Disclaimer: I don't own Transformers. Hasbro does and they're trying to hurt my soul with the movies.

Author's Note: Thanks so much for the kind reviews! I also appreciate those who put this fic in their favs and on alert. Enjoy!

Unfortunate Circumstance: Confrontation

Scrapper turned around to charge back into the med-bay. Skywarp was right behind him when Soundwave stepped between them and the door. Skywarp growled. "Don't get in my way, Soundwave. Megatron's gonna pay for what he did to TC."

Soundwave shook his head. "Negative. Megatron: Lord of the Decepticons."

Starscream walked forward. "Besides, we need to make absolutely sure."

Skywarp shouted, "But you just said it was him, Screamer!"

"Yes, but where's the proof? Swindle has nothing on the vid feed. Therefore, nothing concrete points to Megatron as the attacker." Starscream's frown deepened. "I want to slag Megatron as well, but if we act rashly without all the information we could receive a terrible backlash."

"Frag the consequences!" Skywarp proclaimed. "I want to avenge TC!"

"As do I!" Starscream gripped Skywarp's wings. "But I'm not letting you run into a suicide mission. Megatron could take you down within a klick."

"Not for another vorn he won't." Scrapper smirked. "I slipped some cybersedatives in with his menders. The mech's down."

Starscream stared at Scrapper for a beat. Then, he whirled on Soundwave. "Move your aft! I have a commander to eviscerate!"

Hook ignored the noise going on outside. He figured Starscream was demanding an entrance again. Too bad. Hook had locked the med-bay down just to be safe. He wasn't even going to risk letting Scrapper back inside since the seeker would somehow worm through to assassinate their leader.

Hook scanned Megatron's frame slowly. Megatron's frame was deathly still. Hook sighed. "I think I'll have to just be safe and put you on a line." Hook plugged in the cleansers. "It'll take a while, but-."

BingBingBingBingBing-!

"What the slag?" Hook stared at the monitors in shock. Megatron's systems were flooded with a foreign contaminant. "What is that?" Hook pressed a button. The cleaners got a shot of the super strengthened purgers.

Hook frowned. He glared down at his scanner. It didn't pick up on the contaminant. Why? Hook pressed another button to bring up the analysis. He read through each line of code, trying to find the problem.

One line caught his optics, "Foreign fuel: Under acceptable parameters."

"Foreign fuel?" Hook's optics shot up to watch the monitors. Very quickly, the foreign element was purged from Megatron's systems.

Hook muttered to himself. "I wonder what that slag was."

Megatron's optics shot open. "What just happened?"

Hook put a steadying hand on Megatron's shoulder. "No fear, my liege, it was a simple contaminant."

"Contaminant?" Megatron turned to look at the monitor. "From what?"

"My scanner accepted it as a foreign fuel substance. It's strange. The only foreign fuel available here is the human crud, and nobody ingests it." Hook gave Megatron a calculating look. "You're not dabbling in something, are you my lord?"

"What? No!" Megatron shook his helm. "I have never tried the pathetic hum…" Megatron growled. "Skywarp!"

"Ah!" Hook nodded. "Say no more." He waved a hand dismissively. "Well, it wasn't damaging you at all. It was probably just clogging your systems a little. You'll be fine."

Megatron rubbed his helm. "Yes, I do feel much better. Thank you, doctor."

"It's my function, my lord." Hook walked back over to Thundercracker. "Hmmm, I wonder..."

Hook plugged a cleanser into Thundercracker's line. "My lord, you say you suffer from memory loss?"

"Yes, why?" Megatron glared at the medic.

"Thundercracker does as well. He informed me of the problem at the beginning of the solar cycle." Hook pressed the button for the purgers. "I'd have to say the coincidence is a little unnerving."

Megatron walked over to Thundercracker's side. "Perhaps it simply means Skywarp poisoned the both of us with his stupidity."

"My lord," Hook said softly, "Thundercracker is sparked by an unknown mech. Starscream and I fear he was forced." Hook allowed the implications to sink in.

Megatron scoffed. "Even if I was overcharged, I doubt I would've forced Thundercracker. I'll admit, my affairs at some points had dubious consent, but there was consent."

Hook sighed. "My lord, there's an easy solution to uncovering the truth." Hook pointed to Megatron's chestplates. "Search your spark."

"Why?" Megatron chuckled. "Oh, that is funny. You really think I wouldn't notice such a thing?"

Hook gave him his best pleading stare. "Will you at least, try?"

Megatron grimaced. "Very well." Megatron shut down his optics to focus. He felt through his spark, trying to find a change, however slight. Just as he was about to call the whole thing a waste of time, he found something.

It was a slim little thing. A gold little speck in the vast redness of his burning ambition. Megatron touched it and-.

Thundercracker gasped on the berth. His optics shot open. "Primus!" He whirled to face Megatron.

Megatron pushed at the line, sending a wordless question. Thundercracker nodded.

Hook looked from one to the other. "I suppose it's a yes then?"

Starscream was thrown across the hallway. Skywarp was punching at Soundwave's helm, but the mech seemed to barely notice. Instead, he high kicked a biting Swindle into the ceiling. Scrapper came up from behind to punch, but Soundwave brought back his forward kick to get Scrapper in the middle.

Starscream warmed up his null rays. "I'll see you deactivated!"

The med-bay doors whooshed open. Starscream quickly shot by the fighting mechs, ignoring Hook's surprised, "What the Pit is going on out here?!"

