Wheeljack gave a heavy sigh,
keeping Chainbreak sane AND away from the battlefield was a difficult thing to
attempt. And they were doing a miserable job of it. She attempted to escape
Ratchet’s watchful optics at every turn, so intent and deadest on Megatron’s
energon. Her exact words had been, “I want Megatron’s helm on a platter for
what he’s done to me and to everyone else.”

Ratchet wanted to sedate her, but
He and Bulkhead opposed the idea, thinking that Chainbreak had spent enough
time unconscious lately and they didn’t know how an induced stasis would affect
her processor. And by affect her processor; they didn’t know if she would end
up eternally stuck in her own nightmares caused by the dark energon.

Wheeljack’s bet was that if they
put her into stasis, even if they had no choice on the matter, she would never
again be sane once she woke. He had seen stronger bots slowly lose their
processors after torture. Especially during the war when Shockwave did most of
it, Knockout was a puppy compared to him, but then Shockwave hadn’t had dark
energon at his grimy little claw tips.

Ol’cyclops had used his favorite
toy, the corticoid psychic patch, as his torture device of choice, most were
lucky if they escaped with any shreds of their mind left to go insane afterward.
Those rare few bots, like him and a few others he knew, were lucky that
Shockwave had been restrained to physical torture due to lack of time and
resources when they had been capture. But the torture had still left scars, and
Wheeljack had never been the same since, all but giving up trying to be a
scientist and instead relying on his swordsmanship and extensive knowledge of
explosives to deal as much damage to the ‘Cons as possible.

He rubbed his servo on his helm,
then moved his servos to rub his faceplate, as if he was trying to tear it off.
So much had happened when he had found out Chainbreak was still alive. And now
cruel fate had Wheeljack reunited with his sister just so he could watch her
descend into madness.

The setting Nevada sun held no heat
for once, the landscape cold as if the environment mourned her sanity as he
did. A few pockets of sand floated on the eerie wind, gusting around the base
as it howled its quiet call.

Wheeljack looked out towards the
sunset and continued his thoughts, wanting to get them straight before he blew
a gasket, not that he would give the old doc the pleasure of doing so before
the old rust bucket.

The only good thing about this
situation was that Bulkhead had been temporarily relived from active duty to
care and watch over Chainbreak. Optimus had seen fit to grant Bulkhead the task
of watching over here after he had come into the base proper and seen
Chainbreak in all of her crazy glory after she had woken up the last time.
After she had given her confession of blood lust and vengeance Ratchet had
tried to restrain her and she had gone feral on him. Ratchet still grumbled
about the scratches and dents. Wheeljack had helped Bulkhead pin her down and
hold her there while Bulk had talked some sense into her thick processor.
Optimus had walked in to see what the commotion was, Arcee in step behind him.

Shortly after they had gotten
Chainbreak restrained, Optimus had relieved Bulkhead of active duty, save for
emergencies, and had given him orders to watch over Chainbreak. Orders Bulkhead
was all too happy to fill, though the large green mech wished the circumstances
were different. Wheeljack knew that it would get harder and harder as time
progressed, and their bond grew stronger. From what Bulkhead had said, they had
only bonded once, though he refused to let Bulkhead regale any more details
than that. While Chainbreak had been under light sedation, Ratchet had checked
over their bond, declaring the programming change was present and the bond was
strong. Bulkhead was Chainbreak’s last chance and he spent his time trying to
distract her from more venomous thoughts.

Bumblebee and Arcee were juggling Guardian
duty now, as Optimus wanted to keep their exposure to Chainbreak’s…. condition
at a minimum, which he agreed with. As snarky as Miko was, she would have
problems understanding what was going on, though he knew she missed her new
friend. Miko and Chainbreak had become friends since Chains had bonded with her
Guardian, though it surprised him that Chainbreak would get so close to such a
squishy life form. But the humans were useful in a pinch, and they were growing
on him too…as much as he denied it.

Wheeljack turned and headed back
into base to check on Chainbreak and see if she would entertain a conversation
with her big brother.

----------

A little more than a week. A
handful of days that had been filled with distraction, and help. Ratchet
talking with her to get her past some of her more deeply bottled emotions,
focusing her thoughts on older troubles.

