The Dinobots trekked through the wilds, Slash coming to a stop above a patch of dirt that, for some reason, seemed to glow.

"He-Hey, guys!" she called, using a velociraptor foot to scrape some dirt away. "I've found another cache of Energon crystals."

"You've got quite the snout, scout," remarked Scald, as the rest of the Dinobots approached.

"Nice job," grunted Grimlock, patting Slash on the head. "Now let's get it excavated and out of here before someone sees us. We don't have the energy to expend in a fight."

Right as Slash unearthed the glowing crystal, headlights shined in their general direction and vehicles started to close in on them. Grimlock growled, the others transforming and following after him. A few of the vehicles caught up to Slash, boxing her in, and she snarled at the humans inside, who seemed perturbed by her.

"What the hell is that thing?" one muttered.

"Get some harpoons, we're taking it in!"

The rest of the Dinobots looked back, Grimlock roaring as Slash was surrounded and subdued.

"Grimlock, you said yourself, we don't have the energy to fight," warned Scald.

"Slash, we come back for you!" The Dinobot leader bellowed, and once they got far enough away, he transformed and slammed his fists into a mountainside. "We could have saved her…"

"Grim…"

"We could have saved her! But now she's stuck with those pit-forsaken humans, where they'll do who-knows-what to her!"

Swoop waited until Grimlock was silent, before speaking up again. "Grim, we'll need help getting her back. The three of us, with our limited Energon, can't fight against all those humans."

Grimlock groaned, but ultimately nodded. "I'll try frequency 217. Maybe she's still on the other end…"

Chapter 13: Captive

At Fort Ramses, Central City's military base, Captain Marissa Faireborn was patrolling the runway when she saw the strange convoy arrive, multiple battered humvees dragging a metal beast behind them.

"Faireborn," she heard a voice call, as the base's commanding officer stepped over. "I understand it's not a normal sight, but we don't need to stand and gawk."

"Understood, Major," she responded, glancing at the convoy regardless. "What're we doing with it anyway?"

"We're having it stored in the central hangar until Agent Branson arrives. He'll do whatever he wants with it, and after that he'll probably have it taken to bits."

Marissa frowned from hearing that, then continued her patrol. Coincidentally, it took her by the central hangar, where floodlights were being set up to better shine a light on this strange find.

In the Exodus, Hot Rod and Arcee were practicing their sword fighting while Optimus and Speedstar stood in front of the computer.

"I've just finished logging our prisoner from Kentucky," the latter stated, looking up at the registry. "There, Pulseshot."

"Pulseshot was part of my inner circle before the launch of the Exodus," responded Optimus, his optics narrowed in confusion. "What happened to her during that time?"

"Official records say she was part of a smuggling ring, giving Cybertronian weapons to less-advanced races." Speedstar shrugged as they finished that explanation. "I never bought, neither did Elita, but the rest of the council disagreed. If you want, I'll let you ask her yourself."

During all this, the siblings continued to fight, each one equal in their abilities. They both smiled, seeing this interaction as little more than play. Right as Arcee was about to gain the upper hand, she heard a pinging from her comms.

"Time out, time out!" she yelled, dropping her swords to answer the call. "Arcee speaking. Grim? Oh… Oh, I see. I'll see what I can do." She ended the call, the others glancing her way. "It's Grimlock. He has a message for us."

The others had been gathered, Arcee replaying the message on T-AI for the others.

"Arcee, it's Grimlock. Slash got captured by… I dunno, some humans. You gotta help us get her back."

Kup scoffed, twirling a cy-gar in his fingers. "I say let 'em all rot."

Quatrei was most offended by that comment. "How can you say something like that? Those are fellow Autobots who need our help!"

"If you knew what those four did, you'd pull the trigger on them yourself." He then pointed an accusing finger at Arcee, who rolled her optics. "And I expect you to wipe that frequency ASAP, understand?"

"Regardless of your opinions on Grimlock and his team, we cannot allow Slash to remain in human captivity." Optimus glanced over the assembled team. "Evac, I'll need you on standby in case she's been damaged. Will anyone else care to volunteer?"

"I'll go," said Arcee. "I miss going on romps with the gang." She ignored her mentor's scoff.

"Count me in," offered Mountrek.

"We can give you a recce," offered Quatrei.

"Thanks for asking how I feel," her quadruped partner grumbled.

Before anyone else could volunteer, there came a transmission from T-AI.

"Sorry to interrupt, but I received a communique from Matt," she stated. "His father has reported foreign noises surrounding his living area, and believes it to be Decepticons."

"I'll deal with that, T-AI," responded Kup. "Let's see… Speedstar, you come with me."

