Author's Note's: Well, I sure took a while to crank this out! Sorry about that my dudes. Writer's block be crazy sometimes… But now I return! In this chapter our heroes regroup back home to plot how they can reclaim the upper hand! Grimlock may have a few tricks to help the cause, and they awaken an old, rather large friend to aid them as well. Meanwhile, the freed prisoners of the Alchemor continue to tumble down into chaos, with one wolfish plotter waiting for his chance to strike, making deals in the shadows with a whispering voice only he can hear…

Please leave a comment to tell me what you think! And as always, please enjoy!

Location: Cocklebiddy Cave, Australia

Steeljaw

Love and Fear are in the Air

All according to plan. The triumphant thought sang through Steeljaw's processor as Thunderhoof tackled Saberhorn across the cave.

Decepticon lackies scattered out of the way of the brawl to save their own plating. Steeljaw crossed his servos, giddy to watch his work unfold from a safe distance.

Glowstrike rushed towards the fight, right on cue. Steeljaw wondered with amusement if Glowstrike intended to get in the way of the two massive bot's flying fists. If that was the case she thought better of it, staying just out of the brawl and shouting over their blaster fire instead. "Stop! You'll bring the whole cave down on us!"

Saberhorn's vents flared with scarcely contained rage. It appeared; he hadn't heard a word of what his temporary partner Glowstrike had said. He got a grasp of Thunderhoof's spiked antlers to stop the most recent charge. With a strong grip on his opponent and a roar of anger, Saberhorn hurled Thunderhoof across the cavern. "Enough of this nonsense!" Saborhorn roared across the distance he managed to carve out between them. "Plans have changed. We have to leave, no matter what old promises were made!"

Thunderhoof's optics smoldered. Even smashed into the opposite wall and struggling to free himself, he maintained a death glare on Saberhorn. "Ain't going nowhere." He shoved himself back to his peds and carried on their acidic conversation through gritted denta. "What? Everything we discussed all falls through because that squealer nac Clampdown gets captured? I could have told yas he was worthless. AND a liability! He will squeal before the interrogation even starts. Any klik them Autobots'll be on us like scraplets on a bleedin' Insecticon!"

"You have so little faith in a fellow Decepticon?" Saberhorn ventured. "His silence will assure the continuation of our cause."

Thunderhoof let lose a humorless laugh. "Nope. Clampdown won't care about anythin' but savin' his own platin', even if Megatron himself was venting down his neck. Let's not forgets, the last time I trusted that nac, I was stuffed in a stasis pod then was wakin' up on the other side of the universe crashin' onto this dump. Never. AGAIN. Clamps knows where's we are, so this base is kaput, and we need to move our afts. MY plan will get us out of this with our rivets still intact!"

Now that the danger was for the most part past, Glowstrike put herself between the two glaring bots. "Your plan is suicide. We can't just stay and fight. And we are NOT abandoning our base of operation to charge into the Autobot's nest in some foolhardy assault! That would force us to leave our only means of escape, the ship, behind. We don't have the resources to take it with us. We need it to evacuate this planet, now faster than ever."

"We out number them Autobot chumps!" Thunderhoof stomped a ped to emphasize his point. "We's one hundred strong! Let them Bot's come sniffing around for us. We'll send 'em back out in pieces!"

Never one to miss a good scuffle, the minicon Needler jumped over a pile of scrap pieces to seat himself next to Steeljaw. "What I miss?"

"Dissension in the general sense." Steeljaw muttered between them.

"You gonna try and stop it?" Needler asked.

Steeljaw shrugged, trying very hard not to smile. "Only if I'm called upon to do so… But this is healthy for them to work out their problems between themselves."

Thunderhoof hurled a rock into Saberhorn's general direction. This forced Glowstrike to duck out of the way with a yelp. She was small enough frame wise it would have smashed her helm in. Steeljaw couldn't help but be disappointed when she dodged it. "Scrap all of ya's! I'm taking my boys and marchin'! Anybot else who got any sense will come with!"

"No!" Glowstrike hissed, once recovered from her near-death experience, of course. "We need every servo we can to escape! If we don't stay united, we will fall to the Autobots patrolling this world!"

"If the other choice is stayin' here with yous chumps, gettin' caught and stuffed back into a stasis pod is soundin' better and better!" Thunderhoof snapped right back.

"There will be nobot for them to capture, if we are long gone before they arrive." Saberhorn huffed, standing alongside Glowstrike like the unified front they pretended to be. Ah yes… Steeljaw mused to himself. Saberhorn was always so quick to back the other crime lord. As if the two had a history that lasted longer than this scrap alliance they forged on Earth. Primus, Steeljaw could not wait to betray these fools.

Oblivious to Steeljaw's treachery, Glowstrike gave Saberhorn's comment an affirming nod. "We will have the ship ready to launch by cycles end if we must. No need for capture or fighting."

"Ah! No one told me that!" Needler's yelp interrupted the banter. The three leaders turned to glare at the Minicon by Steeljaw's side. Even with all the untoward attention he continued to gripe. "Clampdown was caught before he could bring back the nuclear rods! I can't do scrap without those. We're planet bound without a fuel source. I can make ya a ship and a Groundbridge out of scrap and human garbage, which sucks, but without power there's not much I can do. I'm good but I ain't that good. Get me Energon, then we can talk about powerin' the damn thing for more than five fraggin' kliks."

Thunderhoof bellowed a laugh. "Yous gonna use the few scraps of Energon we swiped to fuel a whole fraggin' ship? There ain't enough to even feed ourselves! I ain't starvin' into stasis lock for yours little space adventure!"

That comment was finally enough to awaken something in even the most docile Decepticons listening in on the fight. Everybot was basically running on fumes as it was. There had already been attempts made to swipe more Energon from their stores by almost half their 'team.' Now the few cubes they had left were guarded under Saberhorn and Glowstrike's watchful optics. A decision nobot liked. And now the disgruntled grumbles of the collective Con population added to the discourse. Glowstrike and Saberhorn noticed it. There was no way they couldn't. But they still tried to maintain their authority despite losing clear favor.

"In that case, we will triple our efforts to locate Energon." Saberhorn offered in a foolsparked attempt to appease the crowd. He turned his focus to Steeljaw. Their ever-loyal tracker with the refined olfactory sense. Right, they thought he was still doing that…

Steeljaw feigned a bashful glance aimed at his peds. He had quite the audience after all. "I haven't smelled any in our general area, or beyond. I fear the Autobots must have located all deposits on this land mass." Of course, that didn't count for the three deposits he had sniffed out on his off time within convenient driving distance. No one here besides himself needed to know about that. It kept them on Earth longer. It also kept him from starving. Win win.

Saberhorn shared in his assumed disappointment. "If we could only get our claws on the Autobot's equipment…"

"Which would require an assault." Glowstrike interrupted. "Out of the question. We will simply find another facility with nuclear rods farther from the patrolling Autobot's territories." Even she appeared to be losing hope. More disgruntled groans echoed through the watching, Energon hungry crowd. This could be Steeljaw's time to strike and gain political favor over the others…

"You must find what I seek."

