RID- True Colors

Hello everyone! I just have to take a moment to comment on how awesome all of ya'll are! Everyone's support and reviews have been awesome and I love ya'll lots like tator tots...cause they epic! Don't know where this came from, but I just felt like sharing some love! :D 3 Enjoy this chapter!

Nala1024: Awww! Thank you for thinking so! Cookie for you! :)

AllSpark Princess: I don't think she'll ever like anything if it doesn't pertain to rules. Lol.

Bumblebee-the-Dork: Lol I wish it would! Back off real life! Can't you see all we wanna do is write/read fanfiction stories! Sideswipe won't know what hit him, lol! That's actually a really good idea: when you said he wouldn't be able to stop staring at his grenade. Do you mind if I use that? Yet another cookie for you, and I'll even throw in a cookie jar! Let me know if you don't mind me using that. :)

mchap1154: Lol I couldn't resist. When I was writing it I was like Dang, I made Solarstorm do the same thing...loving the bad boy is hereditary with my OC's!

unicron1000: Here's another update for you. Glad you loved it!

...

Considering it could have gone a million different ways; the team finding out about Sideswipe and myself went really well. Except for Strongarm of course, but I don't think I'll ever see her happy about anything unless it's about rules and regulations. Every time Grimlock looks at us he makes sappy expressions and sounds...it's quite hilarious really.

Currently we are all out investigating a Decepticon signal, but all we find is a stasis pod. It's amazing how many of these things we keep finding. Poor Sideswipe accidently feel down a hill and through some trees, and came out covered in leaves. He's been pouting the whole way to the scrap yard. Once we get there Bee and Strongarm place the pod in its designated spot.

Side's sighs and plops onto the ground and starts picking the pieces of tree out of his armor.

I giggle as I squat next to him and start to help him. "You are adorable; you know that?"

"Adorable? How do you call someone who fell down a hill into some trees adorable?" He asks with a pout.

"Because you look cute looking like a walking shrubbery." I reply.

"...just so you know I am not cute. I'll take handsome or sexy mech, but not adorable." He replies playfully.

"Oh excuse me Mr. Handsome." I say as I give him a quick peck on the cheek.

He grins at that. "I didn't quite catch that. Could you run that by me again?"

"Sorry. Russell's right over there, so no PDA. Denny's rule." I reply with a smirk.

He pouts again. "Awww."

Suddenly an alarm rings out making us cover our audio receptors. "What's that noise?" Bee asks.

It cuts off when Fixit pushes a button on the console. "It's our new pox-er-proximity alarm." Fixit explains.

"Which I know how to operate because I was totally listening." Russell adds sarcastically.

Fixit huffs at that. "You were hardly...anyway, how'd the mission go?"

"Wandered through seven klicks of mud to find one empty stasis pod." Bee replies.

Strongarm starts typing on the holographic screen on the stasis pod, and it opens. When it does mud slides out of it. "To be accurate the pod wasn't completely empty." She then turns to Sideswipe. "Sideswipe. Tell Fixit how you lent a hand...oh, that's right you didn't."

Sideswipe is quick to stand up at that. "Hey, if anyone held us down it was Grimlock. I've seen fried circuits livelier than you were today. No offense."

He is cut off by Grimlock smacking him with his tail, making him slide a few feet away. Everyone gasps in surprise at this. "Sideswipe!" I exclaim in worry as I rush over him.

"Grimlock!" Bee yells.

"Are you alright?" I ask Sides.

He ignores me as he turns to Grimlock. "What's gotten into you?!"

Grimlock just growls at him.

"Grimlock! Whats wrong with you?!" I ask.

He just ignores me and charges at us instead.

Sides grabs me and jumps out of the way and lands us out of his path. "What's your backfire Grimlock?!"

He ignores him and charges at us again. Bee then jumps up and lands in front of us. "Knock it off!" He yells at Grimlock.

"Keep your hands off of me Autobot!" Grimlock yells at Bee, smacking his hand off his arm. He then uses his tail to hit Bee making him fly into a rock wall.

