Title: Talk the Walk
Characters: Starscream, Jazz, Rodimus Prime, Prowl, Blaster and co.
Rating: PG
Summary: Starscream has his first meeting with Rodimus Prime.
Disclaimer: Still not mine. Except for Optronix, which means I have Starscream. Woo-hoo!
Notes: rezuri beta'd but I still lay claim to any and all mistakes.
Author Notes: I've done some editing here 'n there.

Someone was buzzing the intercom. Optronix looked up from where he was playing, surrounded by those wooden shapes he was so enamored with. Starscream gestured at him to stay and went to answer the door. While he could not open it, the intercom allowed him to speak with whoever was on the other side, and was an unexpected courtesy.

"Yes?" he asked curtly.

Jazz' voice answered him. "Rodimus wants to talk with ya, if you're ready. Can we come in?"

We? Wondering who was with the saboteur, Starscream answered, "You may."

The door unlocked and opened to show Jazz, grinning like an idiot, with Blaster behind him. Starscream stepped back and both mechs entered.

"Hey, little bit! How're things?"

"Jasz!" Optronix brightened. "You he'eh!"

"Yep," Jazz grinned at him. "Needed to talk with Starscream."

"Pick up your things, Optronix," Starscream told him.

"Kay." Optronix started piling the shapes into their box.

Starscream turned to Jazz, lowering his vocalizer's setting a touch and gesturing at Blaster. "Why is he here?"

"We didn't think you'd want Optimu- the sparkling with you at the meeting," Blaster said. "I'm here to take him to the daycare."

"Daycare?" Starscream felt his optic ridges rise in surprise. He fought down his initial apprehension. "What the slag is a daycare?"

"It's for sparklings when their parents are working," Blaster informed him. "We also educate."

"Hn." Starscream slid his gaze to Optronix, who was nearly finished. "I want to see this 'daycare', first."

Blaster and Jazz exchanged glances, then Jazz informed him, "Gonna have to clear it with Rodimus before you can go in, but I can let you walk him there with us today."

The top of the toy box squeaked when Optronix closed it. His pedes thudded softly as he ran to stand next to Starscream. "Am eady!"

"Already? That was fast."

Optronix grinned as Starscream lifted him into his arms and followed the two mechs out of the suite. They were immediately joined by Steeljaw, and as they walked Starscream noticed Optronix throwing curious glances at Blaster

"Is like Sounwafv?" Optronix finally asked Starscream.

"Yup," Blaster replied, looking back at him. He gestured at his Cassette. "This is Steeljaw. Rewind and Eject are with the other kids."

A few minutes later, Jazz and Blaster suddenly stopped in front of a door. Guessing correctly that this was the daycare, Starscream swung Optronix to the ground and knelt down to speak with him. "Blaster is going to watch you while I go talk with Prime."

Optronix frowned. "Jasz can't keep?"

"No, Jazz needs to speak with me as well. And Prowl. Blaster is going to watch you."

"Kay. Be back?" Optronix looked worried, pulling Thing against his chestplate.

"Certainly. But this may take a while; you may be in night recharge before I return."

"Oh." Optronix looked disappointed and still worried.

"Don't worry none," Jazz butted in. "We'll call if we're gonna keep him that long." At Optronix's look, he added, "Promise."

"Kay. I go with Blastih."

"Good. I will see you later." A brush of his hand over Optronix's helm and Starscream stood, following Jazz further down the hall. Starscream debated keeping quiet, but ultimately gave in to his curiousity.

"How many?"

Jazz didn't even pretend not to understand. "Seven, in all."

"Seven," Starscream mused. "We suspected only three. You hid them well."

"We did try," Jazz cheerfully replied. "Glad to know it worked. We're here."

They entered to find that Prime's office was already occupied by Prime himself, as well as Prowl. While it was austere, there were a few personal touches; a small picture cube he couldn't get a good look at, a large painting of an Earth forest on the wall across from the desk, and a bobble-headed doll of the new Prime. The office must have initially belonged to Optimus Prime - Rodimus was large, as all Primes were, but the furniture was designed for a being slightly taller, with a longer reach.

