"Enough! We're bringing the female back!" One of the soldiers tells Steeljaw. Steeljaw rams into the bars one last time before looking at the human, "They're bringing her back as we speak!"

Steeljaw lets out a vicious snarl, "This better not be a trick!"

The guy just shakes his head then looks over to the way he knew his boss would be coming with the Cybertronian female. Not a moment later the other humans come into sight, along with Strongarm who is still holding her chest. Steeljaw sees her and his protective instincts get even higher than before. He can tell she's in a lot of pain and she looks as though she's gonna pass out at any moment.

He growls viciously at the humans, baring his fangs, with his claws extended out. He glares at them as he thinks of all the ways he could brutally kill them, with no remorse. He stands back as they open up the cell doors to let Strongarm walk in, all the while glaring daggers into the humans, namely the leader.

Strongarm enters the cell and collapses to her knees, she feels so weak but she manages to pull herself over to the wall and sit against it. The humans close the cell doors then leave. Steeljaw continued to glare at them as he slowly went over to kneel down beside Strongarm, he watched them take their leave then he calmed himself down and looked over at her. He looks her over and sees the laser cut on her chest, just under her servo. That infuriated him. He balled up a fist and slammed it against the wall next to Strongarm.

Strongarm jumped and looked at him with wide optics as she moved over an inch, thinking he might do something to harm her. Sure he was just trying to break out of the cell to get to her, but how real was that? It could have just been a façade, and the state she's in now she can't fight him off if he attacks her. Not that she ever could fight him off, he always got the upper hand over her every time they scuffled.

Steeljaw noticed her fear and how she moved away from him and he calmed himself down. The last thing he wants is for her to be scared of him, especially now with the state she's in. He gives her a gentle look as he grabs her arms and gently pulls her closer to him. She places a servo on his chest as she looks at him with uncertainty while he softly places a claw on her cheek, "I'm not gonna hurt you," he tells her as he stares into her optics.

Strongarm stares back as she looks for any falseness in his words. All she sees is sincerity and, love? Is she seeing that right? Is she really seeing love in his optics? Is this hard aft criminal really showing love? It would be unbelievable if she wasn't seeing it herself, though she still finds it hard to believe. But never the less, she doesn't see any falseness which shows he really means her no harm. She leans into his body and lays her helm on his chest and cuddles up against him.

Steeljaw looks down at her in disbelief, but he slowly wraps his arms around her. He then carefully adjusts himself to where he's sitting on his behind and leaning against the wall as he positions Strongarm to sit between his legs, with his tail softly wrapping around her waist.

Strongarm didn't care, she just continued to snuggle against his chest, taking in all the comfort he was offering. That's all she wants right now is comfort and Steeljaw is willingly giving it, so she's gonna take in all of it she can.

"Sorry to scare you I didn't mean to. I was angry at the humans for hurting you."

Strongarm didn't say anything, she just continued to hold her chest and moan in pain. Steeljaw reached to remove her servo so he could look at the wound. Strongarm was hesitant but she let him. After looking at it he pushed her forward a bit and shifted to get up. He walks over to the corner of the cell where the Energon cubes were and grab one.

Strongarm just watched him as he walked off, kind of missing the nice embrace. She wondered what he was up to as she watched him walk over and pick up an Energon cube then head back.

Steeljaw returned with the cube in hand and sat back down behind Strongarm, pulling her back to rest against his body. He dipped his claws into the Energon before putting it on the wound on Strongarm's chest, gently rubbing it over the wound.

Strongarm's hand immediately shot up to his arm and gripped it as she hissed in pain, "Steeljaw... why didn't... you warn me!?" She scolded him through hisses and clenched dentures.

Steeljaw placed the cube on the ground then started rubbing her arm to help soothe her, while whispering into her audio receptor, "It's gonna be alright. The pain will subside."

Strongarm couldn't help but shiver a bit at the tone of his voice, so smooth and gentle. She looks up at him then looks down at her chest and watches his claws rub the Energon over her wound. He wasn't lying, the pain did subside a bit, was still there but not as bad, "How do you know how to do this?"

Steeljaw's movements stopped as he looked off to the side with a slight growl. Strongarm looked back at him with curiosity, "Was that a bad question?"

Steeljaw vented out a big flow of air and looked at her, "I learned it from a femme I uh..." He speaks but feels hesitant. He trails off a bit not wanting to mention it but Strongarm knows what he's trying to say.

"You sweet-talked and courted?"

Steeljaw nods, "I saw her use this on a mech once that had a laser cut. She said it helps with any kind of laser burns, it at least cools it down to reduce the pain until you can get it properly fixed."

Strongarm giggled, "At least you learned something from fooling around with all those femmes and it wasn't just you having fun."

Steeljaw just rolled his optics as he got back to what he was doing. Just a couple more strokes and he was done. He then grabs the Energon cube and hands it to her, "Here, you need to drink."

Strongarm looks at him for a moment before taking the cube, guess he got the Energon completely for her. She drinks it until it was half empty then she tried to hand it back to him. He looks at her in confusion, "What?"

"You need to drink too."

"You need it more than I do."

