Hi readers! This is a collaboration fix written by Vodid and 99Luftballonsx.o.x. So enjoy!
Disclaimer: We (Vodid and 99Luftballonsx.o.x) do not own Tranformers!
Prologue
On Cybertron, just south of Kaon, barely on the outskirts, laid a Decepticon laboratory and inside where about two hundred lab-created sparklings were caged. Drones were too easy for the Autobots to defeat, and Megatron hated being defeated. So, Megatron then ordered to breed a new army for the Decepticons; Shockwave, Knock Out and Breakdown got to work; using sparks from fallen Cybertronians and tearing them apart, rebuilding them together and creating new bodies for them. For almost two Mega-Cycles, (6 months) they've been working on the project, already half an army bred. The sparklings were stored in units on different floors depending on their age. Most of them were malnourished and weak, only to get Energon once a day. But the thing the sparklings craved the most was affection. They so desperately wanted creators to love and cherish them, but it was not likely to go that way. Decepticons did not value or cherish anything.
Breakdown walked through another unit of sparklings, bored and and unfazed by the pleading cries of the sparklings as he rounded the corner and turned to Shockwave's lab, knocking rapidly on the door.
"Enter." A cold, monotonous voice replied as the large metal door slid open.
Breakdown walked in, watching Shockwave as he carefully placed the newly made spark into the tiny Cybertronian, it's blue optics coming to life as it chirped, looking around the room.
"Report patrol, Breakdown." Shockwave ordered.
Breakdown groaned, annoyed with the cold and serious Con scientist, "Nothing much, about ten sparklings died though. You better start feeding them, they're getting hungry."
Shockwave didn't respond, but picked up the sparkling and placed it in a cage, along with the other newly built sparklings. He then went over to the giant computer screen, typing in the data of yet another sparkling created.
"This sucks," Breakdown vented, "Why did Megatron have to make me a sparkling babysitter? I didn't harshly train with Barricade all those Deca-cycles for nothing."
"Oh please Breakdown, don't flatter yourself. You couldn't even take down that slaggin' Bulkhead." A new voice said, entering the lab. The voice belonged to Knock Out.
Breakdown narrowed his red gleaming optics on the Decepticon's Medical Officer, "S-So? I don't see you taking down any Autobots recently either."
"That's because we've been stuck here babysitting Megatron's latest project." Knock Out growled, glaring at the newly built sparklings.
"That's exactly what I thought." Breakdown murmured, glancing at the sparklings before looking back at Knock Out.
"Knock Out, report patrol." Shockwave's cold but loud voice rang as he turned from the giant computer screen.
"Five more dead sparklings, Shockwave. We need more Energon to feed the little infestations." Knock Out sneered.
"That's what I said." Breakdown murmured again.
"Silence. Take the new borns down to Unit: 4. Label them." Came Shockwave's stern reply.
Knock Out rolled his optics, before hauling up the cage of sparklings, careful for them to not touch anywhere near his new paint job before walking off down a few corridors, ending up at a large metal door that said UNIT 4: NEWLY BUILT in Cybertronian. He dropped them on to a conveyor belt which engraved their labels, right on the chest of their protoforms. And without another thought, Knock Out walked away.
But on that conveyor belt of sparklings that were waiting to be labeled and separated, laid a young, new-born femme sparkling with wide blue optics. As she laid strapped to the moving conveyor belt, looking around her environment with much curiosity, unlike the other sparkling around her who all had scared red optics, and shook with terror. She chirped curiously to them, but they did not reply. When it was her turn to be engraved, the sparkling looked up in awe at the big machine. She felt a slight pressure in her as the machine engraved her before rising again, and the femme was relieved the weight was gone, but still curious about her surroundings. She looked down at the engraved metal on the chest of her protoform:
TSS-#238 is what it read, before the next big machine covered her in silver blue metallic, gleaming armor.
"Megatron to Shockwave. Come in Shockwave." Meagatron's raspy voice filled the room before the Decepticon leader stood on the giant screen.
Shockwave looked up from his work, and nodded for him to continue once the screen was clear.
"I assume you are making tremendous progress on breeding an army, correct?" Megatron asked.
Shockwave nodded, "Affirmative."
"Good," Megatron said, a wicked smile spreading on his facial plates, "Now, it is on to phase two. Unicron has agreed to our terms, but he does want to see the lab sparklings before we send them into training. He will arrive to the laboratory in a few cycles, so be prepared. I am depending on you."
Shockwave nodded again.
Megatron nodded, "Very well then, I will leave you to you work. Megatron out." With that, the screen went into darkness again.
