A/N: Review responses are delayed but will be handled tomorrow when the author can type straight again – many apologies for the delay!
The Autobots arrived to silence. Optimus Prime wasn't sure what he had expected – battle, insults, the roar of engines – but silence wasn't it. The loudest sound to his processors was the rumble of their human cargo planes, retreating to a safe distance away from any possible combat to keep from making a target of themselves, followed by the familiar sound of movement of mechs and humans; comm-frequencies, hydraulics, and the sound of ground-based engines that would be drowned out completely the first time one of the Seekers took to the skies again.
Four of them, Optimus noticed, and there were simply no words in the human languages to describe the seriousness of that sort of thing. Like the human term 'silence before the storm' had held no meaning to a species used to the controlled atmosphere of Cybertron, so did the instinctive Autobot reaction to most things Seeker-related pass by human understanding completely until they gained combat experience against the beings themselves.
On Cybertron, Optimus would gladly have chosen to face six Seekers in combat instead of four or five and even now, even knowing that one of the four was of their own faction did nothing to dull that first instinctive response.
Four Seekers meant that at least one of them did not have its trine with it. In actual combat that would mean time spent keeping an eye on whenever the rest of said trine would appear because no Seeker was ever far from its trine-mates and they had learned that the painful way, too.
That the fourth Seeker's trine-of-sorts in this case was already by Optimus' side was not the sort of irony he had time to dwell on; not now and not with Starscream and his trine watching their approach with nothing as much as smug satisfaction. Optimus had known and commanded Autobot Seekers before. If given fifteen minutes undisturbed with Starscream and the rest of the command trine, it would have ended in someone's brutal offlining before backup ever had the chance to arrive. At the very least, said backup would have been greeted by the sort of spectacle of furious violence only Seekers on opposing factions were capable of.
They would not have been greeted by smugness from Starscream or the silent, resigned submission that was visible in the way William's wings were lowered and none of his weapons had been brought out despite the clear presence of same with Starscream.
He remembered for a moment all too clearly the fear he had seen more than once in their human-turned-Seeker - of Starscream, of Seeker instincts, of the knowledge that treason under Starscream's command was not an unlikely option - and then he pushed those memories aside. The Seekers, all four of them, had yet to fire a shot at them and Will had bound himself to Ironhide to a point that even Starscream couldn't break that bond again. That, at least, offered hope.
"Ratchet?"
And they had that on their side, too - a spark-merged mate and the knowledge to use that. Optimus was more familiar with Seekers than most had ever known but he also knew enough to admit to his own shortcomings. His experiences with them had been influenced by his power and status and their reactions to same, even ground-bound as he was. Ratchet had a medic's experience with them, someone who had lived and worked with them. It was brutal knowledge in some cases, meant to control and claim dominance, but it was useful knowledge, too, and that offered an edge they would not otherwise have had. Without Ratchet, there would have been little chance of their Seeker-human even surviving to reach this point at all. The Seeker spark could have taken over, they could have snapped, they could have defected or any other of a dozen unpleasant options.
William's wings shifted upwards slightly and blue optics focused on their medic as Ratchet apparently spoke to him through their bond - another good sign, even if Optimus preferred to hear that fact confirmed before he allowed himself too much hope.
He saw Starscream shift almost imperceptibly at Will's movement but he still made no move to target them and although his two trine-mates moved as one to cover a wider range if it became necessary, it was still clearly a precaution rather than an impending attack.
"He's still William and the Seeker is still of our faction," Ratchet said, "but there are complications. Starscream forced a bond on them. Not to the degree of a spark-merge but bad enough. He won't be able to target Starscream or that pest of a trine of his. On a brighter note, the bond works both ways. Starscream can't offline him. He apparently tested out that fact rather thoroughly when he discovered that Will had been born a human."
