"...Somethin's happened."

Treadmark grumbled in agreement. Greasefire and Boltcutter should've been back by now. Greasefire's injuries may have slowed them down some, but even then, it had been too long, and no check-ins in the past three mega-cycles.

Their employer was inside the ship on the hillside, working on something. What that 'something' was, the hunters weren't sure, but they were sure it probably wasn't in their missing prisoners' best interests.

A crashing through the bushes brought them to lift their weapons, poised to fire if it was deemed a threat. They lowered them however, when the bot finally broke free and fell onto his hands and knees. "Greasefire."

Some of Greasefire's injuries from their previous encounter had reopened, spilling fresh energon onto his chassis as he forced himself back up onto his feet. "Evening, Fracture...There was a...complication."

Treadmark's optics narrowed. "What kind of complication...?"

"We found the prisoners- Well, one anyway -and tried to capture him, but then Autobot reinforcements showed up out of nowhere...Skilled reinforcements."

"Drift's posse, no doubt..." Fracture muttered, "...Where's Boltcutter?"

"Captured... I managed to get away. Two-against-two went to two-against-seven real fast...!"

Treadmark growled. "This job is turning out to be more than we bargained for..."

"Maybe," Fracture expressed, "But do either of you wimps want to be the one to tell Shockwave you want out?"

None of them responded for several moments, and then Treadmark gave a sharp nod. "Then it's settled...At least we know Boltcutter won't crack easily..."

"I take it that one of your team has been apprehended..."

The remaining hunters turned to Shockwave as he exited the ship.

"Yes sir... They located our query, but were intercepted by more Autobots."

"I have encountered them before." Fracture informed. "I know how they plan, Sir."

"Then I shall put you in charge of planning the mission to regain our missing property...But before that, you mentioned that you had a former associate here on Earth."

Fracture's face darkened, "Yes...We worked together after the Alchemor stranded him here."

"Then he will have the most knowledge of this terrain...Find him and recruit him."

"And if he refuses?"

"...End him."

Shockwave looked back out into the woods. "My minicon subordinate is still out searching... He will most likely remain out in the field as long as he is able."

"You're not worried he'll run off?"

"No..." He held up a scanner, "I am tracking his position, and he knows what will happen if he does not comply..."

__________________________________________________________________________________

Night was falling by the time Ratchet was finished tending to the wounded pair, who hadn't said much more than the occasional 'yes' or 'no' following a question. Transmutate was leaning against Pterosword's shoulder, a blanket wrapped around her tiny, thin frame that looked like it might snap in half if you handed her anything heavy. Pterosword's head was drooping downward, optics partially open but occasionally closing for a few moments before snapping back open.

Bumblebee had finally offered to let the two sleep, and both had curled up on the trailer, Transmutate wrapped up in his arms and pressed against his chestplate. Bumblebee couldn't really blame them for being exhausted, they'd been running for days if not longer, and now they were finally able to relax and recharge. It was obvious to them now that the pair knew each other better than just being held captive together, but the team had decided to wait to hear their story until they'd had a chance to recover a little from their experience.

This break in the immediacy of the situation did give Bumblebee a chance to investigate the mystery he'd found the day before, and he made a note to sit down with Flashdrive, now that she was feeling better.

The autobot picked up the little vircon, putting her down on his knee and looking her in the optic. "Flashdrive, what do you remember before you got sick?"

Flashdrive's optics looked back into his. "You want to know why I got sick." She guessed.

The lieutenant nodded, and Flashdrive's optics shifted as she bit her lip and appeared to be trying to think back. "Well...I was helping Denny and Russell clean up, and then I went and got one of those little cubes of energon because I was thirsty, and I drank about half of it before going to help Denny some more...But I don't think I made it that far. The next thing I remember was being in the park and throwing up."

Bumblebee stroked his chin for a moment. Could it have been the energon? Was the answer as simple as that?

"Did that help, Daddy?" Flashdrive asked.

"Maybe..." He checked the time, and then plopped Flashdrive down on the ground. "Alright, it's bedtime for little bots."

"Aww...!" Flashdrive pouted, but then gave Bumblebee a quick peck on the cheek before hurrying off to bed.

"Don't forget to brush your teeth!"

