Author's Note Time: Well it looks like I got this chapter a lot faster than the last one. Let's see if I can get the next one out faster! Maybe? I admit it I'm a really slow updater, but this story will get finished. As always please let me know what y'all think and if you spot any spelling/grammar errors. Until the next update!


Bluestreak's helm felt heavy, like it was stuffed full of medical gauze. His frame and spark felt so cold. He knew he was drifting in and out of consciousness, but he couldn't bring himself to care.

Bluestreak, you need to wake up.

Was he in the medbay? Is that why he was having a hard time moving? Who was encouraging him to wake up?

Bluestreak, it is growing too dangerous for you here. I need you to wake up.

Bluestreak felt his frame start to respond. Vorns of training taught him to always obey the orders of Optimus Prime. It had to be the Prime who was speaking to him. The voice was gentle, but strong and reassuring.

That's it Bluestreak. It is time to awaken.

The icy cold feel of Bluestreak's frame started to give way. He found that he could twitch the digits on his servos. Slowly his optics lit up. His helm was starting to hurt and he wasn't sure if he had the strength to sit up just yet.

You need to leave soon, Bluestreak. The fallen ones are coming. They are coming.

An odd humming sound filled his audios. It was hypnotic. The vibrations rattled his frame and he didn't want to move.

"Do I have to?" muttered Bluestreak to the ceiling. It must be really important if Optimus wasn't going to let him recover from his injuries. He rolled onto his side and flexed his doorwings behind him. They were stiff from being under him for so long.

Yes, you must young one. Allies are on their way, but you must try to escape before it's too late.

"Too late for what?" asked Bluestreak. Optimus wasn't making any sense to him.

You must go.

Through sheer willpower, Bluestreak pushed himself up with one arm. "Alright, I'm up," said Bluestreak. "When do we roll –"

Bluestreak looked around the tiny room he was in. He was sitting up on a solid metal slab. It was dark and there were no doors or windows that he could see. He was also completely alone. Strange, wasn't Optimus just here with him?

"I must have really hit my helm," said Bluestreak bringing up one servo to rub against his helm. It still ached slightly. "Where in the pit am I?"

His doorwings twitched in time to the pulsing hum. He looked up and saw a dull blue glow. "I wonder if I can reach that," he said to himself. He felt battle ready, something he hadn't thought he'd ever feel again. Slowly he got to his peds. He had to use the grime covered wall to help pull himself up. Once he was sure he wouldn't fall over, Bluestreak reached up as high as he could.

His servo fell short of the opening to his cell. If he had to guess, he was in a room that opened up to another room above it. Had he fallen down here?

"I guess I can't get out that way," Bluestreak said to himself. "There has to be another way out."

He studied the room he was in. There were just four dark, blank walls. His legs were starting to shake after being still for so long. He tried to brace himself along the wall as he slide back down to sit, but between the twitching of his doorwings and his unsteady legs, he ended up falling off the side of the metal slab.

"Woah!" yelled Bluestreak as he hit the floor. He took a few deep vents to calm himself down. He glanced under the metal slab. There was space under it for a mech to crawl. He flicked on his headlights.

The floor was almost as smooth as the walls, except for a section that looked like a puzzle piece. Bluestreak crawled under the slab. He traced the area of the floor where the odd piece was. With a little pressure it moved under his touch. He put a little more weight onto his hands and pushed hard.

The piece fell away and Bluestreak almost went with it. He caught himself in time to not fall helm first into the dark tunnel beneath. "A trap door," said Bluestreak with a sigh of relief. He adjusted himself so that his peds would hit the floor first and jumped down into the passage below. It was a long fall, more like a slide. Down he went until the passage opened up and launched him into the air.

He landed in a tunnel that was covered in dull crystals in many different colors. Most of the crystals appeared to be shifting from their original colors to a dull pink or red color. Thankfully the annoying humming was gone.

Bluestreak looked between the two paths he had to choose from. To his right, the crystals looked like they were turning pink and red much faster than the ones on his left. He didn't like the pinkish red crystals. They reminded him of spilt energon from mechs on the battle field.

