Unleash the Beast!

Chapter 5: A-Hunting We Will Go (Part 2)

*Apologies for the delay on this. Things got pretty hectic and stressful on my end, which threw a wrench into my writing schedule.

Trying to come up with a plan to deal with a dangerous, ice-adapted crime boss while frigid wind was whipping into your face was difficult to say the least, but the added warmth from the devices made it at least possible. The problem was, Bumblebee couldn't see an obvious solution. Polarclaw would notice if they climbed, would notice if they 'bridged in, and even if they were reckless enough to remove the PARKAS from Windblade and Zodiac, he'd notice them if they flew in.

"Oh! I know!" chirped Backdraft. "How about we sic the Hunt on him?"

"...Didn't Vector say their purpose was to hunt Corrupticons?" Windblade reminded him. "Polarclaw's a crook but he's not exactly a supernatural freakshow."

"Oh. Yeah."

"I mean, Frosty could try but I'm not sure crime lords are their jurisdiction exactly. There might be rules or something about that."

"And it's not like we need them to make this place any colder," Zodiac argued dryly. "You saw what happened the last time they showed up."

"That, too."

But Zodiac did remember Fix-It had said that Ticosun 'bots were so good with cold that they weren't too good with heat; and that sudden, drastic temperature shifts could warp and crack armor. Maybe once Backdraft was warmed up and the PARKAS recharged they could attack Polarclaw with him in the lead. She only hoped Polarclaw didn't smash anything super important while they warmed up back at the station. The equipment he was wrecking wasn't just for nerdy data gathering. Some of it was actually really important, like monitoring ice melt to gauge sea-level rise or keeping an eye on the two main active volcanoes on the continent.

Bumblebee's timer dinged again. Forty-five minutes had elapsed since they'd left the station, he'd told them.

"We'd better pick up the pace then," she realized. "Frostbite, are we almost there?"

Ahead, Frostbite paused mid-step. He had stopped sniffing at the ground and sniffed at the air. When he turned to get a better whiff, he saw something huge and burly looming up behind Windblade. Without so much as a bark of warning, Frostbite flung himself forward and over Windblade just as a massive, heavy clawed paw swiped sideways. Frostbite was swatted away, and Windblade ducked and drew her weapon. Backdraft, Bumblebee, and Zodiac all drew theirs and encircled the crime boss.

Frostbite hefted himself back to his paws. *Thought I smelled you, when wind shifted,* growled the pale hound over local short-band.

Polarclaw smirked, "You dogs always did have good sense of smell. Pity your hearing isn't so good."

Frostbite bared his fangs and snarled. He promptly leapt at Polarclaw. The crime boss, despite his size, nimbly dodged, and when the pale hound whirled for a follow up, Polarclaw's sonic roar met him at devastatingly close range. He was only left stunned for a brief second or two by it, but that was all the opening the crime boss needed. Polarclaw brought one of his hefty feet up and crashed it down onto Frostbite's head. Backdraft retaliated by giving him a face full of fire that Polarclaw wasn't too keen on. Unfortunately, he disliked it so much that he flung himself through the flame to reach Backdraft, who frantically managed to draw one gun. Polarclaw, unimpressed, snatched him by his gun-hand and dangled him in the air by his wrist. A flurry of shots from Bumblebee brought Backdraft enough time to unleash another firestorm at him, hot enough to open some cracks in his faceplates.

"You are problem," Polarclaw growled angrily at his captive. "I will fix."

"...Uh-oh..."

Polarclaw sent him crashing into the snow – an impact so great that it fractured some of the PARKAS plating.

"...Ow..." whimpered the youth.

Bumblebee and Windblade ran at him from opposite sides. Polarclaw's sonic roar at Windblade did little more than rattle her plating, so he spun on Bumblebee and swiped. The yellow mech just managed to dodge the first swipe, but another struck and sent him reeling back. Windblade took the opening and kicked him first in the chest, eliciting no more than an annoyed grunt from the huge mech, so instead she slashed her blade across his upper arm. When Polarclaw made to block it, Zodiac took the two-second opening to launch at his face and shield-bash him. Bumblebee leapt on his back while he was staggered. He managed to dislodge one fluid cable before Polarclaw slung him off into the group, knocking Windblade and Frostbite off their feet.

The crime boss proceeded to re-attach the dislodged cable.

"Clever," he grunted. "Snowstormers tried similar tactic. Precisely why I modified them."

"Torch him!" barked the yellow mech.

Backdraft aimed at Polarclaw. But rather than the roaring spout of flame from before, it was a weak sputter.

"Scrap!" swore the two-wheeler. "They're icing up!"

"I've got him!"

