IM BACK!

for a bit. My stupid friends all posted their chapters on fanfiction so I now I have to post because they are yelling at me. darn you friends...

Clumsy Peg: yes, talk about over protective parents. but Ratchet is still 'young' at this moment so everyone's gonna be protective of the 'kid'

JazzStar2104: I love Sterling as well. He's a sweet heart... a violent sweet heart, but he means well. And someone needed to not hate Ratchet right off the hop and I always did have Axil as a bit of a more mellow guy. (and considering that I'm skyping said friends at the moment I'm typing this, she has decided to call him Car Part because she's a MegaMan fan and they have an Axl...)

BookLovingPersonR.B.L: Dusty is overprotective for a reason. you'll see why in a few chapters, I'm evil.

Answerthecall: Sandy needed to be yelled at, but don't worry, I'm nicer to him from now on. I think...

TheDarkestCon:*cringes* sorry sorry sorry... I know I know... life got nuts and crazy and for the first time in 4 month I worked a full 5 day week and I'm tired. I haven't had a lot of time to type. hopefully I'll get more done now that im kinda back on track...

Child of Jon snow: That made you smile? and yes, I'm hiding from Hearts too...

Princess Kassie: It wont happen this chapter, but dint worry, I will get to that part eventually.

Neon: well you found it so that's good. Sorry about my weird update schedule, ill try to stick to a better one now.

Guest: I'm so glad you like it so far. Ironic part is is that I'm finally back on the original plot line. you'll probably recognise a lot of stuff and HOPEFULLY it will be better then the original.

So I just realised that I forgot to do the 'I don't own didly squat, Hasbro owns it all' thing since I posted BUT since I said it for the original and this is tecknicaly a re-write I think it still kinda works...

ANYWAYS!

2211Nighthawk does not won Transformers only my OC's

there. now I wont go to jail for plagiarism...


Chrome drove down the badly lit road, weaving around other mechs and organics as he left the Black Market behind him. It was just after dawn, in other words too fraggin early in the morning to be up and about and he wanted to be back at the medbay before Ratchet showed up. The mech had been in an oddly good mood considering what had all happened in the last three orns but he figured it had something to do with Axil being nearly giddy with excitement before they disappeared around the back of the medbay. They had been there for almost three joors before Ratchet came back into the medbay and Axil went back up to the mine. He'd asked what he'd missed but Ratchet had just given him a smirk before getting back to work.

He'd confronted Axil about it, but he'd just said that Ratchet was keeping his end of the bargain. Even Dusty had been clueless.

And it was driving him insane.

With a snarl he hammered on the brakes as a big grey mech abruptly stepped directly into his path.

"Hey watch it!" He snarled, releasing his brakes to pull around the mech.

"Well I'll be, wondering when we were going to run into you Chrome." The mech rumbled, shifting his stance so that once again a thick heavily treaded leg was blocking his way.

Chrome transformed to his bipedal form, bracing for a physical confrontation. The mech stood helm and shoulders over him.

"What do you want?" He demanded as he became aware of another mech coming up behind him.

"Wanted to ask you a few questions." The mech in front of him said, gesturing toward the alley he had come out of.

"You want to talk to me, you do it here." Chrome growled, standing his ground.

"I strongly advise against that." He said and Chrome stumbled as the mech behind him roughly shoved him. Chrome snarled, but knowing the dangers of making a scene, followed the mech into the entrance of the alley. He stopped just inside the shadows, crossing his arms over his chassis and refused to go farther.

"What do you want that it needs to be done here." He demanded, green optics lighting up the darkness.

"Would you relax already?" The bigger of the two asked, giving Chrome a cocky smirk as he casually leaned up against the wall. "Just wanted to ask you some things."

"Then ask. I got mechs waiting on me."

"Where's Sterling."

"On a run. We're behind schedule and you asking half-glitched questions is just putting us behind more." He growled.

"When's he coming back." The mech asked.

"Don't know."

"I'm sure you do." The mech snarled, dark red optics locked on Chrome.

