Sugar.

"There's sugar on your soul

You're like no one I know

You're the life of another world

You swallow me whole

With just a mumbled hello

And it breaks my heart to love you,

It breaks my heart to love you"– Editors "Sugar".

Warnings: Violence, explicit language, controversial subjects.

Timing: Post season 2 finale, in my very own Beauty of the Beast Prime timeline.

Rating: M (possibly even MA).

Pairings: multiple.

Disclaimer: Transformers Prime © Hasbro. Story's plot and OC's © me. There may be some OC's that aren't mine – they belong to their respective creators.

Child in Time.

"Sweet child in time, you'll see the line

Line that's drawn between good and bad

See the blind man shooting at the world

Bullets flying, ooh taking toll

If you've been bad - Oh Lord I bet you have

And you've not been hit oh by flying lead

You'd better close your eyes, aahaouho bow your head

Wait for the ricochet" – Deep Purple „Child in Time"

oOo

The Autobot Base Omega – 3. November 29th.

Ratchet's infirmary was empty save for the Medic and June Darby. The place was quiet and Ratchet loved it that way – his own little kingdom where no one pestered him unless they needed to.

Right now June needed his attention and he was rather excited to scan her – she was with a Newspark, a glorious event in the optics of a Cybertronian, an in fact dying race. Ever since the Allspark was ejected it did not produced any new Cybertronians to emerge form Well of Sparks. And ever since the war started no femme or carrier mech would conceive a bitlet, there were no conditions for any young ones to be brought to the world that was turned into battle ground.

But at the moment the war was at halt. It deescalated as the time passed but right now it stopped completely thanks to the cease fire and with luck it would stay this way for some time.

Of course Ratchet wasn't thrilled that the bitlet was sired by Megatron, but the Newspark's parentage was a secondary issue. Even the fact that it would be a Techno-organic didn't matter. It still was memorable day for it was a first Newspark he'd see in what felt like eternity.

June laid patiently on an infirmary berth that was set horizontally just for this occasion and allowed Ratchet to scan her first with his in-build scanner and then with hand held one. With every bit of information his optics widened and brightened with excitement. There was also a faint smile on his lip plates that he was probably unaware of.

"So, how does it look like?" She finally asked when she thought that Ratchet was finished.

"Well, there is definitely a Newspark in your uterus." Ratchet displayed the results on computer screen. "It is extremely tiny but given that you are a human it is not surprising."

"I'm not sure what all these graphs are meant to show." June lifted herself on her elbows.

The computer screen showed curved lines that looked more like math graphs than life signs. There were three lines, each different colour, two seemed to correspond to each other and third one was completely different.

"This one is your EM field." Ratchet pointed at the single different looking curved line. "And the other two are the EM field of the Newspark. The lower one is the actual EM field and he higher one is what I got when I strengthened the signal to get better readings." The Autobot Medic explained. "You have there a Newspark and its field is being dampered by its developing chamber."

"Spark chamber? So soon?"

"Yes. The spark is tiny and the chamber is not permanent yet. You see, it is like with your new-born's craniums. They are soft and not fully developed so the brain can grow freely. The delicate bones only grow together forming cranial seams sometime after the birth. Is that so?"

"Well, yes, the fonticulus disappear in time. It allows both the growth of the brain and the birth so the baby's head won't get stuck." June confirmed.

"In case of the Spark chamber the birth is not the reason, but its loose construction allows the developing Spark to expand." Ratchet nodded. "Now that it is developed the nanites will start built the protoform and all the bio-mechanisms. You will need to provide them with building materials."

"I think that's Megatron's job." June smirked.

"Don't remind me." Ratchet growled sourly. "You will also stay well-nourished as the nanites will also gain lacking materials from your blood stream. Namely iron, magnesium and zinc. Not much, but you will need to watch your diet."

"Yes. My doctor said that my blood tests are a bit off. I guess it is the little one's doing. But she said that it is nothing that diet can't fix." June sat fully and smiled. "But shouldn't the Bitlet take everything from transfluid?"

