Title: Keep It Together
Author: DeviousGypsy
Summary: Unbeknown to anyone else, Starscream is a young Seeker. So when he hits his first heat cycle, he has no idea how to handle it. His trine tries to help but the plan falls apart and brings Megatron and Starscream together in a strange way...only to have Starscream ripped from Megatron's servos.
Warnings: Slash, mech-preg, the like :P
Pairings: Megatron/Starscream, Thundercracker/Skywarp
Chapter: VII
Notes: So, I'm really glad that I had the weekend to pull this chapter out, because I don't know why but I had the hardest time of trying to figure out where I wanted to go with it and how I wanted to portray/word it. I had it done for Tuesday but didn't have internet, so I apologize for that. Anyway, I hope it's up to your standards, feedback is amazing and I want to thank you all so much! I just have a question for you; my friend challenged me to do this 200 word prompt, you write a short 1000 to 2000 word scene for each of the 200 words. If I worked on a few of them and set it based around this story would that be something anyone would be interested in? I'm just curious.
Orn = Roughly 4.7 Earth days, Vorn = 83 Earth years, Breem = 1 Earth minute, Stellercycle = 1 Earth month, Megacycle = 1 Earth hour
Wheeljack frowned, a com interrupting his time with his sparklings; Drift recharging nearby while Fender helped with his latest project. His frown only grew when he say that it was Ratchet. "What's wrong, Ratch?" He asked, knowing that Ratchet would only call him during an emergency.
"Seems like the twin's are punctual," Ratchet answered, his voice stressed, "Starscream's tried to hide it, but I noticed that he was in pain just a little while ago. He admits to having been in labor for about four hours now."
"What can I do?" Wheeljack asked, rubbing one of Fender's shoulders to sooth the tense sparkling who had noticed Wheeljack's urgency.
"I need you down here, 'Jack."
Walking towards the berth, Wheeljack turned to Fender, "Follow me," he told him calmly. "What do you want me to do with the sparklings?" Wheeljack asked into the com, lifting Drift from her berth, causing her to shift irritably, blue optics blinking alive as she started fussing.
"Drop them off with Prime, he'll understand. 'Jack if I don't have an extra set of servos here he'll die." Wheeljack sent a confirmation over the com, taking Fender's hand and making his way towards the rec room where the Prime was recently enjoying a cube of energon.
Sure enough, the large mech was seated in one of the large chairs, a cube in one hand and a data pad in the other. Fender, excited at seeing the larger mech, ran over, practically throwing himself into the truck's lap. Looking down from his data pad to glance at the mechling, Optimus looked over to Wheeljack, a smile behind his battle mask. "Evening, Wheeljack."
"Hey, Prime," Wheeljack greeted, his voice apologetic as he walked over to the Prime who's lap was now full of sparkling. "Is it too much to ask for you to watch over Drift and Fender? Starscream's gone into labor and if Ratchet doesn't get some help then Starscream will probably deactivate."
Prime stood, Fender sliding down his lap to stand at his side, Optimus taking Drift into his arms, the recharging sparkling hardly moving as her position was changed. "Alright, have Ratchet com me if he needs anything."
"Will do Prime," Wheeljack responded before uttering a thanks, waving to his sparklings as he hurried out the door and towards the med bay. Opening the doors, he locked them behind him so that no one else would wander in here to find the weak Seeker in such a state. "How is he Ratch?"
The white mech turned at the sound of his mates voice, "Stable for now. I increased his energon drip in order for him to sustain some of the energy enough to birth, I also dulled some of his pain sensors." When Wheeljack opened his mouth to go against Ratchet's words, the medic held a hand out to stop him. "Dangerous to do on a carrying mech, I know. However if I didn't then he would have gone into emergency stasis and we'd lose all three of them." From behind them Starscream hissed in pain, a new wave washing over his frame as parts shifted in his chassis to make room for the oncoming sparklings. "Can you go over there and make sure he's comfortable?"
Wheeljack's optics brightened in surprise, "How do I do that?"
"Just talk to him, you've been at my berthside while I was birthing, do the same thing. I need to finish this incubator for the sparklings, hopefully it will keep them alive long enough to make it on their own." Lowering his voice so that Starscream couldn't hear him, Ratchet added; "Prime has ordered that if it comes down to it; save the sparklings. The odds of Starscream spilling Decepticon intelligence is lower than our chances of raising the sparklings in an Autobot fashion." Frowning with a nod, Wheeljack turned, observing the Seeker laid on his back, claws extended and gripping harshly at the berth.
Standing at Starscream's side, Wheeljack took once last glance at his mate, not entirely sure how to go about calming and relaxing a Decepticon. "You know," Wheeljack started, "For Ratch it was easier for him to lay on his side."
Growling as a new wave of pain hit that made his optics almost go white, Starscream snapped at him. "I can't turn on my side you afthead! My wings are pinned under me and aren't repaired enough to completely move!"
Frowning as Wheeljack just realized that, he rubbed at the back of his helm. "Right, sorry."
