Ok, we slow down a bit. There's a lot of dialogue. I needed a breather after some of that action. Plus, I really wanted to fit this once particular scene in. It's a tender moment between Jazz and Prowl. And the only tender moment in the chapter. Also, I tried to stick in some more sparkling cuteness. Sorry, I love sparklings!
In the hall near the back entrance to the base
Jazz had searched the entire base before he finally decided to head outside. Prowl was really worried about something. So worried he was shielding his spark so Jazz wouldn't worry. Only he was worried. He always worried when Prowl worried.
"There you are," Jazz sighed in relief upon seeing his sparkmate coming in from the back entrance to the base. "I've been looking all over for you."
"Hey Jazz," Prowl frowned, walking slowly.
"What's wrong, Prowl?" he asked, gently nudging at the frowning mech through their spark bond.
"I'm not sure if I'm overreacting or not."
"Just tell me. Not talking about it is eating you up inside. I can feel it."
Prowl laughed softly, "I could never keep my feelings hidden from you."
"Never," Jazz grinned, putting an arm around Prowl's shoulders as they continued to walk. "Tell me what's troubling you. You'll feel better."
There was a long moment of silence before Prowl reluctantly admitted what was troubling him.
"I can't find Optimus. I've looked all over the base. I've hailed him a dozen times or so with no responses."
"Ah man, you know he's probably with Elita getting busy."
"I hope so, Jazz. It's just…"
Prowl sighed. He felt so foolish. Only his instincts were telling him something was seriously wrong while his processor was telling him he was overreacting. He hated it when the two never agreed.
Thank Primus for Jazz.
"It's just what?"
"Optimus didn't show up for his shift," Prowl answered. "He may never give me an ETA if he's with Elita and…detained. But he always notifies me when he's going to be late for his shift."
Jazz smirked, patting Prowl on the back. He had an idea why Optimus might not have told Prowl.
"I honestly don't think you have anything to worry about," Jazz smiled. "And I think I may know why he didn't tell you. Optimus and Elita have a spar…"
"RATCHET, MEDICAL EMERGENCY IN THE RECREATION ROOM!"
Jazz's spark just about jumped up into his vocal processor. Oh no! The sparkling!
"Come on, Prowl!" he insisted, trotting backwards.
Only Jazz didn't get far and Prowl didn't even have a chance to shout a warning when Ratchet shot out of a doorway.
WHAM!
"SORRY, JAZZ!" Ratchet shouted over his shoulder as he kept running.
Jazz blinked up at the ceiling as he laid flat on the floor. What the frag?
"Are you ok?" Prowl asked, smiling warmly as he knelt down beside Jazz.
"Does that qualify as a hit and run?" the silver mech mumbled, rubbing his head.
"If it'd been the twins, then yes," the black and white mech replied, hoisting his sparkmate up onto his feet. Then Prowl's optics suddenly narrowed. "Is that…dirt on your armor? Have you been racing again?"
"Well…"
"For pits sake, Jazz!"
"Cool your jets. We weren't even on a road!"
"WE?!" Prowl's optics darkened. Jazz knew he was in trouble now! "We will discuss this later! Now let's move it. I need to find out what's going on in the recreation room."
Jazz didn't say a word as they ran through the halls. He hated it when Prowl was mad. Jazz was experienced enough to know to give his bonded time to cool off before discussing the issue calmly.
Besides, the issue at hand was as important to Jazz as Prowl. If Magnus was calling for Ratchet then something must be wrong with the sparkling! Ever since the disaster deaths of so many younglings and sparklings in the youth sectors on Cybertron, any new sparkling was precious to all, especially Jazz.
And judging from the sound of the sparkling's cries the little mech was in some discomfort. Jazz just hoped it wasn't anything too serious as he and Prowl arrived just outside the door of the recreation room.
"Will someone answer my question?!" Ratchet insisted as he moved across the room and took the squalling sparkling into his arms.
