This has to be my favourite piece of anything to do with Resonate yet, mostly because she's a youngling here so she's matured a bit and can take an active role.

Admittedly, a part of this might not be too realistic (you'll see what I mean when you get there) but everything else does.

Anyway, obviously, this is Primeverse and takes place around Sick Mind to Out of his Head.

Also, got round to recreating the cover so now it's much better :)

It was the luck of the draw of Optimus being so close when the unidentified pod came crashing. Changing the direction from his route had him transforming from his vehicle mode as the pod still smoked.

He brought only a single gun online, pointed away in case it was an Autobot but wary of if it could be a Decepticon.

A hiss and the door opened, more smoke billowing out as someone coughed. Tiny slim digits grasped the side of the pod and a familiar helm appeared.

"'Rion?" the femmeling warbled.

The gun was gone, and Optimus was kneeling, "Resonate," he breathed, holding his servos out and she collapsed into his arms. He pulled her close as she trembled.

=Optimus?= Ratchet questioned, =Any news?=

=Good news, Ratchet,= Optimus rumbled softly, a smile on his faceplate as orange optics blinked up at him, =Resonate has joined us.=

There was a crash on the other side of the comms—did Ratchet fall over in shock? Optimus thought in concern—and loud chatter filled the air, the other bots both who knew and didn't speaking up. He could make out the children's voices as well.

"'Rion?" she chirped, "'Atchet?"

"Yes, little one, Ratchet is here also," he stroked a digit across her scratched-up helm. In fact, she was a bit banged up all over. Concern formed, "Where is Ravage?"

Resonate tapped her chassis symbiote holder she had inherited from both of her parents, "Ravage: Hurt. Bad leg. Protected me from Cons with others. Hexen and others sent us."

So she had been jettisoned, he hopes the others made it somewhere safe.

"Let's get you both to base and fixed up then?" Optimus smiled and Resonate nodded. Her brightening optics gave away the smile hidden behind her faceguard.

A ground bridge opened but it was not one of theirs. Optimus' helm snapped around, frame tense and Breakdown and Knockout stepped through, but the Cons froze at the sight of them.

Breakdown gapped, pointing and Resonate cheeped as Optimus used their shock to his advantage, swooping her into his arms.

=Ratchet, ground bridge!=

It opened and he rushed through.

("Did you—?" Breakdown choked.

"That was…" Knockout gasped.)

There was instant noise as they stepped pede into the base. Optimus was crowded as the others all desperately sought to see a glimpse of Resonate.

The sparkling had grown plenty since he had last since her. Now, a few stellar cycles into younglinghood, Resonate had grown into her frame more, just above Arcee's knees now and taller than any grown human. Her similarities to her creator were more prevalent than ever but her colouration was purely that of her carrier, largely white with soft pastel pinks and blues with hints of bioluminescence yellow.

Resonate cowered at all the noise and Optimus scolded the team, ordering them to take their charges and go patrol so that Ratchet and Optimus had some peace and quiet as they helped Resonate adjust. Arcee, disgruntled, was the last to go.

Optimus made sure to let Arcee have some one-on-one with Resonate, knowing the blue femme had also been close with LightChaser and largely cared for Resonate during her early years. That care and bond were not easily forgotten.

Resonate waved Arcee off, which made the blue femme smile softly before departing with Jack.

"Well, you've certainly grown, Resonate," Ratchet smiled and Resonate beamed.

"Yes!"

"How about Ravage comes out and we can check up on him too?" Optimus said and out popped the slick black and silver cyber-panther.

"Optimus," Ravage rumbled, which—?

"You've had a voice module installed!" Ratchet awed, "When did you manage this?"

Ravage bared his dermas in a grin, "Stole one from a newer model that was offline. Not as if she would be needing it anymore."

Ratchet snorted and Resonate pet Ravage's helm, the cyber-panther's ears flickering as he purred.

"Can you tell us what happened before you wound up in the escape pod?" Optimus asked. It was aimed at both but Ravage answered.

"We were with Hexen on an Autobot outpost for a long while with Elita-1, Prowl, and a few others. The base got attacked, we ditched the planet but got chased and so the group decided the risk of setting us off after they got onto the ship," Ravage just managed to lift his barely attached front left leg, "I got this in the scuffle on the ship. Transforming definitely made it worse but there wasn't any space for both of us."

