CHAPTER 13

Autobot Outpost Alpha-Omega


Starscream had only just set his pede outside his room when Wheeljack turned back inside.

"Wait, you forgot this," Wheeljack said and returned, holding his servo out.

Starscream turned and looked at the other's servo. It was the weird soft-looking ball thing, a soft light blue with pale pink stripes and light yellow spots scattered across the ball. It seemed to be an organic material of some sort.

"Oh, right, that thing," Starscream replied and waved a servo. "That's alright, you keep it."

Wheeljack shook his head. "No, no, this is yours," he insisted. "I made it specifically for you. Have you even tried it?"

"I don't even know what it is, let alone what its purpose is."

"All you have to do is hold it."

"Hold it? That's it? It's not a puzzle."

"Neither is the cylinder, but you seem to have taken that with you."

Starscream squinted and looked away. "Because it's solid. That thing isn't. What even is it?"

"Just hold it! Please?" Wheeljack tried looking at Starscream with big, glossy, innocent-looking optics. Starscream held back a cringe, though without knowing why.

"Okay, alright, fine," Starscream said with a sneer and held out a servo. Wheeljack promptly handed over the ball.

Starscream studied the ball in his servo and squeezed it. It was even softer than it looked. Not fuzzy like velvet, but smooth, and the harder he squeezed, the ball seemed to misshape itself in the spaces between his digits. As he relaxed his servo, the ball returned to its original round shape immediately. He hummed and squeezed it again, subconsciously trying to pop or break it, but it seemed virtually indestructible.

Starscream looked up at Wheeljack for answers. Wheeljack understood the silent question, his optics gleaming.

"It's called a stress relief ball. It's made of rubber and some other strong, flexible materials," Wheeljack explained. "No matter how hard you squeeze it, it won't pop. It's also resistant to sharp points to an extent, so your claws shouldn't ruin it too easily either."

Starscream hummed, continuing to squeeze the ball between both of his servos now. "Why did you make this? It's not a puzzle," he repeated and looked at the colorful, patterned little ball

"I know," Wheeljack replied. "I noticed you fidget a lot. I thought it might help keep your hands occupied. And it's small, so it won't take up much space in your subspace."

"How thoughtful of you," Starscream replied and looked at Wheeljack, while still squeezing the rubber ball. "Not sure how much it's going to help though."

"I also used a special material to make it silent when you squeeze it," Wheeljack explained. "So you can squeeze it without it distracting you or anyone else. It's an Earth invention, mostly for people who have problems with fidgeting, like yourself. Their balls often make noises though, which is distracting. So I made one that doesn't. Hope you like it, or that it at least will help you in some way."

Starscream let out a small hum of amusement. "I hope so too. I'll keep it in mind. Thank you again, Wheeljack."

Wheeljack nodded and pat Starscream on the shoulder. "You're welcome," he said and started moving. "Now, let's go return to the others."

They walked side by side back to the command center, Starscream still absently squeezing the stress relief ball in his servo while walking. The bots and humans still stood waiting for them, still without chattering. Starscream's grip on the ball tightened by the many stares.

"Quit staring," Starscream said quietly and looked away, feeling a slight warmth rising in his face. "It's embarrassing."

Despite the continued stares, Starscream walked on, ball in servo, heading towards Skyfire, while Wheeljack went to join the others. Starscream paused just in front of Skyfire and gazed up at him, his frown turning into a soft smile.

Skyfire smiled back at the smaller Flier. "Are you ready to go?" Skyfire asked calmly.

Starscream nodded. "I am," he replied. "I've got everything I need." He turned around and looked over the bots, until his gaze found Wheeljack. Starscream smiled at the engineer, and this one winked back at the Seeker. They would keep in touch, most definitely.

Starscream turned his gaze to Ironhide, and his smile became smaller. "Thank you for letting me stay here, Ironhide," Starscream said. "And for helping me remember to fly."

Ironhide gave a small smile. "No problem," he replied. "Just doing my job as the head of Metroplex City."

Starscream nodded at the red bot. "Prowl," he said and looked at the deputy, "thank you for helping me remember how to fight."

Prowl nodded, though without smiling, like always. "Just doing my part," he replied.

Starscream's gaze went to Ratchet. "Ratchet," he said, "thank you for repairing me and teaching me so many things about Energon, bots and everything. I appreciate information a lot these days."

In a rare moment, Ratchet cracked just the faintest smile, for a very brief moment, before returning to his normal stone-faced expression. "Take good care of yourself, Starscream," he said. "I mean it. Don't make me come over there."

Starscream stiffled a chuckle and looked over the rest of the bots. "I'm glad you all took me in, even if only for a couple of days," he said to everyone. "I still don't remember much about myself, but I think I know enough now to help you out against the Decepticons. I hope," he added in a whisper to himself. "I hope we can keep in touch. Maybe I'll stop by here some day. See how things go. But for now, I'll go with Skyfire and the others and get used to flying again."

