Vesper awoke later than the others, but she didn't quicken her movements. Instead she lay on her berth for a few minutes, her optics sleepily gazing at everything around her. A soft sigh escaped from her lips as she slowly sat up, then she looked down at the cut on her chassis and gently ran her fingers over it. Wincing as a light pain coursed through her, she stood off of the berth and slowly wandered out of her room, down the hallway and into the main foyer of the base. The other Autobots were already there, and Ratchet and Optimus were having a quiet conversation. Bumblebee was sitting next to Arcee, who was still unconscious. The human children were having a quiet conversation, but Raf was not among them; a white haired girl was there instead. She looked up as Vesper stopped at the door, her optics wide as she took in the human.

"Uh, Ratch?" the human girl said, turning to the medic as he turned to her. She gestured at Vesper, who was trying to decide if she should run and hide, or stand her ground and just keep her distance. "Who's that?"

Ratchet looked up at Vesper and nodded before turning back to the human girl. "Her name is Vesper; we rescued her from that crashed Decepticon vessel." Then he looked up at Vesper. "This," he said, gesturing at the white haired human, "Is Alice, the human I was assigned to protect."

Vesper looked down at Alice, then tentatively nodded. "I see," she said, her voice low. Then she looked over at Optimus, who was avoiding her gaze entirely. "Sir, have the other parts of the weapon been located?" she asked, knowing that it was imperative that Team Prime destroy them at all costs. She rubbed her upper arm nervously.

Optimus sighed and shook his head. "Unfortunately, the other two parts have not been located," he said. Then he turned to Vesper and smiled, drawing a curious look from Alice. "However, this also means that the Decepticons have not unearthed any of the other parts."

Vesper sighed in relief. "For that, I am thankful," she said, smiling. Then her face became hard, and she shook her head before looking away. "I can help you discover the locations of the others, if you would like?" She looked up at Optimus and frowned.

Optimus sighed and turned away, unsure of what to do. On one servo, Team Prime had the opportunity to foil the plans of the Decepticons before they could even find the other parts. But on the other servo, he knew that if he unearthed the weapons, they would immediately appear on Decepticon radar. He had to find out more information before he did anything rash, but he didn't know how to gather that information.

"Hey, Optimus!" Alice suddenly exclaimed, drawing the Prime's attention. "I think we should take Vesper up on her offer."

This caused Ratchet to scowl. "Alice, you have absolutely no idea what we're talking about!" he hissed, making the white haired human shrug. This earned her a withering look from the doctor, but he said nothing more on the matter. Instead, he sighed as he looked over at Optimus. "If we can gain the upper hand, then we really should."

Optimus nodded. "Opinion noted, old friend," he said, tapping his fingers on something nearby. "However, if we unearth the weapon's remaining parts, they will appear on Decepticon radar… and then we have a transportation issue."

Vesper shook her head. "You need not worry about transportation." This caused everyone to look at her, and she sighed. "The individual parts can be shrunk down, but only by myself," she explained, her voice cracking as she said the last part, and Optimus' eyes softened. He walked over and put his servo on Vesper's shoulder.

"Do not fear," he said softly. "If we need to retrieve this weapon's parts, then I will do everything in my power to protect you." He then pulled his servo away and walked back over to the monitor. "Unfortunately, we cannot allow the Decepticons to get their hands on the weapon. We must retrieve the other two parts before Megatron does."

Everyone nodded, and Bumblebee chirped something. Instantly the humans were lost, for Raf served as their translator seeing as they could not understand Bumblebee's way of speech. However, the rest of the Autobots nodded, completely understanding what he'd said. Alice looked up at Ratchet and asked for a translation, but he ignored her question and instead turned to Optimus.

"So are we going?" he asked. Optimus shook his head, causing the medic to frown. "Then what—?"

"Only Vesper and myself will go," he said, drawing a frown from the others. "The rest of you will wait here. Ratchet, you must keep an eye on Arcee. Bulkhead and Bumblebee will be back-up if we require it." He turned to the humans. "You will keep Ratchet company."

They all nodded, and Ratchet sighed as he looked over at Vesper. "Alright, I need the coordinates of the second part of the weapon," he said, and Vesper nodded before giving them to him. Just before he typed it in, he stopped and turned around, his expression incredulous. "Wait a second… you mean to tell me that—"

Vesper frowned. "Have I done something wrong?" She scratched the back of her head.

Ratchet shook his head. "No, you haven't… but the weapon is underneath a heavily built-up area!"

