Author's Notes: This chapter is a little shorter than I wanted it to be but at least I got it out! And we get to see what the Cons are up to! As we shall see soon, it's all about team work and trust with this group of crash survivors. It's amazing what can be accomplished when there is a common goal in mind… And in this case that common goal is escaping Earth before they kill each other. I'm rooting for them, personally! Good luck Decepticons! Keep up the good fight, keep dodging those tricky Rescue Bots…. And maybe don't answer disembodied whispering voices that appear to lure you into opening portals to strange distant places across time and space…

As always, drop a comment and let me know what you think! Read, follow, and Enjoy!

Part 4

All According to Various Plans

Alchemor Decepticon Prisoner Escapee:

Steeljaw

The Earth's sun was unforgiving in this region. Bleak colors of yellows and browns stretched out in every direction in one long unbroken chain of dry desert heat. The terrain welcomed all sorts of small rock particles to work their way into joints, pistons, or under plating. Pebbles were smashed up into the grooves of his tires from his long drive through the uneven and pock covered ground. He would have to make time to pick them out later.

Earth wildlife circled a safe distance from him, some in the sky, others hidden behind larger rocks, but all curious as to what exactly he was, the strange metal giant invading their hostile home. Much like the rocks in his tires, or the sand in his gears, Steeljaw paid the organic locals little mind. He was almost done here.

Through grit and fanged denta, he bore the weight of the wreckage with his upper chassis and both clawed servos. His plating flaring, and with a snarl of exertion, Steeljaw shoved the charred piece of the Alchemor off his prize. Yet one more Stasis Pod they had managed to track down, jettisoned from the crash. His hard work was rewarded with the reflection of his own cocky grin in the pod's glass panel. "Almost free, Brother." He promised the unconscious Decepticon in the pod. He couldn't quite make out who was imprisoned within through the frost of stasis. That would soon change after he liberated the door from its hinges.

He bore back a clawed servo, ready to strike the lock screen.

Then came the obnoxious buzz in his overly refined audios. It startled him into almost tripping forward on top of the pod he was poised over. /What's your status, Jaw? Takin' your sweet old time like always or did the Autobots snatch you up?/

Steeljaw righted himself with a growl, embarrassed despite nobot being around to witness his blunder. He pressed a claw to one of his pointed audio receptors. "I was almost done, before the interruption, Needler!"

The tech savvy Con on the other end of the crackling comm connection scoffed not so subtly. /Yeah, that's a no go, sunshine. The big bosses want to make sure you get back in time before we move to the next location. They don't want you getting caught by the Autobot's roving all over this dirt ball. That'll leave them with Clampdown. Please don't curse them with that scrap fate./

"Now now… Every one of our Decepticon brethren is important to our cause, dear Needler." Steeljaw insisted, putting on the most convincing tone he could fake. It was hard, considering the Bot they were talking about.

As he assumed would be the Minicon's response, Needler's laugh nearly blew out his audios. /We talkin' about the same crab Con, right? The one that almost broke my damn Groundbridge I made out of wreckage and broken dreams, all because he could not follow the simple directive to not touch it? Then he leaned on our few scavenged Energon cubes, sending them careening down a near endless pit in the darkest part of the cave we currently call home? That Clampdown?"/

"Now, in his defense, who's idea was it to stack those Energon cubes by that pit?" Steeljaw offered.

Needler snorted. /Alright. I'll take one strike off the crab's score card, leaving him with plenty to work with. But gettin' back on topic, Glowstrike does want you back as soon as you can rouse our newest sleeping friend. These Autobots are cracking down like they have somethin' to prove to this stupid rock planet./

"Now now, this planet isn't all bad. It has its rustic charms… But that aside, I thought you had the Autobot comms dampened… Don't you?" Steeljaw asked. It was an innocent enough question, but he made sure to bait it with a hint of taunting. Just enough for Needler to not be totally sure if it was purposeful.

Steeljaw heard Needler's bitter growl over the comm. /I did dampen their slagging comm systems, but recall what I have to work with! Literal scrap. I'm performing miracles here with whatever garbage you losers drag back. I'm basically a God, so you're welcome.

