Disclaimer: I do not own the transformers, nor do I make money off of this.

Notes: Im sorry this is has taken a while to get posted. I had bits and parts here and there, seperate chapters that until I read them fully didn't realize that they all tied in together. When I started this fic, I really didn't know where it was going. I do now, for the most part. And Thalanee was a big help in that. I consider her a collaborator on this story because of all the ideas she has helped me with.

The Lost City, Chapter 4: A look into the Past, and Getting Underway

Wheeljack stood at the edge of the city, watching as the sun dipped below the horizon. One last ray hit the holographic shield above him and refracted into one of the taller crystal towers. The tower lit up with a golden glow and in turn refracted the light into the next crystal. The process continued until most of the town was glowing deeply with shades of gold and red. As beautiful as it was, Wheeljack was too lost in his thoughts to notice it.

It was a little while later, after darkness had settled completely that he felt the presence of another coming up behind him. As the warm frame leaned against his back and the strong arms came around to hold him tightly, he allowed himself to lean back in to the comforting presence of the other. A helm nestled into his shoulder and he tilted his own to nuzzle into it softly.

"What did you find out?" The short statement an odd contrast to the scouts normal talkative manner.

"Both my brother and his mate are dead. Their sparkling managed to survive though. Its believed to be an accident, but the council has their doubts. Prime feels that there's more than whats being released to the public." While Kaelex remained invisible to the world, they kept tapped into the media and other sources in order to get an idea of what happened on the planet.

"You're leaving." The arms tightened around him, and his spark sank further.

Wheeljack turned and pressed his chassis to Bluestreaks, raising his hands to cup the saddened face."I have to. I am all the family he has now. And I could never ask Ratchet to set aside his career to raise a sparkling that wasn't his."

"I know. I wish I could come with you." Blue raised a hand from Wheeljack's waist, sliding it up over his chest to touch the metal shield that covered the lower half of his face. The shield retracted with a soft hiss as 'jack leaned into the contact.

They both knew that was impossible though, so instead of answering, Wheeljack raised his helm to catch Blues lips in a deep kiss. Bluestreak ended the kiss a little bit later, pulling away and tugging 'jack towards his house. He went, wanting to spend all the time he could with the mech that had earned a place deep in his spark.

Wheeljack woke feeling slightly disorganized. He glanced around, and recognized the surrounding landscape almost instantly. He wasn't that far from Kaon. He stood, swaying slightly before turning to make his way into the town. He stopped only once, glancing back with an aching spark. He had the feeling he was being watched, but as he searched the area, there was nothing. Shoving the feeling aside, he resumed his trek into Kaon, towards a little sparkling that now needed him.

From his vantage point on the cliffs overlooking Kaon, Bluestreak watched as Wheeljack entered the city. He'd had to practically beg, but the Prime had finally agreed to allow him to make certain that 'jack made it into the town safely. He had no idea that it would hurt as much as it did.

Blue waited until Wheeljack had vanished into the town before returning home. As he entered the city, a small black and white ball of energy hit him in the chestplates and knocked him flat on his back. Slightly stunned, he stared up into the concerned blue visor.

Jazz stared back for a few seconds before grinning and hugging the bigger mech tightly. He might have been a sparkling, but he was a smart sparkling. And he was determined to remove the sadness from his friends faceplates. Blue gave a small chuckle before hugging the sparkling back. Maybe it wouldn't be quite as lonely as he had thought.

\-/

Jazz leaned back against the trunk of the crystalline tree and vented a sigh as he finally allowed himself to relax. It had been a long orn, and his processor ached slightly. He could have went to the medics house to get it taken care of, but he was used to such things and knew the ache would vanish soon enough without clouding his mind with drugs.

He had been buried in a deep interface with Kaelex's mainframe for most of the orn. He had spent the time strengthening the cities defenses, searching out weaknesses and building a better viral net to keep out intruders. In the past few vorns, there had been several attempts to gain access to the Kaelex database, none had succeeded. Jazz was certain those trying had simply accidentally come across the system and tried to hack into it, without really knowing who it belonged to.

There were several mechs that worked to keep the mainframe, its databases and Kaelex safe from the outside world. It was his duty to maintain the viral side mostly, but usually he ended up catching stuff the others deemed to not be a threat. He didn't like leaving weaknesses of any kind behind. And it often took much longer to do his work then it should.

As he relaxed, the tension filtered out of his frame and with it the aches he had accumulated. His processor, as usual, turned from work and drifted towards the one thing that was almost always in his thoughts. And if Prowl wasn't in the forefront of his thoughts, he was usually a presence in the back. If Prowl hadn't been a major part of his thoughts since almost as long as he could remember, this relatively newer need to feel him close would have scared him. But he had fallen in love with the mech through their limited contacts early on, and these newer feelings simply added to his pull. Jazz knew, if it hadn't been prohibited, he would have gone in search for Prowl on his own. He may still have, if the city hadn't needed him.

