Author's Note: Heads up! In the next three chapters or so I will be going on at a month long working hiatus, so there will no updates for the next four Saturdays. Not to fear though! That hiatus will not start after this chapter, and I will make an obvious note before the chapter before the hiatus. And of course I will repeat, this is a strict month long hiatus only, NOT a forever hiatus. I will be using the time to write the rest of the story, as I like to have many chapters already written so I have a sort of safety net and posting dates don't sneak up on me. With that info out of the way, please comment and enjoy!


Bumblebee


The smoke from Wheeljack's bomb blanketed the battlefield and only added to the chaos. Despite the sudden loss of visibility, Bumblebee stumbled forward in search of the mysterious human who had materialized in the middle of their fight. He desperately hoped she had avoided the worst of the blast.

"Where did that human come from?" Arcee demanded of the group. She had been standing close enough Bumblebee was able to discern her outline, waving her hands to fan away the smoke. "Does anyone have a visual?"

"Scrap," Bumblebee heard Wheeljack mutter through the smoke. "I wouldn't have detonated a bomb if I knew… poor kid. No way they survived that."

Bumblebee's optics adjusted. Closer to the water, he made out the silhouette of a stealth plane sideways in the sand. Soundwave's alt form. The smoke lifted. He had visual on the Decepticon, but he didn't see the human who had run onto the battlefield. His Spark dropped. Had the poor girl been vaporized in the blast?

Soundwave's alt form shifted. The movement brought everyone's guns back onto their target. The Decepticon came out of his transformation, and had the mysterious human cradled in his servos. The team's confusion was palpable as they took in the scene.

Arcee was the first to break the silence. "Put the human down now, Soundwave!" she demanded from behind her blasters.

Soundwave didn't comply. He remained on his knee joints; purple optics fixed on the human he held. He wasn't wearing his visor, so Bumblebee got an unhindered look at the Decepticons grief-stricken expression. Soundwave tapped at the human, shook her gently in an attempt to rouse her.

The scene suddenly ignited horrible memories in the back of Bumblebee's mind. He had been zapped by a dark Energon blast, fired by Megatron, Raf in his back seat. He had been able to shake off the attack, but Raf did not. Soundwave's expression mirrored Bumblebee's own back then. He didn't know what history Soundwave and this human shared, but Bumblebee recognized the hopelessness in his enemy's optics.

Bumblebee put away his blasters.

"Bee, what are you doing?" Bulkhead demanded of him. Bumblebee raised a hand to his team to remain where they were. With cautious steps, he approached Soundwave and the still human.

Soundwave stumbled backwards, his own injuries making him unstable on his peds. He aimed his own shaking blaster at Bumblebee and fired off a round. Bumblebee managed to dodge the blast, only because Soundwave was so injured, and half of his attention was on the girl he held. Bumblebee suspected it would have hit it's mark in any other situation. Soundwave's other servo cradled the girl close, crouched at Bumblebee's approach and defending the girl with his own chassis. Now closer, Bumblebee saw the human was in trouble. She was limp in Soundwave's hand, blood dripping from her face.

Despite the blaster aimed at his helm, Bumblebee got closer. Before Soundwave could fire again, he held out a servo towards the girl. "Soundwave, we can help her." He said carefully. Not surprisingly, Soundwave remained silent, but his pained optics flicked between Bumblebee and the girl. "There are human doctors at our base. We can do more to help her then you can right now."

He saw Soundwave considering. The Decepticon looked down at the girl, running a digit through her bloody hair. Her breathing was shallow and growing fainter by the second. Sorrow pulled at his features as the girl failed to wake up. He looked up, and locked optics with Bumblebee.

Reluctantly, Soundwave handed the human to him.

Bumblebee accepted the girl, careful not to make any sudden movements and risk injuring her more. He pressed a digit to his commlink, "I need a bridge back to base for emergency medical evac. It's for a human." As he waited for the bridge, he watched Soundwave not fight back when Arcee and Wheeljack detained him. Across the beach, Smokescreen collected Laserbeak. Their mission was a success, but Bumblebee had other urgent matters on his mind.

The moment the Groundbridge opened he raced through. In addition to Ratchet and their human companions, a team of military medics were waiting for him. He placed the girl on their waiting gurney and stepped back as the doctors swarmed her.

