Title: Fly high

Author: Kit SummerIsle

Verse: Falcon!Seeker G1 AU: The falcon!Seeker idea is not mine, but razordragonfly's (http : / / razordragonfly . livejournal . com / tag / fear % 20 of % 20 falling , take out the spaces or search for it on Lj – I highly recommend to read it, not only for background but for itself too). My AU is based on this, but more or less G1, only the Seekers are not like what they usually are; here, they are classified as non-, or semi-sentient flying animals (aka falcons). The war is going on as usual, and Megatron tamed most of the wild Seekers to fight for the Decepticons; but way before the war Prowl had tamed a lone Seeker (later named as Thundercracker) and later released him in the wild. During the war the Autobots realize that having fliers is pretty useful (there are no sentient fliers in the AU, all mechs are grounders, spaceships are just machines) and find Prowl's tamed Seeker with his mate (Skywarp) and incorporate them into the army. Since they are classified as (at best) semi-sentient, their status in both armies is more-or less slavery. On Earth, the Decepticons have the Conehead Trine, while the Autobots have Thundercracker and Skywarp. Starscream too pops up soon.

Character(s): Thundercracker, Skywarp, Starscream

Rating: M

Warnings: some torture, violence, slavery and/or abuse of animals, depending on how you read it

Summary: Seekers want to be free, even if they don't know it yet.

Disclaimer: the usual. not owning it, just fooling around with TF

Note: I use joor for a few hours, orn for a few days, groon for a few months and vorn for a few years.

Part I.

Hold me when I'm hurt

The cage-door was slightly open when they came out of recharge, the huge hangar empty of life other than themselves, quiet at the early cycle of the orn. The windows up high let the first rays of the alien Sun in, warming up slowly the metallic walls and the hugging forms of the two Seekers; one dark blue, the other black with purple details, lying quietly together on the floor of the cage. When they noticed the open door they trilled softly to each other, like discussing the unusual occurrence before the black one got up and cautiously poked at the metallic rods that made up the entryway. They were never allowed outside without permission or in a Keeper's company and training warned Thundercracker to hold his inquisitive but careless mate back. Skywarp looked back to the blue Seeker but only hesitated for a klik before poking the door fully open; with the cage-field broken he could even teleport out, if he wanted to. He took a few more steps and sensing the hangar's peace unbroken called his mate to come out too; after some hesitation Thundercracker followed him outside, into the hangar. It was still quiet, nobody else moving nearby, as all the Autobots' quarters were further inside the Ark with only storage rooms on these lower levels. The silence and peace seemed to encourage the two Seekers even more and they moved around in the place.

Neither of them went towards the outside doors of the hangar; long experience and training instilled into them that while they were sometimes let go more or less freely inside, the outside world, true freedom was another matter entirely. But there were places to discover in the ship too and the two Seekers soon run happily around in the long corridors, with occasional jumps put in from Skywarp in rhythm with his happy trills; the Ark was a huge ship, even for two bouncingly joyful, younglinglike fliers to play tag in the early morning quiet. In the excitement of the game it was easy to forget where they were and why – the war that was not theirs never really interested them. So, they played happily until Skywarp teleported straight ahead of a mech who was running the other way and the impact crashed them both to the ground with the bigger flier on top, anxiously warbling as he realized what happened.

Thundercracker, who saw them from the other end of the corridor, was even more frightened; the mech was one of the twins, the yellow one who was always angry and threatening towards them. Skywarp, realizing the same thing panicked and warped away almost randomly, never a good idea inside the ship with all its walls and bulkheads. He got lucky – sort of – and ended up in the rec room, where the first shift's mechs were drinking their morning energon by the tables. His appearance of course resulted in a commotion and angry yells, especially when Sunstreaker exploded in there too, shouting something about a scratch on his paintjob and a Primus-slagged Seeker who kept getting out and causing trouble. Skywarp, who didn't understand a word of the rant was positively terrified by the anger directed to him, so much that he forgot even teleporting and tried to hide behind the only person not shouting at him; Prowl, who as usual kept his composure and even tried to calm down the enraged Sunstreaker.

