The thunderstorm hit in the early hours of the morning. Starscream wasn't sure if he had already been awake when the rumbling crash of thunder echoed across the dark sky or if the noise itself had been what roused him. A burst of light illuminated the room for a split second; long enough for Starscream to see that all the other occupants of the room were already awake.
There was a distinct lack of warmth next to him which indicated that Megatron was no longer in the bed. Another roaring boom, much louder this time, made Starscream jump slightly and he sat up, the blankets falling from around his shoulders.
The silent flash of lightning that followed brightened the room again, and Starscream found his leader, on the opposite side of the room in front of the window, observing the raging storm outside. The mattress creaked as he rolled off of the bed. He saw Megatron's head tilt back towards him at the sound, and was about to join him by the window when a quiet snivelling caught his attention.
"Skywarp?"
"Shhh!" his brother whispered, terrified. Starscream squinted through the darkness and could just about make out Skywarp's body, curled up beneath the covers, shivering. "It's the Autobots!"
Before Starscream could do much more than roll his eyes and call him an idiot, another form rose from the bed next to him, "It's not the Autobots, Skywarp," Thundercracker's tired voice began to reassure his timid brother. The sheets rustled as Skywarp scrambled to fasten himself against him.
"W-what is it? Please, make it stop, p-please," Skywarp whispered, sounding as if he were about to break out into sobs. To make matters worse, the storm began to rumble and crack overhead.
Starscream moved away from the bed to stand behind Megatron. Lightning flashed again and illuminated his leader's face; it was as composed and stern as ever. They contemplated the storm in silence for a while, offhandedly listening to the twins explaining Earths weather to Skywarp behind them.
Rain splattered against the window, leaving tiny droplets of water to run down the window pane, growing bigger as they combined. He could hear the wind howling and saw what it did to the small trees and plants outside in the street. Paper and rubbish was blown up into the air and tossed about. Primus, how he wished he could be flying in it. There was nothing like the euphoria of soaring between dark, swirling thunderclouds, rain splattering against his cockpit and running across his wings.
From the window they could see the forked lightning spilt across the dark sky, "They have energy... in the sky..." Megatron said slowly, gazing up at the storm.
Starscream stared at him, before realising that Megatron –much like Thundercracker, Skywarp, Slipstream and Rumble- had never seen anything like this before. He had been on this planet for millions of years, but almost all of that time would have been spent frozen beneath the ice, trapped in a dam, or offline at the bottom of the ocean. He wouldn't have had much chance to observe the changes in weather.
"It is light created by electrical discharge." The scientist in him couldn't help but explain. Megatron looked down at him, one eyebrow quirking, and Starscream swallowed before continuing, "Like static electricity. It's the rain that causes it. The build up of ice and rain in the cloud creates the electrical discharge and the lightning -the flashing light- balances the electrical build in the clouds or between the clouds and ground."
Megatron turned away from the window to look down at him; thunder crashed in the clouds above them. "What about that noise? Is that electrical build up too?"
"The noise is the rapid expansion of air. The lightning heats up the air quickly and then it cools down again. The rapid expansion and contraction of air is what causes the sound waves." He finished proudly.
Megatron's lips quirked, "Still quite the little scientist, I see," His leader commented and Starscream's proud smirk fell at the use of the word, 'little' again. The taller man's mouth simply widened as he saw his second's expression sour.
Still scowling, Starscream moved away from the window to throw himself down -not onto the single- but the double bed, falling between his brothers. Skywarp yelped at his sudden appearance before he realised who it was and latched onto him as well. Starscream allowed his brothers to pull him into a hug and sighed as he could feel their faint bond strengthen through close physical contact.
Primus he wished he could fly.
He didn't notice his leader scowling at the pile of seekers on the bed as Skywarp pressed into his neck, and closed his eyes.
Megatron left the window and reclined on the single bed, stretching out his limbs now that he had the room to do so, "How long do these normally last?"
