The gift of chaos Pt1

Some say that without a structured society we are nothing. Without structure the world as we know it would fail and chaos would devastate the planet. Or is it being trapped in societies web that causes us to revert back to our primal instincts?
Without madness, there is no structure. Without structure, there is no society. Without society, there is no chaos. Without chaos, there is no madness. Without madness, there is no structure…
Just like taking the good with the bad we must also learn to embrace chaos and strive to function as a society at the same time.
Without a true sense of the term 'chaos', it's meaning will fall on deaf ears and the purpose behind a 'society' will be lost.

"Starscream, the war is over, don't bring this up again…" Magpie sighed, turning away from Starscream and retreating to the balcony of their new home, that was now once again back on Cybertron. A 'better' Cybertron.
"We deserve better," Starscream hissed, so quietly Magpie didn't seem to hear him. Starscream reached out for his beaker of high-grade liquid energon and downed it, then he angrily slammed the empty beaker back down on the table, he took another look at his spark-mate. "Well I'm going out," he croaked.
"Where?" Magpie swung round, clutching hold of the railing to steady herself.
"Anywhere but here," Starscream turned on his heel, and elegantly strode towards the door.
Magpies optics narrowed as she watched Starscream tap the key-code into the door, he stepped through it and turned left at the corridor, without looking back.
Magpie turned again and looked down the three levels below their small home, where the base of apartments ended, waiting to see if Starscream bothered to look back as he left.
Eons seemed to go by and she didn't see him leave, sighing, she knew he had gone to the bar that was on the ground level. Magpie looked over the city that had been called New-Kaon, the only thing new about it was the buildings, and it was no longer segregated by Autobots and Decepticons, because neither of them existed anymore. The only signs of the war that remained were statues built that were to honour those who had fought, from both sides. A museum had been erected in a neighbouring city that gave the entire history; Magpie had worked for a short time sorting out the data that had been donated but once the assignment was over, she didn't return. She had already seen the true war, as far as she was concerned, she didn't need to know the un-bias version that had been dumbed down to educate the minds of those who had fled early on, only to return with their own families and to treat the museum like it was some kind of fiction-theme Park. Taking one last look at the new and improved city, that had become an attraction, not because of work though. The old factories had been turned into night-clubs, training facilities and homes. It was now no different to the city of Iacon. The whole planet had been reformed and everyone who returned to it after the war was guaranteed a job and a place to stay, so long as they were willing to follow the new rules of Optimus Prime. Former Decepticons and Autobots alike returned and were all treated as war heroes, set up in comfortable apartments close to work and given the chance to start a new life. Optimus Prime had saved Cybertron and turned it into a world like any other in the Universe, one with a functioning society.
Starscream still failed to accept what he had been given. After the war ended, Starscream made himself scarce, abandoning Magpie and their sparkling; Ouzel, only to return eons later. Magpie had welcomed him back with open arms and invited him to live with her and Ouzel in the apartment that he had found comfortable until recently. Optimus Prime had even come to personally award him a job position in Iacon, working under him as a researcher in a medical laboratory, which Starscream had eagerly accepted. The pay was good, good enough to get them out of the small handed-out flat they currently lived in, if Starscream hadn't been so persistent as to spend his credit-chips drinking away his bad memories in the bar.
"Mum?" Ouzel peeked around the corner of his bedroom door, he looked tired and worn down.
"Ouzel, sweet-spark, how was work today?" Magpie hadn't noticed him come home, she smiled sadly, Ouzels job hadn't been a nice one, but it was one he had opted to do. It was his job to help track down any missing or abandoned Cybertronians that had been seeking refuge on other planets during the duration of the war, to pass on the good news that it was safe to come home. Sadly most of the time all they found were mechs that had driven themselves mad or those who had perished. Sometimes Ouzel would be gone for many cycles.
"Oh, well we found a group of Decepticons on a moon somewhere, when we arrived they tried to kill us and in the end we had to abort, but we've taken their location and we're going to try sending a digital message before going to reason with them again."
