The Decepticon troop accompanied Chromia and Thistleant to the medic's lab, chained Chromia to an operating table, and then left.

Thistleant coughed nervously, shuffled a few datapads around, and then retreated to his office, leaving Chromia to her paranoid thoughts.

She struggled uselessly against the bonds, her thoughts consumed with worry about Ironhide. Were they hurting him? Torturing him? Killing him? Was he already offline?

She was terrified that she would never see him again.

So when Starscream waltzed into the lab nearly an hour later, Chromia was struggling like a possessed femme to get out of the chains.

"What in Pit-those are reinforced steel, femme." Starscream raised an optic ridge, "You're not going to break them with sheer will."

"Worth a shot." She grunted, "I hear you're the half-assed excuse as a replacement for Megatron?"

Starscream's faceplates were livid and he shoved an arm cannon at her neck as Thistleant cried, "D-don't! She's a p-perfect specimen!"

"Specimen?" Starscream sneered, "What the frag is this femme good for, besides maybe recycling?"

"Weapon R!" Thistleant said excitedly, "I d-did few scans of her sp-spark and it seems like strong enough to p-power it."

"Excuse me?" Chromia said impatiently, "What exactly are you planning to exploit my spark for?"

"Explain."Starscream waved a servo at Thistleant, "I don't feel like it."

"Weapon R is a high p-powered weapon that I created to destroy the Autobots." Thistleant said proudly, "It's absolutely fl-flawless, except it n-needs the charge of someone's spark to power it. That's where you c-come in."

"Are you out of your processor?" She stared at him,"Why the scrap do you think I would agree to this? Unless..." Her shoulders slumped, "You're taking it by force."

"I c-can't actually t-take it by force because to do that I w-would have to pry your spark chamber open which would d-damage your spark." Thistleant sighed regretfully, "So we will n-need you willing, which m-means you have a bit of l-leverage."

Chromia's processor began to hum with possibilities. She could get herself and Ironhide out of here! Sure, it meant providing the Decepticons with a high powered weapon, but the Autobots could always destroy it later.

"Anything I want?" Chromia demanded

"Anything you fragging want." Starscream snapped, "Make it quick. I have better things to be doing."

"I want myself and the mech I came here with, Ironhide, released immediately after this spark-powering process." Chromia said firmly, "Unharmed, with one working comm link provided."

"I w-would hate to t-tell you this." Thistleant said, and it seemed genuine, "B-but it is unlikely you will m-make it out of this online, and unharmed is c-completely impossible."

Chromia simply stared at him, numb with shock for a moment. Then once she got her mouth working she said dazedly, "My conditions are the same. Ironhide and I both leave here, whether I am online or not. He is unharmed and a working comm link is provided."

"You have my word." Starscream said casually

"Your word is worth a fragging grain of salt to me Starscream!"Chromia spat at him and fixed her optics on Thistleant, "I want his word."

Thistleant looked properly terrified, "M-mine? Whatever f-for?"

"Because." Chromia said quietly, "You'll keep it."

Thistleant nodded hesitantly and looked at Chromia, "You have my word."

"Well enough of this mushy-gushy scrap." Starscream stalked out the door, "Thistleant, prepare Weapon R."

"Where are you going?" Chromia asked

Starscream smirked, "To go get your boyfriend so he can watch you die. Tell me, what does he look like? We have a lot of Autobot prisoners."

"You do?" Chromia stared at him

"Of course." He sneered, "Where do you think all of the rest of the Autobots are? The others that never made it to your base?"

Chromia felt a sick sense of dread and an overwhelming desire to see Ironhide, to ensure he was alright and these monsters hadn't harmed him.

"He's silver...and uh, blue optics..." Chromia said hesitantly

"As if that doesn't describe every fragging Autobot!" Starscream yelled, "Give me something useful or I'll come back with whatever Autobot I find!"

Chromia quickly tried to think of Ironhide's discerning characteristics. There weren't many except...

"A scar." Chromia said suddenly, "On his left jaw, right near his mouth."

