Survivor

Starscream looked over the lifeless shell of a Seeker and then to the unconscious human on the opposing table. “This will work, right?” came the concerned voice of his daughter. He sneered at the man and began to flick a couple of switches, almost excited in getting to test out Wheeljack’s [stolen] invention. “It should.”

o---o

Hours pass…

Slipstream waited patiently in the chair next to the new Decepticon; alone, as usual. She was anxious to see if it actually worked, if Miller’s mind had been transferred into the empty chassis. She studied the paintjob—how the gold trim highlighted the dark, forest green of his armor. The femme would have to show him how to scan a proper vehicle and how to ingest energon…

She had her work cut out for her.

He hadn't known what to expect with the transfer. The last thing he remembered was being told to keep still or had been his imagination. Red eyes blinked on causing the new mech to jolt slightly. Had it worked? He started to question aloud only to have a sound he'd heard Slipstream make before. Miller raised his hand to his throat and faltered. Is that my hand, he thought to himself. He turned the new appendage slowly. At the same time, he sat up quickly.

Slipstream jumped as the new mech came to life. “Miller?!”

Miller flexed his new fingers experimentally. Hearing his name called, he lifted his attention to Slipstream. She didn't seem so big now. He tried to speak only to trill once more. Frowning, he paused for a moment. "Sl..ip...stream....Slipstream. HA, I can talk!"

The noise that exited his vocalizer was simply adorable!
She pressed her pointer finger against his brow and grinned; “I can’t believe it worked. You’re one of us now!”

His gaze shifted upward when she pressed her finger against his brow. His own grin spread across his face. "It did...now what? Wait...what happened to my other body?"

“Um…” she paused and looked to small cooler. “Starscream felt it necessary to keep your human body on ice… Just in case.” Yeah, don’t mention the reason, Slip: the poor lad doesn’t need to know how father plans to reverse the transfer and kill him if he fails.

"Just in case...what? In case it didn't work?" Miller asked. As he spoke, he tried standing. For a giant mechanical thing, his movements weren't nearly as loud as he'd imagine. Why hadn't he noticed that about Slip before. "This is so weird!" He said growing a little excited.

Slipstream giggled and watched with great amusement as he tried out his legs. “You need to build up your strength.” She walked over to a large dispenser and removed an energon cube. “Here,” she said, offering the liquid to the human-turned-transformer. “It’s not bad.”

He nodded and tried to take a few steps. "Ri-right-ooph..." Miller grunted as he fell on his ass. He grimaced for a second before looking up at Slipstream. "What do I do with this?" He asked as he took the cube from the femme.

“You drink it.” She managed to force out the instruction through a cackling fit.

Miller pouted hearing Slipstream laughing. He'd get a hang of this new body soon enough. Sticking his tongue out at her, he looked to the cube once more. "Okay, drink it....does it open a certain way or do I just bite it?" He questioned.

Slipstream snickered and urged the cube to his lips. “Open your mouth,” she ordered softly, placing one hand on the bottom of the cube, while the other cradled the edge.

Miller did as he was instructed opening his mouth slowly. Taking mouthful after mouthful, he was surprised to find that the thin blue liquid tasted a lot like sugar water. In no time, it was gone. "MMmm, that tastes great." He said once the cube was empty. He wiped absently at his mouth.

“It does some days.” Slipstream tossed the empty cube aside; “Can you stand okay now?” she asked, holding out her hand to aide him if he needed it.

"Only one way to find out." Miller took the offered hand and pushed up. He wobbled for a second before finding his balance. Releasing his hold on Slipstream's hand he lifted one foot then the other. "So far so good." With that said, he tried to take his first steps.

The femme smiled, clasping her hands before her.
She assumed this is what it felt like to watch a hatchling take its first steps. She felt her facial plates heat up at the thought. Me… A carrier? Psh.

“What do you want to do now?”

He bit his lip in concentration as he powered through his first steps. Each one was more confident than the other until finally, he got his stride. Grinning he looked back to Slip and shrugged his shoulders. What did a new mech do. "Hmm...I want to find a vehicle to....scan and whatnot."

“Of course!” She laughed and took his hand, dragging him out of the building and into the cool, night air. “What did you have in mind?”

He laughed lightly trying his best to keep up with her. His eyes were bright and eager as they exited the building. "I have no clue. Maybe I could be a jet of some kind like you?"

