Update. My muse has been silent for some time. The last chapter took a great toll on my mental reserves, being that dark and ominous. Had to hug my dog closely after i published it. However as of today march 27 i finally got the mind set on continuing. Had worked some on this chapter, but it didnt satisfy me and i wasnt able to put the same spirit in it as in the others. And i felt that this really needed my highest attention. After all we need to clean up all of the mess Megatron made in the last one!
And we move to see what Ratchet and Hound is doing.
But first to get some insight in the fate of Thundercracker and Skywarp.
Warnings:Angst/Hurt/comfort. Death, death and death. Anything new there? No. And there is also a faint warning regarding the infant/sparkling death. Violence. And for once no obvious sexual even if one of the scenes between Thundercracker and Skywarp can be implied as such.
I hope you will enjoy this chapter after reading the last one.
At last: Thank you to those of you that follow this story, and especially to those of you who review. You are inspiring!
Site of the ambush:
When the sedation finally released its hold of the Winglord cycles had passed since the decepticons left the area. The only sign of them ever being there are the lingering scent in the air. The smell of unnaturally processed substances reeks from their frames and stays in any area they have been for a longer period.
The sedations effect on his processor slowly fading, Thundercracker makes an attempt to rise from the ground. His still sluggish frame is unable to support him and his attempt only results in the Winglord buckling as the movements doesn't get the needed cooperation from the system controlling the motor function, when a pain in his spark freezes his systems.
A keen leaves him as he feels a loss in his spark and his thoughts wander to his mate, dying and him unable to defend the black and purple seeker. In his mind Skywarp is long dead and the loss he feels is that of his mate.
He recalls their time together.
How the black and purple seeker stuck to him the first period when he was separated from his creators and moved to an unfamiliar clan with no seekers he knew.
How the seeker slowly mellowed the clan leader and practically became adopted by Thundercrackers carrier. The last causes Thundercracker to smile. The carrier and the teleporter shared some of the same mindset being carefree, friendly and ready to help.
At the deeper thoughts the Winglord wonders what his creators are doing. He knows 'Swiftstrike' has received the glyph he transmitted before he was claimed by the sedation.
Then his mind registers movements and he turns his helm up from the ground to find the source.
What he sees he isn't able to comprehend.
Skywarp.
A healed Skywarp not far from where he himself is kneeling on the ground.
The black and purple seeker is flailing lying in a pool of dried energon, the expression one of deep pain as he fights an unseen enemy where his stasis has dragged him to.
Rising slowly, feeling that his frame is able to hold him Thundercracker slowly makes the way towards his mate.
Once more going to his knees, this time slowly beside his mate he gingerly strokes the troubled face of the black and purple seeker. Still he wonders how this is possible. How is Skywarp alive?
Then when one of the black claws connects with his chassis digging a scratch on the blue plating and scrapping the surface of the claw itself enough to draw energon Thundercracker smells it, the scent of grounders coming from the energon inside his mate. The smell causes him to let out an angry growl.
Carefully moving his own claws towards the chest of his mate to be sure their newspark hasn't been hurt he senses nothing.
No pulsing beside the spark of his mate.
No sign of their creation.
Nothing.
A howl erupts from his vocalizer and he forcefully hugs the prone frame of his mate embracing the still struggling seeker.
This is how 'Swiftstrike' finds the pair some time later as the group of seekers he leads to locate the two, sweeps the area.
The group of twenty seekers from different clans watches the Winglord as he gingerly holds his mate in his embrace, and slowly rocks the black and purple seeker. As time goes by and Thundercracker doesn't acknowledge their presence 'Swiftstrike' sends the rest off to patrol the air while the temporary Winglord close in on his creation. He clearly senses the scent of the grounders and a rare fear fills his spark.
/Thundercracker?/ he asks as he is close enough to touch the other.
He is ignored for some time.
Then the Winglord looks up at the other, pain and sorrow filling the optics.
/Why?/ he asks the older seeker, his voice weak.
Kneeling down beside the Winglord, 'Swiftstrike' lets his optics wander the prone form of Skywarp.
The skilled optics of the older seeker recognizes the signs in the black and purple seeker. Skywarp is withdrawing. His frame is functional and healthy, but his mind is giving up, having lost any wish to live on.
The only times the clan leader had seen this happen to a seeker had been from losses of trinemates or their creations.
/What happened?/ he asks Thundercracker.
