"When you are being hunted, set your mind as the predator."

~Toba Beta

>>•<<

Shovel was absolutely ecstatic to get off the ship and look at Scotland, but to his dismay there was neither unicorn nor leprechaun in sight. The place was a spacious plain, but they hadn't come here for the scenery. The Vehicon made himself focus on the task at hand, waiting patiently for the deck of the ship to lower- well, as patiently as he could, bouncing from one foot to the other in excited anticipation.

"This, is, awesome!" Miko crowed, leaping off the platform the moment it was lowered and heading towards the large hole from whence the signal of Decepticon activity came.

"Miko, wait up!" Bulkhead hissed, him and Shovel following her. The Wrecker quietly asked for Shovel to remain at the edge, to provide cover, while he attempted to scamper down to his partner. Some rocks fell as he put his weight on the uneven and weakened ledges provided, Miko looking up when they hit her helm.

"Go slow, Miko. We don't want to cause too much noise and draw attention to ourselves!" Bulkhead warned, climbing down a little further to her.

"Aw, come on Bulk! I wanna kick some tailpipe!" She argued, but then stopped when the green giant put a finger to his lips, spotting a Vehicon guard stalking out of the entrance to the mine. He had either heard them, or was simply doing a routine check, but to Bulkhead's amusement the guard never looked up.

Of course, that's Wrecker rule #17. Guards never look up.

His pede slipped, however, and caused more rocks to topple onto Miko. She opened her mouth to protest again, but stopped when she realized that the rocks were going to give away their arguable vulnerable position.

If I stick the landing right, I can jump.

The Vehicon guard didn't see what was coming next as Miko's mace smashed its way through his helm at high velocity, the girl cracking the ground and making a fairly large cloud of dust as she landed. She grinned up at her two companions before her gaze refocused on the entrance to the mining operation, somewhat startled by the arrival of more Vehicons.

"Scrap."

Shovel transformed both of his servos into guns, pointing them at the Vehicon troopers below. He didn't recognize them, and they were trying to hurt his Autobot friends. He might feel bad about hurting one of his own, but those two things trumped everything else. Imagining that it was Ratchet on the front lines helped even more; despite being a field medic, he didn't seem very combat-savvy.

The first Vehicon that tried to attack Miko fell by his servo, Bulkhead joining to bash the other next two in the faces and terminating them instantly. The new femme-bot was proving good at what she did, kicking and spinning around, unafraid to put her servos on the Vehicons and throw them at one another.

Shovel saw how quickly his friends were becoming overwhelmed and jumped down to help, servos digging into the rock and accidentally knocking a few sizeable pieces loose, which happened to help rather than hurt in the ensuing battle. He kept the handful of dirt and rock he acquired on his way down and threw them at the nearest Vehicons, soon shooting at the Decepticons.

"Traitor!" One Vehicon in particular shouted, charging toward him.

You weren't made to last long in battle.

But neither were they.

Shovel thrust his gun into the chest of the offending Decepticon and fired, quickly offlining his spark. He used a few different maneuvers he had picked up from watching the other Autobots, such as spin-kicking and punching. It was a lot more effective than shooting and hoping to hit something.

Bulkhead took care of the last Vehicon, bashing him against the wall and crushing his processor, the three of them standing around the corpses of the fallen.

"You okay Shovel?" Bulkhead asked. It was an odd question, but the Vehicon didn't think much of it, and spoke the truth.

"Yeah, I'm good. Not injured. Are either of you hurt?" He inquired.

"I'm good to go!" Miko replied enthusiastically, Bulkhead shaking his head.

"If we're all okay, then let's keep going." Bulkhead advised, transforming his maces back into servos and walking into the mine.

It was dark, cool, and kind of scary for a tunnel. Shovel wasn't claustrophobic, but it made him uneasy to be in a confined area with only one means of escape. If something bad happened, they wouldn't be able to radio for help, nor escape easily.

He tried to focus on looking for Predacon bones instead, seeing many different rocks of various shapes and sizes, picking one up and holding it out for Bulkhead to see.

