I did not expect the rather phonic responses to Faultline's return from you all in the last chapter's reviews. Because of all the urgent requests, I decided to pick up the pace in the production of the latest chapter of this fanfiction story.
This starts in Raf's POV and goes from there. I don't own Transformers, sadly.
Hope you like it!
The dog was really scary at first. She was so big and her teeth were frightening. But when I saw Optimus petting her, I started to think that she wasn't so bad for a former Decepticon. She's like a normal dog, only made out of metal and really big.
Ratchet left the room after a while. I guess he thought that Optimus would be okay if he left him with Halli and the rest of us. The cyberdog laid on her side the whole time, watching us play with Optimus. Eventually, Bee nervously walked up to her and let her sniff his hand. She didn't seem too interested in Bee, but was friendly with him. Halli was friendly with everyone, as long as you didn't appear to be a threat to Optimus. She's like an enormous bodyguard.
"Raf? C-C-Can you pass muh... me the red pai-paint?" I looked over at Optimus, who looked back at me with bright optics. We were sitting on the floor in front of a huge sheet of thick butcher block paper Bee found somewhere in the silo. Optimus had opened up his new finger paint set and really wanted to paint something, but I couldn't tell what it was. I picked up the little plastic container of red paint and passed it to him.
"Here you go." I smiled as he took it from my hand. His fingers were already covered in green paint. He got a little on my hand, but I didn't mind. Optimus said thank you and opened the paint container. He dipped his index and middle finger into the paint and started to make a long stroke along the paper.
"Hey, what are you painting?" Miko smiled, leaning over and asking Optimus. Bee, Bulkhead, and Jack looked like they were thinking the same thing. The smile on Optimus's face broadened and he kept his eyes on his artwork, drawing another stroke on the paper as he answered.
"It's a se- se- secret."
Bulkhead laughed at the childish response, and I could see the smile in Bee's optics. Jack was smiling too as he asked Optimus if he could tell us the secret. Optimus shook his head.
"No." All of us laughed at his reply. My sisters did that to me a lot, but they always showed me when they felt like it. Bulkhead said he was going to go get some energon and Bee followed him out, saying he'll be back sometime later. Halli watched them go, still lying on her side. Her head rested on her front paws as we watched Optimus focus on painting his picture. Before long, I figured out what he was painting.
...
"Hey Doc Bot! Optimus wants to see you!" I heard Miko yell from down the hallway. She had ran off to go find him after Optimus finished. Soon I heard a pair of heavy footsteps making their way towards us. Halli lifted her head from her paws, looked down the hall and made her tail lazily thump against the floor. I think she knows that it's Ratchet coming down the hall. Jack stood and helped Optimus stay on his feet by holding his hand. Optimus was really excited; you could see it all over his face. Once Ratchet came into the main control room with Miko running beside him, Optimus started chirping and buzzing happily.
"Look! Look it!" Optimus let go of Jack's hand and held up his painting. Jack helped him with it, since the paper was taller than he was when he held it up. To be honest, I think every kid has done this for their parent at some point.
It was a painting of Ratchet holding Optimus's hand, both of them smiling. The rest of the Autobots were also smiling as they stood in the background. Next to Optimus was Jack Miko and I. Jack was painted in blue, Miko in green and me in yellow.
A warm smile lit up Ratchet's face as he crouched and picked Optimus up, along with the painting Optimus held. Ratchet took the painting from Optimus's little hand and held the little guy in a way that Optimus was facing him.
"That's very good! Who did you make it for?" Optimus chirped as he eagerly pointed at Ratchet.
"Aw, that's so cute! The little guy made Daddy a picture!" Miko laughed.
I was expecting Ratchet to glare at her for saying that, but all he did was hold Optimus, giving him a gentle hug. I won't forget the love and parental affection I saw when Ratchet held Optimus. Jack and I exchanged a look and smiled at each other. What Miko said was true.
Optimus really does love his dad.
...Optimus's POV: Late the Next Night...
It was a peaceful moment at the Autobot base. I had been fed earlier and I could still feel the pleasant warmth of the energon in my full fuel tank. As of now, I was wrapped snugly in a blanket Rafael had given me earlier today, on my berth in Ratchet's room with Stripey. Ratchet was sleeping on his own berth on his side, facing me. I could hear his engine humming in the darkened room and took great comfort in the sound, hoping that it will assist me in going back to sleep.
