Okay, last chapter for this! Awesome.

Tomorrow, I'm posting A Continuous Courting, and I know you guys are looking forward to that! Since it seems like no one really cares about this fic at all :c Kinda sad about that, really.

Transformers belongs to Hasbro

Starscream smiles at him expectantly. Perceptor takes a half-step away from him. "You want to take me to Megatron now?"

The Seeker scoops him up, before Skywarp can. "Today is a perfect solar cycle to show you off, Perceptor. The sparklings are clearly femmes now, and no one will be able to deny it." He taps the blank space on Perceptor's chest, "And Megatron has been hearing . . . rumors about the bot we've captured. I think it is high time for him to meet you."

Perceptor keeps from shuddering, "Shall I get cleaned up, then?"

The seeker looks over his frame, frowning at the various paint scrapes and no doubt imaginary scratches, "You are not cleaning yourself up, groundpounder." Starscream looks over at Skywarp, "And if he looks like that, I certainly don't trust him to do it."

Skywarp and Perceptor share a look; did Starscream really expect them to look absolutely fantastic after interfacing? Skywarp steps a bit closer, "I'll get cleaned up, and polish him while I'm at it."

"No, you always look terrible, I'll be cleaning the both of you." Skywarp gets grabbed by his wrist, and they're all taken to the common room, which is filled with the other seekers. "Alright, slaggers. We have to get cleaned up." There's a chorus of confused noises, "We're going to Megatron's base." Starscream lets go of Skywarp, shoving the black seeker into a chair while the rest of the seekers all flit about excitedly, "We are not having a repeat of last time. I don't care how many bots tell you you're beautiful, you're lucky I caught you all as you were going to their berth, not in it."

Dirge whines, "But they were mine. My bots. You didn't have to offline all of them."

Starscream takes a polishing cloth and begins to give Perceptor the most thorough polish he's ever had —and seeing as he's routinely cleaned by Skywarp, he hadn't realized there was a more thorough polish possible. "They were not yours, Dirge. And you are a mess, sciencebot. I'm going to have to use special polish on you, just to fix all these . . ." he pauses, and looks closely at Perceptor's armor. "Primus, is your coloration uneven? That's awful. We are going to repaint you soon." Starscream mutters to himself, "Don't have the time for it now, so we'll just hope no one notices how shoddy your paintjob is."

He blinks down at his paint, "... I thought I fixed the unevenness."

"Well, you didn't," the seeker snaps, scrubbing particularly hard on his back, "What is this? Do you actually have a chunk of your armor missing? It looks like it was blown off. How did this even happen?"

"I worked with Wheeljack before you bo-brought me here. It is a hazard of the job, Starscream. The uneven paintjob comes from an experiment that faded half of me."

He's set down on the table, and Skywarp is yanked up, "It sounds like Wheeljack is hazardous to any bot."

"He's brilliant," Perceptor defends his friend, "but that brilliance comes at a cost. He helped me build Omega Supreme." He leans back, watching Skywarp get polished. "There are far fewer explosions now than there used to be."

Starscream levels a sharp look at him, " I don't want to hear you prattle on about things, sciencebot. You could be using this time productively." He sweeps a servo at the other seekers, "Activate the neutering code on them. I will not have them acting like slutbots while we display you."

Nodding in irritation, he pulls out a datapad. Flipping through it, he glances over at the seekers who look at him in slight fear. "You first, Dirge. I'll do you next, Sunstorm." He doesn't have to bother with Ramjet or Thundercracker, neither of them have earned back their ability to overload.

Dirge and Sunstorm both shuffle their way over, Dirge popping open when he's close enough and muttering, "They are my bots and overloads."

Tapping the code in, he pats the seeker gently, "I know, but it is better this than Starscream killing your bots, don't you think?"

Dirge looks pained, but nods.

"I'll deactivate the code when we get back, Dirge." He disconnects the pad and gestures for Sunstorm to open up. "You won't have to have it in for long this time."

"Our glorious leader is so wonderfully overprotective," Sunstorm says flatly, and Pereptor hides the smallest of smiles. "He is so gracious to remember to do this to us before we visit Megatron."

Connecting the pad, he turns back on the code, "He only wants you safe, of course."

Sunstorm's mouth quirks into a tiny smile, "Of course."

