Yeah... a chapter focusing a bit on Soundwave and Frenzy's side of the events. Sorry for errors and such... you know me...

Have a nice day! :)

VII.

Soundwave was exhausted.

The communication officer heaved a great sigh as he retracted his mask and visor and sat down at the small table in his living quarters that he shared with his cassettes. He could hardly recharge during the night, and he could not - and didn't want to - shut down the bond from all his creations who sought reassurance from him, especially not Rumble. But their combined worry and fear made it more and more difficult to restrain his own emotions from seeping through. He didn't want them to know how helpless he felt.

And running the Base alone, with everyone demanding to know what was going on and trying to keep them from going into the repair bay took up most of his strenght. The time he spent with Rumble was no different; his cassette was getting weaker, all four of them deteriorating fast. Even Starscream was now getting worse, though he managed to achieve valuable knowledge on the microbes and tried many things to see what they could use without harming themselves, that much Soundwave could see from the datapads.

Though why exactly the Seeker wanted him to read everything, he didn't know. Starscream did not lie, but Soundwave was sure there was something more to it. However, he was too worn-out to read his mind back in the evening, and he was still too preoccupied with his fading mini-mech.

The cube he held quivered in his hand and he put it down quickly when Frenzy came out of the berthroom. The tiny sway in the Cassetticon's steps did not miss Soundwave's attention and he did not even need the bond to tell that the mini-con was just as tired as he was. Frenzy went to the energon dispenser to fetch himself a cube and sat down next to Soundwave after mumbling a 'good morning'.

Soundwave sighed and watched his creation sip from the cube slowly, as if he was measuring every drop of it. He did not like the dimness in Frenzy's optics and how distant he seemed, no doubt because of his twin brother, but it nevertheless made the telepath's spark drop. "Frenzy," Soundwave's voice, without his mask to alter it, sounded full of concern, "is something wrong?"

Frenzy looked at him in surprise and smiled a little, "Apart from the obvious?"

"Yes." Soundwave moved closer to the small mech, "Why haven't you been recharging? You need your energy."

Frenzy shook his head just as Ravage lazily strode over to them and sat down beside his younger sibling with bleary optics, "Not as if ya don't." the mini-con murmured and took another sip from his energon.

Soundwave sighed. "That's different. Your systems are more fragile than mine. I know you are worried, but you cannot neglect yourself. I have enough to worry about already."

Frenzy looked down guiltily at his cube as Ravage nudged his arm. We are all afraid, the older sibling said, but the least we can do is take as much burden off our creator's shoulders as we can.

"I know," Frenzy whined and rubbed at his optics, finally abandoning his cube, "it's just... dad, that thing is... they're fallin' apart! I can't jus' stop thinkin' about that!"

"No one asked you to." Soundwave put his large hand on his creation's shoulder, "You are free of duties today. Promise me you will rest."

Frenzy nodded slowly, "Prom'se." he mumbled, "But let me go to the bay with you. Just a visit and I'll come back."

Soundwave gave a curt nod and retracted his visor, he stood up to his full height. He looked down at Ravage and opened his chest compartment; his first creation transformed within an instant and was soon gone to take his place beside Lazerbeak and Buzzsaw. Closing the plate, Soundwave retracted his mask as well before stepping out of their quarters. Frenzy followed him without a word and the two walked down to the repair bay in complete silence.

It was still early in the morning, the sea was dark as they passed the windows. It would not get much lighter, they were too deep down and daylight was shorter underwater, that they had enough time to learn while they lived on Earth. Soundwave in particular found this settlement rather soothing, though it could not work its magic on him this time, all he could concentrate on was the corridors that led to the repair bay. He tried to contact Rumble through their comm. and bond to see how he was, but found that his creation was still in recharge...

Starscream stirred, his systems sluggishly came back online. He groaned softly when the pain and heat returned to ravage his body, and for the first time in those two days he felt ill. His leg was an agony and he winced when he looked down at it; the rust had spread, almost below his knee joint and the tip of his thruster was getting grey. Starscream did not need to look at other parts of his body to know that not only his leg was affected, the burning sensations told him enough. And not just him, he thought as he looked over the others with a painful frown.

