"What's going on?"
Bumblebee looked up in surprise, startled by Barricade's appearance. After what had happened at the destroyed Neutral ship they had all come back to base, but with some minor urgency. It hadn't taken them long to figure out that, no matter what they did, they couldn't get either Sam or Miles to wake up for long again. Ratchet used an invasive scan and found out that their energy had been severely depleted, almost to an alarming extent, and so they had hightailed it back.
It had been a couple of hours now and neither teen had shown any noticeable improvement. Epps and Will were faring much better than the two of them in that they were awake and could stay so, though they were obviously tired out. Neither of them could explain what had happened very well, but both were unsurprised at the teens' conditions. And outside of worrying about all four humans, there was the sparkling that had to be looked after. Ironhide had immediately figured out a shift schedule for watching Orion, and what little energon they had for the sparkling was being found and set aside. Ratchet and Wheeljack had talked a little bit about taking some of the other energon and trying to distill into sparkling formula, or something close to it, but it had yet to be done.
The Scout had just been walking from the recharge hangar, having caught a half hour to re-energize himself, when Barricade had stepped out of his hangar and startled him so. Almost immediately he felt bad, because he didn't think any of them had thought about the 'con.
Barricade growled, "Answer me, Scout. Where's the organic? He's not responded to my texts."
Feeling somewhat ashamed, Bumblebee filled him in on what had happened. He wasn't surprised at all when Barricade seemed to grow more and more angry as he went on, but he was surprised when the 'con demanded his comm frequency and nearly everymech else's. And then, to appease him some, the Scout took him to where Orion was and let him have the next shift to watch over the sparkling.
Miles slowly woke up, instantly regretting his return to consciousness as pain hit him. His head pounded—he'd never had a migraine before but he'd bet anything that it was what he was experiencing now—and his body felt stiff and sore, like he'd exercised for far too long. His throat felt raw and dry, his eyelids unusually heavy. When he finally could manage to open his eyes, even the dim lighting in the room was enough to make him wince and his migraine increase momentarily. He pushed through it, though, trying to peer through narrowed eyes to figure out where he was. It was somewhat familiar, but disconcerting in that he couldn't remember why since it wasn't a place he frequented often.
It wasn't until he allowed what he was hearing around him to register that he realized where he was. The steady drip of an IV, the beeping of a heart monitor. He was in the med-bay, the human med-bay. He had been in it only on tour; he had been in Ratchet's med-bay far more often, be it for himself or any Cybertronian that didn't mind his presence there. When he tried to recall how he had essentially ended up in a hospital bed, he had to think hard. He could just barely remember the mission at this point, something to do with Decepticons and Neutrals and a fight. Everything after they had arrived to wait at the wide expanse of desert was blurry; the pounding in his head grew so strong that he had to just give up thinking altogether for a moment.
He could hear the steady tempo of his heart monitor start to quicken, a loud beep sounding after it. Miles almost flinched, but he realized it didn't do anything to actually make his migraine worse, and flinching would have taken entirely too much effort. After a moment he could hear movement by his bedside, followed by several clicks. About a minute later and the pounding in his head started to fade to something more manageable, letting him crack open his eyes again.
"Awake at last," A familiar voice drawled from beside him.
Miles didn't need to look to know it was Barricade, but he did anyway, carefully turning his head to look at the mech's holoform. While the human med-bay had been built big enough for Cybertronians, in case Ratchet decided he was need, it was preferred that holoforms were used while inside of it.
"How do you feel?" Barricade asked quietly, that letting Miles know the 'con somehow knew about his headache.
"Like I was tackled by thirty football players and then a herd of buffalo went on a stampede, the only ground available being my head." Miles rasped out, cracking a grin.
Barricade gave a soft snort, "The one time Sam woke up he said it felt like Optimus and Megatron had drank too much high-grade and decided to do the tango on his body, also mostly around his cranial region."
