Ratchet blew a grinding sigh through sorrow-clogged vents as he pulled away from Bulkhead's prone frame, heavy as a slab on the medical berth. "His systems have kicked into stasis, thank Primus," the medic diagnosed, swinging a monitor closer to himself for examination. "Self-repair nanites are in highest concentration around his spark, and luckily there's no shrapnel embedded in his frame..." His faceplate crumpled as his optics gleaned over the bottom of the report. "He shows signs of Tox-En poisoning as well..."

Optimus's vents filled heavily at the implications. "There is Tox-En on Earth?" he asked.

"Seems so," Ratchet said, dimming the med-bay lights for Bulkhead's benefit. "It's not fatal, but it will slow his healing. All we can do is wait." He screened off the old Wrecker's frame from view, and turned to Optimus with heavy shoulders. "Should we inform the others?"

Optimus considered with his processor running as many possible outcomes as it could manage through a slog of pain. "...No," he decided. "Not yet. It is best that they stay focused on their mission for now."

If Ratchet disagreed, he didn't show it. "Understood."

There was a faint knocking sound as a tiny fist tapped Optimus' peds, and he looked down into Rafael's disbelieving stare. "Wait, Optimus, you're just... gonna let them think he's alright? I mean, when they come back, they-"

Optimus carefully knelt to better communicate with the human. "I am not content with the decision either, Rafael, but as leader, it is one I must make. For the good of all the Autobots, I cannot allow grief to debilitise my team."

Rafael blinked as his stare wavered, and his voice became quiet. "Everything you do is for the good of the team, huh?"

Decepticon interrogation techniques were nothing compared to a young human's disappointment. "...Everything I try to do, little one."

Ratchet's musing thankfully pulled Optimus' spark away from the shadow of guilt. "He mentioned Starscream."

Optimus straightened his legs, watching Rafael retreat to his laptop out of the corner of his optic. "Which means he still functions somehow."

Ratchet grumbled as he placed a thumb on his chin. "What was he doing in Bulkhead's location? And why not... terminate him then and there? It's not like him to leave loose ends..."

"There is only one bot who can tell us that, and he's currently lying at Primus' door," Optimus answered, casting a look to Bulkhead's faint silhouette behind the protection of the screen.

"Don't say that, Optimus," Ratchet chided. "I've seen Minicons survive worse than this."

Optimus remained unconvinced, hissing steam as he muttered to himself, "And I've seen other Primes perish to less."

A frantic beep came from the base's main computer hub, diving both mech's attentions even more. The screen opened on a map before Ratchet had even reached it, showing several flashing points over a pure white land mass.

"Decepticon signals... near the Antarctic circle." Ratchet didn't try to hide his weariness. Both former and loyal 'Cons were intent on tearing the Autobots' apart on workload alone.

Rafael frowned from behind his laptop, frantically typing something in. "That's weird. Usually the Antarctic is a total wasteland. What would the 'Cons want over there?"

Ratchet mirrored the human's expression as he examined his monitor more closely. "They seem to mostly be drone signals, so it's not a military squadron... they must be retrieving something." The implication that the 'something' was an Iacon relic was obvious to Optimus.

"This must be investigated, but with Bulkhead in such a precarious state-"

"Go, Optimus," Ratchet interrupted. "I think I'm more than qualified to oversee him by myself. And if..." His breath was ragged as it vacated his vents. "If the others return before you, then I will handle them."

Optimus hesitated, looking from the medic to the wide-eyed human, one of only two beings who knew everything he had to hide. "...Very well, old friend," he said, nodding deeply as Ratchet readied the Ground Bridge.

From his perch at the bottom of the platform stairs, Rafael re-adjusted his glasses and squinted up at the base's monitor, counting all the pin-point signals under his breath. "You're gonna take on all those 'Cons by yourself?" he asked, as if Prime was about to dive helm-first into a pool of acid vipers.

Optimus offered him a small, knowing smile as the Bridge vortex spawned behind him. "It would not be the first time I did so," he replied.

xx

Optimus had been flung some ways away from the cluster of enemies, so he could at least attempt stealth if he needed to. Just a few steps in, and he noted that the snowscape before him was different from the one he trudged through with Arcee by his side. He had nothing to radiate his rapidly-fading heat against except his own armour as it slowly froze into a hard shell around his trembling protoform. The air wasn't crisp or brittle either, even when it was howling in a blizzard around him. It hung dense on top of the snow and ice, like a stubborn mist or, more accurately to the Decepticon's presence, smoke. And where there was smoke... well, he knew signs of melted ice would lead him in the right direction.

He scanned the cloud-whipped sky as his comm unit beeped before sounding Ratchet's voice from miles away. "Optimus, I looked into the co-ordinates of the traced signals... they are very close to a set recorded on the relic database. Be careful. They'll do anything to ensure they have an advantage over us."

At least they had confirmation of what the Decepticons were here for, but Optimus still had little idea of what to expect. There was no reason for them to stay or make themselves known if they were only out on a retrieval mission, after all...

"Understood, Ratchet. I am closing in on the cluster as we spea-" The permafrost under his peds cracked as the clouds above were sucked into a vortex of sound, following the sonic boom from formation of jets arching high that could only have been Dreadwing trailed behind by Vehicons. Optimus craned his neck to follow the Decepticons as they raced after a much smaller speck in the sky, one that wasn't so recognisable.

"I have visual on Dreadwing, and another unidentified object heading south. I will pursue until they land," he relayed, before activating his T-cog and shooting across the solid powder as fast as his wheels would allow. The ice offered a treacherous friction that both let him almost match speed with Dreadwing overhead and would have easily sent him toppling to his side if his wheels veered too much. It was a delicate balance that he struggled to maintain, especially with thoughts of Airachnid and how much of a badly kept secret she was now. For all he knew, Bumblebee was telling Arcee all about his close encounter with her sworn enemy just to spite his orders for secrecy, as well as the fact that he'd lied for so long. He was certainly young enough to let pettiness control him, at least.