"Is this it?!" He asks excitedly, finding it to be a unique shape and possibly be what they were looking for.

"Uh, no. That's a rock." Bulkhead answers, continuing on his way while Shovel looked at said rock in confusion. How were they supposed to find Predacon bones if Earth rocks looked justice them? Bulkhead somehow knew the difference, he wondered if the Wrecker could teach him . . .

An unexpected shaking rocked the tunnel, some debris falling from the unstable ceiling and causing Bulkhead to instinctively shield Miko, the three of them looking around for the source, even though they were the only ones present in the tunnel.

"What was that?" Miko asked as the sound of heavy footsteps and a shriek sounded from the entrance of the cavern.

"I don't know . . ." Bulkhead frowned. "But it's big, and coming this way . . ."

They stared a moment longer, shock coursing through their veins as the Predacon, which they had thought to be long gone in the frozen tundra of the Arctic, barreled through the tunnel and came roaring at them.

"The Predacon?!" Miko voiced their surprise aloud.

"Run!!" Bulkhead turned and transformed, his wheels skidding on the dirt briefly before he managed to gain traction and go, Shovel right behind him with his ground vehicle and Miko above the both of them in her Seeker mode, the femme more than capable of flying faster, but not wanting to leave her friends behind.

Avoiding a blast of fire, the girl attempted to fire at the Predacon, but missed terribly, hitting the walls instead and causing some Rocky debris to tumble down, not yet adept at multitasking in her alternate mode.

"This way!" Bulkhead cried as yet another blast of flame roared towards them, the big lug turning sharply into a fork that was much smaller than the tunnel they were being pursued in, the Predacon chasing after them but getting stuck.

"Sweet move, Bulk!" Miko complimented, but then thought about recanting that statement as the symbol on the chest of the beast glowed, threatening to burn them to a crisp.

"Faster!" Came the command, the three of them driving even faster to escape the heat, an opening allowing them to scatter and avoid the torrent of fire.

Miko transformed and landed on her feet while the Predacon screamed in rage, the sound of its struggle only giving them a time limit to work with. There was an opening, but it was too small for the broader males to fit through. If she tried, she could squeeze through-

"We need to call for back up." Bulkhead put a finger to his comlink, but despite the opening there a signal couldn't get through. They were too far underground, the natural mineral ores in the ground also gave some interference, as Cybertronian comlinks were not designed to get through such foreign metals.

"I'm not getting a signal." Shovel voices aloud, sounding slightly worried. "What are we going to do?"

Bulkhead looked up for a second, his optics narrowing, before returning his gaze to his two companions. Shovel was too large, Miko just might fit. "Miko, I'm going to need you to climb."

"No way. I want to help!" She protested. "I've got blasters, we'll blow that Predacon sky-high!"

"It's armor is too strong." The Autobot shook his head. "I need you to get to the ship, and contact Ratchet from there. Shovel and I will hold off the Predacon."

Her ponytails drooped briefly before she nods. "Alright. I'm on it!" She took a running start, digging her digits into the dirt and beginning to climb.

I'll get ya out of there, Bulk.

>>•<<

"I will need just a few more samples." Shockwave spoke to Megatron as he analyzed the piece of Predacon CNA he managed to snag from the scuffle between Optimus Prime and the two other foot soldiers he brought with him.

"How many do you require?" Megatron asked. "We have the resources to retrieve as many as you desire, Shockwave. Do not hesitate to ask."

The scientist didn't think he had to hesitate. "Two more would be ideal; it will lessen the chance of retrieving an invalid sample."

Megatron grinned. "Soundwave is working now to track down two more Predacon bones. And the Predacon we currently have is in the process of annihilating an Autobot threat and fetching one of its brethren's remains."

Shockwave simply grunted his understanding, shutting down the analyzer once it had determined the sample was valid, and began the extraction process. After a moment, he spoke again to his master.

