CHAPTER 17
The Human Factor
The sun had already begun to rise by the time Swindle returned to the forest, with Brawl towed in the back. Swindle was still singing joyfully over his success in his two missions, but especially over having duped the humans so easily.
After the night guard had dismissed the strange sound as part of his imagination, Swindle had proceeded to pop the tires of the other jeeps and military vehicles, to prevent the humans from following him. And indeed, as he had attached the hook to Brawl's front and Swindle's back and began driving off with the large tank, the humans noticed his theft and attempted to pursuit him. Oh, if only he could have seen their faces when they learned their vehicles had been immobilized!
He had not done anything to the tanks, as he did not expect the humans to follow him in those heavy, slow vehicles. Granted, Brawl himself was a tank, large and heavy, but Swindle was stronger than he seemed. His jeep mode did sport almost 300 horsepower, after all. Whatever that meant. He had heard the term somewhere and assumed it meant a great deal of strength, which it turned out to be.
In any case, Swindle was able to tow Brawl's tank form swiftly enough to outrun the humans even if they had decided to pursuit in their own actual tanks. Even so, he first arrived by the forest's edge where he left by sunrise, and turned to the left to enter the forest. He met no traffic on the way, as it was still very early in the morning.
By the time Swindle arrived at the MECH base and parked Brawl outside before transforming and entering the building, the pinkish morning sky had turned blue. It had taken longer to navigate through the woods with a several tons heavy tank on tow, and there were limits to Swindle's jeep strength, so he took it slower to better conserve energy now that he didn't have to hide from humans in traffic anymore.
Swindle entered the MECH facility and met with the three MECH soldiers, still trying to figure out how to make the mind-body link work between Silas and Breakdown, who seemed to have taken a great deal of damage from the several attempts to put Silas inside. He looked even worse than when they had first put him back together.
"Honey, I'm home!" Swindle sang joyfully as he entered, opened his cabin and brought out the surgical tools. "And I come bringing gifts! You won't believe the bargain I just made, it was practically a steal!"
"I'm sure it was," the MECH surgeon said and inspected Swindle's 'wares'. "Excellent work. Put the tools down on the table over here."
Swindle brought the tools to the table, in which after he proceeded to walk over by the wall and sit down. He took out his small drinking cube from his subspace.
"It would be wise of you to not take a drink right now," one of the two commandos warned Swindle as the latter was about to scoop some Energon from the bigger cube. "We'll need the Energon to bring back Silas, and according to the doc, it's going to happen soon."
"Oh really?" Swindle replied curiously and put away the still empty cube. "Did you figure out how to do the link?"
"I had a hypothesis and worked out a theory," the surgeon replied as he prepared the new tools for use. "But I think it will work. It may take the whole day to be ready, considering I'm the only one who can work on this."
"In that case, I will be outside and hang out with Brawl for a bit," Swindle replied and stood up again, heading for the exit.
"Brawl?" one of the commandos repeated. "Who's that?"
"Oh, just an old friend of mine," Swindle replied nonchalantly, "but he's dormant, so you don't have to worry about him. He probably won't wake up ever again."
The commandos continued to stare at Swindle for a few more seconds before returning their gazes to the surgeon working his magic. Swindle took it as a cue to that he was allowed to leave.
Swindle stepped outside the facility and sat down next to Brawl, still in tank mode. "Well, Brawl, it looks like you'll have to wait a bit longer before I can set you free," he said to the tank and smirked widely. "But don't worry, old friend. When you wake up again, we'll be back on the team. I have a good feeling about this. So let's be patient and let the humans have their fun while they can. It may be the last fun they'll ever have."
When the surgeon said it could take the whole day, he had not been kidding. Swindle occasionally checked in on the humans throughout the day, seeing the surgeon's progress with the spinal prostethis installation into Breakdown to be connected with Silas' own nervous system. He also noticed the human was mixing the Energon remaining in the cube with the blood Swindle had stolen. This made Swindle raise an optical ridge. Did the fleshling think Energon and blood would mix? Would that even work?
It certainly didn't seem like the red blood affected the coloration of the blue Energon. It seemed to vanish almost instantly. The surgeon ended up using three bags of O-negative blood.
Swindle also noticed the surgeon installing the defibrillator onto Silas' chest, apparently tweaking it to make it connect with Breakdown's body as well. The whole ordeal was puzzling to Swindle. Was this really how MECH was trying to perform the mind-body link between a human and a Transformer? He certainly was curious if their efforts would work out in the end.
Swindle had to wait until nightfall before the surgeon announced the operation complete, however. Swindle checked in with the humans once an hour before returning to chat with Brawl who couldn't talk back nor back off from the smaller bot's constant chattering. At the last of these hourly check-ins, Swindle let out a chuckle as he found Silas gone and Breakdown getting shocked and filled with Energon. Now was the time to see if the surgeon's efforts would bear fruit.
Breakdown's servos began moving, taking Swindle aback. Did it really work? It seemed the nervous system worked, at least, but would the monstrosity be sentient and functional?
The electrical surge grew stronger, and the humans had to duck to avoid getting shocked by the stray rays of electricity. Swindle too found himself having to seek cover behind the wall as one of those stray rays almost hit him. While Transformers did not have any water in their bodies, their entire frames were made of metal and thus conducting electricity as effectively as a simple human. One of the few weaknesses the two races shared.
After several seconds of wild electricity, the machine powered down and the surges ceased. Swindle dared peeking from his hiding spot and watched the scene before him unfolding.
At first, there was no movement in Breakdown's body, the experiment seemingly unsuccessful, as usual. But then, a few seconds later, Breakdown's right optic socket light turned on, followed by the left functional optic. The fallen warrior retained his yellow optic color, it seemed, much like the deceased Nemesis Prime's yellow optics.
After getting optical function online, Breakdown's face looked between his three remaining subordinates, failing to notice Swindle's eavesdropping. Swindle still wondered if it was Breakdown revived, or if it truly was Silas in there.
"Welcome back, sir," the surgeon greeted the resurrected giant.
The monstrosity lifted its servo and looked at it. "What have you done?" a voice, which clearly belonged to Silas, said.
"What we needed to," the surgeon replied, "in order to save you, Silas."
Silas clenched and unclenched his new servo, watching in fascination. "I'm... one of them," he concluded with an unreadable tone.
"The logical evolution of MECH's experiments in bio-tech," the surgeon explained. "Your brain, fused with the donor's nervous and skeletal systems."
Swindle watched with fascination how it seemed the surgeon's efforts had indeed born fruit. Project Chimera had been a success at last. That is, if that was still what Silas would call this.
"The perfect melt of man and machine," Silas concluded with a certain pleased tone. "Exquisite."
All on his own, Silas, with Breakdown's body, loosened himself from the machine that had previously kept Breakdown upright, and stepped down to the floor.
"Thank you all for your dedication and a lifetime of service," Silas said and stepped towards the three remaining soldiers of MECH. "But I now seem more suited to keep the exclusive company..." A cannon drew forth on Silas' left shoulder and pointed at the humans below. "...of titans."
Swindle watched with intrigue and slight horror as Silas proceeded to execute the two commandos and finally the surgeon. They had worked so hard to revive their leader, and all they got in return was a quick death. Swindle couldn't help but feel just a small tinge of pity for the soldiers' deaths. They hadn't really been friends, but he had still spent a month together with them since coming back online, and had spent over a decade in dormancy under MECH's control. And now, MECH had been eradicated by its own leader. How ironic.
As Silas prepared to exit the facility, Swindle made haste to step outside next to Brawl and meet the new monstrosity properly. As Silas stepped outside and his gaze fell on Swindle, the latter gave him a wide smile.
"Silas!" Swindle sang joyfully. "How great to see you back and fully functional! I must admit, I had not expected that surgeon to actually be capable of pulling off a trick like that. Such a waste to trash a genius like that, wasn't it?"
"Perhaps," Silas replied. "But what's done is done. Even if he was a genius, he was only human. And I will associate myself with those weaklings no more. I am now one of you. I am... Cybernetic Life Augmented by Symbiosis. I am Cylas."
Swindle's smile turned into a smirk, and he chuckled. "So you changed your name but kept the pronounciation the same? Very clever, old guy!"
Cylas' gaze went from Swindle to the tank next to him. "That is not one of our tanks," Cylas pointed out. "What is it doing here?"
"Oh this?" Swindle replied and clapped the chassis of the tank, gaze still set on Cylas. "This is my old friend, Brawl. He may not look like much now, but he's one Pit of a demolition bot! All we need is an Energon cube and he'll be back on his toes in no time!"
"That reminds me," Cylas said, returning his gaze to Swindle, "you are a Decepticon, aren't you?"
Swindle's smile fell. "Yes, why?"
"Then you can call Megatron and have us join the Decepticons like we are supposed to."
Swindle had expected this question, but he was still taken aback by the sudden order. "Uh, right, can we wait with that?" Swindle said uncertain. "I've been out of touch with the Decepticon warship for over a decade now, I'm not even sure if I can still call them."
Cylas let out a sigh. "Very well. Now that I think about it, there is something I would like to acquire before we call the lord himself."
Swindle watched in confusion as Cylas initiated vehicle mode for the first time. "Something? What is it?" Swindle asked and initiated vehicle mode himself, attaching himself to Brawl before the trio took off into the woods.
"You'll find out when we get there," Cylas replied and led his two Decepticon companions north towards America, the sun several hours from rising again.
Starscream found himself in a seemingly empty space, aside from a strange machine right in front of himself. That is, he was looking at himself, his eyes seemingly belonging to someone else. Right behind the Starscream that wasn't him, stood Megatron and stared at the Seeker in front of him. They both stood stalk stiff, as if they weren't even alive. He could see the red lights from Megatron's and Starscream's own optics, however.
Starscream looked down and saw several items scattered across the floor around the strange machine, along with a note right below the machine. It seemed to be some kind of instructions. It was a picture of the machine, as well as four items next to it. Between the machine and each of the items was a plus sign, and after the last item was an equal sign and a question mark.
Starscream looked around the room at the many scattered items. Perhaps he was supposed to fit four items into the machine, and... then what? Something would happen? Perhaps he should check it out.
Before Starscream could even inspect one of the items, Megatron suddenly pushed the other Starscream into the machine. He seemed to be going into a shredder of some sort, and red liquid splurted from the Starscream as he was swiftly chopped into pieces. Starscream watched in horror as his double was scrapped, not even wondering why the liquid was red instead of blue, but it certainly looked horrifying.
