The fact that school was starting tomorrow didn't stop Tailgate from staying home to watch Cyclonus. Ratchet had an emergency and had to leave earlier than he anticipated, in his place was a surly mech that went by the name Orion Pax. Orion had a strong build and towered over Tailgate with a blue and red paint job. His face mask didn't help much, after all, Tailgate was abnormally timid and big mechs tended to make him fidget.

"Don't take this personally, Orion, but if Tailgate shifts around a lot and mumbles to himself, it's because he's terrified of you." Ratchet informed walking Orion to the front door. Orion raised a brow,

"Is he any shiftier than possible suspects?" he asked placing a servo on his hip. Ratchet shrugged and knocked on the door. Stumbling and loud noises were heard before Tailgate answered the door.

"Hello Ratchet and police officer…" Tailgate stood absolutely still as his voice lowered to a nervous whisper. "hi." He managed to squeak out. Orion nodded and looked to Ratchet for some back up, but was left high and dry as Ratchet walked off waving a servo absentmindedly. Tailgate scrambled out of the way asked if Orion wanted any Energon.

"No thank-you, I already had some. This is a lovely Flat you have here." Orion said looking around, the kitchen was open and very bright. A long rectangular window was above the sink and a table sat in the very middle of the counters. A fridge was whirring next to the sink. The entire Flat was colored in white and pale blue.

"Th-thank-you, I decorated it myself. The reason why it's so big is because it's for two bots." Tailgate said sitting on the couch with his servos in between his thighs, rocking back and forth anxiously.

The den was decorated with a coffee table, a couch, and a table with a mirror hung above it, another window (similar in shape to the one in the kitchen) was above the couch.

"So you have someone in the other room?" Orion asked pointing to the bedroom door. Tailgate nodded felt his face heat up under his visor and mask, he didn't know how Cyclonus would react to Orion and he didn't want to make him angry. On other hand he didn't want to end up like his parents either. Tailgate was so caught up in trying to please everyone he didn't even realize Orion was walking up to him.

"Tailgate I promise I won't hurt you, but you're going to have to trust me…please?" Orion laid a gentle servo on Tailgates shoulder and hoped he wouldn't be too scared to show him who was in the other room. Tailgate shifted and made a small noise like that of a quiet whimper. He finally crumbled and got up to show Orion into the next room.

The room (like the rest of the house) was brightly lit and had a rectangular window at the far end in the middle of two berths. A desk and lamp stood under the window, a book-shelve sat to its left and a wall of pinned photos and news articles. What drew Orion's optic though, was the dark glowering mech on the berth away from them. Tailgate rushed over to him and asked in a hushed tone if he needed any pain killers. The mechs flaring red optics dimmed ever so slightly as he shook his helm.

"You must be Cyclonus, the bot that came up in the middle of the night bleeding to death." Orion said looking at the others bandages and welded metal.

"And you must be the cop that's come here to arrest me." Cyclonus said with a steal bite in his voice, which was cold, distant and rich with distaste. Orion's arms crossed as he looked to Tailgate who was right in the middle of banging his head into a nearby wall. "This is what I get for letting a strange bot into my home." He muttered quietly in the middle of beating himself in the forehead.

"Right, well that depends if you're wanted by the authorities or not," Orion said "You're not, are you?"

"As far as I know I'm not, but then again I don't really care that much anymore." Cyclonuses voice sounded distant as his optics shifted to stare at the floor.

"Well, I'll take that as a 'no' then, have a nice day you two." Orion spoke as he made his way to the exit.

"Wait" Tailgate asked catching him just before he left, "You're not going to arrest any of us?"

Orion was silent for a moment before speaking. "All that's here is two bots in need of some peace and quiet. That's all."

After he was gone Cyclonus huffed and sat up on his berth. "I'm more than glad you patched me up, but I would like you to know I can't stay long." Tailgate turned and met his optics. He shrugged and let his shoulders slump.

"That's okay, other bots never stay long so I wouldn't expect any special treatment from you either" he mumbled squeezing his other arm like a youngling would. His visor dimmed as he made his way out to give Cyclonus some space.

"Look I'll stay just as long as you don't drag me to any family events." Cyclonus said quickly just before Tailgate left. He paused; visor brightened and nodded in agreement.

"Oh, that reminds me," Tailgate said "I have school tomorrow so try not to go outside, okay? I don't want whoever did that to you know where you're hiding."

Cyclonus had completely forgot about Blackout and Knives, they were probably still sore from the shots he fired at them. Cyclonus didn't know what was worse, the fact that this little mini-bot was under his protection, or the fact that this little mini-bot was too cute to leave. Tailgate had gotten up next to him and looked at him with optics on over bright, damn this was going to be hard.

"Right, I'll try not to…" Cyclonus ground out. 'Scrap, this is going be really hard.' He thought as Tailgate sat on the edge of the berth and kicked his peds like a little sparkling. It seemed as though the mini-bot was as innocent as he looked.

"Welp, I'll go and get you some more Energon, you must be starved." Tailgate chirped as he hopped to the ground.

As Tailgate left Cyclonus thought just how hard leaving some had been, and hard it was now.

"Slag."

~xxx~

"This is an outrage, how could you let this happen?!" Starscream screeched at the top of his vocalizer. Blackout scowled at him from the dark damp plat form.

"He was the leading gun expert and he was second in command before you came along! He nearly killed us!" Blackout raged, Blazing red optics glaring at Starscream in agitation.

"Oh please, don't complain when you're the one who hired him in the first place," Knives said elbowing Blackout in the side. Blackout scowled at him, but quieted down. Knives was right, he did hire him in the first place and he knew what was to come if Cyclonus was to back fire.

"I'll fix alright?" Blackout said leaning against the wall behind him. The only way anyone knew he was still there was his optics.

"And how do you suppose you'll do that?" Starscream asked a clawed digit running along his chin.

"I'll use whatever I can against him; it shouldn't be too hard,"

"I think he has a soft spot for helpless little things."