Starscream stared at the scientist angrily, "If you have nothing else to say," he hissed out, "Then would you mind leaving me to do this on my own. I'm sure your mate has something for you to do until the time comes." Taking the invitation to leave, Wheeljack moved back away from the berth, going to Ratchet's side to help with the incubator.
Now that the two mech's attention was off him, Starscream opened his com and sent a com to Thundercracker. The response was faster than Starscream expected; "Starscream! Primus, are you okay?"
"Fan-fragging-tastic," Starscream hissed back, Thundercracker sent back waves of apology before switching to waves of confusion.
"Why haven't you gotten in contact sooner? How are the sparklings?"
Expecting the surprise, but slightly shocked at the panic, Starscream shut the com in order to ride out the next wave of pain. When it was finished, Starscream responded; "They took away my communicator, I just don't think they comprehended that I was a scientist stuck with nothing to do for an orn but lay on the medical berth. I fixed my own communicator this morning but didn't have a chance to use it before..."
Sending more waves of panic, Thundercracker pressed him for more information. "Before what, Starscream? What's going on, I need to know, we have to get you out of there."
"Thundercracker," Starscream started, "The sparklings are coming."
"Frag."
"Ratchet doesn't think one of them will survive."
There was silence on the other end for a breem, during which Starscream closed it off for another wave of pain. "There's more than one?" Thundercracker sent back, shocked.
"Two, but during the explosion I landed on my side, Ratchet said the smallest sparkling took the damage." There was another long silence, Starscream going over the plan in his processors while Thundercracker realized his trine leader was in a lot more damage than originally thought. "Look, Thundercracker, I'll explain what happened as soon as you guys get me the slag out of here. Do you think that you could get Astrotrain here without Megatron realizing? My thrusters and a wing are busted, I couldn't get off the ground if I wanted to."
Another long silence, "Starscream we had to tell Megatron."
Starscream ground his fangs, pressing his clawed servo to his aching chassis that was already leaking, not only birthing fluids, but his own energon as well. "What?" He growled, "Why?"
"Well for one, Skywarp would have been due any day now and we didn't have an actual sparkling to show for it. Besides, with you wounded and missing, Megatron had a right to know. He located you and has ordered Soundwave to keep his spies on you. The only reasons we haven't attack is because there are more Autobots than there are Decepticons, attacking the Ark is just asking for trouble."
Rubbing at his chassis, Starscream looked over towards where Ratchet and Wheeljack seemed to be finishing up with the incubator. Hurrying to think of a new plan now that Megatron was aware of their sparklings, Starscream offlined his optics. "Listen, Thundercracker, I don't have much longer, the Autobots only want the sparklings and I don't know if I'll make it through the night." Thundercracker was silent, the mech sending waves of reassurance to Starscream. "I need a distraction, send a few mechs to attack a small oil factory that doesn't matter if we lose it or not."
He paused, a stronger wave of pain breaking the seal in his chassis, announcing that the sparklings were now ready. "While the Autobots focus on that attack, you and Skywarp come with Astrotrain and get the sparklings out. I have to cut the com now, inform Megatron of the plan and tell him to get here as quickly as possible, it won't be long before they're born."
"Alright, Starscream," Thundercracker replied, "We'll see you then." Not having the spark to tell Thundercracker otherwise, knowing that he was simply reassuring himself, Starscream cut the com.
Shifting up into a sitting position, Starscream turned towards Ratchet and Wheeljack. "It's time," he alerted them, groaning as his chest plates throbbed.
Ratchet turned away from the finished incubator to stand at Starscream's berthside, "Alright, Starscream, this is going to be painful for your thrusters, but I'm going to need for you to hang your peds over the side of the berth. That was we can get you slightly hunched over and you won't have to spend so much energy trying to get the twins out." Swallowing back a yell, Starscream shifted his legs, his broken thrusters scraping against the berth and causing his optics to whiten out. "Good, alright now, I need you to open your chest plates and then I'll sever the lines and we'll get them out of here." Turning to Wheeljack he said; "'Jack, I'm going to need you behind Starscream, keep his hands away from his chest. It's going to hurt enough for him to not realize that we're trying to help and he'll try and stop me, I need you to keep him as still as possible."
"Gotchya, Ratch," Wheeljack moved to the other side of the berth, grasping the seeker's arms at the joint, keeping him still. Starscream shivered as the cool air of the med bay hit the heated insides of his chassis. Ratchet swore at the mess within, not having been able to repair Starscream's chassis while his systems cared for and grew the sparklings within. There was dried energon coating some of the parts within and the waves of pain had caused a few injuries to start leaking energon again. Wheeljack noticed the look in his mates faceplates, knowing that whatever was inside was not good.
"This is the easy part," Ratchet assured, treating the Decepticon as he would every other patient. Sliding his hand inside the Seeker's chassis, carefully moving around his spark casing, he located the lines connecting Starscream with the first sparkling, the largest and healthiest of the two. Starscream gasped slightly when Ratchet severed the line, an emptiness filling him at the loss of his connection towards his sparkling. "Now here's where we have to be careful. 'Jack, keep an eye on that energon drip for me, if Starscream starts getting weak, increase it. Starscream, I'm going to need you to bear down, slightly curling inward, that way the sparkling can be ejected from you."
