Transformers

Title: Frighteningly Trapped

Summary: He really should have paid attention to where he was and if he could get away from his attacker.

Disclaimer: Not mine!

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Part Six

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The tension in the Prime's office was nearly tangible in feeling between the two officers, their commander and the femme commander. Prowl and Jazz shared a brief look, to which Prowl had wondered when the Ops mech had slipped into the room, before Prime spoke again, his attention focused wholly on Elita.

"What might you and your team have discovered, Elita?"

The pink femme leader looked at them grimly though she also distracted and noted something that another femme was telling her and then looked back at them.

"We have partially discovered that Megatron wants to possibly destroy a bond or look into the dynamics of a gestalt bond. Optimus I would recommend moving First Aid and the other Protectobots to a secure location for their own protection."

"Duly noted."

Optimus nodded before turning a quiet look onto his second and third. The two of them seemed to be having a mental debate with each other, before Jazz cycled his vents in a sigh and became serious looking, letting Prowl give him a slight glare before giving his attention back to Optimus and Elita.

"It would be the most logical choice and option to do sir."

Optimus nodded and turned back to Elita.

"Thank you, Elita. Till all are one. Optimus out."

"Always glad to be of assistance, Optimus. Till all are one. Elita out."

The screen then went blank as both commanders set to work on planning, the femme commander though did not see the pair of optics glowing slightly from the shadows.

"To the pit with you, Elita One. You should have contacted the Prime."

Elita looked up from the planning with her group, having thought that she had heard a scuttling sound that soon faded away, and a touch on her arm from Chromia, brought her attention back to the older femme, who was looking quite concerned.

"Elita."

She shook her head slightly and turned her mind back to the matter at hand.

"Its nothing Chromia... Sorry for the distraction."

Back in the main Autobot base, Blaster was trying to locate Beachcomber to find out why he had sent him a data stream, but the minibot geologist was proving hard to find and had somehow managed to vanish without a trace. It curious though that the minibot had sent him a data stream and then completely vanished. It was odd and very curious. He eventually stopped the femme, Seleniom, in a hallway.

"Hey Seleniom have you seen Beachcomber anywhere?"

The femme giggle quietly and her optics seem to gleam slightly, when she answered him finally.

"I haven't seen him all cycle though if I do see him. I'll let him know that your looking for him."

He nodded and continued on his way till the femme's voice stopped him.

"Can I at least know why you want to talk to Beachcomber."

He looked back at her slightly.

"He sent me a curious data burst in the previous cycle that I wanted to question him about."

He could have sworn that the femme briefly looked panicked and surprised before she nodded calmly.

"I'll tell him for you."

The two then continued on their separate ways, giving Blaster sometime to ponder the femme's behavior before the walls around him suddenly exploded, injuring him as well as the mechs in nearby quarters. The blast radius of the explosion had shaken the foundation of the base, bringing one floor collapsing down onto all of the injured and surprised mechs that were trapped in the blast area.

A pair of optics and a visor band glinted slightly in a shadowed area before they rushed to help as other mechs came to help as well. Once the first of the injured mechs was located and taken to the repair bay, the two mechs quickly removed themselves and vanished from the area once more. After the explosion had happened, First Aid had tried to bolt out of the repair bay, but he was promptly pounced on by his brothers and the Twins, then promptly moved into Ratchet's office and kept there while Ratchet and WheelJack worked in the bay as the injured mechs were brought into the bay.

Optimus read over the reports that were steadily coming into his office with the help of Prowl. Jazz had left go to oversee the rescue and transportation of the wounded to the repair baby with the help of Ironhide. So many had been hurt in the explosion that according to reports had come from a nearby storage room.

And to top it all off, Blaster, their communications expert had been the one mech that had taken the most damage, then there was also the issue that the Autobot's residen peace loving geologist, Beachcomber, had vanished with no word as to his whereabouts.

What in the name of Primus was going on?

Before he could contemplate the matter further, there was a painful surge of feeling in his spark, he was dimly aware of Prowl calling his name in quiet alarm. He realized that something must have happened to Elita One at her base and sat down heavily in his office chair. Prowl was standing beside him with a slight knowing looking and placed a cube of energon in front of him, just as Ironhide and Jazz burst into the room.

