Fixit ran by the hallways of the scrapyard. He panted, as he reached Bumblebee and Optimus Prime, who was passing by with Windblade to see how Bee and the team were doing.
"Fixit? What happened?" The yellow Autobot asked.
"Watch out, sirs! There's a dangerous beast after me!"
"Dangerous beast? Where?" Bumblebee asked, placing himself between Fixit and the hallway he came from. Optimus did the same, watching the hallway wearily.
"And why did your device did not alarmed us?" Optimus asked.
"We need to come up with a plan to knock it down!" Bumblebee thought.
"No time! Here it comes!" Fixit hid behind Bee's leg. Then the bots heard a small growl. Then, from the hallway, Goldbug arrived, using a green blanket around her body. She roared, moving her hands as if she wanted to grab something.
"Oh, nooo! Don't let her catch me!" Fixit tried not to laugh. Then, he ran as Goldbug roared.
"That's the cutest "dangerous beast" I've ever seen." Bumblebee looked down at her with a raised eyebrow, and then looked at Fixit.
"All a simple game. A bit of pretending mixed with tag." Optimus explained, pointing at Bee's Decepticon Hunter still active. Bumblebee smiled sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck, as he called off his sword.
They watched as the two ran back into the hallway, Goldbug still in pursuit of Fixit. Grimlock looked from behind another hallway, gulping.
Later, Fixit checked on the area, searching for Decepticon signals.
"Rawr!" Goldbug stepped in front of him, with her green blanket.
"Sorry, Goldie, we don't have time to play beast right now. I'm looking for any Decepticon activity around."
"Oh..."
"Why don't you go ask Jetstorm or Slipstream?"
"They cannot join her game now." Drift came over. "They are in combat training."
"Prepare yourself, beast!" Russell came over, with his helmet and a wooden sword. "I, Russell the Great, challenge you!" Goldbug squealed in delight, clapping her hands as she chased Russell.
"Rawr!" She chirped, holding her tiny hands out as she tried to grab him. Russell always kept just out of reach, but allowed himself to be caught after a few minutes.
"So adorable!" Denny squealed, taking a picture of that moment. Sideswipe observed, as Goldbug and Russell moved their game to another corner.
"It's okay, big guy. She's gone." He warned. Grimlock moved, and breathed out, sighing of relief.
"Thanks, Sideswipe," he rumbled. His blue optics were cautious and darted around. "You're a lifesaver."
"Don't you think you're taking this a little too far?" Sideswipe asked, rubbing the back of his helm. "I mean, Goldbug is really sweet."
"That's the problem! She's sweet as a cute cat, and I don't like cute. Or cats."
"So? I don't like being on traffic, and sometimes it happens." Sideswipe responded. Grim pouted. "What I mean is that someday, like it or not, you'll have to face this dumb fear of cute things. Besides, look at who she's pretending to be."
Goldbug roared at Jetstorm and Slipstream as they joined the game.
"Hng... too cute, can't do it." Grim returned to his hideout, and Sideswipe sighed aloud, walking to Bee and Optimus.
"Thanks for trying... but I guess in this case, Grimlock will need more than a wakeup call." Bee pointed out.
"More of a wake up slap," Sideswipe grumbled.
"Grimlock, I'm going to check again the stasis pods. Mind coming with me?" Strongarm said. Grimlock perked up when she spoke, and followed her.
"Sure, if one of them malfunctions again you'll need back up," he made up an excuse. He knew that Goldbug wasn't allowed anywhere near the stasis pods.
"Rawr?" Goldbug sounded sad, as she saw Grim and Strongarm leave. "Rawr..." Russell and the others felt bad for Goldie, as they saw her pulling off her green blanket.
"Poor Goldbug…" Jetstorm commented, seeing she stopped playing. "Why Grimlock do not want to join her in playing?"
"Oh, right… you don't know." Bee remembered. "Grimlock is not really fond of cute things."
"Yeah, he gets all freaked out with those." Sideswipe commented. "Main reason why he was so distant of Goldbug ever since she got here."
"How can he not like Goldbug?" Slipstream commented. "She likes him. At least, I think she does."
