#boiler

“…”

POKE!

“…”

POKE!

“…”

POKE!

“…”

POKE!

“… What do you want Boiler?”

Boiler smirked a bit. “Finally noticed Loop? It just as it was getting fun.”

The Seeker groaned in annoyance. “I am not going to repeat myself Boiler.”

Boiler leaned against the wall and crossed their arms. “Well, a little bird told me that you still haven’t talked to Red Cross yet.”

The Seeker’s wings tensed a bit at the mention of his (partner? Ex? Friend?) companion’s name. He flashed the older bot a glare.

“What is there to talk about?”

Boiler flicks the Seeker’s wings to get his attention again.

It annoys him.

“Oh, I have a list in case you want it. Maybe it will give you ideas on what to start things out. Perhaps you can start with ‘Please forgive me Red Cross! I’m too daft for my own good!’” The bot dramatically placed an arm over their optics. “If only I didn’t have a stick up my tailpipe, maybe then I would talk to you!”

Deadloop huffs in response and turns to leave. Oh, he was not about to turn his back just like that.

“Yeah, go on then! Leave coward! Honestly, it’s pathetic--”

Hook.

The Seeker stopped in his tracks.

Line.

There was some slight twitching in the wings.

“A coward!?”

Sinker.

The Seeker started marching right back to his place. His optics shown with anger at the utter audacity this bot had to call him a coward!

“I’m not the one who—”

“Are we interrupting something?” A new voice cut in.

The sounds of heavy pedesteps made the two bots stop and look.

Steel Mauler, in all of their Predacon glory, walked into the main room carrying their two passengers. Red Cross and Beany were riding the predacon without a care in the world. Red Cross had Beany in her arms, occasionally lifting him up and mimicking his trills and chirps. The smaller predacon loved the trills and little kisses she placed all over his snout.

Boiler nudged Deadloop. “You know, green isn’t a flattering color lad.”

The wings twitched again as the Seeker squeaked undignifyingly.

 The sparkling quickly caught sight of his guardian and chirping loudly. Red Cross laughed as the sparkling started squirming out of her hold and was now trying to ‘calculate’ his flight way.

“He’s heading your way Boiler. Get ready!”

Boiler chuckled a bit and opened their arms. “Since when am I ever not ready Red? C’mon lad! Show the lot what you got!”

It seemed enough motivation for Beany to try and fly off of Steel Mauler.

Key word was try.

Beany managed to glide a bit before tripping over his own pede during the landing and tumbled a bit until he reached Boiler’s pedes. Boiler huffed playfully as the sparkling chirped and sat up right with his tail wagging.

“Hey there Beans—OOF!” Boiler grunted a bit as Beany jumped straight into their arms. Wincing just a bit as his claws began to deep into the more sensitive wiring and thinner plating’s. This is what they got for deciding to take in a predacon sparkling and to have such an old model for an alt mode.

But Boiler didn’t care too much as they held Beany close.

Steel Mauler knelt a bit and lowered his wings so Red Cross could have a better time getting off. Deadloop had unconsciously made it to the Predacon’s side and was giving his servo to help her get down.

An old habit if you will.

Red Cross looked down at Deadloop and simply went the other way. A bit of a rougher ‘landing’ but it was well away from the mech.

She patted the older Predacon.

“Thank you again for the ride Mauler.”

The predacon hummed as she hobbled off to the medbay.

“And make sure you get your—”

“My pedes checked. I know Mauler. Boiler, you still need me to watch Beany?”

Boiler nodded as they gave the smaller predacon a motion to the bot waving at him. The sparkling sprang from his arms and jumped right onto Red Cross’s shoulders. She wobbled a bit at the sudden extra weight making the bots around her on edge and ready to catch her if she fell.

“I’m fine! I’m good!” She waved at them as she began her way with Benay to her spot in the medbay.

Deadloop stayed staring in the direction she went before retreating to his room, his wings lower than usual.

Boiler and Steel Mauler sighed at the display.

“Any luck on your end?” Boiler asked as they crossed their arms again.

The Predacon shook their helm.

“Nothing.”

Boiler huffed and crossed their arms.

“I swear, the two of them are like steel traps! Can’t get anything out of them!”

Steel Mauler hummed in agreement.

Boiler threw their arms in the air. “BAH! Hopeless, I tell you! Utterly hopeless! You would think after 3 months of this silent treatment, one of them would have cracked by now.” They sighed tiredly. “That’s what you get for pinning over a bot.”

Steel Mauler transformed into his bi pede mode, stretched a bit before clamped down on Boiler on the shoulder.

“We can’t lose hope in them yet Boiler. They are young, let them make mistakes. And besides, there is nothing wrong about pinning over another bot.”

Boiler huffed. “Young? You do remember that Red is a bit older than me? Deadloop has the excuse for acting like a child, not her! Besides, there is nothing bad about the pinning, but personally that’s a load of--”

Steel Mauler flicked Boiler on the helm with a slight warning look in his optics.

“Boiler…”

Boiler waved their servo off handedly. “Like I said, it’s a personal opinion. I don’t have enough ‘love’ to be throwing it around.”

