Chapter 25 – Mater artium necessitas
Notes: Title translation: Necessity is the mother of invention. Sorry for the delay guys. I had a moron moment and sent the wrong chapter to my beta to look over... This chapter is a little different as for the first time it's not all written from Hound or Thundercracker's perspective as that's the only way I could get the magnitude of the fight across.

xxx

Just as Hound, Mirage and Trailbreaker pulled up to Optimus' office door, Jazz appeared from the other direction, Blaster in tow.

"Hound!" the communications mech exclaimed, clearly surprised.

"Something's going on with Thundercracker," the green mech said without preamble. "We need to mobilise everyone, now!"

"That's what we were just gonna do," Jazz replied, rapping his knuckles on the door. He barely waited a nano-second before he was opening it and striding inside. Hound followed without hesitation, but the others paused briefly on the threshold. This was the Prime's office, ingrained protocol said you didn't walk in without an invitation to do so. Blaster was the first out of the remaining three to step inside.

"Jazz," Optimus frowned up at his TIC, a question in that one word.

"Prime, we got a situation," Jazz told him, moving straight to the large console on one wall of Optimus office. His digits moved quickly, calling up various stacks of information. "Blaster tell 'im what ya heard."

"Soundwave tried to block me out, like he normally does, but I heard a few mentions of troop movements, big ones. The Cons were excited." The tall red mech shook his head in disgust. He hated listening in sometimes.

"One of ma mechs just came in 'n confirmed the Cons are shippin' out in big numbers," Jazz added.

"Alright," Optimus had already come to his pedes and rounded his desk to look at the information. He glanced over at the other three in his office. "Hound?"

"Thundercracker opened our bond," the scout replied, not caring that not all the mechs in the room were briefed on his mate's undercover assignment. He watched his leader contain his surprise down to a few optic blinks and knew he understood how early this was. "He sent me an image," Hound reported, moving to the computer. "I recognised it. Here." He opened several images, blowing them up bigger onto the screen. "It's a front line outside Iacon City in the Border Regions. I scouted past the line last deca-cycle."

"It's been quiet there for meta-cycles," Optimus spoke quietly, optics fixed on the screen. "There's nothing of value in the Border Regions."

"'N our forces are thinnest there." Jazz called up another image, this time scattered with tiny moving dots of colour marking each Autobot's position. "Makes perfect sense t' attack here."

"The Cons' comm noise went through the roof a couple of breems ago, then nothing," Blaster frowned. "Soundwave's not even put a blanket of static down."

"They've had their orders. They'll be mobilising," Optimus stated before turning to Jazz. "Get reinforcements out to that line now. Send up some flyers to check the rest of the borders to make sure this isn't a double bluff, but not the Aerialbots. I need Superion on the frontline." Hound shuttered his optics briefly. He always hated hearing that. "Hound I'll make sure everyone knows that we need Thundercracker - all the Decepticon command structure - online, but you are going to stay well off the front lines."

"What? No! You can't…"

"Hound," Optimus warned carefully and he watched the green mech clamp his mouth shut, anger still clear, but not far enough gone to trespass into insubordination. "Your judgement is clouded in this matter. You will make decisions that will not be for the benefit of everyone and I can't have that if this is to the deciding battle in the war."

"Yessir," Hound replied in a tight voice and Optimus hid the sigh. He knew Hound was furious, that more than anything he wanted to be on the frontline to find his bondmate, but he was a liability like this. The Prime dismissed them to get on with their jobs as he did his. Optimus watched Trailbreaker laid his hand on Hound's shoulder, clearly trying to offer support, but the green mech shrugged him off and strode away. The other mechs in his office exchanged looks but they had jobs to do and couldn't spare the time, however much they wanted to. In war personal relationships had to take a back seat.

Hound knew that as well, but he couldn't believe in that right now. For the first time in his life he truly disagreed with Optimus. Before there may have been times where he disagreed with his orders, decisions, but he had trusted him to lead them to their goals. Now there was nothing but muted rage. Optimus knew how much his world revolved around his bonded and how much he'd given up when he'd let Thundercracker go without argument. To say, now, that Hound couldn't go to him, that wasn't acceptable.

The scout's optics narrowed, his mouth set into a thin firm line; a look that was rarely seen on the easy going mech. It was not going to happen either, even if it resulted in his court martial and dismissal. Nothing on Cybertron was going to keep him off the frontline in this coming battle. The green mech smiled thinly. Let someone try and stop him. It wasn't in Hound to brag but there was no one better at getting through enemy lines when it came down to it. Mirage may be able to become invisible, but his sensors didn't match Hound's. Jazz may be head of Special Ops for numerous reasons, but he often relied on patience, misdirection and stealth. Hound could stride through the middle of it all if he wanted.

