Some time later, after Steeljaw finished retelling what happened to him, everything seemed to fall silent. It wasn't any more uncomfortable to talk about, but considering Steeljaw already went through it twice, – first with his brother, and then with his team-mates – he has grown somewhat used to the feeling the memory brings.
He can't see everyone's reaction, but if Thunderhoof's expression is anything to go by, they are most likely horrifically speechless.
"You wanted to know," Steeljaw said, stopping in his tracks for a bit to pay more attention to Thunderhoof. "Well, now you know. Happy?"
It was as if, in that moment, something snapped in the Cervicon.
"Are you fragging crazy? You ain't lyin' to us right now, right?" Thunderhoof yelled, frame hunched and helm lowered. The sight of the Cervicon rearing into a defensive position confused Steeljaw.
"Why would I lie to you about something like that? And, what are you doing?"
"Huh?"
"It looks like you're either going to charge me, or you're trying to defend something."
Thunderhoof remained still for a minute, then cleared his vocalizer and stood back to full height.
"I's don't know what you're talkin' about. I's just… err… wasn't expectin' that to come out of your jaws or whatever."
Steeljaw scanned the cobalt blue mech before him. Now there was something off with Thunderhoof, and he couldn't put his claw on it…
"You sure have a type, brother."
Caught unawares, Steeljaw and Thunderhoof swerved around and spotted Phantomjaw just chilling in a tree branch nearby, looking down at both mechs with a wide grin.
"W…What's that supposed to mean?" Steeljaw stammered, flustered.
"I thought you were with that green flier?" Thunderhoof inquired, trying to ignore Phantomjaw's statement.
The black and white Lupicon shrugged, still grinning.
"I'm sure Acid Storm will circle around once he realizes I'm not following him."
"You just left him?" Steeljaw questioned.
"Don't worry, he'll be fine!" Phantomjaw waved-off. "Now, as for you, why didn't you tell me you had another crush?"
Both mechs on the ground stiffened. Steeljaw opened and closed his jaws, but no sound came out. Thunderhoof, ironically, looked like a deer in headlights. Meanwhile, Phantomjaw was getting a kick out of their reactions.
The sound of an approaching jet engine drowned out Phantomjaw's laughter and snapped Steeljaw and Thunderhoof out of their shared stupor.
"There you are!" Acid Storm yelled over the roar of his engine and clicks of transformation. He walked over to the other mechs and stood before them with a servo on a cocked hip. "We still have a lot of ground to cover, and yet here you all are. What's going on?"
"Oh, nothing! Just checking on my brother is all!" Phantomjaw reassured, but Acid Storm seemed far from convinced.
"Uh-huh."
"He's annoying me, like always," Steeljaw growled.
"Sounds about right. Nova Storm gets on my nerves a lot, too, but we're not here to fight among ourselves. We are here to help you explore this planet, deem it habitable for our kind, then be on our way. Not saying that I don't admire what you are trying to do here, but maybe you could save the family drama until after you've found whatever it is you're looking for?"
Steeljaw vented.
"Right, sorry."
Acid Storm shrugged, accepting the simple response.
"Wait…"
Steeljaw, Phantomjaw, and Acid Storm all turned to face Thunderhoof.
"What did you mean…"
Thunderhoof points to Phantomjaw with one servo…
"When you asked about his other crush?"
And then points to Steeljaw with the other.
.
. .
. . .
"You didn't tell him, either?" Phantomjaw asked, to which Steeljaw responded with the are you fragging kidding me face. The black and white Lupicon quickly realized his mistake.
"Oh, right, I forgot about that."
"Forgot about what?" Thunderhoof demanded, growing irritated with being left in the dark. He could only imagine what the others were thinking on the other end of the still open call.
"Nothing!"
"None of your business!"
Thunderhoof glowered at Steeljaw and took a threatening step closer to him, but this time, he showed no signs of backing down. If anything, he was back to the same old Steeljaw – as proud and stubborn as ever.
