Disclaimer/ Once again I don't own Transformers or its characters. Hasbro does and that's fine by me. A few OCs are mine, as is this plot, but that's about it. I'm doing this for fun. Not profits.

Notes/ Well here it is then... the start of my promised second part of a story that became surprisingly successful. I have no idea how long this is going to be yet. And this time I'm not even going to guess. Because this is indeed a sequel to a fanfction I've already done, I can't say I'm fully confidant that this one will make complete sense to anyone that hasn't read the first part 'So Why'd you Really Do It.'

This one is going to be a bit different from part one, in that the span of time will be loooong, as you'll see... vaguely covering decades or even a century instead of just a few short years. And because the war is over, obviously, the focus here will be the rebuilding of Cybertron and more importantly a new society, plus a greater focus on the situation involving returning refugees and few surprises. As well as Soundwave's ongoing story this time, among those of others.

At any rate... Onward! And as always I look forward to reviews and most of all, feedback and suggestions

Five years Post-War

"How's ya'vision?" Firestorm asked, looking up from her place, sitting curled up comfortably on Soundwave's lap while he sat on a bench. Laserbeak sat perched on the small bot's bent arm, and chirped a little in startled displeasure when Firestorm jostled her while trying to look up for a second.

"I..." Soundwave said slowly. And for a second he said nothing more. Eventually though he moved to detach the cover from the front of his face-plate. And he sat blinking a moment. "I can see you... not well at all. But I see hints of your colours... the shape of your frame, and Laserbeak."

"One'more repair fa your'optics 'n two fa'ya face-plate," Firestorm said, reminding him and smiling with her positivity about it all. "Least ah'tink that's wa'Ratchet said he'figures the plan'll be."

"Yes," Soundwave said, quietly. He stared down toward the ground then, and Firestorm stopped him gently with a tap of her hand against the back of his, when he tried quickly to put the covering back over his face-plate just as face just as quickly as he had taken it off to look at the world through his own optics.

It was a tricky thing, and they both knew it. He needed to see the world as anyone else could see it. He needed to look through his own optics unobscured by the darkness of the cover, and without the complicated system of cameras and software, if he was ever going to really learn to see again (and indeed it was in part a process of relearning once the repairs were done.) But though he had never been able to actually see his own face-plate after it was destroyed in the first place, Firestorm knew full well that surely he was aware enough of just how terrible the damage had actually been. He may not have known what he looked like – not exactly – but he knew full well it was bad. She understood without him ever telling her, that on so many levels, he just felt safer behind that obscure cover of his. And it didn't help him in the least that he was still edgy in recovering from his first of the operations on his optics only the day before, and they were very close to downtown.

Firestorm wanted to tell him with great insistence, that no one cared what he actually looked like at all, or that no one would even bother to notice him. But she knew she'd be lying, and she just couldn't lie to him. Bots stared at her all the time, whenever she ventured out pushing her little walking frame. And they so often laughed and looked startled whenever she started to speak. She seldom cared. But Soundwave so clearly did. Ratchet would have pushed him harder then to push himself more. But she never could, at least not any more than the tiny bit she did. Smiling up at him then, sure he was still nowhere close to seeing anything as detailed as a smile on a face-plate, she let his hand go again and he promptly replaced the cover over his face.

"Do'ya still love'me?" Firestorm asked, still looking up at him a moment more, before she rested her head against his chest panel. Her blue optics were big and begging playfully, and she heard him laugh.

It was late into the evening and the city was quieting down by now. But a bot sat on another bench close enough to theirs, while he read a datapad. And behind them, in an empty space between two closed shops, a trio of young bots around Firestrom's age goofed around with a heavy ball they were tossing around, while they talked about some office jobs. Firestorm was more than aware of them all, and aware that at least half were staring while pretending not to be. But she chose to ignore it completely.

"Yes," Soundwave answered, still laughing, because he'd come to love her more than anyone, and he knew she knew it. When she hugged him, he quickly hugged her back, and when she didn't immediately let go he didn't either. Aside from Laserbeak of coruse, Firestorm was the only bot that he not only didn't try to stop from touching his frame in any way, but that he actively liked letting her do so.

"I'can hear ya' sparkbeat..." Firestorm mumbled, using both of her constantly shaking hands to hold one of his larger ones.

They were a strange pair, who looked strange to the world, and both of them know it. She, a tiny framed young bot, mistaken at times for a youngling, with shaking hands and stumbling steps. And he, a bot, through reputation and name alone, a bot that few dared to even speak to. She'd curl up on his lap, and his long strong though lanky arms and electrified cables would almost hide her from sight. But those were the moments that she felt the safest in the world.

"Ya' spark'is beatin' bit fass..." Firestorm mumbled, expressing slight worry without raising her head again. Finally she did move, so that she could lightly run her her free hand over one of his arms slowly. "Ah Feel... ya tension. Nerves... You okay?"

"Medical repair procedures – still horribly terrifying." Soundwave's answer was slow and hesitant. And in his nervousness and obvious embarrassment, he had reverted into shorthand speech again. He could not have failed to notice those half busy and half staring bots any more then she had. Soundwave noticed everything, even when no one else did. Firestorm laughed silently in pride at him for ignoring them, as she did.

"Ah can'tell," Firestorm admitted. She did her best to look him in the optics, without knowing exactly where his optics were, behind the face-shield. "Yes'ta'day... before ya power'down, you look'd like you'd cry. It made'me sad."

"I... wish I was different. Not this way... not afraid and nervous at..." Soundwave stopped speaking suddenly, letting his words and his thoughts die in the air when he could not work out how to say anything he wanted to say as he wanted to say it. And Firestorm just looked at him a moment, sad but understanding.

"Ya'cant be'da first bot'ta be'fraid of medical stuff," she said smiling assurance again. "Doubt 'ya be da'last. We'll make it'work, if ya want'ta go on with'repairs. Ah think ya do wanna..."

She shifted again in his lap and finally she wiggled off so that she could instead sit beside him. Laserbeak, who had come to rather like her, remained sitting perched on the little bot's arm. And clearly she enjoyed the head rubbing she received from her. Raising her wings in approval and finally chirping and chittering loudly, asking for more.

"Is'tonight da night you'll say I'll be'your bondmate, then?" Firestorm asked slowly. She'd asked before, but it was been months since the last time she had.

"Firestorm..." Soundwave's spark dropped a little, sensing her sadness the second he said her name. He felt his own sadness and he shoved it aside. "You know we can't..."

"Tha s'okay..." Firestrom mumbled, smiling through her sadness and meaning it.

Still holding the bird on one arm, she moved to climb back into Soundwave's lap, where she wanted to be most and he so clearly wanted her to be. And she'd just began to move, when the blast happened out of nowhere. The ground shook around them and the blue glowing heat of an energon fire flared in front of where they sat. Firestorm heard the scream of shock and horror before she realized it was herself that had screamed. And right beside her came the sound of Laserbeak's panicked clicking squawks. There were other sounds too, running feet, shouting voices overlapping to the left and right, the roar of the explotion... She felt motion, flying through nothingness, tumbling. And there was an impact. Her frame exploded with pain, and heat that quickly brought more pain. Her visuals spin badly around her, and it was clouding over. She felt arms and hands grabbing at her hard... heard the squeal of a siren...

