Welcome back. Time for the next chapter. Sorry for the delay but this chapter took some time to right. Little heads up, this chapter and the next two will be happening almost simultaneously. Somewhat like how the episodes about the hunt for the Cybertronian relics all happened at the same time. We also get our first new Maximal in this chapter so, enjoy.
Optimus called a meeting two days after the Maximals' nightmares began. "We have reports of Decepticon activity in three different locations." Ultra Magnus began. Pointing to three locations lit up on the map behind him.
Agent Fowler picked up from there. "We have their locations down to a temple in Brazil near the Amazon River." He said, pointing to a dot in South America. "Scotland near the Hebrides Bluffs." He pointed to the dot in Europe before pointing to the closest one. "And finally, in New Mexico near Carlsbad Caverns."
Ultra Magnus picked back up from where he left off. "We know those locations don't have any Energon deposits. That said, we need to figure out what it is they're after, and if possible, retrieve it ourselves. Any questions?" He looked out at the assembled Autobots, Maximals, and humans.
Jack raised a hand and Magnus nodded to him. "Is it possible that they could be looking for more artifacts from Cybertron? Or maybe other Decepticons in stasis like Skyquake was?
Magnus shook his head. "The artifacts we recovered are the only ones that were left unaccounted for in the Archives. And as to Skyquake, our files on Decepticon troop placement show he was the only con stationed on this planet."
Miko put her hand up and he nodded to her. "How are we dividing up, and when do we leave?" She was itching to get back out there. Mostly because aside from her nightmares, she was going stir crazy being cooped up on the base for a week.
Optimus took over from there. "We leave as soon as possible. The teams will be Arcee, Smokescreen and Jackson going to the New Mexico location. Second, Wheeljack, Bulkhead, and Miko will be heading to Scotland. Finally, Bumblebee, Ultra Magnus, and Rafael will be heading to the South American temple. Ratchet will be working the ground bridge and I will be on standby if backup is needed."
Optimus took another breath. "Given that this is their first official mission; I want at least one Autobot to be with their teams assigned Maximal at all times." Jack and Raf nodded readily. Miko pouted a bit before nodding as well. "Very well, transform and roll out."
Jack pulled Miko aside on their way out of the room. "Please stay close to them. I need you to come back safely." He planted a chaste kiss on her lips. Blushing she wrapped her arms around Jacks' middle. "Only if you do the same, I don't wanna lose my favorite pillow." She joked.
Jack blushed. The three had taken to napping near each other the last couple days to make up for the nightmares. Being closer to each other seemed to make sleeping easier. Somehow though, Miko always ended up curled up next to him, her head in his mane. Not that he minded. Although apparently whenever she did that, he would start to purr, much to his embarrassment and her amusement.
June came up to the two with Raf in tow. "I want all three of you to come back safely." She said looking up at her kids. She was understandably worried. Despite Optimus' reassurances, she was afraid that she might lose one or all of them. And after last time, it was a possibility that, terrified her beyond belief.
Jack knelt down and looked at her. "Don't worry mom, we will". Miko followed suit. "For your sake, as well as each other's." With that they got back up and walked to where the space bridge was set up.
After splitting up into their respective groups Ratchet fired up the space bridge. "Alright, each bridge will put you a few miles east of your target. Amazon team up first." He called. Ultra Magnus, Raf, and Bumblebee transformed and went through the portal.
Ratchet adjust for the new coordinates and turned it on again. "Scotland team, go now." The three Wreckers transformed. "Hang on to your kilts boys." Miko called as she flew through the portal, the others hot on her heels.
Ratchet fired up the space bridge for the third time as Arcee, Smokescreen, and Jack transformed. "New Mexico team, roll out." Arcee and Smokescreen raced toward the gate with Jack bounding just behind them. Jack saw his mother step up next to the monitor as he was running through the bridge.
Clearing the bridge into the New Mexico desert, he bounded up to Arcee and Smokescreen. They had transformed and were checking their coordinates against a holo-map. "Alright, the cons' operation is three miles that way, like Ratchet said." She said pointing to a distant mesa on her right. "Smokescreen, stay close to Jack for now. Let's roll." With that they transformed back and took off towards the mesa at full speed.
