Arcee stood hands on hips, trying to think of something.

"Cee? What happened?" Jack asked, terrified of her expression.

"They...they've been taken" Arcee stammered emotionally.

"The Autobots? By who?" Jack asked. She looked at him with a who-do-you-think expression.

"Starscream. Well what can we do? If all the Autobots are taken that leaves...us"

"No. It leaves me" She sharply said, turning and walking past Jack.

"What! No not this time." Jack pursued her, leaping on her as she transformed, clutching on for dear life.

"Let go" She ordered, swerving and stopping as not to hurt him.

"No! When are you going to get it through your thick skull Cee! We are in this together, you're not alone!" She suddenly stopped, transforming back and holding him by his shoulders.

"Jack. If I lost you...it would end me"

"Yeah, if I lost you I'd fall apart too! You forget I care about you too Cee. Come on, we can do this together" Jack said as she put him down.

"Jack we are talking about getting aboard a Decepticon warship we can't even find! I can't risk your safety"

Jack sighed as he looked at as she stood up and began walking away.

"Do you remember what I said to you all those years ago when Airachnid attacked us in the forest?"

Arcee stopped dead in her tracks and lowered her head.

"Partners don't ditch partners" She mumbled. Jack nodded.

"Exactly. We're in this together" Jack sighed as he stood looking at her facing the path down the hill. She could go right now and be on the highway in five minutes, but she just stood there, anchored to her spot by Jacks maturity and dedication to help her.

"Curse my big spark" She moaned.

"O...okay. But you follow me orders, my lead, everything. Clear?"

"Crystal Cee" He smiled to her.

"The Decepticons will be looking for us; we need to get out of sight" She said, looking into the sky

"To think I had this whole romantic evening planned" Jack smirked.

"We'll get it, I promise" Arcee said holding his shoulder.

"Well I suppose we should go save the others, right?" Jack chuckled. Arcee shrugged

"Couldn't hurt. Now where to start" She pondered. Jack stroked his stubbly chin and thought hard about how to find a cloaked warship.

"Okay, well we could track there last position, I mean Ratchet's a smart guy, he'd have tracked his location for safety right?" Jack thought, clicking his fingers.

"Probably not. I mean if he went on the mission, then he'd have left it unmarked. Unless..."

"What?" Jack asked looking at her.

"Primus I'm an idiot! What have we been doing for years when someone gets into trouble? We use the Ground Bridge's last coordinates!" Arcee cheered.

"You think that'd work?" Jack asked.

"All speculation, until we get back to base, and quick. No doubt they'll be monitoring us...and soon"

She transformed and Jack leaped on, helmet snuggled over his head and his backpack on. She revved and flicked up dirt as they raced down the hill towards Jasper.

...

Meanwhile in the Nemesis's cell block, Optimus Prime was slung up in energized shackles hung from the ceiling. He groaned and moaned as he hung from his arms, feet dangling. Starscream approached him.

"I don't believe it. I finally caught Optimus Prime!" He laughed, cheering and smiling evilly. He erected his sharp index finger and scraped it along Prime's chest, digging into his metal pecks. Optimus roared in pain as he finally reached the end of Prime's torso, slicing at the air. Prime breathed heavily.

"Starscream...whatever you want to know...we will never tell you" Optimus stayed true to who he was. Starscream looked over his shoulder and arched wing.

"Oh I know Prime. But you see I'm not like Megatron, who has an obsession with letting you live, so he can fail at terminating you later on. No if I have the chance, which I do..., I'll use it" He snarled into Optimus's antennas.

"The rest of your crew is capture, no one is left to help...well besides that retched Arcee" He growled, looking at his hand which she'd sliced two fingers off of in a previous battle.

"But, I get off topic. The point Optimus is that you have no one to-"

"Lord Starscream!" A voice sounded. Starscream's head vibrated with rage at the interruption.

"What is it?" He growled at the Decepticon Vehicon stood in the doorway.

