Disclaimer: I do not own Transformers: just my OC's & the plot.

HUNTERS MOON

Chapter 4: Red Sunrise

8 or so hours later, somewhere deep in the southern Sierra Mountains:

It was still quite dark outside, though the sky was slowly beginning to turn in colour from the night-time indigo to the deep blue of the early dawn: echoing from across the lake, the owls and all the other nocturnal creatures had quieted down, and were now slowly being replaced by the deep hoarse crowing of ravens, as well as all the other birds of the early morning hours.

As she stirred from her light nap, Lizzy looked over at where the Waineright twins were huddled up with Jay-jay against the still-recharging Firefly, using the heat of her whirring systems to keep the cold night air at bay: next to them, Violet and Annabelle sat drooped over one another, having given into fatigue and exhaustion some time ago, and thus had fallen asleep together, with a sleeping Sparklestar curled around them like a snake; nestled right up in the curve of Firefly's shoulder.

The whole scene would have looked adorable: were it not for the fact there was a pack of twenty giant monster Insecticons, barely two hundred yards away in the cave adjacent to theirs. After sitting up and stretching out her stiff limbs, Lizzy chanced a glimpse at the mouth of the cave; the Insecticon guarding the entrance hadn't moved all night, and so she flopped back down with a small sigh.

"Sleep much?" Becca asked offhand as she rubbed her eyes.

"I napped a little: you?" she asked back

"Didn't sleep much anyway: though, I'm surprised Jay-jay managed to doze off..." the blonde twin smiled as she carefully wriggled out of the 'cuddle-pile', and came over to Lizzy's side. The two girls sat in an awkward silence for a brief moment, before Becca asked: "...So, you calmed down yet?"

Having had a good several hours to cool off and think about what happened when they first arrived, Lizzy couldn't say she had much frustration left to vent, and with an exasperated sigh, admitted: "I guess? ..." though she still had some stubbornness left to not want to let anyone have the final say (despite the fact the argument was long since over). "...Can't say I ever been in that kinda situation before"

"What? The part where we got hijacked by a bunch of giant alien bugs? Or where you got your comeuppance for being a jerk?"

Lizzy gazed at Becca in surprise for a brief second, the sarcasm in her voice hadn't gone over her head, but she knew now she had no right to contend her opinion; so she just sat there, half tempted to want to stew in her own stubborn annoyance: but somehow (for some unfathomable reason), curious as to know why...

"...I never figured she was the type" Lizzy said offhand.

"Who?"

"Morri: giving a verbal beat-down like that. How often does she own your ass?"

"She's not the type" Becca corrected, "She just doesn't like taking any bullshit: especially in a situation like this...Which made me curious: where the hell did you get the idea that you could take charge of this?"

"...I just thought-"

"What? That you knew exactly how to escape? That this is just like getting out of being grounded?" Becca stated. To which Lizzy stared at her in surprise: "Yeah, I've been there, I used to think the same thing too once: but life hardly ever works out like that, and when you live with these guys-" Becca patted Firefly's side, "There's not much that does works out...At least, nothing you're able to make your own luck with"

Now more curious, Lizzy couldn't help but ask: "...So? You used to prank too?"

Becca couldn't help but smirk: "A long time ago"

"Why'd you stop?"

"Because...There comes a time when... When something serious goes down, and you're family needs you to be there when it counts. That's when you realize, it's time to grow up a little, and start doing things with a little more responsibility"

"Yeah but, surly it isn't all work all the time?" Lizzy frowned

"Hell no, we'd have all gone insane a long time ago if we didn't have a little fun every now and then" Becca replied, "But for times like these: thinking you know how to handle something like this isn't up for debate. You let the experts take the lead, and trust in them to know what to do right"

"That's why you trust Morri? Cuz she knows how to lead?"

"I may not have known her for as long as I've known Sam and the others; but I do know she's good at stuff like this. She's cool under pressure, smart, patient-"

"-Never let's anyone bullshit her around?" Lizzy raised a skeptical eyebrow, to which Becca sighed in exasperation, "There's a difference: between getting someone's attention, and gaining someone's trust. With you, it's not about whose got the bigger attitude or ego to be in charge. It's about listening, and learning to follow someone else's lead. Look, she's a cool person to hang with; she doesn't verbally beat-down on any of us, because we don't give her any reason to. We respect each other: we pay attention to each other: it's called give and take; you gotta give a little to get a little"

"*Pft*, you know you sound like my mom, right?" Lizzy couldn't help but smile, though this time it wasn't with blase ignorance.

"Well, maybe she was right" Becca stated matter-of-factly, "But either way, you gotta start paying attention and start pulling you're weight"

"Or what? You'll beat the snot outta me?"

Realizing Lizzy still wasn't a hundred percent won over with this: Becca couldn't help but state: "...You won't be doing yourself any favors; and furthermore, it won't just be you that'll be hurt because of it..."

Confused, Lizzy sighed: "No offense, but what the hell's that supposed to mean?"

