Ch. 143

Optimus was the first to come through the space bridge. Soundwave counted to himself as his team came through. After Breakdown should have been at least one more, one with an annoying demeanor most of the time and large wings. But the blue mech didn't see the seeker among them.

"Inquiry: Starscream?"

"Gone," Arcee murmured, "Wheeljack, too. Megatron took them both. We have to go after them."

Soundwave's screen went blank and his chassis began to tremble. Laserbeak had been shipping the energon left in the cave through the ground bridge to the base for as long as they had been gone, but the little symbiot stopped its work to rush back to its master. The blue mech then quickly strode through the ground bridge himself, buzzing static in an upset fashion.

"Oh, I know 'Wave!" Knockout called as the group followed after him and into the base, "We're all feeling the same. But we can handle this!"

Ratchet perked up as they came through, "You're already back? So what was this business with the lights?"

Optimus shook his helm and shut down the ground bridge himself, "I should have heeded your concerns, Ratchet..."

The older mech narrowed his optics and did a quick helm count of his teammates, "... Optimus. Where's Starscream? Where's Wheeljack?"

The Prime didn't want to answer but did so with a soft sigh, "This had been an elaborate trap. I assume all of it was. The Decepticons enticed most of our team, including Starscream, with the use of fake smear and geode operations. They have captured both Starscream and Wheeljack."

Ratchet had to catch himself from falling, "Optimus... no..."

Arcee stood up straighter, "Both of you stop. I know this is hard, but don't act that surprised. We prepped for this. We knew it could have happened. Just because they were caught doesn't mean we can't fight and get them back."

Soundwave ignored Arcee as she spoke and went deeper into the base.

Breakdown shook his helm, "'Wave's takin' it rough."

"Allow him that much," Optimus said firmly, "This mission did not go well and we must rectify what has been done. Our first course of action will be to synchronize our computers with the Harbinger's and begin searching for the Nemesis."

Ratchet shakily went to his terminal, "There will be little else we can do until we find their ship. Knockout, if Soundwave is incapable of handling this right now..."

The red mech stepped forward and took a position beside him, "No worries, we can handle this."

Arcee nodded and glanced at Bumblebee and Bulkhead, "As much as I don't think we should be away, we should find the kids and get them somewhere safe."

Bumblebee beeped in agreement and buzzed at Smokescreen, asking if he wanted to come with to help partner up.

Smokescreen stared at the yellow mech before his optics widened and he grabbed at his helm in horror, "Oh fragging Primus!"

The room erupted with surprised shouts in return or flinches at the white mech's outburst. Before anyone could ask what was wrong, Smokescreen grabbed Breakdown's shoulders tightly.

"Did he ever pair with you?!"

The blue mech blinked, "I- what?"

Smokescreen began to shake, "Did Wheeljack ever come in and pair with you for cortical psychic patch tr-"

"Oh slag, no," Breakdown's optics widened, "No, no, he kept putting it off, sayin' he was busy fixin' his ship or dealing with small Con mining operations. He never-"

Arcee growled, "Wonderful. A whole new set of concerns. Starscream has a shot, maybe, at keeping them out of his helm and memories, but Wheeljack never even took the first lesson."

Optimus shook his helm, "Starscream will be more than capable of keeping Megatron at bay and while I am concerned for Wheeljack's mental defenses, I am certain he will keep the Decepticons busy long enough for us to do something about this."

"Uh, guys?" Knockout called back, "Yeah, so, it appears Soundwave is handling all this fine. Cause he's in the relic vault, piling the Spark Extractor in with some supplies for transport. You can see him on the security feed."

Bulkhead let out a surprised noise, "Wow, he's not wasting any time."

Bumblebee beeped, saying that knowing Wheeljack was compromised and captured must have made Soundwave think to start moving all the important stuff.

The green mech nodded, "It'd be the first thing I'd do," he turned towards Optimus, "So what do we do then? I love Jackie and all, but even I don't think the base is safe anymore. That's gonna be the first thing they look for is our location."

The red mech frowned in thought, "And it would do no good to our captured comrades to be killed before they could be rescued."

Ratchet sighed, "It's a hard decision to make, Optimus... but I agree. We..." he looked around at the base, "we don't have a choice..."

Bumblebee beeped, asking if the Harbinger was safe to go to.

Knockout shrugged, "Does Wheeljack know about it? Cause if he does, then no."

Bulkhead scratched his helm, "I never got to tell him about the Harbinger site. If no one else did, think we could move everything we'd need to in time?"

"If we are going to make this choice, we should do it now," Ratchet grumbled; the proximity alarm came on and the medic growled, "Adding more to our problems. It seems Nurse Darby's vehicle is pulling in," he looked up, "Optimus, should we move to the Harbinger?"

The Prime nodded, "Ratchet, Knockout, both of you stay on the monitors to search for the Nemesis and contact Agent Fowler to inform him of our predicament. Smokescreen, stay here and keep an optic on the humans until we can surmise proper accommodations for them," the white mech nodded and Optimus turned to the rest of his team, "We will move the Spark Extractor and vault supplies first. Once they have been stored safely, we will move the upper level supplies and energon. Should anything else arise, we will address it accordingly as we see fit."

A beeping noise from a small car came from the front of the base and Optimus pulled away from the group to meet the vehicle.

He glanced back at his team, "Begin without me. I shall join you momentarily."

June was the first to open her car door, peeking her head back in to tell the children to wait in the car before looking back up at Optimus, "I'm sorry to just come in unannounced. I called Ratchet earlier to ask if everything was alright; the children were left at school today."

Optimus nodded, "My apologies, Mrs. Darby."

The woman blinked in confusion, "Ratchet said you had a situation?"

The Prime nodded once more but his optics quickly went from June to Miko when her voice called out from inside the car, "Hey! Where's Scream-Machine?"

Raf pouted, "Miko, he's not gonna like you calling him that..."

Optimus shuttered his optics softly, "... I am afraid we have a situation that has progressed into a far more complicated problem. Starscream and Wheeljack have been captured by the Decepticons. And if we do not vacate from this base soon, we may not survive."