Starscream's First Christmas.
Summary: Deserted by Barricade and with his ego smarting, Starscream decides to take out his frustration on Sam, whom he blames. However, things don't quite go the way the Seeker plans.
Rating: T
Disclaimer: Transformers isn't mine. It belongs to Hasbro and Dreamworks/Paramount.
Chapter One.
Starscream was flying just for the sake of it when he received notification of an incoming message from Barricade. It was about time, the Seeker thought resentfully. After failing to turn up for the Mission City battle, the Decepticon police cruiser had been conspicuous by his absence.
Starscream noted that the message was a recorded one. Annoyed that Barricade wasn't even contacting him live, let alone face-to-face, he played the message back.
"This is Barricade. By the time you receive this, I will have departed from the surface of this miserable planet. The war is over for now. The AllSpark is lost, and I refuse to follow you for nothing more than revenge. I intend to find some more of our kind and find another purpose with them. You are no leader, and I will not follow you. Barricade out."
White-hot anger flared up in Starscream's processors at Barricade's insolent message. Barricade had left this miserable planet, leaving Starscream alone here. As he absorbed this information, a frisson of fear quickly tempered his anger. Barricade was gone. Barricade had abandoned him, and if there was one thing Starscream feared, other than permanent deactivation, it was being abandoned.
Starscream's processors whirled. He was alone, abandoned by Barricade. He could now call himself the Decepticon leader now that Megatron was gone, but the AllSpark too was gone, and unless he left the planet and found new followers, his new status was meaningless. The AllSpark, and Megatron of course, had been destroyed by that squishy creature called Samuel James Witwicky.
Starscream's vents clicked up a gear in anger. It was that squishy's fault that he was lacking followers and the AllSpark, his fault that he, Starscream, had been abandoned. Oh, Barricade had the right idea, to leave this miserable rock with its organic infestation and find followers, but that did not mean that he would abandon his revenge. No, first he would find the squishy and destroy him for destroying the AllSpark and humiliating him, then he would leave the planet, assemble as many followers as he could find, and then come back and destroy the Autobots utterly. Then perhaps he could find a new purpose, perhaps find a solar system or two to rule over.
Starscream altered course, engaging stealth systems that went beyond human technology, making himself barely visible to the eye and totally invisible to radar, and altered course towards the Witwicky house.
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Sam grinned at Mikaela as they sat back with a glass of sherry each. It was Christmas Day, and both she and her Mom had been invited to spend Christmas with the Witwicky family. They had accepted, so they had shared a Christmas meal, and both he and Mikaela were expecting Bumblebee to pop back and take them to the Autobot base. One of the unused hangars had been carefully decorated, and Bumblebee was co-ordinating the party to follow. Sam had been surprised to be told, once he'd explained Christmas to Bumblebee, that on Cybertron, there had a festival that was not so different.
"It was called the AllSpark festival, and we gave gifts too, although there were some differences." Bumblebee had said.
"You're on Earth but you're of Cybertron." Sam had said. "So hold AllSpark festival Festivities on the Earth Christmas, and use it to remember the AllSpark. You can give gifts and express thanks for your own Spark, and follow any customs you can for your festival." Sam had suggested.
"You and Mikaela should be there too, and you can follow yours as well. We can combine the customs of our two worlds." Bumblebee had replied.
This was why Sam and Mikaela, once they had finished their sherries, would be heading outside, for Bumblebee had promised to pick them up at nine. Sam and Mikaela already had presents ready for Bumblebee and the other Autobots, and had carefully used paint and silver paper, painting them with Cybertronian glyphs they had learned off Bumblebee, and had painted vague cube shapes on it. Sam leaned back, dropping his arm around Mikaela's shoulders and pulling her close, completely unaware that he being watched.
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Starscream was bent into a most uncomfortable position, bent almost double so he could peer in at them through the windows. He was careful not to get too close, but had managed to slip a sound amplifier onto the window so he could hear the conversation going on. He could, of course, have merely dropped a bomb, but he had noticed the Witwicky-creature seemed to escape from the most unlikely situations. If he destroyed him up close, perhaps by crushing him in a hand, he could be sure he wouldn't escape.
He would wait until Sam came out, and then he would pounce.
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"Sam, tell me about this AllSpark festival, you said Bumblebee had told you about it, so what's it all about?" Mikaela asked.
Sam nodded.
"The AllSpark Festival, Bumblebee told me, had not been practiced for many vorns - about 83 human years - even before the AllSpark was blasted off into space." Sam told her. "He said he could only remember seeing it once, and that was when he was very young, but it was something that happened roughly once a vorn." Sam racked his brains to remember what Bumblebee had told him.
"Before the conflicts, before the end of Cybertron's Golden Age, the AllSpark Festival was a time for celebration. Dwellings and factories and workplaces were decorated for it, and it took weeks, Bumblebee said." he told Mikaela.
"Bumblebee said that the AllSpark was taken from its great domed hall in Iacon and paraded through the city, as part of a procession. Wheeled containers full of useful or beautiful things were pulled by volunteer Cybertronians, and every Sparkling – that's what Cybertronians call their babies - and adult in the crowd who had come into being since the last Festival was offered a gift. These could be a physical, tangible gift, such as a jewel or some new technology that could be attached to their form, or it could take the form of some new programming, for example." Sam told Mikaela.
"He mentioned that anyone wishing a new Sparkling to bring up could bring a suitable body to the procession, which would be presented to the AllSpark by an AllSpark Guardian and then returned to the new parent, along with an enSparking gift for the new one." He explained. "Bumblebee told me that the AllSpark would be taken all over the planet, to every major city, and processed through the streets of each before being returned to the Great Dome, It was a time for families to come together, and gifts were exchanged, and thanks given for the AllSpark's gift of existence and Sparklings. So, you see, their customs are not so different to ours." Sam told her.
She snuggled into him some more, and drained her sherry. Sam did likewise. He stood.
"Come on, time to get our coats on. 'Bee will be here in five minutes." He said. He helped her with her coat and put on his own.
"Here, 'Bee said there'll be food and stuff suitable for us to eat there, we sent the gifts on with Ironhide earlier, so all we need to bring is ourselves." Sam said.
"Then let's go!" smiled Mikaela, opening the door and walking out. Sam followed, and almost walked into Mikaela, who was staring at a very large pair of robotic feet that were sank two inches into the ground. They were not feet that Sam recognised.
As the stooped-over figure the feet belonged to straightened up, Sam stepped around Mikaela, trying to shield her from the figure. Even if Sam had not recognised the Seeker's wide-shouldered silhouette, the blazing red optics would have left him in no doubt at all about whose side the figure was on.