The Harbringer
A beeping brought Starscreams attention to the computer console, it showed and image of the Earth with a marker at one particular spot "Hmm, Decepticon ground bridge activity." he tapped his chin in thought "On their way to retrieve another relic perhaps?" Though torn in half the Harbringers tracking systems had remained synced with the Nemesis so in addition to being able to locate the warship it allowed him detect the ground bridge portals. The seeker looked at the Magnus Hammer in his hand "I see no reason not to add another to my arsenal." he turned around "Especially now that I am no longer alone in my mission."
"Dynamic leadership of the Decepticons!" came Starscreams voice, stepping out of the shadows came eight exact duplicates of the seeker.
The real Starscream smiled "So good to finally have like minded company." Using the lab in the Harbringer Starscream provided samples of his own energon and CNA to transform the protoforms into exact clones of himself. These clones had the seekers memories, his feelings, even his desire for power. The only way to tell the real Starscream from his clones, besides the Magnus Hammer that never left his grasp, was a scar on the left side of his faceplate that the clones didn't have.
"We are as one." the clones said in unison.
"Now then." Starscream walked in front of his clones "First we shall bridge to a short distance from the relics location and ascertain the Decepticon forces already there, then come up with a plan of attack."
"A simple aerial reconnaissance should be enough together that information." one clone said.
"Indeed, we simply need to fly high enough to avoid detection." another added.
"Yes." Starscreams said bitterly "Airiel reconnaissance it is." After creating the clones Starscream was shocked to discover that they all had T-cogs and there for could transform and fly. Starscream acted like he had purposely given them the T-cogs but was still mad that his copies could fly while he couldn't. He took out the ground bridge remote control he opened the portal "Come my armada! Victory awaits!"
The Campgrounds
Optimus and Bulkhead looked from behind the cover of the forest to see Decepticons digging in the middle of the campsite "Looks like they beat us to it." Bulkhead said "But how'd they know about?"
"Soundwave must have deciphered the Axes location from the Iacon database." Optimus said.
"So whats the plan?" the Wrecker asked.
Optimus could see many Vehicons as well as Dreadwing, Airachnid and Knock Out and Breakdown who had the Mass Shifter on him. The Prime thought for a moment "Out best chance is to wait for them to uncover the axe and then launch a surprise attack. Bulkhead you must strike breakdown before he can activate the Mass Shifter."
"My pleasure." Bulkhead said "But not from here, he'll see me coming." he saw Breakdown was standing off to the side near the trees "But if I get over there I can get the drop on him."
"Go but be cautious, there may be more Decepticons in the forest." Optimus warned. The Wrecker nodded and left to get into position.
Though stealth was not Bulkheads strong suit he moved quickly through the trees keeping an optic out for any Decepticons thinking he heard a twig snap he quickly looked in that direction but saw nothing. Keeping his optics on that spot he began walking forward again only to bump into someone, Bulkhead quickly activated his blasters but was surprised at who he saw "Starscream?"
"Bulkhead?" the seeker was equally surprised.
"What are you doing here?" Bulkheads optics narrowed "Don't tell me you went crawling back to Megatron."
Starscream laughed "Ha, hardly. I am servant to no one and now a I have an armada of loyal warriors who will help achieve what should have been mine long ago. Now if you'll excuse me I have something to collect." he tried walk past.
"If you think I'm letting you get your greasy hands on another relic you can forget it!" Bulkhead took a fighting stance.
"You may have survived our last encounter." Starscream opened his clawed hands and slashed Bulkhead across the chest making him stumble back a few steps "But I won't hesitate to skewer you like I did a certain Cliffjumper." Bulkhead pulled his hand away from the marks on his chest and narrowed his optics, Starscreams smirk disappeared when the Wrecker activated his mace and charge at him with a war cry before hitting the seeker with an uppercut. Starscream was sent through the air, smashing through a tree before hitting the ground. Starscream sat up activate both blasters in his arms "Perish Bulkhead!" but before he could fire Bulkhead jumped forward bringing his mace down on his faceplate.