Windblade's wing turbines spun into full throttle. Ice and snow was kicked up in its own miniature blizzard, and the controlled gust itself was great enough to force Polarclaw back...for a little while. A big, burly mech like him could merely push forward through the gale, thus Windblade leapt back to avoid any swiping. But rather than be confident, the crime boss was wary.

"Where did your dog go, hn?" he snarled, peering into the surrounding blizzard. "Gone to fetch something for you?"

In answer, Frostbite leapt onto his back from behind and sank his fangs deep into his shoulder.

*Pity your smell-sense is poor,* growled the hound proudly.

Frostbite tugged, pulling them both backwards to the ground. Polarclaw, furious, tried to stab his own icy claws deep into the hound's throat. But Frostbite's four legs proved quicker – only, not quite quick enough. The crime boss grabbed the hound's tail and dragged him in close for a brutal blow to the head. Zodiac wasted no time flying at him and jabbing her tiny blade into his undamaged shoulder; Polarclaw's ensuing recoil attempt let Frostbite whirl around and snap at his hand, at which point the hound began to yank and shake the captured limb. Windblade grabbed his other arm before he could swipe at him.

Bumblebee and Backdraft opened fire on Polarclaw together. The yellow mech did have to admit that despite having no real firearms training, the kid was a pretty good shot.

"Keep on him! Don't give him any ground!" Bumblebee urged.

However, worry spiked when the timer he had going finally rang in his head. Their hour was up. Already he could feel the heat dwindling.

"Frostbite!" he prompted.

The hound understood his tone without further clarification. He gave one final vicious yank of Polarclaw's arm, downing him, before sinking his fangs into his right leg. To their shock, Polarclaw didn't stay down like they thought he would. He rose as if nothing at all was wrong.

"Your little bites won't work, dog," growled the crime boss through a smug smirk. "You cannot freeze what is already frozen."

Backdraft fired a shot at his face and Windblade kicked up another snow flurry. Bumblebee and Backdraft fired together into the mini-blizzard. When Polarclaw didn't emerge, they assumed that they had successfully downed the crime boss. Zodiac knew better than to trust such a simple victory, and she was right not to. While the snow continued to swirl and billow, Polarclaw leapt out at Bumblebee and swiped the pistol out of his hand, then downed the yellow mech with a feigned kick and blow to his chassis and head, whereupon he was savagely pinned to the ground. One hefty swipe from the crime lord's claws shredded the lightweight PARKAS plating protecting his chassis. Frostbite quickly retaliated, flinging himself onto Polarclaw, and the two tumbled away into the snow.

Windblade helped Bumblebee up. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, I'm fine," he insisted. "We need to get back to base."

"We can't with this guy on our tail!"

"We need a way to draw him off us for a bit," he agreed. "Zodiac, you're quick. Can you do that?"

"Goad the scary crime boss while you guys run away," the little Avioid reiterated nervously. "Uh...sure."

"You goaded him pretty well the last time," Windblade reminded her wryly.

Zodiac gave her that. But would he fall for it again? He hadn't been expecting her the first time; now, he would be. Polarclaw seemed a lot smarter than Thunderhoof, too – which, in retrospect, was probably the reason why it took the Snowstormers to finally apprehend him.

The little astronomer took one deep cycle of air, drew both sword and shield, and rushed at the crime boss. Her shield struck his head first and then the blade sliced into his cheek plates. Polarclaw lashed out with his huge claws and was swiftly blocked, though the sheer force of the hit nearly flattened her anyway. Frostbite backed her up with one final bite to his arm; he knew, the same as her, that physical wounds would still slow him down the same as any 'bot. But to get him to come after her she'd need to be much more proactive. She supposed she could attempt the old tried-and-true method: insulting him. She'd learned lots of petty, demeaning insults from her chief engineer, Combustor.

"Hey, Polarclaw, what happened to your face?!" he taunted. "Did a Combiner step on it as a sparkling or what?!"

That at least earned another, deeper, angrier growl and lunge. One more, she thought, ought to do it. It was lucky that Combustor knew some mean Ticosun insults that she'd just so happened to overhear.

"Aczeng ro'tuon! Kletzyien vyu lntai! Onvet hejmez jutr!" she squawked.

For a brief moment, Polarclaw actually looked impressed that she knew Ticosun dialect. Then, of course, he furiously hollered back in Ticosun that he would pluck her feathers and roast her over a fire like the waddling turkey she was. And then he charged her.

At that, Zodiac bolted back towards the ice shelf. *Go! Go!* she urged the others over short-band.

*Be careful, Chip Tunes!* Windblade told her.

