Chicago Outskirts
Noah watches the first helicopter land nearby, a gold and black insignia of an eagle and a star plastered on the helicopter. A familiar face is the first person to hop out. He goes up to shake hands with him after the two make eye contact.
"Good to see you, Diaz," the agent says.
"You too, Chase," Noah replies. The two look out into the city.
"So... looks like we got our work cut out for us."
"Yeah... sorry about that, Jaime," Noah says, sucking his teeth in. "We did our best to try and do the least amount of damage but then our allies went ahead and crashed a giant spaceship into the ground."
"Yup," Jaime says. "I know Egypt was an easier cover up but... I don't think we'll be able to do it this time. Too many eyes and too many casualties. There's been some anti-Cybertronian sentiment recently in government channels... you all need to be careful."
"I know. I'm guessing the next few months after this is gonna be a lot of council meetings," Noah sighs, pinching the bridge of his nose. "NEST was disbanded earlier so I'm probably gonna get court martialed."
"Nothing you can't handle and hey, if you get kicked out of Sector Seven, maybe you can finally join our team," Jaime says. Noah chuckles. The two look over to the rest of the agents exiting from their vehicles. "I'll see you around, Diaz." Noah nods to him as he walks off.
Highway
After debriefing the crew, Noah and Mirage make their way back to base. The two drive in silence for a bit, the music low and quiet. As Noah leans back in the driver's seat, gripping Mirage's steering wheel, he lets out an irritated sigh.
"What happened to telling me everything, man," Noah asks. The music stops as Mirage's radio lights up.
"I'm sorry, Noah, I wanted to tell you. All of us wanted to tell you guys..." Mirage says.
"I thought-" Noah chokes up briefly, wiping away a stray tear that falls. "I thought you were dead. Just like that." Mirage doesn't reply for a moment. "We've been together almost 20 years, Raj," Noah says. "That's two decades of my life spent with you, when you were gone, I-" he pauses for a moment. "I shut down. I thought I'd be ready for something like this if it ever happened and I... I guess I wasn't."
"...Sometimes I wish I was as reckless as I used to be. Maybe we would have sparkbonded like Bee did and you would have known I was alive..." Mirage says regretfully. "And you wouldn't have been in pain like that." Noah gives a soft smile.
"I don't blame you for growing up," Noah says, patting Mirage's dashboard. "Just... keep me in the loop in the future?"
"If it helps... Arcee was pretty pissed at Prime for making all of us keep it a secret," Mirage says.
"She wanted to tell Wendy," Noah guesses. Mirage gives an mhm. Noah looks up ahead at the road for a moment. "Maybe we should do that. Sparkbond."
"You sure? It's kinda... well, it's a big deal for us."
"Raj, we've been practically married for the past 18 years," Noah says. Mirage laughs and his holoform appears beside Noah, wrapping an arm around his shoulder. Mirage's face falls and he gets a more soft look on his face.
"You really wanna be with me the rest of your life?" Mirage asks.
"I know it'd be shitty without you," Noah replies. Mirage grins and kisses Noah sweetly, the car swerving briefly. "WHOA! Eyes on the road!"
Sector Seven Base
Arcee is the first one back to base, the Sector Seven agents tending to her for the time being as Ratchet is still on his way back from Chicago. She lays on the medbay table, she reflects on Chicago. The memory of Wendy almost falling to her death flashes in front of her optics and she freezes up briefly before relaxing. As she stares up into the ceiling in silence, she frowns at the feelings bubbling up inside her chassis. Taking a shaky breath, Arcee covers her face with her servo, face heating up. She eventually goes into recharge, the image of Wendy being safe lulling her into it.
As soon as Wendy makes it back into base, she makes her way over to Arcee, taking a ride on Ratchet's shoulder. Ratchet and Wendy enter, seeing Arcee recharging.
"Arcee?" Wendy calls out softly. Arcee onlines, her optics flickering on and she looks over to see Wendy being let down onto the table beside the bed.
"Hey," Arcee says, voice laced with static.
"You're alive," Wendy says with relief, growing closer to her. Arcee gives her a soft smile.
"And you're safe," Arcee replies, giving a weak cough. Her holoform then appears and it looks equally as battered, most of her body bandaged up. She then hugs Wendy, earning a surprised squeak from her before Arcee pulls away, rubbing her arm awkwardly.
"You're gonna be bedridden for the next few days so don't expect to be doing anything intense or strenuous, honestly I would advise sticking to using your holoform for the time being if you really need to interact with anything," Ratchet says. "After this whole disaster, I don't think we'll be having any missions anytime soon anyway." He pauses before looking at Wendy. "Wendy, I'm going to ask you to tend to Arcee," Ratchet says. "I'll be busy patching everyone else up since we all took a beating, myself included and with Cade still in the hospital, I'll be needing all the help I can get."
"Me?" Wendy asks, looking over to Arcee. "I... don't really know a lot about Cybertronian anatomy or first aid..."
"Arcee can help you, she should at least know the basics," Ratchet says, eyeing her. Arcee waves him off and huffs. "Besides, I think if you're taking care of her, she'll bounce back faster. I'll have to move you off the medtable soon once the rest start arriving... We'll have to delegate most of base for everyone to recuperate properly..." he thinks out loud.
