Frag! Next time we go on a mission, we will not go into deep dark caves. It is really hard to move around especially when you are getting shot at.

I should have brought my phase shifter with me!

Smokescreen was bobbing and weaving as he ran and fired at the Vehicons while at the same time trying to not get hit as his armor plating was already scorched by the few close calls he had had.

Also, he was trying to protect the artifact even though it looked too big to be moved by the Nemesis that was high in the sky and what looked like to giant claw-like structure that seemed to have been installed in the nemesis prior to the Decepticons being radio silent for almost a human month.

The Decepticons knew about this place before we did!

I shouldn't be surprised since they have their Decepticon crazy scientist back.

I haven't seen the Predacon since the team led it to the Antarctic.

We must have put it out of commission for who knows how long.

But deep in my spark, I think that predacon is not done with us just yet.

He was really not like being in close quarters like this and he could see the rest of his team were struggling like he was. Bulkhead was having trouble battling Dreadwing and it did not help that Starscream was launching missiles in every single direction and making them disoriented.

He was avoiding hitting the rock walls which would cause a collapse that would have the artifact buried under again. He definitely did not want to get a beating from Megatron and it was far from his processor thank the allspark!

As Starscream had to dodge as he was getting blasted from the ground as Arcee was dodging and slicing Vehicons and having revenge in her mind for what he did to Cliffjumper which he had not forgotten.

Wheeljack and Bumblebee were battling Vehicons as they were surrounded. Wheeljack was using his katanas where he was impaling Vehicons and slicing their arms and servos off. He was trying to get to Dreadwing where he could see a faint outline of him but Vehicons were blocking his path.

Bumblebee meanwhile, was blasting Vehicons as well as punching and kicking them when one of them got too close for comfort.

Bumblebee could see Optimus and Megatron battling it out with Optimus having turned his right servo into a blade and his left servo into a blaster. He was fighting Megatron head-on and blasting at the same time while still evading, parrying, and blocking his attacks.

The two were in a stalemate with no clear sign of the two one-upping each other.

Megatron was getting frustrated that he could not get a clear opening on Optimus especially since he had gotten his frame upgraded with the forge of Solus Prime.

It also seemed that Bulkhead was having trouble with Dreadwing, as he was much bulkier and took so many wide swings with his mace that he sometimes completely missed Dreadwing and would let him get some hits on Bulkhead. But due to how thick his armor plating was he could not penetrate deep enough to cause wounds.

Dreadwing changed his strategy by bringing up his sword because he could not use his explosives since it would cause a collapse of rocks that may damage the artifact. He knew that his lord wanted that artifact intact and he would do his utmost best to get the mission done.

As the battle was dragging on, it was broken like a knife when a scream of pain was heard across the battlefield that made both opposing factions momentarily pause. As quick as the scream of pain ended the battle resumed, both sides going back to where they left off.

But…

Wheeljack did not because he knew the cry of pain…

It was like a stab in his spark as fear took over…

Bulkhead was hurt!

In his desperation to get to Bulkhead, he killed all the Vehicons around them and continued to run very fast towards the source of the scream.

I'm not losing you to Bulkhead! No other friend!

He was getting closer… and closer that he could see the silhouette of Bulkhead that was laying on the ground. He could clearly see a large pool of energon forming underneath him.

He could clearly see Dreadwing standing on top of Bulkhead… he had his sword sticking into his chassis!

His vision was filled with red… all he could see was red and he was filled with a lot of anger.

He immediately transformed into his alt mode and put the metal to the petal. He used a rock that looked like a ramp to launch himself. He slammed with a loud metal bang!

He slammed into Dreadwing… making the larger seeker go flying off from Bulkhead and slamming his helm into the rock wall with a loud crack!

Wheeljack transformed back into his bot mode and stood over an unconscious Dreadwing. He really wanted to finish him off… once and for all.

But… Bulkhead needed him at the moment so he left Dreadwing and immediately rushed towards where Bulkhead was. He immediately assessed the situation and saw that the wound was pretty deep.

"[Ratchet! I need you to overhear quickly! Bulkhead is down, he was stabbed deep in the chassis! He's losing a lot of energon! Get over here NOW!]" yelled a distressed Wheeljack that filled the whole base with dread.

"I'm on my way to Wheeljack! Make sure to keep Bulkhead conscious, don't let him fall into recharge!" said Ratchet as he immediately rushed over to the medbay to get his tools. He knew that they wouldn't have time to get Bulkhead to the medbay by how much energon he was losing.

"Ratchet is Bulkhead… going too…". Raf was immediately nervous and scared. None of their guardians have been wounded really badly whenever they went on missions. He and the rest of his friends had started to believe that their guardians were invincible and that nothing could take them out.

Ratchet did not reply right away because he did not want to lie to the children that it was a possibility that Bulkhead might die.

"I do not know Rafael. But, what I do know is that I would do my best to save his life. You and the rest of your friends stay here. Agent Fowler and nurse Darby, please make sure that none of the children follow us, especially Miko". Both Fowler and June nodded while Raf was on his computer and Jack went to his mother. Miko on the other hand had an angry face and immediately ran towards the training area where she had dropped off the apex armor from the previous week.

Wheeljack had been helping her train in self-defense with the apex armor in case she ran off into any sort of trouble.

"It's ready Ratchet". Rafael had already input the coordinates towards Bulkhead and Wheeljack's location. The groundbridge immediately activated and Ratchet immediately rush through.

Raf was about to shut down the groundbridge when he immediately saw Miko run past him towards the groundbridge. "Miko stop! Ratchet said to wait here". Jack immediately went after Miko and was followed by Raf as they went through the groundbrige. "Jack! Come back here this instant" yelled June as she immediately ran after the children with Fowler hot on her heels.

Both disappear as they enter the groundbridge before it self-deactivated. Ratchet had been installed in case there was no one in the base so the groundbrige could power down. Also, it was a way to keep the Decepticons from finding out the location of their new base.

The base was filled with silence… a heavy silence.


Author Note: Sorry this took a while to get out. I have not been feeling up for writing today as I am preparing for the Spring semester which starts tomorrow actually. I am feeling kind of nervous but it should pass. Do let me know how this chapter fairs because I am not feeling very confident that this chapter is great.

I also wanted to give a huge shout-out to MrsFeiix over at Tumblr for helping me get familiar with Halo and the type of weapons the UNSC, The Covenant, The Banished, etc, use so that I know which weapons would deal the most damage against the cybertronians. As well as answer any questions I have regards to the franchise. My user is the same that I use over here at fanfiction in case you want to check out my post because I for the most part just post questions and fanfic ideas that you might be interested in.

I would also like to thank The Disquieting One for giving me suggestions on what to do with the story. I definitely used what they recommended.

Anyways, I hope you all have a great day!

I will see you all in the next chapter.