Prowl also gave the other two mechs a slight knowing look before turning back to Optimus and gently got him to drink from the cube. Jazz seemed to fidget slightly watching his fellow officers and commander before speaking.

"Anyone try contacting the femme base yet?"

Prowl gave him a slight glance though it told the Ops mech that he was just as curious. Ironhide glanced at both black and white mechs with a slight annoyed look, before turning back to Optimus.

"Perhaps we should try contacting their base, sir."

Optimus nodded slightly and called up his personal office terminal and tried to contact the femme base. There was silence as they waited for the other base to answer, Jazz paced silently through the room and lightly brushed against Prowl, the tactician's optics tracked the smaller mech's movement. When they received no answer from the femme base, Optimus looked at them all in the optics.

"Prepare to move First Aid and his brothers to a secure location."

There was a chorus of "yes sir" as the three mechs followed their commander to the repair bay where they knew that the Protectobots were most likely to be and last known to be at. They found both Ratchet and Wheeljack still tending to the injured from the explosion. The older medic glanced at them with a look of anger, frustration, and understanding then nodded his head towards his office door where the Twins were standing guard at.

The two frontliners easily moved aside when they saw Optimus, to allow him entrance to the office. The Protectobots looked up at his entrance, First Aid had slightly removed his mask and his optics were slightly shuttered as he watched Optimus quietly and Hot Spot stood up staying to close to his brother as Blades and the other two Protectobots watched guardedly.

"Optimus sir?"

The large mech sighed and cycled air through his vents before he spoke.

"The base isn't safe for you and your team. We're sending you to a secure location."

The young gestalt leader looked ready to protest the statement and he would have too, if the Prime hadn't silenced him with a look.

"This is for your own safety."

Hot Spot nodded with a poorly hidden dark look that Optimus promptly ignored as he was ordering other mechs around and ordering the Protectobots to the shuttle bay.

"Prime?"

They all turned to see Beachcomber, Seleniom, and Navatema coming from the other end of the hall, their armor dirty, chipped, and cracked in places. Jazz moved to stand in front of their group, his weapon in his hands.

"Where have you three been, Beachcomber?"

The blue minibot was silent, until Navatema nudged him and he was startled out of his silence.

"We had been outside of the base studying some interesting formations."

The minibot's statement didn't seem to sit well with Optimus, but he shrugged it off as nothing and spoke.

"As you three have neglected your duties and posts, you will escort the Protectobots to a secure location for their own protection."

Seleniom pouted slightly at hear that as Navatema's visor brightened slightly and Beachcomber merely nodded.

"As you command, Prime. Come First Aid and company. Lets get you to safety."

The minibot directed and led the Protectobots down the halls to the shuttle bay location with Navatema and Seleniom following behind them. They watched the small group disappear down the hall.

"Lets go to the control room. I want to know who wanted to destroy half of this base."

The three officers nodded and again followed the Prime to the control room where they found Inferno trying to calm a frantic Red Alert. The security director pushed his partner away from him and stood up.

"Prime."

"Red Alert, we need to see the security footage from before the explosion."

The small mech twitched slightly but nodded anyways and called up the footage from before the attack and explosion. They watched the footage that showed mechs going up and down the corridor and the a break where no one showed up until they saw a small group of three approach a storage room and give the smallest a package, they then saw that the smaller bot was Beachcomber and that when the other two were looking the other way, he fiddled with the package before putting it in the room.

The footage ended with the explosion and Ironhide growled quietly.

"So little Beachcomber is a betrayer then? We outta scrap him then."

Prime shook his head slightly, they didn't notice that something small had landed on the Prime's shoulder armor and onto Inferno's shoulder as well.

"I'm sure there is some explanation, Ironhide."

Jazz then spoke up after having replayed the footage on the imager a few times.

"It may have been possible that the explosive was meant to take out the whole base and not that small area. BC may have saved the base by sabotaging it."

They all nodded in understanding as Prime moved to make an order, but they were surprised by a dull thud behind them. They turned to find that Inferno was offline and lying limp on the floor, then to further problems a harried messenger mech appeared at the door as Red Alert was attempting to revive his friend and partner.

"Prime, the shuttle carrying the Protectobot team never reached its destination."

-TBC