Disclaimer: Transformers © Hasbro
Summary: As the war intensifies, there are still reminders of just what the Autobots are fighting for.

The fighting was worsening all the time, even more so now that the All Spark had been hidden in the hopes that the Decepticon forces wouldn't be able to track it. That seemed to be little more than a pipe dream, however, given how much effort Megatron was putting into locating it. The days of peaceful negotiations on Cybertron were long gone, and it was sometimes difficult to believe that he'd ever been something other than a medic.

Especially in moments when the fighting moved on and they were left to pick through the rubble in hopes of finding survivors.

It was probably a hopeless cause, to be frank. The past few dozen hits to cities like Altihex had left no mech or femme alive for much longer than a few dozen breems, and the news those few had passed along before deactivation was grim: 'cons stealing away younglings and sparklings alike, and rumours that those taken were given immediate adult upgrades and protocols. Who knew just how many of those innocents had been involved in subsequent raids, their young processors twisted with Decepticon hate-speech and unaware that they'd had their lives ripped away from them before they ever had a chance to live?

Ratchet shook his head to clear out those thoughts and began scanning the area, absently noting that the few other medically-inclined mechs in the unit were doing likewise. Even if they located anyone still alive in the mess of destroyed buildings, there was only a slim chance that they would survive transit to one of the few safe zones left on Cybertron—

And that was a weak energy spike on his HUD. The medic stopped walking and swept his scanners back through the remains of the room he'd entered while lost in his thoughts. The spike came again, still weak and very small; if he didn't know better, he'd almost think it was a sparkling's signature. That was impossible, though, given that the Decepticons had been ensuring that no one under adulthood was left behind in their strikes. Ratchet scanned one more time, detecting a cooling heat source close to the energy source and surmising that maybe, just for once, that the 'cons had missed someone on their way out.

He sent a quick data burst of his current position to the others, receiving an immediate reply from First Aid even as he began clearing away the debris around the energy and heat sources. The younger medbot joined him moments later and assisted in the task. Between the two of them they quickly uncovered the battered form of what appeared to be a seeker femme, Decepticon insignias prominently displayed on her wings and plating rapidly growing cold. A broken support beam was lodged in her back, between said wings and had likely pierced her spark casing.

"Looks like the building came down on top of her," First Aid remarked quietly. "Probably dropped right into emergency stasis and deactivated less than a breem later."

"If she even survived that long," Ratchet added, frowning and doing another scan. He was still picking up a faint energy signal, and it seemed to be coming from the femme. "Aid, do a quick energy scan," he ordered abruptly.

The younger medic gave him a confused look but complied, optics flickering in surprise. "Is that what I think it is?" he asked softly.

Ratchet didn't reply, instead moving forward a bit and working to roll the femme's frame onto the side. As the cooling body shifted, he caught sight of a small white form wrapped securely in her arms; it was tucked close to her chassis and one hand had been rested on the sparkling's helm to keep it pressed against her. At first glance, one could almost make the assumption that the building had collapsed when the Decepticon had been trying to make off with the sparkling. But if that was the case, then why the protective hold? If they were both at risk, why wouldn't the 'con simply toss the sparkling aside and escape on her own, even though she would be punished for failure later?

"Give me a hand," he said quietly, keeping his tone low. With First Aid's assistance, the two medics loosened the femme's grasp on the sparkling enough for Ratchet to pull it free. Once he could get a closer look at the sparkling, Ratchet realized just why the Decepticon had risked her life; the small nubs on its back were the closest any mech or femme so young would get to wings before the first full vorn of life was complete.

"A seeker sparkling," First Aid noted, optics flicking over to the femme's body and narrowing in thought. "So she was either trying to ensure it survived for the next 'con to pick up, or—"

"Or she was instinctively protecting her own sparkling," Ratchet finished, examining the tiny seeker he was holding. It was a mech, offline but still functioning, probably knocked into emergency stasis by the rubble crashing down on his creator. The sparkling probably hadn't been online for much longer than a quarter-vorn, around the time that the Prime ordered the All Spark moved to a secure location. Most likely, this sparkling had been the result of either a pair of bondmates attempting to spark a child or a split-spark; he would examine the sparkling further later to find out. For the moment, however, being out in the relative open was dangerous.

"I've radioed base camp," First Aid reported as he completed a scan of the rest of the building. "All other units have found no survivors. This little guy is all that's left of Altihex."

Ratchet nodded sharply, tucking the sparkling securely to him. "Let's go home," he said, feeling drained.

One survivor was better than none.

Just want to point out one thing: there are thus far no OCs aside from the unnamed femme. So three guesses on who else has thus far appeared.