Starscream, assuming the man was talking to him, didn't bother to sit up or even open his eyes before answering the question with an uninformative, "Not long,"
The thunderstorm calmed at some point after that, but Megatron couldn't remember falling asleep. When he woke up the next day, the room was bathed in bright sunlight, too bright for it to have been early in the morning. He lifted his head and rubbed a hand across his eyes groggily, and shifted as he felt a weight against his back. He smirked; his second must have left his brothers at some point in the night and crawled back into bed with him.
However, when he tilted his head back to look over his shoulder, he was greeted with the sight of a head full of dark blond hair, definitely not Starscream; one of the twins. He groaned, and a glance at the double bed confirmed that their usual pillow –otherwise known as Soundwave- had been taken by Slipstream. His scowl deepened as he saw that Starscream was still buried somewhere in the pile of seekers next to them. He felt an odd surge of jealousy before he quickly repressed it, but couldn't help but wonder why the seeker hadn't returned to sleep with him, or more importantly, why it bothered him so much.
One of the twins -Rumble upon closer inspection; he was getting better at telling them apart- twisted and pressed into his back. Frenzy, who was lying against his side rather than on top of him like his brother, moved at almost the exact same time, curling himself into a tighter ball around Megatron's right arm.
A glance at the alarm clock on the side table confirmed he was correct in his assumption about it being late in the day; it was already past three in the afternoon. He had slept through most of the day and yet he was still so tired. Although his organic fuel tank -or stomach- was growling and groaning at him to refuel, he couldn't muster up the energy to actually get up. He sighed and sank into the pillows, wrinkling his nose as he inhaled the familiar scent of his second through the pillow.
Rumble moved again and he stilled, not wanting to wake any of them up.
They'd all need to be on top form today. Starscream had been fretting that they hadn't been doing anything yesterday, but now that he had most of the local area surveyed he could get to work. The seeker had shown how capable he was at underhanded tricks, now he would finally have the chance to use such talents effectively.
They had about five hours before it would be dark enough for the first stage of his plan to take place, and if the twins constant fidgeting was anything to go by, they'd be waking up any minute now. He would probably leave them here in the hotel with Slipstream and take everyone else out with him; if they separated into groups they would be able to cover more of the city.
He remained tolerant and unmoving as the twins tossed and turned, absently wondering how Soundwave could put up with it and glancing his way as he did. His third looked very content curled around Slipstream and again he felt envy niggling at his mind. He found himself wishing that he could be in a similar position with Starscream. His second was always so warm and soft; he seemed to fit perfectly in his arms. The twins were an improvement to the seeker in one area though; at least they didn't pinch, bite or hit him in the night.
Then, as if Primus himself had been listening in on his thoughts, there was a sharp tug on his hair and he jerked up, hissing his pain. Searching behind him he found the culprit to be Frenzy, who had reached out and clasped a handful of his hair in his sleep. Seeing as he was still pulling, and it didn't seem like he'd be stopping anytime soon, Megatron growled in annoyance and elbowed him off of the bed.
Frenzy fell to the floor with a heavy thump, and feeling his twin's echoed pain, Rumble jolted awake at the same time.
From there on, the afternoon progressed in their normal wake up routine. Slipstream appeared in yet another outfit that no one had realised she'd owned, the twins had a pillow fight, Starscream hogged the shower, five separate arguments occurred, four of them involved the aforementioned seeker, Megatron lost his temper, twice, and as usual, no one really knew what their evening meal consisted of.
Eventually, after a long time of sitting around their suite doing the bare minimum -which Starscream complained about loudly several times until he was threatened- the sun sank beneath the tops of the lowest buildings. Megatron glanced at Soundwave, who inclined his head, before they both stood.
"Starscream, come with me," he ordered, ignoring how everyone's attention shifted to either him or his second. "We are going out."
Starscream took one look at the darkening sky through the window and frowned, "But... it's getting dark. You want us to go out in the middle of the night?"
Megatron opened the door into the hallway and stood to the side, waiting for Starscream to walk through it, "As you don't sleep at night at any rate, I don't see much of a problem."
