I walked ahead of Bee and his team, smiling proudly. Bee rolled his optics at me while he continued to push a stasis pod into the base, an alarm sounding in the background. I scuffed my nose at it as Sides fell to the ground, picking bushes out of his joints.

"What's that?" I asked, turning to face Fixit as he and Russell emerged from behind the communications hub.

They both paused at the sight of my frame, before slowly answering. "That's the proximity alarm," Fixit said, before Russell bounded around him grinning widely.

"Which I know how to operate," the boy cheered. "Because I was totally listening,"

"Oh," the minicon growled. "You were barely-" he shook his helm, turning to Bumblebee. "Anyway, how did the mission go?"

"Wandered through seven klicks of mud to find an empty stasis pod," Bee growled, glaring at me.

"Hey," I protested, gesturing to my frame. I was covered from head to toe in mud, taking my time getting out of the mud ruts on our way back. "Like I used to say, you're not doing it right until you don't know what color your car is." Strongarm opened to pod's door, and out poured more mud, which I gladly flopped in. "Heaven," I sighed, relaxing into it a bit.

"To be accurate," the cadet continued as if nothing happened. "The pod wasn't completely empty," she glanced at me, before turning to the others. "Sideswipe," she called over. "Tell Fixit how you lent a hand," she paused for a second. "Oh, that's right. You didn't."

"Hey," he protested, rising to his pedes. "If anyone slowed us down it was Grimlock. I've seen fried circuits livelier than you were today. No offense- Ow!"

Grimlock lashed out, connecting with the side of Sides' helm, knocking him backwards and far away from us. I gaped at the bots, who were glaring at each other. It was true, Grim had been acting strange, but not this strange. Not that I blamed him, but still. I pulled myself out of the mud pit I was in, moving towards Bumblebee as he called for the bot in question.

"What's gotten into -" Sideswipe paused as the Tyrannosaurus stalked towards him, growling dangerously low. ".. you?"

Grimlock growled again and charged Sideswipe. I transformed my flight tech, blasting forward and past Grim in an instant. I wrecked into Sides, out of the way, as Grim pummeled by, wrecking into a nearby trinket of Denny's. The dinobot with the purple decepticon insignia still embedded on his shoulder plates turned to us, glaring us down yet again.

"What's your backfire, Grimlock?" Sideswipe yelled again as I helped him to his pedes. I watched as the dinobot growled more about something, before charging our position again. I narrowed my optics, as Bee jumped in between us.

"Break it up!" he demanded, placing his servos between us two.

Grimlock stopped, glaring at the servo on his arm. "Keep your hands…" he flung his servo to the side, knocking Grim's off of him. "... off of me, autobot." he growled low and dangerous, all the while glaring at Bee. He twisted suddenly, his tail connecting with the three of us and sending us flying through the air and crashing, hard, against nearby trinkets.

I was the first to recover, rushing to my pedes to take a defensive stance. "Fixit, get Russell to the command center," I called as I heard Bee groan in pain behind me. Strongarm advanced next, her blaster pulled and in firing motion. "Strongarm, don't-"

Sideswipe rushed her, sending her shot up slightly missing the dinobot. Grim crashed to the ground, crud falling ontop of him, forcing him down. "What are you doing?" Sides demanded of her.

"Trying to protect you from a violent attacker, in case you haven't noticed," she glared back.

"You mean protecting me from a teammate?"

I moved over to Bumblebee's fallen form, looking back occasionally at the still form of the dinobot. Before I could reach him, Grimlock advanced on the two arguing bots, knocking them both to the ground. He towered over a phased Strongarm, and I quickly dived underneath him, above her, to deflect a series of punches that followed. I did my best to push him off her, but he kept punching. He dented my forearm, massively, sending pain through my neural net and into my processors. I ignored it best I could, but my reaction time slowed significantly.

It wasn't until Grim turned to face a new threat that I rolled off of Strongarm. She eased a bit as I grabbed at my forearm, willing the pain to go away.

