CHAPTER 18

Legacy

The next three days were fairly uneventful. The next set of Iacon relic codes was long and difficult to decipher, so both Optimus and Soundwave spent long time working on it respectively. Which basically meant no confrontations between the two sides in the course of three days.

The Autobots still went on patrol, the Grounders on the roads and Starscream in the sky, just to make sure everything was fine in Nevada.

On the Nemesis, shortly after Cylas had been taken away to get dissected by Knock Out, due to his failed attempt to please Megatron, Swindle and Brawl had more or less fully recovered and were ready to be deployed for battle. Both their rubsigns had been removed, making their purple Decepticon insignias visible at all times.

Swindle had made sure to take advantage of Thundercracker's departure, to save Skywarp from Starscream, by wandering the halls of the warship alone, until he reached his former quarters. Once inside, he activated his own secret safe, unbeknownst to anyone else on the ship, and acquired his own signature weapon: a big, black arm cannon, which could be attached to the roof of his jeep mode. Now he was no longer unarmed and could finally defend himself, if not against Autobots, then against aggressive Seekers.

Afterwards he rejoined Brawl in the medbay, and they had then proceeded to head for the command center along with Knock Out, as Cylas had returned.

Oh, the expression that cyborg had when Megatron told him he had earned a place at the table - Knock Out's dissection table, that is! Priceless!

After the cyborg had been taken away, Swindle had given him a devious smirk and said a quick: "Bye-bye, Cylas!", before the two Combaticons turned their attention to Megatron.

"Now that that has been taken care of," Megatron announced and gazed at his newest returning warriors, "I have a mission for you. Or rather, a continued task that you started, Swindle."

Swindle smiled widely, knowing what he meant. "You want us to find Onslaught and the others, right, my liege?" Swindle asked.

"Precisely. If the two of you are still alive, then the other three must still be functional. I want the two of you to go find them and bring them back. I want Bruticus back, so I can crush Optimus Prime and his team like bugs."

Swindle bowed theatrically, while Brawl just stood and watched in silence. "Right away, sir! We only need a GroundBridge and we'll be off!"

"Naturally," Megatron replied and turned to his intelligence officer. "Soundwave."

Soundwave paused his work and opened a GroundBridge portal behind the two Combaticons, who turned around and started heading into it.

"Do not return unless you have found at least one of them," Megatron warned. "You are on your own from now on."

"As you wish, my liege," Swindle replied before stepping into the portal with Brawl. "We'll notify you when we do."

Bulkhead's recovery improved massively over the course of the next three days. Since the battle for securing Project Damocles, he and Smokescreen had become friends, apparently because Smokescreen had saved Bulkhead from getting beaten by Cylas, who had tried to exterminate Raf and the other humans in his house, to stop them from hacking the satellite.

When Bulkhead and Smokescreen returned to base, the former relayed the information that Silas had taken control of Breakdown's body, thus confirming the Decepticon was truly dead. Bulkhead had been rather furious over it. It wasn't easy to lose an arch-nemesis, who had formerly been a close friend, and then to see this nemesis as an abomination, controlled by a smaller, cruel being. It had been hard for Bulkhead, but at least the humans were safe.

The day after the battle, Agent Fowler had immediately begun relocating Raf and his family, as the Decepticons now knew where he lived. It wasn't easy, and it took several days before it sounded like they had found a place. Until then, they were staying with Fowler's people who explained to Raf's mother that they were in danger of a terrorist attack. Which, of course, wasn't actually wrong, but they naturally couldn't tell her what kind of terrorists were looking for them.

Until then, only Jack and Miko spent time hanging out in the base, Miko continuing to help Bulkhead with his exercises, but this time Smokescreen also helped Bulkhead train. Only six days after getting exposed to Toxic Energon, Bulkhead had finally fully recovered and was discharged by Ratchet, much to everyone's joy.

Well, almost everyone's joy. Starscream had been quite content with being needed by Team Prime during Bulkhead's absence. Now that the brute was back on the team, Starscream was concerned it would mean he was going to get left behind in the base again, especially with the arrival of their new recruit Smokescreen.

But Optimus made sure to tell him otherwise.

"Your role on this team is invaluable, Starscream," Optimus told him shortly after Ratchet's clearing of Bulkhead for full recovery. "You are still our only Flier, and as such you cannot be replaced."

"What if someone else comes along?" Starscream asked concerned. "Someone who has wings and is an actual Autobot? Then what? Will you replace me then?"

"If someone like that comes along, then we will have two Fliers and more air support," Optimus simply answered. "Starscream, you never have to worry about your staying with us. Everyone on this team is a valued member, including you."

Starscream flicked a wing and tapped his claws against each other. "Well, okay then," he replied. "If you really insist. I'll... continue to do my part, the best I can."

"I know you will."

Despite this conversation, Starscream never stopped worrying, even if it was not for getting deployed in battle. He was still thinking about Cliffjumper and how Arcee would take the truth. Because of the recent peaceful days, he was considering telling her while everything was calm, but he always made an excuse for himself to not tell her.

He argued that they needed to be with the other Autobots, so they could stop her in case she decided to attack him. On the other hand, the others might feel the same need to hurt Starscream if they learned the truth as well, and then Starscream would only end up having up to six Autobots after him instead of one. But telling her when they were alone would be just as risky, especially in an enclosed space where he couldn't escape. As such, he also considered taking her topside to tell her, alone or with the others. Then, if they decided to attack him, he could just jump off the cliff and escape in jet mode. Then again, they might see this as a betrayal and prevent him from ever returning to the base alive. Then he would have to live on his own for the rest of his life.

