CHAPTER 27
Questioning and Family

Mark sighed quietly as he watched the base's movement that morning. Without school, he had to admit, things seemed somewhat slow. Usually, the weekends were a little more lively, but now that he was there on the weekdays, even though only two days had passed, it seemed boring. Most of the time over the past two days he'd spent drawing on account of the fact that a lot of Hound's recovery did involve recharge. What time he didn't spend with that, he spent running messages back and forth and at least trying to make himself useful. Most of the base found it useful, and were actually thankful to have someone around that didn't mind being an extra hand around there. Lennox had even spotted him five bucks for helping him out with some inventory, though that seemed to be a one time occurrence.

That day however, Mark didn't really have anything to do, and thus simply walked along the halls in his boredom. So when he finally heard someone call his name, he nearly jumped and spun around to find Lennox approaching in a hurry. "Hey, Lennox, what's up? You look kinda in a rush..." Mark replied as the man gave him a "look" "What? I didn't pull anything today, I swear. If something happened it was all Sideswipe."

"Nothing like that." Lennox replied, his eyes locking with Mark "Can you take a walk with me?"

The way the man said it almost surprised him, as it sounded unnaturally tense for the normally laid back colonel. Yet he only nodded and followed Lennox towards the human side of the base, feeling a little intimidated at the moment. Was he in trouble? Had Coulton tried something again? "Lennox, you're kind of freaking me out, will you tell me what's going on?" He asked.

There was a frustrated sigh from Lennox, but finally he stopped, and turned to face Mark. "I've been looking for a good time to talk to you about Coulton. But things have been so crazy the last few days... It took me a while to find a good moment that we weren't working or anything..." Mark chewed his lip a little, unsure of where he was going with this "Mark, the way he acted towards you the other day, does he always talk to you and the 'Bots like that?"

"Prowl hasn't told you?" Mark asked in surprise.

"None of them will, they think it'd be a bad idea to talk against an official since the peace is so... Fragile right now and all." Lennox shook his head, he leaned against the wall "But he's supposed to be keeping the peace between them and the government. And if he's like that normally, well... I don't like it. I don't like someone like that as a liason. We had one like him, Galloway, but he died." He shook his head "I thought we were done with this crap."

Mark shifted uncomfortably, was it his place to tell Lennox? Would the Autobots be angry if their human member did so? He bit his lip and mulled over the different outcomes in his head. "I haven't seen him interact with the Autobots that much." Mark finally spoke "But in that meeting Epps had me go to, he talked really poorly of them..." He paused a moment "And he's confronted me about my dad, a lot."

Lennox gave a slight grimace in response to that, and straightened a bit. "He hasn't threatened or hurt you, has he?"

"No! Nothing like that." Mark shook his head "If anything, I kinda almost punched him in the face once."

That time, Lennox also seemed to give a proud smirk. But he quickly hid it, finally nodding his head in response as he let out a heavy sigh. "Good... Well, not the punching bit. You can't do that, the last thing we need is you getting in trouble with the government." Mark nodded in agreement "But I want you to understand something, Mark. Help us keep an eye on him, I'm having everyone do it, but I want your help too. If he's as much of a snake as I have a feeling he is, we could get him fired."

"Trust me, he is."

Lennox nodded his head, and placed a hand on Mark's shoulder. The man looked the boy directly in the eyes now, as if to make a strong point. "Then I can trust you'd want to help me get him kicked out." Mark nodded in reply as the man smiled "I figured I could count on you on this one." He then added "And as for him talking about your dad. If he keeps doing that, let me know too. That doesn't go down on my watch."

Mark nodded his head slowly, taking a deep breath of relief. At least he had someone else on his side about this, as a part of him had been afraid to go to anyone but the Autobots too. As Lennox removed his hand and began to walk off, Mark looked thoughtful for a moment. "Will?" Lennox turned his head slowly "What do I do if he DOES try to hurt me?"

Lennox could tell by the tone of his voice that Mark had that as a very distinct fear. "Scream for one of us, knee him in the groin, anything you have to." Lennox replied "You have my permission, as long as you really think he's a threat to you... And us." He paused a moment "Do you?"

Mark didn't know how to answer that. The man was evil, yes, but was he an actual threat? He had yet to see enough of the man's demeanor to make a clear indication as far as either option went. "He just scares me sometimes..." Mark replied "It's nothing, he probably won't... I just figured it was worth asking." He explained.

After a moment, Lennox nodded in response. "Alright, I'm counting on you Mark."

Mark hoped silently that he wouldn't let Lennox or the rest of NEST down in that respect.