"Sir, the Autobot Arcee. Soundwave is tracking her, and we believe she may head to their base" He explained. Starscream's expression changed.

"Oh how delicious. Well Optimus, looks like your rescue party has failed you" He chuckled. Turning from him and walking to the exit, leaving Prime to rot.

"No! Starscream!" Optimus roared. The door slammed shut and Prime was alone.

"Arcee...run" He mumbled as he was plunged into silence.

Starscream walked with the Vehicon when they reached Soundwave, who was staring at them.

"Ah Soundwave, what news do you bring?" Starscream asked hands behind his back. Soundwave's screen like face deployed an image of Arcee racing through Jasper.

"Ah excellent, soon we will know the location of their base...and destroy it. Then we can finish our guests" he swatted his hand at Optimus's closed cell door.

"No Starscream" Shockwave snarled, walking into the room, his huge feet were stomping with every stride.

"Allow me to interrogate out guests. I will see what secrets lay inside their minds. I suggest a cortical psychic patch"

"Oh because you got so much last time? Well, I suppose it couldn't hurt" Starscream pondered.

"On the contrary Starscream. It will hurt...them" Shockwave turned, walking into the cell holding area, like a crazed doctor.

...

Arcee sped through the town of Jasper towards the outskirts where their base lay. Jack held tight to the handles and scanned the road ahead.

Cee, what if they're tracking us right now?" He whispered.

"I don't know Jack. Funnily this hasn't happened before" She snarled. Jack thought long and hard about some way to deter the Decepticons. Then he had it, like an epiphany.

"What if...what if I went there on foot and you went to another location. If they were tracking you I could get inside and check the bridge controls"

"Well that's great Jack, but what about a riderless bike?"

"Arcee, you have Sadie, remember?"

"Yes, and you two look nothing a...like. Wait, this might work. I can update Sadie to look like you"

You can? Since when?"

"Long...story" She embarrassingly said, remembering a time she updated Sadie to look like him to see if what she felt was due to his appearance, but it wasn't the same. Sadie's hologram of Jack missed his personality.

Arcee swiftly turned a corner.

"Okay. You head to the base." Arcee said, driving under a petrol station, the cover of the building keeping them hidden from the sky.

"I am pretty thirsty" She said, her headlights pointing at the petrol station.

"I'll top you up later. Wow never thought I'd say that...to my girlfriend" He shook his head. Jack got off and an exact copy of him materialised on Arcee.

"Wow...that's...creepy" He said looking at himself.

"Do I really look like that?"

"It's an exact copy Jack"

"Gee thanks Cee" He sarcastically said.

"Okay, so you'll go to the base, and I'll distract the cons?"

"Yep. They'll never know what hit em" Jack said.

"Jack...please, be careful" She pleaded.

"Don't worry Cee. I'll be safe. Be careful as well" He smiled, turning and sprinting along the path.

He clenched the straps on his backpack and ran out of the cover of the building, the shade disintegrating and the amber sunset growing deeper orange. Arcee sped off in an opposite direction, wheel's squealing as she shot off.

...

Starscream watched them head off in different directions, Soundwave playing their conversation.

"So, the boy will lead us there. Forget about tracking her and concentrate on the boy!"

"But Lord Starscream" The Vehicon uttered.

"Do as I, Lord Starscream command Soundwave! They think they can deceive us! No, I'll have her killed now. An old friend is on earth, He'll bring her down" Starscream smiled, contacting a Decepticon on earth.

Flying over the distant desert of Qatar, a huge Military helicopter roared, its thick rotors slapping the hot rising air. Starscream's voice sounded in the cockpit.

"Oh Blackout my old friend, I require your assistance" Starscream smirked aboard the Nemesis. A static fuzzed response sounded.

"Starscream? Your traitorous hide is still alive?" the deep raspy voice sounded over loud helicopter rotors spinning.

"Says you! You went solo remember? Now I need an Autobot killed in Jasper Nevada. Please see to it"

"You know I don't do these jobs for free. What's the bounty?"