The children were all sleeping in the main control room. They had asked for permission to stay at the base for what they called a 'sleepover'. I assume that Ratchet saw no problem with them staying at the base for a few days, since he did not hesitate for very long before allowing them to. Bumblebee was ecstatic to hear that they had been allowed to stay at the base and Bulkhead has already planned for what music they could listen to. While the others made plans, Arcee made sure that Ms. Darby knew that the humans were staying here for the weekend. I was looking forward to what the children had planned for us.
Curled around me on the low berth that my father, Ratchet, had given to me was the cyberdog. She had opened her bright, intense golden optics when I awoke from my recharge. She lifted her head slightly from resting on her paws and her optics glinted as she looked at me, as if to ask why I was awake. Feeling that I had no reason why I should not answer her, I told her that I did not know why I had come out of recharge at this late hour in a hushed tone, careful to not wake my father.
It was strange. I normally slept through the night.
I reached out and stroked her muzzle, pulling Stripey close and feeling her soft fur on my faceplates. Instead of encouraging more stroking, as I had come to expect from Halli, she lifted her head completely, away from my little servo, ears perked and alert. She sharply turned her head and stared intently at the door. I followed her optics and saw nothing unusual in my father's darkened berthroom. The air around me started to vibrate and I swiftly realized that Halli was growling. I looked around at Halli's seemingly unwarranted display of aggression. I had yet to figure out what she was growling at, and it was beginning to frighten me.
Instinctively I pulled the blanket over Stripey and partially covered my faceplates, only leaving my optics visible. Halli slowly stood over me, her growl low but intense. The hackle plating on her back rose as she stared at the door. Without warning, she lowered her head and took the blanket I was wrapped in between her sharp denta, lifting me as well as Stripey.
Her growling never ceased as she easily opened the door and left down the brightly lit hallway. Her loping gait caused me to swing slightly from side to side. I was on my back wrapped in the blanket, holding Stripey close to me, staring up at the large cyberdog, who was intent upon taking me somewhere in the silo. I could not tell where, nor could I ask her. A part of me believed that she would not respond.
Never, in my years of being on Earth, did silence bother me. Normally I welcomed silence, for I did not experience it often. However, tonight the silence was incredibly unnerving. The child within me did not like this silence and the warrior within me agreed. It was exceedingly quiet.
Halli found a storage room that was small compared to her frame and managed to push the door open with her head. She swiftly padded inside and placed me and Stripey softly down at the back wall of the storage room. She turned around and pulled the door shut with her jaws. Halli walked back over to me and lay down, curling around me as a mother cyberdog would around her young. She was in such a position that allowed her to keep a close optic on the door and me simultaneously. She still had yet to give any indication on what drove her to move me from my father's room without him knowing.
We lay there for a few minutes, my helm resting against her warm side. Her growling had stopped, though I could still see the glare in her optics. Even though her legs were drawn close to her frame, she covered the vast majority of the limited amount of floor space in the room. This room was even darker than Ratchet's room, the only light coming from underneath the door in front of Halli. Even then, I could not see most of that light since the cyberdog was lying between my little frame and the door.
She seemed to sense that something was wrong, though I could not tell what. The undersized room we are now in, I realized, is farther away from the main control room. Ratchet's berthroom was close to the main room since it served as our medical bay. He wished to be close should there be a medical emergency that needed to be addressed while he was in his room. Why Halli would move away me away from the main control room was beyond my comprehension. I automatically began to chew on my digits as the nervousness of the child within crept out of the dark corners of my processor.
Halli lay on her side in the dark room, yet appeared to be fully prepared to swiftly stand and move me again to another room. I shivered, despite the warmth of the blanket and the large cyberdog. Sensing my fear, she tenderly pressed her warm snout into my abdomen and moved to lick my faceplates. I stayed still, knowing that the action was her method of comforting me. The child within me felt slightly more at ease with the large cyberdog working to placate me.
I was still wrapped in the blanket, hugging my stuffed tiger when I heard something coming from outside of the small room. Halli instantly grew very still. Normally, when she heard what she believed were suspicious sounds, she started to snarl, but this was not the case. She did not move a strut as the sound came again. It sounded like a shriek in pain coming from the main control room. It was Rafael.
