Starscream shifted, his lip plates curling into a deep frown as he regarded the Med-Bay for what seemed to be the forty-ninth time.
The internal countdown in his processor had been decreasing rapidly as he stood there.
The Decepticon Commander drummed his long claws on his arm, annoyance fluttering in his spark. Two waves of answering emotions came from the sparks on either side of him; one of calmness from Thundercracker, the other of jubilation from Skywarp.
Of the six mechs involved in his little project, Skywarp was the most excited for the final product. Though Megatron didn't know the details of the experiment, both Starscream and Soundwave, in few words for the latter, had expressed adamantly that whatever they'd been working on could be used against the Autobots.
Though the Decepticons did not have unlimited resources, the crashed form of the Fallen's ship had yielded to the power to warp to other planets and stock up on Energon. Though it reached only two solar systems away, it was enough that the Decepticons to not go empty, have copious amounts of Energon to share among their ranks and still be able to experiment.
Though they knew not where the Autobot supply came from, it was obvious that their opposing faction had enormous amounts of the liquid energy.
Skywarp was rocking back and forth on his pedes, his black and purple wings fluttering at speeds Starscream hadn't seen since Vos.
Knockout scowled at the youngest of the Trine, pausing in his movements. The screwdriver in his hand clattered to his tool tray loudly, and Skywarp ducked his head, stilling his rocking. The red medic vented heavily, shifting his matching optics to the door of his workplace.
The door of the Med-Bay hissed open, and Soundwave stepped in, joining Starscream at the emptier side of the Bay. His visor turned in the general direction of the berth in the center of the room.
This was Starscream's project.
The femme was tall, but much smaller than the Seekers. Her form was curved slightly at the hips and chassis, but was rather slim. Her digits ended into sharp claws, not unlike his own, and her pedes had three large claws on the front, which would and could be used for gripping onto things for balance.
Her optics were dark, and her still body announced that she was obviously offline at the moment. Her helm was tilted slightly towards the door, and would have been turned further, save for the kibble spikes that protruded from behind her audio receptors.
On her back, pinned to the table with her weight, were a pair of extremely sensitive jet wings.
Her armor was painted a dark blue shade, and the accents on her wings, arms, and legs were dark purple. On one of her wings was a painted depiction of a prowling cheetah, and Starscream had to smirk at himself.
That was one of the things he was incredibly proud of.
His little project would be branded by the tattoo he'd given her, marked as more than just a simple Seeker femme. Mind, femmes were anything but simple.
The internal clock in his processor buzzed at him, and Starscream stepped forward.
Knockout stepped away from the Seeker femme, and Starscream took his place, his nimble but deadly digits pressing and pushing open the femme's spark chamber.
It was not void of life; inside sat a glowing pale blue orb. It was a bit paler than it should have been, but Starscream was anything but worried.
Now all he needed was a volunteer. One of the mechs in the room would have to bond with her to completely awaken the project. A sibling bond or creator bond, but not a spark bond.
Starscream wasn't that horrible of mech to force a 'con on a femme, regardless of the femme's origins.
His digits ghosted over the cables in the femme's spark chamber, searching for the small port he'd made precautions to hide. In some deep part of his own spark, Starscream knew that taking the extra precautions to prevent a forced spark-bond would somehow pay off in the future.
A smirk slunk across his lip components and he turned to the gathered mechs.
"Someone will need to bond with her." This gathered looks of confusion from all but Soundwave, who remained emotionless but seemed to understand. "Any volunteers?"
Immediately, Soundwave was moving to the other side of the femme and Starscream lifted one of his optic ridges. He'd expected either Skywarp or himself to have taken the bond, but for Soundwave to take it did not deter his plans nor concern him.
"Very well."
Soundwave's chassis shifted opening slightly, allowing a single cable to snake from behind his armor. It wove through the air and plunged itself into the port inside her spark-chamber.
The femme arched off the table liked she'd been electrocuted, and Soundwave emotionlessly stepped forward, peering down at her through his visor. The communications officer's helm tilted as he hovered over the femme.
The natural hum of Energon through her cables filled the room and her spark pulsed twice, darkening to a cyan blue, before her optics slowly lightened.
The dull grey flashed red momentarily, before her optics completely onlined. The femme shuttered the dark crimson optics twice, before they focused on the hovering Soundwave, who had retracted his bonding cable and had closed both their spark chambers.
The femme was silent and Soundwave was obviously communicating to her through the bond, as both their optics had dimmed slightly.
