Chapter 8

Thundercracker paused, wings rising as he watched Soundwave scroll through a datapad. Under normal circumstances, he would not have given the Communication's Officer a second look. But this was his quarters and Soundwave should not have had access to it.

"Can I help you?" he asked calmly as he stepped into his quarters.

"Close the door," Soundwave ordered. "We have to discuss matters in private."

Thundercracker narrowed his optics, not liking Soundwave's tone. Or lack thereof. But it was different from the usual monotone and that made him uneasy. "Does Megatron know of this?" he asked.

"Lord Megatron has other matters to deal with," Soundwave replied as he set the datapad down. "Close the door, Thundercracker."

Complying, Thundercracker prepped a gun just in case he had to make a getaway. Soundwave might have been strong, but he was not immune to getting shot in the face.

"What did you want to discuss with me?" he asked as carefully as he could.

Soundwave gave him what he had long since learnt was a pointed look and walked towards him. "Skywarp and Starscream did not attack you," he stated. "Starscream's attack cut off when you went in front of her."

"We're still trine, regardless of their betrayal," Thundercracker replied miserably. Megatron had already drilled him on this and he was tired of repeating himself.

Soundwave nodded slowly to himself. There was a momentary pause before Thundercracker found himself pinned against the wall. He struggled as his wrists were pinned to either side of him and Soundwave loomed in unbelievably close. He bared his dentas, but froze as the silent mech's facemask retracted down the center.

"What are you…?" he started to ask before hot dermas crashed over his.

His optics went wide as Soundwave pressed his chassis hard against his, the wide expansion of glass on his chest scraping the orange glass of Thundercracker's nosecone. Thundercracker was not a small mech; he was quite large for a Seeker, his frame filled out enough to make him hardy and better suited for fighting than most of his fellows; but Soundwave made him feel petite and delicate. His wrists were released for a moment, giving him a chance to throw a punch, but the thick digits settled on his thighs and hosted him up to wrap his legs around Soundwave's waist. His wrists were pinned again, leaving him baring his dentas against Soundwave's dermas.

"This is inapprop…!" Thundercracker started to say before he was silenced with another kiss.

Soundwave's mind brushed his and Thundercracker snarled. He was not in the mood for this kind of slag and he was not going to be forced into it either. Soundwave's mouth pulled away for a moment and Thundercracker took the reprieve to vent cool air through his heating systems. He wasn't totally immune to the clear attempts to arouse him, but Seeker coding did not mean he jumped the first thing that offered interfacing.

He opened his mouth again, waiting for Soundwave to pounce. Instead, he managed to get his sentence out. "And what the slag do you hope to achieve with this?" he snapped bitterly. "I'm not some stereotype of a Seeker, you should be well aware of that by now."

Soundwave was silent before a smile that actually made Thundercracker's spark thump in alarm crossed his features. He actually was very attractive when the silent mech was not looming nearby. Thundercracker swallowed as Soundwave's hands pushed his wrists behind his back and switched so that only one hand was holding them hostage.

"If they are connected to you, Thundercracker, than I can delve into their processors through yours," he replied. "But, I need a medium to pass through that will provide the least amount of resistance. With Seekers, I have learnt that is interfacing."

"And you plan on fragging me to get at Starscream and Skywarp," Thundercracker growled. "You think I'd be so willing to allow that, even if they did betray us?"

"You don't want to know why?" Soundwave countered. "They never gave you an inkling to believe that they were spies. How could they hide that from a trinemate?"

"We don't know each other's thoughts," Thundercracker snorted. "It's not a fragging sparkbond. Feelings can get transmitted, primitive thoughts, that sort of thing. If Skywarp or Starscream wanted to keep a secret, they could. Slag, how else would Skywarp have been able to prank me and Starscream?"

Soundwave nodded slowly. "But you would still like to know," he replied. "Your processor is swirling from that question. Let me have a look, Thundercracker. I promise that you will enjoy it."

Thundercracker growled before nodding. He expected to be breached immediately; most mechs seemed to forget about prep-work; but Soundwave started working him towards overload without even worrying about his panel sliding back.

Kicking and panting within a few minutes, Thundercracker snarled as Soundwave finally pushed into him and started moving. His processor opened up under Soundwave's mental domination, letting him take the sacred paths that would connect him to Skywarp's and Starscream's, however silent and distant the connection would be.

Starscream twitched as something touched her mind. She pushed herself down into her berth in the brig, grumbling and rolling over. Skyfire grunted across from her, his massive frame lying on the ground instead of the berth that was much too small for him.

She lifted her head to watch him, smiling fondly as his wings twitched. He was such a gentle spark; it pained her to think that it was her fault that he had gotten dragged into this mess. Sighing, she was about to roll over when she felt a familiar push in her processor and froze.

How had Soundwave managed to find her? Hissing, she scrambled to her feet and flared her wings, looking around in alarm. How had he gotten into the Ark? It took a second for her to realize how faint the connection was and she settled down. But only just.

