Chapter Text
The clinic was warm and welcoming, crystals dotted around and reading pads on the waiting room tables. It was clearly not a medical facility that treated active sickness or injuries.
"Optimus Prime? Medic Glit will see you now," the polite mech seated behind the reception desk called out, pointing at a green door.
“Thank you,” Optimus set down the reading pad he had been looking through and smiled at the receptionist before heading through the indicated doors.
"Hello, Optimus Prime," the room looked like any office did, except there was no chair behind the desk. The medic sat on the desk, the felinod sitting primly, with his tail over his front paws.
"I am medic Glit, I work mainly with mechs who need dietary help. Please, sit."
“Hello Medic Glit. Yes and that is why I am here this orn,” Optimus smiled, it was odd, but Glit was acting professional which helped Optimus settle with the discrepancy of expectation, despite already being warned.
"Yes, I took the liberty of contacting Medic Hook for further details, as you allowed us when you made this appointment. I can imagine that Medic Hook was sparse on details?" The tail tip flicked once, as if Glit had difficulty controlling some emotion while saying the last bit.
“Yeah, to say the least,” Optimus admitted. “I was firmly told to fuel on a lot of solid fuels, which I have been, and that is pretty much it. I have been following my chassis cravings and doing my best to keep on top of them.”
"Yes, well, there is more to it than that. Do you know anything about Warbuild sparklings upgrade and growth cycles?" Glit did his best not to wilt, but there were times he would gladly try and stuff a datapad down Hook's intake.
This was such a time…
“No, I do not,” Optimus frowned, then sighed, “I don’t even know about Civilian frame growth cycles. I will spare you the details of what I went through in Iacon. I suppose I should have looked into it upon finding out that as a Pilot I am a type of Warbuild.”
“No, you could not have known what that meant, nor would you likely have understood the significance. Let me start with another question, this one is perhaps a little personal, but I promise it is important. How strong is your interface drive?” Glit asked carefully, tail twitching.
“Ah…” Optimus paused as he considered. He knew he had a drive but how strong was it?
“For the most part it has been basically non-existent, however recently it has… I do find myself interested in my courtmate that way, however the actual drive to do anything with the interest is low.”
“That is because you are technically still a youngling,” Glit said, bearing his fangs lightly in disgust at what he was saying, “Medic Hook sent over the scan of your coding, but he is primarily a surgeon and did not understand the finer points of what had been done to you. I have several code readers in my employment and they all unanimously agreed that in an effort to keep you from developing any Warbuild traits your coding had been locked down to keep you in your last youngling upgrade cycle. It was masterfully done, you have lost all sparkling traits, but you are not exhibiting or experiencing any of the things someone suffering delayed upgrade syndrome should be.”
Optimus sat there for a long moment, struggling to take that in.
“Can what they did be fully undone? Can I become a full adult as my spark and coding originally intended me to be?” Optimus asked carefully, almost afraid of a no, afraid… suddenly afraid that he may never be able to spark because of this. He clamped down on that the best he could. Answers first.
“Yes, I am fairly certain you are not the first they did this to. And I am sure that they at some point tried to… delete things. It would not have gone over well. What they did locked down your coding, it did not alter it or damage it. You will soon be the oldest newly grown ever to walk Kaon’s streets,” Glit flicked his tail fully and rose to stand on all four, “now though, Medic Hook thought he could free a few sets of coding, but by the looks of the last scan, after he had freed your claws and fangs? The rest is unravelling, slowly, but speeding up over time. I will need a new scan this orn to know just how fast that unravelling is going.”
He paused, ears flicking back and tail swishing, “think of it like this, for the past many vorn you have been caught on the cusp of adulthood. Now your chassis is being freed and it is trying to catch up.”
“So it is potentially going to be a fair bit more than merely the physical changes. I give permission for the scan to be done,” Optimus stated decisively. He wondered what Megatron would think when he found out.
“You will need looking after, you may experience shutting down in forced naps and other such unpleasant things. Not to mention your appetite will be horrible to deal with. We do have some facilities here… but I have been led to believe you may have some, ah, more personal arrangements waiting for you?” Glit said delicately, ears flicking, before he pressed a button on his terminal and requested a mech named Clawspinner.
“I am sure my courtmate will have everything arranged as soon as he hears of this,” Optimus replied with a soft smile and a hint of dry humour.
“I have little doubt,” Glit nodded, “as for your current diet… you need more boron, you need more of everything. You need to fill your tank every breem until you feel you may back it all up. You have to become a glutton. You are going to go through a growth spurt of protoform mass and a reconfiguration of your armour in a relatively short time. Had you been a normal youngling these things would have happened over a few vorn of time. Now I estimate you might be fully grown within three groon. The more you can have in you of trace metals the better things will go and the less pain or discomfort you will experience.”
The door opened and a relatively small and thin Warbuild walked in, “hi Glit, I… oh! Wait, is this… oh my! I am sorry, hello I am Clawspinner, I am a code reader. I… I… I don’t know if I should offer condolences or…” the mech petered off, clearly flustered.
