Wolf by the Ears Chapter 7
*Author waves sheepishly at readers*. Um, hi guys, sorry about the ridiculous wait. I had a terrible time with this chapter. Couldn't seem to write Bee, Sari and Bulkhead, didn't have a lot of time to write, in general and when I did, I didn't seem to have any mojo. Went back and re-watched "Transwarped" which helped a little, but then work and apartment hunting ate all my mental energy.
SomethingIdontknow was kind enough to proofread this chapter, which will definitely cut down on errors. Hopefully the next chapter will be along much more quickly. I have part of it written already. Please review,and let me know what you think. Flames will receive a lifted eyebrow and a shrug.
"Optimus!" The tiny yellow shape flew towards the mech's chestplates fast enough to have been an attack, if he hadn't recognized Issac Sumdac's youngling already. The Prime caught the onrushing technorganic expertly, and transferred her to his shoulder, where she proceeded to attach herself to his neck. Odd, actually. Most Autobots were either terrified or revolted by organics. He was reasonably sure it had something to do with encouraging xenophobia and ensuring that the populace didn't import any troublesome concepts from other planets.
The (surprisingly loud) shriek from the little Earth creature was echoed by two other voices, one far deeper than the other.
"Optimus!" The big green Autobot, the one who acted like a twit but was a genius at space bridges, grinned and swept his leader up in a hug. "We were worried about you!"
The Prime put up with the mech-handling with surprisingly good grace. Megatron wouldn't have toleratedthat kind of thing from Lugnut, after all. On the other hand, this mech was so young, and so earnest that a soft-sparked little fool like the Prime probably wouldn't want to hurt his feelings.
The annoying little yellow one was a little less effusive, but still obviously delighted to see his leader. Good. It was always worthwhile to observe how any commander treated his subordinates. Particularly the less useful ones. Obviously his new master was not lacking in patience if half of his team consisted of such hyper young mecha.
Apparently they had missed their Prime, too. From the cacophony of noise the three of them were making, it sounded like the medic and the pink courier were much better at being authoritarian than the Prime. The little yellow mech was loudly complaining about being "cooped up" and "not getting to do anything fun." Really, it was profoundly embarrassing that this motley collection of Elite Guard rejects had lasted more than a few clicks against his Decepticons.
Of course, they had had a couple of Cyberninjas with them at the time, along with Omega Supreme. That was some small comfort to his dignity. Plus Starscream had been repeatedly trying to kill him. It was probably fortunate that the treacherous seeker had not joined forces with the Autobots. His Air Commander had never been a very good team player.
The little yellow bot turned his optics towards Megatron, the look on his face more than a little hostile. "You all right, boss-bot?" he asked his Prime. "We heard the news, but I can't believe anyone would be glitched enough to make you take him home with you."
Suddenly, he was the focus of three unfriendly sets of optics. It was a good thing they belonged to harmless young Autobots. He still couldn't believe that a space bridge repair crew had been able to so thoroughly frag up all of his plans. Of course, Starscream, the Allspark, and various humans had also had something to do with that.
The green twit with the space bridge expertise was attempting to loom threateningly. Megatron resisted the urge to yawn. He had killed bigger and more threatening bots before breakfast.
The little prime laid a comforting servo on the green mech's arm. "I'm perfectly fine, Bulkhead." He said in a soothing tone of voice. "I may not have agreed with the decision to use the slave programming, but it was orders. Megatron can't hurt an Autobot, except in direct self-defense."
"They said he'd be living with you." The big mech said with a glower.
Ooh, was someone jealous? Megatron smirked mentally. It was always good to know the chinks in your enemies' plating.
The green twit was utterly lacking in the grace that the Elite Guard bots all seemed to share. The rest of the Prime's happy little group were all much more in line with Autobot aesthetics. (Well, perhaps not the medic). The silly bridge tech was almost Decepticon in stature, and did not exactly carry it well. Probably self-conscious. He made another little mental note under the "enemies psychological weaknesses" file.
"Yuck!" the little human femme said. "That's just wrong. And what's with the collar? It looks like a dog collar."