/Grounders./ is the only thing the Winglord says for some time, a new anger rising inside the blue seeker.
Revenge is not something that seekers perform. They accept the losses life force upon them and live on. The occasional loss of a seeker to hunters is accepted however not ignored. If ever seekers come upon a cybertronian in the forests they kill it. That is their revenge, preying on the unsuspecting who venture their domain.
The feeling rising in Thundercracker at the moment is unnatural to the seekers' way of living in harmony with their surroundings. To kill without the purpose of feeding is as far from their thinking as anything. But the thought is rising in his mind. To massacre the grounders surrounding them for the actions made against his mate and their newspark.
A whimper is leaving the black and purple seeker and Thundercracker tightens his hold of his mate. Bowing his head towards that of his mate to nuzzle the neck he discovers the device the grounders has fitted around Skywarps neck. Holding the seeker a bit away from his own frame he sees the outline of the collar sitting tightly around the vulnerable neck.
Growling he reaches one of his claws to touch it and tries to remove the offending device. But the metal surface withstands the applied force and not a scratch from the claws is on the collar as the claw is removed.
The Winglord hisses in anger. They dare! The grounders dared to mark HIS mate.
Baring his dentas he try to crush the metal with them, but he is not able to get the collar far enough into his mouth to be able to use the sturdy dentas used to crush metal, instead he is only able to bite around it with his fangs, and they doesn't manage to apply the needed force to remove the collar.
A roar of fury leaves his vocalizer drawing the attention from the patrolling seekers in the air.
To sooth his creation 'Swiftstrike' gently reaches a servo and caresses the taut wings of the Winglord.
/Let us return to the clan. Carri is going to be relieved to see you both again. Your message distraught him a lot./ the clan leader explained.
Fuelled by the fury in his spark Thundercracker manages to rise from the ground cradling Skywarp to his chest. Their sparks this close to each other he senses the irregular pulsing of his mates spark. Now and then it stops, for some kliks later to resume the pulsing and every time it stops pulsing, he senses that the time for it to start pulsing again grows slowly longer and longer.
With a nod to his creator he engages his thrusters and takes to the air, joining the waiting seekers already in the air. As he meets the seekers he realizes that they aren't all from his own clan. He wonders what his creator has been doing since the glyph was activated.
Adjusting his course towards their home he blasts off in the highest speed possible for him in his bipedal mode. Around him the group gathers, silently protecting their Winglord.
Location of the Swiftstrike clan:
Landing in the middle of the camp Thundercracker is greeted by a large amount of seekers clearly relieved to see their Winglord alive.
A loud screech sounds above all the murmuring from the many seekers and the carrier runs towards the blue Winglord. Before Thundercracker know it, the blue and yellow seeker has firmly grabbed a hold of what the seeker can reach and holds him tightly. As the carrier sees what he holds in his servos he just stares. Skywarp is still caught in the stasis with his life slowly slipping away.
Dragging the Winglord to the ground as the blue and yellow seekers legs no longer can carry it, too shocked at what he sees in Skywarp, the carrier crawls closer to the pair to study the dying seeker closer.
/Has he been like this all time?/ the carrier asks, urgency in the voice.
/Yes!/ sounds the defeated reply.
/How long between the breaks in his pulsing?!/ the blue and yellow seeker asks.
/Ten of my own./ Thundercracker answers as his optics lingers on the paling frame in his servos.
At a sigh sounding much like one in relief however the Winglord jerks his optics towards his carrier while frowning.
/There is time then./ the carrier murmurs to himself as he reaches a servo towards the black and purple seeker.
Suddenly looking into the Winglords optics the carrier sees the frown and sends the other a little smile.
/I have known it for some time my dear. But I didn't want to press you into something. Now however it is going to save your mate./ The seeker explains in a soft voice.
Not understanding Thundercracker just waits for the seeker to continue.
Looking down at the black and purple seeker, caressing the pained face the carrier continues.
/You are sparkmates. Unbonded sparkmates however, and the forging of the bond is able to stop this from progressing further if done before the spark withdraw too much./ the blue and yellow seeker explains, slowly seeing understanding entering the optics of the Winglord, together with hope.
Touching a servo to his own chestplating behind which his own spark is resting Thundercracker glances down on Skywarp. The thought of becoming even closer to his mate fills his spark with warmth.