Parting from his charge was never even an option. Not then, not now, not in the future. He wouldn't fail a third time. He'd rather offline than carry on if that happened.

"Ravage: good at protecting Resonate from danger," the youngling chirped, giving the cyber-panther more head pats.

Ratchet chuckled, "Ravage is very good at that, isn't he?"

Resonate nodded sagely.

As Ratchet cast scans and assessed any damage, he made up a small cup of energon for Resonate.

"Just some recharge should leave you good as new," the CMO shooed Optimus away with the femmeling, "You can borrow Optimus' berth until we can clean out a room for you, sweetling."

Resonate nodded, happily letting Optimus set her on his hip and walk away. It was a long beat before Ratchet turned to Ravage, who hopped onto the berth where Resonate had sat moments prior. Ratchet began assessing his damage.

"How you managed to almost lose a leg is beyond me," Ratchet grumbled as he began work to fix the damage. Thankfully there was no energon as the piping hadn't been severed in any way beyond cosmetic and wires.

"Aimed shots," Ravage grumbled, "Some Con femmes wanted to steal Resonate away to claim her."

Ratchet vented, unsurprised. Resonate was young, she could still form parental bonds by accident if the right environment is induced. Some bots weren't above that. Especially desperate ones.

Silence fell.

Then, "Is Soundwave on planet?"

"He is."

Ravage hissed, "Frag. Then we can bet from those two Cons that he might know about her by now."

Ratchet said nothing, just as worried.

"Well?" Starscream demanded when Knockout and Breakdown arrived back onto the Nemesis, "What was in that pod?"

The partners shared an unsure glance.

"Well," Breakdown started, "You're not gonna believe this but it was, uh, it was a youngling."

"Barely a youngling," Knockout corrected, knowing more about frame development as a doctor.

Starscream's pacing fell still, he turned to the pair in bewilderment, "What?"

"Yeah, it surprised us just as much," Breakdown shrugged, smirking, "But that's not even the best bit."

"Soundwave," Knockout addressed. The silent mech stood at the communication monitor turned, "You wouldn't have happened to have a sparkling you didn't tell us about, right? Cause the femme looked an awful lot like you in pale colours."

"Yeah, it was kinda freaky," Breakdown let out a bellowing laugh, "It was like looking in a mirror."

Soundwave didn't move, the only sign he was affected was the twitch of his digits. He played a series of spliced audios, "What do you have—show me—give me proof!"

Knockout, having snapped a photo in his shock, pinged over the image which Soundwave displayed upon the screen.

Optimus was knelt, mostly shrouding the small youngling who was sitting on her knees. You could make out her white paint with hints of pink, blues and glowing yellow. Her armour, like Breakdown had said, was a near replica of Soundwave's, from the slim arms and connecting digits to small crowning spikes upon her helm. The only difference was she had a faceguard and visor instead of Soundwave's full-face visor.

The femmeling was staring right at them, her visor clear enough to reveal wide and curious orange optics.

Soundwave stared at it, a digit reaching out, touching the screen and tracing the femmeling.

It was Starscream that spoke, voice uncharacteristically quiet, "Could LightChaser have been sparked?"

To everyone's surprise, Soundwave turned, staggering on his pedes and Knockout instinctively jumped forward, catching the mech as he collapsed.

"Frag."

Well, this isn't something you see every day—Soundwave glitching? Who thought it was possible.

"Well…I suppose that answers our question," Breakdown blinked down at the unconscious mech, "Wait—since when did Soundwave have a sparkmate?"

"Had," Starscream corrected, "She is offline."

Yikes.

Optimus set Resonate down on his berth, listening with a smile as she whirled curiously. His berthroom wasn't all that special, rather plain in fact but she found it intriguing all the same.

"Would you like me to stay?" he asked, and she nodded.

"Inquiry: what language were you speaking earlier?"

"It is called English, it is one of the native languages of this planet called Earth," Optimus answered, "Ratchet will provide a datapack when you awaken."

Satisfied, Resonate nodded and settled down, curling into a ball. She yawned and shuddered her optics, her visor darkening to block out the artificial lighting. Optimus knelt beside the berth, brushing a digit across her helm. It wasn't long before she fell into recharge.

