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The afternoon sun was warm when Trailbreaker stepped outside, a nice contrast to the perpetual chill that seemed to blanket the Ark, despite its location inside the volcano. Beachcomber had tried to explain that once, but he had gotten distracted in his excitement over magma tubes and lava flows and the lecture had turned into something about Mount Saint Hillary itself rather than why it kept the base so cold. So, in Trailbreaker’s mind, the cold simply was and it made a nice sunny day that much better.
He headed down into the tree line at a leisurely pace, walking to better enjoy the birds he could hear singing. When he tried to isolate the separate voces using the identification program he was testing for Hound, the black mech was delighted to discover three bird species that weren’t in the database. He started recording as he walked, looking forward to Hund’s excitement about the new animals.
Some of the warmth left him as Trailbreaker stepped into the shadows of the trees. The shade was always so much cooler, but he didn’t mind it much. The cool of the forest wasn’t the same clammy-cold of the caves or the ship. And, if he was honest with himself, it would have been nicer outside even if it was below freezing with the way the twins were fighting today.
Birds and trees, and that little deer that liked Hound so much, were much better than getting punched by Sunstreaker or Sideswipe.
He was so engrossed in enjoying the natural world around him, cataloguing every plant insect or animal he saw to add to the database he and Hound were helping the university with, that he almost missed the out of place black shadow at the edge of the walking trail. He might have walked past it completely, if it hadn’t moved and stared at him with two intense red opics.
“Ravage?” Immediately, the black mech stopped and scanned his surroundings thoroughly. Where Ravage was, the other recordicons and Soundwave weren’t far behind. When his scans showed nothing but the forest and the recordicon in front of him, Trailbreaker turned back to the mechanism on the ground. Now that he was paying attention, he could see a blaster burn and Ravage’s fluids trickling slowly toward the ground. “What hap-- what are you doing here?”
Ravage hissed at him and dropped his head heavily to the ground. ”Dying, apparently.”
Trailbreaker was surprised at the comm and the matter of fact statement. He hadn’t expected Ravagge to answer him at all. “Do I need to worry about whoever did this coming to find you?”
”No. Let me bleed out in peace.”
“No way. Soundwave would kill me himself if I did that.” The Autobot didn't mention that the guilt from just leaving Ravage to die alone in the forest would probably kill him first. Shooting a mech in combat was one thing, but abandoning the Decepticon while he alone and injured was something different entirely. “I can field patch this and then have you in Ratchet’s medbay in about ten minutes.”
”Why should I trust you, Autobot?” Ravage didn’t even try to move when Trailbreaker pulled out his first aid kit.
“Soundwave’s nowhere to be seen. From where I’m standing, you don’t have a lot of choices.” He knelt down at the recordicon’s side and pulled gauze and mesh bandages from the kit. “Besides, I don’t think you actually want me to leave you out here to die alone.”
The Decepticon huffed weakly, but didn’t argue.
“I’m not going to disinfect this,” The Autobot continued, peeling the cover over the adhesive for the first bandage. “I don’t think it’ll make any difference, and I’m not sure you have the energon left in your system to survive the shock.”
There was a long silence that Trailbreaker used to bandage the lowest part of the wound. Then, as he was peeling the backing from the second bandage, Ravage replied, ”Probably not.”
“I have some gels you can eat while I carry you to the medbay, if you think you can process them.” Trailbreaker laid the second bandage over the second half of the wound and pressed it down as carefully as he could. Ravage hissed again, but didn’t even twitch at the pain.
”Don’t think I can,” the recordicon admitted. ”I was lucky Swindle isn’t a better shot, but my fuel processing system is a mess.”
The black mech was surprised that he had gotten so much information from the recordicon. “Swindle, huh? He’s in the city?”
”Portland. Should do the same to him.” Ravage’s optics dimmed. ”Tell Soundwave.”
“I will.” He would probably suggest to Optimus and Prowl that the twins be sent into the city to deal with the Combaticon, though. “You just rest now. I’ll get you to Ratchet.”
-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-
Hours later, after a team was dispatched to Portland, Blaster had sent Soundwave a message about Ravage, and Red Alert had lectured him until Trailbreaker turned of his audio receptors, Ratchet finally stepped out of the medbay. “He’ll live. If Soundwave will allow it, I’d like him to stay here until the replacement parts have finished integrating, though.”
“ABSOLUTELY NOT!” Red Alert’s shout over the intercom drowned out the reply Optimus was trying to give the medic and both mechs glared at the speaker.
“Can I go in and see him?” Trailbreaker asked, drawing their attention away from Red. The security director had a valid reason not to want a Decepticon spy staying in their base for an unknown amount of time.
