Vesper sped down the road, heading away from the Autobot base. She drove with no real purpose or destination in mind. She just drove, trying to get away from the others.
She hated the fact that the stigma of being a former Decepticon was still hanging over her head, like a cumulonimbus, dark and dreary. She hated the fact that she was still being judged because of it, and she wanted it to be gone. But she knew that, in her spark, there was absolutely no way that she could erase the Decepticon stain from her ledger. It was like ink spilled on paper.
She finally pulled off the main road and down a derelict dirt road before stopping at an area surrounded by trees. Making sure that she was alone, she transformed, then leant against a tree and buried her head in her servos. A choking sob burst from her lips. She couldn't believe that, now that the Autobots knew about her former status as a member of the Decepticon army, they were distrustful of her. While she understood why – she understood that they were wary, wondering if she would betray them or if she was feeding the Decepticons information – she still couldn't believe it. She knew that they trusted her a bit – she had done a lot of stuff to aid the Autobots, including bringing their leader back from the dead – so that was a small blessing…
Suddenly she heard the sound of a tree branch snapping underfoot, and she looked up to see that she was no longer alone. Alice and Miko were standing before her, and she stood up as they approached. Her eyes became steely and cautious as she asked, "What are you two doing here? Are you not supposed to be with your Autobot guardians?"
Alice nodded. "Yeah, we're supposed to be. They're keeping their distance," she said, looking behind her. Vesper noticed Ratchet and Bulkhead about a couple of hundred metres away, and she frowned before looking down at the two humans. "Look, Vesper," Alice said, striding forward and putting her hand on her hip. "You need to come back."
The female Autobot shook her head. "I… I cannot." She looked over at her left shoulder, where her Autobot symbol shone in the light. Then she reached up and brushed it with her fingers. "I do not even believe that I am worthy of this symbol anymore." She sighed and looked down at the human girls. "Please go back to the Autobot base. You are wasting your words on me."
Miko scowled. "That's it?!" she demanded, stomping her foot and gritting her teeth. "You're not going to come back?! Not even for Optimus?!" she asked, which caused Vesper to stiffen and look away. Miko knew that she'd just used blackmail on the femme, but she didn't care. Both she and Alice knew that they had to get Vesper to return to the base somehow. Not only did they want her to return, but both of them knew that the Autobot femme had absolutely no idea how to function on Earth. Even if, somehow, she did manage to remain hidden, she would still go wrong somehow and end up on a conspiracy theory website.
"No," Vesper said, finally turning away. "I would not return. Not even for Optimus Prime." Then she transformed into her vehicular mode and sped away, leaving Alice and Miko behind. She watched, using her mirrors, as they ran over to their respective guardian and gave chase of the femme, and she sighed in annoyance. She decided that it would be best to make sure that they weren't harmed, and that she would be wise to just give them the slip.
Vesper turned off sharply then, turning off of the road she was on and driving through the bushland. She knew that Ratchet would have some difficulty in off-roading, seeing as he was an emergency vehicle, but Bulkhead was a completely different matter, being an armoured vehicle. Another quick check of her mirrors revealed to the femme that both Autobots were still on the road, and she breathed a sigh of relief before returning her attention in front of her. She drove further through the bushland, eventually losing sight of her chasers, and eventually she stopped driving and transformed back into her robotic mode. She looked back, seeing no trace of the ones who had previously been tracking her, then breathed a sigh of relief before she took off running.
Back on the road, Ratchet and Bulkhead were trying to figure out what they could do. The medic was appalled by Miko's blackmailing attempt, but he was also unhappy with the fact that Vesper had refused to come back.
He sighed. "This is our fault," he said to Bulkhead, who sighed as well and pulled away from the side of the road. Ratchet followed suit, and the two headed away from where they'd lost Vesper. "We should return to base," he said to Bulkhead. Then he patched a communication back to base and said, "Arcee, open a Ground Bridge. We failed."
A bridge opened in front of the two, and they drove in to face the others. Optimus was still powered down, and Ratchet was thankful for that as Alice got out and he transformed. Miko stepped out of Bulkhead's cab, and he transformed as well before looking away from everyone.
Ultra Magnus sighed. "I take it that Vesper did not agree to return?" he asked, looking between the four that had gone to attempt to retrieve the femme. Ratchet shook his head before striding over to one of the nearby monitors and going back to whatever he was working on. Alice walked over to him and tapped him on the leg, wanting up, but he simply just looked down at her, shook his head, and returned to his work. Alice frowned sadly, but she didn't ask again. Instead she walked over to Miko, Jack and Raf, who were sitting on the couch and talking quietly among themselves.
