Transformers: A Matter of Fate

A DANGER IN THEIR MIDST

"What if I'm just neutral to the whole thing?" Mark asked.

"I find that impossible to believe when it comes to a child."

"What do I have to do to get you off my back, man?" Mark asked "Leave?"

"On your own? That'd crush Hound, and I don't want that for him."

"You're more confusing than I am then!" Mark shouted "You're not even making sense. Why would he be upset?"

Crosshairs was silent, leering down at the young human with a look of confusion in his optics. "You really don't understand just how much he cares about you, do you?" He put his hands on his hips slightly "I think it's fairly obvious that he sees you as a surrogate son. And the only way for this not to end badly is for him to give you up on his own time."

"Our friendship... Isn't like that." Mark replied uncertainly "We're just friends... Nothing else."

"You don't sound so sure of yourself there, pipsqueak."

At this point, Mark started off without another word, leaving Crosshairs with narrowed optics. He sighed, this was what he got for trying to have a talk with the kid and understand what his deal was, he supposed. He simply hoped that Mark wouldn't got to Hound about it, as the last thing he needed was to be yelled at for trying to talk to the kid.

...

Mark avoided Crosshairs for the rest of the evening and most of the next day. He didn't bring what they had talked about up to Hound, there was no reason to pit the two Autobots up against each other after all. But now, Mark couldn't help but feel a pang of guilt about the whole situation. If Hound looked at him as some sort of surrogate son, he didn't want to break his spark. But he didn't want to lie and say that he trusted him on that level yet either, because in all honesty, he wasn't sure how high his trust went for the Autobot yet.

So instead, he decided to keep his mind off of the situation for now at least. And simply enjoy what time he was spending with the Autobots at the present time rather than focusing on his or Hound's future. That day, Hound had taken Mark along when the Autobots decided to do some training some miles off from the Yaegar Farm. And for the first time, Mark got a good look at just what kind of arsenal that Hound seemed to have. "So..." Mark stated as Hound was loading up his weapons with rubber guns for the training "Why the small third world army, exactly?"

Hound chuckled slightly as he gave one of his rifles a once over. "Well... When the war began, I had just started my family." Hound began to explain "You could say I was a little overprotective of them. And so I kept a few guns around the house, just in case." He nodded slightly, and hung the riffle at his side "Then I left my neutrality to join the Autobots and discovered I'd become a pretty fragging good shot."

"So you became a what..."

"My official title is a "Commando". Though I also work as a regular soldier in the army." Hound noted "You ever learn how to shoot a gun, Mark?" He asked thoughtfully as he took his "cigar" out of his mouth and stared at him curiously.

Mark shook his head, his dad had offered before, but he had no desire. Even though he was tough, he knew that guns were mostly used for one thing, and he was not the type of person who could easily bring himself to kill someone. "I've never been a fan of guns. I mean, I get it, they do a lot of good... I just could never use it, y'know?" Mark commented "I'm too soft." He admitted.

"There isn't anything wrong with that." Hound replied calmly "It's perfectly natural to be a little afraid of what comes from firing a gun." He noted "Or using a knife, or any other weapon for that matter." He then added "Yer forgetting yer talking to the universe's biggest softy here. The first time I actually used one of these scared the pit out of me." Mark chuckled a little at that "I had to shoot to kill and I could barely live with myself that night."

Mark could imagine killing someone was definitely not something that was easy to live with. He looked over Hound's rifle with a bit of awe and fear at the same time, how many Decepticons had he killed using that? How many people did his dad kill with his own guns? Autobot, Decepticon, or human? "Mark?" Mark looked up at Hound "Are you okay?"

"Fine." Mark shrugged "So you're going to train with guns? With real bullets?"

"Rubber ones." Hound shook his head "They'll bounce right off of us, but the idea is the same. You'll need to keep a safe distance, it won't hurt us at all, but to a human even a rubber bullet will hurt." Mark cringed at the thought "But stick around, you're going to enjoy seeing your... Pal in action." He noted, loading up the rubber bullets into another gun "Maybe I'll even show off a little."

"Let's not get ahead of ourselves." Bumblebee quipped from the side with a little laughter following in the voice clip "We all know I'm the top gun around here, hombre."

"That's 'cause Ironhide and I trained ye." Hound noted "But I seem to remember I didn't teach you everything I know."

"Bring it on, old man!" Bumblebee replied with a beckoning motion.

"Wise-aft."

Mark settled in as Bumblebee and Hound paired up, and watched. He was stunned at the grace and stamina with which Hound moved himself in "battle". He'd clearly only seen some of that when Cyclonus had attacked, and now, he could see it in full. He was good, going through weapon after weapon without much difficulty. And while he put up a good fight, Mark had to cringe as Bumblebee went down for the count about a half an hour later after Hound had thrown him (carefully) over his back.

"Yeah, I'd say I'm still top gun here, Bee." Hound chuckled "Yer getting better with yer weapons though. Those stingers of yours nearly got me a couple of times." He helped Bumblebee to his feet slowly, and then turned towards Mark "So, what do ye think, shorty?"

Mark had to admit, he couldn't have not put a thumbs up at Hound even if he tried. "That was awesome." Mark shouted "I didn't know anyone could fire off that many of weapons at one time. No wonder that one freaky purple dude went down so fast!"

Hound chuckled at that, approaching Mark and patting the young human on the back. He began to reload some more rubber bullets into his guns before turning towards Bumblebee. "Give me a few minutes to reload Bee, and we'll go for round two." Bumblebee gave a thumbs up of his own and a "Bring it on!" sound clip "So you were impressed, eh?"

"Majorly. I never knew something so big could move like that."

"Ye making fun of my weight, younglin'?"

"No."

Hound carefully rubbed the boy in the ribs, causing him to chuckle a bit. "I think you were."

"Hound, I was not!" Mark shouted "Come on man, I'm ticklish!"

As the Autobot continued to mess with his young human friend, someone else watched from afar, on a large hilltop far from sight. Cyclonus crouched on one knee, using his optics to zoom in on the pair. The boy was still with the Autobot? That was most certainly an interesting turn of events for him. "Oh, Hound..." Cyclonus stood to his feet slowly "You should know so much better. It would be such a shame if he had to pay in return for how you humiliated me."

The smile that curved along Cyclonus's mouth only widened as he turned and made his way away from the scene. Allowing them, at least for the moment, to be blissfully unaware of the danger in their midst.