CHAPTER 29
After reflecting over the bizarre entry number fifteen, Ratchet continued playing Starscream's audio-log from entry number sixteen and onward. Entry sixteen was short and was about Starscream reflecting over his emotions and revealing that he killed a bear.
The next two entries were about the time Airachnid found an Insecticon and Arcee had almost gotten killed by her. Smokescreen, Wheeljack and Ultra Magnus were surprised to know that it was Starscream himself who saved Arcee's life, in return for her sparing his life some months prior. The other members of Team Prime already knew this and were not surprised, except that Starscream apparently had no ulterior motive to Arcee's rescue as they had previously thought.
In the next two entries, apparently Starscream had found an Energon stash at a waterfall and surprisingly befriended a wild eagle he named Metalhawk, even teaching it to fetch shards for him. However, the Decepticons discovered the cove and killed the eagle, which apparently deeply saddened the Seeker. The bots assumed it was merely due to the hormones linked to his carrying and that he didn't actually care about the bird. Starscream then proceeded to blow up the cove, in an attempt to kill Megatron by luring him there, but obviously failed.
The following four entries were about Starscream apparently having made clones of himself, which surprised everyone in the Autobot base, even Bulkhead who had met two of the clones, thinking he had killed the real Starscream, only for him to have survived and escaped the warship. From the sound of the screams on the third entry, the clones had all died except one that Starscream later killed personally.
"Hey, remember when we thought we found Starscream dead in that forest?" Bulkhead voiced. "Maybe that was one of the clones?"
"Probably," Ratchet agreed. "That was my initial thought when we found it, but as he had then invaded our base, I didn't think further about it."
"If only we had returned to the Harbinger and investigated it further, then we could've had more Autobots on our side," Bulkhead sighed.
"Indeed," Optimus said thoughtful. "But what is done is done. We must be grateful to still have the members currently with us."
"Of course, I know," Bulkhead assured. "But still... What a waste."
Entry number twenty-five was pretty long and the first interesting one since entry number fifteen. It started with Starscream having acquired a large Energon crystal, then getting distracted by a message from someone named Nightbird. Starscream then apparently left and forgot to turn the recorder off, as they heard the distinct sound of a GroundBridge opening and closing, followed by a minute of dead air.
"I hope this entry isn't hours long because he forgot to-" Ratchet started impatiently but was interrupted by a new voice in the recorder.
"Hey, Scream! Are you there?"
"The joint's empty, Drancron, of course he's not here. Probably out getting some energon."
"Unlikely, Rartorata," a third, deeper voice said. "Look, he's got a tank full of the stuff. Probably just got back from a successful raid or something."
"Then where IS he? He's not been kidnapped or anything, has he?"
"BY UNICRON, WHAT IF NIGHTBIRD GOT HIM AND DESTROYED HIM ALREADY?!"
"Don't be silly, Rartorata. If he was dead, we wouldn't be here."
The Autobots gazed at each other. They had never heard these voices before, nor those names.
"Drancron," Smokescreen repeated.
"And Rartorata," Wheeljack repeated. "What an ugly name."
"And someone else," Ultra Magnus added. "Three of them went to meet with Starscream. But why?"
"Who could they be?" Bumblebee wondered.
"Maybe more of those 'Heralds of Unicron' bots?" Arcee suggested.
Before the guesswork could continue, the strangers continued talking, silencing the listening bots.
"Hey, look at this! A tape recorder!"
"Looks like he left it here. And that forgetful fool forgot to turn it off. Perhaps it'll tell us where he went…"
"Wait, don't turn it off yet! Let's give him a message before we find him!"
"Uh, okay. Hey, Starscream! When you're listening to this recording, know that we've found a few things on the ship that might help you with your…problem. *TSCAH* And, um, you don't need to worry about that guy, we've taken care of him for you."
The bots gazed at each other again. That noise sounded a lot like something got ripped out of a bot. Perhaps the clone used as bait for the Autobots later on?
"Look, we just want to tell you…if you're planning on getting your wings back, you should save the energon you've collected here. You're going to need it afterwards. That's all. Bye!"
And thus the entry ended. Ratchet paused the playlist so the team could reflect over what happened in the recording.
"So there are apparently bots looking for Starscream," Arcee started. "Rartorata, Drancron and someone whose name we don't know."
"Plus someone named, Nightbird, I think?" Wheeljack added. "They mentioned that name a couple times."
"I've never heard of these bots before," Ultra Magnus said. "Have you, Optimus?"
