Time and Time Again

And Away We Go!

Blades stood there, her optics offline and her rotor swords in her servos. The rest of the Protectobots were just outside the room and peering in through a window alongside Wheeljack and Ironhide. "Anytime you're ready," the engineer told the femme. Blue optics online and the helo attacked the target without warning, fury in every slash and swipe. Sunstreaker didn't have enough time to counterattack at first, all he could do was dodge. When he got his footing, he did his best to fight off Blades' attacks. Why was she so angry?

-flashback to before-

Streetstar had been on her way to give her report to Prowl for him to look over when a bot called out her name. Pausing mid step, she looked over to see Sunstreaker heading her way. "Oh, hey Sunstreaker," she said when he approached. "Did you need something?" "Yeah, I was wondering if you had any free time later," he said with a smile, gently tracing her cheekplating with a digit. "Was thinking of spending some time with you." The femme shuttered a bit, then smiled. "Sure." "Alright then. Meet me in the rec. room later," he said and walked off after patting her shoulderplating. Smiling like a lovesick child, Streetstar made her way to Prowl's office. Blades stuck out further from her hiding spot, glaring at where Sunstreaker had been headed.

-back to the fig... er, training-

Once Sunstreaker was flat on his back, Blades stood on his chestplate and held one of her rotor swords to his neck cables. "Stay away from my sister," she warned, voice low, as Streetstar and Wheeljack entered to pull her off him and help Sunstreaker to his pedes. "There's something wrong with your sister," Sunstreaker said and looked at the visored femme at his side. "Now, I'm going to freshen up if you don't mind." Without another word, Sunstreaker left them. Folding her arms over her chestplate, Streetstar looked at the helo femme. "What was that about?" She asked. "What do you mean?" Blades asked as she put her rotor swords on her back. "Don't act like you don't know," Streetstar retorted, heading towards Blades, "You were clearly attacking him out of anger. And I saw you say something to him." "Yeah, to stay away from you," Blades immediately responded. That garnered a stare from the grounder femme. "Don't you want me to be happy?" Streetstar asked, hurt in her voice. Without waiting for a response, she stormed out, shoving past her sister. Blades watched her go, confused as to why Streetstar was upset with her and hurt that she managed that while trying to protect her. She didn't trust Sunstreaker in being around her at all. Then again, she hadn't seen Streetstar's reaction over what she'd heard Sunstreaker say to her.
—
Streetstar had been sitting at one of the tables in the rec. room, staring into the energon cube in her servos when Sunstreaker found her. "Hey, what's wrong?" He asked and sat next to her. "It's..." She wanted to say it's nothing, but she found she couldn't say that. "Blades," she admitted. "I don't understand why she can't be happy that someone outside of our team and the Aerialbots wants to be around me." It almost sounded like her voice was going to crack. A servo was placed on her shoulderplating. "Sounds to me like she should stop being such an overprotective shut-in," he said. "Come here." The cop car leaned into him when he wrapped his arms around her. He was being... kind? This is so unlike him, but hey, she's not complaining. Never mind the fact that she found him to be warm. A soft sound escaped her and she nestled into him, slowly drinking her energon.
—
Blades wasn't going to apologize for her actions, least of all to Sunstreaker. But she figured she might as well try and apologize to Streetstar since she seemed pretty upset by the whole ordeal. Where was she? The flier headed to the Aerialbots' quarters, where she spotted Streetstar and... Sunstreaker. "Hey! I thought I told you to stay away from her!" The helo snarled. Two sets of optics look at Blades, a sly smile crossing the mech's faceplate. "Since when did you become the boss of me?" He asked. "I can do what I want in terms of who I want to hang out with. Anyway, I best be going. Better not get into a fight here, of all places." With that, Sunstreaker set out on his way. Streetstar crossed her arms and looked at Blades. "Really? Again?" "I don't like him hanging around you," Blades said, looking over her shoulderplating to make sure he wasn't anywhere nearby listening in. "Something's not right about him." The sound of a pede tapping on the ground had Blades looking at Streetstar. "The only thing that's not right is you butting in on my social life, ok? Besides, I thought you would've gotten it by now. I'm in love with Sunstreaker." Neither seemed to notice the twins listening in on the conversation. Smiling, Sideswipe looked at his golden twin to see the blush on his cheekplating. "I would very much like it if you didn't ruin my chances with him." Streetstar then entered the Aerialbots' quarters.
—
