A/N: Yo, wazzap? Idk if this one took longer than usual, but I'm sorry for making you wait regardless. If you didn't know, school has started over here in the UK, and since I'm moving up to year 12, I literally have a butt-ton of work to do. That means uploads will probably be at the weekend, where I have more time to do stuff (Once a week).

I'm not sure this chapter turned out entirely how I wanted it to, but I wanted to get something out soon, even if not a lot of action happens. There will be sure to me some M & SS interaction next chapter, so look forward to it!

Remember to comment about what you liked/disliked, and as always, enjoy your reading!

"You… you what?" Thundercracker gave a surprised stare, optics and mouth both wide open. If there were a time where Megatron came close to embarrassment in his life, it would be now. Currently, he felt more anger towards himself than anything else. Usually, he could keep his emotions in check, but no. That nosy little seeker had to poke his nose into business that wasn't his, and give opinions that weren't even wanted. It helped to get past the initial awkwardness of the conversation, but the commander would have rather have gathered as much information as possible before the two fliers had a chance to consider whether it was worth telling him.

"I hate to say I told you so… Wait a minute, no I don't. I so told you so, TC!" Skywarp exclaimed excitedly, though the other seeker was too caught up in his own thoughts to hear the teleporter, as was Megatron.

"I uhm, realise this is a sensitive topic for you, Megatron…" Thundercracker said, volume barely above a whisper, "But are you sure? I mean, your programming probably doesn't enable-"

"I am aware of my own programming!" The tyrant snarled darkly, anger continuing to push at his processor over the whole thing. "So can you imagine, how pleased I was when I discovered this problem?" Thundercracker looked up. As he saw the commander's faceplates, the seeker wished he hadn't. Even though they weren't physically touching, Thundercracker could feel his whole frame lock up at a glance of Megatron's icy stare, as if he were in the grip of a vice. In short, he felt like purging.

"Problem? I thought you said that you wanted to like him?" Skywarp inquired without so much as a second thought. With no strength to move, Thundercracker's optics could only look on helplessly as Skywarp poked his helm into something he should have known not to.

"I misspoke." Megatron growled. "I would appreciate it if you got on with this and told me how to get rid of it."

"Why, what's wrong with it?" For an instant, everything seemed perfectly calm. Then the desk flipped over, and Skywarp found himself up against the wall, silver claws tightly clenched around his throat.

"What's wrong with it?" The commander repeated, voice at a deathly low tone. "I'll tell you what. For vorns, I've tried to deactivate the little slagger you call a trinemate so many times, you wouldn't believe it. Almost as many times as he's tried to kill me, in fact. I cannot and will not have such discusting things in my spark for a seeker like that!" Megatron felt Skywarp's throat move against his servo as he roared into the flier's audios, indicating that he was trying to say something. Reluctantly, he lessened the grasp a little.

"He never… tried… to kill you." He heard the seeker rasp, coughing and wheezing mixed in with his words. Megatron retightened his hold.

"I think I would notice if someone tried to kill me better than you, actually!" Thundercracker tensed his grip on the chair, feeling his helplessness practically scream at him. He wanted to shout, to save Skywarp, but his frame wouldn't let him. It just sat there like a pile of scrap. But from the looks of it, Skywarp didn't even need saving. He was smiling, and would probably had laughed if Megatron had allowed him to. Why? What was so amusing about this?

"He was protecting you…" The purple seeker squeaked, not improving Megatron's mood as he squeezed so hard, parts of the wall seemed to crack along with Skywarp's frame.

"I never asked, and never needed to be protected from anything!" The gladiator shouted back, giving up on his choking and letting Skywarp fall to the floor. The sight almost reminded him of Starscream, a pathetic seeker staring up at him wide eyed, yet without resentment. And why? Was he not beating them hard enough? It was easier to hurt someone for Megatron when he knew they hated him back, and wanted to do what he was doing in return. But these fragging seekers never fought back. It invoked a small sense of guilt in the large mech. A small, tiny sense of guilt. Nothing more.

"Didn't you think…" Skywarp tried to finish, but panting for air was top of his priorities, "That it was funny that Starscream, the most intelligent mech in the entire Decepticon ranks, thought up sparkling like plans only when it came to overthrowing you?" The silver gladiator didn't lose his temper, but chose not to answer. Realising he may have hit a chord, Skywarp continued.

"Doesn't it strike you as odd that whenever you abuse him, he never fights back? You know, the mech that wants to kill you. Who incidentally doesn't try to kill you." Megatron's servos gently unclenched, his faceplates forming more of a subdued look.

