-1And the cavalry arrives!

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On a high, secluded hill on the outskirts of Mission City, a grouping of five eclectic vehicles idled as if their owners had abruptly vanished off the face of the Earth or just headed off for a quick bathroom break. Any onlooker would have been puzzled… at least until all five transformed, only to loiter dejectedly like a group of sullen teenagers who had been grounded for a month. "There's been no sign of her anywhere," Bumblebee said softly, the despair he was beginning to feel coloring his voice. One by one the others reported that they'd had the same luck, or lack of luck as the case may have been. Taking all this in, Optimus nodded. "I haven't seen anything either. Maybe Megatron's had better luck… Ah, there he is now." And indeed he was; that unmistakable silver jet swooping gracefully down to land as lightly as a falling leaf before transforming and standing up to face his brother. The look on his face answered Optimus's question before he could even ask it. "…You haven't found anything either." It hurt him to see the desolation on his brother's face and the growing despair in his eyes. "I don't even know where to start, Optimus," he said sadly, halfway between utter despair and arm-flailing exasperation. "I know Sector Seven has her, but where? Where? There's so many places a captive human can be hidden away… And since my link to her just suddenly cut off, I…" He abruptly turned away from the lot of them, trying to hide the fact that he was frustrated almost to the point of tears. "I don't even know if we can find her…" Stepping closer, Optimus laid his hand on his brother's shoulder in an attempt to offer at least a little comfort. "We'll find her, Megatron. Even if we have to search until the end of time." Looking over his shoulder, the former Decepticon gave a faint, wan smile. It was obvious to all of them how much he was suffering without her. She was his stability, her presence and love holding at bay the lingering turmoil spawned from the madness the original All Spark had stirred in him. Without her… He feared to think of what her loss could mean. They all did. Would he fall to darkness again? Would he even survive losing her? Could he survive?

No one was more horrified than Optimus as Megatron abruptly gave a loud gasp and clutched at his chest before collapsing to his knees. "Brother!" He was at his brother's side in an instant, trying to at least help him sit up. "What's wrong, Megatron? What happened?" The former Decepticon leaned against his brother for support as he fought to regain his strength as fast as he could. "Well… That answers quite a few questions," he murmured softly. "Actually… it could answer everything." Holding his brother close, eyes bright with worry, Optimus asked, "What do you mean by that?" Recovering quickly, Megatron was soon able to stand back up on his own, a little shaky at first but rapidly regaining his strength. "A blast that intense along our link can only mean one thing… At some point she was able to transform. We know we're not looking for a human anymore; we're looking for one of us. And to my knowledge, there's only one place on this whole planet that Sector Seven could have taken her to; only one place where they could effectively contain one of us…" The look of utter fury that took shape on his face would have been chilling had the others not known that he was angry for Zephyr's sake. His next words held so much venom that they sounded as if they were the most vile, hateful expletive ever known in the galaxy at large… "They've taken her to the Hoover Dam."

Anger warred with relief as that sank in. Though they were all glad to know where they had to go to save her, the thought of where she had been taken disgusted them, and Bumblebee most of all. The memory of what Sector Seven had had done to the young Autobot was still fresh and raw in their minds even despite the fact that roughly six years had passed. And how could it not be? With lives that spanned eons, a mere six years was nothing to them, a momentary flicker of time. And to think that Sector Seven had once again seized one of their own, no, not just one of their own… Megatron's beloved and the mother of his child, Optimus's sister-in-law, a dear friend to all the rest… It was almost more than any of them could bear, though not a one could claim to be anywhere near as angry as Megatron himself in that moment. He knew what it was like to be their prisoner; knew it far better than even Bumblebee. After all, what was a few hours in comparison to almost a hundred years, more than the lifespan of several of their human friends? What was a few tests in comparison to the unending cold and pain of imprisonment in unyielding ice? He alone knew exactly what his beloved was surely experiencing, knew just how much pain a bunch of curious little humans could cause without even trying. Sensing his brother's swiftly growing impatience, Optimus rallied them all for immediate departure, their destination the facility each and every one of them hated more than anything.