She planned to be. The snow had already given her an idea for how to throw Polarclaw off, she just needed a good head start. That, luckily, wasn't very hard. Just because she couldn't fly didn't mean she couldn't use her velocity cascader for a speed boost. As a bonus, her tiny body was too light to sink into the heavy snowdrifts. Both variables together meant Polarclaw had to really rush to keep up with her, and eventually, his white body disappeared into the blizzard behind her. She knew better than to think he'd lost her, though. As a pseudo-beast, Polarclaw had a good sense of smell that he could use to follow her even if he didn't have a visual on her. He couldn't rely on tracks either; hers were tiny, and looking back proved the snow had already nearly erased them.

So, with Polarclaw only relying on her scent now, it was time for what her engineer Freefall termed "some cheeky nonsense." Zodiac skirted the ice shelf until she heard the sound of water crashing below. Walking to the edge, she took a large clump of snow and spat washer fluid onto it. She repeated the act four more times, and each of the four decoys was flung at random into the blizzard, as far away from her position as she could. The fifth and final snow clump was hurled into the water.

Zodiac snickered. Her false trails would leave Polarclaw wandering around aimlessly for a while.

But now, she had to be careful not to get near her false trails. She saw only one real option to avoid that.

She drew her little sword and began to slice off the PARKAS plating. It was already a dud, out of charge; the only advantage it really had now was camouflage, so she only cut off what was needed to transform. Once ready, she turned her sword on the ice shelf and began to scale up. She didn't dare try for a dry takeoff on the ground – that would mess with the false trails she'd laid. What she planned to do instead was a maneuver her fellow Avioids called a keets'kiem or "quiet skim". Normally it was used by wounded Avioids to catch a rescue thermal, but in this case she intended to use it to glide as far she could without making any noise, right over Polarclaw's head.

About two-third of the way up the ice shelf, she nearly lost her grip on her sword's hilt. She realized it was because she couldn't actually feel her hand around the hilt anymore, and therefore hadn't noticed her grip slacken.

"Hypothermia setting in, right on schedule..." she muttered, shivering. "Frack, frack, frack..."

Zodiac thought fast. She clambered up a dozen or so more feet before finding a ledge just wide enough to support her. Upon transforming on that little ledge, she couldn't feel her talons or wings (or most of her body, really) but they were still responding at least. She just had to hope they kept working; the ice build up on her wings and in her tiny joints warned she didn't have a lot of time. Already the lethargic effects of hypothermia were setting in, and her vision was starting to blur.

She used her claws and beak to clamber just a little higher. Once a strong enough gust swept past, she dislodged her beak from the ice shelf and pushed herself free.

The wind carried her for a while almost helpfully. But winds could be fickle, and Antarctic winds proved the most so. About a klick and a half from the ice shelf – what her cold-whacked brain thought was about half-way to the hidden IASO station – the wind shifted to blow directly at her. Too cold and lethargic to fight a headwind, she was blown back and eventually dropped into the snow, shivering.

The snow, merciless, continued to fall.

She heard thuds nearby, going in the direction of the base. Or at least she was pretty sure they were.

The snow turned red. She heard alarms going off, people shouting, blasters firing. A sonic roar rattled the metal walls and caused horrible pained shrieks. Human shrieks.

Oh, no. Oh, frack. That was why Polarclaw was destroying the equipment! Polarclaw wasn't just destroying stuff to hide himself! He wanted into that research station! He wanted the projects stored there! And the sound of blaster fire – he'd use the team to lead him right to it!

Right as Bumblebee reached the bunker door to the station, he paused. Frostbite, he noticed, did the same, and the pale hound was emitting a strange whining growl as his optics scanned the blizzard-wracked landscape. The hound bluntly ordered them inside before bolting back out into the snowstorm. No one argued with him though. They knew why he was worried: Zodiac should have regrouped with them by now.

They went inside and rejoined Brenda and Angelique in the main control room. There, they updated them on what was going on.

"See? I told you someone was destroying our equipment!" argued Angelique.

Brenda rolled her eyes. "Alright, fine. Your E.T paranoia wins out for today."

"Did you uncover why he was destroying our equipment?"

"He was kinda too busy pounding us into the dirt – er, snow – for us to interrogate him, lady," Backdraft told her sorely.

Angelique winced. "Sorry. I will call the others in for repairs."

A team of four came in to help remove the wrecked PARKAS plating and tend to some of the nasty dents and gashes they'd all acquired. While they worked, Angelique got on the phone with someone, and after a hushed conversation her computer screen shifted to show a radar scan of the surrounding area. Once the scanner had done a few sweeps, it picked up two targets on the move. One, Bumblebee had to assume, was Frostbite, since he was running away from their location. Who the other dot was was less clear, but it didn't look like it was Zodiac. Zodiac would be heading towards them. The second dot was kind of wandering around unnervingly close to the station. That had to be Polarclaw, then.

