More~ Mwa ha ha ha. I reminded myself when I looked over all the drama that this was supposed to be first and foremost a lighter/funny piece of fiction. Therefore, I feel no shame in introducing this character in for a cameo. This will probably be his only appearance though, because if he's here any longer than Rumble will have more to worry about than Megatron and Skywarp. Besides, the last scene featuring said cameo makes up for the disaster that's the middle of this chapter. XD Whee. Thanks for reading (and waiting)! :D

Chapter 21

Thundercracker found Skywarp with both of his wings folded back horizontally and pounded into the wall. There were dents that made it look like a hammer (hint one: most likely caused by a pile-driver) had used his wings like nails to pin the guy into the metal walls of the Nemesis. Skywarp had a thoroughly embarrassed grin on his face as he sat there on the ground (hint two – nailed into the wall at about knee height), one arm ripped out of it's socket and one leg turned 90 degrees the wrong way. Thundercracker took this moment to sip his energon cube before addressing his idiot. "You pissed off Rumble, didn't you?"

"I just spoke truth." Skywarp tried to shrug, but found himself unable with his wings holding his shoulders in such a place. Those dents were going to take an eternity to fix, but it was still worth it. Skywarp giggled to himself replaying the past few hours over in his head again. He kinda' wished Thundercracker had been there to see it. "Not my fault the runt over reacted."

"What did you tell-" Thundercracker cut himself off. "Never mind. I'm don't even want to know."

"Aw, but it's really great, TC!" Skywarp hummed and tried to jerk forward. Okay, it may have been worth it to be pile-drived into the wall, but Skywarp was ready to move now. He reached a hand up to his dearest brother. The one who cared about him. "Can you give me a servo with this?"

Thundercracker considered this proposal and took a slow sip from his cube.

Skywarp sweetened the deal by lighting up his optics to great a soft glow and smiled as sugary as he was able. Thundercracker always fell for that one. "Please?"

Thundercracker decided he didn't want to see either of his brothers in the near future. "I'm going to hang out with Ramjet. You have fun thinking about what you did wrong."

"Thundercracker?" Skywarp yelped slightly. His dearest brother was a total backstabbing traitor! "Hey! You can't leave me here!"

"Goodbye 'Warp."

"Get back here!" Skywarp growled out one last time before he watched his (now proven) traitor of a brother round the corner of the room and leave. Skywarp huffed and settled back on the floor. Thundercracker would be back in less than a bream to help. Guy was all talk and Skywarp could wait. Besides, the beating was totally worth it. Skywarp couldn't help chuckle to himself. The look on Rumble's face alone would keep Skywarp amused for vorns to come.

Soundwave knew this was going to happen. An angry cassette glared up at him, his twin close to his side looking concerned. "Rumble."

"Were you gonna' tell me, Boss?" Rumble glared his best at the tape deck. The fact Starscream was fragging Megatron hurt him something fierce. But the idea that Soundwave had kept that information from him hurt worse. You didn't keep secrets like that from your family. Not even in the Decepticons. "You've been so concerned about this whole fiasco you'd think tha' mentionin' Screamer's fraggin' the big guy would be important to mention!"

"Goal: Terminate relationship before information could be valid."

Rumble groaned in frustration and was happy Frenzy at least was keeping his cool. Why was everyone so dead set at keeping him and Starscream apart? Did he do something to the lot of them? Aside from pranks. Those totally didn't count. "Why?"

"To prevent things like this."

"So what," Rumble started angrily. "I can't see anybody at all? Is that it? 'cause this thing with Screamer could have happened with any 'con in the base. We're Decepticons!"

"Correct."

Rumble stilled. "Wha'?"

"Assumption correct. Interpersonal relationships outside of fellow cassettes and myself unnecessary." Soundwave leveled his gaze. "Accept."

Rumble shook his head not quite sure what emotion he was picking up from the bigger 'con in their link. Anger, jealous, concern, some mix of the lot? Rumble wasn't sure about him, but for the cassette – he was chilled down to the circuits. He liked his family; loved coming back to them. But only seeing them? Giving up his relations with the other 'cons, even the jerks? Never seeing Starscream again outside of work? Rumble wasn't sure he could handle that. "No, boss."

"Starscream will not love you."

Rumble froze in place at the monotone declaration. "Not yet but-"

"Starscream incapable."

"That ain't true."

"Hey, Rumble, maybe-" Frenzy started before being swiftly cut off by an internal ping from Soundwave. So much for attempting to make himself useful.

"Reject others." Soundwave laid down the law. "Toleration for your behavior is almost gone." Soundwave stood from his desk and left the two cassettes to think on what he had said. "Choose future actions wisely. Leave the traitor to Megatron."