"Stop fighting me!" I heard Grimlock growl. I twisted to see him pushing against Sideswipe's vehicle mode. "They don't stand a chance, and neither do you!" he grunted, lifting Sideswipe and tossing him into the air. I grunted, hauling myself to my pedes, gaining the dinobot's attention.

"Grimlock?" I begged, ignoring the pain in my arm.

Sideswipe landed on his pedes, turning to run towards Grim and jumping onto his back. I paused, thinking of Jurassic World for maybe a moment. I visibly shook my helm as Grim flipped backwards, smashing Sides underneath his weight.

"Oh no…." I mumbled, moving towards the fallen bot. Grim growled over to me, and I froze, still cradling my damaged arm.

He held his servos to his helm, clenching his optics shut as he grunted painfully. "Keep moving…" he ordered before moving towards me.

I held up my servos, well away from my weapons, to show my lack of desire to harm. "Grimlock," I eased, taking a step back as he continued to push forward. "Grim, I don't want to hurt you." he kept moving towards me, his optics narrowed. "Grimlock, please. Just talk to me," he stopped when he was barely inches away from me. He stretched so he was slightly taller than me, and I angled my helm to look up at him.

"Grimlock can't talk to you right now," he growled, before raising his right hand. He brought it down on my cheek, my faceplates erupting in pain. I spun away from him, taking a few steps back before turning to face him again. He punched twice more, hitting me in the stomach and my shoulder. I groaned again, backing away only to glare at him. I clutched my stomach, my facing burning as I struggled to stand my ground. "Why won't you fall?" he demanded, charging me once again. He twisted, myself slow to notice his tail connecting with my abdomen.

I flew back, crashing into a pile of cars, sending the masses falling on top of me. I could feel some energon lines and circuits breaking, sparks erupting from my frame. I groaned, attempting to stand, only to find multiple points of my body. I groaned, finally relaxing and giving into my injuries. I tried to find Grimlock, but I couldn't. I heard Sideswipe groan in pain once more, his frame not far from my own. I tried to search for Bumblebee or Strongarm, but I couldn't find them either. I groaned as my energon levels dropped slowly, my frame slowly pushing me into a stasis.


A steady pounding of an alarm woke me from my slumber. I shifted underneath the pile of rubble, reaching around to peel some of them away from my frame. Some of my energon lines had sealed once more, however I was going to have to look them over again later, and pound many dents out of my system.

There was a loud crash from the command center, and I twisted and crawled around until I caught sight of it. Grimlock had Russell in his servos, holding him by his hood.

"Listen, human," Grim growled at him. "I know you were trying to signal for help."

"I wasn't," the boy protested, pushing against him. "But, helps coming anyway," he crossed his arms in front of his chest, relaxing as he was airborne. "Optimus Prime should be here any second,"

Before my spark could react to my bot's name, Grim dropped Russell, looking around the skies frantically. "Huh? Optimus!?" he freaked, still looking.

"That was our new proximity alarm," Russell cheered from the ground, and I vented a sigh. "It means Optimus is close by. And how do you think he'll feel when he finds out you seriously injured his wife?"

"Huh?" Grim protested, looking in my direction. "That was the Ancora Prime!? Why didn't she fight back!? Must be this stupid dinobot…. I can't beat Optimus mano a mano. But the boss will scrap me if I come back empty-handed." he froze, turning back towards something behind him. "But I'm not empty-handed. I have Underbite," the dinobot moved from my line of sight, pulling what I assuming was the stasis pod containing Underbite away with him.

I groaned, trying to push myself up again. Russell ran over to me, and my spark pulsed as I remembered his words.

"Cara," the boy said, pushing against a hood with all of his might. Surprisingly, with a little help from me it went rolling off of my frame. "Cara, I am so sorry. I didn't know what else to say!"

"Russell," I chuckled, pulling against every instinct that said to lay back down and curl into a ball. "It's fine. It obviously worked, and I probably would've done the same thing." I smiled at the boy as I brought myself to a sitting position. I quickly self scanned, clipping a few energon lines and shoving them together, healing only what was needed before rising on unsteady pedes. "How's Fixit?"