Starscream scowled, getting to his feet regardless to stomp through the door, glaring at his leader as he passed. Megatron paused before following after him, speaking to Soundwave, "Skywarp and Thundercracker in about thirty minutes." He then stepped into the hallway, shutting the door with a sharp click behind him and began to stride towards the stairs.
Starscream supposed he was expected to follow after him and reluctantly jogged to catch up with him.
"What about my brothers?" he asked the taller man as they reached the stairs and began their descent, their footfalls on the wooden steps echoing around the open space.
"You'll see," was Megatron's cryptic reply.
Starscream knew any further questions would be met with the same response and so allowed himself to lapse into silence, and remained so, following Megatron obediently as they walked through the lobby and out onto the spiralling staircase. Starscream couldn't resist leaning over the railings to glance at the street only two floors below descending only when Megatron grunted at him to get a move on.
The night air was chilly on the skin exposed by his summer clothing, he rubbed at his arms as goose bumps began to form and quickened his pace to keep himself warm. Stupid vulnerable humans couldn't even adapt to their own weather. The sky was now a dark blue colour and would become ebony within minutes. He tightened his arms around his chest to better protect himself from the light breeze.
The market had closed long ago, and the normally bustling street was void of any of its usual pushy regulars, only two or three people could be seen further up the path. The street lamps above them began to flicker dimly before brightening and casting them in a spot light, and in the distance Starscream could see others flickering on as well. Despite the barren market, the city was still awake. They could clearly hear the distinct noise of crowds and traffic somewhere between the buildings before them.
Megatron started ahead, going the same route he had taken the day before when they had ambled around the market. The seeker quickly followed, not keen on the idea of being left alone in the dark for any strange human to come across. Not that he was scared of course, after all what could squishies do to him?
As the market opened up into a wider street, not only did the crowd grow denser with people, but with cows too; cows freely roaming the streets. They were on the sidewalks, in the roads, walking amongst the people and in front of the traffic. Starscream looked around, stunned that no one else seemed particularly bothered by the presence of the massive hoofed creatures, not even Megatron.
There was a sudden and loud moo from right behind him, and Starscream was so shocked he ran straight forward into Megatron's back. Turning around he was horrified to find that there was one of the huge horned beasts right behind him, staring at him, its large brown eyes reflecting the street lights in the dark. Terrified, he clutched handfuls of Megatron's shirt and flattened himself against his back.
"Meh- Megatron!" he whispered frantically, terrified that if he were to shout he would startle the cow into attacking him. "Get rid of it. Get rid of it!"
Megatron turned casually, and Starscream scrambled to put his leader between himself and the cattle. The cow blinked and stepped forward, the cattle bell around its neck clanging as it moved. It boldly bumped Megatron's chest with its nose as if it wanted him to move out of its way, and the taller man fell back slightly after being knocked off balance. Starscream squeaked, peeking at the cow from over Megatron's shoulder, "Don't let it get me!"
Megatron raised an eyebrow at Starscream's high pitched shrieking, and moved out of the bovine's path, watching as it casually waddled by, hoofs scrapping upon the pavement.
"How can they just let those wild animals run loose in the streets?" Starscream whispered hoarsely into his ear, still standing close against his back in case any more cows were likely to come wandering by to attack him.
Megatron's only answer was to grab the front of Starscream's shirt and pull him along. The seeker dug his heels in as his leader attempted to drag him amongst countless cattle and people, all of whom seemed to like staring. Intimidated, Starscream quickly gave up the fight to resist his leader and attached himself to his side as an abnormally large bull passed by a little too close; so close in fact, that its tail whipped his arm.
Before long they were out of the cattle packed street and in a denser section of the city, somewhere Starscream didn't recognise. They hadn't been here this morning. He looked up at Megatron's stern face for any clues as to why they were here. There were none. His Commander's gaze was set firmly ahead of him, glaring harshly at any who dared to glance their way for any longer than a split second. The streets were brighter here; more colourful, cheap neon lights lit every window and sign. There were so many of them they all seemed to blur into one, so bright it might as well have been daytime.
Starscream's attention was next caught by the sound of music. A deep base blasted out for a split second as doors further up the street opened, before they swung shut again and the explosion of noise was reduced to nothing more than a steady booming. A crowd of people, all very loud, were stood in a long line outside the large, dark building which seemed to be emitting the repetitive music.