I could only wonder what happened in the main control room. Halli I know would not take me to the room she was avoiding. I continued to chew fearfully on my digits as I vaguely saw Halli's lips pull back into a silent snarl in the darkness. She stared at the door as a different sound came. This could easily be identified as the footsteps of a bot. The sound of footsteps is not unknown to me, but for a reason I could not name, the sound caused my gears to lock. The fear paralyzed me as the footsteps drew closer to the storage room. Halli's optics filled with rage as the sound came near, but she remained in control of herself.
In a matter of seconds I could see two shadows being cast from outside of the door. By the way they moved in sync with each other, I could tell that these shadows belonged to a pair of pedes. They stopped in front of the door and I ceased my ventilations, so that I would not be heard through the door. Halli tensed, baring all of her glistening teeth.
Suddenly, the harsh white light of the hallway filled the room and Halli stood over me, snarling viciously. Her frame still blocked my view of the door, and I could not get a visual of the bot standing in the doorway. Halli crouched and leaped towards the bot, jaws open and claws ready, intent upon inflicting bodily harm. The sight of the cyberdog protecting me eased my tension. I hope that she can apprehend the intruder and warn the others about this strange bot in our base. She was strong enough to defend herself well; I am confident that she will prevail.
"Disgusting creature."
A loud yelp escape Halli as I saw some sort of heavy, blunt weapon come down hard on the top of her head. I whimpered when she immediately fell to the floor, frame limp. I crawled over to her and attempted to shake her awake, to no avail. My optics filled with tears when I saw the thin stream of energon leaking from her ears and the energon flowing from the wound on her head. I fought to keep my processor from jumping to conclusions about her well-being. I gave in, allowing the child within me to vocally express how upset I was to see my cyberdog friend so badly injured.
Crying and shaking, I laid my helm against her warm side. Before I could hear her sparkbeat, I was roughly grabbed and lifted into the air. I grew even more distressed when I dropped my beloved stuffed tiger. I saw her land next Halli's limp frame and the pede of the bot that took me away from my hurt friend.
I wished to know who this bot was, though I was very fearful to turn and look. To my surprise I was able to momentarily overcome this feeling and glanced behind me. I was not expecting to see this expression on the mech's faceplates.
There was a small smile on his faceplates as he looked back at me. I could almost see a sort of relief in his faceplate, as well as happiness. However, there was no such expression in his optics. I could see a cold intent, one worse than any expression I have seen in Megatron's optics, even in the battlefield. The combination of the happiness and cruel intent gave him a frightening and psychotic air.
The mech turned and walked down the hall with me in his grip, away from my bleeding friend. "You weren't much trouble to get to at all. The smallest one of those fleshy creatures tried to warn someone, but I dealt with him by putting his hearing out. Now come along, we don't have much time."
I could only wonder who this mech was. I had never seen him before. This mech had no reason to have anything personally against me. Perhaps someone else has something against me. Megatron knows me as Parvolus and has nothing against me. Megatron would go through the trouble of hiring a mech to do the work for him, not that I believe that he would go to such lengths when he is capable of doing it himself. I am sure that Soundwave would never harm me, directly or indirectly. During my stay with the Decepticons, I received too much love and attention from the Vehicons to lead me to believe that one of them wished me dead. There was only one bot in this galaxy that had acted upon his malice against me during my time as a sparkling.
The only conclusion I could reach was that Starscream was connected to my capture.
Once we reached the main control room, I saw the children. Jack and Miko were still in their sleeping bags, though Rafael was unconscious on the floor, sleeping bag entangled around his legs. Even in the darkened room I could see that the smallest human was bleeding from the ears. I am very reluctant to think of the damage the mech may have caused on the young human's delicate eardrums.
I felt myself being lifted higher so that I was optic level with the strange mech. My legs automatically drew closer to my trembling frame and I was forced to stare into the mech's optics as I hung like a kitten by the scruff of its neck. The mech's red optics flashed eerily as he smiled at me. "Such delicate things, aren't they? The fleshy ones. Like you. Delicate... like you."
