Firewing watched the young mech work. His optics darting over the terminal in front of him as he went through the days tasks. She watched intently as he seemed to get through it in no time.

It had been a week since their first meeting and she knew she loved this mech like a brother. She still had yet to talk to him about what she knew, but just wasn't sure how. She sighed softly as she went back to the datapad in front of her. Going through some of the reports.

"You ok Firewing?" the mech asked, worriedly.

"Yeah Cobalt. Just fine" she answered, smile on her faceplates.

She watched the mech nod before turning back to the terminal, finishing off the last of the morning ritual. She knew that she would do anything to protect this young mech. She felt a burst of admiration go through her spark, causing her to smile. She adored this mech like family.

XXX

Firewing groaned as her tanks shudder in hunger. She put the datapad down as she rose to her pedes. She stretched out, allowing her wings to rise up to full height before falling back to their normal position. She turned as she heard the youngling whisper an awe inspired 'wow'.

The young mech look sheepish, like a sparkling with his servo caught in the rust stick jar. "Sorry" he started, his faceplates burning with embarrassment. "I've just never seen your wings move like that before"

The femme chuckled softly "normally my wings stay neutral. But sometimes I stretch them" she paused for a moment. "And sometimes they move in their own accord if I feel strong emotions" she finished, as she moved towards the door. "Coming youngling?" she asked, stopping briefly in the doorway.

"Yeah" the mech answered, as he practically jumped from his seat. This was the first time the femme had asked him to join her on break, and he didn't want to pass up the opportunity.

XXX

Firewing sat across from Cobalt in the rec room. They had been there for about ten minutes, telling stories of there time at the academy. She laughed as she listened to the mech finish his tale. "… Then we ran across the parade ground with a very pissed off mentor chasing after us. We should have been terrified, but the neon green paint made it difficult" he finished, chuckling as he did.

Firewing smiled at the youngling, knowing that at that very moment in time, sitting with him was where she wanted to be. They had become so close over the last week. She knew it wasn't much time, but she somehow felt connected to this mech. "Well, when I was in the academy" she started, leaning forward elbows resting on the table top, as her helm rested on her servos. "My mentor always made me do the hardest tasks, trying to prove that femmes, or seekers, never did find out what he hated the most, did not belong there. But I aced every single task he gave me" she beamed as she remembered how much that Autobot hated her presence, realising now she should have noticed how atrocious the Autobots truly were. "He kept making each task harder and harder, hoping I'd stuff up somehow'"

"What happened?" the youngling asked, practically sitting on the edge of his seat.

"I graduated top of my class, much to my mentors distain of course" she giggled at the memory of her mentors angry face as she was presented the top marks of her class.

"Wow" the mech said, as he sighed. "That would have been great to witness"

"It felt great to watch his faceplates screw up in disgust" she giggled. "I just wish I could have gotten a picture of it". She suddenly stood, grabbing both cubes; that were now empty.

"It's ok" the mech said, as he stood from his seat. "I can do it" he announced, grabbing the cubes, heading for the disposal unit.

Firewing watched after him, smiling as she did. She loved how he honest and helpful as was, always trying to look out for others. She only wished Megatron could meet this amazing mech. She turned back around, taking her seat again, as she pulled out her datapad. She decided to quickly run through some of the tasks for tomorrow, making sure they had everything organised. She knew she was getting in early, very early, but wanted to get on top of things before they became too much.

She thoughts were interrupted suddenly, by a commotion near the disposal unit. She turned around to find the most shocking and frightening scene ever. Cobalt was on the ground, looking like he'd been knocked down; tears forming in his optics. Above him were two larger mechs; one was huge, ugly and green and the other slightly small and yellow. They both towered over the blue mech, laughing down at him. "Awe, I think he's gonna cry Shutterburst" the larger one said.

Firewing felt her energon boil as she shot up from her chair, datapad quickly deposited into her subspace. She stormed over to the large mechs, wings flaring up and seemed to blaze red as fury ran rampant through her frame. She snarled dangerously as she kicked the larger of the two, sending him hurtling into his partner. She stood protectively in front of the smaller mech, remembering how Megatron had stood in front of her just like this. "How dare you touch him" she hissed, wings flicking up and down unconsciously on her back.

The two mechs started at her, both equally as shocked as the other. "We were just having some fun" the smaller one answered.

Firewing snarled lowly at this, her claws suddenly itching to tear their throats out. "Does it make you feel like a real mech to pick on someone half your size?" she questioned. "How bout you try it on me?" she threatened, moving to stand in a full fighting stance.

Neither mech made a move, both seemed frozen in place as they watched the seeker before them. Her claws seemed to twitch as he wings flared up and out. She had a look on her faceplates that promised a painful offlining to any who dared approach the youngling. "We're sorry" the larger one murmured.

"I'm sorry. I didn't hear that" the femme said. Although she had, she wanted them to say it louder.

"We're sorry" came the reply, louder than before.

"Good" she snarled, still not moving from her position in front of the mech. "Now get out. And never let me catch you near him again" she roared, causing the two mechs to dart from the room.

Only when the mechs had disappeared from view did she let herself settle. Turning around, she knelt down to inspect the youngling. "Did they hurt you?" she asked, bringing her servo up to wipe some strays tears from his face.

"No" he whispered, his voice cracking a little. "Just frightened me" he said, allowing the femme to pull him to his pedes.

"Come on. I'll take you to your quarters, let you rest there. I think you've earned the rest of the day off" she said, wrapping a protective arm around his shoulders.

XXX

The femme watched as the mechling tossed a little. After escorting him to his quarters, she didn't feel comfortable leaving him alone, not after what happened today. She hated seeing the mechling in distress, and had come so close to offlining both of the mechs today. She honestly didn't know what stopped her.

'I can feel your anger dear' She sighed as Megatron sent calming waves through the bond. 'Is everything ok?'

'Not really' she answered, barely turning away from the mechling that tossed and turned on the berth. 'I never realised how despicable the Autobots were until now. I don't want to be here anymore...' she sighed, as she took in Cobalts faceplates; which were scrunched up in dread. 'But I won't leave him' she said, sending a mental picture of the youngling to her bonded.

'You care about him' the mech stated, more than asked.

Firewing smiled at the mech in question, realising how much he had grown on her in such a short amount of time. 'I do. I have come to see him like family'

Megatron sent a wave of love and understanding through the bond, a mental image of Cobalt as a proud Decepticon warrior suddenly appearing from Megatrons side of the bond. The femme knew instantly that Megatron would accept the young mech into there factions, she just had to convince him to leave with her… Although she wouldn't realise until later just how easy that would be.

XXXXX