AN: I dunno about the rest of you, but I'm kinda getting bored with Randall and O.P's back history; I'm ready to stick with the present, so I'm gonna be writing only important snapshots and brief summaries that pertain directly to the present and future parts of this fic. I was going to expound many chapters upon Randall's close relationship with Prime, Soundwave, Starscream, Jazz, Hound, Bumblebee, Prowl, Springer, and Mirage, but, I'll just breeze through the rest of their past life. That okay with the rest of you? Please, let me know your thoughts! Thanks! ~A
PS Looooooong chapter alert! ;) :P :D
Randall cracked his joints as he sent another wave of comfort and ghosted telepathic touch on a trembling wingtip as Starscream's umpteenth whimper floated through his mind, then touched back on Soundwave's deep, comforting presence in his subconscious, drawing strength from it to fuel his exhausted mind.The now 36 year old was actually sleeping in his own, little-used room tonight, as he did every night after Starscream came out of heat.
So much had happened in the decade and a half since the day he'd had to blow his cover and lead a rescue party into the Decepticon base.
Prime had 'punished' him by giving him to select bots for training, saying Randall must have had too much time on his hands if he was able to sneak on and off the enemy base so often, and to forbid him to be apart from either Mirage (and consequently, Hound too) or Jazz (thought that eventually backfired, if he was meant to stay away from Decepticons; Jazz and Randall could be such a riot together) at any time, which was closer to a punishment then his training.
For the most part, before breakfast, he would walk over to Prime's quarters (unless he was sleeping there) and visit with his BFF for a while, talking over things, planning out future events, ect, then head off to eat.
After a quick and energizing breakfast (energizing being the key here) he'd give himself his injection, then nip over the tactics room, joining Prowl as they brainstormed over the next likely move of the Decepticons, filed away and analyzed data from the patrols, and tease him over his spark-rending indecision over which bot he desired more, Sunstreaker or Bumblebee.
The SIC had a thing for yellow bots, and Randall forever joked that if he finished his Autobot changeover, he sure was glad it wasn't yellow, or he'd mess up Prowl's choices again!
Prowl was not amused.
Randall was an important part of Prowl's team now, and not just for the binding link they now shared; his quick thinking and knowledge of their enemy was invaluable, no matter how often certain mechs viewed him with suspicion concerning his loyalties, not naming anybot, Cliffjumper and Tracks!
Once he had served his purpose there, Randall would hurry off to snag something else to re-fuel his systems, then meet up with Ironhide and his team to choose the next day's round of patrols (which ultimately had to be approved by Prowl as well), to go over the security measures and insure they were not lacking (giving Randall the info he needed for quick getaways when he needed them), and to do a weapons check and practice before lunch.
After that, Randall headed into Ratchet's domain, for an afternoon of medical records keeping, daily checkups, and any other medical procedure that might come up while he was on duty.
It was here Randall did much of his research into the two pet projects that, literally, now ruled his life, link binding and the age-stopping formula.
More on that later.
Once late afternoon or evening hit, depending on how busy it had been that day, Randall would grab a snack and find Jazz.
And Jazz made him find him, everyday.
If he couldn't find the spy, Randall failed.
If he found him, they could train.
Sometimes Randall found him, sometimes he didn't, but it was all part of the Special Operations training he went through, as an uneasy part of the saboteur's team.
It wasn't that the overall team didn't like him, far from it, most of his best friends came from this team; it was the fact he had that link with both Starscream and Soundwave that made them all on edge, and made things difficult for Randall.
They had finally reached a truce: when either con was in the area they intended to sabotage, infiltrate or even just as part of a rescue mission, Randall would stay behind.
Not only was it because he could not bring himself to harm the two of them, or compromise their safety, it was because they always knew where he was, and if he was near, they would find an excuse come to him.
Jazz tried to convince him to be a decoy once, and it nearly was the total undoing of their at-first troubled friendship.
Neither the Porsche nor the then-teenager really liked or trusted one another for the longest of times, but when Jazz was elected to help Mirage keep an eye on the now-young man, they suddenly became best friends.
Turns out, Jazz was as much a bad boy as Randall, and the two of them were forever working in the background, manipulating unsuspecting cons and bots into their plans, and then enjoying the results, including the ones involving bots and girls who fell in love with them in their respective species.
Both took joy in being single and being wanted, and both took joy in sneaking off and never being found out, and holding secret deals that sometimes went on right under Prowl and Prime's noses and didn't even know about it, though with Randall's links to both, it took a lot of skill to remain undetected, a challenge both enjoyed immensely.
And both lived for music, something that both Randall and Jazz thought Blaster would get along well with Randall for, but, due the human's relationship with Soundwave, Blaster had as little to do with Randall as he could, and vice versa.
Once he was done with the Special Ops team, he would run over to the Research labs, after grabbing something to eat, then spend the rest of the evening with Wheeljack and his inventions and studies.
Of course, Randall did get out and about a lot as well, not counting battles and missions, squeezing in some time to fly with Springer or Skyfire, race to town to pick up supplies with Bumblebee or Jazz, or relax in the rec room, playing games against whoever happened to be there, or just read a book.
And then, after the long and exhausting day, Randall would have to crash into recharge, quite literally.
His pet project insured him of that much, except on certain days when he knew one of his bonded links would need him to be alone that night.
Such as this night, the night after Starscream went out of those troubling periods all seekers went through periodically when overcome by a desire to mate.
Skywarp was an exception; that jet always appeared to be in heat, much to his trine's chagrin.
About Randall's projects… something he, and all the rest of the team, thought he'd never achieve, but here he was, part machine and part human, link bonded to six Cybertronians, through telepathic and symbiotic links, as well as a tight bond from his consciousness to theirs, and not even aging, due to his anti-aging formula.
It had taken him several years to complete to the testing stage; he'd had plenty of time, what with Prime having stopped time itself so his sparkling could form in peace.