Steeljaw flinched. His audio receptors twitched with the slight itch that came when the ever insisting Voice whispered. This distraction was not what he needed right now. "Excuse me for a moment, Comrades." He said with optics downcast, as if ashamed of his inability to contribute further. Everybot bought it but Needler. The Minicon gave him a curious glance as he hustled out of the main cavern. Steeljaw ignored him. He doubted Needler would follow, or look into his odd retreat further. That would require the Minicon to wander far from his twisted tech creations in the main cavern. That would leave open the opportunity for any fool to possibly touch one and ruin it.

Steeljaw arrived to one of the darker, slimmer tunnels most others didn't frequent. Why would they? It was downright claustrophobic. Steeljaw crammed his way in regardless and proceeded to glare into the dark. "This is not a good time!" He made sure to lace that comment with plenty of venom to make up for him being forced to whisper it.

A long moment of silence answered his gripe. Really? Was it not in the mood to talk now after rambling his audio's off for the past few cycles? He had done well to tune it out, whatever it was.

"Steeljaw." The voice said at last. "You are the only one who can hear me… You must do as I tell you."

Steeljaw growled. It acted as if he was some errand bot! "And I have already stated plainly enough I do not take orders! Not unless they are to my benefit. Whatever reason you had for crashing the Alchemor is not my concern. I have my own goals to consider."

He went to storm back out of the cramped space after stating his peace, hopefully for the final time. In his haste he bashed his helm on the rock ceiling. Steeljaw let loose a string of curses. His mishap disturbed the organic winged vermin once hanging from the cave ceilings. He swatted at them as they flew panicked around him.

"What are your goals, Steeljaw?"

Steeljaw snorted. "Suddenly interested?"

"As was my attempts to communicate with the Alchemor that caused it to crash upon this world, what I seek is greater then that consequence. If you will find what I desire on this world, I will help you achieve your goals."

"You're just a voice. How could you help me?" Steeljaw grumbled. But it was enough for him to stay in the shadows, waiting to hear where this was going.

"I may be trapped just out of this dimension's reach… But I can still flare my power and manipulate the physical world."

Steeljaw was almost ready to demand for the voice to prove it. But he didn't have to. The empty Energon cubes they had stored in the claustrophobic tunnel, after being licked clean by desperate bots with little dignity, suddenly toppled. Steeljaw tried not to startle at the ghostly event. "Is that meant to impress me?"

More silence. Then one of the empty cubes flew upwards. The metal creaked, smashing into itself until it was a lump of scrap clanking back to the cavern floor. Steeljaw raised an optic ridge. Ok. That was… Unnerving. "Now, what is it you seek?" It whispered.

Perhaps he could use this opportunity.

"I seek to remain on this world and rule it." Steeljaw finally revealed. "I wish it to be a sanctuary for Decepticons everywhere. A new start away from the war, under my total and unquestioned rule."

The silence stretched on after his explanation. Perhaps that little magic trick the voice attempted with the Energon cube had tuckered it out.

"Decepticons." The voice hummed.

Steeljaw smiled. "Have you heard of us?"

"Indeed." It said. Steeljaw was having a hard time determining the tone of it's disembodied voice. It spoke with either pride, shame, or mourning. Maybe all three. "I have been called the First Decepticon by many, after all."

It was Steeljaw's time to be confused. "What?"

"I can assure you will get all that you deserve… If you help me." The voice insisted. "There is something on this world that you must retrieve for me. I will lead you there. Do you agree, Steeljaw of the Decepticons?"

"Hmm…" Steeljaw laxly swatted away more flying organics. "I'm hard to impress. What kind of power are you packing that will guarantee all that we have discussed?"

Then came it's offer. "Would the power of a Prime be enough?"

Steeljaw staired stunned into the darkness. Then he couldn't stop the smile stretching his features. "Yes, I think that will do nicely."

Location: Rescue Bot Academy

Hotshot

Hotshot leapt down from the ramp of the Mobile Rescue Headquarters the moment it came to a rumbling stop. Finally! They were back home and all relatively in one piece. That was victory enough in Hotshot's book. True, Quickshadow hadn't let him drive the Mobile HQ at all for the twelve-hour duration of their journey… But all things considered he wasn't totally disappointed. He had entertained himself with listening to Grimlock's horrific, brutal, but mostly awesome war stories. Oh, and poking the pile of Decepticons they had stacked in the back on the Mobile HQ. That had been endlessly amusing. They knew curse words Hotshot couldn't have ever dreamed of.

The moment the ramp came down they were greeted by Cody's smiling face and an eager status report. "So far so good guys. The Mobile HQ's cloaking tech stayed up the whole drive. No one reported anything to any government party."

Frankie came out of the Academy right on the heels of her friend. "I'm just amazed you guys were able to find a working payphone to call us."

Whirl popped out from the Mobile HQ, helping Medix carry out a squirming Decepticon. "The tricky part was finding a dollar in change!" She sang.

Then along came their newest (and hopefully temporary) member of the team. Fixit, rolled up right behind Frankie and almost smacked into her. "Helms up bots! My research indicates huge interference from the other side of the can it- planet! I fear it may be the reason for our loss in communication!"

"No really?" Hotshot said with a healthy dose of sarcasm baked in. "We hadn't guessed."

Fixit followed it up with a whirlwind of nods, totally oblivious to Hotshot's mockery. "It's true! And after much diligent work, I back tracked the interference. I may have pinpointed the location of a large collection of Decepticons!"

Wedge limped off the ramp. "Do they come from the land down under?" He asked with a deadpan delivery.

"I don't know what you are referring to, or under where, but my research indicates the local humans call it Australia!" Fixit explained while bubbling with obvious excitement.

Whirl stifled a scoff. "Underwear." She whispered to Hotshot. He snorted a laugh right along with her.

Oblivious to their combined immaturity, Fixit continued his tirade. "I'm willing to bet my left wheel it's where the most notorious and dangerous Decepticon prisoners are!"

"Brilliant detective work Fixit!" Whirl cheered with not an ounce of irony in her voice, much to the Minicon's clear delight.

Hotshot gave her an odd look. Had she missed the last day and a half? They already knew ALL of what Fixit had reported and more.

She gave Hotshot a knowing wink. "He needs this boost. Don't take it from the poor little guy." She added in a whisper.

Medix went back into the Mobile HQ to retrieve a stiff Hoist lying flat on a hover stretcher. It was where the last of Grimlock's war stories had put him. "Great work… So, what do we do with said information?" He grumbled while pushing Hoist's stretcher along the front campus parking lot towards the Academy.

"Attack?" Grimlock stepped off the ramp. Clampdown's limp and dent ridden form was still tossed under one of his servos. The Mobile HQ creaked in relief after his massive weight left it. "We know where our little Con run aways are. I can flush them out."

Medix stopped his stomp towards the Academy to answer him with a glare. "And trigger all the traps Quickshadow and Brushfire reported seeing around the Decepticon camp? No thank you. You can start by getting that one to the medical bay. If the poor bot is even still alive." And he pointed to Clampdown.

Grimlock glanced at Clampdown. His voice box was releasing a low, pitiful, and unbroken moan. He shrugged, then tossed the Con with an underhand lob across the parking lot and onto Hoist's stretcher. "You got the Con, right Hooks?" he asked Hoist's limp chassis. The only indication Hoist was even still online was he too was now groaning from having a much larger bot hurled on top of him.

With another pointed glare, Medix pushed both moaning patients towards the Academy.

