A/N: Get to spend time with the gram. Yeah!

Enjoy this next chapter and the changes added to it :D Ty for my beta for fixing the err of my ways ^^

It was well known that Blacklight sometimes chose different perches on which to sleep if and when ever he finally slowed down. He was old enough to wander on his own, so where he chose to sleep was pretty much up to him. Sometimes it was on Starscream's desk, other times it was in Soundwave's own quarters with the others. One time he'd gone into recharge on the telepath's desk and got woken up to catching himself before he'd fallen. Most times, it was with Barricade or in Barricade's quarters. No one really minded, except when he was in the way.

Today, he'd chosen somewhere not as expected as other places. Skywarp was doing nothing but checking in on TC like he did from time to time when she was recharging. It made him proud to know they were expecting a Sparkling soon, and he doted on her as much as he could. It was nearly dark in the room currently, with only a pale blue dim light strip on one of the walls. He could barely make out the outline of the femme on the berth. So it would have made it easy to miss the recharging Sparkling that was currently cuddled on her.

Stepping closer to the berth on which TC was laying, the teleporter saw a slight movement on her torso and he watched and wondered what it was. Looking closer, after a moment, he realized there was someone else there, and looked back toward the rest of her, musing for a moment over how pretty the femme Seeker was while she lay there. His thoughts went back to the intruder and the black Seeker looked back, tilting his head at the imposer, examining further. Leaning down, he reached out a digit and poked the extra body in the side.

Blacklight didn't even startle from the poke, he was way too comfortable and Thundercracker's Spark was warm and had a pleasant hum coming from it only he seemed to be the only one who could hear it. Barely woken enough for his optics to light up, the Sparkling looked in the direction he felt something touch him. He didn't see who or what had poked him, so he figured it was nothing and shifted, curling up closer to TC's rudder, listening to her Spark. This time he purred to Thundercracker.

Thundercracker enjoyed it when he purred. She told him it made her Spark feel better when he'd first come in. Laying motionless, she hoped Skywarp would just leave him be. Right now, it wasn't that bad, so she chose not to move while her Spark calmed to Blacklight. She didn't know what he did, but whatever it was seemed to soothe her Spark and she was resting better.

Skywarp gave a chuff and poked the Sparkling again, wondering why he thought it was alright to recharge on Thundercracker. This time Blacklight woke a bit more, now wondering who was poking him – he was sure it wasn't nothing this time. His little red optics peered out, but still being half in and out of recharge, he easily missed the black mech standing right there in front of him, since it was almost completely dark. When he didn't see anyone in the immediate area, he looked around quickly in confusion and chose to go back into recharge, this time splaying his little body over the blue femme's broad chest. Soon after, he was purring again.

Skywarp looked up towards Thundercracker's optics, seeing if he disturbed her. Luckily he hadn't, which he was happy about. He shook his head, wondering how Thundercracker apparently hadn't noticed the Sparkling purring that loudly on her and recharging on her. This time just because he could, he disturbed Blacklight, shoving the Sparkling with the back of his finger with a big grin.

Fed up, Blacklight growled and sat up, looking around with mad little optics. He looked in Skywarp's direction for a long moment when he finally saw the slight outline of someone standing there, yet didn't move. He was rather comfortable and refused to move until his bed made him. He laid back down, this time staying awake, he began purring again.

Meanwhile Thundercracker, who had been just laying there since the whole thing started, was also getting annoyed at what Skywarp was up to and her optics onlined to glare at him when Blacklight finally growled at the offending pokes. "Why, 'Warp? Why must you do that?"

Uh oh… "Do what?" Skywarp asked almost meekly as he looked towards the red optics that stared at him from the shadows.

"What do you mean 'do what'?" The femme growled, "You knew damned well what you were doing."

Skywarp stood straight. "So?"

"So, why were you poking the Sparkling?"

"You knew he was there?"

What a stupid question. The femme leaned up on her elbows and gave Skywarp a skeptical stare. "What? Are you serious? Of course I knew." TC responded, "I couldn't help but notice his claws when he climbed up my body or the purring."