Just like Optimus had said, Ratchet provided Resonate with a datapack that gave her instant knowledge of this native language. She also received information about their location and the outside world. How curious, she couldn't wait to see more of it.

When Resonate had seen Arcee arriving back from dropping these 'children' at school, she had attached herself to the blue femme's side, happy to see her. While Resonate wasn't fond of being picked up most of the time, Resonate let Arcee do so, basking in the warmth of the blue femme.

Ravage had taken to lounging on the rafters above them, which held up under his weight. He had always enjoyed watching from above, it gave him a birds' eye view and satisfied those feline instincts. Doing so helped him keep an eye on his charge too, who was catching up with Arcee.

"—And Jazz loved to play his music together," Resonate babbled about this and that.

"That sounds very fun," Arcee smiled, listening to the femmeling and not just humouring.

Eventually, it was time for the children to be picked up, so Arcee headed back out and Ravage leapt down to explore this new base with his charge.

~New base: much different to outpost~ her spark shared as she pottered down another hallway, feeling only a wee bit lost from all the wandering and corner turning.

Ravage snorted, ~It is a new place, dearspark. It will take time to get used to.~

Resonate nodded, curiously peaking into the others' berthrooms. Most of them were just like Optimus', plain. They didn't have anything to personalise them.

~Resonate: wants to decorate her berthroom,~ she decided. Of course, said berthroom wasn't ready for inhabiting yet but she was sure she could help the others add some life to their rooms too!

~We do have all our bits and bobs, don't we?~ Ravage hummed, ~I'm sure some shelves could be installed.~

Nodding happily, Resonate left the hallway with the berthrooms when her audios picked up the distant sound of the bots arriving back. She had yet to meet Bulkhead, yet to meet Bumblebee and was excited. Resonate was also curious about these children that were apparently older than her but smaller too.

The yellow and black mech spotted her first, waving excitedly, hello, I'm Bumblebee, but call me Bee, sweetspark!

"Designation: Resonate," she chirped, trotting close as the mech knelt. She was given permission to explore his face, "Resonate: happy to meet Bee-bot."

He laughed, gently knocking his forehelm against hers.

Silly femme, was cooed affectionately and Resonate giggled, then she waved to Ravage.

"Resonate's guardian: Ravage."

Bee turned to Ravage, Nice to meet you too.

"And you, Bumblebee," Ravage rumbled with a flick of his tail.

A similar greeting happened with Bulkhead before the bots were sent out on patrol and left Resonate with Ratchet and the humans. The latter in which she turned too curiously. They were so…organic in nature, it was inefficient! How strange!

"Hi!" the femme jumped forward to greet with a wide grin, "My name's Miko. Have you been in—"

The taller human mech stopped her before she could finish her sentence, "Miko," he hissed, Resonate blinked. He turned back to Resonate, "Hi, I'm Jack."

"And I'm Raf!" the shorter human mech smiled.

"Designation: Resonate," those names were so strange, "Inquiry: strange names. Common on this planet?"

Jack blinked.

"Uh, yeah," Raf spoke up, smiling, "Earth has a different style of names than Cybertronains."

Oh, Resonate blinked, that made so much sense! She nodded, "Resonate: Grateful for clearing confusion."

"What's up with the weird speech?" Miko questioned, leaning on the railing, eyes wide with curiosity, "You phrase things so…weird."

Resonate frowned, confused and wondering what was wrong with the way she spoke. There were so many different ways to speak, "Speech pattern: varies but natural. Inherited from creator."

"Creator?" Jack.

"Is it like an accent?" Raf asked.

"Didn't think about it like that," Miko muttered. To Raf's question?

"Creator, Carrier," Resonate offered, "…closest English translation: mother and father."

Jack nodded.

Earth words were so weird.

=Ratchet, are you out of your fragging mind?= Arcee snapped.

Resonate sat at Optimus' side, nervously fiddling with her plating. She couldn't lose Orion!

"The Decepticon laboratory should contain all the equipment you need for a cortical psychic patch."

Cortical psychic patch? Resonate perked up at the procedure. She had performed one before!

=No way. Have you ever even performed the procedure?=

"No. But I have thoroughly studied the theoretical literature."

