(Please see all previous disclaimers)
Optimus was very concerned, as Aquaformer was missing. She usually commed if she was taking off or at least responded to the bond. This time she had done neither. And that worried Optimus greatly. He had no idea where she was. He decided to look around the base first to see if he could find her, as sometimes she was busy doing something and unable to answer him, such as in the middle of a medical procedure. And thinking about that, Optimus headed to the med bay.
Ratchet saw Optimus coming and was a bit puzzled. "What is wrong, Prime?" Ratchet asked.
"Has Aquaformer been in here to work?" Optimus asked.
"No, Prime. She is still on medical leave. I won't let her in here until I feel she is ready to return. Why do you ask?"
"I got a bad feeling while I was visiting Mirage and Bee who were watching our sparklings. I left the sparklings in their care and headed back to our quarters to check on things. When I got there, she was gone. No note, no nothing. Just gone. And she won't respond to a comm or our bond" Optimus revealed.
Ratchet had a sinking feeling about this. "Optimus, did Aquaformer ever mention anything about her medical history to you?"
"No, other than her emotional health trauma from her past and sparking our sparklings, she never revealed anything about any other medical condition" Optimus answered. Ratchet sighed. "What's wrong?"
"Optimus, before Aquaformer was an adult, when she was still young, her emotional trauma led to her being a sleep walker" Ratchet answered.
"A sleep walker? I've never seen her do this ever" Optimus stated firmly.
"She told me herself that when she was young, she had the issue, but it seemed to resolve once she changed into an adult. She thought she was past it. That is probably why she never mentioned it" Ratchet informed the Prime.
"And where does this sleep walking take her?" Optimus asked, not seeing Chip enter the med bay at just that moment.
"Any number of places. It depends what kind of situation her processor puts into her as to how she will respond" Ratchet stated. He didn't like the answer but it was the truth.
Upon hearing the conversation, Chip decided to but in. "Excuse me, but are you two talking about that female bot that can fly?" Chip asked.
Both bots turned and looked to the young human. "We are. Have you seen her?" Ratchet asked.
"Well, about 30 minutes ago I see a female Autobot flyer take off from the base. I thought she was going to stretch her wings so to speak. I didn't call out to her as I was too far away and she changed into her aerial mode quicker than I realized she could" Chip answered, unaware he had answered Optimus' question about why Aquaformer was not in their quarters.
Ratchet tried not to swear. "Do you know what direction she headed in?" Ratchet asked, knowing Optimus was still reeling a bit from the revelation.
"She headed north by northeast. I have no idea how fast she was traveling at" Chip replied.
"I'm going to need the aerial bots to find her" Optimus announced.
"Why, what's wrong?" Chip asked.
"Aquaformer is not in her right processor. She is sleep walking, or sleep flying as the case may be" Ratchet and Optimus stated in unison. And with that tat, Optimus headed out with a few other Autobots, including all the Autobots that could fly as they needed to find Aquaformer before something bad happened to her. The question was would they find her and would they find her in time?