Sam was in the rec room watching Sideswipe and Epps compete on an old copy of Call of Duty when alarms started screaming throughout the base. Both soldiers dropped their controllers (well, Sideswipe unplugged from his), and bolted from the room, but not before ordering Bumblebee to keep Sam safe.

Nervously, Sam asked, "Bee? That alarm means there's a Decepticon sighting, right?"

"Affirmative, solder!"

Sam swallowed nervously.

Surprisingly, the encounter didn't last very long, as the Decepticon immediately surrendered upon seeing the Autobot entourage and went to the brig without any fight or complaint. Ironhide was baffled, though he recovered quickly when Ratchet asked if he needed to make a stop in the medbay.

However, when Optimus went down to the brig to speak to the mech, he came back to the rec room baffled as well.

Sam had calmed significantly since the alarm had stopped. "What's up, big buy?"

Optimus looked down at him and said, "He says he will only speak to you, Sam."

And that's when hell really broke loose.

-x-

"Hey!" Sam thumped on Bumblebee's wheel. "Listen, 'Bee. I'll be fine. I can totally handle myself. Ironhide's just a door away, and there'll be an electric and energon wall between me and the 'Con. Besides, it's really your own fault you're not allowed in with me."

Bumblebee played a clip of a woman screaming alongside a violin playing short, high, scratchy notes.

Sam was worried about meeting with an unknown Decepticon, but he didn't need his guardian to worry about him. He was sure he was going to be fine, but then again… they were probably called Decepticons for a reason.

But he bit down his own worry and said, "Well, you shouldn't've tried to go and attack him. Prime and Ratchet flipped out when I told them you were going to go 'talk' to him."

Crkzz. "And I would have gotten away with it, too, if it weren't for you meddling kids!"

"Really?" Sam laughed nervously, trying to hide his unease, "Scooby-doo is the best you can come up with? Maybe you should let Ratchet fix your vocals!"

Bee rattled his Camaro form dramatically, "Noooo! It's gonna kill me!"

"I don't even know what that's from! Alright. Let me out here." Sam said, opening the door while Bumblebee was still rolling.

Crkzz. "I don't like this- It's quiet. Too quiet."

"I know, 'Bee, it's weird and I don't like it either. But he'll only talk to me. I don't know what to tell you, buddy." Sam said, patting Bumblebee's roof comfortingly. "I've survived worse. Hell, I died once! And Lennox is gonna be in there with me. With mini sabot rounds."

Bee made pathetic clicking and whirring noises. "Game over, man! Game over!"

Epps looked up at Bumblebee. "Man, he's pathetic with the guilt-trippin'. How often does he do that?"

"Often enough that it doesn't affect me at all, Robby." Sam grinned widely, hoping his false bravado would hide his inner panicking.

Epps flicked him off.

"Hey, man, when 'Sides tags you with a nickname, there isn't any getting rid of the stupid thing. Old Man, Bossbot, Walking Grenade…" he could go on for a while. "I can go on for hours."

"I got it, I got it. Just don't let Ironhide hear you call him an old man. He would have freakin' kittens!"

"Who said I was talking about Ironhide?" Sam had to duck a swing coming in at the back of his head. He quickly danced away from the semi-murderous NEST officer, and ran smack into William Lennox.

Lennox folded his arms over his chest. "Must you antagonize him? You know damn well he's going to go take it out on Ironhide by teaming up with the silver menace."

"Can't help myself." The younger man shrugged unrepentantly.

Will rolled his eyes. Anyone with working eyes (and probably everyone that didn't) could tell Sam was about to have a panic attack, but if teasing armed and dangerous men made him feel better, then who was he to argue?

"C'mon kid. Prime wants to get this over with. Bossbot ain't happy about this, you know." He told Sam while they walked to the brig.

Unfortunately, Sam couldn't swallow his panic this time and he started to babble, "Well neither do I! I mean, what would a seeker want with me? I'm not getting weird visions from the Allspark anymore- Ratchet already removed that thing- and Optimus has the Matrix now, so why me? Is it to lower the morale or-?"

