I tried coming up with a better way to divide up these chapters so none of them were long, but it didn't really pan out. So here's my advice on this chapter: If you need a break, take it at the first '-'

Prowl – "3" ish, Eve of the war

Several joors later, Charger finally managed to swing back into Skycracker's office. What she found shocker her – a happy Prowl playing with someone else. Skycracker made several toys from items around his office and was playing with Prowl, almost completely abandoning his work. Prowl was excited, his optics glowing vibrantly. In all the times Prowl played with others he never seemed this comfortable and happy.

Skycracker looked up, seeing a stunned Charger in his doorway. Chuckling, he turned back to Prowl. "Why don't you finish setting these up for me?"

Nodding eagerly, Prowl grabbed the remaining fragments of a broken datapad and continued setting them up like dominos. When Skycracker turned back towards her, Charger snapped out of it. "Been playing all these joors?"

"Well, not quite," Skycracker said slowly as he thought back, "more like off and on. I show him something, and we play for a breem. Then he starts all over while I do some work."

"I love that you're spending time with my sparkling but today's emergency takes priority."

"You had most of what I could do about it when you walked out earlier," Skycracker pointed out.

Charger sighed, feeling wrong berating a mech for making her sparkling happy. Still, certain priorities came first. Charger flinched, feeling the little sparkling in her chassis give off excess energy again. Skycracker noticed it and gave her a quizzical look.

"Sparkling giving you a problem?"

"Nothing serious," she assured him. "He's just an energetic one."

"Ah, I know of the feeling. I myself was a sparker once," Skycracker chuckled fondly at the memory.

"I thought you were a carrier."

"Yeah," Skycracker averted his optics, looking down at Prowl as he carefully set up the fragments, "once." Oh. Charger grimaced, understanding the unspoken words. "Anyways," Skycracker spoke again sounding normal, "I seem to recall there being a special name for energetic pre-formed sparklings like yours now."

"Oh, yes," she laughed. "It's 'streak' or sometimes 'streaker.' Creators attach it at the end of their sparkling's designation if they gave off excess energy while being formed. It's supposed to symbolize the vitality of their spark."

"You gonna follow suit? Maybe designate him as 'Redstreak'?" Now it was Charger's turn to give him a quizzical look. "For the red chevrons you and your sparkling have – and I suspect that your new sparkling's shell has one too." Skycracker gave her a smug look knowing her too well. They'd worked together for a long time.

"Heh, maybe." Charger took a moment to internally test it. 'Come here, little Redstreak.' Hmm… didn't quite sound right. She'd have to think about it later – maybe something similar. "Well at any rate, I've got a little bit more work to do before I can finally leave. Come on, Prowl. Why don't we give Skycracker a break so he can finish his work?" Prowl stopped what he was doing, looking up at Charger. She could see the pout forming.

So could Skycracker. "How about this?" He interjected quickly, "Why don't you finish up what you can in the next three breems while I take my break?"

"I think you've had enough breaks."

"Ah, but I have yet to have an official break."

Charger couldn't help but laugh at that, especially after seeing Prowl's pout turn into a smile. "Well, I guess you might as well. Rules say you have to have an official break and I'm not supposed to have sparklings with me. So really, we're just abiding by the rules."

"Yup, we really have no choice in the matter." Skycracker shook his head sorrowfully. "Guess I'll just have to play with this amazing sparkling so we can follow the boss' rules." Prowl straightened his shoulders after hearing Skycracker call him "amazing."

"Then it's settled. See you a few breems." Charger waved goodbye to the pair before disappearing.

Skycracker turned back around to see Prowl. "Those datapad pieces look ready to be knocked down! You ready?" Prowl nodded and jumped up, causing his doorwings to flap slightly. "Okay, come here." Getting down onto his knees he pulled Prowl by his side so his little hand was in position. "One, two, three!" Prowl poked the datapad piece somewhere between two and three, and all the pieces fell down after each other. Well… almost all the pieces. Earlier Prowl set up a junction point, but the pieces were too far away for both paths to fall down. Prowl frowned, flicking his doorwings up as he marched over and pushed them over. No way would those pieces be better than him!