He runs a small test to make sure that Sunstorm isn't hurt, he had the code off for awhile, and he doesn't want to have any problems from turning it back on. "If your shard starts to hurt, I want you to tell me." He glances up, "The same with you, Dirge." He disconnects the pad. "There shouldn't be a problem, but it is always better to be sure. And, remember, if you tell me that to have me turn it off, we will be on Megatron's base, and you'll have to open up in front of everyone, letting them know I took away your ability to overload."

"I would never dream of disrupting your special day, Perceptor," Sunstorm purrs. "Of course, were you to end up on Megatron's lap, or in distress, it is possible that my shard may start to hurt at that very moment."

Perceptor's spark dips nervously, "It will not." He's surprised by the offer, but has no desire to deliberately provoke the leader of the Decepticons.

Sunstorm smiles, bringing out a cloth, and running it over Perceptor's helmet, "Well, you never know, clever Percy. I could just fall over screaming."

The seeker backs off when Starscream walks over, "You will not be doing that. If we need someone to feign injury, it is always more effective to have Skywarp do it. He is the sire of the sparklings, and would be more likely to get away with it."

Skywarp nods eagerly, "I'm good at screaming." He stands beside Perceptor, reaching out to him, only to hiss and withdraw his servo when Starscream slaps it away.

"You will not be carrying Perceptor down. You'll both end up with paint all over your finishes." He picks Perceptor up carefully, arranging him so he's held securely, but ultimately with very little contact between their armor. "I have more experience with this," Starscream smiles. "Lucky sciencebot doesn't need to wear his blindfold anymore." He walks towards what Perceptor assumes is the launching bay, "Because you'll never be leaving us again."

His spark drops low in his chest. Even if he'd already known that, it is still painful to be told it. He'd been holding out hope that Skywarp would change his mind about not wanting to run away with him to Cybertron. Against all odds, his seeker loves being a Decepticon, even with the abuse the other bots heaped on him; Perceptor showing up really did improve everything for his Skywarp.

He wants to sigh and lean against something, but the only option is Starscream's chest; which is not only distasteful, but would also earn him a clawing. Watching disinterestedly, they fly into the launching bay, and leave instantly.

All of his mapping programs are working double-time, but they won't do him any good, because he cannot fly. He is being taken to meet... Megatron. Perceptor steels himself, and focuses on his internal programming, finding and turning on as many of his protective codes as possible. He will not shake and tremble in front of the Decepticon leader, and he will not show any fear or pain.

His internal message system chimes, and he smiles inside. Skywarp. Are you alright, Percy? You look worried.

I'm not okay, but we can't really put this off any longer. He continues to run the programs, locking them on even tighter, Are you okay?

There's a small pause, Scared. I don't want you hurt, Percy. What if they do something to our sparklings?

He smiles brightly inside from amusement, We have three femmes. Triplets. The worst they are going to do to them is transfer them out. If that happens, you know Starscream will make Dirge, Sunstorm, and you all to start screaming about how much your shards hurt.

Skywarp smiles at him, And I'll be scared enough to teleport us somewhere. Even if it's into a storage closet. Again.

Perceptor relaxes a bit, the codes settling in to mask his outward expression of emotion. He's aware that he likely looks more like a drone than a sentient bot at the moment, but cannot bring himself to regret it. He's still showing enough for Skywarp to read him, and that's all that matters.

They land lightly, and Starscream moves so Skywarp is holding him, directing how to hold him. He starts to relax against Skywarp, only to have a claw hooked in his helmet, "You will keep your frame clean. The only reason you are being held by him is that it makes you both feel better, and I want you hidden until I show you and your sparklings off."

The Seeker waits until Perceptor nods his understanding before letting him go. "I want you in the center of the formation as usual, Skywarp. The rest of you, fall in around him." The other four seekers do as ordered, and they enter the Decepticon base. Perceptor maps the base carefully, though he can't see much from his position. What he can see is a very large number of Decepticons walking through the corridors, and every single one of them stops to watch the Seekers walk past.

Do you normally get this much attention, Skywarp?

Skywarp smiles nervously, Always.

Perceptor wants to sigh, but his protective programming won't let him. Skywarp slips a claw on his neck, We won't let them do anything to you, Percy.

He gives Skywarp a half hopeful look, If we're lucky, he'll only want to look at me and at the sparklings.