He prepared to continue, but Lennox grabbed his shoulder firmly and looked him in the eye like he had back in Mission City. Sam's jaw closed with a snap and he recovered from his outburst.

"You can ask him all that yourself, younglin'." Ironhide answered as they walked past him, through the human-sized doors. "An' just so you know, his designation's Skywarp."

"Yeah, I- Thanks, Ironhide." Sam saluted jokingly, though still pale and nervous-looking.

Lennox watched him carefully, hoping to god that the kid wouldn't break down or faint while talking to the Decepticon.

-x-

Sam peered into the cell, through the steel fence crackling with deadly amounts of electricity, and the shimmering translucent energon wall. Skywarp was huddled in the back, in his alt mode.

"Hey mech, you online?" Sam asked, wincing at his accidental use of Cybertronian slang. He still cursed the fact that it had slipped into his vocabulary at all.

"I will speak to no one but Ladiesman217."The mech growled.

Sam snarled and his nervousness all but vanished.

-x-

'Oh yeah.' Will thought smugly. 'He's fine.'

-x-

"Seriously!? Are you fragging Decepticons still stuck on that? I deleted my slagging Ebay months ago!" Sam was very, very annoyed. Every encounter with the Decepticons, one of them yelled, 'get Ladiesman217!' He was sick of it, and it was driving him up a goddamn wall.

The seeker slowly transformed and crouched down to get a better look at the human glowering up at him. He was built differently than the pictures Optimus had shown him of Starscream. Less "dorito-body" and more "Bee with plane wings instead of door wings". And he was less spiky than most Decepticons- if Sam didn't know better he'd have thought the mech was an Autobot. But he did know better.

The mech's wings twitched. "You sounded like an Autobot…"

Sam crossed his arms. "I've been around them for years. We've rubbed off on each other. I doubt that's what you wanted to talk about though, so talk."

It was like a switch had been thrown, and the mech was on his knees, trying to look Sam in the eye and nearly begging, "You have to help him! Me and my trinemate's third died- he was killed by Megatron! But my other trinemate… he's really hurt! He crashed when the bond with our third broke! He never crashes, so the rebound from the sparkbond snapping had to've thrown him into shock, and he could die!"

The mech sounded desperate, and Sam felt a pang of pity for him. "Well, I'm listening. Go on."

"I've had a broken trine bond before, but he hasn't! I mean, it hurts for me too, but not like it's hurting him. He's dying. Please save him, human. Please! If he dies, I'll probably offline too! Nobody can handle two trine deaths in less than an orn!" the mech begged.

"…Where is he?" Sam asked. Damn his bleeding heart.

"He's at-!" he rattled off a set of coordinates, and Sam's head spun a little.

Sam turned around to Lennox. "Can you relay that to Ratchet?"

Lennox pressed a button on the plastic collar around his throat, and spoke over the Autobot comm frequency for a moment.

"Done," he said when he was finished. "He's en-route."

Sam shuffled his feet a minute.

"So, uh, who exactly is your trine mate, the living one?"

Skywarp cringed and said, "Starscream."

Lennox's eyes hardened a little, but he explained gently, "Alright. Aid is on the way. Ratchet's going to do a patch there, and then bring him back to the medbay for proper treatment." Then his expression soured, "But if he tries to attack us, we will retaliate."

"He won't, I promise!"

Sam thought that if crying (for any reason) was a thing Cybertronians could really do, Skywarp would be misting up at least a little in relief. As it was, Sam got the impression that the way Skywarp's wings swept back and up was him showing his relief.

Sam and Will turned to leave.

"Um…"

They both turned back to look at the mech.

The mech's wings twitched; Sam could only think it was a nervous motion. "Thanks. I know 'Screamer's not liked a whole bunch among the Autobots…"

Sam shrugged. "Just doing our job."

The mech obviously had something else to say, and after a moment, he said, "Alright, I dunno if this is weird to say to a human, but has anyone said anything about the weird readings you're giving off?"

His comment worried Lennox. "What do you mean 'weird readings'? And who exactly is it 'coming off of'?"