"I figured you'd say that…"

"Report back once your mission is completed," said Optimus, as he prepared the ground bridge for his departure.

Inside the hangar, Marissa watched as the creature seemed to stir, struggling against its bonds. At that moment, a black SUV arrived, a man with gray hair and a white coat stepping out.

"Agent Branson?" she called, curiously.

"I'm afraid not," the man responded. "He was busy with other matters, so he sent me instead. I'm Doctor Powell… Faireborn." He read Miranda's uniform for a moment, then turned to the beast. "How extraordinary. It appears to be some sort of… mechanical fauna. The design doesn't match any technology on the planet. Until I get a more thorough analysis, I can't…"

Miranda shushed the doctor, having heard a noise from the beast, stepping towards it. "It made a noise."

"A noise?" Powell seemed puzzled, hurrying to her side. "What did it sound like?"

"Well, it sounded like-"

"…bright." The beast didn't just make a noise, it was talking. "It's… too bright."

"It said it's too bright," Marissa called, watching as one technician signaled to the others, and the lights dimmed significantly. "There, is that better?"

"…yes."

"It can talk!" exclaimed Powell. "Not only is this creature beyond anything we could have created on Earth, but it is intelligent enough to think, and put those thoughts into words."

Marissa pursed her lips together, glancing at the beast. "Got a name?"

The creature stared at her, before uttering a single, quiet, "Slash."

"Alright, Slash, my name's Marissa. I'll ask Powell for a transcriber, and we can talk one-on-one."

The ground bridge opened up as Optimus and his team stepped through, being faced by Grimlock, Swoop, and Scald.

"Grimlock, we have received your summons," the Autobot leader greeted.

"I see ya did. Although, if this is the best you got, you may as well have not bothered."

"Hey, who's the little doggy?" taunted Scald, as Scourpuss glared back. "I didn't know you Autowimps were stupid enough to bring your pets to a rescue op."

"If that isn't the Titan calling the Combiner tall," snorted Mountrek. "What've you got against her, allergic to dogs?"

"Alright, that's enough, guys," said Swoop. "We should be worried about Slash."

Scourpuss transformed to scanner mode, Quatrei pointing her in the direction of the base's main hangar. Her lower optics then projected a hologram, which the rest of the team observed.

"Over four dozen humans are inside the building, and eight armed vehicles are parked outside," observed Arcee. "It looks like they're keeping Slash alive, but they've got her strapped down pretty tight."

"I see guards circling the building," added Swoop. "We should move once they pass by. And they'll pass by in about nineteen kliks."

"We go in, recover Slash, and leave," Optimus told his team. "Only fire on humans if fired upon. Autobots, transform and roll out!"

"Dinobots, raze and blaze!"

A transcriber had quickly been appointed, and Marissa provided a chair so she could interview Slash.

"Okay, Slash, my first question is this. What are you? Are you some kind of creature, or-or a robot somebody made?"

"I'm a robotic organism," Slash answered. "But nobody made me. Well… I was forged naturally, just like my mentor, Grimlock, but…". The two lights that represented her eyes closed. "Someone… s-someone forced me to look this way. A primitive creature from a backwater world."

Marissa placed a hand to her chin, shaking off the feeling that her home planet got insulted. "You implied that you come from another planet. Where is it?"

"I… don't know. It isn't this-this galaxy, I know that much."

"Right. Earlier, Slash, you mentioned someone called Grimlock. Who is this?"

"Grimlock, he was my mentor, ha-has been since I was forged. After a-a few centuries, when I was grown, he recruited me for his unit, and-and I said yes."

"Wait, centuries?" Marissa heard the transcriber drop his pen and bend down to pick it up. "Uh… you look… good for your age, I think…"

"This is brilliant!" gasped Powell, his sudden entrance making Slash shift back as much as she could. "Based on observational data, everything about her is a scientific marvel. Sentient robotic life from another planet, with its own culture and societal systems-"

"Powell, you're scaring her," stated Marissa matter-of-factly. As the doctor walked off, she asked another question. "Slash, how did you come to Earth?"

There was silence. As willing as this robotic creature was to talk with the human, her answer wasn't as immediate this time. "Our ship crashed," was the eventual answer. "My pod was ejected… somewhere around here, but, uh… I'm not sure where the ship itself is."

Marissa glanced at the transcriber, they both knew that statement wasn't the entire truth. She was about to ask another question when they heard a lot of shouting from outside. Turning around, the captain had only seconds to take cover when the doors were blasted open, some sort of semi truck and a robotic T-Rex bursting inside flanked by other vehicles and creatures.

