(Disclaimer: I do not own the Transformers Universe or claim any right to this fantastic setting, all honor to the creative minds of the various companies that do own this setting however, thank you for creating such a gem that still entertain me and fascinate me to this day. This little story is a fanfiction, it is written just as fun and as a homage and is not meant to step on anyone's toes. This story is marked M due to torture scenes and sporadic profane language, I hope you will enjoy this story.)
Compassion And Broken Wings
The room was filled with the sound of screams, screams made hollow by the metal walls in the sunken Decepticon headquarters. Starscream felt a hint of pity as he watched the other Seeker's plight, Thundercracker hung, extended from his wrists by energon restraints while Megatron swung a hissing laserwhip over his back and wings, each time the whip hit the blue robot, fresh scrapes and cuts appeared on the delicate plate metal of his wings, and a fresh scream filled the Decepticon command chamber. Starscream could not help but wince, a Seeker's wings where sensitive, made to feel the changes in air currents, and as such they could easily be hurt, a weakness the Decepticon leader was fully aware of and which where probably the reason why he had chosen this punishment for the unfortunate blue Seeker. Starscream sigh, at least it was not him having to face Megatron's ire this time, though Thundercracker's crime was more bad luck than anything else, so it could just as easily have been the Air Commander himself taking the blows, he guessed he was fortunate that Megatron's anger where directed at someone else at the moment. That however did not change the fact that by the look of rage in the gray transformer's glowing optics there where a real change Starscream would loose his best wingman today, and that was...unfortunate.
Starscream shook his head, this had begun like any other day, the Nemesis needed repairs and all hands where expected to be helping out with them, after all there where allot of work to do if this underwater base was ever to resemble a spaceship again. Thundercracker had been working with some computer diagnostics when Rumble decided it would be fun to be an ass and bother the much larger robot, normally Thundercracker where remarkably patient for a Decepticon, but this day, for some reason he snapped. Starscream did not blame his lieutenant his anger, Soundwave's little cassette pets could be a pain in the exhaust tubes, however it was unfortunate that Thundercracker's reaction had produced more dangerous consequences than just putting some respect in the little heap of waste which had made the ever so wise decision of bothering a mechanism ten times his own size.
Starscream had no idea what Rumble had said to the blue Seeker to set him off, but suddenly the otherwise calm and composed Thundercracker had shot from his seat, wrapped his black digests around Rumble's neck and then smashed the smaller robot into the floor, a human being receiving such a treatment would have been instantly killed, but any Cybertronian, even a little pest like Rumble where infinitely more powerful than one of the disgusting flesh bag humans so the cassette had scraped himself off the floor and gone off to find Soundwave to sulk in his slot located in the communications officer's chest, and there is where the problems begun.
About five minutes after Rumble had crawled off to sulk the Decepticons working in Nemesis command center heard a scream and the ominous sound of metal being forcefully bent out of position. It turned out Thundercracker using Rumble as a basketball had damaged the smaller robot's transformation circuits and while he was still inside Soundwave's chest he had lost the ability to hold his second form, as a result the six foot robot suddenly turned back into full size nearly crushing his master's laser core and smashing Laserbeak who happened to be recharging as well to slots further up into something resembling more a botched origami than a proud Cybetronian robot warrior. Megatron as predicted had not been pleased, everyone knew the Decepticon leader favored Soundwave and his cassette pets, especially Laserbeak, so as a result Soundwave and his pet bird was in the medical mechanics lab undergoing extensive repairs, and Thundercracker hung from the roof by his wrists while Megatron flayed the plating of his black and blue wings with a laserwhip, strange how otherwise fine day could turn sour with one bad decision.
Megatron's punishing of the blue Seeker went on for some time, Starscream eventually begun to really fear that the gray tyrant would extinguish his wing man's spark, Thundercracker no longer screamed, he was to weak, he merely twitched each time Megatron's whip tore a new deep gash in his sensitive wings and back plating, Starscream could not say that he was really friends with the other Seeker, but he had flown into battle with him countless times so the torture unfolding before his eyes made him uneasy. Eventually, thankfully Megatron turned of the laserwhip and turned to address his warriors who he had gathered in the command chamber to witness Thundercracker's torment.
"Witness the fate of one who disobeys my rule, take care to not follow in his footsteps or you will share his punishment, now back to work you rusted heaps of trash, and someone take this idiot down to the mechanics lab to have him repaired, I have a plan that requires my entire company of Seekers fully functioning to commerce tomorrow evening!"
