#soundcee

Chapter 25

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"Do you accept my proposal?"

Megatron looks at him until he gets a call from Knock Out. "Give me a moment," he says before he walks away to take the call.

:: Did you find what you were looking for? :: Knock Out asks.

"It's complicated," Megatron responds as he looks over his shoulder at Optimus.

:: Well, Breakdown and I may have located the bogey, fully charged. ::

"Proceed."

:: Just one hitch... We don't have the cylinder. ::

"Then bring me the head of Bulkhead," Megatron said before the comm was cut off.

Optimus and Ratchet watched him, still waiting for him to give an answer. "I don't think he's gonna go for it, Optimus," Ratchet says quietly, "We should come up with a different solution."

"Just wait, old friend, he'll take it. There's no other way."

"I hope you're right."

After waiting a few more minutes, they finally hear Megatron speak up again, "Optimus..." He turns to face them, "Upon careful consideration, if you want the cylinder, you'll have to take it." As soon as he finished speaking the Vehicons started shooting at them.

Optimus transformed his servos into his guns and started shooting back while Ratchet transformed his servos into his surgical tools. Optimus hits a few of the Vehicons with his shots, making them go down as Ratchet runs towards one of them. He dodges their blasts as he cuts the Vehicon's arm off and kicks it to the side before proceeding to stab another Vehicon in the chest. While he's attacking another Vehicon, he gets a call from Raf.

:: Ratchet! ::

"I'm busy, Raf!" He says as he finds himself in a fight with two Vehicons at once.

:: Ratchet, Miko took Bulkhead out of the base. I tried to stop her, but she wouldn't listen. I think they might be in trouble. ::

Ratchet's spark sank after hearing that. They can't lose another teammate. The Decepticons have really brought their team down, they need to figure out a way to persevere and get back to the top. For now, he and Optimus need to focus on taking down these Vehicons. It doesn't take too long; the Vehicons that Ratchet didn't kill were shot down by Optimus.

When they took down the last of the Vehicons, Megatron sneered, "Well, in that case. No one gets it!" He says before crushing the cylinder. He turns and transforms into his jet mode before flying off.

Not minding Megatron, Ratchet turns to Optimus, "Optimus, I got a call from Raf. Miko and Bulkhead left the base and might be in trouble."

Optimus turns to him with concern on his face, "Tell Raf to send us a Ground Bridge asap."

"Raf, send us a Ground Bridge immediately!"

As soon as the words were out of his mouth, a Ground Bridge opened up and the two went back to base. Once they were in the base, Ratchet checked for the coordinates that Miko and Bulkhead went to, as soon as he found it, he opened up another Ground Bridge to it. They arrive just in time to stop Knock Out and Breakdown from killing Miko. The two 'Cons run off while Optimus and Ratchet focus on getting Bulkhead and Miko back to base.

They set Bulkhead on a berth next to Bumblebee, and Ratchet hooked him up to the monitors. Raf comforted Miko the best he could as they watched Ratchet scan Bulkhead's processor, "The data has been fully expelled. But Bulkhead remains unresponsive."

"Because the energy took his mind with it. Heavenward, lost to the stars." Miko sniffs, "It's my fault you'll never know the rest of the formula. And it's my fault Bulkhead's gone forever."

"Miko," Optimus speaks up, "Your quick thinking prevented the formula from falling into Decepticon hands."

"Bulkhead would have backed him up on that," Raf says as he rubs her back, "You did great, Miko."

"It's simply too early to know the extent of his condition," Ratchet says in comfort to the girl. "Something as simple as a familiar sight or smell, perhaps even a sound, could trigger Bulkhead's awakening."

Miko got an idea. After going to get her guitar, she plugs it into the speaker and tunes it before playing it. They wait to see if anything happens. When there's no sign of Bulkhead waking up, they start to think that he probably won't. But Bulkhead starts opening his optics, and they watch as he slowly starts waking up.

"Bulkhead?" Miko questioned as hope filled her face. Bulkhead fully opened his optics before sitting up while making guitar sounds.

