So, I was bored when I wrote this, and I was feeling kind of sad, so I gave you lots of fluff and funny stuff. I hope you enjoy and it makes you a little bit happier! Here you go, by no means the end of this story, CHAPTER... *checks chapter number* 26! Wow... only halfway through what I've written! Not even! WOW!
No one answers, because it suddenly begins to snow. First snow of the season, if their shocked expressions are right. I hold out my servos in delight, catching the light fluffs in them. I notice how Megatron is ducking as far away from the ice as he can. I blink. Then I grin. I gather as much snow as I can, steadily forming it into a ball until it was almost the size of me. I teleport it into a freezer before gathering the supplies I need. Building it was easy, using Optimus' memories of building things to quickly set it up. More snow had fallen, making it so when I set it down that it was silent. I went back and grabbed the giant snowball, loading it into the catapult and aiming it carefully at Megatron. More snow was falling faster into the shovel of it, and I build the ball of snow bigger and bigger until it was almost too big for the medieval weapon. I pull it back and release, sending the snow flying through the hole and hitting Megatron in the helm, making him stutter in shock. He glares at me when I burst into peals of laughter. I teleport the catapult away and ball up some more snow and hit him with it. It falls onto right above his spark chamber, and he shivers.
"Come on, grumpy. The snow isn't going to hurt ya," I say. I toss another ball of snow, this time at Luke, who ducks to form his own snowball, and mine hits Ironhide. My optics widen in horror. The Weapons Specialist slowly turns to face me, easily brushing off the snow. Then, very carefully, he aims a stunning blast at me, which I barely dodge. I dive, forming more balls of snow and toss them back at him, most of them hitting, though a few of them falling down to the laughing soldiers, who quickly pulled on winter coats, hats, and gloves and join in.
Things get really interesting when Sunny and Sides join in, but using paintballs instead of snowballs. Those everyone is trying to dodge, because they are silver and gold, like them, and basically it was them being able to rub it in our faces if they hit us. I ended up being almost completely gold, except for my servos and my chassis, which was silver.
"Did you guys do that on purpose?" I demand as I dive into a supply closet and a lovely milk chocolate brown paint, which I used to dump over the twins. They protest, snatching me out of the air and dumping the last of the large amount of brown paint on my helm, making me brown, silver and gold.
"What? Do on purpose?" Sunny asks with a half-meant growl.
"Don't know what she's talkin' about, Sunny," Sides adds with a cheeky grin.
"She must be confused. Must come with being a little sparkling," Sunny says, mockingly cradling me close to his spark. I kick out, making him wince with the slight discomfort of it being so close to his spark, and he grapples for something just above my wings' base but below my neck. I freeze, curling up against my will. "See? Nice and easy," Sunny teases. I slowly pull a small knife from subspace, again, moving slowly because of whatever he had done. Then, with great care, I stabbed it behind me, making him yelp and release me as a dot of energon pooled from the tip of his finger where I had stabbed him. I spread my wings and glare at him.
"What did you do?" I threaten, still holding the knife.
"Whoa, femmling! Do you even know how to use that?" Sideswipe asks, doing the same thing that Sunny had done and snatching the small blade from me and subspacing it. "Little ones shouldn't play with sharp things or things that go boom," he teasingly scolds.
"KAYLA! Sunny and Sides are bullying me!" I cry out.
Sides almost drops me. "You're callin' in your big sister for help? That's not fair!" he protests.
"Put her down, Sideswipe," Kayla orders sternly.
"But she's nicer this way," he protests. I barely listen. My processor is slowing I suddenly slide into recharge against my will, listening to Sides' half spark beat loudly close to me. This was so unfair.
"DO YOU LIKE IT BEING DONE TO YOU? NO? THEN WHY IN PIT WOULD YOU DO IT TO HER?" I heard someone shouting. Was that Elita? I realized that the spark I was next to was a full spark. Who was holding me, then? I couldn't seem to shake recharge from my processor, and the constant pull back to it was annoying. I was one of those people that when they wake up, it's like a snap, and I'm up. This was odd for me.