"Yes, but the nanites don't recognise you as a human; to them you are a femme. They will use the transmetal fluid from Megatron as it will be easier to reach, I believe Megatron is more than happy to provide any amount of it, but it doesn't mean that they will ignore your blood stream."

"Oh, how bad it will be?" June paled a little.

"It shouldn't be much. Perhaps I wasn't precise enough. The nanites won't drain you dry, they will be sampling your blood for resources though. They will however turn to the easiest material to reach. And with Megatron's contribution it will be his transmetal fluid and not your blood stream."

"I understand." June sighed with relief. "But I still need to watch my diet."

"I understand that all expecting human females have to." Ratchet saved the scan results. "Fortunately you already have experience gained from your time with Jack, so I believe you know that to do?"

"With Jack I was 18 years younger. And he was fully organic." June laughed. "But yeah, I think I still remember what to eat."

"Apply that knowledge then. " Ratchet offered her his servo so she could safely get back to the floor. "And in case of any doubts or if something happens, contact me."

"You sound like my doctor." June stepped to the waiting palm that lowered her gently to the ground level.

"I am your doctor." The Autobot Medic pointed out.

"My other doctor, doctor." June smirked and left the infirmary leaving Ratchet mumbling under his vent about audacious human femmes. There was, however, no real anger in his voice.

oOo

Darby's House. An hour later.

Jack was digging in his closet and pulling out his clothes. There was quite a large pile of them sitting on the couch and slowly growing as the adolescent added new ones. They were various kinds of clothes: warmer, lighter, short and long sleeved, some pants and a jacket or two. Miko sat in an arm chair sipping on some drink and watching Jack diving in what seemed like bottomless hole filled with old clothes. It was quite fascinating to watch a young man looking for one thing and not being able to find it. He was getting annoyed at this stage.

"You know, whatever you are looking for, it will be in the last place you will get to." She remarked between sips.

Jack emerged from the closet with an unhappy look on his face and hair sticking in all possible directions. He didn't manage to reply before Miko snorted and began to choke on her drink. She jumped off the couch and hurried to the kitchen to spit the liquid out before it would go through her nose.

"Sure, laugh." Jack mumbled under his breath and dove back into the closet.

The doors to the garage opened and June entered. Traveling through Groundbridge was necessity now that Autobot Base was in Alaska 1) and she lived in Nevada. But even if they'd be still in Nevada, it would certainly be more convenient than driving.

"Oh! Jack! What is this?" She stopped when she saw the pile of clothes.

"Hi mum, I… I'm looking for my rain coat." Jack said. "You know, I should be prepared for anything in Vegas."

"You don't have that rain coat anymore." June sat down next to the clothes. "You threw it away after you tore that pocket."

"AWW MAN!" Jack jumped out of the closet. "But I need a coat!"

"Jack, it's Vegas." Miko returned from the kitchen. "When was the last time you saw rain in Vegas?"

"That's not the point." Jack grabbed the first thing from the pile and shoved it back to its place. "I can't just run back home every time I need something. I need to be prepared."

"Oh, there we go again." Miko moaned. "You're moving to Las Vegas not to Iceland. You're not even leaving the state."

"But I'm going to College; I can't behave like I'm some 10 year old kid. I need to be self-sufficient." Jack grabbed a handful of various clothes and disappeared in the closet again. "What would other people think of me if I ran home the first time weather changes?"

"Jack, you'll be coming home for holidays anyway." June rubbed her forehead. "And no one will pay any mind about what you do if you need to get some clothes from home. They'll be doing the same thing."

"Yeah. And the weather in Vegas doesn't change that often." Miko added. "And you'll be living in your Grandmother's house anyway."

"And what if I won't?" Jack peeked out the closet. "What if I'll live in dormitory?"

"They you won't have too much space for clothes." June leaned back and rested against her couch. "Jack, people in College will be just like you. They too will have families they will go back to. Just relax."

"Yeah Jack. You've been to big city before. And you've been to another planet. Twice." Miko planted herself back to the chair she occupied before. "Vegas have nothing on you, especially that you've been there when you visited your Grandma."

