CHAPTER 21
Somewhere in Antarctica, a large Predacon dragon was standing, frozen solid. It had been in that state for days, with a constant blizzard keeping it in the same temperature at all times, preventing it from busting or melting itself free from the ice. All its senses but sight had been disabled due to the cold, and it could only keep a minimal amount of consciousness in its frozen state. Everything in this frigid wasteland gave it the uneasy feeling of loneliness and doubted it would ever get free…
…that is, until one day, it discovered it was not alone after all. It could not hear, and its vision had been limited to the sky due to its position of looking up, but it could feel a presence approaching it. Outside its icy prison, a large gray and purple motorcycle came driving towards the frozen Predacon at speed unusual to Earth motorcycles. The reason for this: It was not a motorcycle at all. It was a Unicronian traitor known as Nightbird.
As Nightbird approached the frozen giant, she transformed into her sleek bot mode and walked calmly up to it. Her armor had seen better days, but she was surprisingly well-functioning for someone who had been trapped in this same wasteland as the Predacon for almost a month now.
"Well, well," she said with a silky, but deep voice. "What do we have here?"
Unable to do anything to make her go away, the Predacon merely stood and felt, in a sort of spiritual way, that she laid a servo on its frozen chest. The blizzard stormed around them both.
"Poor thing," she said, sounding genuinely concerned. "Who could have done this to you?"
She sat down underneath the large Predacon, with no fear or concern that it might become mobile again, and turned her servos into a pair of blowtorches.
"I've been able to keep myself warm with these for this long," she said for the sake of conversation, "but my energy reserves are beginning to grow low, and there is no energon in this place. If we are to survive and get out of this place, we'll need to work together. I'll use my blow-torches to get you out of that ice, and you'll take me with you to wherever you're going to go afterwards. Deal?"
That morning, Starscream woke from his recharge after a long night of no sleep. The contractions just kept getting worse every time, and the latest one came to him when he had finally begun to have some decent sleep that night. It was so painful that he wished he would just die already, but as it subsided, he quickly retracted that notion.
He left his quarters to get some energon cubes when Knock Out very conveniently came by with one.
"Thought you'd want this," Knock Out said and handed over the cube. Starscream didn't know what to say. He hadn't even told Knock Out to get one for him yet, which made the whole scene seem so…nice.
"Uh…thank you," he replied shyly and drank the cube right away. "Any news?"
"Well, the tests indicate the protoforms should arrive within two or three days from now," he replied. "Oh, and Bombshock has arrived with something interesting."
"The Insecticon? Where is he now?"
"In Shockwave's lab, with Lord Megatron and the Cyclops himself. I think you should go see what the bug has uncovered."
"Well, I'll do just that."
And so, he left Knock Out in the hallway and arrived in Shockwave's lab. Megatron and Shockwave were both present, but Bombshock had already left the room to join with his brethren. He saw the two large mechs bended over something lying on the table. It looked like a horn, but had a more rock-like surface. He cleared his throat, announcing his arrival.
"Lord Megatron, I heard from Knock Out that Bombshock found something of interest," he said. "So what may that 'interesting object' be, if I may ask?"
"It is a fossilized Predacon bone," Shockwave answered him instead. "The Insecticon found it in a nearby mine."
"A Predacon fossil?" Starscream replied in surprise. "On Earth? I mean, isn't it just a little preposterous?"
"They are not the remains of Predacons, Starscream," Megatron replied calmly. "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 the 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. Of course, our reunion here was much delayed, and it would seem we lost the beasts to the ravages of time."
"But not their ento-matter," Shockwave said. "From which I am logically able to extract their very CNA."
"Pfft. Another scavenger hunt?" Starscream said. "How logical would it really be to locate all the dusty remains of your former pets?"
"You are not suggesting that I would send my creations to a distant planet without first having them microchipped?" Shockwave asked.
Once again, Starscream was taken by surprise, not expecting that the Cyclops would already have taken care of the major issues. "Well, I—Well, I was. But…seriously? You did?"
