A day had past, and in those hours, Ratchet had worked tirelessly on the ground bridge. He was close to completing it, and all of us were eager to get back out in the field.
Optimus had tried on the jetpack Ratchet had said they had found for him, and had been training with it for hours on end. It would provide us with an edge, which we would need if we were to take the Decepticons by surprise once we revealed ourselves again.
"Where are you off to?"
I looked up, my eyes finding Swoop's.
"Training with Wheeljack," I said. "I want to work with my staff and learn how to fight with it properly."
"Ah."
"How are you doing?" I asked.
Swoop looked better, all of his cuts gone. His limp was still prominent, and we all knew that was a scar that would probably never heal.
"Really good, but being cooped up here is killing me. I can't even go on the roof anymore and get some fresh air."
"I mean, you could stand outside the door," I said. "But... it's not the same," I realized. Swoop nodded his head. "Hey, can I ask you something?"
"Sure, go for it," Swoop said, walking with me now as I went to join Wheeljack in our new training room.
"On the day of the attack, you said that you spotted the predacons on the horizon. Ratchet asked if you had been flying, and said you weren't. Honest answer—I promise I won't tell anyone—were you?"
Swoop gave me a sheepish smile. "Yes, I was. But before you go shaming me or telling me about reopening my wounds and not letting my body heal; I knew my limits, and stayed within them. I didn't push myself, I just needed some room to breathe and get out of the base."
"I wasn't going to scold you," I assured him. "Honestly, I would have done the same thing. Heck, I have tried to do the same thing, multiple times. I'm just not as sneaky as you."
Swoop laughed, his face lighting up. He then winced and clutched his chest.
"Sorry," I apologized, stepping closer to him as I looked for someway to relieve his pain.
"It's all good," he assured me, raising a hand. "Guess I'm not as healed as I thought I was."
"How'd you spot the predacons?" I asked after Swoop rightened himself. We continued walking again, slower this time.
"I was above them, playing in the wind. I spotted them and instantly made a beeline home. I made sure I wasn't followed, but deep down, I already knew their destination. I called right away."
"You know, I'm surprised Ratchet hasn't caught onto it yet," I said. "He's normally pretty observant about this kind of thing."
"Guess I'm just that good," Swoop winked, grinning. "Well, I won't keep you any longer." We stopped at the room's entrance. "Have fun, and don't die."
I rolled my eyes and entered the training room, waving Swoop a farewell.
"Took you long enough." Was that first thing Wheeljack said to me as I entered. His swords were out, and I noticed that he had been practicing with them prior.
"Sorry, was talking to Swoop," I apologized, placing my water bottle to the side of the room before meeting Wheeljack in the center.
"Let's not waste anymore time, shall we?"
I summoned my staff, using the same movements and technique that Alpha Trion had taught me the night before. I held it the way the prime had showed me and stood the same way. Wheeljack noted this.
"Okay, first technique."
For the next hour or two, Wheeljack had me doing drills, practicing attacks and blocking movements all the while fixing my form.
It was tiring, and in the last half hour, he sparred with me. I could tell he was going easy on me, but I was still defeated every time. And every time he pointed out my errors and how to improve and correct what I was doing. Then we started again. Alpha Trion also gave some words of advice during and after the spars. It was all a very tiring process, and when we came to the end, I couldn't help but be relieved.
"Wheeljack, Lora—Fowler's calling a meeting," Bulkhead said, poking into the room.
"Since when does he had the authority to do that?" Wheeljack asked, looking up from polishing his blades. I gulped down the last of my water, wiping my mouth with the back of my hand as I gave Bulkhead all of my attention.
"Now, apparently," the former wrecker shrugged. "Come on."
I heaved a sigh, but jogged over to Bulkhead. The three of us hurriedly made our way to the center of the building.
"Finally," Fowler said. He stood on the elevated platform, his arms crossed.
Sure enough, us humans had claimed that platform as our own. A couch, TV, and gaming system were already placed up there.
"Why did you need us?" Wheeljack asked, crossing his own arms. Ultra Magnus shot him a glare, but Agent Fowler didn't seem to notice Wheeljack's comment as he spoke, or chose to ignore it.
"I have some, somewhat, disturbing news. I'll let you see it."
He clicked a remote, changing Ratchet's screen to a video clip. Everyone moved and gathered around it. Grimlock offered me a hand onto his shoulder so I could see better.
It was security footage of a prison cell. As Fowler hit play, I realized who it was recording.
Silas looked half dead in his cell. His eyes were sunken in, and a small beard had started to grow on his normally clean shaven face. I revelled at his misery; he deserved it, after everything he had done.
The former leader of MECH sat on his small cot, staring at the wall absentmindedly. It was a few seconds of nothing before the lights in his cell snapped off. The darkness lasted only a millisecond before the red backup lights flickered on. By now, Silas was looking around, his face curious.
All the bots were silent as we all watched the scene play out.
The door to Silas' cell opened in a flash, slamming against the wall. The man was on his feet instantly, watching the door as two figures entered.
It was a large metal cat and a human. A hood was on the human's head and in the red light, it was hard to tell who was beside Ravage, the colouring of the holoform washed out.
Silas' eyes widened at the sight.
"You," he breathed. That was the last word to come from his mouth before Ravage leapt at him. I turned away at the right moment, knowing what was coming next. Grimlock's hand came up to hide the next clip from me, but it did nothing to stop the noise, the noise that I knew would haunt my nightmares.
"After that, they left," Fowler said, clicking off the video. "I know that the cat was Ravage, but who was his companion? It certainly wasn't Soundwave."
"I do not know," Optimus said after looking to the Autobots and Dinobots.
"New guy?" Bulkhead shrugged.
"Silas knew him, so I doubt that," Slash said. "Although I will admit that seeing that was a tad bit satisfying; he finally got what was coming for him."
"Yes, but we may have lost our lead," Ratchet said. All eyes turned to him.
"Lead? On what?" Jack asked, leaning over the railing.
"The other Dinobot," Raf answered for Ratchet.
"Rafael and I have been working on trying to find the remaining Dinobot, as revealed in Lora's vision. The three were all launched from Cybertron at the same time, along with Grimlock, Slug, Swoop, and Scorn's pods. I was able to put together an algorithm that should be able to get an estimated location of where the last pod is, with help from the locations of Slog and Slash's pods. We know were Slog's was." The medic pulled up a map of Earth, little dots lighting up where all the pods had been. "But Slash's we found in one of MECH's bases, so we don't where it originally landed. That's why we needed Silas, he might have known where they had found it."
"But now he's dead," Arcee finished.
"Why don't we go after one of the other high up MECH guys?" Miko asked. "They might be able to tell us, or point us in the direction of someone who knows."
"Most of them committed suicide, their lead scientist Ace included," Fowler said. "Although, there is one, who might now."
I didn't need Fowler to finish to know who he was talking about.
"Derek."