Two weeks had passed since their arrival in Huntress's hollow. Cliffjumper's wounds were healing nicely and he was starting to regain his strength. Ratchet's leg had mostly healed as well, though the severity of the wound left him with a permanent limp.

It had taken him longer to bounce back due to his age, though it didn't slow him down by any means. He longed to leave the hollow and go home—wherever home was.

Miles to the south, a certain pair of Decepticons found themselves hopelessly lost.

"Breakdown!" Knockout whined from his perch between the bruiser's shoulder blades. "Do you even know where we are?"

Breakdown rolled his eyes. He'd been slogging through mud up to his underbelly for the past hour with no clue as to where he was going. At that point, he just wanted to reach dry land so Knockout would stop complaining.

"Like I said earlier, I lost the scent when we hit this bog." He muttered, flinching as flecks of mud spattered on his cheek. "This is hopeless. We should just turn back and tell Megatron we couldn't find 'em."

"Turn back? Are you out of your mind?" Knockout exclaimed. "Lord Megatron will have our heads if we do not return with the human!"

"It's just one human. Can't he find another one?"

"In case you've forgotten, we're also searching for the Autobot medic. I've been wanting a rematch ever since he embarrassed me at that river..."

"You wouldn't have gotten embarrassed if you weren't afraid of getting wet."

"I wasn't afraid of getting wet, I was afraid of getting swept away! Did you see how fast that water was moving?!"

Since they were distracted by their argument, both Decepticons failed to notice that they were being watched.

Upon reaching dry land, Breakdown hauled himself out of the frigid mud and immediately succumbed to exhaustion. White clouds of air billowed from his parted jaws as he panted, his flanks heaving.

Knockout crawled down from Breakdown's back, careful not to taint his any of his red scales with mud. He took a look at their surroundings and huffed softly.

"Nothing looks familiar..." He muttered. Then, his eyes widened as he turned around. "Breakdown, I think we're in the unknown regions."

Breakdown pushed himself to his paws and tried shaking some of the thick mud from his legs.

"Well, the scent seemed to be heading in this direction before I lost it." He said, a look of disgust on his face as he scraped mud off of his foreleg.

"Ratchet is not foolish enough to simply wander up here, especially with his precious human." Knockout scoffed, taking a step back so he wouldn't get hit with any of the mud.

"Maybe they didn't go willingly."

Knockout let out a yelp upon hearing the strange voice and dove behind Breakdown, who widened his stance with a threatening growl. To their surprise, a lone human came strolling out of the thicket.

"So your kind can talk." The woman said, seemingly ignorant of the danger she was in. "That makes things a lot more interesting."

"Keep your distance, human! Or I'll squash you like a bug!" Breakdown snarled, thumping the heavy end of his tail on the ground as a warning.

The woman snapped her fingers and several soldiers emerged from the undergrowth behind her, weapons trained on both dragons.

"If you'd rather not become a lab experiment, I suggest you cooperate." She explained. Her mask made it impossible to tell what emotion her expression held, so Breakdown had to rely on her voice.

Breakdown glanced over his shoulder at Knockout, who nodded hastily, then backed down. The soldiers kept their weapons primed to fire, but lowered them upon the strange woman's request.

"Who are you?" Knockout demanded, peering around Breakdown with a frown. "You've got a lot of nerve threatening us like this!"

"Relax, my scaly friend." The woman gestured to herself with one hand. "I am Vex, and I come from a human organization that wishes to study your kind."

"So you're a scientist."

"In a way. But I am not interested in you."

Breakdown raised a brow. "Then what are you interested in?"

"I overheard you and your companion talking about another dragon who is friends with a human." Vex stated, crossing her arms over her chest. "I believe we're after the same thing."

"Well you're stupid if you think we'll let you have them."

"Oh, you misunderstand. I don't want to take them from you. I want to work together. We both have our own boss to please, do we not?"

Breakdown's frown deepened as he turned to Knockout and lowered his voice.

"You think we can trust this human?" He murmured.

"Of course not." Knockout hissed. "But she might help us find Ratchet and that pesky girl. Once we have what we need, we'll betray her."

Breakdown flashed a toothy smirk and nodded. He returned his gaze to Vex, his piercing yellow eyes staring her down. "You have a deal."

Vex seemed pleased. "Good decision. Follow me. I'll tell you what I know about this dragon you seek."

The soldiers gave Knockout and Breakdown a wide berth as they followed Vex back into the thicket. Both sides were happy to finally be getting somewhere.

•
•
•

"Your best bet would be to head south, though I can't guarantee which territory you'll hit first."

Ratchet eyed Huntress skeptically and sighed. "I suppose I have no choice but to take your word for it." He huffed, turning his head to look down at Taylor. "Are you ready? It's going to be quite a journey."

"Ready as I can be!" Taylor answered cheerfully, pulling her jacket closer to her body.

"And Cliffjumper, you're sure you feel alright to travel?"

"Of course, Doc. I just want to get home to the others." Cliffjumper replied, his expression falling a bit. "They must be worried sick."

Ratchet offered a half-hearted smile, then looked over at Huntress. "Ah.. thank you for... graciously allowing us to stay in your hollow." He said in an attempt to be polite.

Huntress snorted. "Yeah, whatever. You Autobots aren't so bad." She flicked her gaze to Taylor. "Keep the little squirt safe. It's dangerous out there."

"He will! He's a good protector." Taylor beamed, giving Ratchet's leg an affectionate pat.

Ratchet couldn't contain the genuine smile that crept across his face. He flicked Taylor with his tail as a playful gesture and acted like nothing happened when she looked up at him with a slight pout.

"Alright. We'll be on our way, then." The medic nodded and crouched down.

Taylor climbed onto his back with ease and settled down in her favorite spot between his shoulders. She felt rude for not saying goodbye to Huntress despite their strange relationship, so she quickly gave her a hesitant wave as Ratchet turned and began walking into the undergrowth.

Huntress watched them leave, knowing she would probably never see them again.

•••
A/N: So sorry for not updating this book for a while! I've been struggling to get motivation and haven't been happy with my writing as of late, but I think I'm getting better. Anyway, hope you enjoyed this chapter!

Also! To clear up any possible confusion, Vex is an OC that I randomly made up to act as another villain alongside Silas. You'll learn more about her later!