Mirage drove silently on the dead road. His mother soaring just above him. His spark was giving him an uncomfortable jitter. Not being sure if it was because of his mother or the atmosphere.
"Are you alright Mirage, you're quiet?" Xanthia asked over the comlink.
"I'm fine, I told you I wasn't entertaining." Mirage replied turning his sensors on high alert.
"Just making sure..." Xanthia's sentence was cut short as blaster shots were fired at her. The femme barrel rolled out of the way as a squad of ariel Eradicons engaged her. "Mirage, I'm under attack!"
"I'll give you some cover!" Mirage quickly transformed firing his dart rifle at the flyers.
"You survived the explosion?" Starscream noted flying up behind his seekers. "Keep her busy, I want a rematch with the freak sparkling!" Starscream hissed diving towards the firing youngling.
Hearing the jet engine Mirage turned to see the seekers jet inches away from him, he quickly leapt out of the way with nano clicks to spare. Mirage yelped as he was hit by the seekers missiles.
Starscream transformed mid air, landing next to the young assassin. "I finally get a rematch with you sparkling!"
"A rematch? We barely had a match, you danced around like an idiot, then ran off like the coward you are!" Mirage jumped to his peds, holding the seeker at sword point.
"Engaging sparkling's wasn't the mission objective!" Starscream hissed firing his blasters at the youngling.
"What the hell was your objective!?" Mirage hissed easily dodging the fire, while providing his mother some cover fire.
"It was to destroy your brother, you falling into the explosion was just an added bonus!" The seeker hissed firing more rapidly.
"Well it was a failed mission, we both live!" Mirage scoffed firing at the air commander, hitting the seeker in the shoulder.
"Agh!" Starscream groaned grabbing his bleeding shoulder.
Mirage continued to fire at the eradicons attacking his mother while Starscream whined.
Starscream began to cackle venomously at the youngling. "For now, you think that bomb was just the run of the mill nuclear human grade weapon!"
"What are you talking about Screamer!?" Mirage growled walking up to the sleek Decepticon with his sword threatening to murder.
"A regular human bomb isn't enough, so we added onto it. You don't seem to be affected, though you fell into the aftermath. Yet again your brother was directly on top of the explosion." Starscream's venomous laughter turned into a smirk as he explained to the youngling.
"Makeshift was there to, he should be in the pits by now!" Mirage growled dodging as the seeker swung his claws.
"Of course, you don't think he was equipped with special shielding? He's doing about the same as you." Starscream leapt back as Mirage tried to pierce him. "How is Soundwave by the way? He must be enjoying sitting on the sidelines, while he's attempting to recover from his paralyzing experience. Although I'm not expecting him on the battlefield anytime soon!" The seeker cackled firing a missile at the femme above.
The missile hit the Predator hard, Xanthia transormed landing hard on her peds. She shot the last couple of Eradicons out of the air, before aiming at who shot her down.
"You're quite rusty on the battlefield, aren't you?" Starscream taunted the femme.
"Shut up, and tell me what's happening to Soundwave!" Mirage yelled shoving the tip of his sword dangerously at the mech's spark chamber.
Starscream yelped in terror as the sword pierced his frame. "All I know is it was intended to damage Soundwave, but not kill him. I didn't make the bomb, Megatron used one of Shockwave's bombs he smuggled from Cybertron, as an added bonus to the nuclear one!"
"What bomb?!" Mirage demanded pressing his sword in further.
"Mirage don't!" Xanthia called so shocked at what her youngling was doing.
"I don't know, it's a bomb from Shockwave's lab! You're a product of his mad science! So I'd assume the worst!" Starscream cried as the pain grew in his chest, as the sword was inches away from his spark. "Please show mercy!"
"I'm not going to kill you today." Mirage casually replied removing his sword. "But I will find you if Soundwave declines drastically. I know Megatron's on a space adventure now. Mark my words Starscream, I will hunt you down and kill you. Slowly, painfully, maiming you, a torturous death." Mirage threatened stabbing his claw into the seekers chest.
"But you're an Autobot!" Starscream cried out in pain, trying to clutch his bleeding chest.
"Mirage enough!" Xanthia growled, pulling her youngling away from the seeker commander.
"I don't go by Autobot protocols, you've seen my records. If I were you I would find that bomb recipe and send it to me." Mirage said as he was dragged away from the battle scene.
"Ratchet we need a ground bridge!" Xanthia called continuing to drag her son.
Optimus watched as the two came through the bridge, Xanthia made it a point to shove her youngling into the base.
"Hey!" Mirage grumbled as he steadied himself before he could stumble into Optimus.
"You need to get a serious check in the head youngling!" Xanthia pointed a digit at her annoyed youngling.
"Seriously, it's a war, I got answers. I could've gotten more if you weren't there!" Mirage replied arguing with his mother.
"That was torture not answers!" Xanthia argued back at the young assassin.
"Starscream is run by fear. I was just scaring him. Starscream is still alive." The youngling growled rolling his optics.
"What you said was disturbing, teasing a mech with death isn't sane Mirage." Xanthia continued to scold her youngest son.
"Do you know how many times Starscream has tried to murder me? No, no you don't because you weren't there for that!" Mirage hissed before activating his cloak.
"Mirage!" Both Optimus and Xanthia called out in frustration.
Arcee and Ratchet watched the argument go down from where they stood in the med bay. Both speechless, as they watched the mother and son argue, not noticing Soundwave coming to consciousness.
"What's going on Xanthia?" Optimus asked turning to the bioluminescent femme.
"Mirage battled Starscream, then interrogated him by torturing him." Xanthia scoffed clearly still fuming from the argument.
"What information did he receive?" Arcee asked curiously, as this was nothing new to her or anyone on the team.
"I'm not certain, I was busy with Starscream's company. I was too surprised at what I was seeing with Mirage!" The bioluminescent femme retorted to Arcee.
"Xanthia although I do not condone Mirage's actions. It's not uncommon for him to get frustrated, and go after those who have hurt those close to him. I will admit although Mirage's judgment is clouded. He does not kill for the sake of killing, nor has he murdered a Decepticon unless all other efforts were exhausted." Optimus explained calming the femme only enough to get her to understand her son wasn't a psycho killer.
"I understand I haven't been in this war long enough to understand what goes on. I am going to try to see my son with more of an open mind, but it's a difficult transition for me. I should've taken Mirage's advice, and shouldn't have gone on patrol with him." Xanthia sighed defeatedly.
"Xanthia none of this is easy especially with our young ones. Mirage is different, he's a very capable killer, but over time he's learned to channel his abilities." Optimus sighed trying to comfort the femme.
"I'm sorry, but where's Mirage, I'd like to hear what Starscream said to him." Ratchet scoffed slightly irritated.
"I'm here, how's Soundwave doing?" Mirage said appearing beside the cobalt blue femme.
"I'm fine, trouble, how's Starscream?" Soundwave retorted sitting upright on the medical berth.
"Screamer had a lot to say, but as usual he always leaves a coward." Mirage shrugged to his big brother, who laughed in response.
"That's pretty typical of Starscream, what's he sputtering now?" Soundwave cocked his helm as Mirage's expression changed from joking to concern.
"He didn't say much..." Mirage sadly looked away from his brother.
"Mirage what did he say?" Arcee asked glaring at the youngling.
"Starscream didn't give any big details. He said the attack was deliberately on you Soundwave, it wasn't just a nuclear bomb, Megatron added a bomb that Shockwave created." Mirage explained, getting shocked gasps in reply. "Starscream claimed he had no idea what kind of bomb it was, told me to assume the worst. I was hoping you would, since you have quite a bit of Shockwave's studies." Mirage sighed looking into his brother's visor.
