CHAPTER 14
Starscream's notes
I have just exited the GroundBridge portal and arrived at the construction site where the red energon is supposed to be. To avoid any conflicts, I am shouting out at the humans so they will scram and…
Wait, where's the red energon? Where is it?!
Grrr, those pestiferous humans must have moved it somewhere! But where? How am I supposed to find it again? I better get back to the Harbinger and rethink my plan.
Starscream speculated like crazy when he returned to the Harbinger. He walked back and forth by the computer while brooding over where the humans could have taken the red energon. The refiner was still working on the last large blue crystal.
"Think, Starscream, think," he said to himself. "If the humans have taken the energon somewhere, where would they take it? And more importantly, how would they transport a crystal that size? What would I do if I were those humans?"
They could have taken it by air, he thought. But no, it would be too exposed for bystanders, even if they managed to get it inside one of their tiny aircrafts. How about the ocean then? They do have those large ships with roomy cargo holds, I've seen. It could be possible…
He went to the computer and searched for the nearest harbor. The humans probably couldn't have carried that crystal too far from the crash site.
He found a harbor some hundred kliks west. He set the GroundBridge on the coordinates, grabbed the Apex Armor and went through the portal.
As he arrived on the other side with the armor in his right servo, he stood between rows and rows of containers close to the water. He walked among them and looked to each side, scanning the area for anything red and luminous. He exited a row of containers and looked to the left, his spark racing faster when he spotted a crate glowing red; it was hanging in the air, connected to a crane.
There it is. The red energon. It's magnificent. I can't wait to get my hands on—
His thoughts were interrupted by a green light below the crate. He retreated to the cover of the container while watching the GroundBridge being exited by the Autobots. He counted them.
Prime…Arcee…and Bumblebee. They must have found the same photo as I. But how did THEY know where to look?
The answer was obvious, when he thought about it. The Autobots were friends with the humans, so of course they had been informed where the crystal was. They were going to claim it for their own! They were going to steal the thing that was rightfully his!
Never! he thought and stepped out from his hiding place. Because it was night and the Autobots were distracted by the red glow above them, Starscream managed to walk all the way to the crane next to the one with the crystal in it, before he made his presence clear to them. He stood straight with lowered shoulders, looking taller and more confident than usual.
"Run along home, Autobots," he called and gained the Autobots' attention. Though they readied their blasters, he did not back down. "That red energon has my name all over it!"
He placed the Apex Armor on his chest and initiated the usual transformation. Unlike his previous encounters, they did not fire upon him right away. Perhaps they were too intimidated by his mighty armor. The thought made him snicker silently while the armor finished transforming. They took their battle stances and prepared for battle.
"And I am more than willing to fight for it."
Arcee and Bumblebee ran off to the right, while Optimus stayed behind. Starscream ran towards the Autobot leader while the latter began shooting at him, but to no avail. The heavy-armored Seeker approached him in close combat and although Prime got a few hits in, the Seeker grabbed hold of him and threw him against the containers.
"Don't tell me you've already forgotten our last encounter, Prime," he said gleefully while walking towards the Autobot leader. Sounds of voices reached his audio receptors from his right, and he turned to see Arcee and Bumblebee climb up the crane. They were going for the red energon!
He forgot all about Optimus and instead went towards the crane, smirking like he did best. He grabbed hold and began climbing up after the Autobots, although he felt the size and weight of the armor meant he could easily fall down again. But that rule applied to the Autobots as well. It was a long way down.
"The higher you climb, the harder you fall," he sang to them, as they arrived at the top. Bumblebee started shooting at him, but the blasts were too weak to even make the armor flinch, let alone knock the Seeker down. Starscream laughed merrily at the scout's attack. "Autobots. Such slow learners."
He arrived at the top and followed the Autobots, while Bumblebee continued to shoot at the armor in vain. The Seeker was beginning to get bored of it. He lashed out at the scout so he was flung into a stake and almost fell down, but he managed to grab onto the safety rails and stay put. Starscream ignored the scout and followed Arcee, who had approached the crate containing the red energon. She reached out for it but looked up as the Seeker approached her, casting a large shadow over her.
"Time to unload some more dead weight," he said and reached his servo out to grab her.
