Author's note. I thought I wasn't going to get this chapter up, there are still problems with Fan fiction but I've found a way around it. However, I still can't publish new stories, anyone got any ideas about getting around this? Thanks.
With thanks to Kaitamis, Zabuzas, and Akirisan_X for their suggestions.
Suggestions welcome.
Enjoy and please review.
Megatron grinned as he watched Starscream stand with his jaw wide open. Earlier, he'd told his men to take their charges for a while but had found he was actually bored. So he decided to have a wander through the base and see what his men were up to. He'd discovered from a Minicon that Demolisher and Cyclonus had actually gone onto the moon surface for a while, taking their charges with them.
So Starscream was the only one still in the base so he'd sought him out.
He eventually found them and had paused to listen to their conversation. The girl was telling Starscream how she'd lost his gift and how sorry she was. Starscream had then reassured her, telling her she'd likely get it back in due course. Megatron felt a slight twinge of guilt but he quickly dismissed it.
He'd give it back to her when he was good and ready.
He was a bit annoyed at how affectionate those two sounded with each other, he knew they were rarely like that with him. And for some reason, this bothered him more than it should have. He grumbled, wondering whether he should just leave when Alexis suddenly asked Starscream something.
"Where do transformer babies come from?"
"Where do...whu?" Starscream said in utter disbelief.
Megatron roared with laughter, utterly enjoying that fact that his Seeker had been asked by this question. Still laughing, he entered the Throne Room where Alexis was staring at him while Starscream just gaped at her.
"Well Starscream?" Megatron said with good humour, making his way over to them.
"Aren't you going to answer her question?"
"I...uh...um," Starscream stuttered, he didn't look like he could answer anything at that point.
Chuckling, Megatron extended a hand to stroke Alexis's head.
"Maybe Starscream doesn't know the answer, hmmm?"
Starscream scowled at this as Alexis looked outraged on his behalf.
"I'm sure Starscream knows lots ont he subject."
"No doubt," Megatron said, giving his solider a Mech like leer.
Starscream blushed and looked away as Megatron chuckled.
"Never mind Starscream, I'll tell her all she needs to know."
Starscream looked both relieved and disappointed. He was probably hoping to spend time with his little friend but he knew better than to argue.
"Very well sir," he said softly, giving Alexis an apologetic look before departing from the Throne room.
"Why you'd have to send him away?" Alexis complained as she was picked up by Megatron.
"I was sparing him further embarrassment," Megatron said with a smirk.
"Such a young Mech shouldn't have to explain these things to you."
Alexis huffed and crossed her arms but to Megatron this just made her adorable. Sitting on his Throne, he placed her on his lap and started stroking her. She sighed heavily and relaxed against his hand.
"So...where do they come from?" she asked quietly.
"Firstly, their known as Sparklings," Megatron said softly.
"And they come from our Femmes, who are the only ones who can Carry them."
"How do they Carry them?" Alexis asked curiously.
"In their Chest Compartments, next to their Sparks," Megatron answered.
"Their Spark protects the Sparkling Orb and gives it energy to grow. Once the Spark is big enough, it moves away slightly from its mother's Spark and their body begins to form. First all the wiring and internal components form and then their actual structural form."
"Doesn't that take up a lot of room in the mother's chest?" Alexis couldn't help but ask.
With human mothers, they got a baby bump that allowed their baby to grow but she wans't sure about transformer Femmes.
"Their Chassis extends to allow more room for both the Sparkling and the mother's internal parts," Megatron explained softly.
"This is a dangerous time for Femmes however and it's the reason why twins or even triplets are very rare. There's simply not enough room for more than one Sparkling to grow safely."
"That makes sense," she said softly.
"So how do they...get them out."
"At birth, the Sparkling becomes disconnected from wires that attach it to its mother. Her Chassis is opened up and the Sparkling is taken out where it is incubated until its strong enough to survive outside."
"So they're really helpless at birth?"
"They are, the mother always needs to be at a Medical Centre so her Sparkling can be delivered safely. And to ensure that nothing has gone wrong during the procedure that could place either the Sparklings or the mother's life in danger."
Alexis nodded, this made a lot of sense. But then another question occurred to her.
"So, how do you make Sparklings in the first place?"
"Hmm, I was wondering when you were going to ask that," Megatron said with a grin.
"There are two ways Sparklings can be created. The first way is I believe similar to how you humans conceive, we interface with Spikes and Ports."
"Oh," she said, blushing at this but still wanting to know more.
Megatron smirked at her blushing.
