As the black of stasis faded and colour started to sting her optics, the only difference Arcee noticed between being captured by Starscream and by the Decepticons is that the Decepticons at least didn't make her sit on the floor. With the strength that trickled back into her limbs she pushed and wrenched against the now familiar restraints on her wrists and new ones on her legs, squirming on the cold slab of metal at her back that squashed her winglets under her frame.
Standing some way aside over a table of Primus-knows what kind of equipment, Knockout heard her thrashing and grunting but only acknowledged it with the slightest flick of his helm. She was on the verge of snapping her servos off by the time he decided to speak, lazily calling over his shoulder.
"You know, this whole time Megatron has been trying to get you where you live, wasting thousands of hours combing the planet for any trace of Autobots, but you're kind enough to just hand yourself over!" He chuckled as he turned around, a smug grate of his vents that made Arcee hiss- or maybe that was the sight of the cable dangling in his hand like a dormant viper, the same one she'd used on Bumblebee what seemed like years ago.
"Unfortunately, I can't bear to waste such a pretty frame on wild experiments, but I can take a look inside your helm." The Cortical Psychic Patch buzzed and hummed in his grip, as if responding to his growing smirk and the panic taking firm hold of Arcee's systems. Her processor, any Autobot's head, held everything needed for just one Decepticon to destroy them from the inside. And that wasn't even considering her time with Starscream, nevermind what she knew of what he was planning. The only moments of privacy and- dare she admit it- peace she'd had left in the midst of the new war, of Cliffjumper's demise, had been spent in that slagger's company. The same one who'd more likely than not left her as Decepticon bait. The prospect of those moments being dissected, torn apart and sifted through, that scared her more than anything else.
And Knockout could sense it the closer he approached, the glitching static of her EM field laying bare the depth of her fear and anger and that bitter, neverending chasm of betrayal that she ended up falling back into every time she managed to drag herself out. Him in her mind, mocking her for any hope and happiness she had, cutting deeper than Starscream's claws or words ever could, would have surely destroyed her, as much as she hated to know it.
But Autobots tended to have good timing, and once where Knockout stood proud and preening lay a crumpled mess of red plating a nanoklick later, with a yellow mech towering over him.
"Bumblebee!" He whirred in acknowledgement, dusting off the fist he'd just slammed into the back of Knockout's helm and stubbornly stepping on him as he approached Arcee's restraints. "How... how did you-"
"I got a little impatient with our whole 'three days' deal, but I saw the drones lifting you up when I went to find you. I got the whole team to help storm the ship to get you out." He managed to find the release for all her restraints, the stasis cuffs fizzling out and letting her rub the half-healed chafes in her wrists.
"Where's everyone else?" she asked, quickly ridding herself of shakes as she sat up, cautiously eyeing the groaning shape of Knockout on the floor.
"They're keeping this place secure," Bee answered, a ped pressed on the downed medic's neck just in case. "As soon as the coast is clear, we'll call in a Ground Bridge and get you back to base-"
But Arcee stopped listening at that point, when she saw the faintest smudge of grey and a flint of red streaking over Bumblebee's shoulder. It only lingered for less than a nanoklick, but long enough for her to notice and recognise the very warped image of Starscream before it was gone. The red energon was letting him slip right through every guard on the ship without them knowing- and she still had her own dose in her subspace.
Rolling the container stored there slowly in her hand, she watched Bumblebee turn around and speak into his comm unit when she made her decision.
"Sorry about this, Bee... but I'm here for a reason." She downed the container before he could turn around and see, sweet electricity soaking her glossa and swelling in her tanks, and when she let go of the empty flask it refused to clatter to the floor. It hovered, descending so slowly it was like trying to swim through air made of oil. And Bee was even slower, the twitch of his doors like a pair of broken wings trying to flap together, his peds rotating on rusty hinges. Everything was a crawl around her, the air itself distilled and laden with a stony silence only occasionally broken by dull, time-softened thuds further away.
Arcee approached the exit, the same one Bee had used, but the doors took so long to slide apart she had to wrench them aside and spill out into the frozen hallway. Smokescreen and Bulkhead flanked the opening, two tense barriers between the statues of Vehicons up ahead. She weaved between them all without bothering to take them out, saving all strength she had left for the bigger battle ahead.
