::Chapter Thirteen::

Secret Decepticon Base...

"OWWWW! You son of a glitch! I'll tear your optics out for that! Now watch where you poke and prod, you rusting medic!", screeched Starscream as he felt their medic, Scalpel, poke at another one of his wounds with one of his arachnid-like legs. The tiny Decepticon only hissed." I am merely checking your wounds, Starscream. There is no need to shout and yell like a frightened sparkling, hm? Now stand still. Your constant movement is not helping at all.", he replied. Starscream only grumbled, but reluctantly stayed still. He had suffered a few impressive wounds back at the Autobot base, and while he was no longer gushing energon (Though thankfully, he had not severed a main energon line), he was still aching and sore, much to Scalpel's chagrin.

Stifling another snarl, Starscream pondered about the success of the scouting mission. He had felt a tiny sliver of a doubt when he had launched the attack. However, when he realized the Autobots fell for it, his confidence returned, and he was able to leave a drone to monitor the every movements of the scoutling. He couldn't help but smile as he thought of the easy success. Unfortunately, another of Scalpel's legs prodded him, making the Decepticon yelp in pain. The medic snorted in disdain as he sealed the leaking energon line before he turned to face the Seeker."That is all I can do. I have fixed all the major injuries and relieved as much pain as I could. However, I will warn you, Starscream, that you must not strain your extremities with stupidities, lest you want me to remove your arm or hand.", he warned.

With a growl, Starscream stood up and glared at the Decepticon medic."Bah! You know that unless you have a death wish, then we, myself included, shall fight those Autobots if need arises. But don't worry. We won't be attacking those insolent imbecils….not yet, at least. Now, leave! I have very important things to do.", he said. Scalpel rolled and narrowed his optics, then quickly scurried out of the room, leaving the Decepticon second-in-command to himself. His ruby optics glowing, Starscream commed his commander, a wave of annoyment washing over as a few seconds passed before he answered.

Megatron:: What now, you idiotic Seeker? This better be good news; I'm in no mood to hear you screech and rant, Stascream.::

Starscream:: Master, I've managed to confirm Laserbeak's statements about the scout Bumblebee. He has, indeed, the body of a sparkling. Unfortunately, he has guardians watching his every step.::

Megatron:: Hah! They waste their time trying to watch over the weakling. They might as well let Ironhide babysit the young twit. But tell me...Did you see the organic insect?::

Starscream::You know me too well, Megatron. As the matter of fact, I did manage to catch a glimpse of the brat. It seems like he was concerned for the scout, not to mention, glued to him. No doubt another show of weakness on his part.::

Megatron:: ...Hmph. Well, now, we must kidnap the wretched youngling, and use him as bait for those imbecils to hand over the human. Then once he's outlived his usefulness, we offline him. That way, we kill two birds with one stone, as the humans say.::

Starscream::Oh, what a wonderful cunning plan, Megatron! I completely agree with it...except, er...When will this take place, Master?::

Megatron:: That is for me to know and for you to prepare, idiot. Just be ready for when the time comes...::

Starscream:: ...Of course, Megatron. Now, if you excuse me, I must attend to a very important matter...::

Megatron:: Bah! Spare me the details; I need to work out the plan myself. If you have more news, tell me later. Megatron out.::

As soon as his conversation ended, Starscream growled. Megatron had made him look like an utter fool back there. Oh, that idiotic commander of his was going to pay dearly for his mistake."He will regret insulting me later...For now, let's see what my little present to those imbecils has gotten in regards to information...", he muttered. After linking his specific codeline and encrypting it to a series of codes and commands, he got through the drone, which acknowledged his presence. Starscream smirked to himself, and his wings twitched This was going to be very fun.

~TRANSFORMERS~

In an abandoned office, Wheeljack tried to ignore the fuming weapons specialist in front of him. After word of the attack had reached the ears of the NEST personnel, an angry Ironhide forced Will and his team to return at once. Not wishing to enrage the mech more, they all hastily agreed, rushing as fast as they could back to the base. Unforunately, they had arrived too late to help, much to Ironhide' chagrin. After helping clean up the battle's aftermath, the surly weapons specialist had left to the target practice fields and blasted his anger away. But now, he was standing in front of Wheeljack, Ratchet, Prowl, and Optimus Prime, and every astrosecond that passed only made the civilian scientist squirm more and more. After what seemed like vorns, Ironhide spoke, his optics glowing brightly."Why didn't you say anything, Prime?", he roared to his commander.

Optimus shook his head."You were too far away to be of any help, Ironhide. If we had waited, Starscream and the others would have laid waste to the entire place.", he countered. Ironhide growled, and Wheeljack could have sworn he muttered a few curses in a low tone."Alright, but you could have at least taken one of them captive. If they attacked, it was for a reason, and surely, with the right amount of time, they would have sung like birds.", he grumbled. Besides the Autobot commander, Prowl sniffed, and Ratchet only snorted."Do you think they would have said anything? I bet thay'd rather offline themselves before they uttered a word about their plans to any of us.", the medic retorted. Ironhide glowered, and the civilian scientist cleared his vocal wiring, not wishing to cause dispute."Dear Ironhide, I can confirm the fact that Optimus is right. If we had alerted your team and waited for their arrival, then we would have fallen to the enemy, and we would not be talking right now.", he said.

The black mech grolwed."Grah! Fine, fine. I get it; We wouldn't be alive if you had waited for me and my team. But still, I think you could have captured one of those pit-spawned glitchers. With just a little bit of coaxing, we would-", he said, but was interrupted by Prowl."Ironhide. We couldn't have captured any of those slobbering maniacs even if we wanted to for two reasons: One of those reasons is in medbay, and the other is shaken over today's incidents. Do you understand?", he retorted. The ancient warrior's optics widened, and he cursed."...Oh. Slaggit, I forgot about them...Speaking of which...How is Bumblebee?", he asked, changing the subject. Ratchet crossed his arms." Fine. The youngling just went through some sort of shock attack. If all goes well, then he will be back to his senses in a breem or two. If you wish to see him, then keep in mind that you must not startle him. We all underestimated his capibility to handle stress, and it nearly cost us his sanity.", he replied sourly.

A sudden knock on the door caught the attention of all the mechs, and Prowl opened it, allowing a somewhat distraught Elita to enter. She tilted her head downward and sighed." Optimus, the human soldiers are waiting outside. They wish to recieve a full report of what happened today.", she murmered, motioning towards the door. The Autobot commander nodded his head in understandment, and excusing himself from the others, he exited the room, with Elita not far behind. Prowl shook his head sadly after the door shut."Poor femme. She suffered when she saw the conditions of the youngling. I had to send her with the other femmes so she could clear it from her proccessors, but...", he trailed off. Ratchet nodded in agreement."She's just upset over today, that's all. Give her a bit of time, and she'll be fine.", he said softly. Prowl dimmed his optics."I hope so...For her sake, and Optimus', I hope so.", he mumbled. At this, Wheeljack hung his head and shuttered his optics. Would this predicament ever cease?

ARGH! I really wanted this chapter to be light and happy, but instead, it totally defied my thoughts! Not to mention, this chapter turned out to be quite small. Not really small, but yeah, its small. And I don't like small. Anyways, moving on...I just want to thank all of you who have reviewed :) Your comments really encourage me to go on. And I really welcome the suggestions ya'll give me. To supergirlprime, I like your theory on why BB acts so out of it [it's true he was forced to grow up and learn nothing but war :( Poor Bee...], and while that's not the real reason, I guess it does count as a, er...reason. This story just keeps growing and growing, and I'm just here to write it (or type it, as the case may be) down. Keep reading, and remember to review! :D