Vesper sighed as she typed a few coordinates into the Ground Bridge control's monitor and then pulled the lever down, turning to watch as Bumblebee, Bulkhead, Arcee and Optimus headed through and disappeared into the swirling green vortex before she closed it. Then her servo fell to her side as she walked over to a nearby monitor and started to type away on it, doing calibrations and tests on the various systems the Autobots were using in the base.
It had been a month since the cannon's destruction, yet nobody had seen Ratchet leave his room once during that time. And it was expected that he would shut himself away, Optimus had said many a time. After all, Ratchet was attached to Alice and didn't want to lose her. The human girl had suffered greatly, losing a limb and almost dying, and now her fate was uncertain. All the Autobots had been told that Alice was in a coma, and there was a large chance that she would not wake.
During that month, the Autobots had rebuilt their base and had managed to salvage almost everything, but there were a few things that had been irreplaceable, such as a number of Ratchet's invaluable medical tools that he'd brought to Earth with him when he'd departed Cybertron. Optimus had mentioned this, but Vesper had said that there had nothing that could possibly be done, and everyone had seen the truth of her words… even if none of them liked it. Now they were just making do without their medic or his tools, which was sometimes hard, especially since Decepticon forces were still hanging around and attacking them whenever possible.
Vesper turned around then and squealed in shock as she noticed Ratchet standing at the door, silently observing what she was doing. "Ah, um, Doctor!" she nervously stuttered, scratching the back of her head. "You, uh, startled me." She looked away, back at the calibrations she was doing, before looking back up at the silent medic and asking, "Is there something I can help you with?"
"I'll keep an eye on the Ground Bridge," he stated, his voice neutral and devoid of any emotion whatsoever. "You go and pick the kids up from school."
Vesper frowned and was about to disagree, but something made her stop. This was the first time in an entire Earth month that Ratchet had emerged from his room, and while she was happy for that, he was absolutely not ready to leave the base. Not in the sparkbroken condition he was in, anyway. So she nodded and transformed into car mode before leaving the base through what she referred to as the front door, and headed towards Jasper as fast as she was allowed. This was the third time this week that she'd had to do this, but she was getting used to it, and her conversations with the children about their school day never failed to amuse and interest her.
When she pulled up, she noticed that Jack was talking to someone that she didn't quite like, and she projected her human holoform so that it didn't look like the idling car had driven itself. Miko and Raf were standing nearby, watching silently with cautious looks on their faces. It was Miko who first noticed Vesper idling nearby, and she hastily directed Raf over before opening the door and getting in. Raf followed her example, and then both humans looked over at their fellow. "What is going on?" Vesper asked them quietly, glancing back at them using her rear-view mirror.
Miko shrugged as Jack turned away from whoever he was talking to and got into the passenger seat in the front before slamming the door and clipping his seatbelt on. Then he crossed his arms and remained dead silent as Vesper pulled away from the curb and headed back towards the Autobot base. She didn't want to ask what was wrong, fearing that Jack would be snappy, but she also wanted to see if she could somehow help.
When she pulled into the base, she noticed that the others had returned, but Ratchet hadn't taken to hiding again. Instead, he was silently tapping away on one of the many computers, and the others were simply leaving him be, having conversations with each other and only speaking to him when they deemed it necessary for him to know something. When this occurred, the medic simply nodded before returning back to his work, and as Vesper let the kids out and transformed back into her primary mode, Optimus sighed and walked over to her.
"A word, please?" he asked her, and the femme frowned before nodding and following Optimus down the hallway. When the Prime deemed them both of our earshot from the others, he turned to Vesper and asked, "Has Ratchet spoken to you at all?"
Vesper frowned and bit her lip before nodding. "All he said was that he would manage the Ground Bridge so I could collect the children," she informed the Prime, and he sighed. He was clearly bothered by Ratchet's behaviour, and Vesper put her servo in his suddenly. "Optimus, he is going through a very tough time right now," she said, smiling sadly up at the Prime. "He is very attached to Alice. Please just allow him some more time."
Optimus shook his head. "Ratchet may never recover. You know that," he breathed, squeezing her hand gently. Then he looked sadly at the ground and squeezed his optics shut. "It all depends on whether Alice wakes… or even lives…"
Vesper suddenly wrapped her arms around Optimus' torso, pulling her servo from his as she did so. "Alice will live!" she whispered. "I am sure of it! And if there is belief in her, then she has the chance that she needs!"
