Khanny handed Jungle a cup of tea. The cat took a sip and then another, not willing to admit that it was presently too hot to drink as the kangaroo had attempted to warn him. Khanny merely shrugged, sitting his down in order for it to cool.

“Thumbs up on your security system,” Jungle spoke up with.

“I’ve learned a few things from being associated with the likes of you,” Khanny stated with a smirk. “But the credit really must go to Malarius. She’s the one who noticed the grain on the floor."

While on the subject of Marlarius, "I always found her intriguing," retorted Jungle.

Rather abruptly, Khanny changes the subject. "Tell me Jungle, why were you in the cargo hold?”

“I was hoping to stow away,” Jungle responded.

Khanny raised an optic ridge. “JJ. You’re making less sense then usual.”

Jungle smirked. “There is a method to my madness.”

Khanny replied with a hand motion that could be read as, ‘well?’

Jungle continued, “I’m needing to get to the Carcanen home world.”

“I’m still not following.”

“I was banned from entering Carcanen space a while back.”

“Ah. Then why do you need to go? No wait. I know. You have your reasons. Right?”

The cat nodded. “You be knowing me too well.”

Khanny shrugged. “Well, you can still catch the transport. I won’t rat you out.”

“But…”

“But after the transport touches down I expect you to meet up with me.”

“I’m not sure you want to be dirtying your hands in all this, Khanny.”

“I’m involved cat, by the very fact that I’m providing you your transportation. If you get caught…”

“You could always deny knowledge.”

“Jungle. You don’t expect anyone to believe that do you?”

“Well, given our history… I suppose not.”

Khanny gave a nod.
Jungle returned it.
A bargain had been struck.

“Nice dint in your chin, by the way,” Khanny added.
“Thanks. A friend gave it to me,” Jungle retorted.

A look of recognition formed on Khanny’s face. “Pyre?”

The cat nodded.
“I’ll just never understand…”

“So what’s your gig anyway?” Jungle asked.

“I’m helping the Carcanens develop more efficient agriculture methods. They’ve been struggling since the war.” The war being the one fault against the Carbation Empire.

“Know the feeling.”

…

Reparations

…

Khanny rubbed his eyes after the assembled Carcanens departed. Carcanens have smooth dark blue or light blue skin - depending. The males have no hair - genetics, not a style choice. The females do however have hair that tends to be as long as shoulder length. The Carcanens generally wear robes, similar in style to that of monks. Displayed on boards are Khanny’s diagrams for what looks to be a plan for genetically enhancing certain plants for better crop yields. The meeting had been long, several hours.

Hearing the sound of someone clearing their throat, the kangaroo turns. Jungle appears from no where – he had been cloaked, obviously. Jungle is currently converted into his panther beast form.

“You said that the meeting would be brief,” says Jungle.

“Believe it or not, JJ, that was brief.”

Jungle mumbles a few words which can’t be made out. “Well if you’re coming along, let’s go.”

…

Khanny is spotted moving about the Carcanen forest in his kangaroo form. Jungle is beside him, almost sprinting to keep up or perhaps it was Khanny who was attempting to keep up with Jungle who was in beast mode as well.

Night had fallen across this section of the planet. That made it safer for the pair to move about. As Jungle made mention of before, he was barred from this section of space. Thus his presence here was likely not a welcome one. Speaking of which…

“So, how does one go about getting banned from an entire region of space?” Khanny asked. He wasn’t just making polite conversation; he was genuinely curious.

“I misbehaved here during my MSP days,” Jungle retorted.

Khanny got the picture.

They pass some sizable energon deposits. Khanny briefly imagined what a surge caused by one of those would feel like. Something about them though, just didn’t seem natural. Usually raw crystals are found in mountainous areas. He wondered if they could perhaps be for defensive purposes? The MSP obviously made a bad impression here, after all. Khanny thought it best not to discuss it with Jungle, given the tone of the cat’s answer to his last question.

They soon come to ruins of sorts. It appeared to have been the site of a community. Given the state of disrepair, that had been a long time ago. A very long time ago. The outer wall had nearly crumbled, but a number of the inner structures were still standing. Trees had over grown much of the site.

Jungle sniffs the ground. A low growl emerges from his throat. He then transformed back to robot mode. A pair of knives slid into his hands and the Dark Warrior’s chest chain guns emerged.

Not quite sure what to make of all this, Khanny follows suit, withdrawing a pair of pistols.

“I thought you and him were on good terms, JJ,” Khanny spoke up with, sounding rather quizzical as he examined the immediate area along with Jungle, only not quite sure what to look for.