"What happened, who is that?" Agent Fowler demanded of him.

"No idea," Bumblebee said truthfully. "She rushed in while we were fighting Soundwave. She got hit with a grenade blast."

More bots stepped through the Groundbridge, a cuffed and limping Soundwave among them.

"You did it!" Ratchet cheered, though dropped his celebratory air when he saw the grim faces as they appeared. "I'll check to see if the cell is prepared for our prisoner," he offered with a deflated tone.

Bumblebee noticed Soundwave, no fight left in him, watch the human doctors manipulate the girl. They wired her with IV's and threw around urgent sounding words like intubate, low pulse rate and defibrillation stand by. A military truck rushed into the hanger. The girl was loaded into the back, and they sped away to the facility's medical center across the base.


Soundwave and Laserbeak had been locked away in separate cells. Just as before, the Decepticon communication's officer did not put up a fight. In fact, he was almost catatonic. Now all that was left to do was question Soundwave, if they could, and gain more intel about the rising Decepticon force around Cybertron. However, no one was in the mindset for interrogation. Instead, they waited in relative silence for word the human girl would survive.

"It wasn't your fault, Jackie," Bulkhead offered to Wheeljack, then gave his dejected friend a reassuring pat. "Who could have known?"

"We should have known." Snapped Arcee, pressed against the far wall. "We didn't do a sweep of the area beforehand to make sure there were no humans. We assumed because it is a normally desolate area there would be no humans, and that kid paid for it. This is on all of us."

"But," Smokescreen retorted. Despite Arcee's glare, he finished the thought. "Why would a human run towards a fire fight between a bunch of giants? Usually, they run the other direction if they even glimpse us."

"The human and Soundwave knew each other," Bumblebee explained to the room. "I was closest to her when she ran out. She yelled for us not to kill him. Besides that, Soundwave transformed to shield her from the blast."

"That only makes it more confusing," Smokescreen said. "Why would a Con save a human?"

Whatever theories the group had halted when the door to Agent Fowler's office opened. He was just hanging up his phone, his face somber.

Jack, who had remained close to Arcee to try and cheer her up, hurried over to the Agent. "How is the girl?"

Agent fowler nodded once, "Alive, for now, but she's in critical condition. The doctor says if she makes it through the night, she should pull through. We just need to wait to see what the next twelve hours has in store."

It was grim news, but not completely hopeless.

Across the Hanger the Groundbridge came to life and Ultra Magnus stepped through. "My men and I sorted through the prisoners camp and found the human tech reported stolen from the coastal military bases. Soundwave was attempting to get a signal to Cybertron. It's unclear if he was successful, or managed to call for pick up. My team has yet to hack through the system's firewalls to get a look at the logs, but I suspect we will know soon enough. Have we learned what Soundwave was using the human hostage for?"

"We don't think she was a hostage," Bumblebee said, earning a strange look from Ultra Magnus.

"Why else would the Decepticon have a human in his possession?" Ultra Magnus asked.

"Whatever the reason," Agent Fowler interrupted. "If the Con hadn't transformed to shield her from the blast, her body would have taken the full force of the bomb, which would have liquified her organs. He saved her life."

"Has the prisoner divulged any information?" Ultra Magnus asked, choosing to ignore the previous comment.

"We haven't started the interrogation," Arcee said with a weak shrug.

"I understand morale is low because of what happened," Ultra Magnus vented. "But we are pressed for time. We need to know more about the rising Decepticon threat. It is urgent back on Cybertron with these terrorist attacks becoming more common by the solar cycle. I just received news the New Council is already set to draft a specialty force to tackle the problem. We know that will terrify returning refugees, and I personally am not thrilled at the idea of dealing with undertrained forces clashing with my own units. The faster we can settle the problem, the better."

Arcee crossed her servos indignantly. "The Council has that much faith in us hu? Good to know."

"Wait… why didn't the Council tell us about this sooner?" Bumblebee demanded. When it was formed, it was agreed all members of Team Prime and Ultra Magnus' troops were to be the first to know about all Decepticon related threats. They most definitely should have been informed of any new policing forces that would work alongside them.

Ratchet's console beeped and interrupted the tense conversation before Ultra Magnus could provide an answer. "Ultra Magnus. It's from your troops who are guarding our prisoner," Ratchet said as he read over their sent text.

