A/N: My gosh has it been almost 2 months!? I'm SO sorry I've not been very faithful updating this story. I just moved into a new place after living in my old one for almost 5 years so I've been adjusting. Thus far I love it and now I'm trying to get this story done so I can try my hand at a sequel to "A Pet Squishy". So don't throw bricks at me for the lateness. I'll do my creative best to give you guys the next chapter MUCH MUCH sooner.

Baby Con

Chapter 10: "Surprise"

Autobot HQ the next day…

"Luggy," Sari called as she entered the room with a strange blue bulge behind her back, "look what I got for you!"

The little Con rushed over to her with excited trills, "Ball? BALL!"

Smiling the young girl produced the new ball and tossed it to him, "Brand new and ready to bounce."

Luggy seized the new ball between his clamps, nuzzling it like a long lost friend. From the far side of the room Prowl smiled.

"That was very generous of you, Sari." the ninja complimented her. "What do you say to Sari, Lugnut?"

"Peease?"

"No. How about 'thank you'?" Prowl corrected.

"Tank you."

"You're welcome, Luggy. Wanna go out and play with it?" Sari offered.

His funny head bobbed vigorously.

Prowl made a short noise, "I'm…not sure that's a good idea."

"Oh come on Prowl. We can't keep him cooped up in the base forever!" Sari protested.

"I am well aware of that. But after the recent mishap in the park…" the ninja continued.

The young girl looked around as if thinking. She felt squishy rubber prod her back.

"Sari? We pay? We pay outside now?" Lugnut requested from over the top of his ball.

"Well, couldn't we go somewhere outside the city? Somewhere where there aren't any people… or sprinklers?" Sari offered the idea.

Prowl's visor arched with thought, "I suppose we could. The place where we camped would be ideal."

"Great!" she turned and shouted, "Hey Bulkster! You wanna go for a drive?"

The green Autobot leaned out his door, "Uh sure. Where we goin?"

"Outside the city in the mountains."

Bulkhead approached, "Ok…what for?"

"It will be a safe place for Lugnut to play." Prowl offered.

"Ok sure. Count me in." Bulkhead shrugged as he transformed, clicking open his back doors.

Prowl did likewise, transforming into his sleek motorbike form. Sari nonchalantly hopped up into Bulkhead's back space since Luggy wouldn't be able to fit comfortably in the front. The girl took a seat on one of the benches in the back of the armored vehicle.

"Come on Luggy." she gestured.

The little Con seemed bewildered by all the transforming as he stared at Bulkhead's form and then Prowl's. He shuttered his optic and seemed to vibrate.

"Come on Luggy." Sari repeated.

The Sparkling opened his optic and then shut it again. He grunted and appeared to be straining as he stood with his ball.

"What's he doing?" Bulkhead inquired.

The black and gold motorcycle faced the Sparkling in an inquisitive manner, "I believe he's trying to transform…like we did."

Sari frowned, "Can he do it?"

"Not with his transformation relays disconnected. Even then transforming takes practice." Prowl explained, "Much like a human learning to walk, transforming will become a natural thing for him. But for now he can't."

Sari hopped out again and took the side of Luggy's wrist with both hands, "Come on Luggy. Let's go."

The Sparkling huffed with frustration but compliantly followed his friend into Bulkhead's cargo hold. With that the small group left the base.

…

The outskirts of Detroit…

Blitzwing's face had been switching from Hothead to Icy for hours. The constant flying and searching for Lugnut's body without reward was grating heavily on the non-existent fuse of his red faced persona.

"This is POINTLESS! If he's NOT offline then I'll MAKE him that way when I find him!" Hothead ranted loudly.

Icy reappeared, the voice of level-headedness of his trine personality, "But I cannot return without him or at least some news. Megatron…"

His face swiveled, "ARG! Megatron can shove it straight up his…"

As usual Random, insanity personified, jumped in, "EXHAUST! HAHAHAHA! But seriously...HAHAHAHA!"

"SHUTUP YOU!" Hothead snarled.

"I have a mission!" Icy tried to keep his voice from rising, which would thus surrender his control of the conversation to Hothead, "And I will fulfill it no matter how long it takes. I just have to think where he could possibly be or who would have him."

Icy began to think, which was his primary function being the only one of Blitzwing's personas who could do so without falling into fits of rage or become distracted by a cloud formation. If Lugnut was online then he'd be undoubtedly trying to return to Megatron. He had been the one, after all, who insisted they search for him for fifty stellar cycles. But, the more likely conclusion was the Decepticon zealot was offline and stashed somewhere. The only question was who would want an offlined Decepticon?

Professor Sumdac? Perhaps he was using Lugnut's body for his cybernetic research as he had done with Megatron's head? The human military? They would certainly have use for the weapon technology. The Autobots? It was possible and they were the most likely of suspects. The main problem was Blitzwing had no idea where the Autobots were stationed in Detroit. He'd tried to follow them but they were always elusive and Megatron thought them beneath his attention.

