Disclaimer: Shouldn't need one, it's got one already.
It has been a long while. I have been very busy and don't have as much time as I used to. Anyway. Here you go. Sorry for the long wait!
The humans did their best to spend as much time with their robot companions as they could. Although the Cybertronians preferred not to be involved in the US and its wars, they would fly with their humans if it meant protecting them.
Or… if there was something that sounded fun came along and they could get away with it.
Jess had the day off and Skywarp had nothing better to do. The Seeker had actually called the man on his cell phone and asked him if he wanted to just fly around. Of course, he would never refuse, because he loved to fly with his black and purple friend. He stood not far from the runway where he parked his jeep, looking about for the black Seeker. Skywarp stepped out of the building and smiled as he saw his pilot, "There you are," he said as he approached the man. "Took you long enough. 'Screamer's starting on one of his tangents, so you're my perfect escape."
They were invisible to human technology; Soundwave saw to that. They were able to be pretty liberal with where they went, since fighter jets were a more common appearance being they were so close to the base around Las Vegas.
As the Seeker got closer, his last step was a fluid transformation into his jet mode. The front of the F-22 bobbed as it stopped just in front of the man. Jess smirked as he grabbed onto the ladder and said, "Glad I can help." As always, the interior of the F-22 changed from Cybertronian text to English as the man took his seat. Jess had told Skywarp that being able to read his instruments made things a lot easier for him; however, Skywarp had started teaching him how to read simple Cybertronian from his interior. He was only just starting to understand the jet's coordinates system. As much as it might pain him to try to learn this, the teleporter's philosophy was solid: You never know when you might need it.
The black jet shot off in an instant and they were airborne; next stop, Decepticon territory. "You know, I think there's another way you guys could get rid of some boredom without blowing things up."
"Oh yeah?"
"Yeah. I have an idea." Jess had been stewing for a while over upcoming events. It was no secret that there was an annual air show at Nellis, somewhere the Seekers could possibly have some fun. Why not make a mention of it?
"And what would that be?" Skywarp asked as his body dipped sideways into a turn.
"Well you've certainly heard about the very soon upcoming Las Vegas Air Show, right?" the man asked, moving with the jet.
"How could we miss it?" the black Seeker answered the human. "It's all over local channels and the internet." He was curious where the man was going with his questions. "What does… wait a minute… you think we should show up there? I don't think the youngling will approve, though."
"Well they already know and accept Thundercracker and you. Even if most of them still think you are 'just jets'." Jess nodded.
"It is a show for jets and other aircraft, isn't it?" Skywarp asked knowingly. "We do take on jet alternate modes, so we could give the humans something to really cheer about!"
"You should bring it up to Starscream," the man smirked at Skywarp's enthusiasm.
"Hey, 'Screamer, guess what?" Skywarp suddenly sent over his trine-link.
Starscream immediately noticed how Skywarp's voice seemed excited about something. "Let's not and say I did," he said with little enthusiasm.
After Starscream got done speaking with Skywarp, he called all of the Seekers to the 'Wreck Room' and announced, "Skywarp has informed me about something you all might like."
Of course, he got everyone's attention that was in the room at the time. "What would that be?" Thrust asked.
"The upcoming air show in Las Vegas," Starscream answered.
"I don't wanna just sit around and get stared at. What's the fun in that?" Ramjet asked.
"No, I was thinking more along the lines of a Seeker Aerial Performance… The likes Earth has never seen."
"You mean like the royal shows we used to do on Cybertron before the wars?"
"That's exactly what I mean." Starscream watched their reactions and then made a phone call to the Secretary of Defense to see if they could be manipulated in.
All of the Seekers' faces lit up with grins.
"Yes, Starscream, what can I do for you?" Keller asked to his phone, knowing who was calling immediately since only one of two alien leaders called on the line.
Starscream briefly wondered how to go about finding out if what Skywarp had asked was possible before replying, "The Decepticons and I were wondering about the upcoming air show in Nellis."
"What about it?" the man responded, unsure what the Decepticon meant.
"They wish to perform for the humans," Starscream answered
"I think people would be a little suspicious, Starscream. It's not like an X-29 or Soviet MiG belong at something like that."
"Why not? They are jets, yes? I'm sure the base can be creative."
