"What?!" the three seekers screamed in unison. They had identical looks on their faces – wide optics, disbelieve in them, and Skywarp was the only one openly staring with his mouth open. Starscream quickly overcame the feeling, regained her composure and glared two holes through the Autobot leader.
"We are neutrals," stated the red femme coldly. She knew they couldn't be able to fight the Autobots, with her brothers cuffed and her weapon sistems offline. She had no doubt the medic disabled them, but she still checked, just in case. Nope, offline... They had to think...and fast.
"But you still are guilty of war crimes and crimes against Cybertron," replied the Prime.
"Fine then," the jet's face settled into light glare, "Let my trine mates go," the looks of her brothers' complete shock, Starscream needn't look to know what looks they were giving her, and the bond was filled with enough emotion for her to picture them.
"Did you not hear him-" Arcee started saying, pointing a digit at her leader, but the seeker femme quickly silenced her with a glare and a statement of her own.
"Practically, they have been neutrals for far longer than I have - from the first quarter of the war, to be precise. And their crimes are not something unheard of. They had been mere soldiers following orders. You cannot imprison them because of what they did to survive since you do it yourselves. Me, on the other servo, you can imprison," she then turned her attention back to Prime, placing both her servos behind her back, "But you will let them go."
Bulkhead snored from behind, "And what if we refuse?"
"If you haven't noticed, the odds aren't in your favour," added the blue femme with a smirk.
'Starscream, they are right. What we gonna do?' asked Skywarp through the bond. Nothing showed on his face, on either of their faces. They were stoic, an enigma to their enemies, but inside all of them were afraid. They just found each other and their lost freedom to lose it again?
'No, we are not exchanging one tyrant for another. We are getting out of here!' determination shot through the bond, 'Just follow my lead.'
'Like always,'Skywarp added.
"It's only fair," the red seeker finally stated simply.
The Wreker and the two-wheeler rolled their optics. Bumblebee, who stayed quiet until now, beeped and whirled, asking what the seeker femme meant. He also noticed the tight formation they formed and haven't broken yet, the way only Starscream spoke and the others silently listened.
"I am willing to give in for said war crimes, I could also give you insight on Megatron's plans, but my trine is to be set free. What have they done to you to be imprisoned?" with her last sentence, Starscream turned her attention back to the Autobot leader, "They shouldn't pay for my mistakes, Prime, don't you think?"
The group of Autobots were in stunned silence. To hear Starscream of all bots to act and speak so loyal. They all had some vague knowledge on how trine work, but Starscream - cowardly, scheming, disloyal Starscream - they'd never expected this. She was definitely a stubborn and determined bot, but to do something in favour of somebot else was a new thing.
Even if they saw how much the three cared for each other.
A few silent minutes later, Optimus finally spoke, "I am willing to give them a chance," Starscream nodded once, letting a silent vent of relief. The Autobots behind their leader weren't as happy. At least some kept their displeasure in.
"Optimus-" Arcee started to object, but was silenced with a stern look.
"But if they do anything against the species inhabiting this planet, we won't hesitate to hunt them down."
"Understood, Prime," the red jet glanced behind her shoulder, "They won't do a thing," she smirked. They were obviously talking through their bond, but the Autobots didn't interfiere.
They pulled out of the room to discuss - argue - their new predicament.
Starscream used that to her advantage to go through her plan.
"How are you?" asked her blue brother. They didn't exactly have the time to be affectionate and personal since the stupid Autobots came.
Starscream sighed. She was starting to feel really tired of all this, "I'm holding up," she couldn't say she's fine because the two jets would see right through her. And quite literally at that. 'Just play along for now.'
She added, ''Warp, drink a cube.'
The purple seeker obliged, gulping a cube and discarding it after he'd finished it.
The Autobots walked in. Bumblebee took Starscream to the side for the others to take Thundercracker and Skywarp out of the room and to the control room. Ratchet walked to the controls, ready to activate the Groundbridge.
"Wait!" the medic stopped, lifting a brow in annoyance, "Could you bridge us somewhere else? Not the place you found us," there was a small confusion in the group of Autobots.
So, TC clarified, "The Decepticons are in the region and we'd prefer not to risk it. But, please, don't send us someplace nasty just out of spite," he added after seeing the little spark in the blue femme's optics.
Ratchet activated the Groundbridge and the small group left. They arrived at some canyons, walking a small distance from the portal. There, Optimus took the key card and swiped it through the blue brother's cuffs first. When he walked to Skywarp, the wrecker and the two-wheeler took defensive stances in front of the bridge.
'Of course they'd expect me to try teleport in,' the purple seeker sighed inwardly.
'Doesn't matter. Proceed with the plan,' the red femme, now far from them, responded.
The moment Skywarp was free, he teleported to the portal, dashing in between the two guards. They followed. Optimus stayed behind to try and get Thundercracker, but he was already in the sky, far from the leader's reach. He ran to the Groundbridge, after his comrades.
Skywarp, the moment he found himself in the control room of the Autobot base, teleported again, this time into the room he knew his sister was in. There was a startled whistle and saw the yellow scout pointing his lasers to him. He heard pedsteps in the hallway, so he put a servo on Starscream's shoulder, teleporting to the Groundbridge. In the control room were Optimus, Ratchet and Bulkhead. Their blasters too were pointed at the two seekers. The bridge was closed.
The purple flier transformed his blasters and pointed to the two groups of Autobots, the one in the room and the other coming down the hallway. Starscream flexed her claws, ready yo attack if the need arise.
'How far can you teleport into this unknown environment?' She questioned, not skipping a beat.
'Pretty far. But I don't-' he never finished, for his sister silenced him.
'Into the air. The furthest you can,' she ordered, placing a servo on his shoulder. There was no time to hesitate. And he trusted her judgement. Focusing on the skies above and beyond this silo, he teleported. Of course, the Autobots gathered as much and tried to lundge forward to catch them, or activated their blasters to injure them. But they were too late. Some blasts hit their targets, but nothing the would interfiere with the flight sequence.
The two jets transformed mid-air and shot upwards, leaving the bots worry themselves sick in their little base.
'We are on our way, TC. Wait at the coordinates I sent you earlier,' Starscream sent through the bond with satisfaction.
The Reality sinking in. She was finally free from Megatron, her brothers were there once again and the Autobots wouldn't be a problem for a while. She had the upper servo with Prime now. And there is no way now that Megatron would find her.
She was truely free for once. And that in turn made her feel happyness. True happyness.
So, I'm back it seems. I was pulled into another fandom for a while and had no desire to write this.
And I'm not sure how long it'll take me to upload the next chapter. This is not the end for sure! There are other things I wish to include here and new bots and cons to add.
I'm really sorry I was gone for this long. But I can't help falling into something else every once in a while. Hope you'd understand.
See ya next time!