Megatron walked him past quickly, which he found he was grateful for, the boisterous crowd proved quite daunting the closer they were. The doors opened again and Starscream caught the sound of a female organic warbling over the top of the heavy base and fast recurring tune.
Their walk was over as they reached an almost deserted section of road. The lights were dimmer here and it was quiet enough for them to be able to hear car horns and sirens in the distance, there was no neon or vibrating base tunes. Megatron pulled him into the nearest alley, pressing him into the cool brick wall at the entrance. Starscream wrinkled his nose at the smell of something organic and unclean that must have lurked further within the dark alley but chose not to comment on it.
Megatron looked around, or more specifically looked towards the line of cash machines across the street; highlighted against the structure they were built into by the bright screen lights. "Too early," he muttered to himself, leaning back to glance down both ends of the street.
Starscream shivered and rewrapped his arms around himself. His teeth began to chatter and he tightly shut his mouth to silence the noise. He then jumped as something warmer, Megatron again, brushed against his left side and he inched away slightly, moving further into the alley and away from his leader.
He didn't have to suffer the empty silence for too much longer; thankfully, the sound of approaching people amongst the silence of the night met his ears. Megatron perked up too, pushing himself away from the wall and stepping back into the lit street, but not before sending a backwards glance at Starscream which clearly said 'stay put'.
Three figures stepped forward and Starscream immediately recognised them as his brothers and Soundwave. Megatron was speaking to Soundwave, but to Starscream his voice came out as nothing more than a low murmuring. He stepped forward, craning his neck awkwardly to hear what he was saying.
The only word he caught was his own name, 'Starscream' before his leader turned back around and gestured for him to come forward with a wave of his hand. Grumbling under his breath, he obeyed, "Is anyone going to tell me what the slag is going on?"
"We're stealing stuff!" Skywarp burst out excitedly before anyone could stop him. That's when Starscream first noticed how wide eyed and bouncy his brother seemed.
He levelled a glare at each of his companions in turn before saying darkly, "What have you done to him?"
The look Megatron gave him clearly said that he had no part in it, but Thundercracker was looking slightly guilty, "Well... I'm not entirely sure... it- it didn't look like it was anything weird or..." Thundercracker trailed off, glancing between Starscream and Skywarp warily.
The grin Skywarp wore was large enough to stretch from one side of his face to the other. It was scary to say the least; Starscream couldn't help but step back slightly.
Megatron snarled, "He's no use to us like this."
"He would not have been much use whether he was drugged or not." Soundwave said uninterestingly, his attention focused on something further up the street more than them.
Curious, Starscream followed his gaze, squinting through the darkness. He thought he saw a shadow of something moving, but it was too small to have been human. He turned back to the present situation. Megatron was arguing with Thundercracker.
"-It doesn't matter what you were told. You shouldn't have let him have it!" Megatron was saying to his brother through gritted teeth, trying very hard not to shout out in the street.
"We don't know if they even were drugs!" defended Thundercracker, "And he's fine anyway, just a little high."
Skywarp was too busy trying to lick his own elbow to be paying attention to any of this. Megatron looked to Soundwave, impatiently waiting for the verdict.
"Definitely drugs," said Soundwave after a moment's pause. Thundercracker threw up his arms in a rare display of frustration, and wrenched Skywarp's arm away from his mouth.
"Go back to the hotel," Megatron growled, at Thundercracker, "both of you."
Thundercracker bit his lip before nodding reluctantly, taking Skywarp by the hand and leading him back down the dimly lit street.
"Looks like it is just the three of us tonight," Megatron spoke, voice barely more than a whisper in the ringing silence of the alleyway. Starscream wanted to comment on the sudden alteration in volume, especially as there was no one around to overhear them, when he saw the reason approaching from the other end of the street.
He then found himself being pushed back in to the shadows of the alley way, along with Soundwave, out of sight.
It was a human, alone, and it seemed to be walking off balance, like there was something wrong with it.
