CHAPTER 16

The next couple of mega-cycles, Starscream structured a clever, perfect plan. He left the Omega Key on the instrument panel along with the T-cog taken from his clone, opened a GroundBridge to the same location he had met with Ratchet and Bulkhead in the past, grabbed the last red energon dose, carried his clone through the portal and ended up in the forest. It was now evening. The sun had set and the moon was getting ready to replace it on the sky.

He positioned his clone by a rock, so he was sitting down with his head facing downward, thus hiding his 'deathness' from immediate onlookers. The only thing hinting at the clone's death was the black mark on his chest, where his Decepticon insignia used to be, which Starscream had personally inflicted upon him.

He then hid himself behind some trees and opened a high frequency channel with an embedded message to the Autobots.

I have obtained something of interest to you, which seems to be of no practical use to me. Bring medical kit. I only ask for the surgical replacement of my T-cog in return.

"There, that should do it," he mumbled as he set the trap and waited for a bite. If he could at least obtain the keys in possession of the Autobots, he could deliver them to Megatron as a peace offering, because even if Megatron already had one or two of the keys, he still needed the remaining one, two or three keys. Either way, Starscream had the means to return to the Decepticons, something he was confident about this time. It was the most perfect plan he had ever composed. It could not go wrong. The only thing he had to worry about was the timing.

It did not take longer than a few cycles before a GroundBridge appeared in front of the clone. They have taken the bait, the Seeker thought. I have to be fast. VERY fast.

As the Autobots – Ratchet, Bulkhead as usual, but with the addition of Optimus Prime – exited the portal and approached Starscream's dead clone, thinking it was the real him, the actual real Starscream injected the last dose of red energon into his arm and observed as the world around him stopped moving, like before.

Then, he simply walked over to them and watched their shocked, perhaps even sad reactions to the 'Seeker's' death, as Bulkhead poked him which made him fall down. They probably believed his signal had been picked up by the Decepticons – or even Airachnid – who had then found him and executed him (judging from the hole in his chest), and then made off with the key. How convenient. And touching. They actually cared about him! Or perhaps it was just the key they cared about…

He shook his head and moved through the GroundBridge. He took a look around; he had never been in the Autobots' base before. Because of the hyper-speed effect, the lights seemed to be blinking slowly, partly dark and partly bright, every nano-cycle. In front of the portal stood Bumblebee, Smokescreen and Arcee respectively, the latter one by the GroundBridge control itself, ready to close if necessary. Bumblebee had his blasters pointed directly at the portal, and Smokescreen just stood with his arms crossed. If only they knew how great a danger they all were in right now…

"It would seem I have the run of the place," he snickered.

They were all frozen-still, as if they were mere statues, completely unaware of the fact he was among them. They could neither see nor hear him. They were unable to do anything to stop him. They were completely at his mercy. He walked between the two mechs and stopped by Arcee.

"Oh, how easy it would be to gut you," he said and drew a claw dangerously close to Arcee's right optic. Fortunately for her, he decided to pull away as it was not the right time for this. He looked around at the other two Autobots.

"To gut all of you. But," he began walking towards an opening leading to a corridor, "first things first. Where does Optimus keep his key ring?"

He walked through the corridor, which had a long row of doors on each side. Each door had two wide windows, one at the top and one at the bottom. He went by each door and looked through the top window.

"Not here," he said at the first door and moved on to the two next ones. "Nope. No. Ergh," he said as he reached a door which room contained Airachnid, who was seemingly frozen inside a pod, though probably from more than just the hyper-speed effect. She seemed to be in stasis. "I was wondering what happened to that wretch." So they probably don't think 'I' was killed by her then…

He moved on, but got frustrated by the next useless room, due to time pressure.

"Grrrr, do they think I have all day?" he snarled.

Finally, the next room contained what he was seeking. Three, shiny, ancient-looking keys identical to the one he had back in the Harbinger, sealed away behind a blue energy wall.

"Ahhh, there you are," he said relieved, then began speculating how to best retrieve them. He knew only one way, but it would also give away his position, even in hyper-speed.

"Here goes nothing," he said, took a few steps back and launched his right arm-missile at the door.

It was the slowest explosion Starscream had ever witnessed. He watched the door slowly shatter to pieces and splinters, pushed into the air by a red and yellow cloud, fading slowly into the air, sparks flying towards him in slow-motion. Just like the arrival of the GroundBridge, this was very fascinating, but he didn't have time to stick around and watch.

He carefully made his way through the mid-air rubble into the room. Every time one of the tiny slow sparks touched his armor on his way in, he felt the intense heat sting him like needles; despite hyper-speed protecting him from lethal or otherwise bad impacts, it apparently did not have an effect on temperature.

It was nothing compared to what happened when he got inside the room though; as he got inside, he suddenly felt the immense cramping pain in his chest again, and he crouched together and fell on the floor.

No, not now, he thought in panic. Please, not now!

The pain subsided quickly, fortunately, and the Seeker got back on his legs and stood in front of the keys. The energy wall flickered slowly, then disappeared, probably as a result of the explosion, which had now subsided. He grabbed the large keys and walked out of the room, through the corridor and back to the command center from the way he came.

The Autobots had naturally noticed the explosion; long, thin water droplets were standing still in the air, the bottom ones slowly splashing onto the floor, while the Autobots were standing in surprised poses. He walked over to them, thrilled to finally have some fun.

"Now that I have your trinkets, I'm free to enjoy slitting your—"

He gasped in terror as he saw Arcee with her servo on the GroundBridge switch – and it was almost at the top, sliding very slowly, but fast enough that he did not have enough time to 'entertain' himself.

"But, as I appear to be pressed for time…"

He strutted his way out through the GroundBridge in a brisk pace, not running because he did not want his limbs to fall off, which he was pretty sure would happen if he tried running again – last time he was lucky to get away with only soreness.

