Thanks for the reviews/faves/alerts everyone! :) Much appreciated! So, I want to make a little comment about this chapter: Professor Sumdac may seem a little OOC-ish here but I can't say for sure. I was trying to capture his possible mentality considering him being a prisoner of the Decepticons but other than that, I think I have his personality down. Other than that, I don't think there's anything I really need to explain or forewarn anything for this chapter. Please enjoy the update! :)
P.S. I also want to make a little shout out for Fruity Sangheili's story, 'Life on the Nickel'. I recommend this story to anyone who loves fics about HumanXTransformer pairings! The main pairing is AlexisXStarscream but there are some other sweet little pairings as well. It's awesomely written and gripping. I promise that it won't disappoint! Go check it out!
Chapter 25 Whisper
(Decepticon lair – 7:00pm : February 16th)
Professor Issac Sumdac glumly looked at his fingers. He was sitting on the edge of his cot, remaining inanimate and appearing to be quite depressed. The poor robotics genius almost looked pale due to his imprisonment and the lack of sunlight and fresh air. He felt it was almost hard to breathe at times due to the stagnant air in his prison. At times, he felt like he was brain dead because of the depletion of stimulation and the drabness of his surroundings. From this feeling of detachment and stultification, he developed persistent headaches. There were bags beneath his eyes and his hair looked like it lost its black luster. His posture was slouched and unconfident. The man's whole stance and outer aura would remind one of a regretful gambling addict who had lost his whole life to his vice.
Emotionally, he was equally haggard and unhealthy as he was physically. He never smiled. Apathy and despair ruled him. When he tried to think of the happier things in life, his thoughts were set ablaze and the ashes were whisked away by the winds of reality. There were many times when he considered suicide as a convenient escape from this insufferable Hell. Sumdac believed he was doomed to live there for the rest of his life and then die: broken, feeling useless, and forgotten. He saw himself as an affection-starved pet gerbil whom was given the absolute bare necessities of sustenance and left to painful loneliness. While he was a gerbil, the four Decepticons were cruel adolescent boys who neglected and tortured him.
But he refused to give up hope fully or take the coward's way out by committing suicide. His saving grace was his daughter, Sari. Isaac believed that one day, he'd be set free. He'd be reunited with his little girl and they'd be a family again. He didn't worry too much about her since he knew she was in excellent care due to being babysat and protected by her five Autobot friends. Sumdac placed his full confidence in them and he didn't doubt that they were doing what they could to make her life comfortable without his presence. He thought about her when he woke up and when he went to sleep. In fact, every single one of his thoughts almost centralized around her. When Megatron wasn't ordering him to create doomsday devices and other destruction-sowing weapons, Sumdac was reminiscing about the days before the Autobots and Decepticons arrived onto the scene. He was remembering the times when she didn't have a care in all the world.
Then he was snapped out of his thoughts when he got the distinct feeling he was being watched. The professor was used to this unnerving sensation considering he was perpetually in the presence of hostile inorganic aliens but he couldn't help to feel chilled sometimes.
He turned around and gasped loudly. The white streak in his hair almost grew.
"Hi!" Random Blitzwing greeted jollily.
"Blitzwing…" the organic exhaled, putting a hand over his heart. "You gave me quite a scare… How long have you been watching me?"
"I don't know, maybe five Earth minutes or so. I decided to spy on jou!"
Blitzwing pointed over to a table that was in Sumdac's cell. On the table, there was a device that looked like it was half finished. Fragile components that were meant to be integrated into the curious looking gun-like mystery machine were sprawled across the surface of the table. A few tools like a screwdriver were placed neatly in a tool box that was situated in the top right corner on the surface.
"Vhen is zat going to be finished?" he asked. "I can't vait until it's done! Can I be ze test subject?"
"Whenever I can get it done, it'll be done," Sumdac reported blandly. "I'm tired and I want to sleep…"
"Ja, I can tell! Jou sit zhere all ze time looking miserable and lazy! Zat's no vay to live jour life!"
