"No way!" Skywarp guffawed, leaning against the doorframe of Thundercracker's quarters. "No slaggin' way! You, in charge of a sparkling?"
Thundercracker ignored the black Seeker, concentrating on assembling the small recharge bunk. He had no idea how Swindle had managed to get ahold of the thing, but seeing as it looked to be built with a minibot in mind, he guessed that some sort of business deal with the Autobots was responsible. The Combaticon could declare his loyalty to Megatron all he wanted, but in reality his loyalty belonged to the highest bidder, regardless of what side they were on.
"This is a joke, right?" asked Skywarp. "I mean, no way Megatron would let you bring a kid into this base..."
"It's not a joke," Thundercracker snapped. "My niece is coming to the base to live. They're bringing her over the space bridge tomorrow."
Skywarp shook his head. "I still can't believe Megatron even agreed to it. Or Starscream, for that matter..."
"Starscream didn't exactly agree so much as he quit whining after a blow to the head," Thundercracker replied. "As for Megatron... I think he sees her as a potential recruit. He did mention that most of our femmes were defecting to the Autobot side."
"Makes sense." He continued to watch Thundercracker work, a disturbingly thoughtful look on his face. Skywarp didn't pause to think very often, but when he did, it usually spawned a great deal of trouble...
"Maybe he's got a specific plan for her," Skywarp said at last with a wicked grin.
"And just what are you insinuating?" demanded Thundercracker.
"That maybe Megatron's looking for a queen?"
Thundercracker stared at his wingmate for a few seconds, then threw the wrench he was holding at him. "You're disgusting! She's not even a vorn old!"
"I was joking!" Skywarp retorted, rubbing the crack in his cockpit where the wrench had struck him. "Besides, I didn't mean he'd get bonded to her right away, just raise her until she was the appropriate age. He might be a crazy dictator, but he's not a sicko either."
"It wasn't funny," Thundercracker complained. "Give me the wrench back."
Skywarp picked up the tool and handed it to him. "Do you even know anything on raising a sparkling? I mean, it's not exactly like you've had the experience."
Thundercracker sighed through his vents and leaned against the half-constructed recharge berth. He really had no idea what he was getting into. Agreeing to take Glory on had been a purely spark-driven decision, based on emotion rather than logic. He hadn't even stopped to consider everything that went into tending a sparkling, keeping her healthy and entertained and educated. He had simply conceded. It normally wasn't in his nature to agree to something without first looking at all the options and making a rational, logical choice based on careful research... but then, most choices didn't involve his sister...
"Do you have any family, Skywarp?"
Skywarp snorted. "Only child. My creators always said one of me was enough for Cybertron, let alone our family unit."
"Then you don't understand." He stared down at the wrench in his fingers, running his thumb across the scratched steel. "This isn't just about some kid they yanked out of a blasted building. This is my sister's daughter. This is family, shared programming. You don't question that kind of loyalty."
"So you're saying you're more loyal to your family than to the 'Cons?"
"Not at all," he said quickly, thinking fast to prevent Skywarp from jumping to conclusions. "I'm just saying that I would never question my loyalty to my family... not any more than I would question my loyalty to the Decepticons."
Skywarp was silent for awhile, thoughtful again.
"I still think there's going to be problems," he said finally.
"Like what?" demanded Thundercracker.
"Like Starscream, for instance. Not to mention Astrotrain, Blitzwing, the Stunticons, the Combaticons, Soundwave... slag, the entire base isn't going to be too happy to have a kid running around underfoot. Rumble and Frenzy are bad enough." He slammed the heel of his hand against his forehead. "Oh Primus, I just had an awful thought -- what if she hooks up with those two? The Autobots'll have won the war right then and there."
"Then we just keep her away from the cassettes," Thundercracker replied. "As for everyone else..." He shrugged. "I'm sure they'll get used to her."
"If they don't stomp her to scrap first," Skywarp muttered.
"Instead of standing there making up worst-case scenarios, you can help me get this put together." He gestured at the scattered components of the recharge bunk.
"Nah, I'm late for patrol as it is. And some of us don't have the day off, either." He turned to go, paused as if remembering something, and turned back. "Hey TC... uh... sorry about your sister."
It took a minute for Thundercracker to absorb the apology. By the time he turned back to the doorway, Skywarp was gone.
Silently he finished assembling the smaller bunk, pushing it against the wall opposite his own bunk. He'd decided that, for the first little while at least, Glory would share his quarters. There weren't many spare rooms to be had, and those Megatron chose to save for the warriors. Besides, Glory would most likely want to be close to a trusted adult for a few weeks. Especially considering what she had just been through...
