Author's note: Whew, I didn't think I was gonna make my self-imposed 5 day deadline this time, but I just managed it! Sorry if the fic's not been too exciting since the Team Chaar fight but it's gonna pick up again soon.

"The sixth reason Shtarscweam was such a jerk is…is…he…uhm…" Slipstream stuttered as she struggled to remember what she was talking about.

As Soundwave watched, she lifted another oil can to her lips and chugged it, throwing back her long neck. As the mega cycles had passed she had drunk barrel after barrel of the substance. It had long since overcharged her systems and she was well and truly intoxicated, and had been rambling on for quite some time about how much she loathed her progenitor.

Mixmaster and Scrapper were in a similar state, although they were far more jovial about it, linking arms and singing nonsense loudly as they swung their oil barrels around wildly, spilling oil everywhere. Dirt Boss on the other hand had drunk just as much as everyone else, but appeared unaffected, drinking silently and moodily in a corner.

"So…as I was shaying…Shtarscream…he…um…" Slipstream hiccupped loudly, "Used to think he was it, ya know? Like he knew everything. But Meg…Meg…Megytron, he was waaaay smarter. I shoulda been second in command….coulda been someone, you know? But instead I'm shtuck here with you…" she glared at Soundwave with venom as if blaming him for her predicament, then her head sunk into her chest as she trailed off into a slurred ramble.

From the other side of the room Dirt Boss looked up and grunted, "Light-weights", before downing another can in one quick gulp.

Soundwave was about to say something in Slipstream's defence when Laserbeak suddenly entered, darting inside through one of the large windows. He beat his wings and perched on Soundwave's forearm.

"Laserbeak: report", droned Soundwave.

Laserbeak opened his beak and emitted a series of high-pitched cries and squawks, too high-pitched to be detected by average audio sensors. Soundwave however was able to hear them and translate the frequencies into language. He stood up suddenly.

Dirt Boss looked at him, "Now what's a matter wit' you?"

"Laserbeak has located several unfamiliar Decepticons in the city", Soundwave replied, "They appear to be recuperating from an encounter with the Autobots".

"Oh. So?"

"We must prepare for their arrival", Soundwave looked at Slipstream, "What are your orders, commander?"

Slipstream pointed at him furiously, "Orders? Always with the orders, you lousy…think for yourself for once. I mean…sheesh…" she fell heavily onto her back, groaning.

Soundwave inclined his head, "As you command".

And so he thought for himself. It occurred to him that if the other Decepticons were to evaluate them for possible acceptance into the Decepticon army, then it was probably best that they were at their most presentable. And Slipstream was in no state to impress anybody. She needed time to rest first.

He walked towards her, knelt down and picked her up, struggling because she was substantially larger than he was. She didn't protest or even seem to notice as he made his way towards her private quarters; the central control room of the plant.

Soon however Slipstream stirred and looked up at him with baleful optics, "What do you think you're doing?"

"You require rest".

"What are you, my carer?" her head flopped to one side and she didn't speak for a while.

When she did she said, "I'll let you in on a little secret Soundwave".

"Proceed".

"I've had a little too much to drink", she suddenly burst into a fit of giggles.

She was still sniggering when Soundwave walked into her quarters and eased her down on the stack of enormous solar panels that served as her makeshift bed.

"You never let me have any fun", Slipstream whined at him.

Soundwave left. He intended to deploy Laserbeak and Ratbat to alternate keeping watch on the new Decepticons, so he would have plenty of warning if they were coming. Until then he would ensure the Constructicons were also rested, tidy the mess left by their antics in the reactor and also clear away the remnants of the communications tower.

"Hey, Soundwave?" Slipstream called after him.

He halted.

"Thanks", she said.

"Recognition: unnecessary", he replied, and went about his duties.

Bulkhead yawned and rubbed at his optics with his heavy claws. It was late, and he was tired. He made his way inside the Autobot base, grumbling to himself.

"Never should have volunteered for that late night patrol", he muttered.

