Alright guys it's time for one of my favorite episodes. I like how it's more centered on the kids. Jessica hasn't had much of a chance to interact with the kids since she was rescued from the Decepticons so here's her chance! Hope you guys enjoy the chapter!
Disclaimer: Nope. I still don't have the rights to the Transformers Universe. I'm just visiting.
Chapter Fifteen:
A week had passed since my parents were taken from me by the Decepticons. I couldn't go to the funeral, for obvious reasons, but the Autobots had a memorial session for me. I was grateful that they were willing to do that for me. It reminded me that I wasn't the only one who thought of them as family, they thought I was too.
Cliffjumper stayed by my side during the whole thing. Special Agent Fowler, who was released from the hospital with just a concussion and a couple bumps and bruises, attended as well and did most of the talking. I wrote some words and he said them for me.
Each of the kids spoke a couple words too. They had all met my parents at least a few times since meeting the Autobots. I invited them over for dinner several times. All of them said the same things, that my parents made them feel welcomed and loved in our home. Mom and dad had been good at that.
The service ended with Optimus speaking. "I never met your parents, Jessica, but I know they were good people. If someone could raise a daughter as honorable and true as you, then I know they have a pure heart. They may be gone from this world, but I know they will forever live on in your memories and in your heart. You are surrounded by people who love you and we will be here for you until the end of time. You are strong, Jessica, and I know that they would be very proud of you."
Optimus's words had me tearing up.
That had happened two days ago. It was a Saturday afternoon and all three of the children were visiting. I sat next to Miko on the couch. She was drawing a picture and I was scrolling through my phone bored. I could hear Jack and Raf talking, but I wasn't sure what about.
The bots were all around in the base, doing who knows what. I knew Ratchet was messing around on the computer and that Optimus was near him but that was it. They were probably training or something. Which, speaking of training, I really needed to get into the habit of doing that again. I knew Cliff was giving me a break after all the emotional turmoil I've dealt with in the past couple weeks, but I needed that outlet again. I'll have to bring it up to him.
I also really needed to talk to Ratchet about resuming our training as well. Despite me telling him we couldn't ever be together, things between us were actually good. There was some slight awkwardness the first day, but I think both of us were determined to stay friends. So now we settled into a pretty steady friendship.
However, I was nervous about asking him. I didn't think he would say no but I was still scared. I was happy having his friendship back and I didn't want anything to ruin that. Now that he knew about my past, we had sort of an understanding. Really, I was just overthinking it all.
Man up and ask him, Jessica.
I just myself off the couch and walked over to the railing in front of the computer. "Hey Ratchet, can I ask you something?" I inquired nervously.
Ratchet smiled encouragingly. "Of course, Jessica. You can ask me anything."
"Heh, okay. Um… I was just, you know, wondering if… if maybe, we could, um-" I took a deep breath. "I was wondering i-if we could start our lessons up again? I miss learning about Cybertronians from you. The Allspark tells me a lot, but I don't understand most of it. I need a teacher and you're the best one I've ever had."
The medic grinned and I noticed the relieved gleam in his optics. "I was wondering when you would ask me. Yes, I think that would be acceptable." Ratchet paused before smiling tenderly. "I've missed our lessons as well."
My cheeks heated up and I looked away. I tried to ignore the butterflies in my stomach. I really needed to learn how to control my emotions. If I was going to keep things platonic between us, I really couldn't get all mushy any time he said something remotely flattering to me. It would just make all of this even more difficult.
Before I could get a chance to reply, the computer dinged. Ratchet turned to it and then frowned when he saw the result. "I had hoped that my growing expertise on the subject would remain purely academic, but though faint, this is clearly a dark energon signal. And it's moving fast." He informed Optimus.
"Megatron." Optimus concluded.
"Well he certainly works fast, doesn't he? Only been a week since his resurrection and already he's causing trouble. The question is, though, where could he have found more dark energon?" I wondered out loud.
"And what's he going to do with it, recruit a new army of the undead?" Bulkhead asked as he, Arcee, Cliff, the twins and Bee approached. Miko dropped her picture and looked up curiously. "Zombiecon." She whispered in awe. I looked at her suspiciously. Hopefully she wasn't going to do something stupid. I knew the bots were going to go check out the signal and I feared that she would follow them.
