The Autobots all try to keep a low profile while watching their enemies work.
"I hate staying here and doing nothing." Wheeljack grumbled quietly as Emily glanced at him while not taking her eyes off the cons.
"We have to, Uncle Jackie." She whispered.
"You think they're looking for the same thing?" Smokescreen asked curiously.
Bumblebee beeped and whirred to say that it might be a possibility that the cons had detected the same thing that they did.
"Cons won't find anything they're so dumb." Cliffjumper scoffed before he accidentally trips on Bumblebee who accidentally trips on Smokescreen and makes tiny rubble fall as Bulkhead and Arcee winced as Emily covers her face while Optimus shook his head as Wheeljack smirked.
A Vehicon hears the rubble and sees that it was the Autobots as they knew that they really blew it.
"Scrap." Cliffjumper cursed as Emily just sighed as Arcee gave him a scolding look.
"The Autobots!" The vehicon alerted the others as they all switched their servos into their guns as Starscream was surprised to see the bots.
"The Autobots?! Destroy them!" Starscream ordered as the cons all started to shoot at the Autobots who quickly ducked for cover.
"Bring it, cons!" Wheeljack exclaimed as he jumped in the air before landing in front of the Decepticons.
He starts taking them down one at the time as the others watch.
"Let's go, guys!" Bulkhead said as he switched his servos into his mace as he along with Cliffjumper, Smokescreen, Bumblebee and Optimus all charged in to help Wheeljack to repel their enemies.
"Let's provide the others some cover." Arcee said as she took out her guns before looking at Emily.
"Are you up for it?" She asked as Emily nodded.
"You bet." She grinned at her as she turned her hands into her plasma cannons.
When they both were ready, they took a snipers position to provide cover to the others as they made sure to stay well hidden.
"There's one at ten'o'clock." Emily whispered as she took aim before shooting but missed and made her wince.
"I got it." Arcee said as she took aim and shot the target that Emily tried to hit.
"That was easy." Arcee said as Emily shook her head with a smile.
"Oh, really?" She said before taking another aim before shooting and was able to take down two cons with two shots as she gave Arcee a smirk.
"Try and top that." She smirked at her as Arcee smirked back before the femme shoots down five find with one shot.
"Be careful with what you wish for." She remarked as Emily puffed a cheek at her playfully.
The Decepticons soon spotted Arcee and Emily and started shooting at them and they ducked to avoid getting hit.
"Let's move." Arcee said.
"Right behind you." Emily nodded as both she and Arcee moved out from their position and started shooting at incoming Cons.
Arcee was able to take down some of them but Emily can't seem to focus as she kept missing. The sound of battle made her remember what happened not too long ago. She wasn't focused and when a con was about to grab her, Arcee shot him down and saw how Emily was scared as the fear was in her eyes. The femme knelt down next to her as she look up to her.
"It's okay. I'm here." Arcee reassures her as the Decepticons are coming at them.
Arcee can take them down but has to protect Emily while doing it who tried to shoot a plasma shot but was missing a few times.
"Stay behind me. We'll get through this one. I promise." Arcee told her as Emily nodded slowly.
The Decepticons were trying to take down the Autobots but they're losing too much ground quickly.
"Had enough?" Wheeljack taunted as he sliced one in half.
"This is too easy." Cliffjumper said as he punched two.
"Too easy." Smokescreen grinned as he kicked down some.
Starscream let out a frustrated growl before he started using his comm-link to contact the Nemesis.
"This is Commander Starscream, requesting a ground bridge immediately." Starscream called through the comm-link.
Back at the nemesis, the computers beeped and Megatron could see that it was Starscream and demanded what he wanted.
"What is it now, Starscream? Have you found the source of the mysterious energy?" Megatron demanded.
"Not really, my liege. The sensors must have a malfunction. We couldn't find anything. But more importantly the Autobots have taken down most of our troops. I request an immediate ground bridge. Perhaps some back up too." Starscream replied and Megatron had to stop a growl as he addressed Dreadwing.
"Very well. Dreadwing, prepare for departure." Megatron told him as he nodded.
"At once, Lord Megatron." Dreadwing bowed before leaving.
Back at the location the Decepticons were holding their ground against the Autobots when suddenly a ground bridge opened up. Both sides stop fighting, waiting to see what will come out from the portal.
