It was supposed to have been a regular battle. The Decepticreeps had come up with a new weapon, and had attempted to unleash it on an unsuspecting power plant. The Autobots had managed to intercept them before they could cause any real damage, and the normal battle had ensued. Somewhere along the line, however, Megatron had gotten smart. Jazz figured that the hulking mech had realized that the Bots had gotten cocky, used to the "ultimate weapon" being destroyed right away, and then kicking the Decepticons' collective afts all the way back to their underwater base. So it had come as a complete surprise when Megatron had unveiled another Weapon of Doom™. The TIC had casually searched for his sleeper agent, wondering why the mech hadn't alerted him to this new development. The startled look in the mech's faux red optics said that he hadn't known anything about it. It didn't take long for either of them to realize that the mech's cover had likely been compromised. He hadn't been called on it, though, so Jazz signalled him to do nothing. The sleeper didn't like it, but obeyed his commander's order.

The weapon was actually very clever. Instead of just blowing them all to bits it released some type of gas that invaded neural systems, but it targeted only specific models. The Cons were aiming to take prisoners this time, and the completely unheard of tactic threw the Autobots off. Many recovered quickly, but their hesitation had cost them precious seconds. By the time they managed to reorganize themselves the gases had already been deployed.

Certain models, such as the minibots were unaffected, but many of the larger models and all of the notable fighters who were within range began to feel the effect almost immediately. Optimus Prime and Skyfire were taken out, the former having inhaled more than enough to knock his systems completely offline. They were obvious targets, as Prime was the leader and Skyfire was the Autobots' strongest aerial fighter. It came as no surprise when Megatron dragged the unconscious Prime away; that he took Skyfire too was a surprise. Silverbolt tried to go after his friend, but the gas made him woozy; his brothers got him back on the ground, far behind the front lines. The Datsuns too were taken out, as the tacticians (one of which was the SIC) and gunner were very valuable. Luckily the twins, who had had been far enough back to avoid the first release, were quick on their pedes and had managed to drag Bluestreak back behind the lines. Inferno was able to keep the Cons from nabbing Smokescreen. Prowl, unfortunately, had been locked in hand to hand combat with Soundwave and was captured. Jazz himself was the last one to fall to the noxious weapon. He was dragged from the relative safety of the Autobots towards Megatron. He had just enough time to realize that they were the hostages before darkness consumed him.

So now he found himself, along with the Prime, Skyfire and Prowl, trapped in the Decepticon brig. Prime, Prowl and himself he could understand, as they were the top three in the command chain, but why Skyfire? Good air support he may be, but the mech was a pacifist and a scientist. Why would the cons want... blue optics narrowed. The shuttle had a friend among the cons. They were going to use him to force the mech to reveal himself. Perhaps his agent's cover had been blown. This was not good.

He didn't have much time to ponder this, as heavy pedesteps approached their cells. Moments later Motormaster and his crew came into view. The large semi nodded to the guard, and the energon bars disappeared.

"Alright maggots, come with me. Lord Megatron wants to have a word with you." The Stunticon leader grabbed Prime by the arm, and the large Autobot went with him quietly. The cuffs on their arms and pedes prevented them from doing much anyway. Drag Strip and Wildrider flanked Skyfire, who looked bored by their intimidation attempts. They all knew that the giant shuttle could flatten them if he really wanted to, just as they knew that he never would. That left Dead End, who made a bee line for Prowl, and Breakdown. Jazz smirked. Everyone knew about the Decepticon lambo's paranoia. Deciding that he had nothing better to do, the Porsche fixed his unwavering gaze on the blue and white Lamborghini.

"Stop staring at me!" By the time they made it to the throne room Breakdown was a shivering mess.

"Stopitstopitstopit! Why are you looking at me? Make him stop!" Jazz was amused. He could tell Prowl and Optimus were too, despite both of them being to dignified to react. Prowl's doorwings did twitch in a manner that his friend had once told him meant youarecruel/amused. That happened a lot around Jazz. Skyfire still looked bored.

