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Description
When the ground bridge portal delivered the entire Autobot team (minus Arcee), Knockout, and Breakdown to the coordinates Ratchet had input into the computer, they were met with miles upon miles of tarmac, unused aircraft's, and hundreds of rows of empty military hangers.

Optimus looked out over the barren base and vented a sigh.

"Ratchet, are you getting any signal from Arcee at all?"

The Autobot medic turned the scanner on to full power and waited for the readings to appear on the small screen.

"I'm sorry Optimus. M.E.C.H must be using a very strong jammer, since I can't find any trace of Arcee anywhere. The only one we can rely on now is-"

"AAARGH! What the frag are those humans doing to her?"

"-Knockout."

The team turned to witness the ex-Con clutching at his chassis with both servos, his sharp fingers dangerously close to scratching his own paint job. He grimaced as a particularly strong feeling of dread overcame him.

"She's...slaggit, they're tearing her apart! I can feel it but..." He tried reestablishing his previous sparkbond connection with her, but got no response this time, "I can't contact her again."

"Then we'll split up. I want all of you to search every hanger and report anything suspicious." Optimus' battle mask slid over his face as he gave the order, unsubspacing his blaster as well. "If you come across the humans, don't harm them. Just stall them until we can all regroup." With the order given, Optimus turned and stalked off through the vast array of human war machines.

Knockout muttered something about 'killing any human he spotted' before beckoning Breakdown to follow him.

"How much time do you think she has before they reach her spark chamber?" Breakdown asked once they were far enough away from the other Autobots.

Knockout placed a servo on his chassis again, trying desperately to speak to Arcee through the bond they shared, "I know her inner workings inside and out. I know how thin her armor is. If they have been tearing at her frame all morning long, there's no doubt in my processor that they'll reach her spark chamber within a matter of minutes." He shifted his gaze from the ground to his friend, "I don't want to lose her Breakdown. Not again..."

Breakdown immediately thought back to the slump Knockout had been in when Arcee found out about the whole Megatron ordeal. Multiply that to the pain caused by the loss of not only a sparkmate, but also an unborn sparkling, and Knockout was sure to be a wreck.

Transforming his hand into his signature hammer, Breakdown broke into a run ahead of Knockout and smashed the nearest hanger with relative ease.

"We gotta find her quick right? How about we just smash these buildings? I figure the one that doesn't crumble that easily will be the one we're looking for."

Knockout smirked and nodded, giving his partner the go-ahead. This moment of sheer brilliance from his friend could be the solution to finding his missing sparkmate.

'Hold on Arcee. We're coming.'

~I~

'Hold...on...Arcee...'

Arcee's connection to Knockout was growing thinner the longer she stayed online. Her body was demanding immediate refuel and recharge, but she denied the warnings every time. She had to stay online, if only so he could find her faster.

One of the soldiers running past the examination table caught her attention. He climbed to the top of the platform where Silas was standing watch and whispered something in his ear.

Dismissing the soldier, Silas wore a sneer as he addressed Arcee.

"Well, I don't know how they found us, but it seems your friends are here trying to save you. Too bad they won't get the chance."

"If I know my team...they'll be here soon..."

"You fail to grasp my meaning. They may be able to find us, but by the time they get here, you'll be beyond saving." He turned his gaze to one of the scientists on her chassis, "How much longer until you breach the inner armor?"

The scientist didn't even look up from drilling as he answered Silas, "We'll have this armor cracked open in about five minutes sir."

"Excellent." Looking once more at Arcee, he relished seeing a flare of anger in her optics, "Your friends have five minutes. Normally that would be more than enough time for us, but just to make things more interesting, how about I stall them for a while?"

Silas snapped his fingers and ordered a small army of soldiers to go out and 'greet' the would-be-rescuers. Climbing into their vehicles, the soldiers dispersed, leaving Arcee alone with only the scientists and Silas.

"Why don't...you go with them? Afraid to...get your hands dirty?"