"A ground bridge?" Bulkhead asked curiously.
Bumblebee beeps and whirred, asking what's going on as they didn't have a clue.
"Ours or theirs?" Bulkhead asked but the Autobots tensed up when they saw who came out of the portal.
Dreadwing came out along with his troops as he sneered down at the bots while the portal closed up behind the new arrivals.
"Only a fool like you could fail a mission such as this." Dreadwing said as the Autobots all got ready.
"Hey, Dreadwing, how about you come down here and chat with us a little?" Wheeljack challenged him.
The Decepticons all point their weapons at the Autobots who are completely surrounded as they were on their guard and got ready to spring into action against them.
"Congratulations, Optimus. You and your fellow Autobots have made quite an impression. Before you rush in to attack me, I would suggest that you consider an immediate surrender." Dreadwing told him as Optimus just narrowed his optics at him.
"No way we're surrendering." Wheeljack growled at him
"Jackie, stop." Bulkhead stopped him.
"We both know that you wouldn't risk the lives of your friends." Dreadwing smirked as Optimus glanced at his teammates and family and Emily.
"I got a plan, guys. But you have to keep him occupied." Wheeljack told them as Bulkhead, Bumblebee, Arcee, Cliffjumper and Smokescreen nodded as Emily just stayed quiet.
"Dreadwing, if I surrender, I want you to spare the lives of the others." Optimus reconsiders Dreadwing's offer as he steps forward.
"Don't listen to him. It's a trick." Starscream said only to get hit on the helm by Dreadwing.
"Silence, you blithering fool. I agree to your terms, Optimus Prime. Lord Megatron will be pleased to know of your demise." Optimus stayed quiet at this as he clenched his servo.
"Wait for it." Wheeljack told the others.
"What's it gonna be, Prime?" Dreadwing said as he didn't say anything as the cons were waiting for orders to shoot.
"Hey, Wingy. Ever heard the story of a dumb con who thought he was winning?" Wheeljack taunted him as Dreadwing growled.
"Enough blustering." Dreadwing growled at him.
"Yeah you're right. Time for some blasting." Wheeljack shrugged before smirking as he threw one of his grenades in the air and shot it, creating a huge explosion.
The blast allowed the Autobots to strike back as both sides were fighting each other hard as Emily was still hiding behind Arcee. Knowing that they couldn't take them all at once, Optimus had to call out a full retreat to ensure their safety.
"Autobots, retreat!" Optimus ordered his teammates who nodded.
"Dreadwing, we must get out of here." Starscream said as he saw no point in winning when there's nothing to battle against for.
"We are not retreating." Dreadwing growled at him as Starscream glared at him and crossed his arms.
"Perhaps you can discuss that with Megatron when he asks you about this whole fiasco." Starscream knew that Dreadwing would get punished for this whole mess from Megatron.
Dreadwing thought about it and came to a decision as he knew that Starscream was right.
"Very well." He nodded before he turned on his comm-link to contact the ship.
"This is Dreadwing. Requesting immediate ground bridge." He said but at the same time Optimus called through his comm-link for a ground bridge.
"Ratchet, open a ground bridge." Optimus told through the comm-link.
Suddenly two ground bridges appeared and opened up and this caused a confusion between the two sides.
"Which one's ours?" Smokescreen asked in confusion.
"Don't ask, just go for it." Wheeljack told them as he rushed inside one of them and lucky for him, he entered the right one.
On the other side, Ratchet and the kids were surprised about the way Wheeljack came in as he smirked at this.
"Cool entrance." Miko grinned as Wheeljack nodded.
Ratchet went to check on Wheeljack to see if he's ok.
"You okay, Wheeljack?" Ratchet noted the small dents and scratches that were gonna be easily fixed.
"I'm fine, doc." Wheeljack reassured him before using his comm-link to tell the others that the portal he went through is the right one.
"Hey, guys. I'm at the base. Come on in. Hurry." He said through the comm-link.
Everyone gets inside the portal as Arcee and Emily were about to go inside but Arcee wants Emily to go in first to make sure she arrives safely like she promised Ratchet.
"Go in. I'll cover you." Arcee told her.
Emily wants to go through and back to the safety of the base but she doesn't want to leave Optimus alone to fight against the cons as she looks up to Arcee.
