Beast Wars Goes Prime: Chapter 2

Present Day, Jasper Nevada


The silence in the silo that was Autobot Outpost Omega One was now becoming slightly unnerving, Ratchet mused as he toiled away at the computer terminal, Raf on the platform above him as they slowly went through the files that made up the Iacon database.

True, the medic had bitterly enjoyed it at first, but now he was beginning to miss the sound of metal chords that would normally be filling the silo, much to the medic's annoyance. Even the occasional destruction of a much needed tool was now becoming a missed distraction.

He glanced to where his open medbay was opposite of his workspace, his own spark twisting as he glanced to the source of silence.

Bulkhead laid prone on the medberth, still as death in stasis lock. The machines quietly beeping around him were the only signs of the Wrecker was still in the world of the living over the past few weeks. Carefully perched on his prone chestplates, knees drawn close was Miko keeping watch over her guardian, sketchbook sitting open before her.

That had been the routine for the teenager since she and Wheeljack came back from their so called 'drive'. While Wheeljack had briefed them on what happened between the pair and Hardshell, but Miko...

She hadn't spoken a word of what happened to Hardshell that day. Wheeljack had told them that he was taken care of, but not by what means. He and the others feared the Miko was involved somehow but didn't have the spark to press her on the matter just yet, the Prime insisting that Miko would talk when she felt up to it.

But until then... The two humans and medic had the silo to themselves. Jack had been called out to work while Wheeljack had gone out for a recon mission on the other side of he world. The others were checking out a possible energon source out west before it could fall to the Deceptions.

A sudden beeping suddenly pulled him from his thoughts as he turned his attention to the monitors.

"Decepticon activity?" Raf asked looking up from his laptop.

"No..." the medic said as his systems went to work. "Its near Optimus and the others..."

"What is it?" the young boy asked glancing up at the screens.

"I'm not sure Rafael," Ratchet said as he typed. "But I intend to find out."

The medic broadened his search radius away from where the three Autobots were in the Sierra Nevada Mountains to the surrounding area when the energy readings started to spike. "What in the Allspark?"

The sensors started to flash dangerously as the screens flickered as the energy continued to build and in a flash, the screens darkened for a moment before flickering back to life.

Raf got to his feet as he peered over the railing at the medic. "What was that?"

"Some kind of energon surge," Ratchet said as the medic ex-vented as the warnings vanished from the screen and quickly rebooted the systems. "Threatened to overload the systems... Autobot Outpost to Optimus over."

:Ratchet...What is it old friend: The Prime's familiar voice came over the line, tinged with static.

"Your sensors, are they picking up any energy spikes nearby?"

:There were but the scanners went out a moment ago. But they seem to be in working order once more:

"Something happened," Ratchet said as he went to triangulate the location of the power surge. "A surge nearly overloaded the sensors. Luckily for us, it died out before any real harm was done..."

ecepticon weapon?:

"I find that highly unlikely," Ratchet said as his optics narrowed at three small blips on the map. "I found the starting point of the surge, the scanners aren't picking up any signs of weapons or a ship crash."

id a groundbridge possibly malfunction:

"Not ours, but the readings are similar to a bridge readout," Ratchet said said going over the readings. "Megatron could have used his space bridge..."

:Any drop offs?:

"Possibly, there's three small energon readings I'm picking up near the location," Ratchet said. "But with the readings I can't make out if they're friend or foe."

:We'll investigate it, send us the coordinates. Optimus out: The Prime broke communication leaving the silo silent once.

"Are they Autobots?" Raf asked pulling the medic away from the monitors.

"I'm not sure," Ratchet sighed. "The scanners could be malfunctioning still... But two read as Autobots of sorts, but we've been tricked by faux signatures before...But with us being so out numbered... We'll have to wait for Optimus..."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Present Day, Northern California


System reboot complete... All systems online...

Optimus Primal groaned as he onlined his optics and retracted his mask as he brought a servo to his helm shaking off the last dregs of the processor ache that was currently stomping around inside his CPU.

Optimus groaned again as he sat up, taking in his surroundings. Gone was the bleak desert, replaced with leafy green foliage of a forest, trees towering over the commander's form and blocked out what sun was shining through the leaves. He struggled to his pedes, the burnt grass crunching under his weight and ignoring the smoldering nearby trees, scorched from the light that had engulfed them.

