Soundwave had created a bridge leading to the coordinates of the base that Optimus had given him. Bulkhead had helped Arcee to her pedes, but when she didn't really walk, he gave up, picked her up, and ran. The Autobots and Shattered Glass Decepticons retreated. Soundwave made a bridge for Ratchet, and Optimus carried Bumblebee through, saddened at the extent of the scout's injuries.

He set the scout on a medical berth, allowing Ratchet to work. He looked around and noticed Arcee being treated by Knockout, who really wasn't doing much more than just a checkup. She still looked out of it and knew he should speak with her soon.

His gaze shifted from her to Soundwave, gently twisting the top of the pod off and gently picking up the children inside.

"Are they dead?"

Everyone jumped at the voice, and they saw three humans coming from behind the GroundBridge controls. Miko, Raf, and Jack.

"Where did you three come from?" Airachnid asked, though it sounded more like a demand to know.

"Uh...we may have snuck through Soundwave's bridge?" Raf replied, nervously tapping his index fingers together. The others looked at Soundwave, who shrugged before setting an unconcious Jack down. Knockout face-palmed.

The kids didn't take that as a command to leave and ran up the stairs to their counterparts.

"No, really, are they dead?" Miko asked, looking up at Soundwave worriedly. The mech shook his head once as he placed down Raf, still in the fetal position, and his counterpart watched sadly before walking over and sitting in front of him.

"How are they alive?" Jack asked in awe.

"My guess? Bumblebee pulled another selfless move," Ratchet replied, looking up from his work for a second, before looking back at the scout. His vitals were still low.

"By the AllSpark Bumblebee, why do you have to keep doing this?" Ratchet cried. "I'm not going to be able to heal you every time!"

Optimus set a servo on the medic's shoulder plate in silent comfort. He knew Ratchet blamed himself for not being able to fix Bumblebee's voicebox. The room was silent for a few minutes until Miko stirred from her place on the couch. They looked over at her expectantly, hoping that she was alright after the explosion. She tried to sit up, but with her ribs and arm, it was impossible until the other Jack had gently taken her good arm and put it around his shoulders to lift her into a sitting position.

"Thanks, nerd Jack." she smiled at him, and he smiled back. She looked over at Raf, still curled up in the fetal position, and set a hand on his head to try and comfort him. He was fully conscious throughout the entire thing but wanted so desperately to just forget it all happened. Any of it. He was awake for the fighting, and had seen Bee again, the evil Bee. He knew his friend was in trouble, from what Ratchet was saying.

When Raf had ever dared to look up, it was either an evil Bee or his lifeless friends that greeted him. They looked so dead, he had to remind himself that he knew they were alive. He cried already, during the fight. Jack and Miko were out cold, and he envied them for it. He didn't have tears left. He didn't feel safe. He just wanted all of it to go away. The injuries, the memories, any trace, gone. He wanted Bee back to full health. He wanted Miko to be okay. He didn't want to think he was going to die every second while Optimus Prime's evil counterpart was on his Earth. He wanted it all gone.

He couldn't help it. He cried again. He didn't think he had tears left, but he did. And he didn't bother trying to hide them.

"Oh, Raf..." Miko whispered, moving from his head to his arm and gently rubbing it. She wanted to hug him, but physically was unable to.

Jack stirred when he heard crying, and he sat up immediately, looking around frantically. When he realized he was in the Autobot base he relaxed and looked over at his friends. Wordlessly he made Raf sit up before he pulled him over Miko and hugged him close. Raf welcomed the comfort. Miko leaned against Jack on the couch, and he wrapped an arm around her. They felt safer now than a few minutes ago.

"Jack, Miko, Rafael," Optimus walked over to them and greeted them quietly. "I am truly sorry for placing you in such harm. It was never my intention."

"Optimus...none of it was your fault," Jack replied. "That wasn't you. That never will be you."

Jackson Darby, the war spreading to Earth was my fault.

Optimus only nodded. "However...I must ask...if you remember how you were able to..."

"Survive?" Jack replied, before looking over at Bee. "We probably wouldn't have if Bumblebee didn't hug the pod holding us right before everything exploded."

Raf wailed quietly into Jack's shirt, and the teen immediately felt bad, muttering an "I'm sorry" to him before Miko looked over at the scout.

"Is he...gonna live?" she asked quietly. Ratchet gave her a look which everyone knew meant "It doesn't look good."

The room was solemn again as the two trios sat in the human area, one huddled together, and the other trio was casually sitting around them. Jack was sitting on the chair, Miko, the makeshift coffee table, and Raf was sitting on top of the couch off to the side, staring down at the three on it. They were silent again until Megatron vented out quietly.

"Optimus, with my counterpart gone, there is no telling what yours may do now."

"Wait, what? Megatron is dead?" Miko asked, sitting up immediately. Jack looked equally surprised, and slightly horrified. Optimus nodded.

"With Primus' return in our world, it would seem-"

"What?" Miko asked again, and the two leaders exchanged a glance.

"Apparently, my Optimus double-crossed your Megatron and brought our version of your Unicron to your world. Optimus is now practically unstoppable, Megatron became angry, they had a battle, he killed him. Now your world is falling into chaos," Knockout explained. He had finished with Arcee a while ago. Miko nodded slowly, attempting to understand, before her eyes caught sight of Bulkhead, who was staring at her silently. She wasn't sure what to think and silently shifted closer to Jack before looking away. The older teen seemed to understand. The other Miko shifted to the floor and took the television remote, turning it on and to the news.

