AN: www. lincah 2009 –chevrolet –corvette -gt1 –championship –edition (Motorhead's alt, or just google corvette/2009-chevrolet-corvette-gt1-championship-edition/)
www. cargurus Cars / 2009 –Dodge – Viper –Pictures –c 21236 _pi 35821989 (Rollerforce's alt, or just google 2009 dodge viper red, and it should come up hopefully.)
I cheated with the seeker duel. :P
Thanks for the reviews! (Noella50881, SJSGirl, Nairi44, Firestorm152, SilentPerson, Bookworm Gal, Rhiannon Tien, StarGazingAtMidnight, Iwanita, Lady Quickshift, Just A Chess Piece, CalicoKat35, RatchetsGirl, Ryen Selenity Caliburn, electro moonlight)
As excited as Egypt, dying, and coming back sounded, Trent stayed in school until the Friday finished out. Mikaela stayed with him, but as soon as she got into study hall, her last period of the day, she was gone. Trent would have gone with her, except he had a football game that night and an Aunt over who his mother expected him to have a polite and civil family dinner with. He didn't miss out on much, apparently. By the time Mikaela had gotten there the group from Egypt had decided to hit the hay, or at least all the ones she really wanted to talk with. He'd nearly laughed at how pissed she'd sounded on the phone, Wheelie pitching in every now and then. The tiny Decepticon had basically turned into her little purse dog, it was rare for her to go anywhere without him when it wasn't to school.
And now it was his morning run, the best time for him to actually have some time to himself to think. Mikaela had filled him in on everything that had happened, including Barricade and Miles and the cosmic rust. As cool as the Cybertronians were, he had no idea how Miles, Sam, Mikaela, and the soldiers could just be constantly with them. Mikaela had said he was a bit more attached to his "real life" compared to his "sci-fi life", and while he loved the Cybertronians and the soldiers, that was mostly true, if it had anything to do with the war. Have it be a normal day where they were all just pissing around and he was all for it. He got on with all the Cybertronians, but wasn't as close to any of them like Ironhide and Will were, or Bumblebee and Sam. He didn't have a designated Guardian from the bunch, but that didn't really bother him. If anything it helped to cement the separation of his two lives.
Trent groaned, shaking his head to clear it a bit, the motion of it making two lone vehicles catch his eye. They were in the overgrown lot that had once been used as a drive in before it had shut down, and while it wasn't unusual to see a few teens, or even adults, hang out there it was when it was this early in the morning and there was no one in sight. The sun was just barely coming up, not even many other joggers were out.
Both cars were nice, and if there was one thing Trent could appreciate, it was fine cars. He'd always called his truck his baby, and even when Optimus had offered to assign him one of the 'bots as Guardian if Trent wanted, he had refused. His truck really was his baby, figuratively speaking. The only thing that was truly his, football being a shared dream with his dad, school grades being his mother's wishes, and so on and so forth. He had bought that truck, had repaired that truck, had repainted her and then buffed her until she shone. She was now worth over half as much as when he had originally bought her, and yes, Trent referred to his baby as a she. Or he did before the Autobots anyway, now it made him feel a bit awkward and paranoid that it really would turn into a 'she'. And then being around the Cybertronians just got you used to being in one huge fucking car show. The only ones who didn't go for looks were Ratchet, Barricade, Prowl, and Wheeljack, as far as he could tell. Even Optimus looked damn good in his alt mode.
One car was a 2009 canary yellow Chevrolet Corvette, the only thing offsetting the yellow being the stripe of grey down the middle. The other vehicle was a 2009 Dodge Viper SRT10 convertible, a mostly red frame with a decal of black to make it interesting. The top was up.
"-first priority is to find Commander Barricade." A voice drifted out to Trent, coming from the red vehicle. It nearly made Trent stop mid-jog, but he knew he had to check it out. So he switched course a bit, circling around the two cars as if he was making a loop around them to head back the way he came, checking for any signs of organic life inside the vehicles, or any insignias. He spotted to clear ones on the fake license plates. Decepticons. Just perfect, though they had used Barricade's name…
The red one must have caught Trent looking because he then whispered to his yellow companion, "Is this organic checking out your aft?"
"You two are new here, I take it?" Trent asked quickly after that, not wanting the red one to think that any longer or the yellow one to start thinking it.