Still lost in the thoughts of becoming closer to his mate, Thundercracker doesn't register his carrier beginning to work with Skywarps chestplate, but when the glow from the spark of his mate shines around him, released from the protective armor plates and only covered by the sparkchamber, his optics turns to look at his mate and the very essence that is Skywarp.
The glow is fainter than a spark usually is. The reason for the spark weakening is visible when the protective sparkchamber opens and reveals the spark completely. The dead remains of the newspark is still floating around the mature spark, only a small grey part is left of what the two seekers had created together.
The sight forces a faint whimper from Thundercracker, and he gently reaches a claw into the sparkchamber and withdraws the dead newspark.
While Thundercracker is caught by the sight of his dead creation the carrier studies the black and purple seekers spark touching a claw to the surface to gauge the energy left in it. A satisfied humming leaves his vocalizer and the blue and yellow seeker looks at Thundercracker.
/You have to do it now./ the seeker tells the Winglord.
Baring his own spark, strongly shinning in a bright white color Thundercracker slowly lowers his chest to that of his mate and brings their sparks into touching.
Sensing a jolt coursing through his frame he suddenly is no more connected to it. Instead he finds himself floating.
Looking around he sees nothing. It is dark all around him.
::I can't live on.:: a voice sounds and it takes a moment before he realizes that it is Skywarps.
Pain filling him at the sorrow in the voice of his mate he is unable to stop the words leaving him.
::Skywarp! Where are you?:: he yells out into the nothingness.
::Thundercracker? Am I finally dead?:: Skywarp whispers, and the hope in the voice almost breaks the Winglords spark.
::No of course not. Don't leave me! Come back to me.:: he pleads to his mate.
::I-. I don't know if I can. It hurts. Hurts so much.:: the black and purple seeker admits and his voice is barely a whisper.
::I know. I sensed it.:: he sooths.
::And I failed you. I thought you were dead. Wasn't able to hold on to our creation. Just wanted to join you both where you were.:: Skywarp sobs.
::I am not dead Skywarp. I need you. I need you by my side when we fall upon the grounders. I won't let them get away with this./ some of the anger bleeding into his voice.
Uttering those words the darkness around him slowly begin to clear and a bright blinding light takes its place.
Looking around his optics falls on the almost colorless frame of his mate firmly curled into a ball floating in the middle of all the light. He is filled with the consciousness of his mate as the black and purple seekers spark slowly fills with life again and Skywarp is released by the stasis.
Before him he sees the seeker gain its colors, the black and purple filling the frame as it slowly uncurl from the ball. Finally he meets the optics of the seeker and the distance between them become smaller and smaller as Skywarp slowly floats towards him.
Their frames touching he receive sensations from the other seeker and gasps.
He is surprised by the enormous amount of pain that is filling his mate. Joined in their sparks as they are nothing is kept from the other. Skywarp sees the want for revenge burning in the Winglord and he shares his own rage with the blue seeker.
Strengthening each other by the love floating freely around them both and enveloping themselves and the other in their feelings their sparks is slowly being healed by the presence of their mate this close.
Then as time passes, their connection slowly fades and Thundercracker once again becomes aware of his own frame. Moments before he is fully returned to his own frame and their sparks disconnect completely a crackling energy fills his spark and shoots into Skywarp just as energy from the black and purple seeker enters his own spark.
Finally disconnecting their sparks Thundercracker senses a part of his mate still lingering with him, and he wraps the connection in warm caring feelings.
A moment later Skywarps optics online and their optics find each other instantly. Staying like they are with the open chestplates almost touching, they marvel in the feeling of the other inside themselves. Slowly a smile grows on the black and purple seekers face and he reaches a servo to cares Thundercrackers slightly open lips.
Around them silence reign and they are forgetting that they have several hundred seekers watching them. The Winglord had never been more vulnerable than at that moment with his spark bared and only protected by the frames of two submissives from the dominants surrounding them,but he doesn't care, nothing else than the wellbeing of the black and purple seeker mattered to him at that moment.
/My spark in yours as yours are in mine, our destiny entwine./they whisper in unity, their mind and sparks connected completely. They would not suffer the others pain, but if one of them died now, they both would.
Closing the chestplates of his mate before he rises Thundercracker silently lets Skywarp know that he is to rest. Rising he closes his own chest and seals his spark behind the dense armor before looking around at the seekers surrounding them.
Seeing his creator among them he nods to the black and grey seeker and gestures for him to join him. He needs to know what had happened since he went offline.
