Still a Friend

"Her state is worsening", he said, fearful of what might happen to him. Not only did Starscream love his Spark Mate with all of his being, he was also heavily influenced by the femme's pain and suffering. Starscream was in a terrible mood because of that. He was watching the scenery out the window as the ship was slowly moving above Cybertron. The mech was gazing at the rebuilt city and was wondering why it all ended like this. There were dark circles around his optics and his hands were clenched at his back. Standing straight, he slowly turned his head right to glimpse at the red automobile enthusiast before he sinisterly growled and turned his back at him again. He looked like he didn't care, but he did. He never stopped caring.

Knock Out cleared his throat and slowly approached the seeker. Starscream suddenly raised a servo of his to show that the mech shouldn't come closer.

"There's no need to step closer. You'll observe everything from right there where you stand."

"Yeah, that's the thing. Do we… really have to do this…?"

"Huh?" Starscream asked and turned to see the red medic, who was standing near the corner of the room, his servos clenched together so that he would appear weaker.

"They… they cared for you, Starscream."

Starscream chuckled and turned to face him. As he did, Knock Out realized that Starscream wasn't the same he was before. His optics were plain dull and were barely shining, while his grin was wide and was sending shivers down the medic's spine. There was no remorse in his optics, for what he was about to do. There was no compassion, no, nothing left inside. He looked like he was about to destroy the world, and then fall over himself. Knock out feared it was exactly what he was planning to do.

"Starscream, that's not you… You wouldn't do that. It's the femme's state that's making you go insane!" Knock Out shortened the story, for he was too afraid to tell anything to the seeker. Not that he was afraid that Starscream would hurt him; he was afraid what he would do to himself.

Starscream's grin widened and he showed his dental plates.

"Something's taking over you! Snap out of it!"

"You snap out of your silly accusations!" he yelled, but remained smiling, "I've been planning this since forever. After I'll be done with them, you'll be next, Autobot."

Knock Out blinked.

"Don't you understand? One shoot and everything falls into oblivion! Every single Autobot base, the whole city, the whole planet! And when it's finally over… I'll have my revenge and I'll have enough energy to be able to use the Time Bridge! Too bad it goes by the life energy of living Cybertronians… well… it's just the way it goes, you know."

Knock Out's spark skipped a beat as he was standing there like frozen. He couldn't believe what his friend has become. He understood how it happened, but never wanted to believe that it actually could. At the thought of the disappearance of the planet, of the group he joined and of the friends he made, he quickly got mad.

"I know a way that you can cut every last tie. And you're doing it right now."

Starscream's grin disappeared, slowly.

"The friends you made… Starscream… the friends that supported you and that trusted you… could you really watch them die? And everything down there; could you really watch it burn without feeling anything? They trusted you. They respected you. Heck, one of them even fused her spark with yours, knowing that it would eventually kill her!"

Starscream's optics widened as he mentioned that. His optics went slightly brighter.

"In the end, after everything you've been through, every mission you went to, every person you helped… was it for nothing?! Was it for show?! They wanted you to help them as they knew you were good back then, but in the end they're all gonna fall, and fall to your hand?! I see your mind. I know you started off just to be with her, but it turned out to be… well. Genocide."

Starscream lowered his head as it got to him for a second. For a second, he remembered who he was and knew everything he was about to do was wrong. He remembered that the Autobots fighting for their life on the ship were once considered his friends. He knew he was wrong. As Knock Out got closer to him to put a servos on his shoulder, the mech quickly changed back to the monster he was from the illness and slammed the mech's right faceplate, leaving a small, but deep cut on it. Knock Out gasped, but stayed silent so that he won't get his paint job scratched as well.

"Leave", Starscream stated and Knock Out took a step back.

The mech turned away to face the control panel again.

"If you don't want to watch the planet getting blown up, leave. I won't change my mind. It's a paragon opportunity."

Knock Out just stood there for a second, before slowly backing off. When he was about to exit, he looked at the mech once again and crossed his servos.

"Think of the future, Starscream. If you destroy the planet now, I know you won't stop there. The next planet will definitely be the Earth. Then the whole solar system. Then Andellor, Caminus, Velocitron, Dahros, Xeptos. There won't be a place for you and Arcee, you can't live in this ship, even if you destroy us all", he impishly smiled and tilted his head as he pressed the button for opening the door.

"Or should I rather say… a place for you and your family…?"

With those words, he left Starscream staring into his direction. The mech's optics widened as he felt a burst of pain rush through his spark, leaving behind a hot trace of happiness. His legs trembled as he stumbled towards the control panel. He took a quick glance back at the door to look at Soundwave looking at him as he was about to press the button for blowing up everything underneath him. He had nothing to lose and would surely win the fight with all of the weapons and shields he had delivered. He frowned at the mysterious Cybertronian who was watching him and probably filming his actions together with his pet which was right next to him, Ravage. Then he turned towards the panel again and was about to press the button, but started whining instead. He realized he was going crazy, and knew what that meant. Knowing what will happen to his Spark Mate if he doesn't go back in time was the reason why he wanted to kill everyone in the city. Just to keep her with him.

They were staring into each other's optics. He was outside, sitting in a chair and reading something, while she had her hands wrapped around the grids of the small cage she was still in. Nobody was saying anything for a megacycle.

Suddenly, the blue femme sighed and the entrepreneur looked back at the article he was reading.

"Huh. Look at that. Some dude's selling spare tires, one for the price of two. Genius", the mech happily said so that it wouldn't get more awkward than it already was. They literally had nothing to talk about. Arcee mumbled something and sat on her knees while still clenching the grid.

"If I bought something from you, would you release me?" Arcee asked and Swindle looked at her serious face.

