Spectre: Okay, decided to go along with the story since it managed to gain some traction when I searched in the the Transformers fic list.
IdleManRPG: That's an odd request, but okay I'll look into it.
Guest: Binge read his works. Exquisite I might say!
Valcunz: Thanks! I just hope that I could keep this up!
Chapter 2: Extraction
"Evening, June", Ratchet looked over his shoulder to find Jack's mother entering the premises. "Here to check up on Jack?"
"I am,", she affirmed with a smile, looking over at Raf and Miko playing a video game at the other side. "But I'm guessing he's still with Arcee at the moment?"
"They are, but they should arrive soon if we take to the calculation that they are only there to retrieve an artifact", Ratchet informed her, which eased the woman's worries at that. "And if they had met any resistance along the way, then they would have called in for backup already"
Deciding to wait for her son at the meantime, June walked on over to where Raf and Miko were. On one of the consoles, Ratchet preoccupied himself in reviewing his team's diagnostics. As the team's medic, it is his outmost responsibility to monitor and protect the lives of each and every one of them, even in spite of the disagreements he had with them from time to time.
"Ratchet", he heard a voice near him and recognized it immediately when the Autobot leader greeted with the typical calm and stoic tone that had become associated with him as the medic turned to face his friend and leader. "Any word from Arcee and Jack?"
"Nothing I could give for now, I'm afraid" was all that the medic could say to Optimus. "Last transmission from either of them was that they were already entered a cave that led them to the artifact's location. It might be a faulty signal from there"
"Well, I wouldn't worry too much", the two of them looked over to Bulkhead, confident and giving them reassurance that they'd be fine. "Those two had gone through worse, so I doubt a scouting mission would be a lot of trouble"
"You said it, Bulk!", Miko agreed from the side, supporting the Wrecker's statement. "Nothing than a few cons could handle against the two of them!"
"I have faith that they will succeed " the Autobot Leader assured them, but his tone bore a sense of caution. "But we must remain vigilant and to answer their call for assistance at once if they needed it. Not when we have no indication when would the Decepticons make their next move"
Everyone present in the base agreed to the Prime's advice, and he left the medic to his duties on the terminal. Until one of the blips displayed on the screen, disappeared.
"What?!" the medic spoke out in alarm, quickly working onto the console to make a thorough review. Optimus quickly noticed the change of tone of the medic and made his way next to Ratchet with the intent on finding out what happened.
"Is there something wrong, old friend?"
Ratchet's optics swerved back and forth to make sure it wasn't a mistake. Within a moment's notice, his suspicions were only confirmed. "Arcee's life signal's gone offline"
His statement came in like a tidal wave in shock, disbelief and dismay among those who are present within the base, causing them to cease on whatever they were doing. "GONE!?" Miko dropped her controller and ran towards Ratchet and the terminal, followed by the rest of the team.
"What?!", June cried out, her instincts directly going over to her son. "What about Jack? Is he alright?"
Ratchet looked over for a moment, silently hoping that this was a glitch and not a repeat of what had happened to Cliffjumper. But he wasn't so sure. "Ratchet, do you have the coordinates of where they had gone?", Optimus queried over to the medic, while signalling Bulkhead and Bumblebee to prepare for a new mission if need be.
"I have traced her signal around here at Jasper", the medic activated a map detailing the pair's last known location before he turned to Bulkhead's human partner. "Miko, see to if you can make contact Jack. If he is unable answer, then we will move out to their location as soon as possible"
"Uggghh...", a low moan escaped Jack's lips, slowly opening his eyes to meet the darkness inside the cavern while tendering the aching back of his head. In spite of being hampered from minor collateral injury, he got up and he quickly pulled out his cellphone to get some vision within the caverns and activating its built-in flashlight. "Arcee?", he called out to his partner, walking around the area to find her. But there was no response.
What happened?, he thought to himself, while attempting to clear his mind. All right, you and Arcee went on to retrieve an old artifact, but then Airachnid showed up where they started to fight over it until something happened that caused me to black out...
Scrap. Airachnid was here.
Frantically, he looked around for his partner. The flashlight on his cellphone could only do so much for him at the time being, and if the Decepticon is still around here, then he could just say to himself that he had the worst luck on the planet. "Come on, Arcee...", he muttered, his heartbeat already making pace at the thought of Airachnid coming to jump onto him at any moment.
