Jack spent a few minutes in the parking lot, lost in his thoughts, but came back to reality when his phone received a call.
[[Jack, have you finished mapping the location of the security cameras?]] Optimus Prime asked, speaking from the Autobot base.
[[I've already finished mapping the museum, Optimus. And you have no idea who was here in the museum.]] Jack replied, leaving Optimus puzzled by his casual remark.
After a few minutes, a blue and green portal appeared in an empty alley, allowing Jack to return to the Autobots' secret base in the United States. As he crossed the path that defied the laws of physics, he placed his hand on his head to regain his balance due to spatial disorientation, a temporary effect for those unaccustomed to traveling through the Earth Bridge.
Optimus approached slowly, his steps shaking a little from his weight, his bright blue eyes reflecting his expectation and concern. "Jack, do you think stealing the Energon Harvester is possible?"
"Of course, the only problem is a security camera pointed at the orb." Jack replied, worried about this detail. However, the memory of Lux brought his mood back to normal. "Other than that problem, I found Lux at the museum."
Raf, who had been helping Ratchet with the human technology, was quickly surprised and thrilled by the news that Lux was fine. On the other hand, Miko, who was watching a monster truck show with Bulkhead, was not so interested in Lux just because he was not a Transformer, because in her opinion, living with the Autobots was much more fun than living with humans like her.
Optimus' robotic optics widened for a moment of surprise and disbelief. "You found Lux on such a distant continent?"
"I was surprised as well, fortunately he seems to be doing very well." Jack could not contain his enthusiasm, but his expression became slightly serious and disappointed. "Unfortunately, I could not convince him to join us, he made it very clear that he has no interest in getting involved in the war."
Optimus was silent for a few seconds, pondering Jack's last sentence with a pensive look on his face. "We cannot force him to join us, if it is his decision not to get involved, then we will respect it."
"I can agree with that, but in my opinion, Lux underestimates the danger of the Decepticons." Jack said, remembering the last events he had witnessed when they had stowed away on the Decepticon ship, the not-so-friendly encounter with Soundwave and the fake Wheeljack, who was actually a Decepticon capable of assuming the form and appearance of other Cybertronians. Not to mention the last adventure they had some time ago against an evil organization called MECH, made up of crazy people fascinated by technology.
Arcee, who had been listening, approached with crossed arms, interested in the conversation. "Jack, if your friend managed to stay missing all this time, it means he must know exactly what he's doing, in my opinion he's no amateur."
"Even though it is a mystery how Lux knows about the war between the Autobots and the Decepticons, we have higher priorities right now, fortunately we can conclude that he was smarter than the Decepticons." Optimus praised.
Miko, who wanted to ignore the serious conversation, remembered the events of the past week, when they had engaged against the MECH organization, and being a fanatic of conspiracy theories, she began to create a theory that intrigued her mind.
"Hey! Didn't we meet those weird MECH guys? Don't you think Lux might know about the Autobots and Decepticons because he might be part of a similar mysterious and secret organization?" Miko theorized, surprising even Ratchet with her rare reasoning. "Like a government agency in charge of alien affairs."
"Conspiracy theories? I like that!" Bulkhead agreed.
"I don't think Lux is a spy," Raf said, typing on his laptop. "I don't think a government agent or a spy would have the sarcastic humor he has, and he seems too young for that sort of thing."
Bumblebee made his signature beep sound, indicating that he agreed with his friend Raf.
"I'm pretty sure he's not a government agent, he pretty much identified the orb as an Energon Harvester the moment he saw it." Jack reported, surprising Ratchet so much that he lost concentration on his work.
"Has a human been able to identify the artifact?" Ratchet asked in disbelief. "That should be impossible."
"Not only did he identify the orb, but he literally read the Cybertronian inscriptions on its structure and even gave me some sort of security lock code to prevent its accidental activation." Jack continued his explanation, causing Ratchet's mouth to drop open in utter amazement, something all the Autobots shared.
"Okay, now this is weird." Arcee said suspiciously about Lux's identity. "How could a human know how to speak Cybertronian?"
"What if he's not human? He could be a Cybertronian like you!" Miko suggested, excited at the possibility of meeting another Cybertronian. "Maybe a smaller version of you, for spying! Like the Terminator."
Optimus and Ratchet stared at each other for a moment, being older and knowledgeable of Cybertronian legends, they knew that the orb known as the Energon Harvester was a very old tool, from a time older than Cybertron's Golden Age.
"Optimus, Cybertron had dozens of different races in different eras before the Golden Age." Ratchet commented, his hand on his chin, using his processors at maximum capacity. "If Lux has knowledge of the Energon Harvester, that means he could actually be Cybertronian or an alien from another race. And if he knows its password, it reflects his age."
"I agree, but I can also surmise that Lux may have some kind of mentor teaching him, a Cybertronian who has been on this planet for a long time and has taught him the culture and language of our planet." Optimus suggested. "Arcee and Bumblebee, have you two noticed anything different about Lux, anything unusual in a human?"
Arcee and Bumblebee shook their heads, both as thoughtful as Ratchet, which was not typical of either of them when it came to such matters. However, Arcee was the one who was most intrigued by this turn of events, remembering the strange feeling she had when she saw Lux that day, but she didn't know what it was or why he seemed familiar for some reason.
"Well, I guess the only way to find out his identity is to find him again." Raf suggested, returning to his work, which Ratchet agreed to for the time being.