"But… You're letting him?" Skywarp asked, puzzled. Sure, TC and him didn't mind the Sparklings or playing with them, but never did he think she would allow one not her own to lay on her while she recharged.

The femme lifted her head slightly, "Yeah, and…?"

"Why's he recharging on you, though? Isn't he supposed to be with Barricade or 'Screamer?"

Thundercracker looked down at Blacklight who was now looking up at her, having been fully woken up by the two talking. She looked back at Skywarp and shrugged before laying her head back once again, perfectly content with the Sparkling laying on her. Blacklight only made himself comfortable once again and went back to trying to recharge. She put her hand up to him and cupped him close in a protective manner. Funny enough, she hadn't really even realized she'd done it unto he snuggled into her and began purring again.

Skywarp decided not to bother them, since in a way, it was cute. He idly wondered what Starscream would think about Thundercracker stealing his Sparkling. Deciding he was going to talk to Starscream about it if for no other reason than curiosity, he headed for the Youngling's office. Knowing he was in there with Hook made it better, because he could ask him more about sparked femmes. He didn't even request entrance, just strolling into Starscream's office with a curious look on his face. Starscream stopped speaking with Hook to look his Trine-mate who had just barged in. "You! Just the lucky Seeker I was looking-"

"Why is Blacklight sleeping on TC?" Skywarp interrupted. He didn't even let Starscream finish his sentence.

Derailed from his line of thought, Starscream raised an optic ridge, "How would I know? He sleeps where he wants. Why? Did she knock him off?"

"No, she's letting him rest on her. He's been purring this entire time. Shouldn't he be recharging in Barricade's quarters or with you?" the black Seeker asked.

"Actually, Skywarp," Hook responded, "That means she's getting closer. As far as I know, that purring is actually helping to calm her. Sparklings can sense when a femme is sparked and it's like a small instinct to want to quell her. It's not unheard of for Sparklings that are not her own to hang around a femme until she births."

"That explains it," the teleporter replied, then looked at Starscream, "And why am I lucky?"

Starscream nodded, wondering secretly if he could catch a glimpse of Blacklight recharging on TC for future blackmail. He responded by asking, "Has Soundwave talked to you yet?"

"Not really. Said she wanted me for something, but then disappeared into her quarters. Haven't seen her since."

"Could be doing that communication thing she does when she does her job. Either way, she's informed me that we have three new arrivals. She probably has their landing coordinates as well. If you would be so kind as to get the coordinates and then retrieve the new Decepticons, that would be really great."

"Wouldn't it though?" Skywarp asked.

"Go get them," Starscream then ordered.

"What if I don't wanna?" Skywarp retorted playfully.

"Then I suppose I'll have to have Soundwave come and find you instead. I'm sure there's something she could painfully interrogate from your twisted little mind."

"You wouldn't! It's dark and scary in there, she might die, or worse – go crazier than she already is!"

The leader stared at his friend, uncertain of what to think about what he'd just said. He then decided not to think about it. "Scram before I make her fix whatever is wrong with you," Starscream said as he pointed to the door. He stopped suddenly and a wicked smirk appeared on his face. "On second thought…"

Skywarp gave his Trine-Mate a look of mock horror and hurried out, cackling the whole way to the 'Wreck Room'.

Miles, who was minding his own business, reading his iPhone, hadn't expected the hand to grab him from where he was standing, pick him up, and start walking with him, "Hey, hey, what's up, man? You gotta at least warn me first." At first he thought it was Starscream, since he hadn't seen him much lately, but then he noticed all the black and he gave Skywarp a funny look.

Skywarp had gone and gotten the coordinates and was on his way out the door when he saw Starscream's pilot and decided to take him for a ride. "I don't wanna go alone."

"Go where?"

The Seeker walked out the middle of the runway and lightly set Miles down. "To bring in newbies," he told him.

"Newbies? Who are they?"