“I don’t see why not, though he won’t be able to say much. He’s still in stasis, and probably will be for a few hours.” Ratchet glanced back through the door at his patient. “Maybe longer. Recordicons don’t react to sedation the same way full sized mechs do.”
“Thanks, Ratchet. I just want to see his repairs with my own optics.” Trailbreaker stepped through the door quickly, before the medic could change his mind or Red Alert could start in on another lecture.
Ravage was curled on a surgical berth in the center of the main room, where the security camera could easily see the moment the recordicon so much as twitched an ear. Trailbreaker had to admit that it was probably good planning. He approached with a smile when he saw the fresh welds on the Decepticon’s side.
“Glad to see you’re going to be all right.”
Ravage huffed softly and shifted a few centimeters, exposing more of the repaired wound and a small patch of silver plating where Ratchet had needed to patch the damage.
“Really, really glad that I don’t have to tell Soundwave that you went permanently offline in the forest.”
“Trailbreaker?” Ratchet stuck his head back in the medbay. “Soundwave is outside and Optimus wants you to go out and explain what happened when you found Ravage.”
“Sure, Ratch.” Trailbreaker sighed. He had hoped that he could get away without seeing the Deployer. “Hope this keeps me in his good graces.”
-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-
Soundwave stared down at Trailbreaker, making the black mech feel strangely small. He always forgot how tall the blue mech was. “Trailbreaker is certain? Ravage shot by Swindle?”
“Well, Ravage was certain. I didn’t see anything that happened before I found him in the woods.”
“Understood.” Soundwave crossed his arms and glared at Optimus Prime. “Ravage will depart with Soundwave.”
“I understand,” The Prime replied. “Ratchet thought you might want to take him home and has prepared some care instructions for him.”
“Affirmative.” Soundwave’s body language indicated that he thought Optimus was wasting his time. “Trailbreaker will retrieve Ravage?”
The deployer’s words were half request, half order but Trailbreaker didn’t really mind. Everyone would feel better when the Decepticons were gone. “Sure, I can do that. Be right back.”
He didn’t wait for Optimus to agree before he turned and went back inside. Soundwave had enough firepower to go through a lot of them if he decided they were keeping Ravage prisoner, and Trailbreaker didn’t want any of his friends injured or worse because he waited long enough for the deployer to get agitated.
Ratchet had moved the recordicon into a large, padded box when he stepped back into the medbay. “I’ve got him as ready to travel as I can. Tell him that Ravage is under medical orders not to transform for at least three days.”
“I’ll tell him, but I don’t know if Ravage will listen.” The black mech picked up the box, careful not to jostle the resting recordicon too much. “They’re both pretty stubborn. Anything else?”
“The rest of his care instructions are on the pad I gave Optimus.” Ratchet made a shooing gesture. “Get going, before he gets impatient.”
“Yes, Ratchet.” Trailbreaker smiled and turned back to the door.
As he walked down the hall back to Optimus and Soundwave, Ravage slowly opened one optic and peered up at him. ”Soft spark.”
“Better than the alternative,” the black mech replied, surprised that the recordicon was awake.
”Thank you.” The recordicon nestled more comfortably into the padding. ”We won’t forget this.”
“You’re welcome, but don’t feel like you have to do anything special for me in the future.”
They stepped back outside a few moments later, and Soundwave moved quickly past Optimus to take the box from Trailbreaker. “Ravage!”
The recordicon sat up slowly and butted his head against Soundwave’s cheek when the deployer leaned forward.
“Ratchet says he can’t transform for three days. Medic’s orders.” Trailbreaker didn’t want to interrupt them, but he was also sure that Soundwave wouldn’t be staying much longer. “And he’ll need a repaint, because Ratchet had to patch him.”
“Affirmative.” The blue mech straightened with obvious reluctance. “Soundwave, grateful.”
“You’re welcome. I was glad to help.” Self-preservation aside, he had been happy to help the recordicon.
“Soundwave will not forget.” With that, the Decepticon launched into the air, Ravage’s box clutched close to his chest.
Trailbreaker found himself hoping that the deployer and recordicon would forget his kindness. He wasn’t sure he wanted to know how they would pay it back.
“Well, that was more excitement than we wanted today.” Optimus turned toward Trailbreaker, optics crinkled at the corners they way they did when he smiled. “Perhaps tomorrow we should accompany the science team to the south pole for their expedition.”
“Still too much chance of Decepticon involvement for me,” Trailbreaker replied with a rueful grin. “I think I’d rather stay home and read a book or something.”
The Prime laughed and clapped him companionably on the shoulder. “A wise plan, my friend. A wise plan.”