Spitfire dropped off his passengers as he circled around the docking tower of their Decepticon ship, and then came back and landed himself once the platform cleared off. He entered the lift with the other four Seekers that would take him down into the ship, and the lift began to move.
Darksky was holding a small black diamond in his hand, looking at it curiously. That jewel had been the entire reason for the battle. It left Spitfire befuddled. Why would Megatron waste time and energon trying to track down one little crystal?
Next to Spitfire, Starscream was also looking at the jewel Darksky had swiped. It had been Wingstar's idea for Darksky to hang back and retrieve the diamond while the other Seekers distracted the Autobots. As Wingstar's plan it was only natural that Wingstar's wing would present the prize to Megatron.
Starscream still looked enviously at the jewel. This was a perfect chance for him to get some credit with Megatron but those cadets were going to beat him to it! They were very skilled, and Wingstar was likeable and a good leader – a dangerous combination. If the new cadets kept up their current successes then Megatron might start to like Wingstar more than him, and something Starscream did not want to happen.
Darksky noticed Starscream eyeing the diamond he held, and held it out to him.
"Here," he told Starscream. "You can present it to Megatron."
Starscream looked floored by Darksky's generosity, and quickly swiped the diamond. Dakysky didn't look like he minded losing the jewel and the chance to earn Megatron's favor. Wingstar and Darksky glanced at each other, likely speaking over the telepathic bond between wingmates. He didn't appear upset by Darksky's decision either.
The doors opened and the Seekers got out of the lift. Megatron was waiting there for them. A small purple Seeker sat on one of the control stations, kicking his heels against the air. He grinned at Darksky and Wingstar and waved very childishly at them, leaving Spitfire to correctly assume he was the third member of their wing.
Starscream walked over to Megatron and presented him with the black diamond. "One diamond as promised."
Megatron looked vaguely surprised that they had managed to get the jewel. He took the diamond and appraised it, but his optics could not detect any damage.
"Nicely done Starscream," Megatron said as he walked off with the jewel.
Starscream smiled. He looked pleased with himself, and went ahead to the medbay with Thundercracker following.
The purple seeker jumped down, and started chatting with Darksky and Wingstar when they neared him. He and his wing began to head to the medbay where Wingstar could get his injuries looked over. Thundercracker trailed after the three.
Megatron didn't acknowledge Spitfire or the fact that he had disobeyed a direct order and engaged the Autobots. The Decepticons had won, so there was no reason for Megatron to be upset. Had they lost, then he would have a very different attitude.
Spitfire hadn't suffered any damage, but still followed the other Seekers. Seekers were social creatures as their ability to form wings demonstrated, and he suddenly didn't want to be alone with his thoughts about his brother.
As he walked behind the cadets, he noticed them chatting. The purple one looked surprised about what Wingstar said, but then nodded and smiled. It seemed that he agreed with their decision to give up the diamond and the chance to earn Megatron's approval. That was bizarre.
TC and Starscream were already being looked at by the time the cadets entered. Scrapper was overlooking Starscream, and Hook was inspecting TC's injuries. There was quite a bit of distance between Starscream and TC, and Skywarp hovered near TC with a bored persona.
"Hey!" Spitfire finally spoke up to the cadets before the Constructions started fixing them up. "What's up with you guys?"
The three stopped walking. Wingstar smiled, and he exchanged grins with the others.
"You mean with the diamond?" He shrugged. "What of it?"
"You could have gotten in some huge points with Megatron," Spitfire asked, "Why didn't you? Why let Starscream get all the credit?"
"Why not?" Wingstar laughed lightly. "It's not that important."
"What do you mean?" Spitfire asked in confusion.
"We don't care who Megatron likes better," the purple Seeker sighed. "It really doesn't matter. I'm Amethyst by the way."
Spitfire didn't acknowledge Amethyst. He looked from one cadet to another in confusion.
"Why does everything have to be about favors?" Darksky asked innocently. "Why is everyone fighting over power or the favor of some wingless grounder that isn't even from Vos?"
There was heavy disdain in his voice when he mentioned the wingless grounder, and Spitfire realized that he was talking about Megatron. Not just talking about Megatron – insulting him. His wingmates seemed to agree with Darksky on their opinion about Megatron. These three might just be cadets, but Primus were they brave.