Magpie smiled, 'oh good, no bodies today' she thought.
"Wheres Dad?"
"He's gone out."
Ouzel mimicked a drinking gesture accompanied with a; "glug glug," and rolled his optics.
"Starscream is good to us Ouzel, he's been through a lot," Magpies optics were watering.
"We have all been through a lot, his only problem is that he's selfish," Ouzel stretched and turned back into his room, "see you tomorrow, I have a couple of cycles off, maybe we can go into Iacon or something…" he trailed off before the door closed behind him.
'A couple of cycles off?' Magpie was curious, Starscream had been granted the same favour from the research lab. Cybertron had been buzzing with refurbishments since the arrival back, why the sudden shut down of operations now?  
Magpie looked around their small living area and sighed, well she wasn't going to spend the whole time here, and she certainly wasn't going to wait until tomorrow before she left. Heading towards the balcony she stretched, how long had it been since she had flown? Primus knows, but her wings were itching to do it now.
Jumping off the balcony, she soared up right away; luckily enough seekers never forgot how to fly.

Kittystrike yawned, staring blankly at the pale blue screen that had been scanning some energon samples she had collected, but it was like watching paint dry. The novelty of her research had worn off, there wasn't much else to discover, energon on Cybertron was always going to be synthetic now that the all-spark was destroyed, but still she kept trying.
Mainly because she was bored.
Kittystrike had forgotten how long it had been since she had seen daylight, she started work so early and left so late that she never really got to see new-Kaon in a different light. Her sire, Starscream, had left the labs a while ago, she knew of his new drinking-habits but didn't bother to say anything, she too enjoyed the company of herself since returning home. She allowed her optics to catch a glimpse of new-Kaon out of the window that sat across the hall, and immediately wished she hadn't, there was no going back to work now, she needed to shut off for the night.
"Still working?" a gruff voice asked through her communication link.
"Shove off," she hissed back, Falcon had been nagging her for mega-cycles to stop doing her research for a few days, and quite frankly, the prospect of returning home to the restless mech wasn't exactly tempting.
"Cool it, Kitten," Falcon sounded firm, "I was wondering if you were actually planning on taking the next couple of cycles off, I mean, you don't know when it will happen again."
"Research doesn't rest," Kittystrike snapped back, but then she eased off a little, "look, I will see you as soon as I can, okay?" 'More like as soon as I'm ready' she thought to herself.
"Okay Sweetspark, I'll be waiting," Falcon had the sense to close the communication.
Before Kittystrike could contemplate her next move, she heard another voice.
"Labs are shutting down," it was her superior, a mech she had never learned the name of.
"Yeah yeah," she waved off his statement, "I'm almost done."
"Well finish up now, we're going into power-down."
"What!?" Kittystrike snapped her helm up and was now looking directly at her superior, a blue mech with yellow details, stood in the doorway eyeing her with a concerned look in his optic.
"You don't have to go home, but you can't stay here. I think that's the bottom line of it," he nodded with a slight frown and left.
Kittystrike sat with her mouth open as she slouched back into her seat, moments later, sure enough, the screen went black and she was sat in darkness.
"Scrap…" wandering into the hall, she half expected to see others who had stayed late too, but all she saw was the same blue mech she had just spoken to, wandering down the hall, she picked up her pace to catch up with him before he turned the corner.
"But what am I supposed to do now?" she called once she had gotten close enough.
"Go home? I don't care, all I know is I'm hitting the berth and not coming back until my two cycles are up," the blue mech smiled and turned his back on her once again.
Kittysitrike looked to her feet, disappointed.
"Don't you have a home to go to?" the blue mech asked, although there was a tone of sarcasm in his voice, Kittystike gave him the justice of an answer, he was her superior.
"I don't feel like it right now," her voice had turned into a whisper on the last syllables.
The blue mech turned to face her, once again allowing concern to show itself, "listen, Kittystrike, I'm going to get some high-grade before heading home, did you want me to buy you one?"