A smug smile spread across Starscream's facial plates, and he resisted the urge to cackle madly at his success, like he had done in the privacy of his own labs back on Vos.
Skywarp's wings fluttered harder than ever and even Thundercracker's wings were twitching.
"Ah, I see you're awake, femme." Starscream stepped forward, folding his arms bind his back.
"…Commander Starscream," She murmured, pulling herself upright with the help of Soundwave, whose servo had pressed against her back strut, just under her wing. "….that's who you are right?"
"Indeed. What do you remember?" He asked, already taking mental notes to review later during the lunar cycle.
"I remember…." She frowned. "A really big explosion. But not much before or after that."
"Your ship crashed." Knockout supplied, looking her up and down. "Took me a while to patch you up to your former glory, little neutral."
'Ingenious Knockout.' Starscream thought to himself. 'Make it seem like she has a choice in choosing her faction. We can feed her lies, and then use her against the Autobots. Did I really just call Knockout ingenious?'
"What happened?" She asked, leaning into Soundwave's servo.
"The Autobots," Starscream heaved a heavy vent, his wings drooping. Thundercracker and Skywarp had caught on to their leader's plan, and their own wings dropped slightly. Skywarp was smarter than most gave him credit for. "…They shot you down. Your ship landed near our base and we brought you in from the goodness of our sparks."
"But…I'm friends with some of the Autobots." Her lips plates curved into a confused frown.
"Obviously not." Thundercracker snorted. "Autobots don't shoot friends from the sky."
"But Decepticons take friends in." Skywarp murmured and fixed the Seeker femme with enormous innocent optics. It was something he specialized in; seeming innocent. "Will you be my friend?"
The Seeker femme's optics flickered back and forth between the four mechs, and then she turned her helm to the mech with his servo on her back. They conversed silently, and then the femme turned back, nodding once.
"The Decepticons do not abandon their friends," Starscream assured. "But we cannot protect you from the Autobots who wish you harm if you are not among our ranks."
Knockout appeared beside the Commander with a glowing brand, his charismatic optics fixed on the femme. She nodded, and then scooted herself to the edge of the berth.
"I'll join you." She announced. Starscream's lip plates curled into a smirk as Knockout pressed the brand into the armor on her thigh plate. She didn't make a sound, and the medic seemed impressed.
Most mechs at least flinched when the brand hit them.
The glowing metal cooled as Knockout drew back, pouring a small cube of water onto it. Steam billowed from her insignia.
"Welcome to the Decepticons."
"Designation: Saberstorm." Soundwave spoke, helping the femme off the berth. Her heeled pedes hit the ground and she rolled her shoulder, flexing her wings.
Skywarp looked back and forth between Starscream and Saberstorm. What he wanted was blaring over the spark-bond the Trine shared, and Thundercracker already seemed affected by their youngest Trine-mate's desired actions.
Starscream vented, and Skywarp took that as a 'yes'. The purple and black mech launched himself across the room and threw his arms around the blue and purple femme. She seemed shocked for a moment, before wrapping her arms around the taller mech and nuzzling into his chassis, like most Seeker's programming told them to.
Starscream often had to fight off those urges, and Thundercracker followed in his leader's steps, though not as severely. Skywarp went with his programming, and his older brothers found no need to stop him.
"I was so excited for you to wake up!" Skywarp announced loudly. "You've been lying there for a really really long time!"
Soundwave turned his visor to the Seeker mech and his new bond-sister. "Order: Release Saberstorm."
Skywarp stuck out his lower lip plate in an adorable pout but let go, stepping back respectively. Thundercracker knew that his younger brother would be extremely touchy-feely the rest of the solar cycle, and cycle would most likely end in a large pile of Seeker in their shared berth room.
The communications officer turned to Saberstorm. "Request: Follow."
She glided smoothly after him as he exited the Med-Bay, waving to the other mechs in the room.
Knockout turned to Starscream the moment the door hissed shut. "Commander, with all due respect, when are you going to tell Lord Megatron the details of your little project?"
"Once Saberstorm," He sneered out the name. "Is settled into her new quarters and I have seen the extent of her programmed training. Then, and only then, will I inform Lord Megatron."
The medic nodded.
Saberstorm followed after her brother quietly, tapping her glossa against the back of her denta. She was so deep in thought that she didn't notice Soundwave stopping. She crashed into his body and backpedalled, fluttering her wings for balance.
