Disclaimer: Hasbro and Takara-Tomy own Transformers. I just like hounding their giant robots.

Warnings: Writer's block, apologies for any weirdness. It's a filler chapter

Sidewinders


Did he remember how to play Ambush? Optimus shook his helm, well past that cycle's exchange. How could he forget?

Every so often, Megatron let his top generals wreak havoc on their underlings. A portion of the base would be shut down or an area secured, live ammunition distributed, teams made, and they went after each other until there was only one team standing. It was supposed to let off steam; it wound up culling the less adept and allowing vengeance to be taken.

Optimus did have to admit things were much calmer after a game of Ambush. Drift would recommend it.

He didn't mind the now swordsmech. When they'd first entered the Decepticons, he'd stayed close. Then it had been decided to capitalize on his deadly, natural aim. As Deadlock he had been unhinged; good for battle scenarios, bad for everything else. Optimus didn't see him often, but when he did, someone requested him to scare their underlings in Ambush.

He could still see the wide, jagged smile as he came up to greet both he and Megatron.

Deadlock had been the warning sign the Decepticon movement was going south. Yet, Optimus couldn't condemn the mech. They were all in the same boat despite the sharp factional divide that rose in their team.

They had eight Autobots with varied allegiance, three neutrals, and a Decepticon prisoner that couldn't remain restrained. Frankly, someone was going to get shot sooner or later.

Jazz fell into step with him casually. "Mornin'."

"Good cycle."

"Spooky goings on lately."

"Nothing more than I expected. It wouldn't be long before we came across someone recognizable."

"You aren't the only one." Jazz leaned closer, "Scouts spotted the Preda's leader. Carnivac, another wolf, organic alt, he's got some sort of mod that can revert you back to alt with a howl. He's aware of Earth."

"How much?"

"More since they nabbed the kids. Carnivac, Steeljaw, and Goonch. They had Bee restrained and Cy pinned with tools in her throat. Wolfy sang for them. I dug through her processors to see if there was a trigger word or something, but, nope. Kid gave them just enough on her own." He sent over the pertinent information.

"That sounds like a liability."

"She won't be spilling again."

Jazz had the exhausted look of a mech closer to Optimus' age. "Off missions for now, more than enough time to root nasty habits out."

Prime nodded, "The next time we run across them, I'd like a word with Carnivac."

"I was hoping there wouldn't be one."

"Even if he wasn't lying and only had interest in Rilo, we have Voltage now. The femmes are a matched set. That only gives them an extra reason to follow us. Aside from Starscream."

"What are the odds Screamer decides to forget the whole thing?"

"Near zero."

Jazz made a disappointed noise. "We can handle this, don't worry about us."

There was that independence Ratchet worried about. Optimus was grateful for it. Which only made his self-loathing stir up. He couldn't recall Jazz not ever acting vorns his actual age and hypercompetent. One would be hard-pressed to find a youngling that didn't fit at least one of those descriptions now.

"What's the plan, boss-bot?"

"See what you can get out of Voltage willingly. No interrogation, don't give her any reason to distrust us. I'd rather have her as an ally. Make certain she's genuine. If not, we may have a few choices to make."

"Gotcha. That all I need to plan for?"

"We have a team building exercise coming up. Drift's idea."

"Permission to speak freely?"

"Granted."

"When has he ever had a good plan?"

"More often than you might think. From what I hear, you were a big fan of his."

"He still can't stop running his mouth…"

There it was, a rare flash of petulant resentment. "Still have somethings you'd rather keep quiet?"

"Kinda my job."

"What's your honest opinion Drift being here on the Ark?"

"Don't like it, but if Screamer is on our tail I appreciate the mech power."

"Thank you for staying."

"Wouldn't miss it."

~o~o~o~o~o~

Cypress made room as a large, red weight slithered down couch into a sprawled-out heap of metal.

Sideswipe leaned over her shoulder, "Have you been here all night?"

"Recharge schedule's screwed. Figured I'd get some work done." Meaning, while no one was looking, Cypress 'acquired' a stray holograph projector, found some background music, and immediately began misusing it for art.

What had been a holoscreen was now surrounded by several smaller ones she was using to map out the storyboard with a 3D image immediately before her.

Voltage had followed her and promptly fell into a recharge only rivaled by the dead.

