FicWad

Jack found himself surrounded by a warm white light. It was so bright that he could not see anything around him, yet the brightness did not hurt his eyes. But wherever he was he felt calm, peaceful, done. Somehow he knew everything was alright, that everyone he knew was ok. Most importantly he knew Arcee was safe and that in itself made him feel tranquil. Time now had no meaning to him as he floated there in the light. But as he relaxed his attention was drawn to a black spot that had appeared in front of him. He reached out with his hand to the spot and found the area around it to be ice cold, making he draw his hand back as his mind was suddenly given a glimpse of something. It was something that he had forgotten, that caused him great pain. Before he could remember it fully he tried to move away, make some distance from it.

But then the spot expanded around him, making him shiver from the extreme cold that emanated from it. He then started to remember, the cold, the fire, and suddenly there was a sharp pain in his chest, then it struck again and again. The warm bright light had faded as the darkness surrounded him. He clutched his chest as the pain became unbearable as he felt his heart beat again repeatedly. He also felt something against his back, cold and metallic. He couldn't move as if he was strapped down to it. He then opened his mouth and took a deep breath, his lungs filling with oxygen as his chest expanded with each breath there after. He then heard voices around him, one sounded female while the other was unmistakably male.

"Something is wrong Miranda, he is coming too." the male said as Jack tried to open his eyes, the darkness being banished by light as his eyes refocused to see the ceiling above him. He tried to look around but found that his vision was still slightly blurry.

"It's too soon Wilson." the female voice replied irritably. As Jack looked back to the ceiling the female then stood over him. She had long brown hair just past her shoulders and looked down to him before looking back at the male.

"Give him the sedative now." she said as the male came into view above Jack. He then felt a prick to his arm and a liquid then entering his body, making him slip back into unconsciousness again as the woman looked back down to him.

"Everything is alright Jack, sleep for now."

Then the darkness returned around him as his mind was filled with images of his last moments, the pain he felt as his life slipped away. It was all to much for him and he fought to rid himself of those memories that threatened to tear him apart, then suddenly he opened his eyes and awakened.

Jack rose up from the berth quickly in shock as he breathed heavily. His entire body throbbing, proving that he was alive again. He had no idea how it happened though. He looked around almost like he was panicking, eyes darting all around the place. He still felt the pain in his chest as he looked down to his body and saw that the matrix was still hanging around his neck. But then he noticed something else, he looked past the crystal to what appeared to be scarring on his chest. He then looked over his arms to find more of scarring.

'What the hell happened to me?' he thought as he got off the berth and saw a mirror on the wall in front of him. He walked over to it, his muscles aching like they were not used to being this active. He then examined his face to see the same scarring was present there too, if only slightly fainter. As he looked over the scars on his body and face, thoughts of how and why he was back suddenly plagued his mind before the intercom activated.

"Jackson Prime, your finally awake and not a moment to soon." a familiar female voice spoke gaining the man's attention.

"What's going on here, why I am back?" he asked.

"I can't answer those questions right now, all I can tell you right now is that your life is in danger." she replied.

"Why, what is going on?" he asked as he looked around the room, clearly it was some sort of lab, but he couldn't see anything of use in it.

"The station's supply of security droids have gone haywire and are killing off the crew, but they seem to be converging on your position from all over the station. I can get you out of here, but you have to follow my instructions."

Jack knew the likely hood of him getting out of here without help was not good especially since he had no idea where he was, so he nodded in agreement.

"Okay, what do you want me to do?" he replied reluctantly.

"First in the cupboard to your left you should find your armour, I think you will need it. And then in the next room you will find a mattock ninety six assault rifle with ammo."

The Prime went over to the cupboard and opened it to find the octagonal disc of his and he slapped it onto his chest. Within seconds his Prime armour was his body again as he left the room and found the weapon on the table like the woman had told him. He picked it up and headed over to the lab's exit.

"Okay I am ready, what our next move?" he said. He peeked around the door to look down the grey metallic corridor outside, not seeing any movement there.

"Okay, head down that corridor and take a right, before coming to a junction. Once there go left and you should reach at catwalk. I be able to give you more instructions then."

Jack then walked out of the room and followed the woman's instructions as he made his way down the corridors. He then heard mechanical sounds and footsteps around the corner of the left corridor joining the one he was in and took cover behind a cargo container as two droids stepped out with their weapons raised. Their red optics scanning the area, as they searched for any organic life signs. Jack held his weapon steady and then stepped out and fired at both droids, riddling their metallic bodies with bullets as they fell down to ground. He looked down at his new weapon and smiled.

