Getting aboard the Nemesis was the easy part, and was much easier than Optimus had honestly expected. The GroundBridge opened in a private room, and thankfully no one was occupying it at the moment. The moment they stepped in, Optimus brought his blaster to his chest chassis, cocking it quickly as his optics scanned the room. Ratchet had modified the weapon that Optimus had given him so that it now was magnetized to his hip until he needed it. The medic's keen optic also quickly looked over the surrounding area. When they both saw that it was clear, they gave each other a brief nod. Ratchet took a step to lead, but Optimus cut him off and slowly strode ahead. 

Ratchet frowned upon this. Normally, he would have gladly allowed his leader to go first. He was, after all, the leader, and a Prime. He was obviously able to handle himself in most situations. He had survived eons of battle. Ratchet himself had always preferred to avoid conflict to the best of his ability. Even the things he had seen on the battlefield haunted him to this day. His job as a medic was to fix, not fight. Now, however, he knew that this situation was different. Optimus, as strong as he was, had no one other than the medic to back him up. And this battle would be his last, whether he won or not. Ratchet very much hoped that his old friend would be the victor, but nothing was for certain. The medic felt that he should take the lead for now, to protect the last of the Primes from oblivion. 

Optimus knew that this was the most dangerous mission they had ever faced. They had no back up, and no other options. Megatron was on his way to their planet, and after the warlord had already ruined this one, the Prime couldn't allow it to happen again. Deep in his spark, he also could not allow another loss, even just one more. Ratchet was the only teammate he had left, and his oldest and best friend. He could not, ever, let Ratchet be Megatron's next victim. And yet, he had to do whatever it took to protect their home. To protect the future. The two ideals left conflicting emotions in Optimus' spark, and he knew that it would make it harder to make the right decisions. This was dangerous, especially at this time, but he couldn't dwell upon it. The two of them had to move. 

Optimus opened the large door and looked around quickly, swinging his blaster back and forth. Ratchet switched his good servo to a blade, his faceplate hard as he also looked about. Again the coast was clear, and while that left relief in each of their chest chassis, it also made them tense. They knew that the tranquility couldn't last for long. Soon enough they would be faced with battle. Optimus narrowed his optics as he hurried out into the hall as quietly as he could. Ratchet followed, occasionally looking behind them to assure that they were not being followed. They rounded a corner, which was once again empty, and hurried down that hall as well, looking for where they could shut down the SpaceBridge, and possibly the Omega Lock as well, if need be. 

As they stopped at another corner, Optimus glanced down to his comrade. "Something is wrong. This seems too easy."

Ratchet was about to agree, but his optic looked over to the left and he cut himself short. His chassis went rigid as he stood up straight, his gaze turning into something Optimus had never seen before. "Don't get ahead of yourself," the medic said darkly, his voice low and nearly a growl. The blade replacing his servo lifted slightly as he continued to glare off to Optimus' left.

The Prime realized he was gazing at something around the corner. His spark jumped as he heard metal pedesteps clatter behind him. He cursed himself for not being more observant as he straightened, narrowing his optics and sliding his mask over the bottom half of his faceplate. Out of instinct, he twitched his right servo to bring out his gun. He was painfully reminded that he no longer held blasters within his servos when nothing happened, and instead raised the gun he held tightly with his digits. He brushed the thought aside and was about to charge the approaching Decepticons, when suddenly a blur swept past him, and a strained battle cry filled his audio receptors. He faltered slightly when he saw Ratchet burst in front of the Vehicons around the corner, roaring in rage and slicing the first approacher's helm clean off. The other Vehicons were clearly taken back as well, startled to a point where they froze for a few moments. That was all the time the two of them needed, Optimus seeing his chance and immediately firing shots at them frantically. Ratchet lurched forward, still shouting with each movement he made, cutting the enemy down one by one. It took the two a bit to take down the whole squadron, and it didn't come without a few injuries of their own. In the end, Ratchet had a few scorch marks across his lower backside while Optimus had deep digit marks and blast wounds on the chest chassis. The Vehicons all looked much worse, littered across the floor, burnt and some in pieces. Optimus steadied his vent quickly, straightening and looking to Ratchet, who was bent forward slightly and venting much heavier than he was. 

"Are you alright, old friend?" he asked hurriedly, about to come over to his aid.

Ratchet made a sudden movement, so quick that Optimus actually froze. A moment later, there was a blast sound, and then a loud metallic thud hit the floor. The Prime blinked for a moment in confusion as he stared into the glowing hold of a blaster held in Ratchet's servos. The medic's face was hard as he glared behind Optimus for a few more seconds. It took him another moment to realize that Ratchet had pulled the gun from his hip and shot an enemy approaching him from behind. He relaxed a little as the medic slid the gun back to his hip, his expression still angry and hard.