In his rage Bulked began viscously beating the seeker, he pulled his mace back "This is for Cliffjumper!" brought it down on his faceplate. Pulled it back again "For Bumble Bee!" he struck him again before pulling it back again "For everything!" and with angry yell he struck Starscream with all his strength.
Autobot Base
"See if they've found Jack yet." Arcee said.
Ratchet sighed, ever since Arcee had returned to base she had been asking to contact the others to know if they had found Jack "As I've repeatedly told you already Arcee, it the others locate Jack they will contact me for a ground bridge so he can return here."
Arcee wasn't satisfied "Alright then as second in command I order you to contact them." Ratchet turned to her and she went on "And before you say I'm no longer second in command because I'm human Optimus never officially relieved me of that role, he just said go out in the field. And since at no point a temporary second in command I am still in the second in command and so I order you to make the call."
Ratchet let out another sigh "Fine."
Raf and Miko and been watching the exchange on the couch "Wow." the young boy said.
"Nice one Arcee." Miko said while the former two wheeler smirked.
Ratchet pressed a button "Omega One to Autobots, come in." he received confirmations from the others "Have any of you located Jack yet?"
"Not yet." Wheeljack said
"No." Optimus concurred.
"No sign of Jack." Bulkhead said "But I did run into Starscream."
That got everyones attention "Starscream? What was he doing there?" Ratchet asked.
"Same as last time." Bulkhead said pushing a branch out of his way "He came for the relic but don't worry. Hes not gonna be bothering us or anyone again, ever."
Bulkheads last word and his tone made it very clear to everyone what happened "Nice job Bulk." Wheeljack complimented "Just sorry I missed it."
"Oh yeah!" Miko cheered "Starscream goes to the junk yard."
"Good riddance to bad garbage." Ratchet added.
Optimus thought for a moment "Bulkhead, do you have the Magnus Hammer?"
That made Bulkhead stop "No Scream didn't have it."
"Why would he leave something that powerful behind?" Raf asked.
"Something ain't right." Wheeljack said "A con like Starscream would never let something like the Magnus Hammer out of his hands, especially with his wings clipped.
"Theres more." Bulkhead cut in "He also said he had an armada of his own now."
"Who be stupid enough to side with Starscream?" Miko asked.
"For now we must focus on the task at hand." Optimus said "Rescuing Jack and retrieving the Axe of Onyx Prime. Airachnid is guarding the perimeter, it seems Jack was able to escape her."
Those words came as wave of relief to Arcee "Thank Primus."
The sound of crashing stone from the campsite caught Optimus'es attention, the Decepticons had successfully dug through the ground to the underground cavern containing the axe. Dreadwing looked at the Axe then to Breakdown "As Megatron ordered, you are the one to bring it to him." Breakdown looked down at the weapon and smirked, he jumped down into the cavern.
"We gotta move now!" Bulkhead said.
"Hold your position!" Optimus ordered "A weapon such as this cannot be taken, it must be earned."
"Come to papa." Breakdown approached the axe, grabbing the handle with both hands and pulled but with no luck "Come on!" he pulled with all his strength but the Axe wouldn't budge.
"Whats the hold up muscles?" Airachnid asked "Don't tell me your getting soft?"
Breakdown narrowed his remaining optic at her, he activated the Mass Shifter on his arm and it glowed. He began to increase in size, he grew so large he broke away the ground around the cavern once he reached three hundred feet "Lets try this again." he reached down gripping the axe with two fingers and pulled, but again nothing happened.
From the forest on the opposite side of the camp Wheeljack and Bumble Bee watched in shock, the scout beeped "That axe is really stuck in there." the Wrecker nodded.
"As I suspected." Optimus said raising eyebrows and optic ridges "The Axe is a weapon of a Prime and so it can only be wielded by one."
"Wow." Raf said "Its like the sword in the stone."
"No Raf its an Axe not a sword." Arcee said.
"No I mean... never mind." he sighed.
