New Begginings 2

Five vorns later...

within a confusing mass of bodies, she tossed and turned, twisted and squeezed in between the others, searching for that familiarity of life next to her.
Ember refused to wake up just yet, instead she pushed past her brother Booster, unknowingly stepping on his face before snuggling closer to her papa's chassis, where the warmth of his spark was most comforting.
Her papa did always make things feel a lot better, all it took was him being there. With a contented sigh, she smiled and tried to drift back to recharge.
Drift slowly came to his senses, looking down at the form that had just recently re-attached itself to his chassis.
Ember's small form was there, curled up against him and purring lightly, it always pained him a little to see how much she resembled her carrier, though at the same time it made him happy that a part of her was still so very much with them. Ember had red and white coloring, though the predominant color was the red, her helmet, although she wasn't wearing it while she recharged, was spiked like her mothers, but instead of going going back in five followed spikes, it divided into two, one on each side and only two layers of them, not only her appearance but her personality had some things of her mother as well, she was definitely growing into a speedster, fast and hyper almost 24/7 Drift found that it was sometimes hard to keep up with her, thankfully her uncles or aunt helped her a lot of the times with that.
Moving his optics away with her, he looked around for the other four. Aqualight, the other girl of the triplets and the smallest of them was recharging on the spare pillow, looking rather cozy, she was, admittedly spoiled from his own affections to her, always being carried rather than walking around on her own, despite being able to do so, she was a very quite and sweet little femme who loved books and knowledge, and most of all, television. Once in front of a screen, no one could take her away from it until she fell to recharge.
He then spotted snap shot recharging behind ember, curled up in the thermal blanket and apparently in his usual very sound sleep.
Snap shot had a habit of recharging a lot, he was the smallest of course, even for his age, but that proved to be an advantage for his passion: photography.
The little mechling had kept his auxiliary visor and had it upgraded with camera functions, his small size allowed him to get to places no one else could, and to have a very different perspective of the world.
Right now however, his perspective was on the digit being suckled in his mouth.
He then glanced further down, where Booster and StormRider were recharging quietly, those two were the quietest, though in different ways from each other. Booster was usually grumpy, a lot like his mother in fact. He had developed a fascination for Drift since early on and it had only grown over the years, it was clear he did not like the little time they could get to spend some time together and it showed in his actions, because that was the type of mechling he was, actions spoke louder.
Stormrider, much to his grief, had quickly grown much too mature for his age, he was the responsible one, always looking out for his younger siblings, taking care of things for Drift when he couldn't, primus he'd even surprised him when he revealed he had been studying cooking so that he could take care of that as well instead of them waiting hours straight for him to come home.
He meant well however, he had a strong desire to prove he was useful and often needed the security that he was loved and needed since he did not share a bond with them.
Taking a moment to watch they silent cycling, the small little gestures that defined them as they dreamed, Drift was forced to remember why he kept going everyday, though the ache was not as unbearable as in the beginning, he did always need that reminder every day, and when on missions, it was his memory files of them that kept him going, their smiles and voices, their love.
Reluctantly he noted the time, they had to get up now, he had a shift soon enough and for that he was to drop them off with their caretakers.
Since it was five of them, he often tried to separate them in groups so that it wouldn't burden the one watching them so much, after all, things easily escalated to a hectic mess of screaming and shouting when you had five sparklings in the mix.
Cliffstrider had been particularly generous with watching them, and they always enjoyed being with her, for she was the best one to ask anything about their mother.
Today however, Cliffstrider had a shift as well, and her bonded Nightgale was stuck in the communications tower.
Which meant he had to resort to others, and unfortunately there were only a few available that day.
He really didn't like to leave the boys with Sunstreaker and Sideswipe, but they loved them, and he knew they could keep them safe and entertained, despite the foul language Booster and Snap Shot sometimes acquired.
Aqualight and Ember however were staying with Infrared at the medbay which they always seemed to enjoy as she had once been one of AshBringer's closest friends. There were many stories she told them, and she never seemed to run out of them, some of them he didn't even know of until the girls told him later in the day.
Eventually he figured he couldn't prolong it anymore and carefully began to sit up, waking the lightly recharging femmeling clinging to his armor. She yawned, her mouth going wide open like a little lion before she shook her head sleepily.