"Perfect," he heard Megatron whisper in his ear, hot breath tickling the back of his neck and putting his hair on end.
"What?" He whispered back, brow creasing.
A heavy hand landed on his shoulder, "We need money," Megatron's voice hissed and suddenly, Starscream understood. He tilted his head back to look at his leader, who nodded to him.
He breathed in deeply; he supposed this was his chance to prove himself, "Give me some money." He whispered quickly, holding his hand out to Megatron.
"You are supposed to be stealing from the intoxicated human, not me." His leader reminded him.
"Just give it to me," he hissed again, meeting Megatron's dark, mistrustful eyes, "trust me."
Somewhat apprehensive, his leader dug a hand into his pocket regardless, taking out the last few notes they had and handing them to the seeker. Starscream snatched them away, and promptly strode into the street, head held high as he headed straight for the cash machines just as the human stumbled his way to it.
Starscream timed it just right, reaching the cash machine a split second after the human and standing as close behind him as he could without raising suspicions. His eyes flickered back to where he knew Soundwave and Megatron to be concealed, before he threw the money Megatron had given him to the filthy pavement at the drunken human's feet. He could almost imagine Megatron's disbelieving expression.
He waited patiently until the human had entered their card and number into the cash machine before tapping them on the shoulder. The human, male, middle aged, retching of alcohol and looking extremely disorientated, turned his unfocused eyes to him. Starscream simply pointed to the ground.
The flesh bag saw the money and its eyes seemed to light up. It bent down slowly, wobbling precariously as it reached out for the money. As it was doing this, Starscream simply stepped around him, pressed a few buttons on the cash machine, withdrew the maximum amount available in the account, took the money –and the card for the sheer Hell of it- and walked off. By the time the organic had straightened back up again, a couple of crumpled rupees in hand, his card, money and the young, skinny looking boy who had so kindly pointed out of the spare change, had completely vanished.
Ten minutes later, after the inebriated flesh bag had stumbled off - likely in search of help- the Decepticons hiding in the alleyway not twenty feet from him, finally deemed it safe to speak again.
And for the first time in weeks, Starscream let himself look smug.
"Where did you learn that?" Megatron's voice asked him softly from somewhere within the gloomy alley way. Starscream squinted through the darkness to see his leader's faint silver outline.
"Does it matter?" he sneered disdainfully. Reluctantly he held out the large wad of money. Megatron took it, large hand brushing against his second's slighter one, and Starscream pulled back quickly, skin prickling at the contact.
His leader then stepped forward, under a nearby street light and Starscream risked a glance at him. Megatron was looking at him strangely, he almost looked... proud.
"Clever little seeker," his leader said fondly, pocketing the money and placing a hand on his second's head for a moment, then lowering it to clasp his shoulder.
Starscream's expression soured, "Little?"
But Megatron had already turned back to Soundwave, "You take the west side, we will stay east." He said.
Soundwave seemed to understand this and nodded his agreement, prior to striding off back down the street in the opposite direction a without another word, looking as if he had nothing to do with the two men stood under the lone street light.
"...So," Megatron's deep voice purred as Soundwave's silhouette disappeared into the shadows, "how many more of those tricks do you have hidden away?"
Starscream's lips quirked, "A few."
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"Well, this is fun," muttered Slipstream sarcastically to herself as she watched another dark silhouette pass the hotel in the street below. The twin's game of Squishy Spotting might have been somewhat more entertaining had there actually been any squishies to spot. The game had lasted for over an hour now and so far they had seen a grand total of three cows and two humans.
"Right, that's it!" she shouted, stomping away from the window she had been leaning over. The twins jumped at her sudden announcement, jolting up from their slumped position on the window sill. "We are going shopping." She told them.
Rumble and Frenzy glanced at each and then turned back to look at her warily, "It's one o'clock in the morning."
"So?" she said, not stopping to look at them as she dug around in a pile of her clothes for something.
"The shops won't be open," Rumble tried to reason with her, "Everyone's asleep."
Slipstream tugged something out from underneath a black jacket, "Ah ha!" she cried, revealing a large wade of cash.
