Friend or Foe? VI
Once the two of them were in the washracks Jazz tried to remove Echo from his neck, but the youngling simply whimpered and tightened his hold on the silver mech.
"Scared," he said almost inaudibly. Jazz stroked the back of Echo's helm soothingly.
"'Ey its a'ight," the saboteur said calmly. Echo's deep red optics met Jazz's bright blue ones and just as he was about to say something, the door hissed open. Said youngling flinched noticeably and tightened his hold on Jazz's neck. He only loosened his grip when he saw that it was Ironhide.
The black weapons specialist saw the youngling in Jazz's arms and nodded to the two of them in greeting. Echo chirruped happily and reached out to the larger mech with paint covered hands. Jazz checked the time and cursed under his breath.
"'Hide I gotta go, 'm almost three breems late fo' my shift," he said as he handed the youngling to the large black mech. "I'll see ya later Echo." Then he was gone.
Ironhide sighed and looked at the paint covered bundle of wires in his arms. The small mech looked up at him with his deep red optics with nothing short of adoration.
"Echo is it?" He asked the mini Decepticon in his arms. The response he got was a short nod.
"Well Echo, let's get you cleaned up," with that said he turned on the showerhead and then sat Echo on the floor by his feet.
Ironhide grabbed a bottle of cleaning solution from the shelf, and squeezed a good amount into one of his hands. He then kneeled in front of Echo and, with amazing gentleness, massaged the cleaner into his joints and any other places dirt could have gathered.
Once the black mech was sure that he had gotten every last bit of paint and dirt off Echo, he rinsed him off and wrapped him in a towel. Echo chirruped happily as Ironhide dried him off and grabbed one of his large grey fingers with both of his small dark grey hands. It seemed to be only then that the small mech realized just how small he was compared to the hulking black form of Ironhide.
The weapons specialist seemed to notice this and decided that it was best that he distracted him form such thoughts. The last thing he wanted was for him to be afraid of one of the two mechs he seemed to trust. Picking Echo up, he rested his head on his shoulder and made his way to the mess hall to get the two of them some energon before he put him to bed.
Elsewhere, Optimus Prime sat behind the desk in his office with Ratchet sitting in front of him.
"I trust that you have had the opportunity to examine the youngling?" The red and blue mech said as he looked at the CMO.
"I have," the yellow mech said as he pulled out several data pads that had Echo's information recorded on them and handed them to the Prime. Optimus scanned them as the yellow mech spoke.
"The youngling's name is Echo and, according to my scans, he is severally underdeveloped for a youngling his age," Ratchet said a hint of anger apparent in his tone.
"How old is he?" The red and blue mech asked, not looking up from the youngling's stats.
"About ten vorns," the medic replied as he rubbed his bright blue optics tiredly. Optimus's head shot up when Ratchet said that, optics wide with disbelief. He then remembered the condition he had been in when Jazz and Ironhide found him.
"Do you have any idea who injured him?" Anger was apparent in the Autobot leader's voice as he looked at the injury list from when he was brought in.
"Unfortunately no," Ratchet sighed. "However I can safely say that whoever it was was definitely not one of our own. No Autobot soldier in our ranks would attack and nearly kill a youngling." Optimus nodded in agreement as he sat the data pad on his desk.
"You think it was another Decepticon then?" He asked, even though he already knew the answer.
"I would say so," the CMO answered flatly. "We all know how spark-less Decepticons can be, even to their own." Just as Optimus was about to say something someone knocked on his door. He gave Ratchet an apologetic look as he permitted the knocker to enter. It was Smokescreen, and in his hands were two sheets of painted on scrap metal.
The psychologist was just about to speak until he saw the CMO sitting in one of the chairs in front of Optimus.
"I can wait if the two of you are not finished," Smokescreen said as he motioned to the door. Ratchet looked at the crude paintings on the sheets and saw several shapes on them.
"Did Echo paint those?" The medic asked, his gaze not moving from the scraps of metal.
"Yes he did," Smokescreen said as he took a seat in front of Optimus. "It was actually Jazz's idea to use painting as an outlet. As you can see he has taken a strong liking to him and Ironhide." As he said that he showed both of the other mech's Echo's first painting.
"Who's the third mech?" Optimus asked taking the sheet from Smokescreen to examine it closer.
"It's Thundercracker," the smaller red and blue mech replied. Both Ratchet and Optimus were surprised at this new bit of information.
"I believe that Thundercracker was Echo's main caretaker, if not his only one," Smokescreen said to Ratchet and Optimus.
"I guess that means we can rule out Thundercracker as his attacker," the leader of the Autobots sighed as he handed the painting to the yellow medic.
"I believe this can answer your question," the psychologist said as he handed Prime the second painting.
