"I mean, there is no rush to get you on the duty roster, Star. It's only been a decacycle since your accident."
"Skywarp, please. Anything."
Skywarp regarded him suspiciously. "Are you sure you're my trinemate? I could have sworn you were allergic to duty before," Skywarp muttered. "Only one more adverse is me," he said with a chuckle.
Starscream tried not to let his frustration show. "I just need to feel like I'm contributing. You are all doing so much for me-"
"-and we are happy to do so-"
"-but I just need to have something small that makes me feel like I'm giving back."
Skywarp smiled indulgently. "You know… it's impossibly sexy to know you are waiting back here for me when I get off shift," he said, allowing his tips of his digits to trace over his trinemate's forearm. Starscream suppressed a shiver, trying to remain unaffected. A sidelong glance from Skywarp told him he wasn't entirely successful. "But… I understand the feeling of not feeling like you are helping enough. Even though my warping ability is super fragging helpful, I could never keep up with you or even TC with contributing to the cause. You two are… something else." Skywarp looked a touch distracted then, lost in a thought or a memory.
He snapped out of it when a grin. "So! Let's see what we can come up with, okay?"
Starscream grinned back, nodding.
"Shockwave gave a list of suggestions, but I don't know how serious he was being," Skywarp said, pulling out a data pad. "Like… 'janitor?' He's got to be joking." Then Skywarp started staring off into the distance with a serious look on his face. "But if Shockwave is making a joke, then maybe we're in the end times."
Starscream rolled his optics. "I don't think he was joking," he said with amusement. "Cleaning would be something I could do as long as it wouldn't damage anything. It would probably make me slow, but very thorough."
Skywarp gave him a look. "You're not going to be a janitor, Star. First of all, I'm disturbed that you are even considering it. Even Lieutenants aren't janitors. Second of all… I don't think you realize how… erm. Messy? Decepticons are."
"Are Autobots cleaner?" Starscream asked.
"Eh probably, if they aren't too busy being morally superior and ruining our fun," Skywarp replied picking up the datapad and scrolling through it. Starscream considered this for a moment, along with all of the other snippets he had been gathering about the Autobots and the Decepticons. No one seemed to talk about their differences outright, and even the reasoning for the ongoing conflict was still murky to him.
"Let's see: energon production, inventory management, conflict mediation officer- oh that would be a hoot, we haven't had one of those in a couple of centuries. Hmm, monitor duty, assistant laboratory technician… wait. Wait, what? Assistant? To whom?" Skywarp had tapped on the datapad and read through the paragraph and then growled. "What the slag is he trying to pull, getting you to be his assistant? I know what that is code for, so he can just frag off-"
Starscream didn't understand what was upsetting Skywarp so much, but he knew that he was about to go on a tirade that would result in Starscream just vaguely agreeing and nodding along for more than a few kliks. "What about monitor duty? That is something you have to do sometimes, right?"
Skywarp stopped ranting and gave Starscream a surprised look. "Monitor duty is boring, Star. I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy, let alone my sweet trinemate."
Starscream wasn't sure he wanted to be called sweet, but he shrugged. "Even if it's boring, I'll take it. Seems like no one likes doing it, and it will help me learn more by observing. And it's… passive."
Skywarp hummed thoughtfully and then commed Soundwave, asking if Starscream could be put on the roster. In his clipped, odd speech pattern, it seemed Soundwave agreed and would add him to tomorrow's duty schedule.
"That works perfectly actually," Skywarp said, throwing the datapad into subspace. "There's going to be a raid tomorrow, so it'll be good that you're occupied."
"A raid? You mean a battle?" Starscream asked.
"I mean the Autobots likely won't let us take the energon out of the goodness of their sparks," Skywarp said with a laugh, and pulling Starscream close to him in what the black seeker had called "cuddling."
"Will… I be monitoring your battle?" Starscream asked, leaning into Skywarp and enjoying the closeness of his plating. "I would like to know what is happening."
Skywarp nodded. "Likely yes. Soundwave likes to record the battles as best he can to help with tactics. And… this will be the first battle… without you. So, he will want to see how things go."
Starscream turned around and looked at his trinemate with concern. "Will you be okay? All of you?"
Skywarp's faceplate softened. "Yeah, Star, we'll be fine. We've done this hundreds of times, even without you. It's the Autobots who should be worried," he said, his voice going a little dark.
Starscream nodded and planted a kiss on Skywarp's cheek. "Better be fine," he said with a smirk.
Skywarp gave him a dumb smile and laughed.
Monitor duty when there was a battle raging was harder than Starscream had thought it would be.
Soundwave had given him simple enough instructions. Watch the reconnaissance feed as it came in from his cassettes, alert Soundwave if he saw any Autobots where they weren't supposed to be. The cassettes would also be reporting in, so Starscream was more like a second pair of optics.
He quickly figured out though that he didn't necessarily know the difference between an Autobot and a Decepticon yet, especially if he couldn't see the insignias. Luckily, it seemed Soundwave was being patient with him.
Or just being quiet about his frustration. Soundwave was also hard to read. What was it about all of the Decepticon officers being really inscrutable with their feelings?
He did manage to have a small win. The Decepticon fliers he pretty much knew by heart, so when some new flying mechs appeared on the scene, he was the first to notice and give Soundwave a heads up.
"Megatron: Aerialbots are inbound."
"As expected. Thank you, Soundwave."
"Correction: Thank Starscream," Soundwave said, his visor flashing as he looked at the seeker at the console.
"…Interesting."
Starscream for some reason wasn't sure that was a compliment, and he wasn't sure he wanted to get singled out. But he just swallowed thickly and went back to watching the monitors.