The medbay doors slid open. The old medic turned quickly, prepared as ever for any manner of unannounced emergency. But instead, and to his relief, Knockout entered the large room instead carrying his smiling daughter. The red bot still rode on his all too familiar mobility cart. But his physical accomplishments were now almost daily, and to Ratchet most were unmistakable. And in just the short time he had been away with his family on their first little vacation, he'd so clearly made still sightly more progress.

"Ratchet!" Cybershock cried, happily. And she jumped down in one quick and almost dangerous motion from her creator's lap and onto the floor, before she just as quickly ran across it.

"Hey," Ratchet exclaimed right back, grinning at the youngling. He scooped her up from the floor, catching her in the middle of a running step, right before she should crash right into him. "Did you get lots of sunshine?"

""No," Cybershock answered, matter of fact and smiling. "No good for my finish." The youngling nodded in her creator's direction and grinned at him next. "Daddy says so, and he knows... everrrrrrrrrrrrry-ting!"

"Well, I wouldn't say I know everything exactly," Knockout laughed in his small daughter's direction. And he smiled at her, with an amused shake of his head.

"You know lots though," Cybershock countered. She turned slightly in the old medic's arms to look from one bot to the other and back again. "Ratchet does too. And Mama... and..."

"We know things because we never stop learning," Knockout answered, still smiling as he rolled his cart quickly over to sit much closer. His left hand tugged lightly, playfully on his younging's little foot as it dangled below where she sat happily, still held by Ratchet. And with his right, he reached up higher, gently tapping her with one finger against front of her face-plate. Immediately that caused her to giggle. "And you, little miss bot... should never stop learning either."

"No!" Cybershook shook her head firmly, agreeing.

"It would seem I couldn't stay away from work even one more day," Knockout laughed, shaking his his head a little. "I need a few files and my appointment book from my office, so I might actually might have some idea what I'm doing when I come to work tomorrow." He nodded vaguely toward the small office that had become his own in the past year, converted from a small unused store room at the very back of the medbay.

"Ratchet!" Arcee exclaimed, hurrying into the medbay herself in the next moment. And to Ratchet's great surprise and dismay, she hurried over and hugged him for a second, before just as quickly letting him go.

"Welcome back," the old bot answered. He resisted the urge to shake his head over the random hug from a bot who was far from known in general as one who usual enjoyed giving hugs.

"Well, Earth base is still very much standing," Arcee said of her very recent trip, and casually making conversation. And Ratchet listened, interested for many long moments as his teammate filled him in on tidbits from the trip, both hers and Bumblebee's little families had just taken together and returned from. The ground bridge it seemed still worked as well as ever. They'd all fianlly seen the ocean, and the youngling's had played in the sand on a hidden beach where no roads led and no boats wanted to dock against the jagged cliffs. There had been a short reunion with the young humans, the younger of them a very young adult now, and 'Bee, Arcee and Speedbreaker, had raced across death valley, while Knockout laughed and cheered his own mate on, and he goofed off with their collective younglings...

"I must say I'm glad to see you back," Ratchet mused, laughing again and speaking mostly to knowout isn his current statement.. "Both you and 'Bee. Don't get me wrong. A little holiday is good for any family. And probably much better with another young family to share one with. But to be deprived of both my consultant and my top medical student at once..." Indeed it was true. He would never have let both of them go if not for the part time staff, and a few newer students to help him.

Turning just a little back in the direction of the door, Ratchet spotted a large blue ball, intended for use as a physiotherapy tool, sitting in it's place on a shelf close to where he stood. And with a silent chuckle at the good idea this suddenly gave him, he winked once at Cybershock and still holding her with one arm, he grabbed for the ball with his free hand.

"Catch!" he said suddenly with a quick under hand toss of the ball right in Knockout's direction.

Knockout had been able to not only catch an object, but also to throw one back for a while already. But still he never had seemed to stop almost grinning whenever he did either. And this time, when the ball was thrown, though he'd certain not been expecting it, both of his hands came quickly out in front of him, and he turned his upper body slightly on the cart, so that he could catch it perfectly. More impressive still, he used only his left hand to promptly toss it back lightly.

"I'm impressed as ever with your level of improvement in function," Ratchet commented, nodding approval, as he put Cybershock down to stand next to him on the floor.

Cybershock had watched her creator in rehab work since she'd been born. And she'd learned only to cheer his successes and laugh along with him whenever he laughed, because really it was as much of a game to them both as it was entirely serious at the same time. And sure enough, in response to this unplanned impromptu little session she'd almost immediately went to simply watching, curious at first to see what he could do. Then, as he threw and caught, and threw again, she began to hop up and down excited and cheering lightly.

"Let's let you practice this with him," Ratchet said after another moment.

And gently he placed the ball - light enough for her to easily hold it, but still almost too big for her to do so - into both of the youngling's little hands. Nearby, Arcee laughed and smiled.

"Daddy, catch!" Cybershock cried, excited as she tossed the ball to him herself. And when he managed to catch her somewhat awkward and certainly low toss, and to throw it back gently, she caught it. But she stumbled back in doing so, bumping into Ratchet's legs, as he stood behind her. And all four of them laughed.

"Being away and on vacation, has done nothing at all to hinder your progress," Ratchet commented to Knockout, impressed and chuckling a little as he watched him go right on with what was mostly a simple game to his daughter.

"I may have been away on holidays, yes," Knockout answered seriously. "But that hardly means I stopped moving, practising just as many skills as I could for even a day..."

"I much appreciate your continued motivation." Ratchet chuckled as he made that comment. But still he meant it too. It had been a couple of years by then since Knockout's second malfunction and his unexpected survival, when still everything in the old bot's understanding of known medical experience said he shouldn't have. And the unexpected physical improvements that survival had brought with it, had certainly seemed to keep him more motivated then ever.

"Finally stopping at one point, after I'd learned to get on and off this machine on my own... it made sense then because that really was the final foreseeable goal," Knockout mused, tossing the ball lightly to his child, who caught it laughing, and stumbled back again. "Still, those months after that, looking back now it was honestly a little hard to except that I was just done rehab. It felt a bit like quitting, even if I had gone as far as I ever could have then. I have something big to work for now."

"On the subject of bigger goals..." Ratchet mused. He held his hands out, wordlessly telling the youngling to toss the ball back to him, and she quickly did so that he could put it away.

"I think we can try something here," he said. And quickly he walked toward the closest recharge station in the empty medbay, with Knockout following him with obvious hesitation, on his cart, holding his youngling's left hand with his right, as she trotted along happily beside him.

Ratchet easily pulled up the railing mounted to the side of the empty recharge station, and pulled hard against it to be certain it would safely hold weight. Turning around again to look back in Knockout's direction, he clearly saw the mix of understanding, and doubt, determination and anxiety on his face-plate.

"Cybershock, don't you dare laugh at me if we mess this up," Knockout said, his serious tone negated only slightly by the smile he gave the youngling as he spoke.

"Okay," Cybershock answered simply. And she promptly sat down in the middle of the floor nearby and out of the way, curious to see what would happen.

Kneeling on the floor a moment, Ratchet carefully pulled each one of Knockout's feet gently off the cart's footrest and saw that both sat firmly flat on the floor in front. Then he stood up and waited for his teammate to reach out in front of him, with some help from his bond mate, and however hesitantly with both hands and grab hold of the safety railing. They had tried this before, twice in the past year or so. The first time had ended in failure entirely, and the second time unfortunately had resulted in a significant fall. And this had been quite recent. That may have been the worst of the falls Knockout had ever taken in his rehab work – he almost certainly would have banged his head off the floor underneath the recharge station, if Ratchet had not been so quick – but it was far from his only one. And he never was one to let the simple thought of falling be the thing that would ever have stopped him trying.