"Where are the others?" Fixit said after peeking up the ramp to see only Quickshadow and Brushfire lingering with the last few Cons. Hotshot wondered when he would notice they were down half the team.

"Still in Virginia." Wedge answered grimly. "That Con interference has messed with our Groundbridge tech too. They'll have to drive back like we did."

Hotshot gave his teammates a worried look. "If the Military lets them go."

"I called my dad." Cody said to the group. "They won't leave without the Bots… But right now, there is still a hold up with the local government. He couldn't say much else. I assume he had an audience listening in."

Pinpricks of fear itched the underside of Hotshot's plating. "They know we're up to something."

"Do you think our professors are in trouble?" Whirl whispered.

Most likely, but nobot was willing to say it out loud.

"This could be the best time to call in reinforcements!" Fixit announced in a much too chipper tone.

Hotshot was all about positivity, but this glum occasion didn't call for it. "Reinforcements from where? Have you been hiding other Autobots somewhere on Earth all this time? Or is there another prison ship crashing we don't know about?"

"No! Or at least, I don't think so…" Fixit surmised. He took a little too long to think it over. "I was referring to the Autobots on Cybertron! Bumblebee and the other warriors of Optimus Prime! Why not give them a call?"

"No!" Wedge snapped before Hotshot could. "They're trying to negotiate themselves out of another war. We can't bother them!"

"Yeah, we can handle this! No matter how ridiculous or impossible this mission gets!" Hotshot insisted with crossed servos. The last thing they needed was to fail the mission Bumblebee entrusted them with. True, he was still worried about his professors… But it was kind of nice to not have Heatwave there telling him he was being needlessly stubborn, or too loud, or 'so reckless it almost killed everyone'. Whatever that meant. "Plus, did you already forget our Bridge and comm tech is down? How would we even call them?"

"Actually chaps," Quickshadow became the group's focus as she jumped down from the ramp. She also had a squirming Decepticon thrown over her shoulder. "I contacted my own intelligence network on Cybertron not too long ago. It seems the Decepticon interference is only resigned to Earth. Ingoing and outgoing messages from space and incoming Spacebridges can still come through."

"Great." Wedge grumbled. "So Bee and the rest of the Prime team can pop in any time and see how badly we have fragged this mission up."

Whirl gasped suddenly, making everyone but Grimlock jump. "Wait! We can call people off world?!"

"What part of 'we can't call team Prime' did you miss?!" Wedge growled. And he was soon trying, and mostly failing to chase after her as she suddenly bolted for the Academy.

"I'm not!" Whirl yelled over her shoulder and spinning rotors. "I just have to ask a friend for advice! It'll just take a klik!"

Then a very alarming rumbling chuckle came from Grimlock. "Good… That mean's my call back home went through too."

Quickshadow gave him a very uncertain look. "Who did you call?"

Grimlock only shrugged.

Well, that probably wasn't good. But they didn't have time to worry over whatever Grimlock was plotting! Hotshot wheeled around when Cody cleared his throat. "Well, we're not totally dead in the water. Some of the Decepticons not in stasis have been working to try and undo the interference from the others in Australia."

"And they have been complaining about it the whole time." Frankie hummed.

"Rightio then." Quickshadow clapped her hands together in an assuring fashion. "We'll check on their progress. See what else is to be done! Brushfire?"

The Australian native Rescue Bot poked her helm out of the Mobile HQ. "Out in a jiff, mate. These last Cons are slippery devils."

Good, she had the rest of their 'guests' taken care of. One less thing for Hotshot to do. He followed in line behind Quickshadow back into the Academy to check on said Decepticon's progress. Cody and Frankie led the way, both pausing at the door of the communication's room.

"Um, just so you know," Frankie started to warn them. Or maybe she was stalling. "They've been struggling with the task."

Hotshot scoffed. "How much could they be struggling? They're on the same team. They can brainstorm. They should have figured it out by now, right?"

Cody and Frankie winced at each other, but otherwise didn't add anything else before activating the door.

And struggling the Cons were. Inside the Communication's room they found two of their Decepticon allies in an all out screaming match with each other.

"Why are you fighting me on this? It's the damn converter!" Ransack snapped. His anger was aimed at his partner, who was currently hunched under the main Com console, tinkering with wires in a less then delicate fashion. Ransack himself was not actively helping due to his injured shoulder joint made up in one of Medix's careful slings. Instead, he was seated in a chair as a sort of observer/commentator nit picking every move the other made.

Crumplezone rolled out from the cramped space to glare at the other Con. "I'm fighting you on this, because you're fragging wrong, as usual! The converter is fine. As you can see my whole aft is under here lookin' at it! If it ain't the incoming transmission exchange it ain't scrap!" He then rolled right back under the console trailed by a continued string of curses.

Ransack just sipped at his allotment of Energon with his servo not in a sling. "I could fetch Chop Shop. He has more tech experience then you do."

Crumplezone spit a sarcastic laugh from under the console. "I ain't begging the Combiner for help! I can handle this!"

"Like you 'handled' our ship from crashing on that desolate dust world?" Ransack said, sipping innocently at his Energon. "I swear, it's like the World Cup race fiasco all over again…"

Crumplezone's only answer to that assertion was a very rude gesture made from under his workstation.

"Progress report, chaps." Quickshadow interrupted.

Ransack glanced her and the rest of the group at the door. He shrugged his uninjured shoulder. "Don't worry, it's actually going much worse than it seems."

Crumplezone ripped himself free from under the console with a snarl. "You're so smart, you give it a go!"

"I know my limits, Crumple. I don't need to embarrass myself trying like some bots in this room apparently have to."

Before Crumplezone could smash his way out from the console to throttle Ransack, Whirl came rushing from down the hall. She slid into the room with a signature smile and a rotor spin. "Message sent! What did I miss?"

"A Decepticon marital spat from the looks of it." Wedge offered dryly.

"Come on guys!" Hotshot groaned. "This is Con tech you're trying to break into, right? Shouldn't you know it?"

"Excuse me for not studying up on something that wasn't even almost my job!" Crumplezone spat.

"We were racers from Velocitron, kid. Not tech support." Ransack hummed wistfully. "We didn't have much time to expand on skillsets after Megatron 'recruited' us to the cause via the business end of his fusion cannon."

Hotshot caught Whirl's expression wrinkle. "Well, that wasn't very nice of him."

"So! It'll be done when it's done!" Crumplezone huffed.

"You said a fellow named Chop Shop may be more proficient at the task?" Quickshadow asked.

Ransack rolled his optics. "Yeah, good luck convincing the six of them to help…"

Crumplezone rolled halfway out to give Quickshadow a pointed look. "The Combiner said, and I quote, 'Not my business or my problem, mate. Get some otha chump to do it.'" He echoed, mocking Australian accent and all. "So here I am, the chump." And then he shoved himself back under the console.

Whirl snickered. "That is how he sounds, isn't it?"

"Where can we find the wayward gentleman?" Quickshadow inquired.

"The Alchemor crash site, looking for his stuff." Ransack grumbled. "Good luck twisting his servo to help. A Mini Con may pop off if you twist too hard."

"Wait, the crash site?" Wedge's clear confusion protested the concept. "How'd he get there without a Bridge?"