Optimus hummed in thought. "No, these names do not bring anything to mind," he admitted. "We can assume they are also part of the group known as the Heralds of Unicron, since they all apparently have some interest in Starscream."
"But why would they be interested in Starscream, of all bots?" Bulkhead wondered. "Not to mention that they're apparently not Autobots nor Decepticons."
"Could it have something to do with those Sparklings?" Rafael theorized from the raillings. "I mean, you said it yourselves that they haven't existed for a long time."
"But why would they be interested in Sparklings?" Ultra Magnus asked. "They are not exactly battle-capable, and other than their strange colored Sparks, they do not seem much different from other bots."
There was a moment of silence in the building. Then, a loud boom sounded outside the building, the ground shaking beneath them for just a second. The kids shrieked, and the bots stumbled to keep their balance. Agent Fowler caught June Darby in time, and they gazed awkwardly at each other for a moment before getting back up straight.
"Is everyone alright?" Optimus asked concerned.
"We're fine," Raf said.
"What was that noise?" Miko exclaimed.
"It sounded like it came from the plane yard," Jack said.
"We need to check it out immediately," Ultra Magnus voiced.
"Right ahead of you, sir," Arcee said and deployed her arm blaster and headed for the door. She was followed by Bumblebee, Bulkhead, Magnus, Wheeljack and Optimus, the others staying inside to keep the humans safe until they knew more.
"Your brother?" Knock Out repeated after Sunstorm had left the Nemesis, and the Decepticons had moved inside the ship again. "I didn't know you had an older brother, Screamer."
"He's not older," Starscream grumbled as he walked beside the doctor, Sparklings running around behind him in a game of tag. "We're twins. He just happened to wake up first."
"Like Skyquake and Dreadwing?" Knock Out questioned. "Then what about his remark about slaying the ancient Predacons and being a billion years old?"
"He's delusional," Starscream answered. "Those crazy powers of his have fried his brain, I'm certain of it. He insists he has spoken to Primus himself and met the Thirteen, but those were all mere dreams in his sleep."
Knock Out hummed in thought. "The Predacon and bird seemed very terrified of him though," he reminded. "Are you sure he's wrong?"
"Who wouldn't be afraid of Sunstorm?" Starscream pointed out. "He sets himself ablaze for fun, and those flames also exhibit strong electromagnetism that disrupts nearby circuitry. We actually had to banish him from Cybertron because of his powers, as he couldn't control them well back then."
"He seems to have fine control of them now."
"We don't know that yet. He's only been here for a few minutes. You'd have to spend hours or even days with him to see his true colors."
"Well, the colors I've seen so far are rather neat and shiny. His finish looks even better than my own, as much as I hate to admit it. I'm quite jealous. I wonder what his secret is?"
Starscream sighed. Suddenly, one of the Sparklings seemed to appear out of nowhere right in front of Starscream, making the Seeker trip over him. Starscream yelped as he hit the floor. He looked up at Knock Out who had knelt down and held out a servo with a smirk.
"Need a hand?" Knock Out asked with a hint of glee.
Starscream snorted and swatted the other's hand away, instead getting up by himself. Knock Out sighed and got up as well.
Starscream looked around and behind at his Sparklings, who stood still for once and stared up at him with their large, glossy optics. One seemed to be missing.
"Alright, who did that? Hm?" Starscream said as he noticed the missing Sparkling. "Where's Goldy...?"
Starscream looked around and found 'Goldy' standing behind him. He hadn't even heard him walk behind him.
"Was it you?" Starscream asked with a stern expression and turned all the way around to face his Sparkling... only for the Sparkling to vanish all of a sudden. Starscream's stern expression vanished too and was replaced with bewilderment. "Uh, what? Where'd he go?"
"He was just there, right?" Knock Out remarked, equally confused. "Didn't we both look at him? How'd he just disappear?"
Starscream turned around to the other Sparklings. This time, all six Sparklings stood together, including the one with a golden Spark.
"By the AllSpark, can you teleport or turn invisible or something?" Starscream asked confused as he knelt down before his Sparklings. He held his servo out with the palm up, directed at 'Goldy'. The Sparkling looked between the hand and Starscream's face, which put on a smile now. 'Goldy' smiled himself and stepped forward, grabbing the clawed digits.
Starscream chuckled as the golden Sparkling played with his hand. "Maybe I should call you Phantom from now on," Starscream said. "Do you like that name, Phantom?"
