Chapter 28
Street Punks and Waiting Rooms
The morning sun shone down warmly upon the two occupants of the red, open-top Mustang, the wind blowing playfully through their hair as they drove through the busy Portland streets. Starscream couldn't help but smirk at the whole situation; here he was, feigning the injured, respected within the Autobot ranks, and all alone with a super hot female who was certainly unwilling to 'cooperate'. Just the way he liked his females.
It had been easy, too easy almost, considering how difficult his first few breems as a human had been. It seemed that his release into the humans' nest had unleashed some kind of primal instinct within him, his survivor's instincts from his days in Kaon perhaps, and in no time at all he had found himself in the perfect position to take what he wanted. Although it may also have been because the humans weren't giant, alien robots intent on killing him because of some grudge or simply for fun like his Decepticon brethren were, but that was beside the point.
Yet despite the pleasure that came with his recent successes, Starscream wasn't one hundred percent comfortable with his current predicament. True to her word, Carly was driving him to the hospital, and that was a problem. The Decepticon had peaked beneath his bandages earlier that morning, and as expected, had found that his Ravage wounds were almost completely healed. That in itself was a good thing, however, judging by Ratchet's remarks the night before, he wasn't sure he was supposed to be so restored. In fact, that whore, Stella, had mentioned something on the matter before too...was it possible his self-repair circuits were superior to that of regular humans?
Even if that wasn't the case, allowing himself to be thoroughly examined by human doctors could potentially result in his cover being blown anyway; the abnormalities of his blood and heart would certainly increase the risk of becoming the subject of human experimentation even if they didn't work out his Cybertronian origins. He knew what those medical types were like, they were all sick and hungry for 'research subjects', no matter what the species. He repressed a grimace as an image of Hook and a bunch of humans standing over him with medical tools in hand appeared in his mind.
He needed to avoid the hospital at all costs...but how...that was the problem.
"You're rather quiet this morning, you feeling ok?" Carly suddenly asked, stirring Starscream from his thoughts.
"Oh, yeah..." Sean replied casually, turning slightly in his seat to look at her. "Just thinking. It's such a lovely day, isn't it?"
"Mmm...sure beats the rain we've had lately. Although I don't think this sunshine is going to last, it's meant to be wet again by next weekend."
"Really? Well in that case, it seems like such a shame to waste a day like this waiting around in a hospital. How about we go and enjoy it, huh, just you and me?"
"Ha, you really are scared, aren't you?" Carly laughed, taking her eyes off the road to inspect her companion.
Slag, her eyes glittered so nicely in this light.
"Yes, and what's wrong with that? And anyway, I already told you this morning that I'm feeling much better, your Autobot friend did a really good job healing me. Going to the hospital now truly is a waste of time."
"I don't think so, Sean. Ratchet knows best when it comes to things like this, so if he says you need to go, you need to go. Let the doctors decide whether it's a waste of time."
Sean ran a hand through his wind-tussled hair, that famous seductive smirk appearing on his face again. "We could do that, yes... Or, we could find some nice, secluded place and have some fun?" His eyes flicked down to her chest.
"Oh please!" Carly exclaimed indignantly. "You really are a jerk, you know that? Well, let me tell you something. And listen closely because I won't repeat it. I have a boyfriend. I am not interested in you, and I never will be. And if you even try anything on me, today or any other day, I won't hesitate to kick you where it hurts. Got it?"
"Woah, loud and clear." Starscream replied, shifting his eyes up to Carly's face again. "Gee, no need to get nasty, just joking, you know. So, how far are we from the hospital? The sooner this is over with, the better."
Carly glared at him for a few moments before looking back to the road, slowing down on the approach to an intersection. "Three blocks and to the right," she said with a humph, "but you should know that."
Slag, Sean should have known that! He slagging lives here, moron.
"Ahh, yeah," Starscream replied with a laugh, "just lost my direction for a moment."
