Chapter 12

Skywarp was not surprised that her return was met with hostility from the other soldiers. She was just surprised she had not been sent to the medbay from getting into a fight. Their level of restraint was amazing and she was proud of them for it. Of course, the fact that Soundwave was always nearby and was gently touching her chassis in some way was a good indicator to stay as far away if they could help it. It certainly helped her feel safer; she was just worried about what would happen when they caught her alone. Sure, she could hold her own, but she didn't like the idea of her against an entire army. It only sounded cool in literature.

Megatron had not put her on any sort of duty yet, so she usually spent her time sitting quietly beside Soundwave as he kept track of all the information coming in from the Coneheads. Thundercracker was out on regular patrols, leaving her pining for him all orn even though Soundwave did his best to keep her content. Her lack of annoying habits seemed to put everyone edge; Skywarp, after all, was supposed to be annoying and loud and rather dumb. Granted, she still wanted to pull pranks and watch people run around furious, but Soundwave would not allow her to leave his side after she decided to follow him to his station.

"I should probably pull a prank just to ease their minds," Skywarp commented as she leant on the console and glanced at Soundwave. "You know, break the tension."

"Negative," Soundwave snorted. "The chance of you being jumped is too high."

"Like I can't defend myself," Skywarp grumbled. "I could totally take on anyone that…."

"Skywarp," Soundwave growled, "no."

Letting her wings fall, Skywarp did not bother to hide her pout. "Spoilsport," she huffed and stuck her glossa out at him.

Soundwave did not respond, but his mind gently pressed down on hers and kindly forced her into submission. Sliding down to the ground, she leant her head on his thigh and sat there silently as he worked. She knew that there was no reason to argue with him over this. Yes, she knew it was dangerous, yes she knew that her getting jumped was a very, very bad thing. She just really needed to figure out a way to get everyone to lay off.

Joors passed in silence, which they did not really mind, and they were only disturbed when the latest scouting party returned with information. Soundwave's shift came to an end shortly after the Earth midnight passed and they both headed for the rec room to refuel.

Rolling her optics as Soundwave insisted on getting her energon and would not let her anywhere near the dispenser she walked right over to Blitzwing and flopped on his lap. The look of shock and outrage on the triple-changers' faces was reassuring enough that yes, she could still get a rise out of them. Stretching her arms out, she tilted her head at Blitzwing and snorted.

"Honestly, he acts like I'm fragile," she whined. "It's like I can't hold my own against you or something."

"Do you have ANY idea how much I could frag you up right now?" Blitzwing growled.

"Of course I do," Skywarp snorted as she tipped her helm back and offlined her optics. "But I know you well enough to know that you won't get any pleasure out of beating me up. It's no fun if they throw themselves at you."

Blitzwing was silent long enough for her to know that he agreed with her. His arms wrapped slowly around her waist and drew her against his chest. Smirking, she returned the hug and rested her chin on his shoulder.

"Missed you too, idiot," Blitzwing grumbled bitterly as Astrotrain and Octane chuckled.

Petting his arm, Skywarp was not at all surprised when she heard Soundwave growl overhead. She pulled away from Blitzwing and tilted her head, her expression exemplifying "see?" better than words could. He growled again and Blitzwing slowly let her go, looking away so that he did not incite Soundwave's fury. Hopping off of his lap and accepting the energon cube, Skywarp strut her way back to his quarters.

She was tempted to taunt him a little, but she could sense his ire bubbling just below the surface of his mind and decided not to annoy him. Walking into his quarters, Skywarp flopped onto Thundercracker's back, nuzzling his neck as he let out a soft grunt. His hand stroked her leg absentmindedly as he slowly roused himself from recharge to accept the cube of energon Soundwave handed him.

"What did you do?" Thundercracker asked as Skywarp snuggled against him as he sat up.

"Oh, just flopped on Blitzwing," Skywarp shrugged a shoulder as she sipped her energon. "He missed me."