Gauged by the amount of seekers not related to the Swiftstrike clan he can guess some of it, but he wants to hear the full content, before he announces his decision.
Swiftstrike had wasted no time in gaining the favor of the nearest clans. As he received the glyph from the Winglord he had become the temporary leader of the seekers until Thundercracker was well enough. In case Thundercracker died, fighting among the seekers would occur and the strongest among those would then become the new Winglord.
If Thundercracker died the essence of their people would fuse with that of Swiftstrike's and when the new Winglord had been found, the transfer of the glyph would be enough for the essence to release and fuse with the new one. Alas Swiftstrike would not die being the temporary Winglord and none of the dominants would gain anything from killing him while he possessed the duty of leading in the absence of the true Winglord.
As the creator of the Winglord the black and grey seeker had sensed that Thundercracker still was alive, through the faint creator/creation bond that still lingered after all this time. That bond would never leave and now it played an important part. He knew Thundercracker was out there somewhere and he needed to find him. That was why he had wasted no time in contacting the closest clans to get as many seekers under his command to search for the missing seekers. With Thundercracker incapacitated enough or injured enough for the seeker to send the glyph Skywarp would either have shared his fate or died.
Whatever had been done to the Winglord could inevitably affect the rest of their people so the act of contacting the other clans was also to strengthen their base of leadership, currently the Swiftstrike clan. Searching for the missing seekers would make the clan vulnerable to any attack and rid them of a large amount of the fight capable seekers thus leaving them open to attacks.
Unsurprising some of the clan leaders of the nearby clans he had sought out had decided to follow their members to reside in the Swiftstrike clan. The occurrence with the incapacitated Winglord was so very rare that only the oldest among the seekers had experienced something similar. That was why it only had been natural for the leaders of the different clans to join up and share their own knowledge with each other while supporting the temporary Winglord as they learned the fate of their true leader.
Listening to what his creator had managed in the short time he had been the temporary Winglord, Thundercracker let 'Swiftstrike' know that he was pleased with what the seeker had done. With this many seekers residing in the Swiftstrike clan Thundercracker had the needed amount of seekers to do a fairly large amount of damage. However they might not be happy to do what he ordered and he understood them. He was fuelled by the rage at what the grounders had done to Skywarp and their creation, they weren't.
But he knew that if they knew they would be just as enraged as himself. Their creations were the most precious in their existence and when one of the seekers in a trine became sparked the trine lived for nothing but the newspark.
That the grounders had terminated Skywarps and his creation was unforgiving!
Returning to his trinemate, mate and now also sparkmate Thundercracker watched the still pained look on the recharging seeker.
It would take a long time for the damages to fully heal and the pain to disappear. What he had sensed while they were connected had been the large fracture in the black and purple seekers spark, where the newspark had been connected. The broken bond had not been gently on the seeker.
Anger rising again he turned to look at his creator with a hard stare.
"I have orders for you." The Winglord growled.
Forest in the southern hemisphere:
As Ratchet and Hound entered the forests in the south where they had learned the seekers were at the moment they registered the large amount of seekers present in the air at any time. It made them wonder what was going on; since Hound rarely saw this many seekers present this close together at the same time. They encountered large groups of up to thirty individuals overflying the area they travelled in, flying in low height in large triangular formations. Luckily Hounds holograms could hide them from view and protect them when they heard the tell-tale of the jet engines coming closer.
Slowly venturing deeper into the forest they both felt the danger they were traveling into, trespassing on the seekers while the aerial transformers acted this strange. One seeker they might survive, but a group would be their fast deactivation.
Hound always carried one of the special sedations with him, just in case, since he went into the forests as much as he did. But the sedation would be of no use at this moment, it would just enrage the seekers even more. His skills in avoiding the seekers now came in handy as they slowed down their advancement and tuned their audials and sensors, hoping to locate any seekers nearby before they themselves were located.
At least they were only two and thus able to sneak through the area more silently. However they knew that at some point their luck might run out. That or the seekerlet would wake before they found the perfect spot to leave it. If that happened then they both knew they would die. Sedated and carried inside Ratchet the seekerlet knew nothing of the dangers its adopted creators travelled at the moment, and if it woke any sound it uttered could and would alert the mature seekers to their presence.
Then as a cycle passed, the seekers just vanished. No sound was heard in the forest and the two autobots didn't know if the silence was good or bad with the strange behavior from the seekers. Still careful of their surroundings they kept on going further into the forests. Their destination would be an area where there were clear signs of the seekers hunting. It would be best for the seekerlet to be found by its own kin and returned to the society it belonged to. Coming that close to the seekers hunting spots was not a wise move, but the safety of the seekerlet was the only thing the two autobots thought about as they went on.