John sat in silence a long moment before answering, "I guess as long as you all pretend to be real jets, it sounds fine with me, but what would I know? What did you have in mind?"
"An aerial performance the humans will never forget." The Seeker smirked to himself. Just because they were soldiers, didn't mean they didn't like to do such things. It would be a good relief for them as well.
Unsure if he should trust the mech's tone of voice, he replied, "I will contact Nellis and let you know what they say."
Starscream grinned up at his troops who were now standing around excitedly awaiting an answer.
"He said we would need to show up there as jets."
"So we can go?"
"He's going to get back to me about it," Starscream said.
About a day later, phone calls were made and more jets were added to the air show by recommendation of the Secretary of Defense and a little manipulation that remained anonymous and untraceable.
"They have approved your idea, Starscream. You are allowed to gather up to nine jets. This squadron has been called the 'Aerial Seeker Squadron' or A.S.S., named apparently by your Second in Command."
Starscream's optics darted towards Soundwave, whom he saw conveniently heading into another room. "Soundwave did this, you say?"
"Yup. I suppose I should let you go to have words with your subordinates." John laughed a little. He knew he shouldn't have, but seriously.
"You got that right." Starscream hung up on the man. He was annoyed he was laughing, and headed right for where Soundwave had disappeared to. He put his hands on his hips and growled, getting her attention. "Some days the supply of curse words is insufficient to meet my demands no matter what language I use. You're horrible."
"Decepticon," was Soundwave's only response.
Starscream stared a moment longer before leaving to tell the rest of them the good news: they were going to an air show. Needless to say, Starscream's base would become bouncy all around.
The day before the show, Starscream called all of the Seekers into the lounge. They all discussed what would be doing on that day and their limited strategy for the show since they could not transform. However, first they needed something eye catching. It was quickly decided that their colors were going to be one of those eye-catching things. Granted, they were already colored, but these weren't their true colors.
Barricade was wandering around when the last Seeker went into the Seeker's Lounge. The femme had heard about the show and already decided she was going to go. She followed Thrust in and folded her arms. Starscream was standing in the middle of them, talking. She watched, wondering what they were doing.
Starscream stayed his normal silver color, as his tattoos were an adornment and he would be proud to show them off for the humans, even if they didn't know what they meant. Plus, it would show who the leader was. He pointed to Thundercracker, "Colors. You first,"
Thundercracker, who was her grey-tinted blue, switched it for her original sharp, almost cerulean blue. Black and chrome adorned her all over, making her shine where she wasn't dirty. Teri watched with a sparkle in her eye as her jet became the most beautiful thing she had ever seen. "Wow, you make the F-22 look good…"
Skywarp only stared as Thundercracker took her root form again. It had been a very long time since he'd seen it. He shook his head out of his stupor, being the next to change his colors. He didn't have to do much, just went a darker black instead of a charcoal, almost black. The purple on his body brightened to a more neon purple. Chrome came back where it was when he first arrived.
Jess hiked his brows as he watched the Seekers, muttering, "That's hot…"
Thrust watched Skywarp and smirked as he dropped into his own F-15 form. Not to be outdone, his body had taken on a reddish and burgundy color that seemed to swirl over his armor. Various colors of grey covered his upright tailfins and chrome decorated the rest of his form.
Dirge had chosen to keep his reflective blue armor. It was still puzzling to other Cybertronians, so he knew it would puzzle the humans. Plus, the humans seemed to like this 'pearlescent' color. Only an addition was added up his tailfins, which went a golden yellow with that same reflected blue.
Ramjet turned into his Fighting Falcon form, all of the USA markings and Thunderbird markings went white while he took on his natural colors of black and red. His tails went black while his wings ran burgundy from his frame to the tips.
Acid and his trine all switched back to their original colors of bright green, bright yellow and bright baby blue. Jess had to squint at the chrome and offensive colors. "Man, now I know why Miles said you guys looked weird," he said.
"What?" Acid asked, "What we do?"
"You're color blind, aren't you?" Jess folded his arms.
"Nope. We were born this way," the green Seeker replied.
"I don't even want to guess what your parents looked like…" Jess chuckled and shook his head. Acid and his trine all looked at each other with confusion.
