Sometimes, even the most terrible of Decepticons needed a break from the random destruction and chaos. Not to say they were slacking off or anything, but even giant warmongering robots needed to rest sometimes, and it wasn't as though their mission couldn't wait for a few hours. After all, they still had no leads as to the location of either Megatron or the All Spark, and pushing themselves past their limits wasn't going to do anyone any good. As such, soon after they came to Earth, they had established a "base" of sorts, which doubly acted as a sort of rest stop when they weren't dutifully searching for their leader or the Cube. And, of course, being the wonderfully kind and generous second-in-command he was, Starscream always kept a plentiful supply of high-grade oil stocked in the abandoned warehouse they had taken over, as a sort of gift to his subordinates (and his own addiction to the stuff had absolutely nothing to do with it in the slightest, a "fact" he was all to quick to defend whenever the topic arose, and for the most part the other Decepticons let sleeping addictions lie, except for Frenzy, who nobody really paid attention to other than Barricade, and Brawl, who everyone expected to be a jackass regardless). Space management was sometimes an issue, on the rare occasions they were all there at the same time, but they always managed somehow (usually by kicking Barricade out to make more room, which also gave the added benefit of getting rid of Frenzy, since the little recon robot was rightfully frightened to be around the other Decepticons without Barricade's protection).
That day was one of the few days they found themselves all in the the warehouse (and, upon later reflection from both Starscream and Barricade, the last time they were all together). Barricade had, as usual, arrived back early, and was amusing himself by laying on his side on the floor and holding one of Frenzy's stolen human gadgets just out of his reach and watching him struggle, in vain, to reach it. Starscream was never surprised to see him doing such things; after all, their only sources of amusement these days, other than slaughtering poor defenseless creatures and blowing things up and doing other such Decepticon-acceptable things, was to bother each other endlessly. Honestly, what he was surprised about was how the two had managed to stand each other for so long, or how Barricade never let anyone else lay a finger on him in spite of his frequently throwing him through windows or punting him or such, but he wasn't about to question it. After all, if the little bot wanted to ignore everyone else in favor of jumping all over Barricade like an overly-excitable puppy, that was just fine with him. Starscream himself was always the second to finish his rounds, and Bonecrusher and Brawl always finished at about the same time (always coming in arguing, presumably over Blackout, their mutual Bondmate, although nobody ever dared bring it up around the brutal bots—well, Frenzy might have, if he'd even bothered to notice the love triangle growing within the team, but he thankfully hadn't, and so everyone remained relatively intact). It was always anybodies guess whether Blackout would arrive before or after them, something Barricade and Frenzy often bet on (with Frenzy always being the loser, since his scanning systems weren't nearly as effective as Barricade's and therefore not able to detect who was closer to the base, except once, when Barricade had allowed him to win. It was just once, though, so Starscream pretended not to notice how despicably nice Barricade could be to the practically infantile Decepticon sometimes).
Today, Blackout got back first, looking generally displeased with the world, which came as no surprise to any of the three bots already there. He'd been like that pretty much since they had arrived on Earth, with only occasional breaks in his sour mood. Barricade had more than once suggested that it was the fault of the two feuding Decepticons making his life into a daytime TV drama (which Starscream knew he watched when he was there in the afternoon), but he didn't particularly care, and most of the time just shook his head whenever Barricade brought it up. In his opinion, Barricade was getting far too used to human life and customs, but he didn't dare mention it, since Megatron had always been rather fond of Barricade (or rather, as "fond" as Megatron could be of an underling) and, knowing his luck, they would find them any day. As always, the dour Decepticon ignored his teammates completely and retreated into his "personal" corner, a place he'd claimed the moment they'd taken this almost pathetic warehouse as their own, and had outfitted it to his liking. Starscream had never personally taken much of a look at it, since Blackout had erected a barrier around it, and though he could easily get through it, it was another instance where he didn't particularly care. According to Bonecrusher and Brawl, however, primitive human technology, computers and televisions mostly, augmented with the limited Cybertronian resources they had access to at the moment, had been set up around the "room", and connected to various satellite feeds, giving him a birds eye view of...well, of everything.
He always was paranoid. Starscream thought, watching him retreat behind the sheet metal curtain.
