:: Bulkhead, Bumblebee, I need you back here now! :: Ratchet yells over the comm, the two can hear the concern and panic in his voice.
:: Then open up a groundbridge and bridge us back. :: Bulkhead responds back as confusion sets in. As soon as the groundbridge opens the two go through. When they come out on the other side all they see is Ratchet waiting impatiently for them, but no Optimus.
"Thank Primus you two returned and you're both alright. No luck with Arcee?"
"Uh no, the Decepticons took her again." Bulkhead replied as he grew worried about the whereabouts of their leader, "Um, where's Optimus?"
"That's why I needed you two to get back here quick. Our scans had picked up a Decepticon Energy profile, and being the stubborn Prime he is Optimus decided to investigate it alone while still injured."
"WHAT!? Why didn't you stop him!?"
"I tried Bumblebee, but you know how he is. He wanted to make sure there was nothing important so he went on over and told me to send you guys when you got back." Ratchet walks over to the controls and puts in the coordinates to the location where Optimus went to, "Now get over there and help him out." He finishes off as he opens the groundbridge back up.
Bulkhead and Bumblebee run on through and find themselves coming out on the other end onboard a ship, a Decepticon ship. They look for Optimus but can't find him anywhere, :: Optimus, come in. :: No response, :: Bulkhead to Optimus, please come in. ::
:: Optimus here. ::
:: Where are you? 'Bee and I are on the Decepticon ship but we can't find you. ::
:: I'm in some caverns where the other half of the ship is located. I'll send my coordinates. ::
Once they receive the coordinates they rush over to where he is. When they pull up they see him standing next to Starscream who is wrapped up in a web. They both transform with questionable looks, "Two questions. Why is he here and why is he wrapped up in web?"
"I found him laying on the floor of the Harbinger all wrapped up like that. He said Airachnid did it before leaving to come here where the other half of the Harbinger is located."
"Why did she come here?"
"To look for the experimental weapon prototype that the Harbinger had been transporting when it was shot down." Starscream responds.
"We need to find her and keep her from obtaining this weapon. But first..." Optimus gets on his comm and calls Ratchet, :: Ratchet, we need a groundbridge. We have a prisoner we need to bring in. ::
"Prisoner!? Wait...!" Starscream was interrupted when a groundbridge opened up in front of them.
"Bumblebee, take our prisoner back to base and secure him. Then come back and give assist."
Bumblebee nods then picks up Starscream off the ground, he then pushes Starscream to walk towards the groundbridge. After they arrive at the base Bumblebee removes the web and quickly puts clamps on his wrists and wings, "Do you really have to put them on my wings? It's not like I'll be able to fly out of here."
Bumblebee just ignores him as he makes him walk down a hallway that has many rooms. Some of the rooms have doors that can only be locked and unlocked from the outside which makes them great for holding prisoners. When the pair reaches one of the rooms Bumblebee opens the door and pushes Starscream in. Starscream falls into the room and a loud scraping sound could be heard down the hallway as he slightly skids along the floor.
Starscream turns to Bumblebee with a glare, "Do you have to be so rough?"
Bumblebee just glares back at him as he closes the door. He turns to walk back down the hallway only to see Ratchet walking towards him, "What's going on? Why didn't Optimus and Bulkhead come back with you?"
"From my understanding Airachnid trapped Starscream, Optimus found him and we're now taking him prisoner. Starscream told us that Airachnid was on the Harbinger looking for an experimental weapon prototype that it was transporting when it was shot down so Optimus told me to bring Starscream to base and secure him while him and Bulkhead went to find Airachnid and stop her from obtaining the weapon. I now have to go back and assist them."
Bumblebee and Ratchet had already started walking down the hallway while 'Bee was telling Ratchet everything that occurred, by the time he finished they were near the controls, "You better get back there and assist then." Ratchet opens the groundbridge to the previous coordinates and Bumblebee runs through the bridge. When he reaches the other side he gets this eerie feeling as silence greets him. He brings out his guns as he walks through the caverns looking for the Harbinger, all the while staying alert and keeping his guns on the ready in case he's attacked by Airachnid.
After a couple of minutes of eerie silence 'Bee could hear some shooting and the sound of an unknown weapon being fired, he could only guess it's the experimental weapon that Starscream spoke of. Bumblebee runs towards the sound and finds Bulkhead standing frozen like a statue and Optimus doing his best to keep from getting hit by the blasts that were coming from the weapon that Airachnid was holding. Bumblebee runs towards them firing at the spider making her jump back before firing the weapon at him.
Bumblebee dodges it as he heads for the rock Optimus is hiding behind while firing at her. Airachnid jumps from one rock to another to avoid Optimus' blasts before firing at him again. Optimus ducks and waits a second before coming up to fire again, but when he comes back up prepared to fire Airachnid is nowhere in sight. Him and Bumblebee look around for her not knowing that she's coming up behind them from underground. By the time they heard her and turned around it was too late, Airachnid fires her weapon at Optimus hitting him this time and making him freeze like a statue. Bumblebee looks at Optimus' frozen form in complete surprise. What kind of weapon is that?
"That's right, you weren't here when I mentioned what this was. This is the immobilizer, as you can see it can immobilize bots. It could help Megatron remove you Autobots as a threat and take over the galaxy."
