"Come in, base!" Bulkhead roared for what had to be the fiftieth time as he sheltered behind the wall of an abandoned, decrepit building. Wheeljack had been injured, as the two had been set upon by Decepticons almost as soon as they'd finished their scouting mission and had been about to request a bridge back to base. Now, they were trying to maintain what little cover they could, which wasn't easy considering that Wheeljack was leaking energon profusely. "Scrap!" Bulkhead cursed as he once again found that nobody would pick up. "Jackie, you holding up?" Bulkhead asked as he turned to the one he considered a brother, and the white Wrecker nodded.
"Yeah, but I really could use some patching up," he said, his voice little more than a pained growl. Bulkhead nodded, but there was nothing more that he could say. Instead he peered around the corner of the old building the two 'Bots were hiding behind, and he noticed that the Vehicons were closing in at a rapid rate. When he informed Wheeljack of this, the Wrecker grunted and said, "Megatron's really stepped up his game."
The olive green former Wrecker nodded in agreement. "Yeah… he's been attacking us far more often," he admitted, before changing one of his servos into a blaster and firing at the approaching Decepticon troops. He managed to eliminate a number of them, but more just seemed to appear from nowhere, and this caused Bulkhead to growl in frustration as he tried, yet again, to get in contact with the Autobot base. But, like his previous attempts, nobody picked up, and his growl turned into a low roar of anger.
Suddenly the two Wreckers heard the sound of electricity, and Bulkhead peered out to see many of the Vehicons scorched and on the ground, twitching and convulsing as electrical currents wracked their body. Upon closer inspection, the olive green bot soon figured out who had electrocuted the Decepticon troops; Ultra Magnus was standing on the cliff-face, his EMP hammer in hand, his optics trained on the stilling Vehicons. Then he jumped down and, returning his weapon to his personal subspace, he walked over to the hiding Wreckers.
"Are you two well?" he asked. Hearing an unamused grunt from Wheeljack, however, made Ultra Magnus look over and immediately take his words back. "I will take that as a no," he said. Then he attempted to make contact with the Autobot base, but just like Bulkhead, the lieutenant got absolutely no answer. This caused him to sigh. "We very well cannot drive back, not with Wheeljack in this condition."
"Not to mention," the injured Wrecker groaned, "That we're nowhere near the base."
Ultra Magnus nodded. "Indeed," he said, just as a comm was patched through to his comm line. The Autobot warrior frowned as he pressed a finger to his audio processor and said, "Ultra Magnus speaking."
"It's Arcee," the lieutenant heard, and immediately he frowned. "We have a situation, sir; Bumblebee is injured, and I can't get in contact with the base," she said, and his frown grew.
"You are not the only ones," he informed the femme. "Wheeljack is injured, and Bulkhead and I have attempted to get into contact with the base with little success." He shook his head, although Arcee couldn't see the gesture. "Have you attempted to make contact with anyone else?"
"Yes, sir, I tried to contact Optimus. He didn't answer," she said, and this caused Ultra Magnus to stiffen, alarmed. He turned to Bulkhead and Wheeljack, who were giving him the same look he was giving them. "The same with Vesper. I get static with both of them."
Ultra Magnus shook his head. "Have you attempted to contact Ratchet directly?"
"Negative, sir," she said, and Ultra Magnus sighed.
"Stay where you are. I will contact the doctor. Is that understood?" he asked, and after Arcee confirmed that she would do as ordered, the lieutenant cut off the comm line and immediately switched it to Ratchet's frequency.
Alice, Miko, Jack and Raf were all conversing when Ratchet's comm link started to beep, and Ratchet shushed them before answering it. "Ratchet speaking," he said, wondering who had contacted him.
"Doctor, where are you?" Ultra Magnus asked, which caused all of the children to share a silent look of confusion. "We require an immediate Ground Bridge!"
"I'm pulling into the base now," Ratchet said just as he pulled in and stopped in the main foyer of the base. The humans immediately got out before Ratchet transformed and strode swiftly over to the Ground Bridge control mechanism, typing in Ultra Magnus' coordinates and pulling the lever down.
Immediately a swirling green vortex opened before Ultra Magnus, Wheeljack and Bulkhead, and the lieutenant nodded to Bulkhead before striding over, helping the fallen Wrecker to his feet, and helping him into the vortex. Bulkhead ran in afterwards, and the bridge closed as the three found themselves in the base. Then Ratchet set in Arcee's coordinates and opened a bridge for them, only for Bumblebee to limp in with the two-wheeler's help. As the bridge closed after those two, Ratchet went to open another bridge, setting it for Optimus' and Vesper's coordinates, but he was stopped by Bulkhead.
