"I gotta warn them. This is bad." Cliffjumper whispered, more to himself than to his companion, and received a look of warning for his trouble. [[Come.]] Switchshade commed him, pushing gently at his shoulder plating to urge him to follow as he retreated back down deeper into the depths of the caves again. The reached one of the lower floors, further from the Lord of the Decepticons and his Second, and managed to edge around away from the drones undetected. A quick self-scan revealed that while his self-repair was doing an admirable job at keeping him alive and fixing some of the more dangerous wounds, Cliffjumper's long-range comms were still disabled, and calling for backup was currently impossible.
Fortunately, Primus seemed to be in an unreasonably good mood for once, for suddenly a groundbridge opened up mere meters away from them, and Optimus Prime himself stepped out, causing Switchshade to whimper quietly in terror and debate the pros and cons of just bolting for the nearest exit. In an instant, three more Autobots had followed their leader through the groundbridge, weapons charged and at the ready, and already trained on Switchshade, who locked his knee joints to keep them from collapsing. He was no slouch in a fight, and he'd like to think he'd left cowardice behind vorns ago, but this was Optimus Prime. Inwardly, fear clouded his processor and made him dizzy, while outwardly he kept his faceplates blank and emotionless; his own blasters already leveled on the large green Wrecker, and the yellow scout. He didn't quite dare to directly threaten the Prime, even though he was already vastly outnumbered. Switchshade kept his gaze on the four Autobots before him, and tried to keep from trembling as he realized that the odds of him walking away from this fight were… not good. At all.
"Cliff? You ok?" the blue femme in front of the Prime asked, her own blasters leveled directly at Switchshade's spark. The Decepticon's optics flickered to her when she spoke, and in that moment of distraction, the dark mech forgot that it was not four Autobots he was facing, it was five. A red mass moved from behind him, colliding with his back and quickly dropping him to his faceplates before he could fire on either of his original targets. In the instant of surprise, Cliffjumper quickly struck sharply at Switchshade's helm, again and again, until the mech's vision went blurry. A burst of static escaped his vocalizer, and he managed to gather enough of his wits to buck up, the sudden movement throwing the racer off of him, but before he could even think about lifting his blasters again, another 'Bot was on top of him, the yellow scout quickly slapping a pair of immobilizing cuffs on his wrists while he was still dazed from Cliffjumper's attack.
Still, he kicked out, somehow managing to throw off Bumblebee as well, and he rolled up to his pedes, terror causing his spark to lurch and his vision to blur as he tried to assess the threat before him. Countless warnings of damage and nearby enemies flashed across his HUD, and with his servos bound behind him, his chances of survival dwindled yet further. He tugged desperately, mindlessly at the bonds even as he tried to back away. Yet another flash of movement, and his sluggish processor recognized the blue femme before Switchshade found himself on the ground once again. Arcee instantly followed through with the takedown, jumping on the Decepticon's back, pinning down his door wings and immediately precision striking him, once, at the base of his helm, causing the black mech to lose consciousness instantly.
The commotion alerted the drones to the intruders, and Cliffjumper quickly alerted his team to the presence of not only Starscream but also Megatron himself, and with no further prompting, Optimus ordered the Autobots to retreat. They began to do so, but Cliffjumper hesitated by Switchshade, looking to the Prime for permission. Optimus caught the look, glanced at the fallen mech, and then nodded once, providing cover fire for Cliffjumper as he quickly lifted Switchshade up and carried him through the groundbridge, Optimus following on his heels. The Prime paused at the entrance of the groundbridge, firing a single shot directly into one of the largest piles of raw energon, and sparking a chain reaction that suddenly began to explode, as the entire cavern system was turned into what essentially amounted to an enormous bomb. He transformed then, making it through the groundbridge just in time for it to close behind him, the base safe from the force of a blast many miles away.
Switchshade groaned softly, his vocalizer hitching as he felt the sudden and irrational urge to weep, the pain running through his frame enough to catch him off guard. Have I truly gotten so accustomed to Megatron's absence, then, that a single beating is enough to level me so? But… I don't remember Megatron coming back, and Starscream was fine when I last saw him, and… Oh Pit…
He sat up slowly, onlining his optics in dread, and winced when he realized where he was. He had been taken to a holding cell at the Autobots' base while unconscious, and was now to be tormented until all useful information had been extracted from him and his broken frame discarded. He thought he had known terror before, but now… At least in times past, had he been captured, he knew that Soundwave would have immediately arranged a rescue, and made certain that he was returned to the Decepticons alive and well. Now, though, after all he had done… Oh. Pit.
Cliffjumper liked to think he was a fairly laid-back mech, unless someone was looking to frag him off (you mess with the bull, you're gonna get the horns, but everyone knew that), but this was really rather ridiculous. He had barely stepped one pede inside, before Ratchet rushed him off to the medbay. Of course, no one had dared to argue with him, because Primus help the mech who angered The Hatchet when he had a patient.
At least the patch-up job was fairly quick, due in equal parts to Ratchet's supreme skills, and to Cliffjumper's self repairs working overtime in addition to the basic field patches Switchshade had managed to makeshift for the mech earlier that day. Several breems later, Cliffjumper found himself on his pedes again, and the team was nothing short of ecstatic to see him alive and well. Arcee especially was overjoyed at his safety, and immediately pulled him into a fierce embrace, vowing to never again let him out of her sight.
Bulkhead chuckled at that, and muttered in an aside to Bumblebee an offer for a wager when one or the other of the two would admit to their feelings, and ask the other to become their conjunx endura. It was, of course, overheard, and there was no shortage of blushing and death threats to be had from the blue femme and red mech. Optimus stood by, a small smile on their leader's faceplates, and even Ratchet had to fight a fond smile of his own, instead choosing to shake his head and grumble, "Sparklings" as he returned to his science station in the main room where they had gathered.