Not that the big Seeker had any luck in hiding behind a mech half his size, even crouching down as he usually did when frightened. The joy of the game totally evaporated and although he wasn't very good at foreseeing the consequences of his actions, he got the feeling that the nice morning might not end well for him. With his mate not coming that way to help, he again chose the easiest way out, trying to teleport out of the noisy rec-room – forgetting the tactician whom he touched and therefore took with him. The unexpected weight messed up his warp and when he felt solid ground under his pedes again, Prowl was in a less enviable position; with the Seeker dropping him in mid-warp he ended up in the floor up to his calf-struts. He screamed once as the painful sensation registered but gathered his wits together and commed Ratchet for help; and curtly ordered the fearfully keening, warbling, terrified out of his wits Seeker back to his cage to avoid further possible mishaps.

But Skywarp, trying to make right his mistake teleported them instead to the med-bay, with Prowl's pedes totally infused with the metal of the floor, immobile and hurting. Thundercracker came after them finally, finding them by the loud and frightened noises that his mate gave off in his distress; he knew that they were going to be disciplined anyway, so at least he wanted to see if Skywarp was fine and calm him a bit. He was all right, but Prowl was not; and that put Ratchet into a foul mood that both of them came to learn as more frightening than any punishment. He sent the Seekers back to their hangar with Bumblebee, who came in for that reason, having seen the whole thing on the monitors.

The two Seekers were put to separate cages in the echoing hangar, a fact that told to observers that punishment will come soon to one of them. Since Prowl was in medbay, thanks to Skywarp's thoughtless and dangerous warping, it was delegated to Ironhide, always mistrustful of them and being quite harsh. Prowl usually just put Skywarp into the box for a few joors when he has done something, but Ironhide tended to be more hands-on with his punishments. Small, frightened chirps from Skywarp signified that he saw the weapons specialist enter the hangar but Thundercracker didn't answer him; the younger one never thought of consequences when he used his precious ability carelessly. They already got a scolding from Ratchet when they brought Prowl to the med-bay; the messed-up warp put his pedes into the ground and the medic would have to replace them from knee down. Not that the Seekers understood all his ranting, but even Skywarp knew that warping into something solid was painful, and he caused it to their Keeper. The teleporting ability often put him into trouble in closed places, as he did it purely by instinct and if panicked it was downright dangerous.

Ironhide never liked the Seekers much, and he was angry for having to do Prowl's work on top of his, therefore he wasn't gentle when he slapped the clips onto the black Seeker's frightfully quivering wingtips, who knew better than trying to try and shy away from the touch. Since Prowl always told them all to make sure the Seekers knew that what they did was wrong, he scolded Skywarp with the simple words that he thought they understood, before giving the clips the command that would deliver the small shock. His tone also left no doubt that he was angry, and he saw both Seekers cowering in their cages before the black wings jerked back and the Seeker whimpered in obvious pain. Ironhide gave him a few seconds of jolt through the clips and scolded the kneeling Skywarp again until he bowed down in a way that was a clear indication of begging to stop. He didn't intend to torture the Seeker any more than necessary but left the clips on his wings nevertheless; he wanted to make sure that he got the message this time. Warping into solid objects were dangerous and Prowl was fortunate that it involved only his pedes and nothing more. The blue Seeker caused few problems, but his younger mate was careless and often had to be disciplined.

