A/N: Hi, Hello, Hey. I think this one came out pretty good, though it was probably more towards the end that I enjoyed writing it. So I was reading some other stories and people were talking about "Beta Readers" or something. I wonder what one of those it o.O

Enjoy the chapter!

His processor ached. His frame felt limp, and at first refused to get up, just sprawling all over the floor when he attempted to lift himself from the chair.

"Stupid thing…" Megatron muttered to himself, propping one powerful servo onto the nearby table to hoist himself back up. Once his view finally stopped shaking to and fro, his optics revealed two objects that immediately came to his attention. He stuck himself in thought briefly, processor still not working at full speed. Eventually opting for the datapad, he reached out to grab it, took a seat and began reading. He was immediately unimpressed when whoever had written the note chose to put his title, "Lord" in quotation marks, as if to suggest sarcasm. He could already guess the author.

'Dear "Lord" Megatron,

As you may be aware, you have consumed a fair amount of high grade energon. I assume I don't need to explain the after effects of over consumption to you, since you are quite the veteran in that field'

Already Megatron's servos had to clench and unclench themselves to avoid the datapad being smashed to pieces. The sneaky little glitch was going to get it when he'd finished.

'In case you were wondering, Soundwave will be taking your place for the foreseeable future, I would not be so low as to try and take my rightful position as leader whilst you are intoxicated.'

The tryant would admit this actually relieved him. Whilst Starscream's attempts at usurping him were utterly hopeless, Megatron was in no mind to deal with them right now.

'Also, the box you see sitting next to you is in fact, for you (Merry Christmas). You tried to eat it earlier, please don't try again. I'm not an expert on cardboard, but it looks undercooked to me.'

The commander physically face palmed. Why he drank high grade, he did not know.

'Please do not shoot me with the fusion cannon. Unlike your aim, I can assure you it's firepower is nowhere near lousy. Though I still wouldn't recommend it, test it on some constructicons or something.

I'd also like to take this opportunity to inform you that due to your new toy, we are now running low on various scientific equipment needed to make weapons. If you would grant me permission, I could happily go out and purchase these for you.

Good luck waking up,

Starscream, your trustworthy subordinate'

Although itching to now open the box to see whether this datapad had been telling the truth or not, a couple of things he hadn't noticed at first caught Megatron's optic. Firstly, there seemed to be a small message scrawled across the bottom. Upon close inspection, it read 'Skywarp was here, Thundercracker is a loser'. Without meaning to, the gladiator scoffed at this. The second and more interesting development was an image that Starscream inscribed after his name. There were two dots, and below that an arc that peaked at either end. It almost looked like smiling faceplates without the outline of a helm. Why he would have drawn such a thing, Megatron did not know. Storing this information away for pondering later, the silver mech reached for the lid of the box. His red optics instantly lit up at the sight of what was inside.

It looked fun.

"Ehhhh, that's all that happened?" Skywarp began whinging and whining once again as he was disappointed by Starscream's lack of initiative on the situation.

"What did you think was going to happen?" Starscream retorted, more confused than anything.

"Well, you know…" Skywarp made a gesture giggling to himself at his trinemate's outraged expression.

"Why on Cybertron would we do that!?" Starscream realised he'd accidentally stood up in the heat of the moment, startling the purple seeker. He sighed, returning to a seating position once more. "You're crazy Skywarp, you know that?" He smiled at him.

"It's what I do best!" The flier beamed at Starscream, before a frown crept up on him like a snake. Something seemed ever so off about Skywarp right now. "Do you know where Thundercracker went? I've been looking for him all day, but the guy is just invisible…" He trailed off.

"I think he said he went looking for Soundwave for some reason. He should be back this afternoon." Skywarp didn't say anything, but it was clear that he was disappointed to say the least. Every time someone suggested it, Skywarp would get overly defensive, but the purple seeker was clearly dependent on Thundercracker. As a trine should be, though Skywarp perhaps a little more so. It wasn't the way Starscream liked to do things. If he only relied on himself, then no mistakes could be made. It was easier that way, or he had convinced himself so at the very least.

That train of though was interrupted by a loud ring reverberating in Starscream's audios. He almost jumped out of his frame. Skywarp looked up as if to say something, but his trinemate silenced him by bringing a digit towards his lips.

"This'd better be good…" Starscream mumbled to whoever was on the other line, not in the best of moods anymore.

