Six

Seven?

No, it's si-seven!

"Curse this piece of scrap! I can't tell how many are alive out there! Where are they? I'm detecting plenty of energy signatures, but I can't tell..." Ratchet gasped when he heard several landing pads pounding against the pavement. He downsized the screen and turned around, praying that the energy signatures were not Decepticons. He shouted after seeing Blur ran past him with his sister's behind him. The sound of several engine's and the appearance of a pink and white Camaro zooming in through the entry brought light to his spark.

"Mom!" Blur shouted, bouncing into his carrier's arms just as she transformed. Bianna cried, catching her smallest sparkling into her arms. Her daughter's jumped up and down, shouting for her to pick them up.

"Well, what are you waiting for?" She said, holding out her arm to her daughter's. Dijette ran into the embrace first, Aura found an awkward spot to place her head in between her siblings, and Micra spread her arms out and rested her husk against Aura and Dijette's back in an attempt to hug everyone. Kclayna rolled in, jumped and transformed mid air, then smashed into Ratchet.

"Oof!" Ratchet grunted, caught by surprise, but managed to balance himself. "Thank Primas. You're alive. Are you hurt?"

"You should've seen it!" Kclayna exclaimed, her smile wide and her optics full of excitement like a child returning home from a trip to the amusement park. "We were amazing! And I mean AMAZING in all caps!"

"It's a shame all that new armor had to come off. Ow!" WheelJack complained, receiving a smack behind his helmet from Senti.

"New armor?" Ratchet asked, seeing the exhausted Teama in the back of the group, leaning on Caliber's blade and Tailen held her up.

"Teama." Ratchet moved around Kclayna and up to Teama. "What happened? Did you use Caliber?"

"Yes." She said slowly, her optics bouncing in and out of focus. "I...had..."

"Save your strength." Tailen insisted, glancing over at a now worried Kclayna. "Kclayna, where is the Medical Bay? I can carry her by myself, thank you." Tailen stated without looking at Ratchet, pulling Teama back.

"Um...here. Over here." She ran over to the nearest wall that had a bunch of handles and grabbed the nearest one. With a hard pull and nearly stumbling backwards, a berth squeaked and jumped out of it's place in the wall, a thin cloud of dust rolled off of the top. Kclayna coughed, waving her servo in front of her faceplate, then wiped off the dust. "Ick! I hate dust! Get's over everything! But it's better than nothing. At least I'm not doing anything surgical." With that being said, Ratchet took Caliber and leaned it against the wall and Tailen guided a semi-conscious Teama over to the Medical Bay. Teama sighed and laid on the berth, allowing her system to go into sleep mode. Tailen scanned her husk and checked her vitals.

"Thankfully, no major damage, just exhaustion." She concluded. "I guess Caliber has healed our wounds. We did suffer damage, but you can't tell just by looking at us right now. Truly, it is amazing."

"Optimus will be here soon. Just rest for now." Ratchet assured Teama, standing next to her, praying that the new base provided the necessary tools he would need if anyone else suffered worse damage than just exhaustion.

Caliber was a terrific weapon when it's owner needed it's power. An ancient weapon akin to the Matrix of Leadership; it chooses one who is worthy of wielding it's power, it grants the owner the power to shield his or herself and anyone of their choosing, and it increases their own systems with powers often seen in science fiction movies. Also, it acts like a magnet; if the owner chooses, they can use Caliber's power to pull the weapons systems and the stronger bits of their enemies husk, and place them onto the owner and whomever the owner chooses to protect. However, Caliber itself is a mystery. It wields much in terms of power and what it can give, but no one has ever used all of it's might. It's origin is a bit more complex than the Matrix because it's original owner remains a mystery. Some of the elder's on Cybertron recall, when they had first witnessed a bot holding Caliber, swore that the bot was the first to use it. Historians say, despite their low credibility, that Caliber is as old as the Primes and hypothesized that one of the original thirteen were it's first owner. Newer generations only know that Lady Magnette and Lady Teama to be the only owners and never bothered to ask where Magnette got it.