Starscream turned his back to the Autobots in the command center, instead looking up at Skyfire. "I'm ready to go now," the Seeker informed with his wings flapping exciredly behind hin.

Skyfire nodded. His gaze briefly fell on something behind Starscream. "You go on ahead with the others, I need to do something real quick."

Starscream's smile faltered and his wings stopped flapping for a moment, but soon flapped gently again. "Okay," he replied and started walking. "But I won't leave without you. I'll wait up ahead."

"You do that," Skyfire replied and gazed at Metalhawk and Smokescreen. "You guys go wait with him. I'll be right behind you."

The two bots nodded silently and walked beside Starscream as they began moving through the GroundBridge portal, though without going all the way through. They stopped just before they felt the unnerving feeling of being torn apart, and looked back at the small command center, waiting for Skyfire to finish. Starscream couldn't hear what they were talking about or who Skyfire was talking to. He gazed uncertain at Metalhawk.

"So...you're Metalhawk, huh?" Starscream said, trying to start a conversation.

Metalhawk didn't answer, seemingly not much for conversation. Starscream sighed and started squeezing his stress relief ball again. This would be a long wait.


"Did you want to say something, Wheeljack?" Skyfire asked.

"Yeah, I was up all last night making something that might help us in this situation," Wheeljack said and pulled something out of his subspace. "At some point he's going to meet Decepticons. We all know this. Pit, even he knows it. So I decided to make this to make everything a little easier. Hopefully," he added to himself.

The bots, especially Skyfire, studied the thing in Wheeljack's servos. The big Flier hummed.

"I don't know," Skyfire said. "I mean, I can see the purpose of it, but do you really think it will be enough?"

"I think it'll be plenty. Here's how it works..."


"A Pretender, huh?" Starscream replied. "I didn't know bots like you existed."

"We are few and far between," Metalhawk replied. "My comrades Diver, Lander and Phoenix are stationed elsewhere. We do have a few Headmasters in our base though."

"Headmasters?" Starscream replied. "What are those?"

"A rather new concept, like the Pretenders, only it's humans wearing special suits to become the heads of their own Transformers."

"That... sounds really creepy," Starscream replied with a frown. "Is there anything else I should know about your base?"

"Well, we got a bot call Skylynx," Smokescreen went in. "He's a... well, not really sure what we call his kind. Sort of, Triple-Changer plus beastformer plus multibot-kinda-something. He turns into a dragon, as well as a bird and a lynx seperate from each other. As well as a cargo plane."

Starscream cocked his head at the description. "That... sounds a bit complicated."

"I don't blame you. You'd have to see the guy to believe it."

"Believe what?" Skyfire asked as he arrived in the GroundBridge tunnel, catching everyone's attention.

"Oh, we were just giving Starscream a heads-up about some of our team members," Smokescreen replied with a smirk. "We can't let him go there without knowing."

Skyfire chuckled. "Good thinking, guys. Sorry to make you all wait for so long. Are we ready to move on?"

Starscream smiled and nodded eagerly. "We are."

Without another word, the four bots walked side by side, Starscream just in front of Skyfire to his left, with the other two walking on each side of the big bot, through the green and white tunnel, feeling their bodies warping and their minds getting slightly dizzy. It soon ended, and Starscream could see the end of the tunnel. A few bots stood up ahead, waiting for them.

As they exited the tunnel, Starscream found himself in another command center, though this one considerably chiller than the other one, though not so cold that it was unbearable. Rather, it was refreshing from the heat of the desert base.

There were railings here too, though rather than going all around the command center, they were situated on one side of the walls, the biggest part of it seeming like a sort of living room area with couches, armchairs and small televisions. Starscream noticed three small humans standing by the railings, observing him like the bots present.

Taking a look at the bots, he saw a small round green bot with a blue visor and what seemed to be a mouth mask, with a yellow face and red helm. Next to him stood a bot that looked almost identical to Prowl, albeit smaller and more blue-gray in certain places where Prowl was white. He seemed to be younger than Prowl, too, perhaps around the same age as Bumblebee and Goldbug, however old they may be.

Starscream looked perplexed at the small 'Prowl' and blinked, cocking his head. "Prowl?" he asked, even though he knew it wasn't him.

The small 'Prowl' shook his head and smiled shyly. "No, not Prowl," he replied. "My name is Bluestreak. I'm Praxian, like Prowl, though."

"Praxian?" Starscream repeated. "You mean..."

"They were both created in a city called Praxus," Skyfire replied for him. "Some cities created bots with very specific designs."

"Like Vosians with wings?" Starscream asked. "Like me?"

"Yes, like that," Skyfire replied. "I wasn't created in Vos, but I did live there for many years. It was there that we met, you and I."

Starscream's optics widened. "We did? Yeah, we did, didn't we? We were scientists, weren't we?"

