Ep 1.5 - The Unwelcome Party (Smokescreen, MECH, now open!)

[Deleted]

Crumpled on his back beneath Air Raid's weight on his chest, the wound on his midriff was made worse with all the pressure bearing down on his frame. The young Autobot gave a choking exhale as he tried clearing his vents. Okay. Okay. Bad. This was bad. This was very bad. His arms twitched as he tried to raise a gun and take aim again. Those blank optics were staring down on him and frag, it was like staring into the optics of a dead mech. Smokescreen tried to ignore it but he was reminded strongly of the corpses he'd seen aboard the Avengeance.

He could hear crashing in the distance, like someone was trampling through the forest. For a moment, Smokescreen thought he'd imagined it, an auditory hallucination brought on by combat stress and the pain he was in. Then a large pair of servos wrenched away the Autobot on top of him. The pressure was suddenly gone and Smokescreen could clear his vents again. For one brief moment, his optics powered off in relief as he tried to recover. They flicked on again, staring up at his rescuer.

Smokescreen boggled.

No.

Slagging.

Way.

...

Optimus Prime!

It was Optimus Prime! Optimus Prime who had come to his rescue! Any doubts the young Autobot had about whether he'd contacted the Autobots or not immediately vanished. He tried to sit up -no way was he going to lie in the dirt and make a bad impression on Optimus Prime!- but the pain knocked both him and that plan back down. He curled one servo on his side to stem the energon flow. Another harsh choke escaped from Smokescreen before he looked up again and finished the tactical report he'd been giving before he'd gotten shot. If he couldn't get up, then at least he could be a competent soldier and not give Prime any reason to find fault with him.

"Sir-! Two hostile helis, one heavy armed with a missile pod and a machine gun. Other copter, scout, no currently known offensive capabilities. Don't know if there are more incoming," Smokescreen rattled off in a sick rasp. "Eliminated one heavy already."

Out of the corner of his optic, he could make out the flash of movement. Looks like back-up would take care of the strange half-dead Autobot. The medic would be there soon, said he was coming. Smokescreen gave a quiet sigh and allowed himself to hope that everything was going to be okay.

-

For such a big bot, Optimus sure hauled aft when he put his mind to it. The Wrecker had kept pace easily beside him, watching his back as the Prime charged through the forest and towards the enemy. Trusting Moonshot and Thunder to handle the air, Wheeljack focused on the Optimus, the injured Autobot and....

...Air Raid?

The Wrecker had seen the aerial round base but hadn't had much interaction with him. Nevertheless, Wheeljack recognised the Bot on sight. Kinda hard not to when the notice came through that the flier was missing, here's what he looks like, everyone keep an optic out for him okay?

So someone had gotten their servos on the missing mech and done...well, something to him. The mech was a mess. Shouldn't be standing, let alone moving. Whatever. It wasn't important. What was important was that Optimus had let the mech go in shock. Where the Prime was stunned into stillness, Wheeljack was galvanised into action. He could see the newbie crumpled on the ground, energon leaking from the chunk torn in his side and the Autobrand clear on his chest. Until proven otherwise, the unknown was tentatively tagged as ally. Condition he was in, even if he wasn't, Wheeljack doubted he could cause much damage.

That left Air Raid, decidedly not looking friendly and really, could do with a trip to Ratchet. In fact, yeah, that probably would be best for everyone. Med bay for the new bot and Air Raid. It was with this in mind that Wheeljack stowed his blade away and lunged forward as Air Raid stumbled away from Prime's grasp, aiming to body slam the mech to the dirt while he was still disorientated. His preferred method of hustling uncooperative mecha to see a doctor normally involved the use of force. Unlike Optimus, the idea of causing further damage really didn't bother him. In Wheeljack's processor, since the mech was gonna go see Ratchet anyway…

Air Raid wasn't all that larger than Wheeljack and he wasn't in top shape. The Wrecker was banking on being able to pin the aerial to the ground with his weight until they could take Air Raid into custody.

[Deleted]

No sooner did Thundercloud get airborne and climb out over the the tops of the trees than his quarry came into sight.

One helicopter. The scout that Smokescreen had reported was nowhere in the sky. But one was enough.

The black gunship helicopter was roughly four miles to the west, beating so low over the forest that its downwash made the treetops thrash back and forth. The Kiowa was not a big aircraft, little over thirty five feet in length altogether, but it was impressively armed with a pylon–mounted .50 calibre machine gun on one side of its fuselage, and a rocket launcher on the other. Several of the Hydro 70 rockets it carried had already been fired.

The gunship was flying in his direction, and fast – evidently a sharp–eyed member of its crew had spotted the telltale flash of green light that marked the arrival of a ground bridge. But upon sighting Thundercloud its pilot abruptly banked right, breaking off the engagement. The aircraft flashed its dark underbelly at him briefly before it began to race towards the southern side of the valley, away from him.

Meanwhile, on the ground below...

Air Raid staggered as he was thrown back by the Prime. His feet tore through the forest floor before he recovered, his legs braced. There was no sign of life in the empty optics as they stared up at Optimus. No recognition of the Autobot leader or the presence of the Matrix within his chest. The mech merely planted his feet and raised his undamaged blaster arm, took aim –

And Wheeljack rammed into him at the waist.

Air Raid hit the ground on his back. The impact sent both mechs skidding backwards, hurling up a great mess of dirt and mangled underbrush as they ploughed through earth and trees alike. When they finally dragged to a halt Wheeljack would find himself lying atop the Aerialbot, pinning him beneath his weight. Both of them were filthy with grime and crushed pine needles.

No pain or distress registered on Air Raid’s pitted face as he stared up at the tree boughs overhead. His frame heaved, straining to throw off the Wrecker. His blaster arm raised and immediately tried to slam the muzzle of the shotgun under Wheeljack’s chin, a shot already primed to fire directly into the mech’s throat.