He kept walking, letting nothing distract him as Iacon leapt into action around him as the orders filtered down to the ordinary troops. Mechs and femmes ran past him, heading to their posts, heading out. Here he was just one mech amongst thousands and no one would pay him any attention, or so he hoped. Hound had left most of his friends behind in that office, and whilst he was well known others wouldn't be so inclined to stop him. He slipped through security check points without stopping, knowing they were more concerned about those incoming than those heading out. Soon he was beyond the main city and dropped down to his wheels, pointing himself towards the Borders, but kept his speed down as not to attract attention. Hound made sure he was alone before he cloaked himself in hologram to make himself look like a drone, pre-programmed to head to a specific destination without anyone being needed to control them. Once he was beyond the city limits he shed the hologram and pushed his speed to its maximum, knowing he had to be in place before the Decepticons attacked. He knew the Borders extremely well and planned to use that information to get in behind the enemies lines before they were truly in place.

xxx

"Sunny, heads up!" Sideswipe called and tossed a gun his brother's way. His twin caught it without looking up. He swung it round his hand in a casual gesture, checking the ammo pack almost offhandedly, before he slotted it upside down to its holster on his back, another already in subspace.

Sideswipe joined him, a gun on his own thigh and a cocky smile on his face. Sunstreaker knew it was partly true. They did enjoy the thrill and rush of a fight but part of it was to hide the tendril of fear. Not for the others, but for each other. It was their greatest fear, that they'd lose each other, but they'd be slagged if that was going to stop them either. They fought to protect each other, and as a consequence there were few better in close combat therefore they were always committed to the heart of the frontline.

"Yo, Sides, Sunny!"

"Don't call me Sunny," the yellow mech snapped automatically at the smaller saboteur who had appeared next to them.

Jazz ignored him. "Ya on the next transport. Ya good t' go?"

"Yeah we're packed and ready for some action," Sides nodded amiably, before making a show of looking around. "Where's Hound? I thought he'd be on this transport."

"Prime ordered 'im off the lines," Jazz returned, face emotionless. "Cuttin' too close t' home for 'im."

"Slag, that burns," the red twin shook his head in sympathy.

"Ya know the orders. Ya ain't t' kill any of the command mechs 'n this time ya will listen. This has got t' be a clean take," Jazz made clear and deliberate optic contact with both of the frontliners. Sunstreaker gave him a disgusted look whilst Sides grinned at him, but neither disagreed out right and Jazz had to accept that was the best he was going to get. He watched both mechs' attention come off him at exactly the same time and his internal scanner told him that Ratchet had just appeared behind him.

"He's on the next transport too." Both frontliners' optics snapped back at him and it was Jazz's turn to grin, "Ya mechs are 'bout as subtle as Hide's canons."

"Tell that to him then," Sideswipe grumbled, optics drifting back to their CMO.

"Ain't in ma job description. See ya two out there," Jazz saluted them with two fingers before disappearing off into the rapidly growing number of mechs in the hanger.

The twins glanced at each other, rapidly turning over emotions and thoughts between them, before they silently headed across the hanger themselves. Everyone else, consciously or not, parted before them and the path to Ratchet was easy. By the time they reached the medic's side, Sideswipe was grinning easily again and Sunstreaker was pretending to be disinterested in his surroundings. Ratchet glanced up at them, optics narrowing slightly. "What was with the look?"

"Look? What look?" the red brother asked, the pair falling in either side of Ratchet.

"The one from the other side of the hanger when I walked in. Don't think I didn't notice."

"You always notice us Ratch," Sideswipe's face lit up with a smirk, though he could feel the echo of warmth from Sunstreaker at that. "Cause we're just so gorgeous."

The red and white mech snorted inelegantly, hand briefly patting Sideswipe on the shoulder. "Right, you just keep telling yourselves that."

The CMO was unaware of the sharp flash of pain that travelled between his two companions, but they hid it well, very used to the unintentional put down and rebuttals. Ratchet was too busy organising the other medical staff and the limited supplies they had to take with them onto the front line to be concentrating on the Twins, but he was also aware they never left his side, nor did they get in anyone's way. They stayed with him as he boarded, sat either side of him in the transport belly of the ship, quiet and watchful as they always were before a battle. The loud jokes and broad smiles disappeared from Sideswipe as the time drew nearer but the silence between the three of them wasn't uncomfortable. Ratchet didn't want to talk either. He knew he'd lose too many good mechs in the next few joors to have any appetite for conversation.

The flight was a short one, everyone was quick to unload and disperse to their positions, their transport rising again almost the instant the last mech stepped off the ramp. More ships were constantly arriving, filling every available space. Ratchet was barking orders now, voice clear and rising above the din of moving mechs and weapons. Sunstreaker was watching everyone without appearing to, taking note of who was going where, where the gun emplacements where, whilst his brother's optics were clearly on the sky, but he wasn't the only one.

"Incoming!" A voice screamed and everyone reacted immediately, ducking for cover and raising their weapons all at once. Missiles came raining down on their position from the sky, some making it through the instant barrage of fire from the Autobots, hitting their targets; the transport shuttles.

'Prowl to all shuttles. Clear the area immediately.'

