Author's Notes: CCCCChapter four baby lets go! Thanks to everyone for leaving comments and love. Nothing on my end to report, other than how much I love you all! Please enjoy!

Date: January 2nd, 2020, late morning

Rhea

She woke up with the ghost of her migraine still haunting her frontal lobe. She was almost impressed by the pain's resilience considering the number of meds she took to combat the problem, the amount of which could compete with a small pharmacy. She also wasn't back at her apartment, and that fact alone threw her for a loop.

It only took a moment of slightly panicked recalling to remember. Right, she never bothered going home after Soundwave left the planet. She was instead curled up on the couch in the Autobot base. Still in her clothes, and with Soundwave's engagement necklace tangled around her neck, the silver chain it hung from currently trying to strangle her. It was a miracle her migraine wasn't worse, considering how she decided to pass out the night before halfway through file sorting.

Another wonderful contributor to her dwindling headache was the soothing vocals of Agent Fowler cursing in his office. That could only mean Thunderblast and Clobber were finally arriving on Earth. Welp, she should probably handle that.

But as she got up and stretched, she quickly noted the absence of one winged Cybertronian. Laserbeak was nowhere to be found. When Soundwave left the minicon behind, which was rare, Laserbeak seldom abandoned Rhea's side. When she was asleep, he would usually plop himself on top of her until she was conscious again. Apparently, humans sleeping freaked him out. One time, he had presented her with a chart of her erratic heart murmurs and uneven breathing in place of a 'good morning.' That was the day she learned she had a small case of sleep apnea. Of course, having a ton or two worth of Cybertronian hovering a few inches over one's chest probably didn't help sleep quality much.

But she woke up alone. Laserbeak had been acting odd the night before. That could be explained away. Soundwave had left to handle whatever the major malfunction was on Prion. When they were separated, Laserbeak always got a little uneasy.

But Miko also wasn't there. Combined with Laserbeak's MIA status, that was troubling.

Rhea scraped herself off the couch and headed for the locker room. Her reflection in the mirror greeted her with a frown. She managed to shove her hair into a somewhat presentable shape, straighten out her clothes, and reapply deodorant before wandering back into the real world outside the locker room.

It sounded like she hadn't missed much of the Agent Fowler drama. He was counting down the days to his retirement, and she could hear the 'totally done with everything' tone in his voice even from a distance. She climbed the steps to the catwalk, headed for his office. She was technically the only Decepticon Officer here, so this was her job to fix.

Rapheal had appeared in the time it took her to get her life together in the locker room. He was bright-eyed and bushy tailed, as he normally was, and greeted her with a smile and a cup of coffee from the break room. She accepted it like she had been in line for relief rations then sipped at it until wakefulness crept in. "How close are they?" She murmured between sips.

Raf gazed at Agent Fowler's office door, slurping his own beverage. "Last I checked, they just entered the atmosphere. The Autobots here have already been deployed to 'intercept.' Since Thunderblast's radio is conveniently not working again, she couldn't go through the proper channels for landing in the area. Again."

"She should really get that radio checked," Rhea sighed, not even bothering to roll her eyes. "I'll talk to her, again. It may sink in this time."

"At least Clobber is always apologetic," Raf pointed out.

Agent Fowler must have heard Rhea's murmuring, because he came careening out of his office, somehow looking worse than she did. His once black hair turned mostly gray, and he also reluctantly wore every bot related mishap over the course of his military career as a different wrinkle on his face. He had a lot of wrinkles because there had been a lot of mishaps. "Good, you're here! Get your Con's under control before General Price orders an air strike! This is the third time this month they didn't go through the proper channels!"

"Let's try to avoid a military strike on a single Con trying to walk her dog," Rhea pleaded.

Fowler leaned heavily into his door frame, pinching the bridge of his nose. "That damn dog is going to be the death of me."

"He is an Earthling," Raf said with a wry smile. "Isn't that part of the amnesty program the Concurrence came up with?"

Fowler turned his scowling eye onto Raf, "Now you sound like Thunderblast. And the answer is no. Humans have safe harbor to jump between worlds and back to Earth without going through thorough inspections. Dogs do not have that same privilege."

"A bit speciesist, isn't it?" Rhea said, unable to keep herself from poking the angry bear of a man.

Agent Fowler's left eye twitched. Repressing tons of anger and preventing more gray hair from making an appearance, he walked back into his office without another word.

"Ok. Let me defuse this before bombs start going off," Rhea groaned before downing the rest of her coffee. "Have you seen Laserbeak, by the way?'

"Last I saw of him, he was following Miko to the vehicle depo this morning."

"Oh God," Rhea said with a shutter. Who knows what kind of shenanigans the two could get into without her there to supervise.

Raf just laughed at her reaction. "The work is never done," He followed her down the metal steps for the exit, "Also, I know you've been busy, but did you get a chance to take a look at the transmission I sent you?"

"Sorry, I didn't. I'm surprised I had a chance to sleep last night," She admitted. But there was no time like the present. She opened her laptop as they walked outside.

"I should warn you to turn the volume down though," Raf said before she could open the file.