The yellow one appeared startled, body visibly twitching when addressed by an organic, and the red one shifted on his shocks warily. Both were silent for a long moment, Trent making his way to stand in front of them so they could watch him clearly and ascertain that he was no threat. Not like they probably thought he was, but then again Blaster had been ready to blow him a new one when he had been ready to kick the Autobot's boom box alt mode into the lake. Finally the yellow one spoke up.
"We are!" He said cheerfully, "How did you know?"
"Well," Trent said slowly, "You two are talking out loud to each other instead of through comms. Your presence here is kept a secret to most of us organics. I know, so I checked for the insignia which you have on your license plates, but generally if people hear you they'll think you're possessed and attempt to offline you."
"I told you we should be talking through comms," The red one growled, making the yellow one lower on his shocks. "Organic squishy, we have not been long here. We attempted to join up with the Decepticons, but were quickly informed that our teammates were here, but not with them. We look for our Commander, designation of Barricade, and our Medic, designation of Groundhog."
"Yeah, heard that bit." Trent grinned, "But before we get on to that let's be polite and do introductions, yeah? I'm Trent DeMarco, but you two can just call me Trent.
"I'm Motorhead," The yellow Corvette said, rolling forward a few feet.
The red Viper vented sharply, "I am Rollerforce."
"I know where Barricade and Groundhog are," Trent stretched his arms above his head, yawning. "They're at the Autobot base with some other used to be Decepticons."
"Barricade sided with Autobots?" Rollerforce laughed, "Get real, squishy."
"Being as real as I can be right now." Trent replied dryly, "Barricade, Groundhog, Soundwave, Soundwave's cassetticons, Wheelie, and now Starscream and two other seekers I don't remember the name of are on the Autobot base."
"Starscream is with the Autobots?" Motorhead asked in awe, "How did that happen?"
"Well, if what 'Kaela told me is right, Miles."
"Miles?"
"Another organic, the one I'm going to be blaming you two on." Trent smirked slightly, "Come on, I'll grab my stuff from home and my truck and lead you guys there. Diplomatic immunity or some shit for you two as long as you don't start shooting at anybody, I think, and I'll explain more on the way."
"Your vehicle is non-sentient?" Rollerforce asked, and at Trent's nod picked up an obvious sneer. "Forget it; you can ride in one of us."
"If it's all the same to you, I'm going in my truck."
Rollerforce snorted, "Your primitive Earth vehicle is nothing compared to us. We'll give you the honor of riding in one of us as thanks for taking us to our Commander and Medic. Trust me when I say we are a much better upgrade from you 'truck'."
"The hell you are!"
Prowl could hardly believe his optics as he took in the sight of the three vehicles and one lone organic. One vehicle he easily recognized as Trent's truck, the organic it belonged to sitting on top of the truck with a small smirk and waving in a mock polite manner. The other two were Decepticons. More Decepticons. If nothing else, Prowl could be thankful that Trent had thought to stop them before they hit the perimeter alarms and set them off, even calling in and specifically telling Will to tell Prowl that they had two visitors requesting to see some of the Decepticons on base.
For a moment, he mildly contemplated just grabbing one of the soldiers, probably Graham as the British man was the calmest of the bunch he knew, and just going, claiming it was a secret mission, when really it was a much needed break. He wasn't sure how much more his spark could take of all of these Decepticons turning up with all these organic underfoot, especially not now that Optimus was infected with one of the deadliest diseases that could possibly infect a Cybertronian.
Prowl stared down at the two Decepticons, who had remained in alt mode, with a blank expression. He hadn't come alone, though. If he had to deal with Decepticons then he was using an ex-con to do so, and that would be why Soundwave was there, Ravage sitting lazily down at their peds. Miles stood near the cat mech, Ravage having said something along the lines of the teen needing to check out who was trying to challenge him at his claim on being the one to bring all the Decepticons over to the good side, no matter how inadvertently, and not counting Wheelie because that mech was on the side where he could live and be happy, and with his Warrior Goddess, of course. And if Miles was going then of course Barricade was, the ex-con unwilling to let the teen out of his sight, especially with a pair of Decepticons he didn't know.
"Ha, can't blame these on me!"
"Actually," Trent slid off the hood of his truck, smirk growing. "These two are here for Barricade and Groundhog. You brought Barricade, therefore you brought them."