He tried to shift without disturbing Rumble in his lap. The mini-con's vents were still working hard even in recharge and Starscream thought now he knew what he must have felt; he wondered how the small mech could take it all. This general ill feeling was bad enough, the pain and fever just added to it. The lack of recharge did not help either, it was only in the morning that he finally allowed his processor to shut down, and Starscream was a little relieved to see the Cassetticon in a peaceful recharge, too. Astrotrain and Megatron hadn't come back online yet either.

Scrapper walked up to him with a small cube of medical grade without saying a word and Starscream accepted it with a grateful nod. He thought it should have scared him how his hand shook as he took it, but he could not gather the strenght to care at the moment. He wished he could just go back into recharge, shut the world out and escape from the sickness that was starting to take hold of his being. It had only been the third day, but it already felt like an eternity.

An eternity of failure.

Starscream bowed his head and offlined his optics just as the door to the repair bay opened. Hook and Scavenger came in while Scrapper left to get some rest after watching their patients all night and not long after they checked them all, Soundwave came in with Frenzy trailing behind him. The third-in-command stopped by Megatron's berth and Frenzy stopped, too. As much as they both wanted to go to Rumble, Soundwave still had duties and he needed to report to their leader first - so they stood in a respectful distance to wait for the Gunformer to fully come online.

"My lord..." Soundwave called to him quietly, but Megatron did not listen at first. He starred at his right arm, the empty space where his hand used to be - it had fallen off during the night, and now he was sure it wasn't just a flux. A shuddering intake shook the Decepticon leader's body and he turned his head away quickly, looking at his communication officer with dim optics.

"Yes?" he whispered, trying to get air into his overheating systems through rusted vents.

"Shockwave has travelled back to Cybertron to transport medical equipment and chemicals for Mixmaster to produce medical grade energon. The night had been eventless. No Autobot in sight."

Megatron merely gave a nod and dismissed Soundwave with a wave of his remaining hand and the tape decker immediately made his way to his creation's berth. Rumble had not awoken, not even as Hook checked his catheters with a frown and Soundwave noticed immediately why - the tubes and the bags they led to had a strange, yellowish liquid in them.

Soundwave clenched his fists to stop himself from shivering at the sight.

"Did he purge during the night?" Hook asked with a tone that indicated he already knew the answer.

"Yes." Starscream croaked and hissed. His voice was hoarse and sounded deeper than normal, and his vocoder felt like it was on fire.

Soundwave stepped closer and bent down to lift his cassette carefully from Starscream's lap to allow the air commander to get up. He held his creation close to his chest like when he was a sparkling. It was only then that Rumble's optics flickered to life weakly and he blinked up at his creator as Hook examined his rusted arm with the same worried frown. "The circuitry has shut off, the energon lines and hydraulics have either gone dry or leaking. It will fall off eventually... it's safer if we cut it."

One didn't need to be a medical expert to tell what would happen; Rumble couldn't move that arm since the evening, even the pain had faded away from it. They talked about it with Starscream, too, and the Seeker told him it didn't matter - they could replace the arm and the transformation seams, and Rumble felt too unwell to care anyway.

Yet, when Hook said it out loud, it gained an awfully painful sense of reality that hit him in the core. Rumble turned his head away and buried his face in Soundwave's shoulder. Why did he have to go on that mission? If only... if only they knew...

"Come on, Starscream." Hook told the Seeker, "I'll give you pain suppressant and I want you to rest. I know you can't stay put for long, but try it for at least a joor, okay? Starscream?"

"I need to-" Starscream had to clear his throat before he continued, "I need to check on the cultures. But I'll accept the nanites... I don't think I can get up."

Hook injected him with the suppressant nanites first before helping him to his feet. Starscream gritted his dentas; the moment he started moving, sharp, burning pain shot through his frame and he grasped Hook's hand harder than he intended. The Constructicon waited patiently for him to gather his strenght before pulling him up, Starscream couldn't hold back a groan of pain when his weight fell to his rusted leg.

"The nanites will be working soon." Hook murmured as he led the limping Seeker back to his own berth. Soundwave also laid Rumble back down with Frenzy close by his side. He did not encourage the little mech to speak, did not ask him how he was feeling, just watched him. Soundwave always hated to see any of his cassettes injured even though they were adults now and his fellow warriors, tough and strong and they needed less attention. But their bond did not fade and Soundwave was still their protector and support whenever they were hurt.

