"HOW COULD YOU LET HIM DO THIS TO ME?!" The shrill shriek resonated again throughout the throne room, making both bots in attendance cringe openly at the pitch. Megatron examined the tips of his servos momentarily, rubbing away a bit of flaking paint from one of his subordinates with a thumb, slumped down in his chair with a bored sigh before returning his gaze to the enraged seeker before him - which prompted an amused smirk. The red and white fledgling was stamping his peds, his hands clenched tightly at his sides, soft faceplates flushed dark with Energon, glowing pink in anger - Megatron could nearly see the steam rising from his audios and forced down a chuckle at the thought. "I AM THE AIR COMMANDER! I AM THE SECOND IN COMMAND!" the seekerlet continued to wail, pacing restlessly back and forth in front of the throne. "AND YET YOU LET YOUR… Your… WEIRD LITTLE PET USE ME AS SOME SORT OF…" he paused, hands coming together as though he could strangle the imaginary object between them, "GLITCH MOUSE FOR EXPERIMENTATION! YOU LET HIM LOCK ME IN MY OWN LAB AND DO THIS TO ME!"

"Soundwave needed a test subject and you just happened to be the idiot that caught my ire, Starscream." Megatron's retort was far softer and calmer than the seeker would have liked - entertainment did a number on the Warlord's infamously short temper. "Besides," he waved a careless, dismissive hand, "it's not as though it killed you."

"AND WHAT IF IT HAD?!" The aforementioned tape-deck lowered the volume on his audios, wincing again at the piercing shrieks the little bot could emit. "WHAT IF IT HAD KILLED ME?! THEN WHAT WOULD YOU HAVE DONE WITH NO ONE YOUR TROOPS ACTUALLY RESPECT TO LEAD THEM?!" Either not noticing the slightly darkened gaze the silver mech bestowed upon him, or too far gone in his ranting to care, he pressed on. "NOT TO MENTION THAT THIS IS, BY FAR, THE ABSOLUTE STUPIDEST PLAN YOU'VE HAD YET! AND - SURPRISE, SURPRISE - IT DIDN'T EVEN WORK!"

"Negative," Soundwave responded, causing the small bot to flinch as though struck and turn his glowing, hateful gaze onto the tape-deck, trembling in fury. "Virus implantation: Successful."

"And how would you know," Starscream sneered, planting his hands on his pelvic plating as he regarded the blue mech, hips jaunted to the left - Soundwave almost laughed at the familiar cocky pose, duplicated in miniature. "Our reports say that the patrols have seen nothing but adult mechs in their surveillance of the perimeters - they have seen no evidence of your virus working!"

"Viral barb logged its activation approximately thirty-nine hours ago, local Terran time."

"THEN WHERE ARE THEY?!" The seekerlet stomped his way up the throne's dais to glare up at Soundwave, poking him on the shin plating. "I DEMAND TO SEE PROOF THAT YOUR STUPID IDEA ACTUALLY WORKED - BECAUSE, SO FAR, I HAVEN'T SEEN ANYTHING TO INDICATE THAT ANYONE OTHER THAN ME HAS ACTUALLY BEEN AFFECTED!"

Megatron offered another bored sigh, tilting only his head to gaze at the sparkling that was now to the side of his throne, harassing his acting-SIC. "Soundwave has a far more successful track record than you do, Starscream; but, if it will shut you up, I shall dispatch Ravage to bring you some evidence. I, too, am anxious to see the effects of this virus, Soundwave."

"Affirmative, Lord Megatron. I will dispatch Ravage, as commanded."

"You see, Starscream," Megatron crooned lightly towards the fledgling, "that is how my subordinates are supposed to act - to do as they are told without question or complaint, to be respectful. You are neither of these things - and that is why you are punished instead of getting goodies like the good little sparklings." Megatron smirked slightly at the fuming little mech, even going so far as to take an Energon goodie from his subspace and hand it to Soundwave. "You have done well, Soundwave - have a treat."

