Author's Note: I live! I know I haven't updated this story in almost four years, but inspiration hit me recently after I finished this semester and let my brain relax.
Chapter Three: Tensions Rising
Arcee floated in a void. Then, abruptly, her view opened to a massive field of fruit. The femme tried to focus on the fruit for a Kent or two, but whatever brought her to this odd place did not allow her to linger. Instead, it sent her flying over some barrier she could not see. When Arcee's pedes hit the soft grass, she was no longer her normal size. The femme was now a little taller than Jack if she had to guess. The most agile of Team Prime only shrugged at the size change. It reminded her a little of compacting down into her alt mode, not uncomfortable unless she stayed in her alt for extended periods.
As the femme looked up, she stared in shock at the world beyond her. A pair of massive buildings that reminded her of the statue of Megatron in Kaon stood tall and imposing. Something told her the two who built those buildings were egomaniacs to make Megatron look humble. Next to the larger of the two was a building that's looked to be living and breathing seabed. For a moment, the Autobot thought see saw a school of fist swimming along the wall of the cabin. Others came to her and went, but Arcee swore something seemed familiar about the buildings, especially the factory and the ring of hammer on metal within it.
Arcee shook her helm and stared at the heath off to her right. "How the Pit did I get here?"
A gentle laugh rang in arcee's Audios. Warmth rolled over the two-wheeler and chased away any thought of attack. "Relax, ma'am." A girl with warm eyes smiled at her and appeared to concentrate. Then, a cube of Energon appeared in Arcee's servo. "My name is Hestia," the strange girl said with a look of worry on her face. The stranger then waved her hand towards the cube invitingly. "Drink, please."
Arcee looked at the cube in confusion, "How…?"
"I asked Lord Primus to help me, but seeing as Cybertron is your home, I already have a minor bit of power to bring items from there to here. It's much easier and less taxing to do such things in a dream opposed to The Waking World." Hestia smiled at the bewildered femme for a moment while she drank. "Now, to business, I need you-"
The sound of sword clash against wood repeatedly took both to the arena. Arcee focused on the sound and was shocked to catch two teens fighting. The boy, about Jack's age, had sweat pouring from his brow. When the boy smiled and fashioned a whip out of the water, Arcee thought her optics malfunctioned, but sky-blue eyes didn't react. Instead, his opponent rolled forward within the boy's strike range and stuck the bronze point to his neck.
"You're dead, Kelp Head."
"Am I?" the boy responded as thunder boomed overhead. Then, he struck hard and knocked the spear from her hand. In a surprising move, the boy grabbed her hand and pulled her into his blade only to stop before it could draw. "I believe I win, Pinecone Face."
Hestia nodded towards the pair. "There's a threat coming that could destroy us and you." Hestia said calmly. "I need you and Jackson to bridge the gap between our two worlds before my youngest brother knows of Jack's existence and attempts to kill the boy simply for existing."
Arcee's optics lit up slowly. The femme sat up just in time to see Jack run up to her, his Cybertronian bodysuit motionless behind him as he ran. The boy said nothing as as he stopped next to her. When Arcee looked to a spot isolated from everything else, her optics registered a heat signature. Arcee leveled her blasters at the infrared Human form in front of her. "Who are you?!"
"Arcee, eyes on me," Jack told her as he tried to soothe the femme's battle instincts. He then turned to the blank area and glared hard at it.
"Whoah!" Annabeth yelled as she threw up her her hands and took off her cap to shimmer into existence. "I didn't think she was gonna kill me!"
"War is The Pit," Jack growled at her. "You must learn to control your pride, or it shall kill you one day."
Annabeth blinked in shock and stared at the young man as if he'd just slapped her across the face. "I've been in…" She trailed off. The war on behalf of the gods was a secret she did not want to share with strangers from another world with likely other gods. If these alien gods were anything like her extended family, the daughter of Athena knew she must tread carefully. With an effort, Annabeth stopped her retort and walked up to Jack with her knife in hand. The blonde then noticed an Asian girl at the edge of railing of a Human area.
"You think you're so tough, Blondie?" Miko growled. "Let's go down to The SAFE and settle this!"
Annabeth only raised an eyebrow at the girl, SAFE, what's a SAFE?!
Jack shook his head and sighed. Then, the young man motioned for her to follow him. Jack could swear she thought to kill him the first chance she got if the daggers he could feel on his back told him anything. There was a time when that would have been enough to send me into a stammering mess. Jack thought, I wonder how she'd handle Airachnid if the old stories are true. Jack smiled and laughed softly at the thought.
"What's so hilarious, Jack?"
The demigod shook his head. Part of him wanted to tell her of the twice-fought pain in his aft that seemed to take an unnatural liking to him, but he ultimately decided against it. He wanted to test Annabeth's capabilities, and if he threw her off balance with something like the giant Spider-con, the child of Athena wouldn't perform at her best. "Nothing," he said calmly. "You just remind me of someone I know from school."