"I love that song!" He shouts before looking over at Miko, who was overfilled with joy at seeing him wake up. "Miko..."

Raf watched in amazement as he got an idea, "Hey, Ratchet, do you think the same thing could work with Bumblebee?" They all turn their attention to the scout who is still unconscious.

"I doubt it. His condition is more severe," Ratchet tells him with a heavy spark. He really wishes there was more he could do.

Optimus watched the boy as his face fell and his eyes turned sorrowful. The kid has been spending most of his time at the base watching over Bumblebee, worried sick for his guardian. Optimus has a great appreciation for these kids who've been spending most of their free time with them, helping them, and caring for them. They were brought into the team as charges they needed to watch over and protect, but they quickly became close friends.

"It might not work, but you can at least try. You never know," Optimus told the boy. Raf looks up at him with a beaming smile, and Optimus can't help but smile back.

~~~~~~~~~~

Arcee looks up from her Energon cube when she hears the door open, expecting to see Soundwave returning. Soundwave does walk in, but he's accompanied by Megatron, who has a victorious grin on his face, "Another Autobot down."

Arcee dropped the cube as she shot up to her feet, "You're lying!"

"Sorry, dear, but I'm not. It's the one called Bulkhead this time. Knock Out and Breakdown took him out. They're on their way back now with his head."

Arcee clenched her servos as she felt her spark start to break. She needs to keep her composure, she will not show weakness in front of her enemies. She glares at the two 'Cons in front of her, that's all they are. Her optics shift over to Soundwave... All of them are her enemies and nothing more.

"All that's left are Optimus and Ratchet," Megatron continues, "But they too will fall eventually."

"Don't you dare hurt them!" Arcee yells as her anger starts to get the better of her.

Megatron smirked as he walked closer to her. Arcee glared at him as she stood her ground, but she couldn't keep from flinching when he raised his servo to her. A digit caressed her cheek as it wiped away some lubricant she didn't know had fallen from her optic. She was taken aback by his gentleness.

"Cooperate with us and don't try to escape again, and you will stay safe," he tells her in a menacing tone.

She slaps away his servo as she moves away from him, "I don't believe you! They're still alive!"

"Wanting them to still be alive isn't gonna make it so," Megatron says as he turns to head for the door. "I'll leave it up to you, Soundwave, you can either stay and try to calm her down or you can leave and give her space," he says before he walks out.

Soundwave watched his leader as he walked out of the brig with the door closing behind him, before turning his gaze to Arcee. He gets a pain in his spark when he sees her glaring at him with hatred in her optics. He tries to ignore it and look at the Energon cube on the ground, "At least you drank some of the Energon..."

She picks up the cube and throws it at him, causing it to break against his body. He looks down to see whatever Energon that was left in the cube slide down his body. He looks back at her to see her face slightly relaxing as a light blue shade tinted her cheeks. When she realizes that he's looking at her, she scowls at him, which makes his spike twitch. He never was one to consider a femme all that attractive when she was angry, but Arcee has got to be the hottest femme he's ever seen when she's mad.

As Arcee watches the Energon drip down Soundwave's body, she feels herself getting turned on. Scrap! Scrap! Scrap! Scrap! Scrap! No! He's the enemy! When she notices that he's looking at her, she feels her spark pulsing faster, she knows she must be blushing right now. She scowls at him in an attempt to hide the fact that he's turning her on. But she also feels a twinge of fear in her spark as he looks at her. She doesn't know if he's mad and getting ready to attack her or what.

"Leave, Soundwave. Go check on Laserbeak or something," she says after noticing that Laserbeak isn't on his chest. He must have put him in recharge already. Soundwave moves closer to her and her spark jumps. She moves back but he follows her until she ends up hitting a wall, Soundwave keeps moving towards her until he's inches away. "I-I don't want to talk..." She stammers as her spark's pulse quickens even more.