Greatly appreciating the heads up, she did so. She opened the file as she walked over towards the next building, intending to find Laserbeak and catch a ride with Jack to Thunderblast's landing coordinates. Then the squeal of her laptop brought her to an abrupt halt.

She stared in disbelief at the waving patterns on the screen as it matched the high-pitched whine. She recognized it right away. Painful memories of her translator screeching in her ear the day before bubbled back to the surface. "When did this come through and how?"

"I picked it up yesterday with my high sensitivity equipment," Raf explained. "Then it just petered out. None of the bots could make it out either. You recognize it?"

"As a matter of fact," She pulled her translator from her ear. With a bit of fiddling, she pulled up the same sound, still recorded on its drives so Raf could hear. "This came through when I was at home… The signal tended to get stronger when aimed in a certain direction. When it stopped, I couldn't replicate it. I thought it was a problem with the device itself."

Raf rubbed the stubble on his chin thoughtfully, "Weird."

"More than weird," Rhea hummed, startling suddenly with the delayed reaction the migraine from yesterday held back. "I knew I recognized it! When I was driving through the Navada desert almost eleven years ago, and Soundwave was trapped in the Shadow Zone, he sent out an SOS pulse on a higher frequency to get through the dimensional barrier. My transistor radio picked up the frequency and I was able to follow it to his location and help get him out… That SOS frequency sounded very similar to whatever this is."

Raf stared at her translator, the screen on the laptop, then back at her. "Other than Unicron, who else would be stuck in the Shadow Zone?"

Wasn't that the million-dollar question? And she doubted it would be the world destroyer sending out a help me message, since his prison container was technically trapped in the Shadow Zone on Cybertron. That was way too far for them to pick up from here. Much like Soundwave had been, whatever was behind this odd frequency, had to be close. As in, on Earth close. Raf was right. The work was never done.

Now both thoroughly unnerved, they moved on with their original goal, intending to figure out the source of the anomaly after the issue with Thunderblast was dealt with. Laserbeak was still with Miko, who was dressed not for a military base, but rather for one of her late-night concerts. Both human rock star and hovering minicon loomed over Jack who was just trying to do work under the hood of a military vehicle.

"Since when have you been so interested in human stuff, Beak?" Miko inquired, more suspicious than charmed by the sentiment.

The radio on Jack's belt buzzed as Laserbeak tapped into it to talk, much like he did in Rhea's youth when they only had her old Transistor radio to communicate. 'A hobby I have been meaning to indulge in again. Now, if I could carry on the previous line of questioning. How do you go about interweaving the interpretation of quantum mechanics into your daily human lives?'

"I thought you said the questions were going to get easier?" Jack grumbled from under the hood.

"Yeah… that may be a question for a nerdy human," Miko suggested. "As a species, we outsource stuff like that to the nerds among us."

'Interesting,' Laserbeak noted thoughtfully.

"Hey buddy?" Rhea said wearily as they entered the vehicle depo, "What are you up to?"

Laserbeak's boosters buzzed as he hurried over to her, 'Conducting research! And your arrival is impeccably timed. Remind me, I have heard you and Rapheal categorized in the sub class (nerd) by other humans. How would you answer the preceding question?'

"We still on quantum mechanics?" Raf clarified.

"Research in what?" Rhea interrupted.

Instead of coming through Jack's radio, Laserbeak's voice answered through the translator in her ear as was normal. 'Simply put, the Autobot Arcee made some groundless accusations regarding Master Soundwave's dedication to your wellbeing. I offered to conduct research in his place as he was called away on business on one of the colony worlds. I intend to learn only enough to fill in the few gaps we may be missing, contextually speaking.'

Rhea arched a brow, "What did Arcee say to him?"

That was enough to get Jack to peek around the engine, "Oh no, what did Arcee do now?"

"I'm feeling left out!" Miko complained when Laserbeak dropped back into silence from her perspective.

The radio buzzed to life again, 'The Autobot Arcee made the outrageous accusation that Master Soundwave, and by extension me, did not understand enough human subtleties to maintain a meaningful connection with you, Rhea.' He explained, sounding terribly offended by the very notion. 'And of course, that led her to declare that is grounds for halting your Cyberformation.'

"I'm confused how quantum mechanics ties into this," Raf admitted in the following silence.

Rhea blinked, trying to digest all of that, "Ok, let me get this straight. Arcee thinks you guys don't know enough about humanity to… Identify with me? On like, a personal level?"

'In a general sense, yes.' Laserbeak confirmed.

"Why is this an issue now?" Rhea asked, "I don't know everything there is to know about Cybertronian culture, but I'm still basically married to a Cybertronian. Cramming in as much human trivia as you physically can won't really change our dynamic."

'I do like to accumulate information,' Laserbeak explained.

"I know you do buddy," Rhea said while patting his wing.

'But this goes beyond my instinct to collect and archive data! The Autobot Arcee has insulted my Master's honor by asserting he does not have the capacity to care for his Conjunx Endura! And since open violent retaliation against the Autobot faction is no longer an acceptable option, this is a viable alternative of proving her wrong.'