When Ironhide left the hangar, Thundercracker softly trilled to his mate, still bent and whimpering; the wingtips were incredibly sensitive and the jolt he was given was strong, painful, punishing. He wanted to cuddle the black Seeker but separation was part of the punishment; the Autobots understood quite well how tactile the fliers were and how much the pair cared for each other. They may not believed that the Seekers possessed real sentience – with Skywarp it was not even surprising – but they accepted that they had more intelligence than most animals, and certainly more emotional behaviour. It was often a matter of heated discussions among the crew as to how much intelligence they possessed and accordingly how they should be treated – some went as far as comparing the taming of the wild Seekers to slavery. Nevertheless, it was this or having the Decepticons with all the aerial force and deep down all Autobots knew that it was not a real option. Even if they caused no damage in battles – which was rare - the aerial viewpoint that they provided was invaluable for the Tactician.

Meet me on a battlefield

When the Decepticon alarm klaxon echoed through the hallway, Ironhide turned back on the corridor swearing and ran back to the hangar he'd just left; in the absence of the tactician, he was responsible for the handling of the Seekers. He quickly attached the controllers to their collars, yanked off the clips from the black one's wingtips, and ordered them out of the cages to where the rest of the Autobots were gathering already, waiting for the order to roll out. He couldn't have cared less about the discomfort of Skywarp, still hurting from the punishment, but he noticed the blue Seeker comforting his mate with soft trills and tender caresses on the abused wings as they waited for their orders too. When Optimus Prime gave the order to move, Ironhide switched on the Seekers' controllers and gave them the signal to take wing and follow the main force to the battle. The Seekers didn't understand battle plans or tactics which meant that they had to be given orders all through the skirmish what to do – usually Prowl's part but often falling to any of the officers who qualified to handling them.

They were trained to attack what amounted to natural prey to them; the enemy grounders, identified by their faction insignias. They more or less ignored the enemy Seekers; those on Cybertron, who saw more Seekers in battles, told that they occasionally fought in the air, but seemingly only when it concerned mates or rank-battles; they blatantly ignored the faction logos on the enemy fliers and no amount of training could make them fight with each other otherwise. Only a selected few Seekers were fitted with ranged weapons, those with enough intelligence and trusted to bear them on the enemy only; while most of them fought in what was the natural way for them, attacking from above with the vicious claws and sheer mass that outweighed most grounders. This battle was little different from many others on Earth; Decepticons attacked a hydroelectric plant and tried to make as much energon as they could before the Autobot and human forces arrived to oust them. Their trine of Seekers circled overhead, clearly in a defensive formation, while Ironhide gave their pair the order to support the attack of the frontliners.

It all went quite smoothly, Thundercracker firing his newly fitted guns from above, while Skywarp teleported close and attacked more conventionally, hooking his claws into one of the Stunticons and tearing his plating and wiring viciously; the still lingering pain just gave him even more incentive to fight. He was at it until he suddenly lifted his helmet and looked interestedly to one side of the battle, completely forgetting what he was doing a klik ago; then suddenly and instinctly warped back to his blue mate's side above, warbling hurriedly to him. The sight greeting them shouldn't have been new: the twins attempted their usual Jet Judo on the Conehead Seekers and managed to down Thrust who was fighting literally tooth and claw with Sunstreaker on the ground. The yellow twin was looking quite pissed, probably about the state of his paintjob more than his well-being; the Seeker's claws could not dangerously harm his tougher armour, while he was tearing into the sensitive wing of the flier.

But the Seekers' optics were not drawn by the Decepticon flier, whom they knew, or the toughliner whom they feared; the twins were known to play cruel pranks on them and the Seekers learned to avoid them as much as they could, no matter that they were supposedly on the same side. They were watching curiously as Thrust had support from above, even though both his Trine-mates were avoiding the scuffle as much as the Autobot Seekers; the twins were feared by all the fliers. But the jet that shot Sunstreaker didn't show any fear of him; landing beside them, the tricolored Seeker promptly tackled the yellow mech and freed Thrust to escape. He was wearing the Decepticon insignia on his wings, but neither of them has seen him on the Earth battlefields before, seemingly alone with no Trine of his own. A smaller Seeker than most, unusually bright and colourful, standing proudly on the battlefield, seemingly not at all disturbed by the collar around his neck – similar to what they too wore, the mark of their status. They looked at each other for a few kliks before the strange Seeker took to the air again and disappeared in the battle and they rejoined it on their side too; but in those moments something immeasurable and undetectable passed between them that required no words.