Sideswipe caught her looking around him, "Sunny's in the med bay. Not sure about 'Rager."

"Same as Volt over here, she's back in our quarters. I'll give her some time alone."

"Have you tried not pissing off everyone out of your weight class?"

"Aw, but I'm so good at it," she deadpanned.

"Sunny won't even tell me what's going on."

"Something else we have in common…your brother's a menace."

Sides huffed out a frustrated sigh.

Across the room, Bumblebee started a new game: to see how long a feather could stay afloat over one of Hide's vents. The bigger mech was as comatose as Voltage, fortunately.

Something teased at the edge of her vision.

"Are there such things as phantom dust clouds in spaceships?"

"Nah."

"Not again. You see that blur over there?"

"No? You've got more fried relays than brains."

She made a goofy face, "Aren't we're supposed be step-siblings?"

One servo clapped over her helm, lolling it side to side. "I'm trying to help. Now what do all of these pictures do together?"

It started out with a rabbit being stalked by a fox and the ensuing chase until it turned into humans slightly resembling the creatures still trying to outsmart each other.

It was still blocky with unrefined sketch marks, uncolored, and jerky but it was getting better.

"Gidget's a good model." She added an image of the slinky monochrome fox to her virtual pegboard.

He grew a nostalgic grin. "Yeah, she's a nice one. Might have been some mid-caste pet long ago."

"You know foxes?"

"A little too well, I speak fox."

"Are they like Earth foxes?"

"Eh, more like your coyotes but tamer than cyberwolves." Sideswipe tapped one hologram, "Keep the swipes tighter when they strike. You can translate that to combat moves. Prowl's into that artsy fighting, check with him."

Cypress got the vague impression of someone snorting over bond. More specifically, it was someone not on this ship.

It wasn't just her that heard it. Bee flinched and mistakenly dropped a feather directly into one Hide's vents. For a nano nothing happened, then the dark mech let out a harsh ex-vent.

The Praxian scrambled up, :: Hide! ::

She didn't have enough time to shut down her workstation. Getting out of Ironhide's line of sight was more important. Up and over the couch she went.

There was the tell tale sounds of an abrupt waking and something resembling a cough. Then she remembered Voltage curled up out in the open.

It was the first thing Ironhide zoomed in on.

"What are you doing?"

"Same as you, Autobot. Leave me be."

"Where'd all these feathers come from?"

The Seeker hissed, "Why don't you ask those three?"

Sideswipe just managed to squeeze beneath the couch and yanked the other two with him. Not an easy feat with his bulk.

Ironhide stood in front of them. It was painfully obvious someone was under there, the back half of the furniture was jacked up.

"When I come back, I'm going to have an electrical prod and you'd better not be under there."

Voltage waited until he'd gone to stick her helm beneath the orange monstrosity. "Surprise."

Cypress clawed her way out, "How do you do that?"

Tendrils spilled from her arm paneling letting off EM bursts intermittently.

"They tell me just about everything. My guardian was an arachnid, she got me started. All you need is a thin enough conductor and-" She electrified one floor tile until it glowed a scorched red.

Cypress noted the nano Voltage's optics dimmed with the output.

Just how much of her spark did it take to do just that?

And then she saw the Seeker look straight through her, before refocusing on her optics. Her spark pinched in empathy.

:: Cargo bay, chop-chop! :: Jazz commed, :: Bring our guest. ::

"We gotta go."

Sideswipe gave a lazy nod before he wheeled out.

Cypress was just getting ready to pack up when her vision buffered with snow and displaced pixels.

"What the…"

~Wrong 'former. ~ Lockdown. He seemed to shrug it off, ~ While I'm here, let me see what's going on. ~

She managed to keep operating normally, ~ You're in my head. ~

~ Yes. ~

~ Why? ~

~ Bored. Came in through Rager. Cee got into contact with you because she's still tethered to Prowler and Jazz. I'm bonded to Cee. Its like a game of—~ he paused, ~ The thing on the wall, human comms.~

~ Telephone. ~ Cypress grit out. This link didn't hurt, it was extremely distracting though. The longer it went on the harder it was to keep her thoughts in order. ~ I'm letting people in. ~

~ Hey, wait! ~

Her vision went black and stung with the absence of control.