“We are,” Jungle replied back with. “But there’s someone else…”

“That’s why I requested you to come.” The source of that voice isn’t obvious, but Jungle nonetheless recognized it.

“Temperance,” Jungle responded to that statement with.

“It’s been a long time, cat,” Temperance retorted as he jumped down out of the tree he was perched in.

Temperance is not a Transformer. He is an organic humanoid with a Caucasian skin tone. Temperance looks to be in his early forties, but in extremely good health. He has black hair and warm brown eyes. He wears a suit of armor that is very metallic looking. Black in color, it can be best described as the suit that Superman wore in Superman: The Dark Side – assuming you’re familiar with that look.

Temperance extends his hand.
Jungle takes it.

The tenseness in the air however failed to dissipate.

“I believe you know Khanny.”

“Yes,” Temperance replied warmly as he looked in Khanny’s direction.

They exchanged a nod of recognition.

“Now that we got all that done with, let’s get down to it, T. Your message didn’t say nothing ‘bout him,” says Jungle.

“He’s dying cat,” Temperance responds.

For a moment Jungle just stood there.

“Who?” Khanny asked Jungle, understandably upset for being in the dark.

“My son.”

Khanny’s jaw literally dropped in response to the cat’s statement. That revelation came as a bit of a surprise.

…

“I came across him a couple months ago. I don’t know how he got here, he just appeared,” Temperance states as the trio heads into the ruins. “The process the Greater Force used to enhance him apparently was not flawless. His cells are breaking down.”

Khanny isn’t sure what to say in regards to all this. He looks to Jungle who is simply looking straight ahead - there was nothing of note in that direction. The cat’s face was impossible to read as it was completely blank.

“What brings you here anyway, Temperance?” Khanny asks, feeling the need to say something to elevate the uncomfortable-ness in the air.

“I believe that the Carcanens are an offshoot of my race.”

“Offshoot? You don’t exactly have blue skin.”

Temperance chuckled. “I don’t have all the answers, Khanny. But their DNA and mine is similar enough to make us all distant relatives. Perhaps my people and their people interbreed at one point. What I do know is these ruins are similar to the architecture found on my planet and the stones they are made from predate this planet.”

“Predate?” Khanny questioned.
Temperance nodded.

Khanny continued, “back on the CA station we talked about your home world. It was destroyed when this universe was formed around the old one Unicron devoured, right?”

“That’s right Khanny. I survived. It’s logical others did.” Temperance followed up with.

…

Laying on a bed, bound by restraints, is a rather strange creature. He is humanoid shaped, but a mixture of organic and robotic components. The skin tone of his organic sections is dark blue, making him out to be Carcanen. The robotic sections are black in color. He wears an open long black vest and black Arabian style pants. Over his head, he wears a black mask, which only has one eye hole allowing for his red glowing left eye to be seen.

The organic sections of the creature look to be ‘decomposing,’ for lack of a better descriptive word.

Jungle is visibly taken back by the site.
As is Khanny.

“The restraints are for his protection as much as they are for mine,” Temperance speaks up with.

The blank look reappears on the cat’s face whom does not move further then the doorway. Khanny for his part, makes his way over to the bed.

“Black Commy?” Khanny asks to the creature in order to determine if he is conscious or not.

In response, Black Commy violently jerks his body. It was as if he was attempting to attack the kangaroo. Fortunately the restraints hold. After several moments, Black Commy finally settles back down. Khanny looks to Temperance, who merely shrugs. There just wasn’t anything to be said. Khanny then looks to Jungle who is no longer present.

…

We find Jungle to be outside, looking up at the stars as he leans against part of a wall for support. He however eyes Temperance’s cautious approach. Temperance starts to speak but the cat beats him to it.

“There has got to be something that can be done,” Jungle lashes out with.

“Don’t think I haven’t tried everything I can think of, cat.”

“Remember our days on the Maximus?”

“Yes,” Temperance responds, unsure of the Dark Warrior’s point.

“Remember when you cloned yourself?”

Ah. Temperance understood. “I’ve tried that approach.”

“And?”

“And the clones suffered the same aliment. If I had a sample of his DNA prior to the disease taking hold, then I could successfully make a new body for him. But I don’t. Do you?”

Jungle shot Temperance a look that could make Unicron tremble. Even Temperance takes a step or two back and he was used to dealing with Jungle’s ‘outbursts’.

Jungle is gone from view.
Temperance lets him be.

…

Khanny is going over the data Temperance compiled in regards to Black Commy’s condition and is examining the samples Temperance had taken from Black Commy. Khanny himself was a biologist, after all.

“I never knew the Greater Force to be sloppy,” Khanny stated upon Temperance’s entry.