"I am always serious. Soundwave is currently scanning for the microchips' energy signatures. Once we acquire the required genetic material, I can create a new batch to serve the Decepticon cause."
"Right, more Predacons," Starscream mumbled gloomily. "I'm so looking forward to it."
"Get ready to leave," Megatron said all of a sudden, making both his first lieutenants look at him. "Soundwave has located two more signatures, one in Texas, the other in Scotland. Shockwave, you and Soundwave will retrieve the bone in Texas. Starscream…"
Starscream held his breath, not knowing what to respond with. Knowing the Autobots, they would most certainly pick up the same signals as they did, given their past struggles with energon, relics, Omega Keys and pretty much everything else. Getting sent to one of those bone-locations would surely mean getting into a fight with the Autobots as well. And if Knock Out's knowledge regarding the sparklings was true, then he couldn't risk going outside the safe walls of the Nemesis, much less risk their very lives in a battle against the Autobots.
Thankfully, Megatron simply continued: "…assemble an excavation team to retrieve the bone in Scotland. The signal seems to be weaker there, so it must be somewhere underground."
"Uh, yes, master! As you command!" Starscream said, almost a little too relieved. Before he could let Megatron ask any questions though, he left the lab immediately and went to assemble an excavation team, consisting of various Land Vehicons, a couple of Air Vehicons and a single Miner, along with a drill to dig out the bone. As the team was assembled and ready on the flight deck, Soundwave opened a portal for them to enter and arrive in Scotland. Afterwards, Shockwave and Soundwave himself went through another portal – along with their own excavation team of Vehicons – heading for Texas. Starscream returned inside, relieved that Megatron had decided to send Vehicons instead of him. Lucky for him…almost too lucky…
A dreaded thought passed through his mind as he walked through the hallways towards his quarters, prompting him to instead set course for the medical bay. As he passed through the door, he saw Knock Out working on something, but he paused and turned around to greet Starscream.
"Hey, so did you learn—"
Starscream punched Knock Out in the stomach, making the doctor crouch together and fall onto his knees. He gasped and looked up at the Seeker with disbelieving optics.
"Wh-what…what are you doing?!" he gasped confused.
"You miserable Mercedes," Starscream hissed.
"For your…information…it is an Aston…Martin One-"
"Why did you tell Megatron about the sparklings?!" Starscream interrupted furiously.
"What…are you talking about?" Knock Out said as the sensation in his stomach began slowly returning, letting him stand more straightly.
"Megatron just sent out Shockwave and Soundwave to get one bone, and then he had me send out Vehicons to retrieve another bone!"
"So what?"
"He didn't send me! And why would that be? He knows I'm competent enough to retrieve something valuable like an Omega Key! I delivered all four of them to him! So why didn't he send me to retrieve that cursed bone? Unless you told him I was carrying! You traitor!"
"Hey, hey, what crawled up your tailpipe?" Knock Out protested and held his servos in front of himself. "I didn't tell Lord Megatron anything, just like I promised! Maybe he's saving you for something more important later, or perhaps…well, maybe he really doesn't find you completely competent after all."
"I am competent! But no one will ever take me seriously!"
"Come on, Scream, think about it! If Megatron decided to send troops instead of you, then that leaves you in the safety of the warship. And if you remain on the warship, then that will ensure the safety of your sparklings too. You should be grateful rather than being mad at me for something I didn't do."
Starscream thought about it. The thought of Megatron finding him incompetent was unbearable, but not anything he wasn't used to. He always called him incompetent, and he feared he might never prove him otherwise. The warlord seemed to have quickly forgotten about his marvelous capture and delivery of the Omega Keys, which he had rewarded him with by letting him return to the Decepticons and with an armada made from his own genes. But as he thought about it, he realized Knock Out was right.
"…Fine," he simply said. "But I warn you: If you ever tell Megatron about this, I will have your head."
"Naturally," the doctor replied. "Uh, maybe you should go get some more energon cubes?"
