Transformers Prime
Optimus' brow ridges turned down in confusion.
"Come again?" Prime asked aloud to an unheard voice. All three children could see the Prime's puzzled expression as he communicated through his channel and the three children shared a look. Optimus never simply looked confused before, and it was a bit jarring to them to see.
"Did something happen to them?" Jack asked, concern leaking through in his voice. Agent Fowler had said that Decepticons weren't involved, nor MECH, but a third, unknown party. If it was neither of those, what is it about this group that would have Optimus himself looking worried?
Optimus turned his optics down to Jack, ready to respond. His answer was interrupted by the GroundBridge's appearance. All eyes and optics alike turned to the portal, and Jack's question was left forgotten for the moment.
Bulkhead and Bumblebee walked into the silo slowly, the both of them looking downcast. Bumblebee let out a depressed beep, his arms stretched out in a helpless shrug as he explained something.
"There's someone in Bumblebee's hand!" Miko observed excitedly. Raf and Jack perked up at Miko's exclamation.
"Bulkhead? Where is Arcee?"
Bulkhead looked at Optimus and exhaled tiredly.
"'Bee explained it on the way," Bulkhead answered, his optics wide in still fresh surprise. "She's right there." He gestured his head toward the unconscious human in the yellow scout's hand.
The medic gawked in response.
"What!? You can't possibly be suggesting-" Ratchet let his statement fade in a rushed exhale.
"A cybertronian turned into a human? How does that even..?" Ratchet trailed off, staring incredulously at the strangely familiar looking human as Bumblebee passed by to set her down on the couch. Miko immediately ran over, trailed by Jack and Raf.
"This is like invasion of the body snatchers! But with giant robots," Miko claimed, wiggling her hands by either side of her temple. "My prediction was on point!"
Raf shook his head, not really finding the situation that amusing.
"Miko, this is serious," Jack reminded, walking up to the railing to get a better look. "If that's really her, Arcee could be stuck like this," he said soberly. "Have you guys dealt with anything like this?" he asked Ratchet. The medic only sighed. shaking his head no.
Either Miko didn't really see the gravity of the situation, or she wasn't that concerned with it. Jack instantly guessed the latter.
"The important thing is that she's okay, right?" Miko reasoned with a shrug. "We just find the creeps who did this, and beat the scrap out of them!"
"I gotta agree with Jack," Bulkhead gently supplied, a heavy exhale coming from him. "We don't even know where her body is," he said with a sad shake of his head.
"Was there anyone else there?," Optimus softly spoke up, drawing the attention of the others. Bumblebee shook his head, beeping something.
"There were two tanks," Raf translated for Jack and Miko. "Arcee was pulled into one, and she appeared as a human in the other." Raf's face fell at Bumblebee's observation. "Her normal frame disappeared after a flash of light."
"We will find out what we need to know when she awakes," Optimus assured, gesturing to the unconscious stranger. Everyone quieted down at this, Optimus already having turned back to the monitor, not wanting them to see the frown on his face.
There have been many times when each of his soldiers have faced depressing odds. But for one of them to be at the mercy at a unit more dangerous than MECH was a very disturbing thought. With MECH, their intentions were clear. But the goals of this third party was completely unknown to them.
What group was this that had enough technical know how to apparently transfer the mind of a cybertronian into another vessel? Optimus frowned, his optics narrowed in thought. There was another organization, one very much like MECH, a long time ago, that utilized advanced technology, but the name escaped him.
"Ratchet, for the time being, have the Silo send out a scanning pulse periodically for Arcee's...original body," Optimus instructed, hesitating only for a moment. The concept was still clearly unsettling to the Autobots, let alone Optimus himself. Ratchet nodded his acknowledgement, and got to work on the computer.
"It'll take some time to set up," Ratchet warned. "I'll need to configure the pulse so that it won't tip off the Decepticons of movement on our end."
"Understood, do what you can," Optimus replied. "I fear that the situation will become more dangerous the longer we delay."
The first thing Arcee felt was an annoying pressure on her face. Even though her eyes were closed, light seemed to still be trying reach through, like a flashlight trying to burn into her face. The sensation was alien, as her optics were supposed to be offline, allowing for no light to reach.
Opening her eyes painfully, she felt something soft under her. Groaning in pain, she attempted to sit up, but a wave of vertigo washed over her. Plopping back down on the soft surface and fighting the urge to vomit, she looked around, realizing she was on that object the humans would often be sitting on. What was it called? A couch?
"Hey, you okay?"