Phantom gazed at his Carrier and squealed with delight. Starscream chuckled and placed his other hand on the Sparkling's head and caressed it gently, making the mechling purr.
"Alright, your name is Phantom now," Starscream announced. He gazed from Phantom over at the last sort-of-nameless Sparkling of the litter, the one with a pink Spark, for now dubbed 'Pinky'.
"Just one left, I guess," Starscream sighed. He took his servo back from the reluctant Phantom and rose up again. The other Sparklings seemed more at ease now that they knew Starscream was okay from the fall and not angry with them.
"Come on," Starscream said to the Sparklings. "Back to medbay with you." To Knock Out, he said: "It's time to return to bone-hunting. I will count on you to look after them again. And this time, keep a close eye on all of them."
Knock Out sighed as they started moving again. "Aye-aye, Commander."
As the six Autobots reached outside to the plane yard, they found one of the jets blazing and smoking, having exploded. Their attention was immediately directed to the tall golden Flier standing in front of the burning jet with an arm raised.
"Hmm, seems I was wrong," the stranger said and walked off, heading for Agent Fowler's jet.
"Freeze, Decepticon!" Ultra Magnus shouted, all the Autobots pointing their guns at the stranger.
The Flier, seemingly a Seeker, stopped in his place and turned around to gaze at the Autobots. He looked like Starscream from before the Cybertronians took off for space to continue the war.
"Oh, hello," the Seeker greeted calmly, apparently unimpressed by the bots' defensive display. "I'm afraid freezing is impossible for me."
The Seeker suddenly set himself ablaze with a loud roar, making the Autobots take a step back in caution and readying themselves for combat. The Seeker chuckled, and a moment later the flames disappeared as quickly as they had appeared. His golden and white armor now shone in the moonlight, cleaner than before.
"Please, no need to fear me," the stranger said calmly with his servos up. "I have no intention of hurting you. My name is Sunstorm, emissary of the almighty Primus, our benevolent creator."
The Autobots gazed surprised at each other and relaxed a bit, lowering their weapons but did not put them away yet.
"He knows our location," Arcee pointed out. "We can't let him leave. He'll report it to the Decepticons."
"Oh, not you too?" Sunstorm replied, sounding offended. "I am not a Decepticon, I barely even know what that is. I am but a humble worshipper of the great Primus and seek to save his Sparklings and deliver any lost causes, so they may gain forgiveness by our benevolent lord."
"Sparklings?" Smokescreen replied surprised. "What Sparklings?"
"Any bots who do not believe in Primus or who are straying from his path," Sunstorm replied. "And any who sides with the evil Unicron shall be purged by yours truly."
The Autobots gazed at each other for another moment, nodded and then put away their weapons. The other Autobots had started to emerge from Hangar E to see what was going on. Ratchet remained inside.
"Bots like... the Heralds of Unicron?" Wheeljack asked.
Sunstorm's smile disappeared, and he stared at the bots in shock. "You know of those vile cultists?! Have you met them?"
"No, but Starscream apparently has," Arcee replied. "We're not sure why though."
Sunstorm seemed to snap mentally. He fell silent, and his arms fell to his sides. He looked down at the ground.
"Oh, I see," he said quietly. "So that's why those Sparklings of his felt so ominous, especially the purple one..."
Sunstorm looked back up and sighed, then turned back to Agent Fowler's jet.
"This time, I'm sure," he said and raised an arm. "There is no mistaken."
Before the Autobots could act, Sunstorm hammered his fist into the jet, setting it ablaze. The Autobots flinched and drew their weapons again.
"Wake up!" Sunstorm shouted.
In the next moment, the blazing jet, instead of blowing up like the other one, seemed to break apart into pieces. But instead of shattering, the broken parts reassembled themselves, and suddenly, another Seeker stood right in front of Sunstorm, still burning. The Autobots lowered their weapons in utter shock.
The new Seeker jumped around and screamed in pain from the flames. He threw himself on the ground and flailed around, trying to rub the flames off, but they remained lit.
Sunstorm took a step back and seemed taken aback. "Oh shoot, I made a mistake," Sunstorm uttered concerned. "Uhhh..."
The burning bot continued to scream and flail while everyone else just stood there and watched.
"SOMEBODY TURN OFF THIS FIRE ALREADY!" he screamed. "WHY ARE YOU JUST STANDING THERE AND STARING?!"
Sunstorm turned to the Autobots. "Uhhh, do you have anything to extinguish fires with?"
