Sparklings and Seekers 08

Jazz was shocked but yet not surprised when he walked into the medbay, following Starscream who had an armful of overly warm sparklings.  He knew that the seekers and the few still grown Autobots had begun to see some of the sparklings as their own.  Skyfire and Perceptor had practically adopted Wheeljack (or the other way around), and Prowl and Jazz himself had taken Bluestreak into their lives even more than before.

That’s why it wasn’t really surprising when he saw Prowl easily lifting Thundercracker off of the floor with one arm, the seeker pressed against the wall and growling angrily.

The reason why was easy to see.

Bluestreak was sitting on a berth, crying and reaching for Prowl while Ratchet was checking him over.

“What’s happening?”

Skywarp looked up from where he was sitting with some sparkling, rubbing their backs soothingly.  “I went to find some of the sparklings that’ve been overheating and little Blue was one of them.  I got him and brought him back here.  Prowl followed us but when TC tried to stop him…”  He grimaced.

Jazz nodded and walked up to Prowl, placing both hands on the arm holding Thundercracker up.  Overly bright optics turned to him and Jazz didn’t dare turn his gaze away from him.  In a calm voice yet commanding voice, Jazz said, “Put Thundercracker down.  He cares for the sparklings as much as we do.”

It took a few kliks for the command to filter into his processor, and when it did, Prowl slowly let the seeker down to the ground.  Thundercracker didn’t complained, just rubbing at the place that Prowl had grabbed him and thankfully Ratchet had finished examining Bluestreak.  The sparkling was wrapped in a blanket with a few ice packs hidden in the folds and the medic placed him in Prowl’s arms.

The tactician calmed down immediately, optics dimming back to their normal blue as the sparkling whimpered and Prowl nuzzled his nose against his cheek.  The two of them seemed to go off into their own world, just the two of them and Jazz smiled faintly, finding the picture sweet despite the current surroundings.

Bringing his processors back to the present, he went up to Ratchet who had begun inspecting one of the sparklings that Starscream brought.  “What’s the diagnosis, Ratchet?”

The medic shook his head.  “I’m not picking up on any viruses or anything else unusual.  The monitors and tests are coming up clean!  The only thing that’s happening is that they have higher than normal temperature.”

“Who all is affected?”

“I’m suspecting all of the sparklings are, but the ones that were Decepticons are more affected than the Autobot ones.”

“It’s their bodies,” Starscream said, optics wide as he stared down the softly whimpering Megatron, gently running a finger down the tiny mech’s cheek.  “Their bodies are overheating and their cooling systems aren’t compensating for it.”

“That’s ridiculous!” Air Raid said.  “They’re sparklings—”

“Their minds might be sparklings and their body size to match, but I guarantee you that they still have all of the modifications of their adult bodies…  Who had Sunstreaker and Sideswipe?”

“I did.”  Thundercracker took a step forward.  “They were playing and when I didn’t see them any more, I thought they had laid down for a nap like some of the others did.  I didn’t see them leave the room.  I’m sorry.”

Jazz placed a hand on the seeker’s shoulder, knowing that he was genuinely remorseful that he had let two sparklings in his care wander out of the base but Ratchet just shook his head, knowing that those two would escape at any chance they had.

“If they were overheating because of that, then why hasn’t this happened before?”

Starscream shrugged.  “It just might have taken a while for it to appear.  It’s only been two days since they were changed.”

“Primus knows it feels longer,” Skywarp muttered.  Thundercracker just smiled, shaking his head slightly.

“How has Skyfire and Percy been handling Jackie?” Jazz asked after a moment.

“First Aid was sent to check on Wheeljack.  He didn’t seem to be affected like the others…  Probably because he wasn’t playing like the others were.”

“And the Nemesis is much cooler than this place,” Skywarp added helpfully.  “Temperature wise.  Wheeljack probably didn’t heat up all that much while crawling around there.”

Ratchet just scowled at the mech who promptly returned his attention back to the sparklings that were near by.  Sighing softly, the medic turned towards one of the last few sparklings, knowing that while the others all had the same problem and these few would too, one couldn’t be too careful when it came to sparklings.

“So are we just going to need to monitor them while they’re playing?  What if it just gets worse?”  Jazz glanced back at Prowl who was still chirping softly to Bluestreak, who appeared close to recharge but still chirping back.

“Then we pack the sparklings down with ice packs, take them to the Nemesis, and force Skyfire, Perceptor, and Starscream to work fast on the device and chemical formula.”

For a moment, Jazz couldn’t tell if Ratchet was serious.  Honestly, he hoped that he never had to find out either.

oOo

He had taken his optics off of the sparklings for one moment!  He could have sworn that they were still at his feet when he turned around to pick up Mixmaster who had burped up some energon and only had started to clean the liquid off of the sparkling when a loud crash filled the room behind him.