Almost immediately Jack noticed a problem. Despite the hydraulics in his legs, he was falling behind the Autobots. His paws were pounding the ground as fast as he could but he couldn't catch up. Letting out a frustrated sigh, and wishing he could go faster, he was about to call out to them when he felt a shift in his neck under his mane.
Five small rocket engines protruded from his mane and ignited. Rocketing forward he blurred past Arcee and Smokescreen with the mesa coming up fast. "Stop, stop, STOP!" He yelled frantically. At his panicked shout the engines shut down and retracted into his mane. The sudden loss of thrust caused him to misstep and tumble until he was barely a quarter mile from the mesa.
Shakily he got back up on his legs. Arcee was speeding towards him with Smokescreen following close behind. "You okay partner?" She called as they caught up to him. Transforming back into robot mode he gave her the thumbs up. Flipping into robot mode she checked him over. "What happened, you rushed right by us."
Jack shook his head. "I saw I was falling behind and was about to call out to you." Thinking about it a second it hit him. "I wanted to go faster so I could catch up and these rockets came out of my mane near my neck." Rubbing at the aforementioned area he couldn't find a trace of the engines. "They fired and I barely got them to stop before I hit the rocks."
Smokescreen cocked his head. "Sounds like you might have some extras in your body. I knew a bot named Tracks who could fly while in his car mode." He gave a sad smile. He had no idea what became of his friend.
At Jacks' curious look Arcee took over. "Some bots have additional abilities that have little to nothing to do with what they turn into. On Cybertron they were called outliers." Double checking their position, she shook her head. "I'll tell you more later when we get back, we need to continue the mission. We'd best go the rest of the way on foot. Smokescreen stay here and close to Jack; I'll do some recon." With that she crept along the edge of the mesa, leaving them alone.
After a few moments of silence Jack spoke up again. "Are you okay Smokescreen? You seem a bit off lately." While the last time he'd interacted with the young Autobot had been when they messed with Vinces' car (Something else he felt guilty about now) he didn't seem to be broody like he was this past week.
Smokescreen shifted a little. Trying his best to voice what he'd been feeling. "Have you ever had the possibility of greatness given to you, only to turn it down?" Jack had a curious look so he continued. "After the base had been destroyed, Optimus and I were trapped underground. He was hurt badly and dying from his injuries."
Jack gave a gasp. The thought of the Autobot leader dying was a horrible thought. Looking up at Smokescreen he asked. "So how did he go from dying, to rescuing us from Darkmount?"
Looking off into the distance, Smokescreen collected his thoughts. "When we were trapped and Optimus felt his end was near." He took a deep breath. "He named me the next Prime." Jacks' eyes widened at the Autobot. "He asked me to use Solus Primes' Forge Hammer to restore the Omega Lock, and by extension, Cybertron."
He sat down with his back against the mesa. "Instead, I used what little power that was left in the forge hammer to resurrect and upgrade Optimus into his new form. I guess it's stupid, but I think I'm wondering about the road not taken. Wondering if." He was cut off when Jack put both hands on his shoulder and looked him square in the optic.
"Smokescreen." He began. "I don't think you realize just how bad our assault on Darkmount went. All of us were captured and moments away from execution when Optimus arrived. You may have given up your chance to become a Prime, but in doing so, you saved all our lives, and for that, I can never thank you enough."
Jack took a breath. "I guess we're similar that way. Before you arrived, Optimus lost his memories of his time as a Prime." This time it was Smokescreens' turn to gasp. "I was sent with Arcee to Cybertron to get his memory from Vector Sigma beneath Kaon. I downloaded a copy of his memory and restored him. In a way, we both saved Optimus and, by extension, the Autobots as a whole."
Smokescreen looked at the Maximal in front of him. He could see the parallels between the two events. Although Jack didn't have the chance to be a Prime, he held something just as vital. Their musings were cut short as Arcee returned.
"Alright they're in a cavern on the other side of the mesa" She reported. "There was only one guard, stay close and follow me." Getting up and following her they found one Vehicon guarding the entrance to the cavern. One low power blast to the back of their head put him down for the count. Sneaking past him they entered the cavern.
Once out of direct sight of the entrance, Jack felt nervous. Being in here was a little too similar to the last time he was underground. When He, Arcee, Bulkhead, and Miko had entered that abandoned mine. The ensuing cave-in had made him a little claustrophobic in regards to being underground. He began taking controlling breaths to calm himself.
