"Are you fragging kidding me?" said a black-and-white seeker with a broken left wing in fear as he looked down at the console in front of him. This was bad news. In fact, the worst news that one could possibly receive.

"What is it, Headsky" said the gruff voice of a beastformer mech with a broken arm next to him. Judging by appearance, he appeared to transformed into some sort of flying creature, but he wouldn't be flying any time either.

"It's the DJD. They're coming here, Windsoar, and they're looking for Shotcase," Headsky told him and Windsoar had to withhold an unhuman shriek of fear at that.

"Aw, scrap, I knew harboring him here was a bad idea," the beastformer groaned.

"What can we do?"

"Isn't it obvious? Just let the DJD kill him."

"I meant what can we do to get him out alive," Headsky chided him angrily. "We can't just let them slaughter him. He's our friend."

"At this point, he's a liability. We have to just let them do their thing and we'll get out alive," Windsoar shot back, leaning forward on his chair. "The spacebridge isn't fully operational, so he can't escape from that."

"You can fix it," he pointed out.

"Before the DJD can get here? That's unlikely," he responded coolly.

"You can at least try, you aft!" Headsky yelled as he got up and leaned down at him, getting in his face. "You remember when Shotcase saved you life over at Atacoma? Or at Telos? Or at Polyhex? It's our turn to save him."

"Well, what can we do? We can't fight them, even if we weren't injured. The building is a rundown jail meant to transport people to prisons. Do you have any ideas?" Windsoar questioned him with a tone indicating that he doubt he had any.

"Well, there's… there's… what about the submission chamber?" he asked him and Windsoar was about to respond before pausing and thinking it through.

"You know… that actually might work, provided we have the right plan," he told him.

"It will? Well, what do we do?"

"First off, contact Shotcase. We'll have to tell him about the DJD's upcoming arrival and what he needs to do if he wants to survive," the beastformer told him. "This plan is going to seem crazy, but it might just work."

"And here we are," Tarn murmured as him and the rest of the DJD, including Nickel, exited the ship to peer at the old complex. A former jail turned into a stronghold. A stronghold look after by three people. One of those people they have to make an example of. "Let me contact them," Tarn said as he got on the intercom. "Windsoar? Headsky? Are the both of you still there?"

"Yes, sir," he heard the calm voice of Windsoar ring in. "What do you need?"

"Do you know the location of Shotcase?" Tarn questioned him.

"Basement level, right in the center. Got himself boarded up there. He's overconfident to a suicidal level that his barrier will hold up. Feel free to prove him wrong," the beastformer said languidly, not really caring about the fact they were here to brutally torture someone in cold blood.

"Thank you for your cooperation. Once we have him subdue, come on down and meet us there and bring your friend too. We like you to explain to everyone you know what we do with people who aren't faithful to the cause," Tarn ordered him.

"Understood. Headsky may be a wreck over this, but I'll drag him there if I have to. He has to learn what happens to people who betray us," Windsoar agreed as he prepared to hang up. "What Shotcase did was unforgiveable."

"I glad you see it our way. We're on our way down now. Make sure you're prepared for our call once we capture him."

"Understood. Goodbye." Windsoar ended it and Tarn was left with his soldiers, walking to the building.

"You know, I don't feel very comfortable with this," Nickel told them.

"Now why is that?" Kaon asked next to her. "You don't agree that Shotcase should pay for his crimes?"

"That that kind of uncomfortable," Nickel said, insulted. "I'm saying this seems too easy. Does he really think barricading himself in their will save himself?"

"Desperation makes people do desperate things," Helex said simply. "Nothing to it."

"Hmm, true, but it is something to consider," Tarn agreed with Nickel. "Keep your guard up. Shotcase might have a few surprises in store for us."

"I doubt it. We'll be on him quickly and you might have to stop me from shredding him on the spot," Tesarus told them.

"Tess. Seriously, trust me on this and hold back," Nickel said, earning a glare from him over the use of that stupid nickname.

"I agree too, if only because it's just one person. We have to take our time with him, Tesarus, like we always do. Not just kill him on the spot. We have to send a long, painful message," Kaon agreed in his own way.

"Exactly, Kaon. That's the way we work," Tarn praised him.

