Study of Another Species

Chapter 4: Getting Used to It

Previously

The flyer shut his door, knowing that the medic would gossip around now. Sitting down on his berth, he watched the girl drink her milk. Getting a reminder from the back of his CPU, he slowly shifted the girl so that he was in the crook of his arm. Right next to his spark. Belle finished her milk and snuggled into the chest, smiling up at Starscream.

He held her in his arms until Belle fell back asleep. One he was certain that she was finally peacefully sleeping, he placed her back down and covered her with the spare cloth so that she wouldn't get cold, not that he cared or anything. Because who could ever love and care for another species?

Megatron awoke and brought one of his pets into the throne room, Oliver. The boy gave him no trouble during the night and when he woke in the morning, Megatron found the human reading a book quietly. The war lord commed the other guardians and requested that he bring them into the throne room for their morning consumption.

Soundwave was the first to enter with his charge. The young boy was still sleeping when he was set down on Megatron's lap. The medic and his assistant arrived next, both of their humans holding food in their arms as well as various items. Arachnid and the blonde female human came next with the teenager's hair in a different fashion than yesterday.

Starscream arrived last with a wailing baby. Belle was uncomfortable, not only being hungry but also because she had a dirty diaper. The Seeker was trying everything to calm her down, but to no avail. "STARSCREAM!" Megatron growled, "What have you done to her?!"

"Nothing my liege!" he explained, "She awoke this way and will not be comforted!"

Oliver looked at his sobbing sister in the clutches of the Seeker. "Excuse me sir, but did you change her this morning?"

The Seeker raised an optic ridge, "What do you mean 'change'?"

"Her diaper sir." Her brother tried to explain further without forming a blush, "She's not potty trained yet, so you need to change her diaper."

Knockout, being the medic, was already in the middle of his research with the human life cycle and knew what Oliver was trying to explain to the SIC. "Maybe you should show him Oliver?" The medic offered. "All of her stuff is in his quarters."

Oliver nodded, "Anything to help."

Megatron handed Oliver over quickly, and not very gently if you asked the teenager. "Make it fast Starscream." The Con's leader growled.

The Seeker took the siblings back to his quarters. Meanwhile, the other humans were beginning to eat their breakfast. The fruit that the Alana family brought from home was fresh and tasted sweet. Lily even reminded Knockout to get a bottle for Belle. David and Lily were sitting on the left arm rest eating the fresh fruit while Logan and Claire were on the right arm rest. Logan was having some dry cereal along with a banana while Claire was having a protein bar.

Megatron was enjoying his morning rations while watching his pets interact. It was going to be the first day he got them into a strict routine. "So, Lord Megatron," Breakdown began, "what are we doing this cycle?"

"I would like to bond with my pets." Lord Megatron said, "Unless something comes up and I am required to leave."

Lily and David exchanged glances. The thought of spending the whole day with the leader of the Decepticons was intimidating. David was warming up to the red medic. He was really smart and enjoyed race cars. Knockout even offered to show off his speed. Lily, on the other hand, was looking forward to a quiet day with her sketchbook, but it looked like there were going to be other plans.

A few minutes passed and Starscream returned with a much happier baby. Oliver was holding Belle this time while the baby had her stuffed toys in her arms. The Seeker sat them down by Claire and Logan, giving them a disgusted look. "How'd it go Screamer?" Breakdown asked, trying to hold back laughter.

"Humans are disgusting." The Seeker huffed, crossing his arms across his chest.

Claire smiled at the baby, "Aw she's just a baby Mr. Starscream!" she cooed. "She's still growing up! Aren't you Belle?"

Belle was oblivious to what the teenage girl was saying to her, but noticed that Lily held a bottle in her hand on the other side of the throne. Megatron looked at the other Cons in the room and then down at his fleshy pets. "You are all dismissed. I will comm when I am finished with them."

The other Decepticons bowed before leaving their master. "Bye Soundwave!" Logan waved, "See ya later dude!" The quiet mech did not answer, but paused for a quick moment before reporting to the mainframe, like ordered.