"You know my name?" Kittystike looked up and started to walk alongside the mech.
"It's my responsibility to know the names of the employees that work with me,"
"I'm sorry, I don't know…"
"It's Channel," the mech interrupted, "don't worry, not many former Decepticons know my name yet," Channel snorted.
"Well, Channel, thanks for the offer, but I have a mech at home already,"
Channel raised an optic ridge, "I wasn't suggesting anything between us, but anyway, if you have a mech at home, why don't you want to go?"
"I like my space."
"Suit yourself; I suppose your own space is nice if it's a choice."
Kittystrike suddenly felt guilty, "okay, one drink," she forced a smile and expected Channel to smile back, but his expression didn't change.

Inkstreak had been waiting patiently, she had concealed herself below a desk and sat silently with her knees up to her chest and her helm resting upon them.
"C'mon, c'mon," she breathed, looking up from under the desk at the lights, waiting for the moment they went out. She then quickly darted herself back under the desk and made herself as small as possible, as the sounds of echoing footsteps closed in on her. She couldn't gage how far away the steps were, that's the problem with an artillery warehouse, it's so big sound is carried from everywhere. But then she heard voices that she was sure were near-by.
"Everyone out?" it called, the same statement repeating itself through the echos until it faded into silence again. Then the lights went out.
Inkstreak waited for the sounds of footsteps to completely vanish before she dared to breathe, she didn't realise it, but she had been holding her breath, causing her systems to heat up dramatically. Falling out from below the desk, she collapsed on the floor, sending another echo through the warehouse, but she was confident she wouldn't be discovered now. Everyone had gone home, the warehouse was silent and empty, the only noise now would be her own.
Inkstreak peeked over her desk, seeing that the door had been shut, she may have been locked in but Primus knows, she didn't care.
Inkstreak rose to her feet and smiled to herself; finally, the moment had come. The moment she had been waiting for since coming 'home' to a more organised and structured society.
Taking one last look to see if it was safe, she got to work right away. Inkstreak worked in an artillery warehouse, her impressive combat skills had awarded her this position, but the part they missed out of the job description was the bit about the individual never having to actually experience combat. That had been stopped under the new ruling. Instead, Inkstreak used her knowledge to protect, catalogue and store heavy artillery by purpose, so it can be broken down by a team of researchers and destroyed.
Occasionally they came across old training facilities, like the one this warehouse had once been, still equipped with the tools necessary for target practice; Inkstreaks favourite pastime. She managed to set up an arena in no time, using hologram projectors that were designed to randomly place images of mechs and femmes around the arena, that once hit would disappear. Inkstreak chose her difficulty; 'expert'.
It was voice activated, so she positioned herself in the centre of the arena and readied her weapons with a grin, "ready!" She screamed.
The first hologram appeared in front of her, she took it out right away. The second was just to her left; easy. Then there was a pause, Inkstreak blinked and suddenly she was surrounded by four large holograms that she picked off quickily, despite it taking her by surprise.
"Scrap," she breathed, but before she could prepare, six more holograms appeared from all sides, charging towards her, she managed to pick one off, two, tree, four, five….
"PRACTICE OVER. RESULT: FAIL" the speakers boomed above her helm.
Inkstreak turned around and saw a hologram stood behind her, it was a mech with a grin, his false gun was smoking.
"Sneaky piece of scrap!" Inkstreak yelled, punching the hologram that merely flickered but didn't move, this used to be easy for her…
Inkstreak growled, but she was interrupted by a familiar sound, it was the echoing footsteps from earlier, "is someone there?" the voice sounded nervous, but Inksreak was the one trembling. If she was found here practicing combat, Primus knows what might happen.
"Scrap," she cussed before diving under the desk again, "the lights!" she called, realising she had left them on, "double scrap," it was too late; they would know someone had been here. The only option she had was to leave through the warehouse doors. Inkstreak ran over to a wall of the warehouse and double tapped a button; it lit up below her servo as she waited eagerly for the warehouse to open.
