Adjusting to being a real recruit was quite easy for Flame - he was treated better than he was by the Autobots. By then he had learned quite a few things about the Grand Architect, such as the fact that his fleets operated entirely on Worldsweepers. An interesting choice, in all honesty. He didn't get the feeling they were a former Decepticon however.

He'd been given free range of the ship he was to do whatever he pleased as long as it was in the lines of non-dangerous to others, and it was overly exciting when he got access to the Grand Architect's supply of materials. He'd never had access to fully perform any experiments with the Autobots - anything he wanted to try was deemed unethical or wild. Here, he could do anything he wanted. It was a nice change of pace for Flame, as he never felt bored when being allowed to go at it without restrictions.

Flame was in the middle of writing out plans for his next project when he felt his built in commlink light up. ::You around, Flame?:: Sideways said, his voice seeming impatient.

::Uh,:: Flame stumbled. ::I obviously am, since these are short-range comms, aren't they? You specified that when you gave me one.::

::I meant it metaphorically,:: Sideways responded. Flame felt himself tense up, not out of fear, but out of the annoyance that Sideways thought he wasn't smart enough to know that Sideways was making a sarcastic comment.

::Yes, alright. Do you need anything?:: Flame said back.

::Yeah. Meet me at the bridge, Flame. And make it fast, it's not worth wasting time when the enemy is approaching so soon.::

Overly serious about whatever was happening, Flame thought. That's all Sideways was. But Sideways seemed to have been under the Grand Architect's command for ages, so Flame's bigger concerns were something like that affecting him and Scorponok.

Him and Scorponok. Flame didn't understand why every time he thought about the situation, his processor included Scorponok. It was just a coincidence they ended up in this situation together. There was no reasoning for him to think of the other mech every time he wondered about what to do in this new situation. He didn't need another attachment to drag him down. So he put both his stray thoughts and work aside, and decided to meet with Sideways for whatever the bike required his assistance for.

"Hello, Flame," Sideways said, as Flame entered the room.

"What's up?" Flame asked, noticing nobody else was around.

"Well, I've been talking to the Grand Architect, and they're considering trying to pair you off to work with another one of us in service. You're a genius - but from what I've noticed, not quite skilled in properly executing things."

"So you called me up in person just to tell me I'm incapable of basic instructions? You dig a lot deeper than I thought you would, even with a name like that."

"And I'm right and you know it. You've done nothing but refuse to associate with anyone else - are you afraid of someone being better than you? Such as Sc-"

"Don't say his name. I'm nothing like him. We just were in the same place, at the same time. That's all our relationship extends to."

"Is that so?"

"I've told you multiple times!" Flame exclaimed, feeling his hands curl into fists. He approached Sideways, and grabbed him by the glass on his chest. "Never. Ever. Associate me with Scorponok again. Got that?"

Sideways' response was not one Flame expected. He only laughed it off and pushed Flame away, from him, standing up and adjusting the small cannons on his arm. "I could kill you right now. You've delivered a point, but next time, you're going to want to be civil about it."

Flame didn't know how to respond. Those words had been said to him so many times they had nearly lost all effect, but right here in the moment, they hurt the most. Nowhere he went would leave him alone. "Alright, sir," Flame sputtered out, clasping his hands together and backing off.

"Anyways, where were we? Ah yes, finding you someone to work with. We've both agreed on the best bet."

"It's Scorponok, isn't it."

"You don't seem surprised."

"You bring him up constantly around me. It's hard to be surprised when you make it clear as day."

"Mocking another one, aren't you, Sideways?" said the mech entering the room. They were a seeker, with a mostly purple and teal frame, and they glared at Sideways as if they wanted him dead.

"Ah! Slipstream. Meet Flame. Flame, you know how introductions go, I'd assume," Sideways said.

"He's. An ex-Decepticon," Flame said.

"She. It's she now," Slipstream corrected.

"Don't kill me," was the improper response the former Autobot gave.

"Why do you always jump to these conclusions, Flame?" Sideways inquired.

"You tell me if it's either the fact that I worked under Prowl, or the fact that I'm paranoid about everything since I was on Garrus-9. I survived Overlord."

"Interesting. We did have our….former Decepticons interact with your friend already," Sideways went on. Flame was too tired at this point to correct that no, Scorponok was not his friend.

"Of course. Because you guys are going to declare that you're the bad guys and somebody like me wouldn't want to join you."

"I don't think that's what Sideways intended, even if he is often vague most of the time," Slipstream said.

"Nope," Flame continued. "Always the same story. They go 'oh! You're an Autobot, that means you're a good guy, right?' And then they find out that I'm disloyal and instantly agree with my higher ups that I'm useless and that for some damn reason I should be imprisoned instead of just killed. I did things worse than you Decepticons. And yet, they let you have the peace of dying easily while torturing their own."

"And the moral of the story is?" Slipstream asked.

"The Autobots absolutely suck," Flame said.

"I think that's something we can both agree on. But I'm only here to inform Sideways that the Grand Architect wanted him. It's been too long," Slipstream said, before leaving. Sideways took off after her, and Flame could catch a glimpse of him changing into his alternate mode and dashing down the halls of the Worldsweeper, as if there was a deadline.

His only response to the situation he had just been put into was to just let it sink in, realizing that nothing really did change. He just had to make the most of the respect these mechs had for him.

