RWBY: The Worlds of Arc

by The Timeless Writer

Team RWBY and the other three members of Team JNPR, get transported to another realm of reality to see versions of their blonde friend Jaune, they see worlds as him as a Hero, Villain, Anti Hero, Merc for Hire, King, Saiyan and many others. How will they react to the worlds they see?

68. Fall of Cybertron Part 4

Gamelover41592: Thanks.

Ultrautahraptor: As I said in the author's note section, I won't be covering the second game for a while.

Mr. A: Glad you liked the choices.

Remzal Von Enili: Having just gone through my second playthough, I know what you mean.

Spiral-Voltron-Zero0Q1: Thanks.

RXWriter: They'll have a lot to get through, that's for sure.

StrongGuy159: I don't mind people giving ideas. I can confirm one of these is gonna be in this story, this chapter actually.

Omarnosian10: It was pretty easy for me on the choices. Thank you, I really don't wanna get burn out writing these. I just played through it a second time and I know what you mean.

Airhcampion: It'll definitely be shocking. I haven't seenJujutsu Kaisen yet so it might be a fun watch.

Voidicus: Thank you, I think.

DiedWithRedemption: I might do a few episodes from some of the other series, but not a whole lot of them. Glad to hear about Superman, I have a lot of shows to catch up on once I finish Worlds of Arc.

Luffy L Deathwalker: Sorry you didn't like it. Perhaps you could tell me what you didn't like about the chapter and tell me what I could've done differently to improve it.

Xedornox: Not in this story.

Maximum Rhapsody: That stuff will be covered in the sequel.

Jamieoeyes: I have thought about covering the Spider-Man stuff as its own fic.

Protector for all: That it did. It's one of the strong points of the game and it pushes both Peter and Otto to their breaking points.

Guest: Not anytime soon.

NAJ P. Jackson: That will be saved for another story I'm afraid. I don't have it in me to do the rest of the DLC for this story. I thought Yuri and Blake were quite similar.

Pharamine: I'm still working through the details.

Scout-diamond: Sorry, no Heists this year.

DiedWithRedemption: I think I will be doing the DLC and Miles, seeing as they have important parts that play into the sequel.

Teen Shallot: It'll be something alright.

UnlawfulGentleman: Thanks. It means a lot to hear. I just felt that if I just abruptly finished the story without a proper ending, it would be unsatisfying to both the readers and myself. It'll be a lot for the audience to take and I will enjoy trying to capture the reactions of the audience.

BrandonKR: You are indeed right there. It's something Ozpin will have to realize at some point. As for Jacques, it'll be a surprise if he ever learns a thing.

Snakeboy33: It'll be quite a shock for them to say the least.

Alloy101: Sorry, I'm not doing another Suction Cup Man any time soon.

Longfang dark: I will be covering that part in the game, it gives a better understanding of the villains.

Geanpier: No, sorry, Red Dead 2 was only a one off. I don't plan on doing anymore games.

ElectricDragonSemblanceHunter: I'll give it a look sometime.

Joe.c.k2002: Well here it is.

Jinqa: I won't be doing Frontiers, sorry. And yes, the break has been good, thanks for asking.

Kamen Rider Sentry: That can happen from time to time, having so many characters to react to the story.

HunterPrimeAW5M3: I might do Airbender someday.

---

"I'm back everyone!" View announces to the room, holding a world orb in his hand as everyone looks at him in anticipation.

"Alright!" Ruby pumped up her fist in excitement. "Can't wait to see what's next!"

"So which one is it, View?" Pyrrha asked. "The world of the Omnitrix or Spider-Man?"

Actually, it's neither of those." View said, prompting curious looks from the audience. "It's a world we haven't seen for a while now."

Blake tilted her head in curiosity. "What world is it?"

"The world of Cybertron." View answers.

"Wait, you mean, back with the Autobots and Decepticons." Yang asked, a grin of excitement slowly growing on her face.

View nodded. "Yes. Originally, I hadn't planned on going back to this world until the next viewing. But I'd figured we can finish this off while we can."

"Well, it would be good to know how the rest of the events play out." Ozpin said.

"I too would like to see." Winter said in a stern tone. "Especially for what reason this...Grimlock had for abandoning his post during an attack."

"I would as well." Ironwood said in agreement with a serious expression.

Penny was just smiling. "I would also like to see this world as well. Mainly to see more of their culture."

"Well, then. Let's have a look for ourselves, shall we?" View said as he threw the orb into the screen.

"This should be good" Ruby said with a smile as she took her seats along with the rest of the audience as the light died down and the screen started up.

The screen opens with an Autobot Shuttle flying through a storm, where Sideswipe was piloting the shuttle with Jazz and Cliffjumper in the back of the ship.

"This is as close I can get to Grimlock's last known location until the rust storm clears up!" Sideswipe calls out to the two and the ship flies towards the center.

"It'll have to do, Sideswipe!" Jazz said as he turned to his partner. "You ready, Cliffjumper?"

"Always." Cliffjumper said in an eager tone.

Cliffjumper and Jazz stood at the side of the ship with the doors open.

"Try not to have too much fun without me!" Sideswipe said.

"Just keep your channels open, in case the rescu-ers need some rescu-ing!" Jazz remarked before chuckling. "Let's do it!" Jazz said as he and Cliffjumper fist bumped each other before diving down to the ground below, landing perfectly on the ground.

"Nice landing." Coco complimented with a small smirk.

"Meh," Yang shrugs. "Not as great as my landing during initiation."

Blake gave her partner a look. "Always humble, aren't you Yang?" Blake dryly said.

Yang grins. "One of my most charming qualities."

"Debatable..." Weiss mutters.

Jazz and Cliffjumper raised their arms up to protect their optics from the harsh winds.

"My sensors are jammed!" Cliffjumper yelled out. "Optics barely working!"

"Keep moving!" Jazz yelled out as the two started to move through the storm. "We gotta find cover! Though here!" Jazz pointed to a nearby entry way. He used his grappling hook to pull apart the debris covering it as the two kept moving.

"Sideswipe, this is Jazz. We're in. but stay close, okay?" Jazz said.

"Will do." Sideswipe said over the coms. "Sideswipe out."

As the two moved, Jazz spotted something up above. "Cliffjumper! Over here!" Jazz called out as the two eventually came across a ruined ship, crashed on top of debris.

"Whoa!" Ruby says in awe at the sight of the ship.

"Something tells me that it might be Cardin's ship." Weiss said.

"It does seem like it." Ren said in agreement.

Cliffjumper looked over the ship. "Jazz, that ship's markings match the one that was stolen from the base."

"Then it's a good bet Grimlock used it." Jazz said before grappling himself onto the ship.

"That doesn't look very stable!" Cliffjumper called down from the ground.

"It's fine!" Jazz assured as he began investigating the ship. "Got the ship logs. Grimlock did use it. He and his team were tracking an energy spoke here in the Sea of Rust."

"At least we know why he left." Tai said.

"That doesn't make what he did acceptable." Winter said with a stern tone. "He should've informed Mr Arc. of this discovery."

"He probably wanted the glory for himself." Velvet muttered.

Suddenly, the ship began to become unstable, quickly beginning to fall down, with Jazz making a quick escape out of the ship as it fell down, landing far away from the crashing ship.

"See, under control…" Jazz claimed.

Cliffjumper groans. "I can't believe you outrank me."

Yang just gave a smug smirk. "I'm just that good."

Weiss rolled her eyes. "Oh please. Like you wouldn't make a mess like that yourself."

"Well, maybe not as much." Yang says, much to the doubt to her other teammates.

Jazz then used his hook to lift up a piece of debris up from the ground. "Looks like Grimlock made his way through here. After you…"

Cliffjumper walks through the path his partner opened up for him, seeing the destruction Grimlock left around him. "Grimlock leaves quite the trail." Cliffjumper remarks.

"I'll say..." Coco said.

But as soon as Cliffjumper was about to reach a nearby door, he heard Jazz's voice on the comns. "Cliff! We got company!" Jazz warned, prompting Cliffjumper to quickly get behind cover. "Time to play hide and seek."

"Decepticons?" Cliffjumper asked, immediately turning on his cloaking device, as if vanishing from sight.

"Cloaking works best if you keep quiet." Jazz suggested.

"Cloak?" Blake repeated with a slight look of interest.

"Hmm, I didn't think Yang was capable of being quiet." Weiss remarks.

"Hey! I can be stealthy if I want to!" Yang insists.

Weiss gave Yang a raised brow. "Really?"

"Yeah! I just prefer taking the bad guys head on! Much more fun that way." Yang grins.

"Preach my sistah!" Nora cried out while Weiss rolled her eyes.

Cliffjumper peeked his head up from his spot to see a couple of Decepticons sprinting towards the door.

"Sweep the area. We don't want any visitors like before." The first Decepticon said as he and the rest headed through the door.

"Yes sir." The final one said, standing by a couple of stasis pods.

"They must be talking about Cardin and his team." Ren said.

"I wonder where they are." Ruby pondered.

"Must've either been captured or escaped." Blake guesses.

Cliffjumper's cloaking device then turned off, reappearing but the Decepticon didn't notice.

"Keep it down until we find out why they're here." Jazz advised. "Take him out all quiet like."

Cliffjumper nodded as he slowly crouched towards the unsuspecting Decepticon. He then quickly sweep-kicks the Decepticon to the ground before plunging his blade into his chest, taking him down.

"Hmm, impressive take down." Winter complimented.

Yang smiles as she turns to Weiss. "Looks like I managed to impress your big sis."

Weiss rolled her eyes. "Or rather, your counterpart did."

Yang just shrugs. "Still the same thing. Who knows, we might hang out more."

Weiss glared at Yang at her teasing while she bore the same grin.

Cliffjumper stood up with a proud smirk. "The new cloaker is working great." Cliffjumper said. He then approached the door but found that it wasn't opening. "The door is sealed shut."

"I see an access tunnel behind all that junk." Jazz informed.

Cliffjumper looked over to where Jazz was referring to. "I'll take care of that." Cliffjumper said, pulling out a detpack and place it on the debris blocking his path. Taking a few steps back, Cliffjumper braced himself as the detpak exploded and blew away the debris.

"There! An access tunnel." Cliffjumper said in success as he transformed into his alt mode in order to enter through the tunnel.

"That's...one way of making one." Saphron says.

"Eh, I improvise." Yang grins.

"That's one way of calling it." Blake said. "Surprised it didn't alert the other Decepticons."

"We'll find Grimlock faster if we split up." Jazz said.

"Keep your channel open. See you inside." Cliffjumper said as he made it on the other side of the tunnel, stopping only to see a Decepticon approaching a console.

"Is it really a good idea, splitting up like that?" Terra asked.

"Best way to cover the area." Ironwood said. "They can find out a lot more that way."

"Just so long as they don't attract attention to themselves." Ozpin said.

"Easier said than done." Qrow mutters, knowing how loud his niece could be.

Cliffjumper exited the tunnel, transforming back to robot mode as he approached the Decepticon and quickly taking him out. He pulled down a lever, causing a door to open up before him. As he entered through the door, he could see a strange, slender looking Cybertronian with a green scanner emanating from his singular optic ahead of him.

"What the hell..." Sun mutters in shock at the sight of the strange Cybertronian.

"What...is that thing?" Ruby asks while looking a little worried at the thing.

"I don't know, sis, but I don't like the look of it." Yang said as she winced slightly.

"Let's hope that your counterpart stays clear from it." Pyrrha said.

"Eh," Nora waved off. "It doesn't look too tough."

"Appearances can be deceiving, Nora." Ren reminded his partner. "We don't know what that thing is capable of yet."

"Jazz, you reading this?" Cliffjumper asks.

"Keep your distance." Jazz advised.

