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Description
Starscream sighed softly, his optics offline with the comforting warmth of Wheeljack pressed against his side.  The sparkling was surprisingly complaint but with Perceptor in sight and Skyfire all around him, it didn’t take much for the tiny inventor to be happy.

And with the coordinates that Starscream gave, they would reach the Nemesis’s exact location in a short time.

“Did you ever have a sparkling of your own?”

Perceptor’s question startled Starscream out of the light recharge he had settled in and at the flash of crimson optics, the microscope apologized only to have it waved away by the seeker.

“It’s an understandable question,” Starscream murmured, optics dimming as he looked to Wheeljack who was almost in recharge.  It would be better if the sparkling stayed up until they got to the base, but the little one was already late for his nap as it was.

“I didn’t have a sparkling.  I was too young at the time, too inexperienced.  I did help assist in transportation and the guarding of many sparklings.  Most flyers and all seekers have thicker armor and a berserker program that will be in affect until the threat is neutralized and that was the main reason why we were often favored for the job.  I wasn’t an exception.  I cared for the small lives as often as I could.  There were so many and all of them so beautiful…”  He smiled sadly.  “That was when I met Skywarp’s little femme sibling.  But then the attacks happened.

“First was the attack on the Academy after Skywarp graduated.  With it came Megatron’s demands for equality.  They were legitimate enough, even if the process he used to get attention wasn’t a good one.  And then he appealed to the flyers directly.  He said that no sparkling was safe because the ones born of poor families would suffer.  If adult mechs and femmes couldn’t be equals amongst each other, then the young ones should have a chance.

“He lured a great deal of us into his promises.  A majority of us had light weapons so he offered to upgrade them and give us better programs for fighting.  And like the glitches we were, we fell for it.  A mass of us laid down for one moment, expecting to be up shortly, only to come online to the news that the Autobots had destroyed the nurseries.”

“But we never—”

Starscream held up a hand, stalling Perceptor.  “I know that.  All of us do.  But at the time we could only take Megatron’s words as fact.  He had one of the soldiers record the attack and edit it to appear that it was the Autobots.  We were in despair.  He lost a good many flyers.  I survived because of my trine.  Skywarp nearly didn’t make it.  His bond with his sibling was almost too much.

“Later, when we found the truth, we couldn’t fight Megatron’s programming.  The only way it could have been broken was if a sparkling was in danger, the one line that he could not lock away.  And since he had destroyed all of the little ones, we were now his personal army.”

“So if Megatron and everyone else were changed back to normal?”

“We would be as we are now.  The programs are erased, and our systems have adapted to resist that type of coding if it should appear again.”

They fell silent for a moment before Skyfire asked quietly, “What of the seekers that didn’t join Megatron before he attacked the nurseries?”

“We might have berserker modes, but enough mechs can take us down if needed.”  Starscream gave a humorless laugh that had Perceptor shivering.  “Megatron lost a good number of soldiers that orn.”

After that particular statement, the others fell silent and Starscream focused on Wheeljack again, one hand idly brushing the vocal indicators the small inventor had.  It felt too soon when Skyfire announced that they had reached the Nemesis.  It took a few minutes of hacking for Starscream, but eventually the ship appeared from the ocean and Skyfire landed easily.

After Starscream and Perceptor, who was carrying Wheeljack, got off, Skyfire changed to his bipedal form and eyed the entrance warily.

“Am I going to fit in there?”

“The hallways are bigger than they appear.”  Starscream smirked up at his old friend.  “Just don’t forget to duck at the doorways.”

oOo

It didn’t take long for Starscream to take them to Mixmaster’s room.  As Skyfire and Starscream began to search through datapads, Perceptor gently placed the recharging Wheeljack on the ground between him and the seeker, trusting that he would be safe there, and warm since he had that odd towel doll wrapped around him.

“Mixmaster seems to be concerned with safety.”

