#sylvy

It had been a month or two since the few remaining Elite Guard Members, Sentinel Prime and Jazz, left Earth but the Nemesis was still on alert as the two extra Autobots had managed to cause quite a bit of trouble for the Decepticons, even managing to capture Starscream for a short time and seizing one of their mines.

“So do you want to slip away from the ship later and do something?” Sylvy asked, having grown stir-crazy at not being allowed to leave the ship, glancing over at the seeker as the two walked through the empty halls

“That sounds wonderful, sweetspark,” Starscream said “but Megatron seems to be keeping a closer optic on me than usual. I fear he may be getting suspicious of us”

"You and Soundwave" Sylvy mumbled under her breath

"What was that?" Starscream asked as they rounded a corner

"Hm?" Sylvy asked walking straight into her brother, the Decepticon leader giving no visible indication that the force affected him at all while she was bumped back a bit

“Starscream,” Megatron said clasping his servos behind him, dully glaring at his second in command “Soundwave has located a Cybertronian pod that has just entered Earth's atmosphere and calculated where it will land. I want you to retrieve its content and bring it back to the ship before the Autobots discover it”

“Understood, Lord Megatron” Starscream said hiding his small sneer with his bow

“You know what,” Sylvy started spotting the opportunity and deciding to take it “I’m bored so I think I’ll go with you”

“...Very well” Megatron sighed knowing that nothing short of stasis-cuffing her to his arm would keep her from managing to find a way off of the ship despite the potential Elite Guard threat "Laserbeak shall be accompanying you two then"

"Ok" Sylvy sighed

Stepping into the control room Starscream and Sylvy saw that Soundwave was the only one present, standing in front of the monitor; tracking the pods decent to Earth, a ground bridge already open for them. Waving at the third in command Sylvy stepped through the ground bridge with Starscream, Lazerbeak being sent out to follow behind them. Once they were through the bridge the two found themselves in an open rocky field and the only thing around them was a deep crater several feet away from them, and judging by their surroundings it was obvious that this crater was the only place the pod could be. Activating the rockets on his arm Starscream allowed Sylvy to take the lead as he kept a vigilant eye out for any sign of danger while Lazerbeak surveyed the entirety of their surroundings. Sliding down into the crater the femme knelt in front of the pod, wiping away the dirt to reveal the Autobot Elite Guard insignia that was inscribed onto the door.

"This is an Elite Guard escape pod," Sylvy said looking up at where the seeker stood before getting to work on opening up the door

"Do you think they will come back to retrieve it?" Starscream asked looking down into the crater

“Depends on what’s in here,” Sylvy said finally getting the door to swing open with a whoosh of compressed air "I just really hope Sentinel doesn't come back. He gives me…" she went silent when she noticed the two tiny figures squirming inside the darkness. Cocking an optic ridge she slowly reached into the darkness, gasping as two sets of tiny servos grasped onto her digits.

Becoming worried by her sudden silence Starscream made his way into the crater as quickly as he could, stumbling over his own two peds, as he made his way over to the femme.

“What’s wrong?” Starscream asked, the concern visible in his optics and voice “are you alright?”

“Starscream!” Sylvy squealed turning around, a giant smile plastered on her face plates, optic practically sparkling with joy, as she cradled two tiny sparkling in her arms

The one on the left was orange and white with yellow optics and the one on the right was different shades of blue with a blue visor covering its optics. It was obvious from their sleek frames that one of their creators was a seeker, though they had no visible wings, and the other was more than likely an Autobot.

"A-are those...?" Starscream stammered unable to finish his thought

"Sparklings?" Sylvy said finishing the seekers thought "yes!"

Staring at the babbling sparklings, mouth agate, Starscream wasn’t sure what to do, he could feel something in his programming yelling at him to take the little bittlets and protect them no matter the cost, especially as they both reached out for him. Unsure of what to do he tried to raise his arms, servos twitching, so he could hold the sparklings but he couldn’t quite bring himself to do it. Noticing this the femme got close enough to move the little ones into his arms, the Second in Commands frame visibly relaxing once they were secured in his hold.

“What are we going to do with them?” Starscream asked as another ground bridge opened at the mouth of the crater

"I'm gonna take them back to the ship so Knockout can make sure they're alright," Sylvy said as she was handed back the sparklings

"I'll stay here and see if there is anything else I can salvage from the pod," Starscream said helping her get out of the crater and into the ground bridge since she could no longer use her arms or else she’d drop the little ones

“Hey, Soundwave,” Sylvy said the moment she stepped back onto the ship “do you still have anything from when the cassettes were sparklings?”