"If she didn't, maybe she wouldn't be imitating him when playing beast." Russell spoke up.
"I told him that." Sideswipe muttered.
"It makes me think of Russell when he was little. He used to pretend to be a brave hero whenever he got scared." Denny remembered. "Little kids rely on imagination to soothe their fears sometimes."
"You think Goldbug sees Grimlock..." Bee thought.
"As someone really brave. Something she's not feeling much like, and would like to be."
Bee thought over those words. The team's three Mini-Cons got closer to Goldbug, and Russell placed back the green blanket on her head. Cheered up by them, they resumed playing with Goldbug, as she roared after them.
Far from there, Strongarm and Grimlock checked every stasis pod twice. They were all relocated to a far spot on the mountains, where they believed it could be safe.
"So... I've overheard you've been having problems with dealing with our new member." The cadet pointed out.
"No, I don't," Grimlock lied in an effort to save his face.
"Uh huh," Strongarm said disbelievingly. "Because that's why you avoid Goldbug, and even went as far as to have Sideswipe, of all bots, to tell you when she left."
"Alright, I do." He sighed aloud. He knew he couldn't lie that eay to Strongarm. "She's cute like cats," he shuddered. "And cats are terryfying."
"Come on, what Goldie has that reminds you of cats? Sure, she has small glowing optics, her servos are always wanting to grab things, and she likes to snuggle against blankets..." Strongarm stopped once she saw Grim whimpering. That was not helping. "Oh... sorry."
"I just can't see myself nearby her without thinking she can do something that scares me." Grimlock sighed.
"You wouldn't think so bad about her if you saw the way she took down Ped," she said to him, hands on her hips. "She's a thing you like: tough."
"But she's a thing I don't like over everything." Grimlock answered, stepping back. "I don't do cute!" A thud sounded behind them. "Uh-oh." Did he bumped into something?
A large, bird shaped shadow passed overhead just after the sound of shattering glass reached their audio receptors.
"I freed HER, right?" Grimlock asked incredulously. Strongarm opened her mouth to reply, but Filch's shriek interrupted her. Both looked up to see Filch flapping her wings, staring at them. They prepared to fight. A flash of gold then caught her optic and had her full attention.
"Shiny!" The word echoed from her beak.
"Fixit... we have a problem." Strongarm reported through audio, as she saw where exactly Filch was flying to.
The team prepared to catch Filch, all of them hidden around the scrapyard.
"Are you sure she was coming here, Strongarm?" Fixit asked.
"If she saw something she called "shiny"... we all know all she likes to catch are these kind of things, so we could use that on our advantage."
"I don't dismember-nonmember-remember much of shiny things around here." The Mini-Con glitched again.
"Well, there must be something…" Bee said, until he saw Goldbug playing beast, roaring. He saw how happy she seemed, and how she glowed. "Or someone!" He gasped: Filch was after Goldbug!
Filch let out another, bird-like screech when she spotted what had caught her attention. There was that ball of shiny slightly obscured by a green blanket. The baby Bot stopped roaring as she saw a shadow coming down at her.
"Now!" Bee called. Strongarm and Grimlock grabbed on her wings, refusing to let go. That is, until Goldbug looked at them both, from under her green blanket.
"Rawr..." She cooed, happily. Grimlock's optics widened in panic, and he squirmed, loosening his grip. Filch seized the opportunity to pull him away with a flap of her wing.
Then, her optics caught another "shiny" in her sight. Strongarm refused to let go of her, so Filch scratched the cadet's leg with her claws, as Goldbug ran to Russell's arms, scared.
The Deceticon bird prepared to make its escape, but felt something grabbing her from behind. Well, if the cadet wanted a ride... She swooped the cadet off her feet and flew in direction of her new "shiny".
"Tong-am!" Goldbug called, fearing for her.
"Sir, we need to bring her down, before she comes down into the city. I don't know what is she targetting now, but the civilians will panic!" Strongarm warned through audio.
Filch's roaming optic spotted a large building with an indentation that would be a perfect place to hoard her 'shinies.' She dropped the pesky Autobot roughly before flying away. Strongarm struggled to stand up, but her injury prevented her.
"A little air support would be appreciated in this case."