Traitor. Useless. Filth. Worthless. Weak. Traitor. Helpless. Traitor. Traitor. Traitor. Autobot prisoner.
Switchshade struggled to continue to invent and exvent. It may not have been strictly necessary for survival, but it helped him to almost manage the panic. He fought back the terror, trying to take stock of his circumstances. He was now an Autobot prisoner, and these were not merely Autobot soldiers.
They had a former Wrecker, Bulkhead, who was bound to be just as rough and merciless as Breakdown could be on his bad days. They had Bumblebee, the scout who had been little more than a sparkling at the start of the war, and yet who had faced down Megatron's tortures while so young, and not only lived to tell the tale, but continued to fight valiantly for his cause. They had a femme, as well, although Switchshade knew little of Arcee, only hearsay and rumors in addition to the Decepticon database files.
Most important (and terrifying), though, were the two oldest mechs on the Autobot team. Ratchet, the Medic-from-the-Pit, feared by Decepticons and Autobots alike, or so the stories went. Even Laserbeak had been hesitant to say much of the old medic, and from the word the drones passed around, it was a better fate to bleed out slowly from losing a leg than to find yourself under the Dread Doctor's servos in his medbay. He made Knockout look positively safe.
And then, there was the Prime himself. Optimus Prime. The very same mech who had known and even been friends with Megatron when he had been but a gladiator. Pit, the Prime had known Megatron almost as long as Soundwave had. The Prime had faced down the warlord in hand to hand combat, and come out successful more often than not, and Switchshade knew that, no matter his skill, if the Prime decided he would not be of use, then there would be no escaping certain death at his servos. Primus, he carried the Matrix itself in his chassis!
He shivered uncontrollably, plating rattling violently in his helpless terror, and he drew his knees up to his chassis, wishing he could draw his still-bound arms from behind his back to feel even slightly less vulnerable. Instead, he simply buried his faceplates in trembling knees and tried to keep himself from shutting down in terror. He tried to invent slowly, held it as long as he could, and then released a shaky exvent. He repeated the process several times, until he could think more clearly, and then tried to decide on a course of action. Obviously returning to the Decepticons was out, even if he did manage to escape. Starscream, ironically, would never allow a traitor to return to their ranks, let alone one who had so humiliated him as Switchshade had in taking his kill right from under his faceplates.
With Megatron now returned, his chances of survival dwindled into single digits. Becoming a Neutral party was a nice thought, for a moment, but what could he do? All major energon deposits on the planet were claimed, be they by Autobot or Decepticon hands, and the minor deposits he might be able to find would not be enough to keep him functioning. If he tried to make it on his own, he'd be dead in half a stellar cycle. And that's thinking optimistically. This left the ex-'Con with but one choice. Somehow, he needed to find a way to convince the Autobots that not only was he worth keeping, but that he could be trusted too. That he could somehow make himself useful enough to be kept.
No matter what, I need to prove I can be useful. I… I need to do anything, everything, to convince them I will obey. I won't be trouble, I can… Pit, anything. I… I will obey… He trembled again.
Bumblebee listened with his head cocked as Cliffjumper told his tale to the five Autobots and three human children that were gathered around. His fight with the drones, Starscream almost killing him, and then Soundwave's pet saving his life and managing to get him off the Nemesis and to the caverns. Bulkhead, Arcee, and Bumblebee all exclaimed loudly and began to debate as to why exactly he had done so, quickly agreeing that it was a trap and that he could not be trusted. Cliffjumper looked disinclined to disagree, but as he and Bulkhead began to debate what they should do with their prisoner now, Bumblebee glanced to see Optimus' reaction.
For his part, Ratchet refrained from grumbling; instead crossing his arms and cocking his head thoughtfully, silently parsing out what, exactly, his motives might have been. Optimus had said nothing throughout the telling, merely listening intently to Cliff's report, and when he had finished, the Prime nodded gravely. "We will go and speak with Switchshade. Perhaps he will be willing to tell us his intent behind his actions."
Arcee scoffed skeptically, but refrained from arguing, staying nearly glued to Cliffjumper's side. Miko had joined in the argument between Bulkhead and Cliff, having introduced herself somewhere between the report and the discussion's beginning, and was now demanding that she be permitted to join in the 'interrogation'. Jack watched the proceedings with wide eyes, still wanting only to go home, and Raf stayed near to Bumblebee, mild concern in his clever eyes.
Once the main debate was out of the way, Cliffjumper then informed them of the conversation between Megatron and Starscream that he had overheard, and of the horror that had followed. Of how the vehicon had been killed, and then somehow resurrected, but it was a horrific parody of life, and the creature had possessed no trace of sentience, or of any desire beyond that to kill blindly.
"This is troubling indeed. We will need to keep a close watch on Megatron now that he has returned, for I have little doubt that he will move against us soon. He must be growing desperate to conclude this war, if he has stooped so low as to resort to such dark methods." Optimus' voice was unusually grave, even for him.
It was quickly decided that the humans were to be returned to their homes, for the evening at least, and each was sent home with their respective guardians with no little protest from Miko. Arcee, surprisingly, seemed content with breaking her recent vow to not let Cliff out of her sight again, but she caught Ratchet before she left with Jack, making the medic swear to induce medical stasis if Cliffjumper even hinted at leaving the base before she returned.
As soon as they had left, Cliffjumper, Optimus, and Ratchet went to visit their 'guest'.