"Did you say something?" A deep voice rumbled in response, not sounding too happy either.

"Oh, decided to wake up in the end?" Though he would never dare to do it in person, Starscream liked to utilise his wit whenever him and Megatron were distanced from each other in any way. It gave him some small sense of power in the relationship, if only a little. He received an angry grunt in response.

"Well, what can I do you for today?" Starscream said with unconvincing apathy. For some odd reason, no matter how much he told his systems to calm down, his spark insisted on beating a little faster and heavier than usual.

"I need to see you in my quarters about something." Starscream felt a shiver go down his spine.

"Wh-why can't you just tell me now?" The seeker asked anxiously. Skywarp seemed to enjoy his slight tremblings, bouncing up and down in front of his optics.

"Because I said so." The warlord replied, as if it should have been obvious. "Be here soon, you wouldn't like me getting impatient now, would you?" There was a slight fizz of static as the comm was ended, leaving a very nervous Starscream and a strangely excited Skywarp.

"So that was Megatron…"

Thundercracker walked through the dimly lit corridor hesitantly, each step lagging behind. He'd chosen to take matters into his own hands for Starscream's affair, for once acting without Skywarp. Although the two seekers had initially agreed that they'd do the whole thing together, Thundercracker needed to be alone for this one. Skywarp wouldn't have the sense to go about this in the right way.

The blue seeker reached the door. Green like all of the others, a gold pair of numbers in the centre. In. Out. In. Out. Thundercracker practiced taking a few breaths before knocking on the door. He heard muffled footsteps get closer and closer, before a familiar visor appeared level with his optics.

"Greetings, Soundwave. How are you today?"

"Soundwave: good. Thundercracker: Also seems well."

"Yeah, I guess so. You busy? I'd like to discuss something with you." Soundwave travelled around his own processor, trying to see if there was something he could pretend to be doing to shake Thundercracker off. There wasn't, so he let the flier into his quarters.

Datapads. There were lots of them, Thundercracker discovered. They were practically all that the navy blue mech seemed to own, save his own computer and a few suspicious objects that the seeker didn't want to find out about. Instead of taking a seat, he walked to the other end of the room, allowing a small space to make itself known in between him and Soundwave.

"Thundercracker: State reason for entry." Soundwave requested of him. In all honesty, Thundercracker wasn't feeling too sure of himself, but it was still the right action to take. At the very least, he needed to find out if Soundwave would help or hinder Starscream's desires. It'd be impossible to keep sneaking around with Soundwave sticking his nose where it wasn't wanted.

"Well, I was just walking about and all, and a thought came to me. I've been serving under the Decepticon cause for a while now, yet I know very little about its leader." Soundwave studied the seeker carefully, not used to this kind of behaviour from him. He assumed he wouldn't like where this conversation was headed.

"Could you tell me a little about our mighty Megatron?" Thundercracker twitched as Soundwave just stared intently at him. Did he not even need his powers to know his thinking right now? Maybe it'd be best if he just left now.

"Thundercracker: requests what kind of information?" Soundwave asked. He'd have to take the step, it was now or never. He'd need the two Decepticons to quicken the pace to their friendship if anything were to really happen. Maybe he could sneak it in somewhere?

"The usual things." Thundercracker said quickly. "What he likes, what he does, whether he's looking for a bondmate, what's his favourite colour-"

"A bondmate?" Soundwave repeated.

"Oh, well now you bring that up" Thundercracker said in a nonchalant sort of way (or at least he hoped it appeared that way), "Say that he was indeed looking for one… What kind of characteristics do you think he'd be looking for?" The seeker looked up hopefully, but then felt his spark skip a beat as he saw the familiar glint of a visor. How long had that been going on? How far had Soundwave gone into his mind?

Both mechs froze.

Soundwave tried to dash out of the room, but Thundercracker jumped him as the navy mech reached for the door. He groaned as the blue seeker took up a suitable position on top of him, so as to restrict any movement.

"Starscream: In no way a suitable mech for the likes of Megatron!" Soundwave roared, as he now could no longer control his emotions, his monotone vanished into thin air.

"Just calm down, will you?" Thundercracker moaned, struggling to keep Soundwave from moving. "No one's saying he will be, but at least let us try and put the two together? Okay? Please?"

