Chapter 10: Attack
Starscream let himself drop onto the floor, holding his helm between his servos. He could not believe it. His wing-brothers were on Earth. He had not seen them since they were in Cybertron. When did they arrive? Had Megatron summoned them? Did they know something about him?
"Please, agent Fowler. Return to your duties. I will deal with this. Report back any new attack. Starscream will remain here. If an attack happens again, we will know that he is innocent and we will intervene immediately." Optimus said. The human grumbled a little, but turned to leave.
"That guy is a war criminal. Don't forget it." He added over his shoulder, stopping in his tracks.
"But he is a cybertronian war criminal. He deserves to be judged by cybertronian law and accordingly punished." The Prime replied. The liaison left.
Optimus was in silence for a long time before speaking again.
"I believe you." He said finally. Starscream looked at him from the floor, lost for words.
"You must be the only one..." He murmured.
"Starscream." Optimus said very seriously. He crouched behind the bars. "Look at me." The seeker obeyed. Optimus looked at him right into his optics. "I do not wish to harm your brothers, but neither can I permit them to continue damaging human property. I need you to give me any useful information to stop them."
The seeker cringed at the thought of betraying his own brothers. Probably the only two other beings in the Universe that he had not betrayed yet.
"I... I can't..." He murmured, looking away.
The Autobot Leader sighed sadly and turned to leave.
"Optimus..." The seeker said, making the blue and red mech stop and glance back at him. "I had no idea that they were coming. And if Megatron summoned them here, I highly doubt that he told them what happened to me." Starscream rose from the floor and grabbed the bars, looking back at Optimus again, with resolve in his optics. "My brothers are loyal to me, not to Megatron. I am their trine-Leader. And if they are following Megatron's orders, it's probably because he had deceived them. They must think that I'm dead... That's all I know."
"Thank you, Starscream." The Autobot Leader replied, and left.
"Please, Optimus, don't harm them!" The seeker added, but he was not sure if Optimus had heard him over the alarm that started to sound over the base, undoubtedly announcing a new Decepticon attack. Starscream shuddered, terribly worried for his brothers.
"Optimus! Two unidentified jets are attacking a chemical plant in Nebraska!" Ratchet informed as the Autobot Leader appeared in the main hall. "What do they even want from a chemical plant? Fowler's report said that they didn't even steal anything!"
"I guess they wanted the explosions to be big and colorful." Bulkhead snorted.
"They wanted to attract our attention. They want to fight us. That is why they have used chemical plants as their common pattern. To allow us to track them easily." Optimus deduced.
"It's a trap, Optimus." Arcee intervened. Bumblebee beeped in agreement.
"I know." The Autobot Leader replied. "That's why we are all coming, to be prepared for the worst."
"Optimus..." Raf said shyly, already at the Ground Bridge's terminal, preparing the coordinates. "I don't know if it is coincidence or intended... but today is Sunday, and yesterday attacks happened on Saturday afternoon, local hour."
"What happens with that?" Bulkhead asked.
"The chemical plants were empty of people." Raf replied with a slight frown. Optimus considered the new piece of information carefully.
"Thank you, Raf. Now, please, remain here and assist us operating the Ground Bridge. We will maintain radio contact." The Autobot Leader said, closing his face-mask.
The swirling greenish vortex came to life, and the five Autobots disappeared from sight. Raf sighed with concern.
Optimus and his Autobots stepped out of the Ground Bridge, which closed behind them. Soon, they were engulfed by the thick smoke surrounding the attacked chemical plant.
"Optimus Prime!" A deep voice from the sky roared, followed by the loud noise of jet engines. The sound was difficult to locate, and the visibility was greatly impaired due to the smoke. "You must be more stupid than I thought to come here!" The voice was now elsewhere. "But I must suggest your loyal companions to retreat while they still can. My problem is only with you."
"Show yourself, coward!" Bulkhead barked.
"Silence!" The voice roared again, and a missile landed in the ground just beneath the green mech, sending him flying through the air. He landed a few meters away with a loud crash. Bumblebee hurried to help him. Fortunately, Bulkhead was not seriously injured, only dazed.
"What do you want?" Optimus asked.
"Vengeance! I want you to die, Prime, for killing my brother, Starscream!" The seeker roared, as missiles and gunfire rained over the Autobots from almost every direction.
Starscream was near the cell's bars, with his audio receptors tuned to the maximum, so that he could hear the incoming transmissions from the Autobots in the main hall.
His optics widened in shock when he heard Thundercracker's words. Megatron had lied to his brothers! That slagger! How dared he? Megatron was the one that had intended to kill him in the first place! He clenched his denta and balled his servos into a fist, shaking with contained rage.
He had to do something, and quick. The Autobots had no possibilities against his two brothers together. Until now, only Thundercracker had spoken, but he knew that Skywarp was near, hiding somewhere, waiting for the right moment to strike with a quick teleport. He had no sympathy for the Autobots, but Optimus was the only mech besides his brothers that had been mildly kind to him and deposited some trust in him. Primus, the Autobot Leader had saved his life! He owed him that at least.
Pits. He wanted to do at least one thing right in his life! And he couldn't because he was in a cell! He slammed a fist against the wall. The sounds of the explosions and fighting could be heard still coming from the main hall.
"Starscream..." A tiny voice said from the floor behind the bars. It was the smaller boy, Raf. He was looking at him apprehensively.
"W-what are you doing here, boy? Didn't Optimus tell you not to come here alone?" He hissed.
"Please, you are the only one who can help Optimus..." He pleaded. "I know... what Megatron did to you... I am sorry." He confessed, lowering his voice to a whisper. Starscream crouched to look at him intently, his crimson glare piercing through the small kid. "Optimus didn't want us to know it because it was personal. But I found out without meaning to... one day when I walked past Optimus' quarters and he was talking with Ratchet. But I haven't told anyone else!" The grey seeker blinked a couple of times. "I know that you don't like us, but you can't let Megatron get his own way! He has deceived your brothers and used them to lay Optimus a trap!"
Starscream snarled, feeling his strenght coming back to him. The incident with Megatron had taken away from the grey seeker all his confidence and his will to live. But now, he had something else to fight for. He could not allow the Decepticon warlord using his brothers like pawns! He knew that Megatron would end up mistreating them too. He didn't want his brothers to suffer his same fate. He won't let him get his own way!
The seeker crouched even lower, the cell's bars barely separating him from Raf, his gaze projecting an eerie red glow over the small kid. He looked no longer like a caged bird. He was a caged tiger.
"Release me." He growled low, in a tone that made Raf's blood run cold. "I've got a fight to stop."
The kid connected his laptop to the door panel and soon the bars slided up. They stared at each other for several seconds, now without barriers between them. Raf swallowed hard, starting to think that releasing the seeker had been a grave mistake. Starscream reached out a servo and the child flinched, shielding himself with his arms.
"We don't have the whole day." The seeker urged. Raf peeked from behind his arms. Starscream had his palm offered to him to climb up.
"Oh." He said, and jumped on Starscream's servo, his dangerous claws curling protectively around him as he stood and made his way towards the main hall.
[A/N]: Yay Raf! You are the only useful kid around the base! And... YAY STARSCREAM YOU ARE BACK! MOVE THAT NICE AFT OF YOURS AND DO SOMETHING HEROIC!