"Heh, a little driven to have things go your way, aren't you?" Prowl merely looked back, as if to say "whatever do you mean?" Skycracker looked at him, a little concerned. "You don't talk much, do you?" As if to prove his point, Prowl tucked his optics away without responding. "It's okay if you don't." He continued on after Prowl looked up at him, "I bet a lot of the other sparklings give you trouble for that, don't they? You shouldn't let that get to you. I bet it's why you're so smart. You don't spend all your time talking about things because you like to listen and understand them instead. One day you'll be great when you grow up 'cause you'll understand things better than most."

Prowl couldn't help be simultaneously bashful and proud at that. He drew up his shoulders and doorwings before declaring, "I'm gonna be a great officer one day!"

"Oh, do you know what department you want to work in?"

"Enforcer!"

Skycracker frowned. "Why do you want to be an Enforcer?" He didn't know anything about fighting but he didn't think the little sparkling had it in him what he needed as an Enforcer.

"Because that's what my sparker is and I want to be just like him and make him happy." Prowl threw his arms across his chassis and folded them just like his sparker usually does.

"Prowl… you don't have to do anything just because it'll make someone else happy. If they care about you, then they're happy when you do what you love. Not the other way around." What had his sparker been telling him that had him convinced only being an Enforcer was the right choice?

Prowl's shoulders suddenly dropped. His looked confused, almost crushed. "My sparker doesn't care about me?"

"No! That's not what I meant." 'Well, actually it kind of is but you don't need to know that.' Skycracker drew the sparkling closer to him, placing a hand on each shoulder. "I'm sure he loves you very much and wants you to be happy." Skycracker gave his shoulders a friendly squeeze before changing topics. "Why don't you check what's outside my window while I set these up so next time you don't have to knock down the junction point yourself?"

Prowl nodded, his good mood back again. He climbed up a chair and looked out the window as Skycracker reset the pieces. "What do you see, Prowl?" He noticed the sparkling liked to observe. Perhaps asking him questions about his observations would help bring him out of his shell a little bit.

"I see…" Prowl looked around, studying the transformers below. "There's a mech running around in circles, talking to a bunch of others mechs. He looks upset."

"Oh? Can you see any symbols on them?"

"Uh huh, they all have the glyph for 'security' on their shoulders."

'Ah, that must be that young, paranoid security worker running around. Twenty credits says he's red and white.' Scooting back a little to finish his task, Skycracker asked Prowl about the mech's color.

"He's red and white." Skycracker laughed quietly before asking Prowl if he could hear what the red and white security mech was saying.

Prowl pushed a button, partially opening the window. Not enough for him to fall out but enough he could hear the mech. "He's talking about how the destroyed shuttle gave rebels a chance to hack into schedules for the entire flight operations through the delivery systems."

'Yeah right. Delivery systems are on an entirely different server. There's no hacker or infiltrator that could find some connection between the two systems.' Finally done, Skycracker called Prowl over.

Prowl didn't move for a moment; he was still watching and listening to the security personnel. "What's a shift change?"

'Oh…' Skycracker checked his internal chronometer. His official break was about to be over, which happened to nearly coincide with the shift change. "Shift changes are when mechs and femmes already working get to go home while others who haven't worked yet start."

"So all the workers are here?"

"Mostly. There's a third shift change before it starts all over. This happens to be the busiest one tho' because all operations are in swing."

"What's that mean?"

"It means all the systems are open and running at full capacity."

"What happens if they aren't?"

"Well, if they aren't all open, then no one can access them. Like when the next shift change occurs, half the systems are shut down. If they aren't running at full capacity, then the security programs may not be fully functional and someone might be able to hack in."

Prowl couldn't help his growing curiosity. "What do these systems do?"

