Author's note. For the first day of 2015, I thought I would update this story. Happy New year everyone.
Thanks to Curious1here for ideas that helped with this chapter.
Enjoy and please review.
"Look what we've got here."
"Megatron's throne," Mirage stated with no small amount of distaste.
They were currently in the Decepticon command centre, in front of the large, well-built chair that their enemy used as a throne. It was rather battered looking, with various scuffs and cracks decorating its surface but it was easy to imagine the sense of power Megatron would exude just by sitting on it. The purple insignia of the Decepticons was positioned right in the middle of the seat's back, its evil face staring right at them, almost daring them to try something.
Jazz grinned, he dared alright.
"Yep, there it is in all its glory," he drawled. "What say we leave a little surprise for old Megs?"
"I believe it would be appropriate," Mirage mused with a slow nod.
The saboteur smirked wickedly, striding forward and bending down to examine the structure.
"Always wanted to do this," Jazz murmured to himself, gently feeling around. "He's gonna get a big surprise next time he takes a seat."
Mirage nodded idly as he approached a console and carefully tapped in a few commands. Starscream had warned them that if they went in too deep, then Soundwave would be alerted and the telepath would start monitoring them. Someone being in the system in the middle of the night wasn't that out of the ordinary so some light usage would not arouse suspicion.
"How yah getting on?" Jazz called as Mirage carefully worked, taking note of any and all information presented to him while constructing some…creative locations for viruses.
"Very well," the former noble stated smoothly. "I can see what Starscream means about alerts but the outer layers do not have the sufficient protection you might expect."
"They're getting sloppy," Jazz stated, shaking his head in disbelief. "Old Wave's losing his touch."
"Perhaps," mused Mirage, his optics focuses on a hidden trap that most bots wouldn't spot. "It could be to his advantage to make things seem as though they are unprotected, it lures you in."
"Yeah, there's that," Jazz acknowledged, still tinkering away. "But he should still know better when it comes to us."
"True," Mirage muttered, having just found a rather interesting file that he was perusing.
They both carried on until Jazz was finally finished.
"I'm gonna explore a little," he stated, seeing Mirage give a little nod but not turning around.
The saboteur calmly walked through the base, taking note of little details like structural integrity and power sources. He had to admit, Starscream had given them a valuable opportunity to investigate the Decepticon base which would be hard to come by again. Passing by several different doors, he suddenly came to a stop as he recognised one that Starscream had told them about, an Energon storage room.
With a slightly evil smile, he typed in the code and entered.
…..
"How much are we taking?" Mirage questioned his superior as they surveyed Starscream's room.
"Focus on the most important items," Jazz commanded. "We're taking any weapons, plans, stuff like that for the war effort. Also anything that's clearly personal to him."
"You know I'm still amazed Ironhide wished to take him in like that," Mirage couldn't help but say as he headed for one side of the room while Jazz took the other.
"Old Hide's always had a soft spot for younglings," Jazz chuckled. "Him adopting someone I can see but you're right, Starscream's an odd choice. But once he makes up his mind about something, no one can convince him otherwise. Screamer's there to stay."
"Apparently," Mirage sighed, examining what appeared to be a partially built blaster before placing it in sub space. After first making sure it wasn't likely to explode. He grabbed a pile of data pads and began to sort through them. The first one appeared to be notes on recent raids and Mirage was interested to see it was all about Starscream's thoughts on them.
He decided this was a data pad worth keeping and placed it in sub space. The next one appeared to be a standard chemistry one and he placed it aside. He was fairly certain that the Ark contained plenty of scientific journals that the Seeker could read to his spark's intent. Moving on, he discovered an encrypted one that he could not instantly crack. This went straight into his sub space, along with a few others which also could not be read.
