Chapter 11

"This is gonna go baaad." Ripcord warned as they all loaded on two military style airplanes.

"Yea but Prime thinks it'll be OK so just chill!" Velpe growled, the man was making her nervous.

"Well I'm glad you have confidence because I sure don't!" he said strapping down and as Iornhide, Sideswipe and Bumble Bee also boarded the plane.

"Hey if you don't have confidence in him at least have some in me!" Sides grinned as some men strapped him down so he wouldn't be thrown around when they took off.

"That's the last thing I'd be doing!" Velpe laughed, then a minuet later everything was prepared for flight.

"Alright lady's and gent's let's get flying! Epps said enthusiastically over the planes comm.

After Epps had terminated the comm Lennox sighed, "I just wish I could have gotten Sarah to stay home, in case anything goes bad."

"Hey I gotta feeling nothing's going to go bad Cap so just chill out." the Sargent comforted as he prepared for flight.

As he though about his wife and daughter Captain Lennox mumbled, "I hope your right."

Then they all took off for the Atlantic.

…..

"Take care of her." the Cobra Commander said to Starscream's hologram after the doors to his quarters closed.

"What the slag do you mean?" the Decepticon air commander questioned.

"I'm not always going to be there. To protect Pyrosa, to care for her and to..........love her. I need you to promise me you'll take care of her." Cobra strained, trying not to cry as he turned around.

"Even without your request I would have done so, but why do you care now, you never did before." Starscream questioned.

Sighing the commander said, "Only now have I realized what I had missed, a family. I also have a feeling that soon my time will come, very soon in fact. And I want someone to be there for her when it happens, someone I can rely on whom will not just abandon her. I saw that person to be you."

For a moment Starscream just stared off into space then he said, "Then I believe it is a human custom to make this inquiry."

Puzzled Cobra said, "Yes, what?"

"Do I have your permission to be bonded, or as you humans say, married to your daughter?" the hologram asked.

"Your kidding right?" Cobra chuckled, "Of course you do, you'd be the only one I'd ever let her marry."

"I will take care of her, sir." Starscream stated, "Who will command the Cobra unit if you are terminated?"

"She will, she may act immature but when given responsibility she can lead like you wouldn't believe." Cobra smiled.

"Actually I would. She found a way to make the Decepticons work together, that was what humans call a miracle. They had no trust and everything was 'do it yourself or it wont get done'." the hologram grumbled.

"Well then it will probably be the best decision I have ever made, the first one I didn't make for myself." Cobra hissed at himself, "But enough, we should get back to Pyrosa before she thinks I killed you."

"Mmm, I agree." Starscream smiled, "It wouldn't surprise me if she were listening at the door with the child."

"Wha-....oh the..." Cobra said as he tried to remember the kid's last name.

"The Lennox child." Starscream interjected as Cobra opened his door to find, as Starscream predicted, Pyrosa and Anni with their ears to the door.

"Um...welll um this is awkward..." she said then grinned wide, "I love you both!" then grabbed them both into a group hug.

The two males looked at each other uncomfortably then she let them go saying, "I think we should go find Zartan, I got some questions for him. Or are you not done daddy?"

"No I'm done." Cobra sighed at the 'daddy' comment then headed back to the command center.

"Comon Screamer, Anni lets go find Zartan." Pyrosa smiled but before she could move Starscream's hologram spoke.

"There is no need to find him since he is already in our presence." he said tilting his holographic head towards a relatively shadowed hallway.

"What do you need?" the assassin asked as he came out of the shadows.

"Well I require your...specialized skills. I need you to go back with the Baroness and Dr. Mindbender, assassination and spying benefits will be necessary in the near future." she explained.

"Hmm, a good plan but I'll need a guarantee that if I assassinate them I have a way out, I don't want to get caught if I'm found out." Zartan insisted.

"You got it, Starscream is there anything you could do to give him that sort of guarantee?" the teen inquired.

"Barricaid, he might be willing to aid us there. If and when you go, talk to him and ask, 'So why not fly, would it be worth the freedom you'd get?'" The seeker's hologram instructed.

"And if he should respond what would be the desired reply?" Zartan questioned.

"He should say, 'Indeed flying would be most beneficial, I think I shall'. If he say's 'I'd rather not waste my time with such trivial nonsense' then he had declined." Starscream responded.

"Then I'll leave immediately, the sooner the better because if I wait to long they'll get suspicious." the assassin nodded then disappeared into the shadows.

