Please note that these characters belong to their original creators as do any songs used in this fiction, not me, this is just my take on what might happen enjoy and let me know what you think.

also i am still trying to fix any mistakes that i might have missed in past chapters (i.e spelling, grammar and so on)

It was now night and more than three hours had passed since the encounter with Sam, Ironhide had managed to keep his security force on the search despite having to tell them to keep their distance from Sam. Now at last the weapon specialist had a full report on the location of the remaining fifteen tick devices, just as Sam had found out four more were tied directly into the communication system while the remaining eleven were attached to subsystems that shared at least one connection to the com system. Ironhide went over the report again as he noted that every system in Autobot city could have been affected had an attempt been made to remove these ticks, in fact it looked that the whole city could have been shut down if they had tried to remove the devices as most were attached to functioning systems. The door to the command center opened as Ironhide walked in while Will was just coming out of the office section his face a little pale. "what's wrong will?" asked Ironhide "I just had a little talk with optimus about our newest problem, it turns out that while sam was in that state we were lucky that he didn't try and rip us apart for telling him what had happened with the scanner and everything" explained Lennox. Ironhide was a little confused as to why the thought of combat had effected Will like this, that was until he heard the rest "optimus seems to think that we haven't seen the worst of it yet, the thing is sam is still very young far younger than any bot who has ever gone through this and that may make him even more prone to acting like that while he at this instability point" will stopped talking and motioned Hide to come closer. Once Ironhide was close enough that Will could speak to him with out being overheard Will said "my family are coming here for safety and now we have a bot who's very powerful and very dangerous running round the city, what if tries to hurt them while he's like this ironhide?".

The weapon specialist let out a small snort as he said in a low voice "don't worry your self will, I'm sure that they'll be safe, sam is only targeting those who might take bumblebee away from him and your family is not a threat in that respect, your wife loves you and annabelle is no threat to him in any way what so ever". "he still might go on a rampage when he's like that" said Lennox "no he'll just go after those who he thinks are trying to take bumblebee from him, trust me when I say that optimus wouldn't risk the lives of others" replied Ironhide as he hoped that he was right. Will believed his friend even if his friend didn't fully believe him self "ok hide, just promise me that you'll keep tabs on sam while he's like this and let me know when he's not safe to be around so I can get my family to safety if anything happens" said Will. The weapon specialist just nodded at the Major as the two headed in different directions, Will left the command center so that he could get the apartment his family had been assigned ready while Ironhide went to report to Optimus. Optimus was sitting behind the Autobot sized desk deep in though about the current situation and it's effect on the other problems they were facing at the moment. "optimus" said Ironhide as he entered the office "I have the report on the ticks here", Optimus Prime made a small smile as he said "you didn't come here just to tell me that did you old friend". Ironhide pulled up a chair and sat down as he said "no I didn't prime, like will I'm more than a little concerned about letting sam have free range in the city, he may turn violent while he's in that state and if that happens he may compromise the city and the safety of the people in it" Ironhides thoughts turned to Wills family as the conversation he had just had with Will remained fresh in his mind.

Optimus let out a sigh as he looked Ironhide in the optics, "have you ever seen a bot who has reached the instability point before?" asked Optimus. Ironhid simply shook his head in response, "long ago when I was young I knew a bot who reached this point during his bonding, he was unable to bond because his lover was injured and was taking a long time to be repaired" Optimus voice had a heavy tone to it that was not missed by Ironhide. "I never knew that optimus" said the weapon specialist "it's not something I look back on fondly" said Optimus "because they were unable to bond my friend inferno seeker was placed under a great strain and like sam he was the alpha, when he was aroused he became dangerous to others that he thought were a threat, unlike sam he was not able to relieve the building pressure through the use of an avatar" continued Optimus. "as he grew more dangerous others tried to restrain him saying that it was for the best and eventually they managed to place him in a confinement cell saying it was for the safety of others, but that action came with a price" the old Primes voice took on a serious tone that told Ironhide he should pay special attention to what was coming next. "I watched inferno seeker for days as he paced in that cell, every day his spark died a little more while he was separated from his bonded, I watched him fade away from me, from everything until I could no longer stand it" optimus paused as he lowered his voice. "one night I disabled the bots on guard and freed him, at first he tried to kill me but I managed to stop him and calm him down enough so that he would listen to me, I helped him reach his bonded just in time for him to watch his lovers spark fail and go out; separating them had weakened his lovers spark to the point where it could no longer sustain it's self in that weakened state" there was a look of sadness on the Primes face that was deeper than any Ironhide had ever seen, deeper even than the loss of their entire home world. Ironhide remained silent as Optimus continued his story "losing his bonded broke inferno seeker, I watched as he sat there holding the sparkless shell in his arms, he refused to let anyone touch either of them as he just sat there cradling the cold lifeless metal form, days passed and his own spark started to falter the medbots tried everything they could but nothing stopped the process, it was as if his spark had been ripped open and his very life was pouring out".

