Beg. notes:

Day 6: Unsanctioned Mission

When Mirage went to check the abandoned laboratory, he never thought he'd find out the seemingly 'failed' project was very much successful.

Even more so, he never thought said project was a sparkling predacon!

Title from: I'm a Survivor by Reba McEntire

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Mirage stared at the rubble covering the entrance to the building. The building itself didn't look one bit better, with him honestly wondering how it even managed to stand so long with it looking like it's going to fall apart at the slightest blows of wind.

Some earthquakes revealed the structure sometime during the last stellar cycle. Its signal previously hidden from their sensors is now present, along with some more concerning findings they managed to find from the decepticon database that Bumblebee collected on his last mission.

An old lab of Shockwave, abandoned for quite some time now, thought the documents lacked any specific date. It was used for a project that got classified as 'failed', with no more information to go off.

It was really just a matter of circumstance that his new patrol route was close by to the discovered site.

He really shouldn't be here. Jazz specifically told him to leave this place alone, with how little information they had, and yet... He couldn't help but feel some kind of pull towards it. His spark twisted uncomfortably at the thought of leaving without checking it first, and while it did ring a lot of alarms in his processor, the feeling was stronger than any logic his processor could spew out.

I'm really about to do this, Mirage thought to himself as he walked closer and started inspecting the rubble. With a grunt he picked up one of the closer rocks (or just- pieces of some old wall more likely) and started to move it. One by one, he lifted and moved the rubble until finally, behind one of the rocks a cracked screen was revealed. Mirage silently cheered to himself as he let the rock fall, careful to not drop it on his peds and walked up to the screen. Inspecting it, it suddenly lights up, causing him to jump back, arm quickly transforming into a blaster and pointing at the now glowing screen. However, it did not activate anything. After a couple of churrs and beeps the screen glowed a tad brighter before turning off again.

Standing frozen for a couple more clicks to be sure any weapons didn't get activated, Mirage finally relaxed his battle stance and walked up to the screen again. Touching it again did not do anything anymore, the screen seemingly turned off for good. An uncomfortable feeling bloomed in Mirage's spark, but he already got so far, he couldn't back away now.

Suddenly there was a creak and the rubble began to shift. He quickly jumped back again and witnessed the previously closed door open with a screech, causing the rocks to fall. Finally, the door opened, revealing a long, illuminated hallway heading straight ahead. Mirage bit his lower lipplate as he carefully walked up to the door, inspecting it for a moment before slowly, step by step, walking inside into the corridor.

As soon as he stepped under the first light, the door shut down with a loud bang. Whipping his helm around and cursing as he saw it, he ran and started banging on the door to no avail. It was closed. Hitting it one last time, Mirage cursed again, frustrated at his own stupidity.

He tried comming Jazz, but only static met him back. 'Signal jammers, of course.' He thought as he turned the comm off. Turning around, he looked at the hallway, seemingly endless with the light only illuminating the beginning. Taking in a deep in-vent, he started walking, both his blaster and knife at the ready for any possible threat to come.

His pedsteps echoed through the hall, making him constantly on edge. The lights automatically light-up as he gets near, with the ones behind him turning off. He had no idea how everything worked, especially how this building should've been abandoned for stellar cycles, if not over a vorn, and yet as he walked he couldn't help but place the feeling that this place was much more lived in than they could've ever have expected.

Finally, with another light turning on, it revealed a door on the left wall. Mirage cautiously walked up to it. Right beside it was yet another holoscreen, though this one looked... melted. It was completely destroyed, its remains running down the wall and staining the floor. He'd say it looked pretty gruesome, but he was used to seeing much worse things on the daily, so the show didn't really faze him, rather only put him more on edge.

