A/N: For those of you that are loyal Prime fans (like myself), this chapter name should ring a bell. From this point onward (you'll know when), chapters will be named according to their corresponding episodes, in which they take place. Meaning this chapter happens at the time of the "Nemesis Prime" episode.


XXVIII - Nemesis Prime

Arcee and Bulkhead recovered from their initial shock faster than I did, and rushed towards the furious Prime in synchronization. They each took one of his arms, trying to restrain him. Optimus swatted the blue femme away, sending her flying down the hall. She flipped around in midair and landed lightly on her pedes, already sprinting back over. The Prime shoved the green mech off him and advanced towards me again, a malicious smirk on his faceplates that couldn't have looked more out of place on him. It was disturbing.

I kept backing up, on my pedes now, until I almost tripped over something. I risked a glance down and saw the energon harvester gently rolling away. I snatched it up and pointed it at him, activating it.

"Prepare to join the Allspark, Prime!" I crowed, but he leapt over the beam and landed on top of me, transforming out his blasters. I landed heavily on the floor, the energon harvester flying out of my grasp a second time.

"On the contrary…" he charged up his blasters, pointing them at my helm.

And suddenly something clicked. "Silas." I growled.

"Indeed, Starscream. For a 'superior life form,' you catch on slowly," he noted contemptuously.

"Again?!" Arcee exclaimed, readying her blasters.

"I knew he wasn't our guy!" Bulkhead exclaimed, bashing his wrecking balls together, and charged the robot from behind.

Optimus/Silas reluctantly stepped off me and rushed at the two Autobots, swords flashing. I reflexively curled up a bit as the pressure from his pede on my chest plate vanished, panting. Ground based vehicles were typically heavier than those of us blessed with wings. I wiped more energon off my leg from the gash, very worried by how I didn't feel the pain yet. I hastily decided to call the robot something better than Optimus/Silas; it was too much of a glossa twister, not to mention viewing the thing as an "it" was unnerving, seeing how it was Optimus' double. It would have been like calling Seven an "it." I smirked, settling upon "Sue." So sue me.

But then I scowled at myself and darted over towards where the harvester had fallen. I scooped it up and wheeled around, firing a beam at Sue's back. This time it connected. I grinned and fired a missile at him as Arcee delivered a swift punch to the side of his helm. The corridor was washed in a sudden, tremendous blaze of light from the explosion as my missile connected–though with whom, I wasn't sure yet. Either would've been fine by me.

When the smoke cleared a few seconds later, it was Arcee this time who had him pinned to the ground, her blasters trained on his helm.

"Any last words?" The femme growled.

"Go ahead," he smirked, "This robot chassis cannot feel pain, and it is hardly a blow to MECH if it is… what is the word you machines use? Terminated?" The same disturbingly wicked grin split his faceplates.

"Then why infiltrate our base?" Bulkhead snarled, pointing his blasters at the mech's helm as well. I joined in with the energon harvester and tried not to show as much fear as I felt. I suppressed it with anger, which wasn't terribly difficult.

"And why should MECH share its inside agendas with you?" He smirked.

Arcee leveled her blaster, "Because we're not giving you a choice."

Sue chuckled, "Is that so?" he transformed, driving off down the hall. Bulkhead followed in close pursuit, engine revving. Arcee fired a few shots but he swerved around them. I took this as my cue to dash off in the other direction while they were preoccupied. Arcee noticed a few seconds later and snarled in frustration, then transformed and began pursuit. Again. I shot a quick glance over my shoulder to see that Sue had begun to chase us as well, with Bulkhead on his tail.

"Scrap!" I hissed after swinging around a corner and ended up in the main atrium of the Autobot base. Bumblebee watched as the humans played video games up on the platform, taking turns because they only possessed two controllers. Ratchet was studiously looking over a few screens next to Seven. My clone laid on the med berth with several familiar lines connected to various places on his armor, once again out cold.