I blearily online my optics, looking at the scene of Side's cowering behind Sunny, who was glaring at her stoically, though every once in a while, a flicker of fear came across his faceplates. Elita continued to scold them until I finally managed to speak up.
"Stop yelling," I mumble. The shouting cuts off abruptly. I blink up at Sunny and Sides owlishly. "What did you two do?" I ask sleepily.
"The-" Elita began.
"Mm-mm. I asked them," I say, cutting her off. I yawn.
"We pulled you into forced recharge," Sides says sheepishly.
"Mmmm. Is that why I'm so… sleepy?" I ask.
"Yes. The effects of it should last for the next few days," Elita says before I can cut her off.
"That wasn't-" I cut off, yawning again, "-very nice. What are you guys gonna do when you need someone that is actually intelligent to pull off a prank?" I ask.
I hear muffled laughter from off to the sides, but am too tired to actually look. Instead, I close my optics and lower my helm, falling into light recharge once more.
When I woke up again, I was with someone else. One quick glance told me it Was Ironhide, and since the insane mech wasn't attempting to shoot me or anything, I was content to fall back into slumber. It became almost like a game to me, guess if I was with someone who had already held me or not. After Ironhide, it was back to Sides, then Sunny, then Ratchet, who I actually woke three times in a row before I was handed off. I didn't start getting annoyed until it had gone through all but three mechs at least twice, then I woke to Mirage grumbling and holding me as far away from him as possible.
"What are you doing?" I ask blearily. Mirage jolts in surprise, waking me up slightly more.
"You keep disappearing!" he protests.
"Am I? Why does that bother you?" I ask.
"I-I am not sure," he says, bringing me closer. Much better, I can hear his spark now. I cudde as close as I can to it before falling asleep once more. I wake up and nearly fall back to sleep immediately. Whoever had me now had a large, powerful presence, but it was also kind and fatherly. I blearily open one optic and see who it was. It was Optimus, absently reading a data-pad while holding me.
"What day is it?" I complain.
"The date has not changed since you were sent into this state," Optimus replies, answering my real question. I groan and go limp once more, but force myself to stay awake. It's difficult. Very difficult. I had deduced that the bigger the spark presence, the faster I would fall back into recharge.
"Sleep, little one. It is truly pointless for you not to. Besides, it will be good for you, saying as you stubbornly resist recharge every chance you get," Optimus scolds gently. I try to open my optics to glare at him, but I am forced once more into recharge. Damn Prime to pit.
I wake up to an even more powerful spark-presence. But, I don't fall asleep immediately. I feel safe again, which, as I have said before, makes me wary. Wariness causes alertness, causes sleep's pull to lessen. I open my optics fully and even manage to sit up and look blearily at the mech who is holding me right over his spark chamber. Megatron. But I don't worry. This is Megatron, Lord Protectorate of Cybertron. He hurts me, and I am pretty sure he would commit suicide. Well, not that extreme, but still.
"Hi," I say. Then I press as close as I can to his spark, trying to absorb its warmth. I realize that we are outside, and that it's snowing again. "Pretty," I say, lazily reaching up and grabbing at flakes, watching them melt in my metal palms. "I thought you didn't like cold," I say to him.
"I do not, but you do," he says.
"Well, I like being warm more, so can we go back inside?" I ask pleadingly, shivering despite the warmth from his spark.
"Yes, we may, little one," he says.
I frown. "Why do you guys only ever call me little one?" I ask grumpily.
"Because you are very small," he replies, amused.
"So are the guys, and my sisters," I complain.
"But you are the smallest," he replies evenly, travelling inside. I go limp once more, allowing my learned reaction to the comfort and feeling of safety to be pushed away, letting me fall asleep next to the biggest spark presence in the base.
When I wake up, I whine because I'm back with Sides, and his half spark, while still warm and comforting, is only that, a half spark. I teleport over to the next closest spark signature, sigh contently, and fall back to sleep, never seeing Ratchet and Sides exchange shocked and bemused looks with each other.
I wake up slightly enough to teleport to the next biggest spark signature is close enough for me to feel it. It's Ironhide, who doesn't complain in the slightest, just gently runs a finger over my helm in greeting and continues on his way.
