The following morning the femme found her guest still asleep. At least he's sleeping.

Checking the stasis cuff she noticed the it had scratch marks on it. "Trying to be sneaky huh," she replied as she took a few steps back, "You can cut the act."

With a soft growl Steeljaw opened his optics and slowly sat up, "I'm impressed, most bots wouldn't have figured that out so quickly."

The femme looked at him unimpressed, "If you're trying to butter me up it's not going to work," she sighed as she sat down at her desk, "I'm sure you already figured out that you can't get out of those cuffs."

Steeljaw growled as he pulled on the cuffs, "These aren't your average stasis cuffs."

"You can pull and slash at them all you want but they won't break. D is the only one that can get them off, with my permission."

::He even tried chewing on them,:: D chuckled, ::Shall I pull up the surveillance camera ma'am?::

"As funny as that would be to watch I need to check on something. Did you drink your energon?"

Steeljaw just glared at her, "I'll take that as a no, I'd take it now, or I will put it to better use," she smiled as she walked out.

Does she really think she can keep me here? Once I get out of these cuffs I'll show her, Steeljaw  leered at the closed door.

::You really should drink the Energon, you're low. Mila--::

"I take orders from no one," Steeljaw snarled, "Especially not some femme that thinks she knows everything!"

::She doesn't know everything but, she has seen and been through a lot.::

Hearing this caught Steeljaw's attention, "Like what?"

::I'm not at liberty to say, you'll have to ask milady.::

"Why do you call her that, why not use her real designation?"

::She hasn't corrected me before and she doesn't seem to mind.::

Steeljaw let out a frustrated growl as he pulled on the cuffs again, they weren't going to break any time soon. With a sigh he looked at the Energon cube and sniffed it, ::I promise you it isn't poisoned, milady would never do such a thing.::

Steeljaw slowly drank his energon in silence.

He was still wary of the femme and D as time went on he rarely saw her most days. He never spoke to her and she never really spoke to him, the only time she did was when she had to check his injuries.

---

"Well, you're free to move around," she replied as she placed her hands in her coat pockets, "You can let him go D."

D was a little hesitant but he released the mech. Steeljaw rubbed his wrist, glad to finally be free.He charged at her, growling. She dodged over him, disappointed. Steeljaw crashed into the desk, before turning around and snarling at her. She stared at him as she landed on the berth, unfazed by his snarls.

"You should really work on that attitude, but I understand where you're coming from," she replied in a calm tone.

"You don't know anything about me," he snarled in rage, "As if you would know what it's like to be betrayed by someone and be tossed aside as if you're nothing!"

He charged at her again with his claws raised, ready to strike.

::Milady!::

"It's alright Doradus."

As soon as his claws came close to her Steeljaw let out a pained yell as he felt a serge of electricity around his neck. Falling to his knees he held his neck panting hard he tried to understand what had just happened.

"I had a feeling you would still be aggressive, which is why I made that," she pointed to his neck.

Steeljaw felt something around his neck as he glared at her, "You put a slagging shock collar on me!?"

"Yes, you're free to explore the ship but you can't leave without me," she told him, "I suggest you take my advise and not attack me again."

Steeljaw bared his teeth as he let out a growl, Fragging glitch.

"There is only one room that you can't enter, so don't try to break into it," she replied as she walked out.

Steeljaw followed her, keeping his distance as he looked around the ship. As they walked he noticed that he didn't see any other bots on the ship, "Where is everyone," he wondered aloud to himself.

"It's just me and D, and now you," she explained.

"You are the only one on this ship?"

"Yes, there was a crew sadly they're no longer here."

"What happened to them?"

"They died," she spoke softly, he could hear the sadness in her voice.

He decided to leave the subject alone, it wasn't like he was going to be staying here for long anyway. "So why the collar?"

"I don't want you attacking me in my recharge."

Steeljaw stopped, "You really think I would stoop so low to attack a bot in their recharge," he asked with an enraged growl.

"It's happened before," she stated as she entered a room. Steeljaw stared dumbfounded by the amount of data pads that were scattered along the floor and desk.

"You'll have to excuse the mess, I wasn't expecting company," the dark bot replied as she picked up some of the pads. "I'll show you around the territory in a moment, I need to get some of this up," she added as she started making a stack.

Steeljaw picked up a pad and started to read it, only for it to be jerked out of his hand. He glared at her as she moved close to the ground, if he could attack her he would. But he wasn't going to risk getting shocked again.

The only thing of the text that he could see was "Project Predacon", "What is it that you do exactly?"