"Aw, s-s-slag it!" Frenzy cursed, twittering away in Cybertronian as he scrambled up to Barricade's shoulder, who was laughing. "You wiwiwin again." Although facial expressions weren't Frenzy's strong point, with the way his face looked, it was all too easy to tell he was pouting at having lost.
"Yeah, well, you should be used to it by now." Barricade said, handing him his game device. "How about we make another bet? Double or nothing." he suggested.
"D-d-depends." Frenzy replied. "What're we betting on?"
"Who's going to win tonight; Bonecrusher or Brawl." Frenzy may not have known about the furious love triangle taking place right underneath his nose, but he had hacked into Blackout's memory banks more than enough times to understand the wager. "I'll even let you pick first."
"Brawl." he replied, without a moments hesitation.
"Then I put my money on Bonecrusher." he said, plucking Frenzy off of his shoulder so that he could sit up, then placing him back on his shoulder once he was upright. Normally Frenzy complained when being picked up, but as was the case for pretty much everything Frenzy related, Barricade was the exception.
"I heard that!" Blackout yelled from his room.
"Good, then help me win!" he yelled back. "Hey, Starscream, you want in?" he asked. Starscream let out a low grunt, insulted at the idea they would even think he would want to participate in such a thing (although the usual prize, a day's worth of high-grade, was incredibly tempting, especially with the doubled winnings...)
"No." he replied gruffly, moving towards the shelves of high-grade. Barricade resisted the urge to shrug, to prevent causing Frenzy to fall off of his shoulder.
"Your loss." he said.
Practically before he'd finished his simple, two word sentence, a distant rumbling (a common sound, since the warehouse was obviously close to a military complex to help keep them concealed, since all but Barricade took the guise of military vehicles) came closer, until the tell-tale sound of transformation could be heard, and the sound of an overly-loud argument followed. Moments later, Brawl and Bonecrusher simultaneously entered the warehouse, struggling for a moment to both fit through the door at once, but never stopping their argument.
"—well, maybe if you weren't such an idiot—"
"Oh, look who's talking!"
"—then you'd actually have a chance." Bonecrusher finished, collapsing onto the large pile of mattresses and rags and such that they had assembled against the right wall of the warehouse.
"What the hell are you talking about?" Brawl asked. "Who doesn't have a chance, Mr. I-struck-out-a-week-in-a-row?"
"Don't start on that again—"
"SHUT UP!" Starscream and Blackout yelled at the same time, Blackout even hoisting himself over the top of the sheet metal wall to look at them while he said it. He turned to look at Starscream.
"If you kill them, I'll tell Megatron they got decapitated by Autobots." he said.
"I don't kill on request." Starscream growled. "Get Barricade to do it." he suggested. Blackout turned towards Barricade, who was watching Frenzy play a game.
"Fine," he said. "but I don't come cheap. And decapitation costs extra." Blackout growled, disappearing back into his room.
"Cheap bastard..." he muttered as he vanished behind the sheet metal.
"You're just complaining because you know you can't afford it." he said, before muttering to Frenzy in broken Cybertronian (his loss of ability with the language most likely a side effect of his youth and the 6 of them clearly having been on this pathetic dirt clod of a planet for too long), apparently explaining to the tiny bot how to get past a part in his game which he was stuck on.
"I'm standing right here, you know." Brawl growled, glaring at Barricade.
"I can see that. What's your point?" the younger Transformer asked, Frenzy ignoring his game in favor of skittering across Barricade's shoulders to reach the opposite one so that he had a better view of the room. "I'm just discussing business. Nothing wrong with that. If you have a problem with a discussion about your possible decapitation, take it up with Blackout."
"I—you—damn it, twerp!" Brawl said, throwing a conveniently placed empty oil drum at his head. It was easily avoided by Barricade merely ducking out of the way, at the same time protecting his small companion with one hand, in case Brawl's throw was a little more on-target than it usually was. Barricade resisted the urge to laugh in light of his small victory; after all, whereas Bonecrusher didn't mind getting on Blackout's bad side every now and again, Brawl rarely ever said anything that might put him in a bad light with Barricade's older brother (a well kept secret if ever there was one, Starscream knew, since as far as he could tell, only Barricade and Blackout themselves, and himself, were aware of the relation between the two). Which was probably why Blackout preferred Bonecrusher more these days.
