I finally was able to get a new video program, so I am now more active on YouTube. I have a few new Soundwave videos, one that is related to this story. Copy this link to see that video /Bz0qPDE2bLA
or check out my YouTube channel, Metriodqueen to see the others. I did try to include Mirage in the video related to this story, but unfortunately there wasn't enough clips or anything worth really using so it ended up just being Soundwave
Anyway back to the story
Optimus stayed silent for a moment, he wasn't upset about what his youngling had told him. But he was disappointed, wondering if the many cycles of Autobots taunting and cursing that Mirage was no Autobot, was once again consuming his youngling's better judgment. "May I ask why?"
"I'm not sure being on a team is right for me. I'm just not the type of Autobot to be on a team..." Mirage shrugged, the question catching him off guard. "Can we just walk?"
Optimus nodded walking quietly through the canyon, beside his upset youngling.
A few hours had passed by back in the base. Soundwave happily played with some toys, rolling his ball, he gazed up scanning the room, finally realizing that Optimus was missing. But he didn't have time to react, as Arcee scooped him up playfully.
"Gotcha!" Arcee playfully tickled the little sparkling.
"Aaah!" Soundwave squealed with laughter as he was tickled. "No, no, no!"
"What have you been up to little sparkling?" Arcee cooed slowing her tickle torture
"Play!" Soundwave chirped pointing down at the toys.
Arcee sat herself down on the floor, placing Soundwave next to his toys. "What are we playing?"
Soundwave pushed himself up to his peds, waddling over to his glowing ball.
Xanthia entered the base, returning from her morning patrol. "Huh, Mirage and Op..."
"Shh!" Ratchet quickly rushed over to the bioluminescent femme. "Soundwave's kept his cool since Prime's been gone. I'd rather not bring him up unless necessary." the medic quickly replied to the surprised femme.
Xanthia chuckled at the frantic CMO. "Sure thing Ratchet."
"Ra Ra?" Soundwave called, hearing his brother's name.
"Mirage is out, he'll be back soon." Arcee assured the violet sparkling.
"Ra Ra?" Soundwave now whimpered, toddling quickly towards his mother.
"What's wrong little one?" Xanthia asked picking up her upset sparkling.
"Ra ra!" the violet sparkling began to tear up.
"He's upset Mirage isn't here." Arcee explainable as she walked over to the mother and son.
"Hmmm... sounds like it's time for a nap to me." Xanthia said, holding her tired, grumpy, sparkling out in front of her.
Soundwave continued to whimper and whine, as tears began to fill his red and blue optics.
"This should calm him." Ratchet said, handing the mother a warm bottle, before turning to the blankly starting young femme. "It's getting late in the afternoon, shouldn't you be joining Jazz on patrol?"
"Hmm, yeah I guess..." Arcee replied half heartedly, walking towards the base exit. "Are the twins going to patrol the valley?"
"Bee and Ironhide should be done with them by now. But they certainly should be doing patrol today." Ratchet replied looking towards the hallway.
"I'll go tell them." Xanthia volunteered, walking down the hallway with her sparkling.
"There problem solved, now go." The old medic scoffed the the cobalt blue femme.
Arcee sighed transforming, driving out of the base to go find the grey mech in the human territory.
"Twins if you're going to continue to whine about your paint get out." Ironhide hissed at the twin brothers, directing his glare Sunstreaker.
Soundwave's view wondered as his mother entered the training room. He continued to drink the warm liquid that seemed to calm his nerves.
"Excuse me Ironhide, the twins are needed for patrol." Xanthia called, making her presence known in the training room.
"Excellent, get out!" Ironhide eagerly chased the twins out of the training room.
"Alright!" Sunstreaker and Sideswipe groaned, tripping over each other as they hastily excited the room.
"Hey Wave." Bumblebee happily greeted the sparkling in the femme's arms.
Soundwave shyly smiled at the scout, as he finished his bottle.
"Do you remember me? I'm Bee." Bumblebee cooed as Soundwave gained more interest in him.
"Bee?" The violet sparkling tilted his helm at the scout.
"Yeah, Bee!" Bumblebee excitedly replied, making the sparkling giggle.
"Alright Bumblebee let's get ready for patrol, we can practice drills." Ironhide exhaled promptly walking over to the youngling and femme.
"Okay Ironhide, bye Soundwave." Bumblebee replied, waving goodbye to the sparkling before running after the twins.
"Bye bye!" Soundwave waved as the scout exited the room.
Xanthia smiled warmly as she walked out of the training room with the weapon specialist.
"I still can't believe he's a sparkling." Ironhide thought aloud as they walked down the hallway.
"Me either, but I guess that's just the way it is for now." Xanthia shrugged as they entered the main room.
Bumblebee eagerly waited for the weapon specialist, at the base exit.
"Going on patrol?" Ratchet asked as the weapon specialist walked by him.
"Yes, just running some drills. You can call us if anyone needs assistance." Ironhide said as he joined the excited youngling.
"Bye Bee!" Soundwave chirped as the youngling and weapon specialist transformed, driving out of the base.
"He's not recharging yet?" Ratchet scoffed at the tiny sparkling in the mother's arms.
"No, Soundwave has always been an energetic sparkling. He never was a big fan of nap time." The bioluminescent femme chuckled at her goofy sparkling.
"Could've fooled me, he's such a calm, low energy mech. Honestly I don't how many times I wanted to check to see if his spark was still beating." Ratchet snorted going back to the monitors.
"I'm the opposite, I figured Soundwave would be more like Mirage's personality when he was a mech." Xanthia retorted to the ancient medic.
"Mirage is calm to a point, he's definitely quite the spitfire though. But he's also still very young." The medic laughed. "Soundwave being the youngest out of our young mech's, although there are small moments where he's shown his age. It's still very refreshing to have such a calm, mature, young mech around."
"Soundwave's always had a very kind spark, I'm so shocked he stayed with the Decepticons for so long." Xanthia sighed holding her bubbly sparkling out in front of her.
Soundwave squealed waving his servos playfully in the air. Happily babbling away at his mother.
"I'm not sure it was a choice. I couldn't imagine how much fear he had, knowing that no matter what side he chose, Soundwave would either have to deal with taunts and beatings from those not accepting him as an Autobot, or be hunted down always in extreme danger, as the Decepticons target him for treason." Ratchet sadly said, as Soundwave chirped reaching for him.
Xanthia sighed handing the violet sparkling to the medic. "I never wanted that kind of life for them."
"Nobody wants that for any child. But Soundwave luckily doesn't have to deal with other Autobots torturing him. Besides the occasional taunting from Sunstreaker. Mirage unfortunately did not escape from the torture." Ratchet scoffed hefting the sparkling into his arms.
Soundwave gurgled, patting the medic's faceplate playfully. Ratchet laughed gently guiding the little servos away from his.
"Mirage is so closed off, I don't know anything about what he went through. All I want to do is help him, but it's so difficult to just get a simple answer from him." The bioluminescent femme expressed her frustration.
"You're not alone with that don't worry. Mirage refuses to talk to anyone, with the exception of Arcee to an extent. He has his limitations with everyone, but he only opens up completely, to Soundwave." The CMO replied, as Soundwave tiredly rested his little frame against the ancient medic's chestplate.