Their SIC's comm was brusque, a subtle indicator his battle computer was fully up and running, and all the air transports began to move away from the incoming fire. The Autobots weren't ready for the attack yet, and everyone was moving with as much haste as they could to get into position, but they were here and that was better than the Decepticons sweeping through their defences here and hurting them much closer to home in Iacon.

Ratchet was already moving towards the impact areas, ready to help the casualties. The twins moved after him but he pushed them away. "No, you're needed on the frontline. Don't argue with me."

"We're not letting you out of beacon range Ratch," Sideswipe told him, utterly serious. "And if you need us for anything, just say."

"I know," the medic gave them a grim smile. "Has it ever been any different?"

The frontliners let the CMO go then, sharing their own look of worry before they turned back to the battle and began searching for the first Decepticon intrusion into their ranks.

xxxxxxxxx

Hound could hear the fight as soon as it started, but he was already well into the Border land, roughly heading parallel to the front line. He was slipping between Decepticons as they came and went, listening for information that would lead him to Thundercracker. There was nothing so far, no indication that the seeker had made his move, not until he came across a trine of conehead jets. The white one, Ramjet was the designation Hound's CPU supplied him from somewhere, landed next to the other two, transforming as he did so, laughing.

"He's so fragging screwed!"

"What are you on about now?" Thrust sneered, not moving from lounging against a wall.

"Thundercracker…" the next part of the sentence was lost in a white haze of static as Hound froze before he got himself back into focus. "…shot at Megatron."

"Did he hit him?" Dirge asked curiously.

"Slag yeah, but he didn't put him down," Ramjet grinned widely.

"He's fragged then," Thrust snorted, seemingly uncaring that the seeker was a traitor.

"He's not offline yet," the white conehead returned.

And he was staying that way Hound thought as he dug something out of subspace he may have 'borrowed' from Mirage's Special Ops weaponry that he wasn't supposed to know about. The electronic incapacitator was painful, long lasting and supposedly banned by the Autobots, but the scout knew all the Special Ops mechs carried on when they went on highly dangerous missions. The green mech carefully held it in one hand, gun in the other and waited until a rain of missiles hammered their position.

Under the cover of smoke and raining debris he struck. The incapacitator was slammed into Dirge's unprotected back, sending him down with a scream and crackle of electricity. Hound then took down Thrust with dead centre hit to his chest plates. Normally, he wouldn't have been sure enough to get the perfect hit, but this close, it was hard to miss, and the conehead hit the ground hard.

By this point Ramjet was levelling a gun in Hound's direction, already firing off shots. One caught Hound's upper arm, making him grimace in pain, but he continued to line the flyer up in his sights and two shots later the conehead went down, both wing flaps on his legs smoking. It was a backhanded way of downing any flyer, but Hound needed him online. He moved swiftly, stamping down on Ramjet's weapons, breaking them from his arms before dropping to one knee and planting a hard fist into one wounded wing. Ramjet screeched in pain before swearing profusely, striking at Hound. The scout took the blow before levelling his gun at the conehead, who subsided quickly, glaring.

"All you have to do to live is tell me everything that happened with Thundercracker, right now."

"Frag you!" Ramjet snarled. "I'm no traitor."

The green mech narrowed his optics. He knew he wasn't feared, he was no Special Ops mech with a reputation for getting information from Cons, but right now he was willing to destroy that image. "No, but I was hoping you weren't an idiot." He leant on his fist a little more and waited for the Decepticon to finish twitching in pain. "I'll keep this up for as long as it takes."

"Fine, you want to know about the traitor? He shot Megatron in the back. Megatron is slagging invincible. Megatron shot back and now it's just a matter of time before he catches the coward and rips his spark out," the white conehead spat.

"Where are they?"

Ramjet's red optics blazed with hatred, but he gave directions to where he had last seen the blue seeker and as soon as he was done speaking Hound knocked him offline hard. Once Ramjet couldn't see him he let out an explosive breath, feeling his tanks churn, both from what he'd done and from the worry over his bonded.

"Stay alive Thundercracker. I'm coming for you."

The scout was back on his pedes and running, a fleeting hologram covering him, because nothing, bar another mech, would travel at this speed, and then there are all sorts of issues with identity beacons and other Cons recognising his holographic self if he tried. Better to be something that blended in, someone nondescript and unmemorable, something that didn't drain his systems to maintain, only kicking in when he grew close enough to someone that they might spot him.

The co-ordinates to Thundercracker's last known location were a fair distance over the rough terrain and his luck flailed before he was much closer. Hound never heard the jets coming. One instant it was just explosions, shouting and general battle mayhem, the next there was a crackle and muted boom right above his head. He didn't get his hologram up in time, though the fact that he never stopped running saved his life as the air around him was filled with lasers. One caught his shoulder, another one leg and Hound hit the floor, his momentum making him roll over several times and into shelter.

The green mech swore, hands flying to the leaking wounds, but his CPU was already rerouting energon supplies and telling him the injuries were not serious enough to need attention immediately. The one thing that did, however, was the fact that when the blast had hit his shoulder, he had dropped his gun and there was no way to retrieve it now. He had the grenade launcher on his uninjured shoulder, as always, but he couldn't use it, not when his tracking programme was telling it was Skywarp who had fired on him.