The tone in his voice scared me more than anything has in my long lifetime. Bots had reason to fear mechs like Shockwave and Megatron. Shockwave's experiments performed on others of his own kind with blatant disregard of Cybertronian rights and morals made the mad scientist a source of nightmares among both Decepticons and Autobots alike. Megatron's generally unrestrained ferocity in battle and towards everyone around him assisted in giving him a frightening reputation. Both of their cruelty was legendary. However, something was not right with this mech, and the natural fear of strangers and the unknown took full hold of me. I grabbed at the blanket still wrapped around my legs and tightly shuttered my optics, childishly wishing for the strange mech to go away.
Suddenly, I heard the unmistakable sound of weapons onlining. The child within me was terrified to allow me to open my optics to see what was happening around me as an intensely familiar voice reached my audio receptors.
"What do you think you're doing?" It was Arcee. I took comfort in the dangerous tone in her voice as opened my optics ever so slightly. She had come down a different hallway and now had her weapons aimed at the strange mech who was holding me. The heated glow from her weapons dimly illuminated the main control room, casting large, shapeless shadows.
The mech holding me did not move to defend himself, and he did not tense. He stood there with deadly armaments aimed at his spark chamber and laughed.
...Arcee's POV: Main Control Room...
I glared at the intruder as he laughed. I couldn't tell if he was laughing at me or something else, but that didn't matter. What mattered was that there was a terrified sparkling in his servo.
"You must be the Autobot femme! I must commend you. The vast majority of bots never hear me coming." The shadowy mech smiled at me as he held Optimus in a way I know was uncomfortable for the baby. I have never seen a more terrified look from anyone, let alone Optimus.
How in the Pit did this slagger get into the base? The Autobot Outpost Omega One's location is shielded; not even the Nemesis can find us. The base had an alarm that would have woken everyone up if an intruder so much as dropped a flake of paint. Even if he did get past the alarm system without setting it off, I don't get how he's still standing. That dog and Ratchet should have torn him to shreds by now. Unless something happened to them...
I mentally forced myself to look at the task at hand. There's a stranger in the base and he has Optimus. I cleared my mind and boosted the power to my weapons system. I have to take care of this mech quickly before he becomes a bigger problem than he already is. One quick shot to the spark should do it...
"What are you doing? Shooting me wouldn't be a smart idea, yes? You risk killing the delicate one."
The intruder then strategically shifted Optimus so that the sparkling dangled right in front of him, in the line of fire of my guns. A mocking smirk spread across the mech's darkness-shrouded faceplates as he moved the baby. Something inside of me cracked when I saw the tears streaming down Optimus's little face and dripping to the floor. My resolve to eliminate this mech faltered at the sight of the baby's frightened optics.
The mech was right. I can't risk it. I can't risk hitting the baby.
"What do you want with him?" I demanded, keeping my guard up. I can't let him see how I feel. With the baby, he has quite a bit of leverage in this situation, and I know he knows it.
The mech's red optics grew brighter and he made no effort to hide the fact that he was looking me up and down. "Curious question."
"There is nothing unusual about the question!" I snapped, growing impatient with the smiling mech. I unconsciously took a step towards him from where I stood across the room, weapons still ready to fire. The mech casually reached up, and I saw plates of armor shift and retract to reveal the servo grip of a gun. I crouched slightly lower, waiting for him to attempt to attack me. He reached back, grabbed the servo grip and slid the blaster out. It was large for a hand blaster and looked like nothing I have ever seen before. There were yellow, lighted seams on the gun. A white pulse traveled down each seam and ended at the end of the blaster's barrel, repeating itself every two or three seconds. The gun looked strange to me, but I knew those white pulses. There was a lot of firepower in that gun.
To my complete and utter shock, he pointed the handblaster at Optimus. The casual smile never left his lips as the gun automatically cocked and powered up.
"Lively, aren't we?" The weapon pointing at Optimus's little helm told the unspoken threat. I immediately took a small step back. If distance is what he wanted, fine. Moving three feet closer is not worth the baby's life.
"You wouldn't dare." That earned another infuriating chuckle. I growled under my ventilations as the mech's bright red optics narrowed into slits as he laughed at me.
"Don't think I won't. I've done this many times before, you know." Battle strategies that were currently racing through my processor grinded to a halt. This mech has taken and murdered a sparkling before?! Before I could even get past the shock, the mech spoke again.