"Everything that's remotely flight-related. Shuttles, military operations, deliveries, records, schedules, and detailed logs on the weaponry and aircraft storage – you name it."

"So everyone is here right now? And everything that can tell us anything is running right now?" Prowl looked at him inquisitively as he stepped of the chair, leaving the window open.

"Yup."

"That's a lotta stuff going on!"

"More stuff than you've ever known, huh sparkling?" chuckled Skycracker. Prowl nodded as he stepped over to the dominos. "Why don't you close the window?"

Prowl shrugged. "I like the sounds coming from it." Skycracker tilted his head, listening for a moment. That's weird… a high-pitch tone was coming in from his window. There were no audio buildings in this area. Maybe someone else finally opened their window and was playing some bad music from their office? No one ever open their windows but that didn't mean it couldn't happen. Skycracker just shook his head and moved on. Charger would be here any minute.

"Okay, Prowl, ready? One, two, three!" Together they knocked down the first datapad piece. They fell down quickly, in almost perfect form. Even the junction point fell perfectly. Prowl clapped his hands when that happened, although he was distracted by the increasing high-pitch sound coming through the window. "What's that noise?" Prowl asked, as the last dominos fell.

"What – "

An energy bolt ripped through the office next to his, cutting Skycracker off. Debris shot out at him and Prowl but he managed to duck and yank Prowl underneath his desk with him. He couldn't hear anything over that energy blast! The high-pitch whine was more than his audios could handle and they shut down leaving him disorientated. Looking around he saw Prowl curled up, quivering as he held his hands over his audio receptors and his optics offline. Finally his audio receptors came back online half a bream later after the energy blast disappeared. He could hear screams and wounded cries all around him. He jumped up, shaken to his very core as he ran over to what use to be an office. There was a three-story size holed ripped right through the entire building!

"Primus!" As he gasped he felt the support beams begin to give way. He glanced down as he felt two small arms wrap around his leg. Prowl was shaking as he crouched down on the floor. Skycracker knew Prowl could hear the awful sounds the others were making. "Come on Prowl, we gotta – "

A second blast ripped through the building, this time a few stories lower. He screamed as the support beams started to give way. He managed to snatch the frightened sparkling just before the entire floor started sliding into the first hole. Crying out, he grabbed onto a support beam between him and the hole, holding on for dear life with Prowl between his arms as they plunged into the hole.

They plummeted into the next floor, smashing into the walls. Prowl cried out, nearly jolted out of Skycracker's arms. What was going on? Where was his carrier? He started to cry franticly for his carrier as Skycracker tried moving quickly across the fallen debris.

Skycracker ran as fast as he could, hearing the support beams groaning again. He stopped short, seeing his exit blocked. Franticly he searched around for a hole or crack – anything to get them away from the immediate threat. He tried to soothe Prowl down during his search.

"What the pit?" Skycracker yelped in surprise. What did he trip over? Looking back he saw one of his dear friends lying in two pieces. His friend wasn't dead yet, moaning in pain and trying to call for help. Skycracker knew no help could save her. He bent down grasping his friend's hand to comfort her. Prowl tucked his head into Skycracker's chassis as best as possible but he could still see the dying femme. He badly wanted to turn his audio receptors off but if he did then he'd never hear his carrier. Unable to do anything to ease his predicament, he clung to Skycracker tightly and began whimpering.

Feeling the pressure on his arms tighten, Skycracker was immediately reminded of the poor sparkling in his arms. What should he do? Let his friend die alone or further traumatize the youngling? He never made his decision as his friend suddenly violently spasm before going completely still. He almost started keening but was immediately cut off as the ground shuttered again. Standing back up he renewed his search but he couldn't find anything they could get through. The ground shuttered again, dropping a little.

"Prowl? Prowl! Skycracker?"

Both their heads snapped up and Skycracker ran towards the direction of her voice.

"Charger!"