It was considered that, if anything, the people would love their various colors. Cyclonus stepped into the room and looked at Starscream. "A few of the others want to go to the show as well."
"Only jet forms are allowed."
It was early morning; too early to be legal by Miles' standards. He and Mikaela were both abruptly woken up by being picked up out of bed and carried to the 'Wreck Room' and dumped on the table. They were lucky to have passed out clothed, as whoever carried them had no thoughts to look before disrupting them. "It's not even daylight, man!" Miles suddenly called, watching the Seekers all moving around.
"Cyclonus and Blitzwing have already left. I don't recall them saying anything. I'm waiting to hear some yelling from someone either from Nellis or the government or them being shot down."
"Can't you just chase them down? Or better yet, get them on the Spread-link."
"They aren't answering. And wouldn't that look good…," Starscream mumbled. "Imagine the headlines in newspapers then from fighter jets chasing down what most humans would think is a UFO. Cyclonus isn't exactly a commonly seen aircraft and as you know, Blitzwing took his jet form after a Soviet fighter jet." The Seeker set a handful of coffee cans down on the table.
"Beautiful isn't it?" Jess called to the tower that he and Cyclonus were now circling. "Not every day you get to see one of these babies." Cyclonus mumbled something inaudible to his human rider.
"They're for the show, right?" came the tower's reply. They had been notified of unusual jets being flown in along with the scheduled aircraft. "Bring them in." Jess smirked at the idea, since so many jets were coming into the base, no one would really notice the two extras.
Cyclonus hit the landing strip and so did Blitzwing. Both of them slowed and one of the directors of the show walked up. The canopy on the X-29 lifted to reveal Jess, who was leaning over the side. "Hey," he said.
"Thought this thing was at Edwards?"
Jess shrugged. "I'm paid to fly. Where do I park it?"
The man looked around and pointed. "We'll park it with the squadrons for now. I'll find a place for it later," he answered.
Jess nodded and grinned at the interior, saying, "Behave yourself."
"I'm a Decepticon. Call me beautiful again and Skywarp will have a hard time finding you again. Where are you going?"
"Hey, they gotta take you away. I'm gonna go check on 'Blitz and Teri."
Cyclonus nearly jumped when he felt something grab a hold of his front tire. The person in the tug-a-long waited for Jess to get down before pulling the jet where it needed to go. He heard Blitzwing snickering at him as Cyclonus was pulled to his temporary parking space.
"Score!" Blitzwing's voice carried over the spread-link. "They let us in early!"
"How?" Starscream asked dryly.
"Kidnapped us a couple of humans with their permission," Blitzwing replied. "They said they could do it without getting us in trouble. They're parking me now inside of a hangar. I think it's all right except it has something about 'paint-your-own… what?" Blitzwing's voice came to an abrupt stop. He watched humans putting safety features over his weapons. Another was cordoning him off with red rope. "I get the feeling I am not going to like this."
"Uh huh… Have fun with that…," came a sardonic voice with a snicker, recognized as Cyclonus. He watched an SR-71 coming in to land, zeroing on the side of it, he saw an Autobot symbol. "Oh, look who's come to join the party…"
"Who?"
"Jetfire,"Cyclonus answered. "But… aren't SR-71s considered highly top secret to humans? Should he even be here?" he asked after a minute.
"Hey, I think you're right. Maybe that's why he's parked at the other end of the air strip."
At Nellis AFB, more and more jets were brought in and put in their spots for the show. The humans gathered in the thousands to see the famous Nellis Air Show.
Along with many military aircraft and helicopters, there were squadrons sitting closer to the runway, grouped together according to regiment. There was the F-16 Thunderbird Demonstration Squadron, the Red Barons, the Red Bulls, the UAVs, the Royal Netherlands Air Force F-16s aside from other various vehicles parked around the now very crowded tarmac.
There were cargo planes and rarer planes parked about, along with an F-117 Nighthawk inside of a hangar with none other than Cyclonus, the Grumman X-29. If anything, it would amuse him to watch the Seekers while he sat here, since he had a clear view of the runway. He idly noted the men with guns standing at the doorway to the hangar.
"This is Seeker Squadron 1 requesting clearance for landing." Starscream had no qualms about asking himself as his trines approached the base.
