Twist

Chapter 5: Hypothetical

Temptest wasn't having much luck guessing the time. Her cell had no windows, which was no surprise, considering the base was an underground missile silo. When Optimus first left, she looked around the cell, trying to find a way to escape. If she could escape the cell, she could easily evade the Autobots and flee their base. She knew this layout like the back of her servo. She could get Agent Fowler to sneak in and grab Miko. The Autobots would never expect an attack from another human.

At least, she knew it as well as her uninjured servo. The servo Megatron had squished wasn't irreparable, but it hurt like the pits and energon oozed from a few cracks in her mesh. Curse Megatron for trying to make her stay behind. He only made the situation worse.

In reality, it was her fault. Temptest didn't know what was going on between Starscream, Miko, and the base change, but she knew that if she had not run away from Megatron to attack Optimus, she wouldn't have been captured.

Not following orders always seemed to be her issue, but Temptest never learned her lesson.

Regardless, there was no plausible solution to her current predicament, not yet, so Temptest had no other choice than to wait. In that time, she had fallen into an uneasy recharge, which skewered her sense of time completely.

The recharge was interrupted by a soft knock on the wall beside her cell bars. Temptest jumped awake and stood, immediately pulling up a glare when she saw Optimus standing outside of her cell.

"What do you want?" Temptest snapped.

"I brought you an energon cube," Optimus told her.

Temptest glanced down at his servos, both holding a cube, respectively. She sneered.

"You poisoned it."

"With what?" Optimus asked.

"Dark energon," Temptest accused.

Optimus frowned and set down the cube before sliding it to her pedes. "I don't have any, nor do I need any."

Temptest didn't touch the cube. "Don't you ever get tired of lying?"

Optimus backed up some and sat down on a bench across from her cell. "I am not lying."

"Sure."

Slowly, Optimus peeled back the lid of his ration and drank his energon. He watched her, thoughtfully, and then placed his cube on the bench beside him.

"You seem to believe that Starscream is dead."

Temptest glowered. "You seem to have forgotten stabbing him through the spark."

Optimus folded his servos in his lap. "I did not. When do you think this occurred?"

"Don't patronize me," Temptest snapped. "You know when."

"Was it recently or has some time passed since then?"

Temptest stood up angrily. "It just happened! You just did it! Don't act like you don't remember! He deserves more than that!"

Optimus took a moment to internalize her words. "So, were you and Starscream close?"

Temptest turned away from him and crossed her arms. There was no point in trying to reason with a psychopath. He didn't feel any emotions that would interest her.

Optimus noted her silence and changed the subject. "Megatron called you Temptest. That's your name?"

"You know it is."

"Temptest is a nice name," Optimus said. "How long have we known each other?"

"Far longer than I would have liked to know you."