"Soundwave's the only one he trusts. I understand..." Xanthia felt she couldn't help any of her children.
"It's alright Xanthia, Mirage will come around to you eventually." Ratchet assured the mother.
"Well I hope Mirage is at least enjoying his time with his father." Xanthia replied, smiling as her sparkling fell into recharge in the medic's arms.
Optimus smiled as many thoughts crossed his mind, confusing his youngling.
"Sir?" Mirage cocked his helm in confusion, as they reached the end of the canyon.
"Mirage I understand your frustration, anger, and confusion." Optimus placed one of his servos on his youngling's shoulder. "You are by far nothing like any other Autobot I have met. But that's not bad youngling."
"Ummm..." Mirage uncomfortably looked around.
"Mirage I know everyone had said you're nothing like an Autobot. Even now our teammates still joke about you not being one. I know you act like you take them light heartedly, but I know it digs deeper into the pit of your spark. It bothers you, clouds your thoughts, makes you wonder if you really belong." Optimus said to his now depressed youngling.
Mirage looked down exhaling, he didn't know what to say. His father was right, he was beaten down by the fact he would never fit in.
"I won't beg you to stay. But I will tell you, I was hoping you would eventually take after your brother."
Mirage finally looked up at the Prime, curious to know which brother he was speaking about.
"Soundwave mentioned your feelings towards becoming a Prime. But I was hoping you would change your mind in the future." Optimus eased his youngling's confusion.
"Why do you insist on it though? I can't lead, no one would ever take orders from me." Mirage protested against his father's beliefs.
Optimus chuckled to his youngling's surprise.
Mirage raised an optic ridge at his chuckling father. "Did you take a hit off of some stasis vapour before we left, why are you so easy going about this?"
"Mirage you sound just like Soundwave. He said the exact same thing when he accepted the apprenticeship. But I told him there will always be rebellious ones that defy your leadership." The Prime sighed with a smile at his confused youngling.
"That may be true. But as much as some bots might not respect him, he's a much more level headed bot compared to me." Mirage admitted to the Prime.
"Mirage, you're still very young. Listen I won't push the position on you as that will be cycles from now." Optimus said to his youngling. "Are you still considering leaving the team?"
"I think it would be better for everyone." The red youngling sadly replied as the sun began to disappear.
"How about you recharge on it. See how you feel in the morning?" Optimus told the young assassin as he escorted him back down the canyon.
"Sure." Mirage sighed transforming so they could return to the base quicker.
Optimus did the same following the red Ferrari down the canyon.
Jazz quietly drove behind the cobalt two wheeler. As they drove down the long road back to the base. He noticed the usually sarcastic femme was incredibly silent during their patrol. "You doing okay Arcee?"
"I'm fine Jazz, sorry I'm just not very chatty today I suppose." Arcee replied slowing down so the Porsche could drive beside her.
"That's alright, I know you're just trying to cope with Soundwave being a sparkling now." Jazz replied sympathetically.
"Thanks for understanding, it's a bit difficult and upsetting, but not terrible. I feel I am not suffering as much as Mirage is though." Arcee mentioned as darkness covered the valley.
"Really? Mirage seemed pretty chill about it, he seemed to be playing with Soundwave just fine." Jazz chuckled confused by the femme's accusation.
"Yes, but Soundwave is his only source of trust. Him being a sparkling he provides no guidance for Mirage, they help each other. As much as it seems those two don't converse a lot, or just argue, if you look beyond the sarcasm and silence, Soundwave and Mirage have an incredible bond." Arcee said as they approached the base, seeing the semi truck and Ferrari up ahead.
"Speaking of Mirage." Jazz mentally gestured to the youngling and Prime ahead of them.
"Wow they must've been out all day. Mirage must've had something interesting to say." Arcee thought aloud as the two ahead of them entered the base.
The roar of engines woke the slumbering sparkling, as Mirage, and Optimus entered the base, with Jazz and Arcee not far behind.
Soundwave perked up seeing his brother and father figure transforming. "Ra ra, Opt!" he squealed, bouncing up and down in the medic's arms.
"Hey Wave!" Mirage cheerfully greeted as his sparkling brother practically jumped into his arms.
"Primus, crazy sparkling!" Ratchet gasped as Soundwave leapt to his brother. "Bee and Ironhide are still out on patrol. Ironhide said he wanted Bumblebee to practice in the dark." the CMO mentioned to the Prime, as Arcee and Jazz transformed.
Optimus nodded with a sigh, hoping Ironhide's idea of practicing in the dark, didn't attract unwanted attention.
"Play?" Soundwave cocked his helm at his youngling brother.
"Sure Wave." Mirage agreed taking his brother to the play area.
"Mirage you can play until Bumblebee and Ironhide return, then it's recharging time." Optimus told his red youngling, as Xanthia came into the main room.
"Did you two have a good time in the canyon?" The bioluminescent femme asked the Prime.
"Yes, I believe we did." Optimus replied simply.
"Whatcha watchin?" Jazz asked the twins as he plopped himself on the couch with them.
"Not sure, but there are certainly a lot of humans all over this planet." Sideswipe replied, as a documentary about different human cultures played.
Soundwave happily rolled his ball to his brother. Chasing after it as it glowed blue with Cybertronian script.
"What does it say Wave?" Mirage asked while the sparkling captured the ball.
"Four Ra Ra!" Soundwave chirped he read the ball.
"Soundwave can read at this age?" Sideswipe raised an optic ridge in surprise, overhearing the sparkling and youngling play.
"Yeah, so what?" Mirage asked a little confused by the silver twin's surprise.
"Uh he's a six month old little sparkling, he shouldn't even be really speaking." Sunstreaker retorted looking over the back of the couch with his twin brother.
"Yes, but Soundwave has always been incredibly intelligent and advanced in his development. Soundwave relied on his wits as a sparkling, while I relied on my strength and combat skills." Mirage shrugged rolling the ball his brother placed in his servos.
"Smarts get you in a heap of trouble." Sunstreaker scoffed turning back to the holo vid.
"Being a smartass like yourselves maybe." Arcee snorted, joining the sparkling and youngling.
"Who asked you?" Sunstreaker hissed as Jazz snickered at them.
"Nobody, now shut it before you sound even more ridiculous." Arcee scoffed, while the twins rolled their optics turing back to the holo vid.
"Five!" Soundwave chirped and clicked, toddling over to Arcee, placing the ball in her servos. "Roll..." Soundwave was desperately trying to remember if this femme had told him her name.
"Arcee I am Arcee." the femme introduced herself again to the violet sparkling.
"Roll Cee roll!" Soundwave squeaked repeating the femme's name.
"Okay!" Arcee to the young brothers surprise started rolling on the ground next to them.
Both Soundwave and Mirage burst into laughter as the femme rolled on the floor.
"No Arcee, the ball!" Mirage giggled as the femme rolled towards him and gave him a tickle, before rolling back to Soundwave and doing the same.
Soundwave squealed with laughter as he was tickled, his brother doing the same as Arcee rolled back towards him.
Ironhide and Bumblebee both transformed after entering the base, while the mutant brothers shrieked with laughter and joy.
"I'm not even going to ask what she's doing." Ironhide shook his helm at the cobalt blue femme. "You did excellent for your first time firing in the dark. I think we can take a break tomorrow, you're doing great with your training." the weapon specialist said turning to the yellow scout.
