Chapter 27
Disclaimer: I own nothing. Don't sue me.
A GIANT thank you goes to Silveriss for explaining the true meaning of caste to me and pointing out some great points. Also, many cookies for her for spawning a multitude of plot bunnies. :)
Did no one catch the subtle hint in the last chapter? Darn. Well. Don't go look for it now :P
This chapter made me crack up, so you know it's fun. ;D And I know it's silly, but I promise it leads to something very, very important. I promise.
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Nightshade winced at the sudden shrill whistle that invaded the once quiet med bay. She peeked under a table, searching for the source.
"What the frag is that?"
"I haven't got the faintest idea, Nightshade. Are you going to go and see what it is?"
"Yes, I am. I'll be back in a minute."
She wandered out into the hallway. The whistling noise grew louder and higher in pitch. Ratchet peered after her curiously, his head cocked in confusion. Was it a new alarm of some kind? Nightshade peered into the rec room. Prowl was standing at the energon dispenser, grabbing something to drink.
"Prowl? What is that noise?"
"I don't know, Nightshade. It sounds like one of Wheeljack's experiments gone wrong," he said, shrugging his shoulders. As the noise grew more and more high pitched, his doorwings crept higher and higher on his back.
"Hmm…but if it were his, the smoke detectors would be going off and we'd be in lock down," Nightshade said, looking around the room once more. Barricade and Blaster were currently making use of their cable, watching a documentary. They were ignoring the noise.
"That would be true, Nightshade. I wouldn't worry about it. Red Alert has probably found out what it is already. You know how much he hates loud noises," he said, topping off his cube. Then Prowl went over to the couch and clucked unhappily.
"You two should be doing your work instead of procrastinating," he said, giving the two mechs an evil glare. Barricade twisted his neck servos until he was looking up at Prowl.
"We're on break, Prowlie."
"Don't call me that."
"Sure thing…Prowler," Blaster said, his face straight and calm. However, his glittering optics betrayed him. Prowl's own optics narrowed.
Nightshade left the rec room before Prowl dished out punishment. The hallway was long and empty. Maybe it was coming from one of the offices? She opened one of the spare offices and peered inside. Nope, the noise wasn't there. Her head snapped up, tracking the noise. It was getting closer and louder.
Then she heard the muffled shrieks. The younglings! Nightshade felt her fuel tank disappear. Her fuel pump started to pound, surging fuel into her battle-ready limbs. Were they alright? Had they been harmed? No harm would befall them, not on her shift! Nightshade pulled a small dagger from her wrist compartment, ready to fight to the death to protect the little ones –
A heavy weight slammed into her chest and the whistling rose to an almost deafening level. Nightshade shrieked and scrabbled at whatever had latched onto her chest, screaming for help. The whistling suddenly stopped, punctuated with a few chirps and a whirr. Nightshade looked down, peeking between her fingers. Oh. Alright, so maybe she wasn't being deactivated by a gigantic, metallic leech...and that was exactly why she was not watching any more human movies with Mikaela and Maggie on girl's night out.
Scorponok had wrapped his legs around her chest, resting his little head on her collar armor. She gaped at the scorpion. He let out a soft chirp. Why was she so confused? Did she not know of the terrors that had been chasing him?
The giggling grew louder and Scorponok froze, his tiny red optics going wide in terror. The first sparkling peered around the corner, a large stuffed toy in its hand. It squealed upon seeing Nightshade and Scorponok. He began twittering happily, running on unsteady legs toward the femme. Scorponok hissed loudly, his grip around Nightshade tightening. The scorpion then managed to scramble onto her shoulders, his long tail held high in irritation. Nightshade yelped in pain and slapped at Scorponok. He managed to evade her whirling limbs and latch himself firmly onto her back, his head resting on her shoulder.
"Up! Up, Night," the sparkling called out, dropping his toy and walking over to the femme. Nightshade growled quietly as Scorponok's little legs began to dig into her armor. Scorponok began chirping, warning her of the impending doom. Why was she holding the creature? Why did she care for it? Did she not know of the indignities he had suffered at their grubby paws?! Scorponok shuddered, remembering the large pink bow that one of the little femmes had tied around his neck while he had been in recharge. It was three hours later before he had noticed the pink banner. His dignity had been crushed. He may have been a symbiote, but he still had feelings! He was not a pet! He was a partner, not some toy for them to play with!