Quite a landing', he mumbled to himself as he shook soot from his superstructure as he eyed a patch of scorched flowers that had been caught up in the blast. Rhinox had to be mourning the chance to smell those and speaking of his crew...

"Anyone's who's not deactivated sound off..."

There was a faint groan a few feet from him as pair of familiar pedes kicked in the air, followed by what he assumed were quite colorful curses in Predacon as Dilophablade struggled to free herself from the large thorny bush. At least Primus was slightly merciful in his payback on the young femme for the mess that she caused.

"Hold on... Your flailing is making it worse..." Optimus Primal chuckled a moment as he reached the bush containing the frantic femme and onlined a sword and started cutting through the bush.

The Predacon turncoat grumbled a moment, crossing her arms across her chestplates as her commander helped untangle her armor from the thorny brush, ignoring the nicks it created in the artificial saurian skin of her armor. "This is embarrassing... Completely undignified..."

"Well no one's perfect," the metallic gorilla said as he helped her to her pedes and helped dust her off before she batted his servos away. "Have you seen Rhinox?"

"Negative," the femme said as she pulled thorns free of her transformation seams. "I just came online a moment ago..."

"He can't be that far," Optimus said as he scanned the area. "Spread out to the nearby area and see if you can find him. I'll try to contact base and see if I can get a fix on our location. Keep your sensors peeled and keep in radio contact."

The femme nodded pulling out one last thorn from an elbow joint as she transformed to her beast mode. Giving her body one last shake to remove the last traces of thorns, took her snout to the air and jogged off into the trees to prowl the perimeter of their landing for the missing engineer.

Optimus watched her leave before activating his com-link. "Optimus to base over..." He was only greeted by the silence of static. "Rattrap... You better not be ignoring me so you can finish that card game..." There was still no answer as he switched frequencies. "Cheetor, Silverbolt... Anyone..." Nothing more greeted him than more static. The commander let out a sigh rubbing his helm.

ilophablade to Primal, over: The lightly accented voice of the femme warrior broke through his thoughts.

The metallic gorilla let out a sigh. At least the personal comm-links were still in working order.

"I'm here Dilopha, over," The com-link was silent. Though he could hear a slight growl across the link at the use of the nickname she had been given by the crew, namely Cheetor, and often refused to answer to it.

He didn't miss out on the annoyance in her voice when she did finally respond. :I wish you wouldn't call me that... But I haven't found any signs of Rhinox, I'm not picking up his scent:

"Alright, report back..." Primal sighed. "We'll set up camp for the night and go from there..."

:Understood, Dilophablade out:

Several uneasy minutes passed in silence while the gorilla waited for the return of the warrior as stood on the spot, shifting from pede to pede, his thoughts going to his missing crew mate and close friend before the dilophosaurus finally returned, easing Primal's mind at least for the moment. "Nothing at all?"

The saurian shook her head. "Unfortunately not... I'm sorry..." The saurian doing her best to sound concern, a feeling that the ex-Predacon had difficulty showing. Even at a time like this, the Predacon was trying, despite being out of touch with her emotions as she stopped next to her commander a touch of guilt to her posture.

"Its alright," Primal said with a slow nod, his arms across his chestplates, resisting the urge to rest a servo on the saurian's shoulder, knowing the femme's reaction to unwelcomed touches. "We will find him and get back home to base..."

"You think he ended up some..." the femme trailed off as her reptilian eye slowly drifted upward. "Can I retract my last statement?"

"Why?"

Dilophablade kept her gaze skyward in awe and pointed a clawed forearm upwards. Primal followed her gaze upwards and couldn't help but chuckle at what his optics saw. "I didn't know you could fly."

There perched high in a redwood tree was Rhinox grasping firmly onto the trunk high off the ground, the tree groaning under his weight as he commed his two crew mates. :Well I didn't know myself. Is the ground clear?:

"It can be," Primal said as he grabbed onto Dilophablade's shoulder and pulled her back, giving the rhino room, despite the snarl the femme had given at being pulled back in surprise. "Sorry."

Her anger was quickly forgotten as Rhinox released his hold on the tree trunk and dropped back to earth with a thud, causing the the femme to leap back in surprise before regaining her composure as her companions smirked slightly.