"You know, I have absolutely no idea,"

"Shouldn't you get this information first?"

"Nope, that's what makes it fun,"

"You are so twisted, man. Anyway, why don't you wanna go alone?"

"Why do I have to when I can pick you up so easily? I declare you my prisoner until I have accomplished my mission."

Miles shook his head as he began ascending the ladder on the jet. He settled his seat and took a look at the cockpit of the teleporter. It was much different than Starscream's.

"You know it'll be fun!" Skywarp replied as his canopy began to lower and he began rolling forward.

"Says he who finds fun in getting caught in Duct tape," Miles said with mock doubt.

"You heard about that?"

A laugh escaped the teen as the Seeker began lifting into the air. "Are you kidding? Of course I did."

In the middle of the desert, where streaks had previously shot through the sky, three craters were now adorning the landscape. All of them were relatively close to each other, indicating they had come in at the same time. Each crater was darkened by fire and heat. Skywarp and Miles circled above the landing site before finally landing themselves.

Miles blinked several times then stared at the gaping, burned holes in the ground from the wing of the black and purple F-22 he was now climbing on. The only thing the young man could do was watch intently as the first arrival climbed from its newly created hole. Dirt, scorched earth and sand fell from the body as it rose. It was the strangest thing he had seen yet, and that alone was why his eyes were locked on it. "What the hell?" This one was colored like a giant baby blue crayon.

The new 'Con gazed down at him and Skywarp curiously as it rose up to its full height. It had heard Miles speak, but new protocols being as such, he really didn't understand him. The most he knew was there was another Seeker here and a – what was it Soundwave said they were? – A human on his wing.

Skywarp only watched silently as the newcomer studied him and his rider. He couldn't remember seeing this mech before. He could immediately tell he was a Seeker by his shape. Besides, he surely would have remembered any Seeker that looked like this one. There was no denying they weren't easy to forget. "I don't know who these Seekers are," he said quietly. "But this one's really, really… funny looking."

"Well then stay on your guard and don't squish me if things get crazy." Miles patted the wing of the Seeker.

The three had just barely arrived, only one having emerged while the other two were still shifting into their root forms, and the first thing they come across is one of the natives. One of the others spoke as he rose and saw the human. "Look, Acid. Locals…" the second mech to rise said as he pointed at him…

Miles narrowed his eyes at what assaulted them. The first one he could forgive… because it wasn't so bad… the second one, ech. It wasn't that he was so close or that the sun was blaring behind him – but even that couldn't take away from what hit his eyes. Oh no, it was his color. The teen hadn't ever seen something so odd before and wondered if they were color blind or born with color-diffuse optics if there was such a thing.

The mech was… well there was no other description for his color than… yellow. And not a golden yellow like Bumblebee or a lime yellow like Ratchet, oh no, this one was a very bright metallic and offensive yellow with chrome adornments and reminded the boy of a giant neon highlighter. "Wow…" Neither the sun nor the chrome did anything to help at all, either. Even Sunstreaker wasn't this bad. "What ya thinking, 'Warp?"

"I'm thinking Primus has a great sense of humor," the Seeker grunted with a laugh, knowing what the teen was speaking of. He watched the obnoxiously colored mech step from his hole and begin wiping himself off.

"They're called humans!"

It was then the third one to rise out of its hole stepped forward. Miles assumed by how it had answered the yellow one that it was the one called 'Acid'. Getting a better look, since the bright yellow one had distracted him, caused Miles to grimace. This one was even worse for color, because he was a horribly bright lime green. Miles wasn't entirely sure which of the new mechs was worse now. What was with the colors, anyway? "This bright, nasty color thing… is it normal?" he asked kind of quietly, hoping to not insult them. Shifting in his seat, his legs dangled over the side of Skywarp's wing as he stared, grimacing at the sight of all three of them.

"No. It's not," the F-22 replied. Even he had to admit he was weirded out by the array of colors.