The battle ended as it usually did, with the retreat of Megatron's forces, taking the stolen energon with them, the Seekers covering their withdrawal and disappearing after them. Ironhide gave them the call to fly back to the Ark, allowing as usual the half-joor of free flight for reward, before herding them back into their usual cage together. To fly freely was pure joy, the highlight of their life, the only one really since they had to leave their home nest on Cybertron, no matter how short time they had for it. The Seekers flew lazily towards their goal but made no haste to reach it; they had plenty of time to have some fun up in the clear, blue sky. They slowed down to a leisurely cruising speed, banking lazily to one side and the other, crisscrossing their paths with a precision that came not from calculations but sheer instinct and knowing each other. Skywarp suddenly kicked in his thrusters, corkscrewed upwards and his mate followed him, playing catch with high speeds and almost vertical trajectory, singing to him all the way till he could almost touch his wing – when his quarry, true to his name disappeared from his sight and reappeared behind. The trilling laughter was contagious, the maneuver always the same, their little, shared joke that always warmed their sparks again, no matter the circumstances.

They went to freefall, touching cockpits, synching their speed, half-transformed arms holding each other before the ground hungrily rushed up to claim them and they had to veer sharply up and away from it. The desert floor kicked up plumes of dust in their wake as they barrel rolled, twisted, looped and turned around each other, missing the other's wing sometimes less than a clawsbreadth. The thrill of flying caught them totally, even the normally more reserved Thundercracker and they promptly lost themselves in the sensations of the wind susurrating by their wings, the warmth of the sun and the burn of the thrusters. Rising higher again, they played hide and seek among the fluffy, white puffs of clouds, tearing them into pieces of wisps or hiding behind one for nanokliks by stalling; laughter and happy trills echoing in the clear sky and their entwined songs on the way back.

The two Seekers came a long way since their first, innocent meeting with advanced technology and by this time they could guess if not the workings but the function of several devices that their kind never developed. One such kept the time for them without resorting to numbers, with a colored graph that meant their allotted time flying and signaled them when it was up. The controllers were another such thing, hated by them and forgetting about it whenever they could; but they also saw many times that mechs knew what they were doing without actually being in the room with them; thereby guessing the existence of surveillance cameras in their hangar. It meant that they had only the free flight time to think and talk about the new Seeker on the Decepticon side, who was forbidden by training as he wore the enemy insignia. But they knew that he was not to be ignored. Instinct was stronger than training.

Instincts and memories

Alone in their cage again, the two Seekers huddled close, unhappy to be back, ignored by most mechs on board who considered them to be nothing more than highly trained and useful animals. The cold, echoing hangar was far too different from their cozy, warm nest so they could never feel at home in it, even disregarding the forbidding cage around them. Not that they were mistreated, Autobots mostly felt compelled to be fair even to mere animals – and the Seekers were useful, efficient and mostly trouble-free. Still, it was captivity, it was not the freedom of their long lost home in the Sonic Canyons that they barely even remembered after so long, and sometimes the Seekers felt it more than other occasions, huddling close, whimpering quietly and softly keening for something that they hardly knew any more. Prowl, when he heard it knew – he'd seen them fly free and happy, innocent of war and training, raising long dead winglets by the crystal forest.

Had they been there still, it would have been a happy occasion, finding their third after so long time; but the unknown Seeker was enemy, wore the insignia that they must fight with as per training and anyway they could never go and meet with him in flight, court him and be courted, weaving their songs together until they reached harmony… the Seekers' instincts were suppressed by the taming, the reward/punishment training that made them obedient fighting machines - but the need for the Trine run very deep. Even Prowl, who probably knew the most about wild Seekers thought that they came either in twos or threes; never realizing that each pair remained so only until they found their third. The Decepticons who had more Seekers realized that they fought best in Trines and let them remain so, let them this one choice of finding their proper mates among the flock. Not that Thundercracker ever envied the enemy Seekers for this freedom; he saw them in battles and saw the restraints on them, the marks of abuse on the wings and the fearful way they reacted to their masters' signals… he might have been ignorant of the ideological differences between the factions, but he instinctly knew that they got the better deal with the Autobots.

