Twist

Chapter 50: Overpowered

A sharp slap knocked her out of her daze, waking Temptest up with a gasp. Ratchet was staring down at her, looking... terrified.

"Oh no," Temptest climbed to her pedes and looked around, spotting the other Autobots laying on the ground. "Oh Primus."

"They're just offline," he assured her quickly. "Hit with some kind of anesthesia."

She glanced at him. "Then why don't you sound relieved?"

"They took Optimus."

"No," Temptest whipped around. The pile of Autobots was indeed missing a red and blue frame, along with the captive Ultra Magnus. "Damn it! Why would they take him!?"

"I can't... I can't..." Ratchet put his helm in his servos and trembled. "What are we going to do?"

She rubbed her face. "Get help. Megatronus. I don't know. We haven't found the device yet. We can't— we don't know where they went, where they came from. Pits! We don't even know who they are!"

"I know that!" Ratchet snapped. "Could you spout anything but bad news!?"

"We need to take care of the others," Temptest looked at the base. "Maybe they found out something we can use while—"

"Bumblebee!" Raf cried out, running between Ratchet and Temptest with Jack and Miko to see their guardians. "Noo!"

Ratchet panicked and jumped in front of them, holding his arms out. "Stop! They've been drugged, but I don't know what by. If it's airborne, it could be harmful to your organic bodies."

"So they're okay?" Miko asked.

"Yes," Ratchet nodded.

"Where's Optimus?" Jack looked around in confusion.

"They took him," Temptest glared at the sky. "But we will get him back. Ratchet, help me carry them back to base." She walked over and grabbed Arcee. "We have to start somewhere."

Ratchet complied without complaint. Working together, the two of them dragged the Autobots into the base and laid them against the walls in the main room. Agent Fowler showed up shortly.

"If Optimus is gone, I'll need to tell the Pentagon," Fowler decided. "I know he doesn't like it, but with Optimus gone, the stakes just got far too high. You'll need all the help you can get."

"Tell them, but don't pull troops in just yet," Temptest instructed. "Let us make a plan first. It may not come to that."

Ratchet scoffed.

Across the room, Bulkhead started to come online, his optics flickering. Temptest jogged over to him and knelt, eager to find out what he knew. Instead, she found herself kissing the floor after Ratchet kicked her out of his way to examine his friend. "How are you feeling?"

"Groggy," Bulkhead stared dumbly at Ratchet for a moment before his optics widened. "Optimus!"

Ratchet nodded. "What do you remember?"

"Optimus was trying to negotiate with their second in command, who was another Ultra Magnus, but they were acting weird. They kept circling us and looking at datapads. Optimus demanded to hear their side, but then they started shooting gas at us... I started to offline and I saw them grab Optimus and knock him out. Is he okay?"

"He's missing," Temptest announced.

A collective round of gasps travelled through the Autobots ranks as Smokescreen, Bumblebee, and Wheeljack received the news. Arcee, having just come online as well, stood up and began to pace. "Are they gone?"