Disclaimer: Do not own transformers.

AN: Everything happens the same but they are dragons. Operation Bumblebee does not happen and that is where the story will start. Things have been changed to fit the story. Characters and events maybe changed or be non existent.


Ch 12

In the jungle of the Amazon the Autobot team walked in the mud. It had been a couple of days since his return and Starscream stayed closed to Jetfire as the path was a little tight. Scavenger and Hotshot followed after keeping close to each other as well.

"Man this sucks!" Hotshot growled as his paw sank into the deep mud. "I keep stepping in the deeper part of the mud and almost getting stuck." He tugged at his paw till it came out.

"Just keep moving Hotshot." Scavenger pushed the smaller forward on the path.

"Hey watch it back there!" Hotshot grumbled and trotted away before running right into Starscream.

"Seems the rain made this trek a bit difficult." Starscream muttered as he stepped on the dry part of the path. "Hm they seem to be fighting again." Starscream looked behind himself and spotted Hotshot get stuck again.

Jetfire looked aswell and chuckled, "Well can't help it. The minicon's signal came over the computers and we need to get to it."

"Hm I guess-" Hotshot ran right into him from behind. Starscream tried to steady himself but his paw landed on the wet mud and slipped and fell onto his side in the mud. He growled as Hotshot tried to make it look like it was not his fault. "You are going to pay for that." Starscream growled as he stood back up.

"It was an accident!" Hotshot pointed at Scavenger, "He made me do it."

Scavenger looked at Hotshot, "I only pushed you a bit and you then ran off and ran into Starscream, how is that my fault?"

Before Hotshot could open his mouth Jetfire broke the fight up, "Scavenger only helped get you moving, Hotshot. Starscream, Hotshot apologized to you for what he did. Oh, and Starscream, you can get him back for that later." Jetfire shook his head. 'Honestly, they act like sparklings!'

Starscream growled one last time at Hotshot before walking back to take his place at Jetfire's side. Once there Jetfire started to walk again feeling the smaller flier's presence next to him.

"It's like he's Jetfire's second now." Hotshot watched the two.

"I think it was decided by all of us after Starscream came back and helped us." Scavenger nodded over at them. "It does make sense, Starscream was SIC of Megatron's army and has experience making the decisions bad and good."

Hotshot turned to Scavenger, "So he has his old place back in the form of SIC of our group?" At the nod Scavenger gave, Hotshot vented. "Yeah I guess it was bound to happen, after all 'A leopard can't change its spots.'" He smiled.

Scavenger just shook his head, "You and those human sayings." Scavenger rolled his optics. "Are you even sure that is the saying?"

"Get down!" Starscream shouts as the sound of a missile pierces the air.

Scavenger and Hotshot hit the muddy ground and the missile flies right over them. Thrusters pierce the air and Starscream takes off to fight the other fliers. Jetfire stays grounded covering Hotshot and Scavenger under laser fire.

"When did the cons show up?" Hotshot shouted as he ran for cover behind a large tree.

"They came out of the jungle in front of us!" Jetfire called back ducking as a laser shot came close to his face. "What do you think?!"

"This is bad." Scavenger grumbled firing his own shots from his tail.

"More like they have bad shots!" Hotshot smiled and hit Demolisher in the shoulder. "Ha, got ya!"

"Stay focus the minicon must be around here!" Jetfire called over to them before looking up into the air.

Starscream was being double teamed by Thrust and Cyclonus. So far Starscream suffered minimal damage while the other two had some impressive wounds.

Starscream managed to hit Thrust with his unsheathed claws and cut Cyclonus's thigh guard with black blades that glowed red. The blades came from the black part of his wing Jetfire noticed as Starscream flew low to the ground.

"Sir!" Sideways came out of the jungle holding the minicon panel. "I have the minicon!" Thrust gave the signal to retreat. The cons disappeared before the autobots could stop them.

"Scrap!" Hotshot slammed his paw into the mud. "They got another one!"

Scavenger watched him and shook his head. "Hotshot we can't always win them. Starscream was outnumbered in the air and we were under heavy fire."

Starscream landed next to the rock Hotshot had taken cover by. He was limping badly on his back right leg and seemed to favor his left wing as it was pulled close to his body.

"Is everyone alright?" Starscream glanced at Hotshot who growled at him and turned stomping away. "What's wrong with him?" Starscream had started to finally get Hotshot to open to him and now he was acting like he had before.

"He's just mad." Jetfire stepped up next to him. "He'll get over it. How are you?"

Starscream ran a self diagnostic to get the damage, "My wing has a couple of scratches from their talons and Cyclonus got a luck shot at my leg. Over all damage a couple of cut cables in my leg with damaged and burned armor, my wing is just surface damage nothing my self repair can't fix."

"Does it hurt?" Scavenger walked up to Starscream and looked at the scratches. They didn't seem deep.

Starscream snorted and looked at Scavenger, "Yeah, fliers wings are highly sensitive, we have a lot of extra sensors in them. So they are hurting like you won't believe." He got a look from the other two who started to laugh.

"You hanging you with the kids is making you talk like them." Jetfire grind.

