Fire of Youth

Chapter 47

*Apologies for the massive delay. I'm splitting my time between this, the NotB rewrite (which is coming along very quickly, already onto the reworked version of "In Too Deep" woo! but I'm not posting till I have the whole of season 1 redone), a self-imposed editing project, helping edit the Runescape wiki, some more original work I'm writing/trying to write out on Campfire, and more job hunting. Plus, I was down for a day or so from my covid booster. Been pretty preoccupied (and worn out) of late, sorry! ^-^' Slightly longer than usual one to make up for the wait.

As helpful as Spritelight was in terms of medicinal value over the ensuing days, Ratchet quickly found one particular reason to be bothered by him. Once again hearing the shifting of crystals but seeing no perpetrator in sight, he went over to two mine carts that hadn't been processed yet, rummaged around in one of them, and pulled out the little insect-dragon hybrid by his tail. Spritelight, caught red-handed, quickly shoved one more crystal in his maw before letting out an innocent sounding squeak.

"I'm beginning to think you have a black hole in there instead of a fuel tank," he grumbled, frowning.

Up on the catwalks, the children giggled.

"Busted again!" Miko declared.

"Infernus! Deal with this!" he called, holding his catch out. "Before I do something you'll regret!"

"Wait, don't you mean you'll regret?" the young Prime asked, pointing at him.

"No," Ratchet corrected tersely. "I won't regret anything. You will."

Infernus came over and took custody of the bottomless pit. He was as baffled as Ratchet: for such a tiny Cybertronian, he had a ridiculously ravenous appetite. That was the third time in three days Ratchet had caught him chowing down in one of the carts like it was an edible ball pit. He wanted to laugh at the absurdity, but they had to preserve what Energon they had. They couldn't do that if their newest guest was inhaling them like Halloween candy. June's joke phrase the other day of him "eating them out of house and home" was starting to look less like poking fun at him and more like an actual warning. Infernus supposed he should be thankful he was leaving the actual cubes alone...mostly because they were too big for his tiny mouth.

"I'm going to have to put a lid on those things until it's all processed, aren't I?" the young Prime asked his captive frankly.

Spritelight chittered apologetically and buzzed off to join the kids on the catwalk.

"Don't let Ratchet catch you snacking in there again," Infernus warned him playfully. "That's for all of us, not just you."

The little hybrid beast chirped softly and lowered his antennae. At least this time he looked genuinely guilty.

"Do you wish me to muzzle him?" whispered Ribbondance in his audial. "That might be the only way to teach him moderation – and save your resources."

He frowned at her and whispered back: "No. Come on. That's mean."

'You might have to take her up on that offer, at this rate...' muttered Solus. 'And here I thought Alchemist and Onyx combined was the only way to match the appetite of an adult sauropod.'

Infernus quietly snickered at the good-humored offense that bit back at Solus. Neither of them was pleased with that comparison, but it was funny enough for them to laugh at it. Jokes were always funnier when they were based in truth, in his experience. Her joke was no exception. Spritelight certainly possessed an appetite wildly disproportionate to his tiny fuel tank, one that better matched a much bigger 'bot. He wouldn't muzzle him for it, though he would have to find some way to deter him if they wanted any Energon left in the carts for their own use.

On his urging, Bulkhead was kind enough to find some heavy metal plates – replacement roofing segments for the various hangars – to put over the carts. Arcee was skeptical enough of that strategy's effectiveness to hop up and take a seat on top of one such covered cart, an act that earned a chuckle from Jack and Sami. Ribbondance took up a position near the other one. When Spritelight eyed the one she was guarding, she emitted a threatening hiss from her neck vents that sent the little guy scrambling for cover behind the sofa – or, rather, in front of the sofa, since the back faced Ribbondance.

"We just wanna keep him off the carts, Ribbondance, not scare the spark out of him," chuckled Bulkhead.

"I'm thinking a Predacon-sized cat spray bottle might work better..." muttered June.

"Mom!" Jack gasped, nearly laughing.

June smiled. Infernus couldn't tell if that meant she was joking or serious.

Spritelight still was too spooked at the various threats to stick his long neck out of hiding. That was fine by Ratchet's estimate. So long as he kept that ravenous little maw out of the carts until it could be refined. That was one of the key downsides of losing Omega One, really, thought Ratchet. Though they could still process raw Energon, the equipment they had on site wasn't as good as the old set up, so it took longer to process batches. That wait meant the crystals lying around, which was objectively a safety hazard with so many humans about; but it also meant it was free food lying around for the little glutton they'd invited in.

In a way, he was rather envious of Spritelight being able to entirely circumvent refining and processing by eating the raw crystals. He'd never really paused until then to consider that such a trait might be an evolutionary advantage for his kind, especially on this planet where the crystal form was the only form available in the raw. Infernus, Ribbondance, and Grimwing could no doubt do the same, though he had never seen them do it. Perhaps that might save them time if they could bypass the initial refining process, too. They wouldn't need to wait like everyone else did.