"Maybe we can ask him which why Grimlock went." Cliffjumper remarks as he watches the strange being walk out of sight. Cliffjumper sighs, not finding a way out of here. "Looks like a dead end. I see a crane but can't reach it. Any ideas?"

"There's a control room on your left. Try over there." Jazz suggested.

Cliffjumper headed over to where Jazz directed him to. He would run faster, if not quickly spotting a Decepticon walking by, quickly using his cloaker.

"Decepticons are crawling all over this place." Cliffjumper quietly comments.

"I get the sense they've been here for a while." Jazz said.

"But why?" Penny asked. "There does not appear to be anything of valve within the Sea of Rust."

"There was that energy source." Weiss pointed out. "It might be connected to what happened to Cardin and his team.."

Cliffjumper carefully went over to the scout, throwing him to the ground before taking him out. He entered the room the Decepticon was heading inside. "Jazz, some of this tech looks pretty recent."

"The Decepticons are using this as some kind of waste management facility." Jazz explains. "The kind of waste you get from milling Energon."

"In the Sea of Rust?" Cliffjumper said with confusion as he made his way up the stairs.

"It doesn't sound like the best place to get energy from." Sun said in agreement.

"There might be more going on than we may know." Ozpin hums.

"It's coming from somewhere. Grimlock knew something we didn't. Find a way upstairs." Jazz said.

Cliffjumper looked up to see a small service hatch, sneaking his way past the other Decepticons and entering through it. As he made his way through it, he heard Jazz speak again.

"Cliff, picking up a lot of Decepticons just ahead." Jazz warned.

"I'll deal with them." Cliffjumper assured as he approached a couple of bars, looking down to see a couple of Decepticons at the bottom floor, standing near a trash compactor. "Just find a way for me to reach that control room."

"Found your way, Cliff. Hitch a ride on that trash compactor." Jazz said.

Cliffjumper followed his partner's advice and made his way out of the vents. As he snuck around the area, he overheard a conversation between a few Decepticons nearby.

"I don't like it. Just like that? Starscream takes control? He's no Megatron." One Decepticon said with displeasure.

The other Deception grumbles. "Better than Shockwave. That guy gives me the creeps. And his 'pets?'"

"Shockwave?" Ruby repeated.

The first Decepticon shuddered at the mention of that Decepticon. "Don't get me started. I saw what they did to those Autobots."

"Did he say Shockwave?" Cliffjumper whispered.

"Did he say pets?" Jazz added.

"Who's Shockwave?" Nora asks.

"Must be another of Adam's lieutenants." Glynda theorizes.

"Yeah, but who exactly is he in this?" Qrow asks. "Someone we know?"

"I'm more concerned on what his...pets are." Kali said.

Using his cloaker, Cliffjumper snuck past the two Decepticons slowly and carefully to avoid being potentially seen. He managed to make his way down to where the trash compactor was. He walked towards a nearby lever and proceeded to pull it down, causing the trash compactor to descend down for him. He hopped on top of it as it went right back up, walking off its head inside of a service shaft, eventually heading inside of what appeared to be a control area with a crane holding onto a large cage.

"Man that was close." Ruby sighed in relief.

"I'll say." Ren said in agreement.

"See?" Yang says with a smug smirk. "I can be stealthy when I wanna be."

Weiss sighed in annoyance over her teammate's boasting. "I guess you can..."

"Think I can position that crane to get across." Cliffjumper said, heading towards the lever controlling the crane.

Jazz wasn't too sure. "That thing looks pretty rusty, Cliff. Don't make a scene."

Cliffjumper waved off Jazz's concerns. "It'll be fine." Cliffjumper said as he pulled the lever down. This caused the crane to come towards him…slowly…and dragging the cage that caused a loud, metallic screeching sound as it scraped against the metal as it dragged itself towards Cliffjumper.

Everyone in the audience winced in pain over the metallic screeching sounds, the Faunus especially due to their sensitive hearing.

"Never mind, I take that back immediately." Weiss said in a deadpan tone.

"Aw what!?" Yang exclaims. "That wasn't even me! That was the crane!"

"Which you pulled, Blondie." Coco said with an amused smirk, causing Yang to groan.

"See?" Cliffjumper says as he boards the cage.

"Yeah, that wasn't loud at all." Jazz remarks with clear sarcasm.

As the cage was slowly bringing Cliff to the other side, he heard Jazz's voice again. "Cliff! You got company!" Jazz warned, just as Decepticons suddenly entered on the left side of the room and immediately started shooting at the red scout, causing him to duck to cover as he provided cover fire. "Wonder what tipped them off?"

"You're not helping!" Cliffjumper exclaimed as he fired back at the Decepticons, managing to take a few of them out.

"They got rockets!" Jazz warned, just as the rocket troopers fired at Cliffjumper.

"I know!" Cliffjumper exclaimed as he got behind a cover spot just as the rockets just narrowly missed him. Some of the rockets did manage to hit the cage, causing it to shake and make Cliffjumper lose his focus.

But this didn't stop the little red scout as he proved himself more formidable than the Decepticons realized as he took down more of their ranks with ease. "Ha!" Cliffjumper laughed. "Worthy of Grimlock himself!"

"You mean loud and unnecessary?" Jazz asked rhetorically.

"Whatever," Cliffjumper shrugged as his cage was reaching the other side. "We won."

"That's a victory in my eyes!" Yang said with a proud smirk.

"If you say so..." Blake quietly said.

Cliffjumper got off the cage and headed towards the nearest door. Cliffjumper entered what appeared to be a tomb. Cliffjumper called up Jazz to let him know what he was seeing. "Jazz, I'm entering what looks to be some kind of ancient tomb."

Cliffjumper heard some static from the other side of the coms. "You're out of my visual range." Jazz said as more static filled the comns. "Signal weak from the storm. Keep me posted till I can catch up."

Cliffjumper proceeded to explore the depths through the ancient tomb, looking for any potential signs that could lead to Grimlock and his team. But he suddenly came to a halt when he saw a green beam shining up and down through a set of pillars, as it was scanning for something.

"What the heck..." Nora says in confusion.

"It appears that Miss Xiao Long is not alone there." Ozpin muses.

"What the-?" Cliffjumper mutters while keeping out the beam's sight. Seeing that it was safe, Cliffjumper moved around to inspect what was scanning the area, making his way to the large room with a globe display in front of him. The room began to rumble a little, presumably due to the conditions of the storm, when suddenly, Cliffjumper spotted a slender looking Decepticon scanning area, causing Cliffjumper to quickly move to cover the globe.

"What the heck is that?" Coco asks.

"It must be that strange looking Decepticon Yang saw earlier." Ren suggested.

"Y'know, up close, it doesn't look nearly as intimidating." Sun squints.

"I bet I can take him!" Nora said with an eager grin.

"Cliff, you there? I'm in the-" Jazz's voice suddenly spoke out, causing Cliffjumper to panic as he tried shutting it off as not to alert his position. But the Decepticon heard that sound as he quickly transformed into a large, bulky being with two large cannons as he fired at the globe above Cliffjumper, utterly destroying it. Seeing that there was no visible threat, the Decepticon reverted back to its slender form and began searching the room again.

"Holy crap!" Tai exclaimed as he and the audience weren't expecting to suddenly do that.

Ren then turned to Nora, who looked shocked at what she saw. "Still think you can take that thing down Nora?" Ren asked.

Nora stared at the screen for a few seconds more, blinking a few times before giving her answer. "Yep! Still think I got a shot." Nora said with an eager look, prompting Ren to sigh, expecting that answer from his partner.

Jazz's voice spoke out again, this time a lot quieter. "Cliff, if you read me, that con's using a stealth cracker. That beam will see right through your cloak."

Cliffjumper nodded in understanding. He peeked his head up and waited for an ideal opportunity to wait till its back was turned. Once he saw the drone with its back turned, Cliffjumper ran from his cover spot and to the drone, he hopped on top of its back and proceeded to slice the drone's head clean off.

"Whoa, brutal!" Sun exclaims.

"I didn't think you had it in you, Yang." Blake said through a little stunned tone, both shocked and impressed by Yang's display.

"Me neither." Yang said.

"Maybe I prefer it if you stick to hitting people." Ruby said, not sure how to feel after watching that brutal display.

The drone's body fell limp on the ground as Jazz's voice picked up again. "Cliff! Rust Storm is picking up! Brace yourself!"

The room began to shake and rumble as the walls began to burst due to the sheer forceful nature of the storm, with Cliffjumper quickly shielding himself from the slight debris of the storm outside.

Once the storm settles, Cliffjumper contacts his partner. "Jazz, you alright?"

He was thankful when he heard his voice on the other line. "Be glad you're inside. This rust isn't doing my gears any favors."

Cliffjumper smirks, until he hears the sounds of the doors opening near him, causing him to quickly turn on his cloaker. "I hear more Decepticons." Cliffjumper said as more Seekers entered the room. "Time to go dark."

Cliffjumper managed to stay out of the Seekers' sight, as well as the two, normal Decepticons beside it. The red scout decided to go in for the kill while it searches and proceeds to charge after the Seeker and decapitate it like before. Unfortunately, it gained the attention of the other two Decepticons as they saw Cliffjumper, but they were quickly taken out.

"Pretty good take down." Ilia admitted.

Yang smiled at this. "Aw, thanks Blake's friend." Yang said, giving her a grin and a thumbs up.

Ilia's eyes widen at this and looks away. "Uh…Thanks. It's Ilia by the way."

Cliffjumper decided to head out of the room making it into a hallway where there was a laser barrier. Cliffjumper knew that if he crossed it, he would alert every Decepticon nearby. Thankfully, there was a service tunnel that led to the other side. He transformed and drove through it, making it to the other side.

"That wasn't so tough." Jazz commented as Cliffjumper continued to drive through the tombs.

"Whoever these tombs belonged to, they sure got around." Cliffjumper said as he continued to venture on forwards.

"The ancients prided themselves as star explorers" Jazz explains. "These tombs must be where they kept any cosmic souvenirs. The rust hasn't been kind."

"How interesting." Ozpin mused in interest. "I would like to know more about these Cybertronians and their history.

"I know Bart would." Tai chuckle. "He'd kill to learn more about other worlds like this."

Eventually, Cliffjumper found his way inside of a large empty, dark room, with a platform in the center of the room with a walkway leading up to it.

"Ancient explorers, huh?" Cliffjumper commented as he looked around the room. He approached the walkway and found a lever at the end of it. Curious, Cliffjumper decided to pull on the lever to see what would happen.

Weiss facepalmed at this. "Why would you pull a lever that you don't even know what it does?"

Yang shrugged. "Hey, my counterpart, not me. Besides, aren't you curious what it does?"

"It could blow up the room for all you know!" Weiss says.

"Or it could give me access to an armory." Yang said with her carefree grin.

Weiss groaned. "There's just no winning with her."

Ruby shook her head. "Nope."

And what happened was a bright light emanating from the bottom of the ground, and a large pillar began to ascend up to the ceiling. The top began to rotate and spin as it began powering itself up as it emanated a beam onto the ceiling and that enveloped the entire room, creating a starfield that covered the entire room as Cliffjumper watched in awe as holographic displays of various worlds appeared as well.

The audience were taken aback by the stunning visual the room was showing to the room, amazed and astounded by the display of the starfield shown before them all.

"Primus," Cliffjumper breathed out. "Would you look at that?" Cliffjumper says as a spiral staircase formed from the tower in front of Cliffjumper. The red scout walked up the stairs while taking in the sights of the various worlds.

"Whoa…" Ruby said with wonder in her eyes.

"Amazing..." Ren breathed out in awe.

"It's so wonderful." Pyrrha gasped.

Saphron smiled as Adrian watched in awe as he attempted to reach out to the shining lights. "It really is."

