Cover Me 171

[blkdragonqueen]

Holy Crap a chapter! XD Enjoy!



Chapter One Hundred Seventy One: Terror On The High Seas

Ironhide might have been cheering but everyone else's looks could only be described as pure terror. Optimus actually looked ill as he stared at Ratchet. "Two?"

"Two," Ratchet confirmed with a small frown, as he looked at the two smaller glowing orbs that were nestled next to Sunstreaker's own.

"You're-you're serious?"

Ratchet's optics left the small pulsing orbs and looked up at Sunstreaker's bright, worried optics. "Yeah. You and Sideswipe have your work cut out for you."

There was a chuckle behind them and Ratchet turned slightly to glare at Ironhide who was grinning like mad. "This is great," the larger mech snickered. "Finally, they get to go through what they've always put us through."

"And us," Jazz snickered. "I don't think we're going to get out of this Scott free ya know."

"Jazz," Ironhide suddenly sounded very, very serious. "This is my one moment. Let me have my one moment. We can all freak out later about the implications of what twin sparklings running about the base means."

Sunstreaker turned to glare at Ironhide and in doing so he suddenly realized that all of the other mechs had turned back around and were staring in his and Ratchet's direction. "Do you mind?" he practically screeched and the other mechs all quickly spun back around to give the yellow mech the privacy he needed. "Honestly."

Ratchet shook his head as he observed the two orbs within Sunny's spark chamber. "As much as you know how I love to agree with Ironhide," Ratchet drawled in Optimus' direction, "I have to say we don't have time to freak out just yet."

"What do you mean?" Optimus asked as he started to turn back around to give Ratchet a puzzled look.

"OPTIMUS!" Sunstreaker yelped horrified and the charge of the energy rod quickly sounded on the deck of the ship.

Optimus whipped back around to face the ocean. "Sorry 'Sunny," he mumbled apologetically.

Ratchet shook his head as he answered Optimus. "There's no guarantee that this will work you know."

"What choice do we have though?" Barricade huffed from where he was watching the waves the ship made. "Unless anyone else has any bright ideas?" Silence. "That's what I thought."

"But it's gonna work, right?" Sunstreaker's voice was so quiet that only Ratchet at Sam heard him.

"It should," Ratchet gave him a reassuring smile before he turned to look at the human beside him. "Right Sam?" Sam nodded and Ratchet was surprised to find that like the others, Sam was facing away from Sunny, giving the yellow mech his privacy. Ratchet smiled before he gently nudged Sam's back with the tip of one finger. "I'm sure Sunny thanks you for your consideration but I need your assistance with this since you can actually use the shard."

"Oh right." Sam's face was red as he turned back around. His eyes glanced quickly at Sunny. "As long as it's okay."

"I have less complaints about you than them," Sunny huffed waving a hand towards where the other mechs were scattered about looking at the water or in Barricade and Soundwave's case, chatting quietly.

Sam gave him a shy smile as Wheeljack and Skyfire returned. "Is this enough?" Skyfire asked quietly gesturing towards the extra pieces of metal they had retrieved. Sam glanced at what was once a full jet and winced at what was now jut a pile of leftover scrap.

"I hope so," Ratchet sighed when Sunstreaker suddenly gasped and almost curled up into himself the best he could with his chest plate still open and Ratchet quickly whipped around to stare at the two pulsing orbs in the mech's chest. "Slag," he hissed. "Sam, come here." Sam quickly stepped up into Ratchet's hand as the medic reached out with his other to push Sunny onto his back again. "Can you hold still?"

"No promises," Sunny hissed out.

Ratchet sighed. "No choice. Brace yourself," he told Sam before setting him down on Sunny's shoulder. Once Sam was settled Ratchet pulled his med-kit closer to himself and started to dig through it for something.

Sam took a moment to brace his feet, shifting the shard under one arm. Now that he was up and literally on top of Sunny he could see what it was that Ratchet and the others were seeing and he stared fascinated at the two smaller blue orbs that seemed to orbit around Sunny's larger one. They pulsated with light as they spun, occasionally bumping into one another before flittering away from each other only to gravitate next to the other once again.

"Now what?" Wheeljack's voice broke Sam's observation and he turned back to the three mechs hovering above himself and Sunny.