"We cannot rule out the possibility. Opinion?" Optimus looked around at everyone gathered, myself included. Ratchet thought it seemed so considering he was heading towards the site of Skyquake's death. "Megatron has barely emerged from stasis and it seems he's already making up for lost time. Bumblebee, Cliffjumper, Bulkhead, Sideswipe, Sunstreaker, and Ratchet, prepare to roll out." Optimus commanded.
Ratchet looked surprised to be included. "Me?"
"If we are dealing with dark energon, I may require your abilities. Arcee-" Optimus began but Arcee understood what he wanted. "Groundbridge operator. Got it." She turned to the screen and activated the bridge.
I walked over to Jack and Raf. Both of them were giving Miko suspicious looks, I wasn't the only one who expected her to do something stupid. The Autobots disappeared through the groundbridge. As soon as they did, she jumped up and bolted. "Crap!" I muttered when Jack and Raf took off after her.
Logically, I knew I shouldn't go as well. I was a target and I knew if Megatron saw me, he would snatch me up faster than I could say banana. But my instinct to protect the kids overthrew my common sense and I quickly chased after them as well. I knew Cliff and Ratchet were both going to lecture me for this. I saw Jack grab Miko's arm, but she jerked out of it. I saw something fly from her pocket but before I could register what it was, we were on the other side.
"Miko, what the hell!" I growled as we chased her up some rocks. She was frantically patting herself, looking for something. "My phone! I must of dropped it back at base." She panicked and I rolled my eyes.
"Well, let's head back there then." I suggested but when I turned around, I saw that the groundbridge had disappeared. "Scrap."
I looked over to see the bots kicking Starscream's ass. Well, at least Megatron wasn't actually here. I still didn't want to be near Screamer though. He was the reason I was kidnapped in the first place. He was an arm short though so I felt slightly satisfied by that. That's what you get, fragger.
"I can't believe you made me lose my phone!" Miko suddenly shouted, getting the attention of the bots. Jack asked how it was his fault, but my attention was on my angry looking guardian.
"Jessica, what the frag are you doing here?" He growled while Ratchet called for a groundbridge. Both of them looked pretty disappointed and mad at me. I shrugged my shoulders guiltily. "I was afraid that Miko would get herself into trouble, so I followed her." I replied but even I thought that excuse sounded weak.
Ratchet growled. "So you put yourself in danger? Into the groundbridge, all of you, NOW!" He yelled.
The four of us quickly scampered towards the open groundbridge. I noticed that the Decepticon one was opened as well and it was causing some kind of weird reaction. I didn't think much about it and followed my friends in. Then something weird happened. The portal was shaky on the inside and it kind of exploded around us. When the smoke cleared, we were in the same spot as before.
"Is everyone okay?" I asked as I stood up and brushed the dirt off me. Everyone told me they were fine. I looked over at the bots. "What happened?" Bulkhead asked the others.
"I can't be certain, but if two groundbridges sent to the same coordinates crossed streams, the feedback could cause a system overload." Ratchet replied. Could, more like totally did! Miko thought so as well and said as much. Then Bulkhead asked something that confused the four of us, he asked if we made it through.
"Wait, what? We're right here!" I shouted, waving my arms to get their attention. The other three were just as confused as I was.
Optimus then called Arcee on the comm system. "Arcee, did the children make it safely back to base?" She replied that we were not and asked if they could see us. But for some reason, they could not! I looked over at my guardian and ran to his feet. "Cliff, I'm right here! Hello!" I shouted up at him. Cliff then stepped forward and I screamed as he foot came right at me. But, to my surprise, it went right through me.
"What the hell!" I yelped. "He just went right through me!"
"We're not alive." Jack gulped, but that didn't make sense to me. If I had some kind of destiny planned out, why would I be dead already? "I don't want to be a ghost." Raf squeaked fearfully. I frowned and out a hand on his shoulder. To my surprise, I could touch him.
"Guys we can touch each other still! If we were ghost, we'd just go through one another like Cliff did to me." I realized though the information wasn't very helpful. It didn't explain how we got here nor what was going on. The bots began to walk away so we ran after them. They were heading towards the groundbridge. "No, don't go!"