"And I'm not sure, but I think there may be one more Autobot outpost my dampener wasn't able to reach… To far away, or something on their end was shielding them too. So, yeah, we'll deal with that when the time comes, I guess. So don't get caught by that last group my equipment can't reach and give Glowstrike a reason to string me up by my rivets./

"I didn't know I was so loved." Steeljaw hummed.

/Apparently, they see something in ya worth keeping./

Steeljaw tried to keep himself from grinning from the backhanded praise. He flexed his claws and slashed at the stasis pod's security pad. "Please. I'm only glad we all found each other." He informed Needler smoothly. He took a step back, waiting for the pod to cycle and release the Decepticon inside from their slumber. "The pesky Autobots aside, have… Saberhorn or Glowstrike mentioned our next plan of action?" He attempted to keep his tone casual. "This world wouldn't be a bad one to set down roots… Once the few Autobot outposts here are disposed of that is."

Needler laughed, which made Steeljaw frowned instantly. /Please, nobot tells me scrap! Aside from the plan to leave this organic dirt ball in the dust and escape before we're shoved back into stasis, I don't think the plan has changed. You're still in the minority wantin' to stay here. /

"Hm." Was all the verbal protest Steeljaw allowed himself to vocalize. He wasn't horribly concerned about Needler squealing to the two crime lords about his continued interest in remaining on Earth. Needler was always far too preoccupied with his gadgets to pick up on subtlety.

But to say Glowstrike and Saberhorn's plans to leave Earth clashed with Steeljaw's current ambitions was an understatement. A blind bolt bat could see that while they had all been under stasis the war had taken a turn in the Autobot's favor. Needler had picked up snaps of transmissions about Megatron's termination. It was hard to say if this was true or Autobot propaganda to disSparken the Cons who remained. Then there was the somehow more preposterous transmission that Cybertron was restored and was welcoming all bots home, Decepticons included. That was clearly an Autobot trap. Like Prime and his lackies thought they were complete idiots.

And yet Glowstrike and Saberhorn were insistent, throwing all their scrounged resources into escaping Earth. What did they think they would find? Surely not a revived Cybertron. More like an abundance of Autobot controlled worlds. Perhaps remnants of their former empires from their previous crime enterprises, but nothing like their lives before they were imprisoned megacycles ago would remain to be found. Those lives were over.

Steeljaw had already tried and failed to persuade the two leaders of their growing group against the idea. Then he failed again to discreetly turn one against the other.

It was smarter to stay put, where they knew there were other Decepticons to find on this organic world, where they could flip the odds and overwhelm the small Autobot force and then slam the Spacebridge doors shut so more could not come. This place could be paradise, their second chance to thrive. Glowstrike and Saberhorn were squandering that opportunity for a risky gamble out in unknown space.

But Steeljaw was outnumbered. Those who once supported his plans were now hesitant to challenge Glowstrike's sharp mind or Saberhorn's deadly power. He needed a new prospect to flip the odds back in his favor.

The frost from around the pod's glass ebbed away, bringing more of the Decepticon within into focus. Steeljaw hesitated. He scanned over the large bot, massive antlers protruding from his helm and faceplate's frozen in a semipermanent frowned. It sparked his memory. He knew this bot, though not personally. It was from reputation alone, which was favorable. He wasn't a long-lost enemy he made over the course of his life to give him trouble.

An idea sparked, just as the Decepticon started to rouse from his forced stasis. Steeljaw's dark smile softened as his comrade's unfocused optics tried to lock onto him. "I'm here for you, Brother. That's it, take it slow." He pulled the panel open, keeping his voice box purring and comforting. "There is a lot I need to catch you up on."

Location: Cocklebiddy Cave, Australia: Temporary base of The Alchemor Prisoners

Steeljaw remained out of the argument, trying to keep the triumphant smirk off his features. He was easy to overlook among the many other gawking Decepticons watching the verbal altercation between crime leaders in the depths of the dim cavern.

The looming Decepticon newcomer Thunderhoof was quick to break down every one of Glowstrike's arguments. What Glowstrike had in eloquent swaying language, the notorious Cybertronian Mob boss, Thunderhoof, had shear argumentative stamina that could bulldoze anything presented in its path.

"I ain't trustin' no cobbled together rig you made from Alchemor scrap! What, it'll fly just because you says it so?" Thunderhoof snapped.

