Questions and Answers

Annabeth started awake in the middle of the night. The Daughter of Athena swore she heard something come from the Hermes Cabin. Annabeth sighed as she got up, sure to not rouse her siblings and walked out of the Athena Cabin in her PJs. Looking out toward cabin that sparked her curiosity with critical eyes. Suddenly, there was a flash. Annabeth's mind snapped back to look toward Thalia's Pine and watched the stranger walk out of the borders. Is he insane?! The blonde thought as she sprinted to the border to stop the kid from making a perhaps fatal mistake.

Thinking quickly, Annabeth picked up her pace after the boy. She froze and stared in shock as she watched the raven-haired boy stand next to the near side of the road that that ran by the strawberry fields around the camp. What is he doing? Annabeth thought as she watched him stop and rest. Annabeth took a moment to study Jack. He seemed fit and well kept for a demigod. For a moment, she wondered who his parent was. The teen was well acquainted with battle but didn't have the bloodlust of an Ares kid. Jack wasn't her brother because she was sure he didn't have the Athena Fatal Flaw: Pride. Continuing in the mental process of elimination, Annabeth finally came up with no answer and nothing bothered an Athena child than a question with no answer. That brought up another question to Annabeth's mind. Where did the sword come from? The Wise Girl thought as she looked the sword over. The blade was meticulously crafted, and for a moment, Annabeth considered if the blade came from Hephaestus. A glance at the sword dispelled that theory. The weapon was clearly not forged from Celestial Bronze because the blade was a metallic grey. Who was Jack?

Annabeth was about to call out to Jack and ask him what he was doing when the teen did something that shocked her. Jack put his finger to his ear and began to talk! Styx! Annabeth thought in panic, thinking that Jack was keying up an ea piece connected to his phone. Doesn't this guy know anything?!

"Ratchet," Jack called into an unseen phone. "I need a bridge at my coordinates, please."

Annabeth glared at Jack and donned her Yankee's cap. I can't let him get back to whoever he's going to report this to! Annabeth thought as she made sure to silently follow Jack onto whatever bridge he talked about. Annabeth jumped back in shock when a large green swirling vortex appeared out of thin air. Impossible! Annabeth's mind screamed in rejection of what she saw even as she climbed into the strange portal.

On the other side of the Groundbridge, Jack's instincts pinged. The teen looked back at the Groundbridge as he felt his grip tighten around the hilt of his gift from Solaris Prime in preparation to attack. "Something's not right…" Jack mumbled as he looked at the sword. Gradually, the blade retreated into Jack's right arm as Jack's nerves base-lined back to normal. It's just leftovers from that strange camp.

Ratchet's voice broke Jack's focus when he spoke."By the Allspark! Jack, how did you do that?!"

Jack mentally cursed his luck and shivered unconsciously at the mention of the Allspark. Why does that bother me so much? Jack questioned. He knew the Allspark was important but couldn't remember WHY it was so important. All Jack knew was that mentioning the artifact always made him extremely uncomfortable. "Look…Ratchet." Jack said as he held up his hands so as to not startle the resident CMO anymore than Jack already had. "I think I can explain, but I would feel better if everyone was here when I did, including Mom." Jack said as looked Ratchet in the optics while the teen spoke to him.

Jack turned to walk up to the human area, but Ratchet looked at the teen in worry and cleared his volcalizer. "At least, let me scan you, Jack." Ratchet said with a surprising amount of care.

Jack turned and walked over to the medic without another word though he wasn't exactly sure what the medic would hope to accomplish by scanning him. With another long sigh, Jack held his arms to his side and tried not to look at the device in Ratchet's servo. As the beam ran over Jack's form, the teen tensed. He could feel the beam running over every inch of his body. In spite of being fully clothed while the light passed over him, Jack couldn't help the wave of self-consciousness that flooded his mind in those brief seconds.

"What did you do, Ratchet?' Jack asked as he walked over to the medic while the old bot puzzled over the results of the scan.

Ratchet waved off his concern. "There's nothing to worry about, Jack." The medic assured him. "It was only a basic scan of your systems." Ratchet suddenly frowned as an anomaly warning sounded from the device. Ratchet tapped his metal chin in thought as he looked from the machine to Jack and back again in confusion.

"What is it, Ratchet?" Jack asked nervously as a slight shiver ran down his spine. 'Oh, and please don't say 'By the Allspark!' again." Jack said as he looked at Ratchet. "The phrase makes me uncomfortable."

Ratchet quirked an optic ridge at Jack's unease. Why would a Cybertronian turn of phrase make Jack uncomfortable?

As if it wanted to offer an answer to the old bot, Ratchet's scanner started beeping. "That's odd." Ratchet mumbled as he hooked the scanner to the computer to look over the results more closely. After a few moments of silence, Ratchet looked at Jack in shock. "Your internal struts are producing blood AND Energon!"

Jack shrugged, initially not catching the last part of Ratchet's exclamation. "Most animals that have it produce blood in their bones, including humans, Ratchet."

Ratchet looked at Jack and shook his helm. "I doubt they produce Energon naturally though." Ratchet said calmly.