Arcee cracked open an eye, and saw a shape move up to stand over her, but it wasn't any of the Autbots. This one had...hair? Blinking a few times, the muddled shape cleared up, resolving into a boy that she was quite sure didn't appear this tall.
"Jack?!" She shot up straight, willing herself to ignore the dizziness that hit her again. Unfortunately, the area below her chest was clenching wildly, and she felt as though something was trying to fight it's way out and through her mouth.
"Ugh. Feels like something is trying to force it's way out of my tank," Arcee said, and Jack could tell that talking seemed to be painful for her.
"Y-your stomach?" Jack hesitantly asked. He looked away a moment and looked at Optimus. Arcee noticed that he was looking above her.
"Last thing I remember was Bee trying to get me out of that machine," she said, holding a hand to her forehead. It was pounding and it was a feeling she wasn't familiar with. There were processor aches, sure, but this felt like it was trying to drill it's way out of her head. Scrap, it hurt! She groaned, trying to will away the throbbing sensation I'm her temples.
Optimus, who was still at the monitors after two hours, looked at her in thought.
"Arcee?"
She heard Optimus' voice, and the strange thing was that it felt as though it was coming from somewhere extremely high. Much higher than she was familiar with. Craning her head as high as she could (It wasn't necessarily helping the headache), she could see Optimus' concerned face looking down at her from at least what looked like yards away. Arcee's mouth dropped a bit and struggled to say something. Then she looked back at Jack as though for the first time.
"W-why am I the same size as you?" she demanded. She blinked then looked down at herself. She looked at the palms of her hands and turned them over, again and again as if struggling to understand what she was looking at.
Her lips were trying to form words, but she didn't say anything for a long while.
"Arcee?" Jack ventured. "You okay?" he asked, resting a hand on her shoulder. Arcee took a shaky breath and dropped her hands.
"What happened to me?" She breathed, her strength only somewhat returning to her. She attempted to stand from the couch, taking a few clumsy steps, but ended up only a few paces from the couch. She wobbled unsteadily and Jack rushed over to support her by the arm.
She felt... heavier, for some reason. She rested her free hand on her knee, and attempted to stay standing, but had to sit down again. The disorientation was coming back full force.
"First, how are you feeling?" Miko questioned, appearing from behind the couch.
"!" Arcee could only gasp, nearly falling off the couch. She turned around, facing the teen. "Miko?!"
"The one and only," said girl replied with a half smile. Arcee heard large footsteps and slightly arched her head to see Bumblebee make some gestures and produce a string of clicks, whirs, and beeps.
"What? Changed bodies?" the dark haired girl examined her hands again, before clenching her fists in frustration. "Where's my real body, then?!" she shouted in response to Bumblebee's explanation. Bumblebee had to jump back in surprise by her incensed response.
"You can understand him?" Bulkhead's surprised query came.
"Why wouldn't I?" she shortly retorted.
Bulkhead cringed. "Uh. No reason," he muttered, avoiding eye contact.
Optimus chose this moment to get the situation back on topic. "Bulkhead, you stated that there was a cortical psychic patch involved?"
"Yeah, Bossbot. It was connected to both tanks," the wrecker said, optics widening as he spoke. "You think..." Bulkhead's optics widened further. He then looked down to Arcee.
"Arcee, it is you!"
"Scrap, you're dense," Arcee complained out loud, eliciting a snort from Miko.
She sighed, examining her hands again. Her own hands felt more warm than usual, and the softness of her... everything was off-putting. After a few preparatory breaths, she figured that now she should have the strength to stand up without the feeling of vertigo again.
"Arcee."
She turned her head to Optimus, who had an analytical expression on his face. He took a deep breath and stepped forward, kneeling down to be face to face with Arcee. She had to admit that the increase to the already large gap in height was kind of intimidating.
"I believe it would be best if you are to stay with one of the humans while we search for your cybertronian body."
"Wait, Optimus. I can help!" She retorted. "I need to be out there!"
"Understandable. But in your current situation, it would be safer for you."
Arcee exhaled, folding her arms. Optimus was right. He was always right. But that didn't mean she had to like it. That organization, whatever they were, were doing who knows what to her frame, and she was stuck here, able to do nothing but fume.
She knew there was nothing she could do now. She didn't have any of her weapons systems, nor did she have her Cybertronian strength anymore.
Optimus looked at her with understanding. "We will find your frame as soon as possible," Optimus assured. To Arcee's surprise, he then softly smiled. "In the meantime, we must look at the positives. This may be a chance for you to learn more about humanity than we ever could."
Arcee regarded Optimus skeptically. First, she would be unable to go on missions like normal. What was next, going to that human school of Jack's?