"So, do I pick the creepy way," he said shining his headlights to his left. "Or the really creepy way?" He swung back around to shine his headlights down the right tunnel. "It's a tough call, because both are just so creepy. I mean, why should I have to choose between these two options. Obviously both are bad, but if I want to get out of here I have to pick one of them."

There was a clatter to his left. Bluestreak whipped around. He was tense, ready for anything that could attack him. Out of the corner of his optic, he could have sworn he saw someone walk down that tunnel. "Hello," he called cautiously. "Is someone lost down here?"

There wasn't an answer. "Or if you're not lost, do you know if you can help me. Please, I'm not sure how I got here. I'm looking for my mentor. He's a Praxian, too. Oh, I guess I should tell you his name. He's Prowl. You might have heard of him, he's a famous tactician in the Autobot Army. Well, I guess the army has dispended since the war is over and all. Please, is someone there?"

No one answered, but if Bluestreak strained his audios, he could hear ped falls up ahead. "Can you not speak?" asked Bluestreak. Should he trust this mysterious being? Praxus should be empty. A bang was his only response. "Oh, I understand. I guess my headlights are a little bright for you too, huh?" Another bang.

"Will you lead me to the surface?"

No response.

"Can you at least lead me somewhere where I can get to the surface?"

There was another bang.

Bluestreak let out a vent he didn't know he was holding. He wasn't entirely sure he could trust the mysterious sounds he was hearing, but there didn't seem to be any other options. Plus he really didn't want to go down the really creepy tunnel to his right.

"Alright," said Bluestreak. "I hope you know where you're going."


Bumblebee cautiously followed Prowl into the large open room. The main atrium of the temple was large with high ceilings. It reminded Bumblebee of the famous churches back on Earth. He'd been able to go into a few that had large enough doors.

The walls were covered in more murals with crystals growing through the cracks. Small chambers that lead up

They were standing behind some sort of altar. Two oil candles were lit on a large table, a book between them. Bumblebee kept his gun trailed on the empty room.

"It doesn't look like anyone is here," said Bumblebee.

"No," agreed Prowl. "It doesn't."

"Do you think we can risk going back out to search for Blue?" asked Bumblebee.

"I'm not sure if that would be a wise decision," said Prowl.

"We don't know if there are any more mechs like the one that greeted us when we arrived outside," said Prowl.

"True," said Bumblebee. "Do you think it was the one outside that made that loud banging noise?"

"I'm not sure," said Prowl. "But someone is definitely here with us."

"How do you figure?" asked Bumblebee.

"Those are oil based candles," said Prowl. "The amount of oil in them is only good for a couple of joors at most. The way they are burning, they had to have been lit recently."

"Frag," swore Bumblebee. "Do you think they might be in one of the other towers?"

"It is the most likely scenario," said Prowl.

"So, there's likely a hostile in here with us and there is a very high probability, at least according to you, that there are more hostiles outside. Did I miss anything?" asked Bumblebee.

"I don't think so," said Prowl in his deadpan voice.

"So what's the plan sir?" asked Bumblebee.

"Ooh," came a loud groan.

"We'll need to search for a passage below the atrium," said Prowl pointing his acid gun towards the moaning.

"What should I look for?" asked Bumblebee. His special operations skills were on high alert. He glanced around trying to see any imperfections in the walls surrounding them.

Shick, bang, clang!

A shadow flickered down the farthest staircase from them. Prowl had his gun up and ready. "It should be near the altar," said Prowl. "If I remember correctly, there is usually a button that triggers the passage."

Bang! Bang! Bang! Clang!

Bumblebee hurried over to the altar. He began feeling around the metal table. It felt solid, but when he knocked against it, he noticed a hollowed point.

"There's more than one," observed Prowl calmly.

"Do you think we can take them?" asked Bumblebee. He was ready for a fight.

"My calculations are producing unfavorable results," said Prowl. A grey figure twitched into view. Prowl fired a shot. It hit the animated corpse in the shoulder. The metal sizzled and partially melted, but it didn't stop the dead mech.

"What does this button usually look like?" asked Bumblebee.

"I have no idea," admitted Prowl. "The priests were not inclined to divulge all of their secrets. That and they didn't like the idea of a random Cybertronian wandering into their crypts."

Bumblebee made a face as he continued tapping around the altar. "Crypts!?"