Jack looked at him in shock as the teen heard familiar laughter and groaned. "Annabeth, take off the fragging hat!"

Ratchet gave the raven-haired teen a confused expression as the boy seemed to swear at empty air and nearly jumped when another human, female with blonde hair and grey eyes, seemed to just appear behind Jack. "Wha-?"

Jack sighed, "Ratchet, this is Annabeth Chase, Daughter of Athena."

The young demigoddess looked at Ratchet in stunned silence as her hand twitched over her knife. She looked at the Cybertronian medic as her thoughtful eyes scanned the bot. "Not one of Hephaestus' machines…" She mumbled to herself. "There are no seams except at the joints." She looked at Ratchet's optics and mumbled, "What are you?"

"What are you?" He questioned sternly. "From what I was able to glean from Optimus' studies of human history, Athena was a Virgin Goddess. In fact, her most famous temple, The Parthenon, translates to 'Place of the Virgin'." Ratchet smirked as Annabeth's face reddened, and she wisely backed down.

Jack felt his blood and Energon, if Ratchet's scan could be trusted, boil. "They are living beings, you glitch!" Jack spat as his eyes glowed menacingly at the Child of Athena. As soon as the anger rose, it left Jack again.

"What has a twist in your breeches?" She asked before she noticed the building and looked up in shock at the ceiling in amazement.

Jack shook his head to clear the remaining anger from his mind. Where did that come from? Jack asked himself in confusion, slightly unnerved by the sudden burst of anger. Jack decided it would be best to stay away from Annabeth lest he risk anther outburst. Soon, Jack found himself in the back of the base. He walked around the halls and stumbled into a massive room. Something drew Jack to the center of the room. He spotted numerous artifacts and massive tubes. Seeing them, Jack started to backpedal. In his mind, Jack heard a soothing voice.

Do not fear, Little Brother. Solus said with a kind aura to her words that made Jack relax. These weapons are inert. The Femme Prime told Jack. The Decepticon workmanship is insulting.

Jack couldn't help laughing at The Master Artificer's appraisal of enemy might.

"You haven't met Megatron." Jack was surprised when he felt the Prime's presence shrink at the name "Megatron". "What did I say?" Jack asked aloud in confusion.

I have history with Megatron's namesake. Solus whispered. Megatronus betrayed his brothers, Primus, and me to join with Unicron.

Jack shivered as the image of Arcee betraying, shooting, and offlining her fellow Autobots under Megatron the Warlord's orders went through his mind. In the back of his mind, Jack knew it wasn't real, but the thought was still enough to make the young demigod dry heave in disgust. Once Jack recovered from the shock he sighed and mentally responded, I'm sorry, Solus. Jack looked around and smiled when he spotted the golden forge. You want to help me create a body? Jack asked as he reached for the Forge. Jack felt strange when he hefted the hammer above his head.

I'm helping you, Little Brother. Solus said with a bubbly tone rolling off of her voice as she explained the odd sensation in Jack's arms to the teen in his mind. Without the assistance of my Creation Matrix, you couldn't hope to build a functional Cybertronian shell.

Jack nodded and started hammering on the scrap metal he was using as raw material. The sound of the Forge rang through the base as Jack hammered away with care at the project before him. Annabeth watched Jack work as she leaned against a massive door frame. Hours ticked by outside Jack's mind, but the teen remained focused on his project. Strangely, the teen worked without breaking to eat or take a rest. He just worked on what amounted to a Cybertronian bodysuit. When the body was finished, Jack smiled and gently set the hammer, which shrank to fit his hands, down head first and backed away to admire his handiwork.

As Jack looked over his work for a final time, the Groundbridge activated. Jack sighed. Somehow, he could feel apprehension in the Arcee's Spark and turned to find and talk to the femme. Before Jack could find the femme, she found him. Arcee eyed the Forge of Solus Prime in shock. It was small enough to be manipulated by human hands! She looked between the Forge and Jack repeatedly before her optics settled on her partner with a glare.

"Jack, what are you doing?"

Jack tapped his chin for a moment. Then, his eyes literally lit up a brilliant Energon blue. Jack mumbled, "I knew I forgot something." Then, he calmly picked up the Forge. The gears below the head of the hammer glowed and spun just as they did while Optimus upgraded the Groundbridge into a Spacebridge.

Impossible! Arcee's processor spat, yet the evidence was right there in her human partner/charge's hands.

A blue beam shot from the Forge into Jack's eyes. Arcee moved to block the beam, but the beam faded before Arcee could react. Arcee stared in shock. Instead of crying out in pain from the blinding light, Jack only smirked and shouted, "Link start!"

Jack's eyes continued to glow as the body on the birth sat up and got of the birth. Arcee pointed her blaster at the mech body. The body held up its servos. Then, it mouthed, "Arcee, it's me!" Arcee looked down where the femme's adios told her the voice was coming from and felt her optics widen as Jack looked up at her. "I can explain. The first part of which is: Primus is my Sire,"

Arcee promptly glitched, her metal chassis crashing loudly to the floor as she fell.

Please Read and Review. I'm still not sure where to go with this story. Input will be greatly appreciated.