Her gaze shifted to the Seeker's left, and he followed her optics. On the other crane, Prime had made his way to the very top, and before the Seeker could react, the Autobot leader sprung and landed a heavy fist onto the rogue. Starscream stumbled and fell over, but he managed to grab hold of the crate with one servo, preventing him from falling further down. The crate was opened, and now he had free access to the red energon.
That's it, he thought while grabbing onto the crystal with his other servo. Come to papa…
His weight was too much for the crystal to handle, and the chunk he held onto broke off, falling down with him. He tried to hold onto it, but the fall made him loose his grip and the crystal fell out of his servo.
"No!" he shouted and screamed as he fell to the ground.
Although the Apex Armor spared him for the worst of the fall, it did call forth that inexplicable chest pain he dreaded so much, leaving him immobile for a moment. As the pain subsided, he got up and saw Prime trying to pull the crate up by the cable.
Oh no, you don't, he thought and went over to the crane. He grabbed the bottom and started lifting it up, making the Autobots stumble at the top.
He snarled of exertion. "Watch your step, Autobots!" he said and laughed maniacally.
He lifted the foot of the crane above his head, making the crane tilt dangerously towards the water. He could hear the Autobots falling over; he was winning. Not only would he walk away with all the red energon, he would have personally vanquished more than half of the Autobots. This was definitely his moment of glory!
A GroundBridge opened some distance to the left of him. He looked in the direction and got surprised to see a white racing car with a thick blue middle stripe and the number 38 on the doors drop out from the portal and drive towards him.
Who in the name of Primus is that? he thought curiously as the car stopped in front of him and transformed into a young white and blue Autobot. He was definitely new around here. He let go of the crane, so it returned to its original place, and faced the newcomer.
"So, the Autobots have a new recruit?" he said and took a few steps forward, smiling gleefully at the mech.
"And you must be Starscream," the 'Bot said. "I thought you'd be taller."
The Seeker winced at the insult. This bot seemed pretty cocky and sassy, traits which did not go along with Starscream. He snarled offended at the bot.
"Smokescreen, stand down!" Optimus shouted from the crane. "You are no match for Starscream's Apex Armor!"
Oh, how I LOVE when they say that! Starscream thought flattered. "Any last words, 'Smokescreen'?" he said and smirked.
"Just four," Smokescreen replied and activated a round device on his wrist. "Kiss your armor goodbye!"
He began running towards the Seeker, who merely stood baffled and watched what happened. He wasn't sure if this Smokescreen was joking, but he had the knack that something was about to happen.
Smokescreen jumped and kicked at the armor…and went through it, along with Starscream. He kicked Starscream out of the armor!
The Seeker landed on his back a dozen feet from Smokescreen and the armor. He sat up on his elbows and stared in disbelief.
"A Phase Shifter?" he whimpered shocked.
"Now that was a plan!" Smokescreen shouted, followed by the Apex Armor falling to the ground, now that no one was operating it.
Starscream was filled with dread. The Apex Armor, the only thing giving him an advantage in battle, was now right behind an Autobot, with the only device that is superior to the armor. He considered his options of getting it back, when the sound of driving suddenly reached his audio receptors. He looked around to see a dozen jeeps filled with black-suited humans surround the area, one of them containing a scarred man with a painfully familiar face.
"No…not you!" Starscream cried, remembering his last encounter with MECH. There was no way he was going to get the armor back now.
The Autobots seemed just as, if not even more surprised to see the humans, for some reason.
"Silas," Optimus said ominously. "You survived."
"Indeed I did, Prime," Silas replied calmly. "Project Chimera is far from finished."
Smokescreen merely looked confused at the humans, clearly not understanding what all the fuss was about. Starscream looked around at the humans pointing their tiny blasters at him and Smokescreen, and caught the glimpse of something red and shiny among the containers. The red energon chunk he broke off earlier. He smiled. One chunk was all he needed. He rose up, earning a good amount of aims pointed at him. He aimed his own missile at the crate containing the rest of the red energon.
"Think fast!" he shouted as he launched the missile. It hit the crate and exploded with great effect. The crane fell together along with the Autobots, forcing the humans to scatter in order to not get hit by the debris. Starscream used the distraction to grab the chunk and open a GroundBridge back to the Harbinger. He escaped before anyone noticed he was missing.
