CHAPTER 28

Project Predacon

The next few hours were spent setting up the equipment in the Autobots' new base. There was much to be done, but they made sure to set up the most important equipment first. It was a no-processor-er that the medbay had to be set up first, so they could treat their wounded.

"It'll be good to get these dents sorted out," Bulkhead commented while setting up the operating table in a corner that would make out the medbay. "But I can wait. You should get those scratches fixed first, though, Jackie."

"Who, me?" Wheeljack replied while helping Ratchet set up the monitors beside the table. "Nah, I can wait too. There are others in this room who need repairs more than I do."

"Like who?"

Wheeljack pointed back with his thumb, and Bulkhead followed. In the other end of the room stood Starscream by the railings, his left wing lying on the upper level to reduce the strain on the few cables that kept it attached to the rest of his body. Even so, the Seeker seemed to struggle not to twitch or whimper out loud, as the wound was still gaping and leaking a little. Bulkhead hummed at the sight.

"You really wanna let him go first?" Bulkhead asked surprised. "After what he did to you?"

"Just mesh wounds," Wheeljack replied casually. "They don't hurt. At least not as much as a broken limb, I guess. And you weren't there. You didn't see what he was like in those moments. Yeah, he's a douche, but we're all livin' together now. Better try to get along, I guess. 'Sides, I'm a Wrecker. I can handle a little pain."

Bulkhead hummed again and gazed at Starscream briefly before returning to the set-up.

Starscream tried to be strong, tried to be patient while the others were setting up the medbay. He had been certain that, despite his reconciliation with the Autobots, he would be far from the first to have his wounds treated. After all, why treat the tormentor before the tormented? He was certain they would treat Wheeljack first. But now, having listened faintly to the Wreckers' conversation in the other end of the room, he felt strangely grateful toward Wheejack. Maybe the mech wasn't so bad after all.

He didn't know how the others would feel about it though. They hadn't spoken to him since they first arrived in Hangar E. After breaking up to set up the equipment, he had just returned to the railings to relieve his wing of the strain from having to hold it up by the few cables left attached between the wing and the base. He tried to keep himself quiet and still, but it was hard, because it still hurt.

Wings weren't supposed to get removed from the body. Wings were built to withstand strong winds, turbulence, extreme weather and even crashing. Wings were very tough, and it took a lot of force to remove them. Which meant an excruciating amount of pain, something Starscream had already experienced twice now, though this time fortunately without actually losing his wings.

The wings were held together by hundreds of cables and thousands of nerve wirings, making them extremely sensitive and very expressive, capable of much movement. If the wings were completely removed from the base, it could take several years for them to fully recover, in Starscream's first case ten years. As long as a few cables and nerve wirings remained intact, however, the process would be much shorter, ranging from a week to several months depending on the damage caused. As long as cables were still holding the wings together, Energon would continue to flow into them and let the healing process go faster.

Starscream's right wing had a large tear in it, but it wasn't so bad. It could take a week or two to heal. The left one, however, was so bad it could probably take well over a month to recover. And in all that time, Starscream would be unable to fly, probably even unable to go on missions to avoid further damage or opening his wounds. The Autobots had lost their main air support for now. That is, if it wasn't for Optimus Prime's newest upgrade, of course.

"Hey Scream," Arcee's voice suddenly said, making Starscream perk to attention. "You holding up okay?"

Starscream stared at the femme for a few seconds before looking away, not answering. Arcee sighed.

"I'm sorry for leaving you behind on Cybertron," she said.

Starscream looked back at her with a surprised look. "Huh?"

"Yeah, it was my fault you got left behind. I didn't tell the others you were down. I was just so mad at you because of Cliffjumper, that I... I let my grudge get the better of me. It wasn't fair to you. I'm sorry."

Starscream's optics flicked from side to side before landing back on Arcee. "I... well, um..." he began and looked away again. "Apology accepted. And... I'm sorry for siding with Megatron against you."

"You already apologized for that," Arcee pointed out.

"I can never apologize enough for that. I regret everything I did to you, even what I did to Wheeljack."

Arcee crossed her arms and let out a small chuckle. "Well, I guess you never had the best role models, did you?"

Starscream leaned his head on his left palm, elbow leaning on the railings. "I guess not," he replied quietly.

There was silence between them for a while. Arcee let her arms fall to her sides.

"Why did you do it?" she asked quietly. "Why did you kill Cliffjumper?"

Starscream felt a rush in his tanks by the question and pulled his head from his servo. He stared wide-eyed at her for a moment, then looked from side to side before setting his gaze on the floor.

"Wh... why do you ask?" he stuttered.

"Because I want to know what you did," she replied, not angrily, rather in a sad tone. "I want to know what compelled you to terminate my partner."

Starscream gritted his denta. He was silent for a while, thinking back several months ago, trying to remember what he had felt back then, what things had been said. After a while, he let out a sigh and relaxed his face.

"He... said something," Starscream replied quietly. "Something that upset me greatly."

"And you killed him for that?" Arcee asked in disbelief, though tried to keep herself calm.

Starscream gulped. "You don't understand," he said. "He reminded me of my situation. Of who I was. Of what I was. Of where I stood. I remember his last words clearly in my head, because they hurt me so deeply."

Arcee felt her Spark racing a bit faster. "What were his last words?"

Starscream silenced for a moment, thinking about the words so he wouldn't mess them up. "He said... 'Scream. It's been a while. So, where's your master?'"

Arcee remained silent, waiting for more, but Starscream didn't say more. "That's it?" she asked in disbelief. "That's why you killed him?"

"Like I said, you don't understand," Starscream protested. "You don't understand the meaning behind those words."

He took a deep vent and then locked gazes with Arcee, a stern expression adorning his face.

"I was once Air Commander of the Seekers," he explained. "I was even Winglord of Vos, basically the leader of all flight frames. Or, well, most of them anyway. The best of them. I was the best of the best. I was admired and respected by all of Vos, and even by those in Iacon. I was one of Sentinel Prime's bodyguards during the beginning of the war. I was someone great, someone bots could aspire to become like."

Starscream lowered his gaze to the floor again. "Then, I was conquered by Megatron, and I had to prove my worth all over again. I only made it as far as second-in-command of the Decepticons. Even when I tried to gain the leader post, Megatron was quick to suppress me again. No matter how many times I tried."

Starscream formed a small smile on his lips. "Then, three and a half years ago, Megatron left Earth and left me in charge of his forces while he was gone. Basically, I was the stand-in leader for three whole years. It was wonderful, having all that power."

Starscream's smile faltered. "Then half a year ago or so, I was informed Megatron was coming back, and I had to show him my progress over these years. Because you know how much I had done during those years?"

"Nothing?" Arcee replied.

"Nothing!" Starscream confirmed. "I didn't want to engage you Autobots in any more pointless battles. We had enough Energon, it was before we found all those relics that we fought over, and it was before the discovery of the Blood of Unicron. There was simply no more point in fighting you. So I just had everyone keep a low profile and do what they wanted, as long as it didn't attract any Autobot attention."

"I know," Arcee replied, suddenly thoughtful. "You did actually do a good job at keeping the peace on Earth while Megatron was gone. We all thought the 'Cons had left Earth. No conflicts for three years. It was almost like we got a vacation."

"That's what we thought too," Starscream replied with a chuckle. "We just relaxed and had some fun, some of us taking a relaxing flight sometimes. It was nice and peaceful."

Starscream's smile fell once again. "But then Soundwave informed me that Megatron was returning, and I knew I had to do something to show my former master that I hadn't just been twiddling my thumbs all that time. That's when we found Cliffjumper, alone, approaching an Energon quarry."

Arcee perked to attention, listening intently to Starscream's explanation.

"At first, we were going to just harvest the Energon there, for there was a lot of it," Starscream continued. "But seeing Cliffjumper there, alone, I decided it would be a good idea to take a hostage as well. You know, for interrogation, so we could learn the location of your base."

Arcee squinted but said nothing, waiting for him to continue.

"Cliffjumper fought well," Starscream said. "But there were too many troopers, and they were among the best trained, as I recollect. One of the stray lasers hit the Energon and caused a big explosion. I was disappointed the Energon had been wasted, but at least I had acquired a prisoner."

Starscream frowned. "Then he said those words... and I was just reminded that, despite those three years of my reign, I was still nothing more but a servant to Megatron. He reminded me of all I had lost and everything I was unable to seize. I was overcome with anger, and the next second, my claws were inside his chest."

Arcee felt a rush in her tanks by the explanation, her Spark racing faster. Starscream paused for a moment to think.

"He was so calm," he said quietly. "Not afraid at all about being captured. He probably thought he was going to get interrogated. I thought so too. We were both taken by surprise by my action. He didn't even know it was coming until it was over. He died swiftly and without fear. Without pain."

Starscream dared form a small smile on his lips. "He got off easy," he whispered. "By mocking me, he received a swift, painless death, rather than the torment that might have awaited him."

Arcee vented deeply, trying to keep her emotions under control. She remained silent, worried she might lose it if she spoke.

"I was stunned after I pulled my claws out of him," Starscream continued, his smile falling once again. "I didn't realize my attack had been fatal until he fell to the floor, leaking out. I was shocked by what I had done. The troopers who brought him in seemed just as shocked, I think. But we couldn't just stand around all day, so I had them take him out, prepare him for Megatron's return. I thought that if I couldn't present Megatron with a live Autobot and the location of your base, at least I could prove to him that I had managed to dwindle your forces while he was gone."

Starscream took a deep vent and exhaled, his optical ridges slightly downcast. "I needed to prove myself useful to him," he said. "I needed to show him that he could depend on me, that I was competent and to be taken seriously. And... considering the fact that no other Autobots have been slain since that day, my feat was pretty big, wasn't it?"

"Except you didn't defeat Cliff yourself," Arcee countered, unable to hold herself back any longer. "You had your grunts do all the dirty work and took the credit for finishing him off when he couldn't fight back anymore."

Starscream frowned at her. "Let my grunts do all the dirty work?" he repeated with a hiss. "I could have defeated Cliffjumper on my own and finished him off myself! I just..." He paused as he saw Arcee's expression, a mixture of anger and shock. He loosened his frown and looked back at the floor. "I mean... I... don't know why I just said that..."

Arcee loosened her strange expression and fell to a more saddened look, also gazing at the floor. "What about when Cliff was... turned?" Arcee asked quietly. "At the mine, I mean, where we found him. When you turned him into some kind of Terrorcon."

Starscream briefly glanced at Arcee before looking back at the floor. "That was all Megatron's work," he replied. "When he returned from space, he brought with him a big chunk of Dark Energon. I presented Cliffjumper's body to him, and he tested out the Dark Energon on him. He was the first of the many Terrorcons that were to come. The first, before he put a crystal in his own Spark chamber. Cliffjumper went berserk, mauled two of our Miners before turning on us. Megatron sliced him in half, and... well, you know the rest of the story."

Arcee let out a long sigh and bowed her head in sadness. "We were so hopeful when Cliff's life signal popped back online," she said quietly. "We had already buried his horn on the bluff, because his signal had gone offline. We were certain he was dead. To see it pop back on... I thought for sure he was somehow still alive. But when we got there... that wasn't Cliff. Not anymore. It was just... pure, mindless rage. The sight broke something inside of me. I felt empty, numb. Even more so than when we had to bury his horn."

She fell silent for a while.

"I dropped that bomb afterwards," Starscream continued for her. "I tried to blow you up, but you survived. I'm sure the explosion took out whatever remained of the Dark Energon inside him. I'm sure he's at rest now."

"You don't know that," Arcee said quietly. "But I have been thinking about it. About going back. To see if he's still online, or if he's truly gone now. Imagine if he's still down there, still online, still in pain, still restless... Sometimes I can't rest, thinking about it."

Starscream thought for a moment. "If we ever find our way back there, maybe when my wings are healed," Starscream said, "maybe I could check if he's still there. And if he's still online, put him out of his misery."

Arcee stared at him. "You'd do that?" she said in disbelief. "For Cliff?"

Starscream gave her a small crooked smile. "I've felt bad about killing him, the least I can do is make sure he doesn't suffer more than necessary," he said. "I promise, once I get my wings back, I will find that collapsed mine and find him. I will make sure to recover his remains so you can give him a proper funeral. After all... his grave was destroyed along with your base."

Both of them fell silent and gazed at the floor. "I'll take your word on it, Scream," Arcee said.

A moment later, Ratchet walked over to the pair. "There, the medbay is set up," Ratchet informed, making the two perk to attention. "Let's get those wings of yours fixed up, shall we?"

Starscream's right wing rose up and a smile formed on his face. He picked up his left wing and carefully held it as he was led by Ratchet over to the medbay, all set up and ready to be used. While Ratchet got Starscream to lay on his front and got a pair of boxes to lean the wing on to minimize the stress on the cables, the others began setting up the other equipment.

"Do we have functional stasis yet?" Starscream asked with his head pointing to the right.

"We do," Ratchet replied. "I shall put you under."

"Please do."

Wings were very sensitive things and pain inflicted on them was very great. Starscream didn't want to accidentally cause more harm to himself during the repairs.

Soon, Ratchet put Starscream under stasis, the Seeker's arms lying along his sides, his wings flat on his back. He felt drowzy as the stasis kicked in, and soon his optics closed, leading him into the world of painless darkness.

Repairing wings was... complicated. As a field medic and having worked for millions of years, Ratchet was used to seeing and repairing a bit of everything. Including damaged wings and winglets. He had seen bots with their winglets lost and replaced them easily, as winglets were normally not a vital part of a bot's transformation, as they usually were car doors and didn't allow the bot in question to fly.

Actual wings were different. Ratchet had one time repaired a severely injured Autobot Flier on Cybertron, whose body was ready for the scrapyard and barely alive. His wings, however, had only gained a few scratches and dents and would allow the bot to fly again as soon as his body had been fixed up. Wings were incredibly durable and difficult to damage to the extent of grounding the Flier.

The only few times Ratchet had actually worked on clipped or broken off wings were before the war, and all of them had been the result of abuse, whether at the bot's home or work. It not only required tremendous force to break off the wings of a winged bot, but also for the Flier in question to remain still and make little to no resistance toward his tormentor, which was something no self-respecting Flier would allow another bot, let alone an enemy in the battlefield. If threatened by one's Conjunx or boss, however, the Flier could have been compelled to allow themselves get mutilated, whether to spare their own life or the lives of their loved ones, depending on the situation.

Starscream had told the 'Bots that Megatron had already torn off the Seeker's wings once, and now he had almost done it again.

"He's lucky the wing held on during Vortex' attack," Ratchet commented as he began re-attaching the cables in the wing to the base. "Or we would have lost him as air support for a long time."

"We still got Optimus," Arcee commented, staying by Ratchet's side to turn Starscream's head once every five or ten minutes - Primus forbid them having to deal with Starscream's whining if he woke up with a crick in his neck. "And who knows what we might get from those Protoforms? Besides, Star can handle himself just fine on the ground as he can in the air. He's proven that several times."

Ratchet hummed. "Even with my expertise, he will need several weeks to recover," Ratchet informed. "And if he were to get his wing further injured in a battle on the ground, the healing process could take even longer. He will not be able to participate in any missions for the time being."

"He's good at dodging," Arcee commented. "I think he could handle it."

"Well, good thing you're not the medic here then," Ratchet remarked. "He would certainly not be happy to be kept grounded for longer than necessary."

"I know, he's reminded us of that enough times that we all know about it."

After that there was silence. While Ratchet continued working on Starscream's wing and Arcee turned his head on occasion, the others had begun setting up the other equipment brought in from the Harbinger. After the medbay, the second most important thing was the command center, including the shield so they wouldn't be detected by the Decepticons, allowing the humans to use their devices as they saw fit. Wheeljack helped making the shielding work. Despite his volatile personality and love of brawling and racing, he was also a mechanic and engineer. He made his own explosives and devices, and he usually did the repairs on his ship by himself. He was smart enough to know how to turn on the shields from a new command center. He really was one of a kind.

After making sure the shields were up and running and the command center working as it should, the bots started setting up the GroundBridge. Again Wheeljack helped transferring the remote for the GroundBridge into the manual console, identical to the one they had had in Autobot Outpost Omega One.

By the time the GroundBridge was up and running, Ratchet had finished working on Starscream's left wing. After closing the wound with a blowtorch, he decided to wrap the wing into some bandages and then secure it in a sort of wing-sling to keep it in the right position to heal, as well as remind Starscream not to overwork it. It was really more of a clamp on the one wing, but without preventing the Seeker from moving it this time.

After fixing the left wing, Ratchet went to work on the right wing. The damage to the right wing wasn't as severe. There was a large tear from the top to the middle of the wing, but the wing was still on and there were only a few cables to re-attach. It didn't take more than half an hour to complete the repairs on Starscream's right wing. After closing up the wound with a blowtorch, Ratchet once again wrapped the wing up with a bandage, though this time without a sling. The bandage was only there to remind Starscream to take it easy on his wings. Not that he wouldn't anyway, but precautions were always a good idea.

"There, all done," Ratchet informed as he moved away from Starscream to inspect his work. Both wings were fixed, wrapped up and ready for recovery. "All he needs now is rest and recovery. Let's take him out of stasis."

Ratchet turned the stasis off and removed the cables from Starscream keeping him in it. It would take a while for the Seeker to wake up, so Ratchet and Arcee lifted him off the operating table together and moved him over to one of the two currently empty tables on the opposite side of the medbay. They laid him on his back with the wings flattened out beneath him, but at least his head wasn't strained anymore. The wings could probably take being laid on for a few more minutes.

"Now that that's done," Ratchet said and turned to Wheeljack, who was helping set up the pods containing the Protoforms by the far back wall, "it's your turn."

Wheeljack paused and put down his pod against the wall before turning to Ratchet. "You done with Scream?" he remarked. "Maybe you should look at the commander next."

"Ultra Magnus can wait," Ratchet said sternly. "Your injuries are days old and plentiful. You could get rust in them or some other sort of infection. Get on the table."

Wheeljack rolled his optics and went for the medbay. "A'right, if you say so, doc," he replied.

As Ratchet got started on Wheeljack's injuries, Arcee joined the others in helping set up the rest of the equipment. Now that the three vitals had been taken care of - healing, shielding and travelling - the bots could take care of the less vital, such as the research monitor between the two large tables - one of them currently with Starscream on it - which Ratchet would be using to continue his study on the Synthetic Energon formula. Thankfully he had packed Starscream's notes on it in his subspace before evacuating their old base, so his research was not lost.