Starscream sputtered indignantly at that, watching with bright, angry (and slightly jealous) optics as Soundwave took the offered goodie with an exaggerated show of polite thanks. "YOU HAVE NO PROOF THAT HE'S DONE WELL! DON'T REWARD HIM FOR THEORIES!"

"Use your 'inside voice', Starscream," Megatron chided, snickering slightly to himself.

"THIS PRAISE IS PREMATURE! HE HAS DONE NOTHING THAT DESERVES REWARD!" The little seeker stomped his pedes, flailing his arms theatrically, optics welling with fluid.

"All this over an Energon goodie? My, my, Starscream, if I didn't know any better, I might think you were envious of Soundwave getting attention over you." The Warlord grabbed the seeker by the wing, wrenching a shrill cry of discomfort from the little bot as he was hoisted up and dangled at optic-level. "You will be rewarded when you have done something of merit, Seeker. Until then, I suggest you stop your sniveling before the novelty of your new form has worn off and I grow impatient with you." The wing was released and the little mech bounced slightly on his aft as he fell onto a large silver thigh before being quickly brushed off to the floor - Dusted off his lap like crumbs! he fumed, glowering up at the two adult mechs through teary optics, scrubbing roughly at them with his wrists, vents hitching slightly at the smarting sensation from his fall. Megatron groaned - a low, guttural sound that may have even been a growl - and rolled his optics towards the tape-deck. "Oh Primus, he's going to cry. Get the little brat out of my sight, Soundwave."

"Affirmative, Lord Megatron." Starscream tried to scramble away from the larger mech, but Soundwave quickly snatched him by the scruff of his neck and cradled him against the glass of his chest plate, stroking the previously pinched little wing to calm the flighty little seeker.

"Thundercracker will be acting as my Air Commander now, Starscream," Megatron added lightly, almost as an afterthought. "We can't have that fool Skywarp in charge, after all…"

"You can't send Thundercracker out into battle with my troops!" he protested, struggling against the telepath's soothing petting. "The trine is incomplete without me! You… You can't just leave me like this!" He whirled around to poke hard at Soundwave's chestplates. "There's an antidote! I know you made one! Give it to me NOW!"

"Antidote: does not currently exist."

Starscream gaped openly at the blue mech for a long moment, so long that Megatron wondered briefly if his CPU had crashed, but immediately dismissed it as something he didn't really care about. Then, suddenly, he returned to function. "WHAT?! You… you didn't… YOU DIDN'T MAKE AN ANTIDOTE?!"

"Virus: differs in function on each victim's coding. Universal antidote: impossible to synthesize."

Starscream gawked at the glowing red visor, tears welling swiftly in his optics to spill down his reddened cheeks, vents hiccupping suddenly. "You… you mean… I… you didn't… make… I… I'm…" His incomprehensible babble rose in pitch the longer he tried to string together a coherent sentence, but he soon gave up completely and started to sob, wailing loudly, clawing at the glass plating of Soundwave's chest with tiny servos. Megatron growled aloud, slumping further into his throne, kneading his forehead with his fingertips. "I told you to get him out of here…"

"Affirmative, Lord Megatron." Soundwave cradled the crying sparkling against his chest as he left the throne room, tracing gentle fingers over the tiny helm and wings. The halls were empty for the moment, which only allowed the despairing seeker's wails to bounce off the scratched and dented metal walls and echo down the corridor, amplifying the noise to an almost intolerable degree - with six sparklings of his own, he was well accustomed to tantrums far more noisy than this, especially when one of the twins set the other off with him. Tantrums in stereo were never a pleasant experience, considering the possibility of affecting the other younger cassettes along their sibling bonds. He probed lightly at the sparkling's mind - an emotional whirlpool of hatred and despair greeted his curiosity, which only churned faster and more intensely as the little seeker dwelled on his current situation: he'd lost his rank, his troops, the respect and fear of his subordinates - he feared them now, small and helpless, even flightless, and the beginnings of sky hunger were gnawing at the edges of his processor just thinking about it, though drowned by the horrid pangs in the depths of his tank as it grew more unsettled the longer and harder he cried. Starscream thrashed his legs madly, striking weakly at the large blue mech that cradled him, prompting Soundwave to shift his grasp and cradle the fledgling on his back in the crook of his arm, rubbing a fingertip against the glass of his cockpit to try and offer some comfort to the shaking little form in his arms.