Hot Spot had heard about what happened and to say he was happy about it was the exact opposite of what he was really feeling. "I get she wants to protect Streetstar from getting hurt, but the fact that she's driving away the bot she wants to get close to is unacceptable," the fire truck said. "Maybe what she needs is a... distraction, of sorts," Silverbolt suggested. Rose red optics look at the Concorde. "What are you saying?" Hot Spot asked. "I'm saying that she needs to not be around when Sunstreaker and Streetstar are together," Silverbolt informed. There was a moment of silence as Hot Spot thought about that, then smiled. "Yeah."
—
First Aid and Groove had been on their way to the main hub. "Have you seen Firaflight around lately?" Groove asked. They used to see her around all the time when they were still considered the newbies, now her appearances are few and far between. "I heard she's been spending time with both Skyfire and Mirage," the medic in training responded. Orange optics look at him in surprise. "No, not at the same time," First Aid replied to the unspoken question. As the duo passed the lab, they noticed the door was open and there was a bright light coming from inside. Curiously, the duo peered inside to see what was going on. Sure enough, there was Skyfire. Wait, so is Firaflight and Mirage. What are they doing? Looks like their spark chambers have been opened and their sparks are trying to become one with another. It didn't take long to click and two sets of optics look at each other in surprise before the two bots hurry off with barely any sound to their pede steps. They had to tell the others! Where did they end up finding three of the Aerialbots? In the rec. room. Once they told the three of what they saw, Slingshot did a spit take. "They did what?" Air Raid questioned in alarm. There was a nod from the motorcycle. "Yeah, that's what we saw them doing." "She hasn't even known them for long," Skydive pointed out. "They must really love each other then." Two nods of agreement. Jealousy did spike a bit from Air Raid's side of the Aerial bond and luckily neither Skydive nor Slingshot mentioned it in front of the two Protectobots. He didn't want any other teasing him about it.
—
Streetstar had been in her quarters listening to music and had been unaware someone else was there. Until there was a knock. A blue visor looked to find Prowl there. "What are you doing here?" She asked. "You haven't reported to your next duty and I started to wonder if you were alright or not." There was a slight smile and a nod. "Yeah, just had a bit of difficulty with a teammate. Didn't realize the time." Getting off the berth, she went over to the other cop car and went with him to where she was supposed to be working.
—
A battle had broken between both factions and the two combiners had been called in. The Combaticons and Stunticons had formed Bruticus and Menasor respectively. Superion had been formed from the Aerialbots to counteract. As the Protectobots were aiming to form Defensor, both Hot Spot and Groove had been plucked from their positions by a couple of the Decepticons, namely Soundwave and Thundercracker. Both Blades and Streetstar attempted to go after the two but when they took off into the sky, Blades had transformed to helicopter mode to go after them. She didn't get a chance to catch them before they suddenly disappeared. Transforming, the helo femme landed on the ground and walked back to the Ark, where she met up with the rest of her teammates. "They disappeared before I could catch them," she said without waiting for anything to be said. Streetstar's servos clenched at mention of that as Blades walked past her and First Aid. Since those two were gone, that meant that the interceptor was the leader of the Protectobots. "Frag." Two sets of blue optics look at the femme when a servo collided with the ground, leaving behind a pretty big indent. "They're going to pay," Streetstar promised as she drew her servo back to reveal energon leaking from one of her joints. Walking to the medic, she held out her leaking servo. First Aid nodded and began working to stop the leak. When he was done, Streetstar made her way to Superion and glared up at the aerial warrior. A red visor looked when they saw something to see Streetstar walking in their direction. She seemed mad with the way she was walking and gave off the vibe that she wanted to combine. One of the arms detached and transformed to bot mode, thus allowing her the chance. Jumping into the air, Streetstar transformed and attached to Superion. Firaflight looked up at Superion and just stared for a moment before joining the fight, as did Blades. First Aid tried to stay out as best he could.
—
Hot Spot paced around the cell, Groove watching him do so from the cell across from his. "Obviously they did this to take away one of the combiners," Hot Spot thought aloud. He didn't seem to notice there was something on the smaller's processor, mostly due to the fact that he's always this quiet. Or the fact that Groove managed to slip through the energon bars and was currently attempting to free Hot Spot from his prison. Once he finally noticed the purple light fade away and disappear, wide red optics look over to see the orange and white motorcycle standing there. Confusion spread across his faceplate. "They forgot I could fit through the energon bars," Groove said simply. Oh, that made sense. "Let's go," Hot Spot said as the two hurried out of the room.
—
