Sleepover Party

Sire steps over to give out the afternoon's orders, but Blades waves his hands. "WAIT!" Everyone turns to him, and Hot Spot moves to either 'thwack' or reprimand his youngest brother. "We have one more, for the triplets." Hot Spot raises an eyebrow ridge. "The Rescue Bots do." Hot Spot and Sire nod, and Blades pulls out a card before handing it to us.

"I still don't understand why I had to be the one Boulder drew on the card, Blades."

Blades waves a hand flippantly at Heatwave. "Because Mari likes fire trucks, just…hush." He kneels to me. "Want me to read it? I know it's probably hard for younglings to read Dani's handwriting."

Dani crosses her arms and glares. "Blades!"

Graham chuckles. "He has a point. The triplets just turned five."

The three of us giggle at Dani and Graham before nodding to Blades. "Okay…" He takes the card, made big enough for bots to handle, and starts to read. "It says, 'Happy birthday from the Rescue Bots'." He opens it. "'One last special present on your birthday, Kids. We have decided that the two of you will be given formal Rescue Bot training starting the next time you come to Griffin Rock. Hot Spot has the required safety gear waiting for you in the bunker. We can't wait to train you'!"

Bee, Star, and I look at each other before looking up to the two fire-bots. "Really?"

I blink my eyes, knowing I'm about to start crying all over again. "Y-you really wanna t-teach m-me?"

Heatwave crouches to me and runs a hand over my head before wiping the lone escaped tear off my cheek. "Of course, Sweetspark…"

"Thank you…" I reach up and hug him, accidentally knocking Patches to the ground. "Oops… Sorry, Patch…" I giggle, and release Heatwave to pick up the downed puppy and set her back on her little paws. "That wasn't s'pposed to happen…"

Sire steps up. "Younglings, you may go downstairs to play. Rescue teams, return to Griffin Rock and resume your own mission. Jazz, you and Arcee will be going to check the last known location of the Decepticons. Prowl, you will be watching the younglings. Everyone else has patrols."


2:15 PM

Blossom turns to us once we're sitting on the swing set in the basement playroom. "Is it always like that here?"

I shrug. "Sort of. Dad's the leader." I smile. "Prowl's his second-in-command, and really, the only sitter besides Ratchet he trusts with us."

Buttercup crosses her arms. "What was in those boxes, anyway?"

Bee and I share a look, and he grins. "We're younglings now, so we got our first weapons."

"Weapons?"

I wave my hand in the air flippantly. "War tradition for younglings."

Bee sighs softly. "I remember when the others got theirs. It's always based on what the creators know about their younglings."

I nod. "Blue got a sniper rifle, Snowy got an energon pulse cannon and energon blades, Lyre got an acid pellet gun like her Carrier's and a set of ninja blades like her Sire. Electro got cannons like his Sire's, just scaled down, and Electra got arm blades like their Carrier."

Buttercup huffs. "Well, what did you two get?"

Blossom sighs. "Be nice, Buttercup. Maybe they don't want to tell us yet."

I shake my head. "It's fine, Blossom." I turn to Buttercup. "We got small silver cannons with two blasters each, which means four per bot, and energon lightsabers. We won't get weapons for Starlight until we're nine, if the war's still going on."


7:00 PM

"Younglings, it is time to go upstairs."

Buttercup looks up from where she's crawling under one of the slides. "Aww! But I was having fun!"

I crouch to the slide and sigh softly. "I was too, but we never argue with Prowl."

She crosses her arms. "Why not?"

Star sighs from her crouched position on the other side of the slide. "Because it's not logical to disobey adults, and he's the one who crashes if things don't make sense."

Bee crouches beside me. "Yeah… Ratchet's really angry when someone makes him crash, too."

Blossom sighs. "Just come on, Buttercup."

We brush our teeth—the five of us using our special fluoride-free toothpaste—well, Bee and I help the twinlets once we've finished—and change into our pajamas. The PowerPuff Girls have T-shirts and shorts in their colors, while I'm wearing a pink T-shirt with a butterfly graphic and matching butterfly print shorts, and Bee wears a yellow T-shirt with a bumblebee graphic and matching bumblebee print shorts. Star has Beauty and the Beast pajamas with crown print shorts, and the twinlets have aqua and orange shorts romper pajamas with teddy bear prints.

We give our new puppy love for the night before making sure she's comfy in her new bed, then climb into our own.

Once we're in our berth with Fixit curled on one side in the back like he does when we recharge in holoform (which is whenever we're going somewhere as a human the next day), I call Glimmer to us and watch as the now normal-sized, three foot tall cyber-cat curls up at our feet. We each have a twin beside us, with Star in the center, but I know we'll be piled up by morning.

