Preeesenting… 'Tiny', chapter seven! So glad to be back here with you guys. :D

I don't own Transformers, but I do own this story. Starts in Soundwave's POV and goes from there.

Optimus is taught a little lesson in language and Miko makes a discovery she would have never thought possible.

Let's get going!

Yet again, I was surprised.

Lord Megatron came to my workstation, carrying the sparkling in his servos. He did not tell me how he got the sparkling, when I left the little one with Knockout and his assistant, Breakdown. I expected to see Lord Megatron's normal facial expression: hard with a slightly hidden, cold, calculated malice. I was met with another surprise.

The Decepticon leader appeared to be almost relaxed as he held the little one. I can only tell this because I have known our leader for so long, and even then, I can't always calculate how he is feeling at any given moment using my sensitivity to electric pulses in the CPU.

"He will be called Parvolus."

Our leader placed the sparkling in my servos after stating the sparkling's chosen name and looked down at me.

"Watch the sparkling, Soundwave. I will see to it that the medical staff is no longer… incompetent in watching over a single child." His tone was sharper than his usual smooth growl, indicating that there was perhaps more than a twinge of anger. I merely nodded once and watched our leader leave my workstation, tapping into my security system and monitoring the medbay. I may need to intervene if Lord Megatron decides to inflict bodily harm on Knockout and Breakdown. They are two of the most knowledgeable medics we have on the Nemesis. After Lord Megatron left the room, I looked down at the sparkling in my servos. He gazed back up at me, large optics partially shut. I considered the circumstances of this situation.

He appears to have just recently come out of recharge. Lord Megatron stated that the medical staff is incompetent at watching over a sparkling, implying that the little one left the medbay without Knockout and Breakdown taking notice. Since Lord Megatron came here with the sparkling, it is likely that he wandered into our leader's private quarters. I expected Lord Megatron to be angry with the sparkling, but he has possibly redirected his anger towards Knockout and his assistant for losing sight of the little one. The little one's sleepy optics indicate that he was with our leader for some time. Normally, Lord Megatron would not have allowed such a situation occur, since it involved him in such a personal manner. My thoughts were interrupted briefly by the sparkling quietly revving his engines and stretching in my servos, smiling innocently at me.

…But, perhaps Lord Megatron is growing attached to the little one.

The sparkling, now called Parvolus, chirped happily in my slender servos and gazed into my visor. I am well aware of the work that must be done, but, watching over the sparkling is a priority that is just as high. I walked over to a chair in my work station and set the little one down. He stared up at me with bright optics as I turned to a nearby shelf and took down an audio-video datapad. Selecting a program for the little one to watch, I moved back over to Parvolus. I set the datapad in front of the sparkling, immediately drawing his attention to the device. After watching the sparkling stare into the brightly lit datapad for a few moments, I turned back to my monitor and scanned the various frequencies I currently had open. The little one is occupied at the moment. I listened to the sparkling chirp and buzz happily as he watched the program on the datapad.

Since the little one is here with us Decepticons, I'm confident that Lord Megatron wishes for the little one to be taught and raised like a Decepticon. He was with the Autobots first, and has, without a doubt, learned English from their humans. Lord Megatron wouldn't want the next generation speaking in a primitive, alien language. I will take it upon myself to teach the little one how read, speak and write in Decepticon dialect.

...Optimus's POV…

I was thoroughly enjoying the animated program on the datapad. This particular one I remember watching on Cybertron when I was a youngling. For a reason I could not name, I never forgot this program. I sat crossed legged in front of the datapad, chirping in delight at the bright colors and animated movement of the characters. Soundwave was a short distance away, working on his monitor. I gained the feeling that I was still being watched by the silent mech. Having looked around earlier, I saw nothing unusual about his workstation. It was very impersonal, but perhaps that is how he prefers this small room to be.