It continued this way, me teleporting to different spark presences, falling asleep to find that I had been handed off again, then teleporting away once more.
After the third day, I was currently with Optimus, content for the moment. My sleepiness was slowly wearing off, enough that I wasn't falling asleep every few minutes, but I still was feeling too lazy to do anything productive. I felt a pull of another spark presence, though it felt off, I teleported over to it. It was Megatron, and he looked pissed.
"What's wrong, grumpbot?" I ask.
"Away with you, sparkling," he growls at me, gently setting me on the ground and continuing on his way.
"Uh uh," I say. "You have the biggest spark presence here. I'm staying," I say stubbornly.
"No, you are not. I have to leave to assist a few of our troops who were ambushed by a unit of Sentinel's drones," he says.
Ah, that's why he was so mad.
"Send Ironhide, he needs the target practice before he blows up Ratchet from lack of anything interesting for him do," I advise. Megatron pauses at the suggested.
"What did you do?" he asks. I smile slyly.
"Me? Nothing. But I'm not the only devil around here, and the guys have been hanging out with the twins lately, and casting plotting looks at Ironhide," I say.
"I am SURE that you had nothing to do with this and did not promise to try to get Ironhide off base if you could," Megatron says sarcastically, but he calls Ironhide over. "Ironhide, could you go and assist the idiots who got ambushed by drones? I would go myself, but the bratling is insisting I say and she is refusing no as an answer," he says I half lid my optics as though I was mere inches from recharge instead of internally laughing.
"Yeah, at least I'll get to blow something up with my cannons," Ironhide says, transforming and rolling out. I let out a snort of laughter as soon as he was gone.
"f I get shot by that trigger happy maniac, I am blaming you, little one," Megatron growls.
I let out a loud whistle on a frequency that we had actually developed precisely for this prank. You couldn't hear it unless you were clued into the frequency code, or you were Optimus or Megatron. Megatron was surprised to see his brother being apart of the prank, apparent from the look on his faceplates.
"You have been pulled into such… childishness as well?" he asks.
"They are very convincing when they are behaving," Optimus replies grumpily. It hadn't been easy to convince him. Actually, it had taken all of us sitting on him as he just woke from recharge and refusing to move until he agreed to help. "Even Prowl?"
"This is NOT through choice," the Enforcer growls.
"No, he's not lying. We had to convince Jazz to get him to agree. You don't want to know how he did it, but it was very LOUD," Luke says, glaring at the couple. There were a couple of snickers, including from Jazz himself, while Prowl shoved his mate into a wall.
"Don't you dare be breaking my base again, Prowl," I warn idly.
"Why is it still YOUR base? It is now the only base and technically, it is the Cybertronian base, not yours, run by Optimus and myself," Megatron quips.
"And without me, you guys would still be having your stupid fight. Therefore, my base," I say evenly.
"I'm tempted to send you back into recharge, bratling," Megatron replies.
"Ah, but then you would have to put up with me for the next few days while I'm incapable of doing anything but sleep," I say, yawning, the prank being fully set up now. I close my optics and let recharge take me once more while Megatron continued to grumble until he realized I was asleep. When I woke up, it was to an outraged roar as Ironhide found bright pink glittery paint, tooth magnets, and basically everything that we could get that could be associated with the Tooth Fairy. No, it was not my idea. All I had a part in was getting Ironhide off base for it to be set up.
"BRATLINGS! GET YOUR AFTS OVER HERE, NOW!" Ironhide roars. I wince, hiding behind Megatron's helm. "CAITY!" he calls. Why was I the first one he calls out?
"I had nothing to do with it! I was just told to get you off base! I was sleeping too much to actually have any part in the planning!" I say as I fly hesitantly out.
"Who did do this then?" the enraged warrior demands with surprising calmness.
I glance around the room, taking in the next course of action. "I seem to be having memory problems at the moment and can't recall exactly who pranked you…" I lie, not looking at him, but rather at the ground. There was a collective sigh of relief, and the idiots gave themselves away. "You IDIOTS! You're supposed to act INNOCENT!" I snap impatiently.