Carefully, he walked up to the door. Trying to open them revealed no resistance, just like he suspected. With a grunt he pushed it open and looked around the new room. It appeared to be some kind of lab room, though it looked as if a hurricane had gone through. Datapads, most with their screens shattered, were laying in a pile in one corner, all the desks were strewn around, some of them placed together, some not, in a seemingly random pattern. He walked towards them first, crouching as he checked some of the better looking ones. To his surprise, one of them turned on, though a request for a password met him. He quickly turned it off and put it in his subspace to later check with Jazz. He wasn't about to attempt hacking into it with no one present. Standing back up again, he looked back at the room. Chairs laid on the ground, most of them missing the back and some of them missing the wheels. Big test tubes stood in the middle of the room, one of them destroyed, its glass completely shattered, laying around them and some kind of colorless fluid pooled in puddles around. Mirage noted, with no small amount of dread, that it looked like something destroyed it from the inside.

Blue liquid stained the wall that the door was placed on. Mirage lightly ran his fingers over it, grimacing as some of it peeled off and turned into dust before it even hit the ground.

Whatever it was, it was old. Way older than the seemingly freshly destroyed test tube.

A computer placed right in front of the tubes, looking fairly intact. He walked up to it next and attempted to turn it on. Surprisingly, it turned on, revealing an open desktop. Looked like whoever worked on it last forgot to log out of their account. Mirage wasn't about to complain as he took out a small datachip from a small pocket in his arm and put it in a matching slot. With a couple clicks, everything on the computer started downloading onto the datachip.

Thanks, Shadowgates, Mirage thought as he looked at the log data, finding the owner's profile. He couldn't help a slight shiver at how empty it looked. Like someone tried to delete everything but the most basic of information.

Mirage clicked off the profile and decided to quickly scroll through the most recent files. All of them at least around a vorn old, with the most recent that he managed to find being from over 9 stellar cycles ago.

Something definitely happened here, Mirage thought, furrowing his brows as the file opened. The computer, the datapads, everything shows that the project seemed to be going well, if the still working technology's anything to go by. So why, why did they leave? What did Shockwave do?

He quickly read through the document, but yet again, it was bare of any important information. The only thing he noticed of any value was the label "Project Predacon'', seemingly the name of the experiment conducted here. At least now they had something to go off of.

The file itself had the format of an observation entry, describing how the day in the facility went. It appeared to be private, not an official document. The writer didn't mention any designations, rather referring to the people by their work titles. Security, other scientists, Doctor, it was uncomfortable to read through. At least with the label of 'other' when they talked about the scientists, he could assume they were one themselves, which already made the files, however uncomfortable to read through, a valuable asset worth checking out.

Closing the file and checking the downloading status revealed it at only 3%, showing the sheer amount of files present on the computer. Mirage stood up and went back to exploring, hoping to let the time pass by finding out more about what happened here.

The previously forgotten tubes now stood up like a sore thumb against the room, the lights illuminating them from the bottom, giving them an eerie feeling. Slowly walking up to them, Mirage cringed as he heard glass crunching beneath his peds. Ignoring his own discomfort, Mirage walked up to the destroyed tube, carefully tracing the jagged glass with his thumb.

Any doubts he could've had disappeared as he, with a frown on his faceplates, confirmed his earlier theory that it was indeed something from the inside that destroyed the tube. The way the glass was broken, it was simply impossible to get this effect while breaking it from the outside. The way it was broken, it indicated blunt force, likely by either punching or throwing one's body against the glass that destroyed it. As Mirage inspected the glass closer, he heard a quiet shuffle. Freezing, he strained his audials to pick up where the noise was coming from. Slowly, he turned around and noticed a small door on the other side of the room. He felt his spark drop as he realized it was slightly ajar. Slowly, minding his steps, he walked towards the door. As he got closer he could hear slight movement on the other side, confirming the noise's source. Finally, he stopped right in front of the door. He felt his armor rise slightly as the noises on the other side suddenly stopped.

Finally getting himself together, he opened the door, blaster at the ready and promptly ducked as a giant fireball flew past him where a moment ago his helm was. Rolling forward and jumping up, he pointed his blaster at where the projectile had come from.

Before he could say anything, his words died in his vocalizer. There, tucked by the wall, was a small form. It's fiery orange and yellow colors lightly illuminated by another one of the lights, its big, yellow optics clearly visible. It looked at him suspiciously, its armor puffed up to try and appear bigger than it actually was. Its frame reminded him of the organic birds Hound would sometimes show him pictures of, with big wings adored by metallic feathers, its body a similar shape with two clawed feet on the ground.