He didn't just hijack her… He had.

Interrupting her day was one thing, body jacking was another.

What erupted was a mix of panic and blind rage. She wrenched her processor back in a manner that left them both on the verge of a crash. Cypress came back to herself with claws dug into the couch. ~ Do not do that again. Ever. ~

~ Won't. Frag kid, your processors a wreck. ~ Lockdown withdrew and moved on, ~ Don't let the guys in just yet. Jazz is still upset. ~

Cypress instead dragged Bee and Voltage into the conversation before he could object.

~ Are you blacking out again? ~ Bee cut his interrogation short as he brushed against Lockdown's EM. His attitude immediately flipped YOU.

~ Hello again. ~

Bumblebee looked over to her,

~ How long has he been here? ~

~ Since yesterday. ~

Voltage sat back, nonplussed, ~ I've always wanted to meet a bounty hunter. ~

Bumblebee's optics pinched as if he were going to have a spontaneous system-wide crash.

~ The other two here don't count. ~

~ I'm telling Prowl. ~

The owner of the tainted vibes spoke up, ~ And why would you do that? You remember how mad they got last time? ~

~ I'm not five, Lockdown. ~

~ Worth a shot. Kyra? I need your optical feed. ~

She started at the use of her old name, ~ Give me one good reason. ~

~ You're the soft one, right? ~

Voltage snorted.

He started another conversation with the Seeker before messaging privately, ~ I want to see my friends again. ~

~ And you think snatching someone's optics is the best way? I've had it up to here with strangers looting my brain! They don't even like you, mech. ~

~ Do me a favor? ~

~ You called me noisy and told me to shut up. ~

~ What about it? It's true. I can help you out more than you think. ~

Cypress wondered if she focused hard enough she could give the bond impression of a side-eye.

~ Look, I have a whole catalogue of the goofy stuff Prowl used to do to trade. ~

That gave her pause. ~ Bee, how trustworthy is this dude? ~

~ He did get us off Cybertron…and 'Cee trusts him. There's no tactical liability at least. ~

She finally relented,~ No hacking and stay out of my memories. ~

~ Jazz got to you already, did he? ~

That didn't really need an answer. ~ I don't know how you all deal with all this. ~

~ We don't. ~

Lockdown rode along at the edge of her HUD, a throbbing just barely beside her right optic, which she shut before going into the cargo bay.

Bumblebee wasted no time in loudly announcing, "Lock's back."

Jazz's face twisted, "How so?"

Cypress tapped at her closed optic, "Wants to see you."

"Tell him tah frag off."

Lockdown reached out, sending shockwaves through the tenuous connection. ~ Nice to see you too. You've grown. ~

Just as quickly, he got shoved back. Jazz's EM field took a turn for the violent and Cypress retreated to whatever punishment Prowl had.

"Was that wrong?"

"It had to happen. This was recent?"

"Sorta, I ran into 'Cee first."

He vented, "And RoadRage only compounded it… Wait."

"I can hear her too."

"This is a mess."

"It is entertaining though," Voltage said.

Seemingly content with causing enough chaos for one day, Lockdown retreated on his own terms. ~ Tell Prowl he looks good. ~

~ I heard. You should go. ~

There was something deep and painful there, like the water that still ran beneath a frozen river. They both watched Jazz over by himself, brooding over an assumed comm. Cypress cast a wary glance over to Prowl.

"You're not in trouble."

The soft rasp of her armor unclenching was a little too loud.

"Would you ever consider making friends with the person who hurt you physically?"

"No."

"That is what's wrong here."

Another prod from Lockdown that caught her off guard. ~ Want some advice? ~

~ It depends on what you did to Jazz. ~

~ Beat him, made up, then hurt him way worse than what Sunny did to you. ~

Lockdown held off as another wave of anger passed throughher lines, ~ It's running at surface level in your thoughts. Look. Don't shower alone, listen to Jazz's combat techniques. Getting cornered is exactly like acid rain, it'll happen again. Oh and Rager likes small talk. ~

He cut off before she could properly respond. Instead she turned to Prowl. "What's your standing?"

"I have a loyalty to Jazz before Lockdown and Lockdown has a history of rash decisions."

As promised, her comm buzzed with the blackmail photos of Prowl a vorn or so younger than she. He was all doorwings and arms and pitiful, watery optics.

