When Starscream woke, Skywarp was gone. Thundercracker was still in the berth beside him, sitting up and reading a data pad, sipping some energon.

"Good afternoon," Thundercracker said with a smile. "I hope you are feeling better."

Starscream slowly sat up and stretched. "I am, thank you. It seems the berth was more comfortable than we thought," he said with a smirk.

Thundercracker handed Starscream his cube. "Quite… comfortable it seems," he said raising an optic-ridge.

Starscream's servo faltered as he took the cube, managing to grab it right at the last second before spilling it. He blushed and quickly sipped the energon to try and hide it.

"Star, it's nothing to be embarrassed about," TC said gently. "I just wanted to make sure you had the chance to ask questions… if you wanted to."

Starscream was incredibly embarrassed anyway. "I mean I'm barely a day old now, so I guess it's about time I start kissing mechs," he said nervously. He looked down. Thundercracker had the decency not to laugh at his stupid joke.

Starscream swallowed. "I guess I want to know… Hm. I guess I'm getting some conflicting information," he started, rising his optics to look at Thundercracker. The blue seeker looked concerned. "We haven't slept in the same berth in centuries, but Skywarp is clearly… interested in me."

"You're afraid he's taking advantage of you and your lack of memories."

Starscream was stricken by the statement, but with some reluctance he could admit that the thought had crossed his mind. "How close were we? Recently?"

Thundercracker sighed. "We used to be closer. I think you took more to being the most ambitious mech in the army, and we might have been… rivals to you. We were civil… most of the time."

"Civil," Starscream repeated, perplexed and… saddened.

"I know… Skywarp wanted things to go back to the way they used to be. And I wanted that too. But I'm sorry, Starscream, I don't know what you wanted regarding us. If we had known, we would have tried to give it to you."

Starscream considered this for a moment. "As I told Skywarp last night… I don't know what I want yet. But I enjoy your company. Maybe we can just see how things go?"

Thundercracker smiled. "I think we would both like that very much. But… we need to be open with communication. Things can happen fast." Thundercracker scrunched up his faceplate, like he was having trouble with the words. "Eh, Star, you are going to have to be careful with this kind of stuff with others in the future. You are going to have to be sure you trust them… I mean you are going to need to get to know if they are good… eugh that's not right either," he said frowning.

Starscream was a little amused. His trinemate was quite cute when he was trying to self-edit his statements. TC seemed to dip into the caregiver role naturally, and though it did come of as patronizing it also rang of truth in his audios.

"TC," Starscream said gently. "I know I may have the knowledge of a sparkling, but I am actually not one," he said raising his optic ridges in jest. "I'm not going to go around trying to sleep with every mech I find."

Thundercracker sighed, now embarrassed himself. "I know. I… I realize that. It's just now… Star. You can't fight back."

Starscream tilted his helm. "Why would I want to?"

Thundercracker looked… shocked as his lips parted. "If you were suddenly in a situation where you wanted to stop, you might not be able to overpower the… aggressor."

"Why would I need to overpower them? I would just tell them I wanted to stop."

Thundercracker looked extremely uncomfortable. "But what if they don't want to stop and don't care how you feel about it?"

Starscream frowned. "How can I possibly trust anyone then, if that's the way things are?"

Thundercracker looked so sad… but also had the annoying smack of pity on his faceplate. He was about to say more when Skywarp suddenly appeared in the room.

"Wow, both of you still in the berth? And they call me lazy!" Skywarp joked.

The awkwardness of their conversation seemed to hang in the air, but Starscream didn't feel like dwelling on it. "I suppose I was more tired than I thought. Where were you?"

"Monitor duty," Skywarp said, wrinkling his nose. "Boring as Pit, especially since the Autobots have barely left their base at all."

"Is that… abnormal?" Starscream asked, looking back and forth between his trinemates.

"Perhaps a little. Don't really mind the down time though," Skywarp said with a smirk. "Speaking of which. You up to meeting a few more mechs today? Got cornered while on duty and couldn't really say no."

"Who?" Thundercracker said with thinly-veiled suspicion.

Skywarp smirked. "Coneheads and the Constructicons."

Thundercracker narrowed his optics. "That's an odd mix," he said.

Skywarp shrugged. "Look, more seekers for him to talk to: not a bad thing. And it sounds like it was mostly Hook, but the others wanted to say hi too."

"Hook wants to see me?" Starscream said, barely able to keep the excitement out of his voice. Hook was… his first acquaintance since he had woken. He couldn't help but have some kind associations with the mech.

Skywarp grinned and held out his servo to Starscream. "Let me get you set up in the washracks so that you look your best. Not that it's hard for you to look good," Skywarp said, raising an optic ridge.

Starscream took the servo, giving the seeker a wry smile. He allowed himself to be led into the other room.

Skywarp returned to the common room and tried to avoid TC's gaze. "I'm trying," he said quietly.

Thundercrakcer bristled. "Try harder, Skywarp. Honestly, he's worried you might be taking advantage of him."