The twins gasped, "Where did you get that?" Frenzy whispered, staring at the pink paper in complete awe.
"It's mine. Now are you coming or not?" the femme seeker snapped at them, already opening the door and stepping out into the hallway.
The twins looked at each other. They could either stay here and continue their squishy spotting game, waiting patiently for morning to arrive or the others to finally return, or, they could go out into the city at night with a half crazed femme Hell bent on finding at least one shop that was open at half past one in the morning. There was no choice really.
"Yeah!" they cried, scrambling after her.
Slipstream was supposed to be watching over them whilst the others were out anyway, so they couldn't really be left unsupervised. If Soundwave were to try and discipline them for defying orders and leaving the hotel room, they could hide behind the excuse that they were too scared to be left on their own. In any case, they could blame Slipstream for anything that went wrong.
It was cold outside and their clothing wasn't nearly insulating enough but they followed after Slipstream as she led them out of the surroundings that had grown familiar to them and into the back alleys. She claimed it was a short cut.
Before they could get anymore lost than the twins suspected they were, despite Slipstream's reassurances they weren't, they finally found something.
It was called 'Big Bazaar'. It's obnoxiously large backlit orange and blue sign -and the fact that the lights were on- instantly caught their attention. Before the twins had the chance to point it out to their temporary caretaker she had already broken out into a run, having spotted it herself and rushing towards the store in a mad dash -almost losing her shoes- as if she thought it could close any second.
There was beeping noise overhead as she swung the door open, and she stared around suspiciously at the walls and ceiling for what could have caused it. The twins followed in after her and the same beeping noise rang out, they both looked as confused as she had been. Whatever it was, it must have been attached to the door. Humans did seem to own a lot of pointless noisy things.
Dismissing it for now, she allowed her gaze to linger over the store, and her mouth fell open. It was huge, and not just by human standards. There were at least five levels, and the shop floor stretched out far as she could see in front of her, there were lights everywhere and it was so bright compared to the darkness outside that her eyes began to water. Everything any human could ever want was laid out in front of her; there was food, clothes and all sorts of odd looking objects and electrical appliances that organics seemed to like. But none of that other stuff mattered, because there were clothes. Clothes of every colour and design and size and-
"Primus..." she gasped lustfully. There were shoes.
"-Slipstream? Slipstream!" She could hear the twins calling her name, trying to gain her attention but she ignored them, too enthralled with what was laid before her to pay them any mind.
She darted towards the lines and lines of racks holding hundreds upon hundreds of shoes and almost swooned. Behind her the twins shared an exasperated glance before sighing and following at a much slower pace. When they reached her, she was holding up an odd strappy blue thing, it had a very long, sharp point on the bottom.
"What's that do?" Frenzy asked curiously, looking at what he had decided must have been a weapon of some sort; something to stab people with.
"It's a shoe." Slipstream snapped at him impatiently, ripping off her sandal and forcing the 'weapon' on her foot.
"That can't be a shoe!" cried Rumble in disbelief, tilting his head this way and that to look at the 'shoe' from better angles, "How's anyone supposed to walk in 'em?"
"With practice," she informed him, standing up with only one shoe on and walking around awkwardly.
"What's the pointy thing for then?" Frenzy muttered, picking up the left shoe, and flipping it over to inspect said 'pointy thing'.
Slipstream rolled her eyes, "To stab people with." She told them sarcastically.
Unfortunately, they believed her, and turned to exchange grins, already formulating plans for what they could do with the multi-tool shoes.
"Can you buy us a pair?" Rumble pleaded, reaching for a pair of dark, blue boots with ridiculously high, thin heels.
"No," She sneered at them, "Not many boys wear heels and you're not the type to do so."
"Yes we are!" Frenzy argued, picking out his own pair of bright red stilettos, and like his brother, flipped them over to inspect the point on the bottom.
"Will you put those back," she snapped, finally turning away from her foot's reflection in a tiny mirror on the floor and spotting them with the shoes, "You're not hookers!"
