The journey back to Iacon would have been faster had Prowl been able to transform. However, with two missing doorwings and the extensive damage to major support structures in his frame it would have been a very, very bad idea for him to transform into his alt mode. Thus he forced himself to limp along as quickly as he possibly could, following Springer who had taken point. Moonracer covered their retreat and that left Hound to pace him, often acting as a physical support.
"We can stop if you need to." Hound murmured softly for the sixth time.
They had been traveling for over half an orn now but Prowl shook his helm. "Our progress is already slower than is preferable. We cannot take that risk. Our pursuers are not restrained to their base mode."
His words ended in a hiss as a bad step jarred the damaged gears in his leg and hip joints. But just as he had for the entire trip, he never complained about his discomfort.
As if in answer to Hound's silent prayers, Springer called out from several hundred meters ahead of them. "There is an old waystation up here. It looks like it's been abandoned for vorns, but at least it will get us out of the open."
"It is to obvious a resting place…" Prowl started to protest but Hound shook his helm, cutting the tactician off.
"We are going to take a break so that Springer can work on you some more." He shook his helm again when Prowl opened his mouth to object. "It will be better for all of us if he is able to stabilize you further and you are able to move better. That is my decision."
Prowl looked at him for a moment and then lowered his gaze. "Yes, sir."
Once inside the abandoned structure, with Moonracer opting to stand watch outside rather than be in such tight quarters with Prowl, the Praxian was settled onto the ground and Springer knelt beside him.
Hound stepped out to check on Moonracer as Springer started his work.
"Someone needs to keep an optic out." She murmured quietly before he could say anything, not even looking at him.
Hound nodded, taking a step toward her. "I know. But it does not always have to be you."
"Better I'm out here than in there with… him." The words were almost bitter but held just a touch too much tremble to be completely motivated by hatred.
Hound said nothing, he simply stepped forward; his silent presence an invitation to listen.
Moonracer remained stubbornly silent for a long moment and then released a vent of air. "How can you like him so much? I mean… you know what he is. Why would you so willingly risk your spark for a mech like that?"
"I know what he was." Hound corrected gently. "What he is now… I don't know. But I've learned to respect him. He saved my life at the risk of his own, even after I did not treat him very well." Hound shrugged. "Perhaps I just owed him."
She canted him a look and then shook her helm. "No. You see more in him than I do." She lowered her gaze. "And I'm not really sure I want to see what you are seeing."
"Why not?" Hound asked, looking at her closely. In the fading light of the orn, he could just barely see the slight tremble in her frame.
"I didn't want to fight. Never did." She said after a long moment, almost wistfully. "I was happy as a neutral… until the Decepticons started targeting us just for fun." She cast a significant, accusatory look back toward the building. "But they started targeting Femmes about the same time they started targeting Sparklings. I knew at that point neutrality was no longer a choice."
Hound made an understanding noise but said nothing. After a long moment Moonracer released a vent of air. "I just find it hard to want to help, let alone trust, the mech who was responsible for all that."
"Moonracer…"
She turned a suddenly heated glare at him. "Don't. I'm not a youngling anymore." Her vents hitched slightly and she looked away. "War doesn't allow for younglings."
Hound felt his spark ache as he looked at her and saw the pain, the fear, that underlie those words. He did not know a lot about Moonracer only that she was young, beautiful and deadly with her rifle. Even so, he had no doubt that she was not open to further conversation at the moment.
"Alright." He said softly. "If you want relief for a few breems, let me know."
Her stance relaxed slightly and she flashed him a stunningly sweet, relieved smile. "Thanks Hound. I'm going to run a perimeter check."
He returned her smile and then ducked back into the building. He found Springer hard at work trying to re-splint one of the damaged struts in Prowl's right leg. It had to be hurting, but the Praxian looked chagrined rather than pained. The expression startled Hound for a moment until he understood where it came from.
"You heard." It was a statement more than a question.
"I did not mean to." Was Prowl's soft reply.
Hound considered him for a moment, then decided to ask his question anyway. "Was she right? Should she be wary of you?"