Soundwave exhaled staring at the ground for a moment. "I didn't even know Shockwave was constructing bombs..."
"Dammit, that's not great. We've seen what the mad scientist can do with relics, and younglings. I don't want to know what he can accomplish in a bomb." Ratchet thought aloud. "This is going to complicate things further. I can't find anything in my scans or scoping. Which means, like Mirage's virus's that kept reverting him to a sparkling, I won't be able to detect anything until it's too late." The ancient medic's frustration grew as he thought more about it.
Soundwave was surprisingly calmer then the others around him. He excepted his unknown fate, he was just happy it wasn't anybody else. Except he did wonder if the bomb would eventually effect his little brother since he also fell victim to the bomb. "What about you Mirage?"
"What about me, I'm fine?" Mirage raised an optic ridge at his calm brother.
"You were in that explosion to, there's a possibility it will eventually effect you as well." Soundwave replied to his little brother.
"It's already effecting you, don't you think it would've already started on me?" Mirage scoffed, glaring at the medic that was about to agree with his brother.
"There's a possibility of delayed effects on you, but I won't bother you. But if you have any issues come to me immediately." Ratchet told the moody youngling. "Soundwave, I really don't know what to say anymore. Besides stick to our original recovery plan." The medic sighed to the calm young mech.
"I will do that then." Soundwave nodded at the medic.
"We should all get some rest. So we have energy to figure this new information out." Optimus suggested to the team.
"Are you going to be alright Soundwave?" Xanthia asked her eldest son.
"I'm fine, please don't worry yourself." Soundwave sighed, as his mother smiled at him.
"I will always worry about you and your brother. You wake if you need me." Xanthia sighed retreating towards the hallway. "Mirage where are staying tonight?"
"Umm I guess with Bee..." Mirage looked over at his brother giving an unsure reply.
"Alright, don't stay up too late." Xanthia replied with a sigh.
"Soundwave you can choose to recharge in here. Or your own quarters. What would you like?" Ratchet told the violet mech his options.
"My room." Soundwave answered, preparing himself to stand up. He pushed off the berth, standing for a brief shaky moment, only to fall back to the berth.
"I can help assist you." Optimus said as he picked the young mech back up.
"I'm fine sir, really this isn't necessary..." Soundwave said as his Uncle helped him walk down the hallway.
"Soundwave it's alright to take help, you overworked yourself today, I'm sure you'll be walking around tomorrow." Arcee smiled as she walked beside the two.
Soundwave sighed as he was sat down on his berth. "Thanks Optimus..."
"Call me if you need any more help." Optimus smiled, before leaving the couple's room.
"You're trying to figure out what Shockwave put into that bomb aren't you?" Arcee mentioned seeing her mech in deep thought.
"In a way yes. I know it's impossible to guess, Shockwave was obsessed with the tech of the ancients. That's how we got that relic that caused Mirage all that sparkling reverting, but the funny thing about that was Megatron requested he goes back to his science of reverting bots to sparkling's. The relic was just a vessel, Shockwave had created the concoction for reversion, because Mirage was such a success they wanted to train more sparklings. They tested them in explosives so they could revert a large group of fully grown bots into sparklings, then attempted to turn them back into fully grown bots. The project was a complete failure because they couldn't handle the training, they also failed to turn them back into fully grown bots." Soundwave explained some of the mad scientist research.
"Uuuuh..." Arcee suspiciously stared at her mech. The fact that Shockwave made bombs in that project made the femme put two and two together.
"But honestly it could be anything from Tox-en, to whatever Voodoo he dabbles in." The bioluminescent mech tiredly replied.
"Soundwave?" Arcee tried gaining her mech's attention.
"Most of what Shockwave does was with a purpose, yet again a lot of his projects backfire on him, so..."
"Soundwave!" Arcee gasped shaking her mech to grab his attention.
"Ow ow ow! What, what do you want!?" Soundwave cried out in pain as he was shook.
"Oh sorry!" Arcee quickly released her mech, apologizing as Soundwave withered in pain. "Did you pay attention to anything you just said?!" Arcee waved her arms in the air like a crazy femme.
"Not really, no!" Soundwave cowered as his femme lost her mind for some reason. "What are you freaking out about?"
"You just said Shockwave was tampering with bombs back on Cybertron!" The femme shouted making the bioluminescent mech visibly jump.
"I said I didn't know he was!" Soundwave replied wincing every time the femme waved her arms.
"Yes, but you were just going on about the fact Shockwave was experimenting with bombs deca cycles ago!" Arcee groaned throwing her helm back in annoyance.
"Yeah so what, it was a failed experiment. Can you calm down please!" Soundwave begged his femme to calm herself.
"Sorry, Soundwave you're smart. Please do the math." Arcee took a deep breath, sitting next to her mech.
"I don't know what you want me to add up?" The bioluminescent mech stared at the cobalt blue femme beside him.
"What if the bomb the Cons set off on you, is the same kind!" Arcee said with an optic roll.
"I highly doubt that." Soundwave chuckled before grabbing his helm in pain.
The femme furrowed her optic ridges. "How do you know?"
"Because Megatron wants to create pain, not sparklings." The young mech sighed as a wave of weakness came over his frame.
"I hope you're right." Arcee sighed as she helped her mech lay down in the berth.
"I'm not worried about it..." Soundwave weakly replied to Arcee.
"Rest, I will be back in a bit." the femme told the young mech, as she hastily left the room.
"Primus, does everyone like to sneak up on me!" Ratchet gasped turning around to see the cobalt blue femme.
"I might know what's happening to Soundwave." Arcee replied ignoring the medic's comment.
"Well what is it?" Ratchet held up his servos waiting for an answer.
"The same thing that happened to Mirage." Arcee simply replied.
"Oh for Primus sakes, what is Shockwave's obsession with sparklings?! How'd you come across that?" The CMO groaned while facepalming.
"Well Mirage is the reason for Shockwave's obsession with sparklings. Mirage was such a success as super soldier Megatron wanted more. So the project was throw a bomb with a reversion concoction at grown Cybertronians, turn them into sparklings, train them, then convert them back into adults. But apparently they failed because they couldn't handle the training, but mostly Shockwave couldn't return them into their adult forms."
"Primus what a psycho. We're just going to have to monitor and see what happens to him. I have already done every test imaginable I can't find any trace of a virus." Ratchet sighed leaning on one of the medical berths.
"What happens if he reverts?" Arcee asked concerned for her mech.
"We deal with it, but if you can ask about how Shockwave tried to convert them back to adults I might be able to create a solution that works. Since that relic is gone." The medic replied to the concerned femme.
"He's recharging right now, I will try tomorrow." Arcee sighed looking at the hallway.
"If this truly is the bomb used on Soundwave, we might not have a mech by tomorrow." Ratchet warned the cobalt blue femme.
"I will ask, but Mirage might have better luck by getting info from Starscream." Arcee shrugged walking towards her bedroom.
"His interrogations, and determination might be our only option..." the medic shook his helm, going back to the monitors.
Arcee climbed into the berth where her mech was passed out, in a deep recharge. "Soundwave?" She gently nudged her mech's shoulder.
Soundwave took a moment to wake, looking up at his femme, his processor was completely fogged he could barely keep awake.
"How did Shockwave attempt to convert the sparklings into adults?" Arcee asked trying to keep her mech's attention.
"He tried... using... a reverse ...version of the... concoction... but ended up killing them..." Soundwave tiredly replied, barely coherent enough to understand his own words.
"Do you know what it was?" Arcee asked gently shaking her mech's frame.