"Breakdown will return to normal size in a moment, when I give the word Wheeljack and Bumble Bee charge in getting their attention and taking out as many Vehicons as you can. Bulkhead will then attack Breakdown and try to take the Mass Shifter from him before he can activate it. I charge ahead to reach the axe, if I can obtain it, victory is ours." Optimus went over the plan.
"We're ready when you are Commander." he looked to Bumble Bee who nodded.
"Bulkhead are you in position?" the Prime asked.
The Wrecker looked at Breakdown as he began to shrink "Just give the signal and I'll take him down."
Dreadwing aimed his cannon at the stone the axe was stuck in and fired repeatedly, when the smoke cleared the stone was undamaged "Impossible." his optics widened.
"Now what?" Knock Out asked a Vehicon standing next to him, but before he could answer he was struck by an energon blast off lining him. The Decepticons looked to where the blast came from and saw Wheeljack and Bumble Bee charging at them blasters firing.
"AUTOBOTS!" Airachnid yelled and the cons opened fire.
Breakdown narrowed his optic "I was hoping to smash something." and reached for the Mass Shifter again but the sound of an engine reached his audio receptors.
He turned just in time to see Bulkheads vehicle form smash into him "Ready for round three?" the Wrecker ask as he kept driving at high speed with Breakdown on the hood of his vehicle mode. Suddenly he hit the breaks coming to a stop and the momentum threw Breakdown forward bouncing a couple of times when he hit the ground before stopping. Breakdown shook his clear as he got up, just in time to see Bulkhead, now in robot mode, tackle him sending them both tumbling down a cliff.
Wheeljack activated his mouthgaurd, took out his swords and began cutting through Vehicons "Been looking forward to this!" he leapt in the air and swung his swords around like a buzz saw as he came at Dreadwing. The con jumped back to avoid the blades and drew his own sword and used to block the Wreckers attacks.
"This is unexpected." Knock Out said before an energon blast hit his shoulder making him spin around, he recovered in time to see Bumble Bees fist strike his faceplate. The Scout followed with three more punches before kicking him in the gut making him double over, Bumble Bee grabbed Knock Outs arm and swung him over his shoulder before hurling him at Airachnid who was heading over to was moving to attack Wheeljack from behind.
The Assassin never saw the medic coming when he smashed into her sending them both into the dirt "GET OFF ME!" Airachnid shoved him off of her. Knock Out sat up but before he out speak they both had to move to avoid the energon blasts Bumble Bee was firing at them.
The Nemesis
Megatron watched the monitor angrily as a simple pick up had gone so poorly "How did the Autobots know?" he clenched his fist. But then he realised there were only three Autobots on battle field, then he saw a truck speed towards the crater where the Axe of Onyx Prime stood in the centre. "Optimus!" he recognised him instantly and realised what was happing "It's a diversion so he can reach the axe!" he knew what would happen if the Prime got his hands on it "SOUNDWAVE!"
Campgrounds
Optimus sped towards the crater dodging any blasts that came his way, nearing the edge Optimus transformed into robot mode and used his momentum to leap into the air over the edge. He looked down as he started descending he was going to land right in front of the axe, suddenly ground bridge portal opened at the other side of the cavern. Optimus'es optics widened when Megatrons space jet form flew out of the vortex and straight into him as he flew upwards taking the Prime with him "A good effort Optimus, but not good enough!"
Narrowing his optics Optimus began slamming his fists against Megatrons armour earning pained grunts from him, after a few hit's the warlord transformed into robot mode and punched the Prime in the faceplate. Optimus recovered instantly and grabbed Megatrons shoulders and drove his knee into his gut, the Prime and the warlord grappled with each other seemingly paying no heed to the fact that they were falling. The two of the crashed down somewhere in the forest with Knock Out seeing the fall "That's not good." he said right before Bumble punched him in the faceplate.
At the bottom of the cliff Bulkhead and Breakdown had recovered from their fall "GIMME THAT!" the Wrecker grabbed the Mass Shifter and tried to pull it off the cons arm.