Optimus wrapped his arms around his femme and nodded. "Yes, of course," he breathed, a small sliver of hope clear in his voice. A small smile appeared on his face, and he looked tenderly down at his sparkmate. "We can only pray to Primus that she wakes soon."
It was these words that Optimus spoke, and while the white haired human girl could not hear him, she still woke up, almost as if she had heard. Her eyes blearily opened and she slowly looked around, noticing that she was in a completely white, sterile room. It smelled strongly of anti-septic, and Alice groaned as she felt dull throbs of pain spread through her upper torso, starting from her shoulder. She tried to move her arms, then stiffened as she felt that something was wrong. Her eyes were wide as she slowly looked at her right arm and noted that it was still there – which was quite relieving – but her relief dissolved when she looked over at her left arm and noticed that there was nothing to look at.
A scream escaped from her lips as she abruptly sat up, ignoring the pain that shot through her body, and tried to touch the limb that was no longer there. Then she frantically looked up just as June hurried in, and screamed, "WHERE'S MY ARM?!"
June waved her hands at the girl, in an effort to calm her down, and said, "Alice, calm down. It's alright," as she placed one of her hands on the girl's right shoulder. "It's alright. I can explain."
Alice shivered, tears running down her face, as June explained that her arm had been torn off by Megatron, and the white haired girl noticed that June was keeping her voice very low. The nurse also explained that Alice had lost an incredible amount of blood, had been torn up and burned, but seemed to have healed quickly. June mentioned that she was shocked to see Alice awake already – nobody had expected her to wake up for at least another six months – which caused the girl to smile.
"I'm a resilient person," she managed to say before she sighed and looked at her non-existent left arm. "I just… I just can't believe it," she murmured, reaching up and touching her shoulder. "I can't believe it's gone."
June sighed. "Neither can any of Team Prime," she breathed, and Alice stiffened as her thoughts immediately went to Ratchet. She groaned as she realised that he had to be beating himself up, cursing himself for being useless. "They're all worried about you, Ratchet especially so. The last time I checked on them, Ratchet hadn't been out of his room for weeks."
Alice stiffened. "Is he alright?" she breathed, her eyes wide.
June shrugged. "I'm sorry, but I don't know. The last time I saw them was three days ago." She sighed and squeezed Alice's shoulder. "Now, I have to go home – it's getting late – but I'll be back tomorrow. You," she said, releasing the girl's shoulder as she stood and walked over to the door, "Get some rest. You'll need it, especially if you want to see the gang again." The nurse smiled softly before walking out of the room, leaving Alice alone.
The girl sighed as she gently laid herself back down on the pillow, and then she closed her eyes. Tears still dripped down her cheeks, but she made no move to wipe them away. Instead, she let her thoughts take over. She wondered if Vesper had managed to revive Optimus. She wondered what had happened to Megatron. She wondered if Ratchet was emotionally sound. She wondered how everyone was. And she wondered if the Decepticons had finally decided to call it quits with the destruction of the weapon.
Of course, her last thought was soon answered… and the answer was no. An explosion suddenly wracked the hospital, and Alice screamed as she covered her head. Then she slowly looked up to see a gaping hole in the wall of her room, rubble crumbling to the floor, and a large, purple, thin organism silently stepping through it. Her eyes widened as the Decepticon stepped towards her, and she screamed as Soundwave's long, thin fingers wrapped around her and plucked her from where she was laying. Then he held her up in front of his visor, silently glaring at her as she struggled to get out of the 'Con's grip.
"Let… me… go!" she cried, but Soundwave didn't respond… at least, not verbally. He turned on his heels and started to walk out of the hospital, his servo – still holding Alice – fell to his side, and a Ground Bridge opened up in front of him. "Stop!" Alice cried as the Decepticon stepped closer and closer to the swirling vortex that didn't belong to the Autobots… but then he did stop. For a few minutes, Alice thought that he'd actually listened, but as the two of them looked up she began to believe that that was not the case.