Amber optics flicked up to meet his. "I specifically recommended against the intentional targeting of sparklings and neutrals. A fact Jazz and Ratchet can confirm." He added with a sigh of air through his vents. "In her place however, I doubt I would feel differently."
Hound nodded, willing to accept that answer on face value, at least until it was proven false. "What about this mission? Did you know what was going to happen?"
Prowl was a long moment in answering. A very long moment, and Hound thought he saw a silent struggle within the Praxian. It prompted him to add a tacked on, almost clipped command. "I would appreciate you speak with complete honesty, Prowl."
Prowl winced slightly, though whether it was at the implied mistrust or at being caught deciding whether to shade the truth – or perhaps even from something Springer did – Hound did not know. The tactician's answer was even. "The exact details? No. However, I did know Barricade was suspected of being a traitor and that my capture was an attempt to trap him."
"You knew what they would do to you when they caught you?" Springer asked suddenly with a touch of incredulity.
"Again, not entirely, but I knew enough to expect nothing less than what transpired."
They looked at him in almost blank horror. Hound found his voice first. "And why did you agree to do it."
Now Prowl looked away, though it appeared to be more from internal discomfort than submission. "It was a task I was assigned to do."
Hound stared at that, the answer making little since to him. He doubted he would have done what Prowl had done, endured what he had endured, just because it was an assignment he had been given. Unless, perhaps, it came from Primus himself… maybe. He glance at Springer and the two shared a look that made it clear they were on the same datapad on that matter.
Hound opened his mouth to try and find an appropriate response when suddenly Moonracer stepped in, her vents heaving. "They've found us. They'll be here in at least ten breems."
Hound cursed quietly. "I've called for back up, but they are at least a joor away."
Moonracer growled lowly, though Hound saw a tiny shiver race through her frame. "I don't know why they found us so quickly. Unless…" Her optics zeroed in on Prowl. "Does he have a tracker on him?"
Hound started to reject the idea off hand, but Prowl spoke before he could. "I do. But it is one Ratchet installed."
They stared at him for a moment, that was a humiliating thing to admit. Then Springer huffed air. "I guess it is possible they might have hacked the signal if they found it. But there is no reason for them to do so unless they thought you were going to escape."
"I doubt they worried about that." Hound said quietly, remembering the condition in which he had found the Praxian.
Moonracer snarled. "Doesn't matter. We should take it off and destroy it. Ratchet can just put a new one on. If they're using it, the disappearance of the signal might at least throw them off or make them hesitate."
Springer drew back slightly, shaking his helm. "I don't have the mods to crack a weld seam. I couldn't get it off."
"Cut it off." Moonracer insisted.
Hound considered the situation for a moment then looked at former Decepticon. "Prowl?"
Prowl released a vent. "The probability that they are hacking Ratchet's tracker is only roughly 18.31% because I do not believe they ever found its location. If, however they are, there is only a 32.11% probability that removing the device will significantly impact the outcome of the coming confrontation. They will still have the last known location of the beacon and there is no other place we could reach within the given timeframe that is as easily defended as this waystation. To be caught out in the open would be suicide, there is a chance to hold this building until rescue arrives if it is done effectively." Prowl paused. "That said, it would not hurt our survival chances to have it removed. The call is yours, Hound."
Hound felt slightly unstable on his pedes as he met Prowl's optics. He processed the analysis Prowl had given. Even he could tell that forcible removal of the tracking device would mostly be a psychological comfort measure rather than a significant tactical advantage. Prowl, for sure, had to know that. And yet he left the decision in Hound's hand, even though it was his frame that would be damaged with its removal. And Hound knew without doubt that if he did decide to tell Springer to remove it, Prowl would not even complain about the added discomfort.
Hound was tempted, just because of the psychological comfort factor it would provide, but he just could not bring himself to do so. Instead he shook his helm. "You said there is a way we might be able to hold our position until help arrives?"
Prowl nodded, and looked back at Moonracer. "How many of them are there?"