They heard a crack as Charger ran up to the partially-fallen beam between them, ripping away a broken piece. The beam still held firmly in place, but at least they could now see each other.

Skycracker peered into the small hole. "I can't find a way to get out!"

"Back away!"

Skycracker leaped back, ducking behind what use to be his floor. A small blast blew the beam apart and Charger dashed in, weapon out. "Come on!" She cried. Both ran into the building section still supported. Charger moved ahead of them, looking around for an escape. The main exit for this building had fallen after the second blast and now there was no clear way down the twelve flights. Looking up, she stilled before pulling Skycracker and Prowl behind a wall with her – where Boombox's body laid. She hushed Prowl, calming him down as she rubbed his helm for a moment. Skycracker tried putting him in her arms, but she refused. "What are you doing?" He hissed.

She jerked her head towards the wall and Skycracker peered around. What he saw made him tremble. There, among the dying cries, were the rebels tearing into both mechs and systems. 'Primus…' he turned away, unable to watch his friends and coworkers be ripped apart.

Charger peered back around. She felt the same sting as Skycracker. She saw friends she set play dates with die in agony and there wasn't anything she could do. There were so many rebels… and they were equipped for fighting. She was possibly the only flight operations transformer with a weapon since most found the idea of carrying a weapon ludicrous. Blacksmoke forced her to start carrying it when the rebels started becoming a real threat, but it was only meant to defend herself against a few mechs. She stood no chance at fighting this many, but she couldn't put her gun down. Terror ran through her systems but she had to stay calm for her sparklings. The sparkling in her chassis brushed up against her spark again, probably feeling her terror.

"What about the systems over here?" Some of the rebels turned towards their direction.

"We have to move now!" Charger hissed at them, pushing Skycracker back towards the direction they came. They ran towards the other side making their way to the back of the building. Unfortunately, there were rebels in that direction as well.

Skycracker and Charger looked at each other. "There's nowhere to go." Skycracker breathed.

"No. Nowhere to go except back where I found you."

"But the floor supports are giving way!"

"We'll have to find a spot to hide out at in there. There's no other choice!"

Looking around, Skycracker saw that she was right. In any moment one of the two rebel groups would see them. Hesitating for a fraction of an astrosecond, Skycracker chose the only option they really had. He lunged into the hole Charger made earlier. Charger followed suit, using her blaster to knock down another beam to block the hole. Skycracker quickly search for a safe spot while still holding Prowl. There! One of the floors remained intact and he could feel the floor holding firmly.

"Over here!"

Charger hurried over to him. "Underneath all this debris?"

"It's the only place I can find where the floor isn't shaking." As for further proof, the floor around them shook and crumbled slightly but Skycracker's spot held rigid.

Charger subspaced her weapon, finally taking her sparkling into her arms. She could feel him trembling, and she tried reassuring him with comforting words while rubbing his helm and back. They stayed like that with Skycracker trying to help Charger calm the frightened sparkling.

Prowl finally managed to stop shaking, although his doorwings still quivered. He buried his face into Charger's chassis, begging her not to leave him again.

Charger felt a pang in her spark; both from her unnamed sparkling fluctuating wildly and from hearing Prowl's pleas. "I'm not going to leave you sweetspark, I promise."

Skycracker laid his hand on Prowl's head. "It'll be okay, little one. We're won't leave you."

Irony must have heard him because no sooner were the words out of his mouth did the floors above them shudder violently before giving way. Prowl cried as he felt larger debris hit him as the weight of the fallen floor caused their floor to give way and they smashed into the last fully intact floor.

/-/

Prowl whimpered as he came back online. His optics were refusing to come online, and he could barely hear. His right side was sending him waves of pain, particularly in his doorwing and leg. At least he could still feel his carrier's arms around him, but he wasn't lying on her chassis anymore. Finally, his optics rebooted. Prowl was lying on Charger's abdomen and she was sprawled across the floor. Her optics were dim.

