Optimus refused to believe Jack was

Optimus refused to believe Jack was gone, he would not give up on him, never, not in a million years would he give up on Jack. His Jack.

"Any new traces?" Optimus asked and Ratchet shook his head, but then looked down at Raf, who was muttering excitedly, but then looked absolutely shocked.

"Rafael? Is there something wrong?" Optimus asked and Bee whirred and clicked in worry, Mieko, a bandage wrapped around her stomach, carefully took the laptop from him, and gulped, as she read out the article Raf had found.

"Seventeen massacred in midnight horror, one young male, around the age of fifteen and two females were spotted at the crime scene, photographed below, only one survived, and he died in hospital shortly after arriving, screaming about the white ones" Mieko read and Optimus could only stare at her as she continued.

"There was a message left behind in the carnage, the message, painted on the wall in the blood of the victims, reads…" Her voice trailed off and she took in a breath before finishing the statement.

"Cybertronians beware"

It shouldn't have been a very frightening statement, but having witnessed Slipstreams viciousness first hand, they knew it was not an empty threat.

"What do we do?" Arcee asked, not daring to look at the laptop or what was on the screen, she couldn't, not while this…thing, wore Jacks skin.

All eyes turned to Optimus, who for the first time in a long, long time, looked angry, and not angry like he was at Megatron, but angry like a madman.

"We find Slipstream, and, we bring Jack home" He ordered, and that's when it started, he didn't care how long it would take, he would find Jack, and he would make Slipstream pay for what he had done, he would make sure of it.

"Alright then, Operation rescue Jack is a go!" Mieko cried out and earned a cheer from Bumblebee and Raf, but no one else, Arcee looked up at her leader, she knew that kind of hatred, but she knew it was not good, revenge was not good.

"Optimus, we will save him" She told him, and those words, just those words, made the anger fade, if only a little, he looked over at her, with that confident look he always wore.

"I know"

He was falling, Jack was falling. Into the oblivion that was his own mind. He knew what he had done, and now he regretted it, he would rather have died than released Slipstream into the world, but he had, and he would hate himself until the end of time because of it. There was no way he could get back, no one could save him, not even the Autobots.

He knew he'd be here forever, Slipstream was Cybertronian, his body would keep on living until Slipstream was done with it, he doubted, that in one hundred years, his body wouldn't have aged at all, Jack would never grow up, never fall in love, never get married, have children. Or die. That was the worse part, he'd never die, and that was all he wanted now, to die, to be at peace, but no, he'd never be at peace. He paused, he had heard something, or had he? It sounded like…like Optimus…but that was impossible, wasn't it?

"JACK!"

He had heard it, he had definitely heard Optimus, and he clung to it, clung to that sound, even if Optimus couldn't save him, Jack would never forget him, never.

He accepted his fate, and drifted, letting himself go, but never truly leaving.