We come across the plant and run in and meet with the others. "Anything I can do?" I pant, hoping for something easy.
Sideswipe remarks "How you gonna help when you're strapped to that sack of bolts? And wasn't Strongarm doing that or did she dump her chore on you?"
"She didn't dump it on me." I say "I offered to take him and clearly I can't do as well as she can. Or can I if I sound just like her?" I snap at Bee. His eyes widened a bit. I look back to the other two "Besides, this 'sack of bolts' is slowing the mission down and tearing me up. I don't know what to do."
Strongarm suggests "The conventions do allow us to release a prisoner if keeping them puts our mission in jeopardy."
Clampdown argues "No no no no no no!!! I need protection!"
"As you've been saying...." I roll my eyes.
Bumblebee says "ShiverTooth, Strongarm, we can't treat prisoners like scrap when it's convenient. I mean did Megatron ever do that to you?"
"One, I was never a prisoner and two, he made me call him—- you know— you were there, and stroked my wings to get my knowledge of Cybertronian relics. You remember, when Bulkhead got the Synthen formula in his head?"
Bumblebee quivers awkwardly "Yes I do. Exactly my point. We're not Decepticons. We're autobots. We're different. We don't do that."
Sideswipe laughs "You just said We in 4 different sentences in the same speech."
"Not the time!!" We all shout at him.
Bumblebee then says "You brought Clampdown here. Find a way to make it work. And if you want to hide as well, be my guest."
The 3 run and I hum silently in pain, holding my arm. I then heard a familiar voice. An unpleasant one "You little snitch!" I look over and see Thunderhoof for a second before his antlers hit us and throw us to the floor.
Grimlock then runs in and hits him to the ground as well. "Sorry, ShiverTooth. Thought I had him. I got him now."
Clampdown yanks me up and drags me over to the other bots. "Where is Shiver—" I heard Bumblebee stop.
I collapse and fall onto Clampdown. "Yeezy." The crab says, mixing yeesh and easy into one word.
I heard Bee ask concerned "ShiverTooth are you okay?"
"I'm fine!" I stand up and swipe his chest, giving a clean mark across it, just like the one Starscream gave Bulkhead a few years ago. I wonder if he still has it..... he looks down at the mark and then to me in shock. "I-I'm sorry..... old habit...." I grab my arm and my wings fall.
Bumblebee grabs my arm and I flinch and yelp in pain and surprise. He had grabbed my bad arm and he grabbed it rather harshly. Bee tugs us over to a vault and opened the door.
"Get inside." I got scared and he narrowed his ridges "Get... inside. We'll talk later."
I walked in and Clampdown pulled back "No! Wait! I-I got Claustrophobia! Let me go with ya! I'll be good!!!"
Bumblebee shoved him in and he stood at the back while I sat on the ground. "I'll come back to get you." Bumblebee says. He began closing the door.
My optics turned blue and I ask before he closes the door "Do you promise?"
He stopped "What?"
"D-do you promise you'll come back?"
He looked at me with a concerned but guilty look on his face. He looked down and smacked his crest against the door "Yes, I promise." Bee whispers. I watched it close and heard the wheel outside turn and lock.
Clampdown looks to me "I know why I'm nervous but why are you?"
I look to him. I then look back down and say "I have a nervous habit of believing that someone is going to leave me. My mother died during the war for Cybertron and my dad died from a spark failure, years before. Optimus and I had separated time and time again. Megatron occasionally got mad at me and sometimes hurt me and other stuff. I lost a bunch of friends, partners, boyfriend died, other friends are in jail or stasis or across the world. My brother tortured me over and over..... and I've been captured one too many times. And well... you can go from there."
Clampdown says "Ah, loneliness. I feel for ya."
It went silent for a few minutes before I remember my groundbridge ability while using slight bursts of my power. "Wait a second. Why didn't I do this earlier?"
"Do what earlier?" I summon a groundbridge and the crab says "Alright. I gotta know. Where's the remote?"
I say "No remote. Just super powers." I push him through and drag his arm with me since I removed the cuffs earlier.
Denny sees me and Clampdown and backs up "So uh, where ya gonna keep him?"
"May I borrow one of your alcoves?" I look over to the spots Grimlock and Crustacean had been digging out. Crustacean sat in one of them, curled up, asleep.
Denny starts "I don't know I—"
I don't let him answer and I shove Clampdown there and put laser bars on it so he couldn't leave. I wire the other ones except Crustaceans and transform, flying out of the cave and boosting off towards the plant.
I find everyone outside and say "Hey guys!"
Bumblebee yells at me "Where did you go!?" I went silent and my blasters almost ejected. Bumblebee heard the noise and he stepped back a bit, giving me space.
I say "I-I... I-I went back to base and jailed Clampdown with laser bars. My... groundbridging ability. I haven't used my powers in awhile so.... Why not look at them again?"
Bumblebee nods "I wish you told us. I freaked out when Strongarm came back and told me you weren't there and neither was Clampdown."
I hold my arm and look down. He comes over and wraps his own arms around my smaller frame "I'm sorry...." I hug him back with one arm and wince as he pulls me closer, squeezing my bad arm between our chassis'.
He backs off, takes one look at my arm and says "We'll get Fixit to look at you. Mind making a bridge to get us home?" I nod and create one.
We all go through and I ask "Hey.... W-where's Steeljaw?"
Bumblebee states "Escaped. Sly wolf as always." I nod and we lock up the rest of them.
Denny complains "But they're supposed to be relaxation alcoves. Not cells!"
Strongarm says "Now, Denny, we know it's not ideal, but the kaon conventions do provide prisoners with the rights to certain comforts during incarceration."
We look back at them and see Thunderhoof get mad and stomp the 6 fingered chair in his cell. Quillfire who was an okay weight to sit in his chair got out 4 quills and threw them at the bars, making electricity go everywhere.
Clampdown was chill, laying back in his "Nicest cell I ever had." The chair then breaks under him and he falls flat on his back. And then Underbite of course, eats his and growls at us, gaining no power from the item.
"Sweet Solus Prime." Denny groans.
Crustacean says "It's all good, matey. I can make more. I had fun crushing them rocks. And Grimlock can help me." Grim looked over smiling with a thumbs up and the whole room broke into laughter from us autobots.