Three blocks...that didn't give him much time to get out of this. The ex-Seeker turned his attention to the streets around him, searching for some kind of escape. He was trapped, well and truly trapped, and if he didn't think of something quickly, his chances of being restored to his former self would amount to zero.
However, it seemed that fate had other ideas for him that day. Sean was about to make another remark of protest when suddenly something heavy landed on the Mustang's trunk, making the car bounce violently.
"What the fr...?"
Carly yelped in fear as she slammed on the breaks, the car fishtailing wildly, as Starscream turned to see what had hit the car.
His heart leapt as a familiar blue form, and an equally familiar red form, looked down upon him; devils and saviours rolled into one.
"What...what the fuck do you two want?"
"Hello, squishy," Rumble sneered as he jumped from trunk to bonnet, transforming his arms into pile drivers as he did so. "I gotta say, I'm su'prised ta see ya so functional. Ain't many squishies around that can take on our bro Ravage and not get slagged."
"Yeah, but don' go thinkin' yer somethin' special tho, fleshy," Frenzy continued, still standing on the trunk, fists curled. "'Cos yer not. Aaaaaand, we gotta message for ya."
"Oh, and what could two pieces of scrap possibly have to say to me," Starscream replied with a sneer, opening the car door and standing up to face them both. Carly slid across the car seat and stood next to him.
"Well, it's simple, squishy. You damaged our bro. An' no one gets'ta damage our bro Ravage 'cept us."
"So, now ya gotta pay," Rumble said simply, before launching himself at Starscream.
The human male couldn't help but cringe as the blue cassette impacted heavily against his body, throwing them both to the ground. A string of insults escaped his mouth as Rumble's pile drivers pounded the ground on either side of his head, if not for his own thrashing they certainly wouldn't have missed their target.
Rolling out from under his captor, Starscream caught sight of Carly reaching down to grab a soda can, which she subsequently threw at Frenzy. The little, red Decepticon simply laughed in response, and continued dancing threateningly before the female, preventing her from reaching Sean's position.
Something like a claw grabbed Starscream's jacket and he was dragged violently backwards. Rumble had transformed his arms back and started to shake his toy, definitely enjoying himself.
"What the slag do you think you are doing?" Starscream hissed, making sure that Carly was out of hearing range. "Let go me this instant and get the frag out of here, Rumble! This wasn't scheduled!"
Rumble smirked maliciously. "Nope... but this was!"
Suddenly, Starscream was flying, although it wasn't a pleasant experience. He landed heavily on the trunk of the wrecked car.
The sunlight became red and started to fade toward a blurry orange. Starscream would have liked to have enough strength to groan in pain, but his back hurt so much that he felt his vocalizer paralysed. He wouldn't have been surprised if all his bones were broken.
A shadow towered him, the optic visor shinning with immature amusement.
"No! Leave him alone!"
He blinked toward the origin of the voice. That naive, stupid human... why the slag wasn't she running away? Rumble and Frenzy were unpredictable and they would have no problems in tearing her yellow hair out.
A fist grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and lifted him up. "Aaaaw Frenz... see how she defends 'im? Doncha think it's sooo romantic?"
Frenzy burst into laughter. "Very! Hey fleshy, why doncha kiss yer boyfriend goodbye? 'Cause we're about to slag'im good!"
Starscream was thrown into the air again, a reluctant ball in whatever game Soundwave's runts were playing. He was caught by Frenzy this time, who didn't waste time in pinning him against a wall.
"Okay squirt, time to see if your arms will grow again once we rip them off!"
But Frenzy couldn't carry on with his threat –whether it was serious or not – because the twisted fender of Carly's car crashed against his helm.
Frenzy winced and Starscream used the opportunity to kick him in the face, managing to make him retreat one step. Next thing Starscream saw was Rumble grabbing Carly by an arm and throwing her away. When the female hit the open door of her car with her head and fell immobile to the ground, Starscream knew it had gone too far.
"Frag!" Frenzy said, giggling. "Ya killed her, bro!"
Starscream pushed Frenzy away as hard as he could and approached the motionless human. "Well done, you idiots! You just compromised my entire mission by terminating her!" And before I could interface with her... frag it!