"I don't see how that was funny," Dilophablade grumbled as her forearms flexed uneasily.

"You'd see if you learned to relax," Primal smirked as his scanners started to beep drawing an end to their amusement.

"Slag it, Preds..." Rhinox grumbled getting a look from the femme. "No offense..."

"No..." Primal said as he looked at his alerts. "Its not Megatron... Its... Scatter now! Do not engage!"

Dilophablade grumbled as she dived for the nearest foliage, practically disappearing in the greens and browns.

Rhinox and Optimus only hoped to disappear as easily as she did as the engineer scrambled for an ancient uprooted tree and Optimus took to the sky, hovering through the branches of the nearest tree as a young boy dragged his father to where the three Maximals once were.

"But I swear I saw it, I promise..." the boy said as he glanced around letting go of his father's hand. "It had claws and everything..."

Primal could see the brush where Dilophablade move slightly as she watched the father and son argue. :Stand down Dilopha, don't we are not going to harm them:

ut they're a risk whatever they are:

:That's an order: Primal said sternly. o not harm them:

He didn't need the link to hear her response as she was clearly fuming from her hiding spot.

"Johnny... There are no dinosaurs here, you probably just saw a deer..."

"But it was big and fat with these things on its head," the boy said not knowing how close he came to death he had come as the saurian reigned back her rage at being described in such a way.

"Johnny the forest can play tricks on your eyes," the father said as he gently placed a hand on his son's shoulder. "You're probably just excited about seeing the museum... Now... Lets get back to the group... We don't want to get left behind..."

"Okay..." the boy mumbled as the father guided his son back down the trail.

That didn't stop Dilophablade from lifting her head from her hiding spot as the two eventually faded from view. "And I am not fat!" the femme snarled, tail twitching.

"Easy killer," Rhinox grumbled as he straightened his back struts. "I don't know how much more I can take of trees.

The femme shorted and muttered in Predacon under her breath, pacing as Primal descended back to the ground.

"I don't understand..." Primal said. "Something's not right here. I don't think we're on an Earth we know..."

"Then where the slag are we?" Dilophablade growled, drawing the attention of her companions. The femme rarely cursed unless she was frustrated, which she was quickly crossing the line.

"I'm not sure..." Primal said as he gave his scanners a wider range as life signs began to spring to life across his readouts. "But I plan to find out..."

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California, Redwood National Park, Parking Lot


"Ratchet," Optimus' deep baritone said into his comm-link at the Semi sat in the parking lot, scanners active. "Are you sure these are the coordinates to the energon signals?"

:Without a doubt, whoever it is, they are in that forest: Ratchet responded back. :Go forward with caution. There are enough humans, that would send Fowler fritzing if any catch sight of you:

"Dually noted old friend," Optimus said as he fell silent as a father and son crossed his line of vision.

The boy stopped taking in the sight of the Semi, muscle car, and motorcycle sitting in a corner of the parking lot to the park.

"Whoa! Cool cars!" the boy said breaking from his father's side as he loaded up their gear and rushed to the cars, resting his small hands on the Semi's massive grill.

"Johnny, come on... Its time to pack up," the father called out, frustration evident in his voice at his son's antics today.

"But Dad..."

"Now Johnny..."

"Yes Dad..." Johnny said dropping his hands from the Semi's grill, fingers grazing the Autobot logo on the grill before scampering back to his father's car and soon the two were loaded up, the boy's gaze on the cars as they pulled away.

One final scan and the coast was clear as all three vehicles transformed to the bi-pedal forms, scanners out.

"We have a small window to find them before nightfall, so we need to split our resources." Optimus said as he scanned the nearby trees. "Bumblebee, you're with me. Arcee, tread carefully and stay out of sight and do not engage unless necessary."

The scout gave a uneasy whirl in response. "Bumblebee's right Optimus, with what happened with Bulk..."

"Unfortunately there is no choice the signals are scattered..." the Semi said as he activated his mask. "Its a risk we must make in order to find the owner's of the signatures before the Decepticons do... Now roll out..."

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The three cars transforming would not have gone unnoticed if if weren't for the hawk who decided that the shiny metal shoulder was the perfect perch in the setting sun.