The mech leaned back and threw his wings back defensively. "If I knew what it was I'd have said what it was! And whatever it is, it's on both of you, but more on, uh…" He pointed at Sam.

Nervously, Sam said, "My name's Sam."

"Yeah, and it just spiked a second ago, when you walked in."

Scowling, Lennox assured Sam, "We'll have it checked out by Ratchet."

"As soon as Starscream's stabilized." Sam replied, feeling oddly defensive. "Whatever these 'weird readings' are, I'm sure they can wait until a potential ally isn't about to die."

-x-

"Starscream's fine, then?" Sam asked, perched on a free berth edge.

He got an affirmative grunt in reply.

Shifting in the chair that had been placed on Ratchet's desk (for Mikayla, since she was in the medbay so often), he said, "The mech in the brig- Skywarp- he said he was getting some… 'Weird readings' off of me and Major Lennox. I figured you could check me out now, since I'm already here. I think it freaked Lennox out more than it did me, but… better safe than sorry, right?"

"Gimmie a nanosecond," Ratchet grumbled. "Starscream was close to slagged when I got to him, and I'm exhausted."

Sam nodded, and for a little while the medbay was quieter than it had been in a long time, with only the beeping of a Spark monitor and the humming of a data screen connected to the Seeker.

Ratchet got up, making the berth he had been sitting on groan under his weight. He mumbled something angrily about "shoddy materials" and "cheap-aft government officials" while he ran a quick scan on Sam. Then he frowned, and scanned him again. Sam took this as a bad sign.

"Sam, I see nothing out of the ordinary with you, except something unusual but small in your chest," Ratchet said. "Still, I will run a deeper scan, just in case. Are you feeling out of the ordinary? Shortness of breath, insomnia, coughing?"

Shaking his head, Sam asked, "Do you think he was just imagining it?"

"He very well could have imagined it. His readings could also be correct. I see no reason for him to worry you unnecessarily while his trinemate's life is seemingly in your hands. In either case, Prime is on his way with our only data pad capable of the deep scans I want to run."

Sam fidgeted while they waited.

-x-

Sam watched in confusion as a silent conversation passed over his head.

Optimus had walked in just a few minutes ago, with the data pad in his hand, and had just… stopped and stared at Sam for a long moment, then looked at Ratchet silently. Sam was used to the silent conversations now, but they never failed to annoy him. Mostly because it felt like a dog whistle was screaming in his ears and because the bots were usually talking about him.

Eventually, though, Optimus cleared his throat-a purely human gesture he had picked up for the human's benefit- and said, "I am not sure how this has slipped past our awareness, but it seems that, sometime during the time we have known you, you have grown a spark."

Sam felt like his heart stopped beating. "A what?"

Ratchet sighed. "Sparks are essentially our souls, except that we can touch them. You've heard of sparkbonding, of course?"

"Yeah, it's like- it's like a marriage between you guys, isn't it?"

"Yes," Ratchet paused to look at Sam. "Except the two mechs are then linked for the rest of their lives; until one dies or the bond is forcibly broken, which usually kills both mechs anyway."

Sam's jaw dropped. "And I have one of these things now!?"

Ratchet nodded, and his fans whirred irritably. "It would appear so. It is tiny, at the moment, but it's reading clearly as a seeker spark. I would like you to stay a few days so I can monitor its growth. Spark growth time varies, and yours could mature anywhere between a few days from now to years from now."

"And- and bonds? How do I… avoid those?" Sam shifted nervously.

Sighing, Ratchet explained, "To put it simply, you don't. Seekers must have a trine bond to survive. From what I understand, they can be initiated by anything from frame-to-frame touch, to simple optic-contact. Pits, I've heard of seekers trining with grounders when they're desperate. You'll have to hope that you don't accidentally trine with either of the Decepticon seekers, Sam."

Sam floundered miserably for a moment before slumping down in his chair. "I- yeah, sure, just… can I call Mikayla?"