Rhea sighed, long enough she worried her chest would collapse after her lungs fully deflated. "How about this? We don't worry about what other people think. Whenever I have had a question about Cybertronian culture, you and Soundwave have always happily indulged me. So, if you have a question about me or my human-ness, I'll just answer it. Because that's what family does."

Laserbeak contemplated that before answering, 'That is an acceptable compromise.'

"Good. Now let's go get Thunderblast before they get shot out of the sky," Rhea said with a smile. "Jack, can I bother you for a ride?"

Jack slammed the hood shut and dusted his hands. "Bother away. I was headed out too just to avoid Fowler."

With Jack in the driver's seat of the open topped military jeep, they headed off into the desert with Laserbeak flying by their side. Rhea sat on the passenger side with Raf and Miko taking the back. The West Coast air was a glorious 60 degrees out, even in the dead of winter. The sun wasn't even quite as intense as usual, so Rhea basked in it.

"I may need your help with Arcee," Rhea told Jack over the roar of the wind. "As worried as she has been about this whole thing, I haven't been able to nail her down to talk to her. We used to be able to talk at least casually, but ever since the Cyberformation project officially started, I think she's been avoiding me. I know it's not like how Starscream feels about the whole thing. He just thinks it's gross. I doubt that's where she's coming from. Has she said anything to you about it?"

Jack pursed his lips as he staired off into the expansive desert road ahead, "Nah, it's definitely not that. But she has been off for a while. Is it because of your changing? Maybe, she hasn't told me if that's the case. I always thought she and Soundwave got along better than most others on the opposing factions until this whole thing started, to be honest. You're right, it's like a flip switched in her. She may just be worried you'll regret it."

'A fruitless worry,' Laserbeak huffed as he hovered along the side of their jeep.

Rhea hummed, digesting Jack's perspective. He was right about Arcee and Soundwave once being on friendlier terms than most other Con's and Bots, especially with them both holding important seats on their opposing teams. Bumblebee had always wanted a more friendly relationship with Soundwave, but trying to win Soundwave over with a cheery, excitable attitude basically guaranteed Soundwave keep you at arm's reach forever. Of course Bumblebee was not one to give up, ever, but he found an easier friendship in Sharpshot in that department.

Arcee had been different. She and Soundwave were both quiet, socially awkward, and tended to be straight to the point, even if it was cutting. Rhea even caught Soundwave crack one of his rare smirks once or twice in response to something Arcee said to her fellow Autobots.

And it wasn't just a shared hatred of social events the two had in common. Soundwave helped Arcee finally defeat her lifelong enemy Arachnid when the diseased spider bot tried destroying Cybertron ten years previous. In turn, Arcee helped Soundwave track down the final resting place of his beloved minicon Ravage, which had eluded Soundwave for years. After such a semi-recent and positive history, they had at least a passive friendship.

But as Jack had said, one day, it all just stopped. Now Arcee was openly hostile. Every time they shared a space, she appeared as if it took literally everything she had in her not to throttle him for the sake of the Treaty.

There had been no fights or massive falling out. Soundwave wasn't a yeller to begin with. All that progress they made was just gone. Hell, Rhea wondered if Arcee had hated Soundwave this much even during the war. She had such a hard time accepting it was all due to her Cyberformation becoming a reality. She knew Arcee had always opposed it, but aside from the occasional stabbing comment, she never tried standing in the way to prevent it from happening.

Now, stopping Rhea's Cyberformation was Arcee's hill to die on. Even if her fellow Autobots told her to let it go, Arcee was determined to keep Rhea human at all costs. It was like she thought Soundwave was the evil Con mastermind ripping the humanity out of Rhea just for the sheer love of the game. Then when she wasn't getting anywhere with that tactic or yelling at Soundwave, she was just cold towards Rhea.

Soundwave had insisted it was just the 'Autobot's fickle nature' but Rhea knew better. She also couldn't tell if the change of their dynamic bothered him like it did her. Of course, he said no when she asked. He wasn't one to show weakness of any kind, even to her.

But it was slowly driving Rhea crazy. She didn't like tension. It picked at her brain like an out of reach splinter. She already had the tendency to piss people off with her inability to read a room. So when her brain was able to recognize Arcee was obviously angry at her, that's how she knew it was bad.

Then in the spiraling hell storm of a thought process Rhea found herself in, Miko was suddenly chuckling in a way that could only mean she knew something devious, "I know the reason."

Rhea turned around and Jack glanced at her in the rear-view mirror. She was busy snapping selfies of her glamorous self with the desert as a backdrop, Raf having to duck far out of her way to not be clipping into her shots. "You all need to take a cue from me, the master of eavesdropping. It's the only way to get info out of our tight-lipped metal friends."

"Then by all means, enlighten us, Miko," Jack said.

Miko wasted no time enlightening them. "She is always complaining to poor Bee about it. And it's definitely what you said about you regretting changing into a bot. You'll give up being human and inherit the most boring Cybertronian to ever grace the universe. And then you'll be stuck with him, like, forever."

Laserbeak let out an offended huff from his vents. Rhea jumped to defuse this, because Laserbeak did not need any more reason to hate Arcee. "Well then that works out, because I am probably one of the most boring humans to ever live."