Even with the massive form overshadowing her, Glowstrike held her ground, glaring up at him with unwavering anger. "We have the Alchemor stewards imprisoned. They are working around the cycles to repair the piece of the ship that broke off in orbit. It will fly."

"Until it blows up in takeoff." Thunderhoof laughed morosely. "I don't willingly get on a rig that scrappy. If it don't have a Energon bar and a casino it ain't space worthy."

Glowstrike rolled her optics. "You will. You don't have a choice. None of us do. If we don't escape, we won't survive."

"Sounds like whata nac would say." Thunderhoof snorted.

Glowstrike lost some of her composure, but only because she had become so confused. "A what?"

"A nac!" Thunderhoof repeated louder, as if volume had been the singular problem in their breakdown in communication. The cavern ceiling gave an alarming rumble in response.

Shocking to nobot, the increased pitch failed to inform her, Glowstrike looking at Thunderhoof like he had lost his processor somewhere in the upper atmosphere before they crashed. "A… nac? What's a… What is that?"

"Low lifes en chumps! Gots thrown into that scrap heap the Autobots called a prison ship because a little crab nac squealed on mes."

Glowstrike blinked, clearly trying to break all of that down. Steeljaw was actually having a hard time deciphering it himself. Then it clicked, and he saw the realization hit Glowstrike in real time. "OH. You mean a narc."

Thunderhoof threw his servos up in exasperation. "Yes! What in the Pits was yous hearing?"

"More like knock." She admitted. "It was the hard pronunciation in the middle… Why in Primus name am I arguing this, it is way off track… We found you! We all need to cooperate if we're going to survive. This planet is crawling with Autobots! Our Minicon tech had barely managed to keep them at bay with a transmission and location dampener, but that will not last forever. It would be nothing less than suicide if we decided to stay here."

A snort echoed across the room. Steeljaw was among the few who bothered investigating the noise. Needler, of course. The Minicon Insecticon was stationed amongst a mishmash of ship parts they had wired together into their communication and tracking hub. He was tangled in wires and each of his multiple servos busy with a different task. Without looking up from his work, he continued to gripe, "The Minicon Tech does have a name, Boss. Just a friendly reminder, most of you would be dead without my genius."

Needler's much larger cohort, Barrage was seated on a pile of scrap pieces Needler had deemed a 'lost cause' for his tech grid. He was leaned back, casual, having grown board of the fight and instead watched his smaller friend fiddle with the sparking tech. He snickered at the lack of anybot's reaction to Needler's complaints, which included not even a glance from Glowstrike. "Yeah, may want to just pat yo self on the backplates bug. Be glad nobot had stepped on ya so far. It's thanks enough."

"That's what I keep you around for." Needler grumbled. Suddenly he was trying to suppress a fit of laughter as he took in the continued fighting. And only thanks to Steeljaw's high tuned Audios, he heard the Minicon tech whisper to his much larger friend, "They should also be thankin' me for keeping the crab from being here to make things worse." Of course, he was talking about Clampdown.

Barrage bit back a snicker too. "I wondered where the clutz had scuttled off to during the drama… He usually gets right in the middle of this at the worst time possible. How'd ya manage it?"

"I scanned the deeper cave systems on the off chance it may have Energon. Sure didn't, but it was higher risk for cave ins. So Clamps is double-checking for Energon, on the off chance my scanners are faulty."

Steeljaw shifted his focus from their immature little conversation back to the one that mattered.

Thunderhoof had pushed himself into Glowstrike's personal space, faceplates right into hers to match her glare. "Not nobot, not here, or anywheres in this universe, tells me where I can go. Not. No. Bot. I'm not on your team. Let me make that perfectly clear."

"Then you can leave." Came the deadly observation of Saberhorn. The ex Decepticon Pirate had been quiet for the duration of the argument until now, Steeljaw observing him smoldering in the corner as Thunderhoof ran his jaw hinge off. Thunderhoof turned to return the nasty gaze, finding the other Bot who was leading their little rag tag team of delinquents. "We went to the trouble of tracking your stasis pod, sent our best tracker out to free you and then bring you back here. If that isn't enough to win your favor, then you're a wasted effort. Go off and be captured by the Autobots that reside on this planet."

Thunderhoof scoffed. "Don't needs to tell me I ain't welcome. I'll just grab my boys and hit the road. Here's hoping we's never have the misfortunes of bumpin' into each other again."