Bulkhead had been her constant
companion. Spending every waking minute and nano-second with him had been
‘heavenly’ as the humans say. She had even joined in on a video game
tournament, only barely beaten by Raf and Bumblebee.

In the quiet moments between the new
routine of her days, Chainbreak and Bulkhead had stolen away moments of
intimacy that they had been denied for millennia. Bonding for the second time
had helped to clear her processor. She had shared more of her past, and showed
him the horrors of her present.

He dozed next to her in the quiet
alcove they had found to escape the base for a short time. The trees rustled
quietly overhead, animals heard at some distance away, the only organic life
forms for some distance. Since she had been recovering and appearing to get
better Ratchet and Optimus had allowed her out of the base for short trips only
as long as she was accompanied by Bulkhead, Wheeljack, or Optimus, as they were
the one’s strong enough to restrain her or knew her well enough to talk her out
of an ‘episode’ as Ratchet called them. It wasn’t a problem since Bulkhead was
at her side constantly now anyway, his protective programming had kicked in.

Chainbreak could feel her own
programming shifting from the bond as it deepened. She had a vague sense or
relaxation and serenity from Bulkhead as he napped in the forest sun. She
leaned back against his frame, his arm coming around to wrap across her lap
protectively; she rolled her optics. Even in recharge Bulkhead would be her
shield, just as they had vowed to each other when they had first bonded. She
contemplated the nature of the bond, filled with her awe at the power and love
one felt when truly together with another. This forest sanctuary was a strange
place to bond but she enjoyed her time outside all the same. Pit, she would
enjoy her time anywhere if it meant time with Bulkhead, especially if they got
a chance to be alone.

She closed her optics and leaned
back against Bulkhead, tilting her faceplate up to the warm sun. For the first
time since waking she fell into a peaceful recharge, her servos wrapped into
the one so desperately trying to protect the one he loved the most.

            She awoke
later as the sun was beginning to descend between the trees, her optics
shuttering as she took in the late afternoon forest. She heard a deep chuckle,
feeling the reverberations from her large companion.

            “Recharge
well Chains?” the big bot smirked at his mate’s reaction, her attempt to scowl
quite funny.

“You’re just picking on me…” she
crossed her arms over her chest, and flopped back against him, though her
servos reached back and tickled his armor.

            He wrapped
his arms around her and pulled her close. Never had he felt so happy, such
complete and utter bliss in such a simple moment. He didn’t even care at the
moment if the war still raged. The only one in his universe was her.

            The only
one in her universe was him… She turned her helm around to gaze at her mate,
more than just her mate, her savior. He had single handedly staved off the
nightmares, which had been absent completely since they had bonded a second
time shortly after her confinement. Now just enjoying the afterglow from their
third bonding, she was sure that Megatron would never show his pathetic and
evil face in her thoughts again. His rasping voice no longer haunted her waking
moments as it had. Bulkhead had taken all that away.

            She however
hadn’t gotten away unscathed from the experience. The remnants of the dark
energon were still within her spark, causing her systems to be sluggish, which
after a physical from Ratchet; Optimus had calmly asked her to be kept off duty
until it was gone.

Optimus never risked his soldiers
needlessly, and he was confident that they would find a cure for the dark
energon, or it would simply wear off. Ratchet was toying with some synthetic
energon and normal energon formulas, testing them on a small shard of dark
energon that they had unearthed from the ancient Cybertronian battlefield that
had become the resting place of so many of their brethren. Ratchet had yet to
be successful and spent most of his time puttering around in his makeshift
medical bay laboratory trying to resolve a solution in the endless chemical
formulas.

            She looked
up with reverence into the cerulean optics of the green mech she loved most
dearly. She would do anything for him and wished she had some meaningful way to
repay him for the kindness he had shown her.

            He gave a
caring smile and reached gently towards her helm, gently readjusting her war
crest that had fallen out of place. Her thin hair-like chains fell in cascades
down over her shoulder struts, ending just below her chest plates. He couldn’t
help his optics trailing over her chest plates when their armor sat gently laid
aside a few nano-clicks away.

            She noticed
where his optics was and rolled hers. She reached up and grasped her war crest,
sliding it off of her helm. “There, that’s better.” Her chains fell around her
faceplate, framing her smooth features.