"Ratchet, could Jessica and the children have been transported unto the nemesis instead?" Optimus asked but Ratchet shook his head. "Not likely. If Starscream didn't arrive at our base, the most likely explanation is a dislocation. Jessica and the children may simply have been bridged to an unintended destination." He explained.
"Another place, but the same place? What exactly does that mean?" I frowned and looked over at Raf. He was the smartest of us, if anyone had a theory, it was him. "We're probably in a different dimension, some sort of alternate reality, a shadowzone." Rafael replied, looking pretty freaked out by the possibility. Personally, I had always thought it would be cool to go to a different dimension. This wasn't exactly how I imagined it though.
"Nerd alert." Miko muttered and a shot her a dark look. "Now is not the time to joke around, Miko." I warned her.
"Look, Skyquake's tomb is empty." Optimus pointed out, much to everyone's horror. Bulkhead wondered how they'd missed him 'rising and shining' while Ratchet said that it seemed like Starscream got what he came for. "Another matter for another time. Right now our priority is locating Miko, Jack, Rafael, and Jessica." Optimus reminded them.
"And quickly. If the Decepticons pick up on Jessica's Allspark signal before us…" Ratchet trailed off, but I could see how terrified he and Cliffjumper both looked. Sunstreaker huffed. "Let's get to it then. Standing around here won't bring them back." He grumbled and the bots walked away once more. Suddenly we heard a loud roar. I exchanged looks with Jack and we turned to face the direction we'd heard it from.
A rusted hand appeared on the side of the mountain. Zombie Skyquake appeared and slowly took off after the bots. "Zombie!" Miko and I shouted at the same time while Jack yelled at the bots to look out. We ran after them, yelling for them to look behind them but of course the bots couldn't hear us. However, when Skyquake swiped at Bulkhead, he went right through the bot. The four of us froze. "Awesome, it can't touch them!" Miko cheered.
"Um, Miko… if Zombie dude can't touch them, that means he's in the Shadowzone too. And if he's in the Shadowzone…" I trailed off fearfully. The zombie turned to face us this time. "Then it can touch us."
"Then we're trapped in the Shadowzone with a Decepticon Zombie!" Raf squeaked. Miko gulped, her face pale with fear. "If we aren't ghosts now… we will be soon!" She muttered meekly.
The zombie stepped towards us. "RUN!" I screamed and we all took off.
We ran for about three minutes straight. Raf tripped at one point, but I picked him back up and pulled him behind a rock to hide with the others. "My glasses!" Raf exclaimed and I looked down to see they were missing from his face. I looked around the rock and saw they were laying where Raf had tripped.
The Con Zombie was also pretty close. "Shit." I muttered before taking a deep breath. "Wait here." I commanded and the three of them nodded. I then ran forward. The Zombie was standing above the glasses so I had to run beneath him. I ducked when he swung his arm at me and bent down to grab the glasses. Then I ran back to the others. "Let's go!"I shouted as I handed the glasses to Raf.
We ran off just as the zombie got to our hiding spot. "Maybe we can set a trap, try and crush it?" Miko suggested. Raf asked her with what, since nothing was solid but us and the ground. "We can't run forever, but we can hide!"
"Right now we need to focus on staying alive." I hissed and they were silent after that.
We ran for quite some time. I thanked Primus that, thanks to the Allspark, I had barely broken a sweat. I could ran for hours. The kids, however, were quickly getting tired. Soon enough, we needed to take a break. Since I couldn't see the zombie anymore, I suggested we rest for a minute. Raf sat down while Miko and Jack bent forward, their hands on their knees.
"How are you not out of breath?" Miko asked between gulps of breath. I smirked. "I'm the Allspark, remember? That run barely took my breath away." I replied and she rolled her eyes at me before saying, "The best thing about zombies, they're slow moving."
I blinked in surprise when we heard the sound of Jack's phone ringing. Then I winced in pain when my comm link started buzzing loudly in my ear. "Ow!" I yelped and quickly removed it while Jack tried to answer his phone. He couldn't hear anyone on the other end though. "Gee imagine that, the fourth dimension has lousy cell phone reception." Miko said sarcastically."
"Guys, guys, guys, the phone rang. We're getting a signal." Jack pointed out.
"Maybe the Autobots can't see us or hear us because we're moving at hyper speed or something." Raf guessed. I asked him if he thought they could read. "Texting!" He grinned and the two of us high fived.