"Let's keep in mind guys," Jack said quickly, mostly aimed Laserbeak's way, "This info was gleaned from eavesdropping probably in the middle of the conversation. Who knows what context we are missing." He pointed out, talking about their informant like she wasn't there in the back seat.

'Very well put,' Laserbeak's voice came through the jeep's radio this time, 'And what context we are missing would have been misinformed, considering its source.'

The conversation dropped; the tension only broken by Raf awkwardly clearing his throat. Laserbeak was still stewing, and Rhea could have sworn everyone around her was able to tell too. Then she caught Miko's pondering gaze in the rear view. Her eyes were sharply focused on some undetermined point and her lips pursed line thin. Rhea worried what else was coming. She tried to prepare for it as Miko opened her mouth. "So like, Arcee said Soundwave can't fulfill human stuff… Did she mean what we're all thinking? She's Cybertronian too, so maybe not… Unless she has done more internet research then is good for anyone."

Nope. Rhea could not have anticipated this or prepared for it even if she tried. "Only you were thinking about it. Let's get that straight right away. And more importantly, that's just not a problem. I appreciate Arcee's concern, but it is totally unnecessary. And I'll clear it up with her if I can ever get a free minute to talk to her." She sat back in her seat, arms crossed to signify that was the final word on this matter. Silence lingered, Rhea was trying very hard not to look at Laserbeak, because she knew he was boring a hole into the side of her head with his gaze.

'What was she inferring?' Laserbeak asked through the radio. Dead pan and very serious. Maybe even a little worried.

"It's nothing," Rhea insisted, trying hard not to sink into the stiff cushion. She did not like the look of Miko's devious smirk in the mirror.

'Did we not just establish a rule you would answer any and all questions regarding human affairs?' Laserbeak shot back, eager to use her previous words against her.

Miko piped in before Rhea could further derail the topic, "Now that we're on the subject… How do you guys, ya know…"

"That's not even almost our business, Miko." Jack growled. If it weren't for the fact he was driving the jeep, Rhea could tell by his face he would have bailed a few miles back. Despite them traveling at sixty miles per hour, that prospect was starting to look real appealing.

'I am in desperate need of context.' Laserbeak pleaded.

"She's talking about sexual intercourse, Laserbeak," Rhea finally sighed.

'Oh,' he now sounded appeased and no longer concerned. She also, thankfully, didn't have to explain any further than that. She had already educated him on that subject matter when she was younger. He had asked where humans came from if they didn't have an All Spark. Once she had finished explaining it, he had been horrified. 'We have no equivalent to that in our race. And it's not even a possibility in this scenario.' He sounded very happy about that biological outcome.

"Yep. And that's why it's not a problem." Rhea said.

More silence that was not suffocating enough to kill her. Miko just kept smiling.

Rhea glanced at Laserbeak because he was being far too quiet. She just knew his mind was weaving something she could never untangle even if she tried. 'I'm confused,' he admitted finally, 'I was under the impression the disturbing act of human consummation was only necessary when producing more humans. Why would it apply in this case?'

"It doesn't," Reha promised. A glance around the jeep informed Rhea she was not the only one dying inside. Jack had constructed an emotionless mask to hide behind. Raf was busy looking like he was drowning on dry land. As for Miko, she appeared to be the only one amused. "It's just… A human thing. Not all humans, but a lot, use it to get closer to each other. Like you said, it just doesn't apply between me and Soundwave."

'I see,' he said, and this time, he did not sound appeased. Crap. What was he thinking and how could she stop it from spiraling further down? 'Is this act an important aspect in an average human relationship?' he asked very quickly.

He was then bombarded by three vastly differing answers.

"No," Rhea assured him.

"Eh… sort of," Jack said on the tail end of her remark.

"Um, YES!" Miko said confidently right over the other two answers. She then unbuckled herself so she could better lean over the front console to have a more direct path to Rhea, "Seriously though, you and Soundwave have never done anything? Like, I get you can't really do that much, but you can get creative!"

"Just letting everyone know, I'm very close to crashing this car and putting us all out of our misery," Jack informed them.

"Please do," Rhea begged him. She then looked at Laserbeak. As she feared, he was troubled. Most wouldn't be able to tell from his outward appearance alone, but she could.

She knew for certain as he silently switched their conversation from the jeep's radio, back to the privacy of her translator. 'Are you upset you cannot share this human experience with Master Soundwave?'

"Not at all," She promised him, and reached out a hand into the wind to touch his wing tip assuredly. She ran a gentle hand over the old scars that had faded, but were still noticeable there.

"What-" Miko started to complain when she was left out of their silent conversation again. Raf jabbed her in the ribs with a bony elbow to nip her gripe in the bud.

Rhea smiled at Laserbeak and continued, "I love him, and I love you. That won't change, no matter what we can or can't do."

