Reflect sniffles a little, pushing the cube back a little as he hiccups again.
"its okay Reflect!" Ratchet assures. Reflect whines, pushing the cube back.
"Ratchet shout at Reflect." Reflect mumbles.
"he doesn't mean to. you hurt him, he can't help it." Wheeljack murmurs gently, working on Ratchet quickly.
"Reflect sorry. monster make head hurt really really really really bad." Reflect whimpers. Ratchet shakes his head and lets out a sigh.
"its alright." Ratchet assures, getting up. "thanks Jack for fixing it." Ratchet murmurs. Wheeljack nods.
"yeah, I can't believe he busted another audio." Wheeljack mutters.
"never busted one of mine." Ironhide shrugs.
"he's gotten me, Prime, Ratchet, I think he even got Bumblebee's once." Wheeljack frowns. Ironhide shifts the sparkling gently, giving him the cube back. Reflect sucks the cube down quietly, cuddling to Ironhide, little engine purring happily.
he sits up as soon as his cube is empty and looks over at Ratchet.
"no hit Ironhide." Reflect says.
"I won't." Ratchet assures. Ironhide chuckles softly, letting the sparkling up out of his lap. Reflect waddles over to Ratchet and cuddles up to him happily. "why are you walking like that?" Ratchet frowns.
"walk like what?" Reflect asks.
"you're waddling." Ratchet frowns.
"oh! I forgot to put grip on the bottom of his peds." Wheeljack says, reaching out and picking the sparkling up to show Ratchet the bottoms of the footed pajamas. "waddling keeps him from falling." he grins.
"I see." Ratchet says, taking the sparkling.
"plus its cute." Wheeljack chuckles.
"Reflect always cute!" Reflect squeals.
"yeah, you are." Wheeljack agrees. Reflect cuddles up to Ratchet, yawning.
"surely you can't be tired." Ratchet snorts, cuddling him. "you've only had two massive tantrums today." he adds. Reflect pouts at him, curling up in his arm.
"well, it is getting pretty late." Ironhide says, getting up. Reflect immediately turns and starts screaming at him as loud as he can, so Ironhide sits back down. "what?" Ironhide ask.
"no leave without Reflect!" Reflect screams, shoving away from Ratchet and runs over to Ironhide, clinging to him.
"what? Reflect you can't stay with me every night kid. you need to stay with Ratchet and Wheeljack." Ironhide murmurs.
"NO! REFLECT GO WITH IRONHIDE!" Reflect screeches.
"you know he's scared for you Ironhide." Wheeljack frowns.
"yeah but he's your sparkling not mine. he needs to stay with you guys, not the bot Sentinel is apparently out to kill." Ironhide frowns. Reflect screams louder, holding tightly to his arm. "now let go of me." Ironhide huffs, shaking his arm. Reflect whines, gripping his arm as tight as he can with both his arms and legs. "let go! ya little bug!" Ironhide frowns.
"no! Reflect go too!" Reflect shouts. Ironhide looks over at Ratchet and Wheeljack.
"well, c'mon! one of you help me." Ironhide glares. Ratchet looks over at Wheeljack, who meets his gaze looking amused.
"nah." comes the unison reply. Ironhide scoffs.
"what? what do you mean 'nah'?" Ironhide growls.
"oh come on Ironhide. he loves you." Ratchet snorts.
"yes! Reflect love Ironhide!" Reflect whimpers.
"let him stay with you." Wheeljack chuckles.
"please! Reflect stay Ironhide!" Reflect whimpers. Ironhide glares at the two of them, annoyed.
"c'mon now Reflect, let go." Ironhide frowns, pulling at his little servos gently. "Reflect let go." Ironhide grumbles.
"no!" Reflect whines.
"oh c'mon Ironhide. just let the kid stay with you he's scared." Wheeljack says.
"thats why I don't want him to stay with me." Ironhide growls. "we don't know when, how, or why he's going to try and kill me! if its tonight I don't want Reflect in the crossfire!" Ironhide snaps. Reflect whines. Ratchet frowns.
"he's got a point." Ratchet mutters, looking at Wheeljack.