"We were expecting you. Go ahead Seeker 1, you are cleared to land," A Flight controller replied, looking out toward where they should be coming in.
"I wanted to be the one to ask!" Miles piped up.
"You don't know how to ask!" Starscream retorted as he prepared to land, the other Seekers following.
A child jumped up from his seat, "Lookit the colors!" he cried, pointing and bouncing as he saw the jets coming. Hearing him made everyone turn to look.
While the humans were all looking around, some sat on the podium as the Seekers all arrived, landing as they should and rolling to a stop beside each other near the gates before pulling into places marked for what the base had called the 'Aerial Seekers Squadron' next to the other squadrons who were also flying.
After they shut their engines down, the ones who had humans all jumped down from them and the ones without did the same with fake human guises. Jess, Teri and Miles all went about wiping them down as people gathering to look at the various colors, shapes and sizes. It hadn't taken them long to be completely surrounded by people taking pictures or walking right up to them and touching them.
Dirge was one of the ones constantly surrounded by humans. Almost every one of them reached up to touch his strangely colored body. Some even got pictures and videos of him.
Of course, he wasn't the only one getting pictures and videos taken of him. They all did at some point. Not that any of them minded, since most of them wouldn't remain their colors anyway.
"How did you get that design on that one? Is it painted?" one girl asked, pointing to Starscream.
"Yup, for the show," Miles answered.
"What about that blue one? What kind of paint was used? Do you know if it can be duplicated?" another asked.
Miles looked up at the Tomcat and then back to the one asking. "You know, I have absolutely no idea how it was done. Looks sharp, doesn't it?"
"Are those weapons?" another person asked as pointed to a live missile protruding from under Starscream's wing.
"It's fake, don't worry, they're for show," Miles replied, turning briefly to glare at Starscream before smiling at the person.
None of the Seekers saw the police Mustang driving right through all of the people, too busy with the humans around them. Of course, how a car is missed, one might wonder. Especially an evilly printed Mustang with a light bar. It could be chalked up to Barricade using her authority look to get where she wanted to, because no one really questioned a police car, so no one made a scene.
When she got close enough, she slid her way to right in front of the silver jet and shut off as Mikaela got up and looked over the roof to the Seekers. She instantly saw Miles and nodded toward him. "Look at you, Mr. 15-minutes-of-fame," she joked.
Miles smirked as he wiped down the nose of the F-22. "Had to get it somehow. Now that I got it, gonna have to trade this clunker in for something else."
Mikaela shut Barricade's door and meandered to the Decepticon leader and slowly walked down the line of Seekers, snickering to herself when she got to Acid's trine. She made her way back to Miles. "So they couldn't help themselves, huh?"
"Are you kidding?"
Mikaela looked towards Barricade and raised her brows. "I hope they behave themselves." She headed back for the evil-printed Mustang and tapped her on the roof saying, "I'm gonna go look around. Behave yourself missy,"
"I'll give you missy," Barricade snorted before turning her attention to the Decepticon Spread-link. "And what have we here? The Aerial Seeker Squadron? Better known as Ass. Works for me."
"Shut up." The silver Seeker still wasn't sure why he was paired to the monster in front of him. Of course, it would be Barricade who made fun of the name that was picked for them.
"You guys stick out like sore appendages," she replied.
"-Thumbs," Starscream corrected. "And that's the idea. We are going to perform. No fun doing it with normal colors. We aren't normal jets."
"Gotta be elaborate with everything you do, dont'cha?" the femme asked.
"We wouldn't be Seekers if we didn't, 'Cade," Thundercracker told the hunter. "We'd be like the Aerialbots…"
"How long do we have to wait?" Skywarp asked, getting impatient.
"Patience," Ramjet chided. He was getting antsy himself, but could obviously compose himself better.
"But I wanna fly now! Sitting here is boring."
"You poor, poor thing…," Barricade mumbled with no sympathy.
Back at the Decepticon base, Soundwave turned sharply. She honed in on the signal as she received it. It was short lived because as quickly as it had come it disappeared again. What bothered her was the type of signal it was. The CO worked silently to pick up the signal once again.
