A/N: I. Am. A. Horrible. Author. I apologize for the wait, but right now I can't guarantee regular updates, though I'll try. The muse has gone and left me and I'm desperately trying to keep my grip on it.

Warnings: Cussing, mentions of character death. Also, I apologize extremely for the lack of boxing/fighting in this chapter if that's what you're looking for - I'll add more next chapter.

Disclaimer: If only... *sighs*

Chapter 3 - Captured?

It was once again another morning at the Autobot base. 'Bots and humans alike were moving back and forth, hustling and bustling. Yet, something wasn't right. Optimus' optics were too dull, Prowl's doorwings were raised too high and his steps were more curt than usual, heck, even Bluestreak wasn't as talkative today! Bluestreak!

It was Jazz's death all over again.

Yet, they knew Bumblebee wasn't deactivated yet - Wheelie was proof. The last call had given them hope, therefore, driving them further and further to find the frustratingly complicated answer to this long equation.

How were they going to be able to, somehow, 'teleport' over to the 'dimension' Wheelie had so-called claimed they were 'in'?

And so the journey began.

Ratchet, Wheeljack, and Perceptor had all gotten to work. Trying to retrace Wheelie's location through the device given to Optimus from Mikaela. Wheeljack and Perceptor had been amazed by the concept of other dimensions - something they had thought about, but never decided to explore any further, because there had been no reason to. But, there was a reason now!

So the three mechs had been working for the past 4 Earth days and 5 nights trying to figure out how: Number one, how Wheelie had been able to contact them from another dimension through a mere cellphone line; Number two, to trace where the signal was coming from; Number three, how Bumblebee, his charges, and Wheelie were brought into the other dimension; and Number four, how to get there.

So far, they had gotten two out of four. Turns out, Mikaela had stolen some Cybertronian comm. links, or at least gotten them (they had a theory that it was courtesy of Sideswipe) from somebot, and had meshed it together with the human technology, therefore, somehow letting it contact this dimension, as long as the receiving end was here - which it was, courtesy of Optimus.

Now, tracing the signal on the other hand, is a different matter. The Autobots would need to be able to use one of those human satellites that were used just for the purpose of cellphones and all that technology - they had first asked the government about it, although they had to disincline for some reason, saying they couldn't risk damaging the satellite. There was also a possibility of tracing different wavelengths in regards to different Cybertronian technology so that they may be able to trace their possible location, but it was much too complicated to try with their mere supply of human tools.

So, although they didn't like it, it was time for our favourite heroes to try the next best thing to gain their Cybertronian technology.

It had been a week since Mikaela, Sam, and Bumblebee were dropped into a different dimension. Yet, being as adaptable as ever, they accepted that all they could do was wait and hope the Autobots had a plan to get them back.

Max, Bailey, and Charlie (who was currently out and about somewhere, trying to find some privacy once again) had also needed to adapt. It was hard explaining to people about Bumblebee - how the robot wasn't really sentient, just advanced. After all, if word got out that they had a sentient boxing robot, all mayhem would break out, well, everywhere! The newly arrived Seekers, however, weren't helping that theory at all...

Yet, in other and lighter news, the yellow and black Camaro and his charges were welcome to seek refuge in Bailey's boxing gym for as long as they needed - courtesy of Max and his puppy dog face.

And that's exactly what they were doing right now, the two teenagers were sitting together in the middle of the ring, while Bumblebee was recharging in his alt mode beside said ring. Max, himself, was at the 'repair bay' part of the room, you could call it, as he worked on an offline Atom who was a little bit dinged and scratched up from the battle with the seekers, but fine nonetheless.

The boy was working on studying some blueprints he had gotten on the basic anatomy of a Cybertronian, thanks to Bumblebee, and had been working on trying to get Atom's armor to the same level as the Camaro's. He wasn't trying to turn Atom to the same level as said Cybertronian, oh of course not, it would just be nice to have stronger armor if possible to reduce the amount of work he'd have to do if Atom got damaged in battle.

