Chapter 125

=0=New York

They gathered in Ops Center, the two strike teams that Prowl had organized with Jazz. Lennox, Epps and Graham had joined them representing the human element of the operation. They'd received intel that stated a trade off would be made in Central Park in New York City in America. They'd drawn up plans that would allow a team member to be placed at decent intervals around the vast estate to be able to link up quickly should something happen anywhere in the long expanse of the park proper.

The weapon was indeterminate but a plasma configuration was considered most likely. Of the Decepticons known to inhabit Earth since the security net was thrown up so tightly around the planet, Barricade with Frenzy, Payload and Sideways were the ones intel could confirm. Three others were not known by designation. Anyone could be the one giving the weapon over to the humans who Interpol said were freelance mercenaries.

Jazz would lead two on-ground teams consisting of himself, Sideswipe, Smokescreen, Bumblebee, Ironhide, Tracks and Blaster. They'd be operating in two distinct groups breaking the park into two sections to cover more efficiently. The soldiers would be divided among them as feet on the ground should the humans decide to resist intervention. Prime would be airborne and await drop if necessary. First Aid would be chief medical officer of the operations flying in from Mars the day of muster.

Ironhide who was listening as the plans were laid out by Prowl felt the first tug of separation from his 'little buddy' who lay in his arm waving his servos in front of his face as if they were the most fascinating sight he ever saw. For him, they were.

=0=Med Bay

He came in sulkily looking around to make sure no one saw him. Searching for Ratchet, he walked to the office to wait for the medico to notice he was there sitting slumped in a chair with a sour expression.

Ratchet noticing him right away decided to let him sit a moment as he fusticated around the main room doing this and that as he got a kit together for First Aid. Finally, he walked to the door of his office to look inside with a smile. "Hello, Sunshine. Don't you look bright and cheery this morning?"

Sunstreaker looked at him a furious expression on his face. "I can leave, you know."

"You'll be back, you know," Ratchet countered as he walked inside and closed the door. He looked down at Sunstreaker taking in his abject misery and felt sadness pulsing through him. He himself had been ecstatic over the idea of being sparked but for Sunstreaker it was an ordeal, an embarrassment and but for his programming a catalyst for violence. "So," he said walking over to sit on his chair and put his peds on the desktop. "What do you want to know?"

Sunstreaker looked at him frowning almost reflexively and put his peds up, too. "Everything. Nothing."

"Ah, the works and then some," Ratchet said. "Well, when you get sparked you aren't an invalid. Get that notion out of your processor. You have a huge responsibility to yourself and your sparkling to behave and do the right thing. Anytime you don't feel you should then consider Silverbow."

"What about her? She's fraggin' awesome," Sunstreaker replied fiercely. "I detailed her myself. That little Autobot symbol? She asked for it and I painted it on myself. I buff and wax her once a decaorn to keep her shiny."

"Which is totally wonderful, Sunny," Ratchet said warmed at the thought of such things of which he wasn't aware. "But Silverbow is behind. She's barely coming into her sparkling speech. She's not very structurally strong. She's fearful and susceptible to fracture due to poor nutrition for the developmental stages she was deprived. She's going to be slow catching up and some things never will."

"Like what?" Sunstreaker said sitting up with concern. "She's fraggin' awesome."

"She is," Ratchet agreed. "But she didn't get what she needed when she was growing and even with a good protoform, which miraculously she got, she's still weak and behind."

Sunstreaker glared at him as a furious expression flashed across his face. "Another reason to kill Decepticons."

"I won't argue," Ratchet said placatingly. "But you see what a serious duty you have. Your sparkling must come first. You want a sparkling that's in great health all the way through or you'll have the problems that poor little Silverbow has."

"She'll be alright won't she?" Sunstreaker asked suddenly afraid. "She'll … get better."