"…Fuck you and your logic."
"Hear you'd rather fuck Barricade, now."
"What?" Motorhead and Rollerforce cried in unison, both transforming to their bipedal modes immediately, looking between their Commander and Miles. Barricade picked the teen up without even thinking about it in response to this, this confirming easier than what words would have done to his teammates.
"You're with an organic?" Rollerforce demaned.
"Is he a good socket or something?" Motorhead asked, slightly bitterly.
Trent walked over to the Barricade, Prowl, and Soundwave, standing at their peds and being thoroughly ignored as Barricade made an angry gesture, the group diverting into Cybertronian. Unlike the wonder team, what he privately called Sam, Miles, Epps, and Will, he had no alien-God given powers that helped him understand the alien language.
"Is it just me, or does somemech sound a little bitter?" Trent asked Ravage, the only one who appeared disinterested in the conversation happening overhead. He did make sure to ask it quietly, doubting they'd pay attention to him, but being stepped on would not make his morning.
Ravage flicked his tail in amusement, "Motorhead had a 'crush' on his Commander for quite a while. Still might, from the sounds of it. Or it could just be the fact that Barricade never returned the interest towards him, or any mech or femme that he knew of, and is now with an organic."
Groundhog, Barricade, Rollerforce, and Motorhead made up the Race Track Patrol team, but it had only been about fifty earth years since he had gotten separated from them, while Barricade had been gone for a lot longer. So he'd politely backed off to let the three reconnect, and that way he didn't have to deal with the grilling that Barricade was now getting. Barricade was giving them a nice ten minutes of answering the questions as a kind of welcome back present, though that had ended, and he'd just managed to escape as Barricade had finally exploded at the two.
"So Motorhead likes Barricade?" Miles asked, sitting down beside Groundhog as the ex-con took a moment to get some Energon.
"Figured that one out quickly," Groundhog said, confirming it without really saying yes.
"Kind of easy with all the hate vibes rolling off him, but I guess it would be kind of a big blow that you lost your love interest to something you saw as beneath your species." Miles snorted, because that was the only thing he could find to like about the situation.
"Mm," Groundhog replied, and the two were silent for a moment. Groundhog finished off his cube, feeling slightly bad for the organic. Motorhead was one of the nicest Decepticons he knew… as long as you weren't on his bad side, and Miles was definitely on his bad side. "I guess I should thank you."
"Yeah?" Miles asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Love triangle of the cosmos, my friend. Rollerforce likes Motorhead, Motorhead likes Barricade, and Barricade likes Rollerforce. Then there's me, stuck in the middle of three mechs with the equivalent of blue balls. Except Barricade likes you, meaning that it's possibly just two mechs with blue balls, and an infinitely easier time had by me. Next best story that's gonna be written on the website, guarantee it."
Miles stared at Groundhog for a minute, before snorting. The statement was so ridiculous it was fairly obvious the mech was trying to cheer him up a little. It wasn't exactly comforting to realize that Motorhead disliked him, because Motorhead was a giant alien robot who could possibly kill him with an accidental flick, much less if he actually decided to do something on purpose. Plus it was just so awkward. He wanted to be nice and let Barricade catch up with old friends, but the fact that one of those friends liked Barricade like that… well, that took a little more niceness.
"Gotta thank Trent, too." Groundhog continued, "He's pissing 'Force off just enough that he's not making fun of Motorhead for whatever mooning he's doing."
"Yeah, what's up with that anyway?"
"Apparently Rollerforce doesn't understand how Trent could prefer primitive means of transportation, aka his truck, to the ride that had been offered him inside of one of the two. And Trent's found at least fifty things to insult 'Force on about his alt mode, and counting from the last I bothered to listen to Rollerforce's rant."
"Trent always has been spectacularly good at insults. It's nice he gets to use them on someone again, he's been trying so hard to play nice to me and Sam." Which just so happened to be exactly why both he and Sam tended to try to annoy the jock as much as they could, Trent trying to make amends for whatever he'd done to them in the past by not getting angry and yelling at stupid things like he might someone else.
"I think Trent forgets that we have other ways of getting to him outside of physical pains. I believe I heard Rollerforce planning to scan the truck and transform down into it and surprise Trent that way."