"NOT A CHANCE!" Breakdown punched Bulkhead right in the faceplate but the Wrecker didn't let go and retaliated with a punch of his own, he tried to punch him again but the con grabbed his fist.
This began a power struggle between the two "Not so easy without your toy is it?" Bulkhead mocked.
Breakdown narrowed his optic "I don't need the Mass Shifter to crush you!"
"Oh yeah? I remember beating you down twice before you got that thing." Bulkhead countered. Breakdowns only he reply was a snarl as he continued to overpower his enemy.
"Such stirring conversation." an obnockcous voice got their attention and both looked to see Starscream standing there, Magnus Hammer in hand. But what was really shocking was that there was another Starscream standing behind the first.
"Starscream?" Bulkheads optics widened "But I off lined you." the Wrecker said more shocked at seeing the seeker back from the dead than there being another of him.
"What?" Breakdown asked in confusion.
"Reports of my demise have been greatly exaggerated." Starscream said as the hammer crackled with power "But you did try, so let me return the favour!" with that he swung the hammer sending an arc of lightning at them. Bulkhead and Breakdown cried out in pain as the electricity flowed through them both as well as the Mass Shifter, the arc knocked them both off the edge causing them to fall.
"Well done commander." said one of his clones.
"Yes, it really wasn't much of a challenge was it." the seeker gloated before turning away and walked in the opposite direction. "With he Autobots here obtaining the relic will be even easier. We simply let the Autobots and Decepticons fight each other and when they are weakened, we strike!"
"A truly brilliant plan." the clone said "I will take my position and wait for your orders." with that he jumped into the air and transformed in his jet mode and flew off.
"Show off." Starscream grumbled taking out his remote and activating the ground bridge, he walked through the portal never noticing a glow from where Breakdown and Bulkhead had fallen.
Optimus and Megatron recovered from their landing at the base of a mountain and faced each other "Stand down Megatron, the Axe of Onyx Prime is of Autobot origins it is of no use to you." the Prime said.
Megatron laughed "True in my hands the axe would be nothing, but in your hands it would have the power to tip the balance in your favour wouldn't it?"
Optimus narrowed his optics "Call off your forces" he activated his blade "Before anymore lives are lost."
"Haven't you learned by now Optimus." Megatron brought out his own blade "War always has casualties." with that he charged. The two enemies viscously swung their swords, parrying and blocking while trying to strike the other. Megatron raised his blade over head and swung down but Optimus blocked it, he pushed the blade aside and pulled his bade back across cutting the warlords arm. Megatron narrowed his optics and blocked he Primes attack before kicking him in the chest forcing him back, Optimus recovered just in time to block Megatrons attack.
They looked each other right in the optics as their blades pushed against each other "How many lives are you willing to sacrifice for your own gain?" the Prime asked.
"As many as it takes!" Megatron replied without hesitation. Optimus pushed Megatron back but he recovered quickly and lunged at him, Optimus retracted his blade and grabbed Megatrons wrist and punched him across the faceplate, then drove his elbow into his faceplate making him stumble to the side. Before he could recover Optimus grabbed Megatrons right arm and swung him around face first into the mountain wall. Megatron shook his head clear but Optimus grabbed the back of his head and slammed his face into the stone, he continued to slam the warlords head into the mountain and the stone began to crack from the impacts. Megatrons optics narrowed and quickly raised his foot against the stone, with a push of strength he shoved himself away from the mountain and broke free from Optimus'es hold before punching him in the faceplate. It was clear that this fight was only beginning.
Wheeljack and Dreadwings sword fight raged on "That all you've got? I was hoping for a challenge." the Wrecker mocked swinging his twin swords.
Dreadwing blocked the attack with his own sword and pushed him back, he took out one of his explosives "FALL!" he threw it like a shuriken.
