When in the World

Chapter 1: Hostages and Lies

Jack Darby had learned a few things in his time with the Autobots. He had learned how to dodge, how to run from Decepticons, how to lie, how to hide, among other things. His twelve and a quarter friend, Rafael Esquivel, had also learned these lessons, although he had also learnt a few things about Cybertronian technology. No, it was the foreign exchange student, Miko Nakadai, who had never read the memo on self-preservation. So, as Jack stared at the bars of the cell he was in, he couldn't help but to blame her again.

It was supposed to be a simple recon, one that Jack could go on with his partner, Arcee. When they encountered some Decepticons, he had found cover while she called for backup. When Bumblebee and Bulkhead stumbled through the Ground Bridge, guns blazing, he had been relieved. That relief had only lasted seconds, however, before he saw the Asian girl jump out after her guardian. Raf, in a vain attempt to keep her back at the base, had tried to hold her back, but only landed up being pulled through with her. Between the two of them, they had managed to drag the adventurous girl to a safer place.

Or so they had thought. The large metal hand that had grabbed them had came out of nowhere, and, over the explosions of the fight nearby, was unheard. Despite her screams, no one had heard Miko's pleas for help, except for their captor. The mech, one of the Vehicon drones, glanced at them for a second, before running away from the fight. Arcee and the others hadn't even noticed until it was too late.

Starscream, the egomaniacal ex-Decepticon, was apparently working with Megatron on something again. They were hardly friendly to each other, and could only stand the other due to their usefulness to the other's cause. After Megatron had inspected the three of them, they had been locked in separate cells onboard the Decepticon vessel, the Nemesis.

Now, Jack just stared out the see-through energy field that sent a shock through him every time he touched it. The others were out of sight and out of earshot, but they were hardly out of mind. Jack, always analysing situations and with an intuitive knowledge of the Decepticons, could imagine quite clearly what they might be doing with the other two, and it made his blood boil. He wanted to lash out at his captors, but he was smart enough to know the odds of a single human defeating a group of Decepticons. No, it was Miko's job to be stupid, and he would hate to take her away from the one thing she was good at.

The energy field fluctuated momentarily, before a black screen covered the wall-sized field. On it was the faces of two Cybertronians: Megatron on the left, and Ratchet on the right. He stared at the screen, calling out to the Autobot medic, but it became obvious that he was only meant to watch, not participate.

"Ah, Ratchet. It is so nice of you to answer. We hardly ever get to have a civil conversation." Megatron drawled, acting as innocent as a puppy. Ratchet didn't buy it. The other Autobots walked into the vision of the camera, staring at the screen. "Where are the children?" Optimus asked, his voice calm but cold. Arcee looked like she was seething with anger. Megatron just smiled, and tapped the side of his head patiently. "Ah, yes, the fleshlings. I believe Starscream wished to try out a new invention of his on them..." Starscream walked up behind Megatron, and he was rubbing his hands together, smirking. Arcee started yelling at them in Cybertronian, but the words were lost to Jack. Judging by Starscream's reaction, though, he figured that she might have made more than a few sailors jealous.

"Now, now femme, you don't want me to test on your pet first, do you?" Starscream said, his smirk growing. Arcee continued her yelling. "Very well. I wonder what would happen if I opened a Ground Bridge with no destination coordinates..." Starscream trailed off, and Ratchet started yelling. "You fools! Doing that would create an unstable vortex. The effects are unfathomable!" The screen flickered, and Jack saw himself on the didn't watch for long, however, before a large hand grabbed him, again, causing a new string of swear words from his partner, in English and Cybertronian.

"Leave Jack alone! What do you want?" Arcee yelled, but Starscream didn't stop. Jack heard Megatron talking calmly. "Oh, we only want a few human test subjects..." He paused for a moment; giving Starscream time to enter what Jack guessed was the Ground Bridge room. "Unless, of course, you are willing to disclose the location of your base. If you did that, then I might just be generous enough to let the fleshlings go free." Jack saw another screen with the two faction leaders, and a third screen portraying what was going on in the room.

Starscream started typing in commands into the one console, keeping a tight grip on Jack. A small part of his mind wondered briefly if Miko or Raf were watching. Suddently, the computer blared out a garbled voice. "Warning, the destination coordinates for the Ground Bridge have not been set!" Starscream typed more, and the voice stopped. A familiar swirling vortex opened up by the frame, but arcs of blue lightning shot through it. "Starscream, surely you realise that the vortex could explode if anything disrupted such an unstable connection!" Ratchet cried. Jack looked at the screen, and noticed that Arcee, Bumblebee, Bulkhead, and Optimus were no longer with Ratchet.

