Spectre: Okay, you may be asking: why? Welp, long story short while I'm making some one shots (I decided to take a little break at Teyvat's Dark Slayer), I got hooked by the Transformer franchise, especially Bayverse and the Prime series.
And as far as I can tell, the only ship that I am willing to die on is Jack x Arcee no matter how weird that looked because of their chemistry and Jack healing her emotional wounds all over throughout the whole series. Kinda miffed that they didn't have a reunion between the two of them during Robots in Disguise, let alone an appearance. I then thought, hmm would Airachnid make a good third wheel or mistress at this one?
Okay, about the story. This doesn't really follow canon, though the story here happens after certain events. It's more of a crack-fic than an actual story, so expect some OOC elements.
The television screen was on, featuring a few commercials that appear every now and then for just about any other audience. Sat on the couch was Jack, evidently exhausted after his shift at KO Burger. June greatly appreciated his part at helping her out of their daily needs, but duty calls back at the hospital and she would have to leave him to his devices for the meantime.
Fetching her keys to her sedan, June packed up a few essentials she thought were necessary and looked over to her son. "I'll be working a night shift, so I won't be back until tomorrow. I've left out some money for you guys to get whatever you need for tonight."
Jack only snapped in surprise of her reminder, almost to the point of sleeping. "Ah...yeah. Thanks a lot, mom. I'll take care of it"
"All right. As always, give me a call if you need anything. But if you need to, don't think twice to call Bee and the others," she moved forward, giving him a kiss on the cheek to lift his spirits amidst the exhaustion he was facing. She then made her way to the door, pausing once her hand reached the knob.
"And umm...," June clicked her tongue, pointing at the other person next to her son. "Make sure they stay out of trouble, okay?"
A pair of electric blue eyes stared back at her, affirming her reminder with a nod. "I'll make sure they don't, June. You can count on that."
June opened the door and stepped inside, only to find herself creeping her head out from behind it, this time raising an eyebrow towards her son's other companion beside him'. "Are we clear on that?" the nurse asked, giving emphasis to her earlier reminder.
"Of course, Mrs. Darby," she replied in a sing-song tone as if she was amused by it, cocking her head to the side. "There is no need to worry about the three of us."
With one last glance, June left the house, while its three occupants heard the engine of her sedan rev up before it departed for the hospital.
Jack simply sat in silence as he watched TV, accompanied by his two roommates in his house. One had distinct blue hair with pink highlights on her bangs, fair skin, a body fit for an athlete, and was clad in a sleeveless navy blue shirt and shorts. Her ears were plugged by a pair of earphones connected to a smartphone, which displayed an upcoming documentary that she was patiently waiting for.
The other was an older woman, or at least she appeared as one. She had dark purple hair with yellow tips at the ends of her bangs; she had a slender figure fit for a model, just like the blue-haired girl next to him. She wore a purple sleeveless tank top and a pair of gray pajama pants, and was in the process of trimming her nails. "She always assumes that I'm up to no good," she commented, sarcasm evident in her voice. "A little trust wouldn't hurt her by any means."
"Given your spreadsheet, do you really expect anything else?" the blue-haired girl snarked, momentarily distracting her companion from her activity before returning with a rather sly smirk.
Jack groaned, rubbing his face with the palm of his hand in despair, but the girl simply kept her glare fixed at the other female beside her.
"Trust me Jack, I would've ripped out her Spark...heart...or whatever that made her function the second if she's thinking about doing anything funny around here"
The woman rolled her eyes in mild annoyance, "Don't push yourself too far, Arcee", she sarcastically cautioned her, blowing away dust from her nails and admiring the decent work she had put up with it. "You might pop out a circuit out of your own paranoia"
She turned to face her rival, her twitching electric blue eyes staring at opposing purple ones. "Not if I pop yours first"
"Come on, you two," Jack intervened between them, raising his arms between them before things could get ugly again. "Can it just wait until tomorrow? I could really use some peace and quiet for now."
The two Cybertronian-turned human women glared at one another, before going back to their own business. "Fine," Arcee begrudgingly said before putting back her earphones and turning her attention towards the screen. "But only because the podcast is about to start"
"Whatever you say, Jack," Airachnid replied, putting away her nail file and picking up one of the books that were beside her, giving a rather coy smile to the teen. "We all could use some rest at the moment. Unlike someone who'd rather make a fuss about it."
Yep, this was the current life he was living at the moment. A high school teenager with a part-time job at a burger joint with two women who were formerly giant robots belonging to opposing factions who had become his roommates, barely tolerating each other's existence, and leaving him with the task of making sure neither of them destroy the house and killing one another.
