"So, what do you think?"
"I think you are an idiot."
"Not me! The painting!" The mech almost seemed oblivious to the insult.
"The painting thinks you are an idiot too," The other responded coolly.
"You have no appreciation for the finer arts."
Thundercracker crossed his arms and looked sideways at the large piece of artwork before him. You could hardly call it art though.
"Is it... the flag of America?"
"Well duh!" Skywarp seemed offended now, waving a hand in the direction of his so-called masterpiece. Thundercracker's wings twitched as he leaned over to inspect it. The small organics that were native to this mudball were fanatic about hanging their country's flag almost everywhere. It was hard to ignore this country's flag since they had one on practically every city block and learning center, and on quite a few houses. The strange pattern was almost ingrained in Thundercracker's processor, but even if it hadn't been he still would have known that something was off. The paint had been lazily applied, drops of one color running down over others. Plus he was pretty sure the blue part wasn't an oval, and the stripes were supposed to be horizontal, right?
"It looks amazing, Skywarp." He sighed.
"You really mean it?" The black and purple jet had a look of glee in his optics.
"No, not really."
"Frag you." Skywarp turned his back to his wing mate.
"So now what are you going to do with it?"
Skywarp turned his helm and looked at him funny. "I'm going to keep it," He said as though it were obvious.
"Where, exactly? Not in your quarters I hope. You barely have room enough to recharge there."
"Maybe I'll hang it up in the Rec Room or something," He said, flipping his hands casually.
Thundercracker suddenly looked nervous. If anyone saw that Skywarp was actually trying to replicate a human design, he and his trine would be the laughingstock of the Nemesis. "I don't think that's such a good idea..."
"And why not?" Skywarp placed his hands on his hips.
"You know how many fights occur in the Rec Room. It'll get smashed. Plus, it's still a terrible painting," Skywarp looked back at his art and sighed.
"There's just no pleasing you, is there TC?"
"Not unless you suddenly go mute. And don't call me that."
Skywarp ignored the blue jet in favor of looking completive. He walked around the his workmanship with one hand stroking his chin. Then he turned back to Thundercracker. "Do you think if I give it to the squishies' leader he'll give us free energy?"
Thundercracker had the grace to at least pretend to mull it over before replying, "No." Skywarp just shrugged.
Thundercracker shook his helm and began to walk out of the room when something occurred to him. "Skywarp? What materials did you use to make that?"
"The canvas, blue paint, red paint, white paint, paintbrush," He counted off each of the objects on his fingers as he went. "Why?"
"Where did you get it all?" He almost regretted asking the question as soon as it left his vocalizer.
"Well the canvas is just a bunch of cloth I found draped over some house. The paintbrush I got from my collection of giant things."
Thundercracker's left optic twitched, so Skywarp took that as a sign to explain further.
"I started my collection when we first landed here. Well, after we woke up I mean. I noticed how everything was so small so I began picking up everything that was our size. I have a big thing I think the squishies call a doughnut that can fit around your wrist." He held up his own arm for emphasis.
"And...the paintbrush?"
"Pulled it off of some building," He snatched the object in question out of subspace and tossed it from hand to hand, smiling. "Neat, huh?"
Thundercracker tilted his helm to one side. "And the paint came with it?"
"Umm... no. Why do you think I painted a red, white, and blue flag?"
Thundercracker and Skywarp both cringed at a sudden, very high-pitched shriek from out in the hallway. "SKYWARP!"
Skywarp saluted to Thundercracker. "See ya, I'll be hiding for the next few joors." And in a flash of purple, he was gone. Thundercracker was not so Primus-blessed with such a gift, and so he turned in a circle furiously looking for a place to hide. He dove behind a pile of crates just as a familiar frame walked into the room.
Well, the frame was familiar. Everything else, not so much. Starscream was positively fuming, fists clenched at his sides and optics nothing short of murderous. The three colors on his body were unnaturally pale and scratched, especially his hands. Thundercracker had to clap his own servos over his mouth to keep from laughing as he recalled Starscream's latest punishment for trying to blast Megatron in the back: scrubbing the outside of the Nemesis. The water had significantly dulled the Starscream's paintjob, and Skywarp had just used all of the tri-colored Seeker's paint for the entire month.
The blue jet quietly tiptoed to the exit, unnoticed by Starscream who was looking at the sloppy rendition of a flag with a glare that was half fury and half confusion. Thundercracker had just gotten a few steps away from the door when he had a loud crash of splintering wood and the splatter of not-quiet-dry paint against the walls, followed by many Cybertronian expletives that not even the Autobots knew. He broke into a sprint, figuring if he could get far enough away from ground zero he could avoid getting involved.
