Minutes turned to hours as the standoff continued, everyone starting to tire in their vigil, including Ripjaw. Her optics began to close slowly as exhaustion set it, crooning piercing the quiet like a pin dropping, causing everyone to straighten up again even as she laid down.
"Is it…going to sleep?" Smokescreen asked, tilting head a bit as it was just him and Bumblebee as the others took off for a small rest as they would take turns.
Bumblebee beeped and clicked a bit in confusion as they heard her begin to snore lightly.
"….ok, let's try to sneak in and scoop it into one of the crates." Smokescreen revealed quietly, both of them tip toeing quietly towards her hideout.
As soon as they had gotten close enough, Ripjaw sprang into action and burst from the crates onto Smokescreens leg.
"OW!" he yelped as she bit down, both he and his partner freaking out on what to do as they scrambled around with arms nearly flailing.
Bumblebee finally grabbed her off him and stuck her under a metal crate, holding it down with all his might as she thrashed and screeched under it.
"Hey guys, we caught it!" Smokescreen yelled triumphantly, causing the others to come in and see.
"It's about time something happened." Ratchet said in relief. "Now how do we get it out and released without it following us back to base?"
Optimus thought then looked to the others. "We must use the ground bridge to get it far away from where we are then leave as quickly as possible."
"Are you sure you want to keep it alive, Sir? It's still a predacon." Ultra tried to persuade again, freezing as they heard a small voice starting to yell.
"Let me out of here NOW! I am Ripjaw, predacon sparkling and I will kill all of you for this!" she yelled in her rage, thrashing harder and swiping claws at the walls of the crate.
"It talks?!" Smokescreen exclaimed, purely surprised by this.
"Well it IS predacon, it probably evolved just like Predaking did." Ratchet answered. "Speaking of, if we don't get this one out soon, he'll probably be raining down with fire. I'm surprised he hasn't come and found us yet."
"It just swore vengeance upon us, are we still sure it should not be terminated?" Ultra continued. "All it must know is Decepticon and Predacon ways, ruthlessness and violence!"
"I will rip your faces apart just like I did that Starscream bot!" Ripjaw yelled threats yet again. She growled as she heard some stifled laughs at hearing a child voice try to be so violent.
"This is no laughing matter!" Ultra glared over to Smokescreen.
Optimus mused in his thoughts then looked to the others. "I am firm in my choice. We shall release the sparkling. I will do it."
"But Sir I-" Ultra stopped his sentence as he got a firm glance from the commander.
The leader walked over to the crate, Arcee grabbing a top to it and sliding it under before having it flipped around. Optimus held it tightly shut as a ground bridge opened to across the country, walking through and stepping into a field. He knelt down and carefully released the lid, watching as the young bot jumped out and ran a distance before turning on her heels and glaring to him in a ready stance.
"You underestimate my abilities, Autobot!" Ripjaw growled, ready for battle.
"I will not fight you, young one." Optimus said as he stayed kneeled down to be closer to her level. "Why do you wish to fight us?"
"Because your kind destroyed my brethren! My sire said so!" She yelled, claws at ready.
"While this is true, they posed a threat to all life on this planet as they were to be under the command of Megatron. Do you understand who that is and what he stands for?" The leader spoke.
Ripjaw stood there for a second, blinking some. "I..I know Megatron is my sires master. He has kept us safe and even allowed me to do battle alongside my sire…"
"But do you know that he plans to harm all life here?" Optimus inquired.
The predacon stared again, not knowing if this was ok or not. Shaking her head some she glared again. "You are trying to avoid doing battle, why?! Because I am young? I may be small but I can cause harm and even kill, just look at what I did to the green one!"
"You have been led astray. Violence and cruelty are not the way, we Autobots only wish for peace to return to the universe, that is why we fight against the Decepticons. This does not have to be your fight, little one." Optimus explained.
Ripjaws arms slowly began to lower a bit, her stance faltering. Why was he being so kind? She didn't understand at all, especially coming from her supposed enemy.
"You may join us and live quietly in our base, Ripjaw. We will continue fighting for peace and when the Decepticons are defeated, you will have a peaceful life" The leader offered.
"…and if I refuse?" She questioned, raising claws back up.
"That is your choice alone. If you wish to stay with the Decepticons then I cannot force you to do otherwise. They strive for cruelty and destruction, remember that." He said as he finally stood, turning away as he orders for another ground bridge.
"I-I can't. I can't defy my sire, he wants you all dead!" Ripjaw exclaimed as the portal opened.
"Yes, but is that what you want?" Optimus asked.
The questioned silenced the predacon as she thought, the leader leaving her with that as he walked into the portal and disappeared.
"Master, the young predacons signal has returned." A vehicon informed, showing the blip on the screen.
Predaking perked up at seeing this, having stayed in the control room in hopes for news.
