Ch. 2: Mirage

Ratchet leans against the door frame, watching Bassline as he recharges. The little clone slept like he lived: loud and all over the place. Ratchet had lost count of how many times he had changed positions, yet somehow managing to keep at least one limb hanging off the berth.

That's another difference between him and Jazz, the medic muses. Jazz always recharged with his back against the wall, one arm tucked under his head, ready to wake up at the slightest noise. It was like he expected to be attacked, though considering his job, that was a real possibility.

"What are you doing?" The heavily accented voice comes from his left side, slightly behind him. When he looks and sees no one there, he sighs exasperatedly.

"You need to stop sneaking up on everyone, Mirage. Eventually, someone's going to forget it's you and just start shooting." Someone laughs and the air next to Ratchet shimmers before a red mech appears, a cheeky grin across his face.

"It will probably be trigger-happy Ironhide," Mirage says cheerfully, obviously not scared in the least. Ratchet rolls his optics before finally sliding Bassline's door shut.

"I need to talk to you." He motions for the Special Ops mech to follow him as he walks across the hall to his own room. Mirage immediately did so, instinctively knowing it was about their charge.

Once they were inside, Ratchet recounts to Mirage everything that was said on the beach. He becomes as angry as Ratchet had been when he was told what the Minibot had said, but unlike Ratchet, he lets loose a torrent of curse words in different languages, Earth and Cybertronian. The medic has to wait a while before his companion is calm enough to speak with a civil tongue.

"So he wants to be called Bassline?" Ratchet nods. "Makes sense." He crosses his arms, looking slightly to the right. "I feel guilty now," He admits after a minute.

"As do I. Look, I think you should talk to him when he wakes up. Because of that ass, he thought we didn't love him. I told him we do, but it'd be good for him to hear you say it, too."

"I will. What should we do about the Mini, though?" Ratchet sighs, rubbing his optics wearily.

"As much as it pains me to say it, I don't think we should do anything." Mirage's own widen, his arms uncrossing.

"What?! Why not?"

"Because it might backfire on Bassline. Some people don't want him here as it is. If we attack them, it'll only make them hate him more." Mirage begins muttering in Italian, though Ratchet could guess what he is saying.

"Fine. But I swear if one of them tries to hurt him, I'll show them just how good I am with these." Mirage practically snarls the words, brandishing his wrist blades. Ratchet forces a smirk, ignoring the shudder that tries to go down his spine.

"I bet you will. Now, get the frag out of my room. I'm tired." Mirage smirks back and gives a mocking salute, then turns on his heels and walks to the door. Just before he leaves, he turns around, another cheeky grin on his face.

"G'night, old mech. Don't let the scraplets bite." He ducks out of the room as something flies at his head. Ratchet can hear his laughter echoing down the hall.

"Crazy idiot," He grumbles as he lies down.

Next Morning

While Mirage waits for Bassline in the shooting range, a group of recruits marches in, their weapons hanging off their shoulders. They greet the Autobot as they pass, Mirage nodding in acknowledgment. He watches them practice, remembering another group of soldiers from when he first arrived on Earth, back in 2008. The original NEST.

Col. Lennox and Sgt. Epps had long since passed, along with most of the other members. Some had died on the battlefield, fighting the remaining Decepticons, such as Epps, who had rejoined the team after Chicago. Others from natural causes (Lennox suffered a heart attack at age sixty-seven). A few were still alive, but they chose to leave their military lives behind them and never made contact with the Autobots again after they hit sixty.

It seems the NEST team had made quite an impression on their families, however.

Lennox's daughter and two of Epps's sons had become soldiers, Annabelle joining the minute she was out of high school, against her mother's wishes. Both the boys, Frank nineteen and Tyree eighteen, followed a year later. That was about twenty-eight, twenty-nine years ago. They were all currently in their late forties, maybe early fifties.

Mirage saw them from time to time, although none of them were officially part of NEST. Bassline asks about the Epps "boys", having developed a bond with them when he was a newspark, but he is rarely able to see them. He doesn't understand why they aren't around as often, but learned to deal with it.

Just when he is about to go looking for the sparkling, the kid bounces in, customary grin in place.

"Hey, 'Raj. What's up?"

"You're late." The smile fades a bit.

"Sorry. I was talking to Sideswipe. He wanted to know if I could go racing with him." His optics somehow become larger, like that cat in the human children's film. Mirage feels his Spark melting. Again...

"When?"

"Later today...?" He sighs.

"Alright. But you have to tell me before you go and comm. me before you leave. And you have to be back at a decent time. Understand? Otherwise you won't go next time." The kid whoops, then grabs him around the waist, grinning up at him.

"Thanks 'Raj!"

"Yeah, yeah," he grumbles, slinging an arm around the kid. "There's something I want to talk to you about, bitlet." Bassline lets go, backing up and looking at him warily.

"About what?" How to start?

"I know you and Ratchet had a conversation last night." Might as well be upfront.

"Oh." He shifts his weight to his left leg. "What all did he tell you?"

"Everything."

"Everything?" Mirage nods. "My name too?"

"Yeah. I like it, by the way. It'll definitely fit when you're older." Bassline grins shyly, shuffling his feet. "He also told me about the mini." The smile drops along with his head.

"Yeah..."

"You know that's not true, right?" The kid nods, looking up at Mirage with his optics. "You also know I'll kill anyone who tries to hurt you, don't you? Ratchet too, though he can't come out and say it."

"Yeah."

"Good. Now, let's get started."