No End In Sight

Everyone stood by and watched as Ratchet worked on Bumblebee. He was able to keep him stable, but he had to put him into stasis so his body could try to repair itself. Ratchet put him on machines to help him stay functioning while both he and Bee's body worked to repair the wound.

"He's lucky. There is only minimal damage to the bottom part of his spark chamber. There is nothing to impact the spark itself, but the damage is so great that it could cause a complete system shutdown," Ratchet informs them as he continues to work.

"What are his chances of survival?" Raf asked.

"As you humans would put it, slim to none. He has a minimal chance of surviving this. But I will do everything in my power to keep him functioning."

Optimus clenched his servos as frustration started setting in. Megatron has been beating him at every turn. First, he's taken Arcee and used her against them; now his scout is at Primus' door. He's now two soldiers down, and he doesn't know how they will be able to handle another attack from the Decepticons. He turns to the nearest wall and punches it before closing his optics to try and calm himself down.

"Easy, boss," Bulkhead says, trying to calm him down while June and the kids look at him in surprise, they have never seen him lose it before. They didn't think he could lose it.

"Calm down, Optimus, the last thing we need right now is you losing it," Ratchet says as he looks up at Optimus for a brief moment. "Don't let Megatron get to you, it's what he wants. He's trying to get under your metal," he says before going back to his work.

"I know, Ratchet. I know," Optimus says as he continues calming himself down. "I need to go for a drive. Call me if anything comes up." He transforms and drives out of the base.

"Do you think it's safe for him to be out there alone?" Bulkhead asks Ratchet.

"No, but he needs the space to clear his processor."

"I didn't think he could get that upset," Miko says as her mind still processes if she actually saw Optimus act like that.

"Even a Prime can get frustrated and upset at times," Ratchet states. "This whole situation is just really getting to him." He places a temporary patch over the wound to cover it up so nothing can interfere with its repairing process and checks the monitors to make sure everything is running well. "Arcee is being held by the Decepticons, Megatron is toying with us, and now Bumblebee is badly injured. That's a lot for any leader to have to deal with."

Jack and Raf look down, they hate to think of what their guardians are going through. Especially Jack, he doesn't even want to think of what the Decepticons might be doing to Arcee right now. Miko pulls them both into a hug to comfort them. She's happy nothing has happened to her guardian, but she's also dreading that something might happen to him at some point. After all, it's just him, Optimus, and Ratchet right now.

~~~~~~~~~~

Arcee wakes up with a terrible helmache, she places a servo on her helm as she tries to recall what happened. It doesn't take too long for her to remember everything. Soundwave slammed her against the cave wall before electrocuting her into unconsciousness. Damn that mech! She can't believe she let her guard down and opened up to him, he probably told Megatron everything she told him. And they kissed! She scolded herself for being so stupid as she scanned her body for any internal injuries, but she didn't find any, thankfully.

She sits up and stretches, that's when she realizes that she's not chained down. She can tell that she's in the brig, but she's not chained. Is this Soundwave's doing? No, he wouldn't leave her unchained. But it had to have been, none of the others would have left her unchained. But why would he?

She hears the door open, she looks up to see the very mech she was just thinking of walking in. The door closes behind him as he looks at her, "Were you the one that left me unchained?" He nodded. "Why?"

"Because... I couldn--"

Arcee glared at him, "Don't use the fake voices, use your real one!"

Soundwave looked at her for a second, he'd never had a bot demand that he use his real voice. Not even Megatron demanded that. He should ignore it and keep using his fake voices, but something inside him demands that he please her. "Because I couldn't bring myself to chain you up," he says in his real voice. "I felt bad enough for hurting you and then putting you in the brig, I couldn't chain you up as well."

"You couldn't bring yourself to chain me up?" Arcee asks as she glares at him. She stands up but has to lean against the wall as pain shoots through her body; she moved too fast. Soundwave had to restrain himself from reaching out to her. "You couldn't chain me up, but you could attack me, throwing me against the wall and electrocuting me until I was unconscious!"

Soundwave narrowed his optics, "Don't forget you attacked me first!"

Arcee stayed silent as she thought back; she did attack him first. He was just defending himself. Why does she even care so much that he hurt her like that? They're enemies, they're supposed to hurt each other.

"Arcee."

She hears him whispering near her audio receptor, and she finally notices that he's standing right in front of her. She was so lost in thought that she didn't even realize that he had moved closer to her. She watches him as he places one servo on the wall while he brings his other servo up to his visor to remove it. She didn't even take notice until now that his visor had been fixed.

He removes his visor, and she's met with the same beautiful purple optics she saw in the cave. She's once again entranced by them. Curse this mech. She feels his lips brush against hers as he gradually kisses her.

He looks at her to see if she will refuse him, but she does nothing to stop him, so he kisses her more until it becomes as heated and passionate as it was before. Arcee closes her optics as she melts into the kiss. How does he keep making her like this?

The door opens and Soundwave quickly moves away from Arcee as he puts his visor back on. The two look towards the door to see Megatron and Knock Out walk in. Soundwave was able to hide his blush behind his visor, but Arcee wasn't so lucky.