Apparently, his increased breathing had been noticed. "You doing okay back there Leobolt?" Smokescreen whispered over his shoulder. Jack raised an eyebrow. Leobolt?
"Sorry, I figured with your beast mode and how you bolted over here it would be a fitting codename. Sounds better than just calling you Jack in the field." Smokescreen explained.
Before Jack could reply Arcee cut in. "I think that'll work when we're in the field. But please be quiet, I hear something up ahead." Rounding the corner, they came upon what looked like a mining operation. There were several Vehicons digging around the cavern, though there wasn't a shard of energon in sight, dispelling that possibility.
His musings were cut off at the sound of a couple of voices. "I'm telling you Starscream, if we can get Waspinator and Shockwave on our side, we could overthrow Megatron easily." Came a raspy sounding voice that none of them could identify. Peeking out from the tunnel they saw Starscream observing the operation from an outcropping to the right, talking with a purple and red bot they'd never seen before.
"Forget it Terrorsaur, last time I tried to take over I lost almost everything." Starscream replied to the bot. "If a good possibility arises, I'll consider it, but I'm not about to rock the ship now." Starscream shuddered. He hated the fact that this Predacon reminded him so much of himself. He also hated the amount of truth in his statement. Between having to work with humans, Autobots, and ultimately losing his T-cog, he was willing to play loyal soldier for the time being.
Terrorsaur sighed and leaned against the stasis pod holding the techno organic experiment they'd brought with them. He thought that Starscream would be willing to go through with his plan. As often as he tried to undermine Megatron, it had surprised him to be rebuffed.
The two were interrupted by a Vehicon holding what looked like a rib bone. "Ah, here's what we're after." Starscream smirked holding the bone. After two hours of digging, it was nice to actually have something to show for it. Besides listening to Terrorsaurs' convoluted mess of a plan was almost as bad as sparring with Megatron. At least his plans had some reason and logic to them. Terrorsaurs' were just a few longshots that were meshed together hoping for the best.
Terrorsaur gave a scoff of disbelief. "Shockwave is really going to make more Predacons with that? You'd think the three of us and the original one would be enough." He exclaimed holding his hands up.
"You know Shockwave, always tinkering." Starscream replied. Despite his cold demeanor, he could appreciate Shockwaves' work.
Arcee looked at Smokescreen and Leobolt. "Alright." She whispered. "Our new objective is to retrieve that fossil, and get out of here so we can bridge back to base. The bedrock of these caverns makes bridging directly almost impossible." They both nodded, all three deploying their weapons. "Alright, you two start with the Vehicons, I'll go for Starscream and the fossil. GO!"
Bursting from their hiding place they took the Vehicons by surprise. Within the first five seconds Smokescreen had put down four of the fifteen bot contingent. Leobolt, using his whip, took out an additional two. Arcee took out and additional three on her way to Starscream and Terrorsaur.
The remaining six bots opened fire hoping to take out at least one of them and provide a distraction. Putting their focus on Smokescreen and Leobolt Arcee was able to leap to where the Decepticon and Predacon stood next to a stasis pod. "Starscream." Arcee grit, glaring at the con. "You have a lot to answer for." Visions of Cliffjumpers' death and the memory of his scheme with the red energon that led to the battle for the Omega Lock, and ultimately the kids' current bodies.
"Maybe." Starscream returned. "But today isn't my day of reckoning. Terrorsaur!" He signaled to the Predacon. Said bot deployed his blades and igniting them, he swung at Arcee who dodged. Starscream tossed a small remote to Terrorsaur. "Keep them off me until I get to the cavern entrance. Afterward, release the experiment and get out."
Terrorsaur nodded and swung at her again. "Todays special, fire roasted two-wheeler." He taunted. Arcee fired a shot that Terrorsaur sidestepped as Starscream flipped into his jet mode and flew towards the tunnel entrance. Arcee turned to follow but was hit with a burning slash across her lower back, catching her off guard. Turning around to return fire she realized that Terrorsaur was too close for her to safely fire, or switch to her blades before he could strike again. Smirking he charged forward swords first, forcing her to use her blasters to catch the burning blades.
