Back To You

Chapter 11: Threats

Two bots snuck around in the dead of night, blasters aiming at every dark corner, anticipating anyone or anything jumping out from the poorly lit corridors. Utter silence, save for the slight clicks of one of the bot's peds, loomed over the facility, giving them a sinking feeling in their engines.

A sudden noise coming from a room up ahead caught their attention, but only one moved to check it out; the other hesitated before following, trying to make as little noise as possible.

"Do you hear where it's coming from?" He asked.

The shorter agent paused to place the noise and signaled to a large metal door at the end of the hallway.

After a quick analysis, the taller agent found an access control system and immediately started overriding it. A few muffled screams came from inside and pressured him to work faster. As soon as the door opened, the silvery-white femme wasted no time stepping inside, only to stop when she noticed her partner wasn't following.

'Come on.' She mouthed and made her way inside the room. The mech clenched his jaw before following suit. The further they walked, the louder the screams got.

Eclipse, distracted by the clear signs of abuse marked along the walls, didn't notice his partner had stopped walking and almost crashed into her.

'My bad.' he mouthed, shrinking under her icy blue glare. Another scream was heard and took the spotlight off the mech. They silently rounded the corner, but the agonizing screams stopped the second they caught sight of the hostages huddled in the corner of a large room.

Scanning the enclosure, they saw no signs of any guards, which, strange as it was, Eclipse didn't seem the least bit surprised or suspicious. Instead, he was fighting a victorious grin as his partner devised some sort of plan on how to get all 15 captives out.

Turning to share her plan, she noticed the vacant spot beside her and caught her partner retreating back the way they came.

"Where are you going?" she followed him.

"I..I think I heard someone down the hall. I'll stay here and keep watch." came his response.

She narrowed her optics, sensing his lie.

"Hey, I'm by your side no matter what, okay?" his tone softened, and he reached for her servo. She looked him straight in the optics, alarms going off in her helm, but as usual, she paid them no mind. Sighing, she gave a short nod and felt his servo leave hers.

For her own account, Quickshadow knew this had to be a trap of some kind, but she needed to help those bots. And with her partner acting strange all of a sudden, she decided she'd help them herself.

She came out of the shadows, slowly advancing toward the group hoping not to scare them. "Hey." though her voice was a mere whisper, it echoed throughout the room, startling the bots and making them cower in fear. "It's okay," she tried to calm them down. 

"Autobot Secret Service," she motioned to her insignia, "We came to rescue you." Their optics glowed purple for a millisecond at the sight of her Autobot insignia, then scanned the room for the second bot she mentioned. "He's keeping watch. Now let's get you all out of here."

None of them made a sound as she cut them free from their ropes. It was anticipated, given that they'd clearly undergone some level of abuse while being held hostage for so many days, but what she didn't expect was for them to pounce on her as soon as she turned to lead them out of the room.

Her reflexes kicked in, and she immediately fought back, albeit holding back so as not to hurt them.

"I won't hurt you." she tried to reason with them, but they kept coming at her. "...I'm one of..you." she managed in between blows.