The first thing Jazz noticed when they entered the room was the sheer amount of Decepticons present. It seemed as though every Earth bound con was in the room. He quickly began strategizing possible escape routes. The problem with this was that they were all standing around a large semicircle in the center of the room, and they were blocking the exits. The ring itself almost looked like a training ring. The back wall had no exits, and formed one side of the ring, while the mechs formed a half circle that extended from one end of said wall to the other. The semicircle parted slightly, allowing the Autobots to see that Megatron and Starscream stood at its center. Both were highly polished, gleaming in the dim lights. Something big was about to go down, and Jazz had a good idea what it was.

"Welcome, Autobots. I suppose you are wondering why you are here, instead of being blasted to bits on the battlefield." The four remained silent. Megatron continued, "Lately we have found an increase in...boredom among the soldiers. This miserable dust ball has nothing to offer us beyond energon and so we are forced to make our own entertainment. You four have been lucky enough to be chosen for our first gladiator match. Two of you shall face Starscream and I, while the others face whichever Decepticon claims them. And, in the spirit of the Roman gladiators, who were the only worthwhile things this planet had ever produced, you will face us unarmed." The crowd surrounding them jeered. "Prime, you will be my opponent. Starscream, choose yours." Red optics trailed over the remaining three. They skipped over Prowl, lingered for a moment on Skyfire, before falling on Jazz.

"The Porsche."

"Very well." The warlord did not show it but he was disappointed. He wanted his SIC to choose the shuttle. Shockwave's last report had been troubling. The cyclops had reviewed the Decepticons' performance in recent battles, and when the results had shown that Starscream was at the root of all failed missions he began to look further back. The data he had compiled showed that since his inception into the Decepticon fold he had caused problems. Minor at first, but they seemed to increase to the point where he decided he would take over the Decepticons. In fact he only times a mission hadn't failed it was because Starscream had done as he had been ordered. He usually only did this when his wingmates were in danger, and he had had to bank off in order to protect them. Shockwave had also found that some of Starscream's kills had been fabricated. That may have been because of Starscream's enormous ego, but combined with the other reports it was suspicious. Killing the pacifist would have put an end to the doubts Megatron was forming about his loyalty. Well, the other Autobot would do. A kill is a kill, and it would prove that Starscream, treacherous though he may be, was no Autobot.

Optimus and Jazz stepped into the ring, heads held high. Optimus was tense, though he projected a serene image. Unless some sort of miracle occurred, he couldn't see a way to get his men out of this alive. Jazz on the other hand was perfectly relaxed. The false con smirked. It wouldn't be long now. Just one little fight and he could rejoin his brethren, and hopefully kill Megatron while he was at it.

None of the warriors bowed to each other; there was no signal to begin. This was not a match with rules, and the fight would be brutal and dirty, and there was no need for courtesy. Jazz feinted, moving as though to strike the seeker, before veering off in another direction. Starscream followed him. The crowd roared in excitement, eager to see energon shed. Megatron moved towards the Prime, who met him head on. He swung at the smaller mech, but Optimus ducked, aiming a kick at the Decepticon's midsection. The silver mech danced back with surprising grace, lifting a powerful leg in a sweeping kick, before moving in close to follow it with a punch to the face. Optimus easily avoided the kick, but couldn't throw himself entirely out of the way of the punch. Silver knuckles grazed his temple, drawing first blood. The other cons were going wild. Megatron smirked. Then he collapsed.

With all optics focused on the leaders' fight, no one had noticed as Jazz and Starscream slid further into the shadows. Nor did they notice when Starscream powered up his infamous null rays. So it came a surprise when the seeker not only shot his leader in the head, but turned and fired on the crowd of watching soldiers. Jazz wasted no time pulling a backup weapon from his hidden subspace compartment and joined him. Moments later half of the watchers were unconscious, but those who had remained standing had were beginning to get organized. Starscream smiled.

