Here it goes, here it goes, here it goes again! The new chapter of Tiny!
Starts in Ratchet's POV. I don't own Transformers, they own themselves. :P
Let's go!
Miko was very excited to hear that Optimus's spark day was tomorrow, along with the others. My son is asleep in my berthroom, giving us all night to prepare for the celebration. All of them were glad to contribute to the preparations. I already know that they plan on getting Optimus presents. Bumblebee said that he'll make the oil cake and Bulkhead and Arcee will assist with decorations. Jack, Miko and Rafael had to leave the base soon, but they will help with decorations by bringing supplies early tomorrow morning. I know Optimus would still be recharging in my berthroom, so we won't have to worry about him much.
Before the children left, Jack told me that he'd bring some cake. When Bumblebee said that he was making the cake, the black haired human pointed out that his species most likely couldn't eat our cake with becoming very sick. That was an excellent point. The last thing I want in the silo is sick humans. The organics are strange enough as it is.
"Hey, Bee? What kind of cake are you making?" Bulkhead asked the youngling as all of us bots stood in the main control room. Even Wheeljack is participating in our plans for Optimus.
"You know Warper's cake?" Bee asked, gaining a smile in his optics. Recognition filled Bulkhead's optics and the green mech nodded his helm.
"Are you kidding? I love that oil cake! Used to get it all the time back on Cybertron!" I had to agree with Bulkhead's reaction. Warper's oil cake was a simple, yet deliciously sweet dessert. It was very popular among bots of all castes. I have yet to meet a bot who did not like Warper's oil cake. It was one of the few things the binding society of Cybertron allowed everybot to experience and enjoy.
"You don't need a whole lot of different things to make that cake, so I can use ingredients from this planet." The yellow scout turned to go down the hallway. "I'll go start on it now. The sooner, the better."
I nodded once and watched him go. Soon I turned to the others. "The rest of you can do what you want, so long as you're active in assisting with this celebration. We don't have any time to waste."
The others nodded and left in separate directions to conduct their own contributions. The celebration we planned would not be strictly traditional with old Cybertronian ways. In fact, on Cybertron, the only bots who celebrated spark days were to bots of higher castes. Having been born into a high caste myself, I have received a few spark day celebrations from family and friends. Spark days passed unnoticed among the middle and lower caste bots. The vast majority of them could not afford to take time out for the luxury.
While Optimus was a grown mech, he never mentioned celebrating his spark day at any time, but he did tell me the date over energon one solar cycle. I am assuming this would be his first true spark day celebration. The combination of human traditions and Cybertronian ones would make the experience all the more interesting for him.
Tomorrow, Optimus will technically be exactly 120, 483 vorns old. I can't say how old he would be if he were the age of an actual sparkling, given his abnormally small size. As much as I would love to check his protoform to see his age, I already know that the data I would receive will show that he is the age of a grown mech, rather than a sparkling. I can only guess that he's in the very early youngling stage, just beginning to develop a functioning T-Cog.
I walked off towards by berthroom, spark warming in anticipation. Once I reached the door, I slowly opened it and peeked inside. I smiled at the site I saw in the darkened room.
My son was sleeping just where I had left him on my berth. Optimus had shifted around in his towel, freeing one arm. He was on his front and had one digit in his partially opened mouth. I silently stepped further in and moved to sit on the edge of the berth next to my sparkling. The smile on my faceplates broadened as I gently stroked my sparkling's shiny faceplates. He loosed a quiet purring sound from his engines as he slept peacefully.
"I know you're going to like your spark day celebration, Optimus." I whispered, knowing he couldn't hear me. I readjusted the towel so that it covered his tiny shoulders again and stood to leave.
A muted whimper met my audio receptors and I instantly turned around. My sparkling was still asleep, though he seemed to sense that I was going to leave the room. A saddened expression spread across his face as he started to become restless in his recharge. I leaned over him and stroked his back gingerly, cooing comforting words into his audio receptors.
He quickly calmed down and grew still once more. I stood again and quietly walked towards the door. I would love to spend the rest of the night here, but I must assist in his celebration tomorrow. I must prepare my gift to him, just the other bots and the children are.
"Good night, my son." I murmured before silently closing the door behind me.
...Optimus's POV: Next Day at Noon...
I awoke from my slumber much later than I normally do. Looking around, I realized that I was in Ratchet's room on his berth. The child within me wished to recharge more, but I overpowered it and sat up. The child within remained quiet, though I could still sense what the child wanted. The warm towel I was wrapped in slid down my chassis and settled on my lap. I rubbed my optics and blinked a few times to grow used to the low light of the room.
