Strate Incorporation was a well-established medical company, which had been serving the medical industry for 50 long years. The company was renowned for producing and shipping medical tools and equipment to various hospitals worldwide. They even undertook charity work, like any other normal company would.
It was hard to imagine that this company had any involvement with M.E.C.H.
Deep inside their laboratory, the place where outsiders would never be able to set foot, horrific tests were being carried out on alien technology with human test subjects. The walls were tainted with the blood and screams of the helpless victims, who died alone with no funeral or ceremony.
Today, however, was different. There was an outsider in the server room.
"Okay, I'm in. What's the next step?" said the invader with black hair, his voice tinged with excitement and a hint of nervousness.
A staticky voice crackled through the device in his ear, "Just plug in the drive and let the virus do its work."
Jack's hands shook slightly as he grabbed the black USB and plugged it into the system. He couldn't help but glance around nervously, constantly checking for any signs of approaching guards. Time was of the essence.
As he worked, his mind wandered to his missing friend Raf. It would be so much easier if you were here. he thought to himself with a sigh. You always made this kind of thing look like a piece of cake.
A sound of footsteps echoed in the room. Jack's heart raced as he readied a stun gun, aiming it at the corner where the sound was coming from. "How much time left?" he whispered to the device in his ear.
"Only three minutes left," came the answer.
Jack bit his lip nervously. Three minutes was too slow. His hand shook with fear as he contemplated the worst-case scenarios. What if he missed? What if the guard noticed him first and shot him in the head? What if they captured him and subjected him to the same tests he had seen performed on others?
The guard rounded the corner and Jack fired the stun gun. The guard went limp and crumpled to the ground.
"What?" Jack couldn't believe he had actually pulled it off. "Oh...that was easy."
Jack couldn't believe he had actually pulled off the heist. He held the black USB in his hand as he heard the voice in his ear confirming the successful hack.
"Data is downloaded." the voice confirmed through his earpiece. "Get out of there, now!"
He had to get out of there quickly before he got caught.
Jack quickly retrieved the drive and leaped up into the vent he had come from, leaving behind only one unconscious guard.
Outside, Ratchet had disguised himself as a hospital car and was parked discreetly at the side of the building. Jack emerged from the air vent. As he landed on the ground, he saw Ratchet's disguised hospital car parked nearby. Jack didn't wait for a second signal, he quickly hopped in the car, urging Ratchet to drive off. "Go go go!"
The car quickly sped off into the street, disappearing into the busy traffic. He kept looking back, checking to see if anyone was following them. But as they hit the open road, Jack couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief. The job was done, and they had escaped without getting caught. No one suspected that he had ever been at the Strate Incorporation building, and the evidence on the drive would soon be in the hands of the Autobots.
Ratchet pounded his fist on the console in frustration. "They knew nothing! Not even Raf's name was mentioned in the logs."
Optimus approached and placed a reassuring hand on the medic's shoulder. "Don't be angry, Ratchet. At least we can eliminate them from our list of suspects."
"So, when do we start attacking the Decepticon's ship?" asked Bulkhead.
"We don't even know their location," replied Optimus. "We need to find them first. They could be mining energon, so we'll need to locate their mine to find their base."
Ratchet shook his head. "There are too many energon mines on this planet, Optimus. We can't search them all quickly enough. Raf doesn't have that much time."
Jack waved his hand in the air to get their attention, fidgeting with anticipation. The Autobots shifted their attention to him, and nodded, indicating that they were all ears.
"Err, may I ask something?" he asked, tentatively. The bots waited patiently for him to continue. "Where is Bumblebee? Shouldn't he be back by now?" he asked, his expression creasing with worry.
Ratchet's optics widened, and he quickly began typing in commands to his console. After a few moments, a red dot appeared on the map on the screen.
"It seems like Bumblebee is at an Energon mine in the center of the desert," Ratchet said, his voice filled with concern.
"Maybe he already found the Decepticon's base!" Jack exclaimed in excitement. "He chose to follow their trail instead of M.E.C.H."
"Then what are we waiting for?" Miko exclaimed, jumping to her feet. "Let's go after him!"
"Autobots, transform and roll out!" Optimus commanded, and in a flash, all of the Autobots transformed into their vehicle forms. Jack mounted Arcee and Miko clambered into Bulkhead, and they hurtled through the groundbridge portal in pursuit of Bumblebee.
The symbiote and the mech were flying in the sky, with Soundwave's alt-mode. After the fifth failed attempt to fly without crashing his head into the wall of their quarters, the communication officer had the idea to teach him how to fly. Hey Soundwave. the symbiote asked.
Laserbeak: What is your purpose for calling? responded the mech.
