AN: I will not be posting next week so there will be no updates until the following week. Everyone have a great and blessed Easter.

64: Welcome back, was wondering where you were. This battle is long, the longest one I've ever written that's for sure. Wow, you're still mad about Blurr dying, sorry but hey at least he died a hero, right?

Chapter Summary: The Battle(Part 4)

{Soundwave} Before

Patience was a virtue that many, Autobots and Decepticons, attributed to Soundwave in having an enormous amount of. Only Megatron could remember the seeker ever losing his cool demeanor, and that had been after the telepath had witnessed the death of Sparknight. Since then Soundwave had devoted himself to the Decepticon cause, even when Megatron went slightly mad and Starscream was an incompetent leader. He stayed because he needed something to hold onto, something that made sense, and he had never looked back.

Still, for all his patience, Soundwave knew that there burned within him a flame for revenge. He had kept strict vigilance monitoring for any sign of Lockdown, and planning his moves should he ever meet the bounty hunter. When Lockdown had showed up on the Nemesis, the telepath had been caught unawares but no less ready to fight. Soundwave knew he could take the bounty hunter, but on the battlefield of his choosing.

When he had seen that the Twins were facing Lockdown he had been prepared to jump in right then. The Twins, while experienced fighters, were out of Lockdown's class and no match for the subsequent beating that followed. Before the two had engaged Lockdown, Soundwave had been prepared to open the ground bridge but a quick check on the others' statuses had him freezing in his place.

Soundwave was sure that his spark had stopped beating and that he was in the Well of Sparks, for there was Sparknight, alive. Even though he had trouble believing what he was seeing, Soundwave took note of the cannon Shockwave was pointing at the small seeker, and the vacant expression of her faceplate. His fingers almost moved to reset the ground bridge coordinates when he realized that such an action would be impossible to make.

Reasonable was also something many associated with Soundwave. If anyone had suggested that the telepathic seeker would act foolish they would have been laughed at. While Soundwave was no emotionless, logic-driven Shockwave, he had always tried to think his way through problems rather than act according to his impulse.

Being the expert fighter that he was, Soundwave knew that Shockwave's command center was nether the best place for a confrontation with the scientist, nor ideal to rescue Sparknight. No matter how much he wanted to pull Sparknight out of Shockwave's grasp, or turn that cannon on its owner, Soundwave had to concede that he had to leave this confrontation to Megatron and Bumblebee. They were already in excellent positions, where as he, coming in, would not have maneuverability on his side.

Making a decision, Soundwave got to work on the ground coordinates, hacking through Shockwave's firewalls as best as he could. Thanks to Dreadwing taking out the locking scope and shield, Soundwave could not only ground bridge into the mountain but he could control where any outgoing ground bridge tunnels went. That piece of information the telepath would certainly take advantage of it.

This side project took his focus, and so when Soundwave turned his attention back to Lockdown and the Twins he was in time to witness Sunstreaker getting shot at point blank. Knowing he needed to move quickly, Soundwave made the last preparations before handing the controls of the ground bridge over to Raf's laptop and then he was gone. When he came through the other side and grabbed Lockdown, smirking at the look of shock on the bounty hunter's faceplate before using his thrusters to carry both of them into the next waiting ground bridge. Sparknight at least would have one less tormentor around.

{Knockout and Wheeljack} Now

Knockout had seen many gruesome things during the Cybertronian war, some of which had been so horrifying that he had locked down the memory files against even his own access. Still, he had thought that he had seen everything, witnessed enough atrocities that he would never be surprised again by how low an intellectual creature, whether organic or machine, could sink to. So he had thought, until today.

When Knockout had pinned down the struggling robot beneath him and forced access into the medical port he was not sure what he would find. He had a feeling that the arrival of the robots and the missing humans was connected, but to what end or how he was not sure. All of that became painfully clear when he accessed the robot's systems.