He urged that Infernus kept a close optic on the little beast regardless. They couldn't afford to lose more fuel merely because a particular someone apparently lacked basic impulse control.

A chirp drew his attention. Spritelight was eyeing him pitifully.

Ratchet scoffed and put his hands on his hips. "If you think puppy dog eyes are going to work on me..."

"Infernus! We've got a problem!" cried Fowler, unceremoniously bursting out of his office.

"More of a problem than that piece of work?" Infernus demanded, jerking a thumb over at Spritelight.

His sense of humor evaporated on seeing how alarmed the man was. His eyes were round, his hands clenched the railing so hard his knuckles were paling, sweat beads were on his forehead, and his heart rate was through the roof.

"Do you consider Decepticons and their pets breaking into a secret nuclear research lab in the Arctic a bigger problem?"

His head went into a near ninety-degree tilt. "...Uh, what? Why are they –?"

"What do they want from there?" wondered Ratchet.

"I don't know why or what! That's not even the point! There's people in there, Prime! Unarmed researchers! This is an all hands on deck! They're gonna get killed if we don't help!"

"So you're not worried about them seeing us?" Arcee wondered.

"Cat's already out of the bag there, Arcee! That doesn't matter now!"

Infernus's once amiable expression hardened. "Autobots, gear up!" he barked.

While everyone scrambled to the Bulldog and Iron Will for beast-hunting equipment, he pressed Fowler on which beasts were actually there, if he knew.

"Reports are spotty. The people there are too busy trying to shut the place down to be jotting down a roster. All they know is Predaking is there for sure. They heard his welcoming scream."

"If Predaking's there, I'm betting Ravage isn't far behind," he growled.

"The black dog? Agreed."

"Yeah, and remember what happened the last time that mutt got near a human," Jack recalled darkly. "He bit his arm off."

'Hey, do you think the mini-beasts are there too?' Amalgamous wondered. 'They've started going on field missions lately.'

'We cannot rule out the possibility,' Optimus replied. 'But that could play to your advantage, Smokescreen. Catscratch has already proven herself trustworthy around humans. She had every opportunity to issue harm to Sameera at the Smithsonian Institute, yet never did. If she is present, she might be trying to mitigate harm to the researchers as much as possible without betraying her split motives.'

He relayed that tidbit to Fowler, who calmed somewhat at the possibility of their double-agent kitty being in the field. He just had to hope she was there, and if she was there that she was succeeding.

"Oi, can I come?" asked Spritelight.

Fowler approached Infernus and whispered that he was skeptical of letting the little Predacon on a field mission so soon. Three days wasn't time enough to get a good feel of his motives, in his opinion. But Infernus argued to him that letting him do so would prove whether or not he was actually there to help them. He had made a promise to him to "help out" as payment for giving him a place to stay, after all, and other than the crystal-binging he seemed to be holding to it. Now was as good a time as any to let him prove that promise for real, in a more high-stakes situation. Fowler yielded, agreeing but still wary.

Infernus thus turned to the little beast. Spritelight perked up.

"I'm putting you on point position with the Wreckers and Ribbondance," he told Spritelight. "If that flash-bang power you have works on us, it'll work on the 'Cons. I need you to run in there and stun as many as you can. Buy the researchers time to lock things down and get out."

"Aye, cap!"

"No funny business, either," he warned.

"Can it be helpful funny business?" retorted Spritelight through glittering optics.

Infernus smirked. "So long as it's helpful to us, not the enemy."

"Fine by me!"

Spritelight transformed and flicked his little wings until they started glowing. His determined game face was as cute as it was ferocious.

"Grim, I'm trusting you and Blue to stay here and keep an eye on things with Ratchet, okay?"

Grimwing nodded. "As you wish."

The team returned fully decked out to slay both Decepticon and Predacon. Ratchet opened a portal into the base thanks to some coordinates someone had sent to Fowler. Ultra Magnus and the Wreckers, plus Spritelight, took point. Bumblebee, Arcee, Brawn, and Prowl took up positions behind them. Infernus took up the rear to guard their flank.

"Wreckers," Infernus growled.

Ultra Magnus, Wheeljack, Bulkhead, and Ribbondance readied their weapons.

"Sic' em!" he barked.

The Wreckers, with tiny Spritelight in the lead, charged through the portal. They found the place in a state of chaos. Red lights were flashing, alarms were blaring, humans were shouting and yelling, and the sound of primal animal noises was even louder than the sound of blaster fire. No area sounded quiet; the whole facility was under assault. Such chaos made it difficult for Ultra Magnus to determine where the Decepticons were truly focusing their efforts. But at least one group sounded nearby: just around the corner in another hallway.

