Hey everyone, hope you're all doing well.

It's been a little bit, but here's the next chapter. And we got some other characters in the story in this one. I hope you enjoy :)

Chapter Ten

"What do you mean, you can't come?" the femme snapped, optics narrowing as she placed a hand on her hip.

She'd almost for certain found what was most likely the energon signal the three of them had been sent to investigate. However, apparently the other two bozos were, for some reason, unable to convene at her coordinates to further investigate.

After muttered grumbling, one of the mechs on the other end of the comm replied.

"We're stuck."

"What do you mean, stuck?" the two-wheeler demanded, tapping her pede on the rocky ground.

"We're in a hole," said the mech. "Might need some help out."

"A hole? How did you two idiots happen to fall in a hole? And what is a giant hole doing in the middle of nowhere."

The femme's optics widened as she looked out over the canyon.

"YOU MEAN YOU FELL INTO THE CANYON! YOU DIMWITS! THAT'S WHERE WE'RE SUPPOSED TO BE!"

There was a short silence from Goldbug's side of the comm, the young mech likely recovering from the sudden volume.

Cliffjumper was the mech that replied. "No, we're not in the canyon, moron! It's a trap!"

"How'd you fall into a trap?" Arcee asked shrilly, fists at her sides shaking in rage.

These two couldn't be trusted to look for energon alone for five kliks!

"It was covered and we didn't see it until too late," Goldbug replied sullenly, audios no longer ringing. "Will you just come and help us out?"

Arcee smirked, a dark expression on her faceplate. "I have half a mind to leave you two in there to rust. Fitting that you would fall into your own graves, wouldn't it?

"And much easier for me to collect your helms too."

"IF YOU LEAVE US HERE, BY UNICRON I WILL TRACK YOU DOWN AND KILL YOU, ARCEE!" Cliffjumper screamed.

"If you can get out of your new home," Arcee snapped back, rolling her optics.

"You mean, if Lord Optimus Prime doesn't figure out your treachery first," hissed Goldbug. I wouldn't want to be on his bad side, and I'm pretty sure he'd be upset if one of his best warriors went missing."

Turning away from the canyon ledge, Arcee started walking towards where she'd split from the two mechs to search on her own.

"You mean your sister?" the femme asked coolly, not being able to resist a chance to poke the young mech's sore spot. "If you died, I don't think it would affect Skyshadow, sorry."

"NOT HER, YOU IDIOT! ME!"

"STOP SCREAMING!" yelled Cliffjumper. "Arcee, get over here and help us out before I murder him!"

"I'm coming, I'm coming," growled the femme. "Where are you two anyways?"

"In a hole."

"Where's the hole?"

Bumblebee scoffed. "In the ground. You have the scanner, femme! Use it!"

Arcee bared her denta in a snarl and shut her comm off. Pulling the scanner back out of her subspace pocket, she set it to scan for life signatures.

Once the device had pinpointed what must be Dumb and Dumber, the two-wheeler stomped away in that direction.

"When I find those two, I might just bury them in the hole," she muttered darkly as she stalked across the rocky ground, avoiding the larger rocks. "Or just behead them and save myself the trouble."

Smokescreen grinned when he saw the young femme walk out of the communications room, minus her tall, moody shadow.

Waiting until she passed the doorway he'd been just about to leave, the Praxian stepped out into the hallway and followed her.

"Oh, Skyshadow! Just the mecha I wanted to find!" he called as he caught up with her, slinging a servo over her shoulders.

Skyshadow didn't slow her pace. "Remove the appendage or lose it," she growled.

Smokescreen didn't move his servo, only using it to pull the smaller femme closer as they walked down the hall.

"No need for that talk, babe," he purred. "I just wanted to talk to you about something."

"And I don't give a care," snarked Skyshadow, pulling away unsuccessfully from the stronger mech. "Go find someone else to annoy."

As they entered an intersecting corridor, Smokescreen swiftly changed directions, taking his unwilling hostage with him.

"You'd care if you knew what it was I wanted to say," he said, ignoring the insult. "Besides, you and I need to catch up."

"You need to catch up with the fact that I don't want to talk to you!" Skyshadow jabbed him in the side with an armoured, pointed elbow joint. "I already warned you once, let go or you will regret it."

Annoyed at her disdain and threats, Smokescreen halted, pulling the femme around in front of him, holding her by her servo.