He turned to his computer and opened the picture files again, studying the image of Windblade and Piston. Primus Almighty, why hadn't she ever told him she'd had a child? Surely she would let her brother know such a thing! They had been so close before he had departed aboard the Nemesis... Or was that the problem right there? In leaving Cybertron with Megatron's forces, had he somehow managed to sever ties with Windblade? Did she somehow think that he had chosen the Decepticons over his family? Or had Piston played a hand in it? He hadn't given any indication that he disliked Thundercracker or his relationship with Windblade, but that didn't mean hostilities hadn't existed.
At any rate, he would never know now. He could only accept what had happened and move on.
He surveyed his quarters, noting their starkness for the first time. He was not a mech who indulged in material possessions, unlike Skywarp, who delighted in collecting Earth kitsch, or Astrotrain, who decorated his own quarters with such "trophies" as crushed Earth vehicles and components from slain Autobots. And he preferred it that way -- it was always pleasant to return from patrol or a battle to a room free of distraction and clutter, to relax and unwind without stumbling over or crashing into some piece of junk or other. But to a sparkling, he realized, this might as well be a prison cell.
I'll have to see about getting her some toys, he thought. Heh, won't THAT look odd on the acquisitions list. Unless she brings her own, of course...
He would figure out precisely what she needed when she arrived, he supposed. Trial and error and all that. He was very new to this childcare business, after all.
Break...
The rendezvous point with the Decepticons chosen to escort Glory through the space bridge was a sandstone arch deep in the desert, close to the entry to the space bridge but far enough from the Autobot base to avoid their prying optics. Three mechs gathered around the arch, the white-hot sunlight seeming to make their armor burst into brilliant flame. Heat rose in shimmering transparent waves all around, giving the landscape a distorted underwater appearance. Every so often one of them would scan the wavering horizon and burning blue sky for any sign of activity, but so far all they had seen were a few hawks and a lone mangy coyote that Starscream had attempted to use for target practice. Luckily for the coyote, Megatron had interveined -- not out of any concern for the creature, but concern that the Autobots might be watching and interpret the action as an invitation to fight.
Thundercracker brushed an inquisitive lizard off of his leg and leaned against the arch. This still seemed so unreal to him. Part of him wondered if, should he doze off here, he would wake up to find himself back in his quarters, this entire incident with the young sparkling nothing more than a dream. In a way, he almost wished it would happen. He was entering completely unfamiliar territory, and that more than anything else frightened him, for it was nearly impossible to logically consider the unknown.
"They're late," Megatron said at last, breaking the silence.
"Maybe they're not coming at all," Starscream suggested. "Maybe this is all a bad joke... or a trap."
"You idiot, the Autobots wouldn't use a sparkling as bait in a trap," snarled Megatron.
"If there even IS a sparkling," Starscream retorted. "And who says it's the Autobots? Shockwave might have cooked this up just to eliminate you..."
"If there is a treacherous Decepticon among my forces, it's you, Starscream," Megatron snapped. "Enough with your conspiracy theories."
Thundercracker raised a hand to shield his optics as he peered into the distance, his vision magnifying automatically to zero in on an anamoly on the horizon. "Sir, mechs approaching."
"How many?" demanded Megatron.
"Three. Two Seekers and a ground-based vehicle."
Megatron nodded. "Still convinced this is a trap, Starscream?"
Starscream snorted. "No being too careful, Megatron. Besides, suppose this whole sparkling business is a trap in and of itself? Something to make us soften our guard to an attack. Slag, the kid could even be a spy..."
"That's the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard," muttered Thundercracker. "Whoever heard of using a sparkling as a spy?"
The ground vehicle -- a Cybertronian armored transport -- pulled up to the arch, dust settling around it in tawny clouds. Overhead, the two Seekers circled like birds of prey, keeping a watchful eye out for an approaching human or Autobot threat. Megatron stepped forward to address the transport.
"Well?" he demanded. "Where is she?"
"In the back," the transport mech replied, popping his doors open. "Quiet the whole trip. Wonder if she went into recharge or something..."
While Megatron conferred with the transport Decepticon, Thundercracker walked around the vehicle and approached the doors. Hesitantly he glanced inside.