Before I realized it, the program had ended and silence filled the room once more. Soundwave turned away from his monitor and took down another datapad. But instead of turning on another program, as I expected, he pulled another chair in front of mine and sat down. I remained where I was, curious as to what my silent guardian planned on doing. Soundwave pulled out a stylus stored in the side of the datapad, visor lighting up. I blinked up at him as I saw what appeared to be a glyph of some kind on Soundwave's visor. He then played a short recording of a sharp clicking sound and drew out the same glyph on the screen of the datapad with the stylus. Thankfully it did not take me long to realize what he was doing.

He was showing me how to read, write, as well as speak in the Decepticons' language.

A very small number of Autobots have been rumored to decode this developed language. Those bots were also rumored to have been deactivated before they could share their discoveries. I attempted to decode the language myself at one point, but was unsuccessful. This is an opportunity that I simply cannot pass by.

Soundwave motioned toward my small servo, encouraging me to write the character as he had. I did as I was told and used a small black digit to write out the first character below Soundwave's. I was disappointed to see that the character I wrote was incredibly sloppy compared to Soundwave's, but that feeling was quickly dispelled by Soundwave's recorded word of encouragement.

"Very good."

I smiled at the silent mech and clicked twice consecutively, as Soundwave had, saying the first character in Decepticon dialect. The silent mech nodded once and told me through a recording to repeat the character, most likely so I could grow used to making the sound. The language relied on the primal components of speech, similarly to early Cybertronian languages. Neocybex evolved from these early languages, but now relies heavily on the function of a single section of the CPU. I now realize that learning this language is a step back into our seemingly forgotten history. Perhaps I can appreciate the language for recalling the ways of the old, a history our society before the war worked to file away and promptly forget.

We continued in the lesson, my handwriting in the Decepticon language slowly improving. I had trouble with a few of the characters, but Soundwave's silent encouragement urged me to keep repeating them until I could properly say them. There were several low, guttural sounds accompanying a few of the characters that I had difficulty with. Had I been a grown mech, I would not have such a problem with these sounds, given my baritone voice. Now that I am technically younger, my voice is of a higher pitch, making it difficult for me to pronounce those particular characters that require a guttural tone.

We were almost complete when a thought entered my processor. Soundwave was not speaking in recording when he said each character. He was speaking in his given voice that he rarely used. It must take a certain level of what he considers affection to prompt him to use his own voice with anyone, let alone myself. Soundwave was not one to use his voice for any reason. I looked up from the datapad I writing on, gazed into his visor and I received the sensation that he was looking into my optics.

I appreciate this window into Soundwave's true personality, albeit a very small window.

…Starscream's POV: One Hour Later – Elsewhere in the Nemesis…

I cannot believe this!

How is it that I get stuck with this annoying little cretin when Soundwave is supposed to be watching him?!

That silent mech had Steve drop him off at my quarters just when I was about to leave with orders from Soundwave of temporary relief of my duties as second-in-command. Now I can't do anything but watch this sparkling. I already know that Megatron knows I'm supposed to be watching him, so I can't just leave him here and not expect Megatron to threaten to blow my CPU out. I glared down at the little sparkling as he crawled around my room.

I am the second-in-command of the Decepticon army, not a babysitter!

I growled quietly and walked past the sparkling, heading over to my personal monitor. Recently I have taken a certain… interest in the 'Internet'. It is an excellent way to occupy time since I'm normally sucked into the seemingly infinite sea of data. The 'lolcat' pictures are strangely alluring. I sat down in my chair and briefly glanced at the sparkling, who was just sitting on the floor, staring up at me. Or, rather, staring at my wings. I sighed and rolled my optics, turning back to my monitor.

…

Suddenly I heard a loud crash, scaring the scrap out of me. My wings automatically lowered at the spook I received and I whipped my helm around to see what exactly caused the noise. Upon seeing what had happened, I snarled loudly.

"What in the Pit are you doing?!" I shot up from my chair, wings quivering in anger. The sparkling had somehow managed to knock over my entire collection of history datapads! All of the datapads were all over the floor with the sparkling sitting in the middle of mess. He was just sitting there with tears in his optics, as if I cared.