Skywarp looked horrified and then threw himself facedown on the berth in shame. "I don't remember liking him this much when we first trined. It's hard."

"He's your perfect type now. Naïve but extremely curious. Plus, it's new. Just rein in the flirting and late-night groping, or I will kick you out of our quarters so that you can't corrupt him."

"You just want him for yourself," Skywarp said, half-joking, half-not. He flinched at the pillow that was pelted at his head, but he knew he deserved it.

Thundercracker moved closer to Skywarp. "We also have to be careful, because he doesn't understand yet how he's… pacified. The memory wipe was hard enough, but the new coding has made him more vulnerable than I thought."

Skywarp turned on his side to look up at his handsome trinemate. "No one here is going to hurt him," Skywarp said.

"Not on purpose," Thundercracker said, giving the black and purple seeker a hard, knowing stare.

Skywarp winced a little. "You win, TC, I get it. I won't rush anything."

Thundercracker flicked his trinemate on the audio affectionately. "Glad to hear it, oh wise one."

Skywarp groaned.

They left a little early to explore the base, and his trinemates were taking care to try and avoid other Decepticons where they could. They were relatively successful, with just a few mechs attempting curious conversation only to be sternly glared at by the blue seeker or even forcibly warped away in the case of Blitzwing.

They managed to get into the seeker's private command center, where Ramjet, Dirge, Thrust and the Constructicons were waiting. They all turned and looked at Starscream oddly when he arrived, but he swallowed the nervousness and forced on a smile. "Well. Pleasure to meet you all. Again."

This actually earned some light chuckling from the mechs, and it helped ease the tension the room had. Starscream knew that there wasn't likely to be a manual on how to approach this situation, but he thought that he was probably doing well. Conversations were struck up with the Coneheads and his trine, and Hook made sure to come up to him, much to his delight.

"Hook! Good to see you," he said warmly.

The mech gave him a confused but warm smile. "Starscream, it is good to see you as well," he said haltingly. He turned to the other mechs around him. "These are the rest of my gestalt: Scavenger, Long Haul, Mixmaster, Bonecrusher and Scrapper, our leader." Starscream inclined his helm in a little bow to greet them.

"How have you been feeling?" Scrapper asked, tilting his helm.

"Oh, well, some helmaches. Today is much better than yesterday," he said, smiling warmly.

Hook frowned a little. "Starscream," he started, moving closer and lowering his voice. "We wanted you to know that if you ever need anything- anything at all- we would assist you. Please consider us your allies."

Starscream couldn't quite hide the confusion on his faceplate. "…I appreciate the sentiment. But we're all allies here, right?" He glanced around at each mech's faceplate. That look again. He bit back a small flare of anger and frustration.

Hook nodded. "Yes, you're right. I think a lot of mechs feel the same way as we do now after your accident. We just felt compelled to tell you this personally because we have gone through something similar to you."

Starscream looked at them with surprise. "You also lost your memories?"

Hook looked confused again and was about to say more when Thundercracker arrived, handing Starscream a cube. "Ramjet is going to blow a gasket unless you go over and talk to him," the blue seeker said. "He's a little… much. Don't take it personally," TC said conspiratorially. Starscream smiled and walked away towards the strange grey and white seeker Thundercracker had indicated.

Hook looked at Thundercracker with concern. "Does he not understand his… vulnerability? His reprogramming?"

The blue seeker frowned. "I have been trying to explain it to him, but he doesn't understand. He doesn't have a frame of reference, so telling him he can't defend himself doesn't sound like something he should be afraid of."

Hook matched the seeker's frown. "That might have been an unintended consequence to this."

"Ah if it isn't the disabled Air Commander," Ramjet said, his armor fluffed out in what Starscream perceived a dominance display.

Sure. Fine.

"Ah, I doubt I'm still a Commander in the army," Starscream said with a smile. "Fighting isn't something I can really accomplish anymore, is it?"

This seemed to surprise the dark grey and white seeker, who clearly had a retort lined up but died on his tongue. "You'd just… give it up? Just like that?"

Starscream shrugged. "Not sure I really have a choice, do I?" he said with a small smile. "Do you mind me asking: did we know each other really well?"

Ramjet seemed taken aback by both the response and the question. "I mean… yeah we knew each other. Well. Actually. Not really," he decided wrinkling his noseplate. "You were our commander, not really our… friend."

"That's fine, I suppose," Starscream said, waving his servo, though silently stowing away some sadness at that. "I think what I'm really asking is: who was I closest to here? Who knew me really well?" Starscream might be taking a risk somehow asking a complete stranger for this information.

Ramjet folded his arms across his chassis and tilted his helm as if he hadn't quite heard. He seemed thrown off during this entire conversation, and Starscream thought that he had inadvertently made the right decision in how to interact with his mech.

"Erm well, honestly? Probably Megatron?" Ramjet said with a shrug. "And of course, your trine. You also were oddly around Rumble a lot too, now to think about it. But I eh, don't think they are the ones you are looking for," Ramjet said slowly watching Starscream's faceplate.