As he walked into the main room he looked over in the direction of the television and found, to his surprise, that Bumblebee was sitting on the couch, playing on his console.

"You still up, little buddy?" Bulkhead asked.

"Uh-huh. Couldn't power down. So, how did the patrol go?"

"Didn't see nothin'. Guessing the 'Cons are hiding somewhere where their energy signatures are shielded. No sign of any of them in the places we fought 'em either. Looks like they gave us the slip".

Bumblebee nodded but didn't reply.

Bulkhead cocked his head to one side, "You okay, pal? You said you couldn't power down".

"Yeah, I'm okay. Just a little nervous I guess".

"Nervous? How come?"

"Erm…no reason".

Bulkhead smiled knowingly, "You're not still worried about the Decepticons, are you?"

"No, of course not".

"Are you sure?"

"Yes! Just…never mind. Don't worry about it".

Bulkhead's sympathetic grin broadened, "Are you suuuure?"

Bumblebee span around angrily, "Bulkhead, will you just leave me alone for five cycles!" he yelled.

"Okay, okay! Sheese. No need to be so defensive", Bulkhead sighed and stomped out of the room, "I'm gonna power down. Maybe you'll be less of a jerk in the morning".

Bumblebee watched him go with a pang of guilt. He hadn't meant to snap at Bulkhead. His nerves were getting to him, there was no doubt about that. He really had no desire to go through with Sari's plan, but if she insisted, then it was better for him to be with her than her to go alone.

He waited for another hour, unenthusiastically playing video games. Then when the time came he stood up, turned the TV off, crept quietly to the main door and slipped silently into the night.

A sudden bleeping noise startled Strika as she sat brooding in the darkness. She produced a datapad and peered at the small screen.

Oh please, no, not now, she thought, but pressed the 'receive transmission' key regardless.

Onslaught's visage appeared on the screen. He saluted. Strika did the same, although she was repulsed by the sight of her biggest rival for the claim of Megatron's top General.

"General Strika, the council demands an update on your progress", he declared in a haughty tone, "Have you arrived on planet Earth yet?"

"Affirmative. My team made planetfall approximately twelve mega cycles ago".

"Ah, excellent", he waited for a moment, and when she did not continue he pressed her, "Well? Have you engaged the Autobots?"

"Affirmative. Almost immediately upon making planetfall we split up and engaged a total of nine Autobots".

"Splendid. Go on".

This was the part Strika was dreading, but she decided to bite the bullet and get on with it, "Although I was able to confirm that Megatron is indeed being held captive on Cybertron, unfortunately we were unable to capture any of the Autobots. In a series of skirmishes several of my team were severely injured and we were forced to retreat to recuperate".

Onslaught's optic band brightened considerably with increased interest, "I'm sorry, can you confirm that? Team Chaar…failed?"

He relished the word, savouring every last syllable. Strika's grip on the datapad tightened, and little cracks formed on the viewscreen as she shook with suppressed fury.

"Yes", she growled, "We….failed".

"Most unfortunate", Onslaught said brightly, "I shall have to report this to the Council, you understand".

"Wait. We will attempt a second, co-ordinated attack within the next few solar cycles. We will capture these Autobots and extract the information we need. It's only a matter of time".

"What makes you think you'll be any more successful second time around?" Onslaught snorted.

"We have detected resident Decepticon energy signals. I shall search them out within a few mega cycles, as soon as my team is sufficiently rested. They may be useful".

"Perhaps. Or perhaps they are traitors. It's possible Starscream…"

"We have already considered that possibility, General Onslaught. We will make contact with them regardless".

"So be it. I will pass on your report to the Council. General Onslaught out. Oh, and Strika?"

"Yes?"

"It's just business, nothing personal", he chuckled as he terminated the transmission.

Strika glared at the now blank screen. She wanted to scream and smash the datapad into a million tiny fragments. Instead she took a deep breath and replaced it in its compartment on her backpack.

"I respected those Autobots", she snarled at no-one in particular, "I was going to allow them a chance to escape with their sparks. And they repay me with humiliation in the optics of my rivals!"