"Thank you, Caity," Ironhide says with a small laugh as he fires up his cannons. Setting off the second part of the prank that I hadn't known about. Warm, nearly hot, cleaning solvent poured from the ceiling, soaking both me an Ironhide. I keep my helm down, gaping in shock. I shiver before turning to glare around the room and giving specific names of everyone who had helped with the pranks.
"You. Did. Not. Just. Dump. Solvent. On. Me," Ironhide growls, but at least he's no longer covered in the first part of the prank. Then I stared at him in abject horror. His own paint was gone!
"I-Ironhide. Y-y-your paint job," I stutter fearfully. The high pitched sound byte that he emits sends everyone to the ground. With great care, he catches me and slides the headphones, deafening me abruptly. The ringing in my processor dies down slowly, and I find that the last of my exhaustion had been banished.
"What was that, dog whistle for Cybertronians?" I quip. I look up at him so I could know what his answer was, but instead of getting one, I felt a sort of pressure at the back of my mind, which I prodded until it released with a message.
::Did you know that that was going to be done?:: he asks.
Primus is quick to show me how I could respond to comm. speak. ::Uh, no? Why would I have gone out there if I had KNOWN that I was going to get pranked as well?:: I ask in return. ::How come no one has ever showed us how to do this before?:: I add.
::We prefer being able to listen in on what you are planning.:: he replies dryly.
::Plan? We don't plan. We plot, and then wing it when everything goes wrong.:: I reply, pretending I was offended by the notion.
::I'm surprised you even do that.:: Ironhide replies.
::You and me, both.:: I agree. I look at the poor pranksters who are holding their helms in extreme pain.
::Are you older than Optimus and Megatron?:: I ask.
::Ratchet and I practically raised them both.:: Ironhide says, a fair bit of pride evident in the way he said it.
::Ah, that would explain why they seem so wary to piss you off.:: I say.
::Indeed.:: Ironhide replies, and I can feel him chuckling. The mechs and femmes around us suddenly outright collapse, except for Ratchet, who grins and returns to his full height as though nothing happened.
::Can he not…?:: I ask hesitantly.
::No. He can hear it. He just is the only one who thought to turn down the setting on their audio receptors.:: Ironhide says.
::Is it safe to remove the headphones?:: I ask.
Instead of answering me, the headphones are deftly removed and I can hear again. Silence.
"Wow. What WAS that?" I ask warily.
"That was me simply playing a high frequency sound byte, amplified and on a loop. It is a simple trick that has worked for vorns, since our leaders were entrusted into our care," Ironhide replies.
With matching groans, said leaders begin to wake up, and as soon they do, they are fast to back up sheepishly, as though they were children and they KNOW that they are in HEAPS of trouble. Ironhide is having none of it and easily drags both of them to their peds and into a separate room in the bunker, something that I found interesting as how they managed it so perfectly to meld into the original frame of the bunker, me coming along for the ride, and Ratchet right behind us.
"Do you have anything to say for yourselves, younglings?" Ironhide growls expectantly.
"Ironhide, we are no longer younglings! You have no-" Megatron begins to protest but cuts himself off abruptly at Ironhide's glare. "I apologize for assisting in the prank, Caretaker," he says, helm bowed and apologetic.
"Ironhide, it was simply a bit of harmless fun that the sparklings wished to do," Optimus says carefully. I gape at him in shock. I knew for a fact that he had planned most of the first prank after he agreedto help, and I had no idea of how much of the second he had a part of.
"I beg to differ!" I say. "May I differ? Please?" I ask Ironhide. I don't get a no, so I press on. "You're the one that planned most of it! Even suggested it to Sunny and Sides that they help them have some fun! You WANTED a prank to be played!"
Optimus looks up at me in surprise. "Very well, I seem to be unable to fool a sparkling, at the moment. The prank was my idea," he says, bowing his helm, though I am pretty sure it is more to hide his smirk than out of shame. The mech is shameless.
"Just out of curiousity, Optimus gave you the most trouble, didn't he?" I ask, not at all fooled by his act of apologeticness.
"Yes. He's worse than the twins, and we raised them, too," Ratchet mutters. Optimus makes a noise of protest, but Ratchet's pulling out his wrench stops him. I think that it's enough to stop everyone in their tracks if they were to see it.