“I wouldn’t necessarily say, ‘sloppy,’ Khanny. I think that the Greater Force just didn’t have any long term plans for Black Commy when they abducted and altered him. The Greater Force had sought merger with Jungle to enable further self evolution. Black Commy was the catalyst. Unfortunately for him, nothing further.”

“Given time it seems as though the mutated cells could be separated.”

“That’s the problem, Khanny. Time is something we don’t have.”

“A couple days at the most.”

Temperance nodded, having the same conclusion.

…

Jungle’s knives are laid out, recently sharpened. Rubbing his thumb across one of the blades, fluid beings to drip. He then removes the barrels of his chest gain guns in order to clean them. A fire had been lit. The reflection of the flames can be seen in his blue optics.

“Jungle?” Khanny spoke.

Jungle looked up. He acknowledged Khanny with a nod.

“What’s up?”
“Taking a trip,” the Dark Warrior replied.
“Where?” Khanny asked sounding quite quizzical.
“I’m needing to talk to Stopper.”
“Stopper?”
“Yes.”
“The head of the MSP?”
“That’s the one.”
“Why?” Khanny asked.

“T said an untainted sample of Commy’s DNA is needed in order to save him. The MSP has developed a method to extract alternates of folks in this universe from other universes,” stated Jungle.

“Didn’t you say you just killed Alert?”

“I said I may have killed Alert,” retorted Jungle.

“In any case, JJ, do you really think the MSP is going to want to help you right now?”

Jungle shot Khanny a glare that was very similar to the one he’d previously given to Temperance. Like with Temperance, he took a step back.

…

A Transformer with the beast mode of a bull is seen in a bar room setting. His stature is similar to that of Rhinox from the Beast Wars. Only his plating seemed ‘thicker.’ He was obviously made to take serious abuse or give it. His beast mode’s head formed his chest like in the case of TM Megatron. At present he is making out with a fem ‘bot whom is without a conversation form.

…

The same pair is later found in a bed together. Discarded sections of plating cover the floor. She tries to cuddle with him, but he pushes her away. He pushes her away with enough force to knock her out of the bed.

“That wasn’t very nice,” we hear a voice say.

The bull’s eyes widen. He recognized it as did we.

“Jungle?” The bull halfway mumbles as he looks around.

Jungle comes into view with a knife pressed up against the bull’s throat.

“Hello, Swat,” the Dark Warrior states.

Swat and Jungle share the same MSP linage. However, they were designed for different functions. Jungle was designed for black ops work. Swat on the other hand is in the MSP’s heavy assault corps. Certain situations warrant such tactics.

“You haven’t changed. You’re still a servant to your vices,” states Jungle.

“There’s obvious perks. I’m sure DeVin told-”

Swat ceases talking upon Jungle pressing the blade tighter to his throat.

“Careful,” Jungle replied.

“You can go. You’re money is at the front desk,” Jungle added. His comment was not directed at Swat, rather the young lady he was with.

Jungle never took his attention off Swat. But he does hear the girl gather up her things and leave. Swat mumbled a few curse words under his breath.

“What do you want?” Swat reluctantly asked.

“I want you to give Stopper a buzz.”

“What?”
“Did I stutter?” The Dark Warrior asked.

“No, but-”

“Call him or I’ll kill you and then track down someone else to do it.”

…

A deathly darkness surrounds us. A faint ceiling light reveals the outline of a long desk with a heavyset ‘bot seated behind – Stopper. A holographic image of Jungle is at current projected on his desk. It is roughly a tenth of Jungle’s normal size.

“I understand your situation, Jungle,” Stopper stated. His voice was flat, was cold. “Unfortunately we have since discontinued that branch of our research. You have encountered first hand the results of those experiments. So our decision should come as no surprise.”

…

A holographic image of Stopper seated behind his desk vanishes. Pulling back we find Jungle, still present in Swat’s room. Swat is seated in a chair, bound by restraints.

Growling, Jungle crushes the comm. with his hand, then storms out of the room. Swat calls out to him but Jungle does not give him any acknowledgment. The bull’s prior discarded plating still covered the floor.

…

Temperance’s ship, the Perrigan, takes off from a pad.

…

Black Commy coughs violently. Temperance lifts up the portion of the Carcanen’s mask that covers his mouth and then tilts his head so that he is able to spit up into a bucket. From the doorway, Jungle watches, but is gone by the time Temperance looks over.

“I know you’re here,” Black Commy states. “What is it father? Do I sicken you? You sicken me. Given the chance I’ll still kill you.”

…

“Hey cat,” we hear Temperance state.

