Disclaimer: I do not own Transformers.
But the plot and OCs are mine.
So no touchy.
Hey, everybody! Umm . . . well . . . its been a while hasn't it? Yeah . . . sorry about the couple of weeks skip. Life happened, you know? And really you can blame chapter 11. It has been driving me insane!
But on the bright side it has magically started flowing again so here is chapter 8 for you.
I enjoyed this chapter, hope you will too.
Chapter 8
"YOU DID WHAT!?" Jazz would swear to his dying orn that Prowl's screech could be heard all the way to the moons and back when the Autobot patrol returned with the Dinobots in tow.
He would also swear that his audios were going to need repairing after this mission impossible was done.
"Now cool off a nano-klick, Prowler." Jazz pleaded wary of the SIC as he tossed his precious data pads across his office. From his position crouched in fright behind the office chair he wasn't really in any danger of getting smacked in the faceplate—again—by a flying something, but unfortunately Prime was.
"THEY TRIED TO KILL YOU! OR HAVE YOU FORGOTTEN THAT LITTLE DETAIL OF THE LAST TIME THEY WERE A PART OF THIS CREW!" Prowl raged. He actually raged. The last time Jazz or Prime had seen him this upset was when he went after Blue on New Vorns Eve.
Jazz made a quick mental note to tell the youngster to keep his distance for a little while.
Prowl was gonna be in a mood for a few orns.
That much was obvious and expected.
"Prowl!" Optimus shouted smacking away the keyboard that got chunked at his head. "Prowl listen to me for a klick!"
"YOU LET THEM NEAR BUMBLEBEE!? HOW COULD YOU BE SO STUPID!? WHEELJACK HAS AN EXCUSE! HE'S BREATHED IN WAY TO MANY CHEMICALS OVER THE VORNS, BUT YOU LOT! YOU MUST BE FRAGGIN' GLITCHED!"
And now he was cussing.
Jazz hunkered down a little lower behind his hideaway as a computer screen went flying over him.
Yeah . . . this was not going well.
"Prowler! Let the damn mech speak!" Jazz yelled as Optimus ducked behind the chair with him. A comical sight considering Prime's bulk, but at the moment Jazz wasn't in the mood to laugh as Prowl went right on raging.
Rolling his optics behind his visor Jazz tuned him out and opened a comm link.
"Told you he wasn't going to take this well."
"Yes, thank you for reminding me." Optimus grumbled sarcastically as a jar of stylus bounced off his shoulders.
"Look on the bright side. Sooner or later he's going to run out of things to throw at us."
"It's orns like these that even I question which one of us is running this army."
"Of give him a break. They made his life miserable for a long time. They never listened to reason, or orders, or did as they were told, or could be kept in the brig, and had a really bad habit of playing with Wheeljack's chemicals because they were pretty colors and setting the ship on fire."
"That only happened like four times." Optimus offered.
"And all those times somehow good old Prowler managed to get caught on fire." The silver saboteur reminded, a hint of his smile returning. He had to give the Dinobots that. For all the trouble they had caused they had been entertaining when they were in a good mood.
Nightmares for Prowl, but entertaining for the rest of the crew.
Secretly Jazz was kind of glad they were back. He had never thought they were as stupid as most of the others did. He knew they just thought along a different line than the normal bots. Not to mention he'd seen the way that Wheeljack cared for them. It had hurt the inventor greatly when they did what they did and left.
And it was kind of spark warming to have watched the way Wheeljack lit up when Swoop and Sludge crashed into him. Not to mention the way he had been grinning when the five of them trialed after him without complaint to his lab when they returned to the ship and Prowl had freaked. There was still much that had to be figured out now that they were here though.
Would they stay?
Would they become Autobots again?
Why in Primus' name did they keep calling Bee Itty Bitty?
How in all creation did Lil' Bee mange to find them?
And above all, the whole issue of the young one leaving in the first place had to be addressed, but that was probably why the officers had split up. Jazz and Optimus took on the raging mess that was Prowl—now the silver mech was kind of wondering why he opted for this gig—while Ratchet and Wheeljack took on the issues regarding the Dinobots, and Ironhide locked himself up in his and Bee's room and quite obviously was not coming out again until he was sure himself that his youngling was back and he figured out a way to make the little mech understand they hadn't meant to make it seem like they forgot him and that he could never run off like that again.
Jazz had thought his spark was going to stop all those breems they couldn't find him.
He'd been torn from their grip once. None of them were ever going to let it happen again.
Though the saboteur was smacked back to the here and now when Prowl's novel data pads started smacking him and Prime in the head.
His bright blue optics narrowed.
Enough was enough.
Shooting out of his hiding place Jazz sprang over the SIC's desk and landed lightly in front of him grasping hold of his wrist mid throw of a cube of energon and met him optic to optic finding the worry and the anger flicking in his gaze.
The yelling and the throwing came to an end as Jazz sighed and released his hand letting him deflate before him and sink onto the desk top his doorwings drooped and his optics down cast. Only then did Optimus rise from his hiding place and walk over to lean against the desk next to his friend as Jazz did the same.
For a long few klicks the trio was silent, a million thoughts rolling around in their processors before Prowl spoke.
"Sorry I snapped." He sighed. "Again."
"Hey at least this time you didn't glitch." Jazz beamed turning on his optimistic attitude. "I mean just think. The Dinobots. They came back. How does that play into that logic of yours Prowler? Because I'm still spinning in disbelief. Who would have ever thought they would come back? Or that they would find Bee? Or that they wouldn't squish him as soon as look at him? How does that logically make since?"