He stomped off. But not towards the exit. As Steeljaw expected, he was making a beeline for Needler's tech setup. Barrage was still reclined on his trash pile, until he noticed Thunderhoof's approach, and he was on his peds in an instant. "Oiy! What's the chump want?" He shoved a heavy palm into Thunderhoof's upper trunk. It didn't even slow the Ex-mob boss down and Barrage was soon just along for the ride. He was shoved across the cave's limestone floors as Thunderhoof carried on with his unbroken march.

The minicon tech shuffled around, startled by the massive form almost about to bowl through his first line of defense. Despite the size disparity, he threw himself in front of his heap of stacked computers to protect them, as if expecting Thunderhoof to run them through with his antlers. "Horn helm gettin' WAY to close to my stuff!" He complained to the cave's occupants. "Anybot feel like doing something useful to stop him?!"

Saberhorn and one of Glowstrike's larger minions, (she seldom did her own grunt work) stopped Thunderhoof's approach, utilizing their own chassis as a blockade. "You're not using our tech if you aren't with us." Saberhorn informed him coldly.

"You'll break it with those big paws of yours!" Needler snapped, grasping one monitor in a protective hug.

Thunderhoof spun around from Barrage to instead growl in Saberhorn's faceplates. "I need to track down my boys. Thanks to the same nac, they was on that rig too before it crashed intos scrap. You said your tech could track down life signals."

"It can." Saberhorn confirmed. "And you won't use it, because you aren't with us."

Steeljaw was sure the tension was thick enough to choke most everyone's intakes. Most of the Decepticon underlings huddled against the wall, murmuring nervously as they waited for a fight between three powerful Cons to break out. Who would take what side? Would the fight bring down the cave onto their helms? It was a lot to consider. And it was all according to Steeljaw's plan. The more these three fought, the easier it would be to take control.

Projecting a meek, but determined confidence, he parted the crowd and approached the standoff. "Brothers, Sister, please… There are so few of us. For all we know, this could be all that is left. And here we are, bickering amongst ourselves. For the good of what we have managed to build together, is there no way to work together too?"

"I envy your optimism, Steeljaw." Glowstrike hummed, her glare affixed on Thunderhoof. "But we can not afford dissention so early in this survival campaign. This one here is trouble. I regret us ever picking up his life signal."

"But we did pick it up." Steeljaw reminded her gently. "And any situation can be made a good one, no matter how it may begin. Perhaps we can utilize my tracking skills to find those Thunderhoof is seeking. Then he can trade something we need in return."

Glowstrike showed clear apprehension. "That's risky. To send you out for our own means is one thing, but if you were captured while galivanting around for this fool's errands is unacceptable. We can't afford to lose your skills Steeljaw."

Steeljaw feigned bashfulness. "I'm just happy to do my part for the cause, Sister… But, if you trust my abilities, you must trust in me to not be so easily captured. True, we were all bested once when they took us aboard the Alchemor. But that is the only lucky shot they will get on me. There's no high-grade to hinder me this time around." He said with a lightsparked air. The joke worked like a charm. There was a muffled laugh in the crowd that shimmied the tension. Steeljaw took that moment to address all the Decepticons in the cave, though he retained his optic contact with Saberhorn and Glowstrike. "I know we can work together! This is a challenge like we have never seen before, but look how far we have come in only a few cycles. We found each other, and we rose from the ashes of that ship and our previous lives to make something better. Even if our end goals don't exactly align, we can still forge ahead as a team, as Decepticons!"

Exactly as planned, cheers erupted behind him. He pretended to be surprised by the uproar, as if forgetting their small party wasn't alone in the cavern the whole time. He gave the cheering cons a flustered smile.

"What exactly would you have to offer us, if we agreed to help you." Glowstrike hummed towards Thunderhoof, appearing to finally be coming around to the idea.

Thunderhoof cracked a wicked grin. "Yous don't know just by the looks of mes? Muscle! And with my boys, double that. We gots an Autobot problem, me and my boys'll take care of it."

Saberhorn's optics had lost their deadly edge, but he was still cautious. "But you don't wish to come with us off world? Why stay here?"

"Imma assuming the Autobots here have themselves a Spacebridge I could appropriate." Thunderhoof snickered. "And organic or not, Imma always in the market for new worlds to add to my enterprise."

