"I have called you all here for an announcement," droned Optimus sitting at the head of the command table.

"I keep telling you! I wasn't the one who tricked the Dinobots into that mud pit and convinced them that hugging the twins was a good idea! It was Jazz I tell you!"

"You have no evidence."

"Skywarp! Shut it! It's not about that and get Jazz back on your own time!" reprimanded Starscream with a glare using his leader trine position, "continue Optimus."

"I'll get you ninja."

"I'll like to see you try warper."

"Anyway. The humans have finally gotten word that the once Decepticon seekers have defected to our side and have been accepted into the Autobot army. This has caused them some unease about whether or not they can be trusted or not, not that we don't," added Optimus looking over at the three in speaking, they only nodded back. "But after the many battles with you three being seen as the enemy, they believe that you are spies and plan to betray us, an understandable thought. Though after long explanations with Prowl and I, they were still not convinced, to ease their minds I have allowed them to make a personal visit here so that they can see how you three interact here with the others."

"You're letting those meat bags in the base just to watch us?" growled Starscream annoyed, "why should we even care what they think? After all the times you have saved their afts, they still don't trust your decisions? What a bunch of frag-"

"We understand the need for this Optimus Prime, leader of the Autobots," said Thundercracker looking at Starscream while he huffed and went quiet, "if it makes them feel any better, you can allow them to observe us in our cycle to cycle activity. Are there any rules that we should be aware of with the coming visit?"

"Not that I am aware-" started Optimus.

"Yes there are!" interrupted Prowl standing up, "I have made a list, I apologize for interrupting Prime but the seekers aren't aware of human and robot etiquette like we are and should be informed. No cursing at them."

"They don't even know our cursing words!"

"But we do. No outright insulting them, I know asking you three to not to insult them altogether will be impossible but at least watch your words."

"Only if they don't insult us first."

"Understandable. No harming them in anyway, a verbal warning of something being dangerous is enough, if they continue to put themselves in danger then tell another bot that will always be escorting them."

"I can't be blamed if they're stupid and walk into a wall or something."

"And you won't. No threatening them under any circumstances, even in an abstract way."

"Oh come on!"

Optimus could only sigh and shake his head while Jazz comforted him, "maybe Primus will perform a miracle and it all will be alright."

"I wish, Jazz, I wish," sighed the leader as Starscream started an argument with Prowl, Skywarp was asking which pranks he planned would be moved till they were gone and Thundercracker was trying to make a note of it all so that he could calm his wing mates later sighing as he was the only mature one about the situation.

"Starscream, Thundercracker and Skywarp I would like to introduce you to the chief of police and the mayor of New York city, the others are their workmates that have chosen to accompany them," introduced Optimus with practiced ease, "Sir Smith and Mayor Brook, these are the seekers that have defected to join us."

"It is a, pleasure, to meet you all. Sir Smith and Mayor Brook, we have been told you are both important figures in the human social stature, I am Thundercracker." Recited the blue seeker in a mono tone having practiced it many times, "the black and purple seeker to my left is Skywarp my wing mate and the red, white and blue seeker to my right is Starscream my wing leader."

"If he is your leader then why are you making the introductions?" grumbled the police chief with a snort.

"Ah, normally it would be my leader that made this announcement, but in the hopes of making a, good, impression. It was determined that I should be the one to make the introductions," replied Thundercracker while Optimus shook his head, "it is not a reflection on your kind, Starscream just hold some strong views and has yet to adapt to the teachings here as we have not been here long. Due to my more calm, er, understanding and tolerant nature I was determined to be best to make the first contact."

"If he is yet to respect us then how can you trust him in your army? From what you have told us he has been your enemy for millions of years, how can you accept him now?"

"Mayor Brook, you must understand that we haven't been here on your planet for long, this is Starscream's first human and robot social interaction so you must understand that he needs time to get use to the idea, he hasn't had many meetings with humans one on one before…"

As Optimus tried to explain Starscream's behavior Skywarp looked over to the humans and fidgeted a bit before turning to Starscream and asking in seekercant, ~what's that thing on the humans head? Should we tell him-?~

"Wait! What is that one saying? I thought you said they could speak English!"

"I am not sure what he said as it is a language unique to their mode called seekercant, and yes they can speak English," sighed Prowl before turning to the three seekers, "please speak the human language English for the humans to understand, it would make them feel more comfortable if they understood as well."

Skywarp fidgeted again before looking back and forth between the humans and Prowl before settling on his trine leader. "…Star?"

"It's doesn't break any of the rules. Go ahead," said the trine leader with a shrug and an internal evil laugh.

Skywarp looked at Prowl again before turning to the humans, "are you aware that you have a, er, rodent, on your head?"

"Excuse me?"

"That fluffy thing on your head! It's a rodent like I saw on those documentaries that Thundercracker watches, you have one on your head!"

"This-! It's a wig! Not a rat!"

"A w-i-g?" repeated Skywarp in wonder, "what's that?"

"It's fake human hair," informed Prowl to the clueless seeker, "it's to give the illusion that the human has a certain style of hair or hair at all. Hair shows youth and it is also part of vanity."

"Like adding a part to your mode to look better Sky," continued Thundercracker, "it doesn't really serve a purpose."

