"You blew them up?!" Ultra Magnus roared, and Wheeljack – not usually scared of anything – actually cringed away. The rest of Team Prime were all sitting around, watching the lieutenant reprimand the Wrecker for his behaviour with amused expressions on their faces. Ratchet had Alice in his lap, and the girl had drifted off into sleep. They'd driven for hours, not really having a specific destination in mind, and now they found themselves in the middle of a pit of cacti; that one had been Bulkhead's fault, because he was the one who'd thought that the cacti were harmless, not remembering that the humans had far softer skin. Luckily, Ultra Magnus had thought to clear a small grove in the middle of the small, cactus-filled chasm, and now they were all resting.
"It was the only way I could think to get rid of them!" Wheeljack exclaimed as Ultra Magnus clenched his servos. He'd returned his hammer to his personal subspace but was seriously considering summoning it again and using it to smash the Wrecker into a mangled scrapheap. However, he was refraining, for even though the Wrecker pissed him off, Ultra Magnus knew that Wheeljack was an integral part of Team Prime.
"I'm sorry, Wheeljack, but Ultra Magnus has a point," Arcee piped up. She'd joined up with the others at some point; she'd gone ahead to pick up some food for the humans, who had thanked her and happily chowed down. "You really shouldn't have done that; it probably attracted attention." She shook her head and crossed her arms over her chassis. "Let's hope you weren't spotted."
Wheeljack shrugged nonchalantly. "Nah. I set the timer, then got out of there before it went up," he explained, and while that didn't make Ultra Magnus feel any better, he decided that there was no point raging anymore. Instead, he turned to the others and asked what their next objective was, only for Miko to enthusiastically exclaim that she wanted to see if it was possible to rent a cargo ship. This earned her dry looks from the other humans and amused ones from the bots.
"Miko, that's really not possible," June sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose. "If it was possible, it would be absurdly expensive." She looked up at the Japanese girl – who now looked defeated – and smiled sadly. "We will find a way to reunite with Optimus and Vesper, rest assured, but we can't use a cargo ship."
"But that would be awesome…," Miko whined, curling up next to Bulkhead, who just looked down at her and huffed in sadness. He didn't like the idea of being separated from Optimus and Vesper either, but he – just like the others – had contented themselves with the knowledge that the two missing bots were still online. Miko, clearly, would not rest until the missing pair was safe and sound, as well as with the rest of Team Prime.
"Look, I'll see if I can patch in communications again," Ratchet eventually sighed after the group fell silent. Everyone looked over at him as he slowly shook his head. "I do not promise anything, but the least I can do is try. We could have well moved out of communication range." He placed a finger to his audio processor and attempted to open a communication line, which succeeded. What didn't succeed was actually patching it into Optimus' or Vesper's frequency, and he sighed as he closed the line and his hand fell back to his side. "Nothing," he said miserably. Whatever happy mood the others had managed to scrape up had disappeared instantly, and everyone looked away from Ratchet, not wanting to meet his optics.
The only thing none of them realised is that Optimus had gotten the communication, but even though he'd tried to talk, he had received nothing in response. In fact, all he'd gotten was something that was a combination of garble and static, and he was still confused by it. However, he'd not dwelled on his confusion; instead he was aiding Vesper's speedy recovery. The femme could walk almost perfectly now and there was no pain in her leg. There was, however, something darker inside of her; it was something that Optimus was scared would take her away from him. He didn't even have to mention it, either; Vesper was fully aware of Optimus' fear, and she wanted so badly to console him about it, but she had very little idea on how to do that especially when she couldn't even help herself.
"Well, you are walking fine, and you have all mobility back," Optimus noted as Vesper kicked out with her leg. He was proud of how strong she had been; rehabilitation was not easy on anyone. "If Ratchet was here, and you were a soldier, I think that he would clear you for active duty."
Vesper smiled at him as she resumed a normal standing pose. "That is a relief," she said. "Although I do believe that the doctor needs to actually say that for that decision to come into effect." She walked over to Optimus, who was sitting underneath the tree that they'd stayed underneath for some time. Then she sat down and nestled into his side, and he smiled gently as he put his arm around her. They stayed like that for at least ten minutes, revelling in their contact and the warmth of the sunlight, before Vesper sighed and said, "We should really begin to find a way off of this small island."
Optimus frowned, then nodded. "I agree, although we were instructed to stay put." He looked up at the clouds that were drifting overhead. "But I can see that there is really no possible reason why we cannot give the others some assistance in locating us." He smiled as he stood, pulling Vesper to her own pedes as he did so. "Come on; we shall see what is on this island."
"Are we walking?" Vesper asked as Optimus' arm slid off of her shoulders and he started to head towards a nearby rocky outcrop. He stopped and looked back at her, nodding as a frown dawned on his face. When he inquired as to why she'd asked, she appropriately responded with, "This island may be small, but it could still be inhabited. We do need to remain hidden."
Optimus nodded. "Indeed. However," he said, looking around, "This island is quite remote. Using vehicular mode to get around is… conspicuous."
Vesper frowned. Then she nodded; Optimus was correct. "Alright. We will walk, then?" she asked, extending her hand to him. He took it with absolutely no hesitation, and she smiled as her spark fluttered within her spark chamber. They walked along the beach, heading towards the rocky outcrop, and soon found themselves standing right before the dreary grey stone. Optimus told his sparkmate to remain where she was as he pulled his hand gently from hers and started to climb up the cliff, and she watched as he deftly, gracefully ascended. She admired the way that he seemed to know what he was doing, and a small smile appeared on her face.