Rodimus Prime rose when he saw them, a gesture of respect Starscream hadn't expected.

"Prime," Starscream greeted with a small bow.

"Starscream." Rodimus gestured an empty chair. "Have a seat and we'll start."

For the next small eternity, they went over the information Starscream had burned to disk, confirming data and filling in blanks he had inadvertently left. They set up preliminary plans for dealing with the most urgent situations, such as the ways Ravage or Laserbeak could get in the base.

At one point, the line of questioning had even swung toward Starscream himself, and the results found from the medical evaluation performed after he had first arrived. The Autobots seemed surprised to discover how much infighting went on amongst the Decepticons, leading many to operate damaged. Throughout, Starscream made himself behave, forced his natural sarcasm to the side. He was here and not in the brig, under interrogation, on Prime's good graces. Not that what was going wasn't interrogation, but at least it didn't include restraints.

They broke for energon three cycles in. Starscream was thankful, both for the break and for the chance to refuel; his systems were still sensitive from the flush Ratchet had performed on him and he had to refuel with small amounts on a frequent basis. Jazz had put his pedes up on a free chair, earning a look from Prowl; there was a silent conversation, confirming Starscream's suspicions that they were bonded.

"Starscream," Rodimus said, drawing the Seeker's attention. "Stop it; you're going to hurt somebody."

"I beg your pardon?" Starscream blinked in puzzlement.

"Stop behaving so nicely," Prime told him. "You're scaring Prowl."

The mech in question choked on his energon, sputtering and cycling his vents as he tried to clear his intake. Jazz's pedes hit the floor with a thunk as he attempted to avoid the same fate.

Starscream could only splutter. "Wha- you... What?"

"You're never this well-behaved." Prime tried to maintain a bland expression, but it wasn't long before a mischievous smirk spread across his face. "Scrap the manners, Starscream, before you blow a gasket seal."

Prowl had recovered by this time and was glaring at his bondmate, who was laughing into his fist in an attempt to silence himself, shoulders shaking with his mirth. Not taking his optics off Jazz, Prowl added, "Indeed. Your model behavior is almost spark-chilling."

Jazz merely waved his free hand at him, rapid esoteric motions no doubt only another Autobot could understand. Starscream leaned back into his chair, wondering if he needed to comm Ratchet for a series of sanity checks. "I thought it would help matters but if you insist."

"I insist." Prime crossed his arms and leaning back to rest his pedes on his desk. "Lighten up, Starscream. I take defection seriously but I don't expect you to change."

"Really?" Starscream drawled. "Then why am I allowed private quarters? And to keep Optronix?"

"Didn't seem right to toss you in the brig, after you brought us so much intel." Prime gestured at the disks they'd been discussing. "You've co-operated fully; Ratchet even said you were a model patient."

Mainly because he had been too busy savoring the feeling of good health to work up much ill will; Starscream hadn't realized his health had fallen so far until it had been restored. "And Optronix?"

Prime shrugged. "Kid likes you."

Starscream scoffed incredulously. "That can't be the only reason," he said. "Or, at least, there must be a better reason than simply catering to a sparkling's... attachment."

"I dare say it's more than a matter of mere 'attachment'," Prowl said. "He escaped from his playpen, and was well-along in getting out of our quarters, all in an effort to get to you."

"But if you're lookin' for a 'better' reason," Jazz chimed in after having finally calmed down, "there's the fact that the kid's not shouting Decepticon propaganda left, right, and center like some mini-Megatron."

"He is a little young for warfare," Starscream told him archly.

"I don't know about that. He'd be death on anybody's ankle joints," Rodimus joked.

"And their paint job," Jazz managed to choke out before starting to laugh again.

Starscream considered for a moment, then kicked a leg out, striking the other mech's chair and jarring it. Jazz yelped, flailing as he righted himself and his seat.

"Why'd Megatron do it, anyway?" Rodimus asked. "Turn Optimus into a sparkling, I mean."

Starscream cycled his vents angrily, thrusters whining briefly.