Arcee, Bulkhead and Bumblebee were all standing near the Ground Bridge, looking over at the unconscious Optimus. Ultra Magnus was standing near Ratchet, but was simply keeping an eye on the Autobot leader, who did not appear to be waking any time soon.
Arcee felt guilt flood through her, and she looked down at her feet. The others were all feeling the same way, too; it was their fault that Vesper had finally decided to abandon the Autobots. Not even the mention of Optimus needing her had brought her back to them, and everyone knew that mentioning Optimus had been their best bet at regaining a comrade and an ally.
A groan suddenly made everyone – bot and human alike – stiffen, and they all slowly looked towards their leader to see that his eyes were slowly opening. The Prime was in intense agony; every strut, circuit and fibre of his being hurt. He tried to sit up, but failed to do so. Instead, he decided to look over at everyone. He had a pained yet warm smile for each of them, but that smile fell away when he noticed Vesper's absence.
"Optimus," Ratchet said, slowly walking over and looking down at the Prime with a sad expression, "I… I'm sorry."
"For… what, old friend?" the Prime asked, making sure he chose his words carefully. Then he noticed the apologetic expressions on everyone's faces. The humans, in particular, were avoiding Optimus' optics, and he bit his lip in both worry and curiosity. Then he attempted to sit up again, and he grunted in pain as he managed to do it this time. He looked around, still wondering where Vesper was, and then he frowned. "Where is—"
Arcee sighed. "She didn't stick around."
Optimus stared at her, stunned. His spark started to hurt, and if he was able to produce tears, they would have been welling up in his eyes. "What… do you mean…?" he breathed, swinging his feet slowly over the side of the table he was lying on. He winced as his pedes touched the ground, but didn't show much more of his pain. "Where did she go?"
Bulkhead shrugged. "We don't know where she is… at least, not now." He shook his head and crossed his arms over his chassis. "We tracked her down, but she gave us the slip."
Optimus said nothing as he looked sadly down at the floor, and he squeezed his optics shut. He couldn't believe that Vesper had decided to abandon the Autobots. He wondered if she was going back to the Decepticons, but he knew in his spark that she would not do that. She despised the Decepticons with all of her being for what they had done.
"Sir," Ultra Magnus said, distracting Optimus from his thoughts. "Are you well?"
The Prime slowly shook his head before slowly attempting to stand. He squeezed his eyes shut in agony but still managed to force himself onto his pedes, and he swayed quite a lot, but did manage to remain upright. His next move, however, only served to cause him to fall onto his face; he tried to take a step. He cried out as his leg gave out underneath him, and he collapsed to the ground, smashing his forehead against the floor. Ultra Magnus went to give Optimus some assistance, but the Prime shook his head as he struggled back onto his pedes.
Ratchet's optics suddenly widened, realising that Optimus was trying to regain his ability to move for only one purpose. He immediately strode forward and grabbed Optimus' arm, then growled, "You're in no condition to be chasing Vesper down!"
Optimus angrily pulled his arm out of Ratchet's grasp. "I am the only one who can convince her to return!" he growled, returning to his attempts to move around a bit better than he was currently doing. Ratchet sighed but took a few steps back, watching as the Prime stumbled around and attempted to regain his ability to walk. However, he just could not do it. After yet another failed attempt to walk, the Prime sat down on the edge of the medical table and buried his face in his servos.
"Optimus," Arcee said, walking over and standing in front of the Prime. "Don't feel bad about this. You're not to blame."
"If I am not, as you so claim," Optimus said, his voice radiating a misery that made Arcee flinch when she heard it, "Then who is?" The femme looked away then, as did the others, and Optimus' eyes widened his horror as he realised what they were all implying. "What… What do you mean?" he breathed, his optics flicked between each bot. Every time he tried to meet their eyes, they glanced away. "You… You believe yourselves to be at fault?" he asked, his voice strained.
Ratchet nodded slowly. "Yes, we do… because we didn't trust her." He looked away.
Optimus was horrified by what he'd heard. He didn't, however, take it out on the team. He understood their distrust, although he did not share it. Instead, he pressed two fingers to his audio processor and desperately tried to get in contact with the femme he cherished with his entire being, but all he got was static. Nothing more. His optics widened as he fruitlessly attempted again and again and again, but then he cried out in anguish and gave up. Burying his face in his servos, he began to cry, and everyone flinched away. Not a single one of them, in their days serving under him, had ever heard Optimus cry. And none of them liked it. It didn't seem right, hearing sobs coming from Optimus' lips.
However, Optimus' attempts at patching communications through had worked. Vesper had pulled over on the side of the road and was simply idling. Even though she had effectively scrambled her communication line, she could still receive calls. Garbled as they were, she could still receive them, and she had received every single one of Optimus' desperate calls.
