During the anger and the bitterness Starscream began to become more aware. He was angry because there was no way to get to Alexis, bitter because for the meanwhile he was forced to accept that.
His memory came back in patches, seemingly just white noise until it began to clear and grow. His internal systems were set back and by the time Starscream was more cognizant, he realized it had been in motion ever since the administration of the nanites. Looking at and studying them more closely, he found they belonged to him and had belonged to his human as well. Uncertain of their function and purpose he discovered a good two months later after rebooting from a long recharge that everything was as it once had been. Alexis' introduced nanites erased all the corrupted data he had been fed by Megatron and replaced it with his original protocol.
He didn't remember everything. There were still patches missing here and there, but he got enough back that by the time he was more himself, he had come to terms with what he needed to do.
Starscream was desperate to contact Alexis, but he was unable. He felt her, sensed her, a faint connection there that after testing he realized was only on his side. She was unaware of him, pushing forward and living on. Extreme distress filled his core, but for now, Starscream would have to leave her be. But that didn't mean he couldn't watch over her in his own way, at least until he was totally free of Megatron. Plans were already worked out and put in motion as he prepared for what he was going to have to do.
It helped that immediately following his re-awakening his bond with his Trine reestablished, giving him an opening that he was in need of. The first conversation shared between the three Seekers was a rather marked occasion. Sharing their status, the three caught up, a location fixed of where they could meet safely.
Landing before a large red barn beyond a field of long abandoned apple trees, Starscream addressed TC, who was already waiting for him, "Where's Skywarp?"
Thundercracker was looking at him, a quick glance spared along his frame before he addressed him, so formally and calmly that one watching the little scene would have never guessed that not long ago they had been critically separated and cut off from one another.
"Unable to come. Prime is starting to become suspicious of our increased activities," Thundercracker informed.
Starscream shrugged that off, little concerned. "No matter. Continue as you have been, there is no need to act covertly. The more they try to find anything out, the less good it will do them." Pausing, he took a decisive step forward. "Tell me of Alexandra."
Thundercracker shifted, a rather minute gesture that most wouldn't have noticed. "She is as she was: stable, but conflicted."
"Did you bring me what I asked?" Starscream inquired.
TC nodded his head. Hand moving forward a small chip rested on his open palm. "This is the most recent scan of her nullifier data; however, I have been unable to decode it."
"You weren't meant to. I alone have access." Bitterness made its home in his vocals. "If our bond wasn't broken I wouldn't need this, but now..." Placing the small chip on one of the tips of his digits, the data on the device was absorbed.
A program opened. Immediately, he had access to Alexis' nullifier and with that her location. Again, he became disturbed, knowing he would have never had to resort to such a thing if his and Alexis' bond still remained. However, he still had access to her emotions. If she never reached out to the old him in that manner that still made his circuits fizzle as she made an attempt to find him, he would have woken alone and devoid. While the other him had been unsettled and fascinated with such a connection to the girl, it brought Starscream much needed consolation, and gave him an opportunity to move things in place. For if he had awoken without the feel of her, he would have gone straight to Alexis, consequences, outcomes; it wouldn't have mattered; nothing would have except to feel her again.
Even still it was a difficulty not to retrieve her, but his position with Megatron at the moment put him at an advantage he never had before, and he knew that neither Skywarp or Thundercracker would allow anything to happen to his human.
"Skywarp has spent much time with Alexis?" Starscream asked as he refined and incorporated the data into his system, creating a temporary link with the nullifier so that no matter what he would always be aware of her position.
Thundercracker nodded his head. "She seems to entertain him."
"And you have watched out for her?" Starscream wanted to know.
"Even before you commanded it."
"Barricade?" he asked idly.
Thundercracker crossed his hands over his cockpit, stepping back he leaned against the barn while trampling a fence under his pediforms. "Taken care of, but LX still remains. The Autobots managed to capture it and are studying it."
"Let them have their fun." The Supreme Air Commander swiped his hand forward in a dismissive manner. "For now, I consider that matter closed. You did suggest to Alexis to wear the nullifier at all times?"
TC shook his head in the affirmative. "Yes, but she is oblivious to its updated functions."
Starscream's mouth curled upward. "It would seem the old me was quite concerned with keeping her alive."
"And was enamored with her as well," Thundercracker stated, appearing rather curious and confused. "He fought fiercely for her."
"And would have gotten her as well if you didn't regain your functions."
A small smile flashed across TC's mouthpiece, a rare, devious glint in his optics. He stepped forward, his tone lowering as he became amused. "That wasn't me, that was your human. It seems someone has given the human control of his stick and taught her how to use it." Again, the curiosity was back; TC watched the Supreme Seeker for some sort of clarification.
Starscream stepped closer, his hand gripping tightly on Thundercracker's shoulder panel. "She has an understanding of many of my components. Just know that that will be the only part of you that will ever feel her flesh embracing it." Drawing back, steeping away, he prepared to leave. "She has quite the grip does she not?"
Thundercracker shifted minutely onto his left pediform. Starscream laughed this time, amused by his fellow Seeker's discomfort.
Thundercracker sent him videos and pictures of Alexis, data that he was forced to destroy after he viewed it. Starscream could not afford to bring it back to the Decepticon base. While he was figuring out who he could trust he had to be extremely careful for he probably wasn't just being watched, but scanned quite frequently. Fortunately, he was able to devise a program that matched his old corrupted system, creating a shadow of coding that hid the fact that he had recovered.