"Though, you are becoming a close second," Ironhide mutters.
"This will simply not do. I can not stand second place," I say. "OP, you need to not act like a youngling, so I can become number one menace," I add.
"NO!" came the equally horrified replies from all four mechs.
"Oh, cool it. I was JOKING!" I say. They sigh in relief. "But seriously, that second part of the prank wasn't cool at all. ESPECIALLY because it was on ME."
"Calm down, little one, I am the one scolding them, not you," Ironhide says. "Please put on the headphones again, I do not need Ratchet yelling at me for teaching you more Cybertronian curse words than you already know."
I sigh and slide them on, watching in amusement as Ironhide thoroughly scolds Optimus and Megatron. Optimus looks positively terrified by the end of it, and if I can assume, has apologize legitimately for his actions at least twelve times now. Megatron has said nothing, but he steadily begins to hunch more and more.
"You know, Megatron only had a part in helping me get you off the base, why is he getting in so much trouble, too?" I ask once it's safe for the headphones to be removed.
"Because, as one of the leaders of our race, he should have had half the processor to put a stop to it," Ratchet says, glaring at the two grown mechs who were cowering like scolded younglings. Which, in the presence of these two mechs, they were.
"I already apologized, Caretaker!" Megatron protests.
"He did. He didn't even try to skive off getting yelled at," I say.
"Why are you taking his side?" Ironhide asks suspiciously.
"Because I don't think anyone has realized yet the his helm and half his chassis is paintless," I say. Megatron looks down in surprise to find that I am right.
"Little brother, you ruined my paint job," Megatron says slowly. He tackles the slightly smaller mech, and in about three seconds, its a full out brawl between the two. I sigh.
"They never grow up, do they?" Ratchet asks in disbelief at the sight.
"No one ever truly grows up. They just learn how to act in public. Not to mention that the war has just ended, and the biggest threat is probably terrified to show his faceplate here for a long while, they need some… sibling bonding time?" I say, not sure if it is the right wording.
"By beating each other to scrap?" Ratchet asks, easily sidestepping a shot the had just been fired.
"That's what me and MY sisters normally do. Though, nowadays, it's more verbal than physical," I say. I pull a small, which is to say, weak cannon and carefully aim at them, shooting it just so it would ricochet and hit them both. They break apart in surprise, pulling out their own weapons defensively.
"You guys done yet?" I don my holoform and form a watch on my wrist, checking it. "We've been in here for a couple of hours now," I add.
"Are we being scolded by that insolent little sparkling, brother?" Optimus asks, his optics twinkling mischievously.
"I believe that we are, little brother," Megatron agrees, having the same look in his now blue optics. I take an involuntary step back, falling right off Ironhide but teleporting out of the room. I land next to my siblings, all of them, who are huddled together and whispering.
"I think I might need some back-up," I tell them urgently. Weapons are pulled from subspace, and I grin. They may be big, but there are seven of us, and only two of them, and we know how to disappear. Which I am quick to teach them via the comm. We plot and we disappear, moving around the room as Megatron and Optimus enter it. When they do, we all freeze. Them hearing us moving would not be a very good idea. Then Kain stumbles, making a tiny scuffing noise. Of course. My sisters and I all have impeccable balance, especially Ellie and Shelby, having been in gymnastics. Luke does as well, and so does Michael. Kain… not so much at the moment.
"It appears that the sparklings have pulled a disappearing trick on us, Optimus," Megatron growls. I shiver at his tone. Such mischievousness should not be able to be balled into one sentence. I hear someone shift, and I am sure that it is Luke, from where it came from. It also happens to be on the opposite side of the room. Next to me.
"Do you have the feeling that were are not only being watched, but surrounded as well?" Optimus asks slowly.
"I have that exact feeling," Megatron says. I take a risk and teleport onto one of the thinner rafters, one that my ped barely fits on, but I easily keep my balance. They both look up and around them.
"This might end badly," Megatron mutters.
::Caity, where did you go?:: Luke asks me. I look down at the moving particles and spot the space that is Luke.
::Rafter.:: I reply shortly.
