Chapter Six: Trapped
His return online was hastened by a stabbing pain shooting up his right leg. Biting back a hiss of pain, he checked his internal chronometer to find that nearly a joor had passed since his ignominious crash, which explained why he could no longer hear the sounds of battle. A diagnostic indicated that his left leg was severely damaged but the rest of him was functioning decently and he might be able to transform in a pinch.
Starscream turned his optics on and glared at the sky. Those slaggers had left him, but that was unsurprising. In fact, he was secretly relieved. He'd already catch enough flack for letting himself be shot out of the air; he didn't want to owe anyone in addition to that. It didn't keep him from cursing loudly as he sat up though.
The source of the throbbing soon presented itself: much of his leg, already damaged by whoever shot him, was pinned under a boulder, which was wedged tightly in place. He growled in frustration when it refused to budge from its place and fired off a blast in an attempt to dislodge it.
It was an action he quickly regretted when someone cried out in alarm and several indistinct voices began moving toward him. Cursing more quietly this time, he checked his scanners and discovered three foreign energy signals converging on his position. Angrily berating himself for not making sure his position was secure the moment he woke up, he hurriedly keyed a command into his null rays. These could not be allowed to fall into enemy hands, and he could always rescind the command later if his concerns were unfounded.
As it turned out, they were not. A yellow head peered around a pile of rubble, only to be withdrawn with a squawk when Starscream fired at him. He needn't have bothered; it was difficult to aim from such an awkward, upside-down angle, and the shot went wide.
The hushed muttering that followed had a conspiratorial air and Starscream could only seethe as he waited for them to launch whatever attack they were planning. He had no doubt he would succumb to them eventually, much as it rankled to admit. His energon levels were far too low to withstand any sort of cohesive tactic for long, but he had no intention of submitting easily.
The yellow one was back and a red Autobot approached from a different direction. He sent them both into retreat and kept a wary optic out for the third but a quick scan indicated that he was moving away. Starscream became increasingly suspicious as the crazy slaggers repeated their futile attempt to advance. From their behavior, it seemed as if they were trying to provide a distraction, though from what he couldn't tell. Their comrade was too far away to do any damage, and if they were just trying to drain his energon it would be faster with all three of them.
Pushing this quandary aside to focus on the task at hand, he dimmed his optics and forced himself to relax as if in stasis lock. The yellow one edged cautiously out into the open. Starscream did not move. He inched closer, keeping his gun leveled at the fallen Seeker, and waved the other back. When he was far enough from cover, Starscream sprang into action and fired off three shots in a sweeping arc. As one, the Autobots yelped in surprise and the yellow one fell backwards, shoulder joint sparking.
Starscream grinned maliciously but did not feel confident. The shot, unfortunately, was not fatal and likely only served to temporarily incapacitate one Autobot and incense the other. The red one was shouting something, but he was distracted by the silver glint of metal off by the cliffside. There was the third, then, though what he planned to do from so far away-
A white-hot blast lanced into his side accompanied by dozens of warnings blaring about a ruptured fuel tank. Energon poured freely onto the rocks beside him. The Autobots cheered as he slumped, hissing in pain.
'A good shot,' he acquiesced blearily, glaring at the gray mech just before all but his vital functions shut down to conserve energy. 'A very good shot.'
---
"Skyfire," Wheeljack finally said with mild exasperation. "Relax. You're going to wear a hole in the floor and there are enough holes in this lab as it is."
Skyfire stopped pacing and looked down guiltily. "I'm sorry," he said sheepishly.
"There is no need to apologize," Perceptor said kindly. "We both are aware that you are… anxious."
Anxious did not even begin to cover it. He didn't know how he managed to keep his emotions in check when Bluestreak and the twins triumphantly hauled in Starscream, who was offline and near-deactivated from energon loss. He was in such a sorry state that Ratchet took one look at him and booted everyone from the med bay, insisting that a dead prisoner was no good to anyone and that's exactly what they'd have if they didn't get the slag out and let him work!
He could not even gain solace in the lab. Prowl stopped by earlier with a pair of long-barreled rifles, which he called null rays. It seemed that Starscream practiced science even as a warrior. Skyfire wasn't quite sure how he felt about that.
