Chapter 63

-0-Houston, Texas

William "Bill" Nast got off the phone to his ground team as he fumed and paced in his luxurious office on the top floor of a tall office building in downtown Houston. The ship carrying his cargo, the femme Arcee had been impounded. The shipping company's reputation had caught up with them at the wrong time. All over the world, the ships of Cyprus International Land and Sea Shipping, LTD were being confiscated and their cargoes impounded.

Arcee was impounded.

She was sitting in a warehouse in Corpus Christi, crated, freighted and off limits. He was thwarted, angry and inconsolable. He wanted what was his and the 'gummit' had interfered, getting into his 'bidness'. He paused his pacing to smirk at the local yokels for whom such gibberish was a badge of honor. Being a boy from Connecticut and a graduate of the finest Ivy League colleges trust fund money could buy, not to mention West Point, he found them quaint, rustic, low-brow, and malleable. He never found a mogul that didn't find the smell of money preferable to nearly anything you could mention including personal honor.

He wasn't a slouch in his professional estimation. He had graduated from West Point, spent his time in Special Operations and had come out when his trust fund turned over to his direct control to build a security agency that was international. Intel-Martin provided security to kings, cowards and criminals the world over. He had enormous pride and ego about what he did. He justified it with his fundamental take on his Christianity, a potent blend of exceptionalism and capitalism, where all is fair in love and war.

He was tall, fair in complexion and coloration and well made from a lifetime of physical exertion. He had something to prove everyday that he woke up. He was going to prove to his father in particular that he was not only living according to the family's code, he was ready to add chapters to the book.

Reverse engineering the Autobot, using that information and technology to increase his grasp on the world of arms, war and politics was his goal. And now it was thwarted. He paced and thought, finalizing a plan in his head. He was going to invade the facility and in doing so take back his property. He was going to retrieve Arcee.

-0-Ops Center

Jazz nodded to Prowl, watching as he swept past, hurrying to be ready to chaperon Bluestreak. "Prowl."

He walked over, his wings fluttering with tension. "Jazz?"

"Relax." Jazz smiled. "It's not like they'll be 'facing in front of ya or something."

Prowl frowned, shaking his head with disgust. "You're obscene."

"You're uptight. Look at this," he said, pulling the latest communication between Nast and his field ops commander, Thomas Jaspers.

Prowl looked and frowned again. "This is a kink we didn't need. Does Optimus know?"

"I commed him."

Prowl frowned deeper. "When is his meeting over or is he leaving it to deal with this?"

"In a couple of joors," Jazz replied. "He'll be coming out when its over. They don't seem to be ready to move yet so he hasn't prioritized it too highly. We'll need a team to be there."

"Put one together, Jazz. I'll be back in a joor," Prowl said walking toward the door.

Jazz watched him, considering what he'd heard from the soldiers when they talked about their teenaged years. He remembered their remarks about their long-suffering genitors and felt a pang for Prowl. Grinning, he went back to the job of sifting Nast for intel.

-0-On a beach nearby

They walked together uncomfortable and tense with Bluestreak between two of the most feared and dangerous Autobot warriors ever to grace a battlefield. Yet they were subdued, glancing over their shoulders from time to time, catching glimpses of the stern figure behind them.

When they'd come together to go, Sunstreaker had taken Bluestreak's servo. That was met with firm reproach. Sideswipe, fidgeting, rolled backwards to talk to Bluestreak and see his face until the quiet figure of Prowl unnerved him enough that he turned around.

Bluestreak who was feeling anxious and embarrassed glanced back with Prowl smiling slightly and nodding as he did. Bluestreak managed a small smile and walked onward along a beach that was beautiful, empty of visitors and faced on one side by the loveliness that was the Indian Ocean. Then he gathered himself to fill the uncomfortable silence, stunned that he hadn't already done so. "The party is going to be fun. All the work is pieced out. Blaster is going to bring music. Maybe we can dance then," he said, his voice trailing off as he peeked over his shoulder. "Maybe."

"I hope so," Sideswipe said with his own expression miserable as well.

Sunstreaker, silent and pensive didn't comment.

"The sparkling is due to separate in February," Bluestreak said. "Or I think its called that."

"That'll be twelve weeks," Sideswipe said, mentally doing the math. "I think its twelve weeks for sparklings."

