Title: in return
Fandom: Transformers Prime
Summary: AU. Knock Out inserts Starscream's T-Cog. Starscream wants to know what he wants in exchange.
A/N: "Triangulation" didn't happen, except for Starscream trying to operate on himself. This happens somehow after "Tunnel Vision."
Disclaimer: I own nothing related to Transformers Prime.
Starscream knew Knock Out wanted something in return. But so far the medic had demanded nothing. Just went along with Starscream after the Seeker begged him to. Normally Starscream would've made him confess immediately to what he wanted, if not for his own desperation and frankly the pure salvation Knock Out offered. At this point, an actual medic reinserting a T-Cog into his body for glorious flight and with higher chance of success was Primus sent.
So Starscream did not question Knock Out and led him to the Harbinger wreck. That was another fortunate thing, Knock Out had went along with Starscream's insistence to stay away from the Nemesis. The medic said he could bring all the equipment he needed; then said that according to Starscream's description of his makeshift inventory, the Seeker already had what would be sufficient.
Starscream supposed he could chalk his wariness up to surgery jitters, even if those jitters were a balm compared to his sheer terror at the prospect of tryng to operate on himself. But Starscream recognized his own paranoia; knew his wariness still stemmed from waiting for the other proverbial shoe to drop, as the humans would say. Even if Knock Out had been a decent ally before, Energon and flight deprivation and just fraggin' everything had made the Seeker more paranoid.
Perhaps the most important thing to be wary about: Knock Out was filthy.
Starscream tried not to stare at the scratches and dirt marring the medic's finish, nor the wheel he was missing. The Seeker had actually offered to help him repair and clean himself up, had assumed that was maybe at least part of what Knock Out would want for payment. But although the medic had looked tempted, he had firmly waved Starscream off, disquieting him further.
"Starscream, I'm going to put you under."
The Seeker hesitated, then began to protest. It would be painful as the Pit, but it might be more prudent to remain aware and not lose consciousness. Knock Out had been somewhat reliable before, but how knows what could've changed during his self-imposed exile? The medic might not be able to resist the possibility of Megatron's favor in exchange for the capture of his former second-in-command...
"That was not a question, Starscream. I am going to put you under." Knock Out's voice was very firm; it would suffer no argument.
This puzzled the Seeker more than raise his wariness.
Starscream's tongue loosened while Knock Out started to put him into a sedative stasis.
"Where's your assistant?"
Knock Out's face blurred, but the flatness in his eyes was undeniable. "I already told you, Starscream. It was the first thing you asked before, remember? Breakdown is unavailable right now." Again, the medic's voice was firm.
"But you didn't say why?..." Starscream distantly noted the familiar whine in his voice as he kept fading away.
"What does it matter?" There was a snarl in Knock Out's now faraway voice. "He is no position to help us right now, and you want help right now, don't you?"
"Can wait for Break-"
"This is not an appointment on the Nemesis you can just reschedule as my commanding officer, this is a limited time opportunity for the rogue you are now!" Knock Out snarled, and Starscream's tongue felt too heavy to move. And then everything went black.
###
Starscream woke up, and stretched tenderly, touching his side. The Seeker's cautious excitement rose; it felt like his T-Cog was there...!
"Knock Out?" He called. The banged up grounder wasn't in the makeshift infirmary. "Doctor?"
Starscream began to search the wrecked ship for Knock Out. His paranoia was returning. What if Knock Out had contacted the Nemesis, and the troops would come to claim him...?
The Seeker calmed when he found the medic in the room he had activated his ill-conceived clones. In fact, Knock Out had the cloning specs up. He was closely examining them.
Starscream's heels clicked softly as he approached. The medic heard, and purred, "So this explains all your corpses littering the Nemesis."
Starscream flinched at the thought of his bodies all over the ship, and the eerie memory of shooting himself, and the pain that had caused.
Knock Out's voice was flatter when he said, "Scared the frag out of Shiv when he found one of them."
"Who?"
"The Trooper that's infatuated with you."
Starscream flushed, blinking rapidly. He couldn't tell if Knock Out was joking, but the medic had sounded dead serious, and he and Breakdown were the officers closest to the Troopers. They would know of any...infatuations.
