Chapter Text
Reflect lands, immediately hunkering down. he’d managed to triangulate Ratchets position and end up near him. he grunts stumbling slightly as he hunkers down. Ratchets head jerks up from where he’s working on Jazz. he has a weapon pulled on the secondary Prime before Reflect can blink, but it doesn’t surprise him. Reflect gently nudges the gun away from his face with a frown, not bothering to even look over. he peeks over the cover, taking a servey on what he can see of their friends.
“please don’t.” Reflect says. Ratchet looks confused, lowing his weapon and turning his attention back to Jazz. Jazz grunts glancing over at Reflect with a wince.
“Reflect?” Ratchet asks. Reflect glances over at him, a not so subtle scan passing over the medic, Ratchet shivers slightly. “what-” Ratchet tries.
“where’s Ironhide?” Reflect asks.
“I lost sight of him.” Ratchet says.
“h-he was covering for Prowl.” Jazz mumbles. Reflect pokes out from the cover.
“go, Hound has me and Jazz covered.” Ratchet assures, not looking up from Jazz wounds. Reflect nods and takes off out of the cover. he scans around, shooting at Thundercracker when he sees the Seeker aiming at Bumblebee’s back.
“Bee! you got one behind you!” Reflect shouts. Bumblebee whips around and starts blasting at the Con. Reflect scans the area looking for his bondmate. Optimus is busy with Soundwave, but seems to have it handled. he suddenly sees Starscream standing over his bondmate. the seekers shoulder is sparking, he’s been grounded at least. Ironhide appears to be struggling though.
“I’M DONE WASTING TIME WITH YOU! I’M THE LEADER! YOU ARE NOTHING! WHERE’S PRIME!?” Starscream growls. Reflect growls and runs full force at them, headbutting Starscream off his bondmate. Starscream goes flying off Ironhide and rolls across the ground, growling.
“Reflect?” Ironhide mutters to himself, looking utterly confused. his bondmate doesn’t even spare him a glance.
“remember me bitch?” Reflect snaps, growling. his battle mask snaps into place. “you wanna fight a Prime? then come on!” Reflect growls. blue blades of energon emerge from his arms and he swipes at the Seeker.
“you’re no Prime, Autobot scum!” Starscream growls. Reflect Prime mark flashes, Allspark marking lighting up down his arms. they flash once or twice with his Prime mark before it stops, Reflect looks more pissed, as though the Seeker saying he wasn’t a Prime pissed him off more. Ironhide looks shocked, he’s never seen his bondmate s arms light up like that. Reflect growls lowly under his battle mask, glaring.
“the name is Reflection Prime and you’d best remember it, seeing as thats my fucking bondmate you were stepping on!!” Reflect snaps. he notices Ironhide dragging himself out of the way from the corner of his optic, good. he didn’t want to accidentally hurt him.
”there you go fighting my battles again.”
Reflect snorts to himself and runs at Starscream.
Ironhide grunts, pausing a moment to wince. he looks down. his left leg is gone below his knee, but even if he had it, there’s a hole in his hip and he wouldn’t be able to get up by himself.
”Ratchet, I’m grounded.”
“I’m sure you will be once Reflect gets done with Starscream.”
“very funny, fragger. Starscream blew my fucking leg off.”
“I’ll come get you in a second. I’m almost done patching Jazz. can you move?”
Ironhide looks down at himself again, before dropping his head back onto the dirt.
”yeah. sort of, just can’t get up. still got one good leg.”
Ironhide grunts and drags himself further away from Reflect battle. he watches Reflect rip off one of Starscreams wings and winces, but continues to drag himself away.
”where’s Prowl? Ratchet said you were covering him.”
“I’ll get him. he not down for the count, don’t worry. just unconscious.”
“try not to hurt yourself. just from a glance you’re gonna need a full work up on that hip.”
“you offering to work on me?”
“I’m telling you Ratchet will be far more gentle than I will, idiot.”
Ironhide huffs and drags himself over to where he left Prowl. the TIC shifts a little, groaning.
