Chapter 193 – The Waters

(SsPOV)

Humans were insects. Tiny, fragile creatures that were offlined the second you stepped on them.

Starscream had spent so much time listening to Megatron's rants of the 'weak' and accepting the conditioning for war it had simply never occurred to question it.

Questioning meant a beating besides. He hadn't really cared for his own body, the physical pain was nothing, and his nanites frequently made short work of his repairs.

But when Warp and Cracker had had to feel it too...

That was when it hurt.

Starscream folded his servos to his core, along his wings. It was the comfortable position for pacing as he thought, questioned really.

He hadn't done so in a long time.

Cracker was deep in his recharge, Starscream smiled somewhat as he watched him. The only time one would find either of those two beneath the ground for any period of time.

They accepted the thought more readily though, Starscream was simply reconciling it within his own processors.

The humans weren't insects, insects had six appendages.

They were mammals, and when one bothered to listen to their unguarded speech they were a rather amusing species.

The granddaughter of his elder had been one.

That took a great deal more reconciling, but Starscream's attention had already been captured by that one in particular on repeated occasions.

Mostly because she'd slagged Megatron off and survived. Few could say the same, that had been his first amusement by the humans come to process it...

Watching Megatron ranting himself hoarse about the human femme that had bested him twice.

The threats? Monumental.

The amusement that the tiny pathetic insect had done it?

Priceless.

"The humans are adorable and you know it," Thundercracker murmured. Starscream didn't need to turn to know that a pair of optics were online in the dim room, following his movements.

"They are pathetic," Starscream grumbled.

"You thought it yourself," Cracker snickered at him.

"I did not," Starscream corrected his trine-mate in mocking dignity.

Sixteen hours earlier

(LPOV)

Lena strode with a purpose, her Jolt trailing behind her nervously.

~It's going to be okay~ she murmured gently, touching his spark with her own.

Jolt smiled at her, Lena didn't have to look to know he was. She loved being able to do that.

::. I still don't know if this is a good idea.:: Jolt murmured quietly.

::. Humans call this part breaking the ice.:: Lena replied with a small smile. ::. Besides, if it goes that bad I'll just scream and we'll run away.::

Lena grinned when her Jolt snorted with laughter.

She loved making her bot laugh.

But the pleasant distraction of her mate's presence aside, Lena strode with a purpose.

She had liaising to do, of a different type today. Not because she had been a human at one point; but because she was bonded to one of Shockwave's victims.

She knew everything he did, but felt none of the restrictions still ingrained within his circuits.

There were issues to be addressed.

In this, she was going to utilize one of her human traits, one that her mate found astonishing to say the least.

Mostly because when Lena decided that something needed to be said, there was no known force in the universe that was going to get her to shut it. And there was no known force in the universe that was going to stop the recipient of her dressing down from hearing it, either.

Point of pride.

Wheeljack grinned at them as, hand in hand, Jolt led her through the ground-bridge, destined for the Nevada base.

The second her optics were clear, Lena searched for her quarry, conveniently standing at a computer terminal in the entrance bay.

Jolt shied somewhat, but Lena touched his spark, reminding him that everything would be okay before she purposely set a meandering, non-threatening pace to her servos.

Straight for Starscream and his trine.

(JPOV)

"So where are we headed?" Jacobs asked cheerfully, sliding into Sunstreaker's alt-mode.

"Patrol," Sunstreaker shrugged, his holoform winking online in the driver's seat as Sideswipe led the way toward the ground-bridge. Lena and Jolt disappeared in the vortex ahead of them as Sideswipe's brake lights flashed for a moment.

"Yeah but what part of the world are we patrolling?" Jacobs snorted, leaning back and idly adjusting his nanite suit to loosen up a little, he didn't need to be fully armoured in the safety of Sunstreaker's cabin.

"CIA says there's been echos in Brazil," Sunstreaker grunted.

"It's not much of a signal though, probably just a couple of drones hiding out," Sideswipe added with a smirk over the radio.

Jacobs grinned, then promptly shut his eyes as Sunstreaker inched toward the ground-bridge. That thing freaked the hell out of him, not much did, but a bot transforming around him, and going through a giant electrical vortex sure as hell did.

Regs were still regs though, and regulations stipulated that outside of the US of A any Auto-bots on patrol had to be accompanied by an officer of NEST.

As a result, Jacobs had scored a driving tour of half the world already. Sunstreaker abjectly refused to let anyone else ride with him. Not that Jacobs was complaining, the eighteen odd hours that Sunstreaker called a short trip was wicked overtime on his paycheque; just for sitting in a Lamborghini as the mech drove around looking for a Decepticon to pick a fight with.