Moonracer was staring. "At least thirteen. They've broken into two groups and are boxing us in." She transmitted the information to all three mechs then looked at Hound pointing to Prowl. "I do not want to die for him."
Springer released a stream of air that whistled through his vents as he reviewed the data. "They really want you back… thirteen mechs?"
Prowl grimaced. "Indeed." He appeared thoughtful for a brief astrosecond and then his frame tensed again as he looked back up at Hound. "There is a 63.74% probability that you could negotiate safe passage in exchange for delivering me back to them."
Hound could only stare at the Praxian for a long moment, several thoughts slamming through his processor simultaneously: Why would Prowl even suggest that? Had he done something that would make Prowl think he would even consider such a tactic? Did the mech have a suicide wish?
When he opened his mouth to bluntly refuse the suggestion, the first question came out instead. "Why would you suggest we do that?"
Prowl glanced down and Hound might have thought he was embarrassed except there was nothing obviously indicating that in his mien. "I am a tactician. My function is to provide all possible options and then to provide the best available way to carry out the chosen option."
Hound exchanged a surprised glance with Springer but a glance at Moonracer showed the lighter green femme was staring fixedly at the Praxian. Hound looked back at the former Decepticon and suspected that he would fulfill that stated function even if the option he chose was to hand him back to the Decepticons.
He shook his helm "Well, giving you back to them is not an option. How do you propose we hold this position?"
Springer looked nervously between the Praxian and the olive-green scout. Moonracer stiffened visibly. Prowl's optics unfocused for a brief moment and then refocused on Hound. "In this case, I recommend the following defensive strategy as it has the highest calculated possibility of success and survival."
He transmitted the plan, which consisted of two concentric lines of defense. It placed Moonracer on the roof to utilize her skills to form the outermost defense perimeter, concentrated on the larger group of Decepticons. Prowl would station himself somewhere where he would not be a liability, but would be able to help where he could. Hound and Springer would provide the majority of the heavy fighting power.
Hound processed the plan and then met Prowl's gaze for a long moment. As a former enforcer, he had worked with tacticians in the field before and he knew there was more to it than just providing a plan and watching it happen. Things happened in combat that could call for instantaneous changes in tactics.
Prowl's expression was intense and sincere, but also respectful. Prowl was not challenging his command, he was simply performing his function. Hound nodded slowly. "Yes." He hesitated again. "Will you be able to observe enough of the battle to make any further recommendations as the situation changes?"
Prowl's optics flickered at the question and he straightened ever so slightly. When he spoke it was careful, measuring. "With my doorwings gone, it is unlikely. I would need a direct sensory feed with at least one of you, preferably with all of you."
Hound continued to meet Prowl's gaze and weighed his options. Had the former Decepticon proven himself worthy of such an act? Then he remembered Prowl opening that direct communication line to him. This was not much different. Making his decision, Hound nodded and transmitted his sensory uplink codes to Prowl. "Here."
Springer blinked and Moonracer recoiled slightly. Then Springer narrowed his optics at Hound. "You trust him that much?"
Hound hesitated then looked at the other scout. "If we're going to make it till our back up arrives, it will be because of him."
Prowl's optics widened slightly at the confidence implied in that statement but Springer only huffed air. Then he too looked at Prowl and nodded. "I guess a slim chance is better than no chance. I hope I don't regret this."
All three mechs looked at Moonracer and she stepped back again, then her expression grew darker. She narrowed her optics at Prowl. "I would have killed you in a sparkbeat if I thought you had betrayed us."
Prowl only nodded, eerily calm. "Of that I have no doubt."
She stepped forward, hands clenching into fists at her side. "I still would."
Prowl indicated his seemingly easy acceptance of that statement. "Acknowledged."
She huffed again and then shook her helm. "I still don't trust you. I don't have much of a choice right now, not if I want to make it out of this alive. Just know I will be changing the codes once the battle is over."
Prowl dipped his helm. "I shall delete the codes as well. All of them. Ratchet or Jazz may be impressed upon to confirm their deletion if you wish."
