[Author's note]

Sorry for taking so long to update, guys. I was on a family trip this month and didn't have much time to write. This one is a bit short than the previous chapters. But hey, at least it's finally here!

Please enjoy!

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The four captured Autobots and the six elements of harmony were trying to stay quiet as much as possible while thinking of a strategy to escape, they cautiously kept their eyes and optics on Starscream and the Vehicon troopers who were standing on the other far side of the laboratory.

"We need to think of a plan soon. Those 'Cons will be wasting no time if they find your friend." Bee whispered to his teammates and human friends.

"We have to do something before he gets to Twilight." Sunset replied, "We have to reach her somehow."

"With what exactly?" asked Rainbow annoyed. Sunset then came to realization and started to roam her hands around her pockets, when she was finally able to feel a small device inside of her black leather jacket and pulled it out, she smiled in relief.

"Yes! Thank Celestia."

The red-yellow haired girl began to type on her phone, "I will try to contact her."

"That's still not going to work." the cherish red medic responded.

"Why not?" Pinkie questioned.

"There's a signal blocker inside this facility. Neither we can contact the team nor they us. Except, if we somehow manage to turn it off from that console..." the rest followed Knock Out's gaze and glanced at the big-sized monitor which was close to their current positions.

"I don't want to disappoint you or anything but I think you are missing a small detail here, if you haven't noticed-" Sideswipe lifted his cuffed arms and indicated the trapped girls and the Decepticon soldiers, "- we can't move!" he informed in an irritated tone.

"Am I interrupting something?" everyone jumped at the sudden close voice and turned to see an approaching Starscream, watching them with suspicion and a raised optic ridge.

Rainbow instantly shook her head in denial, "Nope!"

"Nu-uh!" followed the pink girl.

"N-no..." stuttered Fluttershy.

"It must be your imagination, darling." Rarity nervously chuckled afterwards.

The seeker's doubtful expression still didn't change, "Hm, that's odd. I was certain I heard some distant mumbling around here." his sharp-clawed servos moved above Fluttershy's cage cylinder and picked her up to his optic level.

"No! Fluttershy!" Sunset cried out for her friend and the rest of her friends watched helplessly.

Rainbow shouted in fury at the tall seeker, "Hey! Put her down you creep! She didn't do anything!"

The shy girl began to shiver even more out of panic not only from the height but the sinister and chilling smile of the grey-winged robot. Bumblebee hurriedly tried to come up with something to prevent the Decepticon's harsh actions from getting to his human charge. Before Starscream could make any attempts of harming the element of kindness, the yellow Autobot interrupted, "Say, Starscream! Could you remind me what role exactly you are playing in this? 'Cause as far as I remember you were the one who wanted to be the leader, weren't you?" Bumblebee asked and slightly nodded to his teammates.

"What do you mean, Autobot? Of course, I am!" Starscream crossly clarified as he put the glass container down back on the large table. Fluttershy sighed in relief.

Bulkhead understood what his teammate was trying to achieve so he continued, "Is that so? Seems to me those two faceless freaks are using you more like a doll."

"Not that he is good at being something else anyway." added Knock Out and smirked.

Sideswipe snickered next to him and joined the mocking contest, "Yeah, is this some kind of a secret nerd club that we haven't heard about? Or more like a loser gathering?"

Starscream gritted his teeth and clenched his fist, "Why you little-!" he stepped closer and took out his sharp digits. Right before things could get messy, loud and heavy steps entered the laboratory.

Shockwave and Soundwave along with Ravage approached the rest of the group. All of them noticed several dents and scratches over the one-eyed scientist. Besides his state, the girls noticed someone else among them too, "Twilight!" they all gasped in horror when they saw the unconscious body of their friend and her struggling dog Spike in the grip of the tentacles that belonged to the scary faceless Decepticon Soundwave. He put them both in one of the free cylinders and closed them inside. Spike stood up next to his fallen owner and barked at them, but it was to no use.

Fluttershy covered her mouth in concern for the state of her close friend, "O-oh no..."

"Twi?!" Applejack shouted for her.

Sunset loudly pounded her fist on the glass wall, "Twilight?! Twilight! Can you hear me?!" after receiving no response, she frustratingly turned to the 'Cons, "What did you do to her?!"

"I too would like to know what exactly happened, Shockwave. It seems you had quite the fight out there." Starscream inquired in curiosity as he looked over the damaged parts of his comrade.  

"I will manage, Starscream." Shockwave briefly answered and shoved him out of his way. The scientist held the side of his plating from leaking out of Energon and went to another compartment of his facility, perhaps to repair the injuries from the fight.

Ravage had also several wounds on his body, the feline hissed at Starscream as he passed next to him, the seeker flinched from his behavior and grumbled in return, "Annoying feline..." upon hearing his insult, Soundwave gave him a warning look and Starscream backed away. The faceless 'Con followed Shockwave with his mini-con.

Starscream gave an order to the Vehicons, "Watch over the prisoners." the soldiers saluted in response and the seeker went after the two mechs.

"Oh, poor darling... What could have that monster done to her?!" Rarity questioned anxiously, not taking her eyes away from Twilight, Spike was carefully nudging his owner to wake up.

"What happened out there, Spike?" Sunset asked the canine.