“Prowl. wakey-wakey. its battle time.” Ironhide grunts, shoving the mech. Prowl looks utterly confused.
“Ironhide?” Prowl asks.
“yeah. come on. I need your help.” Ironhide says. Prowl grunts, slowly sitting up.
“what happened?” Prowl asks.
“Starscream.” Ironhide mumbles. Prowl nods and looks Ironhide over.
“I can crutch for you over to Ratchet but its gonna hurt.” Prowl frowns. Ironhide nods at him.
“yeah, sounds like a party.” Ironhide mutters. Prowl helps him up, taking the brunt of Ironhides weight.
”get him off that hip right now!”
Prowl nearly jumps at the demanding com.
“you good?” Ironhide asks.
“yes, but Reflect is yelling at me to get you off your hip.” Prowl frowns. he turns to look at the other Prime and nearly pauses. Reflects beating Starscreams head in. “he seems pissed.” Prowl frowns.
“he’s still mad about the sparkling thing, frankly so am I.” Ironhide grumbles, wincing. he lets himself fall back down. “shit!” Ironhide hisses. Reflect head snaps up immediately. he drops Starscream and storms over.
“you’re an idiot.” Reflect grumbles. he grabs Ironhide up under his arms and starts dragging him towards Ratchets last known location.
“I was trying to get out of your way.” Ironhide mutters.
“I told Prowl to get you off that hip.” Reflect mutters.
“again I was trying to get out of the way.” Ironhide mutters. he lifts his arms and starts firing at one of the Cons, Reflect can’t identify. Prowl turns and immediately starts cover fire for the two.
“go, get him out of here.” Prowl says. his visor flickers, catching Reflect attention.
“yeah, cause I want a bot whose basically blind, firing into a crowd of our friends and family.” Reflect huffs. he drops Ironhide, ignoring the squawk of surprise from his bonded as his dented helm bounces off the sand, and grabs hold of Prowl.
“hey!” Prowl yelps. Reflect throws the mech on his back and goes back to Ironhide.
“what are you doing?” Ironhide grunts. he hisses when Reflect starts dragging him again.
“Prowls vision is going in and out.” Reflect says.
“I assure you I’m fine, this is ridiculous, not to mention humiliating. put me down.” Prowl growls, moving to get off Reflect back.
“if you remove yourself from my hold I swear on the Primes, Prowl, I will put you on forced medical leave for the next two months.” Reflect warns.
“you wouldn’t dare.” Prowl growls. Reflect turns his head to glare at the TIC.
“try me.” Reflect warns. Prowl grumbles to himself and adjusts himself on Reflect back, holding onto him. “and try to keep your head still. when you turn your head, your visor starts flickering again. you move too much you’re gonna go blind.” Reflect adds.
“sure are using that medical stuff.” Ironhide teases.
“not a word from you. I’m already angry at you.” Reflect mutters. Ironhide huffs, but continues his cover fire.
“you look like you could use a servo.” Hound snorts, walking over quickly.
“one idiot is blind and the other idiot can’t stand up.” Reflect says, dragging Ironhide past Hound. Hound grabs Prowl off his back easily.
“hey!” Prowl huffs. he growls at Hound but lets himself be carried over to Ratchet. Reflect drops Ironhide in the sand beside the medic and immediately gets to work on stopping his energon leaks.
“go help Bumblebee, I’ll get these two.” Ratchet says, pushing Reflect out of the way. Reflect nods and gets up, running at the Cons surrounding the Scout.
“hey! pick on someone your own size! bastards!” Reflect growls, tackling Thundercracker.
“get off!” Thundercracker growls. Reflect latches onto Thundercrackers back, squeezing his waist as tight as he can with his legs. he wraps his arm around Thundercrackers neck tightly and holds it firm with his free arm. the metal crunches under the strength of Reflects legs.
“funny! I’m sure Bumblebee was thinking the same thing!” Reflect shouts, holding tighter. Thundercracker grunts trying to reach back and grab him.