Something collided with the back of his legs and Chrome gasped in pain as he collapsed to his knee bolts, twisting to snarl at the mech behind him holding a long, metal pipe of some kind. He instantly recognised the mech and felt the energon freeze in his lines.

"I'd hope you recognised me Chrome. It sure has been a long time." Titan sneered, hefting the pipe to his shoulder guard. The other mech's designation came back to him at that moment and he knew he was in trouble. Recoil shifted and Chrome's gaze snapped to the other, grinning, mech before locking optics back on Titan.

"I had nothing to do with Backtrack and neither did Sterling or anyone else." Chrome spat, struggling to get back to his peds. Something in his lower leg creaked dangerously, shooting searing pain up his leg and he hissed quietly.

"Funny because, right before one of those pit-spawn Guards tore him open, he commed me." Titan explained, the towering mech taking another step toward Chrome. "And you know what he said?"

"Enlighten me."

"He said that Sterling had stabbed him."

"I don't know what you're talking about. Sterling had been ambushed and was out cold from surgery." Chrome bluffed.

"Explains why he was limping the whole time." Titan snarled, letting the pipe slide from his shoulder guard to slap it into his open servo in an obvious threat. "I'm not going to ask you again, where's Sterling Silver."

"He doesn't go by that designation anymore." Chrome growled, holding Titan's vibrant red glare.

"You know what else my brother told me?" Titan asked, well within Chrome's personal space. "He said he'd been actin' odd. And I remember hearing rumors about him. Something about hunter coding?"

"There's nothing wrong with that mech, I've been in his helm enough times to know he's as sane as the rest of us." Chrome snarled.

He never saw the backhand that came across his helm and it sent him to the ground on his servos and knee bolts, his audios ringing. Recoil kicked him in the shoulder and something did crack, his armor stabbing into his protoform till it ground against the joint.

His arm gave out as he snarled in pain.

"That mech should be put down like the beast he is." Titan said quietly before kicking Chrome in the tanks, flipping the smaller mech onto his back with another gasp of pain. Recoil walked back over and planted his ped on Chrome's freshly damaged shoulder joint, pining the medic in place as he swallowed a howl of pain.

"So make this easier on yourself and tell me when's he back in town." Titan demanded, pressing the sharp tip of the pipe against Chrome's torso, just below his chest plating and lightly leaning on it. Chrome winced as it dug under his plating, scraping against protoform.

"Go frag yourself." Chrome spat, trying to shove the other mech's ped off his shoulder so he could get out from under that razor sharp point.

"Wrong answer." Titan growled.

xxXXxx

Ratchet pulled up to the medbay earlier than usual, his subspace full of datapads. Chrome hadn't been lying when he said that Axil was a genius and within two orns he had already gasped the basics of writing. He'd already figure out to write his designation, and almost all of the other miners' as well.

Sandstorm still hadn't shown up but Axil insisted that he would at some point in the near future. The mech was curious and eventually it would get the better of him. They'd agreed to meet early at the medbay, two joors before Axil had to get back to work and Chrome got too suspicious. So far the medic hadn't been too nosy but it was only a matter of time before he started banging helms together and trying to figure out what in pit was going on.

As Ratchet came over the last ridge before the medbay, he saw two mechs idling just in front of the entrance. The closer of the two looked very similar to Sandstorm, with a big 4x4 like alt. The other was some kind of drilling machine with thick heavy treads and the overall shape of a tank. The tank-like mech transformed, talking a few steps toward Ratchet as he slowed to a stop.

"You Ratchet?" He asked in a rough voice.

The smaller mech transformed as well.

"Yeah. What can I do for you?" He asked, wondering why Chrome hadn't helped them already. The medic should have been up and moving already. Some orns he was convinced the mech never recharged.

"We're looking for a mech. Dusty?"

"Ah, yes. He's expecting you two I think. You're the new transfers right?" Ratchet asked. The two mechs shared a look before refocusing on Ratchet.

"Yeah. I'm looking for a friend. He said he was part of Dusty's gang. Sterling Silver?" The first mech continued.