Soundwave marveled momentarily at the little bot's persistence when they arrived at his own quarters - the whole long walk down to the living quarters and the seekerlet had neither quieted nor purged his fuel tanks, though judging by the unhappy gurgling noises he could faintly hear beneath the wailing, that second part was not much further away from becoming a reality if he couldn't get the sparkling settled down.

"I…I…" Starscream gasped hard between sobs, his own tears choking his attempts at speech. "I … Want… My… Trine! I… Want… My… Room!" The tiny legs thrashed harder, vents hiccupping and hissing as they struggled to cool the sparkling's systems, internal fans whirring noisily.

"Negative," Soundwave intoned quietly. "Seeker trine: unavailable. Skywarp: not an acceptable sparkling-sitter."

"Then… I… I want… Thun-…der… cr-cracker…"

"Negative: Thundercracker currently engaged in briefing his troops." Starscream flinched visibly at that announcement, burrowing his face against his own arms with a renewed intensity to his cries. The telepath settled onto his berth with the sparkling, glancing around briefly at the cassettes present in his quarters - only Laserbeak and Buzzsaw were there, curled up against each other and glaring at the noisy little thing that had disturbed their peaceful nap - before reclining back against the wall, settling the little seeker belly-down against the glass of his chestplates and searched through his repertoire for something soft and light-hearted to soothe the distraught Starscream.

"You would not believe your eyes, if ten million fireflies lit up the world as I fell asleep, 'cause they'd fill the open air and leave teardrops everywhere. You'd think me rude but I would just stand and stare…" Soundwave offered a satisfied rumble when the harsh sobs softened, the low bass and percussion sending light vibrations from his speakers straight into the sparkling's chassis, gentle fingertips stroking along his back and shivering wings.

"'Cause I'd get a thousand hugs from ten thousand lightning bugs as they tried to teach me how to dance. A foxtrot above my head, a sock hop beneath my bed, a disco ball that's just hanging by a thread…" Starscream snuffled noisily, rubbing his optics against his wrists and offered a short, soft giggle at the lyrics. Soundwave watched the seeker quietly as his cycling steadied out, even lightly rocking his head side to side with the beat of the music. Soundwave looped the track and by the end of the song's repetition, Starscream had calmed and was even humming along quietly, staring dazedly at the far wall of the Third in Command (now Second)'s quarters, gaze wandering unfocused around that side of the room. Various odd belongings were scattered about, sections of the floor partitioned off by things belonging to the particular cassette that had lain claim to that space. Video games and small gaming consoles sat piled high in the corner, balanced precariously even with two sides to support it, a few blankets and pillows for comfort, each tailored to preference. There was a veritable mountain of pillows in the other corner, most of them ripped and the cotton filling spilling out from them onto the pile at the bottom. The walls were decorated closer to the floor with holophotos in silver frames, but remained bare of decor higher up, instead housing wide shelves where other such 'nests' had been built and belongings tucked away simply to be kept from getting broken beneath the telepath's massive feet. Just because he could read minds didn't mean he was psychic and would automatically know that Ratbat had left his current favorite toy on the floor during recharge.