Ratchet frowned as he looked over a data pad. "I have no idea," he began but apparently the sparkling-orbs, or rather one of them, did as Sunny gasped in discomfort. Ratchet's gaze snapped back to the two orbs where one of them seemed to have realized that there was now a port of escape and was trying to push itself up and out of Sunny's chest cavity. "Slag!" Ratchet dove for his trans-kit and dug about for a moment before he came up with a pair of what looked to be tongs. He didn't take the orb however but used the tong like instrument as a makeshift barrier to keep the orb from successfully leaving the safety of Sunny's chest. "Slag it, stay you little bugger!" Ratchet snarled at it.

"They're not even born yet and they're already giving Ratchet problems," Ironhide snickered. Will must have said something because Ironhide quickly followed up with: "It's the truth!"

Ratchet shot the other mech's back a dark look as he tried to keep the orb from climbing out. "We have to figure out how to get shells for them and quick."

"How? It's not like we have time to build them fully functioning bodies," Wheeljack asked worriedly.

"I don't know…" Ratchet sounded almost defeated when he said that.

Sam looked at Ratchet with wide eyes before he looked back down at the now two orbs trying to climb out of the protection of Sunny's chest. Clearly they were determined to be born whether everyone was ready for them to be or not. This was not what he expected upon learning about the sparklings existence and he sincerely doubted this was what any of the mechs expected either.

This trip was tuning out to be quite a roller coaster of problems and Sam's emotional control was threatening to break. From the silent treatment he was receiving from Barricade to Bumblebee trying to do the honorable thing by giving him and 'Cade space by avoiding him to Sunstreaker trying to help Sam out before his own problems arose in the form of two overeager sparkling-orbs who were causing Sunny such pain and Ratchet such distraught by not knowing what to do. It was getting to become far too much for Sam.

Taking the shard firmly in his hands Sam glared at the rock. "You got us into this," he growled knowing full well that the Cybertronion God could hear him quite clearly. "You get us out of this."

The rock remained stubbornly dark for a long moment before the few symbols on the flat side of the shard started to glow, soft at first before the whole thing was practically radiating blue light. It didn't take long for the light to flow not only over Sam but over Sunny as well and Ratchet almost jumped back in surprise as he had been so focused on ensuring that the two orbs didn't escape to see what Sam had been doing. The light it seemed wasn't just satisfied encompassing Sunny and the sparkling but it soon jumped, in an arc of light from Sunny and Sam to the small piles of jet pieces that Skyfire and Wheeljack had collected.

"Primus," Skyfire gasped quietly, staring at the glowing shard, Sam and Sunny in complete shock. Sunstorm it seemed was finally interested in what was going on and he quickly made his way to Skyfire's side to watch what was going on, Scorponok following loyally behind him.

"Exactly," Ratchet murmured as he kept an eye on the two orbs incase they needed any assistance.

They didn't need it however as they seemed very content on hitching a ride over the arch of light towards the piles. Ratchet leaned forward almost as if he wanted to stop them but Wheeljack clamped a hand on his shoulder and held him back. The medic hesitated for a moment before he returned to his original position. They would just have to trust in Primus.

As soon as the orbs met the pieces of jet the blue light suddenly become overwhelming, illuminating the entire end of the ship where Sunstreaker and the sparklings were located. The humans had to throw up an arm or use something that would help block out the bright light as is practically blinded them. Even the mechs had to shutter their optics somewhat as the light continued to brighten.

The only one who was unaffected by the light was Sam and so he was the only one to witness the sight of the different pieces of metal plating and screws and such lift into the air and start to rearrange themselves. After a few moments they broke off into two sets and began spinning wildly about each other as pieces began to fit together like some bizarre jigsaw puzzle. The orbs were soon consumed by the pieces and Sam could no longer keep track of them but it didn't' seem to matter however as the whirl of motion appeared to be slowing down.

The light suddenly cut out and it took everyone a few moments to get their bearings before they turned to see what had happened. There beside Sunstreaker sat two small but fully formed jets. Ironhide nearly burst out laughing. "Seekers!" he snickered. "Oh the universe loves me."

Ratchet was too stunned to yell at Ironhide as he stared at the little jets before he looked over at Sunny and a cry of alarm left him at the sight of darkened optics. The medic lunged forward to shut Sunstreaker's spark chamber away from the elements and to find out what had happened to the overwhelmed mech. The action however seemed to alarm the sparklings who were apparently not recharging as everyone had assumed.

A long string of chatter in clicks and beeps sounded from the two smaller jets before tiny engines revved to life. Wheeljack lunged forward, whether to catch them or to prevent them from taking off Sam wasn't sure but it didn't matter however as the two jets split off in different directions, avoiding the mech all together. "Slag! Catch them!" Ratchet yelped.