Barely giving Ratchet enough time to place his hands lightly around his upper body in order to help him, Knockout pulled himself slowly into something close to a decent standing position. He leaned forward, holding tighter to the railing to hold himself up and clearly he could never have let go and stayed standing just yet. But still, he was on his feet! And though his standing balance was still off just enough to matter, and his body could not quite hold his weight unsupported, he stood just a moment like that, grinning at his success, before he grinned more so at his youngling.

"Yay!" Cybershock cheered, standing up from her place on the floor in one single fast motion. And she ran over in five quick steps as soon as Ratchet and Arcee, both concerned for another possible fall, assisted Knockout in sitting back on his cart again.

"You'll walk soon, Daddy," the youngling said. And the way she said it was a clear mix of questioning and assurance at the same time.

"I have little doubt he will," Ratchet said, answering the child himself. He bent forward so that he could look her in the optics, and he smiled at her. "And you, you get to help him the most by being his greatest little cheering section."

"I can do that!" Cybershock exclaimed, nodding once in firm agreement. Of course she could. She always had. And Ratchet smiled proudly at her then for that.

"Ratchet?" Another voice called out, as the medbay doors slid quickly open and then closed again. And a second later Speedbreaker walked in with her child, Hotwire, in her arms, and Bumblebee right beside her. The little family were all smiles and laughter.

"Welcome back," Ratchet called in response. And of course he reached out once, trying his hardest and bound and determined to pick up Hotwire and hold him a while like he had Cybershock.

But younglings were all so different from each other. And for all of the outgoing friendliness of Arcee and Knockout's youngling, Bumblebee and Speedbreaker's little Hotwire was as shy and standoffish as they came. The short time the family had been away had been almost enough to make him forget the old bot altogether it seemed. And just as soon as Ratchet reached out to take him from his carrier, the little bot put his head down on Speedy's shoulder panel and held her arm.

Cybershock however, was Hotwire's idea of a best friend. And certainly his favourite little playmate. Speedy set Hotwire down on his feet on the floor, when Cybershock ran over to them. And instantly the pair of younglings were standing face-plate to face-plate in the middle of the medbay floor, conversing in their best of language of young children. And Ratchet chuckled a moment simply watching them , listening in as they compared notes with each other on the favoured highlights of their collective vacation. He was in fact soon so well amused by just listening to the children, that he was startled to nearly jumping when his comlink buzzed unexpectedly.

'Autobot medical. This is civilian city patrol unit three' A voice said urgently over the comm, behind feedback and noise.

'Go ahead patrol unit three,' Ratchet answered at once. And instantly he was ready for anything.

'I've got a trooper headed your way with a refugee in need of medical attention at once. Young bot. Possible critical. Still conscious... obvious injury I'm sure you don't see everyday..."

"We're assuming then you guys are going right back to work tonight," Arcee said, mostly addressing her own bondmate, though glancing in 'Bee's direction too, after she'd stood awhile exchanging looks with Speedy as they'd all listened to whatever had come over the comm.

"Yep," Knockout answered quickly, with his mind made up at once. But he gave her a regretful look as he did, And shook his head just a little. "I'm sorry about this. We never know when emergencies will happen..."

"Hey, duty calls," Arcee said, smiling her understanding as she picked up her youngling to take her home. "Just... be safe, and I'll see you at home as soon as you get back."

And close by, Speedy and 'Bee shared a similar exchange of true understanding as Speedy picked up her own child. Both of the younglings waved at their creators, as they left for their homes with their chatting carriers, who discussed the possibility of a stop at the playground. Both Cybershock and Hotwire were quick to squeal their delighted agreement at that light sparked proposal.

Not more than a few minutes after Speedy and Arcee and Speedbreaker had gone, And before anyone was even finished readying the medbay for any real emergency at all, the doors slid open once again.

"Miss! Miss, you need to calm down," said a civilian member of the city patrol, to the screaming and energon covered bot he was carrying in his arms when he ran into the medbay. The doors slid shut behind him hjust as fast as they had opened. "I know it's scary, but you're only going to make it worse by panicking."

"What the frag happened?" Ratchet demanded of the patrol bot, gesturing with one waving hand toward a repair table closest to where he stood. And the red and green patroller shook his head in obvious shock, while the injured bot he carried screamed and shrieked in his arms.

"We're not sure yet what this was," the patrol bot explained, wide-optic'd. "A power generator might have blown, downtown. She was right beside it..."

"Firestorm," Ratchet muttered, recognizing her as soon as the patrol bot had set her down. And he resisted a very strong urge to kick a work table across the room.

"Ra... Ratchet... plea... please..." the little bot mumbled shaking. She was going quickly into system shock – covered in enough energon to make it clear she had lost far too much. And a long, bent and twisted metal bar stuck horribly from the front of her frame, right above the level of the midsection.

"Look at me." the old medic demanded firmly. "Firestorm. Optics open. Optics open. Come on!'

"Th... there... th..." Firestorm mumbled horribly. She was worsening fast, and her hands, shaking badly, gestured in panic toward the twisted metal still attached to her own body.

"Okay. It's okay," Ratchet said quickly, assuring her the best he could manage to. "I'm going to fix this soon. I need to see exactly what it it we're dealing with."

"Am... Am'I gonna'die?"

"Not if I have anything to say about it."

Ratchet's hand went immediately to the back of her left wrist, where he knew he would find a small retractable panel, that when pushed back, would let him access the simple switch meant to deactivate her pain receptors. And his spark sunk fast with dread when it was clear a second after he'd done so, that her body had not responded at all to the flipping of the switch. Another negative effect of her long damaged processor? He realized then that he'd not once thought to ask her.

"That metal could easily be right through her fuel tank," Knockout muttered, from somewhere beside him. And Ratchet turned his head to see his teammate quickly powering up a med scanner.

His insistence that she look at him, his demands to keep her optics open, had done well enough to hold her consciousness and keep the system shock at bay, at least at present. But it meant as well that she was more awake now. And that trade off had it's downside. Firestorm began to scream again with her horrible distress.

"Ratchet... shouldn't we be powering her down?" Bumblebee questioned. He was visibly anxious. And so clearly at a loss for what he could do for Firestorm at that second, he moved to gently pat her hand with one of his in assurance. The look on her face-plate was one of terror and shock. And she gave a terrible shriek of pain, as soon as her body was shifted in the slightest just to scan the damages.

"Remember 'Bee; never throw a patient's systems into power down until we're sure the process won't kill them. We need high dose pain medication for her, and I mean this second. Three hundred milligrams to start, with two hundred ready on standby. Remember, she's a minibot. The dose may seem a bit low, but given her frame size we're going to be slagging close to knocking her out. And that's not always a terrible thing."

"On it!'

"It seems this slagger might need a medic before we toss 'im into the city cells," another voice called from the direction of the medbay doors as they slid open again. And Ratchet, frustrated just as much as he was fully committed, turned quickly toward the door.

His spark dropped at once at seeing four more members of the city patrol, in the doorway. And all four together were managing to keep a far too firm grip on Soundwave. All four patrol bots, it happened, were big. Two could have held Soundwave easily, had he been fighting, which he certainly was not. Far from it in fact. The bot stood, head darting in one direction then another, his panic and desperation obvious even with his face-plate fully hidden as it was. And energon leaked from his upper arm and shoulder panel, from a more than clear and serious injury.