"then stay in here with us, because we all know he's not going to get any rest if he's not with you and he'll be extra cranky and throw more tantrums tomorrow if he doesn't get enough rest. plus, if Sentinel does attack tonight, you won't be in your room where he's expecting you to be. you'll be in here where Ratchet and I can immediately come to your aid and Reflect has hundreds of safe places to hide without being in the way." Wheeljack says. Ironhide frowns.
"fine. tonight only." Ironhide growls. Reflect looks immediately relieved and happy, still clinging to the mechs arm. "now let go." Ironhide huffs.
"no! Ironhide might leave!" Reflect whimpers.
"I'm not leaving I'm staying the night in here. you just heard me say that." Ironhide grumbles. "now let go of me." Ironhide frowns.
"no. no! Reflect no let go!" Reflect whimpers, hugging him tightly. Ironhide sighs, shaking his head. he frowns looking at Ratchet and Wheeljack, who both look amused before glancing around the room. surely there was something in the room he could use to make the sparkling let go, and maybe get a little revenge too. Ironhide gets up grabs Wheeljacks tool from the floor, looks directly down at the sparkling a moment, making Wheeljack tense.
"Ironhide if you hit my spark-" Wheeljack starts. Ironhide pulls back and chunks the tool at Ratchets head. it thunks off, cutting Wheeljack off in his words, shocked.
"ow! you stupid slagger!" Ratchet glares. Reflect looks over, carefully scanning his creators face with his optics. looking for any damage he can see, but doesn't let go like Ironhide thought he would.
"payback for hitting me earlier." Ironhide huffs.
"you sound like a sparkling." Ratchet grumbles.
"well you hit like a sparkling." Ironhide smirks. Ratchet glares getting up.
"oh do I really?" Ratchet growls, pulling back and punching Ironhide. Ironhide looks at his shoulder where had Ratchet punched him. Reflect is still hanging onto Ironhides other arm, but he immediately screams.
"NO! MY IRONHIDE!" Reflect shreaks.
"now I get to hit you again." Ironhide smirks, pulling back. he doesn't hold back when he punches the medic as hard as he can in the face. the medic ends up on the floor, staring up at Ironhide. Ratchet looks dazed, he'd sort of been horsing around, but Ironhide was actually trying to hurt him. "thats payback for the book you destroyed. you didn't actually think I just dropped that did you?" Ironhide asks. there's an odd tone in his voice.
"Ironhide! knock it off! you two are acting like sparklings!" Wheeljack frowns. Ironhide scoffs.
"he hit me first." Ironhide huffs. he turns back to the sparkling on his arm, trying to shake him off. "let go y'little slagger." Ironhide frowns. Reflect hugs tighter, whining. Ratchet stumbles a little, getting up slowly.
"Ratchet are you okay?" Wheeljack asks, softly.
"yeah. m'fine." Ratchet mumbles. he shakes his head a little. "I deserved that for the book." Ratchet adds.
"you sound like you've been waiting for that." Wheeljack frowns.
"I have honestly." Ratchet mutters. he looks at Ironhide, who huffs at him before looking away.
"come on squirt." Ironhide mutters, walking out. the sparkling refuses to let go of his arm, even as the mech heads down the hallway.
"Ironhide okay?" Reflect asks. Ironhide frowns, finally peeling the sparkling off his arm and cuddling him.
"yeah. m'okay." Ironhide assures gently.
"why Ironhide hit creator?" Reflect ask. Ironhide frowns.
"well, at first I thought it would get you to let go, but then, I wanted revenge." Ironhide sighs.
"revenge?" Reflect ask.
"revenge for Wills pictures, his book.... for him." Ironhide mutters. "I couldn't help myself squirt. I punched him... pretty damn hard too... I didn't mean to hit him that hard." Ironhide sighs.
"creator not seem angry." Reflect says. Ironhide nods.
"yeah he wasn't angry was he?" Ironhide ask.
"creator deserve. he was asshole." Reflect frowns, cuddling up to Ironhide. Ironhide snorts at him and chuckles a little. "where go?" Reflect ask.
"to the rec room, I just need to talk to Optimus a moment, I'll leave you with Bumblebee so you don't get close enough to Sentinel for your head to hurt." Ironhide assures.
"no! Reflect stay Ironhide!" Reflect whines.