"Why are you doing this?" Starscream questioned quietly after a while. "Just rubbing it in my face, I suppose… You probably think I deserve this - to be stripped of my rank, to be… to be humiliated like this… you're going to kill me, aren't you… laugh at me and then kill me…" He lowered his head down onto the glass plating, shuttering his optics for a moment with a resigned sigh, "Megatron won't even care… he'll probably give you another slagging Energon goodie for doing it…" Soundwave didn't reply to the sparkling's questions, only rubbing a little more insistently at the space between his wings. Starscream's wings began to droop, slowly relaxing under the caress, voice lowering to a murmur. "I know you think I deserve this… you're always so torque'd off whenever Megatron lets me live… I rather wonder about that myself, honestly… But now you're getting your oil cake and eating it too, aren't you…" Optic shutters began to slide slowly closed, then open again, the small seeker struggling to fight back his impending recharge.

"Resistance: futile. Recharge cycle: imminent." Starscream groaned softly at the announcement, and at the horrid pun within, rubbing his optics stubbornly to stay online, but soon his hands stilled, still covering his face, curled into loose fists as his vents heaved a small sigh and his systems shifted, cycling down to a lower gear. Soundwave offered a short chuckle as the sparkling nodded off, idly teasing the edges of the tiny wings that flicked and twitched in response, leaning back against the wall and shuttering his optics. It'd been quite some time since he'd held a sparkling in such a way, either his own or others'. His cassettes had grown quite self-sufficient right beneath his olfactory sensor, no longer keen on cuddling up for naptime with their creator in such a manner, opting to stay with one another or simply remain transformed within the tape deck. Soundwave felt a small tug of guilty indulgence as though he'd snatched the last Energon goodie for himself as he cradled the sleeping fledgling higher on his chest, tucking the black helm beneath his chin, slowly stroking along the sparkling's back. Come to think of it, it'd been quite some time since he'd indulged in naptime for himself at all now that the cassettes rarely drew so heavily on his energy as they had during their first vorns of life… what was the harm in pretending that the sparkling cradled in his arms was his own, just for a little while? Starscream certainly needn't know - for all he knew it was simply in the programming of a Creator to care for all sparklings in such a manner, after all.

An optic unshuttered at a peculiar noise disturbing his thoughts, glancing down at the tiny form on his chest where Starscream rested soundly with his servos in his mouth, nearly his entire hand being suckled on, systems idling in a soft, contented purr. Soundwave offered a small, unseen smile, and closed his shutters once more, resting back for a short nap, casually entertaining the thought of who else might make a decent 'test subject'.

--

The chime of the door startled the little seeker awake, jolting against the flat chestplates, optics bright but shutters struggling to remain open, head drooping back down almost as soon as it had been lifted. Soundwave pulled himself to his peds with the sparkling cradled against his shoulder, rubbing soothingly at the little wings when the second chime caused him to jerk again. Starscream blearily regarded the two blue mechs when the door slid open, optics too unfocused to properly identify the visitor, shutters sliding closed once more as his head slumped sleepily down onto the telepath's shoulder.

Thundercracker regarded Soundwave with something vaguely akin to disdain, calmly offering an expectant hand. "I've come to reclaim my trine-mate."

"Negative: Sparkling is to remain here." Soundwave ran gentle fingertips over the dark helm, eliciting a sleepy little purr from the fledgling, smirking beneath his mask as the blue flier tensed, wings giving an anxious twitch, optics narrowing just slightly. "Soundwave: only mech aboard the Nemesis properly suited to care for Sparklings."

"You cannot keep him from us, Soundwave - the Trine is a sacred bond, he needs to be with us now." Thundercracker's hand remained outstretched, awaiting the tiny bundle where his optics were fixed, carefully watching as Soundwave's large hands caressed the delicate little figure. Soundwave could feel the seeker's unease with his possession of the fledgling, the surface sensation of worry merging on fear each time his hands passed over the delicate wings or lingered too long on the dark helm. With a malicious and unseen grin, the telepath slowly wrapped his thumb and forefinger around the slumbering sparkling's throat, keeping his grip loose, but watching the expression on the blue flier's face twitch and contort ever-so-slightly as his grip began to tighten until the edges of his fingers touched the tiny cabling, feeling the swift pulsing of energy. Soundwave prodded lightly at the other's thoughts, catching the sharp bite of outright fear for his diminutive trine-mate racing across Thundercracker's processor as those fingers tightened just slightly, the littlest of uncomfortable whimpers escaping the sparkling, but before Soundwave could delve any deeper, the mech had thrown up his firewalls, blocks, and mental defenses, effectively shutting out the tape deck with a cold glare. "Give him to me, Soundwave." Thundercracker calmly brought up his other arm, leveling the sights of his weapon pointedly in front of Soundwave's visor, his still-waiting hand reaching slightly closer to the whimpering red and white seekerlet. "Now."

