Title: „Glimpses: Sparkling"
Status: Part 1 out of 2 (WIP)
Fandom: Transformers; roughly G1 (with elements of my personal, fangirl-tailored continuity/'verse)
Characters: Kup; Hot Rod; OCsWord Count: 3961
Disclaimer: I would love to own Transformers, but that honor belongs to Hasbro and some others. Shame!
Rating: T
Beta: Optimus Bob. Thank you very much for your kind help! All mistakes left are definitely my own! LOL
Warning/AN: I don't know if it's worth a warning, but I am German and this is only my third attempt at writing an English fanfiction... So, please, don't be gentle and point out every mistake you can find – I want to improve! LOL I don't think there are any left, thanks to Optimus Bob, but – who knows?
I hope you will enjoy reading this; please R&R! Constructive criticism, suggestions, comments – all that is most welcome! And thank you to everyone who fav'ed "Backup" and "Claws" or wrote a review! And, of course, thank you very much in advance to everyone writing a review for "Glimpses"! Flames will feed my barbecue fire – what else could be their purpose?
Glimpses: Sparkling Part 1Kup ducked behind a metal beam.
Blistering heat erupted around him, gusts of hot air and shrapnel screeched over his plating. His gray-green paintjob turned into bubbling pools of liquid, running down his arms and legs.
Kup cussed with all the colorful imagination of an old soldier and tried to shift his armor out of the way. – But the covered area was just too small. His intakes worked frenetically to cool his overheating frame.
The energon freighter Titania seemed pit-bent on turning into a deathtrap for Kup and his unit of Wreckers. Naturally they were stuck right in the thick of things – business as usual. Although this time it was entirely their choice.
How could they have ignored the distress call of a spacecraft full of Neutrals; en route from Colony Sigma to Cybertron? They were kin and even if they weren't, both Prime and the Lord High Protector would have their sorry afts for even considering to abandoning them.
But the higher-ups had other ideas.
That stupid fragger Crusader had some circuits loose, ordering them to stay put and just ignore it in favor of their current mission. – So Kup and his team had taken matters into their own servos by 'borrowing' two of the Nebula's shuttles.
While they boarded the overrun freighter to evacuate any surviving civilians, it was left to Hedge's unit to deal with the second pirate vessel. And if the vibrations running down the hull were any indication, then that problem was already dealt with...
But here was Kup, pinned behind this sorry excuse of cover, halfway to the bridge, under heavy fire from the last of the wannabe space pirates...
Kup waited, counting, till a sizzling sound and the distinct smell of ozone signaled the next discharge of the gigantic photon blaster of his foe. Right on cue, he jumped to avoid the detonation.
The recoil of his own weapon had the pirate tumbling backwards, crashing through a holovid screen. The console bent as the metal caved in under the heavy impact of a Cybertronian body. - It was the perfect opportunity to off-line the fragger for good.
Kup was on him immediately, having calculated this outcome. Knocking the feeble resistance aside, he thrust his vibro-dagger straight into the pirate's spark chamber, through layers of black, rusty armor.
Patience and experience over brute force. Three out of three: Down.
Barrage and Edge chose that exact moment to arrive with squealing tires, transforming in a whirl of shifting and rearranging metal. Obviously, they had tied up things on their end – finally. Kup was not pleased.
"Great of you two to show up, - but the party is over", he grumbled, but without real bite.
They were young, but he trusted those two with his whole spark. He had trained them himself, after all, and now they were Wrecker newbies. – But they had belonged to the core fleet for a cycle and had never before seen any real action. These were peaceful times and although they were well trained soldiers, they tended to rush into things. This time, being separated had been bad luck on their part and no one had messed up... So Kup decided to save a lecture for later.
Barrage did not even pretend to pay Kup any heed and started for the sealed bridge, while Edge grinned good-naturedly and clapped his CO on the shoulder.
"Don't get your processor in a twist, Kup. Save that for the face-off with Crusader. He will chew us out for this stunt, big time."
"Humph. But we'll have the pleasure to watch while Lord Megatron turns him into scrapmetal. – Besides, it was the right decision to come here." Kup readied his musket laser while he spoke, waiting for Barrage to override the door lock. "Any survivors?" he added solemnly.
Edge's optics dimmed with poorly masked distress and he shifted uncomfortably on his digitigrade legs. "Three escape pods are missing... Maybe they managed to get away in time, but the log entry was unclear. And we found...," he trailed off.