Floating in the sky was a large ship that she'd never seen before, and there was a weapon pointed right at the silent Decepticon. He turned to face this new threat, and Laserbeak detached from his chest before flying up… and consequently plummeting back to the ground as he was shot down. Soundwave, reacting to this, immediately dropped Alice to the ground (consequently making her cry out in pain) before using his tentacles to gather Laserbeak and reattach the Mini-Con back to his chest. Then he transformed into his altmode and flew into the Ground Bridge, which closed as the ship landed.
Alice shakily stood as a lift emerged from the bottom of the landed vessel, and she noticed that there was someone standing there. At first she believed that the figure was Optimus, but upon closer inspection she noticed that it wasn't.
The figure walked over to her and looked down, and the first things she noticed were the shoulder pads. But it was the completely emotionless optics that made her flinch away and avert her own eyes. Instead, she took in the bot's features. He was sporting a very similar colour scheme to Optimus', and had an almost identical build. The only differences, really, were the slightly different tones and the optics.
"Are you alright?" the Optimus-esque bot suddenly said, and Alice squeaked as she jumped a little. She'd not expected the bot to actually speak to her. However, she did manage a nod, and the bot nodded in response before turning away. As he did so, however, Alice caught a glimpse of his chest and noticed the Autobot symbol.
Her eyes widened. "You're an Autobot?" she blurted out just as the figure took a few steps away, and he stopped before slowly turning back around to face her. She clapped her hand over her mouth as his optics narrowed, and then he curtly nodded.
"Yes, I am," he said, then he frowned. "I was not aware any of native lifeforms knew about us."
Alice scratched the back of her head. "Well, truth is… I'm one of the few who do." Then she shook her head. "What's your name, anyway?"
The Autobot didn't seem to be too happy about Alice's question. "Ultra Magnus. But you are to address me as 'sir'," he said, his voice stiff. Alice was about to speak, but something about the bot's tone shut her up. It was obvious that he was a very military-minded, 'by the book' kind of guy, and she didn't quite like that. However, she knew that she had no choice but to roll with it, especially because he was an Autobot… and a much-needed ally.
"Well, sir," Alice said, "I'm pretty sure the others would be glad to know that you're here. They could use allies of the Cybertronian kind." Ultra Magnus nodded in agreement, then turned again and walked towards his ship without another word. This caused Alice to frown and run after the bot before saying, "You don't even know where they are!" as she realised that he was going to go search for them. Then she yelled, "And you most certainly can't use that thing to get around!" as she pointed at the ship, just as Ultra Magnus turned to face her again.
"Why not?" he asked, puzzled.
Alice shook her head. "The other members of Team Prime have this 'robots in disguise' thing going on. Flying around in that," she explained, pointing at the vessel Ultra Magnus had arrived in, "Is going to blow their cover."
Ultra Magnus frowned, but then shook his head. "I must take this to a better place, then," he said. "If it is… odd to see such a thing, as you say, then it will be more noticeable here." He walked back over to the ship's lift, but didn't go up immediately. Instead he looked down at Alice, waiting for her to follow, and when the human girl realised that she hurried over and clambered up, finding it incredibly difficult to do with only one arm but managing all the same. Ultra Magnus, if he noticed this, said nothing as the lift rose, and soon enough the two found themselves inside of the Autobot's vessel.
"Woah!" Alice exclaimed as she looked around. Ultra Magnus said nothing to her as he walked over and sat down in a chair that was located in front of a control panel. Then he started typing away before the ship started to rumble, and Alice cried out as she fell on her behind. The ship lifted into the air as she regained her footing, and she gasped in amazement as she ran over to the front of the ship and looked out of the ship's windshield. Then she looked back up at Ultra Magnus as he directed the ship to a remote location. "This is awesome!"
He said nothing as he looked down at her, then looked back up and continued to fly. This caused the girl to huff and, forgetting that she was missing a limb, she tried to cross her arms, only to frown sadly when she remembered. This prompted a reaction from the stony Autobot, who said, "What happened to your arm?" She looked up at him to see that he was giving her a sideways glance, his optics still neutral, although she saw something flash in them briefly.
The human girl looked sadly at the stump. "It… was torn off."
This caused Ultra Magnus to actually turn to face her. "By whom?" he asked, before turning back and directing the ship to land.
