Arcee and Wheeljack follow the tracks through the woods, followed by the others. Even Thunderhoof, Fracture, and Underbite were following which came as a surprise, "I'm guessing you three are trying to get your leader back," Bumblebee says as he keeps a close watch on them.
"Not really, we're just curious to see what happened to him. If we get him back then so be it," Fracture responds.
"He is our leader after all," Underbite added.
"We don' need him to lead us, I could be the leader myself," Thunderhoof added with a sneer. He never liked the thought of following some other bots' lead, he always was the leader himself.
"Well, you do you. We're getting a family member back," Bumblebee says as the group comes across a group of humans in soldier uniforms with weapons at the ready. But not ordinary weapons humans use in wars against each other, weapons specialized to take down a Cybertronian. Weapons Bumblebee, Bulkhead, and Arcee knew too well as these same weapons were used on them by M.E.C.H.
"Eyo, what's this?"
"We have a message for the one known as Bumblebee!" The guy in charge of the group spoke up.
Bumblebee raised an optic ridge as he steps forward, "That would be me. What message do you have for me?"
The guy just pointed to the top of one of the vehicles where Bumblebee and the others saw a datapad, sitting upright on top of the vehicle. They all wondered how they were able to get it up there like that, all except Bumblebee, Bulkhead, and Arcee who have seen what M.E.C.H was capable of. They knew since these people got their equipment then they would know how to handle Cybertronian stuff as M.E.C.H did.
The datapad turns on to show the leader of the group. A muscular man with brownish-black hair and a scar under his left eye. The man looked at them with a devilish smirk, "Hello Autobots, and Decepticons as well."
"Who are you? How do you know about us?" Bumblebee asks with much curiosity.
The man let out a dark chuckle, "I learned a lot about you Cybertronians through the research of my uncle."
"Who exactly is your uncle?" Arcee asks.
"Silas."
Arcee's, Bulkhead's and Bumblebee's optics widen in shock and their Energon run cold as they remember the human and what he did. If this guy is that monster's nephew then no doubt he's as ruthless and dangerous as he was.
"Isn't Silas the guy you were telling us about?" Grimlock asks.
Bumblebee nods, "Yeah, that's him. We didn't know he had any family."
"Of course, you didn't know. Why would he tell you about his personal life? I was all he had left and he was all I had left until you damn Cybertronians took him from me!"
"The Decepticons were the ones that killed him," Bumblebee says trying to reason with him.
"It doesn't matter, all of you are at fault! I sure as hell will get my revenge!" He says as he steps back to show Strongarm strapped to the table.
"Strongarm!" All the Autobots said in sync. The three 'Cons just stood back and watched with amusement, they were actually entertained with what was unfolding in front of them.
"When we find you I'll make you flatter than a pancake!" Wheeljack threatens with a growl.
The guy lets out a dark chuckle from his throat as he signals to his man who was standing by one of the tools. It was a laser tool that could cut through any armor. The tool was aimed at her chest as the guy powered it up. The tool turned on and a laser beam shot out and went right into her chest. He moved the laser downward across her chest, going over her Autobot symbol. The laser didn't cut deep as this was just an example to show to the bots but it was still cutting through her armor and it still hurt like hell. Strongarm screamed in pain, wishing for it to stop soon.
The 'Bots just watched on in horror as Strongarm was cut by the laser. Arcee and Wheeljack were filled with rage at the sight of their daughter being tortured like this. All of them were filled with rage, they all were ready to stomp this guy into the ground.
The laser stopped, leaving a burning cut on Strongarm's chest. The guy looked at the bots, "That was just an example of what I can do. But there's really not much I need to do to her since she's already in pain from being separated from that male. It appears all I need to do is separate the two and they both will be in pain."
The 'Bots glared at him with their dentures grinding, "What do you want from us?" Bumblebee asks in a venomous tone.
"Come find me and find out," the man responds before cutting off the feed. The other humans get back into the vehicles and leave, all heading in different directions so the bots won't know which is the right way to their base.
