"Ratchet!" Ratchet opens his optics to see Raf on top of him and right in his face, "Wake up!"

Raf starts climbing down off him as he starts to sit up, "Ahh, how can such small beings be so loud?"

"Are you hurt?" Raf asks as he steps back, "You fell."

Ratchet stands up, "I'm fine. I'm…" He clenches his fists and rotates his shoulder, "…more than fine." He looks at his arm to check his health readings, "Ha, energy efficiency is up thirty percent? Motor functions optimal?" He lets out a small laugh before he looks down at Raf, "Any word from the others?"

Raf just shakes his head. Ratchet takes another look at his arm to check their vitals, "They're both still doing good, thankfully."

:: Ratchet, we need a groundbridge. :: Optimus calls in over the comm.

:: Did you get the Energon? ::

:: No, the Decepticons were once again ahead of us. ::

Ratchet closes his optics as irritation begins to set in. The Decepticons have constantly been a step ahead of them. He won't allow the Decepticons to take more Energon away from them. He opens up a groundbridge and looks at Raf, "Man the groundbridge." He then transforms and drives through, he comes out right over the spot where Optimus and Bulkhead are and he transforms. He lands on the rock pile and nimbly climbs over it to get to the other side.

Optimus and Bulkhead watch him in shock and amazement, Optimus had never seen his old friend this nimble or fast before. He wonders how he got this boost but he'll have to question him about it later, :: Ratchet, what are you doing? Fall back, you're outnumbered. ::

Ratchet drives as fast as he can after Knockout and Breakdown as the drones fly overhead, :: We're always outnumbered Optimus. We can't keep losing Energon to the Decepticons. ::

The drones shoot missiles at him and he swerves making them miss him before he transforms and slides across the ground. He comes to a halt and looks up in time to see the drones transform and land in a circle surrounding him. Ratchet transforms his servos into his surgical blades and he charges at one of them.

Knockout and Breakdown stop and turn around to watch the show, they expected to see the drones killing off the Autobot but when they turned around they found the Autobot skillfully taking down the drones one at a time.

Ratchet jumps up in the air to do a scissors kick onto one of the drone's helm taking him down before he does a roll towards another drone and stabs him with his blade. Ratchet is surprising himself with how well he's doing, the synthetic Energon is really working wonders for him.

"Looks like the Autobots brought in a ringer." Knockout says as him and Breakdown watch from the side.

"Well then I'll ring his bell." Breakdown says as he revs up his engine to jump into the fight. Blast shots hit the ground right in front of them and they look to see Optimus and Bulkhead shooting at them and the drones as they jump down off the rock pile.

"It'll have to wait!" Knockout says as him and Breakdown turn around and drive off.

Ratchet takes down the last few drones and he sets a foot on top of one to show his victory. One drone was still standing and he walked up behind Ratchet to attack him but Ratchet raised up a fist and hit him knocking him out, "Hooah!"

"Let's head back to base so we can discuss what just happened." Optimus states.

"Sure thing." Ratchet says before he gets on his comm, :: Raf, we need a groundbridge. ::

There was no response, no groundbridge, nothing.

:: Raf? ::

Arcee sat in the brig as she thought about the frag she had with Soundwave, her Autobot side is still scolding her for fragging a Decepticon but her femme side feels pleased. She should be ashamed of herself for enjoying it so much but it felt too good and it was nice to feel that feeling again. In all honesty, if Soundwave wanted to do it again she wouldn't hesitate.

She looks up to the door when she hears it open and she sees Soundwave standing at the door, a light tint of blue appears on her face. Why does he always appear right when she's thinking about him? She looks at him as she wonders why he's just standing there and not coming into the brig. Does he not want to get close to her now? Maybe he was only giving her all that attention because he only wanted a good frag and now he wants nothing to do with her. Why does that thought hurt a bit?

"Come. Lord Megatron says you can come out of the brig now." Soundwave finally says, he had to take a moment to recollect himself because as soon as he saw her the images of her without her armor flashed through his processor.

Arcee stands up in shock, "Really?"

"Yes. But you must stay with me in my room, I'm in charge of you."