Skyfire nodded. "That's right," he replied. "We were skilled scientists and good friends. Been that for several million years, actually."

Starscream smiled at him, then turned his attention back to the last member of the team. His smile was replaced by a gasp as he saw a huge white dragon with a blue underside, just small enough to be able to wander the command center and seemingly through the tunnels located along the walls.

"You must be Skylynx, I assume?" Starscream greeted cautiously.

"That is correct," Skylynx replied. "Pleasure to meet you. I'm rather new here, I've heard a lot about you though. Hope we can get along during your stay here."

"I hope so too," Starscream replied, a bit nervous about this huge creature. "Don't you have a bot mode?"

"This is my bot mode," Skylynx replied. "My alternate mode is a plane. I can also seperate into two components."

Skylynx demonstrated by letting his blue underside click loose from the white body, which stood on a pair of red legs like a bird. The blue component seemed to loosely resemble a lynx, emphasis on loosely. Starscream gaped at the sight.

"So, which one of you is Skylynx now?" Starscream asked uncertain.

"We both are," the lynx and the bird said at the same time, causing the Seeker to perk. The two components immediately reunited into the dragon. "But usually I am in this form. It's not easy controlling two components at the same time, though that is something I, the great Skylynx, excell at. But even with my great skill, it spends a lot of energy, so it's better to stay as one being."

Starscream scratched his head, still not completely sure how Skylynx functioned. "Okay," he said, instead turning to the small chubby green bot. "What's your name?"

"I'm Cosmos," the green bot replied. "I'm the team's scout, especially from outer space."

"Especially?"

"Yes, I turn into a UFO, at least the kind they show on human TV."

"That reminds me," Starscream said, already walking away from Cosmos, over to the railings, "those three over there are humans, right?"

"Yeah, those are Cab, Shuta and Minerva," Bluestreak replied. "They're our Junior Headmasters."

Starscream stopped before he reached all the way to the railings. "Those are the Headmasters you told me about?" he said surprised, looking at Smokescreen, who nodded. "I expected something... more. You're all about as big as Amy."

"Who's Amy?" the one who seemed to be a girl, probably Minerva, asked.

"Some girl who visited me a lot in the other base," Starscream replied. "Strange thing, she was. She looked a bit like you. I think. Are you a girl too?"

"That's right," Minerva replied and giggled shyly. "I'm Minerva. Nice to meet you, Starscream."

"I'm Shuta," one of the other humans greeted, having dark brown hair. "As a Headmaster I'm called Goshooter though."

"And I'm Cab," the third human greeted, having long bluish green hair and wearing a headband. "Nice to meet you, Starscream."

Starscream studied the humans and took in their names. "Are you two girls too?" he asked.

They looked surprised for a moment, then shook their heads synchronized. "No, no! We're boys! Not girls. Boys."

Starscream cocked his head in confusion. "Boys? Ugh, why do I keep learning new terms for humans? You're so comlicated."

Before they could answer him, Starscream turned away from the humans and returned his attention to Skyfire. "So, who's in charge of this place?"

"I am, actually," Skyfire replied. "Not really my own idea, but Prime thought I would be good for the job."

"He probably just chose you because of your size," Skylynx replied offended.

"You're bigger than me though, I don't think size is the key here..."

"Hey, um," Starscream said, calling for attention. "I know it's still early, but, can you show me where my room is? I want to know where I can go when I need to sleep or be alone."

"Right," Skyfire said. "Bluestreak, why don't you show him our spare quarters?"

"Sure thing," Bluestreak replied and gestured Starscream to follow him, which he did.

They went through a series of hallways which seemed to house both quarters and storage rooms. At one point, they also crossed a room that Starscream recognized as a training room, though it looked vastly different from the one in Metroplex. Perhaps he would check it out later.

Eventually they stopped by a closed door, which Bluestreak opened, not sliding aside, but lifting the door up until it was high enough for Starscream to enter through. This place seemed to be lower tech than in Ironhide's base.

"This is your room," Bluestreak announced and gestured the room with his servo. "Make yourself at home. Oh, also, it may have been early noon back in Metroplex City, but here it's actually late evening. We were all preparing to go to recharge, especially the humans, they're still young and growing. Skylynx is on nightwatch duty tonight. I know you probably just woke up, so if you can't fall asleep, he'll be awake to keep you company, and then it may be easier for you to fall asleep next night."

"I think I'm good," Starscream replied and stepped into his room, which looked almost exactly the same as the room back in the desert. "I didn't get much sleep last night. I can try to catch up tonight. But thanks for the information."

"No problem," Bluestreak replied and was about to leave, when he seemed to realize something. "Oh, I almost forgot. Welcome to Autobot Outpost Alpha-Omega. That's the name of our base here in Siberia. I think you'll like it here, it's much different from the desert you're used to."

Starscream gave the young bot a smirk, just before the latter closed the door and left the Seeker alone.

"Looking forward to see it."