Of course, Megatron had ruined the idea of peace, somehow breaking free of the time stop and forcing the Autobots to be busier then ever to ensure he didn't wreck the whole universe while nothing could age.
So Randall toiled away, taking days and weeks and months to pour through data on links, bonds, and symbiot connections, and to use Ratchet's tools and many, many stolen hospital equipment to infuse his body with parts of an Autobot body of his own.
Wheeljack had helped him, and the result was that Randall was half human and half Autobot; designed after a black seeker, of course.
He didn't have any wings (He figured it would be too hard to hide those while out and about with other humans) but the little bit of armor he did have was black, sleek, and shiny, and he had the mental security of a seeker, making it harder for his system files to be hacked, and he had the thrusters in his heels, enabling him with some flight power.
He looked mostly human on the outside, only notable difference was if he took his hat off to expose the retractable black plating, his flashing eyes when emotion ran high, and one whole arm that was nothing but pure simple Cybertronian tech, retractable claws and all.
He was mainly changed on the internals, but he still could not ingest energon, and so had to rely on frequent, high-energy meals to keep his systems running smoothly.
When he thought he was ready to try a temporary bond, he and Wheeljack were choosing which lucky-or unlucky- bot would be the test subject, when both twins burst in at once, obviously trying to scare the two of them into jumping, which they did.
Wheeljack accidentally knocked the fully charged sparking chamber, infused with their test matter dancing with bluish energy, and it careened right into Randall's retracted armor plating along his wrist and fingers, burning into the exposed hydraulics, wiring, and cables.
With a splitting yell, Randall was magnetized smack into Wheeljack's chest, his charged fingers slipping through a gap in his armor around the bot's neck and curling reflectively around the pulsing wires there.
With another yell, both plunged into stasis, bodies, twisting and sparking erratically as Randall's sensory wires in his head went haywire, flicking random signals all over the room.
The twins had hyper-speeded off to fetch Ratchet, who was pretty grim as he examined their smoking forms, welded together by Randall's fingers in Wheeljack's neck.
He carefully brought them both out of stasis lock, and then pried them apart.
Randall's sensory wires bent towards Wheeljack and the teen groaned.
"Let's hope it's temporary, 'Jack, or you're with me perm."
Both stumbled around all day, trying to counteract the mental bombardment of each other's thoughts and emotions, and all anyone had to do all day to find Wheeljack as look at Randall's wires he had not yet retracted: they always pointed towards the engineer.
Days passed, and they fought to stay apart, but it was obvious they were losing strength and energy the longer they stayed apart.
Whenever they did meet, they'd cling momentarily to each other, seeming to gain strength from contact, and go their ways again.
Ratchet monitored them, and noticed with dread that the effect did not go away with time, but rather strengthened.
When they were together, their pulses began stabilizing, and synchronizing, and the longer they held physical contact, the smoother they ran, and the better they felt.
They had learned how to block the other from constant overload of the other's mind, but that took energy to keep up, and that meant more fuel for Wheeljack and more food for Randall.
Finally, Ratchet and Blaster told them they needed to spend at least one night a week with the other, synchronize their systems, and maybe the result would be a lot less… messy.
So that night, Randall snuggled up to Wheeljack, his fingers locking into the bot's neck of their own accord, and this time the charge was pleasant to both.
When they awake the next morning, they both felt calm, refreshed, and normal, well, as normal as they could be, sensing the other's position and emotions at all times, and thoughts too if they weren't careful.
And, it took less energy to operate when they were synced together.
Randall tweaked the tech a bit, and succeeded in being able to 'feel' what the other was feeling, as in physical, and send 'touch' so as to seem as if he were there.
Wheeljack was his first link bond, and they recharged together every night after that, until he linked with the next bot: Optimus Prime, to be exact.
Randall was getting tired of having Mirage, often followed by Hound, and sometimes Jazz, with whom at that point he wasn't getting along with very well, and since Wheeljack and he knew of each other's general location, and, unless hidden, their thoughts and emotions, he proposed link bonding with Prime to be rid of his babysitters.
Prime agreed, and Randall super-charged his system and slipped his fingers in around the pulsing neck cables and wires.
They stayed that way all night, peacefully synchronizing in recharge, and when they awoke, they could feel each other.
Prime's mind had offered him such exciting dreams, echoes of memories from the great leader's past, some good, and some painful.
Randall saw that Ironhide was not only Optimus's father, but also his best friend.
Whenever possible, the red mech took his son everywhere with him, on his bridge engineering job.
Ratchet had actually been the stern one of the household, often scolding both Ironhide and Optronix, which was then Prime's name, for one misadventure or the other.
Then came the day Ratchet was sparked once more, causing great joy in the household.
Once the sparkling was born, Optronix loved playing with his little brother, and spent much of his time at home, tightly bonding with the tiny bluish mech.
But shortly after the sparkling became a youngling, he was stolen, and no one had ever found him again.
It was all Randall could do not to reveal to Prime that his gentle, thoughtful, quiet little brother who had looked up to him so much was Soundwave, TIC of the Decepticon forces, and missed him and the life of peace very much.
Then had come the doomed relationship with Megatron.
It seemed that while the giant mech had still been a Prime, he had gotten wind of what Optronix had in store for his future, and subsequently set to work from when the little red white and blue sparkling was born right up through his adult years to be his best friend, and ultimately his mate.
Optronix suited Megatron well when they started courting.
He was pretty submissive to the larger mech, and loved him very much.
Megatron had forbidden Optronix from giving any hint to his creators that he was courting, so that his plan of becoming ruler of all Cybertron, and indeed the whole universe, with Optronix at his side, would not be disturbed.
He knew that Ratchet and Ironhide would question him, and search out every thing he did; it was normal, for creators, to ensure their offspring were bonding with the right mech.