The smug grin the humans always wore widened slightly, "On the contrary. As much as I would love to greet your friends with a blast of electricity, I'm more interested in seeing what you have inside of that 'spark chamber' of yours. A new life from an alien life form has always been quite fascinating to me. Now, I'll have the perfect opportunity to study one up close."

Sighing in exasperation, Arcee tried thinking of a way she could possibly sway this human. She had to do something in order to buy time.

A loud crash drew her from her thoughts and she looked over to where there was a clearly visible dent on the left side of the building. She heard Silas order the scientists to hurry up, but she didn't feel as worried as she had been before.

'They found me.'

~I~

"Knockout! I think I found it!"

"That's great Breakdown, now hurry up and tear it down! I can't hold these humans off much longer!"

While Knockout was busy swinging and zapping any human that came close with his energon prod, Breakdown backed up and readied himself to charge at the reinforced building. Letting out a battle cry, he slammed the entire weight of his frame into the side of the hanger. He charged a couple more times before trying to punch his way through the weakened metal.

Giving this swing everything he had, he soon felt his entire servo break through the wall and leave a gaping hole when he pulled it out. A hole big enough to see Arcee strapped to an examination table with almost all of her chest armor ripped off.

"Knockout! I found her!"

Immediately ignoring the rest of the humans still firing at him, Knockout sprinted over to where Breakdown was making another hole in the wall, one big enough for them to fit through. Over his partners shoulder, he could see the terrorists leader glare at him while the scientists on top of Arcee worked faster.

Finally managing to push his way through the wall, Breakdown transformed his hand back into a hammer while Knockout reactivated his energon prod.

"Take one step, and your girlfriend is as good as dead."

Both bots looked down to see Arcee's spark chamber wide open and the scientists drills dangerously close to it. Silas's own gun was pointed directly at the center of her spark.

"Listen closely human. Let her go, and I promise I won't hurt you...much."

"I'm afraid you don't have a say in the matter. My scientists are going to extract this 'sparkling' from her, and if you so much as move an inch, I'll shoot her. Do we understand each other?"

Knockout snarled at the human, but reluctantly stayed where he was. He had to think fast. Seeing Breakdown fidget anxiously in his peripheral vision, Knockout suddenly got an idea.

"Oh, I understand. I can't move an inch," Sparing a glance at his partner, he gave the silent order for Breakdown to aim his shoulder cannon, "But he can!"

On cue, a laser shot out of the cannon aiming straight for Silas. Unfortunately for them, the human had faster reflexes than expected and he easily dodge rolled away from the blast. While the human hadn't been hit, the monitors behind him had, and were now sparking and reading error messages on every screen.

Regaining his composure, Silas tried pulling his gun on Arcee again, only to be met with electricity sparking close to his head.

"Do you want another scar to adorn your face? Drop the weapon human."

The red eyes that bore into him were filled with so much hate, for a brief moment, Silas wondered if this was the last time he'd ever be able to dissect an alien. Dismissing the thought, he threw the handgun at the red mech's face, momentarily stunning him, and sprinted off through the back exit of the hanger.

"Wretched human..." Knockout muttered as he ran and servo over his face, making sure there wasn't a dent from where the gun had hit him.

"Knockout...Breakdown...thank Primus..."

Subspacing his energon prod, Knockout knelt down next to Arcee who, thanks to Breakdown, was now free of the clamps binding her to the table. He automatically scanned her, finding her energon levels extremely low. Even her reserves weren't going to be enough to sustain her for much longer.

"Uh, I'll go comm the Autobots...over here..." Breakdown murmured, clearly uncomfortable with seeing Arcee's exposed spark chamber. The spark was something only reserved for medics and sparkmates. No one else.

Barely acknowledging his friend making the call, Knockout shifted Arcee to a sitting position so that he could sit behind her and lay her back down on his lap. There wasn't much he could do pertaining to her armor. The humans had done a good job ripping it clean off her frame. All he could do now was make her as comfortable as possible while waiting for the Autobots to arrive.

"Can you...see the sparkling...Knockout?"

