Optimus walked over and took Arcee from Ratchet's arms as the group finally slowed to a halt in front of the two. Vesper hugged the weapon part close to her chest and watched as Optimus and Ratchet conversed, keeping their voices low. Alice was angry, ranting about how Decepticons only cared about blowing things up. Miko was close to tears, while Jack just looked mutely shocked. Bulkhead walked over and took Arcee from Optimus before setting her on the ground close to where he and Bumblebee were sitting, but neither of the bots spoke as they kept their eyes trained on the Autobot leader and the Autobot medic.
Vesper sighed, wishing she could say something to comfort them all, but she knew nothing of what was going on, and as she hugged the weapon's base to her chest, she knew that whatever words of comfort she could possibly think up would be useless. If Decepticons had attacked the Autobots, as Vesper believed, then it was because they wanted her. It was her fault.
A heaving sigh from Optimus gained her attention, and she noticed that he was slowly shaking his head. Ratchet was now sitting near the kids, and everyone's eyes were on the Prime as he started to pace, deep in thought, his right servo gripping his chin. Then he turned to everyone and said, "We are in danger, and I have come to a conclusion on what we must do." He looked at everyone in turn – Bulkhead, Bumblebee, Arcee (who was still unconscious), Ratchet, Alice, Miko, Jack, and finally Vesper – before sighing again. "It would be best for us to separate, for a time."
Everyone stared silently at the Autobot leader, who remained monotonous and calm even under such scrutiny. None of them understood why Optimus was asking them to separate, but they did understand that it would be for their own safety… even if they didn't like it or agree. He himself hated to do this – it was dividing his family – but he knew what he had to do, as the leader of the group before him.
A sigh escaped his lips. "Bumblebee," he said softly, turning towards the mute scout. "You will head to Rafael's place and hide near there," he instructed, and Bumblebee nodded. Optimus then turned to Ratchet and Alice. "You two will go together and stay in this city," he said, and the two nodded mutely as Optimus turned to Miko and Bulkhead. "You two will head to Tokyo."
"Woohoo!" Miko exclaimed, seeming to forget the seriousness of the situation, before she remembered and said, "Oops, sorry."
Optimus shook his head, ignoring the happy outburst. "Jack," he said, turning to the human boy, "You and Arcee are to hide at your place." Before Jack opened his mouth to speak, Optimus silenced him by raising his servo. "I will transport you and Arcee home before I depart."
Ratchet looked over at Vesper, who'd not said a word. "Is she going with you?" he asked, looking back at Optimus, who nodded slowly before frowning.
"I will not tell you where we are going," he warned. This was his way of saying that he and Vesper were heading back to the Autobot base, although it was probably destroyed and unsafe. Besides, he was not intending to stay back at the base for long. He intended to move on and keep Vesper – and the part of the weapon in their possession – safe. "And none of us are to contact our fellows unless I make contact first. Understand?" He looked at each one of them, and they all nodded (save for Arcee, for obvious reasons). "Good. Now, for now we'll return to base and Ground Bridge to our locations." He looked up at Ratchet, who pulled out the remote and pressed a button.
"Dangerous move, Optimus," he said, his voice strained as a bridge opened, and Optimus smiled sadly.
"But it is the fastest way to get Bulkhead and Miko to Tokyo," he said softly. Ratchet nodded and sighed, then waved goodbye as Optimus gathered up Arcee, and then the rest of Team Prime stepped into the Ground Bridge… and soon found themselves back in their destroyed base.
Vesper and Optimus looked around, shocked to the very spark, but they had no time to spare. Immediately Optimus set Arcee gently down on the floor, strode over to the Ground Bridge and typed in the coordinates to Raf's house, then opened the bridge. Bumblebee nodded as Optimus looked over at him before transforming into car form and driving away. The bridge closed after he was gone, and Miko and Bulkhead knew they were next as a new set of coordinates was typed in and a new bridge opened. They headed in, Miko looking sadly at the others before she disappeared and the bridge closed.
Finally, Optimus transformed into truck mode and his trailer materialised before hooking onto him. He instructed Jack to get in and Vesper to put Arcee in the trailer. The scarlet femme did as instructed before stepping back, and Optimus instructed her to hide out until he returned before he drove off. Vesper sighed as she sat down near the lift in the main foyer and started to shiver. She hated this and began to wish that the Autobots had never found her.