Megatron glared at his soldiers then he tossed the deactivated whip aside and strode out of the room, satisfied that he had made a proper example of poor Thundercracker. Starscream felt his steam rise, one day Megatron would pay for treating his men like this, after all if anyone where to torture his Seekers it would be himself, Starscream holding the whip and giving the orders, fuming the red Seeker never the less held his rage in check, he really did not want to draw Megatron's ire over onto himself, especially now that the gray Decepticon leader was all but shorting out his fuses in anger, so instead of saying anything to his leader and risk ending up in Thundercracker's place Starscream instead crossed the distance to his wing man and fumbled with the energon chains that bound the other Cybertronian, letting a tired Thundercracker sink to his knees on the cold metal floor, the Seeker's voice synthesizer hissing out sounds of agony as he crumpled to the floor.
"Thank you...Sky Commander."
The large, blue robot whispered as he tried with little success to get to his feet. Starscream sigh again as he looks over his wing man to check his condition, liquid energon, various forms of oils and lubricants including hydraulics fluid flowed freely from the broken transformer's wings, and the blue mechanism sort of just shuddered where he lay on the floor, grating sounds that should absolutely not be there screeching in high protest every time the Cybertronian moved.
"Damned it Thundercraker, this mess is going to take many earth hours to fix, and guess who have to do it now that Soundwave is out of commission, oh well we might as well get started, give me your hand and I will help you up and get you to the medical mechanics lab."
Starscream was surprised at the compassion in his own voice, sure he liked the nerdy Thundercracker much better than the prankster Skywarp, however he would never allow himself such feelings as compassion or friendship, they where weaknesses, and yet deep in the red Seeker's emotion circuits there where a concern for the wounded transformer that lay in a heap of twisted metal and torn wires on the floor before him, the gnawing worry that he might not be able to fix his fellow flier and then what? Thundercraker was a Seeker, if he could not fly, what good was he, and if he was no use to Megatron their leader would surly terminate him, Starscream tried to push his concerns aside and label them as nothing but a bug in his central processor, and yet the stubborn emotion program refused to leave, the Decepticon Air Commander really did not want Thundercracker to die.
Starscream grabbed the wounded blue Cybertronian by his right arm and tried to drag him to his feet, Thundercracker however where just not having it, to Starscream it seamed as if he just did not want to get up.
"Come on."
Starscream said as he pulled on Thundercracker's arm.
"You will suffer far less indignity if you get to your feet, and walk out of here than if I have to carry you."
The blue Seeker did not answer, instead an all to familiar hum of turning metal came from him. Starscream let go of his wing man's arm and turned around to try to stop the other Decepticon.
"Oh no, no, no, Thundercracker you can not transform, not now, I know your instinct would be to take to the sky when you are this hurt, flying have always provided you with comfort, however do not be a fool, if you even manage to complete the transformation sequence you might not be able to retake robot form, and you can not attempt to to fly on those wings, that would be torture."
Metal screamed, it was to deformed by the brutal beating Thundercracker had just suffered to properly fit into it's new configurations, the sound was grating on Starscream's audio receptors as the blue Seeker ignored his commander's pleas, and his own body's limitation and continued to transform.
"I have already been tortured Starscream, what's a little more, now get out of my way, I need to fly."
Normally Starscream would have shot his subordinate for speaking to him in such a tone of voice, but Thundercracker where so hurt that the Air Commander feared that a blast from his null rays would destroy him, seeing he could not talk the blue Seeker into staying for repairs Starscream jumped to the side as a rather wobbly blue F15 fighter jet sped past him on it's way to the surface.
Thundercracker groaned as air pressed against his broken wings, Starscream had been right, this was torture, but at least he was flying, the blue Seeker never felt as alive as when he had thousands of feet between himself and the ground. The wind which caressed his broken wings, while painful, where still comforting. Starscream had however been right in that this little flight had been a fool's errand for it seamed as if Thundercracker's ability to stay airborne had be severely compromised and not before long the blue Cybertronian warrior was forced to land. The transformation back to robot form where long and painful, especially the parts that twisted his wings from their position at his side in his fighter form to lock into place on his back, the robot did not think he could go through that again, no matter what, unless he got repairs he was staying in his robot configuration. Thundercracker groans and plumped down on the ground, not really caring where he was, he just wanted to forget everything that had just happened.
