Sparklings 1: Mirage

Chapter Three: Decisions

"WHAT?!" exclaimed Jazz as soon as he heard the news. "I am NOT looking after him!"

Ratchet sneered... evilly. He picked up the clicking Mirage (currently talking to a collar put around his neck) and dropped him in Jazz's arms. "You said yourself it was your fault he got caught in the fire of that photon cannon!"

"No it isn't! Well... maybe it was... it was my fault he left... but still! Why can't Hound look after him?!" Jazz argued, thought, then argued again.

Ratchet sighed. Quickly thinking, he turned to the door. "HOUND!! GET IN HERE!!"

Almost too quickly, the door opened and Hound rushed in. "Yes, Ratchet? Didn't I have my check up..."

Before he could finish, Ratchet took the little Mirage from Jazz's hands, and stuffed the little happily clicking-to-a-collar-around-his-neck Mirage in his face. To Jazz, this obviously happened before. Hound didn't even flinch when Mirage stopped clicking, looked up, scrunched up his face, optics starting to leak, began to whimper, and cried.

"WAHHH!! WAHHHH! WAHHHH! WAHHHHHHHHH!!"

Ratchet chuckled as he kept Mirage there, evilly. "Apparently, as a Sparkling, Mirage has an intense phobia of Hound."

Jazz winced when Mirage's cries intensified. "Why?!"

"Don't know, and frankly, don't really care yet. Right now, my job is make sure Mirage stays safe," Ratchet replied. He held Mirage close to himself as he turned around and returned the crying child to Jazz. "Also right now, you're the only one he remembers, likes, and well actually be quiet around."

Almost instantly, since Jazz's face came into his vision, Mirage had stopped crying.

"See?" Ratchet evilly added. Jazz worriedly began thinking of other options.

"Uh... Cliffjumper?"

"Mirage hated the guy. What's going to change now?"

"Yeah... Forgot. Bluestreak?"

"All he's been asking is if he can shoot the poor thing."

"Typical... Grimlock?"

"YOU DID NOT JUST SUGGEST HIM!!"

"Uh... No? ... ... ... How about Ironhide?"

"Don't even go there. Although, just to make sure you don't ask him again, he's been asking the same question as Bluestreak."

"No surprise there, really... ... ... ... ... Optimus?"

"Okay! No! Seriously! Take your fate like a mech and deal with it!" Ratchet yelled. "You're the only one in the ENTIRE base that he's not afraid of right now!"

"... I am?" Jazz asked. He looked at Mirage, as if looking for an answer.

Mirage burped.

"Yep. So, deal with it!"

Jazz groaned as Ratchet took Hound aside to talk to for a little bit. He looked at Mirage, playing with the detector collar around his neck. Jazz figured Ratchet put it there so that Red Alert could find him easily. Jazz sighed. "Guess you're stuck with me and Prowl, little 'Raj."

"Eh?" Mirage squeaked, as he looked at Jazz, which probably meant, "Who the hell are you and who's this Prowl mech?"

Jazz just laughed.

- - - -

Starscream groaned as he took the mop and placed it in the bucket of water. As soon as he had sucked the mop desirably, he took the mop out, and slammed the mop against the floor, swishing it about in order to soak the floor, getting rid of the dirt. This was low. It was low, even for Megatron.

"As punishment against your Photon Cannon not... desirably destroying Autobot Mirage... your punishment is mopping all 72 floors of this base."

"You MUST be joking!! Skywarp did the wiring!!"

"Yes... but you fired it."

"ARGHH! Megatron, you're hopeless!"

"Making me wash floors... HA! I'll show him when I take command of this outfit..." Starscream muttered, as he washed away a tire track most likely from one of the Constructicons.

"Uh... you okay??" asked a voice.

Starscream turned around worriedly. There, standing in front of him was Rumble.

"Yeah. I should be fine... once that fragger of a leader is done for."

"Sure... Like that's EVER going to happen, but sure..." Rumble replied, and then he walked away.

Starscream, now paranoid, insanely held the mop close to himself. "I'm being stalked..." he whispered to himself.

- - - -

"No."

