CHAPTER 8
Fight
They arrived back in base just as quickly as they had left it, at least that's how Starscream felt. Cliffjumper and Ironhide probably thought it had taken forever. Who knew. They were Grounders, they didn't understand the joy of flying and how literally time flies by when you're having fun.
Wheeljack was the first to greet them as they returned. "Heya! How'd it go?"
Starscream was the one who answered. "Fantastic," he said with a sigh. "Now I know why I so badly wanted to go flying. You should try it some time."
Wheeljack scratched the back of his head. "Ehh, think I'll pass," he replied. "Oh, and, uh, sorry for sendin' ya to another desert."
"Don't sweat it," Ironhide replied. "It's fine. Right, Cliff?"
Cliffjumper crossed his arms and pouted a little but didn't complain further. "Yeah, it's fine. But next time send us somewhere else."
While they talked among themselves, Starscream looked around the command center. There seemed to be a few more bots than before they left. He recognized Bumblebee and Prowl, but the other yellow minibot with a dark blue helm, large optics and gray faceplate was new to him. He stood and chatted with Bumblebee in the other end of the room, the two of them gazing briefly at the Seeker before noticing he was watching them, and looked away again.
"Who's that with Bumblebee over there?" Starscream asked, still watching the minibots.
Ironhide followed Starscream's gaze and landed on the two minibots. "Oh, that's Goldbug," Ironhide replied. "He's Bumblebee's Spark Twin."
"Spark Twin?" Starscream repeated, now looking at Ironhide.
"Yeah, a Spark Twin is someone you share your Spark with. Humans call 'em siblings, brothers, I think, some call 'em sisters. Mechs that are Spark Twins often refer to each other as brothers. Sideswipe and Sunstreaker are Spark Twins too."
Starscream's gaze found Sideswipe and studied him. Just then, Sunstreaker returned and switched to bipedal mode, as if summoned by the mention of his name. Starscream hummed. He looked back at Bumblebee and Goldbug, oblivious to the others talking about them.
"Bumblebee and Goldbug don't look like each other though," Starscream commented. "Don't twins usually look like each other?"
"That's right," Wheeljack replied. "But sometimes the splitting of the Spark isn't completely even, so the twins sometimes end up with different designs, models or even builds. I've heard of a pair of twins where one was a minibot and the other was a Flier like you. But those are pretty rare."
"Did you remember this on your own?" Ratchet replied from behind them, gaining their attention.
Starscream looked at him and hummed. "I suppose I did. Not sure why. It just seemed obvious, I guess."
"Well, in any case," Ironhide said and gained their attention, "at least now we know you remember how to fly. Which means now we have to find out if you remember how to fight."
Starscream felt a rush in his tanks, strangely eager to try out fighting.
"We have a training room in the base designed for both close combat and target practice. Follow me."
Ironhide turned his back on the Seeker and entered the hallway to the right of the GroundBridge tunnel, on the opposite side of the tunnel to the dungeon. Starscream followed close behind. He felt a presence behind him and turned his head slightly to the right. Prowl was walking silently behind the Seeker, but otherwise they were alone.
Starscream turned his gaze back to Ironhide in front of him as they walked through the dimly lit hallway. They passed several closed doors, and a few open ones. Starscream briefly looked into them, seeing single bots hanging out in the small rooms, and he caught glimpses of a berth in each.
"What are these rooms we're passing?" Starscream asked, even though he had an idea of what they were.
"They're our quarters," Ironhide replied without looking back at him. "It's where we sleep and go when we need some privacy. Each bot living in the base has a quarter of his own."
Starscream hummed and something came into his mind. "Where is that Optimus Prime? Is he sleeping?"
"He doesn't live here," Ironhide replied. "He lives in our main base, the Ark. Metroplex is one of our secret bases. The Decepticons have secret bases too, from what we know anyway. Their main base is the Nemesis, and that's where Megatron lives."
Starscream's tanks rushed again for some reason. "Megatron... do you know where the Nemesis is?"
