Still in the fight
Disclaimer: I do not in anyway shape or form own Halo or Transformers Prime. They belong to their respective owners, nor am I associated with them in any way. This is a non-profit fan work written solely for the purpose of entertainment. This is in no way canon.
Comments and response:
edboy429- Thank you very much. To be honest I haven't decided on whether or not to give Jewel a Cybertronian body yet. Her primary skillset lies in intelligence gathering, hacking, and providing updates on the battlefield. I'm worried that if I give her a body it'll ruin that. Like I said, I'm still thinking on it and maybe I'll change my mind later. In case if you were wondering, she looks like Quorra at the ending of Tron: Legacy. (Underrated movie in my opinion.)
- Yeah, the main premise of the POTA/Halo fic is that Six would help to lead the remnants of Mankind against the apes. He'll be like the human version of Caesar in that universe. I haven't really though on expanding it as a multi crossover like you suggested. I'll be sure to think about it.
- Thanks for the suggestions about the Crysis and Halo crossover idea. I really appreciate it.
Doom Slayer 091- I appreciate that you find my Crysis/Halo crossover to be cool. I haven't really decided yet if I'm going to make it a fusion fic or a jump to another dimension type of story. However, I have decided that the main character would be Alcatraz ( I always though he was underrated in the Crysis series. I mean, the guy had his body almost completely destroyed which left him completely dependent on the nanosuit to keep him alive, not to mention that his brain got taken over by the remnants of Prophet's personality. Dude deserved better ). As for the romance with Linda suggestion, I don't really know. I never really wrote a convincing romance before.
nliochristou- Thanks! I'm pleased that you find my Crysis/Halo crossover idea to be interesting. Maybe if I have time I'll do it in the future.
Leader- Well, we did defeat the Ceph in Crysis 3, but only the ones still on Earth. The rest of the Ceph are still back on their home planet. Maybe in Crysis 4 another portal will be open like the one at the end of Crysis 3. I don't know, we just have to wait and see. As for Soundwave, while he is a highly capable spy and communications officer he cannot be everywhere at once. During the 'Sick mind' episode he didn't know that Arcee and Bumblebee bridged aboard the Nemesis and were looking through its files. He also didn't know that Bulkhead was onboard the warship in 'Armada' until he damaged the ship's engines and forced it to land. While it would be difficult, I believe that an AI advanced as Jewel would be able to pull it off. Considering that she has experience in infiltrating more advanced systems before such as with the Covenant, Banished, and Forerunners.
MarauderPrime12- Thank you kind sir.
Doom Slayer 091- Like I said before, I'm unsure whether or not I sure include romances or not. This is mostly due to the fact that my experience in writing romances is virtually nonexistent and I'm worried that if I include it, the story will be ruined.
I appreciate you guys taking the time to comment on this story as well as give your thoughts and suggestions on my other fanfic ideas. Really, thanks.
Anyway, here is the new chapter. I hope you all enjoyed it.
Chapter 7: Shadowzone
(Flashback)
The legendary Spartan duo , Maddox-B312 and John-117, were on their way to search for Echo -two-sixteen, who had turned off his comms, when they came across a pair of so-called 'Spartan-killers' known as 'Tovarus and Hyperius'. The latter was on a Banished Chopper while the former landed on top of a destroyed frigate via a drop pod.
Maddox wasted no time and fired a high-explosive grenade round from the underbarrel grenade launcher of his M40 AR directly at Tovarus which exploded at his feet. The Brute let out a pained roar as the explosion chipped away most of his armor and caused smoke to fill the air around him. Before Tovarus could recover and wipe away the smoke that distorted his view, the Spartan had unloaded almost the entire magazine from his Assault Rifle into the Brute. It wasn't long before Tovarus laid dead on the ground.
"Brother!" Hyperius yelled with grief. "You'll die for that, Spartans!"
Chief responded to this by throwing a well-placed plasma grenade onto the Chopper's chassis, causing Hyperius to bail out before it exploded as he rolled on the ground. Before he could pull himself up, Chief fired his grapple shot directly on the Brute and delivered a devastating punch which killed him instantly.
After ensuring that all Banished forces were killed and the area was clear, they resumed their search for the missing pilot.
"Jewel, do you have a location?" Maddox asked.