"Elf-boy, do your thing!" Bulkhead reminded their tiniest member.

Spritelight clambered onto the wall and skittered around the corner.

"Aw, it's cute," he heard one soldier say. "Hey there little cutie –"

An angry chitter preceded his bright snap of light and the ensuing pained howls of the aggressors.

"Wow, he really doesn't like being called cute," Arcee noted in flat surprise.

Ultra Magnus and the Wreckers charged into the dazed troops. They didn't last very long, from the sounds of it. Good. The quicker they mowed down the enemy, the more likely it would be that none of the human staff would be seriously harmed.

"The rest of you, split up and cover the other wings!" ordered Infernus. "Arcee, 'Bee, with me! Come on!"

Infernus ran towards what sounded like one cluster of fighting. He found a group of soldiers accompanied by some weird horned rat beast and a dark green horse beast that looked wet, but the liquid definitely didn't smell like water. The rat was currently chewing through thick wires, cables, and pipes while the horse was spraying noxious smelling green liquid from his mouth onto a cement wall – and that wall was getting liquefied as a result. He wasn't sure why they were melting the wall with acid, but he could hear frightened humans on the other side of it.

Arcee shot down one soldier, prompting his friends and the two mini-beasts to whirl their way.

"Autobots!" one of the troopers shouted. "Get 'em, Floodshed!"

Infernus charged the group. The next thing he knew, it felt like a part of his side was on fire. But it wasn't fire. When he instinctively tried to pat out the flame he thought was there, the horrible burning started going off on his hand, too. On checking, he found green gunge was eating through his palm: the same green gunge that had previously been eating through the cement wall.

Acid!

In desperation he put his palm to the wall to transfer as much as he could off. Fortunately, it seemed to work. Unfortunately, Floodshed knew then that his acid could eat through beast armor and began to spew it at them to keep them away. So Infernus instead transformed, spewed fire at him to blind him, transformed back to biped, and unleashed a volley of plasma shots from his one still-functioning gun hand. One powerful shot hit Floodshed's face and sent him reeling. While he was down, Infernus spun to help deal with their friend. Bumblebee was engaged with the horned rat beast, having forced them away from the cables, who was snapping at him and trying to connect a weird clawed proboscis from their mouth – like a freakier version of the one Spritelight had – to any body part that was too slow to retreat. Arcee's arm blades crashed into their side when they tried to leap at the scout's arm.

"Come on, Autobot!" the rat said hungrily in a raspy female voice. "All this work makes a girl thirsty!"

Bumblebee took that comment about as well as he expected: he pinned the horned rat in place with a barrage of blaster fire. Infernus lunged forward and grabbed her in his jaws.

"Vigordrainer!" whinnied Floodshed.

"Don't tempt me," he growled at him, clenching his jaws around his catch. "Get lost, little pony."

Floodshed stood in place and stamped his hooves. Infernus took advantage of his brief pause to toss the rat, Vigordrainer, at him as hard as he could. The two toppled into a tangle of limbs and horns. Vigordrainer's body began to smoke and sizzle from the acid dripping off Floodshed's body, but it didn't seem to be eating at her in quite the same way it had with him. That allowed her to recover quicker than he'd planned. Arcee ran forward for a follow-up attack, and when the rat lashed her weird tongue out (he assumed it was a tongue) Arcee's arm blade sliced through the pronged tip and earned a squealing shriek.

The rat began to squirm with a vengeance. But to make sure neither she nor the horse could run, Bumblebee brought out one of Brawn's unique weapons, which fired a magnetically charged energy net that trapped the two in place.

"Are you sure that'll hold them?" Arcee asked the scout uneasily, keeping her blasters trained on the two mini-beasts.

"Brawn said those nets are acid resistant enough to hold a Lavellan. I don't know how resistant that actually means, but it should hold them for a bit," trilled Bumblebee.

Arcee nodded, then turned to Infernus. "We'll secure this area, Prime. Keep going."

Infernus transformed and ran towards the sound of yet more fighting. He soon ran into Prowl and Brawn who were engaged with the venomous Draconian. The two were handling the beast well enough, but he decided a hit-and-run would help them out. He launched and tackled the other dragon to the ground, snapped at their neck to mess with their ability to spew toxic flame, recovered and then bolted.

"Thanks, kid!" shouted Brawn.

The sounds of shouting drew him down a narrower side corridor. He found a mechanical ram headbutting a door that was much thicker than most others he'd seen. He would've thought the ram would have smashed through it by now regardless; their thick, curling horns looked hefty enough to bring down a bank vault door. But it was probably a good thing he hadn't: he heard humans behind the door, at least half a dozen of them nervously whispering amongst themselves.

Infernus rushed and headbutted the ram away from the door. The ram responded by giving an angry bleat.

"Leave 'em be, jerk!" he roared at them.