Suddenly, I heard my tanks rumble. I realized that I was in need of refueling. The child within me instantly seized full control of me, and before I could restrain myself, I released a loud wail.
The only thing I wanted at that moment was to be fed, so I decided not to struggle against instinctive wails of a hungry sparkling. I did not have long to wait for someone to arrive.
I continued to cry when Bumblebee opened the door to Ratchet's dark room. Light flooded in around the scout's silhouette as he walked closer to me. I soon felt my tiny frame being picked up and held against a warm chassis. Though I was comfortably warm, the rumbling in my tanks did not subside. Bumblebee revved his engines as he walked back out into the brightly lit hallway, attempting to calm me down.
Thankfully, the young mech quickly understood the message behind my cries. He swiftly walked to the energon storeroom and retrieved the smallest cube he could find. By the swiftness of his actions, I can assume that he knew exactly how much I wanted the energon.
Soon, I was drinking my fill of energon from the cube Bumblebee was holding as he walked down the hallway, towards the main control room. I relaxed into the crook of his arm, the child within contented. While I refueled I wondered why Bumblebee had come for me. Ratchet was the one who always fed me. I could not help but wonder where Ratchet was as my tank filled with energon.
"Man, were you hungry!" Bumblebee laughed as he looked down at me. I glanced up at him and smiled around the tip of the cube. He laughed again as he walked into the main control room. Once I looked around the room, I forgot about the cube I was clutching and stared.
There were balloons of all different colors on strings tied to the railing, multicolored streamers lined the walls and confetti littered the floor. Wheeljack, Ratchet, Arcee, Bulkhead and the children all stood in the center of the room, smiling at me. Miko had an especially excited expression on her face as she stood next to Bulkhead's pede, wearing a colorful, cone-shaped hat on her head. Jack and Rafael wore the same type of strange hat Miko was wearing as well. I noticed a human sized table with a white and gold trimmed table with boxes and what appeared to be a cake sitting there on it, as if the items were waiting for me. I looked back at the people standing around Bumblebee and I, confused. I do not understand. What is happening?
Bumblebee gently tapped me on the arm with a single digit, gaining my attention. The smile in his optics was unmistakable as he pointed up. I followed the direction where he was urging me to look and stared up at a banner that read-
"HAPPY BIRTHDAY!" Almost everyone in the room shouted what the banner above my helm read. I could not help but smile as the three children began to cheer. Ratchet must have told the others the date of my spark day. They seem to have put quite a bit of effort into putting this celebration together for me. They also incorporated human traditions into this celebration.
Bumblebee crouched and lowered me down to the ground after walking into the center of the room. Ratchet was standing short distance away with a smile on his faceplates. He knew this was my first true spark day celebration. The presence of the humans will indeed make this event all the more memorable and interesting.
I can only imagine what the others have planned for me.
...Bulkhead's POV...
I've never seen Miko this happy about anything before. She had brought all the balloons and streamers and had the rest of us put them up all over the main room. There were balloons everywhere. She wanted them on the floors too, but the other bots and I would pop them all trying to walk around.
I helped Miko with her gift for Optimus. I was kind of surprised to see which gift she wanted to give Optimus. I was expecting something like a semi automatic rubber band launcher.
"Hey, the birthday boy needs his party hat!" Miko said excitedly. She ran up to Optimus and put one of those weird little cone-shaped hats on his helm. He didn't seem to mind wearing the paper hat as Miko stood back and snapped a picture of him sitting there on the floor with her phone. Bumblebee and I laughed at how silly Optimus looked with that hat on. Ratchet just smiled a bit and shook his helm.
"Let's start with the gifts." Arcee said, putting a servo on her hip. "Miko, you can go first."
Miko was almost bouncing on her feet as she walked over to the table she and Jack set up earlier for the gifts. Optimus just looked her, optics growing brighter than usual. She went and grabbed a box wrapped in red paper and raced back to Optimus.
"I wonder what she got her." Wheeljack thought out loud. Ratchet looked like he was thinking the same thing. I looked at the fellow Wrecker.
"You'll see. Just let the little guy open it first." The sound of tearing paper filled the main room and paper shreds went everywhere. Optimus looked like a kid on Christmas morning. Bumblebee tilted his helm slightly to the side when she saw the gift in the little guy's servos.
"A photo album?" Jack and Raf looked just as surprised as Arcee did. The photo album was a red leather-bound book, was kept closed by a black elastic string, and had a huge white Autobot insignia on the center of the front cover.
"Yeah! Come on, Optimus! Go ahead and look at a few of them!" Miko urged, eyes lighting up. I just noticed that her hair has the habit of perking up a little bit, like cat ears when she's happy.
