Just some idea I've had in mind, but it's obviously not original. It all depends whether I have time to continue it or not. I already have a lot on my plate, especially with my other stories. I also have a baaaaaaad case of procrastination. Any mistakes? Maybe a little critic? I wrote this to practice my writing skill and truthfully not really happy with it. Is it too fast? Too sloppy? Confusing? Think I could do better? Anyway, enjoy.

It was around midnight when D-16 was woken up by the sound of distant hollering and loud, sharp clangs. Usually, this would be considered a normal night within the Kaon Mines, with the late night workers out and the usual mysterious footsteps heard outside his room. There was a murmered rumbling that could have been mistaken for a cave in, but abnormal whimpering wasn't the known sound of pebbles scattering. Frowning, he heaved himself off the metal slab that dared called itself his bed and partially opened the door to peek outside.

A wave of sparklings came running in, guided by electrifying whips and large mechs that threatened to step on them. They screamed, cried, releasing sounds only sparklets could utter as they tried huddling in small corners to get away. The large mechs continued to yell at them, their whips crackling in the air as they teased their fears.

These sparklings were most likely orphans plucked from the streets, or marked as "defects to society" thanks to the all too powerful Guilds. D-16 couldn't stand the sight, but he knew better than to interfere. It wasn't in his place to stand up against the Bosses of Kaon and the guard dogs that ate right out of their filthy hands. If he were to say anything, those whips would be directed to him. In fact, if they noticed him at all, they would simply use him as an example for the young ones and show just what sort of discipline would be given to them.

He remembered when he was first declared as a miner. During the introduction they plucked a poor frail bots out of the shadows and beaten him until his spark vanquished. The memory had traumatized him, but as time went by and scenes like that occurred almost every hour of every day, it was nothing now.

His spark lept when a guard came by and shot him a look with his dark azure opticals. "Get back in your quarters, miner!"

D-16 lowered his helm in obedience, not realizing just how wide he opened his door, and did so. Taking in a sigh of relief, he sulked back to his bed and laid back down. The next day would be tiring if any of those brats were assigned to him. Full of whimpering and pleas and how they insisted that they didn't belong here. He moved about the metallic berth, resting his head on one arm while the other hung off the side.

All was silent from then on. The herd of sparklings was nothing more than a faint echo, but that wasn't what bothered him.

It was the soft brushing by that touched his servo and was followed by the sudden grasp of his finger.

D-16 sat up in a jolt and unsheathed his sword into the dim darkness of his room. His blue optics stared wide eyed, the yellow crystals attached to the walls being the only light. For a moment, he believed it was his own imagination. Or maybe a dream due to his over exhaustion.

There was scuffling underneath his berth. D-16 tensed as he slowly edged downward, preparing his sword to strike at the right moment and for some reason praying it would be Cybrats. Taking a deep breath, he quickly ducked his head down and peered underneath.

He scanned the darkness, at first seeing nothing, when he noticed something shivering in the farther back. Squinting, he began to make out a pair of blue opticals. Then suddenly a pair of yellowish ones. Then the next...he didn't know. It was nothing but a sort of glow, like the screen of a computer. Lines flickered all over the supposedly face, and it discouraged D-16 greatly.

Then he realized just what he was staring at. Sparklings.

They must have snuck in when he got carried away from watching; growling at himself for being so careless.

The sparklings inched towards him. As they got closer and closer to the dim light, he noticed that the one with blue optics bared a bright red color scheme. To D-16's optics, this was rare to have such a fine paint job. He'd never seen such quality in a color, mostly because miners were always covered in grime and never have a nice paint job without it being filthy within the next 20 nanokliks. The longer he stared, the more time he'd given the younger bot to examine his face cautiously before placing a hand on his upside down forehead. D-16 jolted in surprise and suddenly fell off the berth with a loud thud!

The sparklets squeaked and froze. D-16 grumbled, rubbing his sore helm and looked over his right shoulder and back at the little ones.

Yellow-optics pushed past Paintjob and actually walked right up to the silver miner. This one was much more bigger and heavier than it's comrade, and it's body plating was a rather dull looking color as well. It gave him a questioning look before uttering words too high for such a thick looking sparkling.

"Who are you?"

"...I should be asking the same thing to you, sparkling. After all, this is my room and I don't allow squatters."