"What the bloody hell d'you think I'm doing?" the ram bleated back. "Some eejit trooper shot the door off, so I was trying to force it back in place!"

Infernus was briefly bewildered. The ram was trying to protect the people inside?

"Wait. Are you friends with –?"

"Aye. You know what they say about herding cats. Now give me a good whack so no one gets suspicious!"

He felt bad about it, knowing the beast was a friend of Catscratch, but he used his tail to swat the ram down the hall – though not too hard. The ram played along and stayed down as if he really was down. At least, he hoped he was just playing. A not-too-hard hit to a regular sized 'bot was probably a much heftier hit to a mini-con, beast or not. But then he saw the ram lift his head just enough to give him a sly wink before flopping his head back down again.

Infernus quickly spun and went back to the main hall. He was getting worried. Where the heck was Predaking? Fowler had said he'd announced his arrival. He would have thought he would be in the building by now.

Suddenly, there came a loud crash, and the alarms began to go even crazier.

Infernus rushed to the source of the noise and found the main room in the facility had been breached via the roof. Predaking was currently busy using his jaws to rip connecting cables off of some big thing attached to the wall that he couldn't identify. Other troopers were guarding him while he worked, but Predaking wasn't the one giving orders. Shockwave was busy hijacking the terminals in the room.

*Hey, Cyclops. Looks like your eye's better after Blue shot it out,* he taunted. *How about we fix that?*

"Keep him busy," Shockwave droned.

Infernus braced and readied to retaliate when the soldiers rushed him in unison. But he never got the chance to attack. One was floored by a powerful shot that ripped through their chassis. Another had their head neatly sliced off by a thin, bright red tendril of metal that left the neck stump smoldering.

"Bulkhead, Infernus, focus on Predaking!" shouted Ultra Magnus as he and the Wreckers charged into the chamber. "We'll handle Shockwave!"

"Come on, kid!"

Bulkhead initiated the fight with a thunderous crack of Brawn's rocket hammer straight to Predaking's head. Predaking immediately whirled on him in a frenzy, but his lunge to bite Bulkhead was interrupted when Infernus leapt onto his back and grappled him. Infernus's sharp jaws saw to it that one of Predaking's huge horns was snapped off at the middle leaving nothing but a blunted stump. Predaking screamed and whipped his neck around to gnash his own jaws at his folded wings. One bite landed and the two began a writhing tug-of-war: one trying to break free, the other determined not to let that happen. Bulkhead intervened on his behalf. In a single mighty swing of the hammer, Predaking's jaws were freed.

Snarling, the bronze beast backed away toward the device he had been trying to detach from its cables.

"Two on one seems to work good for this jerk!" Bulkhead declared.

Everyone then shouted when a horrible sound sliced through from the hall: like a hawk's scream had been combined with the god-awful sound of nails on a chalkboard. Hands went up to vainly shield howling audials. In the writhing chaos, something bit down on the back of Bulkhead's neck. Savage snarling filled his audials. Fangs pierced deep.

"Bulkhead!" Wheeljack hollered.

Bulkhead tried to reach back to grab whatever was biting him. He had a feeling he knew who. He couldn't let those fangs get too deep. He'd seen enough nature documentaries during his time on this planet (thanks to Jack and Optimus) to know what happened when predators went for the neck: paralysis when those fangs hit the spinal column. He had to assume that rule was the same for 'bots.

"Get offa me, you cheat!" roared the green Wrecker.

"Put your hand down, now!" snapped Ribbondance.

Bulkhead obeyed.

WH-CRACK SHRNG!

Ribbondance struck the back of his neck and struck something in turn: the black form of Ravage. Another crack of her razor tendrils saw Ravage dislodged, his side now decorated by two vicious gashes courtesy of Ribbondance. Ravage tried to leap at Ribbondance for a counterattack, but Infernus snapped his jaws around him mid-air, an act Predaking was at once both nervous and infuriated over. Ravage himself was enraged only – barking, squirming, and gnashing wildly at the indignity of being held like a dog's chew toy.

"Drop him!" demanded Predaking.

"Come and get him."

Infernus launched upward through the gaping hole in the roof out into a turbulent snowstorm. Shrieking, Predaking followed him. He exploited that outrage for all it was worth. He led him at least two klicks from the facility towards a large glacial ice shelf, whereupon he spun and flung Ravage as far as he could manage. Predaking instantly went after him and caught the black hound before he could crash. Infernus didn't know whether to be incredulous or worried that Predaking saw the vicious Ravage as some kind of friend – friend enough to abort an attack to save. In his opinion, he could probably look for better friends than that little ambush loving jerk...not that he had much of a choice in quality when working for the 'Cons.

"Come on, Bronze-y! Just you and me this time! No outside help!" he challenged.

"You think you can battle me alone?! Your arrogance will be your undoing!" Predaking roared back.

