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Optimus led the Maximals back from the mountain, returning to the Axalon. It had been a difficult battle, the start to an unfortunate new conflict. Everyone was worn down, sporting various injuries, and eager to get some sleep. With his injured leg, Optimus had to lean on Rhinox for support. He tried his best not to show his weariness too much, but somehow he knew that he was failing at that.
Just as they arrived, however, they found their strange new ally hovering back. Dinobot lingered near the trees, his tail flicking about and his nose turned toward the sky.
“Aren’t you coming with us?” Optimus asked.
“You have the shields up on your vessel, don’t you? Those would surely bar me from entry.”
Optimus turned to look at the Axalon. “...Surely we can make arrangements.”
Rattrap hurried over, putting himself between Optimus and Dinobot, as needless as it was considering the distance. “No we can’t! Nuh uh! There’s no room for stinkin’ Preds on our ship! See ya, Chopperface! It was terrible meetin’ ya!”
“We can’t just leave him out here, can we?” Rhinox asked.
Dinobot turned away. “You need not worry about me. I’ll make my own way, and I’ll be around if you ever need me again.”
Optimus watched him go, unease in his tanks. It didn’t seem fair for him to stay out in this unknown wilderness. Sure, he might have been a Predacon, but he had also helped them fend off Megatron. Wasn’t there some way for them to get along?
The wires in his leg twitched, and Optimus knelt down in pain. Rhinox changed into his robot form, steadying him. He expected to be placed into the CR Chamber, and he never had a restful slumber in there. He ought to focus on rest and recovery for now. There would be other times to think about their new ally.
The next day came, and Optimus was out bright and early. He met Dinobot in the same place they had departed. The raptor bot looked worse for wear. He sported some new injuries on top of his old ones, and he seemed rather tired, too. But Dinobot refused to look weak, proudly presenting a dead thing to Optimus.
“Our new beast forms can consume organic matter,” Dinobot informed him. “Perhaps you would like to share this with me?”
He was offering to share? That was oddly thoughtful. Even so… “Do you know what that is?”
“It looked like a deer.”
“You probably shouldn’t eat something if you don’t know what it is.”
Dinobot tore a chunk of meat off the thing’s hide, ignoring him.
“But you know, this is a good opportunity to study this planet’s ecology. We’ve barely scratched the surface of what life is like here. Once the others get here, we should head out.”
The rest of the Maximal team joined them shortly. They explored through the forest. Optimus held a scanner, bringing it up to every plant and insect they came across, jotting down whatever information the scans held. While Cheetor and Rhinox chatted warmly with each other during the excursion, Rattrap kept his suspicious gaze fixed on Dinobot. And Dinobot swiveled his head around constantly, keeping an eye out for threats.
But from the way he lagged behind, Optimus wasn’t sure he could keep up if they did find trouble.
And find trouble they did. A horrible, familiar screech drew them to the air, and they watched as Terrorsaur swooped in. Dinobot shot his eye lasers at him- missing by a good mile. Optimus changed forms and took to the air, fending off the flying menace. Terrorsaur wasn’t alone, though- Megatron and Scorponok weren’t too far behind.
“And here I thought they’d be licking their wounds,” Optimus sighed. “Let’s go, everyone!”
Five against three weren’t terrible odds, even if Megatron’s power could make up the difference. Scorponok gave Rhinox a little trouble, but none that he couldn’t deal with. It was up to Optimus to take down Terrorsaur, knocking him into a tree on the ground. Dinobot clashed with Megatron, slashing his sword against Megatron’s own weapons. Megatron changed forms, swiping his tail and sending Dinobot flying into the trees.
A move that shouldn’t have stunned him as much as it did.
Cheetor jumped on Megatron’s back, clawing at him. Megatron thrashed around, trying to shake him off. The rest of the Maximals regrouped, charging at him for a final attack. That seemed to do the trick, as Megatron finally took his lackeys and fled.
“I don’t know about you, but that felt too easy to me,” Rhinox said. “It could have been a diversion for a different plan of theirs.”
“You may be right,” Optimus nodded. “Let’s head back for now. If we hurry, we can-”
Cheetor jumped, pointing at something. “Dinobot, you’re bleeding!”
Everyone turned to look at Dinobot. He had climbed out of the branches, landing less than gracefully. And there was a giant gash in his side, which was indeed bleeding. But still, Dinobot marched on as best as he could. He gathered some leaves, pressing them against his side.