"You looked dorky as a kid."

"People who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones."

"Aft."

Voltage grew a fond smile, "Blackarachnia took pictures of me, only for records. It is natural to have an ugly phase."

"I miss Jackie." Bumblebee said quietly.

Prowl hummed only partly paying them mind, "Jazz?"

"Gonna be a while."

"Anyway, I don't think I have to address you two."

Cypress folded her audios back low on her helm, resigned. That only left her to be evaluated.

It was easier to go along with Jazz's training. Yeah, it still had the sucking sense of being pulled into something irreversible—like a terms of service agreement. At least the tri-colored mech gave off the vibe of being apologetic about Spec Ops' shadiness. Everything about Prowl, though, still set her on edge. Something wasn't right about the mech, but there weren't words for it.

When you looked into someone's eyes, metal or not, you shouldn't see something else lurking behind the iris.

Prowl continued on, oblivious to being picked apart.

"Someone tried to kill you and the tables turned." He said simply. "You tasted blood. Nothing to be ashamed of. It happens. You do what you have to do to survive. Why do you think we have fangs?"

"We?"

Prowl dragged one corner of his mouth down, mouth slightly ajar and a little bit of her paranoia was confirmed.

Majority of 'formers here didn't have fangs.

Drift's were sharp and jagged from whatever it was a Drift got up to. Voltage had the imposing set up of a big cat's maw. The twins had short cosmetic fang implants. Jazz had anything at any given time.

However, Prowl's was a set she'd never seen before; standard denta but with blunted fangs halfway through, and at the very rear, they hooked backwards like a constrictor snake. The four segments came in doubled rows, one highlighting a long-healed jaw wound.

"You're the one that got hit in the face." Cypress managed.

"So you did see." Prowl straightened. "And then you attacked in rage."

"It's like someone turned on a slideshow in my head. Cieve wouldn't shut up. Everyone said it was ok to."

"It's fine. Its fine. That's just how we operate. It's something we all have in common."

"Everyone's first taste of blood." Cy wiped her mouth involuntarily.

Prowl leaned into her face, "You don't enjoy it now. If you ever start to, you'll have to fight it."

"Is there something you're not telling me?"

"Arcee has those tendencies, it's what she does. If memory can make the jump over bond, I've questioned if coding can do the same."

"Is she a Preda too?"

"Better."

That got an amused noise from Voltage.

"But that's what she was born to do, 'formers who aren't can still go cannibal."

Voltage shook her helm, disbelief directed at Prowl ~ How did you manage to attract a Terrorcon? ~

~ Spade assigned her to us. ~

~ The extremist? ~

Yes. ~

~ I almost feel bad for her. ~ Voltage looked over to each of the scouts, ~ Spade is Cybertronian Preda-wolf. Kinda made a name for herself in the Dread for ruthlessness during the war. She makes Cieve's little outburst look like a warm hug. ~

Prowl chimed in, ~ Her regard for you extends as far as you can aid in her getting to her goal. She and Bobtail used us to bait Enforcers before Uraya went up in flames. ~

~ Wait…Dread again? ~

The Seeker groaned, ~ That's it. Cy, the Dread are real and they are after all of us. Once you're in league with them, the only way out is death. They are our sponsors of sorts. ~

~ So they're just after us two. ~

She turned back to Jazz, then Prowl. ~ If you don't, I will and you're going to hate my version of events. ~

~ There was only one way to get Arcee and I out of Koa's labs and it had to be through the Dread. Lockdown volunteered to join them as payment. They would never truly leave us, so we came willingly. You two never had that chance. ~

She watched Prowl's faceplate lose expression as if he were reading from a mundane report. ~ Legally you're both Autobot weaponry, but the Dread have jurisdiction over you now, that makes you faction killers. ~ He looked to Voltage for confirmation.

~ Right. ~

~ You knew what I was… and you didn't say anything. ~ Cypress said with as much inflection as a text-to-speech reader.

~ Yes. I was only positive before we launched from Earth. Rilo left me a warning. You're a tool, but don't take it to spark; we all are. ~

Cypress was dimly aware of her back plating spiking, forcing new spines from beneath mesh bandages and healing plating. Both transformations stung like thousands of tiny icicles.

