SO, here's hoping those of you not following my AO3 will have some Covid19 mandated time to kill reading these last two chaps i forgot to post here. Stay safe out there all those who aren't able to self-quarantine. I'm personally mostly home, but i already was for months because my company has no premesis and we ALL been working from home before it hit so *shrug*. No break from work for me, but I still be writin' in my spare time. It's good escapism.

Now, you need to know that after this chapter, I'm going to be doing an advanced release thing with subsequent chapters on my (because i am terribly poor). If you'd like to know more, please check out my Pillowfort, Tumblr or Devart pages. I'll make a journal on DA about it soon. Links for my sites will be at the bottom of these notes. Yall here probably won't care? Since you get it super late because i have a shit memory for FFnet lol.

Anyway about the chapter, there isn't much to say other than I've been playing this in bits and pieces in my head over and over for a few years now, usually to the same music tracks.
It's tweaked and changed over the years, and now it's finally actually written down and locked in. Hope yall like.
Music for this chapter (all can be looked up on youtube to save you from taking spaces out of urls)
Seven Lions: 'Tyven', 'Summer of the Occult' and 'Isis' again
Mad Max - Fury Road (the online full OST with lengthened tracks):
- 'Blood bag', 'Buzzards Arrive', 'Spikey Cars', 'Storm is coming', 'Claw Trucks', 'Chapter Doof' and 'Walhalla Awaits'.

Pillowfort: www. pillowfort. social/Deathcomes4u
Tumblr: deathcomes4u. tumblr
Devart: www. deviantart deathcomes4u

This story is caught up for now, will try and keep the posting schedule all updated at the same time for the next one since I'm doing it different. ~Death out.

"How's you back feeling?"

Prowl sat very still, not even twitching as Ratchet carefully welded over the last gouge in his shoulder plating. The medic had been fuming when he'd finally gotten him alone in the repairs stall at the end of the stables.

"Really good actually. Only time I got a twinge out of it was landing on the boar and the bear, but otherwise it's been solid. I mean, ask me again tomorrow and I might not have the same answer, but a hot shower or two and some decent grade energon usually fixes that."

Ratchet made a disgruntled sound and finished up with the welder, wiping over the area with nanite setting agent while it was still hot so the welds smoothed and solidified faster.

Only when the medic pulled away did Prowl move at all to look down at the work. "I really have never had anyone as good as you work on me before. It already looks like nothing happened"

Ratchet couldn't help a small smile at the praise. "I daresay no real medics have ever worked on you. Trainees, maybe, but the rest look to have done nothing but hack jobs. Surprised honestly, would have thought Thunderwing had higher standards than that for his prized possessions"

His tone was wry, but Prowl still made a noise at being called a possession. "Yes, well, Thunderwing is many things but he is not a strong believer in ethical medicine. Even on his own airbase he has a policy of bots not going to the medic unless they can't fly. The only mech who ever does proper repairs on us is, unfortunately, Shockwave."

The medic revved at that, coming over and putting a cube in front of him. "Considering the other things he's done to you under anaesthetic, according to my ah... new assistant, I'm not sure proper repairs is the term I'd use. Unethical rebuilds and alterations is probably more like it. And you can transform now, that weld setting stuff is one of Wheeljack's new concoctions. One of his best yet in my opinion."

Prowl did as he was told and downed the energon in one long draught, watched by an amused Ratchet. "Primus if you're that thirsty I'll give you another."

"Thankyou. My reserves aren't super low, but I'll need everything I can get for the last event, and I'm never one to turn down energon of this quality... speaking of which it's still within regulation?"

"Of course, I was very careful to read the rules of this nonsense blood-sport before I came in. Primus knows I don't give a slag about offending nobles, but I'm not risking any of you getting harmed because I accidentally gave you something that broke their rules."

Prowl nodded in appreciation, taking the next cube Ratchet gave him and drinking it a little slower. "I'm not overly worried about Thunderwing coming down and fussing. He knows I'll prepare myself once you're done with me, he'd much rather bask in the sycophantic praise of his 'friends' for as long as possible."

"Mmmm I've no doubt. I'm still worried about other nobles coming down here and getting nosy. And I've been getting worrying messages from Optimus about Shockwave and his little plans and machinations."

That made Prowl sit up and pay more attention. "Such as?"

Ratchet sighed, leaning against his tool bench and folding his arms, frowning.

"It's looking like he'll have to give in to this... proposal that Shockwave has made, to add a new element to the last hunt. He wants to introduce some kind of new prey item. Higher value than any of the others, but capable of defending itself and evading much faster than anything else. The rest of the nobles are champing at the bit, Thunderwing seems especially keen. I dare say he'll be driving you to take it down, I don't think Optimus can refuse it at this point, not when every single noble's had their appetite whet for it."

Prowl frowned as well, finishing off his cube. "I've no doubt about that... but he won't do it first. He'll leave it for the second half, we'll be taking out the regular big ticket items first, that's always the play."

"How big are we talking?"

"Oh, same as the last ones from that round. Boars, bears, stags. Practically ignore anything smaller than that, they just aren't worth the time when we can do the big ones, very few teams have alphas capable of that you know. Please don't give me that look, I know it's dangerous, but I've done this several times before with minimal injury, there's a technique to it. We are more careful about our targets in the pairs, far more careful than in the team event."

"I should HOPE so, I don't want to have to patch you together AGAIN today, I've only got a finite amount of that new setting gel you know."

That actually made Prowl chuckle. "I'll do my best to make sure you don't need to use any more on me. I do have to make sure and drive home the point to Jazz and Red not to try and go for anything bigger than a stag. Red is nowhere NEAR ready for that, I don't want you having to patch him up either. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go give Bumblebee a dressing down for taking on a Stag AND a Bear alone, because it's bad enough when I do it but he is walking a very fine line between 'Thunderwing made me do it' and 'I'm showing off because I won something and got cocky".

/I got some real not good news/ Jazz glanced over at Prowl, having been unable to sneak off to the stables before the time they were allotted to take their competing wolfmech to the prep area.

It was a set of open air stalls just outside the stables, where each team went through the motions of warming up and tuning up for their event. Jazz was stretching lazily, showing off his ridiculous flexibility to intimidate some of his competitors and get some of them to possibly kink their cables trying to outstretch him. They never would be as limber as him, of course, and he found it amusing somewhere beneath his extremely high level of anxiety watching them try.

None of his inner turmoil showed in his demeanour or E.M field, but he didn't manage to hide it all from his comm line to the black and white wolfmech one stall over.

Prowl glanced his way while doing his own stretches, careful to concentrate on getting his lower spine as lubricated as possible.

/I have some not so great news as well. You go first/

/Oh... wonderful. Well, the special prey item they're gonna announce and explain the rules about before the match? It's a slaggin' rotoraptor/

Prowl blinked, audials switching back and forth as he wracked his processor, but no results came up.

/Sorry Jazz but... what is a rotoraptor?/

/Oh... right you guys wouldn't have come across... I mean, basically, it's like a smaller, faster, nastier version of what Grimlock is/

Jazz glanced over again and saw the dawning apprehension in the tensing of Prowl's frame and the flattening of his audials. The reaction passed quickly, and they shared another very brief glance.

/That is definitely not ideal... but it does put me at a slight advantage at least, in that I have fought Grimlock, and no one else here has. So at least I have some chance of taking it down when Thunderwing inevitably orders me after it/

/Your optimism is a vent of fresh air Prowl, but ah don't think it's gonna be anything LIKE that fight you had with Grimlock. Listen... the moment he orders you after that thing, you tell me, ahm gonna come into that fight with Red, we'll try and help somehow. I'll get Mirage in on it too if ah have to/

/Probably won't be necessary. If normal rules apply, so long as I make sure Thunderwing doesn't shoot first, all I have to do practically is score a blow with my denta and claws, and then lure it into a position where Thunderwing can shoot it/

Jazz hissed softly, frowning down at his pede as he leant forward to pick some grit out of his treads.

/Mmmmm okay but the problem with that is we're anglin' to NOT kill it/

Prowl paused mid leg stretch in confusion.

/I... see. Why exactly are we trying not to kill it?/

Jazz sighed and straightened, doing some midriff twists so his transforms would be smoother.

/'Cause there's a good chance it's like you guys. Some poor sap who's been turned into a dinobot by Shockwave as some fragged up experiment/

/Oooh, I see, of course. I'll do my best to distract rather than maim then. If I act like I can't get a hit in, then even if Thunderwing is forced to shoot first, he can't make a fatal injury or he'll risk losing most of his points. And losing is a non-option to him right now/

/Yeah I figured as much, he's goin' through a full aileron check right now, and from what I know that's not something done casually. So that was my not good news, what was yours?/

Prowl cycled a long ventilation and glanced Jazz's way again.

/Bumblebee is fairly sure he ran into your twin out in the forest during the last event/

Watching Jazz freeze was far more unsettling than he'd expected. The slight paling of his visor was also very unexpected.

There was a few tense moments of silence over the line while Prowl continued to put on a show of stretching, and Red Alert looked between the two of them subtly with an unnerved expression.

/...slagginsonovaglitchwhy'dIhavetoletherout/

Prowl's hackles had raised unconsciously in the long pause, and they relaxed again slightly at the softly spoken cursing.

/We can't be one hundred percent sure it's her-/

/No... no, unfortunately, we CAN. I just asked Optimus if he could confirm feeling like there was an echo of my spark signature around... that coupled with the weird flashes of barely there emotion that isn't MINE and I'm pretty sure you're right. Slag it all... my priorities for this event just got re-arranged. Ah gotta find her first and tell her to stay the SLAG out of Shockwave's sight, she could ruin EVERYTHING if he sees her./

It was Prowl's turn to be silent as he digested all this new information and came to the realisation of just how right Jazz was.