One of the patrol bots shoved him froward hard. And two more of them laughed loudly, when he stumbled, nearly falling, because of it. Soundwave turned his head again to look quickly around the medbay. And one patroller – the one that had shoved him, smacked a hand against the bot's damaged arm hard enough to cause a terrible clanging sound. All four civilian patrol bots laughed when Soundwave only tried to step back, away from the one that had assaulted him.

"Inquiry – Firestorm?" Soundwave said urgently, before two of the bots that held him, terribly now with his arms twisted and his hands behind his back, laughed again. One of them, the largest and strongest of them all, yanked up on Soundwave's restrained wrists, forcing forward onto his knees.

"We found this slag pile beside that injured little femme patient you've got," another of the four explained. "The coward wouldn't even speak when we asked him what he was doing around there." The hate was clear in his voice, and it was clear it was him that had spoken before. With a snarl of his anger, he kicked Soundwave square in the chest panel, while the shaken, damaged bot stayed kneeling, helpless on the medbay floor.

"Hey!" Ratchet hollered. His head shook with his disbelief at the patrol bots' behaviour. Young refugee neutrals, out to settle scores he reasoned quickly, with situations they did not so much as try to understand. "Let go of him!"

"Frag no. Not a chance!" Another patrol bot spoke up. And he kicked Soundwave next as he did. "He's dangerous and under arrest. We don't let go of him until you're ready to deal with him. And when you do, I recommend some good restraints."

"I said let go of him!" Ratchet yelled over the next wave of the bullying patrolers' laughter. "For Primus' sake. This is a hospital!"

He did not dare leave Firestorm for even a second. But his aim had never failed him in centuries when he tried hard enough. Within a second his trusty wrench was out of his storage compartment and his in right hand. A second later, he'd managed to fling it from his hand, across the room and send it crashing hard against the head of the largest of the brutes. The group of them scattered after that.

"'Bee," Ratchet ordered quickly, his attention almost entirely back on his initial patient again. "Take Soundwave to a repair station and assess him. Begin treatment if possible. I can see from here he could be serious..."

"Fault – not my own." Soundwave said, as soon as Bumblebee had grabbed him gently by the arm to lead him away. His speech had reverted again into his familiar shorthand. But his voice shook with his own obvious shock and horror.

"Myself and Firestorm..." he spoke again and it was too clear just how hard he tried just to form a sentence now and to make it make sense. "We were simply conversing on a bench..."

"We aren't blaming you, Soundwave," Ratchet said quickly. He worked at the same time to assess the condition of Firestorm. But she was less than perfectly compliant now, as he struggled to make her follow simple directions to wiggle feet and squeeze fingers, to follow his light and tell him if it was day or nighttime. She cried loudly in her fear and pain, while trying hard to shave his hands away before he could touch her, clearly fearing instinctively that he would only hurt her worse. "I know you had nothing to do with this."

"Please," Soundwave begged, his head turned in 'Bee's direction now as the young Autobot tried to lead him away toward the back of the medbay. "Let me see Firestorm... I can help..."

Ratchet was about to snap at the stubborn bot. But something made him stop. And slowly he shook his head in frustration, and motioned instead in the direction of the repair station was was working at.

"Fine," He muttered under his intakes. "But you get seen as soon as she's stabilized."

"Sound... wave...?" Firestorm mumbled, as soon as he'd managed to run over from across the medbay. With her optics half closed and clearly unfocused, she raised an arm, hand in a tight fist, and moved to punch Ratchet across his upper arm when he reached over her body. Knockout grabbed for her swinging hand the best he could manage to, saving Ratchet from a hit, however light it would likely have been. But in the process she managed to hit him instead. The Medi-bots exchanged looks of sad understanding at once. She hadn't meant to hit him and they both knew it. She was just too panicked and scared to reason, and it would have been anyone.

"Firestorm – Stop," Soundwave said, far more firmly than anyone might have expected him to speak, given his own shakiness. And from most other bots it might almost have sounded spark-less given her state. But his tone of voice was not entirely without compassion, and clearly somehow it worked. Because Firestrom stopped her combative struggling at least a fair bit, and she stared up at him blinking tear filled optics. He held out a hand – the one not attached to his significantly injured upper arm, and she reached to grab it in both of hers at once. She still cried so hard it was speak-breaking, even to a medic who'd worked as long as Ratchet had. But with both of her hands holding tightly to another bot's, there was no danger of her hitting anyone in panic anymore.

"Wha'happen'?" Firestorm questioned, in confusion, managing to speak sensibly. "We'were sittin' talkin.' And..."

"Event – currently unclear." Soundwave's reply was simple and formal again. But no bot that heard him then could have denied that they'd heard the spark-break in his voice as he tried to explain.

"Oww..." Firestorm mumbled horribly, while shaking badly, the very second Ratchet lightly touched the far edges of a crack across the front of her body armor, which spread away from the gash caused by the metal bar. Coolant filled her optics again, and one of her hands let go of Soundwave's in an obviously unconscious threat to deck the medic again.

"Okay, okay..." Ratchet said quietly. He grabbed her flying hand easily, brushing off the near hit at once. "We're not going to do anything like that just yet then." He turned quickly in his young student's direction. "'Bee, do you have that stand by dose I asked for?"

"Ready and waiting."

"Thank you. Give it to her now."

"There were... other bots in near proximity to us," Soundwave said suddenly, in a tone that showed for certain that he remembered that fact only then. He tilted his head for just a second in the direction of the members of the medical team, before turning right back to Firestorm.

"We may have at least a couple more patients rolling in still then," Knockout reasoned. His tone was practical. And he turned partway on his cart, scanning the medbay, and clearly working out where to best place a possible next arrival.

"Rollin' in?" Firestorm questioned a second after that. Her optics were open wider as she, quite oddly and randomly, tried to join the conversation herself. Her face-plate showed a baffled kind of confusion for a second, and she went on slowly, "why'd en'one be rollin' inside..." A second after that, she burst out laughing loudly, just as though the very idea of something she'd taken for too literally, was the funniest of ideas.

"Firestorm – alright?" Soundwave questioned at once. His concern was unmistakable. But Ratchet only chuckled a little under his intakes, despite the still pressing seriousness of the situation.

"She's good," Ratchet answered quickly. "Just loopy as a scraplet from the pain medication..." His initial fast-made guess that said medication would knock her unconscious almost entirely had been, he saw now, just slightly off. But no matter, he reasoned just as fast. The effect was certainly not dangerous. And a patient laughing her aft off was always preferable to one screaming and crying with distress.

"Look'a'tha... paint!" Firestorm exclaimed, smiling with out of place amusement, while she just continued laughing. Part of the bar – a bright shinning silverish in colour – had swapped a little paint with that of her own frame. And managing to lift her head just a little, so that she could look at her own front panelling, she seemed to be laughing with unmistakable amusement over the streaks of colour on the front of her body.

"Ah'should choose'new colour one'day," she chattered on laughingly, laying flat on the repair table again with no prompting at all. And she only continued to laugh loudly as Ratchet finally managed to fully inspect that shattered section of her front panel and the unwanted metal that ran clean through to armour to somewhere underneath. He chuckled along with her, as he worked, if only to further encourage her ridiculous laughing because it clearly served to distract her. And she laughed a moment wordlessly before she want back to chattering on again. "I'could'beee purple! Ooooorrrrrr... blue'an'green!"

