Slipstream had leaves Galvatron behind after they went into California before she goes off on her own. She has been wondering what had happened to Stormfront. But she then picks up two departing signatures that she recognized as Acid Storm's and Starscream's and she stops in mid flight. She transforms while maintaining flight and scratches her head. She could of sworn Starscream was killed back at the Grand Canyon by Galvatron. She then says to herself,
"Screamer...Alive? He has more lives than a Cybertronian pole cat..."
She then transforms back into jet mode and takes off to follow them and found both of them heading back to the Nemesis and watches both of them go into the Nemesis. She goes off to go see if she can find Acid Storm and maybe find Stormy. Eventually she then spots Acid and walks up to him and says, "Hi Acid...long time no see..."
Inside of the Nemesis, Acid Storm transforms back into his normal form and leans against a wall with his arms crossed over his chest. He bends down due slight exhaustion from the challenge that he had with Starscream, who headed off to be alone in his personal quarters. He knows that he has been defeated but he has feels relieved that the temporary title that he was never really suited for, was gone. His attention is drawn towards Slipstream who is approaching him. He did not expect that she was going to follow Starscream and him to the Nemesis.
"Hi Slipstream...yes, it has been a long time. "Lets see if I can locate him." He opens his comm to his brother with a joking voice. "Oh, Stormy...you have a special guest here." Before he deactivates his comm, he lets out a light chuckle. He then turns his attention to Slipstream. "How are you?"
Slipstream gives a slight smile at Acid when she could hear heard him give Stormy a comm. She then says,
"I guess I've been doing OK...ahhh Galvatron isn't on board is he? I kind of left him behind back in California after the Grand Canyon scene?"
Stormfront has been sitting on his berth reading one of his books that is laying on the berth. For a bit, it is interesting but then he gets bored since things are quiet on the Nemesis. He hears his comm going off and he unconsciously activates it, which has Acid's voice on it but it is uncharacteristic of his brother to be joking around on the comm. He gives the comm a bewildered facial expression and wondered what Acid was talking about...a special guest for him on the Nemesis. What the... After he deactivates his comm and goes back to his reading, he thought it was fluke. But there is something about that comm that still intrigues him. He frowns at the door and closes his book before heading out of his personal quarters. In the corridors, only his steps could be heard. Eventually, he makes it to the cargo, where he could see Acid's back, so he approaches him.
"Acid, what is with the kidding..."
By hearing this, Acid slightly turns towards him and while doing so, he reveals Slipstream. Stormy grins towards her and gives her a friendly hug.
"Slipstream! It is good to see you."
When She hears Stormy's voice, she spots him approaching from behind Acid and she feels a sigh of relief seeing that he is still functioning. She return his hug and says while smiling to him,
"Stormy it's so good to see you are still functioning." Stormfront replies in her shoulder, "I am fully fine and functional, Slipstream." He then gently lets go of her.
Then pulls back and says to both of them, "So how come you two aren't down on that dirt ball planet helping out Galvatron?"
Acid smiles in response towards both Stormy's and Slipstream's reactions at each other. He simply nods. "No, Galvatron is not here...he is probably still on the planet somewhere." By hearing Slipstream's question, he closes his optics since now the Cyber-cat is now out of the bag. "Slipstream, there is something that we need to tell you..." Stormfront glances in Acid's direction as he starts to speak but does not finish what he needs to say. So, he pipes in, "Slipstream, please do not be mad at me. But when you met me during my first night at the Academy, I indicated that I was just created but neither Acid nor I indicated how." He slightly closes his optics and continues. "Both of us were not created by the Allspark, but by Shockwave, who is our superior, not Galvatron. I hope that you do not think anything different about either of us, particularly of me. I still care about you, Slipstream." He reopens his red optics and waits patiently for her reaction to this information that has been secret for a long time. It was something that they wanted to remain secret from everyone at the Academy while they were still young.
"Oh really...well honestly, I think you are better off with Shockwave, at least he doesn't send you off on suicide missions that are doomed to fail. And no, I don't think any different about the two of you." She says while looking over at both of them, "Though can I ask, why the loyalty to Shockwave and not Galvatron...I thought Shockwave was loyal to Galvatron?"
