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Chapter 6

"What's taking so long?" Carlos groaned.

"We can't divert everybody to search for Rad, Carlos. If the Decepticons attack we have to have at least half the team here ready to respond," Optimus explained for the nineteenth time in the last twenty-four hours. Once the reports came back that confirmed the Jason White was still in his cozy little isolated cell in the Nevada State Prison, Optimus had assembled a team to scourer the area around the base for any sign of Rad, just incase the boy had met with an accident on his way home.

The team was delayed an hour by an indignant Highwire who was upset that they were trying to leave him behind. Apparently he felt guilty that Rad had been alone that night since he had had to stay for the Minicon's weekly meeting. In the end Highwire got to go, but only if he stayed with Sideswipe at all times.

Carlos wasn't very happy with the progress that was being made. His best friend— maybe more—had been missing for over a day and they still had no idea what had happened to him.

"But Optimus, they should have found something by now," Carlos complained.

"There's a lot of ground to cover, Carlos. And they have to do so very carefully so they don't miss any clues that might tell us what happened," Optimus explained. He started to say something more but stopped when he noticed Carlos' shoulders were shaking.

Carlos quickly left the room to try and hide his tears from the Autobot leader.

"You do realize this whole thing is a waste of time, right?" Spindle asked.

"It is not a waste of time, so shut up!" Hot Shot snapped. He was sick and tired of Spindle talking this way. Since the beginning of the search Spindle had been down right pessimistic. Actually, no, he hadn't. Saying he was pessimistic would imply that he was actually depressed by the fact that with each passing hour their chances of finding the human boy alive were cut in half. The only thing that Spindle seemed to be depressed about was the fact that Sideswipe had got paired up with Smokescreen instead of him.

Hot Shot's annoyance deepened into anger. He'd noticed Spindle trailing after Sideswipe since the mech arrived two days ago. He'd also noticed that Sideswipe was nothing less than scared to death of the older mech. And that set off what Alexis called his 'Mommy Mode'.

"The kid probably fell off a cliff or something. Stupid humans. They're so poorly designed that they wouldn't survive that kind of fall," Spindle stated examining a near-by ledge.

Hot Shot's already thin control over his temper snapped. "HE IS NOT DEAD!" Hot Shot roared throwing a fist at the back of Spindle's head. Spindle turned suddenly catching Hot Shot's fist with his hand.

Hot Shot stared dumbly at Spindle for a moment not processing that the 'Bot had managed to stop his punch. His stare turned to one of confusion when Spindle started to chuckle.

"You're right. The brat isn't dead yet. He wouldn't be much good to me dead," Spindle laughed before grabbing Hot Shot's wrist with his free hand. Then he flipped the 'Bot over his head and hurled him down the cliff.

Spindle smiled as he heard the telltale crunch a few seconds later. "One down, one to go."

"Beep, beep!" Highwire called out, his voice echoing off the walls of the valley he was standing in. Once again he was disappointed not to hear his friend's answering call. Hanging his head dejectedly the Minicon let his shoulders droop.

"Don't worry Highwire. He's got to be around here somewhere," Sideswipe said kneeling down next to the Minicon.

"Beep," the Minicon said mournfully.

"He's tougher than that Highwire. He'll be alright," Sideswipe comforted.

"Yeah. Rad's survived months of hanging around us," Smokescreen pointed out. "It'll take more than a walk home in the dark to kill him."

"Beep." You really think so?

"Of course" Smokescreen smiled though he wasn't so certain. If Prime's new theory about Rad getting lost in the dark were true, the boy would have sent Lazerbeak with a message telling them where he was. The footage Lazerbeak brought back consisted only of a sunset then blackness. Nothing else that would give them any clue as to their human friend's fate.

"Smokescreen," Smokescreen turns his head toward Sideswipe. "Yeah?"

Sideswipe slowly raised his hand to point at something on the ground about twenty feet from them. "Is that what I think it is?"

Smokescreen walked over to it and discover a chunk of pink plastic and metal that used to be Alexis' PDA.

"What the hell happened to this thing? Damn, that girl needs to be more careful with her stuff," Smokescreen shook his head at the carelessness it would have taken to demolish this rare example of intelligent human technology.

"She didn't have it last. Rad did," Sideswipe told him, feeling fear sink in.

Smokescreen was quite for a minute, surveying the cliffs that surrounded them. He then turned on his comm. link. "Prime, you might want to get out here."

Blurr stood with his arm around Sideswipe they watched Optimus examine the PDA. He wanted to say something to comfort the younger 'Bot but he wasn't sure if there was anything he could say that wouldn't just be hollow placation. His fears were confirmed when he saw Optimus sigh, looking a whole slagging lot older than he usually did.

"Optimus?" Sideswipe asked, not liking the Autobot leader's reaction to their first and only clue regarding Rad's disappearance.

"Blurr, take Sideswipe and Highwire back to the base," Optimus ordered. Blurr nodded starting to lead Sideswipe away.

"What's going on?" Sideswipe asked.

"I'll explain later," Blurr whispered, hoping Sideswipe and Highwire wouldn't put up to much a fuss about having to leave. Optimus obviously didn't want them to hear his next order, meaning it could only be one thing. He was downgrading the search to a recovery mission. All he expected to find in this valley was a body.

Rad's hand shook as he lifted the spoon to his mouth. The food was disgusting but it at least stopped the burning hunger in his stomach. It also didn't do much in the way of providing energy. He guessed they really didn't want to risk him getting up the strength to escape. Or more likely, they didn't want him to get the strength up to hurt himself. Somehow he doubted he was still on earth. This place moved wrong. There was no way he was still on solid ground and it didn't feel like he was on a ship.

The floor shook suddenly, causing Rad to drop the bowl splattering the goopy grainy stuff on the floor. But he didn't have time to worry about his lost meal.

The entire wall slid aside to reveal a strangely familiar transformer.

AN: R&R

Brigg: You really need to work on this stuff more often.

Xandra: It's summer! This is the only time I have to myself.

Brigg: You don't spend that much time with me anymore either.

Xandra: Whatever.

Ceidre: I'll spend time with you Randy.