The missions continued on like normal until Bumblebee took a break and went off to see a concert with Russel. In the meantime Grimlock and Fix-it created a crane disguise so Grimlock could go on missions in the city. This came in handy when Strongarm and Bumblebee got towed after an unsuccessful incident with a new Con.

Grimlock and Strongarm were currently working on a gun turret in the scrapyard and Bumblebee had to step in to assist so it didn't explode once it started to overload. "I have the reset code memorized since it happened to me before," said Bumblebee adjusting the turret's controls. "What would you do without me?" Bumblebee asked jumping back down into the scrapyard.

Fix-it called for his attention and explained some of the fixes that he had done to the ground bridge. Paige was not far from him because it always made her feel antsy when Fix-it started messing with the ground bridge. It was in much better shape than it had been in the cartoons because of her previous intervention, but there were too many times the ground bridge was involved when something spontaneously happened. Everyone gathered around and Fix-it activated the ground bridge to test it out. Suddenly a secondary ground bridge appeared in the air over the first.

"Shut it down!" yelled Paige as she ran for the panel. She knew what was coming and she wanted to avoid it at all costs. She wasn't fast enough though and the two portals merged allowing a portal to the shadow zone to form and Soundwave to escape. He flew over their heads and transformed behind them.

"No, it can't be," said Bumblebee.

Fix-it suddenly grabbed Paige and pulled her out of the way of Soundwave's fire. He was strong for a little guy and Paige mentally swore since she could no longer reach the control panel. The Autobots engaged Soundwave and he released Laserbeak in order to combat them. Paige struggled and finally broke away from Fix-it. She immediately went for the control boxes that she knew Soundwave would need to use. If she could steal a part he needed, she could prevent his next actions. Before she could do that, she was knocked over by one of his tentacles.

"Soundwave, stand down!" yelled Paige ducking behind another electronics box. Naturally he didn't listen. "The war is over! The Decepticons lost and Cybertron is restored!" she continued. "Megatron has given up the war. Your signal won't reach him from here. Leave this planet and find him if you want, but the war is over. You were on the Nemesis. You should have seen what happened even in the shadow zone." Paige disconnected a cord from the box and then ran into the command center and tried to shut down the ground bridge from there. She didn't see Soundwave's tentacle until it was too late. She had mistakenly thought that he was going to be distracted by the others, but apparently they had retreated already. The tentacle got ahold of her and suddenly she was airborne. She saw a flash of purple as she was tossed through the portal. She was lucky that Bumblebee was fast because he caught her before she hit the ground. It seemed like it was her week to get thrown around.

"Are you all right?" asked Bumblebee flipping her upright. The portal suddenly disappeared leaving them trapped.

Paige nodded. "I'm just mad that I couldn't stop him," she said looking around. "Soundwave survived here, but I'm hoping that Skyquake ran out of energon and went offline. The last thing I want to do is fight a zombie. Did you get in touch with the others yet?" she asked.

"Doing that now," said Bumblebee. "It's up to them or you and I will be trapped here for a long time."

"No," muttered Paige darkly. "Only you will be. I won't survive that long."

"We need a plan," said Bumblebee.

"You'll have to use the rest of the team," said Paige as she watched them run around haphazardly avoiding Soundwave's tentacles. "He's going to try and send out a signal to contact Megatron. I don't think Megatron is close enough to respond, but it might attract other Cons and we already have enough of a problem."

Strongarm and Grimlock were unconscious and the others had fled to the safety of the scrapyard. Bumblebee tracked them down and began explaining to them what was happening and who Soundwave was, but Paige couldn't hear them because he was talking over the radio waves. She could see them though so she knew what was going on. Fix-it, Denny and Russel went off to try and destroy the array that Soundwave was building. Laserbeak went after them when their shot missed the array and nearly hit Soundwave instead.

"Oh, I can't watch," said Bumblebee putting a hand over his optics.

"It'll be fine," said Paige reassuringly. "Probably."

