Hourglass

by On Dark Wings

Time was running out. Conflicted between hatred and desperation, Arcee's resolve is tested when Starscream makes her an offer she knows she should refuse.

1. Desperate Times

Title: Hourglass

Summary: Time was running out. Conflicted between hatred and desperation, Arcee's resolve is tested when Starscream makes her an offer she knows she should refuse.

Setting: Season 2; falls somewhere after Optimus returns to the Autobots, but before Starscream loses his t-cog. Is not tied to the storyline of season 2.

A/N: This was something I'd started in January earlier this year, during my writer's block for my other story, which I'd completely forgotten about. Coming back to it months later, I realised I'd written an entire chapter's worth of content for it and liked where it was headed. Simply put, I want to use this as an excuse to explore a different dynamic between Arcee and Starscream that I feel I can't in the circumstances of my main story. Hope you enjoy :)

Chapter One: Desperate Times...

Arcee sensed the first shot coming before she heard it, and quickly ducked into cover amongst the rocks of the barren wasteland just as a beam of energy whizzed past her, straight through the point where her head would have been moments ago.

'Scrap,' she swore, charging her blaster up in preparation for a fight. 'Can't believe I just walked into an ambush!'

Her reconnaissance mission had just taken a turn for the worse – 'Can't say I'm surprised,' she thought, taking in a deep breath of air as she tried to pinpoint where her attackers were shooting from. 'There's not a corner to turn around without bumping head-first into a bunch of 'Cons.'

Just as there was a break in the line of fire, she swiftly pointed her blaster towards a cluster of rocks above her, up on the higher ground, and fired several times before ducking back behind her own cover – and not a moment too soon, as she spotted the barrel of one of the weapons pointed in her direction.

'Frag it, a precision squad!' She exhaled, briefly clenching her optics shut in disbelief. 'I don't have time for this!'

Multiple energy beams struck the rocks around her, blackening their surface. Arcee could see the waves of heat radiating off the points of impact; she did not want to get hit by one of those. But she was at a disadvantage, stuck at the lower end of a stretch of uneven ground, and from what she could tell, surrounded from almost all sides.

'There's one to the left – the closest, but most guarded,' she noted, but looking briefly over the top of her cover, saw that it was completely exposed at one side, which she feared would leave her open to attacks from that side. She didn't want to risk it. 'There's one directly behind me, another one above to the right on higher ground, and a fourth, possibly a fifth on the outer edge.'

But it was difficult to consider clearing the one behind her without leaving her open to an attack from the one to her left.

She stifled a frustrated groan, 'If only I could call for backup.'

Of course, she just had to run into trouble when the entire team was out running their part of the mission – a mission too important to risk hindering their progress. She sighed in acceptance. She could do this on her own, just like she used to before she joined Team Prime. She just had to think like she used to.

...Speed.

She needed to use her speed against them, and hope that they weren't skilled enough to hit a moving target. Judging by the plethora of missed shots around her, her hope wasn't likely to be misplaced. Still, the worst she could do was underestimate them. She needed to take them out as quickly as possible, no messing around, no nothing.

First thing's first: she needed to get to higher ground.

Without warning, she shifted into her vehicle mode and swiftly accelerated away from the rocks that offered her safety, and drove into the fray, running over the Vehicon over the cover of rocks behind her and driving up the medium-sized slope (in proportion to her) whilst dodging rounds of fire that hailed around her. She could feel the rubber of her wheels heat uncomfortably as they passed through and over steaming hot beam marks, and almost lost control in a skid caused by a direct shot to her back wheel.

'They sure know how to keep a 'Bot on the edge of her wheels!' she admitted, steeling herself as she approached the Vehicon on the higher ground. She transformed and leapt off the ground, her left arm curled in front of her defensively while her right arm tensed behind her. With a resounding 'chink', her right arm blade moved into place, and not a moment sooner was driven straight into the neck of the unprepared Decepticon. The exposed cables sparked and oozed energon until the Vehicon's red visor dulled to nothingness.

'Well that takes care of one of the-'

"Ahh!" she yelled in pain, clutching her left shoulder as she shrunk down behind a jagged rock, panting sharply whilst a late volley of beams criss-crossed above her – one of the slag-heads had got her.

"Scrap!" she hissed to herself, feeling her lifeblood trickling down and around the hand she'd placed over the wound. Her left arm was a dead weight. No matter how much she willed it to, it wouldn't move. By some miracle however, she could feel that its link to her t-cog remained intact, for whatever good that would do for her if she couldn't willingly move it any way.