There was far more information hiding between the lines but they all knew Ratchet well enough to read it - a strong bond meant that Starscream now knew what Will knew, classified information or not, and while Will should in theory have been able to claim the same from Starscream, the fact remained that the Seeker-human was still too young and inexperienced to be able to do much when it came to that. A bond initiated on such unequal footing was for the most part a very one-way street.
It wasn't a discussion the humans would be privy to, though. The was too much that would need to be explained and they did not have time for that. They would be told what was needed. The rest would come later, when time and circumstances permitted.
"Are we sure it's- it's a genuine bond?" Jolt asked with obvious hesitance. "Forced bondings aren't supposed to be possible."
He didn't say what he was obviously wondering – are we sure he didn't agree to it? – but he didn't need to. They all understood that much, too, and it was only luck that had let Jolt ask the question before Sideswipe could, and with far less tact and sympathy at that. The same luck let Ratchet respond before Ironhide could, too, and that was another blessing to be grateful for.
"Consent is apparently optional when you are the Air Commander," Ratchet replied and couldn't – or didn't bother to – hide the ghost of biting bitterness in his voice. "And the line between brute force and mere... dubious consent is a fine one. Is it consent when your only decision is how much damage to allow your mind and spark to take before you have to yield? The bond is genuine, completed under duress, and far stronger than it should have been but Starscream was never one to follow the rules of mere ground-pounders."
"We all know Seekers were spawned by the Pit," Sideswipe interrupted. "Get to the important facts, Hatchet – if we try to take out the worthless slag of an Air Commander, how many of them will fire back at us?"
The second of silence was far more telling than Optimus liked.
"They bonded, Sideswipe. Will is still of our faction but if you try to kill a being he bonded with, he will try to stop you. He won't want to kill you and I don't think he would be good enough to do it, anyway, but he would try to stop you. "
Bad news, even if Optimus had expected it on some level – Seekers were driven by very basic programming in matters related to mates or bonded beings – and it only got worse as a small alert bearing the insignia of NEST's human commander appeared in his processors.
"Megatron's approaching," Robert Epps' voice cut through the comm-frequency as Optimus responded. "Sir, if you want them taken down..."
... it has to be now, their human commander didn't need to finish. Optimus' own scanners confirmed it - Megatron had been slightly slower than expected but then, even at his most furious the High Lord Commander had never been a fool. He had made certain he was not flying into an ambush before he approached, Optimus was certain of it. It was not paranoia, either, but - to be fair - only a perfectly reasonable course of action when dealing with someone like Starscream. Only skills and the potential reaction of the remaining Seekers had kept Megatron from simply offlining his Air Commander for treason in the past. Whether the same mercy would be extended this time was... unlikely, considered the circumstances. But then, they had theorised that often enough in the past as well and yet Starscream remained stubbornly online.
Either Megatron had decided that the situation was not a set-up or he had decided that it was an ambush he could fight his way out of if needed; Optimus knew him well enough to know that no amount of blind rage would have let Megatron fly into a genuinely lethal situation.
The sound of Ironhide's charging cannons mingled with Megatron's approach – ready to take the shot before he would have the chance to land even if experience told Optimus that his brother would easily be able to evade the shot, but something made him gesture at his weapons specialist in a silent order to stand down.
Ironhide looked unhappy but didn't argue. His cannons remained charged, just like everyone else around them gripped their weapons tighter, but he did not argue... out loud, at least.
Perhaps it was a mistake and Optimus should have let him take that shot but something else, something stronger, told him to remain cautious. The situation was volatile as it was and the loyalties of more than a few of the beings on the field were, if not questionable, then at least likely to temporarily shift the moment the first shot was fired. Starscream's plan, as it was. It would have changed slightly due to the unexpected strength of the bond but the satisfaction he could see in the Air Commander's body language left little doubt that he already had several backup plans at the ready instead.