Bumblebee brought them their daily energon and the Seekers perked up; the small bot was not afraid of them, and usually let them play in the hangar for a while, even joined them in it, before locking them up again for recharge. The sparkling games and toys he brought them excited the blue Seeker, while the paint and all messy substances intrigued the black one; anything resembling to balls and bouncing sent them both into hilariously exuberant games, chasing the balls all around. Bumblebee often admired their capacity to warble, trill and chat almost without a break all the time while they played; it reminded him of Bluestreak's continuous chatter but with musical tones. He couldn't help but notice that the happy noises were always muted and silenced in the cage though. His human friends rarely came with him to the hangar; Seekers were in general totally ignorant about sentient organic life and consequently reacted to the far smaller humans as though they were prey.

But he found that they liked all kinds of music, be it Cybertronian, human or from any other sentient race, and sang together often. Nobody understood their songs, just like their languages; Blaster and Jazz said that they could identify a few trills denoting specific objects or concepts, but not even before the war was the whole language decrypted. As for the Seekers, they understood several dozen simple commands both spoken and signaled to them during battles; they were quick to understand any drawn instructions, even complex ones – but beyond that… nobody knew exactly how much of Cybertronian speech they caught. Bumblebee spoke to them often, Prowl sometimes, and of course nobody could silence Bluestreak who also liked the Seekers' company and often volunteered to their care. Sometimes he thought that they answered to him; when in a specific mood, their ruby red optics were following every small movement he made, every sound he produced, in an eerily observant way – and every once in a while one of them trilled back something that he didn't understand, and that was the end of the communication attempt.

Prowl came in, fresh out of med-bay and nodded silently to the scout, taking up his usual place in the hangar watching the Seekers play; and Skywarp fearfully, guiltily came closer to him, warbling in a low tone, like apologizing for a mistake but fearing his anger at the same time. He crouched by the tactician while Thundercracker watched them from the middle of the hangar, apprehensively following their interaction - obviously worried about his mate but knowing that he should not interfere. Prowl of course didn't even think of punishing him again after Ironhide took care of that; but the Seekers apparently weren't sure of it. Since he became SIC, he rarely had enough time for overseeing their training and knew that others sometimes employed harsher methods that produced faster results. If anything he wanted to show them that he was not angry; petting the Seeker's dark helm he was glad to sense some of the fearful tension leaving his frame and voice.

"The 'Cons have a new Seeker. We saw him today and he seems to be a bold one." – Bumblebee thought that the new Decepticon Seeker was downright vicious given how he behaved in the battle, but cutting back on the sentiment for Prowl.

"Did they react to him?"

"As a matter of fact yes. They watched him about as intensely as they usually watch some prey or the like. I mean… quite interestedly."

"A single Seeker? That is unusual."

"Yes, he seemed to be alone."

"Was he watching them too?" – Prowl pointed to their Seekers, playing in the hangar.

"I'm not sure about that… maybe, but not as obviously as their reaction was. I'll check their recordings." – the Seekers carried a small recording device too that downloaded its content into Teletraan regularly. It was one of those nicer methods of making sure that they didn't misbehave and it dubbed for battle analysis too as the aerial view provided very good means for that.