"Wow, did they live below ground in pure darkness or something?" The bright colors would make them easier to see in the shade, that's for sure. It was the only thing he could think of for something to be so brightly – no, more like obnoxiously colored.

"Maybe the core of Cybertron," the black Seeker replied, "Get down so I can transform."

Miles shifted his seat, sliding to the side and then climbed down the ladder on the side of the jet. When he hit the ground, Skywarp began transforming, careful not to crush Miles as he did so. "Who are you and what are you doing here?"

Acid tilted his head at Skywarp's accent, but as soon as the mech transformed, he recognized the infamous teleporting Seeker. "Wow… Skywarp? Is that actually you?" the green mech asked in English. He hadn't recognized him in his alt form.

So they knew him? How in the pit? Skywarp raised an optic ridge, "How do you know me? I don't know any of you." He gazed at their colors, "Believe me, I'd never, ever forget meeting mechs like you."

"You're one of the Elite Seekers, right? We've heard so much about you – about your Trine… You guys are legendary." the green one commented, looking to the other two colorful mechs. Crush actually didn't seem all that impressed. His almost fake smile slightly concerned the Trine leader, since he could tell the difference.

"It's awesome to finally meet one of you!" the blue one replied. "Wow, what are the chances we'd see one of them here of all places!"

"How old are they again?" Miles whispered to Skywarp. They were acting like kids! Talking like a bunch of recruits who got to meet an idol. How weird.

Skywarp only shrugged. Famous, most definitely – legendary? Well, Starscream would get a kick out of it. He watched them curiously. Surely Soundwave knew who these three were. Maybe that's why she didn't tell him.

"I had also heard that Thundercracker might be out this way as well," the blue mech said.

"Starscream and Thundercracker are both here. As is Thrust's trine. Soundwave should have told you something…"

"Starscream is actually here? Imagine the chances of that!" Acid grinned as he punched the blue one in the arm.

Skywarp watched the three with slight confusion. Pointing to them he asked, "Who are you three anyway?"

The green one spoke up. "My designation is Acid Rain. The other two are Lightstream and Crush. We are also known as the Rainmaker Trine."

Just then, Skywarp called on the Trine link to Starscream, being that he was still close enough. "Hey, uh, you ever heard of three really horribly colored Seekers called Rainmakers?"

"Any of them go by the name of Acid?"

"Actually, yeah," Skywarp replied, still eyeing the three who were now examining things on the ground and whatnot. "Although I personally wouldn't admit to knowing them,"

"Yup, bring them in, I sent Dirge to assist."

"Are you sure I can't warp them to a different dimension?"

"Shut up, 'Warp."

Skywarp and Miles waited patiently for Dirge with the three new mechs, watching them as they did so. The teleporter wondered why Starscream would send Dirge, but didn't ask. He watched as Dirge appeared in the sky.

The blue-reflective Seeker arrived and transformed before landing, looking at the three new arrivals as he did so. "Ah, you three…" He already knew their bizarre colors, having run into Acid a time or two before in his travels and missions on Cybertron.

"You know them?" Skywarp asked.

"Of course, I know them." Dirge replied cynically, "I have met with Acid Rain and his trine before." There was only one set of Seekers like this, and the only reason he knew them was because the technology for his armor came from Acid.

"Ah, so Acid's the leader? Makes sense, I suppose."

"You might wanna tell them to tone the colors down a bit. They certainly are an eyesore and will most definitely raise questions," Miles hinted. "And you know 'Star isn't gonna want giant highlighters flying with him," The teen laughed as he thought about it, "That's all we need. Humans asking about a bright yellow jet and a bright blue one and a bright green one – they look like giant neon kids toys." He then got a wicked grin on his face, "Bet if you made small figures out of them, people would buy them right up. Call them Transformers. You'd make a fortune."

"Just goes to show that there is more weird out there than me," Skywarp muttered.

"False." Dirge said to Skywarp as he looked to the three and addressed them, "I guess I should welcome you to your new home, planet Earth. Starscream is the Supreme Commander of the Decepticons now, so what he says goes, understood?"

