Moonflight con: Thanks for the review. As to your suggestion I'm afraid it would not fit with the background story I gave Shockwave. In the United We Stand universe, Shockwave was a minerbot, who destroyed his emotions chip when he saw many of his fellow workers fall due the terrible conditions of the mining colony. Because he was a minerbot he did not have the usual faceplate that other Cybertronians did, rather he had a single optic that aided his sensors in finding the valuable minerals and ores the owners of the mines wanted.

FD: Thanks for the review.

This takes place after chapter 6 of the Outtakes.

{Starscream's Trine and Bumblebee} – requested by Screamless

High in the sky, three planes zoomed back and forth, occasionally coming so close together that their wingtips almost touched. The make and model of each place was different, in fact only one was recognizable as being a U.S. fighter jet, the other two were so foreign that their nationalities could have been debated and researched for a whole year without ever finding who had built them. For they were not from any country on Earth, in fact neither was the U.S. fighter, they were alien robots from the planet Cybertron.

Although seeing the Cybertronians around Earth was not an everyday occurrence, still the humans had gotten use to seeing their living robot guests fairly well. Enough so as not to gawk every time they happened to see the Transformers moving around. Three seekers zooming about in the sky was enough to draw envious looks from human pilots, or children who dreamed of flying one day, but no alarm of national security went up nor did people panic or clamber to take videos. Humanity had learned that the Cybertronians valued their privacy, and only allowed films of themselves to circulate that they approved of.

Still, the desert of Nevada was virtually empty and a perfect place to practice aerial maneuvers in relative privacy. There was only one person standing outside the Cybertronian Outpost 1, watching the seekers zip about around one another. Well, he was not a person in the way that we understand a person to be, meaning human, but a Cybertronian.

His black and yellow painting was shiny, the sun flashing off it whenever the former Autobot scout moved to keep the seekers in view. Bumblebee was slightly nervous, he would admit that and he was not ashamed to feeling such a thing in regards to a former Decepticon. Starscream and Bumblebee had formed a strange bond of friendship, one that few understood, besides Megatron and Orion Prime. To see his friend now, soaring through the sky with his Trine mates was not something that made Bumblebee jealous, only nervous.

He had seen the way Thundercracker and Skywarp had reacted to seeing Starscream, and though the teleporter seemed to be the most at ease at having fond Starscream alive, the larger seeker's reaction had been worrying. Bumblebee could tell that Skywarp was willing to let bygones be bygones, too relieved at finding his Trine leader alive to think about making Starscream suffer as they had.

Not so with Thundercracker. The seeker was one of the biggest Bumblebee had ever seen, and the blue and white mech seemed to contain enough anger for both him and Skywarp against Starscream's actions. Bumblebee did not really understand what had happened, nor did he fully understand how a bond between a Trine worked, but it seemed a very serious business for all involved.

Which was a reason Bumblebee stood silently watching the seekers above. He had a feeling that once the Trine got over their reunion all the anger and hurt would resurface and Starscream would face his wing-mates' wrath. Bumblebee was not about to stand aside and let his friend be beaten up, no matter how much the gray seeker might deserve a good punch for cutting off his side of the bond.

The three seekers overhead came together to spiral through the sky, dropping lower even as they flipped around each other to complete the maneuver. Each banked in a different direction when coming out of the spiral, their thrusters leaving streaks of white printed across the blue sky as they transformed. Bumblebee watched, a little enviously, as they dropped steadily to the ground.

Finally the three seekers touched the sandy floor, cutting their engines as they came to a full stop. Starscream turned slightly, waving at Bumblebee and looking like he wanted to call the grounder over but was unsure how his Trine would take it. The black and yellow Cybertronian took matters into his own servos and walked over to the Trine, making sure to step to Starscream's right, so he could jump into the fray if need be.

Perhaps Bumblebee was over-preparing, the three seekers had not seen each other in years. Finding Starscream alive just might cool Thundercracker down, then again, looking at the blue and white mech's faceplate Bumblebee reevaluated his opinion once again. Whatever euphoria had settled over the trio as they flew was quickly evaporating between Starscream and Thundercracker; Skywarp on the other servo was just standing there with a dazed look in his optics and a goofy grin on his faceplate.

