Chapter 1

Ratchet slumped in his chair, cube in hand, and sighed loudly. Wheeljack looked across the table to his friend with ill-disguised apprehension.

"Do you have any idea how much trouble you would be in if I decided to report this?"

Wheeljack did not look shamed. Instead, his response was to become firm in his countenance.

"Yeah I know. But I also know how you are, Ratch. You won't tell anyone."

Ratchet nursed his cube, his features solemn. He looked tired.

"No, I won't. You're right." He answered finally.

Wheeljack smiled beneath his mask. Head fins lit in a light blue glow.

"You also know how science works. I don't know about you, but I'd hate to present the council with something that doesn't work."

Ratchet waved his cube at Wheeljack, accentuating his words. "What, you didn't think to explain that to them when they told you 'no testing?'"

"I did actually." Wheeljack became slightly defensive. "You know how the council is. If it were any other project, I probably would have even listened, and told them afterwards that maybe I should have been allowed to test it first to make sure it worked."

Ratchet sighed again. Wheeljack was immediately distracted from his tirade to again worry for his friend. He seemed so tired- like the war was sucking the life right out of him. What scared the engineer was how little it felt like he could do for his friend.

"But it's not that kind of project, huh 'Jack?"

Fins swung from side to side with a shake of his head. "No. This is more than just some experiment. I have to make sure this works. This is the survival of our whole species."

Ratchet nodded solemnly.

xXx

"State your name."

Blue optics came on slowly. Too slowly. Wheeljack tried to quell his growing apprehension.

"State your name, young one." He said again as he got no answer. 'Please' he thought with a hint of desperation 'Please let this one live.'

The sparkling twitched a little, and then turned it's head to Wheeljack.

"Me… Me Grimlock."

Wheeljack's immediate relief warred with worry at how the young one spoke.

But at least it lived. He could work with that.

xXx

"What you Wheeljack doing?" Grimlock asked, shoving at Wheeljack's arms and poking his nose into the adult mechs current project. Pulling up what patience he could, the inventor pushed Grimlock away from the sensitive wires and plating, enough to keep the parts out of Grimlock's reach, but not so far that the mini-mech would feel insulted.

Already much larger than the average sparkling, indicating the need for a very large form once he was fully upgraded, Grimlock liked to throw his weight around. This was evidenced by the play fighting with his younger brothers, where sometimes he would bring the two back to the engineer to fix up the various scrapes and dents incurred therein.

"I'm attempting to build a hyper-conducive ion particle relay to more efficiently partition the energy in our power grid. It's a side project until I'm ready to continue working on your next brother."

"So you doing nothing then." Grimlock stated like it was fact. Grabbing Wheeljack's arm, he began tugging the engineer from the room. "You come play with us bitlings now. We play hide and seeker."

"But Grimlock, I-"

"You get him Wheeljack to play?" Sludge's excited voice rang out, and Wheeljack looked upon the other two younglings, both looking up at him in (in one case, barely disguised) hope. Wheeljack's felt his resolve waver.

Sludge came up and took to tugging the engineer's free arm. "We start in common room, but whole base is part of game. We hide anywhere! You Wheeljack want to count first?"

"Ah, okay." And then that resolve evaporated like so many unbound particles. "Now, or…?"

"Now!" Grimlock commanded, and as Wheeljack shuttered his optics his spark was warmed by the image of the three botlings scattering as they giggled in glee like the younglings they were.

Work could wait for a cycle. It's not like anyone would notice.

xXx

He looked down at the small frame. This was his last chance to get this right. He wouldn't have any more chances after this. Even now there was a huge risk that someone might notice the missing parts used to make the sparklings. And if someone noticed there would be an inquiry, which would discreetly show up on base one day, and then proceed to confiscate his much beloved sparks. The Dinobots would be taken to Cybertron, the Core planet, or possibly to Iacon, Autobot headquarters and the planet with the current largest populus, where they would be assessed. The assessment would go one of two ways- there could be an attempted rehabilitation cycle, followed by deep scanning and possible surgery to find out what was wrong, or they would be written off entirely as glitched sparks.

He didn't think he could bear to see that happen to them.

It was best if they were kept here.

He still wasn't entirely sure what had caused the Dinobot's strange thought patterns- or what had made them choose beast-style alt forms. He had his suspicions, which he had done his level best to help, but in all reality he had no idea. He could only hope this one would work.

He couldn't continue to scavenge spare parts out of the supplies he was given. It would not take much more before someone noticed and sent a team to check up on him. A team that wasn't just Ratchet looking for any excuse to get away from war and bureaucracy.

He looked down at the small shell, and prayed to Primus himself.

