Arcee for Starscream. Give up Arcee, my best weapon against Optimus Prime, for the coward that has failed me countless times and even has tried to get rid of me to become the new ruler? Megatron continues to ponder the decision in his processor until he finally takes a good look at Optimus. He's still recovering from his injuries, that would make him weak and easy to defeat. Megatron then gets an idea, "You have a deal Prime. I will give you Arcee in exchange for Starscream. I'll send you the coordinates to meet me at."
"I shall be waiting." Optimus says with a look of determination in his optics.
Megatron cuts the call and looks for a good spot to meet up at, a clearing where he can surround them and take them all out. It doesn't take him long to find a place and he sends the coordinates to Optimus. After he does that he turns to head out and spots the very glitch he doesn't want to see right now.
"Airachnid, you better get out of my sight before I beat you to scrap."
"I know I failed you my lord and I'm sorry. The Autobots stopped me from getting the immobilizer even tho-"
"I DON'T CARE ABOUT THAT! YOU LEFT MY SECOND IN COMMAND DEFENSELESS AND HE'S NOW THE PRISONER OF THE AUTOBOTS! THEY COULD GET ALL THE INFORMATION THEY NEED TO TAKE US OUT!" He shouts at her as he gets into her face. She flinches as she moves back, she didn't know the Autobots had found Starscream and had taken him prisoner.
Megatron sneered as he walked past her, he'll punish her later right now he has more pressing matters to tend to. He walks off the bridge and heads for the groundbridge control room, :: Soundwave when I give the word send some drones to my location. :: He comms to Soundwave as he walks down the corridors. When he gets to the groundbridge control room he puts in the coordinates and bridges himself to the location.
After Megatron ends the call Optimus turns to face the others, "I can't believe he actually agreed to it." Bulkhead said.
"Me neither, it has to be a trap." Ratchet says.
"That's a possibility but we must try for Arcee." Optimus said just before he heard the sound on the computer to indicate that Megatron had sent them the coordinates. When they look at it they get an uneasy feeling but they will still go through with it. Optimus puts in the coordinates and opens up the groundbridge, "Let's go get our teammate back."
Optimus walks through the bridge first followed by Bulkhead, Bumblebee and Starscream. Bulkhead and Bumblebee kept their guns aimed at Starscream as they all walked through. They came out on the other side to find themselves in a clearing in a forest. They look around for Megatron and Arcee but don't see them. A moment later a groundbridge opens up and they see Megatron walking through but no Arcee.
Starscream wasn't surprised in the least, he knew it was gonna be a set up the moment Megatron agreed to the deal. No way will he let her go, not his best weapon against the Autobots.
"Where is Arcee?" Optimus asks as he narrows his optics.
"She's coming, I first wanted to be sure you would keep up your end and bring Starscream. Are they treating you well Starscream?" Megatron asked in a sarcastic tone.
"Of course they're not!"
"I did my side of the deal now do yours, hand over Arcee."
Megatron gets on his comm to call Soundwave, :: Now Soundwave. :: Not long after the bridge opens up and a bunch of Vehicons comes running through, they surround the Autobots and Starscream with their guns pointed at them.
"Just don't shoot me, I'm one of you!" Starscream yells at them.
"Allow Optimus to come forward." Megatron orders and two Vehicons step to the side so Optimus can walk past. Optimus cautiously walks towards Megatron and stops a couple of feet away, "Did you really think I would give up the femme so easily Optimus?"
"Then why would you agree to this deal?" Optimus asks, he can already guess but he wants to hear it from Megatron.
"I'm sure you already know Optimus. How could I pass up on an opportunity to so easily kill you while you're still recovering from an injury?"
"Always the opportunist."
"Naturally." Megatron says as he brings out the blade in his arm and goes in for a strike, but Optimus quickly transformed his servo into his blade and he blocked. Megatron growled before trying again and again Optimus block. It then turned into an all-out sword fight between the two leaders as they each try to land a strike on the other.
Optimus threw a fist at Megatron which made contact with his face and sent him falling backward but he caught himself before he fell. Megatron grew frustrated. How is Prime still able to put up a decent fight?
Optimus glared at the mech who was regaining his composure. He obviously forgot how tough a Prime can be, Primes don't fall that easily, "Just because I'm injured Megatron doesn't mean I'm weak. My body might be weak but as long as my spark still pulses and there's still a cause to fight for I will still keep fighting the good fight."
Megatron lets out a growl of frustration as he runs at the Prime again. The two mechs exchange blows and kicks as each tries to come out victoriously.
Bulkhead, Bumblebee and Starscream watch from inside the circle of Vehicons that still surrounds them. Bulkhead and Bumblebee root for Optimus to win while Starscream hopes they kill each other, he doesn't care who wins as long as he can find a way to escape. After a few minutes, Megatron gets angry that he can't kill Optimus and turns toward the Vehicons, "Shoot them!" He orders them and they all start shooting.
"No! Leave them out of this!" Optimus says to Megatron but he wasn't listening.
Starscream ducked to get out of the way of the shots as Bulkhead and Bumblebee dodged the blasts and started shooting back. Bulkhead transformed a servo into his wrecking ball and he beat up a few of the Vehicons while Bumblebee continued shooting and kicked at any that got too close to him.
Starscream watched the blasts going by as he got an idea, he raised his servos up to get into the pathway of one of the blasts and a blast hit his cuffs making it fall off his wrists, he looks at his servos to make sure they're still intact. It's all still there, servos, claws, everything is still intact. Bumblebee looks back at him and sees his cuffs off but before he could make a move Starscream aimed a missile at him and shot it right into his sternum.
Bumblebee made a loud whirling sound, his way of crying out, as he fell back. Both Optimus and Bulkhead look in his direction after hearing him cry out and they see him fall back with a hole in his sternum, "Bumblebee, no!" Optimus shouts as he runs over to his scout. Bulkhead looked for Starscream but he was already running away, Bulkhead starts going after him but Optimus stops him, "Don't worry about him right now, we need to get Bumblebee back to base."
"Take your scout Optimus, we'll continue this another time." Megatron said with a smirk, he wasn't able to kill Optimus as he wanted but Optimus is now down one more soldier. That brings some satisfaction to the warlord. He's pleased with Starscream even if he did do it to save his own metal, he'll let Starscream go for now but if he ever sees him again he will kill him. He calls for a groundbridge and one opens up, he then walks through with the few Vehicons still alive.
Optimus watches the groundbridge close as Bulkhead runs over to help him with Bumblebee, :: Ratchet, we need a groundbridge asap! And prepare med-bay! :: Optimus tells Ratchet over the comm.
:: Right away Optimus. :: Ratchet responds back. A groundbridge soon opens up and Bulkhead and Optimus take Bumblebee through. As soon as they get into the base Ratchet and the kids run up to them.
"Bumblebee, no!" Raf shouts, "What happened?"
"Starscream shot him with one of his missiles." Bulkhead responded as they carried 'Bee over to the medical berth. Ratchet got to work on him right away while Bulkhead, Optimus, the kids and June watched and hoped that Bumblebee would pull through. Jack and Miko put their hands on Raf's shoulders in comfort as they watched on.