Starscream sat hunched over on the berth, scowling at the floor as Ratchet welded the framework of his new wings to his back. It hadn't taken long for him to worm his way into the Prime's favour (though he was still rather confused why a Prime was being so kind to him) and to manipulate that favour into getting his wings rebuilt. There were a few issues he had time to address while he was sitting here, glowering at the floor.
One: he needed to fly. Simply put, he couldn't until Ratchet had finished with his wings, a long and undoubtedly painful process he was sure. That and he wasn't sure he could trust the medic to do it right, even if he had supposedly been rebuilt from the pile of scrap that they said he'd been.
Two: Prime was making doe eyes at him. He honestly wasn't sure what to do about that. There were mixed emotions there, a deep distrust, confusion and a little curiosity. Did this have something to do with what he couldn't remember? Or was this a new occurrence? Either way, he didn't think it was a good idea. Getting attached would only lead to complications and since he planned to escape from this underground rock or wherever they were as soon as his wings were repaired, he couldn't afford attachments.
Even if it had been rather nice waking up against Optimus' chestplates after blacking out in the desert.
Starscream dug his claws into the berth. He would allow himself that but he refused to sink any lower -
"Move the left wing for me. I need to see if I've connected this right." Ratchet interrupted his thoughts.
Starscream obeyed, glad for the distraction. Emotions were terribly confusing without any context. He almost wished his emotional programming had been slagged in the crash -
He stiffened, something that had nothing to do with the tiny tools burrowing into his back this time. Crash. He remembered the crash – and blinding pain, all over his body. He bit down on finger to stifle a pained noise. Oh, he wished he didn't remember now.
"Sorry, must have clipped a wire there."
Again, Ratchet's voice distracted him and he shook his head slightly, letting his finger go. "You did." He said coldly, feeling the medic still at his back, the tools withdrawing after the pause. A moment later he found Ratchet standing before him, looking almost concerned.
"That shouldn't have hurt that much, is there something you aren't telling me?"
Starscream felt something dip against his back and with a jolt realised it was the framework for one of his wings. He couldn't really feel the wing yet but the basic struts and support were there. It wouldn't be long. "No. Why would I hide something from my rescuers?" He asked quietly. Something told him that it would be best to keep this to himself for the time being. He didn't trust these people, rescuers or not. Something felt off.
Ratchet gazed at him levelly. "Why indeed."
-0-
"What," Starscream spoke slowly, staring down at the little thing standing on his berthside table, "is that?"
"'That' is a human." Optimus explained calmly, watching Starscream's reaction with veiled interest. Starscream didn't notice, too busy leaning closer to the little pink thing. It seemed to be waving at him. "They are the dominant species on this planet, I had asked Ratchet to give you the language modules for the main languages spoken here. Has he?"
Starscream flicked his wing framework in irritation. "Yes." he said sullenly. "It is basic, simplistic. Do you honestly expect me to-?"
"Starscream." There was a little warning in the Prime's tone.
Starscream scowled and crossed his arms, knowing full well he was acting like an unrepentant youngling but frankly he couldn't give a scrap. He focused on the...strangely excited human and spoke a few words of what appeared to be the dominant language from the module. All he got was a confused look in return.
"That would be Chinese, Starscream." Optimus said calmly, a very slight smile on his lips despite speaking in one of the human tongues. "Try the third."
With a long suffering sigh, Starscream switched language packs. "English?" he asked, turning unamused optics on the human.
"Perfect!"
Oh goody, now he could understand the thing.
"I'm Miko! I put that wreath over your bed at Christmas, even though you weren't online to see it. So what's it like to fly? I'll bet its amazing, you must be awesome in the air, can you do tricks? Can you go faster than the speed of sound? Can-"
And the questions went on. And on.
Starscream...didn't mind so much. He liked to talk about himself after all. Even if he couldn't remember much.
-0-
Ratchet had kidnapped Optimus partway through the introduction to Miko and her 20 questions, dragging the Prime into a storage cupboard to interrogate him. "What in the name of Unicron made you think that picking MIKO of all humans to introduce him to was a good idea?" he hissed to the Prime, plating bristling slightly in agitation.
"If you are so opposed to it, why did you remove us from the room where they are?" Optimus countered softly.
"I..." Ratchet struggled to find an answer for that one.
"Relax old friend. If I did not trust Starscream to be too busy answering her questions about himself, then I would not have left." The Prime assured him. "Starscream may recall things as Miko questions. She is open and very curious. Jack is quieter and guarded, he would not be so willing to give Starscream a chance. Raf is perhaps the next best choice once Miko has gotten Starscream to open up and converse more freely."