The yellow scout chirped in surprise when he noticed me. He assumed a defensive stance around the children, glaring at me. He beeped at Ratchet, who spun around and gasped.

"Starscream! Just what do you think you're–"

"I think you're about to have company!" I spat, running to the nearest hiding spot which just so happened to be behind Bumblebee.

"What happened to your leg?" The medic asked, his tone still brimming with open hostility.

"Nothing." I snapped, praying that I wasn't trembling, and watched the entrance I had emerged from with wide optics. The scout seemed thoroughly surprised that I hadn't used my unrestrained talons on him yet, but still watched me warily out of the corner of his optics. The humans were on edge as well. Miko had grabbed a broom and was holding it like a sword, I almost envied her courage. Or was it stupidity? Jack had made Raf stand behind him and looked ready to fight, like he could. Oliver and Will stood shoulder to shoulder by Miko, the former of which clutching a dustpan like a baseball bat, which he didn't look too pleased about. Presumably, it went with the broom. Ratchet transformed out his surgical blades and stepped away from the console. I reluctantly readied my remaining missile. Translation: I made sure I still had an arm.

Arcee—still in her alt mode—shot out of the hall first, followed shortly by Sue and then Bulkhead. Arcee transformed, leveling her blasters at him once again. I noticed with a surge of satisfaction that the wound I had inflicted on her shoulder was slowly leaking energon.

"Optimus, what is going on?" The medic made to walk towards his "leader," but my arm shot out and I pulled him back.

"That's not Optimus!" I hissed in his faceplates.

"Oh? Does he have a clone now too?" The medic rolled his optics, looking briefly at Seven's supine form.

"You could say that." The "clone" smirked.

"Silas." Ratchet echoed.

"Nemesis Prime!" Miko exclaimed, hefting her broom menacingly. I had to admit, that had a better ring to it than Sue.

"You caught on faster than dear Starscream." He opened fire. Oliver dropped his dustpan in surprise and dove behind a couch with the other humans as the platform shook from Sue's shots. I yelped and scurried backwards as small chunks of concrete showered us.

Sue ignored the intimidating circle of hostile Autobots tightly ringing him and stepped towards me. "Starscream, you won't even try to fight? I am aware that you have blasters, use them! Oh, wait, MECH took your T-Cog, didn't we?" He said innocently and the robot's faceplates sneered at me.

Something inside me snapped. I screeched in anger, realized that I was in fact trembling, but far from in fear at this point. I vaguely saw Bumblebee wisely step out of my way in my peripherals as I lunged at the red and blue robot. Sue took a step back in surprise and I landed in front of him. I didn't need my blasters to inflict damage. I screeched again, ignoring sudden stabs of pain from my leg and the blaster shot on my back and dug my talons into his armor, relishing the sensation of the plating tearing and bending beneath my servos.

Something bright flashed in the corner of my vision, and the robot used my momentary distraction to swiftly gain the upper hand. He caught my right arm as it was coming down to deliver another blow and wrenched me closer, then used our momentum to spin around and hurl me into Bumblebee. I staggered up off the scout, who appeared uninjured, muttering an apology. He whirled back, assuring me it wasn't a problem. I glanced at the platform to see what had caused that sudden burst of light and saw Miko fiddling with her cell phone, taking pictures. I glared at her and resolved that at the first chance I got, I would grind that device into powder beneath my heel strut.

I rushed back at Sue again. My injured leg felt heavier and hotter than it should've, but I didn't allow that to deter me in the slightest. Ratchet had other ideas. His arm shot out―thankfully he had transformed that surgical blade away―and wrapped around my midsection. The medic jerked me back, letting Arcee, Bumblebee and Bulkhead take on Sue. But the "Prime" too had other ideas. He shot the green mech in the side at very close range, but failed to dodge a kick from the mech. He used a surprised Arcee to pull himself up and then threw her at me, but I ducked and she crashed into a wall where she fell and laid still.

"I'm fine." She muttered as the scout rushed over to help her to her pedes.

