The Energon Pub

Medical Bay

Snarl glared at Grimlock as he watch Snarl spring forward and strike the commander. He almost wished he had done so, but that is perhaps where he and Slag different, he wasn't as outwardly hostile and controlled his anger a bit better. After listening to Grimlock talk, the Desert Warrior deepened his frown. He remained silent as he listened to Slag banter with Grimlock, but before he could say anything Optimus Prime and Kup stepped in to end the argument. The Autobot leader was now guiding the Dinobot leader away.

"You maybe right Grimlock about what would of happened to us after stasis lock. However, you had no right to take our lives into your hands. They are ours, not yours! You should of never kept that from us, we live and die together, or at least I thought so. Now i am not so sure anymore." The angered Dinobot turned to walk away, but then stopped. "You may not like Prime, you may hate him so much that you refuse to do anything his way. However, at least Prime will never lie to his troops about asking them to risk their lives, or even giving them up for the cause."

And with that Snarl stormed out of the room, heading to the combat training room to beat out his frustrations.

* * *

After watching the display between the Dinobots, Wheeljack placed a hand on the top of his head. Amazed at what he had seen. The Dinobots had always been a disfuntional unit, but they had been disfunctional together, but now it seemed like their methods were collapsing in on themselves. Causing the team to fracture, with some members of the team clearly at their whits end with Grimlock's antics. The engineer walked over to where Kup hand been standing. He had no idea that the old timer was even here.

"Geez Kup, what do you think that was all about? I know the Dinobots like to buck the rules, but they even seem to be bucking down whatever they consider rules."

Command Center

Skids got a slightly sheepish look as he noticed Prowl's arrival onto the Command Center during their conversation. He supposed it served him right for talking about people behind their backs, didn't it? He made a slight noise, then offered to Prowl, "Ah... if you need any help with anything, sir, just let me know."

He then turned and buried his nose in his own work. When Optimus Prime's announcement came over the ship-wide comm he looked up for a moment, but then put his head down again once he heard the message. He didn't see much of a point in "training" what little fighting skills he had; he would just get in the way and take up the room and equipment the actual warriors needed. Plus he wasn't very keen on potentially making a fool of himself in front of the others.

Medical Bay

As Slag began to lunge back at Grimlock the other Dinobot made ready to fight him. If it took a few blows to the head to knock some sense back into Slag then he would do it. He could excuse that first punch but he was going to let him repeat it.

Before the two Dinobots could hit each other Kup and Optimus Prime intervened. Grimlock glared at Slag before shifting the glare to Prime. There weren’t many Transformers alive who would dare get between two brawling Dinobots. Optimus Prime would qualify as one of those few. Grimlock didn’t know what irritated him more, that their brawl has been interrupted or that it was Prime doing it. When Prime mentioned that he wanted to talk to him he knew it was Prime that irritated him more.

Grimlock slowly relaxed from his fighting stance. He nodded at Sludge. It was odd for Sludge to be the smart one in an argument, but he couldn’t argue with him. If they could take down Shockwave once and for all it would probably relieve a lot of tension. It all started with him and it would all end with his deactivation.

The Dinobot leader turned to Snarl as he stomped off. “Every mission we go on life or death Snarl and once we lost to Shockwave we dead! Didn’t matter if Shockwave or are ship do it, dead is dead. At least my way we would have taken him down with us! You think about that Snarl, you rather be dead a loser or a victor?!” Hopefully Snarl would think about that and come to his senses. Why him and Slag were so upset at him was beyond his understanding. They would have died taking down Shockwave, one of the worst Decepticons around. It hadn’t worked, but now they were alive again, something that wouldn’t have happened otherwise, and had another chance to claim victory over Shockwave. What more did they want.

Grimlock turned back to Prime. “Fine, we go talk. Maybe you tell me how you still losing this war after so much time. Then maybe you listen to me on how to win this war. My first suggestion will be have less meetings and talking and more actual fighting.”

Medical Bay

Smokescreen kept his distance as Grimlock and Slag almost came to blows for a second time. It amazed him now that the Dinobots had ever been a functional unit with the amount of success they had previously achieved. He had always heard great things about them, but now he wondered where that team had gone. The Dinobots seemed to be falling apart at the seams, and it all appeared to center around their commander.

Then Optimus Prime and Kup walked into the med bay and quickly broke up the fight between comrades. Smokescreen was shocked to see Kup on board the Ark-19. He had no idea the old mech was even in the sector let alone on Earth, itself. Smokey had only met Kup a few times in the past, but the warrior’s reputation preceded him. There wasn’t a ‘bot alive who didn’t know who Kup was.

Once things started to calm down and the Dinobots began dispersing, Smokescreen decided it was time to take Prime’s advice and do some training. Smokey wanted to try out his new and improved body in a combat situation and now was as good a time as any to test it out in a training simulation and see if the modifications worked.

After one last, angry exchange between Grimlock and Snarl, Smokescreen exited the med bay and made his way to the training room.

*********

Sludge let out a heavy sigh as he watched his comrades continue to argue over Grimlock’s actions. Only the Dinobot Commander acknowledged Sludge’s words with a simple nod. The others remained just as angry as before. It appeared that Sludge’s words had fallen on deaf audio receptors. The Jungle Warrior couldn’t blame Snarl and Slag for being mad. Sludge wasn’t exactly thrilled, either, but Grimlock was never one to spell out his plans ahead of time. He tended to act on impulse especially when revenge was on his mind.

