Chapter 5: Reintroduction

A/N: Thank you for your questions and reviews again (very much)! I know that the story seems to run quite slow right now, but I just wanna get some stuff out of the way. Any more questions can be directed to Panda Eyes (me) for the lack of sleep. Ov0

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Wave after wave of Decepticon feet grudgingly filled the meeting room within the Nemesis. Each had his own complaint about the spherical rooms decreasing size because of the slowly growing population of the Decepticon army on Earth, all awkwardly cramming themselves inside this vertical tunnel. They stood waiting because their leader liked his troops to be prepared, and such comforts such as seats were unnecessary. Familiar peer groups formed, gestalts, Triple changers, aerial cons, and the like, gradually increasing the volume of the hubbub in the room.

When the room was quite full, Megatron entered the assembly, his troops making a rough pathway for him to ascend the plinth conveniently situated in the centre of the room. Those who callously pushed the others back to make way for their leader were soon shoved back into their places with extra force.

Megatron optics met his troops who were gazing back at their leader impatiently, except for one. And as soon as she came in, he smiled.

A low gasp erupted form the troops accompanied by disgruntled mutterings and contemptuous growls. She wanted to get it over with, and was glad to some extent that she did not have to shove anyone out of her way. A sardonic remark from her leader to announce her presence followed by an equally caustic answer to his comment, Starscream included a firm warning to anyone and everyone who doubted her abilities and questioned her rank as second-in-command of the Decepticon army.

Not wanting to be left unsatisfied, Megatron forced her to expound some personal details in relation to her current form, so the troops won't be left too confused and he could gloat over her apparent uneasiness.

When all explanations were done, she kept quiet and let the meeting commence. No one asked her anything more, and she didn't care either. They needed some time to let the information seep in, but she purposely made a fact clear:

She was, and always is Starscream.

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"Sweet Primus he's a lady!"

"She's always been a lady Drag Strip."

"I wasn't talking to you, Hook face."

"Hey, you sure you don't have a secret you wanna reveal, Drag Stripper?"

"Slag you, Constructigeeks!!!"

Peeling his attention away from nursing his drink to the fighting gestalts, Skywarp immediately concluded that even if the Stunticons won the skirmish, Drag Strip would have the most green and purple scratches on his body. And fighting with the gestalt cum medical team was a pretty stupid idea. Even he knew that.

"Hey TC, didn't Starscream wanna drink? She said she was low on energon."

A dreamy look met Skywarp and Thundercracker answered him loosely, stirring his drink.

"She said she was going to lie low for a while in her room, let the guys get used to her as a femme..."

"Gonna bring her a cube then?"

"…Yeap." Thundercracker downed the remaining energon in his cube and stood up. Casually grabbing another cube, the blue seeker ambled out of the mess halls with Skywarp hastily catching up after almost drowning his nose in his drink. 'TC's in one of his sleepy moods again,' the purple jet mulled, 'a little bit low on energon and he gets really tired…weird…'

"What's wrong ol' buddy?" Thundercracker didn't stop starring straight but answered his companion.

"Meh. You know. The whole…"thing"," he replied. "'S weird thinking about it, at the same time, it makes sense."

"Really-huh?!"

Thundercracker shared the same sentiment when they couldn't find the red seeker in her quarters.

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Why was she not surprised. Okay, maybe a little surprised that it was the Coneheads confronting her, but to gang up on a fellow flier?

…Reasonable.

'They are Decepticon's after all…' Starscream mused. Having exited the conference room last, the femme con knowingly strode towards the opposite direction of all the others when she had the chance, wondering the quieter halls of the Nemesis. A small mistake she made but it was the least of her concerns when Ramjet was leading the discriminating team.

"Oh, hello Ramjet. Is Dirge too depressed to lead the party?" Starscream opened her question with feigned innocence. Dirge looked down in small regret, but he didn't stop the other two. Thrust made a hacking snarl and shot a wad of spit at Starscream's feet.

"Safety in numbers, huh Thrust? I thought we understood each other…After all, which other coward do the Decepticon's refer to when they are not talking about me?"

"Shaddup female! You know you don't belong here!" Ramjet growled back, but the red seeker did not let go of her sarcasm. Her lips dropped to a threatening frown in expectance of what was about to happen between the four of them, and no sooner than that thought came to mind, Ramjet flew straight at her, head first.

The femme con was glad she was invited to a fight, but more importantly, she had to remind the three insolent Coneheads of the Decepticon hierarchy.

'So predictable, you three.' she grinned and snagged Ramjet's arm with an uncanny swiftness. Swung in an arc motion into the nearest wall, the white Conehead was temporarily stalled from attacking and only realised he missed his mark when he could not release his top half from the layers of purple metal. Making the next move and sparing no time for the latter to react, Starscream lunged towards Dirge and threw both feet into the unfortunate Conehead's face, instantly smashing his nose and optics. That calculated act of austere violence was enough to scare the last Conehead as what was protruding pieces on his comrades face fell onto the floor, and before Starscream turned her full attention to Thrust, he was already dashing down the hall in retreat.