Meanwhile, Bulkhead and Sue were trading punches like dance partners that were Pit-bent on terminating the other. But then Bulkhead missed Sue's helm badly with his wrecking ball and stumbled forward. Sue brought his servos down hard on top of the Wrecker's helm. He crumpled to the ground.

I tugged my left arm out from Ratchet's grasp and fired its missile. Everything seemed to slow down around the missile until it exploded against Sue's chassis in hues that highlighted his red paint job. It did a good deal of damage, but the robot was still functional, infuriatingly enough.

Silas cackled through Sue, "Starscream, I have to agree with you. You'll have to do better than that!"

I frantically looked around for help as he advanced on me again, to no avail. Ratchet wasn't a fighter and was trying to tend to Bulkhead, while the brute tried to fend him off. Arcee was hurt and Bumblebee had his servos full with her, plus I sincerely doubted the humans could be of much use.

Ratchet and Bulkhead wisely stepped back, permitting Sue to stalk towards me more easily. I backed up at the same pace he advanced until I hit the wall.

"Silas! Get away from Starscream!" Ratchet warned, surgical blades sliding out. He looked surprised at himself despite his threatening tone, as if his mouth had moved on its own accord.

Sue turned around to face the medic, still grinning malevolently as a blast of red plasma hit him square it the faceplates. Twice. The robot's beaten chassis collapsed to the floor, optics going dark. Every head and helm in the room pivoted in slow motion to look incredulously at Seven. How had we failed to notice him? I wondered. He stood behind Ratchet, wings and helm erect, panting slightly with his blaster still raised. His scarlet optics smoldered with fury. At least they weren't green anymore, which I took as a good sign.

"Good riddance." He finally growled, meeting my optics and then the medic's. Then his legs gave out and a couple lines connected to his chassis disconnected, splashing fluids. Ratchet came to the rescue, helping him back up to his pedes and gently sat him down on the berth. "I'm fine, just tired." He groused, easing the concerned medic away from him.

I took a seat next to my clone, looking straight into his optics. "Thank you." I said quietly, the words feeling foreign on my glossa. Silence reigned after that for some time and I grew bored of staring at my clone like he was a wall: just as captivating and not staring back. Every once in awhile a sporadic tic would run through his wings, but other than that he just seemed exhausted, staring off into space. Meanwhile, Ratchet was helping Bulkhead, Arcee stood next to Bumblebee, the pair in silence. The humans even were too, which was a first. I had nearly forgotten they were here.

I must've jinxed it. "Screamy, your leg doesn't look so good." Will stated, a note of worry creeping into his tone. After glaring at the two-wheeler for a few seconds to make my thoughts clear, I got a good look at my injury for the first time. The human was right, it didn't look good. Energon was still trickling out of it, though not as much as before. It was deep, I could see past broken and frayed wires and energon veins all the way to some of my protoform. I looked away, energon churning in my tank.

"Ratchet?" I asked, clearing my vocalizer.

"Yes, yes." He said, already knowing what I needed. The orange and white mech looked at my leg as if scrutinizing every detail to make a medical report, which I realized he might just do.

"Well?" I finally asked impatiently after a minute or so of this.

"I don't know how you were able to stay on your pedes for that long."

"Shut up." My clone hissed. Our helms snapped over to him.

"Excuse me?" Ratchet growled.

"I've been told I shouldn't be able to walk twice over the past several days, if someone says it one more time, about anyone, I will gut them." Seven said in an uncomfortably calm manner.

"Yip, ip, ip. Only I dictate who is gutting whom here." The medic announced, transforming out his blades to let them flash menacingly in the light before transforming them away again.

"You're welcome." Seven finally said, huffing. We exchanged a tacit glance that seemed to convey what words didn't.

"Indebted again," I groaned, "now I'll never be able to terminate you!" At that, he promptly shoved me off the berth. I stood up abruptly and Ratchet stepped back so my knee spikes wouldn't smack him in the faceplates. I brushed off my legs as if nothing had happened, trying to salvage some dignity. But then I stopped in mid-swipe as a thought struck me.

