Inspired by anon from the TF Anon Kink community. Not the requested pairing, nor the requested focus. I just couldn't resist the idea. I'm sorry, anon.
My secret baby daddy
This was something nobot had ever expected to happen. The pessimists believed that the war would rage on even after it led to Cybertron's irreversible downfall. Optimists had believed that their faction would defeat the other. But even Starscream was surprised when he managed to shoot Megatron dead after an energon raid.
After their leader's death, it took less than three days until the Air Commander had lost his newly-gained position, and it took about an Earth week for the Decepticons to fall into chaos and be weakened by the infights. Optimus Prime was adamant not to interfere, as it would have been highly unfair to take advantage of the enemy's misery. But when a desperate Soundwave had contacted him and asked for his help, he did not hesitate.
The war was over. Cybertron would heal, so would the sparks of its inhabitants. The Autobots and the remaining Decepticons signed a fragile peace. And then, just when everything seemed to have settled, a new demand started to be whispered. Mechs and femmes who had wished for nothing but the end of the war until now, had moved on to things they had planned for after the war. Many, many of these plans had included sparklings.
And the medics had very bad news for most of them.
Soundwave was sitting alone in Maccadam's Ancient Oil House. Of course, he was never really alone, most of his minions had survived Starscream's rule and the days of chaos that came after. Poor Ratbat was the only one who didn't make it - he died in the same explosion that had finished the Seeker's leadership (and functioning). But soon, he would have more minions, if all goes well.
"May I...?"
Soundwave looked up. He was so lost in his thoughts, he didn't even notice the other mech entering the Oil House. Which was quite an achievement, not to notice Optimus Prime when he was still (and now, the only) Cybertronian Leader. He bowed his assent.
The Prime sat down, and Soundwave could hear his thoughts running. He had vorns of practice of how to keep away from Megatron's thoughts. The Prime was an entirely different character, open, easy-going, forgiving... and from time to time, he had even asked for Soundwave's opinion about things he didn't want to say out loud. But right now, he had too many problems in his focus. One of these was the medical team's new way of repopulating Cybertron. He was more concerned with his underlings' family life than with his own private life, however. But even he had volunteered to carry a new spark - and he had recently been chosen.
Soundwave looked up at him, reading the rest of his thoughts. His worries for Decepticons causing trouble even after the war had ended. His happiness over Elita-One carrying their sparkling. His sorrow over the death of his worst enemy. His throbbing homesickness for Earth.
"How are they?" he asked. He knew that he didn't have to say the complete question, Soundwave understood anyway. He opened his cassette holder and let Optimus see what was inside: a nest made of metallic rasps, decorated with pieces of junk and a tiny Decepticon insignia. Buzzsaw was sitting on three eggs, all of them black and white, with different decorations of green, blue and orange on them. In the silence of the normally busy Oil House, Optimus could hear one of the hatchlings transform in his shell. Laserbeak appeared next to Buzzsaw, giving his partner an opportunity to leave his place while the former Decepticon Condor of Leadership sat on their eggs and patiently waited for them to hatch. Soundwave closed his cassette holder, and took a sip of his energon.
Optimus somewhat envied the Cassetticon birds. They were not only in love, they were compatible. They were so lucky. Many of the former pairs who had been waiting for the opportunity to FINALLY have sparklings were found to be incompatible, or one of them was unable to reproduce at all. Suddenly, there was a need for mechanic integrity codes, unique codes that would enable a compatible Cybertronian to have a sparkling. The chances of finding the compatible donor had varied from 0,15% to 20% - so even the luckiest mech needed an offering of five theoretical mechs to be sparked up for good.
Of course, there were mechs to offer their mechanic integrity codes for copying, but this had raised new issues. Some Autobots refused to take anonymous offers, afraid that their sparkling would be onlined with Decepticon coding. Others had preferences for certain frame types or ranks or cities of origin, despite the medics telling them that these had nothing to do with the spark they'd raise. After filling the reasonable requests the best they could, the medics had to remove the personal data and randomize the remaining donations, and spark up mechs with data from somebody they weren't comfortable with.
Of course, so many of them backed out of the project. They realised their wanting a sparkling at any costs didn't actually meet some of their ideals. Especially the younger Autobots were up in arms against being sparked up with the mech data of a possible Decepticons. Bumblebee and Bluestreak had easily figured that, since their only wish was that it WASN'T a Decepticon, the medics suddenly finding an anonymous offering made it clear that they would be carrying a Decepticon's offspring. They have both asked to be removed from the project, despite their nascent and strong wish for a sparkling. That was when Optimus Prime decided to show a good example and despite Elita already carrying his sparkling, he offered to take in any mech's future child and raise them as his own.
Soundwave sipped his energon in silence. He couldn't tell how long it would take until the Autobot medics realise he had tampered with the offerings last night. Perhaps it would cost him his hardly regained position, the peace of his Cassetticons, maybe it would even cost him his life. No, the Autobots would probably not do that, they are too hypocritical about the value of life. But still. What he did yesterday would lead to a public outcry. He'd horribly abused the anonimity of the offered samples. Even he wasn't sure if it was a good idea or not.
Next to him, the Prime was also lost in his thoughts. To his little surprise, Ratchet explained him that he couldn't carry a new spark, unless the donator was also compatible with the Matrix of Leadership he was carrying. Oh well. He should have thought of that.
Next to him, Soundwave was wondering what the Autobots would do if/when they discovered that he had added a blueprint of a Decepticon's integrity codes to the collection of anonymous offerings. He also wondered what Megatron would think about his sparkling being raised in and by some random Autobot weakling. He would probably be less than amused, but he was DEAD, so he didn't have much say in the matter. The idea of giving Megatron's codes to Bumblebee or Bluestreak had honestly freaked out the outwardly always calm Communications officer.
Optimus relaxed and tried to focus on the new spark in his chest. He hoped to find a way to communicate with the newling, to tell him how much he would be loved, unconditionally, forever. How happy and relieved he was this morning, when Ratchet had informed him that a formerly overlooked sample would be suitable for him. A sparklet with this coding would very well survive in the Matrix's proximity.
The installation process had been odd, to say it politely. Ratchet had multiplied the coding of some mech neither of them probably never met in person, then he had to lay on a recharge berth and let his systems be repowered with the energy of the multiplied codes. Hah, that was uncomfortable. He remembered a time when Megatron had sneaked into the Ark and changed the codings of their recharge berths. He had been running amok until the effects could be reversed.
Why was he thinking about Megatron's misdoings when, for a change, the Decepticon leader was dead and Optimus was alive?
A silent black shadow that was Ravage approached the Oil House. He had to tell the news to Soundwave. But would he be satisfied with a fragment of the information? With the birds now nesting in the cassette holder, Ravage was the Decepticon officer's only spy. He could sneak in and out from everywhere, but he couldn't fly, nor could he be in two places at the same time. Despite all his best intentions, he knew that the sample they placed yesterday evening had been found and used to create a new spark, but he couldn't get into the medical facility and he could not find who the carrying mech would be. Despite his effors, he had lost track of Megatron's sample. Well, that was a failure. But wherever the codes were, they were THERE, they were ALIVE, and perhaps the youngling could be found when his personality would surface.
Nevertheless, he passed the information on to Soundwave, who had immediately turned back to Optimus Prime. He frowned at the memories of Prime being informed about the newly found code sample. Primus, this was unexpected. But acceptable, much better than any other options would have been.
"Ravage: return" he ordered. "Operation: success."