"don't worry, Sentinel wouldn't dare hurt me in a room full of Autobots, little one. everyone would destroy him." Ironhide assures gently. Reflect looks unsure. "I'll be alright. Optimus promised to keep me safe right?" Ironhide ask.
"yeah...." Reflect murmurs, cuddling to him.
"so everything is gonna be alright." Ironhide assures gently. Reflect nods a little.
"okay I go Bumblebee." Reflect murmurs. Ironhide nods a little and carries him into the rec room.
"okay, thank you." Ironhide murmurs. he carries the sparkling over towards Bumblebee. "hey Scout, can you hold him a minute?" Ironhide ask. Bumblebee looks up confused.
"yeah sure whats up?" he asks.
"I just gotta talk to Prime and his head hurts when he gets too close to Sentinel." Ironhide frowns. Bumblebee nods and takes Reflect.
"what are you wearing little one?" Bumblebee ask confused.
"its cute." Sam chuckles.
"daddy Jack make pjs, Reflect stay warm." Reflect giggles cuddling into the scout. he keeps an optic on Ironhide though. he doesn't want the mech hurt.
"oh I see. you're just the cutest." Bumblebee grins, hugging him. Reflect giggles and curls up with him.
"you'll keep your servos off me is what you'll do!" Ironhide snaps. Reflect jerks up immediately, scrambling out of Bumblebee's lap and running towards Ironhide.
"sparkling! no!" Bumblebee shouts, getting up quickly. he's careful not to hurt Sam.
"you'd do wise to remember I out rank you soldier." Sentinel warns.
"look here you bastard-" Ironhide starts.
"Ironhide." Optimus warns.
"I'll put you in the brig soldier!" Sentinel snaps.
"Sentinel." Optimus frowns.
"YOU LEAVE IRONHIDE ALONE!" Reflect screams, running over. he kicks Sentinel in the leg, glaring up at him. Ironhide quickly scoops the sparkling up, shifting him gently away from Sentinel.
"easy Reflect-" Ironhide starts.
"YOU SUCK CABLE! LEAVE IRONHIDE ALONE!" Reflect screams. the whole rec room goes silent, Ironhide trying not to laugh. several soldiers are desperately trying not to laugh.
"excuse me?" Sentinel growls, getting in the sparklings face. Reflect glares.
"get out of face." he growls, glaring the bigger bot down.
"what did you say you little slagger?" Sentinel growls.
"suck cable." Reflect growls, before spitting at the mech. Sentinel jerks back, wiping at his face with a growl.
"Reflect!" Optimus shouts. Ironhide quickly pulls the sparkling away when Sentinel swings at him.
"if you hit this sparkling I'll end you!" Ironhide snaps.
"hey! we don't hit the sparkling!" Drift glares, walking over. he's not the only one. everyone is up on their peds in seconds, ready to beat the Prime down for daring to touch their beloved sparkling.
"Ironhide I think it best if you take Reflect and put him to bed." Optimus warns. Ironhide huffs steam out his nose, turning and leaving.
he carries the sparkling back towards the medbay, waiting until they're far enough away to lift the sparkling and grin at him.
"that was a good one little one." Ironhide chuckles. Reflect giggles at him. "but you stay away from Sentinel alright? now that you've told him to suck a cable, he's not gonna be nice to you." Ironhide murmurs. Reflect nods and hugs the mech giggling happily.
Ratchet and Wheeljack are waiting for them when they get back. both quickly scanning over the two.
"what happened? are you two okay?" Wheeljack ask.
"is the sparkling alright?" Ratchet asks, snatching Reflect from Ironhide. Ironhide raises an optic ridge, looking confused.
"yeah we're fine why?" Ironhide asks.
"Bumblebee said Sentinel started a fight with you and Reflect jumped in." Ratchet says, looking Reflect over carefully.
"oh yeah. he told Sentinel to suck his cable." Ironhide snorts. "but he's fine don't worry. Sentinel swung at him, but I moved him away before he could actually hit him. the moment he tried, half the rec room came at him. Drift was ready to fight Sentinel when I took Reflect out of the rec room." Ironhide shrugs, smirking. Reflect reaches for Ironhide. the mech takes him happily and Reflect cuddles into him, engine purring. he yawns quickly, cuddling up to him sleepily. "I agree." Ironhide grumbles, getting up on a nearby berth.