The groups shook on their new deal. Steeljaw smiled. Finally. Things were moving forward more towards his goals. The longer they stayed, the longer he had to turn the group of Decepticons they had accrued to his side. Saberhorn, Glowstrike, and Thunderhoof would not be hard to turn against each other. He just had to bide his time.

"Can you hear me?"

Steeljaw startled, plating flaring with alarm. It couldn't be…

He looked about himself, in search of the source of the strange whispering voice. The three new 'leaders' of their band were banging out the details of their temporary alignment. Needler was readjusting something on the cobbled together Groundbridge while also chuckling at what stupid joke his buddy Barrage had just said. The other Decepticon lackies were meandering about the open space or tormenting the Alchemor Minicon stewards who were trying to work on their forced project, none of them able to fight back due to the inhibitor collars Needler had devised. Nobot else had reacted at all?

Perhaps, he was just hearing things…. Again. This was impossible, since his hearing was impeccable, but Steeljaw didn't have any other explanation. Other then he was in desperate need of recharge.

"Steeljaw."

He was not imagining things. And now he could no longer ignore it.

This was not the first time he had heard this voice. But the first occasion he had been a tiny bit occupied trying to escape the flaming ball of death that was the crashing Alchemor.

He had awoken with a start in his stasis pod, just as it was cycling open, not a ship steward insight. It had done so by itself, bypassing who knows how many safety protocols to arrive at the stage he woke up at. By the looks of the other 'passengers' down the long corridor, over half of the stasis pods had arrived at a similar sudden error for no apparent reason and were starting the process of releasing their captives. Perhaps it was whatever was bringing the ship down. But even with a foggy processor and painfully stiff joints, Steeljaw recognized he was in trouble. There were flashing alarms outside his pod. The ship's erratic jots jostled him inside the chamber, slamming him from one end to the other. He smashed his way through before it finished cycling to release him the rest of the way.

He fell hard to the grate flooring. On hands and knee joints, venting the first intakes for who knows how many eons, he allowed himself a few kliks to compose himself before he intended to spring into action. Find a means of escaping the crashing ship. And even over the chaos, that's when he heard it. "Can you hear me?"

He did. Despite flashing warnings and the screams of a ship being ripped apart by reentry, his audios had picked it up. But there had been nobot around him, and it didn't speak again. So, he shoved it away at the time, pulled himself up and sprang into action. He soon found many Decepticons emerging from their pods, just as disheveled and confused as he had been. They hacked their way into the ship's Groundbridge hub and just managed to bridge away before impact. Then he met up with Glowstrike and Saberhorn and the rest was history.

Among the Cons who awoke on the crashing ship, none he spoke with so far reported hearing a voice. So, he just let it go, finding it less and less important by the cycle as he decided he wanted to claim this new world as his own.

But here he was again in the present, hearing a strange voice nobot else could, perhaps a testament to his highly attuned audio receptors for tracking.

And now whatever he heard from before knew his name.

Steeljaw paced the cavern, smiling at his fellow Decepticons, but secretly scanning the crowd, looking for anything out of place. All was well, or as well as a cave full of shipwrecked war criminals, crime lords and petty thugs could get. He stopped mid step just as a subtle buzz caught in his right audio.

One of Needler's machines blinked on by itself. "Now that's strange." He muttered, eyeing the screen as it came to life with a will of its own.

Steeljaw hesitated, risking a glance across the cavern at Needler where the Groundbridge was set up. The Minicon was doubled over in a fit of laughter at whatever Barrage had just said, totally distracted. Safe from the tech's anger from potential tampering, he approached the blinking monitor.

It crackled with static. It's patched together power sources forced the machine into a constant fight to remain alive. Usually, this monitor would show near by life signals of other Decepticon's in stasis, utilizing a rudimentary map of the area. That wasn't what Steeljaw was looking at now. "A star map?" He whispered to himself, totally baffled. Then coordinates from off world, far off world, flashed across the screen. Spacebridge coordinates. Somebot, or… Something, wanted them to bridge them through… He reached for the controls when the picture became fuzzy, the power it must have been using to show the image taxing subpar energy systems it was drawing from. He could maybe bring it up clearer if he could just…

"Didn't find no Energon, Bosses!"