"No!" Soundwave shouted back, desperately struggling under Thundercracker's hold, which continued to loosen. If Soundwave got out and managed to tell Megatron now, then… then…! Thundercracker didn't want to think what would happen.

"I'll do anything you want if you keep this quiet, anything! Just don't tell Megatron, okay?" The struggling stopped. Slowly, Thundercracker allowed the monotone mech to rise to his pedes. Soundwave brushed some dust off of his frame as if nothing had even happened.

"Anything?" Soundwave queried. The seeker was regretting this already.

"Within reason…" He whimpered, not a fan of the look he was on the receiving end of. Soundwave closed the distance between their two helms, and whispered something in the flier's audios.

"That's it?" Thundercracker raised an optic ridge, expecting something a little more… substantial. Soundwave nodded in approval.

"That's it."

His heels clacked on the floor in a quivering rhythm, failing to keep any sort of consistent pace. His air vents cycled rapidly, pushing air out as if it were poison to the frame, then drawing it in like a life line. His processor jolted about like a Skywarp, finding question upon question, yet no answers to any of them.

All in all, you could say Starscream was a little nervous.

Getting closer to his leader's quarters, the seeker continued to question himself about his ambiguous request to see him directly about… Whatever this was.

"Something I have to be physically present for… What could that be?" The air commander asked himself. Punishment, perhaps? Then again, he didn't know of anything he'd done wrong (for once), and Megatron hadn't sounded any angrier than his usual, bitter self. A particularly dirty thought made its way into his processor, and he dismissed it just as quickly as it had arisen.

"No way, no way… Now is not the time to be thinking like that!" He scolded himself, giving himself a quick smack on the faceplates. It wouldn't be ridden of that easily though. Despite his best efforts, his mind couldn't help but wander into alternate situations. Maybe his wing would accidentally be brushed past by Megatron's servo, they'd lock optics with each other and-

He knocked on the door. Starscream would have to be very careful, but it was nothing that he hadn't handled before. Starscream was the master of his own emotions. He could manipulate other mechs to practically fall before his knees, make them carry out his every desire without even realising what they were doing. Starscream was prepared for this.

The door opened. Megatron glanced down at his second, and the seeker in turn made an involuntary little squeak. He was not prepared at all. In fact, the problem had only gotten worse, as Starscream had to sneak past the larger mech's bulk in order to avoid looking at him.

"You- you wanted to see me?" He asked, helm still focusing intently on something, anything that wasn't Megatron. The ground pounder stared after him for a while, finding his behaviour somewhat amusing. Was he really that scared of him?

"Well I didn't want to see you, but it was necessary." He chuckled, making sure that Starscream heard the cruelty in his voice. The seeker didn't turn, but it was clear from his body language that he was annoyed. He almost looked saddened, pristine wings drooping slightly, servos limp and by his sides. Megatron found the sight endearing to look at.

"As you made clear, we are running out of supplies, due to this lovely device here that you made me." Starscream turned slightly to see Megatron waving the fusion cannon around on his arm, grinning at Starscream with anticipation. "It works very well, by the way." He leered. "Want to see?" Starscream grimaced at how eagerly the gladiator wanted to fire it at something.

"No thanks, I've already seen it in action." He mumbled, feigning a smile to mask his growing sense of fear. The seeker could only guess at who the intended target would be.

"Anyway," The warlord continued, edging a little closer to the seeker without him noticing, "I'm fully aware that you are probably the only mech who actually knows what to look for." The warlord eyed Starscream carefully, who was merely shuffling his digits together awkwardly, mumbling something under his breath. "In any case, I'd like to ask you go out and retrieve these items." Starscream let out a sigh of relief. That was all he had to do, just go out and buy a couple of things. He almost laughed out loud, he'd gotten himself worked up about something so trivial. He bowed lightly to his commander, before attempting to escape. He almost ran into Megatron on the way out as he moved swiftly to block the seeker's path.

"I'm not finished yet." He growled through gritted dentas. Starscream instinctively took a few steps back, before glancing up at Megatron expectantly. The silver mech huffed in annoyance before speaking again. "Since you are not a trustworthy character-"

"Says who?" Starscream shrieked, outraged at the suggestion.

"Says everyone to have ever existed ever." Megatron informed him. Starscream made a small moaning noise, seeing where this might be headed. The Decepticon commander only found it adorable coming from the smaller seeker. "It is for that reason, that I will have someone who I can trust to accompany you." Starscream's processor whirred into action, thinking which mechs would fall into that category. Presumably one suck up or another that would never even dream of stepping a toe out of line. Starscream presumed he wouldn't get along with said mech.