"His comms are still offline but I was able to remotely activate his tracking beacon. He's out in the open at the UNSC ship graveyard." Jewel informed everyone as she marked the waypoint on their HUDs.
"Let's hope he's safe." The Weapon chimed in.
After a short walk through the wrecks of various crashed human spacecraft such as Pelicans and Broadswords, John and Maddox came up to a crashed Condor that was at the top of a small hill. As they approached, they didn't see anything at first until a panel popped open in the troop bay and the he came crawling out.
"Animals..." The Spanish pilot muttered to himself as he climbed out, shaking his head. " Chief, LT, my eyes didn't deceive me back there."
"We need to go..." Chief started to say before Echo-two-sixteen interrupted him.
"Three." He said as he held up three fingers for emphasis, "UNSC Condors. Seeing one is rare. Finding three? It's a miracle."
He began to pace back and forth in frustration. " I should have known better." He stopped and pointed towards one of the crashed Condors. Torn apart. Completely gutted. Slipspace drives obliterated." Quickly, he spun around and pointed towards another one. "Shattered and cratered over a kilometer."
"Enough!" John stated firmly with a small hint of frustration in his voice.
"When! When is it enough Chief!" the pilot snapped back. "When we're in there? Because that is where I belong, with them!" He was practically yelling at this point as he threw his helmet in rage. " I'm not you!"
He took a few steps towards a wreck before he continued speaking. "I'm not a pilot. I'm not even a soldier, a marine. I'm a fraud... I stole that Pelican. Do you know why?" He turned to face them again before he walked towards the crater.
"Of course you don't. Have you ever been scared? So scared that you..."The man wiped away a few tears from his face as he fell on his knees once he reached the end of the crater. " I'm worthless...You should just leave me here with the rest of the garbage. "
The ground shook as John and Maddox came up, kneeling down next to the pilot on both sides by the crater.
"We all fail. We all make mistakes. It's what makes us human." Chief said with tiredness creeping into his voice.
"No offense, Chief, Lieutenant, but when have you ever failed." The Spaniard asked with a slight sniffle.
The Master Chief shook his head before he continued speaking. " I should've protected Cortana. Stopped everything from going wrong."
Maddox then started to chime in. "I should've done more to save my team. Back on Reach. They died, while I'm still here. They died to help bring all this fighting to an end, I failed to make it count." He said as he began to recall how each member of Noble team died when Reach fell to the Covenant. While he knew that Jun was still alive, it has been a while since he last had contact with him. Maddox didn't even know where he was at the moment or even if he was even still alive.
Chief then lowered his head. " We've both lost people. " He closed his eyes behind his visor as he began recalling. " Miranda, Johnson, Captain Keyes, Noble team... thousands more. We've failed them.
John then turned to look towards the pilot of the stolen Pelican. "We will NOT fail you." He stated with complete conviction in his voice.
He then raised his hand, which allowed the Weapon to project herself to everyone before she began to speak. "We'll...We'll make it. We have to."
"I.." The pilot said hesitantly as he gestured at himself. "This...this is all I have left."
"It's all we need." Maddox replied. "We can do this..."
"...together." The Weapon finished with a smile before she ceased projecting and both Spartans stood up.
"...of course we can." The pilot muttered before he got up.
"So...what's the plan. Let me guess, it's crazy and probably going to get us all killed, right?" He said with a bit more enthusiasm than he had a few minutes ago.
Before any of them could respond, a beam shot out behind them which caught their attention. " Well, I guess I have my answer. Right, then let's do it." He said as he walked back inside the Pelican as the two super-soldiers followed behind.
(Flashback ends)
(Present)
Maddox quickly opened his eyes, where he found himself back in his established quarters in his new base of operations. He sat on the edge of the bed and began to rub his eyes when he heard a voice he was all too familiar with.
"Six?"
As soon as the Lieutenant heard the familiar New Zealand accent he quickly, shook his head and brought his attention back to the present time.
"Yes Jewel?" He replied.
"Maddox, are you alright? Have you've been getting flashbacks again?" His AI partner asked in concern.
"Yeah, it was a moment back at Zeta Halo. But, I'm fine now."
"Maddo-"
"Really Jewel, I'm good." Was all the Hyper-lethal said before he got up from the bed.
Jewel only let out a sigh in response as she knew she would have better luck in trying to convince a Brute to become a pacifist. Despite going through so much together, it was still difficult at times to get Six to open up about himself.