[Optimus Prime]

Optimus indeed would not have assigned Thundercloud to such a task, if he had known the issue with weaponry, and the fact it was MECH. That was so much overkill it would be ridiculous on all accounts, and would end in the needless loss of human life. While MECH were horrible individuals if viewed from one perspective? One had to consider the individuals in play. The pilots could simply be doing a job out of necessity, more so than an ingrained desire to follow a malevolent path. Not truly innocent, but not deserving of a horrendous demise at the hand of a massive Jet that'd possibly just use its wing like a blade to slice them in half.

But Optimus had stated to only clip their wings, and as such? He hoped that despite these challenges? Despite the issues provided? The Mech would be clever enough to figure something out. If he could think on his feet to adapt to difficult requests? Than Optimus would be more assured on how he would be able to handle things in the future. Nonetheless, the Prime wasn't too focused on Thunder or Moonshot any longer, leaving them to handle things while Wheeljack and himself crossed the distance to remove the 'Decepticon' from an unknown fighter.

Optimus looked out at Air Raid, absolutely stunned and mortified at what had happened to him. He was so damaged, so mangled, and his optics... they showed no life within them, just this hollow emptiness that was unnerving on its own. The paint across his frame was smeared and removed in large patches and the overall structural changes were so ghastly? It had not been immediately recognizable at first glance on who it actually was. Over top this he could see the technical instructions and notes painted directly on him, and as such he recognized the language and culprits with one solid clink just fractions of a second since his observation started.

The Prime reeled his hand back, about to trust it forward to counter Air Raid. His goal? Would have been to grab the underside of the shotgun and push the barrel up in a hard impact, so that if it fired? It would launch harmlessly into the air, but before he could act upon this? Wheeljack had slammed into him in a full body tackle.

Optimus's gaze snapped to the side to see the two hit, grimacing internally. It was then he heard the unknown Autobot speak, giving a report, and his head tilted ever so slightly to listen, without turning completely around. The report bothered him, as his initial assessments leaned towards this being a Decepticon assault, intercepting the new Autobot. However? It seemed it most definitely was MECH, and one of the human's aircraft had already been shot down.

This information caused the corners of his mouth to tighten in a slight frown behind the battlemask, his frame turning fully finally as he knew Wheeljack had Air Raid handled for the moment. He looked down at the other Mech, before his hand raised and placed on the side of his helm, speaking aloud, while sending out a broad comm that would relay to the entire team, as well as feed back to base so they would know what was going on.

::"We have located Air Raid. The threat is MECH"::

There was a tightness in his voice, perhaps some restrained anger on what had befell the Autobot. This was worse than the Terrorcons in a way, and it was painful to think on what his soldier had undergone under the human's hands. However, he had another to worry about, and as such? He turned fully.

::"Thundercloud, Moonshot, Disregard prior command unless attacked. Maintain a perimeter and let none enter"::

Long strides closed the distance between himself and Smokescreen easily while finishing his relay. It went unsaid that Wheeljack's task would be restraining the damaged and corrupted Autobot, so he didn't bother with such words.

::"Ratchet, Prepare medbay for an additional occupant."::

Optimus reached down and grabbed onto Smokescreens shoulder with a firm grip that did not clutch too tightly. It is with this hold he hauled the mech up onto his feet. His grip did not faultier or let go, instead moving to grab under his upper arm, using it to help pull some of Smokescreen's own weight off of his frame in order to try to alleviate stress on his damaged side.

He would normally not pull around one who was injured like this, but he did not know if MECH would decide to bank back with reinforcements, or if they would try to outright bomb them. The humans had already showed they were fully willing to blow up a train with a devastating bomb on it just because they didn't want others to have it, and as such? He wouldn't put it past them to try to launch such a thing against them so they couldn't take Air Raid back. They had to get Air Raid returned, and this newcomer verified. Optimus as such made sure to help Smokescreen steady.

"Easy there... I need you to transfer your identification codes so that we can get you medical attention."

He said this decisively, wanting to get a move on things so he could aid Wheeljack if it came down to it. Though if the Wrecker did need help? There were two in the sky that could drop in for immediate assistance. For a moment? His attention snapped up, and his helm suddenly peered straight at where Ghost Wind was, the rotational rings in his optics whirring and focusing a moment. He thought he had saw something from the corner of his optic, but now? All he could see was foliage and wilderness. As such, he turned back to his task of supporting Smokescreen and trying to verify him.

They could return him to base then verify, after making sure he didn’t bleed out. He would not be able to reach communications outside the base or relay his position if he was a spy, but it was always better safe than sorry. Unless the soldier went unconscious? Or was about to offline? Optimus would prefer prior confirmation before breaching the threshold of the Ground Bridge.

[Deleted]

It did not take Thundercloud long to spot the helicopter, but almost immediately after he did, the damn whirly bird decided to get the hell out of dodge. Thundercloud couldn’t blame the pilots, really. It was a smart move. Anyone with an inkling of common sense or even the faintest amount of self-preservation would know that moving out of the path of the pissed off jet barreling towards them was a sound decision to make if one wanted to live.

It was too bad for them that Thundercloud had a prey instinct like a wild animal; if something started to run, he would immediately chase after it, intent on taking it down and breaking its spine, or lacking that, its everything else.

Twin engines roaring, he picked up speed, increasing his rate of acceleration as he rocketed after the retreating helicopter, rapidly closing in behind them. It did not take long at all to close the distance between himself and the MECH copter - a rotorcraft was really no match for a supersonic twin jet in terms of speed, after all, so the outcome was hardly surprising. Honestly, Thundercloud wondered why the MECH pilot even bothered trying to retreat in the first place; they should have realized it was a lost cause from the get-go. They could’ve saved him the trouble of having to go after them by just staying in place instead of trying, in vain, to delay the inevitable.