"Yes, it is," Kaon nodded. "Oh, and I should mention one other thing. I got reports of a spacebridge there, but it's currently inoperable. He hasn't escape the building."

"Thank you for that valuable information, Kaon," Tarn thanked him. "We shall not let him escape."

"Alright, they're heading to the submission chamber," Windsoar said as he continued working on the spacebridge slowly with his one good arm.

"Thanks for this, you guys," a red-and-black grounder thanked them as he relaxed in a chair.

"Only because you save me, Shotcase," Windsoar said as he fixed the spacebridge. "You realize me doing this means we're getting on the list with you, right?"

"Yes, I know, and I'm sorry for that," he groaned. "I'm sorry for this. I should be the only one to suffer for my mistakes. You two are innocent in all of this."

"Hey, don't worry," Headsky told him as he wrapped his good arm around him. "We're been friends for million of years. No way can we just abandon you. You're more important than our place in this war."

"Yeah, yeah, we'll see if you live to regret that choice. Keep your optics on for them. Once the elevator reaches the basement, forcibly disconnect the cables. Turning it off won't work because of Kaon. You put barricades on all the doors to the stairs, right Shotcase?" Windsoar asked the grounder.

"Yes, of course, and I wielded the elevator escape hatch shut," Shotcase confirmed.

"Right, we need to stall them as much as possible. Hopefully the trap captures most of the strong ones and leaves the weak ones behind," Windsoar told them.

"How long will fixing the spacebridge take you?" Headsky asked.

"I'm unsure. Could take 15 minutes. Could take an hour. Could take even longer," Windsoar told them. "You'll just have to let me decide."

"Let's hope you decide on the fastest one."

"They're coming out of the elevator. Disconnecting the elevator from the cables," Shotcase told them. "Let's hope this works."

"Almost there," Tarn said as they exited the elevator and it closed behind them. "Everyone, get ready."

"Blades ready to shred," Tesarus confirmed.

"Voltage at lethal levels," Kaon said with a sadistic smile.

"Ready to melt," Helex agreed.

"Face…," Vos murmured.

"Ready to back you up," Nickel agreed, a pistol in hand.

"Right," Tarn muttered as they went through a door to enter a ruined hallway. At the end of the hallway appeared to be a barricade made of weld metal. "Hmm, I think we found the room."

"Huh, looks to be welded shut. Guess we'll let you big mechs take care of this," Nickel told them.

"No problem. Three of you stay back. We'll bust that door down," Helex told them. Kaon and Nickel stayed in the back from his order and Tarn informed Vos of the plan, who gave a nod before heading into the back. The three small mechs waited in the middle of the hallway while the three larger mechs approached the door and stopped only a few feet away from it before they prepared to rush it, Tarn in the center, Helex to his left, and Tesarus to his right.

"On three," Tarn told them before counting up. "1, 2, 3!" he yelled and they all rushed the door and broke it down easily, allowing them entrance to a large room, entirely grey with the walls, floor, and ceiling have a tile pattern with squares. The room appeared to be lit up by the creases in the square, allowing them to look around the room to find it was empty.

"No one here," Helex muttered as he looked around the room.

"Either they lied to us or our intel was faulty," Tesarus muttered with contempt.

"Let's not rushed to conclusion. The room was welded shut. That means-"

*CLANG!*

They heard the familiar sound of metal shut and turned around to see another door took its place, although this one looked even harder to take them and wouldn't be taken down by force. "What is this?" Helex asked.

"It looks to be a trap. Looks like Nickel was correct," Tarn murmured as he stepped on over to id and touched it with his hand examining it. "This won't fall by our hands. We'll need to find another way."

"Tarn, Helex, Tesarus! Are you okay?!" Koan yelled into their comms.

"We're find. The door is just shut," Tarn told him, trying to put him at ease.

"I told you there was something wrong!" Nickel yelled out.

"And we won't get anywhere by you reminding us," Tarn told them. "There has to be a way to open it. You three will have to find it."

"Find. We'll head on out. Has to be in the building somewhere. If we're lucky, we'll find Shotcase and capture him as well," Kaon told them.

"Hurry up? I don't trust this room," Tesarus said as he looked around the room nervous. It was certainly a bit unsettling.

