Prompts: Thunderstorms; Who do they respect and why?

The one good thing about this planet was that there were Cons to fight. Everything else? Could very well slag off, thank you.

Sunstreaker bristled every time he thought of it. Which was almost all the time. There may be Decepticons here, but there weren't nearly enough for him to work off the stress that was slowly but surely building within him. His own faction-mates seemed to have become twenty times more obnoxious since he had last seen them on the Ark, so help him one of these days he was going to thrash Bluestreak and throw Red Alert across the base. And after breaking some of the humans' military toys during training...well, that mess was not helping the situation.

He went out on every mission he could. Every mission. Nobody stopped him. Those NEST fools had learned the hard way not to deny him this. With or without his brother, whatever country the 'Cons decided to show up in, no matter what the circumstances.

But this very world and its inhabitants grated on him. Primus damn it all, he was homesick. It made him want to punch someone until there was nothing left to punch.

They were in some Pits-damned jungle this time. The Decepticons may have forced them into this fight, but the Autobots and their humans dragged it on long enough that the thunderstorm was able to reach them. Cybertronians weren't fond of water on a good day, and nobody, human or Cybertronian, was fond of being struck by lightning. Especially Seekers. Once those things had been driven off by the storm, the battle suddenly became much easier.

Which was good, considering Sunstreaker had no idea where he was or where the other Autobots were, and Ratchet had thought it would be a good idea to get himself struck by lightning.

And the mud...

He had been sometimes carrying, sometimes dragging the unconscious medic through the jungle for several miles now. The storm was only getting worse, and the grime of this world was only working its way deeper under his armor.

'Disgusting.' His dermal plating prickled at the sensation.

He set Ratchet down once more as he tried to shake the mud from his foot. This would be so much easier if there were a decent road in this area, and if the mud wasn't already seeping into his delicate inner workings, and if Ratchet was still in a position to transform. A Lamborghini towing a vehicle many times its size might raise a few eyebrows, but at least they'd be out of this muck.

'Not my fragging fault there's no decent-looking vehicles big enough for my frame. Optimus should have let us keep our Cybertronian alts.' He pulled some sort of plant out of his foot and flung it away with no small amount of force. 'Allspark's fragging gone, why does Optimus insist on staying here?'

Ratchet came to then with a slight jerk. He looked around silently, then turned his gaze up to Sunstreaker. "What happened?"

"Lightning happened," the gladiator replied.

The medic scowled, then pushed himself into a sitting position. "Where are the 'Cons?"

Sunstreaker snorted lightly. "Half your body's toast and you're more worried about the 'Cons."

"I'd like to preserve the half of me that isn't toast. Help me up."

The warrior just looked down at him.

Ratchet made a disapproving noise. "Right, forgot who I was talking to."

Thunder rumbled loudly overhead, seeming to spur on the torrential rain. Sunstreaker growled to himself as he reached down to the medic. "Guess you've pulled me off the battlefield enough times for me to return the favor."

The CMO had that look on his face that he got whenever he was about to slug someone for mouthing off to him. But with one arm dangling uselessly and the other one currently holding onto Sunstreaker for support, he was unable to follow through with the threat. "You're slagging right it's about time you returned the favor. You're more work than the rest of the army combined!"

"Just making sure you can justify your existence among our ranks," Sunstreaker said flatly. That did earn him a kick to the shin, which made Ratchet lose his balance, which made the warrior slip in the mud, and both of them ended up on the wet ground. "Frag it!" Sunstreaker quickly pushed himself back to his feet, trying to wipe the mud from his body.

Ratchet was calmly sitting on the ground. "You know, the first time I dragged you off the battlefield, you tried to kill me."

"No, I don't know. I don't remember that." He was mostly ignoring Ratchet, desperate as he was to get himself clean.

"And then Sideswipe thought it'd be fun to take a crack at me too."

"Now that, I remember." Dirty. Dirty dirt everywhere. Scratches. Armor dirty. Must clean!

Ratchet just watched him for a while. "Yeah, I think this'll make up for that."

Sunstreaker glared down at him. He could feel his primal programming, right there, just beneath the veneer... "Look, Ratchet, if it weren't for me and Sideswipe, you Autobots would have been annihilated before the war even got going."

The CMO huffed. "Gross overstatement of your contributions, but do continue."

Something almost tangibly snapped in his processor. The warrior had his claws around the CMO's neck before Ratchet could react. "I may not remember trying to kill you that time, but I will remember this time."

Ratchet was oddly calm, in the infuriating way Optimus always could be sometimes. "How about you put me down?"

He found he couldn't. The rain, the mud, the storm, this war, this stupid planet, being reminded of what little control he had over his own mind...

He then opened his optics to the cold gray walls of NEST's containment cell. Alarmed, he jerked his arm, but it was firmly bound against the wall. He snarled loudly, the sound echoing down the metal hallways. 'Not again!'

"You know, for as many times as I've done this to you, you still can't remember to watch where a medic's hand is or what he's holding." Ratchet was standing, arms folded across his chest, on the opposite side of the energy barrier that had been installed at the humans' demands. It wasn't strong enough to stop a mech of Sunstreaker's size, but it caused enough pain that one would think twice before trying to cross it.

Ratchet watched one of the NEST soldiers walk by before continuing, in Cybertronian. "NEST found us, and they weren't so happy about what you were doing. I tried to keep you out of a cell, Optimus was even willing for me to just keep you offline in the medbay for a while, but they insisted."

"I was trying to fragging kill you, why wouldn't you want me in a cell?"

Ratchet gave a light shrug. "You wouldn't have killed the one mech in the galaxy capable of and willing to put you back together once a week." He lowered his voice, though there was no one else around who would have understood the language. "I don't appreciate being threatened, but I didn't help the situation either."

Ratchet, yes, he was a good medic, but he also wasn't afraid to admit when he fell short. Few Autobots, few mechs period, would ever admit falling short to a gladiator, a criminal. That Ratchet, a former member of the Council, was one of those few always took Sunstreaker aback. "Perhaps," the warrior said after a while. "Yet here I am." He flexed his claws, straining against his restraints.

"Sorry. Their rules, not mine." The medic made an exasperated face; he too made no secret that he would just as soon be rid of this planet and its humans and their rules. "At least Optimus was able to convince them to lay off the armed guards this time." They watched the same NEST soldier as he walked back the way he had come. He didn't look at either of them, stoically keeping his gaze straight ahead. "Give it time," the CMO said. "It'll get better."

"We'll see."