"Okay, thanks Hide." Bumblebee replied giving the large mech a quick hug, before running over to the commotion.
Ironhide smiled rolling his optics as the young scout ran off.
"You're enjoying coaching once more aren't you?" Ratchet said handing his friend some energon.
"Well It's no squad of whining mechs and femmes. But I definitely find Bumblebee more enjoyable to teach." Ironhide scoffed to the old medic.
"If I recall you enjoyed teaching the twins to." Ratchet smirked at his old friend.
"Yeah, just don't tell them that, it'll go their heads." Ironhide snorted.
Xanthia began to prep a bottle of energon for the sparkling, looking over her shoulder, smiling at the playful scene.
"Alright, Bumblebee, Mirage time to recharge." Optimus said walking over to the younglings that were playfully holding the femme down.
"Okay" Bumblebee giggled getting off Arcee.
"Do we have to?" Mirage groaned still holding the femme down with Soundwave.
"Yes, I told you when Bumblebee returns it was recharge time." Optimus raised an optic ridge at the his red youngling.
"Listen to Optimus youngling." Xanthia said, grabbing Soundwave off of the cobalt blue femme.
"Come'on Mirage listen to them." Arcee told the young assassin, as she lifted him off of her.
"Fine..." Mirage sighed as Arcee placed him on his peds.
"Please think about what we talked about." Optimus nodded at his grumpy youngling that just walked into the hallway.
"Sure..." Mirage sighed, walking into his shared room.
"Hey Mirage, Ironhide said I don't have any training tomorrow, you wanna go to the canyon?" Bumblebee asked as his brother entered the room.
"Maybe..." Mirage replied, climbing into his berth.
"What's wrong Mirage?" Bumblebee asked, climbing into his own berth.
"Nothing Bee, maybe we can do some target practice tomorrow or something." The red youngling sighed trying to end the conversation with the scout.
"Okay, goodnight Mirage." Bumblebee smiled quickly turning onto his side facing the wall.
A few hours had gone by Bumblebee was now snoring, and the base had gone quiet. Mirage stared up at the ceiling, his mind overwhelmed with thoughts. Turning his helm he gazed over at his slumbering brother, silently crawling out of his berth Mirage snuck into the hallway.
The base was dark, not a single bot was up. Mirage tiptoed down the hallway, slowly opening the Prime's door a crack. Peeking his helm in Mirage could see Optimus recharging with Soundwave happily doing the same on his chestplate. Quietly shutting the door, the red youngling did not want to bother his father, nor did he want to wake his sparkling brother.
Arcee groaned as she was lightly shook awake. Rolling over to face who her waker was. "What?"
"Cee?" Mirage called watching as the femme rubbed her optics.
"Mirage... what are you doing up?" Arcee yawned sitting upright on her berth.
"I couldn't recharge..." Mirage looked to the ground, attempting to hide the tears filling in his cyan blue optics.
Arcee blinked focusing her optics on the emotional youngling beside her berth. "Mirage what's wrong?" the femme asked quickly picking up, and pulling the youngling up next to her on the berth.
"I told Optimus I don't want to be an Autobot anymore." Mirage replied to Arcee's surprise.
"What made you decide that?" Arcee replied calmly wondering why the youngling assassin suddenly wanted to leave the team.
"I don't think I'm right for the team. Everyone thinks I'm dangerous, crazy, or I don't follow the rules, I just don't act like an Autobot." Mirage replied, tears escaping his optics.
"Mirage, I know some of the team has been harsh towards you, I'm guilty of it. Your mother is just not used to you and your ways. It's hard for her to see her own youngling so able to battle, and kill. Some of the things you say just catch her off guard because it would most likely be heard from a grown mech." Arcee said pulling the young assassin into her side. "She hasn't seen how far you've truly come. Everyone on the team knows how far you have come from being an uncontrollable youngling that couldn't control his own powers, to an amazing young assassin that keeps himself in check."
"I just don't feel like I'm trusted." Mirage replied resting his helm against the femme's frame.
"We trust you Mirage." Arcee reassured the upset youngling.
"Yes but it's always with a condition. Make sure not to do that, oh don't do this, no Mirage you can't do that that's bad!" Mirage listed off making the cobalt blue femme chuckle.
"Mirage you do know you're a youngling right?" Arcee playfully asked.
"Yeah so what?" The youngling narrowed his optics at Arcee.
"If you listen close enough everyone does the same to Bumblebee. You're not a fully grown mech yet, but I do understand the annoyance of your creators and the other adults drilling you about everything. But they just care Mirage, they don't want you to get hurt." Arcee explained to the young assassin. "You have to understand, you're a very powerful young assassin, we try our best to keep you from unleashing that power unnecessarily.
"I'm glad you understand what I mean, but I don't know why I should stick around when I can help the team by being rogue." Mirage folded his arms grumpily.
"Mirage you have a permanent place here this isn't just a team, it's a family, you mean a lot to all of us. Look how determined you were to get your brother away from Megatron, and get him here. Do you really want to leave your brother that needs you more then ever?" Arcee didn't mean to make the youngling feel guilty, but she didn't want him to abandon the team and his brother.
Mirage was silent mulling over what the femme had told him. "I'm sorry..."
"Why are you sorry Mirage?" Arcee asked holding the youngling out next to her.
"I guess I'm just a confused whiner." Mirage smiled wiping away his tears.
"That's okay Mirage, you're allowed to have feelings, It's okay to be confused." Arcee laughed with the youngling.
"When I told Optimus he wasn't even angry. He told me he wanted me to become a Prime in the future." Mirage told the femme as she held him close to her once more.
"Optimus wouldn't get upset with you, I also agree with him I think you'd make a great Prime." Arcee replied squeezing the youngling in a playful hug.
"Ah, you do why!?" Mirage asked with a laugh, as Arcee hugged and rocked him.
"Soundwave's Optimus's apprentice, and I hope one day he becomes a Prime after Optimus. I can definitely see you as a Prime, you have some of Soundwave's traits and your father's. Yes before you ask, Bumblebee would also be a good Prime. If becoming a Prime isn't what you desire, perhaps you can lead next to Soundwave or Bumblebee." Arcee replied dipping the youngling off the edge of the berth.
"I guess those are also options, but maybe when I'm older I will go solo." Mirage said through laughter as he was hung upside down.
"How about you make me a promise?" Arcee suggested, pulling the youngling upright onto her lap.
Mirage was unsure, reluctantly nodding his helm. "Okay..."
"Stay with the team until you're a young mech, then decide whether or not you want to go rogue, okay?" Arcee replied with a warm smile.
"Okay Cee, I promise." Mirage tiredly sighed, agreeing to the femme's reasonable suggestion.
"Thank you, now you should get some recharge." Arcee yawned as the youngling did the same.
"Can I stay with you?" Mirage asked yawning, barely able to stay awake now.
"Of course." Arcee smiled laying the youngling next to her on the berth.
To Arcee's surprise Mirage actually fell into recharge first. She figured his many thoughts about leaving the team were keeping his mind too busy to attempt recharge. It didn't take long for her to fall back into recharge, after hearing quiet snoring emit from the youngling.
"No!" Mirage screamed trying to back away from the mech with one optic.
