So it turns out that a 28 hour road trip is great for writing. Who knew? With that said, sorry about the wait. It was really hard for me to figure out what I wanted to do with this chapter. But the good news is that this and the next chapter were originally going to be one, so the next chapter is already half finished. The bad news: that makes this one end on a cliff-hanger. :D


Chapter 7: Trust

"So Starscream is indeed with the Autobots. Unfortunate, but I must say it is to be expected." Megatron had his hands clasped behind his back as he mused to himself in the company of Soundwave. True, his most trusted supporter remained silent for the majority of the time, even in the presence of Megatron himself. But so long as he got the job done, which he rarely failed to, Megatron found that he actually preferred the vague nods of affirmation to those who were prone to voice too many of their own opinions.

"Is he among them as their prisoner or of his own volition?" The warlord asked after a moment of silence.

Soundwave promptly pulled up an aerial clip of the latest skirmish between the Autobots and Mech on his vis-screen. As usual, the spy never failed to provide hard evidence of any potentially useful information. The screen zoomed in on Starscream blasting the ground around a few troopers to keep them at bay from himself and the other Autobots. Megatron examined the scene with interest. "They allow him his weapons yet keep him grounded and easily manageable. Interesting." He afforded himself a small smile. "If by some miracle he ends up aboard my ship once again I shall have to remember that. Continue evaluating the situation. Find out if Starscream truly has his spark with the other side. If not, perhaps he yet can be of some use to us."

Soundwave nodded once in acknowledgment and strode silently from the room.


Back in the Autobot base, Starscream tapped a single long digit on the counter top where he sat idly. His thoughts were turned inward as was typical ever since he was taken in by the Autobots. Taken in, sure, but not as an equal. Oh, they had been considerate of him no doubt, offering their resources and attentions; and he imagined if it came down to it, their protection. That was something that was never guaranteed aboard the Nemesis. If you fell behind you were left behind. There was no room for the weak in Megatron's eyes. Weak being a matter of perspective of course. It was to a bot's own detriment if they couldn't see the strengths of another. Megatron for one was infamous for turning a dead optic to those whom he did not favor, regardless of their talents.

Yet here he was granted firepower, the freedom to fight with the other Autobots as if they depended on his participation. They could have just as easily locked him in the base, siphoning all useful intel before tossing him back into the stockades. They had given him freedom of choice, something he realized now was not such an entitlement as one might have thought. With choice however, came any consequences resulting thereof. Thankfully he caught himself yesterday in realizing that the Autobots favor responsibility in the face of complications. Though for the spark of him he still didn't see the purpose of preserving those Mech soldiers. Bystander humans perhaps could be argued to be innocent until convicted. Trained soldiers on the other hand knew exactly what they were getting into when they shot at giants. A servo for a servo and all that.

Protecting humans that tried to dissect and kill Cybertronians, hmph their logic didn't make much sense at all. Why if someone were to attack him, he wouldn't hesitate to-

Frag. He halted his line of thought as he came to the realization that he had just come full circle in contradicting himself. A deeply irritated expression settled over his features as he sulked. He blamed the gross amount of free time he suddenly had in comparison to being Second in Command on the flagship vessel of an active army. It wasn't healthy for a bot to have so much spare time.

He found himself suddenly overwhelmed by the urge to talk to someone. At times like this even a common Vehicon would do. Though he did made a point to avoid fraternizing with the drones too often lest they get overly comfortable around him. With a bored sigh he got to his feet and made his way towards the main chamber.


"So I told her that it looked more like she had draped some sort of dead animal around her shoulders and that she should shake it off before it started to stink. Can you image the look on her face?" Miko's face broke into an amused chuckle, recalling her own story as she fiddled with the laces on her boot.

"Mmhm," Jack trailed listlessly as he looked over his notes from class while still making an effort to seem like he wasn't intentionally ignoring Miko's presence. It was tricky business at times, but he managed. What finally grabbed his attention was when the girl's voice finally grew quiet. He looked up to see Starscream walk into the room, perhaps a little too casually.

"Uh, hey," The boy greeted somewhat awkwardly hoping that his acknowledgment would carry over for the both of them since Miko now seemed intent on examining a freckle near the base of her wrist.

Starscream on the other hand didn't seem to notice as he skipped the greeting entirely.

"I figured I would find at least one of you here," the seeker addressed Jack.

"Yeah, it's kind of what we do," Jack stated. "It's a nice place to just get away from everything once in a while, you know?"