His tentacles come out and set his tendrils on her helm. She expects there to be a shock, but instead there's a surge of calming energy. It seems to be similar to what he did with Laserbeak in the cave when they fixed him up, when he started panicking, Soundwave did the same maneuver to calm him down. Soundwave removes his visor and sets it on the ground before he leans in closer to her. He puts a digit under her chin to lift her helm so he can look into her optics, "Calm down, don't stress yourself out."

Arcee cursed her body for betraying her as she felt herself getting even more turned on. But she can also feel her processor settling down, like all concerns and worries are being soothed away. She looks in his beautiful purple optics, and her spark flutters. How does this mech have such an effect on her?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Chapter 1

A Gladiator and a Paramour. A Scout and a warlords advisor. Friends torn down to Enemies. Martyrs and Makers. Allies reduced to Traitors. And at the end of the day, who will question the gods when their toys grow boring?

PT 1- CHAPTER 3

WORDS - 2,192k

CHAPTER 1__CHAPTER 2__CHAPTER 3__

Chapter 21

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Everyone stood by and watched as Ratchet worked on Bumblebee. He was able to keep him stable, but he had to put him into stasis so his body could try to repair itself. Ratchet put him on machines to help him stay functioning while both he and Bee's body worked to repair the wound.

"He's lucky. There is only minimal damage to the bottom part of his spark chamber. There is nothing to impact the spark itself, but the damage is so great that it could cause a complete system shutdown," Ratchet informs them as he continues to work.

"What are his chances of survival?" Raf asked.

"As you humans would put it, slim to none. He has a minimal chance of surviving this. But I will do everything in my power to keep him functioning."

Optimus clenched his servos as frustration started setting in. Megatron has been beating him at every turn. First, he's taken Arcee and used her against them; now his scout is at Primus' door. He's now two soldiers down, and he doesn't know how they will be able to handle another attack from the Decepticons. He turns to the nearest wall and punches it before closing his optics to try and calm himself down.

"Easy, boss," Bulkhead says, trying to calm him down while June and the kids look at him in surprise, they have never seen him lose it before. They didn't think he could lose it.

"Calm down, Optimus, the last thing we need right now is you losing it," Ratchet says as he looks up at Optimus for a brief moment. "Don't let Megatron get to you, it's what he wants. He's trying to get under your metal," he says before going back to his work.

"I know, Ratchet. I know," Optimus says as he continues calming himself down. "I need to go for a drive. Call me if anything comes up." He transforms and drives out of the base.

"Do you think it's safe for him to be out there alone?" Bulkhead asks Ratchet.

"No, but he needs the space to clear his processor."

"I didn't think he could get that upset," Miko says as her mind still processes if she actually saw Optimus act like that.

"Even a Prime can get frustrated and upset at times," Ratchet states. "This whole situation is just really getting to him." He places a temporary patch over the wound to cover it up so nothing can interfere with its repairing process and checks the monitors to make sure everything is running well. "Arcee is being held by the Decepticons, Megatron is toying with us, and now Bumblebee is badly injured. That's a lot for any leader to have to deal with."

Jack and Raf look down, they hate to think of what their guardians are going through. Especially Jack, he doesn't even want to think of what the Decepticons might be doing to Arcee right now. Miko pulls them both into a hug to comfort them. She's happy nothing has happened to her guardian, but she's also dreading that something might happen to him at some point. After all, it's just him, Optimus, and Ratchet right now.

~~~~~~~~~~

Arcee wakes up with a terrible helmache, she places a servo on her helm as she tries to recall what happened. It doesn't take too long for her to remember everything. Soundwave slammed her against the cave wall before electrocuting her into unconsciousness. Damn that mech! She can't believe she let her guard down and opened up to him, he probably told Megatron everything she told him. And they kissed! She scolded herself for being so stupid as she scanned her body for any internal injuries, but she didn't find any, thankfully.

She sits up and stretches, that's when she realizes that she's not chained down. She can tell that she's in the brig, but she's not chained. Is this Soundwave's doing? No, he wouldn't leave her unchained. But it had to have been, none of the others would have left her unchained. But why would he?