New place, new rules

The Seeker went after the other Trine, all of them obediently following their masters to the Nemesis, shuddering again – as always - when the tower lift sank under the water with them. The first time it did he panicked, senses telling him about all the water above his head, the sensation totally the same as being underground. Not that he really got used to being here, it was all too soon, only a few groons since he was brought to Earth, to this planet with so much wetness and strangeness on it. He didn't miss Cybertron with all of it in smoking ruins, all the free energon gone and the acid rains in the eternal darkness that made flying a challenge at best and impossible at worst. Not to mention Shockwave, he was most definitely not missing him. The only thing he longed for was the company of the other Seekers in Darkmount; few as they were after eons of war, but still more than the lone Trine here.

He never found a partner, much less a third and it set him apart from all the others; since there were no winglets any more he resigned to be alone forever. It was half the reason why Shockwave chose him for his experiments – the other half being that he was the smallest of his kind. Although most Autobots soon learned that smaller didn't equal to weaker; he was a dangerous fighter, fast, agile and vicious, armed with weapons and able to fight barehanded as well. The experiments made him more intelligent too; he didn't understand what the Con scientist did with him, of course he wasn't told about the process that started the development of his processor not unike sparklings' growth; but he knew that as time passed, he understood more and more about the world around him. Shockwave didn't want the Seeker to be too clever of course, just a more intelligent animal that could understand complex orders, while retaining the loyalty that translated to unquestioning obedience in his single optic. The Seeker understood that all too well; obeying orders was a basis of their existence, instilled into them by harsh training, while their inability to speak Cybertronian ensured that they never questioned said orders.

As his processor developed and the memory banks filled with experience and learning, he understood the necessity of hiding this from Shockwave; as far as he was considered a dumb animal and underestimated he had a chance to escape one day. To somewhere… the place where he could be free was the single greatest problem that he couldn't solve yet. So he consistently showed only the tenth or so of his true development and even less as time passed, until the one-opticked mech was satisfied that his intelligence maxed out at about a level of a ten vorn old youngling and started to train him in complex battle maneuvers and the use of several weapons. Megatron of course wanted the advanced Seeker for his army on Earth as soon as he heard of it, so he was brought here. Unfortunately it meant that he had to earn trust again; the Decepticon leader's paranoia didn't even let him trust Shockwave's word about the obedience of the Seeker and Soundwave's telepathic ability never really worked with Seekers.

So he was here, in a cage again, just beside a slightly bigger one with the Coneheads in it, learning the new rules in this new place. Back in Darkmount there were a lot of Seekers on the ground level hangars, a lot of mechs in the upper level personnel quarters and the two rarely mingled; save the Handlers who gave orders and punishments they had little contact with most of the mechs aside from the battles. Here, he was a new interest for the bored and frustrated soldiers of Megatron's local army; there wasn't much they could do in the sunken spaceship and the caged, restrained Seekers offered easy targets to bully, especially as he was alone. There were rules not to damage them of course, but they left a lot to the interpretation – humiliation didn't injure and small wounds were taken care of their fast self-repair systems.

He turned as the mechs circled the cage, trying to keep them all in sight, but failing as they played with him. The shocksticks were set to a low setting so they didn't hurt much unless a sensitive spot was hit. The Coneheads huddled together in their cage, absolutely silent and unmoving, guiltily glad that it wasn't them being the targets this time. The loud leering and sick glee of the four smaller mechs was the only sound in the darkened and slightly damp storage room that was the only one big enough to contain the Seeker cages with room to spare beside. When a shockstick connected to his plating, the small sparks falling from the contact lightened up the place and caused his vents to slightly hiccup. The pain it caused was far from being serious, even as the charge grew with the consecutive jolts – it was more humiliating than hurtful, until one of them found the controls for the obedience clips on the wingtips. That hurt a lot and it was sudden, unexpected, unavoidable; he yelped in pain and hissed threateningly at the mech who caused it, instinctly flexing the deadly, but in the cage useless claws.