"Hmm, so what do you humans do exactly when you're not mucking around the base here then?"

"Well, we have school every weekday, and usually homework to do in the evenings. Whether certain people do it or not is another matter that the school likes to settle with detention," he nodded slightly towards Miko to which she stuck her tongue out at him. "Other than that, I have a part-time job at the local fast-food joint. Y'know, the glamorous life of a burger flipper."

"So you're servant class?" Starscream stated simply.

"Well uh, I guess…" Jack conceded, scratching the back of his head.

Saving the older teen from having to defend his position Miko finally spoke up, careful not to sound too interested. "So, what did you do back on Cybertron? Chimney sweep?"

"Hardly. I was a scientist before the war began. After tensions escalated I eventually became air commander of an elite group of energon seekers," he said with a hint of pride.

"So you're pretty good at finding energon?" Jack asked.

"I guess you could say that we were more of a special task force in the field," he responded vaguely.

Miko gave a slight toss of her bangs. "Ooh, special task force. That must be why the bots want you on an energon scouting mission then. And here I thought it was just to get rid of you for a few hours."

"They what?" Starscream said blankly.

She merely shrugged, disengaging herself from the conversation once again.

"Why am I always the last to know about things that pertain to myself around this place?" The seeker sighed exasperatedly and stalked from the room to find someone else to ask about this.

Not a minute after he left, Optimus and Arcee strode unceremoniously through the opposite doorway, already deep in conversation. "But Optimus, why me? I mean, the two of us don't exactly have the best track record as far as cooperating goes," Arcee prompted in a somewhat hushed tone as she followed alongside the much larger mech. A slim card-like device was clutched in her hand.

"This is your decision to make, Arcee, even more so than the rest of us. It is part of every Cybertronian's core programming to have the ability to transform into their vehicle mode. Especially for seekers such as Starscream, being grounded for so long can begin to wear on a bot's mind. I believe yesterday was evidence of that."

"So what am I supposed to do if he just flies off as soon as he gets set free?"

"Then my presence would do nothing to prevent such a thing from happening. If it is Starscream's wish to flee our offers of partnership at this point, then there is nothing more we can do." Sensing a remaining uncertainty within Arcee, Optimus added, "I believe that you are more than capable of this task. Only you can choose whether you are ready to put old wounds to rest."

Arcee fell silent, her stride slowing thoughtfully before she finally conceded. "Maybe you're right. Maybe I've been too hard on him. I still can't help but be hesitant after everything he's done, but I'd be willing to give him a chance. If only to see that it was worth all the time we've given him." She looked down at the card in her hands as she spoke, unaware of Optimus' small smile as she absentmindedly traced a line of coding with her thumb.

The two made their way from the room, their ensuing conversation becoming too distant for the kids to make out.

"Did you hear that?" Miko whispered fiercely at Jack from her position of twisting awkwardly over the back of the couch to view the two depart.

"Hear what?"

"What Optimus was just saying to Arcee."

"I was trying to respect their privacy," Jack said a bit defensively despite the fact that he had still overheard nearly everything.

Miko dismissed the sentiment with a brief puff of air before continuing. "They're planning to take off the resident Decepticon's wing clamp." She paused for Jack's nonexistent reaction. "As in, the only thing keeping him on the Autobot's good side in the first place!"

"Miko, there are other reasons why Starscream would want to be on the Autobot's side you know."

"Don't you remember what happened the last time the bots let their guard down around him? It'll be 'double cross Tuesday' all over again!" She extenuated with a wild wave of her arms.

"Are you seriously still on that? Have you even considered that maybe you're just seeing things that aren't really there?"

"No listen, Optimus gave the key to Arcee to take care of. Out of all the bots, she's the one that still holds the most beef with Starscream and vise versa. If she finally decides to let him loose, then he'll go all psycho-nuts and slash the place up; you know, proportionally to how much hostility he was holding against us this whole time. Then everything goes to the pit and back and the day is ruined by Sir Stars for Brains."

Jack looked at her incredulously for a moment. "What?" He had to admit; even after spending so much time together, Miko was still able to lose him with her 'unique' trains of thought. He shook his head to clear it before continuing. "A lot's changed since then. Starscream's…" He trailed off as he tried to think of what he was meaning to say. He's different now? That he's loyal to the Autobots? Sure he didn't really have anywhere else to go since the Decepticons disowned him, but now that he thought about it, no one ever really knew what Starscream's agenda was. He wasn't exactly a shining example of model behavior and was far from predictable.