Jack glared at both ladies and sighed. In a way they were right. "But I still need a rain coat, just in case." He said.

oOo

December 16th. Somewhere near Mexican border.

Silia sat in obscure looking motel room eating greasy looking pizza. Keeping low profile was easy so far but the fact of previous failure was still sour spot in her psyche. Of course her father taught her better than just sit in the corner fretting. MECH was busy all the time since their previous combat with the Decepticons. They were having trainings and they were working hard on new projects, they were researching for new ideas…

Speaking of which, Silia reached for brown envelope and pulled fat, yellow folder from it. It was about time that she looked through the newest findings of her research team.

The folder had single word scribbled in terrible hand write in it. The word read "TESLA".

oOo

December 18th. Autobot Base Omega – 3.

The Groundbridge came to life with usual swirl of colourful light and Agent Fowler's car materialised rolling slowly in. The man parked his vehicle as couple of bright optics focused on the machine and the man in it.

Fowler got out of the car with his usual frown but there was some sort of additional tension in him today. At the beginning of their cooperation the man was rather reluctant about working with giant space robots, in time the ice was broken but that didn't change his rather rough personality which meant that he was giving impression of a man constantly irritated, unless he was tired which meant that he gave impression of a man that was both tired and irritated.

The additional tension he was displaying usually meant that he brought news that were either bad, or good but he didn't liked it just the same.

"Prime!" Fowler shouted slamming the car's door. "We have a situation!"

"Agent Fowler. I assume it is not a new arrival?" Optimus answered in his usual, calm voice. "We have not detected any Cybertronian vessels closing to Earth."

"No. No new trouble makers." Fowler climbed the stairs leading to the catwalk. "Our field agents spotted MECH activity."

"It's not surprising; they're out there, right?" Smokescreen shrugged. "We didn't catch them so they're on the loose, sooner or later they'd surface."

"They were keeping low profile ever since their escape but two weeks ago we have spotted two of them in Texas, then three days ago one MECH agent received a ticket for speeding in New Mexico heading to the Mexican border." Fowler waved a yellow folder titled 'MECH'. "And yesterday one of them was spotted in Mexico talking with smugglers."

"This is indeed the most MECH activity since attack on New Kaon." The Prime nodded.

"But how do we know it was them?" Blaster pondered from behind his computer console.

"We have identified them as MECH associates thanks to Ripley's2) cooperation." Fowler explained.

"Why didn't you arrest them? You know they're the bad guys." Smokescreen asked. "Grab them and ask them what they're up to."

"They weren't doing anything illegal." Fowler sighed. "And if we'd book them, we'd scare the rest of MECH away. Right now our men are continuing their observation and doing nothing, but you need to know of this in case Silia decides to try something involving you."

"I see. We must inform Megatron, she blames him for his father's demise." Optimus nodded.

"And she's right." Blaster added. "I won't cry if she gets him."

"Neither will I." Smokscreen agreed. "But June will."

"And that is why we must inform Megatron." Prime turned to his mechs. "We must assume Silia knows everything her father did and she may repeat his actions of trying to reach us by Jack or June. If doing so she'd learn that Megatron is involved with June she could harm June just to reach Megatron."

"You think she'd do that?" Blaster asked with worried face. Regardless of what he thought of Decepticons and how their leader associated himself with mother of one of their closest allies, he knew that their human friends needed their protection.

"I am sure of that." Optimus spoke grimly. "They abducted June once before when Silas allied himself with Airachnid. If it was done once it can be done again."

"Yeah, especially that Silia is just as ruthless as her father was. Or more." Fowler leaned on the railing.

"We will also need to make sure that Jack, Miko and Raf are well protected." Optimus added remembering just how aggressive Silia's attacks were.

oOo

Nemesis. Somewhere above Indian Ocean.

