Author's notes: Just a little idea that popped into my head while I was watching Transformers: Rise of the Fallen again. I just couldn't help but be fascinated by Starscream's little hatchlings. The little guys were so ugly-adorable and I remember Megatron having a barrel full of them in Dark of the Moon… but what happened to the rest of them? Surely they all didn't die. Thus, this little bit of nonsense and a new OC for me to torment with unpredictable, giant alien mechs- yay.

Shameless begging: I find myself unemployed at the moment and in need of money. I'm currently making transformers plushies and I would greatly appreciate any purchases. You can see the plushies on my deviantart page. Thanks for the help and reviews, folks.

A/N: Minor edits made while I'm working on the next chapter.

Ch 2: Learning

She was being pursued.

The twisted metal remains of old cars rose up around her like the skeletal remains of old dinosaurs. She felt that there was a security light somewhere perched high above the dark maze she was trapped in, but no matter which way she turned it remained ethereal and far away, its glow casting eerie shadows that deepened and fluidly moved if she looked too closely at them.

The darkness had become a living thing in the junkyard maze, sprawling lazily over everything with an oppressive weight. The only sounds she could hear were her own panting breaths as she ran and the teasing sounds of her pursuers. Soft snarls and hisses seemed to lash out at her from every corner and hidden pathway. Sometimes she caught glimpses of huge things moving amid the scrap and quick flares of bright eyeshine. She had only a vague impression of size and teeth as her pursuers stalked her.

And she was dimly aware that they were playing with her like a cat toyed with a mouse. Waiting for the kill until their plaything ceased to amuse them. She could only survive by escaping the junkyard, but it was endless- a labyrinth that seemed as alive as her nightmare pursuers, ever changing and warping.

She rounded a corner and screamed out. She scrambled to stop and landed on her ass, her neck craning as her mouth sagged open in terror. The monster straightened to loom high over the stacks of scrap and its glowing red eyes brightened and flared until she felt she was staring straight into hell-

Nicole sat up in bed with a gasp, sweat beading on her skin. She came face to face with four glowing red eyes. Screaming and flinging herself backward, she heard a sharp peal of noise as she fell off the side of the bed dragging most of the bedding with her in her frantic grab to not fall.

She thrashed in panic, tossing the tangled sheets off of herself and gasped.

The three little scrappers sat on her bare bed peering down at her with doubtful expressions. She pressed a hand to her chest as her heart threatened to hammer its way out through her ribcage.

"How did you get up there?" She finally panted and all three merely tilted their heads to the side as they regarded her. She shivered as she tried to desperately shrug off the last of the dream. It had been too real. Too lucid. "That's my bed." She managed, beginning to feel foolish.

The one with orange optics, that she was beginning to think of as the leader, stood up on the precarious edge of the bed to chirp at her. The other two remained crouched, but trilled at her like a couple of songbirds.

She picked herself up off the floor, her hip uttering a grievance where it had hit the floor. She eyed her alarm, wincing as it proclaimed it to be four a.m. and no matter how long she stared at it, it stubbornly refused to change its mind about what time it was.

She glowered at the scrappers who looked innocently up at her. She heaved a sigh and patted the nearest one and he ducked with a squeak. "You're lucky I don't believe you did that on purpose." She told them amiably.

Sighing, she gave the three a closer inspection. They still needed names- something she felt severely incompetent at doing. She glanced slowly from one to the other. They were all fairly similar in general, though each one had its own distinctive appearance. The smallest one was only inches shy of the other two's heights. He was also the one with four round, red optics and his armor was the darkest, nearly a charcoal color. Like coal.

"Coal," she said aloud, trying the name out and pointing at him.

Coal paused in his current activity, which just happened to be gumming the little blade-like wing on the back of the one with orange optics. Coal eyed her suspiciously before resuming his chewing. The one who was being chewed on ignored them both in favor on using his tiny little claws to dig at her bedding. Like the one with yellow optics, he was taller than Coal. In fact, the other two looked almost exactly the same aside from their optics and armor coloring. Yellow optics was a bright silvery color that reminded her of steel, while orange optics was darker like iron.

