Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Chapter One- Earthquakes, Storms, and Old Hangars

Late Afternoon, Nevada- Somewhere in the middle of the desert

The first thing the Seeker had noticed after his departure from the Decepticon faction was the state of the planet he was unfortunately stuck on. 

Lately, there had been multiple raptures—or earthquakes, as the fleshies called them—that had frequently occurred over a short span of time. It was surprising at first, but quickly turned into an annoyance after the third occurrence. And it only got worse from there, as harsh winds and other types of weather followed after the irksome movements. It brought no comfort to him as his current hiding place (if you could even call it that) was…less than ideal for someone of his status.

He was taking shelter in an abandoned Airport hangar. To say it was in good condition would be a joke. You could tell it had been rotting in the middle of nowhere for a good amount of time, as rust could be seen from every corner, covering the entirety of the metal building. Parts of the roof had fallen off or caved into the hangar. Panels had given up trying to stick to the roof when the earthquakes happened, littering the floor in piles. Then the wind came.

 Speaking of which—Most windows were shattered, the few remaining ones barely clinging to their frames as the wind fought against the unstable structure. Not to mention the amount of dirt that was being brought in! 

Starscream internally scoffed at his situation,  at least the massive amounts of air were ridding the hangar of the pungent smell of stale oil and other organic filth. He could feel it touching his landing gear, dust covering him as it made its way through the windows. He was currently in his Jet form, as the roof wasn’t stable enough for him to be in his regular stature. ‘ Why exactly did I leave the Nemesis again?... Oh wait. That’s right, it was because of that—THAT NO GOOD— TREACHEROUS—LYING—BACKSTABBING—FRAGGING SPIDER!’ , Starscream seethed at the recollection of the events…though, the description of the Femme was rather rich coming from him. 

Whatever.

 She was the main reason why he had to flee that blasted warship—among other things. Clearly, his “Master” was already so keen on the notion to replace him. Starscream had only sped up the process by never returning after his escape from the Autobots. None of which would have happened if it weren’t for Airachnid. 

Oh, how she irked him, Airachnid that aft kisser, going and trying to take his rightful position of Second-in-Command! How he wanted to shred her disgusting alt mode with his claws, energon dripping out as she bled slowly to death…the thought was going to become a reality sooner or later, Starscream would make sure of it.

…But for now, he was stuck in the middle of the desert, in an old Military Hangar that might as well have been destroyed by the elements. It wasn’t too bad, at least it hadn’t collapsed on him, like that energon mine…Starscream had almost been crushed to death by the amount of rocks and boulders that had been stacked on him. If is wasn’t for his Master Megatron, he would have been offlined.

…

Right, best not to dwell on that. Starscream already had a bad phobia of closed-in spaces; something that was wired into him. The fear only had worsened after that particular event. Nightmares and all.

Shifting his focus, he checked his energon levels. Starscream had been monitoring his levels since his escape, and the numbers were…pretty low, but that was why he was caught in the storm in the first place! Finding energon was a hard task to do, for most Mechs at least. He had been relying on his built-in Energon Seeking Abilities™  (one of the perks of being a Seeker) to find small fragments of energon. The process was still difficult, as his current frame didn’t really match the coding that was necessary for him to locate the fragments. So his locator would glitch out, or make the location of the energon off by a few miles, which would then make him have to transform into root mode to find the energon himself. Talk about a waste of energy.

The Seeker shook in anger, if only he hadn’t done that fragging frame change! But noooooo, it was “necessary”, just because his old frame was too bright and eyecatching—Which was a rather good point—but still a load of slag! 

“If it weren’t for Megatron’s RIDICULOUS order, I could have found all the energon I needed and more!” Starscream growled, “ I could’ve been in root mode, and probably fit in a much better shelter.” The Hangar creaked loudly, as if to prove his point. “Anything would be better than this deteriorating load of rubble.”

Starscream practically mourned his old frame. Sure, it wasn’t as sleek as his current one, but it had style , color, speed, and—most importantly—It had been HIM. His original self. The self that had been apart of Cybertron’s golden age, of days during his more scientific occupation. Of wonderful memeories not yet tainted by war. He had lost that, all so he could then adapt to the war. He couldn’t stand out in the sky anymore, if he did, he would be spotted and shot down. So his frame turned silver. He needed more weapons to defend himself. So he upgraded his frame to hone missiles, arm cannons, and claws sharp enough to pierce through thick armor. And in those upgrades, he had changed, Starscream became sharper, sleeker, lighter, and dull.

The only thing he had appreciated from his frame change, was the newfound height.

Though Starscream loved his old frame, it had downsides. His old frame lacked what his new one had—the towering presence that made him seem imposing. He could threaten and insult others by standing over them, emphazing his status and power. Except for a few, who still dwarfed him. Megatron, Prime, Breakdown…’ that wretched Autobot Wrecker’, he thought with a sneer. Okay, more than a few. But in defence, no one’s perfect! 

Now that Starscream thought about it, his old frame was probably the same size—no shorter—than his current on by three or four feet? Still taller than most, like the Autobots Medic. What was his name again?....Nevermind, doesn’t matter right now. Starscream's old frame was only that short because of it’s intended purpose, what it was formatted for. An Energon Seeker. A sub-class of the main three Seeker types: Military, Guarding, and Energon. 

Military seekers were the largest and tallest by far, as they mainly operated in combat and suffered more external injuries. Which is why they also had thicker armor and were heavier. Their frames also contained more weapon choices. A great number of them had joined the Decepticons in the beginning, but over time, even they got tired of the constant fight.

Guarding seekers were similar in a way, they still had thick armor and a long range of weapon choice, but weighed less, their main function was to guard high officers and officials. In some cases, certain Guarding seekers were chosen to join the Elite Guard; They were known to protect and defend until they offlined. In short, they had more opportunities to work their way up, especially when the caste system was put into place. A few of them had also joined the Decepticons, but had either left or offlined through the course of the war.

Then there was Energon seekers, created to locate or “seek” large amounts of Energon. They would be sent to secure the sites/mines and then protect the energon as it was transported. Their frames were shorter and had less armor, but their aerial combat made up for it. Energon seekers were faster, more nimble, and able to take down large forces in their groups. Which is why they had been a crucle part of the Decepticons during the war, but unlike the others, they had been targeted frequently. Leading the majority of Energon seekers to offline. More fled after that, leaving Starscream as the only Seeker in the Decepticons.

In a way, each type had their own advantages and disadvantages. But one advantage that every frame seemed to have was the ability to fly. 

‘Ahh yes, flight, the one thing that gives me an advantage to which those Autobots can’t ever expect to have. Such a shame really, they would’ve had a better fighting chance against the Decepticons…HAH! As if.’

Starscream’s thoughts, however, were suddenly interrupted by a blip on his HUD. ‘Dark Energon?’ , His processors stuttered for a moment. The signal was large—far larger than he’d ever expected to find on Earth—and he had never thought to locate such a concentration. It was a rarity, even for the Decepticons. The only known Dark energon being of the one Megatron had secured from his travels. ‘What is this?’ He rechecked the signal, more carefully this time. 

Starscream’s system buzzed, the signal now clearer. ‘ Wait’— His spark skipped a beat. The signals were unmistakable: Autobot frequencies. Primus , the Autobots were involved. The Autobots were collecting dark energon. The Autobots , the righteous mechs they claimed to be, were collecting DARK ENERGON.

And with them, was a Decepticon.

Those soft-sparked Bots had collected a Decepticon, and planned on using the traitorous mech to help locate Dark energon and add a new member to their ever-decreasing faction. Now, if only someone caught the traitor and—Ohhhhhhhh—This could do him well. Starscream could spy on whatever the traitor was aiding the Autobots with and then turn them in to Megatron, re-gaining his Masters trust! Securing his rightful position once again, and he wouldn’t be scrapped for running off like the… alleged …coward he was…It was perfect!

The signals were now moving, “Going to rendezvous sometime later? Hmm”, he muttered, as the Decepticon went another way. He locked in the signal's last location. Then, without hesitation, Starscream blasted through the Hangar's old wall. It crumbled easily and left a gaping hole where the rusted doors used to be. The wind raged outside. Starting his engines, Starscream pulled out of the building quickly and took off soaring into the air, careful to navigate the harsh winds. The Hangar caved in behind him, leaving a pile of old sheet metal and dust.

The skies were orange in color, as the Sun was setting soon, clouds were gone, and in their place took dust and debris. Despite this, Starscream excitedly laughed to himself and twirled in the air. He was going to get back into the Decepticons' warship, turn in a traitor, and win back Megatron's favor. Things would be returned back to normal.

“Well, looks like it’s time for me to make an appearance!”, Starscream preened, spinning in the air once more. Then, straightening out, he cackled, “I hope those Autobots are ready.” He continued to shoot through the sky, Starscream had a traitor to catch. 

Chapter Text

Dusk, Nevada- Above the Desert, close to saved coordinates 

Starscream continued to track the signals, having locked in their last location in hopes of finding whatever traitor was aiding Prime’s team. Trying to fly in a straight line, while dodging debris, dust, and other random items that had been picked up by the winds. It was aggravatingly tedious. Despite this, he still managed to, by some miracle, stay on track to the marked location.

Honestly, it was boring. But it gave Starscream time to scheme out the details of his plan. Which so far only consisted of arriving at the area as quietly as possible to avoid detection…probably landing before he arrived would be smarter…Yes. After that, get evidence of the traitor and whatnot, capture them, try and escape Autobots, throw some insults, and finally, bring the traitor mech to Megatron and maintain his status as Second in Command. 

Would there be serious consequences and perhaps a beatdown? Obviously, but he hoped to bypass those little things by pleading for his life and explaining why he left. Not that Megatron would listen to him. 

‘Those Autobots might as well have led me to a one-in-a-million chance! Finally, I can get that repulsive excuse- Arachnid- out of the faction once and for all—preferably by personally scrapping her.’ Starscream smiled at the thought of taking his revenge. With the thought, he checked how far he was from the location, which, to his excitement, was only 20 more…what was it called again?...minutes? Yes! 20 more minutes until he could enact his foolproof plan! 

So, deciding not to keep the traitor mech waiting, Starscream flew faster and practically sliced through the air. Was it making his energon levels deplete much faster? Would make it more tiring for him to fight back? (or run away) Yes, indeed it was. But at least it would also get him to the comfort of his RIGHTFUL position much faster. 

Starscream, out of sheer boredom, started to think about the Warship. It had only been a few…well…days, since his departure.

…

Okay fine. It had been almost two weeks. But he had never really thought about being on his own for that long. He thought that Megatron would’ve sent out a search party when he turned up missing! But no, all he received was radio silence. Nothing. No response. Not even one Venicon was sent out to retrieve him; whatever, it definitely didn't bother him at all. Not one bit. So they choose to lose one of their most valuable mechs! A key component in the Decepticon cause! Fine. It’s their loss anyway. To ignore his superior intellect and abilities, then so be it! See how long they last without him. 

“Everything’s probably gone into disarray without me…” Starscream mumbled. “No doubt that Arachnid is starting to move forward with that utter joke of a plan.”, The seeker scoffed,“Take over MY spot and to overthrow Megatron. Well, Soundwave’s probably apprehended her by now.” A small smile broke onto his face. Of course the Communications Officer had to have seen past Arachnid’s false facade by now! After all, he’d always caught Starscream whenever he had been ‘allegedly’ scheming. Making sure to alert Megatron immediately of his insubordination…and then recording as Starscream was punished…recording his pleas for mercy. 

Just always waiting until it was done. Watching from the shadows at a distance. Then disappearing until he had to intervene again.

…

Right.

Shaking the thought, Starscream focused on his task and how he was so close to achieving it. “With this speed, I might as well be back on the Decepticon ship! And to think, all of this is happening because those idiot Bots left their signals on and operating!” Starscream laughed out loud. ‘Those unsuspecting, naive, ignorant, soft-sparked Autobots have no IDEA what’s coming to—’

CRACK!

“FRAG!”

…Unfortunately, due to being so immersed in his thoughts (combined with lifting up his ego), Starscream failed to recognize the distant sounds of a rather large lightning storm. As he flew closer and closer to his destination, he approached one of the unnatural storms that had been occurring throughout Earth. Electricity moved wildly in the clouds, almost waiting for the silver seeker to fly in.

Something to recognize is that Starscream is made of metal, shocker really (don’t you DARE laugh). Due to this, he is more susceptible to getting electrocuted. Now usually it wouldn’t be such a problem because the lightning on Earth was less harmful. It still hurt, but at a much more manageable level. However, due to the Dark Energon coursing through the entire Earth, the electricity in the lightning had been significantly amplified. 

In short, if Starscream got electrocuted, he would be sent straight into Stasis Lock for who knows how long. Halting his plan to get back on the Warship and getting back to his title, or worse, killing him entirely. He wasn’t that eager to join the Allspark—well, more realistically, the Pit—any time soon.

As of right now, the Mech was flying at top speed as multiple strikes of lightning aimed for him, desperately trying to dodge. Starscream was executing any and every type of aerial trick he had ever learned, doing anything to try and make it out of the storm alive. Even if he couldn’t even see what was near or under him, as large gray clouds moved in and obscured his vision. A light drizzle quickly turned into a ferocious downpour, making the situation all worse. It was right then and there Starscream knew at this point he was going to have to pray to Primus for him to live. 

And so he did.

Now, Starscream was by no means a religious Mech; pit, he gave up a long time ago. But that doesn’t mean that he couldn’t still ask for pity, even if he knew that the deity wasn’t actually listening; For it had probably grown tired of the pleas of its creations a long time ago. Starscream didn’t blame the god if he had gotten exhausted, hearing the number of prayers that only happened because of the war they had created themselves. The system that Primus’s creations had used failed, and it was ultimately their fault. Still, Starscream had pleaded multiple times, mainly during his more unsavory “meetings” with his Master, hoping that someone would hear him. Even if it was a being that was now considered a myth.

‘Why me, why now—WHY FOR PITS SAKE IS IT ALWAYS ME!!!—OF ALL THE TIMES TO BE—’ His turbines stuttered, ‘OKAY—Okay, don’t panic, stay calm. Stay calm.—STAY CALM!— Focus, you need to focus—’ Starscream dodged another series of lightning strikes, letting out a high-pitched shriek as he barrel rolled in the sky. 

His frame was irritated due to the amount of electricity in the air. Usually, his frame could deflect the energy across his frame to avoid shock, but due to the potency of the dark energon, the energy just stuck. It dug into his frame, prickling against his sensors. Meanwhile, Starscream’s processor ached from the amount of rapid-fire thoughts that were forming.‘—swerve, now go straight, look ahead, keep dodging, keep going, don’t stop. Don’t stop, don't look back. Just fly— Primus, help me, please!’ But even as he continued his desperate pleas, to stay strong, to persevere and outfly the storm to safety- a new string of thoughts started. 

Panic set in, tainting Starscream’s thoughts of escape and instead introduced rather morbid notions.’—Am I going to live? Was this a mistake?—I should’ve just stayed with the Autobots, or maybe accepted my fate to—NO!—No, of course not!— I need this. I need to get back to my  position, back to the warship, back to some sense of normalcy—I need to stay calm—I need to focus—”

CRACK! 

“AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!”

Starscream quickly swerved off into the opposite direction, barely dodging the lightning; the evidence being his main right wing getting singed. He let out a pained whine at the burning sensation and tried to hurry, putting all his effort into his turbines, straining them to take as much air and fuel as possible. His engine roared in tune with the harsh winds, as he continued to search for somewhere—ANYWHERE to land. Opting to land on the ground, even if he couldn’t see anything below him, was currently the best and only option he had if he still wanted to live. 

Honestly, sometimes Starscream even surprised himself. How had he not given up yet?

“Primus, I have no idea where you are, or even if you care—I know I’m no saint—” Starscream pleaded, “For once in my life I won’t lie, I need to survive—Please, have pity—” Another strike of lightning hit him, this time on one of his winglets. It hurt. It burned. It seared. The smell of burnt metal assaulted him along with a new pain. He dipped down in the sky. No longer holding back, Starscream wailed. “PLEASE!- Primus please—I-I swear—No I promise, if you let me survive this—I don’t care how—I-I’ll—I’ll be decent—Maybe even good if you let me live—Anything!—”

But all the maneuvering was making him swerve off his course. Starscream ungracefully dived down from the clouds and prepared to make a rough landing on the muddy and half-flooded desert. His landing gear screeched in protest against the sludge-like mud, small rocks, and sand; all getting stuck together in a mass in front of his wheels and making the landing even more strenuous. Unsurprisingly, Starscream flipped over as a large rock lodged itself between his front landing wheel and gears. In a blind panic, he forced himself into his root mode in hopes of a better landing. (Definitely not letting out a screech as he did…)

Which was a mistake.

Starscream battered against the ground for what seemed to be an eternity. Dragging through the mud and splashing in small pools of water before it stopped…by colliding into a wall. Lying down in the half-flooded pool of sandy mud, his vents cycled harshly. Starscream was definitely injured, in more ways than he could process right now. Pain fogged up his mind. He was overstimulated from the amount of events that had just happened, and it felt like some large being had just thrown him around and discarded him. Which, in hindsight, he should’ve been used to the feeling of THAT by now. Starscream let out a static-laced groan. 

…

After lying down in the pouring rain for a while and letting his systems recover. The pain eased, just enough for Starscream’s mind to catch up with him, and the realization slowly made itself known. He had actually made it through whatever crazy storm had just happened. He had survived!

Barley.

Hesitating, Starscream slowly sat up from where he was and clung to a nearby rock, claws sinking in, and pulled himself up. His face contorted into a painful expression and he let out another strained noise as his body protested. But he held on and slowly looked up at the sky, squinting. The clouds had moved, the rain stopping into a light drizzle. The storm was at a distance—for now. He had to get out of here, and fast.

…So much for an “easy” plan.

-------------------------------------------- Time skip---------------------------------------

Dusk?- Nevada, in the middle of the Desert

Starscream shivered in the cold air. Finally, after walking away from that nightmare, he had found some type of sanctuary. He was currently sitting down on a tall rock, near some destroyed rubble of other rocks. The rocks seemed fresh for some unknown reason, not that he cared about that right now. All that mattered was that he escaped that horrifying storm. The memory of it made him shudder and wince as the air clashed with his burnt wings and frame. Great, another thing to add to his list of growing injuries.

After such a rough landing, all he wanted to do was recharge for what seemed like an eternity, but even that was asking for too much. His frame was battered up, slightly burnt, muddy, dented and scratched. Not only that, but his HUD was also broken. He didn’t even know if the other Decepticons would be able to pick up his signal! The only thing he could do was monitor his energon levels, see the damage he had acquired, and occasionally check the weather. Not even the time, but based on the position of the sun…it still seemed to be around Dusk? He couldn’t tell if his weapons would work right now; if they did, he didn’t want to risk it. To say he was in good spirits was a cruel joke. But Starscream couldn’t even rest for long, as he still had a mission to do. Speaking of which, how far was he from those coordinates? 

He tried booting up his systems, once again, his locator was glitching from the storm's damage. “Come on, come on! Work, you useless piece of scrap!”, Starscream growled. His locator protested once more before slowly loading up. “Finally, took you long enough.”

“Alright let’s see.”, he muttered, “I got a bit misguided from that storm…The coordinates still seem to be saved...Alright, not too—I—HOW?—AFTER EVERYTHING!” Starscream let out a huff. Not only had he been blown entirely off course from the coordinates, but he had also been heading the wrong direction when staggering away from the storm. Which now meant he had lost any hope of locating the traitor and getting back to the Decepticon ship. 

The Seeker held his head in his servos. ‘Maybe I should’ve just stayed in that rusty hangar instead; perhaps I was being a bit too harsh to it…’ He sighed and gave in to the fatigue, laying down on his front. 

A small and steady breeze wafted through the desert. Starscream felt the air travel through his body, slightly cooling it down as his fans turned on to try and manage the heat his frame was harboring. It was nice in a way, after everything he had been through, finally getting some sort of peace. It was foreign for him to just…be. To not have anyone pester him, to not be scolded. No orders being yelled at for him once. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad for him to relax once in a while. 

A small ping, however, alerted him that his energon levels had steadily decreased and that refueling was recommended. Moving slowly, Starscream opened his subspace and brought out a small energon fragment. It shone slightly, as the little light from the sky came through the clouds. It barely shadowed his servo. The piece was a bit jagged, but it was still energon nonetheless. After looking at it for a while longer, he decided to eat it. Raw. It made a crunching noise as he bit through, his denta slightly ached, but it was the only thing he had as of right now. And he wanted to be able to move from this spot. 

 It was a well-known fact that Cybertronians weren’t supposed to eat energon raw, as it could be dangerous unprocessed. Some had sustained internal damage, making it impossible to ever eat normally again. That or they wouldn’t function properly, lacking the energy that they needed, and getting sick in the process. But Starscream was an energon seeker—something most forgot—so for emergencies, he could eat raw unprocessed energon if the situation called for it. He did have the code to digest it after all; not that it was pleasant, it made his tanks ache, but it worked, and it had saved him countless times. 

The process went something like this: 

• First, his denta, which were sharper than most bots, ground down the raw energon to small bits and shards. 
• Where it would be sent to his main fuel chamber (aka his tanks)—which, only after activation of a certain energon processing code, would be coated in a highly acidic liquid for a short amount of time.
•  The acid would then break down the energon, digesting it into liquid form. It took roughly 20-30 minutes, depending on the amount eaten. But it could take longer if his systems were in critical condition (which they were as of right now). 
• In the end, the energon was properly cycled throughout his body, distributed to the most essential areas and systems. 

It was intriguing now that he thought about it…

Starscream swallowed the rest of the shard and quickly activated the code, hoping it would work. Then, laying back down, he rested on the rock and let out a pleased sigh. 

‘At least I’ve eaten now, that should bring up my energy levels a bit. Better than going offline and rusting away on the ground like some piece of organic filth.’ he paused. Listening to the idle quietness of the desert. ‘...How long WOULD it take for me to offline at this point?’, Starscream looked around, ‘The elements have been rather harsh. Not to mention, I have no accomplices, no allies, no one to protect me. Which means I’m more susceptible to getting hurt by either faction! It doesn’t help that Megatron probably thinks I’ve betrayed him.’ he shuddered at the thought.

If Starscream’s ex-master did find him, well, let’s just say the pain that he’s experiencing now would be considered nothing. ‘It’s not like I have anything going on now, I don’t even have anywhere to stay, no steady food source. My Energon coding can only get me through so much because of this blasted frame! Ugghhh—How long will it take for some mech to find me and end my misery?....’ The Seeker let out a dramatic groan.