"How long have I been out?" Miles asked, trying to convince himself that sitting up was worth the effort.
"Three days," Barricade replied. "Samuel just woke up earlier this morning. You two have been essentially comatose since falling asleep in that ship; we figured out that once he woke up he was in pain, but the foolish human doctor had nothing prepared for him. I think the Insect nearly made him wet his pants because of it."
Miles smiled a bit, too tired to laugh. "That's why you knew what to do for me, I take it?"
"Indeed. Increased heart rate either meant you were in pain or panicking, and as you had no reason to panic it was the former."
"The sparkling?" Miles questioned, voice rasping. He had to swallow several times just to try to wet his throat.
"Wait."
The teen stared after the holoform in confusion as Barricade just walked away, leaving him to do just what the 'con had ordered. He came back quickly, a glass of water in his hand, and Miles did his best not to grin because he knew it would annoy him. He sat up then, forcing his limbs to work even as they protested, and took the glass from Barricade with a quite thanks before drinking from it, looking at the holoform expectantly.
"Orion is fine," Barricade responded. "We're not exactly sure how, of course, but it seems that we never are with you organics."
"Will and Epps?" It wasn't descriptive, but Barricade seemed to understand what he wanted.
"Fine, though more tired than usual. Ratchet decided to keep them in here just in case. But..." Barricade frowned, "The Allspark energy that was within all four of you is still there, but changed. It seems to have adapted to your bodies better and leveled out. It's almost as if all of you have spark signatures, though they don't read exactly right. It's odd."
"Sam and me?"
"Severe depletion in just about everything that gives the human body energy. The incompetent organic doctor had you both on intravenous therapy to try to combat that and restore your nutrient levels to what they should be and it seemed to be doing fine, but when Sam woke up with a severe migraine even Ratchet was left confused. We were able to treat his symptoms, all of which you seem to be presenting with, but unable to find a proper cause. It appears that, despite the IV, neither of you are where you should be energy wise."
Miles took a moment to soak that in, finishing off his glass of water. Barricade took it from him without comment, the teen relaxing back against his pillow. Lifting himself up into a sitting position and staying like that had taken more effort then he had anticipated, the teen not realizing just how tired he was until he couldn't be bothered to keep himself sitting up any longer. Not even the water seemed to energize him.
"Energon," Miles suggested.
"Don't be stupid," Barricade growled. "That won't do you any good and Ratchet'd have my helm."
The teen took a moment to study the holoform. Barricade looked about as normal as ever, a scowl on his face that showed his irritation, and sometimes it was hard to remember that the 'con used anger as a defense of sorts to hide what he was really feeling. Sometimes he had to take a step back and look at the situation and how he'd feel about it. They were friends, after all, and if it had been Barricade in his place then he would have been worried, maybe even afraid for him. And maybe that's why the 'con had been there for when he'd woken up. Reassurance for the both of them.
"I won't tell if you don't," Miles promised. "Unless it works, because then we're giving it to Sam, too."
Miles' suggestion would turn out to be right, in the end. After Barricade sequestered a small glass of energon for him and the teen drank it he had improved quickly. Quickly enough that within the hour he was wanting to get out of the bed and prove it to the CMO himself, suddenly restless. The 'con had called Ratchet in then just to keep Miles in place. The medic, while annoyed that the two had done such a potentially stupid thing without bothering to even tell him, had been pleased to see Miles' improved condition, and quickly comm'd Bumblebee to get the mech to get a glass for his Charge.
The only drawback seemed to be that it worked a little too well, though the sudden increase in energy inevitably led to a sort of crash when their levels started to drop back down into a normal range. They found this out when Miles went from walking around the room wide awake to sitting in a chair and falling asleep almost as soon as he had leaned his head against the wall. When Barricade had tried to the stir the teen he'd gotten a few responses, but it hadn't taken any of them long to figure out that Miles was still asleep because he suddenly went from answering something normally to talking about a pig.