He also couldn't tell Arcee when she was in a bad mood, as that would only make things worse. Then again, he didn't want to tell her during the rare times she was in a good mood. That would be such a spoilsport. But even when she was being neutral and unemotional, he feared her calmness would only make it easier for her to kill him should she decide so.

No matter how much he thought and planned it, Starscream could not find a good time, good place or good method of telling Arcee the truth. Then again, there's never a perfect time for telling someone you murdered their best friend. Starscream also knew, however, that the longer he waited, the harder it would be taken.

"Maybe that secret should just stay a secret," he said lowly while hanging out by the railings with the humans, currently the only ones who knew about the truth. Thankfully, they hadn't told the bots anything. At least, not what he knew of. If they had, then the Autobots were very good at hiding it.

"It's not a good thing to keep secret, Starscream," Jack said. "Arcee will be devastated if you wait for too long with telling her."

"She will be devastated no matter when I tell her," Starscream replied quietly. "If I tell her. You haven't told anyone, have you?"

"No," Miko replied. "To be honest, I often forget about it, so that makes it a little easier, I guess."

"I haven't forgotten," Jack replied. "Since Arcee's my partner and everything, I mean. But I haven't told her or anyone else either."

Starscream sighed and stared forward, somewhere behind the humans, falling back into his thoughts.

"How are you doing, Starscream?" Miko asked. "You seem a bit tired."

"I am," Starscream replied. "I've had a strange dream lately. The base crumples and we're all buried under the rocks. I then see Megatron killing Optimus Prime before he grabs me and drags me into the darkness. Then it ends. It's been waking me up the last couple of nights. It felt so real..."

"Maybe it means something?" Jack suggested. "They say dreams reflect your state of mind. Maybe you're worrying so much about Arcee that it's giving you bad dreams?"

"I'm not worried about Arcee," Starscream snapped. "I'm worried about what she would do to me. And this dream didn't feel like the others. It felt like some kind of... forewarning or something. Like something bad is going to happen soon. Something that will affect all of us."

"You mean like a precognitive dream?"

"I don't know. Maybe. I've had a few of those dreams in the past, and they all came true. The last one I had was a couple of months ago. It was about Megatron and Optimus fighting by a volcano spouting purple lava."

Jack and Miko gained surprised looks on their faces. "You mean during Unicron's awakening?" Jack asked.

"Pretty much, yes. Of course, I never know if these dreams are real until it actually happens. But I always get a strange feeling when I wake up from those dreams, and I never forget them. When that happens, they usually happen a short time later, sometimes hours, sometimes days and sometimes weeks pass before they come true. I always get anxious when I get these strange dreams. And this one in particular worries me. Because I don't know what it means."

The humans were silent for a moment. "Do you know when that dream will come true?" Miko asked.

"No, like I said, I don't even know if it will come true, I just have a bad feeling about it. And even if it's going to come true, I can't tell when. That's why I'm worried."

Starscream got up and turned away from the humans. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to go on a fly."

Back on the Nemesis, while the Combaticons were out searching for their other team members, Thundercracker and Skywarp recovered overnight before continuing with their duties. Thundercracker spent most of his time with Knock Out, often experimenting on Cylas, otherwise just doing scientific research on the Iacon relics. But he also spent a few hours every day with Skywarp, who had decided to engage in Circuit-Su training, to improve his focus and to help making him more disciplined.

Skywarp used to undergo Circuit-Su training every day back on Cybertron, especially after the war began. It had helped him maintain his focus and become more useful in battle, and he was even able to do pretty well on his own, even unsupervised. It also allowed him to be more thoughtful about his use of his teleportation ability, making him a more efficient 'ninja', as the humans called warriors like him.

Despite being dormant for over a decade in Japan, he had also taken a liking to their culture while his team was fighting from the broken bits of the Harbinger. Thundercracker found it strange for the black Seeker to be so interested in these fleshlings, but especially because it was just a single country's culture. Perhaps it was because of their many kinds of martial arts that Skywarp watched from the vid-screen on the ship, not to mention the many cartoons the Earthlings made of these 'ninjas' and their spiritual rituals and attacks. It all seemed pretty similar to Circuit-Su and seemed to fascinate Skywarp, who often imitated the fleshlings' moves on the screen.

Having been dormant for over a decade and recovering over a couple of days, however, Skywarp seemed to have forgotten about his training, resulting in his rather poor performances. But thanks to Thundercracker's little speech the other night, Skywarp decided to continue his Circuit-Su training. Things had been pretty quiet lately though, so it would probably be a while yet before Thundercracker would know if Skywarp's training would pay off.

Until then, Thundercracker and Skywarp would just have to continue their respective duties. Seperately, as they both needed the concentration.

Meanwhile in the Autobot base, Starscream had just come back from his flight to clear his head when he stepped into the command center, where everyone had gathered around, all their attention on Smokescreen.

"What's going on?" Starscream asked as he descended to the floor.

"Smokescreen and Bumblebee got caught on camera," Arcee said with a displeased tone. "In robot mode."

Starscream expressed surprise and looked from Bumblebee to Smokescreen. He started laughing. "Oh, that's hilarious! And you call me unreliable and conspicuous!"