"Funny you should mention that." Sideswipe's voice rang on her audio. "Windy was just about to check the area."
"Leave her to me, Strongarm." Windblade called on her audio. "Bee and the others will be arriving in a minute to help you." She transformed and follwed the coordinates, seeing Flich in no time.
"Okay, birdie, time to land, want it or not!"She transformed, landing on Filch's back. The Corvicon squawked in protest as she was forced away from the "shiny" and down into the forest.
"You're grounded," Windblade grunted as she forced Filch's head into the dirt. The Decepticon swooped Windblade off her back and clawed her arm, making her let go of her sword.
Another spark called her attention, in the dephts of the woods. So she forgot about the flying injured Autobot and the city's "shiny", and went after her new target.
By that moment, Sideswipe and Grimlock came over by a Groundbridge, the Dinobot carrying Strongarm on his back.
"Thanks for the ride, Grim." The cadet thanked.
"I gotta admit, your heels are way more delicate than Bee's." The Dinobot commented, then awkwardly chuckled.
"Is it just me or that birdie got her claws extra pointy?" Sideswipe commented, as he helped Windblade. Then, they looked at the sky. "It's getting dark. She won't find easily a bright thing to catch by night. I think."
Back to the scrapyard, Grimlock observed as Fixit and Sideswipe helped Strongarm and Windblade. Goldbug played beast in a corner with Slipstream and Jetstorm.
"*sigh* I really messed up..." He lamented. "First, I freed that ugly, then got caught by surprise by that... cute thing... and let that dumb birdbrain go..."
"Don't be so hard on yourself, Grim. At least we took her aim away from the city. But with those good optics, she'll find a new hideout. I just wish I knew a good place to start searching..." Bumblebee pointed out. Then, he thought of something.
"Hey, Goldie, what do you say about helping the team find someone?" He asked her. She nodded, discarding her green blanket.
He picked her up gently, and pointed to the scratch marks on Strongarm's leg. Goldbug touched them, understanding they wanted to find Filch.
After a moment, she climbed up on her daddy's shoulder and pointed to the woods.
"Caw! Caw!" She imitated Filch's screech, confirming the direction.
"Goldie, lead the way. Fixit, take care of them. The rest, let's rev up and roll out!" The team departed to follow the Minicon's direction.
Goldbug's armor glowed to guide the team in the darkness of the woods. Then, they looked from a bush: Filch had found another place to hoard her shiny objects: the same steel mill that once Steeljaw and his pack lived on. Filch had scared all of the security guards away, therefore, that now-active place was hers.
"Shiny," Filch said as she arrived with a stone in her claws. The moonlight streaming from a broken window reflected off the stone, giving it a shiny quality.
"What do I know? She DID found new things to collect in the dark." Sideswipe commented.
"Well, Autobots, to get her this time, we'll need a new plan. Someone will have to distract Filch, and make her leave the safety zone, then the rest will surround her before she can take flight." Bee decided.
"I believe me and Sideswipe can provide the distraction," Drift assured.
"I will have your back in surrounding Filch," Optimus decided.
"Than it's settled." Bee agreed. Then, a yawn called his attention. Goldbug rubbed her optics. He smiled as he picked up his little Mini-Con. "But first, someone has to take Goldie home. Guess it's past her recharge time." The team looked at the Bot that was left.
"What? Nu uh, no way," Grimlock shook his massive T-rex head.
"It's only for today, Grim. And it's very important. Please." Grimlock looked at his leader, then at the cute thing he carried. He shivered, but sighed, accepting the mission.
"Be careful with her. She's delicate." The team leader asked, before Grim placed Goldbug carefully on his back and started walking back to the scrapyard.
"*gulp* Okay... you can do this, Grimlock... you've beaten up many Decepticons, you've crushed many things, you're a brave handsome Dinobot..." Grim tried to keep calm.
"Rawr..." Goldbug yawned, curling into a content little ball between two of Grimlock's spines. He tried not to panic. She was just too cute! But he had to do this, he wouldn't let Bumblebee down.
The Dinobot's swaying steps were comforting to Goldbug, and she soon began to purr, making Grim shiver in panic. Then, he noticed the little one's armor was glowing a bit.
