(Untitled)

[due_caution]

Red Alert had briefly considered tagging along with Kitten Prime and Company, if only to make sure Rodimus stayed safe and out of trouble, but thought better of it after contemplation. Right now, at a glance, who would even know that the small orange Terran cat is the Autobot Prime, unless someone draws undue attention to him

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[attair_al_fada]

Starscream finds himself trying to track three conversations at once. I'm going to smoke a CPU at this rate! That'll be a good one to explain...

I don't think so--but she's very sensitive. Ah--that's rather what we're working on now. You'll want to listen in on this, if we can keep Frostbite and Red from freezing their circuits at your presence. As I said, we're still at the 'throw ideas at the wall and see what sticks' stage.Starscream very quickly fills Blackstar in on just what's been going on with Victor Drath, Ambassador Witwicky, the kidnapped-and-recovered Transformers, and what you do with a synthezoid duplicate. It's risky, using his thread of a connection to the Allspark like this--part of him wants more of it, wants to rejoin it--but time is pressing and Blackstar needs to know this

[attair_al_fada]

Starscream frowns slightly. "The copy pulled out. They know we're on to them--they won't be relaxed. If they appear to be relaxed, it's to sucker us into a trap. At least neither I nor Blackstar can fall into the kind of trap that got Rodimus and Galvatron."

He gets up and starts to pace around the room. "People let a lot of things slip--like their guard--when they are milling around in panic and confusion." The former Decepticon Air Commander glances sharply at Frostbite. "We've used the technique on you and the humans enough. It worked. Blow a few buildings up, disable the emergency responders, inflict some key infrastructure damage--then achieve our objective in the panic. Still, I supposed you'll get all squeamish on me about casualties and property destruction." He shrugs.

"Cobra Commander is too smart for me to get away with infiltrating them again. I don't think he'd trust me enough even if I betrayed Autobot City to establish my bona fides. He's annoyingly familiar with my modus operandi. That, and we're not even sure that

[midnightspook]

Blackstar remains thoughtfully quiet as he follows along with their discussion, considering their options.

"Way I see it, you're both right," he observes.

"Stirring them up with a few unplanned strafing runs might be fun and all, and yeah, they may let their guard down when they're milling around in a panic, but they may also do some rather unfortunate and unpleasant things - like start destroying evidence."

That said "evidence" could be one Ambassador Spike Witwicky goes without saying. Duskwing's got some attachment to Spike's kid, and the kid would likely be pretty upset if his designer gets scrapped, so it would probably behoove Blackstar to try to make sure the Ambassador doesn't get slagged in the whole process of finding and scrapping Drath.

He glances at Starscream. "No offense, boss, but I'd probably learn more if you don't stir them up before I go in."

Plus, if a few... "Individuals or Items of Interest" happen to come up missing... Be a hell of a lot less likely that anyone will know where they went to and stir up any

[attair_al_fada]

Starscream frowns and says, "It's your operation, Frostbite. Or Red's. You make the call."

The words come out with reluctance; oh, how it galls him to be number two--or even less than that. Consultant; hanger-on; little more. No longer the one who decides; no longer responsible for the lives under his command. Not here, not here; still in exile from his command, the longing roused by that touch of the Allspark seizes him fiercely. He doesn't belong here; there is where he should be, where he's truly himself, truly Air Commander. Here, Starscream is but a shadow of what once was.

Some interruptions are providential. Skyfire's call comes through then. // Starscream? I'm on my way back. See you soon. //

Starscream answered, his spark warming with a different longing. // I'll be looking for you, Sky! //

Bah! I'm getting as sappy as an exiled Autobot! Somebody's got to watch Sky's back and keep him out of trouble, and that's not something I'd trust anyone else do. He smirks to himself. Besides, the last time I was stripped of command

[attair_al_fada]

Starscream rises to his feet with the metallic rustle of well-maintained servos and gears shifting and turning. "Photon and Perceptor are both familiar with the design if I'm not available and you have questions," he says with a casual wave of his hand.

"Do you have some locations for me to have Blackstar start checking out? While you're planning the rest of it, of course."

Blackstar... if you should come across any of these individual humans--*images of a bald, monocled human with a large handlebar moustache and a taste for capes; a humanoid figure completely masked, wearing the Cobra emblem, giving orders in Starscream's voice; a dark-haired, elegant woman; a tall, broad-shouldered man wearing a metal full-head mask*--Dr. Mindbender, Cobra Commander, the Baroness, or Destro, report back to me immediately. Check with Frostbite for an image of Victor Drath--I never met the man. If you run across Dr. Mindbender, take extra precautions--he is a skilled Dark Scientist."As for myself, I'll be meeting Skyfire on his return." Starscream

[midnightspook]

"Not very yet," Blackstar admits as he slides closer to examine the maps and charts and other information she's calling up for him. He files away the topos and then visual references for the people Starscream had already given him more... relevant references for. Frostbite's warning makes him pause, however.

Blackstar regards her thoughtfully for a long moment. She hadn't had to tell him that, even if he had agreed to help them. Sensitive or not, she couldn't have known that Starscream had already given him that very caution. Yes, she would have likely guessed that he would, but she couldn't have known. He straightens, a little more respect in his gaze as he nods.

"Acknowleged."

[attair_al_fada]

Starscream looks slightly surprised.

"Monstructor? I remember that... incident. We were virtually at war with Cobra, thanks to their habit of plundering our targets!" He smirks, then laughs. "Duskwing was rather heavily involved in that incident--as was a certain human. Circuit Breaker. You may have heard of her? I found out many years later we had those two to thank for putting down Monstructor."

[attair_al_fada]

"Duskwing," he says, "rescued Circuit Breaker from Cobra, or so I've been told. I did see and recognize Duskwing himself at the time, though his presence was rather inexplicable, since he'd been artwork for ten years then. So inexplicable, that I and Skywarp and Thundercracker had collective memory failure when it came to remembering who the mystery Seeker that interfered in our pursuit was--at least in the official report to Megatron." He smirks again.

[midnightspook]

Blackstar's expression is quietly thoughtful as he watches the exchanges and continues to file information away. So, Dusky's been active around these parts for a while then. And this Mindbender guy plays with some very dangerous toys, indeed, if he's gotten his hands on Devourist artifacts and is weidling Monstructor like a pet.

Other than those humans, anything else you want me to keep an optic sharp for while I'm in there, boss? Mindbender sounds like he could have some interesting stuff... "accquired" in his collection if he's there.

Or even if he's not there, really. The man in question doesn't have to be in residence for his stuff to be there, after all.

[attair_al_fada]

"Well if there were," Starscream said sardonically, glancing at Blackstar and Frostbite with a smirk, "no one wanted to be the one to bring it to Megatron's attention."

Cybertronian and other advanced technology. I'd really like to know what mods they've made on the stuff they acquired from us--and what kind of alien tech they have. As for ancient cult artifacts... I can't tell you what to look for, but if it gives you a bad feeling, I want to know about it.

He saunters toward the door, one hand reaching out to tap the opening button just in sync with his steps, not breaking stride as the door opens and lets him through.

One thing, though... *image of a large black binder, containing ancient scrolls separated into pages and carefully sealed in preservative plastic; the text is in the graceful, swirling lines of classic Arabic, but the illuminations and illustrations are not the pious abstracts found in orthodox texts. They are quite explicit images, alien, and disturbing.*

If you come across this, it might discommode certain