/I would suggest utilising Hound in that case, since he has the best chance of smelling her. That coupled with you feeling for her should give you her location pretty quickly/

/Yeah, uuuh... it probably would do if ah had any clue how to 'feel' her out. New to this twin slag, remember?/

Prowl shot him a very exasperated look, rolling his helm in the direction of the stables in a not so subtle hint.

/Oh, well, what a shame you don't have a direct comm line to any mechs with lifelong experience in such things ready to help you at a moment's notice/

Jazz glanced over at the stables and noticed optics peeking through the windows, staring at him. Sideswipe barked at him in what he was fairly sure was a rude way.

/Alright, sassmiester, I'm under a lot of STRESS right now, be nice/

/I know. I'm not exactly carefree here, no matter how calm I might look. This might not be my first pairs hunt, but every single one is life threatening, so you have to give it all your attention. You'll need to let go of the anxieties around the plan failing and trust that no matter what happens, we're all going to be fighting for the same outcome. There are emergency plans in place. I've been giving out instructions, my entire pack and a handful of others I trust implicitly are ready to enact those plans at a moment's notice. No matter what happens, we're not laying down and accepting the muzzles anymore/

Jazz kept his head turned towards the stables but looked at Prowl through the side of his visor. The bot wasn't looking at him, but staring ahead with a look of intensity Jazz wasn't sure he'd seen on him since they first met.

He found a little of his anxiety seemed to melt away faced with that level of steely determination. If Prowl was that focused on the goal, he was fairly sure the mech would get his way. It was just a matter of how much energon would be spilt along the way.

And who it would belong to.

"I already hate the sound of this thing. I mean don't get me wrong, I'm not surprised that Shockwave would do something like this. But it seems kinda... I dunno, like he's angling for more than just trying to impress Prime with this rotoraptor thing. Like there's some kinda motive going on but I don't know what it is..." Sideswipe frowned, pacing in the stall.

Sunstreaker, by contrast, was sitting stock still, staring unseeingly at the window. He made a noise of agreement, apparently also trying to figure out what the ulterior motive for the dangerous prey was. Bumblebee, sat by Sunstreaker in a similar stance of concentration, murmured his own thoughts in answer to Sideswipe's.

"Well for starters it's not a REAL prey item, and there's no way the only thing it's going to be doing out there is evading. That thing is direct competition, if it's got as many teeth as Grimlock. Which means it might be out there to hunt something specific... or someONE specific."

The golden twin's head snapped to the smaller wolf with a light of horrific realisation flashing in his optics. "Slag, you're right... what if Shockwave ALREADY knows what's going on today and he's putting that thing on the field to go after Prowl and try to squash the rebellion?"

Bumblebee shook his head. "No, I mean yeah it's probably out there to hunt someone down, you're not wrong about that... but I don't think he'd set it after Prowl, he doesn't think we've got the leverage to get ourselves out of this mess... but... if Shockwave made Jazz... if he knows who Jazz IS... Jazz has a LOT more leverage than us, AND he acts as like, a barrier to Prime... maybe he's the target?"

Sunstreaker's look of horror only deepened. "Frag, that makes a LOT more sense... politically, personally, he has every reason to try and take Jazz out, this is just a barely convenient cover for making it look accidental."

"We have to warn him then, we need to get him on comms before the match starts and they turn the comms dampener on for this building-" Sideswipe fretted, dancing in place, pausing abruptly as his and Sunstreaker's audio's perked from a simultaneous comm ping.

"Speak of the slagmaker" Sunstreaker muttered bemusedly.

/Jazz? Just the bot we wanted to call, I know you've been in my head but I didn't realise it meant you could read my mind/

/Hey Sunny, I mean I'm sure it's lovely in there most of the time but unfortunately it doesn't work that way. I needed some advice, but if you wanted to talk, you go first/

/Sides, Bee and I have been musing over the special prey item thing. We think it's a badly disguised assassination attempt aimed at you/

Jazz refreshed his visor and frowned slightly, doing some internal fluid pressure checks in the background as he prioritised processing that theory.

/That… actually… that makes a pit load of sense if we assume he recognises me. With what I saw in that compound last night… sure as slag looked like he'd been training something roughly rotoraptor sized. Slag, Prowl was right, I really gotta be on the ball for this huh… not sure how ahm gonna do any actual competing when I got a bunch of other stuff out there to deal with, like tryin' not to be assassinated/

/Is that what you needed advice for? The hunt?/ Sideswipe cocked his helm curiously, sharing a somewhat confused look with Sunstreaker.

/Uuuuh yes and no. Prowl told me about Bumblebee spotting Ricochet out there. My priority is to find her and make her stay the slag out of sight. Except I have no idea how to like… 'feel' her out/

/Oh you need THAT kind of advice… uh, well… Hmm, never had to explain how that works before/ Sideswipe shrugged at his brother, who frowned, not feeling any more confident about explaining it.

/Okay, well… we've always just kinda done it… the only thing I can say is you gotta just… pull in, y'know? You pull in and she should just kinda… be there somewhere/

/It's a lot easier if she's feeling something very different to you. Try honing in on the stuff you know isn't your feelings/ Sideswipe added, giving his brother a 'really, THAT'S your explanation?' face.

Sunstreaker's response face was the most sarcastic look he could muster.

/Oh… Ah figured it was somethin' more complicated than that/

To both of their surprise, Jazz sounded somewhat relieved.

Something occurred to Sideswipe, his face instantly morphing to surprise.

/Wait, Jazz, have you never merged with anyone?/

/…Kind of a personal question but since we're well past things gettin' personal, no, no ah haven't actually. Would it help if I had?/

/Probably/ Sunstreaker responded, /I mean mostly just because you'd have a frame of reference for what a bond feels like, even if it's a non-permanent one. It's kinda intuitive though, you should be fine/

/Ah sure as slag hope so, cause normally finding someone with my sensors is pretty easy. Most bots have real loud systems, but ah can't get a read on her physically at ALL. Which means she's probably running stealth the same way I can, fully dampened E.M field and attention deflectors on max/

/You can do that? Wow, that explains how you got around Thunderwing's compound so fast without anyone catching you/ Sideswipe mused with a genuinely impressed tone.

/Sure does my mech. Thanks, both of you, for the help. And for the insight about that rotoraptor. Ahm gonna steer far clear of it for as long as ah can./

The line-up was similar to the last event, with Nobles standing in their starting corals with their wolfmechs.

The difference though was that the corals were all set much further apart, encircling all of the buildings in the centre of the crater. The spacing was mostly to make sure competitors didn't immediately run into one another, since there were no barriers to separate them in this event.

The entire grounds were open to all, and stealing one another's kills was absolutely on the table. A noble or wolfmech could 'tag' a prey item for their partner to kill, but if another noble shot dead a wolf tagged kill, or a wolfmech took out a kill tagged by another noble, then the killer got the full points.

Jazz was well aware this kind of kill stealing was likely to be directed more at him, since Thunderwing had 'helpfully' informed him it was a newbie hazing ritual, and he shouldn't feel too offended by it.

To be perfectly honest, he was too busy being worried about his other objectives to care much about other nobles trying to lower his score. But he intended to ghost away from most of them wherever possible since he also didn't want them up in his business if he found Ricochet.

Hopefully they'd all be too preoccupied with his would-be assassin to worry about hazing him.

The klaxon sounded to tell the competitors to be ready to start, and he stepped up on his plate, taking aim at the test target for his rifle. It was different to the ones they'd used for the pack hunt, more powerful for starters and advanced to boot. The ammunition had trackers with small chips that could identify if that bullet snuffed a prey item's spark, or if the prey item was killed by a wolfmech, and WHICH wolfmech.

If Jazz wasn't so nervous, he'd be marvelling at the technology, despite the fact Shockwave had probably come up with it.

He had no trouble taking his three test shots, all hitting almost the exact same spot. The rifle was so obviously made for high end clients, the mechanisms so smooth they barely made a sound as they moved against one another to load each round into the chamber.

Despite the fact he was used to firearms having worked in the enforcer's special division, it was certainly a novelty to be using something with physical rounds. Most enforcer weaponry was laser or plasma charge based.

He magnetised the rifle to his back, where it sat ridiculously snugly between his small doorwings. He supposed he had his answer now as to why he felt so damn comfortable with being loaded up with any amount of firearms. It was what he'd been MADE for, and the thought didn't fail to disturb him at least a little.

Jazz refreshed his visor and took a deep, steadying ventilation. He needed to stay grounded, he couldn't let his thoughts wander. This was the culmination of all they'd worked for, and he wasn't about to let his personal anxieties get in the way.

The announcements started, giving what he assumed was the usual fanfare for the biggest event of the day. The voice of the minor noble who was chairman of the hunt society, some bot called Fairway, began listing off the names of the competitors and their wolfmechs. Then he began listing off the rules, including the new ones regarding the late inclusion of the special prey item.

/You ready for this Red?/

Red Alert looked up at Jazz a little startled, as if he'd been far away in his own world.

/I hope so. I'm mostly hoping not to run into Prowl too much/

Jazz cocked his helm at him, bemused.

/Oh? Why, I thought you'd probably be glad to have a familiar bot nearby to shoot you some tips as you go/

Red gave a nervous sort of laugh, shifting his weight between his front paws.

/You would think so, but you haven't seen him in this category of competition before. I did, only once, and... well, he's not going to have time to give me any tips, he'll be flat out thrashing me/

/What, and you don't feel any sorta competitive urge about that? Ya just gonna concede defeat?/ Jazz's tone was teasing, but he genuinely wanted to understand why Red looked so resigned to failure.

/...You'll understand when you see him. It might not be for a while since we're looking for your twin, but we'll likely cross paths, Thunderwing apparently likes to make sure he rubs their superiority in every other competitor's face deliberately throughout the event/

Jazz didn't really have time to ruminate much on that information, since the ready-up klaxon rung out and they had to take their places on their pressure pads.