He felt his shoe stepped onto something, and he quickly made out that it was made out of metal. Jack looked at several small silver bits scattered around the area as if it had exploded. He recalled the artifact being shattered during Arcee and Airachnid's tug-of-war, and now he couldn't find either them. Guess neither bots nor cons are getting anything tonight...., he thought to himself.
"Mmmhhh...", a low moan echoed the cavern, that paralyze the teen in an instant, and he knew only one bot who had that tone, even if he rarely heard it. "Arcee?", he whispered in between his incoherent breathing, forcing himself to turn around and try to find the source of the sound.
"Gaaah!", Jack's foot collided onto a rock, tripping him over while barely gripping his cellphone and landed face-first. Wincing in pain, Jack's free hand grabbed onto the ground to get up, only to feel something...squishy and soft? He crept his head to look what he was touching, backing away in shock upon holding the bicep of another human being.
Laying on the ground was a young woman, who looked at least a few years older than him, around 18 to 20, naked as the day she was born and something that Jack was struggling to ignore given her...proportions. She had medium length blue hair that had pink haired tips at the lower part of the two bangs framing her beautiful face, fair skin and have an impressive frame, as if she had been trained as a soldier. Other than that, she had a sizeable bust could be described as bigger than his mother's.
Jack delivered a harsh slap onto his own head, seeing that he's already crossing borders that aren't meant to explore. Now isn't the time for sightseeing, Jack. "Are you okay?", he tried to wake her up by lightly shaking her shoulder, but he didn't receive any response.
"Hhhmm...", another moan echoed the caverns, and Jack recognized that it didn't come from the woman in front of him. Bringing up his flashlight, his eyes widened when he gazed at another woman laying on the ground unconscious, sharing the state of undress as the blue-haired woman near him, likely at the same age or a year older as the first woman. Her striking description was her purple hair with yellow tips on one side of her wavy bob-cut hairstyle, her frame was similar to the first woman he saw, also had a fair skin and had a pretty face as well. She had a sizeable chest as the woman near her, though a bit smaller to a vertain degree. But her hips were another story as they were noticably wider and her thighs were brilliantly shaped as if she 'never skipped leg day' as Miko would call it.
Again, Jack slapped himself in the forehead for even thinking about women's proportions at this time. But...what were they doing here? Were they campers that got lost somehow? , he thought to himself, thinking as to how to deal with them but he needed to find his partner first before Airachnid would find him.
And then there were the bits of silver pieces lying around, tracing them in different directions until he gazed at the bluenette. He looked at the palm of the woman in front of him. All the while swatting away whatever his mind could throw at him, he reached out his hand to open her closed palm, his eyes widening in surprise to find familiar silver pieces that are scattered around the area. Jack looked over to the purple-haired woman, looking over her palm to find the same silver pieces with her.
A thunderbolt of realization struck him.
When Arcee and Airachnid fought over the Obelisk, it shattered and caused a bright light accompanied by a shockwave. Both women held pieces of what remained of the artifact a distance away from one another at the same position that the two Cybertronians were last seen. That couldn't be possible....could it?, he frantically thought, stepping back in sheer astonishment at the conclusion while trying to make out that it was only a coincidence. He nearly screamed in complete shock when he felt his phone vibrating against his hand, and he looked to find Miko calling him from the other line.
"...Miko?", he nervously brought up the device over his ear.
"JACK!", the girl's voice roared over from his phone, which made him to temporarily distance his ear away from it. "We've been trying to get a hold of you! What on earth happened? Are you hurt?"
At least hearing one of his friends from the other line was reassuring that he's not alone, even in spite of the bombardment of questions being thrown at him. "I'm fine, just blacked out for a moment", he informed them, but that didn't really ease their worries one bit then he looked on over to the two women. "But it's hard to explain what happened..."
From the other line, June moved closer to Miko. "Put it on speaker", she asked her, to which she complied and put her phone on top of one of the crates. "Jack, honey. It's mom. What happened to you and Arcee?"
The teen was unsure as to how to answer that question, but it was worth the shot. "We managed to find the artifact but we weren't the only ones trying to get it. Because we also had a run-in with Airachnid"
Needless to say, the rest of the Autobots and the humans within the base were alarmed at what the teen said, given that Arcee's life signal has gone offline. And immediately, Optimus stepped in before any of them could express their sentiments that would only make things harder for them, hoping that nothing have happened between the two given Airachnid's record with the Autobots, especially with Arcee.