Optimus looked Smokescreen with a slightly confused expression as he took the sheet of metal. However, after a few seconds of examining the crude painting he felt the energon in his lines boil.
"Nemesis," he growled as his optics narrowed into bright blue slits of fury.
"That would explain Echo's reaction to you earlier," Ratchet said as he looked in the direction of his leader.
"Where is he now?" Optimus asked Smokescreen.
"The last time I saw Echo, Jazz was taking him to the washracks to clean him off," was his smooth response.
The black weapons specialist strode into the mess hall and found, to his relief, very few mechs were there. In the far corner of the room in front of the TV were the twins Sunstreaker and Sideswipe playing a videogame and Wheeljack and Bumblebee were having some energon at a table nearby.
The one known as Wheeljack was the first to see Ironhide when he entered the room and motioned for him to sit. The weapons specialist hesitated slightly but decided that Echo was going to have to get used to being around more then one mech at a time, so he approached his comrades.
It was only when Ironhide got closer that the other two mechs saw the small bundle of wires in his burly arms. Echo glanced up to see where his guardian was taking him and saw the two mechs sitting at the table. He recognized the white and grey one from the med bay but the yellow one made him wary, not recognizing him from anywhere.
"Who's the cute bundle of wires?" Bumblebee asked a smile obvious in his tone. Echo braved a glance up at the yellow mech only to have his crimson optics met by a pair of cheerful blue ones.
At that very instant Ratchet strode into the mess hall for a bit of energon. The CMO saw Ironhide sitting with Bumblebee and Wheeljack with the youngling sitting in his lap. The medic let a small smile creep across his face as he watched Echo sip on his energon cube, completely content with the old warrior looking over him.
If what Smokescreen had told him and Optimus was true, Echo had very little contact with other mechs when on Cybertron. Because of this the youngling shied away from contact unless it was from someone that he felt could be trusted, or it was completely necessary.
So far, the only mechs on the base that had had the privilege of touching the youngling were: Jazz, Ironhide and himself. However, Echo had only permitted him to touch him because he was trying to fix him, and even then he had to be sedated in the end.
Jazz had been the first to come in contact with the youngling, being as he was the one that came sprinting back into the base with the small bundle of wires in his arms. Ratchet couldn't help but chuckle softly at the memory as he sat down at a table not far from where said youngling was. The silver mech had been in nothing short of a state of panic when he ran into the medic with the tiny mech in his arms.
In all honesty the CMO understood why Echo was so drawn to him. Jazz was a very charismatic, fun loving and kind mech. He was everything that Echo could use in a caretaker. What intrigued him most was the fact that the bond between Jazz and Echo was instantaneous, and that was without him knowing that the silver mech had been his rescuer.
The medic was pulled from his thoughts by a panicky chirrup. Turning his attention back to the youngling found that he had accidentally tipped his cube over and knocked all of the energon onto the black mech's thigh. The poor youngling looked up at the black mech with his red optics filled with fear. Ratchet had a good idea of what a Decepticon would have done to Echo in this situation. Ironhide simply sighed and pulled a rag from his subspace and cleaned off his leg.
This event caused the yellow medic to think about Echo and Ironhide's ironic relationship. The black mech was by far one of the Autobot army's most fierce and talented warriors, and yet here he was caring for a neglected, if not abused, youngling. Ironhide may have acted all tough on the outside, but Ratchet knew better. The old mech was really a softie under his thousands, if not millions, of vorns of fighting.
One thing that concerned the medic about Ironhide watching over Echo was the fact that, and he was already doing it, he was distancing himself from the youngling. Weather he was doing consciously or not he didn't know, but he needed to inform Smokescreen of his concerns. Ratchet didn't want to admit it, bit the only reason he could Ironhide was doing this was because Echo was a Decepticon. Perhaps in the older mech's optics he found that it was only a matter of time before he realized that and turned on them and figured that it was best to not get attached to the youngling.
Ratchet sighed and sipped on his cube as he watched Echo, who had been moved from Ironhide's lap to the top of the table, sit with the three older mechs. Echo moved so he was between the weapons specialist and inventor and looked at the hand that he had seen Ratchet working on. 'Jacks noticed this and unfolded his hand so the youngling could look at it.
"Primus Ratchet he's so fragging cute," Wheeljack gushed through their personal line. This caused the medic to smile at his longtime friend.
"I'm sure you're not the only one that thinks that," he replied taking another sip of his cube.
Everything was perfectly fine until Red Alert walked into the mess hall and saw the mini Decepticon sitting on the table with Wheeljack, Bumblebee and Ironhide. Then everything went straight to the Pit.
A/N: ok I don't know how Cybertronians age so I kinda made Echo's age up (he's 10 vorns old and vorn is approx 83 earth years so Echo's about 830 years old), he's supposed to be the human equivalent of a five year old