'Where have you been all my life.' he thought as he then ran past them and around the corner.

"Are you there, I just ran into a two of the droids you mentioned." he said aloud as he carried on down the next corridor.

"Sorry….I….not….signal…..jammed…" she said as interference crackled over the intercom before it finally went offline.

"Wait, I didn't get that last part, you still there?" he replied before realising that her signal was gone. He sighed as he came to the conclusion that he was again alone. Well he might as well see where she was leading him.

PRIME EFFECT 2

When he got to the catwalk the woman had mentioned he noticed a human female fighting off a group of droids, she was wearing black armour with purple neon lights covering her athletic figure and was using a pair of escrima sticks which crackled with electricity as she brought one down on the body of a droid that was lying on the floor, making it shake and smoke before off lining. She then looked up to see another enemy approach her and she thrust the other stick into its chest before ripping the first one out of the dead body and shoving it into the attacker's head, making it explode. But as she regrouped she had not seen a droid appear behind her and it lunged at the woman, only for a gunshot to echo around her as the droid fell to the ground. She looked down at it confused, as smoke rose from the bullet hole in its head. She then heard footsteps behind her and spun around with her weapons ready to see Jack, with his rifle aimed at her.

"Jack?" the woman asked surprised as Jack got a good look at the female in front of him.

She had pale soft skin and raven black coloured hair that was stylized into a pixie cut. He then noticed her eyes, they were a vibrant purple. A smile appeared on her lips as it dawned on Jack who was.

"Thanks for the assist Jack?" she said coyly as he raised his weapon at her which surprised the woman.

"Airachnid, I thought you were dead." he bit back at her as the femme looked at him confused.

"Jack lower the rifle, I am here to help you." she said in a calm tone that caught the Prime off guard.

"What, the last time we met you tried to kill me and Arcee and now your making out you're here to help. What planet do you think I was born on?" he asked sarcastically which made her chuckle, confusing him even more.

"Well I would love to go through twenty questions with you, but right now we have a dozen droids between us and the shuttle bay so I think we should put this on hold, ok?" she said in an none threatening tone.

"Alright but if you try anything, I will put a bullet through your spark chamber." he warned but she just shrugged it off.

"No worries, now lets get out of here." she replied as they both made their way over the catwalk and into another part of the facility. As they moved through the corridors, they could hear screams and gunfire echo around them. Airachnid looked back to Jack and saw what he was thinking.

"Don't even think about it Jack, we have to get you out of here, everyone else is expendable." she said in the cold tone that Jack recognised.

"We can't just leave them?" he pleaded with her, but she just looked ahead. He then remembered the woman from earlier.

"Well what about the woman that was helping me over the intercom?"

This caught the femme's attention as she stopped and looked back at him.

"What woman, you mean Miranda?" she asked while Jack nodded back. Airachnid smiled back at him.

"She will be fine, I wouldn't be surprised if she isn't already waiting for us." she replied as Jack looked back at her curiously.

"How are you involved in this anyway, in fact how did you survive the war?" he asked. Airachnid looked back at him as they carried on down the hallway.

"Jack I promise I will answer all of your questions once we are off this station." she replied in a gentle tone that again knocked Jack for a loop.

'Who is this? Because it's certainly not the Airachnid I remember.' he thought as they entered a large room. He could see the shuttle in the adjourning room but there was one problem, the room they both occupied was full of security droids. Jack and Airachnid took cover behind some large containers as the Prime looked out at the enemies ahead of them.

"Well this could be a problem." the femme said making Jack smirk.

"Nah, I have faced far worse odds than this before."

She smiled at his comment. "I heard, it is quite impressive I must say Jack." she replied. Jack looked back at her still confused by the former con.

"So you going to show me what you can do?" she said in an almost flirty tone. Jack looked back out at the droids and couldn't help but smile. He then took a breath before charging round from the cover and firing a burst of bullets that brought down the first droid, as he then ran the droid next to it through with his energy blade. He then dived into a roll behind cover as two more turned and fired at him.

As he hid there, he didn't see Airachnid jump between the two, jamming her escrima sticks into the central processors of both droids, putting them out of commission. Then Jack got up and fired at the two droids standing far to the right as the femme threw a energy grenade at a group of droids approaching from the far left, trying to surround the two. The two of them then fought back to back as the droids continued to coming at them.