The silver mech cut himself off though when he noticed Prowl's optics twitching.
"You know what. Never mind. I didn't say any of that." Jazz grinned. "You've been stressed lately and the snapping is just due to all that's going on. It's not your fault."
"Sometimes I think I ask far too much of you Prowl. Just as my Sire did." Optimus mumbled darkly.
That got Jazz to hush up pretty fast and Prowl to glance his way.
"You ask no more than I can handle." Prowl assured him.
Optimus didn't look convinced.
"Optimus," Prowl breathed. "We are currently clinging to life in the middle of a war that is destroying us as much as it is the planet. There is too much being asked out of everybot. Even Bumblebee. We ask him to not act like a youngling his age, even if we don't mean too. It's true we do. We ask too much out of Wheeljack and his ability to keep making things that will combat with Soundwave and Shockwave's toys. We ask Ratchet to repair more than any of us can hope that he can. We ask Ironhide to be far harsher and thicker and more battle ready than any mech can ever be. We ask Jazz to pull off the impossible again and again in his opt missions. We ask me to keep all of us on track and not become a black burn smear on the stones. But above all we ask too much of you. You are our Prime, who we look up to and adore, but that position was thrust upon you and it came with a heavy price."
The price of his brother and his Sire, but the SIC didn't add that part. It floated heavy enough in the air as it was.
"This is war. It is not glamorous or magnificent. Nor are we heroes or champions. We are simply mechs doing what is right, and we do it over and over again. No matter the cost. Because in the end it is the difference between right and wrong that compels us, and where we stand when the line is drawn that matters."
Jazz grinned. "Leave it to Prowl to go all deep on us after he just chunked his whole office at our heads."
Prowl and Optimus dissolved into laughter at that despite the tension, the kind of laughter that clears the spark and heals the soul. They needed it, and Jazz was very good at being able to provide it. It was one of the many talents the silver bot prided himself with.
For a moment longer the mechs chuckled together before Jazz looked to his commander.
"Besides, this is not about Prowl. Not really. You are fully aware he is capable of what is asked of him and that he would not have it any other way. Nor would any of us. We are what we are and we are good at what we do. Pit I wouldn't know what to do with myself if I wasn't constantly thinking up ways to make Shockwave's life miserable and how I can piss off Soundwave as of late. This is really about what Grimlock said you."
The powerful two-tone mech let out a tired sigh. "Yes . . . it is."
"And what is it that Grimlock said?" Prowl questioned.
Optimus took a breath and then began to retail all that had been said this morning in the argument over Bumblebee.
"You know," Ratchet grumbled to the tri-tone inventor that was almost vibrating with happiness beside the CMO as the Dinobots explored his lab. "You can't keep them in here, Wheeljack. They are going to light the ship on fire and Prowl really is going to wig out."
"I'll clean out the east hanger and set it up for them. Nothing is down there but my stuff anyway and its big enough to give them plenty of room to be. They'll like it."
"You don't know if they are going to stay." Ratchet reminded him.
Jack shot him a glare. "Bumblebee means something to them. They came because he asked. Not because Optimus offered. They will stay. I know they will . . . I want them too."
"Grimlock attacked our Prime." The medic kept his gaze on him.
"You've damaged the Prime quite gravely once or twice if I remember correctly." The inventor offered a shrug.
Ratchet growled. "Watch it, Jack."
"Let's see . . . there was the time he got his right arm blown off by Astrotrain and you proceeded to beat him with it for letting it happen. Oh and there was that orn that Thundercracker got in that lucky shot to his chest and almost hit his spark. Damn I will never forget how you fixed him and then chased him around the medical bay with a buzz saw! You had to fix everything you broke!"
"Wheeljack," Ratchet glared.
"Oh yes! What about that orn that Megatron caught him not looking when he was trying to help Roddy and the old bastard knocked him into stasis for a Decacycle with a shot to the head? When you finally got him patched back together and booted up again you proceeded to dent almost every inch of him with a wrench. Do you remember all those times, Ratch? Because I remember. I'm pretty sure you've mangled him worse than Grimlock ever did for all the things you've deemed foolish over the vorns—"
"ENOUGH!" The CMO's words cut Wheeljack off, but the giddy inventor did not lose his smile. He simply shrugged and went back to watching Swoop and Sludge mess around with the phase shifter project on his desk while Snarl and Slag pretended they weren't interested in anything and Grimlock leaned against the far wall watching them all with that blank calculation that Wheeljack had come to know quite well over the vorns.
Grimlock wasn't as dense as most mechs thought.
Quite the opposite actually.
The leader of the Dinobots was actually very smart; he just didn't think along the same patterns that the rest of the Autobots did. Granted though he was from a different time. A time that Wheeljack and Ratchet had pulled him from and tossed him into this one when they found the five of them near death in that dark cave and brought them back to the ship piecing them back together.
Through it all though Wheeljack had never doubted the mechs he viewed as his creations. When they awoke with no memory, no past, and no answers to how beings like them were still functional after all this time he knew they needed somebot to look after them. Somebot to care for them and too teach them, because they were truly all alone, and that had been Wheeljack.
He thought once or twice in the beginning of it all that Ratchet might want to help him. Help him teach them right from wrong and make sure they were alright, but he had been wrong. Ratchet wanted nothing to do with them.
Nothing at all.
