Jack pedalled his bike up to the fast food restaurant her worked at... It wasn't as fun as riding Arcee, but it would have to do... Especially since he hadn't enjoyed the terror and utter fear that had filled him when he had been on the Decepticon warship with Raf and Miko.
"Nice bike."
Turning around, Jack looked at Arcee in surprise for a moment before his shoulders slumped. "A-Arcee, really. Miko already tried." He sighed, approaching her. "Tell Optimus I respect him big time, but if you're at war with the Decepticons... There's nothing I can do to help." He stated, turning away from her now.
"Optimus didn't send me and no one's asking for your help." Arcee answered in a quiet tone.
Jack turned back to face her. "OK, so we can both agree that I'm not warrior material..." But that was it, wasn't it? Something told him that he should've been able to do better than he had on the Nemesis... Something deep inside of him screamed that he was so much more than what he had believed his entire life.
Silence fell for a few moments before Arcee spoke again. "Jack.. I just lost someone that I cared about." She hesitated before continuing. "Maybe it's the grief talking, maybe you're growing on me." Her voice wavered. "But... Whatever it is, I'm just not ready to say goodbye."
Moments later, Jack found himself riding Arcee again and heading back for the secret base of the Autobots. They came into the base to see the other four Autobots crowded together, as if they had been important discussion.
Jack stepped off of Arcee and looked up at the Prime. "Hey... Guess who's back." He put on a little smile, and was slightly surprised when the Prime looked down at him before turning away... Something important was obviously going on.
Optimus turned to look at his warriors. "Autobots! Prepare for departure." He ordered, Jack looking up at Arcee, but she was looking at her leader, who had his full attention. "Where to?"
"The final frontier." Miko said in her dramatic tone.
Jack started in surprise. "Space?! I-I-I thought they didn't have any way to get there!"
"They don't... Really." Raf answered as Bumblebee lowered him to the ground, the young boy jumping off of the yellow and black scout's servo.
Jack felt dread rise up in him as he looked up at his guardian, brushing his helmet lightly with his fingers out of nervousness. "Be... Seeing ya?" He asked, making the two-wheeler smile as she moved over to the other group of autobots, Ratchet moving over to the groundbridge controls and putting in the coordinates for the spacebridge, opening it.
"Be careful, Bee?" Raf asked, looking up at his guardian, who beeped his answer as he stood up.
"I'm so jealous!" Miko cried, looking up at Bulkhead, the green bot holding out a servo. "Don't even think about following me!"
"Optimus." Ratchet spoke now, turning to look at his leader. "If you leave me stranded on a planet teeming with humans, I'll never forgive you." He stated, making the Prime smile slightly before quickly sobering. "Until we meet again, old friend." He said. "Autbots! Roll out!"
The other Autobots all transformed and followed their leader into the green, white and purple vortex, Jack staring after them... And, for some reason, he felt that he should be joining them.. heading off to battle. He shook off the feeling as he watched them disappear, the groundbridge shutting behind them.
Silence fell as the humans listened to the autobots chattering over the comm, Jack hearing Optimus mention something about the interstellar navigation systems on the Decepticon warship being broken, Bulkhead taking credit and making Jack smile slightly.
"Don't the Decepticons know where their own planet is?" Rafael asked, looking at Ratchet, who snorted in disgust. "Naturally!.. But Cybertron is many light years away." The orange and white medic looked at the three now, Jack listening in interest. "To reach their target, their aim must be astronomically precise!"
Jack frowned.. For some reason, he was understanding it all perfectly, able to envision what Ratchet was explaining.
"If Megatron went to the trouble of rendezvousing with his spacebridge, he must have an alternate targeting system... A remote one." Optimus' voice came to Jack and the others in a serious tone, the teen looking up at Ratchet, who frowned. "Hmh!" The medic grunted. "From what I know of earth's technology, I doubt there exists a single radio telescope dish on this planet that is strong enough to pinpoint Cybertron." He responded.
"What about a whole bunch of linked radio telescope dishes?" Raf's voice reached them, causing Jack to turn and look at the child protégé. "Like the giant sizaray in Texas?" He asked.
