All was looking well, at least on their end. He had to admit, Soundwave was a smart and quick fragger indeed; a good reason why he had kept him all this time. The monitor in front of him clicked off without a sound, the warlord leaning back in his mighty chair, his digits clicking against the front of the arm rests. An evil grin appeared on his lips, Soundwave still typing away at the computer in front of him like his life depended on it. It pretty much did, however Megatron wasn't looking to kill off his third in command that quickly; he was a valuable asset, after all, and had proved himself too many times to be killed off just from one mistake. Starscream, however, was worth taking the time to kill. The fragger always knew how to get on his nerves.
As he replayed the images on the screen that had just been turned off in his processor, he seemed to calm down a bit. So, the little yellow scout was indeed carrying? And it was most likely the Prime's? That was interesting. The Autobot medic said that they would be unable to tell, which was more interesting than he thought. A devious plan began swirling around in hid processor, and for a moment he nearly felt dizzy just sitting down; either that or like the Grinch, who ever the frag that was. [He got bored in his quarters at night when he couldn't beat Starscream senseless, so who could blame him for trying to look up a little bit of Earth culture? Anyone who would dare would be killed on the spot, of course.] His plan seemed almost complete, minus the fact that he had Soundwave now glancing over his shoulder at him with an expression of slight worry and fright.
All they really needed to do was wait until the time came.
XXX
The bots that were the most curious were no doubt Skidz and Mudflap. Like Bumblebee, they hadn't really ever seen a sparkling - the closest Bumblebee had ever come to such was a youngling, and that just happened to be Skidz and Mudflap. The twins, of course, were the last of their kind, along with Bumblebee, and all thought that without the AllSpark, no sparklings could be created. No, it just took longer, proclaimed Ratchet. Well great, Bumblebee had thought after hearing that, if this was a while, he did not want to see what quickly was. Any time he was in quarters trying to rest, Skidz and Mudflap always came to visit him, as if they were worried he would suddenly disappear if they didn't. And today, of course, was no different.
"'Bee, guess what?" exclaimed Skidz as the duo entered the room in a loud manner, Bumblebee stepping away from the door that he had to open and following them to the berth; the twins instantly climbed onto it as if it were their own, as if Optimus ever cared. Bumblebee could only guess that he would have to get more used to the two handing around than he always was, seeing as how they were not literally more brothers than they had been before. That's what one would get when the crazy aft medic adopts the crazy aft twins, right?
( What?) asked the yellow bot as he joined them on the berth; sitting at the top and sitting Indian style against the mound of pillows as the twins settled themselves in the middle of the berth.
"No, yer thuppothed t' guess!" whined the youngest twin, latching servos on his ankles as he too sat Indian style. Bumblebee merely rolled his optics, sighing.
( Okay, let me guess, ) he said, knowing that it would be useless to simply ask them what they were bothering him about. ( Uh, you got a new dent from where you two were fighting again? )
"Nope, guess again," Skidz answered quickly. Bumblebee thought for a moment before trying again.
( Hound brought you some new rocks? )
"Pfft, no!" answered Mudflap.
( You helped Wheeljack blow up his lab again? )
"Ratchet said we weren't allowed in there without someone else, 'member?" asked Skidz, with a furrow of his brow; probably noticing that his older brother wasn't even trying anymore; the least he could do was try to make it fun.
( Your found some living, breathing Dinosaurs? ) Bumblebee tried again, now defiantly not even trying at their game anymore. At this, both of the twins.
"You wish," said Skidz in a disbelieving tone as Mudflap went to grab what ever it was from behind his brother's back.
"No, silly, look!" exclaimed Mudflap excitedly as he nearly shoved the object in Bumblebee's face, nearly startling the older bot. Gently pushing it a little bit back, Bumblebee squinted at the object; it looked like a new game for the Wii; some Mario Cart game or something. No doubt they'd be getting him to play with them later on. "Cool, ain't it?" asked Mudflap, retracting the game when he thought that Bumblebee had enough time looking at it.
( Yeah, that's pretty cool alright ) sighed the older bot as he again leaned back against the pillows behind him. ( Did Leo get it for you or something? ) he asked curiously, knowing that they couldn't have gone out and gotten it themselves, and that no other human or bot would actually be nice enough to give them something like that. They went through games pretty quickly, and not in a good way.
"Uh huh," replied Mudflap eagerly and nodded his helm, cutting off his brother from saying anything. "Sam brought it up when he came up yethterday. Thaid that Leo thaid that he thaw it at a thtore or thomethin', an' thaid that he thought tha' we might like it an' -"
"Al'ight, al'ight, he gets it!" Skidz finally butt in quickly before his brother kept chattering the day away. Mudflap merely sulked, giving his brother a death look for saying something like that to him. But Bumblebee knew that the older twin really didn't mean it; they just got on each other's nerves some times - or rather a lot - but in turn got over it quickly. And in this case, rather too quickly. "So what's ya gonna name it?" asked Skidz, snapping Bumblebee out of his train of thought.
Instantly the yellow mech looked down in thought. He had learned from Optimus and even Ratchet that Cybertronians usually named their sparklings after they were born; their young were usually named after certain physical or personality characteristics, unlike humans, who often chose names for their young while they were still in the womb. And, unlike humans, their young rarely had three or more names. [Bumblebee didn't really get the whole concept of first, middle, and last names and all that, and was only accustomed to hearing two on a rare occasion, such as Optimus Prime or Ultra Magnus; in which Prime or Magnus were titles given to you because you are someone important or turn into one, just like Optimus had done.] And it was obvious that Skidz and Mudflap knew more about human customs than their own race's customs.
"Well, obviously, he'th gonna name if after me," Mudflap said before Bumblebee could reply, earning an amused snort from his brother.
"And why would anyone name anythin' after yo ugly aft, huh?" asked Skidz in all of his mightyness, earning another death glare from his younger twin.
"Why yew little-!" started Mudflap, beginning to get up on his knees, however was stopped by a yellow hand grabbing his closest shoulder.
( Enough, you two ) Bumblebee ordered before anything could get out of hand. Mudflap merely grumbled, going back down to how he had been sitting, grumbling angrily as he crossed his arms over his chassis. Bumblebee sat back in his original position as well and said, ( Well, actually, Optimus and I haven't really thought about it much. We have to know the gender first, obviously. )
"Well, ah wish it'd grew faster so we'd know," grumbled Skidz. Bumblebee smiled; and to believe that these two nimrods were going to be uncles. Primus, save us all.
I feel like squeeing right now. Why? Because I haven't gotten this far in a story. EVER. I haven't even gotten to, like, what, 21 chapters before An Autobot Christmas? I am so proud.
