“Patronize me all you like, but if I see you go after Bad Apple, I will defend them. Not just because we share a faction, but because they’re my friend.”

he began to ascend closer to the surface. He may be letting the mech go, but he would not let the insinuation that Vortex would seek out the medic to violate them again pass unheeded.

“But that’s why they are typically far from the frontlines and in medbays where they can avoid mechs like you altogether.”

Tone noticeably colder, he adds, “And don’t pin the responsibility of your actions on me. What you do after this is your choice.”

The glow of energon faded behind them as

least try and make Vortex understand how nefarious their actions were, even if it felt ultimately pointless.

“Medics operate on a different priority tree. It lets them process faster, work more efficiently. To you it may be a flaw but it’s what defines them. And yes… it can make them vulnerable.“

energon crystals, its bluish glow spilling across the rock as they passed. The conversation continued to gnaw at him. Carrying Vortex made his field tighten, the segmented plates along his spine drawing in tightly beneath where the flier lay. A quiet sigh slipped through his vocalizer. He had to at

Arriving at a fork in the tunnel, Faultline veered left. While it wasn’t actually the fastest choice, it gave him the chance to seal the passage once Vortex was gone. He wasn’t about to risk the flier retracing his path, not with how unpredictable he’d proven to be.

The tunnel ahead shimmered with

that exact logic to draw in more revenue and rile the crowds into a frenzy, before adding, “But a medic, most of which lack combat protocols, wouldn’t have been able to do much to stop you. I’d say you lost to skill; they lost to coding they couldn’t help.”

technical. In this form, his helm feelers were much longer, fully extended and flared to take in as much seismic data as possible. His engine rumbled in discontent at the flier’s words.

“Unheard of? …No.” He paused, lingering on the thought thread, recalling how the gladiator pits often touted

have to hunch or risk switching to their alt mode to pass through. Most of the tunnels branching from his cavern were deliberately longer to avoid steep inclines. It made bringing company in and out much easier and cut down on Coilbyte’s complaints when he had venture to his cavern to fix something

Feeling the slight adjustments from Vortex as he shifted against him, Faultline’s numerous pointed pedes began to rhythmically undulate, carrying them swiftly out of the cavern and into a much smaller, darker tunnel. There was perhaps ten feet of overhead clearance, enough that most mechs would

dirt like it was water. The long expanse of backplates met and lifted up the slack weight of Vortex just as he had done when bringing the flier down here. “If you’d rather not be on your back, now’s the time to fix it. Falling off while I traverse through the tunnels will be… unpleasant for you.”

as well on an unhinged Cybertronian. Truth be told, he had never tied someone up before. It was, well, usually the other way around. But that was a topic for entirely different set of circumstances. Not wasting time, he shifted into his alt mode and slid beneath the bound frame, slicing through the

pedes together, drawing the cable taut in a constrictor knot. The ropes were tied in a way so that it would bite down into Vortex’s frame the more he struggled. Funnily enough, a human had taught him this knot.It had been meant for securing fragile fossils in their crates. Turns out it worked just

would work just as well to keep Vortex subdued. “Good”, he stated dryly as he began wrapping the wire rope around the flier’s arms at the wrist joint.

“I didn’t want to fight you.” Observing Vortex for moment longer to ensure that their placidity continues, he then uncoils his tail and binds their

volatile mech. Maintaining a narrowed gaze at the faceplate below his, he transfers both of the flier’s wrists into one servo, freeing the other to reach into his subspace and pull out a coil of steel cable. This was the same cabling he used to secure and cinch down loads of energon deposits, but it

Faultline felt even more convinced that the element of surprise had aided him in restraining Vortex when the other began to settle in his grip, realizing they couldn’t overpower him. He avoided using his strength against smaller mechs when he could, but in this instance, it was needed against such a

Nothing wrong with wanting to be taken care of and cherished! Or at least I think that’s what it means 🤔

I wanted to ask if you’d take it but I see you want to avoid omega results. 🤭

Some of these questions made no sense to me 😅 but I think this sounds right

Magnus' faceplate. “Uh… you probably don’t want to hear about any of that. Is this enough proof for you?”

the rock a skull of some creature was partially exposed.

“This is a dromaeosaur skull.” Faultline explained. “Humans usually just call them raptors. They were an ancient predator that went extinct over 60 million earth years ago—“ He hesitated, optics flicking up to the unreadable expression on the

labeled with scientific nomenclature. Everything had been carefully assembled so nothing was damaged during transport to the museum. His helm feelers extended again and lightly curled as he removed the lid on one of the crates, revealing a large rock wrapped in plaster jackets. At the center of

wrists, he then propped open his subspace. Reaching in, he began pulling out wooden crates of various sizes. Unnoticed, a small slip of what appeared to be a single sheet of paper slid free from one of the crates and fluttered softly to the floor. To prove his earlier statement, the crates were

seeker close to Starscream’s build. No wonder they could exchange blows from the likes of Megatron and other warframes, they were practically built like one themselves!

He nodded as the cuffs released from his servos, his systems surging back to full capacity. Taking a moment to flex his

Faultline watched closely as the Magnus approached. He realized, due to having to tilt his helm a bit upward, that that they were quite large compared to most Autobots. He knew in a vague sense that they were strongly fortified but seeing it up close made it clear. They were about the same size as a

She’s lovely!!! Congrats Soundwave

“I’m going to restrain you so we can both get to the surface without issue.” He paused, and then added a bit awkwardly, “You did say you’d keep your servos to yourself. I’m just… helping with that.”

tight and unyielding around Vortex’s legs, while he easily restrained those taloned servos in his own larger grip. At spark, he was still an insecticon. And the hiss that left his vocalizer at first was said in his mother tongue before it transitioned to something Vortex would understand.

“This has nothing to do with confidence. I’m not a killer,” he said with a steady voice. “And you won’t be getting any absolution from me.”

Without pause, the ground then shifted as Faultline moved in a single, fluid motion. He used his weight to pin the flier into the dirt. His tail coiled

home, and he had no intention of letting his last remaining crechemate come anywhere near the flier. The plating along his tail flared and the pincer at the end gave a sharp, deliberate click as he drew closer to Vortex.