Jack turned to look up at Ratchet, who leaned forward. "Zip, ep, ep ep!" He ordrderedered, making a zipping motion with his digits. "This is not child's play!" He added, frowning at them, Jack about to speak when Optimus beat him to it. "Good thinking, Raf." The Prime said approvingly. "Ratchet! Have Agent Fowler alert the array staff to the security hazard!"
The Prime had barely finished talking when Agent Fowler's voice reached their ears. "You! Soldier! You're out of uniform! Put on some pants!" The deranged agent ordered before falling backwards again, unconscious.
Ratchet shook his helm. "That, may be a challenge." He stated, all of them looking back at Raf, Jack's mind already trying to process the situation as the younger boy began to type again. "I can't get past the array's firewalls. They're too thick!" He stated, slamming his fists down on the desk.
"You actually think you can keep the Decepticons out?" Ratchet demanded in disbelief and amusement.
"M-Maybe." Raf answered thoughtfully. "If I can get in."
THERE! Jack had his idea now. "Wa-wa-wait. Raf." He said, approaching quickly. "What if we can get you... All the way in? Like, inside the building in?" He asked, putting an arm across the younger boy's shoulders, his brown eyes widening behind his glasses as he turned to look at the black-haired youth. "Then I could log into their internal network on the other side of the firewall!" He stated.
"The risk is too great." Optimus' voice came over the comm, making Jack realize that he could hear everything they said. "The Decepticons will be there. Perhaps even on site."
Jack listened to him, looking up. "Optimus." He started, feeling determination rise up in him. This was his chance to be able to do more! Just as he had failed to do on the warship! "With all due respect, you said it yourself. This is bigger than the safety of three humans." He said, motioning to Raf and Miko, forgetting that the Prime couldn't see them, Miko picking up on it. "Yeah! If we let the cons win, we're fragged. Along with everyone else on our planet."
Silence fell and Jack waited for Optimus' answer, praying that he would accept it. "Raf." Optimus' voice came over the comm.
Jack and Miko both looked over at the younger boy, who looked scared for a moment before his face hardened and a look of determination took over. "I wanna give it a shot."
Jack, Raf and Miko jumped out of the groundbridge, all groaning and feeling sick. "That'll take some getting used to." Jack stated, holding his head for a moment before turning his attention to their target. "Whoa!" Miko gasped before the three ran to the building, sneaking inside and down the halls, Raf and Miko entering a room while Jack followed. Instinct told him that he should be careful to make sure they weren't followed, and he watched the hall for a few moments before closing the door and joining Miko next to Raf as he sat down in front of a computer.
"Security sure is lax in this place." Miko said, looking at Jack, but the black-haired boy felt unsettled... Like there was something nearby, but not like a dangerous thing... Something or someone that was familiar to him, although he couldn't place it.
"I'm in." Raf's voice broke him out of his thoughts. "And so are the Decepticons!"
"What?" Jack gasped in surprise.
"How can you tell?" Miko demanded.
"Schematics." Rafael answered, looking at the screen. "With the same alien math we saw on their ship! But this time..." He smirked, holding up a USB drive. "I can download it."
Jack watched him as he plugged it into the computer, Miko smiling as well. "It's gotta be the spacebridge." She stated, Raf nodding. "The Decepticons are syncing them to their dishes, but I can sync them then." He added.
Frowning, Jack leaned closer to him. "But... Will they know?" He asked, unsettled again as the boy looked up at him. "Even if the Decepticons see that I'm in the systems, they'll have no idea I'm in the house!" He answered, typing again.
Jack and Miko fell silent, watching Raf as he continued typing for several moments, the three circles on the screen suddenly coming together and turning red.
"They're locked onto Cybertron!" Raf cried, letting them know what happened. "But not for long!" He added confidently, leaning forward as his fingers flew over the keyboard at unbelievable speed, Jack and Miko looking at each other.
Soundwave was inside the array building, tentacles attached as he downloaded the mainframes, working on redirecting the massive radio telescopes for Cybertron, finally getting it to lock... But then, a few moments later, he sensed something went wrong, this thought being confirmed when a frantic sounding Starscream commed him. "Soundwave! What is happening."