At first, Soundwave tilted his helm slightly to the side in confusion at the question, then he noticed the two tiny figures babbling in the femmes arms; his visor seeming to light up at the realization before he went off.

"You're back," Megatron said having walked into the control center as Soundwave left “where is, Starscream?”

"No time talk," Sylvy said rushing past Megatron "need find Knockout"

Going as fast as she could, without running for fear of scaring the sparklings, Sylvy burst into the medbay startling Knockout and Breakdown out of the tender moment they were having.

“Knockout” Sylvy practically shrieked

“What!?” Knockout asked, obviously annoyed

“Sparklings”

“What?” Knockout asked confused watching Sylvy as she placed the sparklings on an examination table

“Sparklings” Sylvy whispered as the medic and his Conjux looked dumbstruck at what sat on their examination table

“Where did they come from?” Breakdown asked still standing back as the doctor approached

“The pod that Soundwave found,” Sylvy said “so I need you to check them over and make sure they’re alright”

“Did you find any kind of information on them?” Knockout asked grabbing his tools

“Absolutely no idea”

“Well, we’re about to find out then,” Knockout said beginning his checkup “they’re both mechs“

“How are they health-wise?” Sylvy asked as the orange and white one grabbed hold of two of her digits so he could play with them

“Aside from being a little low on energon, they’re both fine. Can I hold one?” Knockout asked looking hopefully at his friend

“Sure,” Sylvy said as he gently picked up the orange and white one, getting this look on his face plates as he held him under the armpits

“I want a sparkling” Knockout said pulling the little one close to his chest plate, his voice barely audible, turning to look at Breakdown, who instantly looked like a deer caught in headlights once he noticed the look his conjux was giving him

"Help," Breakdown said

"I have other priorities now," Sylvy said watching Breakdown walk over to the examination table the other sparkling was on

“What are their designations gonna be?” Breakdown asked wiggling a digit in front of the blue ones face plate

“I like Jetfire and Jetstorm,” Sylvy said as Starscream entered the medbay and Knockout set Jetfire next to his brother

“Are the sparklings alright?” Starscream asked panting slightly

“They're fine,” Knockout said getting to work to see if he could find out anything about who the twin's creators might be

“Starscream!” Megatron roared from the halls

“Oh boy” Knockout said as audible footsteps stormed toward them

“What did you do when you got back?” Sylvy asked looking at the seeker, neither of them noticing that their hands had intertwined together

“The only thing I was thinking about was if the sparklings were alright,” Starscream said gently rubbing the top of Jetstorms helm with his free servo “so I didn’t say anything to him”

“Starscream!” Megatron demanded practically breaking down the door to the medbay when he entered immediately noticing the position of his traitorous second in command and little sisters servos, fueling his rage “I would very much like to know why you ran past me when you arrived back on the ship”

“I apologize, my liege,” Starscream said bowing slightly “but the only thing we were able to find in the pod were these two sparklings”

Looking at the examination table the warlord looked over the sparklings as they stared up at him with curious optics.

“What have you been able to find out about them?” Megatron asked his anger having been satiated enough to where he was able to keep his rage from being visible

"Well," Knockout started reading over the screen "they definitely have Starscreams coding embedded in them as well as an Autobots, but I have no idea who’s, and they appear to have been created around the time the Elite Guard left Earth"

"How did they get your coding?" Megatron asked glaring at Starscream

“I do remember being knocked unconscious and waking up in the Elite Guards ship while they were on Earth," Starscream said tapping his chin in thought "but I was able to escape soon after”

“They must’ve gotten it the moment they got you on the ship” Breakdown chimed in

“So more than likely the Elite Guard should be coming for them,” Sylvy said looking slightly disheartened

“Only if they can locate the pod,” Starscream said “from what I observed it seems as though the tracking beacon had been disabled”

“Good. The last thing we need on this planet are more Autobots being added to Optimus’ team” Megatron said, an underlying tone to his vocals that made it obvious that he was furious "I still need a report, Starscream”

Swallowing the lump in his throat Starscream reluctantly followed his leader out into the hall as Knockout and Breakdown looked at Sylvy with worried optics, even though she showed no visible signs of being the slightest bit concerned.

“Can you guys watch the twins for a second?” Sylvy asked

“Sure,” Breakdown and Knockout said simultaneously

Turning around Sylvy walked over to the door, pressing her audials up against it, only managing to hear some faint grunting from what she could only assume was Megatron beating the seeker. Taking a calming intake Sylvy steadied herself before opening the door, greeted by the sight of an already severely beaten Starscream, crumpled on the floor, receiving a hard kick to the abdomen before Megatron grabbed hold of his throat; lifting him into the air.

