C.M.D: When's the last time I updated this story? Much too long ago... Updates on this one may be a little more sporadic than consistent, but do note that I have plenty of ideas in mind for this fic, so it will eventually be finished. Maybe even this year! Enjoy the latest update in any case!

After nearly drowning, Leozack system's required a much needed shutdown and proper recharge. He'd passed out twice -once in the freezing, inky wet darkness and a second time in his unwanted caretaker's arms- so when he finally arose for good, he was perplexed to find himself in a single unit, barely big enough to house the berth it contained. Shrugging off the thermal blanket covering him, the youngling sat up, studying his new environment intently.

"Oh, good! You're awake," announced a vocalizer directly beneath him.

Squeaking, Leozack threw himself towards the far side of the berth, watching as a blue helm slowly slid up from the other edge. "Sorry," Hellbat said, optics dimming contritely as he finished sitting up fully, "I didn't mean to scare you. How are you feeling?"

"D-did...," the smaller jet asked instead, ignoring the question, "Were you lying on the floor?"

"Hm?" Hellbat glanced down. "Oh, well, yeah I was. There was only so much space on the berth and I wanted to make sure your frame wasn't crowded. But I didn't want to leave you alone either, just in case I had to rush you to medbay should some sort of emergency come up."

"There's barely any space though," Leozack pointed out, pouting. "And you have wings!"

The older Destron shrugged, wriggling in the cramped space and rising to his pedes. "It's not a big deal..."

"It is!," the youngling interrupted. "My own hab suite is bigger than this! Why do you have such a tiny room? Did you do something bad? You must be a big loser to get such slag-ridden quarters."

"What? No!," Hellbat protested quickly, his vocalizer sharp and irate. "I never-" He paused, remembering just exactly who he was talking to and hurried to correct his inappropriate tone. "I mean," he continued to the glaring Leozack, "I'm a soldier. One of the best. I serve directly under Lord Deathsaurus, who was the giant mech that commanded I watch over you. These room arrangements are just... the misfortune of being away from the Fortress and having limited space."

"Anyways, let's get you something to eat," the rafale said, palming the door open. "You must be hungry by now."

Leozack scrambled up off the berth, leaping and bouncing from the room in a few, easy strides; swinging from Hellbat's right to his left and back again as they headed away from the larger Destron's room. "So that was THE Lord Deathsaurus? How am I to believe you? What proof do you have?," the teal mechling demanded, never stopping his moving. "For all I know you could be lying to convince me into being good!"

"I doubt even then you'd behave, lieutenant commander..."

"What did you say?"

"Nothing," Hellbat choked, waving dismissively at the bouncing tomcat. "I don't really have any proof to show you, unfortunately, but you should already know by now that we are on a strange planet, far away from the home you're used to. In fact... home, the Fortress, is... probably lost to us forever..."

The monotonous bouncing of an energetic youngling came to an abrupt halt as something crashed loudly behind the rafale, the clattering magnified in the corridor's echo. Whirling about in alarm, the spy was stunned to find Leozack staring up at him from his aft, optics glazing with coolant rapidly as the smaller Destron fought uselessly to keep them back.

"W-what," the mechling croaked softly, "What d-do you m-mean the F-Fortress i-is... go-gone...?"

Oh, slag. Wings hiking in panic, the blue mech tried to quickly think of something to say, while wringing his servos in growing desperation. "U-uh, well, y-you see!," he squeaked uncharacteristically. He vented in horror as Leozack's wings drooped suddenly, tears brimming along his optics thickly.

"D-don't cry!," Hellbat pleaded, dropping to his knees. "I'm s-sorry, really! I-i shouldn't have said that, I-"

"I-i want to go home!," the tomcat wailed suddenly, slapping away the other mech's servos. "You took me away from there! And now you're t-trying to ke-keep me away f-from it! Ta-take me back! Take m-me back now!"