The bounty hunter and his Mini-Cons used their various swords and Sideswipe used his Decepticon Hunter to create sparks that would hopefully catch Filch's attention, and Bee and Optimus sneaked nearby, preparing to attack.
But then, a stronger glow was caught by Filch, attracting her to somewhere else.
"Uh… was this part of the plan?" Sideswipe commented.
"Oh, scrap..." Bee feared.
There was a screech and a gust of wind disturbed the trees. Goldbug woke up and sat up, looking around wearily.
In one single swoop, she knocked over the Dinobot and picked up Goldbug.
"Rawr!" She cried as Filch took her away. Grimlock gasped. Three mess-ups in one day? How was he ever going to face Bee?
Grimlock rushed after the Corvicon, being soon followed by Bee and the team.
"Filch attacked you and took Goldie, right?" Sideswipe commented. Grim pouted out of shame.
"It's not your fault, Grim. We should have known it wouldn't be that simple." Bumblebee pointed out.
"But I should've been able stop Filch from taking her," he said guiltily. "I'm just not brave enough. Not at all."
"Hey, don't be like that, big guy. We were just about to make our move on the Klepto Crow of Doom. We're going to get Goldbug back," Sideswipe said, in a rare try to cheer someone up.
"Really, Sideswipe, you should leave the nicknaming to Windblade," Bee commented.
Filch carried the glowing Mini-Con and dropped her down beside her shiny things. The Mini-Con scooted back until her back met the hard edge of the Corvicon's nest. She wanted her daddy.
Once again with the sparking swords, Drift and his Mini-Cons attracted Filch's attention. They were back on the steel mill's outdoors, and sticking to Bee's plan.
"Shiny!" She screeched. She followed Drift's team away from the steel mill, and everyone else moved in.
"Daddy!" Goldbug cooed of happiness. Then, she heard Filch's screech far away. This was enough for her to rush to her father's protective arms. Then, as she was lift up by him, she saw Grimlock. He looked away, still feeling bad about letting her get caught. Then, they heard Filch's screech once more.
Goldbug trembled in fear, as she heard Filch's screech. Then, she took a deep breath, and made her beast pose.
"Rawr. Rawr! Rawr!"
"Goldie, we don't have time to play!" Sideswipe scolded.
"I do not believe she is playing this time, Sideswipe." Optimus pointed out. "In fact... she appears to be trying diminishing her fear, by pretending to be the bravest Bot she can think of..
Grimlock shuffled on his feet anxiously, only looking up when he felt the stares of many pairs of optics on him. "What?" He asked obliviously.
"Grim, she's pretending to be YOU. Goldbug looks up to you," Bumblebee pointed out.
"Ugh, I told him this!" Sideswipe complained, his hands in the air in an exasperated gesture. "Is any bot even listening?"
"Me?" Grimlock couldn't believe what he just heard. "But I messed it up so hard today. If Strongarm and Windblade got clawed up, a scaredy Dinobot that's not even able to stop a dumb birdbrain can't be useful now."
"You have plenty of courage, I am sure," Optimus pointed out. "All you need is confidence in yourself. There is no living thing that is not afraid when it faces danger. The true courage is in facing danger when you are afraid, and that kind of courage you have in plenty."
"Rawr..." Goldbug stared at the Dinobot, with hopeful optics.
"Wow..." Sideswipe commneted. "The Primes taught you that?"
"No, an Earth book did." Optimus was sincere.
Grimlock felt their were right... he couldn't just quit... they needed him... Goldbug needed him.
"Bumblebee, we require assistance," Drift alerted through audio. He and his Mini-Cons were holding up Filch as much as they could. "This Decepticon is a harsh fighter... with an arsenal on her claws!"
The Corvicon managed to scratch Slipstream and Jetstorm away, and grabbed Drift's shoulders, carrying him up.
"Master Drift!" The Mini-Cons gasped. Bee and the others walked out of the steel mill just in time, Goldie jumping off Bee's arms to see if her friends were okay.
"Anyone have a plan B, or C, or D? Any plan with a letter?" Sideswipe asked, turning to the team.