Once the smoke cleared and all the droids were down, Jack and Airachnid stood in the middle of the mess they had created while panting slightly. He looked over to the her and recognised the look on femme's face. Airachnid face had a fierce look that he knew only to well. His staring did not go unnoticed by the femme though. Who took a deep breath, her face becoming calm before smiling back at him.

"Nice moves there Jack, good to see that two years out of commission hasn't slowed you down."

Jack's eyes widened and his mouth parted.

"Two years, I have been gone that long?" he asked, shocked at the femme's comments. Airachnid merely shrugged before motioning Jack to follow her, not wanting to stay on the station a moment longer. As they made their way to the shuttle bay a gunshot rang out, making them run to the door. They opened it to find a dead man lying on the floor with a bullet hole in his head and a human woman standing above him, she was holding a pistol at the man's head. Jack looked at the woman who he recognised despite this being the first time he saw her properly. Airachnid ran up to the woman.

"What in the All-spark happened?" she asked as Jack joined the two.

"Well I found out that Wilson had reprogrammed the droids to kill everyone on the station, and then saw him here prepping the shuttle via the security cams. So I made sure he did not live long enough to escape in our only shuttle." she said stoically, as the femme looked down at Wilson's body.

"Why did he betray MECH like that?" Airachnid asked which made Jack's eyes widen as he then raised his weapon at both of them.

"MECH, I knew you weren't actually helping me Airachnid, just delivering me into their hands." he said angrily. Both women looked at him confused.

"Jackson Prime, Airachnid helped us retrieve your body so that we could bring you back." Miranda replied while the femme nodded in agreement. Jack couldn't believe what he was hearing but then he noticed Airachnid giving him a gentle smile, and didn't know why but found himself lowering his weapon.

"Why would MECH need my help?" he asked hesitantly.

"I am not at liberty to say, the Director would like to tell you in person." Miranda replied, her face still stoic like. Jack looked around when they heard more droids approaching.

"Okay let's go, it sounds like the droids have finished off the station's crew and are now coming this way." he said as Miranda used her holo-tool to open the shuttle's hatch and motioned them inside.

"I wouldn't worry about the droids Darby, I have set the station's self destruct to activate once we are a safe distance away." she replied as she got into the pilot's seat with both Jack and Airachnid standing behind her. She then closed the hatch and flew the shuttle out of the station and away before the now derelict MECH base exploded. The shuttle then jumped into hyperspace.

PRIME EFFECT 2

As the shuttle jumped back into normal space it approached another large space station, the symbol of MECH, clearly seen on the hull. Once the shuttle had landed, Airachnid had left Jack and Miranda as the latter led the Prime to stairway and motion him down it. "The Director will see you now."

The woman then walked away, leaving Jack to head down the stairs alone. Once at the bottom he entered a small low lit room. He saw a large circle engraved into the ground and walked into it as a large humming sounded around him. Suddenly an energy wave scanned his entire body as the room changed around him. Once the transformation had finished he found he was standing in a large dark room, the only light coming from an orange holographic globe in its center.

"Welcome Jackson Prime." a voice spoke making Jack turn in its direction. He saw the silhouette of man with bright yellow optics staring back at him. But he could not tell what the man looked like due to the low light, his voice though was familiar.

"So you are the Director, not too enigmatic a title is it?" Jack replied sarcastically. The Director just looked at Jack before taking a sip from the glass in his hand.

"Well MECH has many enemies, so having an anonymous title like that insures security you understand." he replied calmly as Jack crossed his arms and just looked at the man, tying to guess who he is.

"Look, Miranda told me that you need my help, so lets not beat around the bush. Why did you bring me back?" Jack said coldly.

"Well, its nice to know that being dead for so long didn't leave you without that insolent tongue of your's Jack." the man replied, anger brewing in his voice. Then it dawned on the Prime who the Director was, as by instinct he equipped his weapon and pointed at the man.

"Silas!" he said angrily as the Director stepped out of the shadows and revealed himself.

"Well done Jack, its good to see your memory is still intact." he replied. Jack looked at the MECH leader. He appeared human, except for the yellow optics he had for eyes, but Jack could tell it was a pretender body that Silas was inhabiting.

"How did you survive the war, last thing I remember hearing of you was when Wheeljack and Smokescreen stopped you from killing Raf, Miko, Fowler and myself. But then you retreated and were never seen again." Jack said as he lowered his weapon.

