Author's note. I've used some Spanish in this which I think can be translated pretty easily but I apologise for any grammatical error I might have used. There's also some Gaelic so again, apologies if there is some awful grammar in there. If you're wondering why the Transformers apparently speak Gaelic, well, it's sort of because it's a little used language, how many people learn it compared to those who learn Spanish, French, German, even English? So, it sort of gives it a really alien feel as it were, while still remaining an actual language. Hope this makes sense.
Warning for language, especially during this author's note, lol.
Cac= Sh*t!
Drochrath air= Damn it!
De do ghnothaich= Mind your own business!
A MACH A SEO SIBH!= Get the f*ck out.
A th'irridh!= Oh hell
O Bhobh!= darn
Chorra Baboso= Stupid retard!
Cabrόn= bastard!
Vete al infierno= Go to hell!
Suggestions are welcome.
Enjoy and please review.
Starscream's POV
Starscream stared as he watched Rad disappear from sight; he still could not believe what he'd seen. Megatron had stated his intention to destroy Optimus Prime and the other Autobots before returning to conquer Cybertron which wasn't anything he hadn't heard before. No, what was shocking was his declaration to go back to Cybertron with the kids in tow who would be remaining on the planet. He honestly had not thought Megatron would do that, he figured they would keep the kids until they'd collected all the Minicons and then take the kids back to Earth.
But that wasn't even the worst part of that little confrontation, Rad's parting words had taken that particular honour.
"Great job, dad."
The words had been spoken with disgust, sarcasm and anger but something about them had rung true. He had absolutely no idea why any of the kids would refer to Megatron as their father unless Megatron had demanded they do so. But did his leader really feel that fond of the children? Since his mate had died, he had refused to even entertain the idea of producing an heir despite the numerous Femmes he'd been with.
Primus, was he seriously considering adopting some human children?
"Cac!" Megatron suddenly snarled, startling Starscream as his leader rarely swore.
As he half twisted to stare at Megatron, his leader added.
"Drochrath air!"
The Seeker froze, Megatron was truly furious and he was suddenly afraid. In this mind frame, Megatron could do anything, absolutely anything including half killing him. With a yelp, he suddenly found himself being shoved to the floor, painfully banging a wing in the process. The next moment he was flinching as Megatron angrily stood up, his body simmering with rage.
"Why must they be so wilful?" Megatron demanded to no one in particular. "Why don't they simply submit?"
Starscream idly thought that the kids wouldn't be themselves if they willing submitted to anything. He was far to wise to mention this little fact out loud to Megatron however and merely waited to see what he would do. His leader remained there, growling under his breath with clenched fists. A part of Starscream wanted to get up, he hated lying on the floor like this as though he were a bug but another part was afraid to draw Megatron's wrath down upon him.
"They will submit," Megatron now growled softly. "I do not care what I have to do but they shall learn their place."
"Megatron sir," Starscream somehow managed to ask. "W-what have the children done?"
"De do ghnothaich!" was Megatron's snarled responded as he reached down and seized the back of the Seeker's neck.
"Megatron!" Starscream gasped in pain as he was dragged to his feet. "Please..."
"You've encouraged their wilfulness," the angry Mech accused in a deadly tone. "You, Starscream, have always been too soft on them, even when I am giving you a well earned punishment, they are interfering. Demolisher and Cyclonus do not lead their charges astray; they do their duty and nothing more."
"I've...I've only wanted to keep them happy," Starscream tried to explain but the grip tightened threateningly.
"It is not your place to do that," Megatron hissed, bringing his face closer to the Seeker. "You feed Alexis, you watch over her and sometimes the others but nothing more. I will not have you usurp my position over those kids."
"I don't to usurp your position," Starscream protested desperately. "The children know full well that you are the one in command..."
"But you'd like to be in command, wouldn't you Starscream?" Megatron spat back. "I know of your ambitions, to one day becoming leader of the Decepticons. And now you want my children for yourself?"
"No sir," Starscream said earnestly. "I merely wish to do my duty towards them, for you."
"For me?" Megatron sneered scornfully. "Is that why you spirited them to Earth and back?"