"Great, now I have to reorganize all of these datapads. You had better be glad Soundwave is your guardian, otherwise you would have been long gone," I snarled hotly as I crouched to collect my precious belongings, only to find a few of them shattered. Some of these datapads were my personal journals and old (as well as recent) stored transmissions from Thundercracker and Skywarp. I sighed mentally when I saw that none of those transmission datapads were shattered. I'd rather my journal datapads be shattered than the transmission datapads. They are all the evidence I have to tell me that Thunder and Sky are still alive. All of the sudden, I heard a soft sound coming from behind me.

I froze.

What in the Primus fragging PIT did I just do?

…Optimus's POV…

I had allowed the child within near total control and curiously wandered up to a large shelf of datapads. Before I realized it, I had knocked down the majority of the datapads and now possessed a sore helm. I at first looked up at Starscream, who swore and yelled at me, rushing over to pick up the datapads.

It never occurred to me how much it hurt to be yelled at, regardless of who it was. It was no better that I am now more sensitive to this because of the child within. I never meant to anger Starscream; I merely wished to take down a datapad. He had an extensive collection of recorded history, particularly focusing on the city of Vos, a place I know little about.

The child within froze and I had no choice but to grow still as well. Childish sadness welled up in my spark and I could not suppress the soft sob that escaped me. That sob grew into a wail as Starscream understood what was happening. He tried quieting me to no prevail.

He attempted giving me a datapad, which did nothing to calm the child within down. Then he tried to play a traditional song of the Seekers. The warrior within was more intrigued, while the child within wished to hear none of it. He tried a multitude of other methods, except one I know would have calmed me down.

Holding me close to him would have calmed me down significantly.

I stared through teary optics at Starscream and saw the panicked expression on his faceplates. I honestly believe he is afraid to pick me up, though I know that he would never admit that.

The child within seemed to only grow more upset, seizing more control than I would have ever allowed. I fought for control over my own frame, only to find the full force I now know as the emotions of an upset child. I now see that attempting to suppress such emotions is futile, and that I should not fight them. Withdrawing into the quiet comfort of my own mind, I watched through my own optics as I let the child within have even more control.

I can only wonder how Starscream plans on calming the child within down.

…Steve's POV: Ten Minutes Later…

I stopped and stared at Starscream's door. I dropped the sparkling off not long ago and I can already hear the kid crying.

"Geez, what did he do to the kid?" I nodded, agreeing with my friend, Shank. We were just walking down the hall delivering reports the top Vehicon officer, Volk, when we heard all the commotion.

"Should we go help him out?" Shank asked me. I just shrugged. Starscream really hates being bothered for any reason, even if it's important. Vehicons who bother him for a reason he thinks isn't important risk getting clawed. I perked up slightly when I heard heavy footfalls from somewhere down the hall. It was a little ways away, but I already knew who it was. Lord Megatron was somewhere down the halls, and I know Starscream doesn't want to be caught with an upset sparkling. Lord Megatron might seriously deactivate him this time. I sighed.

"I never thought I'd say this, but I'm going to go help Starscream." Shank just gave me a crazy look. I waved him off and headed over to Starscream's room. Bracing myself, I keyed in the emergency override code to the door and looked in. What I saw inside basically confirmed the general opinions of just about all the Vehicons on the ship.

Starscream will NEVER have kids.

"Good! You're here! Watch the sparkling!" Starscream just picked the kid up and shoved him into my servos. I looked down at the crying sparkling and back up at our second-in-command.

"But, uh, Commander Soundwave said-" Starscream's optic twitched at my protests.

"I DON'T CARE WHAT HE SAID! Just watch the sparkling!"

"Alright, I'll watch the sparkling." I quickly backed off and headed back over to Shank, who was still holding those reports we were supposed to give Volk a while ago. As soon as the kid got comfortable in my servos, he calmed down. We both kind of just looked at the sparkling for a moment before I just pulled out a cleaning rag I had left in my subspace and wiped the kid's eyes.

"So, what are we gonna do now?" Shank asked me. I looked at him.

