Chapter Text

Times were tough after the war ended.

“Finding more troops was a priority,” Starscream reasoned. “If we had more troops then we could launch an assault on those weakling Autobots while they’re distracted by the loss of their Prime.” Standing next to him was the only other Decepticon in this part of the universe. One who had very different views on their next move.

“And where do you suggest we find these troops, Starscream?” Shockwave started, not looking up from his work. “We have no tools that are capable of tracking Decepticon signals. We have no element of surprise. And, we lack any information on the whereabouts of the individual who could accomplish the task most effectively.”

“Your idea is illogical,” the scientist finishes, looking his companion in the optics. The seeker went silent. Shockwave had a good point. Soundwave was indeed the most capable mech for locating troops and, unfortunately, the spy had gone missing after Lord Megaron was originally slain. Neither commander had been able to find any traces of where he went or had any idea of who the mech was in last contact with.

Despite that, Starscream could not just sit around while Shockwave hatched whatever alternate plan he had in mind. The seeker needed something to do.

“Then why don’t we find our spymaster instead if he is as important as you imply,” he said not wanting to admit his idea had flaws. “The Autobots have our ship in an isolated area if I recall correctly. It would not be hard to sneak on board and steal back the surveillance footage.”

Shockwave let out a short huff before going back to his work, ignoring his companion completely.

Starscream decided to follow through with his idea, infiltrating the Nemesis under the cover of night. Everything went exactly as expected, the Autobots had settled nowhere near the ship and hadn’t bothered to set up a guard system. ‘Something worth keeping in mind,’ he mentally noted as he flew through the base. It did not take long to reach the bridge and extra old security footage onto a drive he had prepared in advance.

Within an hour the seeker found himself back at their makeshift stronghold, proud of his accomplishments.

Shockwave did not share the sentiment. The mech attempted to berate the seeker about how foolish and “illogical” his actions were before he remembered who exactly his companion was and backed down. Starscream simply cycled his optics before moving to a console to review the fruits of his labour.

The footage didn’t reveal much at first. Mundane shifts, a reminder of the time the ship became sentient, a quiet conversation between himself and Soundwave while the rest of the crew were in recharge. It took a while, but eventually he found the moment he was looking for.

What he saw made him go completely still. Death was something he was prepared to see. Scrap, it was what he expected because of the lack of communication. What he didn’t expect was to watch as the genius tactician was defeated by the tricks of human younglings before blinking out of existence.

While uncertain of the specifics of what exactly had happened to Soundwave, the truth had to be found in the land bridges the mech had disappeared into. Starscream knew that his next move had to be acquiring the technology used, but there was one issue. In their makeshift base they had no means of building one land bridge, much less two. They were already strapped for resources as it was.

The Autobots, on the other servo he realized, most definitely had the resources required. But, for him to ‘liberate’ said resources would be a practically impossible feat if he wanted to avoid capture. Sneaking aboard an abandoned ship to steal data was one thing, getting past a constantly growing group of enemies for things far too large for his subspace was another entirely.

Halting his train of thought, Starscream realized there was an alternative option. However, the risk and sacrifice that option required was great.

Before he knew it, three days had passed. It was likely he would have still been stuck in his thoughts for even longer had Shockwave not questioned the air commander’s unusual silence. 

Those details were of no importance really. Three or four days, nothing mattered. The seeker had made his decision, even if it went against every cog in his body and every byte of data in his processor. He gave the scientist a word of warning before quickly flying away.

The journey to the Autobot base was not long, but it seemed to take eons. Every one of Starscream’s systems was yelling at him to turn around but his stupid ‘feelings” wouldn’t let him. Ones he thought he had lost the capability to hold were now infecting his every action regardless of the consequences. He had no alternative.

‘Their numbers have grown larger than we thought,’ he noted as he shakily landed in the center of the base. Now that the Autobots had been able to begin restoring the planet, their allies had begun returning home to aid with reconstruction.

There was no time to process how many there were as, within seconds, he was surrounded by mechs who likely wanted his helm mounted on a wall. In defiance of all the weapons pointed in his direction, Starscream managed to push aside all of his pride as he stood tall and demanded to speak to their new leader.

“No need for dramatics ‘Con,” a voice called out from behind the seeker. He turned around to see the scout who had previously killed his lord pointing a blaster at his wings. “We’ll give you one second to explain yourself, Starscream. What’s the leader of the Decepticons doing flying into our base by himself?”

The impact of his stupid decision finally hit as he started laughing, in an attempt to stall. “You have truly grown in the absence of your Prime, scout . Did he teach you how to be that merciful or is it simply something you do to make him proud”

The blasters around Starscream whirred to life in response.

The seeker snarled before moving on, “I have only one reason to grace you with my presence, and that is to make a deal with you lowlifes. I require some resources that only your faction possesses and I believe you lot have an interest in little old me.” His actions as he spoke matched the spite and mocking tone his voice held. He was not in a place of power but he sure could act as though.

One of the bots in the crowd scoffed. “And why would you ever think we would willingly make a deal with you of all mechs?” they shouted. Starscream glared in the direction of the comment. ”It is not often that you get an enemy commander offering himself on a silver platter so consider yourself lucky.”

“There is much that I can offer, if you accept that is,” he continued, turning to make eye contact with their leader again. The seeker vented, gathering all the courage he had to make his declaration.

”I will offer you my complete surrender and any knowledge that you request. I will track down any number of my troops that you desire, requesting only one thing in return.”

“All I ask is that I be allowed access to…” he trailed off. He realized that if he stated specifically what he needed it could make his enemies suspicious and lose all consideration. However, if he didn’t the result would likely be similar.

With another vent he finished, “Access to resources that will not be used for harm. I am not at liberty to reveal at this moment in time but I can assure you they will not harm your restoration efforts. You are not the only ones who wish to see our home restored after all.”

Blasters were slightly lowered as their wielders were stunned to silence. Most had never heard the air commander sound the slightest bit genuine, and what he was saying held a lot of weight. That was only most of them however.

A mech standing next to his leader burst out laughing before charging towards Starscream with his blasters. “Permission to blast his processor out Bee?” he asked his leader while forcing the seeker into a chokehold with his blaster up against the other’s helm. This action seemed to upset the scout based on him requesting that the grunt, “Smoke”, stand down within moments.

“As much as I hate to say this, I think we need to think about what he said,” the black and yellow mech stated. He gave the grunt a coded look, one that Starscream could guess meant there was more to be said in private. The grunt grumbled but released Starscream from his hold, pushing the seeker to the ground in the process.

The scout turned his attention to the crowd, calling for disbursement. He also got someone to cuff the collapsed air commander.

“We’ll need to discuss this matter more,” he told Starscream as he walked away from the scene. “Either way you’ll be in our custody so that’s something good.”

Two mechs pulled Starscream to his pedes and started to lead him away. The seeker let out a sigh of relief. He might be a prisoner now but at least he had a shot of getting back his…

Whatever Soundwave was to him.

Chapter Text

If someone had told Starscream two years ago that he would be a key leader on Cybertron, he would have assumed it was because he overthrew Megatron and destroyed the Autobots. A feat he had been imagining and planning for finally coming to reality was to be expected. Never would he have thought that his dream came true because he surrendered his self and principals. If he had been told that, he would have laughed at the speaker before ripping out their vocalizer for such a heinous comment.

He wouldn’t have expected to have accidentally won the favour of the Decepticon population either. They had never liked him in the past so it came as a shock when they rallied for his election in the government being formed. All he had done was question the treatment of everyone but himself. In his point of view, it was simply ridiculous that they were being locked up while Autobots were going free.

Nevertheless, the seeker now found himself as the head of the Decepticon representatives in the new Cybertron council. The terms of his deal had been shifted to accommodate for this position. He was still under surveillance but, surprisingly, had more freedom than he had initially imagined. He was making a difference in society, living in a nice place with a position of power.

He had an ideal life, yet he felt as though something was missing.

It wasn’t something unique to himself, most of the ever growing population had begun to feel the losses the war had created. In Starscream’s case, it wasn’t even a concept he was unfamiliar with. In fact, that was how he ended up forming an intangible bond with his communications officer.

The officer he was no closer to freeing.

The officer who had sat with him after the seeker learned his trine had been killed. The officer he had held in his arms as the spy mourned the loss of another one of his creations. The officer he had let into his berth when-

“Representative Starscream!”

The seeker was snapped out of his chain of thought by a bot calling him. Perhaps he should’ve paid more attention to the low recharge alert on his HUD, it was unlike him to be this distracted. Starscream had not even noticed how close the other bot had gotten while lost in his daze.

“Is there a reason you are bothering me,” he asked the intruder who jumped back, seemingly shocked that they had finally gotten a response. Being at peace did not make the seeker any less intimidating than he had been before, which was why most bots avoided him unless absolutely necessary.

“Y-yes sir,” the unknown bot stuttered. “I am a member of the exploration and development team and.. well…” Starscream started tapping his digits on his desk. He could tell the bot was uneasy but while he enjoyed seeing others aware of his superiority, it was bothersome how much that fear affected their ability to give reports. The bot shifted uncomfortably at the sound of the taps and rushed to finish. “We found something big by the well.”

“And, big implies?” the seeker asked when the explorer bot made no move to elaborate. “Since you bothered to disturb me I should assume this situation should actually matter to me.” They jumped again as Starscream glared. “A mass settlement! Right by the well. Looked to be mostly minicons and other small Cybertronians… sir.”

‘A settlement by the well? How had they managed to miss something like that,’ Starscream thought to himself, turning slightly away from the other. ‘Absolutely ridiculous, I already have enough to deal with and they dump this on me now.’ He looked back at the explorer who stiffened under his gaze. “Has anyone else been informed of this development?” “Y-yes sir.”

“Representative Zip is who our group functions under so she was the first to receive this report. She was the one who directed us to inform you and Representative Bumblebee.” The ex-Decepticon took a moment to think before standing up, “Then we shall go to meet them.” He started making his way to the door before gesturing for the scared mech to follow him. ‘Absolutely ridiculous.’

No less than two hours later did Starscream find himself hiding behind a large natural formation. Beside him was the head of the neutral representatives, the two watching as smaller bots scurried around a makeshift settlement.

“How in the allspark did your scouts miss something this large,” he asked her, to which the femme pathetically glared in response. “Researchers, not scouts Starscream. They only started looking around here recently, all were too nervous after hearing that Prime mech died.”

Zipshift was a racer femme forged just as the war began who had quickly escaped into hiding as things got too intense. As a result, she had little respect for authority and the past. She prioritized the safety of neutrals with little care for those from either war faction. While Starscream respected her dislike of Autobots, her ignorance and insubordination made her prone to mistakes such as the situation before them.

“Do we have any idea where they came from?” she asked Starscream. ‘She is a forged bot and she doesn’t know what the Well of Sparks produces?’ He chose not to answer, her naivety threatening his sanity, and returned his attention to the settlement.

The strange thing about these minibots was their behaviour. Physically, they all looked to be newly forged and their actions seemed to lack the strength age provided. Emotionally, however, they all seemed to present trained habits. Some were ones that, yes, newly forged bots could mimic but others were ones the seeker had only seen other war veterans present.

Lost in thought regarding the conundrum, Starscream missed the next thing his companion said. The only reason he noticed anything was off was when he saw her approaching the bots.

He attempted to chase after her but it proved to be pointless. The two were quickly surrounded by bots and charged weapons. “Do not say a word,” he hissed at the femme before addressing the swarm.

“Cybertronians, we come in peace. I am Representative Starscream and this is my… companion . We are members of the council of New Cybertron.” He stood tall and let his wings fan out in a display of dominance.

Before he could continue, however, he was rudely interrupted by his companion. “Before you jump to any conclusions though, we don’t want to like, threaten you or anything. We only want to give you the chance to live among the rest of our kind” she said stepping in front of Starscream. “We have energy, shelter and basically anything you could want. All we want to do is make sure everyone on the planet is in good servos, not get anyone tangled up in drama.”

Starscream glared at her but she physically shrugged him off. The swarm went to discuss what was said, leaving their uninvited guests to argue in silence. Eventually they seemed to come to an agreement as they made their way back to address the larger bots. 

One of them, perhaps the leader of the settlement, had a demand. “If you folks are as good as you say you are,” they started before pointing at a group of sleeping bots, “then keep up with your promise and take care of them.”

At first Starscream was confused by the request but, upon closer inspection, he was able to quickly realize the actual state of the sleeping bots. They all looked incredibly underfuelled and were likely unconscious due to illness, not casual rest. He gave his companion a knowing look and as she commed for assistance, Starscream approached the sick.

Within moments he was able to finally solve the mystery of the settlement.

One of the downed bots was one that looked like an Earth feline, an incredibly familiar and thought to be offlined one. He promptly grabbed Ravage and inspected him. His observations from earlier appeared to be accurate so he collected as many others as he was capable of carrying before flying straight for the city.

The next few hours were a blur as he ensured all the unwell bots he had brought were taken care of. At some point Zipshift had returned with more sick bots and, after handling her group as well, Starscream reluctantly gave her and Bumblebee a report on his theory after they pressed.

The well seemed to be reforging bots who went offline during the war. At the very least, minicons, cassettes and other smaller bots. There was no other way to explain why Ravage, Soundwave’s creation, was one of those living in the strange settlement. Or, at least, appeared to be since proper identification had not yet been conducted. 

His death was witnessed by many and Soundwave’s reaction was felt by even more. Not many knew that Soundwave was a carrier to his cassettes, but all bots in both factions were aware that they meant much to the spy. Killing one spelled misfortune to those responsible and it had occurred four times. Consequences like that were not easily forgotten.

When all had settled, Starscream chose to sit with the Ravage lookalike as the bot recovered. After detailing his theory he had demanded that the cassette be placed in his care if it was indeed correct. 

When the demands left his vocalizer, he was just as confused as ones he was asking. It was something unexpected of him, but for some reason his processor was screaming at him to protect the feline. Perhaps it was because he was the one facing the responsibility for Soundwave’s freedom so it only made sense for him to cover the responsibilities the mech would have in this new era. 

Regardless of why, the others quickly allowed the request with no further questions but looks of confusion.

Starscream looked towards the bed where “Ravage” had an energy drip feeding him as he recharged. The scene was unsettling for many reasons. Bots returning from the dead. His Soundwave’s creation being among those bots but at critically low levels. That same creation staring him directly in the optics

“What are you doing here?”

Starscream's wings violently twitched as he tried to look away but “Ravage’s” gaze was unwavering. Cursing himself for spacing out again, the seeker rushed to regain his composure before forcing out a response. “Who are you?” He asked the feline, unsure if he wanted the being to actually be Ravage or not. “What is the last thing you recall?” 

“My question first,” the cat replied. His stare turned into a guarded, threatening glare. “Why are you here Commander Starscream?” He said, looking as though he wanted to ask more but was holding himself back.

While not a direct answer, this line of questioning seems to confirm that this was most likely the real Ravage to Starscream. He made a point to send the doctor a message before returning his attention to the feline’s question.

“I am here because I brought you here. This is the only acceptable hospital for the amount of bots I had to bring,” he replied. The answer did not seem to please Ravage, which was understandable. Starscream’s actions easily implied that he cared for others, which were two things that did not go together in any universe.

He tried to muster up as much of his arrogance as he could in order to calm the patient. Provide a sense of familiarity as it were. “Now that I think about it, you should be thanking me. Such an ungrateful cassette,” he smirked.

Thankfully his smugness seemed to make Ravage relax, realizing that this was likely the same seeker nuisance of the Decepticons. Deeming this an effective strategy, Starscream planned on continuing. Before he could, however, the door to the room slid open as the doctor walked in.

“I’m a busy bot Representative . You can’t just-” Knock Out was cut off his rant by the glares of the two seated bots. He had been distracted with a datapad and failed to notice his patient was now awake to the displeasure of everyone present. “I stand corrected,” he said slowly, in realization. “Well, let’s get you checked out then cassette.”

The room was mostly quiet as Knock Out ran multiple diagnosis tests, occasionally vocalizing questions directed at Ravage. Starscream tried to pay attention but found himself slipping into recharge at times. No one took notice of this however; The doctor too focused on his results and the patient too concerned about his situation.