Soundwave simply shook his helm, to exhausted to speak.
"Thank you." Arcee sighed kissing her mech's visor, before hurrying back to the medic.
"Soundwave said Shockwave tried to reverse the reverting concoction. But it ended up being a killer." Arcee said, making the medic jump.
"Okay, does he have the recipe to that concoction?" Ratchet asked putting down some of his tools.
"Unfortunately no." Arcee sadly replied to the old CMO.
"Well, to his Mother's disliking, we may need Mirage to hunt down the studies." Ratchet scoffed rearrange his med bay.
"It might be our only option." Arcee agreed with the red and white mech.
"But this is only a possibility, it's not confirmed until he shows signs of more odd behaviour." Ratchet mentioned as he finished organizing his med bay.
"More odd behaviour? Soundwave's just been a little tired, and weak in his limbs." The cobalt blue femme questioned the medic's comment.
"Yes but with his biological makeup he should've been healed this morning, just like Mirage." The old medic reminded the young femme.
"So Mirage wasn't effected?" Arcee raised an optic ridge at the red and white mech.
"If Shockwave's bombs were experimental, it probably only covered a small range. It's aura likely dissipated by the time Mirage fell in. Ratchet thought aloud as he escorted the femme down the hallway. "Don't overwork your mind. We'll find a solution, Soundwave is a key part of our team. Megatron knows that, that's why he weakened Soundwave before his quest for a power source to obliterate us. He probably told his followers to target Mirage as well."
"I'm trying to not let it bug me, but it's difficult." Arcee sighed as they stopped in front of her quarters.
"As long as he's healthy, there's nothing to worry about." Ratchet placed a reassuring servo on the femme's shoulder. "Goodnight Arcee, call me if you need me." The sweet medic sighed a goodnight before parting ways.
Arcee closed her optics, taking a deep breath, she opened her door to see her mech still in a deep recharge. She climbed into the berth with a sigh of relief, placing a loving servo on the bioluminescent mech's chestplate, before drifting off into recharge.
To Arcee's dismay, morning came sooner than later, waking to the feeling of a vacancy beside her. Quickly realizing the spot next to her on the berth was empty, pushing herself upright. "Soundwave?!" The femme looked around her room in a panic. About to leave her room in search of her mech, she noticed a violet glow underneath her berth. Getting on her servos and knees Arcee peeked under her berth. She gasped as she came face to face with big, watery, blood red, and cyan blue mixed optics. "Soundwave!" Arcee gasped pulling the sparkling out from the berth.
[Arcee put me down!] Soundwave sputtered, but all that came out was clicks and chirps of sparkling chatter.
"Okay you've been shouting Soundwave's name since the middle of the night, what is going on..." Mirage growled upon entering the femme's room, locking his sights on his formly older brother.
[Mirage help me!] Soundwave clicked reaching for Mirage.
"No way, ha ha!" Mirage burst out into laughter at the sight of his grumpy sparkling brother.
"I haven't heard you laugh like that in a while." Arcee raised an optic ridge at the madly giggling youngling.
"It's just great to finally be the one not reverted back into a sparkling!" Mirage replied as Soundwave furrowed his optic ridges at his youngling brother. "This must be a side effect from the bomb." the youngling caught his breath, wiping away his tears from laughter.
[Are you done enjoying this? If so I could use your fragging help!] Soundwave chirped at his youngling brother.
"Hey chill out, I'm allowed to enjoy this." Mirage retorted to the sparkling.
"You can understand him?" Arcee asked holding the violet sparkling out in front of her.
"Yeah, why you can't?" Mirage replied to the confused femme.
"No I can't. We better get you to Ratchet." Arcee sighed, carrying the sparkling to the med bay, with Mirage in tow. "Ratchet..."
"Primus it was Shockwave's twisted explosion. Put him down here, I need to make sure he's healthy." Ratchet gasped as the cobalt blue femme brought the violet sparkling.
[Do I not get a say in any of this?!] Soundwave squirmed as he was passed off to the medic.
"No you really don't. Isn't it fun." Mirage smirked at the frustrated sparkling.
"Who are you talking to Mirage?" Ratchet asked as he scanned the angry sparkling.
"Soundwave, he's not happy." Mirage replied as Soundwave tried pushing the invading servos away.
"Does he seem to know he's a sparkling?" Ratchet asked as he reviewed his scans.
"Well he's got the look of a sparkling but he's the same Soundwave. Just a little agitated." Mirage sheepishly smiled.
"Well that's quite remarkable, the reversion has seemed to restore his face, and healed his injuries." Ratchet mentioned as he continued to read his scan results.
"Do you still have your visor?" Mirage asked the cross armed sparkling.
Soundwave was thrilled to have his face back, quickly materialized his visor then dematerialized it, continuing to glare at the bots in front of him.
"Well Soundwave's around the same age as when we found you back on Cybertron Mirage. Unfortunately for Soundwave he may not have his mature mind for long. His processor is reverting slowly to a sparkling processor." The CMO announced to Soundwave's horror.
[What are you serious? I am not going through that!] Soundwave clicked and chirped, frantically waving his arms.
"Oh why are you being so angry, it's not that bad..." Mirage snorted at his sparkling brother.
[This isn't funny Mirage!] Soundwave angrily glared at his youngling brother.
"Really? Because if I recall, you told me it's not bad to be a sparkling. And that I should just let others care for me." The young assassin retorted, making his brother roll his optics.
"Here try having some energon, you need the nourishment." Ratchet handed a prepped bottle of energon to the violet sparkling.
[uuuuh... I don't think so...] Soundwave shook his helm refusing the bottle.
"Oh no way!" Sunstreaker gasped, walking into the med bay with his twin.
"Soundwave's a little sparkling, ha that's adorable!" Sideswipe laughed in excitement.
[Just offline me now...] Soundwave groaned facepalming.
"Ratchet, what are we going to do about Soundwave?" Arcee asked ignoring the twins cooing.
"We do our best to care for Soundwave's needs. Mirage is Soundwave's only hope to return back to a mech." Ratchet replied gesturing to the smirking youngling.
"Wait why am I his only hope?" Mirage raised an optic ridge at the medic.
"Because you're the only one that's gained information from Starscream. If you get the chance to get Shockwave's research from him, I'll be closer to gaining Soundwave's antidote." Ratchet explained to the young assassin. "But we'll have to talk to Optimus about it first, before you blindly go on a mech hunt."
"Sure..." Mirage sighed rolling his optics at the fact he had to wait for his father's consent.
"Why is he a sparkling?" Sunstreaker chuckled, picking up the violet sparkling.
[Stop picking me up!] Soundwave whined, smacking the golden twin.
"It's a reaction to Shockwave's bomb." Ratchet raised an optic ridge at the golden twin.
"That's hilarious, and all these cycles you've been telling us to grow up. I think you guys were telling it to the wrong bots!" Sideswipe laughed at Arcee and the CMO, while patting Mirage's helm.
"Hilarious..." Arcee shook her helm at the laughing twins.
Soundwave wriggled out of Sunstreaker's grip, hitting the floor hard. [Ow, that was a mistake...] Soundwave hissed shaking off the shock of hitting the ground.
"Sunstreaker you dropped the sparkling!" Sideswipe gasped.
"He slipped out of my grip!" Sunstreaker exclaimed.
"Would you two morons go on patrol already!" The grumpy medic hissed shoeing the twins out of the base.
Soundwave rolled his optics at the now arguing twins. Pushing himself to his peds, his stabilizer servos were very unsteady causing him to try and find his balance. [What the hell?] sticking both his arms out as he took two very unsteady steps, before loosing his balance and falling on his aft. [Dammit!]
