Thank you to my reviewers you make me want to right more! I like suggestions to that helps me advance the plot.
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The large halls and spacious rooms were looking more and more like small cages when thinking about the fact I couldn't step a foot outside the spark shielding buildings. I didn't want to be with the Decepticons that's for sure and I didn't want to bring the enemy right to our home away from the island. However, I was only a toddler practically a newborn by Cybertronian standards. And as an Autobot toddler with a previous human adult personality coupled with the baby bot programming we were both clambering for freedom.
It had only been a few hours though since I was told that so I shoved the over exaggerated thoughts in the back of my processor and decided to find another way to occupy myself. I had to much energy to give into the pouting I could feel on the edges of my awareness. I crawled back to our shared berth room beyond the meeting rooms and the living room. I knew my toys were in there that I'd brought especially the ponies and maybe sometime with them would give me some comfort. I'd only brought 100 since dad cut me off there and all my favorite ones were here with me. So I threw myself into the childhood comforting play land of ponies and rainbows.
Come to find out I had thrown myself so hard into my play I'd played almost right up till bed time. My Father came to get for energon and found me engrossed in my play. I finally looked up at him and smiled. He looked no worse for wear from the infusion of my energon and the siphoned amount of his Energon. It made me glad that there were no lasting effects of the transfusion. Sunny had already lined up the next one with Ratchet. The yellow twin's insistence was spark touching since he was always known as the vain shallow brute. If someone people just looked a little deeper. It's all an act and I'd know cuz his spark's hooked to mine.
Since my Father had pulled me from my play world I put my arms up to him ready for my dinner since it was finally registering that my tank was running on low. I leaned back like custom dictated in our feeding ritual and drank my fill of energon. My parents were already filled and topped off for the night so after I was comfortable they arranged them selves on the family berth and we all powered down into recharge easily, our bonds open basking in the warmth of each other.
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It was my normal time to wake up about 8:30 in my Father's sparkling hold. The world outside had begun hours ago for my dad but I rested comfortably in his chest next to his spark debating on whether I could use another half an hour of recharge or not. I was not groggy at all I never was upon waking just calm. I got a prod in my spark from my father and his customary morning greeting. I stretched and nodded with a yawn. Ya, I answered his question of my readiness to greet the morning. He wasn't going to be able to give me energon right at that minute so I queried on what he was doing. He was about to begin a meeting with the Director of Intelligence a new lady that appeared like she would be a pain in the ass. The name came to me after years of not having watched the movies, Merring? I asked in our bond. His answer was clipped and short as he only opened his bond enough to tell me then clamped down on it. He let his love flow through the bond but it was muted and strained. Daddy? I questioned softly rubbing the inside of my warm cocoon.
My daughter, my spark is awash with an anger that I do not want you to witness or be a party to. It is not for you my sweetspark. It is for the betrayal that we now face with the United States government.
Are you in truck form? I asked changing the subject. The sudden change bewildered my father momentarily but then he pushed the befuddled feeling away and answered me with a slightly confused "yes". I started to laugh and I laughed hard. I knew we were waiting for that by the book bitch from the movie and she would be coming to face my very mad father. But the fact I he was sitting her in truck form fuming on my behalf and his own shielding me from his wrath because he was so livid was just so damn funny. He was about to have it out with her and I got a front row seat. He couldn't make sense of my laughter and harrumphed through the bond miffed at me slightly for laughing at his anger. I really wasn't but he didn't know that yet.
Through my father's armor I could hear footsteps of several people coming toward the Prime. He didn't move one plate one millimeter as she and her entourage approached. "Where I'm glad you're here!" I heard my red twin say, "I hope you got answers for him cuz I've never seen him so upset." During the walk over toward Optimus I could hear Lennox also trying to sooth the she beast as she barked orders at him. He called her ma'am and she almost went wackado.
"Optimus you remember Charlotte Merring the Director of National Intelligence?" Lennox's voice was worried but not too much because she did have it coming.