/Hound, you got any lead on that scent already or no? Just be nice to have a deliberate direction to go in as soon as we start/

/Sorry Jazz, nothing yet. I doubt I'll be able to smell her without being fairly close, you're already harder to track than most bots yourself/

The start countdown began and Jazz gave Hound a combined thanks and acknowledged glyph as he fully put himself into the hunt headspace. Beside him he felt Red Alert's E.M field coiling like a spring.

The moment the start klaxon sounded, they were off. Jazz immediately transformed down to vehicle mode and let Red take the lead, streaking across the flat grounds straight for the tree line.

They had planned their strategy around avoiding other competitors as much as possible, even though it meant they would likely have less success with large prey. As focused as Jazz was on the task at hand, beneath all the other computational lines he had running he was still disappointed he had to participate instead of just getting to watch Prowl work.

Primus, he had thought the pack hunt was a brutal show of Prowl's skills... it was tame in comparison to this.

If Optimus didn't know better he'd have thought the bot had been engineered as an assassin by Shockwave as well. Maybe he had... and Thunderwing was simply a convenient answer to a handler for the immoral scientist.

The intensity of focus in Prowl's movement was laser sharp. He hadn't even hesitated or changed course since leaving the starting pad. Thunderwing was jetting low to the ground in root mode, parallel to Prowl, the both of them heading straight for the trees the same way Jazz was doing.

They dove straight into the thin lines of copper and nickel formations, barely weaving to avoid them, intent on some spot slightly further in, where the formations grew more closely together.

It took Optimus a few moments to even spot the prey they had clearly known was there before they'd even begun. A herd of rotodeer were standing alert, close together, waiting to see if all the noise they had heard would result in some form of threat.

It came at them so hard and fast they didn't even all have time to flee. Three shots. Three targets marked by Thunderwing with energon streaming from their hides. Three proto-sparks extinguished within less than a klik with a series of manoeuvres from Prowl.

The savage accuracy and speed of Prowl's attacks had Optimus tightening his intake to suppress the wave of sickness it induced from the matrix. Death... killing, should NEVER be that efficient. It felt wrong on a fundamental level, but every noble in the observation area below was cheering.

Prowl had WARNED him about this. Had mentioned, with an apologetic sort of awkwardness, that he would not like what he saw from him in this moment. Optimus had thought naively during that warning that Prowl had no idea about the horrors he'd seen as an enforcer... but the alpha had been right.

He really hadn't been prepared for what he would see. It was one thing to witness a bot getting shot, or the aftermath of a horrific murder. It was another thing to see a bot in action showing just how easy it was to end life.

Jazz and Red had taken down nothing but petrorabbits and turbofoxes since they'd begun, Red flushing them from their hiding places, getting enough of a nip or a bite on them for Jazz to finish them with his rifle.

Neither of them commented on Jazz's innate ability to get a perfect kill shot every time. That was something for them to process later.

/Jazz, I've got her/

Jazz's helm snapped up and he signalled Red to stop, pretending he was checking tracks.

/Where is she?/

/Head west of your current position, up into the thicker trees and craggy area, that's where I was getting her scent trail. Just followed it and peeled off to take down a boar/

/Thanks Hound, you and Mirage take it easy yeah? No getting gored/

/More worried about Bonecrusher trying to steal the kill actually, he and his master are shadowing us and it's getting annoying. OH, and you should be safe from interference for the moment. Looks like a bunch of the other competitors are out to harass Thunderwing and Prowl, and they're out on the flat area right now/

/Not sure how long that window's gonna last then, not gonna waste it/

Jazz transformed back to vehicle mode and pinged Red to follow. The terrain was not great for vehicle mode here, but he'd driven over worse escaping the enforcers all those vorns ago. He was more interested in speed than anything else, but he still kept Red's lack of wheels in mind.

This was more annoying than usual. Prowl always ended up having to deal with nobles that wanted to challenge his lead by interfering with his hunt. It wasn't usually more than one or two, but at least five of the nobles had seemingly decided to come at them together.

He and Thunderwing had managed to amass a large herd of deer by carefully driving them out of the scrub areas and into the open. None of the others seemed to realise their interference was to his advantage.

It now didn't matter what deer he killed, so long as they'd been shot by SOMEONE. And all Thunderwing had to do not to lose points was to shoot deer that would clearly never be taken down by any wolf but him, or to just not shoot anything at all.

To his right he could see Impactor coming at him to try and cut off his current pursuit. He let the alpha get too close to shift his huge body off its current course, then simply changed his gait to pull up short and divert right, ending up passing behind the wolf who barrelled on, confused.

It didn't take much to put on a burst of speed and continue forward after his prey, gaining quickly and tripping it up. He sprang, sailing over its tumbling body, and took a page from Bumblebee's hunting book, grabbing a conveniently close antler on the way past in his jaws.

His momentum was enough to sever every control cable in its neck as it twisted violently, and a paw stabbed directly into its side crushed the spark case. It was dead before its carcass had even stopped skidding. And Prowl was already taking off after his next target.

His processor was constantly whirling with numbers and trajectories, statistics, probabilities, a never ending feed of information that had his steps planned and counter-planned for the next few kliks ahead.

He'd already stolen 3 kills from the competitors who were still thinking on their feet, making decisions only as they came to them. They couldn't hope to keep up when they had no means of predicting his moves. He knew the nobles' goal had been to try and take Thunderwing down a peg in front of Optimus, but they were instead making absolute fools of themselves.

Prowl hated the satisfaction Thunderwing would be getting from it. Because he was barely doing anything, the work he took such pride in wasn't his own, it was Prowl's. As he launched himself over another wolfmech trying to cut him off, he glared across the herd at the smirking blue and yellow pseudo-seeker skimming around the edges of the fray, lazily keeping the herd trapped.

Once this is over, you won't have to be his show thing. You won't have to play these games just to boost his ego. You're not doing this for him, you're doing it for your freedom.

The thought of freedom also made him think of Jazz. He hoped, as he snapped his jaws to send a deer careening into the path of one of his competitors, that the mech was having luck tracking down his twin.

They were lucky that so many of the other nobles were focused on trying to make him and Thunderwing look bad, giving Jazz the perfect opportunity to search unhindered. He'd have to play this game with them as long as possible to give Jazz more time.

That meant making them think they actually had a chance at taking his kills away.

He drew his focus in again, running all the possible strategies to keep playing along his competitors. This hunt was never going to be easy, but the added levels of complexity were making him glad he'd topped off on energon, because he was going to go through all of it at this rate.

Jazz transformed when the trees became too close together to get through at speed. He'd be faster on foot now, but still not as fast as Red who overtook him to try and pick up the scent.

/I think I've got it/

Jazz hurriedly made his way after the other bot, following the red and white tail he could see bobbing up ahead. Red Alert's paint wasn't exactly designed for stealth, but it was very handy for situations like this. And it would be great for drawing attention away from him when he finally found his sister.

Speaking of which...

/Jazz I think she's this-/

/It's aight Red. I can feel her from here/

Sideswipe and Sunstreaker's advice, while vague, had been correct. He was suddenly very aware of emotions that weren't his, flitting in and out like a comm line with bad reception.

Jazz paused, spinning on the spot, checking the sight-lines to the watch towers and the main viewing arena, making sure there were no camera drones tracking them right now.
He pretended to be looking at tracks on the ground as one came past, hovering a moment before deciding his progress wasn't thrilling enough to watch, and moving on.

Just as Jazz made to move again to look for his errant twin, a feeling washed over him, taking control of his movements and turning his head as if magnetically attracted.

And then his visor was locked with two yellow optics, staring him down from the canopy of a thicket of trees.

Red Alert immediately keyed into the change in Jazz's EM field, following his line of sight and stiffening, hackles twitching up before flattening.

Excruciatingly aware that they could be being watched, and that Jazz's twin was also a totally unpredictable element, he diverted his gaze as if he hadn't seen her, and calmly padded over to stand behind Jazz. Giving his back to the other predator was a clear sign of 'not a threat', but he also knew he'd have to keep a look out now to be sure they weren't going to be spotted.

While all this was happening, Jazz stood unmoving, unable to avert his gaze. All he knew was he NEEDED to talk to her but had no real idea how to START.

As if reading his mind (and slag, maybe she could?), he received an odd comm ping. Odd because he'd never spoken on this comm line before, but it was already THERE as an inactive channel. Had they had it since creation? Had it been programmed in by Shockwave to be activated when he wanted them working together, only to never have them online in close proximity?

/You feel too loudly. Stop it/

Jazz refreshed his visor, the tension in his frame shifting to something else he couldn't quite pin down. Elation? Relief? Disbelief? Offense? Probably all of it.

Mostly he just felt as if he'd been slapped.

/First words you ever say to me are gonna be that? Really?/

/Well it's true/

/Okay, well, you don't feel loudly enough. How 'bout that?/

/Yes. Because I'm not supposed to. Neither are you. Did Shockwave throw you out because of that?/

/No, he didn't throw me out, I got away on my own/

That seemed to give her pause, the Klikat tilting her head at him slightly.

/So why did you come back to try and kill me?/

Jazz felt slapped again.

/KILL you? Why the slag would ah wanna kill you? Didn't even know you EXISTED until last night/

/Oh... But I was told I would have to kill you eventually, I assumed you were trained to do the same and Shockwave only wanted the best of us to survive/

Jazz pulled a face, suddenly becoming more aware of his surroundings again when he heard another camera drone. He shifted to look as if he was trying to find more tracks, Red Alert making a show of sniffing around behind him.

/If ah was ever programmed for that, ah don't know about it. He had somethin' planted in me that wrecked my processor up good when I got away. Had to rebuild most of myself from fragments. Wasn't pretty/

/Explains the OS switch. So why were you there?/

/OS switch?... Nevermind, look, It's complicated... matter of fact, part of that complication is why ah needed to find you, so I could tell you that you CANNOT let ANY of these drones see you, not even a glimpse. Shockwave is in that building in the middle, and if he sees ya he'll know somethin' happened to his precious facility/

Jazz didn't know how, but he could FEEL the optic roll he got in response without having to see it. It was the most bizarre thing to feel, since it was so faint. Come to think of it, the more he felt from her, the more aware he became of a discomfort in his spark. Like some kind of component was out of tune, fuzzing up things that should be so much clearer.

