The idea for this story came about while I was letting the Pomeranian out to potty and I stooped down to pet Graphite, a fluffy tabby kitten and I said "look at your deceptive little kitten eyes". She's a cutie pie and has big green-amber eyes, but she can turn on a dime, proving that she is in fact Onyx's child XD

Raf sat in Bumblebee's interior as the scout prowled along, playing it up for the human's amusement. Dramatic music played as they went around, turning right every chance they got. Bumblebee was thrilled to see that Raf's heartbeat had picked up and the scout chittered, teasing him. Raf laughed and patted his dash, then shrieked at him to stop. Bumblebee braked immediately and scanned...the seat? Raf had already jumped out and was kneeling in front of his guardian's bumper. What was he holding in his arms?

"It's a kitten, Bumblebee! And it's skinny and-" The kitten, that was what Raf called it, made a pitiful mewing sound and proceeded to nuzzle Raf.

Bumblebee bleeped and flicked his headlights on and off, telling Raf to get in the car. The child did and set the kitten on the floor, but it was satisfied there. It hopped into the driver's seat and curled up. Raf moved to pet its soft black fur and its yellow eyes flicked open. "Optimus won't get mad, will he, Bee?"

The scout made a negative sound, the kitten lifting its head and mewing. It flashed white fangs and a pick tongue. Raf decided he liked the kitten a little more and scratched behind its ears. It purred loudly, like a Cybertronian.

They arrived in base to be surrounded, Miko rambling about where Bulkhead was going to take her in the evening before she spotted the kitten and she dove into the interior. Raf expected the kitten to run, but it stayed where it was and mewed up at Miko, who wrapped it in a killer embrace.

"Bulkhead! Look at the kitten Raf has!"

Ratchet was immediately attentive and he looked at Optimus expectantly. "We are allowing them to have pets now?"

Optimus waved the medic's worries off. "Now we are pressured to watch where we step. Nothing has changed, Ratchet."

"And if the little thing has to use the bathroom?"

"We will clean up the mess." The Prime knelt to investigate the kitten. It turned its yellow gaze onto the Prime and mewed loudly, squirming into his servo. Everyone watched the kitten navigate up Optimus' arm to his shoulder as if it had done that several times before now.

Optimus felt the fluffy thing nuzzle against his cheek and he had a surge of fond feeling for it. "I feel that it is a girl," he whispered and he touched the kitten with a digittip. She nuzzled it.

Raf opened his arms for the kitten, smiling when Optimus lowered her into his possession.

"Keep her safe, Rafael. She could easily get damaged here. Set her on the catwalk," he said and the Prime pointed to where they had their couch, TV, and game systems. "Perhaps she would enjoy herself more if she was out of the way?"

Miko made a pun about a kitten being on a catwalk, but Optimus didn't catch it. He was staring at the kitten in a suspicious way.

She was acting...very un-catlike. She was curled up on her side with her head resting on her back paws, her tail laying so that it tickled her nose. While her position was very catlike, her eyes were gazing around the room, absorbing everything and missing nothing. Their eyes met and she mewed, stretching out.

"Optimus?" Raf moved closer to the Prime.

"Yes, Rafael?"

The human held onto the railing. Optimus touched the little human's head with a digittip. "Is everything okay?"

"Everything is fine," he said. "I guess I am a little nervous about the kitten being hurt here. We never had anything so small in this base."

But that wasn't the truth. Optimus felt...as though he knew who this kitten was, as if he had felt its life signature before, but that was impossible. He didn't often involved with the feline population here on Earth. He wrote the feeling off as simple nervousness that had no right being in his system and he moved to stand at the computer.

The kitten watched him, stretched once, and then proceeded to wash her face. Her pink tongue flicked out against her paw and she swiped it against her ear, down her face, and over her eye. She laid back down and curled back up.

ooo

Everyone was asleep. The kitten rose to her paws and arched her back, her tail curling over and trembling. She jumped down from the couch and marched down the catwalk. That was when she transformed.