"We're all on the same side after all," Wingstar continued with a shrug. "We and the rest of the Seekers fight to defeat the Autobots who killed the royal family, and destroyed Vos. As long as Optimus Prime dies then who cares which one our dear Lord likes better?"
Skywarp actually snickered here. It seemed none of the cadets were scared of Megatron's wrath. They'd learn later, the hard way undoubtedly, that Megatron was not someone you fought against.
"You think we should be scared of Megatron?" Darksky challenged Spitfire. "Your thoughts are quite vivid on that matter."
Spitfire's optics brightened in shock. He hadn't realized it before, but it was now dead silent in the medbay. The Seekers, Constructions, and the other Decepticons present were watching. How did that cadet know what he had been thinking?
"He's a tep," Amethyst explained as he lightly kicked Darksky behind the leg.
"Why should we be scared of him?" Wingstar asked. "He's our commanding officer, not our enemy. Besides, you've seen two of us in battle. Do you really think the three of us couldn't handle ourselves against one Decepticon?"
Wingstar's words were suddenly perilously close to treason.
"You also expect us to be at odds with the Air Commander," Wingstar shook his head. "Why should we fight against Starscream? He's' a Seeker just like us. The Seekers joined the Decepticons to defeat the Autobots, not squabble over power among ourselves. Is gaining Megatron's favor really more important than teaching the Autobots a lesson for killing our royal family?"
You could almost hear the Seekers present take in a collective breath.
"Have you all gotten so caught up in the power struggle of the Decepticons that you forgot the real reason why we fight?" Wingstar accused the gathered Seekers quietly. Hate and a sudden strike of disappointment hissed into his voice. "I want to make the Autobots pay for killing our leaders and reducing Vos to ruins. My loyalty is to Vos and the royal family that was murdered. Where do yours lie?"
*Wingstar!* Darksky snapped telepathically. *Drop it! You're going to get us in trouble with Megatron!*
*Who cares?!* Wingstar spat back. *The Seekers are so blind! They've all forgotten what we were like before. What we stood for before and what we could do! They almost deserve to lose to the Autobots! They're nothing more than monsters that play along to Megatron's whims.*
*If you keep this up you could get us marked for treason* Darksky continued smoothly. *Wait. If Megatron gets upset enough he could send us back to Cybertron and Shockwave. If he does that then someone might realize that our transfer orders were faked and that we never went to the Decepticon's training Acadamy.*
Wingstar tssked as if he was disappointed by the Seekers, and looked away. Darksky and Amethyst were both relieved that Wingstar shushed. The gathered Seekers were clearly surprised by Wingstar's attack on Megatron, and on themselves.
Spitfire remembered before the war seeing Prince Warsong sitting on Skyfire's shoulder, and speaking to both him and Skyfire's new friend Starscream. The Prince had a kind smile, and his exotic silver optics were bright with joy and warmth. When Spitfire had offered to show Warsong how to shoot a blaster the prince had looked surprised, but then smiled and nodded excitedly.
"Sounds like fun," he laughed. "Then I can become a great warrior to, just like Starscream."
Starscream had been caught offguard by the statement, and Warsong had pointed to Starscream's new shoulder-mounted rifles.
Warsong smiled at Starscream. "I'll get strong enough to protect you. You protected me, my family, and Vos all by yourself. I'll do that to."
Starscream's features softened into a smile. "I'm sure you will."
Warsong's expression brightened at Starscream's compliment, and he eagerly looked between Skyfire and Spitfire. The brothers had exchanged smiles.
Warong had not deserved to die. Spitfire had joined the Decepticons long before the royal family's demise, but it was only after their death that Starscream had adopted the Decepticon badge. He had been regent to Vos's royal family – their trusted second in command.
When Starscream had stood before the flaming palace he had looked up at Spitfire.
"I failed them," was all Starscream said.
The flames continued to devour the palace, and Starscream carefully knelt and picked up a cylindrical hilt. It was small, made for a lytling. When activated it would produce a silver blade made of plasma.
It was a lightsword, one of two that Starscream had made for Warsong. They had been customized to Warsong's spark so that only he could activate them. He had been a terror in training, wielding one in each hand. His skills had not been enough to save his life that night.
