Chapter 14
Sunny and Sides were a little surprised to learn that while they had been in deep recharge, the younglings and caretaker refugees from Alpha Sigma had been dropped off at a safe zone in which to seek sanctuary. The last remaining youth sector was only three days away, if you had a fast ship.
They had informed the youth sector that they had neighbors nearby should they need anything. The Autobots then left them with enough supplies to last a few vorns.
The twins weren't sure how they had missed everyone while exploring the ship. Then again, the ship was pretty big in its' own right.
Whatever the case, Sunny and Sides and the Autobots were now the ARK's sole inhabitants.
Which was an oddity in itself…why did the Autobots single them out? By all rights, they should have been dropped off with the other younglings at the new youth sector. The twins decided to question Optimus about it.
"Why did you let us stay?"
Optimus knew this question would surface at some point and answered simply without any elaboration.
"The Decepticons know your faces and your designations. You will both be safer with us."
The twins nodded in unison before leaving him to his work.
The Autobot leader left out one major detail. Thanks to both Mirage and Prowl's intelligence and surveillance, Decepticon activity was rather chaotic, suggesting that they were searching for something…or someone. Most likely the word had finally reached Megatron of the two younglings that had for the most part eluded Starscream and the Decepticon leader was most likely interested in finding them, especially since Sunny had for a time displayed very Decepticon-like characteristics.
Optimus had suspicions.
Despite the fact that the Decepticons wiped out two youth sectors mercilessly without hesitation or restraint, did not hide their true devious intentions. They were looking for new recruits. What better recruits than impressionable younglings who displayed aggressive traits?
Sunny was most likely going to be Starscream and Megatron's main target. Ultimately, if they got to Sunny, they would get a double package…his twin. Sides was in as much danger now if the Decepticons ever found them. The twins were inseparable. Where one went, the other was sure to follow.
Optimus and his crew thought hard about the problem the Decepticons presented. Prowl, the intelligent strategist that he was, had come up with the brilliant idea to send the twins with the other refugees at the youth sector since Starscream knew that they had the twins in their possession last. Optimus thoughtfully considered it until he realized something. Megatron was no fool…he would expect them to do just that very thing. That was why his forces were scattered all over the place, searching for them. He must have figured that Optimus would make the decision to send the twins into hiding, leaving the younglings exposed and vulnerable. Why would Optimus keep the twins in his possession if Starscream knew that was who had them last?
That explained why the Decepticon scout ships that appeared five orns after dropping off the refugees had left them alone for the time being. They didn't think that Optimus Prime would be foolish enough to keep them.
It took a lot of arguing and reasoning to reassure Prowl that their new plan would succeed. Optimus had to admit that many times the Autobots were too predictable. It was finally time to shake things up and do the unexpected for once.
"We have avoided detection for this long. I still don't like it…we should leave this sector."
The Decepticon scout ships had been trailing them for a while now, most likely curious as to where they were going and what their intentions were. This only served to squeeze Optimus's spark with icy fear. Fear that their unpredictable plan had been discovered and that the Decepticons had finally figured out that the twins were still with them aboard the ARK.
Then again, flying away at top speed or engaging the ship's evasive subroutines would only arouse their suspicion…the only choice they had now was to act as if everything was normal…act as if they had nothing at all to hide or protect.
Optimus sighed heavily and sorted through various datapads, reading through Prowl's reports.
The Autobot leader prayed that the Decepticons did not catch on to their little ploy any time soon…or any time at all for that matter.
Meanwhile…
Two mischievous younglings snuck into a restricted area, ignoring the "Danger: Stay out" signs on the outside of the door.
They carried their prize with them and secured the mini device to the floor with adhesive before sneaking around to crouch behind one of the many blast barriers. A mech was humming merrily as he tinkered with something. A little red light was flashing on the mini device, alerting the twins that the countdown was almost over. Right as the inventor was connecting a green wire with an orange striped one, it happened.
Sunny clamped a hand over his face to keep from laughing when the device exploded sending a shower of sparks and smoke roiling through the room. The mech in question screamed shrilly while diving behind a barrier.
After a minute, the mech crawled out from his safe zone and peeked cautiously around the edge. The scientist stood back up hesitantly and approached the device he had been previously tinkering with, confusion evident on his faceplates.
"That's odd…I could have sworn that this just exploded…"
He glanced around the room until his optics locked on to a small, black object taped to the floor in the middle of his lab. He reached down and picked it up in surprise.
"A flash-bang grenade…"
Just then the com in the room came to life and the angry voice of Ratchet came through.