Starscream had covered his chest with his arms, hinting at another contraction. The Seeker didn't reply, but simply left the med bay with a feeling of embarrassment and went to the storage to get some energon. As he arrived in, he noticed there were very few energon cubes left. He counted them all and concluded there were only seven left in the room. But as he was very hungry, he took and drank two cubes very quickly and felt as both the hunger and the contraction subsided. Five cubes left. This would not make Megatron happy. Knock Out was right once again; he would not be able to keep this a secret from the big guy for much longer. The sparklings could come any day now. He had to find some place safe to have them, and that was not aboard the Nemesis.
He made a decision and went to the flight deck. He knew from Knock Out's constant lectures that it was too risky for him to leave the ship in his current state, but if he was to conceive soon, he had to find a place to do it soon. He thought it would be better to find a place now instead of in the last second. So when he reached the flight deck, he transformed into jet mode – which he hadn't done for almost two weeks now, he realized – and took off into the sky, soaring among the clouds, flying towards the afternoon sun.
The sensation of simply flying through the air was the only real thing he liked about Earth – it had many things to look at, many different colors, a bright, warm sun and clouds to wash any stains off one's paintjob. Below him, he could see forests, oceans, lakes, deserts and cities flashing in all the colors of the rainbow. This was life. This was what he desired in a world without war. To simply fly and be free…
While flying aimlessly through the sky, his thoughts passed to the waterfall cove he lived in so long ago. The sight of the orange cliffs, the blue lake, the green trees, the white waterfall and the small rainbow had filled him with such a strange sense of joy that he had never found in anything before, at least not without having to massacre an Autobot. And Metalhawk…the bald eagle that he had befriended, the one who always brought him fresh fragments of energon from the lake…by Primus, he missed that bird.
While thinking of sadness, his thoughts randomly passed to the bear he once fought in a forest, which he then discovered had a pair of cubs which would be orphaned when their mother died… Were all these strange feelings perhaps connected to his carrying? Knock Out had once mentioned that human females apparently had mood swings when they were carrying. Of course, Transformers did not have actual genders, so he wasn't sure if that applied to him as well…
A large shadow passed by him with such a force that he almost span out of control. He scouted the area around him, but whatever passed him had disappeared into the clouds, out of sight. He sighed.
"I suppose I've flown long enough. Time to return."
When he returned to the flight deck on the Nemesis, he realized he had forgotten to look for a place to conceive. He facepalmed; that had been the entire point of the flight!
"Curse these emotional memories," he hissed to himself. "Now I'll have to go again—"
"Starscream, what are you doing up here?" Knock Out's voice sounded from the entrance.
…Scrap, Starscream thought annoyed. He headed back inside the ship with Knock Out by his side. The doctor was freaking out.
"You weren't about to fly off, were you? You know you aren't supposed to leave the ship in your state!"
"I know, I know, but you don't expect me to stay here and conceive, do you? I was merely trying to find someplace to have them, that's all."
"Well, did you at least find anything?"
"Erm…no. Look, Knock Out, it's really important to me that Lord Megatron does not find out about my sparklings." His tone had suddenly gone out of tune with his normal voice. "He would…I mean…"
"What? You seem more worried about this than him simply yelling at you. Is there something else? Something you're not telling me?"
Starscream looked to each side as they reached the door to his quarters. As he made sure no one else was around, he opened the door and pulled Knock Out inside with him. The doctor seemed a little baffled by this action.
"Megatron…" Starscream began, "…he's not fond of younglings, neither hatchlings nor sparklings. Back during the war for Cybertron, after his normal soldiers began to fall in number, he began having constructed warriors instead of younglings. I've been with the Decepticons long enough to see what he does to those not able to battle in his army. I've seen him execute hatchlings in the field, with no regard of their future. We pretended not to care like him, but I'm sure all of us felt uneasy about this. I did, anyway. 'This is not the right age for hatchlings to live in.' That's what he told us."
Knock Out listened intrigued. He had never heard of this before – admittedly, he was one of those constructed Decepticons, although back then he was more of a scientist than an actual warrior.
"I fear that…if Megatron ever learns about my sparklings, he will try to…to do the same as he did back on Cybertron. That is the reason why I have to get away from here and hide my sparklings from him when they arrive."
