Domestic Disturbance

Chapter 29 : Storm


There was a storm coming.

The desert sky lit up a fiery red, as ominous as it was beautiful, while the sun began it's climb over the horizon. Prime watched as the light ate away the last of the night. The faintest twinkle of the morning stars snuffing out one by one. The air had a heavy presence that not even the Autobot commander could fail to notice.

"Red sky in morning, sailors take warning." Prowl said just to his left. "An odd human concept to comprehend, but strangely it feels right."

"It certainly does." Optimus nodded. "Forecast calls for a bad thunderstorm this afternoon. Teletraan 1 picked up the news cast last night."

Prowl regarded his friend curiously. The semi seemed tense this morning, as if his intuition was serving him well.

"You think Megatron's up to something." There was no hint of a question in the statement.

"It's been four weeks since he was injured. He should be up and about by now. This storm has the potential to cause some serious damage to any populated sectors it blows over. If there's a way to collect energy from it, Megatron will find it."

"Then we had best make ourselves ready." The black and white mech turned and headed back to the entrance hatch. "The Con's should be running fairly low on supplies and this would be an excellent opportunity to harvest energon."

"Forecast also calls for a lot of rain." Prime followed the strategist. "There could be some major flooding. We should be ready to help the humans as well."

"Why do I have the feeling this day is going to end in disaster?" Prowl tried to keep the wary frown from his face.

Optimus took one last glance at the burning sunrise before ducking inside the great golden ship. His spark beating dull and concerned in it's casing.

"Probably the same reason the sky is on fire." .

~ ~ ~

It had only been a scant three days since the silver tyrant had returned to his own quarters for recharge. He never imagined it would feel so nice to wake up in one's own berth, free from the needless prying of the med-bots and all the discomforts of a cold surgical table.

Megatron rolled away from the warm chassis lying next to him, untangling his limbs from the sprawled out mech who grumbled at being disturbed from his rest. Refreshing his vocals with a grunt he drew a quick breath of air, something akin to a yawn, to get his fans running. The cool air giving a sudden shock to the sleep warmed, hazy processor. Unfogged.

The seeker next to him groaned and followed suite, choosing however to roll onto his front and snuggle back down into the plush material as if to go back to sleep. His wings remained folded against his back indicating that he had no intention of leaving the comfortable bed just yet.

The larger Con couldn't help the grin that tugged at the corner of his mouth. It was still a marvel that Starscream had even managed to stay and recharge during the last three nights without running off to his own quarters. Megatron thought he was pushing the luck he had by pulling the stubborn seeker into a tight embrace after each 'face before he could slip away and was pleasantly surprised to find the jet compliant. It seemed Starscream was going to keep his word. He had never been more obediant in near his entire length of service.

Of course, Megatron sneered internally to himself, that was only because it suited the little imp's needs. However he couldn't really despise the mech for his reasoning. Especially when he had a warm and pliable body next to his when he awoke each morning, eager to please and ready for another quick roll. That alone was a luxury he was not willing to part with. Not for any amount of the traitor's blasphemous ambitions.

Or for any Autobot's benefit, for that matter.

Finding that he wasn't ready to leave the berth just yet either, the silver mech reached out and snagged the jet's blue wrist. Starscream sighed as his leader tugged at his limb and half heartedly allowed himself to be coerced into moving from his comfortable position.

"You couldn't give me five more minutes?" The red and white mech pouted as he all but flopped down on the other's chest.

"You would have fallen back into recharge." Came the purred response.

"Of course I would have. You kept me up far too late last night." Starscream sighed as Megatron's palm cupped his cheek fondly. Dark thumb stroking the seem found there.

"You loved every minute of it." The tyrant gave a growl, menace spoiled by the playful grin hovering closer to the seeker's.

"Keep telling yourself that."

Their lips met in a brief kiss before Starscream found himself hauled right up over the larger mech's chassis, straddling his master's waist. Those powerful servos resting on either side of his hips, stroking up his sides expectantly. The seeker grinned, looming over his master with superior intent as his digits raked down the silver chest beneath him with an ear splitting squeal. Megatron gave a hiss, half pained and half pleased as the vicious action carved deep gouges in his dermal plating. Sparks snapped to life under the treacherous creature's ministrations, surely and effortlessly leaving plenty of scars that would take far too long to buff out this morning. The gall of the other mech never failed to amuse.

