Chapter 1: The Fumble
"Starscream, you blundering fool," Megatron snarled, "can't you get even one simple mission right?" The large, silver mech stood close; far too close for Starscream's comfort. It wasn't unusual for him to be in this predicament, however. Many a-time, he had incurred his superior's ire. It didn't matter that Starscream was his best officer, no. It didn't matter that Megatron, himself, had erred as many times-if not more-than the Air Commander had. No, at this exact moment, Starscream was far too preoccupied with the fusion cannon nestled against the larger bot's forearm. It wouldn't be prudent for him to dispute the matter further; but, dispute he did.
The Air Commander looked at the Decepticon High Commander, barely veiling his contempt as he simpered, "But Megatron-"
"Enough! I don't want any of your excuses!"
Starscream's wings twitched, almost imperceptibly. A haughty glower darkened his already deep-grey faceplates, his ruby optics narrowing.
"But boss, it's not his fault-" Skywarp cut in, immediately recoiling from the burning glare he received in return. The black and violet seeker wasn't known for his vast well of wisdom, but when it came down to the heart of things, he was one of the best Decepticons at Megatron's command. This did not stop the tyrant from becoming irritable with him, however.
"You're right, Skywarp," Megatron growled, "all three of you are to blame! All you had to do was retrieve that weapon…"
"But sir, the Autobots-" Thundercracker began, but was cut off by a warning shot from the High Commander's fusion cannon ringing through the air. The colbalt seeker visibly cringed, deciding it was best not to proceed further.
"It was only Ironhide and that idiot, Huffer." Megatron continued to rant, the three seekers stunned into silence, "Are you telling me you are so incompetent that the three of you couldn't handle two of them?"
"Megatron, you said yourself before sending us on that mission there was no possibility they'd know about it," Starscream, having found his voice again, went on vehemently, his servos clenched tightly, "bearing that in mind, they caught us unawares! It wasn't our failure so much as it was your incompetence in creating a legitimate plan!"
"You try my patience, Starscream…" Megatron warned.
Starscream went on relentlessly, momentarily forgetting his need for self-preservation. "Face it, Lord Megatron. You're getting on in years. It's time for someone else to take command of the Decepticons-like myself."
A blast rang out in the control room, the witnesses reacting with a combination of amusement on one side, and shock on the other. Starscream groaned, and attempted to get up from his position on the floor, flat on his back. Before he so much as sat up, Megatron's fist collided with his helm, and he toppled over, once again. He grunted from the pain, and riverted to kneeling on one knee before his commander.
"Please, Megatron." He pleaded; now the submission card was in play. If he wanted to survive long enough to overthrow the tyrant, he'd have to play all his cards right.
"I grow tired of your implications that you'd be a better leader than I," Megatron stated in a glacially calm tone; the kind that was more threatening than a voice raised in anger. "Why should I spare your treacherous hide?"
"I'm sorry, Lord Megatron. It…won't happen again." Starscream stammered, "Please…the Decepticon cause…I'm too valuable to you…"
"Enough," Megatron snapped, "I will spare you. But do not ever forget who the leader is, for I will not be so quick to forgive again, if you do."
"Yes, my Lord."
"Until the three of you truly redeem yourselves, however, consider yourselves demoted."
The three seekers gasped in dismay, all beginning to protest at once.
"Silence!" The High Commander barked. "Dirge, Thrust, and Ramjet shall be the new Wing Commanders. You will report to them, now, until I deem you worthy to take up your former roles…if I ever do."
Starscream, Thundercracker, and Skywarp accepted this reluctantly. What choice did they have? Megatron dismissed them to their quarters, the trio doing their best to avoid the smirks on their fellow seekers' faceplates. Starscream seethed all the way, his vision tunneled in the process.
One day, I will lead the Decepticons, Megatron! And when I do, it will be you who begs for MY mercy!
"I can't believe Megatron just demoted us like that." Thundercracker murmured as the three of them walked down the corridor leading to their personal quarters, which they shared.
The hall was dimly lit, which only added to the dreary shades of grey that it was made up of. It smelled of titanium alloy and ammonia cleaning agents, the latter stinging all three pairs of optics as they continued down the lengthy hall to their own door.
"I can." Starscream snorted in disgust.
"This isn't the first time a plan has gone to slag," Skywarp pointed out, "so why was he all worked up like that?"
"And it isn't like all failed plans are fragged up by us. Even Shockwave has failed him!" Thundercracker added.