"I don't have a choice." His anger towards his current fate was making an emergence. "I didn't ask for this to befall me."
"Hey, I don't like jour tone!" Hothead replaced Random. "I vill crush jou if jou don't lose ze attitude!"
Sumdac sighed ponderously and turned his back on Blitzwing. Death threats were getting quite tiresome. He was accustomed to them and he had not taken them seriously so much anymore.
"I'm talking to jou!" Blitzwing rapped against the glass.
"I hear you," Isaac exhaled.
"Professor, turn zat frown upside down!" Random beamed.
"Sorry, I can't lift my own spirits as long as I'm stuck here, all cooped up."
"Jou von't trick me," Icy smirked. "I vill not be made a fool in Megatron's optics."
"Do you think I'm planning to try to trick you and your friends?" Sumdac had some angst and hostility in his voice. "I would've done that earlier. As far as I'm concerned, I see I'm at Megatron's complete mercy. I'm trapped like a rat."
"And don't jou forget zat, Professor… Jou know, I zhink I know just vhy jou are so miserable."
"I don't care, just say it."
"Zat child, Sari, is jour daughter. Jou miss her, don't jou?"
The organic man said nothing. He continued to give Blitzwing a cold shoulder. Sumdac could feel stray tears coming to his eyes but he resolved to remain strong in front of the Decepticons. Any visible signs of mental or emotional fractures were strictly forbidden to be shown. To show them weakness would just result in an increase in the magnitude of torture they already administered.
"I know it bozhers jou," the triple changer resumed. "I hate to admit it but our species is alike. Ve both have feelings. She is all jou have and vant."
"Don't talk to me anymore!" Sumdac raised his voice. "Go fly off into the night like you always do. You think no one sees you but you always forget me. I see everything."
Blitzwing's normal optic widened ever so slightly. His defenses bristled and they rose up like a magical wall of fire.
"It's none of jour concern, germ," he reminded coldly. "Megatron, Lugnut and Starscream know of my vanderings and zhey have no problem vith it."
"Then why do it so sneakily like you always do?" Sumdac turned around, glancing over his shoulder. He could see the tension etched onto Icy's normally pristine face. "You look around like you're a teenager about to steal their parents' car. Why not fly off into the night so loudly and proudly?"
"Listen to me very carefully, jou primitive life form," Hothead warned. The tone in his voice made the professor listen especially well to what was about to be said. "Jou better shut up right now. If jou don't silence jourself, I promise zat I vill fly into ze city by myself and raid ze Autobot base. After I kill all zhose bots, I vill take jour brat, bring her back her and crush her in my servo like a rotten piece of fruit! And I vill make sure I kill her vhile jou vatch helplessly!"
Sumdac couldn't dam up a gasp. The gory and mortifying scene played like a miniature slasher movie in his mind. Painfully, he envisioned Sari's dreadful screeches. Her shrieks would then be drowned out as her fragile young skeleton shattered like glass. The blood would seep through Blitzwing's fist and it would drip to the floor like meat shanks hung up in a butcher shop.
"Leave Sari out of this!" he yelled adamantly. The stout man leapt off his cot and threw himself against the glass. "Don't kill her!"
"Zhen shut up," Blitzwing replied simply. "Don't ask about vhat I do."
"Do ve have a deal?" Random grinned his grin.
"Decepticons are Decepticons."
"Oh, how typical," Icy said, frustrated. "Just to inform jou, I don't look forvard to killing organic younglings nor do I consider it ze highlight of my day. On ze ozher hand, Starscream zhinks it's a blast. He doesn't need orders from Megatron to do zat."
"You're no better than the others and you know it, Blitzwing. You're nothing but a hypocrite."
Blitzwing merely backed off. He knew Sumdac wasn't to be killed unless if Megatron had ordered it. Thus, he allowed the robotics genius to live another day in the dreary, depressing, dank lair.
