Seekers Come In Threes.

Epilogue.

Sam yelled as the Decepticon leader grabbed at him and slashed across his chest with one hand and scored one of his wings with the other. He could hear Mikaela and Bumblebee's cries of alarm, hear engines roaring and metal screeching, and feel pain over the trine-bond. Sam lashed out blindly, clawing and kicking, and then twisting and rolling and turning mid-air, to try and escape from the unexpected attack Starscream had launched on him. The possibility briefly flashed into Sam's mind that perhaps Starscream had been grounded a bit too long in the past, perhaps he was already insane, it could explain the unprovoked attack.

He was briefly aware as he tried to get his bearings that Dawnstreaker's trine was still on the ground. He couldn't understand it, they too were Autobot Seekers, why were they not coming to his and his trine's aid? Did the wing-kin bond between his and Starscream's trine forbid Dawnstreaker's trine from interfering due to some obscure Seeker custom or manners involving infighting between those so bonded? Sam realised that there was still much about the Seeker mindset and customs he had yet to learn.

Sam's sensors told him that Starscream was right behind him: he executed a half-turn in a hairpin bend, heading down, and felt the wind of passage of Starscream's claws as the latter took another swipe at Sam. That had been close, too close, and Sam rolled and twisted, glad for the aerobatic training they had practiced earlier. He was intending to take a retaliatory slash at Starscream's underbelly, partly through instinct and partly in the hope it might startle Starscream back to normality, but found the other Seeker already halfway through a turn that would put him back in melee range.

He had not realised how manoeuvrable Starscream was until then, and he was frighteningly fast. Starscream feinted down, but as Sam swerved to avoid, the Decepticon leader actually launched himself up. As Sam twisted back, he felt the Seeker land atop him, loop his arms around his wings, felt Starscream's claw-tips pressed lightly to the underside of, and very lightly score, the wings. Then he let Sam go, dropping down beside him, looking entirely relaxed: the sounds of combat and the pain from his trine-mates over the bond, faded.

"You need to move and fight at the same time, Sam, attack and defence combined," Starscream said. "Not bad for a novice though, I have the advantage of experience and Academy teaching, but you're a quick study: with practice you will get better." Sam took a quick glance around and saw that Mikaela and Bumblebee too were no longer engaged in fights, before the meaning of Starscream's words hit him.

"Wait, wait, wait, you mean that was a training exercise?"

"Well, of course it was," Starscream said. "We are wing-kin, why would we attack you? Do you really think Dawnstreaker and her trine would have stayed down and let us attack if we hadn't warned them it was for training?"

"Well, warning us would have been appreciated, you know?" Sam said sourly.

"Enemy fliers won't give a warning, Sam. Of course, they are likely to shoot at you as soon as they get in range, rather than engage you in hand-to-hand, but still," Starscream pointed out, rather smugly, Sam thought.

Sam touched the scores and winced. "That bloody hurt," He saw pink on his finger. "And I think I'm bleeding."

"They're only surface scratches, they'll be self-repaired in a couple of breems." Starscream said.

"Breems?" asked Mikaela who had, with Bumblebee, flown over to hear the conversation. Both she and Bumblebee were also scratched but Sam noticed that their scratches too were shallow.

"A breem is about eight or nine human minutes." Bumblebee explained. "So, they'll self-repair within twenty minutes or so."

Starscream waved, and Dawnstreaker, Freefall and Runway flew up to meet them.

"Let's head for your base shall we?" Starscream suggested. "Oh, and by the way, tell them to keep those twin nuisances away from us, at least till we've landed, would you?"

"Certainly," chuckled Dawnstreaker.

They all decided that was the best course of action, and once the call had been made and assurances given that Sunstreaker and Sideswipe wouldn't be practicing jet-judo on any of them, they all flew towards the Autobot base.

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As they all transformed and landed in front of the Autobot Base, a slightly wide-opticked Ironhide, who had likely never seen so many non-hostile Seekers in one place since the war had started, opened the gates for them. Ratchet came out to greet them, quickly scanned them all, and then realising any further investigations would likely be treading on Freefall's own medic-toes, invited them all to come and refuel. He talked to Sam, asking him what had happened, while he and Freefall commed a conversation spattered with medical jargon between them.

Optimus walked in midway through the refuelling session, took one look, and stopped, his own optics widening.

"I was under the impression that this was a medical bay, overnight it seems to have become a temporary air base," he said, looking at all the brightly-coloured wings clustered around the fuel station. The slight smile on his face belied the serious tone of his voice. "Perhaps someone could explain what this is all about?"

Ratchet gave him a slightly bemused look.

"The moment I know the full story myself, Prime, I'll be sure to let you know."

A/N: There will likely be a sequel to this, and it will be slashy, so, depending on your views on slash, consider yourself either informed or warned.