Author Comment:

SURPRISE!

No, I haven’t forgotten about this fic. In fact, I’ve for the longest time tried to continue it, but I couldn’t get past the first 50 words or so of this chapter and you can believe me it drove me nuts, but a few days ago I suddenly knew what to do. The result is a lot shorter than the last chapter, but hey, it’s done and that’s all that counts, right?

Anyway. This chapter is set about 7 – 8 vorns after Ratchet found First Aid. Hot Rod and Blur are just a bit younger than First Aid, maybe a vorn or so, and Arcee is about half their age.

And last but not least a thing or two about Cybertronians:

Breem - 8.3 Earth minutes

Joor - About 6.5 Earth hours

Orn - About 13 Earth days

Vorn - About 83 Earth years

Sparkling – Newborn (about 2 vorns max. until they start to walk and talk)

Youngling – Child (following 8 – 10 vorns)

These numbers are put in by me. They are not official or anything; I just needed something for orientation, which brings me to another word creation of mine for something often used, but never given a name as far as I know:

“Shiver vorns” – max. first 5 vorns of younglinghood (so until their 7th vorn after being created), when they still need to be monitored constantly and carried around much, since they can’t control their own body heat and grow cold fast and also tired. They are also referred to as “Blanket vorns”, which is meant very literally. It’s a common tradition (and a necessaries) that the creators give as a first present a blanket to the new sparked being, so he or she won’t grow cold, but some Transformers stay with that habit their whole life.

*~*~*~*~*

If asked Hot Rod would always admit that he wasn’t the sharpest tool in the shed and that his memories were incomplete at best, but even he knew that listening to strangers, especially that kind that hid in the shadows, and the pink femmling dragging him through the empty, but never truly abandoned streets of a strange city, should know that, too. After all was she the one claiming to be smarter. Granted, what the stranger had told them about their destination– a safe place to recharge and energon for free – sounded good, but that was part of the problem: it sounded too good to be true.

And where in the name of all that was good and holy did Arcee take the energy from to drag her older and thus also heavier brother at such a speed anyway? They had been on road for orns after all.

Suddenly the femmling stopped and glared at the other youngling.

“Are you going to get your gears in motion anytime soon or do I need to carry you?”

“RC, have you damaged your processors or anything? We can’t just go there just because someone said so and aren’t you the one complaining I wouldn’t think enough? Well, I am thinking now and I think it is stupid to do what a stranger said and even more stupid to go to the Autobots.”

“Why? Because it’s safe there and they have energon?”

“How about: because they are soldiers and we just younglings? Why should they help us?”

“Because they did before.”

“Said that strange mech” Hot Rod countered, but Arcee knew very well what buttons to push to get her will.

“Aw, is big, bad Roddy scared?”

“I’m not scared! Primus below, do what you want, but don’t come crying to me when all goes to the Pit again” the red and orange mechling snapped back and marched ahead. This just couldn’t work, wouldn’t. From what he had heard the Autobots were really nicer than the Decepticons, but Hot Rod was long past the point of believing that there was a situation when it “couldn’t get worse”. The only good thing that ever happened to him was when he found this livid femmling calling herself Arcee and right now he started to doubt that had done him any good either.

“Good, because we’re already there.”

The mechling turned around in bewilderment.

“Where?”

“The entrance.”

“ ... Even risking to repeat myself: where?”

The pink femmling pushed aside some debris and pointed at the exposed duct.

“That is a hole, not an entrance.”

“Say, don’t you ever listen when people tell you something? He told us about the vent system.”

“The strange mech that wouldn’t even show himself and thus had to tell the truth.”

Tired of this argument the younger just climbed into the duct, Hot Rod right behind her, still complaining, but that how he was. Always talking big, but still also always watching out for her. That was after all why Arcee had decided to keep him around. Granted, it had actually been a mutual decision, but the right one in her opinion. It was easier to survive together and Hot Rod was loyal and fun.

“Arcee?”

“What now?”

“I was just thinking: we are crawling though the ventilation system, right?”

“And I started to fear you really got your processor damaged.”

“Yeah, just keep on making fun of me” the mechling replied snappish. “But at least I know that ducts like this are not made to carry our combined weight.”

The femmling froze and true to form the duct cracked and ground gave in under them a moment later just a moment later. The fall wasn’t far, but the landing still hurt like Pit.

“I knew this was a bad idea.”

“Grate, and you couldn’t mention that, like, two breems earlier?” Arcee snapped back and tried to get out of the scrapheap they had fallen onto, only to discover that said scrapheap was actually alive.

“What the ... ?”

“RUN” the older youngling screamed, grabbed the femmling and did just that. Where to didn’t matter, any place was good as long as it wasn’t here, but just when he spotted a door Hot Rod was scoped up by his scuff bar and separated from his adopted sister.