"You are in so much trouble, Tobit!" Bianna shouted, gaining everyone's attention as she dropped down and scooped up her smallest sparkling.

"Ow! Mom! Ow!" Tobit groaned, squirming in his carrier's arms as she held him, tightly. Ratchet's optic arches went up, he couldn't remember where he had seen Tobit or if he had joined the team when they left the last base. He noticed Bianna was in front of Bulkhead and Ultra Magnus, two bots that were on one team that traveled to Scotland.

"Hold on." He spoke, realizing the reason why no one could find him or the other two missing sparklings. "No one knew where Tobit was, or Steele or Kade, do not tell me that those three boys were with you this entire time."

"By the Allspark!" Bianna screamed, her optics wide in horror at the sight of Tobit's bandaged shoulder pad. Gingerly, she ran a servo digit over the bandage, feeling the heat from Tobit's system against it's tip. She gasped and covered her mouth valve. Tobit whimpered and lowered his head, terrified to meet her gaze. Bianna growled, her faceplate hardened, her optics full of anger and disappointment as she looked up at the Wreckers.

"All of you have a lot of explaining to do." She growled heatedly, her mouth valve digits grinding, her glare intense and intimidating. Ultra Magnus was lost, he had never seen his daughter so angry. He tried to remember the days when his mate would be angry and how he would be able to calm her down. Deciding on a previous tactic, he took a step forward and raised his hand, trying to give Bianna a sympathetic and apologetic look. Bianna threw her servo up, her palm forward and put Tobit in Ratchet's arms. "You stay away from me right now. Ratchet! See to his wound! He's been shot!"

Sensing the burning rage, Ratchet moved away from Bianna and over to the Medical Bay where Kclayna was struggling to pull out another berth. She shrugged in a fashion that many of the members of their team recognized. It was her 'oh-I-give-up', she placed Tobit at the end of Teama's berth and began working on his wounds.

Ultra Magnus took a step back, his spark ached, his daughter's disappointed glare burned into his memory bank. At the same time, he couldn't blame her.

He had no idea that Tobit and Steele had come under Decepticon fire until he and the other Wreckers had climbed out of the hole they, nearly, died in due to WheelJack's negligence. When he had reached the top, he found an injured Tobit, Miko inside the Apex Armor, Steele covered in energon and wielding a heavy weapon pointed at a terrified Starscream and two Decepticons. They had come at the end of the battle, unsure of what all they had gone down while they were trying to climb out of the cave. Starscream, realizing he was outmatched, transformed and flew away. Steele wasn't about to let Starscream leave, his optics had changed to silver like the color of a protoform, his small servos picked up a spear that was several feet taller than him and aimed at Starscream. Tobit had to jump over and, physically, stopped Steele's attempt. Despite his wound, Tobit held Steele back, he spoke a few words that snapped Steele back to himself, but dazed and terrified. He couldn't remember anything of his battle with Starscream, only that he saw Tobit injured and Miko outnumbered by Decepticons.

The rest was blank.

A protoform designed to be a Decepticon, Ultra Magnus remembered from so long ago. As his youngest grandsparkling was placed on the same berth as Teama and Ratchet began to mend his shoulder pad, his 'adopted brother' watched on with innocent curiosity.

Can a child have done that much damage? Let alone face that many Decepticons and, still, come out unscathed? Ultra Magnus wondered, imagining Steele, small and practically hidden from the terrors of war, slaying Decepticons using weapons ten times his size as though he were some experienced fighter.

Steele raised his head, his optics scanned the room and he began to move in slow circles in a way of searching for someone.

"Where's my mom? And my dad?" Steele asked, looking up Ultra Magnus and Bulkhead pleadingly.

Ultra Magnus heard Ratchet, who just noticed Steele, sigh as relief washed over his old and scared faceplate.

They see a child, but what do I see? He thought to himself. Perhaps, it would be in everyone's best interest to know about the battle, but not right now.