'What do you want, Soundwave?' she snarled softly

'Answers,' was all Soundwave was willing to give in return.

Starscream felt him prodding around in her processor and rolled her optics in annoyance. Of course. Slowly, arousal began to trickle over the connection and she squirmed unhappily.

'Are you fragging Thundercracker?' she demanded as she climbed back onto the berth and kicked her feet at the fact that she couldn't get to her mate to alleviate the burning feeling in her circuitry.

Soundwave did not answer her, but it became clear that he was as more arousal pooled in her middle. Letting him do what he wanted, Starscream focused on keeping her fans running and not alerting the mech in charge of cellblock duty. She didn't need to be made fun of or be given an offer to interface with a mech that clearly did not think of her as anything more than a "Seeker whore".

Luckily, Soundwave found whatever he was looking for and moved on. Grumbling, Starscream flared her wings at the soft grunt her mate gave and sent a quick warning to her sister. Glancing at her mate, she prodded their bond and made it quite clear that she wanted a show and she wanted it now.

Skywarp glared at Ratchet as he finished with her wings. She was restless and irritable, tired of listening to him complain and gripe about how she handled herself in the meeting and on the battlefield. She just wanted to go to her quarters to recharge.

"Are you listening?" Ratchet demanded.

"No," Skywarp replied. "I haven't been listening to you for the past joor. Same slag you always spout."

"Skywarp," Ratchet snorted. "You need to calm down."

"Calm down?" Skywarp demanded. "I have every reason to be angry, Ratchet! In case you failed to notice, very few mechs trust me, most want me gone, and you, of all mechs, STILL refuse to give me my upgrades."

"We've been over this, Skywarp," Skywarp sighed. "We don't have the resources for that."

"Oh really?" Skywarp snarled. "Then how come Bumblebee is a mech? How come Cliffjumper is? Or any of the ones you recruited while here on Earth? You think I'm stupid? YOU GAVE THEM THEIR UPGRADES!"

Ratchet did not waver under her shout and simply turned to put his tools away. "That is a difference circumstance," he replied evenly. "We do not have the resources here on Earth to give you that upgrade, Skywarp."

"What the slag are you afraid of?" she snarled furiously, getting to her feet and flaring her wings. "What is there that you are not telling me?"

"Skywarp, calm down," Ratchet replied gently. Too gently.

"Tell me!"

"Skywarp, please…."

"Tell me what you are hiding you fragging old, overbearing, abusive slag-maker of a…!"

"I will not lose you to the Decepticons!"

Skywarp stopped and looked at Ratchet. Actually looked at him. He was trembling, his hands clenched tightly around his signature wrench, and his chest rising and falling with his loud vents. He looked angry, but Skywarp also knew that anger was a very good cover for fear. She let her wings drop, all her venom gone and replaced with a kind of tired annoyance.

"And resisting the natural order is going to help?" she asked.

"Lots of Autobot femmes are content to stay as they are; I don't see why you cannot be too," Ratchet snapped.

"They also parade around and get upgrades to make them look like organics," Skywarp replied a little coldly. He was not comparing her to Elita-1! "This is a sign of maturity, Ratchet. And I can get every upgrade that a Seeker needs to stay healthy."

"You are healthy," Ratchet tried to soothe.

"For a sparkling, maybe," Skywarp replied bitterly. "But not for a full-grown mech. Frag, I'm not even as tall as I should be!"

"This discussion is over," Ratchet snorted as he turned away.

Skywarp could not stop herself from sinking to a new level of low and regretted it almost immediately. "Coder would have let me grow up."

Ratchet went incredibly still and Skywarp's wings fell in horror at what she had just said. But she swallowed the shame and held herself up as high as she could. She knew she was right even though it was a horrible, horrible thing to say.

"Leave, Skywarp."

Skywarp turned and walked to the door of the medbay. "You know I'm right," she replied bitterly as she walked out.

Ratchet did not say anything to her as the door slid shut, but Skywarp knew that he was tearing himself apart inside. Punching the wall in frustration, she stormed off towards her quarters. She just managed to fling herself onto her berth before she got the warning from Starscream about Soundwave.

Then the pleasure hit.

Gasping, Skywarp arched off of her berth and scrambled madly at the surface. Her optics turned white as her chassis reacted with each wave that shot through her. Soundwave was prodding away inside of her processor, using the pleasure as a distraction.

Her fingers moved blindly towards the very distant Thundercracker and she gripped the blankets as she felt his response. There was no hatred or anger, not even the littlest trace of resentment. He was too far gone to even care and she happily pressed against him as Soundwave made it possible.

They overloaded together, voices mingling over the space and she slumped against the berth with a soft purr. Soundwave seemed to have found whatever it was that he was looking for and started to pull away. Skywarp was going to let him, rolling over and kicking her feet contently, but then she felt Thundercracker trying to reach her.

A set of coordinates were transferred to her and she tilted her head curiously. Before she could ask what he was planning, both he and Soundwave were gone. Huffing, she snuggled under her covers and prepared for a nice long recharge. At least the tension was gone from her chassis.