Bumblebee's Energon boiled, there's no way he will allow that to happen. He starts firing at her as he does a sideways dive. Airachnid jumps back onto a rock to avoid his shots then fires at him, Bumblebee dodges and goes to hide behind one of the rocks. Airachnid comes down off the rock she was on and starts walking down the Harbinger, "Tell me bug. Do you think Lord Megatron will enjoy his new trophies?" She asks as she walks up to Bulkhead's frozen form, "He'll probably use the bulky one here for target practice." She then pushes him over onto the ground.
Then she jumps onto the rock behind Optimus, "But Prime is the true prize. Perhaps he'll adorn the prowl of Megatron's warship." Shots are then fired in the direction she believes Bumblebee to be, hitting the rock face behind him. Bumblebee gets an idea and he starts firing at the rock to make them crumble and some dust billows up from it covering the entire area. He hides in the cloud of dust as he shoots at Airachnid but none of the shots hit her and she fires the immobilizer in his direction.
When the dust clears she sees Bumblebee standing frozen. Filled with a feeling of triumph she laughs slightly as she walks over to him, "But you bug? I suspect Megatron will simply dismantle you for spare parts." She turns away from him to head back to Optimus, "As a rogue, a scavenger, I should disappear into the night with this treasure. But using it to warm my way into Megatron's favor is too good an opportunity to pass up. Wouldn't you say Prime?"
All the while Airachnid was speaking Bumblebee slowly and carefully moved closer to her, he was already right behind her when she finally realized and turned around so he planted a fist right into her face sending her flying backward onto her back. When she hit the ground the immobilizer flew out of her servo and 'Bee shot it while it was in the air, completely breaking it into pieces. Feeling outraged at her defeat Airachnid transforms and flies off while Bumblebee shoots at her until she's out of range. Afterward 'Bee calls for a groundbridge and him and Ratchet takes Optimus and Bulkhead back to base, as well as the pieces of the immobilizer, where Ratchet works on a way to reverse the effect.
After doing some research on the weapon he finds a way to reverse it and unfreezes the two mechs. Optimus and Bulkhead stretch to get the Energon flowing again, relieved to be unfrozen. Optimus looks around the base and notices that Arcee is nowhere to be seen, "Were you not able to get Arcee?"
Bulkhead and Bumblebee looked at him with sad optics, "No, the Decepticons captured her again." Bulkhead responded in a saddened tone.
"Enough of this game. It's time to end this." Optimus says as he begins walking down the hallway, "Bumblebee, come show me which room you put Starscream in."
Bumblebee quickly follows him down the hallway, "What are you going to do?"
"I'm gonna use Starscream to get Arcee back. Megatron has been playing this game for too long."
Bumblebee just nods, he can certainly agree to that. Megatron is taking it too far and it's time to end this game of his. He leads Optimus to the room where he had put Starscream and Optimus opens the door, "Let's go Starscream." He walks in and takes Starscream by the arm.
Starscream looks at the Prime with uneasiness, "W-where are we going?" He asks with uncertainty.
"To make a bargain with Megatron."
Once Megatron and Soundwave were back on the Nemesis with Arcee Megatron told Soundwave to take Arcee to the brig then to go to med-bay to have Knockout look him over and fix his visor. Soundwave felt his spark getting heavy as it filled with guilt and pain, first, he had hurt the femme he loves in order to recapture her and now he must put her back in the brig. Not to mention that, without any doubt, Arcee will feel even more hate for him after what he did, that pains him more than anything. He nods and heads off towards the brig.
Megatron went to see if Airachnid and Starscream had returned yet with the weapon. He looks all over the ship for them, everywhere that he knows they like to be at, but doesn't find them anywhere. They must not have returned yet. When he makes it to the bridge he asks the drones if they had seen the two return to which they all responded with a no. Just when he was about to leave the bridge one of them calls out to him, "Lord Megatron, we're getting an incoming transmission."
"Put it through."
The drone puts the transmission through and Optimus appears on the screen, "Optimus!? How were you able to send a transmission through?"
"With a little help from Starscream." Optimus steps aside to reveal Starscream behind him with Bulkhead and Bumblebee standing next to him with their guns aimed at him.
"Starscream! You let yourself get captured by the Autobots!?"
"N-n-no! I-I-I-"
"Airachnid crossed him, wrapping him up in web and leaving him. I found him on the floor of the Harbinger."
Megatron's Energon started to boil, that glitch left behind his second in command. Sure he despises Starscream and could care less if he was offlined or not, but the fact that he knows all the ins and outs of the Decepticons including all the secrets that could help Optimus get the upper hand in this war and he's being held captive by the enemy who could easily get all the information they need from him really makes him outraged. Best believe that glitch will get a punishment she'll never forget.
"What is it you want Optimus?"
"A trade."
"What kind of trade?" Megatron can already guess what he wants.
"I will give you Starscream for Arcee."
He knew it. This is a tough decision, on one hand, he can't leave his second in command with them where they can get all secrets and information on the Decepticons that they need. But he also doesn't want to give up his greatest asset, the one bot that could help him end team Prime. Give up Arcee for the traitorous coward or risk Prime getting everything he needs to destroy them.