"So many worlds…" Blake quietly said.

"Astonishing." Ozpin smiled. "Simply astonishing."

"Jazz, I've stumbled into some kind of…ancient map room of the universe." Cliffjumper recounted.

"Does the map point to something big and ugly named Grimlock?" Jazz asked.

"Uhhh, no." Cliffjumper admitted.

Cliffjumper continued to move up the stairs until suddenly, a large, bright, and shining sun appeared before him. Cliffjumper stopped as he watched as more worlds suddenly appeared around the sun. aligning with it. "Jazz, you should see this place. It's beautiful!" Cliffjumper said, watching with awe at the various and amazing worlds, one in particular, sticking out among the other worlds, one filled with land and water.

"Huh, that one...looks familiar for some reason." Tai hummed.

Ren narrowed his eyes slightly at the screen for a closer look at the screen and found that there were a few familiar looking continents he had seen before.

"Write a poem about it and move on." Jazz said as the world began to revolve around the sun.

Cliffjumper continued to make his way up the steps, though not without a curious thought in his head. "You suppose the ancients visited all these places?"

But instead of an answer, Cliffjumper only heard the sounds of static on the other side.

"Jazz?" Cliffjumper said in confusion. "Huh, signal cut out again." Cliffjumper guessed as he made his way out of the map room and through a door that led him back into the ancient tombs.

"Must be due to the storm." Terra guessed.

"Hopefully, he'll be alright." Kali said.

Cliffjumper approached a set of bar windows, looking down to see Decepticons down at the lower floors, as well as more of the seeker drones.

"We've stepped in it now!" Jazz said over the coms. "One was tough enough!"

Cliffjumper wasn't concerned by this at all. "Shift it down a gear, Jazz. I'll handle this." Cliffjumper said, turning on his cloak as he made his way down to the lower floor.

As Cliffjumper snuck around the room, he overheard another conversation coming from the patrolling Decepticons.

"Starscream and Shockwave are at it again." One Decepticon irritably said. "I thought we were all on the same side."

"Starscream is always on his side. Period." His partner was as it were a matter of fact.

"Not surprising." Blake muttered. "Considering how quick she was at taking over Adam's role as leader."

"And considering how respectful they were to each other; I can see why he treated her the way he did." Qrow said, recalling back to when he shot Cinder for talking back.

Cliffjumper gave a quiet scoff. For once, he agreed with a Decepticon. Though he'd never admit it. The red scout continued to make his way through the ancient tombs, staying hidden in the service tunnels, using his cloaker or executing any Decepticons that were in his way.

Cliffjumper then came across a heavily destroyed room, with burn and sword marks all over the entire room. Cliffjumper hummed at the sight. "Massive sword scraps, a trail of destruction. Yeah, Grimlock went through here." Cliffjumper said as he began to follow the trail.

"I don't think there isn't a single thing there that isn't on fire or destroyed." Sun commented.

As Cliffjumper continued on, he saw more of Grimlock's destruction left behind. "Wow. Grimlock doesn't leave much to chance, does he?"

"You're giving him too much credit." Jazz said in a serious tone. "Grimlock's a hot head."

"And a jerk." Velvet bitterly muttered.

Cliffjumper shrugs. "I just respect the direct approach, that's all."

"Seeing as it's Yang, I'm not surprised." Weiss quietly mutters to herself.

"Exactly." Yang said in agreement with her red counterpart. "But I'm nowhere near as destructive as that."

"There's a nightclub owner who would strongly disagree with you on that, Miss Xiao Long." Ozpin said, while taking a sip from his coffee, making Yang look down sheepishly.

Cliffjumper then reached a nearby opening that led to the outside, where not only were there a couple of Decepticons outside and down on the ground, but Jazz was located on the other side of the area.

"Cliffjumper! We gotta move!" Jazz warned direly. "That rust storm is pickn' up again!"

And just as Jazz said, the storm began to increase in its intensity, causing the nearby statues near Jazz to crumble.

"Oh no!" Saphron cried out.

"Did he get hit?!" Ruby asks in panic.

"I don't know, I can't see!" Coco said.

"Jazz! Look out!" Cliffjumper warned as the storm began to obscure his sight, seeing the statues break apart and fall onto Jazz as his screams could be heard over the comns. The impact of the storm and debris falling down caused Cliffjumper to fall to the ground as a piece of debris blocked his way.

"Jazz? Jazz!" Cliffjumper yelled out. "Do you read me?"

"Hope he's okay." Ruby said.

He heard no response from his partner, causing Cliffjumper's worry to increase. "Scrap. He fell right into that Decepticon patrol." Cliffjumper said as he immediately began moving to Jazz's location, though the rust storm was making it difficult to venture through, even when debris from the statues were blocking his way.

Cliffjumper entered through a nearby hole, trying his coms again. "Jazz? You there?" Cliffjumper asks, hoping to hear his friend's voice, only to hear the sounds of static from the other line. "Don't worry buddy, I'm coming."

Cliffjumper looked around and saw that there were a couple of Seekers around the area he was in. The red scout knew he didn't have time to waste on these drones, knowing that his friend was in danger. So he stealthily made his way around the area, using the coordinates on his scanner in order to locate Jazz, either avoiding or taking down any Seekers in his path.

Suddenly, Cliffjumper heard a familiar voice on the coms again. "Hey…" Jazz's voice weakly speaks out, followed by a cough. "Cliffjumper, you there?"

"Oh good, he's okay." Ruby sighed in relief.

"But for how long." Winter said in a serious tone.

Cliffjumper gave a sigh of relief. "Glad to hear you're still functioning."

"I'm pinned down." Jazz groans. "Gonna need some help. Shooting over my coordinates…now."

"Got 'em. On my way." Cliffjumper says as he immediately headed for his friend's location.

As the red scout was heading towards Jazz's location, he heard his voice again. "Cliffjumper, a guard's nearly on top of me!"

Cliffjumper saw what his partner was talking about, looking ahead to see a Seeker interrogating Jazz.

"Oh no, one of those seekers." Blake said gravelly.

"And Flynt can't do anything to stop him." Pyrrha added.

"Not if I have anything to say about it." Yang said.

"Don't move, Autobot!" The Seeker warned in a robotic tone. "I know there were two of you. Where is your partner?"

"Partner?" Jazz said with a look of false confusion on his face. "I was just out here for a little 'me time'".

"Again. Where is your partner." The drone demanded.

"That is a very good question." Jazz says in agreement as he glances towards Cliffjumper, who was sneakily approaching the Seeker.

"Really taking your time there, aren't 'ya Yang?" Coco said.

Yang shrugged. "I like making an entrance."

Before the Seeker could question Jazz further, Cliffjumper hopped onto the Seekers back, using his blade to slice its head off.

"You're welcome." Cliffjumper said in a slightly smug tone.

Weiss groaned at her teammate's smug attitude. "I just hope to never find myself in a position where I would need her help." Weiss thought to herself. "I would never hear the end of it."

Jazz gave a sigh of relief. "That was close. Ugh." Jazz said under a strained tone, still unable to get the pillar off him. "Think you can lift this thing off me?"

Cliffjumper nodded as he walked over to the other side of it and got his hands under it. He then proceeded to pull the debris up with all of his strength. "I'm no Ironhide…" Cliffjumper groans as he manages to pull it up off Jazz and toss it aside, freeing Jazz. "But I got the job done."

"Oh, and I don't?" Qrow asks with a raised brow.

"At least I don't get distracted by a short skirt, Uncle Qrow." Yang remarked.

Tai laughed at the comeback, even Ironwood and Winter were quietly chuckling amongst themselves.

Qrow gave a small smirk. "Well played, firecracker."

Jazz nodded in appreciation and moved away from his partner and grappled onto the upper area above them. "Storm's clearing, we're gonna have 'cons on our position in no time. Quick follow me." Jazz said as he proceeded to pull down the debris blocking their way and launched himself towards it.

Cliffjumper headed through the cleared way. But was met with some Decepticon forces. Cliffjumper shot at a few, but not before Jazz suddenly came down on one of them from above.

"Oh yeah!" Jazz says with glee as he grapples himself back to the top as Cliffjumper deals with the rest of them.

"That was cool!" Ruby said with wide eyes.

Blake gave a shrug. "I could probably do that.

Yang smirked. "Aw, don't worry, Blakey, you'll always be my favorite partner." Yang said as she wrapped an arm around her shoulder.

Blake rolled her eyes as she removed her arm. "How lucky I should feel." Blake said with a dry tone and a smirk.

With the Decepticons dealt with, Cliffjumper entered the next room, where suddenly, strange flying drones came in and latched themselves onto the side of the walls.

"Great, more freaky looking Decepticons." Coco remarked.

"What the frak are those?" Cliffjumper exclaims.

He saw that the drones were pointing directly at him, with a laser pointer attached to their singular optic. Realizing what that meant, Cliffjumper dodged out of the way, just narrowly avoiding a sniper shot in time.

"That was a close one, sis." Ruby said.

"Well, I'm just lucky they're not as good a shot as you are." Yang smiled, making Ruby beam with pride.

The red scout quickly shot the sniper down before it could hit him again, as well as any other snipers that were positioned around the room. Cliffjumper went through another room, where he and Jazz quickly dispensed with the Decepticons there.

"Nice job, Cliff!" Jazz complimented.

But Cliffjumper saw that their way out was blocked. "Scrap. Looks like it caved in."

Jazz walked towards the debris. "I got this one." Jazz said as he uses his grapple to try and bring it down, managing it to pull it down and clear a way for them.

"Show off!" Cliffjumper remarks as he and Jazz moved on up through the tomb, only to find more debris blocking their path.

"Like you aren't?" Weiss asked.

"Can you lift that thing?" Cliff asks as Jazz attempts to do use with his hook once more.

But try as he might, the debris wasn't moving as Jazz turned to his partner with a sheepish expression. "Uh, no."

"Let me have it." Cliffjumper says as he approaches the debris and places a detpack on top of the debris and takes a few steps back when it starts counting down. The detpak reaches the end of the countdown, blowing up and destroying the rubble in their way.

"That works." Terra commented. "Maybe a bit too well."

The two entered inside of a large area, ruined and heavily destroyed, as if a large battle had taken place here, much to the amazement of Jazz and Cliffjumper.

"Wow. Grimlock?" Cliffjumper asks as Jazz grapples up for a higher vantage point.

"Grimlock." Jazz confirms.

"it's hard to believe an Autobot could cause this much damage." Winter said.

"Considering its Cardin, no surprise." Yang muttered.

Penny tilted her head in curiosity. "Is he a destructive person?"

Ruby shook her head, "No, no, he's not. Well, maybe to himself and his team."

As the two followed the trail of Grimlock's destruction, Cliffjumper decided to ask Jazz a question. "Why do you suppose Grimlock came out here, anyway?"

"Probably after the same thing the 'cons are after, whatever it is." Jazz guesses while working on a nearby terminal. "Nobody's heard from Grimlock or his team since."

Cliffjumper turned to Jazz in confusion. "Grimlock has a team?"

Jazz hummed. "What do they call themselves? The Lightning Strike something or other."

"Oh my god, that is awful!" Nora exclaimed.

"It's certainly a mouthful." Pyrrha couldn't help but agree with the pink bomber.

Ren nodded. "Certainly lacks creativity."

Cliffjumper winced at the name. "That's terrible."

But the red scout's attention was drawn to by various canisters being hauled away somewhere. "Jazz, look!" Cliffjumper pointed out.

"Interesting." Jazz says, gaining the red scout's attention again. "This facility is collecting the toxic byproduct of Energon refinement. There must be an Energon supply nearby."

"You picking any energy readings up?" Cliff asked.

"Storm is still muckin' up my signal…but, Cliff! I am detecting a faint distress signal. It's an Autobot!" Jazz exclaims.