Once Kup had restrained Slag, Grimlock had been pulled aside by Prime and Snarl had stomped out of the room, Sludge found himself contemplating what he would do if his team ultimately fell apart. He didn’t want to think about it. The Dinobots were all Sludge had known for so long. It would be strange if he became a regular Autobot again. But, perhaps there was still hope. Maybe Prime could salvage what was left of the Dinobots and get them back on track, or maybe Grimlock and Prime would end up fighting. Anything was possible at this point.

All of this thinking made Sludge’s head hurt. He wasn’t the thinking type, after all. He followed orders and usually left the thinking to Grimlock. To help him forget about the current problems plaguing his teammates, Sludge decided to blow off some steam in a training session. Prime had mentioned earlier that the ship’s training room was now online and Sludge thought it was a good idea to take advantage of it.

Corridors

Sludge left the med bay and walked down the corridor before stopping dead in his tracks. “Where’s the training place at?” He asked out loud to no one in particular.

Smokescreen was walking just ahead of Sludge and looked back at the lost Dinobot. “It’s this way,” Smokey replied, pointing down the hallway. “Just follow me.”

The Jungle Warrior nodded and followed Smokescreen to the training facility.

Corridors

"...I'll take care of him if need be"

"Oh for the love of Primus..."

Arcee, at the very least, was able to refrain from slapping her own forehead as her exasperation was impossible to hide. Hot Rod was either recklessly brave, oozing false bravado, or simply to dense to learn from his mistakes, most of the time, Arcee wasn't sure which.

When it came to the Autobots, despite what the Decepticons would claim, courage was not in short supply, and Hot Rod possessed even more of an abundance of it than most. Unfortunately, tagged with his need for taking unnecessary risks, it was going to get him killed. Arcee didn't want that, especially if it was in service of the Cavilers burning need to prove himself.

He didn't need too prove himself, not to anyone, and especially not to her.

Arcee managed a heavy sigh, calming herself down and settling her frustrations, experience had taught her that she wasn't going to get through to him like that. Kup had been trying for so many years, even he had lost count.

"So you could take Shockwave huh?"

Arcee arched a brow, a mischievous glint in her sapphire optics.

"Mr...you can't even take me..."

Medical Bay

Sideswipe had been standing off to the side of his brother’s CR chamber. He perked up a bit when he finally heard the hiss of the chamber door. Stepping away from the wall, Sideswipe smiled and walked towards Sunstreaker. His smile faded as he listened to his twin’s bantering. The berating made Sideswipe hasten his advance until he was nose to nose with Sunstreaker.

“You had him? You mean he had you! You should be thanking me for dropping in on him when I did. That Predacon would have ripped you a whole new exhaust port if it wasn’t for me!”

The crimson warrior turned away from his golden brother and continued.

“And yeah, maybe I should have clung on tighter, but you could have ducked, you idiot! You’re such a seasoned warrior and my body took you off guard? You’ll never live this one down!”

Sideswipe turned back to face Sunstreaker and pointed a finger at his mirror finished chest plate.

“You wanna settle this mech to mech? Then bring it, you psychopath!”

*********

Optimus nodded to Kup as he and Grimlock walked off. Kup finally let go of Slag and moved away so as not to get in the way of a wayward fist. Slag growled lowly as he was released. He was still angered, but what he said to Snarl began to make some sense to the flamethrower. Had Grimlock told them about the bombardment there was a chance that not everyone would comply and then where would they be? Probably on some berth as an experiment. But still, he could not shake the fact that Grimlock didn’t trust him enough to say something. They were close, closer than all of the other Dinobots were to him, so it angered him all that much more.

“I’m fine!”

Slag shrugged and then turned on his heel and made his way out of the Medical Bay. He needed to destroy something making the trip to the training room all that more enticing.

*********

Kup watched as Slag made his way out of the medical facility. It was obvious to the old timer that he needed to vent and the only place he could do that now was in the training room. Kup just hoped that when the Dinobot was done the room was still operational. He shook his head and turned to Wheeljack who had addressed him a moment ago.

“I couldn’t tell ya Wheeljack. The Dinobots were always an enigma to me. It never seemed right to have them form their own team.”

Corridors

Hot Rod stopped his advance when Arcee did. He turned back to face her as she swore. It wasn’t like her to get flustered over something he had said, so he was somewhat confused by her sudden action. He smiled a crocked smile as he looked at her. He always thought the best way to make her see things his way was to just jump in and perform the task, no matter how dangerous or stupid. He never thought he’d need to prove himself to her, he knew she wasn’t the kind of femme that would appreciate that sort of thing. He had to be bold, daring, and he just needed to do.

He did admit to himself that maybe, only maybe, he should think first, but thinking wasted time. Anyway, back to the present. He refocused on her words and not on her form.

His optics brightened as she laid out her challenge. He folded his arms over his chest and smiled broadly. He waited a few moments before addressing her.

“You’re on.”

Medical Bay

Optimus Prime led the Dinobot Commander to Ratchet’s secluded office. Once they were both inside Prime closed and locked the door. Had he the ability to sneer he would. Optimus ignored Grimlock’s attempt to begin a battle with his condescending remarks, but he could not ignore the fact that he and his team went missing only to show up in stasis and being used as experiments for the native species of this planet. Not to mention the uncovering of Shockwave as well.