"There is one more thing you should know, sir," Ratchet said quietly on Optimus' private comm-frequency – low, serious, and almost downed out by the sound of Megatron's engines, but with a stress on Optimus' title that he did not often hear from his CMO. "Will apparently carried some sort of... changes to his coding. Starscream calls it a virus. I would be inclined to agree if it had not been for the fact that he and the Seeker spark were brought into being with those changes. A benevolent virus, perhaps. For all that Seekers have their problems I prefer to believe that whatever changes Primus made were for the better. I don't know what said 'virus' does and neither does Will, apparently, but it is likely behind the strong bond and Starscream's inability to harm Will... and quite possibly Ironhide and myself as well. Whether we will be capable of targeting Starscream's trine-mates remains to be seen but considering how much stronger the bond is compared to what it should have been, I would not be surprised if this was part of Primus' reasoning in the first place. I will leave it to you to decide if the information should be shared."
Another complication, then, to add to the already existing headache of Starscream's bond, Megatron's arrival, and Will's entirely-too-subdued presence. He would not be surprised if Ratchet was starting to harbour serious doubts about the motives and faction-support of Primus and in truth, he could not blame the medic, either.
Megatron landed with a grace that Optimus had envied him since he had first taken to the skies – not with a Seeker's light, airy presence, but with a heavier – if just as graceful – stability that suited the Lord High Protector and reflected the deeper and far more serious nature of that responsibility. All Seekers were fickle, even the Air Commander for the most part. Megatron was not. He craved power and the reverence he had always believed he was due, ruled through violence and fear and with no place for the weak, but there was always some degree of sense to his madness. Once you understood him – and Optimus truly did, brother to brother – he was predictable. No less dangerous or unstable, of course, but his decisions, however strange they had at times seemed, always had some level of logic and sense behind them. The same was far from always the case with Seekers.
Megatron transformed mid-landing and rose to his full height but his cannon remained where it was and for now there was no more aggression in his stance than what was always present. His glance at Starscream promised painful retribution – Megatron was no fool and had doubtlessly worked out his second's plan as well – and it was a testament to how certain Starscream felt that his wings flared as far as they could reach in silent, smug refusal to back down.
Megatron sneered at Starscream and then turned his attention to Optimus himself, glancing at and dismissing every being, Cybertronian or otherwise, that Optimus had brought with him.
Whatever other problems Megatron might suffer from, a lack of confidence was never on the list. More importantly, painful experience had also taught them that this particular Decepticon had the skills to back up such confidence, even outnumbered as he had sometimes been. Too outnumbered in this case, perhaps, but nonetheless not an easy prey. Never an easy prey.
"Brother," Megatron offered mockingly. "So kind of you to return my Seeker to me."
The words made every instinct in Starscream's processors snarl. It was nothing he showed, nothing he cared at all to admit, nothing he should have needed to worry about since he had chosen to rectify the obvious flaws in his coding not long after they had allied themselves with the Decepticon cause, but now those instincts flared to life, anyway, in a moment of blind fury at Megatron's audacity to claim a Seeker as his.
Seekers were free, Seekers were superior to any useless ground-pounders-
(-and wings did not make a Seeker, did not make skills, whatever their fool of a so-called leader thought-)
- And to hear one of his claimed as property, even something as unnatural as a fleshling-turned-Seeker was enough to make visions of violent murder flash through his processors in blind desire to teach the Pit-spawned glitch his place.
Those were instincts they had all been born with, instincts he had chosen to temper with the more detached world-view that would be needed in war and change until they were something far more trine-focused and far less about Seeker-kind as a whole... and now he could feel the code rewriting itself as it reverted, line by line into something vaguely familiar and almost forgotten that carried too many reminders of weaknesses they could not afford to have anymore.
Some changes remained, some reverted, some changed to something else entirely, and nothing Starscream attempted did the least to slow it down, much less stop it. It should not have been possible – he was the Air Commander – but nonetheless it happened and every change in his own coding, Starscream knew, would carry to his trine-mates as well and eventually to every last one of the remaining Seekers.