Stormfront smiles towards Slipstream. "Thanks." He pauses a bit. "We were created to be underneath Shockwave but... In the past, we were thrown into a catch-22 situation...particularly Acid. In this situation, we were forced to be under Starscream's command and obey Megatron, which probably lead to be being forced into the Academy in the first place. If we did not obey the restrictions placed on us, we could possibly be placed into stasis or seize to function. As for Shockwave, I believe he has pretended to be loyal to Galvatron."
Acid looks in both Slipstream's and Stormy's direction. "I think I will leave you two to your chat." He leaves the two seekers to their selves. On the way out, he looks over his shoulder at them. "You know you can have your conversation in almost anywhere on the Nemesis. Just be aware of Trypticon's temper." Acid then fully leaves the cargo bay.
"Haa...what do you mean exactly by a catch-22, and I'm not surprised Shockwave was pretending to be loyal." Slipstream said as she looked at Stormy after she watched Acid go and walk off.
Eventually, Acid comes across the bridge. As he steps by it, he can slightly see Nova in there. He tracts backwards and peers into the bridge around the entryway. There he fully sees Novastorm and the residue of a lightning bolt. By looking at him, he could tell that he is probably still fuming about something. Only one of his red optic could be seen. Then he fully walks onto the bridge.
"Has there been anything that I missed, Nova?"
When Nova finished talking with Shockwave he heard what Stormy said and before he could say anything he got zapped in the aft. He turns around and was gonna tell Stormy off but he had taken off down the hall and Nova fumed. He then grumbles to himself,
"One of these days I will get him back for that!"
He turns back around to see Shockwave leave while giving a slight shake of his head after seeing what Stormy did to Nova. While on the bridge, he starts working on a few things to cool off his temper. That is when Acid pops in and when he asks if he had missed anything, Nova turns and looks at him and says,
"I'd say...Stormy zapped me in the aft for no reason then took off!...would you have a talk with him before I do, and with the mood I am in right now you don't want me to go talk with him!"
Acid Storm slightly nods towards Shockwave before he crosses his arms over his chest casually and lowers his optic gaze while Nova spoke to him what happened. He lets out a sigh before he raises his gaze and returns to Nova.
"You know how Stormy is but I will have a talk with him about this and get his side of the story."
Acid Storm prepares to leave the bridge to have that talk with Stormy. Then a thought crosses his mind but would Nova be for it? He glances back at Nova after slightly turning his body to face him and slightly smirking at him. The oldest then walks back to Nova and whispers in his audio receptor.
"Nova, how about some teasing on Stormy for a bit? That is if your mood is up for it..."
His head slightly moves away from Nova's audio receptor and he looks at his brother with his head slightly tilted.
Nova looked at Acid when he asked if he wanted to have some fun teasing Stormy and he said,
"Teasing Stormy...that's a first...why do you ask that. Has he done something crazy besides getting his rocks off with zapping me whenever he feels like it?..."
Acid looks at Nova and pretty much figured that he would look at him funny since he does not joke around much.
"Oh..he is not off the hook about zapping you whenever he feels like it. He and I will still have that talk. But, would you know that Stormy has" He whispers in Nova's audio receptor. "Girlfriend?"
Nova listens to Acid as he speaks and when he said that Stormy has a Girlfriend he drops what he had in his hand and looks at Acid and says, "Stormy has a...WHAT? You're kidding right?" He says then thought of it and asks, "So how exactly do you want to go about teasing him?"
Acid Storm backs away from his brother and shakes his head no. "I am not kidding, Nova and I rarely kid around." He then hears Nova's question about how to tease Stormy. "I have an idea..." He pauses a bit when a thought crosses his mind and a frown develops on his face. "But it would mean that I will have to go back to doing what I did after the incident. What I was thinking of is programming a drone to drive him nuts. But I need to go into one of the labs to do this if you would like join me." Before he heads out into the corridor, he checks to see if anyone, particularly Stormy, is around. He brisks walks through the corridor to the lab that has the drones.
"A Drone ha...you really are asking for a bad zapping you know that don't you?" Nova says before he goes to head into one of Shockwaves labs and he gives a shrug and says, "Why not...it should be entertaining."
While punching in the code, Acid hears Nova approach behind him and commenting that this ought to be entertaining. He smirks back at him. "This will be entertaining...I know Stormy very well. This could possibly irritate him and he might zap because it is a drone." He finishes with the code and the door opens to allow the two to walk inside and lights flicker on. "Ok, we need to find a drone that is small...about 5-6 feet tall." He goes and searches on one side of the room to find a small drone.