"Now, I didn't come here to play dare games." Optimus whimpered as the gun hovered close to his audio receptor. I could feel his optics burning into me as we maintained optic contact. "Come with me and he lives. Simple as that."
"And why would I trust you?"
"I never said anything about trust. But you want him to live to see the sun rise again, yes?" I glanced at Optimus, who had shut his optics out of fear. He was right. Of course I wanted him to live.
Over and over Optimus Prime has shown that he will sacrifice himself to protect the rest of us Autobots as a grown mech. Taking hits for us in the heat of battle and risking his spark to save ours. Maybe now was my time to do the same for him.
I offlined my weapons system and lowered my arms. The intruder holding the baby grinned and lowered his handblaster, but didn't put it away. I glared at him as he beaconed for me to come closer. I walked towards him, making sure to stay out of arm's reach. The only reason why I'm doing this is because I want Optimus to stay safe. There's no way to warn the others now. If I try, I am sure that he'll kill Optimus. I can't do anything that could put a sparkling's life at risk and I'd hate to do this to Ratchet and the others, but there is no other way.
I glanced briefly over at the kids. They must be unconscious in their sleeping bags; they would have woken up if they heard us talking. I decided that I was glad they aren't awake. They would be in much more danger if they were conscious.
I hardened myself and stared at the mech with soft red optics as I got closer. Right now I'm giving myself up to him for the baby's sake. I prayed to Primus to protect Optimus, forgetting to do the same for myself. If this mech is fine with putting a gun to a baby's head, I can only imagine what this mech is going to do to me later.
The mech smiled down at me as I stood there next to him with my servos balled into tight fists, and gestured with the gun towards the Ground Bridge. "Come now. We don't have time to dally."
...Bumblebee's POV: The Next Morning...
The day hasn't really started yet, and it's on the list of one of the worst, most chaotic days of my life.
I woke up and went down to the main control room to wake the kids up earlier when I saw them unconscious on the floor. I managed to wake all three of them up, but I knew something was wrong with Raf. He didn't respond to me when I talked to him. Raf always responded to me when I told him something. When I spoke to him directly he just stared up at me with a confused look on his face. Then it hit me.
He couldn't hear what I was saying. That was also when I noticed the dried blood coming out of his ears and going down the sides of his head. I didn't know what happened to cause that, but I transformed and quickly took him to Ms. Darby. Thank Primus she was at the hospital.
I wish I could have stayed to find out what was wrong with Raf, but I had the feeling that a lot more was wrong back at the base. So, I raced back here, only to realize that I hadn't seen Arcee. She was one of the first bots up all the time. I should have seen her in the halls by now.
Before I got the chance to go look for her, I heard a scream that chilled me down to the protoform. It was the scariest thing I have ever heard. I raced towards the sound and saw Ratchet outside his room. He was upset, to say the very least. I had never seen him in such a panic before. It just wasn't something he did, no matter what happened. It wasn't like him to panic. I tried asking him what's wrong, but the only response I got was a wild glance and a mumble that sounded like 'he's gone'.
I tried to get him to calm down and talk to me, but he kept panicking, completely ignoring me. I'll have to tie him down to really get a chance to talk to him. I wasn't getting anywhere with Ratchet so I decided to go investigate further, you know, to find out what happened. Now I wish I hadn't.
Halli was obviously hit over the head with something really heavy. Seeing how bad the wound was, I know that had I been hit with whatever it was she got hit with, I would have offlined. The metal plating on top of her head had split, revealing the fuel lines and energon underneath. I could almost see a big crack in her cranial chamber underneath the mess of broken fuel lines and metal plating and energon. There was energon all over the floor, and the cyberdog seemed to not be able to move anything except her golden optics. It's amazing she can even do that.
She just looked at me as I approached her. I know that injured animals tend to snap at anyone and everyone, so I had to be careful. Thankfully, the only thing she did was lay there and stare at me in the light of the hallway. Her blazing golden optics never lost their burning intensity, even with the bad head wound.
I know she has something to with this whole mess, though I don't know what. And I can't ask her. She's a cyberdog. As far as I know, cyberdogs can't talk in any language we can understand.
