You know, this chapter made way more sense when I planned it out. I think that was way back when I was still trying to figure out what I was going to do with the whole thing and it didn't have a storyline. That and it gave me leeway for a sequel when I actually had a grasp on other Decepticon personalities (since I think two OC's starring in a fic is probably enough – even if they're technically reincarnations of a canon character).

Oh, and since the Youngling is now interacting with people directly, I'm changing how Hax speaks. From now on, any inner speech will be done as follows:

-Talk-

The Youngling uses it as well, but anytime he uses quotations, he's talking out loud. When Dreams of All gets time to beta the final chapters I'll go back and switch the speech too.

R&R

Starscream

"How did he do it?"

The youngling flinched at the voice, echoing throughout the F-22 cockpit several miles up in the air. "What?"

"You heard me," the voice growled in cybertronian. "You're far too young to exist, so how did Prime do it? The humans certainly don't have the skill."

Youngling's chest, which was still missing its armour and was decorated in various incision holes began to spark, and the youngling slapped a hand over the worst case while speaking to his alter ego.

-What do I tell him Hax? -

However, Hax was at a loss as much as he was.

-I'm not sure- he began. –I just really, really don't want to trust him him-

"Speak!" Starscream snapped, taking the silent conversation as hesitation. "I'm in no mood to be treated like a fool!"

The youngling panicked, trying to piece together a believable lie, and failed. With no other option, and his current saviours patience clearly wearing thin, he decided on the truth.

"I was created from the soul of Sam Witwicky and the body of the Decepticon Barricade…"

"Bumblebee, you need to calm down."

"Calm down? Calm down? Starscream has him Ratchet. Starscream!"

Jazz wasn't much better, pacing over his own footprints, walking nowhere in circles.

"Why have we let that glitch live this long?"

Not for the first time, Optimus cursed the fates that resulted in him being named Prime. At least with humans, they had some idea of what they might do to the Youngling. With Starscream, there were dozens of options. And most of them weren't favourable.

He forced himself to calm, and narrowed his optics on Agent Simmons, who was still looking somewhat petrified at his situation.

"I expect every shred of data that you forced out of the Youngling to be sent to our base" he warned, leaning down for full effect. "And I intend to speak long and hard to Secretary Keller about the repercussions you will receive."

With that, Simmons was returned to the hands of his 'guards' and ushered towards the rest of his men. Stepping back from the trio, Will kept his expression unreadable, noting how Simmons quickly lost his posture, sinking deeper into the men's hold.

It was the walk of a man condemned. Even Simmons knew he wasn't getting out of this one.

Meanwhile, Optimus turned to his men, clearly desperate for orders. Orders he was happy to give, finally free of the human treaties that had leashed them.

"Autobots, Starscream has so far managed to evade us for months" he began. "But his actions will have to change with the Youngling in his car-"

Bumblebee growled at the choice of words, and Optimus quickly amended it.

"-His possession. If he didn't kill him here, it's likely he wants him alive for now. We can, and will catch him, and get the Youngling back, no matter what it takes. Autobots, roll out."

They needed no further encouraging.

It could only have been a few minutes, but the silence that followed the Youngling's rather lengthy explanation seemed to last an eternity.

Eventually, the Jet began to lower altitude, and Starscream chuckled throughout the F-22 cockpit where the Youngling sat, before replying in English.

"So the last cybertronian to ever be born, started out as the human that destroyed Megatron?"

The chuckling grew into full out laughter as the ground came into full view – a vast expanse of desert where little to nothing seemed to live. "You have some interesting credentials little spark."

The Youngling didn't answer, merely sinking further into the jets seat, but Starscream could feel the small mech loose some of the tenseness in his joints. Clearly he was happy that Starscream had believed him.

"You might want to hold on. I've never landed with a passenger before."

The Youngling barely had time to register the warning before Starscream's wheels hit the ground, and the smooth glide became a harsh, bumpy fight for control. Youngling's optics snapped shut, while Hax's voice became a high-pitched whine at the actions.