Becca sat there, contemplating what else she could say that would get her to listen: but before she had a chance to speak, the sound of footstep's echoing off the cave walls grabbed her attention as Roxy approached them. Max soon appeared too as she climbed down one of the sloping sides of the cave. "Hey, anything going down?" Roxy asked.

"Nothing, we just got up" Lizzy replied.

"Where's Morri at?" Max asked

"Up there..." Roxy pointed to the mouth of the cave; looking up to where she was pointing, Lizzy and Becca were both surprised to see Morri crouched down on a ledge some twenty feet away from the Insecticon guard, with her arm outstretched into the air. She seemed to be doing something with her CTG, when suddenly; the con gave out a low sluggish grumble as it shifted slightly. Deciding not to chance her luck any further, Morri swiftly, but steadily climbed back into the cave, and rejoined the girls.

"Is he awake?" Roxy asked worryingly

"Just barely, but I don't want to risk chancing anything if he's sensitive to movement or sound" Morri replied a she stopped to get her breath back, "...Where's Chelsea?" she asked, looking around, and not seeing a sign of her anywhere.

"Back here!" Chelsea hissed as she came jogging out of the darkness, "Sorry I've been gone so long!"

"I'll say! Where the hell have you been?! You've been gone nearly an hour!" Max frowned disapprovingly.

"Sorry, But I think I found our way outta here" Chelsea smiled

"What?!" Lizzy sat upright: at the same time, Firefly woke up and blinked in amazement "Where?" she groggily demanded.

"There's a passageway right at the back of the cave, that goes straight through the hill to a gorge on the other side: it's a hike, but it looks too small for the con's to fit in" she smiled

"Huh, so that confirms it" Morri smiled as she looked at a satellite photo on her CTG, "Confirms what?" Roxy raised an eyebrow.

"Okay, the jamming signal these bugs are emitting is still in place: but I was reading the output on my CTG's frequency scanner a couple of hours ago, and the signal seems to revolve on a cycle that goes around once every two minutes; so I timed it to when it hits it's low point. And sure enough, I managed to get a hit on our GPS co-ordinates (good thing there was a satellite passing right overhead)" Morri explained.

"Great, so where are we exactly?" Lizzy butted in.

"That's where this turns into a good-news-bad-news scenario: the bad news is we are smack-bang in the middle of the southern Sierra Nevada Mountain range, at least a day's drive from anywhere. But the good news is the jamming signal is set to a low frequency, which means there's a good chance it might only have a two mile radius at the most"

"Fine, but how's that gonna help?" Firefly frowned

"Before the GPS readings cut out, I got a satellite snap-shot of the hundred mile radius we're in; there's an old logging road about three miles south of here: and about ten miles south along that, there's an old abandoned ranger's station. If I can get to that to the top of that station I'll be able to send out a distress signal, without the mountain topography obscuring the signal's line-of-sight"

"Great! Let's do it!" the green femme smiled

"There's just one problem, "Chelsea interjected sheepishly, "The passage is way too small for you to fit in"

"What? But we can't leave her here!" Lizzy protested

"And we're not going to" Morri assured her, "There's got to be another way we can all get out safely" she added as she started thinking of an alternative plan.

"Surely there must be something: I'm pretty small femme, I can fit in most places you know?" Firefly scoffed

"There's no other way out through the cave that's larger, but there is a big chamber which you might be able to fit in; it shaped like a U-turn so if the bugs see your gone, they won't be able to grab you" Max threw in

"But what if they blast the cave with their cannons and just dig her out later?" Becca asked,

"Not likely" Morri replied, "See the rock the cave is made out of? That's all granite with quartz veins; quartz absorbs plasma energy easily, so it's likely that, while the initial blast might do a lot of damage, the energy particles that create the bulk of the explosive chain-reaction will be absorbed and neutralized by the quartz molecular structure"

"You really think that will work?" Firefly asked concernedly

"Considering this is unprocessed quartz, I can't say with a hundred percent certainty: but we use it all the time in the armoury to absorb any excess discharge from the plasma and ion-charged weapons, so it's the best option we got right now" was all Morri could offer.

"Okay: so what else do we do now?" Roxy asked as she folded her arms

"Now that we have a way out, our first priority is to get the kids out, and get Firefly into that chamber" Morri stated, "Max, Chelsea, help me move Firefly: Roxy, get everyone up and tell them what we're going to do, we got to be ready to go by the time Firefly's secure"

"Fine" Roxy nodded as she went to stir Violet and the others awake, Becca crawled back to Becky and Jay-jay to get them up too. Watching the Insecticon guard carefully for any sign of movement, Firefly got up and gently scooted on her aft-plates backwards, trying to stay as quiet as possible while Max and Chelsea guided her to the back of the cave; the pain in her side had subsided to a dull throb, but still, she was careful not to knock or strain it in any way.