After Maddox had eaten his breakfast and brushed his teeth, he got to work putting his MJOLNIR GEN-3 armor back on, which took over an hour as he did not have the equipment necessary for quick armor removal. Lifesaving as the armor may be, it was still uncomfortable for sitting around or sleeping in. Once he got it on, he headed towards the main area to get an update from Jewel.
She informed him that she had finished decrypting the data they had recovered from the Decepticon warship about a week ago. The information she had recovered was mostly on patrol routes, Energon mine locations, and communications protocol. Hopefully it would be enough to help provide the Autobots with an edge in this war. Jewel had also become more familiar on Cybertronian systems, which would make it easier for her to decrypt Decepticon intel in the future.
The AI was also able to locate the whereabouts of the organization known as M.E.C.H and has been keeping an eye on them for a while. As of now, Maddox and Jewel were still discussing on their course of action with them.
Meanwhile, Maddox continued in the development of the ship that was hopefully going to one day get them home. While the end result would hopefully resembled a UNSC ONI Prowler, as of now they were still currently working on building the interior. Maddox was busying himself with constructing the cockpit as Jewel had managed to acquire piles of computer parts. The process was likely going to be long and tedious, but it would be necessary. They weren't even close to finish as they still had to construct or acquire many necessary components such as a suitable fuel storage or the engines.
"By the way. it looks like Megatron, the Decepticon warlord, is back." Jewel informed Six.
Maddox looked at his friend in surprise. "I though he was severely wounded and still on life support?"
"Yeah, but according to Decepticon radio chatter it looks like he's up and moving again. Not much detail as to how it exactly happened it happened except it was during a skirmish with the Autobots in the Arctic. Apparently he also gave Starscream a real beating for attempting to usurp him." Jewel said with a chuckle.
"That's going to make things harder." Maddox and Jewel had read up on the Decepticon commander provided to them by the Autobots. He was extremely skilled, cunning, and ruthless. Him returning could prove to be a serious challenge.
"Keep monitoring Decepticon chatter Jewel. We need to stay one step ahead of them." Six said before they both continued working on their projects.
Later that day, Maddox and Jewel decided to visit the Autobot base to catch up on anything that they may missed. Apart from Megatron's return and the battle in the Arctic, nothing really.
"Six, Jewel, to what do we owe the pleasure?" Optimus said as he greeted the inter-dimensional travelers.
"We came by to give you some info that may help you in this war, Jewel?" Maddox replied.
Jewel transferred to the main console and displayed the information which included the aerial patrol routes, Energon mine locations, and Decepticon communication encryption protocols.
The Autobots were stunned at this newfound information they had at their disposal. "How did you managed to acquire all this?" Ratchet asked in shock.
Jewel gave him a grin as she regarded the Autobots . "What? Do you think we've just been hanging around ever since we got here. No, this is the result of tedious recon, investigation, and monitoring for radio frequencies. Believe me, it wasn't easy getting all this."
The pair were hesitate to reveal that they had acquired this information directly from the Decepticon warship, as it could raise questions as to how they got on there in the first place.
"This is great!" Bumblebee exclaimed in excitement. " With this intel we can track Decepticon operations more easily."
"Not to mention if we have access to their communication protocols we'll be able to listen in on their transmissions. " Bulkhead said with a grin. "This can help us to stay one step ahead of them."
"And now that we know where a few mines are. We'll know who to visit in case if we're ever running low." Arcee said as she pounded her fist into her servo.
"This will be of great use to us. Thank you Six and Jewel." Optimus said as he expressed gratitude towards the pair.
The two gave the Autobots a nod as they went to go upload the data into the base's servers. As they were doing this, beeping emitted from the main console as Ratchet went to investigate what it had picked up.
"I had hoped that my growing expertise on the subject would remain purely academic, but though faint, this is clearly a Dark Energon signature, and it is moving fast." Ratchet said.
"Megatron," Optimus muttered as he watched a red dot move across the screen rapidly.
"Where'd he find more of the bad stuff?" Arcee asked.
"What's he going to do with it, recruit a new army of the undead?" Bulkhead scoffed.
At the human area, Miko perked up at the mention of undead. "Zombie-cons?" She asked with barely contained excitement.
"We cannot rule out the possibility," Optimus stated." Especially since Megatron appears to heading to a familiar site."