Her response certainly carried the same tones as the feelings he was getting.

/You think I don't recognise his ship when I see it? You think I'm dumb enough to want him to catch me back so he can punish me for failing to terminate you when you were there? He's already sent that slagging Clawpede out for me. I've been listening, I know these wolfmechs are supposed to be trying to catch it, but they won't/

/Wait, no, he can't have sent that thing for you, he doesn't know you're OUT yet. I made sure he wouldn't detect anything wrong with that facility for at least another ten cycles from now, that's what ah needed to find you to TELL you. It's more likely he sent it out to try and kill ME/

A stab of panic from Jazz had Ricochet standing, plating fluffed up in annoyance and tail twitching. She didn't move when he came closer to the base of her tree, but she did send clear signals of 'no touch'.

/That does make more sense. I wondered why he was more interested in finding me than going to see what happened to it. Did you get me out because you didn't want to blow me up?/

/I mean, I wanted to get you out so ah could... I don't know... I wanted to KNOW you. Ah had no idea til then that I even had a twin... but the whole reason ah was there was to get every bot alive out and get the evidence to put the slagger away for good. Didn't realise what that place was to ME until after you'd gone... that's what got me mad enough to blow the place. Wasn't ever really the plan to be honest.../

/Oh, so you came to find me to tell me not to mess up whatever you're doing here because you lost control and that's somehow my problem now?/

The look of intense feline derision she gave him was so comical Jazz almost laughed despite his nerves and anxiety.

/I mean, we ARE doing this to trap Shockwave along with the rest of these nobles doin' illegal stuff like slavery and experiments on non-consenting sentient beings. But I also wanted you to know that when we're done ah want you to come with me/

Ricochet blinked, head tilting up and tail tip twitching as she seemed to think on that proposal.

/I might. If you're going after Shockwave then I'll stay hidden. But don't wait for me if I'm not there at the end. And if he's sent that Clawpede after you... you better be fast, you're not going to do it much damage if you don't have proper claws anymore/

/Right... wait, anymore?/

All Jazz got in response was a glyph of snide amusement as his twin disappeared off into the trees.

Primus almighty he had more questions now than answers, but he had no time to dwell. There was another camera drone flying towards them and he knew if they didn't look like they were actually DOING something then bots would get suspicious.

"C'mon Red, ah think that herd the others chased up is comin' this way. Think you can take down a deer or two?"

"I mean, I can try, but no promises…" /she's good though, right? Your sister? She knows now about Shockwave?/

/Oh right, most of that was on comm. Yeah she's on board, we can focus on hunting for a bit now. Time to play catch up/

Jazz gestured towards the open areas and ran through the trees, Red Alert close on his heels with a deadpan "Oh, yay, fun".

"It's clear. We're ready to start when the event ends." Bumblebee popped back up out of the hatch, transforming back to wolf mode.

"Jazz's bots have the hangar secured and they're getting all the transports lined up now. I'm really hoping the bots in the other half of the stables just go along with the move when it comes time."

"I mean, we were serious when we said we'd force them if we had to" Sunstreaker mumbled.

"Ah… if it comes to that, but just let me go and talk them into it first if I can." Sundancer stepped up beside his golden son, giving him a placating boop with his snout.

Sunstreaker conceded with a light huff and a look at his grinning brother.

"Prowl did say diplomacy before direct action" Sideswipe added cheerfully.

"Yeah okay but do you honestly think Brawl knows the meaning of the word diplomacy?" Bumblebee scoffed as he trot over to one of the windows and looked out to try and gauge how the competition was going.

"Won't matter as long as he feels like following everyone else is in his best interests" Sundancer countered with a charming lilt to his voice.

Bee looked over his shoulder and snickered. "Ah right, sometimes I forget where Sides gets that from"

He knew he was fast. Much faster than most bots expected, but it really didn't mean much when it came to running down large prey. He wasn't used to the ducking and weaving or the kicking out or the random changes in direction.

He WANTED this to be fun, he WANTED to enjoy it. He'd felt an inkling of the thrill when he'd hunted in Prowl's pack. But team work made all the difference, and right now he wasn't just trying to run rotodeer down alone, he was also trying to counter all the ploys of the other wolfmechs on the field.

For a second time, he had to twist to avoid a buck nearly slamming into him because another competitor drove it his way.

He was about to get on the comm to Jazz to beg him to peel off so they could go back to hunting turbofoxes when a blur of Green came into view ahead.

/Heya Red, not having much luck? Don't sweat it, this is the worst way to hunt deer, I don't have much luck with these frenzies either/

As if to demonstrate the point, his attempt at tripping the nearest buck had him veering away almost immediately to avoid it's antlers. Behind and off to his right, Red recognised the sound of Jazz's engine.

/Red, while it's distracted with Hound you can come at its flank and score a hit. Draw energon and I can shoot it/

Red gave an acknowledgement glyph, putting on a burst of speed to take advantage of the buck's distraction. He timed his strike carefully, latching claws around some hind quarter plating, tearing it away as the deer tried to veer away.

Energon streamed down it's flank, and it seemed intent on trying to gouge the nearest thing to it… which happened to still be Hound.

An engine revved up from Red's right, and instinctively he dropped speed, catching a glimpse of Jazz speeding up a ramp-like outcrop of ore, launching himself into the air and transforming.

It almost felt like time slowed down as Red saw him twist, grabbing his rifle before his transformation was even complete, twisting and firing off, putting the rifle back and transforming back to vehicle mode before hitting the ground and fishtailing until he got his grip again.

He almost stumbled over the stag's body as it crumpled, dead, shot directly in the brain module.

Red locked optics with Hound as they followed the outside of the herd, Jazz speeding ahead of them with a cheeky flash of his tail lights.

/That was possibly one of the flashiest and scariest displays I think I've ever seen from him/ Hound confessed.

Red's attention was pulled by a flash of white and he nearly pulled up short as Prowl came tearing straight through the herd, knocking down a massive stag and brutally killing it right across their path before darting back to go through the herd again.

Jazz looked like he wanted to follow the bot before catching himself and peeling out wide to drop back and pace with Red Alert.

/I get the feeling he's trying a little harder than usual to impress someone else here. Honestly though if he thinks Prowl even has the processor space to pay attention to anything he's doing he's dreaming/ Red rolled his optics.

/Well keep a close optic on him, he might start trying to snipe Prowl's kills just to flirt with him/

Red snorted at that, but the next thing he knew Jazz was pinging him and drifting towards the side of the herd Prowl was on.

/Primus help me I'm glad I'll never have to do this again/

It wasn't long before the herd of rotodeer thinned so much that Thunderwing had Prowl move to leave the rest of the nobles to fight over the remaining anibots and head towards the trees again.

A buck accidentally veered ahead of him and separated out, offering what was practically a free kill. He ran it down without much exertion, swiping plating off a hind quarter and letting it bank left so Thunderwing would have a clear shot from where he followed not 100 metres away.

They'd put the other competitors pretty solidly in their place, and Prowl wasn't expecting any of them to try and follow to steal more kills. Which was why he was surprised by the sound of an engine coming up fast on his right.

He glanced over, slightly alarmed by the level of torque he could hear, but his spark swelled when he recognised the white and silver with flashy red and blue accents. He didn't have time to think beyond the initial impression of how beautiful he thought Jazz was in alt mode. The mech came screeching across the ground ahead of him, launching himself off a natural ramp and transforming mid-air, soaring over Prowl's path and…

Wait a hot nanoklik was he-

Before Prowl even realised what was happening, Jazz had already shot the deer he'd just maimed and killed it.

And then the cheeky slagger WINKED at him before transforming and landing on his wheels, flashing his tail lights.

Prowl nearly pulled up short he was so shocked, but drilling had him keeping pace and not veering from his path. Jazz fishtailed away deliberately and Red Alert ran up on his left with an admonishing bark at his 'owner' and an apologetic, long suffering glance Prowl's way.

Behind him, Prowl heard Thundering roaring with laughter. Well, at least Jazz's trick had amused, rather than enraged him.

Prowl narrowed his optics at the sports car now peeling off in a different direction. /Don't think I won't take you up on that challenge later you sneaky little fragger/

/Prowl, sweetspark, I am counting on it/

Prowl could tell himself the sparklings were what had his spark doing backflips and not that one term of endearment, but he knew it was a flat out lie.

/Are you done then? Got all that flirting out of your system?/ RedAlert gave Jazz a very pointed look as they made their way across the open ground, putting space between them and the other nobles.

He got a glyph of amusement in response before Jazz verbally answered.

/Yeah Red, all outta my system, ah swear/

/Good. So what's the plan now? We catch as many turbofoxes and petrorabbits as possible until time runs out?/

/Pretty much, but ah wanna keep to the open areas as much as possible. A lot harder to assassinate a bot when they're in the open and ya ain't got ranged weaponry. At least, I'm really hopin' it doesn't have ranged weaponry/

Red gave him a slightly alarmed look as he also realised they had no idea just what the rotoraptor's capabilities were.

/Right… okay… we'll just dip into the tree line, flush things out into the open, travel across the open ground from one side to another as much as possible/

/You got it/

/What is the current plan for the rest of this hunt?/

Prowl was now following Thunderwing's lead up towards the outer rim of the crater. He assumed they would be going for boars and bears, but he also wanted to know just what Thunderwing intended to do about the rotoraptor. And he really didn't want to ask outright, in case Thunderwing thought he was actually keen to find it, which he absolutely wasn't.