The bots also set up an Energon refiner next to the medbay, so they could refine whatever raw Energon they managed to obtain in the future. Next to the refiner, they placed the few Energon cubes they had managed to bring with them from the Harbinger. There were only eight, so they would definitely have to find an Energon mine to raid soon.

"Hopefully Starscream will provide us with coordinates for another mine when he wakes up from stasis," Ratchet said as he worked on one of the large scratches on Wheeljack's chest.

"Then we could all have a party later," Wheeljack commented, kept awake since his repairs didn't require surgery or stasis. "Maybe after we get those Protoforms online."

"Why not activate them now?" Smokescreen asked as he passed by with some equipment. "We could get things done even faster with more hands."

"While that may be true," Optimus went in from behind them, "if we are to bring new Autobots online, I believe it is best we are all awake and alert to welcome them."

"You there!" Starscream suddenly shouted, making everyone pause their work and look at him, sitting up and pointing at no one in particular. His optics were half open and he seemed only partly conscious. "What are ya all... standin' aroun' there for...? ... Get back to your posts!"

Starscream fell back on the table and lost consciousness again. Everyone blinked at the scene.

"In other words," Wheeljack commented. "It could take a while."

After Starscream's outburst, things were more or less quiet for the next hour, while the bots continued their work setting up the rest of the equipment, including connecting the Protoform's pods with the Energon transducer in the medbay.

On the railings, the humans were setting up their own equipment, including several computers for Rafael to use as a smaller command center, including access to the comm. link and the GroundBridge. They also set up a living room area, like the one they had back in the old base, for the kids to hang out in while the bots went on missions. The humans basically lived in the base now, rather than simply hanging out on occasion. There was also a door leading to Agent Fowler's office, as well as other doors leading to other places the humans needed, like for sleeping, eating and the other thing organics needed to do on occasion.

Despite the many injuries, Ratchet had little trouble fixing Wheeljack up and tell him not to scratch the wounds and be careful, before discharging him.

"He really did a number on you, didn't he?" Bulkhead remarked as Wheeljack approached his friend. Even if his wounds had been closed, the marks from Ratchet's blowtorch still made them prominent.

"Eh, I've had worse," Wheeljack replied. He gazed around in the base. "Seems everything's all set up now, huh?"

"Yeah, we're just waiting for Scream to wake up," Arcee said.

Bulkhead hummed in annoyance. "Why do we have to wait for him before we can activate those Protoforms?" he asked offended. "He'll still get to meet them later."

"It is a moment we will likely not witness again during the rest of this war," Optimus stated, gaining the bots' attention like always when he spoke. "None of us should miss it. And it may be easier to accept new comrades when you see them created in front of you."

"While we wait, we need to find out how much Energon we should use to activate them," Ratchet went in. "We currently have eight cubes to spend. If each of them gets one cube, that leaves us with three, not enough to get everything started up here. We will also need Energon to get the GroundBridge working so we can go acquire more."

"An important discussion," Optimus said in agreement. "How many cubes do you reckon we need at the minimum to activate these five Protoforms?"

"Two, I'd say, maybe three," Ratchet replied. "Not enough to make them fully energized, but enough that they will be functioning."

"Can't we go on a raid first and then activate them later?" Bumblebee asked. "Then we'd have enough Energon for everyone."

"We still need to wait for Starscream to wake up," Ratchet replied. "Since he's still the only one who has the coordinates for the Energon mines on this planet."

They gazed over at the still-sleeping Starscream, not seeming too busy waking up anytime soon.

"Then we shall wait, however long it may take," Optimus declared. "In the meantime, let us make sure everyone in here is ready for the battle there is to come."

And so the Autobots waited for Starscream to wake up from stasis. After Wheeljack, Ultra Magnus appeared to be the one in need of repairs. He had gained quite some damage from his battle with Megatron, though nothing so serious he wasn't functional enough to continue battling, it seemed. The scratches gained were mended and closed by blowtorch, and the dents were straightened out the best they could be. There were sore joints which would heal with some rest. Nothing major.

The other Autobots had gained some scratches and dents, but were likewise not serious. They were quickly fixed up. Optimus had barely any damage on him, considering his new upgraded body, thanks to the Forge, and Smokescreen was likewise unscathed, not having participated in the battle at all.

By the time everyone had been fixed up and checked for damage, Starscream finally showed signs of waking up. The first sign was grunting, which made several bots look in his direction. The second sign was the twitching of his claws and pedes, as well as slight movement of his head.

Starscream blinked and groaned a bit as he came out of stasis. "Ugh... my head..." he complained before opening his optics completely and sitting up on his servos. He felt a bit dizzy, still a bit wobbly from the stasis.

"Finally, he's awake," Wheeljack said. "Now can we activate the Protoforms?"

Starscream shook his head a little to wake himself up a bit more. "Protoforms?" he repeated confused. "What... oh, the Protoforms!"

He looked to his left and saw the pods all lined up, each with a cable connecting them to the Energon transducer at the medbay, ready for activation.

"Why aren't they activated yet?" he asked confused.

"We were waiting for you to wake up," Arcee replied with crossed arms. "So you wouldn't miss the show."

Starscream blinked and shook his head a bit more before shifting to sit with his pedes touching the floor. "You... waited for me? You... you didn't have to. They're just Vehicons, after all..."

"Not necessarily," Optimus replied.

"What, you mean you're making clones of yourselves?" Starscream commented. "In that case, make clones of me. We would have more air support, and I would be able to look at myself at any time."

"You do know we would need your Energon to clone you, right?" Ratchet said, crossing his own arms. "And however much Energon you have left in your body will be needed to repair yourself. So you can go fly sooner. Unless you want to become a Grounder?"

Starscream snorted in annoyance.

"If there's anyone we should clone, it's Optimus," Smokescreen suggested. "He can fly too, and he packs one heck of a punch!"

The others stared dumbfounded at Smokescreen, who stood with a fist pounding the air before straightening himself again.

"We will not be making clones of these Protoforms," Optimus clarified. "They have Sparks of their own and deserve to become the bots they are meant to be."

"So you are giving them regular Energon," Starscream concluded. "They would just turn into Vehicons. They are Vehicon Protoforms, after all."

"You don't know that," Ratchet replied. "We don't know what they will turn into. But we will find out soon enough."

Starscream rolled his optics and steadied himself onto the floor. He stumbled a bit on his pedes but soon regained his balance. "Well, get on with it then!" he said and crossed his arms. "Let's see what we get."

Instead of continuing the argument, everyone simply gathered around the pods and looked at them. From the railings, the kids emerged and stood near Starscream for a better look. Agent Fowler soon joined them, along with June Darby who had stayed and helped with setting up the kids' living room area. The humans were about to witness the creation of Cybertronians for the first time. Everyone stood in silence as Ratchet went to the Energon transducer and prepared to activate it. Three Energon cubes had been added, leaving the bots with five remaining.

"Well, here goes nothing," Ratchet informed and activated the transducer.

Ratchet turned in his spot in the medbay so he could see the scene unfolding before him. Next to him stood Optimus, Bulkhead and Ultra Magnus, as the biggest and tallest of them had a clearer view. In front of them stood Smokescreen, Bumblebee, Arcee and Starscream, with closer proximity to the activating pods but still a good distance away so the new bots would have enough space to step out.

They watched as the Energon coursed through the cables from the medbay to each pod. As the Energon was added, the Protoforms started shuddering a bit, slowly coming to life.

"Are they supposed to shake like that?" Jack asked concerned.

"They have Cold Sparks," Starscream informed without looking at the humans, his arms crossed. "It takes a while for the Energon to thaw them out of the Photonic Crystals that have kept the Sparks alive for this long."

"You mean like you?" Raf asked.

"Pretty much," Starscream replied. "Though my original body already had a specific design, so the only thing that changed was my color scheme. These bots could turn out in any way."

"Will you stop talking already?" Arcee snapped. "Just watch."

"Pardon."

The Protoforms shook in their pods for about half a minute before they started moving. One of them lifted its arms, another looked up, yet another seemed to be hugging itself.

All five Protoforms looked in front of them, and suddenly a green beam shot out of each their visors. The beams started running up and down on Bumblebee, Arcee, Bulkhead, Ratchet and Starscream. The bots flinched by the action but remained still.

"What's happening?" Miko asked confused.

"They're... scanning us," Ratchet replied, also perplexed.

"But why?" Bulkhead asked in confusion.

The green beams ceased and returned to the visors of the Protoforms. If one looked close enough, one could see a sort of schematics running on the visors.

"Guess we're about to find out," Arcee commented.

After scanning the bots, the Protoforms started going out of shape, their soft, white metal bubbling and expanding or shrinking.

"They are starting to take shape," Starscream commented.

One Protoform grew noticably larger than the others, widening its chest area, shortening its growing legs and making its arms wider as well. Another Protoform went the opposite direction; it seemed to be shrinking, making the metal denser and instead having it work out its detailling and kibble. Two of the other Protoforms shrank just a little bit, while the last one retained its height and build.

After having seemingly gotten the size right, the Protoforms started making out their kibble. Three of them seemed to be forming wing-like protrusions from their backs, one of them being the small one. Starscream stared at the sight with a beating Spark. More Fliers?

The smallest bot's 'wings' stopped almost immediately after growing. They were only winglets, like the ones on Arcee's back. The second smallest bot's protrusions kept growing for a while, until stopping at about the same length and shape as Bumblebee's winglets. Those were also mere winglets.

The third one, however, the only one who retained its height, kept growing its protrusions, until they reached well above its head. Those were definitely real wings, perhaps the same length as Starscream's own. As far as the bots could tell, this bot was a Flier.

The big Protoform didn't acquire much kibble, mostly it was just growing bigger, almost as big as Bulkhead. Instead of being round, however, it seemed to be growing in an upside-down triangular shape, more similar to Breakdown's body-shape. Round things that looked like they could be wheels began growing on the Protoform's arms and stubby legs.

The fifth Protoform seemed to be growing sleek and with what seemed to be a cannon on its right shoulder. The roundness of the Protoforms started becoming rougher and sharper, as they began finding their shapes. Now their heads and faces started to take shape as well. The visors were all replaced by a pair of optics, all currently uncolored. On the big Protoform, what seemed to be a jaw-plate similar to Bulkhead's started to take shape. Unlike Bulkhead's, however, this one also sported four tooth-like protrusions, and the edges of the jawline were sharper than Bulkhead's.

The winged Protoform's head seemed to take shape of a sort of crown, with a short crest in the middle and a longer, horn-like protrusion on either side of it. No cockpit seemed to be forming on the bot's torso. Its digits narrowed at the tips, shaping into claws, a common feature among Fliers.

The little Protoform was very sleek with large lower legs and what seemed to be long heel struts, similar to Starscream's own except with a single heel instead of three. On its head grew out a pair of long audio receptors, and what seemed to be some sort of mask appeared, surrounding each optic, though it was still the same color as the rest of its gray and white body.

"They kinda look like you guys," Miko remarked. "That one looks like Arcee, and that one looks like you, Bulk!"

"Maybe that's why they scanned you?" Raf suggested. "Maybe they were trying to find out what their bot modes should look like?"

"Perhaps," Starscream replied. "Loosely, in any case."

"Look, they're getting colored," Jack said and pointed.

The Protoforms' color schemes started settling in, making everyone watch closely with deep concentration.

The one on the far right, the Protoform with the shoulder-cannon, retained some of its white coloration, but its head, abdomen, center of the chest and the tip of its shoulder-cannon gained a red color, while the waist, lower legs sans the pedes, and servos turned black. The bot's face was white and its optics gained a blue color, like most of the Autobots had them.

The Protoform standing next to the white-and-red bot was the one with the large winglets. Its coloration was mostly blue but had a yellow stripe in the middle of its head, as well as what appeared to be thin streaks of yellow-orange flames painted on the arms and winglets, and the shoulders and knees also obtained a yellowish orange color. Overall the bot seemed to be a blue version of Bumblebee, but unlike Bumblebee, the new bot seemed to have a pair of black goggles covering its optics, which appeared to also be blue, from what the others could make of the light shining from under the goggles. Its mouth was also uncovered, unlike Bumblebee's, which was currently hidden under a tiny battlemask.

The middle Protoform, the large one with a jagged jaw-plate, attained a dark, bluish green color scheme. Its face was light yellow instead of gray or white, however, and its jaw-plate was a lighter green tone than the rest of its body. Like the other two bots, this one also had blue optics.

The Protoform standing next to the big bot was the smallest of them. This one had the same body-type as Arcee, but its colors changed into red with golden and silver detailing where Arcee's was blue, pink and silver. The 'mask' on the bot's face turned black, and the optics surrounded by the mask were green in color instead of blue, while the rest of the bot's face was silver. The bot's thighs were black like Arcee's, though the lower legs were also red with golden knees, the heel struts being black as well.

The last Protoform, standing to the far left, almost right in front of Starscream, the winged one, retained most of its light gray coloration. Its helm, shoulders, lower arms sans the servos, and pedes gained a purple color, however. Its chestplate turned a royal blue, and its thighs and wings turned a darker, bluish gray coloration. Instead of blue or green, this bot's optics turned red, like most of the Decepticons' optics. Like Starscream's own optics. Red was a common optic color among Fliers, though, as was yellow, so Starscream wasn't that surprised by this outcome.

At last the Protoforms had finished shaping and coloring themselves, and now five mechs stood in front of them. Five new members of Team Prime.

The new bots activated their optics and stared ahead. They blinked a few times and adjusted their optics before moving their gazes around, taking in their surroundings and the bots in front of them. They looked down at themselves and the pods they were standing in, taking in the details of themselves. They looked from side to side, focusing on the bots standing next to them in their own pods.

With a click, the pods opened up, allowing the bots inside to step out. They looked down confused at first, but then they each took their first steps out of their pods and into the world. As they got outside, they turned and looked down at themselves again, trying to see what they looked like from different angles. After taking in a limited sight of themselves, their gazes returned to the bots standing in front of them, all staring at them in fascination.

"Where am I?" the blue bot that looked like Bumblebee asked.

"What is this place?" the white and red bot asked.

"Greetings, fellow Autobots," Optimus announced, gaining the new bots' attention. "And welcome to Earth."

"Earth?" the big greenish bot repeated confused.

"Autobots?" the winged bot repeated, also perplexed.

"Earth is the name of the planet we currently reside on," Optimus explained. "And we are all Autobots, striving to restore life and peace to Cybertron, our homeworld."

"Cybertron is dead?" the white and red bot said concerned. "Why? What happened?"

"There was a war, between us and the Decepticons," Optimus continued. "And unfortunately it drained our planet of its supply of Energon. As a result, we have been forced to seek refuge on this world. But we are far from alone. We have found allies in the form of humans."

The new bots gazed around the room until their gazes landed on the tiny organics standing on the railings, watching them. Several of them, particularly the white and red one, seemed to wince back by the sight of them.

"Are those... organics?" the white and red bot asked, seemingly wary of them.

"Those are humans?" the small red bot asked, not seeming wary of them though still somewhat interested. "Why are they so small?"

"And that's coming from you," the big bluish green bot commented from beside the small one.

The small one gazed up at the big one with a frown. "Hey, I ain't small, you're just big!" he countered.

"Who are we?" the blue Bumblebee-bot asked the Autobots. "And who are you?"

The big and small new bots pulled their attention away from each other and instead focused on the bots in front of them.

"My name is Optimus Prime," Optimus introduced himself. "Leader of the Autobots."

"I am Ultra Magnus," Magnus greeted. "Pleased to meet you, soliders."

"I go by the name Wheeljack," Wheeljack said with a smirk. "Remember it."

"I'm Bulkhead, and Jackie and I are part of the Wreckers," Bulkhead said with a smile.

The new bots smiled at the introductions of the bots. Even the white and red bot seemed to loosen up a little as they got to know their names.

"Call me Arcee," Arcee said with crossed arms and a smile. "Don't make me hunt you down."

"I'm Bumblebee," Bumblebee bleeped.

The new bots blinked at Bumblebee. "What's wrong with your voice?" the blue bot that looked like Bumblebee asked.

"It got damaged in the war," Bumblebee replied. "But Ratchet made it so I can communicate through buzzing instead."

"Oh. Cool."

There was a moment of awkward silence.

"I'm Smokescreen," Smokescreen greeted, trying to get the conversation away from Bumblebee. "Ever got questions about anything, or need help with something, you can count on me!"

The new bots looked around at the bots who still hadn't introduced themselves yet with anticipation.

"My name is Ratchet," Ratchet greeted. "The medic and main engineer in this place. Seek me out if you get injured or are in pain."

The new bots nodded at the medic and turned to look at Starscream. The Seeker reset his vocalizer before speaking.

"I am Starscream," he introduced himself, in a somewhat theatrical voice and with subtle gestures with his servos. "Air Commander of the Seekers, the best Fliers on Cybertron, and main air support of the Autobots!"

The winged bot looked intrigued at Starscream, while some of the Autobots mentally facepalmed at his introduction. Of course he wanted to show off in front of the new guys.

"Why do you have that thing on your wing?" the winged bot asked confused, pointing at the sling on Starscream's left wing.

Starscream looked left, first now noticing that his wing was fixed and wrapped up. "Oh, that," Starscream said and flicked his wings. "I got injured in the most recent battle against the Decepticons, and the damages were quite... severe."

"You mean you can't fly?" the winged bot asked with concern. "How will you provide air support then?"

Starscream seemed to stiffen and go wide-eyed for a moment, staring at the other winged bot for a moment before resuming a more neutral expression.

"Well, I won't be able to do that, now will I?" he almost snapped. "Not until I've recovered anyway."

"Which could take well over a month, by the extent of your injuries," Ratchet informed. "And I would advise you to not go on any missions for the time being either, so you won't open up your wounds by accident."

Starscream crossed his arms and tried hard not to snort or frown. "I am perfectly aware of that fact, doctor," he said through gritted teeth.

The winged bot looked to his left and right, looking at his own wings. "I have wings too, does that mean I can fly?" he asked. "Will I be able to provide air support?"

Starscream stared at the other winged bot, his arms falling to his sides. He wasn't frowning or smiling, instead an almost shocked expression adorned his face.

"We shall see," Optimus replied, "when you have scanned your alternate modes."

All the new bots turned their attention back to Optimus before looking at each other in excitement.