To the surprise of everyone in the hangar, the truck changed form, converting into a massive bipedal figure. "We have come to reclaim our own," it boomed, producing an axe from its right wrist. There was some concern, but all it did was cut Slash's bonds. "We will only fire unless fired upon, so allow us to leave."

"Prime not control Grimlock," the T-Rex intoned, gaze pointed directly at Miranda, who was frozen to the ground in shock. "Humans capture Slash. Grimlock make humans pay!"

The massive Grimlock opened his maw, no doubt planning something for the human beneath him when-

"Grimlock, stop!" Slash stepped in front of the T-Rex, having changed into a larger figure herself, and stared into his face. "That human was nice. She didn't hurt me."

Grimlock responded by picking up Slash in his jaws and carrying her away like an animal carrying its young.

Outside, soldiers began manning armed vehicles, planning to shoot down the reinforcements. One of the invading vehicles also changed, slicing off any of the armed vehicle's weapons before they could be fired. As Grimlock and the apparent leader of the group departed, a swirling green portal opened close to the hills, and disappeared once the invaders ran through.

Miranda shook off her stupor and walked up to Powell. "Are you okay?" she asked the older man.

"That was… more than I was expecting," he said at last, adjusting his glasses with shaky hands.

At the Exodus, Slash was looked over by Evac. Besides a few entry wounds form the harpoons, she was unharmed, and after being topped off on Energon was allowed to stand.

"We did the right thing, didn't we?" Mountrek asked Optimus, as they watched the Dinobots muttering amongst themselves. "I mean, Grimlock was willing to turn those humans to ash, even though they couldn't do the same to him."

"I believe that, if someone is in peril, then rescuing them comes before any of their misdeeds," the Autobot leader responded. "It's simply a matter of extending the hand of mercy to others you'd wish extended to yourself."

A few moments later, Slash stepped over to the two, fidgeting her hands. "Grimlock wanted me to say thank you. I… I don't know if he wanted, like, me to say it, or he wanted me to say thanks on his behalf, so… I'll say thanks for both of us."

"It was no problem at all, Slash," replied Optimus, smiling down at her. "Tell Grimlock he and the rest of your unit are welcome to join our team."

"I can already tell you he wouldn't want that," said Slash, shrugging her shoulders and making an awkward expression. "But thanks anyway."

"Slash, we're leaving," called Grimlock, the other Dinobots already filing through a ground bridge portal.

The Dinobot scout obliged, scampering through the portal. Grimlock took one last moment to nod his head respectfully to Optimus, before he too departed the Exodus.

Agent Branson looked over the damage caused to Fort Ramses; the damaged door was being cleared away, and the severed weapons were being reattached to their vehicles.

Waiting beside his car were Captain Faireborn and Dr. Powell. "Have you compiled all your findings on our temporary guest?"

"I have, sir. I put them in your glovebox for you."

"I'll read them as soon as possible. Dismissed." As Powell left, he turned to the captain. "Faireborn, you were the one who spoke with this… Slash. Based on what she told you, do you think she's dangerous?"

Marissa opened her mouth, then closed it again, thinking about her answer. "I think she can be, but she doesn't want to be. I'm no neurologist, but I think she might have something like autism."

"You said she had a… mentor, Grimlock. Presumably the same one who nearly tore you to shreds. What do you think their relationship is like?"

"Like father and daughter, sir. Well, at least, from what I understand of it."

"Speaking of fathers, I did some reading on your family." Brandon pulled a file from beneath his arm, opening it up. "You're the daughter of Warrant Officer Dashiell Faireborn and First Lieutenant Alison Jaye Burnett."

"Is something wrong with that, sir?" Marissa didn't quite understand what was being asked of her.

"When your father retired, all he asked for as severance pay was a surplus jeep," continued Branson. "I'm curious if you know why."

"That's a… I only remember bits and pieces, sir," said Marissa, adjusting her sleeves. "From what I remember, he called it his hound, and said it saved his life once."

"It saved his life," repeated Branson, his expression unreadable. "If any of these things try getting close to our base again, I want you to shoot them on sight. Am I understood?"

"Perfectly, sir."

"That will be all, Captain Faireborn. Dismissed."

As the agent got into his car, Miranda watched him go with a furrowed brow. She didn't know why he was interested in her family history, or what that had to do with these aliens. With more questions than answers, she went back to her patrol to try and take her mind off things.

This might be a little clunky, but I just wanted to set up a few future events. Slash is probably my favorite Dinobot to write, so this was fun for me. We also get some "new" human characters, we'll be seeing one of them again in a few chapters. But yeah, that's all I gotta say here.

Next time: As Jetfire awakens for the first time in millions of years, he finds himself thrust into an unfamiliar world and conscripted into a cause he doesn't fully understand.