As the two older bots' argument continued on in the background, and Frenzy silently played his game (for once), Barricade quickly grew bored, and started looking around, half looking for something to do, half just for the sake of it. That was when he noticed Starscream already well into his first portion of high-grade.
"Isn't it a little early to be starting on that stuff, Starscream?" he asked. Hearing the question over the flimsy insults being slung at him by Brawl, Bonecrusher also looked over at their current commander.
"Yeah, normally you at least wait until the sun goes down." he pointed out. Starscream looked over at his subordinates, grumbling.
"Shut up. I had a horrible patrol." he growled. "And besides, this is all mine in the first place. You're incredibly lucky that I even let any of you have some." he said.
"Can we say 'addicted'?" Barricade asked, speaking, of course, to Frenzy. He would have spoken in English, if the smaller bot had a better understanding of the human language. Unfortunately, his less capable protoform and memory banks only allowed him to retain a small English database in addition to the complete Cybertronian one he'd been taught from birth. Therefore, Barricade's badly assembled Cybertronian made a return appearance.
"If you're going to talk about me behind my back—not even across the room, either—in our native language, at least do it properly." Starscream grumbled. "You're going soft, Barricade. At the very least keep your knowledge of Cybertronian at its peak." Frenzy cackled in amusement at Barricade being called out by their leader, to which Barricade responded by flicking him off of his shoulder, sending him flying across the room. Once he had recovered, he stood up and started chattering angrily, too fast to be understood, at Barricade, who pointedly ignored him.
"You're all very loud and obnoxious today, aren't you?" Blackout asked, once again raising himself over the top of his sheet metal wall to be able to see them while he spoke. "How's a bot supposed to get any work done?" he complained.
"C'mon, Blackout, you're done your patrol, what work is there left to do?" Bonecrusher asked, sitting up and turning slightly towards him.
"I know most of you don't really care about this mission," he said. "but I'm going to do all I can to make sure it's a success."
"I understand your enthusiasm," Starscream said, "but we have no information, nothing seems particularly out of the ordinary, and as far as we know, the Autobots haven't even arrived here on Earth yet. I think it's safe to say we're fine to take a break every now and then."
"Yes, and I'm sure Lord Megatron would agree with you on that." Blackout muttered sarcastically.
"What Megatron doesn't know won't hurt him...or any of us." he replied, looking around the room at the other Decepticons. "Right?"
"'course, Starscream."
"Don't ask, don't tell."
"Why would any of us do something that stupid?"
"Mememegatron will never know."
Starscream let out a small chuckle between sips of high-grade as Blackout, clearly ruffled by the responses of their teammates, left his room (an unusual occurrence when he was in the warehouse) and stood in the middle of the room, looking around at them with his arms crossed in a clear "I do not approve" stance.
"You—you—ugh, why was I forced to work with you 5?" he asked, dropping his arms to his sides, his fists clenching in anger.
"Because both Primus and Unicron hate you." Barricade replied.
"You can shut up now." Blackout growled.
"Can, but don't want to." he replied smugly. "C'mon, you've got time to spare. Come have a seat and relax. Don't wear out your optics staring at those stupid screens." Rolling his aforementioned optics, Blackout hesitated for a moment, clearly torn.
"Yeah, kick back and relax. It's not like staring at a bunch of meaningless monitors will help, if we don't know what we're looking for. Megatron's not anywhere in plain sight, if he's even still functioning, neither is the Cube, and those Autobot scumbags aren't even here." Brawl reiterated.
"Thank you for stating the obvious, idiot." Bonecrusher muttered, shifting his legs with more care than seemed necessary. Brawl was about to snap at him for being lazy, seeing as he had barely moved an inch from the makeshift bed since they'd gotten there, when he noticed Energon leaking from one of his leg joints.
"Damn it, Crush. What the hell did you do?" Brawl asked, kneeling beside him.
"I told you not to call me that." Bonecrusher growled. "It's nothing. Just a nick. Got a shard of glass stuck up there, but I got it out." he said.
"'Nothing'? Crush, you might've ruptured an Energon line!" he yelled.
"What's going on over there?" Starscream asked, turning away from his high-grade to look at the arguing pair.