The hawk ruffled up its feathers and started to preen as it let out another screech as it was dislodged once more. The hawk let out a undignified squawk as he beat his wings at his 'perch'.

Dilophablade growled as she batted the hawk away once more. "Go shoo... Go roost somewhere else..." the femme had been attempting to keep watch of the parking lot in the distance as she battled with her winged foe.

"Whats the situation look like now?" Primal commed up to the femme from their temporary camp at the base of the tree.

"I'm under attack still from that insufferable bird!" Dilophablade as the hawk finally got the message and landed on a nearby tree, the femme could have sworn that the bird was glaring at her.

She ignored the faint laughter over her comm-link for a moment before she continued her report. "Most of the hairless creatures have left. The rest are camped out about a mile out... We're in the clear for the moment I think..."

"Alright, come down and get some brief recharge in before we start watches," Optimus said from his spot against the tree.

"Understood..." Dilophablade said as the femme slid gracefully down the tree trunk on her claws and landed on the ground in a graceful crouch.

"Showoff," Rhinox said with a chuckle as he poked at the small fire he made, keeping the smoke down.

The femme merely snorted as she settled across from the mechs, optics focused on the small fire. "At least we have peace."

"Thank Primus for that," Rhinox said as he vented a sigh as the femme settled down on the ground across from the other two.

"See anything familiar while you were up there?" Primal asked as he settled back against the tree he was leaning on.

"No familiar landmarks what so ever," Dilophablade grumbled still staring into the fire. "I don't recognize anything here. You said we're still on Earth still... Right..."

"The readings don't lie," Rhinox said. "The carbon signatures and faint energon readings match... Same rock... Perhaps a different continent..."

"Maybe," Primal said with a sigh. "Right now... I think we all need rest... Its been a long day... And we need to save our energy until we track down some energon..."

Silence settled across the three bots as the sat on the forest floor, the only movement being the engineer toying with the fire.

Primal watched both of his crew silently, his optics settling on the young warrior.

Dilophablade was silent, knees drawn to her chestplates deep in thought, her features and startling red optics blank. Suddenly without a word, the femme gathered her pedes under her once more as she stood up and transformed mid-step back to her beast mode.

"And where do you think you're going?" Primal asked sitting up slightly, ready to stop the femme if need be.

The saurian shifted uneasily on her talons, her features empty of emotions. "To take first watch... If that is alright Commander..."

The gorilla looked her over for a brief moment. Despite her best attempts, she couldn't hide the guilt from her posture all that well. "Alright," Primal said in defeat. "But comm if you run into any trouble. We can't be loosing you. We've already lost too much. Plus I don't want Rattrap break out into 'Ding Dong the Glitch is Dead' again..."

The femme's form tensed for a moment, holding back a remark. "Yes Commander," the saurian nodded with a twitch of her tail as she vanished into the trees.

The two mechs watched as she vanished into the shadows. "She's blaming herself," Primal said breaking the silence.

"She has every right to," Rhinox said. "She somehow activated the orb..."

"She didn't mean to I'm sure..." Primal said. "But I can't have her risking herself to gain back the honor she think she's lost... We lost Dinobot that way..."

"We'll crack that thick helm of hers eventually with something," Rhinox said settling back against the rock he claimed as his spot for the night. "She's smart...She won't do something stupid..."

"Still, that doesn't stop me from thinking she won't..." the transmetal gorilla said with a sigh.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Dilophablade wasn't in a hurry to get back to camp as she slowly trudged through the forest, the guilt of the situation weighed heavily on her spark chamber. It was her fault they were Primus knows where with Megatron and the Predacons more than likely taking advantage of their disappearance and had full run of the Maximal base.

The saurian let out a growl of frustration as she snapped her jaws on empty air, wishing for something to take her frustration away and a chance to redeem herself in the eyes of her commander. And right now taking the first watch at least made her feel a little better.

Arcee moved silently through the massive trees, scanners peered in the fading sunlight. "Still no sign of anything Optimus, are we sure he picked up on something."

:Keep searching, Ratchet is still picking up the three signatures, one is on the move in what we believe to be your direction:

The faint growl reached her audio sensors.

"Wait... I might have something..."

:Careful Arcee, do not engage unless necessary:

"I make no promises," the two-wheeler said as the birds suddenly fell quiet, followed by quiet footfalls.