"The place where Skyquake was killed." Bumblebee stated.
"Regardless," Optimus continued. "Megatron has barely emerged from stasis, and it seems that he's already making up for lost time. Bulkhead, Bumblebee, Bulkhead, Ratchet, prepare to roll out."
"Me?" Ratchet asked in surprise.
"If we are in fact dealing with Dark Energon, we may require your expertise. Arcee?"
"Bridge operator, got it," Arcee said as she walked off.
"Go get'em, Bulkhead," Miko called absentmindedly as she scribbled something on a draw pad. "Bring the hurt!"
"Arcee activated the groundbridge and the rest of the Autobots transformed and drove through. As soon as they were gone, Miko jumped out of the chair and began running towards the vortex.
"There she goes!" Jack shouted as he and Raf chased after her.
Before she made it through the portal, Jack grabbed her arm. "It's not safe for you to go," he told her.
"I am not going to miss my first zombie-con throwdown!" Miko shouted as she jerked her arm out of his grasp and ran through the groundbridge, not noticing her phone falling out of her pocket, Jack and Raf followed right behind her.
Right before they made it through, they were noticed by a certain Spartan along with his AI friend as they had finished with their upload. They began to pursue by opening up a human-sized groundbridge at the same coordinates and jumped through.
Maddox jumped out of the groundbridge and landed with a roll before rising back to his feet. He quickly scanned the area before commencing his search for the missing children. He soon spotted them on top of a rock hill arguing over something. He quickly ran towards them as he saw that the Autobots had already noticed them.
"We have a visual, send a groundbridge immediately." Six heard Optimus said as soon as he reached the kids, who jumped in surprise as they haven't noticed him coming up on them.
Almost immediately, a groundbridge opened, one near the kids, but another one by Starscream, who was behind cover as his arm was shot off.
"INTO OUR GROUNDBRIDGE, NOW!" Ratchet shouted.
Six grabbed Miko by the arm and dragged her through with Raf and Jack behind him, just as Starscream jumped into his."
As they all jumped in, the portals erupted into a massive explosion.
Eventually, the dust settled, revealing the Spartan and three kids.
Staggering on his feet, he walked over to the others. " You three good?"
"Yeah, we're fine," Jack answered.
"Where did you come from?" Miko asked.
"Followed behind you." Was all Six said.
Just then, the four of them heard a groan as they looked over to see Bulkhead climbing back to his feet after being knocked on the ground. "W-what just happened?" Bulkhead said as the rest of the Autobots got to their feet.
"I cannot be certain at this moment." Ratchet responded. " But if two groundbridges sent to the were same coordinates they could've crossed streams, the feedback triggering a system overload."
"Could?!" Miko exclaimed. "Hello?! More like totally did."
"The kids made it through though, right?" Bulkhead asked.
"Huh?" Raf asked in confusion.
"What's he talking about?" Jack wondered aloud.
Meanwhile, Six and Jewel remained silent as they began to run multiple scenarios through their heads.
Miko took a few steps forward. "Bulkhead, we're standing right here!"
" / Arcee, did the humans make it back to base safely. / " Optimus asked, looking like he had not noticed or even heard them.
" / Negative. / " Arcee responded. " / You don't see them? / "
" / No sign of them anywhere. / " Ratchet replied.
" What! No sign?" Miko exclaimed. " Okay, seriously, Bulk?" Miko asked, only for Bulkhead to begin moving forward. Just as it seemed like he was going to step on her, Six quickly grabbed her arm and pulled her out of the way.
"Whoa! Bulkhead! What was that!?" Miko called out.
Soon as he hauled her away, Six followed the former Wrecker and reached out to touch his metal leg, only for his arm to phase through it.
"Your arm...it just went right through him. " Jack muttered. "Are we dead!?"
"I don't want to be a ghost!" Raf cried as he grabbed Jack's arm.
"That is unlikely." Jewel said to the group via Six's helmet, as all the three kids turned to face him. " We can still hear and touch each other."
The super-soldier began following the Autobots as they walked away, the others right behind him.
"The most likely explanation is a dislocation. The humans may have simply been teleported to an unintended destination." They heard Ratchet say as they caught up to the Autobots.
"Another place, but in the same place, " Raf muttered.
"What do you mean?" Jack asked.
