"You Sludge are so stupid," The brontosaurus weakly turned his head, cheeks making a grating sound against the concrete floor. Snarl sat on his knees in front of him, staring at his brother through narrowed optics. "You Sludge should not have provoked them Decepticons." He growled.
"... Decepticons... would've hurt... Snarl... me Sludge no let that happen...," The fact the Decepticons had managed to capture himself, Sludge and Wheeljack ticked him off enough. The fact the Decepticons locked the two Dinobots up in the same cage, while taking their creator off elsewhere ticked him off worse. But... Snarl wasn't sure if Megatron had ordered the Seekers and the Stunticons to come sauntering in, throwing around insults and provoking his temper, or if they'd intended to have Snarl give them an excuse to throw a punch. All in self-defence, of course.
They didn't get the chance to, though, when Sludge stood up for him. Sludge had acted first when Motormaster had begun reaching for Snarl, despite having heavy chains binding his hands behind his back. He'd managed to arab-spring to his feet, then whirled around and kicked the lilac and black mech into the wall of the cage. It had gone down hill from there.
Snarl felt himself trembling, for the first time. He kept his distance from the other Dinobots, though he allowed Swoop's company on occasions. He did so to prevent this from happening!
Apparently someone as stupid as Sludge didn't understand that.
"You Snarl... little brother... big brothers take care... of little brothers... him Grimlock tell me Sludge that." The brontosaurus smiled slightly, clearly in a great amount of pain.
"Idiot."
"So them others say," Snarl bit his lower lip, then reached for Sludge's shackles. He'd tried before, as he'd managed to remove his own cuffs, but Sludge's seemed to be much more enduring. He lifted up a rock, kicked up from the fight in the compact cell, then began bashing it against the shackles until...
Crack!
Sludge sighed in relief, letting his arms sag behind him. "Thank you." He mumbled, feeling Snarl roll him onto his back.
"... Autobots and other Dinobots come soon... Ratchet fix you Sludge, and others save Wheeljack," The Stegosaurus muttered. He settled down, placing his helm gently on Sludge's shoulder while placing an arm around his brother's middle, clutching him close. "Me Snarl protect you Sludge until then."
"Me Sludge... appreciate it," Pain was something he could deal with, as long as his little brother was safe.