"Eh, what do you all turn into?" the small red bot asked. "Like, you, blue one, Arcee, what do you turn into?"

Arcee seemed a bit perplexed over being addressed to, but quickly regained her composure. "I turn into a motorcycle," she replied.

"What's that look like? Can you show me?"

Arcee let out a sigh and reverted to motorbike mode, greatly decreasing in size. All the new bots looked fascinated at her transformation, but especially the small red one.

"Ooh, that looks neat!" the red bot said.

Before Arcee could transform back, the red bot suddenly sent a green beam from his optics. The beam ran up and down Arcee's motorbike figure, taking the others by surprise. After a few seconds, the beam retracted back into the red one's optics, and schematics of the motorbike could be seen in his optics.

The next second, the small red mech transformed and decreased in size until a red motorbike identical to Arcee stood in front of them. The kids on the railings gasped in surprise.

"Wicked!" Miko exclaimed. "I didn't know bots could scan other bots for V-modes!"

"You scanned me..." Arcee remarked. "... again?"

The red motorbike did a wheelie and spun around and chuckled. "This ride is awesome!" he said. "Mind showing me how it's done later, sister?"

Arcee transformed back into bot mode. "Sister?" she repeated with a skeptical look.

The red bot reverted back into bot mode as well, a smirk adorning his face. "Yeah, I mean, look at us, we're practically the same!"

Arcee huffed but couldn't hold back a smile. The other new bots gazed from the two-wheelers to the other bots.

"Hey, Bumblebee," the blue one with yellow flames said. "You look like you turn into something cool. Can you show me?"

Bumblebee nodded and transformed into his car mode. The blue bot chuckled.

"Sweet!" he remarked and lifted his black goggles, revealing a pair of large, blue optics identical to Bumblebee's, probably also without the ability to close, hence the goggles.

From his optics shot out a green beam, scanning Bumblebee's car mode. Starscream hummed at the sight. He didn't know bots could scan other bots' alternate modes as their own either. Supposedly it didn't matter too much with these bots, given they had already scanned their bot modes to loosely gain the same designs. It probably justified how they were able to obtain the same alternate modes as well.

A few seconds later, the beam retracted into the blue bot's optics, and a moment later, he transformed into a muscle-car like Bumblebee's. This one was almost solid blue, however, and on the hood as well as the sides of the car were thin flames of yellow and orange. The blue car revved up its engine to make loud noises but not moving out of place.

"Awesome V-mode," the blue bot commented excitedly. "Race ya later, huh, bro?"

Bumblebee reverted back to bot mode, as did his blue double. "Bro?" Bumblebee repeated confused.

"Yeah, that other guy called Arcee sister," the blue bot said. "And, like he said, we're practically the same. Are we cool?"

Bumblebee seemed to smile under his mask. "Sure!" he replied excitedly.

The remaining three bots gazed from the others to the veterans in front of them. They seemed equally excited. The white and red bot pointed shyly at Ratchet.

"You... uh, what do you turn into?" he asked quietly.

Ratchet seemed perplexed over being addressed to, but concluded this one was the one who had scanned him. "An ambulance," he replied. "I suppose you want to scan me too?"

The white and red bot nodded and smiled shyly. Ratchet stepped out from the medbay, and the others stepped aside to give him some space. As he stood in front of the bot who didn't quite look like him, he reverted into his ambulance mode. The white and red bot hummed.

"Is something wrong?" Ratchet asked, slightly impatient.

"No, no, it's just..." the bot replied quietly and intertwined his digits. His gaze went to Smokescreen standing next to Ratchet. "Can I... see your vehicle mode?"

Smokescreen looked a bit surprised over being addressed to, but a smile soon found its way onto his face. "Sure."

Smokescreen reverted to his sports car mode, standing next to Ratchet. The new bot seemed to crack a small smile, but then it faltered as he looked back to Ratchet. Ratchet reverted back to bot mode.

"Go ahead," Ratchet replied. "If you want to scan him, scan him."

The white and red bot let his servos fall to his sides and returned his gaze to Smokescreen's alternate mode. A green beam began scanning the white and blue sports car from top to bottom. As the beam disappeared, the new bot assumed a similar sports car mode, but this one was white with the center of the hood and the underside being red, and with what seemed to be a red lightbar on the roof. The new bot seemed to have turned into a fire chief's car rather than a sports car like Smokescreen.

Smokescreen reverted back to bot mode and grinned at the other car. "Nice!" Smokescreen said cheerfully. "It's almost like you got the both of us at the same time!"

The other bot reverted back into bot mode and scratched the back of his head while gazing at Ratchet with a worried look.

"I'm sorry I didn't pick yours," the white and red bot said nervously.

"It's just a vehicle mode," Ratchet said with a hint of a chuckle though without smiling. "It's fine. You'd get a flashy vehicle mode either way, it makes no difference."

"Alright then..."

Turning their attention away from the nervous bot, instead the big bluish green bot turned to Bulkhead with eager in his body language.

"You! Turn into something cool!" the big bot exclaimed, having no sense of nervousness in his voice.

"Sure thing," Bulkhead replied and reverted to his truck mode.

The other bot chuckled deeply before activating the green scanning beam and scanned Bulkhead's truck mode. A few seconds later, after the beam disappeared, the new bot transformed into a dark bluish green truck similar to Bulkhead's. Like Bumblebee's double, this one revved up his engine to make some noise.

"Woo! I can't wait to test this thing out later!" the dark teal bot exclaimed. As both big bots returned to bot mode, the teal bot turned to the small red one. "I'll race ya later, little guy!"

"Bring it on, big guy!" the red bot said with a fist pumping the air.

Now there was just one bot left, the gray and purple winged one, standing in front of Starscream. The winged one turned his attention away from the others and smiled expectantly at Starscream.

"Can you show me your alternate mode?" he asked eagerly. "It's something that can fly, right?"

"Of course it is," Starscream replied and frowned at the other. "And no, I will not."

The other bot's smile faded. "What? Why not? The others showed theirs..."

"I don't want to risk having my wings snap off by transforming," Starscream admitted. "You'll have to scan something else."

The winged bot hummed and looked around at the others. "None of you guys are Fliers, are you?" he asked.

"Only Optimus," Arcee replied. "But he... hasn't chosen a new vehicle mode yet either. He has a jetpack though."

"Oh, cool." The winged bot gazed at the floor for the moment, thinking. Then he looked up again at the others. "Do you have any non-bot vehicles in this place?"

"We sure do," Agent Fowler replied from the railings, catching the bot's attention. "Step outside and I'll show you."

Agent Fowler came down from the railings and made his way to the opening gate by the GroundBridge. The other bots stepped aside to let the winged one pass. Starscream, curious to see what this one was going to scan, decided to follow, as did a few other bots, though most of them stayed inside and watched from the door. The new winged bot stepped outside while Starscream lingered by the entrance in front of the other curious bots.

"We got some V-tols with all the firepower you could need in a jet," Agent Fowler said and gestured at the row of jets standing by. "Would they be in your taste?"

The bot stood and stroke his chin while humming in thought. "I don't know," he said. "They're a bit small, aren't they?"

Starscream and Agent Fowler were both taken aback by the bot's comment. "Small? These are the biggest of the fighter jets there are! What, is size going to be a problem?"

"Maybe," the bot replied.

A loud roar sounded from above, making all three look up. A large plane, seemingly a passenger plane of sorts, was flying above the base from great enough distance that those on the plane wouldn't be able to see the bots below, but close enough that those on the ground could see the plane.

"What in Uncle Sam's beard is a civil plane doing here?" Agent Fowler exclaimed. "Someone call the pilot and tell them to move out!"

The winged bot looked intrigued at the plane above and smiled. "That looks nice," he said.

In the next moment, the bot released a green beam several kilometers into the sky until it hit the passenger plane. Agent Fowler looked astonished at the bot.

"Hey, there are people onboard that plane!" he exclaimed, remembering how he had gotten zapped three times by three different Decepticons scanning his aircrafts in the past.

A few seconds of scanning later, the beam retracted back into the bot's optics. The passenger plane went on its way seemingly without any problems. In the next moment, the winged bot transformed into a similar plane himself, though much smaller in size, of course, but still larger than the jets they had in the army base. The plane was almost entirely silver, with the wings being the same blue-gray color as in bot mode. On each side of the 'head' of the plane was two thin purple stripes with a thick royal blue stripe between the two.

Starscream hummed at the sight. "Well, it's better than a helicopter in any case," he muttered. "Not sharp enough though."

"You really only care for your own jet mode, don't you?" Arcee commented.

"It's the best."

Agent Fowler crossed his arms at the silver plane. "Very nice," he said. "Now that that's done-"

"Hm," the bot hummed and reverted back to bot mode.

"Something wrong, soldier?"

"I don't know," the bot said and crossed his arms. "I feel like something's missing..."

He looked around when his optics fell on a fuel tanker truck rolling into the base from the road.

"What's that?" he asked interested and pointed at the truck.

Agent Fowler followed his point. "Oh, that's a fuel tanker," he replied. "It transports fuel to the base, packing well over three thousand gallons of octane for the jets."

The bot made a whistling sound. "Nice," he said.

As the driver stepped out from the truck, the new bot suddenly sent out another green beam, running up and down the tanker truck. Everyone perked to attention, taken by surprise.

"Another scan?" Smokescreen remarked surprised. "But that means..."

A few seconds later, the beam disappeared, and in the next moment, the new bot assumed the same fuel tanker truck mode, but with the truck itself being royal blue and the fuel tank being silver with a thick blue-gray stripe on each side, about as wide as the bot's wings.

"Now that's more like it!" the bot said satisfied. "Now I feel complete!"

The other bots and humans stared in wonder at the bot as he reverted back into bot mode.

"A Triple Changer," Ratchet remarked. "They are so rare, they are virtually non-existent anymore."

"Normal bots can scan additional modes, but it takes a great deal of effort and a long time to learn," Optimus said quietly. "To think that one of those Protoforms is a natural Triple Changer..."

"Remarkable," Ultra Magnus commented.

Starscream stared speechlessly at the Triple Changer. "A Triple Changer," he repeated quietly and lowered his wings until they were in a horizontal angle. "Why did it have to be a Triple Changer?"

"What was that, Starscream?" Ratchet asked.

"Nothing," Starscream replied and stepped back into the building, his wings now pressed against each other in annoyance.

The other bots stepped out of his way to let him pass, instead turning their attention back to the Triple Changer who returned to Hangar E, with Agent Fowler by his side.

"Triple Changer, huh?" he repeated with a smile. "So I'm someone special, am I?"

"You sure are," Ratchet replied.

They all stepped back inside, the veterans gathering around the new bots to greet them. There was still one problem left to take care of though.

"What should we call you all?" Optimus asked the new bots who perked to attention by the question.

"You're... asking us?" the white and red bot asked surprised. "You bots aren't going to name us?"

"I believe you know better what to call yourselves than we do," Optimus explained calmly. "You should know from deep within your Sparks."

The new bots glanced at each other, as if the others' faces had the answers. The winged bot gazed at Agent Fowler on the railings.

"What was that you said about the truck?" the bot asked the human. "What was that thing you said the tanker held?"

"Three thousand gallons of octane," Agent Fowler replied. "Why?"

The Triple Changer hummed. "Octane..." He smiled. "I like that name. You can call me Octane."

Starscream tilted his head in confusion. "Really? You're naming yourself after the fuel in your tank?"

"I was thinking Tankor at first, but now I like Octane better," Octane said.

Starscream sighed and shrugged. "Suit yourself."

A small object flew through the air, catching the bots' attention. Another was flung away, and the bots looked to the left. The small red bot had moved away from the others without anyone noticing and was now flinging devices and tools over his shoulders, seemingly looking for something.

"Hey, what do you think you're doing?" Ratchet exclaimed. "I need those!"

"What's this do?" the red bot asked while holding a random device.

"Nothing, until I can fix it," Ratchet replied, "if you would stop ransacking the place!"

"Hey, there's an idea," the red bot said. "Ransack. I'll be Ransack from now on."

"Eh... what?"

"When can we go outside and hit the roads?!" the big dark teal bot exclaimed and impatiently stomped on the floor. "I'm itching to crumple something down!" The bot paused for a moment, seemingly thinking. "In fact, why don't you call me Crumplezone?"

"What?" Bulkhead said confused. "You just made that up!"

"Ah, so that's how naming works," the blue Bumblebee-bot said and snapped his digits, followed by clenching his fists together. "What should I call me? Quickfoot? Bluewheel? Hotbot? Ugh, no that doesn't work at all!"

"Hey, that reminds me," Wheeljack said and caught the blue bot's attention. "Those flames you sport remind me of someone back on Cybertron. You know, Bulk? One of the Wreckers?"

Bulkhead studied the blue bot for a moment, then chuckled. "Oh yeah," Bulkhead said. "You kind of look like old Hot Shot."

"Let me tell ya," Wheeljack said and held an arm around the blue bot's shoulder. "Hot Shot was a total newbie when he first joined the Wreckers. Couldn't hit a target if it was right in front of him. But then he gained some experience, and now he's one of the best Wreckers there is out there. Nowadays he calls himself Rodimus."

The blue bot beamed of excitement at the tale. "Cool," he said, then thought for a moment. "In that case... call me Hot Shot! I mean, he won't mind me using his name, right?"

"He changed his name," Wheeljack reminded him and smirked. "It's all yours... Hot Shot."

Hot Shot grinned widely. Over in the corner near the medbay, the white and red bot looked nervously around.

"What about you?" Ratchet asked the only nameless bot left, after having pulled Ransack away from the objects and having gathered some of them up again. "Since everyone else seems to have their names in order, I suppose you have one for yourself as well?"

The other bot hummed and crossed his arms, his mouth a straight line. "I think..." he said with uncertainty. "... Red?"

"Just Red? Nothing else?"

"I don't know... I can't really think of anything..."

Ratchet thought for a moment. "I have an idea," he said after a few seconds. "As far as I can tell, you've been on high alert ever since you came online. Are you nervous?"

"A little," the other bot admitted. "What do you have in mind?"

"How about..." Ratchet drawled out. "... Red Alert?"

The other bot hummed. "Red Alert," he repeated and a faint smile formed on his face. "It's alright, I guess. I'll take it. Call me Red Alert."

Ratchet gave the bot a smile in return, glad to have been of help. Optimus looked around at the new faces and gained everyone's attention again.

"Very well then," Optimus began. "Octane, Ransack, Crumplezone, Hot Shot and Red Alert... I bid you welcome to Earth. And... to Team Prime."

The new bots cheered and high-fived each other, even Red Alert who carefully high-fived Hot Shot, and Crumplezone who roughly high-fived Ransack, almost sending him flying. The veterans too fist-bumped or high-fived each other and the recruits. Only Optimus, Ultra Magnus and Starscream refrained from any of that. The two former because fist-bumping and high-fiving simply wasn't in their personalities. Starscream just looked at the bots making friendly gestures at each other, feeling strangely outside for some reason.

Octane turned to Starscream, offering him a high-five and a smile. Starscream blinked in surprise and grunted before turning away from the Triple Changer. Octane's smile fell and so did his arm and his mood a little.

"So... now what?" Hot Shot asked.

"Well, we were planning to have a party," Smokescreen said. "Sort of. But, er..."

"We are currently too low on Energon to relax yet," Ratchet said. "With the sheer number of Autobots we currently have, five Energon cubes is not nearly enough for us to survive on."

The recruits gazed concerned at each other. "How do we get more Energon then?" Red Alert asked worried.

"Do not worry," Optimus said and turned to Starscream to gain his attention. "Starscream, you still remember the locations of Megatron's Energon mines, do you not?"

"Of course," Starscream replied. "Give me a minute and I'll think of one."

"Very well," Optimus said and turned away from the thinking Seeker. "We will enter one of the Decepticons' Energon mines and acquire what we need, as much as we can gather for now."

"Do you do this all the time to get Energon?" Ransack asked with a smile.

"Unfortunately yes," Optimus replied. "Megatron is currently in possession of all the Earth's deposits of Energon, so we are forced to raid them on occasion."

"And Megatron, he's what?" Octane asked.

"Megatron is the leader of the Decepticons," Optimus explained. "He is very powerful and cruel in nature. If you ever encounter Megatron on a mission, do not engage him alone. Hide, run or seek us out, but do not fight him. He will vaporize you."

The recruits shared concerned glances with each other. "We'll stay far away from him, we promise!" Red Alert said anxiously.

"Alright, I got one," Starscream announced, gaining the others' attention.

"Good," Optimus said. "Supply the coordinates. Autobots, get ready for battle!"

After giving Ratchet the coordinates to an Energon mine - and using one of the remaining Energon cubes to power up their new GroundBridge, leaving four remaining in the base - the medic opened a portal and allowed the warriors to leave through it. The seven veterans - Optimus Prime, Ultra Magnus, Arcee, Bumblebee, Bulkhead, Wheeljack and even Smokescreen - took off to raid the mine, while the remaining seven Autobots - the recruits, Starscream and Ratchet himself - were left behind with the humans.

As the portal closed, the children approached the new Autobots from the railings to greet them, while Starscream gazed around the now much less crowded hangar. Now he was stuck in this place, which was even smaller than Autobot Outpost Omega One had been, in the same situation as he started in. Stuck inside, unable to fly, not allowed to go outside or join the Autobots on missions.

I'm right back where I started, he thought annoyed. Damn Megatron and Vortex. That helicopter will pay, as soon as I get back in the sky...

He glanced over at the recruits chatting with the humans. Red Alert seemed a bit shy and not wanting to converse much, while Hot Shot seemed very interested in the humans and asked them many questions about Earth and the Autobots. Ransack and Crumplezone didn't chat much with the humans, but they did seem to talk with each other, seemingly making friends. They made it look so easy. Then again, they had just come online and hadn't learned any prejudices yet.

Octane talked with the humans, but his attention was mostly on Starscream, who stood by the medbay in the other end of the room, not in the mood to talk to anyone. Starscream stared back at the Triple Changer until the latter returned his attention to the humans, seemingly uncomfortable by the Seeker's glare.

Starscream generally did not like Triple Changers. Naturally born Triple Changers like Octane were extremely rare, and because of their rarity they often tended to be pompous and arrogant, acting they were better than everyone else. Which, in a way, they were, physically anyway. Triple Changers were created with unique T-Cogs that allowed for two alternate modes instead of one.