/We still need to pull ahead definitively before we waste any time on trying to find that new prey item. I'm banking on not having to look for it at all, the moment you hear the hint of someone else coming across it, make it known. We'll break off whatever we're doing to go after it/

Prowl sent a glyph of acknowledgement and switched into boar hunting mode. He'd take the tusked behemoths over bears if he could, any small allowance to help him conserve himself for the possible fight against the rotoraptor.

Bonecrusher could smell something new. Something he wanted to find. He'd show them. He'd show that Prowl wasn't the only strong one, he could take down that new thing, he'd win this, he'd be a LEGEND.

He'd get so many energon treats from master for this. Then he could lord them over the others, ESPECIALLY Brawl. Maybe the others would even make him alpha.

He bellowed in victory when he found it, barrelling into the thicket of copper trees it had been hiding in.

Behind him, Onslaught was yelling orders. He didn't really listen, he knew what he had to do, he didn't need master telling him how to kill.

The creature looked like a mini version of that behemoth Prowl had taken down. It flared its plating in waves, thrashing its spiky tail at him and hissing. Its maw was lined with razor sharp denta.

His armour was thick though. Bonecrusher wasn't afraid, he leapt at the creature, only for it to practically vanish from under his paws.

There was the ring of metal on metal as it raked his back with its fore-claws. He twisted, braying in shock and anger that this thing had gotten a hit on him so easily.

The claws left gouges but didn't get through. He lunged for the creature again but it darted away, slapping him in the face with its tail and enraging him further.

Bonecrusher twisted this way and that, trying to get his claws or denta into its plating. Infuriatingly, he missed every time. And every time, his armour took another hit.

He had to do SOME damage or Onslaught couldn't shoot it.

Just as he started to go into a frenzy, twisting and flailing and charging madly at the creature, it decided to stop toying with him.

The last thing Bonecrusher remembered seeing was the massive claw on its pede coming towards his face.

/I'm guessing by Jazz's display out there that he succeeded in finding his sister and getting her on board with the plan/

Hound chased down the marked fox and broke its neck, immediately switching to go after the other one that Mirage had already shot in the shoulder.

/Yes I'm supposing so. I mean, I could just comm and ask but he's likely still got too much on his processor to have room to recount things to me. He can tell me the details later, for now we need to act as if we actually think we're competing/

/Hey! I've been competing this whole time, what have YOU been doing?/

Mirage huffed and levelled his companion with a cool look, tagging two more foxes while barely having to look in their direction. /Not having to try so hard. What's you're excuse?/

Hound snickered at the sly challenge in Mirage's optics and darted after his new targets. He LOVED when Mirage got competitive with him. The rest of the competition never really mattered to him, he only ever did it for these kinds of moments, and he knew that even after they were free they'd still be doing this. It made his spark swell with joy and excitement.

Red stopped in his tracks mid chase. The petrorabbit went into a hole, but Jazz wasn't tracking it anymore either.

/Y'heard that too?/ Jazz frowned, standing stock still. Red Alert was also still and facing the same direction, audials twitching and straining to catch the sound again.

/It sounded like a wolfmech scream, but it was such a short noise, it could have been a prey item going down. Bucks do that sometimes/

Jazz was suddenly very on edge, and could feel that odd pull on his spark again. Did Ricochet know what was going on? Was it her in danger and she couldn't comm him now?

/You still feel too loud. Go into the open ground, the rotoraptor is hunting now/

Jazz actually jumped when Rico's comm came through, sending a tense sort of relief through him. Well at least he knew now it wasn't her screaming.

"C'mon Red. Grumpy Cat just told me we need to stay out in the open" he murmured, the two of them now moving to leave the sparse tree cover they'd been hunting in.

/Y'got any more info for me than that, o' sibling mine?/

/No it's moving too fast, I just heard it take out one of the other bots. One of the big wolfmechs... and don't call me whatever it was you just called me/

/Slag that ain't good... and what DO you want me to call you?/

There was a pause on the other end and he could feel odd twinges in his spark, faint though they were.

/Just call me my name/

/Aight Rico you got it/

There was a rumble of displeasure across the line, but Jazz grinned. She didn't tell him he couldn't call her by the short version of her name, and that hadn't been an outright order not to.

He was starting to think he could get used to having a twin.

Rodimus was still not sure he could believe HE was the one out there doing the partners event. He'd seen Magnus do it so many times, and he'd been champing at the bit for the day HE would be the one out there, proving that he was JUST as good.

And sure, he hadn't taken down as many deer as Prowl had, but NO ONE had. And he was doing a pretty damn fine job he thought.

Now though, his master had decided he was ready to take on something more. Not boars or bears, though he was honestly keen to prove he could...

No, Lord Magnus was going straight for the highest value target now, and he wasn't alone.

Many of the others knew the only chance they had of beating Thunderwing and Prowl was to take down that new, special prey item.

Rodimus could barely contain his excitement as he tracked it. He'd show Prowl. He'd show EVERYONE he was worthy of being alpha. Everyone would stop talking about Prowl's fight with the behemoth and start talking about how Alpha Rodimus took down Shockwave's latest beast to finally dethrone Prowl as the best hunter.

His olfactory was suddenly filled with the scent of energon, and his audials perked up as he heard cursing. Was that... Lord Blackout? That meant Impactor was nearby, and Impactor was usually a noisy hunter. But he couldn't hear him…

His master urged him ahead, so he followed the scent and the sound, but before he could reach the source of either, something flashed to his left.

Rodimus yelped, throwing himself sideways to avoid the creature that had barrelled towards him, maw open and rows of sharp denta flashing.

The Maw snapped, following him as he strafed and leapt away from it, only backing off when he swiped at it with a forepaw.

And now that he'd found it... now that he could see it, optics trained on him and claws dripping with SOMEONE'S energon... very suddenly Rodimus realised this would not be the easy victory he had envisioned.

The creature was herding him backwards, away from his master, but Rodimus was less concerned with that than the fact he was the target... and he had no real idea how to take down an enemy with no hackles, twice as many denta as a wolfmech, and a tail that looked like it could take a limb off him.

But he had to try, right?

It came at him again, lunging and hissing, but he stood his ground and tried to remember the tricks he'd seen Prowl use from the footage of his fight with Grimlock. Seeing it had made him insanely jealous at the time, but now he was thankful he had something of a guide.

He might not be Blurr, or Bumblebee, but he was by no means slow or delicate. He jumped up above the creature's head height as it lunged, trying to land on its back as its momentum carried it forward.

Unfortunately, he wasn't aware of just how fast this creature was, and it had pivoted out from under him as he landed, twisting away to hiss and flare it's plating at him.

Well, at least he'd thrown it off a bit, but he still hadn't scored a hit. Then again, neither had the rotoraptor, and he wanted to keep it that way.

It rumbled and came at him again, but this time he didn't jump, instead lashing out with both forepaws at its muzzle and barking at it, bearing his own denta.

The beast pulled back again, tail thrashing in either frustration or amusement, he couldn't tell.

Just when Rodimus was gearing up to charge at the creature, it danced from side to side, flaring the long plume like sensory quills on its head. Rodimus was so baffled by the behaviour he stood his ground and watched, tilting his helm slightly. It chuffed at him, as if goading him, still doing the weird little dance.

He wondered again if he should be trying to go on the attack, but before he could formulate any kind of plan, the creature sprang at him, taking him off guard.

He tried to scramble away as quickly as he could, but something snagged in the plating of his hind leg, and dragged him backwards.

He yelped and whined in pain, twisting and thrashing, claws contacting something and screeching against it. But the rotoraptor's armour was too thick for him to break through, and it pulled him under its maw with the long claw on one of its pedes.

Rodimus continued to flail, trying to do some damage on any part of it he could reach, stopping it from digging its own foreclaws into him. That huge maw opened wide, head rearing back as if to strike down at him.

Then a shot rang out and it flinched, head swivelling around to Lord Magnus, who had his gun pointed straight between its optics. He hadn't hit the creature, which would have damned Rodimus into trying to kill it himself. But he'd distracted it and that could be enough…

Rodimus saw his chance, curling his whole body up and locking his jaws around one of its wrists, wrenching at it.

The rotoraptor screeched, releasing his leg but scratching at his neck with the other forelimb. Rodimus had to let it go in order to stop his neck plating from getting torn off.

He thought the energon he'd drawn would be enough for his master to take the kill shot, but the rotoraptor was very suddenly darting away, and before he knew it, the thing had disappeared.

/Now I DEFINITELY heard that/ Red Alert dropped the dead petrorabbit on the pile, audials trained on the far side of the crater where a feint yelp had echoed from.

Jazz however wasn't looking in that direction, instead he had his visor trained on the buildings at the centre of the crater. There were screens showing a list of the current scores, but two of the competitors listed had changed from green to red.

They were no longer in the competition.

As he watched, another competitor went red.

/Slag... this is bad, ah know Shockwave said that Rotoraptor was less likely to kill than a bear, but ahm not buyin' that. We gotta stay out where we can see it comin', but we gotta make sure those bots are okay/

/I'll get on the general comms and find out, we can't afford to go near that area if it's over there. It might be programmed to know what's likely to lure you in... what if Shockwave had it do that deliberately knowing you'd try to go help?/

Jazz made a face. /Slagit, y'right. We gotta keep playin' keep away, but yeah see what you can find out on the wolf comm/

Before Red Alert could even ping all the wolfmechs on the field, one of the others was opening the channel. It was Rodimus.

/Guys do NOT try and fight the new thing, it is NOT the same as that thing Prowl fought. It is WAY fast, WAY sharp and it took out Bonecrusher and Impactor. Nearly got me too, I'm telling you, don't even bother, it messed up my leg, I was lucky not to get my head bitten off/

Red and Jazz shared a look. Over the comm, every single wolfmech except for Prowl sent a glyph of acknowledgement.

Prowl came onto the channel with a verbal response instead.