"His full designations Sterling Silver? Huh. I'll have to annoy him about that." Ratchet muttered before refocusing on the two mech. "Yeah, he's here. He's on a run though, he's supposed to be back sometime this orn. He usually doesn't stick around though, he usually drops and runs back home to his mate."

"I forgot the mech was bonded." The first mech said lowly, turning to face the other.

"That doesn't change a thing." He growled, dark red optics sliding to Ratchet before back to the other mech. For a moment Ratchet thought he recognised the second mech but then it passed.

"When is Sterling back." The second mech snarled and Ratchet felt his armor start to flare at his aggressive attitude.

"I don't know." Ratchet replied, taking a nervous step backwards as the two exchanged looks again, obviously on a comm. The second mech suddenly grinned, pulling a long metal pipe from subspace. It was dented in places, the end badly bent out of shape like it had been smashed against something. And the tip was slick with fresh energon.

"Then I'll just have to take it out on your hide, royal." The mech snarled, taking a step toward Ratchet. He didn't wait for the mech to get closer, but dropped into his altmode and bolted toward the mine.

"Get back here fragger!" The mech roared, swinging the pipe down and nearly smashing in Ratchet's windshield. He swerved around the mech and raced up the road, bent on making it to the mine where he knew he would be safe.

A powerful engine roared to life and the mech took off after him, easily tearing up the road after Ratchet. He risked a glance behind him and just managed to avoid being rear ended by swerving to the side.

The mech snarled in anger and Ratchet used his smaller size to race past the mech.

Only for the forgotten mech to crash into him, his heavy flanks all but tossing Ratchet off the road and rolling into the ditch.

He transformed to bipedal with a yelp of surprise, sliding into the ditch and scrambling to get out the other side. A servo latched onto his ankle joint, yanking him back down into the ditch where he crashed to the ground on his back. Ratchet rolled out of the way as the razor sharp pipe was driven into the ground mere inched from his chassis.

"You miserable fragger, you got Backtrack terminated!" The mech snarled as Ratchet scrambled back up the ditch. The side gave way, burying the base of the pipe in the rubble and the mech cursed, trying to yank it free as Ratchet made it back onto level ground.

Only for a crushing mass to collide with him, slamming him back to the ground hard enough that his vision flickered. He gasped for air as an iron grip tightened around his throat.

"Think you'd get away with that?" The tank-like mech spat, red optics dark and furious. Ratchet chocked, servos clawing at the other mech's as warnings flooded his processor. In a desperate attempt, he shoved his thin digits as deep into the mech's wrist joints as he could and was rewarded with a howl of pain and the pressure on his throat cables being released. The crushing weight was still on his chassis though and he felt himself overheating as his vents were trapped shut.

The weight was abruptly gone just as his vision flickered black and he gasped, vents flaring open as he coughed and gagged for air.

"Easy mech, easy. Just vent."

It was an unfamiliar voice as a servo gripped his shoulder guard to steady him. Ratchet's vison slowly cleared but he didn't do more then roll onto his side, still coughing as the servo continued to steady him.

"Ratchet! What happened!"

That voice was familiar and he forced his optics online to stare up at an unfamiliar grey mech. Dusty was hovering over the other mech, worry crossing his faceplates.

"Cho..." He rasped, forcing his sore throat to work. "There's another…. another mech."

"Chrome? What- aw frag." Dusty asked before abruptly spinning away. "Watch him! He's one of us!" He yelled before he bolted down the road. Ratchet shook his helm as he carefully sat up, his processor throbbing.

"You ok?" The other mech asked in concern, crouching beside Ratchet. He nodded before his optics locked onto the grey frame of the mech that had been trying to throttle him. He wasn't moving. A quick scan revealed that he was unconscious and might have a broken jaw hinge.

"You sure? They sure seemed pretty pit bent of off'ing ya." The mech continued. Ratchet took the moment to study him. He was slim for a miner, very similar to Axil's wiry build but a medium grey color. Jagged, terrible scars that made Sterling's many scars look like paint scratches, spider webbed over his side from just over his left hipbolt.