Rumble approached too. "Calm down, Screamer, she's still breathin', see?"
"No thanks to you! And just what the slag did you think you were doing?"
"Helping ya, Screamer, what else? We thought ya could use it."
"I would drop dead before asking for your help, Rumble! Get the frag out of here now! You've already done enough damage."
"It's never enough!" Frenzy cried. "Your little bitch there dented my helm and now she has to pay!"
Starscream clenched his fists and stood firmly in front of the two Cassetticons. "I've had enough of being the object of your sick amusement! Hear this and hear it well: I will return to my former self, and once I do I will remember and punish you for every ignominy inflicted on me! I don't care what Megatron said, I still am your superior officer and that will never change! You morons should know better than messing with the Decepticons Second in Command!"
To his surprise, his little outburst had some effect, because Rumble seemed uneasy and rubbed his helm. "Hey, don't get mad Screamer... we're just havin' fun, ya know? Take it easy."
"Get back to the Nemesis and don't you ever stand in my way again, do you understand? Get the frag out of here!"
Rumble and Frenzy exchanged a shrug of shoulders and took off, leaving Starscream with a very big problem in his hands, in the shape of a possibly dead human female.
Starscream looked down at the unconscious form of Carly, blood dribbling down her face from a wound on her temple, matting her blonde hair. He was tempted to just leave her there, take the car and chase down those two slaggers until he got his revenge. But, frustratingly, he couldn't. It wouldn't do to let one of his new-found friends die, thus pissing off the entire Autobot army in just one cycle.
With less care than was necessary, Starscream bundled Carly into the back of her car, bumping her head against the door in the process. Her wound was still bleeding, which he knew wasn't good, and realised he'd need to provide some form of first aid before driving her to the hospital. Pressure, that was what was needed to stop the bleeding, just like stopping a fuel leak when the tubing wasn't accessible to tie off. Starscream looked down at his bloodied shirt and considered taking it off to use as a makeshift bandage...but the clouds had come across and suddenly it was so cold; why should he have to freeze, it wasn't like the human was actually dying? Plus, it would expose his bandages, and thus his 'need' to see a doctor. Definitely not a good thing.
He looked around the car, and finally settled on the fine, white jacket Carly had left on the back seat. With a tug he pulled it out from under her legs, and proceeded to rip off one of the arms, before tying it tightly around her head. There, he'd done his part, no one could complain now.
Starscream eased himself into the driver's seat and inspected the rudimentary controls; despite not having driven a human car before it all seemed rather simple – wheel for steering, stick for gear changes, so obviously one of those pedals was a clutch, a break and accelerator...simple.
For three and a half blocks, the cloud-swathed sun attempted to shine down on the two occupants of the red, open-top Mustang, the wind no longer blowing playfully through their hair as they drove, or rather, bunny-hopped, through the now-deserted Portland streets. Starscream bit back on a string of vulgar Cybertronian curses as he pulled into the hospital car park, pulling up and stalling on the dividing line between two spaces. Climbing out of the car he pulled the still-unconscious Carly into his arms, and made his way over to the large entrance marked 'Emergency'.
Starscream couldn't help but grimace at the sight that greeted him as he entered the Emergency Room; so many disgusting, sick and injured humans, sitting around miserably in a cramped waiting room...to his right a sparkling appeared to be purging her tanks into a bucket.
Disgusting.
The Decepticon unconsciously held his breath as he walked over to the reception desk, desperately hoping that whatever germs those humans were carrying were not contagious. Not that his system couldn't handle them, of course, but it was degrading to think he was being exposed to such filth.
A middle aged woman looked up at him from the other side of the desk as he approached, a warm, comforting smile on her lips. "How can I help you, sir," she asked.
"Ahh, my...my friend is hurt, she needs to see someone, right now."
"Ok, sir, well as you can see there are a lot of people already waiting here, so we need to assess how serious your friend's injuries are before making the decision to have someone look at her 'right now'."
