AN: Chapter got delayed due to IRL crashing down like a ton of bricks. However, it is here now, and 45 will be up on Sunday. Also, this chapter is on the short and sweet side, due also to the fact I got stuck on this a couple of times.

Credit goes to Karategal, TheMoonlessNight, Hearts of Eternity and VioletLight for letting me borrow some of their ideas, which make up 1/2 of the fic. The ideas in the other 1/2 belong to me. Do not use without asking me first.

I also don't own Transformers.


Desperation

"Teeheehehee!" Frenzy cackled as he typed madly away on the keyboard in front of him. "Hackhackhackhack!"

"Does the little glitch ever stop jabbering?" Sunstreaker hissed.

"Patience is a virtue, Sunstreaker." Elita said.

"Not when there's an annoying git around it isn't!"

"I don't know…" Sideswipe mused. "He's not as annoying as certain 'bots…say Cliffjumper. Or Brawn-ow!" He winced as Elita smacked him upside the head.

"That's not nice."

"She showed you." Barricade commented from his chair, chuckling darkly. His optics flickered over her frame and then back to the datapad in front of him. This made Elita pause for a second as she moved alongside him to look at the monitor.

Just how did he and his femme keep their bond a secret? Surely someone in the Decepticon rank-and-file would have noticed a behavior change and reported it… As she'd told Mikaela orns ago, Decepticons were very 'liberal' when it came to matters involving-well, to use the human term, sex. Barricade looked like the type of mech who would gleefully shred any other rivals into pieces…maybe that was how he did it?

"Nobody cared." Elita started as the black mech spoke.

"Beg pardon?"

"She and I were just grunts. Megatron didn't care about his foot soldiers." Barricade said. Sideswipe was far away from them so there was no worry of the Red One hearing him speak, and with Flamewar's letter…she had to be close, so really, what was the point of hiding their relationship? "It didn't even start out in the way you Autobots have your relationships start. We were just bored one day, and then it just..." He paused. "Turned into something more. We were beyond lust, more than just wanting to get an overload to make the time pass." He looked down at his hands, remembering how small Flamewar's own hand had been in his, how much darker his frame had been against hers. "It's strange…I spurned it as a weakness in you Autobots-tying your lives to one other. But really, it's just a source of strength, isn't it?" Elita nodded silently.

"If I hadn't been bonded to Optimus, I would have probably died with grief from Floatila." She murmured. "The same for Chromia…they were just there for us." Crazed giggling from Frenzy had the rose-colored femme turning around.

"Fffoundsomethingsomething!" Several screens popped up around Elita and the others.

"…Mobile assault battle-station." Sideswipe read from the screen next to him and his twin. "Codename 'Trypticon'…holy frag, are you seeing the schematics for this thing?!"

"That's a lot of metal." Sunstreaker said.

"Not just that, a lot of resources that Megatron would have noticed missing." Elita said, leaning in. "Frenzy, any idea what he was going to use this for?"

"Aaattackkksomethingproprobably. IIIacon?"

"Does it say anything about him following the Floatila survivors?" Barricade asked his partner.

"Notnotnotgetthatfarfaryet." Frenzy tapped away on the keyboard. "HereheresurveillancedataonFloatila."

"I remember Lightstream reporting to Optimus…that he'd taken too keen of an interest in the younglings." Elita murmured. "Even Starstorm was worried."

"Maybe the bastard was thinking of launching his own attack." Sunstreaker said.

"For what? What would he have gotten out of taking the city hostage-aside from every single Autobot and Decepticon teaming up to personally kill him?" His twin countered.

"Chromia said…he wanted to rebuild Cybertron." Elita started slowly. "And he said the same to Optimus…maybe…"

"Maybe what?" Barricade rumbled.

"Maybe…he knew something we didn't." Elita said, looking at the screen. "Jetfire said once that if given enough data, scientists can predict certain events. What if he knew something was going to go wrong…and that Cybertron would need all the younglings?"

"That kinda doesn't match up with him killing them though." Sunstreaker said.

"Whatever plan he had in mind, it wouldn't have worked very well with him dead." Barricade answered. "So according to his precious logic, he had to go along. But if he could let some of them escape…"

"Then according to whatever he predicted and knew, at some point he could go after them." Sideswipe mused aloud. "Do you think he knew the war was going to get as bad as it did?"

"I'm not the fragger, but I'm willing to guess he did."

"He probably didn't anticipate Megatron's actions on Floatila though." Elita replied. "Frenzy, can you access anything else?"

"Willwillwilltakesometimetime." The silver hacker chattered. "HearhearanythingfromBotsyet?" Elita checked her chronometer.

"That's strange…they should have checked in by now." Frenzy skittered over to another computer console, typing in something.

"Herehere. Talktalktalktoyourstupidmatemate." The rose-colored femme gave him a dirty look, and then moved over to the console.

"Optimus?"


