After Saphira had shouted at the autobots that one of Scourge's terrorcon pets had found its way down into the temple that she was in, the autobots quickly began to speed through the city. Airazor kept a view from above, and informed the autobots that Scourge was here. Optimus was not happy about that, because Scourge was outside of their scan range, and they did not detect him. He was less happy about the fact that they had also missed the small terrorcon making its way across the city to the temple. That was something he really was unhappy about.
"Airazor, where is Saphira right now?" Arcee asked the Maximal as she sheltered within Wheeljack's vehicle form while he sped through the city.
"She is still underground heading for the jungle. She is running…" Airazor paused with a slight gasp. "She tripped or something. But that thing that is in the cave with her likely is still chasing her. I might be able to find the jungle entrance to help her faster. But you need to watch your backs."
"Understood, Airazor." Optimus was keeping a watchful eye on the road behind him to keep watch for Scourge. "Mirage, why did you not inform Saphira on how to use the device you had given her? She could be killed for your lack of information."
"I kind of thought it would be more fun if she figured it out on her own," Mirage muttered in a sulky voice, even though Optimus was right. "I didn't think she would be attacked, Prime!"
"That does not matter!" Optimus's tone was full of anger and fear as he sped through the town.
The autobots did have to avoid the humans, as the locals who were enjoying the festival were startled by the sudden movement of the three vehicles speeding through the town. They did not want to cause destruction here to this city, and Optimus did hope that Scourge would follow them and not create destruction in this town. They already caused the destruction of a museum, they didn't need a city on their hands.
As they turn onto a slope heading towards the jungle, Optimus saw the three terrorcons jumping down from the top of the buildings and transforming behind them. Optimus was fuming as seeing these terrorcons now meant they had indeed discovered the location of where the last half of the Transwarp Key should have been. But now they were tailing the autobots, and likely were thinking that the autobots knew where the key was.
"Aw, man!" Mirage had noticed the terrorcons as well, and he was also unhappy about it. "They're tailing us! Just what we need!"
"They must think we have the key or something!" Arcee was not happy about this development and she was already worried. "I hope you can come up with a plan, Optimus, because we cannot lead them to Saphira. We already know that Scourge will take pleasure in torturing the human to death just to hurt us." Optimus did know that, and that was why he was angry. "I don't suppose you could do something Airazor."
"Not until you get out of the city. We will not be responsible for razing a human city to the ground based on the need to protect one human from the terrorcons." Optimus agreed with Airazor. Leading the terrorcons from the human city was what they needed to do.
So the autobots could really do nothing but lead the terrorcons out of the city. Though Wheeljack and Arcee would be behind the terrorcons as they were the last to leave the city, but that did not really matter. They needed to do what was needed. And while the tension was high, and that the autobots needed to stop Scourge, they could only wait and speed along the road towards the jungle so they could reach Saphira.
Optimus did wonder how Saphira was doing against the terrorcon. Airazor has not said if the girl was injured or dead, and the girl has not yet screamed for their help again. Optimus was worried about her, and he certainly did not want to bring Scourge to her. Scourge had already seemed to notice in the short time they had fought there was a connection between Saphira and Optimus, and he will certainly try to use that against Prime.
But losing Bumblebee the way they did due to Scourge was another reason why he was fuming. Optimus has not yet had time to process the grief he felt for losing the scout, and he wanted nothing more than to repair him and revive him. But he also wanted Scourge to pay for what he had done, and Optimus did not want to lose another autobot to this terrorcon. And he certainly did not want to lose Saphira to him as well.
Leading the terrorcons out of the city, the autobots continue speeding along the road. With a more hilly area, they lose sight of the city. The terrorcons were slowly gaining on the autobots, but they were not attacking the autobots just yet. They likely were following to see if they had actually found the key or not. Regardless, Optimus's patience was wearing thin at this point, and now that they were far enough from the city, he wanted to stop Scourge at this time.
The grief he had for Bumblebee was starting to cloud his judgement on this, as he would normally not give into these feelings. But Bumblebee was one of his closest friends, and Optimus often felt like a sire to Bumblebee, due to meeting Bee when he was much younger and giving him guidance through a lot of things. And he was the one to send Bumblebee from Cybertron to locate a safe location to regroup and return to Cybertron. That burden of knowing that was pressing down on him substantially.
As Optimus caught a view of Bumblebee's autobot brand at the very front of the truck, Optimus could not contain his anger. Drifting around the corner of the slope leading down towards the jungle, Optimus transformed. He skidded along the road as he slowed himself down from the speeding and armed his canon, turning his head to glare at Scourge and his terrorcons as they continue their approach.
"Prime!" Mirage was shocked that Optimus would even do this, as they had something more important to do. "What the hell are you doing?!"