"Skywarp!" Hound shouted. "Let me go."

"Like pit I will," the seeker howled back, still circling the area. "I knew you'd be here, as soon as he became a slagging traitor! It's always you."

"He's fighting for what's right," the scout snapped. "Like he's always done!" There was the sound of a transformation, though Hound could still hear the jets, so Skywarp was maintaining aerial position over him.

"It's your fault!" Skywarp yelled. "If you hadn't come along, we'd still be a perfect trine and everything would be fine!"

"Stop deluding yourself!" Hound threw back. "You know that's not true. Thundercracker and Starscream already had their differences, even before I came along."

The seeker retaliated against that by blasting at the scout's cover again, raining him with debris. "You made me lose my best friend! It's all your fault!"

"He tried to talk to you, you wouldn't listen," Hound answered, remembering the pain his mate had suffered when Skywarp had began blocking him from his life. "If you want to blame someone, blame Starscream! He's the one that twisted you against Thundercracker!"

"All because of you!" the hovering mech screamed, meta-cycles of anger and hatred making him deaf to reason. "I'm going to kill you. I should have done it when I first laid optics on you!"

"If you kill me, you'll kill Thundercracker, you know that!" the green mech cried, suddenly wondering if the purple seeker would do as he said.

"He's dead anyway. He was dead the moment he opened fire on Megatron! Do you really think he'd let something like that pass?" Skywarp scoffed.

"Then shouldn't you be helping him? Where's your loyalty to your best friend?" Hound returned, trying to keep his voice level through the fearful imaginings of his bonded trying to survive Megatron's wrath alone.

There was a moment of silence from above him before Skywarp replied, "He's a traitor. All traitors should die." His voice wasn't as convincing as before and Hound risked peeking out of shelter. He could see the look of doubt on Skywarp's face.

"You know what? I think you still care about Thundercracker, regardless of how mind-wiped the Decepticons think you are."

"Shut up!" the seeker snarled.

"If you can't bring yourself to help him, then let me do it."

"Megatron will kill you both," Skywarp replied, almost mechanically.

"Then he kills us and you'll be rid of me." Hound risked standing up in full sight of his enemy. "But I have to try to save Thundercracker. Please."

"Look at you," Skywarp gestured at the wounds and rents in Hound's chassis. "You're in no condition to offer any challenge to Megatron. What are you going to do?"

"Stand by my sparkmate and creator of our sparklings," Hound said calmly, speaking the truth and was not afraid of it.

"You only had one brat before…" Skywarp's red optics narrowed before he dropped to the ground right in front of Hound. The scout made himself stand his ground as the purple and black seeker loomed over him. Skywarp poked one finger into his chest and Hound batted the finger away, instinctively angry he'd gotten so close to the sparkling. "You're really risking everything for him aren't you?"

"Why wouldn't I?"

"Primus, I don't understand you Autobots," the flyer snorted. He threw up his hands in annoyance and then blasted off from the ground again, shouting back over his shoulder as he left. "If you save him, tell him he should straighten his priorities out."

Hound frowned at the departing seeker, unable to reason out why Skywarp had suddenly changed his mind, but that didn't matter now. There were more important things to deal with.

xxx

Superion disliked the situation. He preferred to be fighting out in the open, not stuck within a city. His sheer mass and power meant he destroyed what precious little standing buildings there were and they restricted his movements. The Aerialbot combiner was already a big target for the Decepticons and now he could be sniped at from nearly every angle, but Optimus had ordered him to remain on the ground and supply support for their frontline. He was to be the main battering force to break the line and that was a goal that had to be achieved.

Normally Superion had two simple goals that dominated his every action; to destroy the Decepticons and protect others, but today Silverbolt's emotional attachments were heavily influencing Superion's movements. The other Aerialbots accepted their leader's need to see his seeker creator safe when they had discovered just how badly things were going, but they still knew to follow orders, much to their own chagrin. His single-minded attitude often made him distant and unfeeling, but today everyone could see the way the gestalt was letting himself be a target and shielding others with his bigger chassis, even if a lot of hits were going to his primary weakest points; the gestalts merge seams.

Superion roared in pain and anger as a missile impacted in his midriff, even though he was resistant to most Cybertronian artillery, and swung to the left, wiping out the building the missile had originated from. His stripped-down thought process made it difficult for him to think creatively or adaptively during combat. Using brute strength wasn't hard to do.

'Optimus to Superion.'

'Superion.'

'There are two heavy artillery guns two hundred mechanometers due east of your position.'

'Located and understood.'