Arcee sighed picking up the tiny sparkling. "You're a sparkling Soundwave, to your disliking you're not very coordinated with your functions quite yet."
[This sucks...] Soundwave pouted, as his mother entered the base with Optimus.
"Trust me I know." Mirage smiled sympathetically to his now sparkling brother.
"By the Allspark..." Optimus gasped seeing the unamused sparkling in Arcee's arms.
"Why is..."
"Side effect from Shockwave's bomb. Apparently since Mirage was so successful with his training, Megatron demanded Shockwave train more sparklings. Of course during the war there were none, so Shockwave's twisted theory was to create a concoction in bombs to make sparklings. It worked but the sparklings didn't survive the training and also couldn't be reverted back to fully grown Cybertronians." Ratchet quickly replied before Xanthia could ask why her eldest son was now a sparkling. "Before you ask, no there's no way to turn him back currently. Soundwave's healthy, he's still the same Soundwave for the time being. But his processor is reverting to a sparklings sooner rather then later."
"Currently no way to turn him back?" Xanthia repeated as she walked over to examine her sparkling.
Ratchet sighed looking at Mirage out of the corner of his optic. "No, but Optimus if Mirage can retrieve any of Shockwave's research on this project, it would benefit Soundwave greatly."
Optimus's expression changed from curious to uncertainty, turning to his youngling. "Mirage I do not agree with the way you've been acting around the Decepticons. I believe what has happened to both you and your brother, has clouded your judgment. But if the opportunity presents itself then you may retrieve the data. But no unnecessary risks, Soundwave isn't in a dire state. Our first priority is to keep the Decepticons from interfering with the humans. And figure out Megatron's plans, preventing him from bringing an army back to Earth." The Prime firmly explained to the young assassin.
Mirage rolled his optics at his father's explanation, but reluctantly nodded his helm in understanding. "Yes, sir."
Soundwave sat boredly, hanging his torso over Arcee's arms, a constant dull pain lingering in his helm. [Primus, can we do more then just gawk at my situation...]
"Arcee, Xanthia and I patrolled where last nights battle took place. No signs of Decepticon activity, Ironhide and Bumblebee are out in the canyon training. Jazz is heading towards the human territory, I would like you to meet him there, to assure none of Starscream's soldiers are exploring the human town." Optimus ordered the cobalt blue femme.
Arcee looked down at the violet sparkling in her arms with a sigh. "Sure Optimus, here I'll be back soon Soundwave." the young femme said handing the sparkling to the bioluminescent femme beside her.
"Well it's been deca cycles since I've held you as a sparkling." Xanthia commented to her annoyed sparkling son.
[Aren't you lucky...] Soundwave sighed, holding his helm as the dull pain continued.
"It's restored your face to, you must be happy about that at least, grumpy." Xanthia cooed holding her sparkling above her helm.
[Yeah, that's the only good in this situation.] Soundwave thought with a smile, as he was lifted above his mother's helm. The rush of being lifted in the air causing him to emit a small giggle.
Xanthia smiled warmly as Soundwave giggled.
Mirage even cracked a smile at his now little brother. Mirage knew he was no better, but he couldn't remember the last time Soundwave showed genuine joy or laughter.
Soundwave quickly tried to hide his laughter, doing his best to fight off any sort of sparkling behaviour. But his processor retaliated against him, sending him a wave of dizziness. [No... stop...] Soundwave whimpered in discomfort, grabbing at his helm.
Xanthia's smile soon turned into concern, pulling her sparkling down into her arms. "What's the matter Soundwave?"
[My helm...] Soundwave complained continuing to show discomfort.
"His helm hurts." Mirage answered for his brother.
Overhearing the conversation, Ratchet quickly approached the mother and sparkling, doing a quick scan on the uncomfortable sparkling. "Soundwave's sparkling processor is take over, but he keeps fighting it."the CMO sighed.
"Don't fight it sparkling, you don't need to feel pain." Xanthia cooed, placing Soundwave against her shoulder, gently rubbing his tiny back.
Soundwave's whimpers of discomfort was soon followed by tears, as he gave up the battle in his processor. His tiny little digits grabbing onto his mother's shoulder plate.
Mirage made eye contact with his brother, giving him a reassuring smile. "I'm going to get you a cure Wave, I promise." Mirage promised as his little brother fell into recharge.
Optimus sighed, as he watched from behind the monitors. He knew the situation was incredibly infuriating and confusing for his young apprentice. "Mirage you should join the twins, they've informed me they have discovered a small Decepticon mining operation. We're going to need the energon." Optimus called to the young assassin looking over the monitors.
"I'm on it sir!" Mirage excitedly transformed as Ratchet fired up a ground bridge for him.
"Optimus we're tracking two cons in the town, can you send Mirage or Xanthia for an extra set of optics." Arcee's voice came on the monitors.
Xanthia nodded at Optimus, handing him the recharging sparkling. "Xanthia is on her way Arcee. Do not engage unless absolutely necessary." Optimus replied to the young femme, as Ratchet opened another bridge.
A few hours had passed most of the patrol teams had joined Mirage and the twins to collect the energon they claimed. Ratchet was enjoining the peace and quiet as he and Optimus worked on the monitors.
Soundwave's bright mixed coloured optics opened, with a big yawn, as he awoke from his nap. Curiously blinking his optics he looked up at the large mech holding him. "Opt!" Soundwave squeaked joyfully, making the mech visibly jump.
Optimus looked down at the chirping sparkling. He could tell Soundwave was completely a sparkling now. "Hello little one." he smiled, walking over to the energon storage next to the med bay.
"I filled the bottles, you just need to put it in the warmer." Ratchet mentioned as the Prime grabbed an energon filled bottle.
"Thank you old friend." Optimus replied placing the bottle in the warmer.
"I'm just going to do a scan to make sure he's still healthy." Ratchet said as he scanned the bubbly sparkling. "He needs energon, but other then that healthy. He's completely reverted now."
"I know." Optimus sighed looking down at the happily babbling sparkling in his arms.
Soundwave eagerly reached for the bottle as the Prime guided it to his mouth. His little peds pattering happily as he suckled on the bottle.
"I will be honest, he's quite a joyful sparkling compared to his little brother." Ratchet chuckled as Soundwave turned his helm towards him and squealed happily, spitting energon onto himself.
"Soundwave was quite a spirited sparkling back on Cybertron. His mother took great care of him." Optimus chuckled in reply to the medic's comment.
"He knows how to be a sparkling, unlike Mirage. Which is why Megatron caused this to happen to Soundwave. Mirage as a sparkling, is not a dent to Mirage's abilities. Soundwave being a sparkling however, although he still has his unique upgrades. He's just a regular sparkling with no training, or defence systems." Ratchet said handing a rag to the red and blue mech.
Optimus mulled over what the medic said, he didn't think about the fact that Soundwave was a typical defenceless sparkling. Wiping the sparkling's mess up he chuckled as the Soundwave grabbed at the rag. "Let go little one." Optimus gently pulled the rag out from thd sparklings grip.
Once Soundwave finished the bottle he immediately wanted down on the ground.
Optimus placed the bottle on a counter, walking over to the couch, where Bumblebee's play area was, placing Soundwave on the floor.
Soundwave chirped and clicked as he crawled. Pushing himself up on his peds, he waved his arms as he lost his balance.
Optimus knelt down, quickly catching the falling sparkling. He grabbed each one of the sparkling's servos, helping Soundwave balance.
Soundwave happily babbled, taking a couple steps forward, before realizing bouncing up and down was a lot more fun.