:: Did you blow yourself up AGAIN you stupid slagtard?!:
Wheeljack responded, a bit distracted as he examined the tiny grenade. It was perfectly harmless, merely used for elusive or distractive purposes in the middle of combat. Ironhide kept a small store of these in the armory.
:: Negative. I found one of Ironhide's flash-bang grenades it went off in the middle of my lab:
Silence lasted a few astro-seconds until Ratchet's voice came back sounding incredibly frustrated.
:: When you see the twins…send them to the med-bay so that I may have a word with them!:
:: Understood:
Wheeljack jumped a bit startled when Ratchet screamed back through the com.
:: AND THAT STUPID GLITCH-HEAD!!:
It didn't take advanced quantum astrophysics for Wheeljack to figure out that Ratchet was referring to Ironhide. The CMO was most likely going to re-arrange the negligent weapons specialist's limbs for not locking up the armory, allowing two trouble-making younglings to slip in and grab the said flash-bang grenade in his hand.
"Sunny…Sides, I know that you are here. Would you mind coming out and explaining yourselves?"
The twins exchanged frightened looks before shrieking shrilly and running for the door. They slid to a stop when a large, imposing figure blocked it.
"I-Ironhide…" the red twin's voice came out in a high squeak as he backed away from the intimidating figure.
Sunny didn't mind Ironhide too much although the look on his face promised much grief if they didn't start talking.
"W-we…were just…uhhh…visiting Wheeljack"
"With a grenade?!"
"It…wasn't one of the bad ones!"
The twins had taken a couple of lessons with the weapons specialist concerning combat and weapons. He had started with a lecture on the dangers and extremely awesome firepower that could be unleashed from each and every weapon in the armory. It was his own erroneous slip up that he mentioned that the only weapon in that place not worth using in combat were the flash-bang grenades…simply because they caused no damage to any of the Decepticon slaggers.
The twins had heard of Wheeljack's many mishaps from numerous explosions from experiments gone wrong. That knowledge combined with what Ironhide told them about the 'useless' grenades gave them this brilliant prank idea. It was kind of funny…to see Wheeljack totally flip out when the fake explosion shook his lab. Nothing was damaged and everyone remained perfectly unharmed…for the moment.
"DON'T EVER…touch anything in the armory without permission ever again!" Ironhide growled down at the two trouble makers.
They nodded their heads with wide optics.
"Ratchet wants to talk to you three…" Wheeljack spoke up from where he was currently in the process of re-wiring something on that new do-hickey that was attached to that thingie majig he was working on.
Ironhide nearly let loose a string of curses until he remembered there were two impressionable little younglings standing right in front of him. He sighed heavily and gestured for the twins to follow him.
The three trudged wearily down the hallways, their audio receptors already tingling in painful anticipation to the abuse they were soon about to receive once Ratchet had them in his sight.
They entered the CMO's domain very reluctantly. At first, it appeared as if the good doc wasn't home but as soon as Ironhide released a pent up sigh of relief, Ratchet stood up from where he had been crouched down behind a recharge berth, repairing one of the power mechanisms on it. The nanosecond he spotted the three, his blue optics narrowed and a menacing growl tore from his vocal capacitor.
"You three… Get in here…NOW!"
The twins were pushed further into the room by a wary Ironhide who was mumbling something unintelligible. Sunny thought he heard something along the lines of 'that crazy, overbearing fragger is gonna be the death of me…'
The door slid shut behind them, sealing them in with a very irate looking Ratchet who was currently holding TWO wrenches in his hand…one was smaller…the other was larger.
Sunny felt a little excited at the prospect of receiving his very first wrench! Maybe he was rewarding them for helping him clean up the other day…
One of the CMO's optics started twitching mid-rant. The twins shrank back and hid behind Ironhide's legs but the weapons specialist grunted and sat down on a recharge berth, leaving the twins completely exposed in the middle of the room. He smirked as he watched the twins cower back in complete fear as Ratchet assailed them with angry words filled with absolute caring. It was for their own good…the doc just didn't want them to hurt themselves.
"…can't BELIEVE you both!! Next time you pull a stupid stunt like that, I swear to Primus, that I will…"
Ironhide sat back and watched contentedly thankful that he wasn't on the receiving end of Hatchet's wrath…until the ornery CMO turned narrowed optics on him…
"AND YOU…you stupid glitch-head!! Someone could have been hurt or even KILLED if the younglings had grabbed a REAL grenade instead of the flash-bangs!"
Ratchet stormed across the med bay towards him and Ironhide slid off of the table and ran from the enraged medic, shouting apologies even as the first wrench left the CMO's hand.