"What do you think, stupid? We're going to watch the sparkling until Soundwave comes and gets him."

"Alright. And don't call me stupid, Tripwire."

"Don't call me Tripwire. I prefer the nickname 'Steve'." We bickered back and forth the way we normally do as we walked down to the Rec Room. Thankfully there was nobody in there, aside from Volk. He complained a bit about the late reports but quickly stopped when he saw the sparkling. After that, he started panicking. And whenever he panics, his usually deep voice goes up to a higher pitch. You can never take him seriously like that!

"You kidnapped the sparkling?! Do you know what Lord Megatron would do to you if he saw with him? What he would do to all of us?" I rolled my optics behind my visor band. Volk's gonna crash his CPU giving himself a panic attack like that. I learned that the hard way.

"Volk, calm down. Starscream charged me with watching the kid." I adjusted my grip on the sparkling and cradled him in my arms, so he'll be more comfortable. His optics were enormous compared to his small size. Optimus Prime was really tiny when he was a sparkling.

"Hey, I heard that Lord Megatron's going to call him 'Parvolus'." Shank said after we calmed Volk down.

"Well, maybe we should call him that." Volk said, regaining his composure. Shank, Volk, and a few other Vehicons who had overheard us talking crowded around me so they could get a good look at the sparkling. Most of us haven't even seen a sparkling before this. Thankfully, one of the older Vehicons were there. Rudder was a pretty old Vehicon medic, and I already know he knows how to take care of a sparkling.

"Rudder, you got any games for us to play?" His yellow visor band grew brighter at Shank's question. The older bot turned to go down the hall.

"I'll be right back."

…

Parvolus was really enjoying this game we were playing. I think Rudder made it himself to pass the time, because I don't remember playing anything like this back on Cybertron. It was like the human game, Jenga, only with metal blocks. He always laughed and giggled when the tower fell after someone pulled out a block. I guess he's fine with all of us being around him; he seemed to like being around us Vehicons. By that time, a number of Vehicons had stopped by to see Parvolus. A lot of people didn't believe that Parvolus was even on the warship. They thought it was just a rumor going around.

"Seems to like you, Steve," Rudder said from his chair across the room. Parvolus hadn't moved from next to me after I had put him down on the floor and sat down on the floor with him. Shank laughed when the sparkling shifted closer to me as he pulled out one of the blocks from the tower. Volk stood off to the side and grumbled about how much trouble we could get into and I just looked down at the chirping sparkling. The tower fell again, getting a roar of laughter from the other Vehicons that had gathered around us. Parvolus started laughing as the pieces clattered to the ground, clapping his tiny servos.

Soundwave is a great guardian and all, but he isn't the most fun bot in the universe. Shank and I will show the sparkling how to have some real fun on the Nemesis.

…Miko's POV: Autobot Outpost Omega One…

I know I messed up. I messed up big time. But I want to help fix it.

Looked around the dark main room, I spotted Ratchet. He was sitting at a desk he had set up in front of the monitor. He had his head down. I crept closer to him. When I saw his face, I sighed in relief. He's slee- uh, recharging. He must've tired himself out.

The monitor was blinking with a picture of the Nemesis. It only does that when it found something important. Really important.

I told Bulkhead I was going to get a ride home from Agent Fowler, but I really stayed here so I could help find Optimus. I want to set things right. I stared at the monitor for a second longer. Wait a minute… Those are the Nemesis's coordinates! Maybe I can sneak on their ship and get Optimus back!

I tiptoed up the stairs and ran over to the computer Raf used to open the Ground Bridge. A second later the Bridge lit up and I looked back at Ratchet, hoping the light of the Bridge didn't wake him up. Good, he's still sleeping. I took a deep breath and ran through the Ground Bridge.

