Chapter 5 The Signal

Silence. That was what reigned supreme within the Autobot base. No one would say a word. Not on this day. The other team members would often question why anyone wouldn't speak, but they always found themselves stonewalled. It had been two years since that fateful day, when Megatron and his Decepticons blew up Jasper and the `bots' friends. None of the original members of Team Prime were willing to speak. No one wanted to even leave their quarters. But there was work to be done.

So they did. Optimus and Ratchet were standing by the main computer, waiting for the next Iacon relic to rear its head, Bumblebee and Bulkhead were busy watching the local news, and Arcee was in the training room practicing her hand-to-hand combat while fighting her own tears. She was still emotionally weak from losing Jack. Every day, she would wake up and perform her routine without a word, and at night, she would cry herself to sleep. She stopped listening to music, she never smiled, and she'd only ever consume energon when she absolutely needed it. Optimus had been spending most of the year having long sessions with her to try and help her recover. It was a slow process, made even slower when Optimus had realized that the whole reason the bomb was used on Jasper was right in front of him. They were the target. Not of the bomb, but of the effects of it. The whole thing had been planned in order to demoralize the Autobots. And it had worked to a horrible extent. This revelation cut into the Prime like Unicron's claws.

Bumblebee and Bulkhead were faring little better. Bumblebee's attitude no longer resembled what it was. He had continued to address Optimus by rank rather than name, he had let his paint-job fade to a point where he looked like he belonged in the scrap heap, and he had quit playing video games, even going so far as to simply remove the gaming system altogether. All in all, his personality had come to resemble what it was after his encounter at Tyger Pax. (Did I spell that right?)

Bulkhead was no longer a wrecker. Wreckers were tough, strong, and untouchable. He was none of those things. Without Miko, his enjoyment of any and all things wrecker was sent to the dumpster. He'd lost his sense of enjoyment when he realized just how little fun he had without her. Now his dune-bashing was no longer for fun, but for anger. It had become his new method of blowing off steam.

It was at that that Smokescreen walked into the main room with Wheeljack on his heels.

"Hey guys," the rookie said waving over his two squad mates sitting in front of the TV "what's up?" There was no response from the addressed duo. They didn't even turn their helms in his direction. At this, Wheeljack sighed heavily.

"Kid," the white and grey wrecker breathed quietly "I don't think today's the best day for small talk." Smokescreen's door wings slumped as the information ran through his processor. Small talk was the only thing that he could get out of anybody ever since he joined the team. Optimus was the stoic leader who only ever spoke to give orders or offer advice. Arcee was the silent second-in-command with a mile long record of killing Decepticons. Bumblebee was the reclusive scout who still spoke but never in sentences longer than five words and possessed a disturbingly passive opinion about everything. Bulkhead, the first of the two Wreckers Smokescreen had met, was a good deal more talkative the `Bee was, but his constantly darkened mood made conversations with him unnerving. The only two `bots that were any bit pleasing to talk with were Ratchet and Wheeljack, but that was not saying much. Smokescreen could easily tell that Ratchet would only grudgingly allow himself into conversations which made them rather awkward at times. Wheeljack, on the other hand, was far more pleasant to be around. He would willingly talk with Smokescreen whenever the time was available and Smokes` was grateful for it. The only problem was that when the word 'human' was ever brought up, 'Jackie would instantly turn to gloom and the talk would essentially end right there.

Smokes` was about to let out a long, disheartened sigh when-

"Optimus Prime." said a very stern female voice. In response to the calling of his name, the leader of the Autobots turned to look down upon their new advocate among the humans, FBI special agent Sarah Wilson. Wilson was anything but similar to Fouler in any way. Fouler may have had issues with some of the stunts that the `bots would pull, but he was, at least, willing to give them a pat on the back whenever they did something right. Wilson, on the other hand, was a tightly wound hard-ass with a short fuse. If any of the `bots did anything that touched any of the red tape that she laid down, she would come down on them harder than Unicron's wrath. At these thoughts, Ratchet let out a silent sigh while the Autobot leader addressed Wilson.

"What is it special agent Wilson?" the large semi asked. Wilson was a woman with an athletic build with dirty blonde hair done up in a ponytail and eyes that were a sickening shade of green. She was wearing the U.S. Marines' ceremonial wear which was navy blue with red stripes down the sides and a white military cap.

Wilson's scowl deepened as she said, "We've received reports of a strange object being found out in the Sahara; Southern Egypt to be precise." As Wilson finished her statement the main computer emitted a beeping sound. Turning to see what had set of the sensors, Ratchet took a quick glance at the received readings.

"Could this be the anomaly of which you speak?" Ratchet inquired, glancing back at Wilson and gesturing to the image on the computer. Both Optimus and Wilson turned to look at what was on the screen. To Wilson, the only understandable thing on the screen was the image of a map of northern Africa with a blinking red dot indicating the southern region of Egypt, but to Optimus and Ratchet, there was more. The Cybertronian text on the screen was indicating that signal was that of an Iacon relic, but also that the signal was completely different from any other relic they had seen.

"Ratchet," Optimus spoke, breaking the silence, "am I reading this right."

"Yes Optimus," Ratchet replied then turned to looked directly at his leader, "this signal is being broadcasted on every open Cybertronian channel that's available, yet it's not like anything I've seen before." At this, the Autobot leader turned back to the FBI agent.

"We will investigate it immediately."

"Report to me when you're done." Wilson stated not even a heartbeat later and walked away. Optimus suddenly felt the weight of a servo on his shoulder plate. Turning around he found Ratchet with a grim look upon his face plates. The words that followed echoed through Prime's helm.

"Optimus, if this signal is broadcasting on all frequencies, then that means the Decepticons will have detected it as well."

AN: That's it folks. My ballet for the names of the Demonicons is now closed. I would like to personally thank you for reviewing my story and giving me some great names. If you do not see your name suggestions pop up in any of the chapters than I sincerely apologize for that. Anyway, R&R my friends! (NO! I am NOT Russian!)