::Good idea. I'll join you.:: Ellie replies, and you could hear another faint thump as she teleports up there. I glare as she does a couple of beam gymnastics, showing off. Of course, since I was watching her, I knew exactly how to do that. At least they were silent.
"Oh dear. We have at least two on the ground and two in the rafters. Where are the other three?" Optimus asks patronizingly. Everyone pulls their lowest grade weapon from subspace and fires, teleporting to a different spot as they hit, making quite a few dents and ruining his paint job thoroughly.
"Nice going, Optimus. Frag off the pit-spawn. That is a brilliant plan," Megatron mutters sarcastically. I fire a shot at him, which is probably what he had planned, because the speed at which fires off his own shot is too fast for him to not have been expecting it. At least my shot connected as well...
"Slag," I say, teleporting, but still getting caught by some of the blast. I just had to thank Primus that he hadn't had the fusion cannon to full blast, or else the dent in the wall would have been much bigger. The program that made it so I could go invisible glitched, making me appear. "Ouch. Good shot, but ouch," I groan.
"Get over here, little one," Megatron orders, sounding a little bit guilty.
"Um, I think I would rather stay here," I groan as I get up nonetheless and walk over to him. He bends down and lifts me into his servo easily. I sit, turning off pain receptors in my back and left shoulder, as well as both wings. It had been a powerful hit for someone as small as me.
"Well, we have what we came here for. Good bye," Megatron says. He is met by my six siblings suddenly appearing and aiming different cannons at him. He freezes with a chuckle that is matched by Optimus.
"Subspace your cannons, all of you. Come here, sparklings," Optimus orders, and I can see the alarm and confusion in my sister's eyes as they are forced to comply while the guys just groan in disappointment. They climb onto Prime's offered servos, the boys on one side and the girls on the other.
"Good job, Ellie. If you had gone with MY idea, we never would have been seen, therefore, we wouldn't have been caught," Luke snaps. I stiffen.
"Luke, watch your mouth. She may look nice and innocent, but every one of my sisters would kick your aft," I warn nervously.
"Of course they would. I don't hit girls, even if they hit me first," Luke scoffs. I wince and close my eyes as Ellie expertly throws a knife at him and it lands firmly in his arm. He yelps but just pulls it out, handing it calmly back to Ellie. She takes it, apparently satisfied that he learned not to cross her. "That includes knives," he adds.
"Dude, she just stabbed you," Kain says.
"Yeah, she can't do that!" Michael protests. Kain would never hit a girl, either, but Michael has no such boundaries. If they hit him, he will retaliate.
"Yes, actually, she can," Luke says. "And she clearly just did."
I wince. He's pissed. Ellie's pissed and Luke's pissed, and they have explosive personalities. This is not going to go over well. "Maybe you guys should sep-" I suggest before being interrupted.
"Are you just going to sit their and let your crazy sister throw knives at us?" Michael asks, but it's not directed at me. It's directed at Kayla and Shelby.
"Yup," Shelby says with a cold glare.
"It was only one knife and it didn't even hit anything vital. He'll be fine. Ellie's not crazy. She's probably smarter than all three of you combined," Kayla sneers.
I sit and groan, wishing I could just disappear from this dimension. My siblings were getting into a pissing contest. This was not going to end well.
"Caity, tell your sisters that they need to lay off," Kain growls.
"Caity, tell you BROTHERS," Kayla says, sneering the word disdainfully, "that they need to learn when to shut up," she finishes.
"I am sure that you all can hear each other and don't need me to be brought into the argument," I say, looking at both sides.
"Come on, guys, we don't need this. We'll come back when Caity's sisters aren't being such jerks," Luke says, glaring at my sisters.
"That will happen when Caity's BROTHERS learn some respect. We're older than all of you," Ellie sneers.
"Come on Caity," both sides say.
"Caity's coming with us," Ellie snaps.
"No, Caity's coming with US," Kain spits back. "Rule Two."
"Uh, Caity is staying right here, out of Caity's siblings fight, and and by Megatron and Optimus because they caught Caity fair and square," I say, speaking about myself in third person to gain their attention.
Both sides stare at me in shock but don't protest, just teleport away. I sigh in relief.