=Can't we just haul Megatron through the ground bridge, and buy us some time to figure this out?=

"Time is one thing that Optimus does not have! One of you must try this! I will not allow Optimus to pass knowing that Megatron will outlive him!"

=Ratchet, I would lay down my life for Optimus—anytime, anywhere. But a mind/body split?=

"I'll do it."

Silence. Everyone that was present at base turned to Resonate, "Resonate: performed cortical psychic patch before."

"Resonate," Ratchet hissed in bafflement, "When?"

"While on previous base. Injured Autobot: had important information while under attack. Resonate: only one able to do it."

They were arguing back and forth and getting nowhere so Resonate acted, opening the ground bridge and rushing through, ignoring the others that called out to her to stop. Arcee meets her, frustrated and worried but hurries her along, telling her she doesn't have to do this, that Bumblebee has offered.

"Resonate: only one with skills to perform procedure."

Arcee and Bumblebee share a hesitant glance but get everything set up. Hiding away from sight and attaching the cable to Resonate, where she delves in.

"Ratchet, we're ready."

Resonate opened her optics and stared at an unfamiliar location yet she knew couldn't be anywhere but Cybertron in the midst of war. A red hue hung heavy and thick in the air.

=Communications downlink activated,= Ratchet announced, hesitance still in his voice. He spoke to the others as Resonate began moving onwards, =This will allow us to see and hear everything Resonate does while within Megatron's subconscious mind.=

Resonate doesn't spare the chatter much mind as she hurries along the bridge that felt like it draws on seemingly forever in her childish processor. But when she does reach the end, it's to a battle.

It's nothing but a figment of Megatron's processor. She watches as Megatron slays the group of figment Autobots and creeps forward, unsure about how to do this. She would need to engage Megatron otherwise the literal search would take too long; they didn't have the time for her to manually search Megatron's processor to find the cure.

Resonate approached Megatron and it takes a moment for him to process her existence. He pauses, helm slowly turning to look down at her. He stared, optical ridges furrowing.

"Designation: Resonate," she greeted.

She pays the voices on the other side of her comm no mind.

"Resonate: requires assistance of Decepticon Leader Megatron."

Megatron reached a servo out, just a single digit stretched out and instead of touching her helm, it went right through her.

"You are real," he observes with a grin, "How unexpected."

"We've stirred Megatron from his oblivion. He's becoming self-aware," Ratchet hisses, "What are you planning Resonate?"

He knelt his towering form to lessen the great distance between them, "What are you doing inside my helm, femmeling?" he eyed her critically, "The only way you could have entered my mind is via cortical psychic patch. But the question remains, what happened to me?"

Resonate doesn't actually know the answer to that. She tells him as such.

Megatron hummed, "The space bridge explosion. And yet if you're in my head, I am not one with the Allspark. Tell me little one, why have you come here? Why would the Autobots send a youngling to do their dirty work?"

Someone hissed on the other side of the comms.

"Resonate: has experience with cortical psychic patch. Reason: cybonic plague."

"Someone besides myself is…unwell?" Megatron drawled, "And who may that be?"

"Orion," she chirped.

"Optimus?" Megatron threw his head back and belted out a laugh, "Oh such irony! That the mighty Optimus Prime is felled by a simple virus from the distant past."

He chuckled, supporting his helm with his servo as he stays knelt, "What makes you think I would save the life of my oldest enemy?"

The figments returned and Megatron shot them dead. They dissolved into dust.

"As you see, I slay Optimus by my own hand whenever I desire."

"Megatron: former gladiator. Megatron would let real Orion perish by other means, not of his own servo?" she remarked innocently yet it was anything but.

Megatron laughed again, "You have your Carrier's cheek, I can say that for certain. LightChaser would have said the same."

"Megatron: give cure?" she asked, wanting desperately to know more about Megatron's relations with her carrier but knew it wasn't the time.

"After our deep history together, to not watch the spark ebb from Optimus' optics with my very own..." He smiled, "Well played, youngling," he opened his servo, displaying the very thing she came here for. She whirled in awe, "The chemical formula for the cure you seek—not that I expect you to know how to read it."

She reached out but it vanished, and she cheeped in confusion, panic rising.

"Not yet," Megatron said, "How am I to accomplish terminating Optimus as you propose while I'm trapped here in a perpetual daydream? Once you release me from this prison, you will have the cure."