"You know." Terrorsaur began, putting more strength into his arms to force Arcee a step back. "I really should thank you. If your team hadn't used the spark extractor, I wouldn't have been yanked from my old drone body." He put some more force into the blades, forcing her back to the edge of the outcropping. "Then Shockwave wouldn't have created this new body for me to inhabit. So, that said, I say thank you, and au revoir." On the last word he kicked her in the abdomen, sending her into the fracas below.
While the three had been talking. Leobolt and Smokescreen were taking care of the remaining Vehicons that had come with Starscream and Terrorsaur. Smokescreen took out three by ducking around and firing when one would stand to take a shot. Leobolt had gotten one with his whip, and taken out the other two by using his teeth and claws as a lion.
Any congratulations were interrupted when Arcee dropped to the ground between the two. Looking up they saw Terrorsaur transform into his beast mode. "Is that a Pterodactyl?" Leobolt asked. The second the question left his mouth the Predacon dive bombed the group, forcing the mechs do duck to the ground near Arcee.
For the next minute anytime either Autobot or Maximal tried to rise, Terrorsaur was right on them. Slashing with his razor-sharp wings, claws, and beak he'd keep the trio pinned. A time or two one would get a shot off. The first missed and the second one brought a stalactite down near them. Terrorsaur laughed as he continued his assault.
His fun was interrupted when his comms went off. "Terrorsaur, I'm out. Release the experiment and join me at the entrance for extraction." Smirking as much as his beast modes' beak would allow, he held the remote in one of his claws. "So long, suckers." He called out, pushing the button. The stasis pod on the outcropping opened, releasing a cloud of steam, giving Terrorsaur enough time to switch to his jet mode and rocket out the tunnel to the cavern entrance, and ultimately, the space bridge.
Looking up at the stasis pod, the steam cleared revealing the monstrosity inside it. It was bipedal with reddish brown fur. It stood about the same height as Leobolt but looked very little like him. Its legs were short and seemed to be a protoform grey, though it's long torso and longer clawed arms more than made up for it. A metallic red spine similar to Leobolts' blue one ran up its' spine, curving around at the shoulders to form some kind of armor around the chest.
From just under its' arms to about midway down its' torso was what looked like loose skin. And from a somewhat elongated neck was a human head with pointed ears and long reddish bangs coming down to its right eye. It looked like someone had tried to fuse a human, Cybertronian, and a bat, and failed miserably. Leobolt narrowed his eyes to get a closer look before they widened in shock. "Vince?"
Vince Raider awoke in pain. He was trapped in a body that wasn't his own because of that strange purple cyclops. None of his insides felt right and he was hunched over because his legs had become so short. His hearing had gone haywire and even the slightest noises were amplified to an almost painful level.
Looking around he saw he was in an underground cave that had a bunch of those alien robots lying in broken heaps. He winced at the sound of his name; the near whisper was almost as bad as an air horn to his face. Looking towards the source he saw three more alien robots looking at him. It was the shorter one in the middle that caught his attention though. The blue and grayish white color seemed familiar, but taking a closer look at the face, he made the connection. "Darby!"
With that exclamation, a hot rage took over from there. Maybe it was the pain and trauma guiding him, or maybe it was the fact his old friend was in a similar state without pain, but in his mind, Darby was the cause for his current predicament. He leapt down from his place on the outcropping, attempting to slash him with his claws. The trio scattered and his claws smashed through a stalagmite.
Looking at the enraged hybrid the three regrouped behind it. Arcee looked at Leobolt. "Did you say Vince? As in your old bully that went missing Vince?" Arcee was shocked that their theory turned out to be true, even more so at what Shockwave had done to the human. Bully or not no one deserved that.
"Looks like it." Leobolt replied, looking at his childhood friend turned bully. "I can't believe he got turned into something like that when Miko, Raf and I were." Something occurred to him. "I think the cons tried to recreate us." He nodded at the hybrid who'd just freed his claws. "And this was the end result."
Smokescreen and Arcee looked at each other. "I'm' sorry to say this, Jack." She said switching back to his real name for the sensitive subject. "But we may have to put him down." She and Smokescreen deployed their guns as Jack held up his hands.
"Hold on, what if we try to get him back into that pod up there and take him back with us. Maybe we can find a way to help him." Jack hoped. Despite everything that had happened between them, he still hoped he could help his friend.
