Twist

Chapter 1: Promise

"Duck!"

Temptest dropped to the ground and rolled away from her previous position without hesitation. A blue missile whistled past before slamming into one of the vehicons she had been fighting. The entire horde was thrown back as the missile exploded, their armour steaming with heat once they hit the ground.

A gray and blue Decepticon walked toward her with a scowl, his stilettos kicking up puffs of dirt behind them. The bot couldn't have made a more dramatic entrance.

"What took you so long?" Temptest huffed, rising to her pedes.

"You told me there were a few," Starscream rolled his optics. "This is over a dozen. I thought you had it handled."

Temptest glanced toward the cave. "Well, apparently, vehicons have the ability to hear."

Starscream gasped. "What? No way! Next thing you know, they might actually have brains!"

The two of them snickered.

"This is Decepticon command. Is the energon mine clear for transport?"

Temptest mocked Soundwave under her breath while Starscream activated his comms. "Nearly. The perimeter is clear. Temptest and I will move in now."

"Understood."

Starscream passed her a smirk. "You know, Soundwave would kill you if he saw you doing that."

"If only looks could kill-" Temptest smiled viciously. "Oh, wait, Soundwave doesn't do facial expressions. My bad."

Starscream shoved her playfully. "You are horrible."

Temptest only laughed and started walking into the cave. "Looks kinda empty."

"Optimus wouldn't leave an empty mine guarded," Starscream replied. "The energon is probably further in."

"Great, more walking," Temptest sighed.

Starscream was about to shoot back a remark about her laziness, but paused as something glowed from a crack in the floor beneath them. He frowned and knelt down.

"What?" Temptest questioned, bending over to get a glimpse.

"I think there's a chamber under this tunnel. Normal mines don't have lights like this, so it must be something more important," Starscream informed her before standing up. "Contact Megatron. We need the team."

Temptest nodded and located his frequency. "Megatron, we've located an unknown Autobot chamber."

The leader of the Decepticons did not reply for a while and Temptest glanced at Starscream, who was running his servos along the wall.

"Knockout and I are on our way," Megatron finally responded. "Do not engage until we arrive to assess the situation."

Temptest nodded. "We will be waiting."

She turned back to Starscream. "Want to wait outside?"

"And risk being spotted? And waste time I could have spent on finding an entrance?"

Temptest frowned. "The entrance is made by shooting the floor."

Starscream gave her a dull look. "You want to bring down the mountain?"

There was a moment of silence before Temptest crossed her arms. "Whatever."

He snorted and went back to examining the walls, so Temptest walked a bit further in, her helm tilted as she looked around. The walls were underwhelmingly bare, so it did support Starscream's theory of a hidden chamber. Mines usually had more bumps and divets from the en—