She hears the door open, she looks up to see the very mech she was just thinking of walking in. The door closes behind him as he looks at her, "Were you the one that left me unchained?" He nodded. "Why?"

"Because... I couldn--"

Arcee glared at him, "Don't use the fake voices, use your real one!"

Soundwave looked at her for a second, he'd never had a bot demand that he use his real voice. Not even Megatron demanded that. He should ignore it and keep using his fake voices, but something inside him demands that he please her. "Because I couldn't bring myself to chain you up," he says in his real voice. "I felt bad enough for hurting you and then putting you in the brig, I couldn't chain you up as well."

"You couldn't bring yourself to chain me up?" Arcee asks as she glares at him. She stands up but has to lean against the wall as pain shoots through her body; she moved too fast. Soundwave had to restrain himself from reaching out to her. "You couldn't chain me up, but you could attack me, throwing me against the wall and electrocuting me until I was unconscious!"

Soundwave narrowed his optics, "Don't forget you attacked me first!"

Arcee stayed silent as she thought back; she did attack him first. He was just defending himself. Why does she even care so much that he hurt her like that? They're enemies, they're supposed to hurt each other.

"Arcee."

She hears him whispering near her audio receptor, and she finally notices that he's standing right in front of her. She was so lost in thought that she didn't even realize that he had moved closer to her. She watches him as he places one servo on the wall while he brings his other servo up to his visor to remove it. She didn't even take notice until now that his visor had been fixed.

He removes his visor, and she's met with the same beautiful purple optics she saw in the cave. She's once again entranced by them. Curse this mech. She feels his lips brush against hers as he gradually kisses her.

He looks at her to see if she will refuse him, but she does nothing to stop him, so he kisses her more until it becomes as heated and passionate as it was before. Arcee closes her optics as she melts into the kiss. How does he keep making her like this?

The door opens and Soundwave quickly moves away from Arcee as he puts his visor back on. The two look towards the door to see Megatron and Knock Out walk in. Soundwave was able to hide his blush behind his visor, but Arcee wasn't so lucky.

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Chapter 1

Chapter 22

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Arcee tried her best to calm down after that heated kiss. Megatron looked at the two of them with a raised optic ridge, but he didn't question anything since he knew about Soundwave's feelings for the femme.

"Well, this is awkward," Knock Out said before laughing. "Soundwave, you dog! No wonder you didn't like me touching her; you want her for yourself!"

Soundwave glared at him from behind his visor.

"Knock Out, if you want to stay in one piece, I would advise that you stop teasing Soundwave," Megatron warns the medic. "Now scan Arcee to make sure there's no severe damage. But be careful, or you will have to deal with Soundwave."

Finding the strength she needed to face this tyrant, Arcee pushed herself off the wall as she glared at the two mechs before her. "He's not coming anywhere near me! I scanned myself already and found nothing, I'm just fine!"

"I still would like another opinion," Megatron said as Knock Out stepped forward and scanned her.

"Nothing, she's in the clear," Knock Out said as he stepped back.

"Good. We need to be sure you remain well. So I would advise that you never try that stunt you tried to pull ever again."

Arcee just held her glare, no way in pit is she just gonna sit around on this ship and let them do as they please with her. She just needs to come up with a better way to escape.

"I just got back from meeting with Optimus," Megatron finally says after a moment of silence. "He was trying to negotiate for you. I, of course, made him believe that I would actually negotiate and led him into a trap," Megatron finished off with a smirk.

Arcee makes a step towards him, "You better not have hurt him!"

"I tried to kill him, but he still had some strength in him despite his injuries, and I was unsuccessful," Megatron says with a small growl, "So he's just fine..."

Arcee felt relief wash over her as she smirked at the warlord, she could tell it really upset him. But the smirk quickly fell at his next words.

"His scout, however, did fall. So badly injured that he might not survive."