At Nellis, Sam and Bumblebee had also gone to the air show. There, Sam met with Miles, who had caught up with Mikaela beforehand, both of whom were now checking out the other aircraft and such. He had a questioning look about him. Mikaela stopped. "Hey Sam," she said.
"Hey guys," Sam said with a nod. "What happened to Trent?"
Miles and Mikaela looked at each other, then back at Sam. "That's a good question. Why are you asking us?"
"Thought maybe you knew what they did to end up in trouble as terrorists."
"They did?" Mikaela asked. "When did that happen?"
"Little while ago. Prowl was the one to take them from Nellis. They kept saying they were afraid of the police truck because of an encounter with a police Mustang."
"Maybe there's more than one police Mustang?" Mikaela and Miles both turned at an announcement of the 'Seekers'.
This also made Sam look up with a questioning look. "Did they say seekers? Like the Decepticons?" When Mikaela and Miles ran off, he followed.
He stopped at nine elaborately painted jets of various make and model while Mikaela and Miles wandered off. He stopped at the end, knowing it was Starscream and looked up at the nose of the F-22. It was the closest he had ever really been to Starscream. "Does Optimus know you guys are here?" he asked as inconspicuously as he could.
Starscream didn't answer him, but he figured if Jetfire was around, the Autobots knew about his squadron.
After another hour of people admiring them, it was near time for them to put on their show. Jess, Teri and Miles all got closer, as did the fake 'humans' that came out of nowhere, perhaps a hangar. It used a little bit more energy to conjure them, but it would be fine for the time they needed them – after they posed as 'climbing into themselves', they vanished.
The Seekers planned on giving a show the humans would never forget, and they knew the humans didn't have the reaction times needed or the coordination a sentient jet could provide. They were happy to bring their humans while they performed – giving them the best view and feel of the flight.
It came time to get the crowd away from all of the squadrons, since they were allowed to be closer to them before the shows. "It's almost time for us to go up, everyone needs to back away. That includes whoever has this cop car. It needs to get it out of here!" Even though Miles knew it was Barricade, he had to say it to make it appear normal.
The F-16 Thunderbirds were before the Seekers. Mikaela wandered over a few moments later while watching the jets and then her and Barricade went and parked along a hangar, away from the Seekers yet could watch the entire thing.
Starscream watched the Thunderbirds with curiosity. He had found it interesting how some squadrons painted their planes like animals or in this case, mythical birds.
Then it came their turn. The nine jets thundered towards the end of the runway and all took off at the same time. "Follow my lead," Starscream immediately said. His buckles tightened down on Miles.
The humans below had since gathered to watch the strange colored jets as the show began.
"Ladies and gentlemen, today we have a special show in store for you. Welcome the new Aerial Seeker Squadron to the Las Vegas Air Show! The jets are of various models…," the announcer's voice was then drowned out by the sound overhead.
Mikaela snickered. She had since gotten out of the Mustang and was now standing in the shade of the hangar. "'Aerial Seeker Squadron'? That was corny."
"Just simple 'ass' will do." Barricade muttered with a chuckle.
Just then, the nine Seekers circled around and flew over, their formations were simple, yet seemed too close to be possible without crashing and people cheered at the line they had made. Acid and Thrust's trines all grouped together and came around to Starscream's trine who had taken their places at his sides, each one was under or over the others' wing slightly. Acid was on one end and Thrust was on the other. Starscream was in the middle. "This is gonna be fun!"
"Hold on tight, we are gonna pull off a roll never seen by humans before!"
By the time the 'Cons came into viewing range of the humans, Acid had begun rolling, his roll caused Crush to roll the opposite direction and his roll caused Lightstream to roll the opposite way. This well thought out roll went from one end to the other as they passed the humans, close enough to show that they were indeed, as they appeared, and were not a play on the human's eye. Suddenly they all separated as they passed, each jet taking a different way and streaming a different color.
Miles looked up and out as Starscream rose, something he had gotten into a habit of doing. It was almost like being in a computer game because of how he didn't feel the Gs he knew Starscream was pulling yet he could feel the movement and vibration. "Where'd you get the colored smoke?"