The two Autobots shared another look before nodding. "Alright partner, we'll try it your way. For both your sakes." Arcee replied. She was immediately blasted off her feet by a concussive sound wave.
Looking at Vince, Smokescreen and Jack stood in front of Arcee as she shakily got back up, audio receptors ringing. Vince leapt at the trio, trying again to sink his claws into Leobolt. He'd worry about the other two later. Smokescreen stepped in front of them to try and catch the hybrid mid leap but was surprised when he felt a sharp pain in his neck and a sudden weakness.
Arcee and Leobolt looked on in horror as Vince sank his fangs into Smokescreens' neck and watched him fall to his knees. Vince disengaged from the Autobot leaving him to fall to the ground with a weak groan. Closer inspection saw that Vince now had energon dripping from his maw.
Taking in a deep breath Vince let loose a scream that generated another concussive sound blast, the absorbed energon strengthening it. The two leapt apart as the blast passed by. Leobolt wrapped his whip around a stalagmite and retracted it, slamming feet first into Vinces' middle.
This turned out to be a mistake. Vince let loose a scream of pain that hit the base of the outcropping the stasis pod was on. The entire thing fell to the cavern floor, shattering amongst the off lined Vehicons, damaging the pod beyond their ability to repair. This also had the misfortune of causing a cave in. Grabbing Smokescreen, Arcee dragged him to the tunnel entrance, hoping to get out of the way of the falling rocks.
When the dust settled part of the cavern had collapsed. There was no sign of Leobolt or Vince. Dread welled up in Arcees' spark. "No, please Primus no, not again." She whispered to herself as she ran back in to search. She didn't think she could take the loss of a third partner. "Partner, Leobolt, JACK!" A low groan answered back.
Leaping over a fallen stalactite she found Leobolt sitting against the cavern wall breathing heavily. Looking to her right she saw that Vince was pinned under some of the rubble. She deployed one of her guns. Vince looked up at her as she stood in front of Leobolt. "Kill me. Don't wanna, hurt anymore. Please, kill me."
This request unsettled Arcee deeply. She'd done a few mercy killings for soldiers who would've suffered unnecessarily otherwise. Mostly bots that would've died cycles before ever seeing a medic or operating room. This though, this was a human turned hybrid like Jack. Despite him being in pain, she wasn't sure she could pull the trigger.
Ultimately, she was spared having to make that decision when Leobolt got up and walked over to Vince. Using both hands he lifted the debris enough to free Vinces lower legs, allowing him to crawl out using his arms. Both looked at Leobolt, whose eyes had an ethereal white glow to them.
"Vincent Raider." Jack began though it wasn't his voice, it sounded like many voices at once. "I know you are in pain. The scarred ones' manipulations prevented me from completing your transformation and freeing the three of you as I did the others. I am Vector Sigma."
Arcees' optics widened. She hadn't been sure what to think at Jacks' revelations from the ancient supercomputer. Something else occurred to her. Who was the scarred one? She had so many questions to ask but Jack had started talking again.
A white light shot from Jacks' eyes to Vinces, stopping the pain. "Using this ones' body as a conduit, I shall heal you and complete your transformation." A bright red light flared from within Vinces' chest and his body began to glow and shift. "With this new body will come new challenges, but all you need to remember is that you must be at peace with the warrior within, to tame the beast without."
The red light faded as the white light retracted into Jacks' eyes. Standing there was a brown and metallic red bat about six feet high with what appeared to be a twenty-foot wingspan. The metallic spine and chest platting remained, as did the reddish-brown fur. His legs, while still stunted were covered in red plating along the thighs with the lower legs looking like a regular bat.
His arms had changed into three fingered bat wings with the skin having the same metallic sheen as his mechanical components. His ears had the metallic alloy with little red pulsing ribbons of circuitry, although it served to bring his hearing down to a more normal level. Finally, his bat snout ended with the same coloration.
"Go forth now Vince Raider and know that you are transformed." With that the white glow left Jacks' eyes, as did most of his strength. Transforming back into lion mode Jack promptly collapsed. Arcee retracted her guns and went over to him. "I'm fine Arcee, just a little weak. Didn't know Vector Sigma could do that."
Vince looked at his new body in shock. There was no pain whatsoever, and his senses were still amplified but now controllable. He looked over at the lion that was now Jack. Despite their falling out after his father died, all the abuse he'd put him through, not to mention going through something like what he had just gone through himself, he still helped him.
