Chapter 15-Home Turf

Bumblebee stood on a tall hill overlooking the grassy plains that made up the verdant lands of Airlann. Despite having some experience on exploring alien worlds during his tenure as a scout, it was a treat to see something other than cities of burning metal or grey skies coated in smoke. Honestly, Terra was one of the better planets he had been to. It was hard not to fall in love with it.

Bumblebee and Wheeljack were sent to Airlann with Jolt and Liftor to investigate a possible lead to a Minicon panel in the countryside. It was discovered by chance by Darren and Gina while web surfing. An old tapestry sporting the Micron faction symbol appeared in a museum in Airlann and Bumblebee was quick on the draw to get on this mission with Wheeljack in tow. They weren't usually a pair, but it was nice to team up like the old days back on Cybertron.

"This place looks amazing." Bumblebee smiled. "Hey, Wheeljack! Smell the fresh air of the land of the Celts!"

"I smell the fresh air, alright." Wheeljack grumbled. He wasn't as star struck as his younger partner, not all that interested in the miles of rolling green fields before them. "The last time I went to get some fresh air, I was with Jazz and got knocked out by Starscream. You have no idea how demoralizing it is to be knocked out by that guy."

"Relax, Wheeljack, we're in the clear. We've gotten a head start on the Cons." Bumblebee said. He looked at the Minicon riding on Wheeljack's shoulder. "You okay there, Liftor?"

"Y-Yes, I'm doing just fine." Liftor said tensely. He was looking around nervously as if the Decepticons were going to literally pop out of the ground and snatch him up. "Can we get going now? Being out here in the open is making me antsy."

"In a second, Liftor." The scout said, feeling proud that he could say "little guy" to someone that wasn't a human. Boy did it feel good to not be the smallest mech on the team anymore. "Jolt, how are things up there?"

"Area's clear, Bee." Jolt said, circling above them in his helicopter mode. "And I see a town up ahead. Should we take a look?"

"Sure. Maybe we can get some more info from the locals." Bumblebee said. "But be careful about what you say. Airlann has some surprisingly sensitive people."

The team visited the nearby town to see the museum that was holding the tapestry they were investigating. It took twenty minutes trying to find the place on their own, since most of the townspeople weren't exactly thrilled with seemingly foreigners waltzing around, but Bumblebee and Wheeljack managed to find the museum soon enough.

They played themselves off as senior archaeologists trying to locate the tomb of a legendary warrior in the area to the museum curator, a kindly old lady who looked like she couldn't hurt a fly. When Bumblebee mentioned the "jewel" in the tapestry, she was all too happy to inform them of its significance in Airlann folklore.

"Oh, this tapestry is from the thirteenth century, during what was known as the Ulster Cycle, when Airlann's largest kingdom was embroiled in a war of succession. The man you see here is the great warrior Cu Chulainn, one of our country's greatest heroes and kings. He united the warrior clans in an alliance to form a nation under his rule, and continued to repel invasions from other lands for thousands of years. And it was all thanks to this."

She pointed to the small green/blue jewel that the red haired warrior held in his hands, which was depicted shining its radiance down on his army, who bowed to him.

"This jewel was found in Cu Chulainn's family castle, and has since been passed down from generation to generation." She continued. "Legends say that those who wielded it could never be defeated in battle and when the last king in the bloodline died following Britannia's occupation of Airlann, it was buried in the family tomb, along with the spear Gae Bolg."

"Where is this tomb?" Wheeljack asked. The curator sighed and shook her head.

"No one knows for certain. Lots of information was lost during the Britannia invasion, mainly to protect the location of the resting place of kings. A logical conclusion could be that the tomb was located somewhere in or near the family castle." She said. "Though, there are other places, like a cave of blue crystals."

"Blue crystals?" Bumblebee inquired.

"Yes, crystals that could be found all over Airlann if you know where to look. Geologists and collectors come from all over the world to see them, but after a while, they started to vanish, like they never existed in the first place. In fact, I think I have a shard of my own I found three years ago out in the countryside."