"How is the experiment doing in his new environment? I have been lacking in monitoring him recently due to Project Predacon."

"Jack has been doing splendidly." Megatron didn't suppress the pride that leaked into his words. "His processor is functioning at fully capacity, and he is very much aware of himself and his surroundings. You have seamlessly molded his mind and body, an astounding accomplishment."

The showering of compliments did not evoke a sense of pride in the scientist, only satisfaction that everything was in working order. "I expected no less, lord Megatron. Have you given him an alternate mode?"

"No. I don't think he has deserved that privilege as of yet." The warlord replied. "Rest assured, his T-cog is indeed functional, as he is able to utilize his weapons in a battle situation."

"That is a satisfactory determinate of his functionality." Shockwave agreed, collecting the sample of Predacon CNA extracted from his sample.

Megatron picked up the bone delicately, showing a rare demonstration of his own self-restraint, and awareness in things much more fragile than himself. "It is a shame we didn't think to make the humans Predacon bodies. But then they would be much more difficult to handle, I'm sure."

"Indeed. It is better that they remain in the Cybertronian bodies bestowed to them." Shockwave continued to agree with his master. It was dangerous enough that Megatron trusted the boy to remain unattended even now; if he had a Predacon body, it could possibly be even worse.

Megatron paused for a moment as an update from Soundwave, the communications officer giving them a location of a new Predacon bone. The warlord smirked, sharp denta gleaming in the dull light of the ship.

"Send out the Vehicons. Even though the Autobots are engaging us now, their forces will be very much scattered and stretched thin. We have the advantage of numbers."

"Even with two new additions to their ranks?" Shockwave questioned.

This illicited a laugh from Megatron. "You overestimate Optimus Prime's willingness to expose the humans to battle. He would rather cut himself in half than let them see combat. Do not worry Shcokwave, the experiments will not see the light of day outside the Autobot base. They have as much importance to Prime as they do to us."

>>•<<

Wheeljack did not like being confined to base. Coupled with the worry Ratchet had over Shovel being out there and possibly in the midst of battle, and the medic was about to explode. Rafael was a steady presence next to the older Autobot, but it did nothing to ease the rising tension.

"Hey, I've got another reading on Decepticon activity!" Agent Fowler spoke before Wheeljack complained about his condition one more time, which would have resulted in Ratchet welding his mouth parts together. "Located in New Mexico."

Wheeljack was a bit smug with this one. "Well, doc, if you so badly want to abandon your incredibly important formula work and get outside your comfort zone, here's the opportunity to do so. Or," he shrugged, acting indifferent. "I could accompany Arcee and go check it out. I'll be fine."

Ratchet didn't know whether he wanted to agree with Wheeljack or punch him in the face. The last thing he wanted to do was leave base, but he also didn't want his own patient to go out into potential danger. He had time to heal, but not a lot of it.

The medic growled. "Fine. Go, Wheeljack! But Arcee, if he so much as gets a dent, you report to me and he will be confined to base for the remainder of the beast hunting."

Arcee rolled her optics. "Got it, Ratch." Honestly, when he and Wheeljack went at it, they were incredibly childish about it. The medic had a point, but he could be overdramatic about lots of things.

"Don't worry about me. I've been through worse." Wheeljack grinned, standing with a grunt.

"I mean, I could go . . ." Rafael said reluctantly.

"You don't have to if you don't want to, kid." Wheeljack reassured him. "It's alright, I'm in better shape than the doc is anyways."

"Want to test that theory?" Ratchet muttered before opening the Groundbridge to the given coordinates. "Don't get any ideas, Ultra Magnus. I will not allow you to leave base. I'm only letting Wheeljack do it because he might spontaneously combust if I don't."

Wheeljack waved a dismissive servo, grinning at Ratchet's exaggeration. "I'll be alright. Besides, what are the odds that . . . We . . . Get . . . Into trouble . . ." He trailed off as he and Arcee emerged on the other side, the Groundbridge closing and leaving them surrounded by a multitude of Vehicons.

"Scrap."