Skywarp nods enthusiastically, only to stop when they step into the throne room. Starscream steps forward, the other seekers moving carefully to block Perceptor from view. Starscream practically purrs as he speaks, "My Lord Megatron, you requested that we come."

"I did indeed, Starscream," Perceptor wants to shudder at that voice; all too familiar, and entirely unwelcome. "Though I must admit I was not expecting you to come in so timely a manner."

The seekers move as one, closer to the throne, Perceptor can barely see between their bodies and wings. "I would not make you wait, my lord," Starscream's voice has dropped to a level clearly meant to be seductive. It makes Perceptor uncomfortable.

"You have brought the bot you've been hiding on your ship?" Megatron sounds amused, and Peceptor's spark clenches unhappily.

"Of course, Megatron," and Starscream turns to take Perceptor from Skywarp, placing him on the ground between the Decepticon leader and himself. Perceptor stands perfectly motionless, staring up at Megatron.

The larger mech tips his head slightly, studying him, "Perceptor? One of the Autobots responsible for building Omega Supreme? When did you manage to capture him, Starscream?"

The seeker places both servos on his shoulders, taking care to only barely touch him. He can hear he smirk in the bot's voice, "I imagine it was the same solar cycle that Shockwave informed you he was missing."

Perceptor's optics widen imperceptibly in absolute shock at hearing Shockwave's name. He had thought the bot was long since offlined. The idea of the bot on Cybertron and reporting to Megatron terrifies him beyond all imagination.

"Such a long time, and you hadn't even told me you had him. I would think you were keeping him a secret, if he wasn't right in front of me."

"I would not keep such important things from you, Megatron," Starscream purrs, pushing Perceptor a few steps closer to the Decepticon leader. "We have been keeping him quite busy, and he's proved himself most useful with coding."

Megatron glances back at the clones. Dirge is standing next to a shiny piece of armor someone has left out, but is not actively trying to pick it up and hoard it, and Skywarp is not cringing and hiding behind the other Seekers. "So I see." He smiles at Starscream again, "Is there anything else I should know about him?"

"Oh, only one little thing," the Seeker is barely able to control the satisfaction in his tone. "And it would really be best for him to show you that himself." He taps Perceptor's shoulder gently. "Open up and show our lord why we treasure you so."

He is horrified, terrified, and trying desperately not to get away, but his face doesn't flicker and there is not a single tremor to show it when his plates slide away to expose his spark. When it just starts to open, Megatron grabs the fusion cannon next that is propped by his side, only to put it away at the sight of his spark. "What is this, Starscream? There is n-" Megatron's optics widen in surprise, "Are those triplet sparklings?"

Starscream purrs out, "Femme triplet sparklings." The mech smirks over his head, "and if you look closely, you will realize they are also seekers."

The room goes silent, and Megatron strokes a servo along his fusion cannon. "And who is their sire?"

"Skywarp," Starscream shares a private smile with Megatron, and the other seekers push Skywarp forward. He stands beside Starscream and Perceptor, wings spread wide in a proud display— something he'd not have been capable of prior to the code changes.

"I see," Megatron says, and nods his head at Skywarp, "congratulations on your good fortune, Skywarp. Primus has truly blessed the both of you."

One of the bots standing at Megatron's side —Blitzwing, Perceptor recognizes— jumps forward and flips his face to his Random aspect. He cackles and reaches towards Perceptor's open spark chamber, "Ooh, zey are ze cutest little femmes I've ever seen!" He whines when Starscream slaps his servo away. "Let me touch zem, Starscream!"

The seeker hisses at Blitzwing, and picks Perceptor up, "If you want sparklings to play with so badly, you can ask your lover for them. Don't you dare touch seeker property." He's carried and placed on Megatron's lap, "While our Lord Megatron may look closer, of course."

Without his extra codes active, Perceptor would have been shaking and venting in panic. He's on Megatron's lap. The leader of the Decepticons, known for brutally offlining Autobots and enjoying it has Perceptor spark right in front of him. With his codes, Perceptor's spark flickers once, but he appears otherwise unaffected.

Megatron rests a servo on Perceptor's chest, fingers right at the edge of his sparkchamber. "I can scarcely remember the last time I saw a set of triplets," he murmurs, studying the tiny forms inside him. "And I have never heard of a full femme set."

Megatron reaches in, and the mech is so huge that his spark is brushed as the sparklings are being touched. His expression remains neutral, but his spark actually shrinks away from the touch. Megatron gives him an amused look, "What do you think of this, Perceptor?"

