"Hey guys, I've been meaning to ask… What are Cybertronian twins?" Sideswipe ends up spitting the Energon he was drinking, startled at the question, and Spike grimaces softly as he realizes what bad timing it had been for his question. "Sorry."
"Wasn't Ratchet supposed to explain that kind of things?"
"Yes, he did, but… I kind of was reminded I don't really know about that, so… Are you identical or fraternal?"
"Familiar." The red mech answers, swiping the Energon from his chin with the back of his servo. "All twin bonds are familiar, not fraternal."
"Huh, no, that's not what I meant…"
"Then it's obvious you didn't explain yourself well." Sunstreaker scoffs, carefully leaving his own drink on the table so as not to end like the other mech.
"I meant identical twins and fraternal twins."
Silence.
A quick exchange of wary looks, and then both frontliners lean forward.
"That's a human thing, isn't it?"
"Huh?"
"We don't have 'types' of twins."
"You don't? But…"
"But?"
"You don't look alike."
Another exchange of looks, this time bewildered, before Sunstreaker leans back suspiciously, as if wary of Spike exploding or something, while his brother leans forward, arms on the table to rest his helm on it.
"All humans look alike, but I guess it makes sense you would be able to know when some are more similar than others." The red mech muses almost absentmindedly before focusing on the teenager. "Twin is a label given to a Cybertronian that was created along another. You know how creation goes, don't you?"
"Huh… Yeah. Sparks have extra coding that when it's put together with energy creates a new spark." The boy explains, remembering that first incident with Laserbeak's mistaken 'parents' seemingly so long ago, and Ratchet's explanation when they finally got to the Repair Bay. "The carrier spark analyzes the newspark, and if it has all essential coding it's left to grow and then put in its frame."
"Exactly!" Sideswipe exclaims, beaming, and the human straightens at the praise. "Well, twins happen after the confirmation, about the fifth orn of the maturation. You see, while all sparks need to have the essential coding to be viable, there's no set level of energy, so, sometimes, a newspark has too much."
"Newsparks don't have a minimum or maximum level of energy, but, since they're not in their own frame, but in the Carrier's, they can't deal with too high levels." Sunstreaker adds when Spike starts to frown, and using the chance his intervention has given him, the boy takes out his notebook to add the new information to his ever-growing list.
"Precisely. So, in order to deal with the high levels, the newspark splits in two." The red twin continues once the boy has finished writing what he's been told. "However, while the energy is divided equally, the coding is not. So, most times, the splitting means both newsparks end missing essential coding, and thus reabsorbed, or at least one of them does. It's really rare that both twins are viable."
"Which is why Wheeljack was so happy." The teenager muses out loud, receiving two nods.
"Ratchet almost blew a gasket when we found out, but Wheeljack really wanted the newsparks." Sideswipe snickers, Sunstreaker smirking at the memory.
"So, about the differences…"
"Between?"
"You two. I mean, Frenzy and Rumble are supposed to be twins too, aren't they? And they're far more alike than you two are."
The frontliners grimace.
"Sheesh, compare us to the 'Cons. That's cruel, kid." The golden mech mumbles, but the red one waves a servo dismissively.
"That has nothing to do with anything. You know the non-essential coding doesn't have to be the same as the essential, don't you?" A nod, and Sideswipe straightens with a knowing smirk. "Well, there you have it! By the time the newspark splits, the coding has already begun replicating, so sometimes enough copies are split between the twins that they look alike, and other times they don't."
"Can they be from different frame types?"
"One in a million. Though sometimes they're different Hybrids."
"Awesome." He whispers, trying to imagine how that would be. "Are there any more twins other than you two and Grimlock and Slag?"
"Not here."
"And on Cybertron?"
Silence, and both frontliners straighten with serious looks.
"We got a shift to get to."
"As for your question… we're at war, Spike. Twins were rare enough before it began."
And the Rec Room's doors close behind them.
"Lesson: Failed."
"What lesson?" He drawls, resting an elbow on the dactyl around his torso so that he can put his cheek on his fist to accentuate his bored look. "You caught me."
"Lesson: Avoid capture."
Spike gives Soundwave a deadpanned look, but the Communications Officer doesn't bother giving the human in his servo a glance.
They were fortunate they intercepted the Decepticons as soon as they moved to put whatever weapon part they managed to steal last time in use, but, as usual, in the heat of the battle, no one noticed a tiny human getting 'stolen'.