"I'm going to guess my oldest son is not with you." Bianna spoke to her creator, lowering her head, lubricants blinding her. She gave him a shaky sigh before he could say anything and raised her head. "I'll find him, he's gotta be somewhere in this state. The Decepticons would be bragging to us if they had him, and since they haven't, that means that they do not."

With that, she strode over to Tobit and watched Ratchet. "That does not mean the four of you are off the hook. You owe me an explanation later, got it?"

"Yes." Ultra Magnus spoke, shaking his head in sadness.

Ratchet sighed heavily, despite Bianna's anger and Tobit's injury, he was relieved to see the two young mech's safe. When the base came under attack, Bianna and Tier couldn't find Kade, Steele or Tobit, and no one knew where they were or if they were hiding. Bianna shouted for her teammates to take her four remaining sparklings through the bridge while she continued in a frantic manner, turning everything that wasn't bolted down upside down. Tier's shrilling voice echoed louder than the sounds of blaster fire and falling debris. Time was short, the femme's searched the entire base for the three mech's, they were just about to run outside the base to find them, claiming that they would be safe and were able to dodge any form of debris or Decepticon fire power. Eventually, Rollie scooped up both femme's and transformed into her ball form, rolling all three of them out of the base.

Ratchet smirked, carrier's still amazed him with how far they were willing to go to protect their precious sparklings. Then, he remembered that the case was not the same for Tailen. Although Klayna was older than Bianna's sparklings, and Tailen had suffered major injuries, Tailen had chosen to stay with her rescuer and his sparkling even after she had fully recovered. The heavy burn of betrayal still scorched both Kclayna and Ratchet's sparks at the mere mention of her choice and to ease the pain, they try to keep their distance from Tailen.

"Steele, are you hurt?" Bianna asked over her shoulder pad. Steele whimpered, uncertain if he should respond, terrified to give her the wrong answer. Not even a moment passed before she spoke again. "Well, are you going to answer me or do I need to look you over myself?"

"Uh...uh..." Steele grew speechless, he looked down at himself, searching for any injury. A servo grasped his shoulder pad, another lifted up his right arm, then his left, then spun him in a quick circle. When he was facing forward again, he found himself meeting Bianna's gaze. He tried to speak again. "Uh...uh..."

"I see no injury, good." She paused, her expression softened before kneeling down to be at his lever. "Now Steele, listen to me, your mom and dad will be back soon." Bianna said with a comforting smile, placing her two servo digit's under his chin plate. Steele moaned again, shocked to see Bianna resort back to her original self so quickly that he was scared to give the wrong answer. "Your mom was not far behind us when the battle ended-"

Suddenly, they heard a loud roar of an engine and a loud crash of metal. Bianna grabbed Steele, placing him behind her. Ultra Magnus placed himself in front of her with his weapon aimed. Then, several cars appeared and entered the base, the smallest one transformed right away, went air borne and stopped in front of Ultra Magnus.

"Steele!" Teir screamed, running around Ultra Magnus and scooping her son into her arms. Steele gasped and shouted in surprise as he was lifted off his landing pads so fast it seemed like he was being blasted off like a human rocket, and smothered by his carrier's shoulder pad. The other vehicle's transformed; Arc and Ree collapsed forward, Sanna was scolding them before she fully transformed and Parate kept his head down, refusing to meet anyone's gaze.

"Y'all, need help with these two crazy kids!" Sanna announced, walking behind Parate then slapped him behind his head.

"Hey!" He shouted in a loud and deep tone, grabbing her wrist, turning around and staring her down with a cold glare. His servos trembled, adrenaline still coursing through his pipes. Sanna gasped, fearfully examining him.

For a moment, they stared at each other. Parate still and seething in firey anger. Sanna's husk trembled as her optics scanned his husk up and down, a jagged piece of an elbow joint stuck out of his landing pad and the gaping hole in his left shoulder pad was badly bandaged up and energon oozing around the edges.

She figured he received those injuries while he was onboard the Decpticon ship.