"Ten empty shells," supplied Barrage. He typed in another code sequence and the mechanism released with a series of clicks and grinding gears.
All three took their positions to charge into the room, where more pirates could be lying in wait for them. "Ready?"
BREAK
They were – and yet not.
What they found behind the high-security door was the wasteland of a bridge...
The consoles of the Commanding Deck and the main screen were thrashed; blaster holes smoldered and smoke rose in dark tendrils. The stench of fried circuitry hung in the air. Glowing energon painted the walls in eerie blue...
Five empty shells lay motionless on the floor. A sixth, a violet femme, was torn apart, her components scattered everywhere. Her spark chamber was a black hole, overflowing with her own fluids...
Edge choked and turned away from the sight, looking ready to purge his tank. But Kup noticed with distant approval that he didn't drop his guard; instead he observed another part of the spacious room.
So young... They knew about fighting, but only as a practiced sequence of movements, not in the gory way of reality...
Kup had seen the horrors of war many times over and to him, this was nothing new... Nevertheless, this was truly a heinous act and a meaningless one, to slaughter civilians like this.
His own spark felt heavy.
The door leading to the cargo hold was open and Kup picked his way through the deactivated, when a servo reached shakily for his leg.
"Kup!" Edge raised his blaster, perceiving a threat, but Barrage stopped him with his mighty talons; shaking his square helm. Both watched as Kup got down on his knees and carefully turned the 'bots frame around, - what was left of it. The upper section, bulky and bright magenta, was intact, but everything below the chest plate was just gone. Tubes leaked coolant and wires sparked with residue energy; the lower part of the spark chamber was visible in the gaping hole.
Kup knew that there was nothing he could possibly do. The energy signature of the mech was already fading, barely brushing his sensor net. – With all the interference's due to the pure energon in the freighter's tank, it was no wonder that it hadn't registered before.
It was a Primus given miracle – although far from being a mercy – that the 'bot was still, to a degree, functioning.
Barely alight optics tried to focus on Kup's faceplate and a burst of static crackled from the mech's damaged vocalizer. He tried again, his grip going slack.
"... sp... spar-k...ling..."
Kup nodded: "We will find him and bring him back to Cybertron." – But his solemn vow fell on deaf audios. The mech was an empty shell, his spark evaporating, before he had finished his sentence.
A moment passed in heavy silence.
Kup rose to his feet and pulled up the ships layout on his screen, accessing the freighter's mainframe wirelessly. "The ship has three cargo holds; Level 2 to 4. Let's split up and find that sparkling. – And don't let your guard down, - there could still be more pirates up ahead."
BREAK
He felt dizzy.
His full processing capacity was overflowing with an emotion he had not yet experienced since his creation. He wasn't able to comprehend the hollow feeling in his core. It had always been filled with the gentle glow of his creators...
But now it was gone, leaving him... alone.
He curled himself into as tight a ball as possible, hiding behind the farthest container, in the dimly lit hall. He had to escape the frightening giant of a mech, who chased him; snarling; black; danger.
"Run!" his creators had both screamed and thus he did, until he was burning on the inside, with warnings flooding his system.
He wanted his creators; badly.
Something loomed over him, there in the blink of an optic; a shadowy thing, reaching down. A blue liquid, horribly familiar, rained on him from razor sharp claws. – He screeched in panic, unable to move.
Before the extended servo could so much as touch him, something barreled into the giant. The black mech was thrown off balance and sent staggering back; cursing viciously.
Another mech's frame dwarfed him now: Big, gray and dark green, with narrowed, bright blue optics. His energy signature registered as heavy, calm and strong. – It was the polar opposite of the burning flux, the overwhelming aggression of the clawed one.
One glance skimmed over his silver frame and then the newcomer positioned himself to shield him, like his own creators would.
Right in front of his green optics, wide with terror, a battle unfolded. The pictures froze in his visual center, burning away everything before this point in time, washing it away in a current of Cybertronian symbols.
BREAK
The pirate's blaster fell to the floor, splitting neatly in half on impact. He roared a curse; avoiding a second jab of the vibro-dagger.
Kup blocked his way, mindful of the tiny sparkling right behind him.
They were so easily crushed, their armor far too thin...