Had she pacified him? At least for now, he had no more questions. Though for Laserbeak, that wasn't always a good thing. This would just have to be something else she debriefed Soundwave on when he came back. She could picture the hilarity of that conversation… Hey hun, welcome back! Now I know you had a gruelingly long trip in space to a miserable desert world, but now that you're back, you should know General Thunderblast almost started a military strike here on Earth. Raf and I have intercepted a potential SOS from a different dimension from some unknown entity with unknown intentions. Oh, and Laserbeak is having an existential crisis because Miko told him me and you should be having sex despite, ya know, the BIG issue keeping that from happening. Which problem should we tackle first? I'm open to suggestions.

For the first time, multiple armed military men and three tense Autobots standing at the ready was a welcome sight. Whatever would distract from this car ride conversation. The only downside was one of the Autobots present was Arcee. That normally wouldn't be a downside if it wasn't for the fact there was this sudden tension between Arcee, Soundwave, and herself. And she could almost feel the heat from Laserbeak's rage radiating from him. At least Bumblebee and the ever-apathetic Wheeljack were also here to even out the tension.

Rhea stepped out of the car, dress sandals sinking into the sand. She wasn't exactly dressed for trekking off road, but she was far from the odd ball out in this scenario. Jack was prepared, clad in his military engineering uniform. Raf would at least be comfortable in sweatpants and a tee shirt under his lab coat. Miko on the other hand was somehow more out of place than the three giant robot aliens. She sauntered out of the jeep in heeled boots, star-shaped sunglasses, a black miniskirt, and a bright pink feather bowie wrapped around her neck. Raf was picking pink feathers out of his hair from the ride over as they approached the party off road.

An armed man with the American flag patch on one shoulder and the Concurrence sigil on the other broke formation and marched right over to Rhea. He also maintained a wary eye on Laserbeak who hovered just behind her. "Are you Ms. Jackson, First Decepticon Communication's Officer?"

Rhea pulled out her badge to show him. "Afraid so."

The man nodded curtly, then rose his glaring gaze to meet hers. "An unauthorized Decepticon vessel has been detected in the upper atmosphere and they are not responding to our comms."

"I've been told… It's a radio interference problem," Rhea sighed tiredly, knowing not one human or alien present believed that. Hell, she didn't even believe it.

"Really guys, we have this covered," the overly cheerful Bumblebee promised the armed humans. "We know this ship well enough. It's just Thunderblast and-"

"Every unknown extra-terrestrial vessel must be met with the same level of caution," the armed man snapped.

Bumblebee gave the man a bothered look, but he was quick to shake it off. He was Bumblebee after all.

When the man went to stand back in formation, Wheeljack snickered at Bumblebee's expense, "He sure told you. You gonna let him get away with talking to an Autobot diplomat like that?"

Bumblebee jabbed him playfully in the side and smiled. Rhea glanced beyond them both at Arcee. She was casually glaring at the sky, doing well to not look at any of them. Or at least, not look at her.

Then the greatly anticipated unknown extra-terrestrial vessel finally made its grand entrance. Thunderblast's small exploration class ship appeared from the clouds, the purple Decepticon emblem catching the sunlight as it landed only a few hundred yards from them. The military men marched lockstep towards the Cybertronian ship, Rhea following behind the best she could in her sandals. The Autobots were trailing too, with far less urgency. Just observing the scene, it looked like these military men were the ones who had been locked in a four-million-year war with the Decepticons and not the Autobots.

The ramp on the ship hissed as it lowered. It hadn't even touched the ground before there was a flash of movement, making all the men react, their guns twitching up an inch. But it wasn't a hostile alien. A very Earthly creature leapt from the extra-terrestrial vessel before the ramp had completed its descent to the ground. Four paws bounding and a long tongue stuck out to the side of a smiling lopsided snout.

The mixed breed dog tumbled to the ground, got back up like a champ, and then careened off into the desert like the devil was biting at his tail. A familiar Cybertronian had arrived on the ramp while the group had been distracted by the mad dog. The boisterous alien lady of the hour. One of Soundwave's higher generals, Thunderblast. She appeared unconcerned with the glaring group waiting for her as she called after the dog. "Take no prisoners D! Crush your enemies under your paws! Make them tremble!" She finally noticed the welcoming committee, and she brightened. "Firecracker!" She exclaimed as she leapt off the ship with Miko in her sights. So no, she hadn't noticed the angered members of the group and instead just located Miko. That checked out for Thunderblast.

Miko hurried past the barrage of armed men and Autobots with her arms reached out. Thunderblast scooped her up to hug her to her chest.

"Where have you all been?" Miko demanded while wrapping her arms around Thunderblast's neck. "You missed me playing in Amsterdam! And you haven't called in!"

Thunderblast gave her a guilty smile, "I know, I'm sorry! We've been out of communication range for a while. Me, Clobber, and D have been in the outer rings chasing rumors about pirates attacking ships… Nothing so far, but hey, there's only so many places in the universe for them to hide, am I right?"

"Cybertronian Thunderblast!"

Thunderblast and Miko turned, neither bothered by the red-faced man. Who was affected by the man's sharp tone, was the larger Cybertronian lumbering down the ramp behind Thunderblast. Clobber, Thunderblast's partner, yelped and fully jumped back, the action of her bulky body shaking the ship under her. They seemed opposites to each other, Clobber being a large and thick plated one opticed Cybertronian who on first glance gave the impression of being a terrifying brute. And that was especially if one compared her to the much shorter, smaller, arial built Thunderblast with distinctive female coded features. But if you spent more than ten seconds in their shared presence, you learned how wrong first impressions could be.