Once the battle was over, and Sanna and the other femme's stood in an exhausted victory, a Decepticon ship landed in front of them. The giant Autobot soldier that had, suddenly, appeared turned out to be Arc and Ree. It turned out that the twins were able to combine into one larger and stronger bot, but the formation and separation took a toll on them. And they collapsed in between the piles. Teama struggled to hold herself up, Ultra Magnus and the other Wrecker's stood in front of them, waiting for another swarm to emerge from the ship. Sanna and Tier ducked behind a pile of dead Vehicons, and were shocked to see Parate just walk out of the ship in a very casual manner, as though he didn't just use a Decepticon ship against the others and landed it on top of it's victims.

In fact, up until now, Parate had remained silent and expressionless, oblivious to his injuries which was typical of Parate. When he spun around and gave Sanna the most darkest glare, it was more than terrifying. Sanna was seeing the bot who annihilated Autobots mercilessly, and took her and the twins prisoner.

But, not much long after, he had joined them with energon dripping from his mouth valve.

Na-uh, this ain't my Parate.

Sanna lowered her head slightly, giving Parate the same glare and forced her wrist out of his servo. Parate found himself so surprised to see Sanna stare him down that the adrenaline began to dim, struggling to keep it's stead in his pipes. Normally, the sudden, bipolar change in attitude and expression he mastered was liable to have Starscream running and screaming into the next room. Parate relaxed his stance, wondering if she remembered that hateful look, the anger in his spark.

"Don't cha 'hey' me, Parate." Sanna said in an authoritative tone, her servos on her hips, her optics hard and cold. Parate took a step back, gritted his mouth valve digits together, his head lowered, and his servos shook.

No, no, no, no!

He struggled to relax, to resist the urge to fight. Adrenaline was the one thing he couldn't control after a long battle. Before he changed sides, he would spend hours training before and after each battle, just to attempt to control his adrenaline rush. Most of the time, the trick would work, but he would pass out after the training session.

To no avail, he lowered his head and allowed his servos to shake until Sanna shoved him towards Arc and Ree. "I ain't gonna ask twice! Make yourself useful with all that pumped up energy and help! I ain't carryin' these two blockheads on my lonesome! Get along, now, and get those two to a berth before I bash your head in!"

Parate gave a shaky sigh, his optics still hard, he walked over to Arc, lifted her up and slumped her over his good shoulder pad. Sanna picked up Ree bridal style and turned around. The members of team Prime, Teama's sister's, and the humans stared at them, watching them with caution, some with their servos on their weapons. Sanna wasn't surprised that Parate's loud voice print and rough behavior was enough to catch everyone's attention. Parate, usually, was the silently sit in the corner and observe kind of bot. He didn't speak very often unless he knew he had something to offer such as why Protoform eggs were on Earth, or anything about Smokescreen's family Gem's. Sanna felt the pressure of their optics weighting on her shoulder pads, everyone was waiting for an explanation.

Ain't the time!

"Hello! Are y'all deaf!? Can someone set up a bed or sumthin'?!" Sanna screamed, stomping her landing pad and nearly dropping Ree.

Kclayna shook off her dunce mind set and stammered, searching the wall for another handle. Knowing Sanna was going to push him forward again, Parate carried Arc over to the Medical Bay. As he went to lay her down, a sudden, firey burst of pain soared up his leg and his shoulder throbbed. Parate gasped and shouted, his leg gave out and he dropped Arc onto the berth, barely, catching himself. The pain stabbed his body up and down like sewing a new doll together. One servo grasped the edge of the berth, the other servo pressed against the burning hole in his shoulder pad, energon oozing around his servo digits. The sudden burst of pain grew hotter and more intense with each passing moment, Parate focused on squeezing the edge of the berth trying to fight back the urge to shout in pain.