"Oddly sp-specific." Thistleant commented after Starscream had left, "How d-do you know th-that?"

"Because." Chromia said unhappily, "I gave it to him."

OooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooO

Starscream dragged Ironhide up to Thistleant's lab nearly twenty minutes later, bloody, bruised, and chained but otherwise okay. Chromia breathed a sigh of relief.

"Femme." Starscream huffed, trying to catch his breath while chaining Ironhide to a nearby pole, "You have the heaviest Primusdamn boyfriend I have ever had the misfortune of carrying. You better make this worth my while."

"Make what worth your while Screamy?" Ironhide asked

"Call me that again, Autobot filth." Starscream smacked him across the faceplates, hard.

Ironhide just grinned and spat energon at Starscream's faceplates, and the seeker cursed, wiping it away and grabbing one of Thistleant's scalpels, "I'll destroy you Autobot!"

"No!" Chromia shouted, worming against the bonds, "Thistleant! You promised! Unharmed!"

"Starscream, stop." Thistleant demanded, voice steady for once

Starscream half turned, greedy optics still fixed on Ironhide, "And what are you going to do about it?"

"I will be forced to take you down." Thistleant said calmly, "I don't go back on my promises."

Starscream practically chortled at this, "You? Take me down? How on Cybertron do you propose to do that, doctor?"

"First." Thistleant said quietly, "I would snap your knee right at the back, the place you had me repair not two months ago. I bet it's still weakened just enough. Then, I would dislocate the shoulder you had surgery on a year ago, right after I slice open the cables connecting your wings that were damaged in your last battle with the Autobots. And finally, with you a mess of broken limbs on the floor, I would end your life."

Nearly everyone in the rooms mouths' had dropped open, including Starscream, who sputtered, "You-you wouldn't dare!"

Thistleant raised an optic ridge, "Never underestimate your own medic, Starscream."

He returned to preparing Weapon R, leaving everyone staring after him until Ironhide finally complained, "Will someone please tell me what the bloody Pit is going on?"

"Oh, you didn't hear?" Starscream sneered, dropping the metal scalpel back on the table, "Your girlfriend's gonna sacrifice herself to save you! Isn't that so romantic?" He rolled his optics and ducked out of the room

Ironhide looked up at her, horrified, "Chromia. Tell me he's lying."

Chromia cringed, "Stop looking at me like that, would ya? And for the record!" She shouted after Starscream, "We're not dating!"

Thistleant patiently explained again what was happening and Ironhide remained silent for the duration of the explanation.

When Thistleant finished, Ironhide glared up at Chromia, "No."

" 'No'?" Chromia looked confused, "What do you mean 'no'?"

"You can't go through with this." Ironhide said firmly, "I won't allow it."

Chromia looked astounded, "You won't allow it? Screw you, I can do whatever the hell I feel like! And in case you haven't noticed, you can't stop me anyways; we're both chained up."

"Chromia." Ironhide said desperately, "Please. You're not strong enough. I can-"

"No you can't, 'Hide." Chromia sighed, "Look at you; you're bleeding all over the Primusdamn floor. Normally, I would never ever admit this, but" She seemed to sag a little, "You are usually stronger than me, however much it kills me to say it."

"Please don't-" Ironhide closed his optics, "Yer talkin' like yer already offline, Chro-mo."

Chromia's spark skipped a beat at the nickname, but she ignored it and continued, "At the moment, however, I am stronger than you, and I am therefore more likely to make it out of this online."

"If you think" Ironhide choked, "That you can use logic to convince me to let ya die, you are dead wrong."

Chromia smiled sadly, "True. You're not a very logical person."

Thistleant had begun hooking her up to the weapon and Ironhide, realizing that she was going to offline soon, said desperately, "Chromia! Don't do this to me, please!" He had so much left to tell her but there wasn't enough time.

"As if you give a damn about me Ironhide." She said softly, and looking at her faceplates he realized that when she said that she was really trying to ask him if he cared about her.

"Chromia." He practically sobbed her name, "You have no idea how much I give a damn about you."

And with that, Thistleant began to power up Weapon R.