Just so you know, it hurt me just as much to write it as it does for you to read it. I cried for days, but it was time.

~K

Chapter 197 – Fraternity

(JaPOV)

"Saboteur: enable Iaconian defensive fields?" Soundwave asked patiently.

Jazz glanced around the headquarters and idly threw the switch. In an instant, holo screens began coming online around the room. Soundwave promptly froze in place. Jazz watched the mech curiously for a long moment, then glanced at the screens.

"Slag!" he shouted, spotting one of the wreckers still outside of the stronghold.

"Decepticon observers: not receiving wrecker feed." Soundwave informed him patiently. Jazz shook himself slightly and began observing the feeds a bit more calmly.

"Y' sure?" he asked flatly, turning to look at the mech.

"Soundwave: one hundred percent positive. Wreckers: will remain undetected."

Jazz nodded and continued surveying the area.

"Dis is too easy, somethin's gonna go wrong," Jazz remarked, scanning the screens again.

"Element of chaos: always possible," Soundwave stated patiently. "Pertinent variables: already inputted."

"And the element of surprise?" Jazz asked in amusement.

Soundwave looked at him for a long moment.

"Correction. Soundwave: 98.4 percent positive."

Jazz snorted.

"'S'okay Sandie, Ah still like the awds," he stated cheerfully. He promptly began bringing up random feeds, looking for something, anything.

The only indication that the Wreckers were even still active now? There was a new feature to the shell.

A doorbell.

Jazz wanted to go knock on the other side of the compound, just to see what happened.

"Wrecker signal: disrupted," Soundwave announced quietly.

"What caused it?" Jazz immediately asked.

"Unknown. Wrecker compound signal: unchanged. Ravage: eject."

Jazz watched in amusement as the Cybercat immediately leapt from the mech's abdomen, straightening and trotting around for a moment before pausing for a long, languid stretch.

"Satisfied?" Jazz asked the cat in amusement.

Ravage yowled at him slightly before trotting over and demanding an audio-rub. Jazz grinned and obliged until the cat wandered away to inspect the room.

"Request: Jazz accompany Ravage to Wrecker Compound."

"Ahn it," Jazz grinned and promptly strode toward Ravage.

Except Ravage promptly got in behind him.

Jazz hated it when something tried to walk behind him. He walked a large circle, inconspicuously trying to get rid of the tail.

No luck. Ravage followed him.

"Oi! You! Yo' th' attention getta dis tahm!" Jazz growled, spinning one-eighty and glaring at the cat.

Ravage sat down and yowled irritably at him, then glared at him for a long moment before rising and striding toward Soundwave, yowling a bit more.

"Ravage request: saboteur accept cyber-cat frequency. Reason: accomplish more."

"Y'mean ya can actually undastan' hah!?" Jazz demanded.

"Ravage: highly remarkable cyber-cat." Soundwave stated simply. "Warning: Cyber-cat thought patterns deeply hunt-survival driven."

"Unda'stoo'," Jazz grinned, he staggered slightly at the size of the packet though: the yowls, trills, mewls growls and clicks of her species? Easy. The translations? "Holy-! Yah weren' kiddin' theah Sandie." Jazz snorted, shaking his helm somewhat.

"Den-razer-bot become banshee-hawk," Ravage yowled at him.

"Den-razah?" Jazz demanded with a snort.

"Soundwave: utilize Ravage naming-codes. Den-razer translate: Saboteur," Soundwave informed him. "Ravage identification protocols: superior."

"Ravage named me 'saboteur?' Wait how does she know Ah've got Banshee-hawk codin'?" Jazz demanded. Then he rolled his optics. "Stupid question, y' told hah."

"Negative. Ravage: repeatedly observe and name personality of Cybertronians before Soundwave. Ravage: scan saved banshee-hawk specifications. Reason: Cybercat desires banshee-hawk hunting partner."

Ravage promptly flicked her tail at him, and Jazz noted in astonishment the dextrous grappling end.

"Y'suah y' can launch meh?" Jazz demanded with a slow grin.

Matched only by the quintessential cat-grin.

(MPOV)

I hated bridges, but I hated leaving a soul alone when they obviously needed companionship more. So, once again, I glowered at the vortex of trans-dimensional energies before stepping through and rubbing my chest-plates. My Optimus pressed against my spark, soothing the twinge of suddenly being so far away from my mate.

The bridge closed behind me as I strode behind Prowl and his femme, hanging back slightly as Silvermoon did. Idly, I scanned through the camera angles and spotted Barricade's face, just as the mech glanced up to look at Prowl now standing on the other side of the field.