“What in the pit do you think you’re doing” Megatron demanded with a dangerous growl

“I don’t know what you’re talking about, Lord Megatron” Starscream managed to say through gritted denta

“Really now” Megatron growled tightening his grip “I had made it very clear that absolutely no one was to try anything with her or else there would be grave consequences”

“I made the first move you know” Sylvy intervened standing next to her brother, who dropped the seeker as he turned to acknowledge her “he had every intention of honoring your wish”

Her optics were focused on Starscream, not her brother, so the moment she gave even the slightest indication that she was going to move toward the seeker Megatron immediately shot out his arm to block her path. She was about to protest when she saw the look Megatron was giving her, staring at her with a look that actually made her fearful of her brother for the first time during her function.

"And how do you know that he didn't see that as an opportunity to manipulate you in an attempt to seize control of the Decepticons?" Megatron growled

“I would never hurt her!” Starscream grunted out, managing to pull himself off of the ground with the assistance of the wall

“And what about the dark energon fiasco?” Megatron asked glaring at the seeker “you ripped the shard out of my chamber and let me lay comatose in the medbay for months, knowing exactly what needed to be done to remedy the situation!”

Both Megatron and the seeker noticed how distraught Sylvy had become at the question, and yes the Decepticon leader did feel bad for upsetting his little sister, but the emotions were quickly replaced with more rage when he noticed that Starscream was attempting to move off the wall towards her. Despite her own feelings, Sylvy could still tell that with every movement the seeker made there was pain running through his system and thankfully he stopped when he noticed the look of concern she was giving him.

“...We, we talked about that” Sylvy said, her voice very low and optics downcast “and it was hard and it did hurt, but we worked through it”

This caused Megatron to growl and he was probably about to yell something else when Knockout came rushing out of the med-bay carrying a bawling Jetfire, who was desperately reaching out for Sylvy.

"Jetfire started crying as soon as you left and I don't know what to do," Knockout said looking flustered “I can’t get him to stop, I’ve tried everything”

“Give ‘im here,” Sylvy said holding out her arms, the tiny mech instantly quieting down to sniffles as he snuggled into her frame

"Aw, he just wanted his carrier" Knockout cooed at the tiny mech

Growling low in his throat Megatron sent his medic a murderous look, Knockout quickly slipping back into the medbay, only to reappear a few moments later with a near tears Jetstorm placing him in the femmes arms before disappearing again. Finally managing to gather up enough strength, Starscream pushed himself off of the wall, walking over towards Sylvy, gently placing his servos on Jetfire and Jetstorms backs, rubbing them in an attempt to comfort the two.

“I understand that it’s impossible for you to trust him, but can you trust me and the choices I’ve made?” Sylvy asked sending them into silence as Megatron eyed her

After what had felt like an eternity the silence was interrupted by the sound of Soundwave walking down the hall with Rumble and Frenzy next to him, the cassettes each pushing a wheeled crib in front of them.

“Thanks, Soundwave” Sylvy said placing the twins in one of the cribs together, as the other had a large box in it. Rumble and Frenzy looking in at the sparklings; making faces in an attempt to get them to laugh

Even with the little interruption there was still a noticeable amount of tension hanging in the air and Soundwave could sense it; so he attempted to usher his cassettes away, eventually carrying them off under his arms when they didn’t want to leave.

“How long has it been going on for?” Megatron asked once they were alone again

“We got together a couple years after Cybertron went dark,” Sylvy said quietly

“...Very well" Megatron sighed, after a long moment of silence, clasping his servos behind his back "but I will be keeping a very close optic on you, Starscream" he sent a murderous glare the seekers way "have you decided on any designations for them?"

"Jetfire and Jetstorm," Sylvy said as Megatron reached into the crib to gently remove the pede that Jetstorm had decided to stick in his mouth, so he grabbed onto one of his uncle's digits

"I need that," Megatron said wiggling his captive digit, an expression that only Sylvy had ever seen before seeping onto his faceplates "I'll have the Eradacons empty Starscreams quarters and gather the necessary items so it can be turned into a nursery"

Turning around Megatron left the couple, in search of an Eradicon or someone he could order to give them the instruction he would have relayed to them.

"Primus, that was the most horrifying moment of my entire function," Starscream said letting out the intake he'd been holding

“Yeah” Sylvy sighed, “I thought for sure he was going to rip your spark out of its chamber and then throw your corps off the flight deck” their attention was drawn down towards the crib by the twins cooing up at them “let’s get some energon in you two and then get you guy’s cleaned up"

Being the Leader of the Decepticon's little sister meant that she got the largest habsuite on the warship, complete with an attached washroom, a little kitchenette-type area that was used for storing energon and oil, and a large bay window that had been installed next to her berth and behind the large table that she put her plants on; so there was plenty of room for the sparklings to stay with her as Starscreams room was being altered.

