Chapter 8: Seeing Purple II

A/N: Am I excited? Maaaybe ;) Finally got Microsoft Word back again! I hate not having a spell checker 'cause that means I have to be a neurotic perfectionist having to check my chapters over and over again! I hesitated putting up this chapter up until I got my spelling checked…Lamborghini XP! WARGH! The words hurt me! Thank you for your reviews! (Clasps hands and bow)

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Jazz's wine coloured optics glowered smoothly despite the previous actions. A sterner expression washed over the Autobot's face and he straightened his posture, walking to the bars and presenting an outstretched palm to the seeker.

"Give them back, girl."

Without leaving her optics from Jazz's own, she patted the floor for the blue visors and clutched her new found prize to her chest. Autobots and Decepticons alike were able to have blue optics, however, in the recent war taking place, red optics were a definite sign of Decepticon allegiance. The large variety of optic colours slowly became a rarity, but the facts were translucid: blue for Autobots, red for Decepticons. Starscream didn't know whether she should feel glad to find a potential ally or appalled at a dubious traitor. The Transformer outside the cell sighed, rummaging a hand into his sub compartment and flicked out a spare pair, clipping them to his face.

"...You're a Decepticon."

"Nope."

"Then?" the red jet cocked her head at the cameras. "Whoever's watching knows now-!"

"It's set to mute. And I don't have optics on the back of my head, angel."

When Jazz referred to her new moniker, it meant that he wanted to agitate her, or coax any response for that matter. She hastily opened her cockpit and cramped the blue visors in, making sure the Porsche had no chance of reclaiming them back.

"...You wanna know why I'm an Autobot?"

"I don't need to know when I can see the obvious, traitor."

"...You could say that." Jazz strode across the room. "Lucky you. Now I've got to tell you the wonderful magical story 'bout how Jazz got his pretty eyes to look at the pretty ladies."

"Like I care."

"If you didn't, then why'd you take my shades in the first place, senorita?"

"...You just want to know why I'm a femme con, don't you?"

"Don't we all?"

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"SSHT!" a large blue hand pressed Skywarp's head to the gravel. The aggravated purple jet responded unkindly by pulling Thundercracker's foot off the rocky holding, and clinging desperately to Skywarp's ankle, they both tumbled down the rocky slope silhouetted in the clear moonlight. Landing in an untidy pile of metallic limbs, the Cassetticon shook his head and censured them in a hiss.

"(You guy's aren't exactly helpin' me spy on th' Ark! Are you tryin' to blow our cover or are you geeks just plain stupid?!)"

"(Shaddup you purple pest or I'll grind ya'!)"

"(You're purple too, Skywarphead!)"

"(We only want to know when Starscream's comin' out, Rumble.)"

"(And that's what Rumble's here for! Why don't you jet's jes' fly back, okay! If I get anything, I'll personally tell ya' first if it makes ya' feel any better!)"

"(...Promise?)"

"(Yeah, yeah, promise with my circuits tied so my afterburners don't get fried and all that! Now shoo! Get-!)

Skywarp lifted his body off the ground and grumbled, shaking the desert sand from his joints. Following Thundercracker to the skies, Skywarp made a rude noise when they were out of radio contact with the Cassetticon.

"Who's that shrimp tellin' us ta' 'shoo'? I oughta step on 'em when he gets back! Starscream's our team mate, right TC? TC?"

"...TC?"

"...PRIMUS SLAGGIT ANSWER ME WHEN I'M TALKIN' TA' YA', YA' STUPID BLUE FREAK!"

"WHAT? WHAT! I was listening!"

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"I was doin' what I do best-"

"Being a weirdo?"

"And a saboteur, angel. I was created for doin' just that by my creators, who kinda liked being Decepticon's too. Remember Sector 84?"

"I wasn't there, but the 'noble' Autobots destroyed one of our cities. Decepticons and Neutrals were massacred into piles of scrap metal. Best part of all, only twenty-three percent of the city's population were Decepticons."

"Those guys invading '84 weren't Autobots when they did that, not anymore."

"Autobot propaganda at it's best. It's a pity your shallow sense of idealism has blinded even the most intelligent Transformers."

"I grew up there, rollin' in the streets, havin' fun..."

"...As an idiot."

"Wow, you're really classy, you know? Anyway, when I joined the Autobots as a double agent...I found out about what was gonna happen to it..."

"...Managed to, 'roll' your friends out in time, Jazz-"

Jazz's silence told her otherwise. She kept quiet to wait for the saboteur to continue, which he did after a tense pause.

