Rush

Part 6

Autobot base:

"I brought Skyrider something!" June hollered across the base. Ratchet looked up from the monitor and Bulkhead looked up from where he sat on the floor with Skyrider. Optimus poked his head out of the med bay (he'd been in there since morning) before ducking back inside. Skyrider chirped at June. This was the human femme! She liked this human femme.

She smiled widely as her cheeks were pinched and her helm was caressed. Then a package was produced from behind the human's back. "I got you a little something to keep you occupied." She said, grinning. She handed the box to Skyrider. 

Curiosity got the best of the sparkling and she opened the lid. Wow! So many bright colors! She saw red, blue, yellow, green, orange, purple and so many other bright colors! Along with the large cans of color she saw a huge role of blank papers. 

"I got her a large set of finger paints," June said proudly, "She looks like the artistic type." June reached into the box and spread a piece of paper on the ground, then she opened the can of red paint and dipped her finger in. 

Skyrider watched as June touched her red finger to the paper and moved it around. When the finger was removed, a red smiley face was in the center or the paper! Skyrider squealed and reached for the purple jar and twisted the cap off like June had showed her. She dipped her digit into the beautiful purple and drew an almost identical smiley face next to June's. This was so much fun! 

~SW~

Optimus was drawn from the med bay when he heard Skyrider's happy laughed and giggles. He was surprised when he saw all  the children, Bumblebee, and Bulkhead seated in a circle around Skyrider.  The sparkling let out another squeal as Bumblebee tried to look over her shoulder to see what she was doing. A small, wet, red servo hit him in the face. Now Bee had a small red handprint in the center of his face. 

"She's finger painting." June said from the couch. "Isn't she cute? She's obviously doing something secret because now Bee and Bulk have multiple red and blue slap prints on them. Even Ratchet managed to get one!" She chuckled. "It's no use trying to go peek. We'll have to wait until she's done." 

As if on cue, Skyrider trilled proudly and held up her painting for everyone to see. "Optimus! come see this!" Jack called. 

Skyrider was holding painting of him. She had a bright blue used for his optics and a darker blue and bright red used for his armor. She used a dark grey for his servos and audios. It was very well done. And he had a bright, warm smile on his face as he looked at the viewer. 

"That's amazing!" Raf praised. "I can't even paint that well!" For once, even Miko was speechless.  

Skyrider was very proud of her creation. She buzzed and looked for Beatle. He would be very proud of her and he would make soft buzzy noises. But where was he? She couldn't see him? Maybe he was sleeping? Of maybe he got lost in the big base. She'd go look for him.

Deception warship:

Soundwave was ticked. He had been commed by Megatron asking "where the frag he was" so he needed to leave. He wished he could have been with Skyrider longer. She was just so amazing. He'd have to find another way.

"Where were you, Soundwave?" Megatron bellowed when he entered the control room. Soundwave pulled it safe and pulled up the coordinates of the meadow where the pod was. "What were you doing there, Soundwave?" Megatron suddenly sounded very tired. "Research, Lord Megatron."  He played a recording of Knockout. "Research?" "Yes-" "Oh. Okay." That was one thing he liked about his lord. He never questioned his actions that were 'work related'. 

"Go back to your post, Soundwave. Good work." That was all from Megatron for the rest of the day. 

Work was boring. A lot more boring than usual. Soundwave kept thinking about Skyrider. Being a beatle wasn't very fun when he was too small to hold his own sparkling. He also could only talk to her though buzzes and chirps. Beatle talk. It was similar to sparkling talk but it was still hard to communicate. He would have to find another way to talk to her. 

He growled internally. Find another way. That was it. He had no time available to sneak out of the Nemesis every time he wanted to interact with Skyrider. 

Then an idea hit him. Hard.