"I guess she can- be put near Chrys and I's apartment?" Wendy suggests. "That way I can get to her faster if she needs anything..."
"Sounds good, we can make the arrangements in half an hour," Ratchet says. He walks out of the medbay as he hears engines near the entrance of the base. He then rubs a servo over his face. "I am in over my head," Ratchet mutters as he exits.
As Ratchet walks to the entrance of the base, he sees Kaede's cousin, Nathan, approaching him.
"Where's my cousin?" Nathan calls up. Ratchet sighs and kneels down to meet him.
"He's been hospitalised in Northern Chicago, the NEST team successfully extracted him from the Decepticons," Ratchet says. Nathan lets out a sigh of relief.
"I came back as soon as I heard he'd been taken... and then seeing everyone gone... I was a bit scared, Ratchet," Nathan says.
"I know, I'm sorry you had to find out when you were on another tracking mission," Ratchet says. "Were you able to find the neutral Cybertronian?" he asks. Nathan nods.
"Yeah, she's living it up in Western Wyoming, lives at this old abandoned shack in a valley," Nathan says. "Needed some patchwork done but that was it." A pause. "Thanks for letting me know, Ratchet, dunno what I'd do if I lost Kaede."
"I understand. He's your younger cousin and you feel a responsibility for his safety," Ratchet says. "He'll hopefully be back on base soon. From what I've heard from Optimus, he'll be bringing Kaede back," Ratchet says, his voice having a twinge of annoyance in it. "Optimus really should be back here getting repaired but he insisted on being the one to bring Kaede back."
"It's always been a challenge to separate those two, yeah?" Nathan grins. Ratchet sighs.
"You have no idea," Ratchet replies.
A few days pass and Optimus finally arrives back on base with Kaede. As soon as Optimus pulls to a stop in base, he lets Kaede hop out of the truck before transforming and heading off to the medbay to finally get his wounds worked on properly.
As Kaede stands in base, he gives a small wave over to Chrys, Wendy, Lennox, Epps and Noah, in which Chrys and Wendy are running towards Kaede at full speed and crash into them, hugging them.
"We're so glad you're alive!" Wendy breathes as she squeezes Kaede.
"Don't get kidnapped again!" Chrys exclaims, also squeezing Kaede.
"Jeez, yeah, missed you too guys," Kaede wheezes as the two women let him go. They give a soft smile. "Thanks for saving me," they then say, looking at the two and Epps, Lennox and Noah who finally get close enough. "Can't believe I wasn't the one to save the world this time," Kaede jokes.
"Yeah, don't make us do it again," Lennox says, patting Kaede's shoulder.
"Good to have you back, Cade," Epps says.
"You rest well?" Noah asks.
"As much as I could, Optimus was itching to get me out of there though and back here," Kaede says, putting his hands in his pockets. They glance over towards the medbay. "He's been through a lot. I think all of us need a vacation."
"Honestly, with how things are looking right now, we might be on vacation for a while," Noah says. "Been discussing it with Haley and Clint... It's not looking good right now. There's been a ton of news segments on Chicago and now every Autobot face is plastered on tv."
"Any mention of Sector Seven is being kept under wraps but at this rate, we're probably gonna be exposed soon," Lennox sighs, shaking his head. Chrys picks at her prosthetic nervously.
"I need to work with Brainstorm and Percy on something," Chrys says.
"That's... ominous," Kaede replies.
"We made a lotta dangerous Cybertronian tech," Chrys confesses. "To humans, yes, but mostly to Cybertronian life. If this gets into the wrong hands, the bots are in danger. We made a failsafe on one of the gadgets but we really need to apply it to all." Epps nods in agreement.
"Let me know if you need another set of hands for that," Epps says.
"I can help too," Kaede says. "Once I'm done helping Ratchet, that is."
"Oh, we're going to need all the help we can get. While the bots were gone I may have made uh... 47 viable inventions and that isn't counting what we've made over the last year and a half..." Chyrs grimaces.
"You need to sleep more," Epps sighs.
"I have been! OR... trying to at least. I promise, Wendy can back me up on this-"
"She's actually back in the apartment before I go to bed," Wendy nods and Kaede whistles.
"Wow, what changed?" Kaede asks.
"Optimus didn't tell you?" Noah teases lightly, Chrys' face going pink. "She and Jazz finally admitted their feelings for each other."
"Yeah? After what, at least 3 years?" Kaede teases, Chrys holding her face in her hands.
"Leave me alone," Chrys groans out from her hands.
"Who knew a boyfriend would help you get a sleeping schedule, I'm sure 'Hide is thrilled," Kaede grins.
"OK! That's it, I'm leaving to do work, Epps whenever you have a moment, come by the lab and I'll show you how to get the failsafe on the tech," Chrys exclaims, throwing her hands up. She looks at Kaede again, eyes softening. "...Seriously though, I'm glad you're back, Kaede." Kaede blinks in surprise. "I've been practising," she says, rubbing the back of her neck. "I might slip up from time to time, sorry in advance." She gives a weak smile. "Lemme know if you need anything," she says, rushing off to the lab.