Starscream was... unsettled. It was not a thing he cared to let show-
(-and no Air Commander worth the rank would ever do that, not to his trine-mates and much less to worthless ground-pounders-)
- but he had aeons of experience in not showing too obviously what he thought of their glorious leader so that was little problem. It was a mask, like much else - not something that came natural to a Seeker at all but Starscream was the Air Commander and his abilities stretched far beyond what mere ordinary Seekers were capable of. Megatron saw enough to see him as harmless if annoying in his predictability, a pest at times but never a genuine threat.
The Prime and the Lord High Protector spoke, inconsequential, annoying sounds that he easily ignored-
(-because Megatron liked to hear himself speak and the Prime was little better and Starscream had turned it into a true art to only deign to listen when it suited him-)
- and he focused on the more important things instead.
The weapons specialist by Prime's side was dangerous but... leashed for now, through the fleshling Seeker-spawn, and easily dismissed.
The front-liner-
(-as far from an Autobot as it could possibly be and with the reflexes to almost match a Seeker, and the pitiful being remained loyal to Prime-)
- seemed to actually consider if it should ignore its master's words and attack without orders, with a craving for battle that was far more Decepticon than anything, and Starscream sneered faintly at the being.
The smaller ones were dismissed – fast, armed, pitiful; annoyances at the most and never a threat in the way the few genuine warriors on Prime's side could be.
(The organics, curiously, nagged at his processors in something he only vaguely recognised as a result of his... unfortunate bond with the fleshling-turned-Seeker. Smaller and even more insignificant than the worst Prime could muster but still there was... something, a reluctant acknowledgement that they had a persistence and disregard for their well-being that Cybertronians were generally too intelligent to match and the knowledge that even unskilled and worthless as they were, they had quantity on their side. Not here, not now, but beyond the desert in fleshling habitats and quantity such as that did have a quality in itself.)
And the medic, the Hatchet, with Seeker-programming and Seeker training that could so easily be twisted to Starscream's advantage and judging by muted feelings he could draw from the being, the medic was well aware of it, too.
A medic would be an advantage. He would be spared and reclaimed for their kind. To run from kin, to flee from his true loyalties was foolish and cowardly but... to be expected from a mere ground-pounder. Or perhaps the creature had simply had no wish to serve someone like Megatron and chosen the lesser of two evils, however much Starscream might sneer at his choice if that was the case.
He smirked through their faint bond, saw the medic's expression harden in response even as he tried to fight off the unwanted influence and Starscream mentally dismissed him.
The voices of the ground-pounders continued, flat and coarse and with none of the depth and beauty of a Seeker's words-
(-as if creatures like them could even understand the beauty of Seeker language-)
- and his attention lingered on his trine-mates, ready to deal with whatever threat might arise, vicious and skilled and almost his equals-
- and finally his gaze ended on the wretched being that was the cause of it all in the first place.
Knowledge brought a spark-deep hatred for the creature in front of him, a worthless fleshling that failed to grasp the magnificence of Seeker-kind – he could feel the energy in it, craving release and denied through ignorance or self-hatred - or even show proper gratitude of the priceless blessings it had been given, but instincts already worked against that. The creature looked, felt, and acted like a Seeker, however reluctantly at times, and instincts responded to that in kind. The Pit-spawned bond had merely cemented that fact.
It was no matter. The creature could not be harmed by him, true, but it was under his control now, clearly stubborn but still something that could be manipulated and shaped-
(-and Starscream would crush that weakness, as if any proper Seeker would allow itself to be led like that-)
- And still there was something there, the fact that the being had wormed its way through Starscream's defence, a weapon and a virus tailored specifically to Seeker-kind, and it had all been the will of...
...A Pit-spawned creature that will crush our wings and force us to the ground, too weak to survive and too pitiful to do anything about it, his mind snarled.
And bowing to Megatron is better? the fleshling he had foolishly bonded to snarked back. I thought Seekers were the true children of Primus and all that slag. Or is that just when it's convenient for you? He must be awfully proud to see you bend over and take it from Megatron. So proud he brought me back to let you know!