The tiny dog let out a heavy sigh and explained, "It happened so fast. We found a Decepticon signal and decided to check it out, we thought that maybe it was a way to find you guys since we couldn't reach each other through the communication system... once we found that it was actually a trap, Shockwave attacked us and Ratchet. Twilight and I had a chance to escape but she helped him to fight that giant orc and that crazy-looking panther! I guess she got too exhausted from the power and blacked out. A giant portal then opened right behind us and that guy with the mask took us with his tentacles before Ratchet could even reach us..."

"Ratchet was there too?!" Bulkhead queried out of disbelief.

"Although I hate to admit it, Shockwave is a pretty powerful 'Con, there is no way Ratchet could have survived a fight with him without any damage..." Bumblebee responded with apprehension about the old medic's well-being.

Out of the blue, muttering noises and groans were heard, they all came from Twilight who was slowly starting to lift herself up.

Pinkie gasped out of shock, "She is waking up! She is waking up!!"

Twilight stood on her knees and massaged her temple, "God... my head hurts so much..."

Spike wagged his tail and jumped in her arms, "Twilight, you are okay!" he barked happily and licked her cheek. The girl let out a dry chuckle and gave him a tight loving hug.

"We thought you wouldn't wake up anytime soon! We were so worried..." Fluttershy included.

Applejack then continued, "You sure gave us a scare there. How are ya feelin', sugarcube?"

"Like I've been hit by a truck or something..." Twilight answered as she struggled to stand up, all of a sudden, she felt a sharp pain and hissed, she looked over the deep wound on her leg, "Yeahh... I forgot about that..."

"How the heck did your leg got injured so bad?!" Rainbow almost yelled out of surprise.

"Unfortunately to my luck, that giant stupid cat was too fast and bit me." responded the element of magic and ripped a small piece of cloth off her sleeve.

Rarity flinched at the sight of how her friend was patching up her leg, "Honestly, I don't know which is worse, your wound or how you are ripping off that precious clothing of yours."

Meanwhile, Bumblebee was searching for any kind of a solution to free themselves. Either if they did find a way it was far too dangerous, they were outnumbered and unarmed, some of them even harmed. Then he had no choice but to think of another way. As he looked around the laboratory, he spotted a few science tools that belonged to Shockwave and were placed on the table near the captured humans. He then looked over Twilight and the computer system.

His gaze turned to the red doctor, "Knock Out, do you know how to turn that signal blocker off?"

Knock Out rolled his optics, "Please, I may be not Soundwave, but I do know the basics."

"Will you be able to navigate Twilight on the console?"

Twilight looked at him confused after mentioning her name, "Me?"

"Shockwave's tools. You can use one of them to get in touch with the keyboard."

Bulkhead smiled the at yellow soldier, "Hey, that's actually pretty smart, good thinking Bee."

"But we don't have much time, you have to be quick." reminded Bumblebee.

"What about them?" Sideswipe asked the lieutenant and glanced at the three standing Vehicons.

The fashionista smiled with confidence at the red mech, "I believe we will handle it from here, darling." she looked over the troops and waved her hand up high so she could grab their attention, "Yoo-hoo~" the faceless soldiers' gazes turned to the girl, "Excuse me, dear gentlemen, I couldn't help myself but notice how stylish all of you look."

Pinkie gave her a confused stare, "I thought you hated-" Rarity immediately shushed her.

The drones looked at each other and one of them responded sheepishly, "Y-you think so?"

"Why, yes of course! I have never seen such wonderful armors-" while the element of generosity continued to keep them distracted, Twilight took a deep breath and concentrated on the Durabyllium Drill which was right in front of her.  Her hands began to glow in pink as well as the drill which was slowly starting to rise into the air. The moment she moved the tool close to the console, Knock Out started quietly to navigate her.

"Yeah, and those red visors, super awesome." Rainbow joined Rarity in "complimenting" the Vehicons.

"Huh, finally someone to appreciate our looks!" another soldier cheerfully added. Just as Twilight was about to carefully press the tip of the drill on the last button, she instantly felt the sharp discomfort in her leg again and flinched, loudly dropping down the drill on the keyboard and then on the ground. The tool made a noisy clanking sound which caused the prisoners to wince and make the Decepticons glance at them in alarm, "Hey, what's going on there?" the same one questioned sternly.

"Don't know whatcha talkin' about, buddy." pretended the green giant.

"Thought I heard something." the second Vehicon spoke up.

"Yeah, me too." confirmed the third one.

"Maybe expect your lack of shooting properly you should also check on your audio receptors." Sideswipe jokingly inserted.

One of the drones approached him in a threatening way and warned, "Watch your intake, punk."

"What? I'm just messin' around."

"See? That's what am I talking about. No respect!" the other Vehicon said as the three of them walked away, "We're watching you." one of them alerted and left.

Applejack quickly turned to the purple girl who was holding her injured leg, "Twilight, you okay?"

Twilight nodded her head in confirmation, "Yeah, yeah, just... it stung for a bit but I think it's okay for now, I hope it doesn't get infected much till we get out of here."

"Do not worry, operation 'Call for help' was a success." confirmed Knock Out.

"Oh, thank goodness." Rarity said with a bit feeling of reassurance.

"Good job, you guys." commended Bumblebee.

"The only thing we can do is wait patiently and hope for the team to arrive soon." the doctor informed.

The lieutenant replied, "Until then, we will have to keep them distracted as long as we are able to. Which is not going to be easy..."