“All seems to be in order,” Knock Out declared after a while, optics focused on a datapad he was filling out. With a flick of his wrist, he marked his last notes before looking at Starscream. “Ahem,” he loudly started, shocking the seeker out of his drowsy state. “He is cleared for discharge now.”

Starscream simply nodded in response, not fully paying attention. He missed the doctor give him a sharp look before he continued, “All you need to do is make sure he is constantly fueled in order to make a full recovery.” with a glance towards his patient and then back to the seeker he mumbled, “perhaps you could do the same for yourself,” before taking off out the door.

“Why does the doctor assume you will take care of me,” Ravage asked when the door closed. Starscream pretended to be distracted, refusing to respond. It was one thing to petition for custody but to explain his reasoning to the cassette? Absurd.

Ravage was having none of his antics however. Bothered by the state of all things, he promptly jumped onto Starscream. “I have given you many opportunities to answer this simple question. What exactly are you plotting Starscream?” he asked, putting his face right up to the seeker’s. “Where am I? Where is Soundwave and the rest of our forces?”

The seeker tore the feline off his frame and stood tall. “Your ‘master’ has become incapacitated. His incompetence has led to all of his responsibilities being pushed onto myself,” he glared at the feline. The confidence Ravage had before seemed to wither away.

“Circumstances have greatly changed since we last met. We are under new leadership now and your behaviour needs to be managed, leaving me as your new caretaker,” Starscream continued. “If you want the safety of your creator to be guaranteed, you will follow me and stay under my supervision until he can be returned.” He bent downwards to put himself on the same level as Ravage, yet still above him. “Is that understood?”

The cassette took a moment to consider what was said. After a brief period of silence he then nodded. 

Satisfied, Starscream picked himself back up. “Shall we get going then?”

Chapter Text

Living with Ravage had been an experience so far, or it would have been had Starscream been functioning at full capacity.

Prior to the feline's resurrection, he had already been incredibly busy. He had to deal with reconstruction plans, faction deconstruction and tracking down remaining problematic Autobots and Decepticons.

Those duties were still in place, Ravage’s move in hadn’t affected that. The only change now was that any time he had that was previously free was now dedicated to cassette related tasks. Ensuring Ravage was cared for, progress on a room for the cassettes to all stay in and reviewing old logs as a means of improving their stay. All things Starscream had deemed necessary for the future.

Amidst the hectic schedule, however, the seeker had been surprisingly enjoying the company his old ally’s creation provided.

Most days the cassette would roam around the apartment complex on his lonesome, but occasionally Ravage would decide to accompany Starscream when he went to work. The cat would complain out of boredom those days, something the seeker expected to be an annoyance. Instead, it was something he found… contenting.

Despite that, he did hold one complaint against the feline.

For some inexplicable reason the cassette had grown an obsession with “fussing” over the larger bot. He had somehow gotten the idea in his processor that Starscream struggled with the life he led and the feline refused to let such a “problem” go.

It started a few weeks into Ravage’s stay. The seeker had decided fairly quickly that the cat would have a claim on the singular berth the apartment had. This was meant to be a temporary situation, as Starscream needed to finish renovations. He had other options for himself, so that wasn’t a concern. 

If he was desperate he could use the couch in the main area and if he wasn’t then he always had access to one in his council office. It was smaller, more uncomfortable and it didn’t quite fit his wings, but it wasn’t as though he had a reason to use it.

He had told Ravage as such but the feline gave him a deadpan stare in response.

The bothersome behaviour started small, with Ravage simply questioning his habits on a slowly increasing basis. The questioning eventually turned into demanding. The demand eventually turned into a protest where he refused to recharge without the seeker joining him.

In the end, the protesting turned into Starscream getting physically shoved into the berth, restrained by the weight of a sleeping cassette that laid atop the angered seeker.

Starscream eventually found ways to combat these tricks. In this regard at least, he still hadn’t figured out how to stop the feline from going on hunger strikes whenever he forgot to refuel himself.

There was one way to stop all of these problems, but it was something impossible.

It wasn’t as though the seeker had something against taking time off to sort his affairs. In fact, he had estimated that about five percent of his arguments with Megatron during the war were based on the lord not respecting his off time. No, the problems with this simple solution were merely complicated.

The first issue was that Ravage had believed that Starscream was “struggling” for no good reason, something that offended the seeker. The second, more pressing issue the seeker had explained time and time again to the feline, was that he was not permitted too.

It was apparently “too much of a risk” for him to take a day off as he could use that time to plot a way to overthrow the new society. For that reason alone, when they were revising his contract for Soundwave’s release, it was put in the terms that taking “taking time off” was prohibited..

He agreed to the paranoia of the Autobots and Neutrals without any questioning at the time, the justification being that saving Soundwave was more important than his own comfort. Who knew how the mech was surviving in the shadowzone…

In any case, Ravage had become a real healmache and, according to his research, this was a problem the seeker was going to have to navigate on his own. Likely due to the nature of their relationship, the feline had never once fussed over his creator in a similar way as far as Starscream had discovered.

As he pondered ways to win whatever this competition was, his train of thought was interrupted by an alarm going off.

‘Great, another night of little progress,’ he thought to himself as he turned it off and dismissed a notification about his recharge levels. He then went to turn off the log he was watching but quickly realized he had neglected to press play when he had started for the night.

The seeker groaned, burying his helm in his servos, before getting up from his workbench. He needed to figure out a solution as soon as possible, this behaviour was disgraceful.

Dragging himself out the room, Starscream noticed that Ravage was wide awake and sitting atop the bar table he had bought recently. He passed the feline, ignoring a glare being sent his way in favour of preparing energon cubes for the two of them. More so preparing one for Ravage, as while Starscream had fueling preferences, he didn’t have the time to meet how specific they were.

His priorities were doing his job, releasing and taking care of his cassettes.

‘His being Soundwave’s, not his his’. The seeker shuddered at the thought before handing Ravage his cube and consuming his own.

The silence that followed made Starscream realize the cat was still staring at him. He attempted to ignore the other as he finished his cube and went to grab a few things he needed before he made off to the council building. Unfortunately, that task was interrupted by Ravage finally bothering to physically approach the seeker.

He sighed, “What is it this time, Ravage? As I have told you before, there is nothing wrong.” The feline rolled his optics in response, slightly annoying Starscream, and then shook his head. “I was hoping to accompany you today. If you will not care for yourself at this point then I should stop bothering.”

The seeker narrowed his optics, sensing a scheme through the tone of Ravage’s voice. One benefit of his research thus far was discovering the tells the cassettes held whenever they were going to cause trouble.

“Is there any particular reason you wish to join me today?” he asked decidedly. From his observations, Soundwave was usually successful in stopping Ravage by simply being pushy. “The last time you came with me you declared it would be the last,” he said before scoffing. 

Ravage twitched in response, Starscream feeling proud he was able to deter the cat. To his quick dismay, however, the conversation did not end. “I was hoping to give things another chance. Spending all my time here becomes boring nor will it benefit Soundwave when he returns,” was the feline’s eventual response.

The room grew cold as the two stared each other down. Starscream, in his attempt to understand why, noticed something peculiar about the feline. Ravage’s tail was coiled around one of his legs, a sign the seeker recognized as indicating a lie was present in what was said.

It was strange how determined the feline could get when he wanted something, in this case going as far as refusing to fuel and to continuously lie despite the past year.

With some minor contemplation, the seeker decided to finally back down, sighing before making his way to the front entrance. Noticing that his companion had not realized his decision yet, he gestured for the other to follow.

The commute to the council building was uneventful. Starscream was thankful that Ravage occupied himself by finally fueling and not questioning the seeker’s change of mind.

Upon landing he quickly took back that thankfulness.

“Ravage! Get back here!” he yelled as the cat broke out of his cockpit before he had properly landed and then darted into the building. The seeker quickly transformed and attempted to chase Ravage but the feline was long gone. ‘Great, another inconvenience for me to deal with.’

He spent ten minutes attempting to locate and contact the other before getting fed up because Ravage had blocked their shared comm line. He reasoned that feline was smart enough to not get into trouble and returning to his office to catch up work was looking to be a more productive venture.

It seemed fate was against him that day however, as when he opened the door to his office his audial sensors picked up a loud frequency coming from an area nearby. At first he was going to ignore the situation, why bother about something that wasn’t his responsibility. After another bang though, he realized that the other representatives would hold it against him if he did that.

Starscream marched his way over to the ‘crash site,’ fuming as he assumed the issue to be an incompetent worker. “What in Primus’ name is going on here!” he yelled as he turned a corner.

There was no immediate response and he learned quickly that it was for good reason.

The seeker’s eyes widened as he took in the scene before him. The hallway was typically a busy one so it was not surprising how crowded it was. What was surprising was how much it looked as though a storm had rushed through the corridor.

Bots, datapads, vases and all sorts of personal effects littered the ground. There were bots hanging from the ceiling, others clung to the pillars that lined the sides of the walkway. To top off the madness, the Representative realized that today was a “Well day”, a day in which new bots were brought into the city after the Well had spent time reforging them.

It being “Well day” was relevant because there were now a good number of confused, recently reforged bots running around the building. Some were still in the hallway but it didn’t take a genius to figure out some had gotten displaced after whatever disaster came through the area.

Thankfully, to some extent, the pandemonium calmed down when Starscream made his appearance. A guard, who the seeker assumed witnessed the entire event, scampered to his pedes to give the Representative a report. To Starscream’s dismay, however, the mech had not seen an instigator nor had an idea on what had actually occurred and apparently had no idea on what to do next.

“Get more information you incompetent slacker!” the seeker exclaimed when he was told that. He rubbed his helm, grumbling about the mech’s stupidity, before pointing at a different bot who bore an exploration badge. “You there! How many reforged are missing from your group?” he asked, hoping to get a sense of the situation. Confused, the femme looked around for a moment before realizing the infamous Starscream was talking to her.

The ex-hunter groaned as she froze up in fear and returned his attention to the guard. “Figure out how many are missing and then track them down,” he ordered, making sure to annunciate the last bit.

With a final glare at the mech, the seeker started making his way down the hallway. “Where are you going sir?” the guard asked, panicking. “I will be tracking down the culprit,” he declared before transforming and taking off. “It’s not like anyone else will.”

One hour, seven hallways and five and a half passed out guards later, Starscream finally managed to track down the menace.

After the third hallway he figured out the ‘disasters’ were mini-earthquakes that were one hundred percent bot caused. Guard two point five had given him a physical description of the runt, which the seeker begrudgingly had to relay to the rest of the search party because point five passed out again. Hallway five had prompted the seeker to start screaming and hallway six made Starscream realize that Rumble had been running between the building’s ventilation system which was even more of a nuisance.

“Rumble, if you don’t stop this instant I swear to Primus that I will send your spark back to the Allspark!” the seeker screeched. His vocalizer was beginning to ache after being used so much. He had yelled more in the past hour than he had since the war ended. It was exhausting, but the cassette laughing in defiance was something he could not continue to let pass.

“Get back here you menace,” he yelled as the cassetticon turned a corner. There was a moment where Starscream believed he heard the smaller bot try and respond but any reaction was eclipsed by a large crash.

The seeker refreshed his optics a few times to ensure he wasn’t seeing things before he burst out laughing. Before him laid a pile of bots on the ground, Rumble having crashed into the now present Ravage and a group of guards who had gotten caught up in the madness.

Starscream had spent his entire day chasing Rumble, annoyed at Ravage and running on a level of recharge so low his frame had forced itself out his alt-mode earlier. The once formidable air commander was now reduced to acting like a pathetic mess he hated it.

The entire situation was simply ludicrous, the realization making Starscream laugh harder than he had since his trine offlined. He laughed to a point where his full frame had begun to shake. He laughed harder to get rid of his exhaustion. He laughed even harder to push down ‘feelings’ that shouldn’t have entered his processor but were now threatening to over run it.

He laughed until he heard a sound that forced him to stop.

Sometime during his fit the guards had gotten up and apprehended Soundwave’s troublemakers. Also in that time someone had managed to make Rumble cry. He didn’t even know the bot was capable of doing so.

Starscream quickly recovered from his stupor and gracefully rushed over to the mechs. He racked his data banks for anything that would aid him and was met with a scene he had almost forgotten. A moment the seeker had accidentally witnessed after Ravage offlined, where Soundwave was struggling to comfort his grieving creations. It was something that led to the first time the two had a conversation with each other without their leader present.

Starscream promptly snatched the crying cassette from the confused guard holding him. In the reference he had Soundwave had managed to cradle multiple of his creations, something that was most definitely a trained skill. Thankfully the seeker had to deal with only one.

He adjusted his arms so that both were cradling Rumble while the cassette’s head was resting on his chassis. Starscream then started rocking the bot back and forth in an attempt to calm him.

“Hush now, you are safe,” the seeker said in a voice so soft he could barely recognize it as his own. Unconsciously he started fluttering his wings and pacing back and forth. “It is alright young one, there is no need to cry.”

He was unsure how long it took but eventually he was able to stop Rumble’s crying by lulling him into recharge.

Finally able to look up, Starscream noticed that the chaos had managed to drag out his two fellow Representative heads. They both looked shocked at something, as did the guards and Ravage. He sent a glare in their direction, fearing their judgement to see if anyone had the gall to question his actions. Unfortunately for him someone apparently did.

“Starscream, what in the world is going on? Are you functioning correctly?” Zipshift yelled in confusion. The seeker felt Rumble stir in his arms at the sound of her shout and, as a result, he intensified his glare hoping it would silence the buffoon.

Once Rumble settled again, Starscream decided it would be best for the cassette to continue his recharge in his office while the larger bot dealt with the riff raff. He gave Ravage an indication to follow before heading off to his destination.

Upon arrival, Starscream wasted no time grabbing various cushions and cloths in order to make a small nest. He would have placed Rumble on the berth present in the room but, because of some reorganization he had started a few days prior, it was currently occupied.

When he was satisfied with his work he gently placed the sleeping cassette in the nest and ensured he was comfortable. A comfortable bot was a less troublesome one afterall. As he stepped away Ravage jumped onto the desk and the seeker watched as the feline protectively curled around his brother and joined him in his slumber.

Starscream smiled for a second, feeling a warmth he thought he would never feel again, before he was rudely reminded of the individuals in the room who were notably not in recharge.

He spun around to see Zipshift and Bumblebee meddling with, and almost knocking over, an ornament he had hanging by his door. Not wanting the two to disturb the two in recharge, the seeker charged at them to drag them all outside and then locked his office.

“Do either of you have one functioning chip?” he asked angrily. The day had really gotten to him and he finally had a sufficient outlet for his frustrations. “You hire the most incompetent guard I have ever seen, unable to even gather basic information. You failed to set up a security system throughout the entire building which allowed a new forge run rampant for who knows how long. And then, on top of that all, you can’t even stay quiet for FIVE MINUTES!”

“Starscream, hold on a second-” The seeker flared out his wings in anger and defiance. “I will not. You are all very fortunate that I have my own priorities and am staying ‘civil’. Had the situation been different, by this point I would have offlined you all.”

The threat rang deep. It was almost always forgotten how deadly the seeker actually was. Most would see his scheming, his cowardice, his vanity and deem him a fool. However, there was a reason he was the Decepticon’s air commander and Megatron’s second in command.

Starscream looked between the two mechs. Zipshift seemed to finally understand why bots were constantly scared of talking to the seeker. Bumblebee, on the other servo, took a defensive stance. In any other situation the seeker would have reveled in this supremacy… but he remembered that aggravating the others was a bad idea if he wanted to get what he desired. He slowly let out a sigh and relaxed his wings.

He missed having someone around that was competent and helpful. If Soundwave were here he would have calmly listened to Starscream’s rant before guiding him to a more productive solution. Actually, had Soundwave been present, the problems would have never existed.

Alas, he was left in a room where no one took the time to listen to him and this confrontation was both jeopardizing getting the one who would back and exhausting the already tired seeker.

“My apologies, I spoke out of line,” he said. The comment made his companions shift into a shocked state but Bumblebee was able to quickly recover. “That you did,” he started, “but it was something we needed to hear.”