That and when Sunstreaker got over his usual snippy attitude about life in general he was great company. Not even his sisters could turn a phrase as beautifully as that bot when it came to commenting on the artistic aspects of this piece of scenery or that.

"You can open your eyes now scaredy-squish, we're through," Sunstreaker informed him with a smirk. Jacobs opened his eyes and bashed his head on Sunstreaker's roof as the ground-bridge loomed two feet ahead of 'Streaker's hood. They were not friggin' through!

"Primus fuck!" Jacobs shouted, immediately squeezing his eyes shut as the now familiar feeling of everything vibrating caught hold of him again. "That was a dick move Sunstreaker!"

"Oh quit being so melodramatic," Sunstreaker laughed at him. "If you ever come through the space-bridge with us to Cybertron then you're allowed to freak out. This one isn't even leaving the atmosphere! It's only got a ten percent chance of disassociating our component atoms and scattering them-"

"That is not helping you dick!" Jacobs shouted at the bot.

"Oh calm down," Sunstreaker snorted. "You've been through this thing twenty-eight times now, if your component atoms were gonna get sprayed everywhere do you really think I'd bring you with me?"

Jacobs blinked.

"I didn't know you cared," he stated with a snort, blinking the blurriness out of his eyes and shaking off the jiggly feeling in his bones and muscles.

"I sure as slag do not want human squish all throughout my alt-form thank-you-very-much," Sunstreaker stated with a toss of his holoform's head.

"You're a dick," Jacobs informed the bot, Sunstreaker laughed. "Now which part of Brazil are we going to?"

"Manaus," Sideswipe piped up cheerfully.

Jacobs looked up and around.

Right in the middle of the Amazon rainforest.

"Can we go see the meeting of the waters?" he asked with a grin.

"What's that?"

"It's where the Rio Negro and the Rio Solimões join, but don't merge. One's dark, the other full of silt; the waters run side by side for six clicks before they mix."

Sunstreaker stared at him.

"It does not."

"Look it up," Jacobs stated innocently.

Silence.

"Oh now we have to go see it!" Sideswipe grinned.

Score.

(JzPOV)

::. Kip it down willya!?.::

::. Shh... didya hear tha'?.::

::. I canna hear anythin' but yeh're loud mouth!.::

Jazz rolled his optics, sneaking around with wreckers was going to be his new pun. Assuming of course any of them managed to sneak. Jazz himself wasn't bothering to sneak though, he meandered, following Soundwave as the bot made a beeline for the Wrecker Complex.

::. Recommendation: Wreckers initiate radio silence.:: Soundwave sent patiently, freezing in place.

Jazz rolled his optics again, even as he remained absolutely still behind Soundwave. Nobot could hear their commlink, Soundwave had made sure of that.

::. Nice one Sahndie, Iacon's damn nea'h abandoned!.:: Jazz sent with a smirk to the ex-con the second he began moving again.

::. Gratitude.::

::. Why ah yah still talkin' like tha'?.::

::. Habit.::

::. What happened tae radio silence?.:: Lugnut growled softly.

::. Ah think Soundwave was just politely tellin' you lot to shut up.:: Jazz grinned.

::. Negative.:: Soundwave sent patiently.

::. Then what happened tae radio silence?.:: Lugnut growled again.

::. Frequencies: automatically scanned at fifteen breem intervals. Objective: discover Wrecker radio chatter. Result: Radio silence prevents discovery by Soundwave's alarms.::

::. They're yours, why not jus' shut 'em down?.:: Roadbuster demanded.

::. Shutting down of automatic defences: triggers alarms across Iacon. Five alarms across Iacon: triggers check-in alarm across Decepticon bases. Soundwave: would have no reason to shut off alarms. Reasoning: Iacon deserted unbeknownst Kaonic Decepticon ranks. Result: necessity for sneaking.::

Jazz stared at the back of the mech leading them through the rubble choked streets of Iacon. Stunned.

For two reasons. One, the system was simply beautiful, in a city held captive by Decepticons the Auto-bot and neutral frequencies would be damn near abandoned but for the rebels. Listening for idle radio chatter would be infinitely more effective than clogging the streets with guards. Perfectly logical, and perfectly efficient.

The coding was so simple the tactic didn't even occur. Jazz couldn't help but think back to the sheer number of times in the past that he'd snuck around the Decepticon bases with a party and barely got out without their aft-plates singed.

Found out by the private comms. He'd figured something along those lines, he'd rarely been made when he was by himself.