Hesitating slightly, Knockout slowly leaned over Arcee to look into her spark chamber. At first, all he saw was the glowing, pulsating blue orb that was Arcee's spark. But looking closer, he spotted a tiny purple orb latched onto the left side of her spark. It was dimmer then its mothers, but a healthy shade nonetheless.

"Red and blue makes purple." Knockout mused to himself before answering Arcee's question, "Yes, I see it. It's...beautiful."

"Do you...have a name...for it yet?" Arcee asked while finally starting to give in to her body's need to recharge.

"As a matter of fact, I do. But you need to recharge now, or else you're not going to be well enough to handle the sparklings removal." He started stroking her helm gently and, before she went into recharge, leaned down and whispered in her audio, "Rest easy mein fräulein. Ich liebe dich."

He didn't get a response as Arcee's systems finally succumbed to exhaustion and shut down for a long recharge.

"The Autobots are coming Knockout. You want to, ah, cover her up?"

A sigh escaped the medic as he explained, "As much as I would like to, I can't. Her armor can't just reattach itself, so I need you to bear with me here. Besides, you've been around me for long enough. Seeing another bots spark shouldn't be all that new to you."

Cautiously stepping over to where Knockout sat, Breakdown kept his gaze averted from him as he answered, "I know, its just...she's your sparkmate, not some random bot who's chassis needed repairs. Being a medic's assistant is one thing. This...is completely different."

The conversation would have continued if it wasn't for the Autobots arrival. As Ratchet moved over to examine Arcee himself, Breakdown gratefully excused himself to replay the details of what had occurred to Optimus.

"Optimus, I'm happy to say that Arcee is stable. Very low on energon, but otherwise stable." Ratchet watched as Knockout gathered Arcee in his servos before continuing, "The sparkling is also doing fine. Its spark is a little dim, but as soon as Arcee gets a proper refuel, it'll be a healthy shade of purple again."

"Purple?" Bulkhead questioned, "I thought sparks were either blue or red."

Chuckling quietly, Knockout headed for the ground bridge that had appeared just outside of the hanger.

"What can I say? Red and blue makes purple."

Description
When the ground bridge portal delivered the entire Autobot team (minus Arcee), Knockout, and Breakdown to the coordinates Ratchet had input into the computer, they were met with miles upon miles of tarmac, unused aircraft's, and hundreds of rows of empty military hangers.

Optimus looked out over the barren base and vented a sigh.

"Ratchet, are you getting any signal from Arcee at all?"

The Autobot medic turned the scanner on to full power and waited for the readings to appear on the small screen.

"I'm sorry Optimus. M.E.C.H must be using a very strong jammer, since I can't find any trace of Arcee anywhere. The only one we can rely on now is-"

"AAARGH! What the frag are those humans doing to her?"

"-Knockout."

The team turned to witness the ex-Con clutching at his chassis with both servos, his sharp fingers dangerously close to scratching his own paint job. He grimaced as a particularly strong feeling of dread overcame him.

"She's...slaggit, they're tearing her apart! I can feel it but..." He tried reestablishing his previous sparkbond connection with her, but got no response this time, "I can't contact her again."

"Then we'll split up. I want all of you to search every hanger and report anything suspicious." Optimus' battle mask slid over his face as he gave the order, unsubspacing his blaster as well. "If you come across the humans, don't harm them. Just stall them until we can all regroup." With the order given, Optimus turned and stalked off through the vast array of human war machines.

Knockout muttered something about 'killing any human he spotted' before beckoning Breakdown to follow him.

"How much time do you think she has before they reach her spark chamber?" Breakdown asked once they were far enough away from the other Autobots.

Knockout placed a servo on his chassis again, trying desperately to speak to Arcee through the bond they shared, "I know her inner workings inside and out. I know how thin her armor is. If they have been tearing at her frame all morning long, there's no doubt in my processor that they'll reach her spark chamber within a matter of minutes." He shifted his gaze from the ground to his friend, "I don't want to lose her Breakdown. Not again..."

Breakdown immediately thought back to the slump Knockout had been in when Arcee found out about the whole Megatron ordeal. Multiply that to the pain caused by the loss of not only a sparkmate, but also an unborn sparkling, and Knockout was sure to be a wreck.