From the partially digested energon splattered all over Magnus' armor and the distinct spell of high grade in the air, Ratchet deduced the sparkling had some kind of upset to his systems. Presumably the ingestion of high grade from the looks of the scattered tables, chairs, and cups Bumblebee had just picked up off the floor.
Thankfully Ratchet's initial scan indicated that whatever small amount of high grade the sparkling ingested was vomited up with no harm to his systems. His cries were simply that of a normally upset sparkling not understanding what had just happened. Ratchet gently rocked him knowing it would help quiet him down.
"Where did the sparkling come from?" he asked again, then thought to himself, 'and why do you look like Optimus?'
Prowl glanced at Jazz and mouthed the word sparkling as they moved into the room. Jazz nodded with that big grin on his face like he just overloaded.
"Well, he's Optimus' and Elita's sparkling," Bumblebee answered.
"WHAT?!" Prowl and Ratchet all blurted out at the same time.
Bumblebee suddenly felt like he was getting interrogated by the Deceptions with all the questions that were fired at him. He back up slowly wishing he hadn't been brave enough to activate his vocal processor.
"What do you mean Optimus and Elita's sparkling? When did that happened? Why didn't they tell us? Why aren't they here tending to it?"
"Hang on," Magnus interrupted. "Ratchet, you didn't you deliver him?"
"No, I most certainly did not!" he huffed, then glared at Chromia. "And I would think those femmes here with the ability to produce sparklings would be responsible enough to come to me!"
"Don't give me that look," Chromia growled, her hand twitching to pull out her gun. "And lay off Elita too! I know for a fact she didn't spark him. We were only talking a short while ago about sparklings. And being her best friend she would have told me such important news before she would have even told you!"
"Agreed, both Optimus and Elita would have made an announcement," Ironhide added, putting an arm around his femme in order to calm her down.
"But Jazz said that it was their sparkling based on the fact that he looked a lot like Optimus," Bee said helpfully.
"Maybe the big guy has a secret he's not sharing with us," Sunny snickered immediately receiving a smack on the back of his head from his brother.
Never insult a mech when he's not around to defend his mechhood! Not that any intelligent mech would ever challenge Optimus' mechness unless they wanted their aft for a head.
"I hate to admit this…but Sunny could be right," Magnus sighed, trying to ignoring the stickiness on his armor. As soon as things were settled he was hitting the showers again!
Sunny nearly glitched! He was never right about anything!
"The Matrix does give Optimus…certain abilities…according to what I've heard and witnessed with my own optics," Magnus explained.
"That's right, it brought me back," Jazz smiled proudly.
"True, but the energy drain to bring you back was enough to keep Optimus in recharge for three days in my med bay," Ratchet frowned. "And Optimus isn't so irresponsible that he'd try to create a new life on his own no matter how desperate he is for a sparkling."
"Plus, he would never do that to Elita," Bumblebee said. "He loves her too much."
"Still it doesn't explain the fact that the sparkling looks a lot like Optimus," Jazz commented, crossing his arms across his chest.
Ironhide was in danger of overheating his CPU again as his optics focused on the sparkling. The little mech had quieted down soft whimpers. It was easy to see he still wasn't feeling well. And obviously not in any danger otherwise Ratchet would have rushed to the Med Bay.
"Let me see him," Hide said, reaching his hands out.
Everyone moved off to the side, opposite side of Magnus cause of the rotten smell emanating off his armor, to give Ratchet and Ironhide some space as they inspected the sparkling.
Optimus started trembling. He didn't like how the big, black mech was looking at him. His big black hands were rough as they turned him over and over…and over. He wasn't feeling good and the pressuring within his chest was getting worse too now.
"You see that?" Ironhide pointed to a mark on the sparkling's cheek.
On instinct and without knowing what he was doing, Optimus' mask slid into place to protect himself from probing fingers.
Ratchet and Ironhide were both stunned. They knew sparklings couldn't do that!
"Exactly where did you and Jazz find the sparkling, Bumblebee?" Ratchet asked.
