Bumblebee sent a quick electric charge through Starscream as he stood back up, giving him enough time to deploy his small blade and decide to think on Knockout's defection later.
Optimus was only a few yards away and taking on the burly mech from earlier, so it was the yellow scout's job to take Starscream down quickly and then help his leader so they could get out of there fast. Sam was definitely not going to be thrilled to be in his spark chamber right now.
"Bumblebee, take Sam and return back to base. I can hold Grindor and Starscream off."
Bumblebee's optics widened at his leader's message. Ducking around Starscream's leap and then parrying his blade thrust, Bee quickly sent back his incredulity. "All due respect, Boss bot, but Sam's safe in my spark chamber. We could kill two birds with one stone by offlining these mechs right here and now! I can take this scrappy seeker."
Disapproval codes thrummed through their channel as Bumblebee fell back through a tree, narrowly dodging Starscream's piercing blade strike.
"This is a rescue mission, first and foremost, Bumblebee. Sam is not safe until he is back at base."
The yellow scout growled as he lunged at Starscream's chassis, intending to show the Prime that he could do it, could keep Sam safe and defeat Starscream, but his charged blade missed its target and glanced off of the seeker's arm, only partially short-circuiting the receptors there.
Starscream smirked as he grabbed ahold of Bumblebee's arm before he could retract it, and the taller mech pointed his other arm directly at Bumblebee's helm as his missile launcher deployed. The scout's optics widened at the perfect move as he struggled to get either of his arms free- one pinned between their chassises, the other in the silver mech's grip. Bumblebee's energon lines cooled as the missile launch system activated and he was still stuck in Starscream's grasp. He really should have listened to Optimus.

Ducking under Grindor's whirling helicopter blades, Optimus thrust one of his energon swords up to jam the blades and his second to ward off Grindor's other arm, giving him a klik to check on Bumblebee.
The Autobot leader cursed internally as he spotted Bumblebee going in for a jab at Starscream's open chassis. His scout didn't have as much familiarity with Starscream's fighting style as Optimus did, and the yellow mech wouldn't be able to avoid getting caught in one of the seeker's most effective traps.
Turning his optics back onto Grindor, but keeping his processor working on the hundreds of calculations and assumptions needed to find a way to get Bumblebee and Sam out of there quickly and safely, Optimus sent a specific set of coordinates to his medical officer before he had to withdraw his blades from their positions keeping Gridnor's arms in check to cross them in front of himself. Planting his pedes firmly in the ground, Optimus blocked Grindor's chassis cannon blast mere nano-kliks before it could impact his own chassis.
"Ratchet, Bumblebee and Sam are in trouble. Open a bridge at the exact coordinates I've sent you in 3.6 kliks. Expect Bumblebee to come flying through. Sam is in his spark chamber."
After being pushed back by the massive force behind the projectile blast and expertly staying on his pedes, Optimus charged forwards to swipe at Grindor's rotating blades once more, effectively cutting two off at the base.
Grindor roared and opened fire with his machine gun just as Ratchet reported back with a simple, "opening now."
Morphing his energon swords into a quick shield to divert most of the bullets down to the ground, Optimus was able to glance over at Bumblebee once more to see him flying through the air with a smoking helm, disappearing through a bridge just moments before he would be connecting with the ground.
Starscream shouted in anger as he saw the scout and bridge disappear, and the Prime turned his attention back to Grindor as the large Decepticon ran out of bullet clips.
"I have him, Optimus."
The Prime didn't respond to his medical officer as he narrowed his optics in concentration. This fight just got a little bit harder.

-

"Green eyes?" There was a pause, then.
"No, that's tasteless."
"Human?" Another pause.
"Too general."
"Wizard?" The alien jet shuddered lightly in laughter.
"The internet seems to think they're all old men."
Harry laughed from where he sat, relaxing in the pilot's seat. "They're not a hundred percent wrong," Harry added, thinking ruefully of his old Headmaster. "I once knew a man who lived up to the idea of 'wise old wizard'."
"And you know," he continued with a soft smile on his face, "you don't need to find a nickname for me. 'Harry' is just fine."
Megatronus' alien alt form rumbled softly as he flew through the open skies under his cloaking systems. "You deserve a nickname too, Harry. I want you to know that we are friends," the mech stated firmly.
Harry just shook his head and leaned back with a chuckle. "Alright then," he conceded, "but don't come crying to me when nothing lives up to your high standards."
The High Lord Protector scoffed- though Harry had no clue how an alien jet could do that- and started saying something about robots never crying, only to cut himself off when Harry tensed and sat up, ramrod straight.
"Harry?" Megatronus questioned, concerned.
"Optimus is in trouble. I have to go- bye Megs," Harry blurted before his magic forcefully apparated him away.
The large alien robot's processor stalled a moment at the loss of his human before his engines roared and he started racing back to his ship. "I'm going to offline that seeker..," Megatronus growled darkly.