It was Starscream’s turn to be shocked. “Today really showed the flaws in our system. Not all of us know what a ‘normal’ society is supposed to be like and it shows. In security, like you said, and also in the well-being of our coworkers,” the mech ended, giving Starscream a look over the seeker did not appreciate. He stiffed under the gaze and felt his anger bubble up again. “And what do you mean to imply Representative Bumblebee,” he spat out, walking closer to the other.

It was his stepping up that caused Zipshift to snap out of her dazed state and she immediately jumped between the two war veterans. “Hold on sir! It’s nothing like that,” she exclaimed quickly, her earlier fear still being slightly present in her voice. “It’s just…” she starts looking nervously up at Starscream. “You’re tired. Like, really really tired and we’ve just…. We just didn’t notice that even though we’re coworkers and friends.”

Her tone was apologetic, something out of character for the usually enthusiastic femme. “If I’m being honest, I don’t really know much about why you stick around and stuff but I’m really fragging grateful that you do. You do so much for us here and we can’t even give you a break! It’s the stupidest thing ever.”

The seeker tensed at her words. He had never been referred to as someone’s ‘friend’ in millions of years nor had someone apologized to him for anything in just as long. It was strange.

The neutral representative looked back at Bumblebee and the two shared a nod before femme stepped away. “As Zip meant to say,” the mech picked up, “we have been unreasonable towards you, Starscream.”

“And, after today, we have decided to approve you for time off.” “Just as soon as we get the paperwork done,” Zipshift finished.

The seeker remained silent. At first he was confused and angry, how dare they suddenly pretend to care after almost four years of not. After a moment his tone changed as he suddenly remembered his unusual morning. “Did Ravage put you up to this,” he asked with annoyance in his voice. ‘I told that cat to stop meddling.’

The bots shared another look and seemingly decided that Bumblebee would respond again. “He did have a talk with us and tried to convince us to do this earlier today. At the time we disagreed with him,” he began. “But, Ravage’s words gave us the direction we needed. He told us of a problem and we were finally able to look for the signs.”

Starscream didn’t particularly like this answer, so he questioned it immediately. “Well I disagree with your new conclusion. You are all disillusioned by the lack of stakes this era provides. My habits are not unusual.”

He couldn’t afford to lose this position, there was too much at risk now with the two cassettes sleeping in his office and more likely to join. The seeker thought about it and realized he only had one option.

To beg.

“In fact… I am currently working at a capacity still underneath that of the Decepticons,” he rushed out. “I still have much to provide, if you would just let me return to my work.” He needed this position. “I implore you to reconsider your decision.”

To his dismay, Bumblebee sent him a look of disapproval. “The standards of the Decepticons or the standards of Soundwave?” he asked pointedly. “Just because you are motivated by your lover or whatever doesn’t mean you need to replicate him.”

To further the point he was about to make, the ex-Autobot poked at the seeker’s chassis. “We are in a time of peace, Starscream. No one needs to do things like that anymore.” The mech then stepped away. “But, if you’re going to be stubborn about this, I guess there’s one thing we can do.”

“Starscream, I order you to stop working. A date for your return will be set later but once this day ends you are no longer permitted on these premises.”

The seeker was taken aback and before he could protest the mech started walking away. Bumblebee then stopped to look at Starscream in the optics. “You’ll probably want to listen this time,” he finished before leaving Zipshift and Starscream alone.

The two stood in silence for a while before the femme finally broke it. “Are you really sticking around because of a lover?” she asked. “Is that why you took in Ravage and I guess that new bot too?” The seeker didn’t answer, the situation was complicated. “It wasn’t like that,” the seeker finally admitted. “I am not sure what he meant to me or what I meant to him.”

There was a servo on his shoulder. “Well, whatever it was meant a lot to you right? In all the time I’ve known you, I feel like caring that much isn’t normal,” Zipshift said in a soft voice. “I shouldn’t pry but I’d bet that it mattered to him too if you're this attached.” 

“You're barely living ‘Scream, and it feels like you only care about the idea of how he would live instead of yourself.” She then let go of Starscream. “You will save him, I think you’ll be able to impress everyone enough to do that,” she laughed before going serious again.

“But when you do save him, do you really think he’d be happy to see you living like this?”

The seeker went back into his office, alone and pondering the question. His energy levels were at thirty percent, his recharge at nine. There were boxes, datapads, pens and other random things strewn about the room. And, in the middle of it all, two small bots laid upon his desk in a sweet slumber after their day of causing him problems.

He let himself smile. He was a mess but the scene brought comfort. It had been a while since two bots caused him so much trouble.

“I hope this is the worst you two can do,” he chuckled before deciding to tidy up. He was apparently on vacation now.

Chapter Text

The day Buzzsaw joined Starscream’s growing group of cassettes was surprisingly calm compared to the others. The seeker was simply contacted at an unreasonable hour, grabbed the other and flew down to the Well to pick up their new addition. After Rumble’s disastrous return, the council deemed it was best to ask Starscream to pick up any relevant arrivals himself instead of them staying with the larger group of returnees.

Starscream figured this was Primus’ way of finally cutting him some slack. He changed his mind five months later.

It started when he was alerted that Frenzy had been reforged and alerted the other cassettes as he did before. Rumble had been particularly excited as he had felt the absence of his twin the most and Starscream didn’t blame him.

The seeker would have done the same thing he did for Buzzsaw’s arrival and perhaps his inability to was why things had gone so wrong.

Due to bad timing, his day had been completely booked with other, more pressing, matters. He had to watch over two… questionable bots that were arriving on planet that day and he had the unfortunate honor of being the only available individual they trusted in any capacity.

After the simplicity of Buzzsaw’s arrival, the seeker assumed that if he sent the cassettes to do it themselves all would be fine.

Unfortunately, as it turned out, the call had been a cruel ruse done to distract Starscream in order to kidnap his ‘guests’. As a result, the seeker had to deal with running around with a herd of devastated cassettes whilst trying to stop the kidnapped bots from causing more problems.

It had now been two months since the incident. Rumble was mostly over everything and things were back to a sense of normal. But nothing was ever normal in his life.

Buzzsaw had been acting standoffish since the event and, now that his brother was doing better, he was downright insufferable.

One day he had returned home to find Rumble trapped under the perches he had built for the bird cassettes. Ravage had been napping in his corner of the room, blatantly ignoring the situation, and Buzzsaw was flying around laughing as though he hadn’t done anything. It hurt Starscream’s processor remembering how long it took to put everything back together, which is why he constantly started checking the room to ensure all was in order.

Now, Soundwave had specific ways for dealing with his creations and Starscream would happily claim he had become an expert. Ravage responded well to reasoning and bargains, the trouble twins required scolding, ground and the freedom to make mistakes. Pit, the seeker had even managed to decipher Laserbeak’s whistles to figure out she was one of the bluntest individuals out there. But Buzzsaw… Buzzsaw…

Dealing with him seemed impossible. The cassette would act in enigmatic ways and then after a while he would be fine with nothing of significance occurring between the two states. Soundwave most definitely never ignored the issues, the seeker knew he was too loving when it came to his cassettes, so the method of dealing with Buzzsaw had to be in the mundanity of life.

The on-going problems made Starscream’s processor hurt but thankfully, now that he had scheduled time off, he finally had the opportunity to fix the issue. But first, he had some errands to run. Those were the reason he now found himself in the middle of a market wrangling the three cassettes in his custody. 

He had only planned to grab a few things but Rumble had gone and insisted that they all needed a day out together. When Starscream tried to disagree, the small bot started hitting the seeker and refused to back down until he got his way.

That was only the start of the problems. Ravage had a habit of continuously wandering off to look at datapads, meaning Starscream had to run and convince him to go back on track. Rumble begged for every little knick knack he saw, his whining adding to the seeker’s helmache. And then there was Buzzsaw…

“Seize this behaviour at once!” Starscream scolded the bird who, in response, turned around to whistle loudly before going back to randomly poking other bots in the market. He was unsure for how long he had been trying to stop Buzzsaw from doing this and it was getting on his nerves. The seeker maneuvered through the area while grabbing at the troublemaker.

“Get back here you little cretin.”

The “cretin” being called out only laughed in response. Buzzsaw was taking much delight in tormenting his host, diving right in front of Starscream’s face whenever the seeker was unable to move fast enough to grab him.

Unfortunately for the bird, this ‘trick’ was bound to start failing at some point and he was caught after many minutes of the seeker suffering.

“I’ve got you now you little scrap,” Starscream grumbled as he finally grabbed Buzzsaw, the cassette angrily squawking in response. He maneuvered the two of them so that the bird was trapped in his hold while also being forced to look the larger bot in the optics. “You are in so much trouble.”

Finally able to pause for a second, Starscream noticed just how far Buzzsaw had led him off track. The other two cassettes were nowhere to be found and all the vendors staring at him were unfamiliar ones.

‘Great,’ he scowled before promptly trapped the still struggling cassette into his cockpit. The bird attempted to break out by bashing into him, which only succeeded in further aggravating the seeker.

Getting back to his errands didn’t help him calm down. The second he found Rumble the tiny mech started demanding for more things, something about a game device popular with the bots he ‘hung out’ with. Within moments the cassette joined his brother in complaining from the cockpit. Upon seeing the situation, Ravage simply rolled his optics and jumped in instead of arguing as his siblings were.

Starscream silently seethed as he finished his shopping, anger bubbling over his frame the entire time. Buzzsaw and Rumble refused to stop fighting for their freedom and the seeker struggled to maintain his cool in the hopes of not making a scene again. He was an important public figure who had a reputation to uphold, one scene was already bad enough.

Unfortunately a second scene became guaranteed the second Buzzsaw flew into an old injury causing the seeker to keel over in pain.

“That is enough!” he yelled, grabbing the attention of passersby. He stood up in a rage. “Have you forgotten your place! You are under my supervision. My protection, MY RULES!”

“I have been treating you all with some semblance of respect and this is the thanks I get? Two misbehaving miscreants and one who refuses to do anything about it.”

“Well no more. If you all wish to behave like sparklings then I will treat you as such. Or, better yet, I should treat you as unruly troops. That’s something you might respond to now with no creator to hide behind.”

At some point during his rant Starscream transformed and left the market, thankfully timing it so no one but the cassette heard the last bit. For the rest of the flight the seeker went on to further scold, berate and complain about his “ungrateful” guests. The cassettes were quiet for all of it to his relief.

Upon returning to the apartment, Starscream locked them in their room to “think about their actions” before promptly passing out in his own berth. The dreams that followed were not kind to him, his processor prompting memories of the war.

Of Megatron. Of humiliation. Of beration. Of beatings.

It came to a crux when the manifestation of his “lordship” went for his own spark, the dismantled frames of his trine and other past loved ones on the ground. The only one left he cared for was restrained to a wall, his offlined creations at his pedes.

The seeker was shocked out of recharge. His vents were erratic, his processor aching even more than it had before.

He took a moment to compose himself before dragging his frame out of the room to refuel, reasoning that it might help him relax. As he made his way to the dining area he paused outside the cassettes’ room. While it had been completely their own fault, Starscream admitted he had been a tad too harsh in his words earlier. They were likely in recharge, given the current time, but Starscream wanted to check on them regardless. Perhaps he could leave some snacks in while he was at it.

Opening the door gave him an unpleasant sight. Two of them were peacefully in recharge, empty cubes close to their resting places thankfully. The third, however, was nowhere to be found and the room’s vent cover was on the ground.

The seeker almost vocally panicked, only stopping a yell from escaping when he realized alerting the two of Buzzsaw’s disappearance would cause more problems than solve. Starscream pulled himself together, managing to leave out a note before racing out the front door.

He technically wasn’t allowed to go out at night, but this was an emergency. Soundwave would kill him if he found out the seeker did nothing when one of his creations had disappeared. Rumble may cry again, who knows. Both were that made Starscream’s spark ache to think about, things worth whatever punishment the council could come up with.

He flew around the area surrounding the complex, which was still buzzing with bots enjoying the evening. After failing to find any sign of the bird cassette, he expanded his radius. The seeker racked his processor for all information he had on Buzzsaw. ‘Something has to be of use. He was a menace, arrogant, obsessed with frame parts, art…’

‘What else?’

Before he realized it, Starscream found himself on the perimeter of his normal boundaries. It was then that everything fell in place. Junk.

He rushed to the city’s main junkyard and started yelling for his… It took a while but eventually his callings got a response.

There was a fluttering of wings behind him and then his face was full of an attacking runaway. “Hold on you piece of scrap,” he mumbled while trying to tear Buzzsaw off his frame. “I just. Want to have. A civil conversation wit- Will you stop trying to tear out my optics!”

The fliers tangled around for a bit and the seeker ultimately managed to somewhat calm the raging cassette. He got them both situated on one of many towers of junk and noticed Buzzsaw was now full on ignoring him. He let out a sigh.

“You are one confusing little thing,” Starscream started. “One second you want to kill me, the next you refuse to even look at me.” There was a ruffle but no vocalization. “Nothing to say? You know your carrier used to ignore me like that too. It always took me ages to figure out why.”

Buzzsaw angrily squawked at him this time, emanating a field of rage and offense. Starscream simply laughed. “You don’t want me talking about him, is that right?” Another loud chirp followed. “Well, I have to say that as right as I was earlier for angering earlier I believe I can admit that it was… unnecessary to bring him up in such a regard.” The seeker looked over at his companion who, unsurprisingly, wasn’t affected by this admission. Not many would be if they knew anything about Starscream.

“No good?” he asked with it sounding more like a statement than a question. “Then why don’t you tell me yourself what the problem is.”

There was no response. “As hard as it is to believe, especially given my earlier words, I do wish to keep you all safe.”

“I do wish to understand you, even if it puts my own well-being at risk,” he ended giving Buzzsaw a look he hoped the bird would understand. He then looked away and waited.

Another moment passed and then there was a cable in his servo. Without any hesitation, Starscream plugged the cassette into his system and let the connection settle.

“How dare you speak of him you thief!” a new voice said. “First you steal him away from us, then you keep us from saving him ourselves.” Despite looking calm before the connection, the bird was still furious. “You give us false hope of freeing him and Laserbeak from their prison and taking care of all of us and then you lock us away and mock his disappearance.”

“How dare you!” Buzzsaw exclaimed, his anger flaring out to the point it threatened infecting Starscream’s systems. Despite that, he managed to keep his cool. Instead of giving into the anger, he finally realized what Buzzsaw’s issue was.

“How dare I indeed,” the seeker began, sounding partially condescending but mostly genuine. “I took his attention away from you. I then told you I was your only hope of getting your creator back and then went on to do things that not only threatened your safety but that of your siblings as well. I gave you false hope, I upset your siblings. I gave you no reason to trust me in the past and I certainly haven’t given you a reason to now and somehow still expect it.”

“And why bother!” Buzzsaw cut him off. “I know you're only doing this to get in his good books so why bother caring so much. Was he that good of a frag or something?”

Starscream made a face of disgust. “I care for the same reason you hate me for, not something as… intimate as that.” He vented before continuing.

“I miss him greatly.”

This was something he hated to admit. Any kind of weakness was bad but this was one that was extremely easy for others to take advantage of him.

“I miss him but for some reason I want others to feel safe in his absence. The reason I care is hard to explain… Loss is a feeling hard to recover from. A feeling so easy to abuse that it is the reason I gave up all that I was in an attempt to be rid of it.” He turned to face the cassette, who had gone completely still.

“A feeling that, the moment I saw your brother, made me want to keep you all sheltered away from. I did so in the hopes that I would one day be victorious and see your creator happy and well. Happy because he is with those who truly made him happy.”

“Happy because he is not left with just one and the scraps,” he finished quietly. He hadn’t wanted to admit that but there were few things that could be hidden through a direct cable link.

He felt a wave of sadness take over the link as Buzzsaw took in all the things that the seeker said and felt. They sat in silence as Starscream watched the cassette disconnect and curl his wings tight around his small body.

It didn’t take long for the bird to shift beside him, seeking comfort that Starscream gave without a second thought.

He pet Buzzsaw a few times before moving his gaze to the moon above them and smiled. It wasn’t much, but this hopefully was a step in the right direction.