He awarded the jet and his acrimony by parting his chamber, baring his spark in all its enticing glory to his greedy second. Starscream barely had time to part his own plating before those large servos planted firm against his back, toppling him off his high horse and straight down into the raw, gratifying pleasure of his hot center.

~ ~ ~

Skywarp had just finished welding one of the supports into place on Megatron's latest plan when their leader and air commander had finally emerged from their quarters and joined the other Decepticons. He frowned as he watched the pair admire the work on the tall conductor with a somewhat bored demeanor as Bonecrusher filled them in on their progress. Starscream briefly glancing over to his brother before, sheepishly, turning away, looking over Megatron's shoulder at the plans held forth by the Constructicon. Skywarp hadn't failed to see the scuffs and scars that neither mech had bothered to smooth over with a coat or wax and a polishing rag. Disappointment in the pair's behavior of late left a frown permanently concreted in the purple jet's face. The memories of Megatron's threats still fresh in his mind left an unsettling feeling deep in his spark and the entire situation just burned his afterburners even more. Thundercracker insisted that they continue to ignore it. That Starscream could handle whatever mess he was in now just like he always had. Skywarp just had to leave him to it. They had already risked a lot by rescuing Prime and were damn lucky to have gotten away with that as easily as they had.

Perhaps the blue seeker was right. However, the lingering sensation of that bastard's touch still made his very dermas crawl every time he saw his brother's new habit of fawning up to the silver tyrant. He couldn't deny, that though disgusting to see, this new attitude that Starscream seemed to have towards the General made life much easier for them all. Megatron was please. Starscream was behaving. All seemed to be going well just as long as the other two jets ignored the activities that were carried out behind closed doors. The other's managed to. But they didn't know the full story.

The purple jet growled and kicked out at a spare peice of scrap metal. Thundercracker shaking his head quietly to himself as he continued to ignore both of his brothers. He glanced up as a particularly strong gust of wind swept across the field chosen for their lightning conductor. Dark clouds were gathering to the north. Already the distant echoes of thunder could be heard above the sounds of construction. Soundwave was hastily preparing the energon cubes as the Stunticon's finished up on the power converter. It was a pretty simple plan, really. Put up a few lightning rods and convert the electrical energy into energon. All it would take is a few good strikes. As long as the converter held up against the powerful and unpredictable lightning they would be swimming in enough energon to last them for years.

"The storm's approaching faster then expected." Bonecrusher braced against a particularly strong surge of wind. "However we started earlier then initially planned and should be finished in time."

Megatron nodded as he glanced towards the darkening sky and continued his supervisor's inspection of the progress. Starscream taking refuge in the lee of his master's body to keep the wind from catching his wings. While Thundercracker and Skywarp were smart enough to fold their wings away, the ever proud air commander couldn't be bothered. Under normal circumstances he would be blown to his aft before admitting it was the logical thing to do. However his new version of normal included stroking the tyrant's ego at all possible chances. And so he curled into the steadfast frame of the larger mech as if seeking shelter from the cold. Megatron absentmindedly allowing the jet to latch to his arm for support. Some of the other mechs didn't fail to notice this and snorted contempt, despite the red and white mech's wing mates being close enough to hear them.

Skywarp nearly blew a fuse.

~ ~ ~

Already the rain was falling.

A small mountain town was already in danger of flooding. The stream that wound it's way through the populated area was rapidly spilling up over it's banks, washing muddy water down the streets and already a few homes had to be evacuated to higher ground.

The Autobots had heard the distress call via Teletraan 1 and leapt into action, filling large sandbags and piling them along the river's slick banks. Cracks of thunder boomed loudly overhead, nearly drowning out the rushing sound of the water. Luckily, their presence had helped tremendously and the damn of sandbags seemed to be doing it's trick. Ironhide, Hound and a few others would remain in this area to see to it that the town remained safe. Prime and the rest of the Autobots continued on their way to answer many more distress calls.