A few seconds later, the other Starscream suddenly reappeared in the same spot he had been before, as was Megatron, none of them seeming as if Starscream had just been brutally mauled by a weird shredder. The floor was still stained red, and chips of the former Starscream's armor still lay around among the scattered items.
Without thinking about it further, Starscream bent down and picked up one of the scattered items, a ball of some sort with a strange pattern. He carefully put it in the machine, which accepted the item without destroying it, it seemed. A strange whirring sound was heard from the machine.
Suddenly, Megatron once again pushed the other Starscream into the machine, and the metal was shredded and red liquid splashed everywhere.
Again the Starscream returned to his former spot along with Megatron a few seconds later, the floor now more stained than it was before. The red stuff seemed to be getting closer to the one Starscream was controlling. The ball had vanished from the floor.
Starscream picked up a small plane and a communicator and threw them into the shredder one by one. A whirring noise sounded as the first item was added and ended shortly before the second item was added, accompanied by another whirring noise.
Before Starscream could take another item, Megatron once again pushed the other Starscream into the shredder, and the red horror took place once again. Soon after, the two mechs reappeared in their same spots. The plane and communicator had both vanished, and the ball was still missing. The red stain was closing in on the one Starscream was seeing things from.
Determined to complete the task the instructions were apparently telling him, believing it would make this horror show stop, Starscream picked up the three nearest items to him, a bonsai tree, a clock and a blank card. He threw them into the shredder one by one, listening to the whirring sounds occuring as each item was added.
Before acquiring the last item, Megatron again threw Starscream into the shredder. The red stain on the floor was inches away from whoever Starscream was controlling. The three items, as well as the others he had given the shredder, remained missing.
A few seconds later, the other Starscream reappeared in his usual spot, but this time Megatron vanished all of a sudden. Starscream felt a rush in his tanks. This was his chance.
Without Megatron to disturb him, Starscream took his time wandering around the space and selecting four different items, occasionally glancing up at his double who was still staring emptily at the shredder. His gaze was blank, his mouth barely even a hard line. He seemed unaware of the other's existence or Megatron's missing presence, nor did he seem aware of the other Starscreams' fate.
Or... perhaps he knew, and he was dreading his fate that was yet to come, unable to do anything to stop it? Simply accepting his doom was coming, staring at the strange red floor with an empty expression, all while letting his double deciding how and when he should meet his end.
Starscream picked up a stuffed horned animal, a set of fake teeth, an iron, and a purple crystal. With all four items in hand, he reached the shredder, the red stain making way for him as he crossed the floor, keeping inches distance away from his feet.
Starscream began with the stuffed animal. The machine purred. He then threw in the iron, followed by a whirring noise. He tossed the fake teeth into the machine, and some huffing mixed with purring could be heard from the machine. Finally, he added the crystal. The machine huffed even louder, similar to a coughing.
This time, instead of the other Starscream meeting his end, the shredder instead whirred for several seconds before a picture was printed out from some opening in the machine. Starscream gazed down at the picture. It seemed to be some sort of metal creature with horns, sharp teeth and purple crystals growing from several places on its body, including its eyes.
A loud growling sounded from his right, and he looked up, as did the other Starscream. Megatron came walking down a flight of stairs that had suddenly appeared out of nowhere.
Why is he still ALIVE?! Megatron's thundering voice was heard through the space.
Megatron walked past the other Starscream, instead heading straight to the one Starscream was controlling, the real Starscream. Starscream briefly gazed down at the floor. The red floor had completely engulfed his feet - not pedes, he seemed to be... a human?
When Starscream looked up again, Megatron was standing right above him. The warlord grabbed Starscream, the world turning around.
The last thing Starscream saw was Megatron throwing him into the shredder.
Starscream sat up with a start and a shriek. He looked around, finding himself back in his room in the Autobot base.
"Just a nightmare," he said quietly to himself and held on his head. "What a weird dream..."
He looked down at himself and noticed the injuries he had gained from his battle with Thundercracker were still there, barely recovered even a slight bit.
"Right, an Energon cube," he said to himself and got onto his legs. "Can't believe I forgot to take a cube."
As he exited his room, he was surprised to find the hallways covered in darkness. Perhaps the Autobots had decided to take their own recharge shifts tonight? But that must mean there was still at least one Autobot awake in the command center to keep nightwatch. Probably Ratchet. That medic rarely slept, as far as Starscream knew. The only sleep he had seen him take was when he was put in stasis for surgery almost two months ago. Otherwise he worked day and night on that Synthetic Energon formula.
Despite the darkness, Starscream, like any Cybertronian, had great night vision, so finding his way around in the dark base was not too difficult. The very few, dim lamps situated here and there were enough to give him a somewhat clear vision of the hallways.
Starscream arrived at the fork of which the hallway in front led to the command center and the right hallway led to a rack filled with miscellaneous items such as first aid kits, Energon prods, stasis cuffs and other things. His gaze fell on the hallway leading to the left. Come to think of it, he had never entered that hallway before, barely even noticed it the first time he actually escaped the base. Perhaps it led to the Autobots' Energon storage?
Starscream made a decision and went the left way. He soon arrived in a brightly lit room, not by lamps, but by a nice stack of Energon cubes, as he suspected. He counted there to be about 32 cubes, as it was a seemingly perfect pyramid with one cube at the top, a layer of nine cubes underneath and the third and final layer having twenty-two cubes. Considering they were currently seven Autobots living in the base, as well as taking into account each Autobot will only take one cube once a week, he concluded these cubes would last another month before they needed to go on another raid to get more. At the very least three more weeks until they had to think about going on a raid.
Starscream made a decision and took the cube situated at the top of the pyramid, opened the lid and began drinking the contents, still standing in the storage. It took about a minute before the cube was empty. He put the empty cube down on the floor next to the full ones. Ratchet could take care of that later.
As Starscream returned to the fork, he almost ran into said Ratchet, arriving from the opposite hallway, apparently having retrieved something from the rack. Both bots stiffened and locked gazes, only really able to tell the other was present because of their glowing red and cyan optics.
"Starscream," Ratchet greeted. "What are you doing up so late?"
"I was... getting that cube you told me to earlier," Starscream admitted. "I just remembered that I forgot about it."
Ratchet looked skeptically at him. "At three in the morning?"
"It's that late?"
"You don't know the time?"
"I don't have a clock. Or a calender. I had wanted to ask if I could have any of those. Just, you know, so I can keep track of the days. Oh, and maybe a mirror too? I miss looking at myself..."
"Yes, I'm sure you do." Ratchet went silent for a moment. "But, sure, I suppose we can give you a clock. It might be a bit more difficult to get a calender though, not to mention a mirror."
"It's just a mirror, any reflective surface that isn't clear will do, really."
"Is there any other reason why you're awake right now?"
Starscream contemplated. "I had a bad dream," he decided. "Or, a weird one, at least. I'm not sure if it was bad enough to be called a nightmare... but it was pretty creepy, at the very least."
"Do you want to talk about it?"
"Not really."
Silence fell over them. Ratchet seemed as if he wanted to say something, but he kept silent.
"You took a long time to get home this evening," Ratchet finally remarked. "Any reason for that?"
"No reason."
"You sure? When the others returned, they reported you seemed upset over fighting your former subordinates."
Starscream cringed by the memory. "I wasn't upset, I was angry. But I'm over it now. I'm fine."
Starscream was already heading towards the right, but Ratchet got between the hallways to block him.
"If you have any problems, you need to let us know, Starscream," Ratchet said with a serious tone. "Are you sure there's nothing going on that we should worry about? Are you keeping any secrets from us?"
Starscream cringed yet again. "I'm fine, doctor," Starscream replied, trying his best not to hiss at him. "I'm just tired. I need recharge, so I can recover from my wounds. That's what you told me, remember? So please, doctor, let me pass so I can get some rest."
They stared each other down in silence for what felt like minutes. In the end, Ratchet gave in and stepped aside, letting Starscream pass.
"Goodnight, Ratchet," Starscream said and left for his room.
Ratchet looked after the Seeker for a moment longer before returning to the command center with what he had retrieved. The command center was also dimly lit, though stronger lights were glowing by the medbay, where Ratchet sat down to continue his work on the Synthetic Energon formula, using the notes Starscream had given him.
"One day, Starscream," Ratchet whispered to himself before endulging in his work, "you will tell us the truth."
The next morning - or perhaps it was rather noon, as he had to catch up on lost rest from his bad dream - Starscream rose up, stretched his limbs and clutched the good-luck necklace on his right wrist.
He stared at the door. Considering yesterday's events, he wasn't keen on going for a fly or even going outside yet. He wasn't sure he was mentally ready yet to face the others. He needed some alone time in his room.
Starscream went to his desk, sat down and decided to play with some of his puzzles. He picked one of the metal rod puzzles and began fiddling with them, trying to get them apart. Come to think of it, he hadn't actually tried these puzzles yet, had he? He didn't think so. He had done the jigsaw cubes, the rectangles and the planks, and of course the Rubik's Cube that had taken him ten days to figure out before solving it in six hours the first time, then a little over two minutes the second time. He then remembered the world record was in almost four seconds, and he cringed. Oh well, he could probably try that out later.
Starscream managed to get the two rods apart in a few minutes and triumphed. He gazed between the two rods, wondering if maybe he should try to put them back together again? Just for fun, he decided to try. But it also ended up taking several minutes before he could put them back together again, as he hadn't been sure how he got specifically those two apart.
As he finished, he put the rods down and took another pair forth. This pair was much easier to get apart, as well as back together. He took them apart and put them back together a few times just to feel that tinge of genius that he could so easily seperate and unite them.
Starscream spent most of the day doing his puzzles, and when he got bored with them, he decided to grab a datapad and read up on his G.I. Joe. He was halfway through the next chapter when he dazed off. His thoughts went to his past. To Jetfire. To his old body.
Something in Starscream's head clicked, and he shut down the datapad, putting it back on the shelf with the others. He took a blank datapad and a pen and sat back down by the desk. He hadn't used a blank datapad since the time he had written down the list of items he had left behind on the Nemesis. But this time he wasn't planning to write.
He decided to draw. He drew some circles and lines that first appeared to be mere doodles, but after several minutes, the drawing soon turned out to have arms and legs, a head and a pair of wings. He drew thicker lines over the sketch and made it more detailed.