Dilophablade tensed quietly, as her gaze scanned her surroundings, she bristled quietly as she crouched down closer to the ground and continued forward slowly, in the back of her processor warrior subroutines took hold once more, warning her something was up as she could no longer hear the birds calling out.

Arcee could see the outline of the creature as it slowly moved in the distance, as the two-wheeler approached with stealth. Its movements were light and cautious as Arcee watched the creature move through the woods, as she onlined her blaster finding it difficult to get a clear shot through the trees.

Dilophablade paused as she lowered her crested head to the ground, sniffing at the scent of gas and energon. She lifted her snout to the air, hoping to catch the scent in the air. Her luck held true as she caught the trail and turned her head to a massive tree, her red reptilian eyes narrowed. She was being hunted. She growled deep in her chest as she flexed her strong forearms.

Its approaching footsteps were all that Arcee needed as she readied her blaster and leapt from behind the trees, firing at her target. After a few blasts, she raised her blaster and looked at her target with narrowed optics.

The tree never stood a chance as it smoldered slowly from the scout's blasts.

Arcee glared at the tree as she stood up, optics and scanners peeled for the creature, slowly walking forward blasters posed, ready for an attack.

Dilophablade smirked quietly from her hiding spot, watching the Cybertronian with narrowed eyes, catching sight of a opening and charged out of the brush.

Arcee lurched forward pain radiated through the back of her pede as she saw a flash of green dart back through the trees. Ignoring the slashes, Arcee's blasters were up again as she scanned the area frantically. She finally managed to spot a patch of mottled skin through the shadows, locking her scanners onto its position, tracking its heat signature.

Dilophablade quietly moved in a loose circle in the shadows of the trees as she waited for another opening as the blue scout turned her back to her once more.

It pounced again and Arcee turned, blasting the beast. The shot hit the beast squarely in its chest and sent it tumbling backwards to the ground. Arcee leveled her blaster as the beast stood on shaky feet, shaking its head with a furious growl.

Dilophablade growled again as she stood her ground glaring at the Cybertronian with narrowed eyes. She hissed as she crouched down, reading another pounce.

For the first time, Arcee was able to get a glimpse of what she was fighting, quick search revealed what she was looking at.

A dinosaur. A oversized lizard with a Cybertronian life signal. It made the femme's tanks lurch, what wouldn't the warlord stoop to in his conquest.

Dilophablade snarled as she started to make a slow circle around the Cybertronian femme. Despite the femme towering over her beast form, she kept up feral appearances. After all she's fought mechs as tall in her fight training. This one should be no different, right.

Arcee tried to push what thoughts of Megatron experimenting with extinct organic creatures, the dinosaur had other ideas as it snarled angrily, circling the femme, its tail lashing angrily. It growled as it crouched down, its sharpened claws gleaming, flexing and ready to strike. It shifted on powerful hind legs as it squared off against the femme scout, red eyes watching intently, daring her to make the first move. Arcee responded by firing her blasters.

Dilophablade was ready as she leapt aside with a growl and almost seem to roll out of the way of the next blast as she transformed pulling the broadsword from the base of her chestplates and blocked the final blast as she stood up from her crouch, twirling her swords gracefully in her servos, a smirk hidden behind her battlemask and gold visor that she had dropped down, now this was the distraction she was talking about.

Arcee glared at the now transformed bot crouching before her, taking in her opponent. The bot was heavily armored for its smaller size, strange for a warrior-class. Its armor was mottled green, its pale steely blue-gray protoform barely visible between the plating. Its features unreadable from under the battlemask and visor it wore.

Dilophablade didn't give the Cybertronian as she charged broadswords out before her. The scout quickly shot back dodging the swipes.

Dilophablade blocked the blasts again, ignoring the one that clipped that clipped close to the plating on her neck leaving it smoldering as she another defensive stance, ready to attack once more.

Arcee rained more blasts down on the bot, keeping the bot and its swords at bay. As the green bot continued to deflect and dodge Arcee's blast, a slow realization began to dawn on the two-wheeler as the fight continued. The bot had yet to activate any ranged weapons, even bots like Wheeljack who favored his swords still had built in blasters. Either it had yet to show them... Or the bot was at a complete disadvantage. Its wouldn't be long until the bot lost patience with the femme and would make another attempt to bring the fight within arms reach of those clawed servos, her processor flashing to similar claws that had bit into her side in her fight against Starscream.

