Transformers Animated: Little Spider

Chapter 26

Snarl galloped along the outskirts of the city. He did search, but his methods weren't exactly refined or subtle. He barreled through the streets, causing road damage and miniature earth quakes. He lifted up cars and looked under them, terrifying drivers on their early morning commute. He punched holes into nearby buildings in order to look inside, resulting in screaming and fleeing humans.

The Dinobot didn't register any of the damage though, he simply searched through the crowd, hoping to catch a glimpse of the little human girl he grew fond of. But no matter where he looked, he couldn't find her.

To say Snarl was worried was an understatement. He was outright panicking as he frantically searched. He remembered how Meltdown had treated him and the other Dinobots, when the scientist had first claimed the island as a base.

The cruelty.

The mistreatment.

Snarl recalled how he had once snapped defiantly at the deranged scientist. That earned him a burn on his underbelly as Meltdown's disgusting mutants held him down, the triceratops struggling as he bellowed in pain, his metal melting under the acid. Meltdown looked at him with disgust, and the sentiment was carried over to Grimlock and Swoop. He held absolutely no kindness towards them, but that was not the worst part nor the part that scared Snarl the most.

The mad scientist would perform the most vile and inhumane experiments on his own animal test subjects. Snarl could clearly recall the screeching, the howls, their morbid ululations as they were dissected, cut up, injected, poked, prodded, and turned into something else entirely.

The most unsettling experiment Snarl had witnessed was an ape, hooked up to various tubes and wires, its face covered with an oxygen mask. Meltdown had been attempting to find a way to regrow organs, obsessing over it. The ape had been put under with heavy anesthetic, its chest cut open and organs removed, before Meltdown injected it with formula after formula, in a crazed attempt to find results.

The ape did not survive.

Meltdown barely cared, only annoyed that his experiment failed, ordering the Dinobots to dispose of the body and bring him a new test subject.

Snarl could remember the clumps of organic flesh lying on the floor, how the floor pooled with blood, and the stench. It assaulted his olfactory sensors, putrid and rotten.

And it was these horrors that made Snarl think, if Meltdown held no compassion for even other organics, what was to stop him from doing the same to Kelly?

Snarl stopped running, transforming into robot mode as he reached the edge of the city where nature met concrete. He looked from side to side, uncertain of where he should go from here. His shoulders slumped down, despondent. Feeling utterly lost, he sat on the grass. From inside his chassis compartment, he reached in and pulled out Kelly's little rag doll.

Gazing down at the little doll, Snarl let out a sad rumble.

What was he going to do?

His friend was in trouble and he didn't even know how to help her...

It was then Snarl noticed the ground shaking.

"SNARL!" Grimlock bellowed, stomping over to him, Swoop not far behind.

Snarl stood up, quickly putting away the doll as he turned to face his brethren. "What Grimlock want?" he asked, disinterested and tired. He really didn't want to deal with them right now, he had better things to worry about.

Grimlock transformed, towering over Snarl. "Grimlock want Snarl to stop being stupid."

Snarl did not allow himself to be intimidated. "Snarl not stupid. Snarl has friend."