Kneeling beside Halli, I carefully slipped my servos underneath her and lifted her as best I could without hurting her further. Halli was pretty heavy, but I managed. As I picked her up, I noticed Optimus's stuffed tiger on the floor. I got a really bad feeling when I saw it but I decided that I'll have to come back for it later.
Halli didn't make a sound the whole way to the medbay, which I thought was kinda weird since I know she's in pain.
Ratchet taught me some time ago how to perform medical procedures that were beyond the basics for battlefield wounds, saying that there needed to be more than one 'Bot who knew how to treat wounds beyond dressing them. I guess now's the time to put those lessons to use.
Whoever this was left us with a lot of chaos. Ratchet is hysterical, Raf can't hear what I'm saying, Jack and Miko are scared because of Ratchet's panicking, Halli is badly hurt. I came into the main control room with Halli and saw Wheeljack and Bulkhead with uncharacteristically nervous looks on their faces, trying to calm Ratchet down (they must have guided him here) and failing. They have no clue what happened. I have an idea of what went on, but right now I've got to pull myself together and help Halli.
No one in this base would do something this horrible to an innocent animal. Someone had to have been in here, and I'm scared to wonder who.
...Soundwave's POV: Datapad Journal Entry #45...
I normally don't leave the interior of the Nemesis unless I am given a very valid reason. Yet, I stood there alone atop the Nemesis, watching the night sky.
Over the vorns, I have learned to trust my instincts. I awoke from my recharge with something telling me to look at the night sky. I had absolutely no reason to do that, but I would not have received the sensation if it were not meant to seize my attention.
It was very late. I only saw one Vehicon walking in the halls as I made my way towards the landing strip on top of the warship. The old mech, Rudder, did not ask me why I was awake at that joor. The mech knew that I had my reasons and likely decided not to question it. His permanently damaged optics flickered as the old medic gave me a small greeting nod and kept walking in the opposite direction I was going.
Then I stand there, with this datapad journal, wondering why I was struck with the urge to come there. I couldn't help but think that this was somehow connected to the repetitive dreams I have been having in the recent solar cycles. It would not be wise to automatically believe that there was a connection. That assumption may corrupt my perception of the true reason why when it is revealed. I suppose that time will reveal the answer.
There have been no problems from Starscream, interestingly. I have detected nothing to be concerned about in his daily activities. Perhaps he learned from his mistake. The flight to forgiveness is a long one for him, and I doubt that the crew of the Nemesis will allow the Seeker to forget. Even those such as Dreadwing, who did not have much contact with the little one, were upset when they heard that their commanding officer attempted to commit infanticide.
It did not matter that the little one was an Autobot. The little one was the first sparkling in many vorns. The fact that that somebot tried to rid us, Autobots and Decepticons alike, of that hope for selfish reasons was abysmal. I am confident that both factions stand on the same side in this decision.
...I was torn from my thoughts when I saw an intriguing sight in the site sky. It was the comet from my dream. Once I looked closer, I saw that it wasn't a comet at all; it was a vessel coming through the Earth's atmosphere. The vessel was like none I had ever seen; I could tell this even from this incredibly long distance. My keen optics saw that the vessel was much smaller than the Nemesis, yet had very powerful thrusters, creating a long, white tail following behind in the sky. The design was very unique, perhaps custom-built.
Despite the unfamiliarity of the vessel's build, I could still determine that this was a Decepticon ship. It's interesting that had not received a signal from this vessel, in spite of its alarmingly close proximity to this planet. Had I not been up here, I may not have discovered it. I doubt anyone else saw this ship.
It is very hard for things like that to slip past me undetected. The owner of this vessel must be very skilled in concealment indeed. The power in the thrusters forced me to consider the power of the engine of the incoming vessel. Generally, larger ships have more power in the central engine. This vessel must be larger than the average, single bot ship.
I am back in my berthroom now, many questions coming to mind in regards to the strange vessel that is landing on this planet. I was indeed curious about many things concerning the comet that I now know is a ship. How large is the ship? Why had I seen this ship in my dream? What was its significance?
One question, however, remained above all of the others.
Who is the owner of this strange vessel?
~Soundwave
...Dreadwing's POV: Aboard the Nemesis...