"The mighty Megatron," Starscream began, and couldn't keep the contempt out of his voice, "thought that he could raise him to be a Decepticon. A 'mini-Megatron'."

He smirked at the horrified reactions that garnered and continued. "The process wasn't perfected but Megatron insisted on proceeding," he said. "The return to adulthood was supposed to be accelerated and, coupled with special downloads, would have had him fighting for the Decepticons in a short time."

"Downloads?" Rodimus moved to lean his arms on his desk. "Ratchet didn't-"

"Those never happened. They were coordinated with the accelerated growth and applying them without it would be... disastrous."

"And he's not developing any faster than a normal sparkling," Prowl stated.

"No."

"Do you know why?"

"Not yet," Starscream grudgingly admitted. "I have some avenues I would like to finish investigating."

Rodimus nodded. "Ratchet's interested too. So are Wheeljack and Perceptor." He pinned Starscream with an intense look. "Can Megatron repeat it?"

"No," Starscream said, nonchalant. "A virus infected the device the day I left. Wiped the memory completely. Fortunately, my copy remained unaffected."

"What about the device itself?" the Autobot's saboteur asked. "Is it still functional?"

"With its memory wiped, the device is nothing more than a glorified CR chamber. Not that it matters, as a second virus infected the chamber's picotrons and it... disassembled itself into a pool of cryo fluid and metal pieces."

"You can get picotrons to do that?" Jazz sounded both aghast and intrigued.

"Yes, but the danger is that the picotrons will not stop at dissembling what they were intended to. The device used some unique energies and the picotrons followed that signature briefly, before turning on each other." Starscream leaned back in his chair. "It would have occurred a short time after the first onset of the virus."

"A short time after you left?" Prime asked slyly.

"Just so," Starscream smugly replied.

ooOO0OOoo

Satisfied that they had covered everything that needed looking at for that day, Rodimus had adjourned their meeting and thanked Starscream for his co-operation. Jazz escorted Starscream back to the daycare to retrieve Optronix, who slid into a light recharge on Starscream's back before they even reached their quarters.

On the way, Jazz asked questions about his backing system; how it worked, how difficult the retrofitting was, what it did for a sparkling. Starscream answered his questions, amused at Jazz' interest and his own willingness to answer. Probably a leftover from spending the orn answering questions, or perhaps he was grateful that Jazz did not stray into personal territory.

"Sparklings are still built to interface with a backing system; medics use the data and access ports," Starscream explained, waiting for Jazz to open the door to his quarters. "The support connections are not always present but are easily added."

"Interesting." Jazz extended a data-cable from his arm, inserting it into an outlet on the panel, and the door slid open. Starscream entered, immediately heading towards the washrack, but paused when he noticed Jazz had followed.

"Sorry to intrude, but didn't think you wanted to do this outside," he said. The door slid shut behind him, locking automatically.

"Do what, exactly?" Starscream inquired, apprehension curling through his systems.

"Blaster's gonna pick up Optronix every day. We'll be taking over his education."

"Really," Starscream drawled. Was he losing Optronix after all? "And will you be taking over his recharge cycle as well?"

Jazz leaned against the door, at ease despite the venom starting to lace Starscream's voice. "Nah, he'll still come back here for that."

Starscream crossed his arms to hide the tremble in them, looking away with a hard cycle of his vents.

"No offense, Starscream, but nobody trusts you." Jazz looked at him, completely serious. "Most Autobots still want you in the scrap heap."

"So this is for my safety, then? I'm honored."

Jazz smirked, apparently enjoying the sarcasm that Starscream was no longer holding back. "Give us a few days and we'll getcha set up in a lab. Skyfire's got some things he said he wants your help on."

Starscream sneered at him. "Give me something to do when I'm not spilling Decepticon secrets?"

"Or raising a sparkling." Jazz nodded at him, data-cable sliding out so he could open the door. "Things'll get better when you've earned some trust."

Starscream contemplated the closed door for a few moments. Huffing, he turned to back to the washrack; Optronix needed to be cleaned before going to berth. He had somehow become covered in 'finger-paint' and was a multi-colored mess.