Ratchet sped along the dusty desert roads, it was not often he had time off to spend on himself, usually one of the Autobots needed some repairs or Sparkplug needed his help with some research or Prime needed his help keeping the Ark in as good a condition as possible, considering it after all was a several million years old crashed spaceship, it needed a bit of touching up and and again, in fact there where few in the Autobot camp who did not need Ratchet's help at some point or another during the day, and the medic where more than happy to apply his skills to help him comrades, that being as it may, it did not mean that Ratchet did not appreciate these rare moments he had to do whatever he wanted, The day was fair and it was a near perfect time for a leisurely drive to take in some of the nature and sights of this, the humans planet Earth, it was a beautiful place really, at least for the biological lifeforms that called this planet home, and Ratchet found that he enjoyed exploring it during the rate times when he could get away from his duties at the Ark.
The medic had gotten a fair distance into the desert when he decided to turn back, as much as he enjoyed his little outings the medic did not like to stray to far from the Autobot headquarters, you never knew when one of the Autobots or their allies might need urgent repairs, or the ship's commuter systems malfunctioned or some other crisis arose that only Ratchet could fix. The large robot started to look for a good place to turn and begin his trek back to the Ark but before he could make his intended U tur Ratchet noticed something big and blue that sat, half leaning, on a lonely sand dune.
Ratchet's central processor kicked into action, analyzing data sent from his optics and other scanning sensors and it did not take the robot long to recognize the slumping figure on the heap of sand as Thundercracker, one of Starscream's lieutenants. Ratchet had to suppress a gasp, a Seeker was a top trained warrior and he himself was just a medic, if Thundercracker so choose he could shoot the smaller mechanism to smithereens without Ratchet having much chance of putting up a fight. The white medic decided his best option would be to just turn around and drive away as silently as he could and hope the larger transformer did not notice him, all hope of slipping away unnoticed vanished however when the Decepticon half turned and whispered in a hoarse voice that sparkled as if his voice synthesizer where damaged.
"Hello Ratchet, it seam no matter where I go I am knee deep in either my own kind or in or yours, is there no place on this bloody piece of space trash a mechanism might sit in piece and not encounter another fucking robot? Now since I have made it abundantly clear that I do not wish company Autobot, do you plan on taking this chance to shoot one of your enemies? If so can you get on with it, I just want this day to end one way or another, and if that end comes at the end of a laser blast then so be it. However if you just plan on gawking at me like a Protoform seeing a star for the first time, can please instead just move along and leave me alone!"
For a moment Ratchet where confused over the other transformer's words, why would he be killing the Decepticon, after all he did not posses the military might to match the blue Seeker, but then it hit him, something was seriously wrong with Thundercracker, it was not just his voice synthesizer, he also leaned into the nearby dune as if he had problems keeping upright, and his wings where bent and scarred, the unmistakable smell of hydraulics fluid hung in the morning air and a small stream of smoke rose constantly from the Decepticon's shoulder. Ratchet transformed and took a few, careful steps forward, cautious not to get to close to the larger, blue mechanism, after all you never knew with Decepticons, this could all be a trap.
"Eh Thundercracker, did you crash,,,"
The Seeker hissed at that question, obviously Ratchet's questioning his ability to stay in the air had hurt the large robot's pride.
"No Autobot, I did not crash, now are you done taunting me? Can we get to the shooting and exploding part of today's program?"
Ratchet took a few more steps towards the slumping Thundercracker, and now he could clearly see that he had been mistaken, the other transformer had not crashed, his back and wings where littered with deep, long gashes that leaked lubricants and other fluids that stained the Seeker's blue hull.
"By Primus! Thundercracker, did Megatron do this to you?"
Ratchet exclaimed and quickly crossed the distance between himself and the wounded Decepticon, Thundercracker might be an enemy, a soldier on the other side of a great, long and bitter war, but at the sight of such horrid wounds the medic threw all caution to the wind, with his processors running compassion programs and his spark bleeding for the suffering he saw in the other mechanism everything else became less important to Ratchet, at his core he was a medic, and enemy or no this robot needed the white Cybertronian's aid.
"Let me see that, I can help you Thundercracker, let me call in assistance from my comrades to get you back to the Ark, with my equipment there I should be able to fix you up in no time."
Thundercracker turned and glared at the meddling Autobot.