Arcee is seething, "You hurt Bumblebee!?" Before any of them could react, she runs towards the warlord, jumps up, and kicks him on the side of his helm. She lands on her feet, then turns and kicks him in the abdomen. Megatron goes sliding back a bit as he reels from the kick to his helm. "You monster!" Arcee shouts as she tries to throw a punch at him, but her arm is caught by Soundwave.

Soundwave holds her arm as he wraps an arm around her waist and holds her firmly against his body as he leans his helm down to whisper to her, "Calm down, don't make him beat you again."

"You're lucky Soundwave caught you in time. I was just getting ready to slam you onto the floor and give you another reason to have to make another trip to our Med Bay." He puts a servo on the side of his helm, "I must admit, dear, you do have a strong kick. But not strong enough to take down a gladiator." He looks at Soundwave when he wraps his other arm around her almost protectively, "Don't worry, Soundwave, I'm not gonna beat her this time."

Soundwave looks up at him, he's just trying to hold Arcee back. But at the same time, he does want to protect her. He would never go against his leader, but he also can't resist the urge to protect his future sparkmate. Even from him.

Megatron looks at Arcee again, she still held her glare, but she was also looking baffled about Soundwave's actions. "I wasn't the one who hurt Bumblebee; Starscream was the one who did that."

"Starscream? How?"

"I believe he shot a missile into him."

"Great, now we get to hear him brag about taking down another Autobot!" Knock Out says as he rolls his optics, "He already can't stop bragging about killing the one called Cliffjumper!"

Arcee narrowed her optics at the medic, "What did you just say?"

Soundwave tightened his hold on her, knowing she was about to completely lose it. Knock Out looked at Megatron before he looked back at her, "Nothing."

"No, you said something about my partner! What did you say?"

Megatron was looking on in amusement, he didn't know the Autobot Cliffjumper that Starscream killed was Arcee's partner. A devious smile forms on his lips as an idea pops into his processor, "He said that Starscream keeps bragging about killing Cliffjumper, which he really does. He brags about it every chance he gets, he can't shut up about it." Megatron sneers as he says the last part.

"Starscream killed Cliffjumper!? Where is he!?" Arcee shouts as she tries to get out of Soundwave's hold, but Soundwave is holding her too tightly. "I'm gonna kill him!"

Soundwave releases his tentacles and holds them in front of her with the electricity coming out of them as a warning, "Arcee!" Soundwave whispers to her in a firm tone, "Don't make me do it again!"

Arcee looks at the tentacles and stops moving. Her body is still recovering from the last time he electrocuted her, she doesn't want to feel that again. Soundwave can't help but smile when he sees her starting to calm down, he's found a new tactic to keep her under control and behaving. He pulls his tentacles back in and releases her from his hold. Arcee looks back at him before looking at Megatron again.

Megatron is amazed at how quickly Soundwave was able to get her to calm down and behave. Either she's very scared of him or she's beginning to warm up to him. Maybe it's both. Either way, he'll be appointing Soundwave as her guard to keep her behaving and not cause any more problems. "He's no longer with us," he finally tells her, "Optimus and his team had captured him and were using him to negotiate your release. But he fled like a coward after he shot the scout. If he ever shows up again, I'll let you have the pleasure of taking him out."

"Can you repeat that, Breakdown?" Knock Out says to his partner over the comm. After a moment, he hangs up and looks at Megatron, "My lord, Breakdown says they may have found something very useful to us."

