It was a pleasant day at the Decepticon Underwater Base, located somewhere in the Pacific Ocean. The only tell-tale sign of the existence of their new hydro-powered energy generator was some unusual tidal patterns along pockets of coastline, of which the humans were none the wiser; also, the Autobots hadn't been heard from for a couple of weeks; and Laserbeak had returned from his latest espionage mission – along with some interesting footage he'd recorded just outside Autobot Headquarters...
Autobot Headquarters, 9.30 AM
"Aww, he's so cute… oh, wait; it is a he, isn't it?" Bluestreak said, bending low as he reached down for something hidden amongst the bushes.
Ratchet, the Autobot medic, sighed. "Give it here." Bluestreak handed him the small, furry bundle. He took it in his arms and held it up in front of him, then let out a small grunt. "It's a she."
"Oh…" The gunner looked slightly embarrassed. "Are you sure?"
"Sure, I'm sure," Ratchet said, putting her down again. "Where'd she come from, anyway?"
"I don't know… I just found her."
Cliffjumper, the minibot warrior, looked down at the visitor with disapproval, hands on hips."She'd better not start peeing on my parking spot. Maybe we should find out who she belongs to?"
"Come on, let's go ask the others, maybe they've seen her owner?" Bluestreak suggested.
"Hey, get back here!" Ratchet shouted suddenly, as the white blur sprang up and dashed away without warning, disappearing back into the bushes faster than any of them knew what had happened.
But it was too late, the puppy was gone.
Decepticon Underwater Base, 12.00 PM
"Hook, have you seen those blueprints I was looking at just a minute ago?" Scrapper, the leader of the Constructicons, looked about their workshop, somewhat distraught. "I could have sworn I left them right here."
The surgical engineer looked up from his work station, and shook his head. "No; but, knowing you, they're probably right where you left them." He watched as Scrapper checked his desktop again, and then underneath it, to no avail. "Maybe you should ask one of the other guys– I'll bet they took them," he suggested, after his friend's frustrated search efforts still produced no results.
Scrapper straightened, a little flustered. "There was no one else here in the room with me but you. And my blueprints… are… definitely… gone."
"Alright, alright, don't get your circuits in a short. I'll help you look for them." His comrade finally offered his assistance, and walked over to the Constructicon leader. "Now, let's retrace your steps, exactly. Where do you remember placing it last?" He began, but soon stopped short, his head turned towards the open doorway.
"Hook? What are you doing?" Scrapper asked. His friend did not respond straight away. "Hook!"
"Shhh!" Hook held up a hand at him, his head still turned towards the open doorway. "I think I hear something…"
"Look… I really need those blueprints–" Scrapper continued.
"Do you see me laughing?" the engineer insisted, lowering his voice considerably. His hand waved for him to quieten down, and he began to move slowly towards the workshop exit without making a sound.
Scrapper watched him in disbelief, his arms crossed. "If this is your idea of a joke…" He said, shaking his head, and then stopped as a strange sound caught his own audio receptors. It seemed that Hook wasn't joking, after all. "What in the name of Primus is that?" The sound wasn't anything he'd ever heard before– at least, nothing he'd ever heard at the Base before.
It sounded like short, quick air intakes, along with a scratching, gnawing type of sound…
Reaching the exit, it took Hook a few moments for his expression to reflect what he saw. First, confusion, then it was realization, and then, finally, a look of absolute and utter surprise. "Scrapper…" He managed to say, pointing to something just outside the doorway. "Scrapper! I – I think I've found your blueprints!"
Scrapper, alarmed, rushed over to him, almost pushing him aside as he peered out and around the corner.
There, in front of them, was the data pad containing his blueprints – firmly clenched in the jaws of a white puppy, its tail wagging energetically from side to side. It had short hair, half-prick ears, with two brown splotches on its face and one at the base of its tail.
Scrapper gave his friend a bewildered look as he tried to make sense of what he was seeing, and then carefully stepped towards the small intruder. "I don't know who you are, little doggy, or where you came from, but that's mine and I need it back." He reached forward in an attempt to retrieve the pad from the puppy's mouth. The puppy looked up at him happily, its tail wagging ever more vigorously, but it wouldn't relinquish its prize. It jumped back as Scrapper tried to grab hold of it, and then bounded off down the hall.