"I never choose to question the practice," said Prowl. "Now, please, find the passageway. I only have so many bullets."

"I really hope we aren't jumping into the fire," said Bumblebee as he stood up. The Earth saying coming easily to his stressed mind. He held onto the base of one of the oil candles while stepping back. His foot sunk down a couple of inches and the area of the altar Bumblebee had determined to be hollow pushed back to reveal a tightly wound spiral staircase. "Found it!"

"Good," said Prowl.

Bumblebee quickly crouched down and scrambled into the hole.

Prowl fired off a few more rounds before following Bumblebee underneath the altar. He blindly felt around the ceiling until his hand found another button to close the entrance. The two mechs descended the spiral staircase, being careful not to trip.

As soon as they hit the bottom, they flicked on their headlights. The light illuminated a round room with four passage ways branching away. A large statue of a Praxian holding a blue crystal in his servo stood in front of the largest passageway. Bumblebee kept his gun trailed on the statue, just in case it decided to start showing signs of movement.

"So Prowl," said Bumblebee. "Dumb question, but how did the Praxian priests get a dead mech's frame down that staircase?"

"I have no idea," said Prowl flexing his doorwings. He needed as much sensory input as possible to make sure they weren't caught by surprise. "If we find a priest wandering down here, you can ask them."

Bumblebee glanced at Prowl. "That's not funny," he said. "What's with tall, dark, and creepy." He gestured towards the statue.

"That is the Praxian Avatar of Death," said Prowl. "He leads those who have died back to the Matrix. The lantern he carries provides a beacon for lost sparks. Those who hide from his presence become trapped between the worlds and eventually are doomed to the pits."

"Of course," said Bumblebee, maybe a little more sarcastically than was necessary. "Crypts should always be guarded by an Avatar of Death."

Prowl ignored Bumblebee's snarky remark. He needed to figure out the next best move. He couldn't be sure, but he thought that the city was trying to draw them in, but to what, he wasn't sure. It was a game, a sick game, a game with an unseen opponent. Why couldn't the darkness that plagued this city just die already? Everything else had died, except for him, Bluestreak, and Smokescreen. Well, that wasn't entirely true. Barricade was also still alive, but that didn't mean much. It was unlikely he would ever again live outside of a prison cell.

"Prowl? Come on Prowl. You didn't glitch on me did you? Ratchet will be pissed if he has to drag your sorry aft out from here to fix you."

It took Prowl a moment to realize that Bumblebee was trying to get his attention. He had been so lost in his thoughts that he had "spaced out" as Jazz so eloquently liked put it. He turned to face Bumblebee's concerned face. "I was merely planning our next best option," said Prowl.

"Oh, well," said Bumblebee shifting from one ped to the next. He was relieved that Prowl hadn't glitched on him. "Have you thought about where we should head to now?"

Prowl quickly rechecked the calculations he had been making in the back of his mind while his thoughts had been elsewhere. "There is a draft through the largest passage. It is likely that it will lead us back to the surface. We can attempt to send a distress signal from there."

"What are the odds we'll run into any more grey mechs?" asked Bumblebee, all his earlier playfulness was gone.

"Too high for comfort," said Prowl. "We will just have to deal with them as they come."

"And the odds of Bluestreak being at the end of this tunnel?" asked Bumblebee with a grain of hope in his voice.

Prowl felt a strange sensation in his spark. He felt a mix of deep sadness, but also acceptance. His processor said the odds were too low for them to find Bluestreak in the tunnels, but his spark didn't seem to agree.

"Let's focus on getting above ground," said Prowl. "These tunnels aren't the most stable."

They walked pasted the Avatar of Death and into the large tunnel.


It had been a long time since he had seen his home city. It was just a stinking shell of what it had once been. Hardly the magnificent beauty before the seekers had dropped their bombs, before the death squads had marched in and massacred every living creature. Praxus was as dead as it can get. It was a city just for the dead.

Barricade threw back his helm and laughed. Wasn't it amazing! Now the top layer of Praxus matched what had always lurked beneath it. It was a dark, dead place full of dark and dead beings. It was absolutely glorious!

"Hello Praxus," said Barricade with a twisted smile. "I've finally come back. Are you ready to finish what we started?"