Alice sighed as she reached up and gently brushed the stump with her fingertips, wincing as small jolts of dull pain shot through her torso. "Megatron," was all she said, and Ultra Magnus nodded as the vessel finally landed. The Autobot stood then and walked over to the lift, and Alice sighed before she too walked over to the lift, and it lowered so that they were outside the confines of the ship. Ultra Magnus stepped off of the lift and looked around at the empty area, and Alice jumped off and walked over to the 'Bot.
Suddenly she became aware that they were surrounded by rocky walls, and she frowned as she noticed that Ultra Magnus' attention seemed to be on something that was standing on one of the ledges. The sun was glaring off of it, so the human girl couldn't exactly tell what it was other than the figure was Cybertronian.
As Alice watched, the figure jumped down from the rock face and landed heavily on the ground. Without the sun glaring off of metal plating, Alice could now see familiar olive green plating… and a familiar face. "Bulkhead!" she exclaimed happily, running over to the Autobot, who was just as happy to see the white haired human.
"Alice, you're okay!" he exclaimed, leaning down so that he got a closer look at her. He smiled, relief shining in his optics, but then he straightened up and looked directly at Ultra Magnus. "Ultra Magnus, sir," he said, his voice betraying the surprise that he was doing a good job of hiding. "What a surprise to see you here!"
"At ease, soldier," Ultra Magnus said, and Bulkhead relaxed a little bit. "It is good to see you are online and well," the warrior said, his tone neutral, not betraying any sort of emotion. Alice grimaced but said nothing as Bulkhead nodded.
"You too, sir," he said, his voice perfectly honest. If he disliked Ultra Magnus, he wasn't showing it. The olive green bot was just grateful that there was someone else on the Autobot side Team Prime could now rely on. "I'm sure Optimus would be happy to see you, as well," he said, and Alice wondered what he meant by that.
Ultra Magnus gave the former Wrecker a half-smile. "It is good to know that Commander Optimus is still online."
Alice's eyes widened. "Wait… commander?" she asked, looking between Bulkhead and Ultra Magnus. "Optimus was a commander?"
Ultra Magnus seemed offended by the girl's lack of knowledge as he looked down at her. "He is the leader of the Autobots. All of them," he said, keeping his voice completely serious and emotionless. Then he looked back up at Bulkhead and said, "Are you willing to escort us to him? I must give a report."
Bulkhead nodded, then transformed into his altmode and opened the door for Alice, who stepped inside, grateful that she didn't have to ride with the stuck-up Autobot who was new to Earth. When she mentioned this to the olive green Autobot, he chuckled and said, "Ultra Magnus is very… by the book." He would have shrugged, provided he wasn't in vehicular mode. "You'll get used to it."
Alice scoffed as Ultra Magnus transformed, although she was rendered speechless as she looked at the warrior's altmode, which was still Cybertronian in design. It wasn't exactly something you'd expect to see driving the highways, and Bulkhead sighed as both he and Alice realised that Ultra Magnus would have to find a better altmode if he was to blend in. However, at present time, there was nothing any of them could do, and they just decided to deal with it as the two Autobots drove off, Bulkhead leading.
When they finally got to the base, Alice saw June frantically talking to Jack, who was trying to comfort his mother, and the white haired girl immediately knew that the nurse was worried for her safety. As Bulkhead rolled to a stop, the girl stepped out, and June immediately ran over to her and checked her for injuries.
"Are you alright?" she asked, her eyes wide and scared.
Alice nodded and smiled softly. "I'm fine, June," she said. Then she gestured at Ultra Magnus, who had transformed and was looking at each of the gathered bots. "I was saved from Soundwave by Shoulder Pads over there."
Ultra Magnus, if he had heard the jab, was paying no mind. Instead, he was staring at Vesper, an angry look in his eyes. The femme shrunk back, alarmed, and realised that Ultra Magnus probably knew only that she had been in the Decepticon ranks. It was highly likely that he was not aware that she had defected.
"Ultra Magnus," Optimus said, distracting the warrior for the briefest of moments, which allowed Vesper to slip away and hide from his angry glare. "It is good to see you again, after all these eons."
Ultra Magnus nodded. "Likewise, sir," he said. Then he turned to the others, and a frown appeared on his face. "These… are the only ones with you?" he asked. His tone indicated that, for some reason, he seemed very unhappy, and Optimus wondered why. The Prime was smart enough, however, to not enquire.