As soon as she saw a small gap, she dived into it, narrowly squeezing through the space between the ground and the door. Once Inkstreak was out, she flew, hoping no recordings were made from outside.

"What do you mean a security breach?" Darkblade asked wearily as she followed the guard who was trying to hurry her along the corridor.
"Someone broke in, the warehouse door is wide open."
"What's missing?" Darkblade asked sceptically, running a warehouse full of artillery was a dull task and one she hadn't opted for, but unfortunately all the research positions had been taken by the seekers and medics, apparently there was no space there for someone with an extensive knowledge of animals, of both Cybertronian and Earth based in origin.
"Well, nothing," the young mech looked blankly at her, not seeing her expression that was masked by her dark purple visor, but her mouth twisted slightly in amusement.
"So why are you worried? I'm sure it was just a malfunction as a result of shutting the power down."
Darkblade walked into the open area of the warehouse and saw the bay doors were indeed wide open, but everything appeared to be in place.
"So what should we do?" The young mech rubbed his helm.
"Start by closing the doors maybe? I don't know, let's just get out of here and enjoy two cycles of re-charge." Darkblade closed the doors and stepped out with the young mech.
"Oh yeah, two whole cycles of freedom," the young mech smiled up at Darkblade, "any plans?"
"Nope," Darkblade waited for the doors to close before walking towards the main street that led into new-Kaon's centre.
"No family to go to? What about your sire?" the young mech scurried behind her.
"He's probably drowning his sorrows in a bar somewhere, that's Dark-matter for ya," she replied dryly, however the idea wasn't without merit, some high-grade would go down nicely right about now.
"Well, I hope you find something to do," the young mech waved shyly and walked off in the opposite direction, his shoulders hunched.
Darkblade watched him leave before breathing a sigh of relief. "I have got to speak to Optimus about getting a different assignment," she chuckled to herself as she continued her trek into the city, but something stopped her.
Darkblade watched someone fly overhead and land outside the warehouse doors, the figure stood there for a few moments before Darkblade heard a thud, whoever it was, they were banging on the warehouse door.
"Hey!" she called, rather pathetically, "the warehouse is closed, what do you want?" the figure bolted round with wide optics, "Ink?" Darkblade squinted her optics, to see her colleague better.
"D…Darkblade, I was err… just getting something I left at my desk."
Darkblade was sceptical, "want me to open it up for you?"
"Err, no. It's fine," Inkstreak wandered nonchalantly towards Darkblade; her superior, "it can wait."
"Thought you'd say that," Darkblade smiled.
"So, where are you heading?" Inkstreak looked towards new-Kaon, she saw the city lit up with the festivities that awaited the next two cycles of freedom, twinkling lights and some barely audible music was luring them in.
"I was going to get some high-grade, might as well. You want to join me?" Darkblade smiled fondly at Ink who nodded eagerly. Anything to take her mind off combat would be a good thing right about now, that was a close call.

"Magpie?" Kittystrikes optics widened as she saw her Sires spark-mate, although Magpie was far from being any direct relation to her, she was practically a mother to her.
"Hey Striker," Magpie looked weary, but was able to summon the energy to order a beaker of high-grade for Kittystrike, who came over and perched on a stool beside her.
"Not with my sire tonight?" Kittystrike rose the beaker and took a sip, raising an optic ridge as she briefly scanned the area for her sire; Starscream.
Magpie paused before taking a sip of her own drink, then she turned directly to Kittystrike, "not with Falcon tonight?"
"Well played," Kittystrike half-smiled. The good thing about her relationship with Magpie, was that neither of them forced information out of the other, they were quite happy to sit together all night and not say a word, and yet it would feel as though they had a hundred conversations.
But tonight would not be one of those nights.
Magpie was the one speak first, "so, any idea why Prime has decided to give us a whole two cycles off?"
"Nope, but I aim to sit here the whole time," Kittystrike took another sip of her drink.
"I would, but Ouzel wants to go into Iacon at some point."
