Chapter One: No More Secrets

Jack looked around and followed Airachnid's retreat with a deadly glare on his face. "Thanks for the help, Agent Fowler."

Fowler stared at the retreating 'con in anger. "If I would have known 'cons were involved, I would have called in Prime."

Jack looked down and gestured to his Mom. "That might have been too much for Mom to handle in one night." Jack stated as Fowler gave a slight nod of understanding from his chopper.

"Do you need help getting her down, son?"

Jack felt buried anger rise within him. "I don't WANT your help, Leo!"

Flashes of blinding pain came back to Jack from long ago. He lay on a berth next to a massive metal creature he now knew to be Cybertronian. The mech looked at him. Half his body was already scrapped or repurposed. From hip articulators down, there was nothing. His silvery pain that once glistened in light was now dull and nearly scratched away. The bot could no longer speak because the butchers removed his vocal processor some time ago before Jack arrived. The boy couldn't tear his eyes away from the pain in the bot's dimly lit blue optics however. They looked longingly at the boy. Jack reached up though his arm burned with searing pain and touched the bot's left servo in some small measure of compassion and comfort.

Then, men slipped a mask on the boy. He struggled if only for a few moments before the anesthesia took the boy down.

In the haze of his dreamlike state, Jack looked up at the formerly massive bot. The bot now was about the height of his mother.

"I'm so sorry!"

The bot knelt and looked Jack in the optic. "This isn't your fault kid." The bot told him. "Pain and loss are unavoidable side-effects of living in the universe."

Jack felt tears in his eyes. "I can't…"

The bot seemed to look toward someone Jack could not see. "Primus will help you, young one." He smiled. "Relax. Answers will come in time."

Jack shook his head of the memories of that horrible time and the peace he felt while he dreamt and looked down at his Mom encased in a cocoon.

June shivered, Of all the times for Jack to remember HIM… June thought as her eyes widened at the mention of the man who nearly broke her family beyond repair.

Arcee heard a familiar tone in Jack's voice as he spoke: one of absolutely pure anger. Why would this man cause Jack to be so angry?

Arcee watched and waited to catch June should she fall. From her vantage point on the ground, Arcee saw Jack wince and produce a large three-foot long blade from his right hand before he cut June loose, cocoon and all. Then, faster than should have been humanly possible, Jack was under June and caught her as Arcee watched the impact and G-forces of the fall taken harmless by Jack's legs. What the pit?! Her processor reeled as her rational mind told her that Jack should have crumbled in a heap with gravel for legs from the impact.

In spite of this seeming breach to the laws of physics, Jack gently put down his mother and winced again before Arcee gasped as she saw the blade from earlier jump out of Jack's wrist before he cut through the webbing as if it was butter.

Jack looked up once he was sure June was ok and met the angry look in Arcee's optics.

"What happened to you, Jack?"

Jack bit back by answering line from Arcee right after she lost Cliffjumper. "I know about loss, more than you could ever realize." However, Jack's mind wouldn't let go of the dying mech that he now had pieces of inside his Human body and kept quiet for that very reason.

Arcee and June both looked at Jack.

Arcee had regret in in her optics while June had sadness in her eyes. "Jack, I…" Arcee began as she tried feebly to apologize to her human charge. When Jack didn't respond, Arcee felt a faint smile on her faceplate. He a just like me. When he's wounded, he draws away and focuses on other things.

"Come on, Mom." Jack said as he braved a smile and ignored Arcee's attempt at an apology for the time being. "I think it's time we had that ride you once made me promise."

Once at the base, June was stunned silent as her eyes looked around at the giant robots around her. Strangely, as June's eyes met the optics of a tall red and blue mech, June's mind reverted to that of a shy schoolgirl, and she could only manage a slight wave at the mech.

After a few moments, June was still seated on Arcee. The woman seemed frozen with a perplexingly on her face.

After a moment more, Jack looked back at his Mom and took her hand. "Come on, Mom."

Once June had walked far enough away not to be hurt by the process, Arcee took her biped form and looked at Jack expectancy.