"Oh!...Why would you have something on your head that looks like a rodent anyway?"

"It's a human thing Sky, we don't need to understand because we don't have hair. Continue on with the introductions so I can go back to the lab, I have better things to do."

"Starscream!"

"I am finding a way to increase energy productions from human power plants by 20% to help them, how is that not something better than this?"

"Are you always this rude?" asked one of the secretaries finally snapping.

"Oh you are so asking for it! At least I don't house rodents on my head!"

"Why don't we continue this later on?" butted in Jazz seeing the tension between the humans and Starscream, "you three can go back to what you were doing and we can give the humans a tour around the base!"

"Good idea, Starscream please," plead Thundercracker pulling his leader away to talk to, "Skywarp go grab a cube of energon or something, remember you have patrol later tonight."

"Whatever."

"And for the love of Primus behave! And no more asking questions about their appearance, they are aware of how they look and they are not Cybertronian's."

"I know that! Geez act like you care for them for a click and you get lectured on it," grumbled Skywarp stomping away.

With that the three seekers departed to their separate ways, Starscream and Thundercracker arguing down the hall in seekercant. "What was the name of the black and purple one again?" asked the Chief curiously.

"That would be Skywarp, the seeker that has the ability to, transport, himself around."

"…I think I kinda like him," muttered the Chief amused to see the Mayor so worked up over a simple comment, he told him that it did look like a rat.

"Do you trust these flying bots?" asked the chief to Prowl while crossing his arms and watching as Skywarp was arguing something with Cliffjumper.

"It was, a strained one at first. We had been fighting on opposing sides for many stellar cycles, their sudden defect was seen as suspicious, but time after time they have proved their loyalty under demanding and hard conditions. Not all bots trusted them at first but they eventually got use to the idea and the seekers persevered to fit into the army, the information they had was too important to ignore." Prowl sighed and rolled his optics when Cliffjumper jumped onto the table and was now shouting in the face of the black and purple seeker, "as you can see, some bots still don't get along with them but it is understandable."

"But do you personally trust them?"

"Personally?...Yes, but my reasons for this is not up to discussion," the chief raised an eye brow at the police bots answer but let it drop, there was some things that humans were not suppose to know about the alien race.

"They always like this with the other bots?"

"Not always, for Skywarp to a degree, he is curious of how things work around here and half the bots in it, with his blunt personality though it can cause some friction. Thundercracker is more silent and prefers his space though he has taken the Dinobots and the Aerial team under his wing," Prowl saw the shocked expression on the chief's face, "it was a surprise to us as well, apparently dealing with Skywarp for so many stellar cycles have taught him how to handle out of control younglings. Starscream is as how you saw him, he challenges the rules placed upon him but will concede when it is logical to do so, he likes to push the boundaries to test their limit but not break them unless it is logical to do so. He is also practically a genius about science, his discoveries and inventions had lead to mass advantages for our side and he is also able to control our science team to focus on single experiments rather than their individuals projects. "

"Sounds too good to be true."

"At times their personalities can clash with others but both sides are putting in an effort to get along, at least they just argue now and not break out in brawls," Prowl just sighed as Skywarp waved his arms around trying to make a point to the red minibot. "The beginning was hard because the rules around here are vastly different than the one at the Decepticon base, but after a sit down and telling them repeatedly that we were serious, they have done their best to follow them. Though I must admit, they have found many loopholes around them causing them to be changed repeatedly."

"Hmm…You gonna stop them from arguing before the other minibots jump him?"

"'Jump him'? Ah you mean 'attack him', no he can well defend himself and also can warp away which makes him almost impossible to catch unless his trine steps in, making Starscream do it however is in itself is a challenge to even motivate the leader to reign in his wing mate, apparently he rather let his wing mate cause chaos until it directly affects him."

"…So you run to the blue seeker right?"

"Now you understand our relationship with them."

"Alright, let me get this right. Starscream, the red, white and blue one, is their trine leader, because there are three of them and it is a sort of, instinct, they're kind follows." Prowl nods as the chief continues, "his orders are most of the time listened to unless the blue one, Thundercracker, says something, like an input, and then the order might be changed."

"Starscream's processing is based completely on logic and scientific laws, sometimes he overlooks the situation. Thundercracker is more, how you say, 'down to the planet?', so he sometimes reminds him about certain facts."

"What about the black and purple one, Skywarp?"

"Ah, he is more of an action bot then a planner, most of the time he doesn't like to put in his opinion, actually he rather just makes comments and cracks jokes, so he waits around for the order of his trine leader. He trusts Starscream and Thundercracker's decisions, sometimes would look to them before even listening to one of Primes orders."

"Right. So Skywarp is more of the 'action bot' and has the ability to teleport, so he joined the spy team lead by Jazz. Starscream's the science leader around here and has the ability to fly faster than any other flyer. Thundercracker is the more mature one that is training and looking after the dino and flyer teams, he has the ability to make, er, sonic booms?"

"Correct."

"Alright, can I ask why is Starscream the leader then? It seems like Thundercracker would be a better candidate."

"Ah, in a trine, it is not about whom is best to be leader, when they meet each other their instincts will tell them what to do. When Skywarp, Thundercracker and Starscream met, their instincts instantly told them that Starscream was to be the leader, though Thundercracker has the more negotiable personality, they cannot go against their coding."