Ratchet and Wheeljack shrug and head into their room to get some recharge.
Ironhide and the sparkling curl up immediately to recharge, Reflect cuddling against Ironhide side, the mech carefully wrapping an arm around him.
Reflect jerks up, gasping quietly. his internal clock, that he can't really read, breaks it down that he's been in recharge for four hours and its very late at night/very early morning. the sparkling gets up carefully, climbing down.
"where do you think you're going?" Ironhide grumbles shifting.
"daddy Jack." Reflect says quietly. Ironhide nods and settles himself back into recharge. the sparkling climbs down and waits silently until he's sure Ironhide is asleep, before running off out of the medbay. he's quiet and he's gone only one thing in mind. the Primes promised if he did this, Ironhide would be safe.
Reflect sneaks his way through the base, carefully coming across Optimus' room. they had thrown a second berth in there, temporarily, for Sentinel. he knows the door is be locked, but the Primes had shown him how to use one of his abilities.
it takes him a few minutes right, but he eventually manages to teleport to the otherside of the door. he stumbles a little and looks around. Sentinel and Optimus are both on their respective berths, in deep recharge. Reflect chirps quietly, climbing up onto Optimus' desk, and just like the Primes had said, there was Sentinels weapon. he grabs it and teleports away.
he lands quietly in the dark rec room. its empty, just as the Primes had promised. he sets the gun down and looks it over, before sitting with it. the Primes had told him to play with it after all.
Ironhide jerks out of recharge as Ratchet and Wheeljack come running in. it takes him a moment to realize what woke him. the sparkling is screaming. there's a loud crash and the three immediately race out of the medbay. the entire base is awake it seems, running towards the cause of all the noise. the rec room.
they immediately freeze, looking around. the ceiling is rusted through and collapsed all over the ground. there's more rust than any of them have seen in a long time. the sparkling is silent now and they can't see him anywhere.
Ratchet freezes looking around. this couldn't be happening again. not again.
"Reflect?" Ratchet calls, almost breathlessly. like the medics terrified to break the silent and make this all real.
"REFLECT!" Ironhide shouts, charging into the dusty, rusty, room. "REFLECT!" Ironhide shouts, lifting rubble. it sets the others into motion immediately.
"Reflect!" Bumblebee shouts, throwing rubble out of the way.
"Reflect! Reflect can you hear us!?" Prowl calls.
"sparkling!" Jazz shouts.
"hey kid! make some noise!" Hound shouts.
"sparkling!" Wheeljack shouts. the human soldiers are all awake and staring while the Autobots throw massive chunks of the building aside.
"REFLECT! ANSWER ME!" Ironhide shouts.
"Reflect!" Optimus shouts, looking around.
"little one! Reflect!" Ratchet shouts, throwing aside bits of the couch.
"quiet, quiet! " Jazz shouts the others go quiet. they can hear the distinct whining sounds of an engine struggling and the sound of tires attempting to spin. they all immediately start scanning the rubble.
"Reflect!" Wheeljack shouts, throwing a large chunk of rubble out of the way. he kneels down. "I've got him!" Wheeljack shouts. Reflect whines, transforming slowly. he's still covered in rubble but its mostly smaller pieces. he reaches out, whimpering for the inventor. Wheeljack reaches for him, but Ratchet snatches the sparkling up, hugging him gently. he's not leaking energon, but he is pretty beat up. the sparkling whimpers and clings to Ratchet, sniffling.
"what the hell happened?" Optimus frowns, walking over.
"think this might have something to do with it." Jazz frowns, picking up the gun from the rubble.
"Sentinels blaster?" Optimus ask. Ironhide takes it and looks it over.
"looks like he was chewing on it, probably fired it on accident." Ironhide frowns, looking up.
"I'll work on getting that fixed, is the kid alright?" Epps ask.
"yeah he's fine." Ratchet mutters, clutching the sparkling tightly to his chestplates.
"yeah and he's definitely Wheeljacks sparkling." Sideswipe mutters. it gets a quiet chuckle from several mechs in the room. Reflect whimpers quietly.
"okay come on little one. lets get you looked over and fixed up." Ratchet murmurs, carrying him out quickly.
Reflect whimpers quietly.
"what happened little one?" Ratchet ask. Reflect whimpers quietly, curling up.