He aimed his canon at the terrorcons now that it was fully charged and narrowed his optics. "I'm going to take back Scourge's key and then…" He pulled up his face plate with a low growl. "Take off his head!"
Optimus watched as Scourge sped towards him, and Optimus began to shoot at him, not wanting to take any chances. Now that he knew how Scourge fought, Optimus would be able to stand against him easier than he had before. Optimus glared as Scourge began to transform with a loud growl and lunged at Prime. Optimus grunts as the terrorcon tackled him and the two of them began to roll down the hill.
Though that did not stop them from throwing fists at each other as they rolled down the hill. They both tried using the force of the fall to punch harder, which was somewhat working, but it wasn't the best form they had with their fighting. But they did not stop, as they both intended on fighting. And Optimus knew that fighting Scourge to try and stop him would benefit all of them, so that was another reason why he turned to fight.
The other two terrorcons did not follow Scourge as they continued to follow Mirage. Mirage himself was starting to panic, because Arcee and Wheeljack were still behind them, and Mirage also knew that Optimus was busy with Scourge so he was somewhat on his own. But Mirage was very worried, because he knew that he could find himself in a very bad situation from these terrorcons, and he did not want that to be the case.
"Guy!" Mirage grunts loudly as the GTR that had sped up beside him swerved and hits him on the side. Nightbird let out a light chuckle in amusement at the young bot's terror. "A little help! I don't particularly want to become scrap metal today!"
"Did someone call for backup?!" Mirage moved his side mirrors and he was relieved to see Wheeljack and Arcee had finally caught up. Wheeljack had opened his door and Arcee had stepped out with her canon armed and ready, aiming at the terrorcons, while using her wheel to skid along the ground safely.
Arcee shoots at Battletrap, making the terrorcon growl loudly before he threw a couple chains forward, grabbing onto Nightbird's spoiler before he suddenly turned around to face Wheeljack and Arcee while continuing to drive backwards. Wheeljack and Arcee were both surprised, and Battletrap began to shot missiles at the two bots, though two of the missiles missed and one flew straight towards them.
Arcee widened her optics and shouted at Wheeljack. "Brake, brake, brake!"
"What?!" Wheeljack was shocked that Arcee was shouting at him to brake, because that seemed foolish to him at this moment.
Arcee frowned and screamed again, moving her feet forward, and using force to press again Wheeljack's side. "BRAKE!"
She was able to force Wheeljack to skid sideways as the missile flew by Arcee. Wheeljack quickly opened the door on the other side to allow the missile throwing, saving both of them from a sudden death. It was quick thinking and risky, but it seems to have worked, and Arcee was very relieved that this was the case. With that, Wheeljack returned to forward position, and Arcee stood back up to keep shooting at the terrorcons.
While Arcee, Wheeljack and Mirage had to deal with Battletrap and Nightbird, Optimus and Scourge were still rolling down the hill and they were still throwing punches at each other. Optimus remained focused, ignoring the impact against his frame the multiple times he hit the ground, as did Scourge. The two grunt and growl as they punch each other, both attempting to throw the other off, while also attempting to cause significant damage.
"This is for Bee!" Optimus transformed left arm into an axe, and attempted to hit Scourge, though the terrorcon forced them forced after pressing his feet into the ground to prevent Prime from striking him.
Though this caused Scourge to let go of Prime, and Optimus punched the terrorcon's cheek, spilling a little bit of energon from the terrorcon's mouth. Scourge growled loudly as they land hard on the ground, sliding down the slope and Scourge armed his canon to shoot at Optimus. Optimus was able to avoid the blast and shot back at him before throwing himself at the terrorcon to tackle him further down the hill.
Scourge did seem smug as they rolled down the hill too, even though he was growling and glaring at Optimus while they rolled down the hill. And it only further angered Optimus, as he knew Scourge was silently mocking him. And he punched the terrorcon again as Scourge landed on his back with a loud grunt. Though while Optimus was not damaging Scourge enough that he would be seriously injured, he was still causing some damage to the terrorcon, and that was a good thing.
He did not know where Mirage, Arcee and Wheeljack were at this time, but his processor was completely focused on Scourge. Without Scourge, Nightbird and Battletrap would likely not have a leader, and make more foolish decissions. Though that would depend on Unicron as well if that were the case. Regardless, he hoped to eliminate Scourge right at this time, as Optimus had every intention of following through with his threat of removing the terrorcon's head.
Though as they rolled down, Optimus did see Arcee and Wheeljack rolling down the hill as well, as it seemed they had been hit by one of the other terrorcons and they both were now in a similar predicament as Optimus. Though the two of them were not fighting a terrorcon. Whereas Mirage was still speeding along the road, and Optimus saw him before he hit the road underneath, and finally stopped rolling down the hill.