Knock Out remained silent for a bit. "So that's the reason…" he said thoughtfully. "All this time I thought you didn't want Megs to get mad at you. But actually, you're doing this to protect your offspring!" He laughed, which confused the Seeker to annoyance.
"And why is that so funny? You always told me they were important!"
"Actually, I didn't. I just said you brought back additional troops, but they will still take a few years before they will be combat-ready, and by then there might not even be a war left to fight in. Just saying."
Starscream was about to protest again, but then Megatron's voice sounded through the comm. link:
"Starscream, return to Shockwave's lab immediately. We have another Predacon bone."
"Uh, yes, master!" the Seeker replied quickly and exited his quarters with Knock Out. "I wonder what he needs me for. This is Shockwave's project, not mine."
"Just go and you'll see," Knock Out prompted. "Just don't try to fly off on your own again. I'll try to find a place for you while you're gone."
Starscream stared speechlessly at Knock Out; he couldn't believe his own audio receptors. "You…you'll…"
"Eh, if it's that important to you, I'll gladly help so you don't have to constantly whine about it anymore," the doctor said shrugging and went off to the surveillance room. Starscream should have been insulted by that comment, but for some reason he was not. He couldn't help but forming a small smile on his lips.
In Shockwave's lab, the scientist was scanning the retrieved Predacon bone, a fang. The Autobots had apparently acquired the rest of the fossil, but it seemed even the tiniest fragment of CNA would help with the cloning process. When Starscream arrived in the room, he heard a fragment of the conversation between the Cyclops and Megatron, including a mention of his name.
"…I shall leave the fetching of bones to Starscream and confine myself to my laboratory in order to accelerate results."
"Excellent," Megatron replied. "For I am rather impatient to witness my army of beasts trample humankind underfoot."
"Is it really wise for Shockwave to spawn an army of beasts here in this laboratory?" Starscream protested, catching their attention. "Or within any part of this warship? I mean, not even the lone beast we had was compact enough to stroll these corridors without tearing them asunder. Which reminds me," he said and smiled spitefully at Shockwave, "I am so very sorry for your loss."
A moment of silence broken by Shockwave himself: "I was referring to my offsite laboratory, which we have erected expressly for the cloning procedures."
Once again, Starscream was unable to respond with a quirky comment and simply grumbled, giving up. "You think of everything, don't you?"
Suddenly, the room shook after a bang noise sounded from the top of the ship. Dust and pebbles fell from the walls and ceiling as something was pounding the entire ship into a tremor.
"We are under attack!" Starscream exclaimed. "Autobots?"
"Illogical," Shockwave replied and checked the monitor for energy signatures while the banging noises continued. "Though there appears to be an enormous mass up on the upper hall."
"Follow me," Megatron said, and Shockwave and Starscream followed the warlord closely. As they walked through the corridors towards the upper levels, Megatron ordered every Vehicon they met to join them and face whatever had arrived on the warship. The higher they came, the louder the banging noises and tremors became. As they arrived by the door to the flight deck, everything suddenly silenced, both sound and shaking.
The door opened, and on the flight deck in front of them…stood the Predacon, sound and alive, swaying its tail and rattling calmly. It took a few more steps forward as it noticed the Decepticons had come out to welcome it home. Its yellow optics focused on Megatron and had a soft glow in them.
"H-how did it find us?" Starscream wondered concerned. He wasn't exactly thrilled with the thought of having an army of these beasts being bred by Shockwave, the scientist that he didn't have the best relationship with, but to have this beast return to them after it seemed to finally be gone for good?
"Predacons possess precise homing instincts," Shockwave explained.
"And a stunning resilience," Megatron noted. "Starscream, assume command of my beast."
Starscream's spark skipped a beat. "M-me, master? I-I mean, I wouldn't dream of seizing such an honor from its very creator!"
"Military command of the Predacon is most logical," Shockwave replied as he walked by the Seeker, heading indoors with Megatron and the Vehicons. "Since my services are required elsewhere."