"You have a minute, Auto-scum. After that, the boy gets to test you on that theory." Starscream replied, squeezing him a bit too hard for a second. He heard screaming nearby, and his heart stopped when he realised that it was Miko. Some drone walked in, holding the screaming girl, and an equally upset but much quieter Raf. Starscream nodded at him, before turning back to the control panel. "Tell me, Ratchet, what would happen if I changed the coordinates of a Ground Bridge while something was in it." Starscream asked, squeezing Jack for what felt like the millionth time. Ratchet's face fell. "Anything from an implosion to being scattered across the cosmos." Starscream laughed, and Jack started to wonder how long he was going to last in this place.

Suddenly, Megatron started yelling, his screen reactivating. "They have boarded the Nemesis! Starscream, take the flesh bags to the Space Bridge, and await further instruction there." Starscream nodded, before typing in coordinates. The vortex calmed down, with the lightning arcs vanishing entirely, and Starscream and the drone walked through it.

They came out of the vortex in a large, underground cavern. The large metal ring in front of them was eerily similar to the one Jack had used to go to Cybertron a few months ago. The vortex behind them closed, and the two Decepticons walked up to the control panel. A monitor with Megatron's face was lit, and another had Ratchet's on it. Ratchet apparently could see Starscream, because he immediately started asking a barrage of questions.

"Shut up, you worthless imbecile!" Megatron screamed, shutting the medic up for a moment. "Starscream, power up the Space Bridge, and do as we had planned." Starscream smirked in response, and started pressing various buttons. The large metal ring imbedded in the cavern wall started roaring to life, but a vortex didn't form. "Lord Megatron, we appear to be experiencing some... technical difficulties." Starscream said. Megatron yelled, and the seeker flinched away from the screen in response. His grip on Jack tightened, and the teen felt something crack.

The vortex decided to open then, deafening the three humans, while Starscream started typing in various commands. He hadn't noticed that Jack's ribs were injured, or he didn't care. Either way, every time he tightened his grip slightly, the pain increased.

A Ground Bridge roared to life nearby, and the four Autobots missing from the base ran out. It closed before any Decepticons could follow them, and the four stood in a standoff against Starscream and the drone. They could easily defeat the two of them, but they wouldn't risk hurting their friends. For once, Jack saw how the Decepticon way could help the Autobots so much. Arcee was calling his name, but he was in too much pain to call back. His eyes met her optics though, and they shared a look of mutual understanding. Optimus took a step forward. "Starscream, think this through. I'm sure we can come up with a..."

Optimus was cut off by a loud roaring sound, much louder than the Space Bridge. The air around them was suddenly being pulled backwards, and Jack felt Starscream slipping. Next to them, he saw the drone fly backwards, Raf and Miko still in hand, through the Space Bridge. He thought that he may have heard Bulkhead yell for her, but Starscream's hand, with him in it, was suddenly drawn backwards, into the vortex. Jack tried to focus on holding onto his kidnapper. Starscream gripped the frame of the active Space Bridge, trying to haul himself away from the unstable vortex he had created. The hand Jack was being held in was still being pulled into the vortex. Jack could feel static flow through his hair. Then, the grip around him loosened, and he flew backwards into a large tunnel of colours and energy.

The Decepticon Space Bridge; Arcee

Jack was gone.

He was gone.

Arcee resisted screaming out in frustration, keeping her thoughts to herself. 'Why? How? Why him! Why do all my partners have to die at the hands of Decepticons?' Arcee understood the human phrase of seeing red perfectly clearly now; Starscream had caused so much pain and anguish to her and her partners, and now it was time for pay back. With one shot from her blaster, she hit the seeker's hand, causing him to let go of his perch and disappear into the Space Bridge. With another shot, she hit the control panel, short-circuiting it, and turning the vortex off. The other Autobots got out from their cover, and walked over to the now dysfunctional Space Bridge.

"Ratchet, could you lock on to the coordinates of the Space Bridge?" Optimus sounded concerned, but Arcee heard the tones of desperation underneath. The three human teenagers, while causing their fair share of trouble, were just as much a part of the team as any Autobot was. There was a sigh on the other end of the comm. link. "The destination coordinates were incomplete, Optimus. The Space Bridge was too unstable to track normally. It may take me a few days to adjust the settings." Arcee yelled, shooting a rock in frustration. Jack didn't have a few days, and he was probably stuck with Starscream and, even worse, Miko.