Max grabbed some tools from a different table, before walking to where the sparring 'bot was. He trailed a small hand over the robot's face. It was cold. Max sighed, something was off, there was something not right about his robot ever since that battle.

His robot. His Atom.

The boy absently searched for a screwdriver, his eyes never leaving Atom's face, when suddenly a sharp prick stabbed his palm.

"Aw, fuck!" The boy cursed as he grabbed the tool the wrong way. " Ugh..." Amateur mistake! He chastised himself.

Mikaela stood up and leaned onto the roped of the ring, "Not feeling yourself, today, Max?"

Said child looked up with a scowl, just as Sam also got up to stand beside his girlfriend, "You know, you really got to stop swearing."

Max merely grunted irritably in reply before inspecting his hand. He flailed it slightly as the pain faded to a dull throb and immediately went to work back onto Atom. After testing all of the joints and doing a triple check on the damages from last time, once again, he finally onlined Atom and turned on his shadow feature. It was much better this way - more fun as well.

Trying to lighten the mood considerably, Mikaela suggested, "So your robot has a 'shadow feature' thing, right?"

"Mm-hm."

Taking the hint, Sam asked, "You ever try to do anything fun with that?"

There was a small silence, before Max solemnly walked over to the other side of the room, Atom following, and grabbed a boom box. Sam and Mikaela watched in amusement as he reluctantly turned on the boom box and looked back at them, scowl still in place.

Yet Sam and Mikaela could see the youth and entertainment shining in those brown eyes of his.

"Here we go..."

Max looked up and saw his robot staring back down at him. A small smile adorned his place, as he started to move.

"This is the final moment, can't let them knock me down.

"I'm ready and I know it, I gotta make it count..."

The song that had become just oh so popular with the five in the room, started to play, just as Max and Atom began to move. They jumped, they spun back and forth, and of course added a few boxing movements here and there. It was poetic, the duo were so in sync that it amazed Sam and Mikaela. Atom really...

He really seemed alive then.

There was an engine rev just as the song reached it's peak, and it seemed Bumblebee was out of recharge and was tired of just watching. Immediately, the chipper young scout transformed, and danced his way over to the dancing duo. Sam and Mikaela laughed just as Max did. It had been way too long since they saw 'Bee move around again since the battle. He only had two energon cubes in his subspace left from when they'd first arrive, and he was worried about what would happen when those were finished.

Sam looked at his girlfriend expectantly, who raised an amused eyebrow at him.

"What?" She asked, perplexed.

The teenager beamed at her, "You know you want to join in."

She pouted, "I do not!" But at her boyfriend's unrelenting stare, she huffed and gave in with a small smile, "Okay, maybe a little."

They both laughed as they jumped down from the ring, and joined the others in dancing the robot.

...

It was maybe fifteen minutes later, when Bailey had promptly dragged Charlie in through the front door, and really, it shouldn't have surprised her when she saw the view, because she's seen so many crazy things in the past week, but...really, this just topped the list.

As they walked in, both adults decided to just shrug it off and laugh at the irony of two robots and three humans dancing the robot.

It had seemed like millenia since the last time Max saw Charlie laugh sincerely again.

Mirage scaled the side of a large, by human standards, building that he knew all too well. Invisibility cloak on and electro-generator working silently, he moved with only the grace a practiced Noble could. His mission was to get into the Decepticon base and retrieve whatever Cybertronian technology the opposing faction still could have had. They needed it if they were going to continue their research on the whole 'different dimensions' conflict the 'bots were dealing with.

Disabling the security sensors scanning the area around the entrance of the large base with skill only Special Ops mechs had, he sneaked inside undetected. He had to be quick, despite his invisibility advantage, there were surprises in the base like no other.

He was in his element, slipping from corridor to corridor, room to room. In the back of his processor, he could still hear Jazz snapping orders at him as if he was on this mission accompanying the Ligier model, and he faltered in his next steps.