Looking down at the weapon in her hands, she scowled before throwing it away from herself and turning away. Then she curled up into a tight ball and started to tearlessly sob. She sobbed for a few hours and never noticed Optimus' return until she felt a pair of arms wrap around her and pull her into a comforting hug.
"Do not cry," Optimus said softly. "It will be alright."
Vesper looked up at him. "You believe that?" she asked, his voice strained and saturated with her misery. "The Decepticons have attacked your safe place, and your team has been divided! Yet you still claim that everything will be alright?" she asked, her voice cracking as she looked into Optimus' soft turquoise optics. She looked over at the base of the weapon, lying over near the Ground Bridge, before looking back at Optimus and saying, "How can you say that, when all of this is my fault?"
Optimus said nothing for a few moments. Then he smiled and said, "Because we will come out stronger in the end." He pushed Vesper to arm's length and regarded her curiously, his servos on her shoulders. "Now, stop crying, please. For me?" His voice was soft as he spoke, and Vesper found herself smiling sadly and nodding. This caused Optimus to smile. "Thank you," he breathed, then pulled her into another hug. Then he pushed her away gently and stood. "We need to move," he explained as she gave him a questioning look, "And try to find the final part of the weapon." He walked over and picked up the weapon's base from where it had landed and held it up.
Vesper nodded as she shakily got to her feet. "I will show you the coordinates," she said as she walked over to the only functioning monitor, then typed them in. However, she showed Optimus before she opened a bridge, and the Prime frowned.
"That is an Earth tourist attraction," he mused as he pulled up a clearer map for Vesper.
The femme frowned. "It appears to be a giant crack in the crust of this planet," she said, frowning and biting her lip. "What is so interesting about that?" She shook her head. "Humans are quite strange."
Optimus couldn't help but crack a smile and nod in agreement. "Yes, they are." He looked over at her. "However, they are good company."
Vesper smiled at the Prime, who smiled back before opening the Ground Bridge. Then the femme sighed. "This is… the last time we will see this place in a long time, is it not?" she asked, looking back at the place she had begun to call home. Optimus sighed and walked over to her before placing a servo on her shoulder. She reached up and placed her own servo on top of his, and they stood like that for a few minutes, contemplating the situation that they'd been thrown in quite suddenly. "I will miss it," the femme suddenly said, causing Optimus to look down at her with a curious gleam to his eyes. She smiled and blushed, refusing to look at the Prime's face as she said, "Because this is the place I first laid optics on you."
Optimus blushed as his spark skipped a beat; he felt embarrassed and happy at the same time. But then he became serious again as he realised that he and Vesper had delayed far too long. Handing the base of the weapon to her, Optimus motioned for Vesper to follow him, and the femme did so without hesitation, pausing only to take one last look back at the Autobot base before walking into the Ground Bridge, the green portal closing seconds after both femme and Prime disappeared. They found themselves at their destination, the Grand Canyon, and Vesper looked around before snorting and looking at Optimus.
"I do not see how this," she said, her tone neutral as she gestured at the canyon, "Is so interesting."
Optimus shrugged. "I do not know either. However, I do know that we have to go down there… but first, I will tell the others to head for more remote locations in approximately a month." Vesper simply nodded in response as Optimus pressed a finger to his audio processor. He knew that Bumblebee would be unable to relocate, so he did not make contact with the scout. He knew that Bulkhead was quite safe with Miko – a resident of Tokyo, she could simply hide him in her garage or something, although Optimus was not fond of that idea long term – so that only left Arcee and Ratchet. He patched through to Arcee, but she did not answer; she was still unconscious. So he changed his mind and contacted Ratchet.
"Optimus, what is it?" Ratchet asked, sounding a bit annoyed and a bit worried.
Optimus frowned. "I would like you to move from where you are in a month's time. Head to a more remote location."
"Right," Ratchet said, then, "I'll catch you later then, Optimus," before cutting the comm line. Optimus sighed as his arm fell to his side, then he looked around to notice that Vesper was sitting on the edge of the canyon, her feet dangling, looking up at the twinkling stars, the weapon's base sitting beside her. She had a sad, soft smile on her face and barely noticed when Optimus sat down, although she certainly noticed when he put his arm around her. Her arm tingled as his fingers gently brushed it, and she shivered.
"The stars are beautiful, are they not?" he mused, looking down at her and smiling softly. "And you are the most beautiful of them all." Vesper looked at him, her eyes wide, but then she smiled and leaned against him. They sat like that for a few more moments before Optimus whispered, "Look up at my face."