Wheeljack understood. It had not been many vorns before than that Ratchet had lost Arcee. His friend had still been grieving quite badly and Wheeljack did understand . . . it still hurt him though. It hurt him every time Ratchet yelled at the Dinobots for getting themselves hurt, or for breaking things, or for not listening, or for just being the confused lost sparks that they were. It hurt him every time he turned his back to them when Swoop was curious of his work in the medical bay. It hurt him ever time Ironhide bellowed for them to get out ever time Snarl, Slag, and Sludge had wondered about weapons to him. It hurt him every time Prowl all but glitched if they so much as lifted a finger out of line because they were—in his book and quite honestly—unpredictable and volatile. It hurt him every time Optimus ordered then to the front lines and expected them to do the work of a dozen mechs simply because they were big and beasts.
It hurt him that no mech among his friends and family seemed to even look up once to notice that they were not happy.
The Autobots were a family. They always had been, but the Dinobots were never allowed to be a part of it. They had always been held at arm's length, not allowed to come close to the sparks around them or have a klick of understanding passed their way. Because they came in at a time when most of the crew was broken and nursing fractured sparks.
And it killed Wheeljack on the inside to know that they had felt so much and done so much for the bots around them and had never once been viewed as anything other than violent fools that were too different to be given the time of orn.
A part of him still cringed a little inside that it had taken Grimlock standing there with Bumblebee in his claws for Optimus and the others to finally open their audios enough to listen to the words he was saying and not the way he was saying them. Yes they were different. Yes they were mechs out of their time, but they were not stupid.
They were just . . . different.
Now though, Wheeljack had a little hope.
Optimus had heard.
Ratchet had realized.
They were making steps in the right direction. The proof of that should be in the fact that Ratchet was standing beside him and Optimus was trying to keep Prowl from tossing them out on their skid plates because despite his lack of size compared to them Jack was positive the SIC could pull it off. After all the times Swoop and Sludge set him on fire while playing with the inventor's chemicals he was pretty sure Prowl could find a way.
"You're right. Okay? I get it." Ratchet mumbled making Wheeljack smile behind his mask. "They are . . . ."
"Pretty much the same as your adopted sons?"
"I will still scrap you, Wheeljack."
"I'm just pointing out the obvious."
"So am I."
"Hey? You Wheeljack?" Both mechs looked up to find the five Dinobots watching them curiously.
"What's up Swoop?" Wheeljack spoke to the youngest of the five brothers who was sitting cross-legged on his table his strange wings fluttering behind his back as he tilted his head at him.
"What you Wheeljack and him Ratchet talkin' 'bout?"
Jack smiled. "You mechs."
Sludge and Swoop tilted their heads, Slag and Snarl lifted an optic ridge, and Grimlock remained as unreadable as ever.
"Why?" The oldest of the mechs grumbled his bright optics narrowing behind his visor.
"Well," Wheeljack started. "Because you came back."
"You Wheeljack not want us Dinobots back?" Sludge mumbled kind of pitifully. Wheeljack started forward in a nano-klick shaking his head briskly.
"Of course I want you mechs here, Sludge. You have any idea how much I've missed you crazy bunch? You have no idea how happy I am to see you."
Swoop and Sludge grinned brightly at him while even Snarl and Slag cracked him a smile, but when his bright blue gaze settled on Grimlock he found him watching only Ratchet as the yellow and red medic watched him in return. A kind of dangerous stalemate that was either going to lead to something very good or very bad. Which that might be Jack hadn't figured out as of yet.
"What about you Ratchet? Happy us Dinobots come back to Autobots? Or just happy me Grimlock gave him Itty Bitty back?"
Ratchet snorted, crossing his arms and hardening his gaze. "We would have had Bumblebee back whether we had to take him by force or not, Grimlock. Don't think we wouldn't. None of us will ever lose him again."
Now it was Grimlock's turn to snort.
"Him Ratchet think can so easily make me Grimlock do something again?"
"I know what Ironhide is capable of when you get between him and what he views as his." Ratchet countered.
The King regarded this thoroughly for a moment before he huffed. "Dinobots not harm Itty Bitty."
"We know that, Grim." Wheeljack put in.
Both the medic and the t-rex ignored him.
"And why do you care so much all of a sudden about something so little and helpless? Last time I checked you hated small and weak." Ratchet grumbled.
All the Dinobots glared at that.
"Not sparkless." Swoop whispered.
"Not that you Autobots ever stopped to notice." Snarl huffed.
"Built big and rough." Sludge shrugged. "Small and weak not go along well with Dinobots."
"We break stuff." Slag offered.
"Just happens." Swoop finished. "But we Dinobots not break him Itty Bitty. Promise. We help protect him."
"Why?" Ratchet glanced around at all of them trying to figure out why they—them of all mechs on this planet—cared. What had changed? Or was it that it was always there and he'd never seen it. Just like he'd never seen the obvious facts right before his faceplate when it came to the twins. So many things he had missed because he hadn't been looking. So many things he could have been trying to fix long before now. He just hadn't known.
Could the same be said about Grimlock and the other Dinobots?
Had Wheeljack really been right all along? Were they not the picture all the Autobots had formed of them?
"Because him Itty Bitty is youngling." Grimlock shrugged as if that answered all the questions Ratchet could possibly asked. As far as Grim was concerned it would. It was logical to him. And if it was logical to him then by pit every other mech must get it.
Ratchet watched the mech carefully. "And that matters to you?"
"Yes." Swoop chirped a very youngling like sound, but Ratchet watched the leader of this glitchy band.