"Don't worry, Tess. Leave it to us," Nickel assured him, which earned a groan from him.

"Please stop calling me that," he muttered.

"Right, go find the way to open this door," Tarn told them before relaying this information to Vos as well. When the three agreed, they hung up, leaving the three alone.

"So, what do we do now?" Tesarus asked, impatient.

"We wait," Tarn told them, looking at the door in anticipation. "It all depends on them."

"Of course it does," Helax sighed as he stood still and crossed both sets of arms while Tesarus taken to pacing around the room. None of them appeared to have noticed some of the tiles starting to go away with metal tentacles sliding out.

"Yes!" Shotcase yelled as he stand out of the chair and gave a loud whoop, surprising the two.

"Calm yourself, you aft. You almost made me made a mistake that would've shut down the spacebridge," Windsoar told them.

"Oh, uh, sorry," Shotcase apologized.

"You should. If you did, I would've killed you and claim it was self-defense to the DJD," he told him vemously.

"Sheesh, that's a bit… mean," he muttered.

"So why were you yelling?" Headsky asked, wondering what the good news was.

"Oh, well, they fell for the trap and the three big ones are trapped in there," he told them. "That ought to but us plenty of time."

"Assuming you did everything correctly to halt their progress, it should," Windsoar said. "You keep an out while I continue repairs and use whatever defenses capable to halt the rest. They'll come looking for the switch to open the door."

"Where is that?"

"In here, so hold them off for as long as you can," Windsoar commanded them. "I'm making good progress with the spacebridge and should be done soon. Just need a little more time."

"You got it," Headsky told him as him and Shotcase were watching the cameras. "Right, ready to keep watch and… what the hell is going on in the submission chamber?"

"Huh? What do you… oh," he muttered as he saw what was happening. "I always wondered what the submission chamber does. Now I know."

"Right, what do we do first?" Kaon muttered as him, Nickel, and Vos stood outside the door to the submission chamber.

"We got to save them, of course!" Nickel told him.

"Relax. They're life is not in danger. If I'm correct, I believe this is the submission room. It won't kill them," he assured her.

"What the hell is a submission room?"

"I… don't know, but I do know it's non-lethal, so we can take our time with this," he assured her.

"Not if we want to capture Shotcase!" she yelled, getting in his face. "We need to come up with something quick!"

"And if you would stop yelling, I might come up with something," he responded to her, glaring at her. Vos watched all of this in confusion. He didn't understand the language well. He couldn't figure out if they were arguing over how to save them or they were arguing like a couple.

"Kaon," she said seriously as he grabbed him by the neck and pulled his down to her level, "come up with something quick."

"You moving me like this isn't helping my processor," he grunted at her and Vos was just left more confused at their interaction.

"I'll let you go once you give us something to go on."

"Ugh, fine, how about we go to the elevator and visit Windsoar and Headsky up at the control room? They must know what controls it," Koan offers to her and she glares at him before letting go.

"Fine. Let's go," she urged as she rolled on back to the main room with Kaon following along with a huff and Vos following around, still confused but following alone if it leads to a way to solve the problem. Nickel called for the elevator, which opened instantly for them, and they all entered the elevator. Nickel pressed it to make them head for the top floor and they all waited for it to ascend, but it wasn't doing anything, staying completely still. "What now?" Nickel asked in annoyance.

"I don't know. Let me enter the shaft and-" Koan said, pushing against the hatch, only for it to fail. The electric torturer was briefly annoyed before pushing again and failing. He looked around it to see that it appeared to be welded shut as well. "Oh, the tricky fragger. Hatch is welded shut, so we can't get in the shaft."

"What? How many traps did he set up to delay us?" Nickel asked.

"I don't know, but we can't use this," he said as he went over to the door and waved Vos over to help him open the elevator. After a little while, they pulled the elevator doors opened and made their way out and headed for the stairs. Kaon tried to open it, only for it to fail, unable to move as he pushed and pulled against it. "You're kidding me? They barred the stairs as well?"

"What the frag!" Nickel yelled out in annoyance. "Is there any other stairs?"

"This is the only set of stairs," Kaon told her as he rammed himself against the door. "If we're looking for a way out, this is it, so help me bust the damn door down!"