"How is Ouzel?" Kittystrike asked to be polite, technically he was her half-brother, but the two of them rarely saw optic-to-optic.
"He's good. Stressed from work. But good," Magpie nodded, staring at her beaker the whole time.
Kittystrike thought she should say something, but wasn't sure what, luckily they were interrupted by some obnoxious laughter coming from a table nearby, making them both turn around. All they saw were a couple of femmes who were swooning over a mech, by the looks of it, they had had too much high-grade energon. As Magpie watched the two femmes embarrass themselves, she saw Inkstreak enter the bar with a purple and blue femme she had never seen before.
"Oh great, of all the bars in new-Kaon, she had to walk into this one," Magpie rolled her optics.
"What? Who?" Kittystrike turned towards Inksreak and Darkblade, she didn't recognise them.
"We had our differences a few eons back," Magpie took another gulp energon.

Inkstreak and Darkblade approached the bar, Inkstreak ordered two energon and oil cocktails, but asked for them in beakers as opposed to the fancy glasses they usually came in, Darkblade didn't appear to have a say in this decision, but she remained quiet.
Inkstreak saw Magpie out of the corner of her optic, "Magpie?" she sounded surprised and disappointed at the same time, "I didn't know femmes like you came to places like this?"
"Femmes like me?" Magpie raised an optic ridge.
"Retired femmes," Inkstreak smiled.
"I'm not retired, Ink, I will have you know I'm on call for a job opening in Iacon," Magpie lied.
"Humph," Inkstreak rolled her optics and took a gulp of her drink.
Darkblade could feel the tension and decided to break it, "Hi, I'm Darkblade, it's nice to meet you both," she smiled sweetly and held out a servo to Kittystrike and Magpie.
Kittystrike took hold first, "Hi Darkblade, I'm Kittystrike, you can call me Striker."
"Hi Darkblade," Magpie took hold of Darkblades servo with little effort, "Magpie," she announced her name sharply.
Inkstreak decided to make herself social again and turned into the conversation; "any idea why we have two cycles off?"
"Nope," Magpie shook her helm.
"I wasn't asking you," Inkstreak said sweetly.
Magpie shot her a glance, but Darkblade cut in again.
"Maybe it's because we're ahead of schedule?"
"Doubt it," Kittystrike let out a snort, "I don't know about everyone else, but my lab hasn't come up with any more research in mega-cycles, we're far from being ahead of schedule…"
"Who runs your lab?" Darkblade asked interestingly, wondering if they needed a hand, a deputy manager of sorts.
"Starscream," Kittystrike said with pride.
"That's why nothing is getting done," Inkstreak barked, she then picked up her beaker and downed it in one, "to Starscream," she raised the empty beaker in the air, "Cybertrons one and only high-grade addict!" Inkstreak laughed again, nudging Darkblade to join in the joke, but judging by the deathly stare Inkstreak was now getting from both Kittystrike and Magpie, she'd guessed it wasn't that funny after all…
"My Sire," Kittystrike began, silencing Inkstreak who now looked embarrassed, "has been the only one in the lab actually making any new contributions for me to analyse."
"Your sire?" Inksreaks optic ridge twitched, she had no idea.
"Can I ask, Ink, what do you do with yourself now? You know, since you stopped being a Decepticon drone?" Magpies turn to smile sweetly.
"I, err.." Inkstreak lost herself for a moment, "well I will tell you what I'm not doing, unlike you, Magpie,"
"What's that?"
"Starscream," Inkstreak hadn't noticed her beaker had been refilled until now, but she downed it immediately.
There was silence.
"I think I'm going," Darkblade announced, watching Inkstreak drink so much energon only reminded her of her sire.
"No, don't go Darkblade," Magpie shook her helm, "I'm sorry, we shouldn't still be fighting about this."
Inkstreak lowered her optics, "it was eons ago," she sighed, "you're right. Truce?" Ink held out a servo to Magpie.
"Truce," Magpie wearily took Inksreaks servo into her own and gave it a light shake.
