A Kirua & SIC co-written production presents:

Let's Try This Again

Chapter 10

Fear

Arcee slammed her fist into the table, rage and hate in her optics.

"I'll kill him. I swear to Primus there will be nothing left of him!"

Bulkhead could only hold his helm as they waited in the main hub, Ratchet working on Hot Shot's body and checking him over for the past few hours. "I-I don't understand…why would Hot Shot go visit him!?"

"He trusted him! That's why! Hot Shot isn't meant for war! He's too naive!"

Sideways sat in the corner of the room thinking, optics flashing every so often as if he was arguing with himself "Settle down, it's something that was unavoidable. I'm not saying it was the best of ways, but at least now Hot Shot will know not to trust every mech he meets. He will live, his body is meant to interface that way - if he was a dom and Blurr did that to him, he'd be in a horrible state."

"You think he's not in a horrible state!?" Arcee hissed, her emotions getting the better of her. "He's a youngling! He's not old enough to be interfacing!"

"She's right, Sideways. Just an hour ago Ratchet told me during his break that Hot Shot is too frightened to go near me or Arcee. He thinks he has a fear of doms now…"

"W-What?! I'm not even a mech!" Arcee said with hurt optics.

"It's…" Bulkhead rubbed the back of his helm sheepishly. "He says it may be because of your armor color - it's really close to Blurr's."

"It is the same shade of blue" Sideways said off handedly "Though, his 'fear' will only last a short time, for you two at least, you're his friends, and on his team, he'll learn to re-trust you to help save Optimus" he sighed "That is even to say that he'll want to go anywhere near the Nemesis, let alone Blurr"

"He won't have to because I'll make sure Blurr never even looks at him or anyone again." Arcee hissed.

"The upside is that Ratchet thinks Hot Shot still trusts breeders…so uh, expect him to cling to you and Bee for a while." Bulkhead said while trying to lighten the mood.

"I was already expecting it. Arcee, I'm gonna warn your right now, Blurr is way beyond your league, and the more you bottle up hate and anger for him the more you'll make mistakes and will end up paying the price for it. Blurr fights with a level head, never brings emotions into it, sure he can get cocky, but that's when he already knows he's won." Sideways explained, not wanting his protege to end up dead.

"If you're so confident then you take him down." Arcee hissed, trying to calm herself. "For all we know Blurr found out Hot Shot is a breeder! He could be in more danger since Blurr is still alive!"

"I wont kill Blurr, it's not my place to do so, I'm here to make sure none of you die" Sideways said, knowing that there was no way he would allow himself to fight with a friend under his feet. "Besides, you seem keen on killing him, you'll only hate me if I take that away from you"

"Whatever," Arcee growled while walking away.

"Don't mind her…she's just upset is all." Bulkhead said with a sorry smile, looking away when he saw Ratchet come in. "What's the situation now, Ratch?"

"He's hurt, scared and feels alone" Ratchet sighed "He's fine physically thankfully, Blurr knew what he was doing. The only real damage is to his mental state, I had to say something to him that happily he found truthful enough to let me continue to look at him" he shook his head

"I'm guessing I should give him some space then, so I don't freak him out?" Bulkhead asked with a sad smile.

"For now yes, I think that it's best we all do that, let him come to us rather then trying to go to him. . . except you Bee, he wants to talk to you" Ratchet said looking at the worried yellow mech.

Bee nodded and ran into the side room to see his bond-brother.

Once Bee had vanished and the door was shut he got closer to the others "My guess is that Blurr knew from the start that Hot Shot was a breeder, he obviously was just trying to get rid of Hot Shot chasing him around, and well, he succeeded" he paused "I think it would be best if we get Optimus back as soon as possible, I fear that he's the only one that will get Hot Shot to trust doms again."

End Chapter 10: Fear

Up Next: Chapter 11: Guilt Trip