"I won't!"

A chuckle caught Bumblebee's attention, and he turned to Ratchet leaning against the stacks. "What?"

"Spoken like a true parent..." Ratchet responded with a grin. "...You clearly didn't have trouble adapting to her being here."

Bumblebee sighed. "You weren't here for the adaption trouble, Ratchet... I really did mean to tell you eventually, I just didn't know how to exactly. I figured waiting until Knockout had presented his findings would be the best idea, but I didn't want every scientist on Cybertron knocking on our door wanting to do tests on her."

"I understand...And speaking of scientists..."

Bumblebee sighed. "I know... Shockwave will be looking for Pterosword and Transmutate, which may put Flashdrive at risk."

"What're you gonna do about it?"

"I don't know... I may send her to Griffin Rock, or maybe just for Raf to keep an optic on for a few days."

"You've resumed contact with Rafael?"

"Yes... It might've been stupid, but he's really been helpful in our steps towards revealing ourselves to humans." He paused for a moment. "...Hey, you've got medical scanners aboard Prime Force One, right?"

"Naturally...Why?"

"There's something I want to check on... Flashdrive said she just drank some energon before she blacked out. I want to check and see if there was any contaminants."

"I see. Let's get to it, then."

It didn't take long to locate the cube Flashdrive had consumed from; Denny had placed it in a separate place in case Flashdrive wanted to finish it later.

Bumblebee and Ratchet took the cube and entered the ship that was hovering over the Scrapyard and cloaked from human view. Bumblebee had been inside before and wasn't foreign to the layout. They did a brief check for visible contaminants, but found nothing at visual range.

Using the scanners, however, gave them a clue almost immediately.

Energon sample does not meet quality standards. Residual traces of V05, G16 and CN24 are detected.

"We knew about the CN24 from Fixit's scans of the energon she brought back up after waking up in the park, but V05 and G16 are chemicals found in the machinery used to harvest energon in the mines." Bumblebee informed. "Any energon that was harvested with faulty equipment has to be discarded."

"Whomever mined this particular batch must've known that." Ratchet overlooked the product number on the cube. "Hmm...I'll look into it. In the meantime, I'd suggest looking into your stash and removing any other cubes from this batch."

Bumblebee nodded. "I'm not going to let the rest of my team get poisoned..."

Bee! Get back down here! Sideswipe's voice shouted through the commlink.

"Sideswipe, what is it?"

It's Pterosword! He's going into some kind of seizure!

The pair looked at each other, and then abandoned their current mystery to investigate this new one.

They lowered back down to the ground, finding Grimlock holding down the refugee as his chassis shook. Transmutate was standing beside Sideswipe, watching with worry as Ratchet passed to examine the patient. "How long has he been doing this?"

"Just a few seconds before Sideswipe called you!" Grimlock informed. "I didn't want him hurting himself."

"Transmutate, is this normal?" Strongarm asked.

Transmutate shook her head. "No...I mean...He had nightmares...before he was put in the...mental facility, but...Not like this."

"N-No!" Pterosword cried as Grimlock held him still. "S-Stop! Grimlock, help!"

"I'm trying!" Grimlock shouted. "What do I need to do!?"

"I don't think he knows what he's saying, Grim." Sideswipe murmured.

"Grimlock! No! Don't let him hurt the others...! He's gonna kill them! Get out of here!"

Pterosword's thrashing grew harder, and his cries became intelligible, only that he was in pain. Some of the cries came out more like feral screeches, echoing through the yard until Denny and Russell came to investigate. Transmutate was shoving her faceplate into Sideswipe's side, trying not to look as her friend suffered.

After a few minutes, he finally quieted, his body once again becoming still. Ratchet checked his vitals, and Grimlock slowly released the other dinobot and stepped back.

"That was some nightmare..." Strongarm mumbled, but looked at her teammate as he stared. "...Grim, you okay?"

Grimlock shook his helm. "No...Those things he said... I think...I think the old me knew him."

"But that's impossible." Sideswipe informed, "Not unless he's... A..."

"Sweet Primus...!" Bumblebee looked at the dinobot as Ratchet continued to tend to him. "...This isn't Pterosword at all...It's Swoop."