Stormfront turns his attention to see Acid to walk off, which did not surprise him one bit. He then turns towards Slipstream. "A catch-22 situation is merely a no-win situation, where there are choices but none of them lead to a net gain. So there is very little wiggle room for the person. Both Acid and I had to follow Starscream's and Megatron's commands without question or lose our life or functionality even if we both disliked Starscream's or Megatron's guts. It also prevented Acid and myself to avoid combat missions."
"I know Starscream could be a real prick at times...but I can't picture him being like that...I mean threatening lives like that, but Megatron, or Galvatron as he is now...him, I can picture doing that...but can I asked what caused this to happen like that, did one of you do something bad to him?" Slipstream asks.
By hearing Slipstream's question, Stormfront slightly gazes away from her. How was he going to tell her about the incident that has been painful all of this time? After a bit, he returns his gaze back to Slipstream.
"Neither Acid nor myself did anything bad to cause the Catch-22. I have a second brother, which means I am a member of a trine. He is known as Novastorm and he caused a bad incident, in which Megatron ordered that Nova be put into stasis, Acid got the Catch-22 put on him, and I nearly was put into stasis but Acid managed to prevent that. Sometimes I wonder if he did the right thing or not. I got tossed into the war but I got a chance to know you and be with Acid."
Nova looks around then spots a functioning drone that would fit what was needed and he goes to grab it which tries run away from him. However, he manages to corner it and before it could take off again he pulls out his staff and blocks its path as his staff begins to glow. He grabs the drone by the shoulder and picks it up while giving it a slightly disgusted look. He turns to Acid and says, "Would this do?" He then walks up to Acid and hands the small drone over to him just as he twirls his staff and puts it back in storage.
Acid turns his attention to Nova when comes over to him and asking if this would do. He sizes it up with his optics.
"This would do just fine."
He takes the drone from Nova while his brother puts his staff back in storage before walks sternly over to a laboratory table. While he does so, he carries the drone by holding the drone's helm and has it facing him. He gives it a disgusted look along the way.
"You have a date with an evil scientist if you like it or not, pathetic drone."
He lays the drone on the laboratory table and immediately sticks a pin into the drone's neck so that it lays there stationary. Now it was time to reprogram the drone. He stands there for a bit in deep thought. He knows what he wants to do but how would he do it. Then a thought crosses his mind and he grabs a mobile computer console. Once the computer is activated, he attaches probes to the small drone. He turns his attention back to the mobile computer console and goes onto what the humans call the Internet.
"Now to find the right sound bytes."
He begins to search on the Internet for sound bytes that are related to very human beings when they can talk.
Nova watches Acid work quietly and as he is reprogramming the drone, he gives a slight shake to his head and he says, "Look's like you've done this before?" He continues to watch Acid begin to program in a sound byte from the humans internet. He then says, "This should be interesting...though I hope you are prepared to deal with Stormy when he pops off an attitude, which I'm sure he will..."
Acid turns his attention to Nova for a brief second before replying. "Stormy will have an attitude, but what kind is the question? There is no telling how he would react to something...but I am pretty sure he will be irritated." He then completes the programming of the drone. "Ok, it is finished...are you ready?" He unhooks the drone.
Nova remains silent as Acid does his work until he is asked if he was ready and he replies, "Yeah...let's go."
In the cargo area, Slipstream replies back to Stormfront. "A third member, how come you never told me? what did he do to Megatron to be placed in Stasis?" Slipstream says before she hears him doubt his own being online she gently grabs his hand and looks up at him and says, "Whatever happen that done this was meant to happen Stormy."
Acid picks up the drone and leads down the corridor towards the cargo area with Nova following him. While carrying the drone, he is careful not to allow it to touch his armor. Right outside of the cargo bay, Acid stands in the shadows, he could hear Slipstream talking to Stormy. Nova peeks in to see both both Stormy and Slipstream with their backs to him and he silently slips over to the other side of the door unseen and he looks over at Acid and gives him the go ahead to release the drone as he leans up against the wall away from sight.