Not long apparently, as he could hear voices in the distance. It vaguely sounded like an argument of sorts? Talking about, well, something. Whatever it was, it seemed to be getting pretty heated. Perhaps he should check? Only briefly of course, he didn’t want to be seen so soon. 

Quietly, Starscream moved closer to the edge of the rock tower, lowering his wings to his back, and cautiously peeked over. He had to stop himself from letting out a…well…scream, as the sight before him stalled his processor.

Never in his entire life would Starscream ever have imagined seeing—seeing Megatron, not only outside of his beloved warship, but standing side by side with the AUTOBOTS of all mechs. It was absurd. Never in all the vorns of war had his so-called Master tried to reason with the Prime’s faction, let alone actually listen to them. And now, suddenly, the moment he left, they were having friendly little meet-ups? Making plans together?!

Starscream was shaking—whether from the wind, fear, exhaustion, or his mounting rage, even he didn’t know. His frame ached, but his spark, his spark was burning. Rage slowly consumed his thoughts. Yet Starscream stayed hidden. Being spotted now would only secure his doom. Despite what others said, he was smart enough not to make such a foolish decision and charge into a “secret” meeting.

“What a hypocrite,” Starscream seethed. “My so-called Leader—fraternizing with the enemy! Whispering secrets, strategizing with a Prime—A PRIME! Optimus Prime, his sworn enemy nonetheless.” The Seeker paused his rant. “...Wait...his enemy?” Starscream’s processor clicked it together and his optics widened. He almost jumped up in glee on the formation he was on.

‘Megatron is the traitor…’A slow, wicked grin spread across his faceplate. 

Oh, this was too perfect.

If Starscream could gather evidence—just enough to show Megatron collaborating with the enemy—and deliver it to the crew on the Nemesis? Not only would he be vindicated for leaving, he could replace Megatron entirely. Not second-in-command anymore, but the Leader of the entire Decepticon faction. All it would take was one perfect move.

 ‘Maybe Primus did have pity on me after all…’, Starscream thought, smugly grinning to himself. 

He inched forward, optics narrowing, audials tuning in more carefully to the conversation he’d nearly missed. He wouldn’t lose a word of it—not now. In the words of Knockout, that irritable doctor, this was going to be rather…ah… juicy.

Chapter Text

???, Nevada- On a rock, in the Desert

As Starscream moved closer to the edge of the rock, he was careful to lower himself. It turns out that the mud decorating his frame was rather useful, as it helped disguise him and blend in with the reddish color of the rocks. The Seeker scoffed at the realization. ‘The first action I’ll take when I’m leader is a nice solvent shower, some polish wouldn’t hurt either…perhaps Knockout will take pity on me—Hmpf, all to blend into these organic formations! The things I do for usurpation. Honestly-’ A dreadfully familiar voice spoke, interrupting the thought.

“—However, I have a proposal.”, Megatron addressed, as he strided towards the Autobots, “Join me in defeating our enemy…Unicron. The Chaos Bringer.”

The suggestion seemed to be regarded with mistrust. The Prime glared and fixed his stance, unconvinced. The green wrecker, Bulkhead, glared at Megatron as well. His optics narrowed in hate, jaw clenched. The smaller bots, the Scout and that accursed Femme, had turned to each other and shared a look. The faction did not trust the Warlord, and rightfully so.

Meanwhile, Starscream struggled not to laugh at Megatron's failure. ‘He thinks that he can convince them of what? Working TOGETHER? What a load of slag. Oh please—Even I had more success in manipulating those soft-sparked idiots.’ Starscream rolled his optics as reminisced about the memory. It had been hard to convince the group at first, but give them a sob story, look and act pathetic enough—WELL—things change pretty quickly. Well, at least the Prime’s mind had…

But Starscream’s idiot of a Leader couldn’t use some sentimental story, or act pathetic (his pride wouldn’t let him). No, no, no…it simply wasn’t his way. Megatron used threats, violence, and brute force. He was a battling Mech, a gladiator,  that was just his twisted way of “convincing” others to listen to him. 

“Oh, this is going to be hilarious to watch. I will enjoy every second of your failure, Master.” Starscream sneered under his breath. Turning his gaze back to the Mechs, he paused. ’Wait a minute…Did they…did he just say UNICRON?!—’

“Because Megatron's pride wouldn’t allow anyone other than himself to rule this planet.”, Optimus spat out as he stalked towards Megatron. Though it sounded like the mech was replying to someone on his comm-link.

After gaining some of his senses back from the shock, another thought (thankfully) took over Starscream’s dazed mind. Just who was the Autobot leader was replying to?

‘Probably speaking to the Medic, what the frag is his name again? Some type of organic object…Hatchet?—No, that's not it—erm—Match-it?—UGGHH. That’s even worse!—’ Starscream dug around his processor for a while, contemplating different names until the designation finally popped up. He was thinking about types of Earth objects (disgusting) and anything that he could remember about medics going onto the field, mainly from earlier in the war. 

He remembered when they had more soldiers back then. Before everyone either got their spark extinguished or fled for their own survival. In retrospect, he should have done the second option, Oh well. Too late to change his mind now, or rather, faction…that chance was gone. Anyways, it was during a specific memory, during more of a large battle, that Starscream remembered the name of the Orange and White bot. ‘AHA! Ratchet!—I never see him that much. Seems to spend his most of his time at the Autobot base. Operating the ground bridge if I’m correct. Only coming out when someone gets critically injured…Hmm, that could be useful.’

Apparently, Starscream had missed a bit of the conversation, as sounds of protest and attempted reasoning started to interrupt his recollection and future plans. But it wasn’t those comments that made him almost fall off the edge of the rock in surprise, no, it was…

“A truce between Autobot and Decepticon—” the Prime started.

‘WHAT!? No. No. NO!— that wasn’t—he didn’t—The Prime couldn’t actually mean that—that—’ Starscream rationalized as he moved closer towards the edge of the rock, practically hanging off.

“—How long do you expect us to believe that will last?”, Optimus finished in an accusing tone. His stance was once again closed in, but prepared for any reply, vocal or physical.

“Only as long as mutually beneficial.”, Megatron replied with a wave of his clawed servo.

“And when our ‘proposed’ shared mission is complete?” Optimus further questioned.

“I will conquer this Earth, My Way.”, Megatron stated in a low voice.

Starscream froze at the statement, along with everyone else, waiting for someone to break the silence. His wings twitched in anticipation. Vents silently cycling, careful not to make a sound. ‘How are they going to respond? Obviously, I wouldn’t just agree after hearing something that brutal. Of course, Megatron was never the gentle type…HAH! What a laughable thought, Megatron, being kind? Offering help?—No way. Not in a million Stellar-Cycles.’

Eventually, the silence was broken by Arcee, and with that, the conversation continued. Megatron going ahead and  giving out why the Autobots should trust him and agree to a temporary alliance. Blah, Blah, Blah. Whatever.

Starscream, on the other hand, needed more time to process whatever the Pits he just heard. Carefully backing away from the edge, he sat down and stared into the dull gray sky. 

First of all, Unicron was alive—Unicron the chaos bringer, planet destroyer, ultimate ancient evil—THAT Unicron was back. Apparently, he wanted to destroy Earth. Now, usually that wouldn’t bother Starscream; he would’ve celebrated and popped open some high-grade (from his secret stash) and danced until the sun came up. Earth destroyed? Wonderful, beautiful, great even. There was just one tiny, little detail that changed all of this. That detail is, well, funnily enough—Starscream is currently on Earth—so—If Unicron destroys Earth, then Starscream would probably die too. 

And Starscream, for reasons yet unknown, still had enough motivation and will to live, to NOT want to have his spark extinguished. So yes, from his perspective, this was very bad. Bad on another level that even the term “bad” couldn’t describe it. Catastrophic might’ve, but to an extent—the situation had probably created a new category for something so catastrophic that bad couldn’t even cover it. 

Starscream put his head in his hands at the thought.

“—Even if we agree, Unicrons at the Center of the Earth.”, Bulkhead asked with a dark look, “How are we supposed to get there? DRIVE???”, he finished.

‘He’s in the core of the planet, Unicron’s in the-the core of—’ As of right now, Starscream felt that if any other surprising comments were made, he would offline out of sheer panic and fear. So, wrapping his arms around his injured and now shaking frame, he strained his auditory receptors and tried to listen to the conversation. Keyword, tried.

“You can provide Unicron’s exact coordinates?”, the Autobot leader inquired with a tilt of his head.

“If you transport us to this planet's core, I can lead you directly into Unicron’s spark. The very heart of his darkness.”, Megatron responded, looking as if he was on the brink of madness.

“Primus, kill me now. At this rate, I might as well give up, there’s no way that they’re actually considering working together.’” Starscream whispered as he clasped his servos together and stared straight into the sky. 

“—How are we supposed to stop Unicron?”Arcee asked.

No reply was made. The Prime, however, gave a hard stare to Megatron, apparently communicating something through the look. Megatron, in turn, gave a silent nod, making the Autobot leader finally reply to his team.

“With the Matrix of Leadership.”

Starscream, for once, was at a loss for words. But his thoughts? Oh those were going strong. ‘What is this plan anymore? Are they seriously going to work together?—and what—use the power of FRIENDSHIP?—with the matrix of leadership, of course! Right, because that’s now an option.’ He gave out an exasperated sigh. Once again holding his head, ’...this is oddly starting to sound like one of those episodes from Lord Megatron's favorite show. My little something?...’

“—Unleashing the power of the Matrix directly into Unicron's spark would return him to stasis.”, Optimus declared, gesturing to his chest.

Okay, so Starscream wasn’t that far off their little goody-two-peds plan. While it wasn’t necessarily bad, it also wasn’t promising. From his experience, working with Megatron was always a cause for concern. Really, the Mech was controlling in many ways, and would argue every second. At least he did with Starscream. Quite frankly, the entire Earth was in peril  either way.

Starscream sighed and looked into the vast desert. He was preparing to give up and start a new plan to instead escape Earth. But even that was interrupted, as the rock he was sitting on started to shake, causing him to look up at his surroundings in alarm. 

It turned out that smaller rocks were rolling on the shaking ground, heading towards something—No—someone. Starscream looked up in terror. Above him, a towering rock figure, shaped like Unicron, rose from the earth. Shedding debris as smaller rocks, dust, and sand fell from his looming form.

Starscream whimpered, wings steadily going down as the formation stood upright, creating a massive shadow that covered most of the nearby rocks. Along with the small group of bots near him. The Autobots and Megatron had turned to face the mass, shouting various things at one another. 

As more small rocks flew through the air, Starscream realized with a dreadful start that his own rock that he was currently perched on, was moving as well. It shook, trying to free itself from the ground and towards its new master. Small bits of it chipped off, the pieces getting larger and larger as Unicron's form continued to grow. Starscream tried backing away, only to slip off the edge of the formation, sending him flailing as he fell. In a panic, he threw out his claws and anchored them to the rock, sending sparks flying and making a horrible screeching sound as he slid down. Heat formed on his claws, making them sear with a newfound pain. 

When his heels finally hit the ground, Starscream tried to run, but failed as the ground shook violently. Flying was not an option as of right now, as it would give away his location. So, begrudgingly, he continued to stumble, falling multiple times, trying his best to stand. Eventually, he had managed to grasp a nearby boulder, which had miraculously not flown away. Steadying himself, Starscream briefly looked up.

He spotted the Autobots a few rocks away, fleeing through a ground bridge. Although Optimus stayed behind and watched as Megatron fired at Unicron, before disappearing into the green swirling portal as well. It had closed…for now. Starscream had seen the look of consideration on Prime's face, he was definitely going to accept the Decepticon Warlords' help. Which meant that Starscream had the option to follow them, gather more information, and even get evidence.

‘They're heading back to their base—A base full of weapons, intel, and decent energon…hmm. It would be a shame if…no one went after them.’ Starscream had made up his mind, he was going to infiltrate the base. If he didn’t, he was going to die from Unicron. At this point, he didn’t care who found him; he wanted to at least be in SOME sort of safety, even if it was with his mortal enemies. 

Carefully holding onto the boulder, Starscream inched over to another formation and hid behind it. He peeked out from the rock, making sure Megatron was still occupied on shooting the Rock-Unicron, before heading to another rock structure to hide behind. He continued to repeat the process about five more times before arriving near the area where the portal had closed. Any second now, another portal would hopefully appear, and after Megatron entered, Starscream was going to sneak in. Or attempt too.

As he waited, Starscream continued to watch his former Master shoot at the organic Unicrons (Yes, there was more now, Primus save them), diving down and then going back up before dodging multiple attacks. Firing out more shots from his plasma cannon as he weaved in between the multiple ginormous forms of rock in his alt-mode. Although Starscream absolutely despised Megatron, he still admired the technique that was being used. Not that the Warlord was better than himself, pit no, there was a reason why Starscream was- used to be the Air Commander.

Suddenly, the warlord sharply veered and transformed into his root mode, punching one of the rock Unicrons with his fist and shattering its head. The rest of the form crumbled into smaller pieces and became one mass of rubble.  Decorating the desert floor and letting a cloud of sand and dust blow over. 

Starscream struggled not to make noise. He held a servo over his intake and tried not to choke out loud. His optics watered, and small beads of oil tears fell; his vents on the other hand strained to filter out the masses of dust. “I hate this planet.”, he wheezed out.

The Warlord then started walking towards the area where the seeker was, as a green portal opened up. Not even looking back, he strided confidently through and disappeared, joining the Autobots at their base. The truce was set.

It was now or never.

With the last of whatever bravery Starscream had, he ran out from his hiding place, wings bobbing wildly behind him. He tried not to scream as multiple Unicron rock formations noticed him. They had risen up from where they had previously fallen and started to give chase,  growling out various threats.

 Starscream continued to run, not looking behind him as he felt the tremors of large footsteps following him. The large vibrations made him stumble, and made running away more harder. He had fallen briefly but picked himself up, his fear of being crushed motivating him to continue.

“Leave me alone!” Starscream desperately yelled, looking back. The fleet was now glaring at him, moving closer, not caring where this silver mech with wings had come from. All they knew was that they had a new target. They growled more angrily at him and started throwing rocks.

 “Oh, come on, I didn’t even do anything!”

Tired, he stopped in front of the portal, which was miraculously still open. Why? He didn’t know, but thank Primus it was. As the Seeker moved to take the first step, he hesitated, of course, he did. What would happen once he entered? Probably fired upon and scrapped, yes, but still, did he really want to do this?

Before Starscream could think about it further, another tremor hit; this time, the whole ground shook. Not from pedsteps, no, this was from the core. Which meant—

“You can run away all you want. But know this, Mech. You have already sealed your fate, I will extinguish your spark along with your other friends, and this Earth will PERISH!” Unicron roared behind Starscream.

Another Tremor hit—harder this time—sending Starscream into the flickering portal as it closed. 

Chapter Text

Early Morning, Nevada- Autobot base…

The Autobot base shook along with the Earth as Unicron made his discontent and presence known. 

Everyone had moved away from the dispersing portal as it was starting to shut off. If they had looked behind them, however, they would have noticed the strange flicks of green still coming out of the Portal. But they didn’t, as they made their way into a separate room, to discuss their plan. Optimus, Ratchet, and Bulkhead surrounded Megatron from the front and sides, while Bumblebee and Arcee made sure to watch from behind.

They solemnly walked into the nearby room, even though they had agreed to the alliance—very, VERY, delicate truce—that didn’t mean they could make their displeasure known. After everyone had settled, humans standing on the nearby walkways, Optimus prepared himself to address the room. But as the Autobots started their confrontation and plan with Megatron, another Earthquake hit. Hard. Lights flickered and technology glitched, objects scattered around, and the floor violently shifted. An abundance of noise could be heard from all around, making it impossible to hear one another.

June and Agent Fowler immediately grabbed Jack, Miko, and Raf to a nearby table to hide under. Trying to make all of them fit, as small rocks fell from the ceiling. Meanwhile, Ratchet had ran off to an extra monitor in the room, checking on the Earth’s core. Optimus and Bulkhead stayed where they were, standing guard to make sure Megatron didn’t use the movement as a distraction. Their frames still moved, however, as the Earth shook. Bumblebee and Arcee made their way to the humans, making sure they were okay. Both bots holding onto the railings, trying to stabilize themselves. And Megatron…was smiling like it was another sunny afternoon in a field of flowers. He was unbothered by the rapture; if anything, he looked impressed of the power Unicron held.

But it was because of this sudden Earthquake that nobody paid attention to what else was going on. Like the groundbridge in the other room. Which, a decent-sized rock had fallen from the ceiling, and had pulled down the lever, activating it again…

And letting someone stumble into the base. Or rather, get thrown in.

The portal swirled with a vibrant green light as the large silver body fell through. The form stayed on the floor, dazed, and appeared to wait for something. Yelling, Panic, getting detained—Only to be met with no action. Still, his optics were shut, face plates scrunched up in pain and fear. A heap on the messy floor among the small rocks and dust.

Finally, when he realized no one came, the mech opened his eyes. Then after a moment or two, he appeared to make a decision; It was time to hide.

The silver bot quickly looked up and stared at his surroundings. His vision bounced, as the entire base was still shaking (now from aftershocks).Though, he  took the opportunity to crawl to the controls of the portal and shut them down before anyone noticed. It closed, and the light dispersed; only some rocks and a layer of thin dust showed use. But even that could be seen as a product of the earthquake.

Still on the floor and not wanting to risk falling, the silver mech continued to crawl before pausing at the room where the Autobots and Warlord were. He froze as he saw Megatron in the middle of the room. The ex-gladiator had a malicious smile, a one that any could recognize from a mile a way. One that many feared, and had died with that being their last memory. 

If he had started shaking, the silver mech didn’t notice. Pushing his thoughts aside, he snapped out of his state.

 Finally, noticing their situation, the mech backed away from the door and into the shadows. Then, looking around, he noticed two hallways. Quickly making a decision before heading into one of the hallways opposite of the main room.

-------------------------------------------------------------Pov switch!---------------------

His thoughts were racing. It was one thing to acknowledge that his Master Megatron was going to be inside the Autobot’s base. It was another thing however, to actually see the Warlord in the base. Rationally, Starscream knew that the mech hadn’t seen him, he knew that there was no way that Megatron could know about his plan, he knew that it wasn’t possible. His thoughts however…weren’t in agreement. 

‘What if the light had reflected on one area that wasn’t covered with mud and had bounced off him and into the room and the glare caught the Warlord's attention? What if Megatron had seen a fraction of his wing as he crawled away from the doorway? What if his Ex-Master was keeping that a secret and was waiting for the right time to find him? ’ 

What if this, What if that, what if anything and everything. The list went on for miles. However as the ground shifted again, it provided a much needed break from his pressing thoughts- or paranoia more accurately.

Starscream kept crawling down the hallway as the ground shook, trying his best not to fall on his face. Even in his dazed state, he would not allow himself to celebrate his infiltration into the Autobot base. 

It was pure luck, that’s what he had broken it down into. A series of coincidences that gave him a chance to do something. Why and how this was happening to him—Starscream had no clue. Not the slightest idea whatsoever. But that wasn’t his priority right now.

He could care less, another chance to cause chaos (and live) was enough reason for him. Grabbing the wall, Starscream carefully stood up and started to test out the nearby doors. He tried to open one or two of them before giving up and moving on to the next. He needed to hide, and quickly. The aftershock tremors would only last for so long, and when they stopped, the Autobots would most likely want to check on their beloved base. This reminder fueled the sheer amount of panic that was infecting him. So, as Starscream failed to open the fifth door, he cursed and hit it with his claws. Creating a deep puncture in the control panel on the door. His servo was also shocked for breaking it. 

Stifling a yelp, he prepared to gut out the remaining controls, but his frustration quickly turned into relief as he heard the door click open. Peeking inside, Starscream saw that it was a storage room. From where he stood it looked surprisingly spacious, with various boxes and items inside. 

“Finally, somewhere to hide.”, Starscream whispered to himself as he pulled away from the door. He looked at the hallway, then at the broken control panel. He needed to hide the damage, lest he wanted the Autobots to get suspicious. ‘Maybe if I just shove it back into place…?’ 

He pushed the wires back, took the broken pieces of the control panel and put them together. The kept falling apart and sliding down, hitting the floor. Starscream grumbled to himself as he figured out how to get them to stay, eventually giving up and shoving them back at an angle. Standing a few feet back, it looked like nothing was wrong, except for a few odd cracks. Get closer…well…it was clear something was broken. 

With that slightly solved, Starscream rushed into the dark storage room, as the tremors faded, and shut the door. Hopefully he would be left alone.

The Seeker blinked a few times as his optics adjusted to the darkness. As they finally adapted, Starscream looked around and saw that it was in fact, a large storage room. Multiple things were packed into the room, but organized enough that it wasn’t crowded. Large shelves took up most of the room. As they were mostly harboring old scrap metal, a few out-of-date medical kits, various broken objects, what seemed to be appliances, boxes (both large and small), and…a pile of tarps? In all honesty, it wasn’t that bad for a place to camp out—or in his case, hide out. 

‘I could use the larger boxes to make some sort of wall to separate me and hide, in case anyone comes in. Near one of the corners, by a large shield…Hmm. As for comfort, the tarps, although old and most likely torn, might make a decent berth. I do want to have a type of resting place to lie down.’ Starscream grimaced at the thought of sleeping on the cold floor of the storage room. His body ached as if to agree with him. 

As he prepared to move, his frame gave a violent jolt, sending him to the ground. Warnings that had been ignored, popped up on his HUD screen again.“Well, at least I can finally fix myself…I’ll still be dirty but I can deal with that later.” Starscream muttered, eyebrows angled down in frustration.

After scavenging around in the storage room. Starscream had gathered a few old medical kits, which contained adhesive metal, pain patches, and nanite gel. Even if most of the materials were out of date or old, Starscream could care less. He started to carefully apply the materials to his frame. After all, pain was something he would rather do without. 

The application process was more simple than he had imagined.The easier parts were his arms, legs, face, helm, and chest area. Starscream had mainly put the adhesive metal on the larger cuts he had, sealing them properly. For the smaller cuts, the gel was applied. It felt a bit cold and started tingling as it met the injuries, but it seemed to work. The Pain patches were utilized by being placed on his chest and near the base of his spinal strut. 

They emitted a soft sensation, soothing his injured areas. Starscream’s optics shuttered at the subtle buzz. The pain was ebbing away.

His wings however, ached, as if reminding him he wasn’t done. “Of course…” Starscream sighed, “how could I ever forget?”