With horror the younglings starred at their mean looking capturer. The red mech carried them Primus knew where to, cursing and screaming for a ratchet. Hot Rod couldn’t imagine what he could possible want with that thing, but it just had to be painful. It had always been like this, or at least during the times he still could remember.

At this point Hot Rod was sure he had seen it all and so had Arcee; several orphans, “families” and workstations. Some places had been bearable at least, most not. He had seen younglings like them or younger used in ways that were beyond words. Some had been crushed between debris when forced to search for anything valuable, others simply faded away. Sometimes he remembered a time when it hadn’t been like that, when there had been someone holding him close and with care. It wasn’t more than a brief impression, but at least he knew that long ago he had been loved once. Arcee didn’t even have that comfort, but somehow she still had managed to keep her spirits up. How he didn’t know and never asked.

Apparently they had reached whatever destination the red mech had in mind, because his swearing became even worse and suddenly they were under attack and things got really chaotic. There were lots of red and white and curses and then a small servo. He had Arcee, or she had him, it didn’t matter to Hot Rod right now. What mattered was that they got away so the next door was his and finally it became a bit calmer.

“Great, Roddy, a dead end.”

The mechling looked around and had to admit she was right. This had to be an office of some sort and had only one door, the one they had come through.

“Hey, at least we got away from these lunatics.”

“One of those lunatics happens to be my mentor, so you’d be better advised to not insult him.”

The younglings spun around. They hadn’t noticed someone had followed them, not to mention a third youngling with red torso and white legs and arms, that were currently crossed over his chest plates, optic ridges pulled in frown.

“Who are you?”

“First Aid. How did you get in here?”

“Vent system.”

“Really? That would explain why Ironhide said you fell on him.”

“Ironhide? Yeah, that name certainly fits” Arcee mused, pushing away Hot Rod’s arm.

The sudden silence prevented any answer First Aid might have given.

“It certainly never gets boring here” the older mechling commended sighing and left to look what had happened now. Seeing their chance to escape this place again the siblings-by-choice followed the other and wearily watched the scene. The red mech called Ironhide was currently holding a forth youngling, mainly blue and quite familiar, at least to Hot Rod.

“Hey, thereyouare. IalreadythoughtIlostyou. Youtwoarereallyhardtofollow, youknow. Bytheway, I’m Blur.”

“What did he say?”

“I’mBlurr” the youngling repeated, obviously used to this and just as annoyed about it and then pointed at Hot Rod and Arcee.

“Ifollowedthem.”

“Why?”

Blur shrugged.

“Well, ’regoing.”

The younglings and adults needed a moment to deceiver the words, then the white mech nodded and turned to the other two.

“And what is your excuse?”

“Hunger” Hot Rod replied before Arcee could. There were things you didn’t tell potential allies and a stranger that pointed you the way to the Autobot base was one of the things.“We found the vent by chance and thought maybe there would be some energon at the other end of it. Can we have some, please?”

It was obviously that no one really believed him, but strangely enough no one said anything about it either. Instead First Aid pushed them to his mentor, saying something about getting the energon and left.

The white mech gave them a once over and after declaring them fine enough left them with Ironhide under the pretext to inform the Prime.

The younglings looked at each other, the two parties realising fast and without words that they had much in common. They were orphans and used to be reached around and disappointed. Hot Rod reached out his servo and Blur took it grinning, wordlessly accepting the offer to join the other mechling and his sister. He, too, knew that the more they were the higher were their chances to survive, and he was fed up with travelling alone, although he was much faster then.

“Primus frag it, what am I supposed to do with you now?” Ironhide complained, holding Arcee before his optics, strange fascinated with the femmling.

“Hug us?” she suggested grinning, having decided for one reason or the other to annoy the mech until he either started to like her or ... well, or the opposite. Needles to say that tactic usually resulted in them having to run for their lives.

“Hn. You’re a strange one, sparklet.”

“I’m not a sparklet, old mech. I’m Arcee and you better remember that one.”

“You really got some guts to talk with me like that. I should just kick you out and be done with it.”

“I wanna see you try, old-timer.”

The mechlings bleached shocked, but Ironhide took no offence. In the contrary, he started to laugh.

“You are really something, little one. Bet Chromia will like you.”

“Who’s Chromia?”

“Eh, who is Chromia she asks. My bondmate, that’s who, and one Pit of a femme, I tell you.”

The younglings exchanged short glazes. Neither was sure what a “bondmate” was supposed to be, but guessing from the way the mech said it, it couldn’t be that bad.

“So, we can stay?”

“What?!”

“If Chromia likes me, she will keep me and I only go where they go.”

Ironhide starred at the smugly grinning femmling, as did Blur and Hot Rod. Arcee, they decided, had to be completely and utterly crazy.

“ ... Oh frag it, Prime won’t like that.”

*~*~*

In that point Ironhide was right: the Prime really didn’t like to find him with three younglings that looked far too comfortable in his grip even under his stern glare, well, one at least. The others were more than just nervous and really glad when First Aid returned with energon and they could retreat into a corner and shut out most of the discussion.

