I've been coming up with some short-ish chapters lately...short by my standards, at least. I hope you guys don't mind.

Phoenix's death, thanks for the Favorite!

Chapter 21

Orion frowned, looking over the rather defensive figure standing in front of him. "I am not a Prime. Why is it that I have been mistaken for one twice in two cycles?"

Maria watched the winged figure's red optics move around the room quickly, pausing on Orion's arm, where the Decepticon symbol had been placed, and then on Maria. The Reploid's own eyes widened upon seeing the dent on one of the figure's wings, and it looked like the wing was rather sore because of it.

As her blue eyes moved over the figure, someone's statement came to mind...something about hitting a Cybertronian with an energy attack and leaving a dented wing in the process?

"My apologies. Clearly, I thought you were someone else." The mech reluctantly lowered his missiles, his wings seeming to twitch slightly with the movement. "Who are you, then?"

"I am Orion Pax, and this is Maria White," Orion stated. He motioned to the Reploid on the keyboard behind him, prompting Maria to nod in greeting.

"A human? Or a Mini-Con Pretender?"

"Neither. I am a Replicating Android, created by humans with a free will of my own." Maria sensed Orion take note of her near-emotionless state again, but he didn't glance back or say anything in response to it.

The winged Cybertronian gave Maria another look. "So, humans can create drones, can they?"

Maria bristled. "Call me a drone and that dented wing is going to get worse. I am not something that can be mass-produced so easily."

The figure held his servos up, an amused - yet also nervous - look on his faceplate. "All right, all right! You're not a drone." He lowered his arms and took another look around. "And, pray tell, what are you doing here?"

"Decrypting these files for Lord Megatron."

The intruder's eyes widened at Orion's words, shock being at the forefront. "You...can do such a thing?"

Orion nodded, then frowned. "You are...Starscream, correct?"

The figure's red optics instantly narrowed. "Yes?"

"Lord Megatron told me you had been...terminated."

Maria blinked for a moment upon hearing Orion's hesitation. It was definite that the mech didn't prefer to think of others of his kind as dead. Yet again, something about this mech told her that Starscream would be better off dead.

"Lord Megatron says many things, some of which might not be true." Starscream had a sly smile on his face.

"You would not mean to say that our leader would speak falsehoods?"

The Seeker let out a laugh. "They've really kept you two in the dark, haven't they?"

Maria's eyes narrowed. "I am not as naive as you think I am."

"The both of you speak in riddles," Orion noted. Turning to look at Starscream, he stated, "Please, tell us what you know."

"And in return?" Starscream looked like he could sense a deal coming on. Before Maria or Orion could say anything, however, the door opened, and a pair of Vehicons dashed in.

"Starscream! Surrender!" one of them barked.

The Seeker, thinking cowardly, dove behind Orion, who looked behind him in surprise, then at the two Vehicons, who looked like they were ready to shoot at him.

"Hold your fire!" Orion and Maria yelled in unison. This forced the two Vehicons to momentarily lower their weapons by a fraction. Starscream took advantage of this hesitation and barreled out from behind Orion, pushing him forward as the Seeker dashed out the door, transformed, and flew down the corridor.

The two Vehicons dashed after him. One turned around and stated, "Orion, return to your workstation."

"But I -"

"Lord Megatron's orders." The door was shut.

Maria and Orion stared at the door for a moment, before exchanging glances.

"Something...doesn't seem right within the Decepticons," Orion noted.

"Yeah. Starscream is declared dead and he shows up looking for something substantial." Maria motioned to the cubes on the floor for evidence. "If he were a ghost, he wouldn't have been able to grab this stuff."

"Ghost?"

"The spirit of a living creature that refuses to move onto the afterlife and makes it a point to haunt and scare anyone who comes near them." Maria shrugged. "They're creatures that appear in human myths all the time, and they're unable to grab anything in the physical realm - so Starscream definitely isn't dead." A picture appeared in her mind of a Starscream with a wispy tail instead of legs, moaning and groaning like some sort of zombie.

The Reploid shook her head, and the picture was gone. "Who's this Optimus Prime guy, anyway?" There was knowledge that did want to bubble up and tell her, but the Protocol prevented it from fully revealing itself.

"I am...unsure," Orion replied, not noticing Maria's annoyance at the blocked-off knowledge. "But I was mistaken for him by one of the Autobots, and now by Starscream. Perhaps the Decepticon files have something on this."

He was about to look it up when the door opened a second time, and a pair of Vehicons came in and started to collect the Energon cubes. As soon as they had left, Megatron walked into the room.

"Hello, Orion, Maria," Megatron greeted, his voice sounding like the deceptive silk it was. "I trust the recent disturbance didn't...harm you in any way?"

"No," Orion replied. "But why did you tell me that Starscream was dead?"

Straight to the point, Maria mentally noted, nodding in agreement.

"He is dead to our cause," Megatron responded. "A traitor who now sides with the Autobots. I hope he...did not disturb you?"

Orion paused a moment, before stating, "No."

Megatron's gaze went from Orion to Maria for a moment, then went back to the archivist. "Good. Now, how about we forget this entire incident, and you get back to your project." He turned and started to walk out the door.

"As you command, Lord Megatron."

The Decepticon paused upon hearing Orion's words, then continued out of the room, the door closing behind him.