"You're not seriously suggesting I go to school?" Arcee asked Optimus, her left arm stretched out to the side as June checked her vitals.
"Keeping you confined to base wouldn't be advised," Optimus supplied.
"Especially since we can't have one of the others babysitting you here when they might be needed elsewhere," Ratchet added. Arcee rolled her eyes, but didn't argue. Their logic was sound and she was upset about that. June removed a monitor that kept track of her pulse from her arm.
Optimus had contacted June to stop by to examine Arcee, seeing as how Ratchet would be limited in his capacity to properly diagnose the former Cybertronian.
"I for one think it's a great idea," June chipped in, gently setting Arcee's arm down. "They have different classes where you could learn more about our planet, like it's people and geography."
Arcee did like the idea of learning more about the planet's geography, but she wouldn't admit that aloud. She sighed.
"This is all so strange. I don't even feel like myself. Everything's so...fragile and squishy."
"Now you know how us mere mortals feel like," June jokingly replied with a knowing grin. Arcee winced, realizing she may have sounded insensitive.
"Sorry," she mumbled.
"No offense taken," June assured, patting her arm. "Anyway, everything looks normal, or at least what would count as normal for a human."
Arcee could hear the hesitation in June's voice.
"Talk to me, June," she lightly insisted.
"Well, nothing bad," June assured. She plopped down on the couch next to Arcee. "Everything like bone and muscle density is off the charts; you're the equivalent of a human with super strength."
Arcee didn't seem impressed.
"Not sure what good that does against Decepticons." The defeated tone in her voice was clearly noted by both June and Optimus. June was the first to speak up.
"If anything, this means you have a higher chance to protect yourself if something bad does happen," the nurse assured, packing up her bag of medical supplies.
Optimus nodded his head. "June is right. While also being able to more closely guard the children, we will work as fast as we can to find your frame."
The Autobot leader glanced over at the monitor, an unreadable expression on his face. "I have...theories on who may be behind this, but I must gather more information to be sure. We may already have a lead."
Arcee nodded, relieved to hear some good news so soon.
"Do you think the Decepticons might have been involved somehow?" June asked.
"I am not fully certain," Optimus admitted. "Megatron sees himself as above requiring help from humans to gain an advantage. If the Decepticons are involved, Megatron is not directly associated."
"I guess this means Megatron's ego works out for us in this situation," Arcee supplied before sighing. "I'm not sure it's good or bad that the 'Cons might possibly be innocent in all this."
Starscream hummed in thought as he observed the readings on Soundwave's visor.
"A massive Energon spike only for it to vanish thereafter? How odd," Starscream critiqued. And it was in the middle of a rather large human settlement. The location was quickly recorded by Soundwave, even though the Energon readings had quickly disappeared...
With a wave of his hand, Starscream dismissed the anomaly. "Whatever that was, it'd be a waste to investigate..."
"Investigate what, Starscream?"
The Decepticon Second nearly jumped out of his frame at the gruff voice. "LORD Megatron!" Starscream coughed, quickly regaining his bearings, whirling around. "Simply a strange energy reading within a human city; nothing you need concern yourself with."
Megatron glared down at him, unimpressed, stepping past him. Starscream quickly sidestepped out of the way so as not to get shoved while Megatron studied the readings still present on Soundwave's visor.
"Such a large Energon reading and you find it not worth investigating?" Megatron queried, mild annoyance in his voice.
"It can easily be a large Iron ore deposit," Starscream argued. "It would be a waste of manpower to investigate a false alarm."
And a waste of effort, Starscream mentally added. Why would Energon, and in such a vast quantity just suddenly appear then dissapear, in the middle of a city full of those human creatures? It'd be a waste of time to go looking. And the only alternative was that it was a trap. Megatron had to be aware, or he didn't care. Starscream predicted it would be the latter.
"You can write it off as inconsequential after you've sent a search party," Megatron commanded, turning to leave the bridge.
Starscream huffed under his breath, facing Soundwave. "We could just send a cursory probe-"
"-after you've sent a search party," Megatron's voice emanated from Soundwave, interrupting him.
Starscream took a deep breath. "Why can't you ever be on my side?" Starscream complained. Soundwave was silent and Starscream rolled his optics. "Fine, we'll send someone."
Starscream folded his hands behind his back. Now who to dispatch?
Knockout was a no-go. He was needed in the medical bay for now. Sending vehicons on their own would be pointless of the Autobots also caught wind of the Energon readings.
Then that left just Breakdown and Airachnid. And it gave him a valid reason to keep that accursed spider off the ship even for just a few cycles.