"He was all alone in Wheeljack's lab," Jazz answered. "I assumed that the little fella's protoform was constructed there."
"Normally that would be a logical conclusion," Ratchet muttered, his processor going back over how frantic Wheeljack was looking for something in his lab.
"Only you said it right Jazz; protoform's are constructed…but most of the time without armor," Ironhide added. He looked at Ratchet. The armor, the distinct marking on the cheek, the mask. "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"
"I'm thinking I'm going to kill a certain mech when he shows his fraggin face!"
And just after Ratchet said that, said mech slowly walked into the recreation room.
Wheeljack glanced around noticing the mess, the smell, the sticky substance all over Magnus, the menacing glare on the CMO's faceplates, and the sparkling in Ironhide's hands. Oh frag, the sparkling was in Ironhide's hands! Jack had come to the recreation room to confess what he'd done and now was having second, third, and fourth thoughts about it.
This was going to hurt so badly!
No one had ever claimed that Ratchet was the quickest of mechs. But Primus almighty, Wheeljack would swear the bolts off his aft were still back in the doorway with as fast as he was yanked and dragged across the room.
"Tell me! Tell me that isn't Optimus!" Ratchet shrieked, roughly yanking down hard on Wheeljack collar, enabling him a closer view of the sparkling that Ironhide had now placed on the table.
"It was an accident!" was all Wheeljack managed to say.
Everyone else in the room was stunned into complete silence upon the realized that the cute, cuddly, puking, lubricating, giggling, smiling sparkling was…Optimus Prime! They're cerebral processors glitched because they just couldn't compute such…such a catastrophe!
The big black mech was angry. The big yellow mech was angry. Optimus flinched every time the big white mech got smack, kicked, shoved, or punched. Optimus was afraid he was going to be the next one to be bounced back and forth between the two angry mechs.
"What do you mean an accident?"
WHACK!
"OW!"
"Why didn't you call me?"
SMACK!
"OW! I did…OW…call!"
KICK!
"Butyourcommunicatorwasout.SoIhurriedtothemedbaytogetyou!" Jack said as fast as he could before crouching down, preparing himself for the next blow. Ow, he could literally feel the dents in his armor.
Ratchet paused, fist reared back and ready to punch Jack in the face plates as Ironhide yanked the engineer upright.
Prowl and Magnus, unglitched, and quickly took control of the situation. Beating on the engineer would do nothing in rectifying the situation. So, Prowl pulled Wheeljack to a safe distance while Magnus grabbed hold of Ironhide and Ratchet.
"Let's just calm down," Magnus ordered to them both, giving them a good shake.
The two mechs huffed but their forms remained tense, optics flaring as they glared at Wheeljack.
"It's not going to do any of us any good if you damage Wheeljack," Prowl insisted calmly. "Jack is the only one who can fix Optimus, if that is Optimus."
"It is Optimus," Jack sighed. "He was helping me move a piece of equipment that I had been working on. I activated it, like I had done before. Nothing ever happened before when I turned it on. I honestly didn't think anything would happen! Optimus walked in front of the device, a beam of light surrounded him, there was a bright flash, and then…oops, a sparkling was Optimus sitting on the floor."
"Ratchet, Jack did try to contact you," Prowl said. "He called me when he couldn't reach you."
"Your scuffle with Ironhide damaged your communicator," Magnus added.
"Then I knocked Wheeljack out when I missed hitting Ratchet," Ironhide muttered, finally relaxing.
"But why didn't you tell me the moment you regained consciousness?" Ratchet asked as he too relaxed.
"I was so worried. I left Optimus all by himself. He was so cute and small…I felt bad."
"Hang on. I'm trying to make sure I'm getting this right. This little sparkling, right here, the one we've been going gaga over is…Optimus Prime?" Sunny asked.
"Yes," Jack sighed, dropping his head in shame.
Every optic turned and looked at the sparkling.
Optimus' mask retracted so he could cram a finger in his mouth and chew on it nervously. Big tears started streaming down his cheeks. They were all staring at him like he did a big oops. He was so confused and scared.
