"Fleshie-con, are you even listening?" Starscream snapped at me in anger. Trying to ignore the fierce burning in my head, I tried to focus on what Starscream was saying to no avail.
Starscream was attempting to run some tests on the nanobots he had inserted into my head.
It was infuriating him that I had lost the ability to focus on what he was saying, in turn slowing him down. There was one thing about Starscream which I had learned fairly quickly, he liked to get things done - quickly.
"My apologies Lord Starscream, my head is killing me," I groaned as I cradled my head within my palms. Starscream glanced down at me before rolling his eyes.
"This is why we don't turn humans into decepticons, Blackout," He spat angrily before switching on his holoform. The human Starscream picked up a syringe that held a dosage of morphine within it before making his way over.
"This is why I hate Fleshies," He complained again, before administering the dosage. Within minutes, my headache began to fade.
"Thank god," I stated as I shook my head slightly. A cocky grin etched across Starscream's holoform as he drank in what I said. I rolled my eyes at him. I wolf whistled at Barricade, attempting to distract him from whatever he was doing. Barricade let out a laugh as he tapped away at the huge monitors that were located at the other end of the room. I didn't have to look to know that he was too busy stalking Samuel Witwicky and the autobot scout, Bumblebee. He'd started to have a little bit of an obsession with the two of them.
"Lord Starscream, should we test the nanobots now?" Blackout spat as he glared at me darkly. I didn't say anything. He had been giving me that look ever since I had woken up. It seems like he had forgotten that I didn't really have a choice with this either. It wasn't fair that he was having a hissy fit at me. Starscream merely nodded before turning to his computer, monitoring the nanites.
'Stop it.' Blackout's voice suddenly filtered through my ear. It was working!
'Stop what?' I asked in confusion.
'You're staring at me as if I've just killed your entire family.'
'Technically, you did.' I retorted.
"He's not dead.' He stated as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.
'But he's my enemy now.'
'You're choice. You could've chosen to die. But no, you chose to live, because your loyalties are so astray now, aren't they? You have doomed the human race to die. You have the chance to stop it, but you are not taking it. What does that make you?' Blackout hissed, and I was taken aback. Partly because of his sudden anger, and partly because of how correctly he had hit the nail on the head. Blackout was right. I was a disgrace to the human population. I had signed their death warrant. But do I regret it? No.
I agreed to become a decepticon because there is nothing left for me. At the end of all of this, we're all just going to die anyway. May as well take the fun route out.
'Stop taking this out on me, Blackout. I realise you're pissed because now you have to talk to the 'squishy' 24/7. But suck it up and deal with it. I didn't choose any of this! I didn't want this either. Hell, sometimes I wish I had just died in Qatar. But you didn't let me. You saved me. Now you have to deal with the consequences of choosing to keep me alive.' I spat angrily, before Starscream chastised the both of us, saying that stressing the nanobots would cause them to die off in their current, weak state. I breathed out in frustration, before turning away from Blackout.
He was strangely silent after that.
"The Qatar humans have made it back to American soil. Seems like they've been welcomed with open arms. What fools," Barricade suddenly called from his side of the room. I felt my heart clench as I thought of the boys from Qatar. Are Will, Epps, Figueroa and Mahfouz still alive? I desperately prayed that they were. They're good people, and Will deserves to meet his baby girl at least once. Barricade turned to face me.
"You used to be in with them, didn't you Hazel, or should I say Ashley?" Barricade teased.
I opened my mouth to retort before I was rudely interrupted by Bonecrusher barging into the room. He stormed over to Starscream, before dumping a large file on his desk. Starscream merely glanced at it, before he turned to me.
"It seems I must ruin playtime, Fleshie-con. It's time to get to work."
/ ~ / ~ / ~ /
I was in way over my head.
When Starscream had said that it was time to get to work, I thought he would've started me on some training missions. You know, kind of like some simple scouting missions or maybe getting a little bit close to the Witwicky boy. But no. That's not the Starscream way.
Ever heard of the saying go big or go home? Well, that is pretty much what is happening right now.
"You have got to be kidding me," I told him as I read over the much smaller file that Starscream had passed to me. He had this huge, obnoxious shit-eating grin on his face as he had past it to me, and now it seemed to be growing by the second.
