Independent, No More (Open)

[Jared Miller]

Jared stayed quiet, thinking all of this over. This man - Chad - knew his father. Did he have a phone number or an email address or anything? Better yet, he figured that Shelby Cobra nearby belonged to him, so he had transport. Maybe, just maybe... "C-could you, um... y'know... take me to him?" He asked quietly. He hadn't ever seen his father in person before, so the thought of being so close to that first meeting excited him. He just hoped Chad would be nice enough to give him that lift. "If he's not too far away, I mean. I don't want to waste your gas or something." He added quickly. He didn't want to be pressuring Chad into anything, after all. That was just wrong, even if it was his Dad.

[Wheeljack]

Wheeljack paused as he stepped through his door, then shut it behind him. <"Uh, Chasm, that's kinda not possible. Only Sparklings I got 're the ones I adopted back on Cybertron..."> he vented a sigh and lowered his head as he thought of the six he couldn't protect, the six he lost to the Decepticons. He lifted his head then, hoping, praying to Primus the other five, the Aerialbots, were alive and safe, hoping they would find him soon. <"I just hope I'll get to see my Flybots again before I die..."> he added softly, then shook his head as he headed down the corridor towards the ground bridge control room. Over the last eight years he had tried so hard to let go of the woman he once loved, he had all but forgotten about her, though he loved her still and the guilt he carried over leaving her eleven years ago still gnawed at his Spark. He never once thought that anything had ever come of his year with her, believing that he would've had to bond with her to spawn a Sparkling, even with Perceptor's proof of the fact they could merge with humans. He had never been able to bond with Debi, despite his trying to. She had rejected his kind, and by extension, had rejected him as well, despite not knowing what he really was and loving the human she thought he was. He let out a sigh and shook his head then, he hadn't thought about her in a while and said a silent prayer to Primus that wherever she was, she was at peace. He had learned of her death eight years ago and that knowledge still hurt him, though the pain had lessened considerably since then, especially since he had found Victoria. He kept walking down the hall, though his stride had slowed a bit.

[Chasm]

"I wouldn't mind taking you to him." Chad replied. "It just might be a little...scary? Or odd?" He wasn't sure how Jared would react to the ground bridge, or how it could be perceived by a human.

<"I'm pretty sure it is possible. He's got a picture of his parents, and the man looks exactly like your holoform, not to mention the car in the picture is your alt mode. If you don't believe me, get ready to open up a bridge. I'm going to try to leave the city limits first, though.">

[Jared Miller]

Jared paused, once again confused. Scary? Odd? Surely it couldn't be that bad? But this was his father that they were talking about; he just had to see him. He had to. "As long as I finally get to see my Dad, I don't mind." He replied, internally bracing himself for whatever might have next. What did Chad mean? Did his father... Did his father have something to do with the aliens that his mother had hated so much? He remembered that about her; she had disliked them because it was the humans planet, and the aliens had no right to be here. He himself wasn't against them; some of them were here to protect after all, so they couldn't all be bad... right?

[Wheeljack]

Wheeljack stopped cold then, his optics going wide. Could it really be? Was it even possible? She had never been pregnant while he was with her, at least as far as he knew. He hadn't been trying to cause such a thing, merely enjoying the feel of her in his arms, even if it was his holoform. But the photograph Chasm mentioned, and Chasm had said the boy was a Techno Organic... He closed his optics then, his hand on his chest as he leaned against the wall for a moment. "Primus help me... Debi, why didn't you tell me? I would have stayed, I swear, I would have stayed... I tried to find you, I swear I tried. Forgive me, please..." he whispered softly. He then shook his head. "No, I won't do this to myself. There's no proof, I won't get my hopes up only to have my Spark shattered again. But if the boy needs someone, I'll take care of him, whether he's mine or not." he stated out loud to himself and opened his optics. <"I'm headed to the ground bridge room now, when you're set, give me the coordinates and I'll activate the bridge."> he told Chasm as he nearly ran down the hall. Once he reached the bridge control room, he looked at the vortex generator a moment. <"Chasm, does... does he know about us? Does he know what I am? Did she know I tried to find her?"> he asked, his voice going soft, almost shaky and uncertain then.

[Chasm]

Chad nodded, starting to walk towards his real form. "Alright." He replied, opening the door and unlocking the other one. "Though...Tell me, how much do you know about the...alien robots that came to Earth?"

<"I'm not sure if he knows about us, I'm finding that out right now. I haven't told him about you completely yet. I can if you want me to, before we get there, and I'm not sure if she knew. He didn't say."> Chasm's engine started up, and his holoform buckled in before turning to wait for Jared.

[Jared Miller]

Carefully, Jared opened the passenger door and sat inside, closing it behind him carefully. Something told him to be gentle with this car. He didn't know why, but he didn't want to be harsh to it. "My mom didn't like them. She said they were intruding on our world, our home. Every time they were on the news, she'd just get angry and turn it off. I didn't understand, really, but I was only two back then. Now I know that while most aren't the nicest, some are only trying to protect us, and wherever Mom is, I hope she knows that too." He answered as he put his seatbelt on and stared curiously at the dashboard for a few moments, before he looked back up at Chad, waiting to see what the reaction would be from the man who had been kind enough to take him to his father.