"Is Soundwave attempting an escape?" Ultra Magnus guessed.

"No," Ratchet insisted to quell their collective alarm. "They say Soundwave is hemorrhaging Energon all over the floor and are requesting my assistance… Not much good he'll do us if he bleeds out." He added as he assembled his medical kit.

Bumblebee pushed himself up from the crates he had been parked on. "I'll go with you to watch your back. And while I'm at it, I'll see if I can get any info while you're patching him up."

Smokescreen puffed a laugh. "Soundwave's not the talkative type. What do we expect to get?"

"Something's off about him," Bumblebee retorted and started for the hanger doors after Ratchet. "Call it wishful thinking, but I don't think things will be the same as they were the last time he was in our custody."

They left, shooting down offers to be accompanied. "With Bumblebee and two of Ultra Magnus' own officers I think we can handle one injured prisoner." Ratchet said to their company over his shoulder.

Wordlessly they crossed the base, and Bumblebee gave the human medical facility a glance as they hurried along. He didn't have time to linger on the mysterious girl's fate. They arrived at the hanger where two human soldiers buzzed them through. They took a large elevator originally designed for large military equipment and arrived in the underground section of the compound. Massive bomb proof rooms lined the corridor. Most of these rooms were being utilized for storage, save for two, which currently housed two Decepticon prisoners. Their heavy ped steps echoed off the concrete ceilings until they were greeted with Ultra Magnus' officers, standing on either side of the reinforced door that imprisoned Soundwave.

"He hasn't moved," the one Cybertronian officer informed them.

"We noticed the Energon leak during the last inspection. The Minicon drone is still stable." The other reported as he typed the command into the door's control panel, which lowered the energy shield.

The tall bot was right where they had left him, servos cuffed and restraints around his midsection to keep his tentacled appendages from ejecting. He was statue still and facing the wall. The only change Bumblebee saw was the alarming pool of Energon that was growing around his struts.

He ducked into the room after Ratchet, and the shield reactivated behind them. "Soundwave, I'm here to-" Ratchet began to explain.

"How is her condition?" Soundwave interrupted.

Bumblebee startled, and even Ratchet paused, gazing up from his medical kit to stair in disbelief at Soundwave's back. Bumblebee and Ratchet exchanged a look. He hadn't expected they would be answered in any traditional fashion. Still, this was promising. "She's in bad shape. Who is she to you?" Bumblebee asked.

Soundwave hesitated, still not turning to face his questioner. "Will she perish?" He asked, not answering the original question.

"I honestly don't know," he said truthfully. "But I don't think so. Humans are more resilient than they look."

"I disagree," Soundwave retorted. "They are fragile things. I failed to get to her in time to protect her…" Bumblebee noted Soundwave's thin digits, despite cuffed behind his back, were clenched into fists. "She fixed me. She risked everything to save me, and I couldn't help her when she needed me most."

"There was a hacker in the military systems about three months back. They activated dueling Groundbridges to get you out of the Shadow Zone. That hacker was this girl, wasn't it?" Bumblebee guessed.

Soundwave didn't answer. He didn't have to.

Bumblebee continued regardless. "There's rising Decepticon activity on Cybertron. Someone is riling up Megatron's forces for something big. We assumed it was you, or at least you would know," he staired at Soundwave's back, not receiving an immediate answer. "But you aren't involved, are you?"

"I am not," Soundwave said. "I have been trapped in the Flux Space, or Shadow Zone, as you call it, and then stranded on Earth. I have spoken to Megatron, to confirm the renouncement of his leadership, but I know little more than you do about this rising Decepticon presence. I intended to investigate it, once I got off Earth… But…" he trailed off.

Against his better judgment, and for reasons he could not fathom, Bumblebee believed what Soundwave said.

Ratchet took the opportunity to run his medical scanner over their prisoner, focusing it's beam on a few choice spots. "Two external hemorrhages and one internal. Sit down against the wall so I can patch them."