"I knew we would get in trouble," Clobber whimpered, trying to hide her massive form behind Thunderblast's twiggy stature.

"What can I do for ya?" Thunderblast retorted far too casually for the situation she just landed into.

"You're in trouble," Arcee informed her flatly, confirming Clobber's previous worries.

Thunderblast shrugged, "Eh, what else is new?"

Clobber's single red optic widened with horror at the very concept of being on the receiving end of a reprimand, even if the one doing the verbal lashing didn't come up to her shins.

"You did not gain authorization before entering the protected airspace!" The man growled.

Thunderblast let out a gasp of forced surprise, "Wait, you didn't get my landing request? Oh, Primus, the transmitter on the radio really is shot to the pits. Sorry about that, fellas!" She leaned back to smile at Clobber, who was fully trembling under the weight of the human's glares. "You were right, Clobber! The message didn't go through! I promise, I'll never doubt you again." Though Thunderblast's acting was very convincing, whether the man bought it or not was a different story.

"We really do have it from here, guys," Bumblebee said, almost pleading. None of the men had lowered their guns yet. "We'll even fix their reported radio problem so it's not an issue again."

The man glared between the sweetly innocent smiling Thunderblast, and the pleading gaze of Bumblebee. He turned his ire onto Rhea. Great. "This will not be a continuing problem. Your presence as the Decepticon representative is needed back in Washington to discuss with the Concurrence organizer how to remedy this issue."

She tried very hard not to sigh in his face, "Understood. I'll meet with the organizer later this afternoon."

That was finally enough to pacify him, and the small battalion of humans left in their own jeep without another word.

"Who were those dorks?" Thunderblast scoffed, her previous charm gone.

Miko waved them off from her perch on Thunderblast's shoulder. "Ignore them. They always have a pole shoved up their tailpipes."

"That was just the Concurrence," Rhea explained further.

Thunderblast arched a brow ridge, "The bureaucrats that make all the annoying bot related rules?"

"Many of those rules exist because of Con's trouncing all over the treaty," Arcee felt the need to remind her. "Usually while here on Earth, where you think we won't notice."

Thunderblast shrugged that right off, "Eh, you Autobots and your rules. It would be charming if it wasn't so fragging annoying." She gave Rhea a seemingly apologetic smile. "But I will apologize to you, Chief. I didn't think this would cause anything more than the usual drama."

Rhea shrugged. "It is what it is. I'll deal with it."

"Later," Miko insisted, "Now let's get back to what you mentioned before about pirates? And what's with calling our crazy four-legged chaos bringer D? Did you change his name?"

Thunderblast gave Miko a mischievous look, "That's just it… Since we have been spending so much time on the outskirts of the Cybertronian territory, hunting down leads, we've needed to go undercover from time to time. Me and Clobber have needed to keep our comm chatter secret up there and using our real names on the airwaves is dangerous… Of course, I blew my cover already, and Clobber was found out saving my aft at the last interstellar trade post. D's the only one still on the down low."

Arcee crossed her arms, "So you gave the dog a code name?"

"We had to!" Thunderblast insisted, "At least three other Con ships have gone missing, and one large Autobot vessel we were pinging vanished too. It's best to be as secretive as possible."

That was apparently news to the Autobots. It was also the first Rhea heard of it. Ships sometimes went missing, but they almost always turned back up, the reason for their silence being solar radiation or some other natural space event jamming communication. This didn't seem to be the cause this time.

"We can fill you guys in," Clobber promised, "We've collected a few transmissions of unknown origin that need deciphering. It will probably help shed some light on the mystery."

Deciphering unknown transmissions was Rhea's cue. So, then the issue with Arcee, the unknown frequency and Laserbeak's woes all had to wait.

She glanced at Arcee. The Autobot sharpshooter had looked everywhere but in Rhea's direction. Maybe it couldn't wait.

"What in the Pits?" Wheeljack laughed.

Rhea soon forgot the awkward tension when she looked over the horizon where Wheeljack was pointing. The undercover dog, current code name D, was careening back at them like a maniac, ears flapping in the wind. That wasn't very unusual. What was a bit odd, was the large stick he was carrying in his jaws, with the far end of it being in flames. Either his chaotic energy attracted a freak lightning strike or, more likely, he swiped it from a campfire somewhere. Which would mean he would have had to have raided a campsite, and for reasons unknown, stole one of their campfire's logs over everything else he could have taken.

"Where could he have actually gotten that?" Jack asked in utter disbelief.

There was no way for them to know, but at least it did well to distract Rhea from the growing pit in her stomach.

Date: Present Day, September 21st, 2021 mid-morning

Steven

Standing in the doorway with an obvious accusing air aimed Steven's way was the head detective of the military police. Sargent and Detective Mike Ironside. He knew the man well. The detective's name was also fitting. The guy was a hard ass. Technically, many could say the same about Steven, but he wasn't exactly in his usual unshakable mindset these days.