“You better not tell the others this. I have a reputation to uphold.” He received a huff in response which made him laugh. “Don’t get too comfy you little misfit. Once morning comes you’ll need to come with me to run some more errands. Rumble had a list of demands earlier and I believe Ravage had his optics on a number of datapads. I’ll need some help picking the best ones.”

He looked back down at the now resting cassette. “I guess I'll need some help getting some stuff for you too.”

Chapter Text

Taking everything into account, life was pleasant for Starscream and the cassettes. There was no need to worry about new arrivals after Frenzy had finally been reforged. The cassettes had all adjusted to living with the seeker as he did them. They had all found friends and companions while Starscream was finally on good terms with his coworkers. For the first time since the war began, all of Cybertronian-kind was thriving and Starscream was proud to be one of the main bots responsible.

The only thing missing from his life was Soundwave, and that wasn’t for a lack of trying. There had been talks of freeing the Decepticon’s chief communication officer but, after an attempted coup, all had been put on hold as the greater population had distrusted the ex-Decepticon population for a time. While in the past he may have lost his cool at the delay, at this point Starscream was well aware of how unpredictable and inconvenient his position was. 

In fact, it was slightly relieving. He had his desires but a part of him feared the change freeing Soundwave would bring.

Would they enter a relationship? Would Soundwave want nothing to do with him for mistreating his cassettes at times? For taking so long to save him? Would the mech even agree to peace?

Above all else, he feared losing the cassettes. The scoundrels had invaded his spark and processor to a point the seeker thought about little else other than them and work. He would never admit it to them but they truly improved his life and he was eternally grateful. They kept him active when he would have buried himself in administration work. They kept him social instead of letting him isolate in his office. They had even convinced him to pick up a hobby, something his trine had always struggled to do.

They really were the best part of his life… when they weren’t causing mayhem.

Starscream looked up from the report he was reading to the sound of arguing from the cassettes’ room. He had been sitting with Ravage on their couch as the cat relaxed in the sunlight coming from their newly installed window. It had been peaceful, until the noise began.

For a second the seeker was confused. As far as he remembered, the only other occupant in the apartment was Rumble. Buzzsaw had some artist club meeting and had left an hour ago while Frenzy had run out to see his friends the moment he finished his morning fuel. Judging by the sound of two distinct voices coming from the room, one of them must have returned while Starscream was distracted and he had a pretty good idea of who it was.

“Rumble, Frenzy. Cease this behaviour at once,” the seeker called through the wall. “Don’t make me come in there,” he lightly threatened before returning to his reading. There was new information on potential terrorist groups that required his immediate attention.

For a few moments the peace returned and Starscream sighed in relief. Unfortunately for him, it didn’t last as the twins picked up their fight again with even more energy. He set his datapad aside to go and scold them again but, before he could get up, Rumble stormed out of the room and rushed over to him.

“‘Ya need to do something, Screamer,” the small bot demanded. The seeker refreshed his audial sensors in confusion, trying to understand the fear laced in Rumble’s voice. “Do something about what?” he asked slowly, trying not to set off the others. “And don’t call me that.”

Before the cassette could answer, he was tackled by his blue twin and the two started tussling and yelling nonsense.

This seemed to be Ravage’s tipping point as the feline jumped off the couch, annoyed, to drag Frenzy off his brother by grabbing the bot’s arm with his mouth. Starscream used the separation as an opportunity to pick up Rumble in order to prevent a repeat performance.

Frenzy attempted to free his arm but Ravage held steady. Starscream returned his attention to the cassette in his arms. “What exactly is the problem, Rumble?” he asked again. “You know I don't tolerate your fights as much as your creator.”

“It’s nothing Screamer,” the blue bot yelled from the ground. “That aft’s just poking his helm in places it doesn’t belong!”

“I’m the aft you dunderhelm? You’re the one stealing ‘ma things!” “Well you’re the one not using them, scrapheap!” “Why you-”

“Enough!” the seeker commanded. “Didn’t I ask you both to cease this behaviour?”

The two squabbling cassettes stopped. Ravage dropped Frenzy’s arm and retreated into Starscream’s room, likely wanting to return to his nap instead of dealing with his siblings’ drama. Traitor.

The seeker shifted Rumble to free one of his servos in order to rub his helm. “You two are giving me a helmache. Rumble, explain the issue to me. Frenzy, be quiet.”

The blue bot glared at him as his twin went on a rant about how his brother had been stealing things from his stash of snacks and trinkets. Apparently today’s fight had started when Rumble caught Frenzy trying to take the special edition rust sticks the seeker had bought for the red bot a few days prior. Also apparently, this was not the first time such an occurrence had happened but all prior confrontations the two had were during times Starscream was at work.

When Rumble finished, Starscream looked down at Frenzy who was seething. “I get you all things in equal amounts. Why in Primus’ name do you feel the need to take more instead of asking me?” the seeker asked. The cassette, pointedly, refused to answer. Instead, he clenched his servos and looked away in defiance.

The room was silent as Starscream waited for an answer. “Sobeit,” he eventually said. “If you have no explanation then I assume you will have no problem spending the rest of the week accompanying me to the office.” There was no response so he continued, “for now, however, you will go to my room and try to come up with a proper explanation for your actions.”

The seeker then set Rumble down, “You may go back to what you were doing, Rumble.” He then paused, suddenly remembering the way the cassette sounded earlier. “Unless you have anything else to add?” he suggested, narrowing his optics. Given the current explanation, Starscream couldn’t figure out why Rumble had a reason to be afraid.

He watched as the cassette panicked and looked at his twin, who was now glaring at the other. He then rushed out a small “no” before promptly running back to his room, shortly followed by Frenzy stomping into Starscream’s.

‘How curious,’ the seeker thought to himself as he sat back down. He could have analyzed the interaction more but he had to get back to his work.

A few weeks passed without much happening. Following his grounding, Frenzy started spending almost all of his time out of the apartment. Rumble had complained but Starscream chalked it up to the blue cassette being mad at getting “busted” and was simply refusing contact with his siblings and their guardian as a result. Starscream had been busy anyways, planning raids on those who were threatening the planet’s peace had taken precedence over petty arguments.

What the seeker had noticed, however, was that Frenzy looked awful, Dirty, tired, sometimes limping, and he couldn’t figure out why nor did he have much time to dedicate to the matter. He and Ravage had still attempted to question the bot, but the troublemaker would always blow up in anger and excuses before running out of the room. Starscream had also attempted to pry information out of Rumble, who he suspected knew the specifics of what was going on, but he too became avoidant.

The situation came to a crux, finally, when one day the blue cassette returned home three hours past curfew. With all the drama going on, Starscream did not want to risk another delay to Soundwave’s return nor did he wish to stir up more political tension. So, instead of running out to chase Frenzy, he spent those hours pacing back and forth through the main room waiting to hear back from Ravage, who had been sent out in his steed.

Upon the two’s return, the seeker was furious and tired. He scolded Frenzy again but it did nothing as the cassette simply shrugged the yelling off and dragged himself to berth. The only lesson learned that night was that Buzzsaw was still sensitive to the idea of bringing up Soundwave in negative connotations.

Starscream was beyond confused, concerned, tired and angry by that point so he did what he did best.

The next day started off as normal as it could have. Tension filled the room as Starscream prepared everyone’s morning energon. Typically the mornings would be filled with light chatter as all their systems’ online but today was silent. Frenzy was frustrated with everyone, Buzzsaw was furious and Rumble was so nervous he could have been mistaken for being Knock Out’s cowardly sparkling. Something had to be done and, thankfully, Starscream had stayed up for most of the night formulating a fool-proof plan.

When Frenzy eventually finished his energon and ran out of the apartment, he was finally able to put it into action.

“Rumble, go to your room,” he demanded. Before the cassette could protest, Starscream sent him a convincing glare that made him go without question. He watched the red bot walk away and waited for the door for the cassettes’ room to close before shifting his attention to the other two at the table. Buzzsaw looked as though he was ready to attack the seeker so he wasted no time divulging his plan.

“I am aware that my words last night were out of line but can you be angry later,” he started. “You are concerned for them both are you not?” Buzzsaw flinched at the question and processed Starscream’s change in attitude. After a moment he relaxed and the seeker took it as an opportunity to continue. “Good. I will need both of your cooperation if we want any chance of resolving this conflict.”

“We all know that I can’t afford to take any additional time off with the coup still on everyone’s processors. That is why I need you both to help me confront those two buffoons.” He waited for confirmation of this fact and, after receiving two nods, he continued. “I know we have already been attempting to do so but we need to take drastic measures.”

“Ravage, I need you to come with me today. We can try interrogating Rumble again in my office. We will likely be more successful as it will be harder for him to leave my office than to leave one of the room’s here. This will also give us the opportunity to try simultaneously pushing him at the same time.” Ravage nodded again, understanding the logic, but Buzzsaw chirped angrily at the suggestion of another verbal assault against one of his brothers. “We will not push too hard,” Starscream assured the bird, “but it must be done.”

Buzzsaw deflated again and, after a moment, fluttered his wings in anticipation for his own job. “Very well then. Your task will be simple. Follow Frenzy and investigate what he keeps leaving for. With how things have become, I believe it is safe to assume that he is not spending his days playing nice with other bots.”

The small flier took off almost immediately after Starscream finished but was quickly stopped by the seeker. “Be careful,” he warned before shooing the bird away. He took a deep vent before asking Ravage to grab Rumble to start their end of the plan.

The flight to the office was quiet. Rumble’s nervous energy was getting worse by minute and despite Ravage attempts to soothe his little brother through pets, the younger cassette’s mood did not improve.

The misery continued in Starscream’s office. Both he and Ravage attempted to casually converse with the younger cassette but Rumble refused to speak. Instead, he opted to hide in a corner as the others failed to reach out. Intermittently Buzzsaw sent Starscream reports on Frenzy. Nothing was abnormal, he was simply with friends apparently.

The seeker buried his helm in his servos as he let out a groan. They were getting absolutely nowhere. He could push Rumble harder but he didn’t want to do anything that could potentially upset Buzzsaw if he found out. There were seemingly no options and that “fact” was beyond frustrating.

“What would Soundwave say about your behaviour Rumble?” a voice broke through Starscream’s tizzy. His helm shot up almost immediately as he looked at Ravage and wordlessly asked the feline to back down. Either his plea was unnoticed or the other just didn’t care, Ravage continued his line of questioning. “Would he really approve of this? This hiding, this cowardice ?”

“I’m not a coward!” Rumble yelled at his brother, not facing away from the wall. “I’ve never been one and I never will.”

With this reaction, Starscream finally figured out the perfect option. He was slightly peeved that Ravage had figured it out first along with a way for them to use it without possibly offending Buzzsaw, but he was mostly relieved.

The seeker smirked. “I don’t know little one. As someone who’s been called a coward for millenia, your behaviour matches up with all the other things I’ve been called.” He watched as Rumble finally snapped, turning out of his corner and making a run to the larger bot in a fit of rage.

“I could never be as pathetic as you, Screamer! And I am not little!” the cassette yelled as he punched Starscream’s legs. He cackled in response to the meager hits, theatrics being overdone to distract Rumble from Ravage’s approach.

“Is that so? In that case, why don’t you share what is going on with Frenzy,” the feline asked from behind his brother. The red bot halted his assault, seeming to have remembered why the others were prodding at him. He looked up at Starscream and then behind at Ravage.

The two watched as the smallest bot shrunk in defeat. Not completely sure of what to do next, and looking at Ravage was of no help, Starscream knelt down to face the confusing cassette. “Rumble, we need to know,” he asked in a gentle tone.

They received a mumbled response that neither Starscream or Ravage could understand. Before the seeker could ask Rumble to speak up, however, there was a ping to his commline. “One second,” he stated before moving away from the cassette siblings to take the message.

A broken line of text popped up on his HUD.

: : Compromised…West…Help : :

“Buzzsaw! What are your coordinates!” the seeker yelled, worry taking over his systems as he double checked the designation’s source. “Buzzsaw, respond!” There was no proper answer as the line filled with static and broken glyphs before cutting off completely.

He rushed over to his desk and activated his computer. He then attempted to trace the message's origin point but he was no Soundwave unfortunately. His experience with communicator technology was limited and, as a result, he was unsuccessful in finding any information. The seeker slammed his servos on the keyboard in frustration before swerving around to face the others. “Where are they Rumble!”

Less than ten minutes later the three found themselves in a western block of the city. Rumble finally cracked after hearing his two brothers were in peril and gave them this general location. It was an area fairly close to the apartment but it was also in a direction Starscream had never explored out of a feeling of nonnecessity.

“Let us out Starscream,” Ravage asked from inside the seeker’s cockpit. “We will be more likely to find them if we spread out and search individually.” His asks, unfortunately, meant nothing to the other. “Negative,” Starscream said firmly. “Two of you are already missing and I will not be risking more in the attempt to find them.”

“Then how do ‘ya think you're gonna find them, Screamer?” “Just because I do not want you in the field does not mean you lack a purpose,” he replied to Rumble. “I was under the impression that you cassettes were able to use sound waves to scan for signatures like your creator.”

He felt the two shift around for a moment. “It’s been a while since we’ve had to do that,” was the response he received. “Then I suggest you figure it out quickly then. The longer I spend roaming aimlessly, the longer they are in danger.” With no more to say, Starscream began searching the area.

This part of the city was compact, with seemingly hundreds of alleys and dead ends and even more hanging elements. It all made it so the seeker was unable to fly effectively in a situation where he had a lot of ground to cover. It was frustrating to walk but he had no choice.

He searched for what felt like hours before one of the present cassettes spoke again. Ravage gave him a direction and he bolted.

The trio ended up in front of a small warehouse. Starscream could hear taunting voices coming from the inside but not precisely what was said.

A normal bot would remain calm. They would survey the area, analyze their opponents and come up with an unflappable plan. Starscream could have acted like a normal bot but after hearing a clang and a pained cry that became impossible.

The seeker rushed into the building and punched the first bot that had the misfortune of being in his path. He let Rumble and Ravage out to aid, there was no need to hide any longer for all their enemies were in their sight. The feline darted to his damaged siblings who were laying at the pedes of the biggest bots while his brother activated his pile drivers to throw them off balance. Once the two were put in a safe location, the chaos began. Within minutes the trio had the entire street gang incapacitated.

He took a moment to cool his processors before rushing over to the injured cassettes. Ravage had placed them atop some crates in a corner of a room. Out of harm’s way while also being in a location the seeker could access easily.

The two were in bad, but not critical shape. Buzzsaw’s wings were battered, his beak was cracked and his optics struggled to remain online. Frenzy’s condition was much worse, having dents, cracks and even a slightly detached arm. The sight made Starscream’s spark lurch.

He tenderly picked the two up in a cradled hold and attempted to check them over. The worry he felt made him unfocused and flashed warnings on his HUD but he didn’t particularly care. Instead, he began humming an old Vosian folk song in the hopes the two would relax into recharge.

There was some stirring behind him. In a flash the seeker turned around and stepped on the rousing mech. His optics burned with anger as he watched the other online and cower. “Please. Please don’t sir,” the pathetic mech begged. 

Starscream stopped his humming and growled while he dug his heel harder into the mech. “You will get exactly what you deserve disgusting scrap,” he threatened before kicking the mech one last time.

He walked back to the entrance and let his wings fan out as he addressed the room. “You have all seen what I am capable of,” he started, narrowing his optics. “If you wish for something worse to not happen then you will leave my sparklings alone! Is that understood!”

He did not wait for a response as he blasted through the doors, Frenzy and Buzzsaw still in his arms while the others trailed behind him.

“Ravage, I assume you have contacted the good doctor?” Starscream asked after having sufficiently left the vicinity of the building. There was a muffled sound in the place of a proper response so the seeker whipped around to check on the feline in a panic.

Said panic was quickly replaced with confusion as he watched the cassettes struggle to hold an emotion in. “Is there a problem?” he asked, tilting his helm in annoyance. “N-no Starscream,” Ravage stammered out. “Then have either of you contacted Knock Out?”

There was a moment of silence before Rumble broke.

“Sure have, Sire ,” he said in the most teasing voice Starscream had heard in years.