"What?" Ironhide's laughter had simmered down when one of the jets suddenly flew right past him, almost clipping him in his nose with one of its wing. "Slagging-!"

"Stop them!" Ratchet shouted frantically, torn between the sparklings and the unconscious Sunstreaker.

"How?" Jazz asked stunned as he watched the two jets flying about just out of range of the ship but not leaving too far away. Clearly the sparklings were wary of leaving the area where other Cybertronions were all together.

"I don't know but that can't be safe for them!" Ratchet shouted. "They shouldn't be flying so soon after gaining their new bodies!"

"Try telling them that," Ironhide huffed as he stared at the circling jets.

One of the jets flew past the ship and Soundwave quickly made a grab for it but the jet it seemed was enjoying itself staying just out of reach. After that both jets it seemed decided on making a game of it. Flying just close enough to the ship to be within reach before darting away before any of the adult mechs could get a hold of them. "This is ridiculous," Barricade huffed as he made an attempt for getting one of the two small jets before it zipped away again, a chatter of sounds that sounded suspiciously like laughter following the jet in it's wake. "How are we supposed to catch them?"

"They think this is some sort of game," Jazz frowned as one darted by him. "I don't think they're going to just let themselves be caught."

"The ocean isn't helping either," Prowl spoke up gravely. "The cold water could possibly be instantly fatal to their younger systems and I'm not sure if they know the difference between the water and the ground."

"Optimus!" Ratchet yelped almost terrified upon hearing Prowl's observation.

"We have to figure out a way to get them to come back to the ship quickly and calmly," Optimus agreed.

"How exactly?" Barricade demanded to know.

"I'm not sure," Optimus admitted with a frown.

"Slag it Optimus, their circle is getting wider!" Ironhide announced and Optimus cursed under his breath as he realized it was true. The two seekers were clearly getting braver and slowly going further and further from the ship and out to open sea.

"Optimus! The only Energon they have is what they got from Sunstreaker. I don't know how long they can go before their systems force them into recharge," Ratchet announced as he helped Sam back down onto the deck and finally moved away from Sunstreaker's side. The mech was clearly over taxed and his systems just needed time to cool down.

"How long do you think we have?" Prowl asked the medic.

"No idea since I didn't get a chance to check them over before they took off."

"Yeah, they're clearly the twins twins," Ironhide shook his head.

"What's going on?" a voice suddenly asked from behind them and the group turned surprise to see Sideswipe finally climbing to his feet. Perceptor was still out for the count.

"Oh thank Primus," Optimus quickly gestured for Sideswipe to join them before pointing out towards the two jets circling above them. "Call your children!"

Sideswipe stared at Optimus completely baffled. "Call- What?"

"Sunstreaker had twins," Ratchet quickly filled Sideswipe in. "Unfortunately your twins are rather playful and refuse to let any of us catch them."

Sideswipe stared at Optimus and Ratchet for a long, long moment before he looked at Jazz. "Two?" he asked in a rather high voice.

Jazz grinned and held up two fingers. "Two," he confirmed.

Sideswipes optics winked off and on rapidly before they threatened to go dark completely when he was suddenly smacked in the back of the head by Ratchet. "Oh no! You already fainted once today and we need at least one of the parents awake!" Ratchet hissed.

"What? What happened to Sunny?" Sideswipe gasped as he finally turned to look at where his twin was still lying on the deck of the ship unmoving.

"He's just tired," Ratchet assured him. "Now call your children back."

"How? Sunny and I haven't even discussed names yet!" Sideswipe asked as he watched to two jets in the air. "What makes you think they'll listen to me anyway?"

"Perhaps they'll recognize you as their other parent," Wheeljack shrugged.

Sideswipe frowned before he focused his gaze on the two jets. "Um… Come on now! It's time to come in!"

"It's not like calling a dog or anything," Jazz snickered.

"Well what am I suppose to do to call them back?" Sideswipe demanded.

"Slag! They're headed out to sea!" Ironhide yelped and everyone's gazes whipped back around to see for themselves that the two jets had met up with one another and were flying beside one another before their circle became even wider and one listed off towards the open sea.

Pure horror suddenly gripped Sideswipe's spark and he snagged onto Optimus' arm and shook the larger mech. "Stop them!" he cried frantically.

