Ch. 29

Optimus charged up his blaster, "I will not ask a second time. Move away from him."

Megatron glanced down at Starscream and saw the seeker wince. He was alive, but barely. Whatever he was exposed to was not doing him any favors.

"Really? And why should I? He's my second-in-command, Prime," Megatron growled, "and last I checked, that meant he took my orders!"

The warlord quickly charged his cannon as he aimed and fired, hitting a shot just in front of the Autobots. The volcano churned and boiled underneath the crust, forcing all parties to vacate. Megatron scooped up Starscream's limp chassis and threw him over his shoulder, jumping over the side of the volcano and sliding down on his peds.

Optimus frowned and followed after him. Arcee and Bumblebee threw themselves over the edge to begin pursuit when the blue femme spotted something. A helicopter following after Megatron.

Arcee growled, "It's Airachnid!" she quickly COMMed Optimus as she and Bumblebee ran to join him, "Optimus! Above Megatron, Airachnid's setting herself up to give him aerial support!"

The Prime glanced upward and nodded, "Understood. If she comes in closer, then you may engage."

Arcee transformed and drove hard, letting Bumblebee run off after Optimus. She skidded up hills and dunes to give herself enough speed and momentum, watching as Airachnid began to hover lower to get herself within range to fire on the Autobot leader. A large hill in front of Arcee created the perfect ramp and the femme took the chance, revving her engine as hard as she could and launching herself into the air at the helicopter. She transformed in midair and slammed into Airachnid, the black femme yelling out in surprise as she and Arcee fell to the ground.

The spider threw the other femme off her and transformed, wiping leaking energon from her mouth, "Arcee. Well, I can't say it's a party until my favorite nemesis shows up. You look far better than the last time I beat you."

Arcee transformed out her blades, "I promise you, that will never happen again."

The Autobot yelled out as she lunged at Airachnid, the two beginning to fight.

Not too far from the pair, Optimus was still in pursuit of Megatron, who still had Starscream's limp chassis tight in his grasp. Bumblebee was just behind his leader, beeping loudly to ask what they should do.

The Prime looked ahead and saw a tree line, "If we lose him in the trees and Megatron calls for a ground bridge to get Starscream out of here, we will lose our only chance to obtain the advantage. See if you can get ahead of him. As long as he is holding Starscream, he cannot fly."

Bumblebee beeped and transformed, driving fast to get around Megatron and to the tree line first. He swerved out of sight behind a mass of hills and caught sight of the Decepticon warlord through jagged spaces. He was right beside him now. Bumblebee pushed his engine harder and exploded out in front of the tree line, transforming to block Megatron's path.

The warlord skidded to a halt and laughed, aiming his cannon at the smaller mech, "Do you think your crude attempt will stop me?! I'll turn you into nothing but dust!"

"Not if I get to you first!"

Optimus charged and tackled into Megatron from behind, Starscream falling from the warlord's grasp. Bumblebee intervened only to scoop up the seeker and pull him from harm's way, watching as Optimus and Megatron began exchanging blows and hot plasma.

Knockout strutted out of the ground bridge beside Breakdown as the portal closed. They had been waiting for this day for a little while now. And it was somewhat special. It was the first event Starscream had 'predicted' for them that they actually got to attend.

"So, should we add a little flare to all this?" the red mech mused.

Breakdown shrugged, "I thought you said you added flare to every place you went to?"

Knockout beamed, taking out his electrical prod to give it a whirl, "True, but I thought about adding a little more finesse."

The blue mech shrugged again, walking over to a cracked rock, "Here, wait... Yup, here it is," he transformed his servo into a hammer and slammed it against the rock to reveal more of the hidden data cylinder.

Knockout purred, "Ooo, shiny."

"Yeah, too bad you don't get to keep it!"

A wrecking ball came out from the side and Knockout flipped back to avoid the blow, smirking when Breakdown slammed his hammer against the offender, "Well, well, well, if it isn't the Autobot's big, green 'B'. Come to play with us, Bulk?"

