AN: We're actually getting somewhere now!

Nano-second/astrosecond - .498 seconds
Nano-klik - 1 second
Klik - 1.2 minutes
Breem - 8.3 minutes
Cycle - 1 hour and 15 minutes
Joor - 6.5 hours
Mega-cycle - 1 day
Orn - 13 days
Deca-cycle - 3 weeks
Meta-cycle - 13 months
Vorn - 83 years

Degavorn - 1,900,000 years

AN: "Bold writing" means Altor is speaking English.

Sam was actually kind of relieved how much faster it was to get through the tunnels with the mech leading the way. No more relying on vague instincts and the unhelpful closermaybenotoofarthatway pulses of the Allspark every time they passed a junction. It still took them a fair amount of time, but eventually Blackwatch stopped at a junction marked with a twisted snarl of a glyph burned into the metal and guarded by five bots with smooth metal face masks that covered everything except their eerie yellow optics. Some sort of databurst must have happened across comms because they merely stepped aside and let them pass without challenge. The tunnel behind them plunged into darkness much the same as the tunnels in Iacon, but this time there was no traffic aside from their odd quartet.

"This isn't the route to the Inner Sectors," Magnesia eventually brought up.

"Patience. After all, you'll have better luck with one of my medics than you would trying to find a specialist on your own, Sig-less."

Magnesia bristled.

::Is that an insult::

::Sig-less means Non-Affiliated, basically. But with a lot more sectorist tones. It's not a good label.::

::Very big insult::

::About the same as being called a glitch. Altor, are you sure we can trust him?::

Sam considered the mech. ::We can trust him as long as his agenda matches ours which is get to a medic and get repairs::

::Favors are not something to take lightly, Altor.::

::We'll take what we can get::

Blackwatch's medic was a spindly little thing that reminded Sam far too much of Frenzy to be comfortable. She skittered across the room on an elevated platform with a shriek of glee, all but ready to launch at his face. "Subjects! Subjects! Killstrike, you really are too kind too kind! What's the issue- no let me scan!" A wash of red light hit Sam from helm to ped before sucking back into her chestplate. "Oooh, a tricky one! But what a spark what a spark! All fractured, aren't you, Sig-less? So fractured! Wrong processors, wrong frame." She giggled. "Split spark, too. Oooh, you don't have long no not at all. Quickly, quickly, down on the table down bot! Let me pull you apart! I love subjects!"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, hold it!" Sam held up both hands. "I am no one's subject, alright?"

"Helmripper doesn't have patients. She has subjects. If you want a hope of repair, you'll let the medic work."

"And what guarantee do we have that Altor and Soundwave won't end up as a Blackwatch experiment?" Magnesia demanded.

"You can hardly owe me a favor if you're in pieces."

Sam considered that. "True."

Nodangernotyet

"Alright. Where do you want me?"

"Altor!"

"Just relax, Mags. I know what I'm doing."

She stared at him in disbelief. "Flying."

Well that was a kick in the pants. "I know what I'm doing most of the time. At least when it comes to this kind of stuff." Because he still didn't have a clue when it came to flying but at least he had the Allspark's warning systems to know when their lives were at risk. And as creepy as Frenzy's cousin was, there were no blaring alarms or angry red glyphs floating around.

"Down on the table! Down down down let me see let me see!"

He unhooked Soundwave and passed him off to Magnesia, taking a deep "breath" as he laid down on the table. Helmripper immediately scurried onto his chest and tapped at his chest plates.

"Open open open!"

Having his spark exposed to open air was like having his rib cage cut open and his heart being held in someone else's hands. It was also bringing back some not so fond memories of being tortured as tendrils snaked from the medic into the chamber, red light washing over him again. 'Stay calm, stay calm. Don't panic, Sam.' Except it was really time to panic because- Tentacle in the nose-! and omething clicked inside his head and his optics flew open in alarm and -

liquid silver

"I trusted you!"

"You gotta trust me at least once more, mech. Just let me get you out of here."

"You're a filthy 'Con!'

''I'm loyal! At least that's more than I can say for you."

"Loyal? You betrayed us-"

"I'm loyal to Megatron. He at least is doing more for us than your precious Prime ever did! But you're my best friend, Wheeljack. And I don't want to see you die."

Intruder. Alert. Intruder. Alert.

"CANNONS! MIND THE CANNONS-"

Kittencalenderkittencalender kitten-

MaGGOT-

"I am Optimus Prime."

"Well that's different," Helmripper said pragmatically, scraping herself off the floor, cracked optic flickering wildly. "I've never had a hard sparkline rejected before."

Across the room, sword drawn and optics black, the subject's still open chest plates revealed a purple pulsing spark, energy crackling like a electro-whip and bleeding all over the floor.

The stupid Sig-less femme moved closer only to jump back to avoid being impaled when the subject's defenses engaged. "And that's...not good."

"Oh it's very interesting. I've never seen a spark that badly fractured still holding together. Or at least, it would still be holding together if it wasn't leaking all over the place. How kind, Killstrike, how kind. I love a challenge. I love a challenge. Now. How to restrain the subject..."

Killstrike sent a savage grin her way. "Leave that to me, shall I?"

"Hey, Sam."