He was going to enjoy ramming the damn thing out of the air.

Or at least, he would have enjoyed it, had Optimus not commed him and issued the command to disregard his prior order, and simply keep any airborne threats from entering the perimeter and interfering with the fray on the ground. Growling in frustration, Thundercloud was so, so very tempted to ignore the order, to go ahead and ram the hell out of the helicopter, then claim after the dust had settled that he had done so before he had gotten the change in orders.

For a moment, he strongly considered doing just that. He fell into position behind the copter, ready and more than willing to send it crashing to the ground where it belonged before it could sully his airspace even more with its disgusting presence. He didn’t care if the occupants of the rotor-craft died - in fact a small, vicious part of him wanted them to. Let the fraggin’ squishies die, no one would miss them. No one who puts on riot gear and goes hunting dangerous alien-robots while acting in opposition to an entire government could possibly have family they gave a damn about, not if they signed themselves up for a job with such a high mortality rate. Besides, even if they did, the fraggers were sick ‘n twisted and he saw no reason why they deserved to have their lives spared when they sure as hell weren’t extending the same courtesy to the mecha they were hunting.

He knew the Prime was supposed to be merciful and noble and all that slag, but this? Was bullshit. Thundercloud saw no reason why he shouldn’t just off the disgusting little meat-creatures there and then before they could regroup with their comrades and cause more trouble for them in the future.

Then he remembered he and Carbine were probably still on thin ice with the higher ups, since they hadn’t been able to do anything to assure them that their criminal records weren’t indicators of their character, and he spat out a curse.

Primus up a fraggin’ tree, he had no choice but to play nice and make a good impression.

Slowing himself down to a more moderate speed, Thundercloud dropped down behind the helicopter, before cutting his speed even further and lowering himself beneath it. Instead of ramming it full force, he simply pulled back sharply as he pulled a Pugachev's Cobra, rearing his nose up until he was in a vertical position, in order to harshly bump the underside of the copter and jostle it and its occupants.

[Deleted]

Ghost Wind leapt, ran and slipped on the underbrush to keep up with the one... two.. four-mech pile-up going on over there. Five astroseconds into this mess and he already knew two things: one, he was the smallest mech in the area and two, he was so thoroughly outgunned every moment he survived was going to count as its own individual victory.

And then Optimus Prime looked straight at him.

Straight.

At.

Him.

Something in Ghost's frame shriveled up, his processor reduced to running around in hysterical circles and shrieking like a terrified young sparkling, because any moment now that giant slagging 'Con-killing cannon was going to come 'round and--

--and the Autobot leader looked away, attention fully focused, to all appearances, on the fight with the terrorcon.

Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you, whoever you are that's looking out for me today... Ghost dropped to the lowest crouch he could and ran, trying to get a good look before the 'Nemesis' asked for it and gave him proximity numbers he so did not want to hear.

Ghost was not a stealthy mech. He did not know of blending in with his environment, he didn't know to watch where he put his pedes; he only knew one way to avoid confrontation: he had to keep moving as erratically as possible. The terrain was making that both very difficult, what with all the organic greenery growing everywhere like it was going out of style, and exceptionally easy as he darted around tree trunks, sometimes as wide as he was.

What he really wanted was a ground-bridge right back to the 'Nemesis'. Slag all to Pit this planet and its stupid surface and the slag-all organics on it and their slagging vendetta against Cybertronians and whatever else having anything to do with it. What he was getting, however, were terse encrypted glyph instructions to keep the engagement going as long as possible, while focusing his observations on the terrorcon. Well, of course those would be his instructions.

Almost immediately, his instructions crashed full-force against the situation, because the big giant red-and-blue was busy picking up the one semi-squished mech and apparently unaware Tackle McCrazy over there was about to have his head blown off by the terrorcon. Less Butts meant a shorter fight. Ghost would love to see the Butt's processor scattered into components all over the landscape. He would have loved it as he loved precious little else in the universe.

He loved staying alive by not eschewing a commanding officer's orders even more.

"Oh, slag this", he murmured.

He already had his bow deployed, and his line of thought had been as fast as thought itself can be to a seasoned combat unit. In one swift motion Ghost lifted, drew and fired an energy arrow directly for the terrorcon's shotgun. He didn't know if he could disable or destroy the weapon, and in truth he didn't care - while the Autobots might be interested in preserving the terrorcon, Ghost most certainly wasn't. But even if he just succeeded in throwing the shot off so Tackle McCrazy could keep on fighting, he'd count it a good shot.

No sooner had the arrow streaked off that the two-wheeler was pelting away from that one spot as fast as his legs could carry him. Don't see me don't see me oh dear Primus don't you see me...

[Deleted]

Smokescreen was mentally kicking himself for not mentioning his ID codes. They should have been the first thing he said to Optimus Prime. Well. The intel had been more important. But still. He didn't want to screw up in front of Optimus, anymore than he already had. Getting shot was kinda embarrassing, especially since he needed Optimus's help to stand up now. He was immensely grateful for the servo supporting him but you know, he'd would rather he didn't need. Smokescreen didn't want his hero's first memory of them meeting like this. What about when he was a great warrior? The Prime was never going to respect him when his first memory of Smokescreen was on his back, getting pounded by some crazy half-dead Autobot.

His griping was all mental. Nothing Smokescreen could do about it now. This wasn't the time and place for it anyway. "Yessir!" Smokescreen pinged his codes. He wasn't certain how long it had been since his capture on Cybertron. There were preparations for a mass exodus, last he knew and the Autobot presence here on this organic planet seemed to suggest that it had gone ahead. But the forced stasis the Decepticons had put him in aboard the Avengeance had disabled his chronometer until he'd woken up. Smokescreen knew it had taken vorns for his escape, requiring careful planning to get him outta there but between his capture and waking up, any length of time could have passed.