"We thought we were in the clear, but it seems natural disasters have started again, with multiple hurricanes forming along the east coast. Wildfires have begun to spread through the west coast, tsunamis again threaten coastal cities throughout the world. Multiple countries in Africa and Europe are receiving violent lightning storms and are quickly becoming flooded with a heavy downpour of rain. Earthquakes have started again in multiple areas around the globe, ranging from a 3.0 to an eight in magnitude. Scientists still are not sure what the cause of these natural disasters are, yet-"

The TV shut off as all power suddenly went out, save for a light in the corner, serving as a backup. The Autobots and Knockout turned on their lights, providing light to everyone.

"Somehow, this feels worse than Unicron," Miko whispered, scooting even closer to Jack. She'd end up on his lap at this point.

"Soundwave, are you able to restore power?" Optimus asked, turning to the said 'bot. Ratchet was silently freaking out, scanning Bumblebee himself to see his vitals since he no longer had a machine to do it for him, and Knockout silently walked over to assist, as well as give him better lighting. Soundwave stared back at the Prime. He wasn't sure if he could restore it or not.

"Statement: Unknown."

"I can try and help," Jackson offered, adjusting his glasses.

"I believe we have a generator," Ratchet suggested, not looking up. "It should be in the hall to my left. And there should be flashlights somewhere nearby."

Soundwave nodded, before picking up Jackson, who was happy he had thought to bring his laptop with him in that split-second decision, before the faceless 'con ran down the hall.

"I guess he doesn't need one," Bulkhead replied, referring to the flashlight.

"Well, most of us do," Megatron reasoned, and Bulkhead gestured for them to follow him, before they returned a minute later, flashlights in servo. Bulkhead handed one to Arcee, who quietly thanked him, before looking around and turning into another hallway. She just needed to think.

Optimus watched her leave, and frowned slightly before following after her down the dark hallway.

"Arcee?"

She visibly jumped, before relaxing.

"Sorry, Optimus. Can I help you with something?" she asked, turning to face her leader.

"I wanted to know how you were doing," Optimus replied. "Our last battle seems to have...impacted you."

"Oh, really?" Arcee replied sarcastically, before her expression softened. Optimus was only worried about her, she didn't need to get mad.

"I guess...when you see yourself be brutally killed by someone you trust, you're not sure how to react."

Optimus frowned and lowered himself down to her optic level.

"I hope this incident does not make you believe I may one day do such a thing," he said gently.

"No, Optimus, never...I trust you, I just...I always have to remember which Optimus I'm looking at, if that makes sense," she admitted, not meeting his gaze. He set a servo on her shoulder plate and nodded.

"Is there anything I am able to do to help you?"

"No, Optimus, but...thank you," Arcee replied, giving him a small smile, one he returned.

"I am here if you need me," he stated, standing to his full height before turning to walk away.

"I hope so," Arcee whispered to herself.

***

Luckily Jackson and Soundwave were able to pull through. The generator was old, though, and they were only able to get and divert power to the monitors and the medical bay, as well as a few lights hanging overhead. The Cybertronians were quietly discussing what they should do next (Arcee saw no point in sulking in the dark any longer and had joined them).

"The world is falling into greater chaos than imagined," Megatron stated. "We need to find a way to stop it. We can infer that Primus is at Earth's core, but that does us no good without a means to stop him."

They were silent as they thought, and the room fell into an uneasy silence for a few seconds.

"If I may," Optimus started, shattering that silence. "When Primus and Unicron fought in our world, it was the power of the thirteen original primes that defeated him. The Matrix of Leadership has that same power. Perhaps it will work on your Primus, as he is also an incarnation of destruction."

"It's a long shot. The Matrix is also a part of Primus. Even if they're two opposites, who knows what could happen?" Megatron replied, before sighing.

"But it may be our best bet."

"So we know we should go into the Earth's core, but where in the Earth's core? It is rather large, and even with Soundwave's help, who knows where we could end up?" Airachnid pointed out, and Soundwave nodded once in agreement.

"What if you used the matrix to...uh...locate him?" Raf asked from his perch on the couch. Miko gave him a look, as if saying "that would never work".

"Like, if it had a way to sense a part of Primus, but an evil part? Like a half-Unicron or something," he continued, shrugging a little, ignoring Miko's look. Optimus stared at the young boy, who was very different from the Rafael he knew.

"It is worth a try," Optimus replied, and the group watched as he closed his optics and silently focused on using the Matrix. His chest chassis soon started to glow , giving the room a blue hue as its light was more powerful than what was on in the base in that moment.

"Woah," Jack and the other Miko whispered at the same time. The other humans were speechless as they watched.

Optimus continued to search, before his optics opened and widened, and he grabbed at his chassis. The glowing stopped, and he fell to his servos and knee plates as he grunted and then hissed in pain.

"Optimus!" Ratchet cried, looking up from his work on Bee and running over to his side.

"Optimus, speak to me!" Ratchet cried, kneeling next to him and setting a servo on his shoulder plate. His words were muffled to Optimus, however, as an intense pain spread throughout his chassis.

"I have found you."

Then the earth started to shake violently below them.

~~~

Woo, I am on a roll with these 2000+ chapters.

Quality over quantity, though, I know. :> Hopefully it was good quality. Thanks for reading!