"What about me?" Lizzy asked

"Still the same as before: stay with the others" Morri stated

This time, Lizzy didn't contend her order: she glanced over at Becca, who simply offered a look of disappointment.

At the same time: elsewhere:

"It would seem the Insecticons decided to stop for a quick snack, before taking off again" Majestrix observed as her party inspected and scanned the devastated fuel depot; all the tanks had been ripped apart and drained of their contents (and considering the scale of the damage, it had been a miracle the whole place didn't go up in flames).

"Since when are they ever not hungry?" Blackshot replied nonchalantly.

"Good point" Majestrix replied, "Anything to report?" she called out to the others.

"Good news, the youngling's were definitely here, and still alive" Ravage called back as he sniffed the ground, to which the Autobot guardians all let out a sigh of relief. "I don't smell any blood either, so none of the humans were hurt" Ashley threw in.

"But I do smell Firefly's energon's, not a great quantity, but enough to suggest she was injured" the panther added as he climbed back up into Deathshot's cockpit, followed by his student. Glancing at each other in worry, the three VW sister's anxiety spiked a little, as they wondered just how bad Firefly's injury was.

As Deathshot secured his passengers, he sensed Velocity come up behind him, and a small ping on his privet comm frequency indicated she wanted to speak to him secretly: : Listen, before anything else happens, I just wanted to say I'm so sorry for what happened. Perhaps if I'd been there I might have been able to get to Morri in time; but I-

: -Look, don't beat yourself up, none of us knew the cons would change direction like that; I doubt there's anything you could have done to stop them anyway: Deathshot replied, : ...But even so, why didn't you comm me to say you weren't comming? :

: What? But I did comm you, right before the cons were spotted on the long-range scanners; didn't you receive me? : Velocity replied concernedly

Deciding to save it for later, Deathshot replied, :...We'll sort this out when we get back; for now, just concentrate on finding the younglings:

"So time is now a premium, if it's a life-threatening wound" Majestrix frowned, "Alright, there's nothing much else we can do here, Transform and roll out!" she barked as she jumped up into the air, transformed into her jet-mode and took off, followed the other flyers while the ground-based Autobots did their best to keep up with them over the dense forested terrain.

: Um? We've got a serious problem...: Deathshot interrupted,: The con's energon trail splits seven ways:

Scanning the ground, the Autobots were dismayed to find that, indeed, the energon trail split off seven ways: each heading in a different direction into the mountains and vast endless forest.

: Now what? Split up and search? : Velocity asked

: Spot on. Crystalwing, Twilightveil, you're both with me. Blackmoon, Acidwing, Obsidian, you take the second. Deathshot, Thundercracker, you'll both the take the third. Skywarp and Lazerbeak take the fifth. Buzzsaw and Portia, you'll take the sixth. Blackshot, Eclipse, Velocity, you'll have the seventh. And Trailbreaker, you, Bluestreak and the femme's will take the seventh from the ground. Maintain comm silence and stay sharp, those cons could be anywhere out there: Majestrix ordered.

: Copy that: everyone replied as they paired up with their partners and headed off in the seven various directions.

: Prime, this is Majestrix: when you pick this message up we'll be somewhere over the Sierra's, it looks like the younglings are still alive, and the cons have gone with the 'divide and confuse' ruse. They split up in seven directions to lead us around on a wild turbo-goose-chase. Hope you're 'dino-hunt' is going a little better: Majestrix out:

At the same time, somewhere west of the Californian state border:

"Ah frag it!" Jetfire grumbled as he gazed down at the giant crater in the side of the rise, "Looks like ol' 'Grimmy' still knows how to give us the slip!"

"And how to stay ahead by the looks of things..." Ultra Magnas frowned as he inspected the nine sets of giant dinosaur footprints leading away from the landing site: "I'd say they must have landed here well over three hours ago; they know they've got to get within range of the cons before they pick up their scent"

"Fortunately, it looks like the Insecticon's tactics might buy us some time" Prime replied

"Sir?" Bumblebee asked

"I just received a silent comm message from Majestrix; the younglings are still alive, and the Insecticons have split up to mask their trail into the Sierra's; creating seven different energon trails" Prime explained

"Okay, well at least that buy's us some time to get ahead of Grimlock, and get the drop on the cons before he does" Jetfire sighed

"But that still doesn't bring us any closer to finding the younglings" Ultra Magnas pointed out.

"Perhaps not, but right now it's the best chance the younglings have" Prime stated, "...Unless, they have already found a way out of their predicament..."

Elsewhere, NEST Base:

"So wait, let me get this straight. You managed to give the cons the slip by jumping into the reservoir?" Wheeljack blinked in surprise.

"No, we didn't jump! We fell," Jeanie explained, "When those bugs snagged us and took off, the downdraft from their wings was so strong that my jeans ripped and I fell: Hailey, Allie and Rosy tried to grab me but their pants ripped, and so they fell too"

"Considering that was a fifty foot drop, you girls were damn lucky not to have broken you're necks!" Glen gasped

"That doesn't make me feel any better, considering we were the ones that got off lucky..." Allie sulked from where she sat atop one of the computer terminals.