Ratchet had worried, at first, that this would develop in to a sort of pattern unless they were able to dial down how much energy the energon suddenly seemed to be giving them, talking with Wheeljack about perhaps giving them something similar to what Orion was receiving, but his fears were alleviated the next day when Miles and Sam both woke up feeling a lot better.
The medic had decided to keep them in the human med-bay for the rest of the day and following night despite how much better they were feeling, promising them that they would be released the following morning for Thanksgiving. He allowed them to be removed from their machines, though, giving the teens little to fuss about. The two teens accepted this without complaint.
But later that night Miles was wide awake, his legs itching to actually get up and move around. It turned out Ratchet was being more paranoid then usual, locking Epps and Will in with them to make sure they didn't drop down dead wherever they happened to be if something terrible happened. He was also personally coming in every three hours, so Miles had to make sure to watch the clock to know when was best to plan the escape.
Now it was about two in the morning and he finally decided to wake up Sam, handing him a pair of clothes that he'd gotten Fig to sneak in an hour before when Ratchet had visited with him. The two carefully crept out of the med-bay, doing their best to stay quiet. They had to pass a sleeping Will and Epps on the way out, and Miles knew, from what little Fig had told him, that there was a nameless male nurse that was there supposed to be watching over them as well, and that he was also asleep, but at the desk. As long as they could get past him and their other adult companions without waking them up, then they were home free.
The two were almost to the door when a familiar voice rang out.
"Ratchet has stated you two are to stay here," Barricade drawled, the teens freezing mid-step.
Miles turned to look at the 'male' nurse with an annoyed expression, Sam just looking slightly baffled and mostly disappointed.
"You fragger, that's cheating!" Miles accused, "Changing your holoform is dirty!"
Barricade's holoform smirked, "Decepticon here, or have you forgotten, squishy?"
"Decepticon, not the-faction-that-follows-Ratchet." Miles huffed in reply, glaring at Barricade.
"Wrenchers," Sam offered with a snort.
"In my case it would be more like Mothers." Barricade admitted, glowering at them both as he did so, blaming them entirely.
"If the Mothers splits up you are so a Lancaster, you aft." Miles told him.
"My mom won't care if I let her baby me a bit, not even that if we don't manage any trouble." Sam shrugged, "We want to go see Orion."
"No." Was the simple reply, Barricade reclining once more in the chair he had claimed.
"But Barry," Miles started to whine. "We've been good boys, we earned it!"
Sam smirked at his friend's tone, just leaning against the wall. He knew how stubborn Miles could be. He also knew that for some unexplainable reason Barricade seemed to be somewhat wrapped around his little pinkie, so he knew that they'd be allowed to leave. It took a bit longer than he expected for Miles to break the 'con down, nearly two entire minutes of back and forth before Barricade caved. Miles cheered loudly without thinking, freezing when Will yelled at him to shut up.
Sam snickered, "Smooth move, there. Can we go now?"
Barricade's holoform dissolved without saying anything, the two taking this as a sign to leave the human med-bay. As they walked to the Autobot section of NEST Barricade's bipedal form joined them, leading them to the sparkling's room. He explained to them a bit of what they had missed and where and why they had decided to put Orion where they did. He also warned them about what would be coming up.
Ratchet would be running a lot of tests on them, having already performed some on Epps and Will. The debriefing had been put on hold until Sam and Miles could join it, since if all four humans who had experienced whatever it was that had happened were there they might be able to remember something from what another might end up saying.
Halfway there they were met by Bumblebee, the Autobot Scout picking Sam up almost immediately and scanning him.
"Jeez, Bee," Sam huffed half-heartedly. "I'm fine."
"Ratchet said you were not to be up and about yet," Bumblebee replied, but he fell into step beside Barricade anyway as his scans told him that Sam was alright.