~ Now you know. Will you be able to practice today, or do you need to be excused? ~

Cypress felt the same expression she feared crawling over derma and forcing her cheeks to her optics.

~ I'll be fine. ~

With that, her face stuck in a permanent glare: slit optics and audio tips grazing her shoulders. They were going through the paces of limbering up, more of a glorified systems check than anything.

"You know, I appreciate the effort of looking the part of Predacon," Voltage began, shoulders rotating with a stiff jerk, "But you look possessed, Cy."

"They only made us to kill things?" the wolf said instead.

"Yeah? That's better than being bred to," Voltage nodded to Jazz and Prowl already starting a mock fight.

"The war started because people didn't want to do what they were born into, right? And we're all still doing exactly what we were made to do anyway."

"The universe has jokes." Jazz supplied.

"Marci told me over and over not to get recruited and yet…"

Voltage ran a visible current up one side of her frame and let it dissipate from her talons. "Like he said, jokes, but that proves you're not doomed to fate. No one in our pack does the art thing. No one's got my output level of energy."

Voltage oozed confidence even as she crashed the guys sparring. Cypress could only dream. Or actually make progress in training. She attempted to sneak up behind Bee in lieu of an invite to spar.

That nearly got her peds swiped out from under her. Cypress landed in a crouch tail curled around herself.

"Guess your wings are healed then."

"You finally learned to jump!" he beamed.

Bumblebee took her through the paces, maybe with a little more contact than necessary. But because Prowl could smell people enjoying themselves, she got switched over to him. At least he was acting mostly normal.

"You're not scared of the idea of Terrorcons?"

And there it went a standard session.

"No? Humans are omnivorous. They go cannibal sometimes under extremes. It's one thing to turn out of necessity, but it's sick if you do it on purpose."

"Eating other creatures, let alone your own species, is frowned upon."

"On Cybertron. In a specific lifestyle." The Seeker chimed, "Cybertron supports its own, you have to dig for your fuel or hunt. Elsewhere you have to work harder for energon. Playing the organic card only works for so long."

"So it's still OK I swallowed the fish whole."

"Cypress no," Bee winced.

"You actually ate it raw," Voltage marveled, optics wide. "You're supposed to prepare it!"

"What? Goonch did. Yeah, flesh eating and cannibal giant robots are pretty terrifying but on the list of messed up scrap I have heard this week, that's mid-range. Either that or I'm still dosed."

Prowl raised an optic ridge, signaling he probably believed the latter.

Cypress shifted awkwardly, "Did you ever eat anyone?"

"I try not to think about it."

Voltage cringed, "This kind if talk gets you tied to a tree for the day and your systems flushed. Madness isn't taken lightly."

"Seems kind of harsh."

"There was another 'former who was left behind after half our pack was slaughtered. He isolated until one day the grief drove him insane and into beastmode, attacking everything in sight. He was restrained, treated by healers, but he's never been the same."

Jazz paused, "Was it a another group of Predas that did that?"

"No. Wreckers."

The silence was deafening, during which Prowl nodded. "That tracks. I'm sorry."

The Seeker didn't blink, "Just as long as you aren't wearing the Wreckers brand around them, you'll be fine."

Bumblebee looked around, "So does this mean I have to eat raw stuff too?"

"It couldn't hurt," Jazz put in, "Vary your fuel intake if you can."

"Even things that used to be alive?"

"Kill it, bleed it, cook it, eat it." Cypress recited, "Give or take a few steps depending on what it is. Rilo used to try to get me to eat bugs. I freaked out when he moved to squirrels."

"Any spiders?" Prowl ventured.

"No. I have seen what a tarantula looks like. That is not something you want anywhere near you." She frowned, "Do we like spiders?"

"Make that decision yourself. You can't allow the bond to make it for you."

There was the sickening crunch of barely healed metal crunching, accompanied by a muffled cry.

"Scrap, Voltage you okay?"

Cypress turned just in time to see her sister's talons wrap around one of Jazz's horns.

"That was low."

"I thought you saw me."

"Do NOT sneak up on me, Autobot."

"V let him go."

She turned in the opposite direction of where Cy was standing, glaring at open air. "Stay out of this."

"I'm over here, V."

Voltage's systems weren't booting up at all and the Seeker's frown only deepened.