"Mirage stop it, this is a simple procedure." Shockwave sighed as he waited for the sparkling to sit still.
"No!" Mirage hissed waving his little blade at the reaching servo.
Shockwave groaned in annoyance, shaking his helm at the crying sparkling.
"Sir..." Soundwave called, walking into the mad scientist's lab.
"Wave!" Mirage cried immediately leaping off the counter to his big brother.
"What is it youngling?" Shockwave turned around to face the youngling standing by the exit.
"The reports are done." Soundwave replied nervously handing over data pads, as the mech approached.
"Excellent work youngling." The large mech replied taking the data pads, quickly scanning through them before turning his attention back to the crying sparkling.
"Wave, help!" Mirage cried hiding behind the violet youngling.
"It's okay Mirage." The violet youngling tried to reassure his brother, while sneaking one of his tentacles to activate the door.
"Soundwave, your brother is being dramatic, I could use your assistance with holding him." Shockwave said growing impatient with the brothers.
Soundwave optics darted between his crying little brother and the approaching mad scientist. As Shockwave went to grab for them, Soundwave activated the door, both him and his brother stumbled backwards into the hallway.
"Soundwave be logical!" Shockwave growled as the brothers crawled away backwards.
Mirage yelped in pain as a large ped stepped on his servo.
Soundwave quickly scrambled to his peds as he was trapped against the wall by the scientist and the air commander.
"Are you ever going to be able to control these brats Shockwave?!" Starscream growled, continuing to stand on the sparkling's servo.
"Just help me with the sparkling!" Shockwave hissed keeping the violet youngling trapped against the wall.
"Ow, little brat!" Starscream hissed as Mirage stabbed his ped with his free arm, drawing energon.
As his servo was released from the ped, Mirage attempted to stand unsteady on his little peds, trying to toddle his way towards his big brother.
"I need him in my laboratory." Shockwave gestured to the unsteady sparkling.
Starscream groaned picking up the red sparkling by the doorwings.
"No!" Mirage yelled kicking and swinging his arms as he was carried back into the laboratory.
"I don't know what you think you're doing youngling, but I suggest you get back to your duties before you never see your brother again." Mirage watched Shockwave threaten his brother, while he was carried away.
Soundwave nodded nervously, before the scientist turned away from him. Mirage looked at his brother helplessly, Soundwave could do nothing as the door hissed shut in front of him.
"Why do you insist on upgrading these brats, if you can't control them?" Starscream grumbled placing the sparkling in restraints.
"No!" Mirage cried trying to escape from his restraints, while Shockwave began injecting him with different coloured concoctions.
"They're young, it has only been two months since their capture. Soundwave and Mirage are just beginning to adjust to their training. Mirage requires these upgrades to continue his survival here." Shockwave explained irritated by the seekers comments.
Mirage began to shriek as the fluids burned through his little frame. Shockwave had no reactions to the sparkling's pained screams, grabbing his surgical tools as he prepared to slice open the sparkling.
"Mirage is already advanced, what more do you need to pump into this sparkling?" Starscream whined examining his stab wound.
"Mirage needs strength, the ability to burn less energon, and ludicrous reaction speeds." Shockwave replied as Mirage cried out in excruciating pain, while he sliced open the sparkling's chest plate, reveling the little beating spark.
"Everything you're doing is ludicrous, why bother continuing this torment?" Starscream retorted, wiping away the energon leaking from his ped. "What are you doing now?"
"I'm hooking his cloaking ability to his spark and processor so it gets more power, and longevity." Shockwave explained what he was doing to the seeker.
"What happens when he grows, the ability doesn't grow with him, will it effect him when he's older?" Starscream sighed finally ignoring his injured ped.
"That's highly unlikely, it should be stable enough to not effect him in his future." Shockwave scoffed welding the sparkling's chest back together.
Mirage could barely see through his blurry optics, tears continued to stream down his faceplate. He blinked his optics, no longer having the strength to scream in pain. Mirage watched as the mad scientist's surgical knife began to slice his helm open.
Mirage yelped shooting upright in the berth, his processor disoriented, causing the youngling to feel dizzy.
Arcee woke up to the red youngling's hyperventilating, blinking her tired optics, she slowly sat upright against the wall, not wanting to startle the scared youngling. "Mirage are you alright?"
Mirage slowed his hyperventilation, his cooling fans clicking on. The youngling's spark beating as if it was about burst out of his chestplate. "No..."
Arcee didn't need to ask, she could tell the youngling assassin had a nightmare. She gently wrapped her arms around Mirage, pulling the tired red youngling onto her lap. "You're alright Mirage. You're safe." Arcee calmly hugged Mirage, rubbing the youngling's back, trying to comfort the terrified young assassin.
"Shockwave... Soundwave... he..." Mirage cried hiccuping through tears.
"Shhhh... You're safe." Arcee tried to sooth Mirage, holding the crying youngling's helm against her chest.
After a few long moments, the calming beat of the femme's sparkbeat lulling Mirage back into recharge.
Arcee sighed deeply continuing to hold the youngling tightly. Too tired to lay Mirage back down, she rested her back against the wall, falling back into a deep slumber.
After a couple peaceful hours of recharging, Mirage quietly, unnoticeably snuck out of the femme's hug. Walking down the hallway entering into the main room, Mirage sighed seeing the room dark and empty. Usually Soundwave would've been awake, already hard at work. Looking at the base exit, the youngling fought the urge to leave on a hunt to get the bomb reversal antidote. Having a second thought pop into his processor, if he was missing from the base, it would probably give off the wrong impression to both Optimus and Arcee. "They'd probably think I abandoned the team..." Mirage thought aloud as he turned away from the exit. Lost at what to do Mirage sat down on the end of the couch, closest to the hallway. Putting his helm in his servos, Mirage tried to ignore his depression, trying to remember if he had ever came across any of Shockwave's bomb research. Mirage perked up, cocking his helm, hearing unfamiliar muffled voices down hallway.
Sneaking down the hallway quieter then a feather landing on powdered snow. The youngling's sensitive audio receptors tracked the voices to his mother's room. Ever so quietly Mirage opened the door a crack, cloaking himself so he wouldn't get caught.
"I have not had the chance to speak with Lord Megatron, I have tried to contact the idiot air commander but to no avail. Although your former project has fallen victim to your experimental bombs." An Unfamiliar mech's voice scoffed to the hologram call.
Mirage was confused it was his mother's frame but not her voice.
"Mirage? That should be the result of the virus I implanted in him." The familiar voice of the mad scientist caused Mirage's spark to skip a beat.
"No the medic caught it, and purged the virus. No our Lord used it on Soundwave. He's nothing but a defenceless sparkling, with amazing biomech thanks to you, the Autobots are desperate to get him back as a young mech." The stranger replied.
"They can try, but not even my science was able to reverse it." Shockwave scoffed showing a cube full of Cybertronian text. "If you get in contact with our Lord, you must capture Soundwave, if he can train him from a sparkling, Soundwave may become an unstoppable force the Decepticons can harness. You were my last creation before Cybertron fell, do not fail me."
At those last words Mirage kicked in the door putting the strange bot at gun point. "Imposter!"
"Mirage? Such a big word for such a young youngling." Shockwave greeted the young assassin.
