Megatron was this, picture a thumb and forefinger a millimetre apart, this close to throwing a hissy fit. At this point Soundwave couldn't really blame him, after all when two thirds of your Seeker Trine decide to basically defect and the Third who's been known to try and claim leadership of the Decepticons for many eons suddenly drops off the map…. well it tends to annoy one slightly.

Though annoy was exactly the accurate term if the poor abused wall was any indication into the furious leaders current mentality. The other Decepticons had wisely scurried away to work on repairs, Soundwave on the other hand was the only real Decepticon left with any skill in programming computers, firewalls, defences, ect.

This sadly left him in the same room as his leader whose cannon seemed to be steadily eating away the wall closer and closer to the panel he was fixing. Soundwave mentally patted himself on the back for taking the intuitive to send his Creations into the lower levels to perform repairs as he doubted either of Rumble or Frenzy's comments would be appreciated right now. Megatron fired off another high powered blast into the wall, he yelled "Of all the fragging backstabbing ingrates I've ever had the pleasure of not getting to eliminate!" Soundwave said nothing waiting as Megatron continued "Glitched saurian smelling pathetic pellet projecting petromice!"

He fired off another three shots in succession making a well aligned triangle in the wall; he spun on his pede punching the formerly undented wall. "SOUNDWAVE!"

Soundwave looked at his leader "Yes Lord Megatron?"

Megatron hit the wall again "Why is it that my soldiers are backstabbing me more than usual lately?"

Soundwave thought carefully before answering "Suggestion: Rebel Seeker is the cause."

Megatron frowned in thought "Perhaps. That doesn't explain the treachery before his arrival when Skywarp sought out shelter with the soft sparked Autofools."

"Statement: Skywarp is young, perhaps finally reached phase in development of rebellion."

Megatron mulled the idea over tapping his fingers on his chair "Yes that is a possibility but why would Thundercracker and Starscream throw in with him."

"Statement: Thundercracker is an unofficial guardian, wouldn't allow harm to come to him. Starscream knew it would cause problems in your plans."

Megatron growled "That makes sense. Either way it doesn't matter when I see those unfaithful worms they will be begging for the mercy of off lining when I'm through with them. I will make them rue the day they were sparked. Soundwave repair the computers as soon as you can we need to make contact with Cybertron, it's time we rallied some of our home forces to put a stomp to the Neutral and Autobot rebel camps."

Soundwave replied "As you command Megatron."


"They're so cute!"

"Astoria please back up a bit I think you're scaring them a little."

The young woman huffed spinning around planting her hands on her hips "Why on Earth would you say that Powerglide? Look they love me! Don't you? Yes you do you adorable little transforming babies."

The sparklings being cooed at were the Anibots who were to be honest quiet freaked out at the human femme's behaviour, Carly they adored she always had something fun to do, but this Astoria was wearing a creepy large purple sun hat and sent unpleasant tingles in their systems. She didn't have any colouring books or pictures with her but she kept trying to squeeze their circuits out of their seams in over enthusiastic hugs, as such they'd scurried into the safety of a box fort and kept wary optics on the 'enemy'.

"Aw look Powerglide they're playing castle that's so sweet!"

"Looks more like they're hiding from you ya mean."

Astoria turned red "How dare you! As if they like you any better."

"Well d'uh of course they do I spend like at least three days hanging out with the rugrats a week."

"And I bet they love those days you're not there!"

"Yeah right! The little guys practically worship me!"

"Then let's adopt them!"

"Yeah that's right let's ado- wait-WHAT!"

Astoria folded her arms smugly "You just said yourself they love you, and let's face it who on Earth would allow us a child? So problem solved. They need parents we need kids, everyone wins."

Powerglide floundered oh too aware that his comrades and friends were snickering behind their palms as he tried to come up with a sound argument with his human girlfriend why this was such an astronomically bad idea. Instead he said "Who the heck said I even want kids Astoria? Ya ever think of that in your plans! Besides by human standards you're not much older than a kid yourself!"

At the kid remark she flared up again "How dare you! If I'm considered responsible enough to carry on my father's work I am more than able to take care of a child!"

Powerglide sniped back "You can barely take care of yourself let alone some poor kid!"

Powerglide knew he went to far when Astoria's eyes started looking glassy she ran out without another word not looking back, he deflated feeling guilty "Aw man."

The Anibots emerged from their fort glaring heatedly at him, Powerglide waved his arms defensively "What! You wanna tell me you actually want her for a step-carrier now or something?"

The doors whoosed open as Tracks and Roaul stepped in, Raoul pointed a thumb over his shoulder "Any body wanna tell us why stop 'n shop fled about to break out in waterworks?"

The sparklings all pointed at Powerglide accusingly, the flyer muttered "Tattletales."

Tracks said "Well what's the story this time? I know you to have spats like Prime has basketball games but this is the closet I've seen her to actually crying about it."

Powerglide rolled his shoulders "Just said some stupid stuff I didn't exactly mean is all."

Cliffjumper supplied helpfully "He essentially called her immature, and an incapable mother with an inability of even looking after herself."