Transforming his hand into his signature hammer, Breakdown broke into a run ahead of Knockout and smashed the nearest hanger with relative ease.

"We gotta find her quick right? How about we just smash these buildings? I figure the one that doesn't crumble that easily will be the one we're looking for."

Knockout smirked and nodded, giving his partner the go-ahead. This moment of sheer brilliance from his friend could be the solution to finding his missing sparkmate.

'Hold on Arcee. We're coming.'

~I~

'Hold...on...Arcee...'

Arcee's connection to Knockout was growing thinner the longer she stayed online. Her body was demanding immediate refuel and recharge, but she denied the warnings every time. She had to stay online, if only so he could find her faster.

One of the soldiers running past the examination table caught her attention. He climbed to the top of the platform where Silas was standing watch and whispered something in his ear.

Dismissing the soldier, Silas wore a sneer as he addressed Arcee.

"Well, I don't know how they found us, but it seems your friends are here trying to save you. Too bad they won't get the chance."

"If I know my team...they'll be here soon..."

"You fail to grasp my meaning. They may be able to find us, but by the time they get here, you'll be beyond saving." He turned his gaze to one of the scientists on her chassis, "How much longer until you breach the inner armor?"

The scientist didn't even look up from drilling as he answered Silas, "We'll have this armor cracked open in about five minutes sir."

"Excellent." Looking once more at Arcee, he relished seeing a flare of anger in her optics, "Your friends have five minutes. Normally that would be more than enough time for us, but just to make things more interesting, how about I stall them for a while?"

Silas snapped his fingers and ordered a small army of soldiers to go out and 'greet' the would-be-rescuers. Climbing into their vehicles, the soldiers dispersed, leaving Arcee alone with only the scientists and Silas.

"Why don't...you go with them? Afraid to...get your hands dirty?"

The smug grin the humans always wore widened slightly, "On the contrary. As much as I would love to greet your friends with a blast of electricity, I'm more interested in seeing what you have inside of that 'spark chamber' of yours. A new life from an alien life form has always been quite fascinating to me. Now, I'll have the perfect opportunity to study one up close."

Sighing in exasperation, Arcee tried thinking of a way she could possibly sway this human. She had to do something in order to buy time.

A loud crash drew her from her thoughts and she looked over to where there was a clearly visible dent on the left side of the building. She heard Silas order the scientists to hurry up, but she didn't feel as worried as she had been before.

'They found me.'

~I~

"Knockout! I think I found it!"

"That's great Breakdown, now hurry up and tear it down! I can't hold these humans off much longer!"

While Knockout was busy swinging and zapping any human that came close with his energon prod, Breakdown backed up and readied himself to charge at the reinforced building. Letting out a battle cry, he slammed the entire weight of his frame into the side of the hanger. He charged a couple more times before trying to punch his way through the weakened metal.

Giving this swing everything he had, he soon felt his entire servo break through the wall and leave a gaping hole when he pulled it out. A hole big enough to see Arcee strapped to an examination table with almost all of her chest armor ripped off.

"Knockout! I found her!"

Immediately ignoring the rest of the humans still firing at him, Knockout sprinted over to where Breakdown was making another hole in the wall, one big enough for them to fit through. Over his partners shoulder, he could see the terrorists leader glare at him while the scientists on top of Arcee worked faster.

Finally managing to push his way through the wall, Breakdown transformed his hand back into a hammer while Knockout reactivated his energon prod.

"Take one step, and your girlfriend is as good as dead."

Both bots looked down to see Arcee's spark chamber wide open and the scientists drills dangerously close to it. Silas's own gun was pointed directly at the center of her spark.

"Listen closely human. Let her go, and I promise I won't hurt you...much."

"I'm afraid you don't have a say in the matter. My scientists are going to extract this 'sparkling' from her, and if you so much as move an inch, I'll shoot her. Do we understand each other?"