He desperately wants to curse and scream at the gigantic mech, but instead, he says flatly, "I am pleased."

Megatron raises an optic ridge, tugging on a wire hard enough to make Perceptor wince if he didn't have all the programs running, "Are you really?"

"Yes." Perceptor still fails to react when Megatron's fingers rub against his spark again—though he's almost positive the touch was deliberate this time.

Megatron's voice is low, enough that only the bots nearest to them can hear it, "There was a rumor about you, during the war." He smiles at the little sparklings as they squirm in response to his touch, "That you purged all your emotional programming. I can see now why even your allies believed that to be so."

Perceptor looks at him, blank optics filled with hate, "I would not know."

Megatron's smile only widens, and continues playing with the sparklings. The mech's free servo taps the blank area where his Autobot symbol should be, "Lugnut, go get the brand. It is time to welcome a new Decepticon to our ranks."

His spark sinks, processor blanking with shock and misery. Perceptor is only dimly aware of bots moving around in the background; of Starscream giving his clones a mouthclamp and a light stasis cuff to keep Skywarp from screaming or teleporting in panic during the ceremony.

Megatron watches them, before leaning in to speak low and soft in his audio. "This ceremony is very important to all Decepticons, Perceptor. I am confident that you will repeat your oath perfectly, and without hesitation. Neither my bots nor myself would react well to the ceremony being disrupted." He withdraws his servo from Perceptor's chamber, crushing several wires in the process. "And I would not be able to ensure your sparklings' safety if such a thing were to happen."

Lugnut returns with the brand, and Megatron whispers, "You will, of course, thank me when you stand up after getting the symbol put on."

Perceptor's spark flutters and shrinks in unhappiness, but his voice and expression are as blank as ever, "Of course."

He's set on the ground as Megatron takes the brand from Lugnut, and he just stands there, completely motionless. Megatron scowls, "Close your plates and kneel." Sliding them shut slowly, he drops to one knee, one servo on the floor and the other on his leg.

Lugnut and Blitzwing each hold a ceremonial torch that glows with purple light. Perceptor can see Skywarp from the corner of his optics, and the Seeker is being physically restrained by the other seekers, his optics wide with panic. Perceptor has a piling stack of messages from him, but he leaves them unopened. He cannot afford to be distracted now.

The brand is glowing faintly purple; he knows it will crackle with charge when Megatron triggers it. He looks up to meet Megatron's optics.

"You will repeat your oath after me, Perceptor," Megatron instructs, and begins to guide him through an oath that is making Perceptor's spark break.

"I pledge my unquestioning loyalty to Megatron and the Decepticon cause," Perceptor repeats flatly, unable and unwilling to inflect any emotion into this traitorous act. "I shall devote my spark to achieving our goal of a Decepticon controlled Cybertron, by any means necessary." He- Primus, he hopes this is not being recorded. "And annihilate all who driven us from our rightful home-world." Megatron feeds him the last bit of oath, and Perceptor wants to scream, but continues as flat and emotionless as a drone, "Surrender is not an option."

Megatron smiles, lifting the brand, which is sparking wildly with purple energy. "Welcome, brave Decepticon. Your destiny awaits." He presses the brand to Perceptor's chest, and the smaller bot stays perfectly frozen, utterly silent. The pain offlines his optics, and overwhelms him for a moment, but he does not give up a single noise or flinch.

"Rise up and serve your new Master."

Looking at Megatron with optics filled with hate, he just manages to stand up without staggering or falling over, "Thank you, Lord Megatron." It takes everything he has not to spit at the mech, even through the pain and emotion deadening protocols.

He's pushed gently toward the group of seekers, "You are most welcome, Perceptor," comes Megatron's deep purr in response.

Walking steadily to the seekers, he's pulled into Skywarp's arms, unmindful of the damage to their paint. Starscream walks over, and tilts up his chin to look directly into his optics. "Just as I thought. You do look good with red optics, little Prime killer. Not to mention the light purple where your blue used to be. An improvement all around, if I do say so myself."

Perceptor glances at his arms; his blue has indeed been replaced by a light violet shade. He does not want to look in a mirror—he knows how unsettling his optics will be. He was onlined with blue, and now, for them to be Decepticon red- He vents a careful, slow sigh to calm his frantic spark.