She took out a small box and opened it, showing them a worn by clear piece of crystal. Bumblebee and Wheeljack looked closely at it, then at each other. They were both thinking the same thing-energon.

"Where did you find this?" The scout asked. This might be the lead they were looking for.

"By the Chulainn castle, a few miles from town. Just drive down the road, you can't miss it."

"Thank you so much for this information, ma'am. You helped us a lot today." Bumblebee said gratefully and dragged Wheeljack out of the museum, waving back at the old woman.

XXXXXX

"And you didn't want to ask around." Bumblebee laughed. "Told you it'd be worth it."

"Shut up, Bee." Wheeljack grumbled.

They drove along the lone dirt road that stretched near the very steep cliff side near the sea. The information they had gotten from the curator was very useful for their search. Essentially all they had to do was head to the castle and look for an energon vein in the area. The fact that they were already detecting energon in the area was a sign that they were on the right path.

"So the humans buried their kings in a cave full of energon?" Jolt asked. "That's a strange coincidence."

"They didn't exactly know what they were dealing with. Knowing those people, they probably thought it was some kind of magical stone." Wheeljack said. "And what better way to honor their fallen kings than by making their tomb in a cave full of energon?"

"So how are we supposed to find this tomb?" Liftor asked. "If the humans couldn't find it, then what can we do if we don't even know where to start?"

"We're heading to the Ulster Castle to look for energon there. If we find a significant vein, then we can follow it deep underground, where the tomb should be." Bumblebee said.

The Autobots continued down the road towards where Jolt sported the large castle in the distance on top of a hill. A good distance behind the group, a black helicopter followed silently behind them at a slow space to remain undetected.

"Blackout to Nightshade, I've spotted the Autobots." Blackout reported. "Looks like our mole shot straight for once."

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The Ulster Castle was just as grand as Bumblebee imagined it would be. As expected from a castle of the 13th century, it was a fortress built near a cliff hanging over the sea that acted as natural protection. There was a deep moat with a river passing through and a drawbridge that connected the castle to the rest of the land, the only way in or out of the castle. The weather was windy and huge gusts of wind washed over the green fields of grass that dominated the landscape. Bumblebee thought it was reminiscent of those old medieval movies that Gina would sometimes watch with the Minicons on Friday nights.

"The humans certainly knew their stuff when it came to making fortresses." Jolt appraised.

"Indeed. During those times of war, the primitive technology at their disposal is, while a bit impractical, was definitely intuitive." Liftor said.

Wheeljack checked his scanner and detected numerous energon veins in the area. "Your hunch was definitely on point, Bee. There's energon here, lots of it. But it's deep underground, so we wouldn't have been able to tell unless we were right on top of it."

"So all we need to do was follow the largest vein and we're reach the tomb, right?" Bumblebee asked.

"That's right. Though, it's a big if." Wheeljack warned him. There was no guarantee it was going to lead to what they were looking for.

They cautiously drove across the drawbridge and transformed to robot mode once they were in the courtyard. More scans showed that there was energon directly under the castle, and while Wheeljack got to work on locating the largest vein, Jolt and Liftor had separated from their partners to explore the castle.

"You know, this place is actually kind of neat." Liftor said, not feeling as paranoid now that he was within large castle walls. "I can only imagine what it was like for these humans to live here. This counted as their military outposts in medieval times."

"Hate to have lived in those times. They made their weapons out of metal and wood. Even the Knights of Cybertron could've taken them on with only swords and axes." Jolt said. He climbed the stairs in one of the towers and looked out at the grassy plains on the other side of the moat. "What a view, huh?"

"Yeah." Liftor nodded.

They had a perfect view of the area from atop the lookout tower and saw firsthand what the locals and tourists loved so much about this place. Airlann was a land where the old ways were honored, and warrior kings were forever remembered by their descendants. Cybertron was once like that, but now all of it was ash and slag under the dark canvas of stars.

"Jolt, Liftor, let's go! We're heading out!" Bumblebee called out to them.