…

The process took longer than anticipated, as his wings and winglets were hard-to-reach areas that he usually couldn’t get. They were also sensitive and prone to irritability. Usually, Starscream used a tool when cleaning himself, some type of scrubber with a long handle, to reach them. Other times, when he was either really desperate or too injured; He had asked Knockout to help. With the underlying threat of ruining the doctors paint job if he told anyone.

But reaching for his wings by himself? Without some sort of aid? It was bound to be impossible…or take a considerable amount of time.

 A combination of lying down on the floor and stretching his arms as far as they would go—along with casting his wings as low as possible—gave Starscream the opportunity to apply the gel to the areas. Starscream wanted to put the adhesive metal on, but it was too hard and would take even longer to do. So the gel was his only other option. As he applied the gel, the cooling sensation once again took over, making his frame shiver; the pain turning into dull fizz. He relaxed and let out a content sigh.

… 

Now partially better, Starscream, although exhausted, started to work on his hideout in the large storage room. Slowly rising up from his awkward position on the floor, he made his way to the shelves. “I may be tired and unwell in my current state, But those Autobots are more than capable to walk around their base. They could waltz right in here- At any given moment!”, the Seeker murmured to himself as he took down the large boxes one by one.  

“I will not allow myself to succumb to another round of humiliation. Especially after they put those wretched wing cuffs on me.” Starscream finished, grunting as he struggled to push large boxes together in the farthest corner of the room. The “wall” forming box by box. He was angling the boxes to make it look like another ordinary stack, similar to one in the opposite corner. As if nothing was behind it. Out of breath, Starscream admired his work. “Perfect.” 

…

Afterwards, Starscream sifted through a pile of old tarps. They smelled rather musty, to put it lightly. Some of them however, had a more pungent smell, which made him throw the repulsive things across the room. As he continued to go through the pile, Starscream picked out the ones that felt the most comfortable, looked the least torn, and didn’t smell downright rotten. He cringed. 

‘Where on earth did the Autobots even FIND these…? Eugh.’

In the end, he had about 5 tarps, all being different shades of blue. He threw the few tarps behind the wall and stepped away from the rest of the pile. Starscream made his way to the front the wall and bent down into a crawling position. Then, carefully moving a few boxes to create an opening, he crawled through the bottom. It was time to get some well deserved rest. 

…Hopefully.

-------------------------------------------------------------Pov switch!---------------------

Ratchet struggled to retain himself, trying his best not to hit the useless control module in front of him. The stupid thing was glitching out because of the effects of the Dark energon. The earthquake certainly didn’t help either, rocks falling down and hitting their only technology.

Eventually, he gave up trying to keep his anger under control. With every that had happened? Yeah he deserved to have a reaction. So, standing up, Ratchet kicked the console; the sound resonating in the base. Everyone in the room gave him a surprised look. 

“Don’t look at me like that. I’ve had to deal with malfunctioning technology all week!”, Ratchet grumbled out, gesturing to the now sparking control system. Great, another thing for him to fix. Again.

‘I swear this base just keeps falling apart. As soon as I fix one thing, another breaks.’

 The humans, on the other hand, were now standing on the walkways again, slightly spread out. The kids were whispering to each other about what they were going to do about Megatron. Actually, Jack and Raf were whispering. Miko, though, wasn’t afraid to make her displeasure towards Megatron known, a series of glares and threats were thrown across the room. Her most favorite insult being along the lines of “_____”

…which Jack responded by smacking her on her head. 

Ms. Darby saw the action, and began to lecture her son. Before that, she and Agent Fowler were talking about the state of the earth, what was happening, and overall trying to make sense of the situation. Fowler stood more or so to the side, watching the lecture with disinterest. He was distracted soon enough by his phone ringing; promptly taking it out and answering it. Soon walking away, trying to reason with some other person on the line. 

It was giving Ratchet a headache. Groaning, he flexed his servos and brought them to his face. At least Bumblebee and Arcee were being decently quiet for once, although their scathing looks at Megatron still caused him some stress. They remained in the far corner, beside the humans in case another quake happened. Bulkhead was still with Optimus, near Megatron, standing dutifully. Every now and then, the wrecker would shift occasionally, probably holding back a punch from how near he was to the Warlord.

Then there was Megatron himself. That overzealous, disgusting work of a Mech, if you could even call him that—personally, Ratchet saw him as a monster. It would always be that way and would never change, no matter the circumstances. Which is why, beyond anything, he could still not fathom why Optimus trusted the spark extinguisher. Clearly, the truce was built on pure necessity, to end Unicron and save the Earth so the human race could continue to thrive for a few years more. Yet it bothered Ratchet how quickly the decision was made. He thought it would’ve taken at least another hour to win everyone over. But he was wrong. 

‘Like with so many other things, it seems…’ 

Ratchet, unfortunately, had to look at a Warlord that had been their enemy for millions of centuries, standing in the middle of their base. Not only that, but the fragger had the nerve to smirk! To act like he had achieved something, like he had planned it out…of course he had.

“You—I swear, ONE day…”, Ratchet angrily muttered to himself as he turned back to the broken controls.

As he started to analyze the current technology the bridge held, he could hear light pedsteps approaching him. Eventually they reached his hunched over form and stopped right behind him, a small shadow taking the light he needed to see the wires.

Bumblebee let out a curious chirp and hovered over him slightly.

Ratchet gave out another heavy sigh before starting his rant, “I’m just wonderful. The control module is glitching out, there have been multiple natural disasters, there are more humans in here than I’d like to be, we are running out of time to stop a prophecy from coming true—which can only be stopped with the help of a War criminal, who is standing feet away from me, smiling despite the amount of trouble we are in.”

Bumblebee gave a small nod of acknowledgement and backed away slightly, choosing to stay silent, and letting Ratchet continue his well needed rant.

“I think it’s safe to say that after all of this is over, I’m going to my quarters and recharging for an entire week straight—maybe even a month if we get no sign of Decepticon activity.”, Ratchet then looked at Bumblebee and took in his solemn expression. Letting out a groan he added, “Look, there's just a lot going on right now. I want to get this resolved as quickly as possible.”

‘And get back to fixing our base. Primus knows we need to fix some of the storage doors, walls, and even modules. I might need to consider stabilizing our equipment more securely in case another earthquake happens.’

Bumblebee once again nodded his head and reached out to Ratchet, a look of understanding on his face. ~I know that this isn’t the best situation right now, but we’ll get it over with. Optimus knows what’s best for us. Right now, that’s trusting Megatron.~ Bumblebee stopped, and shifted again, ~and when we're done, we’ll be back to kicking Decepticon aft in no time!~, he chirped out in cybertronian.

“Thanks, but until that- that menace is out of here, I don’t think I’ll be relaxing anytime soon.”, Ratchet replied, shaking his helm from side to side. 

Bumblebee approached Ratchet again and patted his shoulder. Even if he could not cheer the Medic up, he could still show some understanding. In all honesty, Bumblebee  didn’t feel comfortable with Megtron being in the base either. But Optimus had assured them that it was only a temporary truce. He hoped it would stay that way. He was scared for Raf and the other humans, it was only a matter of time until the Warlord broke out of those stasis cuffs.

Before he could dwell on that thought, a noise interrupted him.

BANG!

The entire room was silent again, but not because of the noise; it was the sight of Ratchet—who looked like he quite literally was about to explode. Either from rage or stress. The kids looked at each other warily, as did Bumblebee and Optimus. Bulkhead was more or so confused, and Arcee raised a brow. Ratchet couldn't care less about Megatron's reaction to him. 

His optic twitched for a moment, before he looked at the broken light fixture on the ground. It had started to spark.

“YOU‘VE GOT TO BE KIDDING—”

Chapter Text

Midnight, Nevada- Autobot base…

…

BANG!

Starscream onlined with a start and scrambled behind the large boxes, flailing. The wall of boxes shifted from the movement, as his processor made up a series of panicked thoughts, fueled by his half-awake state. 

‘They found me. They must have found me—They’re going to get me—I knew they were gonna find me sooner or later- I KNEW IT, I knew this would happen! I need to—I HAVE to leave- but I can’t run out of here…’

The Seeker continued to rush his way into a sitting position, and in the process, got himself tangled in the tarps.

‘I need to get past them, and not get caught! But how? That’s physically impossible; they’ll see me as soon as I step out. Unless I act like I’m not even here- Wait—That’s it—I need to stay quiet. I’ll just wait until they all leave and then I’ll ambush them by surprise! Yes, knock them unconscious, and if I’m lucky- escape before they know I’m here.‘ 

Starscream stopped his movements and sat in silence, waiting for pedsteps, voices, anything. He felt trapped again, just like in that cave. Nowhere to run, nowhere to hide. Just stuck until he was found or left alone. His spark was practically bursting; he felt like it was going to explode. As Starscream waited, his vents cycled air soundlessly. Fuzzy optics wide with anticipation and fear. He knew that full silence was unachievable, as his winglets threatened to clatter against each other due to his shaking. The darkness didn’t provide much comfort either, if anything, it only produced the startling image of the Autobots emerging from complete darkness and finding him. Even more frightening, Megatron emerging from behind him and dragging him away.

Starscream felt so tightly wound.

’When are they going to come in already?—’

There was a yell.

Starscream harshly flinched back at the noise and hit his wings, making him hiss out in pain. He shuffled around once again, making sure that no one was in the storage room, peeking through the cracks in between the boxes. No movement, no light. Nothing had moved, the door still seemed to be shut…which meant no one had entered. A heavy sigh came out of him as he moved back.

Starscream blinked, registering what had just happened, and moved out of his uncomfortable position on the pile of tarps. Which had been fixed into some type of nest-looking mass instead of the berth that he hoped for…It was still better than the cold, hard floor, though. He was safe, that's what mattered.

“What are they doing? Don’t they know that some mechs are trying to get a bit of recharge?”, Starscream groggily complained. Tiredly maneuvering himself—which was rather hard to do with the limited amount of space behind the wall—he slowly shuffled through the wall. As he stood up, Starscream started to stretch, his wings splaying out wide and flicking. ‘Not my worst rest, but I deserve better…‘ Starscream thought as he gingerly moved his winglets, testing if they would strain. He still had that irritating crick from those wing cuffs that the Autobots had placed on him. ‘I’ll make sure to get back at them for that later. Honestly, they didn’t have to do something so humiliating.’ 

After his brief, but VERY necessary, stretch, Starscream “tiptoed” (how humans referred to sneaking around) carefully around the storage room. Stepping over various objects, not wanting to fall and attract attention to himself…for once. It’s not like he wanted to leave the room, no, he was more than happy to hide in here for a few more cycles before getting caught and most likely executed on site. No, Starscream just wanted to see what all the noise was about. He had the right to be curious after all, the noise had woken him up! Weren’t the Autobots supposed to be accommodating of their (unknown) guests?

So, as Starscream carefully opened the door, he was rather wary of the noise that could be heard from the main room.

“—WHAT DO YOU MEAN?”

“Ratchet, my dear friend, please-“, Optimus pleaded, “It is the only way that we can defeat Unicron—”

‘Well, that doesn’t sound good…I wonder what happened? Well, dirt on the Autobots, how beneficial for me. Yes, I could use this to my advantage…’ Starsceam thought, clasping his servos together with delight.

“I know that, Optimus, but that doesn’t mean I agree with it.”, the Medic responded with a huff. 

Starscram could practically imagine the, what it was again? Ah, yes, eye-roll— or in this case, the optic-roll that Ratchet gave Prime. 

‘I wonder if the Prime will punish him…surely he wouldn’t let the disrespect go past him…right? And disrespecting your superior, in the presence of another Leader...that Medic is done for. I almost feel bad for him. ’ Starscream thought as he strained his audio receptors, ‘I mean, if it were lord Megatron, well, he would’ve thrown the Medic across the room by now for being too loud. Or, for just simply looking at him the wrong way…’, Starscream winced as he cracked the door open more. 

It was hard to make out the conversation, as he was too far away. Honestly, it wouldn’t be so hard if they had just moved their conversation closer to him. It would make eavesdropping on their conversation much easier and entertaining.

Luckily for him, Primus was still on his side, as he could now hear heavy pedsteps approach. Closing the door a bit, he listened as Prime and his Medic supposedly walked back to the main groundbridge room. They continued their…weirdly sentimental conversation. 

‘Should I even be listening to this?’ 

“I understand that you have concerns, Ratchet, about Megatron's partnership with us, and I am willing to listen.”, Optimus explained in a soft tone. “I know that you’ve been placed under pressure and have been dealing with a lot these past few weeks. I thank you for that…”, the Prime hesitated, “but I ask of you, please, try and stay calm-”

 “Look, Optimus, I’m trying to stay composed. Believe me, I am. But this is more than what I’m—what WE—what the TEAM is ready for.” Ratchet stated with determination. “I was fine with being located on Earth, it was less than ideal, but I understood that choice and why it was made.”

‘Then again, intel is intel…’

The Medic paused, as movement could be heard from the main room. Starting again only when he was sure that the movement continued. Although this time he started off more composed, ”The humans were a surprise at first, and yes, they have been useful. Even if they still irritate me, I've gotten used to them—I tolerate them.” 

‘Oh please, that’s the biggest lie I’ve ever heard!—and I lie frequently.’ Starscream thought, rolling his optics at the statement. ‘It’s clear that you hold SOME type of care and—EUGGHHHHH—love—for those little meatbags…disgusting.’ He shuddered behind the door.

“I remember how you first reacted when our new friends came. You did not welcome their presence at first, especially with Miko. You did not find them necessary.”, Optimus responded with a small laugh, “ But over time, you grew accustomed to them despite your frustration. Especially with Raf, he sparked a friendship with you after showing interest in technology.”

After that, Ratchet seemed to be thinking about his final statement. Some shuffling was heard, and the low hum of electricity in the base created a heavy atmosphere. The voices in the other room continued to talk, probably distracting themselves from the Prime and Ratchets' absence. Optimus, however stayed quiet. 

‘How is the Prime so patient? Now, if it were lord MEGATRON—this conversation would’ve been over sooner.’ Starscream reasoned as he waited. His winglets twitched in anticipation of the argument that would soon take place. ‘Although cracks in this overly sentimental faction are of use to me. Something I can use in case I’m caught sooner than expected.’

Finally, Ratchet spoke, quietly this time, “Optimus, I say this as one of your oldest and closest friends.” Another shuffle was heard, “I don’t know why you’ve placed your trust in Megatron, even for necessity—I know that we must save the Earth…”, another pause, “...But, I cannot let you do this without some type of back up plan!” The sound of quick pacing could be heard as the mech continued his rant,“—What if he takes advantage of you? What if, at the last moment, Megatron decides that this ‘truce’ isn’t worth it?—We can’t lose another team member—another mech—PRIMUS—we just lost Cliffjumper!”

The Medic stopped his rant, falling silent as the sound of fans clicked on, most likely cooling off his frame. It filled the silence, barley.

“I cannot look past Megatron's actions. He’s the main reason why we’re stuck on this planet in the first place—He killed our planet.”, Ratchet continued, “Are you really going to work with the same Mech who has been trying to OFFLINE you for the past millenia?”

Starscream grimaced behind the door. ‘Yikes…’

“I’m sorry.”, the Prime somberly replied, interrupting the silence. “I know that I am asking for a lot Ratchet, and I don’t blame you for your reaction or refusal—but it is the only way we can save this planet.” 

“So you want to use the only other mechs we have left- the last of OUR species- and put them in danger!?” The Medic vehemently responded. 

“Ratchet, I would never put my teammates in danger, I do not want any more deaths in our faction, I promise that.” The sound of heavy pedsteps could be heard, walking towards the other mech. “I undertsand your concerns but please old friend—It is the only way! There are also human lives at stake, millions!”

“What about ours?”, Ratchet spat, “Do they not matter? Optimus, you can’t be serious! You want to try and stop destruction—”

“No, I do not want to try and stop destruction.”, Optimus replied in a serious tone, “I want to prevent it.” 

“And how are you going to do that?” The Medic replied, exasperated. “You can’t always just fix everything. It's not possible!”

A deep sigh could be heard from the Prime, “ I do not want the same fate for these humans, Ratchet. I do not want them to lose their planet, like we lost ours. I do not want to be a witness to destruction once more.”  

“We both know it's too late for that.” Ratchet sighed.

“I cannot stand by and let innocent lives perish.” Optimus stated. “I agree that this isn’t the safest plan, but it is the only option we have. If another option was presented, one that would ease your fears, then I would’ve taken that opportunity.”

“I can’t lose another friend, Optimus.”, Ratchet tiredly pleaded, “I just can’t.” 

“And you won’t. I would never put my teammates—my friends—at risk. It is not my intention for lives to be lost, I want everyone to come out of this alive.”, Optimus assured, “You know that.”

…

Starscream stood awkwardly at the door, the lighting of the base glowing softly through the small opening.It was REALLY uncomfortable now, at least for Starscream it was.

‘I feel like I’ve interrupted something I did NOT need to hear. Maybe I should have just stayed asleep…yeah….let’s do that next time.’ he cringed, slowly closing the door as the Prime continued to reassure his friend (yeah right, “friend”) and his concerns. Honestly, Starscream was just going to brush off the comment about Cliffjumper, he didn’t necessarily want to go down that metaphorical rabbit hole right now. Really, he’d had enough to think about right now, the death of a past enemy could wait.

The Seeker locked the door, and stood there for a moment contemplating what the frag he had just eavesdropped on. Sliding down to the cold concrete floor, he could hear the mumbled conversation fading away, as the duo walked elsewhere. 

‘Probably joining the rest of their team’

 Playing with his claws, Starscream wondered about the plan that “team friendship” (yes he was calling them that now, it is VERY much deserved) had come up with. Obviously, they were going to go to the core of the Earth with Megatron and whatnot, put Unicron back into his eternal slumber once more, and save Earth in the process. How wonderful it must be for those revolting flesh bags. Having another species, an entire group, dedicated to helping  you. 

Not that he was jealous. Not at all.

With a sneer, he turned his attention back to what was really important. Starscream's main concern, the biggest question for him was: How exactly are they just going to groundbridge themselves into the core? Presuming that the Autobots actually get to the right spot, without getting blown up, melted, or  straight-up eradicated…

‘Based on what I’ve seen from their humble base—It’s safe to assume that they lack the technology to open a portal to their destination. So how in the Allspark are they just going to teleport themselves into the Earth?—Into UNICRON?—It’s impossible!’ Starscream shot up and paced, further contemplating, as a new, unpleasant thought formed in his mind, ‘...Although, luck has always been on the Autobots side, which means that they do have some chance of succeeding in fixing their groundbridge.’ The Seeker hummed in thought.

Stopping, Starscream let out a indifferent huff as he spoke, “Well, it’s not like they can just reroute their groundbridge using the Earth’s natural magnetic field! That would take a miracle—It’s not like they could just get it on the first—”

“IT WORKED! THE PORTAL WORKED!!!!”, screamed an excited and familiar voice, “SEE RATCHET, I TOLD YOU IT WOULD WORK! WOOOOO YEAH! UNICRON HERE WE COME!”

“—try.”, Starscream finished, his expression a mix of disbelief and confusion.

‘Of course. It just worked out for them! Right, because that just HAPPENS EVERY SLAGGING—SINGLE. TIME.’, Stascream resisted the urge to punch the door. After a few intakes he calmed down, now in a better state he thought of the benefits, ‘You know what. This is good. Yes, yes it is! If they can do all the hard work, and save this mudball of a planet, that means I still get to live!’

Starscream smirked at the revelation, “Well, it sounds like they have everything handled! That means that I can just wait it out and stay here.”, he started to turn away from the door…that is, until something whispered in the back of his mind.

He still needed proof. Proof of Megatron working with the Autobots. Betraying the Decepticon cause…and to do that…he would need to…to…

Starscream groaned and cursed himself. 

He was NOT about to just waltz right into the main room and ask what was going on. Not unless he wanted to get offlined. But he needed to get proof, a recording, a rock, a witness, something! Or else no one would believe him per usual. Megatron would keep his reign over the Decepticon faction and Starscream’s spark would be snuffed out before he could plead his case. 

It was a ridiculous idea! Honestly, he might as well walk in and offer himself on a silver platter. He would be foolish to try and sneak past the humans, and the Medic (who probably stayed behind once more) and follow the rag-tag team into the core of a Chaos-bringer.

He was not going. Nope. Not at all. 

. . .

. . .

. . .

…and yet, Starscram did not move, he did not take a step further and head towards his hide out. He did not crawl under the wall of boxes and settle into his makeshift nest of tarps, no. Rather, he stayed in the same place, face controted into a mix of feelings. Letting his thoughts get the best of him (again). 

He still needed that blasted proof, even if that meant leaving  his safety area for a while. Then again, it’s not like he was planning on staying for long. He would just take a peek, determine if it was really worth his time and then scurry off back into the storage room, safe and sound if it wasn’t. 

‘Nothing more and nothing less… just in and out.’

Opening the door, Starscream quietly made his way into the hallway, looking around before he snuck out and shut the door. He stressed his audials, listening for anyone that might have spotted him. However, all that could be heard was the cheering and goodbyes that were still taking place in the mainroom 

Casting a longing glance to the storage room, Starscream crept through the hallway, voices getting louder as he approached the main groundbridge room. He stopped shortly, and hid behind a conveniently placed pile of boxes. Crouching as low as possible, plating shut close to his protoform, and wings pressed firmly to his back; he observed as the group of humans made their way to say their final goodbyes, all of them having the look of concern and fear etched into their faces. 

“Locked and ready.”, Ratchet nodded, turning towards the group as he gave them his approval to proceed into the portal.

One by one, they walked steadily to the groundbridge. Megatron stood in front, purple optics staring at them in a steady glare. 

Starscreams frame gave an involuntary shiver. ‘Glad I’m not on the receiving end of that for once.’

 Meeting the Warlords optics, Arcee gestured towards the swirling portal, “You first.”

Starscream held his breath, ‘There’s no way that the “Mighty Megatron” would listen to HER, he towers over her! Not to mention how fragging annoying she is…’

But to his surprise, Megtron responded with a bow (probably fake), and walked into the Portal calmly.

The rest of the group turned around and faced their human pets once more, before walking into the portal, joining Megatron in the Core of the Earth. The Core of a Chaos-bringer thought long deceased. They walked into their doom.

And Starscream watched, he watched as the Prime faced the humans once more and gave them  what seemed to be a small smile. Following the rest of the group into the portal. Starscream saw the look of defeat on the Medics face, as he joined the humans, looking as his leader walked on, securing his death. The portal continued to swirl, until it started to flicker, stopping after a few moments. It was up to the Autobots, and Megatron, to save the Earth, before Unicron destroyed it.