"Look, don't beat yourself up, what happened, happened: it wasn't anyone's fault" Wheeljack assured her in a soft tone. "Plus, they were Insecticons, there wasn't much else you could do anyway" Que added.

"...I just hope their all okay" Allie replied quietly

"I'm worried sick too" Hailey offered, "But I know my sister's: if their alive, then so are the others. This isn't the first time we've been in the shits"

"That's true" Tom sighed, "And if Morri's with them, they'll definitely be alright"

"How can you know for sure?" Rosy asked

"...I don't" Tom reluctantly admitted, "But I know my cousin, and I know she'll get them through this...she always does"

As the kids continued to talk, Ratchet quietly slipped away into the back room of the med-bay, and logged into the computer terminal (the one that was accessible only to him); typing in the commands, he brought up the live data-feed from Ashley's DNA scanner and stared at the incoming data with a concerned frowned. "...What in Primus's name is going on?" he whispered under his breath as he read through the data; it didn't make any sense: and worse still, from what he was reading, it looked like something was on the verge of happening...

"Please. Just hold on, until they gets them back..." the medic preyed.

Suddenly, there was a commotion over the comms, as frantic and angry voices began slinging back and forth, barking orders and telling the Autobots and NEST personnel to defend the entrance. Rushing back to the Command center in double-quick time, Ratchet burst into the room to find the Prowl and the other Autobots and humans in a state of near panic.

"What's wrong?! Are there casualties coming in?!" he demanded

"No! Look who's at the front door!" Prowl angrily pointed to the monitor.

"Whoa! Are those the 'Dinobot' guys?" Rosy gawked as she stared at the security camera feed of nine HUGE robotic dinosaurs, nonchalantly strolling up to the base's entrance, as if they were about to crash a sorority party.

"Aw frag..." Ratchet's face soured, "Okay, I'll prep the med-bay: you just concentrate on slowing them down"

"Can't you just stop them?" Glen asked desperately

"Stop Grimlock?!-" Prowl gawked, but Glen just stared up at him dumbly: face palming his forehead with a loud CLANG! Prowl just passed a heavy sigh and got back to work; it would take too long to explain why the doors wouldn't be enough to stop the , let alone the rest of the reserve Autobot forces. "...Just find somewhere to hide and stay there! Don't come out until I give the all-clear! Understand?"

"Uh, sure..." Glen nervously replied as he and Darren grabbed the girls by the arms and ran out of the command center; "Wait! What's going on?" Jeanie demanded. "Don't know, and right now, I don't think I need to know!" Glen replied frantically.

Outside, Grimlock and the Dinobots pushed and shoved the other Autobots aside as they came out to try and stop them; as they approached the huge reinforced metal doors, Cerberus stood with all three of his heads hunched over, his maws drooling and teeth bared as he growled dangerously at the . "Hello Cerberus: nice to know you still remember me..." Grimlock smiled as he punched the giant hellhound out cold with one hefty swing of his club-like fist: "And if you're here, that can only mean you're mistress and her lackeys are too"

"So what's the plan?" his second in command casually asked as he swatted Cliffjumper away with one effortless backhand, crashing him into a pile of boulders some two hundred yards away. "If those bugs are still hungry, then it makes sense to take some bait along to draw them out" Grimlock replied as he flicked Beachcomber out the way with his middle claw.

"Somehow, I don't think Prime will be wanting to give up any 'willing' volunteers" the pterodactyl replied as he casually stood there, holding Blurr in a headlock while the poor bot struggled to free himself. "Then let's see if there's anyone in the brig; Prime was never one for capital punishment, so we'll just 'relieve' him of any unwanted troublemakers" the Dinobot leader smiled as he pried the doors open and let himself in.

Down below, the humans and Autobots waited in fear as the base's security tried to stop the giants from progressing any further: but to no avail; their armor was too thick, their bulk was too big, and they just swatted them aside as if they were nothing more than a swarm of annoying flies buzzing around their heads. As they watched the fight/struggle on the security monitors, everyone couldn't believe this was happening.

"Who the pit are these freaks?!" Jolt gawked in horror.

"Unwelcome guests..." Prowl replied as he readied his gun, calibrating it to its highest setting: molecular vaporization. As Grimlock forced open the door to the command center, he unleashed the gun's full payload right in the 's face. Within seconds the whole room lit up in a blinding red light as the plasma spewed out in a bombardment of energy that vaporized everything it touched...

Everything, except the , who was still standing: his head and shoulder's completely blackened from the carbon of the partially vaporized door-frames and ceiling panels. Smiling with a broad rictus grin, Grimlock looked down at the SIC: "Nice to see you again, Prowl; I see you haven't changed much"

"Neither have you" Prowl scowled up at the giant.