The young soldier fell silent, waiting Prime's next instruction. It sucked that he was being dragged away from this fight, that he had to be rescued but Smokescreen's pride was not above his common sense and he recognised that he was out of this battle.

--

Someone really needed to talk to Air Raid about this undead impression he was pulling off. Ratchet, Wheeljack decided, Ratchet would be really good for this talk. You'd think a mech would make some acknowledgement of getting rammed by a Wrecker but noooo. Air Raid was too good for that. Or, Wheeljack took in that blank face marred by an energy burn as they came hurtling to a stop, there was nothing left of him to care.

Whatever. Something for the med-bots to figure out. Wheeljack was just here to ensure Air Raid's delivery to them. He'd brought the mech down, like he'd been hoping but now he had a shotgun to the neck to contend with. Wheeljack wasn't all too worried about it, it got old after the first seventy eight times. The aerial was doing his level best to jam the thing in his throat, the Wrecker pulled his head to the side at the same time he calmly pushed the shotgun away with his left servo, holding it away from both of them. His right gun transformed and he was about to blast the damn thing himself when an energy bolt came outta nowhere and struck Air Raid's shotgun.

One optic ridge raised up -there was no Autobot nearby that had the correct angle to take out the shotgun nor that sort of ammo (if there was one thing Wheeljack knew, it was weapons)- Wheeljack returned his right servo back to normal and brought it down above Air Raid's throat, intending to pin the mech to the ground.

He couldn't turn round to check where the unknown shooter was. But-

::Chief:: Wheeljack tightbeamed as he straddled the aerial and got on with this whole subduing Air Raid business. If he was going to have to break all the mech's limbs to keep him still, then so be it. ::Got an unknown, possibly hostile. Not MECH, Cybertronian. Not sure where but-:: that arrow had to have been fired from ground-level ::-somewhere in the forest::

[Deleted]

The response to Optimus’ comm was swift and startled.

“Air Raid?! I – yes, Optimus.” At once Ratchet’s voice was crisp again. “I have a medical berth standing by. Please bring whoever is in need to the medbay straight away, and I will meet you there.”

In the sky...

Thundercloud’s nose thudded hard into the underbelly of the helicopter.

Immediately the aircraft staggered in the air as it lost equilibrium, its rotor whining against the load. It lurched, and its nose dropped before it porpoised back up again. Inside the cockpit Thundercloud would catch a brief glimpse of the human pilot struggling hand and foot against the controls to bring the helicopter under control again.

It slowed in the air. Thundercloud’s greater airspeed would send him roaring past as it stabilized into a hover. It rotated in midair, and as the jet shot past it aimed its nose to send a tight two–second burst of heavy machine gun after him, aiming for the nacelles that housed his engines. Almost immediately it peeled off again, swinging around to the south.

And on the ground...

Air Raid’s shotgun exploded.

The energy bolt hit squarely, impacting and shredding the weapon upon contact. The loaded charge in the barrel erupted backwards down the Aerialbot’s forearm, blasting out at his elbow. Energon spattered down upon Wheeljack as the gun burst apart, leaving only scraps of scorched metal behind it.

That hurt.

For the first time, the creature howled in pain. Its body arched beneath the Wrecker, the remains of its white and grey armour contracted tight. The howl was abruptly cut off when Wheeljack’s arm slammed into its throat, pinning it to the ground.

A crumb of blue light flickered in the darkened optics, then disappeared again.

Keening in pain, the Aerialbot tried to swap the remains of its mangled shotgun back into a functional hand. It grasped the side of Wheeljack’s head and tried to thrust it back, but the Wrecker would be able to feel that its struggles were weaker now as the ruined body rapidly lost strength.

[Optimus Prime]

There was so much going on at once, but the first thing he had to do was confirm Smokescreen's codes. Once he did? Then things could progress again. Until then? He would be stuck where he was, or would have to put the wounded soldier down to go aid whoever may need it. But things seemed contained...

...for now.

With the ID Codes received Optimus picked them apart just enough to confirm that Smokescreen was indeed an Autobot. They were older codes however, showing that it had been some time since he had been amongst an Autobot team, but while the out of date nature of them was odd? It was not detrimental in the slightest, and as such the Prime wordlessly moved.

Optimus started back to where the Ground Bridge had formed, and had vanished just moments after their arrival. Each step caused shrubbery and knocked down branches from the day's event to crackle and snap beneath his large weight, carving another line through the trail his initial charge had taken him. He was taking measured strides, but he tried to restrict them a bit, knowing his legs were much longer than Smokescreen's own and he did not intend to drag the Autobot there.

It was while he started forward, he heard the raucous behind him, and the explosion of the shotgun paired with a yell of pain. The sound of Air Raid howling out was haunting in its own way, only to be cut off sharply. Optimus' spark twisted uncomfortably in response, as it seriously sounded like Wheeljack had just permanently silenced the damaged Mech, though he knew he would not... he hoped not.... no no he knew Wheeljack would not senselessly slay one that they needed to help...

It is because of this Optimus pressed forward at a steady stride, not even looking back to see what had happened fully, just hoping Air Raid was still in one piece... or... had not lost any new pieces... It was just fractions of moments after however, that Wheeljack sent out a relay that caused Optimus pause ever so slightly.

His possessor whip cracked through the information, a boon due to his prior job in which he had to glance at something, and then near instantly know where it needed to go, or what he had to do with it. If he didn’t act quickly? He would be stuck there indefinitely in the hall of records with the amount of information needed to be sorted. This permitted him to wrestle with the relayed news, deciding that the Decepticons must have finally arrived to the site of the crash and he had to move much quicker as time was not on their side.

::"Ratchet, I need someone to meet part way"::

Because of Wheeljack's notified transmission that all could hear, he knew he need not explain WHY he wanted to drop off the soldier as quickly as possible. Heck, he would not have protested if someone came through the portal to grab Smokescreen early. He just wanted to get the mech aid so he himself could return to see what exactly was going on.