"I...," Starscream began what could he say to that.
"You disagreed with me," Megatron said in cold triumph. "You think I punished them too harshly, don't you?"
"N-no," was the Seeker's nervous response. "You punished them as you saw fit, I just thought that as mere children, t-they couldn't handle the aftermath as well as real soldiers could. I...I know I indulged them sir but they were trying to be brave and...I couldn't bear to see them so distressed."
"I see," the larger Mech stated with a cold sneer. "Your compassion is your greatest weakness Starscream, you can never hope to best me if you keep it up."
Starscream didn't have anything to say to this. He knew he was expected to be a lot more ruthless and when it came to fighting, he was. However, with innocents like the children or ordinary civilians...he lacked the same bloodlust that many of his comrades possessed. He just didn't see any reason to treat them as he would fellow soldiers or fighters. Take them prisoner sure but you had to then afford them a certain amount of care.
"I know sir," he admitted softly. "But I cannot help caring for them sir, almost like they were mine."
To his shock, Megatron seemed to freeze slightly, staring at his Seeker with a very strange look. However, his expression slowly morphed into a very angry one, rapidly becoming furious and Starscream knew he'd somehow said the wrong thing. The only question was how badly Megatron was going to react.
"A MACH A SEO SIBH!"
Starscream didn't need telling twice, as Megatron released his tight grip, he scrambled from the room and ran down the corridor, almost igniting his thrusters in the process. He didn't stop until he was as far away from the Brig as possible, finally arriving at his quarters. Ignoring Swindle's questioning beep; he collapsed onto his berth, his systems screaming warnings. He prayed Megatron wouldn't come after him; his leader really had been liable to tear him apart in that moment.
"O Bhobh," he mumbled, what a cycle it had been.
As he rubbed a hand across his face, his aft gave a painful twinge, reminding him of his awful punishment. He grimaced, Primus but he would have rather a beating, anything other than the burn he was currently experiencing. Although a beating would have been impossible to hide and Cyclonus would have mocked him relentlessly, at least he could hold his head high about it.
Dear Primus but don't let Megatron announce to the others that he'd been...spanked.
With a grumble, he forced himself to think of something else and his processor focused on Megatron's last reaction. Just what had he said that would invoke Megatron's ire so? He thought back to his words and he frowned. Was his leader mad because of how he cared for the children? Surely his leader couldn't possibly be jealous or anything like that.
Then again, he hadn't been happy about the fact the Seeker was closer to the children than the other too. In some ways, he might even be closer to the kids than Megatron himself was. If Megatron did want to adopt the kids, however extraordinary that might be, it would explain his jealous rage. He was a possessive Mech and if anyone got in the way of something he believed belonged to him, they were in big trouble.
Starscream sighed; it was always him who seemed to clash with the Decepticon leader. It seemed this time he'd crossed some sort of line and he could only hope that it didn't come back to bite him in the aft. He winced, poor choice of words.
"Are you alright, Starscream?" Swindle asked softly, coming over.
"No," the Seeker grumbled. "Megatron's raging mad because I took the kids to Earth."
"O Bhobh," Swindle said with a wince. "Did he hurt you?"
Starscream just growled under his breath and glowered at the opposite wall, giving his Minicon his answer.
"Is there anything I can do to help?" Swindle asked kindly.
The Seeker grunted before saying.
"Get me an Energon cube."
The Minicon bowed slightly and rushed off to do his master's bidding. Starscream groaned, wishing he could roll over but knowing his aft wouldn't appreciate it. He swore he would be kinder with the children if he ever had to punish them again. He still had no idea what was going on between his leader and the children but he should probably keep his head down for a little while. In the meantime, whatever was going on would probably work its self out.
The Kids POV
"How could he?" Alexis wept as she lay slumped across the sill of a view screen that revealed the moon's surface. "How could he say such things?"
"Because he's Chorra Baboso," Carlos said heatedly, standing by her side as he tried to calm her down. It was a sign of just how angry he was that he was swearing in Spanish.
"Sounds about right," came Rad's grim voice as he joined up with them. "Alexis?"