"Bee!" I yell in worry.

"Fixit, get Russell into the command center!" Strongarm orders. She then aims her weapon at him and starts to fire.

"Strongarm don't!" I yell as I rush over and push her gun to the left. This causes her shot to hit the stuff on a shelf above Grimlock's head, making it fall onto him.

"What did you do that for Hope?" She asks me.

"The question is what were you doing firing on a teammate?" I ask.

"I was trying to protect you from a violent attacker if you hadn't noticed." She replies.

"You mean protect us from a TEAMMATE.?" Sideswipe adds.

"Grimlock attacked you, Hope, and Bee without cause." She argues.

"Hey, you assault me all the time!" Sides argue back.

SUddenly Grimlock smacks Sides and me making us fall. He then starts punching Strongarm.

"Side's we have to help Strongarm." I say as I pull him up.

"Follow my lead!" He says before he transforms. I do so as well and we drive at Grimlock. "Grimlock stop!" Sides yells.

"Stop fighting me. They don't stand a chance and neither do you." Grimlock says not making much sense. He then flips Sideswipe.

I transform and dodge as he tries to grab me. I kick him in the head in hopes of knocking him out. Before I can do it again he grabs my legs and tosses me away. Before I can hit the ground I am caught bridal style by Sideswipe. "Good catch."

He puts me down and says, "Stay here." He then leaps at Grimlock and lands behind his head and holds on. "Dude, what is this about?"

"IT's about me flattening you." Grimlock then jumps and turns so he will land on his back. Since Sideswipe is on his back its him that is slammed into the ground.

"Sides!" I yell in worry at his knocked out form. I rush over and deliver a kick to Grimlocks head.

He stumbles and then shakes his head. He glares at me as he says, "I've had enough of you!" He charges at me, but I manage to dodge.

"Stay still!" He yells. He manages to grab me around the neck when I'm in mid leap and chokes me a bit.

I try to pry his hands off my neck. "Grim-Grimlock. Stop."

"This time Autobot, stay down!" He yells and then throws me at the rock wall. The back of my head hits it, making me go unconscious.

The next thing I'm aware of is someone pulling me into a sitting position. "Hope? Hope are you alright?"

I groan as I come to. My optics finally open all the way and I see Bee standing over me. "Aside from the ringing in my helm; I'm good." He helps me to stand up. "Wheres Grimlock?"

"He's gone, and apparently he took the stasis pod with Underbite with him." He replies.

"Why? What's going on with him?" I ask.

"I don't know, but I will find out. Come on, let's get the others up." He replies.

We walk over to Sideswipe where Fixit and Russell meet us. I squat next to him and gently shake him. "Sides? Sides wake up."

"Is he alright?" Bee asks.

"Well, his systems appear normal." Fixit replies. "Can you hear me Sideswipe?"

Sideswipe groans and we help him to stand. "Where's Grimlock?" He asks.

"Russell scared him away, but Grimlock has Underbite." Fixit states.

"Grimlock said he was taking him to some 'boss', but-"

"I can't believe I fell for the innocent T-Rex routine. We should interrogate Grimlock's known associates. He's clearly been fooling us all this time." Strongarm says walking up to us.

"We are Grimlock's known associates." Sideswipe hisses at her.

"I think maybe-

"I've seen Grimlock's rap-sheet; the only crime on there is severe property damage due to Grimlock being... Grimlock." Bee says interrupting Russell.

"That's what he wants us to think." Strongarm argues.

Russell tries again. "If you'll just-

"No way Grimlock attacked us willingly. 'The boss' must have forced him." Sideswipe defends him.

"I agree. Grimlock's been with us for a while now. If all he wanted to do was scrap us he would have done it by now." I add.

"HEY!" Russell yells.

We go quite and look at him. "I don't think Grimlock's in control of himself. He wanted to hit me but he couldn't. It was like there was a war going on inside him." Russell states.