"Well now that that's taken care of what do you want to do?" Pyrosa asked and knelt beside Anni.

"Um, we fly? I like to fly!" the child grinned looking up at Starscream's hologram with puppy dog eyes.

"Who do you want to fly with, me, Thundercracker or Skywarp?" he smiled as he picked her up and held her.

"Skwiwrarp!" Annabelle cheered immediately.

"I'll tell him to meet us on the airstrip then." Starscream said looking at Pyrosa.

"And I'll be with you." Pyrosa stated, not asked.

"Oh you will?" Screamer smirked as they headed for the hanger lift.

"Well who else could I fly with? We all know Skywarp would play some horrible prank on me and TC has been tired as of late so he might not want to come." the teen replied.

"Do they not have regular jets within this facility?" he said as his smirk widened.

"Well then I'd truly get to try my skills against a worthy 'foe'." she laughed.

Raising an eyebrow the Seeker questioned, "And whom would that be?"

Sighing and rolling her eyes Pyrosa said, "You of course, prince of the sky's."

"Mm I could get used to such a title." he laughed as we came into the aircraft hanger.

Pyrosa went to the flight manager and said, "I'm going for a flight with Commanders Starscream and Skywarp."

"And Thundercracker." TC added as he came in.

"Oh I thought you were a bit drained?" Pyrosa questioned the blue mech.

"I'm well enough to see you get your aft handed to you." he grinned, "I'll see you up top."

"Anyway ma'am yes your cleared of course, which type of aircraft do you wish to pilot?" the manager inquired.

Without hesitance she said, "The F-22."

The man nodded and walked off to find where they were stored, he didn't know because they weren't used often.

While he was gone Pyrosa turned to Starscream's hologram as he approached Skywarp in jet form.

"The child wishes another flight, would you like to indulge her?" Starscream said as he placed Anni on the floor.

"I'd love to take the kid up, Comon Kiddo!" he grinned as he transformed.

Starscream's hologram disappeared and his jet form over across the hanger transformed. He went over to Annabelle and picked her up then carefully placed her into Skywarp's cockpit. Skywarp strapped her down then headed for the lift as Starscream transformed and did the same.

At that moment the air craft manager returned and said, "This way ma'am, the F-22's are this way." and he lead her to another part of the huge hanger.

She picked the F-22 she wanted then hopped into the cockpit after a quick look over to make sure there were no problems.

She did the usual start up things then carefully headed for the lift. Skywarp and Starscream had already gone up and the lift was just finishing it's decent. Once it was on the hanger floor Pyrosa moved her jet onto it, Thundercracker following suit wheeling himself onto the lift also.

"Alright lets do this thing of frequency six. So we don't bother the ever so hard working men eh?" Pyrosa suggested to Thundercracker whom relayed it to the other two brothers.

"I can't wait to hear you scream in terror!" Warp laughed over the radio.

"I'm waiting for Starscream's!" she grinned, "Isn't it what he's known for?"

"You won't be getting anything like that from my vocalizer!" Starscream argued as the lift reached the surface of the facility, "Were' going to let you go ahead and take off, give you a head start and all."

"Even though I don't need it I'll go anyway." Pyrosa said snobbishly then rolled her jet onto the runway.

"Now you get to see the goddess of the sky's fly!" she cried happily as she started forward and, once she reached the right speed, took to the bright, blue and cloudless sky.

"Ya know" Thundercracker said, ", she is an exceptional pilot for her age."

"Not just her age but her species!" Warp interjected.

"Indeed she is." Starscream agreed as he watched her soar.

The Decepticon air commander hovered up into the air then blasted off, his brothers not far behind, into the clouds.

"You have ten seconds till I force you from my sky's!" Starscream warned then disappeared into the clouds.

'That's way more than what I need!' Pyrosa mentally grinned as she set herself up. In five second she was ready, her plan was ready.

"Comon you piece of scrap! You couldn't beat me if your life depended on it!" She taunted.

"To the contrary I already have." she heard him chuckle over the radio as he burst out of the clouds on her left.

She turned off the engine and angled the plane downward and his charge missed.

"What was that Seeker, I don't think I heard you right!" Pyrosa laughed at him as she restarted the engine and pulled the jet upward.

"Oh you heard me right, I already have!" he responded as he came up on the back of her jet. She shot straight up soaring further into the clouds, Starscream on her tail.