"No Bounty! And yes, you will be paid, just see to it she's dead!"

Blackout was a huge Sikorsky Pave low, rumbling over the desert in Qatar. His silvery faint grey military color scheme made him formidable to even stare at. His rotors clapped through the warm air.

"Who's the target?"

"Arcee" Starscream chuckled.

Moments of silence past.

"Forget about the price, Starscream. This one's on the house!" He roared, the huge helicopter pulling a sharp turn and flying towards Nevada. His huge Pave low vehicle form rumbling towards the small town of Jasper several hours away. He flew faster than any helicopter ever has determination in his voice and speed.

"Arcee huh? Ha! This has been a long awaited day! The day I get to rip the spark out of her chest! That Autobot scum will feel the wrath of Blackout for what she did on Cybertron! All hail Blackout!" he demonically roared.

...

Jack ran as fast as he could towards the building. Little did he realize that Laserbeak was high in the sky, watching him like a bold eagle of metal alloy.

Jack panted and heaved as he neared the huge building. Laserbeak watched closely, transferring all the data to Soundwave. Like a police helicopter in a chase, the aerial view tracked Jack, watching him disappear inside the huge structure, similar to a warehouse.

Starscream smirked.

"Yes. We have our location. Activate a ground bridge and send in the Vehicons"

Meanwhile on the ground a large portal of green light swirled into life and several Decepticon soldiers clambered through, walking into the base. Unlike the Autobots the Decepticons had no interest in staying hidden from humanities view. They walked through the door, triangular barreled guns aimed.

"It's over Autobot...scum?" The drone's expression changed when they saw an empty warehouse. They looked around for any sort of panel that may activate the hidden tech or even a ground bridge control. Even Jack wasn't in there.

Jack escaped quietly around the back and sprinted through the alleyway.

"Cee, it worked, they bought it. You at the base?" He asked on his flip phone.

Deep in the desert of Nevada, the safely hidden Autobot base welcomed her as she slid in on her tires and transformed, quickly entering the bridge controls.

"Okay, okay. Err last location. Nothing? What? Jack they never used the bridge." She said on her communicator.

"Really? Well err, can you locate the Nemesis?" He asked, using his phone on a different frequency to avoid Decepticon detection.

Arcee turned back to the control panel and began scanning, remembering what she'd learned from Ratchet. She concentrated as she began the Earth wide scan.

"Picking up several Decepticon signals in Jasper"

"Oh that's the cons at the fake base, don't worry about them. What else?"

"Err...yes! I got the ship! It's headed to...ah scrap" She suddenly sighed and felt defeated.

"What? Arcee, speak to me!"

"It's hovering over Chernobyl. Jack that much radiation...I can't take you there, hell after a while it'll affect me"

Jack panted and kept sprinting along the side of the road towards the Autobot base, no sign of Laserbeak as he was still at the fake base.

"I'm almost there; we'll figure it out then. Stay put"

"Jack...I'm also reading a huge Decepticon signal inbound to Jasper"

"Who? Megatron?" He quaked just mentioning the name.

"No...It's" she only mustered that.

"Jack we need to get out of Jasper!" She cried out.

Jack ran faster as the loud whirring of helicopter rotors grew louder and louder. He looked over his shoulder, staggering slightly as he lost direction. A massive Pave low roared overhead and towards the town of Jasper. Wind and down draft from the rotors nearly blew Jack over.

He saw the hanger nestled in the trees and shade of the mountains. Sunlight was diminishing. The huge helicopter turned around slowly to face Jack.

"Ah scrap!" He shouted, running and hopping the fence to the base, slicing his shirt and jeans on the razor sharp metal. He landed on the other side, his knees groaning in pain from the landing. He ran inside, barely able to breathe and stomach knotted. The Pave low searched for them.

"Arcee what is that? That is one big con!" He shouted, hands on knees, close to vomiting he was that out of breath. She activated the ground bridge, a green hue illuminating in the base.