/Are Bonecrusher and Impactor alive?/

/Uh... yeah but they're real messed up, both out cold, medvets are already airlifting them back to the stables for treatment/

/Good. Rodimus is correct, no one should be approaching the rotoraptor. I don't plan on it if my master doesn't force the issue, the aim today is to stay alive and as un-injured as possible. We only have to hold out for four more breems. Slag Shockwave, we don't need to be his test subjects anymore/

Jazz was taken aback by the bitter conviction in Prowls tone, and apparently so was everyone else on that channel, because the only response he got was more subdued glyphs of acknowledgement.

Apparently no one was willing to risk their lives for the win today after all. Something which relieved Jazz to no end.

He and Red got back to hunting down petrorabbits, catching a few more, until another comm came over Jazz's private line.

/Your fast friend and his green wolfmech are in danger. It's tracking them now/

Before Jazz could even respond to that revelation from his sister, an alarm glyph came through another channel.

It was Mirage.

And it meant he was in danger so immediate there wasn't time for words.

Hound hadn't smelt it coming towards them until it was too late. It had stayed downwind, it really did know how to hunt as well as them.

They'd started to run the moment he'd caught a whiff, but they were in the thicker trees and crystals, and Mirage couldn't transform on this terrain. Hound wouldn't run faster than him, he would NEVER leave him behind.

Before they could even see any thinning trees ahead, a blur of silver and black slid into their path, pulling them up short.

Oh that was a LOT of denta…

Hound stood his ground, keeping his body between the beast and Mirage, flaring his plating and snarling menacingly.

The Rotoraptor made a sound like chuffing laughter, flaring its own armour in waves and rattling the quills on its head.

Hound had smelled the energon before the creature itself, and he was horrified by the drying streaks on the creature's forelimbs, pedes and maw.

Mirage levelled his gun at the creature, but didn't yet fire. Was this thing really like the wolfmechs? Was it a slave? A regular bot twisted and tortured into a body it didn't want, brainwashed to do what Shockwave wanted?

Or had he really just somehow resurrected an extinct anibot from a time before sparks had created civilization?

He stopped wondering or caring the moment it lunged towards them, throwing himself sideways in the opposite direction to Hound and pinging Jazz on his emergency frequency again. There was really no time for words, no room for complex thought. The rotoraptor was so fast, he spent all his processing power just to avoid it's claws as it twisted to bear down on him.

But Hound was right there, panic visceral as he threw himself at the raptor, denta snapping and looking for purchase.

It was enough to make the creature back off Mirage, swinging its tail around and slamming the large green wolfmech away, making him yelp.

"HOUND!"

The bright red optics zeroed in on him again, the creature hissing and crouching as if preparing to leap on him.

Out of instinct, Mirage engaged his electro-disruptor and rolled away. The beast flared its quills, chuffing in frustration and making a guttural sort of rattling noise as it drew air through its maw, teeth barely parted.

Mirage moved back as silently as possible, trying to reach Hound so he could extend the field and give them time to run.

Before he even got five paces in his direction, the creature locked optics on him, flared its plating and charged.

Mirage was so stunned he didn't have time to really process that the thing could find him even when he was invisible. He tried to evade, but was bowled over. The raptor twisted to narrow in on the sound of him hitting the ground, but before it could, a blur of green was barrelling into it.

The raptor screeched, Hound's jaws wrapping around the already injured wrist he'd noticed.

Before he could do more than pull the joint out of alignment, a searing pain tore through his flank and he released his hold, dancing back away from the swiping pede and its massive claw.

It had torn a gash in his plating like it was foil. Slag almighty, if help didn't come soon, Hound was sure he'd be cut to ribbons by this thing. But as long as it kept coming for them, he'd defend Mirage.

Prowl pretended he heard nothing as he leapt onto the bear's back, the creature too distracted by Thunderwing shooting it from the front to notice him approaching from above.

There had been a distant sound. He didn't know if Thunderwing had heard, but he doubted it, since he seemed to still be completely focussed on the bear Prowl was now tearing into.

This one, though massive, was reclusive and more inclined to run than fight. That didn't make it less dangerous, but it's size did mean that the plating was thicker, and it seemed keen to run in tight circles to try and throw him off.

Prowl gripped with everything he had, straining his neck against the centrifugal force of the motion to tear at the bear's armour.

The bear seemed to realise its tactic wasn't working, and it halted, rearing and bucking instead, braying loudly.

Prowl had already dispatched two boars and a smaller bear. He was not in the mood to let this go on much longer. He tore into the neck with greater efficiency, biting mercilessly into the plating of the spine until he crunched down on the thick neural cabling.

The bear seized, flopping into a pile beneath him. He leapt off and used his weight to push the bear onto its side as it twitched violently. He ripped into its side, beneath the forelimb, careful of twitching, flailing claws.

It took three stabbing motions with his paw to crush the spark case and snuff the poor creature.

Prowl backed off, vents working hard, licking the energon from his maw. He rumbled, wishing he could at least consume part of his kill, knowing he was not allowed. But the sparklings were making his frame so very demanding at this point.

Later. He'd be able to have his fill of energon right after the match. Thunderwing was already surveying the cliffside for signs of more prey.

He followed the jet, moving along and up the mountain, picking up the scent of another cogboar and taking the lead, head low, moving as downwind as possible. His audials twitched back and forth. Now even he wasn't sure if he was actually hearing distant shouting or not. There were intermittent gunshots all over the place, but that was normal.

Whatever the noise was, it had to be all the way over the other side of the crater from them, it was so echo distorted it could have just been someone hunting deer too enthusiastically.

But even as he came up on the boar they'd tracked and snuck around to drop on its back and maim it sufficiently enough for Thunderwing to kill… something was making him very uneasy.

He tore open the boar's flank and let it run, Thunderwing already having circled around to get it in his sights. A single shot in the side of its head felled it. Thunderwing gave a triumphant flick of his wings and began heading further up the crater wall.

"I already spotted more, at this rate we'll be double the score of whoever is behind us… WHY are you not following me?"

Prowl snapped out of his stiff stance, gaze focussing in on his master. His spark deep unease had been right. RedAlert had just told him in short order the one thing he'd hoped not to hear.

"Wolfmech comm. The rotoraptor is attacking. It's cornered Lord Mirage."

Thunderwing looked both excited and annoyed.

"Well don't just stand there, I'll be DEAD before I let HIM take it out. GO!"

Prowl didn't have to be told twice.

But he also didn't have to tell Thunderwing that it was Red Alert who'd told him what was happening, because Hound was far too busy trying to keep himself and Mirage alive to call for help.

Prowl had long ago burnt out his fear response to the threats Thunderwing hung over him in competition. So he had become unaccustomed to them flaring up and churning his tanks like this.

Hound was in very REAL very UNPREDICTABLE danger, and Jazz and RedAlert were deliberately heading directly towards it as well.

He hadn't felt this kind of fear since his first solo hunt. It propelled him wildly down the craggy cliffside, back towards the thick trees and crystal spires blocking the way between him and his friends. He had so much ground to cover and primus only knew how much time to do it.

All thought of conserving energy was gone. This wasn't a game anymore.

When Jazz got there, his tank felt like it dropped out from under him.

Hound was staggering, still on his pedes, but with energon streaming down his sides. A few hackles were broken, a few pieces of plating torn away or dangling. One of his optics was damaged, the shutter closed to try and protect what was left of it.

Mirage looked absolutely stricken, pain etched on his face even though he was so far only dented and scuffed. That looked like it was about to change, since he had leapt in front of Hound, rifle trained on the creature, which was mock lunging at him, plating clattering as it vibrated it angrily.

The only damage on the creature was a broken wrist, some bite wounds on its tail and one ankle, with other streak marks indicating failed swipes and gunshots that had pinged off its plating.

So the rounds aren't a grade that can pierce it's hide… slag, close combat only

The Rotoraptor turned it's helm, hearing their approach. Jazz would have preferred stealth, but in this situation it just wasn't feasible.

At least in the trees they had the environmental advantage.

/Red, run interference, don't get close, ah want to draw it up to those rocks, give it less runnin' space and us more manoeuvring tools. Mirage, use whatever shots y'got left sparingly, and aim for the head. Ah want to keep stunning it when it gets too close/

Mirage, trying to sort through the second-hand pain signals, gave a glyph of acknowledgement as Jazz vaulted himself up into the trees and started jumping between them, heading for the area he wanted the raptor in.

The raptor followed, back in hunting mode and ignoring its previous targets.

~We were bait~, Hound realised. There had been at least three points at which the raptor could have killed him, but had seemingly toyed with him instead. It hadn't made sense.

~Of course we were, Shockwave would have heard my lie about Jazz being my intended and the idiot probably believed it. He sent it for us knowing Jazz would come to defend us~

Mirage shared a look with Hound, the green wolf rallying himself to try and help RedAlert in his efforts to keep the rotoraptor too distracted to be able to outright attack Jazz as he lead it on.

/Will you two please remember that whatever ya sayin' over that shiny new bond o'yours, ah can't hear it and ah need ya talkin' to me here/

Hound and Mirage baulked slightly.

They hadn't even TOLD anyone yet.

/Need to get over the shock guys, Optimus told me. Matrix told him. Congrats and all but it's focus time/

As if a switch had been flipped, Mirage and Hound went back into business mode, Hound loping up the rocky ground as Mirage activated his disruptor again and circled around into a better sniping position.

/It came after us to lure you in Jazz, are you sure we shouldn't all just be trying to escape? This is exactly what Shockwave wants, the trees are thick, none of the camera drones seem to have located us yet, if he's going to try and kill you it's going to be now/

Jazz leapt from the tree he was in to the nearest one as the raptor slammed into it to try and knock him out. The blue visor flashed, Jazz's HUD fully activated and feeding him all the data he needed to stay one step ahead of the creature.

One step wasn't really enough though, if he faltered even once, that thing would catch up and he'd be fighting on the fly. The prospect did not give him courage.