"Nice digs you got, a fitting base for a commander like myself"

"You're no commander, and you were not invited"

"Invited? Oh come on, we're all Autobots here: since when did any of us need an invitation? ..." Grimlock smiled as he shoved the SIC to one side and strolled over to the main computer terminal. "Ugh, I see you have an organic infestation. Better take care of that before they start breeding" he grimaced with disgusts as he picked the humans up one by one off the terminal and threw them over his shoulders; Prowl and the other Autobots hurried to catch them before one of the other Dinobots was tempted to snap them up. Placing them down in a safer corner of the room, the Autobots were now well and truly irate as the Dinobots helped themselves to the computers.

"Sawtooth, who's in the brig?" Grimlock ordered

"What? Why do you want to know who's in the brig?" Prowl demanded

"Because, I just do" Grimlock shrugged: "There's two: Longrange and Coldbore" the Dinobots SIC replied

"Ah yes, our old friends" the smiled, "Swoop, Leviathan, Carnage: keep an optic on things up here, while the rest of us go and say 'hi' to some old friends" he added as he transformed back into his mode, and led the others out the room. Meanwhile, Swoop and the other two giants stood there sheepishly as they received a whole room full of angry glares.

"What everybot looking at?" Carnage asked dumbly as he sniffed the air

"That would be us" Swoop replied

"Huh?"

In hardly any time at all, the Dinobots got down to the brig, swatted away the guard (in this case, poor Smokescreen) and crashed through the huge vault-like door. The two Autobot snipers had already been awakened by the commotion, thinking it had been a Decepticon attack that was creating the ruckus above them: their surprise couldn't be any greater than when they saw the leader of the Dinobots stroll in with his team by his side.

"Well well: long time no see" Grimlock smiled

"Grimlock?" Longrange gawked

"Who else?"

"Wh-what are you doing here?"

"Hunting some bugs; which is why I came here to see you two; I need snipers, good ones: that will cover us from the air. Swoop and Skyblade are excellent flyers, but their no sharp-shooters. I need crack-shots who'll get the job done. Ergo..." Grimlock stated as he smashed the stasis-field generators to pieces, causing the machine and its counter-parts in all the other cells to explode from the blow-back of stasis energy going critical. The two snipers shielded themselves as best they could until the explosion ceased. "...You're both hired. And don't worry about you're 'commander', I'll vouch for you"

Longrange might have been brash and cocky to no end, but he wasn't dumb when it came to someone like Grimlock; he remembered this mech, and knew too well to want to argue with him, and so without any arguments, he and Coldbore left the cells. As the other Dinobots wrapped an arm around them both and started bantering with threatening undertones: the small Utah-raptor fell back, and hopped his way up onto the 's back: "Not that I'm questioning this plan boss, but considering who these two are, they're not gonna be the easiest lackeys to control" he whispered in a hushed snarky voice.

"You forget who they belong to Scytheslash" Grimlock smiled slyly, "And if they haven't changed much from when we worked together on that so-called 'hostage' situation back in the Xion system, then this little hunt's going to go just fine..."

Coldbore frowned; his sharp audios didn't miss their privet conversation, and as they proceeded back up to the main level: something told him this was going to become a very tricky situation to get out of. And no sooner had his assumptions of how this was going to pan out had been made up: the surprises kept coming as they rounded the corner, and saw Prime standing there with his main cannon aimed at them: his officers at his back, looking like they were ready to bring it on.

"Ah Optimus Prime! How long's it been 'old friend'" the sneered mockingly as he shoved his way to the front.

"Not long enough 'Grimlock'" Prime frowned, "Now put the prisoners back in their cells and surrender yourselves"

"Who? These two?" Sawtooth smirked, thumbing over at the snipers, "We're just borrowing them for a lil' bit, seeing as their kinda going to waste an' all"

"It's a covert op that requires covert operatives, and these two fit the bill for what I need doing" Grimlock stated.

"You barge in here, treat my troops with disrespect and contempt, and then have the gall to take two convicted prisoners out of their cells, without my clearance or authority..." Prime stated in a low dangerous tone, getting right up in the 's face (despite the fact he towered over the Prime by well over twenty feet!), "None of you are going anywhere. There are lives at stake, and I don't have time to argue over this"

"Well, you know how these things go, there's always going to be collateral damage when there are hostages involved" Grimlock smirked: Prime was about to lay into the huge hulking beast, when Coldbore broke the tension:

"You said there were hostages" he interjected, "How many?" he asked in his usual, quiet cold tone.

A little taken aback, Prime replied: "Twelve; three younglings plus nine humans"

"Who took them?"

"Insecticons"

For a brief moment, a look of dire concern flashed across Coldbore's face as his serious expression turned even more serious: "You're going to need help; if those beasts are at large you're going to need every available troop at your disposal" he stated.

"But you're-

"-Not entirely cold-sparked" Coldbore stated firmly, "I may not have much sympathies for the humans, but I'm not about to let three innocent sparklings die. Not like that"

Prime studied the sniper and his young counterpart intensely: he didn't trust them, but he knew he had no choice; Insecticons were not the easiest of opponents by a long shot, and would need an army to help bring them down.