Soundwave's fingers released their grip on the tiny throat, easing the still-sleeping sparkling back onto his shoulder, before reaching out to pinch the narrow barrel of the null-ray aimed at his faceplates and move it aside. The exchange between the two was slow and calm, neither seeming to be unsettled by the other, though Thundercracker obviously feared for the safety of the fledgling seeker cradled against the acting Second-in-Command's shoulder and Soundwave had no real desire to goad the blue flier on the same way he did to Starscream - whereas the Air Commander would scream and rant and be at least mildly entertaining when his feathers were ruffled, Thundercracker remained annoyingly calm in most situations, keeping his slanderous dialogue internal and only offering an increasingly miffed (not even angry) glare to the offending mech before he shot them. For a moment longer, the two regarded one another quietly until Soundwave emitted something that might have been a chuckle beneath the monotone filter of his vocal processor and extended the slumbering little mech towards its fellow Seeker. "Starscream: allowed to recharge with Seekers, will remain with Soundwave during daily shift cycles."

Thundercracker cradled the little form to his chest and gave a terse nod, spinning abruptly on his heel turbine and marching down the corridor without so much as a 'good night' to the telepath. Soundwave laughed lightly to himself, turning back to his berth to stretch out, opening his tape deck for the two avian cassettes to settle in for the night while he waited for the twins and sent a ping to Ravage to check his progress.

It wasn't until he was safely locked within his own quarters that Thundercracker allowed himself a sigh of relief, shifting the little bundle in his arms to gaze at the dark faceplates, lightly tracing the soft curve of Starscream's cheek with the back of his finger. Skywarp looked up from his awkward perch on his berth where he sat with one leg folded beneath him, the other twisted around nearly to the breaking point to see his heel turbines for some light maintenance, but at Thundercracker's appearance he swiftly unfolded himself and bound from the berth to inspect the sparkling in his wingmate's arms. "So it really did happen…"

"It wasn't exactly a well-kept secret, Sky," the blue Seeker regarded the other with one optic ridge aloft. "He's been like this for nearly two full Terran days."

"Well you know how gossip gets exaggerated," he shrugged, grinning. "I figured that since I hadn't seen him, then he was probably dead."

Thunder offered a derisive snort. "You would have known, without a doubt, if he were dead, Skywarp…"

"Dead; stasis; cold storage - all kinda the same thing." Skywarp moved to take the slumbering Starscream from his trinemate's arms, only to have his hands brushed away, Thundercracker shifting to put his shoulder protectively between the sparkling and the teleporter. He pouted openly at the mech, arms reaching imploringly, "I wanna hold him, TC."

"No, you'll drop him."

"I will not! I'll be really careful!"

"No, Skywarp."

"But Thundeeeercrackeeeeeer…" Skywarp whined, following the blue Seeker around their quarters, right on his heels, despite the other's attempts to evade him.

"Stop it, Sky, you'll wake him up."

"C'mon, please? Please, TC, please?"

"Skywarp, leave him alone," Thundercracker twisted around to avoid the violet Seeker's grasping hands again, reaching back to push him lightly away. "You had better not wake him up or I'll have you running drills by yourself for a solid lunar cycle."

"…You would not." Skywarp hesitantly denied, uncertain of the strength of the threat with Thundercracker's sudden, perhaps temporary, promotion.

"I absolutely would - we have no idea how he's taking this and the longer the peace lasts, the better."