"Iron and Steel." She decided with no small amount of satisfaction. Who cared if the names weren't the most original in the world. They sounded right to her and since the little guys didn't seem to protest, she was fairly happy.

Steel rose up on his tiny back legs to chirp softly with an almost inquisitive note. Iron seconded him, but Coal seemed perfectly content to keep on chewing Iron's wing. "I'm guessing that means you're hungry?" She narrowed her eyes at the three speculatively, calculating her odds of being able to go all the way to town without them tearing her house apart in the meantime...

They weren't good odds. She had to suppose her odds of winning the lottery were significantly better.

Her only other options were outside in the snow- something she wouldn't do to the poor, adorable things or to leave them in her running car while she shopped. Also not happening.

Which left surprise option number four. Take them shopping. She winced.

Oooh yeah, that was a fun idea. She could just imagine the sort of chaos sneaking the three into Wal-Mart would entail. Screaming, fires, and general chaos her all too eager imagination supplied.

Yep. All kinds of fun.

She crouched down and opened her arms to the little guys. All three chirped curiously, but none of them ventured any closer. "Come see Momma Nicky," she crooned and wiggled her fingers enticingly.

The three eyed her from the top of the bed with no small amount of suspicion.

Coal finally let go of Iron and moved closer on all fours. All four red optics were locked with intense focus on her wiggling fingers and it took everything she had to not pull away as he swatted at her fingers with his claws. "That's a good boy," she said with no small amount of certainty herself. She made a point of watching those sharp teeth and claws as she cautiously stretched out her free hand and petted the very top of his head.

He froze completely at her touch. The look on his rudimentary little face could have been shock, but it was absolutely adorable. She rubbed the sharp points on the top of Coal's head with a fingertip and after a moment a soft repetitive crooning purr escaped the little scrapper.

She smiled as she settled down cross-legged, still rubbing. Steel and Iron edged closer, rearing up to see what she was doing. Coal flopped on his side and wiggled until he was on his back, squealing softly as he grabbed at her fingers. She tentatively picked him up and transferred him to her lap.

She was so engrossed in playing with Coal, she almost forgot about the other two until Steel chirped and nudged her arm aside with his head, before flaring out his tiny wings and pouncing into her lap. She barely managed not to jerk away in surprise. He pulled himself up by digging his claws into her shirt to make little sniffing sounds at her face. She held still, tolerating his interest until he snuffed his satisfaction and flopped in her lap to sprawl. She turned her head to see Iron had jumped off the bed too, but was still lingering just out of reach by her knee.

The little guy looked almost torn as he eyed the other two, then her. "Want to play too, Iron?" She cooed at him and he huffed, dropping onto all fours to circle her with the little blade-like wings on his back flared out. "I don't bite."

His orange optics squinted suspiciously at her words, before he paused to nip at her offered fingers. She scowled. "Meany." She eyed the other more docile scrappers. "Who wants to go for a car ride?"

They didn't particularly mind being put inside the car on the whole, though Iron loudly warbled in protest at being carried from the nice warm house through the snow to her car. Getting all three inside the car proved to be a slight challenge. The three decided that they were playing some new type of game and every time the car door was opened to place one inside, the others would make a break for the outside while chirping maniacally.

The words 'stay,' 'bad,' and 'no' didn't seem to phase them either.

But Nicky eventually managed to get all three into the backseat of her beat up little Nissan. They shrilled at her as she slid into the driver's seat, before exploring the backseat with little snuffling sounds and chirps.

The sound of the car starting coaxed sharp squeals of fear from Steel and indignant sounding warbles from Iron and Coal. Putting the car into gear only made them vocalize louder, as they wobbled and fell onto all fours on the seat.

She spared a glance at them, and it was all too easy to see the wary alarm in the roundness of their glowing optics. "It's okay." Her foot eased onto the break as she maneuvered her car along the icy gravel with soft crunches. "This'll be fun." She wasn't quite sure who she was trying to convince- them or herself.

A trio of unhappy whines came from the backseat.

