No End In Sight

Chapter 1

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.