But Skywarp was so dead.
"HAHAHAHA!" Rumble leaned over with laughter while his brother struggled to hold the iPad up.
"Never gets old!" Frenzy said, the video finally coming to an end for the third time. "That scientist is supposed to be some kinda genius, but even Skywarp doesn't get stuck inside the walls!"
"Can you imagine if he did? Wonder if we could trick him into it."
"Nah, he's dumb, but he ain't that dumb. Maybe." More laughter ensued, resulting in a few strange looks from Blast Off and Vortex who were passing by and an irritated glance from Ravage. The three cassettes were hanging out in Soundwave's quarters for lack of anything better to do. Soundwave entered the room, and the twins struggled to contain their hysterics. The blue cassette tape merely walked past them all, but then turned back to them.
"Query: Where did you get that?"
Frenzy looked down at the iPad in his hand and fidgeted, "Found it." Soundwave didn't move so Rumble continued where his brother had left off.
"Yeah, we were just walkin' round in the park and this guy just dropped it in front of us. Don't know what he was so scared of." He finished with a casual shrug. Soundwave turned back to his computer without a response, but they were used to it and so took off. They ambled along down the hallway, throwing random insults at whoever passed by for no reason other than it was funny. They couldn't help but poke fun at Starscream for obvious reasons, but they eventually had to stop when Megatron walked by with a burning glare.
"So what else is there to do?" The blue cassette asked. "Wanna go raiding?"
"The electronic stores? Or maybe crash a concert?" Frenzy circled his brother, who's expression was becoming a sort of mischievous crossed with evil, a terrifying sight on the tiny mech.
"I have a better idea."
"Okay, I'll get the big gray things while you open the gate on those furry orange ones."
"They look more yellow to me."
"I don't really care! Get the things with the weird hair collars!"
"Gotcha!" Frenzy winked before crouching down and crawling on his hands and knees to the large cage. The creatures inside looked like furry yellow versions of Ravage. They looked just as lazy too. He came to the back of the cage where the latch was and studied it. He snorted. "Primitive. Not even encrypted." He stretched his hands, mock cracking his knuckles and cocked his head from one side to the other like all the awesome characters in the movies do. He clutched the lock and snatched it away, the metal bar snapping easily in his hands. He grabbed the edge of the door and held it wide open.
"Here kitty kitty!" He called, but the felines just yawned at him. Frenzy placed his hands on his hips and bit his lower lip. This just wouldn't do. He ran inside the cage, but stopped and glanced back for a moment to wonder why no one had seen him yet. He realized why when he saw Rumble standing on top of one of the massive gray things, making funny faces and rude gestures at the crowds of squishies yelling below him. Then he turned back to his own assignment. He carefully analyzed the situation, considering many variables and outcomes, deciding how to best receive the desired reaction. He went behind the creature farthest in the back and picked up its tail. The lazy thing, probably male, merely glanced at him.
"I wonder what would happen if I did THIS!" He gave the tail a hard yank and immediately the feline launched into the air. Frenzy sprinted wildly for the exit, the animal roaring behind him, several following in its wake. He laughed and ran faster, leaping over a wall and ducking behind it, losing the infuriated carnivores. Rumble was already there waiting for him, cycling air heavily.
"Man those things can move!" Rumble exclaimed, pointing back at the big animals he had released. Frenzy briefly wondered how animals so large could run as fast as they were, but quickly jumped up after his retreating brother. They stopped at the reptile house and smashed many of the glass containers and watched as the scaly things crawled out. Rumble paused for a moment, staring down at a particularly large snake.
"I've see one of them before..." But Frenzy grabbed his arm and yanked him away before he could consider it further.
They sat on a hill watching the pandemonium occurring inside the city zoo. The sun was just setting behind it, giving it a sort of calm look, like organized chaos. Of course, if it weren't for the humans that insisted on screaming although it accomplished nothing and the wild calls of the lose animals it could have been more peaceful.
"Day well spent, huh bro?" Rumble elbowed Frenzy.
"Well I don't think Megatron would agree, but I sure enjoyed it."
Rumble gazed on at the scene, then tilted his head at the sound of a siren. "And there are the Protectobots. We better scram." He pointed his thumb behind him.
"Yeah, let's get the frag outta here." And with that they began jumped into the air and flew home, strange zebra sounds, wild bird calls, and loud bellows slowly fading from their audios.
Wonder what tomorrow will bring?
A/N Yes, I am well aware that iPads had not been invented yet in the 1980s. But let's just pretend, shall we?
R&R please!