"We do have a working Bridge." Frankie intoned knowingly. "The Bridge linking the Academy and Griffin Rock's Firehouse. Boulder, Graham, and my dad made sure those two systems were a hard link, unlike the transmission-based Space and GroundBridges. A hard link is waaay more difficult for outward interference to disrupt. It would basically take an internal hack job."

Cody snickered. "And thankfully, we haven't caught any Cons we don't know in the Firehouse. Or at least not yet."

Hotshot yelped as his arm was snatched by Whirl. Her other hand grabbed up Wedge in a similar fashion. "To the crash site then!" She exclaimed, then wasted no time dragging both of them out of the room and down the hall towards the Groundbridge hub.

And just as Frankie had promised, the portal to Griffin Rock worked like a charm! They were back in the underground bunker under the Firehouse. They weren't there for long, soon headed upstairs and then onto the road. Hotshot was happy to not linger. The Firehouse was way too quiet with his professors and the Burns family still so far away…

Since Wedge still couldn't transform, it took a while to get up the mountain. But hey, they were still technically waiting for half their team to arrive. They had some time to take in the sights. Hotshot wasn't much of the "take in the sights" kind of bot, so he mostly spent the hike driving donuts around the party.

The remnants of the Alchemor was done smoking, so that was a good start. And just as Ransack and Crumplezone had promised, the six Minicon's that made up the Decepticon Chop Shop were scurrying around the debris.

Quickshadow crossed her servos as she observed the minicons work. "An efficient little team, aren't they?"

"Yo, Righty!" Hotshot called.

One of the Minibot spiders popped out of a pile. "Yeah mate?"

Hotshot leaned casually into the same wreckage pile and offered his most winning smile. "How about you guys lend a few servos back at base so we can get our com system working again?"

Righty blinked his yellow optics before pursing his lip plates. "Eh, not really feelin' that. We have almost dug ourselves into the Alchemor's storeroom. Finding our guns the coppas confiscated is today's main priority." He then vanished back into his pile.

Frankie crawled up onto Righty's stack to knock on one of the panels he was riffling under. "Come on Righty. How about we help you find your guns, then you help?"

"There are also six of you." Whirl pointed out. "What if just you come back and help, and the rest of the spider squad stay here looking for your guns?"

"Sorry little ladies. I'm not the tech bot." Came Righty's voice from under the pile. "That's more Helm's thing."

Hotshot hummed thoughtfully. He refocused his sights onto the main ship crash. "Helm?" he called out.

Another Spiderbot popped out from a blown-out window. "Yeah mate?" he asked, much in the same way Righty had. The tenner of his voice was an octave lower, but the accent was still the same.

"Any way you can help with the communications problem? We can find a good way to bribe you if you want." Hotshot promised. Decepticons liked bribes, right?

"Eeeeh…" Helm hesitated. He looked between them and whatever he was fishing through in the ship. "I would, really… But me and Taka think we are almost to the weapon stores… I'd hate to leave her high and dry."

A snappy high-pitched voice (still Australian) echoed from behind the same window. "Ya better believe you ain't leavin' me to do all the heavy liftin' alone, mate!"

"Wait, which one is Taka?" Wedge asked.

Another, angrier spider bot popped out of the same window after shoving Helm out of her way. "Left servo, ya muppet!" then she vanished back into the ship. Helm gave them a 'what can you do' kind of shrug before crawling back in after her.

Whirl climbed up the jagged pieces of ship to reach the window and poked her helm and half of her body inside. "Is it hard being the only girl on your team too?" She asked of Taka. And here Hotshot thought she was going to try something else to convince them.

Hotshot heard the minicon Taka snort. "Blimey yes! I'm the only reason the rest of these dumb blokes are still online!"

Hotshot vented. "So, unless we want to play a riveting game of Whack a Minicon, what do we do now?"

A distant land rover's engine came up the last mountain turn. "All prisoners are secured, Quicks." Came the cheerful report from Brushfire. "Had to hike out to give ya the report, considering the comms are still dead." She rose out of her transformation next to Quickshadow to survey the crash. "Hm… Some stuff may be useful to harvest in here. Need me to start diggin'? I got loads of diggin' practice back home savin' stuck animals and the like…" A flicker of sadness crossed her optics, but she covered just as fast. "Diggin' fire breaks… Back home."

Hotshot didn't know what to say. He was terrible at this kind of thing. When others got emotional, he failed to be helpful. Usually if he opened his mouth plates, it made it worse.

Thankfully, Wedge came to the rescue. "We would really appreciate it. We haven't had a chance to really sift through anything we could use. Especially now, with me and my shovel out of commission." He then gave a wayward glare at the nearest Spider bot. "It's better then what we're working with so far."

Quickshadow huffed in agreement. "Worst case scenario, it will pass the time until Heatwave and the rest of the team arrive."

Brushfire, well, brushed off their collective dark moods and went into the debris. Hotshot hoped she wasn't still sad about Australia. Manual labor always made him forget his problems. Mostly because he was annoyed he had to do manual labor.

The sound of a very hasty transformation came from behind them. Hotshot didn't even have time to turn around before the Combiner Chop Shop formed from the many Minicons all coming out of every crevasse of the ship. Once in one piece, Chop Shop stumbled to a stop just looming over their group, but Hotshot and the others might as well have been invisible. His set of four yellow optics gazed forward, absolutely starstruck. He grasped both Wedge and Hotshot by their shoulders as if to ground himself. "Who is THAT Sheela?"

"Um, you mean Brushfire?" Hotshot assumed. It wasn't hard to guess, as she was Chop Shop's primary focus. He also hadn't blinked since he spotted her.

"Brushfire… Blimy she's a beauty." Chop Shop whispered. "What's she lookin' for? We were already diggin'. I may have glimpsed it."

"Equipment to rebuild our comm network." Quickshadow informed him flatly. "As we are unable to locate a skilled Decepticon who can assist us."

And that's when the light went off in Hotshot's brain. "Yeah, poor Brushfire… She's totally devastated about the Decepticons blocking our commlinks. I've never seen her take anything so hard."

And so began the wheels clearly turning in Chop Shop's brain pan. "No kiddin'."

Whirl caught Hothshot's optics. She mirrored an equally devious grin. "Oh yeah… Look at her. Trying to cover her worry with a smile. I wish there was some way we could cheer her up."

Hotshot could always count on Whirl to have his back struts no matter the ruse.

"Well, I do have the tech skills to maybe patch something togetha." Chop Shop admitted. "Though, to betray my fellow Cons… It would take a lot."

"I know all her favorite things." Whirl stated, suddenly all business and dropping her previous act of pretend woe. "You help out and I'll tell you how to impress her."

"Deal!" Chop Shop shook on it with Whirl, using the servo that made up Righty for the task.

"So do you little bots get away with this rubbish often?" Quickshadow vented.

"It's primarily how we get things done." Wedge admitted. "Considering how we almost never have a plan, it still amazes me how we succeed at most of our work."

Hotshot had to leave that conversation in the dust as Chop Shop started a confident saunter back into the debris towards Brushfire. Both he and Whirl rushed after him. His much longer strides made the task of keeping up a challenge. They parked right behind him when he finally came to a stop, leaning casually against the junk pile Brushfire was sifting through.

"Mornin' Sheela… I hear you Autobots been havin' a bit of trouble with your Commlinks. Somethin' about Decepticon interference. Must be tough."

