The little twins lived in the Seekers' room, so they didn't give Starscream or Thundercracker much rest at night. They apparently preferred to feed at random intervals throughout the night, and if they weren't sucking on a bottle of wholesome sparkling energon, they were screaming about something. It was like living with a couple of tiny howler monkeys.
"Attention, Starscream," Thundercracker grouched. "The Terrible Two wants you again."
"They didn't let me sleep at night BEFORE they were born…" Starscream dragged himself out of bed and walked over to the sparklings' crib. "Now it's even worse. You take Megs, I'll take Stars, okay?"
"Last time I fed Megs, he threw up all over me!" Thundercracker complained.
"Well, that sounds like your problem, Thundercracker." Starscream sat down on the bed and filled a bottle with energon for baby Stars, then tossed a bottle to Thundercracker. "Give Megs his nourishment. I command you."
"Why do we always have to do everything?" said Thundercracker. "Skywarp just gets to be with Moonbeam every night, so he doesn't have to worry."
"Skywarp cares a lot about his nephews," Starscream told him. "And you know what I'm mad about? Megatron isn't helping me at all with these little monsters. I have to wait for them to feed at the table every morning, trying to keep my eyes open, while he just sits there sipping on a cube of high-grade, reading the newspaper app on his data pad. Can you believe it?"
"Yes," said Thundercracker.
"Well, I'm tired of—hey!" Starscream yelped as Stars did a loud squeal and kicked the bottle onto the floor, then started screaming. Hearing his brother's wails, Megs chimed in, and soon both of the sparklings were crying again.
"What do you two want from us?!" Thundercracker demanded, trying to get Megs to shut up, but he wouldn't. Then, they heard a familiar voice—
"Do you two need some help?" Skywarp was smiling as he opened the door and walked inside.
"Skywarp!" Starscream and Thundercracker cried at the same time.
"Thank Primus you're here," Starscream said. "They've just been screaming and screaming. I don't know what to do."
"Did you try singing to them?" Skywarp asked.
"Oh, it just makes me feel so silly," Starscream told him. "I don't think I'm the type to sing a lot, actually."
"Well, it's worth a try," said Skywarp. "Thundercracker, bring Megs over here."
An exhausted-looking Thundercracker brought the older twin over and handed him to Starscream.
"Hold them close, so they can feel your spark beating," Skywarp told him. Starscream nodded and held the little twins to his spark chamber, while Skywarp started his singing again:
When I was just a little boy
I asked my mother, what will I be?
Will I be handsome, will I be rich?
Here's what she said to me:
Que sera, sera
Whatever will be, will be
The future's not ours to see
Que sera, sera
Skywarp kept singing, while Starscream and Thundercracker gently gave the sparklings their bottles back. Once they'd consumed all the nourishment and drifted into stasis, Starscream got up and set them in their crib, one by one, and kissed them goodnight.
"How do you do that?" Starscream whispered, walking back to his brothers.
Skywarp shrugged and smiled. "I guess I just must be a natural."
ONE WEEK LATER…
Starscream walked into the med bay, glad to finally catch Moonbeam alone, without Skywarp clinging to her side. Megs was resting in his hand and Stars, as he had taken to doing lately, was hovering in the air, making little squealing noises. Stars didn't even know how to roll over yet, but his Seeker instincts had already kicked in.
"What do you want now, Starscream?" Moonbeam asked. The tone of her voice made it clear that she didn't want to waste her time on him.
"I believe I have promised you something," Starscream replied. "Do you remember?"
"You couldn't keep a promise for scrap," Moonbeam sassed. "What could you possibly be referring to?"
Starscream grinned. "I challenged you to a dogfight."
"Your arrogance is showing, Screamer," Moonbeam said flatly.
"So you're throwing in the towel?" Starscream taunted. "I knew you'd see reason."
"I'm one of the Seekers, too, y'know," Moonbeam told him angrily. "So you know what? I'll accept your little challenge—and I am going to win."
"You're going to eat those words, Moonbeam," said Starscream. "Flying is what I'm good at."
"Let's go, then, big-shot," Moonbeam said sarcastically. "You, me, outside—right now!"
"Works for me," Starscream replied, walking out of the med bay, Moonbeam angrily following behind.
When they got to the main monitor room, Skywarp looked up, noticed the look on Moonbeam's face, and asked, "What's wrong?"
"Nothing's wrong, sugar daddy," Moonbeam said stonily. "Starscream just challenged me to a dogfight, and I've accepted his challenge."
"No bets refused," said Starscream.
"My money's on Starscream," Thundercracker blurted out.
"Oh yeah?" Skywarp stuck his nose in the air. "My money's on Moonbeam."
Of course, if he hadn't been in love with Moonbeam, Skywarp definitely would have bet on Starscream…but his love for her overrode anything else.
"This should be interesting to see," said Megatron, setting his data pad down. "I'm not placing any bets, though."
That was when Gemstone walked into the room, holding a cube of energon, a smile on her face. "Hey everyone, what's up?"
"Starscream challenged Moonbeam to a dogfight," Thundercracker told her, walking over and putting his arm around her. "No bets refused."
"I've never seen a dogfight before!" Gemstone looked excited as she followed Megatron and the four jets outside. "Can I watch?"
"No way, you whore," Moonbeam snapped, scowling. "You're not a Seeker, are you? What's your vehicle mode?"
"That is no business of yours." Gemstone crossed her arms and turned away.
"You're probably something stupid, like a data pad or something," Moonbeam taunted. "Maybe Megatron and Soundwave can watch, but why should I let a filthy little hooker watch too?"