Just as they had done in the early stages of their stay on Earth, they left California behind. However, unlike before, this time they headed south instead of north. Southeast, to be precise. Optimus had Megatron monitoring traffic conditions ahead and keeping an eye out for the police or anything else that could slow them down, though that was mostly to keep the former Decepticon from flying into any more of a rage than he already had. They all knew that none of them could possibly get there fast enough no matter how fast they went. No amount of speed could possibly be enough, so trying to hurry wouldn't really make all that much of a difference. Keeping that fact in mind, they took great care to abide by the speed limits on the highway, lest they draw the attention of the police and find themselves hampered by an even greater delay or even being stopped entirely. Megatron alone was unhampered by highway speed limits, but he held back and stayed with the others because he knew he couldn't possibly take on the whole of Sector Seven all by himself. No, if he was to stand a chance of rescuing Zephyr, he had to wait for the others to join him. Haste on his part would only doom her further, since it would be far from helpful for him to get captured as well, and he most certainly would if he tried to go alone.

Hours seemed to lengthen into an eternity as California's comparative lushness gave way to the magnificent reddish-hued desolation that was the Mojave Desert. Megatron would have marveled at the rocky vista had the situation not been so dire. They all would have. Finding the Colorado River's winding track, they followed it downstream as it roared and thundered, knowing that at some point the ribbon of restlessly churning water would lead them to where they ultimately wanted to go. In time they saw the grand vista of their goal laid out before them, a wall of smooth yellowish-brown stone stretching across the canyon the river had carved, an artificial cliff face of sun-baked rock shaped by human hands comparatively long ago to hide the greatest secrets their race had ever known… All save Megatron gazed upon it with a small measure of relief. The former Decepticon looked on with great hatred and even greater anger. They had finally reached the Hoover Dam.

Following a fairly narrow, winding path down to its base, down to where the river's white water cascaded down to continue on a diminished course, they thanked any and all deities that may have been listening for the fact that no one had noticed them yet. Coming up to the closed gate at the path's end, the Autobots came to a halt and transformed even as Megatron came in for a landing and did the same. "Well, here we are… The one place I had prayed never to see again," Megatron said in an uncertain tone, fidgeting nervously in a manner none of them had ever seen from him before. Looking to his brother, Optimus realized he had never even considered the possibility that there was something even Megatron feared. None of them had. A moment later he was at the former Decepticon's side, laying a gentle hand on his shoulder. "You're not alone this time, Brother."

Wasting no more time, they all got down to business, looking to Optimus for their orders. Even Megatron waited to be told what to do next. A moment's pause brought him the memory of the fact that he once would have preferred death to following the commands of another. Taking commands from a friend is a lot better than commanding those who would just as soon be enemies, he thought to himself. The first command wasn't long in coming. "Weapons out, everyone. We'll probably meet heavy resistance once we get inside." Ironhide whipped out the cannons he was so well known for as everyone else pulled out their chosen weapons. Stepping up to the closed gate, the two brothers worked together to pry and then force the double doors open. "Claw marks," Optimus said softly, spotting the gouges carved into the inner side of both doors. Megatron's eyes narrowed dangerously. "Then she has been here." A moment later the doors were flung wide open as they all stepped inside to meet the resistance they all knew they would surely encounter.

Megatron remembered the last time he had seen the passageway he and his colleagues were walking through at that very moment. Fresh from that icy nightmare, desperate to flee and see the sky again after so long, hungry for revenge on the cruel little creatures that had dared to use his misery for their own gain… He'd sensed the All Spark near and gone forth to claim it, but more than that he had just wanted to fly. No words had been able to describe the utter frustration he had felt at that time, the infuriating culmination of the whole war in his mind; thwarted again and again, sent forth on a maddening chase only to fail practically on top of his goal and spend years… years… locked in total paralysis with his prize right in the next freaking room, so close yet so far… He'd been fed up with it all, fed up to the point where he had thrown aside all strategy and planning in favor of immediately chasing his brother down to just take the darn thing from his broken body, no matter how much death and destruction he would have had to cause in order to do so. Now here he was, here they all were, seemingly retracing the route he had taken that day.

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Here's where we start getting into some of the better stuff. A little less talk, and a lot more action.

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