Disclaimer: I do not own any part of the Transformers Franchise. The only thing I own are my OCs.
This story should start right after the episode "Partners". Also, for anyone who recognizes where the title comes from, this story has nothing to do with "Love Never Dies". I just like that phrase. :P
"Come on, Come on!" Jack pleaded with the racing game.
"Ha! No way am I letting you pass me!" Miko taunted, her vehicle slammed into Jack's and made him cry out indignantly. When the music started up to announce the winner Miko sprang up and started to do a little victory dance.
"Uh, Miko, you might want to take a rain check on that." Jack pointed to the screen with a smirk. Miko stopped dancing and took a look. It was Raf's name that was being flashed across the screen.
"What? How did that happen?" Miko eyed the small boy sitting on the other end of the couch.
"You were too focused on each other to notice me go by." Raf said with a shrug. Then he smiled. "I'm really starting to enjoy having a third controller."
"Will you people quiet down! I'm trying to concentrate." Ratchet berated them as he worked at the giant computer. "Optimus, I think you should come see this." He said over the com link. Just as he was saying this Arcee and Bulkhead walked in.
"What's all the shouting about doc bot?" The green bot asked as everyone started to gather around the screen Ratchet was looking at. Optimus and Bumblebee soon joined them.
"I'm getting an Autobot signal." Ratchet announced. That got everyone's attention, even Miko's. "It appears to be a communication from a single bot, similar to kind that Wheeljack used to contact us."
"Jackie's back in town?" Bulkhead asked excitedly.
"I said similar, not the same." The medic corrected. Optimus looked at the screen thoughtfully.
"Let's find out who it is. Ratchet, patch the signal through." The medic nodded, and after pushing a few buttons a garbled voice was heard over the speaker.
"He-an-any-hear-" Ratchet frowned, and pushed a few more buttons.
"There seems to be some interference, I'll see if I can get it cleared up." Half a minute later a clear feminine voice was heard.
"Hello, this is the Autobot Stellar Flare trying to reach the Autobot base on Earth. Can anyone hear me?" Arcee perked up at the sound of the voice.
"Do you know her Arcee?" Jack questioned.
"Yeah, I do. Flare and I were comrades back in the early days of the war. Sometimes she would get assigned to the same missions that Tailgate and I were on. You met her once didn't you Bee?" The yellow bot beeped in recognition.
"Your are certain it is the same femme?" Optimus asked her.
"Certainly sounds like Flare to me." Optimus nodded and stepped up to the screen.
"Stellar Flare, this is Optimus Prime, your signal has been received. We will send you safe landing coordinates."
"Thank you sir, but I don't think it will do much good. My navigational systems were damaged in the last battle I was in. I haven't had a chance to get them get them repaired."
"From what I recall your navigational system didn't work very well to begin with." Arcee said with a playful smirk.
"Arcee? Is that you? I didn't know I'd find you here!"
"That makes two of us." Arcee quipped.
"And as I recall Arcee, you got lost on your way back to base just as many times as I did!" Flare shot back defensively. Ratchet spoke up before they could continue.
"We can get to the happy reunions later. Now we need to make sure that she isn't going to land in a populated area. I'm going to get a fix on her trajectory. In the mean time Flare, you should cut off the communication so your signal doesn't get caught by the Decepticons."
"Yes sir, see you all soon." With that Flare shut off the link.
"This is so awesome!" Miko cried as she jumped with excitement "We're getting a new bot! I hope she stays around longer than Wheeljack did."
"If she's coming here on her own she probably means to stay for a while. Flare likes to be a part of a team." The two wheeler confirmed. 'I wonder how she got separated from the rest of the Valkyries.'
Flare wouldn't be landing for a little while, so the bots either went back to work or made preparations for a new team member. Having her there would mean that their energon reserves would get spent a little faster, but everyone was happy with the idea of having another bot to help out the cause. Optimus went to prepare for a conversation with Agent Fowler, if he didn't inform him soon then Fowler would just give him more grief about it when he did find out. The kids went back to their video game, but Arcee stayed with Ratchet. She watched him nail down the coordinates she was most likely to end up at, and prepare the ground bridge. She also noticed that he seemed very preoccupied.
