From Teens to Sparklings

Chapter 23 Fear is a valid response

Miko's boots are like fucking sketchers lmao

Raf watched intently as Soundwave typed. Green text in a language he could barely understand flashed across the screen. Different symbols appeared from time to time, their meaning lost to the young Sparkling. From his place in Soundwave's subspace, he could see the screen in its entirety, yet there was nothing on it that his mind could conceive as interpretable. Nothing, except the image of the man who had taken his big brother. The still image caused the blades behind his head to stand on edge and filled him with a sense of unease and fear.

As if sensing his discomfort, Soundwave gently closed his subspace, not before petting Raf's head softly. Raf chirped and settled in. Laserbeak refused to return to the subspace until he had located Jack, so Raf had the comforting space to himself. There was extra room in here, more than Laserbeak would need, and it made Raf wonder if, at one point, there had been others, Mini-Cassettes other than Laserbeak.

After about half an hour, Raf's wings began to ache, and he became restless. He popped the subspace open, chirping loudly to voice his annoyance. Soundwave picked him up, his tentacles still typing away. More pictures were on the screen now, but one in particular caught his gaze. It was a human male. His face held no emotion, but his eyes were full of malice and something Raf could not place, but still greatly feared. He screeched at it, his wings vibrating as he trembled. Raf twisted out of Soundwave's grasp, bolting behind a box. Soundwave quickly closed the images and knelt down to where Raf was hiding. The Sparkling had flattened himself against the floor, his bright blue optics blown wide. Soundwave gently picked him up, rubbing his back. Raf chirped quietly, tears welling up in his optics.

"Shhh, fledgling. Its alright. It was only an image." Soundwave soothed quietly, his voice rough from lack of use.

He paused for a moment, before saying,

"Would you like to learn to fly?"

Knockout smiled, holding four small cubes. He had made one for Soundwave, knowing that his Sparkling would most likely be getting hungry. He tucked the cubes into his subspace and walked out of the lab. A few curious Vehicons glanced at him, but he was otherwise undisturbed. He was nearing the door to the med bay, when it opened, and Breakdown and their Sparkling stepped out. The femme was beeping rapidly at Breakdown, half in-half out of his subspace. Knock Out closed the distance, fishing out one of the cubes. The Sparkling's vision laser-focused directly onto the Energon, and she beeped at Knock Out, making grabbing motions.

Knock Out chuckled and handed it to her. He had made it small enough that the femme could feed herself, which she eagerly did. Within moments the Energon was gone, the only indication of it ever having been there was the empty cube and a small splatter on the Sparkling's cheek. It was then that Knock Out noticed her optic.

"Uh, Breakdown? What's going on with her..." He gestured to his left optic.

"Oh, right, that. I don't really know, I think it's just something she can do. Nothings wrong with her, right?" Breakdown asked, suddenly worried.

Knock Out shook his head, and Breakdown sighed in relief. The femme squeaked and wiggled, kicking her feet. Breakdown set her down on the floor, letting her stretch. She spotted a Vehicon and chirped at it.

Miko swore she remembered seeing this bot before somewhere, and it frustrated her that she could not recall the memory. It hurt to try, which only confused her more. Said mech turned and waved at her, honking his horn. Miko giggled, which sounded like many short, high pitched beeps. She didn't know why she found it so funny, but now that she had started, she couldn't stop. The stripes on her boots flashed rapidly, lighting up the space around her.

Knock Out smiled. A Sparkling's innocence was something to be protected. A familiar set of footsteps caused him to turn around. Starscream strutted down the hallway, looking uncharacteristically pleased. What had this flying snake done now?

Starscream's face shifted into one of surprise when he spotted the Sparkling laughing on the floor. Knock Out didn't know why, but a chill ran up his backstrut, settling in his spark, causing him to shiver slightly. He stepped in front of the Sparkling slightly, who had now stopped laughing. He felt her slowly rise into a crouched position, her form tense and trembling.

Miko's systems were flashing warnings, every instinct in her body screaming at her to run. But her pedes seemed to be stuck to the ground. She had made direct eye contact with the stranger, and a fresh wave of fear and memories had washed over her, paralyzing her. There was no soul to be seen in his glaring red optics, only cruelty and emptiness. He took a step forward, his clawed servos raising slightly.

Her body finally reacted. Something activated inside her, and suddenly her vision was much lower. Wheels that had been previously tucked away folded out, spinning as she made a mad dash for an exit. She spun around a corner, skidding slightly. She could hear rapid footsteps, which only made her increase her speed. Things became a blur as she zipped about in a panic. She was going so fast that she did not see the oncoming pede.

Megatron was prepared for many things, but a lightning quick, tiny blur suddenly being underfoot was not one of them. He stumbled forward, managing to catch himself before he fell completely. Whipping his head around, he looked for the cause of his misfortune. Shivering behind his chair was a tiny armoured vehicle.

Picking himself up, he walked over to the transformed Sparkling, an impressed look on his face. He picked up the quivering baby, trying to remember how to comfort a Sparkling.

"Orion was always better with the little ones than I was...," He muttered, at a loss as for what he should do.

He didn't have to ponder for long, as a few moments later Knock Out, Breakdown, Starscream, and one of the Vehicon's, the one who had renamed himself 'Steve', ran into the room.

"Starscream, what did you do?!" He snarled, passing the Sparkling to a shaken Knock Out.

"What?! Master, why do you think I had anything to do with this?!" Starscream shrieked.

"Because," Megatron growled "whenever something on this ship goes wrong, its either because of you or the Autobots, and since there is no Autobots here, I presume at least, then it must be you. So, I ask again, What. Did. You. Do?"

Starscream cowered as Megatron stepped towards him, his wings falling back in fear.

"M-master, I assure you it is not my fault! I truly do not know why the Sparkling is so afraid. All I did was walk down a hallway that it happened to be in!" He sputtered.

"She. Not "It"." Breakdown growled. Starscream rolled his optics but shrunk back again when Knock Out also turned on him, baring his denta. The Sparkling, now transformed back, peeped fearfully before ducking back into Knock Out's subspace.

Before things could escalate or deescalate, Soundwave walked in, an exited Raf perched on his shoulder. The communications officer froze upon seeing the tense situation. Raf looked around quizzically, before making eye contact with Starscream. Within nanoclicks, his demeanor changed drastically. His panicked state returned full force, and he puffed up his plating, his blade like fins flaring out slightly as he hissed, eyes going wide.

Starscream, sensing a way out, raised his servos and backed away slowly, feigning a surrendering, apologetic look. No one stopped him. As he escaped down the hall, he ran smackdab into a rushing Dreadwing.

"Dreadwing! What in Unicron's name are you doing going that fast in a hall?" He asked, rubbing sore helm.

"Sorry Starscream, but I have some important news for lord Megatron. You remember that Wrecker, Wheeljack?" Dreadwing asked.

"Yessss? Why?"

"He's on Earth, and we managed to capture him."