More staggering though, was the fact that seemingly without a second thought, Soundwave had just informed him – one of the highest ranking spies and saboteurs in the auto-bot cause – how to get through the security loophole of his own devising.

Jazz nodded to himself somewhat, casually glancing around again. Bee trusted Soundwave absolutely, and Soundwave had just proven why.

No-bot who planned on flipping sides again tipped their proverbial 'poker-hand' of security tricks to a Saboteur.

::. Y' have th' same system in place across all o' the Decepticon bases?.:: Jazz asked casually.

::. Affirmative.:: Soundwave stated patiently. ::. Personal reminder: inform Saboteur Jazz of precise frequency scanning intervals in each base.::

::. Ah'd appreciate that.:: Jazz grinned at the mech's back.

::. That's quite th' loophole y' got there Soundwave.:: Lugnut stated with a snort. ::. We shut up every fifteen breem, how many others y'got?.::

::. Processing...:: Soundwave murmured with a small frown.

Silence.

Patiently, the group continued to follow the thin mech.

::. Security loopholes of Soundwave design: Five hundred eighty.::

::. That many!?.:: Jazz demanded.

::. Auto-bot cause: Discovered forty-eight.:: Soundwave shrugged.

Oh that was smug.

(RPOV)

"So what's with the trine thing?" Lena's voice asked curiously.

Ratchet looked up, startled.

He hadn't known Lena was in the Nevada base.

But now wasn't precisely the time to ask. In the middle of the flier's headquarters a grounder had asked one of those questions.

Interfacing was one thing, bonding another; fliers never spoke of their traditions, especially to outsiders.

For the first time, Ratchet was glad that Nevada med-bay was completely open to the entrance bay as he watched the doubtless drama unfold.

Starscream froze, and turned slowly to face the little femme. In an instant, a look of contrite passed across her faceplates, Ratchet relaxed a bit.

At least he... no... wrench would do.

Then again, Ironhide would be warming his cannons up right about now...

Ratchet pulled his favourite, first wrench from his subspace.

It wasn't for nothing that it was called the 'wrench of doom.'

A side processor promptly settled down to trying to remember whom had come up with that name for it, even as he focused on the conversation at the other side of the bay.

"I'm sorry if I've offended you," Lena murmured quietly. "I'm just..." she glanced down and visibly scolded herself for doing it, her optics flicking back up to look Starscream in the optics.

Thundercracker was the first to relax.

"She's honestly curious," he murmured.

"You can't blame her, really," Skywarp added musingly.

"But I would still wish to know why," Starscream finished with his trine.

"What do the humans do?" Thundercracker asked cheerfully.

"Typically one male one female," the little femme shrugged. "Sometimes one male takes several females, it depends on which part of the world you're in."

"Why do the femmes outnumber the males?" Skywarp asked curiously.

"It is a biological trait among them to compensate for the comparatively long period of time it requires them to mature enough to reproduce, and yet still account for the short period of time that they survive. One male can sire several young in a short period of time, but the females require at least one year – preferably longer – to successfully rear their offspring to a healthily independent state before they should bear another child." Ratchet piped up with his best grumpy tone. With a purpose of course, it reminded them that he was here.

Nobot scrapped in front of him without going un-wrenched.

(SsPOV)

Lena blinked and looked over at the medic before shrugging and looking back at them.

"But I'm still used to simply two," she added quietly.

"Any number of us can be bound as a group," Skywarp began gently.

"But three is the tradition among seekers," Thundercracker finished.

Lena still looked confused.

"Simply because we are three," Starscream murmured with a smile. "Does not decrease our love for each other, any more than if we were a dozen, or a clan. The trine is our bonding, within the bonding we are the trine. Three among seekers, for the primary directions."

"But..." Lena frowned.

"But?" Thundercracker prompted her gently.

"There are four directions." She finished with a confused look.

"There are infinite directions." Skywarp snorted.

"But there are three required to find anything." Starscream finished patiently. "At this present second, Cybertron is sixteen thousand eight degrees of Warp."

"Forty nine degrees shy of Cracker." Skywarp continued.

"And eight hundred, forty five thousand lightorn from Starscream." Thundercracker finished.

"Everythin' in th' universe, can be measured by their positions tae one another. Th' three measurements tae find anything within the universe itself, within th' three dimensional field." Jetfire added patiently, lightly laying a hand on Lena's shoulder as Starscream and his trine nodded to their elder.

"Because you always know where your mate is," Lena whispered in an awed tone.

Starscream smiled to see the way her hand crept up to protectively cover her spark chamber, but more likely the half-spark of her bonded mate.

The human-borns were adorable.