Vesper did as she was asked only for Optimus to kiss her, a bit more forcefully than the previous times that the two had kissed. Instead of being shocked, however, the femme melted into the kiss and returned it with just as much passionate force as Optimus. As she wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled her head away, gazing tenderly into his eyes, Optimus picked her and the base of the weapon up and moved away from the edge of the canyon, deciding that it would be best to find someplace else. He soon found a cave a fair way away, and had only just set her down and had thrown the weapon part aside when she leaned back up and kissed him roughly. Optimus gasped as he felt a tingle run throughout his entire body, then he gently pulled away, much to the femme's sadness. However, he quickly returned to her, revelling in the taste of her lips. He trailed his hands down her body, causing the femme to gasp as tingles of pleasure coursed through her body.
"Optimus," she breathed as she pulled away, and Optimus felt his spark begin to beat rapidly.
"By the Allspark," he breathed, looking at her with optics filled with love and lust. "I cannot tell you," he whispered into her ear, "How much it has hurt, wanting to be with you and being unable to." His servos trailed down her body, then stopped on her hips.
"Oh Optimus," she moaned softly, enjoying every touch as she gently stroked the Prime's chest plate. As he leaned down to kiss her yet again, one of his servos trailed up her body and rested in the small of her back while the other cupped her aft, and he pressed his body gently against hers. He moved his head then, breaking off the kiss, only to resume kissing her on the neck and trailing downwards. She gasped as she wrapped her arms around his neck.
She felt something then, and glanced down to notice the large member that was protruding from Optimus' lower body. "O-Oh!" she exclaimed, shocked. Then she said, her voice low and filled with lust, "You're definitely the leader in all areas," as she moved one of her servos and softly stroked his spike, drawing a loud moan from him. As her fingers stroked him, the Prime's mind started racing with thoughts on what he wanted to do to her. She suddenly looked up at him, her breathing heavy, and whispered, "Optimus, please… interface with me," gently, almost as if she was requesting his permission.
Optimus took a deep breath. "If that is your wish," he breathed. "I… must admit, I have been thinking of this moment… for a very long time." He pressed his body against hers a bit more; her reaction was to open a small port in her lower area to receive his spike.
"I…," Vesper breathed, her voice coming in gasps, "Have also waited for… ahhh…" She trailed off as Optimus gently inserted his spike into her valve, then started to moan as he began to thrust inside of her as hard as he dared, not willing to hurt her. "Optimus…," Vesper moaned. "Faster… please…" The demand was weak, yet Optimus nodded and obliged, hearing her breath growing louder as he increased his speed, although he was still careful not to hurt his dear femme in any way.
Optimus pulled out then, causing Vesper to whine in complaint, but then he lay on the ground next to her and pulled her on top of him, both gently and forcefully. "I…," he panted, "Wish for you… to take your place on top of me now." His voice was barely more than a whisper, yet Vesper still heard him.
She leaned close to his ear and whispered, "Of course," before climbing on the large device that stood erect before her. She lowered herself onto it, moaning with pleasure and throwing her head back as his shaft penetrated her port. She then began slowly moving up and down the stick, gasping as she took in his full length, then sped up her movements a little.
"Ahh… Vesper…," the Prime moaned, feeling energon beginning to build up inside his stick. "I… think… that I am… going to surge… soon," he gasped, and Vesper shivered in excitement as she thought of Optimus spilling inside of her.
She continued to ride the Prime's spike, feeling pleasure unlike anything she'd ever felt before, until she felt Optimus shudder violently underneath her. Then she felt energon fill her valve as the two gasped before she collapsed onto his chest. Shakily, Vesper climbed off of Optimus' shaft as Optimus hid it away again, and lay down on the cave floor next to him, panting loudly and heavily. Her body was filled with euphoria, as was Optimus', and they just lay together for a few minutes before Optimus leaned down and gently kissed her.
Finally Optimus spoke. "That… was amazing," he breathed as she rested her head on his chest.
"I… agree," Vesper whispered, snuggling to his chest as he wrapped his arms around her. Then she closed her eyes and drifted into sleep, leaving Optimus to look down at her and smile.
"I love you, Vesper," he whispered, able to finally admit it without fear of being heard by the others. "And I will do all in my power to make sure that you're safe and happy." A smile appeared on his face before he too yawned and drifted into sleep, feeling at ease for the first time in a very long time…