~Ok, this may be a bit dark so please be advised, you can let me know if it gets too bad. This takes place after Predacon Rising. Disclaimer: I don't own Transformers.~
It was a relatively quiet day at the base; Ratchet was trying to fix the groundbridge just in case they needed it, Jack was reading and Raf was playing on his laptop. Miko was the only one who seemed bored of the calm day.
"There has to be something we can do." She complained. Jack sighed, it was nearly impossible to keep Miko entertained for long.
"Miko, can't you just find something to do?" He argued, though, he wouldn't complain too much at something interesting happening either. Ratchet looked up from the computer he was working at.
"You know, I doubt you three have seen the whole base, including the basement." He suggested. He didn't see any reason it would be dangerous and he would like some time alone to work.
"Really? Come on guys, let's go!" Miko exclaimed excitedly. Jack looked at his book and put it down deciding he could use a break.
"Ok, Miko, I'll come to" Jack agreed. Raf closed his laptop.
"It would be interesting to see what's down there." He agreed standing up. Jack, Miko and Raf left the main room and went towards the basement.
The first thing they noticed when they got to the stairs leading to the basement was the musty smell.
"It seems like no one has been here for years." Raf noticed. This worried him, but he refused to share his concern with his friends. Jack noticed Raf's nervousness and smiled reassuringly at him. Miko was too interested in what was going on to realize what was going on and continued down the stairs with Jack and Raf following. When they finally managed to get to the bottom of the long staircase, they found themselves looking into a long, dark hallway.
"I think we should go back, I'm sure Ratchet doesn't think the hallway is this long and he'll worry if we get lost." Jack sighed.
"Come on, Jack, where's your sense of adventure? We won't be gone long." Miko argued.
"She does have a point Jack, I'm sure the hallway isn't much longer." Raf added, curiosity wad beginning to override his fear.
"Fine, but if we don't find the end of the hallway soon, we're going back." Jack reluctantly agreed. They used their phones as lights and stepped cautiously though the hallway. The only sound that could be heard was the sound of their footsteps. They walked though the dark hallway for ten minutes before finding a door. There were no turns they could make. Miko walked to the door and tried to open it.
"It's stuck." She complained. Raf went to help her and Jack tried to help to after rolling his eyes.
"We might as well just go back, there can't be anything interesting in there." Jack said, just as he finished his sentence, the door opened and the three teens fell into the room. Miko screamed at what she saw, Raf gasped and ran out of the room and Jack stared in shock. The room was filled with cybertronian corpses.
Jack finally snapped out of his shock enough to grab Miko's wrist.
"Come on, we need to tell Ratchet." He said and guided her out of the room. He saw Raf shaking just outside of the room and Miko hugged him.
"It will be ok. Let's just go tell Ratchet what we saw." Jack said reassuringly. Miko and Raf nodded. They ran down the hallway.
Ratchet was enjoying the quiet time to work, not that it was too loud before, he just liked being alone, in the back of his mind, he wondered what the children would find in the basement, he only passed it once but never went down there. He chuckled, they probably would find nothing really interesting but at least it gave him alone time and made them happy. He half-hoped that they found something just so he can see the excited look on their faces; after all, he did care about them, he just didn't like showing it. He frowned when he saw them running up, looking terrified. "Please let them be just over-reacting." He muttered under his breath wondering what scared the children so much.
"R-Ratchet!" Raf stuttered.
"What's wrong, Rafael?" Ratchet asked, kneeling down to comfort the children.
"I-In the basement…" Jack stuttered. "There were…" his voice trailed off.
"There were… bodies of cybertronians…. They were dead." Miko shook.
Ratchet gasped but knew that that he had to stay calm for the children.
"Where are they?" Ratchet asked, determined to keep his voice steady.
"In the basement…. There's a long hallway… at the end of the hallway there'll be a door… th-that's the room." Jack stuttered. Ratchet nodded.
"Stay here." He ordered and went down the stairs. He didn't want to tell the children, but he was terrified. He saw the door and walked though it.
"By the allspark!" He gasped, but when he inspected the bodies, there were no signs of illness. He couldn't tell what happened to them. He rushed to the computer and called the base on Cybertron, he knew, sadly, that Optimus was gone but he hoped to warn the others and get them to help figure out what happened. Bee answered the communicator.
"Ratchet?" Bee was surprised.
"Bumblebee, we have a problem. " Ratchet said quickly.
"What is it?" Bee asked seriously.
"We found…. Corpses of cybertronians at the base." Ratchet shuddered.
"We'll be right there." Bee promised and hung up. Ratchet looked at the children and noticed they were still shaking.
"It will be ok." He said. He closed his eyes and shook slightly.