Usually, the teenager would be infuriated, shouting and trying to squirm out of his hold, but… It's Soundwave.
He shouldn't, but he feels as safe with him as he does the twins, or Gears and Huffer. Watch out for pranks or annoying behavior, but with the knowledge no harm will come to him.
Weird, but nice. A weird kind of nice, but nice nevertheless.
"Really."
"New lesson: Escape."
"You're going to teach me how to get away from you?"
"Negative. Best lessons: Learnt by oneself."
And the boy groans, not bothering to move when he's finally put on the ground at the back of the cave—though he does a double-take when the Cassette Carrier sits in front of him.
"I guess escaping won't be just a matter of walking out, then." The Communications Officer nods and, after a moment, Spike sits down too. "While I ponder how to best deal with my new task, how about a lesson about something else?" He asks, taking his faithful notebook and pen out, and the red visor pales in interest.
"Agreed. Human: Ask."
"Can you tell me about the Cassette Carrier frame type and its models?"
"Affirmative. Frame type: Grounder, medium size, rarest frame type. Creation: Vector Sigma. Spark-splitting: Impossible. Spark-merge—"
"Wait, wait! What do you mean, spark-splitting is impossible? You said Laserbeak, Buzzsaw and Ratbat were split-sparks!" The teenager cuts, startled and more than a bit lost by the peculiar explanation resulting from Soundwave's manner of speech.
"Affirmative. Spark-splitting creation: Possible. Cassette Carrier spark-splitting creation: Impossible."
Silence.
"I don't understand a thing of what you're saying."
The red visor goes offline as the Decepticon lowers his head with a tired hydraulic hiss that is way too similar to a sigh.
And then, the mech tilts his head to the side, looking over his shoulder and seemingly listening.
Once he's sure of whatever he was trying to ascertain, he turns back to the curious human.
"If you tell anyone about this, I'm going to deactivate you myself." Spike's jaw doesn't land on the ground because it's attached to his head, but it falls as far as it can go at the shock of hearing Soundwave's robotic voice speaking normally. "Are we clear?"
"Yes. Yes, we're clear. I didn't know—"
"Not many do. It was my choice to keep speaking as I do, but only a selected few are aware that it was a decision at all."
"Who knows?"
"That's none of your incumbency." And the human quickly lifts his hands and leans back, letting the topic slide. "Now, do you want to hear about Cassette Carriers or not?"
"Sure!" He exclaims happily, grabbing his notebook again.
"As I was saying, we're Grounders of medium size, and the rarest frame type along Triple Changers."
"Why's that?"
"Because our coding is hard to stabilize. Which—" A raised servo stops the boy's inquiry before it even begins. "—is also the reason us, Cassette Carriers, can't be created by spark-splitting."
"So that is what you were trying to say!" And the red visor pales in amusement, the same subsonic purr he's rarely heard before echoing in his bones. "How does that coding thing work? The stabilizing part?"
"Well, Triple Changers are quite obvious. Due to their ability to adopt two alt modes they need the essential coding not only of the Triple Changer frame type itself, but also some of two different alt modes."
"What happens if they get coding of only one alt mode?"
"They get reabsorbed."
"… I think I get why they're one of the rarest then. How about Cassette Carriers?"
"We have a lot of essential coding and have set energy levels, which is why there have been no cases of twins registered before the war. There's also compatibility problems to take into account."
"What's that?"
Soundwave doesn't even twitch, but the slight darkening of his visor makes him look annoyed.
"The Autobots didn't explain. How useful." This time there's no hydraulic sigh, but the subtle tilting of his helm is more than enough. "Essential coding is always needed for creation, and while non-essential isn't as closely monitored, it's still needed. The number of copies and their nature doesn't have to be the definite one or from the same frame type as the essential, but there are some combinations that can prove damaging for the newspark in the short or long term. To a Cassette Carrier newspark, such compatibility issues can be either cause for re-absorption as they destabilize the maturing spark or result in… peculiar developments."
"What kind of problems? What kind of developments?" He asks, excited, as he bounces a bit on his seat on the floor, completely entranced by the multitude of possibilities suddenly in front of him.
The intricacies of a whole species are being unraveled right in front of him by his supposed enemy.
Kind of ironic that instead of being told the eeevil plan, he's being told how and why their children look as they do.
… I'd better stop thinking of it that way.