"I don't think it understands what you're saying," Hook said, after he'd recovered from his surprise.
"You don't say," Scrapper said to him sardonically, and then broke into a run as he began to chase after the puppy. "Hey, stop! Come back here with my blueprints!"
Thus far, the hydro-powered energy generator was functioning seamlessly, producing vast amounts of energy which was then converted into condensed energon stacks.
Rumble, and his cassetticon partner, Frenzy, had been assigned the important task of monitoring the automated process and ensuring a standard of quality for the final product. Ravage was also with them, though his main task seemed to involve simply keeping them company.
"It's awful quiet in here," Rumble said, after they'd spent almost an hour checking and re-checking all the machinery, and then stacking the finished products into neat columns along one wall of the storage area. "We need some distractions."
"Such as?" Frenzy, the red cassetticon, asked.
Rumble shrugged, thinking about it. "I dunno. Like… listening to one of Thundercracker's tall tales about the Decepticons' early days, during our rise to power."
"I thought you said you didn't believe those stories?"
He paused in thought. "That's only because he colors them his own way – but they're still fun."
As they spoke, Ravage was suddenly alerted to something behind the closed door. He sauntered up to it, and then carefully sniffed at the bottom of the door seal, before recoiling backwards. The two twin cassetticons looked at one another uncertainly, as thoughts of an intruding Autobot spy – or, perhaps, Skywarp playing a practical joke – awaited them just outside.
Rumble approached the door, and watched Ravage as the jaguar-type cassetticon began to growl. "Hey, whoever you are, we know you're there!" He called out towards the door, and then listened for a response. All he could pick up was a faint panting sound. "Do you hear that? If I didn't know any better, I'd swear that sounds like…"
"Like what?" Frenzy prompted.
But then, without a second thought, Rumble pressed the button on the door, and it slid open with a hissing sound. "A puppy…" he finished, and was quite surprised to find that there was, indeed, a real puppy sitting just outside the door!
"What? No way..." Frenzy remarked in surprise, their current task now all but forgotten.
"Yes, way!" Rumble looked at the puppy intently, fascinated. "What's she got in her mouth?" He tentatively reached forward towards the data pad, and as he did so the puppy dropped it to the floor and then bounded towards him, tail wagging happily. She leaped up, and he lifted her into his arms.
Ravage continued to growl at the puppy as she began to smother Rumble with licks, trying to scare her off, but Rumble stopped him. "It's okay… I think… she's friendly."
Ravage reluctantly backed down as Rumble placed the puppy carefully down on the floor again. After he did so, the puppy lowered her head, her front paws out in front of her. She growled and barked twice at Ravage, wagging her tail once more from side to side.
"Heh. She wants to play with you, Ravage," Frenzy commented, his full attention upon the trio.
Ravage tried to slink away from the puppy's unwanted attention on him, but this only seemed to encourage her even more, eliciting laughter from the other two cassetticons. The puppy continued to treat Ravage as a possible play mate, relentlessly barking and jumping around him in a playful manner. She even managed to get close enough for a lick or two, to which the Decepticon mini-spy was none too pleased; though, after a while, he seemed to tolerate her well enough.
"Where do you think she's from?" Frenzy asked his twin, as he picked up the friendly creature. The puppy began to lick his face relentlessly.
"Dunno," Rumble said, shrugging, "though, I wouldn't put it past Thundercracker to have brought her here. Or even Skywarp."
Frenzy lowered the puppy back down, as she became increasingly agitated. "There ya go… easy now." The puppy sprinted around the room, happy with her new playmates, but then began to sniff at every corner until, eventually, she began circling around some of the energon stacks. "Uh oh," Frenzy said with increasing panic. "We gotta stop her before–" Too late.
"–she urinates on the stacks…" Rumble finished for him. He walked over to her and picked her up again. "No wee-wee on our energon. That's a naughty puppy!"
But the puppy just looked back at him lovingly, her mouth hanging open in a happy pant, tail still wagging.