"Anyone have any ideas?" Optimus called out when the sound of larger jet engines rumbled behind them. Everyone spun around only to quickly scatter as a jet suddenly lifted off and took off into the sky cackling madly.

"Sunstorm!" Skyfire called out worriedly as he regained his balance.

"What's he doing?" Sideswipe demanded as he watched the larger jet take off after the two smaller ones.

Sunstorm caught up with the one that was leaving and quickly cut in front of it, forcing the smaller jet to veer off to the left to avoid the larger flyer. The other one tried to get by the larger jet but Sunstorm was too quick for it and everyone watched agog as he started herding the two smaller jets back towards the ship. One or the other would attempt to get away from the large jet but Sunstorm's systems were too advanced for either of them to get an edge and soon they were all circling the ship once again.

"-Tricky little things, aren't they?-" Sunstorm laughed over an open comm. link, clearly impressed by the two jets.

Sideswipe sagged back, ending up leaning against Prowl who automatically braced the younger mech. "Oh thank Primus," he sighed relieved.

"Can you get them to land on the ship?" Ratchet called out towards the jet both aloud and over the comm. link.

"-Not both of them at the same time, no,-" Sunstorm replied unhappily.

"So how are we going to get them down?" Jazz asked.

"I suppose we can let them hover about until they're too tired to fly anymore," Optimus said with a shrug.

"Optimus!" Ratchet snapped as he leaned over to whap his friend upside the head. "The last thing we need is them falling asleep and taking a nosedive into the ocean! We have to get them down safely."

"Do you suppose Captain Manning has a fishing net or something on the ship?" Ironhide asked curiously. Everyone stared at him. "What? It was just a suggestion!"

Sam frowned as Miles came over to his side while everyone watched the three jets flying overhead. "What do you think?" Miles asked him and Sam turned to him surprised.

"Of what?"

Miles shrugged. "Of everything."

"I'm too tired to think of anything right at the moment," Sam sighed wearily as he glanced back up at the two sparklings.

Miles nodded understanding. "Do you suppose you could use the All Spark shard to convince them to come down or something?"

Sam frowned as he looked at the piece of stone he had set down on the deck of the ship. "Doubtful."

"Though it is understandable," a new voice spoke and both boys turned to see Frenzy making his way towards them, his optics a dark red indicating that it was Megatron in charge. The other members of Soundwave's team followed him and even Scorponok was trailing behind them, chittering madly at Ravage who did not seem at all amused. "I think I have a plan," Megatron told them.

"You do?" both boys sounded surprised.

The mech nodded before turning to Miles. "What happened to those coloring books?"

The two boys looked at each other surprised. "I think Epps has them. Why?"

"Get him and the books," Megatron told him before he turned to Sam. "Get 'Cade, 'Bee and 'Wave over here."

"Um… okay…" Sam quickly moved off and headed towards where Barricade and Soundwave were standing slightly away from the Autobots. He wondered what it was that Megatron had in mind and why he needed the coloring books. Soundwave was the one to notice his approach and he bent down to allow Sam to climb up into his palm. Bumblebee spotted him and Sam quickly waved him over. "Er…Frenzy has an idea," he announced when he had all three mech's attention.

"What idea?" Barricade frowned at him.

"Er… he didn't say," Sam shrugged as they made their way towards the opposite end of the ship where the smaller mechs were waiting with Miles and Epps. Sam felt a bit embarrassed as he saw Miles had retrieved the All Spark shard for him. He had to remember that thing more.

"What is your plan?" Soundwave asked quietly.

"Yeah Meg. And why did we need the coloring books?" Epps asked curiously as he waved the stack of books in the air.

"Simple," Megatron grinned as he took one of the books. "We're going to color."

"What?" Everyone gaped and Rumble frowned at him.

"Come again?" Frenzy's partner demanded utterly baffled.

"We're going to color or do whatever and ignore the two sparklings," Megatron announced with a grin. "If there's anything I learned when leading the Decepticons is the more you ignore someone the more they try to gain your attention."

"Especially if that person is Starscream I'll bet," Ravage snickered. Scorponok scuttled closer at the sound and Sam watched as Ravage hissed at the mech and quickly moved around to put both Rumble and Epps between them.

"So what do we do?" Bumblebee asked quietly gesturing to himself and the other two larger mechs.

"Do whatever, just don't pay any attention to the sparklings," Meg ordered.

"Whatever," Barricade huffed as he sat down and pulled out the data-pad turned PSP. Soundwave and Bumblebee shared a glance and 'Bee shrugged as he too sat down. Soundwave took the opportunity to lay out once again. Sam wondered if the ride was starting to get to him as it had on the one out of Alaska.

