More baby seekers!
Chapter: Beginnings
Title: Thundercracker and the Three Seeklets
Rating: PG
Summary: And we step a bit back in time, to the sparkling's first day on Earth...
Previous parts:
Episode 1: Taser's New Friend
Episode 2: A Sticky Situation
Episode 3: Fingerpainting
Episode 4: Field Trip Part 1
Episode 5: Field Trip Part 2
x-xxx-x
“This has got to be the stupidest idea you’ve ever had,” Starscream said caustically, crossing his arms.
Megatron ignored him, waiting for the space-bridge to open.
Starscream wasn’t finished, however. It simply wasn’t in his nature to let such a perfect opportunity to insult his commander pass. “Even considering how utterly stupid your plans tend to be, this one tops the list.”
“Shut up, Starscream!”
“Even Skywarp thinks this is a stupid idea, and there are fungi on this planet smarter than Skywarp…”
Megatron growled. “Do you like being shot?”
Starscream wisely settled on smirking knowingly at Megatron.
A few minutes later, Megatron was starting to have a few misgivings of his own. A small, brightly colored pile of wings and thrusters sat at his feet. He frowned uncertainly. He hadn’t expected them to be so young, or quite so small…
Two tiny red optics peered from under a wing. They blinked up at him, then a little seeker head stuck out of the pile, looking around.
“Chee?” it beeped questioningly.
Two more heads popped up. “Bee? Chee!”
Starscream made a rude noise. “Oh yeah, this is so going to work.”
“If it fails, it will be because you failed, Starscream. I’m putting you in charge of their training.”
“What?!”
Megatron smirked. “You said you wanted a command post.”
Starscream sputtered.
“Beebeebee!” The tiny yellow jet squirmed out from under the wings of the other two and tumbled to the ground. Little red optics blinked up at Starscream. “Be?”
Starscream growled. The yellow sparkling climbed to its fee. “Bee!” It took a step forward, promptly tripping over its afterburners and landing face-first on the ground. “Oof! Bebebeeee!”
Starscream glared at Megatron’s retreating back. “Skywarp, take care of-“ He paused. “Skywarp! Stop that!”
Skywarp looked up from where he’d been poking the red and blue sparkling with a foot. He’d flipped the red and blue sparkling on its back, where it was waving arms and beeping franticly. “What?” Skywarp poked it again. “It’s like one of those turtles - look, it’s stuck.”
Starscream sighed. If he put Skywarp in charge, he’d either end up with three traumatized sparklings, or three exact copies of Skywarp. It was easy to decide which was worse. One Skywarp was too many… “Forget it. Thundercracker, you take care of these- Arg! Get off!”
“Bebebe! Beeeeee!” The yellow sparkling chirped happily, wrapping arms around Starscream’s leg and resisting his attempts to shake it off.
“What the slag do you expect me to do?” demanded Thundercracker, glaring at the sparklings from a safe distance. “They’re your responsibility.”
Starscream managed to peel the yellow one off his leg and was holding it up by a foot. It beeped to itself, sounding vaguely confused by the change in orientation. “I’m your superior officer, Thundercracker. Take care of them. Give them toys, lock them in a box, I don’t know! Whatever you do with small children!”
Skywarp looked up from prodding the blue and red one. “Uh, Screamer, I don’t think you’re actually supposed to lock them in boxes, even if that’s how you spent your childhood.”
“Y’know, that would explain a few things,” Thundercracker noted with a grin. “The total lack of social skills, the horrible flying…”
“The shrieking…” Skywarp put in.
“Shove it up your tailpipe and twist.” Starscream growled. “Just do something with the brats!” He dropped the yellow sparkling and stalked off.
Thundercracker sighed. “Come on, Warp, we need to get these guys back to base.”
“We?” Skywarp backed up. “Don’t get me wrong, TC, you’re my best bud and all, and I’d even take a shot for you, but you’re on your own here.”
“Aw, come on Skywarp!”
“No. No slagging way. No way in the Pit!” Skywarp took off, heading for the base.
Left alone with the sparklings, Thundercracker’s wings drooped. “What am I supposed to do with you?”
The black seeker stared suspiciously up at him and made a rude noise. Still stuck in its back, the red and blue one let out a pathetic squee, feet waving in the air.
Thundercracker glared morosely at the two. He frowned. Two? He looked up.
The yellow one had figured out that crawling was a lot easier than walking, and was rapidly disappearing into the rocky hillsides.
“Hey! Come back here, you little brat!” Thundercracker gave chase.
The other two watched for a moment.
“Bee?” asked the black one.
“Chee-beep,” answered the other with a shrug.