Miles snorted, "Ratchet's a slaggin' mother hen. I'll almost feel bad for Orion the first time he gets a scraped knee or something."
"Poor sparkling won't even be allowed to move," Barricade agreed with a laugh, causing Miles to grin up at him. The 'con was at least relaxing enough around Bumblebee to laugh about something so simple.
"More like whoever let Orion get a scraped knee will be slagged to the pit, brought back, slagged again by whoever else wants to, and then left there." Bumblebee replied with a grin, "And then he will not be allowed to move."
"Primus help them." Sam laughed, "But this will be really cool. Orion will have a Cybertronian family and a human family. Is anyone going to be playing creator?"
"I imagine it will be like how it was with me. A group effort, though Ironhide and I imagine Prowl will be the most mother hen-ish, as you call it." The Scout laughed when the two teens did a double take at Ironhide, "Ironhide has some of the strongest Guardian protocols around, one reason he's also known as Optimus' bodyguard. Prowl has actually helped raise a sparkling that he adopted from Praxun, a city on Cybertron. Both he and the sparkling, Bluestreak, are Praxian, so they both lost their homes at the same time."
"The gunner?" Barricade asked, getting a nod from Bumblebee. He smirked, "He shot Starscream in the aft. I like him."
"Awesome shot, great personality, but he can talk anyone's ear off. I pray to Primus that he and Blurr never somehow make a sparkling together, no one would be able to understand that thing." Bumblebee joked, grinning once more when the teens laughed and Barricade snorted.
"So what are they like? Optimus, Ratch, Hide, and whoever else raised you?" Miles asked, still on the ground and walking. He was doing well enough to keep up with the two Cybertronians, trailing slightly behind as he didn't want to make the effort to jog and keep up with them.
"It was mainly Optimus, Ratchet, and Ironhide. There were other mechs, certainly, but they were the main three." Bumblebee explained, "Both Optimus and Ironhide tended to let me get away with whatever I wanted. Ratchet was the one who had to crack down and punish me if I got out of hand, since Ironhide and Optimus tended to crack if I pulled out the big guns, so to speak. I became even worse once Jazz started to stay on with us and taught me how to prank, sneak around without being noticed, and so on. When I first got hurt it would be Ironhide who fussed the most, Ratchet who fussed the longest, and Optimus who got me away when I got cranky at them, or who distracted me with energon goodies. Ironhide tended to give me whatever I wanted, while Optimus would hold back a bit, but would be more lenient with letting me stay up late and run around."
"So those three have been together for awhile?" Sam asked, leaning back in Bumblebee's servo.
"Yes. Ratchet and Ironhide are older, born around the same time if I'm not mistaken, give or take a few years. Speaking of Ironhide, I believe he is with the sparkling now. We take shifts, generally, when the sparkling is supposed to be asleep." A pause before he glanced to Barricade with amusement, "Everyone was a bit surprised about how well our little 'con acted with the sparkling, he almost rivals Ironhide. In fact, the two have even teamed together to yell at Skids and Mudflap for saying slag around Orion. Who would have guessed Barricade was a softie for children?"
Barricade growled, "You should not tell them lies, insect."
"Well that explains why he went for Miles." Sam grinned.
"Hey!" Came Miles indignant reply, though it was ignored as Bumblebee laughed and Sam snickered. Barricade just smirked.
The three kept walking, Sam comfortable in Bumblebee's servo and the Autobot content with letting Miles walk unless he appeared to get tired or asked to be helped. They got to Orion's room, a big plaque on the door stating his name in Cybertronian glyphs and in English. Bumblebee went right inside, Barricade and Miles following. Ironhide looked at them over the top of a data pad he was reading, glaring at them and putting a finger up to his mouth to gesture quiet. On his lap lay Orion, recharging peacefully. Bumblebee grinned.
"Thought Ratchet said he wanted Orion to start sleeping on his own berth?" Bumblebee asked.
Ironhide kept up his glare, "He was so lonely. Practically called for me."