The gestalt strode forward, stepping over the wrecked building he'd just destroyed and crushing several Decepticons when his pede hit the ground again, which he ignored as he swung his optics around, tracing the rounds as they lit the skies back to the guns themselves. He didn't have a clean shot yet, so he moved closer, his heavy pedefalls shaking the ground. Decepticon jets screamed past the combiner's head, strafing at his more vulnerable face, making Superion swipe at them in annoyance though it didn't slow him down.
As he got closer the mechs operating the artillery guns seemed to realise this, swinging the barrels around to face him, but Superion now had a clean line of sight. He levelled his electrostatic discharger rifle and pulled the trigger, watching the blast of 150,000 volts of electricity hit its mark, starting a chain reaction which blew the first gun to smithereens. The Aerialbot combiner knew he had little time left before that final gun started firing at him and the sheer power it contained could cause him some problems.

Everyone could see the electrostatic discharge and resulting explosion light up the skyline for at least a hic in either direction when Superion pulled the trigger a second time, even Ratchet from where he stood inside one of the few remaining intact buildings. He'd spotted it after treating one patient and in a moment's lull in the action had ducked inside to scope it out to see whether he could use it as a medical base, rather than leave patients out in the open whilst they waited for pick up. Its only problem was its proximity to the fluctuating frontline. Ratchet really didn't want to be this close, but if wishes were guns, the Autobots would have won this Primus forsaken war vorns ago.

"This is an opportunity too rare to pass up on," an emotionless voice said and Ratchet nearly leapt out of his plating, though vorns of practice had him keeping his reaction under wraps as he turned around, optics narrowing as he peered into the darkest of shadows. As a medic he was not equipped with trackers, beyond the normal, so it was, in a way, easy to sneak up on him, but no one had successfully managed that in so long that the time frame was hazy. The twin pests that were a constant in his life did not count.

A single yellow optic appeared, followed by the bulky outline of a mech as the owner of the voice stepped forward. Furious, blazing anger sparked in Ratchet and his hand was on his gun without thought, but his voice was restrained, for now. "I didn't expect to see you so far from Megatron's side."

"There were events that required my attention elsewhere," Shockwave finally came out of the deepest shadows. "And I came to seeking answers. I am impressed that, however temporarily, you managed to return Thundercracker to his original state."

"It is not temporary," Ratchet snapped. "And you'll get no answers from me. He is one mech that is free from your twisted, deluded mockery of science."

"He will never be free of the programming," the big purple mech returned, voice calm.

"You fragger," Ratchet growled. "You cold sparked fragger. This war has ruined so many bots' lives, but you had to take it one step further. I've seen what's in your lab. The remains of the mechs you've experimented on and Primus knows that only scratching the surface. I'm going to take you down now."

Shockwave's single golden optic glowed slightly brighter for an instant before his whole head tilted slightly to one side. "You stand little chance in defeating me in combat. Whilst you have a reputation for being a strong combatant, you are first and foremost a medic. I am not so restrained." Shockwave surged forwards. He was not a particularly fast or elegant mover, but neither was Ratchet. The red and white mech knew the odds were stacked against him in a one on one battle, but he felt angry enough to take Unicron down right now.
Ratchet ducked under the first fist, and neatly snagged the vulnerable power line that supplied Shockwave's gunhand, tearing it from his chassis. That saved him from immediate danger but the Deception still used that gunhand as a weapon, punching it into Ratchet's side like a blunt blade, puncturing and buckling the metal. The pain and shock of the impact made the medic lose focus for a moment and that was all it took for Shockwave to disarm the red and white mech, sending his gun skittering away across the floor.

The medic pulled back, hand touching his side and finding it wet with energon, before he snarled, slamming forward again to meet the Military Operations Commander with plate buckling force. Ratchet didn't consider this a fight for his own life anymore. This was for everyone that had ever fallen into Shockwave's clutches and never come back again. The medic wasn't one for revenge and retribution most of the time, but some mega-cycles, it was all that you could do to try and right what was wrong.

xxx

"Where's Ratchet?" Sunstreaker growled at his twin. Sideswipe spun around on his pedes, a look of growing unease on his faceplates.

"Slag, I don't know."

"I'll find him."

The red frontliner forcefully halted his brother when he took off and ignored the way Sunstreaker tried to loom over him intimidatingly. "You can't just go running off, we've got orders."

"You'd put Prime's fragging general orders over his safety?"

"No, just…" Sideswipe frowned. "Be careful alright. I'm not gonna be watching your back."

It was the yellow mech's turn to frown. "Where are you going?"

Sideswipe dragged his brother to a split section of wall where they could see down into the blasted and open courtyard between a selection of buildings. Down below was utter chaos and carnage. Mechs on both sides were dying. The red twin pointed down to one side of the space and it took Sunstreaker a moment to spot what he was gesturing to. Hound was leaning against one building, clearly watching the fight going on with the intent of running the gauntlet. He looked battered and exhausted.

"He's not supposed to be here," Sideswipe muttered. "And what did we, like idiots, promise a young Aerialbot?"

"Slag," Sunstreaker swore. He felt half tempted to tell his brother to just blow off the promise they'd made to Silverbolt, but Hound had always been one mech throughout their lives that had be fair to them. He was a good mech and Sunstreaker knew it would be one more thing on his conscience if he died here and now. His twin brother was also far more likely to be bothered over not keeping a promise and the one who would be more troubled about it later.