-

Landing on his feet for once, Harry didn't have to look hard in order to spot the Autobot Leader. He was embroiled in a fight against two other bots, and Harry was relieved to only feel the familiar tug of the chain linking him to Optimus. He would not have to heal the Decepticons.
Creeping closer to the fight, but wary of getting too close, Harry watched in awe as the Prime traded blows with both of his opponents, never stopping in his offense or faltering when an attack landed.
It was by no means a fair fight, as it was two-on-one and melee against long-range weapons, but it was obvious that Optimus was more than skilled enough to level out the playing field.
As if to accentuate his point, the large red and blue mech stepped past a missile blast from the slim Decepticon and used both of his glowing orange swords to swipe the legs out from underneath the big gray Decepticon. There was a spray of bullets as the enemy went down, and Harry bent his legs to absorb the shocks that rolled through the ground.
Harry only got to blink before Optimus was on top of the downed mech with his swords suddenly curved to look like fishhooks. The Prime placed the sharp ends of the hooks on either side of the enemy's head and wrenched them in opposite directions without pause.
The mech made a sickening wailing noise as his head was ripped apart, but it abruptly stopped when his body slumped to the ground, lifeless.
Harry froze in fear when he turned his gaze back to the slim Decepticon that hadn't moved since Optimus dodged his missile. The reason he hadn't moved, Harry noted, horrified, was because he was charging up a huge blaster on his arm. The Arcane Healer hadn't heard it- the sounds of the dying Decepticon must have been loud enough to cover the whine of compacting energy.
"Goodbye, Optimus Prime," the mech sneered as the glowing orange energy was released.
"Protego Maxima!" Harry cried as Optimus hunched down, holding his arms in front of his head and chest. The wizard watched with baited breath as the beam hit his magic shield and stopped. However, only seconds later a resounding snap echoed through the forest as the shield cracked and then shattered into a million pieces. Harry cried out at the huge magical backlash, falling to his knees with a hand on his chest as he struggled to breathe through the pain.
What was worse, though, was that, through the tears in his eyes, Harry saw the continuous orange beam then hit Optimus' arms and shoulders. It was less than fifteen seconds before the receptors were fried and the mech's arms fell to his sides, allowing the energy beam the perfect opportunity to lay waste to Optimus' chassis until it ran out.
Optimus held his position kneeling above the dead Decepticon for a few moments, before his eyes shut and he, too, crashed to the ground, motionless.
The Arcane Healer nearly choked on the pain and anguish he felt. He had been unable to do anything to help. Why hadn't he thought to do something earlier?
Attempting to climb to his feet to get closer to the dangerously damaged Prime, Harry barely noticed when the silver mech fell to his knees, the Decepticon's red eyes dim in exhaustion.
A savage part of Harry took strength from the mech's tiredness. He should suffer for the pain he had put Optimus through.
However, the wizard did not allow himself to dwell on these thoughts long before he was stumbling next to the burnt leader. The enemy was still there and awake, which meant he needed to get away before the mech got back the energy to attack him for being there.
Tripping on his jelly legs, Harry fell against Optimus' side and panted as his magic ripped itself from his control and began leaving him in huge amounts. His hands were hot, shaking, and glowing a bright blue where they touched the downed mech. Like the waves on a sandy beach, blue energy rolled out of Harry's hands and sank into Optimus' chest, head, and arms, wave after wave.
Leaning heavily on the Autobot leader as bit by bit the damage was healed, Harry knew he wouldn't be able to stay awake long after the process was finished. He'd be lucky to stay awake through the entirety of it. The drain was almost worse than when he had brought Megatronus back.
"Squishy, what are you doing? Back away from the Prime or I will kill you as well!"
Turning wide, frightened eyes onto the silver mech that was standing back up, Harry cursed himself and then pleaded with his magic for it to pause in its healing for just one moment to take him and Optimus back to the Autobot hangar. Harry needed to go now, and he had the perfect spot- right in the center of the hangar on open, smooth gray concrete with the huge computer Bulkhead and Wheeljack sat at off to the right, the empty catwalk with the locked gray metal door on the left, a huge open doorway leading to the medical room filled with strange pieces of equipment further down on the right...
The blue light disappearing from his hands was all the warning Harry got before his concentration paid off and he was being squished down into a tube way tighter than normal. The two beings disappeared with a loud bang in front of the silver Decepticon's confused and enraged optics.

