Sparklings 1: Mirage
Chapter Two: More Information Required
"What is that thing?!" (Brawn) (stare)
"Do we shoot it?" (Bluestreak) (stare and point)
"Can I shoot it?!" (Ironhide) (stare and aim gun)
"AHHH!! DECEPTICON SPY!!" (Red Alert) (glare suspiciously, optic fizzing out, and point)
"Shut up. I'm tired of all the yelling." (Gears) (passive stare)
"Um.. What do we do with that?" (Wheeljack) (look at guy next to him and point at it)
"Is it a target for target practice?" (Sunstreaker) (stare)
"Me Grimlock no like that thing!" (Grimlock) (grunt, glare and stomp)
"Me Swoop think it cute." (Swoop) (look at Grimlock)
"What is that thing, Bumblebee?" (Spike) (look up at Bumblebee)
"No idea, Spike..." (Bumblebee) (looking curiously at it)
"I find it rather fascinating, actually!" (Perceptor) (grinning)
"What is it, Ratchet?" (First Aid) (looking at Ratchet)
"Jazz? Weren't you supposed to be...looking for Mirage?" (Hound) (look at Jazz and the thing)
"O-Optimus? That thing is scary..." (Sideswipe) (looking at Optimus)
Jazz rubbed his temples with his free hand while he held the energon-consuming sparkling in the other. He was currently sitting on the recharge berth that Ratchet had forced him on the moment he had stuffed the little Mirage in his face, saying, "Look who I found, Doc! Can you help him?" He helped alright. He pulled scans up, acknowledged that everything was okay, except for the amount of energon in his systems, and then called up Optimus. After that, he stuffed a cube in Mirage's face. It was amazing how much Mirage had eaten since that first cube, despite his small size and usually small appetite. Ratchet had stayed quiet during the whole thing. He was busy cleaning up the cubes and getting new ones since Mirage was right now a bottomless pit. Optimus was standing aside, next to Prowl. Prowl and him were standing by Jazz.
Prowl growled. (Ha, ha!) "He's not a Decepticon Spy, Red Alert... This, everyone, is Mirage."
Everyone else relaxed. Cliffjumper, Red Alert, Grimlock, Brawn and Sunstreaker remained unconvinced. Perceptor approached Jazz, and looked at the little sparkling consuming energon.
"Where's his torpedo launcher?" he asked, now also suspicious.
"I removed it," Ratchet huffed. "Didn't exactly want a miniature torpedo stabbing anyone on accident whenever the little thing coughed."
Perceptor nodded, satisfied.
Mirage, too, was satisfied. He held up the now three-quarters empty energon cube, showing it to Jazz. He squealed and clicked when Jazz looked down, and took the energon cube.
"Ratch? He's done," Jazz announced.
"Thank Primus! Thought he was never going to finish," Ratchet once more huffed, as he put away the full cubes, took the one from Jazz, and readied the empty ones to be filled once more. "I blame that four week famine! Why did he do that...?" As he huffed, puffed, and complained about head-strong rich-bots, Mirage clicked at Jazz, and then looked at Prowl. He clicked at him, and then looked at Hound. He clicked at him as well. After all that, he cuddled up, and fell asleep.
If Jazz could blink, he would have. "What was that all about?"
"Despite who they grow up to be, Sparklings are sociable. I suspect that even Mirage was," Ratchet explained. "But don't look for me for a translator as to what he just said. Wheeljack's the expert."
"I am?" came the intelligent reply.
"Why yes... remember when Bumblebee was younger?" Ratchet asked, as he did a couple more scans on Mirage to ensure he was okay.
"Oh yeah... maybe I just forgot..."
"Right," Ratchet stated plainly. "Maybe you did."
Prowl looked at Ratchet expectantly. "How long will it last?"
Ratchet's reply came slowly. First, he quizzically looked at the tactician, as if the thought just came to him. Then he looked at Jazz who was holding the thing in question. Quickly, he did another scan, and then looked back at Prowl. Ratchet then looked at the datapad in his hands that held the information on what had happened to Mirage. He coughed when he read the answer to Prowl's question.
"You're not going to like it... it says either it's going to last at least two months to five, or it could be... a... could be a... permanent change."
Shock was raised in all the Autobots currently in the ark that were now in the Med Bay. Sunstreaker, Sideswipe and Perceptor froze up and collapsed backwards. Hound cried. Red Alert pointed at the thing in question and laughed at it. Cliffjumper did as well. Bumblebee sat down in despair, as Spike approached him and tried to comfort him. Ironhide, Bluestreak, Brawn, First Aid and Wheeljack all looked at Ratchet like he had suddenly turned into a Decepticon and shot the Prime. Optimus looked like he had just been shot by an Autobot turned Decepticon. Prowl and Jazz nearly spark-attacked, and Grimlock and Swoop had no idea how to feel about the current situation. Everyone else, except Prowl, Ratchet, Grimlock, Swoop, Red Alert, Cliffjumper and Jazz, fell over into forced recharge. Spike looked around in shock.
"My gosh! What just happened?" he asked,
"Great," Ratchet grumbled. "I forced nearly the entire sane part of the Autobot army into recharge with a single word. That's got to be a record."
Prowl and Jazz looked at him with weird looks. Red Alert and Cliffjumper stopped laughing and blinked at Ratchet. Grimlock and Swoop looked at each other and shrugged. They left the room, the fun having ended. Mirage woke up from all the racket, and began to cry. VERY LOUDLY.
"GREAT!!" Ratchet yelled, as everyone still awake covered their ears. "THEY WOKE THE SPARKLING!! REMIND ME TO WELD THEM TO RECHARGE BERTHS LATER!!"
"NO PROBLEM!!" Jazz replied. "I'LL HELP YAH GLADLY!!"
- - - -
In a base not too far away from the Autobots, lied the Decepticons. Megatron sat diligently on his throne, watching his men gamble away their energon in a game of poker. In fact, Thundercracker just won the whole bunch in the middle... "Ha! I win!"
Skywarp saw otherwise. He layed down his hand, and Thundercracker had a look of disbelief on his optics. "No, I win!"
Suddenly, a faint, shrill cry erupted, clearly from far away. Starscream stopped from what he was doing; fixing his photon cannon.
"What is that?" Megatron asked, quizzically.
"QUERY: UNKNOWN," Soundwave answered. "RAVAGE, EJECT. LASERBEAK, EJECT. OPERATION: RECON."
From his chest, two cassette tapes ejected, and transformed. One, into a dog like robotic creature with scary red optics. The second transformed into a bird like robot, with red wings, and complete with a beak-like structure erupting from its face. The two raced off out of the base, and headed to the Autobot one.
Before Megatron even had the chance to glare at him, Starscream ducked out of the room, and raced for cover. The lesser Megatron knew about the whole situation in the Autobot base, the better.