Chapter Four: Failure & Revelations

I zipped up my boots and stood, grabbing the pack beside my feet and swinging it onto my right shoulder. Re-entering the room, I made my way to Eden, who held his hand out to take my pack; I passed it to him. He ran off toward our plane to start it up.

Ratchet's holoform appearing next to me was startling, but he held out a chain with a piece of metal. "It's the best I could do in such a short time. I'll improve upon it later, but for now, it will do the job."

It was a simple rectangle that looked a lot like a motherboard with all the wires and pieces. It was tiny to. How had Ratchet managed to make something so small? I shook the thought off and plucked the chain from his holoform's hand, clasping it around my neck. I shove the chain and device under my suit collar before doing it up again.

"Thanks," I answered, smiling thankfully.

Ratchet dipped his chin. "Your safety will always be important, youngling."

I hesitated on the action but hugged him. Ratchet hummed softly, his own arms wrapping around my shoulders.

"Do be careful while out there. I know Aria will be most annoyed, and I can say we Autobots will be also if you come back harmed," Ratchet admonished.

I hid my grin in his shoulder before forcing a neutral but warm expression as I pulled back from the hug. "I'll try, but no promises, Ratchet."

He just sighed heavily.

"Sunbird," Aria entered and loped over quickly. She glanced at Ratchet before returning her gaze to me. "Ratchet has most likely already told you but be careful."

I smiled, biting back a snort. "He has."

Aria rolled her eyes.

I leaned back against the wall, watching over the sewer drain that Capricorn and I would most likely be using to intersect MECH. Eden was watching from the other side of the building—the front entrance, just in case MECH was stupid enough to go in that way. It was doubtful, but still a stupid possibility.

I crossed my arms, peering through the shadows that hid my form to scan the building. It was large, white, and had plenty of windows, it looked like a sterile place—like the technology-science lab it was.

I exhaled through my nose and shifted my weight, "=Any changes?="

Virgo hummed. "=I'm doing a scan of the sewer now. Give me a tick=" He gave a strangled noise and I straightened.

"=Virgo?="

"=They're in the sewers. How'd I fucking miss that?!="

"=Doesn't matter=" Capricorn interrupted before he could continue. "=Scorpio, I'll be at your location in a few seconds. Get ready.="

I pushed off the wall, moving for the manhole. I crouched before it and slipped my fingers into the holes. With little effort, I pulled it from its snug resting place and pushed it aside just as Capricorn came around the corner.

"Me first, you second," Capricorn ordered. I stood watch as the map popped up on the display.

Capricorn climbed down the ladder, and I waited until he was on the ground before climbing down myself, pulling the drain cover back into place and listened to see if we could hear the MECH soldiers.

I scrunched my nose at the smell—we were going to need to shower after this. Because of my enhancements, I was affected by the smell worse than Eden. I bit back the gag that wanted to escape. It smelt disgusting.

But I forced myself to push the smell aside and focus onward. Because we had a night vision display intergraded, we didn't need torches and could continue without alerting the MECH soldiers that were ahead of our presence.

Pulling my glock out, I waited for Capricorn to peer around the corner. Four fingers went up and I nodded.

We rounded the corner and fired at them before they could spot us. All four went down and we peered up into the building.

"=All employees have been notified and are hiding in secure locations in the building=" Virgo commented.

"=Good. We don't have to worry about hostages then=" I nodded, and we climbed up into the abandoned building. It was eerily silent except for the buzzing of the bright overhead lights. Creepy.

"=Which way now?="

"=Gotta go down two flights=" Virgo answered. "=I'll be back in a moment, Taurus and Aries need my attention.="

Capricorn and I shared a glance. I moved first, peering down the stairs. I fired two shots at the MECH that were standing on them. I rushed down and fired off another three, two more went down. I pressed up against the wall, sneaking a look and drawing back before I could get shot.

I let out a breath and swung around the corner, and shot the last two in the room. I hit one in the shoulder for the purpose of interrogation. Capricorn approached him and kicked his gun away before he could scramble for it. Capricorn pressed his foot on the underling's injured shoulder.

"How many more of you are there?" He demanded.

"Fuck you," The underling spat.

Capricorn pressed more of his weight onto him and tilted his head. "Scorpio?"

I grinned and purred: "My pleasure."

His screams were like music to my ears.

We moved along shortly after I'd gotten our answer from the underling. There were twelve more left from the original twenty.

I kicked the door down, expecting there to be the remaining twelve, but I lowered my gun and hissed. The vault was ransacked, there was a hole in the floor, and there weren't any MECH soldiers around. We were too late.