Bulkhead chuckled at my surprised expression as I tried to order my thoughts, "Something crawl up your turbine, Scream?"

"No…" I shook my helm, "but Sue transformed."

"Sue?" Will snorted, "Who the heck is Sue?"

"Sit down, energon loss is affecting your systems." Ratchet ordered, planting a firm servo on one of my large shoulder plates.

I shook it off but sat anyway, "Hardly! No, it's the nickname I gave Silas' robot…"

"I like it." Jack grinned, Oliver, Will, and Raf with him.

"Hey Mr. Heels, I thought you're the sissy." Miko looked pointedly at me. "And Nemesis Prime sounds way cooler!" she added as an afterthought.

"Shut up." I snapped. "My point is–" she snickered and I shot her a glare, "yes yes, that's all very funny." I clicked one of my pedes against the concrete floor, "But Sue transformed, meaning he—it possessed a T-Cog."

Seven's optics widened in understanding, "And the only T-Cog MECH had–"

"Is mine." I finished, optics falling on the red and blue chassis.

Suddenly my comm pinged. I straightened up, automatically answering it. "This is Starscream."

Ratchet stopped examining my leg, "What?"

"Shut up!" I hissed.

"Dude! Spill it already!" Miko exclaimed, shouldering her broom.

"Knock Out?" I asked with a hint of hopefulness in my tone.

"Red racing machine, at your service." The other doctor answered sarcastically.

"No one informed me you would be calling." I frowned at the humans accusingly.

Miko punched Will, "Yeah, dude, you were supposed to tell him!"

"Hey!" He rubbed his arm, "That was your call."

"I recognize that human's voice… Miko?" Knock Out mused, then gasped dramatically. "You're in the Autobots' base again, aren't you?" He said with the voice one would use when scolding a sparkling.

"Yes I am." I agreed, sensing an outburst coming on from the other end. "However, not in their custody." I added.

"Yet." Ratchet reminded, and placed his servos on his hips.

"I heard that." The Decepticon medic pointed out. "You want me to roll down over there to even the odds?" I could almost see him smirking.

I groaned melodramatically, "No, please. I'm surrounded by enough ground vehicles as it is." I earned a few glares with that remark.

"I rather like the way I look in rims, hm, speaking of–"

"Cut to the chase, doctor."

"I was!" He protested. "Speaking of, the humans mentioned the 'minor' fact that you no longer possess your T-Cog, wings, and you-you're just about six feet tall!" He broke into a fit of laughter, making me want to angrily close the comm.

"One out of three, good doctor." I hissed through gritted denta.

That drew him up short, "What?"

I smirked smugly although he couldn't see it, "Yes, I have regained my stature and my T-Cog is within my grasp."

"Actually, it's a few feet in front of you, Screamer. Might want to get those optics checked." Miko suggested, tossing the broom aside.

"In a manner of speaking." I retorted.

"What?" The medic asked again.

"The humans are being insufferable."

"Mostly just Miko." Jack countered, crossing his arms.

"If you transmit your current coordinates, I can send a ground bridge and you'll be good as new! Shiner, even." I rolled my optics. Leave it to the good doctor to comment on everyone's finish.

"And have a horde of Decepticons come flooding into our base!? No way." Bulkhead retorted, repositioning himself against the wall.

"He has a point." Seven added, examining the tips of his talons.

Knock Out started to say something again, but I couldn't hear him as my clone, Arcee, and Bulkhead started bickering.

"Shut up!" I snapped. "I am trying to listen!" Surprisingly, they did.

Knock Out chuckled, "Go get some fresh air and call for a bridge." he suggested.

"Hey, couldn't Ratchet just patch you up?" Raf wondered, looking up to me.

"I do not possess the correct tools to perform such a procedure, and if I did, I wouldn't," said physician huffed.

"See?" I growled, "Unwilling and unable."

"If you Decepticons had not hoarded the best technology–"

"Oh please! You've made do without it." I hissed.