"Prime killer?" Megatron asks, having easily overheard Starscream's comment. "Has our newest Decepticon already offlined one of our foes?"

"No," comes all the seekers except for Starscream and Ramjet. Sunstorm steps forward, "I am the one that did it."

Perceptor is kissed on his head dial by Skywarp, spark fluttering in terror, as Ramjet announces loudly, "Of course Perceptor did. I saw it myself. Ordered Sunstorm to take his head as a trophy, as well."

He's so glad he's been working on all of the seekers' code, and not just focusing on Skywarp. It looks like Ramjet just earned back his overloads, especially when one of the Decepticons ask, "... Isn't that the one that always lies?"

Megatron gives them all an amused look, "I see." He studies Perceptor again, "The red optics do suit you. Just as they will suit your sparklings." Perceptor's spark sinks again; the brand would have changed their optic color. He had been hoping for at least one with blue optics like his own. Like his own used to be.

Skywarp tilts him into a kiss, and he knows that's an apology. Allowing his seeker to rub foreheads, he just leans against the mech. He wants to go back to the Nemesis, and lay in Skywarp's berth getting held; his spark and chest hurts still from the branding, and he wants to mourn his loss.

Megatron smiles up on his throne, "And where, exactly, is Slipstream? It is always disappointing when she or any of your other seekers are missing."

Starscream launches into a explanation that is a compete fabrication, and Perceptor ignores him to soak up his seeker's heat.

It's nearly another decacycle before Slipstream returns. Perceptor is working in his room, testing code in his datapads; he has no appointments to work on a seeker until later that evening, and he's enjoying the opportunity to play with the code he has. His door slides open, and he turns, expecting Starscream to berate him for something. He stops. "Slipstream?"

He's tackled by two eager frames, who shout in stereo, "Papa Percy!"

Laughing, he pulls them into a tight hug, "My twins!"

He rubs foreheads with them both, looking at them with a bright smile. They give him a concerned look, "You are having red optics, Papa Percy! What happened?"

His smile dims, and he's about to explain when Red Alert and Wheeljack step in, "And what is this about sparklings?"

Perceptor offlines his optics briefly, before looking at Slipstream, who is standing just inside the room, the door sliding shut behind her. "You took my request to not harm them as a request to kidnap them?"

The seeker laughs, "Oh, Perceptor. I only thought it wouldn't be fair for my twins to have only one parent around." She smirks, "While they're both carrying."

He shifts back to look at the twins, "Both of you?"

Jetfire nods, "Yes, Papa Percy." He opens his mouth to say more when Red Alert comes over and gasps.

"Perceptor, you . . . you've got a Decepticon brand."

He sighs, rubbing it absently, "About a decacycle ago. It was... not pleasent." He looks up at Slipstream, "Starscream was not happy that you've been gone so long. Megatron even asked after you after they showed off my triplets."

There's a chorus of, "Triplets?" from everyone but the seeker.

Offlining his optics, he rubs his temples, "Didn't Slipstream tell you?"

"She did not," Red Alert frowns back at the Seeker, who only smiles and spreads her servos.

"I assumed you would want to tell them the good news yourself, Perceptor," she examines him. "You look good." Of course the seeker would enjoy his new optics and paint. They all loved him in Decepticon colors.

He turns to his friends, who have both come up beside him. "Wheeljack, Red Alert," he pauses, "I am sorry you had to find out this way. I would much rather you were both safe on Cybertron, but I am carrying triplets." He braces himself for their reactions, "Triplet femmes."

Wheeljack shakes his head, tapping hard at his audios. "I'm sorry, Percy," he says, audio lights flashing as he talks— he hates to remove his facemask. "I think I must've gotten more damaged than I thought in the last explosion. I could have sworn you just said you were having three femmes."

"I am."

Jetfire and Jetstorm squirm in his arms, pushing at each other, "Open up, Papa! We want to see!"

"Yes, Percy," Red Alert says sternly, "I think you should open up. And let a professional medic give you a good check-up. And tell us about their sire."

Sighing, he does as he's told, far too used to bots crowding around and wanting to see, at least these are the ones he wanted to show in the first place. "I'll want to see my grand-sparklings after this, you two." He rubs the both of the twins' helmets as they make protesting noises at the treatment. "... unless... did they transfer your sparklings to other bots?"

Red Alert prods at his sparklings, pushing the twins out of the way. "They could not, Papa Percy."