Smith was about to ask Prowl another question but was interrupted by a loud squeaking noise. Both law officers quickly looked over to the arguing pair to see Skywarp holding onto Cliffjumper in an almost hugging position, pinning the minibots servos to his sides. Prowl ready to go over there and break it up stopped short when the seeker let out a crackling laugh and ran out of the door carrying a pinned and complaining Cliffjumper with him, in an instant the seeker had the rest of the minibots group shouting and chasing after him. Smith and Prowl could only blink at the empty place before Prowl took a sip of his energon.

"…I guess this is normal then."

"Sadly yes, would you like more of your beverage?"

"No, no I'm good. It's actually quiet peaceful now."

"Mmm that's why I didn't chase them."

Both human and bot then just sat in the peaceful atmosphere ignoring the shouting and laughing that was traveling through the base.

"Let me go you Slagging flybot!"

"NEVER! MUHAHAHAHAHA~! FEEL MY HUG OF AUTOBOT LOVE!~"

"Why did you choose to defect?"

"Blunt one aren't you? My, my, no greetings or questioning of status, just an 'I don't trust you and I shall be obvious about it,' I can truly feel this respect and admiration the other Autobots have for you, it's…spark warming."

"Is he always like this?"

"Sadly, yes."

"You would be scared if I wasn't."

"Once again, sadly yes."

The mayor just stared stupidly as Skyfire shook his head with a sigh, use to Starscream's attitude, "he's an important human Starscream, at least look at him."

"He's 'special'? As in a genetic abnormal or as in the 'mentally retarded' special that Thundercracker saw on those human television?"

"I am not mentally retarded!" shouted mayor Brook while his team looked shocked.

"He's the leader of an entire city of humans Starscream, just treat him like Prime- wait, no not like Prime, he doesn't understand your sarcastic remarks enough to get the underline point."

"I'm just proud that Prime at least has stopped flinching at my scratching remarks."

"They were very creative I have to say."

"I've had stellar cycles to think about them and met many idiot meches."

"Starscream, Skyfire. The mayor is still here," said Jazz with a sigh, scientists can get easily sidetracked, "Starscream just give him a quick run through."

"Very well, Megatron wasn't listening to my recommendations so I decided to find another place that would."

"…How can you trust them!"

"You just make this harder and harder don't you Star?"

"I try my very best."

"You trying to get back at me for the Dino bot thing?"

"I will leave that to my wing mate, you're his problem not mine-"

"Jazz, Starscream. The mayor is still here," this time Skyfire shook his head, spy team always snooped around for information.

"Whoops my bad, Starscream can get very distracting when he wants to be, when he's not in his 'Rah! Get away from me, I'm doing SCIENCE!' state." Jazz gave the humans an easy laugh to play it off, "a thing Screamer should have said was that though he was on the Decepticons side, it did not mean he was completely loyal."

"Sorry to say, but I am in my 'Rah! Get away from me, I'm doing SCIENCE!' state right now and you can explain the story to them over there, away from here, away from me. I need to take out these nuclear fuel rods to modify it and I don't think Prime would like me to have the humans explode out in cancer and tumors, you know, no harm to humans and all."

"Starscream means behind the lead wall over there, he's nearly done anyway so when you finish your story, Starscream will be done for questions."

"Says who?"

"Who? Primus does, now Starscream just continue with the experiment, Jazz we will be right with you in a little bit."

"Got you Skyfire, alright let's go over there for Starscream's story while they get this stuff done here."

Jazz lead the tour of humans around the see through wall Wheeljack had built predicting that Starscream would just run and hide in the lab doing experiments as an excuse to avoid the humans, it was a long and loud argument but Wheeljack backed up by Prime won, though both could swear that they're audio's would never be the same again from the screeching done. Skywarp was nice enough to make a public announcement to avoid the lab area at the time, the other Autobots were grateful.

"Now as I was explaining, you see, I have to explain something about the beginning of the war, hmm, how should I put it quickly?" Jazz rubbed his helm while the humans settled into seats to watch the saboteur and Starscream mixing chemicals with Skyfire watching. "Our war started like most human wars in fact, there were a class of lower status meches and higher ones, separated into different cities, some were giving more rights while others were forced to work and fend for themselves."

"So the war started when the lower class fought to get more equality?," posed one of the secretaries making notes.

"Exactly. At that time, Starscream being a seeker, seen as a lower class mech, was discriminated against like most lower class. One cycle, when energon became limited and was nearly impossible to obtain by the lower class meches, who were the ones who mined for it, Megatron who was an important figure to them at the time seized his chance. Grouping the despairing and angered meches together, they formed a rebellion against their oppression creating the 'Decepticons' which was completely out of the lower class meches who just wanted more rights and freedom."

"You sympathize with them," muttered one man.