Smokescreen and Bumblebee did not seem to think it was funny. Neither did the others. They decided to ignore the Seeker and instead Optimus returned his attention to Smokescreen.

"Our recent efforts have been so intensely focused on averting crises that we have overlooked simple matters," Prime said. "Such as teaching Smokescreen how to best function on this planet. It is an oversight that must be corrected."

"Optimus, I'm honored to train under you," Smokescreen said and placed a servo on his chest. "And will do whatever it takes to make things right. To make you proud."

"Perhaps the best way for you to learn about the human world is from a human," Optimus suggested.

"Smokescreen gets his own partner?" Arcee asked jokingly.

"Puh-lease," Ratchet protested in annoyance. "Isn't having three humans here enough?"

Everyone silenced and stared at Ratchet, even Starscream, who actually agreed with him. But for the medic to openly speak of his annoyance with the humans was... surprising, to put it mildly.

Ratchet stared back at them before letting out an exasperated sigh and a grumble before turning his back to them and returning to his work by the monitors. The others decided to ignore his not very thoughtful comment.

"I was referring to one already among us," Optimus clarified and gazed down at Jack. Starscream looked around and noticed Miko was absent. She had probably been driven home by Bulkhead while the Seeker was out flying.

"Uh, sure, Optimus," Jack said with uncertainty. "Robots in disguise, traffic laws, don't beat down humans. I can bring Smokescreen up to speed."

"We've all put in curbside duty," Bulkhead said and put a servo on Smokescreen's shoulder. "Part of the gig."

Jack descended from the railings and approached Smokescreen, who initiated transformation to car mode.

"Then let's go for a drive, teach," Smokescreen said with a smile and opened his door to let Jack inside.

As soon as they left through the physical exit, Arcee turned concerned to Optimus.

"Optimus, with all due respect," the femme said, "Agent Fowler is out relocating Raf's family because the 'Cons discovered where he lives. Meanwhile, Smokescreen - in all his wisdom - chooses a vehicle mode with screaming double-38's on the doors, making him an easy target. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't more than concerned about Jack's safety."

"Nonetheless," Optimus replied calmly, "the fact remains that our new recruit is in need of instruction. I believe that Smokescreen's Spark is in the right place and that he now understands the necessity of protecting humanity."

"I'd like to see it before I believe it," Starscream commented from the side.

Later in the day, Smokescreen and Jack returned, and, surprisingly, both were laughing hard, gaining the attention of everyone but Optimus in the base. Prime was working on decoding the Iacon database.

"I am so posting this tonight!" Jack said and continued laughing as he got out of Smokescreen, who transformed and knelt down beside his new friend.

Bumblebee, Arcee, Ratchet and Starscream each turned and stared at the laughing pair. What was so funny that they laughed so hard?

"Arcee, Arcee, check out Vince's car," Jack said and turned his phone so the bots could see.

"The bully," Arcee replied and knelt down to get a closer look. Starscream leaned over to look in curiosity as well. The picture depicted a black muscle car with yellow and orange flames, parked and covered in... fast food? Arcee gave the boy a blank expression, not finding the picture funny. Starscream stepped back, not finding it particularly funny either, but then again he didn't have the context needed to understand the joke.

Regardless, Jack turned his phone back to look at the picture himself and chuckled again. "Hey Vince, did you want fries with that?" he asked the picture, and he and Smokescreen laughed hard again.

"Let me get this straight," Arcee said and rose up again. "So you taught Smokescreen everything he never needed to know about fastfood."

"He passed drivers ed," Jack replied and shrugged. "Work hard, play hard."

"Yeah," Smokescreen said. "No humans were harmed in the making of these photos. Honest!"

The Autobots shared gazes between each other. Starscream scoffed. The Autobots are crazy if they think they can replace me with that guy, he thought mockingly.

Later in the afternoon, while Thundercracker was working by one of the monitors in the command center, Soundwave announced to Megatron he had made results.

"You have decoded the next Iacon coordinates," Megatron remarked pleased while gazing at the map on Soundwave's visor. "Excellent, Soundwave. Then it is time to beta-test our decoy."

Thundercracker barely offered Soundwave a glance as this one walked past him with a round decoy device and left the command center. The Seeker sighed and continued with his research.

A few minutes later, Skywarp entered the command center, which made Thundercracker look up from his work.

"You paged me, Lord Megatron?" Skywarp asked, calmer than he usually was.

"Yes, I want you to accompany me to the next set of coordinates for an Iacon relic," Megatron replied.

"As you wish, master," Skywarp said and bowed, then proceeded to leave the command center, heading for the flight deck.

Megatron passed Thundercracker but paused before leaving the command center as well. He side-glanced the blue Seeker.

"I am pleased to see improvements with the two of you," Megatron said. "Keep it up, and do not disappoint me."

Megatron left Thundercracker to his monitor. Thundercracker glanced over at Dreadwing, who had actually showed up for once. It seemed he was going to look after the ship while Megatron was off having fun.

Thundercracker sighed and returned to his work. At least Skywarp was being supervised this time, regardless of the upcoming results of his training. With that in mind, Thundercracker could safely and calmly focus on his research.

Back in the Autobot base, Optimus was still hard at work decoding the Iacon database. Jack and Smokescreen had gone out for another drive, and Starscream had gone out for a fly.

