Alright, so I do not know if I mentioned that my older laptop decided to die. Well, I realized that the screen didn't want to online anymore and it has a monitor jack. So I plugged it into a projector and the screen onlined on the projection! I removed all of the work for this story and many other stories that I had been working on. So you should be expecting uploads within these few days! I hope the length of this chapter suffices for the absence.
I have no idea how the court system worked, but please bear with me.
Please read and review!
Chapter Fifteen
Prowl sighed in frustration as he came out from the court room where Optronix and Bumblebee were waiting, "The Carrier seems to be very pissed about this..."
Optronix huffed, "Had she taken proper care of her creation, this would not have been an issue to address."
Bumblebee rubbed her shoulder, "It'll go well, Nix. We will win his custody."
"How this will go, the judge will decide whether or not to give Helios to you under your care. He will address the situation and he will hand the attention to Helios who will give his statement. After that, Nix, you will present all of his previous injuries and cases of trauma that he has had. Then, if the Creators may, they will try to go against your case and prove you wrong." informed Prowl.
She held in her vents before she released them, "I hope all goes well..."
Prowl patted her shoulder, "Just keep your calm and don't blow your cool with whatever is spoken. The judge is generous, but he can allow you to take Helios, but with one thing you do, he could go against it and lift the restraining order and give Helios to his relatives or place him in foster care."
His words did not reassure her at all, only succeeding in making the femme more nervous.
The court hearing started and Prowl led Optronix and Bumblebee in as Helios' creators came in from the other side and Helios came down the middle. Optronix met Helios' gaze, smiling at him in assurance before her optics flickered to the Sire and Carrier on the other end. The mech and femme exchanged several growls and hateful glares and she shivered. No wonder, they weren't at ease with one another. The Carrier was a beautiful looking individual, her frame sleek and slender painted in a glimmering white with pearlescent blue; the Sire, Que, was a royal blue with black decorated on his frame. Optronix wondered how such bots couldn't get along. The other Carrier huffed before turning away from her mate, her optics immediately catching Optronix looking her way and she bared her dentas in a growl. Slitted optics went into Optronix's spark and she hastily turned away.
The judge entered the courtroom and he allowed them all to sit after a brief pleasantry.
He began, "Welcome, femmes and gentlemechs. Now, in all honesty, I have had very few cases based around a case similar to this. Now, Helios, if you may please stand and tell the court of your situation."
The youngling, too short to be seem from behind the podium he was standing so he stood on his chair to reach the microphone. "I can't remember very well when it started, but my Creators lived with each other. At first, everything was going okay until I started waking up to screaming and things falling and breaking. It was the same night when my Sire just left and my Carrier began to cry and drink and I was scared because I didn't know what was going on. After a few orns, my Carrier left the house and she didn't come back and left me alone. I didn't know what to do so I stayed in berth and cried until she came home the next orn. It was like that a lot; my Carrier would leave for a while and come back, sometimes drunk or really tired. She forgot to fuel me and keep all the supplies on the top shelves and I had to climb to get them. I was too scared to go up so high, so I didn't fuel or eat and I began to get really hungry. Then, my Carrier took me one orn to stay with my Sire and when she left, he was nice until he beat me for grabbing a cube of energon. I stayed with him for a few orns until he would leave me with my Carrier. It was like that until now. I went to school on the first day and I met some friends who took me to the IMF where I stayed to get better."
The judge frowned, "Why couldn't you tell anyone before?"
"At my Carrier's house, I was locked in almost all the time and at my Sire's he would slap me if I told anyone. The last time I said something to someone else, my Sire beat me and locked me in my room, then left the house. He came back really late at night covered in sticky fluids."
At this point, Que snarled, "Shut up you brat!"
Helios flinched, half expecting his Sire to come down to him and thrash him down.
"Que, silence!" barked the judge. He looked back at Helios, "It's alright, son. Now, how did you find out about these sticky fluids?"
Helios trembled for a moment as he tore his gaze away from the dark colored mech, "I-I took a shower the next morning and there were rags all over the floor stained purple and the whole wash racks stunk like energon."
Que growled audibly as the Carrier began to cry out at the other mech, "You fragging killed someone?! Are you that idiotic?!"
"Shut up, Stratus! Just keep in mind that I could have killed Helios instead of slap him!" the mech snarled.