Rumble watched the boss leave and leant against Frenzy with a metal 'clink' when their shoulders met. Despite Soundwave's warnings, all Rumble wanted to do was go get yelled at by a screeching vocalizer. Rumble snorted to himself. Soundwave had told him to 'take care' with his decisions.

Since when did the brash, bruiser Rumble take care with anything? Nah, he was going to pile drive his way through this just like any other problem. Starting with Starscream.

Starscream needed someone to vent at.

It was just the way he worked. Someone had to listen to his genius or his complaints or whatever else he felt like speaking aloud. Starscream expressed his frustrations verbally and ranting to himself in his room would make him look just plain insane. Thundercracker and Skywarp were unavailable at the time because they were snitches and far from his 'I'd like to talk to you right now' list. Rumble would have-no. Rumble was the problem needed to be discussed. That left out option two. The Combaticons once upon a time would have worked but right now they were off base. Starscream didn't trust anyone else in the Decepticons to not spread the information around behind his back and Primus forbid he discuss his love life with Megatron. No, Starscream would have to go outside the team for this one.

Which, consequently, is how Skyfire found himself sitting in a canyon, trapped with his ex-partner freaking out and ranting his audios off.

The shuttle had been doing a little recon work for Percepter gathering raw materials for testing in the lab when his rear-thrusters had been paralyzed thanks to a certain null ray. It was Skyfire's own fault really, for letting his guard down, but what were the odds Decepticons cared about red colored dirt? He was checking for microorganisms for goodness sake! After the sequential crash and a quick transformation, Skyfire found another null-ray hit smack in the middle of his wings and the giant Cybertronion was at the mercy of his friend gone homicidal lunatic.

Starscream had been glowering down at him with an expression of hatred and disgust that Skyfire had seen him reserve for things that truly pissed him off. There was a brief moment where the shuttle wondered if this was revenge served cold and Starscream would soon be disconnecting and ripping him apart into a million tiny pieces as revenge. Skyfire made up his mind to refuse Starscream any satisfaction and braced himself. Skyfire had been prepared for the worst, but not for this.

"And then Megatron decides he wants to hook back up!" A voice shrieked out an enraged vocalizer. Starscream was pacing back and forth before his 'buddy' (now propped up in a sitting position) and finally, finally, getting it all off his chest plates. "So what am I going to say? No? That's insane! It's Megatron! Besides, maybe if I was fragging him I'd forget about the pipsqueak!"

Skyfire rolled his optics. Words could not express how little he cared about this mess. He would have preferred Starscream just beating him. Experience, however, taught him if he played along, Starscream would get it out of his system sooner and fly away. "But it didn't work."

"I know!" Starscream groaned. "It didn't work at all and now I'm fragging Megatron and Rumble's under house arrest and he'll be mad if he finds out and I feel guilty about it. Guilty," The word was spoken with so much self disgust Starscream almost thought he was channeling Dead End, "Skyfire. Me. This. This isn't right at all."

"You could apologize?" The shuttle threw out there (sarcastically mind you) and tried activating his comm. again. Static answered him and Skyfire sighed. This had to be considered cruel and unusual punishment. Starscream was his ex for Primus' sake! Starscream wasn't even really listening to him, either. He just needed a warm body to rant to. Skyfire smiled a bit and decided to make the best of his time and try and get a jab in or two while he could. "That usually worked for me. Good distraction tactic. You never even realized I was cheating on you."

"What? No. Don't be stupid." Starscream put his hands on his hips. Admitting fault was not something Starscream could do in earnest. It went against his principles. "I can't apologize. I didn't do anything wrong."

Skyfire listened as he mumbled off with something about it being Megatron's fault and how it was always Megatron's fault. Something about Soundwave. Skyfire was disappointed his jab was ignored and decided to just give the idiot some real advice and hoped he listened. "You think of just talking to, I don't know, Rumble about this?"

Starscream froze. "How do you mean?"

"Communication does wonders for solving issues like this. You talk about your feelings and see where you stand with one another." Skyfire waited a beat and realized that Starscream was only going to continue staring at him with a blank expression of confusion. Skyfire resisted the urge to sigh. A good human reaction that; sighing. "Or you could lie and tell him Megatron forced you into it. I mean, he'd believe that, right?"

"That…that could work." Starscream smiled and clasped his hands together. Leave it to Skyfire to think of something smart! This is why they used to be partners. Shame that ended. Skyfire's loss and Rumble's gain, as they say. "Yes. I feared for my life and let myself be coerced into it when I panicked. That's exactly what I'm going to do." Starscream smiled down at his old partner. He just knew the traitor would be good for something sooner or later and- "YOU WERE CHEAING ON ME!

Skyfire was sure that last shriek could be heard at both factions' bases.