"Road Runners seem to have the most non-extinguishing compatibility issues of all frame types."
"Er…"
"Non-lethal."
"Oh."
"That means they tend to have issues, social, psychological…"
"Are you calling the twins crazy?"
The sound is not an engine rev, more like the whirring of a tape being rewound, but it's obviously a snort, even if the 'obvious' hint is the pale amused visor.
"Are you saying they aren't?"
"Hey! Do I need to remind you they're my friends?"
"Do I need to remind you they're ground-bound beings that jump off cliffs to land on airborne planes able to fly at mach 2?"
"… When you put it that way…"
"That doesn't mean anything, of course, but that doesn't mean they're not a few chips short of a full motherboard."
"And when it comes to Cassette Carriers?" He asks instead, unwilling to keep staring at Soundwave's smug expression as they talk about his friends.
"The compatible coding of a different frame type in a Cassette Carrier newspark results in an Adaptative."
"I know that word…" He muses softly, lowering his head… and finding his notebook on his lap.
"Well put. Alright, the Tenth was Quintus, the Cassette Carrier, also known as the Life Giver, for his was the most active spark and the ability to synchronize systems with others to support sparks, processors and frames, as well as uncountable bonds."
"Which would be Soundwave and Blaster."
"Only Blaster, actually. Both are Cassette Carriers, but only Blaster is the standard model."
…
"… One out of three. Yay. Starscream's a Seeker, Soundwave is a… what did Blaster say, Convertible?"
"Adaptative."
"That's your model!" He exclaims, the realization making him whip his head up again to catch the Decepticon's nod. "Does that mean you're an Hybrid?"
"Such minor modifications aren't really categorized as such, it depends on the percentage of coding that doesn't belong to the main frame type."
"You're… an Hybrid."
"Technically, I'm not."
"What are you?"
"A Cassette Carrier. And a Decepticon." And Spike shuts his mouth with a snap, realizing he's treading dangerous waters.
"Sorry."
This time, Soundwave does sigh as he offlines his visor and turns slightly away.
"No, don't. You don't know if you don't ask."
"Why… Why do you let me ask?" His voice has grown soft, but the mech turns to him once more, obviously having heard him clearly. "I understand the first time, you wanted to clear the misunderstanding with Laserbeak but… you and Starscream, you've been… nice to me. And I'm with the Autobots."
"You're a newspark."
The world stops for a moment, with the teenager not knowing how to feel.
Newsparks are Cybertronian children, but he's not Cybertronian, and quite obviously at that. And still, two of the most powerful Decepticons are treating him, a human aligned with the enemy faction, like their kid.
Something of his conflict must have slipped to his face or stance, because the Communications Officer sighs again.
"I'm a Cassette Carrier and a Creator. I can't nor want to suppress my carrier-creator protocols, and those include caring for the newsparks. You may not be mine, you may not be even from our species, but you're still an inexperienced individual trying to find his place. I couldn't call myself Cybertronian if I refused a newspark the knowledge he seeks."
"I… Starscream?"
"He has you labeled as a newspark too, but his reasons are his own. However, you should know Seekers are the most protective of carrier-creators. After all, they may have flight protocols, but not the needed experience to use them, and the speeds they can reach…" A plating shrug, and Spike nods, remembering Prowl's reaction in the battlefield and the Rec Room.
"Thank you. For telling me."
"Anytime."
After a moment, the teenager looks down at his notebook, putting together what he knows and what he's missing.
"Is that why you can read minds? Being an Adaptative?" He asks after a moment, looking up at the Decepticon again to see him nod. "But, how? No other frame type can do that, can they? Why can you?"
Red visor darkens as the dark blue mech tenses, and Spike shirks away a bit, unsure if asking that was the right question.
After all, didn't Soundwave refuse to tell him what is it exactly that makes him be as he is?
"Having coding from a different frame type doesn't mean you always have characteristics from them. Sometimes, the way it reacts with the rest of your coding is precisely what makes you different." The Communications Officer finally answers softly, and the boy nods with a thankful smile.
"Can I ask how does that work? The reading minds thing? You can read humans' too, can't you?"
"Information in both our species is stored as energy impulses. I can decipher those impulses, and, if I concentrate enough, I can read those stored in the processor."
"What does that mean?" He asks slowly, trying to make sense of those words, and Soundwave tilts his head.