Optimus had a curious look on his face as he pulled the string off the cover and opened the album. I laughed out loud when I saw the first one. It was a photo of Ratchet and Bee standing in the room we were in now. Bee was blurred as he ran past the camera with a blurred wrench flying right behind him. Ratchet was frozen in an angry shout, arm raised after throwing the wrench. I looked back at Ratchet.
"Why'd you do that?" He just blinked at me.
"Our lovely scout stepped on and broke one of my favorite wrenches."
I looked over at Bee. "How'd you survive that?" Ratchet gets really pissed when his stuff gets broken. And I should know.
"I still can't figure out the answer to that one."
Optimus was all smiles when he turned the page looking at other pictures in the leather bound book. Miko has been taking a lot more pictures than I thought. For some of the pictures, she got some of us to pose for the camera (mostly Bumblebee), but a lot of them were of us doing our usual thing, and Miko doing something silly in the background. In one picture, Optimus (as a grown mech) was intently staring into a datapad, standing somewhere in the hallway. You could see Miko in the background imitating his exact stance, making the whole scene look as funny as the serious looks on both of their faces.
She had to have gotten Jack to take the ones she was in. I glanced down at Jack, who was rubbing the back of his neck in slight embarrassment.
The little guy looked up at Miko with this look on his face, like he was asking why she was imitating him behind his back. I was wondering the same thing, but it's not out of the ordinary for Miko to just go around messing with the other 'Bots when she's bored. Miko got the message and shrugged.
"You're kinda easy to mess with." Optimus gave her a slightly disapproving look, but didn't seem to mind her doing the whole imitating thing too much.
Then, a smile lit up his little face. "Thank you, Meeko!"
"You are welcome, little dude!"
I watched Optimus put his gift from Miko down next to him. Time for the next gift. Arcee turned and grabbed something from on top of a crate near the wall behind her. I wonder what she has for him. Bee buzzed curiously and refocused his optics. All of us watched as Arcee crouched in front of Optimus and set his gift down in front of him. I still hadn't figured out what the gift was when Optimus squealed with joy.
"S- Sonic keyz!" I raised my optic ridges. How did Arcee get a sonic keyboard? I was about to ask when Jack asked another question.
"What are sonic keys?"
"A sonic keyboard is a Cybertronian musical instrument. It's a lot like the piano, only some of the high and low notes humans can't hear," Bee explained. While Raf was translating for him, Optimus was already playing around with the instrument, tapping out short little tunes. There were only a few that I recognized. I decided to ask Arcee how in the world she got an authentic sonic keyboard. She just smiled a bit and said that she 'had her ways'.
I'm not gonna question it. Seeing a little piece of Cybertron every once in a while is nice.
While Optimus was playing with the instrument and thanking Arcee, I pulled my gift to him out of my subspace. "Happy Spark Day, Lil Boss Bot."
He turned at the sound of my voice. Arcee scoffed when she saw the gift I had for him. I smiled at her. She had seen me getting the gift together, so she knows what it is. His gift was in a bag that was about as big as he was, and was tied off at the top with a blue string. I had to fight with that little string to get it to tie right. I chuckled when I saw the look on Optimus's face.
"Well, don't just stare at it. Open it!" He up at me and back down at the gift sitting in front of him. Instead of tearing it open, he untied the knot and looked inside the opened bag. Miko leaned over him to see what was in the bag. Optimus's huge optics got even bigger when pulled out a piece.
"Is that candy?" Raf asked. Optimus had already stuffed a few crystals of the light purple energon candy and tried to crunch on them. Wheeljack smiled and shook his helm when he saw the frustrated look on Optimus's face. I nodded, looking down at Raf.
"Yep, a lot of it. It's my favorite kind."
Raf looked confused. "But how'd you get it?"
I shrugged. "It's not hard to make. That kind of energon candy was used by us Wreckers when we were sent on long distance missions back on Cybertron. Carrying enough energon around for all of us was a real pain in the butt, and it slowed us down. One of us figured out how to make some condensed energon candy while we were on the road. Ever since then, we used that as a way to stay functional and get the mission done faster. And it tasted great!"
"That's enough, Optimus. You're going to make yourself sick," Ratchet sternly scolded. The little guy pouted a bit as he put the crystal candy back in the bag. By then, he had bits of the candy stuck to his face and was licking his lips, trying to get the little pieces off. I laughed along with Bee when I saw that his glossa had turned purple.
"Th-Thanks, Bulkee!" My spark melted at the cheeky smile and the little nickname the little guy gave me.
"Aw, you're welcome." I turned and tapped Jackie on the shoulder. "You're up."