"Please let this work."

xXx

All five of them fidgeted nervously in their seats. Swoop, the youngest of the group, was the most excited. He was the only one not to have gone through the ordeal before, and was eager to experience being an older brother, instead of just the youngest.

The doorway to Wheeljack's workshop was closed, citing a need for quiet and an undisturbed peace while he was working, and while the newest spark grew acclimated with its new body and surroundings. The brothers had to wait until the newest sparkling was ready. Grimlock, in his newly upgraded form, was warned especially to watch his strength and manners, as the new spark was far more susceptible to damage than any of his other brothers. Grimlock wasn't exactly sure what susceptible meant, but he got the general idea. Be careful with his new brother.

The door slid open, and the five all sat up from their seats, trying to get the best view of the new addition to their growing family.

"Alright you guys, calm down. Grimlock, Slag, Sludge, Swoop, Snarl, this is Bumblebee. Bumblebee, these are your brothers."

Shyly, the little yellow sparkling gave a small wave. He was verily swept away not moments later by five very excited Dinobots.

Wheeljack smiled beneath his mask.

xXx

"Wheeljack?" Bumblebee poked his head in through the doorway. He felt rather silly actually. Wheeljack's work was important, and his needs, well, weren't. Even if he was worried, he shouldn't be taking up Jack's time like this.

Wheeljack looked up from whatever he was working on, turning off a small welder as he did so.

"Yes, Bumblebee?" He answered cheerfully, lighting up the dark room as he did.

Bee fidgeted a little. Why would Wheeljack know where his brother's were anyways? He spends all his time in his lab for Primus' sake!

"Do.. Do you know where the Dinobot's are? I can't find them." He said finally. Wheeljack stood a little straighter, and the smallest hint of worry flitted over his features. The Dinobot's weren't ever not around. They were always poking their noses in awkward places, creating a ruckus and generally making nuisances of themselves.

"No, I haven't. Are you sure you've looked everywhere?" Bumblebee paused again, making double sure that he had indeed checked all the Dinobot's usual haunts. He nodded.

"Yeah, I checked everywhere." He confirmed.

Wheeljack set his tools down with finality, worry now firmly set on his features, and began to move towards the exit.

"Was the door outside open?" He questioned. Bumblebee shook his head.

"No, or at least, it wasn't when I went past it." The door was there for their safety. They weren't supposed to be outside it, but the Dinobot's sometimes didn't understand that.

"Are you sure you didn't just miss them?" Wheeljack pressed. They were walking, quite quickly, down one of the complex's many hallways.

"I.. I'm pretty sure." Bee stammered. Wheeljack's audio indicator's glowed a steady, but pale and hardly visible orange. He was worried, but not too much yet.

But even that was bad. Wheeljack never worried.

And Bee felt awful for bringing him that worry.

xXx

"Wheeljack was worried about you today."

"Him Wheeljack need to loosen up."

"What were you doing outside, anyways?"

"Wanted to explore. Him Snarl say 'wonder what outside?' so we Dinobot's go see."

"… And?"

"What 'and'?"

"What was it like outside?"

"Like inside, but dirty, and ceiling go on forever. Ceiling have tiny dots all over. Not very interesting."

"Ah, those must be stars."

"Really? Did not look like planets or stars to me Grimlock."

"That's because they're far away, remember?"

"Hm. Tiny Planets and Stars. Must have very tiny robots to live on planet that small."

"Sure Grimlock. Whatever you say."

xXx

Jet engines rumbled overhead, close enough and loud enough that the very walls and floor trembled from the sound. Both Wheeljack and Ratchet visibly tensed at the noise. The Dinobots and Bumblebee quieted, but they did not understand the significance of the cacophony.

They stayed that way until the noise faded into a dim rumble, and then whittled into nothing at all. Wheeljack relaxed first, followed shortly after by Ratchet. The group younglings crowded in the room with them regarded the two curiously.

"What was that?" Bumblebee spoke first, voicing his thoughts first. The others nodded in agreement. Ratchet sighed.

"That was the sound of seekers. They're fliers, and most of them are Decepticons." He looked up at 'Jack. "They were awful close- do you think they might suspect something?"

Wheeljack's vocal indicators glowed consideringly. "It's possible, but it could also be just coincidence. Seekers aren't exactly known for sticking strictly to their patrol routes. I don't want to have to move everything to another location and risk discovery by both the seekers and the high council." He spared a glance at his gathered creations at the second part. Ratchet grunted.

"'Spose." He said shortly. "Just don't get you and them killed, hear me 'Jack?"

Wheeljack smiled at his friend.

"Of course Ratchet."