Knowing this he doubled his efforts to bring his opponent down as fast as possible. Kup ducked a sweeping kick, almost offended at how sloppy it was executed. He presented an opening, seemingly overextending himself in a move to reach the main energon line of his foe.
And the fool fell for it, was lured in, grabbing Kup in a choke hold, only to offer his vulnerable tank as a target.
Energon flooded from the deep cut, as the vibro-dagger tore through rusted armor plates like oilcake. The grip around Kup's torso loosened. Reversing his hold on the blades hilt, he drove it deeper, now able to put his weight to good use.
Blue-white light spilled forward from the breached spark chamber and with a last, hollow screech, the light faded in those bright red optics.
As soon s the mech was off-lined, something small darted over to Kup and lunged at him. Fighting against basic programming, he stood perfectly still, only deactivating his dagger.
The fragile silver protoform of the sparkling clung to his kneecaps. The young child whined in distress, clearly terrified out of its processor. Its small, blunt servos found the gaps between Kup's armor plates with expert precision. Twisting and turning sensitive wires, they disrupted the flow of lubricant to his leg.
Kup grimaced, but endured the unpleasant feeling stoically. He quickly comm'd Edge and Barrage via private link, notifying them of his position and that the child was located and safe. They would end their own search and arrive shortly.
The high-pitched keening continued, tearing at Kup's spark.
He had plenty of experience when it came to dealing with younglings, as a former Academy instructor... But a sparkling was another matter altogether. And this one, small and delicate from frame to wiring, was hardly more than a hatchling. Its signature was so faint, announcing its vulnerability to every mech, seeking protection, but at the same time, presenting a tempting target.
No wonder a twisted spark like that pirate was so pit-bent on its destruction...
"Calm down, young one, or your systems will overheat. You're safe now; old Kup here will protect you."
He hadn't seriously expected a reaction to this and indeed it did nothing to soothe the trembling sparkling. The first signs of shock, due to what it had to witness, were already evident.
Kup ran a quick scan; blue light reflecting from containers and tanks. His whole array was specifically designed for battle, to map his environment and to locate weapon systems, security equipment or the weaknesses in the frame of a foe.
Consequently, nothing new was revealed by the readings, aside from dangerously low energon levels – a given, considering the situation – and minor surface damage, - the latter most likely acquired while on the run.
With great care to avoid sudden movements, Kup bent down and reached open palmed for the sparkling. "Come here, little one."
It didn't resist, but he had to carefully extract the fragile servos, opening their death grip on him. It fell silent when Kup held it; finally sheltered in one of his hands.
The child whined after a moment, its wide green optics darted wearily from one giant digit to the other. It shifted, trying the secure but loose hold.
Kup brought it up and close to his spark chamber. He counted on the calming effect of its pulsing hum and the other familiar noises of a Cybertronian body. They were seldom tactile creatures, but this early stage of development was an exception. And Kup could vaguely remember that his own creator had done the same for him, millions of years ago, - and it had never failed to lull him into recharge.
And it worked: After a moment of confusion, the sparkling inched closer, listening intently to the well-known noise. Its trembling, rattling their plates together, subsided. In this close proximity, it could feel the gentle vibrations – and the tiny protoform relaxed, its optics dimming in preparations of recharge.
Kup vented a relieved sigh; adjusting his hold slightly.
"Kup!"
At Edge's shout, the sparkling jerked upright, slipping from its semi-daze into full alertness instantly. Confronted with the sight of two armed mechs, one as black and clawed as the pirate, it screeched in panic.
Kup shot his comrade a withering look, as he tried in vain to soothe the child. His wires had yet again to suffer from blunt servos, this time slipping into the seam of his spark chamber. Kup stifled a groan as his main energon line was shifted – the area around the spark was especially tender.
"It's alright, child. They are friends, they won't hurt you."
"Yeah. Sorry, little one. Didn't mean to give you a scare," chimed Edge in, showing his now empty servos to illustrate that he meant no harm, while Barrage stayed a good distance away.
But the squirming sparkling was beyond words; it hiccuped in a nervous glitch, its optics burning too brightly.
"Careful, the sparkling -" before Barrage could finish, the green optics shuttered and the small frame went limp in Kup's hand.
"Darn! We need to get him to Welder immediately." Kup was already in motion, cradling the child in his arms, as he broke into a full tilt run.