Normal bots with normal T-Cogs could learn to upgrade their T-Cogs to become Triple Changers, but it was a difficult procedure, not of science, but rather of magic, by using the power of their own Sparks. Sparks could do more than just keep their hosts alive, but gaining full control of one's Spark's potential and power was very difficult and took a lot of time and effort.

Natural Triple Changers always had the ability to turn into a flight mode and a land mode, in Octane's case being a tanker plane and a tanker truck. This bot seemed to be a support bot rather than a fighter, though Starscream doubted he was unarmed. They would find out later, for sure.

The Decepticons had had at least two other Triple Changers back during the war for Cybertron, as far as Starscream knew. Their names had been Blitzwing and Astrotrain, the former turning into a jet similar to the Seekers, as well as a tank. As a result, Blitzwing had been an excellent asset to the Decepticons, both on the ground and in the air. He had not been without flaws, however, as apparently Blitzwing seemed to have some sort of split-personality disorder, constantly changing behavior out of nowhere. Sometimes he was calm and collected, sometimes he burst out in rage without provocation, and other times he was just a cackling, crazy lunatic. He was even more unpredictable than Starscream was.

Astrotrain turned into a space shuttle and a locomotive, and as such he had been in the transportation caste, transporting bots between cities, and even in the war he continued to be transportation rather than firepower. He had been a big mech, perhaps slightly larger than the Combaticon Combiner Bruticus, so he could transport squadrons to Autobot bases without being discovered. Despite not having been much of a warrior, Astrotrain had also been a valuable asset to the Decepticons, and because of this knowledge, he had been very pompous and arrogant, despite having served in the lower castes.

Starscream had no idea if either Astrotrain or Blitzwing were still alive and he did not care if they did. Both of them had been jerks and they had not been nice to Starscream, perhaps because of his own high caste status, who knew. That could have been the reason why Megatron hated Starscream so much from the beginning, as the warlord himself had been in the lower caste and saw Starscream as another pompous snob that didn't care for Cybertron's people. But despite his higher position, Starscream hated the caste system just as much as Megatron had, and he always hated that Megatron judged the Seeker because of his caste.

Sure, as he asserted himself in a leader position of Vos and the Air Command, Starscream's life was more luxurious and likable for him, but before that he had had to prove himself very hard among his peers. There were many others with his frame type, so he had to work hard to stand out and make himself respected and taken seriously. He had deserved his spot as leader, he had deserved his place in the high caste. But now the caste system was gone, and he was now a mere soldier. A wounded soldier, who couldn't fight or do anything at the moment.

He was back with the Autobots, but he now felt even more useless than he did before. In the past, he couldn't help because of the Autobots' distrust in him. This time, it was because of his injuries, and nothing could be done about it. Only time would heal. And until then, he was a useless bot, just another mouth to feed.

In the meantime, right there, right in front of him, stood not only a new Flier, but a Triple Changer of all things. And now Optimus Prime could fly too.

Starscream thought the Autobots had lost their air support because of his wounds, but no. They still had air support, just one less. Or rather, they had gained two more.

Now that they had two bots with flight, none of them him, Starscream felt more useless than ever. He was no longer needed with the Autobots. Octane could so easily replace him. The bots could so easily abandon Starscream, like they had done before.

The thought scared Starscream more than anything else. Octane's presence was a bad omen. Starscream already did not like him. Had Starscream been fully functional, perhaps it would be a different story. Or perhaps it would be the same. For why keep an untrustworthy Seeker with them when they had this new bot with his fancy T-Cog and two alternate modes, who didn't have a history of betrayal?

Starscream wanted Octane to disappear, but knew he could do nothing about it. Being unable to fly, being under constant watch and being stuck inside this small building, Starscream knew he would never get the chance to make Octane disappear. The only thing he could do was tolerate his presence and hope the Autobots wouldn't replace him. Or wait until he regained flight so he could lure Octane away and then take him out without anyone watching.

Starscream caught himself in this line of thought and shook his head. What am I thinking? he thought confused. Octane is an Autobot, he's one of us. The Autobots would never replace me with this rookie, no way. I can't just wipe out every bot I don't like anymore. I'M an Autobot, and Autobots don't do that... I don't think they do, anyway...

It was then that Starscream realized just how much work he had to do with himself. He had never realized just how twisted his thoughts were until then. That he planned to kill someone just minutes after they had come online... that was not a sign of a healthy mind.

I need help, he thought and gazed at Ratchet for a while. He shook his head and gazed back at the floor. No, I can't tell them. If they knew what I'm thinking, they'll kick me off for sure. I can't let them know my true thoughts. They'd lock me up, shun me, judge me, maybe even kill me. I have to do this myself.

"Hey, Starscream," Miko's voice sounded from the railings, catching Starscream's attention. His head shot up and gazed at the group in the other end of the room. "Come join us!"

Starscream stared wide-eyed from the humans to Octane and then away. "I'm fine over here, thank you," he replied without looking at them.

"Come on," Octane encouraged, making Starscream's wings perk up. "I want to know more about you."

"There aren't anyone else here to get to know beside you right now," Hot Shot said in agreement and smiled at the Seeker.

Starscream glanced over at them. Behind him, the smaller wings pressed against the bigger ones. Starscream sensed the movement and forced his wings to spread out in a more normal position, not wanting the others to notice his annoyance. Hopefully the new bots didn't know wing emoting yet, even those with wings or winglets.

"Please?" Miko practically begged. "We haven't talked in ages, we wanna know how you're doing."

Starscream glanced at Miko's pleading eyes and sighed. He pulled away from the medbay and approached the others.

"Fine," he grumbled and crossed his arms as he stood a few meters from the other bots by the railings. "What do you want to talk about?"

"Are you doing okay?" Miko asked. "With your wings and everything, I mean?"

"They're alright," Starscream replied, still a bit tense.

The kids gazed between themselves and the recruits, seemingly contemplating what they wanted to say. Starscream had an idea of what they wanted to say.

"How much have you told these rookies?" Starscream asked the children, his expression a bit stern and frowning.

The bots gazed confused between Starscream and the humans.

"We haven't told them anything about you," Jack said. "We thought you should do that yourself."

"Well, thank you for the consideration," Starscream said in a sigh, his tension falling a bit, his expression loosening a bit.

The bots looked curious at Starscream, wondering what they were talking about. Starscream was contemplating whether to tell them or not.

"I suppose you'd find out sooner or later anyway," Starscream finally decided to say, still keeping his arms crossed and his wings high. "Recently, I... was with the Decepticons."

The bots looked surprised at Starscream and each other. Ratchet glanced over by Starscream's admission. The kids looked surprised too how easily Starscream spilled the beans.

"You... were a Decepticon?" Red Alert repeated shocked. "Then... why are you with the Autobots?"

"Because I changed my mind," Starscream simply replied. "I wasn't happy with the Decepticons, and they didn't treat me well either, so I defected to the Autobots. You see the damage on my wings? That's Megatron's handiwork."

Octane was the one most shocked over the revelation and gazed at the bandaged wings. The other bots were also shocked.

"So that big bot wasn't kidding when he told us to stay away from that Megatron guy?" Ransack said. "He's really that dangerous?"

"Oh, you have no idea," Starscream replied and flicked his wings by the memory. "He's a monster, a sadist and a maniac. But he's also a calm mech, which makes him even more dangerous, for he can easily kill you without losing his cool or letting down his guard. And..." Starscream gazed at Octane. "He has a thing for winged bots. And by that, I mean he enjoys ripping off their wings. He did that to me once, and I was unable to fly for ten years."

This shocked the bots even more, and outright sent chills through Octane's frame. Ratchet gazed from his position by the GroundBridge, uncertain if it was wise to let Starscream scare the recruits like this.

"But," Miko intervened, "the good news is, Megs doesn't show up in the field much anymore!"

The bots looked back at the girl. "Really?" Hot Shot said.

"Yeah, you don't have to be afraid of going out," Jack assured. "Megatron lets his underlings do all the dirty work for him."

This seemed to calm the recruits a bit, though Red Alert still seemed quite on edge. The red and white bot broke away from the small crowd and went over to Ratchet without a word. The others stared after him.

"Um... Ratchet?" Red Alert said with uncertainty. "Is it alright if I stay in the base? Like, permanently?"

Ratchet looked surprised at the other white bot. "What? Why?"

Red Alert fidgeted nervously with his digits. "I, uh... I want to..." He gazed from Ratchet to the medbay. "... know what it's like to be a medic," he decided and decreased his fidgeting. "Yes, I want to be a medic. The Autobots only have you, right? But since we're so many, maybe it would be better if I become one too? Right?"

Ratchet looked astonished at Red Alert, who anxiously waited for his response. Ratchet seemed very perplexed that one of the bots wanted to be a medic rather than a warrior, which was uncommon.

"Uh... sure," Ratchet replied and gave a baffled smile. "I'd be happy to teach you. It would certainly be helpful with another medic in the base, as you said."

"So I can stay in the base?" Red Alert asked with a hopeful smile.

"I suppose you can," Ratchet replied. "I will discuss it with Optimus once the others return. I'm glad to know I have an assistant now."

Red Alert smiled but continued fidgeting a bit, as if he still had something he wanted to say.

"Something else on your mind?" Ratchet asked.

"No," Red Alert replied quietly. "It's nothing."

"What is it?"

"It's silly. Just forget it."

"What's silly?"

Red Alert hesitated a bit, looking over at the other bots and then at the floor, seemingly blushing.

"I was just wondering..." He paused, struggling to get the words out. "Would it be okay, if I... um..."

Ratchet didn't say anything, instead waiting patiently for the other to continue.

"... if I called you... brother?"

Red Alert's face flashed blue with embarrassment, and he seemed to crouch together a bit in shame. Ratchet looked perplexed at the bot, as did the other bots and the humans, having listened to their conversation from the other end of the room. Ratchet remained silent for a while, not knowing what to say.

"Nevermind," Red Alert said quickly and turned away from Ratchet. "It's stupid, I know..."

"I..." Ratchet said, stopping Red Alert in his tracks. "Why would you want to call me that?"

Red Alert turned halfway back to Ratchet but didn't look at him, still fidgeting with his digits.

"I... The other two called the other two brother and sister," Red Alert quietly explained. "I wanted a brother too..."

"Why not ask Smokescreen then?" Ratchet asked, genuinely curious. "You two have the same vehicle modes, after all."

"I know, I'm sorry I didn't pick yours," Red Alert said again. "There's just something about you... I wanted to pick your mode, but it just felt wrong. And it feeling wrong felt wrong. I don't know. I just think you're... kind of... cool... or something..."

This surprised the humans and Starscream even more, and even Ratchet looked even more confused than before. Ratchet, cool? That was new. Ratchet seemed uncertain what to say to this strange mech.

After several awkward seconds of silence, Ratchet put a smile on his otherwise stony face.

"If you really want that," Ratchet said, "then I will gladly be your brother."

Red Alert finally stopped his fidgeting and looked back at Ratchet. A big smile formed on the shy bot's face, but he remained silent, uncertain how to respond.

Starscream chuckled lightly at the scene. Seems I'm not the only one with anxiety around here, he thought to himself.

He gazed at the other recruits. Hot Shot had returned to chat with the humans, having lost interest in the others. An impatient one, it seemed. Ransack and Crumplezone seemed more interested in each other than the others, making small arguments or jokes with each other. A duo, it seemed, maybe even a dynamic duo. Both seemed to have a lot of energy and wanted to let it out. Everyone was just like young Sparklings, understandably, as they were not even an hour old.

Only Octane seemed to be calm and collected like the older Autobots. But while his looks remained calm, Starscream was certain he was just as clueless on the inside as the others were.

They have a lot to learn, Starscream thought and smirked in satisfaction of the realization. They won't be replacing me anytime soon.

About half an hour later, Ratchet got a comm. from Optimus and opened a GroundBridge. The seven Autobots returned, each carrying two Energon cubes, having gathered fourteen in total. Once everyone had come through the portal, it seemed they weren't going to go back out, so Ratchet shut down the portal again.

"Not much," Wheeljack reported as he put down his cubes among the others in the middle of the floor, "but it should do for now."

The recruits and Starscream gathered around the returning warriors and their loot. Starscream hummed at the sight of the cubes.

"Was this all you could find?" he asked.

"Afraid so," Arcee replied. "There weren't many miners present either, so it went pretty smoothly."

"Sounds like the mines are getting thinner," Starscream commented. "Last time I was in that one there was plenty of Energon to harvest."

"We'll probably have to go on another raid again soon," Smokescreen said, "considering how many we are now and everything, I mean."

"For now, at least, we have what we need to replenish our energy," Optimus said.

The bots gathered around the stack of Energon cubes and took one each, including the five new bots, Starscream and Ratchet. The humans remained by the railings and watched the scene, while Starscream stood a good distance away from Octane, with two bots between them. The bots didn't drink their cubes right away, instead looking at Optimus, as he began delivering a speech.

"The recent events have been hard on us all," Optimus began. "We lost many things. Our base. Jasper. And each other." Optimus' gaze went around the veteran bots, until it landed on Starscream, where it lingered for a moment longer before looking back at the circle.

"But we found each other again. Together, we brought down the Decepticons' fortress, and now we are once again at equal grounds as we were before. We have a new home now. And while it may not be as large as our old base, it is where we have gained new allies." Optimus' gaze went around the five new bots, who perked a bit as they locked gazes with the Autobot leader.

"Let us celebrate today," Optimus said and raised his cube, soon followed by everyone else, Starscream included. "Let us celebrate that we are all alive. Our reunion. Our new allies. And the creation of our newest comrades."

With that, the bots lowered their cubes and drank the Energon within it. Fourteen Autobots consuming fourteen Energon cubes at the same time. This brought down their Energon stash to four cubes yet again. But at least now they did not have to refuel for another week, giving them plenty of time to locate a new mine to raid. For now, though, they decided to forget the war for a while, and just be happy to be alive. Happy to be back home, with the family. A family that Starscream still struggled fitting into.

For the rest of the day, the bots talked with the recruits, getting to know them and telling stories about themselves. Starscream didn't talk much or interact with the other bots, still lost in his own thoughts. Mostly, the bots and humans were just settling into their new home.

When nighttime arrived and some of the bots began feeling sleepy, Starscream suddenly became aware of just how small the building they were in was, and that it was just one, big room. While he had not been too happy back in the missile silo and how claustrophobic it made him, at least he had had his own room to sleep in and have privacy when he needed it. Even on the Nemesis, each bot, Vehicons included, had their own quarters where they could be alone when they needed it.

Here, though, there was literally no room for privacy. Everyone would be sleeping together, whether at the same time or at different times. In any case, everyone would be seeing him sleep, and he would be seeing the others sleep. The thought and reality of no privacy was very transgressive to Starscream, but as he was unable to fly anywhere and not allowed to go outside, he had to make do with it.

Starscream simply chose a corner on the opposite side of where the medbay stood, sat down and leaned against the wall, pulling his knees up in a defensive position. The recruits chose to stand and sleep inside their pods, still standing against the wall. The humans retreated to their human quarters on the other side of the wall by the railings, so that was good, at least. Some of the other bots chose to sleep in vehicle mode, here among Arcee, who was smaller in alternate mode and thus took up less space, recharging in the opposite corner of where Starscream was.

Some bots remained awake through the night, here among Ratchet who was busy at work, as well as Optimus and Ultra Magnus who decided to have a talk about something Starscream didn't care about. Smokescreen decided to lean against the table Starscream had been lying on earlier. Bumblebee and Bulkhead both initiated vehicle mode and parked next to Arcee. Wheeljack stood and leaned against the wall right next to Starscream and Smokescreen, not intending to rest for too long.

Starscream, uncomfortable about the many bots he now shared his living and sleeping space with, remained awake for another hour, staring at the bots around the room, before finally succumbing to fatigue and closing his optics, falling into recharge.

By dawn the next morning, Red Alert was the first bot to wake up, and it was not a peaceful awakening. He woke up with a start and a small shriek, then looking around and slapping the glass of his pod before settling down. The noise got the attention of the three awake bots, but as Red Alert got out of the pod, they returned to work. Red Alert felt confused and looked around the room at the other still-sleeping bots, including those still in the pods.

"What was that...?" Red Alert said quietly to himself, still shaking a bit.

Barely a minute after Red Alert's awakening, Hot Shot, Ransack and Crumplezone all woke up at the same time, similarly with a start and yelps and frantic looks on their faces. Red Alert flinched by the noisy awakening, and Ratchet, Optimus and Magnus looked over again. The three awake recruits exited their pods, all with confused looks on their faces.

"What's the matter?" Red Alert asked concerned. "Are you alright?"

Hot Shot was the first to speak up. "I'm confused," he said. "Wasn't I just somewhere else? How did I get back here? What was that?"

"Yeah, me too," Ransack said. "What just happened?"

"You probably had a dream," Ratchet answered, finally giving the recruits attention, while Optimus and Magnus simply looked on from behind him.

"A dream?" Red Alert repeated. "What is a dream? And what purpose does it serve?"

"Dreams are like visions," Ratchet replied, trying to think of a good explanation. "They can show anything, but mostly things you've already seen or experienced. Dreams are not real, however. They serve to place your mind in a certain situation to determine how you will react in such a situation."

The recruits hummed at the explanation. Behind them, Octane suddenly woke up with a start, gaining their attention. He too had a strange expression on his face as he looked around before realizing he was still in the base. He exited the pod and took a look around. As his gaze fell on Starscream, he winced back a bit. The reaction made Ratchet cock an optical ridge in confusion. The other recruits gazed at Starscream and had similar strange expressions on their faces, except for Red Alert. His gaze fell on the Autobots in alternate mode by the other wall and seemed to stare intently at Bulkhead.

"I don't think I like this 'dream' thing very much," Red Alert commented before returning his attention to the others. "You're certain they aren't real? And that what happens in them won't happen out here as well?"

"Certainly," Ratchet replied, studying the four other recruits as they retained a side-glance at the sleeping Starscream. "May I ask what your dreams were about?"

The recruits brought their attention back to Ratchet. Hot Shot was once again the first to speak up.

"I dreamt I was Starscream," he said. "But, I was not here. I was on a ship, and I was not alone. There were three other Starscreams, and we all stood surrounding this big, spiky mech. I think... I think it was Megatron?"

Ratchet gave Hot Shot a surprised look, and the mention of the Decepticon leader's name caught Optimus' attention as well.

"You saw Megatron?" Ratchet replied. "Even though you've never seen him before?"

