A/N: This is a chapter I've been waiting to write for a long time.

...

CHAPTER 8
Enough Is ENOUGH

The first thing Breakdown noticed when his holoform phased into Tyler's home was the blood. There wasn't enough that he would be dying of blood loss, but there was still a lot to be found. The next thing he found was Tyler, and made both of his bodies, both alt mode, and holoform fill with rage. His body was stained with blood, he trembled violently, and bruises lined every inch of his body. His robotic form may have purged should he have been in robot mode, but at the moment, he resisted the urge. "Tyler!" Breakdown rushed forward, crouching to him "Easy... Easy... Try not to move."

He didn't need the quick scan to know that he had suffered severe damage. He could tell that even more now that he was up close to him and saw the broken arm to top it all off. "B-Breakdown... Behind you." Tyler muttered.

He turned a moment too slow as the bat collided with his holoform's head. Brody grinned wickedly, unaware that the collision had done no damage and that the mech had hardly felt anything. Quickly, Breakdown turned on a built in "camera" in the nano machines which made up his holoform, and began to record the man. "You thought you could take my boy from me." Brody laughed a little "You thought you could save him." He growled "I knew the little brat said something! I knew it!"

Breakdown had to cringe as the bat went down against Tyler's side. Breakdown slowly pulled himself to his feet, his teeth gritting, as Brody swung the bat again. This time, Breakdown grabbed hold of the bat like the man had swung it in slow motion. "You are never going to hurt this boy again, Brody." Breakdown spoke cooly "And if you swing that bat one more time, so help me Primus, I'll make you get on your knees and beg for mercy."

As Brody attempted to swing it again, Breakdown swung it away, making it fly across the den. Breakdown quickly stepped back, forming a wall between Tyler and his attacker. Brody laughed a bit. "You have some real balls, coming here and stepping between us." He then shouted "I'm an officer of the law! I can have your ass in jail for barging in here, and for kidnapping all in one round!" He then snarled "And once I'm finished with the only witness over there. No one's gonna be around to testify."

Breakdown went into a defensive stance, he glared at the man, and his mouth curved back into a snarl. "You think picking on kids is fun?" Breakdown asked with dangerous venom in his voice "You think beating one half to death makes you some kind of badass?" Brody grimaced in response to that "Why don't you try a real challenge, Brody!? PICK ON SOMEONE YOUR OWN SIZE!" He snapped "Because if you want to hurt him any more, you're going to have to walk over my cold, dead body!"

Tyler's eyes shot up at Breakdown, stunned at his words. This had been the mech that had for so long said standing between them was a bad idea. Yet here he was, standing protective of Tyler like a vicious guard dog. "That's fine." Brody lunged "Why don't we get started?"

"Gladly."

As Brody swung the first punch, it sent his head turning to the side, and Breakdown took his chance. He had hold of Brody's neck before he'd even had time to turn his head, wasting no time in slamming the human hard into the wood floor. For his part, Brody looked as though it had been a much worse blow. But Breakdown was far from done, he had hold of the man's hair now, tearing hard at it. "What the hell man!?" Brody shrieked "What are you doing?"

"You think it's okay to leave a child without food."

At that, Breakdown slammed him onto the nearby table so hard it shattered beneath him. Taking a few steps forward, Breakdown reaped the now bleeding and battered man to his feet. "You think that it's okay to do THIS to him!" He slammed his fist hard into Brody's face at that "And THIS." He slammed it once again into his stomach, knocking the wind out of him "And what about THIS!?"

This time, Brody was sent flying straight into a wall. The loud crack was sickening, and Tyler could hear Brody sobbing. "P-Please... Whoever you are. I can pay you..." Brody looked up "You don't have to do this, man. I've got money, I've got money!" He explained "If we kill him, we can get his inheritance, it'll legally be mine." Breakdown continued to approach him slowly, grabbing the bat as he did "Please, man. Have some mercy."

"You're asking the wrong person for mercy, buddy."