"I am nearly finished decoding the next Iacon coordinates," Optimus informed Ratchet, who had come over to check on the commander.

Suddenly a beeping sounded on the bigger monitors, showing a set of coordinates.

"You may not need to complete your task, Optimus," Ratchet commented.

"An Iacon locator beacon," Optimus remarked at the map with the given coordinates.

"It seems the Decepticons have already excavated the next relic."

Optimus turned to face the medic. "Ratchet, triangulate coordinates and activate the GroundBridge," Prime ordered.

As Ratchet went and opened a portal, Optimus walked over and was joined by Arcee, Bulkhead and Bumblebee.

"Bring on the 'Cons!" Bulkhead said excitedly and slammed his fists, eager for some action now that he had recovered.

Optimus noticed they were two bots short.

"Where are Smokescreen and Starscream?" Optimus asked and looked around.

"Smokescreen's out training again with Jack," Arcee answered. "Starscream's out flying."

Optimus turned back to the GroundBridge. "We cannot wait," he declared. "Autobots, transform and roll out!"

Meanwhile, in a canyon that was not the coordinates the Autobots were following, a squadron of Vehicon troopers, miners, and Insecticons were busy digging through a mountain, as the next set of coordinates came from within it. Megatron and Skywarp were both present to oversee the excavation. Skywarp was currently circling the mountain from above to check for anything they may have missed.

While the miners used the large drill machines to dig holes into the cliff and break it into smaller boulders, the Insecticons lifted those boulders away to clear some space for more digging. The troopers also carried smaller boulders away while the bigger boulders were knocked over, some of which would then get picked up by the Insecticons.

Skywarp found nothing special during his round and returned to Megatron's side, resuming bot mode. Just then, one of the Vehicon troopers called for attention.

"Lord Megatron," the Vehicon called.

Megatron walked over to the Vehicon, and Skywarp walked close behind him, curious to see what relic they had uncovered.

"I certainly hope that our new acquisition is of Decepticon origin," Megatron said.

As they walked closer and the Vehicon got out of their line of sight, they found the hilt of a sword, the blade stuck deeply into the mountain. Megatron stiffened as his gaze locked onto the sword. Something in his body language told Skywarp that this relic was definitely not of Decepticon origin.

"It cannot be..." Megatron said, almost in a gasp. "Power of this magnitude must never be allowed to fall into the hands of Optimus Prime. No matter what."

Skywarp looked from Megatron to the sword and back. "Why?" Skywarp asked confused. "What is that sword?"

"It is the Star Saber, Skywarp," Megatron said and walked over to the sword. Skywarp didn't follow.

As Megatron approached the sword, he slowly locked his claws around the hilt in a tight grip. He leaned forward a bit, and then, in a swift movement, he pulled back, attempting to pull the sword out.

But the sword remained in the stone.

Megatron pulled harder, grunting and groaning in frustration. Skywarp looked around him. The Vehicons were looking from the warlord to each other. They seemed to be judging him. Skywarp couldn't blame them. He was the leader of the Decepticons, the most fearsome gladiator and warlord of Cybertron, after all. To see this mighty mech, not even being able to pull out a little sword out of a mere Earth rock... well, it was quite embarrassing, to say the least.

Embarrassing to Megatron, that is. Had Skywarp had a communicator right now, he would totally have taken a picture or a video right now. It was just hilarious. Skywarp really had to restrain himself from laughing.

Megatron, getting frustrated over how stuck the sword was in the rock, grabbed the hilt with both servos and placed a pede on the wall, pulling as hard as he could. He threw his head back and practically screamed in frustration. Skywarp covered his mouth with a servo; he had been really close to giggling there. The warlord's struggle reminded many of the bots present of Starscream. Especially the screaming part.

As Megatron let go of the hilt and started shooting at the rock with his fusion cannon, everyone stepped back and covered their faces to avoid getting dust in their optics and visors. Now they didn't feel much like laughing at him anymore. Megatron's fusion cannon was nothing to laugh at.

Megatron stopped his assault and lowered his arm, stepping forward to claim the sword from the broken mountain. Only, when the dust cloud lifted, he stiffened as the rock the sword was stuck in was still whole and unharmed.

"The rock is impermeable," Megatron accused the rock. "The relic is emanating a protective shield!"

Skywarp looked around, sharing gazes with the Vehicons and Insecticons, all equally puzzled at the ineffectiveness of Megatron's powerful fusion cannon.

"If even you can't extract the sword from the stone," Skywarp remarked, "then surely the Autobots won't have a chance of getting it either?"

"You're wrong, Skywarp," Megatron growled, still glaring at the sword. "It will only respond to the power of a Prime."

"Oh. That's not good for us."

Megatron gazed up and down at the mountain the Star Saber was situated in and growled in frustration.

"We'll remove it if we have to take the entire mountain!" Megatron yelled.

Skywarp's wings drooped slightly, and the other Decepticons seemed shocked as well. Oh great, where are we gonna put THAT on the ship?

Starscream decided to actually enjoy his flight that afternoon, trying not to think about anything but just feeling the caressing wind and getting refreshed by flying through a few clouds.

As he revelled in the feeling of the relieving liquid on his armor, he came to think about oil baths. One of the first things he had noticed when he was allowed to wander the Autobot base alone for the first time was that they apparently had no oil baths. They only had one Energon shower, and that was to be used for recovery. They didn't even have a single oil bath. That certainly explained why they were always so dirty and dull in color.