For the first time since they arrived, Soundwave turned to consider the medic. Even without a mask, Soundwave's expression was hard to read. Despite his flat disposition, Soundwave almost seemed surprised they were going to provide him medical attention. But he didn't protest. He leaned heavy into the wall for support, unable to rely on his cuffed servos for stabilization, and sank down to sit on the floor. Ratchet got to work, and Soundwave remained statue still, staring at some indistinct point on the wall. Uncertain silence passed between the three of them as Ratchet worked. Bumblebee had no idea what else to ask. If Soundwave was just as clueless as they were, then they were no closer to stopping the growing terrorist force on Cybertron. Frustration gnawed at the back of his processor like a scraplet had burrowed through his helm. For all their efforts to capture Soundwave, they were rewarded with little to no intel, and the very real possibility they had stained their hands with the blood of a human teenager.

Ratchet riffled through his kit for an injector, "Before I continue with the internal patch, I need to give you a sedative-"

"No sedatives," Soundwave insisted. His optics turned to Ratchet with an intense stair, almost warningly. "I intend to maintain my mental faculties."

Ratchet scoffed. "It wasn't an option. I'm not some Decepticon butcher. I don't take pleasure in preforming surgeries on awake bots."

In answer, Soundwave went to stand up and walk away. The energy shield vanished and both of Ultra Magnus' officers stormed in and pointed their blasters at him. Soundwave's mouth plates pursed, but he did sink back down into a sitting position without further protest.

Ratchet shook his helm and muttered grumpily but injected the sedative regardless. He then stepped back, waiting for it to take effect. Bumblebee almost thought Ratchet had given him a placebo, because Soundwave remained unchanged for way longer than he thought he should. Then Soundwave started to blink his optics, their purple glow dimming. He was actively fighting the sedatives loopy effects with everything he had. Ultra Magnus' men relaxed their weapons as Soundwave leaned heavy against the wall, fighting the losing battle of trying to keep his optics open.

Ratchet carried out his more invasive work with no more interruptions from their prisoner.

Bumblebee took the quiet moment to speak. "I should go back to the hanger and report what we learned. Soundwave didn't know much, but it is better than nothing. We can at least say he isn't involved with the group on Cybertron."

Ratchet only nodded. "Ultra Magnus will be able to do something with the information, I'm sure. At the very least he can pacify the New Council."

"Speaking of," Bumblebee said with a grumble. "Why do you think the New Council didn't tell us about creating a Decepticon terrorist fighting force? I'm a little offended we were left out of the loop, to be honest." He said, a grim smile pulling at his face plates.

Ratchet only scoffed. "Very true. It's not like we are a bunch of new Sparks right out of the Well. We've been around for a while, alongside Optimus no less… But, I'm sure Ultra Magnus will take care of it."

Bumblebee shrugged, lingering near the door and watching Ratchet work. "Before that though, I'm going to stop by the hospital, to check on the girl's condition. If I learn anything new, I'll come back and let Soundwave know, once the sedative wears off. I think he has a right to."

Soundwave's chassis jolted and Ratchet snapped at him to stay still.

"Autobot," Soundwave muttered and fought to focus on Bumblebee. He was surprised the Con was still conscious at all. Though he had managed to remain somewhat aware, Soundwave looked to be struggling to maintain a neutral expression. Panic was starting to seep through into his monotone voice. "I want to note for the record, the girl was not working with the Decepticon cause. Any of her actions you deem harmful to humanity were all coerced by me. If she lives… she must not be punished for her involvement with me."

Bumblebee considered the Con. He wondered if him mentioning the girl had stirred Soundwave from his drug induced fog. Finally, he gave a knowing nod. "I promise."

Seeming satisfied with the simple answer, Soundwave leaned his helm against the wall and finally passed out.


Almost a day and a half had passed. Bumblebee sat among his friends in the Hanger when Fowler finally left his office after many hours, a vanilla file in hand. He was almost instantly accosted by the three adolescents before he could even close his office door.

"Spill it Fowler!" Miko snapped with a demanding stomp of her foot. "You've been on the phone forever!"

"Did you find out who she is?" Jack asked, much more politely.

Fowler opened the case file, letting it fall open on the walkway's railing for human and bot eyes to behold. "Our mystery girl finally has a name. It's Reha Jackson." He explained to the room of eager onlookers. "She's a foster kid, and recent run away from California. How she ended up with a Con across the country is another mystery."

"I knew she looked familiar," muttered Raf. That statement caught Bumblebee off guard, and he clearly saw the guilty look his small friend sported behind his boxy glasses.