Breakdown swung the bat at Brody's head with such force that he was almost sure that he had snapped his neck. Unfortunately for him, that was far from the truth. Breakdown grabbed hold of his hair again, violently, and dragged him down the hallway, towards the nearest closet, just as he often would with Tyler. Only this time, the boy wouldn't be the one sleeping in there for the night. Quickly taking the key ring from the man's pocket, he pulled it out. "No, NO!" Brody shrieked "You can't do that! No one will look for me there! This is MURDER!"

"I'll make sure they find you once the word's out." Breakdown held him close to him "But you'll wish you were back in here if you avoid jail, Brody. Because I'll be waiting for you. And next time, I'm not going to let you live long enough to rot in a jail cell for what you've done."

This time, when Brody's head hit the wall from the way Breakdown threw him, he was out cold. His vitals told Breakdown he was just damaged enough that he wouldn't die, but be feeling it for quite some time. As he found the correct key, and locked the man inside, he quickly bolted for Tyler. After all, none of what had just happened would matter if the very person he had just fought to protect died on him. "Tyler." Breakdown carefully collected the sobbing boy into his arms "It's okay, Ty, he can't hurt you anymore."

"Breakdown... It hurts." Tyler whimpered "Hurts to breathe."

"I know, kid. I know." Breakdown stated "Try not to pass out on me, alright?"

Breakdown didn't know what to do. He couldn't take the boy to Knock Out, he'd be more likely to put him out of his misery and experiment. And he most definitely could not bring him to a hospital, given they were going to ask questions. And without being able to show them his proof without giving himself away, that was just asking for trouble. That left only one option, but it would also mean that Megatron would know what had happened. If he went to the Autobots, he'd either be a prisoner, or a turncoat. Because leaving afterward was certainly not an option. And ultimately, that would mean that he'd be gone for too long. Starscream would tell Megatron. His cover would be blown.

And if he didn't swallow his pride, and turn himself in to the Autobots, Tyler was going to die. He knew that he couldn't survive the wounds without a medic, so he could either put him out of his misery himself, or take him. As he silently made his decision, he only hoped he wouldn't regret it. Slowly, he opened a comm frequency, looking through and hacking his way into the one he was looking for. "Optimus Prime?" Breakdown began "I need your help."

...

"Breakdown did what?"

Bulkhead's words spoke for each of the Autobots. After all, it was not often that a Decepticon not only hacked their comm channels, but asked for asylum on top of it. The first thing on most of their minds was that it had to be a trap. They'd give him their co ordinates, and Megatron would send an air strike via-his ship. "I say we tell him to take a hike." Arcee spoke up, she crossed her arms a bit "We barely save him once, and already he has another life or death situation? There are way too many red flags here." She added.

Optimus Prime took in the small soldier's remark, sighing quietly. "Although this is true, Arcee. The tone to which he relayed this message was... Unnerving. He seemed truly concerned." He spoke calmly "We must remind ourselves that though he is a Decepticon, we are not. And if what he says is true... He is not even the one in need of assistance." He turned his head to Ratchet slowly "Did you detect a second life form with him on his comm patch?"

Ratchet looked over his monitors again, and as they believed, there were two signatures. One Cybertronian, and another, which he was certain was incorrect, was human. With the latter being extremely weak, and perhaps on the brink of death, though still some hours away from it. "A human one." Ratchet spoke up "And it would seem, if he is telling the truth that the human needs assistance. Whomever it is is slowly dying. And it is not from any wounds being inflicted now."

Both Arcee and Bulkhead stared at one each other. Both looked completely uncertain, yet it was clear that the latter information concerned them. What if there was really a human in need of medical care? Could they simply turn them away? From the corner, Bumblebee spoke up himself with a series of beeps. "Bee, you can't be serious!" Bulkhead spoke up "This is Breakdown, he's a jerk. A cold, miserable jerk." Another series of beeps "We don't even know there IS a human!"

"Do we really want to risk the chance there is?" Optimus questioned.

No one could give an answer to that. After a few moments, it was Fowler, who had been listening in, that spoke up. "Look, I'm with the big guy on this one." He stated calmly "If there's a human, that's possibly INNOCENT blood on our hands." He shook his head "And I, for one, am not going to be carrying that burden." He explained.