"Its time to wake up" he spoke softly, helping her sit down so that he could wake the others.
"mmmmmmm....do I have to...?" she asked groggily, rubbing at her optics.
He chose not to answer, she knew very well. Slowly he went to each of the others, shifting them lightly and calling for them.
Soon enough he had the five of them attempting to reboot their systems fully, at one point Ember tried to sneak under the pillow so she could sleep a few more kliks, but to no avail for she grabbed one of her legs and pulled her out, gaining a squeal of surprise and cheerfulness.
Everything as it usually did, they all went to the living room, save for himself and Stormrider who headed for the kitchen to prepare their morning energon.
A bowl for each, some warm low grade energon and a few energon o's, Drift himself just stuck to the regular warm mid grade cube.
Looking out the window he noted it was a sunny 'summer's' day, which was why he wasn't taking the little ones to school that morning, but him? Oh he still had to work, there was always work somewhere, and he needed it to keep things going.
For the past five Vorns he had never taken a day off unless medically obliged to, which wasn't very often since he kept himself out of the battles most of the time.
He had admittedly participated in a few of the last battles, but one day he got hurt pretty badly, and that had scared not only him but his creations, he never wanted them to have to see him like that again.
Having breakfast ready he gently asked his eldest son to fetch the others, he was much better at it than he was anyway, by now Aqualight was probably glued to the tv watching morning cartoons Blaster brought from earth and Snap Shot was likely back to recharge on the couch. If he was lucky, Ember and Booster wouldn't be fighting as usual.
After only a few kliks he heard running and shouting, and sure enough Booster and Ember burst in, snarling at each other and making a mad run for the chair next to Drift.
Every morning was always the same, wanting to sit down next to him, not only sit down but be the ONLY ones sitting down next to him.
Usually this either ended in one on each side of him or Aqualight and Snap Shot taking those spots before they could.
Today seemed a good day for them, they didn't fight over it too much, which earned them a spot on each side.
A while later Stormrider came in dragging both Aqualight and Snap Shot, one was clinging to him trying to stand while at the same time attempting to recharge. While Aqualight whined about missing her favorite morning show.
"Time to eat you two, give Stormy a break." Drift spoke up, moving around the table to help them to their seats, they were smallest and getting on the chair was still hard for them.
"But papa! I won't know how they'll find the elements of harmony if I don't watch this episode!" Aqualight complained as she was sat down, looking rather grumpy. Usually she wasn't the grumpy type, unless one of her toys went missing (which happened far too often) or when she was taken away from the TV.
"I'm sure they'll repeat it later this afternoon Aqualight, now eat your breakfast, we have to get you to Infrared at the clinic soon." he said, petting her light blue helmet fondly before moving to help snap shot, now he was the hardest.
Keeping the young mech awake and eat his breakfast was always a challenge.
"Can't I stay home and sleep a few more hours?" he mumbled, curling into his arms as soon as he picked him up.
"I'm afraid not, you can sleep a little more at Sunstreaker's and Sideswipe's place."  he said, waiting a few minutes, watching him to make sure he'd actually start eating his food.
After seeing him take the first spoon, he returned to his seat, Booster and Ember were already competing to see who would finish their bowl first, inevitably making a mess of themselves and the table.
"Do we get to see mother this afternoon?" Aqualight spoke up shyly, slowly swirling her spoon in her energon.
"Well..." He really didn't like to take them there all the time, yes he wanted them to know their mother, but it wasn't healthy when they constantly asked to go, and there had been times like that.
As he considered the option, he noted that they had all stopped to listen, looking at him expectantly.
"I do have the afternoon off today..."
"YES!" Ember cheered immediately.
"But we're only going for an hour, after that we have some things to do."
"Like what?" Booster asked, filling his mouth with the cereal-
"Well for one, our dispenser is nearly depleted again" he said, his tone making the mechling shrink a little in his place. He liked to eat...he was a healthy growing mech! "Among other things I need to get."
"Where are we going to get dinner at today then?" Snap Shot asked, starting to perk up a little.
"We'll see when we get there, if you all behave today I'll let you choose."
"I take dibs on Rusty's ol' burgers!" Ember said promptly, raising a hand in the air.