"Wait, Zoe's still out there. Why are there only two dots?" wondered Backdraft.

"Radar detects moving objects," Windblade reminded him grimly.

Dread settled in his tanks. "...Oh, scrap."

Backdraft transformed in a flurry and sped out the exit tunnel.

"Backdraft! Backdraft, get back here!" Bumblebee shouted.

"I will! With Zoe!" the youth retorted just before the doors shut once more.

"He is either very brave or very foolish," Angelique concluded dryly.

"I'm starting to think those are the same thing some days," Windblade answered.

"He won't last out there," one of the young male technicians warned. "He's got no protection and he didn't finish warming up after the last venture."

"I guess our bets are on the dog, then," Brenda finished. "Ho boy."

"Zoe!" Backdraft cried over the howling winds. "Zoe?!"

*Get back inside!* came Frostbite's commanding bark.

He answered the communication as he kept running forward. "Frosty? Where the heck are you?"

*Back. Inside!* the hound growled.

"No way, dude! Not until we get Zoe! Radar didn't pick her up! I think she's down!"

There was a pause. He could imagine Frostbite growl and pace as he tried to figure out this puzzle.

*Cannot harm Polarclaw like planned. Will hunt for Zodiac. You fight. Hn?*

The Altihexian youth test fired his flame-throwers and found they were working again. He must have warmed up just enough to unfreeze the fuel. Perfect.

"Deal. You get Zoe. I'll barbecue Mr. Bear Face. If you find her before I finish, feel free to join me."

To make sure his flame-throwers didn't freeze again, he set each on a low burn and sprinted ahead. Motion made heat, he remembered. He asked 'Bee to give him the radar data so he could find Polarclaw. The former scout gave him an earful for running out without protection before he quickly gave him what he needed. Polarclaw was northwest of where he currently was, and indeed he was. He seemed annoyed, wandering around near the ice shelf, but the moment Polarclaw spotted him, annoyance gave way to an unsavory smirk.

"You run off only to run back? Is cold damaging your brain, boy?"

Backdraft aimed his flame-throwers. "No. But let's see what happens to your brain when I crank up the heat!"

He shouted and unleashed a torrent of bright orange fire, too wide for Polarclaw to avoid. Backdraft jumped back when Polarclaw leapt at him through the fire. Polarclaw staggered back when the two-wheeler landed a spin kick on his face, and staggered again when he drew one of his guns and shot it at almost point blank range at his face. More flame was shot at the crime boss, and to Backdraft's delight, it actually seemed to be having more of an effect than he thought it would. Switching to thermal vision revealed Polarclaw's body temperature was rising way faster under the fire than a regular 'bot's would have.

"What's the matter?" he taunted. "Getting a little too warm for you?"

"Eh-heh, smart one, are you?" the crime boss panted as he rose. "But how long do you think you can keep this up before you freeze yourself, hn?"

"Long enough to give you a heat stroke," he growled back. "And from the looks of it, I won't even need to work too hard."

Stress fractures began to open all over Polarclaw's body, some of them worsening the puncture wounds Frostbite had made earlier. Backdraft cut the flame of one spout and replaced it with one of his twin guns. He didn't fire at Polarclaw though, but above him: at the ice shelf that towered behind him.

"Bad aim, boy," growled Polarclaw as he rose. "You will regret that."

"Ehh..." Backdraft hemmed playfully. "How 'bout no."

In a terrible cracking roar, a massive chunk of the ice shelf collapsed. Polarclaw had just enough time to holler in dismay before being covered. But, Polarclaw being Polarclaw, that didn't actually trap him for maybe more than a minute. A thundering sonic roar shattered the ice around him. Clambering out of the ice, huffing and battered, Polarclaw had a newfound bloodthirsty glimmer in his optics. In that moment, he was actually scary – maybe not as scary as Setback riding a giant shadow cobra, but still pretty scary.

"I've had enough of you!" Polarclaw snarled.

Another flame spout was sent hurtling his way before Backdraft ran. Polarclaw caught him, snatched the gun from his hand, and flung him away towards the sound of ocean waves, and the snow beneath him had him skidding right over the cliff edge. He was barely fast enough to grab a handhold in the rock, and even then, it wasn't much of one.

"How do you feel about ice bath, hn?" grinned the crime boss, aiming his stolen gun at him.

"Uh, no thanks!" he chirped.

"I am not giving you choice."

Polarclaw's finger went down on the trigger – but no shot came bursting out.

"What?"

He tried again. The same thing happened. Snarling, Polarclaw threw it aside.

"I don't need puny gun to kill you," he declared, and brought down a foot on his hand.