She stood just a helm above Bumblebee. She had dark armor that would allow her to disappear if she closed her brilliant yellow optics. She had claws that she never allowed to go dull, unlike Starscream who forgot he even had claws at times. She was older than Soundwave, but still at the part of a Cybertronian's life where she wasn't creaky and grumbly. She cracked her knuckles and stretched again. "Let us see what you little Autobots are hiding..." The screen lit up her sharp facial features and her catlike optics. She smiled and flashed sharpened white fangs at the screen, or rather her reflection. Knockout would have been proud of his adopted creation.

Onixblade purred as she shut the computer down. While working with Soundwave, she picked up a few of his tricks. She had a flashdrive in her claws and the secrets of the Autobot bunker in her helm. She bit her lip, glanced back at the Prime's quarters. She couldn't resist.

She padded into the room, half-closing her optics. The Prime was recharging peacefully, but not for long. She touched his chest and his breathing hitched. "Everyone believed I had died. I even surprised Megatron, but Soundwave kept his poker face. I believe you would be surprised if you realised just who you let slip undetected into your base. I thought I was caught when you stared at me. Do you even remember me?" She watched his relaxed face and she wondered if she could scratch at it without him waking up and seeing her, or rather, two yellow crescents.

Optimus' mouth twitched and he sighed. "Onix..." He used her nickname, the one he had given her himself. She jerked back and hissed loudly.

The Prime woke with a start, sitting up and staring down at his lap where a little bundle of black fur was purring and snoozing. He sighed again and lifted the kitten into a servo. She was like a wet noodle, limp and perfectly content with flopping around in his grip while he tried to readjust her into a comfortable position. He gave up on trying to get her curled up in his servo and he laid the little one down on his pillow laying his helm beside her.

Yellow eyes opened to glare at his face, but Optimus' optics were closing and he didn't process completely before his body shut down.

Onixblade transformed and touched Optimus' cheek before she jumped out of the berth. She landed softly on her pedes and she padded out of the room and down the hall. She laid back down as a kitten on the couch again.

ooo

Optimus woke up with the idea that he had a strange dream, but he couldn't remember what it was. He got up and walked to the main room where the children were giggling on the catwalk. It appeared that one of them tied a string to the end of a stick and was dangling it just over the kitten's head.

"Optimus, come look at the kitten!" Miko was torturing the kitten next, dragging the string along the ground and coaxing a hunter's crouch from her. The kitten was completely focused on her prey. She didn't even react when Optimus walked over and made a soft sound.

She struck, pinning the string down. She flopped onto her side and pummeled the string with her back paws, as if teaching it a lesson. The string shredded and she lost interest. Jack held it up for the other Autobots to see.

"Looks like you guys have competition!" He grinned and scooped up the furball of a cat. "Lintball versus the Decepticons."

Ratchet came over. "Lintball?"

Miko chimed in. "Well, we had to give her a name, doc-bot, and we're still working on it, but for now her name is Ball of Lint."

Jack lifted the kitten higher, reminding Optimus of a scene he once watched with the children. If Jack was a baboon, and Ball of Lint was a lion...

Ratchet rolled his optics. "So original."

Optimus touched the kitten's head, making her meow and purr. "Well, Ratchet, I bet if we called into the vet clinic and asked to make an appointment for one Ball of Lint, they will not get her confused with, say, Princess or Midnight."

The medic scoffed. "You act as though you are going to keep her!"

"What are we going to do, Ratchet? Leave her on the streets? Right where we found her? No, we are going to keep her and keep her safe." He looked at the medic. "I think it would improve your outlook on life."

"Optimus, please."

Jack set the kitten down on the floor, letting it bound over to the couch to curl up for another nap. "We should probably take her outside a couple times."

The kitten's eyes opened and she watched with interest. Optimus watched her with narrowed optics. Something wasn't right, but the other part of him insisted that he was getting worked up over nothing.

