Hound prodded around in the alcove until he found what he was looking for, aiming a carefully calibrated electromagnetic pulse at the inside of the alcove, temporarily disrupting the holomatter and revealing a vent. Pulling the covering off he motioned to Sideswipe. "Get in quick." He followed Sideswipe down the cramped shaft. Bracing themselves against the sides, they lowered themselves down slowly, scanning the area before dropping gently into the open space below them.

Their optics adjusted to the lower light levels. The quiet humming of machinery was in the background. A gentle vibration was running through the metal plating of the floor, coming from a small line of consoles in the far corner. Sideswipe, weapon drawn, crossed the floor to the gently illuminated monitor. "I recognise this language." His optics scanned the monitor looking for something, anything that would give him a clue. The lines of text in front of him were ornate and angular, decorated with circles evenly spaced between them.

"I can't read it, but I know I've seen it somewhere before." Sideswipe turned his head to talk to Hound before going back to scrutinising the monitor. "Though if I had to guess, this looks like a back up for something. It doesn't give the impression it's a primary control console. It would also explain why it has sub lighting in here and no operators."

"Is there any chance of finding out what it's a back up for?" Hound asked, taking a subtle scan of his surroundings.

"I'm not a language expert. The time it would take me to figure this out is more time than we've got." Sideswipe made for the room's only exit. "It's warm in here. An unusual temperature for an underground bunker."

"I noticed. I'm reluctant to push our luck, but I think we should investigate further. I just hope their internal security sensors are minimal." Hound crossed over to Sideswipe. "After years of keeping myself unseen on Earth, I can dampen our energy signatures to a degree but it's not perfect."

Sideswipe put a hand to the door. "It'll do. Lets go." He opened the door slightly, letting his sensors scan the area beyond the door. He nodded to Hound. "Seems clear."

They slowly ventured into the corridor beyond. The light levels were almost glaring in comparison. The metal walls reflecting the overhead lights illuminating every inch of space in both directions as far as his optics could make out, much to Hound's disappointment. If something were to come along, there was nowhere to hide.

They crept along the silent, seemingly deserted corridors lined with locked doors until they found another door leading to a room similar to the one they found themselves in originally. Scanning the room and finding themselves apparently alone, they felt comfortable enough to talk again. "I'm surprised we've met no resistance. Either we've been lucky or we're not seen as enough of a threat." Sideswipe's tone at those last words made it clear he was insulted by the idea.

"That's not a comforting thought." Hound looked up to see another air vent, the same as the one they came in by. "do we take what information we have and return to the others or do we press further and hope we find some clue of our missing 'bots?"

"I say we keep on."

Hound wasn't surprised by Sideswipe's answer. "The longer we're here the more chance we have of being detected. We'll do nobody any favours by getting ourselves captured." His internal chronometer told him they'd been within the ships probable detection range for 4.6 cycles. He didn't want to risk being here much longer. "If my understanding of the pattern is correct, the next scheduled 'weather change' is in two cycles. We need to time our departure carefully."

"To miss the sentries outside but before they all get in here? Talk about cutting it fine."

"It's the best way to get out of here in one piece."

Sideswipe shrugged. "I always did like living on the edge." His optics caught sight of the console monitor to the side of the room. "Hang on a klik…" Walking over, he stared at the familiar symbols in front of him. "This is in Cybertronian."

Hound joined him. "Whatever information it is, it's fragmented. I can't make out much apart from schematics."

"And not complete ones either." Sideswipe pointed to a small diagram on the screen. "It's part of something bigger. Some kind of propulsion system by the looks of it."

"And why's it in Cybertronian?" Hound's optics narrowed at the console. "I get the feeling that whoever's here, they're not friendly."

"I'd try and get into the system, but I think if I do I'm going to set off every alarm from here to Cybertron and back. The lack of security elsewhere means that they're probably well protected in other ways."

"I'm inclined to agree with you, Sideswipe. We'll keep searching for any sign of Jetfire and Skids. We'll find out if we need to worry about the rest of it later."

Half a cycle later, they found themselves deeper into the underground 'bunker.' "This thing is huge." Sideswipe whispered as they entered a new area. It wasn't a corridor like the most of what they'd seen so far. It was oval in shape with what looked to be lifts, evenly spaced lining the walls. There were three of them on each side and a normal sliding door at the far end of the oval. "So, eeny, meeny, miny, mo, which way do we go?"

Hound smiled at the Earth saying. "We should have a look and see if we can get some idea where they lead."

Next to each lift was a panel, which much to their relief contained a small lit path route of each lift, some standard top to bottom, but some went on more horizontal routes. Hound recorded all of them for future reference, thinking it was a shame they didn't also state what it was they all led too. "If our people are being held here, I would have thought they'd be kept in the lower levels."