Shockwave vented, before walking back over to the dead Cybertronians, lost in thought as he began to surgically removing their sparks from their spark chambers, his emotionless facial plates never changing as he did.
The little, silver-blue femme sat in the large cage filled with sparklings her age. Most of them were still very afraid-she was still confused as to why, but some of them actually began to chirp and whirr and squeal, communicating in the only way the Cybertronian sparklings new how. Sparkling comm links. A red plated mech sparkling with antennas that was next to her chirped loudly, his red optics staring at her. The young femme began to wonder why all the others had dark or red, but still a solid red optics while hers were blue.
*Hi.* the red plated sparkling chirped loudly, now crawling close enough for her to hear.
*Hello,* She whirred, *What is this place*
*An odd home,* The red plated mech whirred sadly, *The big guys won't let us leave.*
*Big guys?* The femme chirped.
The red mech's antenna's twitched, and a set of heavy booming footsteps became louder and louder until there was a giant version of the red mech standing in front of them. The young femme stared at the gigantic orange colored bot. Most of his armor was orange, but the mech had silver, large calves and some parts of his chest were silver as well. His chest large and his legs long and slender, long and skinny metal wings shot out from his spiky orange shoulders. Along with matching, and equally frightening horns on the mech's helm as his burning yellow optics swept through the crowd of sparklings, his optics cold and calculating.
*Hide! It's one of the big guys!* One of the sparklings cried, and then all the sparklings began to rush to the corners, crawling away in fear of the towering, wicked bot.
Only the young femme was left, still staring at the gigantic bot. His optics narrowed in on her, no longer paying attention to the other hidden sparklings as he stared back at her. And for what felt like the longest moment in the young femme's life, she stared silently at him, not once fidgeting in fear like the others or looking away.
:…You...little one, will be mine...: A sharp, deep voice rang in her head.
The young femme let out a surprised chirp. Who was had just spoken to her? It didn't sound like on of the others trying to communicate with her, they sounded different, and they're voices weren't so deep. She tore her gaze away from the towering monster to scan the crowd of shaking sparklings, trying to identify the voice. When she couldn't find a match, she went to look back at the orange mech only to find him gone. Not a trace of him was left. The young femme raised an optic ridge, as the other sparklings began to crawl out of their hiding places.
*Why did you look at the big scary guy?* The same red mech had asked, his antennas twitched in curiosity.
*I don't know,* She chirped, *He seemed...curious.*
But before the red mech could respond, there was a large crash that shook the ground the sparklings were on violently. The young femme rocked back in front shakily, trying to get balanced but failed and tumbling to the ground. Worried and scared cries rang out over the sparkling comm system. There was another large crash, this one worst than the last, as the floor caved within and the panicking sparklings fell with the floor, crashing painfully into another unit's cage. The young femme fell backwards, landing on her back. Pain shot through her spine and she began to cry, and so did many other sparklings, joining her as red, orange and yellow flames began to engulf the laboratory.
The sudden burst of energy sent her and other flying backwards, hitting the back wall and tumbling back to the floor again. White flashed across her vision, before the young femme's vision faded to darkness. But before consciousness slipped away from her, the same deep and sharp voice was back.
:…You will not die, young femme...for you, are my chosen one...:
Orbital cycles later…
A yellow mech scavenge the new ruins of a Decepticon laboratory, finding nothing but the building remains and an occasional deceased Decepticon. His eyes scanned the ground, hoping to find something in the ruins. Something to find out what the Decepticons are up to. The mech glanced around, his three teammates were helping him search through the ruins.
:…Optimus Prime to Ratchet. Ratchet, find anything?...: A baritone voice broke the silence.
:…Negative, sir…: Ratchet replied back through the comm link.
:…Alright, I'll check in with Ironhide and Jazz. Optimus Prime out…:
Ratchet watched his leader Optimus trek through the ruins, pausing every so often to talk through the comm link.
After a nanoclick of scanning the surface of the ruins, the mech tried moving the destroyed objects. His hopes of finding something were plummeting down a deep hole.
The mech vented, "This is hopeless." He muttered while glancing around again, his teammates were more spread out. Ratchet continued to move objects, finding a wide hole under a few large flat pieces of metal. The yellow mech stared at the hole, a spark of interest in his optics.
:…Ratchet to Optimus…:
:…Speak Ratchet…:
:…I think I've found something, might lead deeper into the ground…:
The mech looked around once more, his teammates were heading towards his location. Without hesitation, Ratchet jumped into the hole. He landed on a flat metal platform, not able to see his surroundings, Ratchet walked forward into a large room, barely intact.