Optimus trudged forward at a bit of a faster clip, his strides not as reserved as before. To counter this, he pulled Smokescreen slightly higher, so that if the injured mech couldn't keep up enough? He wouldn't be drug across the ground like a ragdoll. With this he quickly stepped through the Ground Bridge that had ripped back to life, happy to see Ratchet was already there waiting for him.

"You have limited time old friend-"

He started this cautiously, perhaps debating if he should warn Ratchet on more details so he could at least get mentally prepared in some way.

"-I will procure Air Raid as soon as I can, he is... not well..."

He trailed off, not sure how else to explain it. Mangled?... Patched together?... An abomination? False Terrorcon? It didn’t matter. Because of this? Optimus handed over Smokescreen carefully, before he turned his back and started into a run once more. This time? He knew exactly what was on the other side, and so his speed did not diminish as he charged through the separation between locations.

Optimus hurled himself forward once again, knowing already what he was going to do. He himself could try to look for the other individual in the area, but the trees made for a lot of obstructions for his frame size. He knew Wheeljack would find it far easier to maneuver, perhaps aided if any of the flyers above could spot what was going on from their better vantage point. It is because of this, he planted down beside Air Raid and Wheeljack, looking down at the splattered mess of Energon.

A bit of anger surged up at this, not knowing it had been someone else to fire the blast, though he did not act on this instant emotional response. He just was extremely displeased to see more agony and pain come to one who had already suffered so much. It is because of this, Optimus' frame eased forward, his hands clutching down onto Air Raids upper arms securely. Once he had a good grip? He merely glanced at Wheeljack, it a wordless notion to 'go'.

Once the Wrecker was off, he heaved himself upright, the damaged mech pulled up so their back was against his chest. Once his legs were post straight, he let go with one hand, just long enough to swing the limb around to clap in a clutching motion around the Autobot's upper torso, then maneuvering his other into a new position. His goal was to use his arm to pin the damaged limb of Air Raid down at his side, while supporting his weight by a 'strap' over his chest, while their freed hand? Was gripped by the wrist, Optimus trying to pull it down with palm facing the sky so finding means to attack would be near impossible. Because of his height, Air Raid's legs would be unable to touch the ground, left to hang or kick or whatever he may try to do to no avail. The entire thing was a bit awkward with the huge pannels of wings, but he managed to make it work somehow.

Optimus would start to walk back to the ground bridge if Air Raid didn't make things too difficult.

[Deleted]

Thundercloud would be lying if he said he wasn’t a little disappointed by how little trouble he had caused the helicopter and its occupants. He had been hoping for a more cathartic (read: damaging) effect than simply jarring the MECH agents and making them panic while they struggled to right themselves.

He should’ve hit them harder.

As he blazed past the slower aircraft while it struggled to stabilize itself, he made a few mental notes regarding the unexpected sturdiness of the hovering tinfoil-covered potato, and how for squishy tech, it was surprisingly durable. It seemed he would actually have to hit the ugly thing a little harder if he wanted to knock it down for the count - which was just fine by him, since that’s what he wanted to do in the first place.

Alright, that was a bit of an exaggeration. He wanted to crumple the thing like a tin can and watch it crash into the dirt where it belonged - hitting it just a little bit harder than he first did was just the closest he was going to get to being able to do what he actually wanted to, without catching slag from the higher ups for it later on.

Unfortunately, his desire to pummel the little hovercraft only increased in intensity when the fraggers inside it actually had the audacity to shoot at him. The rain of gunfire had lasted only two seconds, but that was more than enough time for Thundercloud to find his tail-end getting clipped by one, two...four bullets.

He fragging hated bullets.

Not because they were especially painful (they stung a bit) or because they caused more severe damage than a laser blast (they hardly made it half an inch into his armor), but because they were a glitch and a half to dig out.

Growling in vexation, his engines roaring loudly to accompany his displeasure, Thundercloud dropped his speed and turned wide, looping back around to chase after the retreating helicopter once more. It took longer than he would have liked - both because his superior speed had rocketed him forward after he bumped the copter’s underside, putting a considerable distance between them even before the MECH agents had begun to flee in the opposite direction.

However, impatient though he was, it did not take him terribly long to catch up to them once more. He was, after all, still a supersonic twinjet chasing after a rotorcraft.

Once the helicopter was back in his line of sight, Thundercloud felt a sudden, insane urge to do something terribly ill-advised that he would probably be loudly frowned at for later. The rational part of his mind realized that this was an impulse he should not act upon, and it fervently insisted that he Not Do The Thing. The part of his mind that desired instant gratification, unfortunately, had a bullhorn and a much louder voice which insisted he shout Frag The Police (...NOT Patches) and Do The Thing anyway.

It was clear to see which voice he listened to, when he decided to charge the helicopter, then transform into his bipedal mode a few hundred feet before he could make contact with it, so he could greet it with a full-body tackle.

The impact would probably hurt like a son of a glitch, but damn, it would scare the hell out of the squishies, and that would make it all worth it.

[Deleted]

The shotgun exploded.

Oh, great.

Ghost ducked his head and pelted through the underbrush as fast as the tangled brambles would allow, making a wide, rough circle around the fight, using the terrorcon as the pivot. That had gone entirely better than he'd expected, and there was a bare-a-moment of irritation that he'd had to save an Autobot, of all mechs in existence.

It did not last long, though. He'd been told to watch the fight; he was watching it. He'd been told to make it last, and that meant keeping the 'Butt alive. He was not getting yelled at by command, but neither was there a slagging ground-bridge, and that meant, keep on doing what you're doing, Ghost ol' bit.

And then the terrorcon screamed.