"That was… an interesting show of territorialism," Megatron comments.
"This is going to end badly. Can't they learn how to share? Or, I don't know, accept each other as siblings through me?" I ask to no one in particular.
"You know of your two eldest sisters, Ellie and Kayla? You were too young when you accepted Kayla as your sister, you do not even have proper memories of your life without her. Ellie and Kayla, however, have jealousy over both Shelby and your attention of them. That is because they are step siblings and they were forced together, and remember what it was like without each other," Optimus explains.
"But… they aren't like that to me and Shelby. I mean, Kayla treats us just like Ellie does, sometimes more so," I say, not understanding.
"I already said how you were too young to remember not having Kayla as a sister. Because of that, because of how young you were, it was easier for her to accept you as her sister. Ellie, however, is older than her. Someone that bosses her around and annoys her. Ellie has jealousy of her because of the fact that you cannot recall when it was just the three of you and of how much time you spent with Kayla more so than her, even though the two of you were more similar and genetically related. It is similar with both sets of your siblings. Both can recall when it was just you with them, and the other side is not in the picture."
"So… they're like step-siblings?" I ask. "It looks like we're going to have to have a share out of what we've all gone through. Maybe understanding each other would help."
"I do not know if they would listen," Megatron says.
"Oh, they'll listen, if I have to hold them captive for them to do it," I threaten lowly, my optics, not that I see them, flashing purple for a moment and nearly causing me to be dropped by Megatron.
"I'd suggest locking them in the same room as each other and ordering them not to teleport," he suggests. I grin at him, my optics gleaming purple again.
"I knew I liked you for a reason," I say, patting one very sharp claw before teleporting over to Optimus. "Please please please please can we have the go ahead to do that?" I beg, widening my optics to their fullest in the Cybertronian version of puppy eyes.
"That's adorable," Megatron snorts. I turn on him, optics still as wide as they could go, but this time I intentionally flashed them purple. He looks away uneasily. I turn them back to baby blue and look back at Optimus, who is having a silent war with himself.
"You may, but you will have to have Megatron's permission, because I will not be ordering them to do anything of the sort," Optimus says evasively.
"Throw me under the bus, little brother," Megatron mutters.
"Pretty pretty pretty please?" I beg him, "I just want them to STOP their POINTLESS FIGHTING," I plea.
"Gah, fine! Just, cease you optic trickery. Especially that flashing purple," he growls. I grin and nod in agreement. I spend the next ten minutes rounding up my siblings and locking them in the smallest room in the base, while Megatron orders each of them in turn that they are not allowed to teleport until they are out of this room. I teleport and listen to the shouting match that is taking place inside. After three hours of it, it trickles to a stop. Then they start plotting their revenge on us. At least they are agreeing. But this could prove bad for me. They door shakes on its hinges. Then again for three more times until it is blasted off. Literally.
I give them an apologetic grin.
"Sorry. Had to get you guys to stop arguing somehow, right? Not talking to each other at all doesn't count, either," I explain.
"Yeah, we know. So don't hate us for this. Your lack of a paint job is something that has been bothering us for a while and we wanted to do something about it. Anything for our baby sister," Ellie says sweetly.
"Oh, for the love of-" I begin to grumble before I am kidnapped by Sunny and Sides. I don't even bother fighting them on it, because it really could be worse. As long as they didn't try to paint me pink like Shelby was. Kayla was purple with silver accents, Ellie was sky blue, Luke was black with gold accents, Kain, he had stuck with the blue but to a more tealish color, and Michael was green.
Overall, we had a flippin' rainbow. "Hmm, what color?" Sunny asks Sides.
"I don't know. Something that is uniquely her…" Sides says, turning me on his servo.
"That brown wasn't too bad," Sunny says. I groan and got to sit, only to be forced to stand once more by Sides.
"Yeah, brown wouldn't be too bad. Accents or no?" Sides prompts. I almost shake my head, but stop myself. They would DEFINITELY do accents if that happened.
"Yeah. What color? Silver or gold?"
"Why not both?"
"We'll do both and just repaint if it doesn't work out."
I grit my denta at that. He had better not have to repaint, or I WOULD make a scene. That scene would not end nicely for them.