"Projecting much?" Bumblebee snorted, setting Sam down. Miles was already next to the Weapons Specialist, attempting to climb his legs to get closer to Orion. "I believe you two will be the first humans he actually interacts with. So far we've kept him at bay. We wanted all four of his saviors to be here, but of course you two just couldn't wait."
"Us, wait? Think you got us mixed up with someone else there, Bee." Sam replied, grinning up at his Guardian before high tailing it over and climbing up Ironhide's leg as well. The Weapons Specialist just grunted a bit, putting the data pad down to watch.
Miles stopped near to the sparkling, but far enough away he wouldn't wake it up, and just made himself comfortable. Sam did the same. The three mechs watched in amusement as the two teens made little comments back and forth to each other over how the sparkling looked and how it would need a paint job. Right now it was just the basic metallic grey.
"That's because generally the parents would decide, or the sparkling would be given the parents' colors. However the colors happened to be lime green and red for the mech and pink and purple for the femme. We're currently fighting over the colors, but we do intend to include at least one of his original creator's coloring." Bumblebee explained. "We cleaned off the paint that he had on before."
"Before?" Sam asked, trying to think back. He and Miles had been lying on the floor instead of looking at the sparkling, just happy he was alive, and dead tired from the energy drain. This brought another question to his mind. "How did he get his body anyway?"
The three mechs started to talk in Cybertronian, causing Sam to huff in annoyance. Miles grinned at him, but the grin faltered for a moment. He leaned in close to Sam, whispering in his friend's ear.
"Think about understanding them, like how we did before we all went to that place."
Sam hesitated just a bit, before listening to his friend. He concentrated, and after a moment he began to understand them again, though he would miss a few words, and it was hard to keep it up. If he tried hard enough he could get the gist of what they were saying. He shared a look with Miles and both of them grinned. No way were they going to say anything, in fact they would get Will and Epps alone and tell them about it. They figured the older males would be more then willing to keep quiet if it meant being able to understand the Cybertronians when they went on a 'human need not hear' tangent.
Miles decided to do what they usually would: complain about being left out of the conversation. No need to make them suspicious, or more likely worry that the teens were still tired.
"Guys, humans here!" Miles complained, "No speak Cybertronian!"
Ironhide and Barricade looked pointedly at Bumblebee, causing the Scout to vent softly.
"While you guys were out your bodies started to produce an alarming amount of Allspark energy, which seemed to leave you and go elsewhere. I presume this was Orion's spark, strengthening it and stabilizing it even as his creator femme's spark was dying. He was not yet ready for separation, which would make him like a premature baby on your world. You somehow also managed to get him a body made together in a short amount of time, parts from his femme creator and his mech creator helping out. We honestly have no idea, and I think Primus must have been smiling down on us and teasing us at the same time because there was a light so bright even we couldn't really see much until our optics adjusted, and by then it was basically too late." A pause, almost hesitant, before asking, "What was it like, this other place you guys have mentioned?"
Sam opened his mouth to reply, but was cut off by Miles.
"Fucking crazy," Miles declared. "Megatron was made to serve us refreshments in a maid's outfit, Orion's creators were there crying, we met Primus-"
"You lost us at Megatron in a maid's outfit," Bumblebee told him, making both Sam and Miles laugh.
"Think we should have Sunny paint it and send it to Prowl?" Sam asked, grinning.
Bumblebee was about to reply, when Orion suddenly gave a loud cry and continued to do so, startling both the teens and the Cybertronians.
Miles stared at the crying sparkling with wide eyes, "What's wrong with him?"
"You guys came and I forgot to get his late night energon," Ironhide grumbled, sounding slightly upset.
"Sam and I will go get Ratchet to mix him the right type," Bumblebee assured him, picking up his Charge before he could protest.
"I don't want to go see the Hatchet, I've been disobeying orders!" Sam whined, trying to escape even though he knew it was futile.