"No way, I want to go to Mcaddam's!" Booster countered, getting a sharp look from his creator and promptly ducking his helm "when I'm old enough..."
"I want to go to Rusty's as well" Snap shot said looking up as if seeking approval from his other siblings.
Stormrider shrugged, looking resigned "its fine with me as long as I get to pick a healthy dish."
"Agreed" Aqualight said calmly, returning to her current meal.
"YES!" Ember cheered, loud and boisterous as usual.
"I guess that's decided then, if you behave I'll take you there for dinner." Drift agreed, finishing his cube.
__________________________________________________________________________________________

The walk to the twins was quick, they didn't exactly live that far away from their own home and were ready to take the mechs.
After dropping them off,  Drift took the femmes through the busy-er streets, heading for headquarters.
The clinic could be found along the way, so it was actually a rather convenient drop off for them.
As usual, he had Aqualight in one arm, and Ember holding his hand next to him. They were perfectly capable of walking on their own, but Aqualight preferred to be carried and stay close to him, while Ember on the other hand would easily run off and get lost. No, he was not letting go of that little hand until they were at the clinic.
"I hope Infrared isn't too busy today, so she can tell us a story" Aqualight commented as the building came into view.
"I'm sure she'll have enough time for you, otherwise she wouldn't be taking care of you." He said, stepping inside to the familiar sound of Ratchet's voice bellowing at some poor unfortunate fool.
"-A SYRINGE IS NOT A STINGER YOU FOOL!" ah, must have been one of the rookies, the small white and red mech was seemingly sinking into the floor, staring up in pure horror at the CMO towering above him.
Wisely, he maneuvered past them without calling attention, Ember having gone thankfully quite, she had a bit of fear of him, due to the check ups every once in a while.
He greeted a few mechs and femmes on the way until finally he spotted Infrared not too far away, reading the detail board on one of the resting patients.
"Infrared" He called as they approached, gaining her attention.
"Oh! You're here! And on time might I add" she said, sounding surprised, his femmelings giggling at the comment.
"Good morning to you too... I'm here to drop them off." he said, letting go of ember hand and moving to put Aqualight down, she wrapped her arms around his neck tightly in a hug, giving a small whine before looking up reluctantly at him. "Please come back on time."
It wrenched at his spark whenever they asked that, but sometimes it just couldn't be helped. He had work after all.
"I'll do my best." He promised, giving her a light peck on the helm before she let go. Ember took the chance to hug him next, not letting him get back up.
"You better keep your  promise." She said, nuzzling her face under his chin. "And remember, Rusty's ol' Burger's afterward!" she said, pointing at him accusingly, as if implying that he would forget.
He smiled at her cute pouty face, one that reminded him very strongly of his mate and gave her a peck on the helm as well.
"I won't forget, as long as you don't forget your part of the bargain."
"I'll be as good as a little angel" she said, overly innocent.
"I mean it Ember, don't bother the other medics or the patients."
"Okay."
Giving her a dubious look, he got back to his feet and turned to the medic.
"I'll be back after the morning shift, thank you again for this."
"Go on, you're going to be late for work, shoo!" Infrared said, making shooing motions with her hands, the two femmelings copied her, giggling along the way.
They watched him leave in silence, and only when his back was out of their sight, did they turn to Infrared.
"So, what're we gonna do today?" Ember asked.
"Well, I got you some board games to play if you want?"
"What kind of games?"

__________________________________________________________________________________________

Drift's morning could not have been more routine, he had the patrol shift around the perimiter outside the city's shield. New Autobot city had grown over the years, and every once in a while a new ship of neutrals would arrive and make it even bigger.
Battles were so scarce these days that they were calling it the end of the war. But the ones that actually worked directly under Prime knew, it was never over, so long as Megatron's offline body wasn't locked away or melted into nothing, it was never over.
The decepticons were an ideal, not just a few random mechs, an ideal is unfortunately immortal, but the same could then be said for the autobots.
At lease, he reasoned, it had been a good five vorns of mostly peace where his sparklings could grow like any sparkling should.
"So how're the kids doing? Its been a while since I saw them, are they enjoying their holidays?" Hound, today's patrol partner spoke up after a few hours.