She shook her head; she was just so distressed right about now. Rad came right over and knelt beside the girl Megatron claimed was his sister. He could accept that, he could also accept Carlos as a brother but Megatron as their father? No, not that jealous possessive Mech who wanted to take them away from everything they'd ever known or loved.
"I'm...I'll be okay," Alexis croaked, wiping frantically at her face as she tried to calm down. "What...what are we going to do?"
"We're going to escape," Rad said firmly. "There's no point in giving Megatron a chance if he's just going to constantly think of himself. None of us deserve a father like that."
"Damn right," Carlos said furiously. "Look how he treated Starscream just because he did something nice for us. And what he did to Optimus while he had him, we all know Optimus wouldn't have done the same."
"Of course not," Alexis said softly, her face red and streaked with tears but she was recovering. It was something Rad and always admired about her, she was always quick to bounce back from any disaster. Not that he blamed her for crying, Megatron words had been cruel and heartless.
"Megatron will expect us to be mad," Rad now said, taking the role of leader or big brother as it were. "He'll probably expect us to hide away and avoid, but he won't expect us to escape. We should use this to our advantage, use his arrogance against him."
This made his friends smile rather grimly; it would certainly serve Megatron right if they could do that. But even though they had the element of surprise on their side, they still needed to really think this through; they couldn't just head for the Warp Room. They would need a Warp Key and that meant they needed to steal one from a Decepticon.
"Come on," Rad said gently. "Let's get going, before Megatron comes looking for us."
The other two nodded and after one last swipe, Alexis cleared her face of tears. They all got up and quickly hurried away, heading straight for Cyclonus's room. It was unlikely Megatron would think to go there; he would expect to find them hiding in a more deserted area. They had no idea where Cyclonus would be, he might be in his room or he might be out training. However, considering Cyclonus spent the majority of his time in that room recharging, they were quite hopeful they could still steal that key.
On the way there, they bumped into Leader One who greeted them with a warm smile. Obviously, he had no idea what had transpired and they took advantage of this. They did feel a little guilty but were sure the kind Minicon would forgive them. Part of the reason they were doing this was so he wouldn't get punished because Megatron would surely see he wasn't lying when he denied knowledge of their escape plan.
"Where are you off to in such a hurry?" he asked kindly and Alexis said in a shaky voice.
"A-away from Megatron."
His expression changed to one of deep concern and he asked.
"What happened?"
"He's made it very clear what's going to happen to us," Rad said, a trace of anger in his voice. "I'm sorry Leader-One but we need to...to just find some peace. We can barely cope with what he said; we just can't deal with meeting him right now."
"I understand," Leader One said a look of great sorrow on his face. "Do you want me to speak with him?"
"You can try," Carlos said darkly. "That cabrόn has his mind set on this."
"I'll do what I can," Leader One assured them, still looking very concerned.
"Thanks," Rad said gratefully although he wasn't sure if Leader One could do anything. "We just need to find somewhere quiet and away from Megatron, we'll see you later."
Leader One inclined his head before allowing them to continue on their way. The kids waited until he was out of sight and hurried to Cyclonus's room. He was there but fast asleep and snoring loudly. They paused at the door and Carlos hissed.
"I'll go and take a look, if he wakes up, he won't think anything of me being there."
"Okay," Rad murmured as he and Alexis hung back while Carlos snuck into the room.
His guardian didn't even stir as he began to search the room for a Warp Key. Thanks to their time with the Autobots, they knew exactly what those keys looked like and Carlos really hoped the helicopter Decepticon had left it lying around rather than inside his sub space. Just when he was about to get frustrated, he suddenly spotted it high on shelf above him.
"It's there," he hissed, pointing up towards the shelf. "Come on in."
The others hurried to his side and stood there, trying to work out how to get it.
"Me and Rad will try and get it," Carlos said quietly. "Alexis, can you watch Cyclonus?"
"Yep," she said with a nod went to climb onto a box for a better view.
"I think we'll have to climb around to it," Carlos now said grimly and Rad nodded.