The last Optimus had heard from Grimlock, he and his team were attempting to secure a small cache of energon. Whether the mission was successful or not Prime never found out. Grimlock and his men just vanished. No one heard anything or saw anyone. It was almost as though they were erased from existence. Optimus had ordered search teams to scour the nearest systems to no avail. Optimus just assumed that the Dinobots were either dead or MIA. He couldn’t keep the search teams active due to the increasing battles, so he let the Dinobots’ whereabouts fall into history.

Now the team is unearthed with Shockwave on a planet that was unknown to them at the time of the disappearance, and the reason why is what made Prime curious.

Prime glared at the Dinobot Commander as he spoke.

“The last time I heard from you, you were supposed to secure some energon and then report back to base. How did you end up on an unknown planet buried in solid rock with Shockwave?”

Command Center

After waiting for a response from the clearly busy Blaster, Bumblebee simply shrugged to himself and walked over to his normal station. He had spent enough time monitoring the communications traffic on this planet he had gotten then hang of manuvering the sheer volume of it. Sort of. It was always difficult to cute through the haze of the amount of chatter that went on around here, given that everyone on this planet was capable of owning multiple devices. It was perfect for the Decepticons to hide their com signals, and with a master like Soundwave on the scene the yellow minibot was certain it was be slagging near impossible to find anything of use. It sometimes felt like chasing shadows at night.

* * *

Wheeljack nodded as he listened to Kup. The old Autobot had been around long enough to have the instincts it took to really size up a group of soldiers, and the engineer was certain that he had advised Optimus Prime against the formation of such a unit like the Dinobots. Give how prone they were to their unique interpretation of orders, or out right ignoring them, he had no idea why they still stuck to the Aubobot cause and just took off into the universe to carve out their own life away from any authority trying to order them around.

Of course when word had come down that the Dinobots had vanished Wheeljack had assumed that is exactly what had happened. The fact that isn't what had happened only confused the engineer.

"I have to agree with you on that one Kup. I trust Prime's judgment like any other 'bot, but I have never understood why he has given the Dinobots so much slack. It all seemed to me like a disaster in the making giving a group of powerful and dangerous misfits so much freedom to do what they want." The engineer shrugged at the old war veteran. "Now at least they haven't taken to destroying planets on their own. Yet."

* * *

Snarl stomped his way through the corridors of the Ark 19, searching out the training room on this bucket of bolts. The Dinobot needed a chance to really work out his frustrations, maybe even try and clear his head. He had no idea why he even bothered trying to reason with Grimlock, the Dinobot leader was to arrogant and self centered to really care about what others thought. Snarl was certain that he Grimlock did not even have anything resembling a second thought about what had occured, or what he had done.

The desert warrior entered the training room and walked over to one of the control panels, he set one of the drones to the highest training level. As he watched the drones programing come on line he flexed his finger servos in anticipation. Once the drone was ready Snarl leapt at it with a battle cry and started to pummel it with his fists. Maybe tearing this thing apart with his bare hands would help ease his anger.

Corridors

“Oh, you say that now…”

Arcee had a twinckle in her optic, feeling the smallest smile crease her features despite her frustrations. Hot Rod had always been a difficult Bot for her to know, even during their earliest days as fresh recruits, the Cavalier effortlessly stirring up conflicting feelings within her spark.

His recklessness infuriated her, and yet his courage inspired her, and then there was his potential. Not everyone could see it, but she could, something that set him apart from the others, something special, even if she couldn’t, for the life of her, really understand what it was.

She couldn’t change him, she didn’t really want to, but if he could manage to go one day without giving her cause for concern, that would be nice.

“…but wait until I knock you on your aft in front of all your big, bad Bot friends”.

Her smile became more sincere, easier to accept as her frustrations had begun fading away, doing her best to ignore his own. That Pitt cursed things that always managed to get on her good side eventually. It didn’t help that he seemed to know it.

“Come on Leadfoot…”

Arcee didn’t say another word before she transformed, a rapid shifting of gears and folding of panels reverting her lithe form into a sleek, open topped corvette. Her engine ignited into life before her tires hit the ground, the pink tinted Femme speeding off for the training ground.

“…you’re already coming last!”

Med Bay

Sunstreaker glared silently at his brother as he ranted at him. His face remained fixed in annoyance, his real anger just bubbling beneath the surface. He listened as Sideswipe talked about how he had actually saved his life, another one of his little delusions. The Autobot warrior clenched his hands into fists when his twin began insulting him personally, calling him an idiot and questioning his skill. By the time Sideswipe was pointing at him, he was ready. Before he had finished his last sentence Sunstreaker had his right fist reared back. Just as Sideswipe finished talking Sunstreaker threw the first punch.

They yellow Autobot’s right fist smashed into the middle of Sideswipe’s face. Despite what he had been saying the red Autobot was still taken a bit off guard. He stumbled back a couple of steps, giving Sunstreaker enough time to drop down and shoulder tackle him, slamming him into the wall and sending equipment and tools scattering. He pulled off of his twin, standing above him. “I’ll show you what a seasoned warrior can do, bro,” he sneered down at him.

*

Ratchet’s Office

Grimlock would have rolled his eyes if he had any when Optimus began his interrogation. No ‘Its good to see you Grimlock, the war was going badly without you’ or the like. No, he was getting grilled by this former paper-pusher who stumbled into the role of ‘Prime.’ He was surprised he was even still around, last time he had heard the job position of Prime had a pretty short lifespan.