"...After that, I couldn't go back. If I did, I'd go straight to the smelting pools. I'd no where to go. All the slag that happened got me spinnin', and soon, Optimus Prime caught me. But he heard my song, and gave me a chance (after servin' my time). I could change my optics, but then, for the guys in '84, until I do somethin' better, I'll be seeing purple."

"You must have told this story a hundred times for it to sound so brilliant."

"Only once, angel. That makes you the third person to know this."

"...I suppose you want to know my little 'story' now? Although I have to say it's no big secret like yours."

"Anything to pass the time I guess."

"And stop calling me angel."

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"It's already been a week! When's is she gonna bust herself out?! If she's too low on energon, she can't fly all the way back here!"

The blue jet did his best to pace around the mini-Junkion habitat that was Skywarp's room. The purple jet happily ignored Thundercracker's pleas for Starscream, hugging his legs and resting on a hill of rubbish conveniently piled in front of a glaring monitor (which was also resting undisturbed on some off-coloured foreign rubble). Glazed optics followed the irregular movement on the current program, with his mouth chewing in a bovine manner on some new-found Earth material. Thundercracker only ceased his inane ranting when his foot met / accidentally kicked an unknown animal, scuttling into the darkness of the rubbish squirreled away in Skywarp's room.

"...What are you watching?"

"Dunno. Smurf's." Chew, chew, chew.

"...What's in your mouth?"

"Dunno." Chup-chup-chup- "'fwound it inna' 'uman 'candy' fhlactly. They eat thish stuff-" Chup-chup-chup-chup- "I've got like, a billionf in my motfh an' it's got paper in 'em too."

Thundercracker made a face. "...That's disgusting."

"I know-" chup-chup-chup, "-but look-"

Skywarp took a deep breath through his nose and blew the air to his mouth, making an odd pink bubble expand from his lips. Peering closer to the flexible substance, Thundercracker leapt back when it popped unexpectedly, covering Skywarp's nose. Looking cross-eyed at his results, the purple seeker snorted in childish delight.

"Eh-heh-heh-heh! Hey hey hey, TC, does Starscream remind you of Smurfette?"

"...What the slag is a 'Smurfette'? And when is she coming back?!"

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"How long's it been, Red?"

"You mean how long she's been in there or long how she was in that position?"

Inferno glanced at Starscream's still body, lying on the ground of her cell. Curled in a sleeping position, Inferno tilted his head quizzically at the Decepticon female. He would never have asked himself this question before, but now that the physical answer was apparent to him, the red fire truck posed the topic to his nervous friend.

"Hey Red, ever wonder how a' seeker sleeps on their sides?"

"Now that I think of it, I've never seen one do that before. I guess their wings are able to bend that way, made to be flexible."

"What if they wanna turn on their other side?"

"Then I-I guess they have to choose one to lie on or get up I suppose. Funny though."

"How is she, Red?"

"Optimus!" Red Alert spun round his chair and stood up to greet the Autobot leader. Inferno gave a firm salute before the trio continued to observe the lifeless seeker. When she collapsed nine and a half days ago, Red Alert presumed the Decepticon was low on energy, and unable to function awake, her system tried to salvage what energy reserves she had left and shut her off into stasis lock. Also suspecting her of play acting, Red Alert might have called Ratchet if she wasn't Starscream, and left her to continue playing her game by herself.

After a few minutes of silent concentration, the monitor spied two red and yellow Autobots, leaning from the prison cell's corner to look at the femme con. Armed with a thin metal straw, Sunstreaker fired the first round of paper pellets at the inanimate seeker, clumsily ducking out of sight of the red jet to reload. Making the second wave, Sideswipe forced another moist glob from his own pea shooter at the female Decepticon. Producing equally unsuccessful results, the two Lamborghini's immediately huddled themselves into serious discussion, allowing their leader ample time to grab the microphone speaker next to the security director.

"Sunny Side," the nonchalant voice of authority boomed over the p.a. The duo in the monitor jumped liked frightened rabbits and tripped over each other, quickly dashing out of sight. Chuckling heartily, the Autobot leader shared the joke with his troops when the sound of a thick cough burbled into their audios.

A thin line of energon streamed into the thick coagulated pool from Starscream's mouth, and the Autobot leader immediately radioed for Ratchet's medical attention.

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A/N: Nooooo! Starscream does remind me of Smurfette though…same thing with Arcee, so pink. I know Jazz keeps his speakers on his waist, so I couldn't decide where his magical sub compartment is! XP