He was no longer in his battle suit. He was in his hover chair and wearing civilian clothing. Jungle comes into view as he deactivates his cloak field. They were outside. Dawn was approaching.

“T,” Jungle replies. “Your legs still haven’t healed, I see.”

“Fortunately not.”

“Some wounds don’t heal.”

“I don’t believe that. Some wounds just take longer to heal then others.”

Jungle mumbles a few words that can’t be made out. Obviously the Dark Warrior did not share Temperance’s view.

“He called out to you,” Temperance speaks up with.

“What?” Jungle asked.

“Black Commy. He called out to you in his sleep. At some level cat, he wants you here.”

“I got that impression.”

“Jungle-”

Jungle is no longer there.

Temperance merely shook his head back and forth. Jungle’s disappearing act was past the point of ‘old’.

…

Sitting on the ground, Jungle leans against a tree. Looking upward, he closes his eyes. He came across as a man who had just lost a fight. Maybe he had. He hears Khanny approach.

“Did you get a chance to look around the CA station at all?”

“Some,” Jungle stated without looking toward him.

“The name Cybertronian Alpha seems to be bad luck,” Khanny added.

Jungle smirked. “You’re slagg’n right about that. I bet CaVin could attest.”

“He had a place on all three CAs, didn’t he?” Khanny asked.

“I believe so. I was never on the first one. He has a new establishment near the outer rim. I was there recently.”

“I may have to look him up for old time’s sake.”

“Just don’t mention my name. Jen, Cyan and I recently caused a bit of damage there,” Jungle retorted.

“CaVin just can’t ever catch a break, can he?”

“Not from us,” responded Jungle.

Khanny laughed. “Remember when we first met?”

“Yeah. I broke into your greenhouse.”

Khanny smirks, but he becomes serious there after.

Khanny states, “have you talked to Black-”

“I killed his father. Did you know that?” Jungle asks.

“Yes.”
“I just reacted. I just reacted and…”

“You took him in and tried to make things right, Jungle. That is more then most people would have done. I know that much for a fact.”

“A lot of good that did the boy, Khanny. A lot of good that did. The Greater Force abducted him, aged him and transformed him into, into…”

“Jungle, when the woman I was involved with turned out to be a Predacon spy who was only after the research I was conducting, do you remember what you said to me?”

“No.”

Khanny didn’t believe him, but he said it anyway. He knew how Jungle could be sometimes. “You told me to not dwell on the things that couldn’t be changed. That I should focus on the happy moments and be, and I quote, be damn happy for them for they are all too few.”

There is silence.

“You obviously have a lot of regrets, Jungle. Don’t add to them.”

…

Jungle slides a blade across Black Commy’s restraints.

“What are you doing?” Black Commy asks.
“Giving you a chance.”

Crossing his arms, the Dark Warrior put his back to Black Commy.

Having found freedom, Black Commy rose to his feet.

Staggering to maintain balance, he throws a punch. The cat rotates and catches the fist. Black Commy swings his free hand, but Jungle catches that one too.

Black Commy collapses into Jungle.

Jungle catches him.

The embrace becomes a mutual one.

“Father.”

“Son.”

…

We are at the same site as DeVin’s marker. A funeral pyre burned a short distance away. There stands Jungle in addition to Temperance and Khanny. Also present are Malarius, Icerunner and Pyre.

Ice breaks from her embrace with Pyre in order to place her arm around the cat. There were no words spoken as words could not begin to describe. However, for a moment the gravity of the situation is reflected upon his face as strength borrowed from the snow leopard had allowed such a feat possible. She is strained by the weight of his frame but doesn’t falter. Ice’s presence allowed all the barriers within the panther to shatter – if only for a moment.

Temperance and Jungle lock eyes.
Jungle nods.
Temperance returns it.

A silent ‘thank you,’ followed by a ‘you’re welcome,’ had just been exchanged.

…

Epilog:

…

He hadn’t been paying attention.
Then again, neither had she.

The pair collide.

Looks of anger however are replaced by looks of recognition.

“You again? I’m beginning to think you’re stalking me, Jungle.”
“Don’t flatter yourself, Jennifer.”

“Where are you going, anyway?”

“Don’t really know,” Jungle responded, looking like and sounding as if he had just been to the pit.

“Well it looks like you’re going to have company at least part of the way,” Jennifer stated having eyed Jungle’s transport assignment. It was identical to the one she held.

Jungle shrugged, perking up. “Could be worse, I suppose.”

“How?” Jen asked.

“One of us could be Squirrely.”

Jennifer smirked.

A smile is exchanged between the two.

…

..

.

Fin

CREDITS

DISCLAIMER

Basically like this fic? Then read this one: Picture Perfect and this one: Contention.