As the triple changer thought, Random suddenly made himself heard, "Why don't we just pick up the phone and call him? Tell him how much we care!"

"Stop being stupid!" Hothead barked.

Icy reappeared, "No wait…that might work. If I send a pinging signal into Lugnut's communicator I can possibly trace its frequency echo to his relative location."

"DO IT! I'm sick of flying around!" Hothead agreed readily.

"Hee! Hee! I had an idea! It was mine!" Random cheered, clapping his hands.

…

Meanwhile…

Bulkhead bounced up the road, trying to avoid jarring his two passengers but the poorly maintained road wasn't making it easy. Still, Prowl insisted this was the easiest route. In the back of the armored vehicle Sari sat with Luggy who was twiddling with his ball. He appeared a bit sad and Sari guessed it was because of his failure to transform.

"Do you like your new ball Luggy?" the girl asked, trying to distract him.

He bobbed his head silently.

Sari patted his shoulder, "Don't worry Luggy. You'll transform someday."

"When?"

"Well, you heard Prowl. It takes some practice." she explained.

"What Sari tansform to?" he turned his head.

The girl giggled, "Oh I don't transform."

"Sari need pactice?"

She giggled more, "No. I can't transform because I'm a human."

"Human?"

"Yeah."

The green and purple mechling looked at himself and then at Sari, "Luggy not human."

"Right. You're a Cybertronian."

"Cyba-tonian" he fumbled.

It was then Bulkhead pulled to a stop and opened his back doors, "Here we are guys."

"Thanks Bulkhead." Sari hopped out with Luggy behind her.

"Tank you." the Sparkling added.

When they were clear Bulkhead transformed and surveyed the terrain. Lots of trees and some wide open fields. Plenty of room for a Sparkling to play and not a sprinkler in sight. The big Autobot was no stranger to Luggy's predicament. Ever since he was formatted up from his Sparkling body into his formidable adult frame he had dealt with destruction. Often times he would lay waste to an area merely by accident because of his size and considerable strength. He'd caught a lot of criticism because of it. His problems of breaking stuff only increased ten-fold when he arrived on Earth where everything was much tinier and much more fragile. But out here there weren't any lives endangered by a little playtime and he was grateful for that.

"Hey Luggy! Throw me the ball!" Bulkhead opened his claws.

With a mighty heave the little Con threw his new toy and it hit the Autobot in the chest just below his windshield.

"Whoa! Good throw. You're getting good at that." he congratulated.

Lugnut clicked happily and banged his clamps, ready for his favorite game. Sari joined in whilst Prowl sat a short distance away for some nature watching. The game of "catch and chase the ball" went on for several minutes when suddenly Lugnut dropped his ball. His optic shrank to a pinpoint and he jerked his head up as if startled.

"Luggy?" Sari frowned with worry.

The little Con made some strange guttural noises as he looked around like a cat that heard a mouse in the grass. His jaw opened a bit.

Sari touched his shoulder, "Luggy? What's wrong?"

Bulkhead's stepped closer, "What's the matter with him?"

"I don't know." she shook the Sparkling, "Luggy!"

After few seconds the green and purple Con seemed to jerk out of his trance and buzzed with irritation.

"Luggy? Are you all right?"

He clicked with confusion.

"What happened?" Prowl inquired.

The Sparkling tapped the side of his head with a clamp, "Noise…"

Sari touched his arm,"You heard something?"

"What did you hear?" Prowl knelt down slowly.

The Sparkling opened his mouth and emitted a strange, electronic, echoing sound. Sari thought it sounded like submarine sonar mixed with a radio crackle. But Prowl knew the true nature of the sound.

"That is a communication ping." he stated with dread.

"A what?" Sari tipped her head.

"It is a sound used to find the location of an internal communicator."

Bulkhead glanced around, "Why would someone do that to…Luggy?" he trailed off as the obvious struck.

"They're looking for him." Prowl announced gravely.

Luggy wasn't exactly sure what his charges were talking about, but their demeanor and tone told him that something was happening—something bad.

He didn't do anything bad did he?

Sari shook her head, "We have to get out of here."

"We can't go back to our base with him." Prowl explained, "They'll find him AND us."

"Then what are we going to do?"

Prowl turned, trying to formulate a plan. The only answer that would work would be to disconnect Lugnut's internal communicator. But only Ratchet could complete such a delicate procedure and even then it might be too late.

Suddenly there was a bright whitish purple flash and a nearby tree was encased in ice.

Too late.

"It's Blitzwing!" Bulkhead shouted, turning to face the attacking jet.

Like a hellish hail storm the ice beams struck the terrain consuming it in an icy death grip. Prowl immediately sprang into action, grabbing both Sari and Lugnut in his arms and racing for cover. The jet Con wheeled around for another strafing run and Bulkhead was already swirling his wrecking ball to meet him. Ice pillars rose around the Autobot as the triple changer fired repeatedly. With a roar of determination the big mech swung his weapon and obliterated the ice growing around him. But before his ball could wind up for another strike the jet transformed into a tank. Tank treads met Autobot metal, sending both tumbling across the ground.

