Author's Notes: Well, I hope this chapter turned out okay. I had trouble thinking of a good title for it since the two parts of this chapter have nothing to do with each other.
Also, in response to CodenameAgentC: Don't worry, I'm going to try to evenly make time for all of my stories. Also, yes, the newspark is a canon character :)
Chapter 3
What Makes A Mech
Optimus Prime started his day in a very typical fashion. He woke up from recharge, he went to a nearby energon dispenser to grab breakfast, and he went to his office to sort requisitions and various other types of paperwork. The Ark needed reinforcement from Decepticon attacks, Wheeljack wanted more copper for a new project, and Prowl had sent a formal request for a new type of training exercise involving holographic simulations of seekers.
Prime sorted through the data pads and wished he could think of some excuse not to do this work right away. While Optimus always kept a stoic front for his mechs, he really hated office work. Normally this was Prowl's job, but Prowl was away on a search and rescue mission in Chicago after a Decepticon attack on the city. Why they were attacking Chicago of all places was anybody's guess.
Optimus had pawned off his office jobs for as long as he could remember. Even when he was a youngling and worked at the docks he always gave the paperwork jobs to his best friend Dion.
Sometimes Dion would cross his mind, and he really missed his old friend. Optimus had seen many deaths since the war began, but Orion had seen only one death, and it was the brutal murder of his best friend. Back then death was something that only occurred on Cybertron ever few thousand vorns. Death was rare and strange, and nobody thought that would ever change. The war made death common, but it was still as unnatural to Optimus now as it was then.
Suddenly he didn't feel like filing the damage reports for the boiler room, so he turned off his computer terminal and went out into the hallway. At that moment he really needed something to distract himself from the memories that threatened to engulf him.
He got his wish when he heard cheering coming from the room that housed Teletran 1. He wondered what it was that made his troops so happy, so he went out to see for himself. A crowd of 'Bots were gathered around Spike and Sparkplug, and Spike was on Bumblebee's shoulders and wearing a strange dark purple dress and square hat. This definitely warranted investigation.
"I take it there is good news?" Optimus asked with an amused tone.
"The best!" Spike proclaimed happily, "I finally graduated high school! I'm free!"
"Now son, just because you don't have to go to school anymore doesn't mean you're allowed to slouch around and do nothing," Sparkplug reminded him, "You still need to find a job and consider getting your own place. You might even want to think about college."
"I don't know Dad," Spike said hesitantly, "I think I'll save up the money I would have used for college and buy my own garage. Fixing cars is something I enjoy doing, and it's a service that people need."
"So does this mean you're officially an adult now?" Bumblebee asked innocently.
"More or less," Spike shrugged, "Though I don't really feel any different. Say, Carly and I are going to the beach this weekend to celebrate the beginning of summer. You wanna come along?"
"Sure thing, buddy!" Bumblebee said excitedly, "Earth beaches feel so warm and peaceful. This is going to be great!"
Optimus watched as mechs congratulated Spike and filled their cubes with energon. He wasn't sure he entirely understood the concept of the graduation, but he knew it meant Spike's studies were over. Apparently this was a big deal to humans.
Sparkplug broke away from the crowd of partying Autobots and went to the entrance of the room to stand beside Optimus. Optimus could tell from the man's face that he was beaming with pride.
"This must be an important day for you, Sparkplug," Optimus said cordially, "We are all proud of Spike, and I am grateful that you shared this moment with us."
"Of course we did, Optimus. You guys are family," Sparkplug said easily, "I'll tell you though, they grow up so fast. It seems like just yesterday Spike was 2 years old and dancing around naked on the front lawn. Now he's 18 and ready to start his own life. Soon he'll have a family of his own. It makes me feel so old."
"I see," Optimus nodded attentively, "So in 2.4 years Spike will be a quarter vorn old. A Cybertronian at that age would still be dependent on their creators for care and knowledge."
"You know, I've never asked you. Does your species even have kids?" Sparkplug asked, "I guess I never considered it because you're giant robots, but you're also aliens, so I guess anything is possible."
"I'm certain there are biological differences when it comes to the creation of new life," Optimus replied diplomatically, "But we do have young ones, commonly called sparklings. We have two ways to create sparklings. Well, three if you include cassette creation."
"Oh, yeah? How does that work?" Sparkplug asked as he reached into his cooler and popped open a beer.
"Well, the most common way Cybertronians used to create life was by going to Vector Sigma and requesting a spark for a freshly built protoform," Optimus explained, "In that case the parameters of personality and loyalty would have to be requested by the mech or femme that wanted the newspark. Sometimes Vector Sigma would bless a sparkling with a special ability that wasn't specified, but that was a rare occurrence. The other method was known as merge spark creation. This is when a mech and femme interface and exchange energy, and that energy turns into a spark in one of the participants. This method was often accidental."
"Whoa! Hold the phone for a second!" Sparkplug exclaimed, "You mean there's such a thing as Cybertronian women?"
"Yes, though they are quite rare now," Optimus said; a slight hint of sorrow in his voice, "Anyway, merge sparks work in the opposite manner of sigma sparks. Merge sparks start life as sparks and need to have bodies built for them while they incubate in a small chamber that keeps them alive. Sigma sparks only occur if the body has already been built for them."