"I don't know anything about her, I swear," Thundercracker informed the three cassetticons after they'd queried him about the puppy. He'd been on his way through to the control room when he'd passed the storage area, and had stopped by to investigate the commotion. The young dog sat and looked up at the blue and grey seeker as if she expected something from him. Her tail had stopped wagging as her attention focused fully upon him, large brown eyes pleading. After several seconds, she barked at him twice. "I'm sorry little puppy, but I don't speak doggy," he said to her, and then spoke to the mini cassettes. "What does she want?"
"I'm not sure… I've never had to look after a puppy before," said Rumble.
"But, you're keeping her?" asked Thundercracker.
"What? No… I didn't say that," he replied, somewhat alarmed at the suggestion.
"Well, then; there's nothing left to do but take her back to where she came from," he concluded.
"Back? Back to where?" The puppy had moved to a down position as Rumble spoke, her head resting on her front paws. She was still panting. "We don't even know where she came from, or who brought her here," Rumble informed him.
The puppy sat up again, released a low whine, and then sniffed around carefully. "Well, she can't stay here – not unless you're prepared to look after her," Thundercracker told him. He was quite enjoying the reactions he was getting from the two cassetticons.
"No way! I mean… I don't know anything about puppies," Rumble responded. "Besides, Megatron would never allow it, not to mention Soundwave."
The seeker smiled, amused. "You don't know that for sure." He paused in thought, and then decided to change tactic. "But, on second thought, you're probably right. I'll tell you what – I'll take her out of here right now if you'd like, before anyone else sees her." He bent down to pick her up, but then Rumble stopped him.
"Wait– uh… let's just… you know, wait and see."
"Uh-huh. Well, okay, if you say so," Thundercracker said, feigning innocence. The puppy reached up and offered his extended hand multiple licks, her tail happily wagging again. "Oh… you'll need to train her and all that. And give her plenty of exercise. She looks like a lively one."
The puppy continued to pant, circling around their feet and sniffing. "She seems restless, though. I just wish I knew what she wanted," Rumble said.
Ravage, having observed the puppy's behaviour thus far, offered him a solution. He made a gesture that looked like he was lapping something up. Rumble looked on, confused. "What are you doing?" Ravage stopped and looked back at him as if he should know what he was trying to tell him.
The seeker's expression suddenly changed to one of realization. "Of course. What are a puppy's needs?" He asked Rumble.
The blue cassetticon shrugged. "Companionship, affection… lots of things to destroy."
Thundercracker looked at him impatiently. "Think more basic than that. You know, like food…"
"Oh, okay. Food, water, somewhere to sleep… somewhere to urinate, and…"
"Right!" Thundercracker interrupted him. He leaned forward and picked up the puppy. "That's what Ravage was showing us. She wants a drink of water! Come on, let's go find her some." And with that, he carried her out of the storage area and down the hall without turning back. A few moments later, the three cassetticons followed after him.
In the chemistry lab, Mixmaster analysed the final sample of a new alloy that he and Shockwave were developing, whilst Starscream awaited the results with interest.
"With this new combination, we'll be able to improve our hydro-powered generator so that it will operate even under extreme geothermal pressure." The Second in Command had been talking almost incessantly about the upgrade to their generator, as he tended to do when something attracted his complete interest. "Its production capacity will increase almost exponentially."
Mixmaster listened as he worked, but hadn't said much due to his focused concentration; instead, he'd nodded in agreement every now and again to let the other know that his words weren't falling upon deaf audio receptors. "Mmm hmm. Yes… yes, that's true," he said, and finally placed his measuring instruments down upon the bench top. "Well, that's the last one." He showed Starscream the accumulated test results, displayed on a screen beside him. "I'd say we're very close, wouldn't you?"
As he waited for Starscream to view the results, something outside the lab caught his attention. A small, white blur zoomed past the open entrance; it had moved too fast for him to register a positive identification. "What the… did– did you see that? No, you couldn't have…"
"See what?" the seeker asked, his attention still focused upon the test results.
"I don't know, exactly. It–" But he was cut off by a sudden commotion as he saw Thundercracker sprint past the entrance after the unidentified object, followed closely by three cassetticons.
"Hey, stop! Come back here!" He heard the blue and grey seeker call out, before his voice quickly faded as he disappeared around the corner at the end of the hall.
That got Starscream's attention. "What was… that all about?"