-

A large crash coming from behind them saw Bulkhead and Wheeljack jumping out of their seats at the shared supercomputer, weapons ready, in nano-kliks. However, it took them many kliks in order to properly process what their optics were relaying.
Their leader was burnt to a crisp with a gaping wound in his chassis, laying on the ground at their pedes.
"Optimus!" Ratchet cried as he ran over to the motionless body from where he had looked through the medical room doorway, horror plainly seen on his faceplate. The healer quickly started scanning the Prime, disbelief thrumming through his tubes.
Bulkhead and Wheeljack were no better. Their sparks felt dim and cold as they gazed at the offlined mech they had followed for so long.
Optimus' paint was scarred, chipped, and burnt away. The vivid reds and blues he always sported were dulled to black from damage. His armored face mask was still activated, and Bulkhead realized he'd never again get to see the proud quirk in his mouthplates whenever they worked together as a team. Their leader had gone down fighting. It was the only death noble enough for such a great mech.
Bulkhead closed his optics and bent his helm in respect just as a loud groan met the audio receptors of the surrounding Autobots.
Reopening his optics, Bulkhead stared in shock as Harry, the mysterious healer that had been popping in randomly, levitated off of the ground from Optimus' side and began floating above the Autobot leader's prone body with his eyes closed. They suddenly opened, glowing a bright yellow, as he raised his glowing hands and quietly murmured, "heal and return to us, dear Orion..."
Brilliant blue light Bulkhead would never tire of seeing escaped from Harry like rays from the sun, to shine down upon Optimus. The large mech's body readily soaked up the energy, and Ratchet sent out a quick scan, wishing to see their leader's vitals as Harry attempted the impossible.
They'd be amazed to know he had done it many times before.

-

Optimus' processor sluggishly started to function again as the being became aware of his spark warming from where it lay in his cold chassis. Something felt distinctly wrong about that perception to the mech, but his memory log wasn't active yet.
System reboot alerts started trickling into the Autobot's processor, distracting the mech from thinking of much else as his lining, tubes, gears, and fluids quickly began to move and warm back up. Then, the odd memory of sharp pain that Optimus could almost feel in his receptors became apparent, but, after a few kliks, it left just as quickly as it came. With its absence, came knowledge.
Processor now kicking back into high gear and systems reaching a hundred percent reliability, Optimus opened his optics sharply, his body tensing as he quickly took stock of his surroundings, searching for the Decepticon seeker he had foolishly underestimated. Starscream must have recently received that Gatling cannon, for it had never been used in any of his previous battles.
Optimus' processor halted its train of thought as more important information filtered into his processor. The human healer, Harry, was hovering above where he lay with a kind smile and glowing yellow optics focused on him. Optics that color had only ever been seen on one other being in the entirety of Cybertronian history- Primus.
That thought process, too, had to be stopped as Optimus saw Harry's eyes close and his face smooth out just as the healer's body began to fall towards his chassis.
Using the supernaturally fast reflexes he had been gifted upon becoming a Prime, Optimus carefully plucked Harry out of the air and cradled him in his two servos as he sat up to look at their surroundings.
Blinking in surprise, Optimus saw that he was sitting in the middle of the Autobot base, surrounded by three of his fellow warriors.
The four stared at each other for a few moments before Ratchet grunted and offered his servo to help the large mech get up.
"Optimus, I swear to Primus, if you offline like that again, I'll have Harry bring you back online just so I can personally offline you."
The Autobot leader looked down at his scowling medic in mild surprise. His earlier thoughts suddenly made sense. The only way his body would have been cold was if all of his systems had offlined.
"Now, into the medbay with you and Harry," Ratchet shooed. "I need to make sure you both are okay."
Optimus' mouthplate lifted lightly in a gentle smile as he kept the unconscious healer close to his chassis and walked steadily on his pedes towards the medical room. It seemed he had much to thank the little human for.