/There ain't any runnin' from this thing now. Even if ahm fast enough, all it has to do is attack you again and it knows I'll come right back. And neither of you two is in any state to get away, not up here. We gotta take it on, we ain't got a choice now/

Jazz had un-subspaced one of several knives he kept on him at all times, and leapt to another tree, scrambling higher up as the raptor made angry screeching noises at him. It didn't seem to be the best climber, despite the huge pede claws. Though the one broken wrist did seem to hinder it thankfully.

He had to see if it was susceptible to a projectile other than the bullets in their guns. He took careful aim as it tried once more to climb the tree he'd jumped into.

His knife throwing skills had always been weirdly accurate, and they didn't fail him now. The specialised blade found its mark in the raptor's shoulder, piercing the flex-plates of the shoulder joint above it's good arm.

The raptor screeched indignantly and reared back, putting distance between them. It twisted and jerked, trying to find a way to remove the knife, but the angle meant it couldn't grip with the good servo, nor with its mouth.

Meanwhile, Red and Hound threatened it, circling, rumbling and mock lunging.

The red optics gazed up at Jazz, and he could have sworn it was calculating something. Without breaking optic contact, it crouched, flexed its rear leg in a very uncomfortable looking way, and got the knife between two toes, making a kicking motion to yank it out.

It then very suddenly lunged towards RedAlert.

Jazz couldn't even voice a warning before it had grasped hackles in its mouth and torn them off, Red letting out a scream that made Jazz's spark contract in its casing.

He didn't stop to think, pulling another knife and leaping across to another tree and then down onto the raptor.

Jazz plunged the knife into every flex-plate he could reach, the creature releasing Red as it let out its own scream and whipped its body around like a silicaserpent.

Jazz was thrown off pretty quickly, but not before he'd drawn energon, and the moment he landed he was backing up to avoid the tail slicing wildly through the air.

The rotoraptor quickly got its bearings enough to seek him out and lunge towards him, but it was stopped when something pinged violently off its helm. Mirage had shot at it from his sniping perch, somewhere unseen in the tree canopy.

Behind the raptor, Jazz could see Hound checking Red over, urging him to move back. But even with his hyper-sensitive haptic net turned down, that had to have given him one slag of a shock to the systems. He looked dazed and unable to really focus or balance. Pretty much all of his hackles had been removed or damaged, so the feedback would be brutal.

It meant Red was already out of this fight, and Jazz was loathe to ask Hound to continue either. But that left only him and Mirage, and Mirage wasn't even able to help him melee.

The raptor quickly got over the stunning effect of a bullet bouncing off its head, focussing in on Jazz again and approaching more cautiously this time.

Jazz still had a knife in his servo, but his other was hovering over a subspace pocket, ready to pull his energon blade out. He hadn't needed to use it in a very long time, but this seemed like the sort of dire emergency that called for a military grade weapon.

But he didn't get time to use it.

Because a blur of black, red and yellow came flying out of the trees and slammed into the rotoraptor full force.

Optimus wasn't sure he could stand this much longer. The camera drone that had followed Jazz had lost him and RedAlert in the thick trees, and it had taken what felt like an age to find them again.

And what it showed suddenly became the focus of every noble in the viewing area.

The special prey item, which had until now evaded all camera drones, was there in a small clearing, surrounded by thick trees and a large wall of ore-rich rock that was the base of the sloping walls of the crater.

And in its sights was Jazz. Standing directly in front of it. The view was not close, the drone being quite high in the air, but Optimus could still make out the shapes of two wolfmechs on the edge of the clearing, both covered in energon.

His tank felt like it dropped out from under him, and it was all he could do to reign in the matrix so his aura wouldn't alert any of the bots around him to his inner distress.

He still had to keep his emotions under wraps, he had a façade to uphold.

But it didn't stop the helplessness and anger and fear churning within him. He couldn't help, he couldn't stop the event lest it arouse the noble's ire and have them walking out before the trap could be sprung.

All he could do was sit, and watch, and hope against all hope that Jazz would win this fight. He just wished desperately that Jazz had more help.

And as if primus had somehow heard him, a figure burst onto the scene, attacking the raptor furiously before it could close in on Jazz.

Optimus was so stunned, he could only watch and continue trying to keep his field contained to his private platform.

/We cannot approach from the front. It's too smart for that/

Prowl didn't even spare a glance at Thunderwing as they raced across the crater at Prowl's top speed. But he was still surprised by the bot taking point on their strategy when he'd normally just entrust it to Prowl's tactical computer.

/Do you have further information on it?/

/I just asked Onslaught, Blackout and Lord Magnus. From what they've said, the only way to get any real hits in is to use the element of surprise. So we use the same strategy as for bears and boars, I distract from the front if Lord Mirage is already out for the count, and you attack from behind and above/

/What if there is no above?/

/I just checked the live-feeds from the camera drones. There is an above. I will tell you when you need to separate and go around along the outer rim to get behind it/

Prowl sent an affirmative and moved to Thunderwing's other side so he could dive into the tree line in the right direction when they came to it. His fear was morphing now into pure energy, driving him on against his exhaustion and the twinging in his lower back.

/You shouldn't be here! What are you doing!/

/Saving you from assassination you're SLAGGING WELCOME/

Ricochet fairly yelled across the comm, sounding both angry and indignant.

Jazz wanted desperately to jump into the fight and help, but the raptor was bucking and spinning wildly, tail thrashing as it screamed.

Ricochet had dug her claws in and was tearing at its neck with her long fangs. The plating was gouged, but she hadn't broken through yet, and kept having to duck and weave as the sharply lined maw arched around to snap at her head.

She hissed and growled, a paw swiping and batting violently at the sides of the raptor's head.

The raptor decided the only option was to use its weight, strafing into the rock wall and trying to slam her against it. Jazz heard plating crumple and squeal and winced, still looking for an opening to attack as he danced around the fight, but nothing presented itself.

He could throw a knife, but he couldn't be sure to do it fast enough before any part of his sister ended up in the line of fire.

Speaking of which, he could feel twinges of ghost pain as she was slammed against the wall again. As the raptor reared back to slam her a third time, there was the smell of ozone and a crackling sound that had Jazz backing up instinctively.

Ricochet's tail arched up, the end looking as though it had blades attached to it, and they were sparking with charge. She whipped it down against the raptor's flank, the creature screeching as that leg collapsed beneath it.

Jazz had a crazy moment of wishing with all his might that he still had a tail that did that, before realising he had no memory of having one, and then wondering if some latent part of code was reminding him he once had.

The whole string of thought came to a grinding halt as the raptor twisted under Ricochet and the maw snapped around to catch her wrist as she tried batting its helm again.

As she yowled and Jazz's wrist twitched in pain, he saw his opening.

Jazz jumped in and tried to drive his knife in behind its cranial unit… only for the knife to glance off. He tried again on the neck further down, but it wouldn't pierce there either.

His efforts didn't go unnoticed by the raptor, who released Ricochet's paw to aim for his arm. Jazz wasn't quite fast enough. The phantom pain became real pain, and the knife slipped from his servo as it spasmed.

Jazz hissed, other servo instinctively reaching for the subspace pocket with his energon blade. Barely thinking, once it was in his servo, he reared back to drive it with force into the creature's nearest optic.

But the head moved before he could, jerking as the raptor tried to roll under Ricochet's weight to toss her off and drag Jazz with it.

Ricochet apparently wasn't having any of it, and there was the same crackling and smell of ozone before the raptor jerked and screeched, Jaws forced open by the current being jabbed right into the base of its neck.

Jazz grunted and had a full body spasm before he rolled away. He was not insulated against the shock travelling from the jaws to him before he was free.

He didn't get very far though before the Raptor was writhing and bucking Ricochet off, kicking at her.

Jazz doubled over as he felt a stabbing pain in his abdomen, hearing Ricochet yowl as one of the claws pierced her plating.

The raptor could have finished her right there, but it wasn't interested, attention turning again to Jazz before he could back up too far. Jazz slashed his energon blade though the air, the Raptor lunging and retreating as another shot from the unseen Mirage pinged off its head.

It wasn't deterred for long, leaping bodily at Jazz so he was forced to dive sideways. The raptor was too fast for him though, pivoting to follow his motion and catching a leg with one of its pede claws.

Jazz went down, twisting and slashing at the creature, catching the side of its face before it could grab any part of him in that terrible maw. It still advanced, even as it hissed, energon running from the gash.

Jazz hissed again as he felt the claw sink deeper into his ankle, dragging him under the creature. All he could do was slash with his still functional hand, the Raptor rearing and hissing in frustration as it tried to pin him with its good servo and not get it cut off.

Jazz could no longer find it in himself to care if this thing was sentient and being controlled or not. He knew he should, knew it wasn't the thing's fault it had been created and controlled by Shockwave, just like him… just like Ricochet…

But if it was a choice between preserving it because it might be sentient, and losing his life… it wasn't really a choice anymore.

The creature jerked as another two or three shots from Mirage pinged off its plating. It waited for Jazz to try and stab it, then swiped its claws at just the right angle to slash the servo holding the knife.

Jazz yelped, servo getting caught on the claws and releasing the blade against his will, deactivating it. Now he only had two bad servos, and a mouth full of smiling death rearing over him.

In that moment, time seemed to slow. He could hear wolfmechs braying in alarm, Mirage shouting from somewhere in the trees… he could feel Ricochet's stabbing pains, and hear the sound of a distant camera drone… it was quickly being drowned out by the sound of jet engines though.

Wait, jet engines?

The Rotoraptor's head jerked again, but this time not from a shot. This time it was assessing a new threat, in the form of Thunderwing bursting into the scene, hollering and levelling his gun at the creature.

"DID YOU THINK I'D REALLY LET THE TWO OF YOU HAVE ALL THE FUN?"

Jazz's spark seemed to skip an oscillation. If Thunderwing was here, that meant-

Jazz's visor informed him of movement above him, but it wasn't the raptor, it was further back.