"Look here," he said lowly, an edge to his tone as he stared into Skyshadow's cold optics. "I outrank you, and I believe you know what happens to mecha who decide to threaten a higher ranking Autobot."

Skyshadow glared daggers at the mech. "And I think you have an idea of what happens to mecha who threaten me," she hissed.

"I'm aware of your proficiency of dealing with the opposite faction, Skyshadow," Smokescreen said, jerking her closer. He bent, leaning so their faceplates were inches away. "But I doubt you would actually try that on a member of your own faction."

"Do you? And what if Lord Prime or another officer asked it?" Skyshadow sneered. "What do you want, Smokescreen? You have mere seconds before my patience runs out and you lose a servo."

Gritting his denta, Smokescreen let out a low growl. "I need your help with something, spy."

"If it's about your new, grand plan to take the throne- "

"It's not that," snapped the head seeker, interrupting her. "I need info on some mecha."

Skyshadow gave him a look, arching an optic ridge. "Why do you need me? And who have you suddenly taken interest in? If it's a femme, I pity her."

The spy paused, then smirked. "And thank her at the same time. She'll help me be rid of you."

"Just come with me!" Smokescreen said with another growl, straightening and dragging her along as he resumed his course.

Opening an internal comm, Skyshadow prodded him with the question again. "Obviously you don't want to say the mechas' designations out loud. Who are they? And let go. Now."

Complying, Smokescreen released his hold on Skyshadow's servo.

"I need you to give me some background information on two mechs. We're trying to decide who would be a better fit for the third seeker."

Skyshadow raised an optic ridge again as she continued to follow behind the young mech. "Seriously? That's what all that was about?"

"You never help me willingly."

"That's because I really don't like you, if you haven't caught on yet. And that increases every time you talk to me."

Smokescreen glared at Skyshadow over his shoulder. She only returned the glare.

"Who do you want info on? I'd like to get this over with as soon as possible thank you very much."

"Hot Rod and Goldbug."

Skyshadow stopped in her tracks, crossing her servos. "Seriously? Those are your candidates? Should be any easy choice."

Smokescreen, sensing with his doorwings that she'd stopped following, turned around and went back to stand in front of her.

"What do you mean?" he asked, tone half annoyed, half curious.

The black and purple femme shrugged, rolling her optics. "My brother might talk big and be a decent warrior, but he's an idiot. Hot Rod at least has a little bit more competency to him along with skill."

She narrowed her optics. "Plus, as far as I know, Hot Rod isn't a backstabber. Goldbug definitely is."

With that, the femme stopped, looking expectantly up at Smokescreen for a reply.

"That's it?" Smokescreen asked aloud, confusion evident on his faceplate.

"Yes." Skyshadow shrugged. "Do you really need anything else?"

"Would be nice," grumbled the Praxian.

Skyshadow waved him off with a hand. "No point. If you're going with those two, pick the Iaconian. He'll last longer and you and Blurr might too."

"You know Goldbug is also trying to work his way to the top," she added, going back to the internal comm. "Hot Rod may be as well, but I'd trust him over the other one. If I had to pick."

"Goldbug's your brother," Smokescreen replied, furrowing his optic ridges. "You don't trust him?"

"Do you blame me?" Skyshadow said aloud with a shrug. She then turned on her heel and sauntered back the way they'd come. Looking over her shoulder, she added something else, a dark smirk on her faceplate.

"My big brother taught me to trust no one. So I don't."

Smokescreen watched the lithe young femme move away down the corridor, then let out a huff.

"I suppose she's probably right," he grouched, turning to stalk away in the opposite direction.

It wasn't how the young mech had hoped the conversation would go, but he'd gotten information.

"She's playing hard to get," he thought with a smirk. "Why wouldn't she be?

"When I'm ruler, she'll agree to be my queen and rule at my side. The two of us will become the most powerful couple in the universe! No one will be able to defeat us!"

Smokescreen grinned darkly, letting out a low chuckle.

"And after we conquer Earth, we will rebuild what's left of Cybertron. After that, we will spread our empire to crush the neighbouring galaxies and bring their miserable races to their knees.

"With the two of us in power, no one will be able to stand against the Autobots and survive!"

Steeldust glanced up when he heard the brig door open, loud, thudding pedesteps entering the dungeon section of the basement.

