The sound of the groundbridge activating shook Switchshade from his confusion long enough to register Ratchet and Lord Prime departing. As the medic vanished from sight, Switchshade found himself taking an aborted half-step forward after him. Don't go…
"Switchshade." The femme's voice startled him, though he made no outward sign, simply turning to face her as the groundbridge began to close behind the Prime. "Yes?" he queried softly, lowering his optics, expecting a command to return to his cell. "You will remain with Bulkhead. You will cooperate with anything he asks of you, within reason, and if you fail to comply you will be returned to your holding cell."
Arcee's tone was sharp, her anger at being left behind clearly still rankling, though her field did not teek of imminent rage, so Switchshade simply shifted his weight back and nodded quickly, until her words registered, and his dark red optics flew up to meet hers in surprise. "I- You would leave me unbound and free in this place?" he asked incredulously. She narrowed her icy blue optics. "You gonna give me a reason not to?"
He took a careful step backwards, lifting his servos half-defensively, and shook his helm swiftly. "No, I just…" She sighed softly, visibly calming when Cliffjumper placed a gentle servo on her shoulder plating. "Look. Optimus let you out, so he must trust you, at least as far as a 'Con can be trusted." Cliffjumper grinned at Arcee's resigned tone, and then jumped in, "Also, you did kind of save my tailpipe from ol' Screamer, so that wins you some brownie points too." The cocky red mech smirked at Switchshade's obvious confusion, but then gentled his voice as well. "If Optimus let you out, then we won't lock you back up unless we need a reason too. Bulkhead is capable of subduing you if need be, but we can hope that won't be necessary."
Switchshade nodded hesitantly, still wondering if this was some sort of cruel joke, before getting distracted by the eldest of the humans again, as it asked of Arcee, "Okay, chief. So, uh, what's on the activities list?" The ex-'Con noticed that while Miko had shown virtually no fear of him, and the clever-eyed young male human had merely shown indifference to his presence, the eldest appeared to be keeping as much distance between himself and the black mech as possible. In deference to the human's discomfort, Switchshade moved a few paces further from the humans, closer to the yellow scout, who softly whirred a reassurance as the prisoner cast him a questioning glance.
Meanwhile, Arcee glanced once at her pet human and her faceplates twisted in anger once more, as she declared, "I'm going on patrol." She turned and began to stalk towards the exit of the base, and as she passed Bulkhead, he tilted his helm and protested, "But Optimus told us to stay!"
"When you're in charge, you can call the shots." Switchshade tensed at the anger in her tone, preparing to watch the femme unleash her wrath upon the Wrecker for daring to question her decision, only to stare in shock as no such attack was forthcoming. Arcee simply turned again and continued on her way to the exit.
"Cliff, 'Bee, with me." she commanded, gesturing slightly for the two mechs to follow. Bumblebee whirred quietly in disappointment, but obeyed, and Cliffjumper just grinned and shrugged as he moved to follow.
As the three Autobots moved to stand before the exit together, the femme turned to the Wrecker once more. Now, here it comes. Now, she will put him in his place for daring to question a superior…
"Bulkhead, you're in charge." Arcee lifted a servo to his arm, patting it lightly, and doing no damage before she transformed and moved out, Bumblebee and Cliffjumper right on her thrusters.
Switchshade marveled. Perhaps Arcee thought that Bulkhead would not submit to a reprimand? Even Soundwave was not above putting others back into place when they dared to step out of line, though the occasion was extremely rare, and Switchshade had only witnessed such an action from his guardian when the offense of the one being beaten down had been against Lord Megatron. But perhaps the femme knew that, because of the Wrecker's large size, that she would need to damage him rather badly to make the lesson stick, and the Autobots could not afford to have a mech down in such dangerous times? In truth, he did not know what to think.
Bulkhead turned back from watching them depart to see three humans and one mech staring at him curiously. "So, uh, what's on the activities list?" he parroted, lifting his servos in an open gesture. A feedback loop startled both the Wrecker and the prisoner, and both flinched as their auditory receptors were assaulted by the high pitched whine. Switchshade looked to the humans to see Miko fiddling with a piece of human tech that, if he recalled correctly, would project the sounds of certain human instruments. She had plugged in the contraption that she had left in Bulkhead's chassis earlier, and looked quite ecstatic as she grinned up at her guardian mech. "How about band practice?!"
The youngest of the humans looked up at her skeptically, "But… we're not a band." Far from deterring Miko, she just rolled her eyes and began to circle the younger human. "Why so antisocial? C'mon Raf! You play anything?" He looked at her, askance, as he straightened his visor, before hesitantly lifting another piece of human technology similar to the much-larger-scaled computers aboard the Nemesis. "Um… keyboard?" he offered. As the humans continued to discuss their 'band' roles, Switchshade glanced around the main room of the base. It was large, even by Cybertronian standards, and had the room to house many mechs if needed. He wondered how the Autobots had come by it, and if the humans were somehow involved.
The dark mech was drawn from his thoughts once more when he felt the Wrecker's gaze on him, and he turned to face him without meeting his optics, tilting his helm questioningly. "Bulkhead!" Miko's cry startled the mech in question, causing him to turn back to his human again, as she pointed to him enthusiastically and declared, "Percussion. We'll go for big, industrial sound." Switchshade was mildly amused to see the intimidating Wrecker, Breakdown's favorite foe, nodding meekly in agreement to the tiny colorful human's demands. His amusement quickly faded, however, when said tiny colorful human suddenly darted over to stand nearly on his pedes and peered up at him curiously. "What can you do?" she mused, but most of Switchshade's attention had been drawn to Bulkhead, who had tensed at Miko's proximity to the ex-'Con.