This effectively silenced everyone, and they all looked at each other with expressions of mortification. Optimus looked grim, and Vesper wondered why it was so bad that the weapon was in a built-up area, although she didn't bother to ask. It was probably a human safety thing, which made perfect sense to her. Another thought occurred to her then: Autobots didn't appear to have much contact with any human, so perhaps they were acting in disguise? This made sense, considering Optimus' earlier urging for Vesper to get an Earth-based altmode.

Optimus eventually sighed. "Is it underground?" he asked, looking over at Vesper.

She nodded. "I would say so. The second part is the base and the control system, which is larger than the cannon." She frowned and gently tapped her chin. "I do, however, wonder how we could possibly access it."

It was Miko who blurted out a suggestion. "Subway tunnels!"

Vesper frowned, but didn't question the young Japanese-born girl. After all, she didn't know much about Earth, but she was aware that the others had to know what a subway tunnel was. Optimus confirmed her thoughts by nodding. "An excellent suggestion, Miko," he said, smiling. "Alright, we shall Ground Bridge directly into the tunnels."

Ratchet snorted but typed in the coordinates and opened a bridge. Both Optimus and Vesper immediately transformed into their altmodes and drove into the bridge before Ratchet closed it. When both Prime and femme were gone, Alice smirked and said, "Oh, they're totally in love."

Everyone laughed before Jack said, "Yeah, but they haven't actually made it public yet."

Alice rolled her eyes. "Do they even need to?" she asked, crossing her arms over her chest, wincing as the movement caused her a small amount of pain. She was still suffering from her Decepticon-inflicted wound, mainly because the stitches had only been removed recently. Ratchet looked sadly down at her but said nothing as she smiled.

In the subway tunnels, Vesper and Optimus were driving around with their lights on. The murky darkness of the place seemed to crush Vesper, who was beginning to panic; she hated being in a dark place. She was thankful that Optimus was with her, even if he wasn't saying much; his mere presence was enough to make her feel safe.

They drove around for a while before Vesper stopped moving. Optimus stopped as well, then turned to look at her as she turned her headlights off and transformed back into robot mode. The Prime, unfortunately, could not follow her example, for he was far too tall. She giggled at that; being only 19ft tall had its advantages. She walked over to something – a crumbly part of the wall – and touched it gently. Then she turned back to Optimus and said, "Through here."

Optimus replied with, "Very well. Now we have to get through and—"

Vesper quickly silenced him as she transformed her servo into her blaster and shot her way through. She winced at the racket she caused, but nobody came and investigated, so she continued destroying the wall until there was a hole big enough for Optimus to drive though. Vesper walked through, the Prime trailing behind her, and the both of them soon found themselves in a room that was even darker than the subway tunnels.

Vesper froze and whimpered, shivering, as her claustrophobia and fears crashed down on her all at once. Optimus shone his headlights on her to notice her shaking, and immediately he wished he was shorter. Instead of transforming, however, he simply drove over and said, "Vesper, I am here for you."

"O-Optim-mus," Vesper stuttered, collapsing to her knees and gasping. "H-Help m-me…," she whimpered, clasping her servos to her head. Optimus hissed in panic before transforming into robot mode, making sure that he didn't immediately stand up. He crawled over to Vesper and gently put his hand on her back, trying to send her comforting thoughts, but the femme didn't cease her shivering. Optimus growled in fear, then started to rub her back.

"Vesper, it is alright. There are no Decepticons," he breathed, leaning his face close to hers as she chokingly sobbed and continued quaking. "Shh," he said softly, gently grabbing her chin in the servo he didn't have on Vesper's back and lifting her face so that their eyes met. "It is alright. I am here with you."

"Y-You m-me-mean it?" she spluttered, her eyes wide and fear-filled.

Optimus smiled sweetly. "Of course I do, Vesper," he breathed. Then he leaned down and kissed her gently for a few seconds before pulling away. "I will not leave you alone."

The femme smiled, still feeling fearful, although she now felt so much better. "Thank you… Optimus," she whispered. Then she looked around, her optics able to see perfectly even in the murky darkness. Optimus looked around as well, but he could see nothing out of the ordinary. He looked back at Vesper and regarded her curiously. She smiled down at him. "It's further down."

"We have to go further down?" he asked curiously, and she nodded as she pointed.

"Look over there," she said, and Optimus obliged before seeing a large staircase that lead downwards into the unknown. He looked back at her as she said, "It's down there; I can feel it."

Optimus nodded once before transforming into truck mode and heading towards the stair case. Vesper followed after him, noticing that he was driving slowly as to not desert the femme. They slowly went down the stairs, eventually noticing that the roof was high enough for Optimus to finally stand, so he transformed and walked down, making sure he didn't go too far ahead. Vesper was getting more and more petrified as they walked further into the gloom, and more than once they both stopped as the femme came close to having a mental breakdown.