Meanwhile Prowl deposited the two small charges behind some boulders, out of the line of fire.

"You two stay here and stay out of sight." he commanded before turning and rushing to help Bulkhead.

As soon as the ninja left, Luggy grunted and pulled himself up to peek over the rocks at the ensuing battle. His single red optic was wide, devouring every violent attack and every explosion. The new machine that was once a jet and now a flame-spewing tank was literally grinding Bulkhead's face into the dirt whilst trying to keep the lightening-quick Prowl at bay. Luggy blinked quizzically.

He'd seen that tank before…hadn't he?

"Prepare to meet your doom puny Autobots!" the tank bellowed.

And the voice…why did that accent sound familiar?

Prowl leaped high into the air, spun once, and flung two shurikens at the tank. One pinged off the tank's tough armor but the other embedded into the gun barrel. The tank growled in pain and suddenly transformed. Luggy's jaw dropped open. The tank was a robot…just like him. He was incredibly tall, much taller than Prowl or Bulkhead. Two wings extended downward from his broad back, nearly touching his tank tread ankles. His shoulders were high and boxy giving the impression of great size and power. Twin guns jutted up behind a strange grayish helmet. Then he saw the stern blue face with the red optics.

Red optics?

The chilling face didn't last long. With a blurring turn the blue face was replaced by an angry red one, dominated by a large red visor and a chipped dental plate.

The menacing cream and purple mech leaned forward, dropping his back guns to fire upon Prowl, "Surrender now Autobots or be destroyed!"

Prowl answered with a flying roundhouse kick to the mech's chin. The blow spun the face around twice before settling on yet a third façade. This one was even stranger than the other two. All black with only a menacing, red, jagged mouth and crazy red optics.

He cackled maniacally, "OOO! Fancy feet!"

That laugh…he KNEW that laugh.

"Luggy!" Sari tugged on the Sparkling's foot, "Get down!"

The little Con growled stubbornly and continued watching.

What had Bulkhead shouted before? Blitz…Blitzwing? Yeah…he knew that name! He KNEW that bot!

He didn't know how but his memory core was definitely familiar with the big triple changer.

The big purple and cream mech now had Prowl's leg in his grasp and was proceeding to beat the downed Bulkhead with his body. Metal crumpled, shrapnel flew. Again and again Prowl's limp body struck Bulkhead's.

Finally Luggy whimpered, "Bucky…Powl…"

Before Sari could stop him he tumbled over the sheltering boulders and landed unceremoniously on the ground. Luggy buzzed and ran toward the battle.

"Luggy! NO! Come back!" Sari shouted.

…

Blitzwing held a battered Prowl over his head as his face switched to Icy, "Now that you're 'softened up', you will tell me where Lugnut is."

Prowl remained tight lipped and Bulkhead groaned.

"Silence will cost you." he warned darkly, rearing Prowl back again.

"Bit-zing?" a little low voice rang out.

The Decepticon turned around abruptly, his monocle extending outward. A small green and purple Sparkling was running toward him. The shock of what his optics beheld hit his multiple personalities like a freight train. He tossed Prowl aside.

Icy switched to Hothead.

Hothead switched to Icy.

Icy switched to Random.

Random switched to Hothead.

Finally the red face spat, "WHAT?"

"This is…" Icy fumbled.

"AWW! He's cute!" the creepy jack-o-lantern face squealed.

Icy reappeared, turning his head, "Lugnut?"

"Bit-zing!" the Sparkling suddenly became excited rushing up to the bewildered Deception and grabbing his tank treads. "Bit-zing!"

"NO!" Sari shouted desperately, "LUGGY! GET AWAY FROM HIM!"

Luggy looked back at Sari and then up at Blitzwing but he made no move to retreat. The triple changer had no idea how to react—not an easy task under "normal" circumstances but now it was impossible. Questions filled Icy's logical mind. Outrage and disbelief dominated Hothead's thoughts. Random…well…he thought it was hilarious.

Random reappeared, cackling uncontrollably as he bent over. The sight of the former giant lieutenant now turned into a little chubby Sparkling was too funny. His hands rested on his thigh plates as he stooped over in a fit of crazed laughter.

"EEEE! HEEE! HEEE! HAHAHAHAHA! Looook! Look at how little he is!" Random screeched.

"Stop laughing you moron!" Hothead growled, This is a disaster! Megatron's going to blow a gasket when he sees this!"

"Perhaps…" Icy asserted his opinion, "But my orders are still the same."

Curtly, Blitzwing picked up the Sparkling, tucked him into his storage compartment, transformed into his jet mode, and launched off the ground. He was definitely going to take his time returning to Decepticon HQ. He needed to formulate one hell of a good explanation to give to Megatron.