Drift, in all of his experience, thought about the best way to go about freeing himself. Every second wasted was putting even more distance between the others and him.
His swords then were knocked away by one of Filch's fierce blows, and most likely lay in the meadow both far behind and below him.
At the hearing of Filch's screech, Goldbug looked at Grimlock with fear-filled optics. She could not keep pretending to not be scared.
"She's coming back!" Bumblebee gasped, seeing the Corvicon dashing at high speed, and launching Drift at them. Everyone acted on survival instinct, ducking and skittering out of the way.
Grimlock too acted on instinct, but not before scooping up Goldbug, Jetstorm and Slipstream, taking them all with him. Drift, who had managed to turn his fall into a roll, rose and brushed himself off.
"Why not coming closer so we can put you down for once? Are you a Corvicon, or are you chicken?" Sideswipe mocked. Filch screeched furiously at the team.
"Good doing, Sideswipe," Drift glared at him.
Filch got into a position so she could dive at them again. Grimlock looked down at Goldbug, and the intelligence that belonged to someone thrice her age shining in her optics.
"Rawr..." Goldbug climbed on Grimlock's arm. The Dinobot looked at the direction she was looking at, and got they should do something. But what?
Goldbug transformed into her gauntlet mode, attaching herself to Grimlock's arm.
"Cool..." Grim complimented. Jetstorm and Slipstream stood behind, still wounded.
Then, the Dinobot took aim at the Decepticon menace in the sky. The Decepticon looked down at the glowing light down there.
"You want a shiny? You got it!" Grimlock shoot Goldbug up, as the Decepticon dove down in high speed. Goldie attached herself to the Corvicon's head, beating it up, and making her lose balance of her flying.
As they both started falling, Grimlock changed to dino mode, and after a loud roar, he hit the bird with his head, and Goldie let go of the Corvicon, and slid down the Dinobot's back. Filch ended up stuck in the tree branches, and after flinching, she finally succumbed.
"Not bad for a Dinobot that didn't did cute," Bumblebee complimented, as the team came by, Drift holding his Mini-Cons on his back. Grimlock rubbed the back of his head, and Goldie looked at him, with a happy smile.
While the team took care of placing Filch back into a stasis pod, Grimlock offered to carry a tired Goldbug and the two injured Mini-Cons back to the scrapyard. As they were being taken care of by Fixit, Grimlock placed Goldbug carefully on her berth, that was simply one of the scrapyard's bathtubs, with some blankets to soften it. Strongarm and Windblade came by, still a bit wobbly on their steps.
"I heard from the lieutenant you and Goldie were the ones that caught her."
"Wish I was there to see your teamwork, Grim. Nice job." Grimlock ducked his head in embarrassment.
"I saw she was as scared as I was..." He looked at the nearly-asleep Mini-Con. "Then, I got Sideswipe and Optimus were right. I had to face my fear sooner or later, and I HAD courage to do it."
"Finally, somebot listened to me!" Sideswipe's loud exclamation called their attention, and Optimus and Bumblebee made a silence signal to him. "Sorry."
"What you did out there was truly brave, Grimlock," Windblade said with a half smile. Grimlock gave them a happy, audio receptor to audio receptor grin.
"I'm brave!" He cheered, only for Strongarm and Windblade to shush him immediately. "Go, Grimlock," he whispered, making them chuckle.
Then, a meow was heard. That stray kitten Russell was taking care of was nearby. Grimlock squeaked of fear silently, and hid behind Goldie's berth, even though it was not that big.
As the kitten came close, however, Goldie came up from the berth, with her green blanket.
"RAWR!"
The kitten screeched and ran right to Russell's trailer, as the boy observed with a bowl of milk in his hands. He gave the Bots a "seriously" stare, then rolled his eyes with a smile.
Bumblebee shook his head with a smile, as he saw Grimlock looking over.
"He will get there… one cute thing at a time," Optimus commented. "Right, Grimlock?" The Dinobot nodded.
"Me bave to?" She patted Grimlock's cheek as he crouched behind her berth.
"The bravest, Goldie." Grim complimented. The team chuckled, as Grimlock nuzzled Goldbug and they made a grabby hand signal to each other.