Find Me (You Saved Me Series Book 3)

Speed

"Starscream isn't with the Cons right now, right?" Shelby asks, staring at the screen. Not that she can read it. 

"Yes, he's been rouge for a while now." Optimus confirms. 

"I believe he is with the cons after Megatron destroys our base." She says, trying hard to remember what happened upon the warship. 

"So this is most likely a trap." Bulkhead groans. 

"Yes, but I don't know what happens. This is the part I am completely blank on." She admits, feeling defeated. 

"We will go, but we must be on high alert. Protecting our keys is our highest priority." Optimus says. 

"Does he even know about them?" Shelby asks. 

"It is uncertain." Ratchet says. 

"Maybe if you would have been here afterword, we would know what happened." Arcee stabs, her arms crossed, glaring at Shelby. 

"Arcee." Optimus warns. 

Arcee goes quiet, looking away. 

"Bumblebee, Ratchet and Bulkhead will go with me to Starscream. Smokescreen, Dreadwing, Hot Rod and Arcee will stay here. Arcee you will man the groundbridge. Shelby, I suggest you put your protective suit on, just in case. Be armed and ready for anything." Optimus gives out his orders. 

"Good to go. Optimus." Shelby states. 

She pulls out the suit from her pocket. Where she has been keeping it since getting it back from Ratchet. She presses the button and the suit forms around her, wrapping around her body. The helmet encases her head, and she is ready. The other Autobots get their blasters out and the ground bridge opens. Optimus goes through first, followed by Bumblebee, Ratchet and Bulkhead. Shelby gets her own weapons out, pointed at the ground bridge, waiting for something to happen. 

That's when she sees it. She isn't sure what is going on. She sees something moving. It's going at incredible speed. The light shifting as it moves is all she can make out. Like they are in two different dimensions, one moving normal speed and the other with the speed of light. 

"Arcee, close the ground bridge!" Shelby shouts. 

"What?" Arcee asks, looking confused. 

"Just do it!" Shelby orders. 

Arcee doesn't wait this time. She pulls the lever up and the ground bridge starts to close. Shelby keeps her eyes on the fleeting movement. It speeds off in another direction, heading who knows throughout the base. She only hopes the ground bridge closes before it comes back. Shelby tries to train her guns on the movement, but with the speed, she doesn't know if she would be accurate. She also doesn't want to risk hitting something she shouldn't. 

 "Optimus..." Shelby starts.

The building starts to shake, and the sprinklers turn on.

"Arcee close the ground bridge now." Optimus orders through the comms.

The ground bridge then closes upon him finishes his sentence. Having already began to close it before. Shelby watches as the thing speeds back into the hanger. Her weapon aimed on it as it stills for a moment, but it's a blur. She can see that it's tall like a bot and gray but is unsure of what or who it actually is. She takes the shot, and the bot goes down. Then the blurring stops and a metal body is forming. One with wings and an uncanny resemblance to Megatron's old first lieutenant. 

"Starscream?" Arcee questions in surprise. 

Dreadwing is the first to move, while the others still stand there in shock. He rips the Omega keys from the con's hands. Something no on realized he was holding. Starscream groans from the pain of shot hitting him. Hot Rod is next to go grab Starscream. Holding the cons arms tightly behind his back. 

"Bring Optimus and the other back." Dreadwing huffs.

Arcee doesn't say anything. She opens the ground bridge back up and the others are quick to run into the base. Optimus looks around the room, his optics landing on the con. An angered look washes over his face and he storms over. His servos in fists, ready to land a punch. But he doesn't. His arm reaches out and he grabs the con by the throat and holds him up. 

"You have no right to come in here, Starscream." He growls. 

Starscream whimpers his servos clamping onto Optimus's. "Don't hurt me. Can't you see I'm already hurt. She shot me!" He cries out, pointing at Shelby. 

"What do you want with the keys?!?" Optimus shakes the con in his grasps. "You were going to take them back to Megatron?"

"Key's? What keys? I would never go back to Megatron." Starscream struggles trying to lie. 

"Then what were you doing with those?" Optimus makes him look at the keys laying on the floor where Dreadwing had tossed them. 

"Those are keys. I had no idea. I'm here to...Join the Autobots. I know things about Megatron. I could help." He babbles.

"Lock him up." Optimus orders, placing the con on the ground. 

Hot Rod and Dreadwing quickly grab Starscream and begin to drag him down to a cell. All while he's screaming how he can help their cause. The rest of the Autobots stand watching, a few still unsure of what to think of the situation. 

"How did none of see him enter?" Arcee finally speaks.

"I believe he was using the red energon. It can make a bot extremely fast. He was moving so quickly that no one could see him." Ratchet explains. 

"I was able to see him. Well not really. I only saw the light moving around him as he moved." Shelby speaks up. 

"That's why you told me to close the ground bridge." Arcee says with clarity. 

"I didn't know what it was. Unsure of how to explain it, so it was easier to just tell you to close it." Shelby says. 

"You did the right thing. Starscream almost got away with the Omega keys." Optimus says as he walks over. 

"How does he know about them?" Smokescreen asks quietly for once. 

"I am unsure. He hasn't been with the Decepticons for a while now. He must be getting desperate." Optimus answers. His digits rubbing against his chin. 

"This was his way of trying to win Megatron's favor, to join back with the cons. He has no clue what they do, only knows they are important."  Arcee chimes in. 

"At least we got him. We can find out if he knows anything else." Shelby adds. "But how was I able to see him or well some of him?"

"That I do not know. I didn't program your suit to do that. It may have been something Shockwave added before giving it to you." Ratchet suggested. 

"How much red energon is out there?" She asks, pressing the button on her suit, letting it slink away back into its carrier. 

"Very little, possible none anymore. It is very rare." Ratchet answers, shrugging his shoulders. 

"Either way we still have another problem. We still don't know where the fourth key is." Arcee interrupts. 

"She is correct. We will start by interrogating Starscream." Optimus states. 

"I don't think we need too." Hot Rod says as he and Dreadwing walk into the bay. 

Everyone turns and looks at the two. Waiting on Hot Rod to finish his statement. 

"He has it, but its not with him. It's at where he was hiding out." Hot Rod finishes. 

"And where was that?" Bulkhead wonders out loud. 

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Hey guys, 

I know it's short, but I wanted to get something out. Like I had promised. Hopefully this new direction doesn't come and bite me in the ass. 

Thanks, 

Shelby77gt