Feeling delightfully bad, Nicky dragged a shopping cart from its corral toward her car. She gripped the handle of the backdoor and yanked it open carefully after checking to make sure none of the three were close enough to fall out.

Iron squinted at her from his perch against the opposite door. Steel and Coal warbled quietly, their bodies almost blending together as they curled up in the middle of the seat. So cute, she thought with a smile. She leaned into the car to retrieve Steel, ignoring Coal's annoyed chirp to place Steel in the cart. He made his own displeased sound at touching the cold metal, but she ignored him to reach back in and pull out Coal.

Iron's little metal panels flared out in annoyance as he made a mad scramble to dive into the floorboard and under the seat. "Oh no, you don't." She lunged after him and managed to grab him around the middle to drag him out. He shrieked loudly, claws flailing and hissed at her.

She scowled as she noticed what he'd done to her car on the ride over. Tiny little claws could do a surprising amount of damage to cloth upholstery. She gritted her teeth as she gently added Iron to the cart. She stared at the deep shreds on her car seats and grimaced. Not so cute.

She turned her glare on the three as they awkwardly tried to stand in the cart. All three looked unrepentant and as irritated with her as she felt with them at the moment. Sighing, she pulled off her jacket and dumped it over the three. "Don't claw that, please," she muttered angrily as the three wriggled around for a moment before settling down.

All she had to do was grab a few packages of batteries for her little scrappers…. She could handle that.

She eyed the scrappers as they cuddled together under the jacket. She was hopeful they would just behave and sleep while she shopped.

She headed inside the store, nervously smiling at the door greeter. She headed straight for the front and the big rack of batteries. One of the scrappers snuffled softly, but otherwise they stayed quiet. She started pulling handfuls of battery packs off of the rack, placing them in the top of the cart. Another scrapper chirped softly.

"Please, stay quiet," she murmured under her breath as she grabbed even more batteries and frantically headed for the check-out. She loaded the batteries onto the belt, trying to ignore the curious look the clerk was shooting at her. His eyes lingered on her jacket, but he didn't say anything.

She fidgeted impatiently as he scanned her purchase and she paid. He glanced at her jacket again, probably noting that it looked lumpy. She smiled frantically as she snatched her receipt and fled for the door.

"Ma'am, if I could speak with you?"

Nicky frowned and looked up at the big man who'd stepped into her path. He was nicer dressed than the other employees and he didn't look happy. She hesitated, before plastering a smile onto her face. "Can I help you?"

He shot a pointed look at her cart and more specifically her lumpy jacket that was hiding the scrappers. She felt her pulse jump as she licked her lips.

"Ma'am, could you please show me your receipt?"

She fumbled with her purse, before remembering it was in her pocket and she offered it to him. The insane urge to just grab the cart and run like all hell surged through her. She was all too aware of the people openly staring and their curious or pitying expressions.

"Could you remove your jacket, ma'am?" He asked, holding the receipt that he hadn't even glanced at in his hand still.

Run, run, run, her brain wailed. She reached to carefully grip the sleeve of the jacket, but hesitated. What would happen if he saw the little scrappers? Nightmare scenarios flipped through her brain as she locked her trembling knees together. Alien autopsies and cover-ups played through her head. Her bottom lip trembled as she imagined some government scientists cutting apart the scrappers to see what made them tick.

"Ma'am?"

She lunged for the handle of the cart and tried to run.

The security guy wasn't having any of it, though. She shrieked as he grabbed her arm. She did the only thing she could think of- she flailed her purse at him, screaming at the top of her lungs.

"HELP! I NEED AN ADULT!"

The man wrestled with her, trying to get her under control. "Ma'am, stop resisting." He snarled, as he tried to get her stop hitting him with her purse and she just kept crazily flailing her purse at him.

The noise woke up the scrappers.

Nicky was only dimly aware of what happened next. Everything became so much chaos as Iron lurched out from under the jacket and pounced on the side of the cart, hissing and showing his sharp little teeth in anger.