After what seemed like an hour or two, Starscream switched the color of the pen from black to red, rubbed it against the datapad, turned the color blue, rubbed it against the datapad, turned it white and scribbled over the drawing for several minutes. At one point he turned the pen yellowish-orange and rubbed the pen on the datapad for only a few seconds before again turning the pen black, continued by more scribbling.
After about three hours, Starscream's drawing was done. He put down the pen and admired his work.
He had drawn himself. How he looked before the fall of Cybertron, in his old body. That big, strong, bulky yet sleek body, admired by many, both Fliers and Grounders. The cloudy white frame with sky blue arms and pedes, his torso a scarlet red, his helm almost pitch black, his face a darker gray than most Seekers' faces had been. And of course those pretty golden optics, which later turned red when he joined with the Decepticons, as happened to many Cybertronians. It was a phenomenon that often occured when the new members accepted the Decepticon sigil, as well as the new programmings, comm. link and other things. Still, it was a mystery why some bots changed optic color while others remained the same, such as Breakdown.
Starscream longingly admired his old body on the drawing for a long time, perhaps as long as an hour or more. Along with his strength, speed, intelligence, flight and battle prowess, he had also been a beautiful mech. Many, especially in Vos, admired his beautiful frame. And the way he moved in the sky, whether in bot or jet mode, was also graceful.
He had been an idol for many Fliers, someone to look up to, someone to strive to become. Not so much with his person, as he was admittedly not the nicest or best mech, but everyone had to admit he had style, talent and beauty like no other Flier. It was little wonder that he became not only Air Commander of the Seekers, but also Winglord of Vos, despite his young age. Granted, the other Seekers that were created the same time as him were also talented and excellent at flying, but that was because of the so-called 'Seeker' body-type their manufacturers had created for them.
The frame Starscream and the others had been created in were arguably the best flight frames when it came to flying. The alternate mode was small but powerful and durable, as well as speedy and with lots of room for agility and dodging. The bot mode itself was likewise strong and agile, capable of delivering speedy and powerful attacks, as well as being capable of flight at some speed though not as fast as in jet mode. The frames were usually sleek with beautiful features and very expressive wings.
Because of all these facts, the body-type was often called the 'Seeker body', and bots with these frames were often instantly referred to as 'Seekers', even if said bot wasn't actually a Seeker. Seeker was a term given to the best Fliers on Cybertron, something you had to earn, and not something you were born with. Seeker was not actually a race, but most of Cybertron had made it into a race, simply because it happened to be the best frame for Seekers, as well as the most common body-type among Seekers.
Personally Starscream didn't mind the controversy of his so-called race. It made sense when even non-Seekers had the best bodies for flying. There had been many Fliers with Seeker bodies who didn't like being called Seekers when they weren't though. Some had decided to make up for it by becoming actual Seekers at the Vos Seeker Academy, where promising Fliers could go and test themselves and their flight skills against other flight frames and see if they were worthy enough to gain the title of Seeker. Almost all Fliers with Starscream's body-type passed in the academy, while other body-types were less common, such as Jetfire's body-type.
Jetfire had been big for a Seeker, and his alternate mode, while still a jet, more closely resembled a shuttle, such as the Combaticon Blast-Off. Despite his large size, however, Jetfire was a surprisingly excellent Flier, almost comparable to Starscream himself. Jetfire had been one of Starscream's many admirers and often tried to get his attention by showing off his own aerial skills, both in speed and agility. Starscream had to admit he was impressed with the big guy's performance considering his size, but his constant showing off and following Starscream around everywhere had been a bit annoying. Starscream would have told the bot off if it wasn't because he had been so Primus damned charming.
Starscream smiled and fluttered with his wings, thinking back on those good times. Jetfire himself had also been quite handsome and with gorgeous detailling, not to mention his almost pure white paintjob and those pretty blue optics. He had only been annoyed with him because the big guy seemed unable to know the appropriate times for showing off and when to play it cool. Sometimes his performances had been outright embarrassing to the smaller Seeker. Especially since Starscream had had a reputation to keep, which meant he had to politely reject Jetfire whenever this one had gotten a bit too bold in public.
But whenever they had been alone, Starscream gladly watched Jetfire's performances and serenades in an attempt to impress the tri-colored Seeker. Admittedly, Starscream had also been interested in Jetfire, but he liked to play hard-to-get. It was more fun that way, making them work for his attention.
Eventually, as they got to know each other better, and as Starscream didn't have many friends himself, they ended up becoming pretty good friends and hung out together more often than with their own Trines. And at some point, Starscream didn't know when or how, Starscream himself had asked Jetfire to be his Amica Endura. Which Jetfire gladly accepted.
They had performed the ritual in the air, flying in robot mode, above the city of Vos. They bared their Spark chambers to each other, telling each other how they valued the other, and created a bond between their Sparks. After the ritual, they had then continued on with their work in Vos and Crystal City, as part of the Energon Seekers. They became Amica not long before Starscream took over Overlord's position as Winglord and Red Wing's position as Air Commander.
Now though, after Megatron had stormed Trypticon Station and forced Starscream to have him and the Seekers join the Decepticons, and Jetfire abandoned them in favor of joining the Autobots, the bond between the two Amica seemed almost broken. Now, he could not even feel Jetfire's Spark signature anymore. Normally, it would have meant he was dead, which Starscream partly believed, but at the same time he didn't want to completely believe it.
They had already had a falling out before Megatron raided the station, and after Jetfire left him, Starscream felt almost no connection with Jetfire anymore. Their relationship had been strained, weakening the bond they used to feel so easily between them. Jetfire could still be alive, but because of their falling out, their Spark link was weak and almost non-existing anymore. Starscream deeply hoped Jetfire was still alive, and hoped they would see each other again some day, perhaps when or if the war ended some day. And if that were to happen, he hoped they could sort things out, try to make it work again.
Starscream's gaze had fallen on the green gemstone on his right wrist. His claw traced a small crack across the surface of the stone. It had appeared shortly after he joined the Decepticons, though he had not put much thought into it back then, what with the war going on and everything. Now that he was paying attention to it, he wondered if it had been damaged at some point, or if it was due to the whole Spark energy rumor Jetfire had told him about. Logically it would have been the former, but something deep in his mind told him it was the latter. Had the gem cracked when they had their falling out and their bond weakened? Was it some kind of symbol?
Starscream let out a sigh and saved the image on his datapad before leaning it against the wall at the back of the table, displaying his old body like a framed photo. He rose from his seat and decided he had been cooped up long enough in his room now. It was time to go for a fly.
As he entered the command center, he noticed Jack and Miko had both arrived in the base but Rafael was absent. All the bots seemed to be present, Bulkhead having recovered more and doing more exercises with Miko to cheer him on. He didn't seem to be in as good a mood as his partner though.
Starscream was still deep in his thoughts as he was approaching the big elevator when his presence was noticed.
"Hey Starscream," Miko greeted cheerfully and pulled Starscream from his thoughts. "What's up?"
"Oh, nothing much," Starscream replied quietly. "I'm just going to go for a fly and I'll be back."
"Don't be too long, it's raining," Ratchet replied from his workplace.
Starscream looked back in confusion as he opened the elevator. "Raining? In the desert?"
"Yeah, it happens sometimes," Jack replied and pulled out his phone. "I'm gonna call Raf and see what's holding him up."
"You do that," Starscream said and entered the elevator. "I will go spread my wings for a bit. See ya."
When Starscream reached topside, he was surprised to see it really was raining. A lot, even. The thick rain clouds covered the entire area and darkened the canyon. It looked like it was evening, though it was probably closer to being late afternoon, considering one of the kids still hadn't finished the school day yet.
Despite the rain, Starscream really wanted and needed to fly, so he stepped outside and made haste in switching to jet form, blasting off into the sky, getting himself soaked with cold droplets of water. He ascended further into the sky, until he reached above the rain clouds. Reaching the top of the clouds, he found himself in the presence of the sun, low on the sky, seemingly about to set. There was no rain up here, allowing him to dry off with what little sunlight remained on the sky above the storm.
Starscream fell back into his thoughts of the past as he flew across the sky, intending to watch the sunset before returning to base.
Swindle and Cylas ended up driving throughout most of the next day, watching the sunrise as they crossed the border between Mexico and the United States of America, then watching as the day progressed and the sky became covered with thick clouds, darkening the area they drove in. Nobody they met asked about the tank towed behind the tiny jeep. Swindle had activated James, his holographic driver, and Cylas had his human part in the cabin of Breakdown's body, so they didn't have to worry about suspicions of being giant transforming alien robots. Probably.
They drove across New Mexico, reaching the borders between Colorado, Arizona and Utah before progressing into Utah, where the clouds were so thick and dark it seemed to be about to rain. It was late afternoon when Swindle decided to question his guide.
"Uh, Cylas?" Swindle began, "not that I don't trust you or anything, but where exactly are we going? We've been driving for over twelve hours now and you haven't said a thing since we took off."
"We're almost there," Cylas replied without stopping. "And then you'll see."
"I don't know how well-fueled you are, but I for one am beginning to get a bit tired and hungry here. Whaddya say we stop and search for some Energon, huh?"
"Didn't you say Megatron controls all the Energon mines on the planet? Wouldn't that be like stealing from him? The guy we want to join?"
Swindle huffed in annoyance. "You make some excellent points, human," he said, the last part in barely a whisper. "Fine, but at least tell me how much longer I have to drag this heavy load with me."
"I estimate we are about an hour from our destination," Cylas replied after a moment. "Can you hold on until then, Swindle?"
Swindle mentally smirked. "Very well, I can hold on for another hour. Tell me when we get there."
Silence fell between them, and Swindle had a hard time to not fall into recharge through the dark afternoon, Brawl beginning to grow almost unbearably heavy on him.
Despite how late in the day it was, Starscream ended up spending more than half an hour flying before the sun had set. That's when Starscream decided he had flown enough and needed to return to the base.
As he descended below the clouds, he was once again soaked in the rain, neither having gotten more or less extreme and cringed by the coldness. He sped up to get back to the base as quickly as possible so he could warm up again. He soon landed on the platform and returned to bot mode, stepping into the elevator.
As soon as the elevator doors opened to the command center, Starscream was met by a start as Bulkhead threw the Apex Armor disc into one of Ratchet's monitors.
"Bulkhead!" Ratchet exclaimed, "I needed that!"
Bulkhead growled and pushed Smokescreen away as he limped away. "Out of my way, rookie!" the Wrecker snarled.