"You've got to be fr..."
"Now sir," the lady interrupted firmly, "I know you are worried, but we have protocols to follow. If we treated people simply based on the order they arrived, we would have a lot of unnecessary deaths on our hands. Now, can you tell me your friend's name?"
"Carly," Starscream huffed impatiently.
"Ok, and her surname?"
Starscream suddenly realised he didn't know her surname – was that suspicious?
"I, erm, I don't know."
The lady quirked her eyebrow, but nodded her head in understanding. "Ok then. I can see she has a head injury, can you tell me how long she has been unconscious?"
Again, Sean considered his answer for a moment.
"Erm...about a bre...10 minutes...maybe a little more."
"Well in that case," the lady said, pulling out several pieces of paper and attaching them to a clipboard, "your friend does need to see someone straight away. Does she have health insurance?"
Does she have what?
"I don't know."
"Well, are you able to pay to cover her costs if she doesn't?"
Was she actually asking for money in exchange for medical help? What kind of backwards society was this?
"Yeah, I can do that."
"Ok, good..."
She turned away and called over a young man, speaking to him in a low voice so that Starscream couldn't hear what she was saying over the noise of the waiting room. Then, with that same calm, caring smile she had first greeted him with, she turned back to face him. The young man moved out of view for a moment, before appearing from behind a set of doors with what appeared to be a repair berth on wheels.
"The nurse here will take your friend, you may go with her but I need you to fill out some forms for me."
"Forms?" Starscream asked with surprise as the male 'nurse' approached and, placing his arms under Carly, guided her body onto the berth.
"Just some basic information," the lady replied; Starscream glanced at her before returning her attention to the nurse, and Carly. "It is important we know as much about her as possible, but if there are things you aren't sure of, just leave it blank. Here," she said, handing the clipboard to him, "you can take them with you, and you can give them to the nurse when you're done."
Starscream simply nodded in reply.
"Ok, sir," the nurse said with a bright smile, if you'd like to follow me I'll get you both settled into a triage room."
Carly's gaze was unnerving. For nearly a breem now the female had been watching him in silence, a strange look upon her bandage-crowned face. Starscream shifted uncomfortably in his seat and glanced up at the clock on the wall impatiently; perhaps her concussion was more serious than the doctor had told them.
"What?" he finally said, only barely masking his irritation at the whole situation.
Carly blinked in surprise before letting a tired smile creep across her face. "Just thinking that you've saved my life twice now in as many days. I guess I kinda owe you now, huh?"
Indeed you do, female. And you will repay me too, make no mistake about that. "It was nothing, really. I couldn't let those vile freaks get away with attacking innocent people like that, after all."
"Mmm, well, there aren't many people around who would actually stand up to the Decepticons like that, even fewer who would survive. Oh, speaking of which, have you seen a doctor yet?"
"Oh, yeah," Starscream lied with an air of nonchalance, "While you were off getting your head x-rayed. As predicted, the doctor said I'm fine." As much as he despised those twin demons, he had to admit he was grateful for their inadvertent assistance in avoiding examination.
"I'm glad to hear it," Carly said warmly as she settled back into the soft pillows of the bed. Slowly, the smile faded from her face. "Still, I can't help but worry about you; what happened today wasn't a random attack, as those two creeps admitted. If they're after revenge, Sean, they won't stop until they've got it. They won't stop until you're dead."
Heh, I'd like to see them try. Revenge will be served, but I will be the one to serve it out. And you, my dear, will not be spared either. "Cowardly bastards. Well, let them try it, I'm not afraid of them. Especially when I've got the Autobots on my side."
"Bravery won't save you if they send someone like Starscream out after you, Sean. Sure, the Autobots will do everything they can to protect you, even more so after this, but if the Decepticons really are out to get you, you're going to be in constant danger from now on."
Starscream stifled his sudden urge to laugh hysterically, hiding his growing smirk by leaning forward in his chair and running his hands over the back of his bowed head. Why, thank you for the complement, fleshling. "Guess I chose the wrong giant, alien robots to piss off, huh?"