Brawn elbowed him harshly "Are you trying to get yourself hung!"

Powerglide shot him a death glare "Well whatever! Its nobodies business what goes on between us but ours, got it!"

Without waiting for an answer he stormed out in the opposite direction Astoria went. Raoul shook slightly from the heavy stomps "Woah man and I thought your sulks were legendary."

Tracks huffed "I do not sulk I brood."

"Feel sorry for yourself you mean."

"Look we came here so you could meet the sparklings not to get into an argument ourselves. So meet, greet, be merry whatever it is you do."

Raoul rolled his eyes "Cold man. Say any you kids know streetdance?"

The lack of chirps was unsettling, Raoul rolled his sleeves up "Blaster must be slippin', OK guys pay attention."

Tracks sat by Rewind and Cloudcutter, Rewind said "Is it wise to let him try teaching them such moves?"

Tracks shrugged "If keeps them and their sticky servos away from me I'm all for it."


Sunstreaker tapped his fingers rhythmically; he checked his internal chronometer for the hundredth time, then vented for the umpteenth time and counted the panels in his and Sideswipe's room once again before mentally admitting he was bored.

He would of thought with a important crew members off to Cybertron and the sparklings that their wouldn't be any downtime for quite a while but amazingly enough due to Prowl's left behind schedule there were actually intervals for every bot that qualified as a break.

As such Sunstreaker was now alone left to his own devices for another four hours, he lacked the inspiration to do any painting, he was not in the mood to mingle with the crew which usually left him with his favourite activity which was chilling with Sideswipe (Not that he would ever admit it even under the threat of death by rust). But no since his twin was 'in charge' he was literally ditched as Sideswipe fought the epic battle against datapads that he seemed to be loosing, he vented again and just itched to do something that wasn't as stupid as counting the panels of walls. He thought about watching human drama's on Teletran for a moment but immediately rejected the idea since he'd only just broken his addiction to said dramas.

Well nothing was happening so it was time to hit the ultimate last resort.

He was going to hang out with Wheeljack.

His will had been written in advance and if Sideswipe survived the datapad wars he'll finally know what happened to his Paint Splasher 4.0. Destination in mind Sunstreaker summoned the will and left their room pausing as Powerglide's femme nearly ran into his leg.

She shouted up at him "Watch where you're going you walking metal corn on the cob!"

She was leaking, oh primus she reminded him of the human soaps, "Don't get involved Sunstreaker or you'll get sucked in again."

"Well if you hadn't charged headfirst without looking you wouldn't have nearly ruined my paintjob you irresponsible girl!"

Astoria pounded her fists on his leg "You sound just like him!"

Then she started sobbing again, Sunstreaker bit his denta "Walk away now before it's too late! Don't get involved, don't get involved, don't get-"

"So what did he do this time?"

"Dammit I got involved!"

Astoria sniffled "Well I was just trying to take our relationship to the next level but he was being stubborn and a giant red jerk!"

Sunstreaker nodded "He probably fears responsibility."

Astoria whipped her eyes "Exactly what I thought but no he won't just man up and say it! He has to say hurtful things instead of what he's feeling."

Sunstreaker didn't feel like letting her into his and Sideswipe's room so he suggested "Maybe we should continue this in the rec room over a drink?"

Astoria answered "Yeah I could go for a cup of coffee and I'd really like to vent if that's OK with you."

"Well it's not like have anything better to be doing."

"And with that Sunstreaker you've successfully reunited yourself with human drama; you lasted a whole two months without it, con-freaking-gratulations."

He swore Sideswipe knew exactly what he just done if the teasing pokes over the bond were any clue still he ignored them intent of getting his live show of the afternoon with a nice cube of energon in hand.


The flight to Cybertron was nearing a close and the crew had calmed down somewhat, Ratchet and Ironhide though were still cackling evilly every so often but other than that they were rather quiet. Perceptor sat by Prime to 'compare scientific research' when in actuality he was using Optimus as a bot sized shield in case Jazz should suddenly decide to unleash his wrath. That didn't seem likely though as he and Prowl had chosen a seat right at the back of the shuttle, Jazz perched in Prowl's lap as they talked quietly remaining as close as Earth as they could despite they were only getting further and further away.

Silverbolt took the opportunity to ask a question in the peace of the trip "Prime I have been wondering what exactly the council wants with us, from what you said they have been gone for a long time so what could they possibly want now? And why us in particular?"

Optimus paused looking at Perceptor's notes and answered "Well it isn't just us from what I know the Council of Ancients have summoned Cybertronians far and wide to hold audience with. As to the why, well I'll start from the beginning, before Cybertron divided into separate factions we were all one people. We had just liberated ourselves from the Quintessons rule and began living as individuals; however in our programming we were still vastly different in functions. For example Seekers and Praxians back then the Seeker's processors were very basic, their frames huge and their fuel lines far more powerful yet delicate whilst Praxians were advantaged in the processors, their frames were fragile due to the doorwing appendages and they lived off basic fuel. So when a few Seekers and Praxians produced the first few sparklings there were devastating consequences."