"Predictable."

Hound walked over to the central lift. "This one seems to go down to one place only. Could be a good a place to start as any."

"We'd just better hope to Primus that there's not a room full of fragged off enemies waiting there for us." Sideswipe got into the lift with Hound. "Though a good fight would probably help blow off some tension right about now."

Much to Sideswipe's disappointment and Hound's relief, the room proved to nothing more than a storage facility. Having no time for investigation, they turned back the way they had come. Unexpectedly, the lift stopped halfway up. Hound, concerned that their intrusion had finally been detected, pressed at what he thought could be a possible emergency door release, working on the theory that if halting the lift had been from a manual override elsewhere in the facility, then they might be able to escape the lift before their potential captors got there.

The door didn't open, but the sound of hydraulics came from above them as a hatch opened. Sideswipe nudged Hound grinning. "Was that lucky or what?"

Hound climbed out, lifted up by Sideswipe. Once out, he turned and extended an arm down to help Sideswipe up. Standing precariously on the thin lift top. Hound scanned the pitch black of the lift shaft.

"Don't these people believe in maintenance? I can't see a thing in here."

"Then switch to different sensors."

"Thanks for that advice, Mr Obvious."

Hound sighed in the dark. "Come on, I think there's a maintenance shaft just up there if you can help me reach it."

With some effort, they got them both into the gap above them, expecting a small access tunnel, they were surprised to find they could stand fully with a comfortably clear space above their heads. "This is a damn weird maintenance shaft." Sideswipe said.

"It does seem a bit on the large side. Especially as there's nothing about the rest of the place that would suggest larger size beings."

"Now this is even weirder. There's a row of doors here."

Hound gently pushed at one of them as he could get no readings from what might be beyond. "Access panels?"

"That look like doors? Seems unlikely." Sideswipe pushed on another one. "Think we should take a look?"

"We'd better be quick, how long we have until we're possibly found…" Hound cringed as Sideswipe kicked the door open. "Scrub that to when we're found." He glared at Sideswipe. "Not one of your smarted moves."

Sideswipe looked anything but apologetic. "Come on, we're probably gonna have to bust our way out of here anyway." He went in through the door and promptly skidded to a halt. "Starscream?"

Hound came in behind him, optics widened in surprise. He walked up to the unconscious 'bot and checked his readings. "He's alive. But what's all this stuff?" he gestured to the numerous cables and wiring that was attached. "And what the hell is he doing here?"

The room they were in was small. Like a cell. Judging by the occupant and the condition he was in, that's precisely what it was. "Starscream?" Hound nudged him gently. There was no response expect Starscream's head lolled to the side a little revealing a thicker cable attached to implant in the top of his neck just below the cranial casing. Hound optics followed the path of the cable to the machine behind him. "Sideswipe, go check the others. We need to see if Jetfire and Skids are here."

When Sideswipe had gone, Hound looked at the machine Starscream was hooked up to, but couldn't discern what it possibly did. He turned his attention back to Starscream, noting the 'bot was missing his null rays. His optics were dimmed, but he was still functioning. "Starscream. Can you hear me?" He propped Starscream's head back straight, feeling less disconcerted at Starscream sat straight. Though Starscream's optics still looked straight ahead, sightless.

"Hound, come here." Sideswipe's voice came from nearby.

Hound took a last sorry look at Starscream and walked out the room, hurrying to Sideswipe who was in the next cell. "Jetfire!" He rushed forward to the incapacitated 'bot . Sideswipe was kneeling next to him, looking like he was about to rip the cable, identical to Starscream's that ran into his neck. Unlike Starscream, Jetfire was drifting in and out of consciousness. "No…alarm set…".

Sideswipe withdrew his hand from the cable. Hound stood in front of the larger 'bot. "Jetfire, is Skids' here too?"

Optics flickered. Hound internally winced, whatever was going on, Jetfire gave the impression he was fighting a battle to stay conscious. "S…Sk..Ski..ds here."

Sideswipe stood. "Hang on, were gonna get you out of here."

"No!"

Both were stunned by the strength in Jetfire's voice. The effort he'd expended on that one word made the rest hard to hear. "N..n..no, too… d..dan..dang..er…" He stopped, regaining strength. "G..Get H..Hot Rod." He slipped under, optics taking on the same unseeing quality as Starscream's.

"Hot Rod? Jetfire, talk to me. Where's Hot Rod?" Hound was confused by this. Did it mean Jetfire needed Hot Rod, or was Hot Rod here? There was silence for a klik, Hound becoming more concerned about being found all the time, but needing to stay.