Rather than run from it Wheeljack holstered his swords, charged ahead and jumped as high into the air as he could letting it pass under him as it exploded. The force of the explosion sent him higher up as he soared over Dreadwing transforming his hands into a blaster and fired down at him. Dreadwing used his sword to block any shot that would have hit him. Wheeljack landed in a crouch "At your heel." Dreadwing raised an optic ridge but something on the ground caught the corner of his optic, his optics widened when he saw a grenade next to him. Wheeljack had thrown the grenade when the explosive went off serving as a distraction so the Decpticon would see it. Dreadwing transformed into his jet mode but before he could fly more that a few feet the grenade went off, the blast caused him to loose control and he returned to robot mode before hitting the ground, bouncing twice before stopping. With a painful groan Dreadwing pushed himself up and glared at the Wrecker who was smirking behind his mouthgaurd "That's how you use an explosive."
Bumble Bee jumped back to avoid Knock Outs saw as the medic swung at him "Whats the matter Bumble Bee, don't tell me your scared of seeing the doctor." Bumble Bee didn't respond he saw Airachnid standing to the side raise her hands preparing to blast him from behind, she fired and Knock Out charged. Timing it just right the Scout dodged both attacks pushing Knock Out into the blasts path both hitting him in the shoulder "HEY!" he yelled "Whos side are you on!"
"Stay out of the way!" she snapped only to be blasted by Bumble Bee taking advantage of her distraction.
Seeing the spider-bot get blasted Knock Out couldn't help but smirk before resuming his attack, Bumble Bee backed up until a large boulder was at his back "Tell you what, hold still and I'll make this quick." the medic said. The Scout narrowed his optics and let out a series of beeps that made Knock Outs optics widen "What! How dare you!" Bumble Bee simply raised his hand and made the bring it on motion angering the Decepticon into charging. Bumble Bee held his ground until Knock out lunged at him, the Scout fell back grabbing his wrists and raising his legs up to the medics chest plate and threw him face first into the boulder. Knock Out let out a painful groan as he slipped down but suddenly stopped, he looked up and saw that his saw blade had become stuck in the stone "Not again." he stood up, transforming his drill back into his hand and tried to pull himself free but with no luck. He noticed Bumble Bee activate his blasters "Eh, isn't there an Autobot rule against off lining a defenceless bot?" Bumble Bee looked at him for a moment before deactivating his blasters, Knock Out sighed in relief but then the Scout picked up a large rock. Knock Out looked up just in time to see Bumble Bee hit him in the faceplate with it knocking him unconsis, his body would have hit the ground but his saw was still stuck in the boulder.
Before he could admire his handiwork Bumble Bee heard a noise coming from beneath the ground, he jumped out of the way just in time to avoid Airachnid as she burst out of the ground. She looked back at Knock Outs unconsis form "Useless."
Bumble Bee soon found himself back to back with Wheeljack "So hows your day going?" he asked and the Scout beeped "And he just hanging off the boulder?" the Wrecker laughed "Nice one." Before anyone could attack the ground began to shake "Is it just me or do those sound like footsteps?" Wheeljack asked.
"It would seem Breakdown has finished your friend and has returned to end this." Dreadwing said. They all looked to where the sounds were coming from but what they saw made all their optics widen, not one but two three hundred foot tall Cybertronians. Bulkhead was still holding onto the Mass Shifter on Breakdowns arm while the con held onto the Wrecker wrist, they were trying to over power each other and moving around the area.
"A giant Bulkhead." Wheeljack said "I'll be surprised if theres a planet left when this is over."
Breakdown narrowed his optic and activated his shoulder mounted missile launcher and it aimed at the Wreckers face, Bulkheads optics widened and just managed to move his head to the side just barely dodging the missile as it fired. The missile flew through the air before falling to the ground towards the others "INCOMING!" Wheeljack yelled and they all scattered before the missile hit the ground and created a large explosion.
Bulkhead saw this and realised Bumble Bee and Wheeljack were in as much danger from Breakdowns missiles as he was. He pulled his head back before bringing it forward head butting Breakdown and stunning him, this caused the con to loose his grip on Bulkheads wrist which let him pull it free. Bulkhead used his free hand to grab Breakdowns missile launcher and rip it off his shoulder, Breakdown yelled in pain as the Wrecker tossed the weapon over his shoulder where in fell to the ground with a loud crash. The Missile launcher suddenly began to decrease in size, it got smaller and smaller until it had returned to its original size. Bulkhead tried to punch Breakdown again but the con recovered and grabbed his fist leaving them once again in a power struggle.
