As promised, Chapter 4. And before 01/07 no less! Read/review please!

Pulsar stood near the window, looking at the city below. There was ongoing construction every direction he looked; some husks or former buildings being demolished, while others were newly built and yet to be completed. He felt as if he should recognize the buildings, or even the city itself, yet no such recollection came. He crossed his arms and gritted his denta in frustration and rested his head gently against the transparisteel looking at the ground below. He glanced back towards where the other two were in recharge. Knockout, on his own berth towards the back of the room, and Soundwave, on a makeshift berth near the medical berth. They had both been in recharge for several joors, yet Pulsar had been unable to enter recharge, despite still feeling a bit weak from his earlier ordeal.

Knockout's home was meticulously neat, if a little sparse. Only about a quarter of it was designed for actual living space; a recharge berth, a couple of small shelves containing some polishing supplies and a few datapads, a vid screen set upon a separate shelving unit, and his berth. The rest of the room was setup with the red mech's profession in mind. Several shelving units of various medical supplies and equipment on one side of the room, and several workstations with various configurations of medical monitoring equipment on the other with the one med berth in the center.

"Trouble recharging?" Pulsar jumped at the sound of Knockout's voice. He hadn't heard the other mech rise from his berth, much less cross the room to where he now stood.

"Sorry, you seemed a bit lost in thought," Knockout spoke softly, moving to stand near him at the window. The two of them stood there in silence, looking out over the slumbering city below. Knockout opened and closed his mouth several times as he thought of something to say, though Pulsar spoke first.

"Ever woken up somewhere that feels so familiar, and yet so foreign at the same time?" Pulsar spoke without looking up.

"Quite a few times back before-," Knockout cut himself off, realizing where his rather comical remark would've led. Pulsar had now turned to him questioningly.

"Before what?"

"Hmm? Oh, nothing,"

"Knockout, I don't even know who I am. I need to kn-"

"Look, kid, I'm sorry. But I'm the last person you want a history lesson from." Knockout cut him off with a sigh.

"Besides, Soundwave would probably rather fill you in himself. He'll take good care of you. He's programmed to, afterall,"

"What do you mean he's programmed to?" Pulsar asked inquisitively, choosing to drop the previous subject in light of this new piece of information.

"He's a carrier."

"A what?"

"Oh, right. Well, carriers are a little different. Their spark can support more than just themselves. They typically wind up teaming up with group of mini-cons, or just smaller mechs, like yourself. That's actually how you're still online,"

"Huh? How-"

"You're a split-spark, kid," Knockout paused for a second with a slight sigh, "Basically, you and another mech share two halves of one spark. Looks like Soundwave patched you up to link with him since your twin-"

"Correct." Pulsar and Knockout were both startled to suddenly see Soundwave behind them. "Pulsar now bonded to Soundwave. Soundwave responsible for Pulsar's well-being. Soundwave will not fail in this."

Knockout just shrugged and looked back to Pulsar with a little nod towards Soundwave as if to illustrate his earlier point. Pulsar nodded, the conversation with Knockout still weighing heavily on his mind. Soundwave looked out at the city through the glass as if seeing something neither of the other two had.

"Area: No longer safe. Pulsar: Will now accompany Soundwave." With that, Soundwave turned from the window and walked towards the lift leading to the roof. Pulsar hesitated at first, not wanting to leave Knock Out until he had more answers.

"You'd better head out kid. Mr. Persona-Soundwave! I mean Soundwave will take care of you," Knock Out quickly corrected himself as he saw the other suddenly stop in his place and stand to their full height. He urged Pulsar onwards with a wave.

"I hope to see you again soon," Pulsar said his goodbyes as he scrambled to catch back up with Soundwave's larger strides.

The night air was cool against Pulsar's plating as he stood a few steps from Soundwave, watching him as he scanned the skies surrounding them. Soundwave silently motioned Pulsar towards him as he transformed into his sleek looking alt-mode, the cockpit opening in an invitation. Pulsar hopped up and into the cockpit after a pause, the canopy closing over him. Soundwave took to the skies, silently gliding high over the city. Pulsar watched the lights of the city grow more and more sparse, until at last there were no more lights below them.

"Soundwave," Pulsar started, but hesitated to continue.

/Pulsar has question?/

"What is it you're hiding from?" Pulsar asked in a knowing tone of voice. Soundwave paused before answering. He'd known to expect this line of questioning, though he hadn't expected it quite this soon.

/Soundwave….enemy of Autobots. City/State Opticon Autobot stronghold/

Pulsar considered this answer, thinking it over as something in Soundwave's cockpit caught his attention.

"You mean, the opposite of this?" Pulsar touched the Decepticon symbol etched onto the console in front of him.

/Affirmative. Soundwave….former Decepticon./

Pulsar felt a bit of indignation from the otherwise dispassionate Soundwave flair up for the briefest of moments before he managed to tamp down his emotions once again,

/Autobots likely execute Soundwave on sight./

"They don't sound very welcoming, or pleasant for that matter," Pulsar's eyes widened as he pictured Soundwave's words, the other sending feelings of comfort and safety through their bond.

/Autobots pawns of corrupt functionalist senate. Seek to keep status quo. Decepticons overthrow oppressive government. Autobots resist change. Autobots engage Decepticons in war of attrition. Autobots terminate injured Decepticon soldiers. Soundwave…..lost three symbionts in battle with Autobots. Soundwave will NOT lose another/

Pulsar's vents hitched as he felt a wave of raw emotion from Soundwave. Unconstrained bitterness, anger, sorrow, determination, and brief images and sounds from the millions of years of war that he'd been through flowed freely into Pulsar's mind as Soundwave spoke through their bond. Upon the last sentence, Pulsar felt Soundwave's fierce protectiveness and determination to keep safe all that he cared for holding tight to him.

Soundwave dropped to a hover near the entrance to the ruined lab he called 'home' before opening his cockpit allowing Pulsar to jump out. Pulsar landed neatly in the crevice that led to the lab's entrance, Soundwave transforming and landing behind him. Pulsar stopped at the entrance, looking back to Soundwave, who was scanning the skies behind them to ensure they hadn't been followed.

"Soundwave?" Pulsar called to him softly, causing Soundwave to turn to him questioningly, "Thank you." he said simply, before heading inside.

Soundwave paused at the entrance, staring at where Pulsar had been standing. For the first time in a very long time, Soundwave let slip a small smile beneath his mask.

"Hey Bee! Bee! Come in!-" a boxy, young looking mech of red, yellow and silver called over the com-link with an unusual sense of urgency in his voice.

"Yeah Blaster, I read ya. What's up?" Bumble-bee never really knew Blaster to be excitable, so the worry in Blaster's voice had Bee quicken his pace as he ran towards the control room of their make-shift command center. The doors opened with a creak as Bee ran in, Blaster unable to peel his optics from a video loop on one of the monitors.

"What's tha-" Bee stopped mid sentence as the shape of the MQ-9 Reaper UAV flashed across the screen and disappeared into the clouds, "It can't be." he said softly.

"Bee...is that….Soundwave?" Blaster finally looked at Bee over his shoulder. Bee wasn't looking at Blaster, he was still staring at the screen in disbelief.