The two conscious cassettes then burst into laughter as the seeker took in what was said. His wings shot up in embarrassment and he turned away while opening his cockpit. “Cease this ridiculousness and get in. We have places to be,” he managed to say despite his flustered state.

The two continued laughing as they climbed in, only settling down slightly when they helped the seeker load their siblings in. During the entire flight and most of the hospital visit, Ravage and Rumble tormented Starscream about his slip up. He was beyond embarrassed but he was also slightly relieved that the two were focusing on this instead of worrying about the others

When Knock Out eventually gave them the all clear, the trio rushed into the room Buzzsaw and Frenzy were placed in. The bird was already flying about and, surprisingly, dove into the seeker as soon as he entered the room. He landed on the bot’s shoulder and nuzzled against his helm, flustering Starscream all over again. “T-there is no need for that Buzzsaw,” he said in a soft voice before guiding the cassette off him.

He then looked over to Frenzy who was sitting up in his hospital berth, pointedly looking away from everyone. A calm came over Starscream as he sat down on the edge of the berth and tried to get the troubled cassette to look at him. The others all crowded up on the room’s second berth and watched as the seeker continuously nudged their brother. Eventually he came to the realization the blue bot was not going to budge so he let out a sigh.

“You were brave for wanting to protect your siblings but if you expect me to punish or reward you for your actions, then I’m afraid you will be disappointed.” The statement made Frenzy look at him, confusion written all over his faceplate. “Why?”

“Curious are we?” Starscream smirked. “The moment your twin finally told us what was going on I almost laughed myself to offlining.” This only heightened Frenzy’s confusion apparently as the seeker watched him look over to his siblings for a sign of confirmation.

He laughed and continued, “It is absolutely ridiculous how much you lot act like your creator. The amount of times I’ve had to save his spark from some inane, risky, safety plan is beyond any count I know of.” He gestured for the others to join them as he laughed some more. “I think we all know how he cares far too much for anything under his care.”

“That does leave me in a dilemma,” he said in a more stern tone. “Do I punish you for being as ridiculous as him or do I celebrate the persistence of his kindness? It is a perplexing problem.” There was no response but Starscream could tell Buzzsaw had something to say. He pretended not to notice and continued on. “As you can see, I am at a stalemate.”

“One thing is clear, however,” he said, reaching his arm around Frenzy. He pulled the cassette closer to his frame and held him tight. “If anything like this happens again, tell me. I don’t care if I end up against the DJD because of something you do. I will keep you safe, it is my responsibility.” He heard a small “okay Screamer” before the blue cassette curled up tighter into him in response. He grimaced at the demeaning nickname for a second before smiling in relief.

The others, on the other servo, shared a look Starscream did not appreciate before promptly tackling the seeker onto the berth proper. Rumble ended up on his chassis, close enough to his twin for the two to hold servos. Buzzsaw was on the opposite side of them, closer to Starscream’s shoulder again and Ravage laid below the bird, his tail wrapping around Rumble protectively.

The seeker let out an exasperated sigh as the four cassettes fell into recharge. He ended up joining them not long after and the next day, when Knock Out sent him a picture of their “pile”, he decided to send a simple thank you in return instead of a rant. He had to develop the photo as soon as possible, there was an empty place on the wall outside the cassettes’ bedroom just begging for decoration.

Chapter Text

Two months. It had been two months since he had been saved from the shadowzone.

The first few weeks had been filled with surprises. The war had come to an end with the Prime dying and Megatron disappearing with two others. Cybertron had been restored and was developing beyond its past. Autobots and Decepticons were being treated equally.

The two biggest surprises, however, made the other’s pale in comparison.

The first was the individual that greeted him upon his release; the exhausted seeker resting his helm on a desk across from the portal. The delight he witnessed when Starscream’s wings shot up in disbelief had been a sight Soundwave would save for eternity.

The way the seeker fussed over him was a bit… uncharacteristic, but also incredibly comforting after years of stasis caused by critical fuel levels.

It was amusing watching Starscream flit about while he ensured his old companion and Laserbeak were taken care of by doctors and fuelled. It was relaxing listening to Starscream catch him up on the past fifteen years. It was astounding seeing the difference between the egotistical air commander he left behind and the confident politician before him right now. Part of him wanted to pull the seeker into an embrace and apologize for his absence, the other was worried about tainting his old companion’s new found light.

The second surprise shook Soundwave to his core. The seeker told him that there was a place already prepared for him but nothing could have prepared the mech for the horde of cassettes who rushed him as soon as he opened the door. For the first time in over a million years, his family bond was whole.

His creations were all alive and well and euphoric. They refused to let go of their carrier or sister, not that either would have protested having gone the longest without seeing the others. Soundwave partially remembers asking Starscream how this miracle had happened, to which the seeker shrugged and said something about the Well before leaving the family to reunite. He was too preoccupied to focus on the specifics.

The first few weeks were blissful, bar a few days where Soundwave was brought in for questioning about his allegiances. Those days were unkind as the mech was separated from his creations for hours on end while the Autobot Bumblebee and a strangely judgemental racer interrogated. To make matters worse, it had taken his interrogators four hours and an intervention from an ex-Decepticon to make them understand Soundwave was only capable of communicating in specific ways.

On the matter of ex-Decepticons, he would see Starscream in passing when he was escorted to the council building. He would invite him over but the seeker would always decline, citing work as the reason. Perhaps that was the first sign something was strange but Soundwave was always too focused on getting back to his cassettes to pay it much heed.

The second sign had been shown through his creations. Once they all got used to being together again, all but Laserbeak started acting strange.

The twins would fight as normal but whenever Soundwave stepped in to stop them they would look at him in confusion. On occasion Ravage would randomly ask him for his opinions on current news. However, before the mech could answer him the feline would always immediately back out and leave with an embarrassed expression. Buzzsaw, in contrast, wouldn’t back out when he requested his carrier join him in a trip to a specific junkyard. Instead, he would keep his emotions in check on the outside while emitting a field of disappointment when they started digging for “treasure”.

The ex-communications officer could not figure out what was going on with his creations and attempted to investigate the problem via hacking. Unfortunately, due to the terms of peace he had agreed upon with the council, his access to data was extremely limited in addition to the fact he was prohibited from transforming during this “trial period”.

The third sign made itself prominent when Soundwave realized how “ideal” his life currently was outside of his restrictions. He had a sizable savings account that someone had prepared for him, giving him more than enough time to find a job if he wished to. His cassettes had been excellently cared for in his absence by someone as well. They had everything one could dream of and more, not to mention a room perfectly modified specifically for them. The rest of the apartment was equally impressive. It was everything Soundwave had ever dreamed of owning again back when he had lost any hope of such. It again had to have been prepared by a “someone”.

These three unknowns were almost guaranteed to be connected but the mech just couldn’t figure out how. And, it was only when his family celebrated the first of their complete reunion when he received an answer in some way.

They were all sitting at the dining table when the topic of Starscream came up. “You know what would make this better?” Rumble had started. “Getting Screamer’s aft out of that office of his.” Frenzy and Buzzsaw burst out in laughter at the remark as Ravage scoffed from his seat. “It’s not that I haven’t been trying. You of all bots should know how hard it is to break into there after someone’s recent actions,” the cat said lightly glaring at his brother.

Soundwave and Laserbeak watched in confusion as the boys went back and forth arguing about some incident that turned half of a building pink and the other half lime green. There were accusations of blame, discussions of improvements and more that Soundwave could not follow along with.

Apparently he was not the only one lost as Laserbeak’s curiosity eventually caved and she began prodding her brothers for more specific information. “How did you pull something like that?” “How did you get away with it?” “Why did you bring up Starscream in the first place, he wouldn’t participate in something like this?”

“Whaddya mean by that? Of course he was involved, he was the one who scolded us in the end,” Frenzy responded. “You mean the only one who cared about scolding us,” Rumble grumbled. “Tots would’ve gotten away with’t if he didn’t.” “Well yeah but at least he cared enough to not get us locked up.”

“What do you mean by that Frenzy? Starscream doesn’t care about anyone except when it suits him.” Laserbeak’s words came from experience of somewhat living with the seeker, but Soundwave knew it also came from her mistrust of him when it came to her family. “Ya he does. He set up this joint up for us and stuff. Made those perches you really like and like, everything else,” Rumble said gesturing to the room around them. “Didn’t he spend a bazillion hours on this table after it broke the first time Ravage?” “Indeed he did.”

Laserbeak had some response to the comment but at that point Soundwave had tuned out. The pieces all started to fall in place as he realized the seeker being the mystery bot made a lot of sense. He had been the one waiting for Soundwave to arrive, or at least that could be easily assumed from what he saw upon exiting the portal. Starscream had also been well informed on the apartment’s location judging by how fast he had brought Soundwave to it on that first day.

“Query: How did Starscream care for cassettes?” he asked the room. His creations paused their conversation to look at him with a puzzled look. “Whatcha mean by that boss? Like, what he did and stuff?” Rumble asked. The mech slightly nodded in response, which seemed to confuse the others more. “Uh, he just did normal stuff I guess,” the red bot replied. He started counting things off his servos. “Fuel us. Buy stuff for us. Beat up slaggers for us one time. Took us on trips…” As Rumble continued to ramble, Soundwave processed what he was just told.

There was the matter of “Beat up Slaggers”. Did someone try and hurt his creations while he was gone? And Starscream protected them?

Besides that, everything on Rumble’s list did seem normal but that left another question. How did Starscream even manage to dedicate time to doing all of that? He seemed to be a very busy individual judging by his inability to visit  and he was not known to have the patience to take care of others. Primus knows how that had gone before.

A voice broke through the mech’s chain of processing. “Is everything alright Soundwave?” Ravage.

“Apologies: Information is new. Required processing” he attempted to reassure the feline. It seemed to work but then another got upset. “Do you mean to say Starscream didn’t say anything about when he took care of us to you?” Buzzsaw questioned, sounding greatly agitated. Before Soundwave could answer, Frenzy cut in. “No way ‘Saw. Why would he do that when he lives here?” “Maybe he doesn’t plan to return. It has been a while since he last came home and I have noticed many of his possessions have mysteriously gone missing.”

Ravage’s analysis seemed to stun his brothers into silence. Starscream had lived here, that was now confirmed. He had spent most of Soundwave’s missing years refreshing, recharging and refueling with the cassettes in this place they all saw as a home. A home the seeker had now clearly abandoned, likely in favour of giving Soundwave an ideal life with his creations. A life he had discussed with Starscream on occasion as the two remembered those they had lost.

“Buzzsaw: Halt” he asked the cassette who was attempting to leave in a fit of rage. “Soundwave: Will assist.”” The yellow bird turned around from his position near the front door. His anger subsided as he refreshed his optics a few times, likely in disbelief at his creator’s want to engage. It wasn’t long before Buzzsaw nodded and then hurriedly docked in his carrier.

Soundwave then looked to his other creations, silently asking if they wished to join as well. He watched in amusement as they all rushed to dock as well. All except Laserbeak that was.

“How do you know this isn’t a trick of his Soundwave?” she asked him over their private bond. He understood her worry. As much as he liked thinking positively about Starscream, he was also very much aware of how devious the seeker could be. It was not common for him to do things without an ulterior motive during the war. Often Soundwave ended up being the one putting a stop to these plots, regardless of how amicable their personal relationship was at the given time.

“I do not,” he told her truthfully, “but given how the others favour him at the moment we should at least be open to the possibility that it isn’t.” While not seeming to be satisfied, Laserbeak let out an unamused chirp before reluctantly joining the others. She had never fully approved of Soundwave’s, arguably strange, relationship with Starscream. The mech brushed the behavior off, having been long used to it, and he made his way out of the building.

Only when he got outside did he realize something important. He had never downloaded a map for the city.

Soundwave was not one to ask for directions, nor was he one to ask for aid. Whenever he had left the building previously it was always with an escort assigned by the council, and the only reason for that was because he was going in for questioning.

The twins and Laserbeak started laughing over their shared family bond when they came to the same realization. “How are you still this awful at navigation,” Ravage teased, feelings of mild frustration and humour carrying over that made his siblings laugh harder.

Buzzsaw was the only one not laughing and the only reason for that was because he found himself preoccupied. He had ejected himself to direct Soundwave to their destination. He did not refrain from teasing his creator like the others were, but the mech wasn’t completely paying attention. This walk gave him the opportunity to see the world that had grown in his absence.

He was in awe of how much better life appeared to be now. The bots around were all happily noisy, friendly to one another regardless of what “class” they were. All were equally well fuelled and had access to the world around them in equal measure. It was a sight Soundwave had never imagined he would see.

Upon reaching the council building the rest of the cassettes quickly ejected and started leading their creator to Starscream’s office, decidedly not trusting him with directions again.

Their conversation with the seeker did not go well. In fact, there hadn’t even been one. Starscream had stubbornly kept the door locked the entire time. This caused the cassettes to start yelling through the walls once they figured it out. Buzzsaw at some point attempted to break down the door by shooting at it, Ravage had to re-explain to Frenzy that ‘no, they couldn’t just use the vents because they buffed security after the incident .’

Soundwave surmised by the end that they could have been there all day had security not been alerted and had them escorted out.

This left the mech in his current situation. One month ago his creations were the happiest he had ever seen them. Now they were either depressed, angry or a mix of both and it was all the fault of a stubborn seeker. To add to this mood , he had also been receiving constant threatening messages since that failed visit and the sender refused to reveal themselves.

Now, Soundwave was not an easily angered or annoyed mech but this situation was truly testing his patience.

The twins kept asking him to go with them to the council building again, Ravage and Buzzsaw were sneaking out constantly, likely for the same reason, and Laserbeak was sulking in a corner clearly upset that her brothers all cared for someone so unimportant. In fact, he had overheard her asking one of the others a few days ago and hearing Frenzy say “He would do the same for us” made everything hurt a bit more.

It was from that eavesdropping that Soundwave realized he needed to do something before things got worse. Not the cassettes, but him. He was in fact the reason their life with the seeker had been drastically changed, there was no other responsible.

There was only one problem though. He still lacked a city map and he still hadn’t bothered to reach out to any of his old connections outside of Starscream. Not that would have been of much use, as most ex-Decepticons wanted nothing to do with either of them or were unable to be contacted.

While Soundwave pondered how to counter this dilemma with his limited resources, a notification flashed on his HUD.

: : If you don’t take responsibility soon, I swear to Primus, I will mount your helm on a wall : :

: : You’ll still be online for the cassettes but I will personally assure that the rest of your existence will be as miserable as you’ve made them all : :

‘Ah, the stalker,’ he thought to himself. They were a nuisance but seemingly harmless. Messages were sent every three days, always detailing scenarios where Soundwave would be mildly tortured for some unknown mistake he had made. At first he thought it was because of something he did during the war but, after receiving enough messages, he realized it had to be something more recent.

….. That was a solution

: : Query: Does “Stalker” possess a map of the city? : :

They had never responded to his messages in the past but a mech could hope. There was no immediate response.

It took two days but his waiting paid off as he was rewarded with a map, a new threat and a request to talk after he was done. He sent an : : Affirmative? : : before heading out to accomplish his mission.

Soundwave wasn’t sure of where his creations were at the moment but he didn’t plan on involving them regardless. He simply blocked his bond connections, turned off his comms and went out the door on a mission to confront the one who was hurting his children.

It was a bit difficult but he eventually found his way back to the council building and Starscream’s office. He buzzed at the door and then waited silently. One mistake his creations had made was announcing their presence, which had an effect on how they were treated in the situation. It came to reason that if Soundwave made his presence unclear but consistent, he was more likely to succeed.

And, two hours of buzzing every five minutes later, he did.

Starscream had groaned, yelled, threatened security and possibly slammed his helm on his desk before he finally opened the door. The moment he saw that it was Soundwave regret painted his face as he tried to shut it. The mech was, unfortunately for the seeker, much faster than the door mechanism and managed to jump into the room before the door closed again.

The two stared at each other, Starscream looking simultaneously angry and terrified. Soundwave was unsure of what to make of it.

He was sitting at a desk haphazardly covered in datapads and a few stray energy cubes. The rest of the room seemed to be in a similar state of disarray, reminding Soundwave of the seeker’s tendency to lose control when he was “misbehaving”.