"Don't let down your guard," he growled finally, coughing weakly. He turned sharply and began to head to a monitor that was against the wall behind him, seemingly a bit happier for the lucky find. 

Optimus watched his friend limp away, greif filling his spark. This was similar to the Synthetic Energon incident, yet it seemed so much worse. Ratchet looked so angry and hateful it hurt to watch. It wasn't like the kind of thing the green ooze had done to him so long ago; he couldn't help how it had affected him. Now Ratchet was not only furious, roaring like an animal, he was using it. Like he wanted it to be there. However, at the same time, Optimus could understand where those feelings were coming from. He himself had always been good at staying steely ever since he had become a Prime. Even now he was just able to keep himself in check, despite everything that had happened and was happening currently. For Ratchet, who had seen just as much of the bad parts of the war as he had, and possibly things the Prime hadn't, it was harder. He didn't have that ability, the training that Optimus had, to make sure that his emotions didn't get the better of him. The hate and fury had washed over him like a wave, and he was trapped in it. 

"It's not letting me access the GroundBridge system from here," Ratchet grumbled after a few minutes, turning with an annoyed look in his optic.

The Prime placed a reassuring servo on his friend's shoulder plate. "What do you suggest?"

The tired old doctor brought a servo to his chin in thought. "A place where we could access it without attracting too much attention would most likely be Shockwave's laboratory," he said after a few moments. If his faceplate could have scrunched up in disgust, it would have at this moment. 

Optimus nodded his helm. "Do you know the way?" he asked. 

Ratchet nodded. "Follow me," he said solemnly. 

Luckily, they did not encounter any more squadrons on the way there. Optimus felt a little wary that he wasn't the one in the lead, his spark beating faster and faster by the minute. Normally, the rush of battle wouldn't get to him this badly. Considering all that was at stake in this moment, he wasn't surprised with himself, though. The medic finally led them to a closed door, one that barely seemed to fit against the wall. Ratchet held up his servo, a sign to pause and get low, one commonly used in the war on Cybertron so long ago. Optimus did so, crouching slightly and cocking his gun again. Ratchet took his off his head with a begrudging look, before turning his attention back to the door. 

"There is a high chance that the Decepticon head scientist is in there," the medic muttered, keeping his voice low. 

Optimus thought for a moment before he slowly approached the door. "Considering our time and lack of options, we have no choice but to enter quickly. In the event we do come across Shockwave, be ready to storm him."

"Take him out," Ratchet replied with a nod. "Got it."

Optimus gave his friend a glance before he opened the door, putting his gun in first the moment it did. There was no sound other than the slow pedesteps of his friend beside him and his own quickly beating spark. The two of them entered slowly, scanning the room and bringing their blasters with them at every turn of their body. They relaxed ever so slightly when they saw that they were alone, but still kept their guard up as they crept farther in.

"I will stay on guard in case we are approached," Optimus rumbled in a low voice, his optics still darting this way and that. 

Ratchet nodded. "I will proceed to the conso-" 

He was cut off by a sudden Dark Energon blast to the shoulder, causing him to cry out in pain. Oddly enough, it didn't feel as strong as he had been expected, and in his pain he gazed around dazedly. Optimus saw his friend get hit and immediately raised his blaster to catch the enemy's attention. He saw a figure in the shadows near the door and cursed at himself for not seeing it before, having no doubt in his mind that Ratchet was doing the same. Two purple glows emitted from the darkness, bringing confusion to them both. Megatron only had one gun, permanently attached to his arm, welded onto him in his gladiator days. The slight hum of blasters powering down was unmistakably heard in the background, however, which brought fear into their sparks. Whoever they were facing, it wasn't Megatron, and yet carried Dark Energon in his chassis.

"Whoever you are, face us now!" Optimus growled threateningly, aiming his blaster straight for the helm of the bot, where he could see two purple optics glowing, wide and almost bug like. 

The figure lowered his blasters as if thinking for a moment, staying utterly silent. Ratchet growled at him and took a threatening step forward, despite the fact that he was holding his injured shoulder with his good servo and his chassis was beginning to shake. Optimus started to get a little stir crazy as the silence continued, but didn't lower his blaster. He narrowed his optics as the figure finally deemed it worthy to make an appearance, taking slow steps into the light. As the bot came into view, black and yellow stripe patterns across his chassis and big optics whirring in and out of focus, Optimus felt his spark stop. Ratchet froze up like he had gotten hit by a snowstorm, his optic flying wide as he tensed. Each of them stared with utter disbelief as sorrow flushed into their sparks as they seemed to plunge down to their pedes.

It was Bumblebee.

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