The door closed in the Seeker's face before he could protest. He laid his servos on the door, but too late. He saw a shadow on the door and heard heavy footsteps. He turned around, but it wasn't the Predacon who cast the shadow. He let out a scream as the femmebot Nightbird stood right in front of the Predacon, looking taller and bulkier than usual.
"Why, hello there, Starscream," she greeted with her unusually deep voice for a femmebot. "How funny to run into you here, on this Decepticon warship. I thought you were still scurrying around in the forest like the woodpecker you are, constantly giving me a headache!"
"N-N-N-Nightbird?!" he exclaimed and fell on his aft, crawling against the door as she approached him. "What—How did you get here?! How did—"
"I met your little friend here," she replied with a silky tone. "Thought I'd return him. Beautiful creature, isn't he? You must simply love this Predacon as much as you did that eagle, right?"
"Love it?! I—wait, how do you know about Metalhawk?"
"I saw you crying your optics out over that little dirt mound with that oversized chicken buried under it. But that doesn't explain why you would be so mean to this poor Predacon here. Trapping him in ice and calling him names…"
"Don't you dare speak of Metalhawk that way! And it wasn't me who sent that beast to…wait, did you say…ice?"
"Yes, he got banished to the same place as I. I found him and freed him, and in return he let me ride on his back. I could feel his pain over how much you hated him, and I let him know I wanted your armor as much as he does. And now, we can both get a piece of you…"
"No, please, don't," Starscream begged. "Leave me alo—"
The door opened suddenly, and Knock Out stepped out. "Hey, Scream, you're gonna love what I have to show—" He stopped as he saw both the Predacon and Nightbird standing tall over Starscream on the floor, while they all three stared at the doctor, just as surprised as he was at the moment.
"Uh, what's going on here?" he asked confused and looked at Nightbird. "Who are you?"
Instead of answering, Nightbird simply ran and jumped off the warship. Starscream got up and ran to where she had jumped off from and looked down. She was gone. He sighed. He didn't actually believe she was gone – she definitely had a plan of getting herself to safety if she dared to pull off a stunt like that – but he was relieved he was once again safe from her wrath. But his feeling of safety faded as he felt and heard the Predacon's breath against his back and walked quickly over to Knock Out, trying to distance himself from the Predacon, who followed his every move.
"What was that about?" the doctor asked the air commander.
"Nothing," he replied. "Just some crazy bot who tried to kill me while I was on my own. But Knock Out, you gotta get me back inside! Lord Megatron just ordered me to take command of this Predacon! I can't do this if I'm carrying, can I?"
"Preferably, no," Knock Out said. "Technically, yes. If Lord Megatron told you to take care of the Predacon, then my hands are tied." He shrugged and went for the door.
"Wait, you can't just leave me here with this thing!" Starscream cried.
"Watch me."
The door shut behind the medic, leaving Starscream alone with the Predacon once again. He turned slowly and shakily around and laughed nervously at it. It was not amused.
Starscream sighed. This is gonna be a loooong day…
"You miserable beast," he said later, as he vainly tried to get the Predacon to do what he said, "I am your commanding officer, and I order you to crawl into your kennel now!"
The beast simply snorted and turned its head away, sitting stubbornly where it was.
"I said go already!" he shrieked and zapped the beast's leg with an energon prod. The Predacon did not like that; it turned its head at him and spat out a fireball. He managed to duck in time to keep his head, but he still felt a hot sensation on his helm. He noticed his crest was burning at the tip and – under a lot of shrieks – extinguished the fire by making several brief rubs on it with his claws. As the hotness disappeared, he sighed and looked at his claws – they had been stained with black burn marks.
"Alright then," he hissed. "If that's how we're going to do this, then so be it."
He left the Predacon and went inside the ship, ignored any Vehicons who remarked his burned crest and steered towards the relic chamber. He grabbed the Apex Armor, which had been placed right next to Airachnid's stasis cell, and left the room. Upon reaching the exit to the flight deck, he put on the armor and felt a certain nostalgia over the familiar armor surrounding him, enclosing him in a thick, more-than-durable armor which would protect him from anything, including a savage fire-blasting beast like the Predacon. This would most certainly also be more appropriate if he wanted to protect the protoforms inside him. This way he at least wouldn't activate a non-wanted arrival by an accidental blow to the chest or such.
