Raising a Sparkling Together (And Apart)

Kidnapped By The Good Guys

"And this one," Her Carrier had said, pointing on the board to a messily drawn mech with blue and red scribbles over it. There was a small collection of other Autobots on the board, all colored with different markers. "This one is their leader, Optimus Prime."

"Optimus Prime!" She echoed, clapping her servos together.

"And who is he?"

"Leader of the Autobots!"

"And what do we do if you see him?"

"Run and wait until you, Sire, Screamer or Megsy finds me!"

Knockout smiled and lent to rub her helm affectionately. "Good job!"

Paradox cheered in excitement as Knockout picked her up. "You know I love you, right?" At her enthusiastic nodding, he chuckled. "And that your Sire and I would do anything to protect you, yeah?"

Paradox giggled and nodded. "Why are you asking me this, Carrier?"

Knockout hugged her tightly to him and sighed happily. "Just making sure you know how much we all love you."

"Including 5T3V3?"

Knockout chuckled. "Yes, including 5T3V3."

It suddenly all clicked in her head. This wasn't Orion carrying her, this was the Autobot leader. One of the main mechs she was told to avoid at all costs, and she had simply let him carry her off into the middle of a war zone. She was going to be in so much trouble when she got back.

She heard her Carrier call out to her in worry and Paradox squeezed her optics shut. At this point tears were falling down her face at an alarming rate as she wiggled around, trying to get out of Orion's—no, Optimus'—grasp. Despite all of her pushing, kicking, and biting, Optimus refused to let go.

He wasn't sure where this sudden urge to get away from him came from, but he still just tightened his grip on the sparkling and held her closer. He had to get her off of The Nemesis before he could do anything else. Who knows what sort of lies they had been feeding her since being found.

"Paradox!" Knockout cried out, pure terror in his voice from seeing her screaming and crying, trying to get away from the enemy while being carried across the battlefield. He started sprinting to his sparkling when he got hit in the chestplates with a blaster. He turned slightly from the impact, clutching his chest in pain at the new injury. He turned back around to face Bumblebee and growled. He made eye contact with Breakdown, who nodded in understanding. Get Paradox while I cover you.

Knockout pulled out his staff, swirling it in his servo. He scowled towards the black and yellow Bot in front of him. "You better hope and pray that I'll be merciful enough to end you. Right here, right now."

Across the battlefield Breakdown abandoned his fight with Bulkhead to push his way to Optimus Prime. He caught the attention of Megatron, who growled to himself and pushed Ratchet away. He stormed up to Optimus and aimed to shoot when Breakdown cut in.

He held a servo, looking pissed off and upset. "Don't. You might hit Paradox, too."

Megatron swore, but didn't put his blaster down. As much as he'd deny it later, Breakdown was right. The chance of hitting Paradox was too high at such a close range. While they were both forced to take defensive stances, they were also forced to listen to the sparkling's screams and cries for help as she pushed away from the mech that was in the process of kidnapping her.

They both dodged every blast that was shot at them, trying their best to attack when they knew Paradox wouldn't get hurt. Eventually a great deal of the Autobots started attacking them, making the duo unconsciously divert their attention from Paradox to fighting back.

That was their first mistake.

Using his teams distraction to his advantage he made it past the Decepticons and to the open groundbridge. He called out to his team and they all shifted from offensive to defensive as they made their ways to their leader. Once they had made it through, Optimus went to follow them before he was cut off by the still screaming sparkling in his arms.

"Sire! Carrier!" She yelled with a shaky voice, using what little energy she had left to reach out to them. They all reacted quickly, vehicons included. Starscream transformed into his alt mode and flew as he could considering the amount of injuries he had sustained. Knockout, Breakdown, and Megatron followed his actions, Knockout also transforming into his alt mode while Megatron and Breakdown ran.

Optimus quickly stepped through the groundbridge and took Paradox in with him. Just as Knockout transformed and reached out to grab Paradox, she was gone. He barely had time to pull his servo away as the groundbridge closed.

All of the Decepticons stared in shock and horror at where the groundbridge used to be. Where Paradox used to be.

There was a sharp, sudden cry that echoed painfully in everyone's audio receptors. Knockout had fallen to the floor, forgetting about anything and everything around him as he broke down. His sparkling was gone. No, his sparkling wasn't just gone. His sparkling was taken from him. Gone and taken were two very different things.

Breakdown staggered next to Knockout, falling to his knees beside him. Breakdown placed his helm on his sparkmate's shoulder, crying his own silent tears. The other's behind them watched silently, their own sparks feeling conflicted. There was a mix of hurt, pain and pure, undeniable rage.

They all silently promised themselves that they would get Paradox back, even if it was the last thing they ever did.