"Me Grimlock never once liked taking order from him Prime." The massive mech started. "Don't see why him leader. Him Prime won't do what needs be done. Him won't end that Megatron. End him war be over. But no. Always hesitates. Always waits. Me Grimlock seen it more than once. Him Prime not pull trigger until have too. Understand that that just way him Prime is. Him not as hard sparked as others. Not as hard sparked as me Grimlock. That don't matter though. Can't matter. Him Prime supposed to be leader. Supposed to be stopping war. Only way to stop war is to kill him Megatron. Prime never done what he had the chance too. Cuz him still want him brother to change. Well that Megatron not gonna change. Not ever. Him spark gone. Lost to a place him not gonna find it again. We Dinobots can sense that."
Ratchet tilted his head caught up in the mech's words but Grimlock wasn't done.
"But me Grimlock still take orders. Still do as you Autobots wanted. Cuz him Wheeljack wanted us too. Because we Dinobots wanted to be with him Wheeljack and you Ratchet even if you Ratchet not really care about Dinobots. Still help fix us. Still owe for life. So Dinobots did as told. Shot, blown to bits, torn apart, and abused for vorns for you Autobots and never once did get a thank you. Never once did get anything but told what it was we Dinobots did wrong. Always. Still we obeyed though. Because we not known nothing else. Can't 'member nothing else. So what else Dinobots supposed to do? We good soldiers. We good breakers. So do it. Over and over again no matter how Dinobots were treated. When Sectors fell though. When him Prime not stop him Megatron from destroying all that innocence me Grimlock draw line. Me no longer follow leader that just let all hope for Cybertron die in droves. Without sparklings, without younglings what point of war? What point of anything? There is no more. Not gonna be again probably. We Dinobots know that. Hardly femmes left and no means to raise new sparks even if they were sparked. On dying planet it be cruel to try and get more little sparks now." The mighty mech looked away as a sad feeling drifted through the air.
He was right.
And it hurt that he was.
"That why me Grimlock did it. Not cuz wanted to lead. Not care if lead Autobots. Me already King. Why need to be Prime? Don't need too. Grimlock did because Grimlock was angry. Angry that there was nothing left. No purpose for anything anymore. Why fight for anything? All bots already as good as dead when lost all the younglings. It sad but it true. Me Grimlock attacked Prime to show him what his trying to show mercy brought. Did it to show that Dinobots were done. That not fight for him Prime no more. If me Grimlock wanted to kill him Prime, him Prime be dead. Not would have stopped. Not even him Wheeljack could have made me. Stopped because was done. Left because wasn't wanted and because was done. Left to find some purpose for us Dinobots. Me King of Dinobots and had to have something for me brothers to be. Couldn't leave them with nothing. So we Dinobots left to hunt, and kill, and battle Dinobot way. To scrap anything that had to do with him Megatron and make him pay for taking any hope Cybertron had. Us Dinobots not like any other mechs here now. Dinobots part of time in Cybertron that long dead. Us already know what like to be last of kind. Know what it like to have no future hope. Didn't want it for this new batch of Cybertron. Yet here is. Because him Prime didn't stop him Megatron. Hope died with Sectors. That just the way it is. Least it was until we Dinobots found him Itty Bitty out there. Not believed he was youngling. Thought couldn't be. He is though. We Dinobots see that now. And if there is youngling that mean there hope. If there hope than Dinobots have reason to be again. Cybertron have reason to be again. That why you Ratchet. That why us Dinobots care."
Suddenly the door to Wheeljack's lab swished open rather slowly reviling the forms of Optimus, Jazz, and Prowl who stood there equally as shocked by the words they had heard through the reinforced lab door only because of Prowl security clearance.
Their appearance startled Grimlock slightly. He'd said all that thinking only the medic and the inventor that saved his hide were going to hear it and yet it seemed the very mech he'd resented for so long had heard it as well. Along with that upbeat short silver one and the winged one that he and Slag found fun to see how often they could make glitch.
For a moment the mechs all stood there taking each other in before Optimus shifted his optics between his trusted friends. Jazz was beaming that 'told ya slaggers so' kind of grin he loved to wear, Wheeljack was vibrating with pride, Prowl looked oddly satisfied, and Ratchet seemed to be viewing things a little differently. Optimus nodded to each of them crossing his arms, and said the words that were going to open up another chapter into the life of his family and possibly the war.
"We have ground rules when it comes to being around and caring for Bumblebee." He started.
Every single one of the Dinobots titled their head to the left and blinked in surprise.
"You Prime want us Dinobots stay?" Sludge questioned in shock.
"You came back with us. I assumed that's what you wanted too."
The five brothers glanced at each other.
"Stay Grimlock?" Swoop questioned over their five way linked sibling bond.
"Yeah Grim . . . stay?" Sludge pressed.
"Want to stay?" Grimlock returned.
Slag shrugged. "Be something different for us Dinobots do."
"Him Itty Bitty might make him Prime not so bad." Snarl agreed.
Grimlock nodded. "Dinobots stay then. For Itty Bitty."
"And for him Wheeljack. Maybe him Ratchet too. Him might not hate us Dinobots so much now. Maybe all Autobots hate us not so much now." Swoop optimistically offered.
"Dinobots see, Swoop." Grimlock answered back uneasy to give his youngest brother too much hope too soon. Wheeljack would always care for and accept them, the others . . . Grimlock was not yet sure.
"Dinobots stay. Follow you Prime again. Protect Itty Bitty." Grimlock answered.