Megatron also loved the younger fiercely, and perhaps that was their undoing, because even though he was a bloodthirsty gladiator and dictator, he wished no harm to come upon the innocent, insecure Optronix, who trusted him explicitly.
Randall was aware that he was somehow reading Megatron's feelings and memories, and that Optimus had no idea of what all the young man was discovering, and it made him uncomfortable, so he tried to fast forward through this phase of the leader's life.
What he did see, though, made him worried.
It appeared that Megatron had tried to bond with Optronix shortly after he 'accidentally' sparked the younger, but for some reason a little bit of distrust had crept into the store clerk's spark, and he held back after only partially bonding with him.
Megatron was desperate to finish bonding with him, and so he did a very rash thing: he took his beloved to see a special gladiator fight just for him.
Gentle, kindhearted Optronix was so horrified by the display, he fled the city rather then face his lover's wrath and disappointment- not to mention he would never bond with such a mech as this, and he knew Megatron would be sparkbroken to hear that.
For the next hundred years, while he carried Megatron's twins, he had to flee for his life as Megatron erupted with pain and rage, and began his conquest to power, and then the poor mech had to birth all on his own.
The excruciating pain Optronix went through as he birthed was almost enough to sever the connection between Randall and the mech, but grimly he held on.
He had been there, of course, when Soundwave birthed, but never before had he felt the pain this intense.
Then, Optronix ran harder, and faster.
He gave the twin sparklings into two different homes, far from each other, and then took up a job as a records clerk in some nowhere town, under a new name of Orion Pax.
Then, Sentinel Prime was killed, and the spark-sick Optronix was called up to receive the Matrix of Leadership, and renamed Optimus Prime.
The first thing the new Prime did was to order evacuation of Cybertron, not wanting to run into his almost-mate, but when he had to face Megatron in the battle that followed, he realized he had to save his home planet, and put his feelings behind him.
The two have been fighting ever since, but neither can bring themselves to kill the other, the love, though buried deep in their processors, still burning brightly.
Randall woke up after that, more confused about the Great War then ever before, but kept what he had discovered hidden inside himself, and assured Prime that he would never reveal his secrets.
Now Randall had to synch with two mechs, and that came with it's own special set of problems: Prime's and Wheeljack's systems were at a different frequency then each other's and when Randall was humming along at Prime's speed, Wheeljack got all cranky.
And when Randall re-synched with 'Jack, Prime got all grouchy.
It took a lot of time before Randall got himself balanced out between the two of them, which was exhausting work, but it had to be done.
After many recharges, all three were running at the same pulse rate, and it was a relief to the whole base to at last have them content and at peace.
It was then that Randall finally broke away to visit his old pal Soundwave, and to check in on Screamer.
He had felt the telepath calling to him the last several battles, and he knew he needed to go to him, or else he may just be kidnapped again.
To his surprise, and relief, Soundwave was barely a jog away from the base, waiting on him.
Without any preliminaries, Soundwave grabbed his Autobot arm, and shoved the fingers into his own neck, the suddenness of it making sparks connect the two.
That was how Prime, Jazz, Prowl, Ratchet, and Wheeljack found them later, linked together on the ground, this link bonding even more smooth then Prime's, though filled with an equal amount of painful memories.
One of the more interesting ones surrounded his forced bonding with Megatron, and the fact that the two of them were actually friends, good friends.
It seemed that Megatron was not intending on force bonding with the blue mech at all, but had him open his chest cavity and was fondling the exposed spark to remind his TIC of the power he had to kill him or let him live, when Skywarp had burst in.
He had slammed into Megatron from behind, scrabbling uselessly at his back to try to regain his balance, and Megatron had accidentally ripped the spark from Soundwave-almost.
Megatron had done the only thing he could think of to save his friend: bond his own spark to him.
Soundwave had been grateful to Megatron for having saved his life, but they were both miserable connected together, and the only way for them to separate would be for Soundwave to link his damaged spark with someone else.
That someone was to be Jazz, no surprise to Randall.
He did not want to see what happened to Skywarp, and Soundwave obligingly hid that file from him.
Prime had nearly lost it when the group found them, and who knew what would have happened to Soundwave if Randall had not cried out in pain as Jazz and Wheeljack pounced on the silent blue mech.
"Randall, symbiot of Soundwave now." The con TIC informed them in his usual monotone, but Randall detected smugness now. "Connected to Autobots and Decepticons."
Wheeljack snarled, and Randall tried to calm both him and Prime with soothing waves of reassurance through their link.
"Jazz, you will accompany Randall on all his synching trips to Soundwave. We will build a shelter nearby to accomplish this. I will not have my boy going into the Decepticon base every few days, and I won't have you here." He addressed Soundwave sternly.
"As you wish." Soundwave bowed his head and then took flight, disappearing into the dawn as the others stood around Randall, trying to decide between glaring at him or the ground.
"I felt you bond, and that you were out of the base." Wheeljack told Randall, scooping him up to cradle him against his chassis. " I ran into Prime on my way out. He already had gotten the others."
"What were ya thinkin'?!" Jazz scolded him, hands on hips. " He coulda hurt ya!"
Randall chuckled. " Soundwave would never hurt me, not like what you're thinking, anyway. Sure, we keep up pretense during battle, but, we're not the only ones."
Randall felt Optimus stiffen internally, but despite the curious looks he was getting from the others, he spoke not of Prime and Megatron's messed up love affair, nor of Soundwave's unflagging love for Jazz or Skyfire's and Starscream's tentative relationship (which Randall planned on working on, as soon as he could bond with the commanding seeker and have an excuse to spend time with him), and defiantly not that Soundwave was Prime's long lost little brother.
Prime and Wheeljack could feel he was hiding something, but they were helpless to discover it, as unlike Randall, they did not just get empowered with telepathic usage.
Randall had kept it to himself that there was another side affect to these links: they gave him access to the specific abilities of whomever he bonded with.