The Dinobot leader took a seat at Rachet’s desk and proceeded to prop his feet up on top of it, knocking a few datapads off of it. “We secured energon, then put it to good use. Fueled up starship and set off after Shockwave. You apparently not notice that he traveling off world doing something. Me take initiative and follow him to this planet. He conducting some sort of experiment. Me not know the details. We take out his ship then bounce down to take care of him. Have to use new forms synthetic flesh coatings to protect against high levels of energon radiation. Guess that not a problem here anymore.”

Grimlock paused at this point. He never liked to admit defeat but that is what had happened to the Dinobots in that battle against Shockwave. “Battle….didn’t go as planned. Me program ship to fire on nearby volcano if things go wrong. It shoots it and me not know what happen next. Next me know me waking up, get hit by missile explosion and climb out of whole to see big fight.”

He pulled his legs off of the desk and pointed back at Optimus. “Now maybe you tell me why everyone wasting so much time on this backwater. You lost Cybertron to Decepticons? Me wouldn’t be surprised.”

Corridors

His smile never faltered as he looked over to her. She was always so serious, ready for anything, he needed to loosen her up, and maybe some sparring would do that. He knew he always got on her nerves; he also knew that when worse came to worse she always seemed to see things his way.

“Sure I say it all the time.”

Hot Rod slashed another handsome smirk in her direction, but it faded, only slightly, when she finished her following statement. He shook his head as he crossed his arms over his chest once more.

“You know, they’re your friends too….”

With a cocky smirk he continued.

“….and Primus will they love to see you on your aft! However, I’ll go easy on you.”

He chuckled as he she transformed and sped off. He stopped and looked and was taken by surprise that Arcee had taken off and called out to him on her way down the corridor. Hot Rod transformed and sped off after the pink femme.

“Hey, you didn’t say anything about racing to the there!”

Training Room

The doors slid open and Smokescreen strolled into the training facility with Sludge in tow. The red and blue mech immediately approached the control console and brought up the display with the touch of a button. He turned and looked at Sludge. “Anything you want me to program in for you?” Smokey could tell that the Dinobot was a bit on the slow side and probably would have trouble working the controls, so he figured he’d help him out.

Sludge thought a moment before noticing Snarl across the room beating the slag out of a training drone. The Jungle Warrior pointed at his comrade. “Me want to do that.”

Smokescreen looked at the other Dinobot before returning his gaze to Sludge. “Oh, okay. I think I can do that for you.” Smokey punched a few more buttons and another large battle drone came online. He set it at the highest level, knowing full well that a Dinobot wouldn’t want it set any lower. Smokey then gave Sludge a friendly nod. “It’s all set. Have at it.”

Sludge smiled and drew his energo sword. Without further delay, the Jungle Warrior charged at the drone and began slashing at it with his blade.

As Sludge let out some pent up aggression, Smokescreen began inputting his own training program. Within astroseconds, several flying drones appeared out of the ceiling high above. Smokey moved towards the center of the room and quickly deployed his shoulder-mounted launchers from his back. Taking aim at the flying drones, Smokescreen unleashed two missiles and watched as they streaked upwards at their intended targets.

Medical Bay

No one had noticed when he entered the med bay following behind Kup and Optimus Prime. The green and black mech made no move as the old timer and the Autobot Leader broke up the fight between Grimlock and Slag. It had not been necessary to do anything. Both Autobots were fully capable of handling the situation themselves. If need be, he was there to assist if the other two Dinobots made any aggressive moves and nothing more. He then watched as Prime took Grimlock to Ratchet’s office for a debriefing while Kup talked to Wheeljack about the current situation with the Dinobots.

With nothing else to occupy his time, Howlstrike sat down in a nearby chair and pulled out his sword. Quietly, he began sharpening the blade. It was his weapon of choice and he always made sure it was in tiptop shape just in case he needed to use it. Howlstrike had recently arrived on Earth with Kup, his long-time, and only true friend. While he had missed the recent battle at the human installation, he was able to watch much of the encounter from the data recordings and knew that his former teammates, the Predacons, were here on this planet, as well.

It didn’t surprise Howlstrike that Megatron had called in his supposed elite Decepticons when the going got rough. What did surprise him were the beast alt modes the group had taken. The modes were very different from anything Howl had ever seen before and their choices had inspired him to take a similar mode in the form of something called a timber wolf. In reality, he wasn’t trying to be like the Predacons, although Howl was sure some of the Autobots would think that was the case. No, he had actually chosen his new wolf mode just to be spiteful towards his former comrades the next time he met them on the battlefield and every time thereafter for that matter.

Howlstrike’s concentration was interrupted by the sound of equipment and tools flying everywhere. The hunter looked up and watched as a yellow Autobot slammed a red one into a wall, yelling at him as he did so. Must be the infamous Autobot twins, Howl mused as he stood from his seat. He thought they had avoided an all-out brawl when the Dinobots were dispersed, but now a sibling rivalry threatened to make a mess of the med bay anyway.

Letting out a sigh, Howlstrike put his sword away and approached Kup. “I don’t mean to interrupt, but do you want me to intervene over there before those two trash the whole place? I promise not to maim them.”

