Transformers Prime: Shrouded Truth (#4) [Completed]

Chapter 30

I stood in the bridge, watching Megatron watch the earth. Solus stood beside me. She followed me everywhere, only because I was the only one who could see her. In turn, she was the only one who I could talk to, so we had bonded, and rarely left each other's side unless forced to.

"And?" Megatron started.

"It is done." Those words were foul on my tongue, the taste unpleasant.

"Good. Now, explain this." The warlord turned around, his hand gesturing towards a screen. On cue, a picture popped it.

It was undeniably me. I was transformed, looking at the camera of a human who had snapped a picture of me. It had been intentional, a message to the Autobot's that I was still alive. That plan was out the window.

"Loop holes," Solus said, her reminder clear.

I could be as vague as I wanted; Megatron didn't ask for how much information he wanted. I suppressed a grin. "After I did as you asked, I stretched my legs until the designated time window. The human caught me by surprise."

"It wasn't a message to the Autobots?" Megatron raised and optic ridge.

"No," I forced out.

"The truth."

I couldn't do other wise, so I said, "yes."

Megatron nodded to Soundwave. The silent con erased the image, leaving an error on the page. He approached me. "You will not contact the Autobots, is that understood?"

"Yes, Lord Megatron," I gritted out. Megatron turned away, and that was my dismissal, but I didn't move.

Megatron payed me no attention, and he wouldn't. There was no way to get his attention, I couldn't speak to him without being spoken to first.

"Loop hole," I wondered, thinking my way around it. "Got it."

So, I began pacing, making my steps as loud as possible. Vehicons shot me glares, but I kept on moving back and forth. Solus looked at with a confused look, but realization snapped onto her face.

"Enough," Megatron commanded, and I instantly froze in my place. So, that didn't work. What next?

I began to hum, the only song that I knew: The Imperial's March from Star Wars, composed by John Williams. As loud as I could, and in perfect tune, I hummed the song. Solus laughed at Megatron's face. I only got a few bars in before Megatron snapped at me to stop. So, I moved to the next stage; tapping the rythme out on in my legs. Megatron's rage grew.

"What do you want?" Each word was carefully pronounced, punctuated with anger.

I smiled as said sweetly, "Can I go for a drive?"

"Yes, go," Megatron snapped, agitated a with me. It was perfection.

So, I turned on my heel and left the bridge, Solus following me.

She was still chuckling as she said, "That was gold."

"Why thank you," I said. I as beaming to myself: who else could piss off Megatron and not suffer the consciences? Probably only me.

"But why are you leaving?" Solus asked, her mood sobering up.

"I've put some thought into what you said, about finding loopholes, and I'm going to see if I can find one," I said, stopping before the ground bridge control room.

"You're going to try to contact the Autobots?" Hope sparkled in her optics.

I nodded. "Can I ask you to do something for me though?"

"Anything."

"Can you screwup their tracking systems? I don't want them to be suspicious when they watch me."

"Yeah, I can do that."

We nodded at each other, clear on our plan.

The vehicons said nothing as I entered the room, Solus taking up a position near the computer. I simply commanded them to step aside, and I had full control over the ground bridge controls. I set the coordinates to our former base, and turned away as a ground bridge appeared.

The vehicons and Megatron would probably assume I was homesick or something, I don't know. As long as they didn't suspect me, I would let them draw their own conclusions.

Solus gave me a nod, and as I stepped through, she moved into the computer. I was gone before I could see the results.

I stepped out into the hot, dry air of Jasper, Nevada. It was welcoming almost, comforting, despite the ruins in front of me. The area around me was blocked off by the government, but I paid it no heed as I easily stepped over it. Rocks filled the base, covering the floor and stacking up high from the Decepticon's search for bodies and artifacts. Metal beams were broken, jutting up from the rocks or laying across the floor. The previously charred Autobot symbol on the floor had been removed, more than likely by Fowler to hid all evidence of the Autobots. A charred mark covered the area near the ground bridge, the control systems and computer destroyed beyond use. This sort of damage only confirmed my previous conclusions; the explosion had been deliberately set off to cover their tracks.

I walked amongst the rubble, continuing to look for clues, signs, anything that I, or the cons and government, might have missed. There was nothing. I sat down, thinking hard.

"Where would they go?" I asked myself. "No, where would I go?

"Come on, think. Think Smokescreen."

Then it hit me. "I would stay in the area." The cons wouldn't expect us to return to the same area, probably scatter and take up a new residence in a different state or even a new contient. They wouldn't be looking in Jasper's area. Even if the Autobots weren't in the area, Lora and the others still would be. It made perfect sense.

I leapt to me feet, transforming swiftly and shooting off down the road, towards the town. It was empty for a Wednesday, but I drove through it anyways, my optics scanning the roads and buildings for any sign of the humans or Autobots. I took every road, driving down some twice, even three times. They weren't in the town.

It was about an hour later that I started considering options outside of the town. So, I drove half an hour out of town before taking a offshoot road to return. I repeated the same process for every single road out of town. It had been four hours when I came to the last road leaving Jasper, and my hope hadn't dropped. So, I pulled onto the highway and drove, watching and observing. And that was when my efforts paid off.

There, driving down the highway, was Bumblebee. It was unmistakably him, and through the back window I could make out four people in the car, no doubt all the kids.

I smiled to myself; now was my chance.

I couldn't contact him, so I would have to resort to other means. My holoform appeared, and I rolled down my window. With nothing to lose, I gunned it.

I swerved around Bee, quickly cutting in front of him. He slammed on his breaks, and I watched as Raf and Lora, who sat in the front seats, jerked against their seatbelts. I stayed in front of them for a moment longer, before shooting down the road much faster than the speed limit.

"I hoped that worked."