"Just be careful, Sean," Carly said wearily as he looked up at her again, their eyes meeting.
"Carly!"
The young woman turned at the sound of her boyfriend's voice, an open smile returning to her features as Spike rushed to her bedside; Starscream's gaze remained fixed where it was.
"Oh Carly, I was so worried about you!" Spike said, taking her hands in his and leaning in to kiss her cheek softly. "When Optimus told me that you had been hurt, I...I didn't know what to think. How are you, is everything ok?"
"I'm fine, Spike, please don't worry. I have a minor concussion and the headache to go with it, but the doctor said I'd be back to normal in a couple of days."
Spike sat on the edge of her bed, her hands still tightly held in his. "Are you sure? I mean, you were attacked by Rumble and Frenzy! I...I just can't believe those Decepticreeps would dare to attack you like that! When I get my hands on them..."
"They weren't after me, love. They were after Sean."
Spike looked at Sean, acknowledging the man's presence for the first time. "Sean? What? Why?"
"It seems they're out for revenge," Starscream said with a sneer; Spike seemed to miss the fact that it was aimed at him. "For what I did to that Ravage creature."
"Shit..." Spike breathed, turning to look at his girlfriend for confirmation. "We need to tell Optimus, you need protection, Sean."
Starscream was about to reply when an unmistakable buzz made itself heard within his head. Someone was about to comm. him; probably those slagging runts wanting to brag, or their freak of a master...
"Starscream, you got a moment?"
To his surprise, the voice was not one he was expecting. Thundercracker.
"Yeah, well, I'll make sure to tell Optimus everything. Anyway, I should leave you two to it, you don't need me hanging around." With that he stood, and headed towards the door.
As Thundercracker hailed him once again, another voice stopped him in his tracks.
"Sean," Carly said softly. "Thank you."
Starscream closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He had had lungs for a while now, but he hadn't enjoyed oxygen as much as he was currently doing so. It smelled like freedom, a memory of something he once had had. He had always felt comfortable with heights, the place in which, being a Seeker, he was destined to live and die. Perhaps that's why he hadn't complained when Thundercracker had chosen the roof of that anonymous, gray building to deliver the spy program that he was meant to install on Optimus Prime's personal computer. He couldn't complain about the speed in which his comrades were progressing things either; according to his conversation with Megatron during his first night in the Ark he wasn't supposed to be hearing from them until now. He hadn't expected to actually collect the program so soon. Perhaps it was Thundercracker's doing…
Being away from the Ark was another imitation of freedom. He had had trouble avoiding bursting into laughter when Optimus Prime had apologized for the incident with Rumble and Frenzy and had insisted in offering him the Autobots protection. Starscream was reluctant to believe it, but it was true; Optimus Prime actually considered himself responsible for all the 'damage' the Decepticons had inflicted on Earth and its inhabitants… It was such a shame that Megatron hadn't known how to successfully exploit such an immense guilt complex.
Starscream leaned over the roof, struggling with the natural impulse of jumping and allowing the air to embrace him again. Six hundred feet separated him from the ground, six hundred feet that had belonged to his dominion only some solar cycles ago…
The wind messing with his hair didn't help. It felt furious, challenging, a gust of reminders of everything he had been and everything he had lost. The sky was his to take. He had claimed it the moment he had activated his optics for the first time.
The Prince of the Skies, the fastest Cybertronian jet ever built… and he wasn't able to fly anymore. It was so ironic, so cruel... If he jumped from that human building, his only destination would be the ground, his insides splattered all over the street…
"Hey!" the sudden purple flash brutally greeted him.
Normally, Starscream would have cursed Skywarp for scaring him that way, but he was too busy falling to a certain death.
Instinctively, he tried to activate his thrusters. But all he could feel against his legs was the fabric of his pants, toys of the wind, punishing his fragile skin.
He was only a few meters away from becoming one with the concrete street when the purple flash happened again and he was unceremoniously picked up in mid air by the black hand of his most hateful trinemate.