"Carrier?" His voice sounded small and meek. She wasn't moving much and he could see some damage on her chassis with a small energon leak. Where was Skycracker?

As if to answer his question, he heard Skycracker moan to his right. Prowl tried to turn his head, but a sharp unyielding pain struck him and he cried out. As soon as the pain let him, he tried again slowly despite the reoccurring pain until he finally managed to find Skycracker.

Skycracker was lying on his back, bent over what use to be a desk, a jagged beam protruding into his chassis. His mouth hung open as he looked back towards Prowl, his optics unfocused. Energon was pouring out of his mouth. Prowl cried out trying frantically to move and help Skycracker. But he couldn't move! The pain in his doorwing and leg only got worse. Why couldn't he move?

Prowl managed to wiggle enough so he could see his right side. A small rebar had impaled his doorwing and several sharp pieces were jammed into his right side, including his neck. A large piece – possibly from the same desk Skycracker was on – went sideways into his leg. Prowl pushed the rebar in his doorwing until it loosed up out of Charger's hip and he could move a little. Looking back at his carrier he could hear her coming around. Turning to Skycracker he crawled until he came up to his face. He sat up on his knees, ignoring the pain in his leg as the shard dug in.

"Skycracker?" Prowl pushed on Skycracker's shoulder, trying to shake him. Skycracker moaned, turning towards Prowl. His optics tried to focus while his mouth attempted to close so he could form words.

"Skycracker?" Skycracker shuddered before making a gasp much like that femme he saw earlier. Skycracker's optics went dark. "Skycracker!"

Charger was stirred away by the sounds of her sparkling crying. The pain in her chassis… she could barely focus from the intense pain coming from her spark chamber. 'Primus… please let my sparklings be okay,' she silently prayed. She forced her systems to reroute enough power to her optics so she could search for Prowl. She found him huddled over Skycracker's dead body.

"Prowl! Prowl come here!" She cried urgently. Prowl stopped his little cries immediately.

"Carrier?" He dragged himself back until he was lying on top of her right shoulder. He curled up, looking at her face. He didn't want her optics to go dark too.

"Come 'ere." Charger reached her left arm around and dragged Prowl onto her chassis so she could wrap her arms around him, but she couldn't get him quite over her shoulder. The rebar in Prowl's doorwing was hitting the beam lying right above them. He whimpered as the bar twisted slightly, tearing his doorwing slightly.

Groaning, Charger tried to move her right arm. It hurt like the Pit, but it would move. "Prowl, sweetspark, can you get off my shoulder for a moment and lie down by my hand?" Prowl nodded before crawling down by her hand and lying as flat as possible. With some difficulty, Charger managed to move her arm around so she could pull the rebar out. Unfortunately, she had to pull it out at a slight angel so it tore Prowl's doorwing a little further. Prowl managed to hold his whimpering in – he needed to be strong for his carrier. She looked really hurt. Her legs were pinned down and steadily leaking energon.

Once the rebar was out, Charger pulled out the desk shard and Prowl came back up to her shoulder. This time Charger managed to pull him onto her chassis and Prowl curled up underneath her hand. Breathing a sigh of relief that her sparkling was alright at least for the moment, she began to assess her own damage. Her legs were losing a fair amount of energon and her right side had numerous non-threatening injuries, but she seemed okay with the exception of her chassis. Closing the systems in her legs to slow the loss of energon, she thanked Primus that Prowl didn't stay on her chassis as she fell. Whatever hit her would have likely dangerously wounded his helm. But while she thanked Primus she also begged him for her other sparkling's life. The pain was becoming weaker but so was her sparkling's presence.

Prowl laid there for almost a breem, just listening to his carrier breathe. Once he felt calmer, he lifted his head to look into her optics. "Carrier? Should I try to find help?"

Charger tilted her head back. A grey light slipped through the cracks behind them. Instead of feeling joy, however, Charger felt dread as she recalled which floor they were on. Several vital machines were on this floor, which meant it was likely the rebels were on the other side. She brought her hand up to the side of Prowl's face, lightly brushing it across. "No, my little Prowl. We have to remain quiet until we hear our friends."

