And now, onto the show!
Hurray for not having writer's block on this one. :)
(A short time before ... )
Starscream leaned against one of the communication arrays, chuckling darkly.
"So you say Barricade has absolutely no idea that Megatron is not only playing 'daddy' to the Wrecker's offspring, he's pretending to be her sparkmate? Oh he's not just going to blow a fuel line. I wouldn't be surprised if his spark explodes. Put me down for fifty energon chips on 'spontaneous internal injury'."
*Will do,* Knock Out said on the Nemesis' internal comm system. *And I've got Soundwave down for twenty - Playing it safe as usual.*
*Here's a thought,* Airachnid said, piping up on the comm. *What do you think Lord Megatron will do when the sparklings ask why mommy and daddy don't spend much time around each other?*
Starscream burst into laughter, his wings sweeping upwards as he leaned against the terminal, one hand over his optics. "Do - do you think he'll stoop to sharing a berth with her? Bahahahahah!" He waggled the fingers of his other hand, gesticulating as he tried to bring himself back down to a chortle. "Kisses on the cheek and pet names and loving glances across the room?"
Even Soundwave was not unaffected by the mental images that produced. His EMF was fluctuating wildly with mirth even if he was as silent as ever.
Knock Out sounded like he was desperately trying to keep his cool. He cleared his vents to regain his composure. *That's terrible to consider!* He choked back a giggle as he tried to chastise them all for thinking such funny, funny thoughts about their leader. It wasn't working. *I don't think it will get that far, but this is probably the best idea Lord Megatron's ever had - if only for the fact that we aren't going to be bored for a good long while seeing how it all plays out.*
Soundwave gently tapped on Starscream's shoulder with a long, chopstick finger and signaled through his field that Megatron would soon arrive: Look busy.
The Air Commander cleared his vents as well, straightening up and going over status reports as if he hadn't been laughing his ailerons off a few moments before.
The doors opened to the command center. Megatron entered, with a black and red femme grounder, and a white and blue winged mech grounder... seeker?
The wings on the white one caught Starscream's attention immediately. It was likely the youngling would be a flier, which would put him under Starscream's command eventually. The thought cheered him - he had once been a flight instructor to new Seekers in Vos. It had been a very long time since he had been around a new jet, even if this jet also had four wheels.
Come to think of it, it had been a very long time since any of them had been around newborn Cybertronians. Starscream pondered the effect this would have on morale and of the general behavior of the crew.
"Greetings, Lord Megatron," Starscream began with a bow and a hand over his chest, genuflecting respectfully. "I see that the generation was successful! The sparklings look healthy and strong. Of course we expected no less from such a glorious father."
Megatron raised an optic ridge at Starscream, the faintest hint of a smile at his Lieutenant playing along, despite the obsequious behavior. "Yes," he mused, looking over his shoulder at the two sparklings that followed him like ducklings. "They will make fine Decepticons."
From there Megatron took the time to show the sparklings around the command room, explaining various ship functions to them, where they were, a little of the origins of their species, and of course the basics of the struggle between Autobot and Decepticon. The two siblings soaked up everything the leader of the Decepticons had to say like dry sponges in a bucket of water, quiet and well-behaved, implicitly trusting his information and hanging on his every word. He introduced them to Soundwave who in turn showed them Laserbeak; they fawned over the deployer with infinite curiosity, their faces lighting up with bright smiles.
Starscream was next, and he continued to extol to them the virtues of the Decepticon cause and sang the praises of their "father" and his glory as a gladiator of Kaon. He was earning massive brownie points in Megatron's eyes, and for doing little more than telling the sparklings the equivalent of bedtime stories. They listened to it all with such trusting faces.
Trusting, adorable, innocent faces.
... darnit stop having trusting adorable faces!
At first Starscream thought this would be like dealing with some of the drone Vehicons, two slightly more colorful faces in a sea of jaded, war-hardened soldiers that had been around him since forever ago - but it was not. They were looking at him in a manner so naively charming that he was beginning to feel things. Things he wasn't certain he was capable of feeling after so long. These two seemed to like him, and not because they had to, not because it was part of climbing the chain of command and prestige, but because they saw him as nothing but perfect and good, and had no fear of placing themselves within reach of his talons.
It was utterly disarming, because he was beginning to believe he could like them back, and that they would never need to fear him.
Megatron had settled himself into the captain's chair, his modified throne and command deck, observing the interaction of the sparklings with his most trusted ally, and Starscream. He was watching the edges of Starscream's hardened persona thawing in the presence of the children. It was a development he would have to keep an eye on.
"Lord Megatron, Shiftlock has arrived, as per your request. She is disarmed and free of any listening or tracking devices," the voice of a Vehicon said through the intercom outside the door.