As the shooting gallery continued, Dilophablade was beginning to grow frustrated. She was growing tired of being shot at, and cursing her own lack of built in firearms. The Cybertronian kept raining death from above as she blocked another blast that had come close to hitting her in the chestplates once more. She leveled a death glare at the blue femme as she tensed her body.

Arcee could have sworn the bot had glared at her when it suddenly leaped into the air with a frustrated growl, its swords moving in a wide arc as it threw the swords through the air, aimed to impale the two-wheeler. Arcee rolled out of the way and the broadswords buried themselves deep into the stone where the femme was standing. The bot had disarmed itself with that desperate move, a rookie mistake.

Dilophablade scrambled as she growled in frustration at missing her target and leaving herself open as the blue scout was upon her as she reached her swords and received a strong kick to her mid-section, overwhelming her as she took an elbow joint to her face. Star flashed across her readouts as she stumbled back and managed to dodge a driving knee that would have struck her already ringing helm. She snarled angry as her visored optics darted to where her swords were still deeply embedded in the rock, ideas flashing across her processor as she rolled out from another attack, transforming mid roll and took off into the forest.

"Optimus I got it on the run, heading towards your location," Arcee commed a she took off on foot, the terrain too uneven to try to chase the bot down in vehicle mode as the dinosaur started to pull ahead and disappear through a grove of trees.

e on guard Arcee, we do not know what their plans are. We're approaching the other two signatures in the next klik:

The two-wheeler dashed and leapt into the grove, blasters drawn once more. Arcee blinked as she stood out of her crouch, blasters still ready as she slowly scanned the area.

The monster had simply vanished into the shadows, her sensors beeping as they sensed the dinosaur nearby.

"Scrap... I lost visual. Still reading it Ratchet?"

:Loud and clear Arcee, its still out there and judging by your position... I can't get an exact fix, scanners still acting funny. Don't try anything foolish, we don't have the resources to keep another bot in stasis:

"I'll do my best, Arcee out," said quietly as the two-wheeler started forward again.

Dilophablade vented a sigh as she watched the blue scout attempting to pick up her trail once more. She took a look at her singed artificial hide. It was time for some payback...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It wasn't hard for Primal and Rhinox to catch of the sounds of the battle in the distance as the two mechs onlined their own ranged weapons, Rhinox's own chainguns humming low as the two mechs went back to back. "How many Rhinox?" the commander asked as he stomped out their fire.

"At least three, one close to where our little warrior is at," the engineer mumbled uneasily. "And two coming our way."

"Just Prime..." Primal said as there was a sudden crash and the both turned leveling their weapons at the towering mechs that stood before them.

Optimus looked before him as he leveled his weapons at the two mechs before him and Bumblebee. The mechs were small, short even by Arcee standards, but they held their ground, showing now signs of fleeing. As the Prime looked them over, searching for the insignias that marked their faction. To his surprise he found neither Autobot of Decepticon, instead he found one that he was not familiar with but sent a odd feeling through his spark and his processor.

The four mechs stood off for a few moments, the air tense as the forest quieted once more. Primal kept his weapons fixed on the taller of the two, while Rhinox's chainguns spun dangerously as he directed them at the bright yellow mech. The gorilla commander's gaze leveled at the taller of the mechs, his red and blue armor setting off alarms in the back of his processor as he slowly lowered his weapons as realization dawned at him as to who this mech was before him.

Optimus watched as one of the mechs started to lower his weapons. Did he know this mech from somewhere on Cybertron before the Exodus. No...he would have remembered a mech like this in his ranks... But his spark was telling that he did as he lowered his own weapons. Something was almost familiar about the mech.

Both Rhinox and Bumblebee kept weapons locked on each other, exchanging looks between themselves and their commander's as both Primal and Optimus dropped their weapons to their sides.

"Stand down Bumblebee," Optimus said as his own rifle folded away, Primal's doing the same.

Bumblebee looked at Rhinox, who shrugged and dropped his chainguns to his sides as he moved next to Primal.

Bumblebee chirped at his commander uneasy as his own weapons folded away.