"Don't ask," Starscream muttered, his body suddenly doing a few rolls then levelling out. He started on a turn again, this time heading right for Thundercracker. Miles only watched. He knew the two wouldn't crash into each other, but that didn't stop the butterflies that screamed impending doom. By instinct, he held his breath and ducked as the two jets suddenly turned canopies toward each other, passed by at close range then split off in different directions.
Down below on the tarmac, the Seekers were being watched carefully. "Well, well, well…" Jetfire said to himself. He continued to monitor the Decepticons that were playing in the air. It was the whole reason he had taken the place of the actual SR-71 that was supposed to be there. He was happy he could only be seen from a distance. "Hotshots… You seeing this slag, Prowl?"
Back at the Decepticon base, Soundwave had gotten all the information she needed from the signal. She headed outside to where Sixshot was shooting at a firing rage with Ravage, Rumble and Blacklight.
He stopped upon seeing her, expecting her to say something.
"You need to retrieve a Decepticon," the telepath told him.
That was interesting. "Where?" Sixshot immediately lowered his weapon, all his attention on Soundwave. He stood and moved away from the younger mechs, closer to her. Rumble and Blacklight resumed shooting at the various targets Sixshot had set up for them.
"Motormaster's signature has been detected. His emergency beacon is currently active. He is unresponsive to my queries, which leads me to believe something happened to him. Location: (Cybertronian)."
Wow. That's in space! I'm in. Fly me by signal." Sixshot immediately began transforming into his jet mode, uncaring at who saw his body that began taking on a wild transformation. Blacklight was staring as the mech's body shifted in the strangest way he had ever seen, even aside from the triple-changers.
The jet lifted and took off. Soundwave watched him leave then turned away to head for her quarters once again. She would let Starscream know what was going on when he got back from his show, as nothing further could be done about it right now.
The outskirts of Sin City were still alive with colorful jets. The Seekers did another maneuver, also physically impossible so it seemed as they came in close to the podiums: Starscream flipped, as Thrust stayed above, the two passing within inches of the other's bellies, only as they did, they went rolling. It went on like this until all the Seekers had pulled it off. When it got to Skywarp and TC, there was a spark between them just as they passed. "Yo, 'Warp, watch it! Last thing we need is for one of us to crash and not explode…," Thundercracker yelled.
"What do you mean? You came in too close!" the black Seeker retorted.
"Save it, both of you," Starscream chided as the jets circled once more, paring up. Starscream and Ramjet both went high until they were only a speck in the sky and suddenly both of them nosedived, twisting and turning with perfect accuracy within inches of their bellies. When they got within crashing distance of the ground, both suddenly veered their noses upwards quickly, their thrusters blowing away dirt from how close they were to hitting the ground.
Skywarp and Thundercracker both did the same maneuver, only this time they headed up with streaming smoke as they went, making a twisty until they too veered off.
Thrust and Ramjet both maneuvered in a way that they headed right for each other, then headed straight up together. They went so high and then shut their main thrusters off and tilted their noses until they literally did a flip in mid air and twirled on the way down, breaking formation.
All nine jets split off, five coming in on side and four coming rapidly on the other. As they headed for each other, people were thinking they would turn away abruptly but they didn't; the 4 simply tilted, going within a hair's breadth as they went between each other in a showy low pass that would have many other pilots wishing they could pull off such a move.
People cheered loudly at their display. Slowly but surely, one jet at a time flew over the base from different directions, barely clearing the trees that dared try to grow there.
"Finale?" Starscream suddenly asked.
"Got the purple ready?" Thundercracker asked.
"This will be the best!" Skywarp cheered.
"Just say when!" Ramjet said.
"When!" Starscream called as the jets broke formation from each other and seemed to head into erratic directions. Suddenly in the air, they all began coming together and the purple streamers started. Each jet took a particular angle and they continued this strange display in the sky until none other than a perfect purple Decepticon Insignia appeared in the sky.
The jets all simply left after that. Jetfire saw the insignia, as did all of the other Autobots who had arrived.
"Glad humans don' know what that means," Jazz stated from the parking lot, where she'd been made to stay with Hound.
The announcer watched the jets, not expecting them to leave like that. He turned to the crowd, "The Aerial Seeker Squadron, ladies and gentlemen. I hope you enjoyed their show! Next up it is time for the famous Royal Netherlands Air Force Squadron!"