As he quickly worked through the data pads, Jazz was admiring a beautiful crystal that he recognised as a souvenir of Crystal City. It was extremely delicate with veins of sky blue through it and the saboteur was impressed it had lasted all this time. It must be something precious, something the Seeker would not wish to be left behind. So he popped it carefully into sub space while examining the other trinkets lying around. A few where things he'd obviously picked on Earth and there mostly didn't seem to be anything unique about them.
"Let's see," he murmured. "We'll take this….this….not that and this."
It occurred to him that Starscream may have hidden a few things in this room so he started to carefully search it, he could grab other things for his sub space in a little while. There was the obvious under the berth and indeed, there were a couple of containers, one of which contained some Energon rations. Not one to waste Energon, Jazz quickly placed it in his sub space.
He had a quick look through the other containers, deciding whether or not they were worth taking. Just as he was reaching into one of them…
Crack!
"Hey Screamer, you back yet…."
The purple and black Seeker trailed off as he gaped at the two Autobots standing right there.
"Mirage," Jazz said calmly. "I believe we have a little problem."
…..
"Starscream."
"What?"
"Yah mind moving so ah can sit up?"
The Seeker scowled but shifted slightly, allowing the older bot to sit up in his berth, groaning slightly as he did.
"Joints rusted up?" Starscream asked acidly.
"Yeah, that's it," Ironhide replied calmly causing the Seeker to scowl at the fact his snide comment didn't make Ironhide annoyed. He watched as the older red Mech grabbed his remote and switched on the telly and of course, set it to the news.
"Not this again," Starscream groaned, looking with extreme distaste at the male presenter on the box. "It's so boring and stupid."
"Well, ah like it," his guardian said firmly. "And when we're in mah side of the room, we watch what ah want. Y'all could always go back tah yer berth."
"I don't want to," snapped Starscream.
"Fine," Ironhide shrugged as his young charge wiggled his wings.
"Something wrong?" he asked, glancing down at the squirming Seeker.
"My wings are itchy," he complained.
"Because you haven't flown?" Ironhide instantly asked, concerned that Starscream was soon going to suffer withdrawal symptoms.
"Of course not," he was told irritably. "Wings require special care and I can't treat them properly."
"Oh," Ironhide said, a little nonplussed. "So…you need someone else to do it?"
"Obviously," Starscream drawled, his voice dripping with sarcasm.
Ironhide sighed, it was clear that the Seeker was not in a good mood. But he suspected it was due to the fact that Megatron's ultimatum was drawing to a close and the Seeker was trying cover his fear by being snarky. All he could do was remain calm and offer reassurance when he could.
"Do you know nothing of fliers?" Starscream was now demanding.
"Probably not enough," the old ground pounder admitted, optics shifting slightly to the news report of a recent earthquake in a nearby city and the fear that there could be more but worse quakes coming. If that was true, the Autobots would need to send out a humanitarian team to assist. Assuming the Decepticons didn't show up to cause trouble.
"Well for your information," he was told snootily. "Fliers tend to each other's wings, that's why we live in groups."
"Ah, makes sense if yah got such a high maintenance part," he acknowledged. "So, yah want me tah give it a go?"
"You?" Starscream half shrieked. "A ground attend my beautiful, magnificent wings?"
"Why not?" Ironhide asked even though it probably wasn't a smart idea to aggravate his charge. "If yer staying with meh, ah should probably learn."
"You'll just ruin them," Starscream declared with no small amount of contempt.
"Alright, then we'll have tah call Skyfire, have him come over," Ironhide said simply.
"I don't want him near me," the Seeker exclaimed, wings flaring furiously.
"Wouldn't he do a good job?" Ironhide asked.
"No, he would keep asking questions about how I'm feeling!" Starscream argued. "And don't you dare suggest those baby fliers."
Ironhide noted the use of the human term for Sparklings, clearly an extra insult on Starscream's part. He really was in a bad mood.
"Then we're left with only two options," he began gently. "Either we wait until yer forced to have Skyfire or Ratchet take care of those wings…..or ah do a little fer yah."