When he and Mixmaster headed towards the entrance and peered out, there was no one there. They looked at one another, as each had the same thought; was there a need to alert Base security to a possible intruder? "We'd better find out what's going on–" Starscream started, but he did not need to say anything further. From down the hall, the four Decepticons reappeared once again as they retraced their steps. Thundercracker walked towards them, ahead of the other three, and it became evident that something very unusual was going on.
"Oh, hi, guys," Thundercracker greeted, stopping in front of them. "Sorry about that."
"What… is that?" Starscream wasted no time getting to the point; he indicated towards the furry, white Earth creature that Thundercracker held in his hand.
"What does it look like? It's a puppy," Rumble interjected.
"Yes, I can see that…" the leader of the seekers replied. "But, what on Earth are you doing with a puppy?" He turned to his friend, who looked back at him rather sheepishly. "Thundercracker?"
"Uh, she needs some water. Do you have any?" He replied, ignoring the immediate question.
"No! Does it look like we're equipped to look after a puppy?" Starscream demanded.
"Well, no… but we can easily adapt." The puppy gave Thundercracker a few licks, and then held her nose in the air towards Starscream, wagging her tail vigorously.
"We have some water, back in the lab. I– I can get you some," Mixmaster offered, a little too eagerly.
"You will do no such thing, Mixmaster," Starscream said, stopping him. "Not until one of you tells me exactly what is going on."
"Nothing's going on," his trine partner answered simply, and then held the puppy out towards him. "Here, you wanna hold her?"
"No, I don't want to hold her," Starscream said exasperatedly. "Did Skywarp put you up to this?
"No." Thundercracker sighed. "Look, the truth is… we don't really know where she came from, or how she got here."
"It's true. We were in the storage area just minding our own business, and then all of a sudden, she shows up," Frenzy explained, gesturing towards the puppy.
"Just like that?" Starscream was not entirely convinced.
"Yeah. Just like that," Rumble answered. "Look, she wants some water. Do you mind if we get her some?"
Starscream looked at them in disbelief, but then agreed to let them continue. "Go ahead," he said, allowing them to pass through into the lab.
"Thanks," Thundercracker said, as he walked past him, the puppy panting happily in his grasp.
In the common room, Astrotrain, Soundwave, Skywarp, Long Haul and Scavenger had been discussing the various defence strategies they had successfully employed in their last few encounters with the Autobots when, quite unexpectedly, Thundercracker rushed into the room, followed by Mixmaster and his entourage of three cassetticons.
"Oh, scrap. Have any of you seen her?" Thundercracker asked the group seated around a table, his voice frantic as he began to search the room for something.
"Seen… her?" Skywarp said finally, after an awkward moment of silence. He watched the strange behaviour of the five Decepticons as they almost turned the room upside-down in their search. "Tee-Cee, I think this time you've gone a little too far with that experimental recipe of yours," he commented.
"No, I'm serious– we've got to find her. She might–" his trine partner replied.
"Hey, something just ran underneath the table!" Astrotrain exclaimed, startled, as the others who were with him stood up and backed away from it in alarm.
"There she is! Quick, grab her!" Rumble said, as he rushed past them and over to the energon dispenser. The happy puppy had found her latest amusement in a game of tug-of-war with a low lying inlet hose near the dispenser.
"Stop that!" Rumble scolded her, as Frenzy attempted to grab hold of the little troublemaker, but she easily leaped away from his advance, and instead increased her efforts in tearing the hose straight off the dispenser. Shaking her head vigorously, she went for the kill, play growling, front paws splayed in front of her. "No! Bad puppy!"
As the two of them wrestled with her, the other Decepticons looked on, still in surprise and mild shock. Then, Astrotrain began to laugh out loud at the ridiculous scene in front of them. His laughter was soon joined by the merry remarks of his fellow Decepticons.
"I think he's finally met his match!" Scavenger commented while they watched Rumble as he finally got the rambunctious puppy under control.
The hose had been punctured through, and would need to be replaced. "Oh, that's just great. Look what you've done!" The cassetticon reprimanded the puppy in frustration, ignoring the background remarks of his comrades. The young dog panted happily in his arms, and then began to lick his face with renewed energy, stretching forwards and placing her paws on his head. After a few seconds his frustration – along with the puppy's latest transgression – was soon forgotten.
