Unfortunately, Lugnut had found Glitch by herself and insisted on carrying her around "for the glory of Megatron". Who was she to refuse the giant Cyclops mech? "I'd rather have Blitzwing find me," she sourly thought, "this mech is more annoying than I could ever be!" Lugnut also wasn't being very careful about how he handled her. She bumped her head on door post, corners and even the wall once because of the way he carried her.
"Here she is, oh wise and powerful Megatron!" he stated, "May I be of any other assistance?" "I'll call you," the grey leader replied, "just make sure Hot Head doesn't burn down the ship." Lugnut, dropped Glitch, and stomped off.
Glitch felt a massive servo on her shoulder. She tried to pull away, but to no avail. "Glitch, that's your name isn't it?" She flinched, knowing that she had been caught. She turned around. "Yes, that's my name. What about it?" Megatron dug his servo into her shoulder plate, causing her great discomfort. Starscream, who was secretly watching, flinched, remembering the times Megatron put a death clamp on one of his wings. "Let go!" she exclaimed, "You have no right to- ow!" "I'm afraid I wasn't very clear on the rules earlier. I assumed you would've figured them without me a having to tell you, but I guess you're just too stubborn." "What ru- ow ow!' Megatron had increased his grip. "Rule one: No talking back. I find it extremely annoying." "But- ow!"
And the list went on. Glitch eventually just blocked them out. By the end, her shoulder plate was crumpled at the edge by his massive fingers. She broke away from his grip and nursed her injured shoulder panel. "It hurts, doesn't it? But which hurts more the outer wound or the fact that I had the gull to do it to a youngling?" She didn't respond, a thing she did when she was upset. She took off.
Megatron sighed, knowing where she was probably going. He was right. She had gone straight to the scientist, her nearest source of comfort. Of course by now, all her emotions poured out, overwhelming Perceptor. "It's okay," he stated, stroking her head. "Let's get this shoulder panel fixed. "Shadestalker! Where's Shade?!" "He'll be here soon, I hope." "I want my daddy1"
"I want Daddy!" "He's not here, son. He's not coming back! He's offline!" "No he's not!" "I'm sorry, but it's true. Our best medic couldn't save him." "Daddy! Daddy! Daddy!"
Glitch had calmed down. She clung to Perceptor as he fixed her shoulder. "There, there, it's alright. See, it's fixed now. What happened?" "I happened." Perceptor glared at him. Glitch clung even tighter. "Why?" "It was just a little tough love to show her who's boss. Time to go now, we'll visit Perceptor later."
Glitch didn't move. "Glitch, now." She hesitantly let go of Perceptor. Megatron grabbed her servo. She had no choice but to go with him. He locked Perceptor's cell and they both left the brig. "Don't look at me like that. It was nothing personal, just some tough love." "Sure it was." "Since when were younglings allowed to be so disrespectful in school?" "I don't live on Cybertron. I live on Kalstus II." "That would explain a lot."
She tried to wiggle out of his grip, but it was tight as ever. "Stop it. You're acting like a spoiled youngling." She desisted, allowing him to drag her. He sat down on his throne. They were both silent, Megatron losing his patience and Glitch ticked off at him. She felt herself become very weak. She hadn't eaten in a while, but she didn't wan to talk to Megatron at all. She wavered a couple of times.
Megatron noticed and began looking for the nearest Decepticon he could stick her with. Hot Head stormed in. "Blitzwing, I have a job for you," he stated, "get this youngling fed and put to bed." "It's kind of early," Glitch commented. "Vine! But only because you said to!" Hot Head replied, "Come on!"
"It's… a little stale," Glitch remarked as she snacked down on the energon, "I don't think I can digest it." She demonstrated by banging it on the counter. "Stop that dreadful racket right now!" Hot Head demanded, "Eat, or I vill be vorced to stuff it down your vindpipe!" "That doesn't sound very comfortable." "Eat!"
She bit a piece off and swallowed. It got clogged somewhere I her windpipe. She began coughing. A hardy slap on the back from Hot Head soon unclogged it. "You're taking too long! Give me that!" He snatched it form her. "Open wide!" "What?" He stuffed the whole thing in her mouth. "Ah cane ethe! (I can't breathe!)" "Swallow, and don't talk vith your mouth vull!" She swallowed, but she started choking. "Stop choking or I vill kill you!"