Accepting the coloring book Epps offered him he and Miles started sharing a pack of colored pencils while Megatron took control of the markers and Rumble settled with crayons, sharing a bit with Epps who was using a hodgepodge of all three. Silence descended over the group as Sam flipped through the "under the sea" coloring book he had been given. Appropriate in his opinion as he dug through the pencils. It was probably only a few minutes when Sam heard the jet engines behind them.

Sam could hear the sounds of surprise from the Autobots but he kept his focus on his coloring book, trying his best to color the water in the book to look like the water surrounding them. He caught Mile's eye and the two boy's shared a smile before there was the sure sound of gears turning and the now tell tale sound of a mech shifting out of alt form. Sam looked up surprised when twin shadows fell over him.

Two small mechs stared down at him in curiosity and Sam was stunned at the color of the optics staring down at him as he stared at the twin to his left. He had gold optics like Primus did. The other's optics were hidden by a dark blue visor but Sam had an inkling that his optics were gold just as his twin's were. Just behind the two sparklings he could see Sunstorm landing back onto the deck of the ship and Skyfire quickly made his way towards his friend's side.

The right twin, the one with the visor, made some clicking sound gaining Sam's attention once more and pointed at the book in Sam's hand. "It's a coloring book," Sam explained as he lifted it higher for them to see.

As the sparklings stared at the book Sam could see Soundwave, Bumblebee and Barricade keeping a rather close observation on the two sparklings and it took him a moment to figure out that they were watching more to protect him than the sparklings. It would make sense considering even as small as they were in comparison to the adult mechs they were still larger than Sam and more than likely very strong too. They weren't interested in Sam however as much as they were interested in what Sam was doing.

Both sparklings suddenly sat down next to him, the one without the visor looking over Mile's shoulder. Sam had to hand it to his friend; he remained calm considering that even sitting they towered over them. Sam had to guess that standing they were probably seven or eight feet tall. The one with the visor started clicking at him rapidly and pointed at the book again. "You want to color?" he asked. The mech held out his hand and Sam nodded and turned the book to a new picture before handing over the blue pencil and taking out a green one for himself. "Gently," he said as the mech fumbled a bit with the pencil. The visor gaze took in how Sam was holding the pencil and the mech quickly copied the position of his fingers before he brought the tip to the paper.

Glancing over at Miles he could see him helping the other twin out with his own yellow pencil. Epps made his way over. "Maybe they'll do better with the thicker markers," he suggested as he held one out.

The mech shook his head violently before raising the blue pencil in emphasis before he started coloring the house again on the page. "I think they're doing fine," Sam chuckled as the other mech held up the book proudly. He had colored the dog a bright yellow but he had stayed in the lines. Sam grinned in approval and the mech chattered happily.

"I think they like you," a voice chuckled behind them and Sam turned to find Jazz grinning down at him.

The mech beside Sam quickly held up his book to show the blue ocean he had colored to Jazz and Sideswipe who had come up beside the sliver mech. Sam wasn't surprised to see that it almost mirrored the actual ocean perfectly. Sideswipe stared at the coloring book surprised before he glanced at Ratchet for some sort of hint as to what it was he was suppose to do. Ratchet just stared back at him and Sideswipe turned back to the sparkling. "That's very, uh, nice." He smiled at the sparkling uncertainly but it seemed that was all the sparkling needed as it chirped happily before flipping to another page to color the ocean on that page. Sam wondered if he was ever going to color the fish but figured that the sparkling didn't want to relinquish the blue pencil anytime soon.

"How did you get them to come to you?" Wheeljack asked curiously as he glanced at Soundwave and Barricade.

It was Barricade who shrugged as his game played another moment of fanfare. "Simple, we made ourselves more interesting than trying to play 'catch-me-if-you-can' with you guys."

Jazz groaned. "Why didn't we think of that?"

"So now what?" Sideswipe asked curiously.

"Well you could name them," Ratchet chuckled and Sideswipe turned to stare at him almost petrified with fear.

"Tweedle-Dee and Tweedle-Dum!" Ironhide called out from the back of the group. Will groaned and Optimus and Jazz just stared at him. "What?"

-To Be Continued

Author's Note: Yes people! We finally learn the purpose of the coloring books! (yes, they had a purpose) Please join me next time for Chapter One Hundred Seventy Two: Currently Untitled. :p