Predaking charged at him full speed and clashed into him mid-air. The two became a writhing, snapping ball of fangs that spat fire and vitriol. One particular snap of Infernus's jaws connected with one of Predaking's forelimbs when it rose up to slash, an error that let him grab the limb, rip open the armor on that limb, and jerk him out of the fight. While he tried to stabilize, Infernus bashed his head with his tail and sent him spinning. By the time Predaking had pulled out of the spin, Infernus had already vanished up into the frigid clouds.

"Hiding will not help you! I can smell you, weakling!"

Little did Predaking know, he wasn't trying to hide. He was only trying to mask his next movement.

The instant he saw the yellow glow of Predaking's optics, he went intangible and let Predaking scream right through him at top speed. That allowed him to surge up and grapple him from behind before he had the chance to spin around and stop him. At their current height, he didn't go for his neck. He instead went for his back, for his wings. One wing was quickly pinned in place and, unable to keep aloft on one wing, Predaking fell in a wild, spiraling corkscrew as he desperately tried to shake his passenger. But about five hundred feet above the icy ground, near the ice cliff where Ravage had been tossed, Predaking spun around to where his back faced the cliff. Infernus understood what he was doing a half second too late. He was brutally smashed into the ice shelf and a chunk of it fell with him.

He was pretty sure he blacked out for a few seconds. Maybe longer. He only snapped back awake when someone bit into the base of his left wing, trying to rip it off its hinge.

"Get off!" he screamed at Ravage. "This is between me and him!"

He whipped around and snatched Ravage, threw him into the air, spun, and smacked him into the ice shelf behind him with his tail. Ravage was then drenched in fire for good measure.

He rounded back towards Predaking and, screaming, flung himself at him. The two collided in a fiery clash.

Inside was no less chaotic of a struggle. Ultra Magnus swiftly deflected a blow from Shockwave only to double over when a terrible shriek ripped through the corridors from nearby. Shockwave himself was unaffected and retaliated by ramming his cannon arm into the Commander's face. Bulkhead struck back with a hefty blow from his hammer, giving Ultra Magnus time to recover and lower the sensitivity of his hearing.

"One of them must be using the Resonance Blaster," Ultra Magnus assumed, cringing when the noise went off again. He barely managed to avoid a shot from Shockwave.

"No, that noise? Gotta be one of the minis!" snarled Wheeljack as he deflected more blaster fire. "Go shut 'em up, princess, quick!"

Ultra Magnus half expected Ribbondance to be offended at his terse, commanding tone and unwanted nickname. She thankfully wasn't. Ribbondance sprinted out of the room in a crimson whirl. Two ribbons snapped and readied – two gleaming metal muzzles ready to wrap around a target. That target proved to be a deceptively scrawny looking grey-green mini-con femme with talons on her trods, clawed hands, and hateful optics. An Avioid, like herself, if she could dare count such a miserable specimen as one of her own kind. On spying her skid into the corridor and ready to fight, the mini-con opened her mouth and let out another horrible shriek that shredded her audials like claws.

"Don't like that, do ye?" the mini-con taunted.

Ribbondance retorted by whipping one of her tendrils at her. A gash opened on her upper arm, earning an aggravated hiss.

Brawn spun into the corridor from behind the mini-con, hammer ready and a look of fury on his faceplates.

"You," he growled.

Prowl joined him seconds later. The little Avioid's head whipped about as she tried to determine who was really the threat. She settled on Brawn.

"Three against one, little banshee," Brawn smirked. "Not likin' your odds here."

"You know her?" Prowl realized.

"There's a reason I said the little ones can be just as dangerous," Brawn retorted. "Screech is part o' that reason."

"Well, the big, dumb hunter lives," Screech taunted in a coarse squawk. "Looks like ye forgot your hammer, dummy."

"I don't need a hammer to smoosh you, tiny," Brawn warned, cracking his knuckles ominously. "But you should know better than to call me dumb. A good hunter studies their prey. Funny thing about Avioids I learned lately: they've got real sensitive vision."

On cue, Spritelight crawled around the corner clinging to the wall, readied his wings, and unleashed a brilliant snap of light at Screech. While Screech was stunned, Prowl and Brawn together leapt at her and pinned her long enough for Ribbondance to bind and muzzle her. Screech tried to retaliate with more hyper-sonic shrieks, but the metal gag over her mouth muffled it handily. One solid hit from Prowl knocked Screech unconscious.

"Can you fight without those ribbons, darlin'?" Brawn asked her.

Ribbondance responded by transforming into a long-necked, pheasant-like bird and leaping over his head to sweep into an adjacent hallway. The corridor lit up red and orange, and the smell of heat and flame soon followed.

"I think she will manage," Prowl told him.