"Let's go see what it is," Megatron says as he turns to walk out. Knock Out and Soundwave walk out behind him and close the door, leaving Arcee alone in the brig.

~~~~~~~~~~

:: Optimus, we got readings on what appears to be a Cybertronian data cylinder. :: Ratchet tells Optimus.

:: Bridge me to its location. ::

A second later, a Ground Bridge opens up and Optimus drives through. Thankfully, the location was a deserted area surrounded by rocks, so Optimus didn't have to worry about blowing his cover. He transforms and begins looking for the cylinder. It doesn't take him too long to find it, but before he can retrieve it, a Ground Bridge opens up. Optimus looks over at the portal and sees Knock Out and Breakdown running through with half a dozen Vehicons.

"Ratchet, Decepticon ambush! The cylinder is at risk! I require backup!" Optimus begins firing at the Decepticons. Soon after, a Ground Bridge opens up and Bulkhead comes running through. He rams into one of the Vehicons, shoving him into one of the rocks. He transforms his servo into his wrecking ball and smashes it into the 'Con's helm, offlining him immediately. He turns around to see Breakdown running at him. Breakdown swings his fist at him, but he dodges it and throws a fist of his own, punching him in his side. Breakdown was barely phased by it as he threw another fist, hitting him in the jaw.

Optimus had already managed to take out two of the Vehicons before he started fighting Knock Out. Two of the remaining Vehicons started helping Knock Out and Breakdown while the third one went for the cylinder. Optimus grabbed Knock Out's helm and picked him up before he punched him really hard, sending him flying back a few feet. He then punched the Vehicon that was attempting to attack him. He looks towards the other Vehicon to see him picking up the cylinder, but Optimus shoots him before he can transform and fly off with it. The Vehicon falls, and the cylinder goes rolling across the ground.

Miko had run through the Ground Bridge not long after Bulkhead did and had been hiding behind a rock, watching everything. She sees the cylinder rolling towards her, but it stops a few feet away. She decides to run over to it and duck down as she gets out her phone to call Ratchet. After she tells Ratchet that she's with the 'thingamabob,' he opens up a groundbridge for her, but it's too far away. She puts away her phone to try pushing it, but it doesn't budge; it's too heavy for her to push on her own.

She moves back to get a running start, she runs towards it and kicks it, which causes it to activate and prepare to send out the data. Bulkhead looks down as he struggles with Breakdown to get the upper hand and sees Miko. He starts to panic, seeing that Miko is in danger, he pushes Breakdown to the side and starts running towards her. 

It's as though he forgot all of his training at that moment; he forgot one of the important rules of battle, which is to never turn your back on your enemy when he's still conscious and able to attack. He gets punched in the back by Breakdown, and he goes flying forward, landing on the ground right in front of the cylinder.

Bulkhead brings his helm up just as the cylinder shoots out the data and it goes right into his processor. Knock Out walks over and picks up the cylinder, "You really took one for the team, Bulkhead. My team." He transformed and drove into the Ground Bridge that had opened up, followed by Breakdown, while the two remaining Vehicons flew off. Optimus is too fixated on making sure Bulkhead is alright to even bother stopping them.

"Ratchet, we need a Ground Bridge," Optimus comms the medic as he hopes and prays that Bulkhead will be alright. He doesn't want to lose another team member.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Chapter 1

Arcee gets captured by the Decepticons and has to find a way to break free and get back to her team, but the Decepticons want to force her to become one of them. Eventually, there will be some romance between Soundwave and Arcee.

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Chapter 1

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Arcee sat next to Bumblebee while he was hooked up to Megatron through the Cortical Psychic Patch. She kept an optic on him as she waited for word to pull him out. She looked towards the door after she heard it open and saw Starscream, Knock Out, and Soundwave come through. 

"Knock Out, if you would be so kind as to tell Soundwave your expert medical opinion, for the record."

"Simply put, unaided Lord Megatron could be in this deathly slumber forever."

"Our master would not want to be seen this way, trapped in his own body. Is it not just?"

They're trying to kill off Megatron! Arcee thinks to herself as Soundwave walks up and points to the monitor.

"Brain waves activity. Not evidence of consciousness but of an endless dream of which he may never wake from," Knock Out informed.

"Soundwave, we must face reality. Megatron is lost to us," Starscream says as he acts saddened by the news.

"The most honorable option would be to show him mercy," Knock Out adds as he also acts saddened.

"A quick throw of the switch."

"Quick and painless."

"Ratchet, are you hearing this?" Arcee asks through the comm.

:: If Megatron perishes Bumblebee's mind will be separated from his body, forever! :: Ratchet responds.

"We'll lose both 'Bee and Optimus?" Jack asked.