There sadly wasn't anything under that shelf that would allow them to climb upwards so they'd have to aim from above. They found some jagged old piping that allowed them to carefully climb as Alexis watched the slumbering Decepticon. It wasn't difficult but it wasn't very easy either and by the time the boys reached a certain height, they were panting.
"If we could reach that shelf," Rad panted, looking to where said shelf was, mocking just out of their reach. The problem was that not only for the shelf above them, it was also to one side of them and they just couldn't get at it.
"Let's climb higher," Carlos suggested. "I can hold you and you reach for that shelf, you just need to grab it."
"Okay, let's try it," Rad said with a nod and they climbed even higher until they were above the shelf which was too far away to jump.
Holding onto Carlos's arm as the Spanish boy braced himself against the pipe, Rad stretched as far as he could, trying to reach that shelf. However, it was still out of reach and with a grunt, Carlos tried to hold Rad out further but there was only so much he could do without losing his grip.
"I can't reach it," Rad said in distress, trying to stretch but knowing if he went too far, he'd fall. "I...Laserbeak!?"
"Wha?" Carlos exclaimed in disbelief as the little robot spy who they hadn't seen since they'd first been captured flew down to them.
"Laserbeak," Alexis cried joyously as Cyclonus snorted. "I don't believe it, how did he get here?"
"We'll ask him later," Rad said firmly even as he grinned. "Laserbeak, can you get that key for us?"
The little orange spy bird did a circle before flying straight for the shelf. Rad meanwhile, was brought back to the pipe properly and reattached himself to it, Carlos sighing in relief as his screaming muscles were given a chance to rest. Both boys started rapidly climbing down as Laserbeak landed next to the key and started to nudge it, he was a little too small to actually carry the key. But he could easily push it to the edge of the shelf and wait for the kids to gather.
"Grab that cloth," Rad ordered and Alexis obeyed, racing to grab a slightly greasy rag lying on the floor.
Once the boys were down, they grabbed the cloth as she brought it over and they spread it out. With all three of them gripping it tightly, they positioned themselves right underneath the key which was peeping over the edge of its shelf.
"Go ahead Laserbeak," Carlos softly called up. "We're ready."
With an almighty shove, Laserbeak pushed it off and it flew straight down to earth. It fell into the centre of their cloth and bounced up but thankfully just fell back down again. Triumphantly, the kids came together and grabbed the key, wishing they could whoop with joy but refraining from doing so. They could do that when they were back on Earth.
"We'll be able to contact Optimus when we get back to Earth," Alexis said happily as they escaped from Cyclonus's room, the Decepticon still blissfully sleeping and Laserbeak flying after them.
"We sure will," Rad grinned, looking up to Laserbeak and saying. "Laserbeak, can you go ahead and make sure it's safe?"
Laserbeak did as bid, flying high and away. The kids hurried after him, they didn't want to wait another moment longer on the Moon Base, they were going straight to Earth now. Thankfully, they reached the Warp room without any hassle and Laserbeak landed neatly on Rad's shoulder. Straight away, they shoved the key into the Warp Drive and powered it up before quickly typing coordinates.
But now they paused, this was a massive step. Megatron would not be happy when he discovered what they'd done and they were still changing into organic robots. It was enough to still them as they stared at the Warp platform that the Decepticons use.
"If Megatron catches us...," Alexis couldn't help but point out. She was terrified that he'd give them another bare spanking; the first had been bad enough but that near second one had been unbearable.
"Megatron's can Vete al infierno," Carlos snarled furiously.
His gaze softened as he saw how anxious Alexis was and he said.
"We have to do this Alexis, not just for us but for our family and friends. You know Megatron will never let us go."
She trembled for a moment before nodding firmly, Carlos was right. This might be their only chance at getting home, they had to take it. With Laserbeak safely stowed, Rad took Alexis's right hand while Carlos took her left. With a smile, the fair skinned boy said softly.
"Together?"
"Together," his friends echoed and without a single glanced behind, they ran straight onto the Warp platform and disappeared from view.
Author's note. Remember that battle Optimus set up just so he could talk to Megatron? Well, this was the real reason for it, to smuggle Lazerbeak to the Nemesis to that he could eventually help the kids. Hope you enjoyed the little twist, until next time.