"That must be Mr. Winchester." Ozpin realizes.

"Or any of his teammates." Tai said.

The two exited the room to follow the source of the signal. Cliffjumper approaches a nearby cover spot, where he could see ahead that there was a giant pit. "The distress signal coming from that pit." Cliffjumper says.

"You mean the one they're sealing up like a safe?" Jazz rhetorically asked, referring to the large lid lifting down upon the pit.

"We need a find a way to open it." Cliffjumper said.

"These canisters are full of toxic goo, I'm pretty sure I can rig a good-sized bomb to blow the lid. Meet me in the control room."

"Hopefully it'll be enough to open the lid." Kali said.

"Yes, and there's also the matter of the Decepticons to deal with." Ghira pointed out. "As soon as they notice what they're doing, there'll be a battle to come."

"They'll need to work together if they can fend them off." Glynda said.

"Considering how far they've come. I have nothing but faith that they'll manage." Ozpin said in a calm tone as he drank his coffee.

Cliff nodded but suddenly started when a sniper shot nearly got him. "These snipers might have other ideas." Cliffjumper remarks, shooting a few down before heading to the control room, fending off against the Decepticons in his way.

After dealing with them, Cliff met up with Jazz in the control room, where he was standing next to one of the canisters. "Cliff, I've rigged the bomb. Ready to lift."

"Be there in a parsec." Cliffjumper assured as he jumped down below to where the carrier for the bomb was.

"Bomb's on its way." Jazz said. "Once it's loaded, escort it to the hatch and I'll arm it remotely." Jazz said as the canister, which was covered with detpacks, loaded itself onto the carrier. "Should be more than enough fireworks to crack that lid."

"You're gonna wait till I get clear, right?" Cliffjumper asked in a slightly worried tone.

Jazz gave a so-so gesture. "We'll see." Jazz said as Cliffjumper went down the lift with the bomb to the ground floor. "Don't let the Decepticons destroy that bomb!"

"Hopefully I won't blow up along with it." Yang commented.

Cliffjumper nodded as he fended off against the Decepticons as they attempted to stop the red scout and his efforts. But Cliffjumper wouldn't let a single one of them stop him as he stood his ground against the Decepticons, blasting down each and every one of them without a hint of tiredness. As the bomb reached the silo.

"I'm arming the bomb. Deal with the rest of those con's." Jazz said as he attempted to activate the bombs, but nothing happened. "Cliff, the detonator isn't responding! You're going to have to set the timer off manually."

Cliffjumper nodded as he approached the bomb.

"You're gonna need to planet detpack on the bomb!" Jazz said.

"On it!" Cliff says as he planted one more explosive onto the canister. The red scout took a few steps back, just as detpack detonated, causing a powerful and massive explosion that literally blew the lid off the pit, exposing it.

"Whoa!" Nora exclaimed with wide eyes. "Now that was one hell of an explosion!" Nora said with a grin on her face.

"Yes, though, perhaps a big overkill." Pyrrha said.

Yang just smirked. "Nothing wrong with that, cereal girl."

Jazz came down beside his partner, patting him on the back. "Nice job, Cliff." Jazz complimented as the two walked towards the pit."Whew, that's a long way down." Jazz says as he looks down at the long drop. He turned to address Cliffjumper. "You stay here, keep an eye out."

"Uh what?" Yang said with a raised brow.

"It is best if one of you explores down there." Penny said. "To cover more ground that way."

"Yeah, but why not me?" Yang asked. "I mean, I did most of the work."

Weiss rolled her eyes at her teammate's ego.

"What!?" Cliffjumper exclaims with clear disapproval. "I'm not called Cliffjumper for nothing."

"Exactly! Fits with the name." Yang said in agreement of her red counterpart.

Jazz rolled his optics as Cliffjumper continued on. "You stay here. I'll take the plunge."

Jazz raised his finger up, as if about to say something to contradict him, only for him to fall down the hole himself. "Later, haha!" Jazz laughed as he made his way down the hole, much to Cliffjumper's irritation.

Coco laughed. "Looks like he had the jump on you."

Yang pouted in irritation at her counterpart being duped and that a pun was used on her. "Cheater."

"That's cheating!" Cliffjumper yelled at the falling Autobot.

Jazz manages to make his way down the hole, in a stylistic fashion as he landed perfectly on the he made his way down, Jazz heard his partner's voice on the coms. "Jazz, you alright?"

"Aren't I always?" Jazz says in a cool tone.

"What do you see?" Cliff asked.

Jazz looked around the area and saw it was rather…strange. With various pods and hives located around him. "A lotta junk." Jazz answers. "But I can grapple through it pretty easy." Jazz said as he used his grapple to pull down some debris, making a way for him.

"Seems weird for a sew to have hives and pods." Sun said.

"What's even stranger to me is what creature could create a hive." Blake pondered with a curious look. "Cybertron is a fully metal world, so what could make that?"

He made his way through what looked to be a sewer system. But quickly, he found something interesting in his scanners."Hold up, the signal is really strong now. Might belong to Sludge." Jazz said as he kept walking.

"Sludge. Wasn't he on Grimlock's team?" Cliffjumper asked. "Why would he be down there?"

Jazz then came across a pool of water, where he found a large, dismembered arm. He kneeled down and picked it up. "Not sure if he had a choice." Jazz said as he looked over the arm.

"Why?" Cliffjumper asked.

"Call it a hunch." Jazz said as he picked up the arm, looking up behind him to see Sludge integrated in the wall behind him with several webbing lines onto him.

"Holy shit..." Sun muttered, stunned at the sight of the big Autobot strung up like that.

"Good god." Terra breathed out, hiding Adrian from the sight of Sludge.

"Is he...alive?" Velvet asked with a worried look, disturbed at the sight of Sludge and his state.

"By the looks of it, I don't think so." Ilia shook her head, also slightly disturbed by the sight.

"I wonder who he could've been." Weiss said, trying her best to avoid looking at him.

"What could've done that to him?" Ruby asked with a concerned look.

"Whatever it is, I hope it isn't where Flynt is." Ren said.

"Cliffjumper, I found Sludge." Jazz said in a grave tone as he put his arm down.

"Is he functional?" Cliffjumper asked.

"He's pretty messed up." Jazz said as he climbed up onto him. "In a stasis lock. Might be enough Energon left to tap his memory core." Jazz said as he pushed his chest, causing it to open up for him as Jazz reached his hand inside and grabbed an Energon cube from it.

"Isn't that kinda like grave robbing?" Ruby asked, a little disturbed at seeing the literal life being taken away from Sludge.

"It isn't pleasant, I agree with you, Miss Rose." Winter said. "But it may lead to what happened to him so that Mr Coal can learn more of what happened."

"And maybe prevent whatever happened to him from happening to them." Ghira added.

"Bingo!" Jazz said as he placed the cube within his own chassis and began listening to the following audio from it.

"Stop your whining, Sludge." The voice of Grimlock's annoyed voice could be heard from the recording. "Those things took us by surprise."

"Still as charming as ever." Coco sarcastically said, already not fond of hearing his voice.

"Grimlock, we need to call for backup." The voice of Slug (Dove) could be heard in the background.

"There is no backup, Slug!" Grimlock growls. "Optimus doesn't even know we're here-"

"And whose fault is that?" Blake asked in a sarcastic tone.

Just then, creatures could be heard in the background, snarling and roaring. "They're back! And coming' in fast!" Another member of Grimlock's team, warned, Swoop (Russel) "they're too many of them!"

"Stand and fight!" Grimlock ordered as the sounds of his yells and the creatures screaming as the last thing he heard before the recording stopped.

The audience were left in silence, shocked by what they just heard and what could have potentially been Cardin and his team's final moments.

"Well, I don't think I'm sleeping tonight." Yang commented.

"Cliffjumper, you catch any of that?" Jazz asked.

"You mean the screaming? The horror? Followed by more screaming?" Cliffjumper asks.

"Uh yeah, That'd be it." Jazz confirms.

Jazz continues to venture through the strange and dark sewers, eventually coming inside of a large, open area.

"I don't mind saying, whatever can take out Grimlock and his team, I don't wanna meet." Cliffjumper said.

"Amen." Yang said in agreement of her red counterpart.

Jazz looked around and heard the sounds growing louder and closer. "That's unfortunate." Jazz said.

"Why is that?" Cliffjumper asked with worry.

"I think I'm about to." Jazz said as he found himself quickly under attack by Insectoid like creatures who began to swarm him.

"Oh boy…" Sun muttered.

"Eck, they're revolting!" Weiss cringes.

"And they look hungry!" Nora said.

"Jazz! You okay?" Cliff called out.

"They're everywhere! And they're ugly!" Jazz yelled out as he began firing at the insects, blasting them away as they crawled out of every and any entrance in the area, coming towards him.

"Keep on 'em, Jazz!" Cliffjumper encouraged.

"Easy for you to say!" Jazz yelled.

As much as Jazz fought them off, their hoard of Insectoids was too much, seemingly never ending for him.

"He can't keep this up." Penny said with a worried look. "He'll run out of ammunition soon and get swarmed."

"There has to be something he can do." Terra said with a concerned expression.

"Jazz don't be a fool! Remember what they did to Grimlock!" Cliffjumper reminded.

"I know! But I need an exit!" Jazz yelled as he looked around the area for something that could help him escape. But then, he spotted a fuel tank. "Wait, this could be my ticket out of here!" Jazz said.

"Not sure if that's a good idea." Weiss said. "Could end up blowing up the entire sewer.

"Better than nothing." Suns shrugged.

"Then blast it already and move it!" Cliff yelled.

Jazz fired at it, causing it to blow up and give him an entrance, but it also reached out to the entire room.

"Oh no!" Jazz yelled as green smoke filled the room.

"See?" Weiss said, though she was still worried for his safety.

"Jazz, I've got toxic readings off the scale!" Cliffjumper warned. "Get out of there now!"

"Not arguing with that!" Jazz yelled back as he proceeded to make his way out of the sewers.

He transformed and proceeded to drive past the fleeing Insecticons as he continued to make his way to the surface. As he drove, he heard the sound of his partner on the coms again.

"Jazz! They're coming topside! I-"Cliff's coms then went off.

"Cliff, you there?" Jazz called out, but no answer. "Must be in trouble. Gotta move!"

"Oh no…" Ruby quietly said, worried about her sister's counterpart's safety.

Yang noticed her sister's expression. "Hey, you know how tough I am. My other self is just as tough. He'll be alright."

"I hope so, Yang." Pyrrha said. "Though I wouldn't be so confident, considering…"

Jazz eventually made his way up to the surface, where Cliffjumper was on a support beam, fending off some of the Insecticons.

"Cliff!" Jazz called out.

"Jazz! I'm trapped!" Cliffjumper yelled out as he tried to defend himself.

"Get ready to move, Cliff!" Jazz warned as he prepared his grapple. "I'm pulling the plug!" Jazz announces as he shoots the support and proceeds to pull it down. Cliffjumper manages to make his way to the top of it, just before he lands onto the ground next to Jazz while the support sinks below.

The audience calmed down as they sighed in relief at the two being safe from the Insecticons.

"Of thank goodness." Velvet sighed.

"That was one hell of a chase." Qrow remarks.

"That was close, Jazz." Cliffjumper sighed in relief as he turned to his partner. "What now?" Cliffjumper asked he transformed to his alt mode.

"The distress signal is gone. But I'm picking up that previous energy signal." Jazz said as he transformed as well.

"Then I say we chase it." Cliff said as he and Jazz began driving to the source of an Energy signal.

"But what about Cardin and his team?" Ruby asked.

"I'm afraid most likely, Miss Rose, they did not survive they're encounter with the Insecticons." Ozpin informs.