"He can walk!" Smokescreen exclaimed excitedly, completely indifferent about Bulkhead's apparent anger.
Bulkhead walked a few steps before bending down and picking up the lobbing ball off the floor, which Starscream hadn't noticed until now, and began doing arm exercises with it under loud grunts.
"Looks like he's fit for duty to me," Smokescreen commented, ever so cheery.
Next to him, Ratchet grumpily muttered something along the lines of 'I don't even know what you're talking about,' before turning to try to fix the broken monitor.
Crisis over with, Starscream decided it was safe enough now to step into the command center and descended to the floor. He went over to Arcee, who had also been watching the scene.
"What was all that about?" Starscream asked, keeping his gaze on the Wrecker and the rookie.
Arcee side-glanced Starscream for a moment before answering. "Smokescreen offered the Apex Armor to Bulkhead," she replied lowly. "And Bulk, well, didn't take it very well."
"I saw that."
"You've gotta be kidding, Raf," Jack's voice sounded from the railings, drawing the bots' attention. "You, of all people, grounded?"
Jack was sitting in one of the armchairs in the humans' living room area, his phone sitting on the arm of the chair, apparently on speaker.
"BIG time," Raf's voice was heard from the phone. "I misplaced some homework and blew a couple of tests."
"Translation: A-minus instead of A," Miko commented.
"I'm probably spending too much time at the base," Raf continued. A woman's voice, having what sounded like a Spanish accent, could be slightly heard from the phone saying: "Rafael, I hope you're not on the phone in there!", to which Rafael replied: "No, mama!", before again addressing his friends in the base: "Say hi to Bee for me. Until I improve these grades, I'm off Team Prime."
The phone hung up, and the two humans present in the base looked up from the phone at Bulkhead, still busy with his arm exercise.
"Just when we get one back, we lose another," Miko said in a sad tone.
Starscream hummed at the conversation. He walked over to the railings, gaining the humans' attention.
"I find it funny that you use the term grounded to refer to house arrest," Starscream commented with a slight smirk. "Normally it means being stripped of your ability to fly, something that only occurs to Fliers."
"Bots don't get grounded on Cybertron for missing school?" Miko asked.
"No, they do, but we don't call it grounded. We just call it... house arrest. Maybe. I don't really know, I've never been that. I did get actual arrested once though..."
Starscream blinked widely, his smirk disappearing, but shortly returned, a bit more forced. Miko crossed her arms, giving a smirk of her own.
"And what'd ya do to get arrested, huh?" she asked.
Starscream's optics darted from side to side before settling on the floor, and he crossed his own arms. "False ID," he confessed. "I changed my personal information, I was busted and put in prison for ten years."
Miko's smirk disappeared and she let her arms fall to her sides.
"Wow, ten years for false identification?" Jack replied, equally surprised. "Why did you change it in the first place?"
Starscream turned, trying not to look at any of them. "I changed my name and creation method, because I couldn't get a job because I'm Cold Constructed."
This made a few of the other bots look up, but they didn't engage in questions. They let him continue talking on his own.
"You're kidding," Miko replied with shock. "You couldn't get a job because you were created differently?"
"Well, it's not like I couldn't get a job," Starscream continued. "But I couldn't get any of the jobs that I wanted. You'd think someone with my talent and status would have ease with getting into any academy or getting any job I desired. But alas, I was no better off than Megatron, even though our castes were so far apart. I had options, but because of my creation, bots could legally refuse to give me a job or even let me in their properties. Even hospitals could legally refuse me, even if I was to be on the brink of death."
Starscream gulped silently, hoping it wasn't noticed by anyone. There was silence for a while before Miko asked another question.
"So, you said you changed your name as well," Miko said. "What did you change it into?"
"Starscream," Starscream replied before he could stop himself.
This took almost everyone by surprise. But the bots restrained themselves, letting the humans do the questioning, as they seemed to be doing so well with him.
"So, if you changed your name into Starscream," Jack said, "what was your name before?"
Starscream bit his lip. He had perhaps talked a bit too much. His gaze darted around the room, locking onto each present bot's face, each looking away when he looked, but seemingly interested in knowing his previous name.
Starscream gazed back at the humans, both waiting in anticipation. He contemplated whether to tell them or not.
Starscream's wings drooped, his optics closing and his face seeming to become bluish. Was he blushing?
"...Ulchtar," he finally said, barely a whisper, with his head lowered and his optics still closed, refusing to look at any of them. "But that was a long time ago. It was my name for only the first ten years of my life. I've been Starscream ever since. And I prefer if you just forget you heard me tell you all these things."
There was silence for several seconds. Starscream dared opening his optics and looked at the humans, simply smiling but not in a mocking way. He gazed around at the Autobots, who likewise didn't seem to be mocking him.
"It's a horrible name, I know," Starscream hissed at their gazes and tried to look away.
"It's not that bad," Arcee said calmly.
"I didn't choose it myself in the first place," Starscream said. "It was some Grounder who was in charge of activating and naming us before we were sent off into society. There were eleven of us, I think. Thundercracker, Skywarp, Hotlink, Bitstream, Nacelle, the Rainmakers, Red Wing and Sunstorm. Those were the ones I was created along with. They all got cool names, and what did I get? Ulchtar. And he even told us name-changing was a possibility, but almost impossible for CC's like us. That's why I changed my name and my origin to Forged. And guess what? I got a job. For five years, until I was found out and arrested. They tried to get me to tell them my real name, but I refused. I got out again after ten years, origin changed back to Cold Construct, but I got to keep the name Starscream. That was one thing I would not let them take from me."
Starscream looked around for a reaction. The humans seemed to pity him, as did the bots. Maybe, a little bit, perhaps. Starscream shook his head and snorted.
"I don't even know why I'm telling you these things," he hissed, standing up straight. "These highly personal things that I never tell anyone about. I wish you humans would stop with your endless questions."
"Maybe you should learn to control your endless chattering," Ratchet countered from the medbay.
"That's asking a bit too much," Starscream replied. "It's part of my charm. I can't change that even if I wanted to."
Before the conversation could advance further, Agent Fowler arrived from the human elevator.
"I have news," Agent Fowler informed and descended to the railings. "And I think you'll find it quite shocking."
An hour later, Swindle and Cylas did indeed arrive at the location the latter apparently wanted to go to - a military base. At the entrance gate, Cylas pulled to a stop, and Swindle stopped right behind him, watching what Cylas was going to do.
The gate guard walked out of the gate building and seemed to ask for identification, and Cylas rolled down the cabin window, revealing his scarred face.
"Colonel Leland Bishop," Cylas identified.
Swindle rolled down his own window to reveal his holographic driver.
"Admiral James Von Schneider," Swindle said, holding back a snicker. He knew they were only exchanging names for formalities and for show. Especially since the guard seemed to recognize the face and the name of Cylas and sounded the alarm. And perhaps that large tank towed behind the tiny jeep and the less-than-conspicuous black-suited driver were clear signs of something being up.
Despite the sound of the alarm, Cylas raced through the closed gate, breaking it and entering the military base grounds, Swindle following close behind.
As the soldiers of the base got outside and pointed their weapons at the three vehicles, Cylas rolled up his window again and initiated transformation to robot mode, followed by Swindle, who first unhooked himself from Brawl before switching to bot mode as well.
"You have something that belongs to me," Cylas accused and drew forth the cannon on his left shoulder. "And I have every intention of getting it back."
On the Nemesis, Thundercracker and Skywarp had mostly recovered from their wounds in their battle with the Autobots the previous day, and decided to go to the command center for something to do. Upon entering, they found Soundwave and Knock Out each watching over their own monitors across from one another. Megatron was in his usual spot by the far end of the room. Dreadwing seemed to be absent.
"Hey, Soundwave, old guy!" Skywarp greeted the intelligence officer. "How's it goin'? Still the strong, silent type? You and Laserbeak get up to anything interesting lately?"
Soundwave didn't even look away from his monitor or anything else to acknowledge Skywarp's presence, let alone return his greeting.
"Cold as ever, I see," Skywarp replied with a snicker. "What about you, K.O.?"
"You seem chippier than yesterday, Skywarp," Knock Out commented, actually looking away from his monitor to acknowledge the Seekers' presences. "And your wounds seem to have healed entirely."
"Only thanks to you, doctor," Thundercracker replied, less chippy than his Trinemate. "And now that we are healed, we are ready to receive orders. Lord Megatron?"
Megatron turned to look at the two Seekers. "As I recall," the warlord began, "you have scientific knowledge, am I correct, Thundercracker?"
Thundercracker seemed taken aback by the question. "Uh, yes, my liege," he replied. "By nature, I am a scientist, but I can be a warrior too, if you need me there."
"Our array of scientists is short," Megatron continued. "I currenly only have Knock Out at my disposal. You would be of more use to me as a scientist than a warrior. We have plenty of those."
Thundercracker moped. "You mean..."
"From now on, I want you to work with Knock Out in analyzing any new relics we acquire and what may follow. If I shall need an extra warrior on the battlefield, I shall summon you, but until that time, you are to remain on the warship with Knock Out. Is that clear?"
Thundercracker seemed to cringe but bowed his head. "I understand, sir," the blue Seeker replied. "I shall help where my abilities shine the most."
With that, Thundercracker left Skywarp's side to join with the doctor by his monitor. Skywarp stared after his Trinemate and back at Megatron.
"Uh, what about me, Megatron?" Skywarp asked, pointing at himself. "I, er, mean, Lord Megatron! Will I remain on the ship too?"
"Do you have skills as a scientist or an intelligence officer?" Megatron asked, staring directly into Skywarp's optics, giving the latter a strange sense of dread.
"Uh, not really," Skywarp replied. "But, uh, I'm good at pranks! Like, teleporting behind the enemy and giving them a smack in the back of the head! And! If there's a flight of stairs, and a bot at the top, they can never escape my pushing technique!"
Megatron stared at Skywarp for a long time, not even moving an inch. Skywarp looked around at the other Decepticons in the room. Everyone seemed to stare at him with the same dumbfounded expressions as Megatron displayed. Skywarp felt a warmth rising in his face as he returned his gaze to his leader.
"So, uh..."
"You will remain a warrior for now," Megatron decided. "Under supervision, that is."
Skywarp smiled widely, mostly from nervousness. "Fine by me! I'll show those Autochums what I'm made of! I will-"
"Strange," Knock Out suddenly said, cutting Skywarp's words. The monitor he was standing by was beeping with a Decepticon energy signal, drawing Soundwave's attention as well. "Lord Megatron, it appears that Breakdown's signal has popped back online! Albeit corrupted..."