"Reflect hurt." he whimpers. Ratchet nods a little.
"yeah alright." Ratchet murmurs. Reflect drops his head against the medics chestplate, yawning quietly.
when Reflect wakes up, he's not sure how long later, he's in pain. its not bad, but it does hurt. he whimpers quietly, shifting.
"its alright little one. I'm working on it." Ratchet murmurs softly.
"Ratchet?" Reflect whimpers.
"yeah, its me." Ratchet murmurs. "what happened little one?" Ratchet ask. Reflect looks confused, finally onlining his optics.
"no know... go sleep with Ironhide, wake up in pain." Reflect whimpers.
"you don't remember what happened last night?" Ratchet ask.
"no." Reflect whimpers, sitting up slowly. "why Reflect hurt?" he asks.
"the ceiling of the rec room fell on you." Wheeljack murmurs, walking over. he kisses the little bots head gently. Reflect looks confused.
"ouchie." he mumbles, rubbing his head with a pout.
"yeah." Ratchet murmurs gently.
"need cube." Reflect says, looking up at them. Ratchet nods.
"okay." he murmurs.
"why don't you take him for a cube Ratch? I'll clean up in here." Wheeljack murmurs. Ratchet nods, scooping him up gently. he clutches the sparkling to his chestplates. when they'd come upon the rubble, Ratchet hadn't reacted so well. it was like a flashback back to Cybertron. back to his youngling hood.... back to Nitro.
suddenly he wasn't on Earth, in their base with their friends. he was on Iacon, crouched in the rubble of a care center, clutching the body of his lifeless sparkling. he'd spent up all night staring at the sparkling, monitoring his spark, making sure he was still online, and Wheeljack knew why.
"Ratchet?" Wheeljack ask. Ratchet inhales sharply, looking over at his bonded. "you okay?" Wheeljack ask. the medic nods a little, turning to leave the medbay quickly.
"yeah." he murmurs.
"creator not okay." Reflect says, reaching up to pat the medics face gently.
"creator will be alright." Ratchet assures softly.
the rec room has already been cleaned up by the time they get there. Ironhide, Bumblebee, and the Lambo twins had stayed up all night cleaning it up. they were all still in the rec room.
Ironhide is sitting up leaned back in a corner of the room, snoring. the mech had probably sat down intending to rest a few moments and fell into recharge. Sunstreaker is semi sat up, leaned against his left side, head dropped back on Ironhides shoulder, legs folded and servos in his lap, like he'd simply sat down and passed out. Sideswipe is curled against Ironhides right side, snoring. Ironhides shoulder is the only thing keeping him from sinking all the way to the floor. Bumblebee is leaned back against Ironhide, the bigger mechs interlaced fingers resting on top of his head. his neck craned and being propped by both the mechs chest and his lap.
the three look utterly uncomfortable, but no one dares wake them. it had been nearly 1 AM when the ceiling had collapsed and the four had undoubtedly spent five of the six hours Ratchet had been working on Reflect, cleaning up. Ratchet assumes they'd all passed out around an hour or two ago, but he's not sure.
"don't you dare wake them." Prowl mutters, glancing up over the edge of his datapad. he'd been silently keeping an optic on them, daring anyone to bother the four so he could throw them in the brig. Ratchet turns immediately, to look at him.
"Prowl?" Ratchet ask, confused.
"I'm just making sure no one wakes them up." Prowl assures. "Ironhide sat down around 45 minutes ago and the other three followed after." Prowl explains. Ratchet nods and turns back to the sleeping mechs.
"probably too tired to make it to their rooms." Ratchet mutters. "Prime post you out here?" Ratchet ask, looking back over at Prowl. the TIC shakes his head.
"no I walked in here to check on the progress. Ironhide and I were actually having a conversation when he passed out. Bumblebee already curled up in recharge at that point, but once Ironhide was out, the twins went and made themselves comfortable. I figure since they volunteered to do this so everyone else could go back to stasis, they might appreciate someone making sure they're not woken prematurely." Prowl explains. "and to also ensure that, Optimus took Sentinel off base so he wouldn't wake them." Prowl adds. Ratchet nods, sitting down with a cube for the sparkling.
"mine." Reflect growls, snatching the cube and shoving it into his mouth.