“This is… nothing,” he gasped. “Just… surface damage.”
Optimus hurried over to him. “Doesn’t look like surface damage to me. Can you transform like that?”
Dinobot winced. That told Optimus everything, though he hated the implication of it. An energon overcharge on top of a grievous wound like this wouldn’t do him any good.
“Rhinox, Rattrap, head back to the Axalon and lower the shields,” Optimus insisted. “We need to bring Dinobot aboard.”
Rattrap threw his arms up in disbelief. “Are you serious!? Lettin’ him aboard!? Maybe this is what the Preds were plannin’!”
“Which is why I want you to scout the area first. But Dinobot needs help, and I’m not about to leave him here.”
Rattrap scoffed. He climbed onto Rhinox’s back, and the two of them turned back for the Axalon.
Optimus looked over at Cheetor. “This might be tricky for you, given your size compared to his, but can you help me get him back there?”
Cheetor nodded. “I’ll do what I can, Big Bot.”
He shuffled to Dinobot’s other side, setting his arm over his shoulders. They then started off for the Axalon.
The first leg of the trip wasn’t so bad. Cheetor and Optimus struggled with Dinobot’s weight, but Dinobot still had enough strength to carry himself, too. But then they approached the Axalon, and things quickly downturned. Those leaves didn’t do much to slow the loss of spark blood, and what little energy Dinobot had that morning quickly faded. He struggled to march on, and Optimus and Cheetor in turn struggled to carry him.
And then Cheetor and Dinobot started feeling the effects of energon overcharge. Cheetor slipped away, changing into his beast mode. Which left Dinobot to struggle with the pain on his own.
“S-Sorry, Big Bot,” Cheetor whimpered. “I can’t go any further with him.”
Optimus summoned a large bout of energy, and slung Dinobot over his shoulders firefighter style. “You did well, Cheetor. Get some rest.”
With that, he charged for the lift, ignoring whatever pain the effort brought him. He climbed into the ship, setting Dinobot against the wall. The energon sparks dancing over Dinobot’s body faded upon entry. Optimus knelt down in exhaustion, but he looked up with a smile as Rhinox came up with a cup of energon and a roll of welding tape.
“Can you sit up for me?” Rhinox asked Dinobot.
Dinobot looked at him with dim optics, but he did as was asked. Rhinox handed the cup to Optimus, and placed the welding patches on Dinobot’s wound.
“The rest of these don’t look good, either,” Rhinox wondered. “Maybe it would be better to place you in the CR Chamber.”
“CR Chamber…?” Dinobot asked.
“Never heard of it? Maximals use them to heal from grievous injuries.”
“Predacons have… a healing vat.”
Optimus handed the cup to Dinobot. “Here. You need to regain your strength.”
Dinobot took the cup, frowning at it. “Wasting this… precious resource on me?”
“Precious? This whole planet’s bursting with energon.”
Dinobot chuckled weakly, and drank from the cup.
Rhinox motioned Optimus to follow him. Optimus got up, rounding the corner with his friend. Rhinox threw an arm over his shoulders, cupping his hand to the side of his face to lower his voice.
“So you’re keeping him onboard, then?” Rhinox asked.
“The only other option is for him to stay outside so he can get into trouble again. That’s not fair. He’s part of our team now. We need to treat him as such.”
“And you’re not worried about keeping him here?”
Optimus frowned. “Rhinox, if he was going to try something, he would’ve demanded to come aboard last night. I don’t think he’s going to kill us or anything like that.”
“Right. I just wanted to make sure you knew what you were doing.”
Cheetor’s voice suddenly said, “Big Bot?”
Optimus turned back around. “Yes, Cheetor?”
His gaze didn’t draw on Cheetor right away, instead drawing to their Predacon guest. Dinobot had finished off the energon, the cup sitting loosely in his grasp. He slumped against the wall, his tail twitching lazily. His head lulled on his shoulder, his optics closed, and he kept muttering things.
“Nngh… Foolish idiot, don’t… hngh…”
Optimus looked over at Cheetor, the youngster’s face full of concern. “Let him sleep for now. We still need to figure out living arrangements for him.”
Cheetor kept his gaze on their slumbering guest. “He can stay in my room. The bed’s pretty small for him, but we’ll make it work.”
“That won’t be necessary. We have a spare room for him on the ship.”
Rhinox chuckled. “Correction. Rattrap has two rooms, one for all the contraband he thinks we don’t know about.”