"That's our queue." Jolt said. "Want a lift?"

"No, I'll take the stairs, if that's all right with you." Liftor said. He took one last look at the fields to take it into his memory banks, but then he noticed something in the distance. "Hey, what's that?"

"What's what?" Jolt looked at where his friend was looking and saw a black shape in the sky flying right towards the castle. Unease filled him as he magnified his optical vision and saw that it was a black military helicopter. "Oh, scrap."

The Decepticon Blackout flew within view of the castle and spotted the Minicons in the watchtower. Locking on with his fast acting targeting systems, he fired two missiles at them and broke contact.

"Get down!" Jolt pushed Liftor down the stairs just as the missiles hit the tower and blew it up.

"No!" Wheeljack exclaimed as he saw the tower get blown apart. He covered his face from the raining debris. "Jolt, Liftor!"

"We've got incoming, Wheeljack!" Bumblebee yelled.

Blackout flew over the courtyard and fired two more missiles at his enemies. Wheeljack pushed Bumblebee aside as the missiles hit the ground behind them. Flames and smoke flew everywhere as a large hole was blown into the ground.

"We need to get out of here before he brings the entire castle down on us." Wheeljack said.

"But what about Jolt and Liftor?" Bumblebee said. "We can't leave them!"

The scout curst as another missile hit near them and Wheeljack said, "We won't be any help to them if we get blown to scrap!"

Wheeljack and Bumblebee transformed to car mode and drove out of the courtyard, over the moat and out into the open, where Blackout started trying to gun them down with his automated cannons. They made it almost a mile from the castle when they came upon another unwelcome visitor-Nightshade.

'Where did they come from? They couldn't have known about the panel like us unless it was activated!' Bumblebee thought. 'Did they follow us?"

He changed forms and popped his blaster from his hood to show Nightshade down. Once his optical sensors locked onto her, he opened fire.

Nightshade easily dodged the laser blasts coming at her, but one bolt grazed her wing. Growling, Nightshade fired a rain of micro-missiles from her wings at the Autobots, peppering the ground with explosions.

Wheeljack also switched to robot mode and swung his energo-whip at Nightshade. The whip grazed her wing and left a nasty burn as she passed over them. She howled and swerved around to descend on the engineer with her talons outstretched. When he lashed out with his whip again, she transformed and dodged it so that it barely touched her. She kicked him in the chest and knocked him to the ground, drawing her swords to run him though, but was forced back when Bumblebee fired his gun at her.

"How did you find us?" Wheeljack asked. Nightshade snorted.

"Like I'm going to tell you, Autobot!" She sneered. "Blackout, torch them!"

"With pleasure."

Blackout flew towards the Autobots and began bombarding them with missile and pulse cannon fire, putting them on the run. They broke apart and swerved to avoid the inferno that threatened to blow them apart, transforming and firing their guns at the missiles to shoot them down. The salty sea air was thick with clouds of smoke and flames that filled the air with loud booms and blinded both the Autobots and Decepticon.

When the rain of pulse blasts and missiles stopped, they though Blackout was out of ammo, but that wasn't the case as Nightshade came flying out of the smoke like a black bullet, firing her own sizable payload of missiles. The explosions she set off blew the Autobots back towards the cliff, and their weight caused the rock to crumble with them on it. Nightshade transformed and landed on the edge just in time to see a large splash down below.

"That takes care of them." Nightshade said.

"What about the Minicons in the castle?" Blackout asked. "I don't think I got one of them."

"Leave them, they'll be dead soon enough. Right now, our top priority is the panel." She said, shifting into beast mode. "Come, we must go at once."

They flew away from the burning fields, sure of their victory as they left the Autobots to their watery graves.

XXXXXX

Liftor's head was pounding as he regained consciousness. He pushed himself up, pushing the rocks off him while dealing with the headache brought about by a missile exploding right above him. Looking around, he saw that he was lying in a pile of rubble that was once the watchtower on the edge of the courtyard.

"Bumblebee? Wheeljack?" Liftor called out weakly. "W-Where are they?"