“I think he’s pissed I damaged my hip.” Ironhide says. Ratchet glares at him.
“I’m pissed you damaged your hip. he’s pissed you’re an idiot.” Ratchet huffs. Ironhide grunts, dropping his head back. he groans. “don’t worry you’ll be sleeping in the medbay tonight anyway.” Ratchet smirks at him. Ironhide huffs, hissing lowly.
“easy Doc, I need that leg.” Ironhide mutters, jerking his leg away slightly.
“hold still before I fucking break it off.” Ratchet snaps. Ironhide groans lowly and shifts to hold his side. Ratchet glances at him, doing a quick scan. “whats wrong?” Ratchet asks. he can’t see any damage to the area. Ironhide lifts his head, trying to shake off the sudden dizzy he feels, waving off Ratchets concerns.
“Reflects been hit.” Ironhide mutters, trying to set his sights on his bondmate.
“let down and stay still. I’ve got optics on him. he doesn’t look too bad.” Ratchet assures. he turns back to Ironhides leg. Ratchet glances up at his adopted sparkling. Reflects on his knees holding his head, that would explain Ironhides sudden squirming and shaking of his head. Reflect was projecting, probably an accident. Optimus is behind Reflect, punching Soundwave in the face.
Reflect gets up, stumbling a little. he hadn’t expected Soundwave to literally blast a soundwave into his audio. his left one isn’t registering anymore so he assumes he’s busted his audio. Reflect immediately shuts his other one off, hoping to stabilize himself. he runs at Soundwave and grunts, slamming the mech to the ground, wailing on his face. it doesn’t take Optimus long to realize Reflect can’t hear him.
”Reflect the Decepticons are retreating, let Soundwave up.”
Reflect grunts, the com taking him by surprise. it gives Soundwave a chance to punch Reflect off him and run off. Reflect blinks laying on his back, before he slowly gets up. Optimus grabs his arm gently. Reflect immediately turns to his fellow Prime, squinting at him. Soundwave had shattered one optic with the blast and cracked his other with the final punch before retreating. Optimus nods him towards Ratchet and carefully leads him over.
“shit. you guys look like hell.” Ratchet mutters.
“hows Ironhide?” Reflect asks. Ratchet winces.
“you don’t have to shout.” Ratchet says.
“Soundwave busted his audios. he can’t hear you.” Optimus explains. Ratchet, finished patching up Ironhides bleeding wounds making him ready to transport back to the base, stands. he leans forward to look at Reflect, who squints hard and blinks at him with his functioning optic. there’s energon leaking from his mouth and his shattered optic.
”Ironhides fine. we need to get everyone back to the base.”
“I can get us back.”
“don’t you’re leaking energon pretty good and those sparklings need someone to take care of them. Ironhides going to be down for the rest of the night at least. don’t need you unconscious because you used up your energy.”
Reflect nods slightly at Ratchet, before attempting to glance at Ironhide. he stumbles slightly and shakes his head. he stumbles against Optimus, who easily catches him.
“come on, lets get back to the base.” Ratchet mutters.
the trip back to the base seems to take forever, but they do eventually manage to do so. Reflect seems to notice something is wrong the moment they get there as well. he freezes and looks around.
Optimus glances at him.
”Reflect?”
“somethings wrong.”
“what do you mean?”
“I’m not sure. something just doesn’t feel right.”
Reflect glances around, optics flickering.
“where are the twins?” Reflect asks, voice barely above a whisper. Ratchet glances around.
“something doesn’t feel right.” Ratchet mutters. a loud squeal gathers everyone, but Reflects, attention. “oh Primus help us.” Ratchet mutters. Echo goes running by, screaming at the top of her voice box, the Sunstreaker plush tightly in her grasp above her head. Remix runs by a minute later, screaming and sobbing, arms out reaching for the toy. Wheeljack isn’t far behind them.
“come on now Echo give it back! Remix its okay she’s not going to hurt it!” Wheeljack cries.