"The sooner both of you leave, the better." Arcee spat.

"I love the hospitality here, it's all warm and fuzzy." Will muttered sarcastically.

"I don't think she was referring to you, kid." Bulkhead added.

"I'm still here." Knock Out reminded me from across the link.

"Give me a few minutes. Ratchet needs to patch up my leg." I replied, annoyed.

"That old bot?" The red medic laughed, "He has no sense of st–" I cut the link and turned to Ratchet.

"Will you bridge us somewhere where we can safely contact the Nemesis?"

"Your clone will remain here." He clarified, "But yes, I will send you to a random location shortly after Optimus returns."

"The clone has a name," Seven frowned.

I grimaced, "Preferably not New York…" I made to go extract my T-Cog from Sue's side.

"Yip, ip ip, I will do that. Sit tight." Ratchet said. A few minutes later, Arcee and I had patches over our wounds then he went to work on Sue's offlined chassis, transforming out his surgical blades once again.

"Yo, Screamer?" Miko asked, a note of excitement in her tone.

"Yes?" I scowled.

"Do you think you could take us all for a flight when you get your wings back?" She grinned. Seven grinned as well, at my expense, and I hid my helm in my servos.

"No. Never."

"But Seven let–" Jack started to say.

"Seven is not me." I hissed. My clone laughed outright at that and a couple of the humans raised their eyebrows. "We are, er, different bots." I protested. I didn't like the looks I was getting from any of them, "Ugh, we can converse about this later."

"Sev's nicer." Will interjected, pointing at him. My clone's wings flitted at the compliment but then he frowned.

"If anyone calls me 'Sev' again I will end them." he announced.

"Now you're stealing my lines." I grumbled.

"Yeah, nicer." Jack said dryly, earning a light punch from Will.

Oliver looked eager to change the subject. "What happened when Nemesis Prime jumped you guys?" he wondered.

"I was about to ask the same." The medic added, popping a plate open on the offlined robot's side.

"See, we thought it was our guy first," Bulkhead began, "but once we found him out he pulled his blasters on us." Miko was rapt, waiting for more.

"Then what happened to Arcee and Scream?" Oliver wondered.

"I returned the favor after she slashed my leg." I said cooly.

"You asked for it." The femme replied hotly.

"As did you." I snapped.

The green mech didn't let us finish our argument, "But you should've seen the move 'Cee pulled on him! She–uh…" He noticed my furious expression and wisely shut up. Miko put on an infuriatingly smug grin.

I hastily changed the subject, clearing my vocalizer loudly. "The last thing we saw of you two," I glanced at my clone and Ratchet, "you raced off with the medic on your heels after threatening to terminate me."

"Did I?" He asked innocently. "I don't recall, but if I did, it certainly couldn't have been without provocation." His tone implied the opposite.

My optics narrowed, "Ah, but it seems you were busy yourselves when you got back here."

"Nothing, really." He waved a servo offhandedly.

Ratchet huffed derisively from where he crouched over Sue's chassis, "If one can call a couple death threats 'nothing,' then yes."

"You said it yourself, there was Synth-En mixed in with what you administered to me!" Seven protested.

"Hold up," Jack threw his arms up to stop us, "did you say Synth-En?!"

Ratchet folded his arms across his chest plate, "Yes, he did."

I realized my mouth was open and closed it quickly. "Do you mean to tell me that you possess a stable form of synthetic energon?!"

"No. Its instability is precisely what makes it so volatile, it requires further testing and revisiting before we can even think of safely using it as an alternate fuel source." he stated firmly. "I must have accidentally mixed it in with what I was giving him, but once I realized my mistake I sedated him and pumped all the heavy painkillers and the Synth-En out of his systems."

I looked to my clone, "Doesn't everything hurt if you aren't on anything?"

Seven frowned in thought, "I… no, actually."

The medic glanced at him, "I said I got rid of the heavy ones. It seems they weren't as necessary as I thought. I have you on a couple light painkillers, which is why you should feel mostly normal." He turned back to digging into Sue's side.