Ratchet grimaced as Shockwave tested his newly-reattached arm. In the corner lay the bodies of Mirage and Hound. Both Autobots were in a deep stasis lock. The CMO was bound, energy ropes gleaming a soft yellow in the gloom. The four of them were holed up in yet another bunker Shockwave had created…just over the Quebec/Labrador border line. Ratchet had done his best to try and puzzle out just where exactly they were, but all he could make out though a window set high in the wall were trees, which meant they were probably in a forest somewhere.

"You bastard, you got what you wanted. Let Mirage and Hound go!" He snapped. He'd onlined to the sounds of the drones skittering all over Mirage and Hound…digging deep into their chest plates, aiming tiny pointed feet at their spark casings. Shockwave had told him he could save them-by reattaching his arm. Finding himself in a corner, Ratchet had obeyed-but the minute the surgery was done, found himself being attacked by the drones again, then bound and tossed in a corner.

"I know it was me you wanted! Let them go now!"

"That would be most illogical." The purple mech replied, moving over to a console. "For the breem they onlined, they would call for Optimus. He is a factor that is not needed in this plan."

"What plan?!" Ratchet cried, exasperated. "The younglings or Megatron? Make up your fraggin mind about what you're doing!"

"I believe the humans have a saying: 'There is a reason for my madness'." Shockwave replied calmly. "And as for Megatron, I believe you may have already correctly surmised my wanting to exhume his body."

"The dark core." The yellow mech replied darkly. Primus, if he gets his hands on that we're all good as dead.

"Yes. It is an object that requires further study." Here Shockwave paused, looking over a datapad. "It was a comforting fact to find out however, that Optimus Prime's assumptions on bonded pairs producing offspring were correct. I assume that he and Elita-One will be the next set of creators?" To this Ratchet had no answer, save for the twisting fear that was now gripping his spark.

"You…you…they're not producing sparklings just for your twisted plans!" Primus, was that what Shockwave was after? The bonded pairs-that with Megatron dead and the Decepticons defeated, who would finally feel safe to create the family units they'd always longed for? And yet it made a perfect kind of sense…

"As I told Chromia, the predicted influx of offspring from the colonists would not be enough for Cybertron's needs. That is why the spark mitosis is needed-and any offspring produced by the Autobot bonded pairs." Here Shockwave turned around, regarding Ratchet. "I expected more from you as a doctor, Autobot. After all, it was you who figured out our race's numbers and predicted that if…what was it? Ah yes. 'Something short of a miracle' was needed to help rebuild our people." To this, Ratchet shuttered his optics, he had said those words but…

This is wrong. It's wrong, it's wrong, it's wrong! They couldn't recover like this. Rebuilding the population-at least for younglings took time, and it would take even longer for femmes to finally reach the percentage level they were at before the war started. A sound broke him out of his internal musings, Shockwave was looking at something on the console.

"Good." He stepped away, issuing orders to the drones. "I should only be away for several cycles. When I come back, you will tell me just how you revived your comrade, and where I can obtain the shard of the AllSpark." Before Ratchet could even respond, the Decepticon scientist had tapped in several commands, disappearing in a shimmer of light.

He must be going after the orb. The yellow mech looked around, searching for a way to escape. The few remaining drones Shockwave had were blocking the exits he could see; one or two of them still damaged…waitabreem. Ratchet froze, his processor going back over the events of the past several cycles.

His self repair systems were still working…still had some lacerations and dents…but all he asked me to fix was his arm. Something about that didn't seem right to the medic…just what had Barricade said about that thing? Damn it, I can't remember! Dragging in air though his vents, Ratchet shot another look at the unconscious forms of Mirage and Hound. If only he could get Mirage awake-the sniper could be the one to get out of here and alert Bumblebee.

Maybe… Stretching out on the floor, he started to roll over to where Mirage and Hound were. The only reply from the drones was a dangerous skittering, but seeing that their charge appeared to be checking on the other captives, they settled back down. For his part, Ratchet rolled so that he just was within range of a data port in one of Mirage's arms. Shooting the drones glances every now and again, he started to grope for the panel of the data port…if he could get it, and plug it into his own arm port…

I can shock him out of stasis and then we've got a chance to get out of here! He didn't know how much time Shockwave had on them, or just where he was headed, but Ratchet knew there wasn't very much time.

Primus, please let Optimus and the others be already up here. Please!

AN: Like I said, 45 is in progress, and will be up Sunday.

Also, quick note on the last part- there are two types of interfacing in general for Transformers. The first is to upload/download/share data quickly, and the second is for well...'fun' stuff. :p What Ratchet is doing is the first type. This is also in canon-if you've read IDW's Stormbringer and Devestation series, you'll see two examples of where interfacing was used for data transfers only. (Stormbringer - one of Jetfire's crew piloting the ship, and Devestation-Bumblebee doing the same for the Ark). There is also canon for ports being located on other parts of a TF's body...the Hardcover movie guide gives Optimus data ports on each of his arms.