"They are doing well yes, thanks. More than a little excited about not having to go to school." he said the last bit a little bitterly.
Hound chuckled however, seeing the humor hidden behind it.
"Kids will be kids after all." He said, as they drove up one of the bumpy roads around the mountain surrounding half the city.
"Yes, at least it makes it easier to wake them up now." Again the green mech in front of him chuckled. "and I get to spend some time with them as well this afternoon."
"Sounds like you got a full schedule."
"Yes, they've asked to see AshBringer again, usually when that happens it takes quite a few long hours."
"Well you can't blame them, its been what? Five vorns now?"
"Since three weeks ago yes" He agreed sadly, five vorns... he was only halfway through his waiting time. It felt far too long.
"Wow...five vorns...time flies indeed, before you know it, she'll be back up and running, teaching little Ember to race."
"I'm not sure Ember will have the courage to race, she is still a little frightened from last year's incident... Blurr has tried to talk to her about it, but she completely closes off and tries to change the subject."
"Hmm... yeah maybe it was a little too early."
A silence stretched between them for a while as they made a short stop at the top of the mountain, looking around with their scanners, just to be on the safe side.
"You should take them to the park sometime." Hound spoke up eventually. "Plenty of space for them to run and play, and no one will care if they scream too loud."
"Hmmm... perhaps, they do seem to enjoy the place." he agreed, thinking on the matter for a little while.
It was then that they started hearing the siren, it wasn't an ordinary sound these days, but still made their gears tense up, their sparks jumping at attention.
"An attack? I don't see anything" Hound said, quickly transforming to his bipedal mode and looking around.
"Perhaps one of the other patrol groups spotted something, we should hurry back." Drift said in a clipped tone.
"Don't see anything...." Hound said with a frown, before transforming back to his vehicle mode and following the his partner.

__________________________________________________________________________________________

Ember and Aqualight sat on the floor, in a less crowded area of the medbay, Ember was leaned back against Infrared's leg, who sat on a chair behind her reading a datapad, and Aqualight sat opposite of them,  pondering her next move, sometimes, this was the reason Ember didn't like to play with her sister, she took too long thinking! Then again she usually won these games. Ember would usually wins the ones based on chance.
"Come onnnnn Zippy! Its been five kliks!"
"It has not been five kliks and I can take as long as I like to ponder my move. And do not call me that, you know how uncle hates it."
"its the fleet! There's little to think of! Shoot my ships down or not! It doesn't matter how much you think, this is a matter of chance!"
"On the contrary sister, while at first this is a game of chance, after setting up a strategy of shots in the dark I can tell more or less the patterns of where your ships may be hidden" The blue femmeling countered.
"Blah blah blah! Just make a move already! You're driving me nuts with all this waiting!"
"You could use with learning patience."
"I second that" Infrared spoke up, not looking away from her read.
"No one asked you" Ember said grumpily.
Aqualight didn't get to pick her move before the siren began to sound across the city, they looked up fearfully before turning to Infrared, recognizing the sound.
Infrared quickly dropped her datapad on an empty berth and god up, looking around the medbay worriedly.
"Red?" the femmelings called in a hushed tone.
"Go in the recovery chamber." she told them with a firm voice, leaving no space for argument. "come on." she turned away from the rest of the medics and quickly tried to push them towards the door.
They stepped into the dark and gloomy room, looking back up at her uncertainly "wait here, and don't open the door until either I, Ratchet or your father comes all right? Stay quiet, and stay hidden" she ordered before closing the door before them, their only way out.
The recovery chamber was the safest place for them in the medbay, it was specifically reinforced due to the patients recovering there for long periods of time.
With quick brisk steps she moved back to the front of the medbay, joining the remaining medics.
"Seems like we have a breach, a ship came in this morning." Ratchet spoke to his staff , a serious expression on his faceplates. "They weren't who they said they were. We have rogue decepticons running about and hurting bots. No one is to leave the medbay on their own, groups of three, and only two as a last resort may leave to attend the injured, the rest of you are to stay here and protect everyone in here. First Aid, I'll leave you in charge of the medbay in case I have to go on field."
"Yes boss" said medics agreed in unison, spreading out to attend to their duties.
Infrared waited for them to disperse before stepping up to her adoptive father.