Medical Bay

Sideswipe could feel a trickle of energon leaking form his nose as after he was knocked to the floor. He brought his left hand to his face and wiped the energon from it. He sneered at his brother and after the golden warrior had finished speaking Sideswipe swept his brother’s legs out form under him. With a resounding crash Sunstreaker hit the floor flat on his back. Just as soon as his twin hit the floor Sideswipe was on top of him straddling him.

“Who’s the seasoned warrior now, jackass?”

The red warrior drew his arm back and balled his hand into a tight fist. He aimed his first blow at Sunstreaker’s flawless face. Sideswipe let out a loud cry just before ramming his fist into his brothers face but was suddenly stopped. Someone had taken hold of his arm making it impossible for him to lay into Sunstreaker.

Sideswipe looked behind him and saw Kup standing there holding his arm.

“What the slag? Get off my arm Kup, this slagger’s got it comin’ to him, and I wanna be the one to hand it out!”

He looked down at his brother and smiled evilly. The berating he had taken by Sunstreaker was the final straw. He needed to teach him a lesson he wouldn’t soon forget.

It was lucky that Howlstrike had taken notice of the two warriors going at one another. Before the old timer could answer his friend’s question he was already half way to the feuding duo. If Sideswipe had gotten in one shot it would have been his only one. Sunstreaker would not hold back, not even for his own brother. He’d likely beat him into stasis or worse, kill him all together.

“That’s enough you two! Sideswipe, get off him and get to your quarters!”

Kup let go of the young mech’s arm and stepped back to give Sideswipe some room. He looked back to Howlstrike and nodded letting him know that he could use his help, especially with Sunstreaker.

Ratchet’s Office

Optimus Prime listened to the Dinobot Commander’s explanation on what happened once Prime noticed he and his men were missing. Prime shook his head and lowered his gaze to the floor. Grimlock never saw the larger picture. It wasn’t Prime who needed that energon, it was his troops fighting on the front lines, and Grimlock blatantly disregarded a direct order and stole the energon to fuel his own ship and follow through with his own plans. Optimus rarely became angry at his troops, but Grimlock had the tendency to bring out the worst in the Autobot leader.

“Grimlock, those energon reserves were needed on the frontlines. My men were in dire need of it…”

Prime’s looked back up at the Dinobot before he continued.

“…I lost some good soldiers. That is on your head now!”

Optimus glared steadily at Grimlock as he posed his quarries to the Autobot leader.

“The war was brought to this planet by the Decepticons, we are here to make sure they do not decimate it. As for Cybertron….”

Optimus looked away.
“….it has become uninhabitable due to our ongoing war.”

Prime grew quiet for a moment, how he longed to be back on his home world, but he had to remember the other worlds that would need their help.

Training Room

“Oh, I’m sorry…”

Arcee apologised less than sincerely, the gesture barely audible above the roar of her own engine as she sped through the corridors. It seemed reckless at first glance, careening around each corner at fast speeds, the very actions that she would often scold Hot Rod for, but truth be told she knew every inch of the Ark like the back of her hand. She knew every panel and every rivet, she knew what she was doing, she was in full control.

Which didn’t mean she wasn’t enjoying herself.

“…I thought you were ready for anything?”

With a sudden squealing of breaks, the pink tinted fem spun a full one hundred and eighty degrees, skid marks left in her wake as Arcee rapidly transformed. She spun and landed on her feet with grace and assurance that was born from experience, a natural dexterity that few could match.

“But I guess not huh?”

Arcees lack of sincerity continued as the pink tinted fem made a playful wink.

“I’ll try to remember that…so not to embarrass you again”

Medical Bay

It always amazed the Autobot tracker at how fast Kup could still move, even after all these vorns. No sooner had Howlstrike told his friend of the fight the twins were embroiled in, that the old timer was already over to the duo, pulling the red one, Sideswipe, off the other, Sunstreaker. Kup had not replied to Howl, but instead moved quickly to remedy the situation. Howl understood completely and took no offense.

Kup had been around for a very long time, loving to share hundreds of interesting war stories with any Autobot who would listen. Howlstrike especially loved listening to Kup’s numerous tales of close calls, Decepticon ambushes and other harrowing encounters. Howl would imagine each scene in his processor as Kup told it, never growing tired of hearing and learning new tricks of the trade from a seasoned veteran. Most Autobots probably found Kup’s stories a bit grating on the ear receptors after awhile, but Howlstrike knew that there were lessons to be learned from those old yarns, lessons he would remember and take with him onto the battlefield.

Howlstrike watched as Kup turned towards him and gave a gentle nod, signaling to him that the old mech would require assistance. Howl wasted no time and swiftly moved to his mentor’s side. The green and black hunter silently stood over the Autobot twins, glaring down at them with a ferocious intensity. Howlstrike said nothing to either of them. He didn’t need to. The expression on his faceplate clearly showed that he meant business and would back up Kup if the two brothers continued to misbehave.

Ratchet’s Office

Grimlock was a bit taken back at Prime’s reply. He didn’t like having the deaths of Autobots being hung on him like that. They were Prime’s troops and Prime’s responsibility. He should have known better than to send them out low on energon. What if the cache had been destroyed, much like what Shockwave had done to his team earlier? He should know better than to count on having some supply of energon when he needed it, not in the middle of a war zone at least. Still, that lingering feeling of guilt remained.