The twins didn't know what 'hookers' were, but they were fairly sure it wasn't anything good and dropped the shoes instantly. Rumble glanced around at the store and its endless products, "Can we have anything?"
"Like what?" she hissed, digging through a mountain of shoes labelled 'sale'.
The twins shrugged. Slipstream sighed and dropped the 'sale' shoes. They were cheap and tacky looking anyway. If she found something to distract them with now she would be able to shop in peace until she had found the perfect accessories. "Come along brats, you can have one thing."
Ignoring the insult, the twins celebrated silently behind her back, air high-fiving each other. They took the stairs to the third floor -choosing not to travel on the strange moving metal staircase- and walked down several isles of something called 'kitchen'. As they moved further towards the back however, things became more interesting.
The large sign attached to the ceiling branded 'Children' should have been a giveaway. The twins were in about as much awe as Slipstream had been with the shoes. On one side, there were horrible pink, sparkly, fluffy things, but the other, held countless weapons. Everything from guns to the more traditional shields and swords lined the shelves. Rumble darted forward and picked up one of the swords, it was surprisingly light. He made to swing it into Frenzy's head but was promptly shot in face with a small foam ball. He glared at his twin who was holding a multicoloured, shiny plastic gun, and ducked as another foam ball was fired at him.
"Hey! No fair!" he shouted at Frenzy, scrabbling to find a shield to protect himself from the onslaught of colourful balls.
Frenzy just laughed, "Slipstream! I want this one!"
"I want one too!" Rumble shouted from behind his plastic shield.
"I said one thing, not one thing each. You can share," Slipstream barked sharply, already moving back towards the stairs, keen to get back to her precious shoes. "Come on!"
After a short tug of war, the twins ran after her, each holding one end of the gun between them.
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Before long, Megatron and Starscream had had to move away from the cash machines. There were too many cameras in the area and one of their victims could very well have sobered up upon discovering they had been robbed and actually had the intelligence to call the police.
"Intoxicated fleshies aren't likely to remember your face," Starscream was saying as they wove their way through a busy street, at least twenty minutes away the cash machines, "And squishy authorities are far less likely to take their word for it. That is why they make perfect targets. It's their own fault really. If they insist on destroying what little brain cells they possess and poisoning themselves to that point, then they deserve to be stolen from."
"There are a lot of humans here," Megatron said, looking around the busy street and wondering how on Cybertron his second could do anything with so many people about. Not to mention he couldn't see any cash points around. "Very few of them seem under the influence of... anything."
Starscream shook his head, "Cash points make for bigger payouts, but take a long time and there is more of a risk of getting caught, or, someone remembering your face. Simply pick-pocketing is a lot quicker and any imbecile can do it, so you'll be fine." Starscream explained, and Megatron ignored the indirect insult from his second, "But you can't do it alone, so... I need you to do something."
Megatron quirked an eyebrow; earlier Starscream had told him he wouldn't need his assistance and that he would only get in the way. Since his second had been doing so well on his own, he had done as his Air Commander had advised and up to this point simply observed. "What would that be?"
Starscream glanced up the street and back down it again. His sharp eyes scanned over individual members of the passing crowd before flickering higher, checking for any surveillance against buildings or street lamps, before pointing down the road. "Walk down the street, and when you reach the third lamp start shouting that you've been robbed."
"In English?"
"It doesn't matter what language, just make a show of searching your pockets and panicking," said Starscream, still searching the buildings towering above them for cameras. He glanced back at his leader, frowning and wondering why he hadn't done as he'd asked yet.
"What purpose would that serve?" Megatron rumbled, "Wouldn't that just alert the flesh bags to the presence of a thief amongst them?"
Starscream snorted, and glared at the passing crowd. "How am I supposed to steal from them if I don't know where they keep their money? Humans are stupid, and selfish. If they hear someone near them has been stolen from their first worry is whether or not they have fallen victim to the same thing. When they check their pockets I will be able to see where they keep their valuables." When he looked back up at his leader he took a nervous step back. Megatron was looking at him funny again.
"What?" he screeched.