Moonracer considered the Praxian for a moment longer and then nodded sharply, transmitting her codes. "I will, count on it."
… … …
Prowl waited, concealed in a location where he could provide cover fire for Hound. Above them on the roof, Moonracer would cover Springer when the fighting closed to that distance. Springer had had to jury-rig his weapon systems because the Decepticons had done a remarkably thorough job in disabling them. He was unable to configure his hand to interface with the weapon and so Springer had to bypass the manual control and link it directly to his control systems. It was not ideal, but it was the best he had
Through his sensor link with Moonracer he knew the moment the first Decepticon was in range and watched the unlucky mech's frame buck into the air as Moonracer's round struck home.
As expected, the strike immediately caused the others in that group to slow and scatter. Prowl quickly analyzed the likely abilities of the mechs in question and then sent Moonracer a quick ping. /Make sure you take out one of the two smaller ones./
/Why?/ She growled, even as she fired at one of them.
The way the uninjured one fell to the ground as well, with an enraged and tortured snarl was answer enough. Through Hound's highly acute sensor array he also saw one of the larger mechs in the second group of Decepticons also collapse.
/Combiner./ He sent to all of them by way of explanation.
They had already evened the odds by four. However, the Decepticons had already recovered from their initial surprise and had put on a burst of speed. Not unexpected. Moonracer's rifle illuminated the night again and another mech was thrown to the side as her aim proved true. Unfortunately, his armor proved substantial enough he was not taken out. Even so, another shot felled him.
Two of the mechs approaching Hound had a similar frame type, meaning potentially the same heavy armor. /Hound, the two on the outside of their formation have above average armor strength. They are the priority target./
Hound signaled his understanding.
He sent another, simultaneous message to Moonracer, highlighting a specific mech. /This will also be a heavily armored mech./
/Acknowledged./
Within seconds, that mech was also reduced to a pile of scrap. Distantly Prowl had a moment to admire Moonracer's exceptional skill. She had not been boasting when she had told him 'one shot, one kill.' But he hardly had time to dwell on that thought before the surviving Decepticons were close enough to transform. They came in hot, weapons drawn and blazing with hot energy.
Another mech was dropped by Moonracer before his transformation sequence even completed. Seven down, six to go.
Hound was already engaging the first Decepticon to reach his position. Prowl sighted through his rifle and fired at the second mech approaching Hound. The Decepticon screamed as acid ate through his armor. Another volley had him dropping to the ground permanently.
Prowl caught something through his link with Springer and signaled the scout even as he sighted on his next target. /Springer, two are trying to come up on your rear./
/Oh, no they don't./ Moonracer snarled over the comm. channel as she downed one of them. Unfortunately the other one made it to Springer and leapt at him from behind.
Only Springer had heeded the warning and spun to face him.
Prowl fired his own weapon then, striking another Decepticon in a bath of acid pellets. The black mech howled but the sound cut off abruptly as the acid ate away his vocalizer. Another shot finished the job.
Then another blip on one of the Autobot's sensors caught Prowl's attention. /Three more Decepticon signals only two breems out./ He alerted the others to the new threats even as Moonracer felled another enemy mech.
/Fragging pitspawn!/ Springer snarled in response to the update.
Hound was struggling with the much larger Decepticon attacking him and Springer was now engaged in a close quarters battle of his own and was taking a heavy pounding. But the three mechs were to close for Moonracer to risk a shot in the melee of swirling metal
/Hound, fall back, get distance between you and this one and go help Springer. I'll take this one./
To his credit, Hound did not question him. He managed to get a kick in that pushed the two of them apart and then he darted away. Prowl fired before the Decepticon could follow and the mech fell to the ground with a gurgle only an astrosecond later.
On someone's scanners the three new mechs were now being joined by five others from a slightly different heading. But Hound managed to help Springer defeat the two that were left of the original group.
Prowl quickly evaluated the limited amount of data he had on the new Decepticons and then the status of the three Autobots. Moonracer was undamaged but both Hound and Springer had suffered minor wounds; nothing more than a few deep dents.