"Heh, I bet you thought I would leave you to crash," Skywarp sneered. "I gotcha pretty good!"
Starscream's already reddish face found a way to increase its vivid colour, helped by the wave of fury that closed his throat.
Skywarp laughed. "This has to be the first time you've been out of words, Screamer… Now hold on, princess. We're on our way!"
And the damn idiot teleported again. Or that was what Starscream thought, as he was engulfed by the dizziness and confusion of the innerspace in which Skywarp defied time and distance. The flashing light and the gusts of frenetic air happened two more times, until he was finally dropped on a surface he could easily identify now as grass.
He rolled down the hill until another hand stopped him.
"How many times have I told you that Starscream is not a toy?" Thundercracker said, grabbing his humanized ex Air Commander and placing him in a standing position against a tree.
"Seven, although what you said was that he wasn't a pet… Hey TC, watch it! I think he's going to purge his fuel tanks!"
Starscream bent over himself. For a moment he thought he was about to throw his guts up indeed, but he managed to control himself. He wasn't going to give that humiliating spectacle to his wingmates… again.
"You're such a weakling, Screamer," Skywarp laughed. "Okay, maybe I haven't teleported you as much as I have done with TC, but you should already be used to it."
Starscream returned to an erect position and leaned on the trunk of the tree, managing to breathe deeply for the first time since the beginning of his rough journey. "Maybe… the fact that I used to be a robot makes a difference… you idiot! I didn't have all these organic systems inside my body before! Did it occur to you that you could have killed me? Why the slag didn't you summon me here instead of the top of that building?"
Skywarp shrugged his shoulders. "Where would the fun be in that be? Besides, we couldn't afford to wait until you dragged your sorry aft here on one of those slow human vehicles you use now. Unlike you, we have things to do."
Starscream clenched his fists and shot daggers at Skywarp. "Things to do? And just what the slag do you think I have been doing, you moron? Enjoying myself?"
"You tell us," Skywarp said maliciously. "Rumble and Frenzy said you looked very happy fooling around with that Autobot pet two solar cycles ago. Aw, little Screamer got himself a girlfriend!"
Low hit. Starscream loved the resource, but only when he was the one who inflicted it. "Whatever I was doing when those two runts attacked me is none of your business! And why the frag didn't anybody inform me about that attack? Rumble and Frenzy almost ruined my cover!"
"Megatron thought the Autobots would need some further motivation to admit you into their nest," Skywarp said. "And Soundwave suggested that course of action."
Starscream grimaced. "Soundwave… of course."
Skywarp 'gently' patted Starscream on the shoulder with one of his fingers, sending him jolting several meters down the hill. "Why do you complain, Screamer? Didn't it work? I bet the Autobots think you're their responsibility now. I pity them."
"You… should pity yourself if you ever hit me like that again! Now give me the slagging program and let's get this over with. I have to return to the Autobots as soon as possible or they will suspect something. I had to escape through the underground tunnels of the base in order to avoid being noticed, otherwise they would have given me a slagging bodyguard."
"Not yet," Thundercracker said, addressing him for the first time. "Remove your clothing."
Starscream stepped back, totally taken by surprise. "What? What for?"
"Just do it," Thundercracker repeated. From the cold tone of his voice, it was obvious he wasn't joking.
"TC has this theory about your self-repair circuits," Skywarp said. "He believes that you shouldn't have survived Ravage's attack, or that at least you should be fatally wounded."
Starscream frowned. So he hadn't been paranoid about that matter after all… Despite the cold, he stripped to his underwear and removed the bandages he still had wrapped around his torso. As predicted, there was nothing but scars there.
"Mmm, just as you said, TC… You know, Screamer? Ravage has slagged more humans that I could count with attacks such as that one, and yet here you are… alive and kicking. How do you explain that?"
The truth was that Starscream would have liked to know that himself.
"Thundercracker… Soundwave kept a sample of my blood, didn't he?"
"Yes, at least I think he did."
"I need you to find out if he did further tests on the sample."