Once fully enveloped in the armor, he opened the door and found the Predacon sleeping like he had been gone for megacycles. "Okay," he said and woke the Predacon, who looked drowsily up at him. "Now in you go!"
The Predacon stood up, but not to 'go in'. Rather, it roared at him, displeased to be disturbed by this little pestilence in its sleep. This time though, Starscream was unconcerned and laughed.
"Do your worst. The Apex Armor is virtually—"
The Predacon grabbed the Apex Armor's arm and began swinging the Seeker around like a toy – one could even say squeaky toy, for he squealed and whined and repeatedly screamed: "NO! AHH! RELEASE ME! AAAHHH!"
The Predacon finally did as he said – though rather unorthodox – and flung him into the wall above the 'kennel'. Starscream wasn't hurt in any way other than his pride, but the feeling of being swung around like a toy…
"Starscream," Megatron suddenly said over the comm. link. "Are you with the beast?"
"Y-yes, master! We've been…reviewing…attack maneuvers. He's doing quite well."
"One of the excavation teams has failed to report in."
"I shall assemble my Seeker armada immediately and—"
"I will prefer that you lead our newly returned asset on this mission, so we may see if our Predacon is as adept at fetching bones as it is hunting Autobots."
Starscream sighed and looked at the Predacon. "As you wish…master."
As much as Starscream would have preferred to fly to Scotland in his plane mode, he decided it would be better for him to keep an eye on the Predacon on the way there. So while two of his Seeker soldiers were flying right beside him, Starscream (still in the armor) rode on the Predacon's back; it was no joyride.
He had thought that if Nightbird was able to ride the beast, then so would he, but he assumed the Predacon had been more tolerant with her, because it kept trying to shake him off and he was about to fall several times. He held on as tightly as possible to the beast's spikes to avoid falling off, because he didn't know how much height the armor could take – or how much he could take inside the armor.
Finally they reached the ground, where they found the same cobalt blue ship that belonged to Ultra Magnus, the same one that had lured the Predacon into the GroundBridge that sent it to Antarctica. The beast made most effort in shaking Starscream off its back as they landed on the ground, sending him flying off a distance from the ship. While the Vehicons joined their commander, the Predacon seemed to follow an invisible trail down into the valley below the cliff where the Autobot ship was parked. Starscream let it go. He was more interested in the ship.
He rose up and with the Vehicons walked up to the ship and investigated it. There had to be a button somewhere.
"Commander Starscream," one of the Vehicons informed and pointed at a large button on one of the legs on the ship. Starscream smirked and pressed it. The hatch on the underside of the ship opened and they went inside.
"Surrender, Autobots!" he said out loud, but no one responded; no one even came to greet them.
"They don't seem to be here, commander," the other Vehicon observed.
"Brilliant observation, I couldn't have said it better myself," Starscream said sarcastically. "They must be hiding somewhere. Search the ship!"
They did, but it didn't take more than two cycles to learn that no one was aboard. Not that they needed to search to know that, but he wanted to make sure. He sighed and pressed on a button on the wall, which made the hatch go down again, letting them outside.
"Given that the ship is currently unoccupied, it would seem the Autobots did stumble upon our little mining operation. No worries, my Predacon is no doubt dismantling the interlopers as we speak. It was a challenge, but I managed to tame the savage beast," he lied boastingly. "Taught it to heed my every command!"
"You're not wearing the armor to protect yourself from it?" one of the Vehicons asked.
Starscream stiffened, but turned around while keeping a straight face. "From my beloved pet? Of course not! In fact, it's getting rather warm in here…"
He pressed the button on the armor's chest, and it immediately transformed off him, until he could simply take the small disc off his chest and put it down on a nearby boulder.