Brushfire, who Hotshot now noticed already had a knowing smile present, stopped what she was doing. Her grin now gone; she looked up at Chop Shop with very sad optics. "Ya hit the problem right square mate. We're really struggling without our comms." She admitted, unable to not glance Whirl and Hotshot behind the Con. It was hard to miss them both flailing their hands about in a silent signal for her to play along. They probably didn't have to. She was an expert tracker. She probably heard their whole conversation with Chop Shop across the crash site. In fact, Hotshot was almost positive she had.

Chop Shop, none the wiser to any of that, grunted a bit as he flexed the pistons in the servo that was leaned against the junk pile. "Ya know, I was pretty busy, gettin' ready to head off world… But I figure I could lend a servo to help. It don't do my Spark any good seein' a Sheela like you so unhappy."

Brushfire's optics sparkled. "You would do that for us?"

He nodded, fanged smile growing ever more confident. "It'll be my pleasure. Now, how about you show me to where we'll be workin'. I'll have it fixed in no time."

"Let me lead the way." Brushfire insisted with a renewed smile. She transformed, starting down the mountain path with Chop Shop jogging after her. "Impressive Alt mode little lady! Very rugged!" He said and continued to shower her with similar flattery until they were both out of sight.

Wedge shook his helm. "It is absolutely ridiculous that worked."

"Brushfire should keep him on track." Quickshadow hummed. "That free's up the rest of us to focus on coming up with a plan of action."

"Maybe Grimlock's got one." Whirl volunteered randomly. Hotshot would have asked her why, but the rumble of massive peds coming up the mountain path sort of explained it. Cody and Frankie both had to steady themselves by grasping to one another. Grimlock's towering bot form arrived, trembling the ground. He must have followed Brushfire through the Academy's Groundbridge and figured out his way from there. He appeared to not be in any real hurry as he strolled up to them. "Found ya… Finally."

"Report, Soldier." Quickshadow invited.

Grimlock rose an optic ridge. "Primus, you sound like shoulder pads Magnus. All's quiet back at base, I guess. But I need the activation codes for the Spacebridge. Is that still workin'?"

Quickshadow narrowed her optics. "As a matter of fact, it is. But, dare I ask, why you need the Spacebridge access?"

"Since we're down some tech, I figured we could use some more help. I have something on Cybertron that may come in handy. Never let me down, anyways." Grimlock explained.

Quickshadow was instantly suspicious. "And what would that be?"

Grimlock smiled. "Just a few assets that could help… We'll be goin' up against loads of Cons, right? And maybe with only half the team. It should make things easier."

Hotshot could only imagine what he was going to get. It was probably some cool weapon he used in the war and was now locked away in his Dinobot hideout. Or maybe even a more primitive communication device they could all pass around if Chop Shop couldn't fix the comms. Whatever it was, Hotshot couldn't wait to see it.

"I suppose we could use all the help we can get." She conceded with a narrow glare. And with a nod she sent over the Bridge passcodes to him.

Grimlock gave her a much to innocent smile for somebot so horrifying. "Much appreciated," was all he said before headed back down the path.

"It would be foolish of me not to follow up on that." Quickshadow noted to herself.

Cody's phone buzzed in his jeans. He fished it out to glance the number. "It's my dad!" He gasped. And Grimlock's shady behavior was forgotten just like that.

Hotshot rushed to him and skidded to a stop by the junk pile their human friends were perched. He was desperate to hear what the Chief would say. If he was calling, that could mean he was with their professors! Maybe they had news, or found High Tide, Salvage, and Blur! He tried to reign in his excitement while Cody put the phone on speaker for them all to hear.

"What's going on, dad?" Cody said before the Chief could get a word in.

"So far, nothing else too terrible, son." And Hotshot could imagine the exasperated look on the elderly human. His gray mustache was probably extra droopy. "The government officials definitely know we're hiding something. But the Bots managed to feed them enough alien technobabble as an excuse for the strange communication problems and Groundbridge energy spikes it's bought us some time."

"Really, it was enough to almost put me to sleep." Kade's voice added over the speaker.

"Which still amazes me." Graham's sigh intoned right after his brother. "It's alien technology, Kade. How do you find that boring?"

Kade scoffed. "No matter the species or galaxy far far away, I know dork talk when I hear it."

"Are the recruits back, Cody?" Heatwave's somewhat muted voice came through. He was probably driving with the three humans in his cab.

Hotshot shoved himself closer to Cody's phone. "We made it professor!"

Whirl pushed in next to him on the other side. "Chop Shop is gonna try fixing our comm network right now!"

Wedge leaned in between them both. "And you should probably know, professor, Grimlock is getting 'something' that he claims will help from Cybertron."

"Great." Heatwave groaned. "But he's been a Primus send so far, and Boulder keeps insisting I need to trust him more."

"You know Boulder's the best judge of character out of all of you." Graham reminded them.

Frankie inserted herself into the cacophony of a conversation by snatching Cody's phone. "Heatwave, Chief Burns. My dad said he's worried about the human communication network being targeted next. He's started to read interference on the airwaves too."

"I was afraid of that." Quickshadow put a hand under her chin thoughtfully. "It was only a matter of time before the Decepticons aimed to take down any type of advantage we have over them. That includes human technology."

"Was that Quickshadow?" Heatwave gasped.

"Yeah! Brushfire also!" Whirl exclaimed, as if fearful Heatwave wouldn't hear her at a normal volume. "Quickshadow got us out of the nuclear power plant unseen and helped shake the cops in an awesome high-speed chase on the interstate… Um, please don't tell Professor Chase about that. He can't hear us talking, right?"

"Thankfully, no. " Heatwave snickered. "Thank you Quickshadow for watching over the recruits. Really I owe you."

"Not at all." Quickshadow promised. "They're resourceful little fellows. I'm sure they would have thought of something if I didn't show up. But to get back to the more alarming nature of our predicament… I fear the Decepticons may be attempting to take down the human communication satellites. For what purpose, I don't know. Probably best to stop them before we find out."

"Boulder will be back to help Chop Shop." Heatwave promised. "We'll arrive back at base in eight hours."

"My dad and Anna will start working on reinforcing the human network," Frankie said. "Without being to conspicuous, of course. No need to summon the military with any more satellite tinkering."

"That would be helpful." Heatwave agreed with a venting sigh. "Under no circumstances can we let the Decepticons gain control of the airwaves on Earth. It will throw everything we've worked for down the drain. In fact, it may be time to wake up Citadel Secundus."

Whirl let out a squeal of excitement. Hotshot had a hard time not following her example.

"Sorry?" Quickshadow asked with an arched brow ridge.

"Did you notice the newest portion of the Academy?" Wedge said with a smile.

"I was going to comment on it, perhaps when the situation wasn't so dire." Quickshadow said thoughtfully. "I just ventured you bots had taken up Boulder's construction class."

"Nope!" Whirl squealed. "Well, yes, we did that too, but we didn't build that addition!"

"I got the best marks in that class, by the way." Wedge bragged.

"That part of the Academy is Citadel Secundus." Hotshot quickly added right over Wedge's show boating. He didn't need reminding about how poorly he did in that class… His build had collapsed right before the final grade, with him standing in it. "Citadel Secundus is a Titan! Though he's usually in power down mode to save on his personal Energon stores. He actually almost crashed into Earth a year back and me, Whirl and Wedge had to come up with this freaking awesome plan-"

The Chief's voice took over. "Let's save the stories for later guys."