"Well? Oh selfless leader: What's it going to be? Are you going to let us finish this? Or are you going to leave the 'little ones' to their fates" Grimlock egged him on, knowing full well how Prime had a soft-spot for younglings and the like; the other Autobots were tempted to slug him right in the jaw; but as he bared his knife-like teeth in that odious rictus grin, nobody dared moved.

As his troops watched on in nervous anticipation, Prime then passed a heavy disappointed sigh, and reluctantly replied: "Just remember who the Prime is here," he growled, "If you ever do anything to make me suspect that you'll overstep the mark, I'll-

"-You'll what?," Grimlock purposely leaned down right into his face, "You're going to do what exactly? ..." he pushed him, but as Prime held his anger back, Grimlock's smile only grew broader: "...Heh, I didn't think so..." the scoffed as he barged past Optimus, followed by his troops. Before they could take another step forward, both Coldbore and Longrange felt Jetfire's heavy hands clamp down on their shoulders as he leaned in to threaten them; "If either of you so much as look at the humans the wrong way; there will not be a single nook or cranny in this entire star system that will be able to conceal you from me. You got that? ..." he growled, and them promptly frog-marched them to base's entrance.

"Prime, this is not a good idea!" Ironhide stated angrily in a hushed voice

"...I know" Prime replied bitterly; he looked like he wanted to say more, but didn't. Knowing the history he shared with the Dinobots and their leader, Ironhide knew better than to push the subject, and so didn't press him. The other Autobots too were very dubious of their leader's choice in tactics, but knowing that same history, they all knew better than to question his wisdom on the subject (which in all retrospect, was probably not a bad idea round about now)

As they watched Prime and his troops follow the Dinobots back up to the base's entrance, Sam and Mikaela looked at one another with dire concern. Having overheard the whole confrontation from the top-most walkway of an adjacent wall, on the opposite side of a nearby intersection; their concerns for Morri and the others went from dire, to a 'cold-knot-in-the-stomach' sort of worried.

At the same time:

: It's me, we're out:

: Both of you? :

: Yes, and I have to say, that was a very reckless move. I know you said you'd get us out, but using the Dinobots? That's courting danger:

: That was not my design, but in any case you're out and that's all that matters:

: So what are your orders now? :

: If Grimlock's got you on his leash then he won't be too difficult for you to shake off, it's Majestrix you need to worry about. Fly on up here and meet us at the rendezvous point: our window of opportunity is very small so not a second can be wasted. And when the Insecticons eventually go on the offence things are going to get very tricky, we'll need to return to provide our alibis:

: Very well, over and out:

Meanwhile, back up in the Sierra's:

"Wow, it's pretty big in here" Sparklestar said offhand as she looked all around the wide chamber, while Morri used her CTG's miniature welding laser to treat Firefly's wound as best she could. Pausing to check her work over, she nodded with approval: "Okay, there's not much I can do for your T-cog, but I've managed to stem the bleeding" she told the green femme. "Okay" Firefly huffed as she tried to make herself comfortable amid the smooth water-worn rocks.

"Providing you don't go taking any liberties, it should hold; now the last thing to take care of here, is whose going to stay with her?" Morri addressed the group, the girls looked at one another in concern, "What do you mean stay with her?" Roxy retorted.

"I'm not leaving her on her own Roxy, she may be safer in the chamber, but that patch-job I did is only superficial: she needs a medic. Plus, if the cons look in here and see that we're gone, I'm going to need someone to get down the passage to give us the head's up" Morri explained

"Fine, I'll stay" Lizzy stated

"No way, you're coming with us" Morri replied firmly

"What?! Oh come on!" the teenager retorted

"You're going!" Roxy smacked her up-side the head, "If something happens and we have to bring you home in a pine box: just what the hell am I suppose to tell mom and dad, huh?"

"Fine, then why don't you stay with Fly', and I'll take that thing on your arm to the ranger's station!" Lizzy glared at Morri.

"Firstly, The CTG has some pretty air-tight security features; it won't work for anyone else but me: my DNA, heart, breathing, blood pressure and brain signals are the only 'passwords' it'll accept" Morri stated, "And secondly, you're not coming with me. Time is not a luxury we can afford to waste, and you'll only slow me down"

"Nuh-uh!-" Lizzy shook her head, "I'd keep up just fine!"