"Cybertronian and humans have an energy field. It's not too obvious in your species, but… there are organics that can produce electricity, aren't there?" A second, and Spike nods, eyes widening in realization. "Well, those fields are something every Cybertronian can feel and that are used to express emotion, but that I can feel stronger than other mechs and use them to know what they're thinking. However, those memories already made, those that are stored in the processor, have a lower energy level and require a lot more precision and concentration to access and read. It's made far more difficult with humans because of your organic nature, but it's possible."
"You're just that good, aren't you?" He lets out with a half-crooked smirk, but instead of earning a chuckle from the Decepticon, the Cassette Carrier looks away almost… saddened. "Soundwave? That was a compliment. Did I… Did I say something wrong?"
"I knew someone who used to say that." The Communications Officer whispers, and the teenager frowns, slightly worried… until he straightens with a gasp in realization.
"Your… partner? Ravage, Frenzy and Rumble's… huh, parent? The other one?" Deep burgundy visor turns to him, and, for a little eternity, nothing happens.
"Mate-bonded. That's the correct label." The Cassette Carrier whispers with a small nod, and Spike fidgets a bit before putting his notebook away and getting up.
Slowly, and under Soundwave's neutral gaze, he approaches the dark blue mech and rests a hand softly on his leg.
"You miss him, don't you." Another nod and, when he doesn't get stopped, the teenager slowly climbs to sit on the Decepticon's bent knee. "I miss my mom. I know it's not the same situation but… I know Dad misses her too. I was a little kid back then and don't really remember what happened… they kept me in the dark too but… It was a car accident. Nothing expected, nothing no one could've done anything to stop, it just happened but… It felt like it had been my fault. And Dad thought it had been his, I heard him telling that to my grandparents. I… don't really know if you have something like that, but we humans believe there's a better place after death, that we go to Heaven with God, with the one who created us, and live there forever and watch over our loved ones." He smiles softly, looking down at his hands, illuminated a warm red by Soundwave's visor. "Dad used to tell me that the stars were the eyes of those that were no longer with us, that they watched over us and that I could talk to them every night before going to sleep, because they were listening. I now know they aren't, but it was… nice."
"We know what happens after deactivation." Surprised, Spike looks up, meeting the Cassette Carrier's calm gaze. "Our sparks go back to Cybertron's very core, to Primus' spark, to rejoin it and thus keep it always burning. However, a mech isn't just a spark, our whole lives and experiences are in our processors, and those are corrupted when we deactivate. Our loved ones are forever lost when they deactivate."
"But the spark…"
"Is the core of the mech, but without the experiences… it's like a human who has lost their memories. They may resemble who they were, but they're not the ones you knew." The teenager gulps and nods, looking away—and feeling warm metal cradle him. "Your mother is still with you."
"What?!"
"She created you, carried you. Part of her is always in you." Soundwave explains, voice smooth and soothingly low, his other servo reaching up to rest a dactyl comfortingly under his chin and close his open mouth as the surprise washes away. "Just as I know my spark-half is still with me and our creations."
"Spark-half… your significant other? Other half? Soul mate?"
"Why do you have so many names for that?" Reddening at the Cassette Carrier's curiosity, the human fiddles a bit nervously before shrugging dismissively. "Well… It's not something so… abstract. It just means that our sparks were just for each other. More like your 'married' concept."
"Huh. That's… nice?"
"More than nice." Soundwave whispers, and Spike knows he's smiling softly, something that makes him relax in his hold and return the unseen smile. "Thank you."
"Me?" He repeats, blinking in surprise, and the amused purring starts again.
"For trying to 'cheer me up'."
"Ah, that… Well, you're teaching me about Cybertronian, so it was the… least I could do?"
"You didn't have to help me with the ghosts."
"… I couldn't leave you like that." He answers that time, turning serious as he looks away. "I… I couldn't. Not after knowing…"
"What did Starscream tell you?"
"That you were reassuring the… the ghosts."
Silence.
Slowly, Spike looks up, and the dim lighting of the visor makes the Decepticon look pained.
"As you said, I couldn't leave them like that. Even if I knew… It was hard enough to know there was nothing I could do the first time. I refused to stand down another time, but… They weren't real anyway."
"But you tried. That's what matters."
"So it does, Spike Witwicky. And for doing that very same thing, I thank you."
Wide-eyed at the usage of his name, the boy can only nod.
