Anniversary Challenge Day 19: Yuanfen
Title: I knew you when I first met you
By Fianna9
Verse: G1/AU (Watching verse)
Rating: PG
Word Count: 1773
Prompt: Yuanfen
Disclaimer: I know I don’t own Transformers. So much for wishful thinking.
Summary: Sometimes the person you meet doesn’t stay a stranger for long
A/N: I hope I got the spirit of this prompt with this multi-section fic, but I ran out of time. Sorry it’s a little disjointed. The first section takes place pre-Prowl. The second section is right before “The Escape”. The third is not long after the majority of the family joined the Autobots. Special thanks to MyNameIsJag on Fanfiction.net for suggesting a line of dialogue used by Cliffjumper.
“comm speak”
*-*-* *-*-* = scene breaks because line breaks don’t always work
*time* = time lapse
Inferno followed Red Alert back home after shift change, mostly ignoring the flow of comm traffic his partner continued to monitor. Red’s thoroughness at work was legendary, and Swiftlink was accepting of Red’s obsession with tracking patterns in activities occurring on all shifts. Grateful as he was that Red had overcome his initial inherent distrust and was willing to leave him alone in what was now their quarters, Inferno was hoping that his partner would be willing to spend time in more…enjoyable pursuits tonight. Their small quarters could get lonely when they were on different shifts, and he was craving physical and field contact tonight.
Red Alert’s field flared as he veered off to the left sharply, angling towards a shop. “Pay the vendor on the right for three energon cubes. Pick up two.” Transforming, he quickly hustled a figure into the alley.
Obedient but slightly confused by the cryptic instruction, Inferno stopped outside the alleyway just as an angry shopkeeper headed out the door. After hearing him rant about a thief, Red Alert’s instructions made a lot more sense. “Sorry about the mix-up. We’ll take care of it.” Defusing the mech’s wrath, Inferno lead him back inside. Picking up two cubes, Inferno paid slightly more than normal for three cubes and walked outside.
Turning the corner, he saw Red Alert crouched next to a cowering, battered red femme. Scanning her, Inferno immediately commed his partner. “Careful. She’s incredibly weak, and she’s carrying.” Both mechs knelt down next to the terrified femme, neither wishing to cause her any further pain but both wanting to know how she came to be in this state.
*-*-*Two vorns later*-*-*
Firestar cautiously carried Prowl down the corridor toward the shift care center. Given the need to hide his difficulties from authorities, Prowl had been sheltered since extraction. It had taken Ratchet pointing out that the little one was in near isolation to convince her mechs to search out a safe environment for him to learn social interaction.
A chime disrupted her thoughts, and Firestar looked over at an orange and brown doorwinged mech standing in the doorway. A smile crossed his features as he reached for Prowl. “Firestar? I’m Stopgate. This must be Prowl?”
Clutching Prowl close to her chestplate, Firestar shifted away from the overly friendly mech. “My mates told me that they spoke to you about Prowl staying here?” Red had assured her that this mech’s qualifications had thoroughly checked out, but she was still nervous about leaving Prowl with a stranger.
”Yes, it’s good to see a Praxian youngling around here. I’m certain the three of us will get along just fine.” Stopgate waved her inside.
Firestar glanced warily at him. “Three of us?”
“Of course, we’re the only Praxians in this building, and we must stick together. I must admit, I’m surprised that you produced a doorwing frame after sparking with a nonPraxian. Still, he’s well proportioned and should turn out to be quite a handsome mech.”
“Well, he’s not likely to harm Prowl, but I’m not so sure I like his attitude towards you two.” Firestar swiftly commed Inferno as she stepped inside.
“Yeah, Red said he’s got a rep as kind of a stuck-up, but he’s supposed to be really good with sparklings. Don’t worry, he got the whole rundown, and he’ll take good care of the bitlet. ”
Reassured by Inferno’s words, Firestar walked into the middle of youngling heaven. There were toy boxes along the far wall, and several younglings were playing with blocks in corner. Putting Prowl down on the floor, she motioned him towards the others. “Go on, little one. The others wanna play. Don’t you wanna play with them?”
Looking doubtful, Prowl peered around. Several small colorful blurs his size clustered further away. Glancing warily at his carrier, he slowly crawled across the floor.
“Bye now, Prowl. Be good.” Firestar sighed and slowly backed out of the room. Prowl didn’t seem to be too upset that she was out of sight. Reluctantly, she said goodbye to Stopgate and promised to return in a few cycles to pick him back up. Everyone was worried that Prowl would start missing his caregivers if they were separated too long.
Just over a cycle later, Stopgate smiled as he watched the younglings. Red Alert was entirely too paranoid. Prowl had been rather reluctant to play with any of the other younglings, but he wasn’t a bit of trouble sitting over by himself. A cry from the far side of the room drew his attention away momentarily. Two younglings were squabbling over a block.