Oliver was just happy to have his sister back with him. Starscream was revolted to watch Oliver change Belle and get her dressed for the day. Currently, the baby was just trying to get the bottle of milk from the Hawaiian teen. "You want your milk Belle?" Her brother asked, "Sure thing kiddo! Lily, will you throw over that bottle?" Oliver set her down so that he could be ready to catch the bottle from Lily.

"No need Oliver." The Con intervened. Megatron took the bottle from Lily's ready-to-toss hands carefully, while holding out the free servo for Belle. "I still need to figure you humans out. Perhaps the best way to do so would be to feed the sparkling."

Oliver looked down at Belle, the baby reaching up at her brother to be picked up and cuddled. "You sure sir?" he asked, grabbing Belle carefully. "She's a little fussy today."

Megatron, growing impatient, reached for the baby on his own before Oliver could place her into his servo. "Then a small discipline lesson will be implemented."

The room grew quiet as the war lord adjusted Belle in his servo. With the little girl laying on her back, the bottle was given to her as she stared at the one feeding her. Belle was just as curious as who the big, grey mech was holding her. He was not as tiny as the one who she slept with, but they were the same color. The other humans awkwardly watched Megatron feed the baby in his servo, sending looks over to each other. "So, sir," Oliver began, "what are we supposed to do?"

The Con's leader looked them over, "Behave yourselves. I cannot have six reckless humans running around the Nemesis unsupervised."

"So what, we just sit here all day?" Logan asked, crossing his arms. "Sounds boring."

Megatron glared at the teenager, "What do you do for entertainment then?"

Logan thought it over, "I play basketball, but I'd bet money that there's not a court within fifty miles from here."

David perked up, digging into his backpack. "I brought a soccer ball! We could kick that around!" He held up the black and white ball to show Logan.

"Can we?!" Both boys asked, looking at the war lord with begging faces.

Megatron looked at the both of them, intrigued at what 'soccer' even was. "I supposed, although you must be where I can see all of you."

David grinned, "We'll stay right by your feet!"

Megatron set down the bottle and helped David, then Logan, onto the floor with his free servo. "You gonna play guys?" Logan asked, watching the others come to the edge of the throne.

"Why not?" Lily shrugged, jumping onto the waiting servo. "How 'bout you two? Too cool for soccer?"

Oliver looked at his sister. She was finally content in Megatron's large servo, paying attention to the little details on his armor. Claire, on the other hand, looked like she had no intent on paying attention to anything other than the iPad in her hands. "Maybe just for a little while, Belle seems okay."

Lily and Oliver were set onto the floor and soon enough, the four humans split themselves into two teams. Logan and Oliver versus Lily and David. Megatron watched as they ran around to chase the ball while also kicking it to certain parts of the large floor. He noticed that Claire was playing attention to whatever she was reading on her human-sized data pad while Belle was becoming a little restless. The war lord remembered she came back with two toys in her arms and found them where she placed them on the throne. He carefully handed them to her and the baby soon began to entertain herself with the rabbit and monkey. Megatron was learning quickly that it didn't take much to keep humans entertained and happy.

-0-

Knockout and Breakdown were left with two additional humans for the evening. Their day with humans went better than they thought it would have. When they arrived to the throne room after Megatron commed everyone to pick up their respective humans, they found the majority of humans playing a human game. Lord Megatron ordered the medic to take the siblings for the evening as he and Starscream had some business on Earth to attend to.

Currently, David was entertaining Belle on top of a med berth while Lily was continuing her sketch of Breakdown and Oliver was reading a book he brought along. "You humans are more behaved than the Autobot's pets."

"We're not pets doc." Lily muttered, squinting at Breakdown while she shaded a portion of his arm. "And the Autobot's kidnapped kids too?"

Breakdown shrugged, "Probably. Those fleshy-lovers have humans that get into tons of trouble, which leads to a victory for us."

David looked up from where he was playing with Belle. "What do they look like?"

Knockout pulled up the picture that Soundwave had taken of the humans during his first encounter with them. Three frightened humans were on the screen. The tallest, and probably oldest, had black hair and was holding back the shortest with glasses and a sweater on. One of the humans was a girl with pink highlights in her hair. Lily looked them over, "What's up with Cybertronian's and abducting humans?"

