Predatory

Bonds

I suddenly understood what Tarn had meant when he corrected himself from "friend" to "friends".

The first mech that I saw, was about my height, maybe a little taller. He was the iconic white and blue, and wearing his usual visor and mask. He was currently engaged in talking to someone inside of the cruiser that I presumed he had arrived in. Beside him, were three of his accomplices. One was a black feline, that stood roughly at my hip joint. He seemed to be intently listening to the conversation Soundwave was having with whomever was inside the cruiser.  The other two were twin minibots it would seem, they also were about at my hip. One was a deep blue and purple. The other black and fiery red. Both looked like they were conspiring about something. Both were also chuckling. 

Soundwave noticing our presence, turned to look at us, so did Ravage and the twins. 

"Oi! Tarn and uh...whoever you are- give me a servo for a tick!" Soundwave yelled. His voice sounded a lot younger than I had anticipated, and far less emotionless. 

We quickly ran over to where he was, and then peered inside the open door to the cruiser, to find Laserbeak and Buzzsaw both tangled up in a small fight with Ratbat. At first I didn't see the issue, but then I noticed that Ratbat was painted red and black like Laserbeak, Laserbeak was painted like Buzzsaw, and Buzzsaw was painted like Ratbat. Also the paint was still wet, so it was flying all over the floor and sprayed the walls. It was also mixing with energon on the floor as the minibots attempted to rip each other apart.

Frenzy and Rumble sniggered behind us. Undoubtedly the perpetrators.

"If both of you could grab one, that would be perfect," Soundwave ordered. His frustration evident in his voice. Tarn nodded to him, then slipped into the open door to the cruiser. I quickly followed suit.
Once inside the small space, it was quite difficult to avoid the dagger-like claws and beaks of the birds and the bat. Soundwave climbed in after me, Ravage  stood guard at the door in case they tried to escape. I stood at one end of the cruiser passenger bay, in front of the door to the pilot's cabin. Tarn was on the opposite end of the bay, by the captain's door. And Soundwave was on the other side of the open door Ravage was guarding. We had them surrounded. 

Tarn raised three digits in a countdown. 3....2.......1. Then the mayhem began. We all sprang at the cloud of paint and claws. There was a lot of shrieking and swearing and scratching. Everyone's servos and paws were scratched and cut open by the end. However we were able to eventually successfully restrain them. I ended up holding Buzzsaw down to the floor. Soundwave had grabbed a very disgruntled Laserbeak and Tarn was wrestling with Ratbat.

"Thanks Tarn," Soundwave muttered, he was struggling to dip Laserbeak in a basin of cleaning fluid. We were standing in the communications and tech room on the classified floor. I was holding (with slight difficulty) a still very filthy Buzzsaw with next to a much cleaner Ratbat on the floor. 

"I swear one of these days I'm going to kill those two!" Soundwave muttered angrily to himself, and shook his helm. The twins had run off as soon as we had caught the birds and bat, so Soundwave had sent Ravage to herd them back. Which had just left Tarn and I to help poor Soundwave out with three flighty minibots. Oh joy.

Soundwave was finishing up with Laserbeak, and was currently drying her off. Buzzsaw was not happy about being next, not one bit. Thankfully, he wasn't giving me too hard of a time. Soundwave put a very flustered and unhappy Laserbeak down on the floor for her to dry off further.
"Hand me Buzzsaw." He said, reaching for the bird. I complied and handed him over to Soundwave, though not without enduring much squawking. Buzzsaw started freaking out when Soundwave held him over the basin of fluid. He nipped at Soundwave digits and flapped his wings wildly. He shrieked and squealed and whined and in general was throwing a huge fit. Soundwave just sighed and dunked him in the basin anyway, ignoring his piteous pleas. When he pulled the bird back up, Buzzsaw just slumped in defeat and waited for Soundwave to be done cleaning him off. Soundwave plopped him on the floor next to Laserbeak and Ratbat.

"Is there any other thing that we can help you with, Soundwave?" Tarn asked, he had a small collection of cuts and scratches on his servos I noticed. Soundwave's servos were bleeding profusely. Mine stung from quite a few scratches but weren't bleeding much. 

"Not really. I apologize for that, the twins have been getting steadily worse lately. Thanks for the help though, Tarn and uh-" Soundwave trailed off as he looked at me. "Uh.....I wanna say-Starfire?" I shook my helm at him. He rubbed his neck cables and looked down. "Sorry, I don't remember designations terribly well."

"Oh, I almost forgot. Soundwave, this is my new trainee, Dreadflight. You'll like her, she has zero social skills, kind of like you." Tarn said, rather condescendingly. 

"Oh ha ha ha. Aren't we funny today?" Soundwave retorted. He crossed his arms. Then he laughed. "Is this part of Megatron's *ahem*....plan?" He asked, in a voice much to innocent for me not to find it suspicious. 

Tarn growled. "I have no idea what you're talking about."

Soundwave snickered, "Right, Right, and I'm an Autobot!" He glanced at me, "Oh, sorry Dreadflight, you don't know what we're talking about, do you? Well-"

"Well  I think it's about time we start leaving, it's been wonderful." Tarn interjected, leaving me with a lot of unanswered questions. 

"Oh okay," Soundwave whined sarcastically. "Well, it was lovely meeting you Dreadflight. If you ever want to stop by, just know that I'm probably not paying attention to what I'm doing, so you interrupting isn't a bother."

"I-it was nice meeting you too, S-Soundwave" I replied, a bit confused but I meant it.  I suddenly felt a heavy servo on my shoulder and was presently whisked out of the communications room by Tarn. I heard the door slam behind us as he steered me down the hall. I wondered what had frustrated him so much back there with Soundwave. Something told me I didn't want to know. So I kept my mouth shut and pretended I hadn't heard anything. 

"Tomorrow I want you to meet me down in the combat room before the sun comes up. I'm changing the schedule, you should have it before tomorrow. And don't bother with breakfast. I added it in, don't worry. We have a lot of paperwork to fill out tomorrow. I can't wait! But we'll discuss that then. Right now, I want you to get in at least one more glass of energon and get plenty of rest for tomorrow. Am I clear?" We were in front of the dorm I shared with Dawnstar.

"Y-y-yeah, uh, anything e-else?" I asked, one servo on the door handle. 

"No, just get those things I told you done and you're fine. I would enjoy the free time while you have it. After today, you won't have any for a very long time." I nodded.

"O-okay. I'll be there."

"Good." Came the response. I opened the door and looked back to see him already half-way down the hall. I turned back to my room and stepped inside.

Hey guys! Solo sorry for the late update!!! <:( I was really busy yesterday and I kind of forgot to do things like, you know, WRITING A CHAPTER! *Facebook* anyway. I tried to make this chapter decent at least. I want to thank you guys SO much for reading this! I never thought anyone would actually ever read my stories! So thanks so much for the support guys! Really! Also I was wondering, are there any characters you want to see in this book? Like maybe a specific Autobot or Decepticon? Also, which side would you join? I'm team Decepticon myself. What do you think Soundwave and Tarn were talking about? I'm sure it's nothing important....;). Welp, evening calls! I'll post again tomorrow! Hope you all have wonderful days and sleep well! 

~swordsandroses