"I'll see you later bro," Sideswipe punched his shoulder with a grin on his faceplates. "Go save Ratchet's aft." With that he took off, running down the wrecked alley between even more wrecked buildings. His paintjob wasn't meant for blending in on this job, but he was quick on his feet, a good aim with his gun on the move and his reputation often gave him a slight advantage as mechs hesitated before him.

The frontliner ran parallel to the chaos in the courtyard to his left, counting on being able to move faster than Hound beneath him. Sideswipe didn't pass up on confrontations though. He was still part of an army, he still accepted he had a role to do in all of this, even with a promise to a young mech who was trusting him to keep his creator safe. Sideswipe both hated that and felt awed that anyone would do such a thing when neither Sunny or he were known for their ability to listen particularly well, unless it suited them.

The floor in front of him was missing, but he didn't slow down, taking the two storey drop without flinching, decking a Con on the way down and snapping his neck with one move. Down here the gunfire was intense and Sideswipe couldn't move as fast anymore. He'd lost track of Hound, but his intuition was good. It was also helped by two facts. From where he was he could hear the roar of a fusion cannon and only one mech had one that powerful. The other was the blue seeker turning and twisting through the air, avoiding missiles from all directions and that deadly purple beam coming from the ground beneath him. Every Autobot within optic range could see what was going on and the rumour was spreading down the line fast: Megatron firing on one of his own and everyone was remembering Thundercracker in Iacon and nothing was so clear cut anymore.

"He's a slagging suicidal smelting reject dumbaft," Sideswipe commented to himself as he dodged behind a pillar to avoided being ripped open by shrapnel from an explosion. "A really brave idiot."

xxx

Ratchet screamed in pain before rolling away and Shockwave let him go, clearly intent on slowly wearing him down. He almost seemed to be enjoying it, if you could read that much emotion in him. The CMO felt the damaged system seal itself off and a secondary system kick into action. He may not have been fast, he may not have been a fighter, but he was built to be extremely tough and with inbuilt redundant systems he could reroute his life support though, major injuries for others became minor to him. It meant taking him down like this took longer, but Shockwave had the advantage over him and was slowly pressing him back.

"This is a futile endeavour. I will crush you."

Ratchet spat energon onto the floor as he rose to his pedes, hands clenching into fists. He'd lost his gun already and Shockwave had destroyed the mechanism in his arm which allowed the double cutters to emerge. He was ready to go down fighting and the red and white mech had a few tricks left. The medic narrowed his blue optics, ready to shoot out another caustic retort when a blur of yellow slammed into Shockwave's back, sending him staggering forward. One yellow hand ripped a fin from the side of his head whilst the other formed a fist that ploughed into a weaker armour seam on his side. As the purple Decepticon turned, trying to get back at his new attacker the yellow mech got a powerful kick into the side of his head, knocking him down properly.

"You won't touch him again, you walking scrap heap."

"Sunstreaker! What are you doing here?" Ratchet exclaimed, even as he cast around for his gun he'd been stripped of.

"Looking for you," the warrior returned shortly, optics fixed on Shockwave who was trying to regain his pedes. "I don't like you disappearing in battle."

"You got your gun?"

"That's too easy an ending for him," Sunstreaker growled. "I'm going to make him pay for what he's done."

"You're not killing him," Ratchet snapped back, spotting his own gun. "He's got to stand trial with the others."

"You may defeat Megatron, but I will simply take his place. I have systems set up for just such an event as this," the Decepticon stated, finally rising to his pedes. Energon ran down the side of his head from the damage Sunstreaker had inflicted. The frontliner snarled at him, closing the distance between them again. Shockwave may have been larger, heavier and ready for him this time, but Sunstreaker was one of the Autobot's best hand to hand combatants and had a moral compass that often failed him in the optics of his comrades. He was also enraged at seeing the wounds on Ratchet's chassis. Between him and his twin they had vowed to watch over their CMO in battle, and upon discovering him missing there had been nothing else on Sunstreaker's processor except finding him.

Shockwave landed a few powerful, brutal blows on Sunstreaker, but they barely seemed to register as a blinding rage settled over the yellow warrior and he hammered blows into the Decepticon. If Shockwave had been uninjured then Sunstreaker wouldn't have succeeded as well as he did, but Ratchet's well placed blows beforehand were the key to the purple's mech undoing.

When the purple Military Operations Commander went down, the frontliner hammered his chassis with kicks, face dark even as his optics blazed with intense anger. Sunstreaker straddled the bulky mech, digging his fingers into the rents in the metal plating over his shoulders and leaned right down to growl into what amounted to Shockwave's face. "You never touch him again. Never. He's mine. Do you hear me you fragger? Mine!" With every word Sunstreaker slammed Shockwave's head back down into the ground. Even once he had run out of words, he kept at him despite Shockwave being limp beneath him.

"Sunstreaker! Stop!" Ratchet pulled the yellow twin off the unconscious Decepticon, having to put his full weight behind the movement to prise the two apart. "What the pit is wrong with you?"