"Scorponok! Be nice!" She received a shrill whistle from the annoyed scorpion. Nightshade bent down and picked the youngling up, nestling him into the crook of her arm. A group of ten more younglings appeared from around the corner, their amber optics bright with mischief. Scorponok hissed again and sent the youngling in Nightshade's arms a glare that Megatron would have been proud of. The youngling giggled and clapped his hands, somehow managing to mistake Scorponok's anger for happiness.
"Alright you lot, let's go back to the nursery," Nightshade said grumpily, ignoring Scorponok's second angry hiss. She turned stiffly, grumbling at the scorpion on her shoulders.
The gaggle of younglings followed her to the nursery quietly, their vocalizers wisely shut off. Nightshade was their favorite caretaker – she let them stay up a few extra breems, they got extra candied energon, and she was so warm and cuddly – but she had a temper that frightened even Chromia, the temporary aide.
Nightshade shook her head. What kinds of mischief had this lot been up to? They loved playing with Ironhide. Even though he was a gun-slinging, foul-mouthed old fragger, he still couldn't help but to melt over the little ones. He grudgingly acquiesced to help Chromia in the nursery for a few breems while she bathed the dirtier ones…except he had made the mistake of falling asleep in the nursery. Ironhide, while in deep recharge, could not be roused easily. It had become a game for the sparklings to see who could climb on the weapons specialist and not get caught doing so. So far the record was held by a tiny red mech, who had managed to get all the way up to his chest plates before the mountain made of metal shifted. The startled youngling shrieked and slipped from his perch on Ironhide's chest. Thankfully, Ironhide caught the little bundle of metal before it hit the ground. The little mech then started laughing and clapping, screaming for more. Ironhide never again visited the nursery, but somehow, just somehow, they would manage to find him whenever he'd fall asleep on his shift. Ironhide had a sinking suspicion that Ratchet had a hand in this, but he never could prove anything.
Or perhaps they were still following Optimus around? The little bots had something of a fan-like adoration of the mech. Optimus was the subject of their bedtime stories. Stories of how he could take on trines of seekers on by himself and still manage to save a sparkling from the evil clutches of the Decepticons filled their tiny computing centers. All the tiny mechs wanted to be like him and all of the little femmes had something of a fangirl adoration for him.
This being said, Primus only knew how they had managed to get into his office last week. The doors had been locked, too. Thankfully, Elita was not in the room, else Ratchet would have had to schedule a spark-merge education class a whole lot earlier than anyone else had hoped. Optimus had been sitting down, doing paperwork, when he suddenly got the feeling of being watched. There were at least twelve younglings in the room, hidden poorly in various areas. The poor mech had to call Elita for back up once the younglings found out that Optimus was a pushover. He couldn't say no to the little ones because they would start crying. Optimus, while being one of the fiercest warriors Cybertron had ever seen, could not stand it when a little one cried. As a result, he was entirely at their mercy for the fifteen minutes it took Elita to decipher the message.
Nightshade shook her head and pushed open the nursery doors.
"In your berths before I decide that you won't be getting any more candy," she said, glaring down at the ringleader of the group. The innocent gaze she received did not deceive her.
"Don't give me that routine again, Rose. To your berth, now." The pink femme's lower lip components trembled and Nightshade felt her resolve weaken. Big watery amber optics finished destroying her resolve. Nightshade sighed heavily and picked Rose up, clicking comfortingly. The pink femme giggled quietly as she was set into her berth, covered with a thick, plush blanket, and given a stuffed toy to cuddle.
Nightshade smiled down at her before turning to the rest of the group. Great. Now they wanted to be tucked in for their afternoon nap. The doors opened and in came the big set of twins. Sunstreaker and Sideswipe both wore sheepish grins on their faces, the rest of the little ones gathered around their legs. Nightshade gave them the most evil glare she could.
"Sorry, Nightshade. They took off when they saw that Scorponok was in the rec-room."
"And why were they in the rec room? You know they aren't allowed in there!"
"We stopped to get some energon!"
"Anyway, we thought we'd drop the rest of the little ones off before Red Alert goes on the fritz and chews our afts out."
"Sunstreaker."
"Bro, you're gonna get us killed!"
"Sorry again, Nightshade! We will come and pick them up in a half-joor, see you later, bye!"
With that, they disappeared outside. Nightshade shook her head sourly. More work for her… Nightshade pasted a bright smile on her face as she turned to the little ones.
"Alright, who wants a story?"