“Are we sure that they’ll be okay?”, the smallest human asked, turning to face Ratchet. He looked the most afraid for his friends, especially for the yellow one.

“Oh come on Raf! Team Prime will be fine, they always make it out, and win!”, the girl replied with a fist in the air, “They have Optimus, Bulkhead, and even if I don’t trust him yet—Megatron. Unicron doesn’t stand a chance!” 

But even Starscream could see the look of fear, deep in her eyes as she made the last comment. ‘Ah yes, false hope. The thing formed out of pure desperation, wonderful.’

Ratchet stalked off to the main console, putting his focus on “team friendship’s” (yes he is still using that name thank you very much) status and well-being. Monitoring to put his thoughts somewhere else

How emotional. So sad…Oh well.

“Optimus knows what he’s doing Raf.”, another human said,  taller than the girl, but still shorter than the adults. He put a hand on the smaller human's shoulder, “Miko’s right, Team Prime always wins. They can handle whatever Unicrons are gonna throw, I know it.”

‘Those poor souls, they really think that their little misfit group will succeed. Not that I’m doubting them…I hope they triumph, I DO want to still be alive so I can overthrow Megatron.’ Starscream clarified as he watched the left over group shuffle around and talk. The looks of despair and worry still on their faces as they tried to switch topics and distract one another. Yeesh, gloomy much?

Well, their distractions did work, as one of the adults, a male, started aruging with Ratchet as they overheard news on the earth. Which then brought the Medic to dive into a story about Optimus and Megatron's history long ago.

‘Not this again, I swear if I have to hear this one more time…’, Stascream thought as he started to tune out the story, further planning out his escape and eventually rule over the Decepticons. That was until, the Medic started saying things that he had never heard. ‘They actually used to be friends?...I thought that was just a lie.’ With his interest piqued, Starscreams focus shifted back to the long, boring, but informational, story. 

What Stasrcream didn’t notice, was that the hallway lighting behind him, created a glare that was bouncing off of his frame. Somehow, during his patch up for his wounds, he had cleaned off sections of his larger wings. So as the light bounced off, and as Starscream flicked his wings to get rid of the stress that was building up in them, the light moved. 

As the story came to a close, and the humans once again turned their attention elsewhere. Which meant someone noticed that flickering light.

And Starscream…he froze.

How could he tell that someone noticed his presence? Well it might have been the abrupt gasp that came out of one of the humans. The girl, what the frag was her name again? The older boy had mentioned it earlier, right? Anyways, she had seen the reflected light.

“What’s wrong Miko?”, the younger boy asked, turning to her with a puzzled look.

‘ Mee - ko…? What a strange name, hmm…as strange as humans themselves. Such odd things, honestly, who names their offspring something so ridiculous!’

“I think I saw something, there's sometype of freaky bright light coming from the base.”, Miko responded as she looked around the room for something.

“Really? I didn’t see anything, are you sure it isn’t one of the monitors doing something like that? Maybe their just giving off a glare.”, the boy suggested, now looking around the room as well.

“I don’t think so Raf, it’s like when—OH!—What if it’s a scraplet!”, Miko squealed, her search becoming more frantic.

Starscream on the other hand, felt his spark stop at those few words. ‘There are scraplets here!? Oh no, no, no, No. NO, NO! I’m not about to become dinner for those revolting little pit spawned demons!’ Starscream then decided that getting up and leaving back to the storage room was the best course of action. Escaping the base would be the next. Now he just had to get up and leave.

…Which was another mistake

As Starscream prepared to move up and away from the main room, he instictually moved his wings away from his back to balance himself. The movement created a clicking sound, as the strain had effected him more than he would have liked to admit. (Curse the Autobots and those wing cuffs!)

At the small noise, both humans quickly turned to face the hallway. The very same hallway that Starscream was in.

‘Scrap’

“Raf, did you hear that!”, Miko exclaimed. She put her hands on her hips, smiling, “See I told you! Scraplet.”

“Miko, I don’t think we should be excited about this, remember what happened last time?”, Raf nervously stated, “They almost destroyed the base and ate the entire team!”

“Ohhhh yeahhh….I kinda forgot about that…but! If we catch it then it won’t be able to do anything, we might even find the rest and prevent the base from being chewed up.”, Miko encouraged, “Let’s tell Jack and catch ourselves a Scraplet!”

Starscream tensed as he heard the humans run to the older boy, he needed to get out of here, and fast. He tried standing up again, but his wings made more noise again. He cursed his situation. ‘Of course! Now I can’t move without making noise as I’ve been spotted. Just great. Absolutely wonderful! Things are going so well for me.’ 

He tried to move once more, only to create the blasted noise again. The clicking came off softer this time, and Starscream could feel it in his wings, it ached.

‘Okay, I can’t stand. But…I can still crawl away, right? That shouldn’t make as much noise…’ Stascream hoped as he now moved to get away from the room, AGAIN.

But it was in vain, as the small batch of humans chose to return at the same time he was about to make his first move. 

“I don’t think there are any more Scraplets in the base Miko, we sent them back to the Arctic, remember?”, the older boy's voice, Jack, groaned as he was dragged to the entrance of the hallway.

“Come on! I’m like five hundred percent sure that some Scraplets survived that. Plus you can ask Raf! I have a witness.”, Miko proudly stated, shoving the older boy towards the hallway.

“...I have to agree with her Jack, I didn’t see the reflection of light, but I did hear the clicking noises…”, Raf hesitantly replied from the back of the two.

“See, witness.”, Miko smugly said as she moved towards the hallway, “Now let’s see if the little guy is here!”

“Uhhh, maybe we shouldn’t get too close, Miko…you don’t know if this one will be as friendly as the last ones.” Jack remarked. “And for score, I still don’t think that it’s a Scraplet.”

‘I can’t believe they think I’m a Scraplet of all things—How insulting! Of anything and everything, seriously. A ped biting, glitched, forsaken—SCRAPLET!?’ Starscream's  frame shook with rage at the comparison, wings slowly rising up in anger. The realization however, hit Starscream too late. They had heard. 

“Okay, so…that sounded bad…”, Jack said, now backing away.

“I think I’m going to go see if Ratchet needs help.”, Raf nervously said, running towards the monitors where the mech in question was located. 

“Please, the little guy’s probably just scared.” Miko pleaded. “Come on…! You can come out, We won’t hurt you, promise!”, Miko coaxed, steadily moving towards the hallway.

Starscream was doing his best not to hyperventilate, as he currently was about to be found out. He had two options: Run away and try and hide in the storage room, probably get found and then imprisoned- OR— Bolt out of the hallway, turn on the ground bridge and head to the core of an insane once-thought-dead mech.

“Communication links are down as expected.”, Ratchet stated as he got the notification. “But we’ve lost their signal.”

“Dosen’t that mean—”, Raf asked, as he looked at the monitor and then Ratchet.

“Usually, but a more likely explanation would be the severe interference caused by these electromagnetic anomalies.”, the Medic explained gesturing with his free servo.

“So if we can’t track them and they can’t contact us—”

“—How are we gonna know when there ready for pick up?”, Miko interrupted, walking away from the hallway and towards the two, along with Jack.

Everyone was silent, as they thought of the consequences of not reaching the team in time. 

Starscream on the other hand, was grateful for the distraction, even if he couldn’t move yet. He continued to crouch low to the ground, still ready to crawl away from the room. ‘All I have to do is wait for an opening. As soon as another noise, or whatever, I can flee back to the Storage room, ransack their energon, and leave this base for good! I’ll be free before they can catch me.’ A sudden tapping noise brought him out of his plan. It was constant, and annoying. Before he could look, the Medic had already spoke.

“Where did you get that?”, Ratchet questioned, looking at the older boy (Jack, he keeps forgetting that. Whatever!)

“Optimus…”, Jack responded, now holding up the object,  “Honestly I don’t know why he gave me the key to the groundbridge power supply.”, he ended with a small laugh.

“...Jack, there is no key to the groundbridge.”

“Well then, what is this?”, the human asked, bringing the key closer.

Ratchet brought his face closer to the teen, and inspected the “key”, after a moment, he took a step back. Taking a breath, the Medic steadied himself, and spoke in a shooken tone, “That is the key to Vector Sigma.”

“The what?”

“You are holding one of Cybertron's most important relics.”

Starscream looked at the human in utter bafflement. Of all beings—of all possible choices—the Prime had entrusted a human, an organic! To hold one of the most sacred relics in cybertronian history? 

“You're joking.”, Starscream whispered to himself, “You're actually joking, there's no way—it’s impossible—of course they’ve just had it! All this time—”, he just couldn’t process it. The possibilities that one key held were grand. Vector sigma was a supercomputer, it could bring back mechs, give sparks to new lifeforms, control droids, and even transform organic matter. It held boundless knowledge to certain subjects that are still believed to be lost, not yet recovered due to the war that had- that was taking place.

That very same key was being held by the revolting hands of a squishy. A young boy who had been carelessly hitting it against the railing of a walkway. Starscream couldn’t hold it together. So, like any other mech, he sat down. Or more accuratley, crashed onto the floor.

The reaction was immediate. 

Starscream felt his spark pound erratically in his chest as he heard the rush of footsteps—small ones—run towards him. 

Panicking from his position on the floor, he ripped off a piece of the box, and hurled it across the room. CLANG! The small group of children looked at the metal, transfixed, as it hit the opposite wall. 

It was only when Starscream sprung out of his hiding place, that the humans moved out of the way. They frantically ran away from the large seeker, trying to get out of his pathway. 

Jack was shouting as he simultaneously dragged Raf (who had frozen from shock) elsewhere. The girl, Miko,  tried to rush at Starscream, yelling a string of obscenities, but she was quickly blocked off by one of the older humans.

It was loud, it was bright. It was utter chaos. More importantly, it was too much for Starscream to handle. He needed to leave, that much was known. If he continued to stick around he would be forced into stasis. But what exit did he have!

Through the ringing of his audials, Starscream could vaguely hear a deep yell. It collided with the booming alarms inside of the base. Panicking, he scrambled out of the way as a blur of orange and white dashed past him.

Starcream ran, he ran around the room, ignoring the overwhelming senses that were hitting him. His HUD flooded with warnings, pain blaring in his side as he blindly dodged and fought his way through the base. Starscream didn’t know what he was supposed to do, this wasn’t supposed to be happening. He couldn't fight back! He couldn’t run forever! It’s not like he could teleport—

‘Wait a nanosecond, teleport…’

The thought struck him in a flash. He turned his focus to the console. It was close, but being guarded by the grounder. Ultimately, he would have to distract Ratchet in order to turn the blasted teleporter on. 

‘Maybe if I divert the medics attention elsewhere, I’ll be able to dodge him and head the other way!’ Starscream quickly thought, barely dodging another attempt to catch him. Ratchet was getting more and more accurate with his attempts. As it seemed like cornering Starscream was his main tactic now. Of course, that wasn’t favorable to the Seeker in any way. The last thing he wanted was to be held in a cell where the walls would evidently suffocate him. Where he would feel trapped.

Continuing to scramble around the room, Starscream desperately scanned for anything that he could use. A small figure peeking out from one of the hallways gave him an idea—an opportunity.

Tearing off a piece of the wall (although with some struggle), Starscream quickly aimed for the very same hallway the human was peeking out from. The jagged sheet of metal sailed through the air, and captured the attention of the Autobot medic. 

As the bot rushed the other way to prevent the death of his beloved organic pets, Starscream bolted across the room to the groundbridge. Pushing past the pain and errors Starscream got on his HUD, he slammed into the console. Sparks flying as the groundbridge activated. 

Without any other choice and the last of his energy, Starscream practically dived towards the groundbridge. His ped collided with something briefly, but he chose to ignore the pain. He could see the swirling colors of green and blue. Escape had never looked so heavenly, even if he was going to the core of a planet about to be destroyed.

Then again, when had Starscream ever cared for his safety in such situations? He leapt for the portal. 

Leaving his signature chaos behind him, Starscream disappeared.

Chapter Text

Midnight, Nevada- Autobot base

Everyone in the base was silent, as shock coursed through their bodies and settled in their minds. The only sound being the awkward shuffling of a few feet, as the group of kids, mainly Jack, kicked the debris on the floor. 

In short, the main room was…a mess. 

There was scrap metal debris scattered all over the floor, large scratch marks decorated the walls, and the groundbridge flickered as it slowly turned off; swirling green and blue dispersing. Thankfully, the base's alarms had stopped shortly after the intruder had left. However, the ringing in the team's ears (or audials) served as a reminder of what had just occurred. 

It looked like someone had fought their way out—because someone had.

Starscream.

They had led a Decepticon—a rouge mech, into the core of Earth. They had let Starscream go into the same place that the majority of Team prime was. The ex-second in command of the Decepticons had somehow snuck into their base, listened to their plans, and breached the groundbridge. But how? How and when did he sneak in? How had no one noticed the presence of another cybertronian—especially one that was as big as he was!

The silence, as usual, was broken by Miko. 

“Okay, just to check…I didn’t imagine that right?”, Miko asked, looking around, “We all saw Starscream just appear out of thin air and then throw himself into the portal…”

Jack sighed as he lowered his head, “Yeah, I think we unfortunately did all see that.”

“Wh-what’s gonna happen? I mean, the team is down there!”, Raf shouted, now pacing around, “We can’t reach them either, their comm’s are down. They already have to deal with Megatron, and Unicron!”, throwing his arms up, the young boy then turned to the group,“What are we gonna do?”

Everyone nervously glanced at one another. They knew that the team had their hands full, a Warlord AND an ancient evil was heavily taxing by itself. But now they had to deal with another evil mch, which would only add more stress and work on their behalf. All because the group left at the base didn’t look around and check for rogue Decepticons—which technically wasn’t their fault. How were they supposed to know the seeker had snuck in? They had been focused on the bigger task at hand, which was the destruction of Earth and making sure nobody died. 

Ratchet, who had been standing near the groundbridge (which miraculously was still operational) started to move towards the small group. “We don’t know what will happen, but based on what I gathered from his state, Starscream will most likely stay out of the team's way.”, he finished with a tired look. The Medic then walked past, careful not to step on the group, to the main console to check on the whereabouts of the mech in question. 

“What makes you think that Screamer will stay away from Team Prime?”, Miko said exasperated, “He clearly didn't hesitate to jump through the groundbridge—or crush us! I was about to be skewered by one of his HEELS!”

Ratchet ignored the comment and continued to type into the console, reloading the screen. He then started to search for the ex-decepticons' signature…but as the program finished refreshing, nothing changed. No new locations or signals had popped up; in fact, the last registered signature for the Seeker seemed to be miles away. Even as the Medic refreshed the screen again and changed locations, the signal stayed the same, frozen in its last known location. It only added to Racthet’s confusion and developing question: How did Starscream turn his signal off? More importantly, why exactly did Starscream follow them?

‘He must’ve been planning this for a while then…’ Ratchet frowned and pushed off the console with a displeased hum.

He had only started to walk to the groundbridge to check the last inputted coordinates when Agent Fowler and Ms. Darby had blocked his path. Or, tried too…

“What was that?!”June hysterically yelled. The woman looked dishellved, and rightfully so, considering that another terrifying event had just happened. Honestly, the amount of bad luck that she had in one day was worrying. “Why did a—silver—bird thing with wings jump out of the hallway and destroy this room!” she continued to question, “I thought my kids were safe Ratchet!” 

Pacing around, she sighed, “Look, I’m still getting used to whatever space war you guys have, but I think you should’ve told me about any secret members. Especially ones that like to pop out of nowhere.”

Ratchet huffed, and stepped over the duo, “Puh-lease. That silver glitch was Starscream.”, he rolled his optics. “The former second-in-command of the Decepticons. He’s FAR from any teammate or Ally. We haven’t seen him for a while; he disappeared  after Arachnid attacked us.” Ratchet replied as he moved towards the groundbridge console, booting the system up to make sure that the last coordinates were indeed Unicron's core.

“Then how did he get in here?”, Fowler questioned as he crossed his arms. “I thought Optimus had this base secured. That no one knew your location, or where to find you, so tell me how an ex-deception made it in here, because my star-spangled shorts are on the line right now!”

Ratchet pinched the bridge of his face and tried to keep his composure. “Look. Based on what I saw, Starscream was injured. He was rushing and was uncoordinated when dodging.” He sighed,“We know that he was rogue for about two weeks before coming in here, so in that span of time, he must have broken something. Which isn’t surprising given his specific track record.”

“And just HOW does that explain his sudden appearance?”Fowler asked, raising a brow, “Because I don’t find how his injuries tie into him popping out of nowhere.”

”I hate to agree with Fowler, but how does that tell us anything Ratchet?”Jack interjected.

“So Starscream got some Karma- Whatever! He deserved what was coming to him, especially for what he did in the mines.”Miko added with annoyance.

Ratchet grumbled, “If you’d let me finish, you would know that external injuries can influence internal components. Things like exhaustion, starvation, and significant lack of recharge all throw off internal systems.” Seeing that the groundbridge would take time to load, the Medic walked to the main console and started bringing up multiple documents. If they wouldn’t let him explain, then he would have to show them…and then explain.

‘Why am I doing this again?’

The group had followed and stared with curiosity as a large diagram titled: "Standard Cybertronian - Grounder” was pulled up onto the screen. It showed a mech. 

“Now, like the human body, Cybertronians have both internal and external systems.”, Ratchet explained as he now pointed to the screen, “Obviously, there are some major differences, like our forms being composed mainly from metal and technology. But overall, the effects are still the same; if we get injured, then we require medical attention.” The mech then scrolled down. This time, the image showed a small bot, though its resemblance was more like a bug. “These are nanites; they operate at a microscopic level. In cybertronians, they maintain the protoform and frame to ensure our health doesn’t reach a critical level. This includes self-repair functions.” Ratchet finished.

“Cool! So you guys have tiny robots living inside of you, or technically on you?—Wait does that mean you can control them? Like a tiny robot army!”, Miko asked with growing excitement.

Jack sighed and shook his head, “I don’t think that’s how it works Miko…”

“It’s more similar to how human bodies have cells and antibodies. Right?”, June said, waiting for confirmation.

“Precisely, the nanites stabilize any wounds or injuries that we get. There are some limits to what they can repair, but yes, they work like your cells.” Ratchet responded, switching the diagram once more. Now the image showed another figure, it looked like a cybertronian but without armor; It was smooth metal, and its face lacked expression. But the most noticeable thing about the figure was the large crevice located in the middle of it, more importantly, the glowing orb that was in the center. 

“...what is that?”, Raf asked with wide eyes.

“This is a protoform, it is a cybertronian body in its raw form. Essentially, it's a blank slate, waiting to be activated by code. Otherwise known as the very first stage that we take, or close to it, over time it grows and develops into what lets us transform into our alt-modes.” Ratchet stated.

The Medic looked back at the diagram, “This one, though, is in a more older form, a Mechling. Usually we start as Sparkling protoforms, but…that’s a conversation for another time…”  He looked warily at the children, then turned his gaze to Agent Fowler and June. Both adults shook their heads.

“Hellooooo? What’s going on here?”, Miko asked, waving her arms, “Are you gonna clue us in on your secret or?...”

Clearing his intake, Ratchet whipped back around to the large screen, “Right, the protoform is probably the most vulnerable state a cybertronian can be in. In extreme medical conditions, some mechs may have to switch to an entirely different protoform and re-form their frame.”

“Like a body swap?” Jack asked.

“Yes, it was more common than you’d think. In the beginning of the war, both sides had faced a large amount of casualties and injuries; Many mechs had to switch to protoforms and their frames would have to re-develop.”, Ratchet sighed, “It made it harder to identify everyone, though. Sometimes, frames would change- drastically even! You could hardly identify who was from which faction.”

The explanation was met with silence.

The Medic’s expression shifted, “Over time, we ran out of protoforms, and some of our troops left for their own safety. Now they reside on different planets or in space on large ships, waiting for Cybertron to be restored.”

The room seemed to darken at Ratchet’s words. What words could you offer to someone who had lost their planet? Their home? Everything. The answer was simple: Nothing. No amount of sympathy or empathy could provide comfort. Only a hollow feeling. 

After a few more moments of awkward silence, Raf nervously shuffled forward, “You're in contact with all of them still…right?”

“Yeah! Like how you guys called Wheeljack out of space to kick Con aft?”, Miko added.

Ratchet sighed. He knew what the children were trying to do, and he was thankful for the attempt, slightly. “Yes, we can contact any of our old companions, thankfully, we have a database with all of their comms stored right here in our base. Making it easy for us to talk to them.”

Hopefully, one day, one of the conversations would be the news of their revived planet. 

‘Primus, help us. We need Optimus back. We need this war to be over. We need peace…please.’

Shaking the thought from his head, the Medic turned back to the humans, “We got off topic. Anyways, Starscream would have sustained multiple injuries during his time apart from the Decepticons. From what I could make out, his frame had some large scratches and dents in it. And since he lacks medical supplies and expertise, he would have let those injuries accumulate.” Ratchet paused and moved towards the groundbridge console. 

“And based on the recent weather, he would have also gone through electrocution from the storms—assuming he flew here. Which would fry his internal systems and whatever's left of his processor.”, he scoffed. The console had finished loading. “So, there’s an off chance during his time as a rogue, Starscream’s systems suffered so much external damage that it couldn't even send out his signal for others to detect—”

“Which is how he snuck into the base without us knowing!”, Raf exclaimed with a face of slow realization.”The base's systems couldn’t pick up his signal, so he wasn’t identified as an intruder; that’s why it didn't alert us...”

Miko stomped, “That sneak! I thought he was a scraplet!” The teen started to angrily pace back and forth, “I heard a noise and I knew something was in the hallway—but I didn’t say anything!”

“Miko, I don’t think we knew any better. I mean, we didn’t expect Starscream of all mechs to appear.”Jack carefully approached.

“Jack's right, you couldn’t have known…we all were as clueless as you were.”, June softly pointed out. She had started walking towards the girl, putting a hand on her shoulder.

“I still could have told Ratchet!”, Miko strained, “I could have told him about the weird noise and how I saw something shiny in the hallway—“

“To which I would have brushed you off and told you to stop distracting me.”, Ratchet monotonously replied as he went through the console. It turned out that the coordinates were the same. Straight to the core of the Earth, exactly where their team had previously entered. 

He let out a sigh and turned to the group of humans, who had paused their conversation. “Look, blaming yourself won’t do anything, it’s too late to do that and it’s pointless. We have to focus on what we can do now.”

“But—“, Miko interjected.

