So, uh, I'm reworking Masks, starting from the beginning. I'm going to post the revised chapters over at Ao3 under the handle of LJMouse, then when it's done, post the final story back here. There will be some new content and a lot of edited/revised/retconned scenes.

It's aaaaaalive, aaaaaalive!

Below is a scene from the revised story, which is already posted over at Ao3.

Fangface was a survivor. He was proud of that fact. Others might have called his ability to survive a sign of his cowardice but Fangface privately disagreed. He was a survivor because he was too damn smart to follow stupid orders to his death if he could modify them to allow his survival.

Egypt? Stupid orders, all around.

The big predacon flattened himself out behind a crumbling mud brick wall as a deuce and half full of human soldiers trundled by. After they were gone, he painfully picked himself back up again. He was limping and leaking and his HUD alive with error messages, but he ignored his own issues in favor of concern for the mangled remains of the smaller cybercat in his arms.

"Bee really did a number on you, didn't he?" He informed his unconscious and very badly damaged burden. "Wish you were awake so you could call your master. But that would make life just too easy, wouldn't it? My life is never easy."

Really, if he was a proper Decepticon, he wouldn't have been worried about the symbiont. Ravage wasn't one of his soldiers. Point of fact, Ravage was quantum bound to Soundwave, who scared the electrons right out of Fang's circuits.

If anyone had asked, Fang would have told them that he was saving Ravage solely so that the symbiont could call in a pickup from his boss for both of them.

Fang, limping heavily, headed for a distant line of limestone cliffs. A damaged cooling pump whined loudly in his chassis, and he cringed at the sound it made. Detection meant death. He was tempted to leave Ravage behind ... but he couldn't. He wouldn't be able to live with himself if he did. Besides, the little cybercat was his best option for rescue.

He was several times larger than Ravage, but nonetheless he struggled to carry the shattered remains of the symbiont. Fang's hydraulics were compromised. He'd been too close to an exploding mortar, and both the blast wave and shrapnel had done considerable damage.

"C'mon, kitty, hang in there," Fang muttered, as he picked his way cautiously - and painfully - through the growing twilight. It wasn't clear, even to Fangface, if the 'kitty' he referred to was the unconscious symbiont slung over his shoulder or encouragement to himself. He was many times Ravage's size, but they did share certain design elements ...