What?! She whirled angrily. He doesn't have the time!

"Come now, little one," he soothed, "You must guarantee my recovery, or Optimus fades to gun grey—the real Optimus."

"Optimus: doesn't have—"

Her processor spun and she staggered with a startled chirp. What—?

They were pulling her out? She wasn't ready!

Megatron lashed out, servo trying to grab her as she fell over, form beginning to scatter.

"They were watching!" he snarled.

You can't just pull her out like this! She cheeped in distress, feeling her subconscious yanked painfully out of Megatron's helm and back to her own.

She listened to Megatron bellow in anger, "No!"

Resonate onlined her optics, startled, helm feeling like it was going to burst as tears welled up. Arcee picked her up and someone fired a gun

"Intruders!" someone yelled.

Resonate stuttered her optics as Arcee moved.

The gunfire stopped and Arcee fled through the ground bridge with Resonate in her arms.

Knockout lowered his gun the moment he caught sight of the youngling. Soundwave shoved Starscream's arm down to stop him from firing.

Why the hell was the kid here?

Was she—Knockout turned, following the cortical patch cable. The frag? Did the Autobots send the femmeling in? Why the fragging—? Did they disconnect her without proper protocol too?!

Knockout rushed to the monitor displaying Megatron's processor waves. Dead. Oh. Oh no.

"Knockout?" Starscream.

He fiddled, just to make sure nothing had been jarred by the fight. No. Knockout turned back to them, "We have a problem," he pointed to the lack of processor activity, "I think the femmeling walked out with Megatron in her helm."

Starscream vented, frustrated was an understatement.

Soundwave approached, eyed the screen, and then stormed out.

"There goes our chance," Starscream grumbled.

Knockout vented, how anyone had put up with the Seeker for so long was a mystery to him.

"—LightChaser was quite the feisty femme when injured bots were being stubborn," Megatron grinned, "I experienced a good few smacks to the helm for my own stubbornness during my gladiator days."

Resonate giggled, "Carrier: liked to throw objects at people when annoyed. Learned from Ratchet, others said."

"That she did," Megatron hefted her up higher, curling Resonate into his arms as he kept an optic on the outside world. He was impressed with how the femmeling could multitask so well, but he supposed that it was all Soundwave in her.

In the world outside of Resonate's helm, it had been two days since the cortical patch. The first day-cycle after, the femme had suffered from a massive processor ache from how the Autobot Arcee had unhooked Resonate without the proper steps required. Even now, the socket was still sore.

Reckless, Megatron wanted to hiss, she could have done some real damage.

One such outcome was that Megatron had been yanked back through with the young femme so now both of them were in Resonate's processor. Which, for a full-fledged was some what fine considering there was more than enough space but in the processor of a youngling? Yeah, this wasn't going to be fine if nothing was done soon.

Megatron needed to get back into his own body before in the best-case scenario their consciousness bound together to form an entirely new Cybertronian to be the sole inhabitant of Resonate's body. At worst it burnt out Resonate's processor and left them both dead.

(And no one would like that. He could already feel Soundwave's death stare at it was. Megatron did not like getting on Soundwave's bad side.)

But going unseen was next to impossible. They had to wait to act. Which had to be late at night, otherwise any of the Autobots would notice something going on. Not to mention Ravage, the cyber-panther had hardly parted from Resonate's side since they returned to the Autobot base.

The chance actually comes when Resonate voices her restlessness and asks Ratchet to take Ravage and go somewhere secluded but outside. Megatron uses that chance to suggest the Grand Canyon, where he knew that piece of dark energon still lay abandoned after that fight those few weeks ago.

Ratchet agrees, so long as she comms if there is any problem.

Resonate agrees and through the ground bridge they go.

"Wow," she mumbled at the sheer sight of it.

("Are you capable of flight yet?" he asked.

"Resonate: minor bipedal flight capable," she answered.

"Then I shall lead you, but we must, unfortunately, ditch Ravage briefly.")

Resonate relinquished control and Megatron slotted into it, just a bit off balanced from such a different frame. He runs a system diagnosis and takes note of everything.

"Where would you like to go?" Ravage asked but Megatron didn't answer, instead, he moved to the edge of the plateau they arrived on and leapt off.