“No, it’s pointless.”, Ratchet interrupted, “ It already happened, Starscream jumped through the portal and now he’s in the core. We can’t forcibly take him out, not unless Optimus and the others catch him. All we can do is wait and see what happens.”

The girl solemnly looked up at the Medic and sighed with defeat, “Okay…”

Meanwhile, the two boys had started to walk away, leaving Ms.Darby to comfort Miko and Agent Folwer to further question Ratchet. 

The two of them studied the large screen that was left by the Medic, which had been switched to display the frozen signals of Team Prime. Looking at each other with sad expressions, they sat down on the floor.

“...What do you think Starscream is going to do?”Raf asked in a flat voice, turning to face Jack.

“I don’t know, probably not much, based on what Ratchet said. He's injured, so that might keep him away.”, Jack responded, glancing away. “…But I wouldn’t get my hopes up, he always does something stupid.”

-------------------------------------------------------------Pov switch!---------------------

WHOOSH!

Starscream’s frame flew out of the groundbridge portal, colliding across the steel metal walkways of wherever he was. 

When the Seeker did stop clashing with the floor, he stayed down, vents cycling harshly. His frame felt like it was on fire. Each limb refused to move from the cool place he was sprawled out on. His HUD was flooded with warnings and errors, obscuring his range of vision. His system’s were strained as well, barely operating and keeping him awake. 

All he knew was that he was in another world of pain and probably wasn’t going to move for an entire Deca-cycle. Starscream let out a series of static-laced whines. From his place on the metal walkway, he tried to focus on slowing down his “breathing”. It took a Nano-klick or two, but after a while, his cycling slowed down enough to where he could turn his attention to the overflowing warnings in his system. As the ex-Decepticon cleared them out, he felt his spark drop: 

• [Energon levels at 18%- Critical, Refueling recommended]

• [Sustainable damage to Outer Frame- Seek medical attention]

• [Protoform Suspect to damage- Seek medical attention immediately]

• [Nanites malfunctioning- Seek medical attention immediately]

• [Recharge needed- Rest recommended]

And it didn’t stop there, as Starscream continued to sort through the warnings. Not only did he come across a notification informing him that his weapons system had gone offline—his jet mode was barely operational! He internally cursed.

‘’My systems are slagged, I’m injured, and I can’t move two feeble inches before falling down and injuring myself more, ’ he seethed from his place on the floor.

‘Not to mention that useless groundbridge shot me out! That’s what I get. I try to infiltrate a base and use their primitive technology.’

 Starscream let out a scoff, which was more static than sound. The Seeker cringed and tried to bring his servo up to feel his throat. But all his arm did was go up halfway, before falling down on his now cracked cockpit. “I should’ve run back to the storage room. I should’ve stayed at that rusted Hanger, ignored those signals, and dealt with the storms myself!—Then maybe I wouldn't be stuck in this…this-this!—”, Starcream stopped his rant. He looked at the ceiling above him, finally taking in his surroundings. 

He raised a brow, “…where am I?”

The Mech frantically looked around, or tried to at least. Unfortunately, he couldn’t see much, except for the large area he was in. It resembled a cavern...which didn’t soothe his fears. He didn’t want to be stuck in a structure that could collapse.

Hesitatingly, Starscream turned onto his side, wincing as the action sent sharp pains throughout his frame. The seeker struggled to get up. His arms ached and protested along with the rest of his body. Pleading for him to rest and stay down. 

By the time he did get up, only managing to sit, his frame was trembling, and his wings were violently shaking. Everything felt heavy, and he was more exhausted than ever, but he still wanted to see where the portal had spat him out. 

Tentatively, he moved his head around, observing the large area.

 ‘There's a lot of walkways, all interconnected somehow…’, Starscream thought to himself as he looked through the open space. ‘Hmmm..interesting. It seems that there is technology?’, he narrowed his optics,‘That could be of use…those cables and pipes above me lead out of this walkway. There’s also some type of strange vents, and doors?’, he paused, optics widening.

“Wait, Cybertronian technology? Could this be a warship, never documented?—or maybe some type of abandoned cargo ship?” he mumbled.

After some consideration, Starscream pushed himself to stand, despite his HUD reminding him with warnings. Nonetheless, his injuries prohibited him from rising. Instead, he ended up in a crawling position, low to the ground. His frame had been overexerted enough, but of course, Starscream wasn’t known to give up easily. No, he was known for doing anything in his power to achieve what he wanted. If he had to drag his body across the ship to investigate, then he would. 

Based on his observations, at the end of each walkway was a door, making it clear that there were rooms inside this ship. And as any good (LEADER) Commander would know, each ship contained a control or command center. Despite his situation, Starscream felt a faint glimmer of hope start to form inside of him. 

‘If I can find the controls to this ship, then I can leave this planet, and escape being hunted down by either Faction!’, he thought as a small smile dared to form. ‘Although…I may have to create a new identity, it WOULD be troublesome if anyone were to recognize me for my…past transgressions.’

He dragged himself to the door at the end of his walkway, wings rising slightly at the thought of leaving the blasted planet. Starscream had stopped at the door, ready to open it. 

‘Finally. After all this time, I can leave. I can’t believe it took getting thrown around like a broken Vehicon—no being berated, replaced, and forgotten by my “master”—to leave this disgusting planet.’, Starscream mused as he struggled to prop his body against the door frame.

 ‘But no more will I be treated like a disregarded object, like a piece of scrap. Honestly, I deserve better than this, I deserve loyal followers, an army!’  A malicious smile formed at the thought.’...and maybe in time a throne.’ 

The door opened slowly opened with a series of heavy clicks.

Starscream waited and looked around, making sure no one was nearby. He then peeked into the new area. It was an extended hallway. 

“This will lead me to another area, maybe even the command center.”, he whispered. Behind him, his winglets fluttered, going against the hurt that plagued them.

… 

However, as the Seeker approached and moved into the hall, the sound of fighting quickly brought up concerns. It wasn’t any sound either. No, it was the sound of a group fighting for their lives against an opponent with fury.  A sound Starscream could recognize a mile away. 

Weapons could be heard, blasters shooting around, metal clashed, and some horrifying chittering sound could be heard down the hallway. 

Starscream froze, “No…i-it can’t…”, he whispered as he leaned against the wall for support, inching down the hall. The sound of the battle grew louder with each disbelieving step, shouting and screams echoing. 

“It’s probably some type o-of defense system…o-or maybe rodents!”, Starscream assured himself,  as he let out a nervous laugh. “Yes, those organics m-must have snuck in…”

But as he reached the end of the hallway, he could lie to himself no further. The heavy door opened, and what Starscream saw made him want to purge the little amount of energon that was left in him.

It was chaos. There were defense mechanisms everywhere, filling the large ship with their flying and evasive maneuvers. They were relentless in their pursuit, as they dived down and targeted their intruders. The mechs that were fighting against them stubbornly kept up, shooting and yelling out phrases and warnings for their companions when the odd-looking drones got close. But it wasn’t the display that irked Starscream- it was who they were aiming at. The drones intruders, their targets, were colorful. Colors that painted familiar frames that Starscream recognized. Dread built up in him.

‘If they’re HERE….a-and I’M here…then-then that means….’ 

Starscream wanted to perish right then and there. 

The worst time that his processor had malfunctioned and went against him. Only to make him remember after arriving at the accursed place. Out of all the things he could have forgotten. Starscream had somehow, in some way, during all the chaos that had happened in the base, forgotten that Team Prime had left before him. To save the earth. The last location on the groundbridge, the SAME coordinates that the group had used before leaving their beloved base. Where they were now fighting—where Starscream was now stuck. He was stuck in the core of Unicron. 

Starscream had no idea what to do. What WAS he supposed to do? He was stuck inside the core of a mech. Not only that, but his enemies were a good few feet away from him, fighting the defense systems alongside his ex-master. But it possibly couldn’t get any worse, right? 

No, in fact, it was disastrous. Starscream’s system could barely function—his weapons system was offline—he was injured beyond what he could repair himself, exhausted, terrified out of his fragging mind, and on top of all that, he was lost. 

For once in his unfortunate life, Starscream didn't know what to do. He didn’t plan for this—He didn’t even want—wasn’t—supposed to be here! He couldn’t create a scheme or plot or anything to save himself.

As he leaned against the door, Starscream couldn’t stop the disbelieving laughs that came out of him. And as his vision blurred, he couldn’t even find it in himself to care. He didn’t care how pathetic it made him to be reduced to this state. After everything he’d been through, he deserved to sit down and process. 

So as his breakdown continued, he slid down the door’s frame and watched as the Autobots (plus Megatron) fought vehemently. Through his blurred vision, he saw them as they struggled to coordinate their attacks, missing some of the drones. He heard as they argued about the next action, about what to do and how to continue. Yes, Stasrcream watched, he watched as his former Master, who he had served for countless vorns—Centuries—show more respect and concern to the enemy faction, than he ever showed him. And it hurt. 

For some Primus forsaken reason, it hurt to watch. 

How could he harbor less respect from his fellow Decepticons in centuries and not get a single token of appreciation? For everything he had done for the cause. He had kept the army alive and well for three years in Megatron's absence. For three years, everything was peaceful, prosperous even. They had a stable supply of energon, less attacks and raids were happening, and morale was decent. Until Megatron had come along. 

Suddenly, they had to focus all their resources on fighting the Autobots once again. More weapons, more energy, more resources, more troops, more bases, more plans. More work. More fighting. All of it was connected. 

More weapons required more fuel, which meant more energon and resources. But that meant securing more mines and building more bases, and to that they would need more troops and soldiers to do the work. Which led to more plans on how exactly they were going to acquire and create more resources to make more soldiers. Which in turn, meant more fighting, with either the Autobots— becasue of course they’re guarding the materials they need—or more fighting in the Nemesis in general. Endless arguments between soldiers, officers, or even between the higher powers. It was exhausting.

…

Starscream had put the majority of his life into war. It was what he was originally made for, his function. He had killed, and maimed and destroyed for a better future. It was why he joined the Decepticons in the first place, for a future where the caste system no longer existed. He had sacrificed parts of himself and others for that future to be built. So what had happened?

 How did he fail every single time? How was it that he failed every task, plan, scheme, and coup? 

No matter what. He failed to appease Megatron. He failed to get respect. He failed to keep his position. For Primus' sake, he failed to join the Autobots. The last mechs who were supposed to give second chances didn’t believe that he could be redeemed.

 Starscream sat on the floor, listening intently to the shouts, the sounds of metal being ripped apart. He knew those sounds well enough that it almost made him want to drift off to recharge, into an empty sleep. He watched one final time. He watched as the two faction leaders disappeared into a large room, leaving the fight to the remaining team. It seemed that they went to hold up their promise to the humans to save their planet. They had held their truce.

…

What Starscream didn’t watch was his surroundings.

It turns out that one of the drone’s overhead had noticed the Seeker during his fall into self-pity. The drone had been searching for the other intruders when it had spotted something large and silver leaning against one of the main entrances. So it did it’s job—it notified a small group of antibodies to attack the new variant. It broke off from the main skirmish and led the group to the Mech…who had looked up from his position and stared in horror at the approaching fleet.

Starscream leapt up from his position, stumbling back. He nervously looked between each drone, putting his claws up in surrender. 

“H-hey, I’m not the Mech you're looking for!”, He pleaded, continuing to back away as the anti-bodies approached near. ”Come on! Y-you clearly have other intruders! Right? Look over there!”, he hurriedly gestured to the team on the other side. “Th-there the ones you want, not me!”

But the drones continued to close in, they surrounded the seeker from all sides, positioned in a circle. 

‘No, no, no!- I can’t die because of this! To some drones, I don’t want to die in here. But how can I get out? I’m surrounded, they think I’m with the others, I can’t escape that!’

The antibodies were getting closer, almost touching his frame. It only made Starscream feel more closed in, more trapped. It made his mind race and frame tense. It made him feel the suffocating reality of what was about to happen.

It made him do something stupid.

Tired of the close proximity of the drones,  Starscream reached out and tried to push them back. But he had miscalculated and clawed at one of them instead, puncturing a hole through. Immediately, the drone shut off and fell on the floor with a loud clang, sparks coming out of its twitching body.

The rest of the group looked at the Seeker for a brief moment and turned back to study their dead comrade. They started shooting the mech.

Starscream didn’t care about the high-pitched shriek he let out, or who heard it for that matter. Without hesitation (and newfound adrenaline), he sprinted to the open door, breaking through the drone's circle and triggered his jet mode, ignoring the searing pain that followed.

‘If I can divert their attention back onto the TRUE intruders, I can try and find a way out for myself!- Yes, YES! Perfect-’

-------------------------------------------------------------Pov switch!---------------------

Bumblebee, Arcee, and Bulkhead did everything within their power to defend the large door that their leader had just entered. 

They had shot down multiple Antibodies, trying to keep up with the immense number of them that kept appearing. It seemed that Unicron knew better though, as his body just kept dispatching more and more of the relentless things. It would’ve been overwhelming, but luckily they had figured out a strategy to keep the pests at bay. 

Bumblebee would focus on stunning the first wave of drones, slashing at a few, and direct them towards the other two bots. Arcee mainly took down the majority of Antibodies that were still flying, shooting through them with her blaster. The rest would be dealt with by Bulkhead, who ripped apart the drones who had dared to approach the large door.

The tactic was working well and seemed to allow the team some reprieve. 

“Man, these things aren’t letting up!”, Bulkhead shouted over the noise as he crushed two drones.

“Yeah, it would seem that we’re not welcome here Bulk!”, Acree responded, blasting a line of the antibodies. Parts of the mechanisms rained down, hitting the walkway with small clangs.

Bumblebee jumped over the motorcycle, slicing through some drones that had escaped Arcee’s fire. He turned back and looked at the large door with worry, ~How do you think Optimus and Megatron are doing? I mean, it’s been a while, hasn’t it?~

“Optimus is fine, he knows how to handle himself—plus, he’s already beaten Megatron multiple times.”, Bulkhead replied, shooting a quick glance at the yellow mech before continuing, “If anything, it's the old Bucket head we’ve got to worry about. I don’t know about you, but he was losing it before they went in there!”

Another fleet of Antibodies flew down from above, shooting back at the small group, aiming for the door once again. But this time, they dived straight for the strange intruders that were fighting them.

“Look out!”, Arcee warned as she ducked out of the way.

Immediately, the group went to work. Back to back, they fought, defending one another. Bumblebee slashed and hacked away at the drones, frame splashed in discolored energon. Arcee sent blasts at full power and took down the second line of drones that had aimed at them. Bulkhead tore through the antibodies without a second thought, sending shards of metal everywhere.

In no time the wave was gone. The team stretched for a moment before setting their optics on the next approaching group of drones. 

However, something curious happened: one of the drones had seemed to notice something and flew towards the opposite direction of the fight.

Arcee narrowed her optics at the sight.

“Whew, now THAT is what I call a good fight!”, Bulkhead exclaimed as he readied himself for the oncoming wave.

~Yeah! We totally wrecked them!~, Bumblebee chirped.

“Not to interrupt your celebration, but you might want to see this…”, Arcee stated as she gestured upwards. 

The incoming wave of antibodies was intercepted by the drone that had previously left. It seemed to communicate to the group, taking a small portion of them to the side and leading them away from the main fight.

“Those drones must have spotted something on the other side of this area.”, Acree sighed, “Whatever it is can’t be good…”

“For who? Unicron or us?”, Bulkhead laughed.

“I want to say Unicron, but I think we might be in trouble as well. I mean, a group of them just left! That must mean-”

~Guys! Another wave is coming—focus!~, Bumblebee interrupted, alerting the two about the fast approaching drones.

They quickly got into their respective positions and started to get back into the rhythm of warding off the antibodies. However, as they continued to cut down and beat the drones, the team heard a loud clang from where the small group of drones had disappeared. 

Everyone paused for a moment and turned towards the sound. Even the drones themselves seemed curious about the new development. Shooting could be heard, although it was distant. It encouraged the remaining antibodies to continue in their pursuit. But before they could resume and fire their first shot, a high-pitched screech came out of nowhere.

In an instant, Bumblebee, Arcee, and Bulkhead were covering their audials, wincing at the sound.

“What died!?”, Bulkhead yelled.

“I don’t know!”, Arcee shot back, “Whatever it is, it needs to shut up!”

~MAKE IT STOP!~, Bumblebee begged as he covered his audial receptors. 

The screech only lasted for a few more seconds before it died off, letting the group hear normally once again. They recovered and stood up straight, getting ready to fight again, yet another noise could be heard approaching them. It was a familiar sound, the roar of a jet engine taking off and taking flight. 

At this, the bots slowly turned to face each other as they aimed for the drones, a look of disbelief painted on their faces.

~You don’t think that…I mean, he can’t…~, Bumblee murmured as the group started firing at the wave. 

Only one Mech from the entire Decepticon faction made that similar sound. A sound that was associated with extravagant and flamboyant takeoffs, made to present oneself in a cocky way. A silver Seeker that was notorious for being self-absorbed, cruel, intelligent, and cowardly. Famous for his failed plans to overthrow Megatron, and the punishments that followed him after. His arrogance was easy to remember, as his agitating voice would whine and complain—or lecture—for hours. 

There was just one problem. 

The last time he was seen was during the failed capture and containment of Arachnid. As the Jet had escaped and fled elsewhere. Not only that, but the Decepticon in question had been missing for about two weeks already, with no cybertronian technology or alliances. It couldn’t be possible—No—shouldn’t be possible for the Seeker to make an appearance here of all places.

 So how was it, as three bots continued to fire upon the antibodies, they heard the unmistakable yell (or more accurately scream) of the Mech they were all thinking about.

“AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!”, Starscream shrieked as he tried to dodge, “GET AWAY FROM ME YOU DISGUSTING—LITTLE—PIT SPAWNED FRAGGERS!!!!”

“Starscream.”, Arcee spat. She glared at the silver seeker as he flew haphazardly, trying to get away from the antibodies. 

They had their suspicions confirmed.

“How did he get here?”, Bulkhead yelled as he continued to fire at the mass of drones. The wrecker then looked more closely at the sight, “and why does he have an entire fleet going after him?”

“I have no idea, but knowing him, he probably pissed them off.”, Arcee responded flatly. The sight itself was making her feel a bit better, seeing as Starscream was getting the karma he deserved. But she was still irritated.

~Well, he’s distracting a lot of them, so…In a way, it’s good that he’s being chased!~, Bumblebee said with a smug tone.

The yellow bot was right, due to the Seeker's presence, a majority of the antibodies had turned their attention to the newfound intruder. The distraction provided some much-needed relief for the group, as they weren’t being fired upon. The same couldn’t be said for the Jet. Starscream continued to messily dodge and weave between the drones, failing at every escape attempt. 

The scene struck Arcee wrong; something was off about the Silver mech's fighting style. Why wasn’t he using his missiles? Or any other weapons? Where was that overbearing aura of narracism?

Before she could voice her concern, the mech swooped down dangerously close to them. Bringing an onslaught of antibodies with him. 

In a panic, the small group resumed their fire on the drones, not hesitating to fire close to the seeker who had brought back the fleet. 

“WOULD YOU STOP THAT!”, Stasrcream fervently yelled, “CAN’T YOU SEE I’M BEING ATTACKED ALREADY!?”

They all turned to face one another sharing the same unbothered look. The group shrugged.

“Yeah, and whose fault is that!”, Bulkhead replied, sending the jet a sharp glare.

“NO IT’S NOT—I BARELY EVEN DID ANYTHING!”

 “Uh-huh, sure...What are you even doing here?”

Starscream fell unexpectedly silent at the question. Instead, he focused on outmaneuvering the antibodies.  It seemed like all his dodging was working, as the drones were losing distance between the seeker. 

As much as they tried, they could no longer keep up with Starscream. With a sharp turn, the Seeker sent the fleet crashing into their own master's internal wall. A small amount of the drones, however, dug into his form. Clawing their way up Starscream's alt-mode as he let out pained sounds and struggled to keep himself airborne. 

Honestly, it was kind of sad to see…

almost. 

Arcee and Bulkhead just stared at the scene with indifference. Yes, it was uncomfortable to watch your enemy be hounded and brutalized by another being. But it wasn’t their problem; Starscream most likely brought the action upon himself. Plus, they had to keep their focus on the incoming wave of drones, unless they wanted to end up like him. 

The same couldn’t be said for Bumblebee. The yellow mech cringed as the antibodies climbed on the Jet, trying to offline him despite their situation. He could see scratches on the other mechs frame, not all of it seemed to be from the drones. As for the Seeker in question; smoke was now coming out of his turbines and he was dipping up and down in the air, trying to shake the remaining drones off his form.

“Bee! I know you're kinda busy over there- but you think you could lend us your blasters?”, Bulkhead called, snapping the bot out of his trance.

Bumblebee turned away from the Jet’s struggling form and hurried over to his friend's side. He onlined his blasters and started to shoot the oncoming wave of antibodies. Though he did give his comrades an uneasy look.

Arcee huffed, “Don’t worry, he'll survive! He always does- somehow.” She shook her helm at the thought, “If he does disappear, he’ll come back. Just like a scraplet.”

The bot only returned the comment with a half-hearted look of understanding. Bumblebee then turned back to blasting away the drones, backing his teammates up, and getting back into the rhythm of the battle.

Chapter Text

???, Center of the Earth - Unicron’s core

Starscream wanted to disappear. If he could, he would go back in time and revisit to the exact moment when he had the bright idea to go and pursue those blasted signals. He wanted to go back and yell at his past self to stay where he was and appreciate the musty old Hangar, because if he had done that or had any semblance of common sense, his situation would’ve been extremely different. 

Instead, Starscream might’ve ended up camping it out in that old Hangar as the storms continued outside, complaining and scheming on how to get back into Megatron's good graces. He could’ve stayed oblivious to this entire exchange and catastrophe and left it to the Autobots. Pit, Starscream would've just thrown himself back onto the Nemesis and suffered Megatron's wrath if he’d known that he would end up like this. 

It was no surprise that Starscream was currently losing altitude at an alarming rate, and being attacked…which wasn’t helping his morale in the slightest.

And that’s not even mentioning the ridicule by the Autobots. Weren’t those Dirt-Kissers supposed to help? Aid Mechs in need or some slag like that, not brush them off and ignore their pleas for assistance. 

Unfortunately for Starscream, it seemed that the faction had changed their morals—as soon as they realized they had an advantage over the rest of the drones (thanks to the Jet’s impromptu distraction), they had promptly turned away and continued shooting. Not even a glance back. The group had just left the Seeker to his “own devices” as the fleshies would say, whatever that meant. 