"Right." Before I knew it, my friend went and grabbed his gift to him. It looked like a human child's motorized car and had red and blue flames on the hood and body. It looked a lot like this car called a Camaro. Miko could sit in it comfortably if she wanted to. Ratchet was shaking his helm as he looked it over. Optimus tilted his helm to the side when Wheeljack set the car down in front of him.
"In you go." Wheeljack gently picked him up and lowered the little guy back down into the front seat of the car. Miko's eyes were glittery as she stared at the little car. Jack could tell what she thinking by the look on her face.
"No, you can't take it for a spin." Miko deflated at Jack's statement. I glanced back over at Jackie, who was explaining how the car worked to Optimus. Wheeljack crouched down in front of him and pointed at something in the car.
"Now this red button is the ignition. I know you know what that does." Wheeljack then pointed out the accelerator and the brake and other things that'll help Optimus not slam into a wall. He seemed to have everything down and turned the little car on. The car didn't really roar to life, but it was pretty close. Bee gave an impressed buzz as a thin vapor trail escaped the tailpipe of the car. It was little, but the engine sounded pretty powerful. The purr of the engine sounded more Cybertronian than human. I gazed over at my friend.
"Why'd you get him a car?" He just shrugged at me.
"Since the kid can't transform, I figured that he would miss his wheels." The sound of the small engine revving caught everyone's attention as the little guy tried the accelerator. He let up on the accelerator immediately, and stepped on it again. A bit too hard.
Suddenly the car raced forward, slamming smack into Ratchet's ankle. Bee and the kids snickered as he grabbed his ankle and hissed in pain. I tried to hide my smile. That was pretty funny!
"You all wouldn't think it's funny if you got hit with that death trap!" Ratchet glared. Bee just laughed out loud. Optimus got a sad look on his face as his optics got even bigger than they already were.
"Sah-wee." Ratchet's optics instantly softened at the sad little voice. He gazed down at the little sparkling staring back up at him.
"It's alright. Just be careful." Ratchet watched Optimus back the car up and speed around his ankles. He zipped around the room, tiny car engine humming loudly the entire way.
"Wheeljack, what did you do to it? That engine is too powerful and small to be human," Bee said.
"That's because it's not human. I built the engine last night and modified a human vehicle I found in a storage room somewhere in this silo. I had to keep some of the car's original engine parts to get it to work. It's not as fast or as fuel efficient as I would like, but at least I got it working with no bugs."
Optimus was just racing past Arcee's pedes when the little flamed car's brakes suddenly locked, making it whip around to face the opposite direction and screech to a stop right in front of Jackie. I raised my optic ridges. Man, he's already pretty good in that thing. Optimus squeaked a loud 'thank you' to Wheeljack from near his pedes. Jackie just gave the little sparkling a small smile as Optimus turned the little car off and climbed out. While Ratchet moved in to put the flamed car out of the way, I saw Raf jump up and run over to the white and gold table Miko's gift was on. He stumbled a bit trying to carry the huge (by his standards) white box over to where Optimus sat. Jack moved to help him with the bulky thing. I wonder what's in there...
"Here you go, Optimus. I hope you like it." Raf said after he put the box down next to the little guy. Optimus blinked a few times and used the box to help himself stand up. He's still not very stable on his pedes.
The little guy pried the box open and looked inside. "Fluffee."
I furrowed my optic ridges in confusion. What did that mean? Arcee looked like she had the same question. We all watched the sparkling reach inside and pull out our answer.
"That is so cute!" Bee said, looking at the enormous stuffed tiger Optimus was pulling out of the box. Just the look in his optics told me that he absolutely love it.
"It had her since I was a baby. She's just been sitting around my house for a long time and once I heard your birthday was today, I thought you would like it." Raf smiled as Optimus moved the tiger around. The orange and black striped stuffed animal was almost as big as he was. The little sparkling buried his face into the back of the tiger's neck.
"W- Wuh... What's..." Optimus was having a hard time saying something and I couldn't figure it out. Raf had no problems, though.
"What's her name? Stripey."
"Stripey!" Optimus repeated happily, drawing out the 'E' sound in the stuffed tiger's name. His bright optics repeatedly said thank you to Raf, and the little human got the message. Suddenly Miko punched Jack in the shoulder playfully and whispered something to him. He said 'alright, alright' and went over to the table to grab what I'm assuming is a gift for Optimus.