She smiled at the squeals of joy. Maybe this job wasn't too bad…
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It took a little over fifteen minutes for Nightshade to tuck each sparkling in and read a story to them. It also took a little over fifteen minutes for Nightshade to realize that one of the sparklings was unaccounted for. Nightshade fought down her rising panic as she recounted the tiny beings. There were only twenty one sparklings in the room. Starlight was missing. Nightshade immediately ran around the room, checking under the recharge berths and in boxes. Scorponok waited patiently by the doorway, clicking softly. Nightshade was out of the room faster than he could react. He made it to the door just as it shut.
Scorponok let out a shrill whistle, a cry for help before he tried to reach for the door release button. After a few minutes of straining his tiny hydraulics, Scorponok still couldn't reach it. He scrabbled underneath a recharge berth, hoping that the little demons would not find him…
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"ELITA!" Elita was startled from her work by Nightshade's frantic voice. She looked up from the massive pile of datapads on her desk. A blur of dark blue metal burst into her office and at her. Nightshade did not see the box in her way until she had tripped over it. Elita and her chair landed on the floor with a resounding crash. Paperwork fluttered down on them like rain. Nightshade was sitting on her abdomen, bawling her optics out.
"What is it, Nightshade? Are you alright?"
Elita suddenly found herself being dragged behind a babbling Nightshade. She was rambling, alternating between spouting death threats, crying, and talking about something being gone.
"Nightshade, try to be coherent."
"Starlight is missing! She wasn't with the rest of the little ones! I can't find her! Oh, Primus, what if she's lost? What if she got outside? What if she-"
"Calm down, Nightshade! She's probably recharging somewhere-"
"Oh, Primus, what if she's hurt? What if she fell down the stairs? What if she's been taken? It's all my fault-"
"Calm your processes, femme!"
Nightshade was startled out of her rambling by Elita's bellow. She hiccupped quietly before speaking.
"What?"
"It isn't your fault, Nightshade! They were supposed to be in the learning center with…I'm going to kill Jazz. He was supposed to be watching them!"
"But Jazz just got off shift! Sideswipe and Sunstreaker were supposed to be escorting them to the cafeteria…oh those two fraggers are going to die."
Elita and Nightshade both growled quietly as Red Alert rounded the corner, the twins in tow. Sunstreaker and Sideswipe both gulped quietly at the lethal glares that both femmes sent their way.
"Ah, ladies. How pleasant to see you," Red Alert said cheerfully, blissfully unaware of the pain that awaited the twins. However, Sunstreaker and Sideswipe were astutely aware of the impending anarchy and cowered slightly. What had they done this time?
"Hello, Red Alert. Do you mind if I borrow these two for just a breem? We need to have a chat."
"Of course, go ahead. We were only taking a break."
"Oh, and Red? Please alert the rest of the staff that one of the younglings has escaped from the twins," Elita said, wincing as Nightshade started screaming at the two.
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The message was short and simply worded: A youngling named Starlight has gone missing. Those few words caused absolute panic to reign through the base. Nightshade was currently barking out orders to the lost and confused mechs and femmes and organizing search groups.
"You – Inferno, Barricade, Longarm, and Jazz – go search the brig and surrounding areas. Wave Breaker, Leo, Beta, Chromia and Arcee – your group is responsible for the boiler room and storage units on that floor. Sunstreaker, Sideswipe, you two go search the roof. Where the slag is Jetfire?!"
"I'm here, I'm here. Don't get your shell in a knot-"
He was silenced by the growl that emanated from the tiny femme.
"You and your men go look outside. Search thoroughly. Bumblebee! Get over here! Take the minibots up on the upper level! Ratchet, go search the med bay. Wheel jack, you and Firestar are responsible for your lab – slaggit, Ironhide! Get your aft in motion, now!"
Elita watched on in amusement as they scrambled to follow her orders. Maybe the femme should be bumped up in rank. She was giving orders like a first class sergeant…and it would be nice to have some of her work load taken off of her shoulders. Coming to a conclusion that involved giving Nightshade a promotion, she squared herself and approached the femme. Before she could say a word, Nightshade had given already given her the orders.
"Elita, you're responsible for your office. Yours too, Prime! Frag it all to pit, Wheelie! Move it! The rest of you spread out and keep in contact with the three of us."