"She will," Ratchet said. "She will but her spark is not as strong as it could've been. We'll have to help her and the little mechs. They all have the same problem but for the mechs being fitter and the impact less prolonged when the disrupted critical growing stage was taking place.

"Spirit doesn't speak yet. He made a few chirps but he's traumatized as well. T-Bar can talk pretty well and Rambler is in good shape, the best shape considering. What happens to them when they're growing matters, Sunny. Do you understand?"

"I would never," Sunstreaker said sitting up with a fierce look on his face, "ever endanger a sparkling. I would die for them. They're fraggin' ours, Ratchet."

"So is yours," Ratchet said gently.

Sunstreaker sat back considering Ratchet's words then shook his helm, his face a desolation of sadness. "I hate this."

"I know," Ratchet said. "But when you get your sparkling, when Sideswipe and Bluestreak get the sparkling, too, and are amazed and proud of you, you won't."

"Why, why, why? I want to break things. I want to kill something," he said quietly.

"But you won't."

It was silent a moment.

Then he looked up enraged. "Fraggin' programming?"

Ratchet nodded. "We need it. We need to protect our young. We need to protect our carriers. Our species is in crisis. Until we get a handle on how many of our people are out there we cannot allow anything to happen to even one sparkling."

"There's refugees coming," Sunstreaker replied. "Two big groups. I heard there's a fraggin' mini-con village coming with some Autobot soldiers."

"Mini-cons," Ratchet said chuckling with amusement.

"Slaggin' mini-cons. Like we don't have enough already," Sunstreaker said with a slight grin. "Maybe Bumblebee's real genitors are in the mix."

They both grinned at each other. Then the frown was back.

"You're eight orns into this. You have five decaorns and two orns to go. Fifty-two days, human. I want you to know you can't fight for now. Its too much stress on your spark and you might get slagged, too."

The frown deepened.

"You have to behave, Sunstreaker. You and the others have to decide what you want. Then we can meet up with Wheeljack and Perceptor to design the protoform."

"I want a mech and a femme. What's the odds on twins?"

Ratchet reached into subspace and pulled a scanner. He rose and passed it over Sunstreaker. "Looks like you'll have to wait on one of them. You have one sparkling."

"I can choose, right?"

Ratchet nodded.

"Why did you choose a mech and why did you make him look like a mini-con version of Ironhide?" Sunstreaker asked as he relaxed slightly.

"I wanted a mech because I wanted Ironhide to have the first one be a mech. I knew he'd spoil a femme beyond repair and I think Ironhide is the most handsome mech I ever saw."

Sunstreaker smirked. "Love is blind?"

"Love is myopic," Ratchet said smirking back.

"Did it hurt much? I saw you screaming and dying on the table. I could tear my spark chamber out just thinking about it."

"It hurt a little," Ratchet said thinking back. "Actually, it just slaggin' hurt. But you've seen Orion. He's totally worth it."

"He's slaggin' cute even if he does have Ironhide's face," Sunstreaker agreed as he smiled slightly. "I've never held a sparkling that small before. Or a sparkling ever."

"I'll get him. Will you wait here?" Ratchet asked rising to go.

Sunstreaker sat a moment in thought, then nodded slightly.

Ratchet grinned then walked to the door, hurrying out of it, then Med Bay. Down the corridor he went to enter Ops Center to take Orion from a reluctant Ironhide.

:I'll bring him back. Sunstreaker is in my office:

:Alright. But you will bring him back? Soon?:

:I will, Ironhide:

Ratchet smiled as he walked back to enter the office and pause beside Sunstreaker. He looked at the front-liner who sat up looking nervous. "Here," Ratchet said holding him out. He placed him in Sunny's arms and walked to his chair to sit, settling in as he watched the big Lamborghini hold the sparkling.

Orion with binky firmly in place looked at Sunstreaker his little optics considering the new face holding him. It wasn't his papa. It wasn't his carrier but his carrier had given him to the yellow face. It must be all right so he began to wave his arms trying to touch Sunstreaker. He wanted to grab his finials and as he did Sunstreaker smiled.