"Since I'm feeling particularly generous today", Megatron enlightened the seeker, "I'll let you choose who you want to go with." He smiled deviously at Starscream, who did not return the look.

"Me, or Soundwave."

"There aren't any other choices?"

"No."

"Please?"

"No."

"I'll be good, I swear!"

"That sort of behaviour has yet to be seen from you." Starscream scowled at his leader, who didn't look at all fazed by his discomfort. What could he possibly hope to achieve by sneaking out only a few miles away? Megatron was just deliberately being cruel to him, and he knew it. He'd simply have to prevent the gladiator from taking any further action against him.

"Then I guess… I'll go with Soundwave." Starscream sighed in defeat. He wasn't looking forward to it, but maybe this way there would be a lesser chance of any shenanigans occurring. He didn't trust himself to remain impartial should he spend such a long period of time alone with Megatron.

Megatron, however, frowned at this decision. The whole reason he had invited Starscream was because he had assumed it would save time on the matter once he had chosen him over Soundwave. Apparently though, he'd somehow managed to build up an even worse relationship with the seeker than Soundwave had. And those two really, really hated each other.

Regardless of what everyone else may have thought, Megatron didn't hate Starscream. Yes, the seeker could get very annoying at times, and yes, he did take it upon himself to argue with Megatron's every word, when no one had instructed him to do so. Whilst he did have his flaws, the seeker was also useful in his own little ways. His scientific knowledge kept weapons modern and technology up to date, he was good at keeping many of the other Decepticons in line, and had a flying ability that no other seeker was able to match. There was another reason that Megatron had chosen Starscream, but he didn't like to think about it much. He never understood that feeling anyway, and had drowned it out the moment it had appeared.

All in all, quite the perfect candidate for second in command. It was a shame, in that sense, that Megatron had to discipline the seeker so often. It had started out as a simple glare or scolding every once in a while, but Starscream just seemed unable to get the message. It was then that he'd had to resort to violence. By now, he was well used to the seeker's pleas as he tore the wings that clung to his back within an inch of their life, squeezed servos until they were thoroughly crushed. After finding out how quickly he could correct his ways, it was only natural that Megatron would start to use these methods on the rest of his underlings.

But he didn't do it that often. He gave the seeker everything he needed. He offered him more responsibility than any other mech. He was even so incredibly lenient by not even demoting the little glitch when he actually tried to offline him.

So why did the seeker hate him so much?

"Fine, fine. I'll call up Soundwave." The tyrant grumbled, forgetting to hide his disappointment. Starscream raised an optic ridge at his reaction, but didn't dare speak out.

"You called, My lord?" Soundwave asked, voice betraying nothing.

"I need you to escort Starscream somewhere in my place." Megatron instructed the navy mech. Unbeknownst to him, Thundercracker was scribbling something down on a datapad and then showing Soundwave, who nodded in understanding.

"Soundwave: too busy."

"What could you possibly be doing?" Megatron seethed. Starscream started to feel slightly uncomfortable, but stayed put nonetheless.

"Soundwave: busy with important things." He lied.

"WELL THEN YOU'D BETTER-" And the link was cut off. For a moment, Megatron just stood there, not quite comprehending what happened. He looked for someone to blame, as he usually did when something went wrong. And he found the usual seeker, greeting him with a smirk.

"Sorry, Soundwave is busy right now. I guess that leaves you with me, doesn't it?" Starscream didn't move, even as the silver, taller mech bent down to press his optics near to Starscream's.

"No…" He whispered.

"You can walk, or I can carry you. Which would you prefer?" He spat in Starscream's direction. The seeker thought about how he longed for the second option, to curl up and rest against his helm against Megatron's warm armour… Starscream mentally slapped himself, before pacing ahead of his leader, making small whining noises as he went. Megatron followed after him shortly, for some reason not able to avert his gaze from the seeker for some odd reason.

He looked ever so slightly cute when he was upset.

I don't like leaving you guise with a cliff hanger-esque ending, so I'll try and write the next chapter ASAP. Don't forget to review and all those things that people do!

What did Soundwave say to Thundercracker? How will Starscream keep his act together around Megatron? And where on Cybertron has Skywarp wondered off to?