The Predacon raised an optic at their smaller friend. “So you have never—”

“Never going to fall in love Mauler.” Boiler cut them off while pulling out a datapad from their subspace. “It’s not in my plans.”

Steel Mauler placed one of their wings on Boiler’s helm, a bit amused by the surprised squawk they let out. “Never say never my friend.”

Boiler swatted the wings away before looking back down at their data pad.

“What do you think about the new rock Prime and the others are bringing?”

They were avoiding the topic again. The Predacon decided to leave it alone for now and looked at the picture.

“It looks vaguely familiar. Maybe I’ve encountered it during my time with the Decepticons. Best if you ask Deadloop, he has a fresher memory of the force when they got him back online.”

“Oh yes, you two were Cons before. Huh, it’s a bit hard to believe that you were a Con before Mauler. Deadloop I can see, but you? Big old softy archivist you? Never.”

Steel Mauler huffed and swatted their helm in a playful manner.

“Let Optimus know that I am heading out again.” Steel Mauler said.

Boiler looked up at their datapad in confusion. “You just got back Mauler. You need to rest.”

Steel Mauler chuckled as they began to walk to the large hallway. “I believe I have what Rafael calls ‘The Zoomies’. Besides, Deadloop will be accompanying me.”

The bot’s confused face turned into a smirk. “Ah, you’re going to try your luck on the lad too? Be my guest Mauler.” Their face went serious for a split second. “But the second your joints start creaking again—”

“I’ll have Deadloop personally escort me to the medbay doctor.”

Boiler huffed, waved the elder Predacon off before looking back at the picture of the strange rock.

Something about it seemed familiar too.

But not the good familiar.

The familiar that leaves an eerie feeling in your soul.

As if you once knew this thing but could not remember if you forgot it for a reason.

…

…

It had been 5 hours…

5 hours since Team Prime had brought in the rock.

4 hours since Boiler had noticed Beany starting to wheeze.

3 hours since Boiler had started seeing the alarmingly familiar signs and purple ‘frost’ starting to form in Beany’s vents.

2 hours since Boiler had gotten Ratchet and Red Cross to review their findings.

1 hour since Boiler remembered the last time they had seen these signs before.

30 minutes since they blasted the rock and set it on fire outside the base.

20 minutes since Boiler had screamed at the team for not checking what the rock was.

10 minutes since Boiler had been sent to their habsuite.

5 minutes since Boiler had finished crying their optics out and was now lying on the floor.

They barely noticed their habsuite’s lock being tampered with, nor did they have it in them to yell at whoever was trying to break in. There was some muffled argument happening outside, but the bot didn’t have it in them to try and decipher what was being said. They just stayed staring at the ceiling with a slightly dazed expression. Maybe if they looked at it hard enough, maybe they could forget—

CREEAAAKKK!

CLICK!

And there went that chance.

Some light from the hallway spilled into the dark room just as two large shadows stood at the entrance.

“Boiler?”

“Hey Boiler, why you doing all right—Primus what happened in here? Did you have Terri-Bull redecorate the place?”

Boiler made no attempt to greet Deadloop or Steel Mauler, but they also didn’t tell them to leave. The pedesteps got closer until they were looking up at an upset Deadloop and concerned Steel Mauler.

“Hey Boiler… you want to get off of the floor buddy?” Deadloop asked offering a servo.

Boiler just looked at him with a blank expression and remained on the floor.

He slowly dropped the servo and flashed the Predacon a distress look.

Steel Mauler just swept some of the broken datapads and scrap with their tail and ended up curling themselves around the pair. Wings acting as a weighted blanket and a shield from the rest of the world. Deadloop plopped down, right next to Boiler’s helm as Steel Mauler placed their front claws inwards. Or as Miko affectionately called “loafing”.

The Seeker grunted a bit. “…We heard about the show you put up old timer.”

Boiler made no reaction.

“Just know that Ratchet and Red Cross are doing everything in their power to make sure that Beany is going to be okay.” Added Steel Mauler in hopes of getting some sort of reaction.

“… I should have checked that blasted rock…” murmured Boiler.

“I should have known…”

Deadloop placed a servo on Boiler’s shoulder.

“You couldn’t possibly have known about the rock Boiler.”

The silence that followed was heavy.

“…You had an encounter with this rock before, didn’t you?” Steel mauler asked quietly.

Boiler nodded as their optics began to shine a bit.

“…I used to have another kid you know.” Boiler said softly.

This small comment immediately got the attention of the other bots in the room.

Boiler had another child?

Why hadn’t they ever heard about this?

Did the others know?

Where was the kid then?

Boiler had a ghost of a smile on their face.

“Little bugger was almost as hyperactive as Beany. Not entirely, but a little more energy than the average sparkling you know… We find around Tiger Pax for a while; it was the closest base we could find with a sparkling center. Every single new spark seemed to be ending up in there… Too many of them…”

A stray tear fell from their optics as the smile grew a bit.

“You know, he would have loved playing with Beany once we would have gotten to Earth.”

Would.

Loved.