Whirl leaned in to whisper to Quickshadow, "We'll act it all out later." She promised. The Chief continued, none the wiser to the promise. "You handle waking up Citadel Secundus until we get back. And be careful in the meantime, everyone. You too Cody."

"Aren't we always?" Cody said with a grin. "Love you dad." He added before hanging up.

All eyes and optics locked in on Quickshadow, their prompt to leader until Heatwave came back. Hotshot tried not to fantasize to hard about taking charge himself… maybe next time.

"Alright chaps. Back to base so we can call on this Titan of yours… I swear, your group gets into all sorts of hijinks when I'm not around."

"No time to waste!" Whirl transformed into her copter mode. She spun in mad circles just over head. "Race ya back!"

"Um, can't transform remember!" Wedge growled.

Whirl unfurled her wench hook for him to grab. "You and me against Hotshot, Frankie, and Cody!"

After hearing that, Hotshot didn't think twice before transforming into his car mode and throwing open his doors for Cody and Frankie to climb in.

"Heck yeah!" Cody said, dragging Frankie into his back seats.

"Um, I feel like this is in direct contrast to the promise of 'being careful.'" Quickshadow pointed out.

Hotshot didn't have time to answer to that before stepping on the accelerator. He had a race to win after all.

Back at the Academy, Hotshot continued to race Whirl through the halls. Wedge said he was going to check on Hoist, or something, and Hotshot didn't hear where Quickshadow was headed. He wasn't really listening after Whirl demanded a rematch and they both bolted on ped to Citadel Secundus's main cerebral room.

They blasted past a startled Crumplezone and Ramsack with a quick hello. Then caught the tail end of Chop Shop bragging to Brushfire about some distant battle while he reconnected wires in the comm room. Hotshot saw Brushfire leaning against the console, humoring him.

The bright white and blue walls of the first section of the Academy changed in a blur as they arrived at Citadel Secundus' portion. It was made up of larger halls and darker interior, save for Whirl's framed pictures she decorated the interior of Citadel Secundus with. Even with the Titan in stasis, she claimed he would benefit from the colorful artwork.

"I win!" He and Whirl announced at the same time when they arrived at Secundus' main inner chamber.

" OK. Re rematch later." Hotshot promised. A tie wasn't a win after all. But back to the mission. His original confidence started to wane as he took in the complex series of buttons and screens that made-up the room. "Usually the professors do this…" He hovered his digits over the main console. How hard could it be? And cramming closer to the main console, as if willing the ancient Titan to reveal his secrets, is what caused Hotshot to step on a trembling ped. He jumped back in alarm. "Wow! What the-"

Hoist was crammed up into the underside of the control system. "No worries. Just… Don't let a certain monster know I'm here."

Whirl curled down to his level as if considering stuffing herself under the console with him. "What's wrong, sport? Grimlock isn't even looking for you."

"That's good," Hoist shuttered before adding, "And let's keep it that way. The less he remembers I exist, the better."

Hotshot crouched down too. "Come on bud! What about Grimlock scares you? He's not THAT bad."

Hoist gave him a pointed look. "Other than the obvious? Let's count down the reasons. One: He's a forty-foot-tall killing machine. Two: and I can't believe number one wasn't enough, he can spit fire! Three: If his fangs, claws, and bashing tail and FIRE BREATH wasn't enough, he has a flaming death sword that can cut a bot in half! Do I need to go on?"

"But he has such cool stories!" Hotshot pointed out. "Think of all the good he did for the Autobots in the war! And he scares the rivets off every Decepticon that looks at him."

"And that's great for us." Hoist agreed. "But he can do all of that away from me. I can do my job just fine from here away from any and all Dinobots." He stated with an assuring nod before cowering further into the shadows of wires and panels.

"Well," Whirl hummed thoughtfully. "There is only one Grimlock, so it shouldn't be so hard to avoid him."

"Even better. Now find someplace else to race before your presence summons him here!" Hoist snapped.

Hotshot gave a 'what can ya do' kind of shrug. "Sorry Hoist. We need to wake up Secundus. Hence why we're here."

"Do you even know how?" Hoist asked with a fair amount of doubt lacing the question.

"Nope!" Whirl said as if it was meant to be assuring. "But I figure if we just start pressing buttons Secundus will wake up from annoyance."

Hoist vented a sigh before crawling out from under the console. "Professor Boulder showed me how… I can do it."

"Way to face your irrational fears to help the team!" Hotshot cheered while slapping Hoist on the back. "In exchange, me and Whirl can help you conquer your fears when it comes to Dinobots!"

Hoist groaned, but still got to work. He typed in a series of characters Hotshot figured he would have guessed eventually if he had been attempting this.

The lights lining the walls pulsed blue. A telltale sign Secundus' Energon was flowing. A rumble from under their peds cascaded through the halls as if the gargantuan frame vented a tired sigh.

Then came his voice, all encompassing. "Children…"

"Good morning Secundus!" Whirl sang while waving at a random wall. It didn't matter which direction she chose to wave; it was all Secundus.

"Good morning to you too, young Whirl." The surrounding walls hummed. "What can I help you-" His deep inflection cut off mid question.

Hotshot thought that was a little strange… "CS, buddy?" he asked when the silence dragged on.

"I sense… something." Secundus said. Hotshot assumed it would have been said with a hard to hear whisper if Secundus wasn't a spaceship sized Cybertronian. "It is ancient. Some great power has awoken on Earth…"

"We'll have to deal with that after!" Hotshot insisted. "A ship full of Decepticon prisoners crashed and they are scattered everywhere! They are jamming our communications and Groundbridge tech so we can't keep hunting them!"

The lights pulsed again. Hotshot couldn't decide what that meant. Maybe he was thinking extra hard?

"There is another wired into the Academy's network." He noted. "They are well on their way to fixing the problem you stated, if given enough time."

"That's Chop Shop." Whirl explained. "He's a Decepticon, but he is helping."

"So, he wasn't just all talk to impress Brushfire?" Hotshot snickered.

"I can assist in this task and boost their productivity." Secundus assured. The lights flashed brightly. A burst traveled from the main console and down the hall. It was headed for their side of the Academy. Probably to the Communication's room where Chop Shop and Brushfire were.

"What was that?" Hotshot said with his jaw hinge hanging with amazement.

"Secundus is hyper charging the Academy's energy and data output." Hoist explained. "It will make Chop Shop's attempts take only minutes instead of hours."

Whirl squealed with delight. "Thanks so much Secundus! We'll be able to talk to our professors sooner than ever!"

"You mentioned you were on the hunt for Decepticons." Secundus said. "With enough power, I can also pinpoint any and all Cybertronian life forms on this world."

Whirl was overcome with excitement all over again. "That means we can find High Tide, Salvage and Blur!"

"And gather up the rest of the Cons!" Hotshot added with a grin. This was just the edge they needed. They really should have woke up Secundus sooner.

"Um, he did say with ENOUGH POWER, remember?" Hoist butted in. "I imagine it'll take a lot of Energon for all that. More than we have on hand… And it's not like we can ask the Bee team on Cybertron for the synthetic formula. They'll want to know the reason why we need all that Energon."

Hotshot shot him a look. "Really bringing down the mood, bud."

