[Amanda]
"Alright, try again." Raf said, peering up from his laptop. I let out a sigh. The younger boy had me doing tests with the silver dust ever since Bumblebee dropped us off this afternoon at the base. It was nicer to have Ratchet to answer questions, but still exhausting. Even the medic had moved on, though his attention wasn't always present in the first place. There were more important things to worry about, as in how to get Optimus back. With every hour that went by with nothing, everyone's stress and anxiousness went up.
"Can we take a break?" I asked, kicking the metal rod I've been trying to control all afternoon. "I need a snack."
Raf nodded reluctantly, handing me my backpack. Currently is was just the two of us and Ratchet at the base, the others out on patrol. It was awfully quiet, which made it too easy to think, which I was trying not to do as all my thoughts went back to Optimus. I just hoped he was okay.
I swear, if Megatron takes advantage of Optimus in his current state and hurts him, I will-
A high pitched beep noise like the one made when doing anything on the base's computers filled the air, causing Raf and I to turn to its source. That's when we saw Ratchet surrounded by his tools, working on the ground bridge.
"Ratchet," Raf spoke up, causing the medic to look up. "Are you.. turbocharging the ground bridge?"
"Tinkering," He replied. "No need to get anyone's hopes up just yet."
"Maybe Raf can help," I suggested. "He's the best there is with tech."
Ratchet didn't shoot me down immediately, which made Raf jump to his feet and grab his laptop. Just before he dashed down the stairs, he gave me a serious look.
"Keep practicing," He said. "Try to control that metal rod."
I gave him a 'whyyyyy' face, which made him smile a bit as he went to join the medic with the ground bridge work. I took a deep breath, placing the metal rod in front of me as I moved to sit cross legged on the floor. Putting a hand out over top of it, I focused on the silver dust and imagined it coating the rod.
There was a slight tugging feeling within me and I watched as silver dust poured from my hand, flowing towards the metal rod. Once it was covered, I turned all of my focus to lifting it off the ground. It twitched, the ends tipping up ever so slightly. I almost had it....
Be-Beep-Be
The ringing from the computer threw off my focus, cutting off the silver dust and dropping the rod.
Dammit.
"Ratchet! This is an emergency!" Agent Fowler appeared on the computer screen.
"Agent Fowler," Ratchet moved to stand in front of the screen. "Is it Optimus?"
He shook his head. "Its Cons! And they're busting into the same military research lab they hit two months ago."
"Raf," I called out, getting his attention. "Call the rest of the team back."
The younger boy nodded and got to work. Within two minutes, Arcee, Bumblebee, and Bulkhead were back at base, Miko and Jack along with them. As Ratchet filled them in, Jack picked up the rod that was still in front of me.
"Still at it?" He asked.
"Still trying." I sighed. "Emphasis on trying."
Bumblebee buzzed something, bringing our attention back to the scene in front of us.
"Maybe another space bridge?" Bulkhead suggested at whatever Bee said.
Arcee narrowed her eyes. "For all we know, Optimus is riding with them."
Ratchet opened the ground bridge. "Roll out."
The three Autobots transformed and drove through the ground bridge. Ratchet closed it, and for a second everything was silent. The minutes ticked by, then Bulkhead's voice came over the comms.
"Ratchet, bridge us back." He said. "They got away. Arcee followed through their ground bridge, she's on the Nemesis."
"Scrap." Ratchet hissed, but reopened the bridge. Bumblebee and Bulkhead drove through as the medic worked on finding Arcee's location. Suddenly she blinked back online but in-
"The Arctic?" Jack asked.
Ratchet reset the ground bridge coordinates, and moments later Arcee drove through. As the medic checked her for any injuries, she told us what had happened. How she arrived on the Nemesis and was greeted with groups of Cons. How before she could do anything, Soundwave appeared and bridged her to the North Pole. While she told the story, I felt the hope in me drain away. She didn't even see Optimus. Who knows what could have happened to him by now.