Breakdown glared at the red mech, "I don't play well with more than one person."

Bulkhead growled, "Too bad, looks like we're gonna dance!"

The green mech ran at Breakdown and the two started to grapple with each other. Knockout simply watched, chuckling to himself. No other Autobots appeared to be with Bulkhead, so for once, he didn't have to scratch his illustrious finish. And Starscream had asked for them to be 'gentle'.

"Soundwave: calling into Knockout."

The red mech frowned and turned away from the fight to answer his COMM, "Red racing machine, at your service."

"Megatron: under attack. Problem: Megatron has captured Starscream."

Knockout yelled out, dropping his prod, "He WHAT?!"

Breakdown stopped in mid-punch to look at the medic, and growled when Bulkhead tried to hit him, smacking his servo away, "Leave it!" he went to Knockout's side, "Doc?"

Knockout waved him off, "Keep playing, I'm busy!"

Bulkhead frowned in confusion, "Ah... what's going on?"

"Megatron: requested reinforcements. Starscream: injured, unresponsive. Autobots on location: Arcee, Bumblebee, Optimus Prime."

The red mech snarled angrily, "Look, we'll fight later, we have to go! Soundwave, bridge us back!"

Breakdown took hold of his arm, "What's going on?!"

"Ground bridge: negative. Does not support timeline."

Knockout nearly shrieked, "Well we can't just sit here!"

Breakdown spun him around, "Knockout, what's wrong?!"

"Big M has Scream! They're at that second location and Psychic isn't looking too good!"

Bulkhead gasped lightly, "So Optimus did find Screamy! Wait, why do you two... you two care...?" his optics widened, "You're the two Starscream said he had to talk to about defecting from the 'Cons!"

Knockout scoffed, waving him off, "Yeah, well times have changed," he took his prod from Breakdown when the blue mech picked it up for him, pointing it at the green mech, "There are three of us Starscream wants to discuss with now, so that makes the job all that much harder, doesn't it?!"

Bulkhead transformed his wrecking ball back into a servo, holding them up to show no ill will, "Look, I want to help. Optimus would tell me this is the right thing to do. Come with me. We'll help Starscream. We'll even find... who else?"

"Soundwave," Breakdown grumbled, amused by the green mech's horrified expression.

Knockout seethed and smacked the blue mech lightly in the stomach plating, "You're telling him everything!"

"You already told him enough."

Bulkhead grumbled, "Oh boy... Alright, then do me a favor in case something does happen. Say you get Scream. You patch him up and he's fine, right?"

Knockout crossed his arms, "Yes, even if we have added security and Airachni-glitch on him, we could make sure he's fine."

"But let's say we get him," Bulkhead proposed, "Just say we do. Give us permission to tell him you side with us. He said he couldn't tell us anything unless he sided with us, which he wouldn't do without talking to you two... now three... first."

Breakdown smirked, "Wow. Screamer loyal to the end."

Knockout shuddered, "Weird saying it aloud, huh?"

Bulkhead slowly approached them, "If you give us permission, he can tell us what's going on. We can help."

Knockout sighed and touched onto his COMM, "'Wave? You catch that?"

"Soundwave: reluctantly approves. Soundwave: awaits confirmation from Knockout and Breakdown."

Breakdown grumbled, but nodded, "We side."

Knockout put his prod away, "We side."

Bulkhead let out a held intake, nodding, "Good."

The green mech perked up when he heard a ping and turned away to answer the COMM, "Yeah, I'm still kicking... ... Alright, I'm on my way," he turned back to the pair, "Good timing. Ratchet just put an energon line into Starscream at our base."

Knockout whined lightly, but Breakdown nudged him back to an opening bridge, "You take care of him. Tell him we gave our permission. Don't you dare let him die."

Bulkhead nodded, "I won't," his ped kicked a metal cylinder and he picked it up, "Uh, are we going to fight over this?"

Knockout scowled as he went through the bridge, "Keep it! Just don't let the humans touch it!"

The pair went through the bridge, leaving Bulkhead to wait for his own pick up.