Rescuing Swindle
How they had managed to get hold of the red sports car was still a mystery even to the Autobots. All they knew was that one minute they had been shooting at Starscream and the next Hot Shot was holding onto Swindle who made sure that everyone knew he wasn't happy with his current situation.
"Swindle!" Starscream shrieked angrily as he flew towards the Autobot.
"Decepticons, retreat!" Megatron ordered and they all disappeared, Starscream's shriek of rage still ringing in their audio sensors.
"Well at least we rescued one of their mini-Cons," Optimus sighed heavily as he looked at the little figure in Hot Shot's arms.
"Don't worry," Hot Shot said reassuringly. "We won't let the Decepticons get their servos on you ever again."
Swindle let out a loud shriek; one that was oddly reminiscent of his former Master's and tried to bite Hot Shot even as they warped back to the Autobot base.
"No biting," Hot Shot scolded.
"Let me take a look at him," Red Alert ordered and promptly began scanning the red mini-Con. "He's in pretty good shape," the medic sounded only slightly puzzled. "In fact it looks as if he might even be in better condition than our own mini-Cons. Well, his internal systems anyways. If I had to guess I'd say that Starscream made several modifications to him."
Swindle beamed proudly and nodded before resuming his struggle to get free.
"Can I put him down now?" Hot Shot asked plaintively.
"Go ahead," Optimus said. "Once he realizes that he's no longer the Decepticons prisoner he should settle in just fine."
Hot Shot complied and the instant Swindle's pedes touched the floor he raced over to the warp gate and immediately began punching in coordinates.
"Hey what do you think you're doing?" Hot Shot grabbed the mini-Con and placed him several feet away from the computer.
"I think he's trying to return to the Decepticons," Red Alert frowned.
"You don't have to go back," Optimus said gently as he squatted down so that he was face-to-face with Swindle. "You're safe here. Starscream will never be able to use you as a weapon again, I promise."
Swindle scowled then he tried to race back to the computer but was stopped by Optimus.
"We'll make sure that you're safe," Optimus tried again. "You don't even have to fight if you don't want to; we'll do whatever it takes to make sure that you're taken care of."
Swindle's glare intensified and he let out a loud string of beeps and whirls that the Autobots had no hope of translating but could still understand. Jolt came out from his hiding place behind Hot Shot and attempted to reason with the other mini-Con. They exchanged noises then Jolt turned to Hot Shot and spoke to him.
"Jolt says that Swindle wants to go back to the Decepticons and that if we don't let him go Starscream will come looking for him," Hot Shot translated.
"Don't worry about us," Optimus said as he straightened to his full height. "We can easily defeat Starscream besides, I highly doubt Megatron will authorize an assault just for one little mini-Con."
Swindle just shook his helm disdainfully but seemed to give up on escaping the base for now.
Later than night after all the humans had left and everyone was on the verge of falling into recharge they were caught off guard when the alarm system activated.
"What is it?" Hot Shot demanded as he raced into the main room.
"Starscream," Red Alert sighed heavily as he brought up the security footage.
It was indeed Starscream but the most surprising thing was that he was by himself and had a strange air of determination about him. "Swindle!" he shrieked at the top his lungs. "Oh, Swindle, where are you?"
"We need to stop him," Optimus said grimly. "Red Alert, activate the security defenses."
"I can't; they've all been turned off somehow."
A strange sound caught their attention and they turned to see Swindle standing there, smirking as if to say 'I told you so'.
"How did you hack our security systems?" Red Alert demanded.
Swindle just laughed at them.
"Uh, guys," Hot Shot said hesitantly as he looked at the security monitors. "I don't see…"
He was caught off by a peculiar scraping sound as a Starscream-shaped hole appeared in the doorway then the bot in question stepped through.
"Swindle!" the jet looked oddly relieved. "Come here." He bent down and extended a servo expectantly.
Optimus made as if to grab him but Swindle easily dodged the attack and hopped in Starscream's servo.
"Are you all right?" Starscream asked, already scanning his partner.
Swindle nodded and let out a series of beeps as he pointed at the Autobots.
Starscream glowered at his enemies then turned and, without a single word, stalked out of the room. A few seconds later they heard the sound of the warp gate being activated and the two were gone.
"I don't understand why Swindle helped him out like that," Hot Shot looked more than a little puzzled.
"Neither do I," Optimus sighed. "But perhaps it was for the best. Being linked to Starscream has obviously affected the mini-Con in a way that we can't see. One day we might be able to free him from that influence but until then I suggest that we try to avoid capturing him again."
"Or Starscream actually cares about Swindle and you just don't want to consider the idea that a Decepticon is capable of feeling anything other than hate," Red Alert cut in. "It's just a theory mind you but the base performed an automatic scan of him when he entered and, from what I can tell, Swindle is actually in better shape than Starscream himself."
Neither Prime nor Hot Shot looked convinced so Red Alert sighed heavily and said, "Let's just agree not to do this again."
"So are you sure that you're all right?" Starscream asked once they were safely back in their own quarters.
"I'm fine," Swindle replied. "The Autobots are really dumb though; they thought I was your slave or somethin'!"
"Yeah right," Starscream snorted. "I doubt they'll ever realize that you're free to go whenever you want. If anyone's keeping the mini-Cons as slaves it's them."
Swindle agreed wholeheartedly even as he finished repairing another energon line on the jet's back, courtesy of Megatron who had not been pleased to hear about their little 'adventure'. Idly Swindle's thoughts ran to the Autobots and he wondered if they had counted him as a casualty of Decepticon brainwashing yet. Idiots, the whole lot of them; he followed Starscream because he wanted to and not because he had to.
A/N: First Armada fic. Hope you guys liked! Please read and review!