Carrier and Sire step in and hand us our blankies and stuffed animals—mine's butterflies, Bee's is bumblebees, Star's is ladybugs, and the twinlets have a unicorn and dragon—and watch us curl up on our pillow-pets—again, mine is a butterfly, Bee's is a bumblebee, etc…—before covering us with our yellow and pink blankets. They kiss our foreheads and slip our pacifiers into our mouths—we may be five, but we still use them—then crouch to say goodnight to the PowerPuff Girls before leaving through the door that connects us to their room.

"Did you guys have fun today?"

Blossom rolls over to face us even though she can't see me. I usually sleep in between Bee and Fixit. "Yeah. What about you guys? Did you have a good birthday?"

"Yep." Bee sighs before rolling over to smile at them. "I can't wait to start scout training next week!"

"I can't wait to get back to medic training. I've missed it since the war started." I smile. "I'm really excited to start our Rescue Bots training, though. I can't wait to work with Aidie!"

"Me neither." Bee rolls back over to face me. "Goodnight, guys."

"Goodnight."

"Hey." Buttercup sits up. "Why were you and Light so happy to get a doll, Bee?"

He sighs softly. "I'm a carrier mechling, and he's a sparkling."

I sit up and lean over Bee to the edge of the bed. "Our kind has Mech and Femme—boy and girl—but they also have subsets to the mech gender, since only one in thirteen is a femme. Carrier mechs essentially have both genders, while Sire mechs are completely male. That's why Starlight's a "she", while Defensor's a "he."

"They're carriers too, but there's four mechs and only one femme…" Bee sighs softly. "Well, two if you count Mari… So he's considered a mech…" He scratches his head. "At least, I think that's how it goes…"

"Actually, it's who the commander is, but… Close enough." I shrug. "They've got more mech than femme, even with them all being carriers. All rescue bots are carriers, of course, because Carrier mechs and femmes are usually better with sparklings and younglings than Sire mechs, and normally have more compassion toward others."

"Then…what's Fixit?"

"Fixit's a Carrier mech, just a mini one."

"C-can I tell my story now?"

I blink in surprise, then nod. "Sorry 'bout that, Little One. Forgot I told you you could after the party…"

"Don't worry about it." He sighs. "Anyway… I got to meet Mari before she even met her brother or parents—before she knew her best friend was any more than just a friend—but I was in a barely-visible holoform at the time, with my frame safe on the Artemis. Her father had rescued me from the Council…who had sent me to the Alchemor to work as a caretaker for the other minicons and the prisoners. Now, the Council…they treated us like braves—naves—" I reach up tiredly and bonk his chest. "Slaves, forcing an obsolete mass-crash—" I shake my head and sit up before shifting to bot form, prompting Bee, Star, and the twinlets to do the same. Our tiny doorwings all tremble with emotion. I thump him on the head before pulling him onto my lap. Bee, Star, and the twinlets pile around me as best they can, with my lap currently full of emotional minicon. "Class of Cybertronians who were either too vocal about the Caste System, glitched, a sympathizer to the slaves, an animal-former, a war-build, had an outdated frame design, or knew too little in comparison to the amount of energon they needed to function. Several also still looked at Minicons as if their sparks name-dame—" I bonk his head as if it's second nature, which by now it is. "Came, from Unicron—he's the destroyer of worlds. They didn't, according to Mari. She said they come from Primus like everyone else… That—what was his name…"

"Micronus Prime, the first Minicon."

"Thank you." Fixit nods. "Micronus, was the progenitor of our race, not Unicron."

"Wha' pro-gen-it-or?"

I look down at my right to the tiny femmeling that makes the full-form of Starlight's right arm with a small smile. "It's the person who started the race, like we come from Nexus, Solus, and Optimus, and Sire comes from Prima's line."

Fixit sighs before continuing the story. "So they treated us like property instead of people if we met any of those criteria; and I met most, if not all, of them. We minicons were at a point where we had to decide if we wanted to be Decepticons or stay Autobot, and the council didn't make it easy by doing what they did. It was either starve, or join Megatron…"

Blossom gasps. "That's horrible, Fixit! A corrupt government and a caste system? I can't believe Optimus would let that happen!"

"Optimus didn't. His predecessor, Sentinel Zeta, did." Fixit sighs sadly. "I'd been a medical assistant in Iacon's best hospital—like a nurse here on Earth—with a degree in engineering, and they just…threw me away…" He sighs heavily as I run a hand over his back. "Anyway, so I'd been on the Alchemor for about two weeks, and settled in on the ship, when…"


Fixit's rolling down the hall of the Alchemor, checking the pods in his sector for damage, and their contents for signs of life, when a mech, Camshaft, rolls up beside him. "Want to come hang out in the quarters with me later?"