"I have the kids in the recovery chamber, I'm going to wait with them inside until this is over."
Ratchet sighed at that, rubbing the cables at the back of his neck tiredly.
"Good, I'll keep First Aid informed, we'll call you when its over."
"Understood, please be careful out there."
Ratchet snorted at that, and was about to reply when a shot peirced the front window, ricocheting on the far wall on the other side.
"SEAL THE MEDBAY!" the CMO quickly yelled over the rush of panic and confusion. "SEAL THIS SLAGGING MEDBAY BEFORE THEY COME INSIDE!"
one of the more experienced medics rushed forwards to the main control panel and had the windows shut with their outer shells.
The door was halfway through  closed when heavy steps approached, a hand grabbing at the shield from underneath and stopping it from going further.
The medics quickly transformed their weapons, or picked up their own, pointing it at the door and waiting, none of these were meant for battle, only medicine, but if someone came between them and their patients, they were sure to use it in their defense.
The large stubby hands held onto the shield, its large thick fingers denting it with strength, and with a heave, whoever was on the other side started to pull up.
Ember and Aqualight waited in silence inside the room, they could hear the noises coming from the medbay, not long ago they had heard a shot, and it only served to scare them further and huddle together closer to the large pod where their mother rested. They knew this room well, and everywhere they could hide in, behind the pods was possibly their best choice, whoever came in would focus on the ones inside the pods, and not on the ones behind them.
"Do you think they'll be all right?" Aqualight asked, her voice so low Ember could barely hear her.
' Don't speak...not like that, use our bond' Ember reminded her, hugging her closer. Aqualight always relied on her and Booster to fight her battles for her and this was no different.
' Sorry...I'm scared' and they could feel it perfectly, they could tell each other's fear, and that of their brothers somewhere far away from them.
' Everything's going to be fine Zippy, you know how it goes, they'll keep us safe, papa always makes sure of it.'
' But papa's at work...'
'He's coming for us, I know it.'
They wouldn't dare reach out for him at a time like this, they had been warned not to before, it could seriously distract him if he were fighting, and that wouldn't be good for any of them.
'besides, someone has to stay here to protect mama.' she said, trying to sound more lightsparked than she actually was.
They looked up at the pod for a moment, pondering at the image of their sleeping carrier.
They barely remembered her, they had been only a year old after all when she fell ill with their younger brother's sparking. Not that they resented him for it, okay maybe they did a little in the beginning...but Snap Shot wasn't to blame, and he suffered more than they did for never getting a proper chance to meet her.
It was bad enough the guilt he felt about it, so they never pushed on the subject, their mother had given up ten years of her life in favor of his survival. He was meant to live and live happy.
A scream returned they attention back to the situation, followed by several gun shots and lasers, various different sounds of fighting they were not used to being so close to.
'Maybe we should call papa...I-I don't like the sounds of that...' Aqualight said, clinging to her sister tighter.
' We can't...'
' They're right outside! Papa would want to know' the other reasoned.
' But...'
'He would want to know!'
Before they could argue further however something large and heavy crashed against the door, or rather, it pounded, once, twice, three times...
Their fear was starting to become too large for them to hold in, it began to sip out towards their remaining bonds.
'I don't think that's Infrared.'
' N-nor Ratchet' Zippy agreed, gulping.
'Okay, we call papa' Ember finally agreed at the fith pound.
Their Sire felt panicked, in a rush, his spark was active and searching, all it took was for them to share their fear for him to pay attention to them.
It was hard to talk to him with words yet, other than themselves, the triplets still couldn't communicate with him or with snap shot, who barely even had a notion of his bond yet.
'I'm coming little ones, just hold on a little longer.' he told them, sending them their love and comfort. Aqualight was almost to the point of tears, trembling against her sister.
'Whatever you do, if he breaks through, don't scream' Ember told her, paying attention to all the sounds. The medbay wasn't as noisy anymore, which could only mean two things, the battle was over, and whoever won wasn't friendly if they were busting down the door.
A crack of light told them the door was giving in. thick fingers wrapped around it, pulling and tearing at the door.
They watched in horror as it was torn away and thrown outside the room, a large bulky mech, about the size of Bulkhead in face stood at the door, shadowed from the light outside.