Flame spent that night unable to fall into recharge. He was overly anxious about everything that was going on, and having past wounds torn into definitely wasn't good for his mental state. They all thought he was bad, and wrong, didn't they? He'd ruined his chances of ever fitting in with these other mechs, and couldn't help but feel himself want to offline quickly for it. He figured by the time he most likely would end up asleep, he'd probably be awoken moments later, and thought it wasn't worth it. He leaned back against the wall behind the berth in the room he'd been staying in, and only could find himself looking outside the small window at the stars. Space doesn't care who you are, Flame thought. And that was comforting enough to keep him calm throughout the night.

By the time he found himself being called up by Sideways again, Flame had processed just about every terrible situation that could happen to him solely based on things he knew about. Most of them ended with him dead, having been unable to even feel a life worth living for a moment. In Flame's opinion, those were the better routes.

Flame was mostly distracted by his own thoughts than his actual surroundings, so bumping into another mech shouldn't have been as alarming as it was. He was looking down at the floor before finding himself ramming against a taller Cybertronian, and found himself falling backwards due to force of impact. This was prevented as the other tightly gripped his arm and helped him regain his balance, only for Flame to look them up in the face to thank them. Unfortunately, Flame found himself distracted by who he'd just found. It was Scorponok.

"Oh! Flame. I've been wondering where you've been," Scorponok said, releasing his grip on the other's arm. Flame eyed him up and down, noticing the various physical details that were different from the last time he'd seen him - most notably, the extra guns and the shorter height. His processor liked that, for some reason. He felt better being closer to the other's height.

"Upgrade, huh?" Flame asked, currently eyeing Scorponok's new hands, which were more of a mixture between his previous claws and actual normal hands.

"My former frame was heavily integrated with myself being a Headmaster at the time. I got it fixed to let myself adjust back to being myself again. Alone," Scorponok replied. "Whoever found us has a lot of resources we could use, Flame. You should definitely consider your options or staying or not."

"So you haven't spent the past few solar cycles dealing with Sideways?"

"He's barely interacted with me. Is something wrong with him?"

"No, no, it's. It's fine. He's fine. You don't need to worry," Flame said, at a loss for proper words. Of course Scorponok had it better than him. He always had, regardless of the situation. "I have to meet with Sideways. You have fun doing whatever."

"He asked for me as well."

"Oh," Flame said. Great, he thought. They'd shoved him already with Scorponok. Flame was, at the very least more tolerant of working with him, but also felt Sideways and whoever this Grand Architect person was should have considered the fact that Scorponok was definitely way out of his league. They weren't alike. Scorponok was infamous for working with fusing technological and organic beings, while Flame's greatest achievement had been temporary revival of a dead spark that nobody even was there for. The thing he worked the hardest for couldn't even be confirmed by others. Probably the only thing anyone would ever think when they heard his was "Hey, isn't that the terrible Autobot from the Aequitas trials?". He didn't want to be associated with that period of his life anymore.

"Flame?" Scorponok asked. "Shouldn't we be going to meet with Sideways now?"

"Oh, yeah, we," Flame stumbled. "Uh."

"I'll take that as a yes," Scorponok said, and took off. Flame followed, still at a loss for words.

"Ah, so the two of you are finally here," Sideways said when they both entered the bridge.

"Why wouldn't we show up?" Scorponok asked.

"Some mechs tend to be late. A very specific one I'm thinking about in particular. Be glad you haven't met him yet."

"So, let's hear it. You told the boss that we'd work together because I've argued with you so much about the fact that no, he is not my friend, and now you're here to announce it," Flame said.

"That's the general gist of it, yes," the bike replied.

"Alright. That's fine. We should be able to leave now," the tank replied. "I have to talk with Scorponok - alone." Flame grabbed Scorponok by one of his claws and pulled at him to follow outside the room, where Flame instantly broke into a panic.

"They want us. They want us for a reason and it's not a good one," Flame said.

"What do you mean?" Scorponok asked. "They haven't sent a group of beastformers to mutilate me yet. Although I have not tried to assert my leadership here either?"

"Look. Techy looked at you and went 'Wow! That's someone I really want to add to my collection of Decepticons I pick up.' Then he looked at me and went 'Oh, that's the terrible war criminal Autobot. Might as well brand him and make him mine forcefully through manipulation tactics by a guy who for all we know has two heads.' I don't trust the Grand Architect, I don't trust Sideways, and I sure as hell don't know why I'm coming out to you about this."

"It's because we were inducted together. Or at the same time, rather," Scorponok said.

"Yes, that makes the most sense," Flame said, counting his fingers as if to calculate how long he'd been there. "Nine solar cycles. In nine solar cycles all that's happened to me is I've been stabbed in the chest with a burning metal rod and that spot still hurts. The brand doesn't remove like one from the Autobots would. And meanwhile, you don't even sport his sigil. There's a suspicious bias for you going on and I think we need to get to the bottom of it."

"..." was Scorponok's reply to Flame's rant. "You're overthinking this."

"I overthink everything, and if I'm forced to work with the likes of you, that's something you'll learn about me."

And with that, Flame stormed off to leave Scorponok to question his loyalty to the one who had saved them, without time to properly think about it beforehand.