If anyone were wondering how he ended up in this situation, well, as far as Jack could remember, it was a few months ago when he was on a mission with Arcee...
As darkness enveloped Jasper, a blue motorcycle veered off the main highway, descended through the ravine, and came to a stop near the mouth of a nearby mountain. Jack raised the visor of his helmet, looking out at the entrance that was only a dozen miles away from their base. "So, this is the place?" he guessed, removing his helmet and stepping off the motorcycle.
"If Ratchet's coordinates are anything to go by, then we're right on track," Arcee affirmed, morphing into her robot mode and checking her scanners. "So far, no Decepticon activity. But you know the drill."
Jack shrugged at that. "Yeah," he replied to the femme, chuckling at what appeared to be a normal routine for the both of them. "If you don't mind me asking, what are we trying to find here again?"
"An isolated artifact," she began to explain to him, as they walked into the cave system with Arcee providing light for the two of them. "Optimus had told me that it had crash-landed here a long time ago when it was sent away by one of the first Primes. However, what it can do is lost to history, so it's best that we proceed with caution while retrieving it."
The teen nodded at her instruction. It had been quite a while since they had been on a mission together. So far, and strangely enough, the Decepticons had gone mostly quiet, save for a few Energon mines that were being extracted by their Vehicons. But that didn't mean that it meant any good, not when they had just about plenty of surprises waiting for them.
But with Arcee along with the rest of the Autobots, he shouldn't worry too much. She managed to get his mother back safe and sound, and has saved their lives more times than he could count. And he's currently doing his best to return those deeds with whatever he can possibly do for them.
"So Jack..."
The teen snapped out of his thoughts, shifting his attention to his partner. "Yeah, Arcee?"
"So how was school coming along? Did that brat Vince tried to pick on you again?"
He was a bit surprised at the question, but it didn't really hurt to tell her. "Not really. Other than the fact that he's probably still annoyed to that he lost to a scooter"
Arcee's optics narrowed a bit. "I swear, if he called me a scooter one more time..."
"No!", he stopped at his tracks, waving his hands at her in an attempt to dissuade her in carrying her judgement. "There's no need for that..."
The Autobot's glare shifted into a light smile, chuckling slightly at his reaction. "I'm kidding. But I wouldn't mind having a word with him if it were ever a viable option for me", she assured him, causing Jack to calm down of his worries and they continued their walk towards the Artifact. "What about that one girl you're trying to impress with Bumblebee?"
"You mean, Sierra?" her partner asked, and she affirmed his guess with a nod. "Yeah, I don't think anything really happened between the two of us," she summarized, feeling a little disappointed about not clicking with him.
He felt a servo lightly poke him from the back, and he looked up to find his partner's smirk for him. "Cheer up, partner", she told him in an effort to lift his spirits. "From one of the human texts I've read, there's plenty of fish in the sea right?"
"That's about it, Arcee", he smiled back at her for her support, and that is when a question popped into his head. "Now that I think about it, do Cybertronians have anything like that of human bonding?'"
Arcee took her time to ponder. "We do actually and we call them Conjux Endura, or someone whom you are really close with. Or if you'd like a simpler term, we call them Sparkmates"
Curious, Jack continued, even though he was already telling himself that it was becoming a weird conversation all over. "So...how do they work?"
"Just as similar as to what humans do, but parts of us techno-organic so we feel like how most humans do.", she simply explained to him, unbothered of the subject at hand.
"Yeah…I guess that makes sense." Jack stated as the silo base shutter opened up for them letting the duo hastily drive their way inside before any onlookers noticed.
"So did you ever have a 'Sparkmate'?", he asked, before slapping himself in the forehead for blubbering a personal question for her. And sure enough, she looked back at him. "What I mean is-"
"I've never really had the time due to the Cons," Arcee stated simply, and Jack noticed her dejection, giving him the impression that it was personal for her. "And I don't plan to anytime soon, as the war is still going on."
Now he felt like an idiot, and he simply kept his mouth shut as they continued to go deeper into the cave. "I've been picking up readings," she said. "So I'm guessing that we're getting closer to the artifact." Her footsteps quickened. "Come on!"
Jack obliged with her order. A few minutes had passed; he could see that they were nearing their objective. Ahead of them was what seemed to be a clearing within the cave - all the jagged rocks gone, and in their place was dust. In the center was an obelisk-shaped silver object that floated by itself, causing the teen to be wide-eyed in awe. He took a few steps in, only for his face to meet the wheel of her calf, and he looked up to find her tense.
Something was wrong. "Arcee?"
The Autobot raised her hand in a halting gesture, causing Jack to stop at his tracks.