Acid remains and kneels down to place the drone on the floor. He re-sticks the pin into it so that it comes online before he stands to his full height. Shortly after, he pushes a button on a remote to allow it to walk towards Stormy and Slipstream. He then hides the remote.
"I am so sorry that I never told you about it...it still hurts. I-" Stormy feels relieved as Slipstream comforts him as she grabs one of his hands and smiles to her. In the background, he could hear some noise, which catches him off-guard. He turns his attention towards the noise.
The drone walks over towards the two bots that are talking. It holds its arms out towards them as it heads to them. Also, with big, innocent optics, it calls out to them. "MOMMY! DADDY! I LOVE YOU!" A short bit later, there is no sound until... "MOMMY! DADDY! I LOVE YOU!"
What he saw was a small being coming towards them. Seeing the small being startles him and he lets gently but quickly lets go of Slipstream's hand. Slipstream was about to say something when she heard a small drone start talking and she jumped back as she looking at the thing. Then he backs up into the wall and looking down at it with a startled facial expression. "What the..." He then tries to get away from the small being.
"Gah..." As he backs away from it, it continues to come towards him. It is exclaiming. "DADDY! CAN WE GO AND PLAY?" Stormy moves his leg over it as it gets close to his leg. "NOOOO! I am not your Daddy!" He then further backs away from it and it continues to come towards him and saying, "WHY NOT, DADDY?". "GET BACK, YOU!" He further looks at it and can recognize it as drone. This further frustrates him and he snarls at the drone due to his strong hatred towards them. "THAT DOES IT!" He picks up the drone sparkling and it starts exclaiming. "I WANT TO FLY, DADDY! PLEASE DADDY!" Stormy looks at the drone. "SURE, SON...you can learn how to fly!" He tosses the drone to the far wall, where it lays there before getting up and heading right back to them. "DANG, who designed this thing!" He then unleashes one of his staffs and fires a lightning bolt at the drone, which is electrocuted and falls to pieces.
While Acid controls the drone, he glances at the video from the drone's camera and could see how Stormy is reacting to the situation. He slightly giggles to himself. Shortly after, he looks over at Nova. "Psssst..." He shows Nova what is happening in the cargo bay. Nova looked over at Acid when he made a small noise to look at what he had and he gave a small giggle then covered his mouth not knowing if it was heard or not.
Stormfront can hear a good amount of giggling occurring. He looks in one direction then the other before picking up his two brothers' Energon signatures. A smirk develops on his face and turns to Slipstream with a vertical finger against his mouth. While he heads towards the entryway, he pulls out his other staff. He stands there and shuts the lights to the cargo bay. Acid stops giggling when there is no sound coming from anywhere. Since there is no sound, he figured that something is wrong, very wrong. He looks over at Nova with a spooked facial expression and mouths 'ut oh' to him. Stormy has his staffs move in the darkness, one towards Acid and one towards Nova. He gives both of them an intense lightning bolt. Once they are released, he does not move.
When Nova looks over at Acid and everything gets very quiet, he had a bad feeling what was going to happen next. And just as soon as he thought that Stormy stepped out into the hall and with a glaring look at the both of them he gets zapped by a strong lightning bolt. The zap sends him falling on his aft and leaves him smoking on his chest armor. He has worse sparks coming off his armor this time than when he tried to wake him by heating up his brother's berth...both of which failed miserably and painfully.
He gives a bit of a groan as he laid on the floor but he has a small grin on his face for razzing on Stormy. He soon after gets backs up to his feet and leans up against the wall.
Stormy looks at both of his brothers laying on their backs on the floor and smoking with sparks flying everywhere. He crosses one leg over the other one and his staffs crossed towards his back due to his arms crossed. "And who has the last laugh, guys? Hmmm..." While laying there painfully and smoking along with sparks flying everywhere off of his chest, Acid glares at the ceiling and raises a finger along with a smile. "But, that was so worth it!" He slowly gets up onto his feet and leans up against the wall. While leaning, he smirks at Nova. Stormy immediately replies back, "Nice prank, guys but better luck next time."
Shockwave was busy doing some preparations when the Nemesis shuttered again and was followed by a flicking of lights. He looks up and knows that it was something Stormy done but he also knew that Stormy wouldn't just use his lightning abilities on the Nemesis unless someone done something to him. He gives a grumph and opens a comm to the three Rainmakers and says, "Report to the bridge now!"