Which is why he is currently fighting to stay up in the air. Starscream knew he had been straining his system for too long; injured, battered, and beaten to the extent that his frame was trying to forcibly shut him down mid-air. No matter how much he tried to push off the command from his HUD, it stayed. With that, the Seeker’s thoughts started to spiral.

‘Why did I think I could do this? Why did I have to go and infiltrate that base— Only to almost get caught and then end up here! My systems are malfunctioning- I’m not gonna last---and I’m gonna be buried inside here…underneath mountains rubble… ’ The drones continued to abuse his alt-mode, scratching, biting, and destroying whatever they could to bring the Jet down. Their actions only made Starscream's desperation mount. 

He writhed as he attempted to shake off the offensive beings, twisting and turning.‘I should have just let Arachnid kill me off when she had the chance. I never should have let it slip that I killed Cliffjumper—I could’ve avoided all this—I would’ve had a better chance at getting accepted into the Autobot faction…using them to my benefit! I would’ve been in their base, in some sort of makeshift cell, gaining intel.’

Starscream sharply swerved down as the antibodies continued to destroy his frame. It was only when an antibody decided to target the Seeker's wings that Starscream gave in; with a pained shout, he nosedived, barreling down. 

All of this, just because he trusted. He trusted his instinct to follow the signals. He trusted his instinct to leave the Autobots- which he had wanted to create in alliance with in the first place. He placed trust that he could rely on himself…

Starscream laughed.

‘What a humorous concept: Trust. The thing that pulled so many into- into THIS war…I was a fool to ever put my trust into the Decepticon cause. To trust Megatron and his deteriorating ideals- HAH! Look where that “trust” got me.’ 

He was heading right for the Autobots, who looked at him in alarm as he spun towards them.

‘Hopefully they’ll show me some sort of mercy and just shoot me down, or perhaps they’ll let me crash into the wall and watch as my body is consumed.’

To Starscream’s amusement, however, the Autobots didn’t fire at him. In fact, Arcee, Bumblebee, and Bulkhead had dodged the plummeting seeker; they didn’t release him from his miserable life. Which quickly crossed off option one. 

No, instead to Starscream’s absolute horror, he realized that he would crash into the wall. Then eaten and torn apart by antibodies (which was an absolutely lovely thought). 

Bracing for impact, the Seeker prepared himself for the inevitable pain that would follow.

…Except that didn’t happen either. Starscream didn’t crash into a wall, because there wasn’t one to crash into; a large door had opened up as it detected the signals of antibodies. It didn’t recognize Starscream at all, mainly because he was covered in those antibodies (including their tainted energon) and his signal wasn’t being sent out. So, the door just took his presence in as one overly large antibody. 

As the Seeker dived through the door, a small majority of the Antibodies had been knocked off as they collided with each other. 

Crashing onto the floor and transforming into his bipedal form, Starscream lay motionless.

He couldn’t even rest yet; he still had to account for where exactly the door had just let him in. Because the Silver mech’s vision was still obscured by debris and dead antibodies, he couldn’t see who exactly else was in the room with him. But Starscream still had his other senses, and what he heard was even worse. 

“Megatron is Commanded by NO ONE!”

From one nightmare into the next.

…

 It seemed like the universe was still against him and had decided to double its efforts. Starscream had flown right into the core of Unicron. And as if on cue, the earth around him started to shake. 

With his vision restored and a death grip on the floor, Starscream finally saw the purgatory he had stumbled upon. A large cavern which held the Unmaker’s spark, illuminated by a violent purple hue. An overbearing presence could be felt, one that made Starscream want to purge all over the floor. The ground continued to shake, never ceasing its effort to make its disdain show. If not that, then the field that was emitting from Unicron's spark would. Pure absolute hatred was released in waves.

CLANG!

A few feet in front of him, his ex-Master collapsed onto the floor. However, the sound of grunting and determination interrupted the action.

It seemed as though the Prime was attempting to make his way towards the hellish Spark. The Autobot leader struggled to stand, but it did not deter him the slightest, as he soon spoke through gritted denta. “Matrix of Leadership, I call upon you.” 

It was with those words that Starscream felt a burst of hope and gratitude (not that he would ever admit it), towards the mech. 

Unicron, however, was equally determined to secure victory, as the body of Megatron rose up again, engulfed in purple flames.

“You cannot defeat me, disciple of Primus!” the possessed Warlord spoke as he rose, “I have transcended physical being, and by my will alone all upon this world shall fall into chaos!” 

Optimus only looked back at the mech with utter disdain, “Not while I still function Unicron.” As he continued to painstakingly push through the purple field.

Surprisingly, it seemed like the Prime had taken notice of Starscream’s form behind the mad Warlord. However, he didn’t question the presence at all; instead, he gave a nod towards the silver Seeker. 

Then, to Starscream’s astonishment, Optimus Prime stood and faced the ugly purple spark. 

“The power of the Matrix will light our darkest hour!” 

And it was with that, the Autobot leader had fully opened his chest plates, and the steady hum of the Matrix could be heard. 

At the action, Unicron let out a desperate cry, taking hold of Megatron's form and charging up his cannon. Starscream froze as he heard the familiar noise. He watched as the cannon was aimed right for Optimus, for the matrix. The one being—the one thing that could save Earth. 

Before he could process what he was doing, Starscream shot up and tackled his ex-Master’s form. Crashing onto the floor before a wave of blue charge flung both the Seeker and Warlord back. 

As Starscream hit the rocky floor, he left out a sharp cry that echoed through the cavern. It seemed like his body had finally reached its limit. Opening up his HUD, he watched as his systems were shut down, one by one. His frame might have been decorated with various scratches, gashes, cuts, and burns; but he could no longer feel the sting they had provided before. Instead, it was whisked away by another feeling, coldness. Starscream lay still on the floor, unmoving. 

The Seeker let out a ragged cough. 

Was it really over? All of it… everything he had done? Was this actually how he went out…

But for once in his miserable life, Starscream wasn’t afraid. That’s right, Starscream, notorious coward, was not spending his last thoughts dwelling on his failures, the hatred that he faced, and the abuse. And he definitely wasn’t going to waste his last thoughts on the celebration that would take place for his demise. No, instead, Starscream shifted his thoughts to remember his more sacred memories. 

Memories of a brightly colored city, where everything shined and glistened with the light. The feeling of freedom weaving through him in the air as he raced with two other seekers. Two other seekers, both older than him by a few years—One purple with black accents, the power of teleportation and a knack for pranks and mischief—Another that was blue with white accents, who had the power of sonic blasts and the talent of resolving conflicts. 

Starscream remembered the adventures they had experienced together, the arguments, missions, everything.  He listened for his Trines' shared laughter, the nostalgic sound rang in his audial receptors. He couldn’t wait to see those two slaggers soon. Even if they would berate him…and insult him. Even in the afterlife, he probably wouldn’t have peace.

With some hesitation, Starscream brought forth another memory, one long forgotten, buried underneath the trauma of war and layers of regret. 

It was of a large white shuttle, who had been the only one who had regarded Starscream as a true Cybertronian, rather than some scrap on the side of the road. Kind blue optics, a comforting presence, and a voice as gentle as the mech who had it. Starscream could almost feel him; a small wave of warmth washed over him. Or maybe he was just hallucinating that, maybe he wanted the warmth he could never get. No matter how hard he tried. Skyfire was the only one who provided him with that warmth. 

“I guess we both die on this cruel planet… don’t we?” The Jet muttered out through broken coughs.

…

Starscream had already succumbed to the feeling of his limbs going limp; he could feel the coldness seeping into his frame. It crawled up, slowly but steadily, making its way to his torso. To his faltering spark. The Seeker’s optics shuttered a few times before they were fully closed. He didn’t want a grey wall to be the last thing he saw. If he was being honest, Starscream would rather have died on the surface of this nauseating planet. At least he would have been able to look at the stars one last time, search through the sea of planets, and find Cybertron. Say goodbye to his old city and trine while he felt the wind grace his wings one last time. Maybe even smell the okay-ish scent of the earth around him, the heat of the sun. But no, as cruel fate would have it, Starscream was going to die in this cold, dark, suffocating cavern. Buried and forgotten. 

Well, at least he would finally be able to rest. Starscream felt the calming presence of death wash over him. It consumed him entirely; his spark was slowing down; his vents were shallow. It felt as if he were floating, not up or down, but just idly staying in one place. Parts of his body were probably turning grey by now, deteriorating into dust, into nothingness.

 ‘So it ends like this, Hmm?’ The Seeker contemplated as he lay still on the ground. ‘Not as a warrior dying in the midst of battle…Not after years of successful reign over the Decepticons… Not even by my “Masters” clawed servos—but under a planet that hosts a hated God's spark.’ 

Starscream ignored the yells that were now coming from some far-off distance. Why should he care about matters that would no longer concern him? He was going to die soon anyways. ‘To be remembered in memories of hostility and repugnance, instead of memories of glory and praise…..I honestly should have seen THAT coming. No one ever appreciated my expertise.’ 

The coldness had now reached his torso, making its way up to his ever-flickering spark. It almost felt like he was falling to recharge…

As Starscream drifted off into an eternal slumber, one final thought snaked its way into his delirious processor. If he could muster up a laugh, he would’ve by the pure absurdity of the question; One question that he’d asked himself many times before: 

‘How did I even make it this far?’ 

Now, usually, the Seeker would tell himself that it was from his charisma, his pure intellect, or even because the universe was on his side. But now? The answer was crystal clear: Starscream had only survived because of a series of unfortunate events that had brought him here. 

The universe wasn’t on his side, it was against him- always had been. He had been blinded by his own thoughts to make that discovery. Starscream had only survived the war because Megatron wanted him to; the Decepticons had lacked air support and scientific minds. So when the Warlord had discovered a mass of seekers and Starscream in command of them, well, the implication was obvious. It was practically a sign from Primus himself. Starscream had made the mistake of joining a cursed war, a war that would never end, in which he would lose everything. 

Yes, he lost many things: his beautiful city, his brethren, close friends, his trine, any and all respect, his leadership position—ohhh, the list could continue for eons. It was almost poetic in a way—How much he took from others, and in return, things were taken from him. (Karma...what an interesting concept.)

Squinting at the dull rock ceiling, Starscream stared as he considered the question. His answers, although true, were not ones he wanted to accept. Not even in death. Asking no one in particular, the seeker spoke through his bruised and broken vocaulizer, “H-ow di-d I ev—en ma-a-a…ke it th-is f—ar-r-r?”

“Because you are stubborn and you do not give up, Seeker. And you will not give up, especially not now.”

‘...What?’

“RISE!” 

And yet an answer came, and with it a white hot searing pain.

. . . !!!

It felt as if everything was burning; the energon inside him felt thick, heavy, and molten hot. Starscream felt as if his frame was being split apart, torn into pieces, and hastily put back together. But it was put back wrong. 

His mind erupted in pain, and in the distance he swore he could hear loud screams—deafening, animalistic wails. They sounded painful and were heavily laced with static and anguish. All throughout his frame, it seared like liquid fire. There was the sickening sound of cracks, pops, and grinding as his limbs excruciatingly repositioned themselves, reformatted. 

His protoform was the worst feeling by far—it was stretching to its limit, tearing itself apart and then mending itself together again, although tighter. The pressure in his helm increased. It was as if his frame was following a blueprint, a map of where everything should go, and it forced everything into their places, uncaring of the torment and agony that it was causing.

 Memories flickered, not in order and definitely not clearly. They were fragments, fuzzy and blurred. Indistinguishable sounds and an entire flux of emotions, along with voices that belonged to years long gone, flew by. The most worrying part was that Starscream didn’t know if they were being restored…or taken away. The sensation of being reformed—being forced back alive continued, and it was in those last resounding moments of reconstruction that Starscream wished he had succumbed to death. 

“I hope you make better decisions, Starscream…for your own sake and for others. Don’t waste this second chance. Now, get up.”

. . . !!!

It was over; whatever thing that had gotten a hold of him had ceased its grasp. Starscream—‘That’s my designation…right?’ —lay there, unmoving from his place on the floor. He could feel his body- the form harshly shivering against the cold air. Shock had taken him over. The Seeker stared with wide optics (his optics?) and stared at a grey ceiling. 

‘What…just…’ 

He continued to lie there, breathing with effort, harsh cycles of air coming out of his vents. The air seemed heavier, the walls closer, everything seemed too much. Starscream could feel everything. The rubble underneath him pierced through his frame, sending pain signals throughout his system. It didn’t do much, though, as thoughts struggled to get through coherently. His processor ached along with the rest of his body. 

It felt as if he was looking through the optics of someone else; his mind floating elsewhere as his body tried to operate by itself. A jarring experience indeed.

Across from him, Starscream heard movement. He turned his helm and was immediately greeted with a stabbing pain that seemed to linger. He let out a wince and waited for the pain to clear. It didn’t. Although through his muddled eyesight, the Seeker could make out figures. 

Two mechs were across from him, one of them was large and silver with pointed armor, and the other was red and blue. 

The grey one groaned as he stood up, he then looked at the other mech beside him, seemingly missing the Seeker's presence entirely.

 “Teamwork…Hmphf…”, the Grey mech huffed in disbelief. 

Then, to Starscream’s horror, the grounder (where did that phrase come from?) transformed out a blade. He then approached the other grounder. 

Starscream didn’t want to see whatever was about to unfold in front of him, but his body was stationary. With wide optics, the Seeker watched as the tall Grey mech stood in front of the other. He had just woken up and was about to be a witness to another’s death.

“Where…are we?... Megatronus?”, the grounder curiously asked, looking up at the Grey mech. 

The name seemed familiar to Starscream for some reason, although, as he tried to remember, blistering pain kept him from doing so. So in vain and in confusion, the Seeker continued to watch the exchange.

The Grey mech  Megatronus had paused for a moment before putting away his blade. He then offered his hand to the other grounder. “Don’t you remember, old friend?—”

The sound of running and the destruction of a door interrupted Megatronus's words. Three new bots came barreling into the room, all brightly colored. It was all vaguely familiar for some unprecedented reason… 

“Optimus, are you okay?” the big Green mech asked. 

That name also sparked a feeling of familiarity in the Seeker; everything did! This situation, these cybertronians!—What couldn’t he remember?

“Why did he call me that?”, the Blue and Red mech whose name might’ve been Optimus, asked. 

The small group then hurried over to the two mechs. They also seemed to have ignored the Seekers' presence as well…which only added to Starscream's growing confusion.

The blue and pink femme approached first, anger painted on her face plates as she spoke to Megatronus. “What did you do to him.” 

And for some odd reason, Starscream felt anger rise and bubble in himself. But not at the words, no, his anger was directed towards the femme…for some odd reason, he felt enraged by the sight of her. But why?

“Who are they?” Optimus asked with a look of confusion. He then surveyed the area he was in and made eye contact with Starscream. The Seeker froze in horror. “And who is that?”

At the question, everyone turned. Starscream felt the unyielding urge to back away and crawl into the shadows. But all he could muster was some half-hearted grimace. 

The rest of the group continued to stare, for what seemed like an eternity. Their fields held a mix of disbelief and confusion. The only exception being Megatronus, who was staring hard at him, a field filled with rising hatred. The sight scared Starscream and yet, it also held that distinct familiarity; the way he felt insignificant under this mech's gaze…almost as if it had happened before. The squirming feeling, churning of his tanks—he felt like this exchange had taken place many times before, almost a routine. 

But before Starscream could pinpoint exactly why it felt so natural, a portal opened up. The Seeker flinched as Megatronus turned away, facing Optimus instead with a sense of urgency. 

“They are our mortal enemies, we’re outnumbered.”, the Grey mech replied to the earlier posed question, “Go, I’ll cover for you!” 

It was with that, Optimus(?) turned and ran into the portal, hesistantly giving Starscream one last look of confusion before disappearing entirely. 

The sound of blasters brought him out of the trance as Megatronus continued his fire on the rest of the group. The tall mech turned to face Starscream, and gave him a quick sneer before disappearing into the portal as well. 

The groundbridge closed.

It was with that expression that things slowly started to piece together. Memories flashed by, a plan- a half-baked, foolish plan. A monster. Some type of truce was being held…he had interrupted something—no, he had become a part of something he wasn’t supposed to. The memories started to flood in, as Starscream's system overloaded with the amount of information that threatened to surge forward. With one last desperate look, the Seeker faced the group next to him and crashed. The black void greeted him once again.

-------------------------------------------------------------Pov switch!---------------------

Bumblebee, Arcee, and Bulkhead stared at the empty space, where the portal had disappeared- where their leader had walked through. Optimus Prime, leader of the Autobots, the one who was supposed to lead them to victory- had left them. 

The three bots were silent as they looked around the desolate space…the battle was over, Unicron was gone- and with it the truce. It was time for them to return to base and report back to Ratchet. Nothing was left for them in the cavern. 

…Well, almost nothing. There was still the matter of the mystery bot, in fact, the Seeker—that’s right, a SEEKER. The frame type only added to a certain developing theory, but that could be proven later. The mech had no injuries whatsoever, which was odd to say the least, as a battle had taken place a moment ago. A battle that was sure to injure those who wouldn’t be able to withstand Unicron’s influence. Sure, the bot was knocked out cold, but the question still remained of who exactly it was. 

~…what do we do now?~, Bumblebee asked, gaze still lingering at the empty spot.

Arcee and Bulkhead shared a look of concern with each other, they both saw how their friend looked when Optimus left. Pit, all of them were surprised because of that, but Bee? Devastated couldn’t even begin to describe the emotion radiating from the scout's field.

Arcee sighed, “We still have to go back to base and inform Ratchet on what happened…he should be opening a groundbridge back anytime now.”

“Yeah, gotta let everyone know that Unicron is gone now.”, Bulkhead added, “And, you know, tell them about the uhh…..situation that…happened.” In the wrecker's defense, he was trying to make things less awkward right now, which was hard to do. If only their leader were here, then they could celebrate like they usually do.

~Right.~, Bumblebee responded, his gaze then shifted to the mech on the floor,~Are we gonna take him back to the base? Or are we just gonna leave him here?~

The question reverberated off the empty cavern’s walls. The team stared at each other for a moment, considering the idea. 

 “I guess we could take him to the base, I mean, there's not really a lot of other options right now?” Bulkhead threw out, scratching his helm. 

“Wait a minute, are you- are you serious?”Arcee interjected with a harsh look, “Look, I’m going off what limited information I have about all of- well- this”, she gestured to the body, “But I have a feeling that we might know this mech. I mean, a Seeker, really? Did you guys forget who crashed in here a few moments ago?”

The Wrecker and Scout shrugged, seemingly unsure of what to make of the theory. 

~What if he’s like Optimus? What if he just changes? I mean, he DID look confused when we got in here.~, Bumblebee pointed out. ~Almost like he didn’t recognize us…~

“Look, the worst that could happen is that the slagger does remember us and goes rabid.”, Bulkhead stated. The wrecker then turned to face Arcee,“Now I’m not saying that we  SHOULD bring him to the base…”, he winced at the femme's reaction, “But it would be a good idea to keep tabs on him y'know?”

Before Arcee could give a response (a scathing one at that), a groundbridge opened up behind them. The group looked at the portal with hesitancy; the conversation they were about to have was bound to lower the mood even more. 

Especially now that they had to consider bringing in a certain Seeker into their base. Things were probably going to burst into flames, figuratively or physically, if Starscream decided to act out.

~If we bring him back to base, then maybe we can figure out what happened to Optimus. We could bring his memories back!~Bumblebee proposed looking at the groundbridge. He then turned back and studied his friends' looks. Bulkhead still looked uncertain, and Arcee…well, the suggestion wasn’t received with enthusiasm.

~Ratchet must know something, he’s an expert in medical stuff—and if we have someone who was exposed to whatever happened here, then our chances would be better! For all we know, Starscream could give us info.~ The Scout pleaded. ~Come on guys, please?~

Bulkhead let out a heavy sigh and shook his head in agreement, “Yeah, I guess all that makes sense…Arcee?” The wrecker turned to the motorcycle, who was still glaring at the mech on the floor.

The Seeker didn’t move at the harsh gaze, but remained still.

“...I…”, she took a sharp vent, “...Fine, we’ll take him back to base. I’m not carrying him though.” And with that, Arcee strided past the other two bots and into the waiting portal.

Bumblebee perked up at the response and flicked his doorwings in delight. He then turned to Bulkhead, who reciprocated the gesture with a small laugh. After a quick moment of celebration, the two faced each other again, this time looking at the body on the floor. 

Bulkhead cleared his throat, “I think we should go to the base and tell everyone about…well, the boss first, explain what happened. Then we can come back and bring the body.” Bumblebee nodded back in approval. With that, they both walked out of the cavern and into the groundbridge. 

Chapter Text

~7:00 am, Nevada - Autobot base

As soon as the main console had registered that everyone on the team was still alive, a collective sigh of relief was let out. Cheers were also shouted out (mainly from the children), and an awkward hug was exchanged between Agent Folwer and June. Brushing that aside, everyone felt significantly better; they had won!

Ratchet had immediately gone to the groundbridge to bring the team back. There was a noticeable calm on the mech as he did. 

So now, everyone waited with growing anticipation as the ground bridge remained open. They had stayed up all day and night waiting for the team to return. The exhaustion was worth it though. With that, Ratchet had stayed at the portal’s control console, in case anything else wanted to enter. Who knows what else inhabited and festered in the core of Unicron.

The humans, however, lined up in front of the entrance. Nervously awaiting their friends.

“What’s taking them so long?” Miko groaned. 

It had been a few minutes already, and it seemed as if the mechs on the other side were taking their sweet time. Which didn’t help the limited amount of patience the girl had. And with a lack of patience, came theories. 

“Did something else happen? Are they still fighting? Did everything blow up? Is someone injured? Or are they already celebrating without us? If so, where all the party stuff?”, the Girl rapidly fired off, “OH WAIT!—Did Megatron die?” she finished with a grin.

Ratchet tiredly looked at the human, “No, Miko, Megatron did not die… unfortunately—That’s not the point though, they're probably just making sure the area is safe. Just please, try and be patient for a bit longer.”

‘Seriously, just how much curiosity fits in her tiny frame?...and when will it stop?’ The Medic thought, wincing at the prospect of a developing helm-ache.

Miko sighed heavily before slumping her shoulders. “Okayyyyyy…” 

Ratchet shook his head. Even though the mission was over, he wasn’t excluded from the growing panic. Yes, he admitted that he had taken a few glances at the team's signatures from where he was standing, but it was in good spark! What was taking those bots so long? 

