Archive of Our Own ^beta

They had no idea where it had come from nor how had it get it but now there was a sparkeater lying on the floor, unconscious and motionless. Hound was beyond terrified as he stood in the corner, his knees barely keeping him upright and a gun in his hands, a thin trail of smoke slithering from the muzzle.

Rodimus ran to the scene with Megatron and Ultra Magnus in his wake.

“What happened?” Megatron asked before either Rodimus or Ultra Magnus had time to do so.

“I...” Hound began, his vocalizer spitting static, his body shaking. He couldn’t control himself.

“It’s all right, Hound. Give me the gun”, the gray mech said soothingly as he stepped over the prone sparkeater... which looked vaguely familiar...

The scout handed over the gun and once it was gone from his grasp, his knees gave away under him.

“Go see a medic”, was the simple order and Hound managed to pick himself up from the floor and with the help of Ultra Magnus, he was escorted to the medbay.

“What the hell happened here?” Rodimus said finally, his optics huge with astonishment. And fear.

“What do you think happened?” the larger mech grunted and checked the magazine of the gun. What a coincidence Hound had an electric charge gun with him. One bullet and you’d paralyze a mech size of Devastator for good six hours. Lucky thing it was used on the sparkeater and the creature would be out for a day or two – long enough for them to get rid of it without it realizing.

The co-captain said nothing but instead stared at the weirdly white creature. He was sure he’d seen that head shape somewhere before...

Megatron noticed the studying look in Rodimus’ optics and sighed heavily. “When was the last time you saw Drift?”

His question took the smaller mech by surprise. “Huh?”

“When was the last time you saw Drift?” Megatron repeated his question, his posture changing from calm to almost impatient.

Gears turned in the orange mech’s head and his mouth fell open and optics grew wider as it dawned to him. “You’re kidding me”, he blurted out, disbelieving, as his gaze fell back on the sparkeater on the floor, its spiny tentacles splayed and pincers out of its mouth. Rodimus’ EM field whipped with distress and horror and utter grief as he became aware of his once-TIC’s situation.

Megatron gave a hard, meaningful glare at Rodimus and turned to walk away.

“What’re we going to do to him?” Rodimus asked quickly.

“It. That thing isn’t your friend anymore. We’ll lock it up in a failsafe cage and get rid of it”, Megatron spat harshly. His thoughts were on keeping the crew safe and he barely maintained his composure as the other mech had asked the question. You do not hesitate with a sparkeater. You get rid of it as quickly as possible when the opportunity showed itself.

“Aren’t we going to tell Ratchet? He deserves to know!” the speedster yelled after Megatron, furious at the mech for thinking about jettisoning a former crew member – and a lover – without them knowing what had become of their mate.

That stopped the gray mech on his tracks. Yes, the good medic Ratchet deserved to know. “Very well. Arrange a cage for Drift”, he said with a slight slump of his shoulders, “I’ll go see Hound and if Ratchet’s there, I’ll...” The rest of the sentence trailed off.

Rodimus sighed in relief and gave a final glance at his used-to-be best friend before taking off to the opposite direction towards his office, no doubt to announce what had happened. The crew had to know, too. Though, they’d know sooner rather than later from either Swerve or Bluestreak but it was his duty as a co-captain to tell the crew.

----

Megatron headed to the medbay with a heavy burden resting on his shoulders. How would Ratchet react? He didn’t dare to think and speculate, he’d probably see soon enough with his own optics.

The doors to the medbay were open and he let himself in with a certain caution. He knew Hound had no idea who the sparkeater was but he was on his guard, nonetheless.

He heard muffled chatting deeper in the medbay and navigated his way through the room to the source of the noise.

Hound was sitting on the edge of a berth, stiff and armor clamped down, with First Aid in front of him, one hand on top of the scout’s knee; a simple gesture of reassurance. The junior medic was the first to notice Megatron’s arrival and he greeted him with a polite nod before redirecting his attention back to the green mech.

“Is he all right?” the co-captain asked as he came to stand at the berth, eyeing Hound for any injury.

“Physically, yes but he’s a bit shaken which is understandable after the encounter with the sparkeater.” First Aid sounded calm and collected, although Megatron was sure he was spooked by the whole situation. Anybody would be, given the reputation of a sparkeater being one of the most dangerous and vicious creatures Cybertron had ever witnessed roaming on its surface.

Just right then the PA system buzzed to life and Rodimus’ voice crackled through the ship.

“Attention, everybody. This is your co-captain Rodimus. Due to yet unknown reasons, there’s a sparkeater on board. Therefore I order Grabble and Hoist to arrange a holding cage immediately and secure the sparkeater. Also, I’m gathering the whole crew to the rec room, so show up. Oh, and Grabble and Hoist, meet me in my office now.”

With that, the PA system cut off. Megatron was impressed by the seriousness in Rodimus’ voice. Good call to order the crew into one place to break the news face-to-face.

“Off you go to the rec room, captain’s orders”, the larger mech said and left the medbay with First Aid and Hound.

----

“Okay, good. You’re here”, Rodimus gestured Grabble and Hoist to come in. “So, here’s the deal. The sparkeater is on corridor F27, deck L. You two are to go and take the thing to the brig deck. We should have those special cages there. Any questions?”

Hoist hesitated but Grabble stepped up. “Sir, is the sparkeater any danger to us currently?”