"Now, Moonbeam," Thundercracker said gently, resting one hand upon Moonbeam's shoulder. "Just because Gemstone doesn't have any Seeker CNA doesn't make her any less of a Decepticon. Let her watch."
"Why don't you want her to watch?" Starscream chimed in. "Are you afraid your enemy will see you fail?"
"All right, I'll let the little piece of trash watch!" Moonbeam shouted.
"Remember, though, this is WITHOUT weapons," Skywarp reminded them. "I don't want anyone getting hurt, understand?"
"Fine, fine," said Starscream.
"Contestants," said Megatron. "Take to the skies!"
Starscream and Moonbeam both turned to jet mode and soared into the sky.
This was the first time Starscream had been able to fly since the twins had been born, due to their taking up all of his time. That, added to the fact that he hadn't been able to fly the last two months he'd been carrying them, was only helping him win. Flying was coming naturally again, and it felt great to have all that extra weight gone.
Moonbeam was right on Starscream's tail, so he fired up his thrusters and increased speed, leaving her to choke on his exhaust fumes. Obviously steaming with anger, she sped up too and bumped his wing, trying to throw him off course.
Starscream just did a barrel roll and went out of her way, then reached a higher cruising altitude, doing a few extra curlicues as a taunt. Moonbeam shot straight up in the air and rammed Starscream from behind; taking it as a challenge, he rammed her too. The dogfight was getting rougher by the minute, and Starscream was ecstatic. The sky was his home, and he loved a nasty fight.
And so the dogfight went on, with Starscream and Moonbeam trying to outdo each other, showing off every move they knew. Starscream, of course, was winning, with Moonbeam falling further and further behind. It was clear that she was angry and frustrated, unable to keep up with her opponent. All the Decepticons had gathered outside to watch, and they were cheering every time someone got bumped, scratched, or outdone.
Finally, though, the dogfight had to end. When Starscream and Moonbeam heard Megatron's gun going off—the signal that time was up—they both had to return to the ground. Moonbeam, looking exhausted, turned to robot mode and touched down slowly, but Starscream (just to show off) stayed in jet mode and executed a perfect nose dive, touching down as gently as a leaf.
"Hah!" said Starscream, turning to robot mode and walking over to Moonbeam, who was leaning over, panting, hands on her knees. "Not a scratch on me!"
"Are there any impartial judges here?" asked Thundercracker, knowing that everyone had some sort of bias. Skywarp, for example, would have voted for Moonbeam, even if she hadn't been able to fly at all, and even if Moonbeam had won, Gemstone never would have voted for her.
"Well, what do you think?" Starscream asked baby Stars, taking him out of the air for a minute to hold him. Stars made a sort of whimpering noise and floated back up, wings twitching. "Do you think Daddy won?"
Stars squealed again, turned himself into a little jet, and descended onto Starscream's palm.
"So, he can turn into a jet now?" said Gemstone. "Interesting."
"You moron," Moonbeam snapped. "Transformation is instinctive. They both knew how to do it from the moment they were born."
"Well, excuse me, Miss High-and-Mighty," Gemstone said sarcastically. "What, am I not allowed to talk now?"
"Actually, it would be better if you just left forever," Moonbeam said back.
"Over my dead body!" Gemstone shouted.
"That can be arranged," Moonbeam sneered.
"We all know you can lose a dogfight in the most humiliating way possible," Gemstone taunted. "But can you lose a catfight too?"
With an angry scream, Moonbeam attacked Gemstone, knocking her onto the ground. Gemstone, as always, was tougher—she took advantage of the already-weakened Moonbeam and proceeded to mercilessly beat her to a pulp.
"Bring it on, slut!" Moonbeam screeched. "Bring it on!"
"No, no!" Skywarp waved his hands in the air helplessly. "Let's be smart and bring it off!"
Neither femme was listening, though. They continued to fight, moves including but not limited to biting, scratching, kicking, and punching (mostly on Gemstone's part).
"You're dead, Moonbeam!" Gemstone hollered, sinking her teeth into Moonbeam's wings.
Thundercracker was biting his lip as he watched them fight. Dear Primus, was that hot. Femmes fighting. HOT. Of course, Thundercracker was already rock-hard and trying to hide it—if anyone saw, he would never live it down…but when the fight started to get worse, he was horrified to find that his interface panel had opened by itself. In public.
"I-I think I have to go inside for a moment," Thundercracker said anxiously, rushing back into base. Meanwhile, the fight continued on.
"Please, just stop!" Skywarp was insisting, trying to pull the two of them apart. "I can't let you get hurt, kissy-wissy! I would never forgive myself!"
Starscream, watching the fight with interest, was wondering why Skywarp insisted on protecting Moonbeam, even when she seemed to enjoy tearing his spark to threads. It was clear that his love wouldn't let him stop, though—to everyone's surprise, he jumped right into the catfight and held the two battling femmes apart.
"Let me at her!" Moonbeam screamed.
"Yeah, let go!" Gemstone shouted.
"No! Stop it right now!" Skywarp grabbed Moonbeam's arm and teleported her back into base, leaving all the other Decepticons to follow. Megatron, Gemstone, and Starscream walked into the main monitor room, where a scratched, bleeding, exhausted Moonbeam was sulking on the couch. Skywarp was trying to comfort her.
"Well, Moonbeam," said Starscream smugly, walking over to her and lifting her head up by her chin, "you lost."
"Yeah, twice." Gemstone shot Moonbeam a nasty smirk.
"Oh, shut the slag up," Moonbeam growled. "I hate you both."
"What a sore loser," said Starscream, and Gemstone giggled. The two of them left the room, followed by Megatron, leaving Moonbeam alone to pout.