"Nigtshade's optic keeps on twitching, in her fury she keeps on bit-"
"Wheelie, finish that and I will personally dismantle you by hand," Nightshade snarled, turning a furious optic over at the minibot. He and his group disappeared quickly into one of the storage rooms. Nightshade went back to the nursery to check on the little ones. They were still recharging, happily unaware of the panic that had set into the base. Scorponok appeared from under the berth and made a dash for freedom. He had almost made it when he was detained by a pair of light blue hands. Scorponok whistled shrilly, he could taste freedom! He let out a dejected little whine, turning an optic up at his captor. Amused, Nightshade appraised the scorpion for a moment before raising him up to optic level.
"Scorpy? I need you to do me a favor."
He chirped happily. He'd do anything for Nightshade. She was his favorite femme, she always gave him what was left of her energon, she cuddled him, and she never raised her voice toward him, and she most certainly never tried to kick him like Ironhide (then again, it was his fault that Ironhide had tripped and fallen down that staircase) -
"I need you to help me look for the missing youngling."
Scorponok hissed angrily, batting at her hands with his claws. There was no way that he would look for that pit-spawned pile of bolts for her! What, was the femme crazy? Did she not know how much he had suffered at their hands –
"Scorpy, please…"
Scorponok stopped struggling. Nightshade's optics were brimming over with tears and he whined softly before chirping softly. Nightshade hugged him tightly, ignoring his squeal. Scorponok chirped again and Nightshade set him down.
"Thank you, Scorponok. You're the last one to have seen her. Please hurry. I'll be on this floor if you need me."
Scorponok saluted her with one claw and disappeared down the hallway, chattering softly. Nightshade then entered the playroom beside the nursery, searching high and low for the little femme. He had a bad feeling about this. Something was going to happen to him, he knew it.
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Meanwhile, Starlight was happily recharging underneath a desk, wedged between the wall and a box. She chirped softly in her sleep, curling up more tightly. The doors opened of their own accord. One optic opened. Who was that? Were they here to play, too? They couldn't! This was her hiding spot.
"Starlight? Where are you, little one?"
Starlight stirred and peeked out from behind the box. It was Sunny! She liked him; he was so shiny and warm. He was one of her favorite caretakers. He always let her curl up against his chest plates and recharge, but he wouldn't admit it to anyone else. They also played a game where he would toss her up into the air and catch her, but only when Nightshade wasn't around, because she would get mad. It was so much fun! She loved playing games, but wait -
Sunstreaker was looking for her. Were they playing hide-and-seek? Starlight almost giggled but she clapped a hand over her mouth. She was supposed to be quiet for this! Starlight curled up into a tiny ball and hid behind the box. Sunstreaker passed right by her hiding spot and peered under the desk. Starlight held her breath – had he found her? No. Sunstreaker moved on, calling her name softly. Starlight smiled. She was very good at this game. Last time they had played this game, it took Crosswise and Sigma almost a joor to find her…and that was only because she had been hiding behind a storage bin.
Starlight's tiny engines revved quietly and her optics began to dim. Naptime…
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Crosswise and Day Lily were frantic. This wasn't the first time that Starlight had disappeared on them. She had done it quite a few times before while they had been on the ship. It had taken joors to find the tiny femme on that enclosed space. Now they were on a massive base full of tiny nooks and crannies, perfect for a sparkling to hide in. Starlight loved to play hide-and-seek. It would be nearly impossible to find her if she thought it was a game.
"Nightshade, darling, you must tell them to not act like it's a game. She is impossible to find otherwise," Day Lily said gently, peering into a dusty box. Nightshade nodded and relayed the message to the heads of each search party. Day Lily then began to poke around the room, sighing heavily.
"What's the matter, mother?"
"It is a waste of time to look for her. She will come out when she is hungry," Day Lily said, shrugging.
"Mother, what if she's stuck somewhere? What if she is hurt-"
"Then you will hear her crying. She has a very loud vocal processor…she's shorted Crosswise's audio receptors a few times."
"But what if she fell and now she can't move, or speak, or send out a message-"
"She'll be fine, Nightshade. Calm yourself. She thinks we're playing a game."
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Scorponok peered up at the bright green button. It winked softly in the darkness. He reached up as far as he could but still couldn't reach the blasted button. Scorponok eyed a nearby, empty energon cube. Almost as though by instinct, he slung it at the button and nailed it. Scorponok chirped happily – he had learned something useful from Ratchet! The button flashed white and beeped quietly. Then the doors hissed open, revealing a pitch-black room beyond. He scuttled into the room and peered around, flipping his thermal scanners on. Ah. There was a bright reddish orange blob on an inky black background. The youngling was hidden behind a box.