Slipstream offered a little smile and activated her thrusters, keeping a firm hold on Miller’s hand as she flew through the air and back to a familiar air force base. “Do you remember this place?”

Miller held on to her hand as his feet left the ground. Not once did he worry about how high up they were. He trusted Slipstream with his life; had since he'd been dubbed her plaything. As they settled on the ground again, he scanned the area. "This....this is where I found you and your brothers, right?"

She nodded.
“It is…” She approached an F-15, then looked over to another F-22 and a Blackbird. Since their leaving the base, it was apparent that Miller’s people had traced the call and ended up using the site as their personal garage. “Well, it seems you have a good selection.”

"Well at least they didn't come after us." He said lightly as he looked over each jet. He finally stopped in front of the Blackbird. "How about this one?" He asked wanting the femme's opinion.

Slipstream eyed the large black jet. “It is attractive. Well, if you really want it… Take a good look at it and concentrate. Look in and around the machine. Memorize its inner and outer workings.”

He nodded upon getting her approval. "Inner workings, huh?" His brows furrowed as he concentrated on the jet. How was he supposed to see the inner workings without taking it apart? As if to answer his question, the image before him changed giving him exactly what he was looking for in a blink of an eye. Miller shook his head and blinked rapidly. "Whoa."

The femme giggled once again; “The joys of having a good pair of optics. Now, once you’ve got that image in your CPU, think ‘transform’ and your body should do the rest.”

"How do I know when its in my CPU?" He asked once he had recovered from the initial burst of information. As if something clicked, he let out an 'oooh'. "There it is." He murmured then concentrated. He looked down to his hands then to the jet picturing himself taking on that form. There was a whirling sound and suddenly everything was shifting. Miller yelped semi oblivious to the fact that his body was taking on the shape of the jet.

Just as quick as it had started, it stopped. Miller's optics reactivated again. "Did....did I do it?"

“Hehe, you did!”

Slipstream knelt by the jet and ran her fingertips along his wing, knowing they were the most sensitive spots on a Seeker. A shudder went through the jet at the touch. "Whoa." Was about all he could say about it. It was awestrickening. “Now, we need to get out of here before someone sees us.” She leapt into the air and transformed, speeding off; “You’re it!”

Hearing Slipstream's words, he laughed. "No fair!" He called behind her as he sped off to catch up. It wasn't as hard as learning to walk. "I'm going to get you!" He called. If he had been in his more humanoid form, there would have been a grin on his face.

o---o

On a nearby mountain, Thundercracker and Skywarp watched as the two jets sliced through the sky. “I can’t believe you did it, ‘Screamer.” Their trine leader sat back, unable to bring himself to gaze upon the spectacle. It was clear he wasn’t pleased with his only daughter choosing a human--well, a former human--but she was his only daughter… and he wanted her happy, and if this made her happy…

“Yes, well. I had no choice.”

Thundercracker gave an irritated snort; “You never could say no to a pretty face.” And the older Seeker soon found himself pelted by a rock.

“I think it’s romantic,” Skywarp added, and both of his trinemates simply stared in confusion. Since when has Skywarp been romantic at heart?

o---o

Slipstream raced towards a cliff and quickly shot down the side, heading straight toward the ocean’s surface. “Don’t hit the water~” she mocked, pulling herself up as she closed in. Miller grunted as he followed her. Well this was going to be quite the scene if he couldn't handle flying. "I'll try." He shot back watching as the water's surface approached. Straining up, he was able to follow Slip's example by just a hair. "Whooohoooo!!" He cheered. Moving up a little higher, he did one...then two barrel rolls letting just the tips of his wings graze the water.

This is what she craved.
The wind along her wings, the freedom; and a friend to share it with.

Up ahead, she spotted an island and decided it was a good place to rest. “Miller, last one to the island gets to sleep on the floor!” With that, she picked up speed, heading straight for the sandy beach.

He righted himself in time to hear the challenge. With a blast form his thrusters, he was going at speeds that he'd complained about in human form. Now as a transformer, the faster he went, the more satisfying this flight was becoming. His eyes focused on the island intently as he came closer until finally...he remembered to break. "Oh shit!" He cursed, his nose had just hit the ground sending him into a spin. Attempting to make the impact a little less traumatic, he shifted back into his humanoid form. In the end, he landed on his back sprawled in a mess of broken trees. "Did I win?" He groaned.