Finally coming to an area visibly demolished; showing fallen broken trees and broken branches from those still standing Ratchet searched the ground and soon found the signs of small dens housing petro rabbits or turbo foxes. Some of the dens had been torn by large claws digging into the ground and pools of dried energon could be seen here and there.
Seeing the damage in the area caused him to shudder as he imagined what would happen with a mature seeker hunting in one of their city states. Once more he was confirmed in the rightness in what they were doing.
Dragging some of the underbrush together, he made a soft makeshift berth to place the seekerlet upon before they left. Beside him Hound held the still sedated seekerlet while scouting the air and looking for any sign of seekers approaching. A faint whimper left the sedated seekerlet and Ratchet jerked around, looking at the little red blue and white form in Hounds servos. Withdrawing a syringe and some more sedation he carefully pressed the needle into the fragile frame and sedated the seekerlet further.
They needed to be long gone from the forest before it woke up, and the extra sedation would give them the needed time to leave without having to hurry.
Then as the sedation settled into the little frame Ratchet gingerly took the seekerlet and without thinking hugged it to his chestplate. The little one was his creation for frag sake, whatever specie it truly belonged to, and being forced to abandon it didn't change the feelings he had developed over the time for the little seekerlet. Murmuring to the still form resting in his servos he nuzzled the little wings before he reluctantly crouched and placed it on the makeshift berth he had made for it.
Seeing the materials slowly curl around the lite frame and embrace the seekerlet, almost hiding it from view a silent tear burst from his optics. Then he forced himself to stand and look away. The faster they left the area the better it would be for them both. Giving place for Hound to say goodbye Ratchet walked a bit away and took over Hounds duty keeping optics on the sky and listen for advancing seekers.
Kneeling beside the little improvised berth Hound reached a digit to caress the seekerlet. He replayed all the special moments he had had with the seekerlet and felt some relieve that he at least still would have the memories, while the seekerlet would grow up among its own kin.
"Be strong little one" he whispered before he rose from his position and turned to Ratchet.
"Let's move." He told the medic as he walked to join him.
Sighing Ratchet nodded.
Transforming they began the slow travel out of the forest.
A cycle passed and they still didn't see or hear anything from the seekers. It should have been a relief, but the silence that reigned in the forest was uncommon. As they went on a bad feeling grew in both their frames, until they came to the last spot where they had seen the seekers fly by. Fate would that at this moment a large buzzing began to fill the air around them, and they transformed and looked puzzled at each other.
Then the skyline broke and they could see what made the loud buzzing. Hound just managed to cover them in his hologram as they watched the largest group of seekers probably ever seen fill the sky.
In the front of the group countless smaller groups of three seekers flying in their triangular formation led the flock. They could faintly distinct the different colors of the seekers as they flew by. He sight would have been one of wonder, if they behavior wasn't this strange.
Then a shocking sight greeted them as the smaller groups dwindled. Following them one large formation came into view.
It consisted of the incomplete trines and single seekers still not having found their trinemates.
To the two autobots the large formation reminisced that of an organized military unit, like they had seen when the enforcers and soldiers patrolled publicly in the city state. To think that the seekers possessed something like that caused them both to feel the chill run down their backstruts. And even if they accepted that the seekers were this organized, then the fact that this large unit was on the move completely froze the energon in their lines.
What was going on?
As the large formation left their vision in the distance something else registered in their minds.
The formation was not headed into the forest, but out of it. If Ratchet had calculated right, the force of seekers would come out of the forest at coordinates not far from some of the small settlements that lived along the rim of the forest. At that fact he frowned. Seekers didn't seek out the grounder civilization living around them, they rarely left the forests, especially in this large a group.
When they did it was to travel either north of south to the other forests to change their living areas. The sights of the seekers moving at those occasions had always drawn the grounders, since it was one of the chances for them to see the seekers. To see the large groups of thousands upon thousands of transformers taking up the sky almost blocking out the sun while they moved on was a marvelous sight, and one of the times where the grounders could come closer to the wilder transformers without instigating violence.
Ratchet had always wondered how the seekers were able to form up and keep that large a formation without any aggression among each other.
With one last glance to the sky they transform back into their altmodes and carry on in their way out of the forest.
