CHAPTER 14
Guardians and Snakes

"So, a guardian bond, huh?"

Hound glanced down at the words that came from Mark's mouth as he entered his office. The mech stared at him for a long moment before taking out a "cigar", he might need it by the time he was done with the day. "Who told you?" Hound asked with much irritation in his voice "I figured you wouldn't be ready to know. I kept quiet for a reason." He muttered.

"I'm not mad or anything." Mark replied "I just... I'm surprised." He paused "Why would you do that?"

Hound sighed, his engines revving quietly. "The same reason my foster sire did that for me when I was a sparkling." Mark raised his eyebrows "Don't look so surprised, Mark. There were many orphans on Cybertron. Especially once the war escalated, but still some before there even was a war." He explained "I formed that bond to protect you, Mark. It makes me connected to you and fortifies my protection of you." Mark tilted his head in confusion "It puts my protective programming into the same state it would be in around my own metal and energon."

"You can do that?" Mark asked "Does that mean-?"

"I cared about you like you were my own long before." Hound chuckled "What I mean is that I can feel and sense you like I could any other child of mine." Mark gave an "OH" at that "We can't change how we feel about a person, Mark. No more than a human can." The boy nodded slowly in response "I just... Now that you're living with us, I worried about the whole Decepticon factor. So I wanted to know when you were in danger, and other things..."

Mark smiled, he had to admit, that was a very sweet thing. The fact that Hound wanted to be able to connect on him on that level definitely served to make him feel good. "Well, that's cool. Crosshairs said I can feel you like that too." Hound nodded in confirmation "So basically you'll know my emotions now?" He asked, curiously.

"And be able to communicate with you by simple thought." Hound put a fingertip to his helm "Believe you me, youngling, you'll be thankful for it. Since you'll now never have to feel alone even if it seems as though you are." Mark smiled a bit "I only didn't want to tell you because I thought it might... Be strange to you." He explained.

"A little, but it sounds awesome." Mark explained "So this is pretty normal for you guys, though?"

"Very. Nearly every guardian forms this bond with their charge." Hound explained "A lot of sparklings can't survive with a bond like that. Much like you can't survive without some form of attention in infancy." Mark nodded in understanding as the mech sighed "And for older younglings, it's supposed to help you feel safe and protected..." He purposely left out "loved" for now "So, are we okay? You don't think that it's strange, do you? Because I apologize, but I can't-."

"I'm honored." Mark replied, stopping Hound from going further "I mean, you did it to protect me, Hound. And it means a lot that you care about me like that." He looked down, then back up at him with a smile "I know you already told me you care before, but this really makes it hit home." Hound nodded in understanding "So you were an orphan too?" He asked.

Hound nodded his optics seeming to look off in the distance as he thought back upon his early years. When he had been an orphan without a home, or family. He had been lucky, much like Mark had been. He'd been found by a mech called Falco and raised into mechhood, though he often remembered fighting him, including when he himself had run away as a youth. "The mech who raised me made me the mech I myself am today." He patted his chestplate slightly "Took me in when I was even younger than you are." He shook his head "He was a heavy high grade drinker though, and he died young."

Mark nodded his head, finding it interesting. Although it did tell him a lot about why Hound did what he did for someone he barely knew, after all, on top of the loss pf his son, he also knew what Mark felt like. "That sucks." Mark replied "But he raised a pretty awesome mech if you ask me... So I think that's what matters." Hound chuckled, and nodded his head at his charge "And this bond helped you, kinda?"

"It helped remind me, even in the darkest parts of my sparklinghood..." Hound began "That there was always someone out there that cared about me. And that I always had a home to come back to where I felt special." It was a deep thought, but one that Mark knew must have meant a lot "As well as other emotions, which come with time. Which we have plenty of." He noted.

Mark knew that Hound meant "love", and even though he didn't say it, he could see some of that in Hound's optics. He wondered if Hound had already come to that point yet, though he doubted it highly. Love was a strong emotion that took time, as Hound had said. It was the same thing as the word "dad", someone didn't just fall into that in the first few months, it took longer.

"Yeah, I know what you mean." Mark replied "So are you going to teach me how it works? I think I should at least know if I'm going to have one running through my... Heart, I guess." He patted his chest.

Hound nodded his head, putting in his "cigar" before standing up and stepping forward. "Sounds good, younglin'. I needed a distraction from this blasted report anyway." Mark grinned a little "Let's get this bond working in full, shall we?"

As Hound led him out, Mark couldn't help but smile up at him.

...

"So, their brainwashing still working?"