(apartment – 9:00pm)
Cynthia poured some fresh, crisp water into the glass cylinder. She fluffed up the cluster of yellow lilies that occupied the vase and brought her face in close to the bunch. The sweet aroma wafted through her nostrils, placing a smile on her face. Breathing outwards, she closed her eyes.
She picked up a piece of paper that sat on the kitchen table. As it turned out, the paper was included alongside the bouquet of her favorite flower when she discovered it outside the apartment door in the early hours of Valentine's Day. There was a little note written on it and the handwriting was a little crude and hard to read as if the writer was using a pen for the first time.
'Happy Valentine's Day, Cynthia! Sorry I can't see you right now but hopefully you understand. I promise I will see you as soon as things settle. I love you! P.S. I'm sorry I tried to kill Wes…'
When she got a voicemail at nine in the morning a few hours after she discovered her bouquet, she discovered who her "secret" admirer was. To a certain extent, Cynthia felt bad that she didn't get a little token of love for Blitzwing. But she asked herself what exactly she could give to a Decepticon who only gave her the lilies as a sign of respect for the organic holiday. As far as she knew, his kind didn't celebrate Valentine's Day, so she was extremely flattered he gave her something. What amazed Cyndi the most was that he got her favorite flowers for her.
He could either be sucking up to her since the incident with Wes or he did love her. Cyndi believed it was a combination of both.
She hadn't seen him since the attack on Detroit on the twelfth and she only talked to him once via her cell phone. She ripped into him for harassing Wes against her wishes and he did apologize for his actions. Again, Blitzwing replied by saying he was just being overprotective of her. He swore that he wouldn't track him down and finish the job and Cyndi had been appeased with that vow.
Obviously, she found herself missing him. At times, she hated having to coordinate their meetings based on the fact they needed to be treated as covert operations. Cyndi was often sick of having to go about in secrecy but grudgingly, she knew it was the only way to keep their romance blooming.
"I'm surprised Mom and Dad didn't call here regarding what happened a few days ago," Darien said. He walked over to the refrigerator and opened it up. "With all the stuff posted up on YouTube, I'm really surprised."
Cynthia wasn't expecting to have someone talk to her. Actually, she jumped when her brother spoke to her. Her grip on the note was nonexistent now.
"YouTube?" she said. Her eyes grew. "Don't tell me billions of people can see me on the internet now!"
"The quality of the video recorders weren't all that great and in all honesty, you look like a blur," the boy assured. He selected a piece of cold pizza and began to eat it that way without heating it. "You should see all the hits though. It's incredible!"
"How many?"
"Easily over a million. Put it that way."
"And Blitzwing and Starscream..?"
"Yup, they're in the video. A lot of them stopped at the scene where Blitzwing flew away from the Autobots."
"Great. Just great. And it's all because he thought it was appropriate to try to kill a guy friend of mine. Your wacked friend, Benji, thinks I'm Obi-Wan Kenobi too."
"He kept telling me you had to have pulled a Jedi mind trick on Blitzwing in order to have him let you go."
"You can tell him that as long as you never mention to him Blitzwing and I are together."
"Yeah, might as well… Just where is your gentleman caller? He left the flowers for you on Valentine's Day but you haven't gone out to see him."
"He's too busy trying to cover himself," Amanda said as she walked into the living room from her bedroom. She could see her brother and sister standing in the kitchen. "Either that or he's afraid Cyndi's going to wail on him for abducting Wes."
"Well, he knows to never go near him again," Cynthia leaned up against the kitchen counter. "If he does, then it gets ugly."
"You've got some balls to say that," Darien cut in. "Yeah, we all know he loves you but you have a tendency to walk on him, Sis. He could snap…" He snapped a finger. "Just like that! It's like an animal trainer and their pet grizzly bear."
"Except he's scarier than a bear," Mandy added. "And he's uglier than one to boot. I'm rooting for you all the way, Cyndi. You're the female! You have ultimate control! Make him bow to you. That's what I'd do if I had my own man."