Backdraft bit back a scream, though to his surprise it didn't last. The weight on his hand was suddenly lifted as something rammed into Polarclaw from behind so fast and so forcefully he was sent careening over the cliff himself. He fell into the frigid waters in a spectacular watery explosion. Backdraft let out a haughty "HA!" but the two-wheeler still yelped when he nearly lost his grip on his handhold.

"Little help?!" he demanded.

He had expected Frostbite to peer over the ledge and help him up. The hand that was offered wasn't his though, it wasn't even the right body. The figure that offered their hand was a lean navy blue 'bot decorated by white and red stripes, a battle-mask deployed over his mouth and a shield attached to the right arm. An Autobot insignia sat on their right shoulder, as did another insignia he didn't recognize.

"Come on!" they urged. "Grab hold!"

Backdraft swung his hand up and let the figure heft him up.

"Thanks," he gasped. "But like, what about...?"

"Don't worry about him," the newcomer assured in a calm, authoritative yet still likeable voice. "Ticosun 'bots like him are good against cold, but not that good. Cold water's a lot more invasive than cold air, and a lot more prone to icing. He'll probably be in emergency stasis lock in...maybe fifteen minutes, give or take? Once he's knocked out, I'll have a salvage team dredge him up." The newcomer gave him a friendly clap on the shoulder. "Good job softening him up though."

"Oh. Um. Thanks."

"Also, I'm assuming this is yours?"

The newcomer handed his gun back, complimenting how nice it looked and where he might get one for himself. Then he helped him up to his trods again.

"Come on. I heard there's another guy out in the field with you?"

"Yeah. Frostbite. He –" Backdraft gasped. "Oh, slag! Zoe!"

He ran off so quickly the newcomer kind of just stood there processing it.

"Frostbite!" he shouted into his comm. link. "Frostbite, did you find Zodiac?"

*Still looking. She laid false trail.*

"Scrap! Hurry!"

He managed to rejoin Frostbite, and the newcomer joined them shortly after that. When Frostbite spotted them, he gave them a simple order: dig. Neither of them questioned it, they simply started doing it. Eventually, the nameless newcomer gave a startled cry that had them all running to his position. They quickly saw the reason for the noise: gently held in his hands was little Zodiac in bird form, covered in a fine layer of snow. Ice crystals were beginning to sprout from her joints.

She wasn't moving.

"Oh, no..." he breathed.

The newcomer put her little chest up to his audials. "She's still got a pulse!"

"She's still alive?" the Altihexian youth gasped. "Could've fooled me!"

Their new friend opened a comm. link to someone: "Doc, we need a 'bridge at my location, pronto!"

On command, one opened. The newcomer rushed in, and he and Frostbite followed. The 'bridge didn't lead to the IASO station though. Instead, it let out in a very different looking place that still had all the trappings of a science-y bunker hideout. There were way more people too, and none of them had an IASO badge. They all had a badge that matched the newcomer's. That wasn't even the most interesting thing about the new place. Smack in the center of the room was an old model white and pale orange mech wearing an Autobot logo on his chest.

Frostbite had actually seen that figure many times, as a statue near the Well: the famed Autobot medic, Ratchet.

"Agent Darby, what is that in your –" then the old medic cut off with a gasp. "By the Allspark! Get her in one of the tanks! Quickly!"

Agent Darby, the newcomer, rushed into a side room with Ratchet in tow. Frostbite and Backdraft ran after them just in time to see the blue mech dunk Zodiac into a tank full of bubbling water – bubbling, as it turned out, because it was boiling. The intense heat meant tiny cracks began to fracture her armor but Ratchet didn't seem too worried about that. He was too busy sloshing some of the water into little currents that were directed at Zodiac's iced up joints.

"Agent Esquivel, keep an eye on her vitals."

"Already doing it, Ratchet," a young, wiry man in his late twenties retorted from where he leaning against the wall, skillfully balancing a laptop on his crooked knee. "Core temperature's rising. Pulse is stabilizing. Brainwaves are normal."

Ratchet's tense plating relaxed, just a little. Neither of them got to enjoy it. The old medic wheeled on them, indignant in the way only a doctor could be.

"Which idiot thought it was a good idea to bring a mini-con to the Antarctic in the middle of a slagging blizzard?!" he bellowed, glaring at them both.

Frostbite and Backdraft shared a nervous look.

"Um..." Backdraft squeaked. "That was her idea..."

Ratchet deflated enough to betray his shock before heaving a weary sigh. He turned to face the boiling tank. "And here I thought a CERF scientist of her caliber would know better."

