Optimus woke slowly, and was immediately assaulted with chest pains. He groaned as he managed to sit up, leaning against the rock wall and gingerly put a hand on the large dent that Megatron had given him when the Decepticon had slammed his shoulder into the Prime's chest. He had found himself incredibly weak and knew that he needed Ratchet's assistance, but he also knew that there was no way he could travel to New York, not in the condition he was in… if Ratchet hadn't already moved on.

Pressing a finger to his audio processor, Optimus prayed that he would still be able to get a hold of someone. However, he found that he was unable to, and he grunted in pain as his servo fell to his side. It did not help that he was not only in physical pain, but emotional pain as well. He closed his eyes as he thought about Vesper, and he found pain tearing at his spark. He had failed to protect her and keep her from Decepticon hands, and now he didn't know if he would ever see her or any of the others again. He'd listened, heard Megatron say that he already had the codes, and had realised then that Vesper was going to be nothing more than a sacrifice in order to power the weapon she had so desperately tried to keep away from the Decepticon army.

"It… is not over," Optimus breathed. He feebly struggled to his feet and stumbled over to the hole in the canyon wall, then, realising that it was more painful to remain here, decided to climb the canyon wall. He looked up at the dark sky, watching as the stars twinkled and shimmered, and sighed before beginning his agonising, slow ascent. Each movement of his made his chest hurt, and his spark sometimes faltered for a few seconds. However, he made it up to the top of the canyon, and immediately transformed into his altmode and drove off.

Meanwhile, in New York, Ratchet and Alice were walking around in the mall. Ratchet, taking advantage of his human holomatter form, was walking around after an overly excited Alice, who was carrying bags and bags of clothes. He did not share his human charge's excitement, however. He was concerned that something had happened – he could feel that something had gone wrong, deep within his spark – but he had absolutely no idea what it was. Of course, he did not want to mention this to Alice, who was finally happy. She had been very dreary the day before, but now she was exceptionally jovial, and he did not want to ruin her mood.

"Ratch?" she asked, snapping the medic out of his thoughts as she grabbed his arm. He had not realised that she'd stopped and that he'd had almost walked past her. He smiled lightly at her, trying desperately to hide the fact that he was troubled, but it didn't work. Her frown – so out of place on her face – indicated that his attempt had been completely fruitless, and he sighed.

"Yes, Alice?" he asked, trying to keep his voice even, although it still quivered the tiniest bit.

Alice flicked a strand of her white hair out of her eyes. She'd made the attempt to put it in a stylishly messy bun, but a few strays had managed to escape her hairband. "I think we should cut our shopping spree short," she said, her tone light, but the look in her eyes told Ratchet that she was aware that he wasn't saying something. He nodded in agreement, and the two departed from the mall, walking over to the ambulance. If people thought it was weird to see a teenage girl with a tonne of shopping and an old man who looked weary get into an ambulance, they were doing very well keeping their thoughts to themselves.

It was only when they'd pulled away from the mall did Alice finally ask if something was bothering Ratchet. For a few minutes the bot hesitated, not wanting to mention anything, but he eventually relented and said, "I think something's gone wrong."

Alice frowned at him. "What do you mean? I don't follow," she said, her voice confused.

Ratchet's human holoform shook his head. "I just… think something has happened to one of the other bots."

Alice's eyes widened. "We have to get in contact with them then!" she exclaimed, and Ratchet sighed.

"I can't do that, Alice. I have standing orders," he said, even though it was obvious to the human girl that Ratchet didn't want to follow those orders anymore. Silence followed as Alice crossed her arms over her chest, silently telling Ratchet how she felt about his inclination to actually listen to his orders. This resulted in an angry growl from the Autobot, followed by the words, "Hey, I'm not exactly happy with it either!"

"Then disobey!" Alice exclaimed, turning her head and snorting.

Ratchet snorted in response. "And risk getting detected by Decepticons? No, I—" He fell silent as his comm line started to beep, and he and Alice instantly knew that either someone had disobeyed Optimus… or it was Optimus himself. Ratchet decided to pick up and say, "Who is this?" in a worried yet cautious tone.

"Ratchet, drive to these coordinates," Optimus instructed, and Alice took note of the fact that the Prime seemed out of breath. "I will tell the others. Remain safe." With that, the Prime cut off the comm line, and Ratchet drove silently for a few minutes until the coordinates came through.

"Alright, Alice," Ratchet said, "We'll head to your place, drop your things off, then head off."

Alice groaned. "Awh, c'mon! Can't we—" She cut herself off when she noticed the glare she was getting from the human holoform sitting next to her, and she realised that she'd spoken out of line. It was obvious that Ratchet had picked up on Optimus' breathlessness as well, and he was worried, so she simply decided to nod and say, "Alright." Ratchet stopped glaring at her and drove to her place, although he could not shake the feeling that Optimus was in a lot more strife than what Ratchet knew…

And he wasn't the only one. Jack and Arcee were driving towards the coordinates Optimus had set, neither of them talking, yet both of them silently agreeing that something bad was about to happen. Bumblebee and Raf – who was now ungrounded – were also heading towards the rendezvous point, not worried about Raf being grounded again because Agent Fowler had explained to Raf's mother that Raf needed to come with him, that it was of the utmost importance, and that not much else could be explained to her. She had, after much argument, agreed, and now they were on their way. Agent Fowler had decided not to tag along and just keep a watchful eye on June, who was still under his protection.