You are a terrible liar, Maria thought bluntly as she turned to look back at the computer screen.

And you believe he noticed, Orion noted, going over the files again.

I find it highly likely. If Starscream claims that Megatron can speak falsehoods, he can also identify falsehoods. Maria walked over to the screen looked back at Orion. I'm kinda curious about this Optimus Prime guy. Do you think the Decepticons have any files on him?

It is possible. Orion took in a breath to calm himself, then muttered. "All right. Optimus...Prime." He quickly typed the name in, and a schematic appeared on the screen of a Cybertronian in a large amount of armor.

"Starscream reminded you of this guy?" Maria asked, motioning to the schematic.

"And it says that he is the leader of the Autobot rebels, not Ratchet..." Orion frowned. "Someone isn't telling the truth."

Back with the Autobots...

Matt looked up from a comic book he had borrowed from Jack as Bulkhead came through the Ground Bridge.

"No Energon spikes," the Autobot reported to Ratchet. "No sign of that Space Bridge, either."

Bulkhead looked around and caught sight of Matt on the couch. "Has anyone else had any luck?"

"Nope." Matt let out a sigh. "Arcee found a couple small shards of Energon, but she didn't find anything that hinted at a mine being anywhere nearby, much less a Bridge."

Ratchet shook his helm. "Let's just get you moving to the next quadrant." He turned to the Ground Bridge controls when a sudden beeping caught his attention.

"What's that?" Bulkhead asked as the medic rushed over to the computers.

"It's a high-frequency signal, with an imbedded message," Ratchet replied, not bothering to glance back as Bulkhead approached to look over the medic's shoulder. "And it's addressed...to me?"

"Is it Optimus?" Bulkhead asked, hopeful.

Ratchet pressed a few keys, revealing the message and its sender. "Starscream!"

Matt dropped the comic book and jumped up off the couch. "Megatron's second-in-command? Really?"

"Former second-in-command," Ratchet corrected, glancing back before returning his attention to the computer screen. "He wants a medical kit, and he claims to have information on Optimus. He also wants me to come alone..."

"Well, what are we going to do?" Bulkhead asked.

The red and white medic looked over at the Wrecker. "Can you man the Ground Bridge while Matthew and I go to Starscream's location?"

"Wait - you want me to go with you?" Matt was shocked. "Bulkhead would be much more capable in this sort of thing!"

"But you do not know how to man the Ground Bridge," the medic retorted. "And I will not leave the base in your hands just yet."

Matt let out a sigh. "Just because Raf and the others were forced to go away on an overnight field trip doesn't mean you can become all grumpy about leaving me here unattended."

"Regardless, I believe your presence might be able to get information out of Starscream more easily than Bulkhead's." Ratchet activated the Ground Bridge and came over to the platform, holding out a servo in order for the other-worlder to climb on. Matt reluctantly obliged, sitting down Indian-style on the open palm.

"All right. Let's just get this over with."

Ratchet nodded, then walked through the Ground Bridge, appearing in a forest at dusk. Starscream was leaning against a small, rocky outcropping, desperately trying to stop an Energon leak in one of his legs.

The Con looked up, optics widening upon seeing who Ratchet was carrying. "I told you to come alone!"

"Where's Optimus?" Ratchet demanded. "Is he all right?"

"He was fine - can't you see that I'm the one who's wounded and with a dented wing?!" Starscream glared at Matt. "Your little trick has cost me so much maneuverability."

"And I will do it again if you don't cough up something we can actually use," Matt replied, eyes narrow. He had heard enough from Jack and the others about Starscream that he knew the Seeker wasn't to be entirely trusted.

"I agree with Matthew. The information first." Ratchet's optics narrowed as he glared at Starscream.

"Fine. It seems as though your leader has lost his senses. He thinks he is a Decepticon and goes by the name of Orion Pax." Starscream appeared pretty proud by this bit of intel.

"We know that already," Ratchet stated dismissively.

Starscream's red optics widened. "WHAT?! How could you have possibly known that?"

"Do you have anything else of use, Starscream?" Matt growled.

"There's this human-sized figure in there with him - some sort of femme creature that claims to be a machine."

"Know that, too." Matt stood up and held his left hand out, palm up, summoning an Aura Sphere. "How about you give us something useful, like the location of Megatron's base?"

Starscream let out a short laugh. "It's a ship. It moves. It took me months to track, only to get me fired upon!" He motioned to his leg for evidence.

Matt and Ratchet exchanged glances.

"This is a waste of our time," Matt stated.

Starscream's face gained a helpless, pleading look. "No, wait! Please! I-I'm leaking here!"

"You can rust for all I care," Ratchet replied bitterly. "Unless you can tell us the location of the Decepticon Space Bridge-"

"Space...Bridge?" Starscream's optics widened as realization dawned on his face. "Are you meaning to tell me that they finished it without my supervision?!"

Matt and Ratchet exchanged glances, a smirk appearing on the human's face.

"I'll fix your leg if you tell us the coordinates of the Space Bridge," Ratchet stated.

"And if I don't?" Starscream asked cheekily.

The Aura Sphere Matt had been holding hit the rocky cliff next to Starscream's helm. "The next one goes through your other wing."

The Seeker gulped.

Short and action-packed...well then.