Strongarm and Grimlock finally came back online, but had to repeatedly dodge the portals that Soundwave was opening up to stop them. They both disappeared into one and Paige knew they were fighting Laserbeak in the quarry.

Bumblebee quickly came up with a plan and Fix-it, Denny and Russel went to engage Soundwave again. While Denny and Russel distracted Soundwave, Fix-it reactivated the portal to the shadow zone. Bumblebee came through and took on Soundwave taking out the array first. Paige ran out as well and went toward the control panel where Fix-it and Russel waited. Denny used the magnet on his crane to hit Soundwave from behind while he was preoccupied with Bumblebee and it sent him flying back into the portal and into the shadow zone.

"You did it! You pulled it off!" exclaimed Bumblebee. "Close the portal!"

"Wait," called Grimlock as he and Strongarm arrived. "I think there's room for one more." Grimlock tossed in Laserbeak and Paige closed the portal soon after.

"Good job you guys," said Paige. "But Fix-it, the ground bridge."

"I'm on it," said Fix-it zooming back to the control center. "I'll revert the changes I made."

"Good," said Paige. "We don't need a repeat. I'm sure he'll be plenty mad."

Later Bumblebee approached Paige where she sat by herself on one of the fridges that had gotten tossed by the fight. She looked like she was lost in thought and didn't acknowledge his presence.

"Paige," said Bumblebee with a frown. "Are you okay?"

"Just thinking," said Paige looking up. "Sorry about not reaching the controls fast enough. I could have prevented the situation entirely."

"It's not your fault anymore than it's Fix-it's," said Bumblebee shaking his head. "You remind me of Optimus sometimes always trying to carry everything on your shoulders by yourself."

Paige laughed, but it wasn't a happy sound. "I'm not some noble self sacrificing Autobot fighting for a cause," she replied. "I'm human and all I have to offer is my knowledge. It's you and your team that does most of the work and I'm afraid if I get too involved something will go wrong." They lapsed into silence.

"Penny for your thoughts," said Bumblebee. "As the humans say."

"I was just thinking about Soundwave," admitted Paige reluctantly. "I know he's one of your more dangerous enemies and there are probably things he's done that I haven't witnessed, but his actions confuse me."

"What do you mean?" asked Bumblebee.

"He didn't offline Strongarm or Grimlock when he had the chance," said Paige. "Or Fix-it and the others even though he could rub that in your face since he knew you could see, but not act. It was like he was trying to disarm them and then he just ignored them like they didn't matter. I've seen it before in his actions during the war. Don't get me wrong, he may have killed thousands of Autobots and I just never saw it, but his behavior is perplexing. If he had taken everyone out first, he could have worked at his leisure, but the array seemed to be his only concern. Maybe he has a condition that makes him hyper focused on only one task or one that makes him think he's superior to everyone. We have both of those on Earth. I'm confused because even though he was just released, his only aim was to find Megatron. This means he knew that Megatron was still alive even though the war was over. Had he taken you all down permanently, that would have given the rest of the Autobots another reason to hunt him down immediately and he obviously didn't want that. So I'm wondering what his relationship with Megatron really was."

"He was Megatron's loyal second in command," said Bumblebee shrugging.

"Sorry, I can't help but try to equate that with human relationships which probably don't apply," said Paige looking up at the night sky. "Loyalty like that is rare in humans. Soundwave will probably get out one day in the future and reconnect with Megatron."

"Do you think they'll start another war?" asked Bumblebee in concern.

"No," said Paige. "There's plenty of others out there who can cause problems and I doubt Megatron is motivated to do so. Besides, Soundwave owes your team one now."

"How's that?" asked Bumblebee in confusion.

"You didn't offline Laserbeak and make him watch," said Paige.

Bumblebee looked taken aback. "I would never," he began.

"Of course not," said Paige rising from her seat. "Because you're an Autobot. Unfortunately, not everyone thinks that way."

"Paige," said Bumblebee calling after her as she walked away. "What's wrong? You don't usually act this way."

"No worries," said Paige not even looking back. "I just have something on my mind right now. I'll be fine."

For some reason Bumblebee didn't believe her.