"Damnit," Capricorn kicked the empty box by his feet.

I shoved my glock back into its holster and stepped into the vault, my insides sizzling angrily.

"We just missed them," I hissed, noticing they'd left all their equipment—most weren't even turned off. No doubt they'd heard us coming and didn't bother with it.

"=Virgo, this is Capricorn. We were too late in arriving at the vault=" Capricorn reported.

Virgo exhaled heavily, "=Understood. I'll forward it on to Taurus.="

I stepped out of the vault and pushed my visor up to rub my gloved flesh hand across my face in frustration. Even after all our preparation, they'd somehow gotten past Virgo's radar and made it inside. How?

I frowned and turned back to the vault, there was a bunch of hard drives and paper blueprints scattered all around the room. It was plain to see they'd been in a hurry and just chucked things over their shoulders when it wasn't what they were looking for.

I crouched and plucked a drive from the ground. I sighed at the damaged. I peered at the others lying around—several of them had damage, in fact. The paper blueprints looked ruffled but thankfully not ripped.

Hopefully, they weren't damaged to the point of being unsavable. It was unlikely they had spares if they were being kept in a vault to begin with.

"=Taurus's been informed, but you guys gotta head on up, there will be police arriving shortly=" Virgo reported.

I nodded, even though Virgo couldn't see it, and stood once more, silently following Capricorn. I pulled my visor down, as did Capricorn. Our identities were meant to be kept a secret after all.

Capricorn did the talking to the officers—speaking their native tongue as it was easier than speaking English—telling them about the dead and their locations. Once he'd filled them in, we headed for our bikes to get back to the plane. There was a shower on board so we could have a short one to get rid of most of the smell before arriving back home.

Once we were safely in the air, I claimed the shower first. I changed into cargo pants and a vest afterward before switching places with Eden to let him take his own. There was little conversation between us during the entire ten-hour flight, and both of us were still stewing at the fact thatthey'd gotten away.

Might as well start my report write-up.

Ten hours passed quickly, and we arrived back home in what felt like only a few hours instead. It was very early morning, the sun hadn't even appeared yet, and I wanted nothing more than to just go to bed but I still felt dirty and wanted anotherfarlonger shower.

I turned my bike on and rode it out, Eden just behind me. The door opened enough for us to ride in before it closed again.

It was surprising to see the Autobots awake, but I didn't know their sleep—uh, recharge patterns yet. It was likely they didn't need to sleep as much as humans did.

I pulled to a stop and climbed off, pulling my helmet off as I didn't bother fighting the yawn. I just dumped my helmet on the bench, waved to the bots and made for my room.

The second shower did wonders, but I didn't stop yawning the entire time. Damn, I actually wanted to sleep.

As I came out, Sunstreaker and Sideswipe were already in my room. I was mildly surprised but mostly just too tired to really compute the emotion. I greeted them with a sleepy: "Hey."

Sides grinned, "Hey, to you too. We know that you'll be heading to bed, but we were wondering how everything went."

I grimaced. "We didn't manage to stop them."

Sunstreaker frowned as Side's grin eased off his face. "They managed to get away?"

I nodded. "They passed Soma's notice somehow. We think they came up in the main building as a distraction and drilled up at the vault itself to give them more time since there was a hole in the room when we arrived."

I rubbed my eyes and sighed again. I dropped onto the settee and groaned, instantly regretting what I just did. "Fuck, I shouldn't have sat down."

Sides chuckled softly and sat down beside me. "Why's that?"

"I'm not gonna be able to move," I hummed, eyes closed. I felt the settee compress the other side of me, so I guess Sunstreaker sat down too. "I'm sodamntired and I have no idea why."

"You always have those purple circles under your eyes," Sunstreaker commented, voice strangely quiet and soft. "Isn't that usually a sign that a human doesn't sleep enough?"

I laughed and peered up at him sheepishly. "You got me. Guilty as charged."

Sideswipe slumped against me, head resting against mine. It startled me enough to jerk lightly, but Sideswipe just snuggled closer.

"What are you doing?" I projected my amusement.

"I happen to be tired also," he chimed."If you're not going to move, I can just use you as a pillow."

I rested my cheek against his scalp in response. I didn't comment on his lie, I just closed my eyes and allowed myself to succumb to sleep.

"She's asleep already," Sunstreaker murmured with relief. The supposed 'reason' for asking how her mission went was not theactualreason they'd followed Zelda into her room. Zelda's sleep pattern was all over the place—with so few humans in the building, they could easily keep track of each's patterns.