"It has been many stellar cycles since this war has started and we would be ignorant to just keep believing that there is a good and bad side, black and white. In the beginning the Decepticons stood for the freedom and justice that they were denied, they were just desperate meches wanting some hope in their future, looking back, Cybertron did need to change its ways to include them but the council was set and would not budge even though it mean moving on into the future. We, as Autobots, believe this, being made up of some lower class meches now, but we disagree with the actions that they had taken." Jazz sighed remembering the meches that were lost in just an attempt to make their lives mean something, "we lost many of our kind in the war, one that should have ended long ago. After a while Megatron had gotten power hungry, he wanted more and more so leading the Decepticons, he warped their thoughts and turned it all into hate for the higher class though the classes ended a few stellar cycles into the beginning of the war. And now you see them as today, power hungry, violent, sinister and 'the bad guys', stellar cycles under Megatron's constant mantra and threats had warped them into a shell of what was a group of freedom fighters."

"Like soldiers after a term in war," added one guard remembering his own father, "they never are able to re-assimilate into society again after a time."

"Exactly, you are getting it now. However, Starscream, unlike most of his Decepticon soldiers, was well educated, it was one factor, and so his processing followed a more logical stand point. He never lost his optics on the first goal of the Decepticons, before it was changed, freedom and equal rights for all bots. Cause he was so smart, he rose the ranks fast, taking his wing mates with him cause the trine thing works that way, became the lead strategist and then second in command. Well as you can guess, as Megatron got more and more power hungry, their views clashed more and more, thus the fighting and beatings Starscream got from him, after a while Starscream got so fed up he just started subtly sabotaging his plans."

"Slagger never even realized that I deleted half of the computers capacities leaving it essentially a box of old pictures," muttered Starscream with an evil crackle.

"Watch it! Fastest seeker around, I know but only in the air! Pay attention, this is the most unstable part."

"'Only in the air'? Have you seen the way I handle Wheeljack? You try to stop him! I swear, sometimes it looks like I'm warping around that fragger-"

"Ignoring those two rant and talk about their science gibberish," Jazz brought back the humans attention, "back to the main question of why he finally defected and why we trust him. You remember as I said he was not always loyal? In frequent parts of the war, in some battles, many of the command here and even some of the soldiers have met Starscream and his trine face to face. However, we kept it to ourselves as what happened was like, so weird at the time you know? So at the times that we did meet them face to face, they in a way actually saved our sparks!" Jazz grinned as the humans stared at him wide eyed and looked at the muttering seeker, "yep you got it, though those three were on the opposing sides, sometimes they would save us rather than kill us. Like this one time, early in the war when I wasn't so awesome yet," Jazz ignored the snort from the two flyers.

"I was captured and was awaiting torture, while injured and cursing my fate, next thing I know the alarm went off. Whole base was in chaos, after a few breems, next thing I know the door had been hacked open, the guard was shot with, what I didn't know was, null rays so he was paralyzed and left unable to see who did it to him. Next thing a seeker shadow destroyed the computer and the bars of my cell shut down, I thought I was done for! Next thing I knew, the seeker grabbed me and we were gone in a flash of purple. I was thrown on my aft in the middle of nowhere staring at a purple and black seeker grumbling something about 'wasting energy for a slagger' and 'how Star better appreciate this' before he was gone in a flash of purple again. Long story short, the Autobots were able to track my signal down and rescue me, I didn't figure out till stellar cycles later that it was Skywarp acting under Starscream's command to save me."

"Why did he save you though? It doesn't seem logical to do so."

"I didn't know either till I asked the seeker when they defected, apparently Starscream predicted my rise in ranks and what would become my role in the army like now. He saw it as a waste to kill me, so he spared me to allow me to become head saboteur, when the last one died who I must say was a bot with a few screws loose. Starscream was on the opposing fraction but it didn't mean he just hated all of us, he believed in the freedom and right for all, so saw it useless to keep a head of saboteur who was too stubborn to change and replace him with me who was more open and understanding to it all. And just in case he needed me in the future, like having bots trusting him when he decided to defect."

"So he not only saved you but numerous Autobots here?"

"Yup. When he crash landed on Earth though, he saw it as the final straw and started planning how to defect here without getting shot out of the sky. That was a long time of planning, got to have the opposing army meet you first without shooting a bunch of holes in you first, before even convincing them that you're serious, and so started the seekers and Autobots learning to try to get along."

"…How did that go?"

"Was very chaotic, never been more entertained in my sparked life, was good times."

"Nice to see that we amuse you," said a sarcastic scratchy voice, "want me to do party tricks next?"

"If you will!"

"No," the seeker sighed, "I was hoping the experiment would take longer so you would all just leave but, sadly, I am too brilliant and figured it all out before your attention span ran out. Just ask your questions already, keep them tasteful or else I'll just leave, and don't think that Skyfire will be able to stop me, I have him wrapped around my servo and I can blackmail Jazz to the dark side of the moon."

"Lies!"

"Oh no, I do have proof. You want to test me?"

"…Skywarp was spying on me a few cycles ago wasn't he?"

"And you're only just catching on."

"…Slag~"

"As I was saying, keep the questions tasteful humans, or I will just have you thrown out of the lab, I have bots here under my ped."

Skyfire just sighed while Jazz cursed his luck, at least Starscream didn't follow his threat and flooded the room with knock out gas to escape from the humans.

"…So you're Thundercracker was it?"

"Correct human."

"What would be your position here in the Autobot army?"

"My official rank in this army is wing mate of my leader Starscream, unofficially I lead the Dinobots and the Areial bots in training and behavior control."

"Why is this un-official?"