“mine!! give back!! give back!!” Remix screams. Reflect glares at his adopted caretaker.
“Wheeljack!” Reflect glares. the inventor skids to a stop sheepishly glancing at Reflect.
“I-” Wheeljack asks.
“how many did you give them?” Reflect glares.
“not many I mean-” Wheeljack tries.
“how many Jack?” Reflect growls.
“m-maybe a little servo full each? three or maybe four… well… it could’ve been five… uh there was 20 on the plate and um well, there’s two left so… I don’t know…?” Wheeljack answers. Reflect glares him down, before glancing at Optimus.
“he can’t hear you idiot.” Ratchet grumbles, supporting Ironhides weight.
”he’s not sure.”
Optimus almost winces, giving Reflect his answer. Reflects glare snaps over to the mech.
”Reflect, you can deal with him after we get everyone patched up. Ironhides heavy.”
Reflect growls lowly.
“since you asked so nicely Ratchet.” Reflect snaps. Optimus is supporting his weight and easily leads Reflect down the hall.
“help us get everyone to the medbay.” Ratchet mutters. Wheeljack nods and walks over to help him with Ironhide. Reflect watches his sparklings run past them again. Echo still has her prize in her little servos and Remix is still crying and chasing after her.
“ha! how does it feel to be no ones favorite?” Sunstreaker smirks at Sideswipe. the red twin glares.
“dude, I’m literally holding you up, I’ll drop you.” Sideswipe huffs. Sunstreaker huffs.
the group finally makes their way into the medbay.
“fix my optics and I can help fix everyone up.” Reflect says.
“sounds like a plan.” Ratchet mutters. “Jack, start working in the others. Ill get Reflect patched so he can help.” Ratchet says. he turns back to Reflect, who is staring at him confused. “right, deaf.” Ratchet mutters. he pushes Reflect to sit down gently.
the moment Ratchet fixes his optics, Reflect is up and helping them fix their friends.
”you really should let Ratchet fix your audials.”
“why? I can see to fix just fine. I don’t need to hear.”
“Reflect, he’s been trying to get your attention for a few minutes.”
Reflect blinks and looks up from Jazz’ chest, glancing over at Ratchet.
“do you have my wrench?” Ratchet frowns, making a mental note to get Reflect his own tools to work with. Reflect furrows his optic ridges, looking utterly confused.
“no, I don’t have a finch, Ratchet are you okay?” Reflect asks. several bots snicker, while Ratchet sighs.
“right, deaf.” Ratchet mutters.
”wrench.”
“huh?”
“my wrench Reflect. I need my wrench.”
“oh! sorry!”
Reflect quickly tosses it to the medic.
”can I please fix your-”
“I can work just fine without hearing. there are others with worse injuries than mine. we can fix my audials after. its not life threatening.”
Reflect turns back to Jazz to keep working. Ratchet frowns, but turns back to Ironhide.
“quit moving.” Ratchet mutters.
it takes hours, but eventually most of their friends are patched and out of the medbay. Ironhide, Jazz, and Sunstreaker end up staying in the medbay by the end, but no other serious injuries had been discovered. Reflect has barely had a chance to put his tools down when Ratchet grabs hold of him and shoves him onto a berth to patch his audio receptors.
“my left audio is the broken one.” Reflect says. Ratchet looks at him confused. Reflect shrugs. “my right one might be a little damaged but the left one doesn’t work at all. I shut the right one off so I wouldn’t get dizzier.” Reflect explains. Ratchet rolls his optics and motions for him to lay down, he still needs to patch up the mechs head. Ratchet flicks his good audio gently and Reflect turns it back on.
“how does it sound?” Ratchet frowns as he works.
“kinda… staticy.” Reflect says. he winces and shuts it off quickly. “I had to shut it back off. everything is echoing really bad. its making my head hurt.” Reflect says. Ratchet nods.
”what causes that?”
“the sound frequency Soundwave used probably stressed my audio out. it was my fault I shouldn’t have charged him. Optimus had him handled.”