Mia went to bed early most evenings and got up between six and eight when morning came around. Eden was similar; some nights, he went later, however. Soma was all over the place—he stayed up to odd hours in the early Earth solar cycle before sleeping until six or seven in the morning. Logan and Aria shared a room and Aria went first, then Logan not long after. They both awoke at a similar time of seven each morning.

Zelda was always first up, ranging from three to five in the morning and she normally went to bed at around eleven on good days.

(Ratchet grumbled at a few of the human's schedules but didn't make a fuss about it because of their work. Soma was the worst, but he went out of his way to catch up during the day with power naps if possible.)

Still, they were mostly worried about Zeldabecause while their bonds with her were still developing, they could feel her waking up was never peaceful. It was always sharp, like she'd experienced a chargefright but didn't remember it.

They didn't doubt that was the reason. Ratchet may nor may not have been monitoring her processor—brain—activity during her recharge on the times she fell asleep around him. It showed she often dreamt, and it wasn't pleasant for her—their only relief was that she didn't seem to remember it. At least not all the time—the night at the Witwicky's house came to them.

Her agonised and anguished cry, her mind forcing her to see someone else in Bumblebee's place when he'd rushed into the room was terrifying for them to witness andfeel.

They'd all seen their fair share of horrors, and Bumblebee sometimes suffered from charge fights—theyhad also, and while it didn't happen often, it still didn't mean it wasn't terrifying when it did.

They just wanted Zelda to rest easily.

They stood still and at attention. Silas stormed into the room, glaring at all five of them.

"Who did it?" he ordered in Russian. None said anything.

Ophiuchus stared straight ahead, stiff and expression blank.

"I SAID WHO DID IT!" Silas roared, continuing in the language. "Which one of you killed Ninety-two?"

Still, no one said anything.

"Then you'll all be punished!"

Zelda stirred in her sleep with a quiet, strangled noise escaped. Sunstreaker and Sideswipe shared a look. Sideswipe pushed himself upright but didn't go far, his holoform's hand still holding Zelda's arm. Sunstreaker gently set his own servo—hand, on Zelda's shoulder.

Ophiuchus stood silent, watching as the other four bickered between themselves.

"I certainly didn't do it," Hundred and one snapped in response to Ninety-five; the two men near snarling at each other.

One hundred four turned her gaze onto Ophiuchus, "Well, what aboutyou,Eighty-four? You're the only original non-MECH soldiers."

Ophiuchus blinked, head turning slowly to return the gaze. "What do I get from killing one of you? I serve only MECH."

One hundred scoffed. "You get a lot from it."

Ophiuchus tilted her head. "What about you all? Maybe whoever did it is aiming to be number one in Silas's book?"

They all turned to each other, Ophiuchus's words setting them on edge.

Zelda shifted, brows furrowing deeply.

"Zelda?" Sides called softly, shaking her shoulder in an attempt to wake her but it was for nought.

The water raining from the showerhead hid the sound of Ophiuchus removing the vent cover. She slowly climbed from it and stood; she tilted her head as she manoeuvred toward the curtain hiding Hundred and four.

She slowly walked, her movements like that of a predator stalking prey. In her hand was a screwdriver, it was clasped tightly in Ophiuchus's metal fist that the handle threatened to break.

Ophiuchus reached out for the curtain and—

The sheet was ripped back, Hundred and four jerking in surprise, only having mere seconds to turn, eyes wide before the screwdriver was thrust into her throat, Hundred and four gurgled and Ophiuchus shoved her against the wall, not caring about the water now raining down on her face.

Ophiuchus blinked and the smile she wore promised death. Simple as.

"Guess you were right after all," she purred and ripped the screwdriver out, pulling a chunk of her throat with it. Hundred and four grabbed her throat in a desperate attempt to save herself but—

Well, it was pointless because Ophiuchus shoved the screwdriver into her eye socket and into her brain. One hundred four fell dead and Ophiuchus smiled softly as she turned and hummed a merry tune as she climbed back into the vent.

Zelda's torso pitching forward as she woke startled them, but the strangled squeal that escaped kicked them back into action. Sideswipe pulled her onto his lap, even as she fought against him and began to projectsafe-calm-relaxed to her.

Zelda just continued to cry, body trembling, and Sunstreaker slipped behind her, arms wrapping around her waist and pressed his chest against her back to box her in between himself and Sideswipe. He projected a similar feeling down the bond, and slowly, the sobs petered off, but the shaking didn't.