Mark had to use every ounce of his self-control not to haul off and punch David Coulton in the face. He turned around to see the man as he started forward, stepping up beside him in the Autobot hangar as he watched Hound give a training crash-course to several rookies. It was early the next day, and after he had become even closer to Hound, the last thing he wanted was for the man to try to put a wrench into it. "Is it SO hard to believe that they care about me?" Mark asked, crossing his arms "Hound went through the entire, long as hell legal process, just to get custody of me, you do know that, right?"

"An obvious front."

Mark chewed his lip, not wanting to let the idea of the bond slip. He knew this man would twist it into something awful, and that was the last thing he wanted. Hound had done such a good job with him so far, if this man decided to ruin it, well... He wouldn't be too happy. "Look, what are you even doing here?" Mark asked cooly "If you hate the Autobots so much, why don't you just leave them alone? They never did anything to you."

Coulton's eyes narrowed at Mark as he approached the boy. Mark had to admit, the man was intimidating, and he didn't like it one bit. "I lost my wife in Chicago because of those frickin' machines." The man told him with a dark edge to his voice "Frankly, I come around to make sure they aren't killing more and more of our people. Something that a human like you should understand." He told the boy cooly.

"I lost my dad AND my aunt." Mark snapped "Don't talk to me like I don't get what you're going through."

The man shook his head, and shoved Mark just lightly enough to not hurt him. Yet it was still at that moment that Hound's head snapped in their direction for the first time, his optics narrowing. "And yet, you just support them like a good little brat." Mark clenched his fists yet again "They're murderers, every last one of them, and if they don't do the killing... Well they sure aren't stopping it." He then added "Your father may have been a nutjob, going around killing humans too, but he got that much right."

"Don't talk about my dad." Mark hissed.

"Why? Don't tell me you actually care about humans. I thought you were one of them." Coulton replied with a cold smile "I bet your daddy's frowning down in hell about it. Knowing his boy's a traitor to his own-."

At that point, Mark lunged, grabbing his collar violently. He could hear Hound approaching from behind, though he didn't care at this point. "Shut up! He's not in hell, and the Autobots aren't murderers!" He could feel hands grip his arms and pull him back "You're just a bitter old jerk like Attinger was. And you want to know how he ended up?" The man frowned at that "Exactly. So why don't you-."

"MARK!" He heard Hound shout, and turned to see that his holoform had hold of him "Calm yerself, youngin', he isn't worth it." Mark yanked away, fuming to the point that Hound feared he'd get violent "And you." Hound pointed at Coulton "Yer crossing a real fine line talking to my youngling like that." He spoke protectively as his holoform disappeared and his true form stepped forward "I don't appreciate a bully, Mr..."

"Coulton." Coulton told the mech bitterly "And I didn't say anything to him, I was only observing your training session. As one of your liaisons and a government official, I do have the right to do that." He looked over at Mark "Your little brat attacked me completely unprovoked. A little bit of a mental case there, don't you think?" He asked.

"I heard what you said." Hound narrowed his optics "Watch if you wish, but if I hear ye talk to him like that again..." He got up close to Coulton and made it clear that he was not playing around "The president will hear about the way yer treating this youngling. And I'm quite certain that he won't be too pleased given how much he wants our relations to be mended."

Mark watched Coulton, and then watched Hound, who didn't seem to waver. It relived him to see that Hound was on his side in this matter, and that he had been paying attention after all. Coulton's face scrunched, and his eyes moved away from Hound, as if trying to mask terror at the mech's anger. "That's alright. I have all the data on your training session I need." He commented "I think I'll go observe the one that Sideswipe is training now, I don't suppose you know the way to that hangar?" Hound's optics continued to narrow "Right..."

As the two watched the man walk away, Hound exhaled. It was only then that Mark noticed that he had had his hand on a large blaster at his side, as if tempted to shoot the man. He shook his head, and let his body shudder a bit. "Speciest, closed minded, pissant." He spat in Coulton's direction as the muttered words came out of his mouth "He comes near you again, you let me know." He told Mark calmly "He has no business talking to you that way."

"Thanks for backing me up, big guy."

"Every time." Hound nodded his head "Especially when it's a snake like that one." He added "I'm going to finish up this training session. Come with me, will ye? Just in case he decides to come over and cause any more trouble." He added.

Mark nodded absently, following Hound towards where he had been slowly. Though he took a moment to look over his shoulder and make sure that Coulton wasn't still watching. Because, as much as he hated the thought, he couldn't help but feel like the man was going to do everything in his power to break up the father-son relationship that they were fighting so hard to keep. And he couldn't, he wouldn't let that happen.

...

A/N: Woo, this one took a while. My computer crashed and I had to get a replacement since I can't get it fixed for a while. But I wanted to get something out today before I got busy because it's my birthday and I probably won't have time to update again until tomorrow. :D Hope you all enjoyed.