Autobot base
Arcee, Miko and Raf waited in the raised area while Ratchet attempted to contact the others "Come in, anyone come in." a few moments later someone answered.
"Easy Doc my audio receptors are already ringing." Wheeljack said.
"Wheeljack what is the situation?" Ratchet asked.
"Did you find Jack?" Arcee asked.
"Did you guys get the axe?" Miko asked.
"That's a negative on both." the Wrecker answered "Optimus made a play for the axe but Megatron showed up and intercepted him."
"Megatron." Ratchet said in shock "Where are they now?"
"They crashed somewhere in the forest." Wheeljack said but loud thumps could be heard over the com.
"What is that noise?" the old medic asked.
"They kinda sound like, footsteps." Raf said.
"Yeah, from a three hundred foot tall Bulkhead and Breakdown." Wheeljack said shocking everyone at the base.
"The Mass Shifter!" Ratchet realised "Breakdown must have activated it and it grew Bulkhead with him."
"It can do that?" Raf asked.
"I wouldn't have thought so." Ratchet admitted "But its happened."
"Bulkhead is now an even bigger giant and hes fighting a giant Breakdown." Miko said her voice filling with excitement "OPEN THE GROUND BRIDGE!"
"Miko calm down." Arcee said.
"Are you serious?" the foreign exchange student asked "I'm missing the fight of the century here. OPEN THE BRIDGE! OPEN THE BRIDGE! OPEN THE BRID..."
"MIKO!" Ratchet shouted cutting her off "SIT DOWN AND BE QUITE!" he pointed at the couch "NOW!"
Miko sent the old medic a glare before stomping over to the couch before sitting down with her arms crossed and a pout on her face.
"Contact us when you locate Optimus..." Ratchet was cut off by Arcee.
"Optimus can take of himself they need to look for Jack." the former two wheeler knew she was letting her emotions get the better of her, but at the moment she didn't care.
"Clamb down Arcee I was going mention Jack." Ratchet assured her.
It didn't work "We some a visual on the battlefield, call Fowler maybe he can patch us through to a satellite then he could get a birds eye view."
"Arcee even if there was a satellite over the area..." Ratchet began but was cut off again.
"No we need a search team to look for him." Arcee went on "Fowler has those connections..."
"ARCEE!" Ratchet snapped " We will do no such thing. Optimus would never approve of humans, even trained soldiers entering a battlefield like this. The other no to look for Jack and if they find him they will contact us for a ground bridge."
"But..." Arcee was cut off.
"SIT DOWN AND BE QUITE!" the old medic yelled.
Arcee narrowed her eyes and went to the couch folding her arms and pouting in almost the exact same way Miko was, Raf noticed this "Wow."
"Old people." Miko said
"Tell me about it." Arcee agreed.
Ratchet sighed "One teenage girl was bad enough."
Wheeljack got to his feet and spotted Airachnid, he drew his swords "Ready for a rematch?"
Airachnid switched to her six legged mode "If you can catch me." with that she ran into the forest.
"I'm going after Airachnid!" Wheeljack called to Bumble Bee "You got Dreadwing?" the Scout nodded and with that the Wrecker took off after the assassin.
Optimus skidded to a stop throwing up his arm to block Megatrons punch before counter attacking with an uppercut to the warlords chin making him stumble back. The Prime followed with three more punches before kicking Megatron in the faceplate knocking him to the ground. "Hear me Megatron." Optimus said approaching him "So long as energon flows through my veins, you shall fail."
