The arrival of the rescue ship was met with no fan fair; exactly what they were hoping for. With the craft coming in dark, Depth Charge left the bridge with the pilot doing his thing to meet the rest of his crew in the storage chamber they gathered in. Medics and warriors, both were double checking their gear, looked up at their commanding officer as soon as he stepped into the chamber.

"We land in 2 cycles," he said, the ship rumbling harshly right after he spoke as it broke through the thick atmosphere.

As the ship landed, rocking violently in the process, the exit hatch rushed open, allowing the occupants outside. It was dark, a storm raging overhead, giving them the cover they needed as they approached the derelict building. An old Decepticon research and development center, it had been decommissioned a vorn after the end of the Great War, supposedly. To any optic that currently looked upon it, it was easy to tell that it was far from unused now. Reports had come in about Cybertronians of all factions vanishing. The Maximal High Counsel had sent their best to investigate, that intelligence being passed to their Special Operations, and, in turn, to Depth Charge's group.

With flashes of lighting giving brief glimpses of the infiltrating forces, Depth Charge lead the way through the hole that his troops created and they swiftly took out the Predacons that were both patrolling the corridors and working the the laboratories. With the meager security force that were protecting the scientist and the drones that were working in the facility subdued, it allowed the Maximals the freedom to search the building. With their engineer securing the data on the computer systems, the others expanded out.

Medics tended to the several bots of all four factions were strapped to repair berths, only a handful were still functional. The majority of those taken who had not survived the trials were thrown into random piles in the smelting room, the fires burning brilliantly as it crucibles waited for their fill. Depth Charge walked through, aiding those as needed before moving to the next group to check on their progress. It was as he was assisting the medics that his optics caught sight of his friend holding onto one of the survivors. Or at least she would have been if they had made it sooner. His friend was as large as Depth Charge was in frame, so the tiny femme that now lay limp as a child's doll in his huge arms looked as if she might have actually been simply a doll. Depth Charge knelt down beside them, noting how badly his companion's frame was shaking.

"So much... pain... fear... So very much... It's all I can feel here, as if it's soaked into the very walls of the building," he mumbled, still focused down at the smaller bot in his arms. "Their last moments were drowning in the agony of it all, even hers. She was chosen for the sparkling she carried and was forced to watch it extinguish."

Giving a reassuring hand on his friend's shoulder, Depth Charge understood how the empathic abilities he had through his sparkline made this job particularly difficult. The way he felt things from others made it easier for them to track down their targets, but certain emotions, like pain, anger, fear, and hate, hit harder than the kinder ones.

"Brizard, it's going to be alright. We'll be out of here as soon as everything is secured."

Blinking his green optics up at his dear friend, finding understanding in the bot that knew him for most of their lives. "You always look out for me. Never shied away from doing what you had to to make sure it never swallowed me up. I don't know what I'd do without you, old friend."

With great care Brizard gently placed the femme on one of the storage platforms that those who did not survive resided so they could be placed on the Maximal's ship. The pair aided the others, their towering forms allowing them to do the heavier lifting that was needed, and soon the ship with the Predacon captives, the not even handful of survivors, and all of the data that they had collected from whatever experiment they were performing.

In the quiet of their ship, Depth Charge looked over the report he was preparing for the High Counsel. He was ready for a quieter life. Once all of this was finalized and cleared away he could put in a transfer into some quiet little corner of the universe for both himself and his best friend.

Author's Note: I don't own the show, or the characters. Thanks for reading.

I know I have other works in progress that I want to get finished soon. I'm doing my best to make sure that they turn out right. NaWriMo has always been a good motivator to get something written. This year I decided to focus on something for others to read other than my own personal collection of writings.

Rampage became the focus mostly due to the shine of his kinder side in the episode "Transmutate", and honestly there is just so much to unpack with this character just in the show alone. Mostly my ideas on a possible back story, the only thing canon for this is what is shown in the show itself.

The name Brizard was one of the first time I had come across Campbell Lane on the TV, the show was MacGyver, so I felt it a bit fitting to use the name for Pre-X status.