The brig was barely big enough to hold the Dinobots behind the bars.
The entire situation took almost a surreal taste to it, metal dinosaurs glaring at the giant robots that put them there. If they had resisted, the entire ship would have been a scrap heap within minutes. But the Dinobots didn't resist. All because of me.
My cage was put down next to the bars, though not close enough for me to touch the Dinobots.
"I'm sorry, guys...so sorry." I whispered. It was Slag, surprisingly, that replied. "You sorry about what?" "For getting you all captured." Swoop shook his head. "No, Kendra, not you fault." "Only Cons." Snarl added in.
My hands still shaking, nevertheless, I nodded and sat down, crisscross on my cage floor. As I did so, my knees brushed against the forgotten notebook. I picked it up, checking for the pencil in its spine. Still there.
Sludge perked up seeing what was in my hands. "More drawing?" I smiled and nodded. "Yes, more drawing. If you'd like?" All of the other Dinobots seconded Sludge's excitement at seeing more drawing.
I opened up the notebook, flipping to a blank page and began to draw.
It was an interesting thing, watching the human's interaction with the Dinobots over camera. The notebook from himself only added to it.
Soundwave was the rare Decepticon that didn't mind monitor duty. But then, that could have been partly from his designed function as Communications Officer. Most of this like, he privately thought, was desire for a bit of peace from the chaos of both cassettes and Decepticon army alike. Some days, Soundwave was hard-pressed to admit which was crazier sometimes, Decepticon drama or cassette energy levels.
That may have been why he was watching the Dinobots through the brig's camera, instead of Skywarp. Skywarp had eagerly traded monitor duty for a chance to go to the unofficial party. A celebration for the capture of the Dinobots, apparently. Merely an excuse for high grade energon to flow, Decepticon parties were always crazy. And overcharged with even more drama and pawing drunks. Which was another reason Soundwave wanted to be on monitor duty.
His helm tilted slightly. All of the Dinobots were silent. Completely. He had thought such a thing was up along the lines of Starscream becoming reasonable. Apparently not. Not with the human around.
Every set of blue optics focused entirely on the small human. Organic servos held the 'pencil' lightly, sketching out light lines. Time and time again, the human would stop for a moment, only to sigh and continue drawing. Until at last, the human looked up and said, "It's done now."
Instantly, the Dinobots were in an uproar. "Let me Swoop see!" "No, me Slag first!" Two of them swiftly got into a brawl, attempting to smash the other against the bars. Or floor, for that matter. The leader (Grimlock, if Soundwave recalled correctly) finally put a stop to the fight (and the noise), roaring out, "Shut up! Kendra talk!" The phrase brought quiet to the Dinobots almost as quickly as the human finishing brought the riot.
The human, smiling, turned the notebook around so the Dinobots could look, peering at the picture past the energy bars. From the camera's vantage point, Soundwave found himself unable to see the picture for himself, having only the Dinobots' reactions to rely on.
They didn't disappoint.
"Ooh..." "Me Slag like me in picture!" "Me Swoop like Kendra picture." "Dinobot portrait good. Like human Kendra in it."
"Aw...thanks, guys." The human beamed, somehow made happier by the Dinobots' admiration. "Who other humans?" The Stegosaurus asked, making the question flat and without emotion. "The other humans? The other humans are- " Here the human gulped, "-My family. I would really like for you guys to meet them, but..." Optics lowered. "It doesn't look like I'll be able to introduce them to you guys." "Me Swoop promise us get away." One Dinobot said earnestly. "You sure?"
Everything quieted after that. The Dinobots calmed, shifting slightly in their prison. The human laid back and did nothing, staring at the ceiling of its cage.
Nothing new happened for the next couple minutes. Soundwave had almost become resigned to having nothing more vaguely interesting happen when he noticed something. Something with the camera...The footage was repeating itself every other breem.
I first noticed something wrong when the lock to my cage clanged against the metal bars. I instantly became alert and all of the Dinobots did too, all of us focusing on that single lock. A voice came out of nowhere. "I suppose you've caught me." A strange mech faded into existence from out of thin air.
"Who are you?" "My designation is Mirage." Grimlock then decided to interrupt. "Me Grimlock remember Mirage...trapped us Dinobots in cave." The T-rex's blue optics narrowed. "I'm here to assist." Mirage said. Something about the way he said that made me think he wasn't too happy to be here helping. Grimlock bowed his head down, meeting Mirage in the optics. "Me Grimlock suppose you Mirage can help."
"Help Kendra first!" Swoop chirped, fluttering his wings slightly. "That's what I was doing..." Mirage muttered, bending down to look at the lock again. A few more pokes at it and the lock fell off. I hesitated for a moment before finally pushing the cage door open, light weight metal easily swinging at my touch.
Once I was out, Mirage deactivated the energy bars of the brig with ease.
Grimlock grinned. I swear, that's what he did. "Now Dinobots kick Con butt! Me kick Megatron's!"
A cold shiver ran down Megatron's back.
He ran a systems check, but as far as he could tell, everything was normal. Shrugging, he went back to his high-grade energon cube.
Something was wrong. Had Autobots cared enough to send their Dinobots back-up?
Soundwave didn't know. The camera was out, so that meant sending out a cassette. "Ravage: Eject." A black cassette flew out, transforming into a Cybertronian panther. "Mission: Scout brig." Ravage growled, but did as he was told.
The cat returned quickly. Almost too quickly. "Query: Situation?" The images came swiftly over their connection. Dinobots...Mirage...human...bars gone, cage open.
All to a swift conclusion. The Dinobots had escaped, and without their precious human to hold as leverage, would destroy the Decepticons. Unless he warned them first. "Lord Megatron?" "Yes, Soundwave. What is it?" "Dinobots: Loose."