"You go in. I'll go help Optimus." She told him as Arcee looked at her in shock and didn't know what to say.
"Go." Emily said as she ran towards to help him.
Arcee hesitated before going inside the portal and appearing back at the base. Emily shot down a con that was about to shoot Optimus from behind as he looked at her in shock.
"Get back to the base, Emily. I'll take care of them." Optimus told her as he shot two cons down as Emily stood by him and started to shoot at the cons.
"I'm not letting you fight them alone, Optimus. We'll fight them together." Emily told him as he let her as they both started shooting at the cons.
Both Optimus and Emily start shooting at the Decepticons who are entering their portal and back inside their warship.
"Let's get out of here!" Starscream exclaimed as he entered the portal to escape.
"Let's see what you can do against this." Dreadwing said before he throws one of his bombs at the Autobot leader.
Optimus then shoots it and creates a huge blast. Not wanting to have Emily get hurt, he tells her to enter the portal quickly. Emily runs into the portal with Optimus behind her. Dreadwing does the same and gets back safely to the Nemesis. But when everyone was inside, both portals started to create some sort of reaction. Emily and Optimus were still running to get back to the base but the portal was starting to shrink around them as they were in shock.
"What's happening?!" Emily asked in shock.
"Look out!" Optimus grabs her in his servo to stop a static from hitting her.
Back at the base the ground bridge was starting to overload.
"Something's happening to the ground bridge. It's overloading. EVERYBODY, GET DOWN!" Ratchet yelled as they all found cover as Raf quickly grabbed Bolty from getting hurt.
Back at the nemesis the same thing was happening as Megatron was panicking at this as some vehicons all ran off to find cover.
"Shut down the ground bridge! Do it now!" Megatron orders Soundwave who tries to shut down the ground bridge but it's overloading.
Inside the portal, Emily and Optimus weren't able to get out as he made sure to brace himself to protect Emily and himself from what was about to happen.
"Stay close to me." Optimus told her as she nodded.
When both of the portals from each side reached their peak, they exploded at the same time.
Inside the portal, the explosion also took both Emily and Optimus off guard as she let out a yell of fear and shock as Optimus was blown back by the explosion and his world went black.
As the dust settles down, the bots all come out of their hiding spots.
"Ow... my head. That hurts a lot." Bulkhead groaned.
"Uh, Bulk?" Wheeljack started.
Bulkhead hears Wheeljack talking to him but wonders where it is coming from. Then he realizes that poor Wheeljack was under him as his friend was flat against the floor on his front.
"Think you can move please?" Wheeljack groaned as he tried to get up.
"Oh sorry." Bulkhead quickly got off him and helped him up.
"Oh bolts. What was that all about?" Wheeljack said as he held his head as he felt his audio receptors ringing.
"We almost didn't make it." Miko said as her hair was blown back but she fixed it quickly.
"Easy, Miko." Jack said as he steadied Miko as she almost swayed on her feet.
"You guys are okay?" Arcee asked them as Raf came out with Bolty on his head as Raf's glasses were a little dusty but he cleaned it up.
"We're good." Raf said as Bolty squeaked and chirped, meaning that he was okay.
"What happened, Ratchet?" Cliffjumper asked the medic as he was over at the computers quickly to see what was wrong.
"I'm not entirely sure. It's as if the portal has been overloaded." Ratchet said but was having a feeling of déjà vu all of a sudden.
"That's impossible. Energy doesn't overload just like that." Jack said in confusion.
"We just learned that in our science book." Miko said and made both Raf and Jack look at her as they couldn't believe what she just said.
"Yeah I know I can't believe it either." Miko rolled her eyes at them before Smokescreen did a headcount and noticed someone or two were missing.
"Uh, guys, aren't we missing someone?" Smokescreen was sure that both Optimus and Emily should have gone through by now but the two weren't present.
"Where's Optimus?" Cliffjumper asked.
"Where's Emily?" Arcee asked as she didn't see her and they all looked at the ground bridge and wondered if the two ever got out.
Meanwhile Optimus was coming back online as he was still a bit shocked by the blast but was still okay. He got up before noticing that someone wasn't in the protection of his servos and looked around quickly.
"Emily? Where are you?" He called out before he heard groaning and he saw that she was a few feet from him.