"He's in a bad mood," I felt and heard my yellow twin close to us. "He's not talking to anybody today." His ped's steps retreated toward the back of the hanger along with his red twin.
"What is this? The silent treatment?" Merring looked around at the gathered Autobots including my mother. I knew they were all frustrated with her because she was the new liaison and she was their only attachment to the government.
Ironhide finally said after a pause, "No, we've seen that and this is not it. This is worse." His peds falls came closer and then I heard a head ringing pound on my dad's roof as he yelled at him, "Prime! Make something of yourself." I managed to hear his quieter, "He's pissed," even as my father changed. But the transformation my father started, exploded with sound and movement almost as he let himself fly apart violently making a rather large point and making me rather dizzy. I could hear steam escaping between the plates of armor and I felt him pull himself upward with a jerk even as his legs were probably still forming and then he threw himself forward toward the ground and the momentum was stopped by his fists hitting the ground with a large booming sound.
The sheer brutality of the transformation and the forced lurching about he did in his anger I didn't feel even a tiny bit slip to me but his action had scared me. The moment he settled on his closed fists he felt my sudden spike in fear and opened his spark to me to allow me to see his anger on my behalf and not at me. He allowed me to feel his worry for my and my evolving condition as well as the worry and anger over the secrets that had been kept and how that could be trouble for all our family.
Withdrawing myself from the equation and looking at all the far reaching consequences of this power play by my used to be government kinda pissed me off too. I know it would have been different if they had told them long ago about the moon landing and the Ark that was up there but I'd never given it a long hard look. I felt bad slightly for laughing at him and his temper tantrum as I'd labeled it in my head having seen the movie but the anger from fear for his pod and me and the war made me regret thinking of it that way. I didn't dwell on it though. I was a child in programming and in years to the bots and finding things funny because of short-sidedness is a common occurrence. Learn and move on.
"You lied to us! Everything humans know of our planet we were told had all been shared. So why was there no briefing on the moon landings?"
"We were in the dark about this also. It was director only clearance at sector seven." With the name of that place I hissed even to myself. I heard a smattering of chatter also around the room. "Until now!" I heard her then bark sharply at whatever poor soul had accompanied her as her secretary/attendant/punching bag. "This is a secret few men knew," she told my dad rummaging through something. Then I heard the sound stop. "And few still remain alive."
My father at this point was about to quip something smart about how he could help with that but I sent him an urgent nudge to not say that and on top of it calm down. I pushed at him my peace he gave me every day and he decided on the spot to quickly roll me out into his palm. Suddenly I could see why. The witch was preoccupied with the people entering the room. She was still talking, "Allow me to please introduce to you, two of NASA's founding mission directors and astronaut Dr. Buzz Aldren, one of the first two men to step foot on the moon." I saw her walk over and shake his hand and two things were immediately apparent. I was going to meet Buzz freaking Aldren and I was hungery. "Sir," She addressed Buzz. Then looked up at my dad, "Optimus Prime," she introduced.
Buzz looked up at my dad for a moment as I was sort of hidden in the fold of one arm. He had me in the hook of his "From one space traveler to another it's a true honor!" He said in awe but holding his head up high finding unique common and equal ground with the Prime. My dad crouched down on to a knee putting his left hand to the ground to greet the man.
"The honor is mine," he told the man regally but genuinely. I saw from the corner of my optic that Merring was using the moment to get up on the scaffolding that made Lennox eye level with dad. She put something in the tape player/DVD player and it was showing on a small screen. I could actually zoom in my optics to see it. A new little trick Ratchet let me in on. She started talking again suddenly much to my displeasure. I grumbled a little. My father who had calmed down a lot sent me a chuckling nudge down the bond. I grumpily nudged him back. He knew I was going to need Energon soon. He asked me to hold out a few more minutes. It didn't seem like a big deal at the time so I nodded.
"So our entire space race of the 1960's, it appears, was in response to an event."
"Our astronauts investigated a crashed alien ship," one of the directors said. He was balding, kind blond and fat with glasses. "There were no survivors on board."