Arcee's not sure how she should feel about this. She's happy that she can finally get out of this brig but having to stay with Soundwave means no chance of escaping. Does she even want to escape from him?

What is she thinking? Of course, she needs to get back to her team, that's her top priority. But for now, she just has to take the situation as it is and try to come up with an escape plan later. She walks over to Soundwave and he turns to lead her out into the corridors of the ship. She feels so relieved to be out of the brig, she can finally look at something else besides blank walls and dark corners. Though she knows that she's probably gonna be locked up in Soundwave's room now, her new prison, but it'll be better than the brig.

Arcee looks around at the familiar room as soon as she walks in, still looks the same as it had before. She walks over to Soundwave's berth and sits down, she watches Soundwave as he walks over to the cabinet where he keeps his Energon stock, "I believe it's been a little while since you last had some Energon." He says as he pushes the button to open up the cabinet, he grabs two Energon cubes then closes it. He walks over to her and hands her a cube before he sits down on the berth next to her, he takes off his visor and sets it down before he starts drinking his Energon.

"Thank you." Arcee says as she raises her cube in a toast jester before she starts drinking. After taking two gulps of it she stops drinking and looks at him, "I believe according to the human rules we're supposed to have sex after the date not before." She teases.

Soundwave was taken by surprise by her tease, he began choking a bit on his Energon and he had to stop drinking. He composed himself before he looks over at her, "Would this be considered a date?"

"Well, we are alone in this room and we're drinking Energon together, so yeah I would consider it a date." Arcee replied before she drank some more of her Energon.

"We're not completely alone." Soundwave says as he looks down at Laserbeak on his chest.

Arcee looks down at Laserbeak as well feeling a bit bad that she had forgotten about him, "Is he still awake while he's resting on your chest, or does he recharge?"

"Most of the time he stays awake but sometimes when there isn't anything for him to do he'll recharge for a bit."

"How's his wing?"

"It's been healing up very nicely thanks to you." He says as he places the cube down on the berth, he gets up and walks over to the table where he places Laserbeak to recharge and places Laserbeak on the table, he lets him recharge as he walks back over to the berth, "I don't believe I ever thanked you for helping him and helping me."

Arcee sets her cube down and gets up, "It was no problem." She says as she runs her servo over his shoulder, "Is your shoulder better?"

"Yes."

Arcee looks over his face before looking into his optics, "Why do you hide such a beautiful face and optics behind a visor?"

Soundwave's spark skipped a pulse, he never thought he would ever get such a compliment from her, "It was part of my vow of silence and I needed a way to be able to access any electronics to help Lord Megatron in the war." He says as he moves in closer to her, his optics keep drifting down to her lips as the urge to kiss her grows.

Arcee turns away and picks up her Energon cube, "We should finish our Energon and get some rest." She says before she drinks some of the Energon. Soundwave nods as he picks up his cube and begins drinking it. They finish with their Energon and Soundwave places the cubes on the floor in a corner where he usually puts his empty cubes at.

Arcee lays down on the berth and Soundwave looks at her for a moment before he picks up his visor and puts it on. He has a small debate with himself on if he should lay on the berth with her or not but he quickly decides that he will, after all, it's his room and his berth so he has a right to lay wherever he pleases. He lays down on the berth with a little bit of space between him and Arcee and he closes his optics to fall into recharge.

Arcee looks over at him but she doesn't object to him laying next to her. She rolls over onto her side as she gets closer to him, she lays a servo on his chest as she lays her helm on his shoulder. Soundwave stiffens for a second as he opens his optics, he looks down at her to make sure she's actually laying on him and he's not dreaming.

Arcee can't explain why, but she feels so safe with him. Even though she's on the Decepticon's warship surrounded by her enemies she feels like nothing could happen to her when she's with him.

Sorry that Arcee hasn't been in action lately, I've been trying to focus a bit more on building up the relationship between her and Soundwave. But she will be back in action soon. In fact, a little bit of good luck is about to fall on Arcee and the Autobots. ^-^ I have a surprise for you all in the next chapter. ;)