"I'm just saying." Miko left it at that with a crossing of her arms. Amazing, Jack thought, that someone who was so enamored with the idea of giant robots and destruction could be so hostile towards a single one of them."

Footsteps hearkened the return of several individuals, and by the sounds coming from the hall it seemed that Starscream had finally run into Optimus and Arcee in one of back rooms. He walked a few paces behind the two, looking as if he were a little down on the fact that his second instance of being allowed outside the base was merely to scout for energon.

Optimus approached the platform area where the two kids gave him their attentions. "Bulkhead should be back soon to take you home for the night, Miko. Jack, I'm sure there would be room for one more if you need to get back. Otherwise Arcee is going out on a scouting mission with Starscream for the rest of the afternoon."

Jack spoke up. "I can wait until she gets back. I don't have to be home 'til nine-thirty anyway. Besides, I focus better here."

"Alright Mr. Model Student, I'll see you in a few." Arcee jested with a small smile which Jack returned somewhat half-heartedly.


"Before Megatron returned from his three year excursion into the outer reaches of this galaxy, I ran the entire Decepticon vessel. Everything from crew management to keeping tabs on Earth. He assigned me specifically with the task of maintaining order among his troops, ensuring that his regime didn't slip in his absence. Little did he know that I would find one of the most profitable energon mining sites thus far on this planet! And what did he manage to accomplish during his three years in space? He brought back space rocks to reanimate the dead. Something, I might add, which he suggested that I might be his first test subject for.

"So I give him a tour of the mine once he got back, thousands of cubes already excavated with the deepest veins not even tapped yet, all in the glorious name of Lord Megatron of course. And- I guess you already know how this ends seeing as your entire team was there looking forrr…" he trailed off and made a hasty throat clearing sound. "Ah, seeing as your team was present," he amended before continuing. "He forced me to blow up the entire mine, refined energon and all! Just to make sure that if he couldn't have it, no one could. My entire three years gone to waste just because he didn't feel like defending the position! And don't even get me started on what happened after we got back to the lab."

Arcee spoke up from her position behind him before he could get into another rant. "You know, you should really be telling all this to Optimus instead of me. He's the one who ultimately makes sense of all the information you've been giving us."

"I doubt that he'd find much use out of my self-pitying anecdotes," he responded a bit morosely.

The femme shrugged slightly. "You never know."

The two walked at a leisurely pace, Starscream taking point while Arcee trailed behind with one optic on her handheld scanner. From the deep look of concentration on her face he could guess that she was deep in thought with the other half of her processor. He hoped she wasn't worked up about the fact that he had almost mentioned Cliffjumper earlier by mistake. That seemed to still be a touchy subject.

They rounded a bend in the ridge they were following and he heard a noise nearby. Some sort of animal, he guessed. It'd probably never even seen humans before, much less a pair of Cybertronians invading its territory. For some reason the thought amused him. He never did start back into his narrative on what happened after Megatron had him blow the mine.

A few minutes passed before either of them spoke up again. "Hey Scream, I've got a surprise for you."

The corner of Starscream's mouth drew into a frown at the all too casual nickname that had recently been coined by Bulkhead. He supposed that he should put a stop to it sooner rather than later before the others grew too accustomed to using it, but for now he turned to see what Arcee was talking about. What met his gaze made him stop dead in his tracks, his optics catching on the small shimmering card held firmly between Arcee's two fingers. "That's-" he began before realizing that the item in question was exactly what he had hoped it was.

"Right," she began, scarcely moving a single piston as she locked optics with him, "you realize what I'm giving to you then." The intonation marking not so much a question as it was a statement.

"The key to my wing clamp…"he breathed, hardly twitching before Arcee jerked the key card back as if she half expected him to snatch it and run off.

Arcee didn't break her gaze for even a nanoclik, cerulean optics trained onto his own with an intensity that was deepened by their subtle hints of violet. "No, this is your freedom. Your right to choose what side you're on. This is our trust that you won't stab each and every one of us in the back as soon as the opportunity presents itself."

Starscream stood resigned, allowing the fact to wash over him that the femme was granting him something invaluable while at the same time giving him a word of warning. Upon reflection he wasn't entirely sure he was comfortable with that. A shadow of mistrust flickered across his features but he did not allow himself to draw back from the item. There would be no show of weakness this time. "Funny, the last time something like this happened I recall it coming to blows."

