Egypt

"It's right down next to – what are you doing? I said the auxiliary feed, not my slagging coolant line."

"They, uh, they all look the same to me."

"Alright, well – just follow the coolant line up to it's dock, and – now what are you doing?"

"This – I don't know, it's in the way!"

"Leave it alone. Do you still have the coolant line?"

"Yeah."

"It should terminate near my alt mode's drive shaft. Do you see it?"

"...no."

"It's hard to miss, Sideways."

"I'm not a mechanic! I've never done anything like this before!"

Demolisher held in his irritation, falling silent only to let Sideways take a break. He felt the other 'Con recline against his shoulder, presumably frustrated and more than a little embarrassed about his inability to perform a simple repair. It wasn't life threatening or all that urgent, but Demolisher didn't like to let even a frayed wire go long without attention. Unfortunately, Sideways lacked the know-how when it came to performing simple engineering feats.

"What's Barricade doing?" Demolisher could only see so much when he was flat on the ground between his wheels, arms spread out. The cab of his alt mode was taller than the armor he typically had, so he could not see around his own shoulders with just his optics. He felt Sideways shift on his perch before slouching back down.

"Still staring off into space," Sideways replied. Of course, Barricade was doing far more than that, but he hadn't moved in hours. Demolisher could hear him broadcasting a drone recall signal, though the radius was only ten miles. It was a stretch to think Scorponok would be that close in such a large desert, but widening the radius meant risking exposure to the Autobots. Since their altercation in Sri Lanka, Demolisher found himself all but shunned by Barricade and, by extension, Wheelie. They would have been split down the middle were it not for the fact that Wheelie didn't like any of them.

So, they resigned themselves to waiting, and Demolisher decided to put Sideways' small hands to use and get some maintenance done. Much to his disappointment, Sideways turned out to know even less about field repairs than Demolisher. It just confirmed how little time he spent in or near battles, or near wounded units of any kind. As far as Demolisher was concerned, there were things every mech should know about basic Cybertronian mechanics. He was not an expert by any means, but it was impossible not to pick up on some things when working alongside the likes of Scrapper and Hightower. Knowing something as simple as how to seal ruptured fuel lines could very well be the only thing standing between life and permanent deactivation.

"You don't have to be a mechanic," Demolisher said, idly lifting his left hand and letting it fall again. "Haven't you had any field training?"

"No," the reply was so quiet, Demolisher almost missed it.

"You were doing fine with Scorponok," he pressed, wondering if Sideways was just pretending to be ignorant. There was no reason he could think of for that sort of behavior, though.

"That was just resealing the armor!" Sideways said defensively. "Wouldn't let me do anything else anyways..."

Thinking back on it, Demolisher realized Scorponok had resisted anything they had tried on it outside of fueling and armor repair. Sideways had been wise enough to keep his hands away from the scorpions tail, but a quick scan had told them it had been healing fine without needing any help. He wondered how it was doing now, hiding in the desert from friend and foe alike.

"Then come here," Demolisher said, lifting his hand again to try and move Sideways. "I've got something to help you."

"Now?" Sideways sounded skeptical, but he quickly scrambled out of the way of Demolisher's hand. He probably thought he was going to get picked up, which they both knew he resented a great deal. Honestly, Demolisher hadn't met a Cybertronian that enjoyed being carried around like that.

"What else are we going to do?" Demolisher asked, turning his head as Sideways crawled across his split cab, carefully choosing his footing. He looked a bit unsettled, as if worried he was going to step on something important. Eventually he settled for gripping the railing on Demolisher's cab, looking down at him apprehensively.

"Well," Sideways sounded like he had a good reason, but fell silent for a moment, realizing he actually didn't. "Shouldn't we, uh, help Barricade?"

"He's fine," Demolisher said. "Let me upload some data files to you. Scrapper wrote them, so they might be somewhat wordy, but they get the point across."

"Can't we just watch a movie?" Sideways pleaded.

"What, like The Mummy?" the prone Constructicon snorted. There was a hint of a smile on Sideways' face, but it was quickly buried under his front of defiance. "Use your time more practically."

After that, Sideways accepted the files Demolisher had presented to him, settling down to sort through them while they waited. It was obvious that Sideways was not the type to study something that he had no interest in; his constant fidgeting was keeping Demolisher from powering down to a light recharge.

