Possession.
Chapter Three.
A/N: The chicken-wing situation at the end of this chapter was something writer MeowthTwo and I worked on together.
When Thundercracker got back, Sam had, as requested, scrubbed himself, changed his clothes, and begun practicing his Decepticon letters using one of the ten pads of flip chart paper he had been provided with. He was halfway down the first page when Starscream called him through.
"Here. Pick up the paper, we won't use the camera, it's too fiddly, we'll send the image on a memory chip." Starscream told Sam. Nodding, Sam picked up the paper, front page in front of him, and then Barricade, who had returned a few minutes before, leaned in, closer than Sam was comfortable with, to tell the truth. Blue beams leaped out of the frontliner's optics, and ran up and down him. Then, they just as abruptly stopped.
"Okay, Sam, may I suggest you write your letter?" Starscream suggested. "Also, why not practice your learning of our written word and write it in Standard Decepticon?" Sam pulled a face at the thought of his parent's and Mikaela's reactions to a letter full of what they would see as gobbledegook. Starscream must have seen the face he pulled and divined the reason for it somehow, for he said "It will be given to an Autobot, they can translate it for those members of your family who do not read our language."
'Which equals, with the exception of myself, all of them,' Sam thought but did not say, instead bowing to Starscream (as non-Seeker-to Seeker, as he had been taught) before leaving to do as the Seeker had suggested. This was one order or suggestion he did not resent - his Autobot friends and family could be assured of his safety.
The problem Sam encountered, when it came to writing the letter, was not knowing some words. He eventually ended up writing it in large letters on the flip-pad paper whilst close enough to either Starscream or Barricade to ask them what "safe" or "well-treated" was in their written language. Starscream or Barricade took a marker and drew each word-form on a separate flip-pad page, and Sam carefully copied the word, keeping the flip pages to memorise for later.
By the time he had finished he had composed a letter stating that he was safe and healthy, being well-treated, and asking them not to worry about him too much.
He folded it into four, scribed a name on the front, and handed it to Starscream, who, to Sam's surprise did as he had promised by not opening it to read it. Instead he handed it to Barricade, who was removing a chip from a slot in his neck, and said "Find an Autobot and give this to them. Tell them it's from Sam, that should get their co-operation. Then stop off at somewhere you can get something the boy calls 'fried chicken' and some soda drink for him."
To Sam's surprise, the frontliner didn't seem to take umbrage at being asked to perform such a seemingly menial task, but left without a word, without even appearing to sulk.
Starscream crouched and Sam recognised the shuttering of the Seeker's optics that meant he was taking the Cybertronian equivalent of a nap. As there was little Sam could do till Barricade returned, he went back to his area of the room to memorise the new words. If he ever got a chance to write another letter to his friends and family, he would have more words available.
oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo
Barricade drove towards the location of the Autobot base in a leisurely fashion, taking plenty of long-cuts and diversions until he was well away from their secondary base. As far as he was aware, he did not have any Autobots on his tail this time, but if he did, well, let them wonder why he was driving in a seemingly aimless fashion.
Upon reaching the Autobot base he drove almost right up to the gates to make sure he got someone's attention. When Ironhide challenged him, threatening to blow him to atoms unless he either left or stated his business, Barricade unfolded into his bipedal form and held out the note and chip so that anyone watching could see them.
"Well, what an unfriendly greeting to the bearer of good news," he said. "Your squishy mascot, contrary to what you probably think, is safe and well, and I bear a note from him and visual proof of his wellbeing." He crouched and put the note and chip on the ground, weighing the paper down with a stone, and was about to turn and leave when he had an idea.
"As I said, Sam is safe and well." he said again. "However, that could change if I am followed, as I was earlier. The beating I gave that Autobot was merely a warning. Sam is far less resilient than your silver comrade. If I am not followed, he will likely remain unharmed. I cannot guarantee that he will stay that way if I find I am being followed." The frontliner paused, then spoke again. "If you still plan to follow me, be aware that my sensors will be on at full capacity, and you had better be very sure that I won't spot you, for Sam's health, and possibly his life, will depend upon it."