Arcee's face gave a small twitch at the recollection of the grounds behind their past skirmish, but she was determined to stick by her decision. "You want it or not?"

Surely this was just another in a series of favors designed to foster trust. The Autobots didn't want him, they wanted his intel. Coordinates, weaknesses, all matter of inside information. They knew though, that the only way to gain access to everything he had to offer was to give him everything in return. And was it not a fair trade? Not quite, he realized, seeing as they were the ones who imprisoned him in the first place. They owed it to him to set him free. So then was it guilt that was driving them to release him, or some sort of misplaced self-righteousness?

Starscream eyed the key card, the memory of the jolt of euphoria that had run through him yesterday was beginning to override any of his misgivings about the situation. As thrilling as that short-lived act of blasting from the ground was, it was not enough to satiate his needs. Seekers were built to fly.

Without another word Starscream reached forward to take the card, examining it briefly before swiping it through the locking mechanism on his wing clamp. The clamp fell with a loud crunch, shaking the rocky ground. Then, taking his time to allow energon to flow freely once more into the previously pinched conduits, Starscream unfolded his wings to a more natural position, a faint breeze enhancing their newfound liberation. Nothing had ever felt sweeter. He heard Arcee voicing something beside him. Something about 'air support' and 'aiding the Autobots'; it didn't really matter. Nothing mattered but up.

"Starscream are you even lis-" Arcee began before she was cut off by a flurry of limbs and fuselage as Starscream transformed into his jet mode. The expulsion of air from his afterburners kicked up a maelstrom of gravel that showered across the two-wheeler's plating. Arcee drew up a hand to shield her optics from the sun as she tried to track his path, but neither wing nor fin met her gaze. He was already gone.


"Soundwave, you rang?" Airachnid strode into one of the main computer chambers aboard the Nemesis where the silent mech spent most of his working hours. The spider-bot rarely spent any amount of time in this part of the ship if she could help it, but she was under direct orders from Lord Megatron to assist the chief intelligence officer as needed in his task of pinpointing the location of the missing Seeker. She didn't particularly care to even be around Soundwave much less work with him, and she was even less interested in finding out the whereabouts of Starscream. But in the end she would have to have been out of her mind to disobey a direct order from Megatron.

Airachnid placed her hands on her hips as she came to a halt, awaiting the reason she was summoned. Soundwave turned to regard her impatient stare with his own blank one. "You're going to have to speak up if I'm to have any idea what you're trying to tell me," She finally said with a playful impudence.

The dark mech ignored her quip as he pulled up a map on his faceplate. Airachnid watched as two icons representing Breakdown and herself were placed next to a set of coordinates above an Autobot sigil. She rolled her optics slightly, annoyed at the fact that she understood his message perfectly.

"Fine. We're going to need a ground bridge to get the big oaf to the surface though."


Starscream shrieked through the cooling air, quickly leaving the heat and pull of the ground behind him. The thrill of erupting from the confines of gravity into the freedom of open space overtook him. The wind whipped across his wings, finding little resistance in his sleek form. He let the air lift him higher and higher, his fins angling slightly to whip him into a tight spiral and break through a sparse layer of stratus clouds into thinner air. There he leveled out and increased his speed, breaking the sound barrier with a loud crack. After what seemed like only a few minutes into his flight, Starscream heard Arcee's voice call out to him over his Autobot comlink channel, tainting the powerful roar of his engines. Nosy Autobots. He turned off his receiver and gave his flight path another boost.

Back on the ground Arcee stood idle near a few sparse scrubby trees, her optics gazing absentmindedly at the sky. She had predicted that Starscream would want a short ride, and she didn't want to deny him of that after being confined for so long. It was she who had ultimately given him that freedom in the end. Something troubled her though. The nagging at her processor wasn't the fact that she had just set free the one responsible for off-lining Cliffjumper. She wasn't even bothered by the possibility that he might not come back. It was the fact that she felt good about letting him go. And for some reason that worried her.

Arcee's shadow grew longer and she began to pace. One call wouldn't hurt. Just to see, perhaps encourage him to come back sooner rather than later. After all, they did still have an energon deposit to scout out and Jack was waiting for them to return so he she could drive him home.