Promises made, promises kept he sent out to Wheeljack and Prime, one of whom relaxed and the other internally groaned.
As promised, Optimus had a shelter built a safe distance from the Autobot base, but close enough to defend in the event of an attack.
Randall took an every-other-day method to synch with the three mechs, and it worked out well for them all.
It was during this period that Jazz and he became the best of friends, and Jazz integrated him fully into his team.
Even though he hadn't bonded with the saboteur, despite the constant pestering about if and when he was going to do it from his good buddy Hound, who made it no secret he wanted to be the next lucky mech to bond with Randall, he and Jazz shared many close secrets with one another.
Randall learned that Jazz had had a hard life in his younger years, like Randall himself had had.
As a sparkling and youngling, the Porsche had been abused and starved, with a father that was drunk all the time and a mother who died after her third sparkling.
Jazz was the oldest, and he tried to support his two younger siblings, but they slowly died, from disease and starvation.
When Jazz was the only one left, his father sold him into slavery, where the youngling was often beaten and left to fend for himself.
Once his interface protocols came online, he was sold again, this time into interface slavery.
His chassis was remodeled and rebuilt time and time again, until he became the ultimate pleasure bot.
It was many, many years later until the mechling finally escaped, and started life on his own.
He used his learned skills and developed a reputation of the best assassin and saboteur on the planet.
He used the income from this job, and the smuggling he did on the side, to run his own nightspot, until the day the Great War started.
Jazz sold his club, and joined the Autobots as a spy, saboteur, and assassin.
"The funny thing is," Jazz had commented, after Randall had told him he was the ninja of the team, to give him a human label, " is that Prowl, my best friend beside you, possesses the same skills I have in the gymnastics area, yet almost never uses them, preferring to sit around at his stuffy desk and work with numbers. "
Randall laughed.
"But the real strange thing is, Soundwave." Jazz said seriously. "We knew each other before the war. He came to my nightclub all the time, though he never really did much. I have to admit, I was disappointed he chose the Decepticon side. I was wanting to get to know him better."
Randall's ears perked up; this was interesting news.
He already knew of Soundwave's love for Jazz, but to hear of Jazz talk of Soundwave, well that was different.
He had promised the stoic blue mech to help him win Jazz over, but the opportunities were slim to none.
Now, he may have something to work with.
"Do you think Soundwave ever thinks of you at all? I mean, now?" Randall asked carefully.
Jazz snorted. "You tell me, you're bonded with him."
Randall hoped he was doing the right thing.
"Yes, he thinks about you. He thinks about you a lot."
They had never talked about Soundwave since, but ever since then, Jazz suddenly was being cornered by the blue mech in the midst of battle, and while Randall tried to keep fire power off that area, he had observed Soundwave slowly winning Jazz over.
He would get Jazz trapped, and move in on him, normally having to hold his wrists with one hand while gently petting Jazz with the other; it only took a little under one year for the assassin to stand still and grudgingly allow the telepath to pet him.
He always brought him treats, and would try to feed him, taking eight looong years for Jazz to finally open his mouth and let Soundwave feed him a treat.
And that was only because of the two years of presents Soundwave started leaving for Jazz every morning.
Poor Jazz did not know what to do with himself, as the whole base had gotten into the see-what-gift-Jazz's-secret-lover-left-him-now game once they discovered the every morning ritual.
Before long, all the bots would be hovering around the entrance, waiting on Jazz to come and get his present so they all could see it.
Jazz had asked Randall time and time again who it was, but Randall refused to tell him.
Jazz finally caught Soundwave in the act, and though Randall did not know what was said, the next day there was no gift, and the very next battle Jazz let Soundwave feed him the treats.
It was during this battle that Randall had accidentally link bonded with Prowl.
The young man had been so happy that Jazz seemed to be finally warming up to Soundwave, that he had not seen Skywarp sneaking up on him.
Prowl had seen, however, and had leaped upon Randall and rolled aside with him clutched tightly to his chest at the same moment the purple and black seeker had fired at them.
The shot did not hit them, but scorched the ground nearby, the vibrations and heat from the explosion resulting in Prowl curling protectively around Randall, and that was when it happened.
The teeny gap that had opened in the neck plating when the ninja rolled was all that was needed for the linking program to start up, and Randall's uplink fingers had a death grip on the tactician's neck cables in a sparkbeat.
They stared in horror at each other before blacking out right there on the battlefield.
Soundwave, Prime, and Wheeljack all jerked as they felt it, and began a desperate race to get back to Randall before something happened to him.
Starscream, who had been watching for just such an opportunity, beat them to it.
Screeching with fiendish delight, he swooped in and tore off with both Prowl and Randall, set on bonding with the boy as soon as he awoke from Prowl.
He did not see Skyfire crouching behind the very hill he was heading for, and when the huge white mech leaped out at him, he had froze in his tracks.
Skyfire captured Starscream, and carried all of them back to the base on Optimus's order.
He chained Starscream in his own quarters, and laid the bonding pair on Prowl's bed, then went to talk with his old friend.
When Randall awoke, he immediately went in search of Starscream, figuring this was the best opportunity to bond with the Decepticon SIC.
He stored the perfectly ordinary info about Prowl away to be thought more over later, other then to shake his head over the fact he was Ratchet's nephew and that Bluestreak was Prowl's youngest (and only surviving) brother.
The family ties in this place, it was amazing.
Skyfire was cradling the sleeping seeker when Randall entered, and he saw that Starscream had been crying.
There were tears in the large shuttle's optics also, and Randall silently moved over and hugged the mech's legs.
Then Randall settled in to wait until the jet awoke, and then bonded with him, making the other links he had face palm in despair, except for Soundwave; he knew it was going to happen, just like the others, but unlike the others, he approved.
Once Randall had link bonded with the air commander, he was privy to all thoughts and emotions of the flyer, which revealed many troubling secrets, one of which was the SIC had a love/hate relationship with Megatron, to Randall's shock and disbelief.