"No kiddin'," Brawn stated. "Glad that one's on our side. Never really thought to make a friend of one during the hunts. Shows what I know, I guess."

Spritelight's antennae swooped up. He chirped once at them, then doubled back the way he'd come. Prowl and Brawn continued towards the the main room where they found Ultra Magnus, Wheeljack, and Bulkhead still battling Shockwave. After peering into the room and watching, Brawn had to admit a grudging respect to Shockwave's combat abilities, and some due surprise. Wildstab had said Shockwave was the 'Cons pet mad scientist, eternally engrossed with any number of vile research projects at the behest of Megatron, but he was usually so cooped up with lab work that he never went into the field. For an intellectual, the guy sure knew how to fight if he could keep the Autobot Commander and two Wreckers off his case. But his respect and surprise quickly gave way to a sour fire in his spark, as a connection formed between two points. Shockwave, as chief scientist, had to have been the one responsible for Project: Predacon, both the current and prior iteration of it, and that meant he was directly responsible for Wildstab's death at the paws of the Tatzelworm.

Vengeance. A real, solid opportunity for Wildstab to have some vengeance.

Brawn tried to rush in. Prowl yanked him back around the corner.

"We need to time this properly," Prowl whispered to him. "If we intervene at the wrong moment, their current stalemate has a high probability tor sway the fight in Shockwave's favor."

He threw his arm off him. "That slagger got my friend killed!" he hissed. "Don't you dare tell me not to get in there and clobber him!"

Brawn turned one hand into a war-hammer and rushed in, roaring, "This is for Wildstab, you sparkless loony!"

Shockwave's single red optic spun to face the new threat. Ultra Magnus took the split-second opening to land a vicious blow to the scientist's head with his claw-hand, and then a follow-up from his good hand. Brawn slammed Shockwave's cannon aside and rammed his hammer into the side of his head as hard as he could. Shockwave was sent staggering away, one side of his head caved in.

"I was unaware the Autobots had added to their ranks," droned Shockwave. "But you bear no insignia. Logically you must be an unaligned."

"I'm an off-the-books hire," Brawn growled.

Ultra Magnus, Bulkhead, Prowl, and Wheeljack surrounded Shockwave on all sides. Brawn finished the pentagon trap.

"I don't care how smart you are, your odds ain't looking good," Wheeljack told him smugly.

"For once, your brutish processor and mine are in agreement," Shockwave agreed.

"So what are planning to do about it?" Brawn taunted. "Your exit's blocked."

"Simple: remove the weak link."

Shockwave looked at Ultra Magnus, but aimed his cannon at Brawn. The one-eyed scientist quickly whipped his cannon back at Ultra Magnus and fired. The powerful shot rammed into the shield and though it didn't break through, the force was enough to blast him back against the nearest wall. He then fired at Prowl, who was sent plowing into the nearest wall, cracking it. Another high-powered round was fired at Brawn. Shockwave was mildly surprised such a heavy round of plasma barely phased the warrior. Brawn brushed off the black mark on his chassis.

"Woulda figured the guy in charge of Project: Predacon would know how hardy beast armor is," he hinted.

"Illogical. You are not a Predacon."

"No. But did ya ever pause to wonder why they were almost all dead here?" he asked. "I'll give ya a hint. You're looking at one reason. The other reason is one with the Allspark, probably cussin' ya out for screwing him over twice. Say, since I'm a nice guy, why don't I send you his way so you can hear that cussin' for yourself...? Primus knows Wildstab'd love to deck you himself..."

It was impossible to read the faceless Shockwave's expression, but he took a step back as Brawn approached.

KA-CHANG!

Claws and teeth snapped at armor and wings. Flame tore through and ignited the icy landscape. Screams howled over the wind.

Predaking was almost delighted by it. Finally, at last, a true brawl to determine a king! The other Draconian had certainly improved since their last encounter. Then again, so had he. Killzone's lessons on strategy and Ravage's lessons on beast fighting were an invaluable hybrid of practical knowledge. But to his consternation, no matter what he tried, he could not land a blow on the other dragon. He wanted to scream that he was cheating, turning intangible like a little coward, but another part of him applauded the strategy. He was being clever, no doubt studying his moves without ever needing to be struck by them.

"Are you done making yourself look ridiculous?" the pale dragon taunted. "'Cause I can literally keep doing this till you collapse from exhaustion."

"Fight me, coward!" he screamed back. "There cannot be two kings on such a small world!"

He leapt at him and spun, but phased through him and skidded into the snow behind him. When he spun to face him again, he was shocked to see a white biped bedecked in artistic flame decals standing in the snow, scowling at him.

"I'm not a king. I'm a Prime," he told him, "and I've got no time for a playground bully with delusions of grandeur. I've got bigger priorities. Slag off."

