Tarn sighed softly in relief when he saw the 'Peaceful Tyranny' up ahead. He couldn't wait to see Nickel and his two lovely sparklings again. He slowed to a stop and transformed once he got close to the ship, waiting for the others to catch up before heading onward. As he walked, he spotted the toy sword he had given to Chaos laying on the ground. He thought nothing of it as he stooped down to pick it up, thinking that Chaos must've just left it outside when he was playing. Though as he stood up, something else caught his optic.

A few droplets of energon.

"Problem?" Helex asked as he walked past, slowing down to investigate what Tarn was looking at.

"Not sure yet..." Tarn murmured, glancing over his shoulder for a moment. His sharp optics picked up another few spatters of energon farther off and he noted that it was probably a trail. "I need to find Nickel." He muttered as he quickly stood up and hurried into the ship.

It didn't take him long to find Nickel and he definitely didn't expect to find her in the state she was in. She looked as if she had been crying nonstop for hours, her optics still full of tears as she looked up at him. He felt his sparkrate quicken as he knelt down beside her and brought her close.

"T-They're... gone, Tarn....." Nickel whimpered quietly, pressing her helm against Tarn's massive chassis. "G-Gone....."

"What do you mean?" Tarn asked softly, gently massaging the crying femme's shoulder while he thought. It only took him a few seconds to realize what happened. "The sparklings.... Tyranny.. Chaos... where are they?" He asked, his tone more desperate now.

Nickel only broke down into more sobs. "I... I heard t-them screaming.. and.... when I got out t-there..... they were g-gone!" She couldn't speak anymore as more sobs overwhelmed her.

Tarn stiffened, his optics narrowing down to pinpricks. As a parent, he was absolutely terrified that his children were gone. But he wasn't one to show fear. Right now, all he showed was anger. "There was an energon trail. I'll take Kaon and Vos and I'll follow it." He went to get up when Nickel grabbed his arm.

"Tarn... please.." Nickel whimpered, clinging to Tarn's arm like he would slip away if she let go. "Please be careful...... bring our babies back.."

Tarn sighed lightly and nodded, taking off his mask so he could kiss Nickel on the helm lovingly. He then pulled her close to his chassis and held her there for a moment. "I will, my dear. I will bring them back. And I will punish whoever is responsible." He finished with growl, pulling away from Nickel and putting his mask back on.

And with a murderous gleam in his optics, he set out yet again with Kaon and Vos to follow the energon trail and bring back his sparklings.

———

"And you didn't notice that he was bleeding the entire time?!" Ratchet spat at a certain slender mech as he tried to patch up Chaos's wound. The little mech had a thin gash on both of his sides where Whirl's claw had cut him and he wasn't too eager about letting Ratchet anywhere near it.

"The kid kept squirming! It wasn't my fault I really had to grip onto him so he wouldn't break free!" Whirl retorted, throwing his claws up and rolling his optic.

Ratchet only shook his head and groaned, wincing as Chaos continued to scream and wail his head off. "You have to be more careful. He's just a youngling!" He shot back, trying unsuccessfully to clean Chaos's wound. "I assume that other sparkling was his sibling, where is she?"

"With Rung and Rodimus, why?" Whirl asked, cocking one hip out and crossing his arms across his chassis.

"Go get her, she'll probably be able to calm this one down enough that I can treat him." Ratchet replied with a huff, glaring at Whirl when the mech didn't move. "Any day now would be nice..."

Whirl only scoffed and turned on his heel, heading out of the Medbay while grumbling curse words under his breath. He returned a few minutes later with Tyranny following behind him.

At the sight of her brother, Tyranny instantly ran away from Whirl and climbed up onto the medberth next to Chaos. She shot a nasty glare at both Whirl and Ratchet before going back to comforting her brother. "Hey... I know it hurts.. but it won't get better unless you get it patched up.." She whispered soothingly, wrapping an arm around his shoulder and gently rubbing his back.

"But I want mom to patch me up! Not him!" Chaos wailed, pressing his head against Tyranny's chassis and continuing to cry. "I wanna go home!"

"I know... I know.. me too.... But we can't.." Tyranny murmured, glancing up at Ratchet nervously. "They won't let us leave... Don't worry, dad will find us.." She whispered so that only Chaos heard her, not wanting Ratchet or Whirl to hear what she was saying. "All you have do is just let him fix you up. Then you don't have to see him again."

Chaos sniffed and rubbed his optics as he sat up straight, glancing at Ratchet before quickly looking at his sister. "Okay..." He mumbled softly. "Did they hurt you at all?"

"No, I'm okay." Tyranny replied with a slight smile, patting Chaos on the back. "You're gonna be okay, I'm right here." She squeezed his shoulder before scooting over so Ratchet could work.

The entire time Ratchet was working, Tyranny made sure to watch his every move so he didn't hurt Chaos. Meanwhile, Chaos was watching Whirl the entire time to make sure that he didn't hurt his sister in any way.