They stopped at the metal door that led to their room, Starscream keying in the security code. "Megatron fails himself," he muttered crossly, "but enough of that. For now, we must recharge. Tomorrow, we will devise a plan."
"Plan? What plan?" Skywarp inquired, the trio entering the large, overly-pristine room. It was neatly kept, thanks to Starscream and Thundercracker's influence. It didn't contain overly much, due to Megatron's strict policy about personal belongings. At the far end to the right was a small console station, where they could watch television broadcasts, create their reports, or do research. To the left of that was a sterilisation station, where they cleaned themselves up. At the opposite end of the room were shelves, filled with datapads. Just off to the side of these, three recharge berths sat, spaced apart just enough that the seekers weren't too crowded.
"I refuse to take this demotion lying down," Starscream replied, "Megatron will rue the day he treated us like scrap!"
"You're talking about mutiny," Thundercracker gaped, "are you nuts? Didn't you hear what Megatron said?"
"My audio receptors work fine," the former Air Commander snapped, "this time, I won't fail; this time, I will usurp Megatron's power!"
"How is this time different from any other time?" Skywarp asked, lying down on his recharge berth, the other two doing the same.
"You'll see."
The next day, the seekers weren't required for any missions; Megatron had the Constructicons busy building his own version of the weapon the trio had failed to swipe. By some miracle, he had managed to get his hands on the schematics. This only proved to further sour their already acidic moods.
"If that's the case, why the heck did he demote us? It wasn't a total loss." Thundercracker mused bitterly, taking a measured sip of energon. The trine mates shared a table within the recreation bar and lounge aboard Nemesis, the Decepticon ship that functioned only as their base, as it now sat below sea level.
"For Megatron, that doesn't matter," came Starscream's equally bitter reply, "it's the principle of the thing."
"Keep it down," Skywarp admonished the other two in a hushed whisper, "Soundwave is only two tables away. You know how loyal he is to Megatron."
From their peripherals, they could see that Skywarp was right; the communications specialist was indeed only two tables away, his red visor gleaming eerily.
"That's the smartest thing you've said since you came from the Well of Sparks." Starscream snickered.
"Hey, what's that supposed to mean, Commander?" Skywarp replied in mock indignation.
Starscream felt his dark mood lifting; whether it was due to the energon warming his circuits, or because he seldom got to enjoy light-sparked banter with his trine mates, he wasn't sure.
"I'm just saying," he grinned impishly, "that between you and TC, I'm surprised either of you idiots can string a sentence together. It's like you share the same CPU-Hey!" He was cut off as both Thundercracker and Skywarp tackled him to the floor, knocking their chairs over in the process. With identical mischievous smirks on their faces, they began to tickle their former Air Commander beneath his arm joints, and on either side of his wings. He squirmed, laughter pouring out in choked fits.
"No! Primus! Stop, stohahahap!" he pleaded, surrendering to gales of helpless laughter. Both the light-blue and black and violet seekers intensified their attacks, digging in maliciously. By this point, Starscream lived up to his name, his screams of laughter piercing their audio receptors most painfully.
Thundercracker snorted in mock derision, and said over his wing-mates shrill giggles, "What do you think, 'Warp? Has he had enough?"
"I don't know. It's amazing I can string a sentence together, remember?" Skywarp grinned, grabbing both of Starscream's wrists in his one hand, and using the other to aid in torturing the ex Air Commander, his fingers flicking quickly over the others' neck.
This caused Starscream to dissolve into a grovelling mass of metal , his vents working over-time. "I take it back! I take it back! Please…" he begged, howling with laughter, "I-I was kidding!"
"You could've fooled us," Thundercracker chuckled, "you sure sounded serious to us idiots…" He put further emphasis on this, by quickening his ticklish jabs.
It was all Starscream could take, the mostly red seeker submitting through his forced mirth.
"I'm sorry! Primus, no more…"
Skywarp and Thundercracker released their victim, both chuckling as they helped him to his pedes.
"Never…do that…again…or I'll use…my null-ray…on you…" he panted, servos on his knees.
The three seekers became acutely aware that they'd just had a tickle-fight in the middle of the rec. room like a bunch of sparklings. They looked around self-consciously, but to their immense relief, no one else was there. All three exhaled rather comically, opting to continue where they'd left off before their 'brotherly' rough-housing had ensued.
"Well, since we're alone, now would be a good time to unveil my plan." Starscream decided.
"So, what is it?" Thundercracker and Skywarp asked in unison, their expressions quizzical.