"Ahh, ventilation," he said and stretched his limbs. Despite being so thick and protective, he had personally discovered that the armor did not protect its wearer against heat, and it was rather difficult to breathe in. It felt good to get out of the armor, really good, actually. But he felt so exposed without it on, knowing that the Predacon was loose, and the Autobots somewhere nearby…
Suddenly, an explosion sounded just a hundred meters from where they stood. Starscream walked towards it, followed by his Vehicons, and watched the dust cloud rise from a hole in the cliff. He smirked at the sight and imagined the Predacon tearing the Autobots limb from limb down there.
"Ooh, that'll do some damage," he snickered but then silenced. He heard a very faint, tapping sound, somewhere behind them. He turned around and giggled as he saw Miko, the human girl whom the Autobot Bulkhead kept as a pet. If she was here, Bulkhead and his friend Wheeljack would no doubt be somewhere nearby as well. That is, unless the Predacon had taken care of them.
She ran towards the ship, but was miserably slow. He took a few steps forward, then took a long step and placed his ped in front of her, right as she was near the hatch. She stopped in her tracks and let out a small exclamation from the surprise. She looked up, and their gazes met.
"Miko, is it?" he snickered, amused at her reaction. "Oh, I'm sorry, were you trying to reach this ship? To call for help, perhaps?"
He pressed the button on the leg of the ship, making the hatch start to go up again. Miko seemed scared for a nano-cycle, but then she started running full speed towards the hatch, the two Vehicons standing behind her, merely watching as Starscream swiped his claws in her direction, but missed and hit the ground instead. He turned around and chuckled as she jumped and grabbed onto the hatch, because she was still far lower than him; she was an easy prey. He was merely toying with her at the moment. He planted his claws into the hatch, but she avoided his attack.
Suddenly, without warning, she jumped off the hatch and had direction towards…the Apex Armor!
Before he could stop her, she had latched onto the armor, pressed the button, and then they watched as the armor enveloped her in its durable shell, much like it had with Starscream so many times. Her version of the armor was, however – naturally – much smaller than Starscream's.
"What's the matter, Screamy?" she mocked. "Can't pick on someone your own size?"
He took a few uneasy steps back, but suddenly a roar sounded and a fossilized optic sensor fell at the peds of Starscream. He looked baffled at it.
"What do you know," he mumbled. "It does fetch."
The Predacon arrived immediately after and Miko ran off screaming but was pounced on by the beast. It slashed and swiped at the armor, and for once Starscream found amusement in the Predacon attacking someone wearing the armor.
"Go ahead, make a wreck of her," he shouted as he picked up the optic sensor. "As you no doubt did the Wreckers!"
"Starscream," Megatron's voice sounded through the comm. "Status report!"
"Master, we have secured the bone, and our Predacon is dealing with the Autobots' pet human as we speak. On my command, of course," he boasted.
"I will not risk losing a precious commodity to your arrogance! Have the beast return with my prize immediately! You can stay behind and finish the Autobots."
"Yes, master," Starscream sighed and speculated for a moment. "Assuming I can coerce the brainless brute into—Gah!"
The Predacon had lost interest in the human and pounced on Starscream instead, sticking its hot mouth into his face. It must have heard his insult and was about to melt his face! He closed his optics and waited for the inevitable, but the beast instead took the optic sensor in his servo and took off with it, leaving Starscream and his Seekers behind with the girl in armor. He sat up in disbelief.
"What?! You never obey my commands!" he exclaimed insulted and rose up, watching the Predacon flying off without concerning itself of its companions. Starscream shook his head and turned to his Seekers instead. "You heard our master! We must locate the Autobots! As soon as I retrieve what belongs to me…"
He walked over to Miko, lying still in the small crater the Predacon had made while pounding her. She seemed to be unconscious. He chuckled.
"Tsk, tsk, tsk, even the strongest armor can't protect the weakest of creatures," he said and kneeled down to deactivate the armor, but suddenly it made a quick movement and grabbed hold of the Seeker before he could realize that Miko wasn't unconscious after all.
"Protected you, didn't it?" she burned him.