Suddenly Thundercracker lunged forward, his arm primed back for a swing, her right servo ready to slam into Starscream's face. The blow never landed, as it would have for the gray seeker was too startled by the unexpected move to mount a defense or dodge. Bumblebee lunged forward, one arm striking Thundercracker's, knocking it off course and the other priming a blaster to come up under the bigger seeker's chin plate.

"Cool down," Bumblebee growled, thankful more than ever right at that moment that Megatron had helped get his vocal chords replaced. Beeping just did not have the right intimidation factor, in fact many of the former Decepticons had told him that were it not for Bumblebee's fighting skill and blasters they would have had a hard time taking him seriously.

Thundercracker growled menacingly, who knew what he was getting ready to do, his frame tensing and his optics narrowing dangerously.

"I wouldn't try anything with him, Thundercracker," Stascream spoke up, gaining some confidence in his voice but nowhere near the way it had been before Shockwave. "Lord Megatron adopted him as his heir, and would certainly not take it kindly if you should rough him up." Starscream placed a servo on Bumblebee's shoulder pad, "Thank you, my friend, but I can fight my own battles now. And in this case, their anger towards me is greatly justified." When Bumblebee still had not moved Starscream sighed, "You can move out of the way now."

"Not until he backs off and agrees to listen."

Starscream looked at Thundercracker, "Will you give me a chance to explain, Thundercracker?"

The big mech said nothing, but instead turned his helm to look at Skywarp, who was looking at the situation with wide optics while twiddling his thumb joints nervously.

"We hear him out, Thundy?" Skywarp asked. "We not really mad anymore, yeah? Back together, not going to let him cut us off again."

Venting harshly, Thundercracker lowered his arms and stepped back. Bumblebee waited a second before doing the same and the four of them stood awkwardly, waiting for someone to start.

"Oh come on everybody!" Skywarp yelled, startling Bumblebee as the purple and black seeker jumped excitedly from one ped to another. "Screamy is here! We're three again! We're the kings of the sky!"

Thundercracker glared at Starscream, "You see what you did? You cut off your end of the bond, he went mad, we both went mad! You selfish, rusted bucket of—"

"Yes," Starscream said, interruption Thundercracker. "Yes, I was selfish. After you left I couldn't stand the loneliness, and when I started to think of supplanting Megatron as the Decepticon Warlord I knew I had to sever the bond, lest you find out about my plans. With our bond now stabilizing again, I realize that after I did so I started to go a little mad, it explains many of my plans and why I ever went along with Shockwave. I am sorry for everything that I did, for all the pain I have caused the both of you and I know that I do not deserve your forgiveness. Yet I hope, that in time, you will forgive me, until then I do not deserve to be the leader of this Trine. Thundercracker, you have remained strong despite everything that happened, and along the three of us you have the right to lead us."

"Thundy lead!" Skywarp cheered, then he looked thoughtful. "But Screamy is leader, has always been leader," in agitation the teleport mech clapped his servos on either side of his helm, "Can't process! Can't process!"

Thundercracker tapped Skywarp on his arm, "Calm down, Sky, as angry as I am at our Trine brother, he will remain our leader." The bigger mech looked at Starscream, "I don't know if I can forgive you, but I want to move on. It's been a shock, finding you alive but you've more than paid for what you did thanks to Shockwave." Rolling his shoulder pads, Thundercracker huffed, "Enough of this sappy sentiment, let's fly."

"But you just flew!" Bumblebee protested. His words were ignored however as Thundercracker and Skywarp took off once again, Starscream smiled at the black and yellow scout before joining them. Bumblebee cycled air through his vents in annoyance, "Seekers."

AN: Sorry for the long wait, hope you enjoyed it. Anyway, next chapter will be: Raf takes on a bully, with the help of (?) Can you guess who helps Raf?