They laughed louder, taunting the riled Seeker with more and harder shocks from the sticks, interspersed with the jolts to the sensitive wingtips and joints. He knew that he shouldn't act so boldly, he shouldn't grab for the sticks and break the one he could clasp; he was supposed to curl up in a ball and whimper… but it just wasn't in his nature to give up until he could fight. Not that he could, not really… they held his leash still and until he got rid of that he was restrained from real fighting, only allowed as much as it amused his tormentors. Ever since his intellect developed, he resented the captivity and the casual cruelty more and more, understanding the humiliation in it – the mechs outside the cage were no better or more than he himself. He existed somewhere between his kind and his masters; more aware of his situation than the former but unable still to divest the yoke of the latter.

He managed to get hold two of the shocksticks that then lay broken on the floor of the cage and that left one mech with the remaining stick and the fourth with the clip-controls; while he could do nothing about the latter, he could easily avoid the single remaining attacker, even with the occasional spasms from the pain that spread in his wings. Finally, he got hold of the last rod and threw it at the mech with the controls; from the outside, the way he grabbed the handle and a claw flicked the toggle seemed purely an accident, forcing the shockstick to its highest setting, felling the mech immediately on contact with a scream. After all, a Seeker couldn't have known how to use a device in quite that way. The Stunticons were disappointed somewhat; the play with the lone Seeker didn't quite end as they had wanted it, but it was fun until the fragger hasn't brought down Drag Strip with that lucky throw.

Relationship forged in the Pit

Megatron watched interestedly the monitor that showed the Seekers' hangar. It was a quiet shift, not much to do, nobody to discipline and no plans to weave; the commotion down there started out as a nice deviation from the general boredom and he noticed many on-duty mechs paying attention to the same monitors. It was not general knowledge that the new Seeker was different from the others, in fact only he and Soundwave knew about the experiments and their results. The Seeker was certainly livelier and more resourceful than the Coneheads that they had known for a while. He actually managed to get rid of the Stunticons with only marginal injuries to himself – and showed not only luck but planning and applied intelligence in it. It was well worth looking at and maybe investigate further.

"Vortex, bring that Seeker up here." – he spoke up suddenly in the quiet of the throne room.

"Yes my Lord. At once."

He watched on the monitor as Vortex got down, shackled and leashed the Seeker to lead him up there. When they arrived, he was made to kneel in front of Megatron, optics on the floor, quiet and subservient, knowing better than show defiance like he did to the Stunticons.

"Do you understand me?"

A flicker of the red optics upwards, before the Seeker hesitantly nodded his dark helm in an answering gesture. He understood almost everything that wasn't too technical, but didn't want to betray that fact to the warlord, even though it was harder and harder to hide his intelligence as it grew. He got Megatron's measure since he was brought here and what he saw froze his spark in fear; he was far more dangerous than Shockwave at his worst, because he was unpredictable, paranoid and violent. Not to mention big and strong.

"I see that you resent your cage."

The dark helm bobbed birdlike to the side, the optics showing confusion to the meaning of the statement. He'd better not understanding it, because there were no satisfactory answers to it, nothing that would be acceptable to the leader.

"You don't like the cage?" – Megatron tried with simpler words. It wasn't his habit to repeat himself, but the Seeker couldn't help his limitations, so he gave him a little leeway. As far as he was in a good mood.

A hesitant, small shake of the helm, fear in the optics, wings plastered to his back to show smaller area for punishment if it came to that. Cautious glances to the sides, to check who is watching. The telepath is a danger, even though he cannot truly see Seeker minds, as they work so much differently, thinking in colours, emotions, flickering moods instead of definite words. Still he can catch some concepts accidentally.

"What do you like then? Fighting?"

Definite nods. Much less sensitive topic, easier to answer and not get hurt. Hopefully.

"Fighting with Decepticons, like you did just now?"

Wings frozen in fright. The allusion definitely promises punishment, as the rules are clear on this; he cannot hurt his masters, not even in self-defense and he did exactly that with the shockstick. He shakes his helm in desperation, trying to get out of the trap, but without words he cannot explain, he is not expected to explain his position. He shouldn't even have a position, a point of view, he is not entitled to one. A small, frightened warble escapes his vocalizer, scratchy and rasping, carrying no meaning beside his fear.