"I am fine," he cheered moving towards me.

I turned to Bee, who was attempting to pull himself up. I ran over to him, offering him a servo which he greatfully took. "What happened?" he asked me.

I only sighed, turning to where Russell and Fixit were talking to Sides.

We both moved over to him, lifting him onto his pedes. "Where's Grimlock?" he asked softly, his voice weak. I quickly scanned him, finding nothing too severe other than a few dents.

"Russell scared him away, but Grimlock has Underbite," Fixit reported.

"Said he was taking him back to some boss. But-"

"I can't believe I fell for the old innocent T Rex routine." Strongarm interrupted the boy, picking herself up off the ground. "We should interrogate Grimlock's known associates. He's clearly been fooling us this whole time."

"Strongarm-" I began to calmly protest her, before someone got a more vicious approach.

"We are Grimlock's known associates," Sides argued, again, with her.

"I-I think maybe -"

"I've seen Grimlock's rap sheets," Bee interrupted the boy this time. "The only crime on there is sever property damage due to Grimlock being.. Grimlock."

"That's what he wants us to think," Strongarm protested again.

"If you'll just-" Russell started again.

"No way Grimlock attacked us willingly." Sides argued again. "The boss must've forced him."

"Guys!" I interrupted this time, raising my voice a little louder than I planned. Once I had gained their attention, I pulled it towards the boy. "Maybe we should listen to the human who scared the attacker away, who was awake for the whole ideal,"

"I don't think Grimlock's in control of himself," Russell explained. "He wanted to hit me, but he couldn't. It was like there was a war going on inside of him."

"Accept it," Strongarm flatlined. "Grimlock's just a bad bot who's been playing us for suckers."

I reached over and smacked her upside her helm. She twisted to stare at me, dumbfounded. "I see where your loyalty lies," I muttered, turning back to Bee who was glaring at me.

"Whatever's going on," he argued. "Our first priority is to find Grimlock and that pod, and get them both back here."

"This isn't Grim's fault, Bee," Sides reasoned with him. "What Russell's saying is at least possible, right? Tell me you know that,"

Bee only vented a sigh, and walked slowly towards the command center where Fixit was fidgeting. I glared at Strongarm as she followed him, and I looked to Sideswipe.

"Do you believe me?" he asked, sulking to follow them.

"I know that we must have faith in our teammates," I said, throwing a reassuring arm around Sides' shoulderplates. "And I am proud that you do. And it could happen, nobody knows. I've seen too many movies to not at least consider it."

"I can't locate Grimlock's signal," Fixit protested, messing with the controls. "Comm and tracking systems were damaged when he hit the console."

"Okay," Bee groaned. "Grim said he was meeting someone, therefore they must've set a rendezvous point."

"It sounded like the original plan was for Grimlock to grab more than one pod," Russell informed.

"Are there any secluded areas nearby that are large enough to hide, like a dozen bots?" I asked him.

He thought a moment, before his eyes widened. "The Crown River Dam. It's huge."

"And fully automated," Fixit added. "No human personnel."

"We'll start there," Bee rumbled. "Fixit, you and Russell try to get the comm system functioning. Autobots, maximum velocity!"

Sides and Strongarm stared at him with raised optic ridges, while I tried to hide my laughter. Bee looked at us with begging optics before he sagged.

"Alright fine, just transform please,"

The three of them transformed, tires squealing as the peeled out of the base. I saluted the two in the center before transforming myself and following them on wheels.


Sideswipe led the group, myself trailing behind as we followed a convenient set of dino pedeprints through the woods. We walked for a moment, my audios straining to hear the conversation the two up front were having, when I heard an alarm sound. I paused in my steps, watching as Bee and Sides moved forward, fog erupting from the ground ahead of them.

Sides slipped first, Bee sliding right after him.