Optimus just nodded knowing overly dramatic or warming words were going to make the mechs that had suddenly shown so much more of themselves than Optimus had ever thought possible lock up tight and probably never let it show every again. They had uttered words that made him rethink everything he'd done over the last millions of vorns. Had said things he himself had been scared to admit to himself. Had made him stand up and face the truth.
And had agreed with the feeling in his spark. That is brother was gone forever, lost to him to the darkness he couldn't explain, but their hope was not because while Megatron was doing his best to destroy everything, they had Bumblebee and as long as they had the youngling there would always be hope.
"There are rules though." Ratchet spoke up. "Rules that you will follow. Because I will not be fixing a broken youngling because you bots forget how fraggin' big you are. Understand?"
The five mechs nodded; Sludge and Swoop rather quickly and dramatically, Snarl and Slag kind of more like a shrug but there was a nod in there somewhere, while Grimlock stared for a good long while before he offered a curt nod.
"What rules Autobots have?"
"There will be no picking him up and dangling him over anything. Ever." Ratchet started. "I don't care if it's air or a smelting pit. Nothing! He is to be held properly if you must hold him, Wheeljack and I will show you. He is to be in berth at the proper time and not a klick later! I will not deal with a recharge deprived youngling. If you don't know what to do call Ironhide, Optimus, or me. If he cries, you call. If he gets hurt, you call. If he seems to be acting funny, you call. If—you know what just always call."
Wheeljack and Jazz snickered at the medic and the Dinobots listening intently.
The two officers were gifted a glare and then promptly ignored.
"He is breakable. Very. Breakable! So no running with him, or trying to take him places he shouldn't be, and you will watch where you put your feet. He never pays attention to where he's going. Ever. So you have too. If—"
"Ratch slow down," Optimus rumbled lightly drawing the CMO's rule list to an abrupt end while he stepped forward and held gazes with Grimlock. "The list is quite long I'll admit it, and it will take some time before most here trust you enough to not hurt him. I'm sorry but that is the way it is. He owns the spark of everybot in this faction and his care is not something we take lightly. He's adventurous and curious and troublesome and we love him for it. I'm willing to trust you Grimlock, if you are willing to trust me. You are right about more things than I ever want to admit too, but know this. I didn't mean for the Sectors to pay for my mistakes. I didn't mean for any of this to happen and it is a guilt I will live with the rest of my life. Life goes on though, Grimlock. As painful a fact as that is, it is true. No matter how much the world seems to crumble around you somehow it's still spinning tomorrow and we must all find a way to go along with it. If for no other reason than because Bumblebee deserves a chance to know life outside of war. We all do."
"Dinobots not know nothing besides war." Snarl said quietly.
"Like to see something else. Maybe. Somehow. Him Itty Bitty should see too." Sludge agreed.
"Then help us find a way to stop Megatron. For good." Optimus offered.
The Dinobots glanced among each other for a few klicks their red optics glittering with a hidden message between them and then they all nodded in unison.
"We Dinobots try again with you Autobots." Grimlock nodded to the Prime. "For him Itty Bitty. We learn rules. Follow rules. Stop him Megatron for good."
Wheeljack giggled like a four vorn old sparkling. "I'll get to cleaning out the storage hanger than."
Optimus smiled. "You'll need some help."
Poke.
Poke.
Poke.
Poke.
Poke.
Pause.
Blink.
No change.
Resume.
Poke. Poke. Poke. Poke. Poke. Poke.
"Enough, Bee." Ironhide sighed quietly readjusting the little yellow bundle of nervous energy he refused to let leave his chest as he lay back against the wall behind his berth cradling the mechling. The massive ebony mech hadn't let go of him once other than long enough to let Ratchet scan him and assure them all that he was not injured. Tired, hungry, and dirty but not injured.
A part of Ironhide felt that it could breathe again while the other part of him just wanted to smack the youngling over the head for his stupidity, put him to berth, and leave him there. That wasn't going to happen though. He wasn't about to let Bee go for a while yet.
The little pest had scared him.
He'd run away.
The confused baby blue optics of the little mechling stared up at him though from his place safely in his arms where he had been poking the thick armor of his guardian's chest. Bumblebee knew he had messed up. He knew he shouldn't have run off. And he knew now that his family hadn't been purposefully ignoring him. It had still all happened though and he just really didn't understand.
"Sorry upset everybot, Hide." Bumblebee mumbled as he kept poking and prodding at the grooves in Hide's chest to distract himself.
"I know, Bumblebee." Ironhide assured him as they reclined in the safety of the mech's dark quarters. The rest of the ship could go on without them for a little while. Ironhide didn't care about anything else than the tiny mechling resting in his arms. "You just can't do stuff like that to me. You scared me."
Bee looked up into those dark blue optics shinning back down at him. "But Hide. You not scared of nothin'."
The mech rumbled a purr and a laugh at the words stroking his charge between the antennas getting an answering purr in return as the two snuggled into the warmth of each other; spark and frame.
"I'm afraid of losing you, mechling." Ironhide confessed. "I don't know what I'd do without you."
Bee snuggled in closer his spark pulsing out for the power that was his guardian. He was gifted an answering pulse in return before Hide wrapped his spark tightly around the bubbly light that was Bee holding him close and refusing to let go. Ever.
"Not goin' nowhere." Bumblebee promised.
"Then promise me you will never run off like that again." Ironhide said. "You can't go running off on your own, Bee. There is a lot out there that would love to get its claws on you. The worlds a dangerous place for little mechlings that stray too far from home."
"But me found Grimy. Nothin' bad happen." Bumblebee pointed out.