"Would you look at that… don't they just make the cutest couple?" Long Haul said, grinning. As he said this, however, the puppy jumped out of Rumble's arms and sped towards him, circling and sniffing at his feet.
Scavenger, who was standing beside him, knelt down and reached out a hand towards the puppy. Her attention turned towards him and she jumped onto his arm without thinking. He quickly caught her and picked her up before she could lose her balance. Immediately, she covered him with licks, her tail sweeping from side to side like a windscreen wiper. "Heh, she's cute. Can we keep her?" He said, before placing her gently back down on the ground.
But before anyone could stop her, the puppy raced out of the common room and out of sight down the hall.
After several minutes had passed, Scrapper and Hook arrived at the chemistry lab in search of anybody who might have some clue as to where a certain white puppy may have taken the Constructicon leader's blueprints. They found Starscream and Shockwave busily working with the chemical synthesizer, and began to have second thoughts about asking them; not for any reason other than they didn't want to draw any more attention to their rather ridiculous predicament, particularly when it would involve two of the highest ranking Decepticons.
"Mixmaster tells me the blueprints for the upgrades are almost complete," Starscream greeted them, without looking up. When he received a hesitant response, he turned around to face them. "Scrapper?"
"Uh… yeah. About those blueprints…" the Constructicon began, and then paused uncertainly, rubbing at his face mask.
Hook filled in the gap for him. "We… seem to have misplaced them. Have either of you seen a stray data pad, perchance?"
Starscream gave them a look that conveyed mild surprise with a touch of amusement. "No, I haven't."
Shockwave looked up at them; his yellow optic seemed to glare at them from the poorly illuminated lab. "No," he said simply, before returning to his work.
"Well, thanks anyway," Scrapper replied respectfully. "Oh… if you see Mixer, could you let him know that we were looking for him? If it's no trouble."
The Second in Command shrugged. "He was here only a breem ago, actually. You just missed him."
"Oh… okay, thanks." Scrapper turned to walk out of the lab, but then Starscream spoke again.
"By the way, I should tell you – there's a puppy on the loose. Perhaps she took your blueprints?" He said this so matter-of-factly and so casually that anyone else who might have heard him would have instantly dismissed it as sarcasm. However, Scrapper and Hook knew better. They looked at one another in realization, without speaking a word. "You might want to check the common," Starscream added after a few moments of awkward silence, as if he had read their thoughts like an open book.
Scrapper and Hook raced out of the lab as fast as they could.
When the puppy found her way inside the control tower, there was nobody there to welcome her. Tentatively, she investigated, sniffing here and there, looking for something to play with, or someone to play with. She could tell, though, that one of those friendly, mechanical humanoids had been here only recently, so she continued to sniff, following the trail.
Distracted by the sights and sounds of the interesting computer terminals, she ran to and fro, scrambling onto a low platform, reaching up towards a seat and then back down again, only to race around the room and play her game all over again.
She couldn't wait to find someone who would play with her; they may even give her something to eat, as all this excitement had made her very hungry. She was so excited, in fact, that she needed to urinate again. Circling and sniffing, she found the perfect spot, over near one of those large seats, and squatted to relieve herself.
When she turned around, her wish was instantly granted, and she jumped up and barked at her new play mate in greeting, tail wagging vigorously.
"Well, what have we here…?"
She liked the sound of his voice; it was a strong voice. And he seemed bigger than all the other mechanoids, too.
She felt herself being picked up, lifted high up into the air. It was a little frightening and disorienting, but she held on bravely, trusting her new friend.
Even before Scrapper and Hook arrived at their destination, they encountered the other Decepticons in the hall. They seemed to be looking for something.
"Oh, hey guys. Did you happen to come across a small, white puppy?" Scavenger asked them, as if it were a perfectly normal thing to say.
"She has a few brown splotches on her face and one on her tail, and is about… so high," Rumble added, indicating the puppy's height somewhere near his lower legs.
"We've really got to get her back. We don't want her running loose around the Base; you know how puppies are," Thundercracker explained.
"Well, as a matter of fact…" Hook replied, instantly relieved. It seemed as though they weren't the only ones who knew about the small problem.
"Oh, so you've seen her?" Mixmaster said. "She might be thirsty, you know– or even hungry!"