When the whining excuse came down one of the cavern tunnels, the machine in front of Steeljaw sparked, then flashed back to normal. It left him staring at his startled reflection in the monitor.

Steeljaw spun around with the rest of the cavern occupants to see the crouched Con scuttle into the space. It was the frightful and rather useless Clampdown, who Glowstrike and Saberhorn usually found every reason to send off on nonsense missions to keep out of the way. Now he had found a way to interrupt Steeljaw at the peek of the strange event he had almost uncovered.

The amphibious Decepticon carried on towards Glowstrike and Saberhorn, despite the tension from earlier suddenly making a reappearance, with him as the primary focus. Clampdown was blissfully ignorant of it, too caught up in his tail of personal woe to notice. "Needler said there was an Energon reading in the deeper tunnels, and I went lookin' in them deeper tunnels and even got stuck in one. And I can say for certain, that there is not no Energon to be…" His stock optics, which where before scanning the cave independent of each other, both locked onto Thunderhoof.

And that's when Thunderhoof's calm from the previous conversation went up in smoke. He roared, an accusing claw pointing at the now trembling Clampdown. "THE NAC!"

Clampdown yelled out in terror, scuttling as fast as he could, sideways, towards the crowd of other Cons. Trying to put as many chassis between the suddenly charging Mob boss and himself as possible. Saberhorn grappled Thunderhoof from behind, dragging him to a stop before he smashed through their followers to get to the cowering crab. "What is the meaning of this? Mad fool!"

"This is the chump!" Thunderhoof snarled, still trying to break free from Saberhorn's grasp to get his claws on Clampdown. "The reason me and my boys was on that scrap heap of a ship! This one squealed to the local cops! He snitched! Sold mes out like the bottom feeder he is!"

Clampdown peeked out from behind his chosen chassis shield. "The Bots had mes cornered, in my defense… Offered me a great deal for parole."

The explanation did not help to ease Thunderhoof's fury. He roared again, struggling against Saberhorn's hold. The Con, who was the unwilling shield, was actively trying to wriggle free from Clampdown to get out of Thunderhoof's charging path. Steeljaw helped them, taking Clampdown under a servo and walking him towards the Groundbridge. "Maybe the less you say the better, friend." He whispered to Clampdown, letting a shred of irritation show through. This was a little early for this amount of infighting, especially if he couldn't control it. "How about this? Let's all separate and cool down. Clampdown here can go off and fetch something while Thunderhoof clears his processor. What do we need? Anything, literally? Needler?" He looked to the tech, fishing for any help.

Needler scrambled to look at his notes. "Uh, rods, nuclear rods. For the back up power cells on the ship. He could go get them… Just don't fragging drop them."

Steeljaw gave Clampdown an assuring pat on his backplates. "Great idea! You go off and pick those up, and we'll have this little misunderstanding fixed by the time we get back."

"No misunderstandings on my end!" Thunderhoof snarled. "If yous not gonna let me tear him apart, then you better fire up that Groundbridge, reverse it's polarity and toss his nac aft through it so we can watch him get shredded!"

Clampdown whimpered, clasping himself to Steeljaw. "Any time now Needler." Steeljaw growled through grit, fake smiling denta.

Needler slammed the panel he was working on shut and fired up the Bridge. It sparked in protest as per usual but did burst to life. "I set it to a rando organic city my scanners picked up trace radiation levels. It should spit ya out around the place they have the rods I need." He told Clampdown with a shrug.

Even with Thunderhoof still snorting and cursing behind him, Clampdown staired worriedly at the twisting vortex. It's occasional unsettling jerky nature made him wince. "It don't look to stable… Maybe somebot else can go through first, just in case- AH!"

Steeljaw shoved him forward with a cheerful, "Good luck brother!" just before he vanished into the portal. Needler slammed the lever down and shut the Bridge before Clampdown could come sculking back through. Steeljaw vented in the new silence, then he turned with a renewed smile aimed at the smoldering Thunderhoof. "Now we've bought some time to work on that anger." He promised, sauntering over to Thunderhoof and the others. But internally, he was smoldering. Now he had to start all over with his manipulation… No better time but the present to get started, he figured.

Amongst the chaos, the strange event with the monitor and the whispering voice once again went forgotten.