"Who the fuck are you?!" Mirage hissed ignoring the one opticed mech.
"This is Shifter, I created him from your mother's processor, and spark, modeling his abilities after Makeshift. He has your mother's memories, and spark, allowing you and your brother to get a false sparkbond. Thus making Shifter the perfect spy to slip into your team undetected." Shockwave answered for the mech.
"You desecrated our mother's offlined husk for your project!? You're disgusting!" Mirage shouted at the holographic video of the scientist.
"Call me what you want sparkling, what was your body count again?" Shockwave retorted making the youngling even angrier. "Don't worry youngling, I will be finding my way to that planet, I will make sure to take care of you and your brother." Shockwave scoffed ending the call.
"What's going on?!" Optimus asked as the rest of the team began exiting their rooms. "Mirage what are you doing?" The Prime gasped seeing Mirage aiming his weapon at his own mother.
"That's not Xanthia, it's an imposter Shockwave created!" Mirage exclaimed threatening the stranger with his rifle.
"Mirage don't be ridiculous, that's your own mother!" Ratchet hissed gesturing for Jazz to stay in the Prime's room with the violet sparkling.
"Optimus please, what's happening to our youngling?" Xanthia cried to the extremely confused Prime.
"What's happening?" Bumblebee yawned walking out of his room.
"Nothing go back to bed Bee." Arcee quickly guided the yellow scout back into his room. Shutting the door and holding it shut, as she watched the scene continue.
"Mirage lower your weapon." Optimus said calm but firm.
"Are you kidding me? This guy's plan was to contact Megatron, kidnap Soundwave and gift him back to the cons! Probably giving away our base location as well!" Mirage spat angrily, waving his rifle at the bot.
"Mirage has clearly gone mad, his nightmares must be putting thoughts into his mind." Xanthia gasped to the leader.
"Fuck you, you know nothing, you disgusting parasite!" Mirage yelled, as Optimus attempted to get him to lower his weapon.
"I can't believe you Mirage, I knew you hated me, but please!" Xanthia begged her youngling to stop.
"Mirage stop! Have you really lost your mind!?" Ratchet growled trying to aid the Prime in grabbing the young assassin.
"Get off of me!" Mirage growled shaking both the medic and his father off of him. "I'm serious, this isn't my mother!" the youngling threatened the mechs with his sword.
"Mirage you had a bad dream, and a lot of bad thoughts last night, maybe you just need some rest." Arcee calmly spoke to the angered assassin.
"No! If you don't believe me go to the monitors and activate them!" Mirage shouted out of frustration, sending the clip of his encounter with Shockwave's hologram and the strange mech.
It was silent for a moment everyone stood frozen scared of what to do next.
Soundwave sat quietly on the berth, he could feel something was wrong in his spark. Gazing up at the grey mech that sat with him.
"It's alright little Wave, it'll all be over soon." Jazz smiled at the concerned sparkling.
Soundwave cocked his helm as he could hear his brother's screams of anger.
"Go check!" Mirage spat tired of the everybody just standing around uselessly.
"Ironhide." Ratchet gestured for the large mech to take his place standing with the Prime.
Ironhide nodded, moving into position as Ratchet cautiously left to go check the monitors.
"Optimus are you really going to let this happen?" Xanthia cried, it was fake, but enough to convince the Prime and weapon specialist.
"Shut your fucking mouth!" Mirage hissed walking threateningly closer to the imposter.
"Whoa..." Both twins peaked out of their rooms to see the commotion.
"Mirage stop, please!" The imposter cried trying to bat the youngling away with his arms.
"Mirage don't do something you'll regret!" Optimus called trying to follow his youngling in, but was forced back by a threatening blade.
"I will only regret not killing this fool!" Mirage retorted putting one of his blades up to the imposters neck. "Shockwave may have designed a good spy, but he didn't create a competent one!"
"What are you, you're a mutant spy, a failed project!" The mech spat hitting the sword out of the way drawing his own sword, tackling the youngling to the ground.
"Do you really think I care what I am at this point?!" Mirage scoffed immediately slashing his attackers face, causing them to scream out in pain. Shifter hissed in pain, clawing at the youngling's neck drawing energon.
"Holy scrap!" Ironhide gasped as he and Optimus moved to stop the battle. Both mechs were surprised as the supposed mother began attacking her youngling.
"It's an imposter, Mirage isn't lying!" Ratchet yelled announcing the found information, from the main room.
"It's been an experience! And all I can say is you're an insane little youngling that's accomplished nothing!" Shifter venomously cackled as he rolled off the youngling, pulling Mirage up with his sword stuck in his youngling's side, putting Mirage into a headlock as he stood back up.
Both Ironhide and Optimus aimed their weapons instantly at the shapeshifter. "Release the youngling!" Ironhide demanded totting his canons at the intruder.
"Not a chance, I am as good as dead no matter what I do, all this little shit has done is cause issues with everything!" The imposter hissed tightening his grip on Mirage.
Mirage had had enough, too short for his peds to reach the ground as he was held by his neck. Hooking his ped around the back of Shifter's leg, Mirage smashed the back of his helm into the imposter's face while kicking out his leg.
Shifter screamed in pain releasing his hold on the youngling as he fell to his knees. Mirage quickly spun around stabbing one of his blades into the mech's side throwing them both to the ground. Mirage stabbed his claws into the mech's chest grabbing the shapeshifter's beating spark.
Shifter managed to get one more hit with his sword across the young assassin's abdomen. "You're insane!" Shifter choked out coughing up energon, as his spark was pulled from his chest.
"It's time you be silenced!" Mirage shook his helm crushing the beating spark in his servo, ending the imposters life.
Both Optimus and Ironhide lowered their weapons, as Mirage extinguished the shapeshifter's spark. Optimus reached out his servo to help his energon covered youngling up. "Are you alright?"
"Oh yeah I'm great, I like to start every morning with a good murder!" Mirage groaned swatting his father's helping servo away. "We're all the way in a different galaxy, on some alien planet, and yet Shockwave still fucks us!" The youngling cursed pushing himself off the lifeless husk. "And you, you didn't even believe me for a second!" The young assassin stepped over the bleeding frame, backing his father out of the room. "None of you did!" Mirage gestured to the dumbfounded bots.
"Mirage you have to understand that was a very difficult situation." Optimus tried to express to his youngling.
"I get that, but it didn't filter through your processor that this imposter spent more time away from us than with us? Or barely engaged with any of us, and easily gave up conversations?" Mirage shook his helm in frustration. "None of that was suspicious?"
"Mirage, we honestly thought you and Xanthia or whoever that was, were just being standoffish because you never really knew her." Ironhide admitted to the frustrated youngling.
"Yes, but when have I ever tried to kill someone that wasn't either a Con or self defence?" Mirage questioned glaring at the team.
"We're sorry Mirage, we should've done a more thorough check over before welcoming the imposter in." Optimus apologized as Ratchet finally returned to the hallway.
"Twins help me dispose of this filth." Ironhide gestured to the lifeless husk on the floor.
"Wait, Shifter might have been an imposter, but he still has my mother's memory banks and spark. We need to give a proper burial." Mirage said as the three lifted the body.
Optimus smiled at his energon drenched youngling. "Of course we will do that youngling."