Seizing the opportunity as the orange-brown one again moved away, Prowl turned to the floor vent he had been quietly studying. The toss-toy he had been given by the white-loud one worked quite nicely turning the little pieces on the corners. As the last of the small pieces slipped out, the little reddish form closest to him sat up. Before Prowl could react, the little reddish one grabbed the grate and pulled it away from the wall. Flickering his optics, Prowl stared at the other. Coming to a decision, he crawled into the vent and waved at the small one. He immediately crawled in after Prowl and pulled the vent cover against the wall behind them. Grinning, the two new friends crawled off to explore.
Having dealt with the squabble, Stopgate turned back to the rest of the room. A quick head count to make certain everyone was okay…. “Okay, where are you two hiding? Cliffjumper, Prowl, come on out…playtime’s over…"
*-*-*many, many vorns later*-*-*
“Thanks for the head’s up, Beachcomber.” Hubcap acknowledged the transmission. “We’ll keep an optic out for trouble.” After disconnecting, Hubcap realized that there was nothing else to do but comm Lieutenant Prowl with the bad news.
As one of the unofficial leaders of the Autobot minibots, Cliffjumper’s calling the lieutenant a friend had eased the initial uneasy tolerance of the quiet mech. The tolerance had turned to acceptance as Lieutenant Prowl had proven to be one of the few officers on any base who actually assigned minibots to anything other than menial duties. Very few of the larger mechs in the arm realized exactly how protective the minibots were of the duty officer at Moon Base 2. The new transfers weren’t going to know what hit them.
Prowl barely restrained himself for banging his helm against the desk as he heard Hubcap’s report. Of course the base commander hadn’t bothered to warn him about their new transfers. He liked the larger menaces and thought they were better soldiers than the minibots he’d been forced to accept. Of course, Commander Sideshot didn’t have to deal with all the problems they caused. Personally, Prowl would gladly work with any of the minibots over any of the new transfers. Groaning to himself, Prowl linked to the datapad and reviewed the new soldiers he’d have to integrate into the current roster. Two names stood out. Primus, why had the new Prime sent them here?
Of course they had been sent the twin terrors Sideswipe and Sunstreaker. The troublesome duo barely listened to anyone on or off the battlefield. Prowl had dealt with them once in the past. Cliffjumper had been driving into a rage by their taunts, and Prowl had been forced to discipline all three of them. He’d known they were going to be a permanent processor ache wherever they were assigned, and he’d known they were eventually going to be his problem.
*Half a vorn later*
Cliffjumper glared angrily across the rec room at the new mechs. All he’d wanted was a nice cube of energon, not the slag he’d been hearing coming out of their mouths. He smiled darkly at the thought of Ratchet’s reaction.
“What do you care?” Sunstreaker looked bored, which meant Cliffjumper probably shouldn’t attract his attention, even though he was itching for a rematch. Prowl was so disappointed when he had to discipline his old friend for fighting. Maybe if the frontliner got provoked into throwing the first punch…
“Come on, Sunny. Jazz was practically drooling all over that Praxian. You know he loves a challenge, but Jazz just isn’t aggressive enough for someone like that. I’m telling you, that icy sparked won’t pay attention to anything subtle and with those panels…” Sideswipe grinned. “Heck, I might give a try at him after Jazz gives up.” Sideswipe leaned back in the chair, smirking at his twin.
Cliffjumper froze at the thought of someone getting aggressive like that with Prowl. If there was one thing that would shatter him…. Enraged and completely forgetting his original thoughts, he stormed towards the twins and tackled Sideswipe.
*Twelve cycles later*
After getting out of the brig, Cliffjumper set out to find the special ops commander. He’d seen the mech briefly when he’d arrived to survey their base, but he hadn’t actually met him. “Hubcap, where’s Jazz?”
“That cool frame’s in the security room.”
“With Red?”
“Yep.”
Grinning, Cliffjumper veered right and headed straight for Red Alert’s lair. It was just the three of them on this base, but they’d had to hide their pre-Autobot friendship and family connection from Sideshot. Except for mechs like the twins who had to be together, Sideshot didn’t like close mechs working on the same base. He claimed familiarity bred special treatment and ignored that it also bred support. Reaching the door, Cliffjumper sent a quick identifying comm pulse. The door unlocked immediately, and he entered the lair. “I also heard the twins. I’ve researched this mech and already spoken to the others. Inferno says he’s no threat and a good mech.”
Jazz stood unobtrusively off to the side trying not to get in the security officer’s way. Ratchet had warned him that Red Alert was extremely particular about allowing access to his systems. He glanced over as the door opened and a red minibot walked into the office. The saboteur was mildly surprised that the highly vigilant security officer didn’t seem to mind the intrusion. Figuring that it wouldn’t hurt to befriend the mech, he extended a servo with a smile. “I’m Jazz.”
“We know.” Both mechs looked him up and down. Glancing quickly at each other, the smaller red mech seemed to come to a conclusion. “I’m Cliffjumper. If you hurt Prowl, I’ll break your kneecaps.” A quick nod towards Red Alert, “He’ll destroy you, and we will all dedicate our existence to making your life the pit. If you don’t hurt him, we’ll welcome you into the family probably before he does.” Having said his piece the minibot turned and walked out of the room.
errors in initial load hopefully fixed. sorry, my laptop is acting buggy.