"Vesper," Optimus said softly as Vesper finally collapsed, unable to keep it together anymore, and began to sob. He knelt down in front of her and gently put his servos on her shoulders. "Vesper, it is alright," he breathed, gently removing one of his hands from her shoulders and cupping her cheek with it. "You do not need to be frightened." He stroked her cheek with his thumb, his optics softly glowing in the gloom.

"I killed him, Optimus!" she sobbed suddenly, making Optimus freeze. "I killed the one who created the weapon!" She buried her face in her servos. "I cannot tell you how much it pains me to carry information about the weapon in my processor, and I cannot even—"

"Please," Optimus said, removing her servos from her face and pressing a finger to her mouth. "Please do not cry." His voice cracked as he spoke. Her pain was causing Optimus pain, and he hated seeing her in such a state. He wanted so badly to help her, but he had no idea how to. "I…," he choked, then his hands fell to his side as he looked down at the ground. "I want so badly to help you… but how do I help?" He looked up at her and met her eyes. "Please tell me how to help…"

Vesper's optics quivered as she looked into the optics of the one she loved. "The weapon…," she breathed, her voice shaky. "It needs to be destroyed… Maybe, when it is gone, a small part of my spark shall be redeemed." She looked away. "I could never live with myself if this weapon was used to destroy innocent lives…"

Optimus sighed, then pulled Vesper into a hug. This action surprised the femme, but she wrapped her arms around his neck. They both stayed like that for a few minutes, revelling in the touch of one another. Vesper was grateful that she had Optimus with her; she didn't believe that anybody else would understand why she had helped to build the weapon… in fact, she wasn't sure that Optimus himself entirely understood, but he seemed to be aware that the weapon's original purpose had not been to destroy entire worlds.

Vesper eventually managed to pull herself together, with Optimus' help, and together the two walked further down the stairs. Once they got to the bottom of the pit, they both noticed that the room they were in appeared to be completely empty… save for a large monitor nearby to the stairs. Vesper walked over to it and peered at it as Optimus came up behind her, and then she looked up and nodded. "This is the thing we are looking for."

Optimus frowned and looked around. "It's… just a monitor?" he asked, seemingly confused.

Vesper shook her head, then pointed down at the ground. "We're standing on the base."

Optimus looked down with wide eyes. "If we are standing on it, then how do we move it?" He looked down and tapped his foot on it. "Do you know, Vesper?" he asked.

The femme nodded as she walked over to the monitor. "Can you please move back onto the stairs?" she asked, and Optimus nodded before moving. Vesper immediately felt threatened and claustrophobic, but she fought against her fears as she started to type something into the monitor. The ground started to rumble, and Optimus shouted in alarm as he stumbled and fell backwards, landing hard on his aft. The base of the weapon that Vesper hated with all of her spark began to glow, before it just seemed to disappear, leaving the femme holding nothing more than a tablet of metal with an upraised ridge in the centre and a small glass panel on one side. Then she turned back to Optimus and smiled as she held it up. "Mission complete, sir," she said, then started to laugh as she took in the shocked expression on the Prime's face. "Are you alright?"

Optimus nodded as he got to his feet. "Yes, I am well," he said as he strode over. Then he leaned down and peered curiously at the tablet. "That… is part of a weapon?"

Vesper nodded. "Yes. This is the base in compact size." She smiled. "The only part of the weapon that cannot be compacted like this," she said, holding the tablet up, "Is the barrel of the cannon."

Optimus nodded and smiled, pleased. "Then now, all we have to find is the last piece." He turned to leave and walked back over to the stairs, but stopped at the base of them when Vesper didn't initially move. Instead, she was looking further into the murky darkness, facing away from the stairs. Optimus turned back around and peered at her curiously, then started to feel as if there was something wrong. He walked back over to Vesper, his faceplate sliding over his face and one of his servos changing into a blaster before gently pushing the femme behind them and pointing the blaster into the darkness.

"Something is here, I can feel it," Vesper breathed, hugging the compacted part of the weapon to her chassis.

Optimus nodded, his turquoise optics as cold as ice. He said nothing as he prepared himself for anything… except for Bumblebee, Miko and Jack running down the tunnel.

"Bumblebee?" he asked, his eyes widening and his faceplate sliding away. "Jack? Miko?"

Bumblebee chirped something, his optics wide with fear, and Vesper knelt down as she saw that Miko and Jack both had terrified expressions on their faces. Then they heard more footsteps, and Optimus looked up to see Ratchet, Bulkhead and Alice running along after them. Ratchet had the still unconscious Arcee in his arms, and kept looking behind him…

Almost as if something was chasing them.