The frontliner's face was still screwed up in an angry snarl, "He hurt you!"

"He's hurt others worse," Ratchet snapped, hiding his fear over the twin's actions. "And that's no reason to beat him to death."

"It's every reason!" Sunstreaker bullied in close to the medic, vibrating with emotion. "You're mine. No one else touches you. I should tear him to pieces for daring to hurt you."

"Sunstreaker… I don't belong to anyone," the red and white mech shook his head.

Sunstreaker growled in annoyance, unable to articulate how he felt, but he had to do something. Everything he'd bundled up inside was bubbling over now. He literally lunged at Ratchet, smashing his lips against the medics in a furious, one sided kiss. Ratchet froze under him before shoving him away, a look of confusion on his faceplates.

The yellow mech snarled in anger, at himself and the world in general, spun around to deliver a thudding kick to Shockwave's chassis and then storming out, leaving Ratchet in stunned silence. The CMO touched his fingers to his aching lips and wondered, blankly, what had just happened.

'Superion to Ratchet.'

The medic startled at the unexpected comm but recovered quickly, letting it get his CPU back on track. 'Go ahead.'

'Request your presence at my location.'

'Are you injured?'

'I do not require your help. Thundercracker does.'

'What the frag…? You know?'

'Yes. Seeker is failing rapidly. He will lose speed and manoeuvrability. Megatron will not miss.'

"Frag, frag, frag," Ratchet swore. 'On my way Superion.' The CMO switched comm connection. 'Ratchet to Prowl.'

'Prowl.'

'Shockwave is out for the count. You better send someone to get him before he regains consciousness.'Ratchet sent the locations and cut the comm, storming out the building muttering, "Why the frag has everyone gone insane?"

xxx

Hound had always been sensible. Even in the face of some of the things he had faced in his lifetime, his balanced, thoughtful nature had won through, but at that very instant in time it was pushed to the very limit.

"Thundercracker!"

The scream of the seeker's name echoed between the buildings. Hound felt he should be running, moving towards where he'd seen his mate fall from the sky, but he was frozen in place, clinging to the edge of the building he'd collapsed against. There was nothing in their bond and the green mech begged for there to be something, even if it was pain, because that would mean he was alive.

There was a moment of silence before a spluttering cough filled the sky. It quickly changed into a roar that Hound recognised as the full burn of seeker jets and his spark soared as a blue shape rocketed skywards. Hope was immediately cut again as that brilliant flare of purple energy shot after him. Megatron was still firing. Optimus hadn't made it through the line yet. Normally Megatron wouldn't hesitate to engage the Autobot leader in battle if he saw him, but his desire for revenge on Thundercracker was winning out.

Something shifted inside Hound. Whether it was something the sparkling unconsciously provoked or whether it was just seeing his bonded in danger, Hound's anger won out. Ignoring his own exhaustion and wounds he pushed himself up from the building and started running again. His pedes pounded down the torn up road, optics fixed on the point where the firing was coming from as his CPU rapidly put together a hologram. He wouldn't be able to hold it long, not in his current condition, but he hoped it would be enough.

As he got closer to where Megatron was he began to spot other Decepticons and Autobots engaged in close fighting, sometimes even hand to hand, but he ignored it, barrelling straight through the middle. Occasionally he heard his name being called, or a shot coming his way, but he kept going almost blindly, sparing no thought or hologram for his own safety. He wouldn't be able to keep the pace up if he did. Eventually the green mech was forced to stop when a round tore up the ground right in front of him and he threw himself to one side to dodge, rolling into cover.

A roar of engines overhead announced it was a seeker that had fired on him and Hound looked upwards to see Starscream banking to come back for him. The roar of Megatron's canon was audible now, he was that close. Slag it! Hound wasn't enraged enough to forget that he was unlikely to be able to take Starscream on and win, not in his present condition. He hunkered back down when another set of shots rained down on his shelter, destroying a good part of it, meaning he'd be exposed very soon. The green mech took a good look around whilst Starscream was manoeuvring, searching for somewhere else to go, preferably that would take him closer to Megatron.
There was a scream right behind him before two chassis came right through the wall to his left. Sideswipe looked up and grinned at Hound as he climbed off the motionless body of a fallen Decepticon.

"Didn't think you were supposed to be here."

"I'm not," Hound returned shortly. "But Thundercracker needs my help."

The red warrior glanced across at where he could just make out the blue flyer twisting through the air, narrowly avoiding Megatron's cannon blast. "What's going on between you two?"

Hound avoided answering as Starscream opened fire on them again and Sideswipe swore as shrapnel pelted his chassis. The green mech interrupted his tirade. "Look I need to get away from Starscream. I've got a way of helping Thundercracker, but I can't do it with someone shooting at me."

Sideswipe regarded Hound for a split second before grinning again. "One distracted Air Commander coming up."