Megatron was a little too stunned to answer. It was like the trustworthy, intelligent, young Starscream he had promoted to be his Air Command and Second in Command all those thousands of vorns ago had suddenly materialized in the place of the screechy, unpleasant little glitch he'd had to put up with for so long. And to think, all he had had to do to bring that side out in him again was let him steal from a few inebriated squishies. He wondered how long Starscream would remain like this before reverting to his normal spiteful, sneering self. Perhaps he should saviour it.
Instead of saying any of this out loud, he slipped a large hand behind the seeker's head -completely ignoring how Starscream's eyes widened fearfully as if he expected to be strangled any moment now- and stroked his short brown locks, massaging the soft hair at the nape of his neck. The seeker's face was now pulled into an odd expression that could be anywhere between confusion and disgust.
Megatron dismissed it, "So, what are we doing after this?" he asked causally, hand around the seeker's neck lowering, but not before running his fingers leisurely through his hair.
Starscream, seeing an almost genuine smile pulling at his leader's lips, came to the conclusion that Megatron wasn't about to hit or choke him anytime soon, and allowed his smug smirk to return, "Well," he began, lifting a hand to inspect his nails casually, "We could do something I quite like to call... Hugger Mugging."
XDXDXDXDXDXDXDXDXDXDXDXDXDXD
Hugger Mugging, it turned out, was as stupid as it sounded. It was also surprisingly successful. The idea was fairly simple, and even the clumsiest and most obvious of thief's could pull it off.
Megatron watched from the dark wall, entranced as Starscream moved onto his fourth dance partner, or rather victim. Drunk humans were so painfully easy to steal from; he wondered why the seeker bothered to put so much thought into it. To the untrained eye, Starscream wrapped his arms around the young woman's waist and back, spinning her around to the rhythm of the music, laughing with her before spinning her away and moving on to another equally drunken girl. They were far too drunk to have realised that the sly hand he'd slipped up or down their dress wasn't to sneak a feel, but to steal the small deposit of cash they had thought they were being subtle about by hiding in their underwear.
Megatron couldn't have been prouder of the seeker. Both molesting and stealing from young women, and the occasional old one, all too smashed to remember their own names. It was also quite fun to watch his second prancing around the flashing, smoky dance floor of the night club, not to mention deviously satisfying.
They left the club after a mere twenty minutes just in case anyone started to notice missing possessions. It wasn't worth the risk, and there were so many more night clubs they could hit it was pointless staying much longer anyway. They'd had to pay a few rupees to get in, but had come out with thousands.
They stepped back into the noticeably emptier streets, leaving the booming club music behind as the doors swung shut after them. Starscream was surprised to see the sky a dark blue colour again and void of any stars, the ebony blackness retreating. Was it nearly morning already?
"You have done well tonight," Megatron was saying, and he felt a strong arm wind around his waist, radiating much needed warmth. "We should go back to the hotel and get some sleep."
"How much did we get?" he asked, his exhaustion suddenly sweeping over him as his body realised how long he had been awake. He leant into his leader's hold, resting his tired head on Megatron's broad shoulder.
His Commander smiled at him, and he knew they had a lot. A lot more than his leader had probably predicted they could get in fact. "Enough," Megatron murmured, steering him out of the main street and into a side alley.
"I want my cut." He announced, tilting his head back just in time to see the taller man roll his eyes at him.
"Your greed will be your undoing, Starscream. A gluttonous leader is not a good one."
"Better greedy than useless," Starscream snapped back, scowling at Megatron angrily and yet not pulling himself from his leader's arms.
"You are ruining the end of a beautiful night."
"Beautiful?" Starscream sneered, sounding disgusted.
Like with most of what Starscream did, Megatron decided to ignore him, "When we get back you may help me count the money."
Starscream bristled at the patronising tone, and one look at Megatron told him his leader knew that he was treating his second like a newly sparked creation and wanted him to rise to the bait. "Oh, joy!" he hissed sarcastically.
But, he thought to himself deviously, counting the money would give him the perfect opportunity to steal some of it back to keep for himself. After all, if it hadn't been counted yet Megatron wouldn't know if any of it was missing.