The Nemesis had plenty of oil baths, and the Decepticons, Vehicons and Insecticons included, made frequent use of the baths, hence why their armor was always so clean and shiny. Even Starscream enjoyed an oil bath now and then, especially after recovering from one of Megatron's punishments or simply from a battle with the Autobots. After returning from the collapsed Energon mine, he had needed a really long bath. Megatron as well. They had both been pretty dusty and dirty.

The Autobots didn't seem to have the luxury of an oil bath. They weren't covered in grime, but their frames were still laced with white marks and dirt from old battles. Starscream had found it repelling at first - he still did, actually - but he now understood that their rather small base made it so the Autobots couldn't have too many luxuries that the Decepticons had.

Starscream hadn't had an oil bath for three months, and he didn't even have a mirror, so he didn't even know how bad his armor looked, having been neglected for so long. He had asked for a mirror, but even that seemed to be a difficult luxury for the Autobots to acquire. Starscream had hard to believe just how easy he had been living on the Nemesis. How easy he had been living his whole life, actually, being created in a high caste society and everything. Despite all the discrimination, despite all his punishments and all of the tyranny, he, the troopers and other Decepticons had been treated well with accommodations of a typical household. The Autobots were not so lucky. It was like living in a fragging low caste slum, that's what it felt like.

So despite his disgust of not having had a bath for months, Starscream restrained himself from commenting on it, as he at least had the option of soaking himself in rainclouds - however small the relief may be. Water was okay, but oil was definitely the best. Oil also helped lubricating the Protoform, making the joints move more smoothly and helped against soreness and aching. Water did none of that.

Starscream took a moment to just imagine himself soaking in a nice warm oil bath, like the ones on the Nemesis. He let out a sigh at the virtual sensation. If there was one thing he missed as a Decepticon, it was oil baths.

Starscream revelled in the physical and virtual sensation for a while longer before deciding he had flown enough and headed back to base.

When he arrived in the command center, he noticed the gang was missing, aside from Ratchet who stood by the monitor.

"Optimus, do you read me?" Ratchet called on the monitor.

As Starscream began descending to the floor, Smokescreen came driving in from the physical entrance and pulled to a stop. He let out Jack before transforming, and the two teenagers started laughing again, much to Starscream's annoyance.

"Oh dude, my boss is gonna freak!" Jack exclaimed while catching his breath.

"That thing we stuffed in his tailpipe, what's it called again?" Smokescreen asked.

"Pizza!" Jack replied, and they assumed laughing.

"Will you two keep it down?!" Ratchet snapped from the monitor, silencing the two laughing youngsters.

Starscream reached the floor and gazed at the focused medic.

"Arcee? Bulkhead! Can anyone hear me?" Ratchet tried calling again, but the monitor only emitted static noise.

"Ratchet, what's going on?" Jack asked, now assuming a more serious manner, as did Smokescreen.

"Our sensors detected a second Iacon locator beacon," Ratchet replied and turned to face the newcomers. "But I can't reach Optimus."

"I'll go," Smokescreen volunteered.

"Alone?" Ratchet asked.

"Hey, I'm standing here too, you know," Starscream remarked insulted. "I will go with him."

Ratchet gazed between Starscream and Smokescreen and scoffed. "Fine," he simply said.

Ratchet turned to activate the GroundBridge before returning to try calling Optimus. Starscream decided to go on ahead through the tunnel. While the others were looking away, Smokescreen gazed down at Jack.

"He says fine," the youngster repeated and smiled. "But I don't think he really wants me to go alone with him."

Meanwhile, somewhere else, Swindle was driving along the roads of a desert, his holographic driver James occupying his cabin. Although, the large black cannon on the roof of the jeep was probably so conspicuous that it wouldn't matter if the car had a driver or not. Perhaps he should have scanned a soldier instead of a business man as his holographic driver.

He and Brawl had been searching three days now for any sign of their comrades. Swindle had only stopped once to sleep, otherwise he had just been driving. He hadn't consumed any Energon since setting out, but he didn't feel hungry anyway. Cybertronians could survive well over a week without Energon, the longest known time one could definitely survive without Energon was a month. Some could survive longer, but it really depended on the individual bot's frame type, size and in some cases, special abilities. He imagined a bot like the Seeker Sunstorm used up more energy because of the blazing armor he had.

Smaller bots tended to be able to survive longer without much Energon, as they needed less than big bots like Megatron. Smaller bots also tended to spend more energy because of their small sizes, however, meaning they needed to consume Energon more frequently, but less Energon than a big bot. The bigger ones needed more Energon, but could survive longer periods of time before needing to fuel again. Each size seemed to have their own advantages and disadvantages, apparently.

Swindle was deep in his own thoughts when suddenly a signal popped up on his radar. He got startled as there had been nothing for almost three whole days, and almost drove off the road. He pulled to a stop at the side of the road so no passing vehicles would drive into him.

There was a signal. A signal from one of his comrades. And he could feel just which one it was. He mentally smirked and started driving again, heading to the position he sensed the signal from.

"Hey, Brawl," Swindle called on the comm. "You find anyone yet?"

"No, have you?" Brawl asked over the comm.

"I sure did! I found Onslaught! Revert to my position right away, and we can return to the warship for a cube and an oil bath!"

"I'm on my way!"

Starscream was the first to exit the GroundBridge portal into a forest in a rocky region. He took a look around while Smokescreen got out.