"Let's get all cleaned up, then we'll let Soundwave and Bumblebee out." Arcee suggested taking the young assassin to the wash bay.
"Where should we take this one?" Ironhide asked as he and the twins walked the body out into the hallway.
"To the top of the base we can have the burial near the overhang." Optimus replied moving out of the way.
"What a terrible way to start a morning." Ratchet sighed mopping up the spilt energon.
"Yes... I had my suspicions... but Soundwave confirmed it was her." Optimus shook his helm in disbelief.
"Yes, but for a so called mother to be reunited with her sons she was very distant, not trying hard enough to bond with them." Ratchet mentioned as he finished cleaning up. "Although this was a messy incident, it was lucky the Decepticons never caught on, or exchanged details of our base. It seemed Shifter had been trying to get in contact with Megatron. They were planing on capturing Soundwave and returning him to Megatron."
"Mirage mentioned that. Thankfully Mirage stopped the imposter before any of their plans could come into play." Optimus thought aloud, highly disappointed in himself for doubting his youngling.
"Well this wasn't a complete disaster, Shockwave was stupid enough to show his unfinished reversal antidote formula to Mirage. So I'm hoping I can get our sparkling, back into a young mech." Ratchet mentioned, leading the Prime to the monitor that displayed a freeze frame of the antidote.
"That's excellent Ratchet, please let us know if we need to retrieve anything for this concoction." Optimus said happily, as he gazed up at the screen.
"Well it's an unfinished antidote, I might take a while." The CMO shrugged going over to his med bay.
"Can I come out now?" Bumblebee's voice called from his room.
"Yes, Jazz you can bring Soundwave out as well." Optimus called back down the hallway.
"What was all that noise about?" Bumblebee asked walking over to his father as Jazz followed behind with Soundwave.
Soundwave quietly toddled behind the grey mech staring into the now clean vacant room as they passed it on the way to the main.
"Come'on sparkling." Jazz cooed gesturing for the sparkling to hurry up.
"There was an intruder in our base, Mirage terminated the imposter." Optimus tried to reply simply.
"How did a Decepticon get in here?" Bumblebee questioned confused at the situation.
"Our latest teammate was not who we thought she was." Ratchet hinted at the young scout, trying not to say the sparkling's mother's name.
Bumblebee took a moment to understand what the medic was telling him. "Oh! Is Mirage okay?" The youngling asked his confusion changing into concern.
"I'm not sure youngling, I didn't have the chance to examine him. I believe Arcee's helping him in the wash bay." Ratchet replied gesturing to the door leading to the wash bay.
"Are you okay Mirage?" Arcee asked as she washed the youngling's energon stained frame.
Mirage stared blankly, clearly spaced out while Shockwave's threat played over and over in his helm.
"Mirage?" Arcee crouched down to be optic level with the zoned youngling.
"Hmm?" Mirage shook out of his trance, looking into Arcee's soft caring optics.
"Are you alright?" Arcee repeated, as she continued to clean the youngling.
"Yeah I'm fine, why?" The youngling sighed as the femme lifted his arm to examine a wound.
"You're willingly getting a wash." Arcee chuckle as she cleaned the dried energon around the stab wound.
"Ow! Well I was just thinking about something. Hey I'm clean enough now!" Mirage groaned pushing the femme's servos away, before exiting the wash bay.
"Mirage you are covered in wounds, are you alright?" Ratchet asked the grumpy red youngling.
"I'm fine Ratchet, they'll be gone soon." Mirage sighed stopping next to his sparkling brother.
Soundwave was silent looking up at his brother, he reached up to the youngling grasping at the air with his little digits.
"We're ready." Ironhide announced calmly over the comlink.
Mirage promptly picked up his sparkling brother hefting him into his arms, before following the team to the top of the base. Soundwave curled up against his brother's scarred chestplate, turning his back to the world, hiding his face in the red chestplate.
After Optimus gave a eulogy, giving a proper goodbye to the mother, everyone on the team seemed to have a somber energy. Even the twins kept quiet, leaving the base calmly for the first time in their lives.
Bumblebee quietly helped Arcee organize the processed energon, while Ratchet worked on the sparkling antidote.
"Are you hungry little one?" Optimus asked as he approached the youngling and sparkling with a bottle.
Soundwave turned his helm to face the Prime, giving a tiny nod.
"Here, get some energon Okay?" Mirage cooed handing his brother to Optimus.
Soundwave didn't protest, as Optimus cradled him in his arms.
Mirage calmly made his way over to his youngling brother. Giving Bumblebee a small tap on the shoulder.
"Yes Mirage?" Bumblebee turned to face his brother.
"Want to go to the canyon?" Mirage asked gesturing to the base exit.
"Yeah, of course!" Bumblebee excitedly replied, before looking at the femme for permission.
"Go ahead we're just about finished here anyway." Arcee nodded with a smile. "Are you going to be alright Mirage?" The femme asked the red youngling.
"I'm perfectly fine, I'm happy we could properly say goodbye to my mom. I'm just happy we're all safe, and nothing escalated." Mirage replied making both Arcee and Optimus smile warmly at him.
Both younglings quickly made their way to the base exit, halting them in their tracks as Ratchet called them. "Hold on you two!" Ratchet stopped the younglings. "Mirage I'm going to need your help with this formula, so be ready to come back if I call you."
"Yes Ratchet, give us a call when you need me." Mirage replied before hastily exiting with the scout.
"How's Soundwave doing today?" Arcee asked walking over to the Prime.
"Quiet, but I believe he knows what happened today." Optimus replied gesturing to the sad looking sparkling.
"I think he'll be more surprised when he returns to being a mech." Arcee sighed looking over to the medic hard at work.
"I agree, Ratchet how is the formula coming along?" Optimus said also looking in the medic's direction.
"It's coming together, but the results are what I am most curious about." The CMO replied continuing to make a mixture of chemicals.
"What do you mean results?" Arcee raised an optic ridge as she approached the medic.
"If I can get Soundwave back to normal, there's the matter of whether he's going to be fully healed from that nuclear bomb, or continue to be in recovery. What memories will he have, and is he going to keep his restored face?" Ratchet listed off to the curious femme.
"You make it sound like this whole sparkling fiasco is some sort of time flux?" Arcee chuckled at the old medic.
"Well reverting back into a sparkling... you know what I am not going to explain the science behind it." Ratchet shook his helm while rolling his optics.
Mirage crawled on his stomach on a cliff, with Bumblebee right beside him. Using his rifle Mirage zoomed in on the few Eradicons searching a small quarry below. "You sure about this?" Bumblebee asked his brother.
"Yeah, as long as you don't get injured, or tell anyone we did this, it'll be fine." Mirage reassured the youngling scout.
"What's the plan then?" Bumblebee asked with a smile.
"We go silent, and quick taking them out from a good distance, since you're not being trained in hand to hand combat." Mirage replied turning his helm to the scout. "There's only five of them so this should be easy." Mirage said as they moved in a little closer towards the small Decepticon squad.
"Got it." Bumblebee nodded following his brother.
"Good, take the first shot." Mirage said gesturing for the scout to take a shot at the Decepticons.
Bumblebee nodded nervously, aiming his blasters at the nearest Eradicon trooper.