"Hey, Optimus." The sparkling's helm turned in Jack's direction as he walked towards him with a gift bag in his hand. Optimus was still hugging his new stuffed tiger when Jack put the bag down in front of him. The little guy reached in the bag curiously and pulled out a finger paint set. It had four containers of four different colors: red, yellow, green, and blue. The box said the brand was Little Hawk's Art Materials. I heard it was a good brand of art stuff that's geared towards children.
"No, no, no. You are not opening that up now," Ratchet protested. I guess he didn't want to get stuck with cleaning up paint from the floor. Optimus didn't look like he was going to open it, but he sure loved it. He seems to really like paint, especially the red.
Everyone had given him a gift... oh, wait, no. Everyone had given him a gift except Ratchet, who looked like he was reaching into his subspace to get the gift. Bee's gift'll come a little later. The Doc pulled out a small package that was wrapped plainly in bright blue paper. All of us looked at Ratchet as he crouched in front of the sparkling, who gave him his full attention. Doc Bot offered the little gift to him and Optimus gratefully took it.
Before long the wrapping was all the way off the gift and all of us (except Ratchet) were staring at it. It looked like a crystal, only it looked like it kept changing color. The top of the crystal was all dark blueish-purple, but the bottom, where Optimus was holding it, it more than one color. It had light blue, green and yellow. I looked at Ratchet.
"It's a color changing crystal from the Prima Gardens in Crystal City. It changes color according to how much heat the layer of liquid crystals on the main crystal it is exposed to. I took a trip there once before the war and took a sample of the crystal so I could study it, and I kept it ever since."
I nodded, impressed. The Prima Gardens were famous for the towering color changing crystals. It attracted tourists from all over Cybertron. I had never been, but I heard a lot about the place. A lot of people said the crystals were even bigger than the towers of the Golden Age and the most beautiful things you would ever see. Legends say that the pure souls of sparklings live in the crystals. I'm surprised Ratchet was even allowed to take a sample of the crystal.
Optimus turned the crystal over and over in his servos, staring at all the different colors in the crystal. Now he has two pieces of Cybertron. The little guy thanked Ratchet for the gift. Bumblebee took that as a cue to go and get his gift to Optimus.
The sparkling's face lit up as soon as he saw the cake Bumblebee was carrying. It was the Warper's oil cake Bee made last night for Optimus. Miko clapped her hands together.
"Time to sing to the birthday boy!"
...Optimus's POV: Ten Minutes Later...
Being sung to by the other 'Bots and the children is a very interesting experience.
Humans had the strange tradition of singing to the person being celebrated for turned one year older. There was no such thing on Cybertron. The most I can recall occurring in the average Cybertronian spark day celebration was sharing oil cake among family and friends, and giving gifts to the bot being celebrated. The vast majority of spark day celebrations took place among higher caste bots, mechs and femmes who could afford the luxury of the occasion. I was born into a middle caste, so spark days came and went swiftly. The most I would do as a data clerk was mentally recognize that I was a vorn older and resume my daily routine.
It is almost sad that it took the Great War for me to experience something as simple as a spark day celebration.
I loved all the gifts that the others gave me, not expecting to receive so much. The child within was ecstatic to see to finger paint set that Jack had given me, and memories of throwing paint at a Decepticon filled my processor after I saw the clear plastic container of red paint next to the other three colors.
Miko's gift was unexpected. I did not know what to expect, but a photo album with pictures of myself, the children and the other 'Bots was not the sort of gift I would expect Miko to give someone. I was surprised to see that Arcee had given me a sonic keyboard. I have yet to learn of how she managed to obtain such a Cybertronian instrument. I received sonic key lessons many vorns ago when I was a youngling and the pleasant memories of my carrier assisting me in practice were welcomed.
Needless to say, I was very happy with Wheeljack's gift to me. I decided in the first week of my new sparkling days that I would miss the ability to transform and speed down a vacant desert road at night. I was happy to gain a sense of speed in the little car he had built for me. Ratchet was not pleased when I accidentally rammed the car into his ankle, however.
The child within me was practically shouting the word 'candy' when I opened Bulkhead's gift to me. Even as a grown mech, I had a weakness for sweet things. That weakness only worsened when Bumblebee gave his gift to me, the Warper's cake. It tasted heavenly.
I have a new friend today. Rafael had given me Stripey, the enormous stuffed tiger with very soft fur. I am touched to know that Rafael had given me something that was so significant to him in his younger years. Ratchet's gift to me was an instant reminder of nature on Cybertron. So much myth and legend surrounds these Prima crystals originating from the Prima Gardens, the crystals themselves were believed to have magical properties. With the strange, paranormal happenings that were common around the Prima crystals, I would not be surprised if the mysterious crystals did.