" I believe that Raf and I had come to the same conclusion. " Jewel said. "We're most likely in another dimension, some kind of shadowzone if you will, essentially an alternate reality that links to yours."
"Nerd alert!" Miko exclaimed, only to back down as Six sent a glare in her direction.
Suddenly, the group heard something off to the side and glanced over to see the zombified version of Skyquake limping out of the canyon. Letting out a roar, the Cybertronian began making his way towards the Autobots, who were walking towards an open groundbridge.
"Well...congratulations Miko. You wanted to see zombies, here you go." Jewel said with pure sarcasm in her voice.
"Guys, look out!" Jack shouted out in vain as Skyquake slashed at Bulkhead, only for his arm to pass right through him.
"Awesome!" Miko cheered. " It can't tough them either."
As soon as she said that, Skyquake turned to face them and began lumbering in their direction.
"Wait...if that thing can't touch the bots..." Jack muttered.
He didn't have time to finish his line of thought as Six raised his shock rifle directly at Skyquake's head and fired a shot. The blast caused the Decepticon zombie to stumble a bit as he roared out in pain. Bringing his servo up to his face at where the shot hit him. Maddox turned his gaze back towards the children and only said one thing.
"Run."
He didn't have to say it twice as the humans immediately turned and sprinted in the other direction, Six following behind them last as he kept watch on the undead Cybertronian.
As they rounded a corner, Raf suddenly tripped and fell, his glasses falling off. Before he could get up, he felt an armored hand pick him up with ease as he saw Six carry him and made his way behind the rocks where Jack and Miko were.
"My glasses!" Raf exclaimed as Maddox set him down next to Jack. Maddox handed it to him with his other hand, which Raf took with gratitude.
"Ugh...thanks Six." Raf said as he put them back on.
Before anyone could say anything else, Skyquake rounded the corner and continued to make his way towards the humans.
"Get out of here. I'll handle this." Six said as he checked the ammo on his shock rifle and HYDRA. Aiming the shock rifle at Skyquake as he limbered towards them.
"What! Six, Jewel we can't just leave yo-" Jack started to protest.
"We'll be fine." Maddox said, not taking his eyes off the approaching threat.
"We can help!" Miko argued.
This time it wasn't Six who responded, but Jewel as her voice filled the air. " In case you weren't listening that was an order! Now GO!" She instructed in a tone that said they weren't changing their minds and that they were done arguing.
And with that, the kids resumed running. Leaving Six and Jewel to deal with the undead Skyquake.
(Back at the Autobot base)
"Ratchet, if the children and Six were indeed sent to an unintended location, is there any way to get a fix on their coordinates." Optimus asked as Ratchet worked to find a way to locate them.
"If they were lost, Miko would have called me by now." Bulkhead stated.
"Try calling them, " Arcee suggested.
"Yes!" Bulkhead placed a finger to his head and called Miko, only for the sound of her ringtone to reach their ears.
The Autobots looked around for the source as Bulkhead spotted a familiar pink phone on the floor near the groundbridge. "So that's why Miko hasn't picked up her phone."
"Let me try Jack," Arcee said.
(At the canyon)
The kids were taking a breather as they were currently exhausted from running at a dead end. Off in the distance, they could hear the sounds of gunfire and roaring.
"You know the best part about zombies?" Miko asked. "They're slow moving." She said as she bobbed from side to side, mimicking a zombie walking.
"I hope Six and Jewel are alright." Raf said in concern.
"I'm sure he's fine Raf, remember when he took down Makeshift." Jack replied in an attempt to comfort him.
Just then, everyone heard music coming from Jack's pocket.
"Is that your..." Raf began
"Phone!" the other humans exclaimed as they realized.
Jack immediately pulled grabbed it and answered. "Hello?! Arcee!"
(Location: Autobot base)
"Jack?! Can you hear me!?" Arcee asked with worry before she lost the connection. "Nothing."
(Location: Canyon)
"Hello? Arcee!," Jack yelled but only got more static in reply before groaning and hanging up. "Nothing."
"Gee, imagine that!" Miko remarked with sarcasm. "The fourth dimension has lousy cell phone reception! "
"Wait, guys. Guys, the phone rang. We're getting a signal." Jack pointed out.
"Maybe the Autobots can't see or hear us because we're moving at hyper speed or something," Raf suggested.
"Text me!" Miko told Jack. "If my phone's back at the base, maybe they'll see it."
