Five Fugitives TFP

Five Fugitives is the twenty-fourth episode of Season 3 and the sixty-ninth episode of Transformers: Robots in Disguise.

Plot
The Autobots' pursuit of Steeljaw runs to a roadblock when Strongarm's old mentor Detective Dropforge arrives from Cybertron with orders to arrest the Bee Team.

Synopsis
The Bee Team is in hot pursuit of Steeljaw down a forest road. Bumblebee contacts Bulkhead to see whether he's near Crown Peak, and directs the other Autobot to intercept their quarry. The Bee Teams pursuit is suddenly brought to a halt by three Cybertron Police Officers who slap cuffs on Bee. When Sideswipe tries to intercede on Bee's behalf, he too is handcuffed. Grimlock finally catches up with them, and Strongarm has to stop the officers shooting him, though they still arrest him as well. As Steeljaw streaks off, Bumblebee demands to talk to their superior officer, at which point Dropforge arrives and expresses regret as he arrests Strongarm. Bumblebee decides he's had enough and when one of the officers grabs his Decepticon Hunter, he frees himself and the others so they can continue their pursuit of Steeljaw. Strongarm insists on staying behind so she can talk to Dropforge, however Drogforge promptly gags her and orders a deputy to take her back to the ship.

Bulkhead attempts to stop Steeljaw, but the Decepticon vaults over him, forcing him to give chase in vehicle mode. When he reports the situation back to Bumblebee, Bee realizes the 'Con is headed for the natural gas refinery. Strongarm is taken aboard Dropforge's ship, currently parked in the scrapyard, and finds Fixit is already locked in a cell. Fixit's confused as to why they're being arrested for minor offenses, and Strongarm admits to being suspicious of the whole situation. Meanwhile, Sideswipe rendezvous with Grimlock, only for the pair to be jumped by Dropforge's deputies, drawing Bumblebee back to help. Steeljaw reaches the refinery and gains access using a subsonic pulse. When Bulkhead tries to follow, he finds Steeljaw's beefed up the security with a subsonic field, and is forced to try "plan B". Bumblebee finds Dropforge has subdued Grimlock and Sideswipe, however when he tries to force Dropforge to release the pair, he's swiftly incapacitated.

The captured trio are thrown into a cell on the ship. Strongarm again tries to appeal to Dropforge unsuccessfully. Dropforge and his men are drawn away by a pounding sound on the ship's hull, which naturally is a distraction so Denny and Russell can sneak in—Dropforge and his men are set upon by baseball pitching machines when they emerge from the ship. The two humans start working on figuring out the code to release the Bots. Steeljaw, in the meantime, takes control of the refinery and spots Bulkhead entering via a pipe. After a brief remote conversation, he explodes the gas in the pipe. Bulkhead is unhappy with this development. Denny manages to open the cells, releasing the Bee Team, and as they go to leave, Strongarm grabs the ship's medical kit. Their escape is cut off by Dropforge and his men, and at Strongarm's prompting, the team surrenders, however this is only so she can knock out Dropforge and scan him with the medical kit. Bumblebee contacts Bulkhead for an update, and after sticking Dropforge's group in a cell, the team heads for the refinery.

With Fixit's help, the team reaches Steeljaw, who has a proposal for them—either join his team, or he'll blow up Crown City. Bumblebee turns him down, but before he can hit the detonator, Dropforge arrives and shoots it from his hand. As Dropforge holds both sides at gunpoint, Strongarm's scan completes, showing that Dropforge and his men are being mind controlled by a signal from Cybertron. Dropforge rejects the whole notion that he's under outside influence, but the discussion gives Steeljaw time to unleash a subsonic wave on the Autobots. Unfortunately his detonator has broken, so he goes to manually set off the charges. Dropforge manages to destroy the subsonic device and clouts Steeljaw, who realizes he's outnumbered and retreats. As Dropforge goes to arrest Bumblebee again, Strongarm uses Steeljaw's tech to block the signal from Cybertron. Dropforge and his men reboot, freed from the signal's influence.

Later Fixit alters the frequency of Dropforge's processor to prevent him being mind controlled. The law bots board their ship to return to Cybertron and investigate what happened, but not before Dropforge warns them to keep an eye on Sideswipe (RID), because he looks shifty.

Autobots

 * Bumblebee
 * Strongarm
 * Sideswipe (RID)
 * Grimlock
 * Bulkhead
 * Fixit
 * Dropforge
 * Cybertron Police Officers

Decepticons

 * Steeljaw

Humans

 * Denny Clay
 * Russell Clay

Quotes
"Oh no no no no, you don't understand. I didn't break the prison. When it broke, I just... escaped on my own."
 * —Grimlock upon being confronted by the Cybertronian Police Officers.

"Deactivate that thing. Or arrest it. Whichever."
 * —Dropforge deals with a baseball pitching machine.

Continuity notes

 * Dropforge was first mentioned as Strongarm's beloved mentor in "Get a Clue", and was established as being a senior member of the Kaon Police Academy faculty in "Guilty as Charged".
 * The charges read against Bumblebee stem from the events on Cybertron of "Pilot (Part 1)", and the park in which Bee and Strongarm fought Sideswipe (RID) is finally given a name: Kaon Plaza.
 * Sideswipe (RID)'s query as to how many nicknames Strongarm has calls back to the nickname Nightra used in "Guilty As Charged".

Prisoner manifest

 * In stasis: Clampdown, Quillfire, Underbite, Thunderhoof, Wingcode
 * Known at Large: Steeljaw
 * The Autobots have run out of stasis pods at this point in the series.

Trivia

 * The Cybertronian Police Officers use a heavily altered version of Optimus Prime's Season 1 model when he was in the Realm of the Primes.