The Prima crystals are believed to have existed since the birth of Cybertron itself. One legend says that the spark of the first Cybertronian, Prima, resides in the towering crystals, while others state that the pure sparks of younglings who were separated and never reunited with their creators live and play and dance with one another in the crystals. The crystal fragment I had in my tiny servo now was constantly shifting in color and each never remained in one place, as if they were dancing in rhythm to one another.
Miko was standing before the white and gold table, cutting the human cake that Jack had brought and passing out the pieces to her human friends. I was sitting on the floor, so I was not able to see what had suddenly caught her attention.
"Hey, guys. Someone forgot a gift." I noticed the confused expression on Ratchet's faceplates above me. My faceplates reflected the expression. I received gifts from everyone in this room. The gift that seems to have appeared on the table did not make sense. Bulkhead took a tiny step forward.
"Who's it from?" Miko took the small, neatly wrapped box from the table and looked at each side.
"It only says it's to Optimus." She said after scrutinizing the tiny label on the box. She shrugged and turned to hand the present to me. I reached out and took it from her.
"Well, your name's on it. Somebody wanted you to have it." Everyone in the room leaned forward to see what was in the box as I cautiously pulled off the dull silver wrapping. Silence filled the room as I opened the white box inside. The object inside the box nestled in neatly folded tissue paper surprised me.
It was a small silver and black Autobot insignia necklace on a silver chain. I was bordering on mesmerized as I pulled the necklace out of the box by the chain and stared at the slowly spinning insignia. This was a wonderful gift. The others around me marveled at the necklace and asked each other if they had given it to me. Neither I nor they found an answer. I looked over at Arcee and saw the answer.
Cliffjumper stood directly behind his former partner, smiling that familiar, serene smile. A light shone around his horned helm as his soft white optics glowed brightly. Arcee didn't see the red mech standing behind her and continued her conversation with Bumblebee. Memories of the moment Clifjumper pulled me from the danger of falling to my death from the Nemesis filled my processor. I remember every nanoklik of that moment vividly. I remember the terror I felt when Starscream left me to die. I remember feeling safer than I had in a very long time when he held me close to his chassis. I remember the sorrow I felt when I realized that I never had the opportunity to thank my savior. I opened my mouth to make his presence known to the others when he spoke to me, smiling gently.
"Happy Spark Day."
I stared at him in shock briefly before recovering and attempting to notify the others again, though I doubted anyone could see him. Ratchet was facing his direction, but was not looking at him. No sound could escape my voice box when the red spirit raised a digit to his lips.
"Shhh... I'll see you later."
He waved as the red spirit's frame blew away like sand in a wind I could not feel and disappeared, his serene smile remaining until I could see him no longer. I stared at the place Cliffjumper once stood behind Arcee. The blue femme shivered and looked behind her.
"Did it suddenly get cold in here, or is it just me?" She asked, glancing at the others. Bumblebee refocused his optics and said that it was just her. The expression on her face said that she was not convinced, but she did not say anything more.
It seems I am the only one who saw the red spirit.
"Hey, Jack." My helm whipped around at the sound of Miko getting her human friend's attention. Before Jack could acknowledge her, she slammed the plate of cake Jack had in his hand and into his face.
The room erupted with laughter as Jack fell on his back, frantically wiped the frosting off his face. I found myself laughing as well. Even Ratchet was having difficulty restraining his snorts. Miko pointed and laughed.
"Ha, I've always wanted to do that!"
Jack stood and licked some of the frosting off his fingers before grabbing a slice of cake from the table, an uncharacteristically devious expression on his face as he looked at Miko. "Oh, two can play at that game!"
...Ratchet's POV: That Evening...
After the celebration winded down, Bumblebee, Bulkhead and Arcee took the humans to their respective homes. The children barely ate any of the cake that Jack brought. They decided to start throwing the stuff at each other. Miko called it a 'cake war'. The sugary desert went flying everywhere.
I made all of them clean it up.
Once all was said and done, I placed Optimus's new toys off to the side so that they weren't sitting in the middle of the floor, put away the remains of my son's oil cake and cleaned up the shredded wrapping paper. While I was doing that, I saw Wheeljack leave the main control room. He probably left for his quarters.
I am currently sitting on a crate and holding Optimus close to my chassis, engine's rumbling. My son had a long day, and I could tell that he was tired. His heavy optic lids proved it. The sound of my engine will encourage him to fall into recharge. Unfortunately, outside forces didn't want Optimus to sleep.
The monitor's loud alarm went off, scaring Optimus. I comforted him quietly as I shifted him to the crook of my left arm and stood to address the message. The monitor's alarm only sounded like that when someone was sending the base a message. Optimus blinked slowly a few times and looked over at the monitor blankly. The frequency of the transmission was not one emanating from human technology. The frequency signature was obviously from powerful Cybertronian technology.