Finally, blessedly, the Jet came to a stop, and the cockpit lifted while Starscream barked out a simple "get out," transforming the second the Youngling hit the ground, ignoring the slight stumble and hiss of pain the Ducati's body gave from the actions. Hax immediately tried to access the communications to the Autobots, only to find Starscream was blocking them somehow, and cursed the jet profoundly, causing the Youngling to wince.

Once he was back in his far more comfortable robot form, Starscream stretched, similar to a human, and looked around the abandoned desert with a scowl.

"I can't stand organic planets, I can't wait to see this dump converted."

The Youngling tensed, and looked over the deserted land with memory of the Autobot base.

"Even their cities are filthy" Starscream continued. "Industrial evolution? It's a slow poison! I've never met a more backwards and irritating race. Their only saving grace is that they locked Megatron up for a century, and they even screwed that up!"

"Its not that bad" the Youngling defended. "I like it."

Starscream made a noise of contempt. "Please. You know nothing else. You're just a scrap of a sparkling who hasn't even begun to see what else is out there."

The Youngling wanted to reply, if just to insist that he wasn't a Sparkling, but found his answer caught in his vocaliser as yet more warning signs flashed across his optics, and dropped to his knees with an electronic whimper, using his one good hand to cover up the damage.

-Dammit! - Hax shrieked. -Stay with me dude! Don't go into stasis just now, hang in there! -

Both were so wrapped up in keeping their body working, that they didn't even notice Starscream walking over and kneeling down beside them, optics narrowing as he took in the damage.

"Stupid creatures" he muttered. "They had access to the cube and Megatron for one of their lifetimes, and this primitive attempt is what resulted? I've met races with far less sentient thought with more brain cells. Humanity should be culled for the good of evolution."

A thing finger brushed the Youngling's hand away from the chest, taking in the damage. It was bad, though not quite life threatening yet, and he certainly couldn't do anything about it, but if the cybertronian went into stasis, it would prevent it from getting worse.

Apparently afraid of the Decepticon's contact, the Youngling jerked back, stumbling across the ground before falling to his knees again, taking his worthless arm in the holder, holding them close to his chest.

"Don't touch me!"

However, rather than being irritated, Starscream just smirked, taking in the little figure.

"At least you have some courage. I can't stand whiny little sparks who aren't willing to defend themselves."

But his reply didn't seem to placate the Youngling, instead resulting in him curling in on himself, his optics focused on his arms. When he took a closer look at the thin appendages, Starscream noticed the very faint traces of organic liquid dotting the one no longer working. Without giving the Youngling time to see his interest, his own hand shot out, grabbing the arm between his fingers and clutching it tightly. The Youngling shrieked, and found the vicious blade shooting out once again, clearly stained with a human's blood.

Starscream's smirk turned into a full out grin, and he dropped the arm with care before stepping back.

"Now you've really impressed me. Good to know those eyesores haven't completely wiped out your survival instincts."

The Youngling froze, staring at the blood. The blade had been returned so quickly after the…incident, that it was logical the blood remained. But somehow, that knowledge had escaped him, and he could only stare at the red dirt, those few horrendous seconds replaying in his head.

-It wasn't your fault- Hax consoled. –It was an accident, you know that–

-I still did it though-

Starscream's grin faded as he realised the Youngling was focused on the weapon, and not in the 'yay! -My-first-kill!' way, but in the pathetically Autobot I-killed-a-sentient-creature way.

"Oh do yourself a favour and get over it," he snapped, getting a small amount of pleasure from the shock on the youngling's face when his head jerked up. "They were planning on far worse for you."

"But-"

"We are superior to them!" Starscream interrupted. "They're primitive, simple and incapable of understanding even the most basic principles. Even without our interference, humanity would die out due to its own stupidity. Look what they've done to the planet they call home! To them we are gods, and they fear us because of it. You have Decepticon in your build, you should at least know this!"

-He's wrong- Hax insisted. –Humans aren't all bad. There's Mikky and Will, and there was Sam. Like Optimus says, they're just…young-

-Like us- Youngling whispered, head bowing.

It was hard to tell whether or not what he said had registered with the Youngling. On the one hand, he hadn't stood up to vehemently protest against Starscream's obvious statement, but he hadn't agreed with him either.