"Don't bother, Thunderhoof, I'm not going down that road of memories again, especially not with you!" Steeljaw stated, taking a step forward. "Telling you what happened with the Star Seekers was one thing, but telling you about something… someone I really care about… that is not going to happen."
Again, Thunderhoof was speechless, but not because he was horrified. More like… how should he put it?
Who the frag could Steeljaw possibly like… no, not like – that's too weak of a word… love? I guess… Primus, Steeljaw being in love with someone? Who the… when… how?
Since when does Steeljaw care about anyone other than himself?
Was he really that different before any of us knew him?
Then, why did Phantomjaw mention that he had a crush on me?
His thoughts were interrupted by the rumbling of the earth beneath his pedes, signaling the arrival of a new, heavy-set bot.
"So you do have a lover!"
The four mechs looked up and saw none other than Thundertron – a little worse for wear – stalking out of the overgrowth. Three pairs of optics widened in horror; Thunderhoof, despite just hearing about how bad this mech really is, could only stare in awe. He would keep that to himself, though. Primus forbid he said that, aloud, and around Steeljaw…
He wouldn't live to see another day.
"Of course, a small part of me already knew that, but considering all the Tox-En and Phorian spores we injected into your system…"
Thundertron chuckled.
"For all I knew, you were completely delusional and making up the weirdest things!"
With a malicious grin stretching from one end of his faceplate to the other, Thundertron lumbered towards Steeljaw.
"Oh, taking you as my own now will be even more satisfying than before!"
"S…Stay away from me!" Steeljaw rasped, lowering himself onto all fours and flexing his claws, but his ears, tail, and optics gave away just how scared he really was.
"We warned you multiple times, Thundertron, stop getting in our way," Acid Storm stated, moving forward to stand in front of Steeljaw.
"Actually, your femmes warned me, and I don't see any of them here," Thundertron countered.
"Doesn't mean…"
Before Acid Storm could finish, he was attacked by Thundertron. The pirate captain grabbed his wing, digging his digits in as deep as he could, then threw him away.
"GAH!" The green flier cried out, crashing into a tree and slumping to the ground, not unconscious, but in shock and in too much pain to do anything.
"Flight-frames, so easy to break," Thundertron sneered. His glee didn't last long as he was ambushed from… the sky?
"DON'T YOU DARE THINK YOU'RE GOING ANYWHERE NEAR MY BROTHER!" Phantomjaw yelled, biting and slashing the larger mech.
As those two fought, Thunderhoof could only watch, unsure of what to do. When it comes to strength… well… he is stronger than Steeljaw, but when it comes to agility or split-second switches in battle tactics…
Steeljaw has him beat there, he will silently admit to himself.
But even now, he felt like he was out of his depth. Normally, it wouldn't be a problem, but it's barely been a day, and so much has happened already that Thunderhoof and company's helms are still spinning.
"Thunderhoof."
The Cervicon perked and looked at his former leader.
"Yeah?"
"If something bad happens, I need you to get my brother and Acid Storm out of here."
Thunderhoof gaped at Steeljaw.
"You want me to do what?"
Steeljaw vented and turned to face Thunderhoof.
"If things go from bad to worse, I need you to protect my brother and Acid Storm."
"I…"
Thunderhoof barely started. He felt something slam into him and send him stumbling back. He regained his footing after a few seconds, but his focus was immediately on something else.
"Phantomjaw!" Steeljaw called out to his brother.
Thunderhoof turned on his heel, his optics immediately widening. Phantomjaw was lying crumpled on the ground in a leaking pool of Energon, courtesy of the large gash in his side from being impaled in the crash.
"Frag," Thunderhoof hissed.
"Thunderhoof, get out of here, now!" Steeljaw ordered, fear buried as he took on Thundertron, hoping to buy the others time to escape.
As much as he hated it, and hated to admit that he hated it, Thunderhoof didn't put forth any sort of argument. He collected Phantomjaw and Acid Storm, the former lying in his arms bridal style and the latter half walking/half clinging onto the Cervicon for dear life.