A soft groan beside him caught his attention and he brushed away some rubble to find Jolt lying on the ground looking worse for wear.

"Jolt! Primus, are you alright?"

"Ngh," Jolt groaned. "Don't speak so loud. My head hurts."

"And so does everything else." Liftor said. Jolt's body took the brunt of the explosion, and he looked like he dived headfirst into a raging inferno right on top of a cache of plasma charges. "Can you walk?"

"I think…with some help."

Liftor helped Jolt to his feet and they slowly walked over to the drawbridge, which miraculously survived Blackout's aerial assault. When they limped out of the castle's shadow, they saw the Autobots lying on the ground near the cliff, slightly wet and looking a bit haggard.

"What happened to you guys?" Jolt asked.

"We fell over a cliff and would've been swimming in tumulus waters if Wheeljack didn't hook us onto the rocks." Bumblebee said.

"Didn't stop the damn tide from nearly washing us off." Wheeljack grumbled.

"Where are the Cons? Please tell me you chased them off." Liftor whined. He groaned when they shook their heads.

"They got a head start on us." Bumblebee answered. "Nightshade probably thought that the mission was worth more than making sure that she snuffed us out. Big mistake."

"But how did they know we were here in the first place? It couldn't have been a coincidence." Wheeljack pondered. Bumblebee shrugged.

"We can talk about that later. Right now, we have a panel to find." The yellow Autobot collapsed into his small vehicle mode and opened his door. "Hop in, Jolt, I'll give you a ride."

"Nah ah, I'm not that wounded." Jolt jumped up and converted to his helicopter mode. He wobbled a bit, but maintained his stability. "See? All better."

"All right then, Autobots-let's roll out!" Bumblebee hollered and sped away with Wheeljack and Jolt.

Liftor, who was sitting in Wheeljack's front seat, shook his said. "I can tell he's been waiting to say that for a long time."

XXXXXX

Nightshade and Blackout landed at a large mound in a forest a few miles from where they fought the Autobots. It looked like a large hill, but it was clearly man-made, with a large wooden door at the front. Nightshade bent down a little to inspect it and turned to Blackout.

"Stay here and keep an eye out for any unwanted visitors. If you see anything that isn't an animal, kill it." She ordered.

"Understood." Blackout nodded.

Nightshade converted her hand into a laser blaster and blasted the doors apart. Musty air and dust rushed out to greet her, making her scrunch her face before she went to beast mode and entered the doorway in her smaller form.

There were a set of stairs that spiraled down into the earth, and Nightshade made to make some tight squeezes to make it through there. The staircase echoed annoyingly with the sound of screeching metal as her folded in wings scraped against the walls and it worsened her mood until she was at the bottom. There, she found a long tunnel that was larger than human scale for a human tomb. Humming at this little detail, she continued down the hall on her bird feet till she reached the doors at the other end, blasting them apart with the mini-guns on her shoulders.

Behind those doors was a large cavern that was probably big enough to allow Megatron to stand there in his full height. The walls were lined with old Celtic glyphs and markings she didn't know or care about. Large energon crystals sprouted from the ground, some as tall as she was. Nightshade transformed and walked deeper into the cavern, noting the small compartments that held coffins belonging to the human kings of old. One of them stood out, a large coffin sitting in a sort of shrine with two statues bordering it.

"Someone must feel important." Nightshade noted and walked over to it.

The two statues were golems built in the shape of a man and a woman. The male golem was gold with a round disc shaped head shaped like the sun, with a long staff sporting a golden orb on top. The female golem was made of silver, slender in build and had a round face shaped like the moon, only more feminine, with a large shield depicting the moon on the front and a crescent shaped scythe. They both had ancient Celtic writing on their weapons, which Nightshade translated as Solar and Lunar.

'These must have been placed here to guard over their fallen warrior king.' Nightshade thought, looking at the coffin that held the body of Cu Chulainn.