"Phase One: We need to take a trip to Cybertron. There's a cache of energon there."
"But we have energon here." Skywarp interjected.
"Not an unlimited supply, 'Warp. And this isn't for us," Starscream explained, "this is for our allies-to-be."
"And who would that be?"
"The Insecticons."
"I don't know about this, Star," Thundercracker said hesitantly, "the Insecticons are prone to reneging on an agreement as soon as they've had their fill."
The trio were currently flying over the Amazon Rainforest, their scanners indicating that their insect counter-parts had taken up residency deep within the lush, humid woodland.
"TC's right," Skywarp chimed in, adding his two cents worth, "if they decide it's gettin' too hot, they'll abandon the mission. And then we'll really be slag."
Starscream sighed irritably. "Do you two honestly think I haven't taken that into consideration? I have a contingency plan."
"Then fill us in, oh fearless leader." Skywarp replied, his voice carrying mirth.
"It's simple; the Insecticons aren't required for our strike force. I'd prefer to have their help, but if they should retreat-like they've been known to in the past-it won't tilt the scales in Megatron's favour."
"So why are we here with all that energon from Cybertron?"
"We need the Insecticons to locate something for us;" Starscream replied, slowly lowering his altitude, the other two following, "something that will tilt the scales in our favour."
The three F-15 Eagles touched down in a clearing, where the bush was sparse. They transformed from their alt modes to their proto-forms, and scanned the area.
"How do you know they can help us?" Thundercracker pressed.
"Because it's something they've used before."
"A cloning facility." The light-blue seeker concluded. This eased his mind, and once it was explained to him, Skywarp's mind as well. They'd gone through a great deal of trouble to bring fifty cubes of energon from Cybertron to Earth without getting caught. The alarms had gone off, but they had disabled all other security measures beforehand. This meant that though Shockwave knew the cache had been broken into, he was unaware of who the culprits were. If he was unaware, then so too, was Megatron. If he had found out, the whole mission would have toppled like a house of cards.
The seekers trekked through the dense foliage, carrying the condensed energon cubes with ease. Starscream stopped, the others doing likewise.
"Insecticons, we require your assistance!" he called out.
"Starscream," Shrapnel greeted, a large Stag beetle coming forward, then transforming to his proto-form, "what do you want-want?"
His second, known as Bombshell, came forward, guised as a Rhinoceros Beetle, followed by Kickback, whom had the form of a grasshopper. They too, transformed, awaiting the seeker's explanation.
Starscream placed the energon before the three greedy insect robots, and declared, "We have a proposal for you."
All three exchanged looks, Shrapnel replying, "We're listening-listening."
~Meanwhile, at Autobot H.Q.~
"Are you certain, Blaster?" Optimus Prime and his fellow Autobots gathered around Teletraan-One, where they had a visual of Blaster making his report on-screen.
"No doubt about it, Optimus," the red Autobot guised as a boombox declared, "there was Decepticon activity spotted near the Amazon Rainforest only moments ago."
"Can you get there in time?" The Autobot leader inquired.
"Yeah, Ironhide and I will go check it out, but we're probably gonna need back-up."
"Consider it done." The screen went blank, and Optimus Prime turned to address the room full of Autobots. "I will go to aid Blaster and Ironhide. Who will join me?"
Bumblebee and Bluestreak stepped forward.
"Count us in, boss."
"All right. The rest of you, keep an eye on headquarters, and for any other Decepticon activity. Bluestreak, Bumblebee; transform, and roll out!"
~Aboard the Decepticon base, Nemesis~
Megatron stood silent for a moment, mulling over what he'd just heard on Soundwave's audio playback.
"So," he said after a long moment, "Starscream was behind the energon cache on Cybertron being broken into."
"Affirmative." Soundwave diagnosed, his voice a tinny monotone.
"And he wishes to make an alliance with the Insecticons," Megatron continued, rubbing his chin absent-mindedly, "the question is why…"
"Reason: Unknown."
"Good work, Soundwave. It seems we will need to keep a closer optic on our former Wing Commanders."
"Yes, Lord Megatron. Laserbeak, Rat-Bat," the communications specialist pressed the eject button on his chassis, two cassettes popping out of his chest, "reconnaissance mission: Starscream."
"And make sure you're not seen." Megatron cautioned.
Both cassette Decepticons squawked their confirmation, then left the High Commander and his officers to their own devices.
The weapon is nearly complete, Megatron mused, a manic gleam in his eye, and when it is, no one will stand in my way!