A cycle later they are disturbed in the silent travel by Ratchets comm. alerting them to an incoming message. The sound rings loudly in their surroundings and they both stop to listen to the forest around them. No movements registering they relax and Ratchet accepts the message.
Greeting them is the monotone voice of the planet wide emergency system.
The system is used to inform the nearest enforcers, medics or other rescuers if they are needed in the area they at the moment are in. Being a medic Ratchet has his signature logged in the system and that is why he now gets this message from the system.
As it has announced that his help is needed a recording of the emergency call made is played for the medic and he is informed of the location of the emergency.
The voice greeting the two autobots is scratchy and in the background loud sounds almost drowned out the voice of the speaker.
"This is… I am citizen of A90b5 settlement, common name Astaria. We are in …eed of immediate help! …kers is attacking. We …ave several dead, injured and dying." A loud explosion sounds and the rest is deafened out. Then a loud scream is filling the record and the sound of crushing metal is the last heard on the recorded emergency before it ends.
Ratchet looks at Hound and sees that the tracker is as affected by the record as he himself is.
Before he closes the message from the emergency system he gets a review of how many other rescuers there are in the area. Surprised he recognizes the glyph of the Lord High Protector self and several other enforcers as well as medics. Wondering what this many people and especially the Lord High Protector is doing out in the wilderness he gently pokes Hound out if the mechs stupor and motion for them both to transform.
They might as well see what they can do to help. However Ratchet knows there isn't much they can do about the attack. If the attackers is the large group of seekers they saw leaving the forest, the only thing they are able to do is pick up the pieces. There is no way for them to gather a force large enough to deal with the seekers before they have ravaged the settlement.
Grimacing he prepares himself for the sight of dead mangled half-eaten transformers and just hope that there will be something he can do.
Finally after hurrying as much as they have been able to through the forest, the trees being to thin around them and they are able to move more freely while in their altmodes. But with the thinning of the forest they are reminded that their cover soon vanishes and they move more careful towards the edge of the treeline.
Before they completely step out of the forest they hear the screeching of an enormous amount of jet engines burning hot not far away. Daring a peek out from the trees Ratchet instantly see the seekers flock in the distance, diving and looping above a cloud of smoke that drifts up towards them from the ground. He has no doubt knowing what it is that is smoking that violently and retreating to the safety of the trees he sighs.
"I fear it is a massacre." He tells the tracker.
Taking a peek of his own Hound agrees with the medic.
As time passes and they now and then takes a peek to see if the seekers soon is going to leave, they see more and more of the fliers gather in the air at every look. Then only a few is still diving down into the smoke and soon all the seekers is gathered in the air.
In the air the seekers begin to circle the ruined settlement and as Ratchet watches they being to form up in their groups of threesomes still circling the other seekers before they slowly file out and begin the flight back into the forest. Poking Hound to have a look too they both feels a sick fascination at the sight of the organized groups. It is sick because of the destruction the fliers have been doing not long before and to be fascinated so shortly after something that disastrous to their society is wrong, but they can't help it.
Watching the large group of seekers form, they realize that each seeker in the large group that is made up of what they guess is several hundred seekers, must have a certain spot to occupy in the unity. The complexity of the seekers begins to grow on them. To be able to form this large a formation this smoothly requires a complex intelligence beyond what the grounders in general think of the seekers. Of course the adopted creators has seen some of the sentience in the seekerlet as it grew, but to watch fully developed seekers to interact and move like one as they are before them stuns them.
Seeing the large formation slowly move towards the forest the two autobots prepare to get to the settlement as soon as the last seeker is out of view. Watching the seekers flying away overhead Hound checks his hologram to be sure it is working correctly. It would be bad to be visible with the seekers practically hanging over them. His healthy fear of the wild seekers had grown a notch and he wonders if he is able to see the seekers in the same light as before. With the seekerlet he already has had to change his point of view, but with the actions he has seen the seekers do on their travel this orn he senses that there is more to it than anyone know.
Dragged from his thought by the medic as Ratchet transforms, he followed suite and they are soon both speeding towards the smoking area ahead of them.
Coming closer they begin to see more and more of the buildings smoking and something isn't right.
First when they are practically driving into the settlement the reason for the sight of the buildings is revealed. Nothing in the settlement is above a meter in height. Every building has been completely demolished into debris and all around them corpses is littered.
Transforming Ratchet stares as the area of destruction completely shocked.
