Protectors Of the Young.
Chapter One.
Mirage wasn't on his guard, didn't think he'd need to be in his own base, so when he heard quiet steps behind him, he was unconcerned. So he never knew what hit him when Thundercracker stunned him and caught him as he fell. Thundercracker located the spy's manual disrupter activation button, and arranged the unconscious mech in a position where he could both reach the button and hold the spy firmly. He moved off, and hit the disrupter as he heard voices ahead. The spy's disrupter field enclosed the Seeker too, and they both shimmered out of view.
oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo
It was Cliffjumper who found Red Alert slumped on the floor of the security office, worked out that he had been stunned, and set off the alarms. Or tried to: the alarms did not activate. It was then that Cliffjumper, arming his cannon in case of trouble, rushed out to check on Ironhide, found him in much the same condition, and checked the console. He saw all the alarms and fields and other features had been turned off, and brought them back online, comming Ratchet and First Aid, one to help Red Alert and the other to come and see to Ironhide. It was First Aid who got outside first, and Cliffjumper waved him over, assuming Ratchet would be seeing to Red Alert.
oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo
Ratchet headed out, grumbling, two recharging sparklings cradled in his arms. He'd need to find somewhere safe to put these before he attended the stunned Red Alert, and the main nursery was too far away to go to. There was a small auxiliary room, where some of the older and more boisterous sparklings sometimes played that would be safe enough nearby. He slipped in, dodging the four sparklings running and bouncing about inside, and placed the recumbent pair in the shielded off recharge booth, then slipped back out and went on his way, unaware that his progress had been tracked by an intent pair of red optics.
As the medic turned the corner, the door to the room opened, seemingly of it's own accord. The sparklings looked up, saw nobody, so went back to their games. When the clicking and chirping started, interspersed by coos, they looked around for the source in confusion. They stared in curiosity as Thundercracker shimmered back into existence, crouched down, lay the unconscious Mirage aside like a piece of discarded armour, and stretched out his arms towards them.
"Who wants a cuddle?" he asked.
oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo
It was Starscream who inadvertently wandered into the medical bay just after Ratchet had left, so it was he who heard the cry of one of the new sparklings that woke up hungry and cold. His head came up and he swivelled his head around, chirping encouragingly. As its cries changed to hopeful, he triangulated the location by moving around, then homed in on the quartet of sparkling-berths, three of which were occupied. He reached down with a croon, gathering the small pliant form into his hands. It turned over and mouthed at a finger, crying stridently.
"You're needing a feed, aren't you?" he said, moving around the medbay purposely. "Where does that medic keep the sparkling-grade?" He spotted the storage cupboard marked 'Sparkling formula', and moved over. He crowed in triumph as he spotted the spherical feeding vessels lining one of the shelves. Picking it out, he checked it, and then broke the seal that functioned both to keep it from leaking or souring, and activated an in-vessel warming strip. Shaking it to mix the contents, he then shifted the sparkling now cradled in one arm so he could engage the pressure-operated valve with the sparklings mouth. Its cries ceased as it settled down to feeding.
Wandering back over to the berths, Starscream found somewhere to sit as the little one finished its feed. Once it had had enough, he checked the side-valve on the tank, opening it a smidgeon and tapping it to get air-bubbles out. Then he hummed and held it against his body to get it back to sleep, before carefully placing it back on its berth. He was loath to leave but, he recalled, this was their best chance to gain information.
As he turned to leave, another piercing cry split the air, and he turned. Another sparkling had woken up, another one wanted feeding, and he sighed, turning to it, picking it up and moving to the cupboard with the formula in it.
oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo
It had been easy to dismantle the dividing barriers, they were designed to be transportable and collapsible, and once he had removed them, Skywarp had sprawled out on the berths, gathering armfuls of sparklings to himself. Two had wriggled into his cockpit and gone back into recharge, their happy purrs vibrating through his fuselage, and the others were by his side or on top of him. He was almost overwhelmed with sparklings, and Skywarp was in utter bliss.
The multitude of warm purring chassis on and around him relaxed Skywarp so much that he slid into recharge himself, almost invisible beneath the bodies draped over and snuggled up to his own.
oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo
Mirage roused to the sounds of squealing, but even in his half-stunned condition he could tell that the squeals were of happiness rather than of terror.
Recalling that he had been stunned by assailant or assailants unknown, Mirage kept his body limp, only moving the shutter of one optic enough so that he could see his surroundings and find out as much information as he could. What he saw caused both optics to unshutter and dilate in disbelief.
There was Thundercracker with one of the older Sparklings clinging to his back, and the other three standing in front of him. He stooped to pick up one of them, threw them high into the air, and then caught them as they screamed and giggled happily. Then he put that one down, repeating the process with one of the others.
Mirage decided to take a risk, carefully picking himself up. His instinct had been correct: Thundercracker was so focused on the sparklings that he didn't even notice. Mirage waited till Thundercracker was turning to one of the others before he moved, activating his disruptor and slipping out of the door unnoticed.
A few moments later, he was running at full pelt down the corridor to the control room.
oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo
As the last of the three little sparklings finished its formula, Starscream let air out of its valve, and laid it tenderly down, pressing his hand to its hide comfortingly. With an engine purr that ran through its whole body, it fell into recharge. Starscream lifted his hand, and with a last, longing look back at the little ones, turned away regretfully. They weren't in danger at such, so his instincts were not too strong to resist, he could walk away, which he did, turning resolutely down the corridor. He still had information to gather and work to do. The sparklings were happy now, so they would have to wait.
Five minutes later Ratchet turned into the medical bay with Red Alert cradled in his arms. He stretched him on a berth and checked he was beginning to reboot, then turned to look at the sparklings. It was about time for their next feed and was surprised that they hadn't been awake when he had returned.
He looked at them and saw they all appeared to still be deep in recharge. Then he saw the three empty formula bottles still stood on the side and blinked. A quick scan confirmed his suspicions: all three had been fed. Picking up one of the empties, Ratchet scowled at it. The sparklings had not been fretful or awake because somebody had already seen to their fuel needs. Sparklings weren't too fussy, they'd take their fuel from anyone with a comfortable arm, a warm Spark, and a friendly face. The question Ratchet was asking himself was who had done so and why hadn't they commed him to say so? Maybe Red Alert might throw some sort of light on the situation when he came back online?
With a frown, Ratchet turned back to the security officer and began working.