Suddenly, they had all heard a loud crash behind them. As they all turned around to look, they saw the reanimated corpse of Skyquake as it fell down to the ground in pain. The kids could see that it looked much worst as it had many blast holes and scorch marks around it's chassis and helm. They spotted Six coming around the corner, looking none the worst for wear,
Six fired another shot from his shock rifle into his other eye, leaving Skyquake blind as he swiped at the ground hoping to hit the Spartan. The super-soldier dogged his attacks as he pulled out his HYDRA launcher and fired it at his torso. After a few shots, his armor chipped away to revealed an opening to his insides. Maddox wasted no time as he took out a frag grenade and pulled the pin. After waiting a few seconds to let the grenade cook, he threw it inside the opening and watched as it detonated inside him, where his spark chamber was. Skyquake stumbled around in pain as the grenade exploded, before it collapsed dead on the ground.
Soon as he was sure the Cybertronian zombie was dead, the Spartan Lieutenant made his way back to the kids, who stared at him in awe.
"Dude...that was awesome!" Miko exclaimed.
Maddox ignored her as he turned his gaze towards Jack, before he could say anything, Jewel's voice filled the air.
"Are you alright?" She asked in concern.
"We're fine. What about you?" He replied.
"We're good to go. No injuries or anything."
"Jack! The text message!" Raf reminded him.
Jack nodded. Not wasting time as he sent a text message to Miko's phone.
(Location: Autobot base)
"We're dealing with fluctuating energy profiles inside a wide distortion field," Ratchet stated, "but it may be possible to back-trace their coordinates."
On the platform next to the five Autobots, Miko's phone began flashing and vibrating.
(Location: Canyon)
"Looks like all we can do now is wait." Jewel said after she was filled in by Raf. The kids started to relax and get comfortable, seeing as the Decepticon zombie was now dead. Regardless, Six remained vigilant for any sign of movement.
After a few moments of silence, the quiet was broken by Miko. "So...where'd you learn how to do all that Six?"
"Experience." He said without even turning his head towards her.
"Come on Six! We've known you for about a few months now and we still don't know much about you or the place where you're from. You gotta at least tell us a little bit. What's humanity like in your world?" She asked with enthusiasm creeping in her voice.
"It's classified." Jewel responded. "Even if it wasn't, you're better off not knowing."
"Come on Miko. Just let it go." Jack said as he could tell that Maddox and Jewel weren't budging."
The teenage girl acted as they she didn't hear him, since she continued speaking. "We saw what the Decepticons can do and we've been through some dangerous situations before, like when the Scraplets invaded the base. I think we can handle it." She argued.
"Trust me. It's different."
"Just one thing! Please." Miko pleaded.
Before they could continue speaking, they heard a voice that belonged to a familiar seeker.
"Skyquake! Your master summons you!" Starscream announced in front of the humans.
"How did Starscream get in here?" Raf asked as he hid behind Jack in fear.
"Stay calm Raf." Jewel said. "It looks like he doesn't see us."
Everyone could tell she was right as they were standing right in front of the Decepticon, him not noticing in the slightest.
Just then, a groundbridge portal opened up in front of them.
"A groundbridge portal?" Raf asked in confusion.
"That must be our ticket out of here!" Jack exclaimed.
"The Autobots saw our message." Miko cheered.
The humans saw Starscream stare at the portal in confusion. " What? Mine or theirs?" He asked as he observed the portal.
"If we go through, we'll run smack into Starscream!" Raf pointed out.
As if on que, Six walked ahead of them and readied his HYDRA.
"I'll distract him. You three make a run for it."
Before anyone could respond, Maddox jumped into the portal and landed right in front of the Decepticon second-in-command.
"A human?" Starscream gasped in surprise. "Where did you vermi-"
Before he finished, Six raised his launcher and opened fire. As the rounds exploded as they impacted Starscreams chassis.
"AAAGGHH!" The Decepticon shouted in pain as he began swiping and firing at the super-soldier, who dodged his every attack.
Seeing as he was now preoccupied, the children went through the groundbridge and ran from the fight between the Decepticon and the Spartan. They made it a few steps before they saw another groundbridge open up out of feedback range. It was Optimus, Bulkhead, Arcee, and Bumblebee.
"Jack, Miko, Rafael, Six, Jewel." Optimus greeted.