Megatron gazed intently at Knock Out, glancing between the doctor and the monitor displaying Breakdown's facial image.
"Investigate with caution," Megatron ordered. "It may well be an Autobot trick."
"I certainly hope not," Knock Out replied. "Breakdown may act the brute, but he's a maestro behind the rotary buffer!"
"Shall I accompany you, doctor?" Thundercracker asked.
"Nah, I'll just get some of the troopers with me. You stay behind here and watch over the monitor for me, big guy."
Thundercracker wanted to scowl but decided not to, and took Knock Out's place by the monitor as the doctor exited the command center to find his long-lost partner.
When Knock Out arrived in the place where Breakdown's signal had popped up - a military base in some desert state - he found the entire base wrecked and smoking, and destroyed helicopters, jeeps and other army vehicles lay about, some of them emitting black smoke. He had brought four Vehicon Fliers with him as a precaution. While the Vehicons themselves weren't all that threatening, it was always good to have some backup, if not for fighting then at least for display. One was always safer in numbers.
Knock Out looked from side to side and gazed at the large facility with tons of smoke emitting from a large hole in it. He heard a faint sound of pedesteps coming from the facility. In the next few seconds, Breakdown's sillhouette did indeed step out from the smoking building, dragging some kind of large suitcase with him.
"Breakdown!" Knock Out greeted joyfully. "Where have you-"
Knock Out paused when Breakdown turned to look at the doctor. The left optical socket was missing its patch and under the socket were thick black cracks, giving his face an eerie look. As the smoke began clearing around the wannabe-Wrecker, Knock Out could clearly see his former partner had large white scars and cracks all over his chassis. His frame was very dark and rusty, almost as if he was... dead.
"Breakdown?" Knock Out repeated in horror. "What happened to you?"
"Therein lies a tape," a voice, definitely not belonging to Breakdown, spoke, "which won't be nearly as interesting to Megatron as this." The monstrosity lifted the arm holding the strange suitcase up and gave the doctor a smirk. "So... take me to your leader."
Knock Out stared at the monstrosity in disbelief. Behind the large smoke cloud, another sillhouette appeared, though smaller and sleeker than Breakdown's. Knock Out noticed the sillhouette sported a pair of large glowing purple optics.
"Hey there, Knock Out," a strangely familiar voice sounded from the sillhouette. The smoke began clearing a bit, and the bot stepped out so Knock Out could better identify him. A small olive green and purple bot, about Knock Out's height and stature, seemingly unarmed and wearing a wide toothy smirk on his face, gaze locked on Knock Out. "Long time no see."
It took a few seconds before Knock Out recognized the bot before him. "Swindle?" he said with surprise. "You're alive."
"And not alone," Swindle snickered and went over to the only unharmed vehicle in the base - a large, grayish green tank. He clapped the tank on its chassis. "I'd like to order a reservation for two. Three, if you'll allow me to bring my new friend Cylas over there."
Back in the Autobot base, Agent Fowler relayed a shocking piece of information to the Autobots, all gathered in the command center.
"At 16:30 hours, a satellite was stolen from a high security military vault," Agent Fowler informed. "Surveillance shows the Decepticon known as Breakdown at the scene."
"Breakdown?" Bulkhead repeated shocked. "But he's dead, isn't he? Didn't Swindle tell us he was snuffed by-"
"Airachnid," Arcee ended. "I remember you saying that." Arcee never forgot any conversation including Airachnid's name. It was almost a superpower.
"Perhaps he had been lying after all," Starscream suggested. "Or perhaps he himself was given wrong information. We'll never know."
"Or maybe we will," Optimus said. "Please continue, Agent Fowler."
Agent Fowler nodded and continued, gesturing the video feed of what appeared to be Breakdown. "It looks like Breakdown entered the base in vehicle mode, with someone behind the wheel."
This was quite a surprise to the residents of the command center. "A Decepticon paired with a human?" Ratchet remarked skeptically.
"And I have a pretty good hunch who," Agent Fowler continued. "The stolen satellite was Project Damocles."
"Invented by Silas," Optimus concluded for him.
"I guess the former Colonel Bishop wanted it back," Fowler continued.
"He's still alive?" Bumblebee bleeped confused.
"Yeah," Arcee said in agreement. "I thought Silas was paste."
"So did I," Agent Fowler replied.
"Agent Fowler," Ratchet said, "even if he were alive, are you suggesting that Silas has allied MECH with the Decepticons? I highly doubt that Megatron would entertain such an idea!"
"Why not?" Jack asked from the railings. "The human-bot alliance works for us."
"Most of the time," Arcee commented.
The talk about MECH joining with the Decepticons got Starscream thinking. I wonder how Swindle is doing?
On the flight deck of the Nemesis, Knock Out and the Vehicons exited the GroundBridge with Cylas and Swindle, all pushing Brawl through the portal until they were all through. As the portal closed, Swindle took a look around and smiled.
"Ah, it's good to be back home," the Combaticon remarked. "I can't wait to hit my old quarters and relax with some Energon!"
"Before that," Cylas said, "perhaps we should go introduce ourselves to our new master?"
"Oh yes, right," Swindle replied and clapped the tank. "I'll be back soon, Brawl!"
Knock Out was not very pleased as he led the Combaticon and monstrosity he had learned was the leader of the human organization MECH into the warship. They all remained silent, though Swindle was humming a cheery tune, ever in a good mood. It was slightly annoying to his companions, but they decided to ignore him.
When they arrived at the command center, Swindle decided to linger behind for a bit, first allowing Knock Out and Cylas to enter. He knew Megatron would not be happy with the monstrosity, and the Combaticon would want to wait so he could cheer up the warlord with the news of his return. Surely he would be pleased!
Swindle stayed near the entrance out of Megatron's and the Seekers' sights, and sharpened his audio receptors to listen to the conversation in the command center.
"Knock Out," Megatron's very displeased voice sounded, "what is this abomination? And why have you brought it here?"
"I am Cylas," Cylas greeted, "as in Cybernetic Life Augmented by Symbiosis. I come with a proposition."
"This is the human who dissected Breakdown!" Knock Out's even more displeased voice sounded, followed by the whirring noise of a circular saw. "Please, my liege, allow me to return the favor!"
It didn't sound like Megatron said anything, but Cylas was quick to defend himself. "I propose that you not overlook the one asset that provides Optimus Prime an advantage," Cylas' voice sounded, keeping his calm. "At least, on this world."
"And that would be?" Megatron finally asked.
"The human factor," Cylas replied.
"Look around you, Cylas," Megatron said. "I command an army from a mighty warship. What could a human possibly offer?"
"I am no ordinary human," Cylas replied. "And this is no ordinary weapon."
"Damocles is a particle beam cannon so powerful, it could slice up the pentagon like a birthday cake," Agent Fowler explained further in the Autobot base, "or give everyone on Mount Rushmore a mohawk, all from a satellite in orbit. It's the work of a madman, and in Megatron's hands..."
"...a threat to anyone," Megatron concluded, "anywhere on the planet."
"With pin-point accuracy at the flick of a switch," Cylas confirmed.
"And what is it that you wish in return?"
"Merely a place at the table."
As it sounded like Megatron was sufficiently calm, Swindle decided to make his entrance. He stepped into the command center, gaining looks from Soundwave, Knock Out and - surprise, surprise, the Seekers Thundercracker and Skywarp!
"I hope you weren't planning to throw a surprise party," Swindle announced upon his entry, gaining Megatron and Cylas' attention, "because I am here now, and I see no confetti or balloons anywhere."
Megatron stared blankly at the approaching bot for a few seconds before barking a laugh. "Swindle! How pleasant to see you after so many years," Megatron greeted with a toothy smile. "I seem to be getting old warriors back a lot recently. I hope you did not come alone."
"Far from it, my liege," Swindle said with his own smirk and stopped a few meters away from the warlord. "I came with Cylas here, but I also brought an old friend of mine. He's kind of low on energy though, so I was wondering if you could allow me to take one of your Energon cubes so I can wake him up?"
Megatron assumed a slightly surprised look. "And who is this old friend of yours?"
"Brawl. He's on the flight deck, currently stuck in tank mode."
Megatron chuckled merrily by the information. "Excellent," he said pleased. "Knock Out, show Swindle to the Energon cubes and help him awaken Brawl. And make sure they are both properly recovered for duty."
Knock Out glanced between Swindle and Cylas before bowing. "As you wish, my liege," the doctor said.
Knock Out passed Swindle, who followed the red bot past the Seekers, who both glared at the Combaticon with hateful expressions. Swindle kept his smile on, refusing to let them scare him. He was far more valuable to Megatron than the Seekers.
After all, he was part of a Combiner team. And if Megatron were to acquire all five of them, victory would inevitably go to the Decepticons.
Back at the Autobot base, Agent Fowler continued his report on the satellite theft.
"The 'Cons may have the satellite, but they can't use it without the interface code," Fowler explained while opening the file on Project Damocles. "The only existing copy is stored on the secure servers at the headquarters in Colorado."
"We must keep the code out of Decepticon hands at all costs," Optimus said and headed towards the GroundBridge.
Bulkhead smashed his fists together, eager for combat. "It's roll time!" the Wrecker said excitedly and turned to head for the GroundBridge as well, but was stopped by Ratchet.
"Ehp-yep-ehp!" Ratchet said. "I have not yet cleared you for active duty, nor are you ready to roll!"
Bulkhead's body seemed to emphasize Ratchet's words by shuddering a bit violently while Bulkhead growled of annoyance. Starscream passed Bulkhead along with the others.
"Sorry, big guy," Starscream said with a silky voice. "Maybe next time. You just sit back and let us handle the dirty work."
Bulkhead felt like he was boiling inside, watching that self-absorbed Seeker strut his way to the GroundBridge with the others. To think, it had not been long ago when it was Starscream who was always left behind in the base, while the others went off on duty. The roles seemed to have been switched now.
"I really hate that guy," Bulkhead whispered to himself and stepped away to let the others prepare for take-off.
On the Nemesis, Swindle brought one of the Energon cubes with him to the flight deck, while Knock Out returned to the medbay to await the two Combaticons' arrival. Swindle didn't sing this time, nor did he grant any of the Vehicons or Insecticons he passed by a glance. He just made his way to the flight deck by himself and smiled when he approached the still-dormant Brawl. Soon-to-be former-dormant Brawl.