"Haven't seen The Mummy Returns yet," he heard Sideways mutter. Demolisher looked up at him, but the silver 'Con merely looked in the other direction. He was probably trying to hide his attempt to control his laughter. So much for concentrating on something useful.

"What's Barricade doing?" Demolisher asked, checking a sigh If nothing practical was going to get done, he might as well continue keeping tabs on the Mustang. Sideways pushed himself up, peering over Demolisher's shoulder-cab.

"Uh," Sideways said not-so-eloquently. "Panicking?"

Sideways yelped as Demolisher suddenly jerked, making a grab for the railing as the larger 'Con pushed himself upright. Sand cascaded down both of them as Demolisher's wheel rose up above him, body twisting to see Barricade. He was headed straight for them, Wheelie racing with him as fast as his little tires would take him. Whatever the problem was, it had Barricade spooked, but -

"No!" Barricade screamed, at the same time the sand between them exploded. Demolisher turned his head away to avoid getting the grit in his face, and he felt Sideways hug closer to his frame, nearly losing his grip as his perch jerked again. Turning back, Barricade and Wheelie were no longer in sight, swallowed by a cloud of dust and sand. Out of that cloud came a metallic scorpion, shrieking with such fury it made Demolisher's dermal sensors stand on end.

The scales on Scorponok's tail rippled, and Demolisher realized too late that it was charging its weapons. The drone opened fire, hitting Demolisher in the left shoulder. His shields deflected any serious damage from the blast, but the force of the impact caused him to recoil. Caught off guard, Sideways lost his grip on his shoulder and slid off, landing in a heap on the sand. Barricade came sprinting out of the dust, making a grab for Scorponok as it went straight for Sideways. Too slow by seconds, the scorpion struck out at the silver 'Con.

Sideways barely had the time to roll out of the way before the drone's fully-intact stinger impaled his head, scrambling madly in the sand. Retracting its tail, Scorponok lashed out with one claw, clipping Sideways' heel and causing him to stumble. Barricade came at it again, but was repelled as Scorponok knocked him down with one swat of its tail. It went at Sideways again, claws spinning even as he lifted his own saws to try and drive it back. Concentrating on the claws, Sideways was unprepared for the strike from Scorponok's tail, the stinger burying deep into his midsection before he knew it was moving. He howled in pain, systems staggering to a halt as the damage set off a cascade of vital warnings.

Demolisher, having been passive until the drone skewered Sideways, lurched into action. Scorponok dodged Demolisher's hand before it got crushed, yanking its tail out of Sideways and scurrying around Barricade as he tried to box it in between them. Demolisher shoved Barricade away, not wanting to have to distinguish between targets in such close quarters. In the time it took him to remove the Mustang, Scorponok was already burrowing into the sand, quickly disappearing. Faster than even he thought possible, Demolisher snagged its tail, pulling it back out of the ground roughly. That sort of treatment might damage the drone's spinning claws, but Demolisher did not care, feeling only screaming pain in the deep recesses of his processor.

Scorponok tried to pull its body around to strike him with its claws, but Demolisher simply tossed it into the air. It screeched as it went up, only to be silenced when Demolisher's other hand caught it, fingers crushing so tightly he heard one of its claws and several legs break. Demolisher dropped the crumbled drone, which hit the sand with a keen of pain before curling into a defensive position.

"If you don't get it under control now, I will kill it," Demolisher said to Barricade, who was already dashing to the drone's side. Demolisher turned to inspect Sideways, unable to ignore him due to the phantom pains hovering outside of his consciousness. Sideways had his arms wrapped around his middle, but was still standing even as vital fluids dripped down his legs.

"It didn't hit anything important," Sideways said at once, balking under Demolisher's scrutinizing stare. Unless he was mistaken, Demolisher believed the silver 'Con was putting on a front, not wanting to look weak in front of Barricade – or him. He supposed it was admirable for Sideways to try out being brave, but the trait did not suit him in the least. The timing was incredibly bad as well, since the damage looked like it was far more than cosmetic upon closer inspection.

"Barricade, does Scorponok use any sort neural toxin or poison in its stinger?" Demolisher asked, sparing the Mustang a brief glance. Scorponok was behaving itself, though it wailed pitifully as Barricade pulled apart its command console. He was standing on its tail as well, even though the fight had gone out of it once Demolisher crushed it.

"It has before," Barricade replied, claws digging under the scorpion's armor as it wailed. After inspecting it for a moment, he said: "The tank is dry. It hasn't had any poison in here for a long time. Blackout wasn't one for incapacitating enemies anyways – just killing them."