Megatron laughed as he got to his feet "Have you forgotten Optimus?" his red optics turned purple "Dark energon flows through mine!" with that he charged. Optimus wasn't fast enough to block Megatrons punch, he swung a punch but Megatron dodged it and punched Optimus in the side before bringing an axe kick down on him bring the Prime to a knee. Before he could recover Megatron grabbed Optimus lifting him over his head and through him through the air at a tree, he quickly aimed his cannon and fired the blast hit Optimus just as he hit the tree and smashed through it. Megatron approached his downed rival "And it has made me more powerful than ever." he aimed his cannon again.
Narrowing his optics Optimus grabbed the part of the tree he'd broken off and swung it knocking Megatrons arm away making his shot miss, he then drove the end of the tree into Megatrons faceplate disorienting him a bit. Grabbing the tree at both ends Optimus brought it down on Megatrons head making it break in two, with a piece in each hand Optimus repeatedly struck Megatron in the faceplate driving him back before slamming both pieces against the sides of his head making them shatter into splinters. Clasping both his hands together Optimus swung his fists striking Megatron so hard a bit of dark energon flew out of his mouth, stumbling backwards Megatron shook his head clear and looked forward to see Optimus charge at him with a yell before deliver a right hook so strong it knocked Megatron backwards off his feet, he skipped across the ground before coming to a stop. "The blood of Unicron does not grant power." Optimus said looking down the spilled purple liquid that had fallen on grass and a couple of flowers "It only corrupts and poisons all it comes in contact with." as he spoke the plant life began to wither from exposer to the dark substance.
Megatron stood up "You think the dark energon has turned me into a monster?"
"No." Optimus narrowed his optics "You became a monster long before you exposed your spark to dark energon."
Before they could continue blaster fire suddenly came at them from all different directions, Optimus and Megatron tried to return fire at their unseen attacker but they were both struck by blots of lighting them caused them to kneel down in pain. As soon as the lightning stopped two missiles came rocketing towards them, the missiles hit the ground next to them and exploded. Optimus and Megatron were blasted backwards out of the forest, they bounced off the ground a couple of times before coming two a stop. The two of groaned in pain as they heard multiple footsteps, they looked up to see eight Starscreams coming towards them one of which held the Magnus Hammer still crackling with power "Well, well what do we have here?" Starscream smirked "Optimus Prime and Megatron in one place, how convenient."
The Forrest
Jack kept moving as fast as he could with his twisted ankle, fortunately he had found a large stick and able to use it as a crutch to take pressure off his ankle. Unfortunately Jack was completely lost, in his effort to escape Airachnid he had entered the forest and kept moving not thinking about where he was going, he was just focused on putting as much distance between him and the assassin. He had brought a compass with him on the trip but had left it in his backpack, which after the Earthquake and Airachnids arrival had been left in his tent. With his phone broken and no way to call for help he did the only thing he could, he picked a direction and kept moving hoping he'd eventually make it to safety.
"Arcee." Jack thought out loud as his thoughts went back to his girlfriend and hoped she was able to call the bots and get to safety. Jack was very mature for his age, responsible, hard working, he was even considered to be like Optimus Prime, but as he thought of Arcee one thing kept coming to mind "Why did the earth quake have to happen then?" hes still a teenager after all. Suddenly large metal footsteps brought him back to reality he turned his head in fear but then experienced relief "Wheeljack?"
"Hey kid." the Wrecker approached him.
"Is Arcee okay?" Jack asked automatically.
"Easy." Wheeljack said "Arcee's fine, but shes so worried she won't get off the com. Here." he gave Jack Arcee's phone "Told me to give it to you." Jack couldn't help but smile at that "Whats with the crutch?"
"Sprained my ankle when I got away from Airachnid." he explained "Hit her with a carnival ride."
"A carnival ride?" Wheeljack blinked in surprise then smiled "Nice. Now lets get you outta, ARH!" he yelled in pain as something struck his side. He looked and his Optics widened to see Airachnid had stabbed him in the side with one of her extra limbs, it'd gone through his armor and energon began to leak out.
"Thanks for finding him for me" Airachnid said before pulling her limb out and roundhouse kicking Wheeljack in the faceplate knocking him to the ground. She turned her violet optics on Jack whos face showed his fear "Miss me?"