So did Ratchet.

=0=Nast

He'd made a call to his wife, a call that was overheard by the aliens. He'd told her that he was doing a bit of serious business and would be out of touch a while longer. He told her to just trust him and be happy. He apologized to her for being late and for not being around for the holidays.

He listened to her tell about home, about people they knew and he tried not to crawl out of his skin from the now banal details of the life he had loved before. He was exhausted, traumatized and scared out of his mind. Her conversation grated on his ears, the normality of it and when he finally signed off he was glad. Ending up in the brig surrounded by energy bars and resentful employees, he was glad. This place was the safest place he had right now and being here made him almost forget he was probably not going to live through the next month.

=0=The mission to New York

They gathered their gear, piling it on the airstrip next to Silverbolt. The crews were getting weapons together, more than aware that nearby mercs from Daniels' group were watching them. Big mechs stood together talking and checking their munitions as they awaited the word to board.

"Those guys could rip our spines out with their bare hands," Tim Bolton, a new merc said snapping pictures with his cell phone as he used two others to shield his actions.

"They scare the shit out of me," another new merc, Dustin Carter said. "I wouldn't go any closer to them than this."

"Daniels wants us to mess with them," Bolton said.

"Daniels is fucking nuts," Dustin replied catching Bolton taking pictures. "That's out of bounds. You can get slammed if you get caught taking pictures."

Bolton turned Dustin, then stepped behind him. "Stand still."

Dustin stepped away, turning on Bolton as he did. "No way, man. I'm not getting stepped on because you broke the rules."

"Pussy," Bolton said slipping the camera back into his pocket.

They watched as Optimus Prime himself stepped out to walk across the tarmac, his presence the go signal for boarding. Soldiers loaded up, the Autobots with Prime being last. Then the huge jet taxied a short distance before taking off almost effortlessly.

"He didn't use a runway," Seth Tomas another new merc said softly. "He didn't fucking use a runway."

"He's one of them, that jet. He's a robot, too," Bolton said shaking his head with wonderment as well. "Their plane is alive."

"I wouldn't want to piss them off," Ray Christie, another new merc said. "If he ever came after you where would you go?"

"To your death," Dustin said softly. The jet disappeared then he glanced at the others. "Daniels can go fuck himself. I'm not getting myself killed provoking them. Where would you run to if they came after you? Have you seen the red and yellow ones? The Lamborghinis? I heard they came after a couple of soldiers who were pissing them off and nearly killed them."

"You're a wuss," Bolton said with a grin. He began to walk back to the barracks. "Wuss!"

"Better to be a living wuss than a dead dumb ass," Dustin said as he walked back with Christie and Tomas. "Bolton and Daniels are going to get us killed."

=0=Med Bay

Ratchet sat at his desk staring at his computer, the data passing by so many squiggly lines. He held Orion against his shoulder, the little sparkling patting him with his servo as he looked around with binky firmly in place. Ratchet sat back and held him in front of himself looking at his little micro mini-con Ironhide with deep affection. "You're stuck with me, Orion, until Ironhide gets back. He's probably crying his spark out in the plane right now."

Orion listened to his creator, then grinned.

Ratchet awash in love and admiration at his sparklings great new trick of smiling in agreement with everything he said hugged Orion closely. "I love you, Orion. It won't be long before he's back. Until then you can keep me sober." Ratchet smiled and so did Orion. Then they both turned to the screen and tried to make sense of the squiggly lines.

=0=On the way to New York

Ironhide sat on the deck, his spark crushed. Leaving his sparkling was a bigger blow than he expected. He'd carried Orion in the crook of his arm everywhere he went since the sparkling was separated. Now his arms felt empty. Leaning back, he closed his eyes replaying internally images of his sparkling and Ratchet. It would occupy his time until they reached New York when the dangers and details of arms smuggling intervention would take over.