"I'm just being a realist." Hoist promised.

"The crash site!" Whirl exclaimed loud enough to make the already high-strung Hoist almost jump ten feet in the air. "The Alchemor will have Energon we can use for Secundus. It used to be a spaceship, and he is a spaceship! It should be more than enough!"

Hotshot brightened again despite Hoist's sour attitude. "Whirl, you are a genius! We can use the fire suppressant hoses to siphon the Energon!"

Whirl pointed a triumphant finger to the door. "Back to the crash site!"

"Um, actually guys," Hoist started to say, causing Hotshot to bump into Whirl's back before they could race back out. "The Alchemor's Energon vault will be right by the engine room. That will be buried under multiple decks worth of rubble. That'll take days to dig out."

"We have Secundus?" Hotshot offered.

Hoist gave him a scoff. "That's TOO big. He'd flatten half of Griffin Rock. After everything that island goes through on a nearly biweekly basis, that's the last thing it needs."

"You're killing me here, Hoist." Hotshot moaned.

"I sense you have a large Cybertronian that could be capable of the task. Their strength is more than capable of expediting any arduous excavation." Secundus intoned.

Hotshot thought, at first not getting it. Then he smiled wide. Noticing Whirl's similar grin, and Hoist's look of horror, he could tell his friends all came to the same conclusion.

"Grimlock could do it! We'll ask him to help! And we can also use this as a perfect opportunity to get you over your fear, Hoist!"

Whirl once more pointed a triumphant finger to the door, right after Hotshot snatched Hoist before he could run away. "To Grimlock!" They rushed for the exit, Hoist dragging his peds the whole way. "Thanks again CS!" Whirl shouted at the ceiling as they ran.

The walls rumbled with the Titan's snicker. "Ah, to be young again like you kids… Reminds me of the hijinks I would get into."

Hotshot ran/dragged Hoist alongside Whirl back through the now brightly lit tunnels. They weren't even into the original Academy building before the buzz in Hotshot's audios started.

'….Come in? Testing? This scrap workin'?' Chop Shop's voice came over the community chatter.

"Coms work again!" Hotshot cheered. "We hear ya! You and Secundus did it!"

'That what you callin' whatever power surged kicked the converter into working gear?" Chop Shop asked.

'Hu? So it was the converter.' Hotshot thought.

"Yeah! Our Titan friend is helping now." Whirl explained.

Chop Shop didn't' answer for such a long time Hotshot worried the coms broke all over again. When he did answer, he was clearly confused. "Y-you have a Titan friend?"

"Long story for later! Can we call our teachers now?" Hotshot demanded.

"Thanks to that power boost, in less than a klik." Chop Shop reported. Then added to Brushfire who Hotshot assumed was still next to him, "Course, even without the help, I woulda gotten it goin' in no time."

"I'm sure he could use help still." Hoist whimpered. He was still unable to shake free from Hotshot and Whirl's death grip on either of his servos. "I'll stay behind… Or even better yet, I'll go help Brushfire get out of whatever awkward conversation she is having with Chop Shop!"

Whirl gave him an assuring tug from her side. "Brushfire can handle one flirty Con! We promised to help you kick your Dinobot phobia, and gosh darn it we are going to make good on that right now!"

Hotshot glanced Hoist over his shoulder to rain down his most confident smile. Confidence was contagious after all. Or at least, he heard that somewhere. "Optics on the prize, buddy! Just remember, there is only one Grimlock, and loads of us. You can handle one Dinobot!"

Hoist's frame continued to clatter against his own plating as they marched forward. Despite the obnoxious rattling, Hotshot heard Hoist start to chant, "There's only one Dinobot. I can handle one Dinobot…"

Whirl started to chant along, turning it into a mantra they marched to down the hall until they arrived at the front entrance of the Academy. Thanks to Secundus and Chop Shop's exploits, their internal life signal locators were working again. So, they knew exactly where to find their one Dinobot.

The looming figure they sought was across the front campus and parking lot where the land met the sea. With no skulls to crush, Grimlock was busying himself staring off the edge into the ocean. He was also ignoring Medix griping at his feet.

"The Decepticon you 'handled' suffered three internal fractures to his upper cranial chamber," Medix snarled while reading down a list on his servo screen, "Both amphibious peds just plain broken. You severed his secondary Energon pump, oh, and let's not forget 70% of his outer frame needs replacing!"

"Hmm…" Grimlock hummed. It was far from apologetic sounding. "Damn… I usually go for a 90% plating destruction. I'm gettin' sloppy."

Medix's left optic noticeably twitched. "Grimlock. You need to pull your punches next time! I know you are no longer affiliated with the Autobots, but you can't handle our prisoners so carelessly."

Grimlock bellowed a laugh. The most animated he had been since Hotshot had started watching. Grimlock gave Medix's helm a rough yet playful pat. "Don't worry kid. Even when I was with the Bots, I still wouldn't pull my punches."

"Gah!" Medix threw both servos into the air and stormed off, probably back to the med bay to make sure Clampdown was still online.

"There you little chaps are." Quickshadow came outside. She gave the fuming Medix a curious glance as they passed each other in the doorway. She shook off the encounter and came to a stop before Hotshot, Hoist, and Whirl. The only reason they had stopped was because Hoist had stalled just beyond the front door and they were trying to force him forward. "Good news. Semi long-distance Comms are back in working order."

Whirl gasped. "Does that mean we can talk to our professors!"

Quickshadow smiled. "How about you ask them yourselves?"

Whirl squealed, hugging Hoist's frozen body tight before Hotshot heard the open commlink channel in his audio. "Professors? Do you copy?" She said a little too loudly into their community chatter.

'Loud and clear, Whirl.' Heatwave's voice said with a groan. 'A little too loud.'

Hotshot was so excited he didn't even mind the feedback from Whirl's loud voice or the occasional crackle from continued Con interference. "Secundus is awake professors!"

"Figured the big guy was up.' Boulder said, joining the conversation. 'The Con interference wouldn't last against his advanced systems.'

'I'm surprised our systems couldn't handle it.' Blades mumbled grumpily. 'Considering the Cons are probably using broken bits of atmosphere broiled ship parts and twigs.'

'Never underestimate the ingenuity of a group of criminals running from the law.' Chase surmised. 'The trick is to stay one step ahead of any tomfoolery they concoct. I believe I mentioned that in my fifty third law enforcement novel/manual, Five thousand Two hundred and Seven Tips for Maintaining an Orderly Society.'

Whirl nodded knowingly. "A great read!"

Hotshot leaned over Hoist's petrified chassis and whispered to Whirl, "I couldn't get past the first page. I even tried listening to it while racing… I almost fell into recharge on the road."

She leaned over Hoist in kind. "It's a hard first half but it really picks up on chapter seventy-four, I promise."

"Any word from our seafaring team?" Quickshadow inquired of Heatwave and the others.

'Nothing. I was hoping to ask you the same thing…' Heatwave vented.

"No reason to fret." Quickshadow assured. "This was only the close and midrange commlink systems. I'm sure they are merely farther out of range."

'Hopefully not taking on the Con's down under…' Blades worried.

Hotshot snorted a laugh. "Ha! Wedge made that same joke about… Sorry." He trailed off. He did not need to see Professor Heatwave's annoyed frowned to know it was there.