Jazz sighed . He figured his mate would deny the idea of the Sparkling Mirage staying with them until this nightmare was over. "Prowl... he cries around everyone else but me! Ratchet doesn't want the poor guy to get terrified."

"I said no."

"Don't make me get Prime, Prowl!" Jazz menacingly said, not wanting to deal with this right now. Mirage, enjoying this, giggled.

Prowl hid his face in his hand. "I'm... not going through with this. I don't like Sparklings, whether they used to be our best spy or not! Right now, he's still a Sparkling."

Jazz stared at Prowl suspiciously. "Hey, wait a second... don't you have one?"

"That's different. Leave her out of this."

"Right... Please?"

"No."

"Come on! Ratchet said either he's staying with us, or Red Alert will toss him in the brig, or Ironhide will have to look after him, or worse! The twins will get a hold of him, and leave him outside in the cold and the rain! The snow will come down, and the poor guy will freeze up and starve -."

"Jazz?" Prowl looked up with an arched optic ridge. "It's going to be clear for a whole month."

"Still. What would you rather have? This cute, little guy having to be looked up in the brig for five months, until it's proven he's really Mirage," at this, Jazz held up the little Sparkling in the air, the but end of the child facing Prowl. Mirage was busy picking his nose. "Or... him having to be looked after by Ironhide? I don't think he deserves that!"

Prowl sighed as Jazz moved Mirage down a bit so the little Sparkling had to look up to see him. Mirage took his finger out of his nose and stuffed it in his mouth, sucking on it. Prowl recoiled.

Jazz chuckled. "Well, on the bright side, we can teach the little guy manners!"

"All over again? Jazz, that thing can't be Mirage! He just picked his nose and stuck the exact same digit in his mouth once he was done!" Prowl pointed at the child dejectedly.

"Prowl," Jazz said plainly, so plainly that it scared Prowl a little and Mirage looked up at him, now messing with his collar again. "He doesn't know any better right now. Maybe he does know what he's doing... but it's instinct to the body."

"Who the pit told you that?"

"Ratchet. He ran a full scale scan, still trying to figure out if it's still Mirage in there, and we haven't lost him forever," Jazz answered, now sadly looking down on the once-spy that was chewing on his foot. Absentmindedly, Jazz took one hand and pulled the foot out. "Stop that."

"Eh!" Mirage answered, swatting away his hand.

"Bad."

"Eh!"

"No."

"Eh!"

"Mirage, stop it."

"Eh?" Mirage cocked his head at the sound of his name. Both Prowl and Jazz looked down worriedly.

"He doesn't know his own name...?" Prowl asked.

Jazz bit his lip. "Well... he's only been around for a few hours, now, right?"

Mirage looked back and forth, and sneezed, putting in his own input into the conversation. Prowl sighed.

"Okay, fine... I'll let him in the recharge room... but he stays off my side."

"You're a softie, Prowl," Jazz offered, laughing a little as he walked into the room and set Mirage to the floor. "Now... don't you have somewhere to be? I do, too... but I don't want to leave the little guy all alone here... and Prime won't let him in the Rec Room yet. He still cries whenever he sees Sideswipe, Cliffjumper, Perceptor.. Any of them. He ESPECIALLY cries at Sideswipe, Cliffjumper and Hound, that's it's freaking hilarious..." Jazz chuckled at the memory of Mirage SCREECHING when Ratchet had stuffed the little guy in Hound's face to prove the point.

"I can only imagine," Prowl dead panned. "I'll allow him in a PEN in my office if that's what you mean, Jazz. I'll get one set up and then you can drop him off when you have to go. But, that's not until tomorrow. It's late."

"Yeah. I know," Jazz said, yawning. He looked down on Mirage, who was nodding off. Prowl walked up, picked up Mirage, and then handed him to Jazz before he had a chance to cry.

The two older mechs then layed down on their single, double sized recharge berth, and fell asleep, Mirage curled up in a little ball in Jazz's arms.

If one were to walk in at that moment, they would have thought it was the cutest scene in the history of the Ark. ... That is, if they have any SENSE on what cute was... (Cliffjumper, Red Alert and Grimlock just to name a few...)