Within the deepest recesses of her own mind, Cynthia had to confess to herself that at times, she found herself a little paranoid in his presence. Rightly, she was careful to mask this discomfort from Blitzwing. The stigma he bore was often overpowering for her to deal with. It was especially unnerving when she curled up on his chest like a kitten. Far too often, her eyes were glued to the purple and white seal that defined him.
When their strange love had first began, Cyndi was under the grand illusion he was somehow going to restrain himself for her. Momentarily, she caught herself hoping he'd become an Autobot for her so she'd feel less guilty about seeing him. Then she was rudely awakened from her day dreams when he had spirited Wes away while she blatantly commanded him to not do such a thing. The whole incident with the gargoyle statue he threw at the videographer also morbidly reminded her of what he truly was. She was risking death even more so than she had originally foreseen. Without a doubt, she was possibly gambling with the feelings of a force far more powerful and terrifying than any make believe bogie who lived under the bed.
Again, she couldn't believe she was still alive.
"I think it's great he saved Mandy and I from that creepy robot a month ago," Darien admitted, giving Blitzwing credit. "But he is a killer. None of us can say he's a tree-hugging hippie."
"I know, I know," Cynthia said quickly. "It's been a month and I'm still alive. It's impressive if you ask me."
The phone rang. Naturally, Amanda decided to answer it considering she was in the living room where it was located.
"'Bout time Mom called back," she huffed. "I need to see if she's finally going to let me have that extra cash to get some clothes. I don't get paid enough at work!"
"Then find a better job," Cynthia stated blandly.
"Hello, Preston residence, this is Amanda speaking."
Cyndi and Darien hovered in the kitchen, listening in on their sister's conversation out of simple boredom. The boy shoved the rest of his piece of pizza into his mouth. Cynthia folded her arms across her belly.
"Wait, who is this?" they heard the blonde say. There was a pause. "OH, IT'S YOU!"
The other two siblings hustled into the living room to meet with Amanda. When they met up with her, they could see the astonishment and disgust carved onto her face. She was holding the phone away from her head. From the earpiece, they could hear loud, borderline obnoxious laughter.
"If you don't take this phone now, I'm going to smash it up against the wall!" Amanda thrust the device to her sister. "Tell him he isn't allowed to call the apartment!"
"I vill keep doing it just to annoy jou!" Random said.
The middle sibling shoved the phone into her elder sister's hands gruffly. Growling, she shook her blonde bob and stormed out of the living room, leaving a cloud of angst behind. Her bedroom door slammed loudly.
"She is unbelievable," Cynthia apologized on her sister's behalf. "Ignore her."
"I know she hates me but I don't care," Hothead said. "I contacted jou because I vant to see jou."
"Well, I'd like to see you too. Is it safe for you to head out and meet me? Have things cooled off since you got in that fight with Starscream?"
"He learned his lesson vell." Blitzwing's prouder persona decided to omit the bit about Megatron's intervention. "I should have no issue vith meeting jou."
"Okay, so should we meet at the barn?"
"Yes, zat's fine," said Icy. "I vill meet jou zhere."
"Done. I'm leaving right now."
(an hour later)
There wasn't a monstrous accumulation of snow on the road so Cynthia didn't have too much trouble driving out to the rural regions outside of Detroit. Within no time at all, she made it to the abandoned farm where she and Blitzwing met up in secrecy. She pulled over at the mouth of the badly managed dirt road that led deeper into the slumbering woods. Her headlights shut off and the car engine was next.
Cyndi opened up her door and slammed it shut behind her a few seconds later. She zipped up her yellow ski jacket and looked about her surroundings, on the search for anything that might possibly hint to possible intruders.