"So she lives. I wonder how she got all the way over there." Megatron smirked, hands behind his back.
"Master, please allow me to go retrieve her." Predaking pleaded, trying not to sound desperate as his leader looked to him.
There was a small silence before Megatron replied. "No."
"But master, look how far away she is! She'll never be able to return to our location." He said, pointing to her on the map, being all the way in Washington.
"And that's our problem? Like I said earlier, she shouldn't have gone through the portal. We're going to see if she can return all on her own." Megatron stated, his face unfaltering.
Predakings shoulders slumped as he didn't know what to do. He was so torn between saving his sparkling and following his masters' orders. He began to wonder if the leader even cared about his anguish.
"Go rest, Predaking. You've stuck around here long enough." The leader commanded, watching as he left.
The predacon walked away in defeat, going to his room and not even noticing Starscream was listening in on the entire conversation.
"So, the little beast is all alone and defenseless now, hm?" The seeker spoke to himself with a wicked grin.
He quickly glanced into the control room to see the coordinates, going to the landing bay and getting a ground bridge then going through. The seeker looked around, not seeing the small creature anywhere.
"Come out you slagging piece of scrap. I've got plans for you." He said as he looked to his sensors of where her signal was coming from, walking to a cave.
Starscream stalked around some, smirking all the while as he knew she had nowhere to run. Little did he know Ripjaw was locked onto him and ready to fight but stayed silent, claws digging into the ground in her beast mode. She was becoming a cornered beast ready as the cave did not go very deep.
"Ah, there you are." The seeker hummed as he finally locked eyes on her. "Come to me and let's begin the torture, shall we?"
Ripjaw screeched loudly and sped between his legs, Starscream growling and trying to stomp on her in the process but with failure.
"Get back here!" he yelled, going after her but falling into her trap as she whirled around and lunged at his chest, clawing and managing to break his armor with her steel claws.
"SLAG!" the seeker yelled as he grabbed for her, but she climbed up higher on his body and suddenly bit down on his chin, wings flapping as they whacked his face repeatedly.
She quickly let go just as he was about to grab her again and landed on her feet, quickly speeding between his legs again and charging her frill with electricity.
"You are NOT going to make a fool out of me, beast!" Starscream proclaimed, aiming a missile at her then getting hit with an electronic bolt to arm, causing the missile to explode on impact.
Both of them slammed into a wall from the explosion, Ripjaw taking a bit longer to recover as she only dealt with some burns as her armor was predacon strong. Starscream was missing an entire arm, and some of his upper body having black burns and exposed internals as some armor was blown away. As they both began to get up, the cave began to shake unstably
With a growl Starscream began to retreat. "I need a ground bridge now!" he yelled into the comm link, running as one opened.
Ripjaw saw her chance to get back home, shaking off her exhaustion and speeding as fast as she could, getting between his legs and jumping into the portal before him. Rocks began to fall from the ceiling as the entrance was cut off and therefore the signal to the bridge. Much to Starscreams dismay, the portal shut off before he could get to it, yelling out as he was now trapped.
Ripjaw landed hard as she fumbled in her entrance, panting as she shivered a bit while the excitement wore off, making her way inside the Nemesis as others avoided her like the plague.
Soundwave stared at the screen as he saw Ripjaws signal return to the ship, looking to Megatron as he frowned slightly at seeing Starscreams signal disappear due to the rubble.
"Starscream you idiot." He grumbled to himself, looking to the door as Predaking entered after some hours.
"Master, I cannot recharge knowing that my sparkling is out there so fa-" he stopped in his tracks as he saw the screen. "She's back?! How long has she been back!?"
"Calm yourself, Predaking. She just now returned. See? I knew she'd be fine, she's a survivor." He said, hiding his frustration at Starscreams foolishness.
Predaking didn't bother with questions on the how as he quickly ran off to find his sparkling on the ship, slamming vehicons out of his way. Ripjaw heard pounding footsteps, tail wagging as it could only be one bot. She quickly sprinted towards the sound and jumped onto his leg as she saw him, trilling happily.
The large predacon scooped her up into his hands and cuddled her gently, his relief indescribable now that his sparkling had returned. "Are you alright?"
"I am fine! I defeated Starscream in battle, the fool thought it smart to try and ambush me!" Ripjaw spoke proudly as she transformed to bot mode.
Predaking blinked and frowned deeply as he growled in rage. "He attacked you?!"
Ripjaw nodded, pride practically written on her face despite his anger. "But I defeated him, and he is stuck in a cave! You can't underestimate me now, I took on a larger bot all on my own!"
The large predacons frown faltered as he remembered how he didn't believe her to be battle ready before, seeing her smile and unable to stay mad. "Did you punish him well for his insolence?"
"He no longer has one arm." She replied with a smirk, grinning as Predaking chuckled.
"Let us go eat and rest then." He said, taking her back to his quarters.