"The Groundbridge should be next." Quickshadow said, unknowingly coming to Hotshot's rescue. "So, we hope to have you lot back before you make it to the Pennsylvania boarder."

'Thank Primus.' Heatwave said. 'That way I won't have to listen to Kade's mixtape for a third time. I have actively considered dumping him at the next rest stop when the Chief isn't looking…

'But getting back to business, how is everybot handling back at base, Quickshadow? We can push the speed limit if you need help.'

Chase butted in before Quickshadow could even start to answer. 'In respect for your authority as team leader, Heatwave. Over my terminated chassis will we break the speed limit unless there is an active emergency. There is not, so we will maintain the posted speed limit of sixty-five miles per hour. And then fifty-five miles per hour, once we cross into Pennsylvania. Please say it with me team-'

"The speed limit is not a suggestion, it's the law.' Hotshot groaned right along with Heatwave, Blades, and Boulder.

Quickshadow was already snickering at their combined misery. "No worries, Heatwave. I think I can handle this lot by myself. Though I promise to keep you in the loop in the event that changes. Quickshadow out." She then left the comm chatter.

Hotshot took it upon himself to take over. "We are helping Secundus with a new plan, so you just count on us to get the Groundbridge working to get you all back sooner!"

"Whatever way you come back, just get home safe professors! Same with the Burns!" Whirl added.

'I know we can count on you, recruits.' Heatwave assured them before the chatter closed.

Hotshot rolled onto his front peds with a huff. "I wouldn't say it to his faceplates, but we are official Decepticon fighters. Shouldn't he call us full blown Rescue Bots now?"

"I'll make sure to give you lot my best recommendations to Heatwave in person." Quickshadow said. "But in the meantime, you mentioned you had a means of helping to hurry along the process?"

Whirl jumped with barely contained energy, scaring Hoist for the second time that day. "Yeah! But we need Grimlock's help!"

Quickshadow slowly panned her helm up to take in the daydreaming Dinobot across the front campus. "Oh, good…" she vented.

Hoist was still anchored into the ground and had remained there since Grimlock was in sight. Hotshot didn't waste any more energy trying to drag him the rest of the way. He raced over to Grimlock, who had since ignored their little comm talk and was still watching the ocean waves. "Grimlock! We need your help with something important!"

Grimlock looked down at him with a fond smile. "Sure, squirt. Beats me just standing around with Energon poolin' in my peds."

"How are those 'assets' from Cybertron you needed the Spacebridge to acquire?" Quickshadow wondered from the short distance away.

Grimlock shrugged. "Waitin' to hear word back."

"From whom?" Quickshadow wondered. Grimlock only shrugged again. It apparently was how he intended to communicate with Quickshadow for the rest of their partnership.

"That's ok," Hotshot said with an excited jump into the air. He still didn't clear the top of Grimlock's knee joints. "So, while you wait, you can help us! Our buddy Secundus, he's a Titan by the way, and half of the Academy, needs lots of Energon to activate his long-range tracker. We can use that to find the rest of our team-"

"Slow down kid," Grimlock chuckled. "My brain module can't handle lots of info anymore. What do you need me for?"

"We need Energon for Secundus." Hotshot explained, a little slower this time around. "But we don't have enough. So, we need to siphon the Energon from the crashed Alchemor. But it's buried under the whole rest of the ship. We need your help to dig it out."

"We also found Hoist!" Whirl informed them from many yards away. Hoist was still frozen, save for his servo and the hand attached to it. Whirl had that in her grasp, and was using it to wave at Grimlock for him. "So, with Hoist's tow hook, and your brawn, we can dig until we hit paydirt!"

Past his unblinking stair at Grimlock or his frantically flailing hand Whirl was puppeting, Hoist didn't contribute beyond whimpering to himself, "Just one Dinobot… Just one Dinobot…"

"True, Hooks!" Grimlock laughed to Hoist merrily. "Movin' scrap out of the way shouldn't be hard for just one of me." His fanged smile turned downright devious. That look was aimed Quickshadow's direction. It was hard to tell since the Dinobot loomed so much higher than him, but Hotshot thought he heard Grimlock receiving a ping in his audio. "But it'll go loads faster with a bit more help. And speak of the Destroyer himself, I finally got word back from my assets on Cybertron."

In a low sweep, Grimlock scooped Hotshot off the ground and deposited him onto his massive shoulder. He stepped back, making room for, something. The airspace Hotshot and Grimlock once occupied swirled with a burst. A telltale sign of a Spacebridge about to open before them. And soon it did, a gaping maw of iridescent greens and blues ripped spacetime right in front of them. There were three monstrous forms charging through the portal from Cybertron. Hotshot's Spark pulsed with excitement, because he recognized these bots. And there was no fragging way! It was members of Grimlock's famous team! Three more Dinobots flew through, landing hard enough to crack the concrete of the Academy's parking lot. So, this was the mysterious 'assets' Grimlock had mentioned getting! Hotshot was anything but disappointed!

Not one was in Dinobot form, but it wasn't hard to guess that's what they could change into just going by their bot modes. Deadly spikes lined two of the three's back plating. Thick dark armor twisted with the telltale signs of augmented power. One even had wings on his back, currently at rest. And of course, they were all monstrously enormous. Hotshot was starstruck.

When the three newcomers saw their team leader, they all burst into a shared fit of enthusiasm. "Grimlock!"

Grimlock huffed a laugh. "Nice of ya to finally get here, boys. You that busy planet side dancin' with Cons to bother answerin' your damn leader?"

One of Grimlock's men, the one with horns on either side of his helm, snorted in clear disgust. "Please. Con's couldn't keep up even if we was dancin'. The best moves I ever seen from them is when you bashed that skinny silver one off the stage… Those were some impressive moves."

They all burst into a fit of laughter. Grimlock seemed lost in a fond memory before he shook himself out of the past. "Fair enough… You boys in a destructive kind of mood? My little friends here need some heavy hitters…"

"Always." The tallest of the trio assured him with a goofy grin.

"And where in the Pit's is Slag? I called for all of you worthless idiots." Grimlock snapped when the portal closed and no other Dinobots came charging through.

The 'smallest' Dinobot answered with a shrug, the motion disturbing the sheathed wings on his backplates. "Wasting time in the new Autobot Council building."

"The frag is he doing there?" Grimlock growled.

"Getting' his name changed." The angry one with horns on his helm snorted with a good deal of annoyance. "Apparently, the meaning of his name became 'offensive' over the course of the war, and he's aft hurt enough about it to want somethin' else."

The winged Dinobot broke out in a smile. "He's gotten into loads of bar fights over it. He said it's 'messin' with his drinkin' hobby.'"

Grimlock rolled his optics. "Whatever he calls himself, I owe him an aft kickin' for blowin' me off."

Quickshadow now wore a pursed frowned as she took all this in. She tapped her audio to activate her commlink. "Scratch that, Heatwave. I may need more back up after all."

"Nope!"

Hotshot, along with every Dinobot and even Quickshadow, turned at the sound of Hoist's sudden angry outburst. He yanked out of Whirls' grasp and just started walking away from the group at a rather calm pace, considering the circumstances. "That is not just one Dinobot anymore. I am DONE." He informed no one in particular. Then he proceeded to jumped down off the edge of the parking lot and carried on marching straight into the sea.