He went over to check on her to see if she's okay as she was waking up.
"Emily, are you okay?" Optimus asked her in concern as Emily got up slowly while holding her head as he used his digit to steady her as she shook her head to get rid of the dizziness.
"Oh man. That was quite a shock." Emily said before she starts to look around her surroundings and noticed that they weren't at the base
"Well, we're not back at the base." Emily said as she sighed.
"No, we are not. Emily, you disobeyed my direct orders and you almost got hurt." Optimus agreed before scolding her sternly as she looked down at her feet.
"Yeah I know. I just couldn't let you face the Decepticons alone. I'm not one to leave a dear friend behind." Optimus sighed as he knew that. He would do the same for her if she was in his position.
"I know. But you must understand that there are things you're not ready for yet." Optimus told her as he stood back up as Emily nodded as she looked up to him.
"I know." She told him before she checks around her again and finds something weird as the place looks darker than usual.
"That's weird. The sky looks grey and the place around looks shadier. Where are we?" Emily asked in confusion as she took in her surroundings more.
"I do not know. The ground bridge might've sent us to a different location." Optimus told her but he was getting a bad feeling about the location or place they were in.
Optimus then starts using his comm-link to try and contact the base for a ground bridge.
"Optimus to base, do you read?" Optimus asked through his comm-link but nobody answered the comm-link due to the interference he was getting.
"No answer. There's too much interference." Optimus said as Emily looked up to him.
"Maybe if I try with my phone." Emily said as she fished out her phone and called the base as when she tried to get some answers, she only heard static on the line as she sighed softly.
"No answer either. If the phone and comm-link doesn't work, it means that we won't be able to call the others for help." Emily told him as she put her phone back in her pocket.
They suddenly hear a mysterious animalistic growl a bit far from them but it only made Emily's hair stand as Optimus stood in front of her quickly.
"Uh, what is that?" She asked fearfully.
The growl was starting to get closer to them as Optimus slid his battle mask back on.
"Stay behind me." Optimus told her as he switched his servos for his guns.
Something was coming out from the shadows. A strange figure. When Optimus saw what or who it was, he couldn't believe it as his optics widened in shock. It was Skyquake, who got turned into a Terrorcon.
"It cannot be." Optimus breathed in shock and disbelief as Emily felt her heart stop beating at the sight of the Terrorcon.
"Optimus, what is that thing?" She asked him in fear.
"It's an old foe named Skyquake. He was revived by using Dark Energon." Optimus told her as Emily looked at him in shock. This was another effect of that dark matter?!
"So you mean that this Skyquake is now a zombie?!" She said as she was literally freaking out.
"I'm afraid so." Optimus told her calmly but he could sense the fear that was emitting from her and grew concerned as she stared at the Terrorcon before them.
She saw Skyquake and the sight of him made her remember the horrible events she went through due to Dark Energon infection. When Terrorcon Skyquake saw Optimus and Emily, his only instinct was to attack and destroy them. Due to her fear, Emily was paralyzed as she couldn't even move her legs to get out of the way. When the Terrorcon Skyquake was coming straight for them, Optimus stopped him and told Emily to run away.
"Emily, run! Quickly!" Optimus told her as she snapped out of her fear before starting to run while Optimus held off Skyquake.
Emily starts to run faster before suddenly she hears a strange voice calling out for help just like before.
"Help me... please... let me out of this darkness..." The voice pleaded as Emily halted to a stop as she looked around.
"What? Who said that?" Emily asked as she looked around to find where the voice was coming from.
Terrorcon Skyquake jumps onto Optimus, trying to rip his head as he tries to shake him off. Emily goes back to help Optimus but he tells her not to get involved as she stopped and is not near the fight.
"Stay back, Emily! This is too dangerous for you!" Optimus said as he didn't want her to get hurt while he was trying not to get his head ripped off his body.
"Hide, everything will be fine!" This made Emily remember when her foster mom died in that car crash when she was just 5 years old.
Optimus was able to push off the Terrorcon Skyquake. With him down, Optimus has a chance to destroy him when suddenly Emily hears the same voice she heard from earlier and her eyes widened in surprise.
"Help me..."
When Optimus was about to destroy the Terrorcon Skyquake once and for all, Emily told him to stop.