Every plate of armor along Ghost's back went perfectly flat and for a few moments, before he could catch himself, he wasn't just running but all-out sprinting away from the sound, bow drawn and another arrow in place, because that was very much so not the sound of a dead thing, no sir. That was what Ghost imagined someone caught alive in a smelting pit for the dead might sound like. The spook dug spurs into him and he bolted for half a dozen steps before he forcibly caught himself and turned back to observed the fight.

Which was, apparently, over anyways. Not surprising, since the Prime had taken over the duty of pinning the terrorcon down and dragging him towards the open iris of a ground-bridge. Pancake the Squished Butt was nowhere to be seen, and Ghost could only guess someone who's had a terrorcon aerial dropped on them had been rushed to the medbay as soon as the 'bridge had opened. That left the jet, which was entirely MIA, and Tackle McCrazy. Too much to hope the arrow and the gun exploding had gotten him rattled enough to be thrown out of the fight a little.

Nonetheless, Ghost dutifully reported as he circled for another position, tried to stay out of sight and privately hoped he'd get his own trip to no-space soon, because he was going to have nightmares about that scream for a few shifts already...

[Deleted]

Well, Smokescreen could honestly say, being pulled by Optimus Prime was also not what the young Autobot had envisioned their first meeting going. Silently, he tried to keep up so he wasn't slowing the Autobot leader down. Obviously, there was more going on than he was aware of and since Smokescreen lacked access to the battle channel, he could not hear the instructions that were rapidly been thrown about. All he could do was ensure that his injury was hindering them the least by being as co-operative as possible.

A ground bridge opened up, though where to, Smokescreen had no idea. Safety, he hoped. Prime quickly hustled him down the bridge into the waiting servos a large red and white mech, a medic, undoubtedly. Optimus rapidly gave instructions before departing. Smokescreen frowned to himself but didn't comment, so the aerial really was an Autobot? Internally, he was disquieted by whatever had driven the flier to such a condition.

Tiredly, Smokescreen flashed a grin. "Hey doc," he greeted pleasantly, like he didn't have a servo still pressed to his side where he could feel energon slowly leaking away. "Nice to meetcha. You'll have to excuse me if I pass out suddenly. That aerial has a really mean shotgun."

---

Ignoring the horrifying shriek that had escaped Air Raid at the destruction of his weapon, Wheeljack had been trying to figure out which limb he was going to break firs t in order to get the aerial to stop moving. This would have been so much easier if they'd thought to bring stasis cuffs or something, Probably the next item on Wheeljack's list of things he was gonna have to build at this rate, if this was what MECH was up to. The strength however was slowly fading from Air Raid's frame and his struggles got weaker and weaker.

Slag. Someone had better have called Ratchet by now. If not for the newbie, then for Air Raid. The Wrecker was just activating his comm lines to call for help when Prime came thundering up to him. Primus, Optimus did not look pleased. At him. Reflexively Wheeljack scowled behind his battle mask but the Prime merely sank to the ground and grabbed hold of Air Raid, obviously deciding to handle the wounded Autobot. Optimus wordlessly tilted his head to the surrounding forest and even though the command was a silent one, the Wrecker wanted to baulk and refuse it all the same.

Forcing down his indignation, he had chosen to come on this mission after all, so he supposed he had kinda put himself at Optimus's command temporarily, the Wrecker took off in the general direction he figured that bolt had come from. His sensors were sweeping the area as he searched. Part of his processor kept tracked on Prime and his captive, the shooter might be still around and might try for another go, though who he'd be aiming for, Wheeljack wasn't certain. Blowing up Air Raid's shotgun could have been assist for the Wrecker or the mystery shooter could have been trying for Wheeljack's spark. They might trying shooting Optimus or take out Air Raid.

Wheeljack was many things but a tracker he wasn't. He was, however, perfectly capable of realizing that something had been nearby when it had torn its path straight through bramble bushes and leaving a trail of broken branches behind. Those seemed like a good place to start.

::Eyes in the sky, you seeing anything?::

Might as well use that air support he had for once.

[Deleted]

Thundercloud collided with the helicopter broadside on.

Immediately the main rotor tore into him, still revolving at nearly full RPMs. An answering shriek roared up from the rotor mast and gearbox as the machine howled against the pressure, bursting and spilling and crumpling as the transmission ripped itself apart. Now bent, the rotors sheared down and sliced into the fuselage as well, chopping it into shreds.

The men inside it did not die quietly.

Another blast of gunfire erupted from the fire and smoke billowing through the side doors. The co-pilot was already consumed by fire, but the waist gunners opened fire upon the Autobot, aiming for the red brand, the optics - anything. As the helicopter fell in pieces from the sky they continued to shoot, until finally the machine exploded with a concussive blast of heat and fire and light. Its remains fluttered into the forest below, igniting the trees and the dry needles, and filling the air with a haze of foul smelling smoke.

----

Smokescreen was greeted by a scowl.

But also a sturdy body to lean again, and a strong arm that looped under his and braced him firmly upright.

"Yes, he does," said Ratchet grimly. "And from the looks of things he greeted you with it in lieu of a handshake. Come on, son. Let's get you to the med bay."

Supporting the weight of the injured mech, Ratchet led him out of the control room. The ground bridge was left behind them, still open. The room that greeted Smokescreen next was cool and antiseptic smelling, small and crowded with a medical berth and makeshift monitoring equipment. The latter was already active, glowing and positioned at the head of the berth in anticipation of its newest occupant.

One corner of the ward had been partitioned off with rough metal screens - an isolation ward of sorts, ready and waiting.

With care, Ratchet eased the injured mech onto the berth.

"Swing your legs up and lie back, if you're able," he said gruffly. "I'm going to cap that hole in your side and hook you up to a drip. Pass out if you need to, I'll understand if it happens. I am Ratchet, Chief Medical Officer of the Autobots. And you... you must be Smokescreen."