He looks at Jetstorm, "What do you mean, they could not?" Sparkling transfer was a very simple procedure, performed all the time.

Jetstorm smiles brilliantly and waves his servos in the air, "They tried, and there was this blue light and zap!" Perceptor blinks, and turns to his friends.

"Could I perhaps have a more coherent explanation?"

Wheeljack rubs a shoulder, "When it was tried, five bots lost their arms before sending for me. We did the normal start of disconnecting, then a charge built up around the sparkling, and blew my arm clean off. If I didn't have so many spares, I'd be walking around with only one."

Perceptor frowns at him, "But you can just replace them easily enough."

Wheeljack shakes his head, "The arm was dead when we looked at it, greyed out completely. And if I hadn't had a spare already with me, it is doubtful I'd be able to replace it. All the other bots took longer and their frames keep rejecting it."

Perceptor stares down at his open sparkchamber, and the tiny triplets inside him, who keep squirming away from Red Alert's servos. "I'm going to have to carry all three of them the entire way." His spark jumps visibly. From what he remembers of bots who carried triplets, they had all transferred at least one of them to another bot at some point.

Still working inside him, Red Alert shushed him, "It'll be alright, Percy. You've got room, and they're femmes. Even though the sire is . . . Skywarp? A seeker, they'll not grow more than your frame can take before they come out."

He looks at them unhappily, "I think the allspark is punishing me."

Slipstream brightens, "So you think it is more than semi-sentiant now?"

Looking down at his sparklings, then at his twins, he nods hesitantly, "I am pretty sure it is completely sentient and hates me for making that code."

Slipstream shrugs, "I suppose. I liked it, it made Dirge stop rubbing his shard all over everything."

Red Alert arches an optic ridge at him, "Code?"

"The Seekers," he pauses, not wanting to go in much depth about the subject while his twins are still present, "did not have a good idea of how to behave around other bots when I showed up. I developed a code to help remind them what was not appropriate."

"Appropriate? Percy, did they-"

"Sweet Primus," Wheeljack interrupts, optics wide, "Why do you have Sentinel Prime's head on your wall?"

He fights the urge to cover his face with his servos. "Seekers have a unique sense of interior design."

Slipstream smirks at him, "You deserve to keep it, Perceptor. It is your's."

He ignores her, "I tell them to get rid of it, and they just add more to make sure it never comes off. I'm thinking about moving into Skywarp's room to get away."

Red Alert pulls away, "Your little femmes are happy and healthy, Percy." She pauses, and crosses her arms, "Now, stop avoiding a question we had in the begining. What about the sire?"

"Skywarp is a good mech," he answers her. "He's even asked to bond with me, but we've not been together long enough for me to even consider that yet."

Red Alert leans in, lowering her voice, "Did he ever . . . force you?"

"No." He says it firmly, "He's been very good. Very seeker-like, but good." He lifts a datapad out of subspace and waves it at her, "I have full scans on the Seekers here. Did you get a chance to look at the twins' code upgrades when they came to see you? I've learned so much."

She frowns and snatches the pad away, "I saw, but I'm not sure about some of the changes. It makes them more reckless, Perceptor! You may have improved their flying, but they now dive head first into gunfire! It is like they think they are invincible!"

He looks down at his twins, who have the sense to at least pretend to look embarrassed, "You are both carrying, and rush into being shot? What are you thinking?"

They are saved from answering by Starscream slamming the door open, "I heard the alarms telling me you came back, Slipstream. Where the Pit have yo-" Starscream glares down at them all, "Did someone schedule an Autobot convention in my chief scientist's room?"

Slipstream hisses, "I thought I'm your chief scientist?"

"You left!"

"I was gone a few decacycles, Screamer! You can't replace me!"

Perceptor turns away from them easily enough, used to their banter and —shots echoed in the room— gunfire. His twins give Slipstream a worried look before smiling at him, and Red Alert looks like she wants to order them to stop. Wheeljack is watching the null-rays with something akin to lust in his optics. Of course.

He focuses on his twins. "You are not immortal like the Seekers here are. You have to be careful."

They blink at him cutely. "Slipstream likes us to do it," Jetfire murmurs, looking at her lovingly.

"Slipstream is a seeker. This is like when Skywarp says he loves watching me threaten bots. Nevermind that most of them could easily smash me."

