Chapter X

"Those accursed Autobots!" Starscream shouted as he pounded on the wall. Skywarp took a few steps back (if his fellow Seeker decided to take on a real punching bag) and Thundercracker just watched on with his arms crossed. "I should've known! Holographic images! And they knew it was going to be me! Soundwave has betrayed us. Betrayed his own kind. Disgusting. Of everything that would've happened, Soundwave joins the enemy. The organic protectors!"

"I bet that he'll pass out from exhaustion in about three mega-cycles," Thundercracker whispered to Skywarp.

"I'll match for two," he replied.

"SILENCE!" Starscream yelled. His ability nearly shot out and took off Skywarp's head. The purple Seeker was only lucky that he was able to see it coming and hit the deck. "We need to devise another plan!"

"But we can't do anymore with just three of us!" Skywarp complained, getting up from the floor. "They've got Soundwave, now." Starscream growled at the mention of the intelligence officer's name. It hit him then of what they had to do.

"Contact the Insecticons," he ordered.

"Those bugs?!" Thundercracker whined. "C'mon! We can do better!"

"What I say here goes!" Starscream shouted, then continued. "Astrotrain's with them, so he's coming as well. Whether he likes it or not! GET THEM NOW!"

Charm's optics refused to open. She didn't want to wake up. The warmth she had right now was too great for her to let go. With enough strength, she moved her hand, which brushed across Soundwave's shoulder and down to his lower arm. She felt his head move a bit and looked to see. The visor and mask were still off, which made him look so much more vulnerable. The morning sun displayed the smoothness of his face and gentleness of his lips. This was the real Soundwave.

On the other side of the room, Rumble was laying on top of Star, which was a pretty funny sight, to be told truthfully. His head was on her midsection and the only thing that held it there was Star's right hand. Both of Rumble's arm's were slipped under her body as if he was using her body as a pillow. And Star, like her mistress, was the first to actually wake up. Her eyes opened fully and she looked down at the sleeping blue mech. She smiled, admiring how cute he seemed. Thank Primus none of the cassettes could snore; that would ruin the whole thing.

"Wake up, Rumble," she sang. Rumble moaned a bit, a slight smile on his face, and he moved his body off of hers so he could get a glance at his femme.

"Mornin', pretty girl," he said, smiling. That was probably the best smile anyone had ever seen on the blue 'bot's face. Star giggled a bit and Rumble moved forward to give her a kiss. She refused by moving her head to the side. "What's wrong?"

"Morning breath," she said. Rumble groaned and buried his face into her chest.

"Slaggit!" he mumbled. Star began to laugh. She wiggled out from his weight and managed to stand up. Her vision went funny for a second, since she stood up so fast, then it became clear. Star took her arms and tried to make Rumble sit up straight. But, dang, he was heavy!

"How much do you eat?" she asked once his body was upright.

"Enough to get me around," he answered. Without any form of warning, he grabbed her waist and made her sit down on his lap. Star giggled a bit and leaned her head against his chest. Rumble held it in place with his hand and wrapped his other arm around her body to hug her.

Charm tried her won method of waking up her lover. She knew that he wasn't used to people touching his face, so she attempted that. Soundwave shivered a bit, but in the best way; a smile actually formed on his white face. He turned his head and opened his eyes, flashing colors of red and blue. Mostly blue; mostly Autobot.

"Good morning, Charm," he whispered. His voice sounded like air whenever he did that. "Sleep well, my sweet?" Okay, he's doing that on purpose.

"Best one yet," she smiled. Soundwave smiled back and kissed her on the forehead.

"You're blushing," he chuckled.

Charm tried to hide her face into his chest, but it was hard since he already seen her. Now he was laughing, and thank Primus it wasn't loudly. He started rubbing his hand up and down her back to try and get her to show her face again.

"Look at me?" he asked, still a bit of giggle left in him.

Charm decided to give it a go and looked back up at him, a puppy look almost growing on her. Soundwave stopped his laughing and simply smiled. That morning sunshine--should I say more?--brightly glowed on him. Frag it, why did he have to be so good-looking? And she had no clue what to say!

Seems that our little intel 'bot had nothing to say either. He was still so captivated by her looks that he even forgot where he was. He heard that femmes were equipped with the power to overcome a mech in an emotional way. But he's proved a lot of fellow soldiers wrong. And then comes Charm; a dear, lost friend to him, and now his one, only, true love.

"You fragging little thief, thief!" Shrapnel screeched. "That energon was rightfully mine, mine!" Bombshell didn't care, not a bit. He was hungry, dang it! He needed to eat something. The cerebro-minded mech blocked the energon cube away from the beetle with his body.

"Go find some other energon!" he growled. "Survival of the fittest!"

