Author's Note:

Sorry it's later than I thought, don't eat me! And it may be short, but it's SO good. I literally got inspired after watching "The Hurt Locker" and wrote from twelve to one in the middle of the night this whole chapter. This was the song of inspiration, just remove the spaces:

www. youtube watch?v=e9dJv9KNc1Q

"Familiar shadows closing in
Suffocating fear descends
You killed a life. Uncovered eyes"

Wheeljack paced restlessly as he waited for the Jackhammer to Autopilot its way to his position. He ignored the sparks of pain on his wounded hip and leading arm and shoulder. He didn't have the time to stop the leaking. Primus only knew what Dreadwing could do to Miko while he had her . . .

His spark clenched violently with territorial worry. The things he would DO to that sniveling Decepticon scum when he got his hands on him—! First Seaspray, then Bulkhead, and now—he fragging kidnapped Miko! Wheeljack roared in frustrated fury, slamming his restless fists into a tree. The wood splintered beneath his hands. He quaked in fury. Weak, soft, helpless Miko—His dentures gnashed in his jaw. He had been charged with protecting her. And, if he didn't get his act together, he was going to fail her.

His back stiffened. His shoulders hunched as he gripped the tree so tightly it began to snap beneath the force of his grasp. He would not fail. Not again!

Wheeljack cringed when the sound of the Jackhammer suddenly slashed through the quiet of the morning, sending him back to a rocking explosion. Taking a rough, deep breath, Wheeljack steeled himself for the fight ahead, snatching up his twin katanas. Sheathing them on his back, Wheeljack entered the Jackhammer with a will of iron that could level mountains.

"Dreadwing," he snarled to the Decepticon, "you're gonna wish you had never messed with the ones I love."

Sending the thrusters on full power, Wheeljack piloted the Jackhammer straight to the coordinates engraved on the guilty edges of his spark.

The Jackhammer was no one's speeding ship, but it was fast—still, at this moment, nothing could be fast enough for Wheeljack. He pushed the ship until its thrusters protested, bringing it up short outside the shipping yard. He landed roughly, leaving the ship as he drew his twin katanas. His face clamp whizzed shut.

He prowled quickly and carefully through the maze of destroyed shipping boxes, feet crunching much too loud in the rubble for his taste. He felt prickles of unrest down his neck. This was just too easy. He knew he was walking into a trap, but wasn't sure what it was. Maybe the whole place was rigged to blow again . . .

His spark stopped when he found Miko. She was at the water's edge chained to the very shipping crane claw that had pinned Dreadwing. It was on its side, and Wheeljack also noticed Miko was gagged, arms behind her back with the chain wrapped around her several times.

"Miko!" he shouted, running up to her. Her head snapped up, and her eyes bugged huge. She began to scream behind her gag, muffled and incomprehensible, and she ran forward until the chains nearly jerked her back. Tears were in her eyes as she screamed in reckless abandon, and Wheeljack's eyes widened as he skidded to a stop.

Turning back and flinging himself away, an explosion rocked just feet away.

Wheeljack cried out in pain as heat swamped over him, crashing to the ground. Groaning, he struggled to get back up, optics glitching.

"Wheeljack!" he heard Dreadwing drawl, and the Wrecker jolted to his feet, optics narrowing at his mortal enemy. Dreadwing pulled out his blade, waltzing casually in front of a struggling Miko. "I'm disappointed in you. No reinforcements? I was hoping you would bring in some of your Autobot friends. More spare parts to fill the scrap yard with, wouldn't you say?"

He ignored the pulsing pain in his arm, shoulder, and hip from the bullets; Wheeljack jeered from behind his mask, "I don't need help to take down a cowering simpleton. Let the girl go."

Dreadwing tutted his tongue, shook his head, and brought out his deadly sword. "I can't do that, Wheeljack. Your human pet is the bait I need. Perhaps it will draw a few more flies to their death."

"Not this time," he gritted out. "This time, you're not getting out alive!"

Wheeljack roared, charging at the crafty Decepticon. Dreadwing parried, and they fell into another deadly pattern of battle, but this time with less grace and more ferocity. Swords clashed against each other until sparks flew, and the deep whistle of the wind accentuated the lethality of the blows that would come.

Wheeljack fought fueled by rage. He felt each blow shocking through his suspension, and when Dreadwing tried to fall back—most likely to try and set a bomb off—Wheeljack followed with the stubborn determination he was known for. This time he wasn't leaving this place alive!

He snarled out his war cry, slamming his blades into Dreadwing's sword with vengeance, burning hatred consuming his system a hazy red. Each blow rang in his audio receptors as he fought with the murderous mind-set of a Decepticon.