-x-

Every morning for the week after that, Sam was woken up by Ratchet insisting on running a deep scan on him, and asking if he felt any different.

The first two days, he felt no different than usual. He'd been coughing some recently, though, which made Ratchet paranoid, and he had some trouble sleeping, which made Ratchet even more paranoid. At day four, his back started aching, and he just felt tired all the time.

Ratchet sounded worried when he said, "it seems that your symptoms are similar to a condition called Myxoma. Your body has identified your spark as a tumor, and treating it as such. It seems that meeting with the Decepticon has caused your spark's growth to increase dramatically."

"Do you have an idea of why? I'm not- I'm not linked to him somehow, am I?"

Ratchet's optics paled. It was a similar expression to a human widening their eyes. "You very well could be. I'll record your spark signature and set it against Skywarp's, and see if there's some sort of bond. Though, for both of your sakes, I hope there isn't."

Sam could imagine the reasons, but still he asked, "Why?"

"One, you'd begin to feel the effects of their freshly broken bond. And two, you'd be compelled to follow the squad leader no matter what. In this case: Starscream."

Stories Ironhide had told of the atrocities that the seeker had supposedly done flashed through his mind, and Sam shuddered in horror. If he had to follow that crazy bastard, he'd probably kill himself.

"And aside from the adverse effects on you, Skywarp and Starscream would have to put up with your stupidity in battle."

Sam bristled. "Hey, I'm not stupid! I can follow orders just as good as Lennox can!"

Ratchet paused to stare at Sam condescendingly. "When you're flesh and blood, trying to attack and kill metal beings from outer space is extremely stupid, no matter how well you can follow orders."

"… Well when you put it that way…"

-x-

On day five of his observation, Lennox returned to base, and was immediately snatched up by Ratchet.

Literally.

Sam was positive that he'd never heard the major so angry. "Put me down, you big metal can opener bastard! Wait 'till I get a hold of some fucking sabot rounds you stupid toaster! I'll fill you so full of 'em you'll be mistaken for goddamn scrap metal! Scrap metal, you hear me!?"

It was terribly difficult to not laugh when the man who (grabbed him and shouted- "Listen to me! You're a soldier now!") seemed so implacable and calm was now being held by the scruff of his shirt like a misbehaving kitten, but somehow, Sam managed. If only just barely.

Lennox swung his fists blindly and to no avail at Ratchet's fingers. "I said put me down!"

"Calm down, human. I need to run a few deep scans, and you need to stay here for observation." Ratchet dropped him onto the medical berth Sam had made his temporary home.

Lennox glared at Sam and stiffened his shoulders, daring him to say a word.

Sam held his hands up defensively, threw his shoulder blades back, ducked his head and looked away.

Ratchet's fans whirred above them worriedly. "Slag, this must be further along than I originally thought if you're already displaying instinctual seeker body language."

Both humans looked up at Ratchet in surprise and horror.

"What?" Sam laughed nervously, "No. That's normal human body language."

Ratchet snorted. "Then human body language is abnormally similar to seekers. Your shoulder blades were moving to mimic seekers wings."

Lennox furrowed his eyebrows in confusion. "What?"

Ratchet pinched the bridge of his nose. "I apologize. I forgot that I had instructed Ironhide to not mention any of this to you. I didn't want to worry you prematurely. In short, Sam has grown a spark, and I believe it was due to touching the Allspark in Mission City. Due to the fact that you also touched the Allspark, I have reason to believe you might have one as well."

"But that was years ago! How is he only growing one now?"

"It is possible that he has had one all this time. Sparks are very… odd. We have never been able to study them properly. Much like your human scientists and medical doctors have been unable to study your brain properly. Sparks can lay dormant for vorns before activating in their bodies. Sometimes they activate immediately. It depends."

Lennox took a deep breath. "So what you're telling me is that since I shoved the Allspark into Sam's hands way back in Mission City, I might have a spark too? How does that even work?"

Ratchet motioned for them to sit down, and he sat in his own chair. "Sparks were ignited by a creator or creators laying a sparkling body on the Allspark. Only sparkling bodies and a select few mechs were allowed to touch the Cube, because fully matured mechs that touched it tended to acquire… glitches."