"A Mechs transfluid contains Coding that mixes with a Femme's and that can lead to the formation of a Sparkling. But if you're trying to conceive, this isn't the most reliable way to do it. A Femme needs a lot of Coding from a Mech in order for her Sparkling protocols to be activated so a Femme rarely becomes pregnant from a onetime interface."
"That's...that's good," Alexis said softly. "So does that mean there aren't unwanted Sparklings."
Megatron cocked his head at this, he couldn't remember a time where there were too many Sparklings for them to be unwanted. But he could still see her point, it wasn't good if two Creators didn't want to be together.
"No, it is a sort of safe guard," he agreed softly. "It means Mechs and Femmes can interface without the worry of creating accidental Sparklings. But that's only if their interfacing without any protection, we do have ways of preventing a Femme's Sparkling Protocols from activating. Nethertheless, generally a Mech and Femme have to interface an awful lot in a short space of time in order to create a Sparkling."
She nodded, entranced by what he was thinking.
"Now the second and more common method is a Spark Merge. That is where we bare our Sparks to each other and join them together. This is also our method of Bonding but for that you have to go much deeper than just a Spark merge."
"So um, your Coding it in your Sparks?" Alexis questioned, making Megatron chuckle.
"Of course, our Sparks contain all the information on us. So when we merge, the Femme receives a certain amount of her partners coding, the more attracted she is to him, the more she gets of his Code."
He smirked down at her as she considered all he'd just said.
"That is how Sparklings are Created Alexis and we consider it an important time in a transformers life."
"That sounds great," she said with a smile and completely forgetting the warning Optimus had given her, eagerly asked.
"Have you ever thought about Bonding and having Sparklings?"
Megatron's expression froze, the smile slipping from his face. Realising her mistake, Alexis hurriedly said.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to ask that, Optimus said..."
"What did Prime say?" Megatron demanded harshly, his expression now furious.
"What has he been telling you?"
"Nothing, nothing about you," she protested quickly, scared of how angry he looked.
"H-he just said that we shouldn't mention..."
"He had no right to tell you anything," Megatron snarled, not listening to her at all, his clawed fingers curling around her as she started to shake.
"Damn it, I thought he was more discreet."
Alexis had no idea why he was so angry and refusing to listen to her. What she did know was that this was rapidly becoming a dangerous situation to be in. As he glared furiously at a spot on the opposite wall while muttering threats, she tried to pry herself lose from his grip and sneak away.
She nearly managed it, she'd gotten free but then he closed his fist and realised she wasn't in it any more. That got his attention right back on her.
"Where do you think you're going?" he demanded, his claw catching the back of her jumpsuit and dragging her back to him.
"Nowhere, I'm sorry," she said pleadingly, tears starting to form as she gazed up at him.
"I won't do it again."
"Damn right you won't," he snarled, dragging her back until she was on his knee.
"I swear I'm going to give you the Spanking of a lifetime."
"No," she cried, realising what he was about to do. "Please, not that, I'll take any other punishment, just not that."
"Too bad," he said viciously, ignoring her pleas as he roughly yanked her pants and underwear down.
"No," she shrieked as he laid her across his lap, and tried to yank her underwear back up.
"Hands front," he barked out before she could and whimpering, she did as told.
Making sure he had a firm hold of her, he raised his hand about to bring it down on her unclothes rear. How dare she ask about Sliverblaze, she had no right. And how dare Prime interfere in something that didn't have anything to do with him.
He should have known better than to tell the girl about Sparklings.
Suddenly, unbidden, a half forgotten memory rose up inside him and he paused, hand still raised above the weeping girl. He and Sliverblaze had wanted to have Sparklings so they'd discussed what that would mean. How Sparklings would change their lives and the effort that would be involved in raising them.
Flashback
"I want a Mechling."
"Of course you do," his mate agreed with a chuckle as she polished a sharp sword.
"But I want a Femling."
"We'll have one after you've given me a few Mechs," Megatron said with a wave of his hand.
"Oh really?" Sliverblaze said with a raised brow.
"Well, maybe all I'll give you is Femmes," she said in a serious tone as he looked horrified.
"You can't do that," he exclaimed and she smirked.
"Watch me, big boy," she said with a purr, turning her back on him.
"Blaze...," he said in a wheedling voice as he came up behind her and nuzzled her shoulder.
"I would love having a little daughter, I've just always dreamed of having a Mech who'd take after me, someone I can teach and train into a powerful warrior."
"So you wouldn't do that with our daughter?" she questioned and he chuckled.