Recovering from her attack, the white Conehead immediately made another lunge for her chassis, but a strange metal clang echoed against his feet as he was about to make a collision with the femme con. The puzzled jet looked around to find a small Cassetticon falling back from running into his leg, and when he looked forward again, Starscream's knee had met with his chassis, and clasping her hands together, she clubbed him further into the floor.

Kicking Ramjet on the floor to remind him to retreat, the remaining Coneheads went in Thrust's direction and disappeared shortly into the darkness. Now with her undivided attention, the seeker picked up Rumble with outstretched arms, like a mother admiring her baby. Except that this baby was a testy purple Cassetticon who swung his limbs passionately like an angry child.

"Hey, put me down ya' femme-!"

"Don't make me carry you by the scruff, Rumble." Starscream crooned. Rumble took a few minutes to register her words, and the Cassetticon settled down.

"Good boy. So, what brings you here, and where's your midget twin? Did your big daddy Soundwave, send you to spy on me?" The purple Cassetticon sneered at her last comment and shouted back.

"Hey, when Rumble hears a fight, he's gotta be innit too! I heard them pickin' on ya' an'-!" Starscream made a 'tching' sound with her lips and shook her head.

"You shouldn't be telling the 'victim' you want to fight with her when there are a pair of guns at the end of these arms, Rumble-"

"HEY! Who said I wanna fight with you! Geez, of all the femme cons I try and rescue you're the most-!"

"Rescue me?!! Now that's just-" she might have took his words as an insult but Rumble's down-turned head told her otherwise. A small smile curled into a devious grin, and the seeker lifted the Cassetticon higher so he couldn't hide his face.

"My, my…you're quite the hero when you want to be…"

"H-Hey! I-I was jes' tryin' at' help! A good fight's not fun when you're all ganged up! (An' stupid 'Rammy's' big foot got in d' way…)"

If the Cassetticon's hands weren't set so far apart by Starscream's fingers, he would be frantically fidgeting them against each other right now. When Starscream leaned in closer to have a better look at him, he snapped his head as far as he could from her curious optics.

"…My hero." Rumble wriggled uncontrollably at that last comment.

"-S nothin'! Why ya' reading' into it so much?!"

"You deserve a reward!"

"Wait-! W-Whaddya doin'?! Don't you be doin' what I think you're-! No! Stop it! YOU'RE FREAKIN' ME OUT! WOAH-!"

If Starscream was his size, Rumble would have received a soft peck on the cheek, but being a seeker much too large for him, she settled for giving him a kiss on the side of his head, almost pushing it to an extreme angle.

"Muah. Happy now, hero?"

"WA-YEE-E-AAH-! LEGGO! LEGGO! LEGGO OFF ME-! LEGGO!" Starscream did as was told and the Cassetticon nimbly leapt out of her hands, more than happy that his feet touched the solid floor. Surveying the halls for any extra pair of optics, the purple Decepticon jumped in fright and fluster when he noticed Starscream squatting in an attempt to meet his height.

"Ah-erh….um…You-you won't t-tell anyone r-right?" he dragged his foot behind the other nervously and his hand strayed to rub his head sheepishly. Watching the seeker mockingly pucker her lips only served to agitate Rumble and the jumpy Cassetticon frantically waved his arms in hysteria when she sniggered in reply.

"Don't t-tell anyone ya' hear! P-PROMISE! O-OR ELSE-!"

She watched his tiny feet take him as fast as it could away from her, and for the first time in her original body, Starscream was happy.

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"Starscream report."

"Reporting, Megatron. And may I add that your brilliant Coneheads were nicely slagged for the med bay, courtesy of my fists."

"My, what a gentle delicate creature you are."

"And if you think your little plan to give the Decepticons troops another reason to hate me and slag me is working, I'm pleased to disappoint you."

"Everyone hates you as you already are, my little Starscream."

"...What do you want, oh mighty leader?"

"I want you, Skywarp and Thundercracker to conduct a raid on an oil field, northwest from here."

"And the purpose of that?"

"To collect Energon you fool, what else?!"

"As you wish, my lord."

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A familiar clonking sound of Thundercracker's running feet were heard as soon as Starscream took the corner towards her room. She wrinkled her brow when she noticed his outstretched but uninvited arms as he came plodding towards her, and the blue jet immediately took the hint, putting his arms back to his sides.

"Where were you?" his tone sounded almost demanding.

"Don't worry, big and blue," she chirped. "Megatron wants us to raid an oil field."

The energon cube in Skywarp's hands got the attention of her optics, and knew it was her share of energon. She freed the pink and purple substance from Skywarp's hands and arresting it in her own, downed the whole lot in one shot. Skywarp couldn't help but notice her knuckles were slightly grazed with white paint.

"What happened there 'Screamer?"

"Stupid Coneheads. Twied to pick on widdel ol' Starswean, awww." she drew a mocking tone to her voice added with a look of pure innocence. The purple jet grinned with her joke.

"So I kicked their afterburners." and the all familiar frown came back to her visage. Skywarp didn't stop grinning and the duo followed the aerial commander to the docking bay.