"If I'm right...it's someone who wants me dead...really bad" She stuttered, entering codes into the control panel.

A Decepticon voice they were listening to on Ratchets monitor sounded.

"Sir the base is fake"

"They know, come on it's time to do something" Jack shouted, the sound of clapping rotors growing louder.

"This leads to Chernobyl. It's the only way to save them. Jack, go home"

"Yeah okay, let me just side step the cons who know me by appearance. Cee! Will you stop I'm with you!"

"Not in radiation like that you're not. I know about Chernobyl, the state of it. It's nowhere near safe"

"Well then what do I do? Stay here till they find me?"

"I don't Know Jack! Primus I don't know!" She shouted at him, eyes full of dread.

"The bastard cons, they know the affects radiation has on us, so they move the ship there. We can't get a physical lock on it to Ground Bridge inside?"

"No they've re-cloaked the ship, we'd have to cross Chernobyl and get under it, but" She explained.

Jack threw his backpack off and paced. The bag opened and the armor box slid out, the Autobot logo glowing. Jack looked at it. He suddenly remembered the helmet and breathing apparatus inside the suit. While it was combat armor, it was suited to different atmospheres, maybe it would delay radiation.

"Arcee, what if I wore Ratchets suit he made me?" Jack asked, running out of time. Soon the cons would find them.

"It's worth a shot. I'm so sorry you got involved in all this" She apologized.

"Hey, don't blame yourself Cee. We'll get them out. But you can't do it alone. You'll need...well in this case a human, who studied Chernobyl at school"

"You did?" Arcee asked.

"Yeah for a week or two. I know about the reactor that went critical, the spots which have the most radiation, like the red forest. Oh and we'd need a Geiger counter"

"A what?"

"It clicks when we're near too much Radiation"

"You're telling me this now?" Arcee asked with a portal to Chernobyl open right behind them.

"Yeah poor timing. Guess we'll just have to rely on my general knowledge and our armor" Jack said to her. He held his arms out and the armored box disintegrated and shot the pieces onto him forming the suit around him.

"Jack. This is important so listen closely" She leaned down looking him in the eyes.

"If anything happens to me, you leave me. Understood?"

"What? No way"

"Jack...please" She pleaded for his own safety. She would never take Jack on a mission if it wasn't zero risk, but now there was no choice. He had to go, or get killed by cons in Jasper, and she was in no way strong enough to beat them herself.

"O...okay" He complied. She leaned over and kissed him, gently on the lips. She parted and stood up.

"Okay. Chernobyl...here we come" She sighed.

Slowly they walked towards the portal. Jacks helmet formed around his head and locked tight, hissing as air filtered in. Arcee disappeared first. Jack took a deep breath, swallowed his swirling stomach of fear and leaped through. The bridge shut and darkness filled the base.

...

Meanwhile on the deck of the Nemesis, Starscream admired the view of Chernobyl.

"Ah look at it. Isn't it amazing how similar humans and Cybertronians are? This is their Cybertron. Destroyed and uninhabitable by their own hand" He chuckled.

Shockwave walked over to his side.

"I must say Shockwave; it was a brilliant idea to let them track us here, and to park the Nemesis over a radiation filled ghost town. They'll never reach their friends, and beg for their lives when radiation sets in. Then they'll give us everything we desire, and we can end them...once and for all" Starscream chuckled, his master plan falling into place.

"It was most logical to let science be my guide. Radiation and living life forces...do not mix" Shockwave uttered in a powerful voice.

Soundwave scanned Chernobyl as two life signals appeared out of the blue in the town.

"Ah they are here. Excellent. Dispatch Vehicons into the town. Let's make this a fun game for the Autobot rescuers" Starscream chuckled. He also sent a Ground Bridge to Blackout, sending him to Chernobyl in a matter of seconds.

Arcee and Jack would have to use all their cunning, all their stealth, their skill to evade the master bounty hunter Blackout with a personal score to settle and Starscream's army. All while trying to avoid the deadly wrath of radiation.