"Yes, everyone knows where the Nemesis is located," Ironhide replied with little hesitation. "The Decepticons also know where the Ark is located. But they don't know where our secret bases are, which makes it all the more important to keep them a secret."
Starscream sighed of relief. "So if Optimus Prime is our leader, how do we know what to do when he's back at the Ark?"
"Easy. Each base has an appointed officer act as a leader of that base, a bot worthy of trust and respect to lead the others. I'm in charge of Metroplex City."
Starscream blinked, slightly surprised. "Really? You're in charge of this place? I'd have thought it was Ratchet, as much as he orders around."
"He's our base medic," Ironhide replied. "They're supposed to give orders to bots regarding their health, no matter the size or rank of those bots. A strict medic is a good medic, and Ratchet's as strict as they come. Even the tiniest scratch is treated with utmost care and seriousness. You won't find a better Autobot medic than Ratchet, and he's been doing this for more than four million years."
Starscream let out a surprised sound. "Four million years? Right, we live a long time. Our Sparks are eternal, so we can even change bodies. Right?"
Ironhide paused as they reached a big door in front of them. "That's right. Good to know you're starting to remember more on your own. Makes our job of telling you things easier. Well, we're here."
Ironhide pressed a panel on the wall to the left, and the large door opened. They stepped through, Ironhide stepped to the side to let Starscream have a look at the room.
The training room was pretty big, and the ceiling was high, high enough for two Optimus Primes to stand on each other's shoulders and hold their arms stretched all the way up. In the center of the room was a stage, a few meters taller than the floor, with four white rectangular poles lining up each corner, each pole with two long black lines, each line pointing towards another pole. In the far back of the room, behind the central stage, was a section of several booths of sorts, with low walls blocking the path to long rows which at the end of each was a target. On the ceiling above each row, there was a round machine which seemed able to go back and forth within the row, seemingly also a target of some sort.
Starscream looked to the right and saw long racks along the wall, lining up melee weapons, ranging from swords and axes to daggers and hammers in many sizes and shapes. Some were vibro-blades, others were solid. His gaze fell on a pair of red one-handed swords, seemingly solid. They looked familiar to him somehow.
Pulling his gaze away from the intriguing swords, Starscream looked to the left wall of the room, also lined up with racks, but these being filled with guns, cannons and other ranged weapons, some small, others large, some in pairs and some lone weapons. None of the weapons on those racks caught his interest, but then again he did have his own null-ray cannons.
Having taken a look at the room, Starscream turned back to Ironhide and Prowl, standing next to each other, waiting for Starscream to finish looking.
"So, what's first?" Starscream asked.
"We think it might be best to test your close combat skills first," Ironhide informed. "We'll do two tests, one with weapons and one without. Which do you want to try first?"
Starscream looked behind him at the weapons rack with melee weapons, gazing at the red swords. He turned back to the bots. "I'll try without weapons first," he decided.
"Very well," Ironhide replied and stepped aside, as did Prowl, and gestured at the stage behind them. "Step into this ring."
Starscream hesitated for a couple of seconds before passing by the two bots and stepped up into the 'ring', as it was apparently called, despite being square-shaped. A small round drone appeared out of nowhere, hovering above the ring. Starscream followed the drone with his optics as it moved around him.
"This is a simulation drone," Prowl explained, having stayed silent until now. "It will create a target, and you will test your hand-to-hand combat skills on it. Don't worry if it gets destroyed. They're easily repaired, no matter how battered. And if not, it's easy to make a new one. Speaking on behalf of Wheeljack, in any case."
Prowl seemed to press a button somewhere on the bottom of the ring, and suddenly a blue forcefield appeared surrounding the ring, coming from the black lines on the white poles. Starscream flinched, surprised by the forcefield. He quickly shook it off and locked his gaze onto the small drone. Certainly such a tiny machine wouldn't be able to withstand the power of a bot Starscream's size? He'd make sure to crush it into pieces, show the Autobots how strong he was. And find out how strong he was, himself.