That smile disappeared, replaced with a horrified expression, when Optimus got to the top of the cliff, did some surveillance, and then proceeded to jump down.
When he landed, Vesper was quick to run over to him. "Are you a fool?!" she exclaimed as he straightened up, acting like he hadn't just jumped off of a cliff. Granted, it wasn't a very big cliff face and he was thirty-two feet tall, but Vesper didn't even take that into consideration. All she had seen was Optimus jump, and she doubted that Ratchet could just teleport to their location. If he'd been able to, he probably would have done so by now. "You could have hurt yourself! Are you injured?!"
Optimus smiled at her assuredly. "I am fine, Vesper. You worry unnecessarily," he said, striding over and hugged his sparkmate. He leaned his arms on her shoulders and looked down at her tenderly. "It is not the first time I have done something like that."
Vesper snorted angrily, then smiled forgivingly as she wrapped her arms around her sparkmate's waist. "I have never seen you do such a foolish thing," she said, her tone reminding Optimus of Ratchet, "But I never want you to do that again. You could have hurt yourself severely."
Optimus chuckled. "I am aware of that, my dear," he said, his voice gentle. "Also, would you like to hear my report about this island?"
It was a rather unsubtle change of subject, but Vesper welcomed it. "Of course. Considering we are stranded here."
Optimus smiled, never taking his optics from his sparkmate. "This island is smaller than we thought. It would take us mere hours to walk around it." He frowned. "But it is very isolated. The nearest civilisation is… well, I do not know the answer to that one."
Vesper's optics widened. "You mean that there is no civilisation on this island at all?" she breathed, and Optimus nodded. That made Vesper feel quite disheartened, but at the same time she was glad. She was disheartened because it meant that they were well and truly isolated, but she was glad because it meant that she was truly alone with the one she loved. She was happy just being with him, but being alone with him gave her the chance to truly take in what she had, and it gave her time to truly feel blessed.
Of course, that feeling came to an abrupt, ugly end. That little voice in the back of her mind was whispering again, telling her things that she didn't want to believe. She stiffened in Optimus' embrace, and he immediately stepped back, pulling himself out of her arms, removing his arms from her shoulders and putting his servos on them instead. "Vesper?" he breathed worriedly as the femme squeezed her eyes shut and started to rapidly shake her head. "Vesper, is it… that voice again?" Optimus asked once Vesper's head-shaking had ceased, and she nodded before slumping.
"This is terrible," she breathed, her voice quaking. "I do not like this, Optimus; I feel as if it is ripping me apart from the inside."
Optimus didn't know what to say as he pulled Vesper into a tight hug. He hated the fact that something was hurting her, and as much as he'd promised to protect her from everything that threatened to cause her harm, he had no idea how to protect her from her own mind!
Suddenly a cold gust of wind caused a shiver to run up Optimus' backstrut, and he shuddered before looking around. The sky had gotten eerily malicious-looking, and this caused the Prime to bite his lip in worry. "Vesper, we need to seek shelter," he advised, and Vesper – after looking up and seeing the ugly colour the sky was turning – nodded in agreement. They quickly ducked underneath a jutting part of the rock, and they were soon glad that they had; the heavens opened, and a torrential gush of rain poured forth.
Both of them were unimpressed, but they knew that if they stayed where they were, they were less likely to get drenched. They did get rained on a little bit, but mostly the two remained dry, and as they sat against the rock Optimus found himself wondering how long this storm was going to last for…
And he also found himself wondering what the others were doing.
Team Prime was mobilising. They were leaving the cacti-filled grove and driving back towards Jasper, Nevada. A dangerous move, they all knew that, but a necessary one. It was Wheeljack who had suggested that they return back to their possibly destroyed base to retrieve the one thing that could actually be used to fetch Optimus and Vesper: Ultra Magnus' personal ship.
"It's the only way I can think of that doesn't mean we have to pay a scrapheap of money for a cargo ship," he'd said, and it was those words that had finally convinced Ratchet and Ultra Magnus – the two in charge of the group in Optimus' absence – to return to their base.
Alice was sitting in Ratchet's cab, having a cheerful conversation with him about the concept of automotive shops, which he considered to be black market. Jack and June were in Wheeljack's cab, and each one of them was dead silent. Miko and Bulkhead were listening to Slash Monkey, while Raf was snoozing in Bumblebee's cab. Ultra Magnus was driving in front of the convoy, and he was keeping to himself, only speaking when spoken to.
They didn't know how long it was going to take for them to return to Jasper, but they were thankful they were still located in the United States of America. It was doubtful that any of them would have been able to handle being on another continent, or in another country, although Alice had mentioned that she wanted to go to Paris. Ratchet had snorted in amusement at that one.
"Guys," Arcee said after almost six hours of the convoy being on the road. "I think I need to stop. I'm falling asleep."
Ultra Magnus knew that it was no good to force the two-wheeler to continue. "Alright. We will find somewhere to stop for the night." The group decided that it was best for them to avoid civilisation, but civilisation seemed determined to find them.
More specifically, two people. A man and a woman that Alice had never wanted to see again. She cringed against the chair, and a part of Ratchet wanted to keep driving, but he knew that he had to obey Ultra Magnus' orders.
"Ultra Magnus, whatever you do, let me handle these two," Ratchet growled as he initiated his human holoform, pulling his main body over and turning off. The others followed his example, and when he said, "Initiate your human holoforms," everyone – including Ultra Magnus – did as they were asked.
And each and every one of them knew that, whatever was about to happen, it was not going to be pretty.