Shockwave had put the humans in these metal casings? Needing to see with his own optics, what his scanners were telling him, Knockout pulled apart the chest plates, and was more than horrified and saddened by what he saw. Where a mech's spark chamber would have been, was instead a human, cables connected to his shaved head and some of them inserted into the wrists and legs. Bleary eyes blinked up at him, most likely responding to the sudden onslaught of light into what had hitherto been a dark area.

There was no time to offer comfort, and Knockout doubted the human would have even known he was receiving any given his current drugged state. Instead Knockout quickly scanned for some type of failsafe Shockwave would have no doubt built into the machines, and he was pleased when he found one, the only downside was that in order for the code to be wirelessly delivered to every machine a password was needed, and Knockout did not have time to guess what the crazed scientist might have chosen so he went with the next best chosen. Manually shutting down the weapons system, and the limbs, Knockout could step back assured that the human was still alive but that the machine was not able to carry out its orders any more.

Unfortunately, with just him and Wheeljack, it would not be a simple matter of manually overriding each machine. Getting the ex-Wrecker to do such a non-violent maneuver would not be easy either, a point that was driven home when Knockout watched Wheeljack viciously swing his swords and hack away at those machines that were either firing at him or trying to punch him.

Yelling that there were humans inside had done little to phase Wheeljack, except he did mainly direct his attacks to the arms and legs instead of the torso. Still, Knockout had no idea if slicing through the workings of the machines would harm the humans who were connected internally. "Wheeljack stop!"

"You got any better ideas?" Wheeljack hollered back, angrily kicking one machine away from while swiping his sword at another.

"We have to take them down without harming them!" Knockout tried to reason. "The humans are innocent, they didn't ask for this! Please," then using his trump card, "Bulkhead wouldn't want this!"

"Fine!" Wheeljack snapped. Without consulting the medic, Wheeljack pulled a blue grenade from his belt and primed it, "Get behind something!"

"Wheeljack don't!" Knockout had no idea what the grenade was, and as far as he was from the ex-Wrecker he could do nothing as Wheeljack threw his explosive into the midst of the machines except duck behind a half destroyed wall and crouch down. The demolitions expert was beside him just as a blue blast reverberated off the walls.

Scared of what he might see, and vowing to kill Wheeljack if the humans had died, Knockout straightened up. The machines lay in a pile on the floor, and the medic in Knockout kicked in, mindless of the danger, to quickly hurry to the nearest one and scan it. Pulling the chest plates apart, Knockout saw the human inside, alive but shaking and obviously in need of medical attention.

"It was a low-grade EMP," Wheeljack said dismissively, "nothing to worry about."

Knockout glared at the demolitions expert, not trusting himself to speak, instead he tapped his com, "Soundwave, I need a ground bridge." When no green portal opened up Knockout began to worry, "Soundwave?"

A ground bridge opened up, "Sorry about the delay, Knockout, I had to gate bridge Ratchet to the Twins, you can come through now."

"Raf?"

{Arcee and Dreadwing}

Arcee was a competent fighter in her own right, but her frame was made for light combat. The council had tried to have her frame changed for a heavier one but the biker's spark and processor had rejected it, there was simply no match between the two builds. Still, Arcee had learned what fighting styles she could in order to prove that she was pulling her own weight.

Of course, after certain codes had been erased Arcee had realized that she had, once very long ago, held no desire to enter the war. She had been neutral but her choice had been taken from her, Arcee had been forced into a war she would rather have remained apart from and now she could no longer see a bright, cheery messenger runner she once had been. Now she was a scout, a fighter who had hurt many and had killed a few, and was Arachnid's number one target.

Arcee dodged another blow Arachnid, trying to use her smaller frame to dance in between the spiderbot's legs and avoid injury. Arachnid was steering clear of Dreadwing for the moment, occasionally shooting a stream of acid that the seeker had to step aside and thereby halt his attempts at breaking free. This was a dance of movement that the three had been engaged in for almost fifteen minutes now, and Arcee could see that Arachnid was being thwarted a hit on both sides.