Megatron stared at the tablet as if the device insulted him personally and handed it to Starscream who stood next to his Master holding numerous other tablets. To some it would seem that being a Decepticon was exciting string of adventure consisting of plunder, slaughter and debauchery committed in drunken buzz; but in reality it was everything except for that. In fact, being a Decepticon didn't differ that much from being an Autobot and possibly was even more boring. Instead if plunder there was energon scouting. Instead of slaughter there was energon mining. Debauchery was something that happened to others, not that Decepticons lived in celibacy but they were expected to keep their sexual exploits to themselves, have safe sex to avoid any STDs and behave decently in public. And walking around in drunken buzz ended in the brig, if someone wanted to get wasted they'd ought to do it in their free time and be absolutely sober for their next shift. And there were no exceptions.

"Give these reports to Soundwave for archiving." Megatron instructed the Air Commander. "And have an obligatory Neocybex course for all troops, their orthography and grammar is giving me a headache." The Decepticon Lord sighed. "They seem to be more fluent in Earth languages than in their own."

"They have spent more of their lives on Earth than anywhere else and they do use the local languages more often than ours." Starscream noticed. "Who is to hold the course?"

"You will. Your grammar and orthography were always impeccable." Megatron decided.

"Thank you, Master." Starscream bowed his head even though he was not all that happy about having to deal with teaching anyone.

"Sirs, we have an oncoming connection form Autobots." One of the Vehicons called.

"Connect; they never contact us unless they have to." Megatron decided and approached the console.

The image of Optimus Prime appeared immediately. The Autobot Leader didn't wear his mask but his expression was as serious as ever not allowing reading anything out of his face.

"Megatron, we have received news of MECH activity." He spoke in his deep voice.

"They had to re-appear at some point." Megatron didn't seem to be fazed. "What have they done?"

"Nothing yet. But our human allies reported of their activity."

"You think they're up to something?" Megatron narrowed his optics, he knew that Prime would not contact him if he'd think otherwise but he wanted to know what the Prime was thinking.

"I fear that if they wouldn't they would remain hidden." Optimus nodded. "For all this time they managed to stay out of sight."

"Which means that their visible presence is a sign of their increasing activity." Megatron concluded. "And just how active they have become?"

"They were spotted in southern states of USA. They were not caught doing anything significant but one of them has been contacting smugglers."

"This can mean anything. They might plot something serious or just occupy themselves with criminal activity in which case it is human authority's problem." Megatron concluded.

"I realise that. Yet we cannot exclude that they will soon pose threat to any of us. We will increase our protection of our human friends. Silas kidnapped June once to reach Jack and Arcee; I will not risk Silia repeating her father's action."

"My Vehicons are chauffeuring June when she is in need to drive somewhere ever since Airachnid escaped her pod and it stayed that was after she left Earth." Megatron reminded his old enemy. "Taking that it is easier for humans to move around I will order another Decepticon to discreetly guard June's home."

"I will make sure that they cannot harm our other three human friends." Optimus agreed. "I will send my Autobot to secure Raf's house."

"You do realise that it might be false alarm, Prime?" Megatron asked knowing that while Silia had a chip on her shoulder and wanted to avenge her father's death, it could not be the time she would do so and the activity could be unrelated with them.

"I do, but it is better to be safe than sorry." Optimus nodded. "Until next time Megatron."

With that the Prime ended transmission. Megatron narrowed his optics in thought and turned to Starscream.

"Starscream, send additional Insecticons to the New Kaon construction site and get me Soundwave."

"Yes Master, at once." Starscream bowed his head, turned on his heel and hurried out. Lagging at present moment would not be advised, not to mention that Starscream hated MECH just as much as Megatron although for entirely different reasons.

TBC.

1) See my fic "Spider Woman", chapter 3.

2) See Hammerhead, last chapter.

OK, people, a bit slowly but it finally starts! I will do my best to update weekly but if I will have a slip don't worry, I never abandon my stories and this one is no different (not to mention it is already planned and I am merely filling in the narration and dialogs according to the story-board and time line I have made earlier – that's the thing that takes me so long: finding free time to tap on the keyboard).

I am also working simultaneously on another fic, unconnected to Transformers but still containing a sapient robot (this time AI).

Comments and reviews as always welcomed.