Instead, he nodded. "Unfortunately, yes. These are the only members of Team Prime," he said. Ultra Magnus looked at each of them, his eyes taking in every single detail. Some of them he recognised – Ratchet (who didn't seem to have noticed Alice), Bumblebee, Bulkhead, and Arcee – while some of them were strange to him – mainly the humans.
"It is good to have some more assistance on this planet," Ratchet suddenly said, turning around. He kept his eyes trained on the warrior, but he did notice his human companion out of the corner of his optics, and that was enough to distract him. "A-Alice?" he stuttered, his optics widening as the human girl smiled and waved at him.
"Hey Ratch," she said, grinning up at him as he knelt down. The other bots could see that Ratchet was on the verge of breaking down and crying, but they didn't know if he was happy or sad. Optimus, watching as Ratchet pulled Alice into a hug (as much as he could without absolutely squishing her), presumed that Ratchet was happy to know that his human charge was alright, even if she was… missing a part.
Letting the two have their reunion, Optimus turned back to Ultra Magnus, who still looked angry about something. When Optimus enquired, the warrior promptly responded with, "Why is there a Decepticon in your midst?"
This caused the Prime to stiffen as everyone – bot and human alike – turned to look at him, their jaws slack. He looked away, not sure what to say. Vesper had only informed him of her former allegiance to Megatron, and he'd refused to tell everybody else because he had deemed it a need-to-know piece of information only.
He had been under the belief that only himself and Vesper had known about her former allegiance, but now he had been informed that he was horribly wrong.
"She… is a Decepticon?!" Miko exclaimed, stomping her foot angrily.
Optimus shook his head, which made everyone glare at him. Arcee hissed, "Is your judgement clouded, Optimus?"
"No," he said firmly, anger blooming in his spark. "She is not a Decepticon!"
Ultra Magnus crossed his arms over his chassis. "Are you saying that because—"
It was actually Ratchet who came to the Prime's rescue. "Alright, that's enough of that," he chastised, and everyone slowly looked away from Optimus and turned their attention to the doctor. "How about we ask Vesper about this?" he suggested, shaking his head. "She will be able to shed light on this."
Optimus was about to disagree, but then he heard, "Then ask me what you will." They all turned to look at the femme, who was standing at the door with a sad, frightened look on her face. "But know this now: I am no Decepticon."
Ultra Magnus scowled. "How do we know that?" he asked.
Jack shrugged. "If she was a Decepticon, she wouldn't have brought Optimus back from the dead."
This effectively silenced everyone, and Arcee, Bulkhead and Bumblebee shared a look, having momentarily forgotten that small fact. Miko and Raf hung their heads, having also forgotten, and Ratchet looked at Jack with gratitude clear in his optics. Alice just smiled in relief; she knew that Vesper would have pulled through, and the femme had definitely proved the human girl right.
"I… I owe you an apology, then," Ultra Magnus eventually managed to force himself to say, and Vesper smiled lightly before walking nervously over.
"I forgive you," she said, then turned on her heel and walked back over to one of the nearby monitors and clicked something. "Now, I have something to report."
Everyone turned to her, confused, as she pulled up an image of a map. It was a map of the area surrounding the crashed Decepticon cargo vessel that Vesper had been a prisoner on, as most of the group – save for Ultra Magnus, June and Alice – realised. But there was also a signal there, one that Arcee recognised all too well.
The two-wheeler's optics narrowed, and she hissed something under her breath. Bumblebee, standing quite close to her, heard what she said and his optics widened as he looked at her, shocked. Then he beeped something, and Arcee glared at him.
"What is it, Bee?" Raf asked, placing his hand on the scout's leg. "What do you mean?"
Optimus' mouth set into a thin, hard line as he turned back at looked back at the signal on the monitor. "Arcee, you are not to leave the base. Understood?" He looked back at the femme, whose servos had clenched into fists.
"No. I don't understand," the femme hissed… and then she transformed and departed from the base, leaving Optimus to sigh and shake his head in disappointment. Then he turned to everyone else and crossed his arms.
"Ratchet," he said, his voice strained, "Prepare a Ground Bridge. We may need it."