"And you know that time he saved your life literally a couple of weeks ago, couldn't you just see the murderous intentions he had?" With a loud grunt, Megatron muttered something under his breath and returned to a seated position, optics glaring at nothing in particular. The purple seeker felt satisfied with his response, bouncing back next to Thundercracker like nothing had happened. Although, he did rub his neck gingerly and make a lot of whines, causing his trinemate to feel guilty at not standing up for him.

"Thanks for helping, by the way." Skywarp nudged TC playfully, but the blue flier only bit down on his lip.

"I-I'm sorry." He whimpered. "I wanted to help, I just couldn't."

"What are you talking about? You did help!"

"I-I did?"

"Of course, silly!" The purple seeker disregarded the fact that Megatron was still even in the same room as them, hugging his trinemate enthusiastically. "There's no way I would have done that if you weren't here with me." Thundercracker didn't feel much better, still in his opinion having done nothing. It was only his trinemate's cheerful smile that chipped away at the guilt slightly.

"Megatron – Listening?" Half not in the mood to talk and half not wanting to give away the fact he and Soundwave had been communicating this whole time, he grunted in response.

"Skywarp – Has considerable amounts of information to offer. Problem – Cannot announce said information without provoking Thundercracker. Suggestion – Soundwave remove Thundercracker from the room?" Megatron wondered what kind of information this could be. Blackmail? That wouldn't be it. Not even Lugnut the buffoon would give dangerous information regarding his siblings to the commander. And although he could easily chain the seeker to his side by force, it just seemed easier and more enjoyable in the long run if Starscream chose to stay with the gladiator willingly.

Regardless of what it was, Megatron wanted to hear it. He wasn't too keen on the idea of Thundercracker staying, his ideals conflicted with Megatron's too much. He would be nothing but trouble.

"Yes, do that Soundwave. Just make it discreet." The tyrant murmured, thankful Skywarp was busy doing something bizarre to keep the blue flier's attention at bay. What looked like a very aggressive hug was interrupted by TC, who held up a servo to his trinemate for attention. Megatron watched hesitantly, wondering if someone with such a lack of common sense as Soundwave could make up a plausible excuse to remove Thundercracker from the room.

"Uhh, forgive me lord Megatron, but my attention is required elsewhere." The blue seeker announced after a few seconds, standing up from his seat much to Skywarp's dismay.

"What is this concerning?" Megatron asked him, determined to act how he usually would. As he'd seen, the flier had a keen eye for anything suspicious.

"Soundwave said that Starscream required my assistance, but he didn't say what for." He frowned, before adding "I'd better go, just in case it's important." Thundercracker watched his leader think (or at least, pretend to ponder), before he gave a nod. TC noticeably let out a cycle of air in relief, mostly just glad he didn't have to spend so much time with such a scary mech, in such a small room. His relief melted when he remembered Skywarp would have to go through his greatest fears in his stead. Alone.

"Listen Warp. We both know… What you're like."

"We do?" Skywarp chirped. Thundercracker could already tell this was not going to be one of his better ideas.

"Just don't do anything to annoy you know who."

"Lord Voldemort?"

"Skywarp!"

"Thundercracker!" As he should've known before, there was no way to stop Skywarp being Skywarp. Thundercracker slipped out the room to find Starscream, hoping that he could at least save one of his trinemates from termination today.

"Can you keep a secret?" Skywarp instantly exclaimed, using both pedes to push his helm as close to Megatron's as possible. The fact that the table was built for someone of Megatron's height rather than his own didn't help Skywarp get very far, but the gladiator still looked mildly startled at the sudden burst of energy the seeker had let out.

"What do you mean by that?"

"Come on, don't play dumb with me!" Skywarp giggled, retreating back to his own seat. Megatron wasn't sure how much more of this cheery attitude he could take before wings started coming off.

"You obviously had TC removed just to talk to me privately, am I right?" the tyrant raised an optic ridge in surprise, not expecting Skywarp of all mechs to figure it out. "It's also impolite to have Soundwave snoop around outside when having a private conversation."

"You saw him?"

"No actually, I just manipulated my own thoughts to get him to get TC to leave." Skywarp smiled all too smugly, so Megatron kicked him under the table just for good measure. The surprised yelp the seeker made certainly was satisfying.

"Then explain to me, why exactly you needed Thundercracker to leave. Surely it would be more beneficial to you if your trinemate were here to assist you?" Skywarp seemed to frown and smile at the same time, his emotions caught in a tangle.

"Well, TC's great and all… Really great, really!" Megatron noted how the flier seemed to be trying to convince himself of something rather than the commander. He was visibly nervous, wiping his forehead as if to rid of a drop of sweat. "But truth is, well he… he didn't approve of you two being together." Megatron's look of contemplation darkened to one of bitterness, processor already formulating ideas on how he could punish the seeker. Seeing this, Skywarp hastened to clean up the mess.