"You weren't able to determine the Decepticons' location or if Optimus was even aboard the ship?" Ratchet demanded.
Arcee shook her head. "I... couldn't confirm."
Bulkhead let out an angry yell and smashed one of Ratchets tools.
"Bulkhead! I-"
"What? You needed that?" Bulkhead snapped. "Only thing I need is our head honcho back!"
The tension in the base was rising by the second.
Jack looked up at his Autobot. "It's not your fault."
"If any of us needed rescuing, Optimus would have found a way." Arcee retorted. "I didn't. Simple as that."
"Guys!" We all turned to see Finn walking out of the elevator, clearly stressed. "What happened at that lab? Reports indicate at least a dozen wounded and the heat is on me and Fowler to give some kind of explanation. Fowler told me to tell you that you need to get your act together, or the Pentagon will shut down your base."
"But, where would they go?" Raf asked.
Before Finn could respond, Ratchet cut in sharply. "Who knows? Maybe they'll ship us out to some island or fire us into space! Wouldn't that be a welcome relief."
"I don't blame Finn or Fowler." Arcee said. "Optimus would have evacuated all humans in the area before engaging the Cons."
Bumblebee buzzed something, and even his tone was tense and full of anger.
"We don't actually know what Optimus would have done because he's not here!" Bulkhead almost yelled.
Arcee walked up to him. "You're pretty good at stating the obvious, Bulk. Anything else you'd like to mention that we already know?"
"Nothing I can say in front of the kids."
"Hey!" I yelled, causing them all to turn to me in surprise, but I had had enough. "Knock it off, all of you! Is this the way to get Optimus back, by arguing with each other? We need to act, and fast because the clock is ticking. Big whoop Arcee didn't have a chance to get a reading, she got out of there alive. Okay, Optimus wasn't at the lab to evacuate all those people, but no one died. If Optimus were in this position and anyone else was in his, sure he would have found a way to help them. But none of that is going to help us find him. Everyone needs to cool it and use your heads. Just because we don't have our leader doesn't mean we're going to act like headless chickens, got it? We need to work together, because that's how we're getting Optimus back."
Everyone was silent for a long moment, most still looking shocked at my outburst. An overwhelming feeling to step back and take myself out of the spotlight filled me, but I forced myself to stand my ground.
"Well, we are overlooking one positive." Jack finally spoke up. "Nobody's talking about what the Cons just got their claws on."
"Yes, we managed to allow them to acquire a power source for their space bridge." Ratchet said, still an edge to his tone. I gave him a stern look, which he ignored.
"How exactly would that be positive?" Arcee asked.
"We let them finish building their space bridge-" Jack started.
"Why?" Bulkhead asked. "So they can bring more zombicons back from Cybertron?"
"No." Jack said. "So we can commandeer it, and use it to send me and Amanda to Cybertron."
Miko looked impressed. "Whoa. That's actually a pretty good idea."
The Autobots didn't look as impressed, though.
"Nobody's saying it'll be easy," Jack continued. "But you've seized a space bridge before!"
"We blew one up." Bulkhead shook his head. "That's a whole lot different than seizing and holding one."
Bumblebee held up a hand, indicating he had an idea as he buzzed something.
"Bee's right," Arcee said. "We'd have to find that thing first."
"Uh, hello!" Miko exclaimed. "If it's a space bridge, isn't it in space?"
Ratchet let out an exasperated sigh. "The term 'space' refers to its transport range, not its physical location! And we've been monitoring Earth's orbit since the last one, we'd know if it were there."
"So the bridge could be somewhere on Earth?" I asked.
"Like trying to find a servo in a scrapyard." Bulkhead said.
"Then maybe we better start looking." Arcee commented, sounding convinced.
"But the fact remains," Ratchet said. "We don't know what the Decepticons have in store for Optimus, or if he's truly safe from harm."
I took a breath. "We may not know what they plan for him, but we do know this. He's not safe until he's back here, and every second we spend not acting, he has to spend with the Decepticons. So let's get to work, and bring him back sooner rather than later."