The three large mechs kept doing what they were doing, Tesarus pacing around while Helex and Tarn were still. None of them noticed the tentacles coming for them, sliding around the ceiling to get above them and the one in the walls crawling on the floor. Tarn could tell something felt odd about this. There had to be something about this room. A room this strange looking had to have something going on. "So fragging stupid," Tesarus grumbled. "From Swindle's restaurant to this. Such a downgrade."

"Tesarus, please," Tarn said as craned his head to respond to him, he saw the tentacles reaching down from the ceiling to grab Tesarus. "Look up!"

"Huh? What the-?" he shouted as the tentacles reached down to wrap around his shoulders and started pulling him up?

"Hey!" What are these?" Helex shouted as the arms wrapped around his body as well and started pulling him up as well.

"What in the world is this?" Tarn before suddenly felt tentacles wrapped around his body as well and pull him roughly to the wall. He immediately tried pulling it off, but there was so many coming in quick that it was hard to put up a good enough defense against it. They quickly bounded his hands against the walls and he couldn't do anything about it. Some of the tentacles approached the panel holding his spike and started attempting to lift that off. Tarn buckled under the tentacles as they attempted to do that. He wasn't going to allow it to touch him there. As he struggled against the ones heading for his panel, a wirily one slid around his shoulders over to his neck.

"Tarn, do you have any luck with this?" Helex questioned him as he tried taking all of the tentacles off him. It was looking to be a futile effort. Even with his added set of arms that were currently free, there was too many tentacles on him. It was impossible to keep up. He also had a good look of Tesarus, who was also using his set of arms in an attempt to get the tentacles off, but it wasn't working. Some of the tentacles were even moving to them to keep him from pulling them off. He imagine they would be doing it to him soon. Some of them were even moving into Tesarus's grinder to keep it from moving, destroying some of the tentacles, but not enough.

"Tarn, I repeat, are you having any luck?" Helex asked as he turned his head to see Tarn was relaxing in his position now, not bothering to struggle. Helex was dumbfounded by this before he heard him speak up.

"My lord, please," Tarn begged, and Helex was left confused at that. Megatron wasn't anywhere near here. He was over at Cybertron ruling the planet. "Everything is yours. Everything!"

"Tarn, snapped out of it! What's wrong with you?" Helex questioned as he saw the tentacles taking his pane off, revealing Tarn's spike.

"Oh yes, lord," Tarn huffed as more tentacles moved his head around to take his mask off, exposing the wirily tentacle embedded into his neck.

"Aw, scrap. Is that tentacle messing with your head?" Helex asked and Tarn just moaned happily as a tentacle's tip separated and engulfed his spike.

"Thank you, lord," Tarn gasped as they dislodged his mask and inserted several tentacles in his mouth.

"Aw, dammit," Helex muttered. "Tesarus, Tarn's incapacitated!"

"What? How could he- oh," he muttered as he saw Tarn covered in tentacles with some of them inserted inside his mouth and one sucking his spike. "Oh, frag. They're not doing that to me!" he yelled as he doubled his efforts against the tentacles.

"Keep fighting. We can't give- urg!" Helex grunted as tentacles invaded his orifices and started going as deep as they can. They slid down his intake pipe before each tentacle had a part that expanded to help lock it in place. These were knotted tentacles and they helped to keep the knot anchored in place. If anyone attempted to pull them out, they would shut down and prevent any movement of the tentacles both inward and outward. They continued onward inside his pipes as the wirily tentacle reached his neck and inserted it in him, hacking his mind and inserting a virus. He couldn't help but see Megatron in front of him, fulfilling all of his dirty desires as he removed his plate to his spike.

"Helex?!" Tesarus yelled as he saw the tentacles separate at the end and engulfed his spike. Helex didn't appear to pay attention as he let the tentacle do their work as they continued on to open the plates to valve and send their tentacles in their as well, getting silent moans from the smelter. "Frag! I need to contact the others," Tesarus yelled as a tentacle almost reached only for that to be swatted.

"Guah!" Koan and Vos grunted as they ran into the barricade holding the door. They had to give Shotcase credit: he can barricade a fragging door. But it was about to break and one good push would break it. Koan and Vos stepped back before ramming into the door as hard as he could.