He let the police in without a good morning or any kind of socially acceptable greeting. Not that any of the uniformed men cared. They wasted no time starting their own search of the house. All except the Detective, who remained in the doorway with Steven, staring him down.

"Rough night?" He guessed behind crossed arms.

"Not one of the better night's sleep I've gotten," Steven said, though was sure the bags under his eyes were proof enough of that.

Mike hummed thoughtfully before letting himself in past the thresh hold. He was also eyeing Steven's gun resting on his belt. Beyond the look, he didn't comment on it. Not like guns were an oddity on the military base. But in this scenario. Maybe.

"So, no news from Rhea?" Mike asked with a forced casual tone. Hands in his pockets as he scanned the living room.

Steven's shoulder's slumped, "No. I was hoping you would have found something."

Mike lifted a once perfectly stacked pile of mail by the door, "Unfortunately not… But I have a good feeling about finding something here."

Beyond the accusation veiled as reassurance, Steven hoped so. He didn't care what Mike thought. If he found Rhea, Steven would deal with any claims aimed his way.

He closed the door and followed Mike into the kitchen. The forensics team was shining their purple lights or dusting every surface around them in a whirlwind of efficiency.

Mike asked the same questions he had been answering about Rhea so many times he could probably recite them. All the while, the letter to himself was burning a hole in his pocket.

He found himself seated at the kitchen table with his clenched hands under his chin. He was a silent audience to the cops uprooting his life even further. Checking all the places he had already exhausted. Searching for signs of a struggle, or specks of blood that may have been missed in a clean-up. They searched through their receipt drawer, probably looking for the tell tail paper trail of a large supply of recently purchased cleaning products. Maybe even a few bags of concrete or plane tickets bound for out of the country. They would find none of that. Sometime during this process Mike sat across from him with an expectant gaze. Steven didn't say anything.

"Her cellphone hasn't pinged off any towers," one of the many nameless police reported to him and Mike who had yet to drop his glare, "That means it's off. If she turns it back on, we should get a signal." It explained why she wasn't answering the hundreds of texts, calls, or emails she was receiving from him and their friends. It was an answer, but it wasn't a comforting one.

He grit his teeth and just waited it out. He understood the process. Why they were doing this, and why they were so suspicious of him. Statistically, if someone vanished without a trace, their lover who lived with them was the one behind the disappearance. The faster they ruled Steven out as a suspect, the faster they would move on to doing their jobs and finding Rhea.

Finally, the time came to surrender Rhea's treasured laptop along with the code to get into it. It was bagged and carried out of sight. Steven had a hard time not protesting. It felt like he had betrayed Rhea in the worst way possible. That laptop was her baby, and he just let a bunch of strangers stuff it into an evidence bag and carry it away.

"If anything helpful is on there, we'll find it," Mike said, almost with an assuring tone. But of course, he then added, "even if the hard drive was wiped, we can easily recover that."

Steven just nodded, unfazed by the veiled threat. His non-reactions appeared to annoy the head detective, but he didn't betray that thought beyond a frown.

They also procured some of her unwashed clothes in the hamper for the tracker dogs to use. Whatever helped. He just had to keep reminding himself of that whenever they took away what he had left of Rhea.

"What do you have in the big safe?" Mike's voice broke through his haze.

Steven glanced up to see the detective standing in his bedroom doorway, waiting for an answer. Technically, he didn't have to tell them. He also didn't have to let them into the house at all. If they thought he killed Rhea, they would scrounge up evidence for a warrant. But he didn't have that, or anything to hide, so Steven told him, "Paperwork. And my guns. A few rifles," he explained hollowly. He already assumed where this line of questioning was headed.

"Can we have a peek?" Mike asked as he leaned into the door frame.

Steven pursed his lips for the first time since his visitors arrived, "I, um, forgot the passcode." And it sounded just as suspicious out loud as it was in his head.

Mike could no longer hold back his scoff, "Seriously, Steven?"

"I don't know what to tell you. It used to be 11292010. It's not that anymore. I must have changed it and forgot," and he had a hard time not snapping when he reported this. It also made him look a million times more guilty. But what bothered him far more than gaining additional quizzical stairs from Mike, was admitting he forgot his own passcode to that safe out loud. He had been in active denial about it since it refused him access the day Rhea disappeared. To him, it meant his mind was slipping.

No one here thought it was his mind. They thought he had something to hide.

"Any chance Rhea would have changed it?" Mike wondered, like a peace offering veiling something nefarious.

Steven had considered that at some point during this whole nightmare scenario. But he had squashed that possibility a while ago, "She knew the code and could get in, but it needs a second code to change when the door is open. She never cared to know that one."

"But you did?" Mike confirmed.

Steven nodded, "But without the new code, I couldn't get back in to change it."

"Interesting," Mike hummed before he ventured back into the bedroom to circle the safe. "Get a cadaver dog here," Steven heard Mike whisper to one of his subordinates currently dusting the safe's keypad for prints. "See if it smells anything, inside. It's a big enough safe."