"Wish I could, but no can do. My life's still more important than money, ya know."

"Why am I even here…? Nobody even explained anything to me."

"Oh, they did," Swindle answered, "you just fell unconscious in the process of it, not remembering anything."

They were just minding their own business for some time again.

"Nice tie", Arcee said as nothing else came to her mind.

"Bolo tie. Yeah, I know", Swindle responded and smiled at her, before facing the tablet he was holding again.

"Want one…?" he asked after a cycle and Arcee smiled and shook her head. Then they looked down again.

"You're… not a Decepticon, are you?" Arcee silently asked as she realized he was unusually calm for one. He also didn't care at the slightest.

"Welp, technically, I am one, but… the war's just a business opportunity for me. Why lose if you can gain profit, you know what I mean?" he answered and smiled, "I'm just here because Starscream persuaded me into joining us as he saw what I have to offer. Otherwise, I and Shockwave would be goners. Shockwave was the one that persuaded Starscream into releasing him, though. Starscream wanted to decline, but… I heard he likes you very much, and he likes being the chief, so… that purple one-eyed mastermind's at it again."

"Excuse me?" Arcee asked as she heard Swindle's voice getting serious for a second, before he enthusiastically looked at the femme again.

"Oh, yes. Important detail that your favorite 'Con doesn't want to hear. He's being used, ma'am."

"How do you…?"

"I've got my sources."

At that moment, the door opened and Knock Out came in, shutting the door as soon as possible. He was quivering from fear and was breathing heavily, implying that he was running. Then he looked at Swindle and pointed at the door with his thumb, saying: "You know her. Stall for time", he said and Swindle stood up, heading outside.

Knock Out approached the femme and looked like he wanted to tell her something, but he didn't have the guts to.

"Let's check you up. One last time, I swear", he sadly said and Arcee lowered her optic ridges as she realized that Knock Out wasn't even in the mood to boast off. Something must have happened, and she was terribly afraid what it was. Something was telling her that it was tied to Starscream.

As the salesperson got out of the medical bay, he immediately faced two Autobots who were about to break down the door. They both stopped as they saw the mech in front of them.

"Move it, 'Con. Official badaft business", the young, tall mech proudly smiled and grabbed a sword from his back, but got stopped by the femme who was standing right next to him, still charmingly smiling.

"There's no need to fight, Slick. This guy's harmless", she said and Sideswipe lowered an optic ridge, relaxing, but frowning.

"How's business going, Swindle?" she smilingly asked and Swindle smiled back and leaned at the door to prevent them from going into it. Sideswipe was watching every movement he made.

"She calls him by name?"

"You know, same old, Miss Windblade. What brings you to this place?"

"Starscream, as usual. We tend to meet up every time he has something up his sleeves, right?" she asked and put her servos at her hips. Sideswipe's frown intensified and he leaned closer to her.

"I don't trust this guy. Look at his face. He's hiding something", Sideswipe whispered and Windblade turned to face him.

"He's a marketer", she said and Sideswipe nodded.

"Explains everything."

"Why don't I show you where the seeker is, just for good old times? For free, of course", he said and marched down the hallways, followed by the Autobots.

"Who'd trust a 'Con named Swindle? Come on!"

"Listen. I don't know how to tell this, but… you don't have much time", Knock Out suddenly said as he put the cables off her. The femme widened her optics as she heard that, but wasn't too surprised. She anticipated something like that would happen, as she couldn't even stand up without getting dizzy. She just kept lying on the floor.

The red mech kneeled down to face her and artificially smiled to make her feel better.

"I can't help it, and neither can anyone else. The dark energon that you got from Starscream went into your system, but your spark refused to accept it into your body, so that it stayed at the same place for quite some time, tainting the cells that were around it and thus poisoning you. Some of your vital organs are slowing down and I can't seem to find away to inject healthy energon into you. It would take a miracle to heal you, and we just lost our last chance of getting one when Starscream was ill just like that, though he didn't die because his system already absorbed the purple colored energon."

He waited a few seconds before continuing, checking if she was ready to take in another bad news. She wasn't looking at him; she was lying on the floor, facing the wall beside her. She seemed distant, but he knew she was listening. She would always listen.

"Whatever happens, I want you to know that Starscream wanted the best for you, and he still wants it, although he's going insane. And just as I promised, I'll try to stop him from harming anyone."

"Forget that", Arcee stated and finally looked at him, "keep an optic on Shockwave."

Knock Out looked at her, clearly confused.

She sat up, even though he specifically told her not to, and leaned against the grid so that she was facing away from the red mech who turned out to be her friend after all.

"He was the one who planned all of this. Starscream's just his vessel of some sort, as he doesn't want to get the energon of the fallen onto his hands. He'll probably use that machine for his own good."

Knock Out smiled at her and leaned at the grid as well, so that they were back to back.

"I can't refuse your last request, I guess."

They didn't say anything for a cycle. Arcee was close to tears from fear, but didn't want to appear weak, so she kept them in. The fear of dying wasn't really on her mind till she realized it was too close for her to dodge. She hated the fact that her light were going out this way, and not on the battlefield or while being with the one she loved the most.

"Another thing", Knock Out silently said and Arcee opened her sad optics again.

Knock Out heavily sighed and Arcee prepared to hear another sentence that would probably completely destroy her.

He silently chuckled and said: "You're sparked. And the child absorbed the dark energon, implying that its cells are deformed and it'll grow ridiculously fast."

There was silence for a cycle before Knock out heard sobbing all of a sudden. He lowered his optic ridges while sweetly and artificially smiling as he knew he couldn't do anything to make her feel better.

QEB CBBIP