He smirked. This would be where the wheels of the grounder met the road. "Send her in," he answered.
The doors opened and Shiftlock walked into the control room. She didn't have much time to take in the sights because her two children rushed over to greet her, catching her up in a group hug. She laughed softly and gave in, putting an arm around each affectionately, lovingly stroking their helms.
"There you are," she said gently, her vocoder scintiliating with a unique motherly warmth. "Have you both been behaving?" she asked.
The siblings nodded the affirmative, basking in their mothers EMF, reassured by it, their sparks drawing strength and stability from her proximity, the situation not unlike a human mother nourishing her newborns on milk.
Starscream's optic twitched. That voice. The frequency and particular tone with which Shiftlock was speaking had a luxurious quality to it that wrapped around his processor like a perfumed veil of silk, increasing her attractiveness by ten fold. It was a natural reaction born of close proximity to the spark bonds reconnecting nearby, and the motherly purr of her voice was making the autonomic subroutines of his processor scream FERTILE FEMALE, RIDE THAT PONY in the back of his mind.
It wasn't just Starscream that found himself ... moved by the display. Soundwave was absentmindedly stroking the wings of his deployer, encouraged to show Laserbeak a little extra affection through their similar bond. Megatron was sitting a little further forward in his chair.
A distraction was in order, or so Starscream wholesparkedly believed. "So, do the children have names yet?" he asked, trying to focus on the children and not their why-is-a-grounder-suddenly-attractive-to-me mother.
"They will be given names when they have earned them," Megatron dismissively announced, subtly amused at his Lieutenant's internal squirming.
Shiftlock's blue optics shot towards Megatron and locked on him like a laser guidance system.
"But sweetspark," she protested saccarine sweet, "we both gave ourselves names, don't you remember? I thought we agreed to let the children choose their own names when they were ready. After all, assigned names are so much like the tyranny of the guilds that we fought so hard to stop."
The gauntlet had been thrown down with the force of a nuclear blast.
Starscream's engine hitched audibly with a choking sound and his wings stood up like the ears of a frightened rabbit. Soundwave's hand at Laserbeak's wing suddenly froze in place.
Oh so that was how it was going to be. That was how she was going to do battle with him from the confines of the bargain they had made. Megatron's eyes narrowed and smirk crossed his face. Challenge accepted.
"Oh that's right, dearest. How clumsy of me," Megatron charmingly answered. What did names matter so long as the sparklings could be trained to kill Autobots successfully in battle? Nevertheless, he resolved to immediately remind Shiftlock of her place. He would tolerate no challenges of any kind to his will.
"We really should get rid of those Autobot symbols on you soon, beloved. They set a confusing example for our precious sparklings."
The two siblings suddenly pulled back from their mother as if they'd gotten a mouthful of castor oil, dismayed. "Mother, are you - are you one of the evil Autobots?" her daughter asked, sounding betrayed.
Shiftlock died a little inside. Megatron had maneuvered her into denying the Autobots in front of her own children, and if she lingered in her response they would doubt her in the back of their minds.
"N-no babies, I'm not," she stammered, putting forth a Herculean effort to be reassuring and sincere.
With a wide smile Megatron tightened the noose. "Don't worry, children. Your mother had been kidnapped by the evil Autobots who tried very hard to make her one of them. But now she's been rescued and come back to us once more, safe and sound."
That satisfied the twins, who pressed close to their mother once more, relieved of their fears.
*That was the most magnificently twisted thing I have ever witnessed,* Starscream said over the Decepticon frequencies to Megatron.
*I have my moments,* Megatron commed back.
"We'll have to go see Uncle Knock Out about having those terrible Autobot symbols removed and replaced with something more appropriate," Megatron announced, savoring his victory. "And while your mother is getting her Decepticon insignias back, we can get them for the both of you as well."
This pleased the twins, who cheered, thanking their father profusely for the honor. Shiftlock consoled herself with a reminder that no matter what symbol was painted on her, her spark still belonged to the Autobot way, and the Autobot she loved.
*Uncle Knock Out?* Starscream questioned, uncertain if he'd heard that right.
*We're going to need a babysitter, and he is the most qualified of the Decepticons aboard this ship. I shudder to think of what would become of our future warriors under the tender ministrations of Dead End or Barricade,* Megatron replied.
Starscream made a face. *Ugh. Right.*
*Unless, of course, you feel that you might be better suited for the job? I noticed you paying particular attention to the boy,* Megatron commed.
Starscream's wings flicked. *Well, hahah, it was just interest in the fact that a pair of grounders managed to produce something with wings-*
*It's settled then. You'll be responsible for teaching the boy to fly,* Megatron announced. *Knock Out can train the female as they share a frame type.*
The Air Commander's wings drooped. *As you say, Master,* he morosely agreed.