"Accept it. Grimlock's just a bad bot whose been playing us for suckers." Strongarm says.

"Whatever's going on our first priority is to find Grimlock and that pod and bring them both back here." Bee says.

"This isn't Grim's fault. What Russell's saying is at least possible right? Tell me you know that." Side's says.

Bee sighs and walks up to the command center where Fixit is.

I hug Side's arm. "Don't worry. I don't think Grimlocks at fault either."

He smiles at me and quickly kisses my head. "Thanks for your support."

"What are femmefriends for?" I state.

"I can't locate Grimlock's signal. Com and tracking systems were damaged when he hit the console." Fixit says.

"Ok. Grimlock said he was meeting someone. Therefore they must have set a rendezvous point." Bee points out.

"It sounds like the original plan was for Grimlock was to grab more than one pod." Russell adds.

"Are there any secluded areas nearby that are large enough to hide say a dozen bots?" Strongarm asks.

Russell ponders for a moment. "The crown river dam! It's huge!"

"And fully automated. No human personnel." Fixit adds.

"Sounds like the perfect place for a meet up, and with no chance of being seen." I state.

"We'll start there. Fixit, you and Russell try to get the com systems functioning. "Autobots, maximum velocity." [crickets] "All right, just transform, please." Bee says.

Maybe one of these days he may come up with a good one. We all transform and follow after Bee. After following the carnage of trees for a while we transform back so we can navigate easier. We spot the foot prints in the ground as Strongarm says, "At least our fugitive should be easy to track."

"I'll take point. I'd hate for our teammate to get nailed by a trigger happy peace officer." Sides says as he goes ahead.

"I don't know what's gonna happen when we find Grimlock, but I promise you I'll do everything possible to see that he doesn't get hurt." Bee says.

Without seeing the red beam at our feet we walk right through it which releases some sort of gas, which freezes some water on the ground. Sides and Bee walk on it and it makes them stumble and start falling down a steep hill.

"Guys!" Strongarm and I yell.

I turn to her and say, "Come on Strongarm, but be careful."

We carefully make our way down while holding onto each other just in case either of us trips. Thankfully we make it to the bottom without any injuries. "Lieutenant."

"Are you two okay?" I ask.

"Fine." Bee says.

"Me too." Sideswipe says as he holds his back.

"Hurt your back?" I ask.

"Nope. The ground did." He replies with a groan.

We all trek back up the hill and to where the red beam was. We inspect the device that made the gas. Strongarm is the one to inspect it and say, "It's a cryo inducer from a stasis pod. Friendly bots don't generally set traps for the good guys, right lieutenant?" She hands it to Bee.

He looks at it. "Let's hurry and get to the dam."

We transform and continue on our way. Once we make it to the dam we transform back and quietly walk to the entrance. "Alright team; let's keep it quiet until we get there. We might have the element of surprise on our side. Have your weapons ready."

We do just that as we reach the enterance. When we look in we see Grimlock with the stasis pod, but he's also with Steeljaw. "He came here to meet up with Steeljaw?!" Strongarm hisses.

"I know it looks bad, but it may not be what it looks like." I say.

"Oh please, it's exactly what it looks like." She replies.

"I had a little problem boss. I only got one pod." Grimlock says to Steeljaw.

"Let me guess; you ran away." Steeljaw says angrily.

"The Autobots were all over me, but I took care of them and I snagged Underbite. Between him and me how much more muscle do you need?" Grimlock asks.

"That's a rather cowardly way to justify failure but as far as my intention to make this world a home to all Decepticons you and Underbite are at least a start." Steeljaw replies.

"Or end Steeljaw." Bee interrupts as we walk inside.

"You took care of them did you?" Steeljaw asks Grimlock angrily.

"Mostly." Grimlock replies sheepishly.

Steeljaw growls at us and says, "Savour the daylight, things are about to get rather dark."

He and Bee then lunge at one another and start fighting. "Get clear lieutenant!" Strongarm tells him as she readies her weapon, trying to aim at Steeljaw.