She suddenly ploughed her fist into one of the metal crates, gouging a crater in it as wide as her beefy arm. Alarmed, the rest of Team Chaar looked up.

"Please don't do that", Skywarp whimpered, "I have a very sensitive spark".

"Aargh!" Strika raged, ignoring him, "No more nonsense! Team Chaar, get ready to move out. We'll track down these renegade Decepticons and…"

She stopped mid-sentence and her optics flared wide. Something was wrong. Somebody was missing.

She threw up her arms and bellowed in despair, "Where has the fool Cyclonus gone now?!"

Bumblebee pulled up outside Sumdac Tower quietly. Sari was waiting for him at the door, wrapped up in a sweater. The Autobot transformed and headed towards her.

"Hi", she said, huddling over and shivering in the cold wind of the night, "You ready?"

"Yeah, I guess".

She stepped forward and the doors slid open for them. They went inside and made their way towards the elevator in silence.

"Do we have to do this?" Bumblebee asked as Sari pressed the button to open the elevator doors.

"No, you don't", Sari answered as they stepped inside, "But I'm going".

"I don't know. I've been having second thoughts. Maybe we should tell Prime".

"Bumblebee, you promised".

"I know, I know…" he sighed and hesitated, "If I don't go, you're going to go anyway, aren't you?"

"Yup", she answered.

"Then you're stuck with me".

As the elevator ascended Bumblebee thought of Bulkhead. He would make sure to apologise to him later. It was beginning to nag at him and he had more than enough worries as it was.

The elevator doors opened out onto the roof of Sumdac Tower. The silver moonlight reflected off the ominously looming space bridge pylons. Bumblebee was nervous. He shifted uneasily as Sari hurried over to the control console and began typing in commands.

"Are you sure you know what you're doing?" Bumblebee asked, leaning over her shoulder to watch.

"Sure I'm sure. It's not exactly rocket science, Bumblebee. It's just quantum-electro dynamics".

"Oh…okay then", Bumblebee looked down and noticed that the flesh on Sari's fingers had split into segments and retracted to reveal multi-pointed wires that she flew across the control console, pressing buttons in a sequence that made no sense to the young Autobot.

"Um…how're you doing that?"

"I don't know, exactly. It's almost like the computer's telling me what I need to do. I can't explain it", Sari's brow was furrowed in concentration as she entered yet more commands into the machine.

A sudden whining noise, like a massive generator powering up, made Bumblebee jump. Sari's hands returned to their normal state and she turned to look at the space bridge.

"There, that should do it".

The whine grew louder and louder as a ripple of energy formed between the pylons, flaring out into a pulsing void. What felt like an incredible wind swept across the roof of Sumdac Tower, flinging Sari's sweater away.

Bumblebee had been dreading this moment all night. At the very least he was sure he was going to receive a lecture like no other from Prime. At the very worst…well, this was Megatron they were going to see. Bumblebee didn't want to consider the worst possible outcome.

"So, this thing is going to take us to Cybertron, right?"

"Yeah".

Bumblebee looked down at her. A tremble had crept into her voice and her face was drawn and intense. She was frightened. For some reason that comforted Bumblebee. He had begun to fear that Sari was too eager, excited even, in anticipation of this moment. It was reassuring to know that she still had her doubts.

He leaned down and took her by the hand. She smiled nervously up at him.

"Still want to do this?" he asked.

"Definitely".

"Alright then. It's warpin' time", as one they leapt into the shimmering portal and vanished. The portal deactivated and closed behind them.

A few seconds afterwards, while transwarp energy was still crackling up and down the pylons, a massive dark figure landed where they had stood a moment before. It looked around before kneeling down and picking up Sari's sweater.

In silence, Cyclonus examined the garment closely.

"So close", he whispered as he cast a grim look at the space bridge, "And yet so far. Be careful, little one".

He dropped the sweater and took off.

Arcee was woken from her stasis nap by a loud creaking noise from outside her room. She lay on her Autobot-sized bed, looking up at the ceiling. Another creak and what sounded like a footstep followed.