It didn’t help that Prime followed that up with the news about Cybertron’s current state. He had been gone far too long. Everything had gone straight to the Pit without him and his team around. Maybe his decision to take down Shockwave had been a bit selfish. Shockwave was a big cog in the Decepticon machine, but apparently not big enough. Of course, things could have been even worse if they hadn’t taken him out of the equation for so long, although it was hard to imagine how things could be worse.

Well if things were in as bad shape as Prime was describing then this was no time to dwell on past mistakes. It looked like he was going to have to turn this war around on his own, with the help of his team, assuming they were up for it. Getting into the thick of things again would hopefully bring them all around. He’d just have to explain what dire straits there were in here. They could get over some hurt feelings.

Grimlock finally stood up from his seat and walked over to Optimus Prime. He was quiet for a moment before speaking. “Me want me and my team on the frontlines now. We going to turn this war around even if we have to do it ourselves. Just give me ship and energon and we start hitting Decepticons wherever we can as hard as we can.”

Repair Bay

Sunstreaker’s face had contorted into an expression of pure rage as Sideswipe leapt on top of him. He had been going easier on him, easier than he would with anyone else. He was his brother after all. He’d given Sideswipe the chance right there to call it off and admit he was beaten Then they could go off and do some training or get a drink or something. Instead he’d spat in his face and attacked him. He was going to regret doing that. Sunstreaker wasn’t in the mood for giving second chances.

Sideswipe was stronger than him, something he would never admit out loud. Sunstreaker waited until he was distracted. As soon as Kup let go of his arm he heaved with all of his might and flunk Sideswipe off of him. Freed from being pinned he wasted little time. Bringing his hands up above his shoulders he pushed off with them, springing himself instantly back to his feet. He brought his fists up in a fighting stance and stood facing his brother. As he spoke his optics never left Sideswipe. He wasn’t going to get in another lucky shot. His expression was one of cold anger, the look he gave any opponent before they fought.

“Stay out of this old timer, and keep your little pet Predacon out of it too. This is between me and him.”

“This is your big chance Sideswipe, where you can prove to everyone that you’re better than me. I know you’ve been waiting for that chance since they day you joined the Autobots. You’ve been waiting to get out from under my shadow and here’s your opportunity. I’ll tell you right now though, you won’t be getting another one.”

Medical Lab

The sudden commotion by the CR chambers took Wheeljack by surprise and drew his attention towards what was causing it. He was surprised to see the twins pounding on each other in a rather serious brawl. The engineer had observed them sparing with each other, and it often became serious, but it seemed more like a friendly competition. This was different. These two were very angry with each other and were out to do some serious harm.

Before he could act though, Kup had sprung into action and tried to restrain Sideswipe and pulled him off his brother. Of course Sunstreaker had gotten up and clearly showed he had no qualms with striking his brother, while getting to his feet. This looked serious, these were two tough and skilled Autobot warriors, they could do some real damage to each other, and really mess up the med lab in the process.

Wheeljack made his way over to where Kup was standing and watching the fight unfold. He lowered the output of his vocalizer so only the old, Autobot veteran could hear.

"If you need any help keeping these two from wrecking the place just ask. I got some EMP shells ready to go, I can knock them both out if I have to. Just give me the word."

Ratchet’s Office

Optimus turned his back to Grimlock as he let what he said sink into the Dinobot Commander’s processor. Prime also let it sink into his own making him now regret what he had said. He really had no right to lay the deaths of his men on Grimlock’s head. The Dinobot was right; he could have pulled his men out, but being in the mist of battle changes things.

Prime listened to what Grimlock had to say, he turned on his heal and faced his opposite. After all he had said the Dinobot Commander and Grimlock still demanded that things go his way. Optimus looked back at him and spoke.

“You will be going nowhere. Your men and you are quarantined here in the base. All of you will remain here during the duration of the infiltration process.”

Optimus moved past Grimlock and made his way to the door. The Autobot leader looked back before leaving.

“And Grimlock, any insubordination on you or your mens’ part will result in you serving the rest of your quarantine in the brig. I would assume that I’m understood.”

Training Room

Hot Rod stopped just behind Arcee and transformed back to his robot form. Once the contortions of gears and panels were complete there stood the young mech with a broad smile on his face. He knew the femme for a long time, but he never could understand her. What she said was almost never what she meant. Perhaps it was just the fact that femmes were different creatures altogether.

“I am always ready, just not for surprises. Anyway, let’s get in there so I can show you just how ready I am.”

Hot Rod stepped past Arcee and move into the training facility where he stopped next to a control console. He placed a hand on the keys and began imputing data. He then turned to her.

“So what shall it be, lady’s choice.”

Medical Bay

Sideswipe got up from off the floor and stood in his own fighting stance. He was not going to let his brother get the better of him this time. The red warrior was tired of being in his twins shadow and he was not going let Sunstreaker get the better of him.

“Bring it you golden pile of slag!”

Kup stepped in between the two brothers once more, but this time he took a hold of Sideswipe.

“That’s enough! And you!” Kup looked back at Sunstreaker. “Back off Sunstreaker!” The old mech turned to Howlstrike while struggling to hold Sideswipe. “Grab him Howl!”

Sideswipe struggled to try and get out of Kup’s strong grip, but to no avail. “Kup! Get the slag offa me!”

Medical Bay

To his anger and dismay, Howlstrike watched as the Autobot twins completely ignored Kup’s warning and continued their sibling rivalry. Both were back on their feet now and facing each other in a fighting stance. Neither appeared willing to back down or listen to reason. Therefore, it would be up to Howl and Kup to end this pointless bickering once and for all.