The bots watch them leave and look at all the directions they went in. There were four directions in total, "Seems we'll have to split up," Magnus says as he looks at the others. They all nod in agreement.
"Good idea. Smokescreen, Ultra Magnus, and Fracture will take the far left. Bulkhead and Thunderhoof will come with me to the far right. Arcee and Wheeljack will take the path leading straight. And Grimlock and Underbite will take the straight left path," Bumblebee says in a commanding tone, which doesn't settle well with Ultra Magnus but he knows that Bumblebee is the leader so he keeps quiet and just goes with it.
"Whoa, whoa, hold up a minute. Who says we're going with?" Thunderhoof butts in.
"You guys wanted to follow and want to know what happened to your leader, so I assumed you would be going all the way. But if you're too scared-" Bumblebee says before getting cut off.
"Scared!?" The 'Cons all shout in unison.
"I'm not scared of anything! Certainly not any humans!" Fracture says all defensive.
"Neither am I!" Thunderhoof adds.
"Just give me some metal and I'll let Thundercruncher and Boltsmasher handle them!" Underbite says as he flexes.
"Well, being criminals neither one of you are going alone. We're keeping our optics on you all," Bumblebee says as he crosses his arms.
The three 'Cons just grunted and let out small mumbles but they knew he was right. They all then set off in their set groups in the directions they were told to go.
Strongarm looked at the man as he turned off the comm systems, "You're Silas' nephew?"
"Yep," the guy responded as he turns to face her.
"That explains how you got their equipment and knowledge of us. Listen, I'm sorry about what happened to your uncle but this isn't-" She starts trying to reason with him.
"Isn't the way to go about it!?" He cuts her off, yelling, "What would you damn machines know about feelings and loss? Because you supposedly have the same kind of feelings as humans? I find that hard to believe. You all are still just machines..."
"Then why did your uncle want to do research on us so much and why are you wanting to do the same research if we're just machines?"
"Because you're still different. Nothing like the machines we have."
"What happened to the rest of your family? Your parents?" Strongarm asks trying to change the subject.
The guy snarls at her, upset with her for asking such a personal question. But before he can say anything one of his guys comes onto the monitor, "Sir, we have a situation!"
"What kind of situation?"
"The male Cybertronian is going berserk!" The guy then shows the cell where Steeljaw is continuously ramming the doors to break free, "We've done all we could to stop him but he won't stop!"
Strongarm looks at the monitor and watches Steeljaw ram his shoulder into the cell door one after another, relentlessly. Of course, he would be trying to free himself. He's using me to keep them distracted while he breaks free and leaves. Typical...
Before she could finish her thoughts the guy speaks again, "He's wanting that female! He's trying to get to the female!"
"YOU FILTHY HUMANS! I SAID TO GIVE ME BACK STRONGARM!"
Strongarm was shocked when she heard him shouting for her. He's doing all this just to get to her? She thought he was doing it to save himself, not for her.
The guy growls, "Let's get her back to him before he ends up killing himself! We need both of them alive!"
His men came over and removed the straps, "Get up! You can walk yourself to the cell!" The guy says as he walks over to her. His men grab their guns and point them at her to ensure she doesn't try anything and they motioned for her to start walking.
Strongarm started walking and her hand instantly shot to her chest as a burning pain shot through her. They went on walking toward the cells, all the way Strongarm could feel pain shooting through her body. On the way to the cell, Strongarm noticed a room with what looked like a ground bridge in it. These humans must have found out about it and somehow got one to do some research on it. How they got it she's unsure, but she could use it to get out with the right plan.
I thought it would be awesome if Hasbro had put in RID a person that was related to Silas in some way and they tried to seek revenge on the bots for Silas' death. They never did anything of the sort but I kept the idea in mind and decided to put it into a story. I couldn't see Silas having a wife and kid so I decided to make it a nephew instead.