Cypress ignored the death glare and attempted to uncurl her talons only to have it snatched out of reach. Undeterred, she guided Voltage to a sitting position.

"You guys mind?"

"They can stay," Voltage acquiesced.

She dabbed a bit a numbing agent on her shoulder, "You can't see, can you?"

"When did you realize?"

"When you called a cartoon life-like. Why didn't you tell me?"

"I'm in a bad enough position without admitting I'm defective. The vehis on my team still don't know. I can see outlines of electrical fields, whatever I can bounce a pulse off of, but no more details than that. No color."

"You're not defective. It happens all the time, on Earth they've got aids available—"

"Stop trying to make me feel better, it's a liability."

"Fine," she pointed out each of Spec Ops with her tail-tip, "Those two are suspicious, I can't talk, and Bee's not that bright."

"Excuse you."

"I mean it out of love." Cypress clapped a servo atop Voltage's talons, "We'll fill in what you can't, if you can't trust that far: I'll be your eyes."

Voltage still held her field back.

"Bee, do the thing."

Bumblebee groaned and fished out a rag from subspace, "I hate the thing."

"Sure you don't." She tied her audios down.

He turned around, optics covered, doorwings flared.

Cypress pulled a long wooden pole out of subspace and took a vicious swing at the back of his wings.

The mech caught it and nearly slung her across the room. To her credit Cypress slid with the force until she felt the prickle. Bee's audio feed cut in, followed by a yellow blur. The best she could do was dodge.

She slammed the stick over his helm exactly once before getting dragged into him by the waist.

"Stop with the stick."

She didn't bother hiding the slag eating grin across her face.

Voltage made a grouchy sounding chirr. "Flirt on your own time."

"We can off load sensory input to each other, we should be able to do the same for you."

Cypress nodded, "You can get around pretty easy on your own, right?"

"When I haven't been purposely blinded."

"We can help."

There wasn't a method to training that day, only exploration. Around the third time she stopped to scratch at an emerging patch of spines on her arms before Jazz stopped her.

"You ever tried repurposing them?"

Cypress frowned, digits traveling up her arm again. This time, she picked at an undamaged spot on her shoulder. After a hard yank she had a handful.

It was surreal to watch the holes close back up and ready the next set if spines.

"Use your imagination."

~o~o~o~o~o~

After a long half joor, her sensors finally cleared enough for her to gauge her surroundings. The first thing she could perceive was Jazz hanging around just out of stabbing range. Everyone else was across the room, out of hearing range.

Voltage got to her peds so she could at least glare properly. "You did that on purpose."

The Ops mech remained non-committal. He even rocked back on his heels feigning shock. "Just an honest mistake. Darn dampeners always activating at the wrong time." He offered a cold mockery of a smile, "Guess no one's invincible."

The Seeker canted her helm, "No, I suppose not."

She knew what a warning attack looked like.

He attempted to bump shoulders in a misguided apology, which she smoothly avoided.

"C'mon, don't be like that."

"I am not one of your recruits, touch me again and you'll lose that joint."

"Still practicing?" a new voice rang out. Voltage watched Jazz's field cycle through five expressions before settling on indifference. She then looked to Cypress, who had the same 'I'm going to purge' resonance and looked to Bee... who wore the inverse of the expression.

Drift was back.

"Yea, there a reason you're down here?"

"I've come to give my blessings."

"Ya have to?"

The mech paused, "Would you prefer a curse?"

"Fine. The good one."

Drift ushered in a disheveled but alert Terri.

"How?"

In a tone that suspiciously mirrored Jazz's, he grinned, "Darn secret hatches, never know what might crawl in there."

Her sibling instantly dropped into a squat with open arms, "C'mere T!"

The fluffball on legs ran forward complete with cheerful flailing wing nubs. Earth customs had broken the youngling. Despite it being far too tall to be carried, Cypress yanked the bird up like lap pet to press their helms together. "What's her care supposed to be like?"

"Keep it clean and fed. As near as I can tell it's a very hardy species."

"She's organic, they're built different."

Prowl kept his optics on the swordsmech, "All the more reason for extra pit stops."

Voltage watched the bird make her rounds, only stopping to hiss at her, before climbing up Prowl and trying to settle on his back. The Praxian allowed the whole process, thick beak digging into his plating and all.