She looks at his shoulders and the burn marks and scuffs on his armor, "I don't think so. By the way, why did you damage your body trying to break out to get to me?"

He looks into her optics and strokes her cheek, "When I woke up and saw you weren't in the cell and I knew they had you I panicked and my protective instincts went into overdrive. I needed you back and I was gonna get you back no matter what. I always will, no matter the circumstance. Now finish the Energon, I'll get my own later."

Strongarm decided not to argue and turned around and leaned against his chest as she continued to drink the Energon. She noticed his tail tightening a bit around her waist, holding her firmly against him like he's afraid if he loosens up or releases her he would lose her. He wraps his arms around her and buries his face into her neck, making her glance over at him. He's so cute. Wait, what!? No! I'm not falling for a 'Con! Not happening!

She looks away from him and continues drinking the Energon as a soft blush graces her face, she's just happy he has his face buried so he can't see her blush. She soon finishes the Energon and she sets the cube down on the floor, she lays her helm on his shoulder and falls into recharge.

A bit later Steeljaw opens his optics to see Strongarm still resting in his arms with her helm laying on his shoulder, her optics are closed to show she's still sleeping. He watches her as he thinks back to his actions earlier. What is it about this femme that makes him want to go to such great lengths to ensure she's safe and will stay with him?

He never ever did anything like that for any bot, especially for a femme. He never saw himself as the type to drive himself crazy like that to protect any femme. But this femme has so much effect on him, it drives him crazy to think about exactly how much effect she has. She makes his protective instincts just go wild. But he doesn't mind it. He will protect his mate at any cost.

Strongarm's optics open as her systems kick back on to wake her up. She looks around before noticing she's still in Steeljaw's arms and sitting between his legs. She looks over at him and finds him watching her, just staring at her like he's in some daze. She takes a look at his shoulders before removing his arms and slowly moving to where she's on her knees. She notices his reluctance to let go but he releases her anyway and lets her do whatever she's planning. She then reaches behind her and pulls out a medkit from her subspace.

Steeljaw watches her with curiosity as she pulls out the medkit, he didn't know she had one. He quietly watches as she opens up the kit and he wonders what she's up to. He's guessing she's about to fix the wound on her chest. Strongarm brings some oily like ointment from the kit and moves closer to him, she then puts some of it on her fingers and gently places it on his shoulder, and rubs it in. Steeljaw hisses but doesn't do anything, he just lets her do what she's doing.

"Doesn't feel nice to be surprised with something like that, does it?" Strongarm then spoke.

"I wasn't as surprised as you were."

Strongarm remained silent as she continued to rub the ointment over the burns and scuffing on his shoulder. But something kept prodding at her processor and bugging her, "Can I ask you something?"

"Anything."

"Why do I keep getting pain and this sick feeling every time I get away from you?"

So she does feel those as well. "It's the bite mark I gave you."

Strongarm looks at him confused, "What does the bite mark have to do with it?"

"I don't know much about it, only what I've read. But from what I have read on it when a Wolf-Con bites the one they want as their mate some kind of chemical gets released into the femme or mech's body which bonds them to the Wolf-Con that bites them. Nobody completely knows how it works but due to the chemicals the femme or mech that gets bit and marked cannot be away from the Wolf-Con that bit them, or they will experience great pain and sickness."

"Felt that. That day after I escaped I got these sharp pains all throughout my body and I felt sick to my stomach. I even purged out my tanks. It only started subsiding when you drew closer to my location."

"I also felt pain and sickness, but it was mostly from you. Somehow when you experience the pain and sickness I feel it from you, along with my own pain. But I mostly feel empty when you're not near me, like a piece of me is missing."

"So whenever I'm away from you I'll experience that pain and sickness?"

"Yes, every time."

That's gonna make escaping and getting back to my team more complicated. "And what if I never get back to you, will the pain keep going?"

"It will, and eventually it will kill you."

Strongarm stops rubbing and look at him in shock, "You're not serious. Please say you're not serious."

"I'm serious. From what I have read if the femme or mech stays away from the Wolf-Con that had marked them for too long they will die, it's known to happen. The pain will become too great for their systems to handle and they will go into complete shutdown. Which is why I need you to stay by my side, I don't want to lose you."

Strongarm decided not to say a word as she got back to rubbing the ointment on his shoulder, but she was full of questions. She wondered why Steeljaw would even mark her if he knew what would come from it. Surely he's not so naïve to think she would stay with him and not try to escape.

Unless that is part of his plan to keep her from escaping, but if that's the case then he doesn't want her just for information on her team or anything. He truly wants her to be with him. But she can't. She can't be with a 'Con criminal, it would ruin her reputation and any chances of surpassing Cadet and being a full-fledged cop.

But Steeljaw had already ruined all that by marking her with his bite so she belongs to him and she can't get away. As the realization sank in she started feeling angry as well as helpless, her hatred for this 'Con increasing even more. He's ruining her life and she hates him for it, and the hate just keeps increasing the more it sinks in what he's done.

Also, what he did to Sideswipe was unforgivable. Sure she doesn't get along with him and he's always getting on her last nerve, but he didn't deserve what Steeljaw did to him. Is he even alive or did he die from his wounds? She doesn't even know.