"And that third way you mentioned?" Sparkplug asked.
"Ah yes, cassettes. These can only be created in the body of a carrier," Optimus explained, "Someone like Blaster or Soundwave. Cassettes usually start life as adults and can move and feed themselves independently. They would die without their carrier, however, and this never changes no matter how old they become. I haven't spoken of this in many years Sparkplug, but when I was young my bondmate and I created a newspark."
"Really? You have a kid, Prime?" Sparkplug asked curiously.
"No," Optimus replied ruefully, "I never even got to see my own son after he was born. My bondmate and I went to work just as we always did. She had left the newborn with her father, and I had been gone for an orn and a half shipping supplies for the company I worked for. I was going to meet my son for the first time that day after work, but it was not to be. Megatron attacked us, and our bodies were mangled beyond repair. Ariel and I were both rebuilt and survived, but by the time I came back to Iacon everything was burning to the ground. My son was gone…"
"Wow, I'm sorry Optimus. I had no idea," Sparkplug said apologetically, "No wonder you hate Megatron so much."
"My sparkling was only one of thousands that madmech has killed," Optimus replied bitterly, "I fight because Cybertron, earth, and countless other worlds are in danger so long as Megatron continues his savage crusade for power. The Decepticons destroy all they touch, and good people like you and your son deserve to have a chance for a real future. I promise you Sparkplug, we Autobots will not give up, and the Decepticons will never prevail again."
Megatron looked over the plans for the raid. A brand new power plant was opening in Shanghai. China. It was going to be one of the largest in the world, and all that new energy had the Decepticons' names all over it!
"You are certain your surveillance is accurate, Soundwave?" Megatron asked.
"Affirmative," Soundwave nodded respectfully, "No Autobots in vicinity of nuclear energy plant."
"It will never work!" Starscream harped for what had to be the third time that hour, "Why are we wasting our time on such a paltry prize? We should be going after guaranteed sources of energy, not this untested wreck!"
"Starscream…" Megatron chided Starscream; his voice giving a clear warning to the red and white seeker.
Starscream huffed but stopped whining for the moment. He continued to listen while Megatron and Soundwave conferred over this unreliable source of energon. He wanted to go back to his quarters and get some recharge, but Megatron refused to dismiss him. At this point he was sure Megatron was just torturing him.
"...Then it's settled," Megatron declared, and Starscream realized he had stopped listening at some point, "Starscream, you will take the elite trine and the secondary trine tomorrow morning to gather energon."
"What? I have to take the Coneheads?" Starscream complained, "But they're idiots! Why can't I use Astrotrain? His cargo hold is much bigger than a seeker's!"
"Oh, so now you think there's enough energon there for a large transport vehicle?" Megatron asked mockingly, "I thought you said, and I quote, there won't be enough energon at that plant to power Reflector's flash button."
Starscream growled, and he wanted to protest further, but he had run out of arguments to make. Obviously Megatron was purposefully giving him inferior cargo space to punish him for contradicting the plan. Starscream was often accused of being petty by his trinemates, but he believed Megatron was the truly petty one. If that overgrown pop gun wasn't so powerful Starscream would've killed him a long time ago.
"Yes Megatron, I did say that," Starscream muttered through gritted denta, "I guess I'll just use what I've got. Thank you for giving me this task, Lord Megatron."
Starscream had said Lord Megatron as sarcastically as he could, and he turned to go after getting the last word in, but things were never that easy...
Megatron grabbed Starscream roughly by his left wing and gripped it until there were dents in the extremely sensitive appendage!
"Not so fast, Starscream," Megatron hissed in Starscream's audio receptor, "You think you can disrespect me like that and get away with it?"
"N-No, Megatron!" Starscream sputtered fearfully; realizing he'd provoked the grey warlord too far once again, "I meant no disrespect! You're a brilliant leader! I'm sorry! I never do it agai-"
Starscream was thrown across the room and crashed into a computer monitor! The sparks got into his joints and hurt him, but he was almost afraid to get up. Maybe if he pretended to be offline Megatron wouldn't beat him any further this time.
"Get up, Starscream!" Well, so much for that.
Starscream gingerly lifted himself out of the broken monitor and lifted his arms up to his face plate defensively. He shook and waited for the next blow, which happened a few seconds later. Megatron kicked him in the chassis and forced him to his knees! He then grabbed the right wing, and slowly started to pull it apart. Starscream begged for him to stop, but that only made Megatron want to do it more.
A few minutes later, Starscream was a battered heap on the floor, and his precious wing was completely disconnected from his body. He whimpered and hoped that his master was finally finished humiliating him. Megatron looked over his handiwork with a scowl, and shook his head as if looking at a dimwitted student.
"You are dismissed, Starscream," Megatron rasped, "Get to the medbay before I drag you there, and pick that up! I don't need your scrap littering my control room!"
Starscream grabbed his dismembered wing and slowly picked himself up off the ground. Hook would probably scold him for getting himself in trouble again. That was usually the way. He knew if he behaved more like that sycophant Soundwave he would be safer, but he just couldn't do it. He hated Megatron. He had always hated Megatron, and Starscream knew as he walked away that he was going to kill that mech one day.