Bee is shoved against a wall as he says, "I'm trying."

Sideswipe walks up to Grimlock to try to get him to see reason. "Grimlock, tell me you were just playing along with Steeljaw. You were just leading us straight to him all along right?"

Grimlock simply grabs him by the shoulder. "I could tell you that, but I'd be lying."

I run up to the pair and kick Grimlocks arm, making him let go of Sideswipe.

"You two fight like you don't wanna hurt me...well you more so than her." Grimlock says to me and Sideswipe.

"That's because we don't want to hurt you." I reply.

"Well that's a problem, because I've got no problem hurting you two." He replies before charging at us. We dodge and jump onto a pile of cable reels. He goes to hit us again, but Sideswipe jumps and runs along his spine and I simply just jump to the side.

Grimlock grabs a reel of cable in his mouth and flings it at us. Sideswipe grabs me and drops us to the ground to avoid being hit. Unfortunately, Strongarm ends up getting hit instead. The momentum of the thrown reel causes her to fly into Bee and Steeljaw, thus all three of them flying into more piles of reels.

"Bee, Strongarm!" I yell. I turn to Sideswipe and say, "I'm gonna go help them!" I then rush over to the pile. I start pulling reels off in order to get to my teammates underneath. I spot some blue paint and say, "Geez Strongarm. Literally getting thrown into the action."

I remove another reel and a servo reaches out and grabs my wrist...but it's not Strongarm. "Hello Miss Hope. It's So nice to see you again." Steeljaw says with a smile and suave tone.

I gasp at the sight of him and immediately start trying to pull away from him. "Let go!"

"Oh, what's the hurry. I've been hoping to see you again so we could catch up." He replies while standing.

"Sorry to dissapoint, but I'll have to take a raincheck." I say while I continue to struggle.

"Raincheck you say? How's after we're done here?" He then pulls on my wrist making me stumble into his arms. He holds on tightly to me and walks over to Grimlock, where he loses his cool. "What was that?"

"Sorry boss. It was an accident." Grimlock protests.

"Get a grip on yourself." Steeljaw orders.

"Like this?!" Sideswipe exclaims. He jumps onto Steeljaws back and grabs a hold of his audio receptors. This causes Steeljaw to lose his grip on me. "What did you do to Grimlock Steeljaw? Some kind of mind control?"

Steeljaw just grabs Sideswipes wrists and slams him onto his back on the floor, stunning him. "Oh, is it so hard to believe that the Dinobot would choose me over all of you?" He asks.

"Yeah, it kinda is." Sideswipe replies.

Steeljaw prepares to slice Sideswipe with his claws but I quickly run at him and knock him to the ground. We roll around for a bit until he pins me. I reach for my gun but he just grabs it and throws it away. "Oh, there's no need for that Miss Hope. After all, I just want us to get better acquainted. Is that so unreasonable?"

"Yes it is!" Sideswipe yells as he kicks Steeljaw away from me. He takes his sword from his back and starts attacking Steeljaw with it.

Steeljaw eventually grabs onto it and Sideswipe says, "Whatever you've done to Grimlock undo it now."

Steeljaw just laughs amused. "I believe you have more pressing concerns." He looks to his left to indicate what he's talking about. It's Grimlock with Bee and Strongarm in each hand and is slamming them into the ground repeadtly. "Oh, I doubt their going to survive this."

"It isn't over Steeljaw." Sideswipe replies. When he turns his back to go help Steeljaw goes to attack but I block his path. "I've got him. Go help them!" I tell Sides.

He's reluctant to agree but nods and runs at the trio.

When I turn my attention back to Steeljaw he's smirking. "Care to dance Miss Hope?"

"Not really." I reply. I run at him and proceed to attack.

He dodges and blocks them like an expert and I dodge some of my own, although I notice that he isn't putting any real effort into attacking me. He must notice my confusion and says, "Confused? You shouldn't be. When we met I told you it wasn't my intention to hurt you, and that still remains."