"Man," Yang said in a slightly stunned tone. She was never fond of Cardin or any of his team even now, but they didn't deserve a cruel fate like that.

After a few obstacles, the two eventually came across something that greatly drew their attention.

"Jazz, look!" Cliffjumper pointed to a large lake filled with raw Energon and with a large tower connected to several pumps that were draining the lake, as well as firing unknown beams of energy to the sky.

"Holy..." Nora breathed out in awe.

"Look at all that Energon!" Sun said in amazement.

"But I fought Cybertron was a dead world?" Pyrrha said. "How could they get all that Energon?"

"It might be reserved." Blake suggested.

"Either way, this could prove vital for the Autobots." Winter said.

"That lake...is filled with raw Energon!" Jazz exclaimed.

"Jazz, this could be the last reservoir on the whole planet!" Cliffjumper says.

"And the Decepticons got here first." Jazz said in slight bitterness.

"They're pumping the lake dry."

"Come on, Cliffjumper." Jazz urged. "We gotta move!"

The two decided to split off again to find out what secrets this Energon refinery held. The screen showed Jazz having to fend off against Sniper drones with his sniper rifle. And after he took care of them, he continued on forward.

The screen changed to a series of events occurring, Jazz fending off more Decepticons, making a bridge for him to come across to enter inside of the facility. He continued on, taking out more Decepticons in his way, thanks to his sniping skills, until at one point where he fell down from a ventilation system.

"Scrap! Thought that would hold!" Jazz said as he got up from the ground.

"Your head was too big." Cliffjumper jokingly comments.

"Careful, I'm sensitive about my weight."

"I'm not." Nora shrugged.

Yang glared at the pink bomber. "Yeah, because for some reason, you can eat whatever." Yang bitterly thought, remembering that she had to work out like crazy, while Nora could eat a whole cake and not gain a bit of weight.

Jazz then had to deal with a Decepticon ambush while trapped in the room. Thankfully, there was an array of weapons and tech that helped him dealing with the Decepticons as he managed to turn the tide quickly against his ambushers as the screen showed him fending off against them.

Once they were taken care of, Jazz continued making his way through the facility. Where he would meet again with Cliffjumper and helped him out as he was pinned down by some Decepticons.

The two continued on through the facility as they took down more and more Decepticons, eventually escaping through the facility moat where Jazz let Cliffjumper through a set of doors.

Jazz made his way inside of a lab-like area, where on the other side of the room was a set of windows, and Cliffjumper was on the other side in the dark.

"Jazz, where are you?" Cliffjumper asks as he looks around in the dark.

"I see you, Cliff. There's a terminal over here." Jazz said as he looked around in the room. "Looks like a lab of some sort."

Jazz spots a nearby lever. "Cliffjumper, I think I found the lights." Jazz said as he pulled the lever.

The lights in Cliffjumper room turned on, but it revealed that he was surrounded by Insecticon pods, as well as Insecticons inside several containment tubes.

"Whoa. It looks like a laboratory." Sun said, amazed and yet disturbed by the dark setting.

"It must belong to this Shockwave." Ozpin theorized.

Blake's eyes widen at the sight of the pods. "Those are the same pods as from the sewers." Blake stated.

"Perhaps this Shockwave is the creator behind these...Insecticons." Ironwood suggested.

"What?" Cliffjumper exclaimed as he looked around his surroundings. "Awww, man these things give me the creeps!"

"Don't get all jumpy, they're in stasis." Jazz said.

But a nearby pod exploded, causing Cliffjumper to flinch back in shock as an Insecticon climbed out of it as more pods exploded.

"And you jinxed it." Coco remarked.

"I…really hate this…" Cliffjumper groaned as he ran out of the room as the Insecticons chased after him.

"Is she gonna be okay?" Velvet asked.

Yang waved off her worries. "Eh, I've handled worse Grimm than those creepy bugs."

"But I doubt your counterpart has." Weiss said.

Jazz continued investigating the room around him, eventually finding a test chamber with a small holographic display of the tower that he and Cliffjumper found.

"You find anything?" Cliffjumper asked.

"Just a holo map of a distant star system." Jazz answers as he watches the display unfold. He then titled his head with an intrigued look. "Hold on, these look like the coordinates you found in the map chamber." Jazz said as a beam shot out from the tower. "What's so special about that planet?"

"Maybe...that's where they got the Energon from the lake." Ruby suggested.

"Hmm, that might be possible." Weiss mused.

Ren narrowed his eyes to get a better look at the planet, hoping that it would confirm his suspicions he had earlier.

Jazz continued to make his way through the rooms, until he heard the familiar voice coming from outside. "Excuses! That's all I hear, you one-eyed fool!" The familiar voice yelled out in annoyance.

"Is that Starscream?" Cliffjumper asked, a beam firing into the sky from the tower.

"Great, the bitch herself." Coco said.

"Why is she here?" Pyrrha wondered with a serious expression.

"Perhaps she wishes to overlook the lake and its Energon." Penny suggested.

"Well would you look at that." Jazz said, impressed. He peered down from the tower to the ground below to see a holographic display of Starscream talking to the Decepticon scientist, Shockwave (Arthur)

"Watts...again." Ironwood said, glaring at the scientist.

"Feels like this guy is everywhere." Yang commented.

"Him and a lot of other people we don't know about." Weiss said.

"Man, that one eye thing is creepy." Nora said, slightly unnerved by the sight.

"You're wasting too much time on your experiments, Shockwave!" Starscream complained in irritation as Shockwave listened on dispassionately.

"Predictably, you do not understand the true value of this tower." Shockwave calmly said as Jazz got into a position with his sniper. "It is key to unlocking a bridge across space and time itself."

"Time and space..." Ozpin repeated with an interested, yet worried look on his face.

"That sounds...impossible." Ironwood said.

"Yes, but as we've clearly seen from our time here observing these alternate worlds, maybe there are some things that are not impossible." Ozpin sagely explained.

"Enough!" Starscream snapped. "Pump the lake! Energon cubes don't make themselves!"

As Starscream continued to berate Shockwave, Jazz looked down to see Cliffjumper sneaking his way towards the distracted Shockwave. "Cliff, what are you doing?" Jazz quietly says.

"Getting my jump on!" Cliffjumper responded, turning his cloak on as he moved closer towards the scientist.

"I do not think that's a wise decision, friend Yang." Penny said with a worried expression.

Yang waved off her concerns. "It'll be fine, Penny, they don't know I'm there, which means I will be able to get the drop on one eye and take him down without breaking a sweat."

"Can robots even sweat?" Nora said to herself.

"I don't think it's going to be that simple, Miss Xiao Long." Ozpin said.

"Never forget that I am in charge, Shockwave." Starscream as he briefly glanced behind the scientist and smirked as Cliffjumper's cloak began to turn off just as he was getting close to him. "And I suggest you tend to your visitor." Starscream said.

Yang's eyes widened in shock at her counterpart being discovered. "Wait, what?

Cliffjumper's cloak turned off, just as Shockwave turned around to spot him and Starscream's display turned off.

"What?" Cliffjumper responded in shock, just before Shockwave grabbed Cliffjumper and threw him against the console.

"Yang!" Ruby cried out in worry, as did Blake and Weiss. Tai and Qrow were also worried, as well as vengeful against Arthur for hurting her counterpart.

Yang winced at her counterpart being slammed against the console like that, gritting her teeth in anger at being discovered. "Lucky shot..."

"Man, for a guy with just one eye, he's really observant." Nora comments.

Cliffjumper quickly retorted with a punch to Shockwave's one eye.

Yang smirked with pride. "Ha! Didn't see that one coming did ya!?" Yang remarked.

The two continued to fight as Jazz watched over them. "Yeah, you jumped into that one!" Jazz remarked before firing a shot directed at Shockwave, but instead, hit the console in between them, causing it to explode and sending both of them to the floor.

"Fools! You've ruptured the fuel lines!" Shockwave exclaimed in frustration as he got back up. "I must repair it!"

Jazz landed on the ground as Shockwave accessed the coms of the facility. "Insecticons! Deal with the Autobots!" Shockwave ordered as he transformed into an advanced jet and flew away from the area.

"Insecticons?" Cliffjumper repeated in confusion.

"I imagine they must be the same creatures from the sewers Mr. Coal fought." Winter deduced.

"Hopefully he can manage against them this time." Ironwood said.

"I'll deal with them; you hop on that console!" Jazz said as a barrier surrounded the red Autobot. "Whatever Shockwave wants to fix, we need to break more!"

The screen then showed the Inspections swarming in from the pods nearby Jazz. He fought them off as best as he could, using whatever weaponry he had at his disposal. Even when they swarmed in from the left and right side of the area. But Jazz never faltered as he stood his ground against the seemingly endless horde of Insecticon foes.

"There so many of them..." Kali said with both shock and worry in her tone.

"He just needs to last long enough against them to allow Yang to break the system." Ren said.

"Hopefully he can last." Ruby said as she and the rest of the audience watched on.

While Jazz was fighting them, Cliffjumper was busy trying to overload the refinery by diverting the toxic waste into it. At some point, the battle escalated to the spot when another breed of Insecticon, flying types known as Spitters came into the battle. They were fierce and deadly, but Jazz was slick and quicker than they were, making quick work of them.

"Ergh, just when I thought these things couldn't get any more putrid." Weiss cringes.

"To be fair, I hardly expect any lookers to come on with a name like 'Insecticons'" Coco comments.

At a point when it seemed that Jazz was at his limit, he then heard the sounds of the intercoms as Cliffjumper joined in to assist him.

"Core melt down, imminent." The voice called out in a warning fashion.

"That's it! Jazz, make us an exit!" Cliffjumper said.

"About time!" Nora remarks.

"Hopefully, they can make it out in time." Pyrrha said.

"Got just the thing." Jazz said as he approached the wall and placed a detpack onto it. Keeping his distance away, the detpack exploded making Jazz and Cliffjumper the entrance they needed to escape.

The two looked behind them to see the tower overloading and about to explode.

"Time to go!" Cliffjumper said as he and Jazz transformed and rolled their way out of there and drove as fast as they could out from the facility. Driving past the fleeing Insecticons and exploding rooms, the two drove faster and faster, eventually making it outside.

The audience watched with bated breaths in anticipation as they watched Yang and Flynt's counterparts race their way out of the exploding complex, hoping that they can make it out OK.

"Come on, Come on, Come on, Come on..." Tai muttered with worry that his daughter's counterpart might not make it.

"Jazz! I'm running out of road!" Cliffjumper exclaimed.

"Sideswipe!" Jazz called out.

"Someone call for a ride?" Sideswipe asked as his ship hovered in front of the two with Cliffjumper quickly jumping inside.

"About time." Yang grinned.

Jazz drove towards the ship, transforming in a slick manner before making it on board the ship.

"Nice." Coco smiled in approval. "A very cool way to make an entrance."

"And you would know about that, wouldn't you, Coco?" Blake asks with a smirk.

Coco lowered her shades to meet with Blake's eyes, showing off cool look. "Honey, I'm great at making an entrance. Exits are for when the fun's over"

Jazz got up and turned to the pilot. "Sideswipe! Get us out of here!" Jazz said as the ship began to leave the area.

Sideswipe turned to the two as soon as he got close out of there. "You two have been busy."

"Radio Prime, we've got big news." Jazz said.

The screen then changed to Autobot City, where Optimus, Ratchet, who was tending to him, Ironhide and Perceptor were listening to Jazz and Cliffjumper's report.

"An entire reservoir of pure Energon?" Optimus said in a hopeful tone.

"By the looks of it, there's enough Energon here to power the Ark and get us off Cybertron." Jazz said.

"And now that con's aren't in control of it, it's ripe for the taking." Yang said with a grin.

"Yes, but it is best to get at the opportunity while they can." Glynda said. "There's no telling how long it will take before the Decepticons regroup."