"And that's why Soundwave's pacing?" Thundercracker asked as he motioned towards their pacing trineleader.

"Guess so," Skywarp nodded as she kissed Thundercracker's jaw. "I'm just getting tired of being treated like something that's going to shatter if I move."

"There are those that are ready to kill you," Soundwave hissed. "Do you not understand that?"

"Of course I do," Skywarp soothed as Ravage entered the room. "I'm not stupid, Soundwave. I know who I can interact with and not wind up with a hole in my head."

Ravage waited patiently for Soundwave to stop pacing, his red optics moving between Skywarp and his master in mild amusement. Ravage might have been a creature of habit that strived on everything remaining as constant in his routine as possible, but that did not mean that he did not enjoy a small shake up so long as it was harmless. And watching Soundwave pace and fret over someone who didn't need to be fretted over was rather amusing. Usually it was his Cassettes he was being over-protective of; it must have been a nice change.

"Ravage, return," Soundwave ordered as he opened his chest compartment. Ravage obeyed without a moment's hesitation, folding into his cassette alt mode and sliding into his specific slot within the compartment. As soon as he was tucked away safely, Soundwave turned to Skywarp. "I would not be able to live with myself if you got hurt because I was not able to protect you."

"Soundwave," Skywarp soothed as she set her cube down and walked over to him, "I know that you just want me to be safe." She reached up and stroked his cheek, smiling as his facemask slid back so that he could kiss her palm. "But I've been around since the beginning of the war and I haven't been killed by a pissed off Decepticon yet. I don't see that changing any time soon."

"Skywarp," Soundwave started to growl.

"Ah, not a word," Skywarp pressed a finger over his dermas. "Come sit down and finish off your energon cube. Then you're going to recharge. Primus knows we all need it."

Soundwave did not fight her as she guided him over to the berth. He sat down beside Thundercracker, nuzzling his neck gently in greeting as Thundercracker snuggled into him and immediately drifted off. Skywarp powered down everything in the room for the night, leaving the basic communication relays on in case Megatron needed to get a hold of Soundwave.

When he finished with his cube, Soundwave lay down on the berth and pulled Thundercracker close. Skywarp crawled to his other side and snuggled against his back, tucking her face into his neck and hugging him around his waist.

"Night," she murmured as she heard his systems power down. "Recharge well."

Megatron called a meeting the next morning and Skywarp was a little surprise when she was told to sit down in the seat she used to hold. Folding her wings down to look as pious and sweet and honoured as she could, she glanced around at the assembly curiously. Starscream was seated ahead of her, his wings held just a few inches lower than usual. Thundercracker sat on her left as still and silent as a statue, but he would occasionally shoot her a look and shake his head. Onslaught was on the far right behind Soundwave, one leg crossed over the other so that his foot bounced in boredom. Motormaster was glaring at her from behind Hook's back while Scrapper spoke quietly with Astrotrain about something or other. Soundwave was sitting stiffly beside Starscream, refusing to acknowledge him as he always used to. It would have been a normal sight if her hologram was up and Starscream didn't look like a creature that was made to slink around in the shadows.

Megatron was pacing in front of his soldiers, his head turned towards the floor. He stopped abruptly in the center of the elevated platform and turned to face the assembled soldiers.

"As you are aware, the spies Starscream and Skywarp have recently rejoined our ranks," he stated a tad bit too coldly for Skywarp to not shift slightly towards Thundercracker. "I know how many of you would like nothing better than to make them pay. Know that any attempts to do so will be met with harsh punishment. They are here because I allowed it and that is all the reason you should require."

There was a murmur of dislike through the crowd, their optics turning to Skyfire as he stood silently in the back. His blue optics blinked but he did not flinch under the glares. Starscream's wings momentarily flared in warning, but they folded back down immediately as Onslaught twisted in his seat to look at him curiously. Megatron turned towards Soundwave and took a few steps in his direction. Then he turned and walked towards Starscream.