While Bumblebee aimed his weapon Mirage noticed he was hesitating to fire his weapons. That made a thought cross his mind, he was making his youngling brother kill a living mech for the first time ever. "Stop!" Mirage grabbed Bumblebee's arm.
"What's wrong?!" Bumblebee gasped lowering his weapons.
"You're not ready for this. I can't make you kill someone, Optimus wants you trained, before throwing you into the battlefield. Younglings shouldn't be killing, I know that's an oxymoron coming from me. But I know Optimus is trying to give you a normal life." Mirage replied with a smile, trying to hide his panicked reply.
Bumblebee wanted to prove himself to his assassin brother, but he did agree that he could not bring himself to kill another Cybertronian. "Thanks for understanding..." Bumblebee replied as a shadow, cast over them. Turning to see an Eradicon charging his blaster.
Mirage was quick, he sliced the Eradicon's blaster arm right off. The con screamed in agony, gaining his squads attention. Kicking the con down, shooting his spark ending the mech's life, Mirage quickly turned to his brother, seeing the rest of the squad make their way to them.
"Scrap!" Bumblebee hit the deck as he was fired at from behind.
"Bee get behind me, I will cover you!" Mirage quickly moved the scout behind him. Firing at the four charging Eradicons. Taking two down with one shot, Mirage looked over his shoulder to check on his younger brother. "You okay?" The youngling assassin asked as he shot down another Decepticon.
"I'm alright!" Bee nervously replied ducking away from another shot.
Mirage was about to tell Bumblebee to leave, his ped was grabbed by the last standing Eradicon, pulling him to the ground. Mirage fell onto his stomach, slamming his chin onto the ground. Rolling onto his back Mirage attempted to kick at the Eradicon holding him, the Eradicon evaded the youngling's kicks, dragging him towards the edge of the cliff.
The Eradicon aimed his blaster at the struggling young assassin, the whirring sound of the gun charging as the Eradicon trooper prepared to shoot the red youngling.
Bumblebee quickly leapt into action, firing his blaster at the Eradicon's blaster.
The Eradicon hissed in pain releasing his hold on Mirage. The young assassin wasted no time leaping off the ground, kicking the Eradicon off the cliff with both peds.
Both younglings leaned over a small bolder, gazing over the edge to see the trooper dizzily getting up. "Whoa!" Mirage and Bumblebee both tried to regain their balance, as they accidentally pushed the bolder they leaned against over the edge. Falling halfway over the edge, the brothers watched as the bolder fell directly onto the Decepticon below.
The trooper yelped as the bolder landed on him, he laid still on the ground moaning in pain.
Bumblebee and Mirage looked at each other exchanging smirks. Both bursting into laughter as they got up off the ground. "Nice shot!" Mirage laughed patting Bumblebee's shoulder.
"Thanks!" Bumblebee laughed as the Eradicon began to push the bolder off of him.
"Let's get out of here, before more show up!" Mirage continued to laugh, transforming waiting for his brother to do the same.
Bumblebee transformed racing back to the base with his brother.
Soundwave played with his ball, turning his helm towards the base exit hearing the sound of roaring engines echo through the base.
Optimus turned away from the monitors, to look at his two laughing sons.
"That was hilarious!" The youngling brothers transformed continuing to laugh hysterically.
"You two seemed like you had fun?" Arcee looked over her shoulder at the laughing younglings.
"Yeah!" Bumblebee laughed walking over to the femme and sparkling.
"I'm happy you two had a good time together." Optimus said placing a servo on the red youngling's shoulder.
Mirage calmed his laughter, smiling up at his father. "Yeah we had some fun."
"Mirage I'm glad you're back, I was just about to call you." Ratchet said escorting the youngling towards his med bay.
"Oh?" Mirage raised an optic ridge as he was guided to the med bay.
"Yes I've gotten Shockwave's reversal antidote together but I just need to add the finishing touches." Ratchet lifted the youngling up sitting him on one of the medical berths.
"Yeah, and..." Mirage continued to be suspicious of the overly nice tone the medic was using.
"Well I need your..." the CMO began to explain as he picked up a syringe.
Mirage saw the syringe and immediately leapt off the berth. "Nope!"
"Mirage please!" The medic begged as Mirage quickly walked over to his sparkling brother.
"Hi Ra ra!" Soundwave chirped at his frightened brother.
"You're not sticking me with that thing!" Mirage picked up his little brother, while he shook his helm at the pleading medic.
"Mirage listen to me, you're brother made the same sacrifice for you. I just need a little bit of your energon, then we can get your brother back to normal." Ratchet tried to explain to the frightened youngling.
Mirage sighed gazing down at his happy little brother in his arms. "Fine..." Mirage handed Soundwave to Arcee, before reluctantly following the medic into the med bay.
"Thank you Mirage." Ratchet thanked the young assassin who climbed up onto the berth.
"Just make it quick please." Mirage sighed with a clear shakiness in his tone.
"I'll be quick I promise." Ratchet replied calmly gesturing for the femme to come distract the youngling while he took the energon.
"Well you must be happy you fulfilled your promise to your brother?" Arcee said walking over to the med bay with Soundwave in her arms.
"What?" Mirage looked at the femme with confusion.
"You promised him you'd figure out how to get him back to normal, and you did." Arcee mentioned as Ratchet used the syringe to take the youngling's energon.
"Oh, yeah I guess." Mirage shrugged, smiling at his bubbly brother.
"So what did you two get up to that was so fun?" Optimus asked as Bumblebee walked over to the med bay.
"Uh, we just raced around in the canyon." Bumblebee lied as Mirage glared at him.
"Well it certainly seemed like you had a lot of fun." Arcee chuckled, while Mirage leapt off the berth.
Mirage followed the medic as he mixed the collected energon into the reversal concoction. "So, how do you plan on using this?" The red youngling asked the old medic.
"I'm just going to infuse it into him, I'm not throwing bombs, or shooting at a sparkling." Ratchet replied putting the finished concoction into an infuser.
Mirage chuckled rolling his optics. "I wasn't expecting you to start chucking bombs, I was just curious since we no longer have the relic."
"I assure you the infuser will work just as well as the relic did." Ratchet laughed with the youngling.
Soundwave giggled, bashfully hiding behind his arms, while the femme tried to tickle him. "Ah, no tickles!"
"Alright Arcee you can continue your tickle torture after Soundwave's back to normal." Ratchet retorted taking the sparkling from the playful femme.
"I don't know if I can wait Ratch, I might just need another victim!" Arcee teased slowly creeping up on the red youngling and his youngling brother.
"Cee..." Mirage narrowed his optics at the approaching femme.
Bumblebee backed away from the femme with his brother, his optics scanning for an escape. "Hey Jazz, let's go do target practice!" Bumblebee called quickly slipping away as the grey mech entered the room.
"Uh sure Bee, what's the rush?" Jazz chuckled as the yellow scout pushed him towards the training room.
"Hey!" Mirage growled as Bumblebee made a quick escape, not realizing how close the femme was now. "Nope!" Mirage tried to leap away from the tickle threat.
Arcee grabbed the youngling's waist, pulling him into a tight embrace, beginning the tickle torture.
"No Cee!" Mirage shrieked with laughter, effectively being captured by the playful femme.
Ratchet rolled his optics with a head shake, while placing the curiously staring sparkling in large medical contraption.