“It is alright, code reader, Clawspinner. I believe I have you and the rest of the team to thank for properly interpreting my coding in good time. I would not have wanted the coding to fully unravel before anyone was aware of what was happening,” Optimus smiled reassuringly at the clearly flustered mech.
“Oh right, I~
“Clawspinner? Please, I would like you to make another scan of Optimus Prime’s coding,” Glit broke in with patient kindness, “if you please?”
“Oh, yes, right, of course,” Clawspinner flicked his optics off and online rapidly and then hastily walked to a set of machines on a wheeled stand, getting them over to Optimus’ chair, “it will only take a moment and then I will go down and look at it with the others and we’ll have some answers in a few breem. This is not invasive at all. I won’t manipulate anything. May I have access to a medical port, sir?”
Optimus lifted an arm with the medical port already unlocked, he had done so when the mech had brought the machine back, “Of course, I will allow you to do what you need,” Opimus replied calmly, strangely put at easy by the mech, he simply felt… not harmless, but unwilling to harm.
“Thank you, your very… uh, nice,” Clawspinner fumbled a little, “it will only take a moment!”
Glit huffed softly, it was clear that the code reader was doing his best to not ramble but it was not really his nature to be quiet. He was however the very best at this work.
Optimus remained patient, allowing the machine through his firewalls as they were pinged. As he was told it did not take long before the intrusion retreated again.
“I would prefer to simply be called Optimus,” Optimus stated as they waited.
“Oh, um, oh, sure, O-optimus,” Clawspinner’s voice rose a few notes, and he packed up with a rather starstruck expression on his face plates, “have a nice orn, sir, bye.”
Glit shook his helm and flicked his ears, “I assure you he is the best code reader. He is simply a bit… socially awkward. Now, will you allow me to scent your plating?”
“I have no doubt that he is one of the best,” Optimus smiled, settling his arm, with the ports now tightly closed again, on the edge of the desk in silent acceptance of the request.
“Good, and thank you,” Glit took the one step he needed to and lowered his helm so he could scent the arm plating with his olfactory sensor and the special scent sensors he had in the roof of his mouth and on his glossa.
“Mhmm, yes, mmm,” Glit murmured and then pulled back to settle down again, “yes, you definitely need boron, large quantities. Have you ever had much of it?”
“Since arriving in Kaon I have developed a preference for things with at least a trace of boron, amongst other things,” Optimus hummed, “But I have not specifically sought it out until Medic Hook unlocked the first bits of coding.” Optimus settled back properly again when Glit stepped back.
“Boron is a building block, it makes it possible for our frames to make lightweight, strong structures in armour and whatever else our coding wants our chassis to sport. The more boron, or bor, there is to work with the better the underlying structure of everything you are made of.”
“I see,” Optimus nodded and pulled out a handful of energon laced nutrient balls, “These are what I have found satisfies me best at this time.” Optimus ate one and offered another for Glit to inspect, wondering how good they truly were for his current and projected needs.
“Ah yes, these are perfect,” Glit held up a paw to show he didn’t need to see it up close, “they are a snack and reward used for sparklings and younglings during growth cycles. You will need more than they can provide though.”
“So a good start point,” Optimus nodded, pleased that he had found something appropriate. He ate the rest of his handful. “I take it the sooner I start stuffing myself the better, no matter how long it will take for the coding to fully unravel.”
“Yes, also to get your tank used to it,” Glit clicked with annoyance, “purging is always bad, but it will be worse during what you are going though. I cannot blame Medic Hook for this as such, but it would be nice to have someone to bite right now.”
“I would have had to have had my coding unlocked at some point, unfortunately the ones who deserve a bite are in Iacon,” Optimus agreed with Glit’s sentiment, it was not a good situation, but they would manage it, somehow.
“Ah,” Glit turned to his terminal, “a prileminal, hm, it is not going as fast as feared it seems, they will have a full estimate in a few breem. And a list over the coding effects once fully online. Hm, let's see if we can’t make you a dietary list before we get further information.”
Optimus pulled out his datapad and set it to a new document ready to take notes.
Soon enough the terminal pinged once again.
“There we are,” Glit padded back to the screen and clicked thoughtfully to himself, “it looks like you will have at least a groon before the worst of it starts. But then it will be a difficult… three maybe four groon after that. There will be pauses where everything seems to stop and adjust and then it will begin again. It will follow the natural ebb and flow of a growth cycle but much much faster. I will not lie to you, Optimus, it will be very unpleasant, at times it will hurt. And long before you are done you will feel like you will hate fuel forever more.”
Glit looked from the screen to Optimus with a very serious demeanour, “you will need support though this, if your courtmate is too much of intimate choice for this task I will insist you come here. But in all honesty your courtmate can give you much better care than this clinic can.”
“I will allow my courtmate to help me through this. Call it a test, if we can manage through this, I will be far more confident that we will be able to make the strong bond required by our coding,” Optimus decided knowing that Megatron would offer everything he needed.