"We're not alone"
One of her servos morphed into one of her signature blasters and fired on one direction. Jack took cover in one of the rocks within the cave system, watching a shadow flicker out of his vision and noticing his partner's blue optics narrowing in both anger and disgust.
"You never know when to quit do you?", Arcee called out to the shadow, watching as a pair of purple optics stared back at her and Jack, and slowly moved forward to reveal a fellow Cybertronian in her spider mode. "Airachnid"
"Arcee," her archenemy greeted with a sneer, glancing to get a clear view of her human companion beside her. "You really have to let go of this penchant for losing partners whenever you please."
Arcee's response was to get Jack behind her. "Keep him out of this, Airachnid", the Autobot snapped, suppressing an angered growl and her other servo morphing into a blaster. "This is between you and me"
The Decepticon femme lightly scratched her faceplate with her clawed servos, staring intently at Jack where he took step back in caution. "Well, I have to say that it had become he and I ever since he destroyed my ship", she said, the palm of her servos glowing in a red hue. "And I would enjoy having him as the first trophy for my new collection, right after I've collected my prize over there"
"Not a chance, scrap heap!" With that, she quickly fired a salvo of her blasters. Quickly, the Decepticon evaded the shots, returning fire with her own using her palms as she used her other legs to grab onto the rocky edges of the cave.
The blue bot jumped, bring her arm-blades to bear towards the Decepticon, only for two of her spider-legs to swat her away in response. Crashing down onto the rocky terrain, Arcee's optics widened when she saw Airachnid's spider-legs formed a drill-like shape in an attempt to impale her, to which she reacted quickly by rolling away from the attack before regaining her footing and she delivered a round house kick that sent the Decepticon sliding back with her feet from the impact.
"Not bad, but are you sure that you would win?." Arachnid teased, her right optic winking at Jack and causing Arcee to tense up in both caution and of fear. Airachnid then whipped her right arm in a direction and fired a webbing shot that landed onto Jack's left hand, causing him to be stuck by the rocky wall within the cave.
"…I'll come back for you later, my dear. But for now, I have other business to attend to." Arachnid finished, shifting her attention from Jack back to Arcee.
"Airachnid! It's me you want!" Arcee shouted, now wanting to tear apart the spider bot for just about everything already. "Leave Jack out of this!"
The spider bot smirked at her outrage and raised her servo in a 'come on' gesture. "Let's dance!"
Quickly, the two made a mad dash towards one another. Arcee fire back her blasters towards her adversary, who only side-stepped out of the line of fire with such speed using all her legs. As she moved closer, Airachnid fire a blast from her palm point blank at Arcee's head, which was evaded by a quick tilt before her fist met her chassis. Pushed back, Airachnid brought her legs to bear to parry Arcee's incoming strike from her blades, resulting of her unleashing quick flurry of strikes that were parried brilliantly with the Autobot's speed.
Both femmes' went for a strike that sent both combatants back from the force it had created. The blue bot lunged forward in a blur of speed and readied her right arm-blade to strike at a stunned Airachnid, the spider bot turned her head to catch both Arcee's arms with her servos. Using this opportunity, Airachnid landed a knee onto Arcee's chassis and an elbow onto her back once she knelt down with one knee.
"Arcee!" Jack cried out, forcefully trying to free his arm from the webbing, before his eyes glanced at the glowing object of their attention.
The artifact!
Airachnid stared at Arcee's downed form, before she looked back at the artifact with awe; she was supposed to retrieve it herself so that she may study it afterwards. "As much as I wanted to relish this moment, but I have pressing matters", Airachnid confidently said to the Autobot, walking over to the miniature Obelisk where her servos reached for the artifact, which made the Decepticon stare in awe at whatever it could offer for her and her own ends.
However, another pair of servos grasped onto the object, and Airachnid's purple optics looked back at Arcee's blue ones. "It's quite rude to take something that I have rightfully stolen. Wouldn't you agree, Arcee?"
The Autobot only glared at her. "Wouldn't dream of it, con!", she glared back as she attempted to pull the artifact away from the Decepticon.
However, Airachnid was not having it and her grip only strenghtened, with neither of the two noticing the small cracks that formed between them.
Using a nearby sharp rock to cut himself loose, Jack managed go get the webbing out of his arm, and he watched as the two Cybertronians engaged in a tug of war for thr possession for the artifact.
He began to notice the increasing glow of the artifact as the cracks in the Obelisk became more prominent for Jack to see. He began to hear the sound of a turbine powering up, and he looked back towards the relic's light, which was growing brighter.
"No, Arcee wait-"
And then, the Artifact shattered.
Edited some spelling and wording mistakes. Leave a review!