"Time to go."

Prime watched in amusement as his mechs gathered for the base wide meeting. The first thing that he had done after they had returned home was head to the medbay to make sure the gas had not had any lasting effect. To Ratchet's credit, he hadn't even flinched when Starscream had walking in; he had simply ordered the (ex?) con to get up on a berth and wait his turn. His next priority had been to call this meeting. He wondered if the perverse sense of pleasure he was getting from watching his mechs react to Starscream's presence meant he had a mild sadistic streak. Megatron had accused him of having one when they were younger. Well, it was unimportant. It was time to begin the meeting.

"Alright, that's enough." The glaring optics turned from the seeker to look at their leader, questions clear, though no one said a thing. "Now, most of you recognize our guest. As for the reason behind his presence, I am not entirely sure. Jazz, however, claims that there is a perfectly good explanation for it, so he will explain. I must say, I look forward to hearing it."

"Thanks Prime," Jazz said with an easy smile. "Now, y'all prolly don' know him, or have forgotten, but back when the war began Sentinel appointed me as Head of Ops and I had an interestin mech workin for me. He had been a scientist before the war. Specifically, a social scientist and xenologist, meaning he studied other cultures and how they interacted with each other. We got talkin one day, and he mentioned that from what he had been able to observe before he had joined us, the cons had a completely different culture. 'Wouldn't it be neat,' he said, 'if we could get someone in there, to study their behaviour? If we knew how they think, then we could plan accordingly.' Now, it seemed like a good idea, so we presented it to Sentinel Prime, and he got my mech all of the right training. He turned out to be an amazin fighter on top of bein smart, so it was easy to plant him in a batch of Decepticon recruits. We didn't count on Soundwave's telepathic abilities though, so he ended up having to totally immerse himself in their ways, instead of just pretendin he had. He ended up having to stay far longer than planned, and when Sentinel was killed most of the mechs who'd known about my agent were killed too. Everyone but Ops forgot who he was. There was no record of him of course, so we were the only ones who knew. Anyway, he eventually managed to work his up to a high position where he could sabotage Megatron. His cover was blown when he helped us escape from the con base. And Prime, I 'pologize for not tellin you about him, but we figured he'd be safer if no one else knew. If we had told you, then records would have had to been created, and one of Soundwave's little demons could have found it. So mechs, allow me to introduce special agent Starscream, Ops' recently recovered deepcover officer." Dead silence followed Jazz's words. Skyfire broke it.

"So Red Alert was right. You really haven't changed at all." Starscream turned towards his old friend. All optics turned towards him again, watching carefully as he moved towards the shuttle. He tore off the Decepticon insignias as he went, dropping the stickers to the ground and revealing the red paint below. Red optics flickered, before fading into a brilliant aqua color. He paused in front of his much larger friend, slightly unsure. Would Skyfire hate him? He had shot the mech, but he had used his null rays, which were pacifistic weapons, developed to stun life forms found on other worlds without causing lasting harm. Pit, at the low setting they wouldn't even hurt a human for longer than it took to get away. Skyfire knew that. Still, times had changed. His fears were proven void a moment later when Skyfire reached down and pulled him into a hug, nearly crushing him against hi massive chassis. Starscream pressed closer to his friend, having missed him greatly in the vorns that they had been separated. Skyfire put him back down and stepped back, smiling.

"Welcome back, Star." The soft smile that lit up his friend's face was gorgeous. It changed his face from the ruthless Decepticon SIC to the scientist Skyfire remembered.

"Thank you. It's good to be back."

The Autobots had been stunned. It was no secret that Starscream was a good looking mech, but his smile changed him from pretty to gorgeous. Instead of hard, fierce lines he was all soft angles and pretty wings that just begged to be touched. The mechs stood in silence as the two old friends chatted, before both mechs took their leave on the excuse that Skyfire was going to show Star around the base. Once the 'bots were sure that they were out of audio range whispers broke out.