"Your service record was impeccable," Prowl began patiently.

"Step one in the interrogation of prisoners; begin calmly, build a rapport with them," Barricade replied flatly. "You really don't change, do you."

"I glitched for fully an orn when they first told me you'd abandoned the ranks, shattered your oath and joined the Decepticons," Prowl stated quietly. Barricade snorted.

"How is that glitch doing anyway?" Barricade asked with a smirk. "I told you living in a battle computer was bad for you, but did you listen?"

"It catches from time to time, typically when the humans began babbling nonsense. But then we've both changed, for the worse it would seem in your case, Barricade. How many bots have you killed after you swore to protect them?" Prowl asked curiously.

"Fewer than if I had remained an Enforcer," Barricade snapped.

"We swore an oath to serve and protect-" Prowl began flatly.

"We swore the oath to serve and protect the Cybertronian citizens!" Barricade snarled, rising and storming to the field. "But the Enforcers don't do that anymore, do they!?"

"It is the duty of the Enforcers to apprehend-"

"-any Cybertronian caught breaking the laws of our people and remand them into the custody of the gladiatorial circuit. Oh, did you miss that part? Prowl? Where were you posted? Prax? Teletran? Iacon!? There wasn't a brig in Kaon Prowl. 'Any citizen caught breaking the law in Kaon was to be remanded to the custody of the gladiatorial circuit,' I swore an oath to serve and protect the citizens of Cybertron," Barricade snarled. "Not hand out death sentences to hatchlings whose only crime was that they were hungry!"

The cell stood in deathly silence.

"I killed them, Prowl, as surely as if I'd torn the sparks from their chambers I killed them," Barricade choked, onlining a holo of eleven faces. He turned from the fields and sat heavily on his berth again.

"Barricade, report," Prowl stated in a muted tone.

"They'd grouped together, safety in numbers," Barricade stated flatly, staring numbly at the faces. "They were working together, stealing energon and lubricants... they were just hatchlings Prowl, the sparkings of the fallen gladiators." Barricade enlarged the holos, then, adding tiny bodies to the little helms. "I took them to the circuit, they were supposed to care for the hatchlings. I should have killed them Prowl, I should have done it myself." he husked.

In moments, Silvermoon was beside Prowl, lightly tapping his helm.

"Sorry, 'Cade, conflicting tone and sentence still gets him sometimes," Silvermoon murmured. I strode forward and lightly palmed the field, moving to look Barricade in the optics. He didn't move, didn't seem to even register my presence. Naught but grief registered in his eyes and the hum of his spark as he stared at the eleven hatchlings.

"What happened?" I asked softly.

"They rewarded me for my 'loyal service,' you know," Barricade choked. "Presented me with a season pass into the circuit. When they... they... they... they... they..."

In a moment I was on a knee, scanning the mech huddled on his berth.

"Memory glitch," Prowl stated quietly as he looked at Barricade, I glanced up at him as he lightly tapped Barricade's helm.

"-Then Megatron paraded in, not four orn afterwards preaching about the corruption of the Primes and what they'd allowed society to descend to. Everything in my spark wanted to believe him, he'd been a gladiator, he knew what happened to the hatchlings." Barricade whispered. "I believed him, I believed that he would stop it. Then by the time I realized that he wouldn't... by then it was too late."

Prowl sat down heavily beside Barricade. They stayed that way for a long, silent breem.

"I'm sorry," he whispered.

"You should be, I called first dibbs on this paintjob," Barricade muttered.

"Of all the 'forms on this planet you chose the uniform of the Enforcers. Subtle," Prowl snorted.

"I haven't broken my oath from that day," Barricade stated softly. "I've fired warning shots, killed only when I needed to and climbed the ranks by terminating bots that didn't deserve to remain."

"How did you even survive in the Decepticon ranks?" Silvermoon demanded with a frown.

"Stole kill-counts, planted my weapon's signature on 'bots already deceased – particularly if I managed to kill the bot that murdered them. You know, classic frame-job 101. I just framed myself." Barricade murmured with a shrug. Prowl's optics blanked. Barricade glanced at the mech and reached up, tapping his helm.

"You seriously didn't listen, did you," he smirked as Prowl's optics brightened again.

"Of course not. My battle computer was perfectly comfortable; and I might remind you that you then also informed me that in order to blend in more effectively, Ironhide needed to be as vibrantly pink as possible," Prowl stated with a laugh.