"I'm a little bit of a scientist, but I've been trained in self-defense and the medical field."

"And what does this have to do with Predacons?"

She stayed quiet, her violet optics stared into his amber ones, he could have sworn that she looked afraid. Clearing her voice box in nervousness she placed the pads on the desk and quickly pushed him out of the room. "Say anything to anyone I will hunt you down tear you to shreds and give what is left to a nest of Scraplets. Got it?"

He could tell she wasn't going to say anything else and he couldn't force her to tell him either, "You're lucky this collar is on me," he snarled as he left.

Glancing back at the room she locked the door and followed after him. She didn't trust him, based on the way he acted she knew he was still a Decepticon. Like any other Decepticon now they would have had a tracker. He must have disabled his somehow, she noted as she looked at the scars on his shoulder.

Once they were outside Steeljaw took in his surroundings. They were in a forest area and in the distance he could see Crown City. Clenching his teeth in anger he glared at the stature that was in the water, he was going to have to get his pack back, somehow. He was still too weak to travel to where they were being held captive.

"Stay close, I don't want you getting lost," he turned to see his "rescuer" was heading into the forest. He quickly caught up with her, stumbling as he nearly fell in a small hole.

"How can you keep your footing on this dumb rock," he growled as he caught himself from falling.

"I've been here for a long time."

"And that would be..."

She let out a sigh, "A little over two hundred Earth years."

Steeljaw stared at her in disbelief, "Two hundred years," he echoed.

"Yep. We're getting close to the edge of the territory so be careful," she warned him.

"Be careful of what," he asked as he came to a stop and looked at the horizon. He saw a sea of green and beyond that he saw a lake.

 "This is the end," she spoke softly as she started to head back. Steeljaw looked to her then back to the lake for a moment before following her.

"You have a lot of ground to cover," Steeljaw stated, "Tell me how does one femme such as yourself manage it?"

"By taking only what I need, believe it or not my territory is pretty small. From this mountain towards the city it is a part of my territory."

"So it's just you and the ship, it be a lot of work."

"It is but at least it keeps me busy."

The two quickly fell silent as they made their way back as the sun started to set. They were almost to the ship when a scent caught their attention. She let out a low growl while Steeljaw scanned the area. He glanced over to her and noticed that she was hunched over like an animal and the dark fur around her neck stood straight up. She's not a normal bot.

She then heard something powering up and glanced to Steeljaw and saw a red dot. With wide optics she pushed the wolf-con out if the way just as she heard a loud bang.

 Falling to the ground Steeljaw let out a snarl as he stood up, turning to her he was about to demand her to tell him why she had pushed him. Before he could ask he found his answer, she was caught in a Cybertronian net.

He watched as she struggled to get out of the net, "Don't just stand there," she snarled before letting out a gasp, "Look out!"

 Steeljaw felt something hit him from behind as he fell to the ground and the world slowly turned black.

She kept struggling and she managed to tear a small hole in the net but before she could get her arm out she felt something grab the back of her head, slamming her face into the ground.

::Mi...dy?:::

She groned as she pushed herself up.

::Milady are you alright?!::

"Not so loud D," she growled as she managed to get out of the net, "I have a freaking headache right now," she let out a groan as she held her head.

::My apologies, but I've been trying to contact you for an hour,:: D replied with worry.

She let out a gasp as she looked around for Steeljaw, he was no where in sight. "I'll be back as soon as I can, they took the Wolf-con," she growled.

:: I do not wish to be rude but why are you so concerned for him? He has been nothing but rude and hostile, he attacked you.::

"That was to be expected Doradus. Besides," she paused as she knelt to the ground to examine the tracks, "No one takes anything from my territory," she growled as she took off.

---

 Steeljaw groaned as he felt something kick him in the stomach, opening his optics he saw two mech pointing their weapons at him.

"Finally awake," one of them grinned, "Looks like we got the right one."

"He's the only one," the other mech corrected.

These mech knew where to find me, Steeljaw thought to himself as he struggled against the binds on his hands and peds. Did she set him up? He doubted it since she risked her safety for him but that could have been a trick for his to let his guard down. However it had been a long time since anyone had shown him kindness. With a soft growl he closed his optics, No! I can't let my guard down!

 Hearing his growl one of the mech's stomped their foot on his head, making gasp in pain.

"Quiet mutt," the red and brown mech ordered. Glancing down he noticed the collar on the Wolf-con's neck, "So someone caught you as well? Too bad," he grinned as got to one knee and knelt close to Steeljaw's ear, "You belong to us now," he whispered.