Tears were splashing down Leozack's tiny cheekplates, his equally proportionate fans whining pitifully as his frame began to overheat because of poorly cycled intakes. Ignoring the minimal sting from wildly swinging servos, the blue Destron grabbed the youngling by the shoulders, forcing Leozack to his pedes and facing him. "Listen! Listen to me!," Hellbat almost begged. "Please...," he continued softly as the smaller jet quieted for a moment, staring at the rafale through swimming optics.

"I... I'm sorry. I really shouldn't have said that to you, but... but it's still true," the spy regretfully informed. "I..." I never expected you'd forget so much. "That was insensitive of me. The Fortress, our home, it's... i-it's not completely gone... But energon reserves are really low and there's almost no power left. A small number of the force, alongside Lord Deathsaurus, left to find more energon to help everyone left behind. And... that's where we are now... Fighting the Cybertronians, to try and save our home..."

It was amazing to watch those sharp, red optics -the ones that Hellbat secretly longed to stare into for cycles- quietly shed the last of their tears as the youngling absorbed everything that the large mech was sharing with him. It was also a great comfort to see calculative intelligence fill their depths again instead of fear and sorrow. Seeing so much emotion on the diminutive lieutenant commander was frightening! Not that the spy was going to tell anyone that...

"S-so...," Leozack started cautiously, taking his time to formulate his words. "I must have snuck aboard the shuttle Lord Deathsaurus and you others picked when playing with my centre-mates... and now I'm stuck here with you."

"Um..." The blue Destron had not been expecting that, but who was he to protest the strange, but convenient logic of his superior's infantile mind. "Yes! That seems to be so, which is why Lord Deathsaurus is so mad! B-but, no worries, I'll keep you safe and the others can work on getting energon without disruption!"

The mechling pouted again, crossing his arms over his chestplates, whole frame pushing up as he tried to appear bigger to the crouching Hellbat. Optics flared, trying to resist thinking about how cute the action was, the Destron opened his mouth to ask what had upset the tiny jet now when Leozack beat him to the punch. "Accident or not, I'm not useless! I want to help," he exclaimed, "I will help! And you'll help me!"

"Er... but..."

"And once I help Lord Deathsaurus get energon, we can all go back home," Leozack announced, nodding his helm like the fact was so simple, "And then I can go back to my hab suite, and the care centre and my friends, and grow up to be a soldier even better than you!"

Was there anything to even say to that?

Humming in feigned agreement, the spy rocked back up on his pedes, pulling his servo back at the last moment just before patting the shrunken Leozack. "Hungry?," he asked again, to distract himself from his near-missed slip-up.

Little tanks rumbled and the tomcat flushed in embarrassment, but unlike last time, he didn't run off or make random accusations. Instead, chin tucked in slightly, he answered, "Y-yes," adding in, "But it better not be watered down! I want some good energon!"

And then the teal youngling bounced off ahead, stopping every few strides to make sure Hellbat was following.

xxXxXxx

"...he what?"

Hellbat flinched at Drillhorn's raised vocalizer -so rare for the more level-headed breastforce member- and took a safe step back away from the medical berth. Leozack gave him a funny look, before returning to glaring at the purple mech. Drillhorn ignored the tomcat, still playing with the scanner's controls.

"You let him run around the deck... and then play with the air lock and send himself drowning out into the ocean," he continued, tone dropping to a smouldering, annoyed sound, "Even after Lord Deathsaurus told you specifically to watch him. Are you trying to kill him?"

"It was an accident!," the spy squeaked in protest, servos wringing guiltily. "I didn't just let him-"

"You shouldn't have let him run off in the first place," the drill tank cut in, scowling deeply, "Now I've got to spend time giving him medical treatment! I barely have enough equipment to handle you or the other idiots' injuries!"

"I'm perfectly fine," Leozack finally spoke up, lifting his olfactory sensor as he huffed arrogantly. The little jet even crossed one leg over the other, arms the same. "I would never be taken down by some inanimate fluid, so you don't have to waste your time."