"We were sworn to secrecy by our commander and chief," Buzz added.
The same director kept telling us the story, "A total of 35 knew the real plan at NASA. We landed six missions in all, we took hundreds of photos, and samples, and we locked them away forever. And then the moon program was shut down."
"We will have all the information gleaned from these missions and all the evidence that was brought back with it," My father demanded calmly.
"We don't know where these are any more," the other Director told us.
Ironhide wasn't buying it, "Did you check the crash vault?" he asked in a surly tone I could tell the trust he had for them when they came in was quickly thinning. This was gonna go bad really quick.
The men looked at each other in quiet 'he did it' fashion but before anyone could say anything else my baby bot programming asserted itself with the first prangs of an empty tank. Nothing bothered children especially young children more than being hungry and I was really mad at her at them and at everyone having had to wait for my Energon. This whole thing was important but as my tank bubbled slightly I started to squirm and all the necessity and vital need for this meeting went to hell because I screamed my discomfort out loud probably piercing a few eardrums.
I heard a few of the bots scramble about and only the new humans to the base basically hit the deck as I continued to howl. At that point I didn't care. I had wanted to meet Buzz but he couldn't hold a candle to the need for Energon RIGHT HERE RIGHT NOW! And so I cried. Ratchet had had a sensor on me and had excused himself momentarily a while back but he hadn't wanted to interrupt the proceedings especially with Optimus's temper. The medic bounded up toward the Prime handing off my sippy cup to him. I saw it and I reached for it instantly and got it poked in my mouth quickly. I assumed it was to stop the noise but hey I got what my body was begging for. I shook my head a little and my intakes were still hitching but I was quiet. Silly daddies they get so caught up in solving one thing they forget the little stuff like uh eating? Duh! I sighed in contentment around my cup just to realize that the whole large room was silent.
"What in the seven levels of hell is that thing?" Merring yelled tugging on her ear to clear it. I saw my twins making a quick movement towards the front of the Autobot pack and they were both close lined by Ironhide. He wasn't much happier with her but he knew when to hold his temper. My father looked Primus ward and let out a large vent. He bent to both knees and brought his body forward far enough for the men on the ground to see as well as the Director on the catwalk. "My God…" I looked up at her with big blue optics and removed my cup and stuck my tongue out at her. Merring who was really a by the book pain in our ass most of the time from now on she did something we didn't think she was capable of. She laughed.
I stuck my cup back in my mouth and gave her an odd look. "Steel I think you broke the Director," he said in all seriousness. This made her laugh even harder.
"I don't break that easy," she countered. "And that little one has spunk." She looked over the railing at me. "My God Prime a baby? How in the… never mind don't wanna know…" She just shook her head and headed down the stairs off the catwalk. She had nothing else to say since I'd made my presence known. However the astronaut did come closer.
"I have grandkids and great grandkids, Mr. Prime. I could tell a hungry cry anywhere." He looked at my dad and then smiled at me. "You were there all the time huh? You're dad is so big he hid you." He laughed lightly and reached up to pet my head with out thinking. He pat me a few times and turned to the Directors. "Who would have thought so long ago that we'd see them alive and with KIDS of all things? Boggles the mind, Sirs," he said as he walked around them. The two directors had already proven they were basically stupid and didn't say anything and walked out with the astronaut.
The people that had come to answer to my father's cry for transparency got a little bit of their own when they'd heard me cry for the first time. Seeing me seemed to make them all wander off at their own pace to contemplate whatever alien babies brought to mind I guessed.
Returned to a fairly good mood my dad smiled down at me and began to rock me as he got up. Ratchet gave him a look, "If you ever put off her Energon that long again I will personally see to it that I not she interrupt the meeting and you can explain to the gathered why I am stomping away with a squalling sparkling!" Optimus cringed not from Ratchets words but from a strong nudge from his sparkmate emphasizing what the medic said. "That is if you mate doesn't get to you first…" My dad nodded as he continued to feed me and I was content to let him get his come-up-ins making me wait that long.