"Hey, I can do that!" Skywarp said. "I'm the teleporter here, remember?"
Starscream shot his black wingmate an angry look. "Yes, and you are also the idiotic one. How many vorns have you been a teleporter and you never managed to become an averagely decent spy?"
"Yeah? Well, you're about to become slime under my foot!"
Thundercracker rolled his optics. "Would you two stop that? I'll see what I can find out about your blood, Starscream. In the meantime, you are right about returning to the Autobots as soon as possible. I'll fly you as close to the Ark as I can without being detected by their radars."
"Hey, wait," Skywarp said, seeing that Starscream was beginning to put his clothes back on. "Take off that small white garment first."
Starscream frowned and looked down at his underwear protectively. "Slag no! Why would I do that?"
"Relax. I just want to see if you are circumcised. I didn't pay attention when you were showing off your bare fleshy little aft through the entire Nemesis, you know?"
"Circumcised?" Thundercracker repeated the word that he obviously didn't know.
"It's a human thing, TC. You wouldn't believe what those fleshlings do to their intimate circuitry… They chop it down!"
"Well, that's none of your fragging business!" Starscream said, blushing and hurrying to button his pants. "Besides, I'm perfectly uncut…" he added in low voice.
"Did you say something, Starscream?" Thundercracker asked.
That was certainly another word that his trinemates wouldn't be able to understand and he would never be in the mood to explain it to them, even less to exemplify. He was having enough with all the discoveries he was making about the human race by himself.
"Where's that program?" he said as he zipped his jacket, making a mental note that he should be careful with what he said, even with his wingmates. No… especially with his wingmates.
Thundercracker kneeled and subspaced a small metallic container the size of a human wallet. It seemed even smaller, lost on the blue Seeker's finger. "The program is ready to run. All you have to do is attach the device to Optimus Prime's computer."
Starscream sneered. "Yes, what a piece of energon cake… I'm so lucky I always get the easy jobs."
"Finally, we agree on something," Skywarp said.
Starscream breathed deeply. He wasn't in the mood to have another argument with Skywarp. He never was, actually, but Skywarp always found a way to anger him.
"There's something else I need to know."
"What? If somebody has been messing with your quarters? I hate to tell you this, Screamer, but I've been using them for my private activities, you know how it is…"
Starscream ignored Skywarp and addressed Thundercracker. "Megatron said he has made some progress in the duplication of the water of the Well of Transformation. Is this true?"
Thundercracker looked uncomfortable. "Uh… to be honest, I don't have any information in that regard."
Starscream punched the palm of his hand. "I knew it! The rusted slag bucket has me doing his dirty job for free!"
"Hey, he may be doing it in secret," Skywarp said. "I know that he and Soundwave are working on something."
"Yes, on getting rid of me," Starscream hissed somberly. "First they send Ravage to shred me, then Rumble and Frenzy completely humiliate me, and now I'm supposed to sneak into the quarters of Optimus Prime himself and upload some unknown program into his personal computer? What's next? Will our fearless leader order me to destroy all the Autobots with my bare fists?"
"I'm very sure this program is genuine; I checked it myself," Thundercracker said. "As for Megatron's possible second intentions, I'm afraid we can't give you any information. Personally, I don't think Megatron assigned you this mission only to see you slagged, at least not entirely. But if you have a plan B – and I suppose you have it because you are a distrustful slagger – I suggest you follow it."
Starscream frowned and folded his arms across his chest. Of course he had a plan B, and of course he wouldn't put his entire life and restitution of his former Cybertronian self only in Megatron's hands. As always, he would find a way to rotate any situation to his advantage, his mind already weaving the way to make it happen.
"Fly me back to the Ark," he said. For the first time since his mission had started, he was really looking forward to returning to the Autobots' base. Time had come to set plan B in motion.
To be continued.
This fic has been a bit neglected recently, but we hope to make up for it in the next few chapters. Screamer's plan is only just starting to take shape, and we'll give 1000 enegon cubes to the person that can work out where all of this is going...