Starscream walked in. "Here, you take her! I can't stand it anymore! Make sure she goes into recharge!" He thrust her into Starscream's arms, still gagging. Instead of swallowing, Glitch decided to cough it up. "BLEH!" Starscream found himself covered in half eaten energon. "Ew!" he groaned, "Disgusting!" "I makes you look funny!" she stated, "not that you need much help." "Lugnut, Blitzwing, Blackarachnia! Anybody?" No reply. "Ugh."
After cleaning up the mess, Starscream realized that the youngling was missing. He spotted Blitzwing, who seemed to come back form Cool's and Random's vacation. "Have you seen the youngling?" he asked, "Megatron will have my head if I lost her!" "Ja, Hot Head saw he and locked her in you quarters," Blitzwing replied, "Last time I saw her, she vas digging through your stuff." Starscream ran to his quarters.
He entered in the code. "Access denied." He tried again. "Access denied." "Let me in! It's my quarters! I demand that you let me in!" He backed up and fired his weapons, shooting down his door. He noticed that the garbage chute was open. He reached in and grabbed a foot, dragging the youngling out. He closed the chute.
"I don't like you." "I don't really care! What did you see when you were digging through my stuff?" "Trash, mainly. Do you think you could really lead the Decepticons? You couldn't even lead a parade!" "You won't tell Megatron, will you?" "Luckily, I'm not talking to him." "Good. Wait, I just cleaned the place out! The only things trashy were… my Playbots!" "Like I said before, trash. I did you a favor." He began trying to push her down the chute. "Get those back before…" "Bwhaha! A Playbot issue!" "… Random gets them."
"You know, you can always come to me when Megatron treats you roughly," Starscream offered, "I'd be willing to comfort you." "Yeah right!" Glitch snapped, "I think you're an egotistical, suck-up, pathological liar, cowardly, self-loathing jerk!" "I am not! And where did you learn those kind of words?!" "What can I say? I have a rather extensive vocab." "I say that you just have a smart mouth! Now get to bed!"
"Where am I going to recharge?" "Hmm… that's a good question. I can't put you in my berth because I'm planning on using it. How about the floor?" "You might step on me!" "True, very true. Um, here!" He opened a drawer and put her in tit. "There! It's long and wide enough!" "Okay. Why are you being so nice to me?" "Do I need a reason?" "Yes." "Goodnight, youngling." He shut the drawer.
"I just have to wait for Screamer to do recharge," Glitch mischievously thought, "I can't go back to Perceptor; Blitz has probably changed the code by now. I need to send Tran an encrypted message letting him know what happened to us. Of course, that would require me to find the com system. It's mini-ninja time!" She set her internal clock to wake her up.
Her trusty internal clock woke her up right on time. As she predicted, Starscream was snoring away. He had left the drawer open a crack, so Glitch easily opened the drawer and wriggled out. He hadn't replaced the door, so it was quite easy for her to sneak out. She slipped into a nearby vent.
She passed by Lugnut's room, who was snoring. "Suck up," she sorely thought, "Now where is that com system? This ship is so much bigger than the Nova! I have to find that room. If it's Shade they want, it's ninja Shade they'll get! They'll be sorry that they ever messed with us!" She found the room. She snuck down from the vent, the flashing buttons reflecting off her armor.
She approached the consul. She popped her knuckles and began typing. "Let's see, if I can just find the right channel, encrypt the message, send it, delete the message from the computer's memory, Shade will be here faster than you can say ninja!" "I wouldn't count on that if I were you." A heavy force came upon her neck. She shut off.
Perceptor awoke with a shudder. "Just another dream," he muttered, "Just another nightmare." He found himself unable to drift back into recharge. "Well, scientists are known for their ability to function on little energy. So are scouts. Dad…"
"Where are you going Daddy?" "I have a mission, Perceptor. Don't worry I'll be back soon. Take care of your mom for me." "I will."
"Can you do me a favor, Perce?" "What is it, Shade?" "Will you watch Glitch for me while I straighten out things?" "Sure, no problem!"
"No problem at all. What terrible irony! I become a scientist to avoid fighting; I end up getting dragged into deplorable situations! I know you're laughing, Dad. You always said that I was too smart for my own good." He rolled over. "I hope Shade can enjoy Glitch at this precious time while she's still young, still innocent. I wonder if she's asked the "question" yet."