As if he'd been sent by Primus himself, the shining form of Prowl came flying down from the cliffside, vaulting off the rocky outcrop and landing squarely on the raptor before it had any idea what was happening.

It soon forgot about its prey, claw slipping free of Jazz's leg as it bucked and twisted, Prowl digging claws deep into its flex plates, immediately lashing out to attack an optic. The raptor had no time to react to defend its head, screeching in agony as claws pulled at the socket, tearing optic mechanisms away and leaving a trail of optic lubricant and energon in its wake.

The Raptor went into a frenzy, movements wild and unpredictable, but Prowl hadn't come into the fight unprepared. He'd taken a leaf from Thunderwing's book and demanded details from Rodimus about the creature.

It wasn't a great picture, but it was enough to tell him what he should be going for first. The other optic was now his target, but the head was moving too wildly for him to have a hope, so he tore out its sensory quills with his teeth.

It slammed itself against the rocks once. When it went to do it again, he vaulted before it hit and bounced off the rock face, letting it slam itself without harming him. It let out a harsh cry of anger, tail whipping around to try and slam him. Prowl leapt over it before chasing it through its motion, attaching his whole weight to it and tearing into the plating with his denta.

The knife-like protrusions on the end started getting ripped off, one by one, the raptor screaming in agony. When it got its bearings and twisted to try and grab him in its jaws, Prowl leapt up and came down on its head, slamming it into the ground under him and backing off again as the tail thrashed at him once more. Energon splattered everywhere from the wounds he'd inflicted, and it riled the coding in Prowl telling him he needed more fuel… needed to kill.

NO! Not this one, this one we have to keep alive, remember, you have to maim not kill!

Prowl assessed his next target on the raptor, but the creature was squaring up again, fixing it's working optic on him and rattling plating in a clear threat display.

Prowl didn't even bother to reciprocate, charging at the creature which sprung to try and meet him. But the alpha dodged before they could clash, dropping low and snagging the broken wrist, rolling and wrenching it clean out of its socket.

The sound the raptor let out was audial-splitting, and Prowl barely missed getting impaled with a pede-claw. It tore a gash in his side, but nothing severe enough to stop him. He got his pedes beneath him and leapt at the cliff-face, springboarding off it to slam into the raptor's back before it could figure out what he was doing.

He got a grip on the plating behind its head, trying to sink his denta in deep, but the plating grade was far superior to whatever Grimlock had been equipped with.

The raptor rolled, trying to crush him under its weight, but it just didn't have enough bulk to really do him damage. Prowl used the opportunity to change his grip. With the raptor on top of him, he didn't need to hold on with his forelegs and instead wrapped them around the thing's neck, sinking claws into the underside to see if his theory was correct.

The metal gave way.

Prowl gave a triumphant snarl and tore.

The raptor very quickly writhed and scrambled to get out of his grip, backing up, but the damage was done.

Prowl knew where to target now.

Prowl rolled to his pedes and circled the raptor, noiseless, plating slicked down to keep it from being snagged, optics focussed.

/Open up that neck, get it in a position where I can get a clear shot, we've got this one/

Thunderwing's comm made Prowl's EM field flare angrily, but he flicked his hackles as if acknowledging the order. He wouldn't though. He had to take this thing down without letting Thunderwing get a clear shot. He didn't care if they lost a tonne of points, it didn't matter, he'd glanced at the scoreboards on the way over, no one could overtake them at this point even with that kind of deduction.

/And once you're done we'll try and take that Klikat before the time is up/

That had Prowl's hackles up again, but not as an acknowledgement. He didn't turn, so Thunderwing didn't see the pure disgust on his face. Well THAT wasn't happening, but now he needed to warn Jazz's sister somehow to stay out of the line of fire.

Which was hard since she decided to jump into the fray at that moment, latching herself onto one of the raptor's ankles.

/Prowl! She says you need to work together, she can go for the legs while you aim for the neck again/

Prowl had no time to respond to Jazz's comm, already leaping back into the fray before the bot had finished talking.

The raptor, which had been standing-off and making threat displays and mock lunges at him, was now back to wild thrashing. It slammed Ricochet with its tail, but she merely whipped her own around and slapped it with a few more shocking bolts.

Screeching and trying to catch her with its good forearm, the raptor lost track of Prowl. The alpha had circled fast, taking a leap at speed up the cliff wall and running up it to get some decent height before he pushed off and twisted, coming down directly on the raptor's back.

The creature was twisting so much he almost lost grip and slid right off, but the effect of his weight slamming downwards made the Raptor's legs buckle. It was on its side now, and Prowl immediately dove for the neck, only to have to leap away as a pede-claw swiped at his head.

The pede-claw then tried to swipe at Ricochet, but she was ready, catching the pede in her mouth. The digit with the massive claw flexed, scratching at her cheek-arch, but only able to do superficial damage.

Prowl knew it was now or never. He dug his claws into the thing's snout, snagging one in its olfactory opening and yanked the head backwards, pinning it as best he could with his weight.

His jaws began tearing at the softer plating right under the lower jaw. He winced as he jerked his head, the raptor's good forelimb having reached up to slash at his shoulder. He worked faster, he had to cut the control cables in the neck, it would make the creature immobile, but not dead. He had a lot of neck plating layers to get through to reach them from the underside.

He felt energon flow down his foreleg, and tore more viciously with his denta.

/Prowl move!/

/No I've almost got it my shoulder is fi-/

/No she's telling me to tell you to move!/

Prowl ripped away the plating he had in his mouth and staggered back as he suddenly heard the crackle and smelt the ozone. He jumped back off the raptor just before Ricochet stabbed her tail end into the wound he'd made and unloaded a huge surge of electricity.

The raptor jerked violently and let out a garbled cry… but it didn't go offline the way Prowl thought it should from that kind of shock. Was its brain module shielded against such an attack?

Before Prowl could wonder any further, he found himself surging forward, seeing the raptor free one of its pedes from the hold she'd had with her mouth. It moved to stab its huge pede-claw into Ricochet's already scratched and bleeding helm.

Prowl dove for the neck and wrapped his jaws deep into the wound, jerking violently backwards with his whole body.

The Raptor's motions seized. The limbs went limp.

He'd damaged the control cables.

Without hesitating, he readjusted his jaws and tore again, feeling the spinal casings decoupling, damaging the control cables to the point the raptor finally couldn't fight back anymore.

"EXCELLENT! MOVE! NOW!"

Prowl heard Thunderwing. Deep instincts were telling him to obey. Obey or his pack would be harmed. Obey or he'd be harmed. Obey at any cost.

What if it's like us. What if it had no say in this?

Jazz looked between Prowl and the quickly souring expression on Thunderwing's face and realised what was happening, suddenly filled with dread because he couldn't stop it… unless…

/Rico, is that thing sentient? Is it a bot turned slave?/

/What?... No of course not it's a dumb stupid slagger of an animal and I hate it and I don't understand why your friend isn't killing it/

Thunderwing had already moved into a position where he could shoot straight through the open wound and down into the chest cavity to kill the raptor. Except Prowl's head was in the way.

/Prowl! Move! It's not sentient!/

"PROWL! DROP IT! I WON'T TELL YOU AGAIN!"

/Are you sure?/

/Ricochet confirmed it, let him shoot it before he shoots you he looks like he wants to!/

Thunderwing cocked his gun, wings sweeping up and back as he looked down the sights.

Prowl glanced at him before letting the neck go and shifting back. He'd barely cleared the wound when Thunderwing fired, forcing him to shutter his optics against the energon splatter that resulted.

The raptor jerked bodily, before all of its biolights went out. The frame starting to grey almost immediately.

Prowl looked at the body, slightly shell-shocked.

He knew Thunderwing loathed even the tiniest amount of disobedience. But he'd never actually expected him to be ready to shoot him in the head for it.

He couldn't bring himself to look up at the bot. He was too scared his coding might be triggered to attack him again.

Until he heard the gun being cocked for another shot. Trying to get a hold of his emotions, he slowly looked around at his master, somewhat relieved when he found the gun wasn't pointing at him. He'd been sure for a terrifying moment that it was.

Instead it was pointing at Ricochet.

Before Prowl could even think to protest, or wonder if placing his body between them would even be of any use, a klaxon sounded across the grounds.

The event was over.

Thunderwing reluctantly lowered his gun, rumbling in disappointment.

Prowl allowed his attention to leave Thunderwing, looking over the others to check if they were alright.

Mirage came into sight as he climbed out of a tree, rushing over to Hound and RedAlert, who he realised were both bleeding rather badly.

Thunderwing moved towards Jazz, who had stood from his crouch and was collecting his knives and re-subspacing them.

/Rico if you can make an escape, now is the time, but you'll be able to come get medical attention soon. I'll let you know when it's safe/

The only response Jazz got was a glyph of acknowledgment, but he had a strong feeling she wasn't going to take him up on the offer. And it worried him.

"I suppose we should count ourselves lucky to have a wild Klikat so pit-bent on attacking our special prey. They are terribly territorial though, can't say I'm surprised. Luckier to have me and mine here to save you, eh?"

"Yeah… lucky. I'd say ah owe you one, but ah feel like you got paid with the points from bein' the ones to kill it"

Jazz couldn't even force himself at this point to inject any life into his tone. It was all he could do to keep it flat and not unleash his outrage on the pseudo-seeker.

Thunderwing didn't seem at all perturbed by his lack of enthusiasm, shooting him a wide, smarmy grin. "Terribly sorry to take that honour away from you, but, I mean… we're not the best for nothing, after all. No hard feelings?"

"Naw… no hard feelin's" Jazz shook his helm and looked over at Prowl, who was still stood by the body of the raptor, looking into the trees. He assumed it was the direction Ricochet had gone, because she wasn't there anymore.

/Jazz… I have some bad news/

He jolted slightly at the comm from Optimus. His tanks churned.

/What is it?/

/Shockwave is gone/