He was tense. Because he wasn't controlling where the feed was looking, he felt himself hoping that the feed would move so that he could see Thundercracker and Skywarp, or really any of the Decepticons he had started to get to know. He had to admit that he was very concerned about the mechs.
It was also starting to dawn on him how dangerous the Autobots were.
As time went on, finally Blitzwing commed that he had managed to get most of the energon that they were looking for, and so the seekers were able to cover his retreat. Slowly the battle wound down as the Autobots realized they had lost this time and made overtures to leave the battlefield.
Starscream heard someone clear their vocalizer next to him. He looked up and saw Vortex looking down at him with something that might have been a glower. Starscream couldn't exactly tell because this mech had a visor and a facemask. Still, he didn't exactly look thrilled.
"Erm, hello?" Starscream said with wide optics.
"Starscream: Monitor duty shift is over," Soundwave called as an explanation. "Starscream: Dismissed."
Starscream nodded quickly and stood from the chair. He went the opposite way around the chair and began to leave the control room without a second glance.
He figured he didn't have long to wait until his trinemates returned. He thought he might try the canteen again, since most mechs were likely on the raid, it should be quieter than usual. He smiled, happy that his first duty shift had gone well.
He went around the corner and almost bumped into a mech he didn't recognize. "Oh, apologies," he said to the light blue and white mech.
"That's alright, Starscream. I was actually looking for you," the mech said. He smiled and put a hand on Starscream's shoulder. "Megatron requested that you meet him at the elevator," the mech said, pushing Starscream in the opposite direction of the canteen.
Starscream grimaced. "Okay, that's fine, but can you let go of my shoulder? You're gripping a little harder than is comfortable-"
"Oh, apologies," the mech said, pulling out a blaster from subspace. He squeezed the shoulder tighter and put the blaster to Starscream's neck. "The faster you move, the more comfortable you'll be," the mech said quietly.
Starscream knit his optic-ridges in confusion until he saw the insignia on the mech. It was the red Autobot symbol.
"Ah," the seeker said, glaring. "Very well then," he added. He slowly turned and started walking.
They walked in silence, but Starscream's processor was reeling. He knew he could not release himself from the mech, and the blaster at his neck also made him feel compliant. It was odd that he wasn't really afraid for his life, but more about… causing damage.
He felt his faceplate heat with embarrassment. He was just watching his trine and new friends fight a battle and here he was being marched off his own base by an Autobot. Easily. No resistance.
Why were they putting so much effort into him, anyway? He was worthless.
He heard his Autobot captor mutter "slag" under his breath and suddenly the hand on his shoulder and the blaster disappeared from view. Starscream was bewildered and went to move and turn around, but found he was still unable to do so as he was still being held. "Get him to go away," the mech said as he squeezed Starscream's shoulder tigher. Was he... invisible?
Without much time to understand what was happening, Starscream looked up and saw Shockwave coming towards him in the hallway. The elevator was within sight behind him.
"Starscream," the purple mech said with a touch of surprise. "Going somewhere?"
Starscream looked up at Shockwave's single optic and tried to will him to understand what was happening. "I was going up to meet my trine as they came back in," he said, managing to keep his vocalizer calm.
Shockwave looked down at the seeker with his optic, looking over his face as if trying to divine something.
"Are you alright?"
Starscream swallowed thickly. "Of course. I just had… monitor duty. It was a lot more violent than I expected," he replied.
"You had a strange reaction when you saw me, though," the mech observed still watching Starscream carefully. Starscream almost thought he was radiating concern.
Starscream felt the blaster dig into his neck with more force. Starscream threw Shockwave a withering look. "Forgive me, Shockwave, but the last time we met you held a gun to my neck," he said pointing to the right side of his neck for emphasis.
He hoped Shockwave would get the hint.
"I see," Shockwave said, with disappointment.
It seemed he didn't. Starscream bit the inside of his cheek.
"I'll just… be going then," Starscream said feeling the mech behind him push a little in encouragement. He gave one last look to Shockwave, hoping that the mech interpreted it as pleading.
Starscream was about five steps from the elevator, when Shockwave said something else. "I held the gun to the other side of your neck," he said pulling up his gun arm.
In a flash, Starscream felt himself pushed roughly against the elevator, his forehead smacking against the door. The pressure on his shoulder and the blaster disappeared, but he heard some blaster fire happen behind him. Starscream sank to his knees, reaching his servo up to his forehead to try and assuage the pain blooming there. There was a little bit of energon dripping down from the wound and onto his nose.
Suddenly, the door to the elevator opened and he was being ushered in with a rough push. He turned to see Shockwave running towards the door with his gun arm out. The mech had taken some fire as his side and legs were sparking.
Starscream was about to scramble back out the door, his servo reaching out for Shockwave. But then the door slammed shut and he felt the elevator start to move upward.
The Auotbot was tore out the control panel of the elevator and was undoing some wires and connectors. Suddenly, an alarm started blaring and the elevator stopped. But whatever the Autobot was doing seemed to make it so that the elevator had power again and it continued its ascent.
"You know, this isn't personal," the mech said, lifting up his blaster to shoot out a camera at the top near the ceiling. He looked down at Starscream with a smile. "I know you aren't the same Starscream anymore. This is just business."
Starscream glared hatefully as he held his servo against his forehead wound. "That makes me feel so much better," he rasped.
The Autobot smirked and stared up at the ceiling in silence until the elevator stuttered to a stop. He reached down and pulled Starscream to his pedes and kept a firm servo on his upper arm. Starscream clenched his jaw without comment.
The door opened and the Autobot was rushing out, pulling him down a set of stairs that wrapped around the elevator tower to a small watercraft that waited at the bottom. He threw Starscream in, holding on to his shoulder so that he couldn't move. He then activated the engine, and they zipped away from the Decepticon base.