"I just pulled a Miko," Jack's voice sounded.

The voice surprised Starscream and made him turn around. Jack stood meters from the portal, disappearing just behind Smokescreen.

"What in the name of the AllSpark do you think you're doing?!" Starscream exclaimed, directed at both the human and the Autobot.

"Relax, Scream," Smokescreen said with an annoying smile. "It's cool."

"It is so not cool!" Starscream hissed at the Autobot. "Do you have any idea what Arcee will do to me if she finds out her human pet is out here under my supervision?!"

"What?"

Starscream silenced. "Er... um..." the Seeker stuttered. His optics darted around, trying to think of something. He growled at them. "She'll be mad to say the least. And not just me, she won't be very pleased with you either!"

"Come on, let's go grab a relic," Smokescreen said to Jack and passed a moping Starscream. Jack followed close behind.

"Hey! Come back here!" Starscream shrieked and followed close behind, making sure not to step on the human.

They ran up to a bunch of large boulders and sought cover. Starscream side-glanced Smokescreen with a snarl but decided they could wait with this for later. He turned his gaze to the scene before him instead.

About a hundred meters away stood a mountain, which was being broken into pieces by a squadron of Decepticons. Both Vehicons and Insecticons were present. Sharpening their optics and eyes, they zoomed in on a particularly shiny object embedded into the mountain.

"Wow," Jack said, apparently having an amazing eyesight, "it's a sword."

"Not just any sword," Smokescreen commented. "That looks like the Star Saber. A legendary weapon, forged by Solus Prime. As... lore would have it. It's rumored to wield the power of the Matrix."

Starscream gazed intrigued at the sword. "Nice name it has," he remarked with a smirk. That would be a nice sword to have. Maybe even better than my own old ones from the war.

"I'm gonna make Optimus proud," Smokescreen said and smiled.

"Not a good idea," Jack warned.

"Why?"

"Because Megatron is here."

"What?!" Starscream exclaimed and pulled his gaze from the Star Saber, searching around the ground in the front. His gaze landed on the well-known figure of his nightmares, so tiny seen from so far away, yet so menacing, those large spiky shoulders warning of his power and fury.

"Dark Lord himself," Smokescreen remarked quietly.

"Oh scrap," Starscream swore and started to back away from his rock a little bit. "Oh no, no, no..."

Smokescreen briefly glanced at the anxious Seeker before returning his gaze to Megatron and smirked. "He won't know what hit him," Smokescreen said and slammed his fists together, starting to rise up. Starscream stared at him in disbelief and prepared to stop the recruit. Jack beat him to it.

"Smokescreen, wait," Jack said and held out his arms. "Something isn't right. Why doesn't Megatron just take the Star Saber?"

"Germophobe?" Smokescreen suggested.

"Megatron is anything but a germophobe, Autobot," Starscream snarled. "He will gladly get his hands dirty if it means getting ahold of a powerful weapon like the Star Saber."

"Yeah, seriously, we need to wait for backup," Jack said.

Smokescreen looked from Jack to Starscream and then forward. "You heard Ratchet," he said and jumped on top of his rock. "Backup's not available right now!"

Starscream wanted to scream as Smokescreen jumped off the rock and stormed out, charging at the Decepticons by the mountain. Jack looked astonished at the recruit as well, then back at Starscream. Starscream whined as he gazed from the boy to the recruit.

"You're not seriously suggesting I go out to where Megatron is, do you?!" Starscream exclaimed in disbelief. "So what if that Smokescreen gets himself scrapped? That's his loss!"

"You're not serious, are you?" Jack asked surprised. "You know Autobots don't leave a comrade behind, right?"

Starscream winced by the notion and stared after Smokescreen, who was about to reach the Decepticons.

"Enough! Commence transport!" he heard Megatron shout, and stiffened.

They stared ahead and watched as the Nemesis deployed a hook, which attached itself to the smaller part of the mountain, in which the Star Saber was embedded.

They heard gunfire and looked back to Smokescreen, who had now engaged the Decepticons in battle. Starscream looked from Smokescreen to Megatron and whined.

"I'm so going to regret this," he whimpered and assumed jet mode, catching Jack by surprise, and flew towards the battlefield.

Starscream shot after the Vehicons approaching Smokescreen, and upon taking off into the sky, he noticed Megatron had caught sight of not only Smokescreen, but also Starscream.

"STARSCREAM!" Megatron roared and initiated alternate mode.

Starscream felt his Spark racing faster as the warlord himself began chasing after him. Megatron was firing his fusion cannon after the Seeker, who only just barely managed to dodge the incoming shots, accompanied by shrieks and screams of distress.

"RATCHET!" Starscream screamed into the comm. "HELP! BACKUP! WE NEED BACKUP!"

"Starscream, calm down, what's going on?" Ratchet's voice sounded from the comm.

"Megatron is here," Starscream said, trying to calm down, which was hard with an angry warlord firing a fusion cannon from behind. "And he's chasing after me! Smokescreen is down below and engaging in battle alone. Oh, and Jack's here too."

"WHAT?!"

Starscream didn't get to hear the rest of Ratchet's comm.; right in front of him, out of nowhere, Skywarp appeared in robot mode with a plop. Starscream hit the black Seeker with such speed, they both bounced back, and Starscream let out a scream of surprise. As he tried not to spin out of control, Megatron finally managed to hit Starscream with a fusion blast, hitting his left wing. Starscream screamed in pain and began falling towards the ground.