"Bee!" I cried, moving to follow them before I stopped, looking down. It looked like ice, a smooth, almost clear covering on the ground in front of Strongarm and I. Looking over the edge of the cliff, I saw the two bots tumbling down hill. Eventually, Bee transformed, Sideswipe latching on. They drove a little, before Bee hit the breaks, stopping just before another drop.

Strongarm started a slower descent after them. I activated my jets, slowly bringing myself down there.

"Sir, are you okay?" she asked as she skidded to a stop beside them.

"Fine," Bee grumbled, rubbing his helm.

"Me too, thanks for asking," Sides glared as he pulled himself up, grabbing at his back, I quickly scanned the two of them as we started moving again, just to ensure that they were fine.

We moved back up, and I searched the area surrounding where I saw the fog. There was something stabbed into the ground, and I pulled it free. "It was this thing," I concluded, tossing it to Bee.

"A cryo-inducer from the stasis pods," Strongarm finalized, looking over Bee's shoulder. "Friendly bots don't generally build traps for the good guys," she muttered the last part.

I rolled my optics, pushing forward, myself taking point. I moved towards the dam entrance, the others following closely when I heard voice coming from the inside.

"The autobots were all over me." It was Grim, I signaled for the others to stop, pointing inside. "But I took care of them. And… snagged Underbite. Between him and me, how much more muscle will you need?"

Bee moved around me to direct his troops, myself still listening to the conversation.

"That's a rather cowardly way to justify failure," a familiar voice responded. Bee moved into the entrance, the rest of us following. I stood behind, watching the whole ideal. Sure enough, the 'boss' was the wolf from before. "But as far as my intention to make this world a home for all decepticons, you and Underbite are at least a place to start."

"Or end, Steeljaw," Bee growled, pulling the two's attention towards us.

"You took care of them, did you?" the con complained to Grim.

"Mostly," he cowered, staring at us sadly.

Steeljaw growled as Bee moved towards him. "Savor the daylight," he called. "Things are about to get rather dark."

I have to admit, it was kind of scary to watch Bumblebee wrestle with a decepticon on his own with such intensity. The two tumbled into a pile of empty rells, the both of them growling and grunting in rage. I transformed my servo into a blaster, aiming towards the two of them as Strongarm did the same. Not finding a clear shot, I moved around.

"Get clear, Lieutenant," Strongarm growled as they yet again moved.

"I'm trying!" he growled in response as the con pinned him against a wall.

I was about to take a shot, when I heard Sideswipe grunt. My attention went to him, who was flipping away from Grimlock's grasp. I quickly looked between the four of them, sighing in frustration as I moved towards the other two, leaving Strongarm to help Bee.

"You fight like you don't want to hurt me," Grimlock called Sides out as the mech stood in a defensive position. "But I got no problem hurting you," he growled, charging.

Sides flipped out of the way in the same moment I dropped my shoulder and rammed into Grimlock's side, sending him away from us. I stood beneath Sides who was perched on the rells. Grim moved to bite down on us, but I dived and rolled as Sides jumped and climbed over his back. He moved away, throwing a rell straight for Sideswipe's helm. He ducked, the rell crashing into Strongarm, taking her with it as it crashed into the other two's fight.

Steeljaw recovered first, stalking towards Grimlock who looked around anxiously. "Get a grip on yourself," he growled.

Before I could move, Sideswipe pounded on the con's back, grabbing a hold of his finials, jerking his helm from side to side. "Like this?" he cheered proudly as the con twisted with him. I looked up to Grim, who was watching the two. "What did you do to Grimlock, Steeljaw?" Sides questioned. "Some kind of, mind control?"

Steeljaw reached behind him, grabbing onto his shoulders and flipping him above his helm and crashing onto his back on the floor. "Oh, is it so hard to believe the dinobot would choose me over all of you?" he sneered.

"Yeah, it kind of is," Sides protested from his position.

I rushed Steeljaw, tackling him to the ground as Sides flipped upright, joining me as we glared at the con. Sideswipe rushed forward first, myself hanging back. "Whatever you've done to Grimlock, undo it now!"