"There are no exact rank and term for my leadership over them, though I am thanked every cycle for what I do."

The humans can only stare at the blue seeker strangely as he stared back while patting Grimlock's helm with one servo, some bots in the back ground were watching the calm dinobot in amazement. Grimlock ignored the stares and focused on the puzzle data pad that Thundercracker had given him to solve, the flashing colors and rhythmic music keeping his processors attention. "Me, Grimlock, not understand how this game help Grimlock with fighting."

"It makes you think better and react faster Grimlock, makes you fight Decepticons better and defeat more of them."

"Me, Grimlock, defeat Decepticons!"

"Yes you will, now keep playing the game and next battle session you'll see you will fight better."

"Me, Grimlock, fight good!"

"Yes you do," replied Thundercracker in a light voice patting the dinosaur bot before redirecting his attention to the group of humans. "Was there any other questions that you had? I am scheduled for flight training and Grimlock here is about to return to his quarters where he can concentrate better."

"…How did you get them to listen to you?" asked a human in wonder knowing the reputations of the Aerial team and the dinobots.

"The Aerial team recognized that I was a superior flyer due to my many vorns of being in a trine, I knew more formations and how to best fly in the sky with a team, just because the Aeial team share a bond does not mean that they know how to fly together. I just had to calmly state my interest in training them and allow them the time to come to me, forcing them would mean nothing and would cause them to go against half of my orders, eventually after watching another flyer team that they could relate to, they accepted my help. Eventually I earned their respects and they learnt it was in their best interest to follow my commands." Thundercracker explained while without looking reached over to scratch a part of Slingshot's wing, as he was walking past, causing the aerial bot to let out a happy sound and thank Thundercracker with a 'thanks TC, I could not for the life of me reach that'.

"The dinobots, however were more of a challenge, instead of standing back and waiting for them to approach me, I had to take the opposite approach. I had to actually challenge Grimlock to a show of dominance, him and his team, fight them in training, challenge them in their favorite hobbies, show them up etc.-"

"But why?"

"The dinobots are different to other bots, they show respect to those who have power and deserve it, if your weak, you don't deserve their respect so they won't listen to you. If you show dominance over them, they will eventually respect you, but I had to make it clear to Grimlock first that I wasn't interested in stealing his team rather, teach them to be more efficient as a fighting group and how to keep most of the ark off their case. Showing Grimlock I was not after his team was very important, it could have lead to violence if I didn't."

"He lies! He was chased by the big jaws bot for half a cycle!" shouted Skywarp with a crackle jumping over the table, in the middle of the room, with Cliffjumper still pinned in his grip with the rest of the minibots running after him with their own war cries.

Bots and humans watched after the crackling seeker and the small army of minibots run out of the room before Thundercracker let out a cough. "Grimlock, show your team your new game, I am needed for aerial training."

With that the blue bot shuffled out the room while the other bots sniggered remembering a frantic blue seeker sprint through the halls away from the snapping T-rex, in the end he had to hide behind Optimus while Starscream screeched at the dinobot till he was forced to turn around and run before the pitch shattered his audios. "Don't you need him to stop the black and purple flyer?"

"He's not doing much harm, usually he's ten times worst then this."

Humans could only look each other silently wondering how the army could work like this.

"This isn't going how I hoped."

"I really don't know what you expected, at least their relatively behaving."

"But Ratchet, look at Skywarp! He has the minibots chasing them around the base and has passed each group of humans twice, what happens if they want to talk to him?"

"…Prime. You want the humans to talk to Skywarp."

"Personally, no, so put that ratchet away. But humans are curious in nature and might want to get to know him to ease their minds about the ex-decepticons."

"Just call Thundercracker, make him stop his slagging wing mate."

"He just left with the Aerial bots for patrol and flight training, their out of range."

"Like any of us can stop that warper, he doesn't even listen to you half the time."

"I know…"

"…You know what that means."

"Yes I know," sighed the defeated leader.

"Good luck, I think he'll be in a great mood after the human questioning."

"You're not helping."

"I was hired to just put your afts back together, nothing in the job description told me I had to help yourself esteem, that was in yours."

Optimus just let out another sigh and walked out into the hallway away from the command room that held an amused Ratchet and Redalert. Walking through the halls preparing his speech Optimus paused when he heard the tell-tale shouting and pounding of the seeker and chasing minibots, "Skywarp! As leader of the Autobot I demand you stop this at-"

"Looking shinny and spiffy as ever Prime!" Optimus replied with a loud squeak when the seeker quickly released one servo from Cliffjumper to swat the leader on the aft plates, "Keep the working out! It so shows with that sexy aft of yours."

The seeker continued down the hall with a new crackle while the minibots shouted something more about getting revenge for Prime. Optimus stood frozen in the spot for a click, processing if the seeker really had the bravery to smack his backside, he could swear he heard laughing from the command centre. With a new sigh, Optimus continued his stalking to the direction of the labs in hopes to find the one bot that could reign in Skywarp and his pranks.

"How am I suppose to put into primitive words of what we are made of? You don't have any element or metal to compare it to! And don't even think that we will give you a piece of us to experiment on! Next thing we know, you have made a super weapon out of it and destroy one of your own cities, and then you'll blame that on us!"

