They finally arrive at the location and they transform and look around, "She's not here," Arcee says with sadness in her tone.
"Well, Fixit did say the signal disappeared. But I wonder what she was doing out here," Bumblebee says just before they hear the sounds of engines. They all look to see Thunderhoof, Underbite, and Fracture pull up.
The three Decepticons stop a few feet away from the Autobots and transform, "Eyo, what are you all doin' here?" Thunderhoof asks as he gets ready for a fight.
"Looking for my cadet!" Bumblebee says with a hardened glare, "Did Steeljaw take her?"
"He did. Though we don't know where neither of them is right now. We went out scouting for other 'Cons when we returned both her and Steeljaw were gone. We assumed she tried to escape and he went after her, but they haven't returned so we figured something must have happened," Fracture explains.
"What does Steeljaw want with her?" Arcee asks as she steps forward.
"He's attracted to her and was determined to mate with her. So he took her to make her his," Thunderhoof responded.
"WHAT!?" They all exclaimed in unison.
"Strongarm will never be with a 'Con like him! He'll never have her!" Arcee yells with anger, she knows her daughter would never fall for a Decepticon.
The three let out a laugh, "Steeljaw doesn't need her to agree to be with him for him to claim her. He's already marked her," Fracture says with a big evil grin.
Wheeljack pulls out his katanas and points them at the 'Con, "You better take that back and say that you're lying!"
Fracture just widened his grin, "But I'm not lying."
"He's not, Steeljaw did mark her," Underbite added. Thunderhoof just nodded in agreement.
Bulkhead pounds his fist into his servo, "He's gonna be turned into scrap when we find him!"
"This news changes things," Bumblebee says as he tries to process everything he just heard.
"How so?" Grimlock asked in confusion.
"Because he's marked her and when a Wolf-Con marks a femme or a mech you can not separate them, if you do the marked femme or mech could offline," Ultra Magnus replies.
"Is he the one that hurt Sideswipe?" Smokescreen asked the three 'Cons.
"Don't know, he didn't say," Thunderhoof replied with a shrug.
Arcee's spark was breaking, her daughter had been marked by a Wolf-Con and she could possibly die if they take her away from him. She couldn't listen to any more of the conversation, it was reminding her too much of what she went through with Megatron, so she went walking around to search for any evidence of what could have happened.
"There are a lot of tire tracks," she says getting the attention of the others, "Which means Strongarm and Steeljaw weren't the only ones here," she added as she continued to look. She came across a piece of metal lying on the ground which seemed to be broken off of something. She squats down to pick it up and examine it.
"What you got there babe?" Wheeljack asks as he walks over.
"Looks like part of a device used to knock out bots. Like something M.E.C.H used."
"But isn't M.E.C.H all dead?" Bulkhead asks with confusion.
"Yes, they are," Bumblebee responds.
"What's M.E.C.H?" Grimlock asked. He and the 'Cons were confused as they never heard of them before and didn't understand who they were.
"M.E.C.H was a group of humans led by a guy named Silas that found out about us and tried to experiment on us to understand how we worked," Bumblebee explains, "They even stole my T-Cog one time. They were a very dangerous group that had just the right tools to render us helpless."
"You think this M.E.C.H might have them?" Grimlock asked.
"As we said, they're all dead. Silas killed them, then he was killed later by the Decepticons."
"But it seems there's someone that's using their tech, which means bad news," Arcee added.
"Yes. But who?" 'Bee questions as he ponders who the new human threat could be.
"Well if they took Strongarm we'll find out as we squash them," Wheeljack says as he continues to examine the device they found.
The mysterious man had left to take care of some business, leaving Steeljaw and Strongarm alone in their cell. Steeljaw is yelling, demanding that the human come back and explain more of what is going on, and demanding their release. Steeljaw then backs up and prepares to ram into the bars to break them, when he does he gets electrocuted. The bars had an electric field around them to keep them from breaking out.
The electricity forces him back and he falls back on his aft. Strongarm just stands there and watches him, when he was knocked back she just rolled her optics and muttered, "Idiot."
Steeljaw heard her and started growling as he got back up, "This is all your fault!"
"My fault!? How is it my fault!?"
"If you didn't escape we wouldn't have been out there for them to catch us!"
"If you didn't kidnap me in the first place I wouldn't have had to escape and be in that spot!"