Deciding that was probably better than nothing, he reached over once again. The Youngling tensed when he felt Starscream's long fingers on his head, but barely had time to register what he was doing before he felt the undeniable pull of a forced stasis upon him, and fell back into his inactive state, the blade shifting back into his arm.

When he was certain the little mech wasn't going to get up again, Starscream walked a small distance away, and fired into the ground, filling the air with grit and dust. Once a suitably sized hole was created, he began the task he hated. Dismantling his form.

Starscream was no idiot. One did not take leadership of a group of vicious, murderous creatures and keep it for as long as he had without having more processing power than most. Especially when nearly every member was loyal to a missing in action leader he was trying to not-find.

And now that he was alone on this planet, heavily outnumbered and reinforcements still some time away, that gift was coming in handy in order to keep him hidden.

He removed his thrusters and carefully placed them in the hole, he remembered the fight he'd had with the Autobots several months ago, which had left him damaged beyond repair. There chances of finding somewhere that could fix the damage without being detected, at least in this form, were minimal at very best. And many parts of the outer shell had been far too damaged to just change his form again. It had been then, that his possibly greatest plan had come into being.

As unnecessary parts, specifically to do with flight or his alt mode followed the thrusters, he laughed at the amount of panic the Autobots would be in right now, and just how wrong their search would be.

Instead of risking detection by arriving as a damaged jet, he had removed most of the flight capable parts, sending them to various human companies that specialised in fixing (or in some cases, replicating) parts, and taking on another alt form that could have the remainders fixed at a simple out-of-the-way garage. Starscream was built for the sky and for battle; it was inconceivable that he would willingly shed copious amounts of his weight and his flight capabilities, even if it was to hide. And it had worked. He was repaired without a single passing scan of the enemy, and back in the skies in no time.

And now, with his next mission, the sky was far too dangerous to own. The other, smaller, ground-bound alt form was required once again. Painfully shifting into the car, he drove up to the still form of the Youngling, and shifted enough of his mass to grab the small body and lay him over his seats before heading towards the road only a few miles away.

And as far as vehicles without wings went, he didn't mind this one too much. True, even without his extra mass, it really was too small for him, and it was painful to keep for long periods, but it looked far too good to consider swapping for something larger.

With the Autobots and their allies searching the skies for the lone Decepticon, only strangers driving along the roads batted an eye when the Lamborghini Reventón glided out of the desterted lands and onto the road.

It was a few hours later, with Optimus and the rest of the Autobots speeding along the roads while searching for traces of Starscream, when all screeched to a stop, hit with the Youngling's signal once again.

This time, coming from their own base.

-Where are we? –

The Youngling groaned, wincing as his optics opened to the glare of the sun, thankfully not as strong as it could be due to the time. And now, on top of his other injuries, his right shoulder was starting to ache, not that it was too much of a surprise. It had been the only part of the inert arm that hadn't hurt earlier.

-I'm not sure, where's Star-

The Youngling bolted upright, realising for the first time that they were alone.

"Starscream?"

The jet was nowhere to be seen, but the panic of being abandoned quickly subsided when the Youngling realised just where they were.

-I don't believe it- Hax murmured, and the Youngling swung around, and dropped to his knees as he came face to face with the Autobot base.

-He actually brought us back- Hax said, awe in his voice.

"I guess Starscream isn't that bad" Youngling replied, walking up to the door, and scratched his right shoulder. Just before he entered, he froze; realising that what was causing the ache was actually grooved into his armour.

-Youngling? – Hax asked, unaware of the problem. –I can't detect anyone in the base. You want me to send a signal out or do you-

"Hax"

-…Yeah? –

"This is new."

As he looked through the Youngling's optics, Hax cursed and growled inside the Youngling's processor.

Newly engraved on the Youngling's shoulder, was a clearly marked Decepticon symbol.

The look on the Youngling's face would keep Starscream entertained for months.