"Your patience has rewarded you, Brawl, old guy," Swindle said cheerfully as he stopped by the large tank and opened the lid of the Energon cube. "Now we can get the whole gang together and have some fun."
Swindle studied the tank, contemplating where the Energon should go. Should he find the fuel tank, or should he just soak the big guy?
"Eh, I suppose it doesn't matter," Swindle said to himself and decided to just pour the entire cube's content onto the tank, watching the blue substance trickling down the grayish green armor. It was uncertain if any of it got inside, as there weren't many crevices on the thick armor where the Energon could seep through.
"Oh well, there are plenty of Energon cubes on this ship," Swindle said and chuckled. "We can afford to waste a cube or two..."
"Swindle!" a wrathful voice sounded from behind him.
Swindle's smile dropped and he turned half around to see who had called his name. He stiffened as he saw Thundercracker and Skywarp both approaching him with sinister expressions, wings hiked to make themselves look bigger than they already were.
"Oh, hey Thundercracker," Swindle greeted and turned all the way around, giving the Seekers a nervous smile, "and Skywarp. It sure has been a long time, huh? How are you both doing?"
"Cut the scrap," Skywarp hissed as they approached the smaller bot. "You gave us those weird rubsign things tens of years ago, didn't you?"
"Uh, yeah, I did," Swindle replied confused. "Why? Is something wrong with them?"
"Is something wrong with them?" Thundercracker repeated enraged. "You knew those stickers were toxic yet you handed them out to us all like invitations! You deliberately tried to poison us!"
Swindle's expression fell and was replaced with shock. "Toxic? Those are toxic? I, uh, I had no idea..."
Thundercracker gazed down at the smaller bot, unable to see his Decepticon insignia anywhere. "You're wearing it too?" the blue Seeker said suspiciously. "Or perhaps you decided to defect and leave us all to scrap?"
"What? No, I-"
"Traitor!" Skywarp exclaimed and pointed his left arm cannon at Swindle's face. Swindle yelped in surprise.
"Hey, hey, hey, calm down!" Swindle said and put on a nervous smile, holding up his servos. "I'm on your side, remember? I'm a Decepticon, see?" He desperately rubbed the sign on his chest, revealing the purple Decepticon insignia. "See? See? I'm a 'Con, really..."
Thundercracker and Skywarp shared a glance and nodded before stepping back. Swindle sighed of relief, but then Thundercracker grabbed the Combaticon by the neck cables with his right servo, lifting him several feet from the ground.
"Hey, what are you doing?" Swindle asked anxiously. "I thought we were cool!"
"I don't care if you're still a Decepticon or if you knew about the toxin or not," Thundercracker hissed while staring into the smaller bot's frightened purple optics. "I don't trust you, never have, never will. You've never been loyal to the Decepticon cause. You'd be better off dead."
Swindle cringed and keened, trying desperately to think of some way to save his armor.
"You let go of him!" a deep voice sounded behind Swindle.
The Seekers stared in front of them. Swindle could only listen.
The previously grayish green tank in front of them had now turned a darker, greener but still grayish color scheme, and all former cracks from previous battles disappeared. In the next few seconds, the tank split up and rearranged itself, until a large, bulky bot with a large black cannon on his back stood there. The mech's face was covered by a yellow visor and a mouth mask. Actually, all the Combaticons except for Swindle sported mouth masks and visors. Swindle did used to have a visor himself, but he lost it a long time ago. He had never worn a mask though.
Brawl almost towered over the two Seekers, being almost as tall as Megatron. Despite his expressionless face, Thundercracker could tell he was scowling at them.
"Let go of him," Brawl repeated with a deep growl.
Thundercracker scowled back but complied and let go of Swindle, who dropped on the floor with a clank and yelped by the impact.
Thundercracker and Skywarp stared down at the smaller Combaticon. "You're lucky you're friends with brutes," Thundercracker hissed. "Let's go, Skywarp."
The two Seekers turned around and returned inside the warship, leaving the two Combaticons outside in the upcoming storm. Swindle rose to his pedes and turned, staring up at his ally, almost twice his own height.
"Brawl!" Swindle greeted with a wide smile and spread out his arms. "You're awake! At last! Now we can-"
"Are you the reason I fell in stasis?" Brawl interrupted, still growling, though he growled most of the time anyway.
Swindle's smile fell and he lowered his arms slowly. "For your information, I did not know those rubsigns were of rubbish material!" he defended. "I bought them cheaply off some space pirate eons ago, because why not? I didn't check if they had an expiration date or illegal ingredients, I mean, who checks stickers?! I fell into dormancy too and just woke up a month ago, I am just as much of a victim as you are!"
Brawl took a step forward, and Swindle silenced, taking a step back. The tank wasn't being threatening, but he was big and his steps heavy.
"You talk too much," Brawl said. "You're giving me a headache."
"Oh, that's just the after-effects of dormancy," Swindle said and put his smile back on. "Come on, let's go to sickbay and get you fixed up. I myself definitely need a cube and some buffing."
"Buffing sounds nice."
Swindle chuckled as he led his fellow Combaticon inside the ship. "Then let's find Knock Out!"
Inside the ship, Thundercracker and Skywarp both fumed as they strode the hallways.
"That little twerp," Skywarp hissed. "Pretending he didn't know anything. Why I oughta..."
"Let it go, Skywarp," Thundercracker said with more control of his own voice. "Had he been alone, I'm sure His Lordship would allow us to get busy with him. But because he came back with Brawl, it stands to reason Lord Megatron will believe the others are alive as well. And you know what that means?"
Skywarp frowned as he thought hard on the question. "I give up," he said after a few seconds.
"With the return of the Combaticons, we are as good as irrelevant to him," Thundercracker answered. "If he had to choose between Swindle's life or ours, he would gladly vaporize us both, leaving that smirky little glitch alive."
Skywarp's expression was filled with horror. "He wouldn't!"
"I certainly would."
The two Seekers looked up and just barely managed to stop themselves from running into Megatron himself, standing in the middle of the hallway, staring down at his subordinates. The Seekers winced back, then straightened up.
"Lord Megatron," Thundercracker greeted, then let out a nervous chuckle. "Uh, how much did you hear of that?"
"Enough to know you are aware of your place," Megatron replied with what was supposed to be a smirk. "At least some of you Seekers know your place, unlike a certain someone else."
The Seekers' gazes fell to the floor, knowing he was talking about Starscream.
"But that is a matter for another time. Skywarp," Megatron said, making the black Seeker perk, "I have a mission for you."
Skywarp looked up at his master with interest. "A mission?"
"Yes, you will accompany Soundwave to a military base in the state of Colorado, where the humans keep the interface code for the satellite Cylas spoke of."
Skywarp's face contorted into a wide smile, eager for action. "It's just me and Soundy, my liege?"
"Soundwave will infiltrate the facility, and you will guard him along with a squadron of Vehicons, should the Autobots decide to show up," Megatron explained. "And knowing Optimus, they certainly will."
Soundwave and Skywarp arrived at the back of the base through a GroundBridge, out of the humans' view range. They were at the front of the base, along with their helicopters and ground vehicles. The sky had turned darker, but now it was because night had fallen, the storm having long passed in that area. Thanks to Soundwave and Skywarp's dark gray, purple and black paintjobs, they were excellently camouflaged in the barren desert and the dark night sky.
"So-" Skywarp began but was silenced immediately by a wave from Soundwave's servo. Skywarp kept his mouth shut and let Soundwave do his magic.
Soundwave opened a transmission and replayed a recording of the human Agent Fowler's voice, taken not long ago, laced with his own voice.
"Attention: all personnel are ordered to evacuate immediately," Soundwave sent, and almost immediately the humans entered their helicopters, almost as if they had already been given orders to leave. "We have a level 5 radiation leak. Repeat: evacuate immediately."
Soon the helicopters took off and the base had been evacuated. Soundwave opened another GroundBridge portal, letting the Vehicon troopers through. Skywarp cackled merrily.
"Oh, I love it when you do that!" Skywarp croaked. To a passing Vehicon, he added: "Say what you want about Soundwave, but his imitations are the best!"
The Vehicon seemed stumped by his comment, but nodded in agreement.
Without further ado, Soundwave jumped onto the facility and broke through the roof, getting inside the command center and began hacking into the servers to download the interface code. Outside the facility, Skywarp ordered the troopers to line up and prepare for some fun.
"Oh, I really hope the Autobots will show up soon," Skywarp said to himself, barely able to stand still. "I'll show them what I've got, I'll push them and punch them and- Ooh! They're here!"
Right in front of them, between the command center and the large rows of satellite dishes, a green portal opened up, and out stepped Optimus Prime, Bumblebee, Arcee, Smokescreen and... Starscream!
"FIRE!" Skywarp shrieked immediately, as soon as the portal disappeared.
When the Autobots stepped out from the GroundBridge portal into the Colorado base, night had fallen, but because of the thick clouds from the earlier storm, there were no stars nor moon to light the ground. Their only source of light were each others' optics and bio-lights.
They didn't even get to exchange a single word before someone screamed: "FIRE!" and the bots were assaulted with dozens of red laser shots. They immediately sought cover behind some large rocks placed conveniently between the satellite dishes and the command center. Optimus and Smokescreen took cover behind the boulders to the right, while Arcee, Bumblebee and Starscream went behind the boulders to the left.
The Autobots peeked from their hiding spots, studying the enemy. There were about a dozen or more Vehicons, all Grounders, lined up in front of the command center, seemingly guarding it, all firing their blasters at the Autobot arrivals. On the rooftop of the facility stood the black and purple Seeker Skywarp, barely visible on the dark indigo night sky.
"The Decepticons have proceeded us," Optimus remarked and put on his battle mask and activated his ion cannon. "We must secure the command center!"
Everyone having their blasters ready, the Autobots ran out from their cover to engage the Vehicons in battle. While the others were firing their blue lasers (and Starscream his red), Smokescreen transformed and drove into one Vehicon, reverted back to bot mode and shot another two in the chest before getting pounced on by a fourth Vehicon. The young mech quickly got on top, however, and started beating on the other's face.
Suddenly, though, a bright light appeared from above, along with a hissing, bubbling noise, making everyone look up. A large orange laser, the one rumored to make cakes out of pentagons and give mountains a haircut (whatever that meant, Starscream thought), approached the battlefield. Smokescreen just managed to jump off his Vehicon before the latter was deep-fried by the destructive laser.