No wait, birds didn't have claws, did they? Mirage remembered Hound telling him a different word for them.

Unconsciously he lowered his weapon, now only staring at the creature in front of him as he desperately tried to remember the word Hound used. He knew it, it was just at the edge of his memory banks!

The small creature relaxed slightly at not having a gun pointed at it anymore and instead looked back at Mirage with confusion and curiosity. It slowly edged closer, sensing Mirage's EM field and only feeling his surprise and slight frustration. Devoid of any malicious intent.

Getting its confirmation, the creature slowly uncurled from its protective position, its wings no longer around its body. It edged closer, its feet hitting the ground with a quiet tink , the talons on its feet scraping the floor.

Talons!

Mirage snapped his fingers as he finally remembered the word. Talons, commonly present on predatory birds, were used by them to hunt prey. He wanted to smack himself on the helm for not remembering it sooner.

With his self-assigned mission of discovering the word finished, Mirage finally looked at the creature again only to find it significantly closer to himself than it was before. He couldn't help the surprise that escaped into his EM field, which the creature sensed almost instantly. It's head shot up and it took a cautious step back, now looking at Mirage with suspicion again.

Mirage, realizing his mistake, quickly took control of his EMF, quickly ridding it of any leftover emotions. He tried projecting calmness , which yet again, got a reaction from the creature.

Its head lowered and its body relaxed, now yet again looking at him with curiosity. It tilted its head slightly before taking a hesitant step forward. It reset its optics and let out a careful chirp at him.

Mirage, not understanding a single bit, only projected more calmness through his field, adding a bit of protectiveness he normally reserved for close friends. This creature, whatever it was, acted so much like a curious sparkling it almost hurt and he couldn't entirely stop his coded protection programming from activating at the sight.

The creature let out an array of whirrs, chirps and happy whistles as it finally abandoned all its previous caution and strutted towards him.

Mirage froze, careful to not let anything escape into his field as the creature walked up towards him and gently nudged its head against his leg. Carefully, he let his hand down and gently touched its head. It let out a content whirr as its body relaxed further, fully comfortable with the soft touch.

Mirage took silent notes. It was small, barely reaching to around mid his thigh. Its wings were fairly big, though he couldn't tell if it was unnaturally so for its body shape. Hound would definitely know , Mirage thought as he gently massaged the bird-like creature's head, his spark jumping at the happy chirps it let out. As happy as his spark felt, it couldn't stop both the pit forming in his fuel tanks as he noted more and more similarities between it and a sparkling, and the questions appearing in his processor.

What is it exactly? What is it doing here? Is it connected to the seemingly 'failed' experiments that were being conducted here?

The questions swirled around his processor and he couldn't help the slightest tint of worry that escaped into his EM field. The creature immediately stopped, instead turning its helm up and letting out another chirp, though this one was different. This one seemed almost... worried.

Was it worried? For him?

Mirage felt fondness rise up in him as he looked at the creature, still worried for him. He smiled weakly and patted its head gently.

"Don't worry about me." He said quietly, though it seemed to portray the message as the creature looked at him one last time before going back to slightly nudging its head, back to being content with the head touches.

Mirage thought some more. If he could somehow persuade the bird to come with him, maybe he could find out more. Besides, leaving it here wasn't really an option anyways. Its grime stained armor looked thin even now, and he had no doubts that if he'd leave it here it'd starve to death sooner or later. And as he looked at those big, innocent optics, so reminiscent of a sparkling, he couldn't bring himself to even think of its deactivation as a possibility.