“I commend you, and you are very probably right in that assessment,” Glit answered, “in that case… I would like you to come in every ten orn for us to keep an optic on the coding. Just because we think we have it calculated…”
“Of course, we do not know if anything may trigger it to speed up,” Optimus agreed. He was happy to have a plan, though the idea of what had actually been done to him and others… he was doing his best to not think about that.
“There is that,” Glit looked at his screen and then back up at Optimus, “there is a fuel seller across from this clinic that I have an agreement with, he will have a lot of the things you need as additives so that you can add it to your preferred fuel. Or to fuel that you just feel like at that moment. I suggest going with variety as much as you can or you may end up strongly disliking certain types of fuel.”
“I will certainly keep that in mind and I will visit him when I head out. Was there anything else or is it time to book the next appointment?” Optimus asked, feeling like that was about everything.
“I have already messaged the receptionist to have the first two ready for you,” Glit grinned, a toothy one, and then paused thoughtfully, “if you feel anything off or odd do not hesitate to call. The comms are staffed all orn, dark or light cycle. We only think we know how this will play out and other than saying you will be fine after it is done, the events of it will be a mystery till they happen. I would rather we all avoid surprises, hmm?”
“I will contact even if I just have questions,” Optimus assured Medic Glit, “If others like me get sent here from Iacon… I would rather everyone know what is the best way to deal,” Optimus frowned at the idea, but he had no doubt that there were others.
“I would say that is wise,” Glit said, though it was clear he was disturbed by the very idea.
“I surmise you will contact the relevant mechs yourself too? I shall wish you a good orn then,” the felinod nodded to the other mech.
“Of course,” Optimus smiled again and nodded respectfully to Glit, “A good orn to you too.” With that he left, pausing at the reception to sort out what time his next appointments will be.
“Jazz isn’t going to be in for a few orn,” Prowl smiled at Optimus, sorting a stack of coloured plates even as he asked, “did the talk with the medic go well?”
“For a given definition of well. Glit is a very good medic and the meeting was good. The prognosis… not so much,” Optimus sighed, feeling a wave of anger rise and subside again.
“Iacon apparently had locked me in my last youngling frame, and when Hook unlocked those few strands he inadvertently set the rest to unravelling. I have a groon until it is all unlocked,” Optimus explained.
Prowl had slowed his sorting and then stopped all together, focusing all his attention on the younger mech as he spoke.
“I should not be surprised given what else our government seems to stand for,” Prowl frowned, he knew very little of sparklings and younglings save what they had all learned in Tesaurus, “and yet I am. Just what will this entail? And what does it mean, locked in your last youngling frame?”
“While my spark is fully mature, my frame is not what my adult frame is supposed to be. The process will apparently be a condensed version of what all younglings go through with each growth cycle. According to Medic Glit, I will be even more hungry than I am now and I will need a lot of rest, to the point that my chassis might simply force me into recharge cycles unexpectedly. I have about a groon before that point starts,” Optimus replied, though he knew there would be a lot more questions coming.
"So we need to prepare, I gather," Prowl looked about and huffed when no notepad showed up out of the blue, "let's go to my quarters, we can make a plan and get something to fuel on. This can wait anyway," he padded the top of one pile of coloured plates.
“The most likely scenario is that Megatron will look after me for the three to four groon it is predicted to last for,” Optimus explained, though he watched as Prowl tidied up and followed him down.
"Megatron, why? I'm not going to dispute it, but it seems a little… odd?" Prowl looked at Optimus, "is it a courting thing? I admit I have not read all of the information on courting you have gathered for us. It seemed a little unimportant for me as I am already mated."
“It very much is a courting thing, the one doing the courting must be able to prove several things, but the most important is that they are able to provide. Provide a safe and comfortable home, fuel, security, material wealth, but also provide on an emotional level too, comfort, joy, love. So this is a perfect opportunity for Megatron to prove he can provide everything I will need in that time, and I will get a far better idea if we are compatible on an emotional level,” Optimus nodded, pointing out the most important aspects involved in this.
"I see, that does make sense I suppose," Prowl hummed, "what of the groon up to? What sort of things do you need organised?"
“Mainly I need to prepare by stuffing myself with as much boron and trace mineral rich fuel as I can without purging,” Optimus shrugged, pulling out a handful of wafers he had gotten at the fuel stand across from Glit’s clinic.
"Ah! Fuel is something we can figure out, did the medic give you a specified list?" Prowl made a motion with one hand, "I can't pretend to understand this... Jazz and I, we… We've talked about signing up for some of those Creator classes. We would like to Create here, but that will require preparation. Maybe this will help too."
“Yes he did,” Optimus pulled out his pad and after a moment of thought a smaller pad and linked them, sending the relevant files across, handing that to Prowl. “I would say go for it. Those classes will also show to those here that you are fully embracing the Kaonite way.”
"That would of course be a help too," Prowl laughed softly, taking the pad, "but I think… we might not meet much in the way of resistance once we are done here."
He keyed open his door and gestured for Optimus to sit while he fetched something to fuel on.
“I think you will find a lot of welcome,” Optimus agreed as he stepped past Prowl and settled.