Disclaimer: I do not own the Transformers in any way

Sorry it's taken me so long. I'll try to get the next chapter up as soon as possible.

Thanks to everyone for their reviews. XD

Chapter 4!

CONSTANT PATH

Decepticon Base

Prowl came back online slowly. His processor throbbed painfully and he on-lined his optics only to clamp them shut as his vision was assaulted by harsh artificial light, triggering a full-blown processor ache.

He groaned quietly and waited for the pain in his head to die down before attempting to open his optics again. When he finally did he immediately found the source of the harsh light and quickly sat up. He was in a cell and the bright purple light was coming from the energy bars keeping him inside. Testing his movement he discovered that his hands were now cuffed behind his back but his legs were free and he tried to stand by leaning against the cell wall for support. He was a bit unsteady after being on the floor for so long but he finally managed to push himself up to his feet and took the opportunity to check his body for injuries.

Hmm. A few scuffs and scrapes. No serious damage.

Yet.

Searching his memory banks he tried to recall what had happened. He remembered being in the Decepticon base with the others when the space bridge had overloaded. Megatron catching him with Prime's grappler, dragging him closer to the vortex and Bumblebee's hands suddenly appearing in his own, trying to pull him away.

He frowned as he tried to remember what happened next and almost fell back down in shock when he did.

Megatron disappearing into the vortex, pulling him in too, all the while Bumblebee's wheels were spinning as he tried to pull him free. He remembered seeing a great shadow fall over them and had looked up then to see Omega Supreme in robot mode descending towards him, and then………nothing.

The frown remained on his faceplate as he tried desperately to assess his situation.

What the frag had happened after that and where was Bumblebee?

Prowl's optics widened.

Bumblebee!

Moving quickly to the front of the cell he pressed his faceplate as close to the bars as he dared and peered outside. Cells like the one he occupied lined the wall opposite and extended beyond his view in both directions. He realised that he was being held in some kind of brig……or dungeon. Steeling himself he called out Bumblebee's name and waited patiently for a reply. None came. He tried calling out a few more times but came to realise that either Bumblebee was unconscious, or he was all alone in the cells.

'Maybe he let go like I told him to.' Prowl wondered but quickly rejected the idea. Since when had Bumblebee done as he was told, and since when did he ever listen Prowl anyway!

Sitting back down at the back of the cell Prowl tried to focus on getting out of the cuffs, just like he had done in the Decepticon base. Calming his thoughts he centred his concentration on the cuffs at his wrists and focused. He could feel the vibration start beneath his armour and he realised he was humming like he had done before but the cuffs remained unyielding. Rearranging himself into a slightly more comfortable position on the floor he tried again to remove his bonds but again nothing happened beyond the vibration and the humming.

He gave up with a frustrated growl.

Maybe the cuffs were different to ones they had been using or maybe it was simply because his hands were behind his back. Before he could speculate further, the door at the end of the room suddenly opened, the sound echoing down through the cells and Prowl pushed himself to stand again to face whoever it was that had come to visit.

The sound of heavy footsteps echoed loudly down the hallway and a shadow slowly gave way to a large grey mech with an even taller dark blue mech with a visor and battle mask standing behind him.

Prowl's optics widened in shock.

'Megatron?!'

A slightly paler grey and the shoulder launchers were absent but this mech was undoubtedly the Decepticon leader.

Staring through the bars at the mech inside Megatron couldn't believe his optics.

This was Prowl?!

Examining the mech closely Megatron was amazed at how different this Autobot was to his counterpart in their reality. Considering how similar his own counterpart was to himself the only thing that seemed to stand out on this mech that he could see was the chevron on the mechs' helm.

Very slim for a mech and slightly shorter than his counterpart, black and gold paint job, no door wings but instead what looked like thrusters on the mech's back and a visor no less. He never would have thought of Prowl wearing a visor, not the one in his own reality anyway. The Autobot second in command always seemed the kind to look his enemy in optic, being in control of his emotions rather than hide them behind a visor.

It made Megatron curious as to what the darker mech was like in personality so he deactivated the energy bars and stepped inside the cell.

The shorter mech immediately tensed and leaned back against the wall of the cell, placing one foot against it for leverage should he have to move quickly as he regarded the Decepticon with cool optics.

Soundwave stayed outside the cell as Megatron took another step towards the dark armoured Autobot while his optics scanned the mech before him curiously. The Autobot had one shoulder pressed to the back of the cell with his opposite foot planted firm against the wall behind him. Megatron was intrigued. The stance the Autobot currently held was like that of a warrior ready to strike, nothing like the kind of reaction he would expect from the Autobot second-in-command were he in the same situation. No, the Prowl of his reality would be infuriatingly calm, almost relaxed while waiting for an opportunity to escape to present itself all the while running everything past those infernal logic circuits of his.

He took another step closer to the Autobot bringing him into the Autobot's striking range but to his surprise the slim mech made no move to attack him. In fact Prowl didn't move at all but continued to gaze coldly at the Decepticon leader.