"Starscream, may I have a word?" interrupted Optimus watching as Jazz shake his head while Skyfire actually thought it through and told the saboteur that it actually was possible.

"Will it get me away from the humans for the rest of the cycle?"

"Um, not really."

"Then I'm not in the mood, I am one click away from telling Jazz to remove them from my sight and having Skyfire fly with me to collect Perceptor from the hole in the ground he has found himself in to collect samples."

"I'll excuse you from the humans from the rest of the cycle and take you off patrol for the next few cycles."

"Next fifteen."

"Ten."

"Twelve."

"Done."

"Well then my glorious leader, what is it from me that you need? Your humble and loyal soldier," Starscream gave a sarcastic bow, smirking as Optimus just rolled his optics and sighed again.

"Reign in your wing mate Skywarp and make him hold still enough for the humans to talk to him."

"Why would I want to do that?"

"You get patrols off and get away from the humans."

"Ah. Let's see," Starscream drifted off for a click, getting a read of the trine bond to find out what his wing mate was doing and his intentions. "I don't see what's so bad about giving Cliffjumper a hug, is this more about the aft smack-?"

"NO! It's not the hug or that, it's the chasing minibots."

"Then order them to stop."

"Starscream, the humans are here today and I need your wing mate to behave. Reign him in please."

"He's not going to listen to me now, I don't even think TC can stop him, he's having too much fun with something so simple." Seeing Optimus's look, "very well, I know another way to stop him," turning to the large white shuttle, "bring out the portable mini power generator, the one that has the capacity of 2 mega volt velocity."

"That thing can barely power our burners though," muttered Skyfire sighing and heading to the storage area of the lab, "you even once threw it at Wheeljack's head when he tried to make a solar powered energon toaster."

"He was wasting his time and our equipment. Jazz help the big oaf in finding it, the faster we find it the better. Optimus, I need you to get that box of chemicals up there, I swear to primus if you drop any of it you will find yourself welded next to Megatron in his berth!"

The three bots came back to see Starscream tweaking the last screws on a grey cube, "what's that? I saw you fiddling with it a few cycles ago but you never made it much of a priority."

"I only built it after a sudden bout of nostalgia," muttered the seeker pouring in the chemicals and turning on the machine being slowly powered by the generator.

"So what's it do? Plus what's that box labeled 'Lambo twin gun'?"

"A weapon I shall unleash myself on them when they truly annoy me, till then I will store it," replied the seeker looking up for a click to make things more dramatic before going back to his cube, "this thing here will slowly heat and mix the chemicals inside."

"To make?"

"Something that will stop Skywarp in his tracks and have most of the army begging at my peds."

"You singing?"

"Haha, Jazz you can stay in the corner and dance for the humans for that comment."

"You sure this will work?"

"You doubting me?"

"…No? but he really looks into it."

"I know my wing mate Prime, this will get him to stop, it's distracting you isn't it?"

"…I guess."

"And Skyfire and Jazz. It will work," the seeker rolled his optics before taking a quick look around the rec room to make sure that it was relatively empty, "alright, let the plan begin."

With a nod from the surrounding bots, Starscream lifted the metal covering that was hiding his latest scientific creation. Instantly the room filled with the sweet aroma causing many bots that were mulling around to walk over in curiosity, they were quickly stopped by Skyfire and Jazz who each handed each bot a piece. ~Their heading your way in three clicks.~

~Right, let's get this over with~ "Well Prime, what do you think of my latest creation?"

"It's amazing Starscream," replied Optimus in a fake cheerful voice having rehearsed it already, "I can't believe you were able to make these."

"Don't they taste just like home?"

"Mmmm sweet and crunchy, with a unique metallic tang."

"Whatcha eating in here? Star why didn't you tell me about it, what's it, what's it, what's it-?." Starscream had to practically lift the plate, nearly placing it on Optimus's head, in the air and lean away from his wing mate who warped in when he heard about something tasty. "Is it yummy? What's it-"

Skywarp then gave a loud gasp and practically tackled and knocked over his wing leader when he got a whiff of the smell and remembered where he had smelt it before, Cliffjumper squawked as he was crushed between two seekers, Optimus could only blink as the plate was thrust into his servos before Starscream fell.

"You made energon goodies! Copper sticks! How could you not tell me! I'm your wing mate! And you gave it to everyone else before me? How could you? How could you? How could you?-"

"Skywarp calm yourself!" shouted Starscream shoving his wing mate off him, "I made that plateful just for you but you kept running around the base holding that thing!" Cliffjumper could only squawk in protest, "drop the minibot or no copper sticks!"

"I want the whole plate!"

"And you will."

"I wanna five more plates!"

"No! You only get this one and one more! I'm not having you run around the base on an energon high, I need sleep to recover from all this meat bag contact!"

"I want some tomorrow too!"

"Fine, but you have to share with the rest of the base, Jazz probably spread the word about them and all those slaggers are probably coming here right now."

"No! Mine!"

"…I'll throw in an oil shake."

"DEAL!"

With that the protesting red minibots was thrown at his brothers before Skywarp launched to tackle down the surprised Autobot leader, they both landed with a crash. "MINE! Mine, mine, mine, mine-"

"I remember the plan being you put down the plate when I gave it to you Prime."