As if to answer his question, the portal began to flicker with life. Soon after, a series of figures came out. Arcee stepped out first, or rather, stomped out. Although the Femme had a neutral look, there was something amiss with how she held herself. Whatever it was would be deciphered later, as Bumblebee and Bulkhead came out of the portal next. They were a bit less discreet with their emotions. 

In an instant, the group of kids ran over to their friends. Concern and relief heavily painted on their faces. 

“Arcee!” Jack exclaimed.

 “I was worried Bulk!”Miko followed. 

“You alright Bee?” Rafael asked. 

The group of Cybertronians looked back at them solemnly, but faint smiles could be seen on their faces nonetheless. The idle hum of the groundbridge behind them filled the silence. Ratchet, although relieved, could not help but notice the lack of someone, or two someones for that matter. But he could care less about the Decepticon warlord.

 “And Optimus?”, the Medic voiced his concern, “...Is he—”

“Dead?”Arcee interrupted, looking down, “No.”

“But he looked right at us without recognizing us," Bulkhead spoke. “Didn’t even know his own name.” 

‘Well, it would make sense, the Matrix held Optimus Prime’s memories of us, which would mean that…’

Ratchet hummed in thought, “When Optimus surrendered the Matrix of Leadership, he lost more than the collective wisdom of the primes.” His optics grew wide, “...he lost his own memories. He lost himself.” 

“That doesn’t follow, Optimus knew Megatron.”Arcee insisted. 

“They were like BFFS!”Bulkhead interjected.

~They even left together!~ Bumblebee added.

“If Optimus did not know his own name, perhaps it is because the title of Prime hasn’t yet been granted to him.”, Ratchet summed up. It was the most relevant theory based on what information was known.

“It would make sense, seeing as how Optimus only met the majority of the team during the war…not Orion Pax. Meaning that Megatron- no- Megatronus would’ve been more familiar to him instead of us.’

“Huh?”  “What?”  “Say again?” Agent Fowler, Jack, and Miko asked.

“With the power of the Matrix no longer within him, it would stand to reason that Optimus has reverted to his pre-prime state.”, the Medic continued. “The historical archivist Orion Pax.”

June looked up at the mech in concern, “You mean in his mind?”

“Are you telling me that Prime thinks he’s some kind of librarian? And a Decepticon?” Agent Fowler yelled, finishing his accusation.

“Being a Decepticon is a choice, Agent Fowler." The Medic immediately corrected.  “One that I have a hard time believing Optimus would make at any point in his life.” Ratchet would tolerate the humans' presence (by Optimus’s pleas), and even some of his orders—However, he would NOT stand for the slandering of his leader and closest…companion.

“So if he’s riding with the Cons-” Bulkhead started.

“—It’s because Megatron’s working some kind of voodoo.”, Arcee finished with a biting tone.

“Orion Pax may not currently be an Autobot up here,” Ratchet pointed to his helm, “but I must believe he will never stop being one…in here.” His servo was now placed over his chest, his very spark.  

‘He has to be. Unless that conniving slagger has already convinced him otherwise.’

The Medic frowned at the thought, “We must locate him for certain.” 

‘Before he truly believes in Megatron's lie…and becomes what he swore to fight.’ Ratchet finished in his mind.

Fowler seemed less convinced. “Hold up- I have a chip lodged in my behind that lets Uncle Sam know when I stop for donuts-”, everyone cringed at the sentence, “Are you telling me you can’t just track Prime?”, the Agent questioned.

“Optimus’s signal has not reappeared since he embarked Earth's core.” Ratchet explained as he brought up the signal monitor, “But we must get to work finding him if we have any hope of initiating his contingency plan.”’

“Contingency plan?”, Arcee asked, raising an optical ridge. 

“...What contingency?”, Bulkhead questioned.

Miko leaned over the safety railing of the observation deck. “ Is that even a word?”

The Medic sighed to himself. ‘Of all individuals Optimus, you really know how to pick the ones that shine the brightest…just not in the mind.’

“The key card!” Jack gasped. He brought his hand to one of his jean pockets and brought out the object. The older teen studied it for a moment, “So what’s it do?”

The Medic was stoic for a moment, then, turning around, he replied, “It grants access to vector sigma. The repository of the wisdom of the Primes.” 

“Is that some sort of supercomputer?” Raf asked as he moved forward. 

The Medic stayed silent at the question. ‘Supercomputer? Of course the boy would relate it to that. One of his strong suits is technology after all.’ 

Jack looked at the younger boy, “So we can just download Optimus’s memories back into him?”, he turned to the Medic with a smile, “Great! Which one’s the big V?” The teen then started looking around the room, “Over here? Somewhere in the back?”

Ratchet internally sighed at the boy’s growing hope; he would have to explain things again. “Vector sigma is more than a supercomputer, Jack. It is an ancient source of mystical power.” He paused, already knowing what reaction would take place, “On Cybertron.”

As expected, the room tensed. More accurately, June grew tense. 

In an instant, the woman whipped around to face her son.“Jackson Darby you will NOT be traveling to another planet.”, June said sternly.

“I’m in!” Miko responded, already running towards Jack hopefully. 

June turned to face the girl, “You’re not going either Miko.” Turning around, she gave a furious look to the remaining Autobots, “Not when one of you can!”

The group in question shrugged at the remark. 

”June’s right, why send a boy to do a bot’s job?” Agent Fowler asked.

Ratchet held back his growing impatience. “Because only a Prime can restore Vector Sigma.”, he clarified, “Or one chosen by a Prime. Optimus gave the keycard to Jack— it is now imprinted with his unique bio signature.”

Miko walked up to the older teen, “So you mean Jack’s like some kind of honorary Prime?”

“Let’s just say Jack is the only one who can return Optimus to the Autobot we knew.” 

At this, June interrupted once more, “But why would Optimus willingly endanger a human?—A child.”

“I-I’m not a CHILD, Mom!”, Jack stuttered out angrily. Clenching his fists, he turned away.

“Maybe Optimus believes there's more to Jack than meets the eye.”Arcee stated with indifference.

“All of which is moot.”, Ratchet voiced, “ The key card is useless to us without a means of reaching Cybertron. Which at present we do not possess.” As much as he hoped, their current technology was not up to standards for such missions. Even one of importance. Their chances of retrieving Optimus successfully were looking more dire than ever. Not that Ratchet would admit that out loud, the last thing he needed was more chaos in his life.

“Dude, what about that?” Miko stated while she headed towards the opposite side of the railing, the one that was closer to the ground bridge (which was still on for some inexplicable reason).

Raf wearily followed the girl, “Miko, the ground bridge barely got them into earth’s orbit- remember?”

“Yeah, but Ratchet built it,” she turned towards the Medic, “Can’t you just turbocharge the thing?”

‘Turbocharge?...’

The Mech paused in thought as an idea worked its way into his processor. “Hmmm…I have a vague idea of a plan, but until I am certain of it and have worked out the proper equations, you should all go back to your regular lives.”

“What!” all the kids yelled in unison.

The two adults nodded in agreement. “After all that, I think I need to lie down for a while.”, June sighed. “Then, it’s back to work. Which reminds me,” she turned to her son, ” Jack, you still have to work tomorrow.”

“Yikes, I forgot about that…”, the older boy winced.

After a few moments of arguing and a few compromises (mainly with Miko), the humans left the base. The remaining Cybertronians sighed at their situation. Ratchet grumbled to himself before tearing his gaze away from the main console. He moved towards the ground bridge control and prepared to shut it off.

“Wait!”, Bulkhead yelled, “Don’t shut that off just yet…”

Ratchet paused, hand still holding the lever. “Why?”

 The wrecker nervously glanced at the other two bots beside him. “Uhh guys, wanna explain with me or?-”

“Nope.” Arcee stated before walking out of the room. 

Ratchet raised an optical ridge at the action, “Whatever you two are going to tell me, make it quick. Our time is too important right now to be messing around.” He waited and stared at the two mechs. “Well?”

“Uhhh, I think it’s better if we just show you.”, Bulkhead responded, “Come on Bee, let’s go get the- the—well, y’know…”

Bumblebee beeped in agreement and followed the wrecker into the portal. 

Ratchet watched as the two of them walked away, disappearing. His suspicions grew. ‘What are those two planning?’

 -------------------------------------------------Quick Pov switch!-------------------------

“So…I’ll get the arms and you get the peds?” Bulkhead hesitantly asked.

The yellow bot shrugged in response. 

In seconds, they had lifted up the Seeker and were now walking to the portal. They could have dragged him, sure, but then they would have to endure the complaining and whining- Yeah, no. Instead, both bots lifted the mech up so his wings weren’t touching the ground. 

The bare minimum would suffice, after all, it’s not like the mech would do the same for them.

Bulkhead and Bumblebee glanced at one another before stepping into the ground bridge. 

 -------------------------------------------------Pov switch!---------------------------------

Ratchet stood in front of the groundbridge lever, arms crossed as he ever so graciously waited for two of his teammates to return.

The sound of pedsteps alerted him that the two bots in question had finally arrived. As both grounders walked through the entrance, they seemed to be carrying something.  A large something, almost like a—Oh Primus. Ratchet shut off the groundbridge. 

The Medic groaned internally. 

“This is what else was found…with Optimus and Megatron. He was lying on the ground and kinda looked confused by everything that was happening.”, Bulkhead recounted. 

~Yeah! He looked lost...but then Megatron looked at him, and then his face shifted.~ Bumblebee added on ~Almost like something clicked for him…well- until he blacked out.~

At that, Ratchet actually let out a frustrated sigh. He should have known that troublesome Mech would have intervened in the mission. But this? REALLY?

Bulkhead suddenly tensed, clearing his intake, he spoke slowly, “Funny thing…we might know who this is. You see, someone else showed up at the battle—well, more like interrupted the battle—actually no, more like blindly flew into the battle…” he looked at Ratchet's expression, “-Right. So, this mech…may or may not be-”

“Starscream.”

“Starscream. Yeah, I know what you’re gonna ask, and no we didn’t know that he was gonna pop out of nowhere," Bulkhead paused, “Wait what?”

“Yes, that mech, that seeker is Starscream. I know Bulkhead.”, Ratchet responded, rolling his optics. “I knew he followed you into the core of Unicron. What I didn’t expect was him to actually be irresponsible and idiotic enough for something like- like this to happen!” He gestured at the Seeker's new pristine frame. 

~Well, that solves our question of how he got in.~ Bumblebee chirped. ~But, why is he all…uhh…well…new? Wasn’t he supposed to die or something?~

“It would seem that as Optimus was using the Matrix to fight against Unicron’s core and put him back into an eternal slumber—The Matrix took notice of Stascream’s critically injured frame and decided to heal him.” Ratchet huffed as the Seeker was sat down against the wall. “But it seems that as Matrix was multitasking, it intermixed the idea of restoration, or the past, with Starscream.” 

The Medic studied the ex-decepticons' frame, “It was already occupied with taking Optimus’s memories and reverting him to Orion Pax—that it decided to do the same with Starscream and restore him to his past frame instead of simply healing him.” 

“So he got free healthcare?” Bulkhead chuckled.

“To put it simply, yes, Starscream got free medical attention from the Matrix for some unprecedented reason.”, Ratchet responded flatly. The Medic had started walking away to the main console to continue his calculations. “Just leave him in the Medbay for right now, and make sure to lay him down on his front—”

~Why?~ Bumblebee asked as he stood near the unconscious Seeker, ~Can’t we just put him on his back like everyone else?~

“Yes, we could, but then I would have to listen to his whining when he wakes up, all because his wings hurt. I don’t know about you two, but I do NOT want to deal with that.” Ratchet justified, giving the sleeping form a once-over. “Just lay him down on his front, okay? I’ll check his vitals after I’m done calculating more of these equations for the groundbridge…and after some tinkering.”

Without any more questions (or complaints), Bulkhead and Bumblebee carried the former Decepticon to the Medbay. As they walked away, Ratchet yelled through the base again, “Don’t forget to restrain him!—I know he’s probably weak, but you know what he can do.”

“Got it!” ~Yup!~ Both bots replied back as they walked into the hallway.

Ratchet stared at the main console’s screen. As he worked out the equations, he could feel an overwhelming sense of uncertainty wash over him. His gaze briefly wandered to the hallway entrance. He groaned. “Why do I feel like that mech is going to cause us more trouble?” 

Shaking his head, the Medic continued his typing. ‘It’s Starscream, of course troubles on its way.’

-------------------------------------------------Pov switch!---------------------------------

???, ??? - ???

He must be dead. 

That was the only plausible explanation for whatever this was.

He was somewhere else, that much could be understood. After his not-so-fortunate confrontation in the Earth’s core, Starscream had blacked out and been sent somehwere…? 

At first, he was simply just resting in recharge, sleeping if you will. Aimlessly processing information and sorting through new (but recognizable) lines of code that had once been a part of him. It was calming in a way. Just floating around in the nothingness and simply being. That was excluding the lingering pain of course. It was still there, but Starscream felt it from a distance, almost as if it were being held at bay.

…or not fully linked to his processor anyway. (Were his neural sensors that shot?)

Anyways, as said before, the Seeker was just recharging per usual (despite his highly unusual situation), before he was interrupted. 

In a not-so-delicate way, Starscream was ripped out of his idle slumber and thrust into a dark, slightly scary-looking, and familiar hallway. Though he was sitting down right in the middle of the passage, nobody seemed to bother with his presence. 

Two Vehicons-

‘Wait, Vehicons?... That must mean-’

-that were passing, quite literally walked through—they had walked THROUGH him. No hesitation, no reaction, nothing. Just walked through. And Starscream stayed in place, optics now blown wide open.

‘What just happened? H-how did they? Didn’t I-I just—Wasn’t I?-’

The Seeker was silent only for a moment before he gave a heavy ex-vent and stood up. Despite the many, many, many, MANY, questions littering his thoughts right now, he poised himself. Being frantic wasn’t going to help him in any way. Clearly, he was sent here for some reason by the same being who probably forced him back to life. He scoffed.

’So I’m some type of messenger now? Perhaps even a herald or subordinate of sorts? Just great.’ 

As he begrudgingly walked through the endless halls of the Nemesis, Starscream paused as he felt a pull. Scanning around, he noticed he was near the energon storage vault. Two guards were stationed in front of the main entrance, waiting for the next rotation. But another tug let Starscream know that what he was looking for wasn’t in the storage room, but farther down the hall. As the Seeker walked past the two other mechs, they noticeably shivered for a moment before glancing around. Starscream only continued on, mild confusion plaguing his thoughts. 

‘What’s their malfunction?’

As the mech walked further and further down the hall and towards the next room, the pull got stronger. So much so that in his next few steps, Starscream was practically being dragged to the room. As he stopped in front of the door (with struggle of course), the tugging ceased; it was instead replaced by a terrible ache. A feeling of longing towards whatever or whoever was currently stationed in the room. In his helm, Starscream swore he heard faint voices speaking to him, urging him to enter. It only confused him more. 

Had he truly lost his mind? Was this just a made-up hallucination- or hoax from the bowels of his processor? Just how slagged had he gotten?

“Why? Why is it always me? Why can’t I just have a normal day for once in my life!’

…

With hesitation, Starscream walked in front of the door and prepared to face whatever source had dragged him here. He stood there for a moment or two, analyzing his situation- well whatever this was supposed to be. Honestly, the Nemesis? The being couldn’t have dropped him off somewhere else? Quite literally anywhere else…even in one of those tropical regions. All sunny…and warm…with the sun on his wings and the breeze idly blowing past him…

Whatever.

Walking forward, Starscream phased through the door and looked around. And with what he saw- more accurately, who he was met with instead only made his situation more bizarre.

In front of him, stationed at a console and working with full diligence, was none other than Optimus Prime. The PRIME—the Autobot faction's mighty leader who spoke of justice and the right to freedom—standing there, in the Decepticon base of all places. 

But it was what the mech was doing that further drove the Seekers' curiosity. He seemed to be decoding various lines of encrypted material. Material that was all too familiar to Starscream.

‘An Autobot message…Of course! I forgot that was even there, after all, that thing has been rotting in our database for a while now.’ Starscream narrowed his optics. ‘But why the sudden interest?’

The being that had pulled the Seeker here, however, seemed to disregard his examinations. Instead, it had taken it upon itself to pulse out feelings of joy and relief. Seemingly grateful that Starscream had followed its directions. 

The overall position that Starscream found himself in was, in one word: Surreal.

Of course, his frozen stance was cut off by another pull towards the mech. This time, however, Starscream could actually hear the voices that were speaking to him—And wasn’t that a comforting thought? That he was hearing voices in his head now. It was just absolutely wonderful! Positively marvelous. As if he wasn’t already labeled a psychopath. 

“Go to him, please, provide him with the truth.” The voice voices spoke urgently.

‘The truth?’ Starscream haphazardly thought, ‘What truth? What do I tell him o-or show him for that matter! I don’t know what to do—What YOU all want me to do!’

“Show him the truth. Show him yourself, or for that matter, speak to him. Show him what he believes is not what it seems.” 

‘What?! How am I just supposed to show him myself- I’m practically non-existent right now!’ The Seeker ranted back. ‘I’M DEAD!’

No response was given this time; it seemed like the beings, yes, there were multiple, felt like they had provided him with enough information. Starscream growled, servos turning into fists. 

‘Fine. I’ll talk to him and make my presence known. You ungrateful parasites!’

After taking a few minutes to compose himself, the ex-decepticon walked closer to the Prime, stopping a few feet in front of him. Clearing his vocalizer, Stascream reluctantly spoke. (Hopefully this would work- if not- well, it wasn’t his fault.)

“Prime…listen to me, you are not supposed to be here.” 

The grounder tensed at the words and stopped his typing on the console. Slowly, Optimus turned around to face Starscream. The Seeker flinched at the movement and shut his optics, waiting for a response. 

…However, one wasn’t given. Reopening his optics, Starscream watched as the Prime looked around the room, confusion etched on his face. 

‘He can’t see me?’ The Seeker pondered, ‘Perhaps I have…overestimated what would happen. Hmmmm…speaking to him more might help.’ 

Starscream cleared his intake once more, “Listen to me, Optimus. You are not supposed to be here, on this ship; it is not your rightful place.”

As expected, the (ex?) Autobot leader once again froze at Starscream’s words. 

This time, however, the grounder responded. “What do you mean?” he asked, looking around the room, “Who is this ‘Optimus’ you speak of? I fear that you have mistaken me for the wrong Cybertronian, voice. I am Orion Pax.”

‘Orion Pax? Why is-’

“That is Optimus Prime's former self.”

Starscream stifled a yelp. Whipping around, he angrily looked at the ceiling.

‘OH NOW YOU DECIDE TO COME BACK?’ Starscream raved, ‘ I could’ve used your help still—explaining, oh I don’t know, everything! Including my situation—why I’m here!-’

“You are doing well, Starscream. But he needs to see you, he needs to see the truth.” The voices unanimously continued, ignoring Starscream's retort.

Starscream groaned, ‘Not this slag again—How am I supposed to do that? For Primus' sake, Elaborate!’

“Have faith in yourself; in turn, that faith will pass over to him and he will see the truth. Good luck.” 

With that, the voices disappeared once more, leaving Starscream alone to deal with a mind-reverted Prime. 

Steadying himself, the Seeker turned back to the confused grounder and prepared to speak, with “faith” this time—whatever THAT meant.

“I am not mistaken, Orion Pax. You do not belong here, not in this room, not in this ship, and certainly not in this faction.” Starscream carelessly stated. 

“What do you mean?”, the Prime Orion responded, now facing Starscream's direction, “Megatron informed me that this is the right faction. How we are fighting for a good cause- for Cybertron! I am doing research to stop the Autobots. How is that wrong?”

Starscream internally laughed at the thought, the Decepticons- righteous? Well, maybe in the majority of circumstances, but right now? Not one bit. “Megatron has lied to you. I should know, I have worked with him before.”

“What do you mean?”

“Why don’t you open your optics and see.”

Orion paused, “I’m sorry, but I don’t understand.”

“Have faith, and listen to my voice. Then you shall see me, and in turn, you will also see the truth.”, the Seeker finished. He felt himself cringe as he said the words.

 ‘What a load of slag- really, they couldn’t have come up with anything else?’

Orion seemed to muse about Starscream’s words for a moment before closing his optics and waiting. “I will try and have faith.”

“Good. Then you should be able to see me now…”, Starscream loftily replied. At the lack of movement, the Seeker grew inpatient. “Well? Open your optics already!”

And the Mech did, staring at Starscream in disbelief. 

“I know, right? Aren’t I just so-”, The Seeker started, already starting to stroke his own ego. It wasn’t his fault that the Prime was looking at him, no- admiring his form. He was rather good-looking, especially his finish. No, he couldn’t blame the mech at all.

“Colorful.”

“-Raident and utterly captivating, yes, I know. I’m really quite the—”,  the Jet suddenly paused, processing the grounders' words. “W-what did you say? R-repeat that!”

“I said that you're…colorful.” Orion Pax carefully repeated. 

‘Colorful?...I’m not- my frame isn’t COLORFUL!’ Starscream seethed. 

“You must be mistaken. My frame has no color, other than my helms crest, but I assure you, I have no color whatsoever.” Starscream retorted.

“...Forgive me, but…my optics beg to differ. Your frame clearly has vibrant colors.” 

The Seeker clenched his denta, ‘I don’t have time for this. So he’s more malfunctioned in the helm, whatever! I still have to tell him not to believe the utter slag Megatron is spewing.’ 

He composed himself and continued to speak, “Let’s get back on topic, shall we? I am Starscream, Second-in-command of the Decepticons. Despite whatever you are currently  seeing, I am still me.”

“You are Starscream?” Orion questioned.

“Yes?”

“Lord Megatron had told me you had been…terminated.”

The Seeker froze at that, “Terminated? Why that lying-” he muttered.

‘Well…I mean, it’s not like I’m actually still alive right now… at least, not in a normal way.’

 Quickly recovering, Starscream cleared his intake, “Lord Megatron says many things, only some of which are true.”

“You do not suggest our leader would speak falsehoods?” Orion asked. 

At the question, Starscream doubled over in laughter. It was absurd! The sheer innocence and trust that was laced in the question. “You truly are being kept in the dark, aren’t you?” he replied, a few snickers escaping him as he tried to hold his laughter. 

“You speak in many riddles, Starscream,” Orion said as he walked towards the Seeker's form, “Please, tell me what it is that you know.”

‘Finally! I can be done with this ludicrous mission.’ 

Starscream straightened himself, “Of course! Now, pay close attention-” 

But before he could explain himself, the door opened up, revealing three Vehicons. Starscream let out a yelp as they moved closer. The Seeker hurriedly went behind the ex-Prime.