Ratchet pauses in his work, grabbing Reflects face to force him to look in his optics.
”listen to me Reflect.”
“I’m listening.”
“never, ever regret stepping in to help someone in battle. not even Optimus. he’s a Prime and he’s strong but no one is invincible. if you hadn’t stepped in when you did, Optimus could’ve been killed. I can replace your audio receptors. I can replace your optics. I cannot, however, replace our friends. Optimus needed your help, yes you got hurt, but he could’ve been killed if you hadn’t stepped in to help.”
“but I-”
“Optimus needed your help. I know you know that a battle is a dangerous and stressful situation. I know that you know it requires quick thinking and sometimes risky moves, but you helped Optimus. you did really good today kid. don’t worry about it.”
Reflect nods at him slightly and looks away, letting Ratchet get back to work. the medic makes quick work of his audios and steps back, letting Reflect turn them back on.
“well?” Ratchet asks. Reflect sighs happily.
“better.” Reflect smiles. he sighs again. “whose been watching the sparks?” Reflect asks.
“Bluestreak and Smokescreen have been keeping an optic on them, letting them run their energy out.” Ratchet says.
“Bluestreak says they passed out a few minutes ago. Echo is in the rec room and Remix is in Prowls office with Smokescreen.” Wheeljack says.
“my office?” Prowl frowns.
“easy Prowl.” Reflect snorts, getting up. he heads out of the medbay to collect his sparklings. he spares a glance at Ironhide as he walks out, huffing and heading out of the medbay silently. Ironhide online's one optic to look after his bondmate, frowning.
”are you really that mad at me?”
“we’ll talk when you can walk again.”
“Reflect-”
“don’t. I told both you and Prowl to get you off your hip and now look at you, you’re going to need major surgery and pretty much an entire new hip. not just a joint. not only were you an idiot hurting yourself, but you created more work for Ratchet. mad doesn’t even cover it right now.”
“you’re mad.. I created more work for Ratchet?”
“YES! damn it! do you know how much fucking work it takes to not only find parts or make parts, but also put the new parts in you? do you know how much paperwork he has to do? every injury has to be documented! medical files have to be updated! appointments have to be set so he can check to make sure you’re healing properly! parts have to be ordered to replace the ones used and documented on how they’re used! do you realize that when you leave the medbay, he’s going to have probably a weeks worth of paperwork on you alone!? he has to document that you’re out of commission and on temporary medical leave because you have to stay in the medbay! he has to document that you’re staying in the medbay and for how long! he has more paperwork every fucking nanoclick you’re in there and you do something this stupid! you could’ve been out of there tonight if you hadn’t tried walking!”
“Reflect-”
“and I can’t even help him with all this paperwork like I normally do because someone has to take care of the twins and it obviously can’t be you if you’re laying in a fucking medical berth without a fucking leg! so not only did you create more paperwork for Ratchet, but damn it, now I don’t have a partner to help with the sparklings.”
“Reflect I’m sorry, I-”
“I… I guess I finally know how Sarah felt everytime I went out to fight with you guys.”
Reflect blocks his bond and shuts his com off so Ironhide can’t talk to him. he’s just getting more pissed. he stops at Prowls office and scoops up his son, before swinging by the rec room to grab his daughter and storm off to his and Ironhides room.
he lays on his and Ironhides berth with the sparklings curled up to him, sighing softly. he frowns with his com pings, but answers when its from Ratchet.
”are you okay?”
“yeah why wouldn’t I be?”
“I figured Ironhide apologizing for paperwork had to be your doing.”
Reflect curls up with his sparklings and sighs softly.
”I’m sorry.”
“Reflect. you don’t need to worry about stuff like that, I’ve handled it for years, before you ever existed. as Reflect or Will. I can handle it.”
“I don’t care how long you’d had to do it alone! I’ve seen you when it comes to this stuff. how many times did Wheeljack and I curl up on yours and his berth without you when I was a sparkling, because you had paperwork to do? I’ve seen it Ratchet. you may not realize it but its wearing you down and I can’t even be there to help you with it this time because someone has to watch the sparklings and Ironhide can’t do it.”
