AN: I'm not entirely too sure how I plan to space out the timespan in this just yet. I obviously wanted to cover Bumblebee's rescue with Barricade and then the mechling being introduced and taken in by the Autobots, but after that I probably won't have much on Cybertron outside of Megatron ripping out his vocal chords and the Allspark being sent off world.
Optimus Prime walked into Iacon city with a heavy spark, mourning the loss of Kaon to the Decepticons. The Decepticons had sequestered the city-state as their own; it was much too late for the Autobots to do anything more than rescue what and who they could. It was too late for there to be much rescuing at all, and that would bother the Prime for several orns.
The Prime walked straight for the Autobase, as many of his faction had started to call it, although it had originally been the Academy of Science and Technology. The main building was large and spacious, with many separate and smaller but just as useful buildings surrounding it; the Academy had suited Autobot needs perfectly, and Optimus had deemed Iacon to essentially be the Autobot capital, although it wasn't the only Cybertronian city-state that they had under their control or at least loyal to them.
Optimus walked slowly, with a purpose. He kept his battle mask down and a servo cradled to his chassis; feigning hurt and an unwillingness to talk should any mech and femme try to stop him. He wasn't hurt at all, though. In his servo he cradled Bumblebee, shielding the little mechling from the outside world. The youngling was bigger than his servo, but the Prime remained slightly hunched, hitching his shoulder joint up and down a little to feign injury and hide the mechling from view. The only way that Bumblebee would be seen was if somebot got close enough, and Optimus didn't plan to let that happen.
After everything the youngling had been through it hadn't surprised the Prime at all that he had lost enough energy to just fall asleep in his care, and it warmed his spark a bit whenever he looked at the mechling's sleeping form. He wanted to make sure that the little mechling could remain asleep and somewhat peaceful. If he had to wake up he would be plagued once more by reality; it pained Optimus almost too much to see one so innocent cry over a loss greater than he should bear.
He made his way to one of the buildings off the main part of the Autobase. It was now the Medbay, and the Prime was only somewhat hesitant to face his CMO. Ironhide had reported back to him that the medic had been more than capable of handling everything by himself; apparently he'd taken down all five of the Decepticons that had been sent to corner him while he was alone, but that meant that Ratchet would be furious at the Prime for sending his own bodyguard away.
He knocked on the Medbay door, already opening it with his free servo even as he did so. Optimus had to duck under the archway as he came in, but he was able to straighten up soon enough, helm almost brushing against the ceiling. Ratchet stood over an occupied berth, not even sparing his Prime a look, and he could read the annoyance in the medic's posture.
The femme that Ratchet was working on had a hole directly through her spark chamber, optics offlined, and Optimus bowed his head in silence for a klik to honor her. After that he continued to wait in silence, realizing after a breem that the medic wasn't too focused on his work; he was being ignored.
It had been a rocky relationship from the start for the two of them. While Ratchet's reputation had been widespread even before the war had officially started, and once it had kicked off both Megatron and Optimus had immediately gone for the skilled mech. If it hadn't been for the simple fact that Ratchet didn't agree with the Decepticon ideology, then the mech probably wouldn't be with the Autobots. Outside of the main points, the medic and his Prime tended to disagree on most things. Ratchet was pessimistic in his view of the war; from the start he had told the Prime that his dreams of having few casualties, little time spent fighting, and still enough materials left afterwards to rebuild was a sparkling-like notion.
It was only recently, after nearly two metacycles of fighting, that the Prime had relinquished his sparkling-like dreams. After that he had promoted Ratchet to his current rank, Chief Medical Officer, and while they still fought they both attempted to be more civil. However, they had had another large fight just after the medic had achieved his rank, exactly over what Ratchet was doing now. The Prime couldn't stand the thought of salvaging parts from the dead Cybertronians they retrieved, but the medic insisted on it.
After they fought, Ratchet would never address Optimus first unless he was seriously injured. The normally vocal mech would stay completely silent unless spoken to, courteous and polite in honor of the Prime's ranking only. It pained and pleased the Prime at the same time; usually he was more than happy for the mech's silence after one of their fights, however the further and further they got into the terrible war the more he was relying on Ratchet's advice.
"I require your expertize," Optimus stated, sliding his battle mask to its' resting state. The medic hated when the Prime used it, so Optimus removed it as a sort of peace offering.
"If you would be so kind as to go see First Aid, I would be very grateful." Ratchet replied, polite without fault but tone completely neutral. "I understand that you may be hurt, but it isn't serious from a glance, and I am busy."
"Actually…" The Prime moved his servo, revealing the precious cargo. "I would like you to look at this mechling."
Blue optics immediately searched out the tiny mechling, Ratchet setting down the tools he had been using on the femme to instead move closer to his Prime. While the medic had started training First Aid in medicine, the Protectobot was nowhere near as good as he. The CMO wouldn't allow the medic-in-training to salvage dead frames for parts or touch any of the more serious cases unless he was there. Had the Prime thought that the CMO had bothered to teach First Aid anything about the difference between younglings and a full grown mech or femme, he would have gone to the kinder and gentler of the two instead.
It did comfort the Prime some to see that his CMO immediately set aside his work at the mere mention of the mechling, whereas he had been ignoring his leader up until that point. Ratchet motioned to an empty berth, Optimus following the silent order and setting Bumblebee down on it as gently as he could, using his digits to straighten the tiny mechling out a bit.
It was almost amusing to see how tiny Bumblebee was compared to the berth. The Medbay held several berths that could fit somemech of even his size or Ironhide's frame, and so it dwarfed the tiny youngling completely. Ratchet wasn't daunted by the mechling's young frame, though. He set right to work on bustling about the Medbay, finding a wire small enough that would allow him to easily access the youngling's system without putting too much strain on him. The CMO attached it to the port on the back of Bumblebee's neck, sliding the other end into a secret compartment on his wrist. His helm tilted to the side and his optics switched to a deep blue, but Optimus was used to seeing the medic go into such a state by now.
