Fears and Lies pt 3

168 6 1
                                    


Optimus, Steeljaw, Halo, Windblade, and Drift reached the location of the supposed con signal. Steeljaw went back into his bot mode and sniffed the air "to still." He said, Halo followed his action "well, they were here. But the air's too open, so I can only assume they went into that cave." She said "Bumblebee did say that the signal was coming from a cave system. So, I believe that assumption to be correct." Optimus replied "it's gonna be tight." Windblade said "I won't be able to fly around to much." Optimus turned towards her "do you wish to stay out here, and to keep guard should the decepticon escape?" Windblade nodded "probably a good idea. Mind if I keep Drift and his minicons out here with me?" She asked, Optimus shook his head before turning back to Steeljaw and Halo "no time like the present." Halo said, before walking towards the mouth of the cave.
---------
Bumblebee and Grimlock had been trying to move all the rocks that had fallen before them. "Man, that guy is loud." Grimlock said, throwing a large boulder "I think that was the point, Grim." Bumblebee replied, stopping to catch his breath "to bad the comms don't work." Grimlock stopped as well. The thick rock stopped any signal from coming through. Digging they're way out would take to long, this arrest was a total bust. "Bumblebee? Are you in there?" A gruff voice called "Optimus?" He stood up "Halo and Steeljaw too!" Halo's voice could be heard as well "this seems quite the predicament, old friend." Steeljaw said in a nonchalant tone "yeah, the con has some sonic shriek that sent all these rocks down. Grimlock and I haven't made much progress." Bee said "perhaps progress on both sides will do some good." Optimus stuck his decepticon hunter in it's sword form in between the cracks of rocks, then pushed down to make it act like a lever. After enough work, Bumblebee and Grimlock were freed. "Well, now we should find Strongarm, Sideswipe, and Fixit. This con is in his element, and I definitely underestimated him." Bumblebee admitted with a sigh "yeah, who is this con anyway? Aside from a bat?" Halo asked, tilting her helm "no idea, just a bat con for now." They group moved onward "Lieutenant!" A small voice shouted, Bumblebee turned around to show Strongarm, Sideswipe, and Fixit. "Glad to see you guys in one piece still." Sideswipe said "what're you all doing here?" Strongarm asked "Steeljaw got antsy." Halo responded "I did not!" Steeljaw's ears and tail shot up in defiance, causing Halo to giggle, Optimus smiled slightly, before putting a servo on Steeljaw's shoulder "we felt it was necessary to come aid you all after hearing nothing. Drift and Windblade are outside the cave in case the decepticon tries to escape that way." Optimus then looked back towards Bumblebee "Fixit, ever find out who our con is?" He asked "yes, sir. He took my datapad to look at his profile." Fixit held up the datapad and Bumblebee took it with a slight smile "Nightscream." Bumblebee stated "arrested for assaulting his academy professor so badly that he was put into a coma to help recover. Nightscream has energy draining fangs that can restore his energy in place of energon, great." Bumblebee handed the pad back with a sigh

"So, he's just Steeljaw but with wings?" Halo asked, Steeljaw fained an offended look "my ability does not replace my need for energon. It just heals me quicker, there's a different, pup." He said "he's not an enemy we should take lightly regardless. We are in his territory and we need to be on our guard." Optimus replied "this cave is massive. And splitting up doesn't sound like a good idea, we need a new plan." Strongarm interjected "uh, if he's like a bat, couldn't we wait until morning?" Grimlock suggested "he might move on if we leave now." Bumblebee responded "and at this point, he's knows we're onto him, and we can't give him that chance." Fixit looked down at the datapad "it appears the signal has cleared up a little. Perhaps we are at higher point in the cave system. It appears that Nightscream is up ahead." Fixit started typing away again "it might be a dead end, we could have our chance" he looked back up at everyone else "well, let's give it a shot then. Strongarm, you stay by the mouth of the entrance in case he gets by us. Jaws, you stay with her. Everyone else, let's do this." Bumblebee began to head towards the next section of the cave.