As Prowl pressed another button on the ring, the small hovering drone suddenly changed shape, the image of a plain gray bot with no interesting details on him appeared instead. Starscream moped at the change, gazing above to see if the drone had really disappeared or if it was projecting a hologram of some sort.
Distracted, Starscream was taken by surprise as the gray bot charged at him, striking a clenched fist at him. Starscream managed to avoid just in time to not get hit, stepping to the right out of the bot's reach. He looked down at himself, wondering how he did that.
The gray bot quickly turned around and charged again, this time brushing Starscream's wing as the latter dodged again in time to avoid a more damaging hit. The Seeker looked around. The ring wasn't very big, perhaps four times the size of the medbay, which had been only just big enough to have two operating tables, a tool table and a chair, as well as three different machines surrounding them. Still, this ring was not very big to move around in, but probably still big enough to try out some moves.
Dodging another incoming attack by the gray bot, Starscream looked down at his servos. Perhaps this was what his talons were for. Prowl had said he didn't need to worry about doing damage to the drone. This was a good time to test out his claws.
As the gray bot charged for another attack, instead of dodging, Starscream countered and swiped out with his right servo, slashing the bot to the left. It stumbled, but quickly regained its balance and charged him again. It launched another strike with its right fist, but Starscream caught it in his own left servo, clenching tightly on the other one's fist. Had it been a live bot, the strength of Starscream's clench would have sent the opponent kneeling to the floor. But because it was a simulation, it felt no pain and thus it went for a strike with its left fist.
Unfazed, Starscream quickly caught the other fist with his right servo, delivering a similar powerfully tight clench to the fist. Having caught both fists in his own servos, the bot seemed helpless. Starscream underestimated it though, as the drone swung a leg and kicked him hard in the abdomen. Starscream coughed by the impact and threw the bot to the floor, gripping his abdomen to soothe the pain. He began to fear his injuries weren't completely recovered after all, but the pain quickly subsided.
Just as he recovered from the hit, the gray bot was back on its pedes and started punching away at Starscream, not ready for an all-out assault, receiving every punch the bot could throw at him, to his head, on his chest, in his abdomen. Getting irritated by the drone's assault, but unable to make a punch or a kick, Starscream instead delivered a headbutt to the other's helm, knocking it back.
It was just the opening Starscream needed. While the drone was stumbling backwards, Starscream went on the offensive and delivered his own series of punches, much faster and more impactful than the ones the drone delivered, in the same places he had been hit himself. They were so fast, even Ironhide and Prowl doubted either of them would be able to dodge them.
The two Autobots felt a presence and looked to the side. Other bots had arrived in the training room, apparently interested in Starscream's combat training. They didn't blame them. It did seem like a bad idea, teaching perhaps the most dangerous Decepticon in the universe to fight. Or rather, making him remember how to fight. Even if he currently believed he was an Autobot. They knew, that deep inside, he was still a Decepticon. They had to be wary.
They didn't doubt that the whole amnesia thing wasn't just another one of Starscream's tricks to make them let their guard down before he stroke down on them. Pit, Ratchet had even confirmed the legitimacy by opening up his cranial chamber, exposing his brain module and searched all his memory chips to confirm they were deep-fried. This was one time where Starscream was definitely not tricking them.
But they also knew he could remember his past at any time. Even if it took years, or simply months, eventually he would remember.
In that case, they would have to make sure Starscream would be indebted to them. Despite his trademark deception and cowardice, he never let himself stay indebted to another bot. Even a bot as lowly as Starscream seemed to have some honor, at least.
Oblivious to his spectators, Starscream continued his lightning-speed attacks on the helpless drone, and even threw in a quick kick or two occasionally, also so fast the Autobots were surprised he didn't throw himself off-balance in the process. They rarely saw Starscream doing close combat, normally he would take out his opponents form afar, with his guns, like the coward they knew him to be. To see him with such speed, such grace, such perfection and precision, it was as if they were looking at a whole different bot.