            “It doesn’t
really matter to me, but I like seeing your chains down, Chains.”

            She
chuckled, Bulkhead wasn’t the best with words but each one meant the world to
her. They we lucky, not everyone got a chance to be with the one they loved,
and many lost the one they loved. Optimus still had no idea where Elita1, his
mate, was, but he knew she was alive through the bond in his spark. His faith
in her strength and that he could still feel her kept him going. Chainbreak had
been awestruck by the resilience in the Prime’s character when he had seen fit
to share that information with them. What he was doing was difficult enough
without having a lost bondmate. Chainbreak couldn’t imagine being a leader of
equal worth and spark to Optimus while worrying about Bulkhead’s safety. Though
his missing spark mate explained why, when the Prime was off duty, he spent
most of his time alone, either off base or in his quarters; he was trying to
cope and presenting a strong front the entire time was hard, if not impossible.

            “Aww, now
your laughing at me…” Bulkhead pouted. Chainbreak raised an optic ridge at his
unusual behavior.

            “Okay,
that’s it, you’ve been spending too much time with Miko,” she retorted with a
smile etched on her features.

            He looked
shocked, “Have not! I’ve been spending every spare cycle with you. Not that I
really mind though.”

            “Cleary
you’ve spent too much time with her if you’ve picked up the puppy dog eyes
trick.” Chainbreak sat up and gave him a playful angry look. “She’s clearly a
bad influence on you.”

            His big
optics blinked twice, then a face splitting smile erupted and he tackled
Chainbreak to the ground.

            “Hey!” She
squirmed trying to get out of his grasp, though he was careful not to crush
her.

            “Who’s the
bad influence now, Chains?” he growled playfully, pinning her shoulder struts
to the soft dirt. The femme looked up at him, shock on her faceplate, Bulkhead
being….naughty? Who knew?

            She shook
her helm, chains flapping across the dirt and splaying around her head in a
graceful crown when she held his gaze.

            “I still
think I’m worse.” She growled back. She pushed on his bare chest with her
servos and arched her back against the dirt. He leaned harder against his
wriggling mate, ensuring that she stayed put.

            “I don’t
know….seems like I’m a bad influence. You can’t even manage to get on top,”
Bulkhead quipped with a smile.

            Chainbreak’s
optics flashed wide with flushed outrage. She growled pushing harder.
“Bulkhead…” she snarled quietly. “You. Are .Impossible.” She gave up with a
exasperated sigh and relaxed into the ground. He moved one of his servos to
caress her faceplate and helm, gently moving the chains that had fallen across
her face back to join the foray of thin metal strands that splayed around her
helm.

            She pressed
her check into the palm of his servo, and gave him a glare filled with love and
a deep burning desire. “Not heading for another round, are we?” she growled
lustfully.

            The bulky
green mech hovering over her gave no response, save for his servos slipping
down her frame, caressing sensitive spots. Her cooling fans clicked on with a
soft whirr to cool her rising core temperature; quiet mews and gasps coming
from her lips, which she had pinned tight together.

            The advance
of his servos paused at her hips momentarily, moving slowly inwards to the
panels resting between her upper thighs. They slide open slowly, and she locked
gazes with her mate, nothing but eternal love, compassion, and desire between
them. Ratchet had mentioned that it would become more difficult to resist
sexual urges as the bond got stronger until they had simply gotten used to the
feelings enough to ignore them while in public.

            She was
glad the forest was empty for clicks around. They both made noises and screamed
in ways that would evoke fear and worry into the sparks of most bots. Interfacing
was a relaxing way to spend time with a partner of mate. The two of them had
become more and more advanced and experienced in the others pleasures and
desires. They knew each other inside and out. Her chamber doors flipped open,
her chest heaving in time with her intake of air.  Bulkhead watched mesmerized at the sight of
her pulsating core, bright blue with cracks and fissures of dark purple spiking
across it. He wished he could remove those; it wasn’t fair for everything that
she had done for the Autobot’s, all that she had sacrificed, for her to end up
like this. He vowed to do everything in his power to make her better. He opened
his own chamber, bright light shining from the open doors, illuminating the
contours of her soft protoform, and leaned down; the two united in the closest
way once again.