Curious. Megatron reached out as if to touch the Autobot's face and the reaction was instantaneous. The hand was slapped away and the foot that was once braced against the wall was planted harshly into the Decepticon's chestplate with enough force to push the significantly larger mech backwards to the cell door where he stumbled but was caught by Soundwave who had come to his leader's aid.

Pushing away from Soundwave and brushing himself off Megatron growled furiously. How dare the Autobot push him so easily. Raising his fusion cannon he aimed it at the Autobot but stopped short of firing when caught sight of the bot inside the cell. Upon seeing the weapon aimed at him Prowl had swiftly dropped to the floor in a low crouch with his hands placed on the floor in front of him, enabling him to move quickly in any direction to get out of the line of fire.

Megatron couldn't help but stare at the Autobot where crouched against the floor while regarding the Decepticon leader with same cool, calculating gaze.

What an odd stance. It didn't look like anything he had witnessed before among Autobot or Decepticon warriors on the battlefield but then why did it look so familiar.

Movement behind him alerted him to Soundwave moving back outside the cell and then it hit him.

Ravage.

This was the stance of a predator. Interesting.

Megatron laughed causing the Autobot to stare at him suspiciously and curl into an even tighter stance.

Very interesting.

The Ark

The entire Ark was in lockdown. This meant that all access to the outside was cut off, all none essential areas were sealed and (much to Bumblebee's annoyance) all ventilation shafts were closed off by thick metal bars.

Still he kept moving through the unfamiliar corridors as quickly and as quietly as his injured leg would allow.

He was still on edge from his brush with the white mech from earlier and kept looking over his shoulder in nervous habit but finding no one there, which was starting to worry him though.

'Where the frag is everybody?!' he thought franticly and sure enough he turned into another corridor that was completely empty.

While crawling through the ventilation system he had passed dozens of mechs, all unique and many too big to miss so how could they possibly have all suddenly disappeared?

Bumblebee stopped and leaned heavily against the wall when another wave of pain erupted from his injured leg and he couldn't stop the hiss of pain that left him.

None this made sense to him.

He was sure he was on Earth. After all, he had seen the human earlier with his own optics but he didn't recognise the red and white mech standing next to him even though something in his core programming was screaming that he should. Fortunately or unfortunately Bumblebee was very much in favour of doing the first thing that popped into his processor which was run and worry about it later.

So he did but now came the worry. Who exactly was he running from?

Now that he thought about it, he berated himself for not sticking around long enough to scan the white mech for an insignia. More warning messages had started to appear and his energy levels were reaching critical. He knew it wouldn't be long before he went into stasis lock but he just had to find a way outside so he could determine if he was on Earth or not. But no matter what corridor he took he just kept ended up at a sealed door.

'Are you sure he came this way Hound?' asked an irritated Sideswipe as they turned a corner.

After locking down the Ark and hearing Ratchet's report, Prowl immediately put a team together to track down and apprehend the intruder. The search team consisted of Hound (to track him), Jazz (to lead the team and try talking to the little mech), Perceptor (to administer a sedative if necessary) and the twins (to restrain the mech if required).

It had been nearly two hours since the lockdown was initiated and so far they had yet to find any trace of the little yellow mech.

'I'm pretty sure he would have come this way after leaving the repair bay. Ratchet said the little guy turned left out the door so, providing he hasn't ducked into one of the storage lockers then this is the only way he could have come after Prowl initiated the lockdown.' the Jeep replied and as they turned another corner he stopped them and pointed to a spot on the wall near the floor.

'Look!'

A small electrical burn mark and a faint smear of energon decorated the wall as though someone had leant there to rest. Crouching down Hound reached out and touched the energon stain, his fingertips came away pink.

Frowning, he turned to Jazz.

'It's still wet, he can't be too far ahead of us.'

Jazz nodded in understanding, the intruder could be around the next corner.

'Ah'right guys you know what to do. Th' twins stay outta sight until we know what we're dealing while Hound and Perceptor back me up.'

All nodding in agreement with the exception of Sunstreaker who grumbled about why they couldn't just shoot the little fragger and that he was probably a spy anyway.

As they approached the end of the corridor they heard a faint clatter of metal against metal accompanied by a soft hiss of pain and stopped suddenly. Telling the others to stay put Jazz crept to the end of the hallway and peered around the corner carefully.

The little mech was slouched heavily against the wall, almost all his weight supported by the solid structure. He looked exhausted. The wound on his leg was no longer sparking but was slowly oozing energon and looked incredibly painful.

Turning back to the rest of the team Jazz signalled that he had found their target and the twins took their standby position, crouched down against the wall opposite but still remaining out of sight of the little mech while Hound and Perceptor came to stand behind Jazz.

Turning back to look at the little yellow bot Jazz fixed a calming smile onto his faceplate and quietly stepped out of the shadows.