[Wheeljack]

Wheeljack shook his head then. <"No, don't tell him. I'll have my holoform active and be in my alt mode when you come through. I don't wanna scare him, n if he is Debi's boy..."> his voice trailed off then and he lowered his gaze. <"How old is he? Did his mom know I tried to find her? Does he have any kind of proof besides the photo?"> he asked, his voice still soft, looking at the ground bridge generator, waiting for the coordinates when Chasm was ready.

He lowered his gaze then, his hand straying to his chest where the mustang emblem from his alt mode had once been and was now merely an empty grill. He had absorbed enough raw materials to replace and repair everything else, but he simply could not bear to replace that, knowing it was somewhere laying on the rocks where he had crashed and kept thinking one day he'd go back to retrieve it and possibly begin his search for her again from there. But news of her death had destroyed all hope in him and he simply had no will left to try, never bothering to reform that emblem on his grill. He vented a heavy sigh then and let his hand fall to his side, turning to the bridge control panel.

[Chasm]

"I hope so to, but everyone is entitled to their beliefs." Chad replied, giving Jared a smile before going through the motions of putting his alt mode into gear and pulling onto the street, taking a road that would lead away from the city. "So, you were two back then? How old are you now?"

<"Alright, and I'm not sure about the others. I'll ask him while we're driving."> He shot some coordinates to Wheeljack, finding a location outside the city. <"We'll be there in the next 15-20 minutes. I'll drive carefully."> The last line was a bit of a no-brainer with Chasm. He wasn't in the habit of reckless behavior, but he figured it would be a good thing to reassure Wheeljack.

[Jared Miller]

Jared nodded in response. Of course Chad was right. Everyone was entitled to their own beliefs, but he still didn't really understand. "I'm ten." He replied to the man's question. Even he was slightly bewilderedthat he remembered something from when he was two, but it was such a close memory that he had found it difficult to forget. He hoped he could sort that issue out some time if he ever came close to meeting the giant robots; it wasn't right to keep that sort of guilt bottled up, he knew. He'd also have to sort that issue out when he met his father, and maybe get a few other questions answered as well. Why did they break up, really? It couldn't have been simply because of different opinions on the robots... could it?

[Wheeljack]

Wheeljack nodded and set the coordinates into the bridge controls, then set a timer and moved away from the controls, transforming down into his alt mode right inside the door, looking as if he had driven in and parked there. He then activated his holoform, which then stood leaning against his alt mode between the passenger door and the front fender. <"I've set the timer to open the bridge in twenty minutes at the coordinates. That should give ya the time you need to get there n not have to wait too long or risk anything wandering through by accident. It'll automatically shut down once you come through in case someone tries to follow ya through. I'll be by the door at the other end of the bridge control room."> he informed Chasm, waiting nervously, trying not to start fidgeting as he waited to see this young boy, a boy who could very well be his own son. The very prospect of that made him both excited and utterly terrified, worried the boy would be afraid of him, or worse, would hate him because of what he was, like his mother hated his kind even though she never knew what Jack really was. Jack closed his eyes, taking a few deep breaths trying to calm himself down, his hand resting on his chest.

[Chasm]

"Young to be living on your own, then." Chad commented as he drove, stopping when necessary. "But you've been able to keep yourself alive and fed, right?" He was really just trying to fill the empty space with some conversation, though he couldn't help but wonder if trying to converse with a stranger was just as awkward.

<"Alright. I'll see you on the other side then."> Chasm replied over the comms as he drove, slowly leaving the city behind him.

After nearly 20 minutes of driving, he pulled off to the side to take a dirt road that went off on it's own for a bit. "We're almost there. Now, there's going to be a vortex that will appear, and we're going to go through it to get to where your dad is. Myself and a bunch of others have used it a lot, so it's safe." Once the ground bridge appeared, Chasm would drive through.

[Jared Miller]

"Yeah, that's easy. My mom gave me my dad's wallet right after the accident and before she died. She put it into my account, but I had to take some of it with me so I could keep looking for him." Jared replied, before realizing that probably sounded bad and quickly added, "But I've been meaning to pay him back, when I can. I wouldn't just steal money from him unless it was urgent." After the twenty minutes had passed, he looked at Chad with mild confusion. Vortex? They had to go through a vortex? To get to his dad? "Um, okay..." He answered in an uncertain tone. Still, at least it would get him to his father. Safely. Right? He sure hoped that whatever this vortex thing was had been tested thoroughly before a human went through it; he didn't want to think of the disasterous consequences that might happen if it wasn't designed specifically for the transport of ordinary people.

[Wheeljack]

Jack had started pacing a bit as he waited, nervous as the Pit and fidgety as a Scraplet in front of a metal buffet. The ground bridge vortex opened precisely on time and Jack looked over at it nervously, stopping his pacing and standing to lean against his alt mode again, taking a couple deep steadying breaths trying to calm himself and quiet the intense thrumming of his Spark. The moment of truth was upon him, and whether this boy was really his son or not, he could only hope the boy would not be afraid of him, hoping the boy would not hate him. "Primus, please, give me strength..." he whispered quietly, looking to the ground bridge vortex with a mix of hope and fear, though he fought hard not to show either outwardly.

[Chasm]

Once the ground bridge vortex opened, Chasm drove through quickly, stopping in the control room on the other side. His holoform gave a wave to Wheeljack's as he shut off the engine in his alt mode and unlocked the doors. "Hey, Jack! We're here!" He called to the engineer before looking at Jared. "Go on and see him. He doesn't bite, I promise." <"He says he's got a wallet from his mom that is likely yours. There was money in it, and he's been using some of it to look for you.">