Cheetor crossed his arms with a frown. “Yeah, how come he gets two rooms?”
Optimus started down the hall. “He shouldn’t.”
He made his way to the other side of the ship, where Rattrap was huddled in his actual room. Needless to say, he was less than pleased to hear about the news.
“You can’t do this ta me! That’s the best closet I’m ever gonna have!”
“You shouldn’t have turned it into your closet at all. What if we needed to activate one of the protoforms so they could help out on the ship? What would you have done then?”
Rattrap crossed his arms. “I woulda been accomodatin’ for one of them. But for that Pred? Ya may as well have invited Unicron ta live with us.”
“Rattrap, my decision is final. Clear your stuff out of there so Dinobot can have somewhere to sleep.”
Rattrap grumbled, but he left to complete the task anyway.
Optimus gave the room a combover once Rattrap was done cleaning. He didn’t trust that Rattrap wouldn’t leave a nasty surprise for their guest. (And indeed, he found a stink bomb hidden under the bed). But for the most part, the room cleaned up nicely. The bed hadn’t even lost any of its softness, despite having piles of stuff sitting on it. It was rather empty in there with everything gone, but there would be opportunities to fill it up.
He returned to the place where they left Dinobot. The Predacon had slid down to the floor, curled up in a ball. Somehow he still held the cup in his hands. Optimus knelt beside him, his hand hovering over his shoulder. Was it an unwise decision, trying to wake Dinobot? He’d never been in his presence while he was sleeping, so he didn’t know what he would look like awake. What if he startled, and tried to attack him?
Optimus went for it anyway, setting his hand on his shoulder. “Dinobot.”
“...Get off, Waspinator…”
“Dinobot, it’s Optimus.”
Dinobot woke with a jump, but relaxed upon seeing him. He sat up, rubbing his optics with a yawn. “Sorry about that. I didn’t mean to fall asleep.”
“That’s alright. You needed the rest. But I think you’d be more comfortable in an actual bed.”
Dinobot staggered to his feet, looking toward the ship’s exit. “There’s work to be done. I should go on patrol.”
Optimus grabbed his arm. “You should take it easy. You nearly suffered an energon overcharge on top of that gash. And that’s not to mention whatever else you got up to last night. And that’s not to mention the bumps and scrapes you received from the battle on the mountain. A good warrior would make sure he’s fit to fight, wouldn’t he?”
Dinobot dipped his head down, mulling it over. Then he sighed, saying, “You have a point.”
Optimus led him down the hall. “Good. Now let me show you where you’ll be staying.”
He presented the room to Dinobot. Optimus watched as Dinobot looked around, though he couldn’t quite read his expression. At least, until Dinobot sat on the bed, and stumbled into the mat.
“Y-You don’t happen to have a firmer mat, would you?” Dinobot stammered.
“It’s too soft for you?”
“A tad bit.”
Optimus set a finger on his chin in thought. “I’ll see what we have, but you might have to make due with that. We’re not exactly blessed with luxury on this planet.”
Dinobot nodded, standing back up with a struggle. “So you’re really keeping me onboard, then?”
Optimus nodded. “You’re a member of the team now. You should be treated like one.”
“And everyone else is fine with this?”
“It’s a bit of an adjustment, I’ll admit. Doesn’t change the facts, though.”
“I… I appreciate it. Really.”
Optimus nodded, turning to leave. “I’ll see what we have in terms of mats. If there’s anything else you want, don’t be afraid to ask.”
Dinobot hurried up next to him, his head turned away sheepishly. “You wouldn’t… happen to have data pads with Shakespeare’s works on them, would you? All of the ones I had are back on the Darksyde.”
Optimus blinked. “Shakespeare? Cybertronians don’t often pick art from offworld to enjoy.”
“You’re a space explorer, are you not? Surely you’ve found a plethora of offworld art to enjoy.”
He couldn’t help but chuckle. “You’re right. And I do have Shakespeare. I’ll fetch those for you, too.”
Optimus left on his gathering quest. The Shakespeare data pads were easy enough to find, but unfortunately, they didn’t have firmer mats. It didn’t seem to matter, though. When he returned, he found Dinobot laying in bed, nestled in for a second nap. He sank in quite a bit, but he seemed comfortable enough.
Optimus couldn’t help but smile at him. He placed the data pads on the desk next to the bed. He drew a blanket over Dinobot’s shoulders, and then set a hand on his back.
“I think things are going to work out. I really do.”