Having likely deterred any would-be tails, Barricade folded back into alt and zoomed off.
'Now,' he wondered, 'where is the nearest fried chicken restaurant?'
oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo
Once the Decepticon frontliner had left, Ironhide lowered the force-field and opened the gate to go and fetch the note. Optimus had given the order to all patrolling Autobots immediately after Barricade's departure that should they spot the Police-cruiser 'Con, under no circumstances was he to be followed.
"Bumblebee?" Ironhide said as he walked into the main control room. waving the note. "Meh Decepticon's not so good but I think this is for you."
Bumblebee took the note and chip, and looked at Optimus questioningly. Optimus nodded, and Bumblebee walked over and inserted the chip into the main computer. As he waited for the computer to access and project the image it said the chip contained, he looked at the note. Sure enough, there was his name in Standard Decepticon on one side.
He carefully opened it and squinted at the writing inside, as on the computer screen a picture of Sam, holding a paper, appeared. Sam looked a little nervous, but aside from that he seemed well enough.
"Computer, zoom in on the date, just under the paper name on the right as it appears on the photo," Optimus ordered. The computer obediently did so, until everybody present could tell that the paper was dated for that day.
"What does the note say, Bumblebee?" Optimus asked.
"It's from Sam. He says he's unharmed and being treated well, and that we should not be too worried. He sends his regards, his love to his parents and Mikaela, and has signed his name. All in Standard Decepticon."
"Why would he be doin' that?" Ironhide asked.
"I don't know, but he's still got a long way to go before being fluent." Bumblebee said, turning the paper towards the others. "His tenses are messed up, his punctuation nonexistent, and his grammar is just awful." He paused. "But none of that matters. That picture proves that he's alive and well.
oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo
Sam heard Barricade come in, and got up and went through. To Sam's surprise, the black and white Decepticon put down a family-sized bucket in front of him, although in Barricade's big fingers it looked more like a paper cup. Two bottles of soda followed.
"I didn't know what sort of chicken you wanted, Sam, so I got that, there's something from everything in there. Battered breast, drumsticks, chicken burgers, nuggets, fajita wraps, whatever one of those is, and oh yes, something described as 'hot and spicy wings.'"
Sam noticed Barricade turn to look at Starscream as he said this and followed the frontliner's gaze. He was in time to see Starscream's own wings twitch as the Decepticon Leader shuttered his optics with a grimace. That was when Sam realised that Barricade's phrasing had been quite deliberate, the grounder was having a laugh at the Seeker's expense. Sam rushed to clarify things.
"They're chicken wings, fried and coated with a spicy sauce. Look." Sam said, unearthing one and holding it up. The Seeker looked and shuddered.
"You actually eat some poor flying creature's wings?" he asked.
"Well, the animal is killed for its meat anyway, so they're a by-product." Sam explained. "Chicken wings used to be discarded, but it's a case of "waste not, want not I guess. Anyway, they are vestigial and non-functional, chickens don't actually fly, but there's a mouthful or two of meat on a wing, so they're sold as snack food." Sam bit into one hungrily, and was surprised to see Starscream wince and turn away.
"Do you have to eat them in front of me?" he asked plaintively. "You're making my own wings itch."
"Oops, sorry." Sam said, honestly contrite. He hadn't realised that such a thing might bother the big Seeker. Ignoring Barricade's amused grin, Sam picked the family bucket up in one arm and grabbed one of the sodas in the other.
"I'll see you two once I've eaten." he said, giving the two their respective bows. Then he retreated to his own part of the room to consume the bucket's contents. He was a little surprised at how squeamish a mech could be even about the wings of organic creatures being taken from their owners for consumption.
As he did so, he made a mental note to remember that if he asked for fried chicken, to specify thighs or breast or nuggets or burgers, but absolutely no wings.
Sam stopped himself mid-chew as he realised that against all logic, he was starting to care about Starsceam.