And smile when the dactyl under his chin pulls back, the one cradling him squeezing softly before finally releasing him.
"You're a special human. Most of you never tried to understand us, least of all talk with us Decepticons. Just for that you deserve not getting squished." The teenager snorts, leaning back on his hands.
"You Decepticons aren't as scary as you want yourselves to look like."
"Because that was never our intention." Soundwave's seriousness makes the human tense again, startled, as he listens more attentively.
"You decided to get rid of the corruption. Ratchet told me. How did things turn to… this?"
"By a lot of happenings none of us wanted nor were able to stop."
"Can you tell me?"
The Cassette Carrier nods, but before he can let out even the tiniest sound, he straightens with his visor paling, answering an unheard call that must have come from his comm lines.
"Human: Stay. Outside: Unsafe."
Saying Spike is disappointed is an understatement, but he doesn't fight the servo pulling him back to the ground as the dark blue mech stands up.
"Not even the mouth of the cave?"
"Negative. Safety: Inside."
"Okay. And I won't tell anyone you can talk like everyone else."
This time, he does manage to get Soundwave to snort before the Decepticon gets away.
Once there's no more sound than his breathing and the beating of his heart, the teenager smirks.
"I haven't forgotten about my escaping lesson either."
Stepping as silently as he can, he follows after Soundwave's footsteps, the sounds of battle and shouting reaching him with far more ease as he moves closer to the exit, until the battlefield appears.
Same old, same old.
Now, to find some way to help or an Autobot that can take him a safe distance—
"Run!" Soundwave's voice, but where is—
An explosion overhead, pebbles and dust falling down, something hard pressing him down—
When Spike opens his eyes, he finds himself lying on the ground, covered by solid warmth and surrounded by darkness, throat raspy as he coughs again to clear the dirt—
"Hu—kzz—an?" He almost jumps out of his skin at the scratchy broken sound, and feels whatever is covering him move a bit so that pale pink light can flicker through the space between dactyls. "Huma—kzz?"
"Who…"
"Stay a—kzz from the E—kzz—rgon,"
"What?" He exclaims a bit louder, dragging himself to the opening.
"Stay awa—kzz—m the Ener—kzz."
Stay away from the Energon.
The Energon dripping out of cracks in dirtied pale metal and pooling around broken glass and reflecting flickering red light.
"Starscream?" He whispers, horrified, and gets a cocky smirk in answer.
"Hold o—kzz."
Without time to process that simple request, the servo closes and moves, and Spike's yelp is drowned by a roar of turbines and the cracking of rock against rock—
And the world jerks away so fast that the boy feels weightless for an instant before the light coming through the cracks between dactyls blinds him.
Gravity reappears with the sensation of falling, followed by a jarring thud, before he's unceremoniously dropped to the ground a thankfully short distance.
"Spike!"
But the boy can't turn to Bumblebee, still too shocked by the Decepticon Air Commander swooping in to protect him from a landslide and getting himself slagged in return. It's nothing big, just some slashes and tiny cracks, minus his shattered cockpit, but it still seems too big a price to pay for a measly human.
"I… Starscream?"
"He has you labeled as a newspark too, but his reasons are his own. However, you should know Seekers are the most protective of carrier-creators. After all, they may have flight protocols, but not the needed experience to use them, and the speeds they can reach…"
"Why?"
"I'm kzz—re you c—kzz figure it kzz on your ow—kzz." The Seeker answers cockily before taking flight and transforming, stopping just to let Soundwave jump into his broken cockpit before going after the rest of the retiring Decepticons.
As if dealing with giant robotic aliens wasn't weird enough…
AN: I did it! Yay for me!
This chapter owes it to all of you readers, as answer to your questions and as a tiny twist of the plot. Let me know if there's something that wasn't explained as it should, and if you have any questions left. I'm afraid I couldn't answer everything without spoiling future chapters, and I had to keep some things hidden to keep the mystery, but anything that isn't spoiler-y will be answered to the best of my ability ;)
Happy holidays, everybody!
Whovian41110: Sure, but I'm afraid it won't be anytime soon.
Qwertzu: That they were, but I wanted to show that, from a Cybertronian point of view, they just had bad timing. I wanted to let people know how different I view Cybertronian and humans to be. And really good questions! You have a good eye ;) To avoid spoilers, I'm afraid I can't answer, but be assured, that's an important topic in my headcanon and this fic, so I'll come back to it later.