Without giving them any time to enjoy their victory, Prowl redirected them to the best positions to meet the new threat.
/How far away is our back up again?/ Springer asked Hound anxiously.
/Another fifteen breems./ Hound replied sullenly.
The new configuration in which he had placed the Autobots left Prowl in a relatively vulnerable situation, but Prowl knew that he would not make it to a better location within the single breem they had left before the second wave struck.
Moonracer managed to pick off the two leading Decepticons before they were close enough to do any harm. However, unlike the first wave – who had wrongly thought that their greater number offered more of an advantage than it had – these mechs immediately transformed and took what cover they could from the landscape around them.
Prowl saw what was happening and immediately told Hound and Springer to seek cover of their own. The two scouts managed to duck behind the building just before the place they had been standing was melted into a pool of slag. Then a firefight erupted in full force. But both sides were two well protected and it could easily turn into a drawn out affair. In which case, simple attrition would favor the Decepticons.
No, this could not be allowed to turn into a siege. All it would take would be for Hound or Springer to take serous damage and they would be overrun.
Not seeing any other choice, Prowl grit his denta against the pain shooting up his legs and made his way carefully toward the new battle. His approach put him closer to the far side of the Decepticon line, though not truly behind it.
/Maintain your cover. I'm going to give them something else to think about. Moonracer, focus on the mechs to the western tip of their formation./
Moonracer sent grudging acknowledgement even as Hound sent back a startled. /Prowl… you can hardly walk./
/I can still fire./ And, so saying, Prowl did so.
A round of acid burned through the mech closest to him and the unfortunate Decepticon did not have a chance to yell a warning before he was falling to the ground. Prowl turned his attention to the next one at the same time Moonracer also opened fire. Struck on the chassis by acid pellets and between the optics by a plasma blast at nearly the same instant, the mech was gone before he knew what had happened.
/Attack./ Prowl sent to the Autobot scouts even as the Decepticons reacted to the new threat and Prowl suddenly found himself flying backwards thanks to a plasma blast that struck the ground right in front of him.
He hit the building behind him hard enough it stunned him, jarring the still raw wiring on his back from where his doorwings had been removed. The only thing that kept him from being immediately overwhelmed by the enemy was that Hound and Springer had taken the fight to the Decepticons, charging at them with unrestrained violence.
He tried to stand, but his impact with the wall had done more than just stun him. Some of the temporary splices on energon lines and the emergency welds to some of his struts were broken off.
"Prowl. You disappoint me." Prowl's optics snapped up to see Razor striding toward him and realized that his sensor feed to the others had been damaged as well and only spotty information was making it through the connection.
"I hardly care how much you are disappointed." Prowl bit back, his engine revving as he tried to regain motor control over the arm holding his rifle.
"You think you will get away this easily?" Razor sneered. "Lord Megatron knows you survived now. He will find you, and when he does…"
A hole suddenly appeared in Razor's chassis, followed closely by another and then another, even as Prowl was finally able to lift his own rifle to take a shot. Seeing there was no longer a need, he let the weapon fall back down, watching with careful impassiveness as the dark purple mech toppled over, a look of surprise forever etched onto his faceplate.
"Why do you even listen to creeps like that?" Moonracer demanded, walking toward him, smoke still wafting from the tip of her own weapon.
Not truly sure if he was actually safe from the deadly femme's frighteningly accurate aim, and yet knowing there was nothing he would do to defend himself if she did choose to attack him, Prowl relaxed regardless of the fact it left him at her mercy.
He leaned back against the wall and dipped his helm formally. "Thank you, Moonracer. I owe you my life."
Her lip plate quirked slightly, though it was more of a tremble, like she could not decide whether to smile victoriously, snarl or smirk. She turned away and Prowl released a vent, struggling back to his pedes even as he deleted the sensor uplink codes as he had promised to do.
By the time he was upright, Hound and Springer were walking up. They both looked over him appraisingly. Then they looked around them.
"Somehow you did it. You helped us pull a victory out of our collective afts." Springer shook his head in shock.