He understood that he shouldn't have left, and he had no plans to do it again. The sheer pain and worry in the spark of his beloved guardian when he was back within reach of it had hurt the little mech. It hurt to know that he had put those feelings there, and he didn't want to do it ever again. His Hide wasn't supposed to be afraid. None of his family were. He knew that what he did was wrong. He wouldn't do it again. A part of him was still kind of surprised his little skid plate wasn't grounded.
He should be.
He kind of figured, that is.
But he wasn't.
Hide had just let Ratchet scan him, than snatched him back, got some energon, fed him, and then locked them away in their berthroom ignoring everything else entirely. All Ironhide seemed to care about was holding Bee close—not that Bee minded—he just wanted Hide to stop seeming to think he was going to vanish into thin air.
"That doesn't mean something can't." Hide's grip tightened as he stared out across the dark berthroom. "Do you understand that, Bee? Do you understand that there are mechs that will hurt you? You can't trust strangers."
"Met Dinobots on accident."
"That's not what I meant." Ironhide sighed.
"Know 'Cons bad, Hide. Know mean mech Mega . . . Mega . . . Mega—"
"Megatron." The designation came out in a snarl that Ironhide hadn't meant to let slip, but Bee just nodded knowing how much his guardian hated that mech and that name. Everybot on the ship did. He'd take Bee away from them. That hadn't made anybot happy.
Including Bee.
But there were things about that orn and that mech that Bee hadn't told his protectors. He'd tried once or twice, but the words never seemed to really come out right, and when he brought any of it up everybot around him kind of went into that tense simmering anger that he tried to avoid causing in them. So he'd just let it go. He never talked about what he had found when he went digging around in the spark of the enemy of his family. He figured that was something better just left to him, because truthful he had no idea what any of what he found meant. How could the evil mech that was constantly trying to hurt the mechs he loved have a good inside him like Optimus did?
It didn't make any sense!
"Know him bad. Can feel bad. Grimy and Dinobots not bad. Didn't mean to get found though. Didn't mean to not come back. Just was lookin' for something to do. Following. Than couldn't find way back."
Ironhide nodded. "I know, Bee. Just don't do it again. You have to stay were we can keep an optic on you. I won't lose you again."
"'Kay. Me promise, Hide. Not do it again."
"That's my youngling." Ironhide offered him another purr that built up in his spark and vibrated on for many klicks when Bee purred in return and snuggled into Hide's chest playing absently with a scratch or two in his paint the pair quite happy to just quietly be for a little while after all the excitement.
Well that is until the youngling shifted around next to his adopted Sire's spark, tilted his head back, and blinked those big innocent optics up at Hide in curiosity.
"Hide?"
A rumbled purr was his answer as the mighty mech rested against the wall with his optics closed content with the feeling of his son's spark beating close to his own.
"What are 'Sectors'?"
The contentment train screamed to a halt.
"What was Grimy talkin' 'bout?"
Slowly Ironhide opened his optics glancing down to those big orbs. His spark twisted around in pain inside its chamber. The innocence that glowed in those optics spoke volumes. The weathered mech had heard it said a billions times that the optics were the windows to the soul, and he'd always said it was sentimental nonsense. Well he believed it now.
How could a bot in their right processor not?
All a mech had to do was look at that fraggin' faceplate to see it was true!
That was all the proof anybot should ever need to believe that there was something behind that saying. Because a bot could get lost in Bumblebee's optics. They burned with such truthful goodness and light and hope and promise and warmth and over all glittering innocence that it was impossible to not think it was like looking right into that brilliant little spark of his. Especially after they felt what it was like to be close to that spark. To have felt it.
Bumblebee was the embodiment of hope if Ironhide ever thought it was possible.
He was Hide's hope at least. Along with quite a few others, but there were times that the massive warrior really wished he wasn't as blissfully innocent as he was.
Because how in Pit was he supposed to explain what happened to the Sectors to a twelve vorn old youngling?
How was he supposed to explain to him that he was the last youngling?
"Bee," He started carefully sitting up and setting the youngling down in his lap as Bee crossed his short legs looking up expectantly. Ironhide's cannons itched with irritation, not at Bumblebee, but at himself, at Megatron, and at the truth. "The Sectors were a place early in the war."
Bee tilted his head at this. "Not there no more?"
"No. They are gone."
"But why Sectors being gone make Grimy not like Optimus? Was Grimy's family there?"
"No." Ironhide weighed his words carefully. "Grimlock's only family is his brothers, and I guess Wheeljack if you want to count him. He looked after them like they were his."
"Then why it upset everybot so?" Scooting closer to his guardian's middle the youngling debated how he wanted to ask this next question. He'd wondered this for a while and just not known how to ask it. He still wasn't all that sure asking was such a good idea. Already he could feel Hide's spark tighten and shrink back a little. He didn't want to talk about this. He didn't want Bee to know. Whatever it was it was bad. The little yellow mechling could tell that much. He just didn't know why.
He heard the word Sectors before.
He gathered a while ago that it was a place, and that it had been very important.
He just didn't know why.
Ironhide swallowed harshly secretly planning how he was going to take Grimlock apart the next time he saw the giant idiot. This was his fault. At least he was the one Hide was going to blame for the moment. Because his cannons were heating up despite himself and he had to fight to keep the battle protocols from starting to scroll before his optics.
"The Sectors were destroyed by Megatron, my little Bee." Ironhide told him as his spark cringed in his chest. He didn't want Bee to know this. He was too young to know this.
