Chapter 21
Scavenger awoke peacefully, looking down at the still recharging form of the seeker youngling,
"Starscream" he nudged him gently, "Starscream?"
The old mech sighed, getting up to carry the seeker to the medbay. Rounding a corner, he nearly bumped into Jetfire and Ironhide,
"Excuse us"
"Oh, hey Scavenger. Geez, what did you do to him?"
"Nothing Jetfire, he's recharging. I am taking him to medbay, let me through"
Adjusting Starscream gently, he managed to get the medbay doors open,
"Morning Red"
"Good morning Scavenger. Oh, set him down here. Has he awoken since last night?"
"Nope. I don't know whether that's a good or a bad thing though"
"Any signs of further nightmares?"
"None"
"Well, that's positive. At least he's getting some sleep. I'll leave him for a couple of hours and I'll wake him then."
"Good luck with that," Scavenger chuckled lightly, "I tried and didn't even get a peep from him."
Red Alert crouched by the berth Starscream lay on,
"Starscream," he rubbed at the seekers' arm, "it's time to get up. Come on, now"
The medic sighed in relief when he noticed a slight twitch in one of the fliers' wings. Moving to sit on the berth, he pulled Starscream up so he was sitting against his side, keeping an arm around him.
"That's it, wakey wakey." He smiled as Starscream groaned, his optics flickering. Red Alerts' attention was soon drawn to the door as Optimus walked in. He quickly greeted his leader before turning back to Starscream, noticing the glazed, orange optics observing him,
"Hey there, Starscream. You awake?"
It took a moment but Red Alert was pleased when the seeker managed to answer,
"Uh huh," he mumbled, "where 'm I?" he rubbed at one of his optics
"In the medbay. It took us some time to awaken you. I'm afraid I gave you too high a dose of that medication last night. Sorry Starscream"
"'s okay. Don't worry"
Optimus smiled softly as the groggy seeker,
"I am sorry to interrupt but I need you to watch the monitors. We are heading out. Someone- er something, appeared on our sensors."
"Of course, Prime." Red Alert helped the youngling to stand, "come on, you can continue to wake up in the monitor room."
"Here, Starscream" Red Alert passed a cube of energon to the seeker after he sat him on one of the couches before turning to the monitors.
"Is it Decepticons?"
Red Alert swallowed his anxiety before answering,
"I'm not sure yet, our sensors picked up a minicon signal, let's just hope they haven't spotted it yet."
The medic growled quietly as Laserbeak found Megatron and his soldiers in persuit of the signal too. He hastily updated Optimus on the Decepticons' position.
As they watched the resulting fight escalate, Starscream could feel his weapon systems warming up, the familiar fight or flight response running through his energon lines.
"I want to help"
"What?! No, Starscream" Red Alert quickly turned to give his full attention to the flier, "Once you are fully functional then fine but not at the moment. And certainly not with a sedative still in your systems."
Starscream dropped his wings low, backing off from the medic. Red Alert suddenly stopped his rant,
"Sorry, Starscream. I didn't mean to shout," he spoke softly, "Come, they are heading back to base. We shall meet them at the warp gate"
Starscream stood with Red Alert as Optimus hastily briefed them on how the mission went. They hadn't managed to get the minicon but Ironhide was able to land some serious damage on Megatron, yet hurt himself in the process. Red Alert rushed off to prepare his medbay for his patients. As most of his soldiers arrived through the gate, Optimus followed them down the hall. Ironhide was one of the last through the warp gate, Scavenger helping him to take most of his weight off of one badly damaged leg. Unfortunately, the injury had put the weapon specialist in a worse mood than usual. Starscream happened to look at the injury as the mech passed him causing Ironhide to snap,
"What are you looking at?!" he roared, pushing Scavenger off of him. The leg sparked in protest yet the much larger mech managed to stay upright. Starscream startled badly at the sudden shout, his wing uncoupling, bearing his weapon in an unwanted threat. The seeker prepared to flee as the irrate mech stepped forward. With one more step, a spark from the injury and a pained shout from Ironhide had Starscream spooked, transforming and taking off down the hall.
Rounding a corner, he was forced to transform abruptly, landing hard in front of the Autobot commander. Optimus recovered quickly, looking down at the seeker sitting on the floor,
"Whoa Starscream, what's the hurry?"
Before the spooked flier could answer, the two mechs turned their attention to the voices travelling up the hall. As Scavenger and Ironhide came into view, Starscream was suddenly up and behind the Prime in a flash of red and white.
"Wait. Starscream-" Optimus turned his questioning gaze to Scavenger, "mind explaining?"
"Ironhide spooked Starscream"
"He shouldn't have been staring" he sounded to be in a better mood,
"Tch, he was hardly staring Ironhide."
"Shut yer trap, Scavenger." With a pause, he continued, "Sorry, kid. I'm a grumpy old mech, I didn't mean to scare ya"
"Scavenger. Please assist Ironhide to the medical bay"
"Of course, sir"
Watching the two older mechs round a corner, Optimus turned his attention to the seeker, noticing his wings trembling. He spoke softly,
"Are you alright?"
"I am sorry, sir! I didn't mean to fly in the halls, I swear! I -"
He was suddenly pulled into a hug. He froze but soon relaxed,
"Hey, shh, it's alright."
Optimus released the seeker to look into the panicked optics, speaking in a near whisper,
"You want to come with me? I'm going to start debriefing of the troops."
Starscream nodded, his intakes slowing to a calmer pace, quickly following his leader down the hall.