Starscream raised an optic ridge before his tail smacked him in the back of his ankle guards. This caused Jetfire to slip and land in the mud.

"Oops." Starscream turned and limped the same way Hotshot was going listening to Jetfire grumbling about him and Scavengers deep laughs. He found Hotshot sitting on the ground glaring at the mud. "Come on, It happened to everyone." When he got the glare that had been directed at the ground, he shook his head. "Not all battles can be won."

"Yeah, well I would love to see you try to say that to the minicon that's in their hands!" Hotshot stood up facing the seeker.

"I've had to say it to my own trine once. There is always another chance to make it right." Starscream turned around and nodded his head over to the other two who were awaiting. "Come on they're waiting for us." Hotshot followed still a little mad about the poor minicon, but Starscream was right. They could always try to save the minicon later.

Once they arrived back at the base they all headed to the wash racks. The kids had school today and wouldn't be there for another two joors.

Starscream stepped under the cleaner and let it run down his armor. He fluffed up his armor and let the cleaner get under it. Spreading his wings out he flapped them to help get the mud that the cleaner couldn't reach out of their joints.

"Hey!" Hotshot cried as he was splashed with the cleaner. "Stop that." He glared as Starscream left with a grin. Before Hotshot could say anything more cleaner was hitting him courtesy of Jetfire and his large wings. "Come on!" Hotshot groaned.

Scavenger walked by after he had finished and grinned at the poor yellow warrior, "This is why you get the wash racks farther from fliers." He walked out laughing deeply.

Hotshot stayed under the shower until he felt like he was clean enough. By then Starscream had visited Red Alert and had his back leg fixed from the damage.

"So who's turn is it to go and scout around tonight?" Sideswipe asked randomly to everyone in the room.

"Hmm." Jetfire thought as he tried to figure out who should go.

Starscream decided to make his mind up for him, "I could go." When everyone turned to look at him he shrugged, "I need to stretch my wings out some more." At the nod everyone went about their jobs before the kids came. When they did they started to talk about their day and ask how things went for the others.

Starscream had told the kids more stories about Cybertron and the legends. Alexis wanted to go with him one day to see the prophets ship. Starscream admitted that he hasn't managed to translate all of the pictures and legends. When the kids left for the night Starscream rested for a couple of hours before he had to go and scout.

Swindle yawned and stretched as he woke up. The sun had set hours ago and the moon was just hitting its peak. It was time for his master to get to his duty.

"Master, get up." Swindle pushed against the seekers head.

Starscream opened his optics and looked around. When he saw Swindle there he huffed and got up to stretch. "Ok, I'm up." Starscream jumped down from his berth and Swindle jumped onto his back.

Walking down the corridors Starscream listened through the other doors and heard the occupants all in recharge. Humming he continued till he came to the entrance hidden in a cave. His metal steps echoed off the stone walls.

Starscream took a deep intake of the cold air as he stepped out of the cave. Swindle chirped and ran around on his back being careful if the wings. Starscream shook himself and opened his wings getting ready to take off after feeling Swindle dig his claws into a seam in his armor.

"Starscream!" Jetfire's voice echoed out of the cave as the larger flier came trotting up behind him.

Starscream tilted his helm and looked back at his leader. "Yes?"

Jetfire stopped as he got alongside the smaller flier. "Be Careful out there. MECH has been spotted in the area earlier this morning by Blurr."

Starscream's metal lenses swirled closed a bit as he took this information. Swindle chirped worriedly at him before combining with his master. "I have the protection I need." Starscream glared at Jetfire. " I am no longer weak."

"I know, but you are still part of my team." Jetfire cut in front of Starscream as he tried to walk away. "I am just worried."

Starscream's glare softened and he nodded, "I will be careful." He then nudged Jetfire in the chest plate with his helm before moving on. "I can promise I'll come back in one peace." He took off quickly into the cold night air.

"You had better keep that promise!" Jetfire called after the retreating white spot. He was answered by a loud shriek from Starscream and he smiled before going back into the base.

An hour into the scouting and Starscream still hadn't found anything. He was far way from the base by now but kept going further from it. He decided to make a route back to base using the canyons incase MECH really was there and had spotted him.

Up on a ridge MECH had been monitoring the skies for any aerial dragon. They had been there for most of the day and yesterday. The men finally had a break when they spotted a white speck in the skies flying toward them. They contacted Silas and he told them to bring the dragon down by any means. They loaded the metal bolas and aimed at the dragon.

Just as Starscream started to turn to head back he heard a noise cutting through the air. He turned in the direction just in time to have his left wing and leg get wrapped in metal rope. He shrieked in anger as he fell from the sky. Using his right wing and his thrusters he managed to land on a large cliff. He hissed and struggled to get out of the ropes. He then heard panicked humans screaming about where he landed.

"This is bad! He landed right on the roof!" One of them cried.

Starscream struggle even more as humans and there dragon knockoffs came in close. One of the men ran between them and waved his arms.

"Stop! If we add more weight to the roof it will collapse!" He was ignored as the men moved in. Starscream managed to get his back legs under him and lunged forward. His jaws clamped down on one man's arm and he hurled him at the others.

