Author's Note: Here is the last rewritten chapter for you guys. I really want to thank all of you who have not lost your faith in me or the story. I get a big goofy grin every time I get such wonderful reviews from you all. So thank you, it means the world to me. :)
Chapter 4 is currently in progress and I originally intended to put up all 4 new chapters at once, but I was too excited and I couldn't make everyone wait much longer.
So I'll just shut up now and let you all read the rewritten version of chapter 3. Enjoy!
Chapter 3
To say the next few hours were like the Pit would be an understatement. Once the two Cybertronians had fully recuperated from the effects of the drugs dispensed into them, courtesy of MECH scientists, they were engulfed into a rage of emotions. By nature, Starscream and Arcee were too stubborn to admit that they were outsmarted by humans, and aimlessly wandered the forest which confined them, in the hope that one of them could miraculously figure out their whereabouts. Their search for answers did not provide much, but it gave them a better understanding of the terrain around them.
"We must be on the coast," Arcee said, lifting an achy foot over a toppled log, covering the path that she had chosen to take. "It's pretty damp."
"No slag," Starscream muttered as he pressed on ahead of her, his muddy heels slipping against the clusters of moss littering the forest floor. "I can feel it in my undercarriage."
"Gee, thanks for the information," Arcee snorted in disgust, met with a grunt by the Seeker. There was no doubt the dampness also bothered his oozing wound, though he would never admit weakness to an Autobot.
Conversation was not further pursued by either of them as they padded deeper into the forest. Starscream's wings were perked forward, his glossa pressed against the roof of his mouth as he drew in the aromas surrounding him, granting him a stronger sense of smell. The crisp smell of rain-water dominated, the musky smell of dirt littering Arcee and the dried blood on his own chassis a close second. Drawing in another deep breath, Starscream's maroon eyes instantly widened. Without warning, the silver Seeker came to an abrupt stop and Arcee slammed her heels into the dirt to prevent her from crashing into him. His optics were unfocused as he listened to his surroundings. With his wings flared, Starscream sharply turned to his right, nearly knocking over Arcee in the process.
"Wait, where're you going?" Arcee yelled after the Seeker as he trotted away from her. He did not answer, merely continuing in his chosen direction.
Hesitantly, Arcee galloped to catch up with him. They ran alongside each other, Starscream drawing in the unknown scent anxiously. The Cybertronian's metallic feet boomed against the forest floor, an echo that carried through the trees, numerous song birds lurching into the sky in alarm. Dodging large, sturdy trees, Starscream pushed further into the undergrowth. Large shrubs threatened to trip Arcee as she fought to keep up with the mech's huge strides. They trotted for a mere minute, and then it was over. Starscream leapt out of the thick bush like a predator, Arcee on his heels, skidding to a stop at the sight of a clearing. His pointed heels left mounds of dirt, puffs of the earth rising as a mysterious fog failing to cover the creature lurking within. Starscream's wings quivered as he whipped his head from East to West, desperately looking.
Arcee marched to the tall mech's side with heavy feet, an angry glint in her sky blue optics.
"What the frag is your problem?" she demanded, fists clenched. "Why would you just take off like that?"
Starscream turned and addressed her angrily, "I had caught the scent of something that could have answered some questions."
"Such as?" Arcee said, her arms crossed and a metallic eyebrow raised.
Starscream growled, "Human."
The Autobot blinked in surprise, then melted into a look of disgust.
"Silas and his grunts?"
The Seeker's jaw churned.
"Mmm. Perhaps. Couldn't really be sure. " He paused and licked his bottom lip. "Or so I hoped. I would have enjoyed getting my hands on the vermin; squeeze the life out of them," Starscream growled, flexing his talons.
"You and me both," Arcee replied coldly. Her eyebrows narrowed more so. "So, where's the human?"
"Your guess is as good as mine, Autobot," he snarled. "I can still smell the stench of human flesh, but there's nothing here. The meatbag must be lurking around here somewhere..." Starscream hissed as he seized up the clearing with maroon eyes.