"I forgot," yelped the leader when Skywarp finally wrestled the plate from the defenseless leader and warped to a table to devour his prize.

"And you want to be in charge of Skywarp, silly Prime, Skywarp is for the trine."

"At least he didn't do anything too bad."

"Says the leader with the 'I heart seekers' bumper sticker on his aft."

"What?"

"Hmm? Oh nothing Prime just making visual observations. I must say good luck getting it off though, he did borrow a special solvent from Perceptor, thing will make anything stick to anything and the red microscope is in a hole in the ground so you can't get the repellent for that. Huh, I keep telling that scientist to stop giving things to my wing mate but Skywarp can be very annoying. Have fun with that."

With that the tri-colored seeker walked out of the room with a strut to make more copper sticks followed by Skyfire while Jazz stayed back to pat his leader on the servo. "Just making an observation Prime, it is a very nicely made bumper sticker."

Prime could only groan in response.

"So you're Skywarp."

"That's my designation."

"What is your official rank here?"

"I am Starscream's wing mate and part of Jazz's spy team."

"So you spy on the Decepticons for the Autobots here."

"Yep."

"How are the Autobots so sure that you're not passing off Autobot information."

"Cause I hate those slaggers," Skywarp shook his servo in the air while sucking his copper stick, "they can lick my aft-"

"Language!" shouted Prowl without looking at the seeker.

"Err, they can, have bad things happen to them?" Skywarp looked over to the police bot who nodded, "not swearing at you humans is hard. You don't even get our insults, it's not like you have any of our systems or anything."

"But this could be all an act and you could secretly be a traitor."

"Ohhh that's what you were getting at. Yeah, no, I can't do that, Starscream says I don't have the patience's and skills to plan ahead so well. Plus the trine bond makes it impossible for me to do something without my wing mates knowing about it."

"What's stopping all of you three from being traitors then?"

"Didn't you just hear me? I hate those slaggers, Screamer and TC hate them too."

"Just because you say you hate them, doesn't mean it's true!"

"Yes it does!"

"No it doesn't!"

"Yeah it does! You're humans, you don't understand the complex processes of our thinking. I hate them so I will do everything to stop them and their fiendish plots."

"But you were one of them!"

"But now I'm not so there!" humans could only stare dumb founded and annoyed at the immature seeker, "Me, Screamer and TC are Autobots now, we hate the Decepticons so we fight them."

"You guys have to remember that Skywarp is more of an action bot, he doesn't really plan ahead or really think things through," tried to explain Jazz when he saw the argument and rising moods.

"I think stuff through! How do you think I've planned so many great pranks?"

"Not about your pranks Skywarp. Look an easy explanation is that Skywarp will always follow the will of Starscream and Thundercracker, if those two seekers are in agreement about something then Skywarp would instantly pick up on it and he would believe it too. It has a lot to do with the trine bond and the trust he has in his wing mates."

"We've been hearing about this 'trine bond' in a few conversations now, can you explain what it is really?"

"Ratchet can explain it more medically but a trine bond is exactly how it sounds," started Optimus getting over the sticker and continued on to try to have the seeker make a good impression on the humans, "we Cybertronian's have a special ritual we call bonding, there are few types of bond varying in strength but all are similar. Bonding is when we share our spark energy with another, giving a part of our essence to another bot to keep while we get a part of theirs as well, with a part of another bot we form a permanent connecting to that bot allowing us to 'feel' them. Their emotions, thoughts, beliefs, past, presence, essentially everything about them we can feel and vice versa."

"Very permanent stuff and is only done with that really special bot. The bond never fades of goes away, even if your mates across the universe, you can still feel their every thought. The only downside is that if one mate dies, the other will as well, no chance of survival when one mate dies, it's cause the other half will lose the will to live when it's missing it's other half," continued on Jazz, "you wanna tell them about the trine bond warper?"

"Well I guess I better, I am the only seeker here, and you grounders will just get it wrong anyway," Skywarp gave the copper stick a last suck before letting it out with a 'pop', "seekers are like another breed of Cybertronian's, so we have our own ways and culture yeah. Seekers when created instinctively are programmed to find two with seekers that they are compatible with, we don't know who those two are but we'll know instantly when we see them. Starscream said the programming was an old fighting program, flight teams were more effective and efficient in teams of three, so eventually all seekers were bred with the program. Trine bonds work in the same way like Boss bot says, I can feel everything Screamer and TC feels and think and they know what I think and feel but unlike other bonds ours share through a three way not two way like other bots."

"About one of us off lining though," Skywarp got a faraway look in his optics, "I only know from rumors but if one seeker dies, it hurts like pit, but the other two seekers will survive cause they have each other, but they'll never be the same again. They become more lifeless, more like a drone, they can't even fight anymore because seeker fight and fly in threes. If two seekers off line though then the third will follow them, but it's not the slowly fading away like these ground bots," Skywarp winced at a memory, "it's more like the going crazy of loneliness and emptiness before going completely violent and trying to destroy everything, then they're always killed by some other bot. So whenever we find a lone seeker, they're off lined straight away."

"…Couldn't they be rehabilitated? Helped?"