Steven's stomach turned, but he remained where he was at the table and tried hard not to vomit. Mike assumed Rhea's body was shoved into the safe? That was something Steven hadn't thought of. He doubted it, but then his mind started reeling as it tended to do when he had nothing to do but think. He had searched everywhere… except that safe. Mike was right. It was big enough for a person Rhea's size to get into. She was never seen leaving the house. Why would she get into the safe and lock herself in? Even if she did, why was the code changed? She didn't know how. He should have been able to get into it in the first place.

He stood up and joined the detectives in the room. Mike watched him warily, and then especially so when Steven arrived at the safe. "I can try to get into it again."

It was the only thing that made Mike not try and stop him. He waited for them to give him the go ahead, (finish getting all the evidence off it) and he typed in the code Steven had given him. To no one's surprise, it buzzed its denial at him. He tried a few more. Nothing, other than the glares from multiple cops at his back. He ignored them and continued trying. If there was even a remote possibility, she was maybe in here… "I can call the safe company," he realized suddenly. They would have to have an override code.

"Funny you mention that," Mike almost laughed, "We are already on hold for the company."

Steven's relieved face probably threw Mike, but again, he didn't care how guilty they thought he was. All he was wondering now was how much air was in the safe and how long someone could last over the course of a few days. He hadn't heard any pounding from within… He would have heard her if she were in there, right?

"This is Detective Mike Ironside," He said to whoever answered the phone at the safe company. He proceeded to give the Fort they resided in and more credentials before jumping right into the problem, "We need an override code to get into one of your safes. The owner of said safe has given the go ahead but-" he glanced Steven's way with a frowned, "he has 'forgotten' the code. Can you help us out?"

He balanced his cell phone between his ear and shoulder as he slipped on a pair of gloves and approached the safe, "Yeah, I have the last known code. We confirmed it with the safe owner, and the fingerprint guy… Ok… yeah hold on," He proceeded to type in the code Steven had given, then followed by a lengthy string of numbers given to him by the faceless man from the safe company.

Steven's heart was in his throat. What would he do if that door clicked open and Rhea's lifeless body tumbled out? Forgetting the swarm of cops, how would he survive without her?

The safe buzzed angerly but didn't open. Mike pursed his lips, "That didn't work… Yeah you say it should have, but I'm standing here in front a still locked safe like an ass. Is there another code you can give me?"

More attempts were made. All failures. The phone had even been switched to a video call so the safe expert at the company could watch what Detective Mike was doing and walk him through more options. Steven just sat helpless on the bed, waiting and holding onto a breath he felt like he was holding for hours.

"There's no reason it shouldn't open," the safe tech huffed in growing frustration over the grainy video call, "That last one was the master override… Even a safe that's tampered with would have opened with that."

The sound of the front door opening interrupted the tech's frustration. A leashed dog came in with his nose poised to the carpet, "Thanks, but we may have things covered here," Mike got off the phone with a smug smile. With his arms crossed he shifted his focus to the dog and his trainer. Steven could only tremble, horror tearing at his brain just thinking about what they may find in that safe.

But to the apparent surprise of every cop there, the well-trained canine didn't linger long around the safe. He carried on past it to sniff around the room instead. Mike's pursed expression wasn't reassuring.

"What does that mean?" Steven forced himself to breathe so he could ask.

Mike gave him probably the first genuine smile since he arrived, even if it was sarcastic, "It means he didn't smell anyone stuffed in there."

It wasn't the relief of seeing the inside of the safe with his own eyes, but it was the next best thing. The police were apparently satisfied Rhea wasn't in there. Or at least enough to stop trying to get into it. Steven would just have to be satisfied too.

"We'll call you with what we find," Mike said at the entrance with his shoulders slumped in reluctant defeat. Then with a half-smile aimed to maybe cheer Steven up, he added, "And you have one hell of a broken ass safe. Let me know what you end up doing to crack that puppy open. A few of your drones are missile carrying right? Maybe give heavy artillery a go." Then he left along with his team after a long period of time Steven couldn't hope to measure. Had they been there for minutes, hours, days? It was hard to quantify time in a waking nightmare.

Now that they were gone, he didn't even have Mike's accusatory attitude to distract him. He had nothing left, except for that letter. It pricked at the back of his mind where it had no right to exist. His mind should only be filled with worry over Rhea, and yet here that letter was, taking up precious brain space. The only thing he hadn't shared with the police.

He reached into his pocket to retrieve it. Crumbled and unchanged, and just as threatening as the first time he read it. He was apparently still in danger, according to its words, and he had to fight something back before it got to him. It still made no sense, only existing to make him paranoid and more on edge than he already was.

The kitchen clock told him it was nine in the morning. The police had been there for three hours. He tried not to notice Rhea's laptop no longer there on the kitchen table. It was one more reminder she was gone.

No work. No more police. No more places to look for Rhea.

Steven glared at the letter, making the knot in his stomach tighten more. In that sleep deprived moment, he had an idea. He knew exactly who he could trust to share this odd abnormality with and have them not think he was crazy. He was already headed for the car with the letter in hand before he realized his feet were moving.