"Ah yes, you see MECH managed to hook my body up to a cybertronian corpse that was once Breakdown. I then tried to join the Decepticons, but Megatron betrayed me and I was left in the sadistic hands of their doctor, the Con called Knockout. For the time since then I was dissected and probed, tortured. All so that the Decepticons could find out how mere humans could use their technology so efficiently." Silas replied while not taking his optics off the Prime.

"I have been through many trials in my life, but what that so called doctor put me through was like hell itself. Fortunately that came to an end the day that your Optimus Prime brought the Nemesis down with the, what was it called….ah yes the star saber. I managed to escape from my cell and take certain technology, technology that insures MECH's superiority over everyone else." he added, his face remaining stoic as he recalled the events.

"How did you manage to use a Pretender body, they are not exactly compatible with humans?" Jack asked. Silas smiled at Jack's curiosity.

"As I said, during my escape I managed to take certain tech including a Pretender body and I utilised it to my needs. By having my brain and certain organs replacing the synthetic ones in the pretender, I managed to circumvent the tech's need for a spark. Unfortunately the eyes were incompatible, so optics were used instead." he answered while gesturing to the yellow lights he had for eyes. His face then turned serious.

"I learned from my time with the Decepticons that the transformers will never be our allies, not completely and will always be a potential threat. Even now they supervise everything that we do, treating us like children. MECH is here to give humanity it's independence back and ensure that we stand above everyone else in the galaxy."

Jack looked at him and then faked a yawn.

"Okay, you can quit with the pitch there, I am not buying it. So are you going to tell me how and why you brought me back?" he asked getting annoyed with Silas.

"Of course down to business." the leader said, trying to not to sound too aggravated by Jack's insolence.

"You are the result of Project: Rebirth, the infusion of pretender and synthetic tech into what remained of your body. It took two years to rebuild and revive you but we need you exactly as you were. The man that defeated the Reaper Sovereign."

Jack listened to every word that Silas said, before answering.

"So it's the Reapers, what are they doing?"

Silas then walked closer to Jack, stopping just outside the circle that the Prime was standing in.

"No one wants to admit it, but we are at war. While you were gone entire human settlements have gone missing. I believe that it is someone working for the Reapers, just as Saren and Geth were before you stopped them. That's another reason why we need you."

Jack thought over what Silas told him, the MECH leader noticing this.

"You are still wondering why we need you. You are more than just a soldier or a Prime, you have become a symbol. A symbol that humanity and the galaxy need at this moment in time. I don't know what the Reapers fear, but you killed one. That should at least warrant respect and caution from them." he said as Jack mulled over all that was happening at that time.

"If what you are saying is true, then.." he bit his lip at the next thing he had to say, knowing that he would be crossing a line by helping them.

"..I would consider helping you." he answered. Silas smiled before waving his hand to the right, making a screen activate in front of Jack. "What you are seeing here is the latest colony to be attacked, it was called Freedom's Progress. Miranda and Arachnid who has been hired to help us, retrieved this footage from the colony's security cams."

Jack watched the footage and his eyes widened when he saw the creatures that attacked the colony.

"I have seen these before, in a vision that I was given from a Lithone beacon."

Silas nodded in agreement.

"Yes the beacon on Virmire. But I can save you the guessing game, they are called Quintessons."

Jack looked back at the MECH leader.

"Quintessons, I have never heard of them."

Silas then activated another screen which Jack looked at.

"They have only appeared in the Terminus systems in recent years, trading their technology for samples and trinkets Coming and going through the Omega four subspace rift, an anomaly that we believe used to be an active space bridge. The bridge itself was destroyed but the connection it made remains intact, unfortunately every ship that has passed through it has never returned."

Jack continued to look at the information that was on the screen before looking back to Silas.

"And your saying these attacks only happened after I defeated Sovereign." Jack replied.

"Yes, as you can see the connections are there. We just need more evidence to prove it. Therefore I have had a ship built for you and a crew to man it. I have also compiled a list of scientists, soldiers and Mercenaries for you to build your team." Silas replied while transferring information from his screen to Jack's holo-tool.

"You will be in command of the ship and I only have one order for you." Silas said, making Jack raise an eye brow in response.

"An order?" The Prime replied.

"I haven't agreed to help you yet, do you think that after everything you did in the past that I would just say yes?"

Silas stood there and looked at Jack, his yellow optics never betraying his stoic expression.