"Its alright, I believe that they mean no harm to us Bumblebee." Optimus said as crouched down. "They would have already if they intended to."

Primal looked up, caught in the shadow of the mech he was always under and compared to at the academy. The one who's memory would drive him to be an explorer rather than a commander in the army.

"Greetings," Optimus said. "I am Optimus Prime... I am sorry if we alarmed you. We were not sure who you were aligned with..."

Slag, he was right as he exchanged a look with a shell-shocked Rhinox.

"I-its alright," Primal said slowly pulling forward, processor working on putting together their cover story. "Commander Op-Primal," he said with a nod. "Me and my crew mates here..." he gestured to Rhinox. "Have become quite lost and have been needing help in attempting to find our ship..."

"Is it only you two?" Optimus asked as Bumblebee crouched down to get a closer look at the two smaller bots.

"We're still missing one of our number," Primal said. "Warrior-class."

"Tall, green armor, likes swords," Rhinox said as his chainguns folded back away back into his armor. "You wouldn't miss her."

"I fear I might know the answer to that..." Optimus said as they all turned their helms toward the distant sounds of blasts and snarls. "I fear that one of ours might have found your missing warrior."

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Arcee cursed again as she made another loose circle as she heard yet another twig snapped causing her to turn on her pede once more, only to aim her blasters at empty air. Dominating the battle that the dinosaur chose now to make itself scarce at it toyed with her.

Dilophablade smirked as she continued to play with the femme's mind, despite her warrior protocols informing her against it, she brushed them off. She needed this to vent as she quietly transformed back to her bi-pedal form and charged at the femme's back once more.

When Arcee was prepared for a frontal attack, the two-wheeler wasn't expecting was to be broadsided from behind as she was tackled by said dinosaur, the momentum of it sending both bots tumbling down the embankment, both exchanging blows as they went. Claws tore across her abdominal plating as Arcee activated her blades and swiped at her attacker's form, hoping to break its hold on her.

The two broke apart with a crash as they landed at the bottom, both staggering back to their pedes. Dilophablade landed hard on the ground, ignoring the twinge of crumbled armor as she struggled to her pedes.

Arcee was faster, ignoring the sting of the long scratches down her plating. With a yell she was on the bot once more before it had the chance to recover, the femme slashing at the strange green bio lights and red energon lines of her combatant's arms and legs.

Dilophablade hissed as the femme aimed for her acid lines in her arms as she pulled back both arms and with both pedes, delivered a kick sending the femme back before any damage to her lines were done.

The dinosaur stumbled backwards from the attack and retaliated with a punching swipe, sending the femme back again, giving the green bot some much needed breathing time. She smirked as she heard the frantic cycling of the bot's intakes to cool overheated systems as it flexed its extended claws, ignoring the slash across its chestplates, ignoring the trickle of energon as it started to well up in the wound and drip to the ground.

Dilophablade ignored the pain in her chest as she crouched down once more as the blue femme leveled both blasters at her.

Arcee own intakes cycled for a few moments, but kept both blasters focused on the bot. "Stand down now!"

Dilophablade growled as she glared down the femme behind her visor as she slowly brought up her servos in defeat, fighting a smirk from behind her battlemask.

"That's better," Arcee said as she kept one blaster on the bot and pulled a pair of stasis cuffs from her subspace.

Dilophablade swung both of her arms down suddenly as the spines against her armguards sprung down and clawed servos merged with forming two blades as her bright green lines sprialed up the blades but not activating her signature weapon. She didn't need the femme knowing all of her tricks.

Arcee's blaster folded away as her own blades unfolded once more. So the bot still wanted to fight, fine. With a shout she sprung at the bot again.

Dilophablade was not ready for the speed and fury that the femme attacked, leaving the saurian to do nothing but block the attacks and keep the femme from damaging anything else vital. She dodged another slash as she prepared a kick.

Arcee, blocked the swings as she delivered another punch to the bot's battlemask. The smaller bot held strong, seeming to ignore what injuries it had as it swung its own blades, but suddenly jumped and twisted, landing a back kick across her facial plates.

Dilophablade didn't get a chance to revel in her kick as the blue femme brought hers down and reacted quickly with her armblades.