Grunting and brushing the grass and dirt from his body, Optimus stood up slowly and glared at Scourge who was moving his neck around to relax himself. "Huh, I love your fire, Prime!" He stood up slowly and smirked at Prime. "But you're going to die on this speck of dust."
"I can think of no better place to bury you," Optimus responded angrily, narrowing his optics.
"Ha, ha…I wonder how you little, precious human is doing as we speak." Optimus growled and ran towards Scourge, and the terrorcon ran towards him. "I will be sure to make her last moments painful and slow, knowing that you failed to protect her. A puny, pathetic, little thing staining the ground with her blood."
Optimus growl as he ran towards Scourge. The two of them were running towards a bridge that was high above the jungle at this time, and Optimus had every intent of killing Scourge. Though at the corner of his optic, Optimus saw Airazor flying above. She had been watching and observing the whole time, and as Optimus and Scourge were about to fight, it seemed she was worried, because she began to dive towards them. And it seemed her feathers could turn into blades of some sort.
However, Airazor was not aiming for Scourge. She instead unleashed a wave of fire from her beak, aiming it for the bridge support, and moving the fire along the bridge towards Scourge. This caused boulders to fly from the support and hit Scourge, making the terrorcon stop as he blocked the large boulders from hitting his face. Though it made him angry as he aimed his canon towards Airazor and shot at her.
Optimus watched as what Scourge had shot at Airazor looked like a round, disc device flying towards the Maximal and limbs seemed to grow out of it before hitting her right wing, causing the Maximal to cry out in pain and almost lose control of her flight. Optimus was relieved that the shot did not take her down, even though he did not know what Scourge had just done. He turned his head to see Arcee and Wheeljack were able to get back on the road to follow Mirage, who were all ahead of him as they make their way towards the jungle.
Optimus turned to looked at Scourge. The burning bridge between them currently was the only thing preventing Optimus from running over to him and ripping him apart. As far as Optimus was concerned, Scourge was lucky in this case. "I will end you, Scourge." Scourge smirked at Optimus's threat, unbothered by his words completely. "That is a promise."
Optimus turned away and transformed to follow the autobots. "Have you finally blown off some steam, Prime?" Mirage questioned in irritation, making Optimus growl in return. "Not sure what the hell you were thinking, but I highly doubt that Saphira would appreciate an explanation of one of us telling her that you killed yourself because you wanted vengeance on Scourge."
"Enough, Mirage!" Optimus knew that what he did could have caused his death, and he understood. But he felt the need to try and take the other half of the key back, and to kill Scourge. "I am fully aware of my actions. Killing Scourge is the only way she will be safe."
"Stupid decisions certainly won't give that to us, Prime!" Mirage snapped back. "Sheesh…it's a good thing Wheeljack and Arcee finally showed up, or I would have been scrap metal."
"Oh, be quiet!" Arcee hissed at the young bot in irritation. "We needed to get away and stop them from following us to the jungle. Airazor, I am detecting Saphira's signal. How deep in the jungle is she?"
It took a moment for Airazor to respond. "I can see her getting closer to a body of water. You are not far. But there does appear to be movement fast approaching from the jungle itelf."
"More terrorcons?" Optimus asked, alarmed that there was potentially more danger approaching Saphira.
"I cannot tell."
"That is not good. We need to hurry!" Mirage increased his speed as he did not want Saphira to be unprotected at this time.
Optimus sped up as well. Knowing there was potential danger approaching Saphira quickly was not good. It could likely be that Saphira finding the temple and the place where the key used to be could have alerted something, and they weren't even aware. Optimus could not pick up any other signal nearby, so he was not sure. Regardless, he knew that there was no time to waste, and he did feel stupid now for turning and fighting Scourge.
However, Scourge seems to have backed off for now. Maybe he realized they didn't have the key. Or he simply decided to back off and return later to resume the fight. Either way, Optimus was glad that Scourge was not following them to Saphira's location. That was definitely the very last thing that Optimus would want. Especially as Scourge has already made direct threats towards Saphira, even though he said these threats to get to Optimus. And Optimus had allowed Scourge to get to him. He could only hope to not fall for those words next time.
Meanwhile…
Saphira did not know how long it would take for her to get out of the cave. But Saphira continued to run along the path to follow it to the exit. She was definitely looking forward to sitting down and relaxing, as she felt the need to stop and take a breather. But she was too scared that Scourge would send another terrorcon after her that she did not want to stop until she was out of the cave. Though she did hope that when she reached the end of the cave, Optimus would be there.
But she did not know where the autobots were or what they were doing. It had been about fifteen minutes since she told them she had been followed by one of Scourge's pets, and she still had not heard from them. She debated whether or not she should speak to them and ask where they were, but doing that would make her stop and not focus on getting out. When she would get out of the cave, then she would speak to them. They would know where she is with the ring on her finger.