Her curiosity aroused, the femmebot stretched, yawned and clambered off her bed and headed into the corridor outside her room. Looking around, she saw Bulkhead making his way towards the main room of the Autobot base, doing his best to be stealthy.

She trotted towards him, "Bulkhead?"

He gasped in surprise and turned around, "Huh? Arcee? Sorry, I didn't want to wake you".

"It's alright. What are you doing?"

"Couldn't drop off. Me and Bumblebee kinda had an argument earlier. I figured it was my fault so I wanted to say sorry if I got on his crankcase so I went to see if he was still up".

"And is he?"

"Well, he's not in his room, so I figure he must be still playing video games", he looked shame-faced at her, "Real sorry I woke you up. You should go back to bed. I'll go speak to him now".

"Don't worry about it. You go talk to him".

He nodded and crept into the main room. For some reason Arcee was compelled to wait and listen. She heard nothing. A moment later Bulkhead reappeared in the corridor.

"He's not here! He's gone!"

"Gone? Are you sure?"

"Yeah! There's no sign of him!"

"Hold on", Arcee hurried towards Bumblebee's room and double-checked it; Bulkhead was right, he was gone.

"See?" Bulkhead said as Arcee emerged from Bumblebee's room, "He's just disappeared!"

"Don't panic. Maybe he just went for a drive, to clear his processor or something".

"Maybe. But I'm gonna go find him", Bulkhead was already on his way towards the exit, "Make sure the little guy's okay".

"Shouldn't we get the others?" asked Arcee.

"Nah, Bumblebee'll never forgive me if I wake up Ratchet to go looking for him. Don't think doc-bot'd forgive me either".

Arcee hesitated, then said, "Wait, I'm coming with you".

The two Autobots transformed and headed out into the night, driving down the deserted street.

"Ya don't have to", Bulkhead was saying as they drove side-by-side, "You should go get some rest. I mean, you've only just been fixed up".

"I'm fine. Hip's feeling as good as new. I've rested plenty".

"Well yeah, but…"

"Now, now Bulkhead. Do you think a little delicate femmebot like me needs looking after?"

Bulkhead stuttered, embarrassed, "Uh…no, of course…I…I…"

She was amused by his awkward nature. It was quite endearing. Out loud she said, "Then it's settled. We go on together".

"Okay okay, it's just that…hey, woah. You sensing that?"

"Sensing what?"

"Residual transwarp energy! It's coming from Sumdac Tower!"

"You think Bumblebee fired up the space bridge? I can't see why he would".

"I dunno", Bulkhead swerved suddenly and started off in the direction of Sumdac Tower, "Thing is, he can't work it. Someone else must be using it".

"Either way, we should check it out", Arcee followed him, while still checking her energy signal database, "I'm not detecting Bumblebee's energy signature anyway".

They hurried to Sumdac Tower, making quick progress through the empty streets. Moments later they had boarded the cargo elevator and rode it to the rooftop.

"Slag, no sign of him!" Bulkhead thundered forward to examine the control console, "But it looks like someone set this to transwarp to the Cybertron Space Bridge Nexus! And it wasn't long ago either…"

Arcee had just spotted Sari's sweater and was bending over to pick it up when Bulkhead cried out in alarm. She looked up and saw a long, hooked dart had embedded itself into his neck.

"Bulkhead! Are you okay?!" she rushed over to him.

"I…uhh…I'm…" his optics began to glaze over and his speech was slurred. Arcee reached up and pulled the dart from his neck.

She held it up, "Slag. Cyber-toxic dart", she growled and tossed it aside, "Old Decepticon weapon. They used them in the Great War".

A cruel voice chuckled and answered, "Sometimes, the old ones are the best".

Bulkhead was beginning to lose consciousness and his voice came in laboured gasps, but he managed to say, "I…know that voice".

Arcee reached for her blades and she assumed a fighting stance, ignoring the chill of fear that jolted through her circuits, "So do I. It's Lockdown".