Chapter Text
Steve was at that very special age when a mech had only one thing on his mind.
A custom paint job.
For as long as he could remember, Steve had longed for a change. As much as he liked how his current colour scheme matched with the Decepticon insignia, it was hard to love and own it when everyone else looked exactly the same as you.
So, when Steve, unlike everyone else, had read past the first page of Soundwave’s document regarding the latest routine evaluation, his diligence was well-rewarded.
“We’re signing up.” Steve jabbed the console screen so hard the pixels glitched. Rancour pulled his servo aside to squint at the fine print.
“‘Occupational hazard: 67.8534% chance of deactivation with each mission,’” he read and shot Steve a Look™ .
“You can hardly blame them for being honest,” Steve retorted. “You’re reading the wrong part. Here, ‘For outstanding performance during the evaluation, interested parties may be offered the following: a uniform repaint’ and a bunch of other cool weapon upgrades, and—listen to this, guys—‘promotion to become a member of Starscream’s personal armada.’ We have to, guys, we have to.”
Rancour leaned back in his chair and judged the screen. “I doubt we’d even survive this, much less perform outstandingly. If they’re forming a new armada, commanded by the Elite Trine themselves, we are not going to get by with our ‘Run if you can; play dead if you can’t’ strategy.”
Discount—sweet, lovely Discount who, back then, took his name from the same billboard as Steve so that Steve wouldn’t be the only one without a numerical assignment—offered a different perspective, “Come on, Rancour, we can at least try. Evaluation is compulsory anyway, we just need to try a little harder than usual. What’s there to lose?”
They had, in fact, everything to lose.
“And finally, you are reminded that the plasma bullets used will not be modified today. Any major hit taken may result in your permanent deactivation, so try your best not to get shot.”
“I hate you,” Rancour hissed. “We should have feigned a viral infection today. Windspeed did. Windspeed’s smart.”
Steve fumed. He didn’t need a verbal reminder to know what he’d just dragged his best friends into. Maybe he should have read past the second page as well. But the fact was, the evaluation was going to happen no matter what, and if they were going to get a million holes shot into them by the end of the day, then they might as well do it with flying colours.
Steve was about to tell Rancour as much when Thundercracker’s sonic boom drowned out the sound of his vocaliser activating.
KRA-KA-KA-BOOM.
Every mech on deck, including Soundwave and Megatron, turned to watch the Elite Trine approach in their iconic triangular formation. Steve’s ventilation stalled as they banked sharply, speeding parallel to the side of the Nemesis. The tip of Thundercracker’s wing skimmed the surface of the sea water.
In perfect sync, they righted themselves and turned away from the ship, going back the way they came before circling around once more. They shot overhead in a blur of red, blue and purple, the roar of their engines deafening even with the distance between them and the ship.
Behind his visor, Steve’s mouth fell open. His optics followed them to the other side of the Nemesis where the Trine raced for the horizon. Clouds of exhaust trailed behind them, a sign of outdated technology on anyone else, but a testament of power on these three. The fumes mapped the three loops they made as they punched through clouds and gained in altitude.
Next to Steve, someone muttered, “What a waste of energy.” Steve restrained himself from punching the mech. The Trine’s performance required his fullest attention. Pit, even Megatron looked enchanted by the display.
At the zenith of their climb, the three of them cut their engines. If it had been any other trine, Steve’s spark would have spasmed, thinking that their systems had malfunctioned.
But it was the Elite.
Remaining in perfect formation, they transformed and somersaulted with reckless abandon. Starscream twirled gracefully, keeping his frame streamlined, while Skywarp threw his limbs wide, howling with exhilaration. Thundercracker excelled in the beauty of simplicity and kept it uncomplicated. Time slowed with them, and for a moment, it seemed as if they had been suspended midair by string.
They transformed and Earth’s gravity kicked in right as their nose cones pointed towards the sea. Their thrusters flared to life, accelerating their descent. Steve’s circuits jumped with each hic they plummeted. Astrosecs before they crashed into the sea, their gears shifted, reversing the force of their thrusters onto the water. They sped away from the resulting eruption and glided along the surface, walls of displaced water in their wake.
The mecha onboard burst into applause, and Steve whooped alongside his comrades. Who could resist such a display? Even Rancour looked impressed.
The Trine approached the ship. Starscream transformed first, flipping to land on his pedes with an elegance that rivalled Ravage’s. His wingmates landed with a heavy thud beside him, clumsier but no less impressive with their massive frames looming behind their wingleader.
