Verdant knew they'd been long there too long once her optics started to frost and her systems were noticeably sluggish. Wheeljack still hadn't woken up yet, and Verdant figured that the cold would keep him in stasis lock for as long as he remained below his required temperatures.
She also knew how bad the situation was looking. She had been dragging Wheeljack across the floor for ages, and she was leaving behind noticable dents in the ice floor with her blaster as they walked in case the other Autobots came looking for them. But that all depended on whether or not Bulkhead was okay, whether or not Ratchet would check up on them over comms, and least helpfully, if he'd send reinforcements when their single hour of searching was up.
Verdant had no idea why the frag Wheeljack and Bulkhead couldn't drive straight and slow down like capable bots, but there was probably a plausible solution. By now, the cold would have shut any other bot her size down, which she could deduce from all the warnings flashing across her optics. Luckily, Verdant's processor was incredibly advanced and she was able to compartmentalize and shut down thought processes, saving energy for the parts needed to maintain her goal.
Keep walking. Don't drop Wheeljack. Find a slope. Get out of the water. Call for a groundbridge.
Those first two were becoming increasingly difficult as Verdant's pedes struggled to part the thin freshwater. Her arm jerked up as she let off another blast at the ground to add to their trail.
Something ahead of them blinked, a dim red light in the bluish darkness. Verdant paused and tilted her helm, optics narrowing as she focused in on it.
Oh.
Verdant took a step back. There, laying on the ocean floor, was a massive, scaly predacon, its head tucked into its chassis in a vain effort of chasing its own body heat.
It was frozen solid and the joints of its body had worn away from erosion.
Verdant looked up.
And it was their way out of here.
She moved forward, faster now and stronger with a sense of hope. Verdant reached the predacon and ejected her tentacles again, wrapping them around Wheeljack and strapping him to her back. She grabbed the predacon and began to climb.
With the aid of the water, it was an easier climb than she expected. Verdant made it to the top of the predacon's back and grabbed Wheeljack with her servos, letting her tentacles pluck the grenade from Wheeljack's hip and place it on the side above them. A few moments later and the two of them were rising through the water, being pulled by the long appendages.
She gasped once they were out, her mesh stung by the crisp air. Verdant reached back and grabbed Wheeljack's chassis, hauling him out with her. He was heavier now, out of the water, but with the aid of all her extra attachments, Verdant was able to get him over the edge of the ice.
Sitting down, she'd never felt more relieved to activate her comms. "Ratchet, we..."
Verdant paused, optics going wide as she got a good look around her. A circle of vehicons surrounded them, all of the clones pointing their blasters at her.
Frag.
"Yes, Verdant? Have you found anything?"
"Uh," she stood up shakily. "We're going to need backup. As soon as possible."
They started shooting.
Verdant lunged to the side, pulling their fire away from the defenseless wrecker. Shots massacred the ground, sending up shards of ice that bounced harmlessly off of her armour. Verdant lunged for a giant drill and took cover behind it, panting.
"What's going on!?" Ratchet demanded.
"Wheeljack is unconscious and we stumbled into an excavation-ah!" Verdant's hiding spot was compromised and she scrambled for a new one. "I haven't seen Bulkhead in a while, he should be near the dropoff point!"
Verdant hissed as a blast narrowly missed her helm. A vehicon landed in her path, followed by another, and Verdant was quickly cornered again.
"I'm pulling the others back in, hold on until we get there!"
Verdant backed up, optics wide, and hit a wall. There was no way they'd get here in time.
"Surrender, Autobot!" one of the vehicons ordered.
"Okay, yeah," Verdant put her servos up. "I surrender."
She shot the ceiling.
The ice dome they were in cracked, letting in a thin stream of sunlight, and Verdant was greeted with the familiar sounds of crumbling ice. The vehicons panicked, and Verdant took the opportunity to shove through them and run to Wheeljack.
No sooner than she had jumped over him had the ice collapsed and buried them all.