"Now, stay still, litle one, unless one of us moves you. I don't want to repaint you anymore than you want to be repainted," Sunny warns. I huff and force myself to stay still. It isn't until it gets to painting my face plates that I protests. I duck away from Sunny, wincing.
"Ah, come on. You weren't having any problems a click ago!" Sides protests.
"I don't like-" I begin to say, cutting off when Sides pulls something from subspace and holds it in front of me. "What is that?" I ask, holding still once more.
"It's called an energon treat, it's like candy for Cybertronians," he assures. "If ya stay still until we're done, I'll give it to you, deal?"
I think this over. "I'm wondering if the don't take candy from strangers applies to you two," I say warily.
"No, it doesn't. Watch, no ill effects," he says, breaking off a small piece and eating it. Nothing bad happened.
I feel my willpower crumble. "Fine," I say, staying as still as I possibly could, offlining my optics so I wouldn't flinch.
"Alright, bratling, we're done," Sides says, pressing something into my servo. I scan it warily, aware how easily they could switch it with something else and put a holo over it to fool me. "Eat it or I'll take it back," Sides adds. I break off a small piece and eat it. It is way better than any human treat. I break off another small piece and steadily eat it.
"Told you," Sides says. "Just… don't let Ratchet know I gave you one, or I'd be so full of dents I wouldn't be able to function." I nod, finishing the treat off quickly. Sunny holds up a large mirror from his subspace so I could see my new paint job.
"Cool!" I say, zooming in on the images and spinning. "I like it," I add. "Thanks, Sunstreaker. Thank you Sideswipe," I say.
"You should keep more of those on you. She's nicer after eating them," Sunny mutters moodily.
"Maybe you should give HIM some, too," I retort. Sides snorts while I teleport back to my siblings.
"Well, they weren't supposed to give you a GOOD paint job!" Luke complains.
"This is Sunny and Sides we're talking about," I remind.
They nod in understanding. The base shakes as something attacks it. I sigh. "Really? Someone just needs to destroy that guy," I say grumpily.
"Be our guest," Ellie growls darkly.
"No, stay here. We will deal with him. Without his cosmic rust cannon, he will be easily defeated. It is sad to say that he will not be convinced to surrender."
I turn to Optimus, feeling sorry for what he was about to do. "Good luck. Take Megatron with you," I add in warning.
We sit in fear as we listen to the sounds of battle above our heads. Hours went by, and slowly the rest of the bots on base went to the surface, though Ironhide and Ratchet stayed down to ensure that we didn't go anywhere. Not that we would. That would be a little suicidal for us.
The fighting slowly died down, and I was reminded of when my parents would fight and I would cling to Ellie just like I was doing right now. I had no idea what would happen. I only grew more worried as, though the fighting seemed to have ceased, no one was returning.
If I was scared, Shelby was terrified, and everyone else was at least slightly uneasy. A loud bang came from the reinforced door, making me jump. Amazing, wasn't it, how I could casually argue with Megatron but a fight that I wasn't involved with, wasn't ALLOWED to get involved with, made me terrified.
"Caity, it's okay, they'll be fine," Ellie soothes, pulling me closer and tucking my helm under her chin. "They won't keep fighting for very much longer," she lies. I shake, an unfamiliar keening noise coming from my vocal processor. Ravage is also still here, recovering from his ordeal still. He had taken quite the beating.
"Don't keen, little one. They are only removing the presence of the drones that are still attempting to attack the base. They are in no danger," Ravage assures, using his tail to bring us all close against him. I'm pressed in the middle of it, breathing steadily to ward off claustrophobia. Not five minutes later, though, the victorious bots walk in tiredly.
"You guys are okay!" I proclaim in delight, alerting the others of their return. No matter what Ellie had said, she's the first one to go over and hug Optimus in thanks. We all follow her example, but instead of hugging Optimus, I hug Megatron, who looks down at me surprise.
"What has gotten into you?" he demands.
"I was worried that somehow the events of the movie would play out and you were gonna die, and that can't happen, because you're nice now and not under the influence of the Fallen," I explain.
"I doubt that would happen anytime soon," he scoffs.