Scrapper addressed the group. "That puppy ran off with my data pad; the one that had my latest blueprints on it. Does anyone have any idea where it might be?" His mission was starting to feel like a lost cause.
"Oh, that was your data pad?" Frenzy held out a small, flat object in his hand, offered it to the Constructicon. "Here ya go. She had it in her mouth."
Scrapper took it from him gratefully, then carefully looked it over. It had teeth marks on it, and one of its corners had been gnawed. "Well, that's just wonderful. It's got teeth marks all over it!"
"Yeah, sorry about that," Frenzy apologized for the puppy. "But you can always get another one. At least the data is still intact!"
"He has a point, you know," Hook said to his friend with a smirk.
"So… whose puppy is it, anyway?" Scrapper asked, changing the subject.
"We have no idea. We've all been wondering the same thing ourselves," Rumble asked.
"She sure is cute, though. Don't you think?" Scavenger said.
"Sure, she's cute alright– but she's also a huge pain in the aft!" Thundercracker commented. "For one thing, she keeps running off, wanting to play hide-and-seek with everybody."
"What if Starscream finds her? I don't think he's going to be in the mood for a game of hide-and-seek," Skywarp suggested.
"Oh, they've already met!" Mixmaster replied. "In the chemistry lab."
"Wow, she sure gets around, doesn't she?" the purple and black jet quipped. "Come on, we'd all better go find her, before she causes any more trouble around here."
Over the next hour, the Decepticons spread out around the Base in search of the puppy. As news of the small intruder circulated, more Decepticons joined the search effort, including Blitzwing, Dirge and Ramjet. They looked in every room, inside and out, and down every hallway; within every crevice and underneath every recess. They looked everywhere for her, but, alas, their search turned up empty.
The Decepticons all returned to the common room. They were unable to focus or complete their scheduled tasks whilst thoughts of a missing puppy weighed on their minds, and so, instead, they sat or stood around in silence as each tried to think of where she may have gone. Not a single one of them was willing to give up the search just yet.
"Well, she couldn't have just disappeared!" Starscream exclaimed. He, too, had joined the search effort at the request of his trine mates.
"Maybe she was just a hologram. A dirty trick the Autobots played on us?" Rumble said. He was visibly upset, but was trying not to let it show.
"That's ridiculous," Thundercracker tried to reassure him. "She's a real puppy, alright, wherever she went…"
"Then why isn't she showing up on our scanners?" the cassetticon questioned. He had a very valid point, though no one could provide him with a satisfactory answer.
"Well, when we find her, you can bet she's going to have a lot of explaining to do!" Skywarp remarked, half-joking, attempting to lift their spirits.
Suddenly, Starscream spoke up, his voice filled with expectation. "Wait just one cycle… Rumble, did you just say that she isn't showing up on our scanners?"
Rumble looked up at him from where he was seated at a table, his head in his hands. "Yeah… so?"
"So… think about it! Where's the one place in this entire Base that's usually out of range from our scanners?"
The Decepticons gathered began to slowly look towards him, their attention drawn to his words. The common was so quiet that even well-oiled ball bearings could have been heard rolling along their track.
"Of course– Starscream's right!" Thundercracker said enthusiastically, breaking the silence.
"Megatron's quarters! That's the one place we didn't think to look," Blitzwing finished for him.
"That's because it's off limits," Rumble said, stating the obvious. "Oh, no… if she is there…" He trailed off, not wanting to think of the possible outcomes of such a scenario.
"But how would she even get in there?" Scrapper asked thoughtfully.
Thundercracker began towards the door, motioning for the others to follow him. "Come on, why don't we just go and find out!"
The control tower was almost deserted, save for Shockwave, who was monitoring all essential systems and communications. He did not seem at all surprised when the rest of the Decepticon army showed up.
"Hey, Shockwave… is Megatron around?" Rumble asked him anxiously.
"We, uh… just need to ask him something," Frenzy added.
Shockwave turned from his console, and was faced with several familiar faces looking back at him, many of them showing obvious concern. "Is it about that puppy?" He asked. The cassetticon twins exchanged nervous glances, as did Thundercracker and Skywarp, along with the Constructicons. When no one answered him straight away, Shockwave nodded in understanding, and then pointed towards the restricted area off to his right.