"Skywarp!" Megatron growled. "Take care of Starscream! I will deal with our new combatant."

"With pleasure, sir!" Skywarp cackled and descended to the ground, still in bot mode, following the crashing Starscream.

Just before he hit the ground, Starscream initiated bot mode and landed hard on his back. Before he could get back on his legs, he felt a pede on his chest, holding him down. He looked up and saw Skywarp's annoying smirk and narrow optics stare him down.

"Skywarp, you miserable..." Starscream hissed. He briefly glanced to his left wing. It was still whole, but Megatron's blast had bended it painfully backward, making him unable to lie completely flat on his back. He gazed back up at Skywarp.

"Well, well, well," Skywarp snarled. "Seems the roles have been switched. It's like it was just yesterday that I was on the ground and you was the one who had me down."

"It's were, not was," Starscream corrected. "And that's because it was three days ago."

Skywarp looked stumped at him by his correction and scoffed. "Whatever!" he said and pointed his blaster at his former commander's face, earning a small yelp from this one. "You're coming back to the ship with us, Screamer. Megatron's orders." His smirk widened, his optics gleaming viciously.

Starscream hissed at his former Trinemate, glancing to the side where Megatron was approaching a captured Smokescreen. "Scrap," he swore.

"You're not winning this time, Screamer," Skywarp said. "We're the ones who are winning. We'll take the Star Saber, and then you and your little Autobot pals are gonna be scrapmetal!"

Just as he said that, more gunfire sounded from behind them. Skywarp looked ahead of him and expressed surprise. Starscream couldn't look behind him, but he could make use of Skywarp being distracted, and transformed his arm into a blaster. Before Skywarp could react, Starscream blasted the former in the chest, knocking him off the latter.

Starscream quickly got onto his pedes and ran off to the side, gazing behind him. The Autobots had arrived! Backup had arrived! They were saved!

"Where is Prime?" Starscream asked himself, counting Bulkhead, Bumblebee and Arcee heading for the captured Smokescreen by Megatron. He found Optimus running up the mountain and followed his path. Looking up, he learned why he was climbing the mountain; the boulder containing the Star Saber had been lifted into the air and was being flown off by the Nemesis. Prime was trying to catch up to it!

"It's too far away, he can't make it by himself," Starscream muttered and looked at his left wing. He wouldn't be able to fly well with it, but perhaps he could be of use some other way.

Making a decision, Starscream initiated jet mode and struggled ascending into the air. The bended wing made it more difficult to keep his balance, but it was nothing the Air Commander of the Seekers couldn't handle. He had experienced flights worse than this under worse conditions. He could handle it.

As he approached the mountain, Starscream watched as Optimus swiftly and gracefully jumped from rock to rock with high power, switching between truck mode and robot mode, swinging around a long rock and shot upwards. He hadn't seen Optimus move so gracefully in a long time, if ever. Despite how far away the flying mountain was from the grounded mountain, Optimus continued determined forward, not giving up on the relic. A sudden surge of admiration for the Autobot leader welled up in the Seeker. If Optimus, a Grounder, believed he could make it in time, then certainly Starscream could make it in time as well!

Starscream noticed Megatron and a trio of Vehicon Fliers had ascended to the air as well and were on their way to stop Optimus from reaching the mountain. A strange urge to protect the Autobot leader welled up in Starscream, and as Megatron and the Vehicons began firing at Optimus, Starscream approached them from behind and launched his missiles, aimed at Megatron.

Megatron managed to avoid the missiles, but the troopers didn't and were caught in the explosion, which sent two of them crashing to the ground. Megatron was shaken a bit by the explosion, but he ignored the Seeker and continued his pursuit after Optimus, as did the last Vehicon.

Optimus had reached the top of the mountain and was nearing the flying mountain. Starscream noticed that by the edge of the grounded mountain was a rocky ramp, which Optimus was heading towards. Even with the ramp, though, it was a pretty long jump, and Starscream doubted he would be able to reach it in time, especially with Megatron chasing after him.

Starscream got an idea and sped up, heading between the ramp and the mountain.

"OPTIMUS!" Starscream screamed. "NOW!"

Without even discussing it, Optimus went up the ramp and began flying through the air, still in truck mode. As he was beginning to lose altitude, Starscream reached him and did a quick turn to face the flying mountain. Optimus transformed and planted his pedes onto Starscream's back, setting off and shooting towards the bottom of the mountain. The power of the takeoff sent Starscream towards the ground, but he managed to regain momentum and more slowly descend to the ground before transforming back to bot mode, landing safely on his pedes.

Starscream gazed up. Optimus was hanging under the mountain, holding onto the Star Saber. It suddenly began glowing a bright, soft light blue, and suddenly Optimus began descending, though strangely slowly. By now, the sun had set and the moon had begun showing its face. The darkness made the Star Saber's glow appear even more brightly.

From the corner of his optic, Starscream noticed Skywarp taking off in jet form, setting toward the Nemesis along with Megatron and the remaining Vehicon troopers and Insecticons. They were retreating!

Starscream headed over to the other Autobots, who had rescued both Smokescreen and Jack, who had been chased by Insecticons, and together they watched their leader fall to the ground in a bright glow, landing on his pedes with the Star Saber in servo. He rose to his pedes, standing tall and proud like he was, with the long, glowing light blue bladed sword, almost as long as he was tall.

