A simplistic black-and-white picture of Laserbeak stared at me. Frowning, I stared back. Something was wrong with it.
I tapped my chin, looking up only when a questioning chirp came from the subject of the picture. "It doesn't look right," I explained, turing the picture towards Laserbeak. "I need something else. But I don't know what."
Sometime in my drawing, Soundwave had disappeared. Only Laserbeak had remained, watching me draw, full of curiosity.
I could tell she didn't think anything was wrong with the picture. She hopped in place, in fact, quite happy about it. I couldn't help but smile at the sight. It reminded me of...the Dinobots and my little brother. Like the Dinobots, she was something cute that could kill me in a second with no problem. Adorable but deadly. And when had I started to think the robots were cute?
I really needed to stop asking myself these questions. Apparently I said that out loud, judging by how Laserbeak looked at me, appearing a bit puzzled.
I still needed that something extra. What was it?
Swoop slowly opened his optics.
Something was off. The ceiling was blue, not orange. When had the Ark changed color?
Wait. This isn't the Ark...so where am I? Swoop lifted his head, to see his brothers laying around him. The dirt coating them was thick enough to cover their normal paint jobs. Enough to blend in with the earth itself.
That sparked an idea as he began to nudge his nearest brother awake. If the Autobots wouldn't save Kendra...maybe they could instead. If he knew how. If they had a plan.
A plan other than smash everything in their way, at least. Maybe sneak in? But the Dinobots weren't good at sneaking...wait, the Nemesis was under water. Wasn't an Autobot like that? Nah, there had to be a better plan...
"Wake up!" Grimlock lunged forward, still half asleep. Swoop nearly got bitten in half before diving out of reach. That wasn't too bad for Grimlock.
"Grimlock, me Swoop have plan!" Grimlock grunted. "Swoop always have plan." Swoop thought about that that and had to admit that was true. "Yes, but this good plan!" "Swoop always say have good plan," Grimlock huffed but as least it looked like he was listening.
"Plan to save Kendra," He explained. Now Grimlock looked really interested, though he tried to look bored. Good.
"Mud." Swoop raised his wings to show-case the dirt all over them. "Mud to disguise Dinobots from Cons!" "Need more than mud," Snarl spoke up, apparently now truly awake. Or maybe he had been awake the whole time, you couldn't really tell with Snarl. "What then?"
"Mud and..." Snarl gave it some serious thought. Swoop, hopping impatiently, broke in. "Hostages!" The other two stared at him blankly. "Hostages?" "Take prisoner Con, then go in."
"Find Cons, then."
He cursed his luck. Of all days he chose to go flying, it was the day the Dinobots were looking for Decepticons to smash.
"Slag, no smashing." Wait, what?
"Slag can smash if Con no talk." Oh, great. These freaks were going to try interrogation on him. There was a brief argument between the one called Slag and the leader. But he ignored all that, just looking for a way out of this mess.
A large foot stomped next to his head. "Listen Con!" "Con won't listen." "Shut up, Slag." All the other Dinobots spoke in unison. Said Dinobot grunted and stomped off, hopefully far away.
"Now, Con, tell where ship is." He couldn't hold it in anymore. "Or what? You're just a bunch of stupid animals!"
A dangerous gleam appeared in each Dinobot's gaze, more especially the visor-wearing leader. "You asked, Con..."
"I got it!" I snapped my fingers. Laserbeak squawked and took off to circle around my head. "I need color! It looks so wrong all black and white. Why didn't I think of it before?"
"Oh...that's right. No color pencils. Or paint. Or markers. Or anything else other than this pencil."
I sighed, and turned to a new page.
It didn't take too long. Soon, they both had the location and a 'secret' passage. At least that's what their prisoner swore. Hopefully it would hold.
Swoop had his doubts. But his brothers had none. It was struggle to hold them back from rushing into the Nemesis first chance they got. Made even harder by the fact he wanted to rush there too.
But someone had to be rational here, or they would be all caught by the Decepticons.
Too bad it was already too late. Too late to avoid the trap that would be waiting for them.
Dirge lay on his wings, staring up at the sky.
Just his luck to run into the Dinobots. Just his luck for that to be right after he just got repaired from his last encounter with them.
Dinobots sucked. Even more than regular Autobots did. Slag heaps, all of them.
He ran checks on all of his systems. If Dirge had been the diabolical, clever, Decepticon type (like Swindle or Starscream), he would have smirked. As it was, his comm system was undamaged.
Lord Megatron would be pleased to be warned about the Dinobots.
"Seems you were right, Jazz. The Dinobots are going after Kendra, instead of rampaging."
The bot in question smiled. "When have you ev'r doubted me?"
"Wait a second..." Blaster carefully tuned into a stray signal near the Dinobots' last known location. "I got something here."
The rest of high command leaned forward, all except for Jazz. Jazz instead leaned back, still grinning.
"Excellent, Dirge. The Dinobots will fall right into my trap." Megatron's voice echoed over the radio-way. All of the Autobots leaned back, but none as far as Jazz. All of them looked worried.
"Isn't there any way to warn them?" Wheeljack asked, aware that the Dinobots falling into Megatron's servos was a very bad thing. Jazz waved a servo. "Don't worry, I've got it un'der control."
His visor flashed. "All under control."
I had a bad feeling. A feeling that something was going happen and soon.
My shoulder blades itched, like someone was watching me. Odds were, someone was watching me, all alone in my cage. "Who's there?" No answer. "Nobody?"
Silence, but surely I couldn't be that wrong. Maybe they just didn't want to talk right now.
Someone was plotting right now, I knew down to my bones. I just hoped it didn't involve the Dinobots, but when had my luck held for that?