"Jazz, mark your position." Optimus orders. "I'm sending reinforcements."

"But how will we bring all that Energon here?" Ratchet asks.

"Make our walkin' city carry it back." Jazz suggested.

"Heck yeah!" Nora cheered in agreement. "Metro-Ren will pulverize any you dare step in his way!"

But Optimus shook his head at the suggestion. "No, our friend Metroplex must stay and protect the Ark."

Nora pouted at this. "Aw!" Nora complains as she slumps back down on her seat, crossing her arms.

"It's a smart move, Miss Valkyrie." Ironwood said. "Despite his size and impressive firepower, he was not invulnerable when it came to the Warp Cannons."

Nora just turned her head away. "Lucky shot..." Nora muttered as Ren sighed as he patted Nora on the shoulder.

Ironhide then walked up towards the console. "Let's use and old refinery transport." Ironhide suggested as he brought up a display of it on screen. "That's what they're built for."

"Hmm..." Penny hummed "They might work. But due to its massive size, it might use up most of the Energon."

"Well that's reassuring." Coco remarked.

"Those beasts guzzle Energon like there's no tomorrow." Perceptor pointed out.

"There is no tomorrow if we don't get that Energon." Ironhide said gravelly. "Besides, it's got the firepower we'll need to repel a Decepticon attack."

"And I don't think Cinder is dumb enough to try and counter it." Yang said.

"You'd be surprised at what most people will do when desperate, Miss Xiao Long." Ozpin advises.

Optimus considered his old friends' words and decided it was the best course of action. "Make it happen."

The screen changed to Autobots loading massive cubes of Energon onto the refinery transport as Jazz spoke with another Autobot.

"Load it up. Let's hit the road before the Decepticons get antsy." Jazz said.

The Autobot saluted in response. "Yes sir." He said as he went to do his duty, as did the other Autobots.

The screen changed to the next day, where the transport was slowly on the move, guarded by patrol cars. But nearby on a Decepticon ship watching over the convoy from afar, was Starscream watching with a very displeased look on his face.

"Oh great," Coco muttered with clear disdain in her tone at the sight of the Decepticon. "Her again."

"I guess she's acting quicker than I previously calculated." Penny said.

"There it is, the Autobot Transport carting away MY Energon." Starscream said, mainly to himself.

"Don't you mean OUR Energon, Starscream?" Onslaught asked with the rest of his crew, Brawl, Swindle (Roman), Vortex (Mercury) and Blast Off (Shay) standing with him.

"Don't know about you guys, but I'm getting a little tired of seeing that jerk." Yang said, glaring at Mercury's counterpart on screen.

"You said it." Nora said in agreement.

"He's not the only one." Ruby said with a glare of her own, directed at Torchwick's counterpart instead.

"Hmm, I should've figured Torchwick would've been a part of them." Blake grunted.

"Hmm, I don't know who that last guy is though." Sun said, looking at Blast Off.

"Neither do I." Velvet added.

Qrow however was eyeing Blast Off, finding him somewhat familiar, and had a bad feeling he knew where he was from.

"Oh, of course, Onslaught." Starscream said in an appeasing tone. "Our Energon." Starscream with a hint of deceit under his voice as he walked over to a screen.

"Hmm, that doesn't sound disingenuous." Ren commented in a dry tone.

"I think it's clear that Cinder has no regard towards her comrades." Pyrrha said.

"Considering how quick she was to assert herself as leader after Taurus' passing, it's hardly a surprise." Glynda said.

"That idiot, Shockwave, allowed the Autobots to steal every last drop. Luckily, I have devised a plan to steal it back." Starscream declared as he posed behind a portrait of himself.

"You mean we." Onslaught said with folded arms.

Starscream groans. "Very well, Onslaught, you explain the plan." The Seeker said, letting him have the stage.

"Combaticons, listen up!" Onslaught instructed in an authoritative tone. "We need to divert the transport off the main road and into a sky ambush led by Starscream."

The screen behind Onslaught changed to a holographic display of a bridge. "We will accomplish this by destroying the bridge in this sector." Onslaught said. "Swindle, I want you to patrol the area to deal with any Autobot scouts who would give us away."

Swindle gave a nod to his leader. "You bet!"

Ruby grumbled at the sight of her nemesis.

"Blast Off, Vortex, you'll need to clear a shortcut through this canyon to the bridge." Onslaught said as a display showed up on screen.

"Sounds simple enough." Vortex says.

"Hopefully it won't." Weiss muttered.

"Brawl will follow in a dropship and blast the supports to bring the bridge down."

Brawl pounded his fists together in an eager fashion. "I like blasting stuff!"

"Once the transport changes course, we will join Starscream's ambush and reclaim what's ours." Onslaught said as the holographic images displayed the events.

Ironwood grunted to himself. He hated to admit it, but he found himself finding Hazel's plan to be quite effective, and might be enough to work. "It's clear that he has more experience than the likes of Cinder. Clearly, he would've been a more effective leader." Ironwood thought to himself.

"Remember, we have limited time and Energon to pull this off. Make it happen-"

Starscream suddenly pulled up in front of Onslaught. "Yes! Make it happen, Combaticons!"

The Combaticons looked at each other at the plan. "Well I'm inspired!" Blast Off said in an eager tone. "Let's hit it, Vortex."

Vortex gestured to his side. "After you, Blast Off." Vortex said as the two ran towards the edge of the ship and transformed into their alt modes, a Cybertronian jet and helicopter flew the remains of an ancient Autobot city.

"Whoa, wonder what happened to that city." Ruby said, allowing herself to be in awe over the city.

"I don't know, Miss Rose." Ozpin hummed. "I know Bart would be quite interested.

"I bet it used to be wonderful." Kali said.

"Not that the Decepticons care." Blake muttered.

They flew through the remains of the city, flying past through lasers, tearing down blockades and destroying sentry probes that got in their way. They ventured deeper and deeper through the city until eventually arriving near a platform and hearing their leader's voice on the coms.

"Blast Off, what's your status?"

The two transformed and landed on the platform. "The Autobots must know we're coming." Blast Off said. "They keep getting in our way."

Suddenly, Autobot Troopers suddenly popped out from the crates and barriers in front of the two as they pointed their weapons at them. "Stop right there, Decepti-creps! Keep your hands where we can see them!"

"Ha!" Sun laughed. "They're completely outnumbered."

"Hey Vortex!" Brawl spoke over the coms. "Use your Shockwave NOW!"

"Wait, wha-" But before Yang could question it...

Vortex smirked at the suggestion. Vortex spun himself around and let loose a powerful blast of force at the Autobots, sending them flying off the platform.

"Holy crap!" Tai exclaimed.

"That was...almost instant." Winter said, stunned by the powerful display.

Ozpin shook his head. "They didn't stand a chance."

"Scrap!" Blast Off cursed as he began hovering up in the sky with his jet thrusters. "They're trying to cut us off from the transport!" Blast Off said, pointing at the closing doors.

"Move it, Blast Off, do not lose that transport!" Onslaught ordered as Blast Off transformed and jetted towards the doors as fast as possible.

"Gonna be tight!" Blast Off said as he just narrowly made it through on the other side just as they closed.

"Vortex! We're running out of time. Get to that bridge, NOW!" Onslaught barked.

"I'm working on it." Vortex said irritably as he moved on up from his spot, shooting down any unfortunate Autobot in his path.

"Work faster! We need to bring that bridge down before the transport can cross it!" Onslaught said.

Vortex decided to take up to the air in order to deal with the Autobot presence. Using a series of cluster missiles to destroy the Autobots shooting at him. He even managed to avoid the damaging blasts of a nearby cannon, destroying it himself as he finished it off with a shockwave blast.

"This is brutal to watch." Yang winces at the sight of the Autobots being taken down by the Decepticon.

"Can they even stop them?" Weiss asked. "From what we've seen so far, they seem to be capable of taking the Energon."

"They haven't won yet, Weiss." Pyrrha reminded. "There's still time."

He managed to find a way out of the room by destroying the security door, eventually making his way out of the area he was in, contacting Onslaught to let him know what he discovered. "Onslaught! The transport is equipped with heavy anti-aircraft guns!" Vortex informed his leader.

"You hear that, Starscream?" Onslaught asked. "Do not attack from the air!" Onslaught heavily emphasized.

"I will make my own decisions, Onslaught!" Starscream sneered.

"What a fool." Ghira sighed.

"Clearly her ego of becoming leader is clouding her judgment." Glynda said.

"Well that's a good thing for the Autobots then, if she screws up well enough, they can just take the Energon." Sun said.

"I doubt Onslaught or the Combaticons will allow for that to happen." Penny said with worry in her tone.

Vortex flew his way to the outside, where right dead ahead of him was the bridge. "Onslaught, we've reached the bridge, it's huge!" Vortex exclaimed. "How are we supposed to take down something that size?"

"Brawl's artillery attack should be able to destroy the supports underneath the bridge!" Onslaught explains. "Get in position and start shelling!"

Vortex transformed and landed on a nearby platform. Flying down near him was a Decepticon Dropship. Brawl was seen exiting out of the ship.

With Brawl at his side, Vortex contacted Onslaught. "We're in position!"

"Brawl, get your main guns online." Onslaught instructed.

Brawl proceeded to transform himself into a three-legged tank with his cannons pointed upwards. "Guns are online, Onslaught! Ready to pound some metal!"

"That is a very big cannon." Yang commented with a slightly impressed look.

"That's an understatement." Qrow remarked.

"I know this is bad, but I can help but love the fact that these cans can basically transform into weapons." Ruby said as she looked at the tank form with wide eyes.

"Do you think it's enough to take down the supports?" Velvet asked.

Brawl then fired multiple shells upon the bridge supports, but the shells did nothing as the supports were still left standing.

"I guess not." Blake commented in a dry tone and a smirk.

"It must be fortified." Penny realized.

"What the-?" Brawl exclaimed in shock. "Onslaught! Nothing happened!"

"I read you, Brawl. Extra shielding must be fortifying the supports." Onslaught theorized. "Vortex, get in there and disable it."

"Roger that, Onslaught!" Vortex acknowledged as he transformed into his copter form and flew towards the area.

He was met with heavy Autobot resistance, Troopers, heavy rocket troopers and even large four-legged cannons, all aimed and firing at him. But they found the task must be harder than they first anticipated as Vortex was quick enough to narrowly avoid all their attempts.

He proceeded to slaughter his way through the Autobots, taking enough of them out so that he could reach a nearby lever to take the supports down.

"Arrgh!" Vortex groaned in a strained tone as he pulled with all his strength. "This lever is heavy! Couldn't they just make it a button!"

"Kinda has a point there." Nora said in agreement with the Decepticon.

"I don't think they want to make things easy for them, Nora." Ren said.

Vortex managed to pull the lever all the way down, exposing the bridge's support. "Shields down, light it up, Brawl!"

"Keep clear Vortex!" Brawl advised. "One broken bridge coming up!" Brawl announces as he fires a barrage of explosive shells upon the support beams, blowing them apart as the bridge begins to transform itself.

"Structural integrity compromised." An AI voice boomed out. "Shifting balance for additional support."

Vortex transformed and flew towards the other side. "The bridge is still holding! I'll hit that second support!" Vortex announces.

"I gotta say, I didn't think these guys would last this long." Yang said.

"I guess that's why Cinder sent them out first." Pyrrha said.

"Surprised her ego wouldn't let her do it herself." Blake remarked.

Vortex hovered towards the other side of the bridge, where the Autobots stationed there were prepared for the Decepticon this time. More soldiers, weapons and even a second three-legged tank, much to his surprise.