"All the protoforms are gone," Knock Out noted, gesturing to the empty tubes and the history records on the specs that had updated themselves while Starscream had worked.
"Hmmm, yes, what a shame," Starscream muttered bitterly, still frustrated with another failed plan.
"It's not entirely impossible to at least construct new bodies," Knock Out offered. "Even modify them for-"
"I've had enough multipying my agony, thank you very much!"
Knock Out raised his brow ridge questioningly.
Starsceam sighed. "I could feel what my clones felt, including their pain. And their-"
"-deaths?" Starscream distantly noted that Knock Out's voice sounded odd.
"Yes, that too," Starscream muttered, instinctively rubbing the back of his head. He thought he still had the phantom pain of a shot going straight through his skull...
"What about if the clones were based on a...deceased subject?"
Starscream stared at Knock Out. Then finally stopped fighting back his instinctive shiver. "Then I suppose we'd have something like Megatron's dark energon-infused Terrorcons, and we all know how that turned out."
The Seeker stiffened as Knock Out badly flinched.
Starscream stared at him.
Finally, he just snapped, "What is wrong?"
Knock Out stared at him, and Starscream felt disturbed by how the medic seemed to look straight through him.
Finally Knock Out seemed to refocus slightly on him. "Do you plan to return to the Nemesis?"
"No!" Starscream instantly blurted out, and immediately regretted the hasty response. Was that what Knock Out demanded as payment? If so, Starscream should've figured out a way to deny it more civilly.
"Nothing is wrong then," Knock Out said, voice light but eyes still flat.
He opened a compartment on his arm. "You can have my ration-"
And he left it on the floor, Starscream's eyes immediately lighting on it, hungry.
"-and if that's all, I'll be off."
And Knock Out began to walk away.
Dread immediately rushed through Starscream. He scolded himself; it wasn't even the prospect of an ally and resource leaving, it was just the chassis-deep feeling that he did not want to be alone with only his thoughts for company anymore. Not after this brief taste of Knock Out and his civility and banter and conversation and refusal to punch him in the face or utterly berate him.
"What? No!"
Knock Out shook his head, exasperation in his voice. "I am staying with the Nemesis, either you come back there or-"
"Let me help repair you at least-I know Breakdown can take care of it, but I-"
Starscream stopped when Knock Out flinched again.
The Seeker stared very hard at the red grounder.
"You said Breakdown was unavailable," the Seeker echoed. "You asked about clones copied from a dead subject-wait!"
Knock Out had kept walking away.
"I'm sorry, I-look, either way, I-I don't think it would work. Not the way you want it. The specs indicate they could only work on a live subject. Not a-"
"So nothing would happen?" Knock Out had stopped so suddenly Starscream almost rushed into his back.
"I-I doubt it. I could feel their pain...it seems to be an annoyingly integral part of the process. If there's no one al-alive to feel their clone's pain...the clones might need that connection to-to function. To exist."
Knock Out started to move again. Starscream immediately grabbed his elbow, bursting out, "But more research can be conducted, we could try-do you want to try...?"
The medic's voice was low, hoarse. "I'm not certain."
Starscream bit his lip, searching for the next thing to say. Finally he pointed out, "The offer will stay open." He softly, "As does my offer to help repair you. Especially since your partner is-"
The Seeker knew he had once again overreached when the medic snapped, "I don't require help from you or anyone else." He sneered, pulling his elbow out of Starscream's grasp. "And do you really plan to stay here? Aren't you worried I'll lead the others to this pit you call a base?"
Starscream sighed, and finally admitted, "If you had planned that, you would've done it already."
Still Knock Out grunted. "Things can change on the Nemesis. You of all people should know that."
The Seeker deflated slightly, somewhat humbled that in so many words, the medic had actually given him a somewhat well-meant warning.
Knock Out sighed, turning his back one last time. "Farewell, Starscream."
Starscream closed his eyes against the soft noise of Knock Out's departure, the sounds of his limping walk. "Good-bye Doctor."
A/N: Shiv=Steve. And at least "Armada" gave me this angsty plotbunny.