When Jack got to the door, Arcee was waiting for him and Annabeth in front of a Cybertronian-sized nodded to him and seemed to have the trace of a smile on her face. Jack could almost read the femme like a book. The smallest Autobot of Team Prime hated pride with a passion. Pride offlined Cliffjumper, after all. She gave him an odd series of gestures with one servo while the other opened the door. Jack blinked and suppressed a laugh as his mind easily translated the Cybertronian Sign Language.
"Kick her aft into the ground."
Jack nodded as he and Annabeth walked into what seemed to be a large blank room. When Arcee put a pede onto the plain white-tile floor, the room glowed for a moment with light before a large holographic control panel appeared at Arcee's level. A quick glance at the glyphs told him she could change nearly anything about the room to her liking. He also noticed Arcee calibrated such changes to be scaled to Human combatants rather than the usual sizes. "Alright, Arcee, surprise me."
Two tiles glowed on the floor at Jack's words: one, the tile he currently occupied, blue while the other blazed red. Annabeth took the red light as a cue and stood on the indicated tile. Above the combatants' heads, glyphs appeared and marked Jack and Annabeth as "Combatant One" and "Combatant Two" in Cybertronian script. Then, a countdown began. 3…2…1
Annabeth pulled her knife and smiled . Then, she sprinted at Jack to close the distance as quickly as possible. Jack responded with a grab for the knife. When he twisted it out of her hand with a quick motion, Annabeth momentarily looked anguished before pain turned to anger. At the start of the fight, various platforms began moving in predictable patterns above Annabeth and Jack. With a foot to Jack's ankle, the daughter of Athena picked up her weapon and began scaling the levitating bricks two at a time.
If I can stay above him, Annabeth thought. I can stay away from his sword and attack from the height advantage when the time is right. A part of her brain recalled Arcee's blasters and briefly wondered if Jack had access to similar weapons in his body. No, shereasoned. The power demands on his body would be too great.
Jack closed his optics and listened. Part of him fought not to be dragged back to the forest with Airachnid on him when he did. Instead, the young man focused beyond his mind to his senses and fixed his awareness there. Jack could hear his breathing. It wasn't hard, but the breaths were fast. Outside of his own breathing, Jack could also hear the soft impact of Annabeth's shoes as she leapt from block to block to gain an advantage of some form. Then, it hit him. She doesn't usually train with opponents who have ranged weapons! He thought back to his brief time at Camp Half-Blood. The archery range didn't have the capability to simulate moving targets, and Annabeth's pride wouldn't allow for her to train with any weapon other than her dagger.
With an effort, Jack slowed his breathing and readied his blaster. The distinctive sound of his T-Cog drew Annabeth's head to look towards him in confusion. Unaware of the unexpected distraction the sound provided, Jack waited for Annabeth to jump again. When she landed, he fired at the block under her.
The explosion of hardlight didn't give Annabeth much added momentum, but it did disorient her and send her tumbling towards the floor. When the daughter of Athena did find her bearings, she tucked and began to roll when she hit the floor. The blonde spun on Jack with a glare, her knife still held tight in her grip. "What the Hades was that?!"
Jack smirked, "I told you we were fighting," Jack said with a grin. "I just forgot to mention how." The former grin quickly turned sour. "You really need to train with more than just a simple combat knife if you're going to be worth anything in a fight, especially with Cons." Jack sighed, "Arcee?"
The blue two-wheeler walked up to the pair and regarded both with a blank expression. "Blondie, you're too rigid," the femme critiqued. "I bet you're not used to people having a better plan than you. It's 'your way or the highway', as Humans say. That mindset gets comrades…" Arcee's vocalizer faltered at thoughts of her old partner and friend. "…killed." Arcee turned her gaze to Jack. "That was a foolish move, Jack. If she'd been much higher, I don't care if her carrier is Solus Prime. There would be no putting her back together. Check your targets." Arcee thought better than to mention Jack's panic attack or the fact he could have lost easily if Annabeth, ironically, was wiser when it came to her plans. Then, to take some of the sting out, Arcee added, "All in all, you did good, Smooth Operator."
Jack blinked. His seemingly inmate grasp of Cybertronian terms thanks to his Sire and his understanding of English confused him into a standstill at that moment as Arcee walked back out to the main room. In English, "smooth operator" meant a person who knew what they were doing with regards to a skill, usually in relation to a vehicle or machine. The Cybertronian understanding of the phrase bore a decidedly more adult meaning: a Cybertronian skilled with foreplay.
Annabeth nudged Jack out of his stupor and looked at him with a hint of confusion and irritation. "Why are you blushing? What was that about?"
Jack just shook his head and walked back to the main room. By the burning smelters in The Pit, I am not telling you! Jack felt his cheeks burn even hotter at the thought, and also felt his tiny fan motors kick in at the same time. Once out of earshot for Annabeth, Jack sighed and muttered, "My relationship with Arcee just became infinitely more complicated."