Megatron would have been more enraged by that if his little master hadn't looked so entertainingly uncomfortable. Hmmm, should he get a few digs in, or go the stoic route?
Decisions, decisions. Well, perhaps just a little taunting of the dreadful brightly colored younglings.
"Well" he said smoothly, "The council has your Prime here on a fairly short leash, so perhaps they feel that their trained dog should keep one of his own." The obnoxious sunshine yellow minibot growled like an angry cyberlion cub. Hmm, this was rather entertaining. Sort of like a human baiting one of those yappy little dogs.
The other two young bots, or rather the other young bot and the bizarre organic-mecha hybrid, were glaring at him.
"Optimus is a global hero!" sputtered the little yellow one. "He's not on anyone's leash, and he shouldn't have to be with you." He puffed himself up, probably trying (and failing) to look bigger and more intimidating.
"Yeah!" said the tiny femme. "He kicked your can in the last battle, and brought the Allspark back here, along with all you Decepti-jerks! They just made him keep you because they know he can beat you!"
The Prime broke in, his voice stern. "That's enough, Sari. Megatron is going to be a…guest in my home for, ah, quite some time. There is no call to be rude to him."
"But Optimus! Megatron is dangerous! And what if the council is really trying to control you! They could have ulterior motives!" The green one broke in. Perhaps he was marginally less naive than Megatron had thought. Could be life experience finally making a dent.
"Of course, they have a variety of ulterior motives, youngling." He said smoothly. "Your Prime is in the unenviable position of being the Decepticon faction's number one enemy, a big shiny target for them and anyone else who might wish to either free me or take the both of us out of the picture. There will be plenty of each, of course. Besides being a brave hero, he's young and pretty and just the perfect little Elite Guard poster-mech. A lot of big fish in the political pond are going to want him eaten before those shiny scales develop into armored plating."
The doors to the antechamber they were occupying opened near soundlessly. Ah, the medic and the femme. How cute. Autobots and their domesticity. You would think that someone aboard one of the most devastating living weapons from the Great War would have at least some semblance of military bearing, but noooo. This lot needed a sparkling sitter, not a commander.
"Well, at least one of you has a firm grasp on the situation." Said a crotchety old voice as the medic clomped in. He was followed by the pink intel bot, who appeared to be a lot more armed than when he had seen her last. In fact, those blades looked suspiciously like Ninjabot weapons…and if he wasn't mistaken, it appeared that the femme was guarding the older mech's back. How sweet. If they were Decepticons, he would be offering congratulations about now.
Now that he thought about it, the femme had indicated that teaching younglings had been her original function while she was comatose and Shockwave had been working to extract Omega Supreme's codes from her memory. Given the general maturity level these youngling Autobots tended to display, that was probably ideal. He was glad that no-bot would be insane enough to leave the young mechs with the Evil Decepticon Prisoner of War. He didn't think his audio sensors would survive if they made him youngling-sit.
"Optimus is right. Megatron may be our enemy, but he's gonna be by Optimus's side for a very long time, so you need to play nice." The red and white mech said. There was a definite implication of "or else" in there somewhere.
"Why, how very kind of you, Autobot." Megatron purred. "After all, I am your Prime's captive, made harmless by that accursed programming. Of course, my Decepticons have long known how to deal with slave masters. Besides them and your corrupt, sniveling council, he may find that he doesn't have long at all."
The Prime stiffened, but schooled his face-plates into a neutral expression with what looked like effort. Point scored.
Hmm. Perhaps instead of simply amusing himself, he could plant some actual seeds of doubt. "Your Council are masters of manipulation" he continued. "They will use you and discard you when you no longer suit their needs. My Decepticons, on the other servo…"
Unfortunately, he was interrupted by a shrieking techo-organic brat. "Shut up! Just shut up! You're the one trying to manipulate us! You attacked us! You kidnapped my dad, and almost got him killed. You and those stupid giant Lugnut clones trashed half of Detroit, and killed lots of people!"
He was prepared for the anger. He wasn't prepared for the tiny, breakable looking part human to blast him halfway through the wall.