Arcee slid to a halt by the crumpled aft of the plane, it's white and blue tipped tail bent and warped. Trees surrounded the segment and snow settled upon the top of the cold metal tail, a tell-tale sign of how long the plane had been wrecked.

Boxes and crates littered the ground and cold unused bullets lay in the snow. Paper and plastic coatings flicked and snapped in the cold wind like flags.

Jack dismounted, but not before Colin leaped off, aiming as he walked to the plane segment. He slid over a large crate, thrown from the crash. With his iron sights raised to his right eye, he aimed the long barrel into the crumpled hull. The back of the plane was torn clean from the hull during the crash; no one could have survived such an event. Colin groaned as he saw blood splattered up the hulls curved wall. He closed his eyes tight and looked away from the mangled corpse. He shook his head and punched the hull once, extremely hard, a bang echoing. But he had to continue. Colin reached over to the opposite wall, grabbing a box and slowly dragging it from the hull.

Jack stood outside with a thumping heart as Arcee transformed. She immediately raised her blasters as the sound of heavy rotors clapping echoed across the silent forest, reverberating off the mountain walls. She heard a twig snap, or a tree depending on the villain's size. She raised her blasters and stifled her thumping spark. A figure moved in the forest and shuffled behind tall pillars of wood.

"Jack. You stay put. Keep near the hull and Colin"

"What?! Where are you going? Cee!"

"I said stay put! Do as say, understand?" She snarled. Jack reluctantly nodded. She had to firm, otherwise he wouldn't listen, Jack was stubborn that way.

"Fine" he growled.

"Aye, I got the med kit" Colin called from the plane as he dragged the crate out in the clotted snow.

"I can dress your wound now lad, come here" He called, setting his rifle down and opening the crate with two firm clicks. As he swung the lid over, he saw the amount of Gauss dressings, plasters and bottles of antiseptic.

"Aye, goldmine here, whoo hoo!" Colin chuckled. Jack sat on the crate beside as he dabbed his finger at the wound, the metal dug deep.

"I can get it out lad, but it'll hurt" Colin didn't lie to him. Jack reluctantly nodded. Arcee was already heading to the tree line. Jack gritted his teeth and winced as Colin injected a needle into his shoulder muscle with a small dose of Anesthesia.

Meanwhile, Arcee stepped over fallen trees and around tall tree trunks. The darkness the treetops clouded below made it hard to see, and the tall trees obscured her vision.

Every stepped crunched with snow and twigs. Shadows danced and ran between trees as the wind shook the treetops above. Her eyes narrowed and she kept her blasters ready.

"Cee" She heard a raspy voice say. She immediately spun and raised her blasters. The sight before her sent shivers down her mechanical spine. Stepping out of the shadows before her was a figure she never thought to see again. With a welded throat, the white and metallic blue flamed figure of Tailgate emerged. She lowered her blasters, eyes wide and jaw trembling.

"T-T-Tailgate? Wha-ho-how?" She asked. He smiled and lowered his rifle to a one handed grip.

"I can't believe it. Finally...I can see you again" he brushed his other hand against her cheek. Her eyes closed and a smile graced her face. Suddenly she snapped back, stepping away, raising a blaster.

"It's a trick! A cruel, evil trick!" she cried out, blaster trembling.

"No. Not a trick. It's really me" Tailgate shrugged.

"How, I saw Airachnid kill you!" Arcee bellowed, her shaking blaster becoming stiff again.

"Well, news of my death was greatly exaggerated" Tailgate snarled, pointing to his throat. "Got saved...by Flamewar" Tailgate told her. Arcee's eyes widened to the point of them almost falling from their sockets. Her lips trembled and she shook her head.

"No, no, no, no...Please, no not her!" She screamed. Her eyes looked straight at Tailgate. "Wait...that...that means...you're with her aren't you?"

"What? Cee, I came to find you, to talk to you"

"You're with them aren't you? Why! Why are you helping her?!" She shouted.

"I'm not helping her! She saved me...I'm returning the favor. Besides, I didn't see Cliffjumper or Bumblebee helping me" He hissed.

"We saw Airachnid slit your throat"

"And you did a fantastic job checking to see if I was alive didn't you?!" Tailgate roared, making Arcee flinch. He saw her reaction towards him and looked betrayed, shocked.

"Cee...come on it's me...Cee-"

"DON'T! Don't call me that" She screamed at him. He stood unmoved.

"S-so you're with Flamewar now? The one person whose out to kill me more than Airachnid?" Arcee squinted. Tailgate sighed, running his free hand over his head.

"Look. She knew where to find you. She's helped me keep an eye on you!"

"That's not your call!" She shouted.

"But...Cee...y-you remember what you said to me...before she slit my throat?" Tailgate pleaded. "You said you loved me" He went to touch her cheek again but she pulled away, snarling a lip.

"I didn't mean it" she sighed.

"Wha..." Tailgate's eyes became watery. "Cee"

"I panicked. I thought she was going to kill you! I...I didn't want you dying unloved"

"So, you lied? Told me what I wanted to hear?" Tailgate huffed. His life was being turned upside down in an instant. She reluctantly nodded.