“Hmm?”  Starscream glanced up and Perceptor, who gestured to the numerous locked cabinets.  “Oh.  It less of a matter of safety and more of a matter of his gestalt team.”

“That does make more sense.”

The three of them got absorbed into searching for the formula, hoping that the Constructicon actually planned out his chemical weapons rather than throw them together and hope that they work.  Perceptor was able to analyze what little sample he had and was able to get at least two ingredients out of it.  With that in mind, they were able to sort through the datapads and pull out any that contained those two chemicals.

They managed this quicker than thought.  With the datapads in hand, Perceptor heaved a sigh of relief.  “Now that’s over with, we can get out of here!  I keep feeling like a Decepticon is going to pop up. …No offense.”

The seeker grinned.  “None taken.”

“Where’s Jack?” Skyfire asked, looking around the room carefully.

Starscream’s grin vanished.

oOo

Hook was starting to get suspicious of things.  He’s gone two days without any contact with the rest of the Decepticons, and when he felt the Nemesis leave its safe haven in the ocean, he thought that the others were finally coming back.

Only no one appeared.

Leaving the comfort of his own room, he wandered the quiet halls, now suspicious of every sound and shadow that he saw.  But eventually his audios began to pick up a faint sound that led him to the bridge of the ship where he stared in shock at what greeted his optics.

A corner of his brain picked up on the fact that Shockwave’s one optic visage was on the main view screen, apparently calling in his weekly Cybertronian report to his leader.  But that was only a small thing that matter.

The large thing that matter was currently sitting in the chair by the communication console, chirruping happily at the Decepticon on the screen, small vocal indicators flashing with the sound.

Slightly numb to everything around him, Hook walked forward, dismissed Shockwave’s call with no explanation, and picked up the small form of what he could swear was the Autobot inventor.

With the screen off, the little form turned his attention to Hook and burbled cheerfully hands reaching out to the Decepticon.

Hook continued to hold the small mech away from him, confused.

The cheerfulness slowly drained away until the sparkling was whimpering, still trying to reach for Hook.  That whimpering quickly turned into crying and when the Constructicon was moments away from dropping it when he felt the press of a weapon against his helm.

“Turn around slowly and give him to us.”

Surprised, Hook did as he was told, handing the sparkling to outstretched hands while staring down the barrel of an automatic machine gun.

“What the…”

“If you know what’s best,” Dirge said, his voice easily heard as the sparkling’s cries soften in the arms of Ramjet, “You will not question it.”

Hook didn’t do anything.  He just stood there, staring at them for a moment until shouting echoed down the halls, announcing the presence of others.  The only one unoccupied, Thrust turned with his weapons aimed at Starscream, Perceptor, and Skyfire.  The flyers looked at each other in surprise before Skyfire pushed his way through and took Wheeljack from Ramjet.  Ramjet allowed this only because the sparkling was reaching for the large shuttle.

“Are there any others here?” Starscream asked.

“Blitzwing and Astrotrain are elsewhere,” Dirge answered, not taking his optics off of Hook.  “He’s the only one left.”

“Good.  We should get back to the Autobot base.”

Only then did Dirge look away from the threat to sparkling.  “What!?”

“It’s a long explanation,” Perceptor said dryly.

oOo

“Elita!  Elita!”  The femme voice echoed down the halls of the Autobot base on Cybertron and many ‘Bots had to press themselves against the walls in order to avoid being bowled over by the eager ‘Bot.

Elita sighed as she sat down her stylus, rubbing the bridge of her nose for a moment.  The gesture didn’t really do anything for the processor ache that was starting to form, but she had seen some of the Earth mechs do it and it had become a comforting gesture for her.

“Can’t this wait?” she asked the frantic femme.

“No it can’t!” Arcee said, grinning.

“Fine.  Hand it over.”

“I haven’t written up the report yet.”

“Then why are you back from your spy mission with no report!?”

“You’ll never guess what I saw on Shockwave’s screen!”