Perceptor and Wheeljack were considerately waiting until he left to begin studying Starscream's invention, but he was far too agitated to go out into the base. The lab had always been where he was most at home and he was in desperate need of any small amount of comfort he could glean. Not to mention the fact that every Autobot on the Ark seemed to be watching him, waiting for him to go to pieces, and if he did, he would prefer to do so without an audience.
Reluctantly, Skyfire sat down and began drumming his finger digits on the table nervously, only to spring back to his feet a moment later when Jazz walked in.
"Hey," he called out cheerfully. "How's life in the lab?"
"Oh, fine," Wheeljack replied. "We're just looking over some old projects." He glanced longingly at the gleaming null rays.
"Too busy for a guard detail then, I guess."
"Guard?" Skyfire broke in. "What do you need a guard for?"
"What else? Ratchet said our incapacitated detainee should be comin' back online soon. We got him locked up, but we ain't gonna leave him alone. He's gotta well-deserved reputation for bein' sneaky an' resourceful."
"Why approach us on the matter?" Perceptor asked. "Surely a more experienced mech would be desirable in this delicate situation."
""Prob'ly," Jazz admitted, "but the only one who volunteered was Sideswipe and I don't think it's a good idea to let him near Starscream 'til Sunstreaker's patched up."
"Well, I suppose if no one else is willing…" Wheeljack started reluctantly, still gazing at the null rays.
"I'll do it."
No one was more surprise by the words coming out of his mouth than Skyfire himself.
"Ya sure?" Jazz asked evenly.
"Yes." Such an opportunity as this would probably never come again, and he needed to quell that small bit of him that insisted this monstrous killer could not be his friend Starscream.
Jazz hesitated a moment before delicately saying, "Gen'rally, when lookin' for volunteers to guard a potentially dangerous prisoner, ya look for someone who's got some means of deterrin' said prisoner from engagin' in disruptive behavior."
"I'll borrow another gun."
"Ya also look for someone without any sorta emotional tie to said prisoner."
"I'll get over it," Skyfire said darkly. Seeing that Jazz was still unconvinced, he said, "Please, Jazz. I need to do this." He still looked hesitant, so Skyire folded his arms across his chest and did his best to look unyieldingly determined.
"Alright," Jazz said finally. "But I'm puttin' Sideswipe right outside the brig. Promise you'll get him if anything comes up."
"I promise," Skyfire said firmly.
---
Prowl was frowning ominously when Jazz entered the control room. "Tell me," he said, not turning from the monitors in front of him, "why didn't you just assign someone to guard Starscream instead of insisting on finding a volunteer?"
"Couldn't abuse my authority like that," he said airily, sauntering forward. "Don't want there to be dissent in the ranks." He looked around. "Where's Red?"
"Med bay," Prowl said shortly. "His CPU fried when he saw you leading Skyfire into the brig." He turned around and glared at Jazz. "I know what you're up to."
Jazz had the gall to look bewildered. "Who, me? What'cha mean, Prowl?"
"You know exactly what I mean," Prowl said, completely unfooled by his charade of innocence. "I don't know what you did to manipulate Skyfire into the brig alone with Starscream, but I'm not entirely convinced it was a good idea."
"Honestly?" Jazz dropped his act and peered almost nervously at the screen over Prowl's shoulder joint. It showed Skyfire absentmindedly fingering a data pad as he stared at Starscream's prone form. "Neither am I. I do know it's gotta happen eventually, though, an' I'd rather keep it on our terms. Plus, I'm curious. There's somethin' he's not tellin' us, somethin' important. This might be our only chance to find out."
"I can assume, then, that you did not tell him of the security camera?"
"Yup."
Prowl's frown deepened, but he said nothing more on the matter, instead changing the subject. "Ratchet has something to tell us regarding Starscream, by the way. He said he'll be by once he finishes in the med bay and we're not to speak of it to anyone."
"Sounds serious." A flicker of movement on the monitor caught his attention. "Shh, I think Starscream's comin' back online. Les'see if we can get some answers."
---
A/N: No time to chat. Next week: climax! At least, I think it is. My plot chart on this story is wonky.