Optimus laughed guiding the femme and youngling away from the med bay, before turning his attention back to the medic. "Are certain this will work?"
"I'm most certain, that relic had the same formula Shockwave created to reverse the revert. But the only difference was it was unstable, until Soundwave added his own energon to it, which is its own unique concoction all by itself." Ratchet replied attaching the infuser to the curious clicking sparkling.
"Stop Cee, stop!" Mirage giggled withering on the floor as the femme continued to tickle him.
"Sorry can't hear you?" Arcee played dumb to the young assassin's pleas.
The whir of the medical machinery made Soundwave whimper in fear as the machine continued to charge up. Causing a blinding blue light to fill the med bay.
"Cee I wanna see what's happening!" Mirage whined pushing the femme's tickling servos away.
"Fine, fine, sparkling." Arcee scoffed helping the youngling off the ground.
"Easy Soundwave, don't go to fast." Ratchet said, helping the young mech to the medical berth.
"How fast do you think I'm moving really, I took three steps." Soundwave replied sarcastically as the medic sat him down on the medical berth. "What the frag happened?" Soundwave hissed holding his helm.
"You don't remember?" Arcee asked with concern.
"I remember getting bombed by the cons, trying to recover from that, then nothing." The violet mech shrugged at the approaching femme.
"Alright well I'll refresh your memory, you turned into a sparkling!" Mirage teased his older brother.
"Oh... right... I hope I wasn't any trouble." Soundwave replied feeling quite humiliated.
"Well you actually threw quite a fit the first night, but nothing other than that. Mirage is still the most difficult sparkling." Ratchet snorted running some tests on the young mech.
"Hey, I am not!" Mirage grumbled folding his arms.
"We're just teasing Mirage." Ratchet laughed reading the test results. "Well you've recovered from the bomb."
"What about the restoration the revert caused?" Optimus asked, confusing the young mech.
"Unfortunately it didn't stay." Ratchet replied sadly.
"What are you talking about?" Soundwave questioned cocking his helm at the medic and Prime.
"When you became a sparkling it restored your face." Arcee explained, sitting next to her mech.
"Oh... well I'm alive and well." Soundwave shrugged, he was extremely disappointed with the fact he would remain faceless, but he was happy just to be functioning.
"Yes that's what's most important young mech." Optimus smiled at his apprentice.
"What happened to you, you look like you wrestled a Decepticon?" Soundwave gestured to his youngling brother's new scars.
"Well... I did..." Mirage replied uncomfortably.
Soundwave could see the sadness in Mirage's optics, feeling like he just got shot in the stomach. "What happened?"
"Your mother was an imposter, a spy that travelled here to get in contact with the Decepticon, after gaining valuable information." Arcee explained to her mech.
"I wasn't sure about her when she arrived, because the way she perished... there was just no way to recover from that." Soundwave shivered remembering his mother's brutal death. "But the information they gave, and the fact I could get a faint sparkbond, blinded my judgement. Especially since Shockwave reanimated her, made me believe them even more, because with Shockwave anything is possible." The faceless mech sighed turning his helm towards his brother.
"Shockwave desecrated our mother's lifeless husk, taking her memory banks and spark to create a believable illusion of our mother." Mirage sadly explained, stopping in front of his brother. "I wasn't proud of what I did this morning, but we did give our mother a proper burial." He smiled at his big brother.
"I'm glad we're all safe, and no information was transmitted to the Decepticons." Soundwave nodded his helm respectfully at his little brother, wishing he could smile. The violet mech grasped the youngling's servo, gently pulling the small youngling to him. "I'm glad we were finally able to give our mother a proper goodbye." Soundwave said hugging his sad little brother.
"Me to." Mirage replied hugging his brother back.
"Hey, Wavers is a mech again!" The twins obnoxiously announced their presence as they entered the base.
"Yeah thankfully." Soundwave nodded his helm thankfully towards the old medic.
"So Ratch figured out Shockwave's voodoo juice?" Sideswipe said, walking towards the couch with his brother.
Ratchet groaned rolling his optics at the stupid name the twins gave the reversal serum. "Yes I did twins, that's why Soundwave's a mech."
Soundwave released his hug, but Mirage continued to unconsciously keep his embrace, clearly not paying attention to what was happening around him. Soundwave figured he'd humour his brother, standing up making the youngling hang off his neck.
Feeling his peds lift off the ground, Mirage gasped quickly letting go of his hold. "I'm sorry!"
"It's alright Mirage, is everything..." Soundwave didn't get the chance to ask his youngling brother if he was okay, as Ratchet quickly stepped in scanning the young assassin.
"Why!" Mirage yelped quickly leaping away from the medic's scanning beam.
"That's what I thought." Ratchet thought aloud reading his scans.
"What is it old friend?" Optimus asked with concern.
"As I predicted, the bomb did effect you Mirage, just not to the same extent as Soundwave." The old medic replied, looking at the confused youngling.
"What in the Allspark do you mean?" Mirage asked beginning to get annoyed with the medic.
"You're smaller, and younger then you were last, you're literally a cycle younger than Bee now." Soundwave answered his brother before the CMO could say the same.
"Argh, am I going to turn into a sparkling again!?" Mirage groaned in irritation.
"No, that was the extent of what little of Shockwave's bomb that did affect you." Ratchet replied after reading his scans over thoroughly. "I'm not using the reversal antidote on you though, as I am not sure what it's affects would be like on a youngling. You didn't even notice you reverted back five cycles so don't even whine about it!" The CMO hissed before Mirage could whine at him.
"So Mirage is our team sparkling now." Sunstreaker teasedfrom the couch, while Bumblebee and Jazz came out from the hallway.
"Mirage isn't a sparkling?" Bumblebee raised an optic ridge, seeing the smaller red youngling.
"Sunny means Mirage is the youngest on the team." Sideswipe mentioned helping the scout understand.
"Oh, wait really?!" Bumblebee asked realizing he was now an older brother.
"Yeah couldn't you tell he's smaller than you." Sunstreaker scoffed gesturing to the increasingly grumpy assassin.
"Mirage has always been petite compared to Bee." Jazz retorted to the golden twin.
"Does that mean I'm a big brother?" Bumblebee continued to show his excitement to his now little brother's dismay.
"Only by a cycle!" Mirage hissed grumpily at the scout.
"Cool!" Bumblebee didn't really care if it was only by one cycle, he was thrilled to be an older brother.
The red youngling groaned rolling his optics. "This sucks..."
"Look at the bright side, you're not a sparkling." Arcee pointed out to the unhappy youngling.
Mirage gave a small sigh of relief agreeing with the femme. "You're right." The youngling shrugged as Ironhide entered the main room looking confused.
"What's the numbers for this little situation?" Ironhide stopped in his tracks gesturing to the youngest members of the team.
"Mirage five, Bee six, Soundwave eighteen. Is there any other simple math I can solve for you Ironhide?" Ratchet scoffed grumpily towards the weapon specialist.
"Yeah, how many grumpy gears crawled up your tailpipe today?" Ironhide retorted back at his grumpy old friend.
"It feels weird not having an extra teammate around, I was just getting used to having an eleventh bot." Sunstreaker thought aloud as his brother pulled up human internet things on the holo vid.
"It's certainly different." Soundwave agreed, watching his little brother standing in deep thought.