He was currently training several mechs to do his job, but they were no where near ready yet. They wouldn't be for many vorns to come, and in the meantime, the very survival of his city and its people depended upon the security systems he helped maintain. And as much as his spark twisted with the urgent need to find his other half, he simply couldn't listen to it. He sighed heavily, realizing that he had yet to tell the Prime that Prowl was searching for the city. It wasn't something he was looking forward to. He had no idea how their leader would react.

Jazz was jerked from his thoughts as the soft tinkling of the crystalline leaf-like shards above him announced anothers presence. He on-lined his visor, uncertain when it had been shut off, and watched as the blue/grey door-winged mech settled next to him. He straightened up and turned to face his friend, recognizing the tension in Bluestreaks frame. Jazz had known the older mech all his life, and knew by the look on his faceplates, that whatever Blue had to say, it wasn't going to be good.

Bluestreak let a sigh, then met his young friends optics. "Bumblebee is over two weeks late returning. And we have lost all contact with his replacement, ShadowStorm."

A frown passed over Jazz's faceplates. Bumblebee had been a quiet scout, but he had counted him as one of his friends. " What has the council decided?"

"A group has been selected to go out and see if they can locate or determine what has happened to them. The group is comprised of older scouts that have already served their term in the outside world. I have been chosen to lead them."

Jazz stiffened. It was rare that teams left the safety of the city, and even rarer for the teams to actually return. A long time ago, while he had still been a sparkling, a team had been sent out in response to a creature threatening the safety of the city. Bluestreak had been on that team as well. The team had been comprised of five mechs. Only two had returned alive. The team had not come back alone though. They had brought a single outsider with them. The only one to ever be allowed to stay in the city for an extended amount of time, and the only one to ever have been allowed to leave with most of his memories intact.

Bluestreak vented softly, catching Jazz's attention and effectively drawing him out of his thoughts. "It's alright Jazz. I want to do this. I need to do it. I just hope we can find them."

Jazz gave a soft smile. "You will. If anyone can find Bumblebee, its our best scout. When will you be leaving?"

"Tomorrow." Bluestreak fell silent for a few minutes, shifting slightly, until Jazz gave him a look that said 'spill it already'. "Jazz, have you told Prime yet? There's a good chance he would let you go with us. The elders would probably allow almost anything when it comes to two sparks being in synch with each other."

"No I haven't. I just don't know what to say to him. It would be my luck that he would forbid me from ever seeing Prowl. And that's simply not something I can handle. If he hasn't found me by the time the new monitors are trained, then I will go look for him."

Aware of Jazz's stubborn streak, Bluestreak turned the conversation in another direction before leaving for the night. Jazz watched the mech go, wishing him all the luck on Cybertron, and hoping that it wouldn't be the last time he saw his friend.

He leaned back against the tree once more, contemplating Blues words including the ones not spoken. It had been vorns since Bluestreak had been allowed outside the city. The last time had been when he had seen Wheeljack safely back to Kaon. Jazz could remember the sadness on the scouts faceplates upon his return, and had since then been determined to be there for the bot. Bluestreaks friendship had helped him more then the scout probably realized over the vorns.

\-/

Sunstreaker scowled and shifted before casting his optics around the room for what seemed like the thousandth time. The room never changed. Its location did from time to time, but the room remained the same. Medium sized with bare walls (what you could see of them anyways), a single desk that barely showed up in the murky darkness. He vented heavily, aware of his brother lightly drifting into recharge at his elbow. They hated the waiting. And their boss always made them wait. He was beginning to believe it was just a way of showing power over them.

A noise caught his attention, and brought his processor back to the fact that there was one big difference to the room this time around. There were two other mechs in it this time. Normally they were forced to wait in silence alone. A loud bang sounded as one of the mechs smacked the other upside the helm, and he felt his brother stir next to him.

The blue, red and grey seeker was snarling insults at a black and crimson mech with a condescending smirk on his faceplates. Sunstreaker recognized them both, though he had no idea why they were here. The seeker was Starscream, a mech reputed to be able to hack his way into any security system. And that included mechs processors. The other was Barricade, rumored to be able to get any information out of a mech through more messy and painful ways.

The argument progressed until the two mechs were shoving each other. All hostility came to an abrupt halt though when their boss simply materialized in front of them. Mirage scowled at the twins as he took his seat, and Sunstreaker hurriedly gave his brother a light shove to bring him out of recharge. Sideswipe jerked, snorted softly through his vents and straightened to sit upright.