"Leave me alone Ratchet, shoot me, don't shoot me, I do not care but get out of here, I have no intention on being an Autobot prisoner right now, Why can you not just leave me be?"
Ratchet did not feel it was wise to press the issue, even if wounded Thundercracker was both larger and more powerful than himself, and beside the other mechanism had a point, if Ratchet took him back to the Ark for repairs that would mean making him a prisoner, perhaps even leading him to his doom if Prime decided the Seeker where to dangerous to keep, no Ratchet would not press to get Thundercracker to come with him, he had refused the offer and the Autobot would accept that, instead the medic found a seat beside the downed flier.
"Fine I will not take you inn, but my ethics do not allow me to abandon you helpless out here alone Thundercracker"
Ratchet said as he leaned back against a sand dune and regarded the Decepticon beside him, this was definitely not how Ratchet had expected to spend his morning, sitting beside a wounded Decepticon far out by a lonely desert road.
"Fine, suit yourself Medic, however know that sooner or later Starscream, Skywarp or one of the other Seekers will come looking for me, and if you are here when they arrive they will show you no mercy."
Thundercracker grumbled in a tired voice, Ratchet could feel his wiring quivering at the idea of facing a group of Seekers all on his own, the medic after all had no desire to die, however he would not let fear drive him away from his duty to the suffering, no matter who they might be. Optimus always said that courage was not the absence of fear, but the ability to face one's terrors and stay true to oneself and one's ideals.
"Thank you for the warning, I would not have imagined a Decepticon caring about the fate of an Autobot."
Ratchet said as he again glanced as his strange companion.
"I do not care fool, I was trying to scare you away, however if you wish to stay and as a result you get shot to the hereafter then so much the better."
Ratchet shrugged and met Thundercracker red optics with his own blue stare.
"Now that is a bit more what I would expect from a Decepticon, and speaking of Decepticons, how did this happen, why did Megatron hurt you?"
It took several nanoclicks before the large blue Decepticon answered the Medic's question, finally after some time he begun to recant what had happened to him earlier this morning, The Seeker voice was laden with a depth of emotion it was obvious that the Decepticon himself did not fully understand.
"There was a fight, I accidentally injured one of the others, Rumble to be exact, it do not matter why, I displeased Megatron, that is reason enough, surly the concept is not that foreign to you, Prime must mete out punishments as well when one of you merry Autobots disobey his rules."
Ratchet was far to shocked by the implication of Thundercracker's words to answer right away, only once his processors had managed to compute the idea did he even manage to to exclaim.
"Prime would never do such a thing, ever!"
Thundercracker raised a hydraulics engine over his right eye to produce a puzzled facial expression.
"Optimus Prime have never beaten you or the other Autobots? But how then dos he keep order in his ranks?"
Ratchet lifted a large metal hand to scratch at the white plating in the back of his head.
"Eh...most of us just want to please Prime Thundercracker, we all respect Optimus and trust his decisions, when you feel that way about your leader it is not difficult to follow orders."
The Decepticon half turned to regard the Autobot with his red optics, wincing as the movement put strain on his wounded wings.
"That is all well and good, however you are not all Optimus Prime's drones, there have to be times when some of you disagree with him, or just plain disobeys."
Ratchet nodded, his main processor wandered to some of the shouting matches he himself have had with Prime, usually concerning the Autobot leader's stubborn refusal to take his own health into consideration and slowing down long enough to get the repairs and maintenance he needed, Optimus could be as stubborn as a partly functioning Cybetronian snail following an energon tail.
"Yes off course, we at times disagree with Prime, and usually he will then take the time to listen to what we have to say and then make his decision, taking the advice he have gotten into consideration before making his choices, but he would never hurt one of us for just disagreeing with him, if he did then Blaster would be scrap metal a long time ago."
Thundercracker gave a little evil grin.
"Now that I would have loved to see, however ok so your leader is open to a debate, but how do he handle actual disobedience?"
Ratchet stood and brushed sand from his legs to avoid it getting into his engines.
"Well most of the time he will just pull the offender aside and talk with them, and since we all respect Optimus such conversations usually shame us enough to not repeat the mistake, however if someone have really screwed up and done something that warrant actual punishment then Prime might order that bot to do an unpleasant task, Grapple and Hoist once decided to go against Prime's explicit orders and work with some of you Decepticons to build a tower that Optimus had forbidden them to even try."