"You know her, son?" Fowler asked.

Raf nodded, still studying the picture of the girl in the file. "I met her when I was scavenging scrap from a town outside of Jasper."

"That auto place I drove you to?" Jack said.

"Yeah, Darrel's shop. She was in there buying tungsten. We didn't talk long, but I'm sure it was her."

"Did she look like she was in any type of distress?" Fowler asked Raf.

To that, Raf shook his head. "No, aside from her having the flu, or something. She was just really desperate to get that metal… I should have noticed something was off."

"How could you have known?" Jack said to cheer him up.

Miko threw an arm around Raf's shoulder and added, "Very true. What, were you supposed to smell the Con on her or something? Not your fault."

The Groundbridge activated, and the solemn quiet shattered as Knockout sauntered in, a bright blue cube of Energon in his clutches. "Congratulations all around! Really, I had no idea you had a chance of capturing Soundwave and all coming back alive. I brought some high grade to celebrate your ridiculously unlikely victory!"

He was met with glaring silence, from humans and bots alike. Knockout's posture slumped. However, almost instantly he recovered to offer a scoff, his free hand finding his hip. "I just can't say anything right to you Autobots, can I?"

"Things didn't go exactly as planned," Bumblebee explained. "A human got hurt in the fight, and we're waiting on word of her recovery."

"Ok?" Knockout said, scanning the room as he waited for more of a reason behind the somber faces. When he received no more information, he returned to stare at Bumblebee. "Seriously, is that it?"

"It's a big deal," Arcee snarled. "When we are here on this world, we protect humanity. A human got hurt because of us."

"So, go out and get another one." Knockout said with a shrug. "You have over seven billion to choose from."

"I think Doc Knock needs to get a human friend," Miko suggested. "Anything to soften him up a little."

"Sweet lady Liberty… I wouldn't wish that task on any poor soul," Fowler snickered with a grin aimed at the kids.

"You know what will distract from the sour mood? Interrogation!" Knockout said excitedly. "When do we start on our horrifying prisoner?"

"I already talked to Soundwave," Bumblebee explained. "He's been stuck here on Earth. He doesn't know any more than we do about the Con threat on Cybertron."

Knockout wheeled around to sneer at Bumblebee more directly. "Do you really think Soundwave would tell you the truth? He… wait, he talked, as in, out loud?" Bumblebee nodded, and Knockout whistled with utter amazement. "WOW. The Decepticons really are in shambles."

Ultra Magnus was at the console, where he had remained for many hours trying to decode an encrypted message Soundwave sent out into space before they captured him. He turned from his work, his face serious as always. "I agree with that previous assumption. Megatron's Communication's Officer must know more then what he indicated to you, Bumblebee."

"Of course, he does," Knockout agreed. "But he won't spill anything. This is Soundwave. He would rather jump helm first into a smelting pit then betray the Decepticons."

"Willingly," Ultra Magnus agreed, his focus landing on Knockout. "The Cortical Psychic Patch may be the only option left to us."

Bumblebee noticed Fowler raise a brow. "That mind reading tech the Con's invented? I thought you said it was locked down with the other unethical weapons?"

"It is," Bumblebee said, and made sure to add an edge to his voice.

"You have knowledge on how to operate this device, Knockout?" Ultra Magnus asked.

"…Of course," Knockout said hesitantly.

"Your confidence is overwhelming." Arcee pointed out.

"It's not my flawless expertise that are in question," Knockout was quick to specify. "Soundwave's mind isn't what you would consider 'normal' among Cybertronians. He can download and store trillobyts of data in his processor without an issue and is even able to link up with tech and manipulate it at a whim. More relevant to this issue, he can also rearrange his own memory files, delete them, or scramble them in endless lines of unbreakable code. Though impressive, that complicates fishing for one piece of information with the Cortical Psychic Patch. It makes it almost impossible, if you wanted to delve into the dark, twisted labyrinth that is Soundwave's brain pan and retrieve the information, 'cleanly.'"

"Cleanly?" Ultra Magnus echoed.

Knockout shrugged. "To get to the information we want before he can delete them, we'll be ripping down fire walls, smashing through codes and forcefully liberating information Soundwave has taken great pains to lock away. We can do it, but the chances of our attempts causing permanent processor damage will be greatly increased, if not unavoidable. But I assume that's not an issue for us moving forward?"

