A small crowd gathered in the mass hall watched warily, as two of the Combaticons had entered not long ago and split up. One heading straight for Astrotrain, the other for the Insecticons. It was never a good sign when any of the three - Combaticons, Insecticons, or Astrotrain - took to speaking with each other. And do to the eerie calmness that had filled the base as of late, it only proved more suspicious.

Especially sense it was clear Swindle - the smallest of the Combaticons - had seemingly found a way to intimidate Astrotrain, or so they thought. Many had fled the room the moment Astrotrain didn't knock Swindle on his aft when the Jeep went straight to him and started talking. It was odd, the calm before the storm no smart mech would stick around to be caught up in.

Especially when Swindle still had that little problem with his...condition.

"Please, Astro'?" Astrotrain looked down into Swindle's pleading purple optics, and almost instantly regretted it. When had he learned to do that? That look, that "puppy pout", it made him want to hug Swindle, and purge his tanks all (for wanting to hug someone) at the same time. He settled on shoving Swindle - in the face - away from himself. "No." Was added by the triple-changer soon after. Swindle pouted into his palm. "But-but..." "No, Swindle." He could feel that quivering lip against his hand, he quickly pulled his hand back. He didn't want to see the expression, let alone feel it. So he withdrew his hand - which easily covered Swindle's entire head - and dropped it to his side.

Big mistake, Swindle appeared to have been leaning against it, because as he drew his hand back Swindle came with it. Falling right into his lap.

He didn't react instantly, he froze at first. Swindle let out a squeak and went to move from his landing spot - only to hit his newly repaired helm on the larger mech's elbow. "Oooow! Ow ow ooww!" He face-planted with the edge of Astrotrain's chair, wrapping his hands around the sensitive, possibly bruised metal. That was when Astrotrain finally looked down, he didn't move to shove off Swindle, yet, instead he poked the back of the Jeep's helm. "When..." Swindle shifted to look up at him with a single, purple optic. "When did you paint your head pink?" Silence ensued.

Until Vortex - standing little ways away from the table chatting with the Insecticons - busted into laughter at something one of the Insecticons had said. Swindle turned onto his back in Astrotrain's lap, and pointed a finger - ironically the one connected to the arm holding his Scatter Blaster, Astrotrain mused - and frowned. "You...just now...noticed my head is PINK?" Astrotrain flinched slightly at the sound of Swindle's irritated voice, finding a slight similarity to Starscream in it. Well, he had to of picked up something other than his Deceptive, backstabbing ways from the Seeker who rebuilt him, right? After all, Starscream practically adopted him, Seeker's never far when it comes to his "creations". Astrotrain shuttered his optics, staring at the shaking digit still pointing at him. "Well...I didn't really pay much attention to it until now..." The triple changed stated, in his defence he hadn't...at all...been paying attention to his helm...or anything else really. Except his optics, but...come on! His optics are huge! Especially when he's pouting or giving you that "kicked puppy" look to try and convince you to do something for him.

Megatron even "went easy" on him once, because he look scared. When that happens...you know to look out for him. Don't look him in the optics if you're trying to scare him.

It'll make you feel bad. Decepticon or not. Everyone only hated him for it, or so they said. They had to be singing a different tune when the look gave them the impulse to hug him, which seemed to be happening far more often as of late. Even Shockwave had hugged him once.

Shockwave!

Though he had to admit...he felt slightly intimidated by that "slit-throat" glare Swindle appeared to be giving him at the current moment. How someone so small managed to get such a fearsome look in their optics was beyond him. Same as the fact he was getting that look was because he didn't notice a change in his helm color. It made him feel sort of like those idiotic men who would get scolded for not noticing their girlfriends got their hair cut or something, like in those shows the Cone Heads liked watching.

Aaaaand that was a thought he shouldn't of had. Especially when the one who would be playing the role of "girlfriend" is sprawled in his lap, glaring at him. And there come the unwanted images. Hook would kill him if he crashed because of unwanted images caught by his own "filthy processor", Thundercracker had already done that this week, which usually left Hook moody. Especially sense he kind of has to see the unwanted images when they come up on the monitor while he's removing them. Poor Hook, nearly crashed right along with TC.

"Ahem." Both helms turned. Beside their table now stood Vortex, one hand on his hip and he looked over the two. Astrotrain instantly felt the need to run, this probably looked so wrong and now he had a feeling he would have overprotective Gestalt brothers out to kill him. Swindle glared at Vortex, a familiar feeling running through his circuits.

Vortex is smirking behind that mask, he could just feel it.

"Damn, Swindle," A slight chuckle echoed his words. "I knew you were desperate to get him to take us but...damn. I thought you had more pride than this." He shook his head slowly. Now both Swindle and Astrotrain were glaring at him.

Yep, he was definitely smiling behind that mask now, both could tell.

"You could have probably convinced Blast Off to take you...this way." He motioned with his hands - both hands - towards them. "But if ya have a thing for triple changers, that's fine too. Whatever "floats yer boat" as the humans say!" Snickering ensued from around the room, many of the remaining mechs scattering and heading out the door. "Didn't know Astrotrain would take payments like this, though." They glared daggers at him, he went unaffected. "Swindle and Astrotrain! Scandalous~" This time, it was Astrotrain who reacted first. Quickly shoving Swindle off, he stood. Swindle made no protest about being shoved when he stood, and stood at Astrotrain's side, glaring his older brother down. Vortex giggled. "Though I do admit, you two would make a cute coup-" Battle cries echoed the mass hall, making many of the remaining mechs startle.

Vortex spun on his heel, and sprang into action - sprinting for the exit. Swindle and Astrotrain on his tail. The Copter-former quickly entered the code, and the door swished open. He didn't make it out however. Swindle tackled him, and Astrotrain dragged him back in, kicking and screaming. The Insecticons sat at the far end of the mass hall, sipping their Energon and watching the show.

"I wish my wings came off like Vortex's...must be easier to fit into places where they block the way."

"But...his rotors don't come off..."

"...Oh..."

"...Ouch...ouch..."

Authors Notes: Yeah, I defined the Insecticons by calling them Insecticons because I kinda can't remember their names, and didn't have Internet when I wrote this chapter, I did re-write parts of it just now, but didn't alter it much otherwise because it started to make less sense. Sorry this is late! I finished this chapter a while back, but kept forgetting to post it, my computer keeps coming close to crashing so Internet time has been limited. Got a new computer, haven't set it up yet. But once it's up hopefully I can get this updated quicker. A warning though, this is going to be a somewhat long story! Due to all the little "side stories" I have. It will start getting more serious later on, probably. Plenty of violence coming soon! Oh wait, we already have violence. DETAILED VIOLENCE coming soon! Ha-ha~

Also, a friend of mine who reads this asked me about pairings, I have plenty of "hinted" pairings just for fun, but I figured if enough of my readers wanted certain pairings, I wouldn't mind writing them. So, anyone want to see some pairings in the future? I'll go with about any pairing if enough people agree to it! Autobot pairings too if you wish, they will be appearing soon enough. Or Autobot/Decepticon pairings. I don't know, just tell me what you want. Any characters~ Seriously, this story isn't really set in a certain time-line or anything, so I could probably work any in someway or another.

Disclaimer: Transformers does not belong to me, nor do any of it's Characters.