The femme pursed her lips as she addressed the situation mentally. "We should search for it. Could give us a better idea of where exactly we are, and how to get out." Arcee took notice of the smirk that grew upon Starscream's features. "But if we go looking for humans, you can't just take off like that. We're robots in disguise, remember? We need to take cover and approach with caution." She took a step towards him and stared the mech in the optics. "Understand?"
His lips curled downward, his eyebrows following in the same fashion. "Hmph. You're not the boss of me, but fine, I'll go along with it just to enlighten you, dear Arcee," he purred with the sarcasm dripping from his vocal chords.
Cringing, she stepped back and gestured to him. "You're the one with the keen sense of smell. You lead."
"As you wish," he murmured, strutting past her, his wings erect and flared like a male peacock in a desperate attempt to show off to the femme.
Arcee only rolled her optics with an audible huff before following his lead.
It had been an excruciating endeavour to follow on Starscream's heels again for a half hour, only to hope that the human scent would grow strong enough to the point to which the Seeker could accurately pin-point its location, other than consistently leading them in circles as he had been. Arcee hated to be so powerless; vulnerable with no weapons or communications, she bitterly resented the fact that despite how much she would've loved to ditch Starscream's aft in the dense forest, but Arcee found him too useful, for now.
Arcee was forced to set aside her thoughts when Starscream let out a frustrated screech in some sort of Seeker dialect. He continued to mutter in Seeker cant until the femme grabbed his arm and jerked him in her direction in the hopes of turning him around.
"What the frag is going on?" she snarled.
"I-I can't hold the Primus' damned scent of that human," he spat angrily, "I get onto the trail and then some other organic screws me up."
"That's not going to be the only thing that screws you up if you keep taking us in circles," Arcee poked a single finger at the crimson Decepticon emblem on his chest, her brows furrowing. Starscream reached for her wrist and held it roughly before her, his grip tightening ever so slightly.
"You are in no position to be making threats, Arcee." The coldness in his voice was short lived as it hit her chassis with disturbing warmth to it. Yes, he was that close.
The Autobot struggled against his grip, looking him in the optics with a resilience that even though she was the enemy, Starscream could not help but admire from time to time. Pushing it aside, he looked her in the eye with seething anger.
"Unlike you, I've been roughing it in the wilderness for a number of months already, as you must be aware of." He paused to lick his lips, digging his talons into Arcee's navy plating, thin specks of energon surfacing. "I've got the experience that you lack and unless you want to end up scrapped, you listen to me. Are we clear?"
Arcee fought the urge to spit right between his optics. She was defenceless without her weaponry and it was no secret that the mech currently holding her threateningly took advantage of his sharp claws whenever presented the opportunity. Instead, she swallowed hard and averted her gaze to something off in the distance. It was humiliating to be more vulnerable than a Seeker without his wings.
He took the gesture as an inaudible "yes", lips slowly curling into a sadistic smirk. Releasing his hold on the femme's arm, Starscream glanced momentarily at the droplets of azure blood gripping to the coarse metal of his talons and shook it lightly. Arcee grasped her punctured arm with a firm countenance of abhorrence towards the former Decepticon. Hesitantly, Starscream turned his back on her and padded on, asking casually, "You are coming, aren't you?"
The femme snorted as she followed, muttering heinous remarks about him in an attempt to make herself feel higher than the latter. Why am I following him? I would be fine on my own.
Except she wouldn't be. No matter how hard Arcee tried to trick herself into believing she didn't need the former SIC as company, there was an unknown urge within her that willed her to stay near. Some unknown instinct dwelling inside that never had the need to surface until now. Unwanted femme coding, she believed; instincts that Arcee pushed aside thousands of years ago when she was a young, mature femme. The independence she held since she was little was pulled into question a few times when she became of age and young mechs her age looked more pleasing to her. She'd gotten over that desire for a significant other to take care of her thousands of years ago, though it seemed something similar had now risen.
It made sense to Arcee now, it was no wonder such an impulse would appear when she was pathetically incompetent, forced to rely on the only other option available: Starscream.