"I'm fine..." Ratchet repeated, carefully standing up. He swayed for a klick and the other miner abruptly stood up as well, darting out a servo to steady him. "Something... happened to... to Chrome.

"The medic right?" The miner asked as Ratchet took a shaky step. Again he nodded before he collapsed into his altmode, carefully maneuvering the road back down to the medbay. The miner followed him, his alt mode almost identical to Chrome's pickup alt except for the color.

As soon as he got back to the medbay he knew something was wrong. The other mech was nowhere to be seen while another strange mech was standing beside Dusty, energon dripping from his servo. He stood nearly as tall as Sterling with the same, solid build.

"He's not here." Dusty said when he saw Ratchet pull up.

"What?! Then where is he?!" Ratchet demanded, panic starting to set in.

"Calm down Ratchet, I'm sure he's fine. He said he was going to the Market this morning. He'll be back in a bit." Dusty assured him.

"You don't know that!" Ratchet yelled. "I've been trying to comm him since-since whoever the pit that was! Tried to terminate me and he isn't responding!"

"Ratchet, calm down before you blow a fuse. Arachnid's got a powerful comm block on her empire. Comms won't go in or out of the place." Dusty continued. "I'm sure he's fine but I'll go track him down if it will calm you down."

"Dusty, something's wrong. They were asking about Sterling. One of them said that it was my fault Backtrack was offline." Ratchet insisted.

"Sterling?" Dusty asked in confusion. "What do they want with Sterling? He's not due back for a couple more joors."

"Wait, Sterling Silver?!" The bigger miner demanded in surprise.

"Yes Sterling. Though I don't suggest calling him his full designation, it tends to frag him off a little." Dusty growled in obvious warning.

"Huh. Haven't seen that spawn of a glitch in a long time." The mech continued with a savage grin that made Ratchet's armor crawl.

"Oh yeah, Ratch, meet Jigsaw and Impactor. Finally we got a fraggin gang again." Dusty growled, gesturing toward the slimmer mech first, then the one that was still grinning predatorily. "Mechs, meet Ratchet. He's our medic in training."

"He's a royal though." Impactor objected, crossing thick arms over an equally large chassis.

"And your point?" Dusty demanded, spinning on the bigger mech and his armor standing on end in warning.

"Just saying." Impactor said, raising his servos in surrender and talking a step back.

"Good. Head up the road, Carbon's-"

Dusty cut himself off when a low rumble started getting closer from down the road.

"-on his way. Never mind. Fraggit can't I get a break around here." Dusty grumbled. "Fraggit. Change of plans, Ratchet, go with Carbon to try and find Chrome. If he's in as much trouble as you think he is, you'll need the back up. I told him not to bother coming up, he waiting for you at the start of the road."

"Thanks Dusty." Ratchet said quietly before he transformed and raced down the road.

ooOOoo

Like Dusty said, the massive black mech was idling at the start of the road, his EM field flared in alarm.

"Ratchet, what's going on? Dusty told me to wait here for you, he said that you'd been attacked and that Chrome was missing."

"Two mechs were asking for Sterling." Ratchet explained, as he started forward.

"Jump in my box, I can take a shorter road then you but you'd rip you're undercarriage out."

Ratchet skidded to a stop and transformed as the big mech pulled up beside him. In one easy motion he had levered himself up into Carbon's box. He had hardly hit the thick base before Carbon gunned it, the roar of his engine utterly deafening. He clapped his servos over his audios as Carbon surged forward, his massive tires easily covering ground as he rumbled over ground that would have swallowed Ratchet's altmode.

The other altmodes they passed all rivaled Carbon's size, most even bigger than him and Ratchet couldn't help but gawk at the massive vehicles of all shapes and sizes drove past. Other than the Omegas and the legends of massive city-sized mechs called Titans, he'd never even seen mechs that big.

While Carbon moved a fair bit slower than either Ratchet or Chrome, the back ruts that he took cut the travel time in half and soon he was recognising the buildings.

"I have to go on ped now. I'm too big to drive around here. Mech's get mad." Carbon said as he slowed to a stop. Ratchet jumped out and the big mech transformed to biped, towering over Ratchet in the dark. "I haven't been here in a long time, I hope you know where we're going."