"Come here," Demolisher demanded of Sideways, who didn't budge. It occurred to him that if Sideways did step forward, he'd probably fall over, meaning the injury was worse than it looked. Reaching out with one long arm, he snatched up the Audi, feeling him shudder in both his hand and in the back of his mind. Dropped callously to the ground, Sideways landed on his aft, grimacing in pain. "Open up."

Somewhat reluctantly, Sideways pulled his arms away from his middle, revealing the gaping wound. It was worse than what Barricade had done to his shoulder in Sri Lanka, and located in the exact spot where Ratchet had extracted the parasite. He had healed perfectly from both encounters, but Demolisher could not understand how unfortunate one mech could be so consistently. The pain he was receiving from across the link was intense, more intrusive than anything he had felt from Sideways before. He was already furious about being attacked by the drone, and the uncomfortable reminder of the symbiosis put him in an even worse mood.

"You are a lightning rod for disaster," Demolisher snarled, uncaring of the abashed expression on Sideways' face. He lifted his arms to cover himself again, but was stopped when Demolisher brushed them away with one finger. "It nicked your secondary fuel line, cut through your radiator, dislocated several of your structural vertebrae and yet it didn't hit anything important. Lie to me again and you'll be worse off than that miserable drone."

Demolisher reared back, twisting himself around to deal with Barricade and Scorponok. As soon as Demolisher rolled past him, Sideways wrapped his arms around himself again, shaking in pain and anguish. Whatever pity or concern he felt for the Audi was rapidly diminishing with his growing irritation about the entire situation. Scorponok was almost entirely limp by now, several wires connecting it to Barricade, who had perched on top of the drone.

"It saw us as a threat," Barricade said, before Demolisher could ask. He cast a glance over at Sideways, then returned his attention to the drone beneath him. "For some reason, Blackout's orders were so specific it meant excluding any other Cybertronian, especially Decepticons."

"I noticed it did not attack you," Demolisher said hotly, watching the drone try to curl into itself more. "It intentionally targeted myself and Sideways, but just batted you out of the way."

"Give me some time to sort it out," Barricade snapped, dodging any commentary on who Scorponok had attacked and why. Demolisher wasn't going to let it go for long; Barricade had obviously known what Scorponok's intentions were when he'd been running at them. "It would be more trusting if you hadn't crushed it."

"May be it shouldn't have impaled Sideways without any warning," Demolisher snarled back. What was Barricade talking about, being more trusting? Considering it had gone on the offensive before they knew what it was doing, it clearly didn't trust them to begin with. "Sort it out, otherwise I'm putting it out of its misery."

Barricade did not respond, and Demolisher turned back to check on Sideways. He did not acknowledge Demolisher's approach, listing to the side as the shock seemed to finally be sinking in. Demolisher felt little regret for what he had said, but his patience had already been tested repeatedly over the months. Still, he forced himself to calm down, doing his best to push Sideways' pain as far from his central processor as possible. Watching the drone hurt him like that had triggered something in Demolisher that he didn't understand. He had felt overprotective before, but it usually only happened when Rampage was tormenting Scavenger, or some other innocent bystander.

Finding some untapped reserved of patience within him, Demolisher reached out to Sideways and pushed him upright with one finger. He remained like that for only a moment, before leaning to the other side. Sideways shuddered as he readjusted his grip around his middle, the feeling trickling through Demolisher's sensors quite unpleasantly. The stinger had not gone all the way through his chassis, but the damage it had done indicated Scorponok was aiming to incapacitate more then anything else.

"Are your self repair systems working properly?" he asked, trying, and probably failing, to keep his tone even and calm. Sideways nodded his head dully, not even looking at Demolisher. No matter how badly he wanted to ask Sideways to send him a scan of his vitals, he didn't dare with Barricade so close. The silver 'Con seemed intent on putting up his front of bravado. If he had the strength to do that, Demolisher reasoned, then he would be alright.

"Where's Wheelie?" Sideways' question caused both Demolisher and Barricade to look at him sharply, but the latter turned his head westwards.

"Under the sand," Barricade said, going back to what he was doing with the scorpion. "Scorponok must have buried him in his attack."

There was silence, until Sideways asked: "Aren't you going to get him?"

"Let him rust," Barricade snorted. "I'm busy."