They soon found themselves in a wide open valley. An even smaller farming community was built here, tucked against the high mountains while the villager's farms stretched near the length of the valley. The rain had already hosed down many of the unpaved roads, making them muddy and slick for any drivers trying to get home before the full fury of the summer storm struck. While watching Grapple and Hoist drag a pickup from the ditch, a young boy ran up to the semi and shouted to him above the wind.

"Optimus!" The kid banged a fist against the general's shin incase his small voice didn't reach his audios.

Prime knelt down so that he could hear the boy.

"My brother says he saw a bunch of robots in the fields! He went to check on our livestock and saw them building large metal towers!"

The Autobot stiffened. Immediately he hailed Bumblebee on his comm. Thanking the boy for his help, Prime left him to the little yellow bug's care as he rounded up the handful of Autobots remaining, including Prowl, Mirage, and Cliffjumper. He tried calling the Aerial Bots, but Silverbolt and his crew were already needed elsewhere. This only left him with seven once Bumblebee had returned from escorting the boy home. Hoist and Grapple had already finished with the pickup and sent the driver on his way.

Prowl joined him at his side.

"So what do we do, Prime? We're sure to be outnumbered if we strike."

"I know, but we can't leave them to decimate these people's farms. All that lightning being drawn so close to the village could be dangerous. We have to stop them."

Prime called Mirage over to his side and gave him his orders. The blue and white mech nodded once he understood. He transformed and drove off in the direction the boy had pointed.

"Mirage will report back their numbers." Optimus reassured the others. "Then we'll have an idea what we're getting into."

Cliffjumper nearly leapt clear of the ground when a loud boom of thunder sounded over head. The little Autobot shivered against the wind and grumbled.

"Great, so we'll have an idea how long it will take them to scrap us."

~ ~ ~

Megatron shielded his optics against the sudden bright flash of light. A thick bolt struck one of the conductors as the thunder roared loud enough to vibrate his very dentals. Starscream huddled against his back, finally tucking his wings away if only to spare being stuck by the lighting. The winds kicked up and blew furiously against them all as they crouched in a pre dug trench. It kept them lower then the towers and therefore less likely to be struck. The smaller bots, like Rumble and Frenzy, were ducking out of their trench to collect the energon cubes. So far they had collected over fifty of the glowing pinkish cubes.

"This might be one of the smartest, or stupidest plans you have ever come up with, Megatron." The seeker pressed against his back shouted into his audio when there was a break in the thunder.

"Oh?" The silver mech glanced over his shoulder to his Second. "Do elaborate?"

"Well, with only two lightning strikes, we've managed to gather enough cubes to supply us for nearly a year! Not to mention it is foolish for any Autobots to brave the weather and try to stop us!"

There was a loud crack and a small shriek of terror from the other side of the trench. The smell of burning ozone was pungent as that particular bolt got a little too close for comfort.

"And must I elaborate on the the stupid?"

"No, I see your point." Megatron shifted and looped an arm around the jet's middle, tucking the smaller mech close to his side. "But don't fear the lightning, Starscream. I'm not planning on sending you out there."

~ ~ ~

Mirage held back a startled cry as the lightning stuck one of the towers just to his left. Invisible to all, he had already ran a quick sweep around the area. Transforming, he drove off before he pushed his luck. When he was out of the Decepticon's comm. range he reported what he had seen to Optimus.

"There's five towers in total, set up in pentagon formation with the convertor about fifty meters to it's north. Twelve Cons in all. The rest are shipping energon cubes back to base." Mirage shouted over the wind and rain. "Megatron, the Seekers, Soundwave, and the Stunticons are dug down in two separate trenches fifty meters to the west of the structure while the cassette twins are collecting cubes at the converter. They have their own trench about ten meters from the converter."

"Excellent work, Mirage. We'll join up with you in five minutes."

Prime turned to his five brave soldiers, each wind battered and dripping with freezing rain. Their moral low and chances of getting out of today with their chassis intact even lower.

"I know this is a difficult situation. I've already called reinforcements, however, they're priority is to help the humans survive this weather. They will back us up when ever it is possible. All we can hope to do is catch the Decepticons by surprise and hopefully keep them occupied until Silverbolt and the others arrive."

"Then we'll do out best, Optimus." Grapple promised.

"That's all I ask, my friends. So, if we're all ready to go, let's transform and roll for it."