Bumblebee could feel his optics flickering against his will. He was so tired. The numerous warning messages that filled his vision told him that stasis lock was imminent and all he wanted to do was slide down the wall he was leaning against and into recharge as his body tried to conserve energy.

No!

He had to get outside he had to find help, and Prowl. The ninjabot was still out there somewhere. What if the Dececpticons had him?

Steeling himself against the pain he knew would come Bumblebee pushed himself away from the wall with shaking servos. Staggering under his own weight the yellow scout barely took step when he suddenly noticed the sound of quiet footsteps behind him and froze. Glancing slowly over his shoulder Bumblebee jumped, letting out a startled yell at seeing a big black and white mech with a blue visor standing less than ten feet behind him.

Jazz stopped when the little mech finally noticed his presence. He had been walking slowly towards him for a good few minutes and although he was being quiet his footsteps certainly weren't silent. 'The little guy must be in even worse shape if he's only just noticed me.' Jazz frowned with worry. Spy or not the little bot needed help and soon and it was something Jazz could use against the bot to get him to come quietly.

Jazz was well aware that it was a low blow but if it avoided an unnecessary fight then so be it. Still Jazz kicked himself mentally for using an injured bot's weakness against him.

The other mech had turned to face him finally and the frightened yelp at seeing him almost made Jazz rethink his strategy. Almost.

Keeping up the calming smile he held up his hands slightly to show that he was unarmed.

'Hi there. You've given us quite th' run around but how about we go and get that leg seen to before ya shut down?' the black and white kept his voice smooth and cheerful while he took a small step closer to the frightened mech.

Staring at the strange mech with frightened optics Bumblebee's logic processes once again insisted that he should know this mech and when the black and white spoke with a soft yet almost musical voice Bumblebee was sure he should too but in his energy deprived state, his sluggish processor still failed to provide him with a name. So, once again he did the first thing that popped into his processor and staggered back a few steps, almost falling over backwards in his hasty retreat.

Seeing the little mech scurrying back ready to run, Jazz acted quickly to prevent his escape. Closing the distance between him and the smaller mech in a few short strides he reached out grabbed the little bot by the wrists, wincing slightly when the other mech shrieked in panic, not being able to follow Jazz's quick movements in his weakened state.

'Whoa! Hey now, take it easy. I ain't gonna hurt ya.'

But he was ignored as the little bot pulled franticly at his captured wrists and kicked out in a desperate attempt to escape the much larger mech.

Hearing the struggle the rest of the search team rounded the corner and advanced on the two struggling transformers. By this time Jazz had spun the smaller mech around with a tug on the wrists and had his arms securely wrapped around the struggling bots' upper body while still maintaining a firm grip on his wrists.

From the corner of his optics Bumblebee could see one of the approaching mechs, a red one with a giant lens cannon on one shoulder, pull something out from behind his back and renewed his thrashing in the black and white's arms when he recognised what it was. A needle.

Jazz tightened his grip when Perceptor approached with the needle while Sideswipe and Sunstreaker ran to assist the Operations Officer by immobilising the struggling mechs' legs allowing the scientist to gently force the little bots' head to the side with one hand and insert the needle into his neck with the other. Sedative successfully administered Perceptor withdrew and backed away to a safe distance.

Bumblebee gasped in pain when the needle slid into a fuel line in his neck but he was helpless to stop it while the three larger mechs held him still. As he watched the red mech who had injected him move away he could already feel the effects of the chemical in his systems as the warning messages suddenly began to disappear one by one indicating that each of his systems was being forcibly shut down. His servos felt heavy and his struggles slowed until finally his body went limp in his captors' arms. He was vaguely aware of being lowered to the floor and talking above him before static filled his audios and his optics went dark.

'Phew! Slippery little fragger ain't he.' Sideswipe grinned down at the now offline intruder but the grin turned into a frown when he took a closer look at the little mech.

'Hey, is it just me or does this little guy look a lot like Bumblebee?'

Crouching next to the motionless figure Jazz quickly scanned the mech and discovered the concealed weapons in the bots' arms as well as taking note of the slightly scuffed Autobot symbol on the yellow chest that had remained unnoticed until just now. Their Bumblebee didn't have any concealed weapons but Sideswipe had a point. This intruder looked eerily similar to the yellow minibot but Jazz wanted to get him back to Ratchet as soon as possible. The vicious looking wound on the bots' leg had worsened during the struggle and was still seeping energon.

'I suggest we get him back to Ratchet first so he can be repaired before we begin speculating on where he came from.' Perceptor suggested and after a quick examination to make sure the sedative was working he radioed said CMO to let him know that they were on their way with a patient while Jazz informed Prime and Prowl of their success.

The sound of bolts retracting and doors opening signalled the end of the lockdown and the search team made their way back to the repair bay with the unconscious intruder in Hound's arms.

To be continued………………………….

I apologise again for taking so long and I promise to try to get the next chapter up soon.

Sorry for any spelling or grammatical errors.