An ear shattering bang echoed through the depths of the temperate rainforest, sending birds flying out of the trees and the two Cybertronians jumping in surprise. Their optics were wide and quickly scanning the greenery surrounding them, not seeing the harbour of the sound.
"What the frag was that?" Starscream asked, his voice higher with obvious tension.
"Sounded like a rifle to me," Arcee said, pausing to listen. "Humans use them for hunting."
"Oh, of course you would know. The Autobots seem to be quite knowledgeable about humans, which you'd have to be with the harbouring of human pets," he scrunched his features into a look of disgust. It was no secret that Starscream found the race to be such vile creatures.
"They're not pets," the femme growled, obviously offended by the remark. "They're partners."
Starscream sputtered before letting out a sharp laugh.
"Partners?" he chuckled briefly before continuing, "They are nothing more than a nuisance. Horribly fragile too. It's only a matter of time before you lose your third partner, Arcee." The amusement dancing within his optics hit Arcee harder than his words.
She couldn't take it anymore. Pouncing with exhilarating speed, Arcee landed onto the mech with her hands balled into fists, knocking him down into the dirt, blatantly ignoring the gaping wound in his side that she had earlier volunteered to fix. Tiny drops of energon trickling down her arm lurched onto the Seeker. Dodging the Primus' forsaken collar, she held him down with a dangerous glint in her azure optics. Starscream reaction speed slowed; she had knocked the air out of him and surprised him.
"You don't know what it's like!" she hollered hysterically, her grip tightening. "You don't know how it feels to lose someone that you deeply care about, to have them suddenly ripped away from you with no warning, tearing a part of you along with them out of existence." Arcee looked into his optics and Starscream wished she hadn't. The brim of her optics watered, threatened to pour over. Her hands shook, the grip on his neck loosening. Careful not to upset the femme further, Starscream gently took her hand and attempted to move it from him, not wanting to be on the receiving side anymore.
The former Air Commander had never seen a bot switch from sadness to anger so suddenly. Arcee's brows furrowed and snaked her hand out of his grip, landing a swift punch between his optics before he could even react. He was sprawled in the dirt unresponsive with the femme on top. How dare he have the nerve to touch her! Arcee wasn't finished with him yet. Grabbing a cable on his throat, she lifted his head and forced him to look at her. He appeared to be in a daze; his optics rolling with a deadpan look upon his features, his mouth agape very slightly.
"You killed him," she whispered. His head lolled to the side and he moaned, really feeling that punch now. Why couldn't this femme just leave him be? He pondered on that thought.
"You killed Cliffjumper, you sparkless bastard! Oh, I could just return the favor right now but-"
"Hey, I hear something over here!"
Arcee froze when she heard the human voices near. Regaining her composure, she leapt off of the Seeker and pulled him up as quickly as she could. He wobbled on his feet, hardly stable enough to walk. His optics stared off into the distance in a haze. Taking a glance around them, Arcee spotted a large patch of enclosed bush and shoved the Seeker through it, herself following closely behind.
That seemed to bring Starscream back to full consciousness. He shook his head, a hand cupping the base of the maroon plum tenderly. There was no doubt that a processor ache now occupied his CPU. Moving his hand, he knelt beside Arcee, yet leaving a respectable distance between them.
"What is it?" he murmured, voice high pitched as he held his side tenderly.
He only got a nasty remark to be silent from the Autobot. With a puff, he obeyed and strained to listen to what Arcee was so concerned about.
"Over here, dad," a young voice called. Arcee pictured the voice to belong to boy approximately Raf's age.
Arcee's guess was right. A boy of similar age to Raf emerged from the trees, carefully stepping over the organic debris that littered the ground. Running a smooth hand through his sweaty blonde hair, he stood still, cautiously observing. Another human followed, much larger than the boy and Arcee could only believe the man ploughing through the overgrowth to be the child's father. The pair shared similar features; matching emerald eyes, golden hair, and long, broad faces. It only further proved Arcee's silent theory more so.