A pair of wide scarlet optics, unnaturally large for the face they were set in, stared back. The little femme sat on a bench inside the vehicle, every servo tense as if she were a turbofox set to spring. She was small, not as small as Rumble or Frenzy but smaller than a minibot, with royal purple and silver plating and a domed helm similar to that worn by the Autobot spy Mirage. Curious vertical slits marked her forearms and shinguards, and he wondered briefly what their purpose was. In her arms she clutched a green toy cyberdragon, and a small travel case sat on the bench next to her. Her silver face expressed fear and curiousity as she continued to stare at him.
She looks like her mother, he thought with a lump in his fuel intake. Cybertronian parents would often unconsciously design their children to resemble one parent or the other, and normally the resemblance leaned heavily toward the father's side. But the wide-eyed look of nervous observation Glory was giving him at that moment struck him forcefully as belonging to Windblade.
Snap out of it! he told himself. You're the intelligent adult here. Act like it.
"Hey there," he greeted, giving a small wave. "I'm Thundercracker. I'm your mother's co-creation."
Glory didn't move.
"Um... I'm your uncle," he tried. Perhaps her parents hadn't used the proper names for their family unit.
She just continued to stare, though he did see her joints relax slightly.
"Come on out," he coaxed. "I don't bite."
Hesitantly she stood, still clutching the dragon as if it were a priceless artifact. She edged toward the door, and he reached in and grabbed her beneath the arms to help her out of the vehicle. He felt her tense up a little at his touch, but she didn't fight him. Once he had her on the ground, he reached in and retrieved her traveling case, subspacing it.
As soon as she and her belongings were out of the vehicle, the mech transformed to his robot mode, and he pulled a stack of datapads out of subspace and held them out to Megatron. "Where's the sparkling's caretaker?"
"Right there." Megatron nodded at Thundercracker.
"Right." He turned to face the Seeker. "Medical records and adoption documents. I'll need your signature on the latter."
Thundercracker took the datapads and scrawled a few Cybertronian glyphs onto the last pad in the stack before handing it back. "Is that all?"
"That's it," the mech grunted. "She's all yours." And he folded himself back into his transport mode and drove away, the Seekers following.
Megatron looked down at Glory. "So this is the cause of all the fuss, then?"
Glory ducked behind Thundercracker's leg.
"Hey, he's not going to hurt you," Thundercracker told her, trying to step to the side. Glory responded by clinging to his leg, preventing him from moving.
"How cute, she loves her uncle," Starscream noted with disgusted sarcasm. "That's so sweet, I think I'm going to purge a tank."
"Starscream, shut up," Megatron ordered. He turned back to the femme, who looked back with wide optics. "Come out where I can look at you, young one."
Reluctantly she released her uncle's leg and shuffled out from behind him. She stood absolutely still as he gazed down at her, clinging to the toy dragon the whole while.
"Younger than I expected," Megatron mused. "What age do the records give?"
Thundercracker checked. "Less than a quarter of a vorn -- about fifteen of this planet's years."
"Then it will be a good long while before she is useful to us." He cupped his chin, considering.
"No use keeping her if she's just going to be a drain on our resources," Starscream grumbled.
"The decision on whether or not she stays is mine alone, Starscream," Megatron growled.
Glory continued to stare at the Decepticon leader, optics wide with wonder. Megatron looked her over once more, then nodded as if finding something that satisfied him.
"Back to the base," he ordered. "Thundercracker, transport the femme."
"Um... how, sir?" he asked. Despite being so small, she was still too big to fit in his cockpit, and children this age generally weren't outfitted with anti-grav yet...
"Carry her, you imbecile," Megatron retorted, as if it were completely obvious. "And the moment you get her to the base, take her to Hook and have him give her a physical."
"Yes, sir."
Starscream gave a sneer before leaping into the air, transforming in mid-leap and shrieking into the hot blue sky. Megatron activated his anti-grav and followed. Thundercracker puzzled over his commander's comment a moment, then shrugged and transformed to his jet mode.
"Hop on, kid," he told her, waggling his wings. "It won't be a comfy ride, but it'll just be for a little while until we get to base."
She just watched him, those big optics seeming to drink in his every detail.
"Come on, kid, it's just you and me now," he told her. "This is a rough world, and we're going to have to stick together if we're going to make it here. Okay?"
She shifted from foot to foot nervously, then spoke for the first time since they'd met: "'Kay."
"And Megatron and Starscream really aren't that bad," he said comfortingly, hoping to cheer her a little. "Just give them a little time, and I'm sure they'll warm up to you."
She nodded, then tucked her dragon into subspace and climbed onto Thundercracker, laying down atop him and clinging to his back. He kicked off into the air and trailed after Megatron and Starscream, taking it a little slower so he wouldn't risk Glory falling off.