"Is there a reason you're being nice?"

Drift nodded, "A proper hunting party needs a proper mascot. If not for work, then as a morale builder."

"Ratchet's going to hate this." Bee warned.

"All the more reason to do it."

Prowl scratched the terror bird's supposed chin, "I wasn't able to gather anything on the planet's species, other than they have mechanical contamination. You're sure she'll survive with us?"

Drift tossed a shard of energon the bird's way that vanished down her gullet, "She's a scavenger. They'll eat just about anything. Don't leave her in the vacuum of space and she'll be fine."

"Um, Drift?" Cypress started.

"Hmm?"

"Thank you."

Bee stood there awkwardly, until the wolf elbowed him. "Yeah, thanks."

Then the mech paused, "Why don't you go find a place for her to stay, try to avoid being seen?"

"You could have just said to leave," Bumblebee hefted Terri into her arms. "We're not dumb."

"Depends on the phase of the moon."

"We're not on planet."

"Exactly."

Bee groaned hauled them out, "Come on."

Drift watched them leave with a faint smile. "I'm actually proud of you two, starting an Ops force all on your own."

"It's out of necessity."

"You cant stop your processor from running like that anymore than that one can stop hissing." Drift motioned her way.

"It's cruel to offer familial ties when you don't mean it." Voltage said.

"Who said we're lying?"

Prowl gestured to the door, then between he and Jazz. "Ops, Enforcers, and medical were some of the first to be targeted. Out of our two clans, we're all that's left and its next to impossible for younglings to survive alone. Here we are."

"So there a reason you want to speak privately?"

"I'd like to see what type of leader you are…"

Jazz strode forward, servos behind his back as he rounded on her again. "We're gonna give you a shot here. One step out of line, I'll give you a personal demonstration of my skill set."

Voltage closed the distance with one smooth lean, "Doesn't sound like much of a punishment."

Jazz's faceplates went slack. "That work often?"

"It's a 50/50 chance of success."

"Huh." He sidestepped her. "You'll still be in medbay for now, I don't want to hear any complaints."

~o~o~o~o~o~

Sunstreaker knew he was caught long before he turned his helm.

"What are you doing?"

"Research."

"On?"

Sunny held up Cypress' medical file with a careless air, pulling it out of reach before Sides could snatch it.

"That's it, I draw the line here. Will you leave her alone?"

"No. I'm doing damage control." He held up a digit, "You really want to find out its been a set up this whole time?"

Sideswipe was uncharacteristically quiet. He took that as a sign to continue. Sunstreaker removed Voltage's file, laying it beside Cypress'.

"They're of the same batch. You saw what the Seeker can do, you really want to risk the runt turning and being capable of that much damage?"

He knew Sides wouldn't argue and he didn't.

"Hey Ratch?"

Sunny swept the pads back into their correct drawer, "He's out."

RoadRage rubbed at one optic, "Ah, just had a question. Vision is kinda blurry."

Side's optics tightened.

~ What? ~

~ Cypress had the same thing. ~

Sunny bobbed his helm, "Come on, we'll walk you back to your room."

~o~o~o~o~o~

Cypress attempted to take Voltage's talons for the fifth time, only to be swatted.

"I can get around. Just walk ahead of me."

She looked back at her skeptically.

"I'm reading the feedback your movements give off."

Cypress shrugged and started fanning her tail, rattling what remained of her spines.

The surrounding areas lit up in a gradually clearing outline. "Perfect."

In spurts and fits the walls came out of shadow with the added benefit of doorwings providing the depth needed.

The excuse given was she needed to stretch her limbs.

Cypress slipped ahead, "I need to drop off my pad, then we can go."

The shift in mood was immediate the nano Cypress opened her room door. Spine rigid, she slipped her data-pad into subspace. The end of her tail jerked as someone spoke from inside. "Nothing, I thought I left a stylus in here."

There was a slight shift in her perception as Bumblebee hiked his wings.

It was ill- advised but Voltage slipped around her coming to face the twins and the roommate.

The most effective reaction was no reaction.

"Nice quarters, you can entertain guests!" In all honesty, it was just another plain set of living space. "You smell something burning?"

RoadRage groaned, "I tried to air it out."

"Its gonna take a few cycles for that." Bee added.

