The Power Within - Transformers Prime (2)

Chapter Twenty-Eight

  "Hey, Raf," I said, sitting down next to Finn. "Where are you?"

  "Grounded." His tone was dismayed.

  That shocked me. "What? You, of all people, grounded?"

  "Big time. I misplaced some homework and blew a couple of tests."

  Miko plopped on the ground in front of us to join the conversation. "Translation: A- instead of an A."

  Raf sighed. "I'm probably spending too much time at the base."

  "Rafael, I hope you're not on the phone in there." A new voice came over the line, female with a spanish accent, muffled because of how far it was from the speaker.

  "No, mama." Raf replied to the voice, his voice getting quiet too before he returned to the conversation. "Say hi to Bee for me. Oh, and until I improve these grades, I'm off Team Prime."

  "Will do," I said, trying to keep the dismay out of my tone. "We'll see you tomorrow at school, R-Man."

  "See you guys." He said and hung up.

  Miko sighed and slumped back. "And we're down one. Where's Jack?"

  I checked the time. "Probably heading here now. His shift is done." Then I gave her a smirk. "Concerned about Jack, are we?"

  Her face flushed. "I- Was just wondering!"

  "Of course." My unrelenting tone made her shoot me a glare. Finn looked between the two of us, confused.

  "I want to ask for an explanation," He said. "But something tells me that I don't want to know." His phone rang just then, causing him to check the number and become somber. "General Bryce. I have to take this."

  He stood and headed towards one of the back halls to answer his call. I watched as he walked away, noticing the stiffness in his steps. He had come out of the fight with Typhoon the worst, since he had gotten thrown a mile or so with nothing to break his impact. Still, he was on his feet and refused to sit still, which was a good sign.

  "Looks like I'm not the only one with eyes for a boy," Miko piped up, an evil expression on her face.

  I stuck my tongue at her just as the door to the elevator opened, revealing Agent Fowler.

  "Hey, Fowler!" I called and he gave me a greeting smile before heading to the main computers.

  "Agent Fowler," Optimus, who had just come back from patrol two seconds ago with Bumblebee, said as he approached him. "To what do we owe this visit?"

  "Bad news," Agent Fowler replied and Finn rejoined us, face grim. He was probably told the same news we were about to hear. "At 16:30 hours, a satellite was stolen from a high security military vault. Surveillance shows the Decepticon known as Breakdown at the scene."

  "Haven't seen him in a while," Bulkhead commented.

  "Because he's supposed to be dead," I blurted, causing everyone to turn to me with a questioning look. "When Knockout tried to swipe me and Raf, he said how none of the Decepticons cared that Breakdown was gone. He died."

  Agent Fowler shook his head. "Well something's not adding up, because it looks like Breakdown entered the base in vehicle mode with someone behind the wheel."

  "A Decepticon paired with a human?" Ratchet asked incredulously.

  "And I have a pretty good hunch who." Fowler continued. "The stolen satellite was Project Damocles."