Many seemed to be of the opinion that despite Jazz's assurance and the false insignias, the seeker still couldn't be trusted. Or at least it would be wise to remain cautious around him, in case he really had gone con during his time undercover. There was one group however that disagreed. The aerialbots very discretely left the room before they burst into excited chatter.

"Oh Primus, he's gorgeous! Did you see his smile?"

"See Silverbolt, he was an Autobot the whole time! Now you can admit you like him too."

"I wonder if we could get him to fly with us? That would be amazing!" Silverbolt smiled tolerantly as his brothers chattered on about the seeker. He felt a small pang of jealousy towards the former con, but he had to admit that the seeker's input on their flight patterns and tactics would be invaluable.

'And he is really good looking.' That thought made him blush. In truth though, he had always admired the seekers as much as his brothers had, he had just been more aware of how distasteful that idol worship had made them look. Unfortunately, Air Raid noticed the faint color that spread over his cheeks, and cheerfully pointed it out to the rest of them. The rest of the way to their quarters was filled with good natured jabs and Silverbolt's expense.

"Alright, alright, that's enough. We can ask Starscream to assist us, but only after he has had time to settle in." His remark was met with a chorus of cheers and groans, and the Concorde smiled fondly as he herded the smaller flyers into their room.

"So shouldn't I have to go though some sort of security check to make sure I'm not spying for the Decepticons or something?" Starscream asked wryly. Skyfire smiled but didn't answer.

"Normally you would, but seeing as how you are one of Jazz's agents it would be unwise. He tends to get a bit... touchy when we question the integrity of his teams, as Huffer rather violently found out. Needless to say no one accuses Mirage of being a spy anymore. You shouldn't have any problems." Both flyers turned to see Red Alert coming up the corridor behind them. Skyfire smiled.

"Star, I believe you've met my bonded, Red Alert." The seeker shot an easy smile at the Lamborghini.

"Yes, I have. And I would like to thank you, Red, for not blowing my cover with the Negavator incident. And for the extra...help you gave me."

"It was no problem, Starscream." Skyfire looked from his friend to his lover, confused.

"What am I missing here?" Red Alert looked at him mate, and said,

"When you asked me why I faked glitching after I recovered from when Megatron attacked us to get the Negavator and I told you that I couldn't tell you at that time, it was because Starscream asked me not to. When he found me he was able to talk me down to the point where I could make sense of things again, and then explained who he was. Of course, I thought it was a trick, but I put that aside given the dire situation. We knew it would be a danger to the Autobot cause, and given my reaction it was bound to cause waves when I returned to the Ark. So we worked out a plan to destroy the machine and save my reputation. I pretended to be glitching to give me an excuse to be with Starscream when we broke into the unit. Of course I watched his every move, but he was telling the truth and did no more than what we agreed to. When Megatron showed up, as we knew he would, Starscream distracted him so that I could destroy the machine. He shot me to prevent Megatron from taking his rage out on me and diverted it to himself instead."

"And the extra help?" Skyfire was amused. He had a pretty good idea what it was. Seekers were notoriously promiscuous creatures. Sexual desire was woven so deep into their core programs that even they did not know when or where the programming had developed. It just was. Skyfire himself had helped Starscream relieve some of that built up tension on deep space voyages. He didn't love his friend as more than just that: a friend. But at the same time, he didn't want to see the seeker in pain. He couldn't begrudge his mate for helping Starscream if that was the case. Now if had been someone else on the other hand... well there was no point in considering that, as Red would never cheat.

Starscream smiled.

"He was very good at it. Shame though. We didn't have time to do more than just jerk each other off." Skyfire snorted.

"You're not usually so crude."

"Yes, well, you spend several hundred thousand millennia with a bunch of brutes who would kill you in the middle of interfacing, or turn you in, either way, and come back and tell me that you're not horny all the time."

"Aw, poor Star." The bondmates exchanged a wicked grin. "Would you like some help now?" Starscream's look shifted from exasperated to sensual.

"Lead the way."