A bit later, Steeljaw opens his optics to see Strongarm still resting in his arms with her helm laying on his shoulder, her optics are closed to show she's still sleeping. He watches her as he thinks back to his actions earlier. What is it about this femme that makes him want to go to such great lengths to ensure she's safe and will stay with him? 

He never did anything like that for any bot, especially for a femme. He never saw himself as the type to drive himself crazy like that to protect any femme. But this femme has so much effect on him that it drives him crazy to think about exactly how much effect she has. She makes his protective instincts just go wild. But he doesn't mind it. He will protect his mate at any cost.

Strongarm's optics open as her systems kick back on to wake her up. She looks around before noticing she's still in Steeljaw's arms and sitting between his legs. She looks over at him and finds him watching her, just staring at her like he's in some daze. She takes a look at his shoulders before removing his arms and slowly moving to where she's on her knees. She notices his reluctance to let go but he releases her anyway and lets her do whatever she's planning. She reaches behind her and pulls out a medkit from her subspace.

Steeljaw watches her with curiosity as she pulls out the medkit, he didn't know she had one. He quietly watches as she opens up the kit and he wonders what she's up to. He's guessing she's about to fix the wound on her chest. Strongarm brings some oily-like ointment from the kit and moves closer to him, she then puts some of it on her fingers, gently places it on his shoulder, and rubs it in. Steeljaw hisses but doesn't do anything, he just lets her do what she's doing.

"Doesn't feel nice to be surprised with something like that, does it?" Strongarm spoke.

"I wasn't as surprised as you were."

Strongarm remained silent as she continued to rub the ointment over the burns and scuffing on his shoulder. But something kept prodding at her processor and bugging her, "Can I ask you something?"

"Anything."

"Why do I keep getting pain and this sick feeling every time I get away from you?"

"It's the bite mark I gave you."

Strongarm looks at him confused, "What does the bite mark have to do with it?"

"I don't know much about it, only what I've read. But from what I have read on it when a Wolf-Con bites the one they want as their mate some kind of chemical gets released into the femme or mech's body which bonds them to the Wolf-Con that bites them. Nobody completely knows how it works but due to the chemicals the femme or mech that gets bit and marked cannot be away from the Wolf-Con that bit them, or they will experience great pain and sickness."

"Felt that. That day after I escaped I got these sharp pains throughout my body and I felt sick to my stomach. I even purged out my tanks. It only started subsiding when you drew closer to my location."

"I also felt pain and sickness, but it was mostly from you. Somehow when you experience the pain and sickness I feel it from you, along with my own pain. But I mostly feel empty when you're not near me like a piece of me is missing."

"So, whenever I'm away from you I'll experience that pain and sickness?"

"Yes, every time."

That's gonna make escaping and getting back to my team more complicated. "And what if I never get back to you, will the pain keep going?"

"It will, and eventually it will kill you."

Strongarm stops rubbing and looks at him in shock, "You're not serious. Please say you're not serious."

"I'm serious. From what I have read if the femme or mech stays away from the Wolf-Con that had marked them for too long they will die, it's known to happen. The pain will become too great for their systems to handle and they will go into complete shutdown. Which is why I need you to stay by my side, I don't want to lose you."

Strongarm decided not to say a word as she got back to rubbing the ointment on his shoulder, but she was full of questions. She wondered why Steeljaw would even mark her if he knew what would come from it. Surely he's not so naïve to think she would stay with him and not try to escape. 

Unless that is part of his plan to keep her from escaping, but if that's the case then he doesn't want her just for information on her team or anything. He truly wants her to be with him. But she can't. She can't be with a 'Con criminal, it would ruin her reputation and any chances of surpassing cadet and being a full-fledged cop. 

But Steeljaw had already ruined all that by marking her with his bite so she belongs to him and she can't get away. As the realization sank in she started feeling angry as well as helpless, her hatred for this 'Con increasing even more. He's ruining her life and she hates him for it, and the hate just keeps increasing the more it sinks in what he's done. 