Drillhorn glanced at the youngling flatly, not a single comment escaping him as the scanner hummed into activity. "Lay down," he ordered.

The mechling pouted. "No! I don't need your slagging scans!"

The purple Destron stared for an astrosecond longer, before he circled the berth in one easy step, grabbing Leozack by the helm and shoving the kicking tomcat back onto the berth; even going so far as to pull out the emergency straps and securing them around the youngling. "YOU FRAGGER! AFTWIPE! SCREWHEAD! I'LL KILL Y-"

"Sparklings should watch their mouths and not use crude language," the fill-in medic said, cutting off his diminutive lieutenant commander by smacking a medical clamp over his mouth. Leozack bucked and his vents huffed scarily similar to how Killbison's did when he was super pissed; large, young optics narrowed into tiny, evil slits.

"Um...," Hellbat piped up uncertainly, trying to keep out of Leozack's line of sight, "Are you sure that was wise?"

Drillhorn snorted, running the scanner up and down the youngling's frame. "You're afraid of a four-foot mechling? Pathetic."

"W-what? No!," the blue Destron grumbled, wings fluttering in annoyance, "I just... That seems unnecessary. I mean, all you're doing is making him mad."

"Sorry if I don't care what the little sparkling thinks of me," the other breastforce member replied, jotting some notes down on his datapad, before shutting down the scanner. "Alright, take him. He's fine, miraculously."

Hellbat sprung forward the moment he was granted permission, removing the straps and delicately pulling the mouth clamp off. "SLAG EATER!," Leozack shrieked as he shot up immediately, fans whirling up into a frenzy.

"N-now, now," the spy tried to soothe, "Drillhorn just wanted to make sure you were well! I mean, I know he's fairly crude and all, but he's really good at, uh... medic... stuff... and now we know you're really good, top to bottom, and there's nothing to fear!"

Teal wings were still shivering in rage, but Leozack slowly pried his death glare from Drillhorn's backstruts and turned to stare up at his unfortunate care-taker. "...perfectly well, huh? Nothing to fear?" Cycling his intakes in measured bursts, the youngling finally glanced away, arms crossed and pouting, but no longer stiff in the backstruts. "Fine," he said, to Hellbat's immense relief, "If doing all this slag means you'll stop worrying, I'll let screwhead's behaviour slide."

"Fantastic!"

Unseen to the blue mech, Drillhorn rolled his optical sensors, docking the notes from Leozack's medical examination into the main system, before turning to the pandering idiot already reeling off possible activities to the snotty mechling. "Hellbat," he called, gesturing for the surprised rafale to come over.

"Yes?," the other mech asked as he drew closer.

"Lord Deathsaurus wanted me to give this to you," the drill-tank informed dully. He pulled out a slim datapad, no bigger than his servo, and handed it to the perplexed jet. "It's come to his attention that your current quarters aren't efficient for your new role."

"W...w-wait," Hellbat squeaked, reading through the dragon-former's notice quickly, "You can't m-mean- I-i- No! I can't!" He stuttered and stumbled over his words, optics flared in growing horror, plating beginning to clack anxiously and knees ready to buckle. "Not this-"

"You are and you will," Drillhorn pushed, cutting off the idiot's whimpering, "Lord Deathsaurus put him," a thumb jerked thoughtlessly towards the curious Leozack, "Under your care- and that means you are responsible for EVERYTHING. Just be thankful you get to use some of the biggest quarters on ship for your babysitting."

Hellbat could only silently weep as his comrade turned and walked away, leaving him in the medbay with a bouncing youngling, throwing demanding questions at him non-stop. A bigger hab suite would have definitely been nice... but it was Leozack's that they were ordering him to inhabit.

C.M.D: Expect more chapters of silly shenanigans~
Be kind; give me your mind~ REVIEW, please?