"That doesn't mean I won't hurt you." I reply continuing my melee of moves.

He continues to dodge and block. "I'm sorry you feel that way. Perhaps once we've spent some time together you will change your mind."

"Very doubtful." I reply.

He glances at the others and sighs. "I'm afraid I'm on a tight schedule. Let's continue our conversation elsewhere."

I go to protest but I'm cut off when he suddenly pulls me to him and then quickly pinches some nerves in my neck, and unfortunately this causes me to lose consciousness. Everything quickly goes dark and I fall limp in his arms.

~ GENERAL POV~~

Steeljaw glances at the femme in his arms and sighs. "I apologize, but I didn't lie when I said I wouldn't hurt you. Now, let us take our leave." He picks Hope up bridal style and carries her over to where the stasis pod on the handcart is. He gently places Hope on it beside the pod and pushes it towards the exit.

Before he leaves he tells Grimlock, "Farewell brother. I need Decepticons who don't turn simple tasks into debacles."

That's also when the Bots notice what all he has on the handcart. "Hope!" They yell.

"Keep them busy and we shall see if my opinion of you will change." Steeljaw orders before leaving.

"I can finish this Steeljaw. Wait for me!" Grimlock replies.

"Someone go after Hope!" Bee orders.

"I'm on it!" Sideswipe announces. He goes to run after them when Grimlock throws the other two Bots off and then smashes his tail at Sideswipe.

"Boss said to keep you busy...and I'm gonna do just that." Grimlock says.

Anytime anyone tried to head to the exit Grimlock would intercept them and keep from leaving. "What do we do? The longer we're here the better we give Steeljaw a chance to get away with Hope." Strongarm asks Bee.

"I hate to say it but it's going to take all of us just to detain Grimlock. We're gonna have to take care of him first." Bee says reluctantly.

"What?! We can't just leave Hope in the hands of Steeljaw!" Sideswipe argues immediately hating the idea.

"I don't like this any more than you, but I'm sure Steeljaw won't hurt her. It's going to take all of us to bring down Grimlock. We'll go after Hope as soon as we're done here." Bee replies.

Sideswipe goes to argue but Strongarm interrupts. "Lieutenant Bumblebee is right. I saw the way he treated her when we first met him. I have every faith that he won't hurt her. She'll be fine until we can go after her."

"I don't want my femmefriend being stuck with the Con." Sideswipe protests.

"Neither do we, but we don't have a choice right now." Bee replies. "Please Sideswipe, trust me."

Sideswipe reluctantly agrees while silently saying an apology for Hope. "What do you need me to do?"

"Can you keep him busy?" Bee asks.

"Wish I didn't have to...but yeah." Sideswipe replies while proceeding to keep Grimlock busy.

Bee looks at the cable reels and quickly forms a plan. He grabs the end of the cable and says, "Strongarm with me."

She grabs the end of another cable and they run at Grimlock. They transform and with the cables attached, proceed to drive in circles around Grimlock, and wrap the cable around his legs. They then drive away from him which makes the cable tighten.

Sideswipe walks up to Grimlock as he says, "You wanna know what I always liked about you best Grimlock?! Your height!" He then shoves at Grimlocks chest, which makes him loose his balance and fall over.

"Grimlock, you have the right to remain silent." Strongarm says while taking Sideswipes sword out of his mouth that he had put there to prevent him from biting him.

Suddenly Fixit talks over the com. "Lieutenant, can you hear me?"

"Go ahead Fixit." Bee says.

Instead music fills the coms. "Sorry about that. Grimlock is not Grimlock. I mean Grimlock is Grimlock, but he's not Grimlock." Fixit says confusing everyone.

"It's a cybertick named Minitron who can control any bot he bits. He must be hiding somewhere on Grimlocks plating." Russell adds.

Strongarm immediately starts checking for it. The other two then join in. They search for this Minitron while Grimlock yells at them to get off of him. All they end up doing is tickling him.