Also, what he did to Sideswipe was unforgivable. Sure she doesn't get along with him and he's always getting on her last nerve, but he didn't deserve what Steeljaw did to him. Is he even alive or did he die from his wounds? She doesn't even know.

Strongarm continues to tend to his shoulders but refuses to look at him again, right now she can't stand the sight of him but she's tolerating him because they're stuck in the cell together. But another reason she can't look at him is that for some reason whenever she looks at him, she gets this feeling in her spark that she never felt before and she knows it's not hatred. But she's not sure what it is.

She finishes applying the ointment to his shoulders, closes the medkit, and puts it away. She could wax and buff his armor but she's not gonna be that nice, she's not even gonna give him the privilege of doing it himself. She tells herself it's to punish him and to show there's a limit she will go to with her kindness but she's not certain that's the whole truth.

Could she be wanting to keep a reminder of what he did? She's not sure but she sure as hell isn't gonna dwell on that thought. She gets up and walks over to the Energon pile and picks up a cube, she then walks back over to Steeljaw and hands the cube to him, "Here, drink up."

Steeljaw takes the cube and watches her as she walks away and sits down against the wall a couple of feet away from him. He feels a bit sad that she's not getting back into the spot she had been in but he knows that what he said triggered something in her and now she wants to be at a distance once again.

He knows she still hates him and no doubt that hate increased after explaining the whole biting thing but he will get her to love him back in time, he's determined to. He's not one to be patient but for this, he will be as patient as he can be to have her. He turns his attention back to the Energon cube in his servo and starts drinking it.

The two sit in silence for a few minutes until Strongarm finally speaks up, "I think I may know how we could get out of here."

Steeljaw stops drinking the Energon and looks over at her, "Yeah? How?"

Strongarm wills herself to look over at him, "On my way back here I saw a room where they have a Ground Bridge. I don't know how they got one but I'm sure we can use it if we can get out of this cell and get to it. It will be our ticket out of here."

Steeljaw's interest piqued even more, "Have any ideas how we can get to it?"

Strongarm looked away from him, "No, still thinking."

"Hm. I'll see if I can come up with something." Steeljaw got back to drinking his Energon. Just as he downed the last bit of it the humans returned with their guns fixed on the both of them as they opened the cell. The leader walked in and pointed to Steeljaw, "You, you'll be coming with us."

Steeljaw growled at the human, "I don't take orders from you!"

"If you want your female to stay safe you best do as I say."

Steeljaw went silent as he thought it over, he didn't want to follow this human's orders but he also didn't want any harm to come to his mate. That protective side of him kicks in again and he gets the same feeling he had gotten earlier which drives him to this crazy decision, "Fine, I'll come." He gets up and waits for the human to lead.

The guy turns and nods his head to one of the soldiers standing by before walking out of the cell with Steeljaw following suit and a few of his soldiers following close behind with their guns fixated on the mech. After they left the soldier that the leader nodded to walked over to Strongarm and pulled out what looked like a syringe, he stuck the syringe into the area where Strongarm's hip and thigh connected and then walked away.

Strongarm watched the humans leave and close the cell door as she wondered what they just injected into her, "Wait! What did you just give me?"

The humans ignored her question and continued walking until they were out of her sight. She's not sure what they just gave her but she knew it couldn't be good.

~~~~~~~~~~

Steeljaw followed the leader to a different cell that had a huge metallic door instead of a cell door. It didn't seem to have the electrical current the cell door had but Steeljaw did notice the thickness of it and how heavy it looked, it would be very hard to break through, but at the same time quite possible if given the strength and right motivation.

As Steeljaw walked into the cell and the door began to close he wondered what their motive was for doing this, "What is all this!? Why are you separating us!?"

"It's for an experiment I want to try out."

"What kind of experiment!?"

"You'll see," the guy said as he closed the door before walking away with his soldiers. Steeljaw didn't know what they were up to now but he didn't like where it was going, especially since it meant he had to be away from Strongarm. But all he can do is wait and see what's going to happen.