Then, in the sea of sluggish drones, she saw someone actually managing to run in the hallway before her, heels clicking and heavy low wings forcing him to lean forwards in his stride.
"Starscream!" He turned quickly, but not so that it was out of surprise. If anything, he seemed to be expecting her.
"I was wondering when you'd catch up," he said, seriously tempting a fist in his faceplate with how his eyeridges waggled. She had one ready as she marched up to him, but her digits twitched too much to hold it by the time she was in range. So she settled for a slap, which he didn't try to dodge.
"What the... what the frag were you thinking?!" It was one thing to hand her over to the Decepticons in a complete 180 of everything he'd been preaching for the past week, another thing entirely for him to expect her to break out and forgive him for it.
To what little credit he had, he just calmly rubbed the reddened side of his faceplate as he gave explanation. "I was thinking this was the only way to get you onboard short of guesswork with the Ground Bridge. And that you'd be competent enough to free yourself. I only ever had one plan... which involved you being captured. And if you knew that was the case, it was very unlikely you'd agree to it."
He was right about that, but that didn't make the truth any less infuriating to hear. Never mind it was partly her fault for trying to have faith in a creature whose entire nature was deception, his entire being so distinct from her own that they didn't even follow the same gods. With so much of that boiling in her tanks, she couldn't get much out of her vocaliser other than a stuttered curse. "You... you piece of lying slag!"
The insult was another slap by itself, but Starscream barely flinched from it. "You knew I was one all along, yet you still trusted me when I asked it of you," he reminded her, all but forcing her to accept that yes, she should have expected it, even if it was for the good of the mission. Yet his tone wasn't smug, at least not until he went on to say, "And need I point out that you were the one whining about not getting in on the action." Arcee narrowed her optics at that, the embarrassment of having to plead with him so needlessly rushing to her faceplate, but luckily he was walking away before he could see it.
"Now are we going to stand here arguing until the energon dose wears off, or are we going to go kill a warlord?" It was the most simple question she'd heard in so long, the answer so obvious. And she couldn't help from smiling at how easy Starscream managed to make it sound, if only briefly while his back was turned before she yanked on the tip of his wing to hang him back.
"You ever pull something like that again, I'll stab you with your own wings," she told him, digging her digits into the node-filled metal just to cement the threat in his mind. Though he winced and tottered on his heels, he managed to flash a wobbly smirk back at her.
"If all goes well, I won't need to do it again." Arcee frowned, not sure what to think of the confidence, but she at least let go of him so he could lead the way. He knew where the command center was, after all.
The way forward through the surge of drones was silent, filled with suspended plasma bursts and wisps of smoke lingering from fresh wounds in the ship's hull. They passed Dreadwing and Optimus engaged in a stand off of sorts, thermal cannon against sword, and had to duck under the weapons to reach the command room ahead.
But while Arcee was all set to surge forward with her weaponry finally recovered, the warm glow of her blasters curing all aches in her servos, Starscream was held back behind the junction in front of the door. He was blinking too much for her to see what was happening in his optics, but the sag of his wings told her everything she needed to know. He was just as terrified as anyone would be, so close to facing off against the monster beyond the thin walls.
"Arcee..." Though he tried to ward off the shake of his vocaliser, it was still there as clear as the dread glazing his face over.
"You said the doses don't last long, so make it quick," she said, firmly but not unkindly. The energon would be useless if it ran out while his frame was stone.
"If this does fail... if neither of us come out of there..." He took a deep vent but nothing else came out, and she leaned in just in case his vocaliser had seized up.
"What is it?" she asked quietly, so focused on the dim glow of his optics that she didn't notice his lips against hers until his eyes closed and their crests touched, his wings soared upwards on their joints to mirror her winglets, and she almost felt herself kissing back just as he pulled away.
"I'm sorry," was all he said, before forcing past her and charging straight ahead into the devil's den. And she had no choice but to follow, her mouth still alight for reasons she either didn't know, or didn't want to know at that moment.