“I wonder what’s in this box?” Starscream asked pulling the box out of the crib, placing it on the desk that sat close to the kitchenette

“I don’t know,” Sylvy said positioning the cribs near her berth “I asked Soundwave if he had anything left over from when the cassettes were younger; so it could be anything from toys to a data pad full of information on how to raise a sparkling”

Opening up the box Starscream pulled out bottles, toys, collapsible high chairs, and data pads. Grabbing the toys, the seeker put them all back in the box they had been in before looking over the data pads, finding that one of them was essentially a baby care for dummies book.

“Here’s something useful!” Starscream said walking over to the femme so he could hand her the pad “it looks like we need to water down the energon with a bit of oil before we can feed it to them”

“Alright,” Sylvy said, walking over to the cabinets so she could grab two cubes of energon placing them on the counter before going back and grabbing a can of oil so it could be transferred into the bottles

Picking the twins out of their crib Starscream swapped Jetfire for one of the bottles so she could feed Jetfire and he Jetstorm.

“You should go and get some stuff out of your room before everything gets thrown out,” Sylvy said once the twins were done feeding “I doubt that Megatron specified about leaving personal items behind and you should probably also stop by and see Knockout”

“Can you handle them by yourself, sweetspark?” Starscream asked handing over Jetstorm

“I’ll be fine,” Sylvy said as the twins hugged her around her neck

“Alright,” Starscream said giving Sylvy a quick kiss on the cheek before slipping out of the room

“Starscream,” Sylvy said sternly

“And I will stop and see Knockout” Starscream sighed

“Thank you”

Placing the twins on the floor Sylvy grabbed the toys that had been put in the box and placed all of them in front of the sparklings, watching as they happily grabbed the blocks to play with them.

“Knock. Knock” a voice she recognized as Knockouts said as he lingered in the doorway

“What’s up?” Sylvy asked as the doctor let himself into her room

“Oh, nothing much,” Knockout said, sauntering over to where his friend stood “I just wanted to check up on the little babs and see how they’re doing. Where’s Starscream?”

“He’s getting some things from his habsuit,” Sylvy said “and he should be stopping by the medbay for a scan”

“Oh, I’m sure Breakdown can handle that,” Knockout said with a wave of his servo “when are you going to give them a bath?”

“They’re sparklings” Sylvy deadpanned “they don’t need to be pristine twenty-four seven”

“Alright,” Knockout said holding up his servos in surrender

“You know if anyone else knows about the twins yet?” Sylvy asked taking a seat on the ground

“I’m sure they know something was found but not what it was?” Knockout said taking a seat on the edge of the berth

“Hm” Sylvy hummed as the sound of heavy footsteps came towards her room and the door slid open

Both of them turned to look at the door when it opened, Predaking standing in the threshold, sniffing around for something.

“Oh, boy” Knockout sighed as Predaking approached the sparklings, sniffing them “want me to get Shockwave or Blurr?”

“No,” Sylvy said watching carefully when the predacon nuzzled his snout against Jetstorm before circling around them and settling himself down on the ground

Both Sylvy and Knockout relaxed when they saw that the predacon was just laying there, allowing the Jettwins to climb over him and play with his tail.

“Aw,” Knockout said marveling at how the predacon had turned from an imposing beast to a giant puppy “how cute”

“Careful,” Sylvy said grabbing Jetfire when he almost fell after he climbed up Predakings tail

“Sweetspark,” Starscream said walking into the room, carrying two large boxes “were do- ahh!” He almost dropped his boxes when he saw the predacon lying near the Jettwins “what is he doing here?”

“I’ll see you two later,” Knockout said letting himself out

“He’s playing with the twins,” Sylvy said getting up to grab one of the boxes and set it on her desk

“Wha-?” Starscream was very confused about what was going on, not understanding how Sylvy was able to remain so calm about that beast being around their sparklings

“It’s getting late” Sylvy said checking her internal clock “we should get you two cleaned up before it’s time for bed”

“I’ll get it ready,” Starscream said shuffling around Predaking to the washroom

“Alright,” Sylvy said as Predaking picked Jetstorm up by the scruff of his neck and handed him to her, repeating the action with Jetfire before stepping out of the room, taking guard by the door

“How warm do you think it should be?” Starscream asked over the sound of running water

“I don’t know” Sylvy responded

“Can you come in here and test the water then?”