"I guess, I don't know," Hot Shot said with a shrug. "Anyway, suddenly, the ship shook, and Megatron started shooting at the other Starscreams, before he shot me. And then I woke up."

"Hey, I had that dream too," Ransack said suddenly. "I was Starscream too, and I was also in a room with three other Starscreams, and I got shot by this Megatron guy too!"

"Me too!" Crumplezone said. "I had that same dream! One of the Starscreams got shot before I got shot! That was scary!"

Ratchet looked around between the recruits. "Seriously?" he said stumped. "You all had the same dream?"

"I didn't," Octane said. "At least, not completely. I was Starscream too, and I also stood in a room with three other Starscreams, but Megatron didn't shoot me. I got out." This made the other bots pay close attention to Octane. "I turned into a jet, but smaller than those outside this base, and then I flew through the air until I arrived by a cliff. There was a ship in the cliff, and I transformed and went inside. I went into a lab, and there stood another Starscream. I was about to shoot him when he shot me. I fell on the floor, then he pointed his missile at me, he fired, and then... it was over. I woke up."

"Wow, you got the extended version!" Ransack said impressed. He turned and looked at Red Alert. "What about you, Red? Did you dream the same?"

Everyone looked at Red Alert in anticipation, even Ratchet who was kind of confused over the whole ordeal. Red Alert seemed very uncomfortable with all these stares.

"I... uh... no," Red Alert stuttered. "I mean, my dream was similar, but nothing you guys said happened to me. I..." He gazed to the sleeping Bulkhead and gulped before returning to the others. "I was Starscream too. But I did not see any other Starscreams, nor did I see this Megatron. I was sneaking around in a dark, scary hallway on a ship, and suddenly there was the sound of some guards. I was scared, and when I backed off, I suddenly bumped into Bulkhead."

This took the others by surprise, a few of them glancing briefly at Bulkhead, still sound asleep, before returning their attention to Red Alert.

"What happened then?" Octane asked with interest.

"I..." Red Alert side-glanced Bulkhead with anxiousness. "At first, we just talked, but then I tried to walk away, but Bulkhead wouldn't let me get past. I tried to make him move away, but then he knocked me on the floor and began pummeling me. It was horrible. I could practically feel the punches before I woke up."

Red Alert's gaze fell on Bulkhead once again. They could clearly see that he was still trembling. Ratchet gently placed a servo on the other's shoulder, making the latter flinch.

"Dreams aren't real, Red," Ratchet repeated while locking gazes with his new brother. "Bulkhead will not hurt you. None of us will hurt any of you. You have no reason to be afraid of any of us. Dreams feel real, but in the end, they are just simulations."

Red Alert gave another brief glance at Bulkhead. "So... there's nothing to worry about?" he said quietly.

"Nothing to worry about," Ratchet repeated. "Though it is odd for all of you to have the same dream at the same time. Such things do happen but it's pretty uncommon."

Ratchet removed his servo from Red Alert's shoulder and stepped back. "Get some more rest if you don't feel rested enough. I'm going to return to work now."

Ratchet walked away to work on the lone monitor by the wall opposite of the medbay. Optimus and Magnus decided to leave the new bots be as well, instead returning to their discussion. The young bots didn't feel like going back to sleep, instead gathering in a half circle to talk.

"Okay, that was weird," Hot Shot commented. "Ratchet said these things are uncommon, but I feel like this was more than just uncommon."

"I know what you mean," Octane replied. "But did you notice something strange? That there were four Starscreams present with Megatron in total, each of ourselves included?"

"Uh, yeah?" Ransack replied. "What about it?"

"And how Red said he wasn't present but still being Starscream?" Octane continued. "Four of us dreaming about being Starscream, present with three other Starscreams, in the same scenario. Three of you got shot by Megatron, I saw three Starscreams get shot but survived."

The bots looked around at each other.

"You mean..." Red Alert trailed off.

"That we saw each other in the dream?" Ransack finished for him.

"Is that possible?" Crumplezone asked confused. "It sounds impossible."

"It might be," Octane said. "But if it's true, if we really did see each other in the same dream..." He paused for a moment to think. "Did we perhaps see ourselves in another life?"

"Okay, you lost me," Crumplezone said stumped.

"You mean, like an actual vision?" Red Alert asked intrigued.

"I think so," Octane replied. "Maybe our dream was some sort of window to another place, another time, where we're all Starscream. I'm not sure if that's how dreams work, but it makes sense, right?"

"But then why were we all Starscream?" Hot Shot asked and gazed at Starscream, soon followed by the others. "And if Red was the first Starscream who died, and then me, Ransack and Crumplezone got killed by Megatron... who killed Octane's Starscream then?"

Starscream sat on the floor, still with his legs curled up, his arms hugging himself. He was mostly still, but on occasion there was a small flick of a wing or twitch of a claw or facial twitches. He seemed to be dreaming as well.

"Could the Starscream I met have been the real Starscream?" Octane wondered. "He's still sleeping. Could he be having the same dream as us? And still be dreaming it?"

"Why would he have the same dream as us?" Ransack questioned with crossed arms. "He's not like us. He's way older than we are. He's probably just having another dream. These guys have probably had many more dreams than we have. They're probably used to it."

The bots gazed at Starscream for about another minute before deciding to try going back to sleep in their pods. Starscream opened his optics into slits by the sound of the pods closing, but did not get up.

So I'm not the only one...

Two hours after sunrise, all the Autobots woke up at approximately the same time. First to wake up were Wheeljack and Smokescreen, who, despite having claimed to not intend to sleep for long, had ended up sleeping through the whole night, both exhausted from the past week's events, as were the other bots. Next to wake up were Bulkhead, Bumblebee and Arcee, a few minutes after Wheeljack and Smokescreen, all switching to bot mode and stretching out with seconds between them.

A few minutes later, the recruits woke up inside their pods and exited, now feeling a bit more rested than last time they woke up. Starscream remained asleep for another ten minutes before waking up as the last bot, but he took his time getting up, not having anything planned for the day anyway. It took about another ten minutes for him to actually get up, stretch and greet the others good morning - whether it was a good morning or not, that is.

About half an hour after all the bots were awake, the humans emerged from their human quarters behind the wall. The kids gathered in their new living room area fit with a couple of couches, a table and a TV, while Agent Fowler went to greet Optimus Prime, having stayed awake all night, to talk to him about something. June Darby had left the building to assist with medical supplies for the human soldiers, so they didn't see her for the rest of the day.

Most of the day was spent teaching the new bots about human laws, especially traffic laws, as well as about the Autobots 'robots in disguise' rule. They were not allowed to show themselves to humans in their true forms, not unless it was absolutely necessary - such as if saving a human's life required one of the bots to be in bot mode, the veterans clarified, remembering how easily Smokescreen had shown himself to a human just for the fun of it.

While telling the new bots about humans and Earth, Ratchet also took the liberty of outfitting the bots with the Autobot insignia, to show their allegiance. Hot Shot and Red Alert were the first to receive theirs, afterwards Ransack and Crumplezone got theirs, Octane being the last one. Octane was a bit hesitant to get the mark, but in the end he allowed Ratchet to mark his chestplate with the symbol.

At some point during the day, Rafael had found a three-dimensional image of Optimus' old truck mode on his computer and decided to show it to Ultra Magnus. As Magnus still hadn't picked an Earth-based vehicle mode yet, he gladly accepted the image and scanned it. In the next moment, he initiated his new alternate mode, almost identical to Optimus' old vehicle mode but being blue instead of red. The kids had learned that bots had to scan three-dimensional images in order to use the vehicle as their alternate mode, while two-dimensional images could only serve as providing the bots with new paintjobs, as in Bumblebee's case. It had taken Raf quite a while to find this image, but it was all worth it, as Magnus thus didn't have to go out in public to find a suitable vehicle mode.

Starscream was extremely bored throughout the day with all the talk about traffic laws and not-getting-seen-by-humans rules. Even the recruits themselves seemed to get bored halfway through the afternoon, and finally they had enough. Ransack and Crumplezone were the first to speak up, demanding they be allowed to go and try out their vehicle modes. At first the bots were hesitant, but they quickly realized if these new bots were to be of any help, they needed to know how to get around on this planet, not to mention needing combat practice for when it was needed.

As such, the Autobots decided to pair the recruits up with one veteran each. The veterans would accompany the recruits as they drove away from the base and found a suitable location to teach the bots to fight - secluded, but with lots of space to let loose in. The new bots had to learn to fight while the Decepticons were still recovering themselves - it was better to do it now than later.

The first pair to leave was Arcee and Ransack - who, before the departure, had learned from Arcee how to project a holographic driver, so he wouldn't be seen as a living motorcycle - followed by Bulkhead and Crumplezone a few minutes later. The bots decided to wait a few minutes between sending each pair off, just in case the Decepticons were watching their movement after all. The next pair to leave was Hot Shot and Bumblebee, followed by Smokescreen and Red Alert. After the latter pair was sent off, the bots worried if Smokescreen had been the right choice as a teacher after all, considering he himself was still a new recruit. Just in case, Wheeljack was sent off to make sure the two youngsters didn't get into trouble. Which was saying a lot, considering Wheeljack himself was keen on getting into trouble, being a former rogue Autobot and everything. But they decided to believe Wheeljack could handle it.

The last pair to leave was Octane in his truck mode, accompanied by Ultra Magnus. Technically, Magnus had yet to experience human traffic and Earth public himself, but he was so bound by regulations and a responsible bot, so the others decided he would do fine. Before they left, though, Agent Fowler decided to board Ultra Magnus, telling him he had an errand to take care of, and requested that Ultra Magnus would drop him off at his destination before taking Octane out for training. Magnus accepted the human's request, and then they took off.

As such, the only ones left in Hangar E were Optimus Prime, Ratchet, Starscream and the children. The children had wanted to go with their bots and further teach them about traffic laws, but the bots decided it would be safer for them to remain in the base and assured the children that their partners would be alright.

Starscream was relieved that the base was less crowded now, but his relief was soon replaced by boredom, as he had nothing to do. He decided to address his issues to the two remaining bots in the base.

"If I'm going to be stuck here in this small building for the next month or so, you have to give me something to do," Starscream said, gazing between Optimus and Ratchet, who both watched him with their full attention. "Otherwise I'm going to lose my mind."

"It won't be easy," Ratchet replied. "Considering the things we found in the Harbinger. Unless you want to help me getting all those devices to work?" He pointed at one of the two tables, the closest of which currently had several damaged devices lying on it.

Starscream frowned at the sight. "I think I'll pass," he replied and looked back at the bots. "Do you think anything survived the destruction of the old base?"

"There's a possibility," Ratchet said thoughtful. "But there's also a possibility that the Decepticons might be monitoring the wreckage. It's a risky expedition."

"If there's anything in the wreckage that survived, that could help us," Starscream argued, "then we should go take a look. What if some of the Energon survived? Or the relics we've gathered? Or my stuff?"

"Didn't the Decepticons comb the wreckage though?" Ratchet replied. "You must have seen it yourself, considering you were..."

Starscream blinked and reset his vocalizer. "Uh, yes, we- they did," he corrected. "But I didn't stay for long, only until we- they found Wheeljack. I think I saw a few of the relics being stored away though. I don't remember which ones though." After a moment of awkward silence, Starscream continued. "But that doesn't mean everything is gone. They might have missed something."

There was a moment of thoughtful silence, to consider the idea.

"Perhaps you are right, Starscream," Optimus finally said. "If anything did survive the attack and the excavation, we must retrieve it. We shall assemble our own excavation team when the others return."

Starscream smiled widely at the decision. "I'll be on it," he said quickly.

"I don't know if that's a good idea," Ratchet said in doubt.

"If we travel by GroundBridge, and the Decepticons aren't monitoring us, we should be fine," Starscream pointed out. "I need to see if any of my belongings survived. Well, besides this," he added and gestured the good-luck necklace still wrapped around his wrist, the only thing he had gotten with him from the old base. "Please, let me go."

Optimus was silent for a moment in thought. "Very well," he decided. "You shall be on the excavation team. But do not engage in battle if the Decepticons do show up. You are still in recovery, and we do not wish you to get more hurt than you already are."

"I'll stay out of trouble, don't worry," Starscream assured, glad that someone was finally listening to him. "I'll be waiting for the others to return then."

In Starscream's case, waiting meant restlessly pacing around the mostly vacant base. Having nothing else to do, he could only let go of his pent-up energy by pacing, and the bots were very aware of this. Ratchet found his pacing a bit annoying, but tried to ignore it as he knew it was currently the only thing keeping the Seeker sane and patient - if one could call pacing a sign of patience, that is, considering how impatient Starscream generally was.

Optimus decided also to let Starscream be, despite how manic his behavior seemed. The wings on his back remained mostly in a normal, content position, though on occasion the smaller wings pressed against the bigger ones in discomfort, though the movements were brief and soon the wings fell back into their normal position again. On occasion, there was a small flick of a wing or a small energetic flutter at least once. The kids and bots wondered what could be on the Seeker's mind with all those wing movements.

The Autobots knew about wing emoting, of course, as it was a common behavior among winged bots and bots with winglets like Arcee, Bumblebee and Smokescreen. Winglets tended to be limited in expressing the bots' emotions though, while actual wings were much more expressive and had many variations, especially depending on how many wings a bot possessed. With two pairs of wings instead of one, Starscream's wings expressed more complicated emotions than a bot with one pair of wings, such as Octane or the bots with winglets. The Autobots knew when Starscream's wings drooped that he was either sad, scared or ashamed, but he had many other positions and movements that meant different things, and it was a bit difficult interpreting their meanings. Not only that, but Starscream tended to conceal his emotions by forcing his wings into the normal, content position, so others couldn't tell what he was feeling or planning, nor if he was lying or telling the truth. In the beginning, he had been better at hiding his emotions than he was recently.

The kids tried to ignore Starscream's pacing as well, but it was difficult, as his pedes tapped loudly against the metal floor with each step. They wanted to talk to him, but he didn't seem to be in the mood for talking, though he seemed to be whispering something to himself while pacing. It was too low for any of them to hear though. They didn't think he was scheming anything though, since it would be a bad idea to scheme out loud. He was probably just telling himself a story, or planning where to search in the wreckage when the time came. They could only imagine what Starscream was thinking about.

It was first by sunset that the bots returned to base. They all arrived within a few minutes, though still made sure to enter pair-wise. Agent Fowler did not return with Ultra Magnus and Octane, as he apparently had to pick up something for Optimus. It had sounded as if they had found a suitable vehicle for Optimus to scan, and Agent Fowler was going to retrieve it now.

As everyone had gathered in the hangar, Optimus noticed that Smokescreen was absent, Red Alert instead returning with Wheeljack by his side. Wheeljack explained that Smokescreen had decided to go on night patrol and would return by morning. A few of the veterans - including Arcee and Ratchet - voiced their doubts in letting Wheeljack let Smokescreen go off on his own, considering he was still a rookie and that the Decepticons were likely on high alert. Wheeljack simply told them that the youngster would be fine, and if not, then he'd comm. them. The bots weren't completely satisfied by Wheeljack's explanation, but decided to give Smokescreen the benefit of the doubt. Optimus decided to announce the expedition to the wreckage of their old base.

"Starscream will be part of the excavation team," he declared right away. He looked around at the other bots. "Ultra Magnus and Wheeljack will accompany him. Search the ruins and gather what you can find of value. If you should be encountered by Decepticons, return to base immediately. We must avoid unnecessary fighting from now on, considering our short supply of Energon."

"Scream can always give us coordinates for another mine," Wheeljack said unconcerned.

"We can't be sure the mines will yield anything though," Starscream countered. "Considering the result of your last raid."

"We shall worry about that when you return," Optimus said. "Ratchet, open a GroundBridge."

Ratchet nodded and opened a portal, coordinates set to the site of the destroyed missile silo. Ultra Magnus stepped out as the first, followed by Wheeljack and Starscream close behind him.

"We shall be back by daybreak, if nothing happens," Ultra Magnus announced.

Without further ado, the three bots entered the portal and left the base. As the portal closed, Arcee went for the door.

"I'll go out on patrol too," she declared and initiated alternate mode. "Will be back before sunrise."

Bulkhead and Bumblebee decided to also go on patrol, and Optimus allowed them. The children went to the human quarters to rest for the night, as it was getting late, and Ratchet, not having slept for days, decided to power down for a few hours. Optimus promised to keep watch for him, still with plenty of energy from his reformatting two nights ago. The recruits were hesitant to go to sleep, remembering their strange dreams the previous night, but after a few hours they decided to retreat to their pods to rest. This night, there was no fuss from any of them, not even the skittish Red Alert.

As the base went dark and Optimus was the only awake living being present, he stood by the GroundBridge and the command center, staring at the front doors, patiently waiting. At some point during the night, he got a call from Agent Fowler, saying he had returned, and the doors to the hangar were opened, letting in the light from the cresent moon.

Into the base entered a green camo truck with small windows and a semi-trailer behind it, seemingly packed with highly advanced human technology.

"Prime, what we have here is an experimental all-terrain expeditionary fighting vehicle," Agent Fowler explained as he exited the truck, "designed by the finest engineers in our M.A.S.K. divison."

"Thank you, Agent Fowler," Optimus said. "This will most certainly do."

As Agent Fowler closed the door of the truck, Optimus sent out a blue beam from his optics, scanning the fighting vehicle inside and out. As the beam retreated back into his optics, his processor ran through the schematics of the truck, sent the information to the T-Cog, and a few seconds later, Optimus initiated his new vehicle mode for the first time. A complete copy of the M.A.S.K. truck, but being his signature red and blue, the semi-trailer being silver, as that was his new jetpack.

Now the Autobots had their leader back, fully and completely, ready for anything the Decepticons could throw against him.

When Ultra Magnus, Wheeljack and Starscream arrived at the missile silo, the latter two cringed at the destruction, especially Starscream who had been living in it, as Wheeljack only ever came to visit on occasion. Ultra Magnus had never been here, so he wasn't devastated by the sight - although it was hard to interpret the mighty mech's thoughts and feelings, as he had a stony expression on his face, much like Ratchet's or even Optimus'. He was hard to read, in any case.

"You search the command center," Starscream said after shaking off the cringe. "I'll search the hallways for my things."

"Don't try running away now," Wheeljack said jokingly.

"Very funny," Starscream snarled before seperating from the other two.

