Sideswipe wasn't sure what time it was when he came back out of sleep-mode, but it must be at least early morning because he could hear machinery getting started somewhere to the right of him.

His sensors were compensating for his lack of sight by increasing the input of the others. Sounds that had been tolerable now seemed incredibly loud, he could feel every individual grain in the wood forming the trailer he laid on, and he could smell someone had opened a canister of fresh energon recently.

He sat up, putting a hand to his helm as it retained an ongoing ache from before. He still couldn't see, he was still disabled.

He felt the trailer shift underneath him, and then someone's plating brushing against his down by his leg.

"Good morning, Sideswipe!" Flashdrive's eager voice greeted, though fortunately remaining somewhat quiet.

"Morning, Flash..."

Sideswipe swung his legs off of the trailer, feeling the dusty ground under his feet.

"Do you want anything?"

"I'd like to be able to see," He admitted, "But for now...If you could get me a small energon canister?"

"Be right back!"

The trailer bounced a little as the virocon hopped from it, and then he heard her footsteps slowly get quieter as she got further. Other footsteps told him his team was up and moving as well, a shuffling sound being Transmutate's limps across the yard. They'd told him that her twitching was much better than before, but she was still struggling.

"Feeling any better?"

"Gyah!"

Sideswipe jumped from Swoop's voice suddenly being in his audio receptor, and he gripped the trailer to keep himself from falling over. "How in the Allspark does someone as big as Grimlock move around so quietly...!?"

"Sorry... I've just learned how to place my feet in order to reduce noise in my steps."

"Could you teach that to Grim?"

"But his loud, ground-shaking footsteps are part of his charm. I doubt that Tyrannosaurus Rexes were very quiet when they hunted, they just waited until their prey was close enough and then thundered after them."

"I guess...I've never actually seen an organic one, so we may never know."

Flashdrive's quick footsteps alerted Sideswipe to her arrival.

"The Rescue Bots have seen real ones." She informed while slipping the cube into his hands, "That's one of the reasons they have dino modes."

"You know bots who scanned organic lifeforms?" Swoop inquired, "But wouldn't that cause issues with their systems?"

"It does..." Optimus informed from a little bit away. "...I once had a dino mode myself, but it was removed when I was reformatted by the Hammer of Solus Prime."

"That would explain why we've never seen it." Sideswipe concluded. "Although, there's been quite a bit of things I haven't seen lately."

"Yeah...About that."

Sunstreaker walked over to his brother's side, taking a seat by him. "We were talking last night, and... Ratchet's not sure how long it'll take for your optics to repair themselves normally."

"Is there a way he could speed it up?"

"There is a procedure that has an eighty-percent chance of success, but... He can't do it here, he doesn't have the equipment."

Sideswipe's shoulder slumped, "...I would need to leave."

"Right. Not forever, but just until your optics are repaired and you get the 'okay' to come back here to the team."

The blind bot was silent for several seconds, his processor going over everything that had just been said. "...Okay."

"Good. Once this is all worked out, we can-"

Sunstreaker was cut off and Sideswipe covered his audio receptors as a loud blaring horn came ringing over the Scrapyard.

"That's not good...!"

______________________________________________________________________

The Autobots all rushed to the Command Center, where Fixit was frantically pressing buttons on the console.

"What's the situation, Fixit?" Bumblebee inquired.

"I'm picking up Shockwave's signal along with the rest of the Bounty Hunters, heading straight for Crown City." Fixit informed.

"Denny and Russell went into town an hour ago and aren't back yet!" Flashdrive worried.

"He must be using the humans as a means to lure us out." Strongarm surmised.

"Well he's doing a good job of it..." Bumblebee muttered, "...Fixit, lock down the Scrapyard. Don't let anyone in or out unless I give the word."

"Yes sir."

"What do we do?" Transmutate asked, looking up as Swoop placed his hands on her shoulders.

"You stay here with the others, I'll go with Optimus and Bumblebee to protect the humans."

"But you might-"

"Transmutate, please..."

The pterosaur stroked her helm, "You're important to me...We won't be gone long, I promise."

"...Alright."

Bumblebee turned to Sunstreaker, "You in?"

"Those 'cons blinded my brother, I will most definitely fight by your side."

"Great."

The Lieutenant then turned back to the minicon. "Fixit, if something goes wrong, I want you to groundbridge Flashdrive to Griffin Rock. She'll be safer there."

Flashdrive crossed her arms with a pout, "I don't need babysitting!"

Bumblebee bent down to his daughter's optic level. "But you can go see Snowblast. You haven't seen him in a little while."

"I guess..."

Bumblebee smirked, but it disappeared as he felt Ratchet's glare down his neck.

"And who exactly is Snowblast...!?" Ratchet accused.

"...Blades' sparkling?"

Ratchet's optics narrowed, "How many other sparklings are here on Earth that you failed to mention to me!?"

"Just these two!...I think."

Ratchet grumbled, crossing his arms. "Well, at least Blades is a medic himself, so I won't need to worry about him too much...We'll discuss this later."

"Agreed." Optimus informed, "Autobots...Roll out!"

The bots transformed into vehicle mode or dino mode, and drove off towards the exit of the Scrapyard. Swoop took off into the air, looking down at Transmutate for a moment before flying after the team.

"I hope the humans are all okay..." Flashdrive mumbled.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

"...Dad, you've been looking at those cans for ten minutes."

"Contemplating prices for bargains is an important skill when purchasing anything, not just green beans, Son."

Russell rolled his eyes, looking at the two prices between the two brands of green beans. They weren't that different from each other, surely it wasn't that big of a deal.

He pulled out his phone as it buzzed, finding a text from Hank. He slipped a few steps away from his dad's side before opening it, not wanting Denny to eavesdrop on their conversation.

His eyes widened however, as he saw the words.

Find a bomb shelter if you can. The bots just flew past the house in a rush for Crown City.

Russell quickly texted back, Will do.

"Dad? We might have an issue."

"See? You have to ponder these-"

"No, not the beans!"

Russell held up the phone, and after a second, his dad's face changed to seriousness. "Shockwave...!"

Denny nodded right as a loud rumbling came from outside, and then a flash of light was accompanied by the glass doors at the front shattering. Denny covered Russell as the glass flew through the air, and then pulled him down to the floor. Other shoppers were panicking as well, dropping to the floor and seeking cover under anything they could find.

"Everyone just stay calm!" Denny shouted, hoping the others would take his advice to heart.

Crown City had dealt with Decepticon attacks before, but never when the 'Cons were deliberately attacking the humans and the buildings inside of them.

"Everyone move to the back in an orderly fashion!" A cashier ordered, reaching down and pulling Denny up to his feet but keeping down. "It's safer back there!"

The shop was fortunately not packed at the time, so everyone hurried into the back room where they were directed. Loud booms and the ground shaking startled them all, and Russell found himself holding a little toddler in his lap as she cried from terror. "It's okay...!" He whispered, "We're gonna be okay in here...!"

"What the hell is goin' on out there!?" Another man shouted, "It sounds like we're being bombed!"

"Essentially...!" Denny hissed, "Everyone just stay calm and it'll hopefully pass...!"

Russell flinched as a particularly loud boom shook the space, and he held the toddler tighter. "Bee, hurry up...!"