Skywing took one more sad look around.

"I said get out!" Octane shouted at him, making him jump back. A few looked back at them suspiciously. "You don't want to know what happens if you stay.." He then looked to Compass, but she gave nothing. She simply walked away. Skywing looked down the went off with the mech. They walked in complete silence until they were back to the surface. They were then greeted by two other bots.

"This him?" The mech leading Skywing asked. They looked him over for a few moments before answering.

"Shard, Castiron. Ring a bell?" The femme asked in a flat tone.

"Shard? Yeah. Where is she?" Skywing asked, again concerned.

"She's with us." She nodded to the mech and he gave a nod back before leaving back down the stairwell. Skywing looked back as the door closed then looked to the femme and mech in front of him.

"Where is she?" Skywing asked, a bit more serious this time. "And why do you have her?"

"Don't worry, kid. She's in safe hands. Just come with us, Shard and Castiron sent us to find you." The mech said then gave a smile. "Name's Saberquake." He said as Skywing looked him over. He let his hand stay there for a second, the took it. "This is Echo." He said as he gestured to the femme.

"Yeah. Anyways, we need to hurry and get back to base. We're rolling, follow us in the sky." The femme transformed into a bike and the mech, into a car. "Stay close." She finished before taking off. Skywing transformed and took the the air. Saberquake was behind him.


Echo, Skywing, and Saberquake make it traveled far. all was in total silence, for Skywing at least. They got to what seemed like a desolate place. A ghost town. Saberquake and Echo both transformed back, and so Skywing did the same. Once all were on the ground and on their feet, Echo lead the way through the town.

"This is base?" Skywing asked as he looked around. "Doesn't seem like it..."

"There's a reason why we're here of all places." Echo said.

"Yeah. We can't get found. Not by the Guilds and not be the Replevin." Saberquake added, still holding up the rear of the group.

"Another illegal group?" Skywing asked. "Why?"

"We'll explain everything. Just hurry up." Echo said as she picked up her speed. She lead them into an old factory of some kind. Skywing looked at the ground and noticed some energon had been spilled, and it wasn't old either. Echo went to the back, then kicked a panel on the ground twice. She paused then gave it another kick, paused, one more kick. An old elevator opened up and she gestured to pile in.

"Uh, this doesn't seem very safe.." Skywing said as he hesitated to walk in.

"Oh, come on. It's fine." Saberquake said as he grabbed Skywing's arm and pulled him in. The elevator creaked a little and the door shut.

A faint light in the corner and the glow from their eyes gave off just enough light to see. They descended far below the surface until the elevator creaked again as it slowed. Echo had to bang the door with her fist to get it open again. Once out, Skywing didn't see much. There were a few bots talking, come were at tables or computers. Skywing searched around for Shard, but instead found another familiar face.

"Castiron!" He said and ran over to him.

"Skywing! I was hoping you'd make it." He said and continued to walk on. Skywing followed close behind.

"Where's are you going? Where's Shard? And what's the Gridlock?" Skywing asked. Castiron gave a small sligh and he walked down a hallway, searching for a door.

"It's been... it's been a long day." He said at last. He found his door and opened it. It lead to a storage room and he went off to get a cube of energon.

"Okay, but where is Shard?" Skywing asked more dangerously. And Castiron noticed it. He looked at him then walked out of the room.

"Follow me." He said and walked back to where they came from. He then continued on through a pair of double doors. They walked down the hall that opened up into a vacant central location. Castiron went behind a desk and turned on a computer. He typed something in the turned it off again. Skywing started to get irritated at the stalling.

"Get me to where Shard is already!" She shouted.

"Alright! Alright! It's just a few door down." Castiron said as he lead him the rest of the way. He found a door and opened it up, leaving enough room for Skywing to walk through. "She's in there.." He said and waited for Skywing to walk in first. He looked at Castiron then at the doorway. He then walked in and tried to stay calm, but as soon as his eyes landed on Shard, he quickly dropped that demeanor.

"Shard!" Skywing shouted as he ran to her side. She had many scrapes, many cuts. Her eyes that should have been shining blue, where now dull and dim. Skywing then became very angry as he whirled around and turned on Castiron. "What did you do to her!? What happened!?" He shouted and started to walk towards him.

"Calm down! I can explain!" Castiron shouted back.

"Then you better explain real quick unless you want to get stunned!" Skywing said as he reached for the device on his arm.

"Skywing!" Castiron shouted and held up his hands. "Stand down!" Castiron was backed up into a wall, but then a red and white mech came running in.

"Hey, hey! What's going on in here!?" The mech shouted. "Who are you?" He added as he saw Skywing.

"I'm Skywing. Her partner! What's wrong with her!?" Skywing demanded.

"Alright, alright, calm down. Everything is fine. Shard is in a form of stasis. Stasis lock to be exact." The mech said as he walked to a computer. Skywing then relaxed and thus, so did Castiron. "Her brainwaves are normal and active. Everything is fine." said the mech as he checked over everything on the screen. Skywing had just noticed that Shard was had cables and wires connecting her to the computer and other devises. One of which had some of her vitals.

"She's.. alive then?" Skywing said as he looked at her seemingly lifeless face.

"Yes. She's alive." The mech said, slightly annoyed

"And she's safe?" Skywing pressed on. The mech gave a sigh and answered again.

"I was trained in Iacon. I believe I know what I'm doing." He then looked up at Castiron. "The energon, if you will?" He asked and held his hand out. Castiron passed it too him and the mech went towards Shard then stopped. He turned to Castiron and looked questionably at him. "What happened to the torch?" He asked him.

"Uh, well, Rustbelt used it and, well, I don't know where it went after that." Castiron said and the mech gave another sigh.

"... I needed that.."