Ratchet said "In all the medical records I've read from those times it was nothing but a never ending nightmare, the sparklings were so mixed up that they were deformed beyond what could function, the sparks that didn't extinguish before birth soon did shortly afterwards. The few that did remain online turned out insane or constantly as the humans would say sick as they would look a click away from dieing, the different mechanics back then just couldn't mix."

Optimus took over again "That coupled with riots, disorder and general chaos brought about the Council of Ancients. The eldest bots of each make got together and divided up the planet into City's and prevented any outside bonding to avoid any unnecessary spark aches and guided the people into functioning civilisations. Before the Decepticons started the fight they mutually decided since the planet was functioning well without much help from them they could rest in a deep recharge within the heart of Cybertron in case there was a time there was time they would be needed again or so Alpha Trion told me anyway."

Silverbolt nodded "OK that much I can understand, but why would they awaken now?"

Optimus answered "I have been thinking about that and I believe it's possible they are linked to Vector Sigma as they were some of the first he gave life to, so when you and your brothers were born they may have been awakened which is they'd want to meet you the leader of the newest sparked lives."

"Right. So why is it now Transformers of different makes can spark new life?" he asked curiously.

Ratchet answered that one "Easy as Transformer kind evolved and upgraded over the millennia they adapted more similar circuitry, builds, fuel lines ect."

"Ah that's good; I was worried about Skywarp and Bluestreak for a click."

Ratchet snorted "Pft that lil glitch of theirs should be just fine and another pain in my aft."

Ironhide chuckled "Ratch' do mah audios deceive me or arh' ya feeling old?"

Ratchet rubbed his optics "That isn't the half of it Ironhide."

Perceptor piped up nervously "Have you ever thought about taking on an apprentice perhaps?"

Ratchet raised an optic "If you're suggesting yourself stop now it'll never work, science would miss you too much."

Optimus looked thoughtful "I think an apprentice might not be such a bad idea since we could use another medic on base."

Ratchet frowned "I'll think about it, which is of course if the choice is mine on the matter."

"It is old friend."

"Drop the old or I'll take pictures of you without your facemask the next time your under sedation and put them up all over the Arc."

There was a surprised silence until Prowl muttered "Now I know where Sideswipe gets it from."

Ratchet smirked "What? You thought all that mischief in his programming was a glitch or something? Please the stories Wheeljack could tell you but better not dare if he values his tools."

Ironhide said "And I thought you were bad when you were young."

Optimus remained the picture of innocence "I don't know what you're talking about."

Ironhide snorted "Kallioan? The waitresses bot? The Count with the angry dogbot?"

Ratchet smirked "What's this now?"

Optimus held a hand up "In my defence I was overcharged and according to the records it never happened."

Jazz laughed along with Ironhide and Ratchet, Prowl on the other hand twitched his doorwings in a shifty manner, Jazz noticed and tilted his helm back to look at his face "'S matter Prowler?"

Prowl smiled "Just thinking."

"Abou'?"

:Us:

Jazz's optics widened behind his visor a fraction :Wha' abou' us?:

:Just… Jazz would you like to… I mean…Is it possible we could be… What I mean is would you like to…:

:Prowl… Are ya askin' me out?:

Prowl's doorwings twitched in a frenzy :Well no! I mean yes! I mean maybe?...:

Jazz chuckled :Hey we already decided best friends no matter wha' right? So yeah consider me officially ya partner in crime.:

Prowl tentatively place his hand on Jazz's and drew circles with his thumb :Yes. My partner in crime, I like the sound of that.:

Jazz grinned :Me too man and when we get back ta Earth we can work all this out properly bu' for now…:

:I agree. I'm really missing them as well.:

:Who'd a thought two iddy bitty sparklets would bring us tagether like this?:

:Apparently Sunstreaker.:

Jazz laughed aloud at that "Don' ever change Prowl."

Prowl subtlety tightened his arms "As long as you don't."

Omega Supreme announced "Approaching Cybertron, landing imminent in half a cycle."


Slipstream toddled down the hallway following the feelings in her spark that told her Creator was near, her caretaker hadn't noticed her absence yet and for that she was glad. She'd really missed her Creator, and big brother too but her spark called stronger to her parent than her brother she'd visit in a moment after anyway.

She peered around the corner seeing to big bots guarding the door where her Creator was through, she slunk close to the wall unconsciously turning invisible hoping they wouldn't see her. She tread really lightly, one of the big bots she didn't know said "Did you hear that?"

The other big bot replied "You're imagining things."

Slipstream shot through the door quickly turning visible again once she was in, she looked at the blue mech in the corner of a cell reading a book file and felt so happy, she easily fit past the energy bars and leapt onto his chassis hugging him tightly.

The mech jumped startled and looked at the weight on his front, "Creator." She chirped quietly.

The mech rumbled in that way that reassured her instantly "Hello sweetspark how did you get in here?"

And for the first time in ages Thundercracker smiled as he petted his youngest Creations helm and winglets.