"No wait!" Emily told him as she ran up to them as Optimus stopped and looked at her while wondering why she told him to stop.
"What is it?" He asked as she looked up to him.
"I heard something. I haven't heard that kind of voice ever since Cliffjumper was revived. Hold him down. There's something I need to do. Think you can open his spark chamber?" She said as he nodded but was still confused as he complied with what she said.
Optimus uses one of his servos to open Skyquake's spark chamber and when it was open they both saw the Dark Energon shard there as it was emitting a pulse like aura.
"There's the shard." Emily breathed in shock.
Terrorcon Skyquake started growling intensely and Optimus was starting to lose his grip on him.
"Try to hold him down as long as you can. I'm going to take off the shard." Emily climbed some rocks to get on Terrorcon Skyquake as Optimus watched in shock.
"No, Emily. If you touch it, it will corrupt you." Optimus said as he looked at her as she looked in his optics and saw that he didn't want her getting infected by the dark matter again.
"There's no other way." Emily said as he nodded and tried to hold Terrorcon Skyquake down as best as he could.
Emily was on the verge of grabbing the Dark Energon shard but stopped. At first she was afraid but she had to put her fear aside. She was able to take off the Dark Energon shard and by doing so it made Terrorcon Skyquake go offline as Optimus let go slowly. She quickly threw the Dark Energon shard somewhere, to avoid being corrupted by it again.
"Let's do this." Emily muttered before summoning her sword of creation as Optimus saw what she was about to do.
"Emily, no!" Optimus tried to stop her but she didn't as she plunge the sword into Skyquake's spark chamber and reigniting his spark as both the spark and sword started to glow
The sword finally revives him and recreates his body the way it was before. Skyquake comes back online and he was surprised to see Optimus standing over him.
"You?! Optimus Prime!" Skyquake growled and was able to get out from Optimus' grip and started to attack him while Emily was able to get off Skyquake before she could get thrown back.
"You and your scout killed me and now I'm going to return the favor. AHHHHHHH!!!" Skyquake was about to attack Optimus again who was ready to defend himself but Emily quickly got between them to stop a fight from breaking out.
"Stop!" Emily stood in front of Optimus protectively as Skyquake stopped and looked at her in confusion.
"Who are you? How dare you try to stop me? You indigenous life form!" Skyquake growled but Emily wasn't phased by his hostility.
"I dare because I'm the one who brought you back. Wait a minute." Emily told him much to his shock and surprise. She brought him back to life? How?
Emily was quiet for a moment as she looked at Skyquake more closely and just by looking at him, it reminded her of someone from the cons and her eyes widened in surprise.
"No way. You look just like Dreadwing." Emily said in shock and surprise as Skyquake was confused. How did she know about his twin?
"That might be because he's my twin brother. How do you know him? Has he come to this wretched planet?" Skyquake asked as Emily nodded slowly.
"Yes." She replied as Optimus stepped forward but stopped.
"Emily, stand down. He's too dangerous for you." Optimus said as she glanced at him. He didn't want her to get hurt.
"Only a fool like you would defend an inferior species." Skyquake growled as Optimus narrowed his optics at him.
Both of them were about to fight again but Emily stopped them before they could even start.
"That's enough, you guys. I don't know what happened between you two but right now it's not the right time to fight like this. When we don't know where we are and we need to get out of here. Like it or not, we're in this together. You'll have to make a truce, until we can get out of this place." She told them as they both looked down at her and looked at each other and thought about it.
In all his wisdom, Optimus comes to a decision as he switches his servos back from his guns and gets out of his battle stance as Skyquake did the same.
"Skyquake, now that you have been brought back to life. I won't try to destroy you. Let us make peace and forget about old grudges. For our sake." Optimus said as he didn't answer at first.
Both Emily and Optimus were waiting for his answer before he finally nodded on a temporary truce until they got out of the place.
"Very well then." He said as Emily sighed softly since there wasn't any fight breaking out.
"We should move out to try and get out of this canyon." Emily said as the trio went in a random direction to get out of the shadow zone and to get back home.
Optimus stopped a few feet behind them before picking up the small shard of Dark Energon from the ground that Emily took from the now revived Skyquake and figured that it might come in useful later. He quickly caught up with them while keeping his guard up.