Darkness rising

Encountering the Autobots

It's been months since Jack was captured by MECH. The Autobots were shifted to an abandoned old power plant in the outskirts of Jasper, where they set up their new base. Among their other works, such as patrolling around, searching for Energon and other things, the bots have been constantly trying to find Jack. All these months without Jack weren't easy for them. June almost had a breakdown and threw a tantrum, blaming the bots for what happened to Jack when she first learnt about her son's fate. But after she calmed down she forgave them, except for Tailgate and still remained with them. Their worry for their human friend increased even more when June was sent a mysterious videotape. She brought it to the bots and when they played it, they were horrified to find out that it was a video recording of Jack being tortured. After which they had redoubled their efforts in finding Jack.

Many things had changed for them. The bots had quickly taken a dislike towards the blue and white bot known as Tailgate. Honestly, their dislike towards the mech was justified. They couldn't just get over what he had done to Jack. But since Tailgate was still a member of the team, they had to be civil with him. Smokescreen and Sideswipe, the two close friends of Jack, were saddened because of Jack's fate. Same with Bumblebee and Bulkhead. The other bots who didn't know Jack for as long as them also felt sorry for the boy. Optimus, even though had kept a strong demeanour, was crushed with guilt on the inside as he blamed himself for letting all this happen under his watch.

But Arcee had the worst. The poor femme was utterly devastated by all this. She didn't realise how much Jack meant to her, up until now. Only now she realised that she loved him in a way she never loved anyone before. Even more than her previous partners. She had fallen in love with him. And she feared that she would never be able to tell him how she truly felt towards him. She deeply regretted how she had forgotten about him when Tailgate came around. And now she had lost Jack. All thanks to Tailgate. She wasn't sure if she could ever forgive Tailgate. Even more, she didn't know if she could ever forgive herself for abandoning her partner. All of their failed attempts to find Jack only increased her hopelessness. She would cry herself to recharge each night and even then nightmares would plague her during her recharge, making her even more restless.

She was currently resting in her quarters. Well, trying to rest. She was experiencing another nightmare.

Darkness. That's all she could see when she opened her optics. She was in some sort of dark area and couldn't see anything except the darkness around her.

"Hello?" she called out. There was no response other than the echo of her voice.

"Where am I?" she asked, again with no response.

Arcee got up from the 'ground', curious to see where she was. She started to walk in one direction, without knowing what way it was. Arcee didn't know what to do. She tried her com-link but got nothing. She tried yelling out again but only got the echo of her voice in return.

"A-Arcee…." She suddenly heard someone calling her. It was a familiar voice, but she couldn't put her digit on it.

"Hello? Who are you? Where are you?" Arcee called out.

"Arcee……. pl-please……. please help me..."

The two-wheeler started to panic. She didn't know why, but hearing the voice desperately calling her for help, made her feel the need to get to their aid fast. Quickly, she followed the direction in which the voice came from. She ran through the darkness, hoping to find the person in need of help.

"Arcee!....." The voice called out again, a hint of pain was present in it.

"I'm coming!" she yelled to the voice, running faster through the black abyss.

"Ar-arcee,..... pl-please...hurry…."

She ran and ran until finally, she reached her destination. It was some sort of giant doorway, big enough for her to comfortably pass through. She went through the doorway, which revealed a dark corridor, leading to a dimly lit room. In the middle shone a dim light, revealing someone strapped to a berth. There were a couple of people standing near the berth.