Chapter 9 - In which invitations are sent

Not much to say this time. Keep letting me know what you think, though! I've been hearing some good suggestions in the reviews :)


The Decepticon base was quiet, and unusually calm - Megatron was recharging soundly after the horrific ordeal of having to be romantic, while Blackarachnia and Lugnut finished tidying up the broken glasses of spilled energon and put away the tables and candles. There was an unspoken sense of relief between the Decepticons in the base; if Starscream hadn't said yes this time, they were all sure that they'd come back from their mission of "get-as-far-away-from-the-base-as-possible-and-don't-bother-Megatron" to a sound beating from their leader.

"Ringel Ringel Reihe, Sind wir Kinder dreie...la la la...dum dee doo," Blitzwing sang to himself merrily from the main console. Blackarachnia peered at him suspiciously through her multiple optics.

"Lugnut. He's singing," she stated blankly. Lugnut turned lazily to look at her, not particularly bothered by Blitzwing. "He's singing Lugnut. That means he's up to something. He always sings when he's up to something." The purple and green Decepticon narrowed his single optic at the triple changer.

"Blitzwing," he grunted, "what are you doing?"

"Writing vedding invitations!" squealed Blitzwing cheerily. Lugnut gaped.

"Shouldn't you leave that to Megatron and Starscream? It's their wedding, not yours," Blackarachnia said, raising all her optic ridges.

"Ja but zey are so antisocial, if ve leave it to zem nobody will be invited!" protested Blitzwing's calmer face, spinning suddenly into view. "So far ve have Shockwave, Soundwave, Lockdown, Swindle, maybe Astrotrain but he is zo grumpy, maybe Octane, Mixmaster, Scrapper, Oil Slick, Professor Sumdac, you two, myselves…and zen zere vill be ze bride and groom of course. I vonder if zey have any family?"

"Where did Starscream run off to anyway?" Blackarachnia asked suddenly. The other two shrugged. Blitzwing suddenly gasped.

"He's…not in Megatron's chambers…is he?" Blitzwing gulped, horrified.

"He went back to his own hideout," a voice suddenly broke in to the conversation, preventing any further speculation as to Starscream's whereabouts. The three Decepticons turned around to see their groggy leader stoop forwards into the main room, rubbing at his helmet sleepily, optics dim. "What did I hear about wedding invitations?" he grunted.

"Blitzwing was compiling a list of wedding guests," Lugnut announced with a salute.

Megatron nodded, sitting down in his throne with a slight groan. "Good…good…send it to our bride to look over. I have a suspicion that Starscream has some relatives lurking about the galaxy," he grunted. His three subordinates looked at him curiously - obviously, it seemed, being nice for extended periods of time was a huge strain on the leader of the Decepticons. All of a sudden he let out a soft snore, falling into recharge sitting up in his throne. Lugnut stood over him worriedly, while Blitzwing's manic face returned to focus.

Well, if Megatron didn't seem to mind who got invited to the ceremony…

Moments later, a light "ping" was heard in the Autobot's base. Prowl turned his head towards the console curiously as the others sat around the TV discussing where to go from this point.

"I'm telling you, guys, just get Prowl to sneak into the Decepticon headquarters and wait until he sees someone with an engagement ring on! Then you'll know it's the bride!" Sari shouted, trying to make herself heard amongst the adult Autobots. Ratchet sighed, rolling his optics towards the ceiling.

"For the last time, Sari, we don't have engagement rings on Cybertron!" he snapped.

"Well maybe Prowl can just sneak in anyway and listen in! Maybe they'll talk about the wedding!" insisted Sari. Prowl cleared his engines suddenly, trying to catch their attention.

"It seems that we have an invitation," he announced with a small smirk. The others rushed towards teletraan-1, the message already opened up on screen:

'Dear Autoboobs and fleshy child with the pigtails,

You are invited to attend the wedding of the leader of the Decepticons, the mighty Megatron, to his fiancée in three weeks. The ceremony will be held at the Decepticon base in downtown Detroit on the 12th of May by human standards. Bring presents or else.

- Blitzwing

P.S. Soundwave says please could you bring that key thingy along, he's fed up of being a boom-box.'

The Autobots stood in silence for a moment, gawping at the letter in shock.

"Well, I suppose it would be rude not to go," Optimus suggested hesitantly. "Maybe Blackarachnia will be the bridesmaid…?"

"Why doesn't it say who he's marrying? You're meant to say who the groom is marrying!" Sari said, exasperated with all the secrecy over who the bride was, scanning her eyes over the text looking for a clue.

"What the pit do you buy a Decepticon as a wedding gift?" Bumblebee asked, awestruck. "Do-it-yourself torture kits?"

"I don't want to go if Soundwave is there!" Bulkhead huffed. "I thought I got rid of that creep for good!"

"Sounds like a trap to me," growled Ratchet, "maybe we should forward this to the Elite Guard. Now that we actually have an invitation as proof this thing is really happening, they might finally believe us. Or they might at least want to attend the wedding too…I guess…" he scratched his dented chin thoughtfully.

"Fine, but Prowl can deal with them this time, I don't want to be laughed at by Sentinel…again," Optimus muttered darkly. Prowl brightened at the prospect of talking to Jazz again and nodded. "Sari, Bumblebee and Bulkhead, you two investigate the…wedding presents. Ratchet and I will try and get in contact with Blackarachnia or the other Decepticons to find out more. Hopefully we can arrange a ceasefire or something for the day…"