But even with the added reinforcements, it wasn't enough to deter Vortex from his goal. So he worked as quickly as he could, taking down Autobot soldiers, using a mix between shooting at them in his robot mode, blasting them from afar in his alt mode or using his special shockwave ability against them, even eventually managing to take down the two tanks as well.

Vortex made his way down to the second lever where he proceeded to pull it all the way down. "Brawl! I'm at the lever. Ready your guns!" Vortex said as he managed to pull it down, exposing the support beams.

"Second shield is disabled! Let's bring this bridge down!" Vortex said.

"INCOMING!" Brawl's voice loudly warned as a barrage of missiles headed for the support structure and proceeded to completely destroy it.

"Damn it!" Ironwood hissed. "By this point, they might be able to stop the transport and take the Energon back."

"There's still time, James." Ozpin calmly said. "And considering Cinder's unfavorable leadership, I can't imagine it won't end the way she expects."

The bridge began shifting once more as the warning voice came back once more. "Structural integrity critical. Adjusting internal stabilizers. Center support holding maximum load."

"This bridge is really starting to grind my gears!" Brawl growls in frustration.

Vortex scoffs. "They don't make them like this anymore. What now?"

"The only thing holding it up is that central support! Get up there, Vortex!" Brawl said.

Vortex transformed and flew up to the entry point inside, while dealing with a few Autobots along the way.

"Onslaught," Starscream's voice rang through the coms. "The transport is nearly at the bridge. I assume your team has succeeded in destroying it?"

Onslaught spoke over to his men. "Vortex, our fearless leader is growing impatient."

"Hey! There's already one fearless leader!" Nora shouted out. "And he's far braver than Cinder."

"That he is." Pyrrha said in agreement with her teammate and friend.

"Roger that, Onslaught." Vortex acknowledged as Brawl provided him with an entrance to get inside.

He entered the inside of a dark room. And while he wasn't fond of the dark, he still had a job to do. He made his way through the area in search of something to bring the bridge down. He ventured deeper into the area, taking down any Autobots that dared to get in his way. After a series of images displaying the events, The screen then changed to Vortex inside of a large room, where the last lever was that would assist in bringing down the bridge. But as soon as Vortex pulled it down, he was instead met with a large Autobot Titan.

"Whoa!" Ruby said in awe. "That is a big Autobot."

"Really big." Sun said in agreement.

"Pfft, he's not as big as Renny." Nora muttered.

Coco smirked with a mischievous grin. "How big are we talking?"

"Miss Adel, please." Glynda chastises, as Coco chuckles, Velvet shook her head and Nora heavily blushed.

"Still, Mercury's not gonna stand a chance against that thing!" Yang said with a grin.

"I wouldn't be so sure of that, Yang." Taiyang said. "From what we've seen so far, he seems far more capable than the other grunts working in the Decepticons."

"Nuts and bolts! This looks like trouble!" Vortex curses, quickly transforming to gain a higher advantage.

He blasted the large Autobot with his rocket missiles, but they seemed to bounce off the titan with little issue. Regardless, Vortex continued to press the attack against the Autobot Titan with everything he had against him, throwing in a few of his Shockwave blasts for good measure.

Even when the Titan deployed healing probes, Vortex merely uses a shockwave to destroy them. And after a few more shots and damage dealt, the Titan fell to his knees in defeat before shutting down.

"Damn!" Yang cursed, hating that her fathers words were indeed true.

"Now he's gonna take down the bridge." Terra said with a look of concern.

With the Autobots taken care of, Vortex places a detpack on the final support. "Combaticons, the charges are set!" Vortex announces.

The timer on the bomb beeps rapidly before finally detonating, destroying the final support for the bridge.

"About time, Vortex!" Onslaught said as the room began to shake.

"Get out of there, Vortex," Brawl warns as Vortex quickly transforms and proceeds to make his way out of the room. "Or you're going down with the bridge!"

Vortex flew through the exploding rooms, flying past various obstacles until finally managing to find an exit point outside. He quickly flew out of it and flew as far as he could from the bridge, which began falling apart as the debris plummeted to the ground below.

"Oh no..." Pyrrha said with dread in her tone

"Now the Autobots are gonna be right into the Decepticons crossfire." Saphron muttered.

The screen changed to the transport, still moving but having changed its course, right into the path of the Decepticons, where Starscream and Onslaught were watching from afar.

"Finally," Starscream said as he stood at the edge of the cliff he was on. "The bridge is destroyed! Decepticons, the time to attack is now!"

This decision took Onslaught by surprise, and frustration. "Wait? WHAT!?" Onslaught exclaimed as he took Starscream aside. "Starscream, Blast Off eyed their defenses. The Transport's guns will shred you to bits!"

"He's right." Penny said. "Even with their greater numbers, I estimate that the transport brigade has heavier firepower than the Decepticons, by my calculations, they'll be decimated in a matter of minutes."

"Huh, well then I guess it's a good thing she's in charge." Coco grinned, sitting back and relaxed to see the coming show.

"Starting to see why she wasn't trusted to be a leader." Winter said with a stoic tone.

"No kidding." Terra said.

But Starscream wasn't willing to listen to Onslaught's warning. "I have no patience for your cowardice, Onslaught!" Starscream sneered. Starscream stood at the edge of the cliff. "Decepticons, it is time to reclaim the Energon that is rightfully ours!" Starscream proclaimed as he transformed into his jet mode as he and the Decepticon armada flew towards the transport. "Attack! Attack!"

Ironwood shook his head at this display. "What a foolish move."

Starscream led the charge against the transport, which had activated its anti-air cannons and began firing upon the seekers in the skies, blasting them out of the air.

"Idiot!" Onslaught cursed as he watched the carnage unfold before he got on the coms to his men. "Blast Off, Swindle – time to salvage this mess."

Swindle could be seen kneeling at the edge of a nearby cliff. "We're moving into position, Onslaught!"

"Oh no..." Ruby muttered, not happy to see her nemesis take the lead and make things worse for the Autobots.

Blast Off was flying right towards the arms dealer, flying right past him as Swindle used his grapple to hook onto his fellow Combaticon as they flew right into the middle of the battle, dodging the cannon fire as Swindle jumped off Blast Off, a Seeker flying right between the two as Swindle landed back on Blast Off.

"Whoa..." Nora said in awe.

"So many of them." Glynda said.

Ozpin just shook his head. "What a waste."

Blast Off flew right behind the back of the transport as Swindle dropped himself off to the ground, transforming into his alt mode before driving towards the transport.

"Drive to the underbelly of the transport and see if you can't find a chink in the armor." Onslaught advises.

Swindle begins to move, blasting down any Autobot patrol units in his path when he hears Starscream's voice over the coms.

"Arrrrgggh! Their firepower is too much!" Starscream cried out.

"Oh wow, what a surprise." Weiss said with clear sarcasm in her tone. "If only someone had warned you of this."

"Starscream, what did you lean us into?" Blast Off questions.

"Just keep firing!" Starscream snaps.

"Ignore the slaughter. Get a move on, Swindle!" Onslaught orders.

"Yep, Starscream's getting smacked real good." Swindle remarks as he drives right under the transport. "So, umm… how do I stop this thing?"

"Swindle, hit the back wheels. See what you can do to slow it down." Onslaught orders.

"I'll blast the wheel's struts!" Swindle suggested.

"Good idea!" Onslaught complimented. "Take all four of them out and hurry… I'm detecting acid pools dead ahead."

With his objective clear in mind, Swindle proceeded to head towards the first wheel struts, firing at them with his rockets, destroying their casing and exposing the cells inside the struts. He fired again, destroying them also that caused a massive surge of electricity from the wheels, Swindle pulling off the same for the other wheel struts, destroying them both.

"Damn!" Blake cursed in frustration at Torchwick's counterpart in succeeding in his task. "He's already taken down the back wheels."

"There's still time, sweetie." Kali calmly reminded.

"I fear it won't be enough." Ozpin said.

"Back wheels are offline!" Swindle informs. "But those acid pools are gonna make it tricky to get to the front!"

"Try using your grappling hook, Swindle." Onslaught advised.

"Right." Swindle said as he started to drive to the acid pools. "I'll blast some Autobots on the way!"

Yang growled in anger at Roman's cocky attitude as he took down the Autobots. "Here's hoping he drops into one of those pools."

"I don't think we're that lucky." Ren said.

Swindle drove as fast as he could, keeping up with the transport while also killing some Autobots on the way there. He came across a gate that blocked his way. But he quickly transformed, used his grapple to tear the door down and continued moving forward, coming across the acid pools mentioned before. Using his grapple, Swindle hooked himself onto the pillars standing in the acid pools, eventually making it over on the other side, where right ahead of him were the other set of wheel struts.

Joining the rest of his fellow Decepticons, Swindle contacted Onslaught again. "Onslaught, the front struts are just ahead! Time to finish this thing off!"

"Heads up, Swindle! More Autobots on the way!" Onslaught warned.

Swindle then proceeded to move ahead towards the final struts. And despite some resistance from the Autobots, they were still no match in stopping Swindle as the Combaticon easily swept through and killed them.

He drove towards the final struts and proceeded to destroy the final struts, removing their casing, and destroying their insides. With the wheels destroyed, the transport came to a halt in its tracks.

Just then, two Autobot Titans dropped down to the ground in front of Swindle.

"Ah great!" Sun said in relief. "Those guys can take care of Torchwick."

"Considering that not even one of them couldn't take down the other guy, I don't know how good his chances are." Qrow said.

"But it's Torchwick!" Yang said. "He won't be able to stand a chance."

"He may not be a good fighter, Yang, we know from experience that he can be evasive." Blake pointed out.

Swindle, still in his alt mode, decided to play it safe by drifting around the area around the Titans as they fired upon him. Swindle's quick drifting made it harder for the Titans to get a good shot on the arms dealer as he fired at them all around.

Eventually, the fight ended up being in Swindle's favor as his rockets ended up overwhelming the Titans, eventually finishing them off as Swindle transformed and stood over their dead bodies.

"Oh no." Velvet said in sympathy for the fallen Autobots.

"And the coward survives." Ironwood bitterly said.

"At least our Roman is locked away and unable to hurt anyone." Winter said.

But Swindle looked up at the transport to see it begin to shift and change as thrusters suddenly appeared on the ceiling and the wheels turned themselves to resemble larger thrusters.

"It's…it's transforming!" Ruby exclaimed.

"Makes sense." Weiss said with wide eyes. "Considering their ability to transform, I can see it applying it to their technology.

"But why didn't they use that from the start?" Nora asked.

"It probably would've used too much Energon." Ren guessed. "This must have been a last resort."

Swindle quickly used his grapple to latch onto the ship as it began to make its accent.

Swindle managed to make it on board the ship as he heard Onslaught's voice. "Swindle, take down those anti-aircraft guns! I need to bring the dropship closer!"

"On it!" Swindle said as he made a move, grappling up onto the upper levels and destroying a nearby jet thruster blocking his path. Swindle continued on through the ship, even as its alarm system began blaring off and Autobot soldiers began getting in his way, only to meet their end at the barrel of his gun.

He eventually made his way outside, via explosive detpack, and saw a catwalk right just ahead of him.

"Swindle, you should be able to reach the anti-air cannons from the catwalks along the outside of the transport." Onslaught explains.

"I'll get those guns offline!" Swindle says as he grapples himself onto the catwalks. He grappled himself up along the catwalk eventually making it onto a nearby platform. "Question! If the transport could fly, why didn't it just do that to begin with?"

"Probably takes a lot of energy to float that hunk of junk." Onslaught suggested.

"Ha! You were right, Renny!" Nora grinned.

"Yes, though I do wish I weren't so in these circumstances." Ren said.

"Really?" Swindle asked in a skeptical tone. "Because if you calculate its total mass and…"

"Focus, Swindle!" Onslaught chastised.