"I would pay to see Trent's face. He's got no idea what it's like to have your very own 'con."
It was time for his and Thundercracker's little duel. Starscream was torn between being worried and not, because he knew that while Thundercracker had the upper hand strength wise, Starscream was smarter.
When it came to his trine they each brought something one of the others couldn't. Skywarp was all about surprise, no mech or femme knowing where he could pop to next, or what his mood would be like and what he'd do because of it. He was the wild card. Thundercracker was Skywarp's voice of reason, for whenever Starscream couldn't pull the trine leader card and get the normally hyperactive Seeker to behave that way, but he was also Starscream's, too. Normally calm with a thunderous anger, one that was rearing it's head now and making him challenge Starscream in the first place, Thundercracker was the brawn of the group. Starscream was the fastest out of the group, if Skywarp's warping abilities weren't counted, and the smartest, too.
But he had failings, Thundercracker there when he thought he could take on more than he really could, or helping patch him back together after several bad words with Megatron. And Skywarp helped Starscream to actually live a little, stuck as he was in his own programming by Shockwave, and the other seeker was always willing to lend an audial for whenever Starscream wanted to complain. Even if all he could manage to complain about was Megatron and how much he hated him, the act of insubordinance ingrained into his spark until he could bring himself to hate the Decepticon leader and wish his death even with Shockwave trying to keep him under control. Shockwave hadn't been able to do much, just enough to ensure that Starscream would stay with the Decepticons. Starscream's personality had been his own, albeit anger at being controlled making him a tad more violent and uncaring in his actions then he would have been, seeing as he would have been forced to follow the instructions if he did not do it 'willingly', and there was no way in the pit that Starscream would let himself turn into nothing more than a mindless drone.
He was fairly surprised that Skywarp had managed to work it out, but the smaller seeker had always been more perceptive than Starscream tended to give him credit for. Starscream was almost certain that Skywarp would be more than happy to stay with the Autobots, but if it came down to it and Thundercracker won he would respect it and leave with his mate.
Starscream was just nearing what Skyfire had told him was Barricade's hangar when he saw Miles sitting outside of the half open door, just out of sight. The Seeker raised an eyebrow, deciding Thundercracker could wait a few minutes.
He knew fully well what Miles had done for him; he figured he could try to be decent towards the teen. Skyfire had informed him that it had been Barricade who had killed Shockwave, and while he was more than happy that the scientist was dead, there was no way he was going to be grateful towards that ground pounder.
"What are you doing?" Starscream asked, picking the teen up without even bothering to ask if it was okay.
"Oh, hey, Starscream." Miles grinned at him, not bothering to complain. He was used to being manhandled; it almost came with the territory depending on the Cybertronian. "Barry and Groundhog are in there reminiscing with the newcomers, but I don't think they like me very much, especially the yellow one, so I'm stuck eavesdropping. And I forgot my phone in there, so I have an excuse just in case."
"How quaint." Starscream smirked, "No idea what you see in a filthy ground pounder, but I am indebted to you, so I might as well place nice.
"Indebted to me?"
"Yes, which is why you will have the honor of being inside me while Thundercracker and I duel."
"…I'm not sure how safe that sounds."
"You'll be perfectly safe, trust me."
"I'm not sure how safe that sounds."
Seekers didn't need to be in their alt mode to fly, but for the sake of their duel, and the fact that Starscream had Miles in his cockpit, they stayed in them throughout the whole battle. Miles had been expecting something completely different than what the 'battle' had turned out to be. It was basically one huge flight off, the two trying to out fly each other in fancy maneuvers, occasionally banging up against each other. Seekers had long standing traditions, and even with the new age of Cybertron where past traditions where being left behind, Seekers especially hung on to theirs, as well as certain cities. The main difference between Seekers and every mech and femme else, their wings, their flying, is what most of these traditions were based on.
Which was why when Miles had expected an actual physical fight, it had been a bit flightier than he had imagined, literally. He'd been too busy trying his hardest not to open his mouth and scream, because rollercoasters had nothing on Seekers, to ask at the time why it was more fancy flight show and less of the duel he'd been expecting. But even he had somehow caught on, Starscream coming out victorious after nearly an hour in the air.