Switchshade tensed as well, careful to move very slowly and telegraph all of his movements, wondering if the larger mech would attempt to attack him again. Bulkhead's field did not teek of rage or ill intent, however, merely caution and a mild curiosity. The green mech clearly noticed Switchshade's discomfort/borderline fear, and eased back a pace, lowering his servos slightly.
"I know! You can-" Switchshade took a very slow, careful step back, and then knelt beside the human and then bent forward and lowered his helm so as to be on optic level with her. "Forgive me, young one, but I fear I am unskilled in music such as this." His slightly rough, low voice was enough to give her momentary pause, but when she looked like she would protest, he carefully lifted a clawed servo in request for silence, keeping half an optic on Bulkhead, though the Wrecker was no longer looming, only watching carefully. "I would, however, be most gratified to hear your own abilities and talent. Would you perform a song for me?" he continued, his request causing another large grin on Miko's face as she nodded enthusiastically and darted back over to the other two humans.
"You bet! Ready guys?" At the three identical skeptical looks she received from her guardian and the other humans, she waved a hand dismissively. "You've just gotta learn the songs. This one's a ballad! It's called, "My Fist, Your Face!" With that, she began to 'play', although as Switchshade watched, he wondered that this was considered 'music' at all. He struggled to keep a small smile of appreciation on his faceplates, and forced himself not to lift his servos to block out some of the assault on his audials.
Bulkhead, for his part, lost the battle much sooner, his servos immediately lifting to shield his audials, and the humans followed suit. Mere kliks into the 'song', however, a warning light appeared on one of the main screens of the base, and Switchshade tensed even as he silently thanked Primus for small mercies.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Bulkhead commanded, noticing the alarm mere seconds after Switchshade. Miko began to complain, but quieted quickly when Bulkhead gestured to the screen behind her. "Proximity sensor! Quick, hide!" The humans instantly ran to stand behind Bulkhead's pedes, and Switchshade looked to the Wrecker in raw panic, wondering if Soundwave had decided to come for him after all.
Bulkhead did not appear to be preparing for a fight, however, although when he glanced to Switchshade, the same panic coursing through the black mech's lines showed clearly on Bulkhead's face. "Get-" the command was cut off as a human-sized door at optic-level with the Wrecker suddenly opened, and an adult human stepped through, his stern gaze speaking of great experience though the paunch around his middle gave testament to softer times in recent years.
"Prime!" the human snarled, sounding absolutely enraged, and Switchshade narrowed his optics in anger at the obvious disrespect to Lord Optimus. Even if he was not here to hear it, this human did not know that, and should address the Lord Prime with more respect.
The human's tone did not seem out of the ordinary to Bulkhead, however, as he simply said, in some surprise, "Agent Fowler. Uh… he's not here. Nobody's here." The green mech chuckled nervously. " 'cept me, of course." The human's sharp gaze glanced over Bulkhead once and then dismissed him before turning on Switchshade, who bristled slightly at the human, his plating flaring defensively.
"Nobody, huh? Then who's this? The tooth fairy?" The large, black mech with razor-sharp claws and glowing red optics tilted his helm in confusion at the comparison. "Oh… Uh… this is… um…" Bulkhead was floundering.
Switchshade stepped up to his side, covering smoothly, "My designation is Switchshade. I am here by order of Lord Optimus Prime, and I would ask your business here, Agent." He placed an emphasis on the honorific, still irritated with the blatant disrespect to the Lord Prime, but kept his low voice as courteous as he could, despite the bite to his words.
The human narrowed his own eyes, and snarled, "I thought only the 'Cons had them red eyes. You trying for a fashion statement?" Switchshade did not deign to reply, gazing steadily into the human's eyes as he waited for an answer to his question. A tense moment passed, and then the human glanced away for the barest second before turning back to Bulkhead. A hollow victory, perhaps, but Switchshade still felt a rush of something like pride flow through him before he settled and turned to see what the human would say.
"If Prime's not here, then where did he go? No, wait, don't tell me. He's out pancaking a mini-mall." Switchshade's engine rumbled, very, very quietly. The human didn't notice.
"Now, I don't know what language you 'Bots speak on your planet, but Prime promised he would handle the Decepticons! And blowing a crater in the middle of Nebraska is not what the word handling means in English. So, you tell Prime-" As the human lifted a finger threateningly, towards Bulkhead, Switchshade was instantly standing directly before him, dark red optics nearly sparking in his anger as he glared darkly at the human. "Agent Fowler." He purred. "I suggest you address the Lord Prime more respectfully, in his absence or not, if you wish for your interactions with the Cybertronians here on earth to remain… unhindered." His voice was soft, low, almost gentle, but the tone had even the hardened human taking several steps back before he caught himself.
"You don't speak for the Autobots, and-" The black mech impossibly, moved even closer, silencing the stubborn human once more. "No, I don't. But believe me, Agent; things will not go well for you if you continue to address Lord Prime in such a manner."
A huge green servo landed on his shoulder plating roughly, pulling him forcibly back away from the human several paces. Although no damage was done, and there was no pain, the roughness of the action startled Switchshade into realizing what he had just done. He froze for a nano-klik in sheer horror before bolting down the hall to his cell before Bulkhead could move an inch, closing the door behind him and stumbling over to the far wall to collapse into a defensive ball. I have gone so far beyond overstepping my bounds. What was that?! How can I ever hope to gain their trust now, if I cannot even remain civil around their favored humans?!
There, curled up defensively on the floor of his cell, the black mech wept at his own foolish actions that had destroyed any chance of a life with the Autobots.