"Took ya this long?" Sanna scolded, turning Parate around and forcing him to sit on the edge of Arc's berth. She placed Ree on the newest berth and dashed over to him. Parate was grinding his mouth valve digit's again, Sanna clasped his servo in hers, her other servo pressed against his wound, holding the soaked bandages in places. She gasped when he cried out from the pain and his servo clutched hers more tightly, her vision blurred a bit and a heavy tension grew in her spark.

Kcalyna and Tailen scanned the twins while Ratchet, quickly, went to work on Parate's wounds. He moved Sanna's servo away and, properly, patched up the opened area as quickly as he could. Sanna's servo, drenched in Parate's energon, caressed his faceplate. He went to turn his head to watch Ratchet, but Sanna held his head still, ensuring his focus was on her, keeping him distracted from the hot, sharp pain from Ratchet's servo digit's poking and prodding around the gaping shoulder wound. Parate felt the adrenaline, slowly, melt away in his pipe lines and his system begin to cool down enough to follow the non-verbal directions. Sanna had fallen silent, but her optics, wide and blue stared directly at him, observing his faceplate, taking in every corner, the color designs, every chipped paint and dent. Parate found himself doing the same thing, a mixture of memories resurfacing. The fear in her optics when he held a blaster gun to her face, the concern when he was thrown like a pile of trash next to her, the joy when they return victoriously back to base, the determination to keep him level headed as the base collapsed around them. He flinched and hissed while Ratchet worked on him, but he found it easy to remain still.

"Best patient I've had since before the Exodus." Ratchet commented, finishing up his welding job. "At least you understand the concept of 'holding still'."

The humans sat in a circle, relieved and exhausted.

"Phew." Miko whispered, dropping to her knees.

"I don't know what we would've done if he had attacked." Jack whispered to his mom.

"We would have left, Jack." She answered with determination. "I would have found a way to get us home, if things got ugly. But, it looks like love can tame any beast."

"Love?" He tilted his head at her, recieving a small laugh from her.

"Now, I know you can recognize love, Jack." She said, pointing to Sanna and Parate. "And it's not just those two, I'm seeing it, practically, every where in this room."

Jack made himself turn away, knowing she was sneaking a look at agent Fowler, quiet and lost in thought. Raf adjusted himself to lay on his back pack and dozed off. Jack yawned, surprised he was so tired. Then he remembered, he was, also, trying to get out of the base and through the bridge with his mom, Fowler and Raf. He wanted to look for Miko, but Arcee was quick to remove him from the base. Kclayna had scooped up Raf, June and Fowler. They had been placed in a corner next to the sparklings. And with another attack on it's way, the humans could only watch on as Teama led their own army into battle. Jack wanted to help, but he had no idea how big the base was, he knew it was just dark. He didn't want to risk getting lost if they came under attack again. So, the four of them watched Teama and the other's leave, and they had to wait with Ratchet and the sparklings.

He made himself comfortable against the wall, Miko placed himself next to him and snuggled up to his shoulder. Jack wrapped his arm around her, rested a hand on Raf's shoulder and dozed off. June gave a wry smile, thrilled to have her son safe and sound. Arcee, their motorcycle guardian, was amazing when it came to protecting Jack. As long as Arcee was with him, June knew that Jack would be safe. She glanced over at Steele and Tier, still in embrace. Then, over at Bianna and Tobit. They had their children, they were more at ease than they were earlier.

They still don't have their husbands, June realized, imagining the kind of pain both femme's were enduring. Sensing she was distraught, Fowler placed his hand over hers, happy to see a smile on her thin lips.

With a shaky sigh, Tier lowered Steele down and placed her servos on his shoulder pads, making sure he stared directly into her optics. Before she could stop herself, she started rambling. "You are forbidden from leaving my side! You are not to go anywhere without telling me ever again! I do not care if you are with your father or with Optimus Prime! Do you understand me, young bot?! Do you have any idea how terrified I was!? I could not find you!"

"Sorry, Momma." Steele mumbled continuously, lowering his head with a heavy look of shame. Tier groaned and picked him up again, holding him a bit more lightly. "Ow! Mom, you're embarrassing me!"

