No one is going to hurt you

The rush of colours as everyone boarded Skyfire, casualties already on board. First Aid sat with the blanketed bundle in his arms, the lifeless frame leaking energon onto his servos as he scanned it. He stood and retreated to a corner with the sparkling, not wanting others to see the state that he was in.

I promise

The words he'd said to the sparkling on the day they d met rushed through his helm, how could he have let this happen? Shaking his helm, he unspaced some tools, using a laser scalpel to slowly burn away the rusted cuffs firmly attached to the child s wrists and ankles.

He felt the large Autobot ship jerk slightly as Skyfire took off, returning to base. Everyone was silent and looking over at him as he kept his visor trained on the dying child, doing what he could to try and stabilise him. He winced slightly at the snap that came when he'd managed to burn through one of the cuffs, the rusted metal taking the child's armour with it like they had been burnt together, revealing the black circuitry underneath. First Aids visor flickered for a moment, before he shut his optics and took a shaky intake. Just seeing the immense damage on someone so young was breaking his resolve.

He jumped slightly as he felt a tap on his shoulder, the younger medic looking up at his neutral faced mentor who had joined him.

"Go see to Mirage, I'll sort out Firestorm"

First Aid hesitated, before sighing and gently passing the child to Ratchet. He stood and headed over to the damaged mech lying on the floor, others moving aside for him as he knelt down and started repairs. Ratchet had already stopped the spy from dying there and then, so his efforts were to now properly stabilize Mirage until they could get him on a berth and hooked up in medbay.

His thoughts kept going back to Firestorm as his servos seemed to work on autopilot. He'd promised the child that he would protect him, that no harm would come to him yet here they were. He stopped for a moment and glanced back at the white medic, he had the child unwrapped on his lap as he worked in his chestplate. He turned his helm back to Mirage and continued working on the mechs tanks, lowering the pressure in the pipes so they didn't explode or crack.

"Hey Aid"

The young medic looked up as Jazz hobbled over, sitting down next to him, his frame spouting fresh weld marks from where he'd been patched together. The saboteur offered a small smile, watching the medic work as he gave silent comfort.

"He'll be alright Aid, he's in good hands"

The red and white Autobot just kept quiet, looking up and over as he heard metal hitting the ground. Ratchet had removed the last of the chains and was working on the childs' wrist and ankle wounds, that had to mean something if he wasn't tweaking in his chestplate anymore.

"This isn't your fault y'know, if it's any ones fault it's mine. I should've been more alert"

"It's not your fault Jazz. You couldn't have known that Skywarp had teleported Megatron into the base."

The two returned to silence whilst First Aid continued to tweak, trying his best to ignore the glances he got from others sitting around. He'd already made a list of the mechs he'd had to repair once they were back at HQ, Ratchet would need to focus primarily on Firestorm and Mirage whilst he did the smaller jobs. It was going to be a long night.

"Gather your things lads, we're touching down. Please don't forget anything this time; I don't want a repeat of what happened last time someone left a cannon in my chassis..."

The comment made a few of the mechs on board chuckle, the doors opening and the Autobots departing quickly, allowing the white medic to leave first so he could rush the sparkling to medbay. First Aid stood and waited with Jazz whilst Ironhide left to retrieve a stretcher for Mirage, the young medic walking over to where the rusted cuffs were and picking them up. The pieces of armour that had been put over the child's wrists to hide the burns were practically melted to them, telling the medic that the Decepticons had exposed him to immense heat at one point.

"How could anyone do this to a sparkling?"

"They're cons Aid, they don't give anyone mercy, even the young and innocent."

Jazz listened to the medic sigh, the visor he had on temporarily flicking for a moment before shining properly again. He helped Ironhide lift Mirage onto the berth, before the three of them headed to medbay where there was a bustle of noise.

"If you want to find a berth Jazz I'll get around to you, just give me a moment to get Mirage hooked up in ICU and make a list of who needs attention first."

"Take ya time man, I'm not dying."

First Aid just nodded and picked up a datapad, it was definitely going to be a long few nights.