"You didn't love me? You...all this time...I've been blaming Cliffjumper from taking you from me...but...all along...you...it was you..." Tailgate was mumbling to himself. She backed away slowly, when she stepped on a twig snapping it loudly. He raised his rifle towards her, twitching glassy eyes staring at her.

"And that means that...you never cared for me. Cliffjumper didn't fill my place...I never had a place!" He tightened his trigger finger and the muzzle flashed bright blue. She dived behind a tree as it exploded with splinters of wood behind her.

"Get out here, Arcee! You can't just tear out my spark and expect to get away with it! A broken mind, a broken heart!" She broke from cover, sprinting back to the plane. Tailgate closed his left eye and aimed along the Energon rifle cross-hairs.

"...A broken man" He snarled, firing a blast that ripped through the air and tore along her back, blowing her over and across the ground. She fell and skidded along the dirt. A smirk grazed along his face and he hopped over a tree carcass.

"Tailgate! Have you found her yet?" Blackout's voice hissed in his ear. Tailgate stared down at her on the floor, Energon seeping from her shoulder.

"Yeah...she's here. Head to the right hand forest, by the back half of the plane" Tailgate chuckled.

"You should have made sure I was dead Arcee" He whispered, placing the barrel of his gun on the back of her head. Her eyes popped wide and she extended her wrist blade.

"You replaced me...I could forgive that...I could blame someone else...But this, it's something you ain't gonna get out of. You should have returned my love, my compassion"

"Yeah...and you shouldn't have been such a jealous waste of Energon!" She roared, spinning around and slamming her wrist blade along Tailgate's jaw. He roared in pain as he fell back onto the ground. A transformation sounded and by the time he peered up again, a motorcycle was racing off to the tree line. With a long gash seeping Energon along his face, he gritted teeth and roared: "ARCEE!"

Jack groaned as Colin wrapped his shoulder in bandage wraps.

"There lad, should hold for a while." They both looked up as Arcee ran through the tree line, her left shoulder heavy and weak.

"Cee! You're hurt!" Jack cried out as he stood from the crates.

"We need to move. Now" She heavily panted.

"Err...where too?" Jack ventured.

"Back to the plane hull. We can camp in there overnight. They won't expect us to return"

"She's right lad. We pulled the old swing round on a camp in Afghanistan years back. No one died" Colin nodded, pulling the cocking lever back on his rifle.

"Okay, if you think it's right" Jack shrugged.

"Either that or you freeze to death, do I make myself clear?!" Arcee snarled at him. Jack backed away slightly. She managed to calm her hard outer shell. She realized she was pushing him away again.

"Jack...I'm sorry-"

"Behind you" He trembled. Colin raised his rifle and Arcee peered over her shoulder as Tailgate stepped over a fallen tree.

"You sneaky little Glitch!" Tailgate chuckled evilly as he stepped over the log, pointing at Arcee. "Oh you and your blades, always a last resort with you"

Arcee stepped in front of Jack and Colin.

"Oh...this must be the human Blackout mentioned" Tailgate smirked as he bent down to look at Jack. Jack backed away further. The gash along Tailgate's face had sealed and the Energon had ceased its leaking.

"So this is your new partner? Take it Cliff didn't survive the Cons then"

"How did you..." Arcee raised an eyebrow.

"Oh wake up Arcee! Who do you think told the cons where the Energon deposit he found was, who do you think blocked Cliffjumper's signal so you couldn't help him?" Arcee's eyes widened.

"You..."

"Bingo" He smirked. "Well, I can't take all the credit. Flamewar was quite a good sport when it came to stuff like that"

"Jack run" Arcee whispered, eyes never leaving Tailgate's. As soon as she moved he raised an Energon Revolver, chrome and with a cylinder of six golden Energon shells. The barrel aimed at her head.

"Ah-ah-ah. Don't go anywhere Cee" He shook his finger.

"What happened to you?" she pleaded.

"I realized that the world, the universe is cruel, unbiased. And it kicks a guy when he's down. I came back to find you. When I saw you and Cliff, I immediately blamed him, said "My Arcee wouldn't hurt me like that" Well, I was wrong wasn't I. I was clouded by my feelings, feelings I thought you returned"

"Tailgate, stop-"

"You said you loved me!" He snarled. "Well, we all make mistakes don't we? Mine? Was believing that there was an ounce of good in you. Flamewar was right...all along. But your mistake?" He clicked down the hammer of the huge revolver. "Not making sure I was dead"

Suddenly the flare launchers on the rear of the plane expelled bright balls of light, blinding Tailgate. He groaned in pain and he shielded his eyes. Arcee transformed and Jack jumped on, along with Colin. They sped off into the forest towards the plane hull from earlier. By the time Tailgate's vision had returned, she was gone, and because of the lack of snow on the crash skid, he didn't know which way.

"Grrr...Son of a glitch!" he hissed.