After two cycles of unrelenting speedy attacks, Starscream paused, but not to catch his breath. He watched his opponent, watched as it swayed, having a hard time keeping itself upright with all the damage it had taken. He hadn't even used his claws, yet the bot seemed to be about to fall apart.
Getting tired of this thing, Starscream stepped forward and grabbed the drone's head with his right servo whilst holding onto its shoulder with his left servo. In a quick, strong move, he tore the bot's head off and watched the yellow optics turn black, sparks emitting from the head and the torso. He dropped the head on the floor and let go of the torso, watching it fall to the floor as well. A few seconds later, the body and head flickered as if it was a hologram, and soon the bot turned back into the small simulation drone, sparks flying from it, looking pretty wrecked.
Starscream smirked at the sight and looked at his fists. That had felt good, really good. He was stronger and faster than he had expected. Now he was even more eager to get his servos on those swords.
Starscream turned around to look down at Ironhide, only to find that they had been joined by pretty much the rest of the bots in the base, aside from Ratchet. Behind Ironhide and Prowl stood Bumblebee, Goldbug and Cliffjumper, standing just the right angle to see for their small sizes. To the right of Ironhide stood Sideswipe and Suntreaker, seemingly impressed by the Seeker's performance in speed. To the left of Prowl stood Wheeljack, similarly surprised at Starscream's skills in close combat. It was hard to determine, though, as his face was covered by a mask, so all Starscream had to go for were his blue optics, widened in impression.
Rather than shy away, Starscream stepped forward and crossed his arms, pretending he didn't care about the many stares of the bots below.
"So, how did I do?" Starscream asked and put on a smirk. "Impressed by my power? I must say, sometimes I even surprise myself how powerful I am."
"Especially now when you've just tried it out for the first time, I reckon," Cliffjumper commented sourly.
Starscream ignored the minibot's comment and gazed at Ironhide and Prowl.
"You did well," Ironhide decided to say. "At least now we know you can fight with yer bare hands."
"Aren't they always bare?" Starscream said, not really a question though. "Now, can I try with weapons this time?"
Ironhide and Prowl shared gazes with each other, ignoring the other bots' nodding and shaking of their heads. They looked back at the Seeker above.
"Sure," Prowl decided. "I will acquire them for you." Prowl made his way through the small crowd of Autobots and over to the rack of melee weapons. He was about to pick himself, but paused and turned around to look at Starscream. "Take your pick."
Before Starscream could announce his choice, the other Autobots burst in with their own opinions.
"Take the hammer, it's heavy, strong and solid!"
"No, the daggers! They're fast, light and deadly!"
"Take the longsword, it's awesome!"
"Axes are the best!"
"Quiet!" Ironhide exclaimed, silencing the bots. "This is Starscream's decision, not yours. And why are you so eager to let him take your own weapons?"
The Autobots gazed at each other, then rubbed their servos, pulled them behind their backs, lowered their heads or looked away in embarrassment. Prowl and Ironhide turned their gazes back at Starscream.
"You pick, Starscream," Ironhide ensured him.
Starscream made little hesitation in his choice, merely taking his time to locate what he wanted. He pointed with a clawed digit. "The two red swords over there," he announced. "The short ones, which go as a pair."
Prowl located the swords and took them down from the rack. He wandered back to the ring and reached up to hand over the swords. Starscream took them in both servos with little hesitation.
Starscream gazed at the swords he had been given, weighing them. They were light, and the blades were red while the hilts were shiny dark gray. The swords were beautiful, and by the feel of them, deadly. Starscream smiled as he gained a better grip on the hilts and clenched his fists.
Before Ironhide or Prowl could open their mouths - probably to explain to Starscream how to use a sword - Starscream lifted an arm and swung the sword down, then swung the other arm to the side, slicing through the air, but with little force, thus keeping his balance unaffected.
Starscream looked down at the bots. "You have more of those drones, right?" he said and gave a wide, very Starscreamy smirk.
