which slammed into her faceplate hard and sent her crashing through several trees. I ripped off the webbing on my right arm and changed my right arm into Megatron's Death-Lock Pincer from Revenge of the Fallen, stalking towards Airachnid as the gun powered up.
Airachnid groaned as she got to her pedes and saw me aiming my gun at her before I fired but she was able to avoid the hit and I kept firing, trying to make Airachnid back off and away from me. Airachnid slashed a tree, which fell towards me but I rolled out the way only to get tackled by Airachnid who slashed my chestplate before I drove my helm into her faceplate, then punched her. Airachnid spat acid at me but I avoided it only to get webbed up.
"Now... hold still, this won't hurt much." Airachnid said darkly as she trailed her claws along my neck with a seductive smirk before she raised them to bring them down but I growled as I broke the webbing and grabbed her servo and squeezed tightly, causing her to grunt in pain before I swung her and sent her flying through several trees which was probably bad for the environment.
I changed my arms into double Thermal Rocket Launchers and fired multiple rockets at Airachnid's location, causing a large explosion of dust, trees, and rocks to go in the air. When the dust settled, I walked over but found no sign of Airachnid. I walked away and heard an explosion which was probably Jack blowing up Airachnid's ship, so I ran over and saw the human not too far from the destroyed ship.
"Jack!" I ran over and checked him for injury.
"I'm fine." Jack smiled at me before we looked at the destroyed ship. "LOOK OUT!"
I was struck by webbing and stuck to a tree tightly as was Jack. Airachnid jumped down from a tree, her glare on me as she walked up. "I... am going... to make your death hurt really, REALLY badly." She growled in my face. I glared at her as she raised her claws.
"No!" Jack yelled before we heard a motorcycle engine and with a yell, Arcee came flying and tackled Airachnid. I grunted as I pulled myself from the webbing, ripping it off and rolling my shoulders. I then cut Jack free from his restraints as Arcee ran up to us.
"You two okay?" She asked us, regarding us with worry.
"We'll live." I said with a smile which she returned before the sound of drilling caught our attention and we looked to see Airachnid retreating into the Earth. Arcee and I deployed our weapons and fired at Airachnid but she was gone by now.
"AIRACHNID!" Arcee shouted before she calmed down and sighed. "So much for closure."
"Yeah." I said, putting my weapons away.
"I'm sorry you guys had to face my demons today." Arcee said to Jack and I, giving us a small smile. "You were pretty fearless back there."
"You can thank George for that." Jack said with a grin at me. "He held her off. And from the damage I saw, kicked her aft."
"Stop with the praising." I said with a groan. I hated compliments. Anyone could've done what I had done in my position, any other Cybertronian would hold Airachnid off. What I did was nothing special. "I'll be honest, I was scared to death... mostly for you, Arcee. I'm sorry about what I said."
"Don't, I'm the one who should apologize." Arcee shook her helm. "I had no right calling you a kid, when you've been through so much since we met. You're basically a man. I shouldn't have snapped at you for today. Thanks for having my back, both of you."
"Always will." I said with a soft smile that she returned. We heard Jack snickering and looked at him. "What are you laughing about?"
"You two planning to walk to base together?" Jack asked, pointing to something between us. We looked down and immediately my cooling fans turned on.
Arcee and I were holding servos!
Quickly, we released each other's servos and looked away from each other. "A-Anyway, destroying Airachnid's ship must've got rid of the jamming signal, so let's call for base and get home."
"Got it." Arcee nodded quickly, neither of us meeting the other's optics. Whenever we did, the other would look away quickly. Arcee soon contacted base and we were on our way home...
And that's it for this chapter. Really tense and drama filled if I do say so myself... on account of George and Arcee's argument, followed by the ending there with them holding hands without knowing it until Jack pointed it out to them.
Mech=Man.
Femme=Woman.
Carrier=Mother.
Sire=Father.
Helm=head.
Optics=eyes.
Audio Receptors=ears.
Shoulder-Joints=self-explanatory.
Backplates=again self-explanatory.
Chestplates=don't make me say self-explanatory again... Wait.
Servos=hands/arms.
Digit=finger.
Pedes=legs.
Spark=basically a Cybertronian's soul.
Chassis=body.
Frame=also a term for body, but used differently.
CPU=brain.
Processor=can also be a term for brain.
Astro-Klick=one millisecond.
Nano-Klick=one-tenth of a second.
Micro-Klick=one second.
Klick=one minute.
Breem=one hour.
Solar-Cycle=one day.
Mega-Cycle=one week.
Jour=one month.
Orbital-Cycle=one year.
Vorn=eighty three years.
Centi-Vorn=eight thousand three hundred years.