On the road, she could see various animal tracks that looked fresh as if they had been made minutes before. Since she had grown up in Upstate New York with a forest in her backyard, Cyndi had some grasp on the different types of trails and footprints she could indentify. There were some hoof prints: clear signs that deer were nearby. From the look of it, there seemed to be that a lot of them had crossed the road at the same time. When she saw so many tracks together like this going in one direction, she concluded they were fleeing from a predator or some danger in the air. Back at home, she would've believed a mountain lion or maybe a hunter's dog had caused the herd to bolt en masse.
"Well, I know he made it here before me," she mumbled out loud. "But he's not here to greet me…" Her eyes rolled. "More games undoubtedly."
"Once again, jou judged me vrong," the accented voice spoke from the cold shadows.
Looking off to her left, she saw Blitzwing approaching her through the woods. She walked over to the Decepticon to meet up with him. His servo came down to the ground to lift her up to his face. Happily, Cyndi stepped up and he raised his metal hand.
"Jou look familiar, organic," Random chuckled. "I saw jou in ze city a few days earlier. I never forget a pretty face!"
"You're as sweet as honey when you try to be, you know that?" she said, smiling.
"Yes, I am vell avare of zat! I know jou can't resist me eizher! And ze ozher femmes vill all be jealous because all zat honey is for jou!"
"I think Mandy is jealous sometimes…"
"She should be nicer zhen."
Gingerly, he set a kiss on her cheek. Cynthia smooched him right back and draped her arms across his face.
"Oh, jou are just so cute!" he doted. "Jou really are!"
"Just as long as you don't start calling me 'kitty', I'll deal with it," she said, drawing back from his face.
"Are jou cold?" Hothead questioned, being as possessive and overprotective with her wellbeing as usual.
"I'm alright. It's a little cold but I can wait for a few minutes before we go in the barn…"
Cynthia silenced herself when she saw faint slashes on this persona's face. Her expression tensed and she looked hard at them. She knelt down in his servo and ran her hand across the discolored hide tone.
"What happened to you?" the woman almost demanded.
"Starscream," he said blandly. "Ve fought more once ve made it back to ze lair. Don't vorry, I avenged myself. All it needs is a little more buffing." He smirked devilishly. "I gave zat Pretty Bot a nasty vound much vorse zhan vhat he gave me."
"It looks like it hurt a lot…"
"It did but I had to get over it to beat ze slag out of him."
"So, jou do like zhose flowers I got for jou?" Random pressed. "Jou said jou loved zem over jour phone but I vanted to hear it again."
"My favorite color and my favorite flower…" She smiled. "Now I know why you asked me what my favorite color and flower was at the Steel Star…" Her smirk widened. "Were you thinking about charming me even then?"
"I can't really say…" She paused for a moment, her thoughts turning back to more serious matters. Her eyes averted from his, focusing on her boots. Blitzwing noticed this. "Vhat's on jour mind, Cyndi?"
"Is that alright if we have a talk? I feel a little paranoid standing here in the woods like this. Can we go to the barn to have some secrecy?"
"Yes, I can do zat," said Icy. In his spark, he felt things weren't going to get very pretty. "Ve'll go now so ve can talk."
(…)
She unzipped her jacket since things were warmer in the barn rather than in the open. Cynthia misjudged the true temperature of the atmosphere when the cold blast of air hit her in her chest. Goose bumps sprang up on her skin and she shuddered. Her arms folded across her chest to conserve some heat. For a moment, she wished she had her trusty yellow bandana to wear over her head.
The organic began to pace around the barn again just as she did when she first explored it. Stepping over an old rusty scythe, Cynthia examined an antique gas lamp that was hanging weakly on a wooden peg jutting from a support beam. The glass was cracked and its entire outer surface was covered in soot and decades old oxidation.
"Let me ask you a question," she said, not forgetting Blitzwing was still with her.
"Vell, do it," Hothead said with impatience. "Jou're making me paranoid vith jou valking around and not saying anyzhing to me! Jou said jou vanted to come in here and talk and jou valk avay!"