Starscream hated it too, but seemed powerless to change it, other then for Skyfire, who Randall had taken many long years to get the two of them back together, and it seemed to help a little with the seeker's desire, but during his heat, everything went out the window, even Skyfire and Randall himself, in the jet's relentless quest for Megatron's affection.
To his frustration, when Starscream was in heat, that was the only time Megatron did not drag his SIC off to his berth for forced interface.
No, that was when he ignored the seeker the most, not even spanking him, just silently beating him and leaving him.
Megatron had discovered that spanking the jet was more productive then beating him, as he did not need repaired after this punishment, and Starscream often would be aroused while being punished in such a way, giving Megatron even more control over the rebellious seeker.
Sometimes Megatron would let Starscream overload, other times he would torment him by not allowing him to do so, bringing him to the point of overload and then restraining him and letting him lie there in agony.
But the day after his heat, that was the day Starscream unfailingly would try to run away, and every time he was re-captured and dragged back to Megatron's side- or under him, as the case may be.
The day-after rapings were always the worst, and Randall had to seclude himself and lock down his links to the other bots, so as to keep the emotion and pain from leaking to them.
Soundwave, however, he kept open, as he needed more strength to deal with the abused seeker's emotions then he had in his own body, and he could always count on the large blue mech for support.
That, and the rape was a secret only Soundwave knew about besides the two involved and Randall.
Starscream would lose all respect his seekers paid him if they knew a grounder was forcibly inserting himself into their leader.
Seekers had a reputation for being a stuck-up race; they had little to do with grounders, and even if you could fly, if you weren't a Seeker, you were little more then slag.
Interfacing was an even more sensitive subject to these proud flyers.
They were the only Cybertronians who had special ceremonies when a youngling became a mechling that Randall knew of.
Starscream and his trine, of course, had no clue of any of these important rituals, nor of the ceremonies surrounding becoming a trine.
Megatron just declared it to be so, and it was as he said.
Many seekers claim that is why Skywarp is never out of heat, and that is why Thundercracker never seems much affected by his, and that is why as a trine, the three are not well-bonded; the proper rites were never followed.
So when he could, Starscream tried his hardest to undermine his abuser, and to take him down, the dream of being leader and Megatron serving him the only real thing that kept the jet going all the millennia he had.
Randall had lectured him time and time again to cease from the scream fests he got into with Megatron daily, but to no avail.
The seeker was endowed with an awesome temper, and he wasn't afraid to use it, even against those he held dear.
Starscream and Megatron fought and quarreled over every little thing, even arguing the weather for flying.
Starscream torqued everyone off, even Randall, and had an annoying habit of planting himself right in someone's face, even though he himself hated anyone being that close to him for any reason except to provide him with comfort.
Starscream had been forbidden long ago not to have any relationships, including any friends, on pain of said friends being tortured to death before him, and that included his trine.
So he was vindictive to his own wing brothers, causing first confusion, then misery, then hate.
The two seekers would never kill him, but boy did they ever hate him.
Once in a while, Starscream would slip up and show care for one of them, but Megatron was a good as his word and would beat whoever he showed care for, except in the case of Skyfire.
For reasons no one really knew, he was supportive of the friendship between them, even after Skyfire joined the Autobots.
Randall suspected it was because it made Starscream even easier to control when Megatron used Skyfire to tease him with.
Starscream had spilled to Randall what all happened to him as a sparkling, youngling, and mechling, and Randall could not help but feel sorry for the poor young seeker.
Megatron had stolen him and the other two seekers as sparklings, later, Starscream discovered that they were meant to replace the sparklings that Optimus had hidden from him, and Starscream was supposed to replace Optimus in Megatron's spark.
Megatron had starved and abused Starscream as a sparkling, then he did a 360, pampered, and spoiled him all through his school years, until his interface protocols came online.
Megatron had begun seducing him right away, and before long the inexperienced young seeker was madly in love with his former abuser, and they interfaced every night.
Megatron was gentle and kind, not hurting the more fragile flyer, but slowly building on the desires to be bonded with him.
Finally, one night, Megatron had taken Starscream into his berthroom and eagerly told him of how much he had hoped for Starscream to take the place of his old lover in his spark, and wished to bond with him now.
Starscream innocently told him that he did not wish to bond yet, he wanted to be more experienced before he chose his mate, and as unprepared for how Megatron had exploded on him.
Megatron had screamed something about how he was always betrayed and then viciously whipped and then raped Starscream, snarling that he was going to have the seeker as his, whether he wanted it or not.
Starscream never knew something could hurt like that before, and had screamed louder then he had in years.
His spark shattered when Megatron, whom he had slowly gotten to trust in his youngling years, told him who useless and what a waste he was, so weak and pitiful.
Then he told him that he would never escape, and that he would be his forever.
Starscream had run away the next day, but the marks showed: he had been completely broke by Megatron, and if it had not been for Skyfire rescuing him, who knows what would have happened to him.
The large shuttle had listened to the smaller seeker's tale of woe, and taken him with him on his exploring trips.
Skyfire got him into the same university that he himself had went too, and although Starscream was by now a very bitter and distrustful mechling, even lying abut his age, he somehow managed to graduate with the highest honors.
Skyfire and he were inseparatable for many years after that, until they were abruptly parted by a huge storm on Earth.
Starscream searched and searched for his only friend, and at last had to return to Cybertron, sparkbroken once more, only to be captured by a gleeful Megatron and he had been forced to remain with the tyrant from then on, living a never ending cycle of being beaten and raped by him nearly every day of his life since.
What really hurt was the fact the seeker was still in love with his tormentor, though he squashed it often enough, it still came out once in a while, and he would attempt to make up to Megatron, only to be crushed once more.
It was the only thing that kept him as a Decepticon, his love for the warlord.