The smoke lifted and gave the Autobots a clearer view.
"Is everyone alright?" Optimus called.
"I'm good," Arcee replied. "But was that really Silas? I thought he was killed from Nemesis Prime's crash."
"So did I. It would seem he is as hard to defeat as Megatron…"
"Cease them!" Silas' voice sounded. The MECH soldiers began firing upon the Autobots.
"Autobots, fall back!" Prime ordered and turned on his comm. "Ratchet, we need a GroundBridge, immediately!"
The GroundBridge opened and the Autobots went through. Optimus stopped in his tracks. "Smokescreen! Fall back!"
"Just a second, Prime!" the young bot said and went to the Apex Armor. He ignored the humans shooting at him, as the Phase Shifter granted him invulnerability, and pressed the armor to change it back to transportable size. He picked it up and ran over to the portal and followed Optimus through. The portal closed before any of the humans could follow them.
"Blasted," Silas snarled. "We should have taken more than that Decepticon's T-cog when we had the chance…"
"Sir?" one of the soldiers addressed Silas. "You should come see this."
Silas followed the soldier to the water just below the destroyed crane. A faint red glow could be seen from the water. A second piece of the red energon had splintered from the crystal when Starscream had broken his chunk off.
"Excellent," he said. "Pull it up. We have a delivery to make."
Starscream's log
Entry #32
Well, I didn't manage to get all the red energon I found, but at least I secured a nice big chunk. It should at least fill one cube, and one cube is more than enough.
Ahh, red energon. So rare, so volatile, yet so powerful. It gives the consumer the power of hyper-speed, a power which I am in desperate need of now that I have lost my Apex Armor.
Oh, dear Primus, I've lost my Apex Armor! And to what? A new Autobot recruit named Smokescreen! He had a Phase Shifter, the only weakness the Apex Armor has. I certainly did not expect that.
I have decided to keep a low profile for now, since my armor is gone and I have plenty of energon cubes in store. My last crystal is done refining, and I have now placed the red energon in the refiner.
Given its size it shouldn't take more than a mega-cycle.
Oh, I can't wait to try out my new hyper-speed energon!
Starscream's log
Entry #33
Okay, the refining is taking a little longer than I expected.
It's been refining for a whole solar cycle now, but apparently red energon is really slow at refining, because it only presses out one small drop every fifth nano-cycle. It's barely even stained the whole bottom of the tank.
No matter. Perhaps it will be done in a few days. I still have twenty cubes left.
I can wait.
Starscream's log
Entry #34
By the Pit! Are you kidding me?!
It's been a whole week now, I only have one energon cube left, and that fragging red energon has barely even filled up a fifth of the tank! And the crystal is almost gone!
"Grrrrr…! Hurry up, already!" he snarled impatiently at the refiner while watching another two drops fall into the small red pool with a long pause between each drop. He was getting worried. "How is it possible that speed-enducing energon takes longer to process than regular energon?!"
He snarled and pulled away from the tank. Perhaps he had made a mistake in relying on the power of red energon. While waiting through the unusually long refining process, he had also discovered that although red energon does indeed enhance speed, it only does so for a little while. He had just used up his last energon cube, and without his Apex Armor he couldn't just walk right into an energon mine and steal more crystals. But he didn't know if he could afford to wait any longer for the red energon to finish refining…
The refiner beeped, informing him the crystal was done refining. He growled dissatisfied at the small amount of refined red energon; only a fifth of the tank in his servo had been filled, not nearly enough for even half a cube.
"An entire chunk of red energon…and this is all I get?!" he exclaimed in disbelief. "There's enough here for one dose! Maybe two!"
This confirmed his fear that he could not afford to just spend it on raiding a mine. He had to use it wisely, and fast. He wouldn't go another day without energon, and this would certainly not fuel him for more than a few cycles, until it would burn up and the speed wear off.
The monitor beeped, diverting his attention away from the red energon for now.
"Decepticon movement," he mumbled while looking at the screen. He speculated for a moment.
"While speed is hardly a suitable replacement for the might of the Apex Armor, it should provide me with enough of an edge to obtain a more…formidable relic."
He then spent the next mega-cycle planning his next move.