----

Back in the forest, Air Raid reacted violently to the pin.

The mech strained against the arm across his chassis, bowing his back in a dreadful contortion in an effort to get free. Flattened down against his shoulders, his wings flexed and shuddered. His legs thrashed, seeking purchase, while the damaged arm twisted madly at the wrist. But Optimus' strength and height kept him pinioned, even as his shredded arm dripped a steady flow of energon that trickled down the Prime's leg and speckled the forest floor with violet gore.

Locked together, they approached the ground bridge. As they drew near Air Raid gave one final wrench, his weakened body arching through a seizure that shook his limbs and threw back his head. The sightless optics stared into the sky and the mouth gaped open in a silent cry, his ruined face streaked and pitted with the telltale scores of gunfire. Then with a tremor the Aerialbot went slack, hanging limply in Optimus' grip as his overtaxed systems quietly shut down one by one and dropped him into stasis.

Optimus would be able to walk through the ground bridge with no further struggle after that.

[Optimus Prime]

If Optimus knew Wheeljack had wanted to baulk at the notion? He would have been exceptionally confused. Would the Wrecker not LIKE a challenge to find something in the wilderness? Did he not WANT to go hunt down whatever Cybertronian force he had spotted? Did he really WANT to continue wrestling with a damaged Autobot that he would not be permitted to hurt any longer? It all seemed like a win win for the Wrecker, and yet he wanted to baulk at it!?

Bah!

Luckily Optimus was ignorant to the reaction, and assumed the Wrecker was content to go tracking for the unknown element. Once he was gone though? Once Wheeljack was off hunting? Optimus' attention snapped fully down to Air Raid, and the drive to keep him restrained, without bringing more harm to the fallen soldier.

This was a task perhaps a bit easier said than done, as the Autobot thrashed and squirmed with wild throws like a dying animal. It made it a bit more difficult to restrain, but it most definitely was not impossible. But while he had the physical restraint handled? Mentally? The ordeal tore into him. It ripped into his spark to see one of his team so mutilated and disjointed that they would fight against their very own team as if they were intending to kill them.

Optimus continued forward, trying to cross the distance at a steady pace once more while trying to ignore the heels slamming into his shins. However? Once he drew forth? Air Raid seemed to take a turn for the worst. The Prime's helm sharply turned down and to the side to look, as the Autobot threw back his head and convulsed in a seizure like response. Normally he would react out of worry and just try to secure Air Raid until the tremors passed so he couldn't harm himself or others, however? This time? With this situation?

The other elements within all shrieked in unified agreement.

MECH was likely trying to terminate files and shut down their 'drone' before they crossed the threshold where all signals would be halted immediately. They were possibly deleting huge masses of files, and severing links that could lead the Autobots back to their location. This thought? Sent a surge of alarm and concern through him, and the first visceral reaction courtesy of Sentinel? Was the idea he should THROW Air Raid throws the portal to sever the link as soon as possible and save the Mech from having themselves completely shut down. But even if it worked? That was an option he couldn't permit himself to do, as if he was wrong? Or primus... even if he was right... how could he still face Ratchet having HURLED one of their injured teammates who had been tortured through the Ground Bridge like he was trying to compete with Bulkhead at that obnoxious wrecker game?

Optimus dug his peds down, before he started to heave his frame forward as fast as he could once more. He had to get there, he had to cross the boundary, he had to cut off the electrical signals as soon as possible. He still had time... the seizures were going on still, they still forced Air Raid to lurch and thrash through who knows what torment... He was almost there too, his systems roaring, the cables in his legs strained, and his vents hefting air through in heavy surges... but before he could reach his goal? Before he could save Air Raid? The mech had went ragdoll, and the Prime inwardly roared in frustration at his failure.

Why didn’t he listen to Sentinel?...

No no...

Optimus breached through the Ground Bridge portal for the fourth time this night, some of the momentum he had acquired hurling him though a bit faster than he cared to. His legs stopped their thunderous run instantly, and his peds ground down to try to halt himself before he actually ran into anything. Metal squealed out against concrete, and with a heavy lurch he came to an abrupt halt before moving forth with a much more eased gait than the hauling rush he was doing before. Even though he had slowed, his systems showed he was just running and pushing himself as hard as he could moments prior, heavy ventilations pulling in, though he was trying to stifle the sound.

He did not worry for the rest of his team, and as such? He didn't immediately try to hand off the injured so he could go back into the fray. Last thing he recalled hearing, the MECH Copters were retreating yes?... Thundercloud could aid Wheeljack easily on whatever Cybertronian scout or spy had been introduced to the fray. One was skilled exceptionally; the other was... a flying tank... Because of this, he walked to the Med Bay, easily noticing where Ratchet likely intended to have the injured deposited.

With a dip of his frame, and leading with his shoulder Optimus used the arching armor of his frame to push the screen aside enough for him to step within to see the berth. He didn't pass Ratchet or Smokescreen a word or even a glance as he moved into this area, not wanting to see the look on the medic's face at what had been clutched in his arms. He almost wanted to try to hide the sight, not wanting Ratchet to have to go through this alarm and stress just yet, though knew the action was pointless and the medic would likely still fret.

Optimus easily moved Air Raid down to lay on the medical slab, now getting a good look at his injuries that went beyond what should ever happen to one in war. His right hand planted down onto the Autobot's chest, to keep him down in case he were to online again and attack, while the left reached forward to try to awkwardly pinch off the larger mangled Energon line he could see in the exploded shotgun of a limb.

He was no medic, but he was no idiot. He figured this would aid even just a little while Ratchet finished his work on Smokescreen. If things needed more than this? He thought Ratchet could yell what he had to do, or just take over and shove him out of the way... you know... whatever worked... he just wanted to help. Once he had a grip on the Energon line, and it seemed Air Raid wasn't going to fly off the table, he reached his right hand up to the side of his helm to activate his comms.

