This one is for all the people who started reading my work due to "The Hawk and the Dove"
I don't own Transformers or the Riordanverse: they belong to their owners.
Chapter 10: Talking TV.
Starscream hadn't been looking forward to reporting back to Megatron and the verbal lashing he got from his leader proved him right.
After he, Skywarp, and Thundercracker had returned from their failed pursuit of the Autobots, Megatron gave the order to have the Nemesis taken to the skies to start the exploration of the planet.
It had been quiet for the past few days and most of the Decepticons had been busy with the typical grunt work of managing a ship.
Something that was putting Starscream on edge was that Megatron and Soundwave had been having private chats since the battle with the Autobots. Clearly, that small human child had known something but whatever it was, Megatron wasn't telling.
What could possibly be worth keeping secret about this planet?
Right now, Starscream had resolved to work on the problem he could solve, figuring out how to give the Decepticons an edge on the planet.
A few days later, Thundercracker was in his recharge chambers, sitting down and filing reports, when Skywarp teleported into his room with a VOP.
"GAH!" Thundercracker shouted, startled. He shook his head to calm down. "Hey Skywarp," he muttered.
"Hey, TC!" said Skywarp giddly. "Come on, Starscream wants to show us something!"
Thundercracker groaned. "Can it wait? I'm busy!"
"No way! Now come up!" Skywarp grabbed Thundercracker's wrist and started dragging him off.
Thundercracker groaned again. "I did not leave the Kaon Park rangers for this..." he muttered.
When Skywarp and Thundercracker got to the briefing room where all the other Decepticons were, they found Starscream in front of everyone with some sort of modified viewscreen monitor.
"Starscream, this had better be good." Megatron muttered with his arms crossed.
"Yeah!"Quake said. "I was just about to beat this fragger at a wrestling match!" he said, pointing at Skytread.
"Oh, I assure you, it is," Starscream said.
"You see, my fellow Decepticons, I have picked up various radio waves across this planet, all processing and sharing information," Starscream explained. "With this device, I have successfully tapped into that feed."
"I thought communications were Soundwaves thing," muttered Skytread.
Starscream's optic twitched. "HE'S NOT THE ONLY ONE WHO CAN GET SCRAP DONE!" Starscream protested.
"Cool it, Starscream." Barricade replied.
"Anyway." Starscream continued as he held up a remote control. "Let us see what juicy information we can gain on these 'humans.'". He pressed the device.
The monitor lit up, revealing some animation showing a little human girl with brown hair in a purple dress and tiara. She was singing about how she didn't feel she was ready to be a princess.
The Decepticons stared blankly at the monitor. Megatron wordlessly scowled and glanced at Starscream, who gave a sheepish expression.
"Erm... Starscream." Quake said. "I have a small question... WHAT THE FRAG IS THIS!?" He shouted angrily.
"I don't know!" Starscream answered.
"It appears you have tapped into a human entertainment program." Soundwave noted.
"Well, how was I supposed to know that!?" Starscream asked. "It's not like I could tell what-"
The girl on the monitor started to go into a high note, and Skywarp responded by covering his audio receptors.
"Can we turn this off!?" Skywarp asked, "The song is making my processor ache!"
"It's not that bad..." Thundercracker murmured.
"Uh, right," Starscream said. He hit a button, and static appeared on the monitor. When the static cleared, the monitor showed some guy with dark skin and black hair with a mustache sitting behind a desk.
"Hello. I'm Hector Ramirez on Twenty Questions. Today I'm joined by the archeologist Julluis Kane-"
"I said turn it off!" Skywarp said.
"Oh, don't pretend this is worse..." Starscream shot back.
"Give me that!" shouted Skytread as he grabbed the remote from Starscream and hit one of the buttons.
The image on the monitor changed again, this time showing a blond-haired man saying, "It's gonna be legend- wait for it..."
"Grrr!" Starscream grabbed the remote and pressed the button again.
BZZZZZ!
"United States Green Beret, Conrad Hauser to be awarded with the Purple Heart-"
BZZZZZ!
"Istiworkingisitworking!? Ican'ttell! SomebodytellmeifI'mintheAvatarstate-"
BZZZZZ!
"Thanks to the efforts of the Power Rangers, another monster attack was-"
BZZZZZ!
"I can't think of a scam!"
BZZZZZ!
"Land Institute: pushing marine technology and the world into the future."
BZZZZZ!
"This is pointless!" Barricade shouted.
"Well, pardon me for trying!" Starscream shouted back.
As the Decepticons argued, Thundercracker sighed. He looked back at the monitor, this time showing some guy with dark skin talking to a woman in what looked like a human bar.
"It's my fault..." the man on the TV lamented. "If I had done it right-"
"You made a mistake," the woman responded. "All doctors do."
"Yeah, but our mistakes cost people a lot more than-"
At that moment, Megatron shot his fusion cannon at the monitor, blowing it up and stunning the Decepticons into silence.
Thundercracker broke the silence first. "I was watching that!" he protested.
"Watch it on your own time then." Megatron scoffed. "For now, everyone get back to work that actually matters." He ordered shooting Starscream a glare.
Starscream silently sneered.
As the Decepticons dispersed and left the room, Thundercracker stayed behind and looked at the broken device Starscream had made.
That night, Thundercracker finally finished repairing the monitoring device and set it up in front of his recharge slab.
"Alright, let's see what this thing sees," he murmured.
He turned on the device, and the show with the doctors that had been playing earlier was on again, this time with a different episode. Currently, the opening credits were playing.
"Hmm... Tristan McLean, huh?" Thundercracker noted. "Interesting..."
About two days later, Thundercracker went to see Megatron. He found his leader sitting on his throne, looking over reports from the war on Cybertron.
"I, um, Megatron..." Thundercracker stammered nervously.
"This better be important..." Megatron murmured.
"Well um. I repaired the erm, TV that Starscream made."
"TV?"
"It's what the natives of this world call such devices."
Megatron's optics narrowed. "Okay... and?"
"Well, while going through the various shows that it well... shows, I found a documentary on historical sights in the human country known as Mexico and-"
"Get to the point," Megatron said threateningly.
Thundercracker took that as his cue to hand Megatron a picture of a Mexican archeology dig.
Most of the dig wasn't anything of note to them, but there was one attention-grabbing thing: another Allspark symbol.
"Well done, Thundercracker; it seems you used this... TV better than Starscream ever could."
Starscream, who was working nearby, shot an angry stare in Megatron's direction.
Bonus points to anyone who gets all the references. XD
Also, a quick update: I might be a bit slower to get work done in July. Long story short, I've got an upcoming vacation combined with getting into the Kingdom Hearts series. Sorry about that.
Thanks for reading, and as always, don't forget to leave a review!