While the old mech restrained Sideswipe, Howlstrike had the pleasure of dealing with Sunstreaker. Howl never had any personal interactions with the golden twin in the past, but he knew well of Sunny and his unpleasant disposition, which was something the two actually had in common. The Autobot tracker was also aware that Sunstreaker thought very highly of himself and cared greatly about his outward appearance. This was something Howl could use against him.

Moving quickly at Kup’s command, Howlstrike leapt in front of Sunstreaker and grabbed a hold of him by both arms. “Watch who you’re calling a pet Predacon you golden prima donna!” Howl growled at Sunny, referring to the twin’s recent comment. Howlstrike hated to be referred to as Kup’s pet. But what was worse than that was being called a Predacon. Putting the two insults together just angered Howlstrike even more. It would be like calling Sunstreaker an ugly, bad fighter.

Trying to keep his cool, especially in front of Kup, Howlstrike tightened his grip on Sunstreaker in an attempt to keep him away from his brother. The sharpened tips of Howl's clawed hands were just barely touching the twin’s gold finish when he snarled, “You wouldn’t want to scratch up that precious paint job of yours would you?”

Training Room

Smokescreen’s rockets hit their intended targets in a pair of fiery bursts of light and sound. From the explosions came hundreds of tiny shards emitting jamming signals that disrupted the guidance systems of the remaining drones, which all ended up crashing into one another and falling harmlessly to the ground. “Excellent,” Smokey commented to himself as he retracted his launchers into his back once more.

Pleased with his rockets’ performance, Smokescreen turned and walked back towards the control console where he noticed Hot Rod was standing with Arcee. The diversion expert greeted the Autobot cavalier with a friendly smile. “Hey, Hot Rod. It’s good to see you back on your feet and fully functioning. We were all quite worried about you.” Smoke then turned to Arcee. “Keep an eye on this one, Arcee. Make sure he doesn’t get into anymore trouble.”

Smokescreen then patiently waited for the two love bots to finish with the control pad so he could program in his next training simulation.

*********

It didn’t take long for Sludge to completely destroy the training drone Smokescreen had set up for him. His energo sword had easily cut through the droid like tin foil. It wasn't much of a challenge, but it had been fun and useful in getting the remaining kinks out of his joints, which hadn’t quite felt the same since the Dinobot’s encounter with Swindle.

Sludge then turned and saw Snarl still engaged with his own training drone. Unsure of what to do next, the Jungle Warrior cautiously approached his Dinobot comrade. “Hey, Snarl. You still mad? Hope not at me. Just want to bring team together is all.”

Medical Bay

Sunstreaker struggled against Howlstrike. He’d been too focused on Sideswipe to be prepared for his sudden intrusion and grapple with him. Why was everyone getting in his slagging way? His brother needed a beat down to shut his mouth and he was the one who was going to give it to him.

He glared at the other Autobot. He didn’t know much about Howlstrike other than what he’d heard from others. It was enough to at least insult him. Apparently he thought he knew enough about him to insult him back with the mention of messing up his finish. Unfortunately he didn’t know enough. “You mess up that finish and I’ll break you in half, you Decepticon reject!” With that said Sunstreaker spat a glob of oil at Howlstrike’s face, following it up with a headbutt. Hopefully that would be enough for him to release him. If not, well, at least he got to hit someone.

*

Ratchet’s Office

Grimlock glared at Optimus Prime as he left the room. “You dumber than me thought Prime! You lose Cybertron and then keep best warriors locked up! No wonder you losing so badly!” Prime made no reply however, continuing out of the room.

The Dinobot leader clenched a fist and let out a growl. They’d just been woken up from being buried on this planet for who knows how long and know they were buried on it again. Meanwhile the war was still raging on planets across the galaxy. All they could do on this planet was rust.

Grimlock lashed out, his fist slamming into an office wall, leaving a sizable dent in it. He didn’t care what Prime said. If there was a war still going on then he and his team should be in the thick of it. He would find a way for them to get back into it. They’d bounced to this other ship. That mean there was at least one other ship in orbit. There was also the ship they had taken to this world so long ago, probably crashed somewhere on its surface. Either way they would take one of those ships and get off of this planet. Prime and his other lackeys could stay here and keep losing while he actually tried to turn the tide of this war.

The Dinobot stomped out of the office. He spared a brief glance at the twins being held captive by Kup and Howlstrike. At another time he might have taken some interest in what was going on. At the very least he would probably find it amusing, but he wasn’t in the mood now. Now he needed to find a ship and figure out how to get it. He quickly left the medical bay to find some quiet, private place he could tap into the ship’s computer and get some information.

*

(OOC: I’ll be NPCing Hot Rod until Ember gets back)

Training Room

Hot Rod waited somewhat impatiently for Arcee to come up with what type of training scenario to run them through. As he waited he received the message from Prowl. He sighed silently to himself. He expected the lectures to start coming in from, well pretty much everyone. That didn’t mean he liked it, or would heed the advice.