He received a growl in response. Forcing down a slight growing annoyance, he said.
"Look, ah know ah ain't the most delicate of Mechs but ah do have a femme fer a mate. And as tough as she comes, even she sometimes needs a gentle touch. Ah doubt ah'll do a perfect job but ah can try tah make yah more comfortable until a flier can take over."
Feeling the Seeker shift since his optics were on the tv screen, he added. "Ain't no point in suffering needlessly."
"Hah," Starscream muttered darkly, adding. "I suppose your idea has its merits…fine, you may attend my wings, gently."
"Mighty kind of yah," Ironhide intoned graciously, unable to hide a small smile.
Starscream simply scoffed, his wings fluttering slightly as he said.
"You have to do everything I say, understand?"
"Yah got it," Ironhide said. "Yah better scoot in front so ah can start."
"I suppose I'd better," Starscream said stiffly, moving until he was right in front of the grounder.
Ironhide examined the wings in front of him. To his optics, they seemed perfectly fine, clean and well taken care of. If this armour was his own, he'd be quite happy with it and wouldn't really be worried about doing anything else to it. But of course, Starscream viewed things a little differently.
"This dratted organic planet," Starscream was now complaining. "My whole body is covered in microbes and dirt particles."
"It can be a pain," acknowledged Ironhide. Somehow, it seemed easier for humans, they had their clothes to protect them and even when dirt got on their skins, it wasn't difficult to wash it off. Their bodies were adapted to deal with Earth's organic material, it was a different story for the Decepticons and Autobots.
"Gears get clogged up," Ironhide continued. "Intakes and tubing can get damaged, list goes on. Speaking of which, when was the last time y'all got a check-up for this?"
"What do you mean?" Starscream asked grumpily, flicking his wings slightly.
"Yer Medic doesn't make sure y'all aren't clogged up?" Ironhide questioned.
"Only if somebot is too stupid to take care of himself and keels over," the Seeker said contemptuously. "We are Decepticons, we rely on no one."
"Being self-efficient is good," Ironhide agreed. "But so is being able tah take help when it's needed. A medic can better diagnose the problems and help yah fix them."
"That is what Trine mates are for," Starscream declared, his fists clenching slightly.
"Y'all examine each other?" Ironhide asked.
"Of course," Starscream said stiffly. "I wouldn't expect a ground crawler to understand."
"Guess not," Ironhide said with a shrug. Starscream's statement was a little contradictorily, he said that Decepticons rely on no one and yet he obviously relied on his trine mates to help take care of his health. And in return, help them with theirs. The Prime's bodyguard strongly suspected this was true for the rest of the Decepticons, they all had their little groups who looked out for each other.
Briefly he wondered what Megatron did but found he didn't care.
"Now what yah want meh tah do first?"
Under Starscream's careful and extremely detailed instructions, he managed to service the Seeker's precious wings. He watched as Starscream stood up and fluttered his wings, apparently testing the quality of Ironhide's work. Ironhide waited patiently for the verdict.
"Hmph, I suppose it will do," the young Seeker finally declared.
"Good, ah'm glad tah have helped," Ironhide said with a nod. "Want a cube?"
"Yes," Starscream said flatly, his hands clenching and unclenching slightly.
The red Mech paused before asking. "Yah worried about the deadline?"
The Seeker swallowed before saying. "Perhaps."
"It's gonna be fine," Ironhide said reassuringly. "Jazz will take care of things, yah wait and see."
"He can't take care of everything," Starscream pointed out in an almost dead voice, as though he were trying to hold all emotion back.
"True, it's gonna be tough at time," Ironhide admitted, standing and gently putting a hand on Starscream's shoulder. "But ah promise that we'll get through this. At least we can count on them getting some of your things."
"We'll see," Starscream said shortly.
"Aw come on, what could go wrong?"
Author's note. An evil cliff hanger for everyone, will try to update soon.