The Diego Diaries: Home At Last (371) edited
-0-Earth
They reached their ship eventually. After Kup and Lon boarded, Sunstreaker glanced down at the hapless little beast on the end of his leash. A flash of Sunspot's helplessness filled him and he felt enormous sympathy for the hopeless little thing. Maybe it was because he was an ada and had three helpless imps at home. Maybe it was because of his glitch. He didn't know. He just knew the thing was coming with him and he would protect it. He tugged the leash gently and the little bug scurried up with him into the shuttle. Moving to a seat in the back, he lifted the dirt and dust covered bot onto an empty seat. It settled, moving as close to Sunstreaker as he could.
Kup who was sitting in the pilot seat glancing back shook his helm. "You have it now. That thing thinks you're his ada."
Sunstreaker grinned. "I'm going to teach it how to track Insecticons."
The bot didn't care what they were saying. The aura of the big mech who held his leash was warm and accepting. He had been alone a long time and this was the first sense of belonging and kindness he had felt in eons. Living alone had been frightening. He had dug a hole and hid, the animals all around mostly ignoring him. The lions had been more interested but since he was metallic, they had finally moved on after half digging him out of his hole.
He had been terrified and cried out shrilly for his own kind to come to save him. No one came. The lions batted at him, their sharp claws leaving faint traces on his armor. His body was mostly purple for the Decepticons with silver legs and arms. His tiny grasping arms were held against his body underneath and were purple as well. Big spikes, an affectation infants of his kind bore until they grew older covered his arms, legs, tail and back. His underbelly was devoid of them. They were golden and spiky, spaced wide apart for his immaturity and more scary than helpful. The Insecticons were winners in combat for their brute strength, ability to work together on a target and their nearly mindless ferocity. Spikes on immature bugs were not much protection from all but the most routine offenses and disappeared as they grew older.
His face was recessed into his armor, a blast mask shielding him even further. A bright yellow glow indicated several optics and what appeared to be a mouth feature. Two big antennas, one on either side of his helm moved to listen and gather information. His back had two round funnel-shaped features, the nascent vestiges of future wings Sunstreaker thought. There were no wings now. He wondered if there ever would be.
The little creature seemed stunted and confused. He clung to Sunstreaker pressing against him and it occurred to Sunny that this might be a baby. He had never seen immature or infant Insecticons. Maybe this was one. He would have to ask his ada to tell him. If it was a baby, it was his to care for. That part of his glitch was beginning to emerge. He put his arm on it and it pressed tighter against him as the ship rose up and began to head from Africa to the middle of the Indian Ocean.
-0-Prowl
He stood watching the unfolding of the data into proper categories. That part of his process was beautiful to see. Nothing like things falling into place. Then the message crossed from Sunstreaker. He paused, the implications disturbing. He sent a reply and turned to other things. One insane thing at a time he told himself. One insane thing at a time.
-0-Diego Garcia, Indian Ocean, Earth
The shuttle settled down on the repaired runway and the engines cut off. The hatch opened as the ramp descended. Kup turned and looked at Sunstreaker. "You going to take that thing for a walk or what?"
Sunstreaker looked at the little bot who was laying silently beside him. "Why not? Epps should see his namesake." He grinned and rose tugging gently on the leash. The bot looked up at him for a moment, then jumped down, crouching slightly in fear. Sunny reached down and patted his head. The bot straightened slightly and rubbed against his leg.
"Reminds me of Dawg," Lon said uneasily. "Only Dawg is more awesome."
"Dawg is a work of perfection getting by in an imperfect world," Kup said with reverence. "Remember that, youngling."
Lon nodded, his expression deeply serious. "I will."
Kup grinned and headed for the door. "Prowl sent a message. We have two bots to pick up and a couple of pieces of freight. Kill two targs with one stone."
Lon and Sunstreaker followed, the Insecticon staying close to his new protector's side. They walked toward the Embassy which was now fully enclosed, the area policed and functioning. It wasn't the same but it was more than adequate to their needs, structurally beautiful and Cybertronian in aesthetic. Bots were outside sunning themselves. As the trio and bug got closer they began to transform into root mode. When Sunstreaker paused before them, they began to gather around. So did several humans who were coming out of the Embassy at shift change or walking nearby.
"Sunstreaker, what the frag is that? Where did you find it and where is it going?" Smokescreen said as Devcon walked out of the Embassy, gear gathered to return to Mars.
"That's an immature Insecticon," Dev said pausing to look the beast over. "I would say it has some serious deficiencies. Where did you get it, Sunstreaker?"
"In Africa. It was all alone. It either wandered off or was dumped," Sunny said kneeling to pat the little scutter. The bug leaned into his servo and purred, then lay down flat on the ground.