June finally seemed to come back to herself and looked around the room. Before she could explore the base at her leisure, June was taken captive by Miko. "You two go on ahead," Miko said as she felt the tension radiating off of Arcee and Jack. "I'll keep Mrs. D busy."

Jack only nodded. He didn't know whether to be worried or pleased that Miko would keep his mom occupied.

Once Jack and Arcee made it to the femme's quarters, Arcee shut the door behind them and glared at Jack. "What the frag was that back there at the cement plant?!"

Jack sighed and looked at Arcee. "I didn't want you to freak and order Ratchet to look me over." Jack shuddered violently when he mentioned the Autobot CMO. "I wouldn't- That wouldn't end well." Jack said as his voice became low.

"Jack, what happened?"

Jack shivered and reached toward his eyes. Arcee's servo shot out to stop Jack from plucking out his eyes. That never happened anyway because Jack only slid some discs out of his eyes with nimble fingers. Arcee remembered they were called "contacts" and were used to correct human visual processing errors.

When the contacts were brought away from Jack's eyes, Arcee shivered as intense blue OPTICS stared back at her.

"I was born with a degenerative nervous system disorder. Doctors said I wouldn't make it past the age of three, but I hung on for six years. My father, Leo Darby, when he saw how distraught Mom was, made me the test subject for some cutting edge nanotechnology that was supposed to repair my body." Jack jumped effortlessly into Arcee's servo twenty feet above the floor. "The 'nanotechnology' turned out to be microscopic repair bots from a captured and dissected Cybertronian."

Arcee shivered with rage at the thought.

Jack continued, unaware of this show of emotions. "For days, my body fought the foreign aggressors, probably the most pain I will ever feel."

Arcee looked at Jack and thought she saw something in his optics for a brief second: a veteran soldier's look.

As he finished, Jack shivered again. Thank you, Jazz. We didn't know each other that long, but I hope you're happy in the Well.

"After my body accepted the machines they partially rebuilt my body into a Cybertronian amalgam. They strengthened my bones and muscles beyond any human limits and changed my eyes to optics."

Arcee stared at Jack in stunned silence as her Spark began to ache for all the pain Jack went through because of his father. Arcee watched in a micro cycle of confusion as Jack flinched and put a hand on his chest for a moment.

"To ensure the nanobots repaired my body, the organization took a sliver of the captured Cybertronian's Spark and placed it in my human heart."

Arcee's optics blazed. "Those butchers…they sound like MECH…"

Jack nodded solemnly.

"Then, that means…"

Jack's optics burned with fury and finished Arcee's shocking thought. "…my father is Lenard Bishop AKA Silas."

Arcee looked at Jack and tried to bring him to her faceplate, but the raven-haired boy turned his back to her. "Jack, I had no idea…" Arcee seemed to break character for a moment as a single Energon tear rolled down from her right optic. "It does explain quite a bit though."

Jack either didn't hear her or just wanted to drown in self-loathing for the time being."Now that you know what I am, I wouldn't blame you if you hated me."

"Jack," Arcee said with a bit of an abrasive tone. "You are more than the sum of your parts." The two-wheeler glared at him. "You are more than what Silas did to you."

Jack sighed. "The bot said Primus would help me before he went to the Well."

Arcee raised a shocked optic ridge. "There's something you must understand, Jack. Primus rarely directly involves himself, especially in his current slumber." She smiled at Jack. "I don't believe in coincidences, though."

Jack looked up. "What do you mean?"

Arcee smiled. "If you let me, I can help you learn to understand this and eventually embrace it."

Jack shook his head and laughed. "Why do I feel like I'm talking to a Ninjitsu Sensei?"

Arcee vented. "You are, the Cybertronian variant anyway. Prowl was my Sensei, and though I am qualified, I never took on a student because fighting broke out before I could."

Jack nodded. He felt a strong ache in his chest but ignored it. "Arcee, would you teach me?"

The femme looked at him calmly and tapped her digit on a small bit of her faceplate below her mouth, a habit she's picked up from Humans. "I've been thinking about it ever since you ran into Airachnid." Arcee said calmly. "However, if I am going to teach you, we need to tell Optimus and Ratchet."

Jack shook his head. "We can't tell Ratchet."