"Yeah. Yeah I recognise this place. The warehouse is down there." Ratchet said, gesturing down the road.

"Then that's where we'll start." Carbon said, taking a step forward. As soon as the mech moved and he was no longer in his shadow, Ratchet realized he was shining like a torch.

"Aw scrap, I forgot Sterling's anti-beacon paste." Ratchet grumbled, examine how his neon yellow paint shone. Thanks to his recent scuffle, his paint was badly scratched and his plating dented so it wasn't as bad as it could have been.

"You look fine." Carbon said, glancing back with his searing red optics and a smirk. "Besides, I'd just hit anyone that has a problem."

"Yeah good point." Ratchet grumbled, catching up to the big mech as he started down the street. They got a lot of suspicious looks and Ratchet felt his armor start to tighten against his frame in unease. But walking next to the massive bulk that was Carbon eased most of his tension. One smoldering glare from his optics and mechs found the ground much more interesting.

As soon as they started getting closer to where he knew the Market was, he activated his medical scanners, stretching them to their utter limit and hoping that he would be able to pick up something.

"Anything?" Carbon asked, no doubt feeling that slight tingle as Ratchet subconsciously scanned him.

"No, not yet." Ratchet said, blue optics darting around nervously. He knew mechs were getting nervous seeing him around and he knew that if something backfired, Carbon wouldn't stand a chance.

All of a sudden he detected a weak spark signature and spun toward it, nearly colliding with Carbon.

"Warn me before you hit the brakes like that." He grumbled but Ratchet wasn't paying attention.

"He's hurt. He's hurt bad!" He gasped before launching forward into his altmode and racing toward where the signal was coming from. He ignored the curses and shouts aimed at him as he wove around mechs and organics alike and racing into a narrow alley.

He was immediately hit with the smell of fresh energon and he skidded into his bipedal form as his optics locked on the figure slumped half over against the wall of the alley. His arm was wrapped around his chassis oddly and his armor was soaked in energon that continued to flow freely.

"Chrome!" He cried out, scrambling to his mentor's side just as the medic groaned.

"…Ratch…?" He asked weakly, his helm lifting just enough for Ratchet to catch a dim glimmer of green optics.

"What the frag did you do to yourself?!" Ratchet demanded, the deep systems scans he was running scaring him almost as badly as the amount of energon that had pooled on the ground under the medic.

Fractured armor plates, protoform punctured in multiple places, massive internal fluid loss, flooded vents and a gaping hole punched through his abdominal slips.

"…Torn fuel lines…" Chrome rasped before gasping in pain when Ratchet nudged his servo. "Don't!"

"What's wrong!" Ratchet demanded, freezing in place.

"No… no subspace…" He hissed, trembling as he went into shock. "Can't… can't get my… my tools…"

Ratchet stared at him for a nano-klick in horror before violently swearing and scanning his mentor.

"What!" Carbon demanded in alarm, walking into the alley.

"The only reason he hasn't leaked dry yet is because he's pinching off a primary fuel line directly from his fuel pump." Ratchet explained rapidly. "He's still leaking out but that would have terminated him in half a klick. That being said, energon hasn't been flowing through his systems since then and they can start shutting down in as little as a two joors."

The black minor went rigid in horror as Ratchet followed his mentor's fluid slick servo to where he was still weakly pinching off the primary line.

"How long's it been?" Carbon asked quietly.

"Three if not four?" Ratchet replied, sparing the black miner a glance as Chrome gasped sharply in pain when he maneuvered a clamp into the right place.

Carbon crouched down beside him, gently laying a massive servo on Chrome's shoulder guard in comfort and to still the medic.

"Hang on Chrome." He rumbled quietly. "We got'cha. Ratch can patch you up no problem."

The young apprentice in question winced under the sudden pressure as he shifted to work on Chrome at a better angle. He had no doubt now that the two mechs that had attacked him were the same mechs that had attacked Chrome. And he knew with a sick sense of dread that Chrome had been impaled with that big pipe.