Oliver had to laugh at that comment, looking up from his book. "At least the Decepticons don't let theirs into danger."

Lily nodded, "I guess so." The room med lab got quiet once more, with David and Belle the only ones talking.

It was becoming late and Knockout decided that it was time for the humans to go to sleep. After bringing the humans into their shared room, the medic set up a large mattress on the floor by one of the desks. Oliver and Belle, after getting their pajamas on, took the bed on the floor.

Lily couldn't help but watch Oliver as he sat reading once again. The teenager had a toned chest, and chose not to sleep with a shirt on for the night. She was never into boys like this before, especially because she has seen many shirtless boys on the beach. But, it must have had to do with how nice of a guy he was; not only to his sister, but to everyone else stuck in this situation.

She saw Oliver look up at her, so she quickly laid down and turned the other way as her face became dark red. "Alright humans, lights out." Breakdown stated, sitting down on his berth.

The medic took his own berth, shutting off the lights before recharging. David, Lily, and Oliver all shut their eyes, falling asleep quickly. Belle, on the other hand, was not very tired. Starscream had her take a nap for almost three hours, so sleep was not calling her. She was lying next to her brother on the bed, her night time bottle in one hand while her monkey was in the other.

Belle sat up, looking around the room. It was dark with everyone else sleeping already. However, she did notice a bit of light coming from the doorway. It was cracked open, just like how it was at her house. Ollie always left it open to give her some light when she went to sleep, but Belle also knew that doors led to other places. With one more glance at her brother, the toddler crawled out of bed and made her way towards the door with her milk and monkey in her arms.

The toddler toddled her way out of the door and into the hallway. In contrast with the room, the hall was very bright. Belle had to squint in order for her eyes to have time to adjust to the lights. With determination, Belle began to adventure down the hall. She looked up and down the walls, seeing if there was anyone there or anything fun to do. After about ten minutes of wander, the baby began to grow tired. Her tiny legs could only take her a certain distance before she got too tired to walk. Thankfully, she heard familiar voices down the hall in a room.

With the little bit of energy she had, Belle toddled towards where she heard the booming voice. The door was open, and inside at the front of the room was Megatron and Soundwave. "And those Autobot humans, especially their oldest male, was taunting me in my time of need Soundwave. What disrespect." He spat, placing his servos behind his back and he approached his throne. "My humans show no disrespect towards me. What does Optimus even do to lead his humans into such danger?"

The silent mech said nothing, just like always. However, he did hear Belle has her bottle fell from her hands and roll into the room. Turning around, Soundwave saw the toddler in front of the door looking in with a nervous expression on her face. "What was that Soundwave?" Megatron questioned, craning his neck in order to get a better look at the doorway.

Soundwave approached the human, using his tentacles to grab the fallen bottle while he placed Belle into his servos. The war lord saw the tiny human in his TIC's servos and gave her a small smile. "Bring her here Soundwave, and deal with Knockout and Breakdown for me. Those two were supposed to watch over her for the night along with Oliver. If one human, a sparkling at that, can leave unnoticed I am sure the others could too."

Megatron took the baby in his arms, watching her babble up at him. Soundwave left the two, knowing that he should do as asked quickly as well as check up on his own charge. The war lord brought Belle close to his chest, rocking Belle back and forth slowly. Belle cuddled her monkey tight, snuggling into the warmth of the armor. She was happy that she found someone awake that knew what they were doing. "Meh! Meh!" She squealed, laughing at his quizzical expression.

"Sparkling, hopefully this is the only adventure I find you getting yourself into." Megatron whispered as he stood from his throne. "Since none of the others can be trusted with your life, I shall take you to my own quarters during your recharge."

He walked down the hall, protectively shielding the baby from the harsh light when he noticed her eyes beginning to droop. When they approached the door, he unlocked it with his password and entered. Making sure the door was locked, Megatron checked one last time that the baby was calm and asleep. Her thumb found its way into her mouth, and she found comfort sucking it slowly. He laid himself down on the berth and adjusted Belle to lay on his chest. Megatron covered her with his large servo, closing his optics and carefully planning his next moves involving his humans.