"An anonymous transmission...?" I mumbled to myself. There was no message to decrypt, only a set of coordinates. It seemed like a request for me to meet this unknown bot. I glanced down at Optimus, and his huge optics stared back. The look in his optics told me that I should see who it is. I glanced back at the green tinted screen of the monitor. The transmission notification was flashing impatiently.
I sighed and moved to place Optimus down on one of my medical berths. He stared up at me as I told him to stay put. I knew Wheeljack would come straight to the main control room if he sensed something was wrong, so my son's safety was not an issue. I turned back to the monitor and punched in the coordinates provided by this anonymous bot to the Ground Bridge controls. The transportation vortex in the wall to my right lit and roared to life, swirling in green and blue. I stood before the waiting Ground Bridge and ventilated.
I was going to go see who sent the transmission.
...
I stared in shock. I can't believe what I'm seeing. The bot standing before me was near the bottom of the list when it came to bots I expected to see. Not the bot or his cyberdog.
Soundwave silently stood there under the light of the moon with a large cyberdog standing obediently by his legs.
As soon as I saw him, I knew exactly why he contacted the base. Soundwave wanted to see his charge. But, that didn't stop me from asking what the masked 'Con wanted. What shocked me was that I didn't get a response through a recording.
"I wish to see Parvolus." Soundwave's voice was deep and clear and generally pleasing to the audio receptors. I was about to question him about who 'Parvolus' was when I remembered that Optimus mentioned being called 'Parvolus' by someone on the Nemesis to me a few nights ago. They must have renamed him.
But the name the Decepticons gave him was not important as of now. What was important was whether or not Soundwave could be trusted anywhere near my son. This is Megatron's third-in-command and communications officer. He could easily pinpoint his exact location and send it to the Nemesis. Once he does that, he can call for an ambush and attempt to take my son from me. I glared daggers at the silent mech. I absolutely cannot allow them to take my son away from me again.
"I do not want to take your sparkling from you. I know what it feels like to lose a sparkling, and I would never put another mech through such an experience," Soundwave said. The cyberdog by his legs sat on its haunches and looked at me. There was more truth in his voice than I had heard in anyone's voice in a very long time. This mech had lost a sparkling...
Soundwave must know the silo's location, since he sent a transmission directly to the base. I can only wonder why we have not been overpowered by the Decepticons yet. The only reason that would make any logical sense would be that he didn't want Optimus to be put in harm's way. Withholding that sort of information from Megatron is essentially putting your spark on the line. Few mechs had the bravery to do something that so blatantly defied Megatron. I looked the silent mech over.
"Optimus is not leaving the silo." I said firmly, before turning to leave through the Ground Bridge. I was well aware of Soundwave following me through with his cyberdog.
...
My son was ecstatic to see his silent guardian once more. Soundwave immediately went over to Optimus and picked him up from the medical berth he was sitting on and cradled him in his arms. My son was chirping and buzzing in happiness and nestled right into the armor on his guardian's chassis. The affectionate way he held Optimus so close to his frame reminded me of a sire holding his little one on a quiet, peaceful evening.
"How did you lose your sparkling?" I asked before I could stop myself. Fearing I overstepped, I shifted on my pedes as I stood in front of the other mech. He merely lifted his helm and looked at me through his mask, the light of the silo casting shadows down his black mask.
"Wingspar was murdered." My optics widened at the flat, yet pained tone in his voice. He knows even better than I do how the pain felt when his little was taken from him. I said nothing in response, knowing that something like 'I'm sorry' would be pointless. Soundwave's cyberdog silently lay down on the floor near the mech's pedes, golden optics blazing.
"I tried looking for his murderer for many vorns, but he vanished."
"...What about your sparkmate?" I wanted to get away from the topic of infanticide. It was one of the few things that unsettled me.
"She died of Cosmic Rust." I couldn't help but shake my helm. This insight gave me a small indication as to how tragic Soundwave's past was.
Suddenly Soundwave clicked sharply and the cyberdog at his pedes automatically stood.
"I would like for the little one to have the cyberdog. She can act as a guard when no bot is near to watch over him." Soundwave shifted Optimus to rest in one arm and directed the large cyberdog towards me. The cyberdog did as she was told and walked to stand next obediently to my legs. This cyberdog looked very much like a human breed of dog called the German shepherd. I gave him a surprised look.
"...Thank you, I suppose. What is her name?"