Steeljaw's growling increased as he started showing his fangs a bit, "If you would stop torturing me I wouldn't have kidnapped you!"
"How am I torturing you!? I don't even want anything to do with you! I just want to get back to my team and back to normal where I'm away from you! And I assure you when I do get back to my team I will lock you up and get you out of my life even if you are my mate!"
Steeljaw's spark breaks after hearing that which causes him to become even more outraged than he was already. He grabs her and slams her against the wall with a roar, "Don't test me, Cadet! I assure you, you will not like the outcome!" He states in a threatening tone as he continues to growl and show his fangs.
Strongarm looks into his rage-filled optics as fear starts to take over, she didn't want to move because she was afraid he might maul her if she moved so much as an inch. But Steeljaw started calming down after he sensed her fear and he backed away, still looking at her. He then turns away and heads to another part of the cell to sit down.
Strongarm watched him for a moment, still scared he might attack her and maul her to death. But she soon got the courage to move and she goes over to the part of the cell where the Energon is, she takes a cube and sits down, and starts drinking it. The two sat in silence on different ends of the cell.
Unknowingly to them, they were being watched. A devilish grin forms on the guy's face, "This is interesting. I do believe I found something good to torture these two, and it will help me learn more about them."
When Steeljaw wakes up he has a killer helm ache, as well as a sharp pain in his spark chamber and a painful burning sensation throughout his body. He slowly sits up wondering why he's in so much pain, all he remembers is getting into an argument with Strongarm and the two going to opposite sides of the cell, he laid down and went into recharge. He puts his claws over his chest as the pain in his spark chamber intensifies. What could be the cause? The last time he had this pain was when he woke up to find Strongarm gone that one time, he had this pain and felt empty.
He then noticed the empty feeling returning again along with the pain, maybe from sleeping away from his mate. He starts to get an uneasy feeling, "Strongarm," he mumbles out as he turns his helm to the side of the cell Strongarm had gone to and recharged. She's not there.
Steeljaw is filled with something he never thought he'd ever feel, worry. He was hit with a tidal wave of worry and panic as he jumps to his feet, forgetting about the pain he was in. He got a groggy memory of waking up before this to find the humans in their cell before getting hit with an electricity bolt and being knocked out. They must have taken Strongarm.
Usually, Steeljaw wouldn't care as long as it wasn't him in the situation, he never really cared for any bot. Sure he would protect his pack but not to where it meant sacrificing himself, he would never do that for any bot no matter who they were. But at this moment all that had been thrown away, his feeling of protection for his new mate starting to take over. He's gonna do everything in his power to protect her.
Steeljaw runs at the bars of the cell to ram it and try to break it down, only to get hit with the electricity force and knocked back like before. Yes, he did remember that but he doesn't care right now, he wants to get to Strongarm and that's all that matters to him.
He's starting to see he no longer wants her, wanting is not the term anymore. He NEEDS her. He NEEDS her by his side. He NEEDS her in his arms. He'll stop at nothing to get her. To protect her. To ensure she's with him for eternity.
He crouches down into an attack position then launches himself at the cell bars, trying again to break them but with no success. He continues ramming the bars, again and again, not caring about the damage it's doing to his body.
Strongarm wakes up to find herself strapped down to a table with the humans surrounding her. There were all sorts of machines and tools around her, she recognized them from her research logs. She always loved doing research about Earth and everything that happened while the Autobots were on the planet during the war and she recalls one bit she read that talked about a human group called M.E.C.H.
The group was always going after the Autobots and Decepticons trying to do research on them and learn more about them. She recognizes this equipment as the tools they used on whatever 'Bot or 'Con they caught. But how did these people get the tools? How do they even know about their existence?
She couldn't dwell on the thoughts for too long as she felt a jolt of pain going from the bite on her neck down through her frame. The excruciating pain returned along with the sick feeling. She hisses in pain as some liquid starts leaking from her optics. But she tries her best to handle it so she doesn't appear weak in front of her new enemies, but is finding it very hard to do.
The leader was standing by watching with amusement, his lips curling into a smirk, "So, your kind can feel pain, and you can cry as well."
Strongarm looks to where his voice came from, "What do you want with us? What did we ever do to you to make you want revenge?"
"You wouldn't know as you weren't here at the time, but your Lieutenant would. He was here when it all happened."
"When what happened?"
"Sir, they're at the point," one of the soldiers spoke up.
"Good. Have they made contact?"
"Not yet..."