-

Megatronus twitched as he sat in his throne room, waiting. That seemed to be something he did often these days. The possessed Megatron had always been busy, be it with plotting his enemies' downfall, imagining ruling Earth, attempting to scare his minions into further terror, or fixing his second-in-commands mistakes.
Now, however, it wasn't only annoyance that was making him twitchy- it was worry. There were many things that could go wrong with Harry being in contact with both sides of their war. Megatronus was not fool enough to think he could have the healer all to himself, but the mech wished he could have had him alone for just a little while longer.
"My Lord," Starscream simpered as he walked into the throne room, distracting Megatronus from his thoughts. "I believe it is finally time that we awaken The Fallen."
The Lord High Protector looked at the seeker with a sneer. Starscream looked like scrap. His outer armor was torn and covered in dried energon. There were places where it still leaked from clean puncture wounds that could only have been from Optimus' energon blades. The possessed Megatron had seen them often enough. The Prime was partial to his dual blades when fighting at relatively close range.
"And just what is the cause your appearance?" Megatronus really didn't want to grant Starscream his wish. Not only would it bring him closer to The Fallen, where he would realize Megatronus was no longer under his influence, but it would bring more trouble to Harry. The Lord High Protector did not want to endanger his human.
"I was attacked by Autobots, my Lord."
Megatronus didn't allow himself to react, other than to wave his servo and give an encouraging, "go on."
"Master, I have managed to create a tracking system that allows me to find any existing Allspark shards on this primitive planet. I had wanted to wait until I had the fruits of my labor in my grasp, but alas..."
The Decepticon leader felt his energon freeze at the implications of what his second-in-command was saying. He had heavily suspected that his little human somehow received some of the power of the Allspark. Primus knew how, but Harry had fought off The Fallen's influence on his processor, and Knockout had picked up the Allspark's energy readings when Harry was inside his spark chamber. Even if he didn't have that specific power, Megatronus feared he would still show up on Starscream's radar. The seeker having a way to track his human left the ex-gladiator feeling horribly cold.
"Knockout, Grindor, and I had managed to get our servos on one of these shards, as it was in the possession of the Witwicky human, but the Autobots found us before we could determine exactly where it was. It was upon the arrival of the Autobots that I saw Knockout's optics changed color."
Megatronus felt his opticplates rise in surprise. It had never occurred to him that Knockout would defect. However, that did give the Decepticon leader the perfect excuse to not accompany Starscream on his mission.
"The slagging traitor grabbed the human," the seeker continued with a sneer, "and gave it to the Autobots before he fled. I was unable to give chase, as the scout and the Prime then opened fire. In the resulting battle, I injured the scout but was unable to stop him from retreating with the human. The Prime then managed to offline Grindor, and I, in turn, offlined the Prime."
Megatronus forced a sinister smile onto his mouthplates even though inwardly he was shocked and worried. Had Harry been too late?
The silver mech then felt foolish as he remembered that Harry would never be 'too late'. His little human had brought him back from the Well of Sparks, there was nothing saying he couldn't do the same for Optimus.
Or, Megatronus fretted further, had he been hurt in the battle and Starscream did no see it as important to tell him of a random squishy's death?
Megatronus' optics hardened as he asked, "Indeed? Did he die in agony?"
Starscream, despite his pain, straightened up in pride before he said, "He was distracted with tearing apart Grindor's helm, so I used the dumb bot's screams to cover the sounds of my Gatling cannon charging up. By the time the Prime had snuffed Grindor's spark, I was ready to fire. He tried to protect himself with his arms, but my beam burned through them and then fried his spark."
The Lord High Protector was surprised by the seeker's triumph in battle. It had to be relatively true, since Harry had been abruptly pulled to help Orion. He supposed it wasn't that big of a surprise. The conniving mech always known how to use a situation to get the upper hand.
Megatronus tried to appear eager as he asked, "And where is his body? I wish to see what remains of that irritating nail in my side."
The Decepticon leader fought to keep the maniacal smile on his faceplate as his processor started weaving terrible scenarios in his helm. The thought of his beloved human's body lying somewhere on the battlefield, broken, lifeless, and forgotten, left the giant mech's spark dim and cold. He would search the area as soon as Starscream left for Saturn.
"This, I don't know," the seeker frowned, his gaze turning to the floor.
Megatronus rose to his pedes swiftly, using his full height of thirty-five human feet to intimidate his twenty-one foot second-in-command. "How do you not know where it is? Are you attempting to deceive me?" The Decepticon leader growled, his main faceplate twisted with rage. If the blasted mech didn't know where Orion had fallen, then how was he going to find Harry?
Starscream hunched in on himself as his red optics stared up into Megatronus'. This time, the giant mech did not feel bad for his actions. The seeker was deserving of his ire.
"I- I did kill him, my Lord," Starscream stuttered out in an attempt to convince him. "However, once he fell, a human went towards him and began emitting a bright blue energy. I attempted to capture it, but as soon as I got close, it and the body disappeared with a loud sound. I thoroughly searched the area, but could find nothing contributing to their disappearance. It left my audio receptors ringing the entire flight back."
Megatronus masterfully hid his relief at the fact that Harry was not dead or lying injured somewhere. That meant Orion was most-likely not dead either. However, Starscream did not need to know that.
The ex-gladiator bared his denta as he leaned down closer to the cowering silver mech.
"It seems that, once again, I am forced to fix your mistakes. Go and revive The Fallen, I will take care of Knockout and the Prime," Megatronus growled.
"Yes, Master," Starscream whimpered before he turned around to flee.
"Oh, and Starscream?"
The silver seeker stopped in his tracks before slowly turning back to look at the dark faceplate of Megatronus. "You will make sure The Fallen's needs are met, otherwise it will be your inner plating on the line," Megatron threatened, his optics blazing brightly.
"Yes, Master!" Starscream squeaked before he vanished from the room.