June chuckled, remembering when Jack started feeling embarrassed to hug his mother in front of his friends.

"Looks like most of the gang's here." Bulkhead mentioned, trying to count how many were there and how many were missing. "Uh...just missing one more sparkling, the boss, Bee and the kid. Think they'll see our note?"

"I have no doubt Optimus will understand the memo we left behind." Ultra Magnus nodded, wondering if it was a good idea to mention an unconscious , possibly former, Decepeticon in his ship. Ultra Magnus wasn't sure why they took him aboard, but he knew that he had to get them to Reno and find Bianna and the others. So, he gave the command to Bulkhead and WheelJack to bring the bot onto his ship, placing him in stasis cuff's and placing him in the corner away from the boys.

I cannot tell anyone outside of Optimus Prime about this, it would be best to not worry everyone at this moment, Ultra Magnus decided.

With a heavy spark, he sighed and began taking in his surroundings. The base was old, corners of the room were dark and covered with thick cobwebs, the lights were dim, optics glowed like blue fireflies in the darker areas, computer's struggled to stay online, drawer's squeaked or proved difficult to pull away from the wall. Kclayna became frantic and frazzled as she began moving around in an unorganized manner, trying to find her tools and medical kit. He glanced over at the Medical Bay, watching Teama rest peacefully, and the doctors work on their four patients.

He, carefully, observed Steele. Ultra Magnus didn't know if the young boy knew of his creator's parentage, but after seeing the aftermath of what seemed to be a battle between the mechs, Miko and the Decepticons, he began to wonder if one thing had something to do with the other. Although the mechs and Miko came out victorious, none of them will say how or what happened, Miko and Tobit were shaken and Steele became silent and petrified. He grunted in surprise when a small mass landed hard against his knee pad. He balanced himself and looked down, Micra had jumped and landed at his knee pad, clutching his leg as tightly as her little arms could. Aura, Dijette and Blur joined in, finding a spot on his legs to hold. He stammered and grunted, wondering how he could pick them up while they had a death grip on him.

"Thank Primas!" Bianna ran up to the dusty monitor that was making a soft beep noise. Small, yellow dots began to appear on the screen. "How many? Are there four!? Please tell me it's picking up four signatures?"

"Oh, scrap! It's too quiet! I've been meaning to fix that." Kclayna whispered, running up to the monitor, watching the dot's vanish, then reappear. "Bianna, this isn't like the one in the previous bases. Poor baby's old, can only pick up Space Bridge's and Ground Bridge's, not heat or energy signatures. The dots are trying to form a circle. This could be Prime and the others or...maybe..."

"Don't give any of us false hope that there are more of our sister's are out there, Kclayna." Senti jumped in, crossing her arms. "Odd's are, it's Prime. We shouldn't have anymore Decepticon trouble for a while, at least. Looks like these last guys acted alone."

"Ow!" Ratchet's loud voice echoed in the base, grabbing everyone's stunned attention. He backed up into the wall, holding a spot on his helmet, groaning in pain. "Arc! What is the matter with you!?"

"Ratchet! Leave her alone! She is my patient! Tend to the boy!" Tailen scolded loud enough to startle Jack, Miko and Raf awake. Tailen ran from Ree's berth to the suddenly awake Arc. Arc glanced around with wide optics. Tailen placed her servo on Arc's shoulder pad, giving her a wry smile. "Calm down, dear. You and your sister passed out after the battle. Which by the way, what was that you two did out there?"

"W-w-we c-can c-c-combine." She gasped, optics widened. Tailen tilted her head, wondering what was the matter. Then, Arc groaned loudly and landed hard against the berth. "I s-stutter a-after e-e-each t-time. It w-will e-end soon. S-still a-annoying!"

"Twins that can combine into a large bot? Well, twins are a rarity on Cybertron, I am still unaware of all they can do together. Such an incredible thing." Tailen smiled, scanning Arc's vitals again.