The command center was easily recognized, as the floor around the Autobot insignia was a surprisingly bare spot, so Starscream more or less knew where to go from there. He found the devastated hallways and made his way through the rubble until he arrived at what he supposed had been his room in the base. He let out a sigh by the memories that suddenly went through his processor. He had been so unhappy being trapped in that room for several months, constantly complaining about not being allowed to go outside or fly. He never thought he would ever miss that claustrophobic room as much as he did now.

"I took everything for granted," he muttered to himself. "I had privacy, and I took it for granted. I hope something survived..."

Starscream got to the excavation at once. The recharging table was broken in half. He didn't expect to drag that thing back to base anyway; there wasn't space for it. His desk and chair were both in pieces as well, but they too would have taken up a lot of space.

Starscream used as much strength as he could muster to lift the broken walls off the fallen shelf that housed the majority of his belongings. As the shelf was cleared, he noticed the jars containing Cybertronian organs were broken and the contents spilled and crushed by debris. Some of the datapads had broken into pieces while others seemed to be intact. He took the intact datapads and turned them on to check their contents.

His list of Seeker names was on one of them, his book of G.I. Joe was on another, and he even found the drawing he had made of himself to be intact. He was uncertain if the Synthetic Energon formula was among the destroyed datapads, but then remembered that he had given that to Ratchet, and that it was likely the medic had brought it with him. He would have to check in with the doctor later, when they got back from the expedition.

Starscream continued his search through the shelf and discovered to his surprise that the crown, cape and shoulder-pads were all intact. There was a bit of dirt on all three, but even the fabric seemed to be without tears or wear, just a bit of dust that could be brushed away. Not even a scorch mark was present on the set.

"They must have been buried before the fire caught on," Starscream assumed. "Perhaps other things survived too?"

Starscream cleared a bit of the floor to spread out the cape and placed the intact objects on it, so he could continue his search without worrying about accidentally stepping on anything. He continued searching through the shelf but found only broken glass and malfunctioning datapads. He hummed with dissatisfaction but was not ready to end his search yet.

He decided to search around the rest of the room, among the rubble of his broken berth and desk. He spotted something colorful under the pieces of the desk and moved the rubble aside. He felt his Spark leap at the sight of the Rubik's Cube laying shuffled and intact, though a bit dusty. He picked it up and carefully turned the rows. They didn't move as smoothly as they used to, but nonetheless the cube seemed to be intact and functional. A little cleaning and some lubricate would probably get its functionality back to normal.

"I never thought I would be so happy to see you again," Starscream said with a smile to the cube in his palm. "You're tougher than I thought."

Starscream placed the Rubik's Cube among the datapads and other intact objects, then continued searching his desk to see if any of his other puzzles survived. At least they would give him something to do through the next month of doing nothing else, even if it wasn't much. He was glad that at least the G.I. Joe datapad had survived, as that would provide him with lots of reading material that didn't seem like it would end anytime soon.

Starscream wasn't particularly surprised to find the metal puzzles intact, as they were all small and well protected against the debris and flames. He searched until he found all ten sets of rods and rings interlocked together. None of the metal puzzles seemed to be bended from the destruction of the room. He could not find the two other sets of puzzles with the rectangles and the planks though. He only found two rectangles and one plank, the rest were absent. He continued searching until he found a piece of what he recognized as part of one of the rectangles, and half of one of the planks. At that, he decided to give up and discarded the puzzle pieces he had found, as they were useless without all the pieces.

After hours of searching through his room for his belongings, he found his kaleidoscope completely broken and flattened, some of the pearls having escaped the glass case they had been in. Starscream hummed and took a look around the room. As far as he recalled, he had found all the belongings he had in his room, whether broken or intact. There was nothing else to search for. So he rose up and went back to the cape to inspect the items he had found.

The golden crown, lavender shoulder-pads, Rubik's Cube, ten metal puzzles, five datapads and two data-pens. And of course the cape itself. Those were the items of his room that had survived the attack and the fire. Having made this conclusion, Starscream piled up the items in the middle before folding the cape and tying a knot to make sure the items wouldn't spill out when he carried it.

After having secured his cargo, he grabbed the bundle with one servo, supporting its weight with the other servo, and rose back to his pedes and began making his way out of the ruins of his room, leaving it for probably the last time.

As he made his way back to the command center to meet up with Ultra Magnus and Wheeljack, he could faintly see the sun beginning to rise in the horizon. It was almost daybreak, and as such, almost time to go back to base.

Time to go back home.

As promised, while it was still dark out, just before sunrise, Arcee, Bumblebee and Bulkhead all returned from their night patrols. By their return, Ratchet woke from his recharge and initiated bot mode so he could continue his work. The recruits were already awake and alert and ready to learn new things. As Ratchet had woken up, Optimus decided to inform him of faint Decepticon signals on the monitor that had appeared just a little while ago.

"There were no traces of Energon," Optimus informed, "but I still wish to investigate."

"I shall open a GroundBridge," Ratchet informed and was about to enter new coordinates, but was stopped by Optimus.

"No need," Optimus said calmly. "I shall investigate by flight. I may have a better overview of the situation then. You should instead have the GroundBridge ready for our excavation team to return."

Optimus headed for the open door, when Octane took a step forward.

"Can I come with you, sir?" Octane asked.

Optimus stopped and turned his attention to the Flier, as did the others.

"I am uncertain if you are ready to face against Decepticons yet, Octane," Optimus replied calmly.

"Ultra Magnus grinded me down yesterday," Octane countered. "I know how to pack a punch. I even figured out how to access my blasters." To demonstrate, Octane turned his servos into small cannons not unlike the ones Ultra Magnus sported. He turned them back into hands a few seconds later. "Besides, I need to learn to fly as well. I didn't get to do that yesterday. And since Starscream's unavailable, who better to teach me than you, sir?"

Optimus seemed to contemplate the request for a while. It took about ten seconds before he finally answered.

"Very well," Optimus decided. "You may accompany me, Octane. But stay close to me and do not engage in combat unless I tell you to."

Octane smiled by the answer, then put on a stony expression and saluted. "Thank you, sir!" he said, perhaps more to make himself look good in front of the Prime than being sincere. Optimus decided not to comment on it.

The two Fliers exited the hangar together, Optimus folding out his wings and activating his jetpack, Octane initiating plane mode, both ascending into the air at the same time, disappearing off into the sky.

By the time they had taken off from the base and found themselves soaring through the sky, the sun had risen. The excavation team would return to the base soon.

"This is awesome," Octane commented some dozen meters from Optimus' side. "Driving was fun and all, but this, flying... it's awesome! I can go anywhere now!"

"It does have its advantages," Optimus said in agreement. "But one has to be sure to keep steady and not lose control. On land, you can avoid crashing by returning to bot mode. Here, in the sky, you cannot. You have to be careful while flying, and you cannot transform until you are at least a few meters from the ground."

"Okay," Octane replied. "Keep steady, don't lose control, don't transform before landing. Got it."

"Of course, I have only been capable of flight for two days, and it is only because of my jetpack that I can fly," Optimus admitted. "If you want more detailed instructions, you will have to talk to Starscream about it."

"Yeah... Starscream," Octane replied, sounding a bit displeased. "Good luck to me with that."

"Is something the matter?"

"I don't know. I kinda get the feeling he doesn't like me. Do you know why?"

"There are still many things I do not know about Starscream," Optimus admitted. "He gets stressed easily when he is not allowed to fly, and he often takes his frustrations out on others. And considering the recent events, I imagine he is having a hard time. He tries hard to fit in, but he seems unsure how to."

"So you're saying he may not have anything against me?" Octane asked. "He's just having a bad time?"

"I believe so," Optimus replied. "But despite his flaws, he has at rare times shown a softer side many of us were not aware that he had. Give him time, and you may experience that for yourself."

"I see..." Octane said quietly. "Then I'll give him the benefit of the doubt. I do feel a sort of connection with him, but I'm not sure how to express it."

"Is it similar to how some of your fellow recruits feel about the others?" Optimus asked. "Like Hot Shot feels with Bumblebee, or Red Alert with Ratchet?"

"Or Ransack with Arcee?" Octane added. "Maybe. I don't know. I want to talk to him, but he doesn't want to talk to me. And I dreamt I was him yesterday, too, but that the other him killed me. Do you think that might be a sign?"

"Some bots have special visionary dreams," Optimus said. "But we never know if the dreams we have are mere dreams or if they have special meanings to them. Most of the time, they are, as Ratchet said, just simulations and extend no further than that. Did you have a similar dream last night?"

"No," Octane admitted. "If I had a dream, I don't remember what it was about. Maybe it was just a coincidence after all..."

"Only time will tell," Optimus said and turned his gaze downwards, searching beneath the clouds. "But know that you can put your trust in us all, Starscream included. Even if it turns out he does not like you, you can still count on his help should you need it."

After that, there was silence between the two, as they flew among the clouds, scouting for Decepticon activity. Optimus knew deep inside that what he had just said wasn't entirely true. It was true that Starscream would help out bots even if he didn't like them, but usually only if he was indebted to them. He had improved in helping the Autobots out in the recent weeks, acting more and more like a true Autobot, but he still had a lot of work to do.

Now, though, with his capture by Megatron and having been back with the Decepticons for a whole week, Optimus was uncertain if anything had changed in Starscream. Whether for better or for worse. He wanted to believe that Starscream now knew he belonged with the Autobots, having re-experienced how it was like to be a Decepticon, but ultimately, Optimus could not be sure.

Starscream could at times be erratic and unpredictable, to the point where even the Seeker himself didn't know why he did what he did. Optimus could see potential in Starscream, however, and considering the discoveries they had made during his stay with the Autobots, Optimus believed more and more that Starscream was a good bot deep in his Spark. But Starscream seemed to believe that his past and Megatron's abuse of him defined who he was as a bot, which made his progress all the more difficult.

Optimus did not just want to turn Starscream into an Autobot for the sake of air support and extra firepower. He could see a bot in need, a bot that was wounded beyond his armor, that his very Spark was hurt. Optimus wanted to help Starscream, but Starscream was often too proud to ask for help. He had improved on that too, but he was still a mystery.

In the recent two days, Starscream also seemed to be quieter than he usually was. He was normally so chatty, even on his bad days. Perhaps he was still ashamed of having returned to the Decepticons, still thinking about the things he had done. Even if they asked him, Optimus knew he wouldn't tell them the truth. At least, not the whole truth. Secrets seemed important to Starscream. After all, he had kept so many secrets from them for so long, the greatest of them so far being Cliffjumper's death. Optimus wondered what other burdens the small Seeker was bearing on his shoulders.

The sun had risen higher on the sky when Optimus and Octane broke out of the clouds and spotted a mountain range below them. Optimus descended, and Octane followed close behind, heading for what was apparently the location of the Decepticon activity that Optimus had spoken of.

As Optimus landed on a cliffside by a cave, Octane slowed down before initiating bot mode, landing right next to Optimus.

"My first landing," Octane said triumphantly.

"Good job," Optimus praised and inspected the cave. It was too short for Optimus to walk into, and even Octane would have difficulty fitting in there, though he could probably keep his head low. Optimus hummed. An idea sprung to mind, and the next second Optimus initiated truck mode for the second time since scanning his new vehicle.

"Oh, smart," Octane commented and initiated his own tanker truck mode. Both trucks entered the cave which was now no trouble at all for their shorter vehicle modes. They turned on their car-lights so they could see through the darkness.

"Think there are 'Cons here?" Octane asked, having picked up the shorter term from the veterans.

"Possibly," Optimus replied. "Maintain silence until we find out."

"Got'cha," Octane whispered and then remained silent.

They drove on for several minutes until they heard a faint whirring noise. Octane's Spark began beating faster in anticipation. Optimus kept his head cool and remained in front of Octane, leading the way. Barely two minutes after first hearing the noise, Optimus stopped, and Octane stopped right behind him, barely avoiding hitting the trailer in front of him.

"There! I can see it," a loud, rattling voice sounded in front of them. Octane could not see anything because of Optimus blocking his path, but Optimus could clearly see five Insecticons surrounding a drill operated by a single Decepticon Miner. It had been an Insecticon named Bombshock who had spoken, and he seemed to be reaching into a hole they had just dug. What had they found? Energon? Or perhaps a relic not recorded in the Iacon Database? Or something else altogether?

Whatever they had found, Optimus could not allow them to have it. Before giving a signal to Octane behind him, Optimus made his presence to the Decepticons clear.

"Abandon the excavation!" his voice rumbled through the tunnel. "Now."

Without further note, Optimus revved up his engine and drove forward. Octane took it as a signal and drove after him.

"Attack!" Bombshock yelled, and his fellow Insecticons let out shrill roars and charged at the incoming Autobots, a couple of them transforming to beast mode.

Optimus launched three missiles at the incoming Insecticons, taking out three of them with one shot each. Two more Insecticons came running in bot mode, squealing with thirst for battle. The one in front began firing lasers at the two Autobots.

"Dodge to the right," Optimus ordered Octane.

Octane drove to the right, just as Optimus turned to the left and knocked the incoming Insecticon over. Optimus initiated bot mode, and Octane followed suit. Octane watched as Optimus planted his fist on the throat of the second Insecticon and drove it into the ceiling, making pebbles fall onto the floor. The Insecticon screamed by the attack and fell to the floor, but soon rose up to continue the fight. But before it could counter, Optimus turned his left servo into a blaster and shot a hole through the Insecticon's stomach, killing it.

Octane ran close behind Optimus, watching him fight rather than participating himself. These Decepticons were large and seemed dangerous. Better let the expert take care of them.

Before the Autobots could reach the drill, Bombshock reached into the hole and broke off... something, then entered beast mode and took off through a hole in the ceiling, letting out a victorious Insecticon shriek. Optimus stopped beside the drill and gazed disappointed at the fleeing Insecticon. The Miner had apparently skedaddled without anyone noticing, wanting no part of this conflict.

"What now?" Octane asked. As Optimus didn't answer, the Triple Changer gazed at the other and saw that something had caught Optimus' attention. Both looked into the hole the Decepticons had dug and saw... something.

"What is that?" Octane asked.

Optimus took a few steps forward to get a closer look at what they had uncovered. "It cannot be..."

It was not until well past sunrise that Ultra Magnus comm'ed the base to request a GroundBridge back, just as he had promised. His voice was calm and stony as usual with no indication that there had been any trouble. By then, the children had all emerged from their human quarters, and Rafael sat with his computer in the human section of the command center, monitoring the status of the GroundBridge.

"Return-trajectory fluctuations have been stabilized," Rafael reported with a thumbs-up.

"Ultra Magnus, we are ready to receive," Ratchet said over the comm. and pulled down a lever to lock the portal in position.

Ultra Magnus was the first to return through the portal, in his truck mode, carrying a single boxed Energon cube on his back. He pulled to a stop and let Bumblebee unload his very small load before assuming bot mode. Soon after, Starscream entered, clutching a familiar purple bundle, likely containing what remained of his belongings.

"We didn't find much else in the rubble of the former base," Ultra Magnus reported as he approached the other bots.

Behind him, Wheeljack emerged from the portal as the last one, carrying Bulkhead's beloved lobbing ball, which seemed surprisingly intact - though perhaps not so surprising after all, considering how heavy and dense it was.

"You call this 'not much else'?" Wheeljack said while holding up the large ball in one servo, almost half his own height.

Without warning, Wheeljack spun around and tossed the ball in direction of Bulkhead. Starscream leapt to the side with a yelp in surprise to avoid getting hit by the ball, as did everyone else that stood too close.

"Huh?" Bulkhead uttered and didn't react in time to catch the ball, which bounced off his thick chest armor and continued to fly in direction of Miko, standing by the door to Agent Fowler's office. Jack managed to pull her to the side just in time to avoid her getting splattered. The door was not as lucky; the ball cracked the door but didn't go through, though it was large enough to block the door.

"Wheeljack!" Ratchet exclaimed. "You could have caused serious damage!"

"To me!" Miko clarified in offense with hands on her hips.

A moment later, Agent Fowler's voice could be heard from behind the blocked door. "A little help here?"

Wheeljack seemed a bit surprised by the outcome of his action, and it was not without consequences. He was in big trouble now.

"What were you thinking, soldier?" Ultra Magnus scolded.

"I was thinking," Wheeljack said slowly, "Bulk could catch that lob." He didn't seem particularly concerned though. After all, no one got hurt. Just the door. And maybe Bulkhead got a bruise, who knew.

"Allow me to make myself clear," Ultra Magnus said sternly. "As Optimus Prime's second-in-command, I have no intention of tolerating Wrecker behavior!"

"Some things never change," Wheeljack said darkly and side-glanced Magnus, fully intending for the big bot to hear it.

The surrounding bots paused what they were doing to stare at the scene. Even Bumblebee paused on his way to put away the boxed Energon cube, and Starscream still stood near the door clutching his bundle. The recruits stood behind the veterans and felt the atmosphere in the room tense up a bit.

"Jackie," Bulkhead said in a warning tone.

Ultra Magnus emitted a low grunt of offense. "Need I remind you that it was Optimus Prime himself who assigned me to command your Wreckers back on Cybertron and get you loose cannons under control? An effective combat unit begins with discipline. If you won't accept that, feel free to choose the path of least resistance. As you did before."

Even the children watched the tense scene with discomfort, unsure how this argument would turn out. Wheeljack wasn't much for authority - he even only tolerated Optimus' command because he had seen for himself that Optimus was a respectable and trustworthy leader who would risk his own life to protect his allies. Ultra Magnus seemed to be a different story, though. Back when Wheeljack had explained his dislike of authority figures because they tended to only care about themselves and let the soldiers do all the dirty work and turn tail when things went rough, it was likely he had been referring to Ultra Magnus. The blue mech didn't seem like a coward, though the other things were possibly true due to his tight commitment to regulations.

"If my ship weren't a twisted wreck at present," Wheeljack replied with a hint of a snarl, "I'd do that. Sir," he added in a mocking tone.

Declaring the argument ended, Wheeljack walked off, striding past the watching bots who made way for him, and went to stand in the corner of the medbay. As there were no rooms to be alone in, the bots had to do with what they had, even if it was small corners in some parts of the hangar. They decided to leave the Wrecker be.

Ultra Magnus sighed, then decided to change the subject. "So, any word from Optimus?" he asked Ratchet, seeing as their leader was currently absent.

Ratchet decided to go with the change in subject. "He's investigating recent Decepticon activity," the medic explained. "Hopefully an Energon mine."