He increased his speed as he envisioned the face almost falling apart in shock when it woke up on the outskirts of the Autobot base, and then discovering Starscream's 'gift'. He wished he could have had a closer look, but not wishing the Autobots to find out just how he was staying hidden from their sensors, he'd kept himself hidden several miles from the Youngling, relying on optical magnification before leaving. The Autobot medic would be able to remove the mark easily enough, Starscream hadn't had to capabilities to make it too deep, but it would send the Autobots a clear message.

He hadn't really known what to make of the message he received several hours ago. It had been short, panicked cybertronian, and its lack of coding or precision meant whoever had sent it hadn't really cared what side found him – unheard of tactics for Decepticon and Autobot. His first guess was a neutral, and that had been an interesting enough titbit for the lone Decepticon to make an appearance.

When he'd shown up at the base, there was no sign of the signal-bearer, but he'd clearly been recognised judging from the amount of panicked humans running around, so he decided to have a little fun. It was only after he'd ripped of the roof to throw at some of the annoying fleshlings that he'd detected the familiar signal, and shredded the building further to come face to face with the Youngling.

Starscream had killed his share of Younglings early in the war. Those that didn't fight either fled or died – and Younglings had usually ended up in the former category. But the sheer raw anger at the humans critically injuring one of their too few race was enough to make him see red.

By the time he had suitably calmed down to think clearly, the base was a smouldering ruin several miles behind him, and he had a Youngling sitting in his cockpit, trembling both from his injuries and his fear.

At first he couldn't make sense of it. The creature in his cockpit couldn't exist, the Allspark was destroyed before any new sparklings could be brought to life, and he refused to accept that humans had managed to come up with a way to do it.

And then the Youngling had told him of his origins. The Allsparks final 'gift' to Megatrons killer, brought to life after ripping Barricades sparkless body to shreds.

It was so deliciously cruel he had trouble believing it was the Autobots who had done it. But Starscream had intentions to make it crueller.

Oh he'd returned the Youngling to the Autobots for now, but that was survival only. Right now he had to protect himself, until reinforcements descended on this mud pile. The Autobots would rip apart this continent to find him so long as he had the Youngling. While he waited, the youngling would remember the Decepticon that saved him, even while the Autobots trained him for war.

And when the time was right, he'd be back, and teach the Youngling, the destroyer of Megatron, what is was to be a Decepticon. The last youngling in existence would embrace their side, whether he realised it or not. He had already taken the first step, killing that human, regardless of the circumstances, or how bad he felt about it.

And when that time came, the image of the Youngling's shock would be replaced with Optimus Prime's optics filling with horror and failure.

He almost couldn't wait.

The Youngling's fingers eventually left the new mark on his shoulder; he entered the base, dragging himself towards the med bay. He didn't know how to fix himself, but at least he could be ready for when Ratchet appeared.

-Wish I could help- Hax said. –But I only have some of your memories and some of Sam's, and he would have been as clueless as you-

The Youngling laughed. "Its okay. You've done enough already. If it wasn't for you, I might still be in there, or dead."

Hax didn't reply, but the Youngling could feel the voice was grateful, and he was hit with a sudden realisation.

"Hax?"

-Yeah? –

"I think…"

-What? –

"I think I know my name now."

The voice laughed.

-Aww, You're not going to let me pick it? –

"Nope. But I really think you'll like it though."

-Heh, okay Youngling. What should I call you? –

The Youngling smiled, and looked up at the roof of the med bay.

"Call me Deuce."

To be continued. . .

I have to admit it was quite interesting how many people seem positive that Starscream would have no value in Deuce (GOD is so good not to have to refer to him as 'Youngling' anymore) or would torture him. I'm also aware that a whole lot of people are probably going to consider this anticlimactic or not particularly 'Starscreamy'. However, its my fanfic, so I can do what I want, heh.

No doubt some people will hate me for turning Starscream into a car, but come on! The Reventon is one of the two most gorgeous (and certainly the most dangerous looking) cars out there. I fell in love with it via the TF2007fun forum, but the moment I saw it on Top Gear, I had to find a way to get it into a fic.

Anyway, just one more chapter to go, and Format will finally reach its end.

NOTE: A couple of reviewers mentioned they don't know what 'Deuce' means - it's effectively the letter 'two' in latin.