As if sensing his thoughts, the bird looked up at him again and slowly backed away. Mirage let out a questioning noise at it's actions. The bird took a couple of steps back before unfolding its wings. With a powerful flap, it launched itself into the air. Mirage took a surprised step back as it flew for a couple nanoclicks before suddenly, the tell tale sounds of transformation filled the air. Before he could do anything, the creature landed in front of him again, though this time in a new form. Instead of a bird-like mecha creature, in front of him stood a small cybertronian. Mirage looked at it, intake wide agape as it stepped closer and hugged his leg, nudging it in the exact same way it did before. Now, in its mech form it barely reached past his knees, losing some of its height to its newly discovered alt mode. The wings were still present, though now they definitely looked a little too big for it, sprouting from its back, dragging slightly on the ground. It looked up at him and smiled widely, revealing sharp dentae, definitely capable of doing serious harm to anything they bit.

"Ghai!" It greeted him before coughing a bit, taking one of its arms back and touching it's neck, it's definitely too-thin arms gently massaging the aching spot. Its voice was high, but horribly raspy. Mirage almost smacked himself.

Quickly taking his hands back he opened his subspace pocket and took out an energon cube. If it looked thin in its alt mode, now the tiny sparkling looked horribly underfed at best and malnourished at worst!

Slowly and carefully as to not scare the sparkling, Mirage crouched and gently put the cube in front of it- no, he should stop referring to the sparkling as an it, in front of them . The sparkling looked at the cube and then back at him, tilting their head in confusion.

Right.

Mirage groaned quietly before taking the cube back and carefully opening it. He looked and after making sure the sparkling was watching him intently, he took a small sip from it. He let the energon flow down his intake before taking the cube back and laying it in front of the sparkling again.

This time, however, they seemed to know what to do. Carefully they walked up to the cube and with a quiet grunt picked it up and after quickly looking at Mirage and getting his nod of approval, brought it up to their intake. The cube was empty in a matter of nanoclicks, the hungry sparkling finishing the thing in a couple big gulps.

Mirage laughed quietly as the sparkling put the cube back, revealing some energon on its face. Sensing the other's mirth, they laughed too, their voice now soft, without the previous rasp.

Standing slowly, he carefully wipes their face with his thumb, earning a soft giggle in response.

"Feeling any better yet?" He asked, not really expecting a response. The sparkling nodded their helm enthusiastically.

"Mhm!" They confirmed their stance with a verbal noise. Mirage only smiled, though the action did raise a bit more questions.

They seem to understand me, though their own vocabulary seems limited. He thought as he looked at the sparkling, now carefully inspecting the empty leftover cube. He couldn't help the fond feeling that bloomed in his spark as he watched them laugh as they looked through the cube, oohing and aahing at the distorted effect it gave.

Mirage checked his chronometer and almost jumped. It's been almost an orn since he came here and at least 5 joors since his patrol was supposed to end. He never noticed the time passing so quickly! He could've sworn he just entered the building less than a joor ago! Quickly checking his comms revealed that they were still getting jammed by something in the building. Mirage groaned and put his helm in his hands, already imagining the panic that Jazz was likely causing for the high command, with one of his soldiers and close friends seemingly missing.

The sparkling, quickly catching his foul mood, stopped its game and carefully took the cube off their head to look at him, concerned plain and visible even without sensing their EMF. Mirage forced himself to calm down, not wanting to worry the little one any more than he already has. Quickly standing up, he walked up to them.

"Hey, I've got to go." He said, hoping the sparkling would understand him like the other times. It seemed luck was on his side as the sparkling's optics brightened and he nodded with understanding before his helm fell down and his field got tainted with heavy sadness. Mirage looked at them confused before understanding finally dawned upon him.

Oh. Oh . Oh Primus.

"Oh no, little one, don't be sad." Mirage said as he crouched. "I'm not leaving alone. I'm not leaving without you." He said. The sparkling froze before slowly looking up at him, optics wide as small coolant tears built up in their optics. Mirage felt his spark break as the little one looked at him, field heavy with disbelief mixed with hope so strong he wanted to take them and hug them right then and there.

Mirage carefully opened his arms in what he hoped was an inviting motion. He let his field project his feelings, safety, fondness and protectiveness he felt towards the sparkling coming out strong. The sparkling reset their optics a couple of times before finally, their tears fell and they scrambled to their peds before practically launching themselves into his arms. Mirage quickly caught the sparkling, letting out a small 'oomf' as they hit his chassis, their wings quickly enveloping his middle as they hugged him strongly. Mindful of the wings, Mirage hugged the sparkling back, carefully circling on their back as he murmured soft nothings into their audials, hoping to calm them down.