“My fellow Decepticons,” he greeted, sweeping his arms before him. Steve’s knees weakened at Starscream’s handsome smirk. “For many cycles, in the name of our great Lord Megatron, I have led the Seekers to great heights. We have sabotaged countless Autobot missions, destroyed each base they’ve managed to establish, and finally, we have tracked them down to this ghastly planet.
“But alas,” Starscream clenched his servo and bowed his helm, solemn, “as the war drags on, losses accompany our every success. In pursuit of our great endeavour, our forces dwindle in numbers, but I urge you, my comrades, to remember the cause we fight for. The Decepticon dream is a world where form does not dictate your function, and this applies to you as much as any mech, clones though you may be.
“In you, I see a promise of great potential, and thus, in the face of this setback, I present to you a new opportunity, to fly among the Seekers! My Armada welcomes you regardless of your build. All you have to do, my comrades,” Starscream took a backward step to the edge of the platform, “is take flight.”
Starscream dived over the edge of the ship, startling even his wingmates. The unmistakable sounds of transformation settled the jump in Steve’s circuits, and Starscream reappeared. Somehow, he balanced his acceleration against the wind speed and the movement of the Nemesis, and hovered in place, something no jet should be able to do.
“Transform and fly, Decepticons,” he called. “To me!” With that, he turned his tail end on them and shot off into the sky, his wingmates close behind.
Steve was the first to heed his orders, taking a running start before leaping and transforming in the air. Around him, his friends followed suit, blasting off the deck of the Nemesis with equal excitement.
Ahead, Starscream had already become a speck of red against the vast expanse of blue, but his striking colours made him easy to follow.
As they flew over the sea, Steve attempted to coordinate tricks with Discount and Rancour. He had thought them simple at first, considering the ease with which Starscream executed them, but quickly learned that whatever league Starscream was in, Steve could never hope to come close. After the first few failures, he contented himself with admiring the scenery instead. The open sea hadn’t much to offer, honestly, but the planet’s foreign terraform still appealed in its own unique way.
Steve lowered his altitude, ignoring Discount’s questioning ping. Perhaps he’d try his wings at one more of Starscream’s tricks.
“Hey!” a neighbouring Vehicon yelped when the pressurised water underneath Steve leapt up and splashed onto his wing. “Watch it!” he snapped and swerved away.
[[Dude, it worked!]] Discount’s voice crackled over the personal comm link they had set up with Rancour.
Steve would have responded with his own happy message, had the Seekers not decided to strike at that very moment.
“Scrap!” Steve cursed when the Vehicon next to him took a bullet to the rear and spiralled down in a swirl of smoke. A groundbridge opened beneath him moments before he crashed into the sea, saving him from the doom of rusting alive.
Steve glanced up and spotted Laserbeak. For once, Soundwave’s constant surveillance felt more comforting than creepy.
[[Get to the top, get to the top!]] Rancour yelled at them, reminding Steve of their plan.
[[Right, right.]]
Steve scrambled to organise his disorientated processor.
Usually, the chaos erupting all around them provided decent cover to flee, and their survival would earn them a passing grade or so. But if they wanted to impress, a different tactic had to be adopted. This tactic, unfortunately, had been concocted in the middle of the night cycle, two solar cycles before the evaluation.
Oh, how he regretted not listening to Rancour’s chiding.
“It’ll be fine,” Steve had said. “We’ve prepared enough,” he’d said. “What could possibly go wrong?” he’d said.
Music had started to play in the background, its volume refusing to fade away even as Steve, Discount and Skywarp climbed in altitude. Steve risked a glance and saw Thundercracker in his root-mode jamming to his beats. The Seeker twirled and swerved, nodding his head and mouthing lyrics as he took aim at an unlucky Vehicon that crossed his path. He fired, the Vehicon dropped into an open groundbridge, and he went right back to dancing. Steve shuddered.
Vomp!
“Going somewhere?” Skywarp asked, materialising before Discount. He crushed Discount's wings with his servos and cackled when he cried out in pain. Steve begged his weapons to power up faster. Skywarp’s grin grew as he launched Discount downwards, cheekily calling, "Enjoy the ride!" Steve thought his spark would stop.
Skywarp didn’t give him any time to recover before he bolted for another victim. Rancour had been on higher alert than either of them, though, and fired a wild shot. It went wide, but it startled Skywarp enough to buy Rancour some time. He blasted away, Skywarp on his tail.
And just like that, the plan to attack from above scattered to the wind together with Steve’s friends.
A harried comm from Discount had Steve diving instinctively. Starscream grappled with the barely conscious mech midair, trying his best to get a good aim with his null-rays. One servo keeping the weapon wrongly angled, Discount rammed an elbow into Starscream’s chassis, apologising all the way.
Accepting the sleepless nights to come, Steve opened fire on his Air Commander.