Awkwardly, due to both his current emotions and subby legs, he walked over to the two. Arcee narrowed her optics at the bat that had, until a few minutes ago, been trying to kill her and her partners. "Dar-Jack." Vince began. There was an awkward moment of silence. "I'm sorry." It was a lame apology, and he knew it.
"Thank you, Vincent. I'm sure that makes up for all the years of bullying." Arcee replied with venom in her voice. Arcee was cut off from any further tirade by Jack.
"Enough Cee." He turned to Vince. "I just have to know Vince, why, we used to be best friends until your dad died. I could understand acting out, but."
Vince had been tearing up and finally let loose. "I was jealous alright!" He yelled at a surprisingly high level. "You may have had your mom. But when my dad died, I lost the only one of my parents who gave a damn."
Jacks' eyes widened but Vince plowed on. "My mom never hesitated to tell me she never wanted me, especially when she was dinking. Dad, he was always there for me, to tell me he loved me. After he died, I thought maybe mom would get her lips off the bottle and be a mother, but she just got worse." He took a couple of shaky breaths. "In the end, I took out my frustrations on you. It wasn't right, and I'm sorry." Vince finished.
Jack was stunned. He never really interacted with Vinces' mother before. She was usually sleeping when he'd visit but he just assumed she worked night shifts somewhere like his mother sometimes did at the hospital. Actually, a lot of his behavior was making sense now.
Arcee was stunned too. She'd never had the chance to care for sparklings but she knew she could never truly hate them. At first, she thought Vince was just making excuses, but the emotion was too real. It seemed like Rung might have another patient when he arrived.
Jack heaved himself up and walked over to Vince, looking him in the eye. "I wish you'd told me or my mom Vince. We'd have been there for you if you needed it." He lifted a paw and put a foreleg around Vinces' shoulder. "Apology accepted." Stunned, Vince wrapped a wing around Jacks' Shoulders. A quiet "Thank you." echoing in the cavern.
A few moments later Arcee spoke up. "Okay boys, we need to get back to base." The two Maximals let go of each other and followed her back to the tunnel where she'd left Smokescreen. The bot in question was beginning to stir.
"Arcee, Leobolt, what." He cut himself off at the sight of the new Maximal. There was only one other person in the cavern, but he had to be sure. "Is that who I think it is?" He asked.
Arcee nodded. "Yeah, that's Vince. Jack and Vector Sigma gave him a bit of a makeover." She nodded to the nervous looking bat bot. "He's fine now and coming back to base with us." She finished to the stunned young Autobot. Arcee gave a nod towards the tunnel entrance, and they began their way back to the exit, Jack and Vince trailing behind them a bit.
Vince looked at Jack. "By the way, Leobolt?" He'd never heard Jack called that before.
Jack nodded. "Apparently it's my new nickname when I'm in the field. Any other time, I'm just Jack." He motioned to Smokescreen with his nose. "He gave it to me after I bolted past them in lion mode on the way here."
Upon reaching the entrance Arcee called up Ratchet. "Ratchet, requesting a bridge back to base." She paused a moment. "And we're bringing someone with us." She finished, giving a nod to Vince who gave a small smile back.
Ratchets' exasperated reply came a moment later. "Another one! For the love of. Alright, one bridge coming up but be warned, it's a bit of a circus here right now." A second later the spacebridge swirled into existence in front of them. The foursome looked at each other. What was happening at base? They'd only been gone a little less than an hour.
Stepping through the bridge they found the room to be in full disarray. Raf was trying to calm what looked like a cross between a femme and a horse as Ratchet tried to do a medical scan. Vines were growing all around the room from a human shaped bulb in a corner of the room. Miko and Wheeljack were currently trying to keep the vines from spreading too close to the space bridge controls with their swords, and in the middle of the room Ultra Magnus and Bulkhead were trying to debrief Optimus.
Miko looked up from their cutting and smiled at them. "Glad to see you back safe Jackrabbit. As you can see, we have a bit of a situation." She turned to look at the stunned group. Noting Vince, she called to Bulkhead. They have the last one, that's all three accounted for!" She yelled.
The newly arrived foursome looked at each other. Just what the hell happened here?