"I belong to no one," the silver-blue mech growled through the pain.

"Oh but you do, so be a good mutt and shut up," the mech growled as he got off Steeljaw and went to his partner. "Can't see a darn thing it's so dark," Steeljaw heard him mutter.

 Steeljaw looked around the area, hoping he could find something to use when he got out of the stasis cuffs. However the bounty hunters were smart enough to bind his tail to his legs. With a silent snarl he cursed his so-called rescuer for putting the stupid collar on him. Even if he was free from the cuffs he wouldn't beable to attack them without getting shocked.His ear twitched when he heard something moving around in the bushes behind him, turning back to the mech's he noticed that they didn't hear it.

Did I imagine it?

He decided to ignore it and tried to think of a way to get free. Steeljaw didn't know how much time had passed but the two mech's had fallen into recharge at this point.

"Stay quite," he shivered when he heard the soft whisper. How did she find us?

 He felt her crawl over his body but once she was in front of him he couldn't see her and he had better vision the the average Cybertronian in the dark. She slowly moved closer to the mech's, her steps silent as the night this was her territory and they were trespassing. The only reason that the Wolf-con was safe was because she allowed him to be there.Slowly her tail slithered around one of the mech's neck. The mech woke up and let out a choked yelp when he felt himself being pulled deeper into the darkness.

 The red and brown mech woke up when he heard something moving. He looked beside him only to find his companion was gone, "Where'd he go," he asked Steeljaw who remained quiet.

With a growl he kicked Steeljaw in the stomach, "I will ask you one more time. Where did he go?"

 "I would appreciate it if you would stop kicking him," a voice growled in the darkness.

 The mech looked around for the source of the voice but with no luck, "And if I don't?!"

 He let out a yell when he felt a set of sharp teeth dig into his leg, pulling on it. He tried to get what ever it was to let go but he lost his balance and fell to the ground. He kicked whatever was on his leg, hearing it make a sound of pain made him grin in satisfaction but it quickly turned sour as the teeth dug deeper into him making him scream.

 Steeljaw's optics widened when he saw the energon leaking from the mech's leg. What is she doing, he thought in confusion.

Slowly the sky was soon blessed with the moon's light, making it easier for them to see. Both mech's optics widened when they was what was on the bounty hunter's leg. A large black metallic looking wolf, it's purple optics wide with anger. The fur around it's neck stood on end as it stared at the mech.

"It's.."

"A Predacon," Steeljaw finished in shock.

With a snarl the Predacon dug it's claws into his leg causing him to scream in pain, "Then you loose your leg," she threatened with a soft  growl.

 With a whimper he kick her as hard as he could, he managed to get her to let go as he tried to run away. He managed to get a few feet away when the pain shot up his leg again, making him loose his balance as he fell face first into the ground.

Shaking her head she let out a snarl as she went to free Steeljaw, "Should you go get him," he asked timidly.

"He won't get far," he heard her growl. Primus that is a little creepy.

 Once Steeljaw was free she went back to the wounded mech, who was trying to crawl away. She placed a paw on his back she dug her claws into him. He whimpered loudly when he felt a sharp pain shooting up his back, "Take your friend and leave, and I better not see you here again," she hissed as she let him go.

The mech started to limped away to find his companion, "And if you do come back," he looked back to her, "You will not like the consequences." With wide optics he limped as fast as he could.

 With a huff she transformed into her bot form and helped Steeljaw off the ground, "Are you alright, she asked as he got to his feet.

Steeljaw just stared at her shocked at what he had just witnessed.

"You know it's rude to stare," she spoke, snapping him out of his trance. "Sorry, I just didn't expect that," he replied as he shook his head clear.

 "You're right, biting a mech's leg didn't help much but--"

"That wasn't what I was talking about. You are a Predacon, I thought they, you had gone extinct."

She looked at him for a moment before she started walking back to the ship, "Well, we haven't. At least, I'm not."

"Are you--"

"I don't want to talk about it."

Steeljaw followed her in silence trying to process what had just happened. She was a Predacon but they were supposed to be extinct, he knew because at one point he fought one and somehow managed to beat it. Is she the last one?

 They made it to a small gap in the forest noticing how bright it was he looked up when he noticed the moon was right over him. She glanced to the moon for a moment before continuing onward.

"Steeljaw."

She stopped and hesitantly looked at him, "Sorry?"

Taking his optics off the moon he looked into her  purple ones, "My name is Steeljaw," he repeated.

Blinking a few times a small smile formed on her face, "It's a pleasure to meet you, Steeljaw. My name is Metalsound."