The other Autobots jumped back in surprise.
"Wow," Smokescreen commented.
"Holy scrap," Starscream swore and looked up as another laser beam was fired towards the ground. By instinct he reverted to jet mode and barely managed to avoid getting turned into a crisp. He hovered over the base, watching the Autobots below scurry around to avoid getting hit by the laser as well. It seemed to be more focused on getting the Grounders than Starscream.
"That thing is dangerous," Starscream commented to himself.
"I know, right?" an annoyingly familiar voice sounded below him.
Starscream reverted his gaze to below in front of him and saw Skywarp, in bot mode, flying up with the help of his jet boosters in his legs, to meet the smaller Seeker.
"Skywarp!" Starscream hissed. "I haven't forgotten what happened the other day!"
"You mean when Thunder and I kicked your aft like..." Skywarp paused. "... like bots who kick afts?"
Starscream flew forward, ramming his nosecone into Skywarp's abdomen, earning a yelp and a cough from the black Seeker.
"You better be careful about what you say, Skywarp," Starscream hissed venomously. "I already don't like you, and I won't hesitate to make sure I have one less enemy."
"We'll see about that," Skywarp replied and pushed the jet away before reverting to jet mode himself. His jet form was slightly larger than Starscream's, almost identical to Thundercracker and Dreadwing's jet forms, though slightly sleeker and with slightly different detailling. Starscream could hear the other giggle with excitement.
"Let's dance, little guy!"
Thundercracker watched the monitor displaying the battle in Colorado along with Megatron and Cylas. The blue Seeker stood with his arms crossed and frowned as he saw Skywarp engage Starscream in a sky battle.
"What are you doing, you idiot?" Thundercracker muttered at the image before him. "You're supposed to give the troops orders, not engage in personal conflicts."
Perhaps Megatron had been correct about Skywarp needing supervision in battle.
"Are we worried, Thundercracker?" Megatron asked in front of the Seeker.
"No, my lord," Thundercracker replied and shook his head. "Or, a little, I guess. I'm concerned Skywarp is getting too carried away with his little games."
"You have no reason to worry. If anything, Skywarp is managing to distract the Autobots' only means of air support." Megatron chuckled deeply. "The laser seems promising. With it, we can easily destroy the Autobots' base once we locate it, and any human residences that may be nearby. And then this world will be ours."
Thundercracker returned his gaze to the monitor, watching the two jets darting around in the sky, shooting lasers and missiles after each other, both dodging the other's attacks. Now and then Skywarp would suddenly disappear and then reappear behind Starscream, though perhaps he knew his Trinemate so well, Starscream was able to avoid even Skywarp's surprise sneak attacks which he had just boasted so much about in the command center.
"You better not screw up, Skywarp," Thundercracker muttered to the image again. "I will kill you if you die."
Skywarp certainly made sure to keep Starscream busy in the air. Starscream could not even get a chance to fire at the Vehicons below. Skywarp was too fast and teleported all over the place, rapidly firing at his former Air Commander. Starscream had to use all his focus and energy just to avoid the constant shots from every angle, while simultaneously trying to fire shots at Skywarp. The lasers missed too many times to be worth continuing firing, especially considering Skywarp's annoying warping ability.
At one point Skywarp teleported away yet again. Starscream tried to predict where he would pop up next. He swiftly turned to the right, and as soon as the plop sounded and Skywarp appeared right where he was aiming, Starscream launched both his missiles.
Seeing what he was doing, Skywarp acted quickly and fired his lasers, hitting both missiles and caused them to explode before they reached the black jet. The shockwave pushed both Seekers back a bit, but they regained their balance before spinning out of control.
"You little sneak!" Skywarp hissed at the silver jet as they began circling each other. "You almost blew me up!"
"That was my intention, you numb node," Starscream hissed back. "Don't think just because you can teleport that you're special. I am superior to you in every way, be it speed, fire power or especially wits!"
Another satellite laser beam shot down in the sky, taking both Seekers by surprise, making both of them shriek and knocked back by the shockwave.
"Autobots," Optimus' voice sounded over the comm. "We must draw its fire to distract from Rafael's efforts!"
Starscream struggled to get himself back in balance before retreating from the beam to avoid getting fried.
Skywarp soon appeared right in front of him, taking Starscream by surprise. Before he could dodge, one of Skywarp's laser shots brushed Starscream's left wing and the smaller Seeker yelped and ascended further into the air.
"Ha! You're getting careless, Air Commander," Skywarp mocked as he chased after the smaller silver jet. "Next time it's gonna be your thruster!"
"In your dreams, Deceptiscum!" Starscream shrieked back in rage.
"Ouch, you really are being serious about this whole Autobot stunt, aren't you?"
Without warning, Starscream did a swift 180 degrees turn, pointing his newly regenerated missiles at the unexpectant Skywarp. "Never forget that we used to be Energon Seekers!"
On the Nemesis, Thundercracker cringed as the feed of Starscream and Skywarp's battle showed Starscream turning around while still in ascension and fired his missiles at Skywarp. Just as the missiles were about to hit, however, Skywarp instantly disappeared, and the missiles hit each other, exploding in empty air instead. Shortly after, Skywarp reappeared behind Starscream, and their sky battle continued. Thundercracker let out a sigh of relief.
"They're both taking great risks," Thundercracker muttered to himself. "A nutcase and a self-absorbed-"
One of the monitors beeped and signaled a system breach, drawing the surrounding bots' attention, including Thundercracker's.
"An intruder in the system?" Megatron remarked and pushed Cylas to the side. "Soundwave, we have a breach!"
The map scanned the states to locate the intruder, two states away from Colorado.
"Jasper, Nevada," Cylas remarked from the side. "It can only be the Autobots' human allies."
"Then perhaps you should attend to the matter," Megatron growled at the monstrosity.
"Surely one of your subordinates is more suitable-"
"Now!" Megatron exclaimed.
Cylas made haste to exit the command center and acquire a GroundBridge to the ground. Thundercracker stepped aside and sneered at the human.
"My liege, are you sure you don't want me to lend in some air support?" Thundercracker asked. "Or perhaps I can locate the intruder and take care of him?"
"I think I made myself clear," Megatron growled and walked past the blue Seeker. "Stay here and watch over. I will be back soon."
Thundercracker stared after the warlord. He was now alone in the command center, aside from the Vehicons below controlling the ship, of course. Skywarp was in battle, Soundwave was downloading a code, Knock Out was in the medbay, Swindle and Brawl were probably also in the medbay, and they were probably the reason why Megatron needed to leave, and Cylas had been sent off to take care of the intruder. And Dreadwing was who-knows-where. Considering he was Megatron's second-in-command, he was surprisingly absent.
Thundercracker turned his gaze back to the monitor, intent on following Megatron's orders and proving himself a loyal subordinate.
"Maybe if I prove myself enough, he will let me take Dreadwing's spot," Thundercracker muttered to himself and snickered by the thought. "Air Commander Thundercracker. Yes, I like the sound of that." He thought on it further, and his smile faltered. "Nah, too much work."
As the battle progressed on, two more laser beams shot towards the ground for the Autobots, while Starscream and Skywarp did what they could to dodge while still firing their own lasers and missiles at each other. The beam seemed to only last for about ten seconds, but as it was powerful and mobile, it could do plenty of damage in those ten seconds.
At one point, Smokescreen disappeared from the battleground through a GroundBridge, but Starscream was too busy with Skywarp to notice or think about it. He was really getting frustrated over not being able to snipe some Vehicons. And he was even more frustrated that his dance partner had teleportation of all annoying abilities.
The only upside was that teleportation spent a lot of Energon and energy on Skywarp's side, so he could not use it too many times in battle. Sadly for him, he was such a nutcase and battle-hungry that he constantly forgot about this limitation and often over-used his ability to the point where he was almost out of energy and needed to be carried back to a medbay for recovery. That was the reason why Skywarp was never to be unsupervised in battle. There had to be someone to constantly keep him on task, keep him from getting distracted and to remind him not to use his teleportation too often. It seemed this time there was no superviser to make sure of that. That was pretty much the only advantage Starscream had.
Starscream could get easily distracted himself pretty often, but he always managed to keep his head cool and not overexert himself. As a result, Starscream could continue a sky battle for hours and still emerge victorious without having spent too much energy. Another reason why he had been appointed Air Commander of the Seekers. He was strategically superior to Skywarp, Thundercracker and practically any other Seeker, perhaps with the exception for Dreadwing.
This battle had gone on for well over half an hour now, and Starscream still had plenty of fuel left in him. Skywarp, on the other hand, hadn't teleported for over five minutes now, which was promising.
"Running out of juice?" Starscream snickered and boosted up, then made a quick U-turn and fired his lasers at the black jet, who was too slow to avoid getting hit on the right wing. "Pathetic!"
The shot caused Skywarp to spin for a few turns. Before he could regain balance, Starscream launched his regenerated missiles once again. This time Skywarp didn't have the momentum to avoid getting hit by both missiles. The explosion caused his right wing to catch fire, and the black Seeker began crashing.
"You're scrap!" Starscream cackled viciously as he descended to the ground, circling around the spinning, crashing Skywarp.
Thundercracker gasped and flinched as the monitor showed Skywarp getting hit on the wing by Starscream's missiles and start spinning out of control.
"Skywarp!" he exclaimed and clenched his fists in frustration. "Scrap, he's going to crash. I have to do something." His face contorted into a toothy frown and turned to leave the command center. "I have to save him."
As he reached the door, Megatron stepped through. "And where do you think you're going?" Megatron asked with a glare at the blue Seeker.
"Lord Megatron," Thundercracker greeted. "I know you told me to stay on the ship, but Skywarp needs my help. He's an excellent warrior, but he can't focus without someone to back him up. That's why we're always together, so I can always keep him on task. Please, my liege, let me go assist him!"
Megatron gazed from Thundercracker to the monitor on the far end of the command center and back. "Very well," Megatron decided. "I will allow it."
Thundercracker's face almost beamed, but instead he nodded. "Thank you, sir."
Megatron stepped out of the way to let the blue Seeker run off, heading for the flight deck, while the warlord himself returned to his spot at the monitor to watch over the battlefield.