At the dead end of the cavern, Sideswipe shined his headlights towards the ceiling, soon landing on a large bat-con hanging upsidedown "hi" he said, sounding annoying "surrender." Bumblebee ordered "go to the pits" Nightscream responded before dropping down and making a break for the entrance only to get shot out of the air by Strongarm, Steeljaw then tried to hold him down while draining his energy, only to get thrown off "T-That was freaky!" Nightscream stuttered out before taking flight yet again. Steeljaw went into his vehicle mode and gave chase, followed by the others. "Drift! Windblade! Our con's heading towards the exit, cut him off!" Bumblebee shouted while trying not to have rocks jammed up in his wheels. Nightscream looked back towards his pursuers, he grunted out of annoyance, and then look forward just in time to run face first stalactite. Rubbing his head to dull the pain, he turned back into bot mode, he sat down with a look of defeat and ran his servo through his hair. Windblade then landed and shoved her sword in his face "give up?" She asked "yeah, back to stasis I go." He then looked back up towards the others.

Steeljaw had a sinking feeling in his gut. Just that look of defeat, and accepting of the loss. Not just that, but the anguish. He'd worn that look many times in his life, far more times then he had ever liked. His tail twitched "old friend, if I may." He slowly moved Windblade's sword. Bumblebee pondered for a moment "go ahead, Jaws." He received a smile in return "tell me, what's your name?" Steeljaw squatted across from Nightscream, who only looked at him with a confused expression "it's Nightscream. Thought you would've figure that out by now." He mumbled, then looked down at the cave floor "well, I'm Steeljaw. And I have the sneaking suspicion, we have a common situation." Nightscream looked up hesitantly "how so?" He asked after a pause "I became a different Decepticon's pawn while under the use of slave coding. And I believe that, like me, we don't know your whole story. So, I'd like to hear it." Optimus looked hesitant, Steeljaw only gave him a reassuring look "uh, um..." Nightscream fiddled with his servos "well, I was a cadet at the police academy in Iacon. I saw her a couple times." While pointing at Strongarm "we never talked though." Strongarm reminded silent, almost looking ashamed "yeah, that part's true. It's kinda hard to miss someone like you." She said, Nightscream nodded and then continued "I had this one bot who'd talk to me. I wasn't really liked all that much. B-But his name was Echo, and he was really cool. We wound up sharing a dorm, so it's not like I could really not hang out with him. About halfway through the second trimester, one of my professors got beat up, bad. And that's how I got accused. No one was really willing to stick up for me, other than Echo. But, he was just one bot, vs the 20 odd other guys who wanted me gone. So now I'm here, about to get rearrested." He then looked back down at the cave floor "mh, I'm not so sure about that last part." Steeljaw stood up and offered his servo to help Nightscream do the same "what?" Windblade and Strongarm said I'm unison, Bumblebee only looked with an inquisitive look. Steeljaw's gut feeling was generally good to trust, and it's not like he hadn't taken those risks before "doesn't sound like the worse idea. We've taken a chance on cons before." Looking back at Grimlock, and then back to Steeljaw. "You do have a point." Optimus said "I think it's a great idea." Grimlock cut in "besides, more of us the better!" He then chuckled "I liked his moves." Sideswipe mentioned nonchalantly, Drift looked a tad confused, but remained silent. He is pretty good at stealth. Color me impressed." Halo replied, Nightscream slowly reached up for Steeljaw's servo and was helped up. "Well, I think that settles the bases." Steeljaw tilted his head with another smile, Nightscream let out a small nervous laugh before messing with his hair again "uh, sorry, I do it when I'm nervous." Halo walked to Steeljaw's side "has been a long night. We should head home." She then turned to the others "here I was beginning to think that no one else was thinking the same thing." Sideswipe replied "I've had enough of rocks for a little while" before picking a pebble out between his wheel and plating. The Autobots soon made they're way back to the Scrapyard, and new member hiding with Grimlock under his tarp.

Another chapter done, sorry about all the long wait times between chapters. I still really like this story, it's more or less of "crap, I've gotta update this." "But that requires effort" "dang, right"
-Alexsismindina🦇

A primes future Where stories live. Discover now