Nodding, Starscream braced himself, feeling another wave of pain flow over him. Leaning forward, Starscream gripped at the berth, bearing down and feeling the sparkling shift within. At first, he almost felt like laughing at the mech, Starscream had felt more pain during Megatron's beatings. However, as the sparkling got closer to the outside world, Starscream's wounds were strained, the sparkling moving and hitting some of them. He screeched, trying to reach up towards the source of the pain, only to have Wheeljack's servos hold his much weaker arms back.
"Come on Starscream," Ratchet encouraged, watching as Starscream stopped to rest, his frame shaking in pain and weakness. Nodding towards Wheeljack to increase the drip, Ratchet peaked into Starscream's bared chest. "Once more and the sparkling should just slid out." Unfortunately that wasn't the end of it, they'd have to do it once more, and looking at Starscream now, Ratchet was sure he wouldn't make it through.
Digging his claws into the soft metal of the berth, Starscream curled forward, bearing down as if trying to force a transformation that simply wouldn't work. The sparkling, moving towards the more injured front of his chassis, shifted into a position where Ratchet could cup it's back and ease the small being from it's carrier. Feeling the sparkling slid over his wounds, Starscream cried out again, feeling the warm frame of his sparkling slid out with the help of the Autobot medic.
Given time to try and regain some energy before the second and more dangerous sparkling came forth, Starscream's dull optics went to rest on the frame that Ratchet was clearing of fluids and energon. "Well?"
Ratchet held the now clean sparkling up for Starscream to see, "A healthy mechling," Ratchet informed him, inspecting the sparkling again. "However, he doesn't seem to be a Seeker. Too young to tell what he'll be but if he were a Seeker he'd have stubs on his back that'll grow into wings." Starscream nodded, not trusting himself to hold the delicate thing without crushing him if a wave of pain hit. Sensing this, Ratchet simply moved to put the sparkling into the incubator, giving him a line full of the weak energon sparklings needed. "Would you like to know the power of his power chip rectifier so that you may properly give him a designation?" At Starscream's curious stare, Ratchet added; "We may be raising the sparklings to believe in the Autobot beliefs, but it is only right that the carrier assign them names."
Still trying to get himself together to prepare for the next sparkling, Starscream nodded. Ratchet waved Wheeljack over, wanting to clean Starscream as best he could before the more wounded sparkling made it's way through. Taking Ratchet's place to examine the sparkling, the first thing he noticed were the mechling's colors. A white silvery was his main color, while a deep red color made sleek patterns along his seams and servos. For a moment the sparkling reminded him of Megatron, but he brushed the thought off as quickly as it camel the idea of Megatron and Starscream creating sparklings together was simply too bizarre.
Sliding open the fragile chassis of the sparkling, Wheeljack examined the small chip located there, a chip that defined one's power. "Looks like he's has something very similar to your cluster bombs, except poisonous."
"Venom," Starscream bit out, teeth clenched in pain, "That shall be his designation."
Nodding, Wheeljack cast one last scrutinizing look at the silver sparkling before taking his spot back behind the laboring Seeker, grasping at his joints again. Ratchet reached his hand father into Starscream's chassis, causing the seeker to hiss in discomfort. Finally feeling his digits come in contact with the small sparkling, he located the lines and severed them much like the other sparkling. However, as soon as he did, the readings of the sparkling's vitals significantly dropped, no longer having it's carrier to provide it with the sustenance it needed, not being able to make it on it's own.
Cursing, Ratchet looked up into Starscream's dull yet wide optics, sensing the Seeker's fear at losing his sparkling while being unable to do anything about it. Cupping his hand around the tiny sparkling, Ratchet began manually leading the sparkling out, Starscream howled his pain at that. Knowing that this action alone would probably offline the Seeker, Ratchet could think of no other way of getting the sparkling out online.
Starscream's energon coating almost the entirety of his arm, Ratchet pulled away, the sparkling laying completely still in his servo. Collapsing back onto the berth, no longer having the strength to keep himself upright, Starscream watched Ratchet clean the unmoving and extremely tiny sparkling. Turning back to Starscream, Ratchet gave him a tentative smile. "He's online," Ratchet reassured, "He's a Seeker; small, tired, weak, and glitched but he's online."
Starscream's frame gave a violent shudder of exhaustion, "Glitched?"
Ratchet nodded, setting the sparkling beside his twin and attaching energon lines to him, more than his brother needed. "His systems are completely silent, I don't know why." Heaving a sigh of air from his vents, he added. "My medical evaluation leaves me with the belief that his systems aren't fully developed and he probably won't last the night."
"Stillenight," Starscream rasped, his optics offlining.
Wheeljack panicked, Starscream's medical alerts going off as he slipped offline. "Ratchet, Starscream's going back into stasis."
"Put another energon line in," Ratchet muttered, turning to give the sparklings his fullest attention. "There's not much else we can do for him."