“Whoever you are, step away from our Archivist. Surrender immediately and face the wrath of Lord Megatron.” One Vehicon stated, blaster raised.

“Hold your fire!”, Orion Pax yelled, trying to get a hold of the situation.

But it was too late. 

On instinct, Starscream transformed and jetted out of the room. Even if he was not in a solid form, he didn’t want to take the risk of getting hurt. Panic filled him as he navigated the familiar halls of the Nemesis. They had seen him.

‘Scrap- How do I get out of here…how did I even get here in the first place—W-wait, of course!’ 

As he flew through the halls (instinctively dodging blasts), Starscream yelled. “Mysterious voices- I require your assistance—AH!—I did your bidding, told the Prime what you wanted- now let me out of here!”

“You are correct. Thank you for your collaboration, Starscream. You may return to your body.” The multitude of voices calmly responded.

“My pleasure, now—HURRY UP!!!” 

A sensation overcame him, a prickling one at that. It soon enveloped him, and Starscream felt as his frame started to be pulled back somewhere else. To his body. 

‘Wait- my body?!’

The air around him warped, hot and stabbing; in a flash, the Seeker was gone.

Chapter Text

Night-time, Nevada - Autobot base

The ground bridge whirred to life as Bulkhead passed through and into the base. 

Ratchet ignored the loud pedsetps approaching him. The disappointment and frustration of the situation had taken hold of him. Optimus had little to no chance being brought back. Not without the proper technology. His tinkering with their groundbridge was a fruitless endeavor. A clear sign of his own desperation, he should have known that turbocharging it was bound to fail. Their leader- Optimus…was as good as lost. 

Raf’s earlier comparison, or more accurately, pointless words still rang out in his mind. 

Rope climbing in a gym wasn’t the same as building a space bridge! They were both incredibly different things. One requires some sort of athletic ability and confidence per say—the other intense years of planning, designing, and solving to achieve. Although the boy was trying to help him, Ratchet couldn’t help but snap. Now, does he know better than to lash out at a child? Yes, yes, he does. But still, under the stress of everything that was happening, and the weak comparison, along with raging emotions, Ratchet had unfortunately responded in the wrong way.

The Medic’s expression darkened as he thought about Raf’s hurt expression, how he had walked away with little to no response. A frustrated sigh escaped him as he worked on the bridge.

‘Great, another thing to fix.’

However, the presence of another distracted him. Bulkhead had walked up, “No sign of energon spikes…Arcee or Bee find a Spacebridge?”

“They haven’t yet reported back.” Ratchet curtly replied. He continued to work, ignoring Bulkhead’s frown. 

The Wrecker continued to study the Medic's stoic face. “Ratchet….You alright?” he asked tentatively.

At those words, Ratchet shot up, “Hmmmm?...Yes.” he turned to the grounder, “Yes. Let’s just get you to the next quadrant.” Ratchet knew he must’ve been less than convincing; he could still feel Bulkhead's gaze still fixed on him. Still, he walked away. They were running out of time, ideas, and areas.

Before Bulkhead to respond any further, a noise from the Medbay captured both mech’s attention. It was the sound of thrashing, struggle, and cries of pain. It was the sound of someone waking up. 

“Do you think?” Bulkhead asked hesitantly.

“Yes.”, Ratchet replied, nodding, “It’s best we go see if he has any information at all. On what happened in the core, or even about Optimus.”

-------------------------------------------------Pov switch!---------------------------------

Pain was the first thing he felt when he onlined, everything in his frame absolutely ached. His processor pounded in retaliation to his thoughts, as if to stop his thinking, and his nervous system sent electric shocks throughout his body to discourage movement. And his tanks churned at the thought of where he was, making him nauseous throughout his fruitless movements. If he could muster out a scream, then he would’ve. Unfortunately for Starscream (that was his name…right?), his vocalizer was offline, along with his optics.

Or maybe he was screaming and just couldn’t hear it, perhaps his audial receptors were offline as well, and he was creating unnecessary panic for himself. Maybe someone, in fact, was listening to his cries for help…and ignoring them as he continued his outbursts. It wouldn’t be the first time that had happened. Starscream was used it.

That didn’t matter as of right now, though, one thing was certain: he needed to get out of wherever he was and flee. However, there was one major setback to this specific plan.

Starscream was trapped. 

How did he know? Well, the multiple straps holding him down were the biggest clue to him. No matter how hard he tried, which wasn’t a lot due to his weakened state right now, he couldn’t escape. The lack of coordination he possessed right now and current pain held him back from breaking through the restraints. Every time he moved and one of his limbs brushed against the offending straps, it stung. Starscream tried (and likely failed) to hold back whimpers and cries from the sharp sensations.

After all, it was rather alarming to suddenly wake up to find yourself captured and restrained. Yes, by all means, this was just fan-fragging-tastic!

‘Where am I…?—Wasn’t there something that I- and there were random voices…I….w-what did I even do?’ 

As he lay there on the table(?), Starscream struggled to recollect where he had been and what exactly had happened to lead him to such a position. As he did, his wings flickered above him, trying to recalibrate themselves to the light flow of air they sensed. The air of a door opening up, and the sense of movement nearby.

The feedback of pedsteps approaching did nothing to alleviate the growing panic and dread in Starscream. It did, however, make him try harder to get out of the restraints. Unfortunately, it seemed as if his wild thrashing only tangled everything up. He clenched his denta and outwardly growled at the presence, ‘Wonderful. Just absolutely-’ 

Something touched him on his shoulder.

Something was nearby, touching Starscream on his shoulder.

Someone was touching Starscream. 

The Seeker harshly flinched as the touch registered. And with it, everything clicked back into place and registered. Of what he had done, why he had done it, and the disastrous consequences that had followed. It was because of one idiotic and rash decision- that Starscream had damned himself.  

He had forced himself into a battle, a situation that he should have never known about. He had seen the Autobots battling drones, wave after wave, cooperation flowing from them so easily. Even with the Decepticon Warlord by their side. It made no sense, and yet they fought closely together. Then both the leaders had disappeared. Starscream had been rather…emotional, only to be rudely interrupted and caught by drones. He was attacked out of his hiding place, and well, one thing led to another, and he was flying into the very same opening that the Prime and his Master had entered. 

Then Optimus Prime had released the Matrix of Leadership, and everything had gone downhill. As  Starscream had seen the possessed Warlord rise…he had chosen to lunge, without hesitation, without thought. For some reason, Starscream, beyond himself, had chosen to tackle Megatron.

And he had paid dearly for that.

Starscream’s venting became labored; the next few memories caught up in his processor. In the distance, he could hear yelling and various beeping noises, maybe even feel someone shaking him. Trying to force him out of his spiraling thoughts. But it was no use.

The feeling of offlining, the memories that had flashed by—those memories and emotions—all interrupted by a blinding light. Torturous, white hot pain. All of it, unnatural. The noises, the noises of things bending, snapping, reshaping. His protoform…stretching, breaking, and rewinding itself back into place. Then his spark…it had…it felt—

Starscream felt a gnawing pain in his center at the recollection, and his tanks churned with the memory. He tried to usher the feeling away, but it persisted. The more he thought about what had happened, the more he remembered, the more revolted and squeamish he felt.

‘This is outrageous! I shouldn’t be bothered by something so trivial as….a-as…’ The Seeker gulped. ‘W-well, that. I should be fine. I-I’ve seen worse after all! Mechs with critical injuries, missing limbs, bleeding out…energon…everywhere …d-dismembered…’

Despite himself, Starscream couldn’t hold back the gag he let out, or rather, the series of heaves that escaped him. Quickly, he felt the same servos undoing the restraints on him, lifting him up and moving him. He was sat down at the edge of the berth. The movement only increased the Jets' nausea; he didn’t even know if he had energon left in his tanks. 

Well…Starscream was about to find out either way. As his optics onlined, he was met with a large, empty energon cube in front of him. It seemed as if the other mech in the room had decided to show mercy and kindness to him. Starscream cringed at the feeling of bile rising, making its way to his intake. Purging was never his favorite thing, far from it. So waking up and this being his frames second course of action was quite annoying. 

As he started to hack out whatever was plaguing his tanks—the liquid did not feel like energon, but something else. It felt heavier, and from what was gathering in the cube, clear.

… 

When he was done expelling, Starscream continued to stay where he was sitting. The cube had been taken from him and set down somewhere nearby, allowing Starscream to slouch forward as his frame struggled to keep itself upright. His fans had kicked up to disperse the heat in his frame. As he shivered, his wings subtly twitched. They were trying to recalibrate once more, now that he was sitting.

Starscream let out a light groan. His processor ached, his systems were still malfunctioning- Primus, he wished he could just recharge.

“—rscream?”

It would feel nice; he was on a very comfortable berth right now. At least, it felt like a berth; his sensors had barely started to give him feedback, some of which was still laced with pain.

“Starscream.” 

It’s not like anyone would be bothered by his sleeping form. He had been rather loud earlier; it would provide his captors with the sweet sound of silence.

“Starscream!”

Maybe if he just closed his optics…

“STARSCREAM!”

The Seeker violently jolted up and whipped his head to the side. “WH--T!”

“Oh, good, your auditory receptors are working.” The White and orange mech replied calmly, stepping back from the berth. “ It took me a while to connect and online your systems, manually of course. Anyways, now that you're awake, I need to ask you some questions.”

Starscream slowly scanned the room. He was in a medbay…a brightly painted medbay. Not the darkness of a cavern. He hadn’t been left in the core of the earth. Not by a long shot, no, instead he had been taken, captured even. This was wrong; he wasn’t supposed to be anywhere as bright as this. The medbay he was used to contained darker colors and colder air. 

Looking back at the mysterious mech, he studied them. Orange and White paint, blue optics, and enough sarcasm and disdain to cut through solid rock- or ego. Narrowing his optics, Starscream scanned the grounder's frame, and a scoff sounded over him. Finally finding what he was looking for, the Seeker let out a low growl.

He had been taken by the Autobots. 

 ‘Ohhh, I see their angle. Bring in the poor, hurt, seeker, and heal him. Catch him off guard and then USE him for information. Well, I wouldn’t put it above them…yes, take me while I’m unconscious…then it’s just a waiting game—Like I’ll just bend over backwards and give them scrap!’

Trying to speak, he opened up his intake to let out a series of curses towards the offending Medic…only to be met with loud static and his own harsh coughs. Starscream doubled over as he tried to regain his composure. 

… 

After a few minutes, Starscream finally looked up. Where he was met with a look of boredom from the other Mech. 

“You done?” Ratchet asked.

Clearing his intake (for good measure) Starscream immediately retaliated. “Wait just a nano-second, Medic, I should be asking the questions here!” he threw out, “Where the frag am I? Why have you brought me here? What do you seek to do with me? Tell me!- Tell me what you want!” 

‘I won’t answer anything until I have my questions answered first. I’m not being used, not this time. I won’t be so easily taken advantage of- HAH!’

Ratchet gave him an unimpressed look in return. “Calm down, will you. We’re not holding you here as a prisoner…well not right now. You're a patient, clearly here for your numerous injuries, okay? Now, is that a sufficient enough explanation for you, or do you require a presentation?” 

Starscream glared at the Medic. ‘Yeah right, patient. Worst excuse I’ve heard in a while that wasn’t from Knockout…or myself, for that matter.’ 

Ratchet just scoffed in return, “Bumblebee and Bulkhead dragged you in here from the core of the Earth, seeing as you were caught up in the cross-fire of what happened in there. I even checked your systems and scanned you. The least you could do is show a little appreciation.”

“Oh, how noble of you all.” Starscream shot back.

The Medic hummed dismissively before picking up a datapad. “Honestly, you're lucky to come out with such minimal injuries…well, slightly. Your frame is fine, a bit unstable, but that’s mostly just your systems recalibrating.” He looked up,” So if I were you, I wouldn’t try anything for right now. Give yourself a few moments to actually rest.”

The Seeker huffed in response.

“That includes leaving the berth.” Ratchet stated with a pointed look. Walking away, he went to the opposite side of the room, seemingly to grab something.

Starscream scowled and petulantly turned away, upper wings flicking.

‘I don’t have to follow your rules, I’m my own Mech- I’ll leave when I want too. It’s not like I’m some dim-witted newspark—I know when my systems are operational!’

“Now that you're done being dramatic…” Ratchet brought out a different datapad, “Can you tell me anything of importance? What you saw in the core? About Optimus's situation, about anything at all?”

At the words, Starscream dropped his previous stance. Hesitation and fear washed over him in an instant as he avoided the medic's persistent gaze.

‘If I tell them about…the occurrence I suffered…would they even believe me? Would they even consider my words valuable—of course they would! I come from a high position, I’m second-in-command of the Decepticons…or was…NEVRMIND! I have an abundance of information. However, would they truly believe what I tell them? Of what happened in my mind as I was in recharge…no…no…they would probably use that against me. They would…find a way to recreate that sensation, that torture…especially after all I’ve done to them. Not to mention I did recently kill one of their teammates….hmm…’ 

Starscream anxiously looked back at the medic's expression. The mech looked impatient, angry, and imposing. But, he also had the distinct look of desperation on his faceplates…waiting for Starscream to say something, anything, about their beloved leader.

‘If I cooperate right now, I might be able to secure some type of truce. Maybe even get on their good side. It would be rather foolish of me if I didn’t take advantage of their resources and blind kindness.’

Steeling himself, he broke away from his thoughts and faced Ratchet. The Seeker let out a tired vent, “What I will say…you might not believe, or even trust for that matter. But know that by my very Spark, I- I….” 

‘What am I doing?’

He swallowed thickly, “I swear that it is all true. But if you don’t like the information I give t-then that’s on you!”

Ratchet looked at him, suspicious, most likely. Starscream wouldn’t blame the Mech if he just ignored the words and decided to just throw him in a cell. It would be much easier, efficient, and overall less to worry about. The Autobots could probably just beat the information out of him, well, if that was the course of action taken, then Starscream wouldn't go out without a fight. 

Instead, the ambulance let out a short huff, “Fine. Whatever you say I will try, keyword here, TRY, and understand…and lightly, very lightly trust. Just start talking, alright? We don’t have a lot of time.”

And so he did. 

… 

Starscream told the Medic everything, well, mostly everything, he may have left out a few details about himself and certain…reactions, but it’s not like those parts were necessary.

The Seeker recalled how he stumbled upon the signals and how he followed them. How he infiltrated their base—leaving out where he hid, of course—and what happened during his fight with the drones. He told of what occurred in the core. About the Primes plan, Unicron's response, and Megatron. How the Warlord fired his cannon…and how Starscream lunged to stop it. 

That part of the story earned him a skeptical glance from the other mech. Starscream ignored it though, and continued on. Although he did shorten his description of being forced back to life. It was more painful to remember, and not something that he found himself wanting to revisit as of right now. The thought of it made him nauseous all over again, and his body gave a light shudder.

Ratchet just nodded his head in some sort of approval and told him to carry on.

Starscream had hesitated when he got to the next part. To be fair, he wasn’t even certain that the grounder would even believe it. Being a disembodied version of yourself because a cluster of voices wanted you to speak to your enemy factions' amnesiac leader? Who was going to believe THAT load of slag?

...However, a few moments of silence and an expecting glance from the Medic let the Seeker know that it was fine. So he slowly started to re-tell the last event. Even if it did make Starscream seem more psychotic than he actually was.

…

After all was explained and every detail (except for a few) was accounted for, Starscream was left sitting on the berth, slowly sipping a cube of medigrade. It didn’t upset his tanks, and so far, to his knowledge, it was working. To say that he was tired was beyond an understatement; Starscream could have shut down into recharge and slammed back into the berth. But he was waiting for the Medic to return. 

Ratchet had seemed to rush off after their conversation, and straight to the green wrecker, who had been waiting outside of the room on account that he had been ushered out on doctor-patient confidentiality (which had surprised Starscream). The Medic was likely to ask more about the Prime or more questions regarding Decepticon intel when he returned. Now that was spmething Starscream could count on.

At one point, Starscream did notice that his frame had changed.

It had been after their conversation that Starscream noticed his complexion on one of the nearby monitors. Nothing much, only a brief flash of color. Before the Medic had speed out, Starscream had promptly asked for a mirror; he was met with a curious look and quickly given one.

In truth…he was nervous to see what he looked like. Not out of fear of course! Just careful curiosity. Shutting his optics, Starscream brought the handheld object to his face and waited. Did he really want to see himself? Was he really ready to face whatever he resembled now? Would he really look…colorful like the Prime had said- or was it a blatant lie? 

‘Let’s get this over with.’

Sharply inventing, Starscream opened his optics.

He froze at what he saw. The sight wasn’t unpleasant, but it left the Seeker feeling uneasy. He hadn’t looked like this in…well, quite a while. To be fair, he wasn’t even supposed to look like this anymore, bright and colorful. It was almost too obnoxious for him to look at. 

He was supposed to be silver, sleek, and sharp. His frame—This frame was sleek as well, but had more armor, more color…than his newer—older— his last one. 

Starscream’s new frame had taken on his old color scheme. Red took up the majority of his chassis and torso, as well as his pelvic plating. A few streaks of the bold color also decorated his wings in clean lines. Speaking of which, his wings were covered in a blinding white, both the large and smaller ones gleaming in the medbays' bright light. It also seemed that his legs had suffered the same fate, as the offending color (or lack of it) decorated them entirely. However, a light blue was placed on his servos and lower arms, along with his peds, and some rather small accents on his legs. Finally, his cockpit had switched from a dark blue to a rather bright and translucent orange.

Luckily, Primus had been merciful enough to allow an assortment of silvers and blacks to take refuge on his helm, shoulder pauldrons, upper arms, claws, and thighs. 

And his helm- oh his helm and face…how they had changed. Starscream didn’t look too young by any means; thankfully, he had retained his maturity. If anything, he had only aged back to when he had switched his frame out, which had been in the middle of the war, due to a lucky shot from one of the Autobot troops.

His helm was mainly black. Moving the mirror up, Starscream could see that his vents had moved up and instead of them being located near the lower side of his face, they were now moved up higher. They were sharp and pointed in a way that made him look like one of those…things from Earth. A creature that humans found captivating…a “cat” was it? No, he would not compare himself to an organic of all things. As for his red crest, a bright yellow star had taken its place, embedded in his helm. His face was still the same light grey it had been previously. Opening his mouth, Starscream was relieved to see his sharp denta still intact. 

It was pleasant to look at, but wrong. So very, very, VERY, wrong. So Starscream sat there staring at servos that looked like a stranger’s—and yet weren’t. A version of himself he’d left behind; a version he thought was gone for good, destroyed permanently in the earlier stages of The Great War. And it was in that moment that Starscream didn’t know if he’d been saved or undone. Whatever beings had saved him clearly brought him back for a purpose…a “second chance” they said. Let’s see how long that’d last.

…

The Medbay doors slammed open, and a frazzled Ratchet and on-edge Bulkhead entered. Both mechs rushed to Starscream, which was odd to say the least. The Seeker raised his optical ridge and gave them a cautious look.

 ‘What’s got them in this state? Did they receive any new transmissions from the Nemesis, perhaps sent a message of some sort?’

“Care to explain what has you so…stressed?” Starscream asked with feigned interest.

“You said Optimus was on the Decepticon ship, right?- Has Optimus been harmed in any way?” The Medic rushed, moving closer to Starscream, cornering him.

“He’s fine. Fine!” Starscream responded hurriedly, backing away. Regaining his confidence, the seeker then scoffed, “Can’t you see I’M the one who’s been harmed?”

“Where is he?” Bulkhead asked feverently. The wrecker had also moved closer, joining in with Ratchet on cornering him.

Starscream was taken aback by the question. ‘Didn’t he just hear the Me? What is wrong with this wreckers processor!’ “

“Where do you think? He’s on Megatron’s Warship!” Starscream shot back, once again trying to scoot away from both mechs. His efforts were futile, and he only ended up laying down more in the berth. His wings lowered at the feeling of being trapped.

“Which is located where?” Ratchet pressed.

“N-now?...Who knows...”, the Seeker stammered out, “It’s a ship…i-it moves. I was transported there on account of….something else entirely. It could be anywhere by now!”

The Medic slammed his fist against the metal side-table, muttering out a string of curses. He walked away to pace the Medbay. The Wrecker, on the other hand, looked exhausted and disappointed all in one. He had also walked away from the Seeker and stood a few feet away, one servo dragging down his face. Starscream just stared at their turmoil with mild interest. 

‘They really have gone down without their beloved leader…turning to me of all mechs to…what?...”Help” them.…Ohh how the once mighty have fallen…I could use this information for later, of course…’

“That’s all I know, really.” The Jet quietly said.

The two grounders just stayed where they were, both staring at each other for a good while before turning back to face Starscream. The wrecker cleared his intake before sighing.

“Unless you know where Megatron’s hiding his Spacebridge, then we have nothing else to ask you…”, Bulkhead said with a bitter expression, he moved forward, “You’ll be moved to a cell, since you’re fine.”

‘What did he just say about a spacebridge?’

“...Spacebridge?” Starscream recited slowly, testing the words out. “Do you mean to tell me that they actually finished building it without MY supervision?!”, he shouted out, words echoing in the room. 

Ratchet shot up at the revelation, “You know the coordinates?”

“OF COURSE I DO!- I was the one who created the designs for it, I practically built it myself, with how useless those drones were. Placing everything all wrong…Ugghh. Such a nightmare to work with.”, Starscream ranted.

“You built it?” Bulkhead asked. “You created the designs for it?”

“That’s what I just said, didn't I?”

Both mechs looked at him with varying degrees of disbelief.

Starscream scrunched his face in displeasure, wings rising behind him (even if it did send a rather scornful pain down his back strut as he did so). “I’ll have you know that I used to be an accomplished scientist before this war. In fact, I still am a scientist. I just don’t get to practice as much.” 

“Just give us the Primus forsaken coordinates.”, Ratchet responded, clearly exasperated. 

“Fine…”,  Starscream replied, “B-But you’re not putting me in a cell! It’s much to cramped in your small base. I’d prefer to stay here.”

‘At least I have room to move in this medbay, sure it’s not as advanced as the one back on the Nemesis, but it’s much more calm. Less crowded, quieter, slightly comfortable…hmmm I could fake my injuries further…stay here for a while and gather intel…then return to my old position!’ 

Starscream smirked, optics gleaming with a mischievous glint. Uncaring of the two other bots beside him waiting for him to speak. Someone cleared their intake. 

“What?” Starscream asked.

“TELL US THE COORDINATES ALREADY!”