Optimus chuckled at the happily bouncing little sparkling he held up with his servos. "Don't you want a toy sparkling?"
"Why would he want a toy, when he can happily bounce around thanks to you." Mirage teased as he walked up behind the his father and brother.
"Hello Mirage, how was the mission?" Optimus asked turning Soundwave to face his brother.
"It was easy, took the Cons out before they could alert the Nemesis and call for backup. Bee, Ironhide and the twins stayed to mine. Arcee and I raced back here, she should be coming in soon, Xanthia and Jazz stayed to monitor the town for more activity." The youngling reported as Soundwave continued to bounce and giggle.
The roar of a motorcycle echoed through base as Arcee entered. "Mirage you're a little speed demon, you know that." The femme scoffed as she transformed.
"As a matter of fact I did know thanks for the recap." Mirage sarcastically replied to the cobalt blue femme.
"Smartass." Arcee shook her helm as she approached. "How's Soundwave?"
"Full on sparkling." Mirage gestured to the bouncing sparkling in the Prime's servos.
"I was afraid of that." Arcee sighed crouching down on the ground with the Prime and youngling.
Soundwave babbled as he transitioned between toddling and bouncing.
"Does he recognize us?" The femme questioned giving a small smile to the violet sparkling.
"I'm not sure, he hasn't really paid any mind to anyone except his bouncing." Mirage shrugged as his brother toddled towards the toys with help from Optimus.
"He didn't call Optimus, Orion, and he seemed to recognize me. So he's either super friendly, or he recognizes us." Ratchet mentioned from over in the med bay.
"That doesn't really answer the question Ratch." Arcee retorted to the old mech.
"Here see if he recognizes you." Optimus said lifting Soundwave up, and placing him in the cobalt blue femme's arms.
Soundwave's babbling silenced, his optics went wide as he stared at the strange femme that held him.
"Hi Soundwave." Arcee greeted the scared sparkling, with a kind smile.
Soundwave blinked for a moment realizing the femme knew his name, she must've been a friend. "Hi!" Soundwave squeaked, smacking his servos on the femme.
"I don't think he recognizes me, but he's not crying." Arcee shrugged handing the violet sparkling to Mirage.
"No!" Mirage quickly refused to hold his brother.
"Mirage what's wrong?" Optimus raised an optic ridge at his nervous youngling.
"Do you not remember the disaster when I held Bumblebee for the first time? Kinda don't want to repeat it." Mirage replied continuing to refuse the sparkling.
"It was a mistake, plus you held him fine after that." Arcee rolled her optics, placing the sparkling in the assassin's arms.
Soundwave instantly felt his brother's sparkbond, as soon as was put in the youngling's arms. "Ra, ra!" he squealed hugging his brother.
"Guess he recognizes me, which is odd since I wasn't sparked when he was a sparkling." Mirage cringed as his sparkling brother hugged him.
"No but you two have a very strong bond." Optimus Prime mentioned to his youngling.
"I guess you're right." Mirage shrugged placing Soundwave at the toy box. "So when can I hunt down Starscream?" Mirage asked, receiving a glare from his father.
"Mirage I told you, if the opportunity shows to gain the research I will clear you to go. This is not a mech hunt, we have more important matters at the moment." Optimus replied his tone gave a slight hint that he was upset.
"You're not finding that information anyway, unless you grow ariel capabilities, or the Nemesis is docked at an energon mine." Ratchet scoffed as he continued to work.
"Okay, I get the point." Mirage groaned, tired of listening to both mech's.
Soundwave giggled as he pulled some blocks out of the toy chest. Placing the blocks one on top of each other, before knocking them down.
Optimus sighed watching the little sparkling. "Mirage I know you want to help your brother. But you must understand Soundwave being a sparkling is not an emergency. With Starscream in charge of the Decepticons, during Megatron's absence. They may become more active, with Starscream trying to prove he's a better leader."
"Primus, I said I got it. You don't have to go on and on about it!" Mirage spat, getting up from the floor.
"Mirage!" Xanthia gasped as she entered the base with Jazz. "Don't you dare talk to your father like that!" The bioluminescent femme angrily scolded her youngling.
Mirage just rolled his optics at his mother, before storming off down the hallway.
"What has gotten into him?" Xanthia growled as she approached the young femme and the Prime.
"He's a youngling with an attitude, nothing really too new there." Arcee shrugged, as Soundwave happily crawled his way towards his mother.
Soundwave pulled himself onto his peds with the help of his mother's peds. Babbling up at his mother, waiting for her to pick him up.
Xanthia unconciously picked up her bubbly sparkling, while glaring at the Prime. "You let him speak to you like that?"
"Mirage is a youngling full of angst and anger, I choose not to engage in small battles. It only causes rebellious acts that our team does not need." Optimus sternly replied to the angered femme.
Xanthia understood the Prime's words, but was disappointed in her youngling. "He's upset he can't hunt down the Decepticons to help his brother?"
"Yes, but he'll get over it. Mirage has a pretty quick cool down time if he's not pushed." Jazz mentioned as he came over to see the violet sparkling for himself. "Wow, you really are a sparkling!" Jazz excitedly cooed at Soundwave.
Soundwave chirped at the grey mech, with a smile while playing with his mother's digits.
"He certainly is." Xanthia smiled, deciding to let the Mirage situation slide.
Optimus placed a servo on Arcee's shoulder, seeing the cobalt blue femme in a state of sadness. "Arcee are you alright?"
"Yeah, just taking in the fact Soundwave's now a sparkling." Arcee sighed with a small smile.
"We'll get him back to being your sparkmate soon enough." Optimus returned the smile.
Arcee chuckled at the red and blue mech. "I'm sure." Exhaling Arcee calmly walked down the hallway to search for the red youngling.
The Prime nodded before leaving to go work on the monitors.
As Jazz cooed over him, Soundwave watched the Prime walking past them. "Opt!" He quickly reached out for the red and blue mech.
Optimus smiled at the sparkling. "Hello little one." he said as he continued to walk past the femme.
As soon as the Prime was past Xanthia, Soundwave began to fuss and cry continuing to reach for the Prime.
Xanthia and Jazz both chuckled at the sparkling. "Someone wants you." the bioluminescent femme laughed as she approached the working Prime.
Optimus cocked his helm at the crying sparkling. "Why all the fuss sparkling?"
Soundwave cried, responding by reaching out for Optimus once more. "Opt!"
"Alright little one, shh..." Optimus took the sparkling as the femme handed him over.
Soundwave's cries died down as he was craddled in the crook of the Prime's arm. He nestled closely to the Prime's spark for warmth.
"Someone's overtired." Ratchet commented, handing the Prime a warm bottle of energon.
"I think so." Optimus and Xanthia both agreed with the medic.
Soundwave happily drank the energon, his optic lids getting heavy, as the warm liquid lulled him slowly. As he finished the bottle the Prime removed the now empty bottle, Soundwave blinked heavily, letting out a large squeaky yawn.
Optimus and Xanthia both smiled as the sparkling fell into recharge.
"Here I'll let you work in peace." Xanthia said as she tried to take her sparkling from the Prime.
Optimus angled himself down, so the femme could reach Soundwave easier. As soon as the femme began to take the sparkling Soundwave began to wake in a panic.
Quickly realizing he was being taken from the Prime. Soundwave screamed in horror, curling up into a tight ball against the Prime's chest.
The scream was so shocking, Ratchet accidentally dropped one of his tools in the med bay. "Holy hell!"
"What was that all about?" Jazz gasped jumping off the couch.