Fury took over for a glorious moment before Starscream fought it back with a snarl. Stay out of my processors, fleshling!
You're the fragger who bonded with me.
You are the worthless creature who fails to comprehend the gift you have been given! Once upon a time Starscream could – would – gladly have torn any Seeker to shreds for speaking to him like that. Now...
… Now he probably couldn't even raise a hand against the fleshlings trine-mates to punish him if the virus-
(-ever gnawing, ever nagging, brutally unrelenting-)
- was anything to go by.
But then, Starscream continued in a hiss, what else could be expected from someone who follows Prime? Megatron, at least, permits us freedom.
He had hoped for anger, emotions, delicious rage to blind the creature to common sense, but all he got in return was a snort and a shift in the weapons specialist's posture to reveal that he was probably listening in on at least the emotions, too.
I heard your running commentary. If that's your definition of 'freedom', I'll stick to Prime. He paused, then continued before Starscream could interrupt. For an Air Commander, you're pretty fragging pathetic but hey, I'm sure Megatron appreciates your skills in 'roll over!' and 'play dead!' and 'beg!'.
He wanted to kill for those words, felt his fingers twitch compulsively as graphic images of violent offlinings flickered through his processors, but the words stayed, nagging and compulsive and unable to be ignored through workings that Starscream strongly suspected the virus was behind as well.
It was war, Starscream hissed. War demands sacrifices. Even something as foolish as you should understand that. To remain neutral would be the end and the duty of Seeker-kin is to survive above else. You should all be intimately familiar with the concept of sacrifices. How many fleshlings have died uselessly in a vain attempt to challenge us?
The responding cold anger was felt through the bond, too much like the fleshling in its coldness and not nearly enough Seeker for Starscream's comfort, and there was a twinge of something almost like guilt that Starscream realised with a sense of dread did not come from the bond.
Guilt, for the comment or for the dead fleshlings he wasn't sure – both, probably, because he was starting to suspect that it was a result of his insistent search for information in the fleshling-turned-Seeker's processors and spark; an overwhelming care for the annoying pests and a strong need to see them safe, and now that same infection had been passed on to Starscream.
Bit by little bit, he realised, line by line, program by program – it was slowing down, he could feel that, too, but not fast enough for his tastes, no fast enough to keep from causing all the more damage until it went dormant. He was still himself, still Starscream, but there were images in his processors, lines of coding that he had not witnessed since before they had declared their loyalties, primitive and-
- weak.
The fleshling stayed silent, the Seeker spark as well, and Starscream took only the time to notice that the medic and one of the actual fleshlings had gotten themselves involved in the argument with Megatron before he broke the silence again.
It is weakness, he said, the virus. You will see us destroyed, fleshling. Is that Primus' grand plan? To see us extinct as the ground-pounders continue their pitiful war until no one remains?
You seem to manage that just fine on your own, the creature drawled back but there was more tiredness in the words than Starscream had expected. The All-spark is gone and Megatron is going to continue to throw you at us until something gives. It might be us in the end but how many Seekers do you think are going to be left by then?
Starscream didn't dignify that with an answer and... Will fell silent again, too, as they listened to the argument around them. No shots had been fired yet, Starscream noted. Megatron had kept his temper longer than expected. Him and the walking cannon both.
It was no matter. It would come. It always did.
He was so occupied with his own thoughts that it took him a moment to notice when his new... bonded turned its attention back on him again and the creature seemed to understand that, too.
What was your plan? the fleshling asked in a strange, bemused tiredness. After they supposedly killed each other. What was your plan? Take over, kill the survivors, end of the world as we know it?
Why do you care, fleshling? Starscream sneered. Will you stop me?
He got the mental impression of a shrug in return.
The Seeker part wants to know. Another long moment passed and then the creature sighed. So what was the plan?
And Starscream in a moment of clarity realised that he honestly did not know.