Sighing, she left the side of the lamp and approached the manic Decepticon. Blitzwing was sitting on the floor with his legs close to his chest. His arms were wrapped around them, resting above his knees.
Cynthia took a seat on a pile of hay that wreaked of mildew and decay. Blitzwing shook his helm in disapproval and removed her from her seat. He set her on the top of his knee guard.
"Talk to me," he ordered.
"That's why I was wandering around earlier," she said. "I was trying to figure out how to put this to you."
"Oh, please don't tell me it's about jour stupid friend I almost killed! I zhought ve vere over zat! At least he's alive, right?"
"It's about him partially…"
"Vait, are ve breaking up?" His frown became heavier. "I object!"
"No! Shut up! Stop jumping to conclusions before I can even speak! You're getting on my case about not talking to you but when I do try to explain something to you, you hardly listen!" The triple changer folded his arms across his chest. He fell silent, allowing her to speak without interrupting her. "Thank you!"
"Explain. I von't interrupt jou."
"Before we get too in depth, let me ask you a question… Do you think this is all necessary? Do you think this is worth the risk?"
"Of course!" Random blurted. "Zat's vhy I'm here now! I haven't seen jou since I vent to ze city!"
"Okay, what are you willing to do to make sure this will be kept alive?"
"Vait, hold on a moment," Icy interrupted much to Cyndi's annoyance. "Let me ask jou a question, Cynzhia. Do jou have doubt?"
There was an inkling of doubt in her. Sometimes, she had caught herself wondering if it was possible to maintain a relationship with him in a time and place such as the present. As Cynthia thought about it, she believed that no matter where she'd be or what era of history she was in, it would always be considered taboo. Yes, people were free to choose whom to give their hearts over to: it was a beautiful liberty. However, in the eyes of other and within the whispers of her conscious, she had possibly been too liberal. True, outsiders might never find out the truth but the pressures of her world would weigh in on her sooner or later. Others might've had no power to end it. On the other hand, she had total control.
"Yes, I do have some doubt," she came clean. It almost hurt to say it to his face yet she didn't want to be dishonest with him. "I'm not going to hide it from you, Blitzwing. Although, I hope you can understand why I feel this way. I think it would be extremely wrong for you to not understand me considering whom you serve."
"No, I do understand jou," he nodded. "I'm pleased to see jou are being honest vith me. Since jou are honest vith me, I vill return ze favor. I know zhere vere a few moments vhen I zhought ve vere doomed. I vas vorried for ze both of us."
"What happens if we are discovered? What should we do? What would happen to us?"
"I can't answer zat. I know zat if Megatron found out, he vould severely punish me and end up killing jou. I don't know about jour race, Cyndi. At best, jou vould be cursed and cast out."
"I know we may be talking a little heavily about our future together but I just wanted to know these things regardless. We've only known each other for almost two months." She hated acting emotional in front of him. "Yet I know for a fact that I feel something for you. I'm not ready to let go of you now. I just want to possibly see how far we'll go. I want to see if I can defy the odds and still be happy in the end. I know I may get discouraged and I will have fleeting thoughts of abandoning you to find comfort in the ordinary but I feel I will hold on…"
"I vill not force jou to remain vith me. Ve agreed to be vith each ozher. I am not holding jou prisoner. If jou zhink it is strange, discomforting and far too dangerous for jour vellbeing, zhen I vill let jou go."
"But what about you? You have needs and fears as well. Don't you enslave yourself to me either."
Blitzwing only grinned. He shook his helm briefly.
"I'm loyal to a femme who has my spark," he said. "I vill remain vith her unless she has betrayed me in some horrible vay…" Briefly, he recalled on a fling he had before he had been remade into a triple changer. As beautiful as she was, she was full of venom, deceitful wiles and bitterness. Blitzwing decided to not mention this to Cynthia until they had stayed together longer. "I do not sense zat potential in jou. At least, I'm hope my assumption is correct."
"I will not betray you," she swore. Deep inside, she hoped she wasn't deceiving herself into thinking she could keep such vow.