Skywarp made a choking sound, "-Not." Dirge elbowed him.

"Where's Megatron?" Acid asked. Unfortunately, Soundwave hadn't said anything about the tyrant.

"At the bottom of the ocean, the same place you will end up if you bring ill will." Skywarp then stated.

"Fair enough, Lieutenant-Commander," Acid dipped his head slightly.

Skywarp smirked. No one had called him that in like forever. "Find an alt mode and do avoid the humans and Autobots-"

"Why? That human was sitting on you when we got here," the yellow one pointed out.

"He's a special case." Skywarp answered, then looked back to Acid, "Do as you're told… and for Unicron's sake, change your fucking colors, it looks like a rainbow threw up and the end result was you three,"

"What's a Rainbow?" Lightstream asked.

Miles laughed at the question as the three began to take off to find alt modes. "Megs sure knew how to pick 'em,"

"No accounting for taste," Skywarp snorted quietly.

"Hey, hey, they are useful even though their colors are outstanding," Dirge defended them. He knew how these three operated. "You'll realize who they are when I tell you about why they're called the Rainmaker Trine."

"So, Acid Rain, huh? Wonder why they call him that," Miles raised a brow curiously. "What's he do?"

Dirge looked to the boy, "Acid is what you humans might refer to as a 'Weapon Chemist'. He learned how to fuse acid like substances and other chemicals into his weapons, projectiles and armor, thus how he came up with my armor. He's immune to it somehow. I stopped trying to figure it out long ago." he then looked up at Skywarp, "Do you remember that rain of fire?"

Skywarp thought about it a moment and then when he did remember, he gave a surprised look, "What?" he asked, wondering if Dirge was saying what he thought he was. "They did that? Seriously?"

"Yup. Was all Acid's idea too."

"Ha, awesome," Skywarp was amazed. Their afts had been saved that day because sometime in the early war, the Autobots had them overwhelmed and those three had come with that stuff that they rained down and chased the offending Autobots off, thus earning their name.

The blue-reflective Seeker went on to explain the yellow one. "Crush got his name because of his unique ability with lightning energy, which he, with Acid's help, fused chemicals into."

Miles was truly puzzled. "What does lightning have to do with crush?"

Dirge grinned at him. The grin made him uncomfortable, that's for sure, because when a Decepticon grins like that, you know there's something unique about a situation you really aren't sure you want to find out.

When the new arrivals returned, their colors were not much better. They had taken the guise of F-15E Strike Eagles – which wasn't the bad part. Acid was more of a hunter green so he wasn't so bad – No, it was that the blue one came back a darker blue which Miles said looked a lot like one of the famous Blue Angels and the yellow one returned the flip flop color of the blue one, yellow with blue markings.

"Like no one is gonna ever notice that…" Skywarp put his hand to his head with what sounded like a sigh. "I can just imagine 'Screamer now… TC tried it when we first got here." He waited until the three landed before glaring at them, "Normal colors, please, or somewhat normal. There's a chance that you will be seen by the public eye and I don't think 'Screamer wants to be explaining you guys on top of all the others. It's bad enough Ramjet took the color of the Thunderbird."

The three seemed to deflate slightly, taking off again to set their colors different.

The blue-reflective Seeker watched them take off again, "'Screamer wanted the Decepticons, 'Warp, he got 'em…" Dirge snickered, "Every. Single. One of them,"

"There are times I am so happy to not be him. In fact, the entire time I have been on earth, I wouldn't wanna be him… Wow, that poor thing."

"What are you talking about?" Dirge asked in disbelief. "'Poor thing…' You make fun of him every chance you get!"

Skywarp's fake frown disappeared. "Yeah, but he likes it."

Dirge watched the three return surprisingly quickly, and, satisfied with their colors save for the fact Crush reminded him of Sunstorm's color, he stated, "So, Crush, Miles, Starscream's pet and pilot, was asking about how lightning can crush. Care to show him?"