She was desperately trying to restrain herself. She didn't want to cause Optimus unnecessary worry, but she also wanted to remain separate from the other bots… at least until she could do something that would make them trust her again.
"I am sorry, Optimus," she whispered to herself before continuing her journey, "But I cannot return. Not yet." She drove at a decent speed, pulling onto the highway and initialising her human holomatter form. She had a clear indication of where she wanted to go. An energon mine was located near to her current coordinates, of that she was certain. She knew that she had to go and scout it out, at least; taking it was not an option, not for her. She needed to get some back-up before she could even think about taking the energon mine from Decepticon hands.
Hiding behind an outcrop of rocks, she watched as Vehicons – worker class, not fighter class – walked out of the mine, pushing carts of energon. Her eyes narrowed as she watched, then they widened as someone else walked out of the mine. She couldn't believe her optics, and tried desperately to convince herself that she was seeing nothing more than a mere illusion, but she failed and hung her head.
"Megatron," she breathed to herself, sitting against the rocks she was hiding behind. "He lived… but how?" she asked herself, using her peripheral vision to glance around the rocks as Megatron walked over to the Nemesis, which had landed nearby. Her optics narrowed as she started to think. The answer to Megatron's survival… it simply must be on board the Nemesis!
Suddenly she heard an unmistakeable sound, and she looked over to see a Ground Bridge opening near to her. Her optics widened, and she shook her head as she scrambled behind something that was hidden from those emerging from the vortex. She soon found that it was Ultra Magnus, Wheeljack, Miko and Bulkhead, and she silently cursed as she pressed herself closer to her new hiding place.
"Alright," she heard Ultra Magnus say, "We must ensure we take this mine." It was very clear to her that none of the Autobots had noticed the Nemesis, nor had they realised that Megatron was still alive and kicking.
"I doubt you will be able to," she suddenly said to the group of four, although she did not move from her hiding spot. "The Decepticon warship is near here. Look around, and you shall soon discover this for yourself."
"Vesper?" Wheeljack said, his voice filled with worry. Then he turned to the others and scratched his head. "Or am I hearing things?"
Ultra Magnus shook his head. "I, too, heard her voice."
Bulkhead nodded in agreement, then frowned as he looked around. "But where is she?"
Miko looked around, searching for any indication of the Autobot femme, but her eyes settled on the Nemesis before she actually saw Vesper. "Oh no…," she breathed. The bots turned and saw it too, and Vesper peered out to see Ultra Magnus' eyes flash dangerously as he spotted Megatron. Miko clearly saw him too, and she scowled. "Ugh, he's a giant metal cockroach!" she hissed, stomping her foot.
Wheeljack quickly gathered the human up and ducked behind a nearby outcrop – the very same one that Vesper had been hiding behind moments before they'd arrived – as did Bulkhead and Ultra Magnus, just as a Vehicon looked in their direction. Each of them prayed to Primus that they hadn't been detected, and Miko whimpered quietly as Wheeljack set her back down on the ground.
"We have to think up a plan, and quickly," Bulkhead grumbled. However, the moment he said that, almost everyone knew that Wheeljack was just going to do something stupid. And that was exactly what he did.
The Wrecker jumped out from behind the outcrop with a battle cry, drawing both of his katanas from his back and launching his assault on the shocked Vehicons. He cut many of them down before they could even react, and those who did manage to retaliate were unwise, for they were sliced in half as well.
Ultra Magnus groaned as he ran out, quietly ordering Bulkhead to stay put and protect Miko as he did so. Using his blasters, the lieutenant managed to give Wheeljack a bit of cover, but it wasn't enough to keep the Vehicons from surrounding the Wrecker, who welcomed the challenge cheerfully.
"Wheeljack!" Ultra Magnus yelled as he summoned something to his hand – a massive electro-magnetic pulse hammer – and swung. Wheeljack dodged, as Ultra Magnus had hoped he would do, but the unsuspecting Vehicons didn't, and they got smashed for it. "Fall back!" the lieutenant ordered, but it was too late for the both of them.
Megatron, standing near the Nemesis, watched as Ultra Magnus and Wheeljack fought off the Vehicons with an evilly amused expression on his face. The Autobots had fallen right into his trap, and they didn't even realise it.
Vesper, however, had realised it, and she peered out from behind the rock she was sitting against, her optics narrowing as Megatron turned on his heel and walked inside of the Nemesis. She ran out from her cover – revealing herself to the others – and jumped onto the warship just as it began to take off. She heard a shout, but didn't bother to check who had spoken; instead, she found her way into the ship and headed towards the bridge, where Megatron would be.
She soon found herself there, and she opened the door to find Megatron and Soundwave waiting for her. They both had their backs turned to her initially, but when she cleared her throat, the two of them whipped around. Megatron snarled at her, but she didn't flinch.