"No, because that's what you'd be doing," he said with a laugh, wrapping his arms around her.
"You'd bring her up to every better as deadly as you are. All I'd do is be an overbearing father and chase away any Mechs I saw near her."
She laughed at this, she could just imagine him doing that.
"Alright my love, I'll give you as many Mechs as you're Spark could desire."
"Thank you," Megatron said in relief. "You know I'll treasure each of our little Sparklings."
"I know," she replied softly, kissing his hand before turning serious.
"Megatron, I know they'll need discipline otherwise they'll be spoiled."
"I'm not going to harsh on them," Megatron said gently.
"I'll just teach them respect and that sort of thing."
"I know that and I won't be against it, it's just..."
She broke off, apparently gathering her thoughts.
"Will you promise me one thing, Megatron?"
"Of course, my dear," he said softly, "What is it?"
"They will make mistakes and you'll need to punish them," she began quietly.
"But I want you to promise that if they've done something to make you mad, really mad I mean, that you won't punish time until you've cooled off a little."
She turned and smiled up at him.
"You have a rather hot temper, my dear."
He looked indignant for a moment before accepting that she was right. He smiled and kissed the top of her head.
"Alright my dear, I promise you I won't punish our children if I'm angry."
"Hmm, thank you," she said happily with a sigh.
"Now, why don't we practice our...Sparkling making skills?"
"With pleasure," Megatron purred before capturing her mouth in a passionate kiss.
End of flashback
The memory faded as suddenly as it had come, leaving Megatron brooding. His mate had knowm him so well and could explain things to him without him getting angry. Thinking of her and the promise he'd made her long ago made him pause in his punishment of the young girl.
His optics focused on her again, she had her head in her arms sobbing away as she waited for him to start. He'd only been pausing for a few moments but it felt longer. He thought about her words before he'd turned her over on his knee.
He'd assumed that Prime had told her and the boys something about his past but would Prime really do that? And surely, if they knew, they wouldn't dare ask him anything on the subject?
But thinking back on her words, he realised it had been a very innocent question, born out of curiosity. After all, she knew about Prime and his mates, why shouldn't she ask Megatron if he was interested in getting one.
But Prime had told her something about him, something related to Sparklings and Bonding. But what if it was just a warning not to mention to Megatron had he ever considered doing it. It would explain how she knew something was wrong so quickly, she'd realised her mistake.
This was all a misunderstanding.
With this thought, he lowered his hand slowly, his temper disappearing as he did this. He saw Alexis flinch as she felt his approaching hand but all he did was pull up her underwear and pants. She gasped in shock before trembling as he lifted her up with one hand.
Her eyes were shut but there were tears running down her face as she clung onto him. He sighed heavily before placing her against his cheek. She jolted in shock, her eyes flying open to see what he had done.
But as he held her there, gently rubbing her back with a thumb, she whimpered and hugged his cheek, more tears pouring down her face.
"I'll try and listen next time," he said softly as she cried against him.
"You didn't deserve that Alexis."
"I tried...," she gasped out but he simply rubbed her back some more.
"I know," he said just as softly.
He was a little too proud to actually say he was wrong and that he was sorry, so he showed it. He moved her slightly to one side and kissed the side of her face before pressing her against his cheek once more.
She sniffed but seemed to be calming down quite well. He smiled at this, pleased he'd managed to comfort her. He gave her another little kiss, this time on her head where he felt her warm, sweet smelling hair.
He'd learned a lesson today, a hard one but he had learned it.
Being a parent wasn't easy at all.
Back on Earth
"Will you be ready soon?" Hotshot questioned his new friend Sideways.
Sideways nodded.
"Very soon, I'm sorry for the delay but with the virus, I can't risk travelling yet but it won't be long."
"It's okay," Hotshot assured him. "It's enough that you're willing to do this, we can wait a bit."
"You're a good Mech, Hotshot," Sideways said softly making the yellow Mech smile.
"Thanks Sideways, that means a lot."
Sideways was sure it did, he could tell Hotshot sometimes didn't feel very confident at times. There was no harm in giving this Mech a little confidence boost, it would be good in the long run. The Decepticons needed strong willed and talented Autobots to fight them and to keep the fighting going.
He wasn't lying about that virus, despite his abilities, he could still pick them up from time to time. This one would pass soon enough once his systems took care of it but it meant he couldn't risk Warping. So they'd need to wait a few cycles before they could put their plan into operation.
He could only hope nothing happened at the Decepticon Base while he was stuck on Earth.
Author's note. Megatron has a new plan involving the kids but what is it? Find out next time, until then.