Ratchet was fascinated by this newly found fact as well, but he was more agitated with how Tailen spoke to him as though she was in charge of telling him who he could and could not help. Before he could retaliate, he decided to watch Bianna at the monitor.

Bianna typed at a rapid pace, praying to herself as she did. The dot's grew together to form a darker yellow circle and the screen glowed green like a beacon. Bianna reached over and hit a large red button. Then, the ground bridge in the darkest corner of the room crackled and came to light. She gasped and spun around, her front glowing a white-green glow from the bridge. "Ready to receive! Best make it quick, not sure how long it will last."

Moments passed, everyone had gathered around the circle, waiting anxiously. Bianna clasped her servos together in a form of a praying, mumbling softly. Parate slid off the berth, gestured for Arc to stay by her still unconscious sister. The humans stood a safe distance away from the bridge, their ears ringing from the sound, their eyes burned by the light. Their prayers were answered when Optimus and Bumblebee entered the base and Biana gasped. Steam rolled off their husk's, Optimus struggled to help Bumblebee through the bridge, a large and jagged pipe stuck out of his right leg, their landing pads leaving ashened prints on the ground.

Kclayna and Bianna dashed up to Bumblebee and took him away from Optimus. The sparklings panicked, their voices colliding together, Micra and Blur tried to run up to their creator only to be held back by Dijette. Bianna placed her servo over Bumblebee's chest plate, he tried to give her a reassuring nod and Kclayna ran her scanner over his husk. It beeped at her and she checked the screen.

"Bee!" Raf stood up and went to run up to Bumblebee.

"Raf, no!" June shouted, grabbing the back of Raf's shirt and pulled him back. "Let the doctor's help him, then you can see him."

"Curse this Ground Bridge!" Kclayna shouted. "This thing's faulty as Megatron's sense of justice! You guys got burned on the way in!" Kclayna glanced down at Bumblebee's leg, noticing the jagged piece sticking out. "His leg's been injured, badly." She reported, pointing to the berth that had belonged to Arc, reading off her scanner. "His system is nearly exhausted, he's lost some energon, that thing in his leg has blocked the bleeding. Easy fixes, everything else we can handle, but I gotta check on that leg. Get him over there, BB."

"What the spark happened?" She asked, heavily panicked, looking over her mate's husk with heavy concern. Bumblebee, focused on getting closer to the empty berth, was trying to not lean on his smaller mate and tried to hop over to the berth, nearly falling at every step. Bulkhead ran over and wrapped Bumblebee's other arm around his shoulder pad's, nearly hoisting him off of his landing pads.

Ratchet looked over at Optimus, searching his expressionless faceplate for a sign of what happened on their end. Ratchet remained behind, like he normally does, while six of the Autobots traveled to two different parts of Earth to search for Predacon bone's before the Decepticons. And since he had to leave with the others when the base left and watch the other's fight, he had no idea what had happened with either teams.

Optimus's bright blue optics were firm and cold, a look that only meant he had prevented the worse from happening, but the outcome was not what he had hoped. Ratchet couldn't see if Optimus sustained any damage due to the, already, countless scratches and dents on his husk. He debated about telling him about Teama's condition, but he recognized that look and thought it best to wait.

"We are not being followed by any Decpeticon's and I have patched up Bumblebee's wound to the best of my ability, but it will not hold. And keep the Ground Bridge open until I say so." Optimus commanded in a calm tone with a hidden tone of uncertainty.

"Optimus, what of your condition!? Outside of the burn from the Ground Bridge, are you hurt anywhere else?!" Kclayna shouted over her shoulder pad. Bulkhead sat Bumblebee down on the berth and, then, turned to watch Optimus and the bridge, waiting.

"You need not to worry about me, Kclayna." Optimus responded.

"Where's my dad, Optimus, sir?" Steele asked, running up to Optimus, craning his head so high that he nearly fell backwards. Optimus stared down at the sparkling for an intense second before bending down, picked up the nearly weightless sparkling and carried him to his carrier. Tier's spark buzzed loudly, frozen in place, her optics stared at him with fear, her shoulder pad's trembling, many terrible thoughts ran through her processor. She glanced behind Optimus at the Ground Bridge, praying that she would see her mate walk through, online with a sly smile, and say 'gotcha! So gotcha, Love!'.