This was such a practiced motion that Skywarp didn't even flinch when he spun around and slammed his hands down on the railing circling their platform. Breakdown flinched and ducked his head down meekly, but aside from that it drew no notice.

"Is there something else you would like me to prove?" Megatron demanded. "Is my judgement not good enough for you all of a sudden? Or is it because you're afraid of who these two Seekers really are? Do you not like the idea of having a competent Air Commander? Or worse, a Seeker that can actually think through their decisions and not leave an opening for you to taunt them?" Snarling, Megatron turned to Soundwave. "Pick one."

Skywarp's wings flared before she could stop herself and she looked at Starscream desperately. He did not look impressed and his own wings started to rise in warning. Skywarp caught sight of Skyfire pulling himself up to his full height and prayed that Megatron would call the interrogation off. Soundwave rose and gestured for Starscream to walk over to him.

Skywarp's wings fluttered furiously and she was greatly tempted to throw herself in front of Starscream and snarl at her trineleader. Thundercracker's hand settled on her wrist and held her still as her brother rose to stand opposite Soundwave. Wings held high in defiance, Starscream bared his fangs at the silent mountain of a mech.

Starscream flinched and Skywarp tried to bolt to her brother's side. Thundercracker's grip on her wrist did not slacken, but he could not stop her from dragging them both to their feet. Megatron gave them both a warning look, but did not say anything as Skywarp's wings continued fluttering in fear. Looking at Starscream as pain started trickling in through their sibling bond, she felt a yawning hole of numb opening in her middle. A blade, a thin one with a curved tip like a hawk's beak, was fitted into his fist as naturally as if it had grown there. Skywarp didn't have to be a mind-reader to know where it was going to go and considering how Soundwave was not pinning her down, he was too deep searching for whatever it was that Megatron wanted to use as proof to notice.

Wings fluttering in panic, Skywarp teleported, dragging Thundercracker along behind her. She reappeared before Starscream and Soundwave, grabbing her brother's wrist mere seconds before the blade was embedded in Soundwave's chest. Starscream's wings flared in alarm and Soundwave took a step back as Thundercracker bounced against his side in alarm. Everyone was staring at them in alarm and Megatron was as still as a statue. Then, slowly, he turned to the assembly.

"Do you doubt her dedication to our cause now?" he growled low. "Dismissed."

The soldiers rose silently and left, their optics straying to Skywarp as Starscream slowly lowered his arm. When they were gone, Starscream bopped her over the head.

"Ow!" Skywarp yipped. "What did you do that for?"

"You took your sweet time," Starscream snorted. "What sort of loyal trinemate are you if you leave him standing there about to get stabbed?"

"I was being held back!" Skywarp huffed as she rubbed her head miserably. "And Megatron looked ready to slit my throat."

"Of course he did; that's his default look," Starscream rolled his optics and poked her nose. "And seriously, drag Thundercracker's aft behind you if you have to. What if I had managed to get it between his chest plates?"

"Um, I'd rather not think about it?" Skywarp pouted as she stepped back to let Soundwave stroke her back soothingly. "Because I didn't want to think that you would kill my trinemate."

"I wouldn't have, under normal circumstances," Starscream snorted as Megatron shooed the rest of his commanding staff off. "However, that aft was digging through every single injury Megatron ever gave me."

Skywarp shot Soundwave a glare just before he scooped her up and threw her over his shoulder. Struggling, she started clawing at his shoulder, demanding to be put down. Starscream covered his mouth as he chuckled, waving for Thundercracker to follow them wherever Soundwave was planning on going. He gave Megatron an amused look as the Warlord stood behind her and Skywarp pouted.

"This is degrading," she grumbled.

As if to make her feel worse about her situation, Soundwave squeezed her aft. She squeaked indignantly just as they walked by the coneheads and she buried her face in his back at their smirks.

"I hate you."

Soundwave patted her aft reassuringly as Thundercracker sighed.