They continued and when they came to the rock pile that served as seating for all their beach gatherings, they sat. Prowl moved off to the edge of the water then turned to face them without an expression on his face. They stared at him, then each other, then the ground.

Sunstreaker who was feeling an itch in his armor that was growing steadily arose to walk to Prowl, regarding him directly. "What's it going to take to end this?"

Prowl looked at him evenly. "You have to be credible to me, both of you. You have to be worthy to me, both of you."

"We've proven ourselves already," Sunstreaker said, frowning with frustration.

"As warriors," Prowl said. "You have. But as mechs? As someone who can take care of my son the way I want for him? I don't know that you have."

"What do you want us to prove? Give us a clue," Sunstreaker said.

Prowl thought a moment then looked squarely at Bluestreak. "I don't want someone 'facing my son like they were just another mech, using them, then leaving when they get bored or see something else. I want commitment for him. I want him in a loving relationship where he's primary. I want him to feel that he's loved, appreciated, cared for and happy. That's what I want. I want Bluestreak to bond with someone and be safe and happy. I don't want him to be second in someone's spark to other things."

Sunstreaker glanced at Sideswipe who was listening intently. He turned back to Prowl. "What makes you think that we wouldn't do that for Blue? What makes you think that Blue would be second place or that we'd ever leave him?"

"Experience," Prowl said quietly. "I've been here, too, all the vorns of our mutual shared experience. I've seen you 'face around. You're a 'player' as the soldiers say. It's not confidence building."

"You've never seen me step away from Blue all the time we've been together. It's only been Blue," Sunstreaker said.

Prowl nodded. "For now. I just can't figure if you'd stay with Blue or if at some point in future some mech walks by and catches your optic, you wouldn't turn your attentions away."

Sunstreaker looked at him, feeling rage sweep through his processor. "You don't think much of me do you."

Prowl thought a moment. "No. You've seldom given me a chance in our personal dealings to think otherwise."

"Not even since I was with Blue?" Sunstreaker asked.

"That's the part that I can't figure out. You have since you took up with him. But I don't know if I can expect you to continue. I want you to. I'm not doing this to be difficult. I want you to know that. There's a lot to respect in both of you and all of us, all of us from Optimus to Hound want you to be all that you can be. Its just … you haven't always been a good mech, Sunstreaker. I want to know you are now for my son."

Sunstreaker listened to Prowl, the words sinking like rocks in his mind, then he looked at Bluestreak. "Bond with me, Blue," he said quietly.

Bluestreak blinked with surprise and anxiety, looking from Sunstreaker to Prowl and back again. He rose uncertain in the flood of anxious energy all around them. "Prowl?"

Prowl who was caught off guard took a moment to think. "Do you want this, Bluestreak?"

"I … I," he stammered. Then he nodded.

Sideswipe stood up, his expression almost fearful. "Blue?" he asked.

Bluestreak turned toward him, looking upward with his own emotional expression.

Sideswipe swallowed then glanced at his brother, their gazes holding. He looked back at Bluestreak. "Bond with me, too," he whispered.

-0-Far away

Starscream paced back and forth. He could remember coming to sentience and tearing up the room he was in, wherever that was. Then he remembered the second time, the med bay where Thundercracker and Skywarp had told him of the rescue of Prime's bond. He was fit to be tied. He'd recovered from the effects of three null ray bursts, the spark destroying ennui it created a surprise to him. Null ray weapons were his favorite but he had a new respect for them having survived them at close personal range.

He stopped, mentally piecing together the moment of his near personal triumph. Springer was out cold, laying on the ground. He'd touched the latch of his spark chamber and it had opened to reveal a blue spark, one that carried in it the memories and life of his most mortal enemy after Megatron.

He had reached down, touching it with his digits. The soft energy tingled in his hand as he felt the life force of not just one but two mechs. Then he began to lower himself, taking his time, not rushing the ecstatic feeling of triumph the moment was bringing to him. Before he could connect, an explosion startled him and he had arisen, walking away from the Autobot and directly into a null ray.

It rankled. It burned. It put an edge on his spark that was not going to go away. He would have to try again. He would have to make another effort to capture the potential of the moment he almost had, a moment that gave him more vicarious emotional impact than anything he had experienced in so long that he didn't even try to process memories. It was even more fulfilling than the loss of Megatron.

He wanted to hurt Optimus Prime that much.