And now, the image of Rumble's rust-filled body irreversibly burnt itself into his memory banks. Soon, he wouldn't have an arm and, judging by the fluids in the catheters, maybe more of his inner tubings would have to be reconnected or completely removed. Just how much more could he still withstand? Was there a solution at all?

If only he could turn back time...

"Hey, bro', what is it?" Frenzy asked quietly.

"I... dunno." Rumble whispered as he began trembling, his intakes became rapid, "Feels like... I've been run over by O-Optimus..."

Soundwave almost jumped up in fear when a hand touched his shoulder. It was never easy to take him by surprise, but he was so deep in thoughts that he failed to notice when Bombshell joined them as well and pushed him gently away from the edge of the berth so he could take a look at his creation. The third-in-command pulled Frenzy to himself to be out of the way.

"What happened?" Starscream asked and wobbly stood up. Hook hurried over to Rumble's berth as the mini-con whimpered, his body was shaking violently and optics flickered, Bombshell carefully pulled his arm out from under him while Hook held him, his vocals were spitting static.

"It's a mild seizure." the Insecticon answered, "He's bleeding, that liquid must be energon and rust."

"There's a-a... h-hole on his w-waist..." Frenzy spoke up with a wavering voice and pointed at his twin. It was true; the rust was eating into his plates, the corrosion was even more intensive than was expected. Soundwave looked up at Starscream and the Seeker nodded - he grabbed Frenzy's hand and started pulling him away gently while Hook pulled up the curtain that separated Rumble's berth from the others.

"Come on." Starscream murmured, but he didn't have to force Frenzy much - it seemed as if the Cassetticon was in a quivering daze.

"W-Will it reach his backstrut?" the mini-mech whispered when they reached the door. Shrapnel stood on the other side with a confused frown on his face that smoothed somewhat when he saw the youngling being led by Starscream out of the bay, "Will he b-be paralyzed like Astrotrain?"

Starscream took a deep vent, "I don't know." his voice was raspy and he coughed a little before he continued, "But he's taken care of. I'm... working on it. Now... go to your duties."

"Soundwave relieved me of duties today."

Starscream nodded. "You can come back... later when he's better."

Frenzy went into the little cabin to take off the mask and coverall before he went out and stood next to Shrapnel, still starring at the curtain that didn't allow anyone to see what was happening to the purple mini-mech. Thousand and thousand thoughts were running through his processor, a dark whirl of emotions assaulted his spark at the feeling that he was slowly, but surely, losing his other half.

"I see you're still stubbornly holding on, on." Shrapnel said, eying Starscream up and down, the way he swayed and leant heavily to the glass, his cooling fans whined with the effort to stabilize his erratic temperature.

"Someone has to." Starscream grumbled, "Our dear leader praises Shockwave to the high heavens, yet he's still... not even here now."

"Bombshell said he had gone for supplies and medicines, and would come back soon, soon."

Starscream tried to shrug, but winced at the pain, "What can he do? I have tried... almost everything I could think of. They are protected by layers of cell walls that are stronger... than even that of fungi."

"It sounds serious-"

"Frenzy? Frenzy!... Shrapnel, catch him!"

Shrapnel did so when the Cassetticon suddenly collapsed. Starscream comm.-ed Mixmaster to take him away, and the chemist came quickly, taking Frenzy from Shrapnel's arms he carried him to their quarters. The cassette's body did not feel warm, which was a good sign and he was coming back online by the time Mixmaster lay him down on a berth. Long Haul was also in the quarters and hurried over to the small mech.

"Bring him energon." Mixmaster told him and he leant down to the cassette.

"Alright, Frenzy, what happened out there?"

Frenzy's optics slowly found his, and he took a deep, shuddering breath, "I just... I couldn't recharge... and Rumble... h-he had this seizure thing..."

"Alright, alright, just calm down. How are you feeling now? Nausea?"

"No, just... dizzy." Frenzy whispered and pushed himself up to take a few sips from the energon Long Haul had brought him. His processor was sluggish and his frame felt heavy, he had to offline his optics to stop the room from spinning as he lay back down.

