Thanks for all the pretty reviews, but who took the icons away??? Noes! That was cool! For all of three days…

I don't own Transformers. If I did, I would have killed Optimus too many times for my conscience to bear.

A Trickle of Hope Trickles Away

"The great questions of the day will not be settled by means of speeches and majority decisions… but by iron and blood."

-Otto von Bismarck

How could this have possibly happened?

Ironhide was livid. They go out to celebrate for one night- one night!- and Starscream somehow gets into their current base of operations unhindered.

And gets out alive.

The slagger had killed huge numbers of Autobots. He was treacherous and deadly, and somehow that very Seeker had gotten within point-blank range of Prime. Within firing range of Will's family. Within missile range of a large number of humans. In the safest place they had available to them. On his watch.

And all Prime could do was stand there and look placidly back at him.

He could barely control the stream of angry ranting that roared out of his vocalizer, "-and when I get a target lock on whoever opened those doors, there won't be anything left to identify! And what the slag is wrong with you? HE COULD HAVE KILLED YOU! And all have to say is-"

"ENOUGH!"

Ironhide shuttered his optics a few times to refocus. It felt like a bomb had gone off in his face. Prime hadn't raised his volume that high in ages.

Or addressed his comrades with his mask in place.

That was bad.

In the moment that it took for the room to stop vibrating, Ironhide realized that something must be horribly wrong. His commander's faceplates were set so tightly that if he changed his expression, they would be sure to grind.

"Prime…" He didn't know what to say faced with a look so grim.

The Autobot in question stared harshly at his subordinates, "I understand your concern, all of you. But Starscream is the least of our worries now. As you can see, I am unharmed, and no one was injured; you will all have to set aside your animosity for now. Ratchet, I need to know exactly how soon you can wake both of the twins. They need not be mobile, but I need to have a word with them as soon as possible."

The medic's expression furrowed into a deeper scowl. "Sunstreaker is ready for duty any time, once I give him a final check for shrapnel. Sideswipe… technically it wouldn't harm him to regain consciousness now. But he will be in pain and unfit to move around. I would prefer to keep him in stasis for a few more days."

"Your concerns are noted, but I would like to speak with them as soon as you can get them online safely. Is Prowl clear for regular duty?"

Ratchet crossed his arms, regarding the likewise-frowning, monochrome bot with his 'I-see-your-innards' scan regimen, "He is, but I'm not sure I like your attitude toward my patients, Prime. If you're planning on trying to take down Starscream-"

"No one touches Starscream unless he engages in hostilities first. Prowl, I want you and Bumblebee to start looking for Barricade. Your first priority is to capture whatever minion of Soundwave's came here with Long Haul- and Frenzy if he is still active. Alive. Jazz, get the protection for the humans' computer network back up. Ironhide, I need to talk to you in private. Everyone else, get moving. I'll be with you shortly," he nodded at Ratchet, who stalked off with a huff.

A small pinging sound was heard as something tapped on Optimus's calf, "Excuse me, could I ask what's going on? Why was the Decepticon allowed to intrude on this facility, and why are we still alive? I thought they were supposed to be evil." Secretary Hewitt's worried frown was mirrored on many faces throughout the room.

Optimus bent and craned his neck to address her below him, "Generally speaking, they are. But something very wrong is happening on Cybertron, and Starscream, I think, has grasped the direness of the situation. I believe finding out what the other members of his faction have planned and foiling them will supersede carrying on the war in his priorities, at least for the time being. He is in as much danger as we are right now. When you spend as long fighting each other as we have, you each learn some things about your enemy. His intentions were clear when he followed me here rather than attacking me when I was alone. Please do not panic on his account; he is not currently a major threat."

The small woman gave him a hard look. "I've had Melvin and John yelling at me over the phone for the past half hour and every military establishment in the country is on high alert. I'm going to choose to trust you on this, but if anything changes I expect you to tell me immediately, not after he stops by to chat."

"Of course. I would not want to overstep the bounds of your hospitality; if I had had any inkling he would actually try to come in, I would have said something."

"Good. I'm going to go get the old coots to shut up and see if I can have that 'shoot first' order taken off the lone, unidentified F-22 for the time being."

"That would be appreciated," Optimus replied, causing her to pause mid-step, "Humans would usually be beneath Decepticon concern, but if your military fires on him he will retaliate, regardless of his dealings with the Autobots. At which point it would be unethical to offer any measure of tolerance toward his presence."

"…which could lose you a potential ally on Earth."

"And in space. He is currently the only Cybertronian on this planet who can leave the atmosphere, and thus the only one capable of counteracting Soundwave's plan, whether or not he will cooperate with us."

"I'll see what I can do." And she walked away. "Show's over everyone. Get back to work. I want a full status report on my desk, ASAP!"