Stratus looked at the other mech in sheer horror.
The judge hit the gabble and he declared order. Optronix clutched the sides of the chair as she bit her lower lip. Que and Stratus ignored the orders of the judge and they began to bicker.
"You are a monster! How could I have ever thought of leaving my son with you?!" Stratus exclaimed as she glared daggers into Que's armor. "What did he ever do to you?! WHAT DID I DO TO YOU?!"
Que snarled right back, slamming his fist into the podium he was standing at, "You were a fine femme in the berth and all was well until you came up carrying that thing!"
"HE IS NOT A THING! HE IS YOUR SON WHETHER YOU LIKE IT OR NOT!" the white and blue-accented femme replied. The only thing that prevented either of them from clawing each others' optics out from their sockets were the security guards restraining them.
Through the shouts and cries of the bickering pair and the slamming gabble of the judge and his booming voice declaring order, Helios' scream won over everything, the youngling shrinking down onto the floor and covering his audios as tears ran down his cheeks in a heavy flow. Optronix immediately rushed to his side, bypassing the security guard, and scooped him up into her arms. Helios trembled as horrid memories washed over his view and he offlined his optics, burying his face in her neck.
"That is enough." said Optronix firmly at Stratus and Que. "Helios has had enough trauma and dilemmas to be reminded of his Creators."
Stratus whirled around and her gaze met Optronix's, pointing her digit in accusation, "Listen here, femme! You unhand my creation before I rip him out of your arms; you know nothing of him and if you think he can be taken away from me so easily, you are mistakened."
Optronix growled, "Look at him. If you care so much as a fraction for your creation, look at him and tell me his condition. Or do you even know? Medical records state he has never set pede in a medical facility before, not counting the orn he was born and his youngling upgrade. Yet, when I received him, Helios had many bone strut fractures, incorrect strut healing, a crack in his tanks. His systems could not hold down his energon because of that fracture in his tanks. Helios claimed that the broken collar happened because he was starved to the point he wanted to reach the food and fuel you had stored away in your top cabinets, then he slipped on the sink that was wet and he fell, crashing down with chair and all."
"You lie." Stratus huffed.
Helios lifted his helm, voice small, "It's true. You left me alone and forgot to feed me. I waited and waited, but you didn't come so I went up and tried, but I fell. And I told you that I fell, but you didn't care. You were drunk..."
Stratus blinked in disbelief.
"How often would she come home like that, Helios?" asked the judge.
The youngling sniffled as he pulled away from Optronix to speak, "She wouldn't come drunk a lot, just a few times. But she came home late all the time too tired and she would just go to her room and recharge without feeding me. If I was lucky, when I wake up, there's a small cube waiting for me next to my berth."
"Brat's lucky to be alive." muttered Que.
Stratus snapped, shoving past the guard and tackled the other mech to the ground. Que landed flat on his back struts and easily gained domination on the femme, switching them around and his servos pressed down onto her throat.
Optronix held Helios' helm down so that he could not see what was going on. She stepped back as Prowl rushed past her and she watched as he and a handful of other guards pried Que off Stratus; the dark colored mech was straddled to the ground as he was placed on stasis cuffs. Stratus was helped up to her pedes, but Prowl did not hesitate to cuff her.
"This court will now go to recess." announced the judge as he hit the gabble.
When the court came back in session, Que was chained and cuffed, two security guards holding onto the ends of his chains. Stratus was cuffed, but did not have he chains that Que had. She had two guards standing at her sides.
"Now," started the judge rather impatiently as he took his seat. "Hopefully, we can continue without interruption." he swiped through the datapad, sighing, "Que, says here that you were placed under arrest with threat of killing on school property and you were under the usage of expresso, am I correct?"
Que grumbled with a nod, "Yes."
"A search warrant was granted and authorities found several containers with expresso in them. This can easily send you to prison for five vorns with your given amount." continued the judge as he read further into the datapad, shaking his helm, "And the neighbors have called in to the Enforcers for noise complaints."
Que said nothing to confirm or object, thus, the judge turned towards the youngling who was sipping his small cube of energon that was set on the table.
"What can you tell me about the noise complaints, son?" asked the judge.