That was the thing that infuriated Frostbite the most. She did know better. He'd seen her good judgements more than once. That good judgement had probably been what had helped save them from Setback's ambush. Running away when you were outgunned and outnumbered wasn't cowardice, it was wisdom. Considering the many possible ways a situation could go poorly wasn't pessimism, it was a special type of preparedness. None of her usual clever caution had really been on display out there. Reckless – reckless and irresponsible. And for what? To make herself feel useful? She wouldn't be useful to anyone dead.

"Wait, you know her?" asked Backdraft.

"Know of her," corrected the old medic. "I've read a few of her reports over the years in my spare time, on Smokescreen's urging."

"Oh! Right! Yeah, Smokescreen was one your team for a while! I keep forgetting he's a vet. He doesn't act like one," Backdraft chuckled.

"So you've met him."

Backdraft awkwardly massaged his neck cables. "Er, its a little more than just a 'meet' at this point, dude. Kinda hard for it to be when you're stuck with him for weeks and weeks."

Ratchet raised a quizzical brow ridge.

"...It's a long story."

"At any rate, I suppose we should be thankful Predacons are hardy models," muttered the old medic.

"She'll be okay?" Agent Darby wondered.

"You got to her in time. She'll pull through," smiled Agent Esquivel. "We'll leave her in the tank a little bit longer to make sure the ice clots are completely melted."

"Ice clots?" repeated Backdraft. That didn't sound good.

"Ah. A southerner," Ratchet translated. "Energon has an unfortunate habit of coagulating when exposed both to low temperature and thick atmospheres, which when combined serve to form ice crystals. If enough build up in the veins, they can cause serious, oftentimes fatal obstructions – clots – that in worst-case scenarios starve the spark of Energon, snuffing it. Smaller 'bots are unfortunately more prone to this condition by default, owing to their small size and reduced heat retention."

Backdraft's amber optics went round. "Woah. So that's why you dunked her in boiling water."

"It's a low-tech, rather blunt force solution, but it is the most effective way of removing the ice crystals," confirmed Ratchet. "Yes, the temperature shift causes stress fractures, as you can see, but those are easily treatable. Death is not."

Frostbite went up to the tank, let out a soft whine, and pawed at the glass. Zodiac remained unresponsive. Agent Esquivel suggested they wheel the tank back to the main room, to which Ratchet agreed. After positioning it out of the way but well enough in view for visual monitoring, the old medic turned to them and asked frankly if they were the only three out there. They weren't exactly who he'd been expecting as an away team. Frostbite politely informed him they were not. They would leave and rejoin the rest of the team at the IASO station if their presence in this place wasn't mandatory, or posed some security risk. The other humans in the room all looked a bit wary of them, truth be told, save for Agents Darby and Esquivel.

"No, no. I won't ask you to leave her alone here with us," the old medic argued kindly. "I can transport your team here if they can provide their current coordinates."

That was easily obtained via a simple call. Moments later, Windblade and Bumblebee stepped through. When the latter saw Ratchet, his optics lit up and he rushed over to greet him. Ratchet was more than happy to return his sweet half-embrace. He was further elated on spying the lanky man with the laptop, the one Ratchet had called "Agent Esquivel."

"Raf?!"

The young man shared his shocked delight. "'Bee?!"

"And company," Agent Darby added.

"Jack?!" the yellow mech gasped. "Holy scrap, no way! You managed to get those things working?!"

"No thanks to Raf. And a little side help from Knockout."

Bumblebee grinned. "Good to see that you managed to turn MECH's Nemesis project into something helpful."

Agent Darby transformed and out of the driver's seat, a dark-haired human male in his mid thirties stepped out. He wore the same badge as all the other humans, but he had some extra little pins on the arms of his winter jacket that Frostbite assumed had to portray rank. Jack excused himself and went over to a coffee maker on a table, poured himself a steaming mug, and leaned against the wall alongside Raf. Jack didn't seem too keen on drinking the coffee in his hands, Backdraft noticed in some amusement. He was much happier to use the hot mug as a hand warmer.

"Hey, flame guy. You never did tell me where you got that nice gun," Jack reminded him. "That's way too ornate to be standard issue."

Backdraft grinned. "It's a Relkana weapon! I've got two of 'em, actually."

He happily brought out the gun's twin.

Ratchet scoffed, nearly laughing derisively. "Relkana? Pah! Don't be ridiculous. Relkana are merely old legends. If that was the sale's pitch then the seller needs to relax the sensationalism."

Windblade smirked, "Wow, and I thought Zodiac was the skeptical one."

"I can prove it," insisted Backdraft.

"Ch-yeah. Not indoors you won't," huffed Bumblebee. "I don't think anyone here will appreciate you burning this place to the ground, Backdraft, least of all Ratchet."