"Well, it's managed to just miss her fuel tank," Ratchet mumbled, as he held his focus on his work almost entirely. "And since we've seen that she can move her feet just fine, we can be pretty sure it hasn't damaged the main central relay close to that."

"So..." Bumblebee was nervous again as he questioned slowly. "What do we do now?"

"We grab this piece of metal and pull straight upward," Ratchet explained, decided at once. "It's a fair bit shorter, according to the scans, than we initially feared it would be..."

"You're not going to power her down?" 'Bee asked, more nervous now then before.

A forced medical power down to any bot did hold its own risk, however slight in general. And in a bot with processor damage of any kind, as was the case with Firestorm, there was slightly more risk to consider still. And he explained this to his young student quickly.

"I don't think we need to," he went on.

He could certainly power the little bot down safely, if he had to. And if he'd had to do it, he would have at once. Yes there were the risks involved, but if those were outweighed by benefits, any risk would be a more than fair one. But Ratchet never had believed in using full power down even half as much as so many medics of days gone by, it seemed, preferred to do. Sometimes, he felt, there were just faster, better, and certainly safer ways of doing things.

"Soundwave," he said quickly, and having decided at once exactly what to do. "Here's where you can really be some help. We're going to move her arms so they sit nicely over her chest panel and out of the way. Then you're going to hold them that way for me. I need you to keep on talking to her too. I know conversation is hardly your strong point, but I'm sure you'll think of something to talk about. She's so drugged now from the meds, she might just keep on laughing at anything you say."

"Wh... what...?" Firestorm asked urgently when her arms and hands, which had been waving carelessly beside her, while she laughed and chattered for the last while, where moved. She had been still laughing over paint colours like it was the funniest thing in the world. But suddenly she stopped, as her optics opened wider and her face-plate turned serious. Ratchet felt his own tank drop a little, realizing just how much she could still understand when he'd assumed she wouldn't have been bothered to pay attention.

"You're okay," Ratchet assured her quickly, and he looked up again. "Soundwave your hands over both of her lower arms. Just like that. Thank you."

"No'no no... let'go me," Firestorm said, forcibly snapping herself right out of her state of dazed out happiness And her optics instead filled with panic again. Soundwave, of course was not holding her arms all that hard. And quickly she had struggled out of his hold on her. "Ah'dun wan'ta."

Exchanging quick looks with both 'Bee and Knockout, Ratchet wondered a second if perhaps he would be better to power her down after all.

"Firestorm – courageous little bot," Soundwave said slowly, and in that it was obvious he was trying his hardest to calm her, as he gently grabbed her arms again, holding them still again just as he'd been instructed, This time she let him hold her like that with no fuss at all, and she even smiled, a silly little grin, as her panic eased back again after that one short bout.

"Firestorm," Knockout said, speaking quickly, when Soundwave, so clearly at a complete loss for anything to say on the spot, just stood silently holding her arms still.

"Was'up?" Firestorm mumbled still smiling. Her optics travelled slowly between both Soundwave and Knockout now.

"You think I should consider a new paint colour one day too?" Knockout asked. And at that, Firestorm burst into laughter yet again.

"Def'nan'ly blue!" she said, loudly. Her amusement more than obvious at once. And for a fraction of a second she looked thoughtful, before she went on speaking. "Ya'cood'do green but... noooo. Blue'more ya'colour. Soundwave, wha'da you'tink?"

Ratchet managed a quick second in which to look up from his work to nod his approval at his teammate. And he even chuckled again just a little himself, at the silliness of his patient, because while her state was growing quickly even more altered as the medications took their full effect, it was still certainly not dangerous in the least. His expression quickly turned serious again however,and focused at once back on his work, he grabbed hold of the metal bar. And just as he'd explained he'd planned to do, he quickly pulled up on it yanking firmly, as quick as he could until it slid easily out of the little bot's body armour. Standing close by, watching and ready to help, Bumblebee visibly cringed. But he took the bent metal as soon as it was handed off to him, and quickly he stashed it away, well away from Firestorm's field of vision.

Reaching for his welder on a table behind him in one fast move, and powering it up at once, Ratchet looked back at his patient again, ever vigilant and assessing. Her arms were still held firmly by Soundwave, and at some point she'd moved so that she could hold tight to his lower arm. Her optics had opened wider too, in shock and some all too obvious pain. But this was, it seemed, all but entirely unconscious to her, because right through her all too clear panic, she still smiled at the bots that were easily distracting her. And she started to giggle over something no longer clear in the slightest, as Ratchet set about welding.

"You wanna talk about it?" Bulkhead asked quickly, during one tiny break in the midst of a flurry of punches and kicks. He raised his hands to block again, as a hit landed hard against his chest panel, and turned to his left, far too slow in his big and bulky frame, to block the flying kick that hit him straight in the shoulder panel. And during the next all too brief break in the combat, he bent to turn down the music, blasting away over his player, just off the edge of the rubber training mat.

"Reason for conversation – nonexistent," Soundwave answered quickly, before he landed three more kicks successfully. And it was only after the fact that he feared that his reply may just have been too quick, to deny anything in a way that was truly convincing

"I'm not so sure about that," Bulk' replied. He managed, just barely, well enough, to grab Soundwave's lower leg in the middle of his next fast kick. And with a turn of his arm, and throwing his own weight forward, he dropped the bot face first to the rubber mat they stood on. Soundwave fell almost awkwardly, onto a shoulder that had been injured and repaired just the night before. But Soundwave had fought so far just fine, and even in the hard fall, he barely noticed more than a slight hint of the pain it caused.

"Inquiry – why the certainty?" Soundwave questioned, slowly rolling onto his back before sitting up on the mat. Emotions in one's voice, or at least in his own, were vulnerability and weakness, he reminded himself fast and fought to hide the anger in his tone. But he could not quite manage to do it completely.

"Because you're fighting like you've forgotten the war is over, and we're sort of friends now instead of mortal enemies." Bulkhead shook his head and laughed a little as he added – obviously meaning to be funny in his exaggeration, "I'm starting to worry about you tearing my head off."

"Firestorm – sustained severe damage last night." Soundwave said quietly, giving the other bot that much because that much was harmless. He quickly got to his feet, and the two began to spar again, though this time he was more careful about going too far.

"So I've heard," Bulk' answered with a sad shake of his head. He blocked a blow and gave one right back. This time it was he that hit almost too hard, and his own anger at the situation with still few known details, was more than clear in that. But the Autobot's anger faded again quickly, and he looked at Soundwave while they trained, with a look of... assurance? "Ratchet says she's doing well this morning. He was laughing by the energon dispenser, about how she's already asking him to let her get up to walk with her frame in the courtyard. 'Bee said he showed her the metal bar this morning because she'd been asking him about it. He said her most pressing question after that was 'can I keep it?'" Bulk' chuckled at that and slowly shook his head.

"The civilian police assume I'm in some way at fault," Soundwave said. He deferred from his shorthand speech again, only by forcing himself to do so. And his hands began to shake with humiliation and fast growing rage. "They kicked me when I fell, just like a common slave. I'd be in the city jail now had Ratchet not stepped in..."

"We'll straighten all this out."

"The last thing I said to Firestorm, before everything happened... she could never be my bondmate..."

"I think that's what's eating you up," Bulkhead said, with a shrug of big shoulders. He may have certainly been a lunkhead much of the time – or at least he so often seemed it. But still, he was thoughtful and observant, and Soundwave knew for years that he could relate to most anybot somehow.