He continued to walk, finding a small light source ahead. The small lights glowed faintly, flickering every so often, creating enough light for Ratchet to finally see his surroundings.
The room was indeed very large, the height of it suggests there were floors above it. Pieces from above left large holes in the metal ceilings, the pieces from above were now below, scattered across the floor or leaning on another object, some had continued to go through the floor leaving another large hole right below the one above.
A loud thud followed by two more sounded from behind Ratchet, making him flinch. He instantly recognized the faint voices of his three teammates; Optimus, Ironhide and Jazz. Instead of stopping for them to catch up, he continued on without a word being said.
Small pod-like objects scattered the floor, Ratchet couldn't make out what they were. All he knew is the pod-like objects were small and if they were alive, they're dead now. He looked away, unconcerned.
Nanoclicks passed and Ratchet still couldn't find anything, his teammates were catching up to him. Their soft footsteps echoed through the large room. As Ratchet went on, the lighting became more and more dim, until there was no light left. He was left with the only option of using his flashlight built into his wrist.
Giving up his hopes, Ratchet turned around to head back towards the team of three not far behind him. Only to be stopped by a small creaking noise of metal coming from the left. He stared warily into the dark corner of the room, finding nothing.
Shrugging it off, he continued to walk. The voices of his teammates were cancelled by a louder creaking noise, then a small chirp. A pair of small glowing circles appeared, subtly moving around before disappearing again. Ratchet had no hesitation to run over and inspect what he just saw and heard.
He moved the heavy metal with all his might from the area in which he heard the creaking. The metal moved slowly due to it's heavy weight, Ratchet grunting as he pushes the metal. He threw small pieces behind or next to him, searching frantically. He stopped at the first sight of a small body of a Cybertronian sparkling.
:...Ratchet to Optimus, you won't believe what I've found...:
Ratchet's eyes moved around the sparkling's body. It was beat up from a possible fall or crush of the metal. Those blue optics were staring up at him curiously, but full of pain. Dents, scrapes and scratches were put into the sparkling's armor.
:...Optimus to Ratchet, we found you...:
The soft footsteps of Ratchet's teammates were becoming louder with each pounding step. Ratchet payed no attention to his surroundings, but instead the sparkling. The mech was wondering most if the Decepticons were using sparklings as test subjects. He shined his flashlight over the sparklings body, finding the small text: TSS-#238.
The yellow mech slowly reached out for the sparkling. Careful not to harm it anymore than it already has been, he picked it up and held it securely in his arms, examining it. The sparkling's features easily told Ratchet it was a young femme, a newly built femme. Her fragile body shook in pain, but no fear.
Ratchet looked back to where she was found, he didn't notice at first, but ten, maybe even twenty other small sparklings were surrounding her. A red newly built mech lied nearby her former location.
"Ratchet, what have you found?" The baritone voice echoes through the room, Ratchet turns around to see Optimus, his red and blue armor barely visible through the dim lighting. Ironhide and Jazz were standing behind, their darker armor made it even more difficult to see them.
"A sparkling." Ratchet fully turned around, his body now facing Optimus. The small femme was now in the team's vision.
"A sparkling?" Jazz stepped forward, his optics widening at the sight of the femme.
"A newly built femme to be precise." Ratchet nods at the trio.
Optimus took a small step toward Ratchet, "Is she the only one?"
The yellow mech shook his head, "No, there were others."
"Were?" Ironhide breaks his silence and stares deeply into Ratchet's optics.
"Were. There are deceased sparklings lying around, this is the first femme I've seen, the others are mechs. The destruction of the laboratory must be the cause of their demises. I scanned one, it had barely any energon, which could be another cause of death." Ratchet looked solemnly at the small femme recharging in his arms.
Ironhide snorted, "We're going to have another sparkling?" Jazz punched him in the arm, "Don't be rude, this little femme needs us."
"The question you should be asking is how and why?" Optimus looks back at the two Autobots, watching them shift around. Ratchet continues to stare at the sparkling in his arms, her silver-blue armor barely visible through the cuts, scrapes, dents and scratches she acquired from the metal crashing down onto her.
"None of you could find anything else?" Optimus looks between his three teammates, all three shook their heads. "Very well then. We need to get back to base, this sparkling needs medical attention." The leader nods to Ratchet, the sparkling in his arms shifts around, her curious optics looking around.
The team of Autobots found a safe way back up to the surface of the laboratory's ruins, their ship waiting just outside the laboratory.