Description
Starscream sighed softly, his optics offline with the comforting warmth of Wheeljack pressed against his side.  The sparkling was surprisingly complaint but with Perceptor in sight and Skyfire all around him, it didn’t take much for the tiny inventor to be happy.

And with the coordinates that Starscream gave, they would reach the Nemesis’s exact location in a short time.

“Did you ever have a sparkling of your own?”

Perceptor’s question startled Starscream out of the light recharge he had settled in and at the flash of crimson optics, the microscope apologized only to have it waved away by the seeker.

“It’s an understandable question,” Starscream murmured, optics dimming as he looked to Wheeljack who was almost in recharge.  It would be better if the sparkling stayed up until they got to the base, but the little one was already late for his nap as it was.

“I didn’t have a sparkling.  I was too young at the time, too inexperienced.  I did help assist in transportation and the guarding of many sparklings.  Most flyers and all seekers have thicker armor and a berserker program that will be in affect until the threat is neutralized and that was the main reason why we were often favored for the job.  I wasn’t an exception.  I cared for the small lives as often as I could.  There were so many and all of them so beautiful…”  He smiled sadly.  “That was when I met Skywarp’s little femme sibling.  But then the attacks happened.

“First was the attack on the Academy after Skywarp graduated.  With it came Megatron’s demands for equality.  They were legitimate enough, even if the process he used to get attention wasn’t a good one.  And then he appealed to the flyers directly.  He said that no sparkling was safe because the ones born of poor families would suffer.  If adult mechs and femmes couldn’t be equals amongst each other, then the young ones should have a chance.

“He lured a great deal of us into his promises.  A majority of us had light weapons so he offered to upgrade them and give us better programs for fighting.  And like the glitches we were, we fell for it.  A mass of us laid down for one moment, expecting to be up shortly, only to come online to the news that the Autobots had destroyed the nurseries.”

“But we never—”

Starscream held up a hand, stalling Perceptor.  “I know that.  All of us do.  But at the time we could only take Megatron’s words as fact.  He had one of the soldiers record the attack and edit it to appear that it was the Autobots.  We were in despair.  He lost a good many flyers.  I survived because of my trine.  Skywarp nearly didn’t make it.  His bond with his sibling was almost too much.

“Later, when we found the truth, we couldn’t fight Megatron’s programming.  The only way it could have been broken was if a sparkling was in danger, the one line that he could not lock away.  And since he had destroyed all of the little ones, we were now his personal army.”

“So if Megatron and everyone else were changed back to normal?”

“We would be as we are now.  The programs are erased, and our systems have adapted to resist that type of coding if it should appear again.”

They fell silent for a moment before Skyfire asked quietly, “What of the seekers that didn’t join Megatron before he attacked the nurseries?”

“We might have berserker modes, but enough mechs can take us down if needed.”  Starscream gave a humorless laugh that had Perceptor shivering.  “Megatron lost a good number of soldiers that orn.”

After that particular statement, the others fell silent and Starscream focused on Wheeljack again, one hand idly brushing the vocal indicators the small inventor had.  It felt too soon when Skyfire announced that they had reached the Nemesis.  It took a few minutes of hacking for Starscream, but eventually the ship appeared from the ocean and Skyfire landed easily.

After Starscream and Perceptor, who was carrying Wheeljack, got off, Skyfire changed to his bipedal form and eyed the entrance warily.

“Am I going to fit in there?”

“The hallways are bigger than they appear.”  Starscream smirked up at his old friend.  “Just don’t forget to duck at the doorways.”

oOo

It didn’t take long for Starscream to take them to Mixmaster’s room.  As Skyfire and Starscream began to search through datapads, Perceptor gently placed the recharging Wheeljack on the ground between him and the seeker, trusting that he would be safe there, and warm since he had that odd towel doll wrapped around him.

“Mixmaster seems to be concerned with safety.”