(beep?)
"So, who gets to tell Elita?" Bumblebee asked.
The room was eerily silent save the soft whimpers from the sparkling. Each one of them knew you don't mess with Elita's mech. There wasn't a fiercer femme in the galaxy when it came to her mech. Not even Chromia's femme warrior prowess could compete with the femme commander.
Elita wasn't just Prime's bonded sparkmate. She was his equal in every way, except maybe physical strength. She was as passionate about the Autobot cause as Optimus. She was as passionate about her love for Optimus as his was for her.
No one ever dared do something to one without some kind of retribution from the other. No one.
"There you all are!" Elita panted as she ran into the recreation room. "I need your help! Optimus is in trouble. I can feel it. I think he's under attack, he feels threatened. And he's hurting too. We have to find him!"
Elita had sprinted all over the base trying to find her love. She couldn't raise him through the communicator. Nor could she get him to respond via the spark bond. All this meant was that Optimus was in trouble and he was being a stubborn aft by trying to not involve her for fear she'd get hurt.
It was rare that Elita ever worried for the lugnut this much. She knew Optimus could take care of himself. But he was hurting and feeling threatened. She didn't like her mech getting hurt anymore than he like her getting injured.
And equally important, not one of his Autobots liked to see him get hurt either and would fight fiercely to protect him. So when none of them moved to help, Elita was undeniably confused and a little pissed off.
"Why are you all just standing there gawking? Our Prime is in trouble!"
"Optimus is safe, Elita," Magnus finally spoke up. "You have my word."
"In fact, he's in this very room," Sunny smirked.
"Shut it!" Sides hissed, smacking his brother yet again.
Wheeljack sighed. He knew there was going to be consequences but it was his responsibility to inform Elita of her bonded sparkmate's…condition.
"Elita, Optimus is safe as Magnus says," the engineer started, gathering all his courage up to limp towards her.
Ow, his leg hurt. He wouldn't be surprised if there was an impression of Ironhide's foot in the armor. Jack ignored the pain, gently taking hold of Elita's arm and led her across the room. Thank Primus Ratchet, Magnus, and Ironhide were still blocking her view of the sparkling. It gave Wheeljack the opportunity to tell Elita as delicately as possible.
"It was an accident," he continued, keeping optic contact with hers so she'd see his sincerity. "I take full responsibility. And I promise I will return Optimus to his old self."
"What do you mean an accident?" she questioned worriedly. "What happened to Optimus?"
"Health wise he's perfectly fine, Elita," Ratchet said. "He's just…changed."
"I don't understand," she said, getting a bit annoyed why no one would just come right out and say what was wrong with Optimus.
"It's best if you see with your own optics," Ironhide said and then he, Ratchet, and Magnus moved aside.
The tension in the room was so thick it'd send a Decepticon running for their life!
Elita got her answer. Just not one she was prepared for. Primus was it so one she was not prepared for! Her optic covers blinked rapidly and her cerebral processor worked fast to sort out what she was seeing.
It was…it was…a sparkling?
The red, blue, silver, and decorative flamed armor sparkling looked up at her with curious optics. Elita observed that the colors and markings of the armor were identical to Optimus. She'd know better than anyone having been seen it up close and personal during their intimate moments.
Then the sparkling smiled up at her and cooed. Despite the finger in his mouth, she recognized that smile. A smile that only she had been privileged enough to see during private moments. Only that wasn't all. The smile was accompanied by the unmistakable…happiness she felt within her spark.
"Optimus?" she questioned.
Oh wow! Optimus knew her! He didn't know how. It was just a feeling! He felt a connection with the red femme staring down at him. He clapped and giggled excitedly. That was the feeling in his chest! It was her! Wow! She was pretty too!
Only, something suddenly changed in what he was feeling from her. Optimus grew afraid, pulling his arms and legs into himself and trembled. Her face was even red now like the rest of her.
She looked angry. Very angry.
Up next: Elita goes ballistic. No one is safe. Not even little sparklings.