"Try this on for size Screamer!" she challenged and turned off her engine again, making her jet turn around and fall nose first to the ocean below.

Since he was right on her tail he almost was hit when she turned off her jets engine, the only reason he wasn't was because of his intense speed ability's.

"You got nothing on me Screamer, if ya do then come and get me!" she baited the red, white and blue jet, still shooting to the open salt water below with her engines off.

"Your mine!" he growled playfully following her into the insane dive.

"And I always will be but that wont change the outcome of our fight!" the teen responded as Starscream came up beside her, his hologram grinning a Pyrosa in her cockpit.

"I'll admit you've got some nice moves but I'll win this dive, your human and will have to pull up very soon or risk injury." he stated, a smugness in his vocal processor as they approached

"So you seem to think." she said with a dangerous twinkle in her eye, then she flipped her F-22 so the engines were facing the water and activated them.

Her decent immediately slowed as Starscream blasted past her, shocked at her bold and dangerous move.

While Starscream had pulled up she was hovering just two meters, the strength of her engines holding her jet at the same, low altitude.

"So impressed by my aerial talents you cannot speak?" she taunted him as she kept adjusting the controls to stay at the same altitude and so her jet wouldn't flip on it's belly.

"OK at least I'M impressed!" Skywarp admitted slowly coming out of the clouds with TC.

"Indeed, that's quite an impressive feat." the blue F-15 agreed.

Just then Pyrosa noticed out of the corner of her eye a red, white and blue F-22 racing towards her.

'That's right Screamer' she thought slyly, ', come to ma ma!'

When he was 80 feet away she stopped the engines and pressed a button that no regular military F-22 had.

The entire jet slipped into the water as every part of the plane sealed itself and the engines made small modifications so they could work underwater.

"What the slag-" they all heard Starscream exclaimed as he shot through the space Pyrosa's jet used to be and soared upwards into the scattered clouds.

"This jet is Cobra, and you know us. We have to tinker with eeeverythiing!" she laughed as she came up to the surface, "How bout we call it a draw?"

"Never!" Starscream denied as he shot out of the clouds towards the teenage girl.

"I don't think so!" she laughed then she set the plane to dive and move to the right by a few meters just as Starscream got close. As he got really close the subroutines kicked in and the entire scene played out so fast Pyrosa could barely register what was gong on. Starscream crashed into the spot of ocean a moment before she occupied and was swallowed into the waves. After a second Starscream surfaced and was transformed in to his bipedal form. Pyrosa surfaced beside him and he held onto it so he wouldn't sink.

"How is this vessel not sinking?" he asked as he looked down at her through the canopy.

"Well one of the mods was so it could float or sink anytime Hydrogen was used in stead of air to help it float." she explained.

"Hmm." He said in a thinking manner, "Oh Primus can I get out of this liquid, it's already starting to rust up my transistors!"

That just made Pyrosa giggle and activate her jets engines, heading towards the platform.

The Seeker crawled up as fast as he could onto the flight deck and Pyrosa said, "Now that that baby's outta the way TC would you mind helping me onto the deck?"

"Of course not." he smiled as he transformed, came over, picked up the entire F-22 and placed it onto the platform as Skywarp landed with Anni.

"Thanks TC." she thanked as she opened the cockpit and hopped out, "So Screamer enjoy that a** whoopin'?"

"Only coming from you." He smiled down at her tiny frame, "I have a proclamation to make."

"What?" she questioned as she placed her hands on her hips and gave him a puzzling look.

"If you are willing to accept" he said, giving a slight pause before continuing, ", I would like to present you with the honor of being the first human Seeker."

Everyone gasped save of course the ignorant human child Annabelle who didn't understand the significance of the title.

Pyrosa just stood there, mouth open in shock and awe at what had just transpired.

"You mean I....me....a......Seeker!" she stuttered, barely able to speak.

"Unless you don't wish to be..." Starscream trailed off as he smirked down at her.

"I could never say no to this...to be counted among the Seekers.....as one of you...." she said as she remembered to breath, "I humbly accept that which you offer." and she bowed.

"Then I must also ask. Will you wear the Seeker symbol and fight at you new brothers side's, through 'thick and thin', as human say?" he questioned.

"On my honor I will." she said tonelessly, though everyone could almost feel the excitement radiating off her.

"Then I do proclaim you a Seeker." he smiled lightly down at her, no smirks, no evil malignant grins, he just smiled for once in several million vorns.

