I remember having promised a fast update, and here it is.
Not much to say about this chapter, only that it won't hurt if you remember a certain scene of the G1 episode 'Megatron's Master Plan' part 2.
Many thanks to iratepirate for revising my grammar. She didn't find so many mistakes this time! Could it be that my English is getting better? 0_o
Chapter 9
There's a little good guy hidden in every Seeker's spark
"I can't confirm anything before running the proper tests, but I'd say it was the unique combination of minerals, especially the high levels of gypsum, which shielded my personality component from the massive reprogramming," Skyfire said, doing his best to focus. He couldn't remember any other time in which trying to think clearly had hurt so much.
And he didn't seem to be the only one with concentration problems. Starscream had been tapping his fingers on the console for so many astro-kliks now that Skyfire had stopped counting.
"That and the extreme temperature must have… Starscream?" Skyfire finally gave up. It was clear that his friend's mind was very, very far away from there. To be specific, in the Oregon High Desert.
"I should have gone with him", Starscream said, more to himself than to Skyfire. "It wouldn't have been the first time I went against his orders… It's our tradition, actually. Why the slag did I chose to play honorably this time?"
Because your programming changed, as it did for everyone else except for me… Skyfire sighed and looked at the map displayed on the big monitor before them. "Megatron and Optimus Prime agreed they would meet in peace."
Starscream punched the palm of his hand, perhaps a little too hard. "Prime is not to be trusted! Slag, I should have followed Megatron at least! He wouldn't have noticed me!"
His outburst had a reaction. At the back of the room, the three humans turned to look at him, only to return to their saddened faces immediately. Sparkplug's arrival had brought some light to the eyes of Spike, but the news about the assassination of Chip's parents had confirmed that the nightmare was only starting.
Starscream seemed to notice the effect of his loud voice because he decreased the level of his vocalizer immediately and dropped himself onto his chair. "I… am sorry, Skyfire. I forgot that your human friends are in distress right now. It's just that I…"
"I'm sure Megatron will be fine," Skyfire said when Starscream failed to continue. "He's very powerful. I don't think Optimus Prime will have an easy time if he decides to ambush him. Besides, you said that Soundwave made sure that their meeting would have no unwanted visitors."
To their left, Soundwave looked like a statue. His gaze was also fixed on the big monitor, only that he didn't look distressed. He seemed to not even notice the presence of everyone else in the room. Skyfire wondered if what the Autobots used to say was true, that Soundwave was unable to feel any emotions at all, except for sadism. Was the opposite of sadism the only emotion running through that mysterious processor now, then?
Starscream rested his forehead on his hand, obviously not sharing Skyfire's thoughts. "Yes, Soundwave sent some spy probes, just in case Prime decided to honor his new programming… But slag, I still think I should have gone with Megatron. I'm his Second-in-Command. It's my duty to keep the leader of the Decepticons safe."
It was curious. When Skyfire awakened from his four million year stasis nap, he had been certain that there was an immense, sick rivalry between Megatron and Starscream. He wondered how much, exactly, his best friend had changed since then. From the presumptuous and brutally-honest young Seeker that Skyfire had met so many vorns ago, Starscream had turned into a cruel and ambitious mech. What had he become now?
"Starscream… Forgive me if I'm prying, but it didn't look like you cared too much about Megatron in the past, but quite the opposite. Is this change of spark a result of the rerouting of your programming alone?"
"It would seem like it, wouldn't it?" Starscream said, not able to stop a smirk from forming. "But no… I have to admit that such is not the case. As much as Megatron and I have always had a very… peculiar relationship, I would have never dared to terminate the old bucket head. And believe me, I had many chances… Just don't tell him I said this, because I'll deny it."
Skyfire frowned. He had been naïve enough to see Starscream's metamorphosis as a simple change from goodness to evilness, and now back to the good way again. But it had to be much, much more complicated than that. Many things had happened during those four million years in which he had been offline, many more than Skyfire dared to consider. The change of spark in every Cybertronian couldn't be considered a simple 180 degree rotation alone. There was a long way ahead to find out exactly what had happened.