Starscream snarled, more insulted than anything, considering that only half of the plasma blasts managed to hit him. Steve continued spraying, hoping to at least draw Starscream’s attention away. It worked, and the Seeker threw Discount aside in favour of chasing Steve instead.
Steve dove for his falling comrade, watching in horror as his friend’s thrusters struggled and failed to come online. Beneath them, a spacebridge opened, and, for a moment, Steve considered letting Discount fall through. Sure, that would mean Discount would be disqualified from the running, and Steve might end up facing a new environment alone if Rancour didn’t make it, but he’d rather his friend survive to try again than die persevering for a goal Steve had imposed upon him.
As if reading his processor, Discount yelled at him, “Don’t you dare let me fall into that thing, Steve, don’t you dare!”
And Steve snapped out of it. They’d either succeed together or not at all. He forced his engines up a notch, ignoring the warnings of impending overheating, and dove twice as fast for Discount.
Oddly, Starscream veered out of his way, but Steve hadn’t the time to consider that. Transforming quickly, he crashed into Discount, knocking him away from the groundbridge at the last klik. Discount winced as the crumpled edges of his wings folded against Steve’s chassis. In a ball, they hurtled clear of danger and Steve sighed with relief at the sound of the spacebridge closing behind them. He let go of Discount and asked, “Status report?”
Discount shrugged. “Oh, you know, engines kind of overheating, air flaps malfunctioning, I think I’ve got a few cogs jammed too, but I’m fine! Alive and functioning, see?” He blasted on his thrusters, and it caught on fire.
“Discount!” Steve yelled, sliding a panel aside to aim a nozzle at the flame. He sprayed a sulking Discount with the extinguisher.
“Aww, that is so cute,” Starscream’s voice rose over the sound of crossfire around them, “but you’re running out of time.”
Tsch-tsch-tsch-tsch-tsch.
“Scrap.”
“Dothething! Dothething!" Discount pummelled Steve’s chassis.
“What thing?” Steve yelled back, equally desperate as he tried to drag the both of them out of Starscream’s way. The whistling of null-rays powering up didn’t help the rising panic at all.
“You know, the thing! Throw me!”
“Oh! Oh, the thing! You could've said so!”
“I di– woaAAHH!”
Steve spun, using his thruster to gain speed as the world blurred around him. In his servos, Discount, had it worse; the mech never stopped screaming.
“With all due respect, sir,” Steve shouted and released Discount, sending him flying straight for Starscream. The Air Commander yelped in surprise and barely managed to dodge the attack. A plasma bullet knocked Starscream’s wing out of the way.
Steve glanced up to see Skywarp laughing as he retracted his weapons. The Seeker transformed and returned to his pursuit of Rancour, ignorant of Starscream shrieking obscenities and shaking a fisted servo at him. “I don’t need your help, you aft!”
Skywarp fired a series of missiles at Rancour only to have them collide with Rancour’s flares and explode in his nose cone. To Steve’s despair, Skywarp burst out of the cloud of smoke with little to no damage. Thankfully, Rancour had exploited that moment of disorientation and sped off. Skywarp gave chase, but Steve was more concerned for Discount, whose recklessly fired plasma bullet clipped Starscream’s wing.
Starscream turned on Discount and lunged. Steve grabbed onto one of his stabilisers, pulling him back with all his strength. That earned him a blast of fumes to his face and he lost his grip, coughing wildly to expunge the gas from his vents.
A rain of plasma bullets pelted Starscream’s wings before he could attempt to take another shot at Discount. Rancour flew over them, Skywarp in hot pursuit. Suddenly, he dived, and one of Skywarp’s missiles collided with Starscream instead.
“Frag you, you idiot!” Starscream executed a variety of complicated manoeuvres to regain his balance. Upright and angry, he hissed and clicked at Skywarp in Vosian.
Steve took advantage of their bickering to regroup with his own. He pulled Discount’s arms over his rotator cuffs and Rancour pulled up on his other side, supporting them with his weight. All three turned their blasters on Skywarp and Starscream, but the Seekers merely continued to bicker with each other.
The sound of music grew in volume as Thundercracker approached them. Skywarp clicked something at him, a snide comment no doubt. Thundercracker smacked him with a wing. Then, he turned to stare at Steve, Discount and Rancour. He raised his blaster. To Steve's surprise, Starscream slapped it away. Thundercracker turned back to him, affronted, and cut the music, listening closely to Starscream’s clicking. Every now and then, their optics darted to Steve and his friends.
They clicked some more before Starscream finally grew fed up with them and knocked them both on their helms. Meanwhile, Rancour’s thrusters stuttered, probably from the effort of keeping his friends afloat, and Steve wondered whether they would survive another fight or if they should use the last of their reserves to fly back to the Nemesis.