"It is," Soundwave answered, with barely a thought. He stopped fighting and came to stand still in the middle of the Autobot training gym, just looking at the floor. "It fills me with such regret that I broke her little spark yet again, and still when she was damaged and scared and crying in pain, the bot she wanted most was me... And seeing her in such condition, with the possibly over my head at the time that she could actually die, no one knowing for certain yet that she looked probably far worse than she was, I wondered if I'd really meant what I'd said."

Bulkhead shrugged again, and bent down idly to skip the current track on his music player, over to the next one. "Did you really mean it?

"I couldn't even make her laugh," Soundwave said quietly. And his shame welled up in his spark, making it feel as though it would drop into his tank, in seconds "I... I wish I didn't have to mean it."

"She doesn't need you to be the bot who makes her laugh," Bulk' said, seemingly still so determined to be helpful. "That's... not exactly your thing as a rule. She only needs you to be.. you."

"Firestorm is beautiful and thoughtful. Ambitious, unstoppable, and... perfect. And I..." Soundwave tried hard then to finish exactly what it was he'd started to say. But once again he simply couldn't. So many thoughts swirled through his processor, and so very many words come to mind, that might have explained at least most of those thoughts. But there was too much of everything all at once, and he could not manage to put the words to vague concepts.

Who was he, to love the little bot they spoke of, he questioned in his head. She, all of the things he'd managed already to explain out loud. And he, a bot born only to be a slave. A slave to his creator's viciousness, to the pits of Koan... to Megatron and the misguided Decepticon hope for a world of 'perfect equality.' Soundwave had never planned to love anyone at all. He'd thought for as long as he knew, that he'd never want to at any rate. And the very idea of some bot loving him had barely ever occurred to him in passing. He was socially all but unreachable and he understood that well. But tenacious little Firestorm had managed to reach him when he didn't even know anymore that he wanted to be reached, and she found him somehow when he'd tried harder than ever to fade into the background and disappear from view.

"We've got a brand new world now," Bulkhead said. And it was obvious that from just the little bit that Soundwave had spoken out loud, he'd gotten the basic idea of it all. "We get to start over. Get life right this time around. You could do the very same, you know..."

Bulk' wandered toward his favoured punching bag, hanging nearby. And immediately he began to work out with it. Soundwave stood a moment just watching the big brute of a bot, as he sent the bag flying back and forth fast with his hard steady hits. And finally he joined in himself, kicking the bag from the opposite direction, And even managing some good fast spins, all without losing his balance, though thrown off just slightly by a still injured arm.

"So," Bulkhead said, after a few long moments in which they both just punched and kicks without any conversation. And he went right on with his training. "What exactly happened downtown yesterday anyway?" He paused a second and his face-plate turned slightly concerned in his obvious understanding. "No one on this team believes you had anything to do with this."

"Details – still unclear," Soundwave answered slowly. It was a hard thing to admit, considering his reputation for meticulous attention to detail. But everything had happened so incredibly fast.

"Any details you might have could be useful," Bulk' said calmly. "The Autobot forces are gonna wanna get to the bottom of this mess... I've been voted bot in charge of figuring it out." He shrugged a little and shook his head again. "Not sure why the team would choose me. I never saw myself as the investigator type."

"Firestorm and I were seated together on a bench simply conversing," Soundwave explained slowly, thinking intently as he did so, and trying hard to remember anything that might possibly have mattered. "Laserbeak was free and perched on Firestorm. Four bots nearby went about their business while staring at us." Remembering was easier once his processor had began to put it all together. But putting it all into words was much harder. He struggled just to explain it all, but still he tried his hardest to do so, and well aware that at least a bit of what he relayed was irreverent entirely. "To Firestorm's left side was an energy distribution box, and to her right was me. The distribution box was painted red. There was a blast. It happened, it seemed out of nowhere. A bright blue flash that started from across the street and somewhere above, and the distribution box exploded. Every light went out on the entire block..."

"I... uh... guess I better take notes quick when I get back upstairs," Bulkhead mumbled thoughtfully. And it was obvious just how out of place he must have felt in his current role of case invesigator.

"Music – most interesting," Soundwave said, changing the subject entirely, and simply because he thought it indeed was.

"It's some Earth metal stuff from Miko," Bulk answered, with a shrug of his huge shoulders. "The song is 'Trash the City, and never knew the name of the band. We just call it 'track seven.'"

"Song – appeals in it's surprising complexity," Soundwave continued. And to his dismay he saw bulkhead blink his optics at him with surprise he did not even bother to hide.

"I wouldn't'a take you for a bot to appreciate such music, or maybe any music at all," he mumbled, shrugging again.

"Does everybot not?" Soundwave answered, simply. And he would never know they nievity of his simple question.

"That's a Dodge Charger," Knockout said. The enthusiasm was unmistakable in the sound of his voice. "And that one? Hmm... let me see that a second. BMW M6. 1968 Chevy Camero. Classic."

"That don't look much wike Bumblebee's vee'cle mode at all," Cybershock answered quickly, in a tone of clear and obvious doubt. "And we know he's a Camero."

"Yes, yes," Knockout explained, laughing without missing a beat from his quick witted youngling. "But he's certainly not a '68!"

On the trip to Earth they had just so recently returned from, Raf had showed cybershock his collection of displayable toy cars that he'd collected for years and packed up into a box to place into storage. And to Cybershock's greatest joy, he'd gifted the little collection to her one day before she was brought back home to Cybertron. He'd outgrown his toys years before, he explained, smiling. And the youngling so clearly loved the little cars – just as well as her creator for that matter.

And standing inside the frame of the open doors leading out to her family's apartment patio, Arcee smiled, watching her mate and their child interact outside on the little deck, sorting through the miniature Earth vehicles, Knockout sitting in his cart, with Cybershock on his lap, puled up next to the patio table where the little one had set the little box of toy cars they were inspecting.

"What's this one, Daddy?" Cybershock asked. She reached into the box and pulled out the next one out.

It was funny enough to watch Cybershock so carefully handle the small Earth toys in hands still small for Cybertron, but just a bit big for anything Earth-based. And quite another thing entirely to watch knockout try to do it just as well as she could. His hands, of course, were so much bigger. But he held the tiny toys between his fingertips and looked them over anyway.

"That's... an Aston Martin," he said, explaining quickly. And he grinned at his child when she grinned up at him. Clearly thouhg that grin of his hid sudden slight sadness, that Arcee knew at once was making a point of hiding fully from the youngling.

"That one's my favourite one I think," Cybershock answered at once. She grinned brighter when her creator handed the little car back to her. And unknowingly she sat carefully admiring something that was basically a simplified model of his own vehicle mode, though in some odd blue instead of his red. She leaned forward then in his lap, to place the car onto the table, and smiling she pushed it quickly in circles around the little box, making loud 'car' noises.

"My vehicle mode looked kind of like that," Knockout said slowly. And the youngling turned around on his knees to look up at him, wide-optic'd and amazed.

"You had a vee'cle mode too?" she asked.

"I did indeed," Knockout told her, smiling at her own amazement.

Arcee, stepping then out onto the patio herself to join her family, smiled again. She knew how the world judged her bond-mate. How he'd constantly seemed 'broken' or 'defective.' But Cybershock had never known anything different. She knew of course that he was different. And she'd even began to take an interest lately in questioning why. But she made it clear daily that she simply didn't mind that at all.

"We don't have one that wooks wike Mama..." Cybershock said, clearly disappointed, as she gestured toward the tiny toy vehicles in the box.