Slipstream transformed in the sky and landed gracefully; “Miller!” She ran over to the pile of debris. “Are you all right?”

Miller blinked up Slipstream. "I think so." He answered. Groaning, he pushed up and rubbed at his head. "Guess I need to work on my breaks." She snickered, and held out her hand. “Or learn how to transform before you hit the ground.”

He took the hand and pulled himself up. "Yeah yeah yeah. I still won so there." He stuck his tongue out at her. “Hee, you did. So I guess I get to sleep on the floor tonight.”

"Maybe we can find something big enough for the both of us. If not, I don't mind taking the floor." Miller offered. He couldn't rightfully take his prize without feeling like an asshole for making the femme sleep on the ground.

“Are you implying that I sleep with you?” And she shot him that murderous look…

He felt his face heat up. Miller raised his hand and shook them fervently. "No no no...just....not like that, I swear. I just figured that we could share a sleeping spot to sleep and nothing else so neither of us have to sleep on the floor."

Slipstream cocked an optic ridge as she placed her hands behind her back and began to walk around the beach, admiring the scenery. “This place is nice…” she muttered more to herself, glancing up to the moon for a moment, then to the water and how the light shimmered off the surface. He followed behind her taking in the island as they went and nodded in agreement. "Yeah..." He said lightly as he looked her way.

Slipstream cocked an optic ridge, but pushed it aside… for now.
“So, how do you like it?” she asked, casting a glance over her shoulder.

He was mentally kicking himself. Miller ducked his head and absently rubbed at the back of his neck. His offer had truly been an innocent one but he hadn't thought that it would have been a big deal. Maybe it was because of the new form. He was drawn out of his thoughts hearing the question. "It? Oh...its great so far. Amazing really."

She smiled and made her way over his side. “I can’t help but feel a little guilty for it…” The femme frowned and began picking the small particles of sand from her arm. Had she not been so weak, maybe he wouldn’t have had to deal with such things… and end up ruining his human life.

"Its not your fault, Slip." Miller stated. He didn't know all of the details about why he had been chosen but he couldn't say he had any regrets. "Hey, you don't have to worry about me puking in your cockpit anymore." He pointed out with a light smile.

Slipstream returned the smile. “This is true. But I was so looking forward to you cleaning it with a toothbrush.”

He chuckled. "I would have gotten out of doing that somehow."

“Oh? How so? Please explain.” She crossed her arms over her chest and waited for the former human to dish out the details of how he was expecting to weave his way out of cleaning the puke from within her cockpit.

"Ummm those details are confidential?" He said lamely. He had no true plans to get out of it. Maybe to go hide in a very small hole. Other than that, he hadn't given it much thought up until which was obviously too late. Slipstream rolled her optics and took a seat in the sand…

“Men are complicated.” "You've never complained about me being male before." He pouted. And then Slipstream had an idea; “Maybe we can put you inside of a FEMALE body!”

Miller's eyes widened hearing her next comment. "B-but I like the one I have and I'm a guy...I'd like to keep it that way." He had no clue what set the male mechs from the female mechs other than the obvious builds. It felt odd to not even know if his 'privates' were housed in the same area.

She stuck out her glossa in a teasing manner. Ah, if her dear uncle would ever talk to her about such things as the ‘birds and the bees’, then maybe she could properly threaten Miller… for fun, of course. But wait! Miller said he’d get her books. Yes. About those books.

“What about my books? Will you still be able to get them?”

He laughed softly at her reaction. Sticking his glossa back out at her before looking out to the water. "Oh the books...umm...I'm not sure...." He answered. It wasn't like he could just walk into a store to get the books now. "I can try." He offered with a shrug.

“What about the internet?” she asked, standing. “Thundercracker’s place isn’t too far from here. We can snoop around for a little while.”

He hadn't thought about that. "Brilliant idea, Slip." Miller said all too soon. At the mention of snooping around Thundercracker's place, he couldn't help but grimace. "Are you sue that's a good idea?" He asked.

“He won’t mind~” she added in a sing song voice. “Come on.” And off into the sky she went, transforming like a pro. Miller had some more protest in him. Seeing Slipstream transform, it was clear that she honestly thought it was safe. "Why do I have a bad feeling about this..." He muttered. Not knowing how to take off into the sky in his humanoid form, he concentrated and transformed on land. "Wait up!" He called as he took off after her.