'It must've burned and damaged a circuit,' she concluded, wincing and inhaling sharply through the pain. She knew she'd just have to deal with it for the time being, and hassle Ratchet into fixing it later, who she knew would give her an audio full of a lecture for not being more careful...Well, she hoped it was fixable – but now was not the time to worry about it. She'd bought herself some advantage over the Vehicons by gaining the higher ground, but it was only fleeting – it wouldn't last long, not before, perhaps, they'd decide to call in for backup of their own. She didn't want to think of what trouble she'd be in if that were to happen.

Waiting until the line of fire broke again, she peered over the top of her cover and looked down from the ridge, spotting her previous defensive location and those of the other two Vehicons that were crouched behind rocks. The one that had been behind her was back to his feet, she presumed. The one that had been to her left was in plain sight. Her elevated advantage made it too easy to see over the short cluster of rocks the Vehicon was hiding behind – he was certain to be her next target.

'Glad I didn't take him out first,' she thought, noting the ease at which the Vehicon who had been standing where she stood could have scoped her head and melted her processor with a single, well placed shot. 'I could really use one of them right now,' she thought regretfully, referring to their precision weapons; too bad they weren't detachable. They were moulded right into the Vehicons' circuitry. She'd just have to make do with what she had.

Arcee readied the medium-ranged blaster on her right arm.

'One..Two...Three!'

Breaking from cover, she fired several shots down at the exposed Vehicon, catching him at the head and his back – fatal shots, for him. He wouldn't be recovering from those. She returned back to her crouched position behind the rock.

She sighed sharply, still feeling the dull throb of the wound on her shoulder as energon continued to leak from it, as much as she tried to ignore it.

'That's two down. Two, possibly three more to go.'

The one down below her, and the other further across from her which she'd spotted only briefly. What was making her edgy was the potential fifth, who was either non-existent or hiding too well for her to see where his shots were coming from. Regardless, she knew her next target would be the one dead ahead of her, if only because she could not get a shot at the one below her. Of course, that also meant he could not get a clear shot of her from his point either, which made one thing easier at least.

She slowly raised her head up until she could peer just over the edge –

Pew pew!

..And quickly ducked back down before the beams could strike her, one hitting the rock's surface and the other flying overhead.

'That was too close,' she breathed out, her spark beating hard in her chest. She observed that the Vehicon across from her was further away than she'd originally thought – without a precision weapon, it'd be much more difficult for her to land a fatal shot. 'I need a new plan, and quick.'

She knew that to break out of cover now and charge full speed ahead into the fray would be too dangerous. Her first attempt may have gained her the higher ground, but it came with a steep price – one she couldn't afford to pay again. However she also knew that if things kept going at that rate, she feared she may never reach her objective in time. She needed to finish this up as soon as she could.

At another break in the line of fire, she took her turn in sending a volley of blasts over, but her moment to turn the tables around was over in mere short seconds. Frustration welled up inside her, and it was as if the Decepticons sensed this. From the other side of the battleground, she could hear one of the Vehicons yell over the sound of weapon fire: "You have one chance, Autobot. Surrender to us, and we'll see you delivered to Lord Megatron unharmed!"

Arcee resisted the urge to roll her optics in disbelief. As if anyone was so lacking in processor capacity to accept that offer. Though she had to admit their 'one chance' thing was kind of new – normally they'd shoot first, forget the questions, and drag whatever is left – dead or alive – back to their leader. Naturally, she turned and sent a few blasts their way in reply, but it was all in vain if not desperation. She just couldn't get a clear shot.

'So much for a higher ground advantage,' she scoffed, considering swallowing her pride for the best and calling in for help. With her left arm useless, she was forced to transform her right arm back to normal, leaving her temporarily weaponless. Her right pointed index finger hovered over her communication device as she prepared herself to speak. 'Alright, let's get this over with..'

A blast of static screamed into her audio receptors at the moment she pushed a button, forcing her to instinctively press her hand back to her device to make it stop.

'What in the pit was that?' she asked herself, trying the communication frequency to the base once more in the hope that it was nothing more than an odd fluke.

Kssshkkshhhhshhkshhh-

She turned it off with a feeling of dread welling into her gut.

"Something's not right," she whispered to herself. She knew her device was not broken, and that she had not yet established contact with the base before the static played...'Something must be blocking the transmission,' she deduced with a rising sense of dread.

Before another moment could pass, she spotted something – a projectile, soaring out of the corner of her vision, and then, BOOM!

An explosion rattled the ground like an earthquake, and Arcee shielded her head out of instinct despite being behind cover. Heat and debris flew over her position fast, before the dust finally settled down.

'Frag it!' she swore crudely, 'Was that a missile?'

She quickly surveyed the outcome.