"Thanks, Shockwave!" Rumble said, and rushed forwards towards the private quarters down the adjacent hall. When he arrived in front of the quarters, the door was closed, as expected, and he stopped short in front of it. He wondered how he was going to tell Megatron about the puppy, without sounding as if he'd lost it.
"Just ask him straight out," Frenzy suggested.
The other Decepticons waited expectantly for him to make a move; they were all just as eager as he was to discover the whereabouts of the puppy. Rumble hesitated, and then reached his hand towards the door panel to signal his presence. Before he could press it, however, the door slid open.
Megatron stood in the entrance way, an expression of curiosity upon his face as he observed the large number of Decepticons who were gathered around Rumble just outside his quarters. "Rumble?" He demanded, expecting an explanation. "What is the meaning of this?"
"Megatron, I– I mean– we, were wondering if… maybe…" The smaller Decepticon began, scratching his head in uncertainty.
"We were wondering if you'd seen a…" Thundercracker continued, and then hesitated. This was definitely going to sound ridiculous, no matter how he said it.
"A puppy, Megatron," Starscream completed the sentence for them, becoming impatient with their hesitation. "Have you seen a puppy?"
It sounded more ridiculous than Thundercracker thought it would; especially with the way that Starscream had just blurted it out, and he tried his best to suppress his laughter.
"Oh, brother…" Rumble said in a quiet voice.
The air was thick with consternation. No one spoke a word.
"A puppy?" Megatron repeated, feigning incredulousness.
"Yes, that's right. A puppy," Starscream replied, enjoying the moment probably a little too much.
"Hmm…" Megatron said, slowly moving his gaze upon each of them in turn as he pondered their highly unusual request. "Do any of you have any idea how ridiculous that sounds?" He finally asked them.
"My thoughts exactly," Thundercracker replied, unsure if such a coincidence actually made him feel better, or worse.
"It's true, Megatron. She just showed up at the Base, and we've been chasing after her ever since…" Rumble tried to explain, but it still sounded absurd.
"We seem to have lost her," Scavenger informed him. "We've been looking for her everywhere. The only place we haven't tried is..." He trailed off, indicating Megatron's private quarters.
"Have you seen her, then?" Starscream asked the Decepticon leader again, noticing that he hadn't actually given them a direct answer to their question.
"Ah, you mean that messy, undisciplined, unruly, untrained excuse for a female dog?" Megatron replied. The Decepticons looked at him in surprise.
"…Yes, that one," Starscream said, amused. "You're not fooling anyone, Megatron. We know she's here… somewhere."
"You– you mean you know where she is?" Rumble's tone and expression changed to one of anticipation, and renewed hope, as he looked up at their leader.
"Of course I know where she is. I know about everything that goes on around here," Megatron answered, and then stepped away from the entrance, so that they could all see inside his quarters. "Puppy! Come here… at once!" He ordered. No sooner had he done so than the puppy came bounding out of the room before stopping to sit by his feet, surprising everyone.
"How did you… do that?" Rumble said, completely bewildered, yet at the same time deeply relieved that she had indeed been found, safe and sound.
"It's quite simple, Rumble. Puppies require strong leadership. They respond to a caring, yet firm, hand. Observe." The puppy continued to sit, panting happily as she looked around at all the new friends she'd made that day. She wagged her tail in rapid, long sweeps, yet remained where she was, obedient.
In fact, she could hardly wait to play with them all again and, as soon as Megatron gave her the signal, she immediately leaped forward and jumped up onto Rumble's leg. As soon as he'd picked her up, she began to lick him like crazy, eliciting laughter from the gathered Decepticons. The hilarity of the situation was obvious, but they were also relieved that their search for the puppy was over.
"What are you going to call her?" Thundercracker asked him.
Rumble thought about his answer. "I think I'm going to name you… Stella," he said to her. She seemed to like her name a lot, and barked happily as he spoke her new name. He smiled at her, looking quite content.
At the back of the crowd, Laserbeak was perched on Soundwave's shoulder. As the cassetticon condor watched the scene before him, he felt quite proud of himself, knowing that he, alone, had saved a puppy today from a miserable existence– a life with the Autobots!
End!
Dedicated as a gift to my friends.