“Well,” Starscream finally spoke, “What do you want?” He tried to turn his stare into a harsh glare but Soundwave could only see pain. Deep, emotional pain that the two were both familiar with. “You have been buzzing at my door for hours. Clearly you have something to say, so speak it.”

The mech, very slightly, shook his helm to focus. He needed to stop analyzing and put his attention on the problem, not Starscream’s habits or their past. “Query: Why did Starscream not report on previous living arrangements?”

The seeker looked shocked by the question and his frame visibly tensed. “What do you mean by that?” he asked in response, averting his gaze. “Starscream: Lived in apartment with cassettes. Why?” Soundwave pushed.

“What, was that unacceptable?” Starscream awkwardly laughed while physically turning himself away from the other. “They were placed in my guardianship so it only made sense for them to stay with me.”

“Negative.” “Negative?” The seeker exclaimed in response. “How could you say th-”

“Soundwave: Informed that Starscream requested for cassettes’ custody. Query: Why?”

For emphasis, the mech placed his servos on an open area of the desk and leaned towards the other. Starscream jumped in his chair, startled by the action but still looked away. “I… I just did. I don’t need to explain myself to you,” the seeker snapped.

“Negative. Explanation: Mandatory.” Soundwave understood the lengths Starscream would take to avoid discussing things that mattered, but he couldn’t allow it anymore. There was too much at stake.

“Starscream: Took in cassettes. Starscream: Made cassettes happy. Starscream: Freed Soundwave. Starscream: Abandoned cassettes without explanation only after.”

“Explanation: Required”

“Oh quit talking like that!” Starscream yelled in the mech’s face, pointing a digit at his mask. “I know you don’t have to so cut it out.” This annoyed Soundwave for the seeker was ignoring the main point again.

“Then answer the question,” he asked again, out loud this time. He ripped off his visor and mask to make the other realize how serious he was.

The seeker stood up, first surprised by the change and then angered by it. “I do not have to, you glitch. How dare you demand something of me, the great and powerful Representative Starscream.” His wings flared up in fury as he marched right in front of Soundwave. “I have given you a perfect life, made it so we didn’t have to do this but here you are anyways.”

“You did not have to, I never asked you to do any of that,” Soundwave replied back in their link, the frustration in Starscream starting to affect him. “But I did it anyways, take that and leave!” the seeker exclaimed pointing at the door. “Go back to that perfect life and leave me alone.” He looked away as he finished, his vocalizer fritzing out. This made Soundwave finally reach his tipping point.

“It’s not perfect,” he yelled out loud, straining his vocalizer. “It will never be perfect no matter how much you think it will be. It can never be perfect without you there. With them. With me. With us!”

The room went silent at his words. Soundwave watched as the fury left Starscream’s frame and was replaced by what seemed to be awe and dread. His wings dropped and it looked as though he was shrinking as he backed away from the mech.

“No, you don’t mean that,” the seeker whispered, static consuming his voice. Before Soundwave could respond, he was caught off guard by the other making a run for the door.

He managed to grab Starscream’s wrist and used all the strength he had to pull him into an embrace. The seeker tried to resist, pushing at Soundwave’s chassis and hitting the mech wherever he could. In return, Soundwave simply stroked the other’s back,

It took a while but eventually Starscream gave in to the comfort. “You don’t want me,” he said quietly, digging his helm into Soundwave’s neck. The mech adjusted his hold so that he had one servo cradling the Starscream’s helm from behind while his other was wrapped around the middle of the seeker’s frame.

“Of course I do,” Soundwave began back in the link. “There is a reason I let myself become attached to you. You are a wonderful, caring individual despite what you may say or think. I was someone you hated but the moment you saw that I was in pain you opened your door and spark to me regardless.”

“I have cared for you for a while and I still do. That is the complete truth.” He felt Starscream shift around in his hold and he noticed in the corner of his vision field that the seeker was now looking at him.

He turned to meet the other’s gaze. Looking directly into Starscream’s optics, the mech continued. “The cassettes care deeply for you as well. I cannot explain their thoughts to you but I can say they have been inconsolable whilst trying to figure out why you left. It is a painful sight.”

To his surprise this brought a laugh out of Starscream. He shifted again in Soundwave’s hold, wrapping his arms around the mech’s neck and dropping his helm to Soundwave’s chassis, near his spark chamber by some coincidence. “Those scraplets are really too much like you,” he chuckled before going quiet again. “I don’t deserve any of your kindness.”

“Of course you do,” Soundwave reassured him, pulling the seeker in tighter. Starscream took this as a sign to stop unfortunately as he tapped on Soundwave’s shoulder and started pulling away. The mech reluctantly let him do so this time, not wanting to make the other uncomfortable. The two stood in silence for a moment as they adjusted to the separation.

“I don’t think I can do this. Us, that is,” the seeker admitted, finally appearing to be speaking the truth. “I thought if I left you all alone you would forget and move on from these… strange past few years.”

“Apparently I was mistaken,” he scoffed. “You were,” Soundwave agreed, trying to take the other’s servos into his own. Starscream brushed him off however. “We have more than just the last hundred years in history Starscream. That can not be so easily disregarded.” “You are correct but a bot can hope.”

The silence returned and Soundwave realized the seeker had no intention of budging. He needed to break it this time if they were to get anywhere. “Even if you don’t wish to enter or expand on our relationship, you still are allowed to be at home.”

Starscream’s wings fluttered briefly at the mention of home so the mech continued. “You and the cassettes made that place special, not me. You may have your opinions on the company, but you should at least agree that you deserve a place better than this,” he said, gesturing to the disastrous room around them.

The seeker huffed, obviously embarrassed, and let out a muffled “It’s not that bad” before Soundwave made his way over and caught him in another hug. “Please come home Starscream. We can figure out everything else eventually, but for now just come home and be with us.”

There was a pause. The two existed together, thoughts of anything else lost to comfort of one warm frame holding onto another.

“Soundwave, please let go of me,” Starscream asked, effectively breaking the moment. The mech didn’t answer, instead strengthening his hold. “You think this is amusing, don’t you.” “Perhaps,” Soundwave replied with a small chuckle. “You know I can still call security on you.” “But will you?”

A moment passed where neither said anything again.

“Fine, fine! I’ll go back you stubborn mech,” the seeker finally relented. He shoved Soundwave away, laughing while he made his way to one of the many shelving units in the room. “But you shall know that I am only doing this because I miss having a proper berth. That and I still pay for the place,” Starscream declared while looking for something. “Why were you still paying for the place if you were planning on leaving,” Soundwave questioned jokingly. “You left us more than enough money to do it ourselves.” “Oh hush,” Starscream replied, waving his servo as if to shoo the other off.

Soundwave took this as an opportunity to put his mask and visor back on. Eventually the seeker walked back over to where the other was, now carrying a box. “Shall we head out?” “Query: Starscream will not be missed?”

The seeker shook his helm. “Are we seriously back to this?” he asked and when he received no answer, he sighed and moved on. “No, in fact my coworkers have been pushing me to get out of here.” Soundwave watched as his companion put his mystery box in his subspace and started heading to the door.

As they made their way out of the building Starscream asked one question. “How did you manage to convince those rascals to let you come here on your own?” “Unnecessary: Cassettes were not to be approached regarding this issue.”

The seeker froze. “What do you mean they weren’t approached? Did you not tell them you were going out?” He sounded nervous. “Affirmative?” Soundwave responded, questioning his companion’s tone.

That answer was apparently incorrect as the seeker’s wings shot up. “You idiot!” Starscream yelled. “You can’t just leave them on their own.” He then ran outside and transformed away, leaving Soundwave utterly confused.

The cassettes didn’t need to be watched constantly, like Starscream had implied. It wasn’t as though they hadn’t managed fine without…. Soundwave…

Realizing his mistake, the mech ran off in the direction Starscream had flown towards. He cursed his inability to transform as it meant that he got home much after the seeker did.

When he managed to find his way back to the apartment, the first thing he saw made his spark melt.

The cassettes had all shoved Starscream onto the couch. All were scolding him but were also clearly comfortably resting with him. Buzzsaw was perched on the seeker’s left shoulder, seemingly the most mad. The twins were on his lap, Ravage was seated to his right and had his tail wrapped around Starscream’s arm. Laserbeak was a bit away from the others but she kept flying in front of the seeker periodically to yell at him. She was also the first one to notice their creator’s return.

“Soundwave, you’re back!” she chirped happily, diving into the mech who didn’t hesitate to catch her. The call alerted the others to his presence and it wasn’t long before he was covered in cassettes, save Ravage who rolled his optics in amusement from the couch.

“Where’ddya go carrier!” “Why didn’t you tell us you were getting Screamer?” “Can you believe this bot? He disappeared for months and then barged in demanding I apologize for damaging his door!” “Soundwave, you have to do something. I think Starscream messed with their processors.”

The mech smiled beneath his mask as he scooped up his complaining creations and sat beside Starscream, who was laughing at the display. “Presumption: All is well?”

With his whole family together, how could it not be. The only problem remaining was the matter of all fitting in the apartment’s berth that night.

Chapter Text

Living with Starscream had been an experience so far. Or, it would have been had the seeker been functioning at full capacity.

It seemed all Ravage’s ‘host’ was good for was fussing about in an exhausted manner. Two weeks into their cohabitation, he had noticed the flier’s awful recharge behaviours and stubbornness to do anything about it.

Starscream refused to use his berth unless the feline managed to drag him there and even then Ravage would have to hold him in place by resting atop the seeker. Whenever that rare feat managed to go through successfully, it ended up being meaningless anyways. The seeker would only recharge for a couple hours and once he awoke he would momentarily get mad before disappearing into a room he forbade Ravage from entering.

While in most cases that ‘order’ would not stick with the cassette, he quickly found out there was no way to break into the room. It's only means of entry was through the front door, something Starscream had protected using a ludicrous amount of security systems.

It had been over a year with no change and Ravage really had become fed up with the nonsense.

The day had started normally enough. Ravage woke from recharge to the sound of an alarm. The berth was only mildly disturbed, informing the feline that his host went another night without recharging. About an hour later, the seeker left his “mystery” room to fuel himself and Ravage (another habit the cat had forced upon his host) before preparing to head to his office.

Ravage had interrupted this routine multiple times in the past, and today would be no different. More often than not, it was usually to comment on the Starscream’s lack of self care which the seeker had grown to expect. “What is it this time, Ravage? As I have told you before, there is nothing wrong,” he said in anticipation. The cat rolled his optics, “I was hoping to accompany you today. If you will not care for yourself at this point then I should stop bothering.”

Starscream narrowed his optics. “Is there any particular reason you wish to join me today? The last time you came with me you declared it would be the last,” he said before scoffing. Ravage twitched in response, annoyed at the suspicion, and tried to think of a good excuse. “I was hoping to give things another chance. Spending all my time here becomes boring nor will it benefit Soundwave when he returns.”

The two had a stare off, Ravage desperately hoping to receive his request. Fortunately for the cassette, the seeker quickly backed down with a sigh. He made his way to the door before gesturing for his companion to follow, which the feline eagerly did.

The commute to the council building was uneventful, Ravage using the time to fuel up, something he had ignored doing previously, and review his plan which went into action as soon as Starscream landed. The cat jumped out of the seeker’s cockpit and ran inside the building, ignoring the calls of his name.

He ensured the comm line he had with his host was blocked before navigating the structure. His past visits to the council building were always heavily restricted and monitored because of his association with Starscream. However, by ditching the ex-Decepticon, Ravage now had the opportunity to dart into the ventilation system and avoid essentially all barriers that would have blocked him.

Running through the vents let the feline reminisce. He would often do this under his creator's orders during the war, sometimes alone, sometimes with his siblings.

He had missed the sensation sneaking had provided. That, and the sense of purpose Soundwave's espionage missions had given him.

It didn’t take long for Ravage to find his destination. A few days ago, the feline had managed to hack into Bumblebee’s secretary’s files and noticed that the mech had a meeting with one of the other head representative’s. More importantly, that representative was not Starscream.

He went around the area in a full circle before crashing through the nearest convenient vent in a dramatic flair Buzzsaw would have appreciated. His entrance scared the two bots in the process, which he took joy in. Bumblebee quickly recovered and pointed his blaster at the cassette. The ex-Autobot attempted to use his comlink but Ravage knew it wouldn’t work for he had ensured that signals would be blocked during his ‘circling’.

“Zip, go and call security,” the mech asked, glancing between his friend and their uninvited guest. “See if you can find Starscream while you're at it,” steeling his gaze on the feline. “He should have a good explanation for this,” Bumblebee angrily finished.

Ravage froze. He was so focused on the purpose of this infiltration that he had foolishly forgotten his place in this new society and it was costing him everything. Jumping in front of the entrance, he took a stand. “None of that is required,” he quickly said. “I am acting alone and come in peace.” The feline paused to make optic contact with the two representatives. “I am here because I need your help.”

Ravage noticed that Bumblebee was hesitant to hear the cat out but thankfully Zipshift’s enthusiasm for helping others eventually won the mech over. The two listened as Ravage laid out the problems he noticed his host was presenting. The lack of self care and time, how they were affecting his productivity, appearance and emotional state. He was not sure for how long he went on explaining but he couldn’t stop once he began.

The feline jumped on the desk the two mechs were sitting by and demanded that they let Starscream take a break so he could properly rest. He would be able to recover and catch up on things he had let slip by and had been covering for.

His audience, surprisingly, listened attentively. Bumblebee had even marked down notes at some points. They both took care to not interrupt Ravage, as much as Zipshift had appeared to want to. All this gave Ravage the hope that he had won them over.

Unfortunately, that hope was crushed by their conclusion.

As much as they had wanted to believe him, or at least Zipshift did by her explanation, neither of them had noticed Starscream having any of the faults Ravage claimed he had. To them, the seeker was still operating at full capacity and there was no tangible evidence that his work had suffered in the slightest.

“You know your host is probably the most dangerous threat on the planet” Bumblebee casually remarked at the end of the explanation.

While not competently inaccurate in Ravage’s opinion, the comment bothered him. Before the feline could snap back, however, the impromptu meeting was interrupted by a security guard running in.

The guard looked as though they were about to say something but, upon seeing Ravage, they switched gears and pointed a stun gun at him. “Stand down cassette!” they demanded. The two council members shared a confused look. “What seems to be the problem officer,” Zipshift slowly asked.

Ravage, on the other servo, was angered by the demand. First, his observations were set aside because there were still so many negative biases against ex-Decepticons. As much as the others had paid attention, he knew the real reason Starscream was barred from breaks for the seeker had explained it to him multiple times before. Now, he was being threatened for no good reason, ignoring the fact he had broken into a private, high ranking meeting.

That anger quickly dissolved as the guard gave their explanation.

“A cassette has been causing trouble around the building for the past hour. Representative Starscream has been attempting to catch it but it has been reported that he is not qualified to do so.” The mech took a moment to look at his superiors, who were incredibly confused. “He appears to be unwell and incapable of catching the perpetrator.”

They seemed to have more to say but, before they could continue the report, Ravage jumped off the table and took off out the door. To the cat’s surprise, there were more guards outside of the office but he paid them no mind as he rushed past them. The group was stunned for a second but quickly recovered and proceeded to chase after him, presumably under the same assumption as the other guard.

It was laughable to think that cassettes were attacking the council but it seemed that those in charge were not as capable as most thought.

Eventually, despite the pursuers, Ravage managed to locate Starscream. Not through logic, as one would expect, but by the sound of the seeker’s screeching. A “get back here you menace” echoed through one of the nearby halls. Judging by how much the speaker had to vent in between his yells, it was clear that the representative was exhausted.

Ravage came to a halt at the end of the corridor he determined Starscream, and likely the troublemaker, were coming down. However, the feline seemed to have miscalculated how far away the two were.

In a flash, he was tackled into the guards chasing him as a blur of red and black crashed into him. The impact was so strong that all involved collapsed into a giant heap on the floor, bar Starscream who, likely due to his exhaustion, was a good ways away from the disaster. Ravage could only hear his laughter as the cat attempted to regain his composure. He was tempted to share his host’s amusement but it seemed that the guards were more competent than he had expected.