Soon after the Seekers parted, Prowl made his way to where Barricade was sitting. He didn't have to worry about being seen because he had brought Epps with him. The man peeked out the window, "Hey Mikaela! Hey, 'Cade!" he called with a smile.
Quickly Mikaela turned and smiled just as Prowl stopped. "Hey Rob… Prowl," she said as she looked around quickly. "Where's the sweet, sexy Solstice? She's usually up your tailpipe," she continued.
"Don't remind me," the tactician replied. "I trapped her with Hound."
Epps quickly patted the side of the truck. "Man, if you'd just stop being so stubborn…"
Ignoring the man's comment, Prowl directed his attention to Barricade. "Just what in the Pit was that in the air, 'Run?"
"That was an aerial performance… What did it look like to you?" the femme retorted.
"People got pictures of them – probably videos too… and they did maneuvers that required timing that no normal human-flown jet could do."
"Stop it, Prowl," Barricade grunted. "What are the humans gonna do? Cry 'UFOs from outer space posed as fighter jets'? I think not."
"By the way, Do you know what happened to Trent and Leo?" the white mech asked, taking the perfect opportunity maybe to get some answers.
"Is this secretly why you appeared next to me? To annoy me about some idiots who don't know how to mind their own business?" Barricade replied with a snort. "Your tactical ways don't work on me, Prowl. Busted again…"
"Would you mind telling me?" It's not like he figured she would actually tell him anyway, but it was worth the shot. The more information he had, the better the Autobots could figure out what the Decepticons did to the humans.
"Not in your life. You should know better."
After the show, hours into the evening, Starscream had to hide a snicker when the triple-changer finally came into view.
"You know, saying I would help Secretary of Defense did not – I repeat did not – mean I would allow them to use me as a demonstration with washable finger-paints and string for children because of my 'rare design'…" Blitzwing huffed.
Starscream smiled, eyeing the rather interesting decorations over Blitzwing's form. "Guess you now know the consequences for choosing such an alt mode…"
"They not only let kids paint me, decorate me with stringy things and sit on me… the stupid base told them that I was a refurbished previously shot down Soviet MiG!" He then frowned. "My pride… gone in an instant," the Triple-changer whined as he started to walk off.
Starscream watched him, "You wanted to go. They had to explain you somehow… Besides, it could be worse…"
"Oh really?" Blitzwing asked in annoyance, "Explain to me exactly how, oh great and wise leader…"
Starscream quirked an optic ridge at the Triple-changer's tone and said dryly, "It could have been permanent paint…"
Later on in the night, the two who were wrestling ended up landing in Thundercracker's quarters where she – unfortunately for them – had been in recharge. The femme startled at the sudden sound and glared at them. In Skywarp's hand was a rather large roll of duct tape. She eyed it darkly.
Skywarp stopped when he saw red optics peering from the darkness. "Slag," he muttered, knowing they were in trouble. Starscream looked up to see what Skywarp was staring at and his optics widened. They both knew a pissed Thundercracker when they saw one.
Before the two could untangle themselves enough to run, Thundercracker launched herself off of her berth and went after Skywarp first, getting the roll of tape away from him. She then grabbed him roughly and sent him across the room where he slid to a stop against the wall in a daze.
"Oh, no you don't…," the irate femme said as she quickly grabbed Starscream who was attempting to get away and slammed him next to Skywarp. Starscream moved to get away again, only to receive a fist slammed into the wall next to his head. When neither mech dared move, Thundercracker proceeded to tape them together.
Satisfied the two couldn't get out of the mess without help, Thundercracker threw the roll to the side. "That's my can of 'unto' for waking me up with your stupid duct tape war!" After a growl at Skywarp, she walked away, leaving both of the mechs wondering what the hell had just happened.
A gathering of 'Cons had appeared at the open doorway where they stared in curiosity. Everyone moved as far away as possible when she got closer to the door, not wanting to incur her wrath. "Wow…," one of the mechs whispered as he stared at the blue Seeker in horror.
Inside the room and well stuck to each other and the wall, sat two Seekers who were both still struck stupid by their Trine-mate. "You know, 'Warp, I'm starting to think Thundercracker can go from zero to bitch faster than Barricade. I didn't believe that was possible," Starscream muttered as he tried to pull free from his binds.