"His energy level is too low," Ratchet informed his Prime dutifully, "About 60%. He's not in a danger zone, but I'd like to keep him under until we can get him back to around 90%. From what my initial scans are telling me his processor has been taxing itself quite a lot; did you find him being attacked or nearly so?"
"No," The Prime denied, "He's the spark of Nexus and Platen."
"Ah…" Ratchet muttered thoughtfully, picking up one of Bumblebee's arms and examining it.
The Prime looked as well, noticing now that the mechling had managed to scrape his arm quite deeply, the paint nearly all gone in a line. He watched as the CMO examined the scrape carefully, most likely seeing if it was an actual injury or not, and then letting a servo travel to the Autobot brand and brush against it. The Prime had seen the medic work on many different mechs and femmes; it was rare that Ratchet was ever gentle.
"The rest of the Kaon younglings have been reported dead or missing," Ratchet said, and had it not been such devastating news the Prime might have taken a moment to be amazed by the sadness in his voice.
"We were told of an underground bunker," Optimus' battle mask slid over his face reflexively, the Prime doing his best to keep his tone neutral. "Surely some of them must still be there."
Ratchet shook his helm, "No. A rescue unit was sent down, but it turns out that none of the builders had actually helped make it. There was no support system and it caved in. Our men were killed, along with any Decepticons and younglings that were down there."
Optimus his helm once more, the sadness washing over his spark and making his energon tank churn. The CMO said nothing, allowing the Prime his time of mourning for all those lost in Kaon. The medic continued his examination of Bumblebee, taking the time to thoroughly go over the mechling before disconnecting from him.
"His spark could probably handle a frame upgrade," Ratchet remarked, "It'd be a bit soon, but the supplies might not last, and it will be easier to deal with a near mech than a mechling. His spark is strong and healthy; his processor is already recuperating. He's taken the news of his parent's loss well; his spark never even registered their connection snapping."
"They'd been apart for a long time," Optimus agreed. "I'm thankful in a way for that. It made their loss easier for him to bare. But do you really think that the best idea for one so young?"
"What's his name?" Ratchet asked, diverting the conversation for a moment as he turned to his Prime. "If you didn't find him being attacked or nearly so, nor down in the underground bunker or with a Caretaker, then how did you get him?"
"His designation is Bumblebee," Optimus watched his CMO carefully, knowing that he was avoiding the question for a reason. "He was brought to me, actually. By a Decepticon mechling."
It was rare that Optimus got to see Ratchet surprised by anything, but the way the medic's optics widened revealed how much he was by this. The Prime allowed himself a small smile behind his battle mask; he had been surprised by the Decepticon mechling's actions as well. Even more than the surprise was that it gave him hope. Perhaps, if the mechling could escape, he would defect. Maybe Bumblebee would one day have his savior as a friend without the two being in opposite factions.
"All the more reason to have him upgraded, then." Ratchet said finally, "Shockwave will not be pleased if word of Bumblebee's rescue ever reaches him. That mechling made a foolish mistake."
"He saved Bumblebee life!" Optimus snapped, barely stopping himself from growling at the CMO.
"I didn't say it wasn't for a good cause," Ratchet responded gently, not backing down but at the same time attempting to placate his Prime. "However, you must realize as I do, the mechling will be killed if not tortured. Shockwave will see it as treason and Megatron won't care to stop him, the Decepticon in question a mechling or not. And if Shockwave finds out what Bumblebee looks like, if he somehow finds his way into the youngling's processor to do so…"
Optimus felt his spark give a painful clench, "Shockwave will search for him and try to make an example out of him."
"Indeed," Ratchet nodded, "That is why, as I mentioned before, we should upgrade him while the materials are available to us. It will take about three orns, but I can create his body with some help from Perceptor. Ironhide can help with a suitable weapon for the frame."
"A weapon?" Optimus repeated in utter disbelief, "We are not sending him into battle!"
"Don't fool yourself, Prime." Ratchet turned his optics down to look at the peacefully sleeping mechling, "No spark is safe from this war. He deserves to have some assurance of safety; we cannot possibly be there for him all the time and if things go badly… I'm sure Jazz would be overjoyed to teach him how to be quite and deadly. Ironhide will teach him how to safely use the weapon, and I can teach him how to try and avoid deadly blows and some short field work in case he ever is injured."
"He is only a mechling," Optimus said weakly, putting his servos on the berth Bumblebee laid on and staring down at him in mild horror.
But Ratchet was right. As much as he hated it, the Prime knew his CMO was right. If Shockwave ever did get wind of what the mechling did somehow, then Bumblebee would become a target. Even if Megatron's crazed scientist didn't, it was still too dangerous for a mechling. They wouldn't be able to fit him into an adult frame, his spark was still too young and it would never take to it, but they could at least upgrade him to the in between and teach him how to survive. Everything the medic had said about them teaching Bumblebee how to do it, though, that was just the CMO trying to make the Prime feel better. The chances of the mechling actually being able to stay with him…
"I'll help you convince Prowl and Ironhide that he should stay with us," Ratchet spoke softly, and the Prime looked up into those bright blue optics, knowing that somehow the CMO could read him far better then was safe.
They might fight more than the Prime wanted, but in the end he knew that Ratchet was looking out for every single mech and femme that he could. Wanting to upgrade Bumblebee even though the mechling was still a bit too young for it was just one such example; even if Optimus couldn't completely bring himself to agree with it.
"Thank you," Optimus replied, meaning it.