Raf nodded. "It will keep her from getting lazy."

The kitten sat up and mewed her displeasure at being called lazy. She arched her back in a stretch, then shot Optimus a foul look that made the Prime jerk.

Miko laughed. "I don't think she likes you very much, Optimus."

"No," Optimus said softly. "No, she does not..."

ooo

Onix was tired of being drug around by the children. The collar on her neck was irritating, but she kept it on so she wouldn't lose it and go through the horror of getting it placed back on her neck. She visited Optimus often, especially when he slept or worked. That was what she was doing right now, laying beside the Prime while he slept. She stroked his chest, his cheek, sometimes she played around his optics, teasing the covers back to grin down at his unfocused optic. He would only twitch, but he every morning he was looking more and more worn. Soon he would make mistakes.

Fatal mistakes.

ooo

"You don't look too good, Optimus." Raf was worried about the Prime.

He was stumbling around, often tripping over nothing. His optics were dim and sometimes puffy looking. His armor was dulling, his paint was peeling, his colors were fading. Ratchet tried to get Optimus to drink a sedative, but he refused it and glared at the kitten.

Lintball looked smug the whole time to Optimus. He pointed at the kitten once and demanded that he left her alone, but she only flicked her tail and wailed as if the Prime had pinched her ear or tugged her whiskers.

Now she was washing her face, her tail tip twitching. Optimus gave her a pet on the head with a digit, then he settled on the berth. "Good kitty..." He sighed and laid down to sleep.

The kitten immediately navigated her way onto his chest and curled up right over his spark.

Raf gave Ratchet a worried look.

"It seems that our leader is plagued by nightmares. He should recover in time. There is no medicine to inhibit nightmares."

Arcee crossed her arms and watched the kitten. "It started when Lintball first came here, right?"

"You know Optimus," Ratchet said, who was a firm anti-superstitous mech. "He has probably been suffering for weeks and now it is finally taking its toll on him."

The other Autobots made a mumble of agreement and they went about their business, deciding to give Optimus a peaceful night by taking the children out to a movie.

Lintball opened her optics and grinned down at Optimus, transforming so that she was settled on his belly. She stretched to lay across him, stroking his cheek and putting her thumb on his lips. "Mm. It's too bad you're so sleepy, Optimus. I would have loved to see your reaction to me."

Optimus' optics jerked awake and he saw the kitten peering down at him, her mouth open as she released a long, wailing cry for food. The Prime picked her up and carried her to the RecRoom, having an idea.

Energon was the fuel of all Cybertronian life. It was toxic to organic life. If Optimus was right, he was probably going to sleep for a long time. If not, he owed Raf an apology and maybe a whole litter of kittens.

He set Lintball on the table and watched her, filling two bowls. One had Energon and a floral design around the rim, the other had milk and pawprints, something Raf picked up at the pet store. He grunted an apology to the kitten, saying something about not having a mat for her. He set the milk bowl down in front of her, telling her to not drink until he had the mat. He left her alone for a good minute before he came back.

She mewed softly, licking her lips and beginning to clean her wiskers. In front of her was an empty bowl. An empty bowl with a floral design around the rim. The one with pawprints was on the counter, the milk still inside.

"Now, now, kitten, why would you drink the toxic stuff?"

The kitten froze and blinked up at the Prime, her eyes wide. Her tongue had been in midlick, and now it was poking out of her mouth. She pulled it back inside, shrugged her little shoulders, and transformed.

"So, I was caught," she purred.

Optimus bared his denta at her. "Onixblade. Been keeping me up all night?"

"Why, my dear Prime, I thought you loved to stay up all night with me." The femme pulled a hurt look, her claws resting on her chest. She tried to look offended, or even a little hurt.

Optimus wasn't fooled. "Mm." He picked up the milk bowl. "You have gotten quicker."

"And you've gotten dumber." She hopped off the table and came around to hug the Prime from behind. "But I'll always be fond of you."