"Vonderful!" Random said happily. "Zhen ve vill go far!"
"And jou know I von't betray jou to my fellow Decepticons," Hothead reminded. "I said it once and I'll say it again: I von't let anyone hurt jou." He raised a digit. "I know vhat jou vill say… Yes, I am a Decepticon. But I can make an exception for jou, Cyndi."
"So, you're not bothered or feel uncomfortable..?"
"Put it zis vay, I vould've killed jou if I didn't like jou. If I didn't vant to be vith jou, jou'd know."
He made a good, solid point there.
"True," Cynthia admitted. "So, we're sticking together?"
"Of course!" said Random. "Silly femme, I zhought jou knew better!"
"Should we still limit our meetings to once or twice a week?"
"Yes, it vould be vise to abide by zat regulation," Icy regarded. "For our sake, it's ze safest precaution ve can take." His gaze hardened. "Promise me zat jou vill still stay avay from zhose Autobots. It took a lot of restraint for me to not kill zem all vhen zhey made me surrender jou."
"I try to avoid them as much as possible. They've begun to suspect that you and the Decepticons want me for some reason anyway."
"All ze better for jou to run ze ozher vay vhen zhey show up."
"So, if ve be smart, ve'll be alright," the black and red face reasoned. "I got it all covered zhen!"
(…)
"That is all I ask of you… What do you say?"
In the darkness of the cave, there were two pairs of ruby optics that gleamed like hellish crystals. They were both transfixed on each other, shutting the world around them out. The two metallic, shadowy figures were standing together in an undeveloped section of the Decepticon lair for their own good shady reasons.
"Well, partner," the gruff yet smooth voice stated, "what's in it for me? I'm not a spy really. I'm more of the mercenary type as you know."
"I'm sure there's a mod or two I can swipe for you," the first voice said. "You really don't need paid much anyway considering all I need you to do is just figure something out for me. I know for a fact there's some deceit going on behind my back. I've seen it. I followed him once and he took this organic with him. I abducted her in the city to see what his reaction would be. I fear the worst personally. I believe he is in love with a Human. I need you to do this for me also so I have the proof I need to present to Megatron. He…" He rubbed his neck, his palm tracing over the discolored metal where there was once an unsightly wound. "Let's just say, Megatron doesn't believe in everything I say."
The bounty hunter was more than aware of what was going on. He knew for a fact that Blitzwing was in love with Cynthia. But the crafty bot was going to play dumb with the situation and omit any free info he had on the couple. He'd get a free mod or some other payment for doing that.
"Besides," Starscream further explained, "I think he knows I'm onto him. I believe the son of a glitch is most likely with this Cynthia as we speak!"
"Alright," Lockdown shrugged apathetically, "I guess I'll take up your offer. I've got nothing better to do anyway. Harassing organics on back roads gets old after sometime anyway. I'm a fairly reasonable bot so I think I'll have to agree with you on my payment. I might even say it's free if I get to see the freak show myself."
"Oh, you will not be disappointed. I'll even invite you to witness the moment of truth when Megatron confronts Blitzwing about the matter."
Lockdown smiled crookedly. He had been itching for some revenge ever since the triple changer belittled him before Amanda and Darien. When Blitzwing made him swear to not tell anyone about him and Cynthia, he did honor that promise and for the past month, he had said nothing. But the promise of a payment was good enough for him to forsake it.
"You got yourself a deal, Starscream," Lockdown raised his hooked servo.
"Excellent," the seeker crooned, "I can always count on Cybertron's best bounty hunter to take care of business. I suggest that we lead Blitzwing into a false sense of security and then when he thinks everything's all perfect, you follow him. Then we'll present the evidence and nail him. He won't even know what hit him. We'll give him a few Earth months to lull him into a false sense of security." He pointed a clawed finger at Lockdown. "Then you will lift the veil and make life a little more interesting for everyone in that wretched mine."