"What do you think caused the explosion?" Jazz walked next to Ratchet while heading towards the large spaceship.
"There's no possible way to tell. It could have been an accident, or simply on purpose." Ratchet vented slowly, careful not to stir the recharging sparkling. The two mechs climbed onto the retractable platform to the ship, Optimus and Ironhide waiting. The platform retracted into the ship, bringing the team on board. Ironhide, Ratchet and Jazz took their seats while Optimus drove the ship in the front. Ratchet began to help the sparkling now lying in his lap, Jazz watching from his seat.
"We're pretty lucky you're a medic, huh Ratchet?" Jazz said quietly as Ratchet scanned the femme, her optics now open and curiously looking at Jazz. A blue light shot out from Ratchet's wrist, shining it onto the femme's body, it immediately turned orange after spotting a wound on her right shoulder. Ratchet continued to scan the sparkling, the orange light appearing multiple times around her body.
Ratchet vented, "What did they do to you, little one?" He stared into those blue optics of the sparkling, shouldn't they be red like the rest of the Decepticons? The ship slowed and came to a stop at the Autobots' base. Ratchet being the first to deploy from the ship and head into the medical bay.
Two metal berths were on each side of the large room, one being already occupied by another small mech sparkling. His body was slightly bigger than the femme's, and his armor was yellow and black. He too had curious blue optics examining his surroundings. Ratchet set the femme sparkling onto the vacant berth, her optics trailing over to the yellow sparkling on the berth across from her.
*Is this big guy good or bad?* She used her sparkling comm link to communicate to the yellow sparkling.
*That's Ratchet, the Chief Medical Officer,* The femme didn't fully understand what a "Chief Medical Officer" was, she could easily tell the mech was a little older than her. *He's trying to help you.*
*He's going to fix me?* Her optics widen in glee as the yellow mech nodded from where he was.
*How did you get so badly hurt?* He curiously examined the femme's injuries, wanting to know what happened. Ratchet took out a blowtorch and began to work on the sparkling's damaged shoudler, she winced at the sudden contact.
*I don't really know. Explosion?*
The small mech's optics widen, *I hope you get better soon.*
*Can I know your name?* The blowtorch on her shoulder started to get warmer by the nanoclick.
*They call me Bumblebee, sometimes Bee. It's an odd name, but I like it. Your's?* His facial plates moved up into a smile.
*I...Don't know. I think I was named something like 'TSS-#238?'* Confusion swept over Bumblebee's face.
*TSS-#238?*
The door to the entrance of the med bay opened, revealing a large blue and red mech. *That's Optimus Prime, the leader of the Autobots.* Bee's voice came through the comm link, but the femme didn't respond. Ratchet turned off the blowtorch, sat it down on the berth and walked over to the large mech.
"Optimus. I haven't found any sign of designation other than a text imprinted on her chestplate armor." Ratchet gestured to the sparkling, "The text said TSS-#238."
"Meaning what?" The larger mech stood a little taller than Ratchet did, his armor was bulkier.
"I'm assuming 'Test Subject; Sparkling. Number 238." Both their optics looked worried, "She's been starved. Not much energon is flowing through her body." Ratchet turned and walked back to the sparkling, he continued to work on her. Optimus followed close behind.
"Ratchet, is it possible to erase her memories of the laboratory without damaging anything else?" Optimus watched the medic work on the sparkling's left leg, welding pieces together. "It is possible. Would you like me to?"
The red and blue mech nodded and vented slowly, "It's for the best."
"Alright, it'll take me a while but I can do it." Ratchet turned from the sparkling to grab a large wire from behind him. He turned back to the sparkling with the wire in his hand. Tilting the femme's head, he plugged the wire into the back of her head. Her optics widened for a nanoclick before closing, her vision going black.
After a complex procedure, Ratchet finished erasing the sparkling's memories of the laboratory, making sure there was nothing left. It took a whole orbital cycle just to delete all her memories. The wire was unplugged from the femme's head; her eyes opening and squinting at the bright light. She looked over to Bumblebee, still remembering him. She remembers Optimus Prime and Ratchet, even the odd text imprinted on her chest. But nothing else.
"Welcome back, little one." Ratchet stood next to her berth, looking into her optics. She curiously looked back at the yellow mech standing before her.
"Ratchet here has decided a name for you." Another voice appeared, it was a deep baritone. She instantly recognized it was Optimus, he was standing next to her as well.
Ratchet was the next to speak, a smile developed on the medic's face plates, a subtle one on Optimus too.
"Steelfrost."