Miko gasped. "Text me! If my phone's back at the base, maybe they'll see it!"
We all huddled around Jack as he attempted to write out a message. I looked over and saw that Zombie Skyquake had found us. "Uh Jack, can you text and run? We got company!" I gulped, drawing their attention to our uninvited guest. We barely managed to avoid his swipe as we ran under the Con and away.
XxRebelWriterxX
"Deja vu."
We had been running for a good ten minutes and Miko was the first to break the silence. Jack and I looked over at her confused. "What? We asked simultaneously. Miko looked exasperated when she replied. "Doesn't this look familiar to you?"
"Not really." Jack replied. I agreed with him mostly. "Honestly all of this looks the same time me. So…" I trailed off with a shrug.
"Dude we just ran one big circle!" Miko exclaimed. We all turned a corner and quickly came to a stop, nearly toppling one another. In front of us was an arm, Starscream's are to be exact.
"That's the first time I've seen that." I pointed at it. Miko looked at it in awe while Jack was surprised. "My guess is it got trapped in here during the explosion as well." Right after I said that, we heard a loud roar. That indicated that Skyquake was near.
"If it's solid, we can use it!" Jack reminded us. Everyone ran around it and tried to figure out how it worked. "We only have one shot, so we have to make it count."
We shot it right as Skyquake came around the corner. It exploded, kicking up the dust all around us. Everyone coughed and hid our faces, but we were hopeful that it took the zombie guy out. "How do you like us now!" Miko cheered. When the dust cleared, however, zombie Skyquake was still there. We only hit his arm.
"Probably not very much." I gulped in fear. The detached arm shot up and used it's fingers to run at us. "Shit! We gotta go! Run!" I screamed and we took off again.
"How can the zombie arm move faster than the actual zombie?" Miko screamed irritably. That was a good question. One that I didn't have an answer for. So I just shrugged. Jack mentioned that we couldn't keep this up for long. When we passed Starscream's arm again, Miko groaned. "This place is like one big merry-go-round!"
"Skyquake! You're master commands you!" The four of us skidded to a stop at the sound of a new voice. Starscream came into view and I groaned. Just what we needed, another Decepticon.
"How'd that freak get in our dimension?" Miko asked. However, Starscream hadn't even looked on our direction. Jack shook his head. "He didn't. He can't see us."
I noticed the zombie arm was approaching us once more. "Forget Starscream guys, we need to run!" I pointed out. Miko groaned but followed after when we took off. We didn't get very far when a groundbridge appeared in front of us. "A groundbridge! The Autobots must have seen our text!"
"That has to be our way out of here." Jack grinned. The only problem was that Starscream was located right on the other side of it. "Since Starscream is out there, we need to time this right. Everyone, follow my lead."
Everyone got ready to run through. Miko and I kept glancing nervously back at the approaching zombie arm. "Jack?" Miko muttered fearfully. "NOW!" He yelled and we ran through the portal and back into the correct dimension.
"Humans?" Starscream frowned in confusion. "Where did you vermin-" Before he could finish, however, the zombie arm followed us through and attacked his face. "This isn't mine! Ack!"
The first groundbridge disappeared, sealing zombie Skyquake inside. A new one opened up, and Optimus, Cliff, Arcee, and Bulk all walked out. "Miko, Jack, Rafael, and Jessica" Optimus counted before urging us to follow him. The four of us ran forward, relieved to see our guardians and friends once more.
I ran straight to Cliff and hopped into his offered hand. "Howdy partner." I grinned at him.
He'd laughed at me and shook his head. "Howdy partner. You're still in trouble for running out here." He warned me but the warm, relieved smile on his face told me that it wouldn't be too bad. Ratchet would probably be way scarier than him anyways.
We all went through the groundbridge portal and arrived on the other side at the base. Cliff deposited me on the second floor landing with the other three. Ratchet was giving me a stern look and I smiled sheepishly back at him.
"Look." Miko sighed, breaking the silence first. "If you're going to blame anybody, blame me."
I wasn't the only one shocked to hear that. "Whoa, Miko! Did you just take responsibility for your actions? Jack we needed someone to videotape that!" I grinned jokingly at her. Miko frowned at me and pushed me slightly.