Miles laughed at his friend, which seemed to draw Orion's attention because his cries quieted as he stared at Miles with wide optics. It made him wonder if the sparkling had seen any humans at all yet, or if he and Sam really were to be the first.
"Hey lil' guy," Miles greeted, reaching out and touching the sparkling gently. He was surprised when he was pulled into an awkward kind of hug by the now giggling sparkling and then squeezed. He laughed and tried to escape, but found he couldn't. "So you guys are strong even while you're little, huh?"
Barricade smirked, "Orion's just good like that."
Ironhide grunted his agreement, reaching down and gently getting Miles out of Orion's grasp, only for the sparkling to start crying loudly again. Ironhide's servo froze in midair, holding Miles up by his shirt and letting the teen dangle there. He had barely started to move his hand back down when Miles glared at him.
"Don't you dare give me back to him or I will be having a talk to Sarah about what actually happened to her garden."
"I'm not surprised that you two snuck out, though I am surprised Epps isn't with you." Ratchet stated softly, though just a few seconds earlier he had given Sam a glare that could have rivaled his mother's when she was really pissed off.
Sam shrugged, "Guess Epps is gettin' older."
He eyed Ratchet wearily as the doc-bot turned and started getting together Orion's energon, mumbling something about it having to be a bit different so it would be easier on his systems, though if they had nothing else he could take adult energon, apparently thinking Sam cared or wanted to know.
"The Allspark energy is gone, I take it?" Sam asked, getting comfortable in Bumblebee's servo. His tone was just slightly hopeful.
"No," Ratchet sighed. "You guys have all leveled out and appear to be even with each other."
"Oh," Sam sounded disappointed. He was happy they had saved Orion, sure, but what would this mean for them? Would it end up doing anything to them?
Bumblebee held his Charge close, "None of it seems to be having an effect on any of you. You will be alright, Sam."
Sam looked up at the familiar faceplates of his Guardian. It wasn't much to be reassured by, but there wasn't much to go off of to do said reassuring. He knew that the energy having no effect wasn't exactly true, since using it had landed all four of them in the hospital—though it was true that Epps and Will had really only been kept in there as a just in case sort of thing.
He put on a smile, at least the 'bot was trying. "Yeah."
It was relatively silent after that, Ratchet and Bumblebee occasionally talking in Cybertronian. Sam didn't even attempt to listen this time, just sitting back and watching Ratchet work. Just as Ratchet finished both he and Bumblebee received a comm link from the frequency that everyone could access, even the humans. Sam found out in the form of his phone going off with a text message telling them to come to the Communications room.
Sam figured it was from Blaster, the mech rarely left his station there, saying he'd do his job and Red Alert's, whoever Red Alert was. He looked up at Bee expectantly, and the Scout nodded, the two turning to look at Ratchet. The med-bot vented heavily, grumbling something under his breath, but nodded as well. So the three set off for the control room, meeting Optimus on the way there.
When they got there Blaster just gestured them over, and typed away quickly, pulling up a certain camera feed on one of the bigger screens so they could all see it. It was to Orion's room, all of them staring in shock at what they saw.
"Blast, could you turn up the volume?" Sam asked, body trembling as he tried not to laugh. Blaster did so. "Oh Primus, they are! They're caramelldansen!"
He burst out into laughter, having to lean against Bumblebee to stay upright. It was true. Ironhide and Barricade were doing the closest version to the dance that a being made of metal could, though the look on their faces at the moment would be enough to make even Ratchet back down. Miles was standing up and helping Orion to sit up, the sparkling doing his own version as he wiggled on his aft and shook around, only being able to be labeled as cute as a button. He had a blissful look on his faceplates and Miles looked entirely too happy and pleased with himself, though after awhile it become obvious he was purposefully not looking at Ironhide and Barricade. Both Optimus and Bumblebee followed Sam's example and started to laugh.