"Do you require immediate backup?", the leader calmly informed the teen, signalling Ratchet to prepare a Ground Bridge to Jack's location via Arcee's last known coordinates. "We have also lost Arcee's life signal, so we have to ask what had happened to her"
Jack's eyes widened at that. Arcee's life signal was now gone? Looking over at the women near him with his jaw hanging down at the conclusion in his mind. Pieces of the broken artifact on their hands, two human women replaced both Arcee and Airachnid and Arcee's life signal having gone offline.You have got to be kidding me...
"Jack, is Arcee all right?", he heard Optimus' voice from the other line.
Surrendering to his suspicions, even though how absurd it is, he placed his phone back next to his ear. "She's fine and we need some help over here, but not the usual type of backup I'd be needing now"
Miko and June breathed out a sigh of relief, but Optimus and the rest of the Autobots weren't so certain. "Will you elaborate your current status, Jackson?", the Prime queried.
"I'm gonna need Bumblebee in my location via Ground Bridge, and a blanket. Two of them actually. I don't think any of us would even believe what I'm about to tell you once we get back", they all looked at one another, perplexed at Jack's odd request. Bumblebee immediately took the call and June went over to her Sedan to retrieve the blankets as Jack had requested.
With the lever pulled, a green vortex swirled harmlessly inside the base as soon as Ratchet received Bumblebee's signal for a Ground Bridge. Intently, they waited for Bumblebee and Jack to arrive safely, hoping that Arcee is alright even after her life signal went out. Miko and Raf recalled Ratchet's silent frustration when he re-checked Arcee's life signal, which didn't give him any response.
Then there was the mention of Airachnid, who had caused Arcee, Jack and his mother such grievances, especially to the two-wheeler. Optimus had been grateful of Jack's help, and so is Arcee and he would see to it that Airachnid would answer for her crimes if once they managed to get to her.
From the vortex emerged Bumblebee, where they quickly noticed that he was carrying a couple of bundles wrapped in blankets that June had provided as per the teen's request. At the scout's heels followed Jack, who stepped foot onto the base, looking haggard and dust being smudged over his face where June briskly walked over to check on her son.
"Jack! You're okay!",June cried out embracing him momentarily before she began to check him for any injuries. "Are you hurt?"
"I-I'm fine, mom..." he quickly assured her, patting her back and wiping off the dust from his face with a handkerchief given to him. "Just...a little dizzy..."
"Do you have any idea how much we're worried for ya?!", Miko walked beside him, lightly mock-punching him by the arm. "We thought Spidey managed to get to you!"
Jack smiled at her banter, and then to his mother. "I'm glad that you're safe and sound Jack...but where's Arcee?"
Optimus, Bulkhead and Ratchet walked over to the teen when he fell silent. The leader knelt down to look at Jack, who merely averted his gaze, as if he were ashamed to tell the truth. Maintaining his usual demeanor, the leader wordlessly gave Jack an approving motion, telling him that he would take his word for it.
The teen glanced over to Bumblebee, giving him a nod as a sort of signal. Gently, the scout placed the two bundles onto the floor. His team looked further and noticed that with him, were two human women who were still asleep for the time being.
"Jackson Darby, would you mind explaining as to why you have brought in unauthorized personnel in the base?", Ratchet's voice was the first to speak up, clearly dismayed and alarmed of the newcomer's presence. "And where is Arcee?"
"And where did you managed to find them, anyway?", Miko looked up at the wrapped bodies.
He took a deep breath, relaxing himself from the pressure. "I can't exactly believe what I'm going to say, but...", he paused for a moment, gesturing to the two women. '"That woman over there is Arcee...and the other is Airachnid"
He braced himself of whatever that was coming to him, but quickly noticed that nothing happened, other than glances and uncertain looks that exchanged with one another.
"Jack, are you sure you didn't hit your head at a rock while you and Arcee were at the cave?", Miko asked, even though she knew that Jack isn't really the type to make jokes like that.
"This is not the time for jokes, Miko", Ratchet reprimanded the girl, looking back at Arcee's partner. He made out that the boy's tone was sincere as it is defeated, and the medic didn't see any reason as to why Jack would lie to them either.
Optimus also noticed the boy's behaviour and went on to ask him. "Give yourself a moment of peace, Jack. And from what you could recall, tell us what had happened"
But before he could, one of the wrapped blankets began to shuffle.
Spectre: Yep, quite the short chapter and I'm currently brainstorming as to how Airachnid and Arcee would react upon learning that they underwent a little bit of a transformation and the fact that the artifact had a little case of being in pieces and how the Autobots would deal with it. What do you guys think? Post in the comments!