She cautiously stepped forward, wary of them suddenly coming to life and attacking her, just like the golems on Lemnos did Knockout. She reached out with a hand to touch the coffin but leapt back when a golden staff slammed in her way.

"Of course." Nightshade growled, jogging back as the golems began to move. Solar and Lunar both stepped down from their pedestals, their stoic faces turning to Nightshade and advancing towards her. Nightshade took out her blades and prepared to fight.

"Come at me! You two are no match for me!" Nightshade hissed.

Taking the challenge, Solar raised its staff at her. Nightshade wondered what it was doing, until she saw the orb glow brightly and fired a concentrated beam of light at her. She quickly jumped to the side, but she wasn't fast enough as the beam shot right past her waist.

XXXXXX

Blackout stood at the entrance to the tomb without so much as moving a gyro. Like a sentinel, he stood still as a statue, but ready to fight if need be. The other Cons wondered if he was some living shadow, since he was always silent and looming over your shoulder, though they weren't wrong. Blackout worked best when he hid out of sight and sound, similar to Soundwave, but more combat oriented. He was even more deadly when hiding in plain sight, as those soldiers in Zona Arida learned the hard way.

His deep red eyes scanned the quiet forest around him, and his audials were attuned to any minute noises that weren't the surrounding wildlife. Any attack would come from either the front of the sides of the mound, with the rear too big to approach quietly. The only entrance into the tomb was behind him, and he was blocking it.

A loud noise drew his attention and three laser blasts were fired at him from the trees. Blackout, in a feat of agility uncommon for his size, rolled to the side and fired his arm cannon in the direction of the attack. High velocity rounds strong enough to tear into tank armor ripped through the trees like they were paper and made them collapse to the ground. Blackout kept his weapons ready, scanning the forest. Normally he would've transformed and tore this place apart from the air, but he had no room to gain altitude.

Another blast caught him in the shoulder, making him grunt and he turned around, only for another blast to him the back of his leg. This alternating assault continued for a few minutes before Blackout finally had enough and riddled the trees in front of him with a storm of bullets.

He didn't stop until his cannon was on the verge of overheating and automatically shutdown. When he stopped, much of the surrounding trees were little more than splinters and shattered tree trunks. He waited for another attack, but none came. Still, he knew they were out there.

"What's the matter, Autobots? Too afraid to face a real warrior out in the open?" Blackout taunted.

His challenge was answered when Wheeljack jumped onto his back from above and jammed a batch of gyro-inhibitors into his neck. Blackout grunted as his circuits shorted out and his balance centers went haywire, making him fall to his knees as he lost control of his motor functions. Wheeljack jumped off his back and punched him in the face to knock him out.

"You're one to walk about fighting in the open, Blackout." Wheeljack huffed. Bumblebee, powerlinked with Jolt, exited the collection of ruined trees with Liftor.

"We better move fast, Blackout won't be out for long." Bumblebee said.

"You go on ahead, I can watch over the big guy." Wheeljack said. Bumblebee nodded.

"Okay, watch your back." The scout ran through the doors and edged down the stairs.

"I should be telling you that!" Wheeljack yelled after him.

XXXXXX

Nightshade clutched the burning hole in her hip as she fired her railgun. Solar easily dodged the attack and fired another beam from its staff, which she barely dodged. Lunar came at her from behind, raising its shield, in which the crystalline veins that formed the moon symbol glowed and fired its own energy wave.

Nightshade ducked under the beam and winced at the pain in her side. The beam had merely grazed her side, but it burned like it was hit by a heat rod, melting through the outer layer of her armor. She swung her sword to block an attack from Solar and kicked it away to slash at its head, only for Lunar to block the strike.

This was the sight Bumblebee came upon as he entered the cavern, Nightshade fighting two golems that were putting her through her paces. He looked over at the shrine and saw a large coffin inside, with an inactive Minicon panel placed on top of the lid…right behind the fighting combatants.

"It's never easy for me, is it?" He asked himself.