Past tense…

Deadloop and Steel Mauler had a sinking feeling on where this little story was going to head.

Boiler’s face fell a bit. “One night the kid came home with this rock they found outside the base. I didn’t think too much about it. It was just a rock, something he wanted to add to his collection. So, I paid no attention to it. I eventually forgot he had it when the medbay suddenly had a surge in new sparks.”

A wet sound came from Boiler’s mouth.

“It started with the wheezing. I thought he had been rummaging around the dust again. By the time I saw the purple frost spreading out of his vents…” They stopped and let out a strangled sob that they tried to muffled out with their servo.

Deadloop scooted closer to the bot on the floor as Steel Mauler pressed up against them more.

The Predacon was hesitant to ask the question lodged in their throat. Luckily, they wouldn’t have to ask it.

Their vents hitched a bit.

“I did some digging around the rock and found out it was Shockwave’s latest creation.”

A sob was creeping into Boiler’s throat.

“The rock had some kind of… of thing to it that… it wouldn’t work on a full grown Cybertronian… but to sparklings… the frost would start growing in their vents and start working on the insides until… until their sparks were replaced with another rock…”

“The kid was gone in 48 hours…”

The silence clung onto the group like rust.

Boiler tried to wipe the falling tears from their face. “And now… now I’m going to lose Beans too…”

The bots stayed quiet for a bit, trying to let what was said sink in. No wonder the bot seemed to be falling at the seams. It would have certainly explained what Red Cross and the others had said about their explosive reaction. Boiler was reliving history all over again.

But things were different now.

They were going to be different.

Deadloop stood up suddenly and looked down at Boiler with a determined look.

“You are not going to lose Beany, Boiler.”

Boiler blinked in confusion and flicks of frustration danced in their optics.

“Did you not hear what I just said?”

Deadloop nodded. “Yes, but you know why this is going to be different? You’ve got us.” He motioned himself, Steel Mauler and behind him.

“And there is a group of bots who are trying their hardest to make sure Beany has a fighting chance.” His face softens a bit. “From what I understand, you aren’t a bot who gives up so easily Boiler. I say we get up and let the rest of the team know what we are up against. Are you with us?”

Deadloop offered his servo once more for Boiler to take.

A few seconds passed before a shaky servo grabbed his. Steel Mauler helped the older bot stand up. Boiler still looked shaken up, but there was something else behind those optics.

Hope.

A beautiful yet dangerous thing to have.

“Let’s get on with it then.”

Steel Mauler stood up and looked at their friends with pride and determination.

“Lets.”

And the trio started heading out of the room.

“By the way Boiler, you need to apologize to Prime and Bulkhead.”

Boiler winced a bit at what Deadloop mentioned.

The elder predacon looked at them curiously. “Boiler what did you say?”

The bot looked embarrassed and ashamed. “Some things that should not be repeated in front of children.”

“That’s an understatement according to Red.”

Steel Mauler and Boiler’s optics widen at Deadloop’s comment.

“Wait, you talked to her?” asked Steel Mauler.

Deadloop’s wings tensed a bit. “I needed to once I got back from patrol. Everyone was running around like there was a scraplet infestation!”

…

…

Beany blinked at Boiler.

“Wow…”

The older bot huffed. “Wow is an understatement lad.”

“And? Then what happened?” Russel asked.

Steel Mauler chuckled by the boys side as they patted him and his father’s heads.

“I think its obvious what the outcome was Rus.” Deadloop said leaning back against the scrapyards wall. Red Cross walked over and leaned right next to him. The Seeker immediately opening his arm out to make the medic more comfortable and closer to him.

“I think what Russel means is what happened once you three got back to the medbay.” Red Cross said while flicking the Seeker’s wings.

She smiled down at the boy and continued. “Boiler told us more helpful information on what the purple frost did and helped Ratchet and I to focus on the main energon lines and vents. It was an incredibly stressful moment for all of us.”

“Deadloop even offered to lead a charge on the Nemesis in case we needed another rock sample. Red was less than thrilled with that idea.” Steel Mauler mentioned.

Deadloop chuckled a bit. “Maybe it wasn’t the best timing to say those words exactly I’ll admit it.”

“But your spark was in the right place Loop.” Boiler commented sincerely.

Beany looked at their guardian. “So how did you guys manage to keep me from becoming a rock statue?”

“You can thank Red for that one.” Boiler said.

Red Cross shook her helm. “Please, it was a team effort.”

“But if you hadn’t suggested using our old energon extractors we wouldn’t have made those modifications to get the frost out.” Deadloop mentioned while giving her a quick side hug.

The medic tried to down play it, but her companions refused to let it be lived down.

Beany cracked a smile at her. “Guess I owe you my life then?”

Red Cross shook her helm. “Please, you don’t owe me anything Beans. You being here is enough for me.”

“For all of us.” Boiler commented before patting Beany on the helm.

Beany chuckled a bit at his guardian’s attempt to pat his helm.

“Wait I still have one more question.” Beany said.

“What is it?” Boiler asked.

“…Do you think that if the sparkling would have survived… do you think we would have gotten along?”