"Oh." Bee nodded his faceplate scrunched up in contemplation. "That make everybot sad? Was city? Lots of bots . . . died?"
"Yes . . . lots of bots died." The weapons specialist's spark flinched at the words. "But it wasn't a city."
"What was?"
"They were supposed to be left out of the war. They were supposed to be neutral, but Megatron destroyed them anyway. Before they could be saved."
"Oh . . . okay." Resting his head against Hide's thick armor as he mulled over how he wanted to ask the rest of this. He had a feeling asking was just going to upset Ironhide, but he wanted to know. "Umm, Hide?"
A weary hum was his answer.
"Why Grimy and Swoop and them not like Autobots?"
Ironhide plucked his charge from his lap and brought him up close to his spark again. Bee didn't mind and it always seemed to make every mech feel better so he just situated his little self in Hide's palm leaning against his spark and listened.
"Well for a long time we thought it was because Grimlock doesn't like taking orders, and I still think it has something to do with it, but it might also have to do with the Sectors."
"Why?"
Ironhide couldn't lie to Bumblebee. No matter how bad he wanted too, he just couldn't. It was wrong. He'd promised himself not long ago that if the youngling asked him a question he would answer it to the best of his ability and truthfully. Because Bee deserved the truth even if every fiber in Ironhide's being wanted to protect him from it.
The decision had come from finding out about Trickster and the Guild, and now especially with what the twins had told them. That it was almost certain Bee had come from the Rings.
The knowledge of that physically hurt the hardened mech. To know that sooner or later they were all going to have to face these truths. That one orn Bumblebee was going to sit there innocently—most likely in his grasp—and ask where it was he came from and Hide would have to tell him. He would have to say that some glitchy bots claimed he was part of a sparkling tale, and that his real Sire was most likely a gladiator that would have snuffed him out as soon as he got the chance.
He dreaded that orn with all his spark.
He wouldn't lie though.
If Bee asked . . . he'd answer.
"Because Grimlock apparently blames Optimus for them being destroyed."
Bee blinked in confusion for a moment before mumbling. "Don't think Optimus do that."
"He didn't." Ironhide assured him. "It wasn't his fault. Megatron destroyed them, but they were destroyed because of the war and the war . . . well its complicated Bumblebee."
Mulling this over for a while longer in quiet Bee's antennas folded down and his optics dimmed before he shifted uneasy with the question that wanted out of his spark now. It was the one that he had wondered this for a while now. He just hadn't been sure how to go about bringing it up. He still wasn't sure this was the best time to do it—Hide probably wasn't going to want to answer it anymore than he wanted to answer the rest—he'd come this far though and the question was there burning in his processor.
He wanted to know.
Why was he the only one?
"Hide?"
"Yes,"
"How come there no other younglings like me? How come Grimy not believe me was youngling?" He absently started pulling at his short fingers as he lowered his gaze and whispered the last part. "Why me the only one?"
Ironhide's whole frame went very still making Bee cringe.
He knew he shouldn't have asked.
He knew it!
It was just something about the concept made him uneasy. It made his spark pulse painfully. There was something he was missing. Something that probably should have been bluntly obvious and he just hadn't seen it.
Whatever it was it upset Hide.
Bee could feel his guardian's spark slam walls up around itself trying to keep its emotions for leaking over the bond it shared with him, but Bee was not fooled so easily. That powerful spark of his knew Ironhide's almost as well as it knew itself. No wall flung up in half felt jesters of a spark that didn't truly want to be away from his could keep everything in.
A few little threads of memory still slipped through the cosmic plane that linked the two and Bee felt Hide's pain, his fear, his anger, his hatred, his worry, his overall hopelessness that seemed to be tied to the simple words the youngling had said and the feeling made Bee slam his own walls up. Stronger, thicker, and much better at keeping out what made him squeak in fright.
Because the feelings terrified him making him really wish now he hadn't asked.
A slightly shaky hand held him tighter to Hide's chest when the squeak left him and the bond was thrust shut. A soft, reassuring, rumble like purr sound meant to calm younglings rose up in Hide's chest despite his spark's frantic panic and his processor sliding to a screaming halt. His own feelings meant nothing compared to Bee's and his spark had upset him. That would not be allowed.
"Shush, Bee." Hide cooed when the little mech trembled against his chest the feelings from Hide's memory of the horrors he had witnessed the orn the Sectors fell having upset him. The massive mech cringed to think if just his emotions toward the subject could upset Bee so, what would knowing the truth do? "It's alright. It's okay. It was a long time ago."
"Upset you." Bee mumbled into his thick armor not looking up even when Hide pet his antennas and stroked the length of his back.
Ironhide sighed. "Bee . . . it's just memories."
"Of what? What that have to do with question?"
Everything, my little mechling. Ironhide whispered to himself. It has everything to do with it.
"Bee," He breathed out. "The Sectors were where all the younglings and sparklings along with most of the femmes were moved when the war took a turn for the worst. When it became clear that anybot caught in the crossfire wasn't going to be showed any compassion by the Decepticons and we didn't have the resources or the time to constantly be trying to save everybot and fight the offensive. So the Sectors were more or less agreed upon. The young, the femmes, and a good portion of neutrals were shipped there. There were about four of them in total spread out among the planet. They were supposed to be left out of the war, young one, that is why they were created . . . why they were left so lightly guarded. Optimus and the rest of us naively assumed that Megatron would not be dark enough to attack innocent, helpless, care centers. We were wrong though Bee. In the span of a few breems one night he launched a decoy front to draw our forces and then he . . . well . . . he destroyed them Bumblebee. Along with everybot inside them. Youngling or not . . . ."