"You can stay here." Long Haul told him, "Just rest. Would you like some sedative to help you recharge?"

Frenzy shook his hand and smiled a little, "Nah, I think I'll manage. Thanks."

"I'll call Soundwave to tell him-"

"No!" Frenzy put his small hand on Mixmaster's arm, "Don't call him... he... has enough to worry about already."

"Frenzy..." Rumble gasped softly when he felt the adrupt disappearance of his twin's presence from their bond. It came back very slowly and felt faint, too faint.

He had come out of the seizure a few nanoklicks before that. He was cycling air heavily, his systems were going crazy and he felt like Ironhide had dragged him through the pits of Unicron. He was still trembling slightly, oral lubricant and contaminated energon flowed freely from his mouth and his vision blurred, but he felt Soundwave next to him and that soothed him somewhat. And just when Bombshell and Hook finished cleaning him, the cut in the link hit him.

"D-dad..." he whispered and saw Soundwave lean down to him, "something's wrong with Frenzy..."

"Rumble, you rest." his creator told him and watched Hook inject sedatives into his venous port. They would take the mini-con away to operate on him again, to stop the bleeding and clean him out. What would be left of him this time...?

"Dad..." Rumble's optics offlined as he slowly entered stasis lock, "help him..."

And he was taken away, leaving the tape decker alone at the berth. Completely, utterly alone with the ever growing burden crushing down on him.

Soundwave strode ever so slowly towards the exit. He had to see Frenzy and he had duties, he knew, and maybe they would help distract him somewhat and keep him from giving in to his despair, but before he left, he stopped by Megatron's berth. Starscream was limping to his cultures, but stopped once he saw Soundwave. Megatron held an ice pack to his chest and was starring at his arm with the missing hand when Soundwave approached him. They all looked tired, but Soundwave knew he still had to be careful at what he wanted to propose.

"Lord Megatron." he called to his leader quietly, "You are in dire need of medical help. Autobot medic Ratchet; professional-"

"You want... to call the Autobots?" the Gunformer interrupted him.

"There is no other solution-"

"No!" Megatron's optics burnt sternly, "We don't need them... Shockwave is coming back from... Cybertron with supplies, and... he's just as professional as Ratchet."

"Not a medic."

"Soundwave," he heard Starscream's hoarse voice from behind him, "I don't think their medics could do much more... No one has ever met this kind of disease... and survived."

Soundwave was never one to disobey direct orders. He was as loyal to the cause as could be. But now...

...he was having doubts about this unending loyalty.

"Prime." Hound's voice rang from the computers, "Shockwave is back. We had a brief look at what he was bringing, and it certainly didn't look like weapons. There were... parts and syringes. Chemicals of some sort."

"Medicines?" Perceptor asked back with a frown.

"I think so."

"Good work, Hound." Optimus Prime told him, "Return to base."

Everyone gathered there was quiet for a while as they processed the information. It was Hoist who finally spoke up and broke the silence, "Maybe it's not some big plan... there haven't been much Decepticon activity in the past two days. And if Shockwave himself had to come down to Earth and bring medicines, they must be ill. Perhaps it's serious."

Ratchet snorted, "Well, it's no wonder then. Their chief "medic" is a Constructicon. And this doesn't sound like some physical damage, but something much more complex. A virus maybe."

Optimus thought for a moment, "If it is so, then they'll need real medics. And I don't know of any Decepticon they could contact."

His optics met Ratchet's and his long-time friend sighed, "I guess it only leaves us, huh?"

"If it is that serious, they may need your help." Optimus said quietly, his soothing baritone vibrated gently through the air of the Ark, "The question is... if we get such a call, if they ask for our help... would you be ready to give it to them, old friend?"

Ratchet lowered his gaze to the ground. He hated it when Optimus talked to him like that, and he hated it when it actually had an effect on him. Of course, he had sworn, as a medic, to help every Cybertronian in need, to the best of his abilities, and he took this oath way before factions existed and divided their race. Back when there was no Autobot or Decepticon. Ratchet heaved a great sigh as he looked up at all the expectant faces of his commrades and friends. His gaze stopped on First Aid and Hoist, then finally on Optimus.

"I'll think about it." he murmured and left to his med bay.

There was much to consider.