She gasped when a large servo digit's grasped her servo and pulled it up. Her optics refocused on Optimus, who was inches in front of her. Gently, he placed Steele against her chest plate, his head on her shoulder pad, and guided her arm around Steele's leg's. He held Tier's arm in place until she became clear minded enough to hold her son and wrapped her other arm around his back. Steele adjusted himself so he could look back at Optimus. Two set's of dark blue optic's, heavy with worry and fear, stared up at him.

Optimus placed a servo onto Steele's helmet, met Teir's gaze and nodded.

Then, he stood in front of the open Ground Bridge again, his arm turning into a cannon blaster. Tier gasped and took a step back, tightening her grip around Steele. Ultra Magnus blocked the sparkllings, Arcee hid the humans behind her leg, Bulkhead and WheelJack were at Optimus's side with their weapons armed, Senti drew her sword and stood in front of the Medical Bay and Parate shoved Sanna behind him, placing her between him and the twins.

"Ultra Magnus," He spoke in a commanding tone, his attention glued on the Ground Bridge. "I will need you and Arcee to keep Bumblebee's sparklings and the humans at a safe distance."

Bianna shot her head over to her sparklings. Dijette dragged Blur and Micra back to stand behind Ultra Magnus and Arcee, shouting at Tobit to get behind them. Tobit, mesmerized at the sight of Bumblebee's wound, frozen in place on his berth with Teama. Realizing Tobit wasn't listening, Wheeljack walked over to the berth and scooped him up.

"It's 'lright, kid." He whispered, handing Tobit over to Ultra Magnus. He placed Tobit behind him, Dijette grabbed him and shoved him behind her. Tobit stumbled and fell to the ground. He pulled himself up to sitting on his knee pads and watched between the gap in Ultra Magnus's legs.

He saw Steele attacking the Decepticon's again, the energon spilling on the ground, Starscream's red optics staring down at him. His first Decepticon encounter, and it terrified him. And the thought of a swarm of Decepticons entering the base, attacking his siblings, killing his caretakers, maybe Steele's mystery power won't be enough to save them this time.

Go away, go away, go away! He screamed in his thoughts, shutting his optics, and clasped his servos over his audio receptors.

Optimus turned his attention to Parate over by the berth occupied by Arc and Ree.

"Parate, I will need you to keep Tier and Steele out of sight of the Ground Bridge entrance unless told otherwise."

Parate studied Optimus' expression.

Blank.

Has he seen what I have done? Parate wondered. No, if he had, he would not ask me to protect two members of this group.

"Yes, sir." Parate nodded at Sanna, leaving her to care for the twins. Hesitantly, he made his way to Tier and Steele and placed himself in front of her.

"Uncle? What is happening? Mommy, you're hurting me." Steele asked, squirming in his carrier's grasp.

Optimus turned to face the Ground Bridge, his stance screamed battle ready.

"Smokescreen," He paused, listening for a sound on the other end of his comlink. "You may enter the Ground Bridge, now."

Several intense seconds passed by. Tier's spark raced and hummed loudly, her servo's clutched her son tightly. Her optics staring at the Ground Bridge, expecting Smokescreen to be either to be carrying a contagious virus or was being held hostage with a blaster gun at his head.

Then, slowly, he appeared on their side of the Ground Bridge. And fear spiked in her husk.

Smokescreen wasn't injured or infected, but something was very different with him. His optics were glowing a brighter blue, a blue holographic flame emerged around his exterior, and Tier thought she was seeing a blue and white shadow behind him. Ultra Magnus was quick to draw his weapon and aim at Smokescreen.

"Hold your fire!" Optimus shouted at him, holding his servo out to stop Ultra Magnus.

"Sir, what is that?"