Infected

Chapter 31

Eclipse Pov.

"E-empty?!" Solar gasped.

"That can't be right? Unless the cons or bots raised it before everyone left Earth?" Wavelength suggested.

"Nope. There's not enough dust in there for that." Flare argued.

"So then why is it empty?" Siege shifted.

"Did anyone from Cybertron come back?" I offer.

*That makes sense. But who all knew of Mr. Thundercracker's safes?* Harmony asked. *Because it wasn't him or your sire. You would know otherwise.*

"Just those two and our uncle. Uncle Thundercracker set up tons as an emergency just in the seekers needed anything in an emergency situation. But he never told any of them." Siege hummed.

"That's not creepy then." Solar chuckled nervously, lookin at the door.

"Maybe a neutral then." I reason.

"Maybe. That makes more sense." Solar nodded.

"So then, we need to find another safe then." I sigh.

*Pretty much.* Harmony's doorwings droop.

"But we can always find another!" Flare grinned.

"That we can. Uncle Thundercracker has a map of his safes." Siege added.

"Half, of his safes. The other half of the list is Back on Cybertron with him." I groan, suddenly remembering the fact.

"Oh you're right." Flare whined. "He did that as a safety measure!"

"Then we'll look at that map and hunt for a pattern." Solar suggested.

"Sounds fair to me!" Wavelength grinned.

We climbed our way back up the valley. I kicked on my boosters and rose into the air. Uncle Thundercracker wasn't the type to be unprepared. So a neutral just, entering the safe and then leaving it without power? That didn't sound likely at all. Not unless a trained bot came along. Like Lockdown or Jazz. They were deliberately trained by someone or themselves. A random neutral? Against high class, Decepticon grade military security? I shake my head and look down at the ominous spark of the safe. Creepy...

"Eclipse! Come on!!" Solar waved me back over to the group.

"Are you ok?" Wavelength asked.

"Yeah. It's just- knowing my Uncle that empty safe doesn't make any sense." I shake my helm.

"You got that freaky feeling to?" Flare asked.

"Glad I'm not alone in that." Siege started leading us back the the Golden Retriever.

"So, all three siblings agree that something was wrong with the safe?" Solar shifted his weight.

*That's not a good sign.* Harmony flicked her wings.

"Not a good sign at all." I add.

"Hopefully the other safes are left alone?" Siege typed in the code to open the main entrance hatch.

"Hopefully. It's unlikely every single one has been found." Wavelength mentions.

"How many?" Flare asked, spinning to shake the snow off his peds.

"32. All of my simulations confirm at least a fair handful have been raided, but all them? That's a very very slim chance." Wavelength grinned.

"Comforting!" Solar grinned and ran inside.

"Want to look at the map with me?" Siege offered.

"I would love to!" I laugh a bit.

Harmony giggled in front of us as Space Mouse ran into her servos. *Hi little love!!*

"That is adorable." Siege snorted.

"Most certainly." I agree and we head back to the control room.

I active my booth and pull up our uncles map.

"Well, it's certainly-" Siege paused.

"Scattered? Messy? Not at all him?" I chuckle and sit crisscrossed on the booth rail.

"It look like Sire made the safe locations."

"He probably did. The three did a lot together." I note.

"That they did. They probably made the map together then." Siege added.

"It makes sense." I fall silent.

"Eclipse?"

"Yes?"

"You're thinking about him again." My brother chuckled.

"I- hey!!" I laugh and playfully kick him.

Siege laughed and pushed my ped away.

"But yes. I was. Do you think he raided the safes?" I suggested.

"That- would make more sense. Uncle Starscream would know where they all are."

"And why it was empty."

"Yeah, that makes sense. Knowing him, kinda, we can cross out the ones farthest from humans." Siege typed something in. Some of the blue bots turned red.

"That eliminates a lot less than I thought." I joked.

"Yep. Hang on." He turned all but one of the red yellow. "Red will be empty. Yellow will be unsure. Blue will the ones we haven't checked yet. Black," Several more turn to a new color, "Will be the ones that hold a higher risk of checking."

"Such as human cities." I noticed most of the dots placements.

"Yep. Or unstable locates in general."

"Yikes." I tap my ped on the booth side I was still sitting on.

"We're fine on fuel. At least for another while. But we'll need more and soon."

"Could we find a mine?" I offer. "Hopefully one the cons haven't stripped."

I was already typing away. Multiple pink dots pop up in the screen.

"Alright, some closer to humans than preferred. But still, most are far from human contact." I hum.

"If we can find a space bridge then anything closer to the humans would be easier to access." Siege commented.

"And convenient as well. How many of his safes had one?" I asked.

"Almost none. Which was a great idea. That way no one could just bridge into one."

"Definitely good foresight." I compliment our Uncle.

"He's clever. Which makes it a little annoying for us." Siege sighed.

His wings flicked, annoyed in their movements.

"We'll hit the closest to us." I point to ones in Greenland, the Arctic and Alaska.

"Those three are far from humans. So scouting those out won't be awful." Siege smiled.

I nod and point again. "There's a mine not far from the one in Greenland. We could scout that the same day."

He nodded. "Then we'll work our way across the map. Continent by continent."

"Sounds perfect to me!"