With that he threw himself upwards, firing his jetpack to launch himself at Starscream quicker so the seeker didn't have time to change course before they collided. Hound set off running again as soon as Sideswipe had engaged Starscream, hoping he hadn't just signed the red twin's death warrant. He ducked inside another ruined building, hurrying across the interior until he came to a huge rent in its structure where he could see through to the square beyond. Standing in the middle of it was the grey Decepticon leader, ignoring the shots being taken at him by Thundercracker who was still holding his attention above him. Now Hound was closer he could see the damage on the underside of the blue flyers chassis and he was amazed he was still airborne.

The scout frowned in deep concentration as he worked out how to get the hologram he wanted to project up there and have it be successful. He watched his mate twist and turn and abruptly recognised it. Hound had often watched Thundercracker enjoy his early morning flights, marvelling in the way he threw himself effortlessly around the sky out of sheer enjoyment. Now he was doing it to save his life, but they were the same moves and the scout knew what was coming. He overlaid the seeker with his hologram and waited until he barrel rolled and split the image.

Suddenly there were six blue seekers soaring across the sky in all different directions and Hound let himself have a small smile when Megatron paused in firing, swearing angrily, but he couldn't waste anything more on that. He could already feel his chassis shuddering under the strain of the effort and energy it was costing him to do this. Hound sank down to his knees as he made the holographic projections open fire on Megatron, though he didn't have enough in him to make the shots real, so he had to deliberately miss. Megatron didn't even flinch.

The green mech pushed on the bond, begging Thundercracker to open up, let him in, tell him what the plan was, anything. His sparkmate had to know he was there now, no one else could do this. The sparkling in his chest squirmed as he felt Hound open that bond and the scout blinked rapidly as the first real emotions from it filtered through. Before it had been too young, too small to do anything on a scale that registered.

Hound clutched at his chest, trying to concentrate around the distraction. It was amazing to feel, but it was quite possibly the worse timing ever and he begged the sparkling to shush, even thought all it was trying to do was call out to Thundercracker with him. Perhaps it was that little extra difference but something made the seeker react. The bond opened marginally, Thundercracker brushed past them both, surprise evident when the sparkling reached for him too and it showed. He faltered in the air and that imperfection marked him out from the perfect holograms around him.

Megatron reacted in a nano-second. One instant Thundercracker was airborne. The next the bond was filled with screaming pain and the seeker was hitting the floor hard, transforming on impact, bouncing over several times before he came to a stop, deathly still.

"Thundercracker!" Hound cried out, without volition and Megatron turned to his hiding place. The green mech realised how stupid he'd just been and threw himself clear when the Decepticon leader blew up the wall he was crouched behind.

"You! You're the Autobot scum who's caused all this," Megatron pointed a finger at the smaller mech where he crouched.

"I caused nothing!" Hound snapped back, rising as he did so. "You're the one who fragged up a whole lot of lives just to have your trine."

An evil smile curled Megatron's lips upward before he raised his fusion cannon to point at Thundercracker. "I think I'm going to enjoy this. I kill him and I get to watch you die in agony as your useless bond kills you."

"No!" Hound didn't know he could move so fast, but however fast he moved it wasn't enough to stop Megatron. He did the only thing he could and got himself bodily between the fallen seeker and Megatron. Agony tore through his side, the force of the shot spinning him around and sending him crashing to the floor, where he lay gasping. The scout looked up, trying to focus, at the sound of heavy pedefalls coming towards him and couldn't do a thing to stop the dominating grey mech levelling his cannon at his head.

"It doesn't matter to me, who dies first. I wonder if, when I end your pathetic life, that traitor will ever wake up again."

Hound looked away. He didn't want to see his death coming, so he searched for Thundercracker. If this was going to the last thing he saw, then he wanted it to be Thundercracker. That was why he missed Optimus powering into the clearing and tackling Megatron into the nearest building, but the commotion whipped his head back around and as soon as he realised he was safe, Hound's thoughts turned to his bonded.

With cries of pain he couldn't suppress, the green mech levered himself to his hands and knees, but couldn't get up any further. He forced himself to crawl those few mechanometers to the still seeker and once at his side Hound collapsed, reaching out with one hand to try and gauge Thundercracker's health. Their bond was swarming with pain from both sides, so Hound couldn't tell just how damaged his sparkmate was, but the thud of the pump in the flyer's chest was steady.

Hound curled himself around Thundercracker, cradling his head in his lap with one hand whilst he pressed his other into his side to try and stem the flow of energon. Megatron's shot had damaged a lot of systems and Hound guessed it had severed a major energon line somewhere because of the way his HUD was flashing at him with sharply dropping levels. He held his bonded as tight as he could. They were back together now and he wasn't ever going to let him go anywhere again. Gradually, to the sounds of Optimus and Megatron still fighting, Hound's vision faded, until it blacked out. His head fell forwards, landing with a sharp crack against Thundercracker's chest and he knew no more.

xxx

A.N. - For those who are interested in finding out more about the Ratchet and Twins relationship then there is a companion fic in the works being written by xRae Asakurax which will probably only start appearing after BtL is finished.