Starlight peered from behind the box, squealing happily as her favorite playmate came closer.
"Scorpy! Scorpy!"
A series of annoyed clicks and chirps came from the small symbiote. He chattered softly and the femme nodded, her optics wide in worry. She came out from behind the box. Then she sat down in front of Scorponok, her tiny hand in her mouth.
"They look for me?"
Starlight chattered back at him, her lower lips components trembling. Alas, the symbiote was not properly prepared to fend off the look and he caved into the adorable femme, chirping grumpily. He settled onto his stomach so that the little femme could scramble onto his back. Starlight squealed happily. With a boost from one of Scorpnok's legs, Starlight managed to scramble onto the symbiote's back. He stood back up, ignoring the high pitched squeak from the femme. She started pounding her tiny hands on his back.
"Go, Scorpy! Go!"
Scorponok hissed quietly. If any of the other symbiotes saw him like this, he would be the laughingstock of the entire base. Scorponok found an old datapad and threw it against the pad. The door opened and he scuttled out quickly, searching for Nightshade before Starlight decided she was bored and disappeared once more.
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Nightshade was startled from her search by a quiet chirp. She whirled around. Had Scorponok found the little femme? Scorponok was standing in the middle of the room with Starlight curled up on his back. The tiny femme was recharging away. Nightshade let out a shaky sigh of relief and picked up Starlight. The femme wriggled a bit but didn't move. Nightshade then scooped Scorponok into her other arm, thanking him over and over. She made her way back to the entrance, the temporary home base of the search parties. Day Lily cried out in relief as she saw the femme approaching with a creature in one arm and the youngling in the other.
Day Lily took the youngling from her daughter, fretting over the little one. Ratchet then immediately snatched Starlight from Day Lily, ignoring the femme's protests. Ratchet then began running scans and visually examining the sparkling. Even though he was considered grouchy and mean, he wasn't emotionless. In fact, when he had received Nightshade's panicked transmission, his spark had all but frozen in its box. Starlight began clicking unhappily. Why had he woken her up? His spark was so familiar! Did he know Nightshade? Ratchet then scanned her once more before holding the youngling close to his chest. This action did not go unnoticed by any of the femmes, especially when Starlight immediately calmed and clicked happily.
"Thank you, Scorponok, thank you so much, you're such a sweetie-"
Nightshade began planting little kisses onto the creature's head, ignoring his pitiful whine and feeble attempts at escaping. Rumble and Frenzy both pointed up at him and started to laugh. Nightshade placed a few more kisses onto Scorponok's head, cuddling him close to her chassis. Optimus let out a low, rumbling laugh and spoke.
"Nightshade, I think Ratchet's getting jealous."
Ratchet spluttered.
"I am not!"
He wasn't jealous of Scorponok! Except…why did Scorponok get so many kisses? He never got kisses like that. Ratchet frowned slightly, lost in his thoughts. Forgetting that he had an audience, his lower lip starting to slide into a Grade A pout. Alright, so maybe he was just a tiny bit jealous.
Nightshade placed on last kiss onto Scorponok's head before setting him down. Scorponok's tiny feet were scrabbling for hold before they even touched the ground. He hissed angrily and wiped at his head with his claws. Rumble began laughing again. Now that Scorponok was on the ground, he could commence the kicking of Rumble's aft. His tail moved so quickly that no one really saw it move, sending the tiny mech onto his bottom. Frenzy took off, chattering loudly.
"Ev-ev-every s-s-symbio-o-ote for him-himeslf!" Frenzy cackled and leapt into Barricade's arms, putting himself well out of reach of the enraged scorpion. With no one else to attack, Scorponok turned his beady gaze onto the prone form of Rumble. He began to circle the whimpering symbiote, snarling.
"TRAITOR!" Rumble screeched as Scorponok pounced again, his blunt tail jabbing him in the chest plate.
Nightshade watched in amusement as Scorponok angrily chased Rumble down the hallway. They were pretty sure that Scorponok's whistles and clicks roughly translated into expletives. Ahh. The joys of living on a base.
Things never, ever got boring around here.
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:D
I made this chapter Scorpy-centric because he's not getting enough love. :) And I think he's OOC, but …he didn't do anything in the movie but stalk Lennox and his gang. And I think he's a cutie pie. :)