~~~~~~

Time goes on as Soundwave stands there pondering over it until Starscream speaks up again, "Soundwave, do I take your silence to mean that you concur with Knock Out's medical expertise?"

Soundwave remains silent as he continues to ponder. Starscream looks at Knock Out who just shrugs then back at Soundwave as he walks over to Megatron's body and gets ready to pull the plug. "Speak now or forever hold your peace," he tells him, but still he remains silent.

Arcee readies her gun and points it at Starscream ready to shoot him. She can't believe she's about to save the life of the warlord but she's willing, to save Bumblebee.

"Going, going..." Starscream says as he looks at Soundwave waiting for his response. Soundwave points to the Cortical Patch that was coming out from behind Megatron. Starscream goes to check behind the warlord and sees the cord coming from behind Megatron's head, he looks it over and then goes to see where it is leading.

Arcee sees this and ducks down, "Scrap!" She whispers as she looks at Bumblebee, "You better hurry up, 'Bee."

Starscream gets closer and Arcee is prepared to fight when she finally gets the call from Ratchet, :: Arcee, pull Bumblebee out of there, now! :: Arcee carefully pulls off the cord from Bumblebee's helm and starts shaking him to wake him up. Starscream gets to their position and kneels down to look and sees them, Arcee transforms her servo back into her blaster and gets ready to blast him when she hears Bumblebee finally waking up. She turns to look at him as his optic lights come back on and he starts coming fully aware. 

"What in...!?" Starscream shouts as Bumblebee gets up and gets ready to fight as a Ground Bridge opens up behind them, "Intruders!" Starscream transforms his servo into his blaster.

Before he could shoot off a blast, Bumblebee runs into the portal while Arcee points her gun at the cables hooked up to Megatron, "Allow me!" She says before she fires a blast that hits the cables, pulling them out of Megatron's chest. With a smirk, Arcee jumps backward into the portal, but before she can get fully through two tentacles grab her by the legs and pull her back in. She suddenly finds herself between Starscream, Soundwave, and Knock Out with Soundwave holding her legs with his tentacles.

She unsheathes her blades from her arms and slices at the tentacles making them release her legs. She jumps up and manages to land a kick to the side of Soundwave's helm before taking a swing at Starscream, hitting him right in the faceplate. She then heads for the Ground Bridge which is still open but she is again grabbed by Soundwave who picks her up then slams her onto the floor. She feels a foot pressing down on her body so she looks up to see Soundwave holding her down with his foot while Starscream comes over and points a missile at her. She looks back at the  Ground Bridge and watches helplessly as it closes. 

"You're now our prisoner, Arcee," Starscream tells her. "Well done, Soundwave. Now take her to the prison chamber," he said as he walked out, "ONE OF YOU BETTER GET THE SHIELDS UP!! We do not need the Autobots finding us, especially since we now have their femme!!"

~~~~~~~~~~

Back at base, Bumblebee and Bulkhead were looking at the Ground Bridge wondering why Arcee hadn't come through yet while Ratchet got to work on the antidote for Optimus. "You sure she was right behind you?" Bulkhead asked Bumblebee.

"Yes, she was right behind me!" Bumblebee insisted.

"She'll come, don't worry," Ratchet said trying to cheer up the mood. But a couple of seconds later, the bridge closed and Arcee never came through, "Oh dear."

"Those 'Con scums must have captured her and taken her prisoner!" Bulkhead said as he balled up his fists, ready to fight.

Bumblebee looks down to the ground, "I should have double-checked. Why didn't I double-check to make sure she was behind me?"

"It's not your fault, 'Bee, don't blame yourself," Raf tells him. Bumblebee just looks at him as Ratchet finishes getting the antidote together and goes to give it to Optimus.

A few minutes later, Optimus starts making a recovery and they start telling him about what happened but he stops them, "No need, I heard you guys talking so I know Arcee didn't make it back. Are we still tracking the ship?"

Ratchet goes over to the monitor and looks, "No, we lost it."

"See if you can get it back."

"Already on it," Ratchet says as he searches for the location of the ship.

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