The Autobots looked stumped at each other, apparently not having taken account for this kind of situation. Soon, however, Ratchet also emerged from the building alongside some humans with hoses and a tanker truck, probably filled with water.
"Get back!" Agent Fowler shouted as he had also come out.
The bots stepped back, even Sunstorm, to allow the fire fighters and Ratchet, who had installed a fire extinguishing tool into his arm, to quell the fire burning the ruined jet and the Seeker in agony on the ground. Half of them extinguished the flames on the jet, the other half and Ratchet handled the burning Seeker. Within mere thirty seconds, the flames dispersed from the poor Seeker, and he collapsed on his back, finally free from the burning pain.
"Ahhhh..." the Seeker sighed as the water disappeared, and he just lay there to rest for a bit. "I thought I was a goner..."
With the fire quelled, the humans and bots took a better look at the Seeker on the ground. His armor was scorched and blackened, but they could see a hint of blue paint.
"Hold on..." Agent Fowler said and looked around at the jets, including the destroyed one, then back at the scorched Seeker. "Is that my jet?! I've been riding a 'Con this whole time?!"
The Seeker on the ground turned his head to look at his audience, who kept a distance from him in caution. "Guess this farce wouldn't hold up forever, huh," he panted.
Sunstorm stepped forward to the other Seeker. The scorched Seeker sat up and crawled back in fear.
"Relax, Thundercracker, it's me, Sunstorm," Sunstorm said with a smile and held out his servos. "Remember me?"
"How could anyone forget you, Sunstorm?" Thundercracker replied with gritted dentas. "You nearly killed me! Didn't you leave Cybertron to learn to control those crazy powers of yours?! Apparently you haven't learned anything!"
Sunstorm's smile was replaced with a frown. "Now now, it was a mere slip-up, I was trying to wake you up from your slumber," Sunstorm defended.
"AND YOU THOUGHT SETTING ME ABLAZE WAS THE BEST WAY TO WAKE ME UP?!" Thundercracker shouted. "YOU PSYCHOPATH! STARSCREAM WAS RIGHT TO BANISH YOU FROM CYBERTRON!"
Sunstorm seemed to flinch. "Y-you're saying I was backstabbed... by my own brother?! I thought he was tricked into doing as the others said!"
"Are you kidding me? Nobot trusts you or likes you! Everyone hates you and you're too dangerous to even be used in the military! Starscream knew better than anyone else!"
The Autobots gazed from the arguing Seekers to each other.
"Brother?" Bumblebee repeated. "Sunstorm is Starscream's brother?"
"Didn't know Screamy had a brother," Arcee remarked. "They look nothing alike."
"I wonder if that guy is actually working with the Decepticons after all," Bulkhead speculated.
"Hang on, forget Sunstorm," Smokescreen said. "Thundercracker is a Decepticon! If he escapes, he'll tell Megatron on us!"
The Autobots gasped and immediately turned back to the Seekers, who seemed to have settled down again. Thundercracker had gotten up on his legs again.
"Well, I just wanted to see how you were doing, Thundercracker," Sunstorm huffed. "I didn't think I'd be in for such a rude reunion. Forget this, I'm leaving."
Sunstorm transformed and set off into the sky, setting himself ablaze once again. Thundercracker looked from the sky to the Autobots.
"Can you believe that guy?" Thundercracker hissed. "Calling me rude after what he did to me?!"
"Yeah, poor you," Arcee said sarcastically and stepped forward with her blaster out. "We feel so bad for you. Now come along quietly..."
Thundercracker's frown faded as he noticed the Autobots' hostile demeanors, as they approached him slowly, so as to not scare him off right away. Thundercracker quickly caught on though.
"I may have just awoken and gotten incinerated by that fool," Thundercracker said and took a cautious step back, "but don't think for one second that I will let you close in and catch me. Adieu."
The bots set into a run as Thundercracker switched back to jet mode, but they didn't reach him in time before he took off with a loud boom. They put away their weapons and gazed concerned at the sky and each other.
"Any chance he won't go tell Megatron about our location?" Wheeljack asked.
"Chances are close to zero," Ratchet replied.
Wheeljack hummed. "That's a shame. It was a nice hideout while it lasted."
Optimus gazed from the bots to the sky and back to the bots. While he could fly, he was nowhere near as fast as Thundercracker, so chasing after him was pointless.
"Keep the radars on full alert," Prime said. "If an attack approaches us, we will be ready to defend this place. Until then, let us continue to search for Predacon bones. We cannot allow Megatron to gain an army of beastial super soldiers."