Bee sat there pulling at his fingers long after Ironhide had trailed off letting the heavy words settle upon his spark like lead. Trying to shift through such horror was hard on a processor as young as his. He understood what the words had meant, but the idea that such cruelty was even possible was hard for him to grasp.
How could anybot be that bad?
A shiver ran through his little frame making Hide hold him tighter to his spark as he threw down his walls and wrapped Bee's trembling spark up in his protective embrace. The youngling quickly snuggled into both forms of comfort, physically and mental, as he pulsed back with his own spark.
They sat together gaining strength in each other's comfort before slowly the tiny mech lifted his watery gaze to hold Ironhide's. "So . . . that mean . . . me only one?"
The harsh swallow that came from the mighty mech before him was all the answer he needed.
He turned away while Ironhide held him closer with a sigh. "Yes, Bee. You're the last one."
Bee shivered again.
That was a scary concept.
Titanium grey optics glittered in the inky blackness as the powerful purple mech perched atop a fallen rock wall his signature and purpose hidden with practiced ease from the handful of night guards below.
Though he did have to work a little harder than usual to keep the chuckle from coming out of his vocal processor.
This certainly explained how they did it.
Secret inventory stashed away deep underground where not even Soundwave would think to look for it. That doorwinged tactician of theirs was cleverer than he'd previously given him credit for.
It was an error he would not allow himself or his partner to make again.
Swinging around from his look out post the deep purple mech sprang back into the soul sucking darkness with a devious grin. This collection might not be as easy as he previously thought, after all he still had no confirmed I.D. on the object of his interest yet. The Autobots were surprisingly very good at keeping things secret, but the price on this sparkling-tale's head was too good to ignore. Flipswitch would not let this one slip through his claws. He and Slipknot were collecting this bounty. He was damn sure of it.
"Knot," He called through his comm link as he rounded another blacked out corner and found himself in the empty, cold cavern he and his partner had been hiding in and yet the green idiot was nowhere to be found. "Where are you, fool?"
There was a moment of silence before the tall bounty hunter's voice echoed back to him over the quiet static. "You'll never guess what I found, Switch."
"I told you to stay put you aft hat!" Flipswitch fumed his seeker wings flexing with his anger as he ran a hand over his spiked helm. The thick line of spikes that started at the base of his forehead and ran all the way down his back growing only slightly larger until they ended at the base of his spine. The spikes themselves were not the same color as the rest of his deep purple frame. Instead they were a rich cobalt black that matched the dark streaks that ran beneath those titanium grey optics of his. Though what really made the mech so striking to look at was the deep scar that ran down the middle of his faceplate starting at the base of the left side of his jaw and twisted in an ugly line until it came to an end at the top of his head after it has sliced clean through his half blinded right optic.
It was just one of many the battle hardened warrior bore. From the countless jobs the mech had pulled off over the vorns. It never had stopped amazing the hunter how so many never went down without a fight. Even many of those he's collected that looked to be easy pickings. Most left their mark on him. Then again, that was the way he liked it.
What was the fun of tearing out sparks and hauling cold frames in for profit if there wasn't a little bit of a challenge involved?
He smirked to himself.
And it seemed this new job was going to offer up some challenges as well.
After seeing what was stored down here; energon, armor, ship supplies, salvaged relics, and more he was intrigued. The Autobots were craftier than Flipswitch originally gave them credit for. They'd hidden all this away from the Decepticons in this dark labyrinth that just went on and on. Switch realized now that this at one time had to have been an archaeological site of some kind. That must have been how the Prime even had known about it.
The Prime.
Ha.
The purple mech looked forward to bringing that former noble born bratling's happily little world crashing down around him.
"Don't call me aft hat! And don't make the mistake of thinking I answer you. I got bored with your scouting so I did a little of my own, and I think I've found something you might find interesting." Slipknot replied over the comm.
"Oh?" Flipswitch rolled his optics. "And what is that?"
"These tunnels run under the Prime's ship."
A slow, evil, little grin danced up Flipswitch's faceplate as he chuckled into the darkness an idea burning to life in his processor. "How wonderful."
Wonderful, indeed.
Flipswitch you are a sparkless glitch, and Slipknot . . . oh Slipknot what am I going to do with you and that partner of yours? You're going to cause all kinds of trouble.
It should prove entertaining. Hee-hee.
Also . . . I may or may not love my new OCs. Even if they are sparkless jerks.
And Prowl.
Mech. You should know better than to throw pens at your boss. It's not nice. And really? The computer screen? Now Wheeljack is going to have to fix that.
And how about Grimlock being all deep and stuff? I love that over grown puppy so much! Awe, the fun we are going to have.
Then there is Ironhide and Bumblebee. Figuring out he's the last sparkling was a bit of a shock to the little mechling. Which is to be expected. I wonder what kind of trouble this knew knowledge is going to cause? That's gonna be interesting.
Anyway, I'm sorry again for the skipped updates. I just lost my muse and had to go find it again. It seems to have returned though so Chapter 9 will be up next Friday or Saturday.
. . . As long as my muse doesn't run away again.
I want to thank you guys for the wonderful reviews. The feedback on the last chapter was amazing and I look forward to seeing what you have to say about this one. And no pressure or anything but reviews make my muse stick around instead of hiding under the bed and hissing at me like some glitched robo-cat.
Just saying.
:)
The next chapter is full of insanity and the wonderful twins. See ya there!
-Jay