"I'm sorry, but can you repeat that? A couple dozen times?" Jack snickered, giving me a high five. Miko was not impressed.
"Miko what you have endured has been lesson enough. We are just glad you are all safe. " Optimus assured her. Miko looked pretty relieved that she wouldn't be getting a lecture. From the looks I was getting from Ratchet and Sunstreaker/Sideswipe, I knew I was in for one.
"Guess it was a good thing you dropped this." Bulkhead handed Miko her phone. "Too bad you didn't get any pictures though."
"Nah that's okay. After today, I pretty much have zombie close ups seared into my brain." Miko chuckled and I agreed with her. I never wanted to deal with another zombie, whether it be Cybertronian or human, ever again. I wasn't really into zombie movies, but more I really didn't want to ever watch one.
After that, everyone decided to do their own thing. I could see that Ratchet was about to pull me away to talk to I quickly grabbed Miko and Jacks arm. "Um, Miko, Jack, Raf, there's something I wanted to talk about. So will you come with me so we can talk privately." I asked them quickly.
"S-sure." Jack stuttered confused. Miko and Raf both nodded and they followed me out of the room. I sighed in relief. Obviously I couldn't avoid Ratchet forever since I lived in the base, but I could for now at least.
We went into my room and I shut my door. The human dorms were the only place we could go that the bots couldn't follow. They could use their holoforms but usually they let us have our privacy.
Miko and Jack say down on the couch I had while Raf sat on the floor. I went over and sat on my bed. "So what's up?" Miko asked curiously.
"Okay so after being captured by the Cons, I realized how little I've told you guys about my life. You guys know I had it rough before coming to Jasper But that's it." I took a deep breath. "But you guys are like family and I know I can trust you with this. So here goes nothing…"
I launched into my story, telling them everything I went through as a child. They listened with rapt attention, looking horrified when I talked about the mental institution. It was like a huge weight had been lifted as I finally gave them my life story.
When I finished, all three of them were pretty misty eyed. "So yeah, that's why I keep my past to myself. Back home, people thought I was a freak. I didn't have any friends. When I met you guys, I didn't tell you my story because I was afraid you would look at me the same way they did. Now I've realized that you're not them. You guys love me for me and that's all that matters." I finished with a small smile.
Miko was the first to react. She jumped up at threw herself at me to hug me tight. Jack and Raf quickly followed her lead. "You are the strongest person I know, Jess. I could never see you as a freak." Miko assured me.
"Me neither." Raf agreed. "You're family and I love you. I love all three of you."
"You were my first true friend here, Jess. Nothing will ever change my mind about that. I'll always be here for you. " Jack promised me.
I teared up at their confessions. They were all truly incredible and I was so blessed to call them my friends. I just wish I had realized how blessed I was sooner. "Thank you, you guys. I love you all so much. I'm really thankful to have you in my life." I told them. We stayed locked in our hug for a minute more before we finally pulled away. We all had to wipe at our eyes to clear away some stay tears.
After we dried up our tears, and laughed about how emotional we were all being, we decided to rejoin the bots. Before we left though, I had one last thing to say. "I've told most of the bots about my past, but I haven't told your guardians. I don't mind if you guys tell them. Honestly I'm tired of hiding from my past. It's time to start looking towards the future." I informed them.
XxRebelWriterxX
After the kids left, I knew it was only a matter of time before Ratchet decided to drag me off for a lecture. I thought about hiding in my room, but I knew I couldn't stay there forever. Eventually I would have to come out and delaying the lecture would only make it worse in the long run. So I sat on the couch, waiting for him to approach me.
I was honestly pretty surprised when it wasn't just Ratchet who approached me, but all of the remaining bots at the base, including Optimus. My cheeks heated up in embarrassment at being surrounded. A lecture from Ratchet was one thing, but to get one from Optimus Prime was honestly a little daunting. They all looked pretty disappointed and worried about me, which only made me feel guiltier.
"Leaving the base was a poor choice, Jessica. Especially since the Decepticons have already made their intentions clear towards you. With your unimaginable powers, you are a target. One the Decepticons will not hesitate to procure and use against us." Optimus reprimanded.