As for Rafael... even if the human truly did understand that he had to keep so much hidden from the Autobots, his youth made it impossible for him to understand the why of it. Especially when Optimus himself often didn't know...

A flurry of snowflakes belched from his thin smokestacks, only to have another gust of snow swiftly fill his vents and replace it. He could only effectively focus on one issue at a time, so he just had to trust in his team like they trusted in him. It was the only thing keeping them ahead of the Decepticons at this point.

The fleeing speck suddenly dived downwards just before colliding with a spire-like mountain, forcing Dreadwing and his drones to bank sharply and transform just before they hit the ground. Optimus pressed his accelerator down as far his cabin floor would let him, leaving behind huge swathes of tire imprints as his engine roared across the barren plains. A small ridge of rises in the ground ahead was all that shielded him from the Decepticons' view, and he braked just before it as he shifted back to bipedal mode. The momentum of his furious drive carried him part-way up the minuscule hill, and he pressed close to the frozen ground as he surveyed the scene some leagues ahead of him. Dreadwing stood to one side, flanked by Vehicons, and in front of him was... of all mechs, Starscream.

But Optimus was more concerned with the chittering Insecticon who's back he was riding like a monstrous electrequus.

He reached a shaky digit to his comm unit. "Ratchet... Starscream seems to be competing with Dreadwing for the relic... he has an Insecticon under his control."

"WHAT?!" The medic's disbelief almost blew out his audio receptors, forcing him to switch his unit back off to hear the two mechs challenging each other.

"I will give you one last chance, traitor," Dreadwing boomed, loud enough that Optimus could clearly hear him from a distance. "Surrender the relic and yourself, and I will not be forced to send you to the Allspark."

Unfortunately, Optimus could also hear Starscream's laughter as it grated against his vocaliser. "Oh, Dreadwing, how naive of you," he drawled, grinning icicles. "My pet has already taken out one of your drones, and it could just as easily dispatch the rest."

Dreadwing was unphased, aside from the servo closest to his holstered thermal cannon starting to twitch. "If that was true, you would have done so by now," he said carefully.

Starscream's mouth pressed into a jagged scowl even Optimus could see, and his claws scrabbled for grip on the Insecticon's hide. "Calling a bluff is only wise if I'm actually bluffing..." he snarled, ungracefully dismounting the beast and almost falling aft-first into the snow as he threw out an accusing claw at the three Vehicon sentinels. "DESTROY THEM!" he ordered, and the Insecticon squealed loud enough to match his master's trademark shriek.

The drones released a volley of blasts just one nanoklick behind each other, but the Insecticon was already hovering and dodging each one. The secondary servos grabbed onto the closest helm and jolted it upwards with a buzz of paper-thin wings, wrenching the entire shell out of the neck cables rooting it to the shoulders. He still gripped the sparking helm as he flew over the firing line, dropping it on top of another soldier and dazing it long enough to swoop down and spear through its chest with its horn. Now the remaining Vehicon at least had a chance to burn through its armour with frantic shots before the creature clamped its jaws on the gun, tearing the entire servo off and tearing at the rest of the frame before Dreadwing finally unholstered his cannon and finished him off with a single shot through the chest. The Insecticon's dying screech was barely eclipsed by Starscream's agonised howling as his only advantage perished in the snow. The air was now definitely smoking, singed with spilled energon and burning metal of the four corpses strewn like broken toys from Optimus' view.

Now with only the two officers left, he decided to make himself known.

As he emerged from the drift, Starscream still tried to feign superiority. "How do you plan to explain all these casualties to Megatron, Dread-?" His enduring spite was absorbed into a screech as he had to duck to avoid a line of crimson plasma bullets pelting into the snow only inches from his frame.

Optimus called out as the bulkier Seeker reloaded, "Dreadwing!"

He froze just as he deposited the last round into the barrel, only slightly tilting his helm sideways so as to keep Starscream in his sights. "Optimus Prime. I'd have thought our last meeting would have convinced you that fighting me is a very unwise move."

Optimus held his ground as he marched towards the two 'Cons. "I am here for only two reasons, Dreadwing. The relic, and answers."

Dreadwing's vents were visible as huge clouds of steam wafting from him. "Answers to what, exactly?"

Optimus' gaze went just beyond Dreadwing, to where Starscream was still cowering with his helm buried in snow, and a sudden swell of rage took over his vocaliser. "I want to know why that parasite you are shielding left one of my Autobots to die."

Now Dreadwing turned to fully face him, with something bordering mockery in his optics. "It is the nature of every Decepticon to exterminate your kind, Prime. Even those who betray their brethren find it hard to shake the habit."

A paralysing coarse laughter from somewhere unseen robbed Optimus of the opportunity to speak. "Or maybe he just got in my way, Prime..." Starscream was on his peds again, slowly being covered by a device in his claws. Huge plates seamlessly joined together over his frame and a pod-like visor deployed over his helm, highlighting his grin of absolute glee as he was encased in armour over twice his size. As the ensemble came together, horror in place of anger dawned in Optimus' spark when he recognised it.

"The Apex Armour..." Even Dreadwing was shocked by the drastic transformation as the scrawny Seeker now towered over them both.

Starscream couldn't throw his servos around much in his amplified state, but his triumphant expression was enough to show what all his gesturing would usually put across. "If all the relics are like this, then I suppose I won't even need the Decepticons soon enough..."

xx

Slight side note- an 'electrequus' is what I thought would be a good name for Cybertronian horses, since I don't like just adding 'cyber' onto the name of normal Earth animals.