"Sure!"


Fixit tries to smile at the three girls that are now sitting on our berth with their sleeping bags. "He was my best friend at the time, and I was sure I had no reason to fear him, but I was wrong. When I got to the quarters, he brought up…um…" He sighs heavily. "The next part's a little…X-rated…"

"Fixit, we may be young, but we're all superheroes, I've heard this story before, the twinlets get it through the bond, I told Star before I knew she was my sister, and they fight crime on a daily basis." I nudge him lightly. "It's necessary for the rest of the story, Sweets…"

"O-okay…" He whimpers. "D-don't let your S-sire th-throw me a-away, if h-he f-finds o-out?"

"I won't, Little One. Go on…"

"I met him in the recharge quarters, and he patted one of the berths like he wanted me to join him…H-he asked me…"


Fixit rolls over and sits beside Camshaft on the berth. "So… what are we going to do?"

Camshaft turns to him with a smirk. "I wanna 'face."

Fixit gives him a horrified look. "No."

"Come on!"

"I spark too easy, and I can't carry to term. No."

"I'm not gonna spark ya, Fixit. Everyone else frags on their off shifts!"

"You're only going to hurt me. No."

Camshaft scowls at Fixit before pushing him back on the berth. "You made me do this, Fixit." He unfastens the clip holding his wheels around his waist and pulls their model's nigh-useless legs out. "Take 'em off."

"N-no."

"Do it, or I will."

"I. Said. No!"

"Fine. Have it your way." Camshaft unfastens the clip and jerks the wheels off to the other side of the berth before straddling Fixit. "I just wanted to have some fun with you! There's nothing else to do on this prison!"


"I'll skip the actual r-rape, but…"

Buttercup jumps to her feet. "How could he!? I'll—"

I hug Fixit to my chest and lean toward the green-clad girl with a dangerous scowl. Right now, I feel every bit the commander that Spot sounds when he gives their merge command. "Buttercup, NO!" I sigh and lean back before continuing softer. "What happens to one happens to them all, okay? Sire's been aware of what happened to Fixit for a vorn now, and he's part of Starlight, so…" I sigh softer. "Cam's in prison now anyway. Go on, Little One…"

"O-okay…" He whimpers, causing me to wrap my arms around him a little tighter. "I started feeling sick a few days later, but managed to hide it from the Council-femme that would check up on us every few days."


Fixit's about an hour late, but trying to run his usual assigned route. "Fixit."

"C-Council-Femme Rosebud! I-I—"

"You've been late on your rounds for the last three cycles. Do you want me to send you to the scrapyard?"

"N-no…I-I'll t-try h-harder… I-I promise…"

"You'd better." She stalks off, leaving a trembling minicon in her wake.

Fixit runs a shaking hand over his pale faceplates. "You've got to pick up the pace, Mech, or they'll throw you away again." He gags suddenly, and barely makes it to a waste bin before purging his tanks with a noisy retch. He straightens and runs a finger over his chin to make sure there's no energon left.

Schematic and Camshaft approach, talking about what had happened. "I can't believe you got the little glitch to interface with you! He won't 'face with anyone!"

Camshaft chuckles. "I know, right? It was a fight just to get him to unwind for a few breem!"

Fixit whimpers from his hiding place, and looks at the floor as a couple tears drip off his chin. He manages to wipe them off right before the two roll past. "Hey, Fixit."

"Wanna get some energon?"

Fixit covers his mouth with a hand and shakes his head quickly. He swallows hard against the rising nausea before moving his hand. "I can't. I'm…I'm still not done with my rounds."

"Oh…well, I'll see you around then."

"You too!" He waves after them before sighing. "Do they really think I'm a glitch?"


"What's a glitch?"

I pause in rubbing Fixit's back. "It's either someone with a disability, or the disability itself. It's mainly a way to call someone defective with our kind, among other terms." 'Several Cybertronians are moving Fixit above their heads toward a scrapyard. "Outmoded, outdated, unreliable, obsolete,…" They throw Fixit on the pile, even as he tries to correct them.'

Fixit looks up to me. "C-can I have my blankie?"

Buttercup gasps. "He has a blankie?"

"You have a blankie. Why wouldn't he?" I slide off the berth and pull a red and gold plush blanket out from under the bed. "This has come across dimensions just for my little bitty orange big brother." I wrap it around him, and pull him back into my lap. "Better?"