"Of course not Prime. I know that you are distrustful of me and MECH and that distrust is rightfully placed. But as of right now MECH are the only ones willing to do anything to stop the Quintessons and the Reapers."

"But what about the Alliance, surely I can get their help?" Jack tried to argue.

"The Alliance declared you KIA two years ago. Your rank of Commander is no longer viable. Plus the Council have put down all the talk of the Reapers as just nonsense that ended when Saren and the Geth were stopped. All of your former team mates have moved on too, their locations unknown at this time, except for Wrex who is back on Tuchanka trying to rally the clans behind one banner."

Jack looked away from Silas and thought for a moment. This was a difficult decision for him to make, to work with a known enemy of the Autobots. He then thought of Optimus Prime.

"Well, I want to speak to Optimus first."

"Well you can, here is the com link for you." Silas replied as a set holo-controls appeared next to the Prime, Jack was about to activate the link when Silas spoke again.

"But you do realize that you are wasting time, time that would be better spent out there" he said as he pointed away from himself to the space outside the station.

"Because two years have past and the Quintessons have gone about unchallenged in that time. Do you really want to waste more time, when I am offering you all the resources and help you will need to stop them now?"

Jack once again found himself at odds with his thoughts. He knew that something had to be done, though working with MECH left a nasty feeling in his heart. But he was still a Prime and it was his duty to protect the galaxy from any threat, even if it meant using unorthodox methods to achieve it.

"Alright, I will help you." Jack replied sheepishly.

"But I am not working for you, your people are working for me. Is that understood? he carried on as he stood firm and stoic.

Silas smiled at the Prime and the thought of having him work with MECH, hell he thought it was poetic.

"Of course, everyone on the ship is under orders to help you any way they can. But before you start, I do have a suggestion."

Jack crossed his arms and looked at the Director with a knowing look, but Silas was left unfazed.

"First head for the Omega station, there you will find the Spymaster and the mercenary that are on the list. The spymaster should be able to help you discover more information on the Quintessons." Silas replied as he took another sip from his drink.

"By the way I have chosen a pilot that you know well."

The Director then placed his drink back on the stand next to him, he then looked back at Jack.

"I brought you back Jackson Prime, it is up to you to do what needs to be done. Silas out." he finished as the room around Jack changed back to the low lit small room he had been in all along.

"Hey Prime, its been a long time." a familiar voice said making Jack look around in surprise.

PRIME EFFECT 2

Jack walked out with Hotrod beside him, both men smiling.

"I can't believe its you Hotrod." Jack exclaimed as they walked through a room full MECH officers.

"Same here Prime, the last time I saw you, the Normandy exploded with you still on board."

Jack looked away, trying to banish those thoughts from his mind. "I got lucky, but with a lot of strings attached." he replied as they walked up a flight of stairs.

"Well I am glad you are back sir. It all fell apart after you died, everyone was reassigned or removed and I was grounded. The Council took almost complete control of the Alliance and put a stop to everything that you started." Hotrod replied while giving Jack a sorrowful look.

"Still it's the first time I have heard of an Autobot joining MECH." Jack answered back.

"Yeah well, the Council took away everything that I cared about in the Alliance. So hell yeah I joined MECH." the Autobot said determined.

"You cant seriously trust Silas?" Jack asked earning a curious look from the pilot.

"Silas is the director!" he answered before looking away for a moment. " It doesn't matter, he told me that he could bring you back and let me fly again, and he kept his word on both counts."

They both stopped at a large glass window and looked out into the darkness that inhabited the room ahead.

"Then there is also this." Hotrod said as he pointed at the window.

"I was told about it two nights a go."

They both looked out of the window to see the room light up showing them a ship that looked almost the same as the Normandy, but larger and more streamlined. It was also decorated in the colours of MECH, mainly black with gold and green highlights. Jack smiled at what he saw. Hotrod patted the Prime on the shoulder.

"She is a beauty isn't she Prime. You want to call her the Normandy again?" he asked smiling. Jack shook his head as his smile grew larger.

"No I have a better name for her." he said gaining a curious look from Hotrod.

The launch bay doors opened as the ship started to power up, the lights activating in the hanger to show the name DEFIANT printed on its hull in white bold lettering. Once the doors were fully opened, the ships engines fired and the Defiant flew out of the station's launch bay and into the space beyond, only jumping into hyperspace once it was a long enough distance away.