Ironhide grumbled and stood very still as the humans present scurried around madly, so as not to crush anyone. When he glanced up to wait for instructions from his commander, he found Optimus fixing him with pained optics and, after checking for organic obstacles, waving for the shorter mech to follow him to the NBE01 hangar.

The workers had left with the rest of the panicked mob and the room was silent. The desk on the scaffold was empty with papers strewn across it, and tools and materials were scattered about as if their owners had simply vanished into nothing. A can of paint had been knocked over on one of the upper platforms ringing the walls; every few seconds a drop of bright blue would plunge to the floor far below, splattering into an already considerable puddle.

Optimus stopped to stare at the puddle for a moment before turning to face Ironhide. His mask was withdrawn, his mouth pressed into a tight line and his eyes betraying a twinge of discomfort as he glanced from the pool of paint to his weapons officer.

Disliking the expression, Ironhide bristled uneasily. "Out with it, Prime. What is it you need me to do?"

His oldest friend winced and shook his head, "I don't need you to do anything right now, Ironhide. I'm afraid that Starscream brought us some bad news."

The weapons specialist snorted, "Of course he did. I've never heard any good news involving that fragger Soundwave, and I'm beginning to think I never will." He frowned in worry when Optimus's gaze dropped for a moment. "Is it about Magnus? He was always a good bot, one of my best trainees-"

"Ironhide." He suddenly found a hand pressing down on his armored shoulder, and his stare met by a pair of optics bright with sadness. "It's not Ultra Magnus. It's Chromia."

His spark froze in his chest, and his caged optics narrowed to slivers, "How? How could anyone possibly believe she was dead? She's better in a figh-"

"Ironhide. It was Confirmed according to Decepticon protocol; Skywarp and Thundercracker reported so directly to Starscream. He had no reason to lie about a detail like that. And considering that they lived to make their report, and that this happened previous to their alignment with Soundwave, they were unlikely to have been lying to their Air commander. It is a distinct possibility that she is really gone."

He shoved the hand off his shoulder and looked away, unable to meet the sympathetic gaze. "What do you know?" he snarled, finding himself staring fixedly at the dripping paint.

"She was on some kind of patrol with Arcee and they ended up taking on Skywarp and Thundercracker in the ancient underground network, under the ruins of Iacon. Skywarp got lucky using his teleportation, and the Seekers were able to overcome the pair even in the tunnels. Both Chromia and Arcee were both confirmed terminated. Starscream didn't mention Thundercracker being killed, so I can only assume that both Seekers survived. That is all I know."

A low growl rose in Ironhide's voice modulator. It spread to his internals and his clenched joints and soon the mech's whole body was shaking. His hydraulics hissed as they were compressed, and every sound that issued from him as he stared with wide, white optics at the spreading puddle of blue paint contributed to his snarl, "Permission to track down the Air Commander and extract more information from him on the subject?"

"Ironhide..."

Nothing.

"Look at me, Ironhide."

A quiver of barely-suppressed rage.

"Ironhide, look at me." The dark mech's gaze jerked up to scowl at his tall friend. "I know you are angry and upset, but Starscream did not kill Chromia. If you can promise me that you will not instigate hostilities with him in any way, you may go and try to contact him. Otherwise, I will have to confine you here."

"So what if he didn't? He's one of them and he would've. If I have to shoot the slagger down and-"

"Ironhide! Right now Starscream is one of our best sources as to what is happening on Cybertron. He is the only one who could do anything to stop Soundwave and Shockwave from here. You are an Autobot. Can you honestly say that taking out your anger on Starscream is worth the lives of everyone else we left behind?"

Ironhide's optics closed and he shuddered in conflict, clenching his fists. His cannons whined and he shoved one into Optimus's chest, raising the other close enough to illuminate his face with a red glow. The taller mech remained still.

"Chromia means more to me than a lot of things, Prime, and I'm not ashamed to say that includes Cybertron. Might even include you an' everyone else, but I'm not about to run that one through the CPU to find out. I'll leave the flying fragger alone, but because I refuse to believe she's dead until I have proof one way or the other. And when I get my sights on those glitches that got her, this is the last thing they'll ever see, and not you or any other bot in the universe is going to stop me from blowing them to the Pit."

He didn't give Optimus any more time to contemplate the barrel of his plasma cannon before he stomped out, slamming first one foot and then the other unnecessarily hard into the puddle, making it explode out in streaks of blue across the floor.

And suddenly it was not Chromia's forcibly emancipated energon anymore, but that of the Decepticons that killed her.

8888888888888

Sooo… here's to hoping that doesn't end badly. Because it's certainly not over.

Lobwedge is that golf-cart looking thingy that collects golf balls on a driving range. He'll collect them alright… and then he'll SHOOT THEM AT YOU! Run for your lives!

O.o