"Exactly," the old medic agreed flatly.

Backdraft stuck his glossa out at the yellow mech. Bumblebee retorted by leaning onto one hip, arching a brow ridge, and looking thoroughly unimpressed at him.

"You haven't changed a bit," laughed Jack. "It's good to see you again, 'Bee."

"I see Unit E promoted you since we last talked," the former scout observed, eyeing the little pins on Jack's jacket. "Congrats."

Jack smiled thinly. "I wish your boss would do you the same courtesy."

Bumblebee cringed.

"Oh, yeah, by the way: Welcome to Unit E's Antarctic outpost."

"Jack, salvage crew," Raf prompted. "We can give them a tour once that's dealt with."

Jack sighed, pushed off the wall and wandered off to coordinate with some of the other humans. Within just a few minutes they had brought in a large tank-like vehicle that was towing a good sized boat behind it on what looked like giant, custom ski blades. Neither vehicle looked like standard stuff Backdraft had seen. They screamed "custom job" to him. They actually looked like the tank Quillfire and Springload had made off with. They had that kind of military-y (that was totally a word) look to them.

"How do you plan to get into the water to get him?" Backdraft. "D'you guys have some kind of...like, I dunno, submarine thingy? Or, like, scuba gear?"

Frostbite eyed Zodiac's tank, and a peculiar gleam came into his optics. He had an idea how to get Polarclaw; it wouldn't require putting any lives at risk, and it would dismiss Ratchet's doubt in an instant. Without explaining, the hound asked the retrieval crew if he could join them. Though surprised, they agreed he could come. Upon gaining that approval, Frostbite headed for the sound of the freezing winds, which eventually led him to a big bunker door that led back outside. Once out in the cold, he called Ratchet to the tunnel threshold before flinging his head back and howling.

Surrounded by the blizzard, Frostbite couldn't actually see them arrive. He felt them instead. Out of the blizzard arrived three Hunters, surrounded by the same chilly, icy aura he remembered.

"Tzavat nazt konsur, Hyenhet ki Honv?" one of them asked politely in his Canipian dialect.

"...Frostbite, why is the blizzard talking...?" Ratchet asked warily.

Frostbite looked back at him with a smug, sly gleam in his optics. *The Hunt is here.*

"...What?"

Just as before, it took a few minutes for the Hunters to become visible, though even then they were almost nothing more than snow flurry silhouettes standing tall amidst the swirling frost. Once Ratchet was able to discern their forms he gasped, muttered an oath, and stumbled backwards – a mistake that saw him trip backwards over the approaching tank-like vehicle.

"Worry not, healer," another Hunter assured, "we are not here for you. What is it you need us for, Relkan?"

Frostbite barked *Follow!* and ran out into the blizzard.

The Hunt made it easy to retrieve Polarclaw from the frigid waters. They could not be harmed by the cold or by any attacks from the crime boss, and indeed acted more than happy to drag him up to the nearest shoreline despite him being neither misbehaving Predacon or heretical follower of chaos. The tank vehicle's driver had brought some heavy chains to tie Polarclaw to an attached sled – having left the boat behind – and everything appeared to be going smoothly. Frostbite did not dismiss the Hunters, however. Zodiac, had she been there, would have deemed that premature on a better day.

"That's a sight you don't see every day..." the driver muttered. "Robot ghosts."

Hruff answered Frostbite. He was still coming to grips that he could summon such powerful spirits for assistance whenever he wanted.

The chains rattled. The Hunters assumed defensive stances around the sled. They would keep an eye on him as they traveled.

"Doc, get us a 'bridge, please! Target's coming to and I'm not sure these chains are gonna hold much longer!"

One groundbridge later and Frostbite, the Hunters, the driver, and Polarclaw were back inside the Unit E outpost. But the heat was exactly the wrong thing when it came to Polarclaw. The ice coating him thawed rapidly and his optics snapped back open. Finding himself chained up, he let out a furious, burbling sonic roar that had the humans on their knees and began to strain against his bonds. One hand managed to slip free and slice through one of the chains.

"Scrap!" swore Agent Darby.

Frostbite decided he'd had enough of the crime boss. He transformed and drew Mauling. Polarclaw took one look at the hefty weapon before freeing himself and jumping at him. Frostbite angrily swung the hefty blade baseball bat style. Polarclaw was sent crashing into a far wall and shattered some equipment lying against it in the process.

"Stay down," he warned him. "For your own sake."

"Frostbite! I needed that!" howled Ratchet.

Frostbite winced, "Sorry."