"Resonate!" Ravage yelped, scrambling down the side of the cliff, "Wait!"

Megatron took flight, only a bit unsteady.

(Resonate giggled, "Ravage: funny."

Megatron smirked.)

It wasn't hard to leave behind the guardian, and Megatron used that to his full advantage. He only had a short time slot to reach the deceased frames and locate the dark energon before Ravage ultimately caught up.

He did just that, scrambling to the location and sub-spacing the purple crystal. Then he moved away until the frames were no longer in sight. He didn't want to subject the femmeling to that more than needed.

"Resonate!" Ravage yelled with a scolding tone, "Don't fly off!"

Resonate, back in control, giggled, "Sorry. Resonate: wanted to fly. Forgot Ravage was not capable of flight."

Ravage vented, "At least dock me next time, okay, dearspark?"

"Promise," she chirped and opened the slot, "Continue?"

Ravage rolled his optics but folded up, slotting into his dock within Resonate's chassis.

When typically Starscream gets busy with some sort of scheme, Megatron uses that to send Ravage along with the rest of the Autobots which just left Ratchet at the base with Resonate. One bot was easier than all of them after all.

But the question, with Ratchet at the monitors, how do they get past?

("Resonate: use resonance blast?"

"...Your name makes much more sense now."

Resonate giggled.)

Wandering up to Ratchet, Resonate apologised and hits him with the scream when he turned to her in confusion. Down he went, stunned.

Megatron input the destination and rushed through the ground bridge, ignoring Ratchet's confused yell to stop.

The Nemesis is quiet, its hallways abandoned. Perhaps most were occupied with the fight going on outside?

Megatron offers directions and so Resonate navigates the ship. At least until she turns a corner and there stood Soundwave, who was waiting patiently.

She whirled, trotting closer to her creator who knelt. She purred when he brushed a digit along her helm, leaning into the gentle affection. She didn't hesitate to reach out, eagerly forming that bond her spark so desperately desired. Her purr picked up a notch when Soundwave scoops her up into his arms.

~Soundwave's sparkling's designation?~ his spark whispered.

~Designation Resonate~ her's whispered back, ~Hello creator~

~Greetings creation~

She giggled, nuzzling her helm against his chassis as Soundwave moved down the hallways.

(Megatron smirked, more than amused as he pats Resonate's helm. The femmeling practically melted into the newly formed bond.)

Soundwave took Resonate to the medical bay where Megatron's body lay. He set her atop his chassis and held out the cortical patch cable which she tenderly connected; the socket still sore from days prior.

Pulling the dark energon from her sub-space, Megatron directed her to shove it into his chassis as he darted down the cortical patch back into his own body. Resonate did so just as there was a sound outside.

A burst of purple light erupted from Megatron, and Soundwave disconnected her gentle, lifting her back into his arms as Megatron rose from the berth. Shrugging and rolling his shoulders as Ratchet arrived.

"Return to your base medic," Megatron rumbled, waving him off, "Resonate is in good hands."

Ratchet groaned, cursing lowly but backed away anyway, dermas gritted as he backtracked, not even trying to fight. He would never stand a chance if he tried.

"Let's go deal with Starscream," Megatron stormed from the medical bay and Soundwave without a beat followed him.

The sight of Optimus heaving, a smoking deck, Knockout facepalming and Starscream aiming his gun at Optimus was the sight they arrived to. Megatron vented, annoyed. More than annoyed in fact!

"Primus's sake," he launched himself forward, grabbing Starscream's helm and smacking him into the deck.

Optimus stumbled to his feet warily, optics searching and landing on Soundwave and Resonate, a realisation flickering to life before he vented. He turned and leapt from the Nemesis.

Resonate whirled wordlessly as she watched him disappear, she waved absently. She was sure her creator would let her see them later, she needed to get Ravage!

"Lor—Lord Megatron," Starscream stuttered out.

"Starscream," Megatron growled.

Soundwave turned to Knockout, who blinked.

"Knockout: check Resonate's helm for damage?" Soundwave asked, his silence broken.

"Uh," Knockout blinked, dumbfounded for a moment before nodding, "Sure, let's head there now?"

"Affirmative."

Knockout just kinda…followed Soundwave, unsure of what exactly just happened and if he wasn't hallucinating it.