“Yeah,” Sylvy said joining the seeker in the washroom, sticking her servo in the water, satisfied with the temperature “that seems good”

Setting the twins in the water Sylvy made sure that they’d be comfortable with the temperature while Starscream grabbed some towels and the toys Soundwave had given them. Jetstorm happily slapped his servos on the surface of the water as he kicked his pedes while his brother was content with playing with the toys.

"Careful now," Starscream said gently cleaning off Jetstorms faceplate with a wet rag "or else you'll splash out all of the water, then you two won't have anything to play in"

“Sylvy?” A voice called out from inside the room

“I’ll be right back,” Sylvy said standing up

Stepping out of the washroom she peaked out into the main room, spotting her brother standing just inside the doorway holding something in his servo.

“What’s up?” Sylvy asked walking over to the Decepticon leader

“I found this in storage,” Megatron said holding out a palm-sized metallic sphere

“What is it?” Sylvy asked taking the device so she could look it over

“It’s your old melody box,” Megatron said flipping a switch on the back that activated the music, playing an old Cybertronian tune that she hadn’t heard in eons and she had a flashback to when she was little; of Megatronus tucking her into his berth, kissing her on the top of her helm before he went off to work, whether it was in the mines or the gladiator ring she couldn’t remember, as one of their neighbors kept an optic on her throughout the night. Holding the sphere in her servos, Sylvy turned it off, looking down at it for a few seconds before wrapping her arms around her brother's waist in a hug, his only response being to pat her on the top of her helm.

“Knockout had a hand in helping your relationship didn’t he,” Megatron said bluntly as he rested his servo on the top of her helm

“He and Breakdown are the only medics you have” Sylvy responded letting go of her brother “plus Soundwave also knew, almost from the very beginning so if he thought something was wrong he would have intervened”

“Then they’re lucky, I suppose,” Megatron said, placing a digit under her chin so he could tilt her helm up so she was looking at him “are you sure you can handle this?”

“I don’t know” Sylvy sighed “but I know I’ll have help”

“Of course” Megatron said looking at her almost wistfully, like he was reminiscing about when she was young 

“I should get back to Starscream” Sylvy said setting the box down on the foot of her berth 

Stepping out of her habsuite Megatron allowed his little sister to get back to what she was doing. 

Since the twins weren’t that dirty it didn’t take long to get them cleaned up, which gave them plenty of time to play in the warm water. It wasn’t until it started getting cold were they taken out of the bath and dried off so they could be put down for recharge.

“I think we should put the cribs by the berth” Starscream said moving the cribs from where they were by the kitchenette

“Alright” Sylvy said, watching the twins as they crawled around her berth

“Or maybe they should recharge with us tonight”

“Not tonight” Sylvy said as Jetfire hugged her arm “they have to get used to their cribs” she lifted the orange and white mech to her chest plate so he could hug her better 

“But this is their first night here” Starscream said sitting next to Sylvy “they’ll have plenty of time”“You say that, but I feel like if we let them sleep with us tonight you’ll keep coming up with more and more reasons for them not to sleep in their cribs”

“Uh,” Starscream tried to come up with some kind of reply but realized she was right when he couldn’t come up with anything

Grabbing her sphere with her free hand Sylvy turned it on and set it next to the cribs before lowering Jetfire into the crib, Starscream mirroring her actions with Jetstorm. It didn’t take long before the twins were drifting into recharge so Sylvy motioned for Starscream to go and get himself cleaned up while Sylvy got comfortable on her berth, grabbing her datapad and pulled up an episode of River Monsters keeping the volume low so it wouldn’t disturb the twins; waiting for the seeker to come back out.

"Why do you insist on watching that idiotic human show?" Starscream asked, tossing the towel he’d been using to dry off with into the washroom as he walked out of it, already knowing what she would be watching without needing to see or hear anything

"Because it's fun. There was never like this back on Cybertron" Sylvy said, shutting off her data pad "alright spill, what's wrong?"

"Nothing, I'm fine," Starscream said, sitting on the edge of the berth

“Star” Sylvy pressed, leaning against his back, resting her cheek on his shoulder

“I'm terrified" Starscream eventually sighed, resting his elbows on his legs, burying his face plates in his servos "terrified that I'm going to be a terrible sire and that I’m not going to be able to give them what they need emotionally or that I’m not going to be able to protect them or you, and what if they don’t respect me. I couldn’t even get the Eradicons to do as I commanded until you intervened!”

“Well, you weren’t alone then and you’re not gonna be alone now,” Sylvy said gently, rubbing along a seam at the base of his wings, turning his frame to mush under her touch “Lord Starscream” she practically purred into his audials causing his cooling fans to kick on