The Master Spy's deactivation had been hard on everybody, including Mirage no matter how much he fell into the more anti-social group of the Autobots. He was the only one who was able to outstand the Noble's own skills, and the fellow spy gave Jazz his respect.

Shaking his helm with a grimace, Mirage huffed. There was no time for him to get distracted now.

Slipping into the next room, he straightened from his slightly crouched posture. His optics scanned the room, and a blip appeared in his vision. A piece of high-tech Cybertronian material lay on the table innocently, and he smiled internally at the sight. This could be useful to the mechs back at base.

He made a move to grab it and subspace the technology when an unnaturally large servo grabbed him by the back of his neck. He yelped as he was slammed into a wall, the same unforgiving servo clamped his neck, straining the metal and neck-cabling to the point of buckling.

Both of his own white servos shot up to try and pry the grey one off, to no use. Mirage winced, before shuttering his optics so the static cleared from his vision.

That's when he saw the other mech, his posture in a position to kill. An all-too-familiar metal bird was perched on the other's shoulder as a scorching red visor stared back at him, void of emotion. A battle mask settled over the majority of the mech's face and the tentacles sprouting from the mech's back and sides were really unnerving.

Mirage went limp.

"Soundwave..."

It was now nighttime and everyone in Bailey's Gym was settling down for the day. Max and Charlie had returned to the latter's truck to sleep there for the night. Bumblebee was resting in his alt mode, deflating contently on his wheels.

But then he heard it. A slight screech of metal.

'Bee was jerked from his light recharge, his special ops programming refusing to let him look like anything other than sleep, though. His systems ran silently, and the mech had to refuse the urge to blink his headlights to aid his vision in the pitch-black room. He onlined his night-vision, scanning for any signs of disturbance.

A bleep crossed his CPU. There was something moving in front of him, just past the ring where his charges slept. Risking further noise, he rolled forward slowly on his wheels just so he could see what was happening.

Silver metal gleamed in the dim moonlight form a single dusty window. If he was in root mode, Bumblebee would have shuttered his optics a the sight.

There was Atom. Alone. Practicing his boxing moves.

How long had it been since they started travelling?

Thundercracker didn't know, and he really didn't bother enough to keep count. It hadn't been too long since their fight with the Autobug, but then again he couldn't really be sure. His processor was all muddy.

Vaguely, he could hear Starscream's annoyed quips and Skywarp's teasing, but TC just couldn't concentrate. Sighing, he trudged on.

They would have been flying, except for the fact that they didn't have enough energon in their tanks to stay steady in their alt forms in the sky for long, and so they had been trudging through this forest they found, taking shelter here in hopes of their fellow Decepticons coming to get them.

The blue seeker scoffed at the idea.

Starscream's prodding at their trine bond pulled him out of his musings.

~Thundercracker? Are you alright? We've been trying to call you without any response.~

TC smiled despite himself. It was rare that Screamer showed concern for his fellow 'Cons - at least publicly.

"Yeah, I'm fine." He didn't even consider talking through the bond.

Skywarp snorted while Starscream rolled his optics.

"Like Pit you are! Come on, let's go rest."

"Hurry up, TC, or we'll leave you behind!"

"Yeah, I'm coming."

And so for the rest of the day they lay under the tall - even for them - pine trees, unbeknownst to the deadly green optics and glinting brown eyes watching them.

"There they are... my robots."

A/N: I realize that I'm all over the place in this single chapter. I'm thinking of perhaps writing the different parts and updating them separately so there's no confusion? Your thoughts? For example, what happens at the Autobot base in one chapter, then in Real Steel's dimension in the next chapter. I would probably be doing that until the two finally come together.

Also, in the last chapter I stated Zeus had blue optics, well, scratch that because I'm wrong. Zeus actually has green-emerald optics and I apologize for any confusion.

Sorry for the short chapter. R&R please?