"So, the crystals' composition, you were saying," Starscream said, trying to return to their previous conversation. "I must say that I'm very glad that you were inside those caves the moment the incident happened. I wouldn't have liked to face you as an enemy under these circumstances."
"You didn't seem to have problems before," Skyfire couldn't avoid saying. Rancor, there it was again, in small amount but staining his spark. Starscream had made his decision back then; he had put his ambition before everything else, including their past friendship.
The look that Starscream gave him was one of hurt. "You may not believe me, Skyfire, but trying to kill you when you were reactivated is something I regretted. And no, it's not my new programming talking. It's me. I was very angry back then, being so sure that you had betrayed me, when all this time it was the other way around… I guess a simple apology would sound ridiculous at this point."
"There's no need to—" Skyfire interrupted himself when he noticed the Seeker's grimace of suffering. "Are you all right, Starscream?"
"Yes, don't worry. My processor is having a hard time assimilating all the changes in my personality component. I think I may have suffered it more drastically than the others."
Yes, because you were hiding much more than them. Skyfire would have liked to comfort Starscream, as he had done in the past every time the young Seeker had crashed against the obstacles of a bureaucracy harder than triple-strength durabyllium-steel. But now Starscream was facing the biggest challenge of his life, and his demons were only his to confront. He had it clear that this Starscream was not the same one he had met, that this Starscream had gone through a long life of violence and hatred. Returning to innocence wouldn't be easy, especially now that the burden of his sins were tormenting him.
"Your human friends," Starscream said, somewhat uncomfortable with the awkward moment, "is there something I can do for them? I'm aware how empty this sounds; we said we would protect them, and yet…"
Skyfire shook his head slightly. "You did more than enough when you saved us from the Aerialbots. What happened to Chip's makers wasn't your or the Decepticons' fault. You can't be there all the time."
Starscream sent another look at the humans. "You did… The Autobots, I mean… before all this happened. Besides protecting this planet from us, you always managed to keep your human allies safe. We could never terminate any of them."
"Maybe because deep inside you didn't want to do it."
"Perhaps… It's hard to think about that right now. Everything about my past seems so distant." Starscream frowned, his concern making him look like a newly assembled robot who was barely discovering what life was. Maybe that was exactly what had happened; Starscream and the Decepticons had awoken to discover a new Universe, one they had harmed deeply in the past, the same one they had vowed to protect now. Skyfire could only pray to Primus that they would be strong enough to stop whatever the Autobots had awakened to.
Thrust had never been very fond of the Constructicons. They were far too arrogant and snobbish for his taste, not to mention that they could get away with anything they wanted because they were the only engineers in the base.
It was funny how things changed, though, not to mention perceptions. Maybe it was his new programming, but as Thrust saw the Constructicons making whatever it was at one of the workstations, he had to admit that they were doing a pretty good job adapting the Nemesis' facilities for the humans' use.
Strangely, the small carbon-based creatures didn't seem very impressed, and had even reacted with distrust when Scrapper had scanned them to have a precise idea about their needs in areas like temperature and fuel.
Thrust had just shrugged his shoulders. He was no engineer, and there was no further use for him in the Command Centre, so after finishing delivering his report to Soundwave he left in search for better company, namely Ramjet and Dirge.
As a member of a trine – and as a member of a trine that actually liked his wingmates – loneliness wasn't his thing. That's why it called his attention when he saw one of the humans, the one that used a wheeled chair to mobilize, alone in one of the rooms adjacent to the Command Centre.
Normally, Thrust wouldn't have cared, but having a human in his base and the fact that what he qualified as "normal" was no more, made him wonder why the human was alone when his companions were so close.
However, that was not what he asked when he entered the room.
"Your optical sensors are leaking fluid, soft-skin. Why?"
The human startled, but only a little. He looked as if a wall had just collapsed on him, or as if Ramjet had used him for juggling in the best of cases, a practice that, as amusing as it had been a few solar cycles ago, it didn't look like a suitable scenario anymore.
"If you have a malfunction, Hook can fix it," Thrust continued, remembering that Hook had said more than once that he could fix anything. And it was true. More than a few times, Hook had kept Thrust and his wingmates away from terminal shutdown. Now that he thought about it, maybe it would be proper to say a word of gratitude to the snobbish Constructicon every once in a while.