Barrage brought up the rear, notifying Hedge in the second shuttle that their mission was complete. Edge was fast enough to keep up, designed for speed as he was.
"Why the hurry? In stasis-lock, the young ones condition can't worsen... right?"
Kup made a mental note to have a word with Welder – the medical education of the Academy freshlings was obviously severely lacking.
"'Got still energon behind your audios, do you? It's a sparkling, for Primus sake! Now shut 'ya mouth plate and run ahead to prepare the shuttle for lift off. Got it?"
And Edge did just that.
BREAK
And that, aside from a short, interesting message from Welder, was the last time Kup had heard from the sparkling. It was ushered to the med bay right after boarding, leaving the Wrecker unit to deal with a royally pissed Crusader. They had left the Command Deck only to go straight to the brig.
No other survivors were found.
An orn later, when Kup should have had the opportunity to ask Hedge, it turned out that his SIC and the rest of his unit had been dispatched to handle the conflict on Colony Theta without him.
To say that Kup was not amused to be left behind would have been the understatement of the vorn. But going ballistic on Crusader would do no good – aside from providing blissful satisfaction, of course.
Even worse, Kup, as the 'main culprit' and senior officer, was demoted for the 'foreseeable future' and ordered to work with the maintenance crew. Which wasn't too bad, but illogical punishment and typical Crusader power-play all the same.
He could not fathom why that blockhead was their CO – hadn't Kup taught Megatron better, for Primus sake?
He contemplated his current situation on his way to his quarters, after a long shift in the shuttle bay. At this hour, the winding corridors of the Titania were mostly empty; his clanking steps echoed hollowly in the stillness.
Kup was just passing the med bay,- and stopped in mid-stride, as a familiar, agitated clicking reached his audios.
"Hold still, you little glitch!"
The angry shout was accompanied by a loud 'crash', like someone bumping into a workstation and followed by cursing. Someone else snickered with malicious joy.
"No wanna!" exclaimed a static, fluctuating voice, coming obviously from an underdeveloped vocalizer.
"Seriously, silverhead, you need your energon. So stop being difficult and –"
Kup had heard enough. But before he could step in, the door in front of him opened. The sparkling dashed out, the youngster twins right behind it.
Spotting him, Rush shouted: "Grab him, old-timer!"
The sparkling swerved around, but its tiny feet tangled up, too unsteady for the sudden maneuver. It stumbled right into Kup's outstretched servos. The little thing hissed angrily at him as it was lifted; kicking and flailing around.
"Now, is that a way to greet a friend?" chided Kup lightly, quite amused. But he was also impressed, because this one had some bite. Most sparklings were just shy or clingy little limpets.
It looked up then, taking in the sight of its captor. Instantly, the agitated noises changed into relieved clicking. Mere astroseconds later, it had wormed its protoform out of the loose hold and climbed up to Kup's broad shoulder – surprisingly mindful of sensitive wires. Reaching its new perch it sat down, trying to chew his audios off with its sparkling-speech chatter. Falling silent, it nuzzled Kup's helm affectionately, like a cyber-kitten.
The twins, bright blue Rapid and sand-yellow Rush, stood and stared at the display. They were quite unsuccessful at suppressing their snickers as the battle hardened Wrecker was turned into an impromptu jungle gym. Under Kup's withering glare they sobered up instantly, figuring themselves in trouble.
Now was Kup no mech to take his frustration out on others, because aside from everything else, to do so was the mark of a weak character. But, seriously, what was Welder up to, leaving a sparkling, for Primus sake, in the care of those two younglings? These pranksters were not known as the 'twins of doom" for nothing!
"What were you two blockheads thinking, shouting at a sparkling and chasing it around?" he snapped, jabbing a finger at Rush's chest plate, because he stood closest.
Without waiting for an answer, Kup did a quick scan. Right after leaving the brig he had downloaded one suitable to monitor a sparkling, just in case. He checked for damage and any other indication that the little one had strained its systems too much. Overheating was a somewhat common ailing with Cybertronian children.
While he was at it, Rapid exchanged a slightly embarrassed look with his twin, but raised his chin in defiance: "He won't keep still, so what else were we supposed to do? He's refusing to take his energon since yesterday."
"Yeah," came Rush to his aid, nodding emphatically. "Welder had to use a fuel line straight to silverhead's tank this morning. He's acting off."