"This idiot's hurt." Brawl replied. "I think he might've ruptured an Energon line in his leg." he explained. Starscream sighed.
"Do all of you have to do something stupid today?" he asked.
"Hey, what'd I do?" Barricade asked.
"You still exist. That's stupid enough for me." he growled. Barricade rolled his optics.
"Someone's in a bad mood." he muttered, before turning towards Frenzy. "Hey, Frenz, go take a look at Bonecrusher." he suggested, speaking softly so that the others, mostly Starscream, wouldn't hear. Frenzy nodded and skittered over to the injured Decepticon, eliciting an odd stare from Brawl.
"What're you doing, shrimp?" he asked, watching as Frenzy examined the area of the leak.
"Fixing the pr-problem." he replied, his tiny hands reaching into the first small gap he found near the injury, optics flickering and zooming as he looked for the supposed 'nick'. He made a small squealing noise, which sounded almost like radio static, when he finally found it.
"See, I told you, it's no big deal." he said. "It'll seal up in no time."
"No, y-you're wrong, veryvery big deal." Frenzy corrected. "That 'nick' went all the way through an Energon line so I'll have to seal it up Barricade can you get my kit and Blackout can you come over here and help me?" he asked, suddenly losing his stutter. While he was constantly tripping over words in English, his ability to speak Cybertronian was much more accomplished, causing him to lose his stutter but gain the talking speed of a rodent on a sugar high. Barricade opened up his chest cavity, the place where Frenzy normally stayed when Barricade wasn't transformed, and pulled out what otherwise looked to be an ordinary human toolbox. Blackout, on the other hand, wasn't so forthright with his help, hesitating for a moment. "Blablackout, need y-your help over here."
"Why? You're the not-so-official medic." he said. "You can do it yourself."
"He says he needs you to help, Blackout. Just do it already." Barricade said, handing the smaller bot his tools, who pulled one hand out of Bonecrusher's leg (his hand now covered in Energon) to accept it. He dropped it next to him with a clatter, since he couldn't support the full weight of it with just one hand. Blackout sighed and shoved Brawl out of the way, who complacently moved to allow him more room to kneel next to Frenzy.
"OK, what do you need?" he asked.
"He'll st-start moving around when I fix the line, you have to keep him from moving." he instructed. Bonecrusher growled.
"I'm not a youngling, Frenzy. I can handle a little bit of pain and keep still." he said. Frenzy snickered.
"N-not th-this kind of p-pain." he replied. "Hold him d-down, Blackblackblackout." he instructed.
"Why do I have to do it?" he asked. "Brawl's stronger. And Barricade cares more." Frenzy cackled lewdly.
"Bonecrusher w-won't move if you're the one ho-olding him down." he replied. Sensing that Bonecrusher was about to complain, he twisted his hand around inside of his leg, not really hurting him (not to any great extent, anyway), but giving him the idea to stay quiet about it. Meanwhile, Blackout rolled his optics and placed a hand on Bonecrusher's chest and stomach, ready to apply pressure should he move like Frenzy was sure he was going to do.
Without really looking, Frenzy opened his toolbox and fished around for a few moments before pulling out some sort of black ring that looked to be the right size to fit around a main Energon line. He reached into the Energon covered mess and quickly clamped the ring around Bonecrusher's broken line.
"This is g-going to hurt." he warned, and only a moment later, he applied more pressure on the ring, and suddenly Bonecrusher felt like his entire leg was on fire. His chest expanded and his back arched away from the rag pile, but Blackout kept him mostly pinned.
After a moment, the burning pain disappeared, and Frenzy pulled his arms and hands from the tangle of wires, now covered in Energon, taking the ring with him and putting it back in the toolbox.
"T-told you it would hurt." he said, tossing the toolbox up as best as his small frame could manage, Barricade catching it and placing it back in his chest cavity for safe keeping. The small bot then scampered over to his closest friend and protector, climbing up to his shoulder and then sitting there, Barricade clearly not minding being used as a chair.
"There. I'm done now. You all are going to drive me crazy." Blackout said, standing up and walking back across the open space, only this time beelining for the very same shelf where Starscream was sitting.
Brawl turned towards Bonecrusher, who had stood up and was testing his leg, which seemed none the worse for wear from the impromptu surgery of sorts.