The security guide cursed, letting go of her to shove away from the hissing scrapper. Nicky slammed into the cart and shoved it at the door as someone else screamed. She plowed into the automatic door when it didn't open quickly enough, but she managed to slam the cart through the narrow gap and ran for her car with it.

Steel and Coal squealed loudly as the cart bounced through the parking lot and her shoes scrabbled on the melted snow and ice. "Oh shit… oh shit… oh shit…" She panted as she fumbled for her keys, dropped her purse, grabbed her purse, found her keys, hit the panic alarm by accident, and finally managed to unlock the door.

By the time she'd shoved her grocery bags into the backseat along with the scrappers, they were all wailing their distress and she wanted to bawl herself. She shoved the cart away as she dived into driver's seat and started the car. A glance revealed a few people had emerged to stare at her by the door. No one was chasing her, but damn if she didn't flee like they were.

Her tires squealed as she drove far too fast through the parking lot and cut off another car, careening onto the road. She hunched herself over the wheel as she sped for home, her heart pounding so hard in her chest she thought she'd have a heart attack.

"Why is it that you cannot seem to do anything right?"

Skywarp hid his wince as the all-too familiar and unwelcome voice of Starscream filled his quarters. He bit back a hiss of annoyance as his wing panels pulled closer to his body and the instinctive urge to simply 'port away from the perceived threat surfaced. His optics narrowed as he turned to face his superior.

Starscream was much the same as he'd been when they'd met as sparklings. He was still smaller-framed than Skywarp and shriller. Uppity little glitched son of a malfunctioning slag-heap. He huffed through his vents as he narrowly watched Starscream circle him.

The long lines of his face were pulled down with disapproval, making the expression look comically exaggerated. Not that Skywarp was about to point that out. He could do without being smacked by one of his trine.

"Mind telling me exactly what I did this time?" Skywarp rumbled softly, his own voice a much deeper bass growl.

Starscream sighed and Skywarp felt his annoyance double. The glitch had always had a flare for the dramatic and it had quickly gone from amusing to just downright obnoxious. Starscream was the kind of mech you just instinctively needed to beat the slag out of.

"I just counted the sparklings… three are missing. I can't help but believe that you lost them in transit," Starscream drawled slowly as he paused to inspect a data-pad on Skywarp's desk.

Skywarp bristled and couldn't help the angry growl that escaped him. "What?"

Starscream perused his personal files for a moment. "You lost three sparklings. Do you have any concept how… displeased our esteemed leader will be?" Starscream dismissively tossed the data-pad onto Skywarp's berth with a flick of his wrist. "And I'll be responsible, of course for your failure."

"Well, then. Sucks to be you." Skywarp turned away with an agitated huff through his vents. He tried to brush past his leader, but Starscream seized him by a wing panel.

Skywarp went rigid, before he rounded on Starscream with an angry hiss of outrage, his optics brightening dangerously. "I'd let go, Screamer."

Starscream snarled softly, refusing to back down. "Don't call me that." He gave Skywarp a shove then straightened to his less than imposing height. With his back to the sporadic glow-panels set into the high ceiling of Skywarp's quarters, the shadows on Starscream's face stretched and deepened to give his commander's angular features a sinister slant. "You are going to find and recover those sparklings."

"I am, am I?" Skywarp rolled his shoulders, feeling mechanisms whirr and settle with a satisfying rev. He gave a nonchalant huff through his vents, as if he was unbothered that Starscream was in his fragging quarters and invading his space. "Doesn't sound like something I'd do."

Optics narrowing until Skywarp couldn't see how Starscream could even see him, his wing commander glowered at him. "You'll do this for me or I'll tell Megatron who really downloaded that virus into his personal terminal."

Skywarp huffed softly, his lips quirking to flash his sharp dental plating. "Then I suppose I have work to do." He considered the looping path he'd taken across this miserable squishy planet with the sparklings. He'd stopped sporadically, back-tracking, and bouncing around to keep the Autobot's off his aft. He supposed it was possible he'd accidentally lost a few along the way. He sighed through his vents. He winked an optic at Starscream just to annoy him and then he did what he did second best.

He teleported.