Quickly matching the rhythm and sound to the pedesteps' owner, the young mech quirked an optic ridge as he frowned.

A faceplate lowered itself to look in the small window in the door. Upon spotting the red and black mech, the half-Insecticon's faceplate split in a wide grin, showing off his mouth full of sharp denta.

"I found you," the creature said happily, voice deep and slightly guttural.

"Yay, you found me, Bug," Steeldust said flatly, though a wry grin appeared on his faceplate.

Leaning forward to place his folded servos on his knee joints, he tilted his helm. "How'd you know I was down here?"

Bug lifted a hand to his faceplate. "I smelled you."

"Do I smell that bad? I just took a shower today," Steeldust joked.

"No," the Insectibot shook his helm. "You just smelled like Steeldust."

"Oh."

"Why you down here?"

"Magnus put me down here. Cause he's awful. And cause I'm awful I guess." Steeldust shrugged. "The same old usual, Bug."

"Oh, okay," Bug replied.

Suddenly, without any warning, the Insectibot grabbed the door, sinking his monstrous claws through the panel. With a short yank, the door was soon sailing across the corridor before slamming against the opposite wall and falling to the ground with a crash.

Steeldust stayed where he was, lowering the servo he'd held in front of his faceplate when the door suddenly disappeared from his view. He blinked several times at the Insectibot still standing in the doorway.

The Insectibot blinked back, waiting expectantly for something.

"Welp," Steeldust said after a final blink, twitching his doorwings. "That was brutally abrupt. What'd you steal my door for?"

Bug tilted his helm. "It was caging you in here."

"Uhh, yes?" Steeldust said, raising an optic ridge. "That's usually what doors are for. Especially brig doors."

"I don't like Ultra Magnus," grumbled Bug. "He's awful. And he put you in here."

He paused, then grinned, revealing again his sharp teeth that could easily snap a mecha Steeldust's size in half. "But I'm letting you out."

"Oh," replied Steeldust intelligently. "But I deserved it. And I'm not supposed to leave until someone comes and let's me out."

"That's me," said Bug wisely.

"No, no, no. Like, with the command of a high-ranking officer," corrected the speedster, waving his hands around as he spoke. "I can't actually come with you or we'd both be in trouble."

Then, he lowered his voice to a low grumble that Bug could barely hear.

"Besides, if I wanted to get out, I could just let myself out."

"Oh," Bug said.

Then, he entered the small cell and sat down against the adjacent wall to Steeldust.

Steeldust rose an optic ridge. "So, you're just gonna sit here?"

The Insectibot simply gave him a short nod.

"Don't you have something more interesting to do?" Steeldust asked, genuinely confused.

"Not really."

"Oh."

Bug continued to quietly sit there, staring at the floor in front of them. Steeldust continued to stare at him for awhile, still confused. Then, figuring he'd have a companion for some time, he went back to what he'd been thinking about before he'd joined him.

"Hey, Shockwave. Can you hand me that tool?"

The larger mech wordlessly complied, handing the item Iron Blade had pointed at up into the tree.

Reaching down from his branch, Iron Blade took the tool with a grin. "Thanks!"

"You're welcome," replied Shockwave, stepping back to take a look at their progress.

The pair had gone out to scout for a good place to set their trap. They'd selected a valley in the middle of a forest and were setting up their nets in various places around it, not far into the tree line.

Where they knew the speedsters may use the cover to their advantage while darting in and out of the battle.

"I can't wait to see the look on their faceplates when they run into these things," said Iron Blade as he attached the last section of the net to the tree.

"It should be shocking," replied the older scientist. "As long as they don't see them, we should be able to capture at least one of them."

"Or someone else," added Iron Blade, hopping down from his perch. "Those two aren't the only ones that use that tactic."

"Agreed," Shockwave said. He then bent to start collecting their supplies that they'd placed on the ground. "As long as we tell our troops about them, then no one should run into them that is not supposed to."

Iron Blade frowned, flicking a wing. "Yeah, that wouldn't be too great."

Arcee could not believe her luck.

She'd managed to find the hole that Cliffjumper and Goldbug had managed to fall into.

In trying to assist them up, she herself had slipped on the edge and fell in with them.

"YOU IDIOTS!" she had screamed at them when they'd untangled themselves and stood up.

Whoever had dug the hole, must have been big. Or there'd been many of them. Or both.