When the battle was over, Superion had split up and Streetstar stormed off towards the Ark, leaving First Aid and Blades with the Aerialbots. "What's got her circuits in a bunch?" Slingshot asked. "She's upset over the fact that Hot Spot and Groove were taken by the Decepticons," First Aid responded. Five sets of optics were trained on the medic. "That's why Defensor wasn't there to help. Apparently they disappeared before Blades could catch them, which only set her off further." It would explain why she's pissed off. "And knowing her, it'll be a while before she calms down once she's in this state," Blades added. "So it's best to leave her alone until then."
—
The leader of the Protectobots had been called to high command for a debriefing. There was surprise when, instead of Hot Spot, a ticked off Streetstar walked in. "What happened? Where's Hot Spot?" Optimus asked. Squinted blue optics stare up at the Autobot leader. "In Decepticon custody, along with Groove," was the response she gave. "Why else was Defensor not there on the battlefield?" Someone's snarky. "I did combine with Superion in place of Firaflight, just so I could be part of a combiner." She did what? They could do that? Maybe Ratchet and Wheeljack should look into that. This was entirely new to them. "We're going to get Hot Spot and Groove back, Streetstar. No matter what," Optimus informed.
—
Speaking of, Hot Spot had sent Groove to scout ahead while he stayed back in a hiding spot. Currently, the small Autobot found himself walking down a hallway, gun in servos. Who knows if or when a Decepticon could be lurking around a corner. Not gonna take chances, seeing as how this is the Nemesis he and Hot Spot are on. Turning around, he was going to motion to said mech that the coast was clear when he caught sight of an approaching Decepticon. Almost immediately, the scout plunged into an open room, not really paying attention to what it was for or if there was a Con in it. Groove then scrambled under the desk that was right there. Why did he have to get stuck in this kind of situation? The sound of approaching pedes made him freeze, his intakes hitching. Whoever it was, they must be pretty big judging by the sound of their pedefalls. Or at least one of the heavy-set bots. And of course they have to sit down at the desk. Thanks for blocking his way out. A familiar sounding outtake had Groove peering at the bot in the chair. "I can't believe we managed to lose those two gearheads." Fire orange optics widen. He knew that voice! Brawl, of the Combaticons! Wait, you mean to tell him this is Brawl's quarters? Didn't he share an h.q. with the other Combaticons? Why's he here? A ping. Hot Spot's requesting private comms. Unfortunately, Groove found himself unable to speak. But, he does know Autobot Morse code. Yeah, that's it. The scout answered the comm., then began lightly tapping away on the side of his helm almost immediately. Can't exactly speak thanks to Brawl having me trapped, help if necessary. Once the message was sent, Hot Spot's voice spoke clear as day, if a bit staticky. ::Alright, be ready to move out as soon as possible.:: There was a silent nod and the comm. line was cut. Not even a minute later, the ship's alarms were going off with the shouts of Cons seeing one of the escaped prisoners as well as to repair the damage. Brawl shot up upon hearing all this and darted out of the room. Smiling more, Groove crawled out from under the deck, standing up in the process. He'd just managed to leave the room when a blue fire truck barreled past him. Transforming, Groove took off and caught up to the obvious Autobot, passing him and taking the lead. "Didn't take you long," Groove couldn't help but point out. "Well, yeah. We have to get out of here and in doing so we have to stick together," Hot Spot responded. When the duo made it to a large enough space, Groove move out of the way to let Hot Spot transform and plow through the wall. Groove joined him on the outside as water poured into the ship and the duo started swimming for what they assumed was shore.
—
First Aid was sitting alone on the beach, barely any humans nearby. He'd wanted to give Streetstar some space and figured the best way to do so was to not be in the Ark at the moment. It'd been hours since the Decepticons had captured their teammates. Something emerging from the water had him curious. The medic stood up as two frames were seen walking out of the ocean. A bright smile crossed his faceplate when he realized who they are. "Hot Spot! Groove!" Two sets of optics look over at the medic and both smile. "Hey, First Aid." "You two escaped!" Now First Aid's walking alongside them. "You bet we did," Hot Spot said. "Streetstar's going to be so happy when she sees you two. She's been pretty mad ever since they captured you," First Aid informed.
—
After having gotten back to the Ark and debriefed, the two recently escaped Protectobots had gotten a chance to see Blades and the Aerialbots, but had yet to see Streetstar. They also got the salt water out of their systems. Where they found the last Protectobot femme? Teletraan-1. When Smokescreen noticed the two, he turned to the femme and said, "Hey Streetstar." In turn, she whirled around and glared dangerously. That came to an end when she saw both Hot Spot and Groove. Barely able to contain herself, Streetstar found herself jumping on the duo.