"Scraptrap...helped him get past us..." Nightmare Fredbear said with strained breaths.

"Brother, you're seriously injured, we need to get you and Nightmare Chica to the infirmary immediately." Nightmare helped up his brother as NightShade and Mari helped up N. Chica.

"I'll be there in a minute, I just need to check something." I informed them.

I entered the prison area, looking upon the empty cells. The one where my only prisoner was held, the barred door was mangled open with force but there were also drops of energon upon floor. Lockdown must've hurt himself while trying to escape, or Scraptrap offered to make amends with him. Well, the traitor has been discovered and I'm glad he's gone. But he's learned enough while he was here, and that information can be used against us.

No matter, I haven't discussed a plan on how we will free Haven just yet. I decided to wait until we arrive far outside of my old hometown, hopefully to get a better look at what we're facing rather than just running in blind. That could get most of these crew members killed immediately, must think smart about this. We shouuld be there by tonight, which doesn't give us much time.

~NightShade~

We had brought the two injured animatronics into the infirmary, the 2 medics saw us rush in with new patients and they helped set them down on a few berths. Or beds, as Spring called them.

"Who are you?" The pink and white fox asked me.

"It's NightShade. And I have a question for you Nightmare, why was Lockdown on this ship?" I growled at the bear.

"Springlock thought it would would be a good way to get some better weapons and such. But she instantly regretted it." He explained.

"Negotiating with him is one of the biggest mistakes you can make. He'll backstab you the second he gets. Believe me, I know..." I looked away.

The 2 medics were covering their patients wounds with large white bandages, blood slowly soaking through them. From what condition they're in, they've lost a lot of blood and it could be very serious. I've learned a lot from my father's friend, Ratchet. He's one of the best medics there is.

"It would seem you lost a good amount of fluids, do either of you eat anything?" I asked the two injured nightmares.

"Of course we do. We eat whatever we like, mainly meat." Fredbear said.

"MEAT IS THE BEST!!" N. Chica said.

"Alright. Nightmare, bring them some food and plenty of fluids to help them regain their strength. You two, I have the equation for a formula that can help heal their injuries faster." I told them.

Nightmare nodded and left the room to get them what they need. The fox and ballerina looked at me strangely as I began searching for the right ingredients for the formula, which did involve some strange components. I grabbed one large jar and began pouring in the substances.

"What are you doing? Charged cyanide is deadly to us!" The ballerina said.

"By itself, certainly. But not if you mix it with Energon and a hint of synthetic materials. Do you happen to have any painkiller medicine?" I asked.

The ballerina pointed to one of the cabinets, I immediately opened the door and searched for it. I see a jar of pink liquid, that's the painkiller! One of the best in fact. I grab the jar and add it into the concoction of what to them seemed like random deadly things, but what they don't know is that I've used this on both animatronics and Cybertronians. Each time has been a success.

Nightmare had returned with food and drinks for his injured comrades as I had finished the formula to heal them.

"Alright I got what you said. Wait what is that?" Nightmare asked and set the food down.

"It will help them heal." I poured the substance into 2 smaller jars I had found.

I took each of them and gave them to the patients, they questionably took them and sniffed it. Both of them then took a small sip, gagging from the awful taste.

"That's DISGUSTING!!!" N. Chica exclaimed.

"It does taste wretched, but it helps. I've healed several animatronics with this. Trust me, it will help." I assured.

They both grumbled and kept drinking it, despite their gagging and wretching. They reluctantly drank every last ounce of it, happy they could put the jars down.

"Okay, now they can eat and get the taste out of their mouths." I told Nightmare.

He gave the food to the nightmares who began eating immediately like a pack of wolves. I was a little disgusted, but I've seen worse than this. I looked at the doorway to see Spring standing there, she looked a little shocked yet a little hurt.

"What happened here?" She asked.

"I handled the situation while you were investigating." I told her.

"I can see that..." she walked off.

Did I do something wrong? I left the infirmary and followed after her, she had her head hung low like she was ashamed.

"Spring, did I do something wrong?" I ask.

"No, it's what you did right. You're a much better leader than I am, you should be commanding this crew instead of me." Spring's ears fell as she faced me.

"What are you talking about? You're a great leader! I'm so proud of how you've become who you are now." I grabbed both her shoulders.

"I've made such big mistakes..." she sighed.