“Hmm?”  Starscream glanced up and Perceptor, who gestured to the numerous locked cabinets.  “Oh.  It less of a matter of safety and more of a matter of his gestalt team.”

“That does make more sense.”

The three of them got absorbed into searching for the formula, hoping that the Constructicon actually planned out his chemical weapons rather than throw them together and hope that they work.  Perceptor was able to analyze what little sample he had and was able to get at least two ingredients out of it.  With that in mind, they were able to sort through the datapads and pull out any that contained those two chemicals.

They managed this quicker than thought.  With the datapads in hand, Perceptor heaved a sigh of relief.  “Now that’s over with, we can get out of here!  I keep feeling like a Decepticon is going to pop up. …No offense.”

The seeker grinned.  “None taken.”

“Where’s Jack?” Skyfire asked, looking around the room carefully.

Starscream’s grin vanished.

oOo

Hook was starting to get suspicious of things.  He’s gone two days without any contact with the rest of the Decepticons, and when he felt the Nemesis leave its safe haven in the ocean, he thought that the others were finally coming back.

Only no one appeared.

Leaving the comfort of his own room, he wandered the quiet halls, now suspicious of every sound and shadow that he saw.  But eventually his audios began to pick up a faint sound that led him to the bridge of the ship where he stared in shock at what greeted his optics.

A corner of his brain picked up on the fact that Shockwave’s one optic visage was on the main view screen, apparently calling in his weekly Cybertronian report to his leader.  But that was only a small thing that matter.

The large thing that matter was currently sitting in the chair by the communication console, chirruping happily at the Decepticon on the screen, small vocal indicators flashing with the sound.

Slightly numb to everything around him, Hook walked forward, dismissed Shockwave’s call with no explanation, and picked up the small form of what he could swear was the Autobot inventor.

With the screen off, the little form turned his attention to Hook and burbled cheerfully hands reaching out to the Decepticon.

Hook continued to hold the small mech away from him, confused.

The cheerfulness slowly drained away until the sparkling was whimpering, still trying to reach for Hook.  That whimpering quickly turned into crying and when the Constructicon was moments away from dropping it when he felt the press of a weapon against his helm.

“Turn around slowly and give him to us.”

Surprised, Hook did as he was told, handing the sparkling to outstretched hands while staring down the barrel of an automatic machine gun.

“What the…”

“If you know what’s best,” Dirge said, his voice easily heard as the sparkling’s cries soften in the arms of Ramjet, “You will not question it.”

Hook didn’t do anything.  He just stood there, staring at them for a moment until shouting echoed down the halls, announcing the presence of others.  The only one unoccupied, Thrust turned with his weapons aimed at Starscream, Perceptor, and Skyfire.  The flyers looked at each other in surprise before Skyfire pushed his way through and took Wheeljack from Ramjet.  Ramjet allowed this only because the sparkling was reaching for the large shuttle.

“Are there any others here?” Starscream asked.

“Blitzwing and Astrotrain are elsewhere,” Dirge answered, not taking his optics off of Hook.  “He’s the only one left.”

“Good.  We should get back to the Autobot base.”

Only then did Dirge look away from the threat to sparkling.  “What!?”

“It’s a long explanation,” Perceptor said dryly.

oOo

“Elita!  Elita!”  The femme voice echoed down the halls of the Autobot base on Cybertron and many ‘Bots had to press themselves against the walls in order to avoid being bowled over by the eager ‘Bot.

Elita sighed as she sat down her stylus, rubbing the bridge of her nose for a moment.  The gesture didn’t really do anything for the processor ache that was starting to form, but she had seen some of the Earth mechs do it and it had become a comforting gesture for her.

“Can’t this wait?” she asked the frantic femme.

“No it can’t!” Arcee said, grinning.

“Fine.  Hand it over.”

“I haven’t written up the report yet.”

“Then why are you back from your spy mission with no report!?”

“You’ll never guess what I saw on Shockwave’s screen!”