"We can't get in contact with them," he said, which made Ratchet's optics widen fearfully. "If you open a bridge, we might find ourselves in the midst of a surprise attack."
"That means nothing!" Alice exclaimed, and everyone looked down at the one-armed human girl. "They could be in danger and desperately hoping that someone will come and help them!" She shook her head and placed her singular hand on her hip. "And if you don't investigate, you might never know."
Ratchet scowled. "I know that, Alice, but it would be foolish to go and walk right into a trap!" He shook his head. "We're already ridiculously outnumbered!"
"Stop fighting!" Raf suddenly yelled, and everyone looked over at him. He gestured to Bumblebee and Wheeljack, who were sitting on the medical tables and watching the others with pained expressions. "We already have two bots down, Alice. We can't afford to lose more, especially considering that there's a small chance that Vesper and Optimus have just had their comm lines blocked."
Miko nodded. "Yeah, they could just be below ground or something," she exclaimed, and Alice's blue eyes flashed with realisation before she looked down at the ground and mumbled an apology.
Jack sighed. "Yet we still have to find out what happened to them, somehow."
Ratchet sighed and nodded. However, he said nothing more about the matter; instead he headed over and examined his two patients. Wheeljack's wound was easily treatable – as he only had one, on the lower abdomen – but Bumblebee was absolutely covered in gashes, which were all oozing energon. After a few inquiries, the medic soon figured out that the Decepticons had surprise-attacked them; Ultra Magnus was currently the only one other than Ratchet himself that had not been attacked by Megatron's forces. This concerned the medic, but he didn't voice his thoughts as he patched the two injured bots up and advised them to take it easy.
Hours passed with no contact from both Optimus and Vesper, and as time went on the rest of Team Prime became more and more concerned. As the hours passed, the others headed to bed, and Ratchet felt fearful for the safety of the Prime and his sparkmate as he headed for his own berth. Alice had gone to sleep much earlier, and when Ratchet walked into his room he found her curled up – cocooned in her blanket – next to his headrest, and as he lay down next to her he felt a small, nervous frown appear on his face.
He prayed to Primus that Vesper and Optimus were alright. And as he drifted off into sleep, he couldn't help but think that the two were in a situation they just could not handle…
And he was horribly, horribly right.
Vesper was lying against the ground, agonising pain shooting up her backstrut. Nearby, Optimus was fighting for the both of them against a huge wave of Vehicons, although it was clear to the femme that her sparkmate was becoming more and more exhausted by the second. She tried to push herself to her feet, but as another sharp burst of pain ran through her back, she cried out and collapsed to the ground yet again.
"Vesper, do not try to move!" Optimus said, his voice filled with fearful concern about his femme's health and wellbeing. "You will only—urk!" He was cut off as a Vehicon shot him close to the spark chamber, but he barely faltered. Driven by the urge to protect Vesper, Optimus fought on… and, at the same time, wished that they hadn't gotten stuck in a battle that was taking place in an underground mining chamber.
Getting back to his pedes, Optimus fought long and hard, until finally no more Vehicons seemed to appear from nowhere. Panting heavily, the Prime slowly strode over to his femme and knelt down next to her. She looked weakly up at him and smiled, agonised, and Optimus sadly frowned down at her in response.
"We are stuck down here," Vesper quietly noted, and Optimus nodded grimly as he sat down and gently took her servo in his own. "You should go to the surface and try to contact base."
Optimus shook his head. "I will not abandon you, not while you are in this condition." He shook his head. "But… you are in need of Ratchet's assistance…" He looked away, biting his lip, only looking back down at the femme when she squeezed one of his fingers.
"Optimus, I… will be fine," she said, wincing as a particularly bad spike of pain ran through her back. "Just go above, try to contact base… for me." She looked into the Prime's optics as she spoke and smiled weakly, and after a few moments of hesitation, Optimus sighed and nodded, standing and walking away. As soon as he was gone, Vesper immediately began to feel claustrophobic, vulnerable and scared; she was in the open, defenceless and injured. It was dark, and the walls seemed to be closing in on her. Closing her optics only served to make her more frightened, so she refrained from doing that, instead wishing that Optimus would return as soon as he was able.
The Prime returned soon after, but the grim look on his face indicated to Vesper that there was something wrong. He confirmed that minutes later when he told her that the entrance to the mine had been blocked, and that he was unable to get into contact with any of the others. The femme felt her spark beat frantically, and she whimpered as another jolt of pain went up her backstrut.
"Optimus…," she whimpered as the Prime sat down next to her and took her servo in his own again. "I am afraid…"
Optimus bit his lip before nodding sadly. "I… I too am afraid," he admitted, and as he squeezed her hand, he wondered if they would be saved by their Autobot comrades…
Or if they would be found by more Decepticons first.