Annoyed slightly, Soundwave pulled up all of the security feeds, flipping through them until he found one of three human children. They were inside one of the office rooms, one of them sitting at a computer... Hacker. Soundwave thought, detaching one of his tentacles and sending it slithering down the hall.
He felt something at the end of it and carefully moved it up until he felt the door knob, pulling it down and opening the door quietly, and only enough to let his tentacle in...
"The dishes are heading back towards Cybertron." Jack heard Raf announce, making his heart sink. "I'll just undo that again." The boy added, causing Jack to relax as he began typing again, but Jack felt like something was wrong and looked at Raf. "What happens when the cons realize they're being punked?" He asked, Raf looking up at him. "It's only virtual combat... You know? Like online gaming."
"Yeah, Jack!" Miko looked at him. "What are the cons gonna do? They're probably like, ha! A thousand miles away!"
Her words did little to comfort Jack, who still felt like something, or someone was around. Feeling chills pass down his spine, Jack turned his head to see a large tentacle right behind them. "Ah!" He cried, and, without thinking of anything other than Raf being able to do his work, he jumped onto it, wrapping his arms around it, trying to hold on as Miko jumped on it too, both of them screaming as it began to wriggle and shake itself, moving quickly around the room.
Jack tried to keep his hold, but was thrown off, hitting the wall with his back hard, grunting as Miko landed beside him, but he was unhurt while the Japanese girl was wheezing with pain.
Looking up, Jack saw that it was heading for Raf, who just managed to dodge it and unplug the USB, jumping off the desk as the strange tentacle slammed into the computers, knocking them to the ground.
Miko grabbed a hatchet and charged the tentacle before Jack could stop her, able only to watch as it easily hit her aside and back into the wall, the hatchet landing blade-down, digging deep into the floor.
Jack stared in horror as the tentacle pulled it loose from the ground. "You handed it an AXE?!" He shouted, watching as it raised it to bring it down upon them, but then it seemed like it was held back, being jerked out of the room and down the hall.
Without even thinking, Jack ran after it, the other two children following. When he had grabbed the tentacle, he had felt... Strange. Like he was safe and warm, as if he was used to the touch of the tentacle, and now he wanted to see who it belonged to, and attempt to find out why he had felt that way.
Jack crashed through double doors and into a room, looking up and freezing. Above them, one pede on either side of a gaping hole in the roof, stood a very tall and foreboding looking Decepticon... At least, that's what Miko and Raf felt, while Jack felt... Peace, love, safety and warmth... As if he had seen the Decepticon before, especially when it turned to face them, pausing.
Movement out of the corner of Jack's eye, followed by a snapping sound told him that Miko had taken a picture of the Decepticon, who did the same before transforming and shooting off into the sky.
"Why is he leaving?" Miko demanded, Raf stepping over quickly to where the axe was still imbedded in the ground, sparking wires around it. "He cut the hardline." The younger boy answered, crouching beside it before looking up at them. "The dishes are locked onto Cybertron... For good."
Everything that was said passed right by Jack, who just stood, rooted to the spot as he stared up at the now vacant spot that the strange, yet familiar, Decepticon had stood only moments before, a part of him screaming for it to come back.
Soundwave hacked into the hardline again, quickly completing the locking onto Cybertron before using the axe to cut it.
Standing now and climbing to stand on the roof around the hole he had created to get inside the building, Soundwave stood still, processor racing with shock and surprise. He had seen Ravage! He knew that it was Ravage! He had never been more sure about something as he was now! Maybe not in his cybercat form, but his holographic... Some things confused him though, why was Ravage, even as a holograph, so young? And why did he not seem to recognize him?
Hearing the sound of running steps, Soundwave turned slowly, looking down at the three humans, but his optics focused only on the foremost human... His simbiote's holograph. He took a picture of him before transforming and shooting up into the sky.
As he flew, Soundwave stared at the picture continuously, Lazerbeak sending him insistent beeps of hope that his brother was alive, and beeps of dismay that their creator had left him.
Not now, Lazerbeak... Not when Megatron could destroy him for helping the Autobots, and not when it is clear he doesn't remember anything about us... Soundwave answered through their bond. But we will retrieve him. He added softly. I promise.
(A/N: There we go. A 2,625 word chapter. I hope you guys enjoyed it!)