“Reflect, kid, hey. I can handle it.”
“how long are you going to be awake tonight working on paperwork?”
“I don’t know, a while, but-”
“how many nights this week is Wheeljack going to go to bed without you? how many nights this week are you going to fall asleep at your desk and wake up sore with low energon warnings? just from working on Ironhides paperwork alone, how long?”
“i get your point Reflect, I do, I promise, but don’t worry about it, just focus on those sparklings okay?”
“but how is that fair to you?”
“don’t worry about me.”
“you’re my adopted freaking creator, okay? how am I not supposed to worry about you?”
Ratchet goes quiet a moment before responding.
”listen kiddo, I’ve got Wheeljack to help me and Perceptor can step in to assist with paperwork, the only reason he hasn’t recently is because everytime we go to work on it, you’ve already stolen all of it to do yourself. you need a break too kid, we’ve got this. just take care of those sparklings okay?”
“okay…. I guess.”
“get some rest, okay?
“only if you promise to do the same. I know you’re tired.”
“I promise. Wheeljack already made me promise I wouldn’t start on paperwork until tomorrow. so don’t worry.”
“okay good. at least Wheeljacks looking out for you.”
“don’t worry about me, Wheeljacks got me.”
“good.”
Reflect cuddles his sparklings with a sigh.
”I know you’re angry, but I’m sorry and I love all three of you.”
Reflect frowns at Ironhides words and shuts his optics off, deciding to settle into stasis and ignore his bondmate for now.
Reflect shifts the next morning groaning. both of his sparklings are awake and patting at his face.
“hello babies.” Reflect murmurs.
“see creator!” Remix whines. Reflect blinks a little.
“me too, me too! want see!” Echo whines.
“okay, okay, we’ll go see creator.” Reflect murmurs. he gets up and scoops both sparklings up gently, heading for the medbay. as mad as he is as Ironhide, he won’t deny their sparklings the opportunity to see him.
Reflect carries them into the medbay and pauses. Wheeljack is up and helping Prowl up off a berth and Ratchet is no where in sight.
“where’s Ratchet?” Reflect asks. Wheeljack looks over.
“he said he didn’t want to worry you if you came in and went to go get himself a cube so you wouldn't yell at him again.” Wheeljack says. Reflects plating immediately shifts.
“I did not yell!” Reflect defends. Wheeljack shoots him an amused look and Reflect looks away flustered. “I’m just concerned.” Reflect mumbles.
“I know you are kid.” Ratchet assures, walking in behind him.
“leave carrier lone!” Echo squeals, glaring in Wheeljacks direction. Remix blows a raspberry at the inventor, hugging Reflects neck.
“take it easy little ones.” Ratchet soothes. Echo chirps and flails her arms, reaching for him.
“Chet! Chet!!” Echo squeals. Reflect chuckles and shifts her to hold her out towards Ratchet.
“you have been chosen.” Reflect chuckles.
“I dunno squirt, I’m kinda busy.” Ratchet teases. Echo shoots him a dirty look.
“Echo, tell grandpa Chett to take you before I come get you.” Wheeljack teases, carefully holding up Prowl. the TIC stumbles against him, grumbling. “easy Prowl I’ve got you.” Wheeljack assures gently.
“don’t call me that.” Ratchet mutters, taking Echo.
“no! Echo go Chet!” Echo squeals, hugging Ratchets neck.
“thats right, Echo goes with Ratchet.” Ratchet snorts. Echos little engine purrs happily, cuddling to Ratchet happily. Remix watches them, cuddled up to his carrier, before his optics land on Ironhide.
“creator!” Remix chirps. Ironhide tilts his head to look back at them.
“hey squirt.” Ironhide chuckles. Reflect walks over and sets their sparkling on the berth, watching Remix hug Ironhides chestplate. Ironhide hugs his sparkling gently, slowly sitting up.
“miss you.” Remix whines.