"There we go," Koan muttered after it fell.

"Great work. Now we need to climb… these… stairs," Nickel muttered as she realized she couldn't walk up the steps. "Dammit, I hate this guy. I'm taking off one of his limbs when we find him."

"Shall I carry you?" Kaon asked.

"N-no!" she yelled.

"Then how will you get up?" Kaon questioned again and Nickel gritted her denta at that. "Don't worry. I'll grant you a leg up."

"Hey, will you guys hurry up!" Tesarus shouted through the comms.

"Tess! Are you okay?" Nickel asked.

"Don't call me that! And no, I'm not okay. These tentacles came out of the fragging walk and ceiling and started restraining us. Then they inserted this strange cable in their neck and they're, well, let's just say there's lewd things on their mind concerning Megatron and these tentacles like penetrating," he informed them.

"So that's what a submission room does," Koan muttered in realization. "Actually pretty clever."

"It's extremely invasive!" Tesarus yelled at him. "Please, would you hurry up- Agh! That's my valve, you slaggers!"

"Tess?" Nickel asked nervously.

"Aw, dammit, they're getting in deep. I can't keep up… No, stay away from my- Urg!" Tesarus grunted and they could all the sound of the tentacles entering his mouth. After a little while, the com stopped and they were left alone.

"So… need to be carried?" Koan asked Nickel and she sighed before offering herself. "

"Fine, but that's it, got it?"

"Sure thing," he said as he lifted her off the ground and started carrying her in a bridal position, at which Vos could only stare at them in confusion. Upon noticing his stare, Nickel spoke up.

"Vos, tell Tarn about this and I'll take your voice box," she threaten. Vos couldn't tell what she was saying, but knew by her rone it was a threat, so he figured he should stay quiet about this. No need to Tarn about every little detail, even if Kaon and Nickel were eyeing each other in a strange matter.

Tesarus could only moan into his gagged mouth as the tentacles went deeper inside his mouth and valve. The tentacles worked together to remove his plate hiding his spike and one of them engulfed his spike and started sucking it, making him tremble at that. As he was being penetrated and suck, the wirily tentacle got to the back of his neck and inserted it in him. With that, Tesarus started calming down as sexual images of Megatron filled his vision.

Since they were now calm, the tentacles brought Tarn to a standing position and brought Helex and Tesarus down to ground level. Tentacles proceeded to penetrate Tarn's valve and stretch it out. The ones in his mouth move away to make room for a single large one to enter his intake pipe and keep him filled. The large mechs just continued to groan in pleasure into their gaged mouths.

After a little while, they started moving them closer to each other in the center, each of them blissfully unaware of it. They just continued to let them expand their valves, suck on the tentacles, and let the tentacles suck him off. Eventually, they had them line up to with each other, Tarn in the center with Helex and Tesarus on his side. They had no idea they were so close to each other, only concentrating on the mirage of Megatron in their vision satisfying their desires.

The tentacles started manipulating their limbs into a new position. They shifted Tarn to look at Tesarus and brought him closer to him. When they reached him, they made him place his hands on his shoulders and position his spike over his valve in preparation. The tentacles then proceed to bring Helex over and do the same exact thing to him by making him hold onto Tarn and ready to frag him. When them prepared, the tentacles kept penetrating and sucking them off.

"They're on their way up!" Shotcase yelled at Windsoar in fear.

"Good thing I got the spacebridge operational, huh?" he rhetorically questioned them.

"You do? Yes!" Headsky yelled as they went on over to Windsoar, who was inputting a location.

"I don't know how safe this place is, but it's the best thing we can do to hide from the DJD," Windsoar said as he finished inputting the information and started the groundbridge, turning it on and filling the room with the glowing blue light.

"Yes! Let's go!" Shotcase yelled.

"Not yet," Windsoar told him as he went to a box and open it.

"What? Come on! We have to leave!" Headsky warned him.

"You know if we just leave like this, the DJD will just use the spacebridge to track us and kill us, right?" he asked them.

"Then… what do we do?" Shotcase asked.

"Simple," he said as he showed off a bunch of timed explosives. "We make sure they can't use the spacebridge after we use it."

"I underestimated how much endurance it would take to get you up these stairs," Kaon vented as they were on the final set of stairs.