From what little he had been able to make sense of direction wise, they had left base, which wasn't too surprising. He doubted either Seeker wanted Autobots watching them, the loser doubly so, nor would the Autobots want two Seekers flying wildly overhead. Skywarp followed, but stayed a respectful distance back to let the two have plenty of room.
An hour of flips, dives, rises, turns, and rough bumps later; Miles was more than thankful he hadn't ate anything yet that day and that they were finally coming to a stop, Starscream transforming half way towards the ground and then setting Miles down on it. Miles stood absolutely still, not trusting that if he moved he'd be able to move how he wanted, only mildly realizing that Skywarp came up and landed slightly behind them, staring pointedly at the grond.
"Not that that wasn't cool and everything, I really enjoyed it and all, but I just kind of thought that it would be, y'know, a legit fight. Not flying around each other in circles." Miles commented finally.
Thundercracker sneered down at Miles, "We wouldn't expect a simple pleasure drone to understand seeker heritage."
"Pleasure drone?" Miles echoed slowly, disbelief evident in his tone. "I am not a whore you stupid oversized peacock!"
"Peacock?" Thundercracker had to take a moment to look up what exactly that was, wings hitching up in anger as soon as he found out. "I am not some lowly earth fowl!"
"Awe, 'Cracker, leave the little organic alone, you insulted him first!" Skywarp picked Miles up, smiling down at the boy. "I think you'd be the best peacock ever!"
Starscream rolled his optics, "We could hardly shoot at each other, I don't want to have to deal with any hissy fits from Prowl, or Primus forbid something ricochets and scratches Sunstreaker's paint. Nor could we just stay around there to carry out the challenge."
"Well, yeah, I guess. You probably would have startled the Dinobots too."
"Are those the things where one of them dropped on Megatron's helm?" Skywarp asked, setting Miles down again.
"Yeah, that was Grimlock. There's also Sw-" Miles cut himself off, finally bothering to glance around and mouth dropping open.
"I can't believe they're actually counted as Autobots and allowed to fight," Thundercracker muttered, before noticing the teen's expression. "What?"
"I think he's looking at that really big hole in the ground!" Skywarp went over and bent at his knee joints, peering down into the giant chasm. Miles was a safe distance back, staring at the scenery, just beginning to realize he didn't have his phone and he was stuck out here with three 'cons.
"We need to go back, now."
"Why?" Skywarp whined, "This place looks really cool! I want to explore!"
"The web says this is something called the Grand Canyon, a tourist attraction. A water source eroded away all the land and created these walls. There's still parts of it down at the bottom." Thundercracker told his mate, peering down with him.
"There's water all the way down there? Oh, I see it now! Let's check it out, 'Cracker!"
"You can't just go and explore an organic tourist attraction!" Starscream growled, but he was ignored in favor of jumping right into it. Thundercracker immediately followed to try and retrieve his mate before they were spotted, and Starscream vented sharply in disbelief. He transformed down into his alt mode, "I at least will try to be less inconspicuous."
Miles looked at the Seeker, taking in the sleek alt F22 raptor. Less inconspicuous. Right. He somehow got the feeling that the Seekers, all four of them, were just going to become one giant headache.
"I really hate Seekers."
"Five new Decepticons in two days. Can you believe this?"
"It's supposed to be the Autobot base. Last time I checked there's no fraggin' 'con in there."
"Try to be reasonable, we all used to be one, why can't we be one again?"
"We were never one, that's why the war started. Autobots and Decepticons have always been different."
"What about Barricade, then? He's as much of an Autobot as you or m-"
"No, he is not. None of them are Autobots."
"Optimus is a fool if he thinks them playing nice with some stupid organics means anything. Once a 'con always a 'con."
"Those organics have the will of Primus on their side, I'd be respectful."
"So they say. And 'they' are the ones who have us stuck with those slagging pit spawned wingers."
"Just wait 'till Bluestreak and the rest get here. It won't just be us upset anymore. We can actually do something about it."
"Just what do you think that something is going to be? Mechs like you couldn't believe we could change as a people, that we could unite to bring back the Golden Age of Cybertron, make our planet beautiful again. Close-mindedness is one of the exact reasons our war started."
"What the slag is that supposed to mean?"
"It means I'd love to see what you plan to do about the mechs you're complaining about. Optimus might not be on strict orders from Ratchet to not do anything resembling battle, but even Prowl will vouch for them. Or at least the older ones."
"We'll see."