Spectre: Saw the reviews, and thought. Maybe I should give it a try.
Trainman-Captain Writer: Glad to hear it! While we will have those moments, I'm also leaning a serious tone as well. Because of possible new additions in the story.
OneLikeAll: We'll see! Only Human often made me think as to what if it happened to Jack rather than Arcee.
Vitalfire: Got more than a few ideas in mind! And I've hinted it back at one of the chapters at Roommates.
Hellcat1115: I'll get to it and I'm eager to see your plans come to fruition!.
Chapter 1: Recollections.
A pair of blue eyes widened, digging her heels to turn around from the surface and she quickly looked back at the pathway that had collapsed.
Jack? she thought, looking back at the direction where she had last heard from her partner. Quickly, she ditched her plan to find a way around and activated one of her blasters. Firing a couple shots to weaken the debris, she scrambled in breaking the obstacle apart with her servos, finally breaking through with a powerful frontal kick.
Activating her headlights once more, her optics swerved left and right to find any trace of her human partner, making her way deeper into the path where he could have gone. "JACK!", the femme called out to the teen with a yell, trying to find any sign of or from him.
What was that just now?, she pondered, her processors beginning to run wild at the possible theories at what her partner could have gone. Did he stumble upon a Decepticon mining team that she wasn't able to detect? That couldn't be possible. Or did the pathway he had taken collapse on top of him? Very unlikely.
But still, she was desperately hoping that nothing happened to him. And she longed for any sign from him. Primus, just tell that you're okay, Jack..., she thought, going deeper into the path she took. The relic could wait for now.
Only to find a something unexpected when she reached the edge of the space she was in.
From her optics, she looked upon a bronze coloured metal orb, with noticeable damage in some of the surfaces. And lying on its back was a humanoid figure made of metal lacking any distinguishing features as if it had recently been finished shipped out of whatever production facility it had come from and it packed any color save for the metallic finish. It is larger than her, around at the height of Bumblebee. Arcee took a closer look, remembering a phase of where Cybertronians like herself would take once they have emerged from the Allspark.
"A protoform?", she uttered, slightly tilting it's head with her servo in disbelief. "But how did it get here?", the two-wheeler quickly dropped her earlier shock to look for any signs of her human partner but remained perplexed at its presence. Was it guarding the relic?
Looking down, something was amiss. There are fragments of dark and blue cloth surrounding the protoform, and upon further inspection, Arcee determined to have been clothing. Before she could divulge that information further, she noticed a tiny metallic object laying close to it, and her processors nearly glitched upon realizing what it was.
It was Jack's cellphone.
It didn't take long for her to put two and two together on what happened. With her partner nowhere in signt, and fragments that belonged to him, her impulses reached a boiling point. Quickly, she pinned the protoform against the wall, morphing her right hand into a blaster. Her faceplates shifted into an angry grimace when the muzzle was below its chin, all the while ignoring its defenseless state. "Where is he?!", she shouted at him. "What have you done to him?!"
She didn't receive any response from him, already inflaming her infuriating predicament. But that all change when her audio receptors caught up to something.
"hhhnggghh...", she heard a low, but audible moan akin to a whisper. Her head looked back and forth at the sides, recognizing that tone. "Jack?", she called out, her optics wide, all the while keeping the Protoform in place. "Jack, answer me!", she called out again within the cavern.
The two-wheeler looked over at the Protoform, and rolled him slightly. More fragments that were Jack's clothing were found under him but nothint that would indicate of any human remains. The Protoform moved slightly, causing Arcee to be on her guard once more. And what she heard caused her to freeze.
"...Ar...cee..."
She didn't know what to think or say next when she saw where the voice had come from. Right before her optics. Her mind went into memory lane from all she could remember. The direction where her partner had gone through, the strange sound she had heard moments ago, the scraps of clothing surrounding the Protoform and the sounds he made. And the relic near him.
This can't be happening...right?
Instinctively, she tapped into her comms to make contact with Outpost Omega. Right now, she was hoping this was some sort of glitch in her systems. But right now, all she could do, was to try and find out what was going on between them.
Present time...
"You can't be serious...", Miko was the first to speak in complete bafflement that constradict her typically energetic banter, pointing at the newcomer. "That's Jack!?"
Ratchet blinked a few times, trying to find any sense of logic on what the femme had been talking about. "I would have to agree with Miko", he reluctantly said, looking over at the Protoform laying down on one of the berths. "Arcee...are you sure of your assumptions on what had happened to Jack?"
"And that the Relic had something to do with it?", Raf then added from the sidefrom.
Optimus bore an expression as a mix of worry and caution at his second-in-command's reaction. He then looked at Bumblebee. "Bring the relic over here, Bee", he ordered, with the intent of examining it. The Scout brought it over, it was in the size of Arcee in her vehicle mode and rectangular in shape, white with silver handles at the side. In the centre there was a blue orb surrounded by a gold ring that had cybertronian symbols carved into it with a black strip at each side of the ring all the while having visible damage in certain areas.
Carefully, Optimus reached out to examine the relic, and his optics widened in shock upon learning what it truly was, a reaction that was soon shared by the rest. "What is it, Optimus?", Bulkhead asked of their leader.
"The Reformatting Module", the Prime replied.
"What's that?", Miko asked.
"Eons ago in the days of the Golden Age of Cybertron, the planet's greatest minds joined together in a mission to achieve progress through any means they could. As a sign of technologial ingenuity, they had developed a device that is capable of altering a being's subatomic level and transformed the metal and circuitry into organic matter and the opposite. Hence, the term Reformatting", Optimus explained to the group, who were fascinated at the capabilities, but also going to the conclusion that Jack had unknowingly made contact with the device. "However, those of the High Council and the research departments determine this to be a law against the very nature they believe in. And fearing any sinister force obtaining this device as well as any research pertaining to it, Zeta Prime ordered every detail of its existence erased and remaining protoypes destroyed, with the only remaining device stored into the Vaults of Iacon"
"And that's how it ended up in Earth", Raf concluded, adjusting his glasses. "But how is it that you know of it, Optimus?"
"Because I am among those ordered to destroy any record of its existence as an Archivist", the Prime replied. "And for that, I am relieved to know that the Decepticons have not gained it first before we do"
It was Bulkhead's turn to speak this time. "Problem is...how are we gonna explain this to June and Agent Fowler?", the Wrecker asked, concerned as to how they would be able to deal with that.
The rest of the team wasn't sure how to act. As for Arcee, she held the Protoform's servo, the feeling of both shock and caution replaced by copious amounts of fear and worry. How would Jack even react at turning into something similar as they are. He had a life outside of the one that involved helping the Autobots. And to become like them likely never crossed his mind, even if he is part of their team. How would June even react to this? Knowing her son is had become something she never hoped to see unless they do something.
Of course, Ratchet is currenly assessing the relic. As well thinking as to how would they be able to restore it.
And all of a sudden, the Protoform began to shift slighly on the berth he was laid upon.
Spectre: Gonna do a lot of research on how the Cybertronians lived from their PoV