Crush nodded, taking aim at a close by bush. The sound of sizzling started and the tip of his weapon glowed a soft white with blue sparks. An instant later, he fired. A lightning bolt type energy blast was released from the end, hitting the unfortunate bush. There was the sound of impacting sand and when the smoke and dust cleared, the bush had been vaporized.

Miles stared slack-jawed. "With abilities like that, how do you guys fail at a war?"

"Because that doesn't harm us as bad as it looks there when used on armor," Dirge answered. "Though, it does hurt – a lot."

Meanwhile, in Tranquility, a young man had been watching Mikaela, who'd gone shopping prior to Miles' little escapade with Skywarp, and Barricade had taken notice that she was seeing him a lot more often lately. She recognized him as Trent DeMarco, the boy Mikaela had gone off about more than a few times. He never seemed to make it overly apparent, but he would run into her pet deliberately, have small talk and then the girl would usually leave abruptly, so the femme would let it pass as he did not hurt Mikaela or annoy her too much. Most of the time, Mikaela was with Miles when the jock came around, but she also was aware that he tried to approach her at times that Miles wasn't around. Luckily for him, he did Mikaela no harm, so she just hung around as a typical car, yet ready to squish the little bastard if he became too much of a problem.

This time, Barricade sat outside of the store that Mikaela was currently in, using her black Saleen mode. She chose not to use her police façade because Mikaela had told her a long while ago that a girl doesn't normally get out of a police car when going to a store. So far, she had been waiting for about 10 minutes, and it's not as if she minded… too much. She actually had been monitoring the truck she recognized so many times not far off in the same parking lot with the young man who seemed to be stalking her pet. She wasn't sure if he was just watching for black Mustangs, though her push bar that she kept usually probably gave the Decepticon away. She only stared back, appearing like any other car, wondering why he was staring at her. A little part of her hoped he'd be stupid enough to try to steal her, because she'd steal him and make him disappear. For good.

The car he was in started up. He put it into drive and moved it up closer to where he saw what he knew to be Mikaela's car. In his mind, he was wondering where Mikaela had acquired such a vehicle. He also wondered why she was dating a geek and what she saw in that guy she was so cozy with. In his opinion, she could do so much better than Miles. He got out of his H2 and walked to the Mustang.

About 3 minutes later, Mikaela walked out of the store, her phone in her hand, heading for her car. "Hey Mikaela!" Trent called with a smile.

Mikaela looked up as she walked, giving him a smile back to be polite. She stopped dead in her tracks, seeing him lean on Barricade. With a well hidden smirk she tongued her cheek, "You know, leaning on that 'Stang could get you hurt. I wouldn't advise it." With that, she winked.

He nodded to the prow, ignoring the girl's statement, "So… uh, I never did get around to asking what you got under the hood of this pony and where's that cruiser I see you in?"

Mikaela only shrugged as she got closer to the femme. As much as Barricade would have liked to have run the boy over for touching her, she didn't. Instead, she was silent as a car should be. Mikaela walked to the driver side of the Mustang, opened the door and sat down. She grinned up at Trent before she patted Barricade's dashboard, "Maybe someday you'll be privy enough to know…"

Not. Barricade would as soon bury him in the desert than let him in on her pet's life.

"How?"

"I dunno?" Mikaela shrugged, "Be abducted by aliens?" She shut the door and turned over the motor, making Trent jump back from the sheer abnormal sound of the engine. He stared after them as the Mustang drive off, wondering if he should look into Mikaela and her mysterious car.

Barricade drove while Mikaela rested her hands on the wheel, making her way through traffic, "I don't think he can take a hint. This has been the third time in two weeks and this time he had the gall to lean on me!"

"Men," Mikaela chuffed and shook her head.

Barricade was silent a moment then said, "I just got a message from 'Screamer. He wants me back at base."

"Don't you sound just thrilled."

Barricade groaned, "Anything but…"

Yes, we all need giant highlighters that transform into robots. Wouldn't that go over well... lol