"We're almost there. Put your back into it," Nickel encouraged him with a smile.

"How dare you earn pleasure from my suffering," Kaon muttered as he continued up the stairs with Vos ahead of him.

"This isn't pleasure, it's-"

"Don't lie or I'll toss you off these stairs," Kaon threaten fine.

"Alright, fine, I'm deriving some pleasure from this," she admitted bluntly.

"Good. At least be honest to me about it," he huffed as they reached the last step and stepped onto the top floor. Kaon let Nickel back on the ground on her tires, much to her happiness.

"There. Feels better than being lifted," she cheered.

"Uh-huh, yes, and you didn't smile at me carrying you."

"How could you tell?"

"I'm excellent at hearing someone's tone," he told her as they made their way to the hallway and on to the control room.

"Hmph, alright, fine I was smiling a bit," Nickel admitted. "Now that we're here, we should be able to get help."

"Yes, although I do help there aren't any more delays," Kaon muttered.

"Oh, come on, what else could this guy have done to-"

*BOOM!*

An explosion rocked the building and they all looked at each other at that. "I'm almost positive that came from the control room," Kaon told them as he started rushing over there with the other two in tow. After a short sprint, they made their way to the door labeled 'Control Room' and entered the place. Inside, they could see small fires and a ruined structure of what appeared to be the spacebridge, with even the console destroyed as well. The strangest thing to them, however, was the fact that no one was inside.

"Wasn't Windsor and Headsky supposed to be around?" Nickel asked the group.

"They and now they're not and the spacebridge is destroyed. Take a guess at what they did," Kaon told her.

"Oh… that means they were working with Shotcase," Nickel muttered sadly.

"And earn themselves a spot on the List right next to Shotcase," Kaon told them as he stepped closer to the spacebridge and crossed his arms. "Finding them is going to be a problem, now. They could've gone anywhere. We'll have to be more vigilant in our search for them."

"Yeah, I guess," Nickel muttered as she went ahead to the security console. "Hey, Kaon, what was the name of the room out guys were in called?"

"The submission room. You're looking for a way to get us inside?" he asked her.

"Yeah, I am. Let's see… ah! Here it is" she exclaimed as she flipped a couple of switches. "There. The room should be open and the features of the room should be off."

"Good," he agreed. "You're rolling down the steps yourself this time."

"What? Why?" she asked angrily as she trailed Kaon.

"Those tires of yours prevent you from going up steps, not down them," Kaon told her and Nickel scowled at him as they left the room, Vos following behind at a safe distance.

"Any of my tires pop from this, I'm blaming you," she told him.

"A risk I'm willing to take. After all, it's at your expense," he grinned as they continued on, Nickel scowling at him all along the way.

"Finally, we're here!" Nickel yelled out in relief as she checked her tires. The group had finally reached the basement floor again and were checking on themselves before entering. "Lucky none of these pop."

"Have more faith in yourself. You're well-constructed," Kaon told her as they made their to the main room.

"Thanks, Kaon," she said as they continued on down the hall to find the doors still closed. "Huh, you think they would've exited the room by now."

"Maybe it can only be open from the outside?" Kaon guessed as they made their way to it to see a blue, holographic screen on the door waiting for them to activate it. He went on over and pressed his hand against it, making it turn green and opening up for them. Inside was a sight they were not ready for. Helex was fragging an unmasked Tarn who was in turn fragging Tesarus. Each of them were talking about 'Megatron's gloriousness' as they were fragging or being fragged. This sight left the small trio at a loss for words before Nickel spoke up.

"I think… they got a virus in them, making them hallucinate," she told them.

They had to be primed for this. Those tentacles…," he muttered as Vos just stared at the fragging trio before turning to them for a possible answer.

"I suggest we just… let them work out the virus in their systems," Nickel told them.

"Sounds like the best option. We can scrounge up any clues while they're doing… this," Kaon agreed, the trio's exalted moans starting to get even louder.

"Yeah… we'll check back on them in a little while. Let's go, guys," she told them as she wheeled off with Kaon in tow. Vos stared at the fragging trio before back at Kaon and Nickel before sighing and following along after the duo. Looks like he was stuck with the bickering couple.