He had just been in the medbay to welcome Brawl onboard. The two Combaticons were having an Energon cube each, while Knock Out was buffing their armor, much to their pleasure. Knock Out had not liked it so much. It had been more fun buffing Breakdown, but, well, he didn't exist anymore, so it was even hard to enjoy buffing himself. Knock Out had then told Megatron that Brawl would probably be battle-ready the next day, as would Swindle.
Until then, Megatron seemed to have to rely on Skywarp and Thundercracker for new warriors, the former of which seemed to be completely incompetent if left to his own devices. Perhaps he should allow Thundercracker to accompany Skywarp on future missions. After all, it wasn't like they had acquired a lot of relics lately. Plus, Megatron hadn't actually asked Thundercracker what his specialty in science was. Maybe he had no idea how to examine relics. Maybe he was more acquainted to Energon, which wouldn't be of much use here.
Megatron glared at the monitor which still said 'system breach' and 'warning'. "They're attempting to disable the satellite," Megatron growled and switched to the comm. "Cylas, how difficult is it to squash a human child?!" There was no answer on the comm. "Cylas!"
Suddenly Megatron received a signal from Soundwave, informing him the code had been fully downloaded.
"We have the codes," Megatron said on the comm., partly pleased, partly fuming. "Then target the intruder and destroy him!"
On the battlefield, some twenty meters away from the facility, Skywarp decided he was done in his jet mode a dozen meters from the ground before he finally switched to robot mode. He landed hard on the ground and bounced twice before sliding across the ground and laying still on his front.
A few seconds later, Starscream transformed a few meters above ground and landed elegantly on his pedes, crouching from the impact before standing up straight. He gazed at his former Trinemate, groaning and trying to lift himself off the ground, but his arms gave in under him.
"S-scrap..." Skywarp swore and gazed up at his former Air Commander, who stood tall and strangely menacingly above him, snickering loudly.
"You never learn, do you, Skywarp?" Starscream hissed gleefully and aimed his right arm missile at the black Seeker's face. "It's the last mistake you'll ever make."
Skywarp couldn't do anything but stare up at Starscream with pleading red optics and gritted denta. Soundwave was busy in the command center, the Vehicons were busy with the Autobots, and all the other Decepticons were back on the Nemesis. And it wasn't like Megatron would waste any soldiers just to save one insignificant little Seeker.
Skywarp was alone. Alone and at the mercy of his former Air Commander, who now hated him and Thundercracker more than ever. And Skywarp had spent too much energy on all those teleportations. He could barely even lift his body off the ground. There was no saying that Skywarp felt scared in this moment.
"Please, Starscream..." Skywarp begged with a shaking voice, genuinely concerned for his own safety.
"Please?" Starscream repeated and hissed. "Please? After how you betrayed me, you think you can sway me with a 'please'? You are so pathetic, it makes me sick..."
Skywarp's wings drooped behind his back, adding further to his fright. Starscream frowned at the sight. He wanted to teach him a lesson, he wanted him to feel hurt, as hurt as Starscream felt back then, how hurt he always felt. But looking at that face, those wings... that genuine display of fear. It brought yet again a surge of strange guilt in his tanks. He thought about how scared he himself had been when Megatron had pointed his fusion cannon at his face back in the Energon mine.
"SKYWARP!"
Starcream looked up and saw a few red lasers being shot between him and Skywarp and jumped back a bit. From the sky appeared a large blue jet, which transformed into Thundercracker and landed right in front of the downed Skywarp, shielding him from Starscream.
Thundercracker looked at Starscream and hissed. "Leave him alone, Starscream," Thundercracker snarled. "Don't you have more important things to do than pick on a wounded bot?"
Starscream hissed back but didn't lower his arm. His gaze briefly went up and to the base where the Autobots were still fighting. The large orange laser suddenly stopped chasing them, only a couple of seconds after having started.
"It stopped?" Starscream remarked confused. "Did they do it?"
His gaze returned to the two Seekers in front of him. Thundercracker had his own arm cannon raised and pointed at Starscream, while still standing defensively in front of Skywarp, still laying defenseless on the ground, staring at Starscream. Skywarp's wings were still lowered, while Thundercracker's wings were hiked and made him look bigger.
Starscream frowned at the pair. It only made sense Thundercracker cared so much about Skywarp. They had been Trinemates far longer than they had with Starscream, after all. They were always together, always keeping an optic out for each other. Skywarp was useless in battle unless Thundercracker was there to keep him on task, and Skywarp would in return backstab the enemies Thundercracker was fighting, to help him out.
Their joined performance in battle was fearsome, and together they were almost invincible. Skywarp's teleportation and seemingly endless amount of energy, and Thundercracker's sonic attacks and level head. But seperated they had many flaws that could easily be taken advantage of, and Skywarp's lack of focus was just one of the flaws. Thundercracker never took much if any joy out of battle and only did so when fighting alongside Skywarp. They were so close, one could think they were Amica. But they weren't. Starscream didn't know if it was because they didn't like each other that way, or if it was because they never found the time for it.
One thing that was clear, however, was that Thundercracker would lay down his life for Skywarp, and Skywarp the same. They never showed it much in public, but they deeply cared about each other. Starscream often believed they were secretly Sparkmates but they didn't know it themselves yet.
Starscream and Thundercracker had a staredown for several minutes. Neither were willing to pull the trigger. Neither were willing to step away. Skywarp could only gaze between the two, too weakened to do anything himself.
Suddenly a bright light from the laser reappeared on the sky, catching all three Seekers' attention. It didn't fire at the battleground, it fired off to the horizon. They traced the beam to its source and found a light similar to a shooting star falling across the sky. The satellite must have reached the Earth's atmosphere and was being pulled towards the ground. The Decepticons had lost the battle.
Starscream's gaze returned to the facility and saw Soundwave taking off into the sky in jet mode. He smirked and lowered his arm at last.
"Looks like we win," Starscream said and glared at Thundercracker and Skywarp. "You better go after him before you lose your way home."
Thundercracker and Skywarp both gave the silver Seeker surprised looks.
"Starscream..." Thundercracker whispered.
"Get out of my sight," Starscream hissed and stomped the ground with his thin pede.
Thundercracker turned slightly and knelt down, gaze still set on Starscream, and hauled Skywarp's arm over his shoulder before activating his thrusters and taking off into the sky in robot mode, setting after Soundwave back to the Nemesis.
Starscream stared after them on the sky for a bit before returning his gaze to the facility and headed to the Autobots' position. They soon exited the command center and regrouped with Starscream.
"Looks like we won," Starscream repeated with a cackle as he approached the Autobots.
"Looks like it," Arcee repeated.
"What happened with Skywarp?" Bumblebee asked.
"Oh, I took care of him," Starscream replied casually.
"And by that you mean...?" Arcee asked.
"He was wounded and Thundercracker joined him. We had already won, so I let them go. Was that wrong of me?"
Surprisingly, Optimus seemed to crack just the faintest of smiles. "No, Starscream," he replied calmly with his deep, soothing voice. "You did the right thing. It is good to know when to show your opponent mercy, even if it is one you bear hatred against."
Starscream involuntarily glanced at Arcee, becoming thoughtful. If he told her about Cliffjumper, would she show him mercy? He was considering telling her lately, but he never found a good time to tell her. Now didn't seem like a good time either. They had just won a battle, it wouldn't be a good idea to spoil the fun by saying 'Hey, by the way, that guy Cliffjumper you used to be partners with? Yeah, I killed him.' Nope. Not happening any time soon.
Starscream shook the thought out of his head and reset his vocalizer. "Well then, if we're done here, what do you say we go back home and celebrate with a cube?" Starscream said, mostly to get the conversation off the topic of mercy and hatred.
Arcee smiled, Bumblebee let out a bleep of agreement, and Optimus nodded.
"Ratchet, open a GroundBridge," Optimus called on the comm.
It took several minutes before Thundercracker felt they had ascended far enough into the air to ask Skywarp an important question.
"Do you have enough energy left to transform?"
"Mm, I dunno," Skywarp replied. "I can try..."
Thundercracker continued to hold tightly onto Skywarp, waiting for him to give a signal.
"Alright... now!" Skywarp said.
Thundercracker released his grip on Skywarp, and the latter began to fall. Thundercracker immediately switched to jet mode and dove alongside his Trinemate, concerned that the black Seeker wasn't transforming.
"Come on, Skywarp!" Thundercracker hissed. "You can't be that out of energy! Seriously?!"
Skywarp chuckled as he continued falling, still in robot mode. "Woops, looks like you'll have to carry me after all," Skywarp said weakly.
Thundercracker mentally hissed and approached Skywarp, about a hundred meters from the ground.
"Grab onto me!"
Skywarp had just enough energy to grab hold around Thundercracker's chassis above the wings, and as soon as Thundercracker felt he was on, he did a quick turn upwards, a dozen meters before hitting the ground. Skywarp yelped and held on tight as they soared back into the sky, until they were high enough for Thundercracker to slow down and conserve more energy.
"Seriously, Skywarp, you have to take better care of yourself," Thundercracker said as he tried his best to follow Soundwave's energy signal to the Nemesis. "I can't always be around to save you, you know."
"I know, I know," Skywarp replied and began getting drowzy. "I hate it when I do this, you know? Just, being all pumped for battle that I forget everything else. It's just so fun, you know? Teleporting and stuff. It's almost more fun than flying."
"You must be kidding," Thundercracker replied with a chuckle. "Nothing's more fun than flying."
They went silent for about a minute before Thundercracker spoke again.
"But I'm serious, Skywarp," he said. "We can't afford to be careless anymore. Megatron may have his hands on all of Earth's Energon mines, but there's a limit to how much Energon we can extract from this planet before it's sucked dry. And it'll be ages before new Energon appears here again, ready to be extraced as well. We have to conserve our energy, be as effective with as low energy consumption as possible. That goes especially for you and your teleportation ability. It simply takes too much Energon from you. I'll try to be with you as often as I can, as often as Lord Megatron will let me, but even if there's no one around to look after you, you really have to start thinking on your own. You have to be sensible, Skywarp." He silenced, waiting for Skywarp to reply, but none came. "... Skywarp?"
He heard a faint snore. He sighed. Skywarp had fallen asleep. On his back. While he was flying at over 100 miles per hour. Typical. Thundercracker mentally smiled. It would be a pain having to repeat all that to his partner when he awoke, but at least he was okay now.
And when they returned to the Nemesis, Thundercracker was pleased to find out that the monstrosity named Cylas had been properly taken care of. By getting sent to Knock Out's dissection table.
One less pest in this world to worry about.