She pushed him away, and before he could recover, she grabbed hold of his arm and swung him around in a circle several times before throwing him against one of his two Seekers, both falling onto the ground. The other Seeker fired his lasers at her, but they had no effect on the armor. As Starscream got the other Seeker off him, she started to run towards them, lifted the attacking Vehicon up and threw him backwards. As she was not used to the heavy armor, however, she struggled to keep her balance, which Starscream intended to use to his advantage. He launched one of his arm-missiles, but instead of hitting her, she caught it with the armor's hand, causing it to explode.
Starscream covered his face until the noise was gone, and when he looked at the smoke cloud, he saw Miko jump out from it and planted her feet into his chest in a hard blow. He was flung backwards, hit the ground once on his back, landed on his stomach and almost lost consciousness. He struggled to keep awake, all while listening to the Vehicons fighting the girl and feeling another contraction torment his insides. Please, not now, not now… he thought and remembered Knock Out's warning, once again. Don't leave the Nemesis. He wondered if the doctor knew he had left the ship, with the Predacon and was fighting the Apex Armor, nonetheless. The Seeker swore that as soon as he got back up, he would retreat and return to the warship, asking Knock Out if he had found a place for him to conceive in…
The pain finally subsided, as it had apparently only been called upon by the blow, since he wasn't hungry yet. He got up and saw Miko having taken down both of his Seeker Vehicons. The sight enraged him. He had never been so humiliated before, getting tossed around and beaten up by a mere human child! He forgot all about retreating and readied his claws for further combat.
"You do know that I vanquished Cliffjumper, don't you?" he snarled, done with playing games.
"Big whoop," she replied unimpressed. "I snuffed Hardshell!"
Her words took Starscream by surprise – it seemed to happen to him a lot lately. He had heard of Hardshell, the former leader of the Insecticons, but had never met him before. He knew the Insecticon leader had been powerful, scarred and almost invincible. He had always thought his demise had been by Optimus Prime or at least an Autobot, not a small human girl!
They stared each other down for about five nano-cycles when Starscream noticed three Autobots were coming their way from behind her. Ultra Magnus, Bulkhead and Wheeljack. So it were the Wreckers who had attacked the excavation team after all.
Realizing they were outnumbered and wounded – and not wanting to risk the lives of the protoforms – he ran off and transformed. "Retreat!" he told his Vehicon Seekers, and they followed him close behind.
"Such a drag!" he hissed while flying into the sky. "The Predacon is rude to me, I lost my Apex Armor, we got humiliated by the Autobots' human pet, and—"
An unbearable pain appeared in his torso. This was worse than anything he had ever felt before; he couldn't even concentrate on flying and span out of control, falling towards the ground. Luckily he managed to transform just before hitting the ground, thus preventing fatal damage, but he did not go unscathed.
"Commander Starscream!" the Vehicons shouted as they followed him to the ground, though they transformed and landed gracefully instead of falling into it. "What happened? Did they hit you?"
Starscream couldn't say anything, he couldn't sense a word they were saying, even his vision was merely a blurr. All he could sense was the unbearable pain in his chest, the worst contraction he had ever had, a feeling of being kicked, shrunk and burned on the inside all at once, at full power, and it wouldn't go away. In fact, it only got worse, and he couldn't move anything other than his head and holding his arms around his pained torso.
The pain decreased a little, and he got up on his knees, his senses slowly returning to him. Ignoring the Vehicons' concerned outbursts, he noticed the Autobots were coming towards them: Wheeljack was driving in the front with Bulkhead driving close behind him, followed by Miko still in armor running after them, with Ultra Magnus running by her side. They had noticed they had descended to the ground and were now coming after them!
"G-get the Autobots!" Starscream commanded, and though the Vehicons first looked hesitant, they obeyed their commander and went off towards the Autobots, shooting at them and engaging them in battle.
Without warning, another contraction went in, even more painful than the other one, and this time it really didn't go away. He held back a scream, trying to get it under control. Not now, please not now, please wait… But it didn't go away like the other times.
He remembered how hard Miko had kicked him in the chest, and suddenly he realized what the burning pain in his chest meant. He tried to open a comm. link to the Nemesis.
"Knock Out, please, come in!" he screamed, no longer able to hold back his panic. "They're coming! The sparklings are coming!"