While they watched him, Voltage invited herself in to haunt the area closest to the door. Yes, the roommate would be a problem. Voltage didn't like the feedback from the femme. Weather either of them liked it or not, she'd have to warm up to her. The bounty hunter wasn't going anywhere—and neither was she.

The twins seemed to have the same idea. Sunstreaker kept one optic on her and the other on the wolf in the corner, rummaging under her berth. Then, the same glare cut to her. She offered her the same serviceable smile but kept his gaze.

Her sister was unstable and up against another 'former worse off; no amount of coding tweaks would help that fact. Cypress was still under the berth. It was then Voltage made up her mind.

She settled on the berth motioning Bee to do the same. She settled on the berth, slipping one ped beneath it to haul Cypress back out by the tail. The wolf went limp as a dead rat.

~ Honestly, Cypress. ~

Bumblebee dropped to the floor and joined her beneath the slab.

"Does it take that long to find a pad?"

"It blends into the floor."

Voltage briefly stared at the extra limbs, then up at her audience.

"You get used to that," Sideswipe said.

Right at that moment, everyone flinched as the world plunged into darkness. Well, excepting her. She did so because 'formers started grabbing their weapons. Light or dark didn't matter much in her situation, it only gave her an advantage. Had her goal actually been crippling a third of the crew it would have been providential. Instead, the Seeker watched as the EM of her captors sparked in various hues.

Cypress finally emerged from below the berth to latch onto her shoulder.

~ Don't go anywhere. ~

The intercom gave out a blat of shrieked static.

:: Everyone ok? :: Optimus called, :: Sound off. ::

There was a chorus of annoyed affirmatives, but only from the younger ones of the group. It raised her suspicious. The Ark crew had no reservations about being unprofessional. The medic, the weapons master, and Deadlock were silent.

:: Its come to my attention since we have so many new faces, we're in need of a teambuilding activity. We'll be playing an old survival game, Ambush. We wont be using live ammunition for obvious reasons. This will be close quarters combat. Rules are simple: survive. Whoever you can incapacitate is on your team. ::

Voltage allowed her wings to perk. She'd heard of Optimus in scattered bursts. The red and blue mech wasn't as popular in Preda circles. Megatron at least had grudging respect, Optimus was the "turncoat brother". This would be interesting.

:: Jazz, escort Voltage to the brig. ::

She hissed under her vents. "I did nothing wrong."

:: Safety measures. Everyone else? Teams of two, the bridge is base. We begin in ten kliks. ::

Sideswipe and RoadRage evacuated immediately to stock up. Voltage allowed Bee to drag her outside, up until they were directly in front of the closed door.

~ Shush. Stay still and listen. ~

~ You know Sunny's got—~

~ Yes. And if he's dumb enough to try anything, we'll catch him. ~

Almost immediately, peds were heard crossing the room.

"We should team up."

"I'm working with Bee."

"Why not?"

She could feel the hesitation in her EM though the wall. "You know why."

"Not so brave all alone, are you?"

"What do you want, Sunstreaker?"

Something hit the wall.

Bee didn't seem to register exactly what was going on until the slam. Voltage wrenched the door open, nearly running straight into the gold mech.

"Sunny what the—"

"Relax kid. See you in the game."

Voltage stuck her helm in.

Cypress stood there, optics narrowed and fists clenched. There was a mech sized fist hole in the wall above her berth.

"Either you tell me what just happened or I will break every circuit onboard."

"You won't do that." Her reemerging fangs were clenched so tight they scraped. "He thinks this is funny. Its not." Her optics glossed over in fury, then in the absence of light.

Bumblebee caught her before she tipped over.

Cy's frame made strained efforts to transform and when that didn't work, pushed to raise her spines.

"Bee let go, you'll get stabbed."

"I don't mind. Take a vent, calm down."

Voltage leaned into her face, close enough to bite.

"Word of advice: if you're too passive, you'll die. Hard to form a team with someone already dead."

"Still functioning aren't I?"

"But are you living?" Voltage strode out, meeting Jazz in the hall.

"Pity, it would have been fun play along."

"We ain't that stupid."

He led her down to the cargo hold to a discolored floor panel. With a jerk he removed it and gestured to the empty void.

"Kay, get in."

"I'm going to remember this."

"Counting on it."