A/N: It's a new chapter finally. Thanks for all the reviewers, favs and alerts - It's really nice to know there are people who like my writings. Also special thanks to Gixxer Pilot who is putting up with all my comma and grammar abusing.
My Jetfire toy was aiming me with his gun while I was writing this. Maybe he wants a story of his own. XD Or that I update quicker.
Chromia stood against a wall while watching their teacher showing them new techniques. She had her arms crossed which was her habit to do when ever she was thinking. She tried to process the situation between Ironhide and Rachet because after the incident earlier Ironhide had retreated into his own emotional shell. The red mech was obviously bugged by the situation.
Chromia didn't like Ratchet very much, because the white mech was always trying to claim Ironhide his own. She wanted to help those two for Ironhide's sake. There was something she was missing in the picture. 'I'm not very good at things like this, but I'll try. I just need to start from the very beginning.' When she had met Ironhide it had been clear that the two mechs were very close. Ironhide had introduced her very quickly to Ratchet, but it had been a mistake. Ratchet's expression had instantly turned from friendly into frustrated when he realised that Chromia was friends with Ironhide.
Now that she thought about it, she didn't know very much about the white mech. She knew only the things Ironhide had told her, and according to the red mech, Ratchet was the best thing on Cybertron. For Chromia Ratchet as sure as pit wasn't the best thing on Cybertron; the medic candidate had vocal processor infused with venom and sarcasm. Aren't the medics supposed to be caring and lovable? More she thought about it, more she was convinced that Ratchet was going to become a medic straight from the pit.
Then a sudden idea struck her. Chromia unfolded her arms for a while and then folded them back while wearing a smug grin on her face. Suddenly everything made sense. Ratchet was obviously jealous of the attention she was receiving from was also something else below the surface that made the white mech jealous. It couldn't be...
Ratchet was miserable. The white mech had been avoiding Ironhide for the rest of day. His lectures ended earlier today than Ironhide's so he was going home all alone. He walked slowly lost in thoughts. He passed by crumbled buildings and wandered to side streets so he could think without any distractions from the passing mechs. It was silent in there. Just what he wanted.
He sat down on a pile of rubble. Ratchet needed to think about things and cool his head. He felt that he couldn't deal with Ironhide at the moment and he certainly didn't want to lose his cool again. It was just that anything that had something to do with Ironhide made his spark feel odd. When they were doing something together, a tingling sensation always blew throughout his frame. He felt safe with the red mech and something more.
There were so many feelings guided towards Ironhide that somehow all tied together. The feelings Ratchet felt for his friend weren't something he had developed overnight. They had been growing slowly during the time they had known each other from simple friendship into a real need and care for Ironhide. A simple word was forming itself in Rachet's mind, a word very powerful, that described exactly all the emotion he was feeling at the time.
Harsh reality stabbed him in the back, literally. Ratchet screamed in pain while turning his head towards the attacker. It was a whole gang of bots. He cursed the attackers into lowest pit, but got laughter as a response. He had been careless and had not paid attention to his surroundings, but wasn't this a bit too much? Ratchet knew he was too slow to escape them and would quickly be drained out of energon because of the cut in his back. He wouldn't let them get him so easily. Ratchet was going to stand and fight them.
Warnings flashed through Ratchet's CPU. 'Shut up, will you?! I know I'm leaking energon. I just don't have time to deal with it right now.' For a while he was amused of arguing with himself. The next nanosecond he was thinking how bizarre things were going throught his CPU at a moment like this.
"What have I done to you to deserve a random beating?!" Ratchet raged. The leader of the gang, holding the sharp weapon dripping Ratchet's energon, stepped in front of the other mechs.
"Oh nothing. We were just bored. You might amuse us for a while," the mech answered casually as if he were just conversing about everyday things. Ratchet tried backing away from the mech, but he was surrounded from everywhere without any place to go. Panic was starting to hit him, but before he had time to think any further, he found himself down in the ground.
Ratchet felt jolts of pain hitting him everywhere when the mechs started kicking him around in the ground. He tried to stand up, but he was kicked down everytime. He could feel how his plating dented and cracked in various places. The pain slowly blinded the white mech, but he could still hear the screeches and scratching sounds echoing from his armor. Somebody stomped on the his hand which made Ratchet scream loudly in agony. The reaction of course just encouraged the attackers to abuse more of his hands. His CPU practically screamed with warnings while he could feel the sensors in his hands were about to explode from the harsh treatment. Ratchet tried several times to pull his arms to the safety, but his shoulder joints were dislodged, the wiring still remaining attached sending painful signals to his CPU. Finally he was relieved from the torture in the form of savage kick to his helm.
The gang got tired of kicking the pile of white armoring around after Ratchet's screams had died down. They left Ratchet there, leaking energon all around his surroundings. The sight was nightmarish. Nothing glamorous could have been detected from the situation. Only somebody who knew Ratchet very well would have been able to recognize him in his current condition.
Turborats were lurking from various places, while their optics shone with hunger. For them it was going to be a feast tonight. But they didn't dare to approach the dying mech, not yet. After the mech deactivated, it would be different and turborats knew it in their tiny little CPUs. They were patient; there would be plenty of eat for every one of them.
Ironhide had finally headed himself to home. He was driving very aggressively from the sheer rage he was feeling. He had still things to talk with Ratchet. The red mech was furious with the white mech's behaviour. Ratchet's behaviour was totally irrational in Ironhide's opinion. He knew that the white mech tended to think more with his spark than with his CPU, but this was beyond stupid. What in the pit was bugging his friend, because he as sure as slag hadn't done anything to tick Ratchet off.