"You know what Screamer?" Skywarp grinned, "We should give her a party, do you know how long it's been since we had a party? It's been like thirty thousand vorns!"

"Thirty thousand vorns, how long is that?" the new Seeker asked.

"It's equivalent to about half a billion of your human years." Starscream informed her, "And yes Skywarp, I think that would be a splendid idea."

"HOLY SHIT HALF A BILLION YEARS! That was like in the time of the damned austropiphicus! No wounder you want one so bad!" Pyrosa exclaimed.

"Yesss, do I get to plan it?" the purple jet asked.

"Half a billion years ago was dinosaurs not mammals, and go right ahead but before we do anything I think it would be best if I informed the Cobra Commander." Starscream stated as he did so.

'Pyrosa has just accepted my request to become the first female human Seeker and she and my wing mates wish to throw a party to celebrate the event, would you consent to it?' the leader of all Seekers sent his inquiry to the Commander via a sort of text message on a radio communicator.

A minuet later Cobra's response came, 'It is fine so long as you use the hanger and nothing gets broken, destroyed shot at etc. Understood?'

'Understood, would some of the base personnel wish to attend, if you of course consented to that as well?' Starscream questioned.

'As I said, so long as no one dies and the base isn't ripped to shreds. Cobra out' And that was that.

"Were allowed so long as no one gets killed and the base remains in one piece." Starscream informed the little crowd waiting anxiously.

"Yes!" Skywarp and Pyrosa cheered together.

"Lets go get this thing ready!" she smiled but 'Warp said, "Nope, everything bout its gotta be a surprise!"

"Fine then, I'll be in my quarters, would you care to join me leader Seeker?" the teenage human girl asked Starscream.

"I'd be over joyed to accompany you, Lady Seeker." Starscream replied as his solid hologram appeared, took her hand and lead her to the lift while his actual body followed smirking. Since the lift could only handle two Transformers at a time Pyrosa, Starscream , his hologram and Skywarp went below while TC kept the child occupied.

"See you at the party then 'Warp." she smiled as Starscream transformed and wheeled to a place in the hanger, through this his hologram seemed distracted but once his real body stopped moving he said, "So where to Lady Seeker?"

"Oh I was thinking my quarters my lord, leader Seeker Starscream." she grinned as she placed a hand on his chest and looked up into his blood red eyes, eyes that would make most people spontaneous combust.

"Then your quarters it is my lady." he said with a deviant grin and led her from the room, hand in hand.

As TC came down on the lift with Anni he said, "It's nice to see our younger brother so happy for once."

"Yea and I was surprised that it was a human femm, I knew one day there'd be someone or thing but never in a million vorns would I think a human." Skywarp agreed with his brother, "Anyway we've got a lot to do and not a long time to do it in so let's get started!"

IN PYROSA'S QUARTERS....

"Starscream, I wanted...you to come here.....because I wanted to tell you something." Pyrosa said uneasily as she sat on her bed and looked at the floor.

"What, you know I'll always be there for you." he said placing a finger under her chin and forcing her too look in his eyes.

"Yea I know, that's not the problem....I can't afford to love you anymore Starscream." she cried.

"What do you mean?" he almost growled.

"I...I'm dieing." she said, tears flowing freely from her eyes now.

"Wha- how, I'm sure I could fix it! We could fix it, together!" he said holding her close.

"No Starscream, you can't I can't no one can or has ever escaped this fate......I'm going to die, weather it be now or later I will die. And you....you'll be left all alone. And if I know you half as well as I think....you'll become angry..so very very angry...and you'll no longer be the Decepticon I so very much fell in love with....." she responded unable to continue for the tightness building up in her throat.

Starscream had nothing to say. It was true. One day weather she die by blade, gun or just old age she would be taken from him. She would wilt away like the yearly foliage falls to the ground and then he would be alone without his love's comfort and serenity.

"We will make it through this, If it costs me my place in the Well of Allsparks I will find a way for us to be together." he said as he held her shoulders, "Even if I'm sent to the pit for the rest of eternity I will be glad knowing my sparkmate is alive and well."

"Wait the pit is like your hell right?" Pyrosa asked sobbingly and he nodded, "Well then I'd just have to follow you because I'd never be parted from you."

At that he just gave her a hug and smiled, "Foolish child, my ever loving sparkmate, but a foolish child."

"Well I guess I had to make up for the both of us...Crankybot 2000!" she laughed as she got up and ran from her room, him chasing after.