Thundercracker nodded and gave a little grin again.
"I remember the incident, the Constructicons really had your boys fooled, so when the deal fell apart, what did Prime do?"
Ratchet stopped brushing sand from his metallic body, the main issue he had with living in a desert was that the golden brown stuff got everywhere, the medic had no idea how many Autobot engines he had cleaned of sand, how many transformation sequences which had been jammed half way become some grains of the stuff got into the joins and thin seams that would lock and form the new configurations, turning his attention from the sand all around them to the wounded flier the Autobot said.
"Optimus left Hoist and Grapple to clean up everything they had build by hand and unassisted, it took them two weeks to get it all sorted out."
The blue Seeker shook his head.
"Prime would have been eaten alive among the Decepticons, he can not strike fear in the heart of his followers by being so forgiving."
Ratchet gave a nod towards Thundercracker's wounded wings.
"So that would be better, tell me Decepticon did you feel any more respect for your leader, any grater desire to follow him as he beat you within an inch of your spark?"
It took almost a micro cycle for Thundercracker to answer, and when he did it was in a low voice, nearly a whisper and his red optics where fixated on the sand beneath him, there where defeat in that voice.
"No...I only felt rage and pain...and helplessness. It is strange, I have been wounded in battle many times, often worse than this, those times I have gone in for repairs and shrugged it off, the pain forgotten as soon as it was over, but with this I feel...my audio sensors play the sound of Megatron's laser whip striking my hull over and over again, and I feel...empty inside, weak, helpless...and angry."
Ratchet nodded and gently placed his hand on Thundercracker's shoulder.
"That is what torture will do to you Decepticon. Now you clearly do not agree with how Prime do things among us, and I am even more disgusted with your leader than I usually am, however what do you say we let that be as it may for now and I will do what I can for your wings with the equipment I have on me, it will not be as well done as if I had you back at my lab in the Ark, but I will get you back in the air, and then I can leave with my conscience clean and not get shot by your fellow Seekers, and you can get back to the Nemesis to complete the repairs."
The Decepticon hesitated then he nodded, he was tired and in pain and obviously had no fight left in him to refuse the Autobot's offer of assistance.
Ratchet was not that used to working with fliers, one thing was Powerglide, but the Seeker's wings where much more advanced than that, even the Aerialbots did not have this fine calibrations of their wings, Ratchet however where a skilled mechanic and he was sure he would figure it out.
"I am going to have to do some welding Thundercracker, you better turn down your pain receptors."
The Decepticon chuckled at that, a strange sound considering his damaged voice synthesizer units.
"If I could do that, do you not think I would have done so already Autobot? Megatron had my pain receptors locked out of my main processor array so that I could not control them freely myself, there is little point in meting out corporal punishment if the victim have the option to choose to just not feel it."
Ratchet shook his head, Megatron where really creative it seamed when it came to figuring out new ways to show cruelty, even towards his own men. The medic's right hand disappeared into the hull of his arm to be replaced with a power drill.
"Ah well right, I guess there is some logic to that, in a twisted kind of way, okey we will have to start with getting those pain receptor controls back online then won't we, let me see, ah yes this panel have to come off..."
This time Thundercracker did not protest, he only muttered,
"Yes please."
And then he sat still and waited as the white and red Autobot medic went to work on his wounds.
It took close to two cycles, and despite Ratchet managing to get the Decepticon's control over his pain receptors back into working order, the operation where far from pleasant for the blue Seeker, several times it was necessary to turn the receptors back on to calibrate some aspects of the wounded wings function, and beside no bot enjoyed the smell of welded metal knowing the metal being melted came from his own body, especially not when the body part that where being worked on where something as sensitive as a Seeker's wings. Much discomfort for poor Thundercracker later however Ratchet let his tools disappear back into their sockets on his arms and reached down to help his Decepticon patient to his feet, Thundercracker was far less shaky then when Ratchet had first seen him sitting on the sand dune earlier in the day, yes he was still dented and scratched, however except for some fine tuning and a healthy dose of paint work the Seeker was as good as new. Thundercracker grinned and gave a slight bow of respect towards the smaller transformer, a rare gesture from a Decepticon.
"Thank you Ratchet, you are a pretty good mechanic, or in other words you could give good old Starscream a run for his energon, are you sure I can not talk you into shifting sides? You could do well among the Decepticons as a medical officer."