"Do you understand what a Decepticon is?" – Megatron was not really angry, the Stunticons were bothersome and they well deserved what they got – if they couldn't handle a caged Seeker then said Seeker could do as he pleased with them for all he cared. But all the same, he enjoyed the frightened cowering of the flier in front of him, who flicked a quick glance up to him again, and one viciously sharp claw from the shackled servos pointing to his faction insignia, emblazoned on his wings.

"Excellent. And who is it that you have to obey if you are a Decepticon?"

He took a few kliks to answer, like he needed time to decrypt the sentence and decide how to answer it; instinctly he knew that simple pointing would be interpreted as impolite, pretentious. Shuffling a step closer, he bobbed the dark helm to the floor, close, but not quite touching the pedes in front of him. Another fast, almost imperceptible glance upwards, the burgundy red optics making sure of the reaction. Good, he is satisfied with the obeisance. A small shuffle back, moving quietly so he wouldn't take note of it, but which puts a little distance between them for safety's sake.

"Good. See that you never try to defy me." – Megatron was actually impressed by the Seeker's ingenuity; not only he understood the questions and managed to answer, but he did it in a more or less proper way.

Unfortunately the conversation, such as it was put Megatron in a too good mood, one that made him decide that he liked the Seeker enough to want to keep him around more instead of having him in the cage. During the day cycles his collar was fastened to the wall with a short chain that put him into the corner of the throne room; although it meant no cage but his freedom was limited even worse and he had to be careful of every move he made, every reaction that he gave when he was asked. Singing and any other sounds were out of question either and even the slight comfort of the Coneheads' company nearby was denied to him. For a few dozen or so orns he listened to the Decepticon officers talking in the room and enlarged his secret vocabulary, but eventually the lack of movement and stimulus took its toll on his mood too. He ached for a battle at last so that he could get out and fly – and maybe to see those two Seekers that he noticed the last time. Not that he could do anything about them, but just remembering to their colors made him feel better.

Megatron's presence was a threat every time he was there; good mood was a rare visitor with him and when he got angry, the Seeker wanted nothing more than became invisible or one with the wall he pressed flush to, so that the storm would not hit him. He could rarely avoid it though. Restrained and forced to obey he had to be there and take whatever punishment Megatron's frustrated anger unleashed - on him when the others saw it coming and left the danger zone in time. Quietly whimpering, he nursed a wing this time that took Megatron's rage over the failure of the newest superweapon they were supposed to build. Apparently it exploded even before it was ready and the news were given to him through the com; the Constructicons were no fools and knew that he vented his anger straight away on whomever he could.

When he ordered the Decepticons to attack the human research laboratory anyway as he'd planned, the Seeker knew that he probably couldn't fly with his wing in such condition – or not far anyway before it would give out from the strain he had to put on the bent struts. But of course saying no was not in his power and by this time he thought that being shot down in a battle was a better-sounding fate than the one he was having. So he went with the other Seekers and followed his orders until his wing could take it; the pain radiating from it was so much that he screamed occasionally, while firing and fighting the Autobots, living up to his name that few used – a forgotten, average Con soldier called him first Screamer while they tamed him with fire, pain and the small, dark box, all Seekers worst fear to be closed in.

When he passed the combatants low one time, strafing them with his guns, he suddenly felt an extra weight on his back, and even worse pain than so far as ruthless servos tore the plating there, exposing and wrecking wiring and sensitive inner components. The damaged wing chose this moment to fail completely and bent painfully upwards; then he with his attacker was dumped headfirst towards the ground, scrambling desperately to transform before crashing into it. He managed it just before the impact which knocked him out for a few breems, sprawled on the ground, unknown to him in the midst of the Autobot ranks, with a gleefully victorious Sideswipe on top of him, hardly even shaken by the fall that the Seeker cushioned for him.