On top off everything, the coward had ran away from the situation without any explanation. Ironhide had almost chased the white mech down, but Chromia had intervened with the situation. One thing was sure though. He would find Ratchet at home. Ironhide knew all of Ratchet's habits and the white mech always headed home after lectures to take care of his creators. The white mech would have to answer for him immediately after he found him and this time Ironhide decided he would make sure there was no escaping the situtation.
Ironhide transformed in front of the familiar building. He entered the building quickly. Ironhide pretty much leaped up the stair case. He entered the apartment he had gotten used to calling home, but something wasn't right there. He could hear the normal sounds of cybersoap called Orns of My Life that was proadcast normally at this time. He closed the door behind him and walked closer to the living room. Ratchet's creators' were sitting there like they always were, though their being looked very uncomfortable due to all the trembling and shaking. No sign of Ratchet.
"Have you seen Ratchet anywhere?" Ironhide asked Ratchet's father. There was no use in asking the white mech's mother; she couldn't even remember how he had gotten out of berth.
"No. Isn't he at the academy today?"
'What in the pit is Ratchet trying to pull? Where the frag he is? Isn't he thinking about his creators at all? That stupid glitch head!' Ironhide cursed to himself.
"He had less lectures today than I had. He should have been home a while ago," Ironhide cleared the situtation while trying to remain calm. Ratchet's creators hadn't done anything wrong, so they didn't deserve his rage.
"That's odd. Usually he comes home straight away," Ratchet's father wondered.
"Yeah, I know. I think I'm going to go search for him. Are you okay if I'm gone for a while?" Ironhide asked, authentically concerned. As an answer, he got a shaky thumb up and wide grin from the older mech. They were good bots. They really were and it was a shame they were that way.
Ironhide rushed outside. When he found Ratchet, he was going to beat him up for good. He transformed into his vehicle mode while still uttering curses in his mind. He accelerated furiously for his search. Ironhide stared looking for the white mech systematically. The red mech thought it was highly likely that his friend was sitting in some place familiar.
The first place he went was the hill just outside the Iacon. The place had many memories. Memories with Ratchet involved. That was also the place Ironhide had crawled into when he was kicked out from his home. Ratchet had found him and brought him back home. Before entering the academy they had studied there many times. Ironhide's temper cooled down a notch from all the good things he remember related to the place.
He remembered how Ratchet had more than once fallen into recharge there. One of those times Ironhide had made the decision to become an enforcer. It was probably the most important decision of his life, and he had made it because he wanted to protect his loved ones. Sadly, Ratchet wasn't on the hill. Ironhide kicked some slag laying on the ground for his frustration before transforming back to his vehicle mode.
He kept going around the familiar places he knew Ratchet might have gone to. Every single one of them brought back memories of the good times he had had with Ratchet. He remembered how the white mech used to smile much more before. In these days, it was a rarity for some reason. Ironhide didn't quite understand what had happened to make Ratchet so cynical. The rage was starting to subside and concern trying to make its way in its place. The driving around really cooled the red mech down.
Finally Ironhide had gone through every place he could think of, but nothing turned up. It was like Cybertron had swallowed Ratchet. Ironhide didn't bother being angry at the white mech anymore. Ratchet simply didn't do things like this; he wouldn't leave his creators alone for so long a time. He even had gone back home to see if the white mech had turned out to be there, but the result was still the same: Ratchet was missing for good. Ironhide cursed in his mind. What could have happened to his best friend?
He kicked some debris around to channel his anger to something. Ironhide walked around feeling frustrated, concerned and angry at the same time. How he could possibly find Ratchet from of the all the possible places? He had eliminated all the familiar places down to zero where the white mech could be in anywhere in Iacon.
Something caught Ironhide's attention. There were huge amount of turborats. They were going somewhere and didn't care about Ironhide's presence. It was odd occurence. Usually the turborats stayed hidden and didn't come out to open. Either there was something scaring them or there was something attracting them. They didn't seem scared though.
Ironhide decided to follow the herd. At least he could get somewhere by following them, which was better than just walk around kicking things around. The little pests didn't mind the huge mech following them. They kept going, determined, and more turborats crawled out of dark cracks from the buildings nearby.
Finally the pests stopped. There were so many of them that Ironhide had never seen so many before. They were all lurking curiously at something in the middle of rubble. That something was white with occasional red here and there. Ironhide's spark jumped nearly out of his spark chamber when he realised that the white mess the turborats were so attracted was in fact Ratchet.
The sight was horryfying. Ratchet was laying in a pool of energon badly dented and cracked. The white mechs shoulder joints dislodged and horde of turborats waiting for their chance to strike once the mech was completely deactivated. The last bit of anger was washed away instantly.
'Who could have done this to my Ratchet? I'm gonna make sure that whoever it was is going to get what they deserve. I hope it's not too late. I need to get him to treatment right away.' Ironhide hurried to the unmoving, brutalized body of Ratchet. He picked the white mech up while watching out for the sensitive hands. He could hear the faint and irregular intakes of his friend, which gave him hope.
Ironhide started running while carrying the offlined Ratchet towards the central Iacon where their academy was. It was the nearest place he could think of. Even though Ironhide didn't have any medical knowledge he had a feeling there was no time to waste. The body of the white mech was cooling down rapidly making Ironhide go through a sudden rush of circuit blowing horror. He had never even imagined that something like this could happen.
On his way, he didn't care about other mechs giving him odd looks. Ironhide nearly caused several accidents while he hurried onwards without thinking about anything except that he was about to lose Ratchet. He, ran across the roads making other mechs hit their breaks. Curses echoed from everywhere, but the red mech didn't hear any of them. He was too concentrated on his task.
'Stupid Primus! I'm not going to let you take him away from me. Don't you have taken enough from me already?!'