Soundwave's visor shifted into subspace and he regarded her with deep purple optics.
"Sorry." She murmured, biting her lip plate. Soundwave lifted his hand to her check, patting it before he continued down the hall, his visor back in place.
"Pay attention." A sound clip announced, obviously from Soundwave. Saberstorm nodded, though he couldn't see. She followed him down several rough caverns, blasted into dreary grey rock far beneath the ground.
She could tell simply because of the restless feeling that gathered in her spark. The farther she was from the sky, she knew the worse she'd feel. The Med-Bay, thankfully, was not far from the surface and the hallway that the pair traversed lead upwards.
Soundwave halted in front of a thick metal door, pressing a code deliberately into the keypad beside it. Saberstorm's processor immediately stored it into her memory. She followed the communications officer into the room, and her dark crimson optics widened.
Most of the wall before her was made up of a large screen, several tracking systems in operation and several smaller computers littered the room in an organized fashion.
There was another door on the right, with another keypad, but the room that Soundwave did his work in was dimly lit by a single light.
He moved past the uncomfortable looking chair in front of the screen and pressed a different code into the keypad by the door on the right.
It hissed open and he stepped in, motioning for Saberstorm to follow.
There was a wide berth shoved into the corner of the room, the surface mostly plain, save for what seemed to be a spare polishing cloth. The room was bare; the large berth, three shelves, and a mostly empty desk.
Several of what seemed to be Cassette Cons sat offlined on the desk and shelves, along with polishing clothes, a few tools, and a basic patch-up kit.
Soundwave was looking at her through his visor. /We will share the berth. /
Saberstorm nodded, examining the room in more detail before her brother led her out with a gentle servo on her back strut.
She followed him back out of their room and down the halls, deeper underground, before the hall sloped up again, and he made a sharp right. The hallways turned into a set of stairs, and he led her to the top before pushing into what seemed to be a large empty room.
However, once they entered, several holograms flickered into being.
/These are the Autobots that shot you down. / Soundwave's less digitalized voice oozed over their bond.
Saberstorm's optics took them in. A silver and gold pair of mechs that looked like twins, and another larger black mech with matching cannons.
/Sunstreaker and Sideswipe. The black one's designation is Ironhide. /
/I think I was friends with them. / She replied, staring curiously at the three Autobots. /They seemed familiar. /
"Ah, Soundwave, Saberstorm," Starscream's voice made the femme jump and he strode several steps into the room with Thundercracker on his heels. Skywarp was nowhere to be seen, but Saberstorm was almost okay with that. "I hadn't expected to see you here yet. No matter. Shall we train together then?"
Saberstorm answered before Soundwave could. "If that's no trouble for you, Commander Starscream. Though I presume that I'm nowhere near your level of fighting expertise."
"We'll have to see, won't we?" Starscream lifted an optic ridge. Dread washed through Saberstorm. When she said 'nowhere near' she meant 'I don't remember anything'. However, now she felt as though she needed to so she had at least a little skill at something, as the sudden pressing desire to show she was not simply a femme and was useful as a warrior rushed through her. "Soundwave, the holograms are yours to command today."
The mostly silent mech nodded once and retreated to the corner of the room, out of the way.
Thundercracker rolled his shoulders and looked at her weirdly. She scowled at him and marched to the center of the holographic training room. Almost immediately, the area shifted into the scene of a forested area. Starscream and Thundercracker were all she could see besides enormous trees.
Several faceless drones rushed from the tress appearing in a flurry of red sparks and Saberstorm whirled on them. Her pedes moved her forward, and before the other two could move, the femme had sent one of the drones sailing into a large tree. It buckled and nearly snapped in half as it hit, its body screeching against the truck of the tree before it vanished.
The second one vanished in the after-math of a blaster shot from Thundercracker.
A wave of thirteen Autobots appeared in the trees and Saberstorm's optic ridges rose. A pair of long blades shot from subspace and she curled her digits around them.
Thundercracker and Starscream had already launched themselves towards the Autobots, but Saberstorm hung back warily.
She didn't know how to use these swords. Shooting was something she knew she could do, but swordsmanship she almost guaranteed she'd never be able to comprehend.
Several Autobots suddenly appeared in front of her and Saberstorm, stumbled back several steps.
And then her arms were moving in arcs of gleaming metal.
Somehow, she managed to dispose of the Auto-trash.
After several demonstrations of her shooting prowess, and her a short servo-to-servo sparring match with Thundercracker, Soundwave gestured her out of the room.