>>”No problem Prowl, next time I fight Megsy I’ll have a plan. They whole charging him thing didn’t work this time but you can bet next time I fight him I’ll be better prepared. You can count on me.”<<

His mood improved again when Smokescreen came over. “Hey Smokey, good to see you too. You shouldn’t have worried so much. It takes more than a little hole through the chest to take me down for the count.” He threw the other Autobot a confident smile. “And as for Arcee keeping me out of trouble, she’ll be too busy trying not to get that pretty pink paint job all scuffed and scorched in this training exercise to worry about me getting hurt.” He turned his confident and cocky smile back to Arcee to see if she had a scenario in mind and what kind of witty retort she’d give him.

Med Bay

Howlstrike stood firm as Sunstreaker struggled against his grip. The Autobot hunter had a height and strength advantage over the golden warrior, but this did not mean that Sunny wasn’t still dangerous. The twin had excellent melee skills that were comparable to Howl’s own abilities. The green and black mech needed to be careful and not get too overconfident.

Howlstrike laughed at Sunstreaker’s threat to break him in two. “I’d like to see you try,” Howl began to say as a glob of oil then hit him square in the face. Sunny quickly followed up his spitting with a headbutt that ended up striking Howl in the upper chest area near his neck. The attack took Howl slightly off guard, but did nothing to shake his stance against the Autobot twin.

What the attack did do was enrage Howlstrike to the point of almost losing control. On any other day, the ex-Predacon would have ripped off both of Sunny’s arms and beaten him into stasis with his own appendages. However, with Kup holding Sideswipe at bay nearby, Howl was not inclined to make such a drastic move. Kup would surely scold him for being so violent against a fellow Autobot.

Therefore, Howlstrike took a deep breath in an attempt to remain calm. He then turned his head to the side and wiped his face on his shoulder plate. With the oil mostly removed, Howl returned an intense stare back at Sunstreaker, his metal lips drawing back to reveal pointed teeth. “You shouldn’t have done that, golden rod!” Howl growled at Sunny as he let go of him with his right hand and swiftly drew out his energo sword, all the while maintaining a firm grip on Sunny with his left hand.

Howlstrike pointed his sword directly at Sunstreaker’s chest plate, allowing the sharp tip to rest against the twin’s gold finish. “Oh, I’m sorry, was it this paint job here that you don’t want me to mess up? Or maybe you were referring to another.” The Autobot tracker smiled with devilish delight. “Of course, your paint will be the least of your worries if you don’t stand down now!”

Training Room

Smokescreen couldn’t help but laugh at Hot Rod’s remark. “I’m glad to hear that one of us can survive Megatron’s wrath. I doubt I’d fare so well. I’d probably end up in the scrap heap.” Smokey paused a moment before continuing. “Of course, that would only happen if I actually had the courage to do what you did, Hot Rod. You must have no fear whatsoever.”

Smokecreen patted the Autobot cavalier on his shoulder as he then glanced over to Arcee. “So, you think she’ll ever decide on a training program?” Smokey asked Hot Rod with a smirk on his faceplate. “Femmbots can be so indecisive sometimes. Maybe she’s just afraid you’ll scuff up her paint job like you said.” Smokescreen looked at Arcee again with a wide grin, waiting to see if she would rip them both a new tailpipe for their comments.

Med Bay

Sideswipe struggled tirelessly against Kup’s tight grip as he watched Sunstreaker begin to go up against the former Predacon. The crimson warrior grew angrier as he couldn’t get a hold of his twin to give him the proper beat down he deserved, but now someone else, nay, something else was bullying its way into his fight.

“Keep your hands off of him you degenerate dropout!”

With one last lurch Sideswipe was able to wriggle his way out of Kup’s grasp. The young mech lunged for Howlstrike’s waist in an attempt to knock the wolf away from his twin. With any luck he’d take the former Predacon down and he’s wail on him instead of his brother. At this point Sideswipe would take on anyone.

To Kup’s astonishment Sideswipe had gotten away from him and made an attempt to attack his friend. Probably a big mistake for the red twin, but he certainly could do some damage to Howlstrike if need be.

*********

Optimus Prime had left Ratchet’s office with Grimlock bellowing behind him. Prime paid little attention to the Dinobot’s bantering. He knew the role by now. He would reprimand Grimlock and then he would be bombarded by verbal abuse. It was getting old.

Prime stalked to a CR chamber and entered it in order to finally get the repairs he needed from the battle with his opposite.

Training Room

When it came to other Mechs, Arcees patience was almost legendary. There was a blind spot of course, Hot Rod was the notable exception, but when it came to others, the Fem approached most encounters attempting to see things from their perspective. The Autobots were a wide and varied group after all, with personalities that ranged from one extreme to the other, from the pinnacle of Optimus Prime, to the almost Decepticon extremes.

Conflicts were inevitable, but Arcee was not one to instigate them.

Of course, there was still that one exception.

“Don’t…” Arcee shot Smokescreen a cautionary glare, not something the pink tinted Fem was prone to doing “…encourage him”.

That was the last thing the Cavalier needed, someone to help him light the fuse to the rocket under his aft.

“And if I was the two of you…” Arcee warned, finishing the imputing of a new programme “…I’d spend less time looking at my paintjob…”

Suddenly the young, pink tinted Fembot backed away and transformed, the rapid twisting of gears and flipping of panels allowing her to speed off almost before her tires hit the ground. The training room almost seemed to ripple all around them, a series of holographic generators altering their surroundings into a rocky, battle scared hill, a Flag planted firmly at its tip.

Unfortunately, for those unprepared, it also sprung up several Decepticon Aggressors, each of them raining firepower, albeit simulated, down all around them.

“…and start looking for some cover!”