Hound's expression was harder to read. "Smokescreen said you were the best tactician he had ever met."
The compliment, especially attributed to Smokescreen, surprised Prowl. He allowed a trace of a smile to grace his faceplate ever so slightly even as he sank back to the ground as the reinjured struts refused to hold his weight a second longer.
"No strategy is any better than the mechs executing them. We did this… together." He answered Hound with a tiny shake of his helm even as Hound and Springer immediately moved to his side.
With a startled curse, Springer started working on the new energon leaks, tossing his weapon aside in his haste. Moonracer gingerly gathered the discarded weapon and stepped back, watching.
Then her attention snapped upward and to the west. "They are here. It looks like an SR-172 from Iacon."
"A Search and Rescue ship?" Hound asked, then glanced down at Prowl's mangled frame and then glanced at the much more mildly battered frames of himself and Springer and shrugged. "Fitting I guess. At least it is one of the armored models."
The Autobot ship set down a fair distance away and then disgorged its passengers: The unmistakable black mass of Ironhide, the flashy presence of the two Terror Twins, three mechs Prowl did not know and then the equally unmistakable form of Ratchet. The six Autobots barreled across the wrecked plain until they were in the heart of the recent battlefield, where they slowed and transformed, weapons drawn but powered down.
To a mech, they looked around in stunned disbelief at the myriad of freshly graying frames littering the ground.
"You didn't need us." Sideswipe said, almost petulantly as he subspaced his swords.
Hound snorted air through his vents. "We did when I called for you." He gestured around in demonstration. "Twenty-one of them against four of us… and with us trapped like turbofoxes. Yeah, we didn't expect to make it till you got here."
Sideswipe mirrored Hounds gesture at the carnage they had inflicted. "What gives then?"
With a tiny smile, Hound pointed back to Prowl, who was now being seen to by Ratchet. "He directed the battle for us."
To a mech, all six of the new arrivals turned to stare at the badly injured Praxian, including the one busily attempting to stabilize him. Though, in Ratchet's case it was a hard glare rather than simply a stunned stare.
"You taxed your processor that much while sustaining injuries like this?" The medic demanded, anger making his engine growl threateningly. "You…"
"He was tortured, Ratchet." Hound cut in quickly, gaining everyone's sudden attention. "The 'Con's did that when Barricade betrayed us. They were attempting to hack him when we rescued him."
Ironhide stepped closer. "They hacked you? What did they get?"
Prowl looked up at the much larger black mech with a little trepidation, as if he feared what might be done if they believed he had been compromised. "Nothing. I sent Barricade to the med bay with a fragmented processor when he tried. That is why they beat me before Slipshod tied."
They were staring again, except Ratchet who went back to work, all the while grumbling about two hacks, torture, a strained processor, and mechs who did not care a glitch about their own welfare. In a strange way, Prowl found he was comforted by the seemingly furious tirade. It seemed… more natural than anything else.
Hound and Springer were quickly cornered by everyone else on the rescue team for more details about the battle and Prowl relaxed at having the attention taken off him. So great and numerous were his injuries, each one screaming for attention in its own way, that Prowl hardly noticed any discomfort from the repair work being done.
Then he felt an intense set of optics on him and looked past Ratchet to see Moonracer watching with an unreadable yet severe look. When she saw she had his attention, her optic ridge cocked slightly.
Their gazes locked for a long moment and then Prowl broke the contact, looking back at Ratchet. He lifted one hand and gently touched a bright chartreuse shoulder. "Ratchet…"
"What?" The medic demanded hotly and then cooled off immediately at seeing the look on his patient's faceplate.
Prowl did not give himself a chance to think about what he was about to request. "In order to successfully manage this engagement, I had to make use of sensory uplink codes for Hound, Springer and Moonracer. I was given permission to do so on condition."
"What does that have to do with anything about getting you stable enough to transport?" The medic demanded.