"Who's the idiot who doesn't have a chance?" Brawl said smugly, crossing his arms. "Can't you at least wait until there's an enemy around to get hurt? Or are you just that eager to get his attention?" he asked.
"I wasn't trying to get anyone's attention, thanks." Bonecrusher growled. "And if I were, I wouldn't have gone about it by cutting open an Energon line in my leg. Anyway, if you hadn't made a big deal about it, I would've—"
"Died?" Brawl cut him off. "Yeah, probably. Thank me, damn it." he said.
"Thanks, jackass." Bonecrusher said, walking towards. Brawl let out a metallic sigh, deciding that was the best he was going to get from the older bot, and retreated towards the shelves of high-grade. Starscream was on his second canister already, and Blackout was hesitating about starting his first.
"I'm going to regret this later, aren't I?" he asked.
"Assuredly." Starscream replied. "But soon, you won't remember saying that."
None of them were quite sure when or why it happened, but eventually, the 5 bots ended up sitting in a circle (Frenzy, of course, still on Barricade's shoulder, with his own smaller canister of high-grade), drinking and talking, except for Starscream, who was mostly just ignoring them. Brawl and Bonecrusher had, unsurprisingly, positioned themselves on either side of Blackout, who was clearly not used to having so much to drink at once. He was already showing clear signs of inebriation, being much louder and more lively than usual, as was Frenzy, who, inversely, was teetering tiredly, barely able to stay sitting up. To keep him from falling, Barricade reached up and placed a steadying hand around him, almost holding him completely. Frenzy leaned into his hand, practically purring with contentment, which made Starscream roll his optics. Out of the 6 of them, he seemed the most sober, with Barricade being the only other real contender; he'd really only been sipping at his, leaving him still halfway through his second, while all of the others had progressed to their fourth or fifth.
"I actually knew one of the Prime's council members before the faction split, you know." Blackout said, leaning forwards and resting his elbows on his knees, very nearly forgetting the canister of high-grade in his hand. Bonecrusher took it from him and set it on the floor to keep him from spilling it.
"Were you even alive back then?" he asked jokingly. "I was barely old enough for recruitment then, it was so long ago." Almost losing himself in nostalgia, Brawl laughed.
"You weren't old enough for recruitment, Crush. Although you kept trying to convince the commanders you were." he reminded him.
"Look who's talking." Bonecrusher growled. "If I remember correctly, you were the one who tried to stow away on a carrier because you were too young to even get past the gates."
"I was still a youngling." Brawl growled in response. "Younglings do stupid things."
"Yes, I was alive back then, thank you very much." Blackout replied, determined not to be ignored. "I'm not that much younger than Brawl. As I was saying, I knew one of the Autobot commanders—not very well, though. Barricade, do you remember him?" Barricade looked up from the now sleeping Frenzy.
"Hm? Remember who?" he asked, clearly not having paid attention.
"Whoever that Autobot was that was always stopping us when we played in the halls of the command station." he replied.
"Oh yeah, him. I remember him. His name was Prowl or something." he said. "He was pretty young, wasn't he? Not much older than recruitment age. We never listened to him when he told us to stop playing around."
"But we sure listened when Ironhide showed up." Blackout said.
"You were the two younglings Ironhide was always complaining about? I never would have guessed." Starscream said. "You lived at the command station then, I suppose. No way two younglings would have been let in otherwise."
"Yep." Barricade said. "We were born and raised to be soldiers. Wonder if becoming members of Lord Megatron's spearhead team counts." he said with a grinding chuckle.
"Dear Unicron, I hope so." Blackout said, sitting up straight again, staying that way for only a moment before reclining backwards, resting his weight on his hands. "Otherwise my life's been a complete waste."
"I wouldn't call being the Decepticon's lead technical advisor and infiltration specialist a waste." Brawl said. "Not to mention being the youngest Decepticon to ever be recruited—you couldn't have been much older than the minimum recruitment age, even with the lowered minimum."
"I was exactly recruitment age." he corrected. "How do you remember that?" he asked.
"I was there, Blackout." he replied. "I was 4 bots down from you in the recruitment line. I noticed you because you were still practically a kid."
"You couldn't have been much older than me at the time." he said.