Starscream was intensely jealous of Optimus Prime, and afraid of him, jealous because the semi was the one Megatron was pining for, and not him, and afraid, because he did not know how the Prime would treat him for what he had done to the hundreds of Autobots he himself had tortured and killed.
Now that he had Randall, he had a secret friend who could help make his life less miserable.
Throughout the rest of the hundred years that Prime had to carry Smokescreen, Randall had a foot in both camps, so to speak.
He directed the battles from a hidden location nearby, keeping a sharp optic on Prime, as he was part of the leader's personal bodyguard.
Springer was his newest bond, and was actually planned.
The green helicopter had become good buddies with Randall, and on Arcee's request, the two of them bonded, with Optimus Prime's support this time.
Randall was relived to finally have a 'normal' bond, and he and Springer spent a lot of time together when the 'copter was around the Ark.
Arcee teased Randall by saying when she and Springer had their first sparkling, they were going to name it Randall.
Randall reprocaited in kind by declaring he'd name his pet slug Arcee, sparking a good-natured fight between them all, Springer feeling compelled to come to his sparkmate's aid.
Today, however, Springer and Arcee were far, far away somewhere in space with Blur, Cub, Wheelie, Hot Rod, Ultra Magnus, the Dinobots, and SkyLynx, following Galvatron's forces while Optimus Prime and the others fought with Megatron on Earth.
Evidently, Megatron had a younger brother, and once said younger brother had gotten old enough to fight, he formed his own branch of the Decepticons and challenged Megatron for leadership.
Galvatron was even more cruel and bloodthirsty then Megatron, and the only reason he failed to take over was because the Autobots and Decepticons united to fight him and his armies off.
So the angry 'con haunted deep space, forever planning his revenge and making sudden attacks on Earth and Cybertron, as well as any living being he found he decided should die.
Rumor had it, and since the rumor came on good grounds, everyone believed it, that Galvatron was Megatron's one weakness, and that he had pampered and spoiled the young purple mechling with everything he wanted, except one thing: to go to war.
Galvatron was awed by his older and far bigger brother's stories of the battles he had been in, and wanted more then anything to fight by his side- but Megatron would never let him.
"You're too small." He'd say. "Too young." Ignoring the fact that he had forced Starscream into war-and he was barely older then Galvatron!
Finally, one day, Galvatron ran away, together with his best and most loyal friend, Cyclonus.
Cyclonus was his SIC, and was the adopted brother to Ultra Magnus, which Randall found fascinating.
Actually, he found Cyclonics fascinating period, and would have loved to have more to do with him, but he could never get near the violent mech, and so had to rely on second-hand info on him.
He had begged and begged to go along on this trip, but as that would mean being separated from all his link bonds but Springer, no one would risk it.
So he was left behind on Earth, to dream of someday meeting Galvatron's SIC in person.
Cyclonus was an untrined seeker, not because he was unmatchable to any other seeker, but because there were no other seekers to be trined with.
The Great War had meant no seekers mated, and that meant no sparklings.
No one knew who had sparked and carried the tall, dark, horned Seeker, but everyone knew he had been adopted by Ultra Magnus's creators when they found him lost and alone in the street, and had raised him to be kind and good.
Then Galvatron had seen him when Megatron took him on a trip through that part of Cybertron, and had wanted him for a playmate.
Megatron marched in, snatched the young mechling Cyclonus, and took him to live with the Decepticons.
Cyclonus fell in love with the purple mech from hell, as everyone called Galvatron behind Megatron's back.
He cared for him in everyway he possibly could, turning a blind eye to his faults and loving the mech he knew was underneath all that bluster.
The horned seeker was a born leader, and with his loneliness at not being trined, he sought and found a species of fliers called Sweeps.
Tenderly he raised the younger ones and trained them all, until they were fit for battle.
Sweeps lived in groups of four, not three, like seekers, and they all looked alike to one not used to being among them, but Cyclonus knew each and every one by name.
Galvatron formed his own army out of Cyclonus and the Sweeps, and took in any disgruntled Decepticons that were fed up with Megaton and used them also.
Galvatron was more successful then Megatron since he had no sense of kindness in him save towards Cyclonus, whom he loved fiercely.
But because of that, he was also more cruel, and all the cons who chose to side with him found themselves missing Megatron deeply, but the angry gray warlord would not take them back on pain of death, and so they had to suffer at Galvatron's brutal hands instead, though some chose death by Megatron instead of abuse by Galvatron.
But none of that was on Randall's mind as he dragged himself out of bed and for the kitchen to get his energon-infused coffee.
He had discovered that he could now ingest a few drops of energon at a time, and so he had added it to his morning coffee, making it even more charging.
Perceptor and himself had worked on an energon drink that would resemble coffee for the Autobots, and when it worked, Prowl wound up addicted to it and could be often be found with steaming cup of coffegon in his white servos.
Randall needed it too, even more so when one of his bonds were unable to synch with him, like Springer was now.
So it was no surprise when he finally stumbled into the kitchen to find Prowl already there, talking quietly with Jazz, who tended to like his morning cup as well, nor were they surprised to see Randall, and just sent him a worried glance as he struggled to his coffegon station, which was set to his lower height then for the bots.
He had his own whole smaller kitchen area next to the bot's cupboards since he was so much smaller then they.
Randall's hands shook as he tried to punch in the buttons to start the machine, and Jazz clicked his tongue.
"Lemme get that for ya, lil' buddy." Jazz bent down and delicately used his finger tips to operate the smaller machine, and to slide in the, for him, tiny coffee cup.
"Thanks pal." Randall sank onto the cupboard; Starscream's pain increasing as Megatron fully woke up and seemed to want another go with the smaller seeker, which he did occasionally.
Randall found himself being lifted in strong white servos as a concerned Prowl brought him up to the bot's counter top and set him down against Jazz's warm cup.
"Is being separated from Springer really getting you this time?" Jazz inquired as he handed Randall his cup gingerly.