Steeljaw simply laughed. "I believe you have more pressing concerns." I gasped as I felt servos latching onto me. I was laying on my back, looking up as a weight fell directly onto my chest. It was more than any weight I had ever felt in my life, and I felt it crushing the metals below it. I wheezed, a human reaction despite my need for oxygen. My processors retreated back to the human reactions, myself frantically trying to remove the weight.

It was pushed off of me, myself coughing and rolling onto my stomach gasping for air. I felt Bumblebee grab a hold of my arms, lifting me up as Sideswipe and Strongarm joined us.

"Does Grimlock look like he's playing for our team right now?" Strongarm argued as I still struggled to regain my oxygen intake.

He raised his fist, bringing it down on me. I weakly branched out to stop him, catching his fist like a ball and pushing against it with all my might. I felt Bee back me up, my might apparently weakened. Sideswip and Grimlock climbed on his back, the bot twisting to shake some of them off.

"Farewell, brother," Steeljaw called from behind us. "I need decepticons who won't turn simple tasks into debacles."

"I can finish this, Steeljaw!" Grim called desperately to the retreating con. "Wait for me!" he shook us all off of him, myself falling beside Bee, my systems protesting against all other movement.

"Sideswipe," Bee called. "Can you keep him busy?"

"Wish I didn't have to, but yeah,"

"Strongarm, with me," Bee cried, pausing as I attempted to push myself up. "Cara, stay back,"

"I… I can't." I protested. "You need… help,"

"You need to let your body be content with it's human reactions," Bee ordered, giving me a stern look. "We can handle this."

"But-"

"Carabelle!"


"You're coming with me, all four of you!" Nurse Darby stared directly at me as I hung on close to my guradian's hip.

I narrowed my eyes at her, before starting my descent down.

"Carabelle,..." Optimus rumbled threateningly.

"Save it, Prime," I called up to him, jumping from his shin plates, rolling my landing. I ignored the shock I felt coming from him; I've never, ever called him Prime.

I stalked over to the woman who was watching me angrily.

"And they will not be coming back," she finished, turning and wheeling Raf to her car.

"I understand," Optimus rumbled, watching me carefully.

I turned to face him, about to lay into him, until -

"That's it!?"

I smiled, turning my attention back to June. Miko will take care of him.

"What about our freedom to choose?" she argued.

"That may fly on their planet, but not on earth," June said after helping Raf in, turning to face me as I slowed to a halt in front of her. "Get in," she demanded.

The next minute, I had the nurse backed up against her car, Raf watching as I leaned in closely to her, her back bending over the roof.

"Cara!" Optimus used his leader voice, the pull in my chest protesting as I ignored it.

"May I remind you of where I was before I met the bots, Nurse Darby," I spat dangerously, fumbling for the zipper of my leather jacket. "I was living on the streets of your city. I came to you in your hospital with a heroin overdose, do you remember that?" I saw the terror in her eyes as she recalled the memory I knew she wouldn't have forgotten. "Do you remember sending me back into that hellhole with nothing more than a hospital gown and slippers!?"

"That was you…." she called out hesitantly, taking in my form as I backed away, shrugging out of the jacket and moving to take the shirt off.

"Do you remember the scars?" I asked, turning to show her. "Do you remember the cigarette burns, and the cuts between my thighs? And how you did nothing,"

"I wasn't allowed to!" she protested eagerly, laying a hand on my back. "I would've lost my job-"

"But I would've gained a future!" I snarled at her, smacking at the hand on my back. "But I am thankful, because that night, I found the pipe. That night, I started to fight to be clean. If it wasn't for that night, I wouldn't have found the bots!" I stared her down as tears welled in both of our eyes. "I am staying here with the only ones who ever cared enough about me to give me a home, and there is nothing you can do to convince me otherwise." I turned back to Optimus, throwing my shirt over my shoulder. "If you'll excuse me, I have work to do, repairing the very one who would risk his entire planet to save lives of those like you."


When I shook myself out of my flashback, my spark aching ontop of other aches and pains, Grimlock was flat on his back, the others surrounding him.