Carefully shifting his hold on the sparkling, Mirage slowly stood up. The sparkling only clung closer, though they made no attempts to escape his hold. Content with his ability to calm them down, Mirage turned and walked out the room into the one with the computer and tubes. The sparkling shifted slightly to look at where they were going but a quick glance at the tubes made him yelp as he clung tighter to Mirage, hiding his face in his chest plating. It confirmed Mirage's suspicion as to who was responsible for destroying the tube. Mirage gently caressed their helm as he walked past the tubes and to the computer. Shifting the sparkling again so he was holding them with one arm, Mirage quickly checked the download status and smiled as he saw the 'completed' mark. Quickly taking out the datachip and putting it safely in its pocket, Mirage let a datacable out from his wrist and attached it to the computer, quickly putting in a virus that would wipe it out completely. With the confirmation that the virus was in, he carefully unattached the cable and put it back in its place. Finally, he stood up, turned around and quickly walked to the door. With one last look he turned back, opened it and walked out, making sure to close it behind him.

Mirage walked back towards the entrance, the lights illuminating his close path. He heard them click off behind him, putting him on edge. The sparkling didn't seem too like them either, squirming uncomfortable in his grasp, their little fists clinging almost painfully to his plating.

Mirage felt his spark drop as the destroyed entrance, still very much closed, was revealed. He slowed his walk before finally stopping in front of the door. He felt like crying, but he stopped himself, wanting to look strong for the little one in his arms.

Carefully nudging the sparkling to get their attention, he carefully put them on the ground.

"Stay here for a nanoclick, okay? I need to check something." He said to the sparkling and after getting a nod back, turned back towards the door. He inspected it, touching its surface in search of something to open it. Nothing revealed itself. A little frustrated, Mirage let his arm transform into a blaster and aimed at the door. Letting out a few shots did nothing, only leaving a black scorch mark on the, still closed, doors.

Mirage didn't even bother trying to kick or punch it down. If his blaster did so little, his physical strength, which he didn't have a lot of to begin with, especially compared to the stronger build bots, would do much.

The sparkling let out a confused sound, catching his attention immediately. He walked up to them and crouched by their side.

"What's wrong? Did I scare you?" Mirage asked worriedly, looking at the sparkling. The sparkling only shook their helm and pointed at the door. It let out an array of chirps mixed with sparkling talk, though Mirage could easily understand its confusion. Mirage followed their finger and grimaced.

"That's a problem, little one. I walked in here just fine, but it seems this building isn't so keen on us leaving its premise and those doors aren't helping." Mirage said, still frowning at the door. The sparkling looked confused for a moment before understanding dawned on their young face. It turned to the door, a small frown of their own present on their face.

Spreading their wings they flapped a couple of times, flying into the air. Quickly, they transformed back into their bird-like form and carefully landed, their talons scraping the floor.

Mirage looked at them, confused.

"What are you doing?" He asked, even though he knew the sparkling wouldn't reply. What they did do, however, is start squawking loudly and pointing behind them, away from the door. Mirage stood up and walked up to them, confused and a little but concerned.

The sparkling squawked again before gently taking his servo in their beak and leading him away from the door. Surprised by the action, Mirage let the sparkling lead him a small distance away.

Finally, they let go of his hand, whirred and chirped a little before turning back and marching towards the door. Mirage took a step to follow them but was met with them turning around and squawking at him angrily.

"...Do you want me to stay here?" He finally asked which got him a happy nod from the bird.

Huh.

Mirage stopped, confused, but let the sparkling go on their own. He watched closely as they stopped in front of the door. They seemed to inspect it for a couple nanoclicks before taking a couple steps back. Mirage felt a question build up, but before he could say anything, the sparkling spread their wings again. Mirage stood frozen as the sparkling's chest began to glow, with it slowly spreading over their entire body before with an angry squawk, the sparkling burst into flames.