Starscream made the decision for them.
“Transform and fall in. We’re escorting you back to base.”
When the three Vehicons failed to comply immediately, he snapped, “You heard me, fall in!” He transformed, as did Skywarp and Thundercracker. The Elite Trine fell into their usual formation, albeit with more space between them than usual.
Rancour was the first to go, transforming and filling the gap between Starscream and Skywarp. Skywarp revved his engines. Steve could have sworn Rancour cringed.
Discount followed next, obediently falling in line between Thundercracker and Starscream. That left Steve to bring up the rear.
Right behind Starscream.
If he hadn’t been on the verge of collapsing, Steve might have imploded. Even if he didn’t get the colour upgrade, he could deactivate happily, knowing that he had flown with the Elite Trine once in his functioning. His overworked T-cog screamed in protest, but the smell of Starscream’s burning fuel made up for his pain. Intoxication overrode the million-and-one errors splashed across his HUD.
A ping alerted him of a transmission from Rancour detailing their live coordinates, flight path, environmental factors and their speed. In his dizzy glee, Steve absent-mindedly questioned how Rancour had gotten his servos on such handy data; the Decepticons hardly had the budget to keep up with Soundwave’s never-ending stream of security updates, much less install advanced navigation systems in their troopers.
He dismissed the thought and focused all his energy on keeping up with the Elite Trine. Even slowed down for them, they still flew at incredible speed. Steve wondered if they were even capable of cruising the way he and his friends did, or did they prefer to spend their time testing the boundaries of physics?
Too soon, the Nemesis came into view. Soundwave was the only mech on deck to greet them.
“Back so soon?” he played without turning to look at them.
“No, Soundwave, I've merely decided to give them an energon break.”
Soundwave ignored Starscream’s retort. On the console screen, another Vehicon was shot out of the sky. A groundbridge opened beneath him and moments later, the roaring vortex spat the Vehicon out onto the deck. Steve cringed at the sound of metal scraping metal.
"I want these three upgraded immediately, first priority in the medbay is to be given to them. I've sent you the results of their evaluation." Starscream strutted past Soundwave, making demands as he went.
As Steve and his friends limped towards the entrance to the lower deck, Soundwave turned to Thundercracker and replayed a segment of a song back to him.
"Oh, I'm having so much fun!
"Well, Barbie, we're just getting started."
The Seeker snorted. “I know, I know. Once Starscream gets his energon refill, we’ll go. Primus, hurry up, Screamer!”
“Will a little bit of patience kill you?” Starscream bit back, returning with three cubes of energon in his servos. When he passed Steve, Steve jumped to attention and saluted.
"Thank you, sir!"
Starscream startled, as if he had forgotten Steve was still there, and regarded him with wide optics. Steve hoped he hadn't offended the Air Commander by addressing him directly. He pressed on anyway, "We appreciate the opportunity you have given to us, sir! It has been an honour flying with the Elite! Thank you, sir!"
“Right, yes, yes, you’re welcome.” Starscream flapped a dismissive servo and stumbled to his wingmates. They clicked and whistled at each other. Starscream bristled and launched a cube at each of their helm’s.
As the doors of the elevator shaft slid shut, Steve glimpsed Skywarp winking in their direction and making a gesture next to his audials, mouthing, "Call me." Beside him, Rancour’s fans hummed on.
Steve turned to him, flabbergasted. “You had the time to flirt while we got our afts busted? What is wrong with you?”
“He started it,” Rancour whined, shrinking into himself, and Steve dragged an exasperated servo across his helm.
Exactly one deca-cycle later, the results were released. Steve, Discount and Rancour crowded around the console, frantically scrolling to find their names.
“Why does it always have to be my console?” Rancour grumbled.
“It’s just better,” Discount answered.
Steve’s bad habit of slapping Rancour when he got excited kept the grumpy mech from replying.
“Primus,” he whispered as Rancour rubbed his stung plating, “we got in.” He turned to look at his friends. “Guys, we got in!”
Rancour wheezed as Steve lunged across his lap to hug Discount. “For the love of Cybertron, move!” He shoved down on Steve’s spinal strut and glared at the screen. “Dude, we’re all the way at the bottom, we scored the lowest in combat.”
“It doesn’t matter, we got in!” Steve went limp and sighed, “Oh, I can already see how we’ll look in that silver paint.” Quite literally, since the model shown in the report looked exactly like them.
“And,” Discount added with a chuckle, tapping the screen, “Commander Starscream gave us bonus points for communication and teamwork! Isn’t that nice?”