Ratchet laugh and shake his head.
"I am not the conquering type I am afraid."
The medic then turned serious, he studied the Decepticon before him, letting his his kind, blue optics almost see beneath Thundercracker's chrome and steel hull plating and seeing the flier's living spark, his mechanical soul nestled inside the protective shell of it's laser core casing.
"But talking of conversions Thundercracker, why do not you join the Autobots? I am sure Prime would accept you, after all we could use more fliers, especially fliers as powerful as a Decepticon Seeker, and besides you are different from the other Decepticons, others might not have noticed, but I have seen you in battle, I have seen you spare human life when you think yourself unseen, and deep in your optics I see compassion in your spark, you could be a warrior for good instead of a force of terror, and if you join us you would never have to fear Megatron's wrath or his unjust punishments again."
Thundercracker looked away for a moment, focusing his optics on his own digits as he spoke.
"You are right Ratchet, I do feel compassion for the inhabitants of this world, my fight is not with them, but I could never join your side. Look at me Autobot, what am I? Or what are you for that matter? We are only robots, mechanisms made to do the grunt work of an alien race to lazy to do it themselves. I where made to patrol the skies over Cybertron, to keep order while other drones worked, you where made to be a mechanic, Megatron where made to be a gladiator, entertainment to keep the drones happy and docile, we where all just intended to be clogs in a machine, nothing more, except I want more Ratchet, the day I heard Megatron speak to the masses, calling for names to join his Decepticon rebellion, that is the day I woke up, I where no longer just a air patrol tool, one more clog in the workings of a machine planet. Suddenly I where just Thundercracker, a mechanism free to seek his own fortune, and I will never be content with anything less now."
The blue Seeker sigh and put his large, black polished hand on the smaller bot's shoulder.
"I am not blind Ratchet, I see that Megatron is mad with power and lust for conquest, I do not know if he have always been so or if his rebellion and the power that brought him corrupted him. At times I lay awake when I should be recharging and I see the faces of all the beings, mechanized or biological, that I have terminated on Megatron's order, however I have made my choice, and no matter what else the Decepticons are they are a order that stands for power and choice to all mechanoids, and I will never turn my back on that, no matter how questionable I think some of what I am forced to do is, I am a Decepticon and that is never going to change, and in some strange way, even after all he have done I feel I owe Megatron at least a measure of loyalty, it was his rebellion which set me free from the chains of drudgery and gave me a purpose, a purpose I was free to choose myself, I owe Megatron for that, even if he is now a tyrant."
Thundercracker took a few steps away from his unexpected savior and jumped into the air, joints smoothly shifting and changing configurations, forming a sleek F15 airplane where a giant robot once stood.
"Thank you again Ratchet, I hope I never meet you on the battlefield for I do not feel like repaying your kindness with a blaster shot to your laser core, however know that as long as you oppose the Decepticons then you are my enemy, even if it will pain me greatly if I am forced to fire upon you and extinguish your spark. Farewell for now Autobot, take care and make sure yours is not added to the faces my processor show me when I try to rest."
The Seeker shouted as a farewell to his rescuer and then circled around Ratchet a few times before shooting off into the distance, leaving the Autobot medic to find his way back to the Ark. This time at least they would part as friends, however tomorrow they would be at war again.
The Decepticon Seeker flew through the air heading back towards the Decepticon's underwater headquarters, this had been a black day, but it was all over now, for some reason his meeting with Ratchet had healed more than his broken wings, the Autobot's compassion had brought him out of the dark pit of depression the pain he had suffered at Megatron's hands had sent him into. There where little compassion among the Decepticons, and while the Seeker would never betray his ideals to get the kindness Ratchet and the other Autobots shared with one another at times he still longed for it. Ratchet had given Thundercracker a small drop of compassion to fill that longing, at least for now and had filled a need deeply embedded in Thundercracker's central processor array, and this kindness warmed the hardened robot warrior's cold spark, so be it if Thundercracker did not find such kindness again for a long time, he would live of what Ratchet had given him. Thundercracker found himself praying to Primus, paradoxical as that might be for a Decepticon, that he never had to cheapen the medic's gift by having to take his life on the battlefield, and in a prayer he did not even admit to himself he begged the great machine God that he would meet Ratchet again in peaceful circumstances, so that he again could be close to him, to again feel his cold spark warm at the sound of the Autobot's kind voice.