He sidestepped her hug and looked back at her. "Mm." He poured the milk back into the carton with the help of a funnel.

"You don't sound convinced."

"After you ran off to be with Knockout, I have ceased putting stock in whatever comes out of your mouth."

She whined and put the back of her servo against her forehelm. "So harsh, so mean. I think my spark's broken."

"Time heals all wounds. My spark knows that to be a fact."

Onixblade tsked and she sat on the counter. "You cannot say that we did not have a good time together."

"Sure, when I did not find you under another mech."

"I had desperate needs."

Optimus hissed when she drew him closer to her. He touched her Decepticon insignia, then backed out of her waiting arms. "Mm." He stared at her.

"You always say that, mm, but I don't know if that is a negative or a positive."

"What do you think? You disappear for years, and the next time I see you, you're on the Nemesis trying to blow my helm off."

"I plead guilty," she purred. "But you have to agree, we're a fair match."

Optimus sighed and he shook his helm. He cleaned up the counters and then he looked at her. "Why did you come back?"

"I'm actually on a mission, assigned to me by my dear daddy." She crossed her legs. "I'm supposed to be on the Nemesis, sharing all the dirty little secrets about the Autobots."

"What's stopping you?" He looked at her, raising an optic ridge.

"You. And the children. They would be simply spark broken to learn that the kitten had run away. I thought about staging my own death, but could you image? Kitten crushed by pede!" She shook her helm. "I may be a Decepticon, but I'm not cruel, Optimus. I was like you once." She touched his chest, provoking an image ofa glittery-black femme with bright blue optics and a big grin whenever her Orion Pax returned from Iacon.

Optimus touched her servo, then pushed it away from him. "You chose your path."

"What if I chose wrong?" She wrapped her arms and legs around him before he could escape, but he just walked around with her clinging like a burr. "You begged your beloved Dreadwing and Skyquake to join the cause, but not me? I feel left out."

Optimus sighed and he set her down on the medberth. "Go back to being Lintball and leave me to sleep."

She huffed and crossed her arms. "You're not very fun, you know that?"

He waved his servo in agreement, then walked down to his quarters.

ooo

Ratchet, as soon as he and the other Autobots arrived, went to check on Optimus. He wasn't surprised to see him sleeping in his quarters. What got him was that the kitten was curled up by his helm, her forehead pressed into the blue armor. Fur was damp around her eyes, as if she had been crying, but as far as he knew, cats didn't cry like humans or even like Cybertronians.

Lintball lifted her head and meowed pathetically at Ratchet as he stood there. She blinked her kitten eyes at him, meowed a second time. That time it sounded strangled. Then she laid her head back down and curled tighter around Optimus' helm.

When Ratchet turned his back and shut the door, Onixblade transformed and started to stroke Optimus' helm, murmuring sweet nothings into his audio before she left the base. In her place, she left a kitten similar to her alt mode.

On the Nemesis, she gave Megatron false secrets. She showed him the layout of the nearest mall and passed it on as the Autobot base. Unless Soundwave got a hold of the data, she wouldn't be questioned.

She laid down in her own berth and she closed her optics, curling around a pillow that she had smuggled off Cybertron. Had Optimus been there, he would have recognized it as his own. She closed her optics slowly and sighed in longing for what once was.

Kinda long, my muse walked away repeatedly and gave me the smug quality of Onixblade (and the name), Onyx was disinterested in cuddling on my lap or even letting herself be caught in my arms by anyone XD She's a smug little one, but she's also a sweetheart (to me, atleast. She has these cute little tufts of hair between her ears that look like demon horns, so...). Tripod atleast stayed with me and even stretched for me.

Know, as for her kitten alt mode. Honestly, I thought about a wolf, but what child would bring a wolf into an Autobot base and play with it, besides me? And then I looked down at the floor and saw Onyx, remembered what I told Graphite and I was all over the kitten alt mode.

Again, not one of my greatest, but I'm bored as frag and I needed something to type.

Thanks for reading.