"My looks like we have a fighter on our hands." Silas watched from his mount.

Starscream glared and hissed before he managed to finally claw the metal ropes apart. Standing up he kept his head low to the ground and his back arched. Wings spread out threateningly with his tail swishing in aggression. Silas ignored the danger he was putting his men in and ordered them to engage the seeker.

"Stop!" The same man as before called.

Everyone stopped, but not because of the man's cries. A loud cracking sound echoed from below everyone. The men turned and ran but the roof gave under them and they fell through the camouflaged roof. Silas glared down into the hole as the dragonformer landed in the middle of one of their secret labs.

Starscream landed on his side heavily when the ground under him collapsed. 'A roof? Who decided to camouflage a roof for rock?' Starscream shook himself to get the debris off of himself. He didn't have a chance to really recover before bullets were being fired on him. He hissed and backed away from the stinging of the bullets hitting his reinforced armor.

He stepped back and felt something under his back paw break open. Starscream didn't have a chance to look behind him before more bullets rained down on him. He screeched in fury finally getting fragged off at the humans. He charged them and knocked a large group away.

Hissing Starscream smashed into some of their computers and he tried to find another way out. Trying to fly up was a big 'NO'. He needed to find another way to get himself out and away from MECH.

Starscream didn't feel the sharp claws dig into the seams in his neck and chest. He was distracted by a small weak chirping sound. Turning quickly he spotted a black dragonformer being loaded into a trailer being pulled by a knock off. He locked his orange optics with the silver ones that were begging for help like they did so long ago.

The spell was broken by another barrage of bullets as the trailer closed. Starscream screeched and charged through the men in front of him again. Making sure that the men were injured he speed off out of the tunnel that the trailer disappeared through.

Once out of the tunnel he took to the skies again. He was running on pure coding now. He spotted the trailer and gave a loud furious shriek before descending onto it. Starscream hit the side of the trailer with the force he gathered when descending from the skies onto his target, If this was a battle and the trailer was an enemy, the enemy would be dead before they hit the ground.

The trailer fell over onto its side. A large dent was in the hard metal side. The contents of the trailer whimpered and whined. He could hear the seeker huffing and sniffing around the trailer he was in.

Starscream kept circling the metal trailer trying to find a way to open it before the men came to get it back. He finally found the back and clawed through the thin metal. He reached in and pulled the black dragonformer out. He didn't have time to really look the other over before they were surrounded.

Starscream stood over the others body and hissed at everyone. He then sent a beacon back to base. Jetfire would be sure to get it and get them out of here.

Right before Silas could say anything the two dragonformers suddenly disappeared before their eyes.

Starscream smirked as he felt the tell tale pull of transwarp and welcomed it. Grabbing the black dragonformer with his back claws the pull finally took them away from the danger. When the light cleared he was welcomed by familiar walls. He took a step away from the other and turned to look at him.

The black dragonformer was just that, completely black with spikes and silver optics. He bent his helm down and nudged the shaking dragonformer.

"You're safe now, Makeshift." Starscream purred and felt the other nudge back with a small whine.

"Starscream!" Jetfire and Red Alert came running in. "Are you alright!" Jetfire looked him over as Red Alert looked Makeshift over.

"Yeah I'm fine for now." Starscream looked up at Jetfire's face before feeling Jetfire nuzzle the side of his helm.

"Thank Primus." Jetfire mumbled before backing off and going back into leader mode. "What happened?"

Shaking his head Starscream told him all of what happened, "Got jumped by MECH and handled it myself. Rescued Makeshift and got him here, that's the short version of what happened."

"Oh then who are they attached to your front?" Jetfire looked down at Starscream's chassis.

Looking down quickly Starscream hissed when he saw two small human sized drones attached to him. "Get off!" He shook himself again to get the parasites off.

"St-stop!" One of them cried getting woozy from the shaking.

"Starscream!" Jetfire called again and Starscream stopped trying to shake his unwanted pest off. "You two can let go of him."

The two drones looked at each other before nodding. They let go of Starscream and landed flat on their backs. Before they could do anything a black paw landed in their chassis claws still unsheathed and covered in blood.

"Give me one reason I should not put you two down." Starscream hissed ignoring the look he was getting from both Red Alert and Jetfire.

"Please!" The red and black drone cried as Starscream started to put pressure on their small bodies. "We will be good, please!"

"Don't hurt us, not again!" The yellow on whimpered looking up into Starscream unforgiving optics.

Starscream shuttered his optics and let the two crawl out from under his claws. "Your lucky I'm not that Starscream anymore." He turned and walked over to Red to help him with Makeshift. Swindle chose that time to uncombined with his master and studied the two drones from his favorite perch.

"Friends of yours?" Swindle chirped at Starscream getting the attention of the two drones.

Snorting Starscream almost laughed, "No." Swindle nodded and watched the two drones studying them as the studied him.


AN: Wow that was a long chapter. Here are some new faces appearing, can you guys guess who else will show up in this fic? What about pairings, who will be with who? Hmm, guess we will need to wait for a while. Again I will say that yes Jetfires team will be meeting Optimus team later.