Arcee was surprised as her kick was stopped, her pede was stopped and locked in by the bot's armblades. She could see the bot's optics narrow behind the gold visor as the two were locked in their stances, the smaller bot's arms shaking as it tried to keep a hold on the femme's pede for as long as it could.

:Arcee, come in over:

I'm a bit busy at the moment Optimus," Arcee said as she jumped, bringing up her other pede into the bot's helm, knocking it back.

Dilophablade rolled to the side, releasing the femme's foot as she blocked another swing after another as she was forced to back-step against her attacker.

:I need you to stand down:

"What," Arcee said in surprise as Dilophablade took advantage of the distraction and drove a knee into Arcee's abdominal plating as she stumbled back, blocking another swing of the bot's blades.

:That's an order: Optimus said as he cut the link.

Dilophablade smirked as she swung her armblades lazily, driving the femme back and prepared herself for another kick.

Arcee narrowed her optics as she blocked the kick, scanning her opponent's armor, looking for a way to end it when her optics caught sight of one of the bot's injuries. One of her early blast had knocked armor loose, exposing the bot's sensitive neck cables. Her ticket to end the fight.

Dilophablade dodged another kick aimed at her helm, not knowing the dodge played into the femme's plan.

Arcee took her chance as she aim one last punch, glancing off the bot's battlemask and armblade hitting home as it struck the neck cables.

Dilophablade stumbled back as warnings flashed against her readout as she folded back one blade and brought a servo up to stop the flow of energon from her neck cables as she growled and charged the femme.

Arcee leapt back as she nearly took one last slash across her abdominal plating from the bot's still active armblade and landed a few feet away from her opponent, her own blades still posed.

Dilophablade stopped and dropped low into a stance as she brought her remaining blade in front of her.

But Arcee made no move to attack, instead she opted to glaring daggers at the bot across from her.

Dilophablade's helm tilted as she watched Arcee, intakes cycling heavy and frame trembling slightly as she held her neck attempting to stem the flow of energon as she returned the femme's gaze with a glare of her own.

The two femme's continued to face off each other as the four mechs stumbled upon their battlefield.

Primal couldn't hold back the ex-vent of relief as , abet slightly more dented than when he last saw her, but still very much online.

"Your missing crew member I assume?" Optimus asked as he looked at the two femmes facing off, his optics taking in the condition of Arcee and the new bot that his scout had engaged in.

The Prime had to to admit, the bot too was rather... Small for what the commander claimed was a warrior. But small had proven useful before, and their human allies had shown that in the past.

Though he didn't much of a chance to take in the bot's appearance as their arrival didn't go unnoticed by the fighting bots.

Dilophablade leapt back at the sight of two large mechs with a deep growl as she kept her blade up, ready to transform and bolt at the first sight of a blaster.

"Dilophablade stand down..."

The saurian froze and turned her visored gaze to Primal as he slowly walked forward from behind the two mechs, servos up. She glanced at the large mechs behind him and growled again.

"But Commander..." She hissed, glaring at Arcee who had fallen back alongside Optimus.

"That's an order Dilopha..."

Optimus was afraid that the smaller commander was in over his helm as the warrior held its ground for several moments.

After what seemed like ages, Dilophablade stood from her stance. "Yes sir..." she grumbled, causing the two blades to shift and fold back to their original places against gauntlet plating, revealing her clawed servos once more.

The tension in the forest dropped as a couple of mechs let out sighs as Dilophablade offered one more glare at Arcee as she retreated to Primal's side, battlemask dropping.

Arcee froze as she laid optics on her opponent as the bot shoved past her to retrieve her swords from Rhinox and stood at Primal's side and couldn't help but stare at the warrior-class femme.

Dilophablade didn't say a word as she returned them to the subspace at the base of her chest plating, the hilts curving along the edge of her armor. She stood back next to her comrades, arms crossed as she surveyed the other bots around them quietly, daring any of them to say a word she she did her best to look the part of a trained warrior. Though it was made harder by the branches that poked through her armor plating and the splatters of mud, energon, and grass stains.

Optimus optics scanned the wide array of mechs and femmes before him.

This was going to make an interesting trip back to base.

"Ratchet?"

:Yeah Optimus, did you find them?: the medic answered at the other end of the link. o you need medical assistance?:

"Possibly... And my trailer as well... And inform Agent Fowler we will be receiving guests..."