Ch. 196

Knockout was desperately trying not to show his disappointment. His expression was more bitter than grim, but as he shuffled after Breakdown, Smokescreen and Optimus down a moss-covered ledge, he couldn't help releasing his emotions.

"Optimus!" the smaller red mech called down, catching his ped on a small stone and scowling when he had to balance himself again, "We've been scouring this location for forever now! No leftover machines, no Decepticon presence, this place is dead!"

The Prime pulled himself up a wall face, stopping beside a misty waterfall to help pull Smokescreen up first, "This cavern is not yet fully explored, Knockout," he explained, "and until we have ensured it is empty, we will continue to press on. Do you have a problem with this?"

Breakdown lifted Knockout so Optimus could pull him up next, the medic pouting, "No... I get it. But maybe I should return back to the base we have and do what I can there. My help could be better put elsewhere..."

"Ah, come on, doc," Breakdown smirked, climbing up after his companion, "Don't be like that. We need you here. Don't give up on this place yet."

Smokescreen nodded, "Optimus and Breakdown are right. We still have miles of cave in front of us. This place is enormous. And it was logged in the Decepticon banks for a reason; there has to be something here."

Knockout sighed softly, "And what if there's nothing? If this is another dead set of coordinates, we don't exactly have many options left."

Optimus carefully set a servo on the smaller mech's shoulder plating, "We have not yet crossed that bridge. But if we find ourselves at such a crossroads, we will strategize together. Can you hold out until then?"

The medic shrugged. He wanted to say 'yes' and still hold out a bit of hope that the Prime was right, but it was hard. Ratchet had told everyone earlier that they didn't have many choices left. Their window of opportunity to strike back was dwindling and they still hadn't found alternative base accommodations. They would be stuck with their little piece of the Harbinger at this rate. Maybe that wasn't a bad thing, but the feeling of having to hide away after everything they had been through left the taste of sour energon on the red mech's palate.

"I'm trying," he finally murmured, walking ahead, "Not just for the team, but for Starscream. I just feel useless whenever we come back without progress."

The other mechs followed closely behind but Breakdown stayed close at his side, "I know where your helm's at, doc," he admitted, "I was there too when I was out with Bulk, Jackie and Miko. You gotta see this in a different way. Sure, maybe we don't switch bases, but maybe we find a place we can use to lure Megatron in anyway. There are other alternatives, right?" he smirked, "Give you a chance to use that big processor of yours to get back at that bucket helm."

Knockout smiled a little, "Yeah. Sure. If we get to that crossroad, we'll give ourselves some options..."

The group of four had been sent to a forest somewhere in Brazil. While there had been no obvious signs as to why the coordinates had been in the Decepticon database, a cave had been found on the jungle floor when Smokescreen had unceremoniously fallen into it. Optimus had to make a judgement call to go in to explore after the group realized they would have no way to signal for backup so deep underground.

The cave turned out to be much larger than they had originally anticipated, filled with larger plants at the mouth of it while mosses and smaller vegetation dared to sprout where very little light could reach them. While it seemed a good prospect at the start, there was too much organic life to remove to create an operational base. So they had to find why this spot had been marked in the first place.

Each of their chronometers ticked away the minutes spent exploring as they collected and turned to the first hour, then the second. Knockout stopped counting after the fifth. He was sure he was the only one struggling with all this as much as he was. He didn't want to report another bad set of coordinates. Another collection of hours, even a day, lost to this. It felt like a waste and energon spent. It felt like he was failing Starscream every time.

"Whoa, low bridge," Smokescreen chuckled, crouching down as the cave ceiling began to come down lower, "Looks like a tight squeeze up ahead. Doc Knock and I should be fine, you and Breakdown might have to transform to squeeze in though, Optimus."

The mechs stopped to assess the decline and the Prime nodded, "Smokescreen, you and Knockout will move forward first and check that it is safe for us to continue."

The two smaller mechs nodded. Smokescreen was already slowly crawling forward. As the ceiling continued its decline, he found himself on his front plating, wincing at the sound of his door wings scraping softly at the rock above him. Knockout followed with very little hesitation. He saw the way the white mech had to move and followed in a similar fashion. The medic, usually proud of his lustrous paint job, already knew he would be nicked and lightly scuffed from all this. He also knew that his favorite buffer was back the the Harbinger and Breakdown was not afraid to use it.

"I'm almost out," Smokescreen called ahead of him, "I think I can see some light. It's dim, but it's there!"

Light? Had they accidentally stumbled into the back entrance of a Decepticon mining operation? Or something else?

Knockout felt worry overcome him. It couldn't be that easy.

Smokescreen crawled out first and stood, stretching. He leaned back down to help the red mech up, the pair letting their optics adjust to what little light the area had. It was another gloriously large cavern, with somewhat large trees scattered among the rock. Water was coming in from another part of the cave, they could hear and smell it, but it must have been farther away. Both mechs looked up from their ledge above this magnificent hidden forest to crumbling holes in the cave's ceiling. This was where the light was coming from.

"Smokescreen, Knockout," Optimus called, "is everything alright? Do you see anything?"

Smokescreen went back to the crevice they had just crawled out of to answer, "We're fine. Our optics are still adjusting. See if you guys can transform and come through. This place is enormous."

The sound of transformation sequences echoed through to the cavern and engines slow to advance started creeping up.

"Ugh, this is a tight squeeze," Breakdown could be heard complaining, "Doc, why didn't you transform to get through this?"

Knockout smirked, "Could have been enemies on the other side, Breakie. Kind of hard to fight in vehicle mode. Besides, it's a great excuse for a buff session later."

"Have you ever needed an excuse before?"

"Primus, no," Smokescreen shuddered, "you two can talk about all that sort of stuff after we get out of this place. Optimus, how are you doing?"

"We are managing," the Prime responded, "give us a moment."

Breakdown was the first out, transforming as quickly as he could and rolling his shoulders to shake off any bits of rock that were trying to lodge themselves into sensitive places. Optimus came through next. It was clear that his exhaust pipes hadn't cleared the low rock ceiling as well as expected; Knockout winced at what looked like painful dents and scrapes in the metal.

The Prime transformed without problems however, and looked out carefully over the large cavern, "Yes, I do see what you mean, Smokescreen. This could take far longer to explore than we may have time for."

Knockout huffed and rolled his optics, "Well it might help if we could see better. Breakie, do the thing. The flashy one."

The blue and white mech chuckled, "You can just ask for one of my emergency flares, you know," his shoulder cannon popped up and aimed high, "That is the name for this kind of shot."

The medic crossed his arms, "I call it how I see it. It's flashy. Now make it flash."

Breakdown chuckled again and fired, the missile exploding into a burning ball of light just below the cave ceiling. The mechs quickly began scanning their optics to take note of where the cave walls began. As the flare fizzled out, Smokescreen's optics locked onto something and widened.

"W-what was that?!"

Optimus looked down at the white mech, "Smokescreen, what did you see?"

The smaller mech pointed out into a particular direction, "There! Up on the wall or trapped in it or something! It wasn't natural, it looked crafted!"

Knockout's optics widened, too, "What was it?! A base?"

"I... I don't know, I didn't get the best look," Smokescreen admitted, "Breakdown, do you have another flare?"

The blue mech nodded, "I only have one left. You sure you want me to use it?"

Optimus shook his helm, "Not at this time, Breakdown. Smokescreen saw something and we shall investigate. Did it look far away?"

Smokescreen shook his helm, "Not too far. Maybe an hour's walk? Less if we drive."

The Prime looked over their ledge at the amassment of trees below and hummed cautiously, "It would appear the organic life here has made that choice for us. We shall walk."