She pressed two fingers lightly to the communication hub on the side of her helm. "Arcee to Starscream, how's it going up there?" She let a moment of silence pass before making another go at it. "Arcee to Starscream, do you copy?" No response. Despite the fact that no one was in sight she put on an annoyed face, trying to mask the small fear that was growing in the back of her mind. What if he didn't come back? If he went back to rejoin the Decepticons, her decision to free him would mean nothing. Would she be held accountable for losing one of the Autobots' greatest assets in years? No, Optimus would understand. Her conscience on the other hand would take it as a personal failure. She tried once more at getting a signal through to the jet, but got no answer.

Intaking a breath of air, she told herself that she would wait for him until sundown. That still gave him almost an hour to return. After that she would be forced to cut her losses and head back to base. She brushed past a large clump of bushes and a small scuffling sound met her audio receptors. "Who's there?" She demanded, whipping out her arm cannons as she scanned the area for any sign of movement.

She prodded the brush again with her toe causing a thrashing of branches. "Whoa whoa! It's just me." Jack emerged from his hiding place in the brush, holding his hands up defensively as he stared wide-eyed up at her gun barrels.

"Jack! What are you doing out here?" Arcee asked with concern as she withdrew her guns back into her forearms.

He picked a few twigs out his hair, delaying his response for a couple extra seconds. "Well um, it was kind of Miko's idea. She-" he began before seeming to change his mind. "I mean, 'I' was worried that Starscream might pull something while you two were out here alone, so I followed you through the portal," he said, shouldering the blame. "I guess I let Miko's suspicions get the best of me and I thought that maybe I could help somehow if something went wrong." He admitted before adding a bit sheepishly, "Pretty dumb, huh?"

"Yep." His guardian agreed simply before allowing her expression to soften in a small smile. "It was sweet of you to go through the trouble though. Dumb, but sweet."

Jack blushed slightly and resolved to continue not taking Miko's advice on the more important matters of life. "So what now? Do you think he's gone for good?"

"I'm not sure." Arcee admitted. "It makes sense that he'd want to go for a quick flight, but he's not responding to any of my calls."

"It's been almost half an hour." Jack commented, peering at the time on his phone under the shade of his hand. "Maybe we should contact Optimus."

"We'll wait just a little bit longer." Arcee thought for a moment before activating her comlink once more. "Arcee to Starscream, please respond."

They both stood still for a moment as only silence returned over the airwaves. After a long minute, a staticy voice broke over Arcee's comlink. "This is Air Commander Starscream, rendezvousing at your coordinates in due course."

"In due… What the in the pit is that supposed to mean? You've been out there for ages." Arcee replied crossly.

"Uh, Arcee," Jack started hesitantly. "I don't mean to interrupt your conversation but..." He pointed off in the distance to a large blocky vehicle roaring towards them over the roadless terrain, kicking up a large dust storm in its wake.

"Scrap," Arcee cursed, surveying the situation with troubled optics. "Jack, find cover."

"But-" He began to argue, not wanting to leave her in the face of impending danger.

"Now!" She shot him with a fierce stare making sure he did as he was told before reopening her comlink channel, he gaze now focusing in on the fast approaching vehicle. "Arcee to Starscream. Get back here right now. That's an order!" she commanded tersely. From the lack of response her spark sank a few more micrometers. If their newfound 'ally' was MIA then so be it, then she would have to settle for the next best option.

A familiar rumbling shook the ground beneath Arcee's feet, cutting off the call to base before she even patched it through and Airachnid's spinning form burst from the soil. Leaping out of the way from the spider-bot's flurry of unfurling legs, Arcee dodged a narrow stab at her face from one of her rival's razor sharp limbs. Only after she hastily backed away and felt a wet trickle run down the side of her jaw did she realize that the blow had come a little closer to its target than she had initially thought. She reached up to feel the area with her fingers and felt a shallow gouge on the side of her head right where her communications center would have been located.

Airachnid brought her lips together in a satisfied smile. "Oh, did I do that? Guess you won't be inviting any friends to watch me extinguish your spark." The dark femme lunged forward and Arcee braced for the impact. Just before the rivalry would have collided in a tangle of blades and limbs, a huge force caught Arcee in the side, effectively tackling her out of harm's way. The two landed heavily, the larger bot tumbling further due to his momentum. Blinking the sand from her optics, Arcee looked to her would be rescuer.

"Breakdown, you bolt-brained idiot!" Airachnid yelled.

The one-eyed mech was unapologetic as he pushed himself up off the ground, casting a quick glance to make sure his target wasn't getting up too fast. "You said we were going to attack together," he retorted, a bit hurt that his teammate didn't appreciate his work.