Starscream stomped up to see Thundercracker standing beside Megatron, looking scared and worried. Megatron took a step closer to tower over Thundercracker. Starscream let out an ear splitting screech. "Leave him alone!"

"Starscream, wait!" Thundercracker put his hands out in front of him.

"How can you defend him? He attacked you!" Starscream glared hatefully at Megaron as he powered up his null rays.

"It's not that simple, Star." Thundercracker put his hands over his spark. "We're bonded!"

Starscream stared at him in shock. "No."

Behind the seeker, Skywarp barreled inside the med-bay. "Megatron, you're gonna pay!"

"We can't." Starscream snarled. "They're bonded." He spat out the word like a curse.

Skywarp's eyes blazed. "You forced a bond on him, too?"

Thundercracker opened his mouth to say something, but Megatron interrupted. "I don't remember forcing or bonding with him! Thanks to a certain seeker's poisonous concoction, we both lost our memory of the event!"

Skywarp flinched. "Really?" He turned to Thundercracker. "I hurt you, TC? It's really all my fault?"

Thundercracker sighed. "I don't know, Warp." He shrugged helplessly. "I just don't know." Thundercracker swayed.

Megatron took him by the shoulders. "Get back on the berth."

"Don't you touch him!" Starscream warmed up his null rays again. "I can't kill you, but I can certainly hurt you!"

Megatron glared at him. "I'm his bondmate. I thought it was allowed."

Skywarp snapped back. "Not when it's forced!"

Soundwave walked into the med-bay, holding Scrapper and Swindle up by their necks. "Lord Megatron: Status?" As if an afterthought, he dropped Scrapper and Swindle to the floor.

Megatron lifted Thundercracker back onto the medical berth, earning a hiss from Starscream. "Bonded, apparently."

"Query: When did bonding occur?" Soundwave walked over, ignoring the heated glares from both Scrapper and Swindle at his back.

"Last cycle, but neither Thundercracker nor I can remember how it happened." Megatron turned to Soundwave. "A problem I believe you could easily remedy."

Starscream shook his head. "No! Absolutely not! I'm not letting your lackey roam around in Thundercracker's head. How do we know he won't plant a false memory?"

Hook came in last, stepping over Swindle. "If you knew anything about Soundwave's talents, you'd know that's impossible. Soundwave can only take memories. He can't manipulate them." Hook crossed his arms. "And in the end, I won't allow it to happen to Thundercracker without his permission."

Megatron stared down at Thundercracker. The blue seeker wouldn't look at him. Megatron could still feel their bond pulsing. Megatron gently tilted Thundercracker's chin up to look at him.

Thundercracker's gaze tugged at some long forgotten part of Megatron's spark. The seeker shook in his hand. "My lord, I…" Thundercracker shuttered his optics.

Megatron released him. "Fine." He turned to Soundwave. "I'll do it. Soundwave."

"Yes, Lord Megatron."

"We're going to your lab." Megatron walked out towards the exit. "I want the truth."

Soundwave followed him out. Hook waited for the med-bay doors to shut before he rounded on Swindle and Scrapper. "And just what were you two thinking? Taking on Soundwave? Such idiocy! Get on a table so I can mend your sorry chassis."

Thundercracker gazed over at Skywarp. The purple mech was frowning deeply. Thundercracker held out a hand. "Warp?" Skywarp slowly walked up to him, looking downcast. Thundercracker gently caressed the side of Skywarp's helm. "It's not your fault. I've tried hundreds of your stupid drinks. It was just bad luck."

Skywarp's face twisted up. "I never meant for this to happen, TC."

"I know, Warp." Thundercracker wrapped his arms around his wingmate's waist. "I know."

Starscream came up behind them. "Do you know what this means, Thundercracker?"

Thundercracker released Skywarp to look at their Air Commander. "I guess it means a lot of things. You can't kill Megatron without killing me. I'm carrying the heir to the Decepticon throne. I'm also carrying the first seekerlet to be sparked outside of Vos. Anything else?"

Starscream glared at him. "This is serious."

"I know." Thundercracker put his hands over his spark. "But if I think about it too much, Starscream, I might just lose it." He shuddered.

Starscream sighed as he gently caressed a hand along Thundercracker's wing. "No matter what, we are trine. You have us." Starscream grumbled. "And I suppose we'll learn to like your pitspawned little glitch."

Thundercracker smiled softly at him. "At least it's not going to be a ground pounder."

Skywarp came out of his funk a bit. "Don't jinx it, TC! Remember, Meg's alt is a gun!"

Starscream shuddered. "No. Primus would not be cruel."

Thundercracker kept his small smile on his face as his trinemates attempted to cheer him up. He kept a hand over his chestplates. Megatron had kept the bond open on his end. Thundercracker knew that if he wanted, he could feel what Megatron felt as he went through the memory restoration.

After some debate, Thundercracker gently closed his end. It was all too new, too fresh. Thundercracker needed time to adjust. Megatron would come back to report, anyway. Thundercracker had a feeling that Lord Megatron would only report the truth, even if it reflected badly on him. He felt no deception on his lord's end when he prompted the solution.

Thundercracker wasn't sure what truth he wanted. Did he want to know that his lord assaulted him? Or did he want to know it was consensual, that Thundercracker allowed his firewalls down, put himself into that vulnerable position?

And since they were bonded, why did Megatron do the same?

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