"Really? Through thick forest and over rough ground: with the likelihood of running into one of those bugs? Or maybe even a bear or mountain lion?" Morri shot back, "Or say something else happened, if I tripped or fell and needed medical help, do you know how to brace a broken leg, or treat a head injury? Or if we got separated and couldn't find each other, would you know how to retrace your steps without a compass? :

Lizzy was taken aback: she really did know what she was talking about, and as Morri stepped closer with that unwavering look in her eye, she got the distinct feeling she shouldn't have spoken out like that. "...But more importantly, you've not given me a single reason to believe you'd act responsibly: like I told you last night, if you continue to act the way you do, and treat this like its one big Saturday morning cartoon adventure, then I'm keeping you out of harm's way, and everyone else's...You don't seem to get the point of what I'm telling you: any recklessness is going to put us in danger; if you make yourself exposed, we're all exposed..." Morri stated sternly, the tone in her voice made it clear the subject was not up for debate; "...And if anyone does have any objections: please, speak them out now" she added in a more passive tone. Looking at one another, the others all shook their heads.

"Um? If makes any difference? I still can't sense my mom. I've been listening for her all night, but I don't sense her or the others anywhere nearby" Sparklestar offered in a quiet voice.

"Okay" Morri nodded in a friendlier tone,

"And just so we don't start arguing over it again: I'll stay with Firefly" Roxy huffed

"You're sure?" Morri frowned in concern

"Yes" Roxy rolled her eyes, "I'll keep an eye on her okay?"

"Fair enough: but the second you think something's about to go down, you hide and keep your heads down, you understand?" Morri stated

"Like duh? As if I'm gonna give those oversized freaks a knuckle sandwich (the only thing that'll break is my manicure)"

"And I'll go with you to the ranger's station" Max added

"Are you sure? It's ten miles straight through the forest, it's not going to be easy an easy trek" Morri warned,

"Hey, a couple of miles through a bear and cougar infested forest is a cakewalk compared to Tranquility on a Friday night: trust me, I got you're back"

"And I'll help the twin's look after the kids" Chelsea threw in,

Looking around, and seeing that their minds were already made up: Morri nodded, "Okay, then let's go. I'll take point: Chelsea, Max, you bring up the rear" and without anything further to say, the youngsters all left the chamber.

As she climbed over the rocks, Lizzy looked back at Firefly, wondering if she'd really be okay; "Don't worry about me, it'll take more than a few bugs to stop this scout" the green femme smiled. Lizzy smiled back, and climbed out to join the others.

"Seriously though, are we gonna to be okay, right?" Roxy thought aloud as she sat down next to the scout.

"I can't believe I'm saying this" Firefly admitted reluctantly, "...But for the first time in my life; I honestly don't know?"

Meanwhile, elsewhere in the Sierra's:

: I still got nothing: Thundercracker huffed

: Nothing here either. What were these bugs doing? Did they hit the high grade or somethin? : Skywarp replied

: Nothing here either, but keep looking: they've got to be here somewhere: Majestrix replied; but as her scanners looked out over the vast endless wilderness, it wasn't hard to understand why so many human hikers and walkers go missing in these mountains every year: and why they were hardly ever found (if at all).

As she tipped her left wing down to back to the right; two familiar signals popped up on her long-range scanners, approaching fast from the south. Outraged, Majestrix fired up her thrusters, barrel-rolled back around, and deliberately flew straight between them, nearly knocking them out of the sky.

: What in Primus's name are you two doing here?! : She bellowed angrily over the comm. As Longrange and Coldbore corrected themselves, Crystalwing and her daughter came into fly right over them in a threatening manner.

: Newsflash, we got day-passes: courtesy of Grimlock: Longrange stated sarcastically; Majestrix's engines nearly backfired, the mention of that mech's name made her internal face plates curl with seething rage.

: Prime informed us of what happened: Coldbore replied coolly, :We're here to help you find and procure the younglings. And as soon as this is over, we will return to our cells; but for now, Prime will need all the help he can get if those Insecticons come for us:

: Plus, ol' 'Grimmy' wants us to lure those beasts out with some good old fashioned sniper action: Longrange threw in, : He and his buddies will be joining the party soon enough, so if it's okay with you, we'll duck out and wait 'till the action starts: he smiled as he and Coldbore barrel-rolled out from under Crystalwing's underside and engaged their stealth-modes, disappearing from sight and scanner in mid-air

: What the FRAG?! AAUGH! : The Prima roared angrily, : I can't believe that frag-headed brute would let them out! :

: Do you want me to go after them? : Crystalwing asked tentatively

: No, I'll see to them later; if the bugs don't get them, I certainly will: she growled, : You just concentrate on trying to find Sparkle', can you sense anything yet? :

: I know she's here, I can sense her presence down there somewhere; but I can't tell if she's scared, injured, or just out of range. It's frustrating" Crystalwing sighed.

Half an hour later, back down on the ground:

The passageway was well hidden between the twisting rocks and overlapping flattened boulders, and once inside, it widened out into a sizable tunnel that sloped downwards in the direction of the opposite side of where the cliff-face was situated. After climbing down the last few hundred yards, the youngsters emerged into a smaller cave that opened out into a tall, vertically narrow gorge. "Wow, good call Chelsea" Morri smiled as she looked around; the gorge was only about ten meters at its widest, and at the top, the walls came together, leaving a five meter gap; much too small for the Insecticons to squeeze through.

