Ratchet's spark clenched in the old familiar fear and anger when Sideswipe carried what was left of his twin into the medbay. How the red Lambo had managed to get away with minimal damage while his brother got slagged was a mystery Ratchet decided was best left for another day after taking one look at Sideswipe's expression.

"On that table, now," he ordered, and red twin complied reluctantly, not wanting to let go of his brother. "Is anyone else this bad?" He had to tap Sides on the head to get him to answer.

"What? Oh, no, everyone else is walking wounded." The red warrior never took his optics off of his golden brother, even when Ratchet yelled for First Aid and Wheeljack to come deal with the others who were beginning to trickle into the medbay.

"Get out of my way, Sideswipe," he snarled at the hovering Lamborghini, and immediately felt bad about causing the kicked puppy look Sides directed at him. Primus, they were getting even further under his dermal plating than usual if he was considering toning it down for the sake of the red slagger's feelings—them being underfoot almost constantly for the past couple of weeks had not helped any. He couldn't help it. They were almost… pleasant… to be around when they weren't raising merry hell. He was already far too attached to the unrepentant brats—OK, Ratchet, focus. Put Sunstreaker back together, then ponder moral dilemmas.

He surveyed the damage, trying to think of this as only another job, and sighed to himself with a soft cycling of vents. It was going to take him all day to get the yellow 'Bot back in one piece—and that was if Wheeljack and 'Aid handled the rest of the injured. He glanced around, making sure that everyone else was well in hand—there were only minor injuries, after all—and got to work.

"So how did this happen, exactly?" Ratchet asked conversationally, trying to at least distract the red twin, since he knew it would be impossible to boot him out with his brother so badly hurt.

Sideswipe blinked at him stupidly for a moment—a solicitous Ratchet was out of character, and it threw him for a loop. "Oh! He was playing Jet Judo with Starscream again— " He flinched when Ratchet cut him off.

"He did what?" The CMO asked dangerously.

Processors clearing as life reverted to a more normal situation, Sides opened his mouth to repeat himself, but Ratchet didn't give him time to get one snarky word in edgewise.

"How many times am I gonna have to tell you slagging sparklings not to antagonize the Seekers? I know they're shiny and brightly colored, but can't you resist the urge to grab just once? Every time—every time—you two pit spawn take on those jets one or both of you comes back in pieces to my medbay and I get to put you back together." He removed a fried relay so savagely that Sides was glad that his brother was offline and couldn't feel it. "One of these days— "

"You're gonna rebuild us as alarm clocks!" Sideswipe chirped, leaping eagerly at the chance to interrupt. Really, this was more like it! Who needed a melancholy Ratchet with a pleasant bedside manner, anyway? His Ratchet had to be surly and snarly, or it wouldn't be any fun at all to antagonize him.

Wait—his Ratchet? Did he just think that? That fragging bet was going to be the death of him.

Ratchet gave him a pointed look that was wasted on the red Lambo twin. " I was going to say," he replied quietly, "that I'm not always gonna be able to put you back together."

Silence in the wake of that remark; Sideswipe had nothing with which to rebut that statement that Ratchet was not already well aware of. This was the purpose for which they had been designed—to throw themselves into the thick of battle with little regard for their own lives, just as the medic's purpose was to put them back together again if they returned alive. Unspoken was the understanding that it had been easier to be a battlefield medic when the warriors in the field weren't also your friends, easier to hold the front lines when your comrades didn't care whether you lived or died.

Sobered by that grim realization, both mechs were quiet as Chief Medical Officer Ratchet worked to save Autobot Sunstreaker while Sideswipe kept silent watch.