"But you can't hurt him! I mean, if you did, then he'd know that I told you!" The seeker squealed, frightened optics looking into the pounder's.

"That is none of my concern." A more than agitated Megatron retorted back. He wasn't fit for Starscream? Nonsense! He was the one sinking down to the snotty nosed, arrogant and betraying seeker. The air commander should have been honoured that Megatron even considered him worth his time!

"How would Starscream think of you hurting his trine?" Skywarp tried to reason in desperation, voice hoarse-sounding. That brought him back to his senses.

"Then tell me…" The tyrant murmured, "What exactly would make him think… positively of me?" The notion that Megatron was meant to care what another mech thought about him would have seemed foreign a few days ago. Now it just naturally fitted in his processor like any feeling of hate or anger. Unavoidable, impossible to ignore.

"Well, that depends on exactly what you want to gain." Said Skywarp. "Do you just want to be a little friendly, or would you like little more? Like, say a relationship?" As much as he tried, the mechly side of him would not allow him to speak of such topics as 'relationships' or 'love'. It was one of the few things being able to rip other mech's frames apart did not help with.

"The latter." He eventually conceded, and grunted soon after as Skywarp gave an excited bounce or two.

"Well then, I'll have to refer back to my earlier question. Can you keep a secret?"

"No." Megatron thought to himself.

"Of course." The gladiator replied coolly. He was quite good at lying, if he tried.

"Well then, you'll be interested to know that the Starscream you know and love, quite literally, shares the same feelings for you too!" Skywarp grinned to himself, being especially excited for Megatron's reaction. The seeker could barely contain himself as for what could have been hours, the silver mech simply sat there, absolutely dumbfounded. Unfortunately, it did not end with the reaction he was expecting.

"You're lying."

"Am not!"

"I was looking for serious suggestions Skywarp, not to play any of your little games."

"I'm not lying!" Already scarred from Starscream's audio breaking pitches, Megatron decided that he did not need another seeker screaming at him. He definitely couldn't concentrate on how to court Starscream with that sort of racket going on.

"That will be all Skywarp, you are excused." Megatron placed both servos to support his helm, rubbing them round in circles to try and release some of the stress his processor had built up. Perhaps if he were to get some recharge, his processor would think of something.

"No." Megatron paused. He tilted his head to one side.

"No?"

"I'm not leaving until you believe me." Instead of glaring, Megatron eyed the seeker carefully. In all of his career as a dictator, he wasn't exactly used to this kind of response. Normally he would handle refusal with violence, and that would solve the problem; either from the other mech submitting to the tyrant's ideals, or from him falling unconscious. But here, if he were to damage Skywarp, he would tell Starscream, which meant no Starscream for him, which was apparently bad according to what his spark was telling him.

"Ok, I believe you." He relented, but Skywarp just shook his head.

"Now you're the one lying…" Megatron growled irritably. What the frag did the seeker want from him? He was practically a child, innocent and oblivious to anything that went on in the real world, outside of his own little fantasies. Megatron knew better. He knew that in order to get something you wanted, you had to work for it. And Starscream was no exception. He would find some way to gain the seeker's attention, even if what he had to do was a little embarrassing. For now, though, he had a different flier to deal with.

"How can I persuade you then?" replied the tyrant, not at all bothering to hide his fury.

"Surprise me." Skywarp chirped back almost instantly.

"How does a servo to your face sound?"

"Not very surprising now you've told me what you're going to do." Right. That was it. Without warning, Megatron made a loud and menacing advance towards Skywarp, who out of reaction backed away quickly with smaller strides, hands up in surrender.

"Okay okay, that was mildly surprising." Megatron's fist shattered the wall after Skywarp's teleport in the nick of time. Deep breaths, in and out. The gladiator reminded himself he no longer had to deal with the fragging teleporter, which helped him calm down a little. Sighing heavily, the warlord retreated to a nearby chair, and allowed himself to curl up rather pathetically, arms wrapped around his knees. His bulky frame would barely fit on the thing.

Megatron needed to think. Too many shenanigans were clouding his processor, and Starscream's trine were proving to be much bigger of a problem than he had first thought they were. Should he deal with them first to make things easier, or persuade Starscream and then get him to sort them out? And had Skywarp been telling the truth when he'd said Starscream returned his feelings? On the one hand, the seeker acted like he despised him. Then again, hadn't Megatron been doing the same thing?

This was getting him nowhere. He needed to take action.

"Soundwave, report." It took a few seconds before the comm came through.

"Present, Lord Megatron. Your request?"

"I need you to do something for me."

What is this task that Megatron has planned for Soundwave? As always, there's only one way to find out!