With some effort, Sideways stood up, limping off in the direction that Barricade had looked. Demolisher watched his gait with interest, noting how he favored his right side. Not only were his systems still rattled, but his spinal structure was still dislocated. He should not be walking, or doing much of anything, until that had time to heal. By all rights, Demolisher should not have cared or been the least bit concerned for Sideways' well being, seeing as he'd probably find a way to damage himself again.

"Sideways, sit down," Demolisher commanded, despite himself. Without turning around, Sideways complied, plopping down in the sand with another muffled grunt of pain. Demolisher rolled forward, scanners already probing the desert floor, picking up the drone's distress signal easily. Digging two hooked fingers into the sand, he sifted about until he hit metal, pulling the little mech up without any resistance. Sputtering and coughing up sand, the drone writhed about on the ground for a few moments, before Demolisher got bored with his theatrics and turned to leave him.

"What's the big idea!" Wheelie shrieked, his ire aimed at Barricade. "How long were you gonna leave me down there, huh? You got some -"

"Be silent," Barricade snapped, though he didn't bother to face Wheelie at all. "Or I'll let Scorponok finish the job!"

Wheelie's cursing subsided to angry mutters, and he gave Barricade and Scorponok wide berth. Deciding he might be safer with the others, he followed Demolisher over to where Sideways was languishing.

"Whoa!" Wheelie said, crawling on Sideways' leg to get a closer look at the damage. "What'd it do, make a shish kabob outta ya? Nasty old thing, got all it's bad habits from Blackout -"

"You would do well not to speak about Blackout like that in my presence," Barricade warned, tone holding a very dark promise to it. Wheelie shot him a cold look, but shut up, much to Demolisher's relief. He wanted to pry the blue drone off of Sideways, who wasn't going to heal if he was being pestered like that. Much to his surprise, Sideways suddenly shoved the drone off of him, wincing as the movement caused him more pain.

"Hey, I was just helpin'!" Wheelie shouted indignantly, shaking sand off of himself like some freakish canine.

"Stay away from me," Sideways said, though his tone was flat, lacking all the anger and vehemence that Barricade's warnings always had.

"I was help -" Wheelie retreated quickly when Demolisher moved forward, towering over Sideways' back.

"What is your function?" Demolisher asked the drone, ignoring Sideways when he looked up at him. The silver 'Con's shoulders bunched up, as if afraid something was going to happen to him even if he wasn't being addressed.

"I'ma salvage drone!" Wheelie answered defiantly, before backing up again when Demolisher braced his hands on either side of Sideways.

"Tell me," Demolisher said. "How often do you salvage parts from functioning units?"

"A job's a job!" Wheelie shot back, optics darting back and forth, looking for somewhere to escape and hide. Unfortunately for him, there was nothing but sand for endless miles.

"I agree," the Constructicon said, nodding once. "In fact, do you want to know why they call me Demolisher?"

Wheelie did not. Without another biting comment, the drone transformed and took off, tiny engine buzzing as it struggled to gain speed. Demolisher watched him leave with a snort. "Good riddance."

"Demolisher," Sideways' voice was very small, almost trembling. Demolisher looked towards Barricade, who was fully absorbed in his task with Scorponok. If he was listening, he was doing an excellent job pretending he wasn't. "It really hurts."

Sideways fidgeted a bit when Demolisher transformed to his alt mode, watching the excavator curiously as he pulled himself up between the silver 'Con and Barricade's line of sight. It also cast a shadow over Sideways, whose damaged radiator was not faring well in the glaring sun. Quietly, and cautiously, Sideways inched closer to Demolisher, finally slumping against his alt mode. He might not carry sedatives or painkillers, but Demolisher knew the importance of peace of mind. Without Barricade glaring at him, Sideways could rest easy and continue to let his self repair systems do their work.

Wheelie had not gone too far, simply ducking out of sight over the nearest sand dune. Barricade continued to work with Scorponok, still sitting on top of it and keeping them hardwired. The Mustang looked distracted, though Demolisher could not help but notice the hand he had laid over Scorponok's head. Otherwise deadly claws stroked in between Scorponok's optics, rendering the drone practically catatonic and entirely pliant.