Verdant gripped Wheeljack's unmoving chassis and grit her denta as the ice pummeled her back and crashed down around them. Just like before, the collapse didn't take long, and she was lucky enough to have avoided the larger chunks of ceiling.
With a quiet grunt of effort, Verdant pushed with her servos and knees against the ice, shoving it off of her. She looked down at Wheeljack and sighed in relief. He was unharmed.
Cracckkkkk
Verdant froze, optics going wide in horror as she watched the ice beneath Wheeljack's helm darken as an indistinct, jagged line began to build.
If all of this ice collapsed, the entire area would go down. There would be no way back out. The Autobots were coming, but she didn't want to risk Wheeljack's offline frame in the deadly water again.
Verdant slowly, ever so slowly, laid down on top of Wheeljack. If she stood up or remained on her servos and knees, her weight would be centered around smaller, more vulnerable points, but this way, it would be spread out relatively evenly and the ice was less likely to break.
She activated her comms. "Ratchet, the vehicons are down. Just... approach our location cautiously. The ice is cracking beneath us."
"You should both be able to survive a short dip, so don't worry about it."
"Wheeljack already took his fair share of water, Ratchet. I'm not an entirely incompetent medic, so you'll listen to me when I tell you what's best for Wheeljack's health."
"...I will relay your message to the others."
Verdant sighed and relaxed, her forehelm gently settling on Wheeljack's chassis. She could hear the wind and the sound of his spark, and all that mattered was that their mission was complete and they would both survive.
"You're so warm," Wheeljack muttered, optics still offline.
Verdant looked down at him in surprise. "Don't move unless you want to die."
"But your spark is so cold," he smiled weakly.
"Don't tire yourself out," Verdant told him gently. "Just be quiet and wait for the others to get here."
Wheeljack hummed, and then went silent. Verdant wasn't sure if he'd went back into stasis lock or not, but as long as he wasn't jeopardizing their safety, it didn't matter.
The sound of thrusters drew Verdant's attention skyward, and a red and blue frame flew up to them.
"Is he okay?" Optimus asked, his jetpacking slowly flying closer to them.
"He will be."
The Prime nodded and wrapped his arms around her back. Verdant wrapped her arms around Wheeljack's chassis and held on tight as Optimus flew higher, and then into a blue-green groundbridge.
The base was unbelievably warm, shocking her for a moment, but she regained her senses as Optimus placed them down, his servo grasping Wheeljack's arm to help her carry him to Ratchet.
The medic was waiting in the med-bay, already readying his tools for whatever awaited him. Verdant smiled at Bulkhead, who was sitting on a medical cot, his helm still steaming from a fresh weld and a heater pointed at his legs.
"Glad to see you're okay," she told him.
"Same here," he nodded. "Thanks for watching Jackie for me."
Optimus took Wheeljack's full weight from her and laid him onto the berth, where Ratchet immediately began fussing with him. "What happened?"
Verdant leaned against the cot tiredly and explained what occured during their artic outing. Ratchet nodded along, listening, and then directed to her sit next to Bulkhead and the heater.
"Wheeljack didn't take any damage during the fight?" Ratchet questioned.
"No, sir," Verdant shook her helm.
Ratchet finished expecting Wheeljack's frame for other injuries. He grabbed a heater and pointed it at the mech before looking at Verdant with a small frown.
"I'm sorry for the way I acted earlier. I realize you've been Ultra Magnus's medic just as I have been the closest thing Team Prime had to an intelligence officer. And those are skills you've had that I've ignored, as well as the differences between your frame type and more common ones."
Verdant sighed. "It's okay. You were just looking out for me."
Ratchet nodded. "But I made a mistake, and I want you to know that I've learned from it and that I am sorry for upsetting you."
"Thank you," Verdant leaned against the wall. "But I think you were right about one thing."
Ratchet raised an optic ridge. "And that would be?"
"I need some recharge," she told him, optics dimming.
He smiled. "Then rest up. We'll need you for the rest of the war."
This time, she didn't argue, and Verdant allowed her optics to darken until she was offline.