I never thought that I'd see another sparkling again. Yet, when I was going to give a report to Soundwave regarding the major energon mines weeks ago, I saw Soundwave sitting in a chair, feeding the sparkling in his workstation. I was dumbstruck when I saw the child refueling in his arms. I did not think this war would allow anyone to bring forth such a precious miracle of life.
Once I drew closer, I saw that the sparkling was strangely familiar. Soundwave answered the question I was about to ask. It was indeed Optimus Prime. The silent mech never said how the Autobot leader had turned back into a sparkling, and I decided not to press for answers. I doubted he knew.
The sparkling that Lord Megatron had renamed Parvolus appeared to retain none of Optimus Prime's memories and did not hesitate to be in the presence of us Decepticons. He seemed especially attached to Soundwave; I saw him with the silent mech quite often. The troops adored him, playing with the child frequently in the Recreation Room. I wasn't surprised when I saw Parvolus in Knockout's medbay, carrying on a conversation with Breakdown while his vane comrade looked on. I even saw Lord Megatron carrying the sparkling into his office one solar cycle. The little child must like to nap in his personal quarters. I was surprised our leader allowed it.
I can remember Skyquake saying that, after the war, he wanted to settle down and sire a sparkling of his own. He always loved sparklings, something no one beyond me would be able to detect, given his seemingly cold nature. When the war began, his want for his own family intensified. He would have loved to see Parvolus.
After seeing the little child, I started to imagine life, if that were to come, after the war. I am beginning to share my twin's dream of having my own family. Just like many mechs and femmes, I am tired of fighting this war. Imagining seems to be the only way out.
Towards the end of Parvolus's stay with us, I heard that Starscream attempted to kill the little child. I was initially outraged that a fellow Seeker would even think about committing such a horrible act. After I gave this more thought, I saw that this was not as shocking as I originally believed.
Starscream could not afford to have anyone compromise anything that was his own. He must have seen the little child as a threat to his position. The Seeker was known for going to great lengths to get and keep what he wanted. Evidently this included infanticide.
I still felt the anger, however. I cannot help but express my resentment towards our second-in-command for attempting to destroy the new life. Nothing can or will excuse what he made an effort to do. Thankfully, justice was served.
I heard through rumors among the troops that Starscream had been brutally beaten by the Autobot named Ratchet. Lord Megatron had been told what happened and essentially took Starscream to tell the Autobots what he tried to do to Parvolus. The Autobot medic must have a strong bond with the little child. The other Autobots present did not react with violence.
Soundwave made the understandable decision to take the little child back to the Autobots. Starscream would not have stopped until he got what he wanted. I would have done the same.
Just a few hours ago, I heard Starscream speaking to someone in his personal quarters while I was walking to Knockout's medical bay to deliver a report datapad. I'm not one to eavesdrop, but I could not help but listen to the irritated tone in his voice. I doubted that he was speaking with his trinemates; he didn't speak to them in that tone. My audio receptors could not quite pick up what he was saying through the door, and I naturally grew suspicious. I could vaguely hear a voice I didn't recognize say 'Yes, yes, I have both of them.' A small alarm went off in my processor when I heard this.
I left before I was caught outside of his room. I knew that something was not right, though I didn't know what. I am higher than sneaking around like a lowly turbofox to gather information, but for now, I will have to put that aside. In order to see what Starscream has undoubtedly planned, I will have to keep an optic on our second-in-command.
...And chaos is left in the strange mech's wake.
Just so you know, Soundwave saw the ship before the incident at the Autobot base and Dreadwing heard Starscream talking in his quarters at the same time Bee returned to the base after dropping Raf off at the hospital. The ship Soundwave saw is Faultline's.
I credit the scene where Halli attempts to hide Optimus to Optimus's girl. Thank you! :)
Autobot-Chromia, I saw that you cut off your review for the 13th chapter when you talked about Halli. I'm curious as to what you had to say about her.
Optimus's girl, eltigre221, EndlessHope'22, hannahtranter16, and RagdolDark, and I'm sure a lot of other people who expressed rage towards Starscream in the last chapter... interestingly enough, I have nothing against Starscream outside of this fic. He's actually one of my favorite 'Cons. But for this story, I'm writing by his rather single-minded nature.
PrimeEmily135... Man, I'm so sorry for upsetting you to the point of tears! :(
Well, if you have any ideas, questions or comments, just drop a review.
Until next time!