Prime? He had heard that word before: Lord Megatron always repeated it with such intense mockery and distaste, as if the word itself tasted like battery acid. Phrases such as "naive imposter" and "false demi-god" often accompanied the word. So disdainful of the Prime was Lord Megatron that he refused to fight him himself; he was beneath him. He told him as such.

"Yeah. I'm aware."

He didn't sound remotely offended.

"Go on. Keep trying," the Prime smirked. "You're doing the hard work for me."

Furious at the taunt, Predaking leapt again with the same disappointing result. The Prime made it worse. He whirled on him, turned one hand into a blade (how was that done, he wondered?) and cleaved down on his tail, cleanly slicing its weaponized tip off. To his amazement, when he retaliated by transforming and throwing a savage punch at his jaw, the attack connected for once, knocking the Prime into the snow. He pressed his advantage. Before he could land a blow again the Prime's hand flicked over to the opposite wrist. His own hands were too slow to stop him. Once again, the Prime became untouchable. Predaking understood his little "trick" now, however.

"You must be tangible to strike back," he growled.

The Prime arched an unimpressed brow ridge. "Wow. It took you how long to figure that one out?"

"Do not mock me!" he thundered.

"I mock. What can I say? I'm a mocker."

"Lord Megatron was right to call you a brash, naive child," Predaking snarled.

"...Aren't you one too?" the Prime wondered in a quieter, more serious voice.

For a split second, Predaking was taken aback. He did know how to answer such a question, or whether he should. Perhaps it was another taunt.

"I've got a little newsflash for you," continued the Prime as he walked calmly towards him. "You'll never impress him. You'll never get his respect. Have you ever stopped to consider why Megatron has you flying around on a retrieval and hunting missions? Because you're his errand 'bot. You're grunt labor, even lower on the ladder than his faceless soldiers. Shockwave literally made you to be a big, dumb hunting dog for Megatron. That's all you are to him."

Predaking frowned, "I have not yet earned my keep among them –"

"Pfft," scoffed the Prime. "You think they'll ever let you get higher? You nearly killed me that one time and they didn't promote you for that."

"...but I suspect killing your allies would convince them," he finished. "You may be intangible. They are not."

Predaking transformed and launched towards the facility. As planned, the Prime followed.

On nearing the open gash in the facility's roof, Predaking dove down. He was shocked to find Shockwave engaged in a brutal brawl with the hammer-wielding Autobot who had dislocated his jaw. His scream distracted the hammer-wielder enough for him to crash down on top of him. His jaws went for the stranger's neck. The Autobot grabbed his jaws and pushed back. He didn't quite understand his eager grin.

"Gotta hand it to ya, you're either real brave or real damn dumb!" the burly Autobot declared. "Killing dragons happens to be a specialty o' mine!"

Predaking reeled from a heavy blow from the hammer-wielder. He struck back and clamped his jaw down as hard as he could on his arm, thus earning a pained shout as the metal crunched and warped. The Prime crashed down on top of him, and the two tangled themselves in a twisting net of limbs and teeth. A paw swatted into his face.

"Paws off my friends, you jerk!" the Prime screeched.

"Predaking, ignore the Autobots," ordered Shockwave. "We are not here for them."

Predaking screeched and snapped at the Prime's blue wings. He screamed again when one of the other Autobots, the pale sword-wielder, leapt on his back and began an attempt to saw through one of his wing hinges. Predaking roared and began to shake to throw him off, but the Autobot gamely clung on.

"GET OFF!" he thundered.

He launched into the air and the Autobot went with him. A mile in the air, he whipped his maw back and snapped at his hands. One bite successfully saw his hand caught between his fangs. Shouting, his unwanted passenger let go and plummeted. Predaking spewed fire at him as he fell, only to realize a second too late that it wasn't the smart decision: the Autobot had flung something at him, and when the fire hit it, it exploded in an ear-rupturing BANG! Predaking was left momentarily stunned. By the time the ringing in his mind subsided, the pale fighter was being lowered to the ground by the Prime.

That was his opportunity. He was tangible. They both were.

He tucked his wings and surged towards the two. His jaws connected around his neck and pushed the Prime out of the way. His pale companion fell on his side in a thud.

"Jackie!" Bulkhead shouted.

"I'm good, I'm good! Slag, I'm gonna feel that tomorrow..." Wheeljack joked, wincing as he rose.

He went for the pale one, Wheeljack. The Autobot Commander saw to it he could not. He activated a hefty shield and parked himself in his path. However, that presented little difficultly. Predaking bit down on the shield's top half, reared up, and flung both shield and wielder into the nearest wall. He barely had time to pull the shield up before Shockwave unleashed a devastating volley in his direction. Bulkhead, Brawn, and Wheeljack barreled down on Shockwave from three sides. Prowl eventually recovered enough and fired – but to his confusion, not at him or Shockwave. He fired at the ceiling. A few good shots had huge chunks of metal and cement raining down on Shockwave. One struck him hard enough to stagger him. Another fell on Predaking.