The twins smile at each other, "But they will not be smashing our Papa bot." Both of them nuzzle against him. "We would be offlining them for trying," Jetfire adds.

Slipstream comes over and scoops both of the twins up in her arms, and they make little delighted noises at her. "Say bye-bye to Percy for now." Her claws trace their sparkplates, and the two squirm against her. "I'll bring them by later, sciencebot. I'm sure you want a chance to talk to your friends." The twins wave happily at him as they're carried off.

Starscream stands in front of the scientists, arms crossed over his chest. "I'm surprised the Autobots let the twins keep the sparklings. Did you two have something to do with it?"

Red Alert and Wheeljack sit next to Perceptor on the berth. "No, they can't be transferred."

Perceptor pulls out another datapad, "I'm fairly certain the fact that the allspark shard seekers are the sires of the sparklings are the reason for that."

Starscream looks at him closely, "And the datapad said that your sparklings were old enough to correspond with your and Skywarp's third date."

Perceptor gives him a slightly annoyed look that the seeker couldn't read, "Or the morning after, yes."

The mech straightens up, "... I... have some very important business with Megatron." Starscream cackles evilly and loudly, "Make sure the base doesn't blow up, little bot. I will be gone until tomorrow."

"Have a pleasant time, Starscream," he watches the bot leave as quickly as his peds will carry him. "If Primus is a just being, Megatron will announce he is carrying quadruplets."

Wheeljack and Red Alert just stare at him for long moments, before Wheeljack puts a servo on his shoulder, "So, give us the truth. How are you doing? Do I need to orchestrate some really huge explosions to get us out of here?"

He shakes his head, "No. I'm... happy, I suppose. I'd like to not be surrounded by Decepticons, but it isn't like I don't have the seekers well in hand. Skywarp keeps refusing my attempts to get him to run away with me, but now you both are here, and so are our twins. I don't have anyplace I could go now. Not with this," he taps the Decepticon symbol, "or these," He taps his optics. His voice drops down into a slightly broken whisper, "I tried switching them out for blue ones after Megatron branded me. They just changed to red."

Both of his companions pull him into a hug, and Red Alert rubs his back carefully. "You were forced to it, weren't you? Did he make you take the oath?" She shakes her head, "He must have, if your optics change back."

"He did," Perceptor admits, "and he made me thank him afterward."

Wheeljack goes to say something, and Perceptor lifts a servo, "Watch what you say. This room is littered with bugs, and I know Starscream checks the recordings at random." He smiles wryly, "Likely to make sure I'm not planning on destroying the ship."

They both just hold him, petting his back. A klik later, the door opens and Skywarp walks in. He pauses at the doorway, "... Oh. Percy? Who are they?"

Gently pushing the two bots away, he walks over to his seeker, letting himself get pulled up and kissed lovingly. "Red Alert and Wheeljack. They helped make the twins."

Skywarp smiles at them, pouring a energon cube for everyone. Handing the cubes out, he greets them cheerfully, "Hello. Percy talks about you sometimes." He's kissed on his head dial, "Did you already look our sparklings over, Red Alert?"

"I did," she answers, watching them interact. "They're all very healthy. Surprisingly so, even. Normally with twins, there's a few signs of stress— from the protoform splitting. But yours are in peak condition." She pulls out a datapad and starts typing on it, muttering to herself.

Skywarp looks like he's about to ask her another question, but Perceptor puts a servo over his mouth, smiling when a glossa licks his palm. "Let her think. She gets like that sometime."

Skywarp nuzzles him, "But our sparklings are okay?"

Perceptor laughs, "Of course they are. That's what she just said." Kissing his seeker, he pulls out a datapad, "Do you need me to work on your code again? You aren't too scared, are you?"

Skywarp shakes his head, "Your work arounds are still as good as ever. I don't even jump at loud noises now, much less teleport away."

"You're more cute together than the twins said you were," Red Alert says, then flushes when she realizes she said it out loud. "I just- You look happy."

Stroking Perceptor's frame, Skywarp smiles at her, "I am happy."

Perceptor leans back against him, fitting himself comfortably in the curves of the Seeker's armor. His twins are here, and safe now. His closest friends are with him, and he has triplet femme sparklings in his chest. He links his servo with Skywarp's. "We are happy."

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Okay! Last chapter! Yeah!

Tomorrow I start uploading what we have of A Continuous Courting! Know you guys like that C: