"So…I take it you aren't exactly off the hook for that whole 'abandon your troops and defy your commander while he tries to knock Earth from its orbit by stealing his scientist' thing…amirite?" Sideswipe made no pretense to mask his grin.

Starscream let out a barely audible sigh as he continued his work on his data pad. He would not let this Autobot get to him. Not one bit…

"I mean, for a while we were beginning to miss you out there. Things seemed less…what's the word I'm looking for Sunny?"

"Bitchy?"

"No…"

"Whiney?"

"No, not quite it…"

"Worthless?"

Starscream's optics shot up to the two, his hand poised over the data pad. The twins exchanged glances before focusing on him once again. With an irritated growl, the air commander turned back to his work. "It will not work, Autobots, so I would save the energy for whenever Megatron chooses to make you beg for your lives."

"Is that what he made you do when you screwed up? If there's anyone who enjoys ego fluffing…"

"Aside from yourself…"

"It's Megatron."

Starscream frowned and tried to focus on the symbols reading out before him. He was never one for patience, and his was running dangerously thin.

"Do you guys like, you know…set aside dates on the calendar where you are required to grovel at his feet, and then another date you screw up his tactics?" Sunstreaker let out a little snort despite himself. This only caused Sideswipe's grin to broaden, and for him to continue. "Because I'm beginning to see a little pattern."

"It's never good when your enemy is predictable, even for Decepti-morons like yourself," Sunstreaker added coldly.

Starscream met optics with both of them, and slowly, so that they could see it, reached up and muted his audios. The twins vibrated with silent laughter, pausing from aches and pains. The air commander forced his optics to his data pad and allowed himself a few moments to regain composure to focus on his work.

After a while he was allowed to focus completely, and finished many reports, and even started on some stuff he had been meaning to work on for a while. He almost forgot where he was, and realized a few hours had passed. He shifted his optics up to ensure the twins were, indeed, still there. They were, and it appeared that they were arguing.

Starscream turned up his audios slightly so that he could catch their conversation, and wasn't surprised that the subject was himself, but he was a bit surprised at just what they were saying.

"…all I'm saying is, we could use someone like him, at least some aerial support. I mean we have nothing on the front that can effectively combat aerial attack aside from long range assault," Sideswipe said. He was watching his brother pick grains of dirt from his armor. Every time the yellow twin found a pit in his paint he gave off a little tsk!

"I don't see why you think he'd be a good Autobot, though. I can't stand the bastard. He whines worse than some of those bratty human children who don't get exactly what they want."

"He hates Megatron, right?"

"Yeah, who doesn't?"

"And he is an effective combatant. Whiney as he is, he does his job rather well."

"When he decides to do it."

Sideswipe eyed his twin as he tried to mask a prominent scratch on his forearm, a futile attempt at best. "Same could be said about you sometimes."

Sunstreaker looked up. "What?"

"Nothing, save for sometimes I feel like I gotta kick your aft to get you to do anything aside from looking in the mirror."

"Are you comparing me to Starscream?" The yellow twin gave a genuine incredulous stare. Starscream successfully masked a chuckle, making sure his optics were focused on the datapad, which was blank.

"In a way…yeah."

"Take it back."

"What? No."

"Take it back, Sides."

"Why?"

"Because, I'm not a traitor. And he's a hundred worse things than I am. And you know it."

"You sure whine a lot," Sideswipe stood as his twin reached for him, managing to dodge the injured Autobot's grasp. "Oh, my paintjob!" Sideswipe put a hand to his forehead, imitating a human gesture signifying drama.

"Shut it, Sides."

"Mirror mirror on the wall, who is the most stupidly vain Autobot of them all?"

Sunstreaker glared. "If I could stand, you'd be dead."

Sideswipe turned to his brother with a little bit more seriousness, but still stayed out of harm's way. "But seriously, could you imagine what could happen if we did have Starscream on our side?"

"I'd never side with no stinking Decepticon. I don't care who they are."

"You aren't helping me here."

Sunstreaker sighed, annoyed. "Alright. Fine. Say that for some really odd reason, if Starscream ever did have the ball bearings to leave the Decepticons for good, and if for some even stranger reason I didn't tear him limb for limb, and if for an even stranger reason more stranger than the first two reasons he was accepted as an Autobot…"

Sideswipe waited.

"Yeah, he might be an asset. Might."

Starscream couldn't help but smile a bit at this. The Autobots thought he was worth being an asset? Not that he would ever stoop so low as to call himself an Autobot, but to hear from your enemy's vocal systems that not only were you a formidable force, but an asset…he hadn't heard as much praise ever from his own commander.

A small vibration in the floor caught his attention. He looked up to see Sideswiper stomping on the ground and waving to try and get his attention. Starscream brought his audios fully online, and still a bit dazed from Sunstreaker's comment, couldn't muster a sarcastic remark. "Uh…yes?"

Sideswipe smirked yet again. "Oh guard? Guard?"

"I can hear you," Starscream reminded, annoyed.

"We're hungry."

Starscream's expression deadpanned. "I'm here to make sure you two don't escape, not wait on you like…"

"A waiter?"

Starscream scowled. A giggle floated from the cell. "If you think we are going to waste rations on you…"

"You might not, but I have a feeling Megatron kept us around for a good reason, and since we haven't been tortured yet, I don't think he'd be happy to find us dead from energy loss."

Sunstreaker tried to sit up more, but only slumped against the wall again. He was sitting on the floor, and couldn't stand without help, as one of his legs looked completely mangled at the knee. "Or you could just tell us why we're here?"

"Or maybe Megatron didn't tell you, because he's afraid you'd spoil all his fun?"

Starscream looked away before he could restrain himself. This told the twins all they needed to know. They were quiet for a second, and then Sunstreaker piped up.

"I don't know why you put up with his shit anyway. He's a crappy commander. He's going to run you all into the ground."

"I concur."

Starscream glared at them, not exactly prepared to have his innermost thoughts read back to him by the opposition. He stood and set the datapad on his bench. His words came out with less threat than he would have liked. "Shut up, or you'll get no rations at all."

Sideswipe grinned at Sunstreaker as the air commander left.