He stood, watching in horror as the flames licked the sparkling's armor, yet the sparkling appeared calm. The flames started to float, burning beautifully as they flew around the bird in circles. Finally, with a commanding whirr, the flames burst forward, straight into the door. Mirage couldn't help as he stood there, intake wide agape as the door slowly melted, the metal dripping down until finally, a hole appeared. With the flames still raging, the hole steadily got bigger until finally, it was big enough for not only the sparkling, but for himself to easily get through.

Seeing its success, the sparkling flapped its wings again, the flames slowly dying down. Within a couple nanoclicks, the flames were gone, only leaving the sparkling's red hot armor and the blackened, burned through remains of the door.

Mirage stood there, still frozen as the sparkling turned around and chirped at him happily, their armor already cooling down. They jumped with the help of their wings and quickly transformed back into their robot mode and as soon as their peds hit the floor they ran towards him, a wide smile on their faceplates.

The sparkling crashed into his leg, with Mirage barely noticing their still hot armor through his shock. Slowly, he turned his head down and looked at the sparkling, still smiling widely.

"N' mor' door!" The sparkling proclaimed proudly. Mirage only nodded his head and patted their head absently, still in big shock.

"Y... Yeah. Great job, sweetie." Mirage said and shook his head, still somewhat in shock but at least more present now. He bent down and quickly picked them up, the sparkling still giddy after their successfully done job.

"I he'pd!" They said and hugged Mirage as they walked. Mirage only patted them on the head. Finally, he got to the newly made exit. After carefully checking his footing on the other side, Mirage finally stepped out. Maneuvering around the rubble, Mirage walked a safe distance away before finally attempting to comm Jazz again.

:Hello? Jazz, this is Mirage. I repeat, this is autobot Mirage, does anyone copy?: Mirage said through his comms.

"Raj? 'RAJ!" Jazz's worried voice filled the airwave. Mirage couldn't stop the sigh of relief at finally hearing him again. :Where in the pit are you? You completely disappeared from our scanners! Even now, Blaster's having trouble triangulating your position.:

:I'm uh- I'm a little to the east of the entrance to that lab that we recently discovered.:

:Huh? The one we found after that earthquake?:

:...Yeah, that one.: Mirage said as he quickly changed his hold on the sparkling, his arms becoming a little numb.

:...Mirage,: Uh oh, it's the full name treatment, :please, for the love of primus, tell me that you didn't do what I think you did.:

:...: Mirage didn't respond. That seemed to be enough of a confirmation for Jazz.

:Mirage!: Jazz yelled angrily. :Oh Primus dammit, how does this even happen?! I specifically requested for you to have this route, because I thought that out of everyone, you of all mechs would know better than to go and explore random, abandoned labs, but I guess I was wrong!: Mirage could practically visualize Jazz throwing his hands up in frustration. :Do you realize how worried I've- no, how worried we've all been?! First we lost all contact with you and then suddenly you disappeared from our maps with no explanation. Poor Hound almost gave himself a spark attack once he found out we couldn't contact you!: Jazz ranted furiously.

Mirage winced. How could he have forgotten about Hound? His partner would have gone insane from all the worrying he must've been doing while he was off radar. If anything, at least he deserves an apology from Mirage.

:We thought you deactivated! I literally got a rescue party and we were about to head out to look for you, because even Prowl got worried after you didn't respond for over an orn !" Mirage hissed, shame at causing his friends to worry growing in his spark. But then he felt the sparkling in his arms shift slightly to look around them and he found himself unable to regret his decision to come there. If he didn't, they would've surely deactivated, devoid of energon they would need to survive.

"-raj? Mirage?! Mirage respond, Primus dammit!: Mirage reset his optics and quickly responded.

:What- Yes? Jazz, I'm here. Everything's fine.:

:Okay, that's it. Team? We're going out!: Mirage felt panic bloom in his spark.

:Jazz no, there's no needI can get back to base myself.:

:Yeah, just like you can respond to me on time?: Jazz asked, voice laced with disbelief. Mirage didn't have a real answer for him.