Jetfire managed to regain some control. "Hot Rod…here. Can't dis…disconnect. Needed. Hot …Hot Rod no use…sched…sched…" Jetfire gave up on the word. "will be t..t..ter…termin…nated."

Sideswipe stood at the door. "There's an alarm going somewhere near. We need to get out of here now, Hound."

Hound stood. "Sideswipe, kick every door down you have too, get Hot Rod." He turned back to Jetfire. "Hang on, we'll be back for you."

Jetfire managed to grab Hound's arm as he turned away. "Won't..kill us…needed. Dis..disconnect dead…" His hand slipped down as his strength failed him.

Hound nodded and left the room closing it behind him. He closed Starscream's too and turned to Sideswipe who'd just walked out with an unconscious Hot Rod slung awkwardly across his back and shoulders. "Let's get moving."

Sideswipe motioned toward the way they had come with his chin. "I hate to bust our good run here, but that's our only way out and that's going to be cut off. I think we could be trapped."

"It's the only option we've got. But we're not finished yet." Hound set off, Sideswipe close behind. Reaching the opening back out into the lift shaft, Sideswipe put Hot Rod down to help lower Hound and then passed Hot Rod down before lowering himself. Getting themselves back into the lift, Hound pulled out the panel next to the control pad. "Our signatures are still masked, so with any luck that will throw them off the scent. Providing they're not waiting right outside the lift when we get up there, with any luck I've still got a trick or two. Can you remember the way back to the air vent without your internal guidance system?"

"Probably."

"I've got it mapped, so when I give the word stay close because everything's going to get a bit scrambled." Hound pulled back as wiring sparked and the humming around them as the lift resumed it's upward climb grew stronger.

Standing ready, they waited for the door to slide open. Weapons drawn, Sideswipe bracing one hand against Hot Rod to hold him steady, it seemed like it took a meta-cycle before the door slide fully. They burst out into the hallway, Hound registering the presence of two sentries as he threw a spherical shaped object between them. "Run!"

Sideswipe didn't need to be told twice, he followed Hound from the oval room back into the corridors. Even though he'd braced himself for it, he was still taken off guard as a lot of internal systems scrambled, rendering him almost blind and unable to use anything beyond sub-dermal sensors and basic optic functions. "what in the pit was that?"

"EM bomb." Hound called back. "However well their systems are protected, they're not going to stand up to that."

"The problem is, neither do we!" Sideswipe yelled at Hound as he chased him down the labyrinth of corridors.

They turned into the room they had entered. Bracing themselves against the interior of the air vent, between them they shoved Hot Rod to the top. Finding the holomatter diguise flickering, it was easy to get through again. Shoving Hot Rod through first, Hound followed, Sideswipe bringing up the rear. Hoisting the prone Hot Rod over his back, Hound took up the burden, leaving Sideswipe free. Unable to transform they set off back in the direction of the shuttle, thankful of the wind at their back yet concerned of the presence of sentries.

"I'll take Hot Rod, I'm bigger than you."

"No. You fight better than me." Hound shifted Hot Rod to a more comfortable position. "It makes more sense for me to carry him."

"Can't argue with that." Sideswipe agreed. "This is going to take a while. Any idea when the frag we can transform again?"

"Not for another two breems at least." Hound informed him. "It was a powerful blast. The strongest I could make without completely disrupting all our systems and sending us into stasis lock. Its going to take time for everything to regain some equilibrium."

"Well, it'd better hurry up as it's slagging uncomfortable."

"Stop moaning and keep moving."

"Can I point out that if there are any sentries in the area we've got no way at all of detecting them?"

"The advantage there, is they've got no way of detecting us either."

True to his word, Hound, Sideswipe and the unconscious Hot Rod made it back to the shuttle. Now out of range of the original EM blast radius and the electromagnetic pulse, their systems one by one working again at near optimal condition, Hound carefully placed Hot Rod in the back of the shuttle and sat in the cockpit, immediately scanning the area as soon as the shuttle was powered up. Hound turned to Sideswipe. "The only problem now, is that they know we're here."

"An Autobot has escaped."

"Which one?"

"The one scheduled for termination."

"The others?"

"Still continuing to process data at optimal capacity. The effects of the EM bomb had little impact on productivity."

"The escaped Autobot. Was it aided?"

"Unknown, All Sentinels in the area were damaged and their information lost. Ninety eight percent probability that it was rescued ."

"Increase the Sentinels' patrol area. Increase output by twenty percent."

"Increase by ten percent is easily achievable. A ten percent increase further still will require another Transformer scientist."

"There are Autobots here. There is a seventy percent chance they have a scientist with them. We must find them."

"I will make the necessary arrangements."

"Good. Have the others been informed?"

"No. Current activities remain unknown."

"Excellent."