"Orion was crying and Miles suggested one of them play some music. Somehow they got on to that song and Miles started to do the dance, Orion seeming beyond pleased with it, and well... let's just say Miles is apparently extremely convincing and both Ironhide and Barricade are absolute suckers when it comes to making a sparkling happy." Blaster said by way of explanation.
Ratchet snorted, obviously amused. "Of course it was Miles."
"Sam, I believe I might want to exchange you for Miles." Bumblebee joked, "Doubt our lil' 'con will be a problem after this and Prowl won't be hard to fight off."
Optimus laughed, "Sorry, Bumblebee. Prime comes first."
"Oh slag no, I get same species rights!" Sam smirked, "He's all mine, mechs."
Somewhere along the path back to Orion's room, Prowl had joined up with them. As they reached the door the Caramelldansen music could be heard drifting out, as well as Miles singing along to it, though he was off key and off the beat. Four out of the five weren't going to complain because they knew what he had managed. Poor Prowl was, once again, out of the loop.
Prowl did what he did best and prowled forwards, opening the door without makin a sound, no one bothered to think anything of it. But then they watched as he froze, apparently going unnoticed by those inside the room as the music continued. Optimus, Bumblebee, Ratchet, and Sam, who was still in Bumblebee's servo, peered around the SIC.
Miles was now sitting on the floor, slightly behind Orion as he helped the sparkling to remain sitting upright even as he wiggled and jerked around. He was singing loudly with a huge shit eating grin on his face, obviously not caring about how he sounded. Ironhide and Barricade were still doing the dance, but if it was possible their faces looked even more murderous. Orion obviously didn't care about the look on their face's, though, as he squeaked and warbled in his own sparkling speak happily, doorwings occasionally fluttering with excitement.
And then Prowl hit the floor, his glitch having acted up at the site of Ironhide and Barricade doing such a thing. The music abruptly stopped as both adult Cybertronians looked at their unexpected visitors with completely blank faceplants. Orion looked shocked, about ready to burst into his wailing again.
"Do not worry, I have told Blaster to only send the copies to the Autobot half of NEST. Very few organics will get this." Optimus told them, battle mask down to hide the smirk on his features.
Miles looked down right horrified, and slowly looked up at Barricade and Ironhide just as Orion started to wail.
"Five second head start?" The teen squeaked.
Ironhide activated his cannon, growling. "No."
The teen quickly scrambled up and started to run around the large room as Ironhide actually chased after him, putting his experience with jogging to keep up with Mason to good use for once. Of course this meant that Ironhide wasn't chasing him at full speed, hardly even picking up the pace from his normal stroll, but it was enough to have the teen running even faster.
Ratchet was trying to bring Prowl back, Optimus was attempting to calm the irate Weapons Specialist down, Sam was laughing his ass off, Bumblebee was standing and trying not to do the same, Ironhide was still chasing Miles, and Barricade was watching with a pleased look when they all froze and looked down at Orion. The sparkling was giggling and laughing happily, clapping his little servos together as he watched the chase between organic and Cybertronian.
"Oh, look. He seems to like this activity even better than the last one." Ironhide smirked, a wicked gleam in his optics.
Miles looked at Orion with a betrayed expression, before running for the door. Ironhide followed. Barricade took the sparkling energon from Ratchet and picked Orion up, beginning to feed him. He stalked out of the room to follow the two, looking entirely too pleased over the situation.
"Miles is so getting slagged one of these days," Sam said, everyone nodding in agreement. The teen grinned, "But hey, Prowl's technically out of the race for guardianship, and I doubt Barricade wants him at all. Leaves just you and Bee to duke it out, big guy."
Bumblebee grinned, "I think I'll step aside. Wouldn't want to make the leader of the Autobots look like a fool when I won."
Everyone laughed, Optimus patting the young scout on the back. Then they left the room, returning to the communications room to watch the chase through the cameras.