Seven nodded, "My thanks, doctor."

I gave him a look, "That makes two of us. Seven," he met my optics, "do you remember that I asked you how many fingers I was holding up?" I raised four.

He blinked, "I think so…"

I chuckled, "Oh, no you don't. You said I was holding up six fingers!" I exclaimed, and the humans burst into laughter. A few bots let out chuckles too. Seven bit his lip and Ratchet rolled his optics, suppressing a smirk.

The medic finally held up my T-Cog, letting all our eyes and optics fall on it. Everything was silent for a moment, then Miko piped up. "Dude, that's your spleen?" All the humans started laughing.

"It is called a T-Cog!" I growled. "I don't have to be a doctor to know what it does: it is the organ all Cybertronians possess which enables us to scan vehicles and transform."

"Hey Ratch, you sure we should give Screamy his wings back?" Miko dubiously asked him.

"Don't call me that!" The medic and I snapped in unison. "And no, I think the wisest course of action would be to consult Optimus when he–" Ratchet continued, but cut himself off as the all-too familiar rumble of an engine reverberated from a tunnel.

"Talk about timing, way to go doc!" Will applauded as Optimus Prime drove into the room and transformed.

"My name is not 'doc,' it's Ratchet." He huffed, rolling his optics and turned to his leader. Bulkhead and Bumblebee looked ready to transform out their blasters and start shooting at a moment's notice.

The Prime's surprised blue optics swept over the room, first seeing his double's dissected chassis on the floor, my and Arcee's injuries, Seven, the humans, and finally his compatriots. He looked ready to say something but the medic beat him to it.

"Optimus, what was your designation before you were made a Prime?" He asked suspiciously, but also with a tinge of hopefulness.

"Orion Pax." He answered without hesitation. "But I fail to see the relevance–"

"Just let me finish. Whom did you entrust with the key card to Vector Sigma?"

"Jack."

"What is my favorite color?"

"Seriously?" Will and Miko chortled.

Optimus looked more closely at him, clearly confused. "You do not have one."

"It's him." Ratchet declared. "I apologize, Optimus, but as you can see, we recently had an impostor in our midst."

"We haven't had time to clean up the body." Oliver added dryly.

"Did you find any energon?" Arcee queried hopefully.

The Prime shook his helm sadly, "None. It was already stripped away by the Decepticons before my arrival."

Miko balled her fists, "The next time I see Megatron, I'm going to stuff his oily claws down his throat." But then she glanced at Seven and I, worried she had gone too far.

"I am not planning on being there to stop you." I said with a slight smirk.

"Nor am I." My clone chimed in, picking absently at the bandage over his chest plating.

"Shall we let Starscream leave so the young doctor up on the Nemesis can patch them up? Presently, he is better suited than I." Ratchet suggested. "Though personally, I am against it. We will be giving his wings and blasters back, only to potentially be used against us some day!"

"Would I really, after all we've been through?!" I shot back indignantly.

"Wouldn't be the first time." Arcee pointed out with a snarl.

Optimus looked down at the femme, "That may be, Arcee, but every sentient being possesses the capacity for change." he preached, "Starscream, do you wish to join the Autobots and help us end this conflict?" Prime's question drew me up short, but I also wasn't entirely surprised. Seven glanced at me like he already knew what I was thinking, which I couldn't say was a surprise either.

"I-I…" I gulped, having a sudden, intense interest in the wall.

"You aren't as mean as everyone says you are." Will threw out helpfully.

"Yeah, I don't think he hates us either." Oliver stage-whispered behind his hand to Ratchet. The medic rolled his optics and a couple of the humans chuckled.

"Not squishing you flat does not mean I don't hate you." I protested lamely.

"It does when it's him." Oliver added, still stage-whispering. Everyone looked at me expectantly, including my clone.

I wrung my servos, voice quavering. "It is official, Primus help me." Then they all surged towards me.