Prowl was not deterred by the question. The armor covering his dataport had been pried away by his Decepticon interrogators, but Prowl nodded to the exposed hardware, hiding his intense revulsion at having another in his mind, especially after what he had so recently endured. "Please confirm that I have deleted those codes."
Moonracer's optics widened in surprise even as Ratchet's narrowed. "There are more important things to worry about than that."
"I gave my word, Ratchet." Then quieter. "Please?"
Ratchet's optics widened then as well as he understood the full meaning of what Prowl had just said. The CMO knew his coding, knew how strongly such a promise bound the tactician who was now under his care. After a moment he nodded and deftly plugged his cord into place.
Prowl's firewalls were indeed still intact, indicating his interrogators had not been able to break them. As a hole was opened through those firewalls that would allow him to search the appropriate systems, Ratchet could see that, even if the firewalls had held, that did not mean there was no damage behind them. Considering the anomaly in Prowl's command cortex, it was enough to warrant a more detailed examination. But that would have to wait until they were back in Iacon.
Withdrawing his cord once he was finished, Ratchet could not help but see the way Prowl shuddered ever so slightly.
"They are gone." He confirmed softly and then looked up at the stunned femme still watching with slack faceplate and repeated slightly louder. "They are gone. No trace of them left."
"Thank you." Moonracer whispered, though who exactly she was thanking was an open question.
Ratchet continued to patch the major, most life threatening damage until he considered Prowl stable enough for transport back to Iacon. In the meantime, the rest of the rescue party determined that they would stay on the ground. It was a trip that would take them the remaining six joors of the night.
Not really caring what the warriors decided to do, Ratchet stood, looking at Ironhide. "We need to get him back to med bay. I can't do much more for him out here. There is no way he can walk back to the ship. Pit. I can't even imagine let alone figure out how he made it here."
Ironhide nodded and transformed, allowing Ratchet to place Prowl on his alt mode. Once the former Decepticon was settled, Ratchet looked at the two scouts. "Where are his doorwings?"
Sideswipe and Sunstreaker's optics snapped back to the Praxian as if just noticing the former Decepticon was missing those sensory panels. Nor were they the only ones.
"Here." Springer supplied and pulled them from subspace.
Not even Ratchet could restrain the horrified gasp as he took in the damage, the deep gouges and torn plating that riddled the sensitive panels, let alone the handful of energon daggers firmly imbedded in them. Sunstreaker and Sideswipe were not unaffected either as they stared with disbelieving optics.
Ratchet accepted the proffered sensory panels and looked them over again before subspacing them quickly. The collective tension in the gathered mechs diminished palpably once the doorwings were no longer in view.
Seeing that his patient was secure, Ratchet also transformed and followed Ironhide back to the ship.
Sunstreaker watched the retreating medic and the former Decepticon Ironhide was carrying with open dismay. Then he looked at Hound. "He actually coordinated this victory… in that state?'
Hound nodded, looking after the retreating mechs as well. "Yep. Makes you wonder what he could do if he was undamaged, you know?"
Sideswipe grimaced, casting a look at his twin. "Like he was when he went on patrol with us?" When Hound nodded the silver mech sighed a gust of air. "Yeah. Think about that, mech. Maybe we shoulda listened to him then."
Hound could also clearly remember that orn, the way Prowl had suggested that they could take the mechs who had staged the ambush that had so badly wounded Sunstreaker.
"Something like that." He found himself nodding before he and Springer likewise headed for the transport.
My thanks to Anon-21 for pointing out Moonracer's relative youth. Yeah, I don't know much about any of the femmes… only what others have written, really. So, the early scene in this chapter with Hound and Moonracer was concocted on the fly just to deal with that. So, a little treat, even if it meant the next scene got pushed to the next chapter… oh well. :) Well, hope I didn't bore everyone with the battle scene… that type of action is not my strength. *pout*
FYI: I know I've been able to get the last couple of chapters (and this one) up very quickly. Please don't get upset if it goes back to only one chapter a week rather than one chapter every 4-5 days. I have a lot of stuff coming up in real life that will, of necessity, take up more of my time. But I will still aim for one a week.
As always, please review!