The walls were too high and too far apart for any of them to climb. Even when Goldbug and Cliffjumper cooperated with each other long enough to link servos and try to climb back-to-back up the sides.

And to top it all off, no one at base was answering the comms.

"When I get a hold of who is on monitor duty," growled Cliffjumper, slumping to the floor of the hole, not caring about the dirt. He was already filthy anyways. "I'm going to kill them."

"I'm more interested in who dug this hole!" Arcee snarled, pacing the space between the two mechs, fists balled at her sides. "It must have been Decepticons! They knew we would be coming to investigate the energon signal!"

"Actually, wasn't Blades on duty when we left?" Cliffjumper inquired lowly, furrowing his optic ridges. "He wouldn't ignore our calls."

Goldbug grinned maliciously, optics glinting. "But Blades won't be on now. Check the schedule, it is supposed to be Steeldust."

"Little brat wouldn't dare ignore us," Arcee hissed, turning towards them. "Something might be wrong at base."

"Or," Goldbug said. "He's got himself in trouble. Again."

"I don't care what he's done," snapped Cliffjumper. "I just want out of this blasted pit!"

"Well, we might be stuck here awhile if something is broken," Goldbug replied with an annoyed shrug. "Maybe we should try calling some of the others."

"Your sister?"

"Anybody would be great," grumbled Goldbug. "I kind of doubt that my sister would be the first one to come and help."

The other two gave a nod in agreement.

Skyshadow wasn't exactly known for being a friendly sort. More the cold and calculating type. If, that is, she tolerated you.

If she disliked or hated you, well...

None of the trio trapped in the pit had made themselves friends with the winged assassin.

"How bout we try someone else first?" Goldbug asked after thinking about it for a few kliks.

Before anyone could answer, the sound of an incoming aircraft engine met their audios.

"Who's that?" grumbled Cliffjumper, straining his neck cables as he tried to get a better look at what sky he could see.

Arcee growled, a deep scowl forming on her faceplate. "It's that good-for-nothing flier!"

Goldbug and Cliffjumper exchanged a glance.

"That would be all Decepticon fliers," droned Goldbug, crossing his servos. "Please be more specific."

"You know who I mean!"

"Oh. That one."

Cliffjumper let out a low chuckle. "Fitting your arch nemesis comes along, Arcee."

"Shut up," growled the femme, giving him a death glare.

Meanwhile, the aircraft had come steadily closer. Soon, the trio heard it stop, followed by the sound of metal parts shifting. Kliks later, a familiar faceplate peered down at them from the edge of the hole above them.

"Well, well, well," the winged femme said with a sneer. "If it isn't the Junkion wanna-be and her horned freak mechfriend. Oh, and the bug."

Her words were met with three glares.

"Hey! Watch it!" yelled Goldbug.

Arcee glared daggers at the Decepticon looking down at her. "If it isn't the slime ball flier. What brings the likes of you here?"

Airina let out a laugh. "Says the worms from their hole in the dirt. I just came to check on a nearby energon signal. Thought I'd swing by the nearby Cybertronian life signals while I was at it."

"If you try anything..." Cliffjumper began, trailing off with a growl.

The purple and black gave a haughty sniff, her wingtips flicking as she tossed her helm in disgust.

"None of you are worth my time currently. I'll leave you for someone else to deal with."

Turning back to look at them, she grinned darkly. "I'll let the Stunticons know their stupid plan actually worked. I'm sure they'll be pleased."

With that, the femme flounced away from the edge and took off into the sky, heading towards the nearby canyon.

"When I get my hands on her," snarled Arcee, pacing back and forth across the small space not taken up by the other two.

"You'll what?" Goldbug grumbled darkly. "Rip her helm off?"

"We have to get out first, then I'll help you," snarled Cliffjumper. "Who does she think she is?"

"I don't want to wait for the Stunticons. We need to get out of here!"

"Then call base!" Arcee yelled at the former scout. "What have you done to try and get us out?"

Goldbug leaned over the smaller femme threateningly. "More than you have."

"Shut up, bug!"

Note: Bug and Iron Blade belong to my brother, Blaster 2.0. Airina belongs to my sister. Thanks to both for letting me write about them and checking to make sure they're portrayed as their proper Shattered selves.

And thank you, dear readers, for reading this chapter and the story!

Until next time, stay safe!