Ironhide knew that if his friend could have wept like a human he would have as the pain demanded more ways out than he could give it. "for four days after they discovered what was happening he sat there his spark slowly going out and there was nothing any of us could do, he would not speak or even react to others beyond refusing attempts to remove the lifeless form from his arms, on the last day those who had imprisoned him tried to atone for what they had done but it was useless, inferno seekers spark had died the moment his bonded did, it had just taken those days for the process to complete it's self" Optimus let out a deep sigh as the memory of the final hours came to him. "I was with him to the end ironhide, I was there as his spark went out forever, the medbots soon realized that separating them at such a delicate point had been the cause of both their deaths and that it should never be done to any bot who had reached this point in the process regardless of the condition that each bot was in, the entire event was classified as a tragedy that should never be repeated and those involved we given a pardon for their actions as none of them knew this could happen" there was a trace of anger in Optimus usually calm voice as he spoke, one that Ironhide had never heard before. "it was a long time before another bot reached the instability point, when I heard about it I went to him so that I could make sure that there was no chance of the same thing happening again, that was the first time I met ratchet, he was the medbot assigned to the case and he had been fully briefed about what happened the last time" said the Autobot leader.

"needless to say he was not happy about me being there telling him what he already knew but I persisted and he allowed me to remain through out the process, like my friend the alpha was undamaged and his bonded was injured, but that time the bonded was conscious and we found that it made a large difference" explained Optimus. "at first the alpha was ready to attack us for being there, but his bonded was able to stop him simply by talking to him, we learned that even in that state the connection allowed the alphas bonded to calm them and reach their more rational side, during this time we learned how to handle a bot who had reached the instability point and keep them from harming others and them selves; in some small way helping them allowed me to atone for not stopping the others when they imprisoned inferno seeker" Optimus Prime sat back in his chair as he remembered the two bots he had helped through their bonding and how he still wished that he could have done the same for his lost friend. As the old memoires settled back into his thoughts Optimus looked Ironhide dead in the optics as he said "so now I trust you understand why I will not take any chances with sam and bumblebee, both ratchet and my self can handle sam if he starts to become a threat and more importantly bumblebee can stop him completely with just a few words, so until they manage to bond neither are to have any duties what so ever, most of the time sam will want to keep bumblebee close by in what he feels is a safe place and they will only leave it infrequently so the city and it's people are safer than you think".

Ironhide simply nodded at Optimus who was still looking at him as if he was seeing into the weapon specialists spark "all right optimus, I trust you when you say that you can make sure that sam won't be a danger, I'll make sure that the others know he's safe to be around and that they just need to tread lightly when their near him" said Ironhide. "good and there's one more thing I want you to do, find out who's been emailing the copies of that recording around the city and make sure they stop before it ends up on the youtube" said Optimus sternly "if sam finds out that it's gone global even bumblebee may be unable to calm him back down again". Ironhide said "I'll find out who's doing this and make sure that they know its in their best interests to stop and recover any copies they've sent out". "I have one question though optimus" asked Ironhide "what is ironhide?" replied Optimus, "the bots who imprisoned you friend inferno seeker, they all became decepticons didn't they?" asked Ironhide believing he already knew the answer. "no, they all remained autobots every last one of them" answered Optimus "now lets get on with you report about those tick devices". Ironhide knew that at least for the moment the conversation was over, Optimus would allow him to speak of it again but not right away.

After their meeting Ironhide headed back into the city looking for Will so that he could reassure his friend that his family was safe so long as Sam was with Bumblebee. Optimus watched Ironhide leave and then closed the office doors and locked them. Optimus activated his hologram generator and an image of an unfamiliar Autobot appeared on the desk in miniature. The hologram was of Inferno Seeker and to those not looking closely the hologram could have been mistaken for one of Bumblebee. Inferno Seeker differed in only a two ways from the scout, firstly he was blood red with yellow accents, secondly his vocal unit looked more mouth like than Bumblebee's. But other than that the two bots could have been mistaken for twins in their appearance and stature. Optimus moved a finger towards the image as if to touch it even though he knew that it was impossible. The image flickered and faded out of existence as Optimus switched off his hologram projector "rest now my friend, you spark should know only peace in the well of allsaprks, I promise I will make sure that history does not repeat it's self here on our new home, I owe you that much" said Optimus as a memory that he had not shared forced it's way into his thoughts. Optimus found him self on cybertron in a time long before the war, his home was perfect and unspoiled and yet this memory haunted him more than any from the war ever had. He watched as Inferno Seeker was being dragged into the confinement cell by those he trusted and called friends. Optimus watched in shame as his younger self closed the door to the cell saying "this is for the best inferno seeker, you are out of control when your better we will let you out". Inferno Seeker started pounding on the door screaming "let me out I need to be with him, you can't take him from me like this he'll never belong to anyone but me, you hear me optimus he's mine and mine alone you can't do this". Another bot placed a hand on Optimus shoulder as he said "you did the right thing optimus, you put the safety of others before your friendship, this is a sure sign that you'll be a great prime". The words sounded hollow to Optimus as his memories flashed ahead and jumbled images of Inferno Seeker in pain like Optimus had never seen before blurred into one unending look torture. The old Prime suddenly found him self sneaking up on the guard assigned to watch Inferno Seeker, his younger self quickly disabled the guard and wiped his memory of the event as he opened the cell and freed his friend.

Optimus remembered every blow that he had taken from Inferno Seeker, he felt even now that he deserved far more than he had received. He watched as his younger self managed to calm Inferno Seeker and the two left to find Seekers bonded. The memories faded and joined the others connected to the most painful time in Optimus Primes life, it was the time he had failed not only his friend but also him self. It was the reason that Optimus worked so hard to protect those he called his friends, he would never repeat the mistake he had made that day nor would he ever look upon any problem others endured lightly. His mistake had cost him his friends life and left him ashamed of the bot he was back then. "no, it will never happen again inferno seeker, you paid a heavy price for my mistake and I will make sure that it never happens again even if I must sacrifice my spark to ensure it" said Optimus to the empty room.