The biker was worried though, for she knew she would not be able to keep up this constant acrobatics in avoiding Arachnid. Already Arcee's energon tank was half empty(or half full, you reviewers decide), trails of the blue energon flowed down her frame and sometimes sprayed out against the hallway walls when she was forced to move quickly. She had stopped using her blasters to attack, knowing the extra energon needed to fuel her ability to move in order to stay alive a little longer.

Dreadwing was not blind to Arcee's state, and he wrestled with the webbing binding his arms furiously. If he could just slide the thin blade he had managed to pull out of its casing in between his arm and Arachnid's sticky webbing he would have a chance, but it seemed every time he got close to angling the blade the spiderbot would shoot acid at him and he would have to dodge it. It was beyond frustrating but the seeker did not give up, knowing that Arcee's life depended on him getting free and helping her, for Dreadwing knew that even at her best the biker stood a slim chance of besting the spiderbot.

Surprisingly to both the Autobot and Decepticon, Arachnid had yet to use her drilling technique, even thought the floor was mostly dirt and rocks. It made Dreadwing uneasy, knowing she could have easily used it to set Dreadwing off-balance or even bury him. Perhaps the spiderbot was too focused now on trying to cripple Arcee to think about taking out Dreadwing, who she no doubt already thought sufficiently restrained.

It took one stumble on Arcee's part, one slight tremor in her leg when she landed that made the biker's limb buckle. It was enough for Arachnid to catch Arcee by surprise. One front spidery limb shot out to make sure the biker could not retreat, while another the other longer front limb stabbed quickly at the presented target.

Arcee cried out in pain as the pointed end of Arachnid's leg punched through the top of her chassis, what would have been the collarbone area for a human. The spiderbot's limb tore through the biker's body, coming through the other side. Energon splashed the wall behind Arcee, leaving a splatter of blue that made the partition look like some weird Picasso piece. When Arachnid harshly twisted her spiderly leg and pulled it out Arcee screamed, but the spiderbot was far from done with her.

Pulling the biker towards her, Arachnid shoved her blaster below Arcee's spark chamber, angling upwards, and fired. Luckily for Arcee, Arachnid did not have the firepower to blast a hole through her, or teat through the protective plating of her spark chamber or fuel tank, but the damage from the shot was enough to leave a smoldering black area, which was quickly covering by energon from burnt wiring.

Arachnid releases her hold, grinning as Arcee stumbles back and collapses, her blue optics dimming slightly. "Arcee?" The spiderbot turned to see that Megatron's second-in-command has ceased struggling and was watching the twitching form of the fallen biker.

"Oh don't think I forgot about you, dear Dreadwing," she purred, turning her frame fully towards him. "What a shock it was to find you so willing to fight beside the Autobots, but an even greater shock is that you actually care about this pitiful femme beneath me?" She stalked towards him, swaying her frame's weight from one set of spidery legs to the other, "Is it possible that the high and mighty seeker, who could never be tempted to show me favor, has a soft spot for this little Autobot?" She practically danced on her legs, "Oh this is a rich cup of energon!" she laughed, and Dreadwing found the tones more annoying than usual. "The fierce gladiator who became the proud aerial commander, untouchable to all the femmes of the Decepticon cause, is brought down by a slip of an Autobot, who can't even protect her own partners. The idea is quite ludicrous!"

"Why?" Dreadwing asked, his red optics boring into her purple ones. "Is it really that hard to believe? And who says she's brought me down? I am not a dog to come to her when she calls, we are equals." Leaning back slightly, the seeker smirked at Arachnid, "But that is something you will never understand. You wanted to control me, along with the rest of Megatron's officers and thereby hold sway over him, but I would not bow to you. You will never understand what real friendship is, or bonding, and how it can last not only time but also even jealousy and anger as well. You don't get it, and so you'll never succeed, and femmes like Arcee will always come out the winner."