"It's not that hard, Fleshie-con. You're gathering intelligence, how hard can it be?" Starscream asked, before narrowing his gaze at me. Immediately, he drew his canons on me, and I felt the heat of them begin to tan my face instantly. "You're not backing out of our deal are you? Wouldn't want my canon to accidentally misfire now, would we?" He bit out.
"Stop harassing the Fleshie and get on with the briefing, Lord Starscream," Barricade bit out, looking bored. I don't blame him.
"Fine," Starscream spat, causing a whole lot of goo to go flying everywhere. I wrinkled my nose at him.
"Frenzy, in two days I will be taking you to Air Force One. It's an important aircraft that the humans use to fly their leaders on, before you ask. You must get on that plane and hack the databases. Find everything you can on the Allspark, Megatron, Sector Seven and Sam Witwicky. Barricade will be waiting for you at the landing pad." Starscream stated, directing his attention towards him. Frenzy chattered excitedly in response, and I smiled warmly at him. He could be cute, occasionally.
"Blackout, take Frenzy to the co-ordinates I've sent you. Then, I want you to assist Fleshie-con in her mission, which you will be informed of shortly. You will need to check in with me every twelve hours, give me a status report on her, do you understand?" Starscream ordered. Blackout rolled his eyes before he nodded.
"Barricade, after you've picked up Frenzy, hunt down Sam Witwicky. Try and collect him for us. You've already lost him once. Do not fail me again. Once you have him, bring him here."
Starscream ordered.
"Brawl. Wreck havoc like you always do. I want you to prepare for the arrival of anymore Decepticons. There are a few who are in the immediate vicinity of this pile of rock. Bonecrusher, you are to do Soundwave's job. Monitor the satellites. I want to know everything, especially if they detect anything unusual. I expect that the Autobots will be joining us shortly. I would prefer to have a heads up."
"And finally, Fleshie-con. I am sending you undercover into this building known as 'the Pentagon'. They are trying to break down the code Blackout used in Qatar. I do not wish for you to stop them, I want you to accompany them. Find out about who comes in and who goes out. Find out who is the strongest of the analysts. You will be posing as the analyst 'Ashley Smith'. We kept the first name you used in Qatar." Starscream explained briefly, before nodding at me.
I didn't respond, I was too busy going over what he had just said. I was breaking into the Pentagon. The fucking Pentagon!
"There is no way in hell that this is going to go well," I thought to myself.
"You're not kidding Fleshling. Have some faith. I have to guide you remember." Blackout responded darkly. I must've accidentally voiced my thoughts in our comm link. Ah well, he was thinking the same thing anyway.
"And that's meant to make me feel better how?" I spat back in response, my anger rising yet again at the idiotic helicopter. I must've accidentally voiced that also, as his optics suddenly flashed to mine - his gaze darkening slightly.
"Fleshie, do your best to note that I am vorns older than you, so I have knowledge that you couldn't even begin to understand. I have been ordered to assist you, yes, but that doesn't mean that I have to put my all into it. Therefor, I believe the fleshling saying for it is 'respect your elders'. Best remember that, Squishy." He chastised. I merely growled at him in response.
Starscream chuckled to himself before turning to Bonecrusher.
"Bonecrusher, you'll be taking Fleshie-con to her destination. I'll be awaiting for you to report back on your arrival. Hurry now, the humans are expecting her," He stated, before turning around and striding away. My head snapped to Bonecrusher so fast that I almost gave myself whiplash. Barricade, Brawl and Blackout burst out laughing at the disgusted looks on both of our faces.
"There is no way in hell that I'm riding with him. Blackout?" I asked, pouting at him. He scoffed, before transforming and flying away.
"Barricade?" I begged and he laughed.
"Naw, I have to go wait for Frenzy, the li'l fragger. You're on your own fleshie," He chortled before leaving. I turned to Brawl.
"Brawl?" I whimpered, and he shook his head.
"A mining vehicle is a lot less conspicuous than a tank, Fleshie-con."
With a sigh, I turned to Bonecrusher. "Frag," He stated whilst glaring at me.