"It's okay, Zelda," Sunstreaker murmured into her ear. "Just breathe."

She took a shaky breath, her trembling almost hiding the action.

"That's it," Sideswipe encouraged softly, projecting his proud-at ease-relaxed to her.

Another soft and strangled noise escaped her. Zelda likely had tried to speak, but the words got stuck in her throat. Sunstreaker nuzzled his nose into her shoulder.

"Thank you," she breathed, finally finding her voice."Sides, Sunstreaker, thank yousomuch."

"Of course," Sides resting his cheek against her forehead.

Sunstreaker hummed, chin on Zelda's shoulder and he hesitated for a moment but then spoke: "Just call me Sunny."

The golden-yellow twin was aware of the shock that came from his brother, but it came withhappy-proud-amusedalso.

Zelda shifted, peering over her shoulder at Sunstreaker with her own shock. "Are—are you sure, I thought you didn't—"

"For you, it's fine. Okay?" Sunstreaker smiled. "Now recharge, Sides and I aren't going anywhere. If anything happens, we'll wake you up right away."

Zelda nodded, burying her face into Sideswipe's shoulder, and slowly but surely succumbed to her tiredness again.

"I'm glad to hear, Keller," Logan nodded sharply. "Have the soldiers been given the chance to return to their families?"

Keller smiled. "Yes, we all felt it only fair and just that they reunite with their loved ones before anything else."

"I would also like to discuss more about this collaboration but feel that perhaps it would be better in person? Bringing the Autobots along with us to introduce them all properly would be the best course of action as well."

"All of them?" Keller questioned curiously. The Secretary of Defence was eager to formally meet the entire group of Autobots now taking shelter on Earth after having to hurry away after only a brief meeting.

"All of them," Logan confirmed.

"Then I will invite the group of soldiers also. It would only be appropriate to involve them in something just as big. The twenty-sixth, alright?" Keller offered.

Logan pondered the date for a moment. He'd need to take Soma with him. He was the one drafting everything. The Asian was fussy about notes and ideas; it would be best to take him in case he had an idea during the meeting.

"Twenty-sixth it is," Logan smiled again.

"You… you asked about Adan the other day," Zelda started suddenly the next morning. She had slept through the night after her chargefright, but she'd been quiet and withdrawn since.

Sideswipe turned toward her from the kitchen stall, having been reading a book he'd found, and Sunstreaker paused mid-brush of Zelda's hair.

"You don't have to tell us about him if it makes you uncomfortable," Sunstreaker offered lightly.

Zelda swallowed and admitted: "I… I think I need to talk about him more than tell you anything really."

"Then tell us about him," Sideswipe smiled softly at her. "What was he like?"

Zelda snorted fondly. "He was…pretty average in all honesty. His kindness towards others, be it person or animals, was one of his most noteworthy things. He would always talk about when we retired that he'd adopt a bunch of cats and be that "crazy cat lady", using those exact words despite being a guy."

Sideswipe sniggered and Sunstreaker chuckled. Zelda grinned, the grin fading into a soft smile. "He was my best friend before he was my boyfriend. I use the word light because we were young, you know? What do we know about love or relationships? But we knew…we just knew. It's hard to explain."

Zelda sighed, annoyed at her lack of words.

"Emotions can be hard to voice," Sunstreaker continued brushing, picking up a comb to split her hair in half, beginning to add a pair of fish-tail plaits.

She hummed in agreement. "When we first met at four, we actually hated each other's guts. We were both trying to be the best, and it turned into a competition. We played dirty, and it kind of just became a thing that we'd point out flaws andend up helping each other fix them.

He… Adan was the type of guy that would say f-it and do stupid shit but knew when to be serious. He was actually very quiet and nervous around unfamiliar people I found out when we turned eight. We had been given a mock mission in a city to get somewhere while avoiding people and stuff like that. He got crowded and I watched him suffer a panic attack. I was surprised because I'd never seen him like that before and…" Zelda hesitated a beat. "And I think it was then that I realised I felt differently towards him than anyone else. I was eight and I'd already fallen in love—or the equivalent anyway. How stupid does that sound?"

"Pretty strange," Sideswipe nodded mockingly in agreement with Zelda's playful grin but looked curious because he was. He was curious about how Zelda grew up surrounded by her family. He was curious about Adan because, well, from what they had already witnessed, been told by Aria and now Zelda herself, he seemed like a kind person.

So, how did he die?

Sunstreaker finished braiding Zelda's hair and squeezed her shoulder, silently thanking her for sharing. Her hand reached up and grabbed his, squeezing in return.