"I guess when you're an arms dealer, you gotta need the math to do it." Yang shrugs.

But before Swindle could continue on with his mission, he heard a transmission from Starscream. "Decepticons, this is Starscream! The mission is lost! Abort! Abort!" Starscream frantically demands.

"Ha!" Yang laughed. "Looks like someone couldn't handle the heat."

"Some people just can't handle the pressures of leadership." Glynda said.

"It only took a couple dozen of her men to realize that." Ironwood bitterly said.

"Still, the better for the Autobots." Saphron said.

"I have a feeling Hazel won't bow out so easily." Ozpin said.

"Abort!?" Onslaught exclaimed in shock and anger. "You've got to be kidding, Starscream! It's only a matter of time before we disable the transport!"

Despite his leaders' orders, Swindle continued with his mission and made his way to the first anti-aircraft cannons, where he was met with some resistance. But after making quick work of them, Swindle pulled down the lever to remove the casing and expose the inner workings.

"Swindle, you get the first anti air cannon yet?" Onslaught asked.

"Uhhhhh yahhh." Swindle said in an unsure tone. "As soon as I figure it out."

Then, got an idea and smirked to himself. He used his grappling hook to remove the housing gates. With the shells exposed, Swindle proceeded to fire upon them, causing a massive explosion that destroyed the anti-aircraft cannon.

"Damn it." Ironwood cursed. "The Combaticons are getting closer to bringing the cargo ship down."

"They are a lot more efficient than we gave them credit for." Tai said.

"Clearly they should be the ones in charge." Qrow remarks.

"Onslaught. First gun offline!" Swindle informed in a proud tone.

"There's two of them, genius!" Onslaught chastised. "Head around the back to hit the other one!"

"It's never that simple!" Swindle remarked as he began getting out of there and started running to the other side of the transport. As Swindle made his way to the other side of the transport and to the anti-air cannon, he saw a couple of dropships getting gunned.

"Seriously? We still trying to board this thing? I haven't stopped the AA guns yet!"

"Think of it as encouragement to hurry the scrap up!" Onslaught yelled.

Swindle finally made it onto the platform with the second anti-aircraft cannon, but he saw a couple of Autobots currently in the middle of sabotaging the shield controls.

"Onslaught, the Autobots are sabotaging the shield coupling!" Swindle called out.

"Thought they might try that! Already on our way!" Onslaught said.

Swindle made his way over to the lever to see it completely destroyed. "Those shield controls look fried! We need another way to break through. Any ideas?" Swindle asked.

Just then, a Decepticon Dropship appeared hovering right behind the arms dealer. "Jump on the dropship and man the cannon! Let's see the shields hold up to that.

"Now that's what I'm talking about!" Swindle said with a wide grin as he grappled himself onto the top of the dropship, performing a stunning leap before mounting the cannon.

"Swindle! Take the gun out now before it takes us out!" Onslaught orders as the gun began firing at them.

Swindle began swerving the ship left and right as to avoid being fired at by the cannons. Swindle pressed on against the cannons, blasting it down while continuing to avoid being blasted down. With enough firepower, Swindle eventually managed to completely destroy the anti-air cannon.

"Oh no." Saphron muttered.

"With the cannon destroyed, the Decepticons now have a chance to secure the Energon." Velvet said with a worried expression.

"You're forgetting that there are still over a hundred Autobots on the ship." Tai reminded. "And despite how good they are, I doubt five Decepticons can stand against that many Autobots."

"Oh yeah." Ruby said, her smile returning. "I doubt they have anything that can stand against all of them."

View winces slightly. "Prepare to be surprised…"

With the cannon destroyed, the dropship flew over the remains and flew towards a platform filled with Autobots waiting for them. Swindle leaped off from the ship and landed on the platform. The front of the dropship opened up to reveal Onslaught walking towards the edge.

"We need to take control of this ship." Onslaught said before addressing his men. "Combaticons, combine into Bruticus!"

Those words caught the audience by surprise.

"Wait, combine?" Yang questions.

"What does that mean by that?" Weiss asks.

Onslaught then leaped off of the drop ship and began to transform, Swindle, in his alt mode, drove right under Onslaught before transforming again, this time, in the shape of a foot, as did Brawl as Onslaught landed on the pair as his body transformed into large chest as Blast Off flew in and connected to Onslaught, transforming into a right arm and Vortex coming in from behind and connected to form into the other arm.

The Autobots stood in shock and horror as standing before the unfortunate bots, was the Decepcitcon Combiner, Bruticus Maximus.

The audience was in complete shock by this stunning revelation, seeing the combiner for themselves…it was almost hard to believe, even though they had seen much larger bots than him, it was still impressive to see for themselves.

"Holy…crap!" Coco exclaimed, her shades lowering at the sight of the combined Decepticon.

"They…they combined!" Ghira said in both awe and dread.

"Astonishing." Ozpin breathed out in awe. "They're capable of merging with each other."

Winter turned towards View. "Are all Cybertronians capable of this?" Winter asked.

"Only a select few." View said. "Both sides have them, and when combined together, they can be some of the most powerful and destructive forces, Bruticus especially."

"And the Autobots are right in the middle of it." Penny said with a look of worry.

"Bruticus online!" Bruticus announces in a growling voice. "Ready for action!"

Bruticus then proceeded to stomp his way through the ship, smashing through the Autobots like they were nothing, destroying bridges that dared to block his path. Even when the Autobots attempted to fire at the combiner, he used his Vortex arm to use the blades as a sort of shield to block their attempts, as well as slicing and dicing any unfortunate Autobot in his path.

"They're being slaughtered…" Pyrrha muttered, bringing a hand up to her mouth as she and her friends watched in horror.

"It's…awful." Ilia quietly said, feeling sympathy for the Autobots being killed on screen.

Nothing could stop the sheer power of Bruticus as he casually made his way through the ship. "This is too easy!" Bruticus exclaimed in glee, using his other arm as a flamethrower to melt and boil the Autobots.

Saphron shielded her son's eyes from the devastation on screen while he whimpered in fear, doing her best to comfort him as well as shielding her own eyes from the screen, unable to bear seeing the Autobot soldiers being torn apart by that monster.

"He's after the turbine!" One of the Autobots cried out.

"Nope. It's just in my way." Bruticus taunted as he approached it. Once close enough, he slammed his fist onto the ground, causing a massive shockwave that utterly demolished the turbine.

"Huh, maybe that wasn't such a good idea!" Bruticus remarks before the turbine was completely destroyed, giving him an opening through. "The control room is just ahead."

"It doesn't seem like they're any smarter than the others." Glynda observed.

"One of the effects when it comes to combining." View answers. "But from what you've seen, they make up for it with sheer power."

No matter how hard they tried or no matter what they threw at him, the Autobots were simply no match for the Bruticus as he easily stomped through not only their defenses, but their highly powered sentry turrets, finally making his way to the entry point.

"Knock knock!" Bruticus taunted before using his copter blades to slice open the entry point.

On the other side of the room, the Autobots were bracing themselves for the coming slaughter.

"Retreat! Retreat!" An Autobot in front of the door cried out before the door behind him was suddenly launched as the Combaticons, in their separate bodies, came charging in.

Onslaught walked through the room, turning to his left to see Swindle grabbing and throwing an Autobot to the ground and stabbing him. Onslaught made his way to the top of the staircase to see the rest of his men slaughter the remaining Autobots.

"My god…" Ghira breathed out as he watched the Combaticons take down the Autobots like they were nothing.

Much to the shock of the audience, the Combaticons had managed to take control over a botched mission and managed to prove more successful than Cinder's counterpart ever hoped.

Onslaught then received a call from his leader, answering it to see the irritated face of Starscream. "Combaticons, I told you to abort! The mission is lost!" Starscream exclaims. "Who are you to defy me!?"

Onslaught just placed his hand on the communicator, shutting off Starscream's call. "I've heard enough of his orders."

"You and me both." Qrow said in reluctant agreement.

The ship began to falter and suddenly began descending down to the ground.

"We're going down!" Brawl cried out.

Onslaught grabbed a hold of a nearby panel to regain his footing. "Vortex, Blast Off, grab hold of the flight controls!" Onslaught orders as they quickly did so and tried to grab a hold of the situation.

"Engines are shot, Onslaught; the best we can manage is a controlled crash!" Vortex said.

"Then manage it!" Onslaught orders.

The transport hauler continued to make its way down, crashing into a pillar on the way down as the Combaticons were struggling.

"We're too steep." Blast Off cried out. "Pull up!"

"I'm trying!" Vortex yelled back.

"Brace yourselves!" Onslaught yelled out to his men as the ship crashed dead onto the ground as explosions occurred all around it before grinding to a screeching halt.

The top hatch of the transport opened up as the Combaticons peeked their heads out of it, only to be met with Starscream and his forces, looking quite displeased.

"Congratulations, Onslaught." Starscream said with clear sarcasm in his tone. "As a result of your failure to obey my orders, you and your Combaticons destroyed half of the Energon supply in that crash!"

"Are you kidding Starscream?" Onslaught exclaimed in frustration. "The Autobots would've taken it all! My team salvaged an operation that YOU screwed up from the get-go!"

"No one addresses the leader of the Decepticons in such a manner! Arrest them!" Starscream ordered as the two grunts behind him approached the Combaticons and the screen faded to black.

The audience were still in silence as the light returned to the room.

"That was...a lot." Ruby said.

"I'll say." Yang said in agreement with her little sister. "And as much as I hate to admit it, I was kind of impressed with the combiner, but less so with how they won."

"I wouldn't say it was a full victory for them." Pyrrha said. "In the end they were arrested by Starscream and only got half of the Energon."

"That's something at least." Coco said.

"Still, it sucks that none of the Autobots are getting the Energon." Sun said.

"Well with the way Cinder is going about things, I can't imagine things are gonna go any better for the Decepticons either." Weiss said. "And maybe things might be better for Jaune and the other Autobots after all." Weiss said as the audience agreed with her reasoning.

All except for View, who had a knowing look of worry on his face, knowing full well the events after this one entailed, and how it would mark the return of a dangerous threat. But that's a viewing for later.

---

Thanks for reading this chapter of Worlds of Arc.

And a Happy New Year to you all! Here's hoping that 2024 will be something great to come. I for one am hoping to get a lot done and improve myself, as well as get to stories I really want to write, plus a few other things I've been working on, which I may or may not reveal once this story is finished.

I'm glad to be back to writing again, especially being so close to finishing the story. The break did me a lot of good, a lot of stress just went away and I felt really relaxed not having to worry about this story. it may take longer to upload a new chapter as I wanna write the rest of them so they can be released like once a week, hopefully at least.

Now I want to be clear that I originally had no intention to continue with Fall of Cybertron after the third part. I was content with leaving it there. But I saw that so many people wanted me to continue it. But I was very adamant of not doing another game's story line and didn't want to give into peer pressure, because if I did, I was worried the stress of it would probably make me wanna stop writing all together.

But someone convinced me that I could just do the game's epilogue and cover the events leading up to it in the form of a recap/flashback. But when I started writing the recap, I ended up covering the rest of the game. Thankfully, it wasn't as stressful as Spider-Man's storyline was. But still, still a lot of work to go through. So some things, like the gameplay elements are either gonna be skipped over or scaled down in order to save time.

I hope people can understand why I didn't want to cover this and can understand why I was so reluctant to do this. But in the future, I'm going to be much more adamant on stuff I will or will not cover.

And just to be clear, the remaining eight chapters will be two chapters of Cybertron, three more chapters of Ben 10 and three more chapters of Spider-Man. That is the current lineup and hopefully, I'll be done with Worlds of Arc at last, hopefully before the start of March.

Next chapter will revolve around Ben 10, where Jaune will face off against three bounty hunters and learn that might isn't always right. Thanks and see you around!