The Yellow-optics flinched when those last words came out in a low snarl. Paintjob waddled up next to him. From underneath the berth, their last comrade peeked out. D-16 still couldn't make out his facial features.

He pulled back his leg abruptly when he felt a tug on his knee's spike. Paintjob wanted his attention.

"I'm Knock Out," the sparkling stated in a rather happy tone.

"Breakdown," Yellow-optics waved a servo and pointed it at the shadows. "That's Soundwave...he doesn't talk much, but he communicates in his own special way."

D-16 looked back up to see the smallest one enter the light. He was astonished to notice that this one didn't bear any facial features at all. Just a simple screen that flickered colorful lines.

"He does that when he's nervous," Knock Out says.

"What's your name?" Breakdown asks as Soundwave shyly came over. They stared up at him.

"D-16," he answers.

"What kind of name is that?" Knock Out frowned.

"Well, sorry to disappoint you, but down here you have no name. Just numbers. No one cares who you are, just what you are and how you contribute out in the tunnels."

"...Tunnels? W-where are we exactly?" Breakdown asked. Though smart to have strayed away from their group, they had missed the orientation that would've helped their survival.

"The Kaon Mines, where else?"

His audio receptors perked when he heard them start to emit frighten little clicks, their tiny bodies shivering as true horror flashed across their young faceplates. This fear was all too familiar to him, and it was seen on every other miner's profile every day.

"Th-they really brought us here?" the shiny, red sparkling whimpered. "A-are all those stories true?"

"Are the tunnels really that small and hard to get through in? Cause...uhm, I'm not very good in tight spaces," Breakdown whined as he rubbed his beefy arm. Soundwave's screen flashed with more lines and even a horrible static sound that caused him to duck behind Breakdown and cower.

"...Whatever you heard, they may or may not be true. The only way to find out is if you're killed by it," D-16 stated. "That's how it works down here. You either live or you die. They could care less, you're easily replaced."

"'They'?" Knock Out asked curiously.

"They as in the Bosses of Kaon. They rule everything here, and they watch everyone as well. One simple mistake and they'll have your helm."

The sparklings sniffled, and soon enough tiny beads of coolant peeked out at the side of their opticals. In Soundwave's case, the lines began to dim down and his body only shivered even more. But he started to release a beeping sound that might have been his own tears. D-16 sighed. He didn't work well with little ones such as these.

"..Do you have creators?," he asked in hope, but he knew the answer already.

Knock Out and Breakdown shook their helms. "We've been living off the streets since we learned out to crawl," Breakdown said. "The Orphanages helped us a little..but they were too full to actually take us in.."

D-16 peeked towards the direction of his door, mentally picturing the room full of crying sparklings and the watchful guards with their whips and other abusive weaponry. His spark ached a little and soon found himself having a fight with his mind. Rubbing a hand over his sore neck, D-16 let out a sound that was a combination of a submissive groan and an annoyed whine.

"...Since you've made such an impression on me..," he started. "...I'll let you stay. But you must listen to me at all times. No more crying, no whining, no squealing, and no arguing. You want to live? Then stay by me. Kapeesh?"

"Kapeesh!" Knock Out and Breakdown said in union.

"Kapeesh!" Soundwave echoed a recording of their voices that it made D-16 jump right out of his armor. He gave Soundwave a confused look.

"Yeeeah, he does that a lot," Knock Out says.

D-16 grumbled and stood up. He could hear their little gasps of amazement as he towered over them in such a magnificent height. Sparklings were so easily impressed. He sat back down on top of his berth and watched as they followed after him, but stopped when they realized just how high the platform was.

He sighed some more and picked up Knock Out by the wheels out of his back, Breakdown by his arm, and Soundwave by his waist.

They walked around berth, trying to pick a place to recharge. D-16 laid back and closed his optics, at least hoping for peace and quiet. He felt a warm little body suddenly pressed up against his side, and opened one optic to see Knock Out nuzzled there. Soundwave also decided to sleep near his servo, his own little one right next to it. He heard a small stomping and turned his helm to see a half-asleep Breakdown walking up to him. D-16 felt his spark skip a beat when the big sparkling suddenly fell forward and lay his body right across his optics, falling into recharge immediately.

D-16 growled, "...Frag my life."

To Be Continued..?

Side Note: D-16 is Megatron, even before he became Megatronus, named after the tunnel he worked in. I suggest reading Alex Irvine's EXODUS