Questions presses on in his mind and the one most clear is WHY? Why did the seekers do this?
Kneeling he removes a large part of a wall and to an even greater shock the corpse of a sparkling is revealed to him. Gingerly lifting the lifeless shell from the ruin he studies the frame.
There are no dental marks. Only signs of the sharp claws.
Gently placing the corpse on the ground he rises and begins to walk around the area hoping, but knowing that he won't find anything alive.
Every corpse he studies shows the same as the frame of the sparkling. There is no sign of dentals used.
A frown grows on his faceplate. It is common knowledge that seekers kill to feed. Not before has any seeker killed anything without feeding from it. To have a whole settlement killed without the sign of any feeding, he begins to shake at the realization that something has caused this. Something has made the seekers become even more aggressive and violent.
But he doesn't know what. And he can just stand there and look at the aftermath.
Meeting the optics of the tracker he sees that Hound has frozen on the spot in shock. With his medical knowledge and ingrained need to help he has been able to withdraw emotionally from the sight of the massacre, but the tracker isn't as lucky.
Walking to the green mech he gently shakes him out of his state.
"It is going to be okay." He tells the tracker, even if he doesn't believe the words himself.
Instead of an answer Hound just keeps staring.
"What about the seekerlet?" Hound finally asks when his mind returns to his frame.
"I don't know." Ratchet sighs.
"We-. We can't leave it out here. Leave it to become THAT. Starscream isn't like that. He will die, Ratchet!" Hound argues.
"Starscream?" Ratchet inquires.
"Eh. I had thought up a name in case we did keep him." The tracker explains while not meeting the optics of the medic.
When Hound finally looked him in the optics Ratchet could see a new hardness in them and he knew that wouldn't be able to argue the tracker from keeping the seekerlet. The behavior of the wild seekers had been an optic opener to himself and Ratchet had to admit that he felt fear for what the seekerlet – no Starscream – would have to go through among its own kin.
Sighing deeply he let Hound know that he understood and while he couldn't do anything for the dead in the settlement he at least could protect the seekerlet they had left in the forest.
"Let's go and find our little one then." He said as he transformed into his altmode and began the long road into the forest they just had left not long before.
Sound was coming back to the forest and they now and then watched a lone seeker flying in the sky far above them.
Without any encounters they managed to return to the spot where they had left the seekerlet safely tugged in the berth made of the underbrush. To their great relief the seekerlet still were there, the sedation still keeping its hold on it.
Hound wasted no time in lifting the seekerlet from the ground and tugs it securely against his chassis, fretting over it like it had been vorns since he last had seen it. Ratchet just lets out another sigh. He knows how difficult the time to come will be. He needs to make some modifications to the seeker to make it less dangerous to itself and the surroundings.
Leaving the forest to return to Iacon the two autobots beings the long tedious way back home, the seekerlet safely inside Ratchet once more, still completely unaware of the drama that has played out around it and how fate has decided for it to stay with its adopted creators.
Now was just to be seen how it reacted to its name.
Ruins of Astaria:
The Lord High Protector walked the still smoking ruins of the settlement just as the two autobots had done a cycle prior to his arrival.
Now and then kicking at the debris littering the ground he is greeted by the hidden corpses underneath what had been their homes.
Coming upon the very same shell of the sparkling as Ratchet had, he kneels down and studies the grey frame. Shaking his head he withdraws his optics from the empty optics and looks around at the surroundings once more.
Footsteps behind him cause him to rise and when he turns he is greeted by the sight of Soundwave, the mech stoically waiting.
"Report." He orders the communications specialist, his voice a bit harder than intended.
"Source of the attack: Seekers. Reason: unknown." The mech drones, unfazed by the anger in the Lord High Protectors voice.
That causes Megatron to frown. The seekers!
"Any knowledge of who led the attack?" he asks. If the two seekers were behind this there would be severely punishment.
"Surveillance: leader black and grey seeker. Amount: Approximately several hundred seekers." Soundwave explains. When the emergency had been received he had been fast to dispatch Laserbeak to record the seekers and had not seen the blue or the black and purple seeker among the masses of seekers that had been present at the massacre.
The answer surprise the Lord High Protector. Why hadn't the leader been at the attack? Hadn't they returned to their people at this time? He wondered.
Glancing at the ruins one last time he leaves the rescuers to do their duty and motion for Soundwave to follow him back to Iacon.
There was nothing he could do here.
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