Predaking readied a frightfully super-heated flame just for that slight.

"Predaking, ignore them!" came the voice of Lord Megatron. "You have your orders. Adhere to them."

He wanted to scream at him that he would not ignore them; they wanted a fight and he would gladly pay them back for what they had done to the lab, to his kin. But he heeded Killzone's warning about "backtalk" and remained silent. He flew down, spewed flame over the three Autobots and their Prime, and landed atop the great device Shockwave wanted. He began rudely yanking out any spare connecting cables they had missed. He put his paws around it, pumped his wings, and hefted the device into the air. Shockwave covered his escape before calling for an emergency bridge himself.

He heard the Prime scream and give chase from behind.

"Who's the coward now, huh?!" he taunted as he raced closer.

A groundbridge opened in front of him. He felt the air stir behind him as jaws narrowly missed clamping down on his tail.

"Ratchet. They're gone," Infernus reported, angry and disappointed in himself as he helped Prowl to his trods. "They got away. They got the thing they wanted, too."

Ratchet wasn't so upset about that as he expected. He was mainly worried about the personnel. Were they unharmed?

Infernus asked around. According to Ribbondance, Arcee, 'Bee, and Spritelight, the humans were all safely locked in various rooms in the facility. No one was badly hurt but at least a dozen would need medical attention for bleeding ears caused by Screech's, well, screeches. Infernus admitted he would probably need Ratchet to look at him too; Floodshed had hit him with a nasty acid of some kind that still burned horribly.

"Bumblebee, get him some snow from outside. That should help the burning and clear the injury."

Bumblebee sprinted into the main room with a handful of fresh snow that he traded off into Infernus's hands. The freezing snow sizzled both from body heat and interaction with the lingering acid, but it did numb the pain, and it felt like it was clearing it up too.

"Aw, yeah, that feels nice," he sighed.

"What about the mini-cons?" Ultra Magnus wondered. "Did they retreat?"

"Yeah. Vigordrainer and Floodshed were released by that venom-flame dragon," Arcee reported.

"Any sign of Screech?" Brawn demanded. "Little green menace of a bird-former?"

"No sign," Arcee reported. "Sorry Brawn."

Infernus counted that as a win in its own right. If the mini-cons got away, so had Ramhorn and Catscratch.

"Slaggit," the big merc grumbled. "So they all got away?"

"Yeah. Looks like." Spritelight reported. "Fecking Pit. Would've liked to get that Ravage guy. Cat heard 'bout him. Feckin' hates him."

"You and me both," winced Bulkhead. "Ah, slag that hurts when he bites."

"Well, don't just stand there and complain about it. Get back here and I'll close it up. Again."

Once everyone had reconvened in the main room, Ratchet opened a groundbridge for them. The medic was already waiting for them, kit at the ready. He treated Wheeljack and Bulkhead first, then moved on to Infernus. Spritelight was kind enough to inject some numbing solution into all three afterwards, to spare them additional pain and the medic precious medical supplies. He took particular interest in coiling around Bulkhead's neck to keep it from moving too much and unsettling the fresh welding work. The green Wrecker chuckled at the gesture.

"Hey, Miko, check it out. I have a feather boa of shame!" he announced.

"Aww! Like a cone of shame, but way cuter!"

Spritelight took offense at the description and stuck his glossa out at her.

Jack laughed. "And way more opinionated!"

"Spritelight, cute isn't an insult," smiled Raf. "That's their way of saying 'you rock'."

Spritelight developed a startled look that plainly read. "...Oh!"

"I must admit, he is helpful..." Ratchet confessed, "...when he isn't being a colossal pain in my rear axle. So I believe you've earned this."

Ratchet grabbed one of the few remaining crystals in the cart and handed it to him. Delighted, Spritelight took it in his front-most set of limbs and chowed down. Mid-bite, he paused. His antennae swooped up and began to pulsate. His optics began flicking about in search of something.

"Spritelight, is something wrong?" Arcee asked.

The little hybrid dragon issued an angry chirp that evolved into a high-pitched gurgling snarl. Infernus understood it as language.

"Someone's in here with us...I can smell 'em."

On scenting the air himself, Infernus caught it too: a foreign waft of something that smelled like no one present, but it was a smell he knew. His optics widened.

"Oh no..." he breathed. "Guys, stay up there. Wheeljack, Magnus, guard them."

"What? What is it?" Raf demanded in a nervous whine.

He sniffed again. The scent had faded, but a breeze brought it sailing back in from outside.

"Ravage," Infernus clarified. "He followed us through."

"Indeed."

Out on the tarmac, the air fluxed to reveal the four-eyed, pitch black canine himself.

"Now you see me...and now I see you. Lord Megatron? I found them."

Getting close to the series' end here guys.