::Report::

They needed to get the area clear, so that they could recover the wreckage. The salvage jobs could normally take their time if they were out in the wilderness. However? MECH knew EXACTLY where this one was, and as such they needed to pull at LEAST the most valuable or dangerous elements out. Optimus would be damned if he would let more fall into the hands of those humans.

In other news... Thunder was... rather lucky Optimus didn’t go back out at this time, as the acrid smell of smoke and the starting fire off in the distance would not equal a happy Prime.

[Deleted]

Thundercloud was not a mech known for his level-head, his forethought, or his ability to make sound, rational decisions while his temper flared. He was known for the exact opposite, actually, and for good reason. Prone to being controlled by his emotions, and seemingly incapable of not acting upon his impulses, no matter how ill-advised he knew them to be, Thundercloud had an unfortunate predisposition towards making terrible, terrible mistakes.

As evident by the catastrophic consequences of his latest poorly-thought-out decision.

His intent had been to just ram the side of the helicopter, jostle the hell out of the agents inside and send the whole aircraft spiraling out of control for a bit, but what he intended was far different what actually occurred. It didn’t matter much what he had meant to do, when what he actually did was...well. Beyond the bounds of a forgivable blunder.

The impact was devastating.

The rotors bit into his shoulder, a wash of energon spilling from the wound and spraying the air with a fine blue mist as the helicopter spiraled rapidly out of control, its own rotors turning against it and tearing it asunder.Thundercloud didn’t know what to do, what to think. This...it was so much more fragile than he expected. He hadn’t realized how easily it would break, how delicate the mechanisms which kept it afloat really were.

The helecoptor was consumed by fire, the men inside it screamed as it plummeted towards the ground. The gunmen opened fire as they fell, and in his shock Thundercloud did not have the mind to dodge out of the way until the harsh sting of bullets tearing into his mesh broke him from his stupor and prompted him to finally transform and take his leave from the burning aircraft.

He didn’t get very far before the helicopter erupted, the heat of its violent combustion scorching his plates as he struggled to flee the blast-radius. As he flew off to escape the flames, the charred remains of the helicopter---and its occupants---crashed gracelessly to the earth below

Thundercloud touched down upon the earth himself moments later, a safe distance away from the site of the crash. He transformed, landing a bit unsteadily on his feet. He brought a hand up to his shoulder, wincing slightly as his fingers came back slick with blood. The pain didn’t bother him much; it was an old acquaintance of his, and he no longer paid it much mind when it stopped by for a visit.

Besides, he had far more pressing matters calling for his attention.

Making his way through the trees, his wings tucked back so he would not catch them on the surrounding branches, he followed the plumes of smoke blackening the air until he found his way to the crash site.

He stared mutely, optics scanning the scorched terrain, taking in the wreckage--the carnage. He drew his hands over his helm, unsettled, his optics flickering as he stared at the scene with an even mixture of disbelief and something bordering on contrition.

Primus, but he was good at accidently killing people.

Before the weight of his actions could fully sink in, before he could adjust to the situation he then found himself in, the Prime commed him, asking for a report. He didn’t know what to say. He was still reeling from the unexpected turn of events, too out of sorts to properly formulate an in-depth response.

All he could think to say was a short, bare-bones statement which hardly encompassed even a fraction of what had actually occurred.

::--Won’t get any trouble from the sky. I got it covered::

[Deleted]

This was the worst sort of slag.

Ghost really did not like this planet. Aside from the fact that it had no underground to speak of, organized or otherwise, the surface was just a total slag-all mess of... of... things piled the one on top of the other, most of them alive and all of them gross. Anything you stepped on, accidentally or on purpose, seemed ready to spit one vile substance or another at you in response. Most of which did not wash off easily at all.

But other than the steady blip that told him his line to the 'Nemesis' was open and receiving, that his every word and visual were being recorded and catalogued, he had nothing from the warship. Sanctuary was as far away, currently, as the local satellite, even though there went the Prime with the terrorcon. Which had gone limp as a brace of cabling.

This was the very opposite of good, particularly when somewhere in the distance something exploded spectacularly. Ghost was too short to see the fireball, or feel the concussive heat of it, but the sound of it was plenty nerve-wracking as it is. There, then, was the jet.

At that point, Ghost pretty much had enough. He had raced in nearly a full circle around the site of the last dregs of the fight, and he leapt nimbly over a heap of three freshly fallen trees, big things that even in destruction would probably take a little bit of time to die. There. He could keep an optic on the nonexistent fight, he had some cover at his back and meager camouflage in the tangled branches. He kept his bow low, the energy arrow casting tangled, short shadows among the crazy greenery, its odd light not quite enough to escape the mess of foliage. With an effort he pulled his field in, unused to the subterfuge - usually his presence was barely noticeable, but here there was nothing to hide him, nothing even remotely Cybertronian, let alone other mechs.

He would be (he hoped) basically invisible from the air; even from the ground he more or less hoped his cover meant someone would have to be pretty much on top of him to find him, and by then Ghost could have put his bow to work. Hopefully it wouldn't be Tackle McCrazy, if only because it seemed the height of irony that he'd have to help the 'Butt only to shoot him full of holes the next moment.

His comptrollers chose that moment to send him the briefest of briefs: he had to either get clear, or be in the clear, before a 'bridge would be risked. Ghost resisted the urge to curse out loud and pinged back a brief acknowledgment, wondering if he should just transform and make a run for distance. Even if Tackle McCrazy was still about, the 'Butt was not small; Ghost would have laid odds that he'd have mobility over him in the current environment.

He could not, however, beat the jet on speed. That inexorable fact kept him pinned to his hiding spot, bow at the ready, frame still and tense, inwardly willing the 'Butts to get going already, slag it all...