:Look 'raj, we're just worried. Seriously, I've got Hound right beside me, asking about you non-stop since the moment you called. Especially after over an orn of no contact, leaving us to think you're dead.: Mirage winced at the harsh words, but he knew he deserved them.

:Just- ignoring the fact that I explicitly told you to not go there, what even took you so long in there? From what we knew, the project was a failure.: Jazz continued.

Mirage froze, acutely aware of the sparkling he was currently holding. The words he's read suddenly came back to him. "Project Predacon" they wrote. There were no mentions of any failures, at least in the document he's read.

He thought the word was familiar, but in a complete opposite of the talon situation, he knew the word but not its meaning. But now, it suddenly came back.

Predacons, the long extinct race of giant mecha beasts which once roamed Cybertron back during the age of evolution, completely wiped from it's surface by the Great Cataclysm.

Predacon, as in the greatest predator to ever roam Cybertron.

Project Predacon.

Holy slag, this sparkling is a predacon!

:Project Predacon: He whispered through the comms, looking at the sparkling in his arms in amazement.

:What?: Jazz's confused reply brought him back to the present.

:Project Predacon- That's the name. It was on one of the computers, I downloaded everything onto a datachip, but Jazz-:

:Whoa whoa whoa, calm down Mirage!: Jazz said, a little worried. :Okay, so you've got some info, that's good at least. Now, stay whenever you are and wait for us to come get you-:

:No Jazz, you don't understand.:

:Huh? What are you talking about, 'Raj?: Jazz's increasingly worried voice filled his processor.

:That project, it wasn't a failure.:

Silence. Silence, and yet his mind was so loud he almost turned his audials down.

:...What?: Jazz finally replied, voice steady, unnaturally so.

:Jazz,: Mirage said, his voice wavering slightly as he looked at the sparkling in his arms, :Project Predacon was a success.:

Right after he said that, his comm let out a crackle and the connection fizzled out.

:Hello? Jazz?! Oh, come on!: Mirage yelled at the empty airwaves, no response coming from the other side. Of all times, now was when it decided to break down?!

If he wasn't in trouble before, he definitely was now, especially after his comms decided to snap their connection right after such a revelation. He couldn't even imagine the panic everyone must be in after his!

"Well, this is just great." Mirage scowled, angrily kicking a pebble, causing the sparkling in his arms to let out a happy 'whoop' as they watched the pebble soar before finally hitting the ground again.

Resigned, Mirage started walking into the direction of their current base. At least this way he'd met his rescue team faster.

"Guess it's just the two of us again." Mirage said as he walked, absently petting the sparkling's head. The sparkling let out content chirps, happy with his position in Mirage's arms. As they walked, a question popped into his head.

"...Do you have a name?" Mirage asked the sparkling. The sparkling looked back at him, processing the question before a smile bloomed on their faceplates.

"Hut R'd!" They said happily.

"...Hut Rud?" Mirage echoed. The sparkling furrowed their brows, their expression offended.

"Nu! O! Ooooo!" They said, louder this time.

"...O. So it'd be Hu- Hot? Hot Rod?" Mirage repeated the name again, which got him a wide smile and a happy array of chirps and whirrs from the sparkling. Seems like he got it right the second time.

"Hot Rod." He said, testing the name. He couldn't help a small laugh, the situation humorous at just how much the name suited the little orange and yellow sparkling.

"Well then Hot Rod, it's time to go back home." He said, looking up at the direction of the current autobot base. Hot Rod followed his gaze, and even though they couldn't see anything, they felt how happy Mirage was when he said it, which made them happy too.

They clung to the bigger mech, even though his arms around them were more than enough to warrant their safety. He liked him and if he was close, he could show his content!

Hot Rod let out a series of happy chirps as he looked up at the mech carrying him.

His new carrier! 

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I had this idea for a long time and this gave me the perfect excuse to finally write it. The concept of parent Mirage with kiddo Hot Rod actually comes from the multichapter fanfic I'm currently writing, which I hope to actually start uploading soon with the summer vacation coming soon, but as for now Mirage & Roddy content will be limited to this. I actually may make this a separate series with their misadventures during the war. Who knows.