CHAPTER 18
Small Frustrations and Big Trouble

There were times that Hound almost wished that he hadn't opted to be a father again. It was never Mark's fault, at least directly, but he noted that, with a human son, things became harder. The chief of which he quickly learned was the fact that the human homework was so easy that he nearly wanted to shout the answers to Mark when he struggled. As he currently did now over the science homework that rested in his lap, partially finished, but with still yet a ways to go. Hound peeked over Mark's shoulder, and bit his metal lip slightly. "What?" Mark asked, peering up from writing down another answer "The answer is in farenheight, right?"

"Celsius." Hound finally managed to state.

Mark sighed, erasing his answer yet again, as he grimaced slightly. It was clear that the boy was becoming flustered, though he tried to hide it given that he was doing his homework in the main Autobot hangar that morning. Mark hated spending the first day of his weekend doing homework, but he knew that he wouldn't be able to hang out if he didn't finish. "I just don't get science and math." Mark shook his head a bit "I get I'm going to use this at some point..."

"It comes in handy, at least."

"Maybe I should take a break." Mark replied "Call it being lazy, but I really don't feel like doing any more of this." Hound watched as Mark started to stuff his homework into his backpack again "And you're all walking computers. So it's not like you can exactly help me without cheating." He began.

Hound tilted his head, knowing Mark had a point. Yet he also knew that he wasn't the best teacher when it came to science, or math for that matter. Though he was often good with mechanics, engineering, and various other school subjects. "If I could teach you, I would. I honestly never have been good at teachin' stuff like this. And believe me, I tried when... Yer older brother was in school." Hound rubbed the back of his helm "I don't know who really could teach ye, maybe one of the humans." He murmured.

Mark felt a tinge of surprise as Hound called his late son his "older brother". Though he supposed that Hound only wanted him to feel like he was a part of his family, fostered or not. "What did you do when Coldsteel was in school, then?" Mark asked, his eyes traveling up "If you weren't good at teaching stuff, you had to do something, right?" He asked.

"I usually sent him to Wheeljack." Hound tensed a little "Unfortunately, he's since passed on to the Well of Allsparks." Mark took notice of the frown on Hound's face and returned it with a soft, comforting smile "Don't worry, that was a long time ago. Before I even came to Earth." Hound shook off the thought of what happened in Chicago, or what he had heard at least, silently "I suppose I could give it a try though, if you let me see the paper again."

Mark hesitated a moment, but soon took the paper out again and handed it to Hound's holoform as it appeared. The mech's eyes scanned the paper as he scratched his holoform's hair silently. He definitely didn't know how to break this down properly as much as he would have liked. "Hound!" Hound turned his head as Lennox entered the hangar "Get the Autobots ready, ASAP. There's been Decepticon activity in Nevada."

Hound was almost thankful for the excuse. "Mark, stay here. You know the drill, anything happens, you find one of the NEST personnel staying behind right away." The mech told him as his holoform handed the homework back to the disappointed young man "I know, I promised we'd go out and do something later. But can we take what you humans call a rain check? You still have a lot of your homework left anyway."

"Sure thing, Hound." Mark half-smiled "You be careful though."

"Will do." Hound ruffled the boy's hair before his holoform disappeared "I'll be back before dinner." He winked, and began to walk off, talking into his comm.

Mark groaned quietly, and threw the homework onto the desk in front of him. He definitely understood that Hound had to go on these missions, but there were times that he truly wished he didn't have to. That his foster father wasn't fighting in a war, and couldn't die at any time just like his real one. In many senses, he dreaded the day that might never come, the day that Hound didn't come home with his smiling face and kind words, or his failed attempts at helping him with his homework. He closed his eyes, and promised himself for the eight millionth time that Hound would be okay, he was one of the best of the best and he had to have faith in that and what he did.

He came out of his thoughts as a hand dropped down on his shoulder, and he turned to see Epps. "Hey, Hound called me over comm and said you were having some issues with your science homework." Epps replied, Mark nodded his head slowly "Well, be glad I live on-base. Because it just so happens, when I went to college, my minor was science."

Mark gave a half smile. "Yeah, I guess I am lucky then." Mark replied "Thanks, Epps."

"Any time, let me see what you're studying."

As Mark handed over the homework, his eyes lifted at the sound of footsteps. Out came the Autobots, in a march towards the exit of the Autobots side and out into another battle. Mark caught sight of Hound's optics, and the mech simply gave him a smile back, with a thumbs up before turning away and continuing the march. Mark kept his eyes on his makeshift "family" quietly long after they had left. "Hey." Mark looked back at Epps "They're gonna be fine, Hound's a tough mech." He nudged Mark gently "Come on, kid. Let's get this homework done."

Reluctantly, Mark turned his attention back to the paper as Epps began to explain.

...

"I just feel bad having to leave him like that."

Hound leaned himself against the wall of the Autobot transport ship, sighing quietly. It was definitely nice to have the large transport now, as opposed to taking the whole ride to and from the battle in alt mode like they used to. Currently, they were on their way back after a (failed) attempt at tracking the Decepticon, Knock Out through the Nevada desert. It had mostly been a waste of time, as he had been long gone, with only some small indications of who was there to point towards his identity.

