Music blared from Jazz's huge speakers as some of the younger bots and humans danced to the songs. Everyone was gathered in the recreational room, just relaxing and spending time with their friends. Ironhide and Kup were telling war stories; Whirl, Wheeljack, Springer and some of the other Wreckers were trying to see who could chug the most highgrade; the femmes were gossiping with some of the human girls and Ratchet was tinkering with a thingamajig whilst sending disapproving glances at the Wreckers.

It was one of the rare days where everybody was free from work. Well, mostly everyone. Some of the higher ups were still trying to make a dent in their paperwork. 

Whether you enjoy dancing in a crowd or not, you found that with the right dancing partner, it was quite fun. You squeal and laugh as Bumblebee spins around in circles with you in his servos. Sam and Carly (who were dancing as a couple to the side) both smile at the two of you. 

Bee beeps and places you down again, continuing to shake his booty to the beat. 

"Whoa!" you yelp as two other pairs of metallic hands grab you and spins you around. 

"She ours now, big Yellow!" Mudflap yells up at Bee as his twin twirls you in his arms, causing you to giggle. Bumblebee rolls his optics as you are energetically brought into a dip.

You continue to dance with your friends to a few more songs before finally becoming tired and going to sit down. With a happy smile, you watch on as the others all enjoy their time off. 'They were a family, but were you now part of it as well?' 

You could not dwell on the thought, however, when everything was suddenly engulfed in darkness. 

"Hey! What gives?" "It seems to be a power outage." "Ah don't dig, man." "This sucks." "What could've caused it?" Many voices echo throughout the gloom. 

How peculiar...

---------------------------

In the meantime, two shadows were crawling through the Autobot base's airducts. 

"Daradummm...Daradummm...Daradumm..Darum!" 

"Dude, quit with the 'Mission Impossible' theme will ya? We might get caught!" the one whispers.

"I was just setting the mood!" the other retorts.

The silhouettes go forth until they find the right room. It was pitch dark and it seemed like the Autobots along with some of their human partners were all confused. 

With glowing eyes the two look at each other and nod, "It's go time!"

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The Bots all had their headlights (should they have them) on as all the people in the room started to make assumptions on what could've happened. 

"Alright! Nobody panic. I'm sure it's just the sector's power that's off. The backup generators should start up any second now." Epps' voice came from the center of the room.

But the main lights never activated.

Instead, an eerie green glow was thrown across the rec-room. An abrupt, girly scream brought everyone's attention to Sideswipe who was hugging his yellow twin tightly. 

"Ugh! Sideswipe! Watch the paint-! AAAHH!!!" Sunstreaker shrieks at the sight before them. All available weapons are pulled out and trained on the creepy minicon twins standing in the corner. 

Rumble and Frenzy simply stood there, unmoving and smiling. Though what was obviously utterly disturbing to the others, was amusing to you. You missed them so much...

"Attention Autobots," Frenzy begins. "This is your first and only warning," Rumble continues. "Give us the human femme known as (Y/N) (L/N)," both their smiles widen, "...or face the loss of your top secret data."

"They're bluffing!" Ratchet counters. "All important data is securely encrypted and stored away!" 

He was right, you knew. It would be almost impossible for any normal human, Autobot or Decepticon to get access to those files. 

But Soundwave was no ordinary Cybertronian.

"Hey Frenzy, I think the medic is telling us 'no' ." "Why, I think you're right Rumble. I guess we should just give Sounders the ol' 'go ahead' and let him delete all those files." "Oh well! We tried to negotiate..."

"Hold up!" Lennox intervenes. "Are you saying that you'll leave if we give you what you want?" 

Rumble nods, "Course fleshy! You give us what we want, you get what you want- rid of us! Just leave (Y/N) in the empty room 328B here in your cozy base within 20 minutes and we'll be on our way." 

Will turns to you. "(Y/N)...?" 

"Whoa! Whoawhoawhoa! No! There's no way we're just giving her to them!" Sam hurries closer and tries to reason with the soldier. "We can't trust them! Besides, the Decepticons will just tske the files anyway!" Bumblebee beeps in agreement, big blue optics slit in seriousness.

You place a hand on Sam's arm. "This isn't all the Decepticons Sam- it's just Soundwave..." All stunned eyes are on you as the words leave your mouth. 'Soundwave was doing this without his master's knowledge?'

"You may not trust them, but you can trust me." You then look to the minicons, "Rumble, Frenzy, do you promise me that no data will be lost, and all knowledge of the Autobot base that you gathered will be destroyed if I go with you?" They stop for a while, apparently having a conversation with Soundwave over their shared bond. They then nod. You turn to Lennox again, "I'm willing to go should you need me to. I know how important those files are."

"The femme is correct, Lennox," Prowl pipes up. "That data is irreplaceable. Should we lose it, we lose any advantages we had over the Decepticons." 

All grows silent as the Autobots wait for the Colonel's decision, a grim look on their faces.

"..."

"Alright then. (Y/N), follow me."

------------------------------

Room 328B was huge and for the most part bare. There was nothing in it except five supercomputers, three humans, two minicons and three Cybertronians. 

Rumble and Frenzy were kind enough to walk with you, Sam and Lennox as a way to assure the Bots that they weren't planning any tricks. Bumblebee came along for Sam and yourself, and Ironhide insisted on coming for extra protection. 

The third Cybertronian was non other than Soundwave.

A wave of great relief erupts in you as you see the mech- alive- for the first time in so long. No-one could see it, but Soundwave felt the exact same way when he saw you entering the room with both his creations by your side. He would have his entire family with him once more. 

The Decepticon crouches down in his spot next to  the hacked computers and silently bids for you to come to him. As you do so, the cassettes transform and latch onto the TIC again.

With a sad smile, you say goodbye to your Autobot friends. "Take care, okay? I'll be looking out for you from the other side- I promise." With a silent farewell Sam reluctantly waves; Lennox gives you a half-hearted thumbs up; Ironhide grunts and Bee sadly beeps whilst trying his best not to snatch you up again and hug you.

"Okay Soundwave; we brought you what you wanted, now keep your end of the bargain." Lennox calls up at him. Ironhide's large weapons whir to life. 

Deciding that he was happy with you now once again with him, Soundwave makes a gesture of agreement. "Acknowledged." 

But in his haste to leave, the communications officer disconnected from the database too quickly. Alarms ring out as weapon systems activate. Soundwave casually maneuvers himself to protect you and his cassettes while the Autobots try to stop the rain of bullets.

Quickly, Soundwave goes to make his exit, but as he does the lights falter.

The blasts continue.

Screams ring out.

...And as the light returns, you find Soundwave's tentical flinging your friends across the room, Sam meeting the wall with a 'crack'.

You didn't stay long enough to see if they were okay.