“And you really followed us? Why?” Hot Rod asked when First Aid had left them to help someone called Perceptor.

“’. Soundedabittoogoodtobetrue, butIthought: hey, it’sasgoodahintasany.”

“Must have been the same one sending us here. I wonder who that is.”

“Does it really matter? So, you gonna stick with us now?”

“Well, I’. Imean, I’mmuchfasteralone, , aboutasfastasIrun.”

“So you can run as fast as you talk?” Arcee asked. Once used to his speed it wasn’t actually that hard to understand him.

“Faster” Blur grinned over his energon. Then they started to exchange experiences and had to discover that they really had as much in common as they had thought. They also had to agree that so far this place was better than any other they had been so far. No beatings so far, they had not been put to any kind of work of yet and the energon actually didn’t have this foul aftertaste like as in most places and if things turned out bad for them they still could just leave again, of course only if they weren’t kicked out before.

Well, that that wouldn’t happened anytime soon became apparent when that Chromia Ironhide had mentioned come looking for her bondmate and true to his prediction took an instant likening to not only Arcee, but also her brothers.

“We’re gonna keep them” she decided with a tone that allowed no protest, although that didn’t stop some from trying, surprising adults and younglings alike.

“Chromia, with all respect ...”

“You allowed Ratchet to keep First Aid and it turned out to have been the right decision. They need a place to stay and since then it hasn’t become any nicer out there.”

The Prime again tried to say something, but the femme didn’t let him.

“Let’s shorten that up: We keep them or I’ll go with them. Ironhide?”

“But ...”

“Do you want to recharge alone?”

Hot Rod could only feel sympathy with the red mech in that moment. Arcee was exactly like Chromia when she wanted something and both were equally successful.

“Sorry, Prime, but you can’t expect me to go against my own bondmate.”

“No, I obviously I can’t.”

“This is a mad house” a black and white mech with door wings groaned, but another, smaller black and white mech added that they may be mad, but at least it never got boring and the younglings had to agree. The people around here were most definitely the strangest they had met so far, but for what it was worth: this seemed like a good place to stay.

*~*~*~*~*~*

“You know, it’s hardly the drone’s fault old Hide still treats you like a sparkling” Hot Rod pointed out, watching Arcee make full use of her not just recently installed final upgrades and take out one drone after the other. Given the glare he got in return even he started to wonder for the nth time is she wasn’t really Ironhide’s and Chromia’s creation in the end. The bonded pair fretted over all three of them equally and it surely was partly because of their influence that they now passionately worked and fought for Optimus Prime, but it was the femme it had had the most impact on.

“He should get his head out of his fragging aft! I’m big enough to take care of myself and he fragging knows I’m as good a warrior as the next mech.”

Another drone went down.

“Youknowhejustcaresalotaboutus. .”

“And why is it only me who has to stay behind? I’m fast, I’m strong and I have a better aim than both of you combined” the femme complained, proving her words with a seemingly not aimed but still point black hitting shot. Primus be blessed that she had never taken to medical lessons well. Ratchet was already hunting their nightmares, but Arcee with a wrench ... what a horrible image.

“Well, you are the youngest.”

That was obviously not what the pink sharpshooter had wanted to hear. The next drone died a horrible death, but then she suddenly stopped the battle simulation and looked at her elder brothers, calm and serious.

“Say, Roddy, is this how creators are supposed to be, like Chromia and Hide?”

“How should I know?”

“Well, , soyoushouldinfactknow.”

“I remember a short moment when I was hold. That hardly counts” Hot Rod replied offended. He didn’t like to talk about that especially since he had come to like their caretakers very much. It just didn’t seem fair to compare them.

“I say it doesn’t matter. They care for us, honestly care like no one ever had before and my memory isn’t as bad anymore as it was once. I’m just glad we came here.”

“I didn’t mean it like that and you know it. I just wonder, that’s all.”

She sat down between Blur and Hot Rod, pulling one arm from each around her waist and put hers around their shoulders. Since her upgrades the mechs had become a bit hesitatingly when it came to physical contact. She could see why, to others it had to look as if they were together, but she didn’t care what they thought. She was their sister first and as such had the right to be hugged by them, the same right they had to recharge together and/or in the room of their caretakers when the nightmares from before they came here became too much. Everything else was no one’s but their business.

“I’. I’dliketothankhim. .”

The other two nodded, but neither had a clue about the identity of their benefactor, so it would probably forever remain a mystery, but more than anything they were grateful for this. They were together, happy and safe, that was more than anything they ever had.

“Primus, I just love this family” Arcee grinned, pulling the other two closer, but then a strangely familiar cracking sound interrupted them. The siblings-by-choice-and-circumstances needed a moment to recognise it, but then they realised that someone had to be crawling though the ventilation system.

TBC