Knockout snarled at the human, but reluctantly stayed where he was. He had to think fast. Seeing Breakdown fidget anxiously in his peripheral vision, Knockout suddenly got an idea.

"Oh, I understand. I can't move an inch," Sparing a glance at his partner, he gave the silent order for Breakdown to aim his shoulder cannon, "But he can!"

On cue, a laser shot out of the cannon aiming straight for Silas. Unfortunately for them, the human had faster reflexes than expected and he easily dodge rolled away from the blast. While the human hadn't been hit, the monitors behind him had, and were now sparking and reading error messages on every screen.

Regaining his composure, Silas tried pulling his gun on Arcee again, only to be met with electricity sparking close to his head.

"Do you want another scar to adorn your face? Drop the weapon human."

The red eyes that bore into him were filled with so much hate, for a brief moment, Silas wondered if this was the last time he'd ever be able to dissect an alien. Dismissing the thought, he threw the handgun at the red mech's face, momentarily stunning him, and sprinted off through the back exit of the hanger.

"Wretched human..." Knockout muttered as he ran and servo over his face, making sure there wasn't a dent from where the gun had hit him.

"Knockout...Breakdown...thank Primus..."

Subspacing his energon prod, Knockout knelt down next to Arcee who, thanks to Breakdown, was now free of the clamps binding her to the table. He automatically scanned her, finding her energon levels extremely low. Even her reserves weren't going to be enough to sustain her for much longer.

"Uh, I'll go comm the Autobots...over here..." Breakdown murmured, clearly uncomfortable with seeing Arcee's exposed spark chamber. The spark was something only reserved for medics and sparkmates. No one else.

Barely acknowledging his friend making the call, Knockout shifted Arcee to a sitting position so that he could sit behind her and lay her back down on his lap. There wasn't much he could do pertaining to her armor. The humans had done a good job ripping it clean off her frame. All he could do now was make her as comfortable as possible while waiting for the Autobots to arrive.

"Can you...see the sparkling...Knockout?"

Hesitating slightly, Knockout slowly leaned over Arcee to look into her spark chamber. At first, all he saw was the glowing, pulsating blue orb that was Arcee's spark. But looking closer, he spotted a tiny purple orb latched onto the left side of her spark. It was dimmer then its mothers, but a healthy shade nonetheless.

"Red and blue makes purple." Knockout mused to himself before answering Arcee's question, "Yes, I see it. It's...beautiful."

"Do you...have a name...for it yet?" Arcee asked while finally starting to give in to her body's need to recharge.

"As a matter of fact, I do. But you need to recharge now, or else you're not going to be well enough to handle the sparklings removal." He started stroking her helm gently and, before she went into recharge, leaned down and whispered in her audio, "Rest easy mein fräulein. Ich liebe dich."

He didn't get a response as Arcee's systems finally succumbed to exhaustion and shut down for a long recharge.

"The Autobots are coming Knockout. You want to, ah, cover her up?"

A sigh escaped the medic as he explained, "As much as I would like to, I can't. Her armor can't just reattach itself, so I need you to bear with me here. Besides, you've been around me for long enough. Seeing another bots spark shouldn't be all that new to you."

Cautiously stepping over to where Knockout sat, Breakdown kept his gaze averted from him as he answered, "I know, its just...she's your sparkmate, not some random bot who's chassis needed repairs. Being a medic's assistant is one thing. This...is completely different."

The conversation would have continued if it wasn't for the Autobots arrival. As Ratchet moved over to examine Arcee himself, Breakdown gratefully excused himself to replay the details of what had occurred to Optimus.

"Optimus, I'm happy to say that Arcee is stable. Very low on energon, but otherwise stable." Ratchet watched as Knockout gathered Arcee in his servos before continuing, "The sparkling is also doing fine. Its spark is a little dim, but as soon as Arcee gets a proper refuel, it'll be a healthy shade of purple again."

"Purple?" Bulkhead questioned, "I thought sparks were either blue or red."

Chuckling quietly, Knockout headed for the ground bridge that had appeared just outside of the hanger.

"What can I say? Red and blue makes purple."