Across from her, where the Vehicon was supposed to be, was nothing but rubble – underneath all of it however, she could see the limp bloodied arm of the Decepticon that had been caught in the blast.

'Well that takes care of that, but-'

To her left, she spotted the remaining Vehicon running away from the field, clasping a hand to his audio where his comm device was.

"Unit S-0-5-1, requesting backup at watch-point 3," he spoke. Arcee trained her blaster to his retreating form, all the while listening as his panic rose. "Damn it, why is no one answering! Unit S-0-5-1, requesting backup now-!"

So suddenly his speech was interrupted by a hail of sky-fire and the loud hum of an engine that Arcee could not pinpoint when it all had started or how her senses could have been so dulled to have missed it, but in a matter of seconds the retreating Vehicon was knocked down to the ground and was struggling to get back up.

Arcee looked to the sky to pinpoint the assailant's location.

She didn't have to wait long, but no sooner that he emerged did she wish she'd gotten out of there sooner.

'Damn it,' she sighed, blaming herself for not seeing the obvious earlier. 'What the frag is he doing here?'

The jet ignored her, however, for the time being, and shot straight towards the injured Vehicon like a dart, only slowing as he reached the ground to transform crisply and land beside him, though he towered over the extremely anxious mech.

The Vehicon outstretched a shaky arm defensively, while Starscream stalked him like a predator would to his prey.

"Starscream! What..but you..and Lord Megatron, and—we were ordered to detain you on sight! Wait, what are you doing—no!"

Arcee winced but did not look away as Starscream dug his claws into the Vehicon's neck abruptly, silencing him and ripping out his vital cables in one big, bloody mess. He flicked his soiled hand twice to rid it of any remaining droplets, before standing upright to face her.

'Whatever he's doing here, he means business,' she thought, but didn't attack him just yet. She pointed her weapon straight at him though, not wanting to take any chances. There was no way she was about to forget what he'd done to Cliffjumper.

He quickly noticed her offensive stature, and tensed his left arm in response, his claw-like fingers twitching though he boldly made no move to make a defensive decision.

"Hmph, hardly the welcome I was expecting."

She couldn't be certain whether he was hoping for the positive or the negative, but she didn't dwell on it for too long. Her weapon remained unfaltering, meaning business herself as she wasn't in the mood to play one of his games.

"Last I checked, we weren't on friendly terms," she stated coldly. "Give me one reason why I shouldn't shoot you down right now."

He remained unfazed on the outside, his expression one of self-confidence as if he had reason to believe she wouldn't shoot him there and then.

"I have a proposition for you, one that will benefit both you and I."

Her weapon hummed threateningly as it charged, "We don't make deals with Decepticons, least of all you."

She figured his appointed patience was starting to waver by the way his optics began to leer at her. Still, he managed to control his temper despite her stubborn attitude.

"I believe you'll make an exception, just this once." He gave her an untrustworthy smirk.

She remained unconvinced. "And what makes you say that?"

"Oh, this and that. I'm afraid I can't tell much of the details without your consenting to participate in...said proposition."

She clenched her teeth frustratedly, 'He's practically asking me to make a deal with Unicron himself.'

Regardless, there was no way she was accepting whatever 'deal' he had in mind, which she was certain was likely to favour him the most. Her mind was made up the second he'd mentioned such a thing, thanks to her bias against him. Though she did have to wonder what in the pit was going through his mind, coming out all the way here to attempt to strike a deal with her of all Bots, when she knew he knew of her hatred for him. She could just about sense the inevitable face-off between them edging closer and closer, except this time she felt there would be no Bumblebee to stay her hand. But despite its proximity, she refused to let it happen that day, at that precise moment. She had more important things to take care of first.

"I don't have time for this. Whatever it is, I'm sure you'll live..unfortunately," she added under her breath. She forced herself to transform, painfully with her injured arm and all, and move away from him, missing the way his eyes narrowed at her and his claws clenched into fists, yet he did not fire.

"And can you say the same for your precious Jack Darby?"

She skidded to a halt so abruptly that she wasn't sure he'd even said anything. She transformed back quickly, and stalked towards him determinedly, a pointed finger aimed straight at him while her left arm remained numb by her side.

"What did you say?"

He was on dangerous ground, and she was standing in a dangerous position. She stood not 20 metres away from him, and he could clearly see that her left arm was injured. She was starting to regret placing herself in such a vulnerable place – she could only hope he wasn't planning on taking her situation to his advantage.

Yet he only stood there with that self-satisfied smirk upon his face, nonchalantly waving an arm dismissively.

"I believe you heard me quite clearly," he replied. "The swift and noble Arcee, overwhelmed by a squadron of ground units, her precious pet taken from her grasp and whisked away by Decepticon forces. I'd say my former associates are having a field day with this blunder."