"They sometimes dump the weak or sick ones. That one doesn't look good to me, Sunny," Dev said. "You might have Ratchet look at it. Or better yet, the naturalists at The Animal Store would probably know more about this kind of bot."
"The Animal Store? Oh, I remember. That's where you got Dawg," a familiar voice said. Jessie Landon stepped out of the crowd and walked to the beast. There were razor sharp blades along his arms and his optics were trained upon her. "This is a baby Insecticon?" She knelt and reached out her hand. Bob watched her as her hand touched him. His systems didn't detect harmful intent, so he relaxed again, settling. "He's sort of cute, he's so ugly. Poor baby. No one loves you?"
"This is the faction that attacked the base," another human, Sargent Willis Cordry said.
"This one is either hurt or a baby. He doesn't have any responsibility for what others did anymore than any other baby would," she replied standing up to stare at Sunstreaker who was way up above her. "Are you going to keep him or what? He won't be harmed will he?"
Sunstreaker shook his helm. "Nope. I want to keep him. I want to train him to track the swarm."
"Good idea. He's so young, he will be easy to train, Sunny," Dev said picking up his gear. "You giving us a lift?"
Kup nodded. "We came to get ya."
They chatted a bit more, made plans for the game when it came, then turned, Smokescreen and Devcon following them to the shuttle. The humans and bots watched. "I like that little guy. Look at him walk," Jessie said as she watched the little bot waddle along beside Sunstreaker. He would look up at the big yellow bot, then hurry faster as he worked to keep up. By the time they reached the shuttle, Sunstreaker was carrying him. They entered the ship, the hatch closed, the ramp slid up and then so did the vessel. They disappeared in moments.
-0-CMO's office
:Ironhide:
:What?:
:Where are you?:
:At the Depot:
Pause. :The infants in school?:
Pause. :Yes:
:You're lying:
Pause. :You're demented, old mech. I have to run:
The link between them went dormant as Ratchet sat on his chair staring at a screen with data. He considered his options, then put in another call. :Neo:
:Ratchet?:
:Neo, did Hero make it to school today?:
(grin) :No. Ironhide said she was feeling poorly:
(grin) :She won't be the only one. Thanks:
(grin) :Don't mention it:
Ratchet considered his options, then rose and walked to the door. The trip to the ground floor was easily made. When he got there Sunstreaker was waiting for the same elevator to go up. The doors opened, Sunstreaker stepped in and the doors closed. That is when Ratchet looked down and saw the bug. "Frag," he said as he stared at several little yellow optics looking back up at him. Sunstreaker only grinned.
-0-Moments later
The Insect was laying on the med berth off lined. Ratchet had gone back up with Sunny, the Insecticon scurrying along with them. Entering an emergency room surgery, he looked at the tiny bug on the floor. "You pick him up and put him on the berth."
Sunstreaker complied. "Dev told me this is either a damaged or immature Insecticon. He told me that they abandon the weaker ones sometimes."
"Well, this one isn't very old. Its also impossibly small and very needful of attention. I am surprised it can stand up its protoform is in such bad shape," Ratchet said finishing an initial scan. "It needs lots of repair because it looks like its been abused or slapped around. This can be done well enough. I will also jump start his protoform to begin rapid regeneration before he really has difficulty. I don't believe, Sunstreaker, that he had much longer to manage until you found him. He's famished." Ratchet reached up and pulled down a cord. He plugged it in and energon began to flow. "I am guessing on the formulation for now. I am using the infant starvation formula. As for the rest, I am programming supplements to help aggressively regenerate his protoform."
Sunstreaker nodded, his focus intent on the little bot. Breakdown and Knockout along with other medical personnel filtered in and took up places to watch. "That's an Insecticon," Breakdown said looking at Ratchet. "Where did you find him?"
"Africa," Sunstreaker said. "He was alone on the plain surrounded by millions of animals and no one to take care of him."
Breakdown nodded. "He was dumped I bet. He's smaller than usual."
Ratchet nodded. "We have work to do to bring him up to speed. He's going to be here a while."
"Will you keep him off line? I don't want him to be afraid. He's very scared, Ada," Sunstreaker said, the idea of the little bot being afraid making his tanks turnover.
"I will," Ratchet said checking levels on the monitor as they slowly began to rise.
"What then? This fragger will grow up and be as dangerous and dimwitted as his kind are. We know. We've had a lot of experience with them. I don't think you can count on reasoning with them," Knockout offered.
"He stays with me," Sunstreaker said with a firm edge to his voice as he stared at the little bot. "I'll clean him up. We can get the Deceptibrand off and repaint him. No purple. Something better."