Lennox leaned forward worriedly. "Glitches? Like, weird programming?"

"You could say that. Prowl- who is supposed to be landing soon- was thrown onto the Allspark during the battle over it, and when he did, his processer was given an upgrade, but that upgrade came with flaws. His processers cannot handle illogical things well, and he tends to crash when encountered with them."

Scowling, Lennox asked, "Is that where Skywarp got his annoying habit of popping in and out of battles?"

"Yes. Skywarp was also at that battle. He can teleport, as you know, but it only works in wide-open spaces. Red Alert- another mech you'll meet soon- was also at that battle, and that's where his paranoia glitch comes from."

"What about Hound? He has that ultra-hologram projector, right?"

Ratchet shook his head. "No, that was one of Wheeljack's finest inventions. One of the few that never once exploded."

Sam stared in horror.

Lennox waved his hand. "This has gone off subject. Go back to the whole, 'Sam and I have sparks' thing."

"I'm waiting for Prime to arrive with the data pad. He's in the middle of a meeting with the president. Requesting yet another liaison. First Galloway, then Wilson, and just recently Jacobs. They're all terrible. He's trying to get a NEST member as the liaison this time."

Lennox scoffed. "Good luck. We have a hell of a time recruiting people in the first place."

Laughing, Ratchet said, "I think we'll get what we want this time. Ironhide frightened Jacobs enough that his fight or flight reflexes activated and he expelled his wastes."

Sam blinked for a few moments, a grin spreading across his face. "So you mean he literally pissed himself?"

"Among other things."

Both Sam and Lennox forgot their worries for a minute and burst into laughter.

-x-

A few hours and many, many games of blackjack later, Optimus finally entered the medbay.

"Prime."

"Ratchet."

"Data pad, now."

Optimus handed him the data pad, and Ratchet immediately got to scanning. Lennox abandoned the card game and waited impatiently for Ratchet's diagnosis. Sam packed up the cards and the odd thought of 'well duh, of course Lennox is gonna have a spark' crossed his mind. Immediately after, he felt guilty and confused by the thought. Why would Lennox 'of course' have a spark?

Ratchet sighed deeply. "It seems that you also have a spark. I ask that you stay in the medbay so that I may observe you for a week. I'm not sure how quickly your spark will mature."

"Are you certain?" Lennox asked, desperate for a negative answer.

"I am. I can tell you what kind of spark you have in just a moment, if that helps."

Lennox slumped in his chair. "God, what am I going to tell Sarah?"

Sam awkwardly patted his back. "I'm sure she'll be okay. I mean, she likes Ironhide, right? And I bet Wheeljack can mimic Hound's holo-projector so you can still do- uh… couple-y things, right?"

Will's back shook a little, and Sam thought he was crying until he leaned back and laughed. "You're right Sam. Anyone crazy enough to leave our baby with Ironhide as a babysitter is crazy enough to still like me when I'm a giant robot. I hope."

Sam shrugged. "The only way to know is to call her, right?"

Lennox looked up to the two mechs. "Yeah. Hey, Bossbot, can I get a phone?"

-x-

While Lennox was calling his wife, Ratchet opened a private line with Optimus.

Did you notice?

I did.

I was hoping their sparks would mature slowly, but it seems we will not be so lucky. They're both displaying seeker-like instinct behavior. If their growth continues as-is, their sparks will be mature in twelve weeks to three months.

I agree. Do you think it would be safe for them to have a twin bond?

Seekers do not bond in numbers lower than three. Any trine reduced to two usually either immediately adopted a lone seeker or created a sparkling to complete their trine. That, or they offlined themselves in grief. However, I have heard of seeker quartets, though those are… exceedingly rare.

I heard Sam asking if he had a bond with Skywarp…?

No, he doesn't have one. Yet. But their sparks are on very similar wavelengths. It's very possible they could develop one in the future. If they do so before Starscream awakens, there's a chance we will either lose a few friends or gain a few allies.