“No”, was the short answer and so the two large mechs were sent off.

----

Ultra Magnus was receiving crew members in the rec room and directing them to have a seat.

“What’s going on exactly?” Smokescreen asked as he met with the SIC.

“You’ll be informed soon enough. Now go sit down”, the blue mech replied curtly. He watched the Praxian go to have a seat next to Swerve, in hopes the minibot would know something.

When everybody had arrived, including Grabble, Hoist and the captains, Ultra Magnus took his position beside Rodimus and Megatron on the balcony. Though, he noted that Drift wasn’t present and so did many others. Dread started spreading in the room.

“As you know, there’s a sparkeater on board. Some of you also may have noticed that Drift isn’t here”, Megatron spoke and continued, ignoring the murmuring among the crew, “To my deepest chagrin, I have to announce that Drift is no longer a Cybertronian but a sparkeater.”

His next words were overwhelmed by the ruckus from the crew and he was Ratchet exit the rec room. Comming Ten to follow the medic, the gray mech raised his hands to silence the room. Once quiet, he gestured Rodimus to continue.

“This is shocking news to every one of us and, please, I beg you, don’t worry. We have things under control. The sparkeater is in custody and has no way of getting out and rampaging around the ship.”

“What if the thing did get out? What do we do then?” Atomizer asked.

“As Rodimus said, the sparkeater is secured”, Ultra Magnus rumbled.

“But what if it did get out?” the archer insisted.

“It. Won’t”, Rodimus snapped back, “Now shut your mouth, Atomizer, or I’ll lock you up for questioning your superior officer.”

“That’s hardly enough to lock anyone up. I just asked a good question”, Atomizer hissed, bolting up from his seat. Skids got up to calm him down which he succeeded to do as the orange mech sat back down with a loud huff.

“Now, what I need you to do is not to act prematurely. The commanding line will take care of things”, Rodimus said and dismissed the crew.

As the rec room got emptied of mechs, Rodimus turned to Megatron and Ultra Magnus, finally allowing worry color his field. The blue mech placed one of his huge hands on his shoulder and squeezed it gently.

“You okay, Rodimus?” he asked carefully.

“I don’t know if I can do this”, the smaller mech said quietly, slumping on a chair.

“This was an unexpected event. The crew wants to the sparkeater out of here as soon as possible and you know that”, Megatron said, leaning against the wall, his arms crossed over his chest.

“Yeah but... what about Ratchet? I’m worried about him”, the speedster gestured at thin air, his spoiler wings drooping low. “I’m sure Ratchet wants to see him.”

“He’s already there”, the former warlord said as he received a comm from Ten, “Ten is with him.”

----

Ratchet watched at the motionless form inside the cage. Anxiety but also deep affection roiled in his spark, fighting for dominance. Eventually the latter won and he stepped closer and crouched down.

Ten remained in the background but was ready to engage if the red and white mech tried to tamper with the cage. He felt the prickling of Ratchet’s field and attempted to sooth away the sharpest edge by extending his own field towards the smaller mech.

“Thank you, Ten, but could you leave me for a moment?” Ratchet asked, not taking his gaze away from Drift.

“Ten? Ten”, the yellow mech answered, rather unhappy with the suggestion.

“I know. Don’t worry, I won’t open the cage”, the medic said, this time glancing over his shoulder. Ten hesitated shortly but did as he was requested and left the brig, closing the door behind him.

Finally alone, Ratchet let himself grief. He didn’t shed any tears but his spark cried for him, reaching for its companion that wouldn’t answer back.

----

Two days later, Drift woke up. He was hungry and his body hurt. His limbs felt heavy and his optic feed glitched as he opened them. It took several attempts before he could see properly. He saw glowing blue walls all around him; not a sight he expected to see.

Memories started flooding back, though he had a two days’ gap in the data, but he remembered that one day, all of a sudden, he felt uneasy; his back started aching, something forced out of his mouth, his tank lurched and his armor began to reform itself. It all had happened too quickly for him to comprehend completely and when it was over, it was too late.

Drift had hidden himself in his hab suite and cut off all the connections to the rest of the ship. He hid away from Ratchet. It hurt him to disappear like that but he didn’t want to hurt his friends.

Then, two days ago, hunger had become too much to bare and code had taken control and he was forced to go look for sparks to feed on. And who was it to stumble with him in that corridor? Hound. After that, nothing.

Gathering himself, Drift whined as his whole body ached and he didn’t have the strength to get up. So, he stayed on the floor, lying on his side while hunger gnawed at his tank.

A hiss of a door opening alerted him and the white mech curled up the best he could.

“Drift.”

The familiar voice got his attention and Drift uncoiled himself to look who was with him. Pure joy flared in his field as his gaze was greeted with the sight of Ratchet on the other side of the glowing wall. He uttered happy clicking noises, his tentacles mirroring his field by writhing on the floor. Gathering his limbs beneath him, the white mech crawled to the other mech, his yellow optics glimmering brighter.

Ratchet sighed and a smile appeared on his lips. Drift recognized him. All hope wasn’t lost, after all. He pressed his right hand against the blue wall and Drift nuzzled the glowing surface, whimpering longingly. Oh, what he’d give to get to the medic right now.

A single tear rolled down the older mech’s cheek before he even realized it. “It’s all right, Drift. We’ll cope with this, one way or another”, he whispered, his voice cracking.