The twins stood fascinated, rooted to the spot as they watched the growing spectacle between the medic and Ironhide. Sunny giggled when one of the wrenches hit Ironhide, clean in the head. Sides laughed as Ironhide all but dove behind a recharge berth to escape the next three wrenches that Ratchet threw at him.
Soon, Ironhide was set free and Ratchet sighed heavily, putting his tools back where he got them and made a 'shooing' motion in their direction.
"Now get out of my med bay…I have work to do."
They left quickly, without argument and Ironhide stalked off to lock the armory, leaving the twins to their mischief.
Sunny and Sides exchanged a look before running in the direction of the bridge.
Once they got closer, they crept silently along until they were near the doors.
Sides frowned when he realized the door wasn't set for automatic open. They retreated to a distance but still in sight of the bridge door.
"How do we get that door open?"
As if in response to his question, Jazz walked up to the door and punched in a code on a keypad and walked in.
"Oh…"
Sunny smirked before running towards the still open door but froze when Prowl walked out. The tactician spotted the yellow youngling…once again unsupervised. What a surprise…
"Sunny…what are you doing here?"
"N-nothing! I was just leaving!!"
He turned to run away but Prowl was quicker and grabbed him by the shoulder, preventing him from escaping.
"Where is your guardian?"
Sunny sagged in defeat and shook his head.
"Locking up the armory…we aren't allowed to go anywhere near there without permission first! So we were gonna ask Optimus…"
Sides answered for his brother as he walked up to them.
"Well, Optimus is a little preoccupied at the moment…"
The door slid open and the Autobot leader himself strode out, just in time to catch the last bit of Prowl's sentence.
"I will take things from here."
Prowl nodded silently before continuing down the corridor to mind his own business.
"Younglings…what am I going to do with you?"
Optimus asked the question with the hint of a smile in his optics.
Sunny and Sides exchanged a look before grinning up slyly at the Autobot leader.
"PLAY WITH US!!"
Optimus smiled warmly and nodded his head slowly.
"Alright…but so long as you follow the rules of the game"
The twins both ran forward and grabbed one of Optimus's hands and began to drag him down the hall with them.
This was going to be fun!!
TO BE CONTINUED
A/N: Sorry if this seemed rushed but I seem to have lost my muse again and real life issues are dragging me down again. -_-
To make up for this suckish chapter I would like to post a short fic with this chapter. It was co-authored by me and Autobotgirl6. It's 'the story game' in which one person starts a sentence, leaves it hanging with one word, and then the other person finishes the sentence and leaves a word, building up a gradual short story. (To see more short stories like the one below, go check out Autobotgirl6's profile to get more since we alternate who posts them!) So here it is!! :D
TFTFTFTFTFTFTFTFTFTFTFTFTFTFTFTFTFTFTFTFTFTFTFTFTFTFTFTFTFTFTFTFTFTFTFTFTFTFTFTFTFTFTFTFTFTFTFTFTFTFTFTFTFTFTFTFTFTFTFTFTFTFTFTFTFTFTFTFTFTFTFTFTFTFTFTF
Story Game 2: "Mountain Dew and Transformers Don't Mix"
"Once upon a time, there was a mean, stupid, moldy robot who lived in a pineapple under the sea and was neighbors to his best friend whose name was Gummy Bear Man. He liked…to smell bouquets of sweet smelling flowers and had a favorite past time which was hopping through the meadow of pink unicorns and bananas! And…called KFC because the fried chicken was to die for, which is what was going to happen since the food had been totally drenched in the awesome drink of Mountain Dew and made the crazy old man breakdance till the crack of dawn until at long last the music ended and soundwave became emo once again and ended up awakening inside of an empty Motel 6, covered with mountain Dew cans. Fearfully, soundwave took a crap and then ran in a zig-zag pattern like a zebra off of the discovery channel, which looked incredibly like some old guy leaping from a trapeze and grinning as he gracefully flew…and hit the ground. Then Darth vader strode into the clearing with his red lightsaber and sliced off his swiss cheese, making a tasty ham sammich and eating…a plate of fresh turds with some spices and the taste of cinnomen in every disgusting, puking, vile smell that made Optimus Prime gag and grab the can of Febreeze. Nonetheless…Dr. Doucheclawticon was defeated in the most humiliating of ways, which was namely to make him do the chicken dance, then try to regain his shattered dignity, which was most likely impossible because…he hated migraines and needed to go to a super wal-mart to buy some pain medications or else he would get tongue cancer, and never be able to complain about his life again! Sure enough….the Doucheclawticon crawled back up out of the mud pit in humiliation and snarled angrily only to get kicked in the manly area, which made him cry like a sparkling as he bent over in pain. Of course the Autobots were victorious and both the decepticons and their pitiful master unicorn were destroyed forever." THE END