Before he could do anything one of them picked him up and, in response, the feline started squirming around. He would have started yelling too had he not heard a soft voice call out his name.

Ravage stopped struggling to look at the speaker, the one who had caused this inconvenient situation. He let out a downward sigh, “Of course it is you Rumble. Are you incapable of not making a scene?”

The smaller cassette didn't respond which puzzled Ravage, who looked back up with confusion. The cat could only recall a small handful of times he witnessed either of the twins looking as small and stunned as Rumble looked in that moment. The confusion only grew as his younger brother began bawling like a sparkling.

Both the guards and Ravage were unsure of what to do, but Starscream, surprisingly, adapted quickly to the situation. He stopped laughing almost immediately and made his way across the hall to take Rumble out of the grasp of the one holding him. He proceeded to cradle the cassette in his arms and started whispering at him while rocking him back and forth.

By this point the other representative heads had found the group and joined them as they all watched in awe as the seemingly heartless and selfish seeker presented habits one would only associate with a creator.

When Rumble finally fell into recharge, and Starscream stopped his confusing cooing , Ravage was finally let down. He took a moment to glance up at Zipshift and Bumblebee, who both sported shocked looks. Looking back at his host, it was truly undeniable how exhausted the seeker looked.

Zipshift proceeded to yell at him but was quickly silenced. Starscream looked to Ravage before turning to walk away. The feline took this as a sign to follow and promptly did so, noticing that the two representatives were joining as well.

The group made their way to the ex-Decepticon’s office. The two representative’s whispered amongst each other for a short while but stopped as soon as Starscream shot a deadly glare at them. Ravage couldn’t find a reason to care anyways.

Everyone paused again when they got inside the room. The seeker began to fuss about the room, grabbing things at random before placing them on his desk. Only when Starscream placed Rumble down on the pile did Ravage finally piece together that the seeker had been making a makeshift nest for the cassette.

After a moment's consideration, the feline decided to join his brother, still confused as to why the younger had cried earlier. He huddled around the bot before placing his head down and falling into recharge.

He was unsure about how long the two laid for as the next time he awoke he found himself in Starscream’s cockpit, presumably heading back to the apartment. The seeker seemed to pick up on Ravage waking up as the cat heard a tired chuckle. “I don’t know what exactly you said to them but I am apparently on a one month leave of absence.”

It was strange to the feline how fond the seeker sounded, but he chalked it up to him not having yet activated all of his protocols and was simply mishearing. Still wanting to rest more, Ravage adjusted himself to curl around Rumble again, who still was snoring.

He heard Starscream laugh again before his sound sensors went off again. “Rest well. We can talk more in the morning.”

Chapter Text

Prelude -Year 0-

I just have some notes on setting for this one really

• Like I mentioned in the chapter description, this is an AU. It goes “Pre-War + War AU” -> “Prime TV Show with some changes” -> “Post-War AU”
• One of the earliest changes is that Starscream doesn’t know about the Shadowzone. It doesn’t really affect the events of Prime or this fic much but I just wanted to do that for the sake of just establishing that he’s totally capable of figuring out what happened on his own, he just doesn’t have the tech.
• The autobots end up explaining this to him after he eventually is forced to tell them why he’s interested in all this stuff.
• He also just… wasn’t captured in the end. I honestly forget why they captured him or how but that doesn’t really matter. Knock Out still switched sides though.
• I should mention from the start, I actually have no idea what kind of designs I imagine for all the bots here. I like a lot of different aspects of a lot of designs and when I come up with scenarios I can’t actually picture anything? Might be some form of Aphantasia, I can’t really tell but the point I’m trying to make is that the designs aren’t very Prime connected… probably. I more just have like, colour palettes and abilities they are able to perform + things they have because I like it when they have it (like Star having heels or Wave having the datacable tentacles just cause I think both are cool things for the charas to have)

I guess, establishing things about SoundStar’s relationship during the war is something I can do here too.

• Star lost his trine about two million years into the war. The three were separated from each other as a punishment from Megatron after a bad fight between him and Starscream. Thundercracker died first out of blue a few hundred years after that and Skywarp a bit after that. Both of their deaths devastated Starscream and because he didn’t really have a support system anymore, it made all his bad behaviours intensify.
• He and Soundwave never really got along but they didn’t really talk to each other either.
• Ravage died about three hundred thousand years after Skywarp. This destroyed Soundwave and the Cassettes. He forced the Cons to retreat and personally hunted down those that killed Ravage, which ended up angering Megatron for the first time and he only stopped being mad at Soundwave when he was reunited with the cassettes and cried with them.
• He ended up reaching out to Starscream during this period of grief because he was the only other bot he knew that experienced a permanent disconnection of a sparkbond.
• They both continued to meet up for the next few million years. Sometimes just casually, sometimes Starscream helped Soundwave through the death of another cassette. The two grew incredibly close.
• Things changed again about a million years before the year ended, when Megatron approached his high command with a “special request” (more details in Year 6) and because of this request, SoundStar started drifting apart again.
• Things were mildly fixed when Megatron left on whatever his mission was where he found dark energon but it didn’t last for more than a couple hundred years because Megs came back and Star couldn’t put up with him anymore.

Ravage -Year 2-

I mentioned how Star became a government official briefly but I just want to ramble about it.

What basically happened was that he was stuck in “jail” after making his deal with the Autobots. It was basically just like… a really large hanger with only one exit. He didn’t mind it at first but then some other Decepticons were thrown in. And then more… and then more…. And he was super confused.

It really wasn’t likely they all had made deals similar to his, especially since he was the only one to ever be escorted out to do work. A few months of this passed and he got fed up. The room was way too packed for his liking so he went and questioned why every single Decepticon was getting locked up. This ended up getting really misinterpreted as him thinking it was unfair Con’s were getting locked up and not Autobots, though there was a part of him that did strongly believe that, and then a little while later everyone was released. Some agreement was made where all participants from the war would be basically treated equally, all having equal numbers in government positions and stuff, and then eventually everyone would equally get tried in whatever law system they came up with in the very far future.

Anyways, here are some other notes.

• I have a bad habit of listing things so I really played it to my advantage here and in Year 3 by justifying it as “Star’s just sleepy so he keeps getting lost in thought”.
• He’s just sleep deprived here because he doesn’t know what else to do outside of work. He doesn’t have any friends, not that he would trust anyone though.
• “Zip” was just supposed to be a placeholder but after a while I just didn’t know what to change her to so I went and made that name sound more… bot-like I guess?
• I know there are like, other characters that would fit well as a third government figure between Bumblebee and Starscream but I don’t really know those characters well enough to know if they would’ve served the purpose Zipshift ended up filling
• Since I mentioned the Well here, I should just say that I have like… four ways of reproduction that exist in this setting.
• The first is just “The Well of Sparks shoots out a bot,” which is really just the IDW “Forged”.
• Like I said in the chapter, Zipshift was created like this.
• The second is also just IDW “Cold Construction”.
• Starscream is one of these. His trine wasn’t though, but I haven’t figured out all the things for them yet.
• The third is “Sparked” which is just your standard Mech Preg fic stuff. This just exists for something I’ll explain under year 6.
• The fourth is probably my favourite, but I don’t really have a name for it. It’s an expensive modification that some bots can get to reproduce asexually without the Well or a cold construction factory. This is what Soundwave has that let him be the Creator to his cassettes, because they literally came from him. It basically works as like, a fake “partner” that lets the host get sparked and then the newspark falls into the “cassette chamber” to become a bot. It’s not really a symbiote type thing, but it’s definitely something that gets misinterpreted as that in the AU’s canon.
• Bringing up the Well again, I know I made the Well bring bots back to life but I actually have no clue if I’m going to make that happen for other bots. Part of me is like “Yes, I want to bring the Trine back to life as well as Breakdown” but the other part of me worries about how those characters would fit in the AU.
• Ravage is the only one of the cassettes who is genuinely confused by the way Starscream reacts. The others end up also surprised but they also have the context of “Soundwave took an interest in Starscream” because that only happened after Ravage died.
• I really tried to play up “Star has no idea what he’s doing so he’s just being an idiot” here. It’s all purely instinct and it's weird for everyone involved.
• I said earlier that Starscream doesn’t have friends, and that remains true, but when Knock Out walked in he was so used to getting calls from Starscream during the war for minor things that he on instinct never thinks the seeker calls him for a useful reason.
• Related to this, KO’s like, the head of all medical bot’s here. Ratchet’s on Earth so he’s the only actual qualified medic on the planet. He spends a lot of time training new bots while also handling bigger cases of injury/illness among other things.

Rumble -Year 3-

• (Make a diagram of the apartment)
• How Starscream’s been spending his days
• Prep Energon for Ravage (Have some too before he fusses)
• Go to work and spend hours dealing with the stuff he deals with
• Go home, make sure Ravage is okay
• Go into the cassette’s room, lock the door, put on some old logs so he can figure out what Soundwave used to do for them, build some new furniture/modify the room as much as he can before he has to go to work again
• At some point in between Ravage questions his behaviours (yes this is a daily thing)
• The part about Ravage taking Star’s berth is like, one of my favourites in the entire fic. While I was initially writing it I realized “wait I wrote a really weird circle” cause it goes from “You can have the berth, I can sleep at work” to “Who needs to sleep at work” which is contradictory. I was going to change it but then I realized “wait, that's genius. He totally would be so dumb and tired at this point that he would end up doing stuff like that” so I kept it in.
• If it wasn’t obvious by the last point, I really tried leaning in to the whole “Star’s tired af” thing.
• Ravage definitely trusts Starscream to an extent because they have been living together for a year, which is why I pointed out how strange it was that he lied. He just doesn’t trust the bot to take care of himself.
• He used to do this to Soundwave too, despite Starscream stating that there wasn’t any proof of that. Wave just deleted all of the records out of embarrassment
• I almost teared up while I was writing the scene where Star picks up Rumble and gets him to stop crying. It was just so sweet and I was dying because of how soft I was imagining it.
• It kind of looks like Rumble’s crying because he’s overwhelmed but no! He was crying because he finally noticed Ravage was there.
• The order of deaths was Ravage, Rumble, Buzzsaw, Frenzy (like their return order). Because of this, Rumble only really knows one of his siblings died at this point so the fact he’s seeing Ravage again is what is actually overwhelming.
• Related to this, something I really wanted to try and do was make the cassettes seem less reliant and “childish”. I see a lot of people lean into this and while I love the idea, I kind of wanted my interpretation to be that “these are beings that didn’t have a childhood because they were born during a war and were made soldiers”. They act out because they didn’t get a chance to get it out of their systems but they also are aware of the world’s cruelty and have a sense of maturity.
• Just for reference, in terms of when they were created;
• Ravage was first and was created pre-war. He was actually supposed to be created back when Soundwave had a decent life but stuff happened and he ended up being “born” and raised during a time where the mech didn’t even have a home or job.
• Lazerbeak was second and she was created a while after Soundwave met Megatron. Megatron had helped Soundwave find a sense of stability again and while it wasn’t the best still, Ravage had been asking for a sibling and Megs insisted that everything was fine.
• Buzzsaw, Rumble and Frenzy were all created during the war and it was mostly because Megatron had asked Soundwave to make them (after seeing how useful Lazerbeak and Ravage were able to be). Wave didn’t really like this idea but he couldn’t really deny the request either. Buzzsaw is older than the twins by a couple decades.
• Idk where else to say this but I’m team FiBRiR and the reason I am is just purely vibes. The name Frenzy gives me blue/cool colour energy and Rumble gives me red.
• In my initial drafts of this chapter Bee was wayyyyy meaner before I realized “wait would Bee really be like that?” and then heavily changed it to be less formal and harsh.
• Yes, everyone who knows about the deal assumes Soundwave was Starscream’s lover. They’re all a whole lot smarter than those two about specifically this and nothing else.
• They really aren’t good at running a government but that partially comes from the fact that most of the bots in government were created at the start of the war or during the war. Star’s like… one of maybe five who came from pre-war and most of those bots were Decepticons so they only have so much input.
• Zipshift calls Starscream “Scream” as a nickname because nothing else works. He doesn’t like being called “Screamer”, though he becomes tolerant of only the twins calling him that, and he gets defensive when people call him “Star” because that’s a nickname only his loved ones have called him.
• “It had been a while since two bots caused him so much trouble.” - Can you tell I really like mentioning the trine in vague ways?
• I’m a Soundstar shipper at my core but I also really like shipping Star with other bots. He’s just really versatile okay.
• That being said the Trine was his most significant relationship before Soundwave, that’s why I allude to specifically them and no one else

Buzzsaw -Year 6-

OKAY! This is going to be broken up into sections. The first is “AU Notes” which is going to be me rambling about the AU in general but specifically stuff that will involve OCs who are actually important (sorry Zip). The second part is going to be just normal commentary about random things.

AU Notes/The Kidnapping Incident

So originally this chapter was just going to be the kidnapping incident but then I realized it would get way too messy and it wouldn’t even really focus on Buzzsaw at all.

I mentioned “two questionable bots” and those two are basically the whole reason I made a TF AU based on Prime.

• These two are my MegaOP fankids because MegaOP was how I got into the fandom (10 seconds of one of the TFOne trailers had me going “wtf, gay robots???” and I fell in this rabbit hole)
• Long story short, sex in a cave got both of them sparked but neither told the other. The kid OP had was left on spaceport/hub type planet to grow up on his own while the kid Mega had was raised by the Decepticon High Command and Megatron before she decided “screw the war, just leave me alone”.
• The “Prime” era of this AU is kinda just them showing up and having basically no impact on the plot except me cleaning up Mega’s “redemption” at the end because I didn’t like it at all really and making it so OP didn’t really die but basically no one knows that but Ratchet and KO.
• All four of them are super not on Cybertron though. MegaOP don’t want to get involved with the planet and the kids don’t really like anyone but Ratchet, KO and the Decepticon High Command. They all are trying to live together on that spaceport/hub planet I mentioned before.

Anyways, I’m rambling about this because the WHOLE reason Star and the cassettes were tricked about Frenzy coming back was because my twins were visiting the planet and some Autobot extremists got wind that the great Prime’s children were coming by and that they were tainted by the leader of the Decepticons (because while not many know that the two had kids, those who do also know that they’re living with Megatron wherever they are).

They had planned to kidnap the two after finding out Starscream was going to be their guide when they arrived because they thought they had to make them martyrs like OP was to “cleanse the world of Megatron’s evil”.

Now why was Star their guide and why were they even here to make the stuff happen? Easy, Ratchet and KO were preoccupied because KO was stuck in emergence. BD sparked him before he died and he’s been carrying for all these years. The twins were among the very few who knew and were excited because, well, they like KO. With the rest of the Decepticon High Command unavailable Starscream was literally the ONLY bot around who they would trust to take them around and one of them is…. Well, she just really likes fighting people and will take any opportunity to do so ethically.

When they eventually got kidnapped, it got broadcast over every network available but it went wrong because one of the twins ended up breaking free and beating up everyone while her brother tried to calm her down. Starscream eventually found them and got them to both stop acting out because this was exactly what he expected would happen if they were left alone.

If anyone’s really interested, I might ramble more about them on twitter or tumblr. I have a lot of stuff figured out regarding the mess that this MegaOP family is because the twin’s are probably some of my favourite OCs I’ve made in a couple years. 