"We'll need to find you a little toy motorbike for that," Knockout said, smiling again. And he thought a second. "Perhaps one of our human friends can send one..."

"Daddy?" Cybershock asked after a moment. And she carefully placed the little car back into the box, with her little hand paused there in the midst of reaching to pick up the next one. She looked back up at him again, her optics curious. "You'll walk one day... you can a-ready stand up a bit. That mean you'll transform 'gain den?"

"Ideally, yes," Knockout answered grinning by then. And behind him Arcee smiled too.

It was something they'd talked about more and more in the past few years. Daring only to hope for a chance he could indeed drive again, once he'd begun his obvious steady increase in function. But Cybershock had never seen his vehicle mode. Never even knew until he'd mentioned it in passing that that day that he'd ever been able to transform at all. Arcee smiled at imagining she might just get to see that someday.

"Did you ever race?" Cybershock asked quickly. And Arcee watched carefully, worried somehow that Knockout might just be upset by that. But instead she only saw him grin at their youngling.

"Are you kidding?" he asked her, laughing while he pulled her closer against him playfully with his arms, and shook her just a little to make her giggle with her little legs kicking in front of her. "I was an underground champion in Nevada. I brought street racing to Cybertron!"

"Can you teach me ta race?" Cybershock asked quickly. Her little blue optics lit up, widening with her excitement as she bounced in her creator's lap. "When I big 'nough to have my own vee'cle mode, I wanna scan a car on Earth so I can have one wike you and Mama's!"

Arcee stepped closer to her family and finally she sat herself down in her favoured blue patio chair, set up closest to the railing. Cybershock, she knew and feared, was growing up so much faster than she'd ever wanted her to. And now the child still many years aay from a vehicle mode at all, was already daydreaming of hers. The youngling, it was clear more each day, both her carrier's desire to simply go fast and her creator's inborn love of horsepower. Arcee shook her head just slightly, so unsure of exactly how she felt about her own child one day racing. But Knockout, to no great surprise at all, only grinned brighter than ever at her interest.

"I read through Bulkhead's investigation notes today on base,"Arcee said to her mate, after Cybershock had settled comfortably again onto his lap and was sitting quietly pushing a couple of her little toy cars around on the table beside her. And she chuckled a second musing out loud, "Bulk's doing a excellent job with this... even if he does feel his calling in life is simple construction bot."

"Wants a simple life of simple work... can't quite seem to walk away from the old Autobot devotion to duty," Knockout smiled right back at her with an amused shake of his head. "It certainly sounds familiar."

"How so?" Arcee laughed, but the look on her face-plate told him she clearly understood exactly what he meant anyway.

"You. A simple preschool teacher now – through truth be told, I can't say I'll ever see how that's simple in the least. It's obviously challenging work and to be well admired. Still, you spend half as much time working on base, busy as anything, as you did when you actually worked there!"

"A point well taken," Arcee laughed a little.

"Of all the bots on Cybertron," she groaned with a shaking head, not a second later, when a too loud banging thump from the apartment above all but shook their own floor. "Why did the one above us have to be Sideswipe."

The initial bang from up there, was sure enough quickly followed by another, right along with the thudding of high bass music from stereo speakers. And not a moment later, multiple bots were laughing hysterically and shouting far more than talking on and near the patio above their own. The young Autobot, known far more for needlessly judging others and for the oversized chip on his shoulder, than much real work, was well known to throw parties inside his apartment. And sure enough that night he'd clearly made up his mind to throw another.

"They're all just having their fun," Knockout said of the bots partying away upstairs, when another peel of laughter sounded as soon as the music track, more than loud enough to clearly hear, was changed up there.

"It's getting late," Arcee muttered, still disapproving. Knockout, she noted with another shake of her head, always had been far more forgiving of such behaviour than she certainly was. And she nodded toward Cybershock, before glancing out toward the slowly setting sun across the sulphur field. "Little miss here needs to be down for recharge soon."

"I nooo tired yet," Cybershock answered, without missing a beat, and not even looking up as she went right on playing. Somehow she'd gotten the idea that a Kia Rio hatchback could really beat a Ford Mustang GT in a drag race. And she made it happen across the patio table in miniature form with two little silver hands that pushed the tiny cars. But despite her instance, she yawned wide anyway and lowered her head at once to hide it.

"Too bad missy," Arcee answered chuckling, and revealed when Knockout nodded his head in back up. "You'll let you stay out here a few more minutes, then its wash up time and to your recharge station."

"Okay, Mama," Cybershock mumbled. The Kia Rio won again in one more round of racing.

"Bulkhead is quickly coming quickly to the conclusion that this little explosion downtown may well have been a targeted attack," Arcee said, as she watched her youngling snuggle tiredly a short time later on Knockout's lap. He pulled her against him again with one hand and used the other to carefully put away the child's tiny toy cars into the box. Above them there was another horrible thump and the sound of somebot yelling something about dance moves. She chose to ignore it all in her annoyance and went right on speaking though just slightly louder. "That electrical box didn't just blow up. Somebot blew it up... with a long range weapon, from what Soundwave described. "We're still not sure who the refugees actually were that were nearby. Thankfully none were actually hurt and presented for medical attention, but it left no reason for any to give their names yet. We're assuming for now there's no real reason for anyone to be targeting refugees, though Bulk's not yet ruled out some chance of a personal dispute that may have started on board a returning ship. And no one could possibly imagine why anyone in his right mind would want to hurt poor sweet little Firestorm."

"That leaves Soundwave," Knockout finished, understanding at once exactly where it was she was going with her own reasoning. Firestorm just unfortunate enough to be close to him, and whoever did this obviously didn't care for the safety of her or anyone else." He shifted the youngling's weight a little on his knees, and frowned a second in thought. Slowly he began to shake his head a little. "The civilian police tried to pin the blame for all this on him. No matter that they had no real evidence, or that he was found unarmed... Some of them even tried taking it upon themselves to beat him up..."

"Ultra Magnus is coming back to Cybertron soon," Arcee said. "I got the memo the other day. He's going to take on the job of heading up the police force."

"Ive heard... mixed opinions of that bot..." Knockout mused.

"Opinions will allays be mixed, even among the Autobots," Arcee answered, with a small laugh. "He's a bit of hard head with no known sense of humor. Strict. To the point. But he's always been fair, and he'll be tough on corruption just as well as on crime. No way he'll stand for his bots, beating on a bot like Soundwave when he learns he's a legitimate defector, just trying hard to start over. The very same for you, if Primus forbid, you ever have trouble with those patollers."

"That's... certainly always good to know."

"Bulk' says Soundwave was angry as anything today. Doing too good of a job of blaming himself for whatever it was that actually happened..."

"He was," Knockout explained, while he nodded slowly in agreement. But the look on his face-plate showed that he was just as baffled by it all, as he was obviously concerned. "He caught up to me today at work, asked if I had a moment, and told him of course I did. So we talked a bit in my office. He thanked me three times for my part in helping save Firestrom's life. I told him it was nothing at all. But all the while, as we talked back and forth, he was all too busy verbally beating himself up. Arcee, I served beside him for so many years on the warship. I never thought I'd ever see the day I'd see Soundwave of anyone, clearly upset... defeated..."

"He loves her," Arcee answered simply, and with a smile on her face-plate. " Just as much as she loves him. If there's one thing that going to upset anybot... even Soundwave, it's..."