As the tense atmosphere seemed to dissipate, the bots decided to continue what they had been doing before Wheeljack's little stunt. Bumblebee moved the Energon cube over by the others, and Starscream walked past the veterans and recruits to the corner he had slept in. He put down the bundle but didn't open it right away. He looked behind him, noticing something was off.

"Where's that Octane?" he asked, noting the purple Flier was missing as well.

"Octane went with Optimus on his patrol," Ratchet replied.

Starscream cocked his head in surprise. "Really? Why?"

"He said something about learning to fly," Hot Shot replied. "And decided to ask the big guy, since you were unavailable and all."

"Prime's only been capable of flight for two days!" Starscream exclaimed. "You can't expect a Grounder to teach a Flier how to fly. He's going to teach him all the wrong things!"

"I think Optimus knows what he's doing," Arcee argued. "It can't be that hard to learn how to fly, right?"

"You only think that because you are ground-bound," Starscream said and crossed his arms, flicking a wing. "There is so much more to flying than just taking off and landing. And how to fly properly depends on how the bot flies, like a soaring jet like me, a hovering helicopter like that wretch Airachnid, or-"

"Or like Optimus with a jetpack?" Jack asked as he and Miko had desceded to the floor among the bots, interrupting the Seeker.

Starscream sighed by the interruption but decided not to argue. "Precisely," he said instead, briefly glancing at the humans. "How Optimus flies is not the same way as the way I fly, or the way Octane flies. Heck, even the way the two of us real Fliers fly is not the same."

"Save the lecture for Octane when they get back," Ratchet said with raised servos, stopping Starscream before he would begin to ramble on like he always did. "He probably needs to hear it more than we do."

Starscream grumbled by the interruption and rattled with his wings in annoyance. "Fine," he snarled. "Maybe I'll tell Optimus too."

"He seems to have his jetpack covered pretty well," Arcee said. "I don't think you need to lecture him in anything."

Starscream snorted but decided not to further argue. Talking about Optimus' new flight ability continued to be the subject of the ongoing conversation though.

"How rad would it be if you all had jetpacks like Optimus?" Miko stated excitedly.

"Quite rad, Miko," Ratchet replied while sitting by the medbay, working on repairing a small device. "But the Forge has been depleted of its power to do that."

"Now it's only good for pounding out dings," Bulkhead commented.

The rev of a car engine outside caught the bots' attention. The doors were opened to allow a blue sports car with yellow stripes to enter, spin around and pull to a stop. Even though it was a different color-scheme, the form of the car and the sound of the engine was familiar enough that the bots present could instantly recognize it.

"Smokescreen?" Arcee greeted curiously and placed her servos on her hips.

As the doors were closed again, the blue and yellow sports car initiated bot mode to reveal Smokescreen, having apparently scanned a new paintjob throughout the night, explaining why it had taken so long for him to return to base. Sort of.

"Aw, what gave me away?" he replied, disappointed he was recognized so quickly and easily. Arcee gave him a crooked smile, as if the answer was obvious. "C'mon! Robots in disguise, right?"

Ultra Magnus approached the returning Autobot and decided to address his absence. "Where have you been, soldier?"

"Scanning new war paint," Smokescreen answered with a smile. "Thought it'd be proactive to follow Optimus' lead. And Bumblebee's," he added and gestured the black Scout as the latter decided to place the boxed Energon cube by a second monitor by the medbay they had set up while Starscream and the others had been out.

"Looks cool, Smokescreen," Bumblebee said as he saw Smokescreen's new paintjob.

"Now you can look your best while stacking those empty cubes," Ultra Magnus said, his gaze pointing at the large stack of empty boxes for Energon cubes they had gathered from the Harbinger, the raid as well as what they had found in the wreckage of their old base.

"Yessir," Smokescreen replied, not very enthusiastic over the assignment.

Magnus glanced at the other recruits and Starscream with a stern gaze. Red Alert decided to go help Ratchet, Starscream got busy with unpacking his bundle, while Ransack, Crumplezone and Hot Shot found themselves having to follow the silent order and go join Smokescreen in stacking the boxes. They didn't seem thrilled, but followed the order anyway. Smokescreen's winglets drooped slightly as he made his way past Ratchet and Red Alert by the work table, working on some devices.

"I was nearly a Prime, but somehow I'm still a rookie," Smokescreen muttered, not intending for anyone else to hear him.

Ratchet looked up by the youngster's muttering. "What was that about a Prime?" he asked.

Smokescreen stopped and turned, his winglets going back up. "Uh, no- time," Smokescreen corrected. "Time to stop... acting like a rookie."

Smokescreen resumed his trip to the empty cubes and began stacking them alongside Hot Shot, Ransack and Crumplezone. Ratchet did not comment further on Smokescreen's statement. He continued working on his device with Red Alert sitting next to him, watching intently what he was doing. Arcee stared ahead in Smokescreen's direction.

"Smokescreen was the only one who went back," Arcee said. "If it weren't for him, Optimus might not be with us today." Her gaze fell on the floor, a somber look adorning her face.

Ratchet decided to pause his work once again, much to Red Alert's disappointment, but the recruit didn't complain, merely waited for Ratchet to continue.

"Arcee, we were under the strictest of orders," Ratchet pointed out. "The three of you had your human partners to protect. But we are fortunate that Smokescreen is inexperienced enough not to have followed protocol."

In the corner of the base, Starscream unpacked his purple bundle and set up a few wooden boxes to make his own little living space. He placed the intact datapads in a pile on one box along with the metal puzzles and the Rubik's Cube beside them, and on another box he placed his lavender shoulder-pads and golden crown on display. The cape was folded and placed on the floor as far into the corner as possible. He could probably use it as a blanket or something during recharge. For now, it was merely a purple fabric neatly folded and wiped clean of dust.

As Starscream finished setting up his little private corner, he glanced challengingly at the surrounding bots, checking if anyone was looking. If he spotted anyone looking, he would hiss: "My spot," and then say no more. The Autobots decided not to comment on it, instead getting back to their individual business.

Not long after, Optimus comm'ed the base to request a GroundBridge back. As the portal opened, Optimus entered with his large figure, seemingly holding something in his servos. Behind him, Octane entered with his much smaller figure, his face beaming with excitement. Starscream looked up at the sight of the returning Prime and Triple Changer, scowling at the latter, though he seemed to be ignored.

"Optimus," Ratchet greeted by the command center with Ultra Magnus standing next to him. "Did you find Energon?"

"No," Optimus admitted and placed whatever he was holding on one of the two tables. "But we did uncover this."

As Optimus pulled back from the table, every bot in the base - and human on the railings - gathered around to see what Prime and Octane had found. Starscream emerged from his corner and went up close. As he saw what was on the table, he took a step back and gasped in shock. It was a skull. But not a skull from an Earth animal, no. This skull was much too large and too spiky to be of Earthly origin. It seemed to have several mandibles and a pair of large horns, one of which had been broken off. The recruits and humans were stumped, but the older bots knew exactly what they were dealing with here.

"It cannot be," Ratchet said breathlessly, repeating Optimus' own earlier reaction.

"Be what?" Jack asked curious.

"The ancient remains," Optimus said slowly, "of a Predacon."

Everyone stared in awe and confusion at the sight of the skull, especially the recruits who didn't know what Predacons were. Starscream felt irked by the large, spiky skull, even though the Predacon in question wasn't alive anymore.

"On Earth?" Starscream uttered. "Impossible."

"Impossible, yet it's right here in front of us," Ratchet said, sharing Starscream's bewilderment. "Though it remains unclear why such a skull would be found on your planet, its presence reveals all too much about the Predacon which Megatron recently sent in pursuit of us."

"You mean that dragon-bot we put on ice?" Miko asked with a hand on her hip.

"Except that Predacons have been extinct since... well..." Ratchet trailed off.

"Since before most life began on Cybertron," Smokescreen ended for him.

"Good thing too," Starscream commented. "They should never have existed in the first place."

Some of the recruits briefly glanced at Starscream before returning their attention to the others.

"They're like Earth's dinosaurs," Rafael said in realization, for comparison.

"Which means for you guys, running into one would be like us meeting a T-rex," Jack said, also in comparison. Starscream restrained a huff of exasperation at the comparisons.

"So, then what were Dinobots?" Miko asked Bulkhead.

"Totally different," Bulkhead replied.

"With Megatron's seeming new interest in the excavation of prehistoric skeletons," Ratchet said, "and a certain scientist back among the Decepticon ranks..."

"It would stand to reason that Shockwave cloned the beast from one such find," Optimus ended for him.

"And now Megatron's looking to clone another," Ultra Magnus concluded.

"What makes you think Buckethead would stop at just one?" Wheeljack said, earning the others a moment of thought.

"We could have Beast Wars on our hands," Bulkhead proclaimed.

"And if Shockwave only requires a single strand of CNA from which to clone a beast..." Ratchet continued and gazed at Optimus.

"He already possesses what he needs to engender this one," Optimus finished for him and looked around at the other bots. "Autobots, we must become Beast Hunters."

There was a moment of silence to let the information of the Predacons sink into everyone's minds.

"One thing still doesn't follow," Smokescreen addressed, earning the others' attention. "Predacons went extinct on Cybertron. So what would their bones be doing here?"

On the Decepticon warship, the Combaticons had just been sent off to scout the Earth for Blast Off, their only missing member, when one of the Insecticons, Bombshock, returned to the warship with an object of interest. Thundercracker had just been about to go for a fly when the lone Insecticon returned with - surprise, surprise - a fossilized horn of a Predacon.

"Lord Megatron will be pleased with this," Thundercracker said and took the horn from the Insecticon. "I shall inform him of your success. Go take a rest."

Bombshock snarled as his prize had been taken by the Seeker, but knowing Megatron would probably not recognize him anyway, he decided not to argue and simply wandered through the hallways on his way back to the hive. Thundercracker made his way through the hallways to the lab, where he presented the horn to Shockwave, currently accompanied by Megatron, Dreadwing and Skywarp. Megatron and Shockwave seemed to be talking, Dreadwing standing silently by. Skywarp seemed to be bored, almost as if he was forced to stay in the lab.

"Look what Bombshock dragged home," Thundercracker informed, gaining the bots' attention. "Care to explain what a Predacon bone is doing here, on Earth, of all places?"

The blue Seeker handed over the horn to Shockwave, who placed it on the table in the center of the lab, and began scanning the fossil.

"They are not the remains of Predacons, Thundercracker," Megatron explained instead of Shockwave. "But rather, the remains of Predacon clones. For you see, our recent Autobot hunter wasn't the first bestial super soldier Shockwave ever attempted to breed from prehistoric matter. During the war for Cybertron, I sanctioned a dispatch of a small army of these Predaclones to Earth, to unleash the beasts on unwitting Autobot forces stationed here. Once they accomplished their mission, the surviving Predacons held sentinel on this very world for ages to come, guarding the Energon reserves they had managed to secure, while awaiting my arrival."

Megatron gazed back at the horn. "Of course, our reunion here was much delayed," Megatron continued. "And it would seem we lost the beasts to the ravages of time."

"But not their ento-matter," Shockwave said while holding the horn in his servo, "from which I am logically able to extract their very CNA."

"Does this mean we're going on another scavenger hunt?" Skywarp commented from the side, earning their attention. "Cause that's starting to get old. Literally. See what I did there?" He chuckled by his own pun. No one else laughed. He soon silenced and drooped his wings a bit in embarrassment.

"You are not suggesting that I would send my creations to a distant planet without first having them microchipped?" Shockwave questioned and answered at the same time.

Skywarp and Thundercracker both looked surprised at the Cyclops - even Dreadwing seemed taken aback by the statement, that the main issue of locating the bones had already been taken care of eons ago.

"You did?" Skywarp replied stumped. "Seriously?"

"I am always serious," Shockwave replied. "Soundwave is currently scanning for the microchips' energy signatures. Once we acquire the required genetic material, I can create a new batch in my lab to serve the Decepticon cause."

Skywarp seemed impressed, but Thundercracker was not as easily convinced.

If Starscream had still been with them, he would have protested highly against this new 'Project Predacon'.

Back in Hangar E, the Autobots explained further to the recruits and humans what Predacons were, while Ratchet searched the Cybertronian database for images of the beasts. Starscream was especially eager to tell the recruits about the horrors of the ancient Predacons.

"They are mindless beasts, whose sole purpose is to hunt bots and devour them, whole or in pieces," Starscream explained, his wings moving dramatically up and down as he talked. "No one knows what wiped them out, but it's good it happened, because these monsters are nearly impossible to kill alone or even in small groups! They have a ferocious thirst for Energon and living metal, even Insecticons would stand no chance against them. Heck, even Megatron would probably not stand a chance against even one of them!"

"You seem pretty riled up over this whole Predacon thing, Starscream," Octane commented. "Are they really so bad?"

"Did you not just hear what I just said?!" Starscream exclaimed at the Triple Changer. "They eat bots! Energon and metal! You should have seen the monster Shockwave brought to the fortress, I thought it was gonna come after me!"

"You mean Darkmount?" Hot Shot asked. "The place that got destroyed before we came online?"

"Yes," Starscream hissed in annoyance, his wings rattling behind him. "For the love of Primus, we must not allow Shockwave to breed more of these atrocities!"

"Agreed," Ratchet replied from the monitor as he had finally found some pictures of Predacons. Everyone turned their attention to the screen above them and gathered around again. "From our historical texts," Ratchet presented.

The humans looked baffled as they looked at the creatures displayed on the screen.

"But those are metal versions of creatures from our Greek mythology and medieval literature," Jack stated in surprise.

"Not dinosaurs," Rafael added in curiosity and confusion.

"It would stand to reason that Predacons did indeed walk upon this Earth in ancient times," Optimus deduced, "as they seem to have been the basis of much of human kind's folklore. Illustrating once again that the pasts of Earth and Cybertron are inextricably linked."

The bots gazed at each other, sharing their concern for how much more important it had just become to stop the Decepticons from reaching their newest goal.

Starscream sighed and shivered at the thought of new Predacons rising. At least the first one was gone. That would make things easier, at least.

The rest of the day was spent doing not really anything on anyone's part. Some time during the afternoon, some of the bots went out on patrol but returned again early evening before sunset. Starscream continued telling the recruits about Predacons until they decided they wanted to go on patrol with their veteran counterparts as well. Red Alert remained in the base to help Ratchet repair the many devices uncovered from the wreckage of their old base. Octane wanted to go fly, but was convinced to drive with the others instead, much to his disappointment. Optimus remained in the base to discuss things with Ultra Magnus and Ratchet, when the doctor had the time for it.

As the base got less crowded and no one was listening to his tales anymore, Starscream decided to hunker down in his corner and instead look at his Rubik's Cube. He had cleaned most of it, but it was still a bit hard to turn the sides because of the residue grains of dust and sand inside of it. It was still functional enough for him to solve the cube within a couple of minutes, followed by his shuffling the cube again in attempt to get it done faster the next time. He still remembered Rafael's unnecessary comment of the world record of less than four seconds. He never forgot anything that hurt his dignity.

"Since I'm going to be stuck here for the next month, I might as well see if I can do this even faster," he mumbled to himself. "As soon as I find some lubricant to clean it, that is..."

The humans mostly sat in the living room area, watching TV, or Rafael sitting by his computer at the human command center, researching Predacons. At one point in the afternoon though, as Starscream emitted a not very subtle growl of frustration over his Rubik's Cube, Miko decided to pay him a visit, exiting the railings and striding across the floor until she reached the Seeker's corner.

"Hey Scream," Miko greeted and held her hands behind her back in an innocent position. "What's up?"

Starscream's glance fell on the girl on the floor. "Most of my belongings were destroyed in the wreckage of the base," Starscream sighed. "And even the things that survived seem damaged in some way. If only I had something to lubricate this with, everything would go so much more smoothly. Pun not intended," he clarified.

"Doesn't that Octane guy have a tank full of oil or something?" Miko suggested. "Maybe he could help you with that?"

Starscream stared dumbfounded at the girl for a moment. "That's really gross, you know?" he said. "Who knows where that oil has been? Besides... I don't want to talk to Octane or ask him any favors. Ever."

Miko looked surprised. "Why not? He seems like a cool guy. He can turn into two modes, that's pretty awesome!"

"Yes, yes, Triple Changers do that," Starscream snarled and put the cube beside the datapads. His servo lingered at the row of his belongings before deciding to pick up the crown on the other box. He held it in front of himself and just stared into the shiny gold and red gems adorned into it. His tense expression loosened up, and he let out a sigh at the memories the crown brought him.

"When'd you get a crown?" Miko asked curious, not having seen the crown or shoulder-pads before, though the crown seemed more interesting.

"I've had it since my youth on Cybertron," Starscream explained while keeping his gaze on his own reflection in the metal. "I received it when I became Winglord of Vos and leader of the Seekers. The shoulder-pads and cape came with it too."

Miko gazed at the cape on the floor. "That doesn't look like it's made of metal," she remarked at the purple color.

"You'd be right," Starscream replied. "It's made from an organic material, very light but strong and elegant. It was one of the things bought back when Cybertron traded with other world, including organic planets. But after our world shut off communications with the colonies and alien empires, such organic materials became rare and very expensive, most of it reserved for the high caste society, which I lived in, by the way."

"You really got some fancy stuff, don't'cha?" Miko commented with crossed arms and a crooked smile. "You saying you were some kinda king or something back then?"

"I suppose you say it like that," Starscream replied with a smirk. "Though I was only really 'king' of the city-state of Vos, though our cities are so large, I suppose one could technically compare them to your world's countries. More or less."

Miko looked Starscream up and down in silence. "You don't look much like a king though, or whatever you called yourself."

"Winglord," Starscream repeated. "And I didn't always look like this. Actually," he said and put the crown away, then searched through his small pile of datapads until he found the right one. He turned it over so Miko could see it. "This is more or less what I looked like before we left Cybertron."

Miko looked intrigued at the drawing Starscream had made of himself. It wasn't a hyper-realistic drawing or anything, but it still looked pretty good. Though since Miko didn't have the real body to compare to, she wasn't sure how accurate it actually was, but it seemed pretty detailed.

"Nice drawing," she decided to comment and smiled. "Looks almost real."

"I had a lot of time on my hands back in the silo," Starscream said and smiled back at the compliment. "So I worked on it until it looked enough like the real deal. I was bigger back then, and physically stronger, too."