Year 6 Notes

• Buzzsaw just really hates Star here. I knew characterizing Buzzsaw was going to be hard because of his lack of a presence in any media but I just felt a need to include him. One of the biggest things I noticed in the little information I had was that he and Starscream had a lot of similar personality traits so my goal with writing them was doing a “they don’t get along because they’re too similar but they also get along probably the best because they think really similarly, even if it takes a while for one to understand the other.”
• I really hope that came across well, when I realized they were pretty similar I really wanted to show that through my writing. I’m not the best at fictional writing but if I had one goal outside of my SoundStar agenda it was probably this.
• Starscream couldn’t figure out how to deal with Buzzsaw partially because he doesn’t understand binary at this point. Both Buzzsaw and Lazerbeak can only communicate through binary but he just never put that together and thought their chirps were just them mimicking birds.
• After this chapter he ends up learning it fairly quickly because he couldn’t allow him to continue failing at something like that.
• The reason Rumble insisted that they all go shopping together was because he was the first one to realize “Hey, we’re like a family now” and thought they didn’t do enough family things. Outside of this fic (but still in my AU) he usually tries to get everyone to do “family” activities because he finds them fun.
• I brought attention to the things Ravage and Rumble specifically wanted because originally I was going to write the scene where Star and Saw go shopping but I apparently just like ending chapters with the cassettes falling asleep.
• One thing I want to emphasize with Starscream is that he doesn’t love often but when he does it means a lot to him. That’s why in the dream he imagined Megatron attacking those he loved, regardless of how Mega would’ve actually thought of them. 
• While I don’t imagine that Megatron was as bad as he was in Prime prior to the events of Prime (I kinda imagine everything really went to the dogs the second he went on dark energon), he definitely was a ruthless leader who was not kind to those who failed him.
• There’s definitely a weird dichotomy to how he and Starscream view each other because they both hate the other but Mega also trusts Star to the extent Star was one of the three bots in the entire army who knew he had a daughter (in THIS AU. I explained this more in the first section of this chapter’s analysis)
• As a result Star is both traumatized but he also can be pretty civil with Megs? It’s weird and honestly I haven’t fully figured it out.
• I mentioned earlier that Starscream can’t understand Buzzsaw on a fundamental level because of language barriers and that is the whole reason the two needed to plug into each other. Plugging in, in my head, is like having the two bots’ processors exist simultaneously to a point no boundaries can be put up so by Star saying “I do wish to understand you, even if it puts my own well-being at risk” is actually a really big deal and sign of trust from him of all bots.
• It’s also part of the reason he’s super honest here instead of hiding behind walls as usual. The other part is that he finally figured out how to talk to Buzzsaw.
• Writing the last bit was really hard because it made me feel vulnerable tbh. It’s the same deal as when I was writing Star calming down Rumble. It was just too soft ＿|￣|○

Frenzy -Year 9-

• Again, I tried to emphasize that all the cassettes are their own bots capable of being by themselves when I said they found friends and stuff. A lot of the time when I see the cassettes get used it’s usually that they stick to Soundwave for the most part but I don’t think they would do that if they knew they would be safe, which this era of peace has really given them the chance to branch out.
• Starscream’s getting better too! He’s not as likely to get mad about the stupid government he’s a leader in and he actually can tolerate the others now with them being friendly in return.
• I’d like to imagine the hobby the cassettes got him to pick up was something akin to building model vehicles. I like the interpretation of him building weapons for the Cons so it kinda gives him the chance to continue tinkering with stuff.
• The “newly installed window” really was newly installed. Because no one trusted him they didn’t want to give him stuff like windows and vents (even though he illegally put one in for the cassettes). I used to have a reason for the window thing but I don’t really remember it anymore. It's just “he can plot with a window and ways to sneak around! He must be stopped!!!”
• What’s funny is that while I had a lot of details for the kidnapping incident, I have, like, nothing for this terrorist attack thing. It’s just something he’s dealing with
• “The special edition rust sticks” was just my super indulgent way of saying “Star spoils these cassettes like there’s no tomorrow” and the problem is only doomed to get worse when Soundwave comes back because he never had the chance to spoil his creations before.
• The incident was brushed off for the most part because Starscream was really used to the twins just randomly fighting over dumb things. They did it during the war and it didn't make sense for them to stop just because there wasn’t one anymore.
• If it wasn’t obvious through how I described Frenzy and the fight scene, he totally accidentally got caught up with a street gang and he was a lackey who had to offer up stuff or he would get hurt.
• The reason Rumble’s so scared is because he one day followed his twin and found this out. He also got caught by the gang and, because of that, both twins and their family were threatened if Frenzy didn’t keep up with his “duties”.
• “Knock Out’s cowardly sparkling” - Like I mentioned before in year 6 Knock Out had a kid! At this point in the story he’s like, four years old, and he’s scared of, like, everything. Especially Starscream, who never lets the doctor live it down.
• “As someone who’s been called a coward for millenia, your behaviour matches up with all the other things I’ve been called.” - It isn’t often that Starscream likes bringing up how he was viewed during the war but desperate times call for desperate measures.
• At first I was going to have it be a call between Buzzsaw and Starscream when the “Compromised…West…Help” thing comes in but I changed my mind after my first draft because I wasn’t sure if I wanted Star to understand binary by then. I changed my mind again later but I kept the fact it was a really messed up text message in anyways.
• The gang was most definitely using distributors in the area to screw up all communication but Buzzsaw had partially hacked it to call Star anyways. The reason it got broken up was because the gang overloaded it once they realized it was compromised
• The reason they didn’t know where the warehouse exactly was is because Rumble only remembered the general area he got caught in, not where they took him afterwards.
• “Use sound waves to scan for signatures like your creator” - I saw someone/something use this as an ability for Soundwave and I just really liked it. Almost every ability I see given to Soundwave is something really cool though so I just kinda imagine he can do basically anything lol.
• “He searched for what felt like hours” - It wasn’t hours, it was maybe like ten minutes because Ravage is really good at figuring stuff out but Star’s way too panicked to think about anything else
• The fight scene was something I was really scared about writing but I think it actually came out pretty okay.
• The moment I really wanted to get in there was when Star stepped on a random bot. It’s just something I can perfectly picture in my head and I love it.
• The “Sparklings” moment is something I’m kinda uncertain about though. It both feels OOC, especially since I didn’t want to make the cassettes feel too childish, but when I was reading it for editing purposes the flow just felt so right that I honestly have no clue on whether or not it’s good.
• “I almost laughed myself to offlining” - He didn’t actually. He doesn’t really feel a need to lie to cassettes anymore but doing that kind of thing is basically instinct.
• “The amount of times I’ve had to save his spark from some inane, risky, safety plan is beyond any count I know of” - I hate this line so much because I just didn’t know how to get the point I wanted to say across. Basically, I imagine Soundwave would totally risk his own life doing some really stupid things in the name of the “cause”. He would justify it by saying “well, it’ll keep everyone safe so who cares what happens to me”
• I imagine the cassettes think the same way too. Star sometimes does, only when he really cares about the other bot
• “could tell Buzzsaw had something to say” - Buzzsaw totally wanted to call him out for being cryptic. He likes dramatics but he also knows that his younger brother is really upset and is probably getting really confused by Starscream’s way of talking
• Honestly, I didn’t imagine I’d ever think about the DJD but they were the only really really serious threat I could think of that would paint the extent Star is willing to protect the cassettes other than them.
• Knock Out took the picture as blackmail and was slightly miffed when Starscream barely had a reaction to it

Starscream -Year Fifteen-

• One thing right off the bat, Soundwave is very much in love with Starscream. He actually figured out his feelings and doesn’t really feel a need to hide it either.
• The second Starscream got the approval to free Soundwave he told the cassettes the news and then ran to go wait by the groundbridges for days.
• The thing about fuel levels and stasis is here because what I imagined Soundwave did while in the Shadowzone was that he basically powered down all his functions except some sort of system that detected groundbridge activity (that would let him escape)
• I find it kind of dumb that in RiD he just ran out, guns blazing, despite being unable to interact with physical matter for like… however many years he was trapped. I just did a fifteen year stay in this AU and even that I feel is an insanely long time for someone to still be able to function.
• I just love the idea of Soundwave being super happy with his kids while Star’s in the background depressed because he thinks he isn’t useful anymore. I’d like to imagine after he explains how they came back through the Well, he just silently left the room and went to his office feeling empty.
• “understand Soundwave was only capable of communicating in specific ways” - this is something really important I briefly mentioned in the starting notes

Basically, Soundwave really can’t talk in this AU. In my idea for Pre-war, he got attacked and damaged to a point his vocalizer and optical sensors could never be fully repaired. He wears his mask to improve his vision and to create an illusion of “talking”. In actuality, he has four main methods of communicating:

• The first way is through audio and video clips, like he does in the show. I love the idea of this and I would’ve included instances of him using it in this chapter but I couldn’t really figure out a reason for him to.
• The second way is through comms and stuff. Just sending messages via text, nothing really groundbreaking.
• His third way is exclusive to his cassettes, and eventually Starscream, and it’s through bond connections. It lets him project both emotions and words.
• The fourth way, and the most important, is through his “psychic powers”. I like the idea of magic psychic Soundwave so I made it a big part of who he is in this AU. He basically is able to wirelessly connect himself to any nearby bots and either read their minds or project his own thoughts. When he projects his own thoughts, it goes across in the form of something that sounds like his voice should and that, paired with the fact no one sees his face, creates the illusion that he can talk.
• This is what he wanted to do in the interrogation but Zip and Bee were weirded out by the request until the random Decepticon explained the situation. It was something akin to a well-known secret among the Cons.
• He doesn’t really like the mind reading aspect of his powers and only uses it sparingly. He’s already really good at reading bots already so he doesn’t have a need or desire to violate them in such a way (though Megatron would force him to do so anyways on occasion).
• I know this kinda makes the way his dialogue looks kinda nonsensical (the whole “Soundwave: Superior” looking thing) but I’d just imagine he does this to create a persona of being an unemotional being. It’s also just a habit he developed because talking normally kind of leaves him feeling vulnerable now. He’ll ease up eventually.

Going back to the commentary now….

• In the list of “things the Cassettes do that is weird to Soundwave” I really had to think hard about what Ravage would do with Star that he didn’t really do with Wave. I just went with “discussing the news” eventually because I thought “huh, maybe the two just kind of complain about how incompetent bots are nowadays”. That or they try to figure out how the Decepticons lost to the disorganized mess that the Autobots were.
• “his access to data was extremely limited” - Could Soundwave have actually hacked systems regardless? Yes, one hundred percent. Did he want to though? Not really, he was really concerned about his creations but he also didn’t want to screw up things for them.
• “prohibited from transforming” - I literally only included this bit because I wanted him to get lost at some points and I wanted to give him a reason for getting back to the apartment in the end really late compared to Starscream
• “everything Soundwave had ever dreamed of owning again” - Kind of relating to my pre-war ramble earlier, I wanted to do something weird with my Soundwave’s backstory so I came up with this whole thing that he was a bot who was actually doing pretty well in life but after he got permanently injured society didn’t have a use for him anymore. It was because of that he got kicked down to one of the lowest points of society from a relatively high one, and it’s how he came to meet Megatron and care so much about equality between all bots.
• “Ravage scoffed from his seat. “It’s not that I haven’t been trying” - I wanted to imply here that while Soundwave’s been thinking everything’s been perfect so far, the Cassettes were already feeling the difference of Starscream not being around. They’ve been around the seeker for years, and while it isn’t a lot of time for immortal bots, when you live for someone permanently for even a few years you definitely feel their absence.
• The paint event was just a prank Frenzy and Rumble pulled. They were bored one day and because they know how bad the council’s building security is, planting paint bombs was a piece of cake for them.
• The answer to “Why did you bring up Starscream in the first place, he wouldn’t participate in something like this?” is more so because the paint incident was the last time they managed to force him out of his office. They didn’t really need to force him to do this anymore so the fact he ran out to scold them despite no one saying anything to him goes to show how connected he felt to them.
• Does this have anything to do with making their celebration party better? Nope, Lazerbeak just got lost in her brother’s banter like Soundwave was getting because neither of them have had the opportunity to have family conversations like this in millions of years and they’re kind of out of practice.
• “Didn’t he spend a bazillion hours on this table after it broke the first time Ravage?” - I don’t really know how a table would break on Cybertron nor why it would break in this specific household but I just think it’s a really funny thought.
• “He was not known to have the patience to take care of others. Primus knows how that had gone before” - This is just a self indulgent bit related to one of the OCs I mentioned in year 6. He may have been assigned the duty to take care of Megs’ kid but he sure as pit didn’t do a good job at that. Out of the three, he definitely spent the least amount of time with the kid just because whenever he did he lost his patience and something disastrous happened. Every. Time.
• If you’ve been following along you should know why I made Buzzsaw blow up here. I just, these two have the strongest connection here and Buzzsaw feels the most defeated whenever Star breaks that trust.
• One of my favourite parts about writing this chapter was being super indulgent. This is very much shown through the fact I made Soundwave be terrible at navigating. Logically, he shouldn’t be bad at this kind of thing because he was a tactician but there is also a big difference between planning/routing and actually being in the field. He’s capable with a map but he’s too awkward to ask for one.
• Originally I thought the “stalker” bot would be like… Zip or something but I honestly don’t really know who I would want it to be anymore. It’s just someone who works with Starscream and everyone at the council building’s noticed at this point that he’s depressed, not leaving his office and not talking to the cassettes and that all of this was probably because he brought Soundwave back.
• Whoever it is definitely wanted to give Wave a shovel talk though.
• Anyways, I’m awful at coming up with threats. Just… how does one write a threat that actually sounds either scary or laughable. Not a clunky one
• If it’s hard to tell, I really like making Soundwave overanalyze stuff. Because he doesn’t participate in conversations and he hasn’t really had many “friends” or people he would consider close, he likes to focus on reading every detail around him to figure the world out basically.
• He also struggles to stop doing this kind of thing.
• Starscream is definitely the type of bot to become an absolute mess in a physical way when he’s stressed. I tried to imply this in year 3 by making his office messy, even though he explained it as just “reorganizing”, but here I really tried to go and say “No, that wasn’t a one off thing. Whenever he’s stressed or upset he just stops caring for himself completely and lets the mess add up.”
• “I know you don’t have to [talk like that] so cut it out.” - When Starscream and Soundwave had their private talks Wave relaxed his unique talking habit but after they first fell out he put that wall immediately back up. It’s something that bothers Star sometimes but he’s also the most understanding of why Soundwave does it most of the time. This is not one of those times.
• Soundwave also completely misunderstood what he meant by this and that is why he forced himself to actually speak instead of using his psychic link
• He realized his mistake when he realized Star was surprised and that’s why he switched back to link talking but then Star was being stupid so he forced his voice out again to emphasize his point.
• Wave’s always disliked how much Starscream puts importance on being perfect. I never really brought it up in this fic (outside of that one time with Zip and Bee) because it didn’t fit, but Star screams (ha, ha) perfectionist. It was more prevalent during the war and Soundwave never thought he needed to strive so hard for it. Especially because a lot of the time Star’s attempts to reach perfection made his plans fall apart and then resulted in Megatron getting mad at him.
• Soundwave saying “It can never be perfect without you there” is like, specifically, trying to get Starscream to see his importance to the family by bringing up his obsession with perfection while also going “I need you here because you actually make things better”
• Writing the two hug was probably the hardest part of the chapter because I literally had to keep taking breaks because of how soft it was and how mushy I felt. Just (｡>﹏<｡)
• Soundwave, and by extension the rest of the Cassettes, are all really physically affectionate. He doesn’t really know how to express love through words so he does it through his actions and physical stuff and the cassettes just kinda picked that up from him.
• Star both knows this but he also doesn’t trust it.
• On a scale of who’s the most affectionate it’s probably Soundwave > Buzzsaw > Lazerbeak (but she’s picky about who) > Rumble > Ravage > Frenzy
• Because of how his most important past relationships went, Starscream partially sees himself as a virus (kinda). He thinks he ruins the bots he gets into relationships with/develops feelings for and then dooms them to awful fates as a result. It’s the whole reason he ran away after Soundwave came back. He was reminded of how much he cares for the other and seeing Wave so happy with his kids terrified Star because he thought he would ruin them all.
• Starscream’s mystery box is mostly filled with pictures he has of the cassettes/Him with the cassettes. Stuff like the picture taken at the end of year 9.
• He took them out of the apartment while Soundwave was distracted with the Cassettes the day he got back.
• I realized at some point that it’s kinda weird that I made Soundwave and Starscream freak out when they realized “the Cassettes weren’t used to being on their own/being completely disconnected from” but then I remembered I was writing two characters who I purposely made overprotective
• The cassettes, in fact, were not worried in the slightest. They just thought Soundwave went out for some quiet and were waiting for him to ask them for directions on how to get back home.
• “The only problem remaining was the matter of all fitting in the apartment’s berth that night” - See, Soundwave’s smart and knows his kids. He knows they’re all going to want to cuddle and he knows there’s only one real berth in this apartment.