Hound felt frustrated by the notion, the Decepticons were growing in number. And the more they grew, the more chance there was that Galvatron would soon have the army he once craved again. "Who? The kid?" Crosshairs asked from a corner of the drop ship "Hound, we're at war again, the kid gets it. Trust me." He commented bluntly "We can't spend every day looking after the kid. That's why he's living at NEST in the first place. He's with Epps, and the others that stayed behind." He explained.

Hound nodded his head, he knew that much as the truth. They had kept him at NEST at the hope that Mark could be easily protected by all members of the group could protect him when they were not around. But it didn't change the fact that Mark was still his foster son, and he needed that in his life. "I'm just terrible at teaching him things like homework... And I'm never going to get better if I keep running off." Hound explained "I know it's silly, but I am supposed to be his legal guardian."

"Don't allow yourself to take in such guilt." Drift spoke from where he was seated nearby "You do much for the young ward you have taken underneath your wing. But no parent or caretaker is perfect." He began "There are things even the youngest grasshopper must learn on their own."

Hound stared at Drift, chuckling a little bit in response. It was a true statement, after all, Mark would have to learn some things on his own. And perhaps his science homework was among those things he would have to learn in that way. "Speaking of the kid..." Sideswipe spoke up "Do we have any idea what made Cyclonus go so quiet?" He then added "That mech doesn't take defeat well, but we haven't heard a peep in months."

Hound shrugged his shoulders uncertainly, staring off into the distance. To tell the truth, he was worried about Cyclonus's silence just as much, if not more than the others. But he tried to hide it as best as he could, after all, he didn't often like to show fear. "NEST has been attempting to track him, and Hound and I are monitoring what we think could be activity from him." Crosshairs spoke up in his place "But the mech's a ghost, and he's fragging good at becoming one when he wants to be."

"We'll find him." Hound stated calmly "And when we do, I plan to rip that piece of slag apart piece-by-piece."

"Violence need not always be the answer to conflict." Drift commented.

"It does when ye try to blow my youngling sky high." Hound replied with a scoff, taking out another "cigar" in frustration "Hey Friar! How much longer until we land back in Texas?" He poked his head through into the cockpit where the human pilot held up two fingers, signaling two hours "Heh, we'll get back in time for-."

He hadn't even gotten the chance to finish his sentence when his comm came to life. Hound carefully settled his hand over the side of his head to activate it. "Hound, we got a situation." Hound raised his optic ridge in confusion as Lennox began "We think that we just got word of a sighting of Galvatron,." Hound tensed a bit at the mention of the Decepticon leaders name "He was sighted in Washington DC near where Savoy used to live, or at least in the general area."

"Why would he go there?" Hound questioned.

"You tell me, big guy..."

Hound's optic ridge furrowed, uncertainty in his optics. Had the Decepticons suspected that after Mark was put in foster care, supposing they knew that was the case, that he would be sent back to his city of origin? And if so, were they looking for him? He didn't put it past them, Mark was a good hostage if they could get their hands on him after all. "I say we go down there and find out for ourselves." Hound replied "Are your men equipped for a possible altercation?"

"They said he disappeared, Hound, he's gone." Lennox explained "They said it kinda looked like he went through one of those space bridges from Chicago, but smaller. Like he just... Teleported." Hound's optics narrowed "They're trying to track him, but it's going to be a while to analyze the energy residue they're saying it left behind."

"And Mark..." Hound muttered.

"Epps says he just checked on him an hour ago." Lennox replied "He's fine, Hound. In his room playing a video game. We don't even know that they were looking for him."

"Right, so where do we go from here?"

"Home." Lennox's voice sounded annoyed "Coulton wants us to debrief him on both situations, I'm not exactly happy about it." Hound's engine revved, he definitely wasn't happy that he would have to see that man again either "I got a bad feeling though, with Galvatron in DC..."

"It could mean a lot of things." Hound agreed "None of them good."

There was silence on the other line, but Hound knew what he was thinking. It could mean that someone still had a deal with them, it could mean he was looking for Mark, it could mean a lot of bad things. "What's going on?" Hound turned his head as Crosshairs approached him slowly "What's Lennox want?"

Hound shook his head. "Galvatron was spotted in DC."

The words reverberated throughout the carrier, with each of the Autobots appearing disturbed and surprised. Usually, there was time between his appearances, a year, two years, even three. But this was soon, this was too soon. "We need to get a message out to Prime as soon as we get back to base." Crosshairs commented "He has Cyclonus and Knock Out on Earth, Primus knows who else is coming."

"Or what they want." Sideswipe commented pointedly.

"I know you guys have a lot to talk about." Lennox interrupted over Hound's comm "We'll talk when we land."

"Good idea." Hound replied as he closed the comm link "Get that message out to Prime as soon as we land, I'll handle the officials." He explained.

This was going to be a long day.