-ˢʷⁱᵗᶜʰ ᵗᵒ "ᵈᵃʳᵏ ᵐᵒᵈᵉ" ᶠᵒʳ ᵇᵉˢᵗ ᵉᶠᶠᵉᶜᵗ-

Smokescreen's P.O.V

Systems Rebooting...
Systems Check...
[Weapons Systems Damaged]

The throbbing pain in my processor became apparent to me. Like my circuits were banging around trying to escape. My limbs felt weak under the constant pressure of the weight above me. I couldn't see anything, only feel. Feel the energon leaking out of my body and onto the surrounding area. I felt completely pinned and trapped. I moved my aching shoulder slightly. Little pebbles dropped onto my servo as the rocks shifted above me. I slowly lifted my other arm and blindly swatted at the nearby stones. I felt them shift. As they fell on my face, my servo broke through to the surface. Flexing my fingers, I tried to regain feeling in it. In what felt like forever, I could actually feel my spark again. I kicked and punched everything and anything around me. Light pouring in from the gaps in the stones encouraged me to keep going. Eventually, all the rocks fell and I was able to crawl away to a nearby wall.

    Blinking furiously, my optics adjusted to my surroundings as my processor pounded. A light flashing caught my attention. The light was a brilliant blue hue. It flashed sporadically under a pile of rubble. Groaning, I placed my servos on the floor and used my knees to push myself up. My legs shook as I gripped the wall. "Primus. Who knew it would hurt this much to have a cavern collapse on you." I wobbled to the source of the light, periodically reaching down to stabilize myself. Peeling up the stones and discarding them, I gasped.

3rd Person P.O.V

    Under the rubble laid the brightly colored Deception he was fighting previously. Energon pooling from his chest cavity and hips. Sparks flew from the exposed cables on his legs. Smokescreen's grip tightened on the rock currently in his servos. The yellow bot doesn't show any signs of being responsive. Raising the rock above his head, Smokescreen brought it down towards the unconscious Decepticon at an alarming speed. Until he quickly changed course and the rock slammed on the floor. "Not like this," he spoke softly. He kneeled over him and inspected his spark. It was still beating a soft blue. Refusing to give up. "Well I'm no Ratchet, but I'll give it my best shot." He pulled open the Camaro's chest cavity and looked for anything concerning. Two of the main artery wires had been disconnected from his energon supply. Limiting the amount of energon traveling to his processor. Making him unresponsive. Carefully, Smokescreen reached in and aligned the wires with their sockets. He cocked his blaster and aimed it at the fragile tubes. The weapon whirled as it powered up. Instead of shooting, he used the heat emitting from it to create a makeshift blowtorch. Fusing the wires in place. The Autobot stood back up and scanned over the body.

After minutes of waiting, he released a heavy sigh, and turned to walk away. That is until Hornet's optics lit up that familiar blue hue. Smokescreen waited patiently as the yellow bot's body shook and sparked. Then the body suddenly went limp. The Autobot rushed to him. He rocked his lifeless husk back and forth. "C'mon. Please," he pleaded. He gently rested Hornet's back against the wall. Wide optics opened once more. They zoomed in and out until they managed to focus on the bot before them. Hornet abruptly stood up, and pounced on said bot. Smokescreen stares up at him uncertainty. The Decepticon's optics narrowed as he raised his arm. Before having time to strike, Smokescreen placed his pes on the other bot's leaking hip, and pushed outward. Hornet fell backwards as Smokescreen stood about him with an already charged blaster pointed at his helm.

Smokescreen's P.O.V

"Look, do you know where we are and how to-" He unsheathed his dual guns, and hit me with a wave of energon before I could finish. I was pushed back but not enough to make me topple over. Aiming my blaster at his spark, I tried to shoot, but all that came out were little sparks. "Seriously?" I groaned. A blast barely passed by my helm, and hit the wall behind me. I looked at him. He was still laying on the cavern floor. Why hasn't he got up? Another shot brought me out of my thoughts. I ducked for cover behind a stack of fallen rocks. Trying to come up with a plan, I kept checking my blasters. None of them operational. Then I realized how quiet it had become. No sound of incoming fire. My helm whipped around. The Decepticon was nowhere to be seen. I slowly raised up from behind the rocks. The bot was clutching at the cavern floor. His chest rubbing on the hard floor as his legs were hopelessly following the rest of his body. Unable to catch the stone beneath him.

"Yo man you good?" He answered me with a shot aimed for my spark. Aimed, using that term very loosely. While his other servo supported his weight. He started to cough up energon. The blue liquid pooled underneath him. Glancing around the room, I realized my predicament. I was stuck in a cave with no working weapons, and an angry Decepticon.

Although the Decepticon was the least of my worries. I had no way out, and couldn't shoot one out either. I pressed the button on the side of my helm. "Ratchet? You there?" But all that came back was the annoying hissing of static. Scrap, com.links are down too. My optics traveled down to the still hacking Decepticon. He slowly turned his helm up at me.

"/Just do it already. No point in dragging it out./"

I looked down at him questionably, "What do you mean?"

"/Shoot me. Kill me. You may never get another chance./"

"I'm not like that. Unlike you Decepticons. I want to fight you at your best." Panting, he stares back down at the floor. "Look, we may be enemies, but right now that doesn't matter. We are both trapped in this cave with no way out. We need to work together to find a way out."

"Work together? I don't need you," he scoffs.

"Well, judging by the fact that you are still on the floor, you cannot walk. How do you suppose that you get out of here if you can barely move?"

He hesitates before saying, "They'll come for me."

Now it's my turn to scoff, "You really think Megatron will come and rescue you? If you haven't noticed, that's not really his style." He optics became glued to the ground. Like he knew it was true but didn't want to admit it. I kneeled down to him. "C'mon, I'm not asking to become friends and sing 'Kumbaya'. But can we at least tolerate each other until we get out of here?" I offered him my servo. He gazes up at me, and to my shock, he takes it.

"/Fine. Doesn't mean I'm going to go easy on you next time we meet, Autobot./"

"Wouldn't expect anything less of you." He glared at me as I helped him up. I had my arm around his shoulders, and he had his on my upper back. He clutched onto me for dear life. I lead him to the stone wall before us as he hobbled beside me.

"/What do we do first?/"

"Your blasters still work?"

"/Yeah./"

"Would you mind?" He sighs in disbelief, and shoots the stones. The rocks began to fall and he cowered under me. I used my spare arm to shield us from the impact. When the clanking of rocks hitting our metal skins silenced, we looked up. The aid was clouded with dust, making it difficult to see anything. "Let's go." I helped him over the fallen stones, and into the darkness of the the tunnel in front of us.

~~~
Hey guys! I got this chapter out before the end of Sunday! Yay progress! 😂
Hopefully you are all doing well in these tough times. I'm wondering, how often would you like me to update this book? I'm thinking about making a updating schedule (no promises) and would like y'alls input.
[Credit to Pinterest for the photo above] https://www.pinterest.com/pin/439734351092344474/
Also, thank you to those of you who sent their support on my last update. It truly means a lot and this book would be nothing without you guys. And as always, have a super pawsome day, and I'll see you guys later!
ᵇᵉˢᵗ ʷⁱˢʰᵉˢ 💕