Game-Changer

Chapter 8: Disarmed

"So, how do I look?" Jack turned slowly, giving Arcee a long look at his new suit of black armor.

"Sexy." She grinned, sitting with her legs crossed in the parking lot in front of one of Groom Lake's armory buildings. "How well can it hold up against Cybertronian weapons?"

"Optimus tested the material with his own guns, and it was able to take an average of four hits before it failed."

"Good. That'll at least give you a few seconds to get under cover if you start taking fire." She reached out to hold his gloved left hand. "How many of the features we heard about actually made it into the final design?"

"Most of 'em. Servos that boost the wearer's strength, speed, and agility, GPS locator that turns on in emergencies, software that calls for help if the wearer is knocked out or badly injured." He lifted the helmet. "And this has a heads-up display with augmented-reality software and a targeting system that links wirelessly to whatever guns I'm carrying. Not that they actually gave me any guns, but they did let me have one of their EMP rifles."

"Well, I'm glad you've got something to defend yourself with, at least."

"Same here. Since I've already found myself in the middle of more battles than I can count, they wanted to do whatever they can to keep me in one piece." He chuckled. "They also fitted Miko for an armor suit of her own simply because of her habit of going all Leeroy Jenkins on us."

Arcee laughed. "Well, since we haven't been able to stop her, at least this'll make her a little safer."

"Yeah. I just hope it doesn't encourage her to be even more reckless."

"Says the guy who tried to climb up a Vehicon's leg without planning ahead any further than that." She grinned and nudged his shoulder.

"Ha ha." He blushed. "Okay, fair point, I guess." He waved his hand off to the left. "Say, if you're curious to see this armor in action, Ashanti should be giving it a test run right about now."

"Sounds interesting." Arcee shifted into her motorcycle mode and Jack climbed on and put on his helmet. As they cruised across the base to the training facility, his helmet-mounted camera scanned everything he looked at and popped up information about it in his HUD. Kind of distracting, but he figured he'd get used to it soon enough. It was too useful--and too cool--not to give it a chance.

"They've set up the demo behind the building so the other 'Bots could watch," he said as they arrived at the training facility.

Arcee's chuckle came through the speakers in his helmet. "Now I'm imagining them trying to fit inside there."

Jack laughed. A moment later they cruised around behind the building.

Optimus, Bulkhead, and Bee crouched over on the right, gazing down at seven armor-clad humans surrounded by a couple dozen of the Lake's personnel, including Jack's mom and a small medical team. Optimus glanced at him and Arcee, nodded, and returned his optics to the people a few yards away.

Arcee parked beside Optimus. Jack dismounted and moved a few steps away so she could return to her primary mode. She sat beside him, leaned back, propped herself up on her hands, and crossed her ankles. "Good morning, guys."

"Arcee. Jack." Optimus nodded again, keeping his attention on the armored soldiers. Bulk waved and Bee beeped a greeting.

Jack reached up to take his helmet off, but stopped when it scanned the crowd and labeled the ones in the center, whose faces were hidden by their helmet visors. Ashanti stood in the center, unarmed, wearing black armor. The six surrounding her carried long metal pipes that looked like high-tech quarterstaffs. Jack didn't recognize any of their names--Nelson, Wilcox, Owens, Blanchard, Watkins, Keller.