Arcee's features tightened angrily, her composure hanging on an already delicate thread.

"Look, I'm not in the mood to play around. You either tell me what you know, or I'll-"

"You'll what?" he mocked, "Flail that useless arm about and hope it will scratch me into submission?"

"I still have one good arm, and it's more than I need to take you down right now."

'Damn it,' she thought regretfully without breaking her resilient exterior. 'I need to control this situation fast before it gets way out of hand'. As much as she hated to admit it, she was in way over her head. 'The last time we had a 'fair' one-on-one, I barely got out alive, and I had both arms intact. Not to mention he was grounded,' she added as an afterthought.

He chuckled at her attempted bravado.

"Who are you kidding, Arcee? We both know if you attempt that, you may never live to see your human pet again. That is, assuming he survives what is in store for him."

He let the notion of losing Jack forever sink in, until all she could hear in her audio was the rhythmic beat of her spark.

"Of course, I am not one to let opportunities pass by," he said, stepping closer passively. "As you can see, I am no longer..welcome within the Decepticon ranks. And due to my sudden expulsion, I..uh, find myself lacking in certain resources."

Arcee narrowed her eyes at him.

"So, here is my generous offer: You help me attain a reasonable portion of energon, and I..assist you in reclaiming your human pet."

He grinned maniacally. "Do we have a deal?"

'Hell no, we don't have a deal,' a part of her wanted to scream, but stayed her impulsive side and considered her options should she refuse. On one hand, she could decline and leave peacefully and be on her way, or in declining his offer incite his temper and cause an unavoidable, unstoppable fatal brawl between the both of them (which she felt would not end in her favour, considering her state of well-being). And if she were to end up leaving peacefully? Well, she hoped she could succeed in following a trail leading to Jack and save him from Decepticon clutches – the other side of things should she fail wasn't something she wanted to think about; failure was not and could not be an option.

And of all this, she felt like she could never forgive herself if she let Jack come to any harm. It was her duty to protect him as his guardian. If it was anyone's fault, it was hers' for not keeping a closer eye on things when it happened. And she knew she was running out of time to save him, with distraction after distraction after distraction; she could use all the help she could get.

'But Starscream's?' she questioned, unconvinced that he would keep his word on the conditions of his own deal. There was no doubting his reputation for dishonesty and treachery, and she would trust him about as far as she could throw him. When it came down to it, the question remained: Was she desperate enough to employ his help, as desperate as he may be to employ hers?

He was quick to judge her silence, however.

"Should I take your stunned silence as a 'no', then?" he vocalised, stepping back away from her as a show of his preparation to leave. "Very well, but know that this was your only chance to recover Jack Darby alive and in one piece-"

"Wait."

Starscream's wings clicked back into place from mid-transformation, and he stood still on the ground watching her inner turmoil unfold on the outside with a devious glint in his eyes and a half-smile on his face – the look of a mech who was about to end a long argument in his favour.

She sighed to herself, 'I can't believe what I'm doing.'

But she felt like she had no choice. Even though to do this was like spitting on the memory of her fallen partner, she knew that she could end up losing another partner (who was more like an innocent partisan in all this) if she didn't.

She looked straight at Starscream, who was still intently watching her.

"Energon?" Arcee uttered finally, skeptically. "That's your price?"

"That is my price, femme. Take it or leave it."

A sick feeling welled into her gut, but she didn't speak or complain in protest, not trusting her own words for this.

She simply nodded, silently agreeing to his terms whilst internally hoping she had not just signed her death certificate.

"Excellent," he practically purred. "Now, I believe there are some details that need to be discussed, as promised.."

He began a steady approach towards her (from what she understood he was a mech that had no concept of personal space whatsoever), and suddenly alarms started going off in her head. She acted purely out of an age-old reflex.

"Nuh uh," she vocalised, snapping her right handed weapon up at him. "Let's get one thing straight: You keep your distance, and we won't have a problem. Do I make myself clear?"

His eyes narrowed at her for a split second as he froze mid-step, and was about to make his objections known if not for the hum of her weapon charging up.

'He can state his details from where he's standing,' she resolutely decided.

He smartly backed off, and adhered to her condition.

"Fine," he uttered brusquely. "But if I were you, I'd worry less about your petty personal issues if you wish to save your pet in time."

She lowered her arm slowly, regarding him coldly and resisting the urge to correct him for referring to Jack as her 'pet'.

"Now, if there's nothing else you'd like to spring up, I believe we have somewhere we need to be."

End Chapter One

I estimate this story will be no longer than three chapters long, depending on the size of the second chapter, which is already underway. As always, feedback and constructive criticism is welcome :)