Careful to stay out of sight, Bumblebee hugged the outer perimeter of the cave, using the large energon crystals for cover. The sounds of Nightshade and Solar fighting got louder as he edged closer to the shrine, and as they were more focused on each other, Bumblebee thought he had a clear shot for the panel when he felt a sharp pain in his shoulder.

Bumblebee spun around and fired his solar accelerator, hitting Lunar, who had sliced into his shoulder, in the shoulder and blasting off its arm, shield and all. Unfortunately, it wasn't the arm holding the very dangerous weapon. It lashed out with a quick strike that left a deep gash in Bumblebee's chest and he jumped back to avoid the follow up attack, tripping over a rock and hitting the coffin. The jolt dislodged the panel and sent it tumbling to the ground.

Nightshade saw the panel glinting in the azure light of the energon as she grappled with Solar. She kicked it away and made a break for it. Bumblebee, who was trying not to lose his head to Lunar, saw her run and aimed his weapon, also seeing Solar do the same.

It was a split second decision; Shoot Nightshade and get the panel with two golems on his case, or shoot the golem and risk Nightshade snatching the panel up. It took him a brief second to make his choice.

Taking aim, he fired his solar accelerator and a compacted blast of concentrated solar energy flew over Nightshade's head and hit Solar in the chest just as it fired a beam from its staff. The beam hit Nightshade in the leg, severely damaging her left leg and making her fall to the ground.

Bumblebee grunted when he felt Lunar dig its scythe into his shoulder again (and in the exact same place too!) but used this opportunity to grabbed the scythe and pull the golem in closer. He fired four solar blasts into Lunar's chest at point blank range, nearly blasting its torso apart and destroying it completely. Just when he thought he was in the clear, a heat beam hit him in the side and knocked him over.

"Bee!" Jolt cried out.

Solar limped over to Bumblebee and prepared to fire a killing shot, but its chest exploded outwards from a plasma blast…fired by Nightshade. It swayed a bit before falling over in a smoking heap next to its sister unit, its eyes going dark and still.

Nightshade, tired and in pain, groaned and rolled over onto her back. "I'm sick of these things."

Bumblebee crawled over to the panel and snatched it up before stumbling over to Nightshade and pointing his cannon at Nightshade, who stared back at him without fear.

"Well? What are you waiting for?" She asked. "If you think I'm going to thank you for that save, then you better shoot me now."

Bumblebee considered shooting her right then and there, knowing that he would deprive the Decepticons of a valuable officer. But he knew he wasn't that ruthless when it came to her, and he had a feeling she knew too. And he wasn't stupid enough to end up on Megatron's slag-list.

"Nice try, but I know you have your rail gun pointed at me." He said, lifting his cannon. "The minute I shoot, you'll blast a hole through my Spark before I can even blink. You'll never let anyone kill you and live to brag about it."

Nightshade smirked. "I see you're smarter than the average scout."

"You don't hang around Optimus Prime for as long as I do without learning a few things." He grunted.

"Amen to that."

They kept their weapons pointed at each other before dropping them with tired groans. It wasn't worth it, they were both tired and hurt from nearly getting decapitated and vaporized by two automatons. Fighting any further would be counterproductive.

"Get the hell out of here." Nightshade sighed. "You won, I lost. Scram before I change my mind."

Bumblebee didn't say anything, but he did as he was told, running to the entrance of the tomb. He gave her one last look before leaving the cavern.

Songbird separated from her mistress and looked at her, taking in her ragged and exhausted appearance.

"Mistress, why did you let the Autobot leave? We could've taken the panel." Songbird inquired. She wasn't angry at losing, no she could never be mad at her mistress. But she was curious. The Con could've killed someone as insignificant as the scout in a heartbeat.

"Songbird, I'm seconds away from unconsciousness. It was either fall into a coma to get back at an Autobot scout, or play it safe and make sure you didn't get roped into my stupidity. I chose the latter." Nightshade explained.

Songbird looked at her in silence with her big, round eyes. "Mistress…"

Nightshade lay back on the ground and sighed. "Now shut up and let your mistress recharge. I could use some peace and quiet on this god forsaken rock."