I sighed and looked away from them, rubbing the back of my head. "I know guys, trust me. It's just… when I saw Miko running into that groundbridge after you, I got scared. I don't think Miko fully understands just how ruthless the Cons are. My instinct to protect her overruled my common sense to stay hidden. So I went after her."
"We understand that you were just trying to protect your friends. But Jess, you have to trust that we can do so as well. We would've spotted them and we would have protected them. We sent for the groundbridge immediately, didn't we? You're life is too valuable to risk. I know it sucks, being confined to the base, but it's for your protection." Cliffjumper reminded me and I winced at the hurt I heard. I didn't realize my actions could be seen as me distrusting their abilities to protect my friends.
"Not just your protection, but perhaps the worlds. If the Decepticons figure out a way to manipulate your powers for their own use, who knows what kind of destruction and chaos they could bring." Ratchet added.
I frowned, realizing just how right they were. But still, I didn't think I could just stand by if there was even a marginals chance that my friends were in danger. "And I understand that, guys, really. The thing is, though, I can't just do nothing if I knew my friends were in trouble. I trust you guys. But I don't trust the enemy. And I certainly don't trust Miko's inability to stay out of trouble. I will do everything in my power to stay out of the Decepticons hands, but you have to understand one thing." I waited for one of them to speak.
"And what's that?" Sunstreaker asked gruffly.
"I'm not just the Allspark. I'm a human being with feelings. Primus chose me for that particular reason. You can't stop me from running into danger if I feel like I need to protect the people I care about. You guys didn't know that Miko, Jack and Raf had followed you into the groundbridge. That meant, until you had seen them, those three were in trouble. Who knew how long, it would have taken you to spot them, if you even would've at all. I wasn't going to take that risk. At least I have training and could have protected them to some degree."
Optimus stepped closer to the railing, which I had stood up at some point and walked over to. He leaned down to get a closer look at me. "You are a brave girl, I understand why Primus chose you to be our Allspark. I cannot stop you from running into danger. However, in the future, will you at least inform one of us so that we can be better prepared to protect all of you? Arcee was here and, had you simply said something to her, we would have sent the children back a lot sooner."
Now I was really embarrassed. "Right. Uh, yeah… I can do that."
He nodded and took a step back. "Cliffjumper, I would advise that you resume Jessica's training as soon as possible. I have a feeling she will need it in the future. Sideswipe, Sunstreaker, feel free to help. I know first hand how skilled the two of you are." Optimus commanded.
"But Optimus-" Cliff went to say but Optimus held up a servo to stop him. The look in his optics had Cliffs protests dying on his glossa. "Right. Yes sir." He sighed in defeat.
The twins agreed as well, then everyone dispersed. Cliffjumper frowned over at me, but he followed the twins into the training room to discuss strategies for my training. First Aid smiled encouragingly at me before heading towards the energon room. I was left with just Ratchet then.
He'd barely said a word during the entire exchange and I wondered what was going through his mind. He seemed to be deep in thought. "Ratchet?" I asked.
The medic turned to face me curiously. I frowned questionably at him, but he just smiled in return. "You heard Optimus's order. Honestly, I have no right to protest because you have made it quite clear that my opinion doesn't matter in these situations."
Okay, that hurt.
"Ratchet…" I trailed off, not really knowing what to say. He was right, in a way. I was the one who made the decision that we couldn't be together. I constantly disregarding his opinion so I couldn't blame him for how he felt. His words still stung. I never meant to make him feel like that, like I didn't care. "I'm sorry." I finally sighed.
He nodded before turning to the computer. "Our lessons will resume tomorrow after you training session. Be prepared to learn a lot, as we have much to catch up on." Ratchet informed me, his tone detached from emotion.
I winced. "Of course." I said before walking away and towards my room. Well that sucked. I was glad I had Ratchet's friendship back but I knew I had hurt him pretty badly. I didn't know how I could ever make up for that. I wasn't sure how he was able to handle all of this.
All I knew for certain, I had sure made a mess of things.
Ah man, poor Ratchet. Jessica definitely messed up by rejecting him. Those two have had a rough journey together, haven't they? Well don't worry, this is a romance not a tragedy. Things will eventually come together. Until then, enjoy the angst! Fifteen chapters and the main characters still aren't together! This is probably a record for me, lol. See you guys soon for chapter sixteen!