Arcee knelt so she was closer to him. "Why?"

"I've never been visibly sick." He told her. "The nanites supercharged my immune system. Earthling pathogens no longer have the strength to make me ill." He looked into her bright optics. "I haven't been to a doctor since the experiment."

Arcee now understood. "You're scared that if you lie on Ratchet's medical berth, you'll have a flashback and start harming everyone in your panicked state."

Jack only nodded. "They're my friends." He told her. "I don't want to hurt them."

"You need to tell Ratchet about this before he examines you." Arcee said softly yet sternly. "Ratchet knows what horror can do to a processor. He can help."

Jack nodded and put the contacts in a case before he put the case in his right jeans pocket.

When Jack blinked and turned back to look at Arcee, his vision changed. When he looked at Arcee, Jack could see motors, pistons, and gears along with some parts reminiscent of organic digestive and cardiovascular systems. There were other things as well, but Jack quickly shut his optics and willed them back to the visible spectrum even as his cheeks burned when he realized the fact.

"That is new." Jack muttered as he walked back to the main room. "Can all Cybertronians see in different spectrums from Humans?"

Arcee nodded. "We naturally view the normal spectrum, but with time, Cybertronians can learn to use all the abilities of their optics, including viewing spectrums outside 'visible' range." The femme looked down at him. "Why?"

Jack blushed and scratched his head nervously. "I may have accidentally accessed my optics' X-Ray vision."

Arcee only nodded as the pair walked up to Ratchet. This surprised Jack, but he wasn't about to call attention to the fact. Part of him figured Cybertronians had different definitions of modesty and related topics, but Jack still felt embarrassed regardless.

The grumpy medic turned to them and uncaring their muttered, "Yes, Yes? What is it?" The medic's tone quickly changed when he saw Jack's optics click and whir into focus on the docbot. "Dear Primus! What happened?!"

Jack glared at him which unnerved the doctor enough for him to talk more quietly.

"Jack, are you alright?"

"I have fragging optics, and you ask if I'm alright?!" Jack hissed. Then, he calmed down. "I'm sorry Ratchet." The teen said as he looked at his feet. "It's just that I've been hiding this for so long…"

Though Ratchet could sense and was curious about the story behind Jack's optics, the physician held his questions and offered Jack a servo. Nervously Jack stepped aboard and let Ratchet carry him to the berth. "Your body is denser than the others." Ratchet observed. "Is that related?"

"Yes, when I was…" Jack paused for a fraction of a second. "…a sparkling…" The term surprised Jack, but he didn't let it show. "My father experimented on me with Cybertronian biology to safe my life."

"It had unintended side effects, doctor." His mother supplied, having escaped from Miko earlier when she saw Ratchet and Jack talking as Arcee stood guard. "I had no idea what Jack had become as a result of the foreign biology inside him until I saw Arcee and that Spidercon."

Ratchet stared at the woman. "You let a butcher put Cybertronian components in your son?!" Ratchet shook his helm and growled low. "It sounds like something Knockout would do." The statement had a note of regret in it. However, Ratchet quickly put that aside and picked up a scanner. "This is going to be a base scan to run future scans against to search for possible changes and/or problems." The old medic explained as the beam ran over Jack's form having surmised Jack would be uncomfortable given his past experience. "I have files on everyone under my care." Ratchet said with a surprising gentle voice. "Now, that includes you, Jack."

With a nervous nod, Jack jumped from the berth and landed calmly on the ground much to Ratchet's initial shock. Then, he reminded himself Jack was more techno-organic than truly human because of his unique situation and began running simulations with the data he acquired to determine just how much this new makeup would continue to alter Jack's formerly human body.

Jack sighed in relief as his body quickly calmed down once he got away from Ratchet.

As the wave of anxiety left him, Jack looked up at Arcee. "Do you mind if we go on a dive?"

"I think you need to go on patrol with me." Arcee said as she nodded and transformed. "I want you to be ready once Optimus is informed in case he lets you join me on stealth and recon missions."

As Jack and Arcee left, tension melted away from Jack, and the young man let himself get lost in the wind and speed as Arcee drove towards Jasper. This could be the start of something new for us.

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