Prowl didn't understand but he would do as his carrier said. He laid his head back down and held his carrier tightly. Charger put her head back down, absently brushing her hand against Prowl's back for comfort as she tried to use her own spark to help her other sparkling. Now it was all a matter of time.

/-/

Prowl raised his head up, not sure if he was hearing things right. He could hardly see, most of the light from the cracks gone. He strained his damaged audio receptors hoping he really heard it.

"Is anyone there? Is anyone still alive?" The voice was faint, but it was definitely coming from the other side.

Prowl immediately pulled himself up so he could see his carrier's face. Her optics were dark.

"Carrier?" His little hands gently shook her face. A faint moan came floated through the air and her optics came online, dimmer than last time. Prowl shook her one more time, but she didn't respond anymore. No! "Carrier, they're here! Our friends came!" Prowl shook her harder, crying for her to wake up.

"Hey! I hear someone over here!" Prowl stopped, and looked up. His carrier needed him to be brave and try to reach the transformers who could help them. He crawled forward until he reached the beam between him and help. He cried out until someone found him.

"I've found someone! Come quick!"

"Help!" Prowl cried, pushing against the beam, trying to get to the mech who would help his carrier. "My carrier is hurt!"

"Carrier? Are you a sparkling?"

"Uh huh! Please help!" Prowl heard the voice swore.

"Relax sparkling, help's on the way. I need you to back away. Can you do that for me?"

Prowl back up until he was back on Charger's chassis. The disembodied voiced called again, asking him if he was far away. Prowl told him yes before curling up on Charger's chassis, by her head. He could hear the voice tell him they were coming but he didn't respond.

"Carrier? They're coming. See, they're coming. Please don't go black." He held onto her neck, begging her to be okay. Charger's optic were still dim, but she moaned a little when he grabbed her neck. Prowl heard the beam between them get sliced up as the rescuers kept calling. He didn't look at them; he was focused on making sure his carrier's optics didn't go black.

He felt Charger's body being pulled backwards, but they stopped when her legs remained trap. A small mech climbed in and cut the debris away. He kept telling Prowl that they were going to be fine, but Prowl barely heard him. At last Charger's body was pulled free. As they left their small hole, Prowl glanced back at Skycracker. "Don't forget him!" He pointed at Skycracker, getting the small mech's attention.

The mech uttered a surprised sound, staring at the body. "Uh, yeah… we'll get him out." Prowl sighed in relief; now maybe Skycracker's optics wouldn't be black.

The rescuers pulled them flat onto the ground and one of them dragged Prowl away. Prowl, of course, cried – he wasn't having it. He had to be with his carrier! But the femme holding him paid no heed to his cries as she quickly checked him over. He could hear them yelling back and forth about his carrier.

"We need to get this femme into surgery right now! She's carrying a sparkling and they're both in critical condition!" Whoever this strange mech was turned towards Prowl. "Does this sparkling have a body ready for it yet?"

Prowl was confused. "My carrier said my brother was gonna be with us in a decaorn."

That was all the mech needed to know. "Someone find where the sparkling's body is! We may have to force a spark-body transition if we want at least one of them to survive."

Two mechs came over with a long, thin thing Prowl had never seen before. Charger was pulled onto it and they took her away. Prowl screamed after her.

"Shh! It'll be okay." The femme tried to hug him, but Prowl pushed her away. "You'll be with her soon, I promise, but right now I need to take you to the sparkling care unit at the main medical facility. She'll be there too." Prowl tried to keep pushing her, but he eventually gave up, collapsing in exhaustion, keening softly as she took him away.

No, that wasn't the attack on Praxus from cannon. And that high-pitched tone was an energy charger being powered up. Any guesses on who the infiltrator was that figured out the connection between the delivery and main systems?

Third part will be up by the end of this week.