"Autobots again?!" Starscream screeched as he was hit by another round, courtesy of Six's HYDRA launcher.
"AAGGH!" The seeker endured through the pain and activated his commlink." This is Starscream! Requesting emergency ground bridge, Now!"
(Location: Autobot base)
"Look. If you're going to blame anybody...blame me." Miko said to everyone once they returned to the Autobot base.
"Sorry, could you repeat that? " Jack asked with a smug grin. "Maybe a couple dozen times?"
"Miko," Optimus said. "What you have endured has been lesson enough. We are just glad you are all safe."
Bulkhead knelt near Miko. "Guess it was a good thing you dropped this." he said as he handed her cell phone back. "Too bad you didn't get any pictures though."
"Nah, that's okay," Miko replied. "I think after today I pretty much have zombie close-up seared into my brain."
"Six, Jewel, thank you for keeping the children safe. " Optimus said as he looked towards the duo.
Six acknowledged him with a nod before focusing his gaze towards Miko. While the Spartan was still much smaller than the Cybertronians, he towered over normal humans. As could be seen when he stood next to the foreign exchange student.
"Uhhh..." Miko said nervously as anxiety slowly started to build within her. She could practically feel the cold air engulf her as a shiver went down her spine.
Six said nothing as he just continued staring at the teenage girl. After what felt like an eternity of silence, he held out his palm as Jewel appeared who gave Miko a look. While her face appeared to be completely emotionless, the teenager could practically feel the anger radiating from the artificial intelligence, as could everyone in the room.
Before anyone could say anything, the AI began speaking in an eerie calm manner. "Do you have any idea how incredibly stupid and irresponsible that was of you? Endangering your life and those around you, not to mention compromise an operation, simply for the sake of pictures?"
"W-Well in my d-defense..." the teenage girl began to stammer out before Jewel made a quick gesture for her to be quiet, which she complied instantly.
"You placed the lives of everyone here in danger. If anything had gone differently, a few of us could've been dead right now."
"Jewel, I think she's got it.." Bulkhead interjected.
Jewel shot him a glare that made him quiet. "No, she needs to hear this." She said before she turned back to Miko. "Let me make this clear, if Raf and Jack had died out there, it would've been entirely your fault since they only went in because of you."
"Jewel..." Jack began.
He quickly backed down as Maddox turned his helmet in his direction and gave him a glance. "Despite what you may think this is not a game. You don't get a second chance if something goes wrong or if people die because of a mistake that you made. Tell me Miko, would you have been able to live with yourself if they were six feet under now? Because it could've been entirely possible. What if Bulkhead or one of the Autobots had to abandon their position to come to your aid, this would've made them vulnerable to attack. Not to mention how easy it would be for you to get killed."
The girl in question was beginning to understand the gravity of the situation more as guilt began appearing on her face.
"Jewel...I believe that she has learned her lesson. None of you were hurt." Optimus said.
Jewel let out a small sigh before she continued. "Optimus, the fact of the matter is that we got lucky, and eventually our luck may run out if she doesn't understand this."
Six was the one who spoke next. "Believe me, stupid or hastily made decisions made during missions can be very costly. We know that firsthand."
"What do you mean?" Arcee asked.
The duo became solemn as they began to recall some memories. After a moment of silence, Jewel responded. "Let's just say that we lost a lot of people. And that we could've done more to save them."
"W-who?" Raf questioned.
A quick look from both Six and Jewel told everyone that they weren't answering that question. "I hope you understand the severity of this Miko. How lucky we were today and how we might not be next time."
The teenager seemed to acknowledge the truth in what they were saying as she looked . "I...I understand."
"I mean it Miko. This had better not happen again." Was all Jewel said before she disappeared.
Maddox requested a groundbridge back to their bunker, which Ratchet complied. Bringing the number of people in the base down to eight.
"What do you think he meant by that? Doing more to save people?" Bulkhead asked.
"It seems that Six and Jewel hold many secrets." Optimus acknowledged. "However, as I already informed you we shall not pressure him in revealing them to us."
"Sometimes secrets are secrets for a reason," Arcee stated in agreement.
"Hopefully one day they will be comfortable to reveal them to us," Optimus mused. "Whatever they may be."
And scene! Here is the next chapter of Still in the fight. Hope you all enjoyed it.
Remember...stay frosty gents.