It was Bulkhead and Miko who were having the most difficulties. Being in Tokyo, the two couldn't readily get to the rendezvous point, but that had already been taken care of. Before they had departed, Ratchet had given Miko the Ground Bridge remote control and had instructed her to keep it safe, so they warped back to the destroyed, abandoned Autobot base before opening yet another bridge close to the rendezvous point.

The only one Optimus never contacted was the one he couldn't. Vesper, a prisoner of the Decepticons, was locked in a dark room and chained to the roof. If she was able to produce tears, they would have long since dried. She had given up struggling, attempting to escape, a fair few hours ago, and now she was just dangling limply, resigned to her fate. In her spark she knew that Optimus would attempt to save her, but in her processor, there were only doubts. Doubts that she would survive, doubts that she would be able to destroy the very thing she was going to be used to power.

The door slid open then, and Vesper slowly looked up with tired optics to see Megatron standing before her, looking unimpressed. A small smile appeared on her face; she knew exactly why Megatron looked so unimpressed and annoyed. It was because, no matter what he did to her, she had so far refused to give the other two parts of the weapon to the Decepticon.

"So," Megatron said, his voice smooth yet his teeth were bared, his optics blazing with anger. "Are you going to give up the last two weapon parts?" he hissed as Knockout stepped out from behind him, along with Starscream. She shivered as her optics settled on the stiletto-heeled Decepticon, and she prayed to Primus himself that she wouldn't be left alone with him.

The femme shook her head defiantly. "Never," she hissed, her optics glowing with defiant intent.

Megatron angrily snorted, baring his razor-sharp dentas. Then he turned to Starscream. "Get those weapon pieces, no matter what," he hissed, and Vesper felt horror and fear flood through her, although she said nothing. When Megatron and Knockout left the room, Starscream immediately turned to Vesper and smiled maliciously.

"Do not," Vesper hissed, trying to inject a menacing tone into her voice, "Touch me."

Starscream's malicious smile grew. "I don't think," he said, his voice low as he strode over and gently stroked Vesper's cheek with a thin finger, causing her to jerk her head to the side, "You're in any condition to tell me what to do." This caused the femme's eyes to widen, and she began to struggle wildly, but she already knew that it was completely hopeless. So all she could do, as a prisoner of the Decepticons and Starscream's twisted intent, was hope to the Allspark that Optimus would save her…

Optimus, however, was in no condition to be saving anyone, even if he wanted to. His spark problems were affecting his altmode as well, and he was now pulled over on the side of the road with engine problems. His human holomatter form – designated Peter, which had been the source of many a joke from the others considering that Optimus' altmode was a Peterbilt – was a good thing to have in this event. Optimus could check his own engine troubles without having to transform into robot mode, something that he could not do on a busy road such as the one he'd been driving on moments ago.

He sighed as he managed to jumpstart his engine again, but in his spark Optimus knew that if he didn't get to Ratchet soon, he would be in trouble. He continued on his way, hoping that he would at least get to a town before he broke down again. He could not stop thinking about how he'd failed Vesper, which was weighing incredibly heavily on his faltering spark.

He finally turned off the busy road he was on and headed to a nice little secluded area. There was always a risk of getting spotted, but Optimus could not find the time to care. He was in pain, and as he transformed he laid on the grass, trying to breathe a little easier. Getting to the rendezvous point was not easy on him, but he knew that he absolutely had to try to get there. If he didn't, then he had failed them all.

As he felt himself drifting off into sleep, Optimus wondered if any of the others had reached the rendezvous point… and how long it would take him to get there, having spark troubles as he was. He was not aware that Bulkhead and Miko, having used the Ground Bridge, had already gotten there. Ratchet, Alice, Bulkhead, Raf, Arcee and Jack were already on their way and were much closer than Optimus would be for a long while. In fact, the Prime was not even sure if he would make it.

Bulkhead wondered where the others were as he finally reached the rendezvous point and let Miko out before transforming back into robot mode. Miko was glad to stretch her legs, but she too wondered where the others were. She missed them, although she would never admit that. Instead, she asked Bulkhead why they'd been summoned to this area in particular. The olive green bot shrugged, not knowing the specifics either.

"Oh c'mon," Miko complained. "You have to know!"

Bulkhead shook his head and shrugged again. "Nope. Although, Optimus seemed pretty roughed up when he commed," he said, frowning.

Miko fell silent for a bit then, with uncharacteristic meekness, said, "Hopefully everyone is alright." She had absolutely no idea that she was hoping for something that could not happen for a long while, not while Optimus was in so much pain.

Bulkhead sighed. "I really hope so too, Miko," he said. Then he yawned. "I'm going to bed," he sleepily droned, then sat down against a tree before closing his optics and going into recharge mode. Miko was about to wake him up, but she too felt tired, so she simply walked over and sat down next to Bulkhead before falling asleep herself.

The others who had not reached the designated coordinates had all pulled into hotels, save for Ratchet and Alice, and were staying the night at them. Jack was staying alone, as Arcee had had no use for Sadie – her human holoform – during their trip. Bumblebee and Raf were a different story; as Raf was not old enough to drive, Bumblebee had had to use his holoform – a mute boy in his late teenage years – in order to make their cover story believable.

Ratchet and Alice pulled into a hidden little grove. Alice did not want to stay in a hotel, and Ratchet completely respected that. Instead, she slept in the Autobot medic's cab, and that was how they spent the night. Each one of the Autobots –Bulkhead, Bumblebee, Arcee and Ratchet – slept uneasily, wondering why their leader had summoned them to meet so early. None of them could shake the feeling that Optimus was in trouble…

And that he was not the only one.