The human, lost in his own thoughts, rubbed his red optics. "No, thank you… I'm fine."
It was obvious that the organic creature didn't feel comfortable in his presence. Thrust couldn't blame him; he remembered having seen that same human leaking optic fluid the day Thrust had shot Teletraan I, when the Decepticons had tricked the humans into thinking they were on their side and that the Autobots had turned evil. What would the word for that be now? Ironic? He would have to ask Dirge later; Dirge had always had a way with words.
"I'm sorry. Am I off limits?" the human spoke again, his voice a little less shaky this time. "It's not clear which parts of your base are forbidden to us. I… I just needed to be alone."
Thrust got to one knee. "You're not our prisoners. You can go anywhere around the base, I guess." Except for the engine room; humans would probably melt in there.
The human flinched at Thrust's movement. He feared him, of course. How could it be different? The Decepticons hadn't done anything but harm humanity ever since they had been reactivated on Earth. That group of natives in particular had been the main target only because of their association with the Autobots, the same association that had cost the lives of two of the members of that human's trine, if his sub-group could be called as such. Regardless of his new programming, Thrust would never know what to do if one – or worse, two – of his wingmates were terminated. Life without Dirge and Ramjet – yes, even Ramjet – was something he had chosen to not think about a long time ago, as much as it was a latent scenario when fighting a war.
"Is that a manifestation of sadness?" Thrust asked, pointing toward the young human's optics and proving that tact had never been his forte. "You leaked optic fluid when I shot Teletraan I too."
The flesh creature cleaned his optic visor and returned it to his face – not a very brilliant invention, Thrust thought, as simple glass definitely wouldn't protect the optic sensors in battles.
"Yes…" the human said with trembling voice. "That was because you had destroyed the only thing the Autobots had left behind."
Maybe an apology would be in order, but Thrust was really awkward when it came to those things, especially considering it would be a first for him.
"Yeah, and you called me pile of reject parts."
"Sorry about that…" A smile, small but relieving, formed on the flesh features. Thrust savored his little victory; for some reason, he didn't like the idea of that human suffering. Maybe it was because remembering the kind of slaghead he had been with him before was computing new, strong emotions in his processor.
Thrust grinned. "Never mind. I've been called much worse." Almost immediately, he recovered his serious expression. "I heard about your loss, soft-skin. You may find this hard to believe, but nobody in this base remains indifferent towards it. I also know that the Stunticons are very disturbed about what happened."
Sadness returned to the organic features. "They shouldn't. They saved Spike's dad, and many other people. Besides, it was… it was the Autobots who killed my parents."
It was obvious that it was very hard for the human to pronounce those words, but the expression on his face also indicated that he had accepted the situation, unlike his companions, who were still reluctant to consider the idea that the Decepticons were on their side now. Thrust understood that feeling; if Dirge and Ramjet suddenly turned against him, he would have a hard time just trying to understand why.
"You should go back to the Command Centre. Your friends must be wondering where you are, soft-skin."
The human looked at him, and for the first time Thrust thought that the small creature was looking at something more than the evil Decepticon in him.
"My friends call me Chip. You are Thrust, am I right?"
"Yeah, that's my denomination, at least the closest approximation in your language. But you can call me 'pile of reject parts'."
The human laughed a little. His suffering was still crystal clear, but there was also a small light of hope, another new sight for a Decepticon Seeker who hadn't known anything else in all his life but violence and ambition. He had the feeling that his life would be much more interesting from now on. The Universe had opened an endless set of possibilities before his optics, and he was more eager than ever to learn.
And frag, it felt so good to be… well, good.
To be continued.
In case you didn't remember the scene, let me remind you about Thrust shooting Teletraan I and recapturing Chip after he escaped to the Ark when the Autobots had already been sent away – to the Sun, actually. One very cool episode. And yes, Chip called Thrust 'pile of reject parts', which made Thrust laugh.
Now, are you ready for a very important twist? I hope you are, because I have a bunch of surprises hidden under my sleeve. If you want the first, stay tuned for next chapter. I already wrote it, so expect it here shortly.
Thanks for reading. Please let me know your opinions.