She did wonder if the gauntlet also acted like some kind of tracker as well. Regardless, Saphira did not know if she should give the gauntlet back to Mirage or not. Especially as he left her to figure it out on her own, and not even give her pointers on how to use it. Though she would decide on that later once she reunited with the autobots. She did at least hope that maybe she would be given a different weapon that was easier for her to use instead.
As she continued to run, she did worry that the autobots had run into Scourge. She doubted that Optimus would be able to resist wanting to fight Scourge for what he had done to Bumblebee, and Saphira understood. Though she would hope they do not risk leading him to her, because she knew what Scourge would do if he did get his hands on her. And she did not want that to happen at all.
She soon heard the sound of running water echoing through the cave, which made her smile, as that meant there was a river right outside the cave. That was good. She needed to cool herself down, and soaking her clothes would be a good idea, given she was sweating profusely at the moment. She only hoped no jaguar was waiting by the entrance, because she did not need to be facing down a large cat after facing a terrorcon.
She glanced up and smiled as she finally saw sunlight, and Saphira sighed in relief, slowing her pace down to a jog as she could see the light reflecting off the side of the wall. Though she was surprised that the tunnel began to narrow substantially, and to the point where she had to shuffle to the side. She guessed that maybe the cave had been closed up at some or something, because the rest of the cave was still a large, open space. Which would make sense if there was a bot that has been on this planet for a long time.
She squinted a little as she approached the exit, though her eyes adjusted to the light change quickly. The scent of damp dirt and water filled her nostrils, and she soon found the exit. It was a small gap in the rock into a hill leading into the large cavern she had just left. It definitely seemed like it could have been a larger opening at some point in the past, but it looks like there was no evidence of that. So it would have been years.
Saphira took a deep breath as she looked at the flowing river and smiled, looking around at the trees surrounding her. She was happy to see the jungle. She glanced at the trees and gasped as a flock of macaws suddenly flew from a nearby tree, and she was greeted with the beautiful sight of the scarlet macaw as the flock fly away and squawking loudly. She must have unintentionally startled them, and that was okay.
She approached the river and crouched by it to cup the water and began to splash it on her face to wash away the sweat from her face. She dampened her hair and shirt before shaking the excess water off her hands and looked around for a moment. She hummed and saw that the water was shallow. Though she carefully stretched her foot into the water and she smiled, though she grimaced a little as her shoes were about to be soaked. She sighed as she walked across the water to the other side, not knowing what she should know.
It would be incredibly stupid to just walk into the jungle. I would easily get lost, so I might just wait for the autobots to arrive.
Saphira sighed a little as she looked around around again before lifting her hand to speak to the autobots when she heard more birds fleeing their trees. And then there was the loud sound of multiple, heavy footsteps running through the forest. She could feel the rumble in the ground as it seemed there was something, or a group of something, approaching her very quickly. And Saphira became very nervous suddenly.
"O-Optimus…I-I found a way out of the cave…but something is coming from the jungle…" Saphira thought about going back to the cave as she stepped up onto the bank to get out of the water. "And it sounds like more than one…don't tell me Scourge has managed to get ahead of you and is heading my way."
"We're almost there, Saphira! Hang tight!" Mirage informed her quickly, though she could hear the worry in his voice. "Airazor informed us there seemed to be movement in the jungle heading towards you. Find somewhere to hide! Now!"
Saphira groaned loudly as that meant she had to run some more and she did not want to. But she also did not want to be killed. She turned around to run back to the cave, but she stopped as she saw something leaping over some boulders and landing in front of her, causing water to splash around him and in her face. Saphira yelped as she stumbled back and slipped on the rock, falling onto her backside, and her bag slipped from her shoulder slightly.
She stared in shock, as before her was a Cybertronian gorilla, with a similar shade of grey as gorilla fur. She watched as this bot beats his chest with a loud roar. Saphira shivered as she guessed this must be a Maximal, as he seemed to be similar to Airazor. Aside from the fact she looked like a falcon and not a mammal. But she did not know if this Maximal would be friendly or not, because right now, he seemed to be angry and the autobots had not arrived yet.
He slammed his fists into the water and his yellow optics glare at the human with concern and curiosity. "Who are you?!" His deep, sharp voice made her flinch and crawl backwards slightly as she cowered in front of him. "Why are you hunting for the key?"
Saphira was shocked that this Maximal already knew she was looking for the key. She did not know what to say as she stared back at him. The Maximal growled at her again, and she did want to speak, but she did not know what to say. She was frightened, even though he might be reasonable to talk to. She just did not know where the autobots were. Her eyes glanced at his chest briefly and she saw the Maximal symbol, confirming he was the same race as Airazor. She just did not know who he was, and his intentions at this point.