"I'll leave that up to you, Sunstreaker," Ratchet said gently as he considered the edge in Sunstreaker's voice. It only happened when his sparklings were involved. He had already taken this one to spark he thought as he worked on the little creature. That would complicate things. "We can keep him in the isolation ward off line so he can be safe and contained."
Sunstreaker nodded. "Dawg is going to love this guy." He reached out and stroked Bob's little helm. He was under and didn't feel it but it made Sunny feel better.
"We'll see how this goes. You better go tell Prowl," Ratchet said glancing at his son.
Sunstreaker nodded, then turned and walked out quietly. The others stood and watched 'A Master At Work'.
Which he was.
-0-Ops Center moments later
"A what?"
"That's what it is. I am going to be taking care of it. I want to teach it to track Insecticons. I think he needs someone to take care of him and he's taken to me."
"And you've taken to him," Prowl responded. "Do you want this thing around the infants? What do Sideswipe and Blue have to say about it?"
"Nothing so far. I haven't told them. Come to the hospital and see him. You'll see what I mean. Talk to Kup and Lon," Sunstreaker said. "I'm going to get Dawg and the others. I want them to see him." Sunstreaker turned and walked out of the Center on his way out to the city. He passed Prime as he did.
Optimus walked to the center table and paused. "What?"
"We just inherited a bug," Prowl said with resignation.
-0-Moments later
They all stood in the surgery as Ratchet closed panels on the little Insecticon. He had come through well and was now completely repaired. His armor needed help. His arm blades and orthodontal stingers were removed, laying on a tray nearby. He was completely defanged and disarmed. His subspace was empty. He was so young he probably didn't know he had one. All that Ratchet found there was some dirt and a few dead leaves that he might have collected accidentally. "Well, he's up to speed. His protoform is a mess but it will recover. I can't speak to his mentality. I have the naturalists coming. They will assess him with Jarro's department. If he is a sentient being on a level with us, bearing judgment and the ability to reason, we have a responsibility to protect and care for him as one on a level with us. He's not a mindless drone, Optimus."
Prime nodded. "What about his age? Is he small because he's ill or is he an infant?"
"I am struggling to measure his age. His code reads similar to that of our own format. As adults, our code is billions, perhaps trillions of lines long. His is enormously short of that so I am in favor of finding this bot to be an infant of his kind. Perhaps he was too much work to manage given the transient circumstances of their situation here or he was considered sub par in some manner. Either way, he has been abandoned by his hive. Either that or he wandered away. There is some notations in the literature that some become nomads, usually accidentally. I don't think it applies to him because he has been made ill by being alone but I could be wrong. Either way, he's underage and immature."
Prime nodded. Bluestreak stepped closer and peered at him. "He's dirty and creepy. I wonder if that will improve when he's cleaned up and another color?"
"He's so afraid he crawls on the ground, Babe. He's not going to be a danger. He's just a sparkling or whatever they call their young. He purrs when you touch him," Sunstreaker said. "I'll clean him up and we can repaint his armor. We can refinish him and put an Autobrand on him. I think he can be trained to track the swarm."
"Putting a baby in danger isn't our way, Sunstreaker," Prowl said as he stood at the head of the berth staring down at the little creature, his arms folded over his chassis.
"I think he's this side of amazing," Sideswipe said bending to peer into the armored face of the off line bot. "He has a lot of optics. I like his antennas too." He touched them, both of them wanly limp alongside the helm of the botlet. "He doesn't have wings. He does have these." Sideswipe looked at the badminton shaped nodules that would one day hopefully sprout wings.
"Its questionable that his development will go that way. It could be that they know he won't and decided to cut their loses. If they have to move carrying along a defective infant would be a hardship," Ratchet said peering at the nodules himself. "I would be surprised. But then you never know."
"Keep him here until he's well, Ratchet. Have the experts go over him and give us a good appraisal. In the meantime, if the trine is in full agreement I am awarding custody for now of this bot to you, Sunstreaker," Prime said.
Sunstreaker looked at Sideswipe who grinned, nodding. Blue looked at both, then the botlet. Then he rolled his optics. "Sure. Why not." He looked down at Dawg. "Lucky you, Dawg. Meet Sunstreaker's kitty," he said to the general amusement of everyone present.
Bob just slumbered on.
-0-TBC July 19, 2013
NOTE: While looking around for Bob images to keep the story line straight, I find myself terribly impressed with IDW art. The faces are masculine and incredibly handsome. Very handsome, our bots. Bob doesn't seem very threatening, smart or sentient in canon so I am tweaking him a bit for this story. :D:D:D