He had been just in time, as when he got out through the other end, the GroundBridge closed behind him almost immediately. He gasped as Optimus, Ratchet and Bulkhead stood right in front of him, slowly moving their limbs around, apparently taking on their battle stances.

"Aauutobbotss…" Optimus said in the same slow, dopy way he had heard Bulkhead and Smokescreen speak in earlier, though with a very slightly faster pace. "Mmaaiinntaaiinn … posiitiionnss…" Coming from Prime, it sounded fragging hilarious.

Starscream chuckled in amusement.

"I'm sorry, what was that? Mblemblemble!" He walked right past them between Optimus and Ratchet, unaware of what the slight increase in speed meant. "You Autobots think you're so superior."

He turned around to look at them. "But you know what you really are? Slow!"

In an unexpected twist, Optimus slowly turned his gaze to behind him, looking at the Seeker. He had heard him. He had seen him. Which could only mean one thing…

As if someone had just pressed the fast-forward button on a remote, the slow-motioned Autobots now regained the same speed as Starscream, and Optimus turned around and pointed his cannon directly at him. He gulped – his hyper-speed was gone like the wind.

"The red energon wore off, didn't it…?" the Seeker giggled nervously, while Prime was pointing his weapon threateningly at him.

"He has the Omega Keys!" Ratchet exclaimed.

Starscream let out a scream as another cramp went through his chest. Instead of crouching together, however, he swung his arm, hitting Prime's blaster away, and launched his missile at the ground between Ratchet and Bulkhead. They managed to dodge it in time, but the distraction allowed the Seeker to run off and clumsily pull out his GroundBridge remote. He hadn't even noticed the cramping had already subsided; all he was focused on was getting to safety.

"Come on!" he said frantically as the Autobots started chasing after him and firing at him. He was in such a panic, that the remote almost fell out of his servo as he ran, but he managed to catch it in the last second and summon the GroundBridge back to the Harbinger.

The Autobots were catching up to him, and one blast just barely brushed the edge of his wing as he jumped through the portal, landed back in the ship and quickly shut it off again.

He gasped, his spark beating wildly in excitement. He sat down on the floor and let the keys slide down in front of him, while he took a rest.

Starscream's log

Entry #35

I've done it.

I have infiltrated the Autobots' secret base.

Not only that, but I have retrieved all four Omega Keys.

Supposedly, they have the power to restore Cybertron to its Golden Age. I snatched the first key from Smokescreen, thanks to one of my two doses of the red energon I acquired some time ago. The three last ones, I got from their base.

I have the power to revive Cybertron right now, make myself the ultimate lord of the Cybertronian race, ruler of Cybertron, Emperor of Destruction…

But…alas…I lack the resources to perform such a task.

All I have left right now is the ship, its operation tools, and the GroundBridge in it. All my energon is gone, even the red one, because I spent the other dose on infiltrating the Autobot base.

Though these keys may mean great power, they also mean great responsibility, something which I am incapable of.

If I can barely keep myself alive, how am I supposed to rule over an entire planet?

Besides, it is unlikely that I will have as much luck stealing energon from a mine without help as I did the first time.

But…that's alright. Because I have already made my decision.

I will return to the Decepticon warship.

I will return to Lord Megatron.

I have been a fool. Made mistakes. Monumental ones.

I now know I was never destined to be a leader, nor even an equal partner. And, I am at peace with that.

For I have gained a clearer understanding of my place in this universe.

Of who I am. Of who I was always meant to be.

Starscream. Second-in-command. Humble servant to Lord Megatron.

This is my last log entry.

I will not be coming back.

Goodbye…Heralds of Unicron.

I am going home.

Starscream spent the next few cycles finding the coordinates to the Nemesis; although the warship was moving, the Harbinger had somehow managed to lock onto its base coordinates. He set the coordinates to the GroundBridge, opened the portal and left the remote on the table. He had no intentions of returning to this ship, ever again. He had set the remote to be a timer, giving him two cycles to get through the portal until it would automatically close by itself, thus preventing anyone from going back.

He grabbed the four Omega Keys and the T-cog and looked around in the ship one final time. His optics fell on shelf filled with energon prods, tracking devices and the surgery tools from his interrupted self-surgery. Despite the lack of resources on the Harbinger now, there were still plenty of weapons, tools and other technology aboard. As he did not have room enough for it all, he took only the tracking devices, put them away and then left through the portal.

His spark made a jolt as he appeared in the Nemesis' command center. Nobody was around. He had the chance to make a surprise.

He hid behind the wall by the instrument panel as the door opened, revealing Megatron and Dreadwing walking in. The warlord's right arm had been replaced by a crimson arm. Starscream wondered why he hadn't chosen the left arm – after all, now Megs couldn't use his fusion cannon anymore.

"I cannot allow Optimus Prime to be the one to revive Cybertron," Megatron said in an angry tone. "We will locate the Autobot base, invade it, and retrieve the Omega Keys!"

Starscream decided it was time for revelation and left his hiding place, instead leaning onto the instrument panel.

"Been there, done that," he said casually.

It was obvious that Megatron was not pleased with the Seeker's presence, so Starscream decided to play his cards quickly and in the right order.

"Please, pardon my unannounced visit," he said and bowed, then looked up. "…Lord Megatron."

Dreadwing pulled forth his blaster cannon, but Megatron held a servo on the first lieutenant's shoulder, signaling him to stay put, earning a puzzled reaction from Dreadwing himself. Megatron was looking at Starscream in interest.

Starscream took advantage of the opportunity and pulled forth the four Omega Keys, displaying them like a set of cards. He smiled gleefully.

"But I have come, bearing a peace offering."