Randall sipped gratefully at the steaming liquid, trying to hide the winch as Megatron thrust his larger, ridged spike deep into the seeker's smaller, abused and tender port.
He choked and nearly spat it all out when Starscream's emotions suddenly exploded, and Randall suspected Megatron was saying things that really hurt the winged mech.
"Did I do it wrong?" Jazz hovered over him, visor glowing bright with alarm.
"N-no, it's fine, really good." Randall managed, and took another gulp.
"Why don't you unlock your link with me?" Prowl asked after he and Jazz silently watched Randall try to compose himself, drawing deeply in Soundwave's presence in order to cope.
"I told you, this one night every so often I cannot do so." Randall reminded him.
"But it is no longer morning." Prowl pointed out.
Randall busied himself with taking another drink.
It really was helping, this coffegon.
He was glad he and the red scientist had made it.
"Well?" Prowl pressed.
Jazz just watched, visor flickering as he considered Randall.
"I am not the only one wondering. Prime came to me moments before you arrived, asking about you." Prowl said. "And Wheeljack as well. They're worried about you too."
Randall met the ice-blue optics with his earthy brown eyes. "I can't-not yet." He responded huskily.
Prowl's optics pierced his heart, and Randall looked away, straight into Jazz's glowing visor.
Jazz gently laid a black servo on his shoulder. "It's okay, Randy." He spoke softly. "He'll be okay."
Randall looked sharply at Jazz.
Jazz just smiled mysteriously.
Prowl glanced from bot to man, frowning slightly.
Just then Prime himself came in, followed by Wheeljack.
"There you all are!" Optimus exclaimed in evident relief. " We still can't feel you Randall, and we were starting to worry."
"He'll re-line when he can." Jazz said firmly. "Ya'll can just scoot on out of here and leave him be, mkay?"
The other bots gave Jazz strange looks, but they all, including Prowl, left.
Once they were gone, Jazz turned back to Randall, looking very serious.
"Randall, I know what is happening right now with Screamer. I've seen it. I suspect your link is still open with 'Wave, but it's not enough."
Jazz hopped up and laid belly-down on the counter-top, facing Randall.
The spy bent his head, and slid back some of the panels on his neck, exposing the cables.
Randall's fingers started to twitch.
Jazz took his cyber-arm and brought it up to his neck.
"Do you want this, Randall?" he asked quietly.
Randall just nodded, too exhausted to resist.
Jazz connected Randall's finger with his neck cables, and they both went limp.
In the swirling maze of Jazz's memories, which passed by him in a colorful blur since he already knew many of them, Randall found a strong pulse of strength which he clung to, the bonding being completed in a matter of seconds and both onlining as all the bots who just left burst back into the room.
"Jazz!" Prime exclaimed.
Jazz just grinned at them all while Randall curled up against his chest, clinging to Jazz's warmth and Soundwave's mind, desperately fighting what had to be the worst rape of Starscream's life.
One of Jazz's black servos were rubbing gently up and down Randall's back, and he played a soft, soothing melody on his speakers.
With a jerk of his head, Jazz sent the others out, and the two of them remained on the counter top all morning long.
Later in the day, disaster struck.
Starscream, seemingly with for no reason to the other Autobots save Jazz and Randall, suddenly went berserk, and was on a rampage of death and destruction on the planet.
He was acting very unpredictably, and not even the Decepticon forces were being able to keep up with him.
Megatron arrived at the Ark, alone, and weaponless, swallowing his pride and asking the Autobots for help in reigning in his insane SIC.
The Prime quickly joined the Decepticons in the desperate race to stop Starscream before he destroyed the entire planet.
Randall expected to go along, after all, he had a bond with the tri-colored jet.
However, Prime refused, and he and Randall got into the worst fight they had ever been in, and the man even threatened his leader at gun-point.
Jazz gently removed Randall, knowing that the crazy jet's emotions were affecting Randall in some way, and poured as much comfort and strength into his new bond as he could.
Randall managed to clear his head, and he sullenly accepted that he was not going, but earnestly pleaded with Prime not to go to a certain valley.
Optimus, who was all messed up with having to work with his almost-mate, and with having the fight with Randall, snapped back that he'll fight where he wants, and that valley was the best place to capture the Seeker.
Another fight broke out, and they parted with both livid with the other, Randall being forced to stay behind with none of his bonds, Ironhide having to drag Jazz away from him, cursing and struggling.
In fact, Randall was alone in the entire base, and he screamed to the sky once the whole combined army had left, and locked down his links to everyone save Starscream, leaving himself open and vulnerable to the broken Seeker's pain.
It took some time, but Randall suddenly noticed that Starscream was heading for the Ark in a streak of rage and grief, and it made the man/bot very nervous, as Starscream was well known for doing things he later regretted in his rages.
When the screaming jet landed in the entry way however, he leaned against the wall, body heaving as he sucked in great gulps of air to cool his overheating systems.
Randall let him calm before rushing out to meet him.
Starscream feel to his knees, and hugged Randall tightly to his chest, great tears pouring from his optics as he sobbed out a jumble of words to his human bond, all in Seeker though.
The Seeker realized his mistake and witched to English, and Randall caught what he was crying.
"I don't wanna do it! I don't wanna do it!" he was sobbing over and over again, and Randall struggled to calm him down to see just what it was he didn't want to do.
Randall thought his heart was going to stop when he saw what the evil warlord had done to his SIC: he had force bonded with the pretty jet, and this one was done right: Megatron was in no way affected by it, but Starscream was bound tightly to his cruel master, and couldn't ever hope to get away now.
To make it worse, Megatron had drove a shard of Dark Energon right through Starscream's fragile and badly damaged spark, sending malicious tremors through the Seeker's whole system.
To top it off, there was just enough heat hormone left, that he had impregnated the grieving Seeker, binding the jet as his and his only forever, as seekerlet sparklings meant everything to Seekers, and the poor SIC was now and utterly trapped in Megatron's clutches.