Skywarp winced, knowing that it couldn’t be good to hear that, but there were no pained or startled cries.  Just giggles and chirrups and coos of happy sparklings.  When he turned around to see what had happened, Mixmaster clapped his hands, gurgling cheerfully at the sight of a dozen colors spread out across the floor.

“Oh Primus…  I’ve been good haven’t I?” he asked the ceiling before venting a sigh and walking over to the mess.  There were two sparklings in the middle of the colors, Inferno and Red Alert playing with the paint, Inferno trying to show his tiny bondmate that the liquid was okay to mess with and that it wouldn’t harm him.

The seeker had only caught just seen a set of footprints in green leading from the paint just before tiny hands pushed at him hard, overbalancing him into the mess.  “Scrapper!” he growled, the giggle that answered him confirming his guess.

And apparently this was taking as permission because only a moment later, Mixmaster’s tiny hands were pressed against his cheeks, leaving streaks of blue.  Pushing himself up, he sat back and watched as Scrapper joined with Red Alert and Inferno, turning the colors into a larger mess of brown.

Eventually, long after he set Mixmaster on the ground, Skywarp began to play in the paint too, writing out strings of Cybertronian glyphs, and smiling as he watched the other four trying to copying them.  Red Alert had a bit of trouble but Inferno was taking the time to show him the proper way to write them.

The glyph lesson was soon erased in favor of crudely drawn mechs, Skywarp’s own figures looking worse than the other ones.  He had gotten so far into it he didn’t hear the door to their area open.  Or the footsteps coming up behind.

“Skywarp!”

The seeker “eep”ed and stood quickly, only to fall flat on his after as he slipped.  The sparkling giggled and he looked up at Thundercracker, smiling faintly.  “I can explain…”

“I don’t care if you can explain,” he said.  “You still get to clean this up.  After you clean the sparklings.  Sunstreaker won’t be happy to know his paints were used like this.”

All four of the sparkling and their current watcher flinched at the name and four sets of optics looked up at Skywarp.  Looking down at them, he said, “I guess it’s time for a bath.”

The reactions were various.  Inferno and Scrapper looked up at him as if he granted them with the greatest treat known.  Red Alert and Mixmaster did their best to get as far away from Skywarp as possible, tracking paint everywhere.  Thundercracker reacted immediately, his thrusters kicking on and letting him hover out of reach of the colorful little ones.

Sighing, Skywarp pointed to Inferno and Scrapper and told them to stay there even as he went off to grab the other two, making sure to push Thundercracker out of the way with red and orange hands.  It didn’t matter how quick they ran.  Skywarp caught Red Alert and Mixmaster quickly, a sparkling under each arm as he walked back to the other two.

Inferno stepped right up to him, reaching for Red Alert’s hand and chirping soothingly even as the tiny Lamborghini began to sniff with tears running down his cheeks.  Scrapper grabbed on to his leg and when he was sure that Inferno was secure, he warped straight to the washracks, glad to find the place empty.

Not bothering to soothe the now distraught sparklings in his arms, he went into one of the stalls, setting Red Alert down and trusting Inferno to keep him in place as he turned on the water, making sure his body shielded the little ones until it was at the correct warmth.

Mixmaster was the first one to face the water, settling in Skywarp’s arms rather grumpily as the seeker picked up a wash cloth and began to wipe the paint away from the sparkling’s face.  The little Decepticon fussed and tried to turn his away but it didn’t matter to Skywarp who quickly got use to it and cleaned the soft metal efficiently.  Next were the arms and torso, and then his legs.

Mixmaster had stopped protesting at the end, his expression sullen as Skywarp sat him on the ground and he pouted up at the seeker.  Skywarp ignored it in favor of turning to Red Alert, not surprised when he saw that Inferno had picked up a wash cloth and began to clean him.  The sparkling had a look to match Mixmaster’s, but didn’t pother fussing.

Scrapper was frolicking in the shower water and while he didn’t have trouble with taking baths, it was more fun to play in it that to clean.  He had to be caught before standing still long enough to allow anyone to clean him.  And the moment it looked like everything was cleaned off, he would start to get antsy again.  When it looked like Scrapper was as clean as he can be without a full bath, Skywarp let him play around as he began to help clean Inferno.

He had learned long ago not to really do anything to Red Alert because he only wanted Inferno.  That was acceptable because it allowed Skywarp to care for Inferno as Inferno cared for Red Alert.  Red Alert appeared to almost be in recharge by the time everything was done and after shutting off the water, Skywarp wrapped the sparklings in large towels, rubbing them dry quickly before ushering them out of the washracks.

He walked them down the halls to the closest room that would have sparklings and a watcher, only to open the door to chaos.  Skywarp’s optics widened as he watched a confused Ramjet and Air Raid chase around six sparkling, each one covered in a different type of icky substance.

Mixmaster squeaked happily, wanting to join in with the festivities but Skywarp backed out enough for the door to shut.  “Let’s find a different room,” he suggested.  Inferno chirped in agreement and turned Red Alert to continue down the hall, searching for a quiet room for all of them.