Mirage dropped what appeared to be a memory chip on the desk, then sat in the big metal chair behind it. He stared at the twins until Sideswipe was shifting uncomfortably in his chair. Sunstreaker merely met the mechs gaze with a cold one of his own.

"You two have actually managed to do something right for once. I imagine it wasn't all that hard getting on the expedition team though."

"I still don't understand why you're so interested in Prowl, his team or this fabled city." Sunstreaker continued to stare into the others optics, refusing to be intimidated.

"You don't need to understand. You only need to do what your told." Mirages cold blue optics flickered away from Sunstreakers for a brief moment when the two mechs behind him began to snipe at each other again. When his gaze met the yellow twins again, he scowled at the smirk drifting across his faceplates.

"And just what is it we are supposed to do?" Sideswipe spoke up for the first time, his vocalizer still raspy from recharge.

"The expedition team is leaving for Kaon tomorrow on the Xantium. You have until your arrival in Kaon to discover just how Prowl plans on finding Kaelex. Once you find out, you are to inform my associates here on this frequency." Mirage sent a quick data burst to both the twins with the frequency.

They filed away the information and Sunstreaker once again locked optics with Mirage. "And then what?"

"And then your job will be done and you will be freed from your contract."

"Why should we believe you?"

Mirage smiled. "I never go back on promises."

The twins left shortly after. Sideswipe talking giddily about what they would do when they were free. Sunstreaker remained quiet, contemplating what had been said. He didn't trust the rich mech to keep his word. And to let them go for just a bit of information, didn't make sense. He vented softly as his brother once again tried to get his attention, deciding he would discuss it with him later.

\-/

The Xantium lifted off at midday, her decks a whirl of activity. Mechs and Femmes walking here and there, Sparklings running and playing under the watchful optics of the caretakers. The expedition team spit up shortly after boarding to get settled and check out the ship, with a meeting set for later that night.

Ratchet and Wheeljack explored the lower decks before talking one of their hosts into allowing them into the ships engine room. Ratchet waited by the door while Wheeljack moved into the room. The mech was a demolitions expert first and foremost, but electronics and engineering had been a hobby of as long as he could remember. He smiled as he watched Wheeljack lose himself in the inner-workings of the ship.

Pulling his gaze away from his friend, Ratchet studied the ships engine room. It was quite different from what he would have expected. The room was almost silent, only the softest of hums could be heard. Where one would have expected huge machines, there were only consoles. The consoles lined the rooms walls, giant cables stretching from them and running up the walls to vanish through the rooms ceiling. The cables transferred the energy gained from the solar gatherers lining the ships hull to the consoles in the room for distribution throughout the ship. More cables led from the consoles to a large square device in the middle of the room, their host explaining that a portion of all gathered energy went into the battery and was stored for usage at night. Ratchet moved over to his friends side, suggesting they make their way to their rooms in order to rest a bit before the meeting. Wheeljack turned, briefly giving his thanks to their host before following Ratchet out.

Prowl made his way to the upper decks after watching the rest of the team split up. Bumblebee had already retreated to his quarters, the four former enforcers had also made their way up to the upper-most deck, his uncle and Ratchet having moved towards the lower decks, with Blaster and the twins heading off towards the gaming rooms.

Once on the upper deck, Prowl moved to the side of the ship and leaned against the waist high security railing. The ship was high enough in the air that all he could really see of the landscape below was dark passing blur. He let his thoughts drift.

His spark had a wavering sense of nervousness in it. As convinced as he was that he needed to find Jazz, he was also worried that he wouldn't be what was expected. Wouldn't be enough. He had never really sought out others for companionship, for romance as it were. He had no idea what he should do once he did come face to face to Jazz. He smiled softly. His spark seemed rather certain that Jazz would show him what he needed to know.

\-/

Bumblebee entered the briefing room almost an hour before the rest of the team was due to arrive. He had a lot on his processor and wanted a chance to sort through it. He slowly walked around the room, his scanners searching for any signs of listening devices or even cameras. He found none, but continued to run more scans to be sure. Once he had checked out every inch of the room, a job no doubt the security team should have done, he finally sank into one of the chairs. He chose one furthest from the door, near the end of the oval shaped table.

The Kaelexian scout delved into his processor, brooding on what had been bothering him. For the most part a scout was never that far from the city. They ranged a few mega-miles from the city in order to divert anything that might be considered dangerous. But once in each scouts lifetime they were expected to spend a period of five vorns out amongst the population of Cybertron. Their purpose was to debunk any theories on the location of Kaelex. And if expeditions formed, such as this one, they were required to attempt to lead the team astray.