"Soundwave!" Xanthia gasped holding her servos up in surprise, as her sparkling made it a point to cry and press himself against the Prime's chest as close as possible.
Optimus was just as shocked as everyone else at the tantrum Soundwave was throwing. "I can work while holding him Xanthia it's no trouble." the Prime said, just wanting to stop the screaming.
"Sure Optimus..." Xanthia replied backing away in confusion.
Seeming to realize he wasn't going to be moved, Soundwave settled right back into recharging, listening to the steady beat of the Prime's spark.
"Primus, that kids got a set of pipes." Ratchet scoffed grabbing his dropped tool.
"I've never heard him scream like that before. Even when I raised him back on Cybertron." Xanthia mentioned, walking over to the medic.
"It was quite the distressed scream. We'll just monitor him and see if it's something causing him pain." The medic said to the concerned femme.
Xanthia nodded taking one more look at her sparkling, before walking down the hallway in search of her other child.
"Mirage I know authority figures aren't usually someone you listen to, but maybe just calm down a bit. I know you're driven to help Soundwave return to normal, hell I am to, but I have to push my personal feelings aside for the sake of this planet." Arcee said as she tossed a rock off the edge of the cliff.
"I know, I am being calm about it. I just don't need the same spiel drilled into me, from multiple different bots trying to control me." Mirage hissed kicking a pebble over the edge.
"Mirage they just worry you'll go off with your rogue mind, you do like to go off on your own rules." Arcee told the young assassin.
"If they didn't want me to have a rogue mind, why'd Optimus kick me out of the Autobots, and onto the war torn streets of Cybertron, where I had to fend for myself! I don't hate him for it I just don't understand why me and not Air Raid... My mom left Soundwave in charge of me, he was a youngling, and we ended up getting captured and tortured. I don't blame her for that, but Optimus had a choice." Mirage spat in anger, not noticing the bioluminescent femme coming up behind them.
"Mirage you killed three mechs, it was a difficult decision, but Optimus did what was right. But he brought you back in, and said frag the rules." Arcee sighed deeply, at the frustrated youngling. Wondering how long the subject had been boiling in the youngling.
"I guess you're right, I just felt a little betrayed." The youngling sighed in understanding.
"That's understandable Mirage, you're not wrong for feeling that way." Arcee reassured the young assassin.
"This is why I'd rather be alone..." Mirage scoffed, throwing a rock far off in the distance.
"That's not true Mirage, and you know that." Arcee replied keeping a soft tone. "Look how hard you tried to find Soundwave. You never gave up your fight for him having a brother with you is not being alone Mirage."
"Okay... I'll admit you're right. But still, I'm not trying to defy Optimus, I just... I don't know." Mirage sighed calming himself, finally noticing his mother behind him.
"I'm sure whatever questions you have for Optimus he can answer them for you." Xanthia said causing Arcee to turn around.
Mirage gave a visible sigh of relief, his mother clearly didn't hear why he was upset with Optimus.
"I know, I will talk to him..."
"Where's Soundwave?" Arcee asked seeing the mother with no sparkling.
"In the base recharging with Optimus." Xanthia replied, with an uneasy tone.
"What's wrong?" Mirage asked noticing his mother's tone.
"Nothing, your brother let out quite the scream when I tried to free Optimus from him. Scared the whole base." The bioluminescent femme replied to her son.
"That doesn't sound like something Wave would do?" Arcee and Mirage thought aloud.
"Well he sure did, Ratchet thinks it may have been pain so we just have to monitor and see." Xanthia replied with a small laugh as the two walked back to the lift.
"What the hell happened to you?" Ratchet scoffed at the golden twin's vehicle that drove in with a broken windshield.
"I got hit by a fragging rock on the way in!" Sunstreaker hissed as he transformed.
Both Arcee and Mirage looked at each other and laughed, as they entered the main room. "Ooops!"
Sunstreaker immediately glared over at the two laughing bots. "What do you mean oops?!"
"I may have threw a rock a little farther then I thought." Mirage innocently replied with a shrug.
"Get over here, I'll fix it for you before you start whining!" Ratchet called the golden mech before he could start yelling at Mirage.
The golden mech groaned walking towards the medic. While his twin brother laughed at him.
"Is there anything I can help with Ratchet?" Xanthia asked walking out from the hallway.
"If you want, you can help me sanitize my equipment." Ratchet said as he finished repairing his adopted son.
"I can do that sure." the bioluminescent femme said walking into the med bay.
"Alright beat it, you're fine!" Ratchet shoed the twins out of his med bay.
"Alright geez, thanks!" Sunstreaker scoffed, hurrying out of the med bay with his twin.
"Hey Sunny, beat ya at target practice!" Sideswipe said, racing down the hallway.
"We both know I'm the better shot!" Sunstreaker called running after his twin.
Soundwave blinked his optics opened, looking up at the Prime. "Opt!" the sparkling gurgled, wriggling and flailing, letting Optimus know he was awake.
Optimus sighed looking away from the monitor, to the sparkling in his arm. "Did you have a good nap Soundwave?"
Soundwave squealed with joy, twittering and babbling at the red and blue mech.
"He's awake!" Mirage playfully teased wriggling his digits in front of his sparkling brother.
"Ra ra!" Soundwave giggled waving his servos at the claws wriggling in front of him.
"Can you take him for moment Mirage?" Optimus asked as he handed over the cheery sparkling.
"Uh... sure!" Mirage quickly cradled his brother in his arms.
Soundwave protested against the trade, but settled quickly while observing the red and blue mech.
Optimus gave a sigh of relief while rotating his arm that was holding Soundwave. Before grabbing a bottle for the sparkling.
"Ha ha, guess you were holding him for to long?" Mirage teased his father.
"Indeed." Optimus smiled handing Mirage the warm bottle.
Soundwave excitedly reached for the bottle, as his brother guided the bottle to his mouth. Suckling hungrily, his mixed coloured optics bright, happily staring at his brother's cyan coloured optics.
"This is a little different, I bet you're a lot happier drinking this than I was." Mirage chuckled at his little brother.
Optimus chuckled as well nodding his helm in agreement. "You're correct youngling. Why don't you take him and play." The Prime suggested, escorting the youngling to the play area.
"Uh sure, how am I supposed to play with him?" Mirage sheepishly agreed seeing Arcee waiting for them.
"Don't worry Mirage, I'll help you." Arcee smiled at the youngling, as Optimus quickly made an escape from the sparkling.
Soundwave finished his bottle quickly, as Mirage placed him on the ground.
"Okay, you're finished, geez!" Mirage hissed pulling the empty bottle away from his sparkling brother.
Sitting on the ground with the youngling assassin, and sparkling, Arcee couldn't help but laugh at the brothers.
Soundwave didn't know whether or not to get upset at his brother, his thoughts were quickly interrupted by a hiccup. Soundwave's optics went wide, whining, as the odd noises continued to attack him.
Arcee smiled at the hiccuping violet sparkling. "It's alright they're just hiccups Soundwave." The femme cooed, gaining Soundwave's attention.
"Ha ha, that's cute." Jazz commented as he leaned over the couch.
Soundwave clicked curiously, tilting his helm at every hiccup.
"Here distract him." Arcee said to the youngling, handing Mirage Soundwave's toy ball from Optimus.
"Where was this, I was looking for it earlier for him?" Mirage questioned taking the ball.
"In our room, Soundwave keeps it on his desk." Arcee replied as Mirage rolled the ball to his hiccuping brother.
"Opt!" Soundwave squeaked hugging the ball.
Optimus naturally turned his helm, hearing his name being called by the sparkling. Looking over at the play area, the Prime could see the violet sparkling hugging the ball he gifted him deca cycles ago.