Polarclaw groaned as he shook the stars out of his optics, then snarled on seeing what he was up against. Two dozen armed humans, two armed Relkana, two War veterans and a Camien equipped with both blade and powerful turbines. But he also saw what was around him: lots and lots of interesting, no doubt useful tech. Schematics on console screens, weapons hung on racks nearby – a veritable treasure trove. It wasn't the IASO base he'd been looking for, but it would suffice if he could steal even a handful of it. He wasn't liking his odds though.

His focus fell on a tank in which a familiar little Avioid floated senselessly.

Polarclaw ran for the tank, dunked his hand in, and pulled Zodiac out.

"You want little one alive? Then do not attack," he warned.

To his surprise, the pale hound smirked. "Don't need to."

Polarclaw howled as Zodiac's beak snapped onto one of his digits, a bite so vicious it took the digit clean off at the base. He flung her away. Windblade darted in, ducked low, and swung her own blades at him. When Polarclaw grabbed her by the arm, the Camien spun a leg into his face fast enough to stagger him. Bumblebee and the rest of Unit E mercilessly opened fire on him. Once he was sure Polarclaw was open for a solid hit, Frostbite swung Mauling again in a downward cleave so brutal that it not only floored Polarclaw, it cracked the floor he fell against.

"Heat him up," he told Backdraft.

"One roasty crime boss, comin' right up!"

Backdraft spewed super-heated fire on Polarclaw. After a minute, he was too delirious to rise, much less struggle. At that point, Ratchet brought out a hellish looking injection needle which was skillfully plunged into Polarclaw's neck. Whatever it was, it knocked the crime boss out almost instantly.

"Class B anesthetic," the old medic clarified. "That should keep him under long enough for you to get him into a stasis pod, I trust?"

Bumblebee heaved a sigh of relief. "Yeah. Thanks, doc. I'll call Grimlock if you call Fowler and tell him we got his little problem solved."

"Little?" Windblade repeated teasingly. "Tell that to my sore everything. I'd absolutely kill for an oil bath right about now..."

Ratchet went about contacting their former liaison while Bumblebee called up Grimlock to get a pod ready. Windblade went over to check on Zodiac. She looked alright to her but she wasn't a trained doctor, so she scooped the little bird up for safekeeping until Ratchet was done talking. Once he was, she handed her off. Ratchet gave her a look over, brought out a welding torch from his kit, and began to patch up some of the stress fractures with ani-mesh. She seemed a little too dazed to flinch at the sting the torch caused.

"There," Ratchet said in a much gentler voice than any he'd used prior. "Is that better, captain?"

Zodiac checked her new bandages, chirped, and hopped once.

"Zoe! Zoe, holy scrap are you okay?! What happened?!"

Smokescreen charged in through a 'bridge and scooped Zodiac up in a flash. Grimlock ambled in behind him, toting a stasis pod, and with Frostbite's help Polarclaw was shoved into it. And it was as if the act itself caused Zodiac's daze to dissipate. She swung herself upside down from Smokescreen fingers by a single clawed foot. While Smokescreen managed a smile, Bumblebee wore a worried look as the little Avioid in Smokescreen's hand kept swinging from one claw and making happy-sounding chirps, all while giggling over their shared comm. channel.

"Uh, are you sure she's okay, doc?" he wondered nervously. "She's not still delirious from the cold?"

Ratchet cast a look back and actually smiled at the scene.

"She's fine, Bumblebee. That is a sign of recovery, not delirium."

*I'm fine, you ditz!* she chirped. *I'm just happy I can feel everything again.*

"You'll be able to feel stuff more reliably if you don't do more reckless stuff," Windblade muttered, a slight, icy edge to her voice.

Zodiac's gleaming optics dulled. For a second or two, her whole demeanor deflated. Smokescreen didn't let her mope for long. He twitched a digit over her exposed belly plates. Zodiac devolved into hysterical laughter, an infectious sound he didn't get to savor for very long. In sudden defiance she bit down (but not hard) on the offending digit to hang by her beak instead of her claws.

"Hey! Hey!" he complained. "Don't you even dare!"

Zodiac dangled from the digit, a proud, smug look on her bird face. Even though he knew she was just screwing with him, he yielded and lowered his free hand. Zodiac thus monkey-barred back to dangling by her talons. Somehow, getting debriefed by a bird hanging upside down on his hand was not the weirdest thing he'd seen lately.

"She sure keeps you in check," Rafael laughed.

"Yeah, who knew biting me was such a good way to get me to behave?" he snarked back.

"I'll have to keep that one in mind," muttered Ratchet.

"Hey!"

"I'm joking," the old medic insisted. "Mostly..."

Bumblebee laughed. "It's good to see you too, Ratchet."

Again, sorry for the delay on this! But I'm off the stronger pain meds now and am pretty much back to normal! Hope this longer one makes up somewhat for the wait.