A scouts memory of the cities exact location was wiped but not their memories of their friends and family. When their five vorns were up, a replacement scout was sent out to rendezvous with them. The scout was to hand over any data that was needed to his replacement, and the new scout delivered a memory chip coded so that only the mech it was intended for could access it. The memory chip contained the location of the city and the information required to access the entrance to the city.

Bumblebees replacement was supposed to have arrived several weeks ago. The mech had never showed, and now Bumblebee was at a loss as to what to do. For a replacement to not show was unheard of. He did not want to consider the thought that Kaelex had forgotten about him, but the thought did gnaw at him occasionally. There was also the fact that something could have happened to the replacement. That was also improbable, given a scouts intensive training before being allowed to leave, but ultimately anything was possible. And so now the scout had a decision to make. He could do his job and shift the expedition team away from the cities general location, or he could use them in order to get close enough to hopefully make contact with one of the scouts around the city. His processor fought with his spark and he finally gave up the battle, hoping to have a better idea of what to do after this meeting.

Bee was drawn from his thoughts fully as the first members of the expedition entered the room. He hid a scowl as he watched the four former enforcers simply take their seats, not bothering to even be concerned about their surroundings. The twins came in next and he was aware of a low level scan running over his frame and continuing around the room. They took a seat nearby and he switched his attention back to the entrance as the rest of the team entered all at once. He studied each in turn, his gaze stopping longest on Wheeljack. Every time he saw the mech, He had the irrational feeling that he had met the mech before.

As everyone got comfortable, Blaster was the first to speak up."I asked for this meeting because I believe we need to go over how we intend to accomplish our mission. This is normally something that is discussed way before a expedition team is even formed."

Prowl cast a glance at Ratchet and Wheeljack, uncertain just how much they should tell the others. At present only the two mechs closest to him, besides Jazz, even knew of the spark synchronization. He consulted silently with them as Blaster continued to talk.

"As you all know I am an expert on ancient civilizations. I have also dabbled in communications. And it is that which I believe will help lead us to Kaelex."

His attention fully captured, Bumblebee leaned forward. "How so?"

"Ever hear of the null fields?"

It was obvious by the looks on everyone's faceplates that they hadn't heard of the term before. Blaster continued, fully eager to explain."The null fields are an area outside of Kaon spanning nearly a hundred mega-miles. There is something that completely disrupts communications in the area. Scientists have no explanation for it. But what if its where the city is being hidden?"

Bumblebee snorted and settled back in his chair. " A city the size Kaelex has been reputed to be, would not be able to hid in an area of a mere hundred mega-miles. Someone would have discovered it by now."

"Maybe its hidden underground." Blaster countered.

Wheeljack cleared his vents, catching the attention of everyone present. "It is not underground."

Bee frowned. "You sound awfully convinced of that."

"He is, and so am I." Prowl sighed softly, one last glance at his friend and uncle before turning back towards the rest of the team. "There is a very good reason this team did not discuss where we were going or even why we decided to go where we are. We know for certain that Kaelex is located within a few mega-miles of Kaon."

Bumblebees spark nearly stopped at that. How could they know for certain? Where had they slipped up? Something of this caliber should never have gotten this far. Granted though, even he had simply thought they were another team blindly looking for the city.

Prowl shifted in his seat, unused to the attention of every single mech in the room on him at once."Wheeljack has been to the city before. And while his memories of its exact location were wiped, we are heading to the place his team was at before they where attacked. And where Kaelexians rescued him."

Blaster studied him. "You mentioned the attack before, which is why we brought along the security. But you never said anything about him being taken to the city. I can understand the reasoning behind that, but what I don't understand is how you intend to find the city once we are there. Its remained hidden for this long, its not going to just say, Here I am."

Prowl hesitated again, but at Ratchet and Wheeljacks prodding he continued. "What I am about to tell you does not leave this room. No matter what." He waited until he had every mechs agreement. "I intend to find the city by following my spark. While it is only active at certain times, I do share a spark synchronization with a mech located in the Lost City. It is for that reason alone that I intend to find it. We are certain that the synchronization will deepen the closer we get."

To say Bumblebee was stunned would be an understatement. Spark synching was rare. Sparks did bond when the two in question merged often enough, but a true synchronization of two sparks that had never merged was unheard of. That didn't mean that he didn't believe the black and whites statement though. As a scout he had been trained to read other mechs, to see past what they were willing to tell and to see the truth in their sparks. And as he looked at Prowl, now that he knew what to look for, he could see the strain being this far from his other half was placing on the bot. He knew that even the Council of Elders would never stand in the way of a true spark synch. Leaning back in his chair with a sense of determination, Bumblebee decided he would do everything in his power to help Prowl.