Optimus waited for objections, or for anything else to be said. But even Bulkhead seemed uncertain about what to say. How could he argue that? Other than the fact that he simply did not like the mech at all. "Breakdown." Optimus finally spoke as Ratchet turned on the comm frequency "Am I to understand correctly, if you come here, you submit yourself fully to us?"

"Will you help my friend?"

Optimus turned to Ratchet, who simply nodded in response. "Yes, we will provide aide to your friend. But first, you will be stripped of your weapons. And your comm links must be turned off as well." Optimus explained "And any weapons he may be carrying as well. You must understand Breakdown, this is unexpected. And we have every reason to believe we are walking into a trap." He paused "However, we cannot risk the chance your words are truthful."

"They are." Breakdown replied on the other end "I'll do whatever the frag you want. But I need those co-ordinates now. He's already lost a lot of blood."

Ratchet frowned, and turned to Optimus, who simply stood there for a long moment. Finally he nodded his head, giving Ratchet permission to speak. "Breakdown, this is Ratchet. I will prepare the medical bay for the patient immediately." Ratchet explained "If you comply with our terms, I will help him."

"What are we waiting for then?"

All optics were on Bulkhead by that point. With a groan, he nodded his head. "Get him in here already. But don't say I didn't warn you."

But in truth, everyone could only hope his warnings were for nothing at all.

...

In his wildest dreams, Breakdown had not expected the Autobot base to be so big. He'd always expected something small, more secluded, not something in the same mountain range where he and Tyler went daily, albeit quite a ways down the mountainside. Yet as he entered the large double doors that led into the base, he didn't have much time to look upon the base with awe. Immediately, he was greeted by Arcee, Bulkhed, and Ratchet, the former two armed, with their guns pointed at him.

"Easy." Breakdown stated "You'll scare him."

"It's for our own protection." Arcee told him bluntly.

"I've already turned off my weapons systems! My coms are down!" Breakdown snapped "Now he's already scared right now as is." He told them curtly "I'm asking you as the Autobots you are not to scare a sparkling any further."

At the word sparkling, both Bulkhead and Arcee slowly lowered their weapons. Sure enough, when Breakdown's holoform stepped out, Tyler was still clutched in his arms, barely awake. Breakdown transformed just in time to see the look of pure horror on all three of the Autobot's faces. "What happened?" Bulkhead snarled "Beating up on us wasn't good enough, so you had to beat up a kid while you're at it?"

"D-Didn't hurt me." Tyler spoke weakly "Saved me."

Ignoring the surprised look on Bulkhead's face, Breakdown turned to Ratchet, his optics leering at him. "I did everything you asked me. Scan my slagging systems if you want." Breakdown spoke calmly "I'll explain everything, but get him to the med bay first." He asserted, his optics locking with Ratchet's own "Please." He added firmly.

Ratchet stood there a moment, but carefully scooped Tyler into his palm. Taking note of his condition, his optics narrowed, and he glared darkly at Breakdown. "If you're lying to me. If you've convinced him to lie. If this was your doing..." He paused, and then spoke coldly "I will offline you myself for putting an innocent in this condition." He explained.

"But you'll help him?"

Ratchet nodded. "He needs surgery, it will take time." Ratchet explained "But I can."

As Ratchet started into the base, Breakdown was stopped just short of following him. "The doc bot's not gonna like that." Bulkhead said firmly "And more importantly, you owe us an explanation of what the frag is going on here."

Breakdown stood there for a moment, watching Ratchet go with concern. Yet he knew he wasn't going to get to see Tyler, not yet. And until then, he did need to explain himself if he had any hope of getting Brody arrested with the help of the Autobots human friends. "I'll show you, but first, I need somewhere to show a video." He explained.

Bulkhead and Arcee stood there for a long moment, eyeing one another. "Alright, no funny business. Follow us."

After a few moments hesitation, Breakdown finally followed the two Autobots into the base.

...

A/N: And now is where things get interesting. :) Hope everyone was satisfied at how Brody finally got his comeuppance. As usual, reviews make my day!