"You're going to rip Soundwave's mind apart?" came the surprised voice of Raf. Everyone found the young teen staring worried at the Bots.

"He's the enemy," Smokescreen reminded the room.

"But he saved a human," Raf insisted.

"Raf's right," Jack jumped in. "It may be the easy way, but this isn't right. Autobots don't inflict harm so quickly, no matter who it is."

"We are merely discussing all available options," Ultra Magnus said. "But remember team. We have finally achieved a delicate peace on Cybertron, and this rising Decepticon threat may shatter that well-earned peace. The longer we debate the fate of one enemy Bot, the more likely we will let Cybertron slip back into chaos. I for one intend to not let that happen, not after everything we have achieved… or the sacrifice our leader gave to restore our world."

An empty silence dominated the conversation, a painful reminder for everyone.

"We should do it," Ratchet broke the silence. His gaze was a thousand miles away, falling on a military truck outside the hanger.

"But would Optimus?" Arcee said. "I don't think he would, not this quickly anyway."

"Maybe we should vote?" Bulkhead offered.

Bumblebee fidgeted in his spot against the wall, the rising dread making his door wings twitch with uncomfortable uncertainty. This didn't feel right… He was so sure Soundwave had been truthful down in the prison cell, but would he stake Cybertron's future on that feeling? Still, even if he was lying, which he probably was, butchering Soundwave's mind was still the wrong choice. Raf was staring expectantly at him, eyes pleading for him to put a stop to the debate. It wasn't exactly up to him. He could voice his distain for the plan, but if he was outvoted…

"I don't see what the problem is," Knockout huffed. Clearly, he was getting bored with the back-and-forth debate. "You don't want to kill Soundwave and make him a martyr and you need the information he has. This won't kill him. It will just cripple him. A very dangerous enemy out of the way without death and you have what you want. Problem solved! I vote for the mind destroying Patch."

"We didn't Patch you," Bumblebee snapped at the ex-con. "We gave you a chance to help us and took you at your word, but what if you still have Decepticon secrets we could use? Should you be the next we hook up after Soundwave?"

Knockout winced as he fumbled with his answer. "I, change my vote." He said meekly.

The buzz of Fowler's phone pulled the room's focus onto him. He riffled in his suit pocket for the device and gave the buzzing screen a glance. His face sobered. "It's the doctor." He said simply and flipped the phone open. The silence was like a suffocating force that blanketed the hanger with fowl air that threatened to choke bot intakes and human lungs alike. Fowler didn't interrupt the voice on the other line. He gave the occasional nod and deep grunt of understanding, but otherwise remained unreadable. Out of the corner of his vision, Bumblebee saw Wheeljack cross and uncross his servos, fidgeting along with the others in a rare show of worry.

"Thank you, Doctor." Fowler closed the phone and looked up to address his audience.

"Is she…?" Miko hesitated to finish the question.

"She's pulled through," Fowler explained with a sigh. Relief flooded the party like a torrent. Bumblebee leaned heavily into the wall and released a vent of his own. Even the tension in Wheeljack's shoulders eased away, Bulkhead patting him on the back. "In fact, she's awake, and is asking about the Cons." Fowler added with an arched brow. "If I can add my own suggestion to possibly end this moral debate. Before we make any big decisions regarding the Con prisoner, we may want to try asking his human friend what she knows. She may be the missing piece in this puzzle. She did spend at least a few months with the Con during his time on the run. Who knows what she was witness to."

"Not a bad idea," Smokescreen offered in the wake of Fowler's suggestion.

"It's a great idea," Bumblebee added. "Fowler, can you talk to her when she's able to and ask her for her help?"

"But we don't want to overwhelm the poor kid, so try and keep things simple." Arcee quickly included. "We don't know what Soundwave has told her; she may not even know about the war."

Fowler nodded at each suggestion. "I'll go right now to see how she's doing. Everyone just hold tight." He said before heading for the hanger doors.

Hope pricked at Bumblebee's Spark as he watched Fowler leave for the medical facility across the base. The girl, Rhea, was alive, and could possess information they wouldn't have to rip through Soundwave's mind to recover.