Secrets At Home {TFRID}

-5-

Jetstorm hadn't said a word since last night, not wanting to put anyone on high alert. Not that it was expected response. He knew that some, mainly Sideswipe, would probably think it was another nightmare, or he was just seeing things.

But he knew that wasn't true...

It was too real.

That morning, Fixit was checking the stasis pods for damage when he came across one that stood out from the others.

The stasis pod had been ripped open from the inside, allowing whoever was inside to crawl out and escape. The marks left behind were jagged and bent, showing it was done by force. It looked like all of the cryo gas had escaped along with the fugitive.

He shivered, his wheels wouldn't move for a brief moment.

Fixit didn't want to raise the alarm until he knew exactly who had escaped, so he performed a quick scan on the pod using his D-pad before rolling swiftly back to the Alchemor.

When he arrived, he uploaded his scan results to the computer before looking through the Alchemor's prisoner manifest.

The Mini-con had previously noted who had been captured and who was still at large, so he went through the captured list and looked for the owner of that pod.

Fixit quietly gasped.

He knew who had escaped.

Fixit wasted no time in raising the alarm, the loud noise flooded the scrapyard as every member of the team dropped what they were doing and rushed over.

No one had noticed that a Decepticon had escaped, at least that's what Fixit thought.

Slipstream looked over at his partner. The Buzzsaw knew exactly why the team was called, meaning that what he saw the night before wasn't a dream.

Jetstorm trembled a little as his servos shook. His worst fears were coming true, and the team had no idea.

Slipstream noticed his partner's fear and stepped a little closer, trying to provide some kind of comfort. However, he had no idea why the Mini-con was so on edge.

He thought back to a few days ago, Jetstorm was slower then usual, tired, annoyed and...

...afraid...

Then a thought hit him as he remembered what he had said to him.

"That is the issue, you fear him."

The word 'him' really stuck, even without saying his name, the thought of him could cause a bot to shiver.

He placed a servo on his partner's shoulder and gave a calm look before speaking.

"Are you alright?" he asked him softly.

Jetstorm looked over at him with a sigh. He really wanted to tell someone about what he saw the previous night, but he wasn't sure who to speak to.

However, Slipstream was the kind of bot who was willing to listen to him. The Mini-con now realised that he should have spoken to him as soon as he returned to his room after the scare.

Now he had the chance to make up for that small mistake.

He took a deep breath. "No," he replied honestly. "I-I saw something last night."

Slipstream raised an optic ridge. "What did you see?" he whispered.

"I saw..." he was really hesitant with his answer. "I saw his stasis pod."

Slipstream's optics widened, he immidiently knew who 'his' was.

"I-It had been torn open from inside, then I heard a transformation, I knew he was there when I found the pod, but I do not believe he saw me, he just...left," Jetstorm explained to his partner in fear.

Slipstream gasped quietly as he listened to him. Jetstorm was worried that he wouldn't believe him, but he did, the red Buzzsaw knew that his partner would never lie about Shadow Raker.

Overcautious? Maybe.

A lier? No way.

Slipstream turned to face the Buzzsaw. "Jetstorm, we have fought him before, twice, we will do it again."

Jetstorm nodded shakily.

Suddenly, they heard each member of the team gasp, even Drift was shocked. The pair guessed that Fixit had already told them.

"We need to start searching for him immidiently," Bumblebee told the team.

Drift narrowed his optics. "Shadow Raker will not go down easily, he knows what we can do, our strengths and weaknesses, he will use them against us. We must be ready to fight this foe, and we must be ready now."