Something caught Spitfire's eye amid the ruins, and he recognized it as a blaster. Its powerpack was nearly drained from being fired so many times. Hatred surged through him when he realized that it was an Autobot blaster.
The Seekers had joined the Decepticons to avenge Warsong's needless death at the hands of the Autobots. Wingstar said nothing more, and he let Hook lead him to a bed so he could check his injuries.
Skyfire, Spitfire thought quietly. How could you betray Warsong by joining the Autobots? You were his friend to, weren't you? No, you're nothing but a traitor…
Spitfire didn't need medical attention so he backed out of the medbay before one of the Constructicons could drag him over for an exam. He hated the medbay, and suddenly he didn't want to be around the other Seekers.
Skywarp watched the new Seeker slip away before a Constructicon spotted him. He knew that hatred of medbays anywhere. There were actually a lot of Seekers who didn't like the medbay.
He might have pondered why that was if five Transformers didn't suddenly all enter the medbay at once, shouting and shoving and waving their blasters around. Skywarp was startled enough that he almost teleported out of instinct, and the rest of the inhabitants also jumped when the quiet was shattered. Wingstar partially drew his sword, but when he saw who the intruders were he shoved the blade back into its scabbard. It was the Stunticons, all five of them.
*What are they doing here?* Skywarp asked Thundercracker over their telepathic link as wingmates.
*Search me* TC answered helplessly. *They aren't supposed to return for a month.*
The answer presented itself soon enough as the Stunticons settled down just enough for everyone to see their injuries. If the damage to Breakdown, Dragstrip, Motormaster, and Wildrider was any indication they had likely been hosting their own demolition derby – again. Since there was no medic on their team, they always trooped back to the ship to have their dents banged out and got in everyone's way until they were healed enough to leave.
Skywarp was not in the mood to deal with Motormouth, ahem, Motormaster, so he waved goodbye to TC and teleported back to his room. TC scowled at the spot where Skywarp previously was, annoyed that he had been ditched. Unlike Skywarp, TC had to stay for repairs courtesy of Powerglide. He'd make sure to pay Powerglide back for making him deal with the Stunticons.
Dead End started whining as usual and terrorized the nearest Constructicon, Hook, to help him. He'd apparently been driving at high speeds and an organic creature called a deer had run out in front of him. Pieces of bone, fur, shredded meat, and blood stained his armor. Apparently some of the organic junk had gotten inside his armor when he had transformed and he hated it.
Hook finally told Dead End to more or less sit down, shut up, and wait his turn. Dead End shut up and sat on an empty bunk in a huff. The other Stunticons were being less cooperative, and the Constructicons were starting to get exasperated. Usually everyone listened to them because they were the only real medics here, and if they didn't they ran the risk of the Constructicons turning into Devastator. Devastator was, unfortunately, not a valid threat to another gesalt team.
While the volume in the normally quiet medbay continued to rise, a blue cassette poked his head around the corner of the entryway and grinned. It was Rumble, and he was happy to see the Stunticons. The humans of this world had many things that Rumble loved, and his current favorite was the paintball gun. He'd managed to commandeer two paintball guns and Frenzy had modified them so the Cassettes could fire them. Mixmaster had whipped up some paint.
They had not yet been used because Rumble and Frenzy had not yet seen a good target. Now however, Rumble was looking at five prime targets that needed to be knocked down a few notches. He slipped away from the medbay and made for Soundwave's security center where Frenzy would be. It was time to test the paintball guns.
Yes, Rumble and Frenzy are chaos makers of the Decepticon base. I'm sure that's nothing new for you. Let's see if I can surprise you with the next chapter.
You also heard Darksky correctly. Like they were accused of by Skywarp in the first chapter, they did actually forge the transfer orders and records. Even Nightwing's authorization and comments were forged. Darksky is a Cyberspace master. They're hiding the fact that they're technically not Decepticons, but why? If they get found out they'll obviously get turned into slag by Megatron, but why else? Considering they don't mind killing Autobots I doubt they're spies for Optimus, so who are they? Why are they scared of being returned to Cybertron where Shockwave is?
Hmmm... I'll let you wonder until the next update.