Helios swallowed down his energon before replying, catching the glare from his Sire as he discreetly glanced at him. He cleared his intake, "He liked to invite mechs over and drink. I would locked myself in my room because sometimes they get really drunk and like to sleep in the rooms upstairs. Sometimes the music would be a bit too loud. Other times, he would invite femmes with the mechs and..." Helios shuddered as he covered his audios, the noises of pleasure filling up in his processor. "...and they'd do things and make all these noises before it all got quiet..."
The youngling could feel the glares of his Sire burn holes into his frame and he shivered as his Carrier began to bicker once more, "You are sick!"
"Shut up, bitch!" snarled Que.
The gabble effectively silenced them both, "What else does your Sire do to you, aside from his physical maltreatment?" continued the judge.
Helios slid the cube back and forth between his servos, "Just that, really. He brings home several others... do things, then they leave...hits me, kicks me when I'm in his way..."
Frowning, the judge shook his helm. With a sigh, the judge announced, "Que, I hereby sentence you to 50 vorns in prison for abuse and maltreatment of a minor, possession of expresso, and threat to kill on public property." the gabble struck down and the security guards herded him out of the court room.
Stratus huffed, crossing her arms as she held up her helm with indignation. "Bastard." she muttered.
Optronix sat back for a brief moment into her chair, letting go of the edges as she attempted to relax. It was almost done finished and, hopefully, it went into her favor.
"Can I take my kid and go?" asked Stratus, unwilling to stand around any longer.
"Now, Stratus, you have done a faulty job as a Carrier and you must be blind to not notice whatsoever. Helios' injuries may have mainly come from the Sire, but they have also come from your household. You must also be deaf if you did not hear Optronix's medical statements about your Creation." countered the judge, causing the white and blue-accented femme to growl. "According to the social worker, your place is a mess! Not a single thing is in order and it smells like you haven't so even touched a cleaner in ages! Now, what do you that keeps you out of your house and neglecting your creation? As far as records go, you do not have an occupation."
Stratus turned away from the judge, "That is not of your concern."
"It is all of our concern. As far as we know, not only will you lose possession of your home and all of your belongings, you will be imprisoned for child neglect. You left your Creation to starve as you are out and doing who knows what, and worse, you leave your child in the servos of your mate that could have killed Helios. Are you that mentally stupid?"
"No! I thought that maybe if Que could just get to know Helios-"
Helios interrupted, "I was fine without him! When you left me with him the first time, I was scared because I saw him hurt you when you thought I was in berth. All I wanted was to stay with you! You left me with him and he hurt me so much. Not just him, you too. I thought you loved me!"
Stratus blinked, "I do love you!"
"If you did, then why? Why did you leave me alone? Why did you take me to see him? Why couldn't you be like before you and Sire split up? I felt loved back then, now I feel like a bother to everyone!" the youngling cried.
Optronix felt her spark clench, "You are not a bother to me, Helios."
Helios turned to look at the other femme and his tears flowed from his optics, "I-I know... but- but them...?" he looked back at the cube, "I thought you loved me, Carrier..."
Stratus fell silent, spark lurching.
The courtroom was in silence and no one dared to move. The only thing heard were the choked hiccups of the youngling and they allowed him to have his moment to cry.
The judge filled some of the silence, "Son, underneath all of your Carrier's demeanor, she may love you, but I cannot give you back to her. You deserve, you need, a better home because younglings like you do not deserve this treatment. It is because of this we encounter criminals who are mentally sick because of their Creators. All I can do is grant Bumblebee and Optronix your custody as Stratus serves 25 vorns in prison to pay for her mistakes. I will allow her to be visited by you on your request; you will not be denied the communication between you and your Carrier. My decision is final."
His gabble struck and Stratus struggled against the security guards in protest, "No! This is unfair! You can't do this!"
Helios jumped off the chair he was standing on and ran into Optronix's arms, burying his face in her neck, sobbing.
Optronix rubbed his back plating, pressing soft kisses to his helm in attempt to calm him, "It's alright, honey. It's alright, you're with me."
"Carrier..."
She sighed, holding him tighter, "I know, I'm sorry."
Helios, pulled back, lifting his helm before leaning forward to press a kiss to her cheek, "No, you are my Carrier."
Optronix smiled, blinking back her tears as she showed the youngling a smile. "Yes, yes I am."