...

Hound sighed as he sipped his energon, rubbing an optic tiredly. Being off-duty, while seemingly nice, was a boring existence. Especially when he still wasn't entirely sure why he had to, considering he felt fine so far. To say his warrior spark longed for the battlefield and a reason to use his guns again may have been the understatement of the year. Yet it also rendered its rewards for an older mech like him, with the relaxation at the very least being welcome. And then there was the fact that despite his time resting, he was able to spend more time with Mark, which the boy likely needed after the scare he gave him.

Yet that day, Mark had gotten up earlier than him and thus he spent most of his time reading through old data pads. Perhaps it was nostalgia talking, but every so often, he liked to go through his old ones and relive memories. Some, like today's, were of his time with his family, while others reaccounted war stories he still thoroughly enjoyed reading. It wasn't until he was mid-way through his son's creation that his berthroom door opened and Mark stepped in. "Oh, so you are up!" Mark teased "You're just avoiding the world."

Hound chuckled lightly, and held a hand down for Mark to climb on before carefully depositing him onto the berth. "You were nowhere to be found and I was aching. I figured Crosshairs would yell at me if I didn't stay in my room outside of grabbing energon today." He explained as he sipped his cube of energon carefully "Having a good day?"

"Eh, I've had better." Mark poked his head towards the data pad "What are you reading?"

Hound clenched his denta, still not sure if it was a good idea to talk much about his former family. Mark often understood, but a part of him often wondered if bringing them made their relationship feel any lesser in comparison. "Memories..." Hound told him calmly as he leaned against his berth's headboard "About... Things..."

"Your family?" Mark asked.

Hound sometimes wished that the boy wasn't too quick to catch onto these things. But even so, he nodded his head in response. He rested his arm beside Mark, and looked down at him. "I have plenty of data pads on you too, you know. Ever since I came across you." He explained, and it certainly was true "But you can understand, I hope, that..." He paused.

"It's okay, Hound." Mark shrugged "I get wanting to remember them." He paused a moment himself "What were they like, anyway? I've been living with you for a while now and you still haven't told me anything." The mech was silent "I'm sorry... Is it still a little too hard to talk about?" He asked.

Hound shook his head and waved Mark off slightly. "Aquastrius, my bonded was... Well, she was a teacher." Mark's eyebrows nearly skyrocketed at that "I know, we were an odd pair, but she still loved me anyway." Mark laughed a little "You would have loved her, she was a very compassionate, kind, and loving femme. I could not have asked for a more selfless femme to settle down with." He explained with a deep, sad sigh.

Mark looked up at Hound, quickly noticing the sadness in his optics. "And your son?" Mark asked.

"Coldsteel? Well, he was a chip off the old block. Hardheaded, goofy, and a little clumsy." Hound and Mark both laughed a little at that "He was probably the biggest little troublemaker I knew too. If he had lived past his fourteen vorns, he may have given Sideswipe a run for his money." The boy smirked in response to that "In the smallest of ways, you remind me of him. In your pranks, and your ability to pull things on me without getting into much trouble." He then added "He had that effect on me too."

Mark nodded his head, and noticed that the look on the mech's face had now changed. It was more of a smile, now featuring a smile on both his lips and optics. Was finally actually talking to him about them helping? He didn't know, but it was still pleasant to see a smile accompanying talk about them for once. "I wish I could have met them." Mark admitted "They sound pretty awesome, especially Coldsteel. He probably would have taught me even more than Sides did." He added.

"The two of you would have been a force to be reckoned with." Hound vented out slightly "I could tell you a few stories of his own mischievous deeds that he did." He added rather politely, moving through the data pad's content "I think you might enjoy some of his misadventures." He added pointedly.

Mark leaned back and nodded his head as Hound searched them out. Maybe it was time he learned more about the family that he had come to be a part of, he figured. If he did, he could already tell that it would make Hound feel a whole lot better about missing them. And what's more, he had told him so much about his own father, with nothing in return at this point. "Go ahead, I've got plenty of time to hear them." Mark replied "I really want to hear it." He reaffirmed to Hound, who seemed uncertain.

After a long moment, Hound nodded his head slowly. "I suppose I can start with just a little after he was born." Hound told him with a chuckle as he leaned over slightly "This one reminds me of something I could see you doing at a few months old."

"Hit me." Mark laughed as they settled in for the story.

...

A/N: And yes, since I didn't go into detail, next chapter will contain flashbacks! :D I waned to fit in a chapter with Hound and his old family at some point, and I figured it'd be a nice change of pace. :)