"Survival of the skillful, skillful!" Shrapnel shouted. He jumped on top of Bombshell and reached for the energon cube. Somehow all three Insecticons were stuck on the deserted planet. Astrotrain was on his way over to Earth to help in the battle to control Earth when he was stuck in a solar storm and ended up the same place as the bug 'bots. The triple-changer would have traded those three for anybody, even Starscream…Wow, those Insecticons really were annoying.

"This is mine!" Bombshell screamed, holding the energon away with one hand and trying to shove Shrapnel with the other. "You can't have it!"

Bombshell dropped the cube, making it bounce all the way to Kickback's feet. The grasshopper picked it up, looked at the brawling bugs, then sipped the energon. Astrotrain sat on top of a rock nearby. He never thought in his life cycle this would happen. This planet was nothing but blue rock and ice! And he was stuck here with those…things!

"Mine, mine, mine, mine!" Shrapnel roared, punching Bombshell with each word out of his mouth. Astrotrain sighed, decided he heard enough, then separated the two mechs.

"Quit acting like sparklings!" he ordered. "I'm sure there's better things to do than fight over food!"

"Mm. That's were you're wrong," Kickback said after a sip. "We're isolated."

"Thanks for the back-up, you brainless bug."

"One more crack, I dare ya!" Kickback threw the energon and stood ready to attack the triple-changer. As for the other two, they chased after their energon.

"Insufferable insect," the 'bot smirked.

"That's it! C'mere!" Kickback transformed and pounced on the purple mech. They struggled just as much as Shrapnel and Bombshell, and a little more. A small amount of energon blood was shed, just in time to receive a communication signal from outside of Earth's atmosphere.

Yo, choo-choo brain! Was up!

"Cut the scrap, Skywarp," Astrotrain groaned, shoving a tired Kickback off his body. He stood up to walked around to see if he could get a better signal. "Where are you? And where am I?"

Accordin' ta this, you're on Pluto. Some planet way far away from Earth.

"You mean to tell me that I was in the same solar system the whole time?!"

Uh, yeah. Pretty much.

Astrotrain growled loudly into the audio. How long had he been stuck here? Let's see, ever since Barricade gave out the message of a recon to Earth to find the All Spark and Megatron, which was about, oh, four months ago maybe? That's how long he had to put up with the slag the Insecticons gave him.

"You could've called me a long time ago! I was stuck here on an energon-deprived planet and three mech bugs!"

Sorry, Thomas Train Engine, but we forgot all about ya!

"JUST GIVE ME THE FRAGGING COORDINATES!!!" Astrotrain roared.

Alright, relax! Jeez…You're worse than Thundercracker.

The coordinate points were given to him immediately. Astrotrain would've left the Insecticons to their brawling, until Starscream got into the link.

I know what you're thinking, Astrotrain. Bring the Insecticons with you. Alive, mind you.

"Why? All they do is fight."

Soundwave's a traitor, Astrotrain! He left the Decepticon flanks for an Autobot female!

"Why in Pit would he do that? That doesn't sound like Soundwave at all!"

Exactly why we need him eliminated. Both femme and Soundwave.

"What's the girl's name?"

She goes by Charm…Stop laughing!

"Sorry! Ha-ha! Just thinking of Soundwave with some femme is just pure gold! I'm talking electrum gold! Ha, ha, ha, ha!"

Silence you fragger! I want both those 'bots offline as soon as possible! I don't care what method you use. I just want them terminated! Understand?!

"Who died and made you leader?"

Hpmh. Good news, Astro. I'm the new leader. Megatron's offlined!

The triple-changer had no time to respond when Starscream cut the link--what part of "good news" is Starscream being the Decepticon leader of? He sighed and looked back at the three insects. Shrapnel was perched on top of a large rock, Bombshell and Kickback climbing up after him to get that energon cube.

"Hey, you three! Orders from the boss: We're going to Earth," Astrotrain announced. Before he could say any more, Shrapnel interrupted.

"But we're stuck here, here. How does Megatron expect us to get to Earth, Earth?"

"You didn't let me finish, you little cockroach! Megatron's dead, Starscream's taking over now. Soundwave double-crossed us and now we're told to go and kill him."

"Say nothing more!" Kickback said, jumping off the rock. "I would do anything for a fight!"

xXx

Author's Note: Ya know, ever sonce I've found out about the Insecticons, I've grown on them...(As you may notice in my Home or Prison story) So this chapter, I know, is a bit short. But I'm freaking tired right now! I just got done drawing a picture of Bumblebee for this boy in school and it took me four hours to finish! Extra twenty for inking, ten for erasing pencil markings...I shall go put it up on deviant...Peace.