"You humans don't get anything. You only get one trine in your sparked life, they are a part of you and created by Primus especially for you. You lose that, then what's the point of going on? Our bonds might work the same way as ground bots but us seekers feel things on a deeper level, ground bots find and get to know their mates, we instinctively know ours like we have known them for all our lives." Skywarp glared and snorted at the humans, "Screamer says that you humans have no such things as spark bonds, how sorry I feel for you. The trine bond bonds us together so if something happens to one of us, then the other two are affected as well, works with military promotions and stuff."

"So Skywarp will instantly believe in the things that the other two agree upon?" asked one of the humans not wanting to start another argument.

"Mostly about things that he really doesn't have an interest in, like battle field maneuvers he can handle on his own, but military politics he finds boring and useless so he just leaves it to Starscream and Thundercracker to figure it all out and just go along with them." Optimus rub his helm remembering the times in the beginning when they tried to get Skywarp's opinion only for him to keep frantically waving at his wing mates to answer.

"Blah, blah, blah. Politics is evil, I just want cycle rations of energon and freedom to rain down pranks on the twins," Skywarp snapped off another piece of copper stick and crunched down on it repeatedly, "revenge for all those slagging 'jet judos' and thinking that they are the prankster kings."

"And that in a ball is Skywarp," Jazz spread his servos out before clapping at the black and purple seeker, "a simple soldier who just follows orders and pulls pranks for the fun of it."

"Ball? Oh I can use that," said Skywarp in realization.

"Skywarp, no."

"Sorry Boss bot but my spark tells me yes," with an exaggerated sweep the seeker grabbed the plate of copper sticks and ran out of the room, "I must always listen to my spark, tis where my Trine is~"

"And off he goes, to cause trouble and chaos around the base to entertain him and the rest of us."

"I hoped he would hold still for at least a few more questions."

"Haha Prime, that was a funny joke."

With that the two command bots walked off talking about the short attention span-ed seeker. The humans were left confused and wondering how the army was still winning the war.

"So now that you have officially met the three seekers and have talked to the bots that work side by side with them, are you satisfied that they are truthful in their defecting here?"

"…How is your army still working much less winning the war?"

"They're very efficient in what they do," Optimus leaned over to Prowl to whisper privately, "how are we winning this war?"

"The armies frustration and them taking it out on the Decepticons. The seekers have mastered the skill to rile any bot up."

"Ah! Explains everything." Optimus nodded in satisfaction before turning to the humans again, "Our army is made up of many different personalities and cultures, sometimes they clash but the purpose of being a team is being able to deal with this."

"Was the base this chaotic when they weren't here?"

"…It was a different kind of chaotic. Things around here were never that peaceful."

As if to prove his point the twins came sprinting through the halls followed by a screaming Ratchet while Swoop and Firstaid passed him ratchets. "See?"

The humans just stared at the leader blankly while Optimus just coughed into his servo, "…it's actually why we never have human and Cybertronian talks here in the Ark."

"…If you're sure they won't destroy the base or something," said the Mayor helplessly.

"Oh no Starscream, on a cycle basis makes sure that Wheeljack doesn't do that, he means well but things don't always go right with his experiments."

"I meant the black and purple one."

"Oh, I'm sure his wing mates wouldn't let him do that," Optimus then thought about it, "unless we anger them greatly."

"What Prime is trying to say is that though they are not as professional as most of the command here, they are still an important part of the army and what they do here is vital. Their personalities, like many here, can be over looked and ignored." Droned Prowl internally wanting to slam his helm against the wall after this cycle, "they have become trusted members of the army and have proven themselves to us all, that is all we require."

"Oh there you are Prime, and the meat- humans," Starscream gave the humans a raised optic before turning back to the leader, "I'm installing the copper stick making machine in the rec room for bots to get them freely rather than bother me for them. Oh and to tell you that since the humans are still here, you might want to kick them out of the base before they see what my wing mate has planned."

"How bad is it?"

"A ten Prime, a ten out of ten."

"Give me a quick run of it."

"A gun that shoots balls, a dinosaur and a running saboteur."

"...It was nice to have you all here today, we learnt a lot from each other and maybe another cycle we can do it again," Optimus quickly nudged the humans out of the base while Prowl ran to get Thundercracker, Starscream just smirked and motioned Skyfire to follow him to the rec room with the goodie producing machine, "we can discuss specifics about today next meeting, in 8 cycles? Alright, it was an honor to have you come today to meet the seekers personally to make sure they can be trusted, sorry you all have to be rushed like this but for safety reasons you must leave."

"Goodbye Mayor Brook, Mr. Smith and other humans," rushed Optimus when he heard the distant thumps of a certain stomping T-rex, "it was nice to see you today."

The humans could only stare at the door blankly as it was slammed in their faces while Optimus retreated to do some damage control.

"He has really out done himself this cycle," muttered Optimus running into see what the commotion was about.

"Hmm, I'm surprised he was able to pull it off," replied Prowl watching with mo sympathy.

"…Did you call Thundercracker?"

"He'll be here soon, he was in the washroom when I comm.-ed him."

"Good."

Both bots just gave a nod to each other we before continuing their energon consumption while watching as Skywarp riding on Grimlock's shoot balls of metal with a primitive gun while Jazz ran around shouting for help.

"Oh COME ON! Help here!"

"Revenge! MUHAHAHAHAHA."