Xanthia smiled at her sparkling from the med bay, as she cleaned the medic's medical equipment.
Soundwave jumped up to his peds, only to fall on his aft as fast as he got up. "Uh oh!" Soundwave giggled looking up at Mirage.
Mirage chuckled at his adorable brother. "Uh oh, you fell down!"
Soundwave giggled at the red youngling, before fixing his optics on the ball that was rolling away. "Opt?" he pointed to the glowing ball.
"Does he want his ball or Optimus?" Arcee questioned, as the sparkling pointed towards the ball, but also the direction of the Prime.
Mirage shrugged rolling the ball back to his brother.
Soundwave happily chirped as the ball came back to him, answering his brother's question.
Hours of play went by, Ironhide and Bumblebee were now busy bringing the mined energon into the base. Mirage had decided to help them to speed things up, as it was dark, and getting late. Soundwave seemed to be mesmerized with the ground bridge every time it switched on.
"For a walking ground bridge, he sure is fixated on the ground bridge." Jazz joked, laughing at the curious little sparkling.
"He can look all he wants, as long as he doesn't go through them, or figure out that he can create them." Ratchet retorted, as he began to process raw energon.
"You think Soundwave can still create bridges?" Arcee asked curiously, as she followed the crawling sparkling.
"Soundwave has lost his training, but has kept his unique functions, and upgrades. So to answer your question he absolutely can." The old CMO replied to the cobalt blue femme.
"Oops, whatch out little Wave." Bumblebee said, nearly tripping over the crawling sparkling, as he brought energon into the base.
"Hey! Where you going little cruiser?" Arcee quickly picked Soundwave up, moving him away from the open ground bridge.
Soundwave clicked as he was suddenly turned away from the glowing bridge. Looking up at who moved him, as the femme put each of his servos in hers.
Arcee smiled, as the unsteady violet sparkling took big exaggerated steps, before bouncing up and down playfully.
"Primus, he's not tired yet?" Mirage yawned, walking around the femme and his brother, as he carried energon into the base.
"Not quite yet, but someone else is." Arcee teased the red youngling.
"I am not!" Mirage argued as Ironhide brought the last of the energon in.
"Suuuure..." Arcee continued to tease, as Xanthia approached her.
"I'm going to feed him, and get him to recharge before he gets overtired." Xanthia said to Arcee, picking up her bouncing sparkling.
Soundwave babbled playfully, smacking his mother's arms as gurgled up at her.
"Yeah, I got to get some reports done anyway." Arcee replied guiding Soundwave towards his mother. "Night, little sparkling." she cooed before heading down the hallway.
Soundwave clicked curiously at his mother, as she prepared a bottle for him. His tiny frame finally being taken over by exhaustion.
"That's good you two, take a rest. We can deal with the rest in the morning." Ironhide sighed tiredly to the two younglings.
"Bumblebee, Mirage it's late, time to recharge." Optimus told his two sons, gesturing to the hallway.
"Alright, goodnight." Bumblebee didn't argue, he was really tired. Obeying his father he made his way to his room.
Optimus glared at his red youngling, waiting for him to do the same as his younger brother.
"Ugh... fine!" Mirage groaned, unwillingly following his yellow brother.
"Do not worry about processing all the energon old friend. Take a rest." Optimus said walking past the mother and sparkling, to the medic.
"I suppose I could use the extra rest." Ratchet sighed agreeing with the Prime.
Soundwave was once again being fussy with his mother, refusing to drink his bottle, as he squirmed in his mother's arms.
"Soundwave what are you fussing about, drink your bottle." Xanthia cooed trying to keep a good hold on her squirming sparkling.
"Opt!" Soundwave began to cry, as the Prime walked by with the old medic.
"Again with this?" Xanthia sighed, as Optimus turned around with the medic just as they stepped into the hallway out of view from Soundwave.
"What's the matter Xanthia?" Optimus asked approaching the femme and crying sparkling.
"I don't know, he just started panicking the moment you got out of sight." Xanthia replied handing the Prime her sparkling.
Soundwave's tears continued, as he slowly settled in the Prime's arms. His gaze switched between his mother and Optimus.
Ratchet narrowed his optics at Soundwave. Mulling over what was happening. "Xanthia, when did you loose contact with Optimus?"
"What?" Xanthia asked dumbfounded by the medic's question.
"I'm trying to figure out why he panics, just answer please." Ratchet sighed to the upset femme.
"I lost contact, when Optimus became a Prime. Soundwave was around this age, but he was more advanced in his speech, and motor functions compared to him now." Xanthia answered Ratchet's question.
"I believe Soundwave is panicking because he has the memory of Optimus leaving and not coming back again. He was incredibly advanced for his age back then, if he could speak more then one or two words, and walk. Yet again Mirage was to at that age, but that was thanks to Shockwave's training." The medic scoffed as he explained his theory. "But given that, it's possible Soundwave will be more functional by tomorrow, as he may still be having effects from the nuclear explosion." Ratchet explained to the femme as Optimus fed the hungry sparkling the bottle.
"Ratchet that can't be, Soundwave was to young to remember that." Optimus scoffed as Soundwave's little peds pattered happily as he drank from the bottle.
Xanthia sighed sadly, almost in tears, staring at her now quiet sparkling. "No, he remembered. Soundwave cried for you everyday after I cut off our contact. Even as a youngling, he cried for you, but at that point I knew he resented me for keeping him from you."
Optimus blinked in shock, at what the femme explained. "I don't understand, you're his mother shouldn't his strongest bond be with you?"
Xanthia smiled warmly at her leader. "Optimus, the moment Soundwave was sparked, you were the first one to hold him. You were with him for every moment you were free from your duties. I will always have a close bond with my sparkling, Soundwave proved that when I arrived here. But his first spark bond was with you."
Optimus looked ashamed, he felt like he had stolen the sparkling from his own mother. "How do we fix this?"
"Unless you're Megatron, you're not going to break that bond." Both Xanthia and Ratchet chuckled at the Prime.
"It's just a matter of time Optimus, Soundwave will soon adapt to the fact that you can leave and return." Ratchet sighed to his friend.
"I don't take offence to any of this Optimus, don't worry. If I took offence to everything my children did, I'd think Mirage hated me, always avoiding me like the cybonic plague. Even though it certainly seems that way sometimes, I know he's just slowly adjusting to having me around." Xanthia spoke truthfully to the kind sparked mech, escorting him down the hallway, stopping in front of the Prime's quarters. "Soundwave had a mother as a sparkling, and always will have me. You're the closest thing to a father to him, if he wants that, I will gladly let him have it."
Ratchet smiled patting the Prime's shoulder as he walked by. "You've got more sparklings than any other Cybertronian I've met."
"Funny stuff doc, don't you have two?" Xanthia teased shaking her helm with a laugh.
"No, I have two pain in the afts, and a big idiot that encourages their stupidity." Ratchet grumbled walking into his shared room.
"Well I guarantee he's not staying with me tonight. We'll try distancing tomorrow so he learns to calm down when you leave." The bioluminescent femme tiredly sighed giving her exhausted sparkling a kiss on the helm, before retreating to her own room. "Goodnight Optimus."
"Goodnight." Optimus replied to the femme, before entering his room.
Optimus placed the violet sparkling on the on the berth, while placing the empty bottle on his desk.
Sitting on the berth, Soundwave clicked curiously, scanning the room with his optics.
Optimus turned around to see Soundwave fall backwards onto his back, as he was looking around. Soundwave didn't seem to mind, seemingly thrilled to see his own peds in front of him.