Starscream had flown away as soon as Megatron had pulled his claws out of him, as mating is horrifically painful for a Seeker, which was why it affected Randall so badly.
The seeker knew that he could kill his newspark by being far too active and emotionally messed up, so that's what he was trying to do, but his programming wasn't allowing him to kill the one thing that he wanted desperately to be free from.
Starscream didn't want the sparkling, nor did he want to kill it, no matter what he knew would be best, and he didn't want to destroy Earth, and he didn't want his life.
However, he was stuck with all of it, and Randall wanted to kill Megatron so badly just then that he failed to notice the warlord himself stalking the two of them until his shadow fell over them.
"So, Starscream, unhappy with finally achieving what you have always wanted? I tried to warn you but you refused to listen to me. Now I find you have a friend. And a human at that. I am disappointed in you, my Seeker." And Megatron threw his ugly head back and laughed.
"I-I, never wanted this! And I am not your Seeker!" Starscream howled.
Megatron stopped laughing and shoved his face into Starscream's, their foreheads touching.
Starscream squeaked in terror, but held still, tears dripping down his flushed cheeks as they poured from his wide optics.
"Really, Starscream? You're not mine? Really?" the evil mech reached a hand out and rested it on Starscream's heaving chest. "You are mine, Starscream and the sparkling within is testament to this." He smiled cruelly at the weeping jet.
Randall knew he had to do something, and while the hulking gray menace was staring into Starscream's optics, he pried up a panel on Starscream's interface assembly, took a deep breath, and entered.
He felt Starscream convulse with pain as he determinedly crawled through the damaged passages that Megatron had abused so viciously, lubricant and energon making it slick ad difficult, especially with Starscream thrashing around in agony.
Why?Starscream's miserable wail cut Randall's spark like a knife.
I shall make you better. He sent to the Seeker, who was now being shook like a rag doll by his tormenter.
Megatron then threw the howling Seeker over his lap and ripped open the interface panels, shoving his clawed servo into his valve, Starscream going ridged and screaming so loud and high, Randall couldn't even hear it with his Autobot hearing, but it shattered the circuits in his head, nearly throwing him into unconsciousness.
The filthy claws scraped and tore at the tender internals of the agonized jet, trying to rip Randall out of there.
The human part of Randal took over and he kept climbing the channel towards the newspark and the Dark Energon.
Megatron soon gave up trying to snatch Randall from inside Starscream, and instead grabbed the Seeker by the neck, and tried to shake the man out.
Starscream had nearly went into shutdown from pain by this time, and Randall felt sick as he dug his own claws into the velvety walls smeared with energon, puncturing through and making more of the Cybertronian blood flow down his arm.
Slowly, painfully, he climbed, then Megatron's temper snapped, and he gave the jet a harsh slap across the rear, unknowingly helping Randall as the force of the blow jolted Starscream forward and then down as Megatron threw him across his knees again with another heavy smack to his bleeding rear.
Starscream's convulsing body almost blocked Randall's freefall down the bloody passage, but he still slipped through.
Then he had an awful realization as he suddenly felt Starscream moved again.
Megatron was going to stick his spike up into Starscream and extend the sparking tube to try and capture Randall in it.
Randall scrambled faster, almost to the chest cavity where he could see the black glow from the Dark Energon just ahead.
Pain clusters were sparking all around him as he raced to reach the newspark and the Dark Energon even as Megatron's sparking tube forced its way towards him.
Finally, he made it, the tiny spark fluttering next to Starscream's almost destroyed spark, and Randall felt horrible for what he was about to do, but he did it anyway.
With an awful crunch, he crushed the newspark in his claws, and he felt Starscream convulse again.
Then he yanked the Dark Energon from the barely beating spark and threw it straight up, piercing the thin armor in Starscream' s chest.
That confused Randall; Starscream should not have that thin of armor.
Just then black claws pieced the armor above him and snatched him for beside the nearly shattered spark, jerking him back out into the fresh air.
Randall spotted the Dark Energon and fired on it, exploding it even as Megatron howled at him to stop.
Starscream lay on the ground in a heap, just conscience enough to blink thankfully at his friend.
Megatron screamed and with a sickening crunch, crushed Randall in his mighty fist, the bot/Seeker not even having enough time to scream.
Then he dropped the nearly lifeless human to the ground beside the Seeker and aimed his canon at the two of them.
Just then Optimus and the rest of the combined armies landed right behind him, those bonded to Randall rushing forward in an agony and kneeling next to him.
"MEGATRON!" Prime screamed.
"Not me, Starscream." Megatron purred, and Ratchet confirmed that it was the Seeker's blood on Randall's body.
Prime turned his gun on Starscream, but Skywarp leapt in the way, warping the almost dead Seeker away from danger.
Megatron placed a hand on Optimus's shoulder, and squeezed it gently.
A weeping Optimus fell into his enemy's arms and bawled there for a few moments until he realized what he was doing and drew away, faceplates blooming red.
Megatron turned and flew away, his 'cons following him save Soundwave, until Megatron called him.
Soundwave looked at Randall a klik longer, then turned and followed his leader.
As the grieving Autobots knelt next to Randal, who was clearly dying, who should be warped back but Starscream himself.
Weakly, the jet tried to jab something into the man's body, but a blast from Prime's gun sent him hurtling backwards, crumpling against a boulder.
The last thing Starscream spoke before being warped back was, "I promise!" though no bot knew what that was about, Randall smiled with he heard it.
Then he looked up at his best best friend, Optimus Prime himself. " Always work together with humans from now on." He pleaded, and Prime tearfully promised.
"I'll miss you." The other Autobots coursed together, and Randall died.
Mirage and Wheeljack took the body away, telling no one where it was.
The whole base spent the next week mourning the lose of their companions.
And it was in that week that Smokescreen was born.