"Requesting a groundbridge." Jack said, holding his phone to his ear.
"On it's way." Raf replied.
The call ended and a few moments later, Red and Jack were walking through the groundbridge, rolling a white and blue cylinder ahead of them.
"They did it." Arcee uncrossed her arms, worry lines fading. "And Jack is still in one piece."
"We almost got caught." Jack admitted. "The night guard came around when Red and I were pushing it off the stand."
Optimus looked over quickly. "Is the guard okay?"
Jack noddd. "Luckily, Red speaks fluent Spanish."
"What did she say?" Miko asked.
Jack looked at Red for an explanation and the girl simply shrugged.
Optimus picked up the container and set it on Ratchet's work table. The Autobots walked around to see it opened as Jack and Red climbed back up to the human area.
"I'm itching to see whats in here!" Smokescreen rubbed his hands together excitedly. "The relics are always so cool!"
Optimus frowned as Ratchet grabbed the lid. "Be careful. We don't want whatever is inside to do something like what happened to Bulkhead with the synthetic energon formula."
Ratchet nodded and popped off the lid. Everyone leaned forward to see faster as he pulled out a metal object about the size of a grown man.
"Interesting. I don't know what it is." Ratchet raised an eyebrow and held it out to Optimus.
The Prime shook his head and looked at Smokescreen, but neither him nor the other Autobots knew it's purpose.
Optimus sighed. "Well, until we learn more about our new find, we will need to remain careful and refrain from messing with it. I will keep it in the vault until furth-"
The object emitted a bright light and Optimus cried out, his body going limp and falling back.
"Optimus!" Ratchet and Arcee jumped over to catch their leader before he could hit the groundbridge controls.
"What happened?!" Arcee demanded, looking at their medic for an explanation.
"The relic," Ratchet looked around in panic, "where did it go?"
"I believe that I know the purpose of the relic."
Everyone looked back at the table where the voice was coming from. The voice, which sounded exactly like Optimus. There was a moment od hesitation before Bumblebee reached forward and grabbed the relic's container. His eyes widened as he looked inside.
"Beeeep?"
"What?" Bulkhead looked into and his jaw dropped.
"What is it!?" Miko demanded. "Come on, I'm dying here!"
Bumblebee emptied out the container and answered her, but Miko didn't understand or need to understand his words to see the human that slid out.
"Woahhh." Raf leaned forward. "It turned Optimus into a human! It even looks like him!"
"Not exactly." Optimus flexed his hand. "The device simply transformed itself into a human. It is still entirely metal, but my spark energy has been transferred."
"Rendering your other body dead." Ratchet pointed out.
Optimus nodded.
There was another flash of light and Optimus's real body blinked a few times before standing. The once human version of Optimus reverted back into a chunk of metal.
"This is so cool!" Miko exclaimed. "Think of all the cool stuff we could do with this! Bulk! We could have so much fun."
Optimus shook his head. "I'm sorry, but considering our sparks are misplaced when using this device, it is too much of a risk. We still do not know how it works and that could prove fatal in an attack."
Miko groaned.
"Back to the vault it goes?" Arcee guessed, picking the device up.
"Until further notice." Optimus consented.
Jack turned away from the bots and looked at Raf and Miko. "Well, since that's over-"
"You can tell us about your mission with- Hey, where did Red go?" Miko asked, looking around.
They spotted the girl, who was back in her metal chair away from the couch and t.v.. Red sat back, watching the Autobots quietly.
"Ugh, back to being boring." Miko huffed.
Jack frowned and walked over, stopping a few feet away from the red-head.
"So, uh, Red, you want to come hang out with us?" Jack asked. "I know you're supposed to be our enemy and all, but until you decide to kill us again... Would you like to have some fun?"
Red looked at him and raised an eyebrow. "You're a lot like your mother."
Jack blinked. "What does that mean?"
Red turned away. "There is optimism where hatred should be."
"Well- ugh." Jack huffed. "I'm just trying to make the most out of my life."
"Your short life."
Jack frowned. "A short life full of happiness is better than a long one full of regret."
Red didn't respond.
Jack waited a moment before his lips turned upward into a small grin. If she wasn't arguing, that meant she agreed.
"You know, Raf and Miko are pretty bored..." Jack told Red slowly. "You shot Miko and you screwed with Raf, so I think you kind of owe it to them to hang out."
Red's head snapped to the side and she scowled at him, scaring the scrap out of Jack. He stumbled back and almost fell on his butt.
"Or not. Maybe some other time."
He quickly went back over to the couch and let out a sigh of relief.
"Finally!" Miko looked over at him. "I thought you'd never leave that chair."
Jack turned around, flinching slightly at the sight of Red next to him. She glanced at Jack and frowned.
"I don't like unfinished business."
▪️◾◼⬛◼◾▪️
"Okay, quick question, um, how long are we going to be at this?" Vince asked with a huff.
The Agent Johnson lunged at him again, trying to uppercut the teenager. "Until you are ready."
"Ready for what exactly?" Vince asked. "You said that MECH was supposed to-"
He cried out and fell back at the agent got in a hit. Vince quickly rolled to the side as the agent came at him again relentlessly and scrambled to his feet.
"Keep talking!" The agent ordered.
"But I can't focus." Vince growled.
Another hit to the ribs.
"You must learn to multitask. Your twin is more than adept at this. You told us you wanted to be better than her."
At the thought of the girl who got his mom killed, Vince's rage grew and he lunged forward, throwing his fist toward the agent.
Who ducked.
Vince roared furiously and whipped around, swinging at the lithe agent again.
"Stay still you stupid bug!" Vince gritted out.
"You are like a bull." The agent stated. "How should a bull beat his matador?"
Vince slowed down and frowned, narrowing his eyes and watching the agent for a moment. Then her rushed forward again and with a sigh of disappointment, the agent sidestepped.
There was a large thud as Vince suddenly changed direction and kicked the agent back.
They both grinned and the agent pulled down his mask to reveal a grin.
"You're improving."
As if on cue, the doors were thrown open and a group of agents walked in. One of their masks was down, revealing him to be the agent in charge while Silas was gone. Vince's trainer quickly pulled his mask back up.
"Mr. Walt." Vince stepped forward and grinned. "It's been a while."
"Yes." Walt frowned at the sweaty boy and looked at the trainer. "How is he progressing?"
"He's doing better than we hoped. His athletic background is even more of a help than anticipated, sir."
"I was quite the football player." Vince informed them proudly.
Walt nodded. "Good. We found Red."
"Y- you did?" Vince blinked in surprise.
"She was in Spain. Our tracker onlined for about half an hour before going dark again. I sent an agent to interrogate the museum staff. One of them claimed she was with an American boy." Walt smiled coldly. "The Autobots are letting her out, which means they must trust her. I suspect that it won't be long before we have the chance to apprehend her."
Vince grinned. "And get revenge for my mom."
Walt looked at the trainer and nodded before leaving the room. Vince looked back at the trainer.
"Okay, now that he's gone, I'm gonna panic." Vince admitted. "You said I was nowhere near her level."
"Not to worry." His trainer stepped back. "MECH has quite a few tricks up their sleeves."
"Like?"
"Quite a few." The agent repeated.
They began to spar again and Vince attacked, moving against his trainer relentlessly, but keeping in mind the new knowledge he had obtained. And his hatred.
Even this, though, was not enough. His trainer had far more experience and alas, Vince was knocked onto his back.
The trainer reached over and held out his hand.
"Don't worry, Agent Raider. Once we have her in our sights, Red is all yours."