We are Predacons

The Rogue Predacon

"Optimus, we have an energon signal, it is faint, but it may be something." says Ratchet as he looks at the screen with a faintly glowing dot on it.

"Bumblebee, Bulkhead, check it out and report back what you find." Optimus Prime orders the scout and wrecker.

"Yes, sir." The duo responds, for Bee's voice box has recently been refreshed. They both walk into the space bridge, which brings them in close proximity to the area of the energon signal.

"The signal seems only enough to support no more than a couple of bots according to these readings." Bumblebee says to Bulkhead as he stares at the energon reader.

"Optimus said to check it out. Every bit counts, right?" Bulkhead steps closer to the cave where the Energon was at, "Odd, Energon mines are usually on the ground, not high up. Come on Bee."

The two climb the rock wall and check their footing as they get to the top of the cliff. As they stepped into the cave, Bumblebee turns his headlights on and so does Bulkhead and they begin check every inch of the rock walls. There are a few scraps of Energon crystals left on the walls. "Someone has been here. Decepticons?" Bee started to scratch his helm in confusion.

Then there came an echoing clicking further down the cave, it sounds like claws walking on stone, like a Predacon. Then, from the shadows of the cave, a pair of bright red optics was staring at Bulkhead and Bumblebee intensely. Bulkhead quickly shines his headlights at the pair of optics. In his headlights stood a tall, feminine Bot with the Predacon emblem proudly on her chest. She has a white and silver paint job with red accents, but most of the metal on her had been melted down, some places are more melted than others, "And you are?" she asks, disturbingly calm with a hint of annoyance in her voice. Bee and Bulkhead put their weapons up and point them at her.

"Who are you?" Bulkhead asks back.

"A rogue Predacon. You know, just the only one that barely escaped alive your little explosion." She says as she transforms to beast form, spreads her large wings only to reveal that they were mostly melted down. She then transforms back to bot form, turns towards the back of the cave, and walks away, "No harm done, right?" she remarks, not even turning to look back at Bumblebee or Bulkhead. They both exchange confused glances at each other as the rogue Predacon vanished from their headlight's view and into the darkness. Bumblebee and Bulkhead got out of the cave and called base.

"What did you find?" Ratchet questions the two from base.

"A rogue Predacon; that explains the low Energon frequencies, there also were just a few scattered scraps of leftover Energon, not enough for anything though." Bumblebee reports to Ratchet.

Ratchet stays silent for a moment before saying, "Repeat that, a rogue Predacon?" he stammers through his speaker.

"Yes. She seemed more sad than... potentially dangerous." Bulkhead says, emphasizing dangerous.

"Sad? About what? I thought you destroyed Shockwave's lab, Predacon and all, and Predaking stayed behind on Cybertron with a few other Predacons." Optimus pipes up.

"About that lab, Optimus," Bulkhead sighs, then continues, "The rogue was in that lab. They came out melted and probably are incapable of flight. Ratchet, can you open the bridge?" not seconds later, the bridge opens before them and they walk through to be met by their team.

"How could they have survived that blast? All of the tanks were destroyed and the lab caved in." Ultra Magnus says in a stern, yet confused voice, and the rest of the Autobots shared his confusion.

"Maybe we can recruit them?" Miko suggests as she sits down and listens to Bulkhead and Bee answer the onslaught of questions from their comrades.

"A Predacon? Bah, we told you how it went with Predaking-" Optimus makes Ratchet pause and he urges Miko to continue.

"Maybe, just maybe, if we do recruit them, we can try to repair her wings so she can scout the area or search for Energon for you, dudes," she continues, "Or she can be extra help around base."

There came a loud knock at the entrance of their base. "Who could that be?" Rafael asks, looking at Bee.

"Anyone in there?" a raspy feminine voice asks as it echoes through the base, "Hello?" they ask again.

"Autobot or Decepticon?" The wrecker, Wheeljack asks as everyone gets their weapons ready.

"Try Predacon," the voice retorts, "and let me guess, I am going to come in to a multitude of weapons pointed at me."

"Are you the rogue Predacon from the cave that Bulkhead and Bumblebee found?" Optimus questions the voice.

"Was one of them a little yellow fella?" the voice asks cautiously.

"Yes, do you have a name?" asks Optimus as he slowly opens the door, readying his weapon for anything.

"Hearthwing, you?" Her voice lost its tense as Optimus slowly finishes opening the door. His optics went wide as he stood short to a partially melted Predacon in Bot mode.

"Optimus Prime." he manages to get out as he stares at the ruined metal of the of the Predacon, Hearthwing.

Hearthwing looks down to stare at him optic to optic, "I wish to join your team of Autobots. I may not fly, but I may be of service to you in other ways."

Optimus thinks for a moment, glances back at Ratchet then back to Hearthwing, then asks simply, "How did you find us?"

"I tracked your scent, or Bumblebee and Bulkhaft's scents." She replies calmly.

"It's Bulkhead !" Bulkhead yells from inside.

Optimus again looks back at his comrades, who all nod in agreement, then he turns back to Hearthwing and says, "It is settled then, you are now an Autobot. Welcome to the family." He then leads her into base, where everyone puts their weapons away and greets Hearthwing with 'hello''s, 'welcome''s, and 'nice to have you''s. Everyone introduces themselves until she finally gets everyone's names correct, all except for Jack and Raf, who feel sorry for what happened to the Predacon.

"And you two haven't said a word since I got here. Hi, I am Hearthwing, and you are?" Hearthwing's bright red optics looking straight at both Jack and Rafael, who stayed silent, "Not all at once... Oh well, you don't have to introduce yourselves if you are not quite ready." Hearthwing states, then walks over to Ratchet to look at the computer screens.

"C'mon guys," Miko says as she drapes her arms over Jack and Raf's shoulders, "She won't bite."

"She just looks so helpless," Jack whispers to Miko, "like not even a family of Autobots can save her."

"So," Miko says in a rude tone, "That means what? That she is helpless. If that is true then she would be dead by now, correct? So go say hi and introduce yourselves." Miko shoves them forward and motions them to go talk to Hearthwing.