"I'm sorry to you too Kittystrike, I didn't mean to insult your sire."
"It's okay, what you said has more truth to it than I would like to believe though," Kittystike laughed nervously and emptied her beaker.  
"Here's a thought," Magpie announced, raising a digit then placing it to her chin, "we're all here in a bar instead of going home, for whatever reason, so while we all have this in common, let's make the most of it."
Darkblade smiled to herself while Inkstreak and Kittystrike nodded in approval. Magpie was about to order another round of drinks, when suddenly she heard shouting across the bar. Inkstreak turned and saw a group of mechs, who had once been ex-Decepticons, cheering as they approached.
"Hey!" Kittystrike shouted, "We're trying to have a peaceful drink over here!" she snarled and shook her helm at Magpie, "mechs…" she hissed.
Magpie looked over once again and noticed Ouzel amongst the crowd, she didn't say anything, but headed in his direction.
"Ouzel?"
"Oh, hey," her sparkling looked embarrassed.
"What's going on?"
"You haven't heard?" Ouzels optic ridge furrowed and didn't wait for Magpies response, instead he nodded in the direction of a clear seating area and headed over, Magpie following.
"What's all that about?" Darkblade asked, eyeing the rowdy mechs with caution.
"That's Magpies sparkling," Kittystrike nodded at Ouzel, "but I don't know why he's with them," Kittystrike took another swig and attempted to listen to the mechs conversation going on across the bar, but it was just muffled grunts.

"What do you mean, he's gone?" Magpie was firm.
"I mean, Optimus Prime and his cronies have left Cybertron to go to Earth,"
"Why?"
"Earths calendar suggests that it's Christmas, so he's gone to visit some old friends I believe." Ouzel shrugged, taking Magpies beaker and helping himself to a mouthful.
"How do you know he's gone though?" Magpie was trying to hide her emotions, mainly because she didn't know if she was angry or pleased yet.
"Someone in communications accidentally heard a conversation between Optimus and one of his guards, he's been planning this for a few cycles, but he didn't want anyone on Cybertron to know,"
"You would think he didn't trust us."
"Yeah, well," Ouzel shrugged again.
Magpie looked over at the mechs who were drinking energon by the gallon, getting louder. "Ouzel, what are you doing with them?" she asked, still looking in their direction.
"Oh, those guys," Ouzel smiled, "they're a few colleagues of mine, they have this great idea."
"What's that?" Magpie was nervous.
Ouzel leaned in again so he could whisper, "we're going below the surface of new-Kaon, to the older layers of the city, word has it, the gladiatorial arenas are still down there," Ouzel looked excited.
"You're not going to fight," Magpie was being firm once again.
"No, of course not, they would rip me to shreds, but they are, and they're really excited." Magpie looked back over at the group of mechs, they appeared to have increased in numbers.
"But, it's forbidden, any form of combat is forbidden," Magpie shook her helm, she didn't like the rules and restrictions on Cybertron now, but she did feel a little trapped, and was half enjoying the idea of a gladiatorial fight to watch.
"Magpie, you know as well as I do that these mechs were built for fighting, and what has Cybertron got them doing now? Sitting at a desk, sorting through data-pads. They need to let off a little steam, else they're just going to up and leave."
Magpie didn't argue.
"Come with us, bring your friends," Ouzel nodded in the direction of the femmes Magpie had been sitting with.
Magpie held Ouzels gaze for a few moments in silence, her processor mulling over some ideas.

"Yeah, and then he said," Kittystrike deepened her tone of voice, attempting to mimic and mock her spark-mates own voice, "'Oh gee Kitten, I thought you said oil, not coil'" Kittystrike erupted in laughter, followed by Darkblade and Inkstreak. "So long story short, we now have two gallons of oil that's just sitting there, and our centrifuge is still broken," she shook her helm, "Falcons a laugh at times."
"Hey ladies," Magpie walked over and placed an arm around Kittystrikes shoulders, "we're going to a party," she smiled at the curious looks surrounding her.