"You think I havent? I've fucked up big time in the past. I trusted Lockdown once too you know." I tell her.

Spring was shocked and her ears went up.

"I did trust Lockdown in the past, which was a big mistake on my end. He turned me over to Megatron because of who my father was, hoping it would lure him to Megatron." I sighed.

"Who's your father?" Spring asked.

"Optimus Prime. I was dying as a little girl from a rare disease, after I was abandoned. Then Optimus came and saw that I was dying, he brought me back to the Autobots and tried to cure me. Nothing worked, the only thing left to do was to inject someone's energon into me. Optimus volunteered. That procedure saved my life and made me half Autobot, Half prime actually."

~Springlock~

Optimus Prime? I remember that name from the day I escaped my father, his spirit came out of my spark and helped me escape. I haven't seen him since, but I don't think I should tell her that.

"Interesting." I said.

"Hey tell you what, when we get to Haven, how about you and I going on a small stakeout? You know, like we did in the past." NightShade suggested.

"That would be great!" I hugged her tightly.

Her and I did this several times, like we would spy on certain con intermissions and meetings to see what they were planning. It was a lot of fun, it probably still is. Only have to wait until tonight.

|Hours later|

We have arrived back on Haven, and it sure was dark outside. We landed far outside of my old hometown so we wouldn't be spotted, and must I say I don't remember this part outside my hometown. It was just....a barren wasteland. Nothing out here but hills of dirt.... I fear the absolute worst when it comes to my hometown.

NightShade and I exited the ship and stepped onto the dead soil, nothing was growing out here. There was an awful smell that caused me to gag, I CERTAINLY don't remember this smell from all those years ago. NightShade took a couple sniffs of the air, her face turned disgusted but she didn't gag. Her sense of smell should be amazing.

"Energon processing, that way." She said while pointing in a random direction.

I followed her finger and saw smoke in the distance, not too far away. She cocked her head, indicating we go that way. I nodded and followed behind her as we ran towards the smoke, the smell gets only worse so that means we're getting close. NightShade can run as fast as four legged animal, oh wait she is running on all fours. Haha, funny. I had a bit of a hard time keeping up but I did manage to stay close to her.

NightShade came to a stop and rose from her feet, we were at the crest of a large hill. I stopped and looked at NightShade who was on high alert, I tilted my head confused. She looked down into what could be a valley below, which was lit up with bright blue and red lights. I glanced at where she was looking and gasped at what was there.

It was my old hometown alright, but the homes were flattened and there were only strange looking factories and large holes with blue glowing crystals in it. There were other smaller structures as well, but they looked like where you would store power generators. Well, until I see windows that is, they may serve a different purpose. We could see several animatronics, chained and being forced to work in the large holes. Only a horn sounded.

"Alright slaves! Get some rest! You got another long day ahead of you tomorrow!" Some Vehicon shouted.

The animatronics moaned and weakly climbed out of the holes. They were skinny, weak, broken. NightShade growled deeply, I honestly wanted to burst into tears. This is what happened because I left, because I wasn't here to help. I could have prevented this! But I was too scared to come back and fight...

"Spring, it's ok. Don't cry." NightShade told me as she hugged me.

I didn't realize I was crying until I saw them drip onto her shoulder. My oily tears kept coming and they wouldn't stop, I was crying like I was when I thought she was killed. She patted my back gently, that feels so familiar. I have a sudden flashback.

I was young and was crying hysterically into a purple plated shoulder, someone was patting my back gently.

"It is alright, Razorblade." A familiar monotone voice said.

The figure pulled back and I saw one large red eye. It was Shockwave.

"Spring?" NightShades voice brought me back to reality.

"Hmm?" I said.

"You okay now?" She asked.

I quickly wiped my tears away and nodded, "mhm."

She nodded and kneeled down and watched the animatronics solemnly head into a few of the smaller structures, they might be either prisons or barracks. I took a knee and investigated everything else around it. It was mainly just dirt grounds, excavating equipment, the factories and barrack type structures. I look further out into the distance and gasped at what I see.

A fortress larger than ANYTHING I've ever seen. It was like a skyscraper, but with large fusion cannons atop of it. It also looked a part of city hall at the bottom, but it rose into a skyscraper.

NightShade saw it and gasped in horror, she jumped from her place and took a few steps back.

"A Darkmount fortress..." she said.