Ep1 – Chasing Shadows – Closed

The groundbridge spun up, blooming green-white within the entry tunnel to the control room, throwing pale light across the Autobot symbol carved into the floor. For a moment ether was nothing inside, no movement. Then the far back temporal vanishing point within the vortex flashed and from the light the red and blue Peterbilt 379. Moving at a rapid clip, the semi-truck hit the brakes, burning rubber into the face of the badge on the floor before the vehicle came apart at the seams and rebuilt itself as Optimus Prime. His battlemask still closed, EMF battle-hot with urgency, he did not wait a moment.

“Bumblebee, Arcee. I need you both. Shadowrunner is AWOL.”

‘What?!’ Bumblebee stood, stunned, engine laced with the mechanical hum of his disbelief. ‘She wouldn’t do that. What happened?’

“Barricade,” said Optimus, which effectively stopped the scout dead. “He’s survived. He showed up at the DMZ under the protection of the ceasefire with Megatron. Shadowrunner reacted badly.”

‘Megatron?!’ Bumblebee’s optics could not have gotten any larger.

“Nevermind that. After they left Shadowrunner ran.” The Prime opened a shortwave frequency between himself and the other two Autobots. “Transmitting coordinates and local geography. I tracked Shadow to the following coordinates before I lost her. Your orders are to locate Shadowrunner and approach her if possible. Retrieval is not your objective unless you can talk her down.” He was looking at Bumblebee as he said this last part, “Try to determine her mental state if possible and exercise caution.” He looked now to Arcee. “I do not believe that the Decepticons have any hostile objectives against us as of now. They are likely still recovering from our attack on the Nemesis but… it is Barricade. You know his patterns best, Arcee.”

“Megatron,” began Optimus evenly, “was still not quite at full strength when he departed the base with Barricade. Both had groundbridged from the Neutral base’s location before Shadowrunner departed so it’s unlikely Barricade would remain with intend to hunt her down. But as you said, ‘It’s Barricade.’”

But even as he spoke, he was transmitting, shorthand, the events as he recalled them, to Arcee.

//Megatron was damaged during our attack on the ship. As none of we Autobots confronted him during the fight, I cannot speak as to how. Cleaver gave him aid but failed to inform either Gasket, Shadowrunner, or Ironhide of his presence on the base when they arrived for a pre-approved visitation to the Neutral base. I was summoned when an altercation on the base led to a possible infraction on the cease-fire agreement. While I was speaking with Megatron, Barricade arrived on base. He accused Shadowrunner and Ironhide of failing to kill him and insisted they broke Autobot articles of engagement. Ironhide did not deny this accusation. Barricade retrieved Megatron and departed. It seems Barricade was the Decepticon agent responsible for the deaths of the Lucky Thirteen. Shadowrunner took her alt form and ran.//

It was not ‘everything’. But Optimus did not know if, in that moment, he could give her everything and continue to function. He was not sure he could tell her how Ironhide’s lie had struck him off balance, how badly Barricade’s assertions about his troops had thrown him. He hoped, but could not be certain, that the Primian façade of his calm was holding. He could not be sure that Arcee was not looking past it.

“I need you both to be careful. Is that understood?”

“Barricade warrants no leniency in the field.” The Prime’s voice was not cold precisely, simply void – the non-emotion of command superseding anything he may have felt about the subject of the Barricade. Arcee knew better. He knew that. She had seen the aftermath before, in the wake of Barricade’s release from Autobot custody months ago – she knew that he’d been intent on breaking, in the name of their many dead, a very basic rule of war: He’d been prepared to kill Barricade in cold-blood (as the term was on Earth). An unarmed POW. Against every Autobot Code. He’d been more than ready to empty the contents for Barricade’s spark chamber beneath the alien skies… and he had not. Ray Clancy had died. Now, Shadowrunner’s sanity, if not her life, may be forfeit.

Simply because of all that he did not know – he did not know that Barricade had killed her team. He did not know about the weapon Barricade had brought to earth. He did not know how Ironhide had saved them. He did not know that Cleaver would be willing to lie to her new cohort. He did not know about Nos. He felt, summarily, that he did not seem to have even a fraction of the knowledge he needed. But he did know this:

“The kill order is given, but it is not a priority. Barricade incites soldiers to kill him as his modus operandi. You know this. No not let him rile you or those under your command to pursue him on his terms.” He looked at Bumblebee, but the question was for both of them: “Understood?”