Starscream watched with his lips pursed. Arcee figured he was pouting, especially after trying so hard to track the duo of humans, only to fail and have them find him.
"Eric, don't go running off like that," the man's voice waved as he struggled to catch his breath, a worn .33 grasped in his sweaty palms.
"Sorry, Dad," the child apologized with amusement ringing in his young vocal chords. "Gettin' too old are yah, old man?"
"I'm too old to be chasin' after you like you're some unbehaved toddler," Eric's father remarked sharply. "You're a young man now; I suggest you start actin' like one."
"I heard something goin' on over here," he gestured around himself. Grinning, he said, "Was hopin' to finally see some action!"
"Don't be stupid," the man said, taking his .33 and resting it on a large shoulder. "The Alaskan wilderness is no playground. You have no idea how dangerous the wildlife out here is, son."
Arcee and Starscream's optics widened immediately. That was much further than either of them had expected. For Arcee, it was a long hike from Jasper, Nevada. How the slag was she going to get back home?
The femme's arms, supporting her chassis as she kneeled, threatened to buckle. She suddenly felt sick. This wasn't happening. Arcee didn't want to believe it was reality; to be stuck with Starscream with no energon readily available, no communications, no weapons. The stranded Autobot figured it couldn't get any worse.
The presence of the humans didn't matter to Arcee anymore. She rose to her feet much to Starscream's surprise, padding off in the opposite direction of the humans. He let an uncertain glance settle on the pair of startled humans, unsure if they had either seen or just heard the femme, and gingerly rose and followed Arcee. Taking light steps, he caught up to the navy motorcycle, his eyebrows raised as he peered at her with a perplexed mien. He took note of the definite downward swoop of her winglets.
"Care to explain?"
Arcee frowned at the unusual softness in his raspy voice. Avoiding his gaze, she continued to stalk away from him, murmuring gravely, "Why would you care?"
Starscream reached for her in the hopes of stopping her, but remembering the ordeal that had just occurred, he stopped himself. Instead, he took a few long strides and lurched in front of her, halting. Arcee's heels dug into the musky dirt, mere feet away from the mech. With her arms folded across her chest, she stared at him with blazing optics, a sight much too familiar to the former SIC.
Starscream's intakes hitched. He was never good at comforting; it was a foreign act that never needed to be performed while working among the Decepticon ranks. He did not necessarily need to comfort the distressed femme, but he saw it fit to appeal to her in a positive manner, as difficult as he knew it would be.
"Arcee," he started, carefully choosing his words, "I realize how difficult this must be for you, but you and I both want nothing more than to get out of this Primus' forsaken forest, yes?" He paused to search her countenance, merely finding that same look of irritation occupying her features. "You heard those humans; Alaska is a huge chunk of unoccupied forest filled with Primus' knows what. If we want to get out of here, our cooperation is essential. He suspected her to be skeptical on the matter. "If we don't, we put our lives in jeopardy."
"You just expect me to leave our differences in the past?" Arcee was furious.
It was now Starscream's turn to frown angrily. "No. I'm not asking for forgiveness. I just want your cooperation."
Arcee's arms flew up in the air with an unamused huff. "Ohh. You want my help?" Her slender arms slid down and sat on her hips, her optics more wild and angry than before. "So you can turn around and stab me in the back once I'm no longer of use to you?"
"No!" he snarled, losing his patience. "Why would I?"
"Why would you do something as horrible as stealing Bumblebee's T-Cog and then turn around and save my life?"
That seemed to startle him. His bitter countenance melted within moments. He was baffled. However, as a result from hiding treachery from Megatron for years, he recovered quickly, replacing surprise with boiling rage.
"You're impossible!" he cried, wings raised with the occasional twitch. "You obviously hate me too much to even consider working with me, so forget it." He bared his dentals as he snarled, "You're on your own."
"Good!" she hollered, whipping away from him. "I don't need a 'con to watch my back. I've survived on my own before and I'll do it again."
Not looking back, Arcee stalked away from the Seeker into the shadows, desperately trying to believe her own words.