"Is something wrong Ratchet?" she asked when the medic started muttering to himself.
"It's the interference that was making Flare's signal so hard to get through at first. For the life of me I can't figure out where it was coming from or what caused it." He shook his head and started muttering again as he bent closer to the computer panel. Arcee felt a sense of foreboding start to grow inside her.
"Calm down Arcee, you're just being paranoid. She said she'd been in a fight, maybe she just forgot to mention that her communications were damaged too." She tried to reassure herself. It wasn't working very well. Ratchet voice brought her back to reality.
"The ground bridge is ready, and Flare should have landed by now. Thankfully the only thing she could disturb in those coordinates are a few trees. Everyone report to the ground bridge." The last part he said over the intercom. As the other bots strolled in, Jack noticed the look of worry on his gaurdian's face.
"Arcee, are you okay? You, don't seem as happy as you did before." Jack looked at her with concern.
"It's nothing Jack." She tried for a reassuring smile as Ratchet activated the ground bridge. No matter how much she tried, she couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong. Optimus began to walk towards the swirling green gateway.
"Ratchet be prepared to treat any injuries Flare might have when we return. Autobots, roll out!" They all transformed to their vehicle modes and zoomed through the portal.
As they went through, Arcee allowed her hopes to rise a little. It was just a bit of interference, it wouldn't do Flare any harm. Plus she couldn't deny that another femme bot at the base would be nice. She loved all of her comrades dearly, but it was a bit of a boy's club. She could talk to Flare about the early days too, the days before so many things went wrong. By the time they were exiting the ground bridge, Arcee was actually feeling rather excited. But as soon as they set foot out of the bridge her hope and excitement were dashed.
They had stepped out into a grassy clearing in a moderately forested area. A small one bot ship was lying on the ground, more like an escape pod than a full fledged ship. The long, deep groove behind the ship suggested the landing had been rather hard, though the passenger part of the ship remained mostly undamaged. But the rest of the scene was far from orderly. The ground had been torn up, and not from the crash landing. Chunks of sod were strewn all over the clearing, and several trees had scorch marks on them.
"Well, something definitely went down here." Bulkhead stated the obvious. Arcee knelt down to get a closer look at the ground. She could make out tire tracks in the dirt.
"Hey," Bulkhead said when he noticed the same thing. "those look like the same kind of tracks I followed when I had to bust out Breakdown." Arcee's eyes widened in realization.
"So, that means..." she faded off, not wanting to think about the possibility.
"It means, that Flare may have been captured by MECH." Optimus finished gravely.
Silas looked down at the unconscious red-orange metal figure that lay fastened to the floor. No matter how many times he came into contact with these beings he was always struck by their marvelous design. This one was somewhat smaller than some of the others. His first session with the bigger one had certainly paid off. The scientists got some valuable information on the communications systems, and it was quite lucky that they had stumbled upon this one's signal as they were experimenting with the technology. He turned his attention back to the young officer that was reporting to him.
"There was a little bit of a struggle, but not much of one. We hit it with the stun gun as soon as we could and did our best not to damage it too much, just like you asked."
"Did it enter the atmosphere in this state?" Silas questioned him.
"No sir, it came in a vessel just big enough for it to fit in."
"And you didn't think to take the ship as well?" He gave the soldier a hard look. The young man gulped nervously.
"I-I'm sorry sir. We were going to try and bring the vessel back, but subduing the cargo took longer than expected. Plus we had to lay all those false trails, and you said to come back quickly sir." He hurriedly explained, sensing Silas's disappointment. All the MECH soldiers knew how dangerous it could be to disappoint their leader.
"Well, perhaps you could make up for that slip by getting the work started on this one as quickly as possible." Silas's voice remained calm, but had a threatening edge to it.
"Right away sir!" The man called as he dashed away to do as he was told, stumbling over himself on the way out.
Silas turned his attention back to the Autobot once he had gone. His lips curled into a small smug smile.
And that's the first chapter! Thanks for reading. Any reviews or constructive criticism that you thought of while reading would be greatly appreciated.
I feel a little bad for getting an OC captured right away, usually I think of that as poor sport. However, I have a reason for wanting her there, and I promise to do my best to give her the character development she deserves! :)
Thanks again!