The large mech smiled walking over to the berth. "Time to recharge little one." Optimus sighed scooping the playful sparkling up. Before laying on the berth with the sparkling on his chestplate.
Soundwave yawned, blinking heavily as he tried to fight his sleepiness. Babbling lazily as he attempted to stay awake.
"Shhhh..." Optimus shushed Soundwave, gently rubbing the sparklings back. He watched as Soundwave's blue and red optics slowly closed, falling into a peaceful recharge.
Soundwave seemed to recharge through the night without issues, as the next morning came.
Optimus woke, carrying the recharging sparkling into the main room. Where the medic was already hard at work.
"There's one warm and ready to go." Ratchet replied pointing to the bottle in the warmer.
"Thank you Ratchet, how are this morning?" Optimus replied, grabbing the bottle.
"I'm good, just want to get this processing done." The red and white mech replied continuing to process the raw energon.
"Where are the twins?" Optimus asked as Soundwave opened his optics.
"Recharging most likely." Ratchet shrugged.
"Opt, down!" Soundwave chirped pointing to the ground.
"Aren't you hungry little one?" Optimus questioned placing Soundwave on the floor.
Soundwave sat on the floor for a moment, before pushing himself up to his peds. It took a second, but he was able to stay on his peds.
"Look at you standing on your own." Optimus cooed at the proud little sparkling.
"Hungy!" Soundwave chirped reaching up at the bottle.
"I just asked you if you were hungry." Optimus sighed attempting to pick Soundwave back up.
"No!" Soundwave took a step back, protesting being picked up. "Hungy!" Soundwave continued to reach for the bottle.
"I'm trying sparkling..." Optimus sighed in frustration.
"He can stand on his own Optimus. I'm sure Soundwave's self sufficient enough to feed himself. Give him the damn bottle." Ratchet growled at the red and blue mech.
Optimus didn't argue with the cranky medic, handing Soundwave the bottle.
Soundwave happily squeaked, clumsily drinking the bottle, as he drunkly toddled off towards the hallway.
Mirage yawned stretching his arms as he got to the end of the hallway. He stopped, noticing his sparkling brother toddling blindly as he guzzled the energon bottle.
Soundwave continued to toddle walking straight into the wall next to his brother.
Mirage couldn't hold his laughter, as his little brother bounced off the wall landing on his aft. "You okay Wave?" Mirage chuckled helping the sparkling up.
"Ga!" Soundwave replied happily as he was handed his bottle once more, toddling off towards the play area.
"Good morning Mirage." Optimus greeted from the med bay, watching as his yellow youngling sneak down the hallway towards his brother.
"Morning." Mirage replied, as Bumblebee went to grab him from behind.
Mirage quickly grabbed the scout's arm, tossing him over his helm. Bumblebee yelped as his frame slammed into the ground.
The commotion caused Soundwave to jump, Ratchet to shake his helm, and Optimus to gasp.
"Oooow... I guess you heard me?" Bumblebee groaned as Mirage quirked an optic ridge as he stood over him.
"Ironhide may be teaching you how to fight, but an espionage specialist he is not." Mirage retorted, helping his brother off the ground.
"Well then teach me." Bumblebee replied to his assassin brother.
"Learn how to fight, then we'll talk." Mirage rolled his optics playfully at the eager scout.
"I am learning!" Bumblebee retorted placing his servos on his hips.
"Touché, but you might find you don't want to be a spy or an assassin. Maybe you'll wanna be in the warrior class instead." Mirage replied as he followed his sparkling brother.
"How did you know you wanted to do espionage and become an assassin?" Bumblebee asked following the mutant brothers.
"I didn't get a choice..." Mirage snorted in resentment. He blinked seeing his youngling brother gazing at him quizzically in a sympathetic way. "Well... I suppose it kinda chose me. I was silent, light on my peds, and agile. I could kill with out being seen, before I could even toddle straight. I excelled in marksmanship, and prefer a sniper over a missile launcher." The red youngling shrugged, giving a less bitter reply.
Bumblebee listened intently to his older brother. "I'm getting better at aiming. Hide said I'm making progress." Bee replied exitedly to the his assassin brother.
"That's great Bee, keep it up, and maybe one day you'll surpass my skills." Mirage praised the scout.
Bumblebee chuckled. "Yeah right, not even Ironhide has your marksmanship skills."
"Thanks..." Mirage playfully sighed, as Soundwave toddled around the couch.
Optimus watched as the three youngest members of team Prime play follow the leader with the violet sparkling.
Arcee, and Xanthia both chuckled as they walked into the room past the three young bots. "What are they doing?" Arcee asked the Prime.
"I'm not sure, my guess would be monitoring Soundwave." Optimus replied, before turning his attention to the mother. "Xanthia I was going to take Mirage and Bumblebee to the canyon, did you want to join us?"
"Thanks for the invite Optimus, but I am going to stay here with Soundwave." Xanthia replied back to her leader.
Optimus nodded as he walked over to the younglings parading around the couch. "Mirage, Bumblebee, would you like to join me for a walk in the canyon?" Optimus asked as Ironhide came out of the hallway with the twins.
"Sure..." Bumblebee began to reply before Ironhide called his name.
"Bumblebee, time for training." Ironhide waved the youngling scout over to him.
"Yeah, come on Bee you get to practice firing at us today." Sideswipe added, while his twin smirked.
"Can I join that practice?" Both Arcee and Ratchet chimed at the twin brothers.
"Be my guest, if you can hit us." Sunstreaker folded his arms, as he scoffed at the two.
Ratchet grabbed one of his wrenches, turning to glare at the cocky twins. Causing both to duck and cover immediately. "That's what I thought." the medic snorted putting his wrench away.
"Uuuuh..." Bumblebee looked undecidedly between the weapon specialist and his father.
"It's alright Bumblebee, you can always go another day." Optimus reassured his youngling scout.
Bumblebee nodded before eagerly following the weapon specialist and twins down the hallway.
"Mirage?" Optimus turned his attention to his red youngling.
"Uh sure, why not." Mirage shrugged following the Prime to the base exit.
Optimus looked back to see if Soundwave was following them. But to his surprise the sparkling was still preoccupied, drunkly toddling around with his bottle. Optimus smiled before silently leaving with his youngling son.
Mirage silently led the way to the canyon, transforming as soon as they were out of sight in the conyon. Mirage waited in one spot, allowing his father to lead the way.
Both father and son walked in awkward silence, through the canyon. Optimus was wanting to strike up a conversation with his youngling, he refrained from doing so though. Knowing Mirage was not one to engage in small talk.
Mirage sighed rolling his optics. "So why didn't we bring Soundwave?" He broke the awkward silence.
"Soundwave needs to learn that I can leave, and come back. But also in the event a Decepticon discovers us, he is not vulnerable." Optimus explained to the young assassin.
"What do you mean, Soundwave could defend himself." Mirage quirked an optic ridge, as he leapt over a small rock.
"No he cannot Mirage. Soundwave had no training as a sparkling." Optimus replied watching his youngling playfully jump over a rock.
"Right..." Mirage shrugged, now walking calmly beside his father.
"Is there something bothering you, youngling?" Optimus could tell many things clouded his youngling's mind.
"Always, but nothing worth voicing..." the young assassin replied, kicking some rocks.
"Mirage, you know you can..."
"I can tell you anything and you won't get upset, and you'll try to understand?" Mirage snorted, interrupting his father. "I've heard it enough times. It still doesn't change anything!"
"Can you at least give me a reason why you're upset?" Optimus sighed, grabbing his son by the shoulders.
Mirage was silent for a moment, turning his helm away from his father. "I don't want to be an Autobot..."