"Those two don't actually love each other..." Knockout replied, his tone somewhere between dismay and questioning, disbelief and bewilderment. And immediately Arcee fought back the urge to burst out loathing.

"Only for the last few years now," she told him, nodding her head seriously. "The whole base knew it before either one of them ever admitted it..." she smiled at him silently a moment and shook her head, amused, before she finally muttered slowly, "were you seriously the last one to realize that?"

"Well I..." Knockout stammered and stumbled a little almost to comically, while he shook his own head in a way that was too a bit to over the top. "I knew there was obviously something up with those two. I thought he liked to talk to her because she liked to listen. I figured she had some kind of youngling crush on him. Like those Earth girls we all knew about with a so called thing for mysterious 'bad boys...'"

"It's so much more than that for both those bots," Arcee said. She laughed at first at the look of shock on her bondmate's face-plate. But when the look turned quickly to near horror and shock, she stopped laughing at once and looked at him, concerned.

"Firestorm is almost still a youngling, and Soundwave is... well, different." Knockout still smiled a little as he explained, or at least it was obvious he tried to. But all the while he shook his head in his own clear disbelief over the whole idea. "I don't like it. I don't like anything about it."

"They never once asked anyone to like it, anymore than we ever did," Arcee chuckled back, dismayed.

"Little Firestorm could not know a thing about what it really takes or means to devote herself to a bot so emotionally damaged and broken. The nightmares, the flashbacks, any lack of any real idea of how the rest of the world behaves..."

"It isn't as if there's an instruction manual out there somewhere to teach someone what to do and she just failed to read it, you know. They'll deal with those things the same was we did and do; by trusting each other and trying their best.

"Neither of them could possibly know what love is."

"Of course they could know that!"

"I still don't like it!'

"Stubborn bot," Arcee said laughing. And playfully she smacked her mate lightly against his shoulder panel. But still she could fully understand where it was he was coming from. Knockout always had been particularly protective of Firestorm. And watching just how he held their own little one tighter against his frame, probably unconsciously at simply thinking about that, it filled with with a strange mix of amusement and dread.

"I can only imagine, in the century to come," she mused with a smile, "just how will you react when somebot first discovers he loves our little Cybershock?"

Knockout stared almost blankly for a moment in utter dismay He frowned just a second then, and that turned quickly to an all too dramatic look of horror. And finally, he stared down at the youngling in his lap, while his stronger arm held onto her just a bit tighter

"Nope," he said, his tone laughingly stubborn again. "Simply never going to happen. At least not before she's forty centuries old!"

"That's rediculous," Arcee laughed. And again she shook her head at him.

"Anybot that ever dares to look, with anything even slightly more than simply friendship at my baby girl..." Knockout said, seriously. Cybershock began to laugh in her tiredness, enjoying being hugged. And so he tightened his hold on her just a tiny bit more. Slowly his look, still horrified at the thought his mate had made him face, turned to something close to mock-homicidal. And in an almost too close to serious tone him mumbled, "we in the medical field do always have a need for offlined parts donors..."

"I've finished refining that syth-en you asked for last night," Speedbreaker said quickly, and looking up from her place standing near the small industrial grade refiner that was set up on a table in the corner of the medbay. Smiling then she gestured around the little work station. "I also cleaned the refiner itself, filters included, before using it, as well as organized your samples. Oh, and I found that data pad you said you lost yesterday." Behind her, Ratchet chuckled his approval, and grinned at her impressed.

"You've got a lot done already this morning. More than I would have asked of you. All I really needed was the refining."

"It's not any trouble," Speedy smiled. "I've been here since the sun came up this morning. I stopped to visit Firestorm for a while too. She looks great already. Bumblebee found her walking frame last night, still laying somewhere downtown, close to that blown energy distributor. It was broken unfortunately, but I took the liberty of fixing it for her."

"I'm discharging her today. Two days in the hospital is not bad at all considering how much worse it could have been for her," Ratchet stood a moment, just reflecting on his own thoughts yet again about the whole sad matter of the young bot and the still senseless harm to her. Finally he raised an optic and Speedy and questioned, baffled "you've been here working since sunrise?"

"I've had... things on my mind," Speedbreaker admitted slowly. And she shrugged a little as she looked up at the old medic. "I came into work, just trying to stay so busy..."

"Speedbreaker, is there something wrong?" Ratchet's concern was obvious at once.

"No..." Speedy shook her head. "I just..." she paused again, looking anxiously down toward the floor. "Ratchet, would I possibly be able to get a scan? If you have a moment of course."

"Well sure I have a moment," the old medic answered, nodding assurance. Then he chuckled just a little. "You really do need to be a little more specific though of course. What do you suppose you might need scanning for?"

"A possible newspark," Speedbreaker explained, after she'd hesitated for another moment. "I started to suspect I might be carrying again just before I left for vacation. I'm even more convinced today that maybe..."

"What is it that has you thinking so?"

"Discomfort in my chest again, just behind the panel, like it was at first with Hotwire. I'm tired just doing simple things, but I can't recharge more than two hours at a time... And I've can't get enough of anything iron flavoured..."

"Well... certainly one way to know for sure," Ratchet said. He led her toward a repair table near the back of the medbay and motioned for her to sit up on it, as he reached for his well used old med scanner, quickly turning it on. Quickly he reached back behind him, and in one motion, he pulled the curtain closed around the little work station.

"Would it be good news if you'd guessed right?" he asked cautiously, compassionately while he waited for the scanner to power up. "Or you would you be relieved if you were wrong?"

"I... I thought about that a lot while I was on Earth. And the truth is I still don't know. Both me and 'Bee always knew along we wanted Hotwire to be a big brother someday, but..." Speedbreaker thought a second, reflecting, as the old bot stood, waiting patently for her to go on. "The timing is no more ideal now that it was with our last one. But 'Bee and I both love Hotwire so much. I can't imagine my life without him now. And I know that if there is another on the way, there's always love enough for that one too."

"Well," Ratchet said, checking and rechecking the readout that flashed across the small screen of the scanner in his hand. "That someday is going to be soon. You are most definitely carrying." Instead of offering a hand then to help her back down from the repair table though, Ratchet rechecked the scanner readout yet again, and finally, needing a little better look at details that looked unusual, he asked her to lay down on the repair table.

"Is there something wrong?" Speedbreaker asked. Her tone was calm, though it was more then clear that she was struggling a little to keep it that way. And her optics showed her fast growing unease.

"No no... I don't believe so," Ratchet answered quickly and with assurance in the tone of his voice. The young bot may have learned she was indeed carrying again only moments before, but still it was obvious to the old medic just how much she really did want this youngling, even if she'd only just realized just how much she truly did. "It's just that..." he moved to hold his hand held scanner so that he could show her the little image on the small screen. "There are two of them."

"Wh... what?" Speedbreaker only managed to stammer a moment in shock as she sat herself back up again with help from Ratchet. "Twins?"

Just as soon as she'd managed to actually say that out loud, she looked suddenly anxious. And Ratchet chuckled a little in understanding, as he help back down to the floor. He nodded his head, And waited until she finally smiled back.

"I'll need to see you for checkups and scans far more often with these newsparks then I ever did with Hotwire, only because there are two and that's automatically just a bit high risk. I'll let you break all this news to Bumblebee, and of course I'll hope to see him too at your first checkup. And because you'll need two frames, it goes without saying of course that you should be starting the building process early. I'll happily give you all the workshop time you need to do so."

"Th... thank you..." Speedy answered, shaky and still clearly in shocked disbelief.