"Exactly. Doc-bot is busy and we're not too keen on force-feeding him, ya know, Kup? But we need our recharge too, as funny as that may sound. We don't have the nerve to play caretaker for that pigheaded glitch."
Said 'glitch', deemed fine by Kup, twittered indignantly. It copied Rapid's rude gesture and tried its utmost to crawl under Kup's armor, as Rush reached for him.
Kup knocked the outstretched servo away, none too gently. "Oh no, you don't."
Rush grinned, showing his fangs: "So what, old-timer, are you gonna feed him?"
"Humph. How about you tell me first what exactly happened yesterday? Sparklings don't stop gulping down their energon for no reason."
Rapid vented a sigh, irritated to stand around in the barren corridor, wasting precious recharge time after his shift. "We fed him his ration and silverhead started to stumble around like his motor relays were damaged."
"Yeah and he nearly overheated and purged his tanks, going all whiny on us. Welder couldn't figure out what went wrong, but he was fine after a long recharge."
Kup felt his optic ridge climbing higher and higher, dreading his own conclusion. He nudged the protoform gently, diverting its attention from one of his sensor clusters. "You refuse to drink it because you don't want your systems to crash again, right?"
The sparkling whistled enthusiastically, clearly delighted to be included in the conversation, and nodded.
"I see. And what did the energon smell like?"
The little one struggled with its vocalizer, but in the end, it forced out a shaky: "Sweet-sharp."
Kup heard his own gears grinding together as he rounded on the twins: "Spill – what exactly did you give the child?"
"Uhm," answered Rush eloquently, his whole frame ready to bolt at a moments notice.
Rapid took over: "Look, only the best, of course. We had some cubes left over from our little get together and –"
"You two had the nerve to give high-grade to a sparkling? Primus help me! And here I tried to convince myself that no one could be that dumb. Way to go, to overcharge a child," snapped Kup, almost viciously. Welder was even more in for it than the twins, they could not know how to care for a sparkling properly, but a medic should know better.
"Kup, we're sorry, we didn't mean to hurt –"
But Kup started down the corridor, ignoring the apologizing twins completely, lest he give in and smack their empty helms together. Inwardly cursing, mindful of curious little audios, he walked straight for the officer's mess.
It was deserted, filled only with the loud hum of the energon dispenser.
Seeing it, the child chirped doubtful. But it stayed put when Kup petted its tiny helm gently; trusting the older mech. "Here, take it and sit down."
Unusually subdued, Rush took the proffered child and all three sat down at the closest table. "Now watch and learn, you two bozos."
Kup made quick work of fixing a cube for the sparkling: He mixed a low grade formula, filtering it twice, just to be sure that the typical impurities were completely dissolved. They didn't bother adult mechs, but could stick to a youngster's tank like lead. Then he added a touch of cadmium and iron to the now bright blue liquid, a trick to improve the taste.
The whole process would, by most 'bots, be considered to be old fashioned, but Kup saw no need to change something that worked without fail since eons. The finishing touch was to heat it a little.
As Kup went back to the table, he noticed the mildly revolted looks from the twins, because of the heavy sweet scent with a distinct copper note – but the sparkling had perked up.
Kup settled down and handed the cube over. Tiny servos clutched the energon eagerly. "Don't rush, lad. We've got time."
A happy twitter resounded in the mess, as the child slurped the liquid, gulping it down with obvious glee.
"Now you two know how to fix the rations properly – right?"
Rush and Rapid nodded, watching disgruntled as energon spattered on the table. A tiny blue trail trickled slowly down the sparklings round chin. It was totally oblivious that its table manners were lacking – dooming the twins to bathe the messy protoform, before they could finally recharge.
They watched, amazed, as the gruff old Wrecker reached over and wiped the drops away with a careful digit.
tbc...
AN: R&R, please ^-^ The next (and last) part should be online within a month, at the latest, I think. I'll try to write it faster, of course. And yes – the sparkling is Hot Rod, but I hope everyone figured that out already ^^
Next up is the journey back to Cybertron...
So... too fluffy? Too much "action" to be fluffy? Kup too OOC? Bored to tears already? Let me know, don't be shy! ^-^
I plan to write two follow-ups to this, consequently called "Glimpses: Youngling" and "Glimpses: Prime" and maybe a little, darker AU of this... Actually, my story "Backup" would definitely fit into "G:P"... Well, let's wait and see what happens.
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