TFA: Together We Stand (Season 1)

Chapter 15: Mantis's Life Story; Run! ~4~

'And once he gets back, he'll find out what happened and come looking for me too.' She told herself. The more she thought about it, the more assured she became and she nodded to herself.

Reassured that things had a chance of turning out alright, she shouldered the rucksack again and continued her sprint.

Then she stopped herself just in the nick of time before running straight into a wall.

"Whoa...." She said. Then panic seized her spark and she swallowed. 'Is this a dead end?!' she asked herself. Did she come all this way just to be trapped? If so then she was positively slagged if she were to be discovered.

'Wait a click.....' she realized and lifted the lantern. She craned her helm up and saw iron rails were fixed into the wall. 'Like a ladder.' She realized. It reminded her of the climbing walls back in the dojo.

Mantis tied the lantern with a cord on the rucksack so she didn't have to use one servo to hold onto it as that would be cumbersome or keep the lantern all together which would be just as troublesome.

She took a deep vent and gazed up at the climb. If she did this, she would be out of here.

She would be away from here.

She would be leaving her home.

She wasn't as naive as others thought. Mantis knew that, she knew deep down even though she wanted to deny it that the chances of her ever going back to the life she once had were slim.

That's why she had to make this second one count.

"Here goes." She said and wrapping her servo around one of the rails, she hauled herself up then grabbed the other on top.

Soon it became a repetitive rhythm. Grabbing one rail and hauling herself up before reaching for the next one. It was evidently meant for taller mechs considering the spacing in between them but she managed.

More than once however, she slipped. The rails were old and weren't exactly well maintained. Occasionally, she would grab onto one and feel it shift under her weight, nearly giving her a spark attack more than once.

Once, she grabbed onto one of the rails and it fell out in her servo. Since then, she always tested her weight on one first before hauling herself up.

'How much longer? Or higher?' she asked herself as the wires and hydraulics in her shoulders began to ache. She contemplated using her jetpack mod to boost herself up but discarded the idea. Her protoform was still too young to handle the strain and she had little to no control over them.

She didn't have to worry as she noticed a hatch coming up. Yes! She made it!

Mantis noticed a ledge nearby. It was just wide enough for her to step onto steadily and rest her stiff joints. Then she realized that the hatch was a bit out of her reach. She stood on her tip-toes and stretched her servo up as far as she could.

The tips of her digits barely grazed the handle when she jumped.

'Curse. My. Dumb. Tiny. Height!' she raged internally.

Then an idea struck.

She bent down on her haunches, thighs and calves tensed......Then she jumped.

And activated her jetpack.

It gave her the boost she needed and she soared up.