"I was wondering what had happened to you," she said simply, and Megatron's scowl grew larger. His blade appeared from just above his right servo as he clenched his fists.
"And what, pray tell, are you doing here?" he hissed, his angry red optics narrowing.
"I came to investigate something," she said simply, smiling politely. Then she turned on her heel and went to walk away, but then she turned yet again and leapt for Megatron. She shocked the 'Con greatly as she twisted her body and slammed her pede into his metal cheek, which didn't do much, but still managed to make him stumble backwards and fall to his knees. Soundwave didn't take lightly to Vesper's assault, as he leapt forward and tried to attack her, but she dodged, thanking the fact that she'd made a hobby out of learning the various forms of Cybertronian martial arts. Of course, she was all too aware that Soundwave had, like Megatron, once been a gladiator in the pits of Kaon, and she understood that he was dangerous.
A Ground Bridge suddenly opened behind the femme as she jumped back, dodging another blow from Soundwave. She looked back at it and grimaced, wondering who was returning back to the Decepticon ship, but when a familiar yellow and black bot ran through it, her optics widened.
"Bumblebee, leave!" she yelled, then she looked back at Soundwave only to get struck on the face. She cried out as she flew backwards and landed heavily on the ground. Pain shot through her shoulder and she cried out, then she looked up as Megatron managed to get to his feet. Bumblebee, however, engaged neither of the Decepticons; instead, he ran over and picked Vesper up, then dragged her through the Ground Bridge just as it closed.
She struggled against Bumblebee's grip as the two of them walked into the base, and when the scout released her, Vesper stumbled backwards. Optimus was not present in the room – Ratchet had helped the Prime to his own room so he could recharge – and for that, Vesper was quite glad.
Wheeljack, Bulkhead, Miko and Ultra Magnus had returned to base before Vesper and Bumblebee. Miko was covered in bruises, while the three bots were scratched and dented. All of them, however, seemed glad to see Vesper back, although she was in no way happy to have returned so soon.
"I left for a reason," she said angrily. "I am not pleased that you have brought me back here."
"We wanted to apologise to you," Arcee suddenly said, stunning Vesper into silence. Her anger dissipated, and she looked away as Arcee sighed, walked over and placed her servo on the scarlet femme's left shoulder. "We… shouldn't have distrusted you." She looked away, and Vesper frowned.
"You had every reason to distrust me, I will admit that," she said, looking down at the ground. "I suppose that, to you Autobots, being a former Decepticon would be a great crime." She looked at everyone, who seemed to just have apologetic expressions on their faces. Even Ultra Magnus, the one who appeared to dislike her the most, appeared to be sorrowful as well. "I understand that, but while that stigma still casts its shadow over me, then I cannot stay."
"Vesper, you need to stay," Ratchet suddenly piped up with, and everyone looked over at him.
"Why?" she asked, rubbing her arm. "I do not feel as if I should be here. I—"
"It's not your fault you were duped into being a 'Con!" Alice suddenly shouted, stamping her foot. "Don't you dare say that your spark can't be redeemed because it can!" She stormed over and put her hand defiantly on her hip. "And while we haven't been the best at helping you to realise that, we know that we're wrong, and we know that you're an Autobot just like them!" she exclaimed, gesturing at the Autobots, who were nodding in agreement.
Vesper smiled sadly, then looked away. "You are all very kind," she whispered. But she then shook her head. "Regardless of that, however, that stain will not leave. Ever." She looked up at everyone. "There are some who would say that, since I was once a Decepticon, I will return to them eventually. Are you willing to risk that?" she asked, crossing her arms over her chassis.
"I am," a tired voice said then, and everyone looked over to see Optimus standing at the end of the hallway that lead to everyone's rooms, leaning heavily on the wall. He had a relieved yet sad smile on his face, and he also looked like he was in agonising pain. "Because I know that you are no Decepticon… and you will not go back." Vesper smiled as Optimus pushed himself off of the wall and staggered over to her, then placed his servos on the femme's shoulders. "Thank you for returning, even if it were not by your own will," he said, casting a grateful look over at Bumblebee, who beeped in embarrassment and turned to talk to Raf.
"I… I may not be of much use to you or your team," Vesper said, looking tenderly into Optimus' eyes, "But I will do everything in my power to help you."
Optimus nodded. "That is all we ask of you," he said. Then, much to the surprise of everyone – including Vesper – he pulled the femme into a hug and whispered, "I missed you. I am glad you have returned."
The femme shocked everyone even more by returning the Prime's hug. "I have missed you too. And, as much as I did not believe I would admit this ever again," she said as he stepped away, placing his servos on her shoulders and keeping her at arm's length, "It is good to be back."