"Don't think it, 'Screamer. Know it. Feel it," Skywarp said, also squirming.
"I am feeling it. I don't want to feel it."
After seeing both Skywarp and Starscream, Cyclonus turned and said with a laugh, "Makes you wonder who the leader of that trine really is…" The base broke up in roars of laughter.
Starscream and Skywarp only looked at each other as they felt Thundercracker's anger flare into a whole new mad and vibrate down their end of their Trine-link. "Oh… that can't be good," Starscream whispered.
Thundercracker, having heard Cyclonus, frowned at him. He didn't have the time to react before she hauled off and kicked him as hard as she could, sending him through the air and sliding across the floor before stalking off once again. Everyone watched in horrified silence until she disappeared, then they began laughing again. This time at Cyclonus.
Starscream watched in surprise, "Well, I think a congratulations is in order, 'Warp."
"Oh yeah? What's that?"
"You've done the impossible… You managed to create something scarier than Soundwave."
"Yeah, and she's all mine…"
"You can keep her," Starscream retorted.
Outside of the room, Runabout watched what happened to Cyclonus and then called out, "That, my friends… Is the real reason why Decepticon Seekers were not allowed to mate!" There was the unmistakable sound of running footsteps as Thundercracker went after Runabout. There was a yelp from said twin and then a pause, "Mercy?" came his pitiful voice – a loud crash soon followed.
After hearing what was most possibly Runabout's demise, Starscream only had one thing to say: "And that's why you keep your vocal processors to yourself around said Seeker… idiot."
"You have the wildest form of a clan, ever."
Meanwhile, having been guiding Sixshot to Motormaster's location, Soundwave was rather busy in her quarters. The large and small doors had been locked so no one could get in or out.
After about twenty minutes of struggling, Starscream finally got free from his binds. He noticed the telepath was out of her room and staring at him intently. When he gave her a questioning look, she only nodded and he immediately headed in her direction. The mech got close and he stopped at the threshold. Immediately, he noticed someone was not where he usually was. "Where's Sixshot?" Starscream asked. Soundwave said nothing immediately, and continued to work with the gadget on her arm. "Something wrong?" the young leader asked with concern.
Soundwave glanced to him and then looked back to her arm where her fingers were typing. She stopped long enough to speak. "There is something that requires your attention. Shut the door behind you."
Starscream stood just inside the door as it shut behind him. He knew how Soundwave was, and for her to state such a thing, it was important. His optics furrowed at the telepath, "What's going on?"
Soundwave watched the young leader and then looked up at the screen and pointed to a distant view of the star system. "Motormaster's signature was detected earlier today while you were gone." The femme typed up a few things on the computer in front of her and then looked back to Starscream. "His emergency beacon is activated, so he is still alive but he is unresponsive to any of my queries."
The SiC downloaded an estimated location of the Stunticon to the computer so Starscream could have a visual idea of where Motormaster was detected. Starscream looked at it for a moment, seeing it was between the red planet and the gas one. "What does that mean? Where is that?"
Soundwave zoomed in on the location between Jupiter and Mars' orbit. "Current location: The star system's asteroid belt. I have sent Sixshot to assess the situation and retrieve him."
"What? That's a trip, Soundwave. How is he going to know where to look?"
"I have a constant upstream to him so I know what is going on at all times. I am guiding him by signal to Motormaster's beacon."
"What about interference from the solar storms?"
"I will employ what I must to see to a successful mission."
The Seeker blinked, wondering just what measures the telepath was going to take. Starscream wrinkled his nose-plates in annoyance, "Why didn't you tell me this before? Would be kinda nice, being the leader and all, to… you know… know what is going on at all times."
"There was nothing more anyone could do at the time." Soundwave replied simply.
"Still would have been nice to be informed…" Starscream mumbled.
The femme ignored Starscream's attitude. "You are to keep this information to yourself until further notice. Failure to do so will only cause more problems."
"Don't you think the other Stunticons should know where their leader is?"
Soundwave stopped and looked at Starscream a moment. Yes, the youngling still had some things to learn. "They are to remain ignorant until further notice. You will have an open link to me at all times."
Hope you enjoyed the A.S.S!
Thanks Soundwave...