"Enough of the tricks Minitron. We know your—sweet Solas Prime!" Strongarm exclaims.

"What? Is it on me? Where?" Bee asks looking himself over. "Get it off! Get it off! Get it off!" Bee exclaims as Minitron travels to Bee's back. He then bites down on him.

Bee stiffens at that and Sideswipe and Strongarm tackle him to the ground. "Where did he go?" Sideswipe asks.

He's hit by Strongarm, who is now the one bitten by Minitron. Bee grabs ahold of her as he says, "This is getting ridiculous."

"Ridiculous for you; kinda fun for me." Sideswipe says. Or rather Minitron. Soon everyone is tackling one another, not sure who is the one under the control of Minitron.

They don't realize that Minitron has traveled back to Grimlock, but before he can attach to him Grimlock grabs him with his fingers. "Gotcha."

"Grimlock, I know Minitron hurt you but he's no longer a threat. We can't squish him." Bee states.

"Oh, I could definitely squish him." Grimlock replies. Instead he flicks Minitron at the wall, making him get knocked out easily. "Then again I'm not a bad guy."

Everyone unties Grimlock from the cables. Once he's up he looks around and asks, "Hey, where's Hope?"

"Scrap! Maybe I can catch up with them." Sideswipe says as he heads to the exit.

Bee stops him and says, "Think realistically Sideswipe. Steeljaw is long gone by now. Our best bet would be to go back to the command center and see if we can track her signal."

"That will take up too much time. He'll just be further away." Sideswipe argues.

"Think. We won't have a chance to find them by following now." Bee replies sternly.

Sideswipe glares at him. "Whatever. I'll meet you there." He transforms and heads back to the scrap yard.

Bee sighs. He understands Sideswipes worry, but it won't do any good to try and chase after them now. Steeljaw's had too much time to get away. He gathers Minitron and he and Strongarm make their way back to the scrap yard as well.

Once they get there the details are relayed to the ones who weren't there, including Grimlock. "Will Steeljaw hurt her?" Russell asks worriedly.

"Don't worry son. Hope's tough. I have no doubt that she can handle herself." Denny tries to reassure him.

"But Steeljaws tough too, and he has other Cons with him. What if they gang up on her?" Russell asks.

"Russell, I can honestly say that I'm positive that Steeljaw wouldn't hurt her, nor would he allow the other Cons to either." Bee reassures.

"So, when are we gonna go after em?" Grimlock asks.

Bee turns to Fixit and asks, "Can you get a lock on Hope's signature?"

"I'm afraid spot-rot-not. Her signal is being jammed somehow, nor can I get through on her comlink." Fixit replies.

"Then what are we supposed to do now? I'm not gonna just sit here and wait while my femmefriend is trapped with Cons." Sideswipe hisses at Bee.

"If her signal and coms are being jammed then it will be next to impossible to track her…I'm afraid the only thing we can do right now is do patrols around the proximity of the dam and keep our eyes open for any clues as to where she could be. Fixit, you'll monitor the coms incase we can get a hold of her." Bee states.

"That's not good enough." Sideswipe hisses.

"Sideswipe I understand your worry, but there is nothing we can do right now. We're just going to have to be patient." Bee replies.

"How do you expect me to just be patient when I don't know what's happening to her?" Sides asks angrily. "How can you be so calm about this?! Are you not worried about her well-being?"

"Don't think for one second that I'm not worried about her! She's like family to me and it's taking every ounce of self control I have to not go storming off and looking for her. I'm leading a team, which means I have to think realistically and logically. We will find her and bring her back, but you have to have faith in my judgment and when I say I am doing the best thing to find her…I need your help, but I also need your cooperation if we're going to find her. Please." Bee replies.

Sideswipe is silent for a moment, processing Bee's words. He then nods in understanding. He will find Hope and he will bring her back, even if he has to go through every Con to do it.

…

Ohhh, drama! Naturally I have to add some tension. Hope yall enjoyed. Stay tuned for the next chapter!