Ratchet stared at him like he was glitched. "Couldn't we just have brought in Fowler?"
"Agent Fowler is...unaware-"
"Unaware?" Ratchet knew that he was being a little too loud, judging from the way Optimus flinched at his bellow. "He's been here for a year and you haven't told Fowler?"
"It rarely seemed like an appropriate time to-"
"You could have just come out and told him!" The medic was stunned at his leader, unable to believe this had been overlooked. "How hard is it to tell him, 'Oh, Agent Fowler, we have a comatose Starscream in our base, how are you?' because it's just words Optimus, it's not like he can do anything-" He paused, realisation hitting him as hard as one of Megatron's blows. "That's it. You were afraid they'd want him. Weren't you?"
"We cannot allow our technology to fall into the hands of such a warlike people." Optimus replied. It was his usual line to pull out in situations like this. But it didn't explain why he was suddenly unable to meet the optics of his oldest friend.
"Oh Optimus, really? Of all the – Starscream? You fall helm over heels for that mess of a mech?" Ratchet vented heavily, looking down at the floor. "He will remember what happened, so long as he suffers no more crashes. You don't stand a ghost of a chance with him after that." He brushed past his leader, sending a glance at Starscream and Miko. Miko was sitting cross-legged on the table while Starscream was telling her some story or other. Ratchet couldn't bring himself to care, leaving the room.
Optimus sighed, stepping out of the storage room to watch him go. "I'm sorry old friend..." he said softly.
-0-
Ratchet returned a short time later to continue the work on Starscream's wings. He brought Bulkhead with him to collect Miko, the ex-Wrecker steadfastly ignoring Starscream the entire time he was in the same room. When he and Miko departed Optimus left with them, casting a glance back at the pair.
Starscream sneered at Bulkhead's back when he left. "How rude. What did I ever do to him?" he said, wrapping his arms around himself.
"Hold still." Ratchet chided, pinching a wire in Starscream's back as a reprimand, the Seeker hissing at him in return.
"Stop pinching me and maybe I'll stop moving, you glitched pain in the aft!"
Ratchet growled. "Stop being such a brat!"
"I can hear you two bickering out in the hallway. Is there a problem?"A third voice joined the conversation, its owner stepping into the room. Her forearm was currently replaced by a blaster, Starscream noted, and something small ran at her heels like some kind of pet.
"No Arcee, no problem." Ratchet said gruffly. "You don't need to hang around with that out. I've disabled all his weapons, he's not going anywhere."
Starscream could practically feel the distrust rolling off the blue femme standing in the doorway. "Whatever you say Ratchet." she said lightly. The blaster didn't go anywhere.
Again, Starscream wondered what he was to these mecha. The little thing that had been at her heels captured his attention after a moment and he couldn't help but stare at it, wing frames shifting slightly with curiosity. It stared back.
Ratchet caught the shifting struts in a hand and held them firmly. "Sit still! Arcee, are you here for a reason or are you just going to hover in the corner?"
"Optimus thought it would be a good idea to bring Jack along." The femme replied, "So here we are."
"Here you are." Starscream echoed quietly. He leaned forwards, finding that he rather enjoyed the way she stiffened at his voice. "Don't I get an introduction?"
Behind him, the medic sighed. "Starscream, this is Arcee and Jack. Optimus wants you to chat, so Jack, up on the table. Now sit still for goodness sake." He jerked the Seeker back and got another hiss for his efforts.
While Ratchet wrestled Starscream into a suitable position to continue his work, Jack made his way up to the human sized table and chairs with a little help from Arcee. The femme stayed close, clearly unhappy about this but without much of a choice.
Starscream stared at Jack, looking him over and mentally comparing him to what he remembered of Miko's visit earlier. He couldn't help but lean forwards while Ratchet had his back turned to check the schematics of the wings he was trying to build from scratch. "You are quite different to the one who was here earlier." he commented, lifting a finger to prod at Jack.
The human dove out the way as though attacked and before Starscream could question why there was a hot blaster in his face, the whine of its charge filling the room. His optics widened and with a yelp of surprise (and perhaps some fear) he threw himself backwards away from the weapon in his face. With another yelp, he hit the floor on the other side of the berth, the wing structures half crushed beneath him.
"ARCEE!" Ratchet bellowed. "Do you know how long that took me to get right? He needed those struts!"
"Do I honestly look like I give a scrap about what he needs?" she spat back, scooping up Jack and setting him down on the floor. "I'm not letting him get close to Jack, no matter what Optimus says. Starscream's never going to change, memory loss or not."
By the time Ratchet helped Starscream up onto the berth again, she and Jack were gone, leaving Starscream with a very grouchy medic and some very bent wing structures.