.
. .
. . .
As this was all going down, the call remained open.
Fracture, Underbite, and Saberhorn all overheard the commotion and started to panic when neither Steeljaw nor Thunderhoof answered them.
Each Cons' team-mates immediately noticed something wrong.
Bumblebee, Knockout, and Moonracer tried to get in contact with Steeljaw, while the Seekers and the Rainmakers tried to get in contact with Acid Storm.
Nobody answered.
Everyone transformed and started rushing back to the ship, in the panic completely forgetting to request a bridge.
Thankfully, Wreck-Gar was one step ahead and called everyone, telling them he would send them a bridge if they would just stop moving.
The second the bridge opened, everyone entered.
.
. .
. . .
The bridge became a madhouse of frantic bots. Despite their initial reactions, the Ex-Cons were starting to calm down. They huddled in a small group at the edge of the crowd.
"What the frag did we just get dragged into?" Underbite said, keeping his voice as quiet yet audible as possible. Only his comrades could hear him.
"I'm not entirely sure," Saberhorn admitted. "There is just too much happening, and in such a short period of time!"
"Steeljaw is by himself, and Primus only knows where Thunderhoof and the other two are," Fracture grumbled, crossing his arms.
"Getting the other two to safety…"
The Ex-Cons flinched. Thunderhoof had walked over to join them, and they hadn't even noticed.
"Just like Steeljaw wanted me to."
The others were a little surprised that Thunderhoof actually listened to Steeljaw for once and didn't question his orders. Although, at the time, it seemed disobedience was the last thing on Thunderhoof's processor.
"Thunderhoof!"
By now, everyone else had become aware of the Cervicon's presence.
"What happened out there?" Bumblebee asked.
"How did you get back so fast?" Knockout asked.
"Where's the rest of your group?" Slipstream asked.
More questions are blurted out right and left, and right now, Thunderhoof is not in the mood to deal with every single one.
"Ayo, listen 'ere!" Thunderhoof snapped. "We were out exploring, and then Thundertron comes out of nowhere and attacks us! Acid Storm and Phantomjaw were beat-up pretty good, so Steeljaw stayed behind to fight while I got the others out of there. Steeljaw told me to, by the way.
I guess I was going so fast I didn't realize I reached the ship till I stopped. I brought Acid Storm and Phantomjaw to the med-bay for repairs. Dead End is with them right now."
Thunderhoof stops talking and scans the crowd, his gaze landing on Knockout and Moonracer.
"He said to tell you to join him when you got back."
Knockout and Moonracer didn't need to ask further questions. If Dead End immediately requested them upon arrival, then it was definitely bad. The two medics pushed through the crowd and ran straight for the med-bay.
"Is Acid Storm alright?" Nova Storm asked, holding onto Ion Storm who looked about ready to pass out from the stress of it all.
"Erm… a damaged wing… and maybe some system shock, but perfectly fine otherwise," Thunderhoof recalled.
Nova Storm replied with a quick thank you before running off with Ion Storm to go see their brother.
"And Phantomjaw?" Bumblebee asked.
"Impaled through the side," Thunderhoof answered immediately. Everyone flinched at that.
"Frag."
"Mhm. Anyway, if yous need me…"
"Whoa whoa whoa, where do you think you're going?" Jazz questioned, stepping up to stop the Cervicon.
"To get Steeljaw back."
.
. .
. . .
"You're kidding…" Fracture scoffed, but then Thunderhoof turned around and the bounty hunter had the sneaking suspicion he wasn't. "Right?"
"If yous think I'm gonna let some old, haggard, deranged freak make Steeljaw's life a fragging nightmare, then yous thought wrong because that ain't happening!" Thunderhoof argued, a sly grin slowly forming on his faceplate as he stared at the other Ex-Cons. "Besides, we still have to pay Steeljaw back for all the Unicron forsaken things he somehow talked us into."
.
. .
. . .
"Alright, then. Let's get our mother-fragging leader back!"