"I need to put you in stasis lock." Ratchet said, re-sealing the two torn ends of the primary line and removing the clamp. To his relief, the seal didn't leak, but the fluid loss from other lines got worse as the energon once against started to pump though his systems. At the same moment Chrome convulsed, coughing up energon as his vents flooded.

"Frag!" Ratchet spat, reaching for the back of the medic's neck with his datacord. He needed the medic in stasis-lock before he caused the medic more pain then what he was already in.

"No-" Chrome started to object just as Ratchet slid the silvery cable into the dataport. "-don't!"

Chrome's voice echoed through his helm as he initiated the connection. With his medical coding, it helped soften the mental pain of a one-way sync but that didn't stop Ratchet from reeling back in shock at what he 'saw'.

The tightly woven strings of codes that formed the medic's rather impressive firewalls had been torn away, the coding still withering as it tried to seal the breach.

"Oh Primus, you were hacked." He stammered in alarm, hesitantly moving forward toward the destroyed firewalls. As he got closer to the damage he became aware of the deep throbbing pain in the medic's processor and he started to activate the medical stasis-lock.

To his surprise and confusion Chrome reacted to it, his firewalls attempting to surge up even as he heard the medic keen in pain at the effort.

"Fraggit Chrome, now is not the time to be stubborn!" Ratchet snapped, ready to overwhelm the medic if he had to.

Followhurrynowimportantmustknow!

It was the scrambled thoughts of someone badly fragmented and Ratchet physically recoiled at the emotional surge. Distantly he was aware of a heavy servo on his shoulder guard but he remained focused on Chrome as several strings of coding lit up, leading past the breached firewalls.

"Chrome I-"

Comenowdangerhurtsorrymyfault.

Regret swept over Ratchet and he started forward in confusion. Systems at the back of his processor alerted him to Chrome's critical state and he immediately backed out in alarm, ready to force the stasis-lock.

Until a single memory file, badly torn apart, caught his attention as Chrome highlighted it. As quickly as he could, and becoming aware of Carbon gently shaking him and calling his designation, he pieced the coding back together.

Chrome shrugged innocently as Dusty glared savagely at him.

"I thought it was funny." He muttered under his breath and was rewarded when Dusty finally cracked a smile.

"It was fraggin hysterical." He said as he chuckled. "But to get serious again. Where the frag has Sterling been for the last two orns?"

"And that my friend, is the million credit question." Chrome replied, exventing with a sigh and running his servo down his faceplates. He was getting too old for this slag.

"You sure Ratchet's alright?" He asked again as he walked back into his office. He needed a stiff drink and he figured that Dusty could as well.

"Yes he's fine. Dropped him off at his apartment like I told you." Dusty said with a smirk, shaking his helm as he databurst Chrome the apprentice's address-

The file cut off as Ratchet triggered the stasis-lock.

The medical coding surged over the medic's firewalls and in less than half a nano-klick he felt Chrome go limp. He backed out of the medic's processor as fast as he dared, onlining his own optics to find himself heaving for air and his cooling fans running at full speed in stress.

"What in pit was that?!" Carbon demanded, his servo still on Ratchet's shoulder guard. "You went completely rigid and stopped cycling air! Primus, I thought you'd fried yourself!"

"He knows where I live." Ratchet stammered in horror, ignoring the miner's distressed tone. "That mech knows where I live!"


Yes I know, short chapter, but the other place I cut if off was at 6500 words and then I had almost nothing left for the next chapter and would have had to end that at dumb place.

Yes you heard right, 'next chapter'

it's almost done and I will hopefully get it out in a week.

Oh yeah!

So my two friends, yes the ones teasing me, have posted Fanfictions FINALLY! They are both MegaMan fics but once you get the basics it's fairly easy to follow along with. And if you don't understand something, feel free to bomb them with questions. I know I still do...

Hannaji and Shinryuu Uroborus are both amazing writers (once they finally get going) and that would be awesome if you would check them out. Thanks guys!

Read and Review, I love you all and hopefully see you all in a week!