Arcee stood next to the Predacon as they both watched Starscream and the Vehicons try to fix the communicator and fail again and again. Arcee couldn't help but snicker at Starscream's misfortune, especially when it got to the point where he had to get Soundwave to come and fix it which resulted in Megatron finding out about his mistake.

"Communications have been down for how long!?"

Starscream started panicking as he backed away from the warlord, "Soundwave practically has the dish repaired, master."

"Which is all well and good for Soundwave, but for you...!" Megatron swings his arm at Starscream making him flinch as the communications start working again and they hear Knock Out's voice.

:: Knock Out to Lord Megatron, please come in. ::

"See? Hah, all fixed."

"Knock Out. Do you have the Predacon bone?"

:: In my sights, my liege. As are a pair of Autobots riding my rear. ::

Two of my comrades are there! Arcee thinks to herself as she listens to the conversation.

"Understood. Just make sure you secure the specimen."

Dread fills Arcee as she listens to Megatron give orders to send some Insecticons to aid Knock Out. She waits to hear the outcome as anxiety starts to set in. Will her comrades be alright? Are they gonna be killed? Arcee shakes her helm, no they will be just fine. Whoever they are will make it out just fine. She knows her teammates and she knows that all of them are excellent fighters and very tough, they won't be killed so easily. But still, she can't help but worry.

:: Lord Megatron, if a Ground Bridge doesn't open too sweet your specimen will belong to the Autobots! ::

Arcee is filled with relief to hear that her comrades survived the Insecticons, she knew they would but it's still a relief to hear. Her spark starts racing when she hears Megatron tell Soundwave to open a Ground Bridge for Knock Out. This is her chance. This is her opportunity to escape and get back to her team. It's risky and if she's caught Primus knows what they will do to her as punishment, but she must try.

She prepares herself to transform as Soundwave gets Knock Out's coordinates. She knows she must be quick if she's to get through the Ground Bridge before any of them can react. Soundwave locks onto Knock Out's coordinates and opens the Ground Bridge. As soon as it starts opening up Arcee transforms and drives right towards it, by the time they notice her she's already jumping into the portal.

"After her!"

She could hear Megatron shouting behind her but she paid no attention as she drove through the portal and came out the other side, right in front of Knock Out, "What the...!?" He shouts as she quickly swerves to avoid him leading to her transforming and landing on her pedes as she slides back.

"Arcee!"

Two voices shout out in unison making Arcee look over to see Ratchet and Wheeljack driving towards her and Knock Out. She smiles as she transforms and drives towards them but before she can get too far, Knock Out rams into her sending her into the rock side. She transforms as she hits the ground and rolls down the hilly sands that are set up against the rock. She was knocked for a loop for a second but she soon started regaining her senses and when she did she could hear shooting. She looks up to see Vehicons running towards Ratchet and Wheeljack, shooting at them.

Knock Out transforms and holds the specimen in his servo as he grabs one of the Vehicons and hands it to him, "Get this to Lord Megatron." The Vehicon nods in understanding and runs back through the portal. Knock Out turns back to Arcee who is now getting up off the ground and brings out his electric rod from his subspace, "That was a bad move trying to escape." He goes to jab at her with his rod but she avoids it and sends a swift right kick to his back but he turns and catches her leg. He's learned by now how she operates, how she fights.

Before she has a chance to react he jabs his rod into her sternum sending a wave of electricity through her small frame. Once she falls to the ground unconscious, Knock Out picks up her body and runs toward the Ground Bridge. 

With all the Vehicons taken care of, Wheeljack and Ratchet run after Knock Out to stop him before he can get through the Ground Bridge, they may have failed to get the Predacon bone from them but if they can get Arcee back that will be a well enough accomplishment. But Knock Out makes it through the Ground Bridge and back to the Nemesis before they can reach him and the Ground Bridge closes just as they get to it.

"Well done, Knock Out. Not only did you retrieve the specimen you also recaptured our runaway."

Knock Out smirks as he drops Arcee onto the floor, he always loves it when he gets praise from his master. Starscream walks over to Arcee's unconscious body and scowls down at her, "Stupid femme. She really thought she could get away from us." He looked up at Knock Out when something occurred to him, "You didn't kill her, did you?"

Knock Out glares at him, "Of course not! She's just unconscious!"

Shockwave comes out onto the upper haul and stands next to Megatron. His optic immediately goes to the femme lying at their pedes, "What happened?"

"She tried to escape and Knock Out recaptured her," Megatron responded.

Arcee starts waking up as her systems begin to recover from the shock Knock Out gave her. She's not completely awake to the point where she can start to get up off the floor but she's awake enough to hear the conversation between Megatron and Shockwave.

"What are we gonna do with her?"

"We'll put her in the brig for now while I think of a punishment that won't damage her too badly," Megatron says as he walks over to the femme.

Arcee finally opens her optics and lifts her helm to see Megatron coming towards her. Scap, I'm back on the Nemesis, and from the sounds of it, I'm going back to the brig to await punishment. Just great.

Megatron bends down to pick her up, but when his digits are an inch from her frame a big roar sounds throughout the upper haul and Megatron finds himself being shoved back, away from her. He manages to catch himself before he falls on his aft but he is outraged. Who dares shove the warlord? He looks up and finds himself face to face with the Predacon which is growling at him as he stands protectively over Arcee. He looks at the beast before him in shock, as well as all the others that are present, he didn't think he would go against him. He thought he had the Predacon's complete loyalty.

Even the Predacon himself is shocked, he never thought he would ever go against his master like that. But something inside him, some ancient primal instinct, drove him to protect this femme. His femme. She is his and no other mech is gonna lay a digit on her.

"Shockwave, explain!" Megatron exclaims as he looks over at the mech.

"Would seem the Predacon has grown attached to the femme. Simply put, he's claiming her."

Arcee's optics widen even more, if that's possible, as she looks up at the Predacon hovering over her. He's claiming her? Is he wanting her to be his mate? She's not sure how she should feel about that, to have a Predacon want her as his mate. How would that even work?

"Are you saying this mindless beast is wanting her for himself?" Starscream questions in disbelief.

"Exactly what I'm saying."

"Very well, she will stay here with the Predacon," Megatron says as he turns to head back inside the ship. Arcee looks at him with still widened optics not sure of what to make of this. In a way she's relieved she doesn't have to go back to the brig and get some sort of punishment later but at the same time, she's not sure about being left with the Predacon. What if he tries to mate with her and she refuses? Would he rape her and force her to be his mate? Would he decide to kill her? She doesn't know and it scares her, especially knowing that she wouldn't be able to fight him off. 

She and the Predacon watch Megatron and the others as they head for the door and disappear into the ship. Once the door closes, Arcee looks back up to the Predacon with worried optics as her spark begins to pulse faster. The Predacon looks down at her and when he sees the worry and fear in her optics he bends his neck down to place his helm gently against hers to reassure her that he won't harm her in any way. Once he's sure she's calmed down he moves back so she can sit up and move around if she wishes to.

Arcee gets up off the floor and watches the Predacon as he walks over to the monitor on the communications dish and looks at it. She walks over to the side of him and watches him as she wonders what he's doing. Is he trying to figure out how they fixed it? Is he planning on destroying it again? Then he starts punching in codes which bring up schematics for all the other Predacons. That's when she realizes that he's researching his own kind, probably wondering about the others. Definitely not a mindless beast. Probably is smarter than Starscream is. But what is he up to?