…

I tiptoed into the Nemesis, mostly staying in the shadows. I'm never going to get over how big this ship really is. Just the room that I'm in is freaking huge. I saw the door open and I ducked back into a corner, making sure I wasn't seen. A Con had walked through (I think they're called Vehicons) and went down the hallway outside. I looked around. There were around five or six other Vehicons and they looked like they were leaving. I watched all of them leave- no, wait, there's one left. He had a yellow optic band and looked like he was sleeping in the chair over there. It'll be easy to sneak past him.

Suddenly, I heard this chirping noise.

What the heck is that? I looked around, trying to figure out what made the noise. It didn't take me long to see it. I gasped and ran over. It was Optimus! He was playing with these metal blocks and making a tower. He hadn't noticed me when I ran over, so I called his name.

That caught his attention.

He looked at me, instantly recognizing me. His huge optics lit up brighter than ever and he broke out in an enormous smile. "Meeko!"

I blinked back the tears as I went over and hugged him tight. Optimus returned the hug and kept clicking in a happy tone. I can finally bring him back! We can get him back. I started back towards the blue-green light of the open Ground Bridge portal.

"Come on, Optimus. Let's get you home." The happy light in his optics instantly disappeared. I gave a confused look. Huh? What's wrong?

Suddenly Optimus got really stiff and looked towards the door. I cocked my head to the side.

"What? What's up?" He looked back at me, a completely different light in his optics. He started tugging me towards the Ground Bridge frantically.

"H- He cum… He cummin'!"

"Who's 'he'?" I asked, walking back over to the Ground Bridge. Optimus just shook his head and started pushing me into the Ground Bridge.

"Wait! What's going on?" I never got an answer when he pushed me through the Ground Bridge. I turned around just before the Bridge closed to see Megatron walk into the room. He saw Optimus sitting there and gently picked him up! Megatron gently picked him up! What in the world is going on?!

I bolted back into the base. The coordinates on the monitor for the Nemesis were gone. We can't get back to the Nemesis, at least not now. I looked over to see Ratchet, who still had his head down at his desk.

"Ratchet! Wake up!"

His head shot up from the desk and as soon as he saw me, he glared. "Miko, what in the Pit are you still doing here?"

"No time for that! I've got to tell you something."

"Is the base on fire?" Ratchet asked sarcastically. I crossed my arms over my chest and glared back at him.

"Ratchet, I was just on the Nemesis and I saw Optimus." He stared at me for a second and spoke calmly.

"Well, did you get him back?"

I shook my head. "No. It looked like he didn't want to leave." Ratchet scoffed.

"I'm serious! He pushed me back through the Ground Bridge. But that's not what I wanted to tell you."

Doc Bot turned to me and stood up, looking down at me. "Well, what is it?"

I have no idea how Ratch' is going to react to this, so I'll just hope for the best. I took a deep breath and braced myself. "I saw Megatron come into the room right before the Bridge closed and I saw him pick Optimus up."

Ratchet looked like he was about to blow a gasket. I waved my hands around, trying to calm him down. "But he didn't hurt Optimus. Megatron gently picked him up, like he actually cared about Optimus!"

Ratchet braced himself on the corner of his desk. He got this vacant look on his face as he stared through me. I rubbed my arm, getting nervous under his stare. I think I just made everything worse. Ratchet just started to mumble, but I caught most of what he said.

"...Dear Primus, what are we going to do now?"

I credit the name 'Volk' to my lovely sister. It happens to be the name of an asteroid. I credit the scene where Steve comes to help Starscream to PrimeTime. Thanks a million!

I'll tell you guys a bit about the Vehicons. First, I own Tripwire, Shank, Rudder and Volk. Tripwire's nickname is Steve. Most of the Vehicons like Steve since he's easy to approach about a problem. Shank is Tripwire's best friend, who's known for goofing off and Volk is a... slightly paranoid Vehicon officer. Rudder is a kind, older Vehicon who has a yellow optic band instead of a red one and is a medic.

In the next chapter there will be more bonding time with the Cons, but Starscream has a few tricks up his sleeve, one of them Soundwave won't approve of at all. Optimus's business with the Cons isn't done yet, and Optimus knows it.

If you got any ideas for me, just drop a review. Let me know what you think! :D