"I'll be really careful with him, TC. I promise!" Skywarp clasped his hands together just beneath his chin, staring sadly up at his trine-mate with wide, shining optics. Thundercracker stood resolutely for only a klick before his expression twitched and his shoulders slumped, cycling heavily through his vents.

"Alright," he groaned, shifting the sleeping sparkling carefully to hand him off to Skywarp. "Just one thing: if you're going to tickle him until he lubricates like you did when we were fledglings, do it on your own berth - not mine."

Skywarp snickered, flopping down onto his berth with the little flyer cradled in his arms. "He's so cute when he's not screeching," he cooed, rubbing tenderly at the warm faceplates with the tip of his finger. "I wonder if he'll be chewing his servos in his recharge again or if he's still 'outgrown' it."

Thundercracker inspected the tiny fingers closely, smirking at the sheen of dried oral fluids coating them. "He's eating his hands again. He always favored the left for some reason." He chuckled, smoothing a palm affectionately across Starscream's helm. "He was so cute when we were sparklings - wonder where it went wrong?" Heaving a wistful sigh, Thundercracker settled onto the berth next to Skywarp, leaning shoulder-to-shoulder with the teleporter.

"He has to stay with Soundwave during the day cycles," TC rumbled irritably after some time. "He can recharge with us but he stays with Soundwave while we're on shift."

Skywarp frowned slightly, cradling Starscream closer. "Will he hurt him, do you think?"

"I'm not sure," he admitted, lowering his head. "I don't trust the slagger at all, much less with Star in such a state…"

Skywarp tilted the squirming sparkling to rest on his shoulder, stroking soothingly along his wings. "Should we get a cot for him?"

Thundercracker considered for a moment and then stood, walking to the opposite side of the berth and shoved it until it slid, screeching across to bump against its mate, Skywarp jerking his legs out of the way in the process. "No, we'll keep him with us."

Both bots flinched at the whimpering sparkling slowly coming online from the noise, dim crimson optics tilting up to regard the two seekers. Skywarp grinned at the fledgling, lifting him up to nuzzle noses, "Hi there, Screamer."

Starscream stared blankly at the two forms while his optics struggled to focus, slowly brightening as he glanced around. Thundercracker frowned slightly, kneeling to tilt the sparkling's head and catches his wandering gaze. "Star? Do you know where you are?"

Starscream nodded slowly, rubbing his optics against his wrists. "Uh huh…"

"And where's that?"

"Your quarters…"

Thundercracker nodded, smiling softly. "That's right. How are you feeling?"

"Hungry…" A little yawn followed the answer, head slumping back down against Skywarp's chest. "And tired…"

"Well he seems calm," Skywarp muttered, lightly scratching between the tiny wings with the tips of his fingers.

"He seems… dazed," Thundercracker concluded, tilting Starscream's head again to study the sleepy optics. "Star? Do you know what's happened to you…?"

"Yeah…"

"And how do you feel about that?"

"…I dunno…"

"You don't know?" Thunder exchanged glances with Skywarp, lips twisted into a pensive frown.

"No… I rather thought I'd be an adult again once I was in the Matrix… oh well, I guess…At least it didn't hurt when I deactivated…" Starscream heaved a little sigh and snuggled into the warmth offered by his trinemate's arms. "Mmm… comfy…"

The two adult seekers stared for a moment before Skywarp snorted a laugh, giggling softly. "He thinks he's dead, TC."

"So it would appear." He tilted the sparkling's head to catch the sleepy gaze, idly rubbing the warm cheekplates. "Starscream, you're not in the Matrix."

"Hmm…?" The dim optics regarded the blue seeker for a moment before they darkened again, head slumping into the hand caressing it. Thundercracker heaved a sigh, giving him a little shake to wake him back up. When that failed to stir the slumbering seekerlet, Skywarp offered a grin towards Thundercracker and twisted on the berth, stretching out his legs and making himself comfortable on the padded surface, and then unceremoniously dumped Starscream onto his aft between his knees.