BANG! For Seaspray. BANG! For Bulkhead. BANG! For Miko. BANG! For Seaspray! BANG! For BULKHEAD! BANG! FOR MIKO!

With a guttural roar, Wheeljack broke past Dreadwing's defenses first, slamming his katana deep into his shoulder. Dreadwing howled, and Wheeljack ripped him down in blind fury, jabbing his other katana into his back. Dreadwing screamed in pain as the point gouged down deep, energon spattering the ground. However, an explosion rocked nearby, forcing Wheeljack to shield himself from the heat and spray of rubble as Dreadwing retreated to a safe distance.

"Wheeljack, you always spiked my curiosity," Dreadwing said casually, wounded shoulder shifting his blade to his other hand. Wheeljack risked a glance over to Miko chained up, and he was satisfied to see her not going down without a fight—she flung herself and fought against the chains that held her immobile, wrenching herself and trying to wriggle free from her prison.

"You're invulnerable," Dreadwing said as they slowly circled. Wheeljack gritted his jaw, refusing to give the shady Decepticon an answer. "I was always impressed with your swordsmanship, one reason why I would always provoke you, but you never lose your cool. It bothered me, and I wondered—How much to make him break?"

"Not enough," Wheeljack interjected darkly.

He narrowed his icy blue optics at the fiery red of Dreadwing's. The Decepticon gave a harsh laugh, twirling his sword to keep warm. "But it will be. I tried first with your precious Seaspray." When Wheeljack stiffened audibly, Dreadwing chuckled. "Oh yes, I do get a fantastic rise out of you with him . . . But that wasn't enough. So I kept my optics out, and who did I find you with? An old Wrecking buddy."

Dreadwing shook his head with mocking sadness as he sighed, "Alas, even blowing Bulkhead to slag wasn't enough to make you lose it, though I did receive an enticing threat at that moment."

Muffled screams caught their attention, and Wheeljack looked over with Dreadwing to see Miko struggling against her bonds again. She shrieked with rage, twisting and pulling against the chains. A constant stream of expletives and threats and Primus knew was else was strangled in her mouth from her gag.

When Wheeljack looked back at Dreadwing, he felt anger rise in him until his arms began to quake. Those red optics were laughing.

"She has fire in her, Wheeljack," Dreadwing drawled in monologue to him. "That must be why you like her so much."

"Leave her out of this 'Con," Wheeljack snarled from behind his mask, twirling his katanas in open threat. "This is between you and me."

"This, I think, is the deciding factor," Dreadwing said coolly, studying Wheeljack. "I've heard from the other Decepticons of young Miko's relationship to the Autobots, mainly Bulkhead. Astonishing how close they were, is it not? And now that Bulkhead is dead, he cannot take care of her, and so you take his place."

"And what's it mean to you?" Wheeljack sneered, covering up the fear that was bundling tight in his chest.

Dreadwing leveled his wicked sword to Wheeljack. "You have taken it upon yourself to protect her. And if you cannot protect her for your fallen friend, THAT would be your greatest failing. Your breaking point."

Wheeljack interrupted with an enraged roar, barreling down on the cocky Decepticon. Hacking and slashing so ferociously that Dreadwing could barely ward him off, Wheeljack waylaid the manipulating Decepticon with all his might. His teeth bared behind his mask as he breathed hard, adrenaline fueled by hate running his systems. Ignoring the leaks, Wheeljack zeroed in on Dreadwing with killer instincts, taking every opening that the 'Con let down. He punched his jaw; he kneed his gut; he cut more openings across his body. He received his fair share of nicks through his feral attacks, caring nothing for defense, but Dreadwing managed to weasel his way out of another tight spot.

Both katanas missed in a reckless, downward slash, and Wheeljack grunted when Dreadwing's knee connected with his jaw. He was lucky his face clamp prevented more damage from being done, but he was unlucky when Dreadwing's fist slammed into his face so hard it sent the world keeling uncontrollably to the side. Rolling back and away from the wounded Dreadwing, Wheeljack panted in cycles of air for his overheating systems, but his blue optics widened when he saw a bomb clutched in Dreadwing's hand.

Dreadwing's thumb activated the ticking bomb. "Let's see how important the human is to you," he suggested, and Wheeljack felt his spark sputter to a halt. The Decepticon turned to Miko whose brown eyes bugged wide. She backed away, entangled in chains.

"Save her now, Autobot!"

"NO!"

Wheeljack dropped his weapons, sprinting straight towards the peril that was thrown towards Miko. Her screams were still muffled behind her gag, but it did nothing to stop him from hearing them. Crashing to the ground between them, Wheeljack pinned her in between his chest and hand, bearing his back to the oncoming bomb.

Blinding pain, and then, darkness.