"Starscream went through the Space Bridge. If it opened up somewhere, then they must have been dumped together. The kids won't be safe." Arcee said to Optimus, her voice devoid of emotion. He nodded, but sighed in a very human manner. "There is nothing we can do. Opening the Space Bridge is impossible now." If Arcee could blush then she would have; she had just trapped Jack, Miko, and Rafael in the middle of space with Starscream. None of the Autobots present even wanted to think of the number of things that could have gone wrong. Ratchet opened up a Ground Bridge for them, and Arcee wasn't the only one that cast the destroyed Space Bridge one last glance before stepping through it into Autobot Outpost Omega One.

Space Bridge Vortex; Miko

Jack had warned her that running into the middle of the Autobots' fights would get them all into trouble. The trip to the Shadowzone was proof enough for him, but he had more if anyone ever dared to ask. However, Miko had never, ever, ever thought that she would land up being thrown into outer space because of that. Then again, Jack had said that she was a bad luck magnet, the embodiment of Murphy's Law, a gremlin, when it came to running into battles.

Admittedly, though, being sucked through the vortex hadn't been too bad. Sure, it was loud, but she had listened to worse, and the vortex made some pretty nice colours to look at. That stupid drone had let go of her, and it, along with Raf, had disappeared into the vortex already. A part of her wondered where they were going, but it didn't bother her too much. It wasn't like she could change that now, and she was going to space! Jack was so going to lose the 'been to an alien planet' card now.

Without warning, the vortex around her disappeared, and she found herself in a freefall. Her flight was cut short as she landed roughly on something large and pointy. Sitting up, she saw trees and vines. Not just any trees and vines, but humongous trees and vines. She looked down and saw what appeared to be the roots of one of the trees. Standing up, she rubbed her bruising back. The Autobots would be coming to rescue her soon, so she figured that she should find somewhere nearby to wait in safety. And if she saw anything exciting along the way, it was an added bonus. As she walked across the large forest floor, Miko couldn't help but wonder where the others were.

Space Bridge Vortex; Rafael

Raf had nearly lost his glasses in the vortex, but the drone had a loose cable, which his glasses just managed to hook on. Raf was still busy thanking whoever was up there for that, because there was no way he would see without them. Yet, for the time being, while they were out of reach, his vision was practically imaginary. He wasn't complaining that he couldn't see the chaos going on around him.

The vortex around them disappeared abruptly, and gravity took over. Raf landed on his side, wincing in pain, while the drone managed to keep a tight grip on him. Raf groaned, before looking around. The ground was metal, and there were large piles of junk all around them. Raf couldn't help but moan in frustration. Of course, of all the places in the universe that he could have landed up in, he had to land up in the galactic scrapyard. He tried to push himself free of the drone, but it tightened its grip in response. It stood up and looked around, before walking in a random direction.

It took him a while to notice it, but Raf could definitely hear gunfire in the distance, as well as explosions. Not just any type of gunfire or explosions, though; this was definitely Cybertronian weaponry. Maybe someone here could contact the others on Earth. He smiled at the thought. It took him until they reached the warzone itself that he realised something.

He was being held by a Decepticon. These Autobots wouldn't see him as a casualty.

In the words of the Earth-bound Autobots: he was so fragged.

Space Bridge Vortex; Jack

His ribs still hurt, and the blinding lights and deafening noise weren't helping at all. Yet, despite it all, he was more worried about Arcee; he couldn't get the look of her face out of his mind. She was probably already beating herself up for losing another partner. Jack heard an explosion in the direction he had come from, and the vortex shook slightly. The wind didn't let up, though. It took a whole minute before the vortex ended abruptly. He was thrown roughly through the air, landing on metal. The sky above him was dark, but there was artificial lighting nearby. He sat up, and his jaw instantly fell back down.

He was back on Cybertron. Only, this time, it was inhabited.

Chapter 1 of my first story on, and I am extremely nervous right now. Hope you enjoyed it, and know that there will be more to come. Sadly, however, I don't have a permanent internet access at home, so I can't promise regular or frequent updates ):

To those of you who liked the story or not, please review! I'm not used to people reading my work, but I won't complain about suggestions or advice! Of course, if you love my writing, then I won't complain either... Please forgive me if it's not original, or if any pesky spelling mistakes managed their way through. As I've said, I'm new at this...