"FRELLING PIT-SPAWNED SLAGGER!" The startled mechling shot to his feet, swearing a blue streak at the black seeker, arms waving theatrically as he screeched out the many horrible things he would do to Skywarp in retribution. Said seeker only grinned amicably down at the infuriated sparkling while he ranted, optics clenched shut with the sheer force of his shrieking.

Thundercracker managed to startle him into silence again when he swept him up off the berth and gave him a quick toss into the air. Starscream shook a miniscule fist and offered a few more threats as TC continued to toss him lightly, cooing at him as he came back down, cradling him momentarily before he was airborne again. Star's threats faltered with a snort, the mini-jet's ranting replaced with squealing laughter each time he was thrown, giggling madly against a blue shoulder as Thunder settled onto the berth to sprawl on his back, wings spread comfortably behind him. He lifted the chortling sparkling up with a smirk, regarding the fledgling for a moment. "Feel better?"

The hysterical laughter calmed into breathless giggles, vents panting gently as he nodded. He stared at Thundercracker as he calmed, the calm merging into a frown as he mulled over his situation, "If I kill Soundwave for this indignity, are you going to be angry with me?"

TC offered a surprised blink, refreshing his optics quickly, and canted his head thoughtfully to the side. "I don't suppose so."

Starscream grinned, nodding firmly. "Then yes, I feel much better."

--

Soundwave was a little surprised to discover the near-narcoleptic nature of seeker sparklings. Seekers tended to burn a great deal of energy just to function on a day-to-day basis and it seemed to continue to be true for them as sparklings despite their flight systems being inactive; unfortunately, the sparklings lacked the sort of stamina and energy reserves of their adult counterparts. Starscream was off and on like someone tossing a switch, dropping immediately into recharge mid-speech only to online again less than a full cycle later full charge, sometimes picking up right where he left off. If it wasn't so slagging funny to watch him flop across the tape deck's arm like a limp doll in the middle of an impressive rant, he might have been concerned for the fledgling's health.

The first shift cycle with Starscream in his care was becoming a chore during the waking moments of the sparkling's wrath. Starscream kicked and bit and screeched as much as he could within the tape deck's firm grasp and Soundwave dismayed just slightly at the distinct lack of scruff bar on the seeker design due to the sweeping wings making the back of his neck all but inaccessible to his large fingers. He did find, however, that dangling the seeker by an ankle to be just as effective as the hold of the scruff bar - while seekers needed to fly to preserve their sanity as much as their enjoyment, falling was not something most of them enjoyed and hanging upside-down for an extended period of time did seem to calm even Starscream's flailing and swearing. All in all, he chuckled to himself, he rather enjoyed tormenting the fledgling flyer while he was awake and cuddling the little bundle when he was offline. Starscream never seemed to shirk an opportunity to tuck himself under Soundwave's chin when he recharged, a fact that Rumble was starting to dislike with great intensity.

The first good mood he'd experienced in a long time, he allowed himself a satisfied grin beneath his mask at Ravage's ping, alerting the Nemesis of his return and requesting for the tower to rise. "Lord Megatron," he announced, idly tracing circles on the back of Starscream's helm as he slept, "Ravage has returned to base. Operation: Successful."

Megatron grinned, steepling his fingers as he leaned back in his throne with an air of lazy victory. "Wonderful, Soundwave." A low, dark chuckle rumbled its way from his chest. "Have him deposit our little guest here so that we might… welcome him to his new residence." He settled his ped across his knee, relaxing into his seat with a smug grin.

The door slid open to admit the panther, and Megatron chuckled again at the struggling sparkling in the cassette's maw.

A/N: AND NOW I NEED YOUR INPUT!

WHO DID RAVAGE BRING HOME? We'll be doing a bit of backtracking next chapter as far as chronological order goes so lemme know which sparkling should be getting the welcome in either reviews or poll or both! I'll be closing the poll on Saturday, Feb 20.

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