Arachnid's optics had narrowed considerably while Dreadwing spoke, her legs flaring out around and looking like she was preparing to jump. The seeker decided to sweeten the energon a bit more. "You think by besting her you've proven she's not worthy of my notice? Yet what need have I for a strong femme, I have strength enough for both of us and when I get free I'm going kill you, Arachnid."

"Kill me?" she yelled. "Let's see how well you fight when you're trussed up like some human's dinner."

Dreadwing glowered, "If you think you can take me down, Arachnid, then prove it. Until you snuff out my spark I'll always think of you as a low conniving insect, not even worth the time to step on."

Arachnid screamed, her legs coiling up and then launching her towards the bound seeker. Dreadwing did not react until she was on top of him, her arms reaching out to claw at him, and then he moved. With a grin that the spiderbot noticed too late, Dreadwing drove his small blade up, through the crack between the chest plates and into Arachnid's spark.

A gasp of pain and surprise echoed, as Arachnid's frame registered the strike and she glanced down. The blade was firmly lodged into her spark, making the crystal crack. She looked at Dreadwing, disbelief blatant of her faceplate.

"Idiot," Dreadwing said, as he twisted the blade and Arachnid's spark shattered. Throwing the frame away from him, Dreadwing quickly cut through the webbing, calling out to Arcee, who has ceased to move.

Her optics were unshuttered though, and he was sure she had seen him kill Arachnid. He bent over her frame, gently moving her so he could cradle Arcee in his arms, not minding at all that her leaking energon got all over him.

"You got her?" Arcee whispered.

"For Bulkhead," Dreadwing answered. "One shattered spark for another."

"Good." Arcee's frame shook then, and Dreadwing searched for the stasis lock switch around her neck, knowing it was the only way for her to survive before medical help arrived. When he found he nearly growled in frustration, for the area was too small for his larger digits to reach.

"Soundwave, I need a ground bridge, tell Ratchet it's a high prioroity medical emergency!" When no bridge opened Dreadwing was more angered than worried, "Soundwave are you listening? Open the ground bridge!"

"Commander Dreadwing, I'm sorry but Knockout and Wheeljack are still transporting the humans through to the base. We need five more minutes."

"Raf? What are you doing manning the ground bridge? Where's Soundwave?"

Soundwave went after Lockdown, who nearly killed the Twins, Ratchet is tending to them now. As soon as Knockout has the humans stabilized he will be ready for Arcee. He recommends you put her in stasis lock."

This time Dreadwing did growl in frustration, earning a chuckle from Arcee, who was barely conscious as it was. "Tell that walking model car that I can't reach her stasis lock, it's too small!"

The other side of the line went silent but Dreadwing's attention was drawn downwards as he felt Arcee's frame shudder again. "Maybe I can save you the trouble, big guy?"

Before the seeker could say anything, Arcee's optics dimmed and shuttered and her frame went limp. "Arcee?" Dreadwing had next to none medical knowledge and so he felt woefully inept in determining if Arcee's processor was crashing or her frame had merely shut down to preserve itself. "Rafael Esquivel, you get that ground bridge open immediately or Jack Darby is going to lose his guardian!"

AN: So, how many want Arcee to live?

Hug Vote:

Bumblebee – 25

Starscream – 17

Soundwave – 11

Megatron – 10

Miko – 9

Raf – 6

Mckeown –6

Orion – 6

Knockout – 4

Dreadwing – 4

Blurr - 4

Bulkhead – 4

Roberto Esquivel(Raf's dad) – 3

Arcee – 3

Ratchet – 3

Sunstreaker – 3

Sideswipe – 3

Vehicons – 3

Wheeljack – 3

Jack – 2

Laserbeak – 2

Miko's parents – 1

Other humans who died throughout this story - 1

Favorite character vote:

Bumblebee – 10

Megatron – 8

Soundwave – 7

Knockout – 5

Blurr – 2

Arcee – 1

Wheeljack – 1

Starscream – 1

Orion Prime – 1

Silas – 1

The Twins -1

Faction vote:

Decepticons – 28

Autobots - 11