"...Halli." It was strange for a Cybertronian name, but I didn't question it. We shared the welcomed silence for a few more moments when I heard Optimus speak to Soundwave, though it was in no language I could interpret. I searched my CPU, attempting to match the strange language to the others I had downloaded into my CPU over the vorns. In a few seconds I made a match and found that it was the Decepticons' coded language.
I stayed quiet. The silent mech must have taken it upon himself to teach Optimus. From what I can tell, he has done that well. Optimus was talking delightedly in the strange language to Soundwave, and the silent mech responded in the same language.
There was an obvious bond between my son and Soundwave. I couldn't see any facial features, but I could surprisingly read his body language. He was very attached to Optimus. So attached that it made me wonder why he gave Optimus back. Soundwave is a strong mech. He could have easily protected Optimus from Starscream. But, for some reason, he gave my son back to me. I opened my mouth to ask him why when a better question came to me.
"Does Megatron know you returned him to us?" I was quickly growing more comfortable in the presence of the Decepticon.
I noticed Optimus's faceplates light up at the mention of the warlord's designation as Soundwave answered.
"Yes, he does."
I arched an optic ridge at him. "I'm surprised he didn't eviscerate you and melt you into slag."
Optimus piped in from Soundwave's slender arms. "Muh... M-Megzy be nice wen h-he wonna be."
I chuckled at my son's statement as Soundwave responded to my statement.. "I was surprised as well. He understands and accepts my reasoning behind returning the little one to you Autobots."
I glanced down at the cyberdog named Halli and back up at Soundwave. I knew the mech holding my son had a number of Deployers, but I didn't know he had a cyberdog as one. We would have seen her out in the field by now. The cyberdog certainly looked strong enough for battle.
"Sorry to get off topic, but how did you get the cyberdog?" There was a certain glint in his black mask after I asked the question. A glint that could almost be taken as humor.
"A Vehicon gave me the cyberdog after she attacked his close friend. Ravage would have none of it."
I nodded, smiling slightly. "Ah, the cat. I can understand that."
Before Soundwave could respond, both of us heard the sound of three engines drawing close to the silo. I looked at the mech holding Optimus. Saying that the others won't appreciate the Decepticon third-in-command's presence in the missile silo would be the understatement of the millennia. I jerked my helm towards the Ground Bridge.
"You had better get going." The silent mech nodded curtly and walked towards me. I took Optimus from his arms. The sound of engines grew louder as Soundwave turned his back to me. Halli narrowed her blazing gold optics and growled loudly at the approaching Autobots.
I enjoyed this short chat with the mech. Just from sharing a few words with the silent Decepticon, I learned that he is no different than any other bot who wants the best for a sparkling. I was surprised he even spoke to me instead of remaining the silent Decepticon the others have become accustomed to.
Soundwave opened his own Ground Bridge in front of him and waved goodbye. Optimus eagerly returned the gesture. In a flash, Soundwave was gone. A nanoklik later, Bumblebee, Bulkhead and Arcee pulled into the base.
I look forward to another conversation with Optimus's Decepticon guardian.
The sound of Bumblebee's frightened voice pulled me from my thoughts. I looked at the three of them, holding Optimus close to my chassis. Arcee wouldn't take her optics off the cyberdog and Bulkhead clenched his fists, ready for a fight. Bumblebee's faceplates were filled with uneasiness and nervousness as he pointed at Halli, who was still growling from near my legs.
"Ratchet, where the heck did the cyberdog come from?!"
There is a new addition to the Autobot family! And Ratchet has some explaining to do. Just so you know, 'Halli' is the nickname of Soundwave's deceased sparkmate, Halyard.
I didn't expect this chapter to get this long, but the last thing I want to do is sacrifice detail in writing.
Little Hawk's Art Materials company is dedicated to my reviewer, Hawky. Warperchick made the Warper's oil cake recipe. Bulkhead's energon rock candy gift to Optimus is from STARSCREAM RULEZ. The sonic keyboard goes to EndlessHope'22. Wheeljack's little car is derived from an idea keacdragon gave me. Halli the cyberdog is from Kohana Maru. Cliffjumper's gift goes to transformerstarwarsgal. Thank you guys for the ideas!
Eltigre221 and JC, more likely than not, Airachnid won't appear in this fic. I don't like the femme. However, Dreadwing might make an appearance.
Optimus's girl, Megatron doesn't plan on doing anything to Starscream right now. The smackdown Ratchet gave the Seeker was enough.
120, 483 vorns is 10,000,089 human years.
There's going to be a more detailed explanation on how Soundwave got the cyberdog in the next chapter.
As always, if you have any questions, comments or ideas, let me know in a review.
P.S. Ratchet made a new friend.