"He'd be so embarrassed he'd finally manage to actually sneak somewhere," Barricade smirked.

"No, he gets so pissed off that you can hear him from one end of base to the other while he attempts to search out who painted him," Prowl informed the mech patiently.

"No," Barricade stated flatly.

"Last time that happened not even the multitude of high-grade processor aches including his own kept that mech quiet," Prowl stated gravely.

"I. Would pay to see that." Barricade stated flatly.

I rolled my optics and rose.

"Being as you three are taking the bridge, I think I'll fly for a while," I murmured patiently.

Barricade looked up at me for a long moment before the two enforcers rose.

Prowl promptly sent me an info packet, with the sense of a question behind it. Another traditional ceremony, he knew I disliked ceremony, but this one was special. I nodded and rose to my full height as they both offered the canted, close-fisted salute of Enforcers.

"I, Barricade of Praxian outpost six, do solemnly swear before the Lady High Protector to serve and protect the citizens and civilians of Cybertron and her allies against all enemies both foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same..."

::. You do know that you're going to have to allow the entirety of the Enforcer ranks to re-swear to you as the Lady High Protector now, right?.:: Silvermoon murmured.

::. This one I don't mind.:: I replied softly.

::. May I ask why?.:: Silvermoon asked curiously.

::. Because I swore a similar oath myself, long before I was even strong enough to truly uphold it.::

(OPOV)

"So Chance is up in the air with Jetfire again, Jacobs is out with the twins," Will commented cheerfully, leaning against the catwalk. "What am I missing?"

"My Kae is underground with Prowl and his Silvermoon, they are taking Barricade's statement as we speak. Bumblebee is out on home patrol with the femmes," Optimus rumbled patiently.

::. Sunstreaker to base! We need an emergency ground-bridge NOW!.::

"Colonel, with me!" Optimus commanded instantly, reaching for the man.

In a moment, Will was over the catwalk railing and in Optimus' hand, another moment and they were already headed to the bay the ground bridge was housed in. Ratchet was already there, waiting anxiously as Wheeljack scrambled to bring the bridge online.

Optimus cycled his optics the second the bridge was stable, Will stayed sat in his hand, watching as Sunstreaker himself charged through the bridge; his optics still tinged red and his systems humming fully in battle-mode. Neither human nor bot moved, and in that instant Optimus knew the state of the predator's processors: Sunstreaker was in shock.

"Ratchet! Ratchet fix him! What are you waiting for medic!? You need to save him!" Sunstreaker bellowed, proffering his hands toward the mech.

But those surrounding him already knew, some things would never change. Optimus could see it in the way Jacob's body was already stiffening, the unfortunate scent of the digestive system continuing the endeavour of maintaining life past the loss of the mind, the ceasing of the heart.

The hidden spark of the massive, gentle hearted man was already on its way to the Well.

"Sunny! Where's Sideswipe!?" Ironhide barked at the frontliner.

"He's..." Sunstreaker trailed off, looking backward through the portal for a moment before looking down at Jacobs cradled in his hands.

"I'll get him," Ironhide rumbled quietly. Optimus nodded to the Weapons Master, and watched the mech disappear through the portal.

Numbly, Sunstreaker offered the body – so small in his servos – to Ratchet.

Gently, the medic accepted the body, optics dimming in a scan before the medic's frame sagged somewhat. Ironhide gently led Sideswipe back through the ground bridge.

"I'm sorry, Sunstreaker," Ratchet murmured softly.

Sunstreaker froze, staring down at the only human he had ever allowed to ride with him. Sideswipe sagged, pressing close to his twin as the truth obviously sank into their sparks.

"Go," Optimus murmured gently. "Get yourselves cleaned up."

Numbly, Sideswipe nodded, leading his brother from the room.

Optimus looked sadly down at the Colonel in his hands.

"I am sorry, Colonel Lennox," he murmured.

"Jacobs knew the risks involved," Will murmured heavily in his hands. "I... I need to inform his family... Ratchet?"

"Colonel?" Ratchet asked softly, still gently cradling the remains in his hands.

"Can you tell..." Will began in a choked tone.

"He didn't suffer," Ratchet stated softly. "Lieutenant Jacobs died on impact, I will see to the preparations of his remains."

"Thank you," Will whispered.

Optimus lowered his hands to the ground, as the Colonel seemed to desire, and watched with a heavy spark as the task of retrieving the Decepticon's remains, closing the bridge, and the dispersal of mechs was handled with the quiet efficiency of habit.