The more time that passed, the more he questioned the exact reasoning as to why he had to stay away from Alexis. He was focused upon her, dangerously so, his already tenuous resolve ready to break apart as he flew to her side, capturing and reclaiming her. He was becoming increasingly envious of his trinemates. He saw through the relays how Skywarp interacted with Alexis, saw and heard some of Thundercracker's conversations with his human, that the more time went by, the more his fellow Seeker seemed to tolerate her. In the middle of that he started to see and understand things, maybe imagine things as he became increasingly paranoid. He wanted the two to watch over her; he did not want Alexis to become overly attached to them, no matter how simple or on what terms.
She was his. And while he didn't exactly distrust his trinemates, he knew what Alexis being bonded to him meant. Starscream understood though, in a faraway corner of his processor, that he was being irrational. That the unbearable separation was stirring dark intentions and deep-rooted envy. But nothing would diffuse any of those ominous terrors until he saw her again. Until that happened, he would continue to monitor his wingmates' link with prejudice. And continue to learn how to cope with the range of emotions that filtered out of Alexis, vowing that soon enough those fears she had and that sorrow she felt would be vanquished by him and him alone.
Starscream quickly left the Decepticon base. Opening the data port that was sending him alerts, he received a message from Thundercracker. But he already knew what it pertained to. Alexis was moving. He hadn't been concerned until she unexpectedly changed course. Calculating the human's trajectory, he figured out her destination.
She was heading straight to Megatron's stronghold. An oddity in itself since the Decepticon lord changed locations so frequently that even among the Deception ranks only a few were informed of Megatron's actual whereabouts.
That pushed Starscream's time frame forward. Implementing a hidden self destruct protocol on the base he had been left in charge of by Megatron, he watched at a safe distance above it as it exploded, blowing away the construct and all its precious stockpiles. The mines were next and then every single weapon cache that the three Seekers had been able to identify since their arrival on Earth. That wouldn't be enough to stop Megatron, but it would momentarily draw his attention elsewhere.
Opening his link, he contacted his Trine and gave them coordinates that he was already on his way to. The Autobots would be distracted with the reports of all the explosions across the blue globe which suited the Supreme Seeker perfectly. He didn't need any interference with what was to come next. He didn't know what awaited him, but he did know who.
Distracting himself with his anger and the lecture he was going to give Alexandra once he saw her again, he tried in vain to ignore the panic and fear that was growing inside his human. But there was no misinterpreting what he felt nor the danger she was obviously in.
And if he didn't arrive on time... Growling, engines burning he pushed himself to the limit, his trinemates joining alongside.
"I thought you two were watching her," Starscream accused, the blame burning in every word.
"I told you she was up to something... didn't I say so, Thundercracker?" Skywarp burst forth, ready and willing to take the blame off himself and direct it elsewhere.
Thundercracker replied readily, not the least indisposed, "As I recall, your exact words were that she appeared distracted. To me that is not equivalent to her being up to something. You're the last one that saw her, how did she appear to you?" TC asked of his trinemate.
Skywarp paused, thinking it over before he spoke, "Quiet, reflective, perhaps low on energy. But it was several days after one of her attacks which always leaves her..."
"Attacks, what attacks?" Starscream interrupted with exasperation. That pain, he remembered the pain, so overwhelming and consuming that he had thought it his own, yet all the time it had been Alexis'. He was so thoroughly distracted by the revelation that he nearly transformed. As it was he had already slowed down, an action that had his demeanor shifting to a dangerous spectrum, one that was already dark and foreboding.
"I... I wasn't supposed to say anything," Warp began nervously, chuckling forcefully as he tried to quell Starscream's anger. "She, that is... I mean..." he began chirping nonsensically.
"Are you hiding things from me? About my own mate?" The anger was building, but he felt it more for himself than Skywarp, but he misdirected it just the same. Starscream was so frustrated that he had allowed Alexis to remain in such a state that his frame was trembling with fury. The pain had almost been too much for him, how could a human endure?
Skywarp broke through the Supreme Seeker's thought processes. "No... it's nothing like that, it is, you see, I mean..."
"By Primus," Starscream snarled, thrusters raging, "now isn't time for your incessant babbling. Tell me what you know right now, or I will be forced to take it from you."
Already, he was beginning to dig in Skywarp's processor, broadening the link between them as his intrusion upon his wingmate began.
"Wait..." Skywarp wailed. "I... here, I am sending you the documents I procured from the Autobot's medical laboratory."
Easing away from Skywarp's CPU, he went over what he was given. As ominous as it was, it was riveting as well.
"The next time you keep something like this from me, I will do a full, detailed scan of your processor," Starscream threatened.
"I wasn't keeping things from you; I was..."
"Did you hear what I just said?" the Air Commander spat, warning signals practically flaring from his tone of voice.
"Yes! Message received!" Quickly easing back into his carefree manner, Skywarp spoke, "There is certainly no doubting that you are our Starscream."
"No. There is not," Thundercracker agreed. "Now the trick will be for us all to survive the first day we are back together."
"Oh, we will survive," Starscream vowed. "At any cost. And we will find my little human, and we will keep her alive. Let nothing, let no one stand in your way."
"And if we come across Megatron?" Skywarp asked nervously.
"It will be his end," Starscream stated. But he had said that before on many different occasions. During times when he had far more advantages than he did now and followers in greater number, followers who had dwindled over the mega-cycles as his attempts to take out Megatron continually failed.
But this time it was a failure he could not afford to have. Signaling that he was ready, Skywarp teleported them miles from Megatron's stronghold.
"Stay here and regain your energy. Once you do, join us," Starscream commanded of Skywarp, knowing what a drain it could be on his systems to teleport more than one at a time. "Thundercracker, you're with me."