#the combaticons

It wasn't long before the lock sprung open, and Swindle tiptoed inside.

Hopefully most of his former teammates would be out, leaving only one or two behind that he could convince to not kill him and help him get his brother back.

"And where have you been?"

Scrap.

Swindle's wide eyes adjusted to the dim light to see Onslaught stood in the entrance, arms folded across his broad chest.

The rest of their team were gathered around him. At his right hand side as always was Blast-Off who placed his hands on his hips, after elbowing Brawl for giving him an oblivious wave. On his other was Vortex who flashed Swindle a grin as sharp as the knife in his servos which wasn't exactly an unusual sight but it had been while since it had been directed at Swindle.

"Oh hey Onsie! Didn't see you there! Which is hard because it's hard not to notice you. Have you been using that new polish I got you?" Swindle rambled, apology disappearing from his mind as he automatically turned on the charm. Which was admittedly not one of his smarter plans as now Blast-Off was sending him death glares.

"You mean the polish you stole from Blast-Off and re-gifted to me?" Onslaught asked which from anyone else might have come across as a joke, but there was no trace of humour in their leader's voice.

"Yeah that one! I mean I didn't steal anything! And even if I did, Blast-Off doesn't mind. I know he appreciates how the polish makes your rivets shine." Swindle said, pointing to Blast-Off who's rose tinted face was now actively looking anywhere but their leader. Which come on! How was it his fault that Blast-Off's crush on their leader made him as easy to manipulate as stealing rust sticks from a sparkling.

"You believe that futile flattery makes up for six months of absence?" Onslaught demanded.

"No of course not! Which is why I'm offering you something much more valuable." Swindle said, pausing for dramatic effect. "Me."

Onslaught raised an unimpressed optical ridge which was rude to say the least.

"Look as the humans say, here's the coffee." Swindle said, putting on his best salesman voice. His teammates were near immune to it at this point but for the sake of his brother it was still worth a try. "Hardtop was captured by the Autobots, so I figured we could use Bruticus to bust him out."

"And why would we help you rescue the brother that you abandoned us for in the first place?"

"Money."

Onslaught stalled. It was a small movement, barely more than a clenching of his gears. Not something an ordinary bot would notice. But Swindle had literally been inside his leaders head. At this point he didn't need to be a master con-man to recognise his tells.

If there was one word you could use to describe Onslaught it was proud. And scrounging by in their derelict warehouse after once leading the most revealed mercenaries on Cybertronian was not something for the bot to be proud of.

Something which money could fix.

"Soundwave is offering the remainder of the Deception funds to anyone willing to assist in a mass break out." Swindle explained. "So not only do we get Hardtop, we also get to rescue an entire armies worth of customers."

By the brightening of his optics, Swindle knew Onslaught was interested.

Unfortunately Onslaught had something Swindle did not.

Dignity.

Brawl didn't have enough modular cells to hold a grudge and Vortex was up for anything that potentially involved mass murder. The pair were already wearing matching grins of glee at the idea.

But it didn't matter what they thought as allowing a bot who had openly disobeyed him back onto his team without retribution wasn't something that Onslaught's pride would concede.

No, Onslaught and Blast-Off were the ones he really had to convince. Swindle needed to convince one of them because as much as the other would never admit it, they would follow whatever the other decided. And although he would never tell them with words, he did really want his place back on the team. For as much as Swindle often... well swindled his teammates, he did love to be apart of the Combaticons.

"Hardtop used to be a sniper for the elite guard before the war." For a week before they fired him due to him taking money to assassinate the then Prime but his point still stands. "Rescue him and I can get him to join our team permanently."

Swindle could tell Onslaught and Blast-Off were thinking the offer over. Their optics flashed as they both shared a look. Even before the group had combined, those two had always had a way to communicate with just a look. Usually over how bad to reprimand one of their team after they'd done something particularly stupid.

"If we had a sniper, we could complete assassinations that Bruticus was too big of a distraction to carry out." Blast-Off suggested and Swindle couldn't help the smile that spread across his faceplate knowing that he'd just sealed the deal.

"Fine." Onslaught relented, pointing a large digit towards Swindle. "But you're also on cleaning duty for the next millennia. And don't try to trick Brawl into doing it for you."

"Anything you say boss!"