Demolisher regarded the slight figure that was currently using him as a backrest. What, exactly, was the distinction between a drone and a common mech like Sideways? It wasn't size, as Scorponok was nearly as large as Barricade's alt mode. It couldn't be free will, as Scorponok was far more capable of acting independently than Sideways. Demolisher could think it over all day and all night and probably never figure it out. Once again, waiting seemed to be his sole option, considering only time would heal Sideways as well as allow Barricade to decipher Scorponok's behavior. Whether or not Barricade would give them the truth remained to be seen.

Even with Soundwave's impending arrival hanging over their heads, there was no hurry to be anywhere or get anything done. He just couldn't understand why that made him feel like they were running out of time.

At half past three in the morning, a familiar comm channel flared to life on Demolisher's radio. It was one that he always kept open, but had been silent due to his distance from the other party. The voices that flowed over it stirred up a well of emotions within him, ranging from ecstatic to relieved, and a heavy dose of anticipation. Minding his slumbering companion, Demolisher transformed, craning his head up towards the moon to get a better signal. Below him, Sideways stirred, making a small noise as his injury protested the movement.

"What is it?" Sideways asked, looking up at him through the dark.

"Listen," Demolisher said, pointing one finger upwards and broadcasting the comm channel so they could all hear it. Four pinpricks of red light told him Barricade was watching them, but he did not leave Scorponok or say anything. Seven voices filled the air, distorted by the long distance and interference.

"-so then he said, that's not a negavator, that's my drone!"

"I'm pretty sure that's the fifth time you've told that slagging joke."

"Seventh time, actually."

"It was not!"

"Well it wasn't funny the first time. Or the second time, or the third-"

"No one asked you!"

"Hey, wow, there's a lot of water on that planet."

"Approximately 71% of the surface is covered in water, most of it salt oceans, with the toposphere -"

"Great, now you've got him going."

"I was just making an observation!"

"Go crash in the ocean and then make your observation!"

"Constructicons," Demolisher explained, seeing the confused, yet interested, look on Sideways' face. "And they're close."

The voices of his teammates gradually began to talk over one another, separate conversations pulling them in different directions. He could see Sideways struggling to pinpoint who was talking about what, something that Demolisher had no trouble doing whatsoever.

"-startin' something with me -" Long Haul.

"-causes leakages of hydrogen atoms beyond gravitation pull, though most bond with oxygen-" Mixmaster.

"-the entire city is gone because only a pack of renegade Autobots had the smarts to stand up to-" Scrapper.

"-can tell that slagger to go stick his head in a smelting pool-" Rampage.

"-tell me that you don't think there isn't valid recourse for-" Overload.

"-a disastrous occurrence that only proves his inability to-" Hightower.

"Hey, Demo's in range!" Scavenger, whose words resulted in such terrible cacophony that Demolisher had to cut the broadcast. Even as he did so, a queue of personal comm channels suddenly piled up on his radio, the most important one flagged from Scrapper. He would speak with his leader first, knowing most of the others would grow bored with waiting and drop off his list.

"They're coming to Earth?" Sideways asked, waiting a few moments after the silence.

"Yes," said Demolisher, barely keeping his tone subdued. "Which means we'll have some real direction shortly."

Scrapper had already uploaded their current position and estimated planetfall. Finally, after so many long months plodding across this dusty planet, Demolisher could provide them with something useful to do. He could not adequately explain how happy this made him, especially coupled with the fact that he would be reunited with his team. Certainly Scavenger would -

There was a sudden, unexpected feeling of disappointment weighing his thoughts down, and he instinctively looked towards Sideways. He hadn't moved any closer to Demolisher after he'd transformed, and was now attempting to put some distance between them. Confused, Demolisher neglected to acknowledge Scrapper's hails as he considered Sideways' unhappy attitude. It came to him only a moment later; the arrival of the other Constructicons threatened his place alongside Demolisher. He had probably enjoyed being the center of Demolisher's attention, as well as being defended from the likes of Barricade. Sideways was probably a little afraid as well; several of the Constructicons had violent reputations even by Decepticon standards.

He would deal with Sideways' crippling anxieties later. For now, he ignored the other 'Con in favor of opening the private channel from Scrapper. There was, after all, so very much that needed discussing.

A/N: Ripper22: If he's in the third movie, let's hope it's a cool cameo and not an unnecessary death scene!

icys: Thanks for your review. I admit I'm guilty of making Demolisher much smarter than his bio gives him credit for, but it also seems to hint that he's leading the group of 'Cons he's with. Plus, to me, the word 'stupid' and 'Constructicon' don't fit in the same sentence.

Thanks to everyone else for the reviews and such!