When exposed to the new on-cycle's light outside the box, the sparkling was arroused from a foggy half recharging state. The first thing he saw was Megatron, reaching for him to pull him out of the box. Megatron's servo was a little shaky at first. The only other sparkling he'd held before was Optimus, and that was a long time ago. Not to mention, Megatron was trying to cradle the sparkling with one arm. Megatron sat down on the floor, suddenly feeling very overwhelmed. The little one was still wheezing from the cords wrapped around his neck. But Megatron made no move to cut the cords entangling the sparkling's neck, arms, and wings. Megatron was in shock from the responsibility that had just been placed in his servos. He knew what to do, but could not force himself to do it. Soon Soundwave was on his knees in front of him and began pulling the cords off of the sparkling. The sparkling hummed and jostled about as he regained the ability to vent properly and flex his wings.
"How old do you think he is?" Dion asked from over Megatron's shoulder. Megatron pondered for a moment. The sparkling was very small, had no external armor, and he was covered in a clear gel that made him a bit slippery in Megatron's grasp.
"I think... he could have been sparked last off-cycle." Megatron hesitated.
"What?" Dion shouted. Soundwave looked up from the sparkling. The news was hard to take. Optimus wasn't quite up to speed, so Megatron explained.
"Deadlock was gone last off-cycle because he was stealing this sparkling from his creators. I think the sparkling was brought online last off-cycle because he's still covered in..." Megatron paused. The medicine's long name escaped his memory banks. "It's put on newsparks to keep their frames clean and healthy during their first orns online and this one still has a thick coat of it." Optimus felt the sparkling's right ped. Sure enough, it did feel rather slimy.
"Do you have a designation yet?" Optimus asked the sparkling. In response, the sparkling giggled and snuggled closer to Megatron's chest. Optimus gleamed as if he thought that was supposed to mean something. Megatron smirked, knowing that the reaction was only brought on by Optimus tickling the sparkling's ped.
"Vossian sparklings: earn designation after first flight." Soundwave spoke up. He knew this because his carrier taught him Vossian traditions.
"Then he's too young to have one." Optimus assumed.
It was common knowledge that sparklings had to be kept warm constantly. So it didn't make any sense to Soundwave to see a newspark stripped of his armor. The sparkling's wings were painted white with a red stripe at the tip of each wing, while the rest of him was paintless grey metal. So Soundwave figured the sparkling must have been built with white armor to begin with.
"Why would Deadlock want a newspark?" Dion wondered. "He's hardly keeping us in line" he gave Megatron a look. "Why bother with a needy sparkling?"
"Because he's expensive... important like us." Megatron answered. 'Important enough to disguise.' Soundwave realized. Surely a couple of unsuspecting second frame younglings would be much easier to capture without notice, than a crying and screaming newspark. That was why Deadlock took the extra precaution of stripping the sparkling of his armor. Soundwave was about to voice his idea, when he realized how the sparkling was behaving with Megatron. Megatron lifted the sparkling up to a sitting position and hugged the sparkling around his torso with his only arm. The sparkling playfully batted his servo at Megatron's neck. Then the sparkling began to happily chirp incoherent phrases to Megatron. Soundwave thought the sparkling must be intelligent to be so mobile at such a young age. Still he worried about the way the sparkling nuzzled Megatron's spark chamber, and the way the sparkling would not stop chirping until Megatron gave him some sign of recognition. Soundwave decided to test his suspicion. He offered his arms opened wide. Megatron did not hesitate to hand over the sparkling to Soundwave. After all, the sparkling was getting to be a little restless and difficult to hold with one arm. The handoff went smoothly until the sparkling cast a tear-filled look over his shoulder at Megatron. Megatron saw the glistening coolant filling those two blue orbs. The sparkling opened his mouth wide, about to scream when Megatron hunched forward and took the sparkling in his arm again. Content once more, the sparkling was instantly silenced as he clung to Megatron's neck.
"Sparkling is a dilemma." Soundwave droned. Megatron shrugged.
"I don't mind, Soundwave. This is normal behavior."
"Sparkling bonding to creators: normal. Sparkling bonding to youngling not of kin: abnormal." Soundwave countered. It took Megatron a moment to figure it out. Then he panicked, because deep down he knew it was true.
"You don't really believe this sparkling thinks I'm his sire do you?!" Soundwave nodded. Megatron quickly stood up and tried to handoff the sparkling to Dion. "Then you take him." Megatron exclaimed.
"What? Why me?" Dion yelped. He held up his servos, refusing to take the sparkling.
"Well someone has to take him before he imprints on me more." The sparkling chomped down on Megatron's shoulder as if he knew Megatron was talking about him. Megatron cringed for a nanoklick. "Strong denta." he mumbled to himself. Dion eventually accepted. But just as Dion was pulling the sparkling from Megatron's chest, Megatron looked down at the sparkling's face and his jaw dropped. The sparkling was flashing his optics at Megatron, showing off their dazzling new red color. "They were blue... I swear to Primus they were blue a few klicks ago!" The others gathered around to investigate, and they too were shocked. The sparkling however stared at them with a look of total innocence. He was even enjoying all of their attention, until he realized he was passed over to Dion's arms. He took a deep intake preparing to scream, when Megatron put a servo digit over the sparkling's lip components. "I'll take care of him." Megatron told Dion.
"Are you sure?" Dion hesitated. "You know the longer he imprints on you, the harder it will be to let him go."
"You mean it will be hard for him to let go. When the time comes I will have no regrets giving him back to his creators." Megatron corrected bitterly. Optimus shook his head. He could already see Megatron becoming attached to the sparkling just as the sparkling already was to him. Then Optimus thought of something. Megatron was actually talking about escaping again. Optimus was sure the failed attempt from the off-cycle before would have broken his spirit. But Megatron was still willing to try if it meant getting the sparkling home safe. Maybe the sparkling was just the right spark of hope that the four of them needed.
Dion let the sparkling climb over Megatron's shoulder and get comfortable. The sparkling purred in Megatron's audio receptor, and was out like a light, instantly falling into recharge. Megatron smiled at the sparkling, hardly noticing the wash rack's door slowly opening. A gasp from Optimus, alerted Megatron and he turned around. The Wretch. He saw her in the doorway. At first he felt annoyed to see her again. But then he looked at the tiny red collar in her servo. 'No!' Megatron thought. 'Not on a newspark!' Megatron knew his agitation was growing to dangerous levels. So before he did anything rash, he laid the recharging sparkling on the floor and out of the way. Megatron marched stiffly towards The Wretch. He failed to protect Optimus from the tortures of the collar before. Now he vowed he would not fail to protect either Optimus or the sparkling. Not this time!