A Seeker's Family 2
"We've got to get back to the base," interrupted Ratchet.
"Is everything alright with him?" asked Sideswipe looking rather worried.
"He went into stasis lock to protect and conserve energon for the sparkling he's carrying," replied Ratchet. "And do I look like I carry spare protoform on me?"
"Autobots, transform and roll out!" commanded Optimus as he transformed. "You're free to join us."
"Oh, you better come along because I'm not taking care of any sparkling while that hunk of...metal is recovering," said Ratchet as he glared at the blue Seeker.
"Guess I have no choice really...I've got nowhere to go...," replied the blue Seeker as he transformed and followed the others back to their base.
As the group approached the base, Optimus told the others not to worry. Prowl, Jazz, and Elita-One came to meet them as they followed their Prime to the medical bay.
"What's this? Are these two prisoner or something?" asked Elita as she saw the two Seekers.
"It's a long story," replied the Autobot commander. "To make a long story short, Skywarp is in stasis lock to protect his sparkling, and we brought him back here."
"Ratchet told us to bring him back," added Sunstreaker.
"And I presume you brought his sparkmate along too?" asked Jazz as he gave Thundercracker a suspicious look.
"We're not sparkmates," said Thundercracker defensively. "And stop looking at me like that. I'll hand over my weapons if it'll make you less wary."
"Please do," interrupted Prowl with a cold tone. "For security purposes, please deactivate your comm link as well."
Thundercracker did as he was told and waited for the Autobot medic to return. The wait was rather awkward until Wheeljack came running in with something in his arms while he interrupted the silence, "Sorry! Protoform coming through!"
"What do you think this is? A petting zoo?" questioned Ratchet as he stepped into the med bay with some equipment. "Get out of my med bay! Can't a medic get any work done around here?"
Every Autobot took the warning and stepped out of the med bay while Sideswipe and Sunstreaker pulled Thundercracker along. Thundercracker did not object but his curiosity peeked and he asked while he was led to the recreation room.
"Is your medic...always this...aggressive?"
"Aggressive isn't really the right way to put it," replied the red twin. "He's more cranky from old age than aggressive."
"But he's a good mech. I'm sure your trine mate will be alright under his care," reassured Optimus.
"I wonder how the sparkling is doing," said Elita with a worried tone in her voice. "By chance, do you know who the other creator is?"
"I...I actually have no idea...," replied the blue Seeker before he stopped to think. 'Warp gets along with so many...Who knows who the other creator would be...'
"Well, I doubt it'd be Megatron," Sideswipe interrupting Thundercracker's train of thought.
"There isn't a high possibility but...," replied Prowl with an analytical tone.
"I doubt it...Megatron does like Seekers...Well...mostly Starscream...," answered Thundercracker. "Skywarp is too cowardly and stupid for him."
"Should you be insulting your mate like that?" questioned Jazz with a grin on his faceplate.
"Its not like he would know...and besides it's the truth...," said Thundercracker as he smiled to himself. 'He's also very cute...not that I'd say that out loud.'
"What are we to do with them though?" interrupted Sunstreaker.
"What do you mean, Sunstreaker?" asked Optimus.
"Well, we 'do' have a family of Decepticons on our base...Should we lock them all up in the brig or allocate them somewhere?"
"That is a very good question," responded Jazz looking at his Prime. "What are you going to do, Optimus?"
"I don't want to lock them up in the brig...especially not when a sparkling is involved," pondered Optimus. "And Thundercracker isn't causing us any harm..."
"He 'has' surrendered his weapons and his comm link," added Prowl. "However..."
"I've got nowhere to go back to...," said Thundercracker. "The Decepticon army isn't very fond of their soldiers returning back unscratched...especially from an enemy base...I'm really losing my touch with them..."
"Why not stay here," said Optimus. "Or perhaps we should see what Ratchet has to say about your trine mate and his sparkling."
"I like that suggestion," replied the blue Seeker as the thought of not going back to Megatron and the others had a greater appeal to him.
A message from Optimus' comm link got everyone's attention. Elita stared at her sparkmate and wondered if it was Ratchet.
"Ratchet says we're able to go back to the med bay," said Optimus. "It seems there's a few things he wants to tell us."
Once Thundercracker and the other Autobot officials and non-officials stepped back into the med bay, Ratchet was already standing by his office with a look of grimace on his faceplate.
"Is everything alright, Ratchet?" asked Elita getting a rather bad feeling.
"I can't say for sure until further diagnosis...," answered Ratchet with a sigh. "The Seeker is alright, I had to dislocate his wings from his body since he'll be needing new ones, and I fixed a few small glitches that 'your' fail of a medic decided to ignore."
"That must mean you did something with his logic processing, correct? That's his major glitch I'm worried about," said Thundercracker sounding a little too hopeful, but glad that everything was alright.
"Well, I think I'm starting to like you already, but he'll be fine. I overrode his stasis lock and he'll be awake in a few..."
"Ah...My processors...I fragging hate stasis lock...," groaned Skywarp as his optics came back online.
"Well, he's awake now," said Ratchet as he looked at the berth Skywarp was laying on.
"How are you feeling, Warp?" asked Thundercracked with some concern.
"I feel a little static but I'm good. How is our...I mean my sparkling," answered Skywarp as he caught his glossa.
"That's the second thing I wanted to talk about," said Ratchet with the same grimace expression on his faceplate once again. "I still need to run more thorough diagnostics, but there's a problem with your sparkling."
"What kind of problem?" asked Skywarp as he tried to absorb everything slowly.
"Your sparkling has severely damaged vocal processors...there is a very high chance it cannot be repaired either."
"So...you're saying the sparkling is glitched?" asked Sunstreaker.
"I can't say for sure, but from what I see so far, yes," sighed the medic as he observed Skywarp's reaction.
"My sparkling...can't...and won't be able to speak...," said Skywarp as he ran the medic's words through his processor.
"Are you alright, Warp?" Thundercracker asked as he approached his trine mate.
"No...no, I'm not alright...," replied Skywarp as he wanted to cry but for some odd reason he could not. "I want to cry at the moment...but I can't because I'm overwhelmed...Overwhelmed that the sparkling made it, TC...My sparkling made it here...," as Skywarp began to cry happy and overwhelmed energon tears. Thundercracker was right there to lend his trine mate his shoulder.
"Is the sparkling a mech or a femme?" interrupted Elita asking the question that has been bothering everyone bot in the med bay.
"A femme," replied Ratchet with a relieved smile that Skywarp did not go into stasis lock again from shock. "You still need to name your sparkling. So, what would it be?"
"Where is she?" asked the black and purple Seeker.
"She's right here," said Wheeljack's voice as he carried the Seeker sparkling in a thermal blanket towards Skywarp.
Skywarp dried his tears and held the recharging sparkling in his arms. The small Seeker slept peacefully in her creator's arms. Skywarp held the small violet and blue Seeker lovingly and stared at Thundercracker.
"What do you think her name should be?"
"I'm not her creator, you should name her," replied the blue Seeker as he reached out to touch the recharging sparkling. 'Zenith...Soar through the sky and fly further and higher than everyone else...'
"What would it be? We don't have all day, I still have to see how she's doing," said Ratchet has he ruined the quiet moment between Thundercracker and Skywarp.
"I think I'm going to name her...Zenith," said Skywarp as he smiled at his daughter lovingly while Thundercracker stared at him with a shocked expression on his faceplate before Skywarp's voice interrupted him, "What do you think, TC?"
"I think it's a beautiful name," replied the blue Seeker regaining his composure.
And to the world, meet Zenith!