There was a squealing in my comm system, before Fixit's voice came through. "Lieutenant, can you hear me?" there was a pause. "Is it working? Russell, it's not-"

"Go ahead Fixit," Bee called back.

This time, mariachi music came through. It quickly cut, Fixit coming back. "Sorry about that. Grimlock is not Grimlock." the bot in questioned directed his attention from glaring at Strongarm to looking at Bee. "I mean Grimlock is Grimlock but he's not Grimlock."

"English, please," I called, trying to stand.

"There's a cyber-tick names Minitron who can control any bot he bites." Russell explained. "He must be hiding somewhere on Grimlock's plating."

I struggled to keep my balance, Bumblebee rushing to my side to support me. He wrapped an arm around me, helping me to walk over to the bot on the ground, who wiggled around anxiously. I scanned him.

"He's not on him anymore," I announced. Strongarm suddenly charged us, the little bot apparently controlling her now. Bee pushed me away as the three of them wrestled, the little shit head apparently tossing between the three, occupying each one as he went. He moved away from the three, headed towards Grim one last time. I shifted to move to stop the bug, but Grim cheered as he flashed his servo out.

"Gotcha,"

"Grimlock," I reasoned as I fell to my knees once more, trying to move towards the dinobot. "I know Minitron hurt you, but he's no longer a threat,"

"We can't squish him," Bee finished for me.

"Oh I can definitely squish him," the bot called, before flicking the bug against a wall, it falling limp on the floor. "Then again, I'm not a bad guy," he cheered with a smile.

I looked up at him proudly, before finally giving in to the extent of my injuries.


I fell against Optimus' neck as pain soared through my body. I felt his spark pulsing underneath the thin metals here, and focused on it as I brought myself out of the pain-enduced stance.

Optimus' metals shattered around me, carefully transforming into the truck i adored. I fell softly into Orion's arms as he laid me gently on the sleeper. "Carabelle," he called worriedly.

"M-My chest," I groaned, grabbing at the center of my chest. "It, burns,.."

His passenger side door opened, June Darby crawling through the next moment. My shirt was already off, probably fallen to the floor somewhere, it was just me in my sports bra and jeans.

"Optimus, what is it?" she asked, moving to my side as Orion trailed his fingers over the area that burned.

"I am not sure…"

"She was in Bee with me when Megatron shot us," Raf climbed in, and I sighed gratefully as Optimus shut the door behind him, not allowing anyone else to board.

"When I asked her earlier, she said there was a pull at her chest…" June trailed off, reaching over Orion's hand carefully. "Alright, everyone out," she demanded next.

"O-Optimus…" I called, reaching frantically for Orion's hand as Raf raced for the door. "D...Don't, go.."

"I'm removing your bra to take a better look at whatever the pull is at your chest," June told me sternly. "Do you want him to see?"

"He..He's the truck…" I muttered, a small smile spreading across my face.

"I won't look," Orion reassured the both of us, grabbing my hand and bringing it to his lips. His eyes never wavered from mine June fumbled through my bra. And, true to his word, as June moved the pieces of the disgusting clothing to the side, his gaze stayed locked on mine.

"Good lord…" June muttered, her cold fingers trailing the empty space in the middle of my chest.

"What is it, Nurse Darby?" Orion asked, still holding my gaze, however worry and fear clouded his eyes.


I jerked awake, feeling a smaller frame tumble down my chest. I quickly flashed my servos out, catching Fixit before he crashed to the ground.

"Cara!" he cheered.

I looked around me to see the other bots, Grimlock included, surrounding me on my position on the ground. I ran a self scan, finding a vast majority of my frame healed and mended. I smiled at Fixit as I let him down. "Thank you," I smiled at him.

Grimlock scuffed his pedes nervously as Bee helped me to stand. "Cara, I am sorry I couldn't stop him-"

"Grim," I argued, wrapping his frame in a hug. "It's fine. I'm sorry I ever doubted you."

"Don't," he replied, returning the hug. "I'm just greatful you actually like my hugs, unlike some bots,"