He nods, and I pull him in for a tight hug. "Optimus showed up about a week and a half later. I'd later learn that it was a late-night request from a four-vorn-old sparkling princess, but at the time, I had no idea why the prime wanted me."


Fixit's sitting on the edge of his berth, having yet to officially get up because of his now-frequent nausea.

"FIXIT!"

"C-Council-Femme Rosebud!"

"Why are you still in berth!? The work-cycle started two breem ago!"

"Rosebud!"

She turns to look behind her, and gasps when she sees Optimus Prime. "O-Optimus Prime!"

"Why are you yelling at the minicon?"

Rosebud smirks minusculely, "He's been late to his duty-station for the last two weeks, and he's still in his berth!"

Fixit curls in on himself and cringes as the Prime opens his mouth. "I cannot condone this kind of behavior, Rosebud." Fixit blinks. Rosebud? Not him?

"P-Prime, s-sir? I-I—"

Optimus kneels to Fixit and lays a gentle hand on him. "Easy. Are you okay, Small One?"

"I-I th-think, S-sir."

"Bumblebee." He nods to Fixit. The small mech picks up the minicon in both arms and runs out the door as fast as his little legs can take him—and being the brother to the Star Healer means that's fast. Once they're outside the Alchemor, Bumblebee sets Fixit on the ground, and he immediately doubles over and purges noisily until his tanks have emptied.

"Sowwy. I guess I shoulda goned slower."

He looks up into the faceplates of a mechling still in his sparkling vorns. "W-what's going on?"

"We's rescuin' ya. Mawi want you."

"Mari?"

"Fixit? Are you all right?"

"I-I will be, S-Sir. Th-thank you."

Optimus glances from the pool of purged energon back to the minicon at his feet. "Are you ill?"

"I finks I goed too fast…"

"It is fine, Bumblebee. Come, Fixit. We only have a few breem before departure."

"Who's Mari?"

The prime stops in his tracks. "Mariposa is my daughter, Fixit. She has been living in another dimension to protect her from the Functionalists in the council, and to assist an ally on another planet's daughter in a war coming to their dimension."

"W-why does she w-want m-me? I-I'm just a gl-glitch…"

"She has learned of us from holo-vids broadcast in her dimension, and has a gentle spark, especially for minicons. She wants to…"


"…Rescue you, from this life you have been forced to live. We leave in two breem, on the Artemis." Fixit blinks before wiping away tears. He hadn't realized he'd been crying. "He showed me how to send my holoform to her dimension, and I did that very day."

I smile sadly. "I was getting ready to lie down for a nap when I saw his face where the head would be on this stuffy I'd made out of a comforter and pillow. I was too scared to believe that the little guy had actually shown up in my life…I was at a very low point then, too, and…" I hug him gently. "I guess I needed him as much as he needed me."

"Things weren't perfect, though…" Fixit sighs. "I'd only been there for two days when I started feeling sick again. I hadn't known before that night that a holoform could still purge…"

"I was worried sick, but, as usual, the reason popped into my head. I was pretty sure that it wasn't right, though…" I giggle. "Until I started working more at my ability to sense life forces, and felt his spark for the first time…and it wasn't alone. In about ten days, two went to six, and I knew without a doubt…"

"That I was carrying." Fixit looks up at me. "I was so sure I'd lose them, since I'd lost four other carriages before finding her, but one month became two, two became four, and soon…they'd transferred."

Blossom tilts her head to the side. "Transferred?"

"Sparklings start on the Carrier's spark, and in three of our months, or six Earth months, they move to the "gestation chamber" for another six of our months, or twelve Earth months."

Bubbles turns to me with sadness in her eyes. "Did…did he lose them?" I shake my head. "B-but they're not here…"

"Let me finish." Fixit smiles. "A few things I'm sure you already know about happened around that time—the war Mari'd been sent to assist in, Lockdown's death, and our return to Cybertron. I won't say I had an easy time, because five sparks are a lot, especially on a minicon, but I made it through with Mari's help, and…" He sighs sadly; wistfully. "I had to leave them on the ARK, with a femme on Elita's team, because we were coming down to stop Megatron from killing Earth like he'd killed Cybertron. I know my bitlets are alive and safe, but that's all I know… Sometimes it keeps me up at night…worrying about them…"

"Fixie… I can ask Sire to find them for you—just like I had him find you for me."

"I couldn't ask Prime to do that…"

I huff. "Fine, but you're coming with me tomorrow."

"Why?"

"I'm not leaving you here to mope over them all day, and you're small enough to fit into my school, plus Ms. Livy was here today. She knows you." I sigh heavily. "We need to go nigh'-nigh'. We haves schools 'morrow."