"Yes," she began testily, "but we settled this beforehand. I'll handle Arcee while you take the Seeker." She glanced around a bit, passing over Arcee who was now staggering back to her feet. "Speaking of which, don't tell me he's already flown the coop. He does have a nasty tenancy to be rather selfish in the face of danger." She smirked a little and cocked her head. "Of course, perhaps it is better this way. We wouldn't want you to get too attached to yet another doomed partner now would we?"

Arcee scowled and sent a few blaster shots her way, each one of them missing by a hand's breadth.

"Oh?" She remarked simply, amused at her prey's reaction. "Don't tell me you actually trusted him? You of all bots should know better," she scolded.

Arcee remained stoic in the face of Airachnid's all too familiar taunts, keeping a hard eye her adversary's movements as they circled around each other. "The one thing I 'know' is that if it weren't for you, Tailgate would still be around," she said vehemently.

"Are you still on about that?" Airachnid offered a small smirk. "If it weren't for Starscream, Cliffjumper would still be around." Pleased with reaction she garnered from that statement, she gave a quick signal to Breakdown. Arcee snapped back to reality and realized too late that she was now positioned between the opponents. The small Autobot stood her ground as the two rushed towards either side of her until at the last second she leapt out of the way. Avoiding the ensuing head-on collision with a nimbleness few bots could lay claim to, Airachnid narrowly redirected herself out of the way of her barreling companion, using instead her momentum to latch onto his arm and swing around her fellow Decepticon to land a powerful kick to Arcee's chest, knocking her back to the rocks behind them.

Before the blue femme could so much as lift her head up, Airachnid hauled her to her feet, shooting a thick webbing from her servos to pin Arcee to the face of the rocks. Arcee struggled furiously against her bonds as Airachnid walked up to look her in the eye.

"You always were a fighter; that's what I like about you. Interesting until the very end. Now, I know that you're not one for idle chatter, so I'll make this brief. Either tell us where the Autobots are hiding Starscream, or-" She trailed off, running a set of sharp fingertips across the length of Arcee's jaw line. Her nemesis flinched from the touch and Airachnid's lips drew up into a small smile. Oh how she loved messing with her prey.

"How about you tell me why Megatron is so interested in getting back the bot who tried to slag him over?"

Airachnid responded with a swift backhand to the blue femme's face. Arcee gasped at the sting and Airachnid smiled sweetly. "You're hardly in a position to do the questioning around here. If you would just tell me what I need to know, we could avoid this whole messy business." She raised her hand again in preparation for another blow when a quick scuffling sounded from somewhere to the rear of the pair. With a curious turn of her head Airachnid scuttled to the source of the sound, her face lighting up at the sight of the figure she flushed out from behind the stand of scrubby bushes.

"So you did bring little Jack along. He does tend to make things more interesting, doesn't he? Breakdown, make yourself useful for once and collect the human for me."

Breakdown pounded a fist into his other hand with zeal, a smile lighting across his face. "With pleasure." Jack's eyes widened as the hulking Cybertronian started towards him and he scrambled away from his reaching hands.

Arcee struggled against her bonds, ignoring Airachnid as she strained to see that Jack continued to narrowly avoid Breakdown's lurching pursuit. From what she could observe, the large Decepticon was having a hard time keeping up with the quick turns and small size of his target. When she saw that the human had a brief moment to catch his breath she called out to him. "Jack, your cell phone! Find somewhere to hide and call base for backup!"

A flicker of annoyance flitted across Airachnid's face and she roughly grabbed Arcee's chin to turn her focus back to her. "Now now, no helping." She turned to Breakdown. "Stop toying around and just grab him already!"

Breakdown blinked his one good eye for a second before converting into his vehicle mode. Any headway that had been gained by Jack was quickly lost as the vehicle quickly corralled him into a corner. Changing back into robot mode, Breakdown grabbed onto the human's legs and hoisted him up as if he were no more trouble than a rag doll.

"Jack!" Arcee pulled against her restraints once more as she witnessed her human partner being captured. A hard blow connected with the side of her head, pounding it into the rock she was bound to. Searing pain erupted from the site but was quickly masked by darkness gathering at the edges of her vision.

Her automatic systems flashed a warning of imminent stasis lock as the world went dark around her. Her body fell limp and she could faintly make out a voice saying, "You know, I never did get my endangered species from this world..."