Beast Wars Prime

New Face of Darkness Pt.4

And here we are, the final act in the opening of arc 3. Special shoutout to Monkey D. Conan for leaving the 100th review on Beast Wars Prime! Fair warning, after today I go back to my previous update schedule of roughly once a month. For now, however, enjoy the story.

Inside Fortress Maximus, Miko watched as Ratchet and Arcee moved like someone had hit Fastforward on an old video cassette. When what looked like a bubble of energy spread from Heinrads' clock around Optimus, Ratchet, and Arcee, they'd frozen for a moment before they sped up. Ratchet was a blur as he moved around, occasionally stopping and reexamining his work.

A sudden cracking caught her attention as Jack bit back a scream. Looking down, she saw that her boyfriend was still mutating. In the brief moments after the time bubble went up Jacks' body seemed to elongate, the cracking being his bones breaking and healing to enable the change. Thirty minutes couldn't pass soon enough for either of them.

"Don't worry Jackrabbit." She whispered. "We'll get you through this."

"What are you doing?" Smokescreen asked, drawing Mikos' attention towards Rattrap who was standing by the computer.

"Phase two." The other time traveling Maximal replied simply. "Rattrap, Maximize!"

Miko watched with some disgust as Rattraps' rat tail lifted from his spine and plugged into a data port on the computer, connecting his brain at the back of his head directly to the computer. His hat slid down, becoming something like a glass catchers' mask with computer code passing across it. Seconds later the computer display seemed to change screens so fast that it was becoming as much of a blur as Optimus' surgery.

"I'm trying to use Fort Maxs' communications system to hack into a government spy satellite." Rattrap explained. "That way, we can figure out what's going on topside."

"You can do that with your mind?" Smokescreen asked.

"Yeah." Rattrap replied. "Older tech takes a while though, and Teletraan-2 is almost a billion years old." He bit out. "I'll get there though."

"And done!" Raf exclaimed.

Smokescreen and Miko looked over at the still unconscious Bumblebee. Most of the gashes to his body had been repaired with Rafs' CR pulse, however his head was a different story. While most of the burnt mesh had been cut away and the remainder healed as best as he could, was still considerable scarring left behind. To say nothing of the fact that most of his armor plating would need to be replaced or reinforced.

"He'll be all right then?" Smokescreen asked.

"He's stable." Raf answered. "He can rest for a while until Ratchet can finish repairing him." He walked over to the berth Jack and Miko were on and climbed onto it. The table groaned a little as he sat down next to Jack and Miko. "Now however, we need to help Jack."

"Right." Miko agreed. "Do you think combining will help?" She asked, remembering her earlier suggestion.

"I think so." Raf replied. "Magnaboss can hold more than one spark, and the energy in doing so might just help Jack with whatever's happening to him."

"No." Jack groaned. "Too risky." He panted. "I only need to hold it for." He was cut off by a sharp knock to the head.

"Now isn't the time to be a hero, Jack." Miko hissed at him. "Even Optimus has the other bots to help him when he needs it." She added, taking his unchanged hand. "And right now, you need our help."

"Never thought I'd say this about Miko, but she's right." Ignoring the femmes' dirty look, Raf grasped Jacks' larger blue hand. The trio then glowed a bright white as they began to combine. The energy of the process combining with the energy of the Matrix to complete Jacks' transformation.