"I wasn't, but at least I'd grown into my protoshell." he replied. "And I was the same height as the rest of the recruits. You were practically half our size." Blackout rolled his optics, taking another sip of his high-grade.
"Let's not exaggerate, I wasn't that small." he retorted. Both Brawl and Bonecrusher chuckled.
"Yes, you were." Bonecrusher said. "That's why it was always so easy to pick you out of a crowd, even before you had an outer shell."
"You always were tiny." Barricade said, laughing.
"What about you? When did you get drafted, Barricade?" Bonecrusher asked. Barricade thought for a moment.
"I was well over recruitment age when I got picked." he replied. "I was a weak youngling. Didn't meet most of the standards to be a solider for a long time. I do remember I was recruited not long before Frenzy was built. Other than that, I really don't remember."
"How could you not remember?" Brawl asked. "You'd think joining the Decepticon army would hold a little more weight than that."
"Brawl, when you're raised from birth for one specific purpose, when you barely got a waking moment to yourself because you were being molded and modeled into the perfect soldier, you'd be surprised how unaccomplished you feel when you finally reach that goal." he explained. "I was sick of the army and the war by the time I hit my growth spurt, joining it wasn't exactly celebration-worthy for me."
"Well, if it wasn't long before the little monster was built, it couldn't have been that long ago." Bonecrusher said.
"It was exactly 2 months before we left for this mission." Starscream said. "I was the one who had to tell him he was going to be a part of this team." Brawl and Bonecrusher looked at Barricade in shock.
"So this is your first mission?" Brawl asked. Barricade nodded. "Well, that's reassuring."
"What about you, Bonecrusher?" Barricade asked.
"Eh, nothing special." he said. "Got recruited at recruitment age, rose in rank quickly, got picked for this team." They all turned towards the last member of the team, who had barely spoken during the entire conversation. "And you've been a part of Megatron's forces before the war even began, weren't you, Starscream?" Starscream nodded.
"Back when Megatron and the Prime were still brothers in arms, and the council was still united, I was handpicked by Megatron himself to be his second-in-command." he started. The others rolled their optics, knowing that they were in for a long story, and probably shouldn't have asked. "In fact, he even came to me for help when he was planning on turning against the council. He chose me because of my superior planning skills and—"
"Oh, really? I always thought it was because you two were secretly—" Barricade cut him off, but was cut off himself by Starscream smacking him upside the head.
"You be quiet." he growled. "I suppose it's not that important, anyways." he finished, clearly now eager to end the conversation at all costs.
Things continued in this fashion for what must have been hours, all the while Bonecrusher, Brawl, and Blackout getting more and more intoxicated (Starscream seemed barely affected, despite how many cannisters he had thrown back already, and Barricade never even finished his second). Eventually, when the conversation had died down, Blackout let out a tired sigh and leaned to the left, resting his head on the nearest convenient shoulder, which happened to be Brawl's. Bonecrusher tried to react casually to the sight, but ended up crushing his mostly empty cannister of high-grade in his hand. Not wanting to stick around to see the end results, both Barricade and Starscream stood up (Barricade now gently holding the still sleeping Frenzy), clearing their throats almost in unison.
"Guess that's my cue." Barricade said, looking at his leader. "You coming too, Starscream?" he asked. The older bot nodded.
"I'm right behind you." he said, and the two walked, almost sluggishly, towards the entrance, determinedly ignoring what sounded like the beginning of a drunken fight happening behind them, with Blackout yelling at Bonecrusher to back off. The sounds were immediately muted when they got outside, closing the shutter behind them.
"Well, damn." Barricade said, shaking his head. "I lost the bet."
"What're you going to do now?" Starscream asked. Barricade shrugged.
"Drive somewhere. Get a decent night's recharge. I wouldn't be able to sleep here if they're going to start fighting, anyway." he replied. "And you?" he asked in response. Starscream sighed.
"A decent night's recharge sounds nice. I probably won't get one, though." he replied. "I'll find something to do. You should get going before that little beast wakes up."
"Will do, boss." Barricade said, carefully placing Frenzy in the compartment in his chest, so that he would be protected while Barricade was transforming.
As soon as the younger bot had transformed, he took off like a shot down the road, and Starscream himself transformed and took off, not knowing what else to really do.
When they would look back and think about it later, they decided it was a fitting end.