I just want to know what happened to my body, the old one. said the symbiote.
Laserbeak felt uneasiness through their bond, so he felt the need to clarify. I am just curious, that's all. I cannot go back to my body right now. Our connection is too strong, I cannot break it unless I want to kill myself.
The unpleasant feeling went away. "Rafael's body is safe on the ship. Laserbeak's worry is unnecessary."
When the symbiote heard that, a small smile appeared in his mind. Thanks for not throwing it away.
Soundwave soared through the sky, relishing in the freedom of flight. As the wind whipped around their body, he spoke to Laserbeak through their bond. Laserbeak and Soundwave: Wounds will heal someday. Laserbeak's human body: Important for later.
Laserbeak was taken aback by this statement. You mean… I can be back in my body one day?
Affirmative
Soundwave's confirmation brought a sense of hope to the symbiote. Tears formed in his eyes, but as a robot, he knew that his body couldn't physically cry. Thank you. he said, his gratitude for Soundwave's words running deeper than just a simple expression of appreciation.
Although Soundwave didn't say anything in response, the connection through their bond was enough for Laserbeak. As they continued to soar through the sky, Soundwave demonstrated some flying skills and gave Laserbeak some advice on his own tricks.
"Laserbeak: Flying skill should be average now," he relayed through their mind.
Laserbeak scowled at the remark. "Are you trying to say that I was pathetic before?" he shot back.
Soundwave executed a perfect flip in the air. "Soundwave: correct remark."
Laserbeak was indignant. "Hey! That's not fair! It's my first time flying! Now that I know the basics, you should be more careful with your words." Then, an idea struck him. "How about a race? Whoever makes it back to base first is right about the other's skill level."
Soundwave dispatched Laserbeak from beneath him, and the metallic bird flew effortlessly through the air. "Soundwave: accept."
"Then...bye!" Laserbeak flew off toward the base before the signal to start the race was even given.
Soundwave let out what could only be described as a mental sigh, then raced after his creation. He couldn't bear the thought of losing a race to his inexperienced symbiote...It would have been an earful.
A yellow Autobot, Bumblebee, hid behind a large rock formation as he observed the Decepticon base. The entrance to an energon mine was heavily guarded by numerous vehicons, and an enormous flying warship hovered overhead.
Bumblebee knew that it would be foolish to attack head-on; he did not want to risk his life for nothing after following Knockout for so long. However, he had a plan, a crazy one, but it might just work. He needed to lure one of the vehicons away from the group so that he could take it out unnoticed.
As if on cue, one of the vehicons broke off from the group and began patrolling the perimeter. Bumblebee saw this as his chance and quickly sprang into action.
Bumblebee, relying on his experience as a scout, hid silently behind a rock and waited patiently for a Decepticon vehicon to pass by. When one of the vehicons walked straight into his trap, Bumblebee gave a hard punch to the mech's helm, knocking him out cold. He then dragged the body to a nearby cave he had discovered and retrieved the connecting cable from his pouch.
The idea of using the cable had come to him when Megatron had invaded his mind and controlled him like a puppet. Bumblebee was determined to use this tactic against his enemies. He plugged one end of the cable into his port on his neck and the other end into the vehicon's port on his back.
He couldn't back out now.
Bumblebee drove his mind through the cable, out of his own body and into the new one. His mind traveled through the vehicon's system and he discovered that the data this con held was only a simple command and a simple personality. The presence of the body's owner couldn't fight his much stronger will. He pushed the vehicon's mind into the depths of the mind space and let his presence fill it instead, allowing the body to accept his mind's control. The con's spark enveloped him like a perfectly fitting armor. There was no resistance from a weaker mind. It didn't take him long to open his new optics...no, a single red slit visor became online.
As his mind settled into the new vehicon body, the world around him momentarily turned red before returning to its original colors. Looking down, he saw his own recharge body lying motionless next to him. It was an eerie sensation to be standing in someone else's body while his own lay there like an empty shell. Testing his movements, he found that the vehicon's frame was slimmer and weaker than his own. He called out the weapon and found a very weak blaster attached to both of his arms. The only positive aspect was that his speed was significantly increased in this form, making it harder for his enemies to take him down.
Looking back at his yellow body, he knew that it was nothing more than an empty vessel housing only his spark and energon. He made sure to arrange it so that when he returned, it wouldn't be damaged in any way. Walking out of the cave, he took one last glance at his own body before transforming into his new vehicon alt mode - a sleek black and purple sports car, and drove out of the cave, ready to infiltrate the decepticon's base.
Unbeknownst to him, a portal of groundbridge appeared after he left.
Suddenly, a voice rang out, "Hey Bumblebee! Do you... What the? Bumblebee!"