/Lord Megatron wishes to see us. /
Saberstorm shuttered her optics, nervousness clawing at her spark. To see Lord Megatron after only being online for a breem or so….what a way to make a femme falter.
She'd heard of Megatron's ruthlessness from her supposed Autobot friends. He had little or no mercy, and before he'd become Lord High Protector, Megatron had been a gladiator in Kaon.
To have driven the Autobots and the neutrals off Cybertron, the mech had to be extremely powerful.
A wave of calm battered at the Seeker femme and Soundwave guided her gently down the hall. There were few 'cons, and it seemed that is particular area in the Decepticon base was void of any con not an officer and she wondered if that would eventually include her as well.
A pair of roughly cut but grand double doors appeared in her vision as Soundwave slowed to a halt. Starscream stepped from behind them.
"I shall, ah, appease Lord Megatron before we introduce her then? Soundwave stay here." The seeker slid into the throne room.
It was quiet, which may have been a good thing, considering even Saberstorm had heard about Megatron's of beating Starscream.
Finally Soundwave pulled both the doors open and made his way forward. Saberstorm hurried after him, trying not to trip over her own pedes. Her wings fluttered for balance as she skidded to a halt behind her brother.
"Well?" A new voice drawled, the deep baritone making the femme shiver. One of Soundwave's many tentacles extended from his back and pulled her forward.
Saberstorm stayed as close to the comm officer as she could.
The pair of piercing scarlet optics in Megatron's face observed her harshly, and they narrowed. Her own dark crimson optics stared at him.
Megatron looked a little worse for wear; his armor was dirty, and a beige canvas was stretched over his head and neck, forming a cowl that obvious hid some sort of wound. His entire form looked sharp, and his clawed digits were tapping against the arm of his chair.
"Come here, femme." He growled, glaring.
Something protested profusely in her processor, but Saberstorm ignored it to follow his order. Her heeled pedes clicked loudly against the stone, echoing through the near silent room. She stopped once she stood in front of him, within arm's reach, and she lowered herself at his feet.
"Lord Megatron, it's my honor to be part of the Decepticons, if you should have me." She murmured. Megatron's pede shifted in front of her.
"Is she what you were working on, Starscream?" His voice rumbled from above her. Saberstorm kept her helm pointed at his feet.
"I assure you, Lord Megatron," Starscream simmered to her right, obviously standing beside their leader. "She is an excellent fighter, and the devastation that the Autobots will have when they learn the truth…"
"The truth, Starscream?" The room was silent again, as Starscream obviously relayed his truth over private com. The Seeker fought the urge to wiggle.
"Stand femme." Megatron snarled, and Saberstorm rose quickly to her pedes. One of Megatron's servos wrapped around her arm-strut and he pulled her as he stood. His bulk towered over her, seeming even more enormous now that she was practically pressed against his chassis.
"Excellent work, Starscream." The Decepticon leader announced, staring down at her. Saberstorm respectfully kept her optics averted to his chassis, fixed on the insignia. "Soundwave,"
"Designation: Saberstorm. Bond-family: Soundwave. All else unknown. Needs training." Soundwave announced. It hurt a little when he announced that she needed training, but she knew it was true. "Recommended: Frontliner."
"Look at me, femme." Saberstorm's optics rose to meet his own. Megatron regarded her coldly for several kilks before he let her go. "You will follow every order I have, and in return, I will personally train you."
"Yes, Lord Megatron." She bowed the best she could.
Saberstorm restlessly shifted on the small berth that had been installed in the berthroom she and Soundwave shared. Her wings fluttered nervously and she tilted her helm towards where her brother was already peacefully recharging.
Grumbling to herself, Saberstorm stumbled off of her berth and clambered onto her brother's, nestling herself at his side. Soundwave shifted slightly towards the wall, allowing her more room.
Grinning tiredly, she threw herself across the top of him and curled her knees to his thighs. One of his servos lifted off the berth and wrapped around her middle.
/Be still, little storm. /
/I caaaan't. I'm all jittery. /
/Recharge. You will need your rest for your training tomorrow. Lord Megatron is not one to start at the beginning, nor go easy. Recharge. /
/Fiiiine. /
Soundwave stroked his fingers down the center of her wings soothingly, and Saberstorm let out a light rumble in her chest.
As Saberstorm fell into recharge, a final thought rushed through her processor.
What was the truth Starscream had told Lord Megatron?