Torrent smiles triumphantly down at the barely-conscious seeker in his arms while he and the leading physician walks toward the medical bay.
Thundercracker moans faintly and hides his face against the dark blue chest.
"I know it hurts, my dear." He soothes while his field envelopes the blue seeker in a rare expression of compassion.
"I must admit that I had my doubt, but your plan worked and Riot and his team performed flawlessly." Cloudline remarks, his voice cold and calculated, and he stares at Thundercracker with a sadistic smile while the blue seeker comfortably leans against Torrent's chest.
Their operative leader is the last person the blue seeker would want to be with, if his sanity had been intact. But in the current situation, Thundercracker is clinging to the only one that seems to care about him.
It is incredible what a little bit of compassion can make people do when they live in a world of pure pain.
"They did. It's going to be easy to manipulate him when he is in this state. Isn't that true, Thundercracker?"
There is a tiny muffled sound from the seeker, and he chuckles.
"I thought so."
"I can request a suitable sire for him, if you still plan to breed on him. 253 successful births and only 12 stillborn. He is the perfect carrier. It would be a shame not to use him." Cloudline says as they reach the door that leads into the medical bay.
"I'm considering it, but first I need to spend some time with him to get an idea of the damage those annoying psychiatrists have caused to his fragile mind." Torrent answers, his expression turning dark.
If he had known Thundercracker's whereabouts earlier, then he could have prevented all of his hard work in being ruined.
He can only hope, that the seeker hasn't recovered enough to begin to recall the repressed memories of their time together.
It would be unfortunate if the Joint Investigation Unit knows his identity.
Torrent places Thundercracker on a berth and moves a few steps away to give Cloudline room to work. He senses the immediate desperation in the blue seeker's field at the sudden loss of his close and comforting presence, and his spark fills with sadistic glee at the sight of Thundercracker reaching towards him with a shaking hand.
He walks back to the berth in a moment of indulgence and squats down beside it to caress the seeker's field with his own in reassurance.
"I need to see if your lover survives, but I promise you that I will be back."
He kisses Thundercracker's lips chastely before he rises and moves towards the surgical section of the medical bay, entrusting Thundercracker to Cloudline's merciless examination of his reproduction systems.
Their surgeons are effective and within an hour they have carefully removed the warp-gate from Skywarp's midsection. The removal causes a sudden drop in the seeker's energon levels and his spark destabilizes. The lead surgeon looks towards Torrent while he passively waits for the operative leader's decision, and Torrent indicates with a nod that he wants them to save the seeker.
Now that he has the warp-gate, Skywarp no longer holds any value, but he is curious and always on the lookout for opportunities.
What does his beloved little seeker see in Skywarp?
And how far is Skywarp willing to go to keep Thundercracker safe?
The surgeons stabilize the seeker and Torrent moves towards the awakening unit, where he leans against a wall in silent contemplation while he waits for Skywarp to regain consciousness.
A physician enters when Skywarp begins to show the first signs of regaining consciousness, and Torrent remains by the wall while the IV-bag that slowly had provided the seeker with a steady flow of pain killer is replaced by one that contains a purple liquid.
The physician leaves the room, and Torrent walks to stand at the foot of the berth. He studies the black and purple seeker critically with a deep frown, displeased that Thundercracker seems to have overcome the negative conditioning that had made him fearful of his own frame type.
Skywarp groans in pain as he slowly regains consciousness.
"Welcome back to us. I'm so happy that you survived the operation. It means we get to enjoy your service a little longer." Torrent greets when Skywarp onlines his optics and stares at him, and he enjoys the sight of the seeker's obvious pain.
"What have you done to me?"
"We removed some hardware you won't need." He says coolly.
"Why?!"
"Why not? It makes it easier to control you and I'm curious about how it works." He answers nonchalantly with a shrug of a shoulder.
"You're sick!"
"Watch your tone!" He growls threateningly at the seeker's impudent behavior, "You are at my mercy. Behave properly or I may decide to kill you, and what wouldn't happen to poor little Thundercracker without you there to protect him?"
"What have you done to him?!"
"Nothing yet. But that can change fast, if you aren't careful."
The threat to Thundercracker efficiently silences the seeker, and Torrent sits down in the chair beside the berth with a serious expression.
"Thundercracker and I was together before the Joint Investigation Unit so unrightfully stole him from me, and now that I finally have gotten him back, I'm not happy, that he has found someone else he loves. I don't want to hurt him, but if you give me no choice, then I won't hesitate to have you killed."
A multitude of emotions flicker in Skywarp's optics at his words, but the seeker remains in control of his actions, despite the rage that dominates his expression.
"Understood?"
"Completely." Skywarp states in a firm voice.
"The awful pain of being in love. I'm sure it was traumatic to watch Riot and his team use Thundercracker against his will, and I can spare you for that pain in the future, if you do one little thing for me."
"You want me to spark him." Skywarp states in anger.
"Correct."
"I refuse! I know what you did to him and I'm not going to break his trust in me."
"What a shame." Torrent sighs in false disappointment, shaking his head, "You really don't want to make it easier on him? It is going to happen whether it is with you or someone else. Think about what Thundercracker would want. The one who he loves, or someone else that is going to use him for their own sadistic pleasure?"
"You. Are. SICK!" Skywarp answers defiantly, "Kill me if you want, but I am NEVER going to violate him!"
"Then you give me no choice." He states calmly and flips the clamp on the IV-line open to allow the narcotic drug in the IV-bag to flow into the seeker's systems.
"I will be back when I have seen to Thundercracker."
The furious roar of powerlessness from the seeker is sweet music in his audios.