"I like the color-scheme," Miko commented. "Kinda looks like Optimus. Somewhat."

"Red, blue and silver do make a good match."

Starscream turned the datapad back so he could look at it himself. Again he sighed of nostalgia.

"At first I wasn't happy to find myself in this smaller, meeker body," he said, "but I managed to get to know it and its advantages as well as its weaknesses. I've become faster and more agile than I was in my old body. And with claws like these, I have no need for a melee weapon." He demonstrated by holding up a servo and flexed his claws at one meter's length each, some slightly longer, and very sharp. "I had claws back then too, but they were shorter and more blunt than these. Kind of like Knock Out's, now that I think about it."

"Can I see the drawing again?" Miko asked. Starscream turned it back so she could see it again. She studied the drawing a bit, then looked between it and the real Starscream. "Why did you color your eyes yellow in the drawing?"

Starscream turned the drawing back to himself. "Because I used to have yellow eyes, before I joined Megatron," he replied.

"What, so becoming a Decepticon turned your eyes red?" Miko wondered. "Then why are some of the other 'Cons' eyes not red?"

"No, no, no," Starscream replied and turned the datapad off and put it away. "My eyes didn't turn red because I became a Decepticon. Optic color among Cybertronians is something we are created with, though we can change our eye color through the same means as how Smokescreen and Bumblebee scanned new paintjobs."

Miko cocked her head in confusion. "Then why'd you change your eyes to red?"

Starscream hummed and crossed his arms in thought. "I don't know," he admitted. "Megatron has red eyes. Red is a common color among flight frames and tank-formers like Megatron used to be. He didn't always have the ability to fly, that was a surgical procedure he performed some time after we left Cybertron, maybe a little before, I'm not sure. I wasn't really around when it happened. But anyway, I guess I might have changed my eyes to red because Megatron looked fierce with them. Maybe I thought I would look more imposing with them too, I don't really remember. It was just a spur-of-the-moment kind of thing. Thundercracker and Skywarp did it too. But, like you said, not all Decepticons have red eyes. Breakdown had yellow ones, for example, and Airachnid's are purple, as are Swindle's."

Miko looked behind her at the few Autobots that were still left in the hangar. Nobot in particular seemed to be paying attention to the girl chatting with the former Decepticon.

"Then why are most of the 'Bots' eyes blue?" she asked.

"Blue is the most common color among Cybertronians," Starscream explained, though actually wondered why himself. "Red and yellow are the second and third most common colors. And there are Decepticons with blue eyes, as well as Autobots with red eyes. The Dinobots, for example, were Autobots with red optics or visors, most of them anyway. Their leader, Grimlock, had red eyes in any case."

"You know the Dinobots?" Miko asked intrigued. "What were they like?"

"I only really met Grimlock," Starscream admitted. "Though I have seen his teammates on occasion. Grimlock was... eh, not my favorite bot. I helped him escape from Shockwave and offered him my help to exact revenge for the experiments the Cyclops had done on him and his fellow Dinobots, but, uh... he declined my offer." Declined, as in grabbing his torso and flinging him into the control panel for the brute's shackles, rendering the Seeker unconscious, that is. Which later resulted in Starscream getting buried underneath a collapsing tower with no means of escaping, thus needing to get a new body.

"What happened to them?" Miko asked, deciding not to ask how Grimlock had 'declined' Starscream's offer.

"Don't know," Starscream replied. "Grimlock was said to have suddenly vanished without a trace. The rest of the Dinobots, no clue. Maybe they took off into space like everyone else, or maybe they got terminated at the fall of Cybertron, who knows. To be honest, I would much rather have had the Dinobots appear here on Earth than Predacons."

"That robo-dragon was pretty fierce," Miko admitted. "But kinda cool too, now that it's gone. A freaking dragon! Why do the 'Cons always get the good stuff?!"

Starscream scoffed at the comment. "I don't know how you can call a Predacon 'good stuff' or 'cool'. I don't even like the fact that we have a skull of a long-deceased beast in this base, but knowing that part of that beast now belongs to Shockwave, and that he can clone that very beast from that tiny piece Prime and Octane lost? I just might lose my mind here."

"You're not telling me you're scared of bones, are you?"

"Not bones, but what they can become! I hate Predacons, I know what they're capable of, and I thought I was going to die when Shockwave brought that beast to Darkmount. Especially since I had just been... punished by Megatron, for allowing Wheeljack to escape."

"Hey, no worries, Scream," Miko said and waved her hands. "Big bad dragon is gone now, frozen solid. We don't have to worry about him anymore."

"I know, I know. But knowing Megatron is planning to have an army of them... we can't let that happen. Not ever. And I feel helpless in this state. I can't do anything to help the others."

Miko crossed her arms and fell silent for a moment. "You'll be better in no time, I'm sure," she said. "And then the 'Cons won't stand a chance, since we got the three best Fliers on our team!"

"Octane isn't that good of a Flier," Starscream pointed out with a grumble. "Yet. But I see what you mean. Now, if you please, I wish to be left alone now."

"Okay," Miko said, turned around and started to walk off. "See you later, Scream!"

Starscream let out a small sigh of annoyance by the nickname as the girl left him alone. It seemed no amount of pleading or request would convince the Autobots or humans to stop with the scream nicknames. To be honest, though, he was starting to grow used to it, even going numb to its meaning. Why did he hate those nicknames anyway? It simply described him as having a high-pitched, loud voice that could be heard anywhere. And it wasn't as if he didn't scream a lot, because he did. He was jumpy and very vocal, so it was no wonder why people tended to call him 'Screamer'. It was even what had originally inspired him to change his name from Ulchtar to Starscream.

As annoying as it could be, his name suited him, and he intended to make the name something bots would associate with respect and fear. Or at least that he wasn't a failure and a coward. The universe would learn to respect his name one day and finally take him seriously. However long that would take.

By late evening, all the bots had returned to base and staying up to get some work done. Even the recruits decided to have their first all-nighter and try not sleeping for two days. It was a trait that was often necessary for the bots, as they never knew when the Decepticons were on the move, so they had trained themselves to be able to stay awake for days, always alert and ready for action. The recruits were now starting that very training, and it was not going to be an easy time for them.

The children had collapsed on the couches in the living room area on the railings, exhausted from the long day's research on Predacons and learning stuff. They hadn't even bothered returning to their quarters before they had fallen asleep, barely keeping themselves from falling onto the floor. Unlike Cybertronians, human bodies weren't built for staying awake several days in a row, especially not growing children who needed their sleep.

The children weren't the only ones not participating in the all-nighter. Starscream, because of his wounds, had to rest and recover as often as possible, to allow the healing process to go as fast as possible. Which included a full night's rest, every night. Starscream had also trained his body to withstand several days' wakefulness, but this had kind of flattened out after his capture by the Autobots, having had not much else to do than sleep during the majority of his stay with them. As a result, it had now become difficult for him to stay awake longer than a full day. At least there was one good thing that came out of having nothing to do.

Octane watched Starscream intently while the Seeker slept in his corner, in the same position he had slept in the previous two nights. Knees up, hugging himself and his wings flattened out behind him. Having a few boxes to cover him a bit now though, he seemed slightly more relaxed than the previous two nights, if one could call it relaxed, as he still seemed pretty tense. Ransack and Crumplezone were chatting with each other as usual, while Hot Shot was helping Bulkhead organizing the empty Energon cubes.

While Starscream and the children were snoozing, Ratchet was busy working by his monitor between the two tables, one of them filled with devices still in need of adjustments. While Ratchet studied the formula of the Synthetic Energon, Red Alert had begun tinkering with one of the devices, having quickly picked up on how to do adjustments and repairs. He was a fast learner, Ratchet had found out, which was good, considering how much work was needed in the base. And Red Alert was careful during the repairs and adjustments, and if he stumbled upon a problem he couldn't figure out himself, he would quietly ask Ratchet for help, which was usually granted right away. They got along well together.

At one point during the night, Optimus decided to check on Ratchet, who had been standing still and staring at the monitor for quite a while now.

"Synthetic Energon?" Optimus asked softly, more to start a conversation than an actual question, as he knew that was probably what Ratchet was studying.

"Indeed," Ratchet replied, granting Optimus attention. I am concerned that without access to any Energon reserves since our base was destroyed, our ability to deal with impending crises will be severly hampered."

"A wise decision, old friend," Optimus replied calmly.

"Just, please... manage your expectations," Ratchet replied and gestured the many primitive devices. "I am working with even more rudimentary hardware than before. Though I am thankful I secured the notes Starscream gave me on the formula before evacuating the base. They have made things easier for my progress."

"Prime," Agent Fowler called from the railings, gaining the bots' attention. "Satellite surveillance has picked up two signs of Decepticon activity, one near an oil field outside of El Paso, the other near the Hiberty's Bluffs in Scotland. So don't forget to pack your kilts."

"We must divide our resources," Optimus declared. "Ultra Magnus, lead the Wreckers to the bluffs."

"Yes, Optimus," Ultra Magnus said with a nod. He gazed at Bulkhead and Wheeljack in uncertainty before stepping closer to Optimus. "Uh... what's a kilt?"

Optimus stared in silence between Ultra Magnus and Agent Fowler, not actually really sure himself. He leaned against the smaller commander. "Agent Fowler can at times be oblique," Optimus said quietly. "I find it best to simply nod and mobilize."

After having confirmed that, the Wreckers got ready to leave. "Bulkhead, Wheeljack, let's roll," Ultra Magnus announced. Wheeljack sighed in exasperation, not looking forward to working with Ultra Magnus again.

Before they got to the doors though, Hot Shot stepped forward. "Ultra Magnus, sir," he proclaimed, earning the commander's attention. "Can I come with you?"

Ultra Magnus gazed uncertain at the recruit. "I'm certain we will be fine on our own, soldier," Ultra Magnus replied. "No need to-"

"Can I come along?" Octane interrupted, stepping past Hot Shot, almost shoving him aside. "In case you need air support?"

"Hey," Hot Shot exclaimed by the shove.

Ultra Magnus thought for a moment. He gazed at Optimus. Optimus looked between the recruits and Ultra Magnus and gave the latter a small nod of approval.

"You may come along, Octane," Ultra Magnus replied.

Octane smiled in satisfaction and stepped forward. Hot Shot pulled up his goggles to reveal his angry optical ridges and big optics.

"Hey, no fair, I asked to go too," Hot Shot complained. "I wanna be a Wrecker too."

The bots looked surprised at Hot Shot, even Octane whose smirk seemed to have fallen by the complaint. Ultra Magnus gazed at Hot Shot as the latter made big, glossy, pleading optics at the commander, loosening his optical ridges a bit. Ultra Magnus sighed and rolled his optics.

"Fine, you can come along too," he declared, followed by a happy acclamation from Hot Shot. "But no one else, okay?" He looked sternly at the remaining two recruits on the floor, neither of who seemed eager to go with them to the bluffs. Ultra Magnus gave a nod of acknowledgment and turned back to the doors, with Octane and Hot Shot going ahead to join Bulkhead and Wheeljack.

On his way to the doors, Ultra Magnus stopped by the Forge, emptied of magic, now just a big golden hammer. He looked at it in thought.

"Optimus, I know there are many emotions tied to the Forge," Ultra Magnus voiced and gestured the hammer.

Optimus gazed at the hammer, knowing where Magnus was going with this. "This is no time to stand on ceremony," he replied, granting Ultra Magnus permission to take the hammer.

Having received permission, Ultra Magnus grabbed the handle of the hammer with both servos and hauled it up, having surprisingly ease with lifting its heavy weight.

"I would be honored to put this to some practical use," Ultra Magnus commented before placing it on his back in a sort of sub-sheath, similar to the subspace the bots sometimes used but which the humans didn't quite understand how worked.

Having geared up and gathered a team, Ultra Magnus led the Wreckers, Hot Shot and Octane outside to his ship, the Iron Will, so they could fly the way to Scotland. Having the first team taken care of, Optimus turned to the remaining Autobots in the base.

"I will depart for the oil field," Optimus announced. "Bumblebee, Smokescreen, you are with me."

Smokescreen and Bumblebee stepped forward at the mention of their names. Ransack gazed between the two lithe mechs and the Prime.

"What about me and Zone?" Ransack asked. "Can we go too?"

Optimus studied the two recruits for a moment. "No, remain here with Arcee," Optimus decided, "in the event another signal shows up. The three of us will manage."

Ransack and Crumplezone sighed in disappointment, but didn't argue further. "Fine," they said, almost in sync. Apparently they had already become besties.

Ratchet opened a GroundBridge to Texas, allowing Optimus, Bumblebee and Smokescreen through, leaving the remaining six Autobot behind in the base. As the portal closed, Ransack kicked against the floor in a displeased manner.

"This is unfair," Ransack grumbled. "Why did Hot Shot and Octane get to go but we didn't?"

"Optimus already told you," Arcee reminded him. "The three of us need to be present and ready should another 'Con signal pop up on the radar. We need to be ready for anything."

"But they were only three," Crumplezone pointed out, "while the other team had five members. Will they be alright on their own?"

"Hey, Optimus counts as, like, five bots in strength himself," Arcee claimed. "And Bumblebee's much tougher than he looks, even if he's still a Scout. And Smokescreen's got Elite Guard training on his frame, even if he's still a rookie. Trust me, there could be no better team match-up."

Ransack and Crumplezone gazed from Arcee to each other and shrugged, deciding to accept the answer. They heard a faint grumble and looked to the corner where Starscream sat, still fast asleep.

"Can't believe he slept through all that," Arcee commented and crossed her arms at the sight of the sleeping Seeker.

"Wonder what he's dreaming about," Ransack said, but then immediately turned back to Crumplezone. "Now, where were we, big guy?"

"You wanted to show me a move Arcee had taught you?" Crumplezone suggested.

"Oh yeah, alright, so here we go..."

While Ransack began showing Crumplezone his new move, Arcee watched them do it, and Ratchet and Red Alert remained by the two tables to work on the devices, Starscream was an uneasy sleeper. Other than twitches and grumbles, he also spoke very faint, very quiet whispers, too low for any of the surrounding bots to pick up on.

Octane... no...

On the Nemesis, it had become night, wherever they were flying at the moment, somewhere between North America and the United Kingdom. Thundercracker and Skywarp entered the ship after a long day's work on a new communications dish that Megatron had ordered them to set up for some reason, and then to reinforce it after having been 'accidentally' smashed.

"Seriously, what was wrong with the communications system we had before?" Thundercracker said exasperated. "It was better and more highly advanced. Why do we have to use a primitive Earth dish now? How does that make any sense?!"

Skywarp shrugged, also confused by the order. "I don't know," he replied. "Maybe it's some sort of special dish that allows us to better track the microchip thingies? I don't know, got any ideas?"

"It better be worth it," Thundercracker grumbled as they strode through the hallways, heading for Shockwave's lab. "Took forever to set that damn thing up. Even longer to repair it. Stupid beast."

As they entered the lab, they found Megatron standing in the middle of the room, with his right arm outstretched, his servo open and facing up. The sight took the Seekers aback.

"Uh, Lord Megatron?" Thundercracker said slowly. "Why are you holding your arm out-"

In the next second, a GroundBridge portal opened on the ceiling right above Megatron, and the Seekers watched in surprise as something pointy fell from the portal, right into Megatron's waiting servo. Megatron clutched the object, a fossilized Predacon fang, and chuckled merrily as the portal closed again.

"Oh, that's why," Thundercracker answered to his own question.

Skywarp let out an involuntary squee of delight, surprising Thundercracker beside him. "I love when he does that!" Skywarp exclaimed and waved his fists energetically. "Soundwave is the best!"

"Uh... yeah," Thundercracker replied and scratched the back of his head before stepping forward. "Uh, Lord Megatron, Skywarp and I have finished reinforcing the communications dish like you ordered."

"Excellent," Megatron said pleased and turned to the two Seekers, heading for the exit. "Remain here and make sure Shockwave gets the bone to scan it. I will await their return and Soundwave's report."

As he passed by the Seekers, he held out his right servo and dropped the fang into Thundercracker's barely waiting servos. Megatron stopped just before exiting the lab and looked back at the pair.

"Has Dreadwing returned yet?" he asked.

"Uh, no, sir," Thundercracker replied. "He's still in Spain with... you know."

"I see."

With that, Megatron turned back to the door and left the two Seekers in the lab. They pulled their attention from the door and instead looked at the fang that had been recovered.

"I wish I could have seen it myself," Skywarp said with a smirk. "Soundwave in action. He's so cool."

"Yeah, yeah, I know," Thundercracker said and turned the bone around, studying it closer. "I gotta admit, Shockwave is a brilliant scientist, but I don't know if this whole 'Project Predacon' thing is such a good idea."

"Why not? We'd have a whole army of these big beasts on our side. The Autobots would stand no chance against us."

"And neither would we," Thundercracker replied, "should it turn out that Shockwave doesn't have complete control over them after all. They may not be real Predacons, but the one we have has only been alive for about a week or two, and we have no idea what it's fully capable of. I have a feeling Starscream might have been right about this after all."

"Right how?"

"Just... something doesn't feel right." Thundercracker shrugged it off and shook his head. "It doesn't matter. It's just a feeling I have. Maybe I'm wrong."

"We'll see when the time comes, TC," Skywarp said and placed a servo on his Trinemate's shoulder and gave him a smile. "Besides, even if the beasts do end up going ballistic on us, we got Lord Megatron on our side. And Soundwave. And Shockwave. And... Dreadwing, I guess. And the Combaticons..."

"Okay, I get it," Thundercracker said and removed the servo from his shoulder. "We do have some highly trained, powerful warriors on our side, not to mention the greatest gladiator on Cybertron. What's a few overgrown robo-lizards to the might of the Decepticons? We've got nothing to worry about, especially not with the two of us here!"

"Yeah, that's right!" Skywarp said. "With my teleportation and your sonic cannons, we're practically unstoppable!" He went silent for a moment of thought. "All we're missing is Starscream's firepower. But, I guess Dreadwing can fill out that role nicely, huh?"

"I suppose."

The two Seekers remained in the lab until Shockwave arrived, so they could hand over the fang and leave. Almost as soon as they exited the lab, Megatron returned and entered the lab, apparently needing to discuss something with Shockwave.

"To think, this morning, we had no Predacons," Skywarp said, "and now, we have five bones and a live one again."

"Yeah," Thundercracker replied. "To think that it survived the Antarctic..."