"I loosened it for him," Smokescreen said jokingly.

"Nice job, Scream," Arcee said. "Saw you acting as a ramp up there for him."

"Eh, it was nothing, really," Starscream said and crossed his arms. Though my back is pretty sore now...

Suddenly, the warship's hook detached from the flying mountain, which was now a falling mountain, then a rolling mountain, heading down towards where Optimus was standing, seemingly oblivious to the danger behind him, gazing at the glowing Star Saber in wonder.

"Optimus!" Arcee yelled. "Retreat!"

"Now!" Bulkhead shouted.

"Behind you!" Starscream screamed.

Optimus was still staring at the Star Saber, as the mountain approached him. Suddenly, in a swift movement, Prime turned around and sliced the mountain in half!

Two pieces of mountain, cut clean in half, rolled a little bit forward before stopping short. It seemed even the mighty mountain was shocked over the power of the Star Saber. Optimus stood behind, sword lowered, standing tall and proud like a knight. He seemed completely unfazed by the cleaved mountain.

Everyone else stood and moped and gaped at Optimus and the two slices of mountain.

"Did he just...?" Bulkhead trailed off.

"He did," Bumblebee bleeped, just as perplexed.

"No way," Jack gasped in awe.

"Wow..." Starscream remarked, the admiration from before increasing even further.

On the Nemesis, the Decepticons couldn't believe what they just witnessed. Skywarp and Thundercracker both stared shocked at the video feed of Optimus cleaving a mountain clean in half, both with their mouths wide open.

Megatron was likewise shocked and speechless, gaping in horror at the image of Optimus looking up at him with a blank stare.

Thundercracker and Skywarp spared a quick glance at each other, just to see if they had both seen what they thought they had seen. Confirming the other's glance, they looked back at Prime's image and lowered their wings in fear. Fear for what was about to come.

Suddenly, Optimus began running forward, spun around twice, let out a thundering roar, the Star Saber glowing even brighter... and let loose a large, glowing magic energy slash through the air, flying towards the warship! The energy slash hit the ship, which began trembling violently, making the residents of the command center lose their balance, several of them landing on the floor. The ship began smoking in the back and was heading towards the ground.

Luckily the pilots managed to steer the smoking warship upwards in time before crashing into the ground, and the Nemesis fled the battlefield.

Megatron regained his balance and stared ahead, his EM field emitting a strange amount of fear. But he wasn't the only one. Everyone in the room, including Dreadwing and even Soundwave, were worried about what this meant for their cause.

"We Decepticons now face our darkest hour..." Megatron said gloomily.

"How epic was that?!" Smokescreen exclaimed excitedly as Team Prime arrived back in base. "I saw it with my own optics..." Smokescreen did an imitation of Optimus spinning around twice to make a magic energy slash in the air. "... but I still don't believe it!"

"Know what I don't believe?" Arcee asked retorically. "That after everything you've been told, you still put a human at risk!"

"Arcee, it wasn't his fault," Jack pleaded, "I shouldn't have-"

"Don't you even start with me," Arcee interrupted sharply. "We'll talk tomorrow. Send Jack home," she added to Ratchet, who opened a GroundBridge, coordinates set to the living room in Jack's house. He was certain to be welcomed home casually by his mother who knew about the Transformers and thus didn't find it strange at all that her son arrived home in the living room through a portal.

Jack seemed to be about to say something, but silenced and turned to leave through the GroundBridge. He paused just before the glowing tunnel and looked back at Smokescreen.

"Green for go," Smokescreen said with a smile.

With that, Jack turned and went through the green portal, which closed behind him.

As soon as Jack had left, Arcee turned to Smokescreen and continued to scold him. Starscream decided to step back, not wanting to become included in the argument. The last thing he needed was Arcee hating him too. She already had reason enough to hate him - not that she knew, of course - he didn't need to give her more.

"We've been in need of another Autobot in our ranks," Arcee hissed, "not another child."

"Look, Arcee," Smokescreen said quietly. "I was wrong. And I'm sorry. Again. And if you need to kick me off Team Prime-"

"Disregard for human safety," Optimus growled calmly and stuck the off-turned Star Saber in the floor, resting his servo on it, "or anyone's safety will not be tolerated, do you understand?"

"Fully, sir," Smokescreen replied and placed a servo on his chest.

The Autobots looked around at each other and at Optimus in silence for a while, until Optimus continued.

"We must never lose sight of the fact that upon this Earth, we are titans. And such power must be used wisely."

Suddenly, the Star Saber began glowing brightly again, drawing everyone's attention to it. Optimus lifted it up and held it upwards, gazing into the blade, which began glowing brighter.

"Wow," Bulkhead said in awe.

Optimus seemed to be in a trance of some sort, gazing into the glowing blade with likewise bright glowing white optics, brighter than they usually were. He didn't seem to be sensing the world around him.

"Optimus, speak to me," Ratchet said concerned.

Optimus didn't seem to sense him. His optics were still brightly glowing, as if he was looking into another world.

"Optimus!" Ratchet called again, more concerned now.

"I am receiving a message," Optimus absently replied with a strangely hollow voice.

Everyone took a step forward in intrigue.

"From whom?" Ratchet asked.

Optimus didn't answer right away. After a few seconds, his bright optics seemed to widen in surprise.

"Alpha Trion," he finally answered.