"Okay, so where do we go from here?" Lizzy asked

"There's a much bigger cave around the corner, just past the end of the gorge. You might wanna watch your step though, it's a pretty big drop" Chelsea warned as she motioned for everyone to follow. Climbing over the large wet boulders, following the course of the small river as it cut through the gorge, the youngsters traveled for another seven hundred meters or so before the gorge opened out and the water cascaded down into the forest below, dropping down a sheer cliff that descended nearly eight hundred feet straight down...

"Whoa!" Annabelle exclaimed, "I ain't never seen anything so big before!"

"Ditto..." Chelsea breathed in amazement.

Following her gaze to see what she was looking at: the youngsters beheld the endless Sierra Mountains, spread far and wide before them. Stretching from horizon to horizon, the endless green forests and towering mountains were lit up in the dawn's early light; bright pink and radiant orange coloured the vast landscape, as pale blue clouds rolled and cascaded down into the valleys below. And overhead, the parting clouds painted the sky with radiant red, pink and golden light, while the far western sky was still shrouded in the remains of the dark blue night.

"Wow" Sparklestar breathed, "This is the rest of the earth?"

"Only a fraction" Morri smiled, "But it's still pretty big"

There were no words for this: nothing that could describe her amazement at seeing this vast wilderness. All her life, the only landscape Max had ever known was that which consisted of concrete, glass, brick and tarmac: right angles, straight lines, and purposely shaped curves; everything man had created for his own comfort and convenience. Living in the city virtually all her life, she had only ever heard of places like this in books or on the internet; sure there no reasons to doubt they existed, and there was no cause to contest why they shouldn't be real. But seeing it with her own eyes? Those books and internet sites didn't do it any justice in the least. And to hear the wind as it rose up the valley: bringing the fresh scent of pine, earth and water, coupled with the sounds of all the native creatures that dwelt among the trees. She realized, for the first time in her life, just how small the scope of her world really was...

"...It's endless..." was all Max found she could say.

"...Come on, the caves just down there" Chelsea pointed to a wide ledge that led from the waterfall into the forest. Another five hundred yards of carefully negotiating the rocks and steep sloping ground soon brought them to a huge narrow cave that cut upwards into the rocky cliff-face; the entrance was narrow and well hidden by the tall densely packed trees, and the piled boulders at the entrance would provide an even more obscure view (should any unwanted cons pass overhead). The cave itself was just the right hiding place: while the entrance was narrow, the main chamber opened out into a broad space that extended up into the rock for a good two hundred yards.

"Brilliant, this'll certainly do for cover" Morri smiled

"So where's that logging road from here?" Becky asked

"Okay..." Morri turned to her CTG, and brought up the satellite image once again. "Well we walked a good mile through the mountain, because here's the gorge...this must be the waterfall...which means this cave should be somewhere here..." she pointed to the hologram, trying to work up a rough mental map of the topography in her mind as she studied the image. As she used her telepathic ability to 'watch' her mind work, Sparklestar was amazed at how near-accurately Morri was able to process topographical data; despite the fact her brain wasn't mechanical at all: this is how organic minds work? (Or part of it at least) It was both strange and fascinating to watch.

"-Which should mean the road is somewhere at the bottom of the slope, about two miles in that direction" Morri pointed out the mouth of the cave.

"Okay. So what now? We wait until the guys come looking for us?" Annabelle asked

"Pretty much; it's going to take us most of the morning to get to the ranger's station, so just stay put and don't wander off. And if you hear the sound of those bugs wings: move as far to the back of the cave as you can and stay silent. The bugs don't know that we're gone yet, so stealth is the only weapon we have going for us right now. Don't leave unless you absolutely have to. Understand?" Morri stated

"Yeah, sure thing" Chelsea nodded

"Okay, I guess we'll see you all later then" Morri replied as she turned to leave,

"Good luck!" Annabelle waved good bye, "Watch out for the bugs!" Sparklestar called out.

"Hey, be careful out there..." Chelsea said as she laid a hand on Max's shoulder, "This isn't the same forest as Tranquility; don't worry, I got this covered..." Max smiled as she returned the gesture, and then turn to leave with Morri.

The two girls climbed out of the cave, and stepped towards where the steep forest floor virtually dropped down, disappearing among the trees, seemingly going on and on forever. "So...How're we going to do this?" Max took a deep breath, "A hundred yard drop down there's a broken neck: guaranteed"

"We take it one step at a time: use the trees like giant ladder runs, and look before you leap" Morri advised as she gingerly stepped down the slope towards the first tree, using its tangled root system as a perch before carefully running down to the next tree below. Watching her technique, Max soon followed suite, and before long they were both tree-root hopping their way down the slope; all the while preying they wouldn't accidentally slip and break their necks, or worse, tumble down all the way to the bottom.

Well? The Dinobots have officially crashed the party; the question now is, who's going to be stuck with the cheque?

One way or another, it's only going to heat up from here on out ;)

Much love, and do stick around to R&R please!