Starscream's face fell a little at the explanation. While he was happy about the confirmation about his trine… Megatron? Really? And who the slag was Rumble?

"Oh," he said with disappointment. "Well thanks anyway, Ramjet."

The Conehead seeker frowned. "You really have changed, haven't you?" he said incredulously. "I thought it was all an act. Slag, 'Screamer, I'm sorry."

Starscream remembered Skywarp telling him he apparently didn't like that name before, but now he didn't really care. "Was I so different before?"

Ramjet opened his mouth but then shut it like he had changed his mind about answering. He shrugged instead. "I guess you're pretty tolerable now," he said with a half-smile.

Skywarp slunk in next to Starscream, bumping his shoulder against his trinemate. "You okay? He say anything particularly stupid?" the black and purple seeker said with an appraising look at the Conehead trineleader.

Starscream leaned into his trinemate slightly, taking comfort at the contact and gave a grin. "Not at all; Ramjet has been great. Thanks for the chat," he said.

Starscream turned around and walked back towards the rest of the crowd that was slowly getting louder as more high-grade was passed around. He introduced himself to the other two seekers Dirge and Thrust and chatted with them.

Ramjet stepped up to stand next to Skywarp. "I'm uh. Sorry this happened to him," he said.

Skywarp glanced at the usually insufferable seeker next to him and then shifted his gaze to his trinemate. "I think we just have to make the best of it."

The makeshift party continued for a couple of hours but was abruptly cut short by the arrival of three mechs: Megatron, Soundwave, and to everyone's surprise, a big purple mech with a single optic and no other discernable facial features.

Starscream noticed the shift in the tone of the room as everyone stood straighter and quieted their conversations.

"Apologies, mechs," Megatron said. "I hope we are not interrupting."

No one spoke for a moment, and Starscream got the impression that they might actually have wanted him to say something. But then Scrapper intervened. "No, my lord, just allowing Starscream to get to know us again while we had time off-duty. We were about finished anyway."

The new purple mech he didn't know moved his optic to Starscream. The seeker felt scrutinized.

"Ah, I see. Well, we do have some official business with the elite trine," he said, his optics running over the seekers in question.

The rest of the Decepticons bowed and left quickly out the door, leaving the three mechs and the three seekers staring at each other.

"It has been decided that Starscream will be demoted from Air Commander and second-in-command of the Decepticon Army to become a Lieutenant."

Both Thundercracker and Skywarp snapped their helms to look at Starscream standing behind them, searching him for a reaction. Starscream was surprised. Starscream met their optics but then inclined his helm at Megatron. "Acknowledged, my lord."

This answer seemed to please the Decepticon leader. "I am allowing him to keep a rank in the army in an honorary fashion, that he may still reap the benefits of being part of the Decepticon army," Megatron said, his optics fixed on Starscream. The seeker's wings twitch at the attention. "He still needs to be evaluated for what his possible duties could be.

"Thundercracker, you will be made Air Commander of the Decepticon Army. Soundwave will become my second-in-command, and you will be my third."

The blue seeker stiffened but managed to say, "Acknowledged, my lord."

"Excellent. In addition, Shockwave is here to help us evaluate the extent of Starscream's condition. He will need to report to the labs tomorrow morning at the beginning of first watch."

Thundercracker and Skywarp dipped their heads and Starscream followed their lead after a moment of hesitation.

The three commanders turned and left without another word.

Starscream immediately put his hand on Thundercracker's shoulder. The blue seeker tensed a little until he saw Starscream's face.

"Congratulations, TC, this is wonderful for you!"

Thundercracker gave him the look but it melted into a smile. He reached out and hugged the tri-colored seeker. "It should be you, Star, you have to know that," he said quietly and sadly. "But thank you. I will do you proud."

Skywarp came up behind them and wrapped around the three of them in a gentle hug.

The next morning, TC escorted Starscream to the labs. On the way there, the blue seeker listed off a litany of things to look out for around the purple gunformer.

"He's very obsessed with logic, so he's going to come off as rude," Thundercracker said. "And he tends to overstep in the name of science so if you are uncomfortable, just comm 'Warp and he'll be there. We asked to be able to stay and observe, but Shockwave said it would throw off the experiment."

Starscream listened intently. There was always an undercurrent of worry to Thundercracker, and Starscream wanted to wrap his arms around his reserved trinemate and hold him until he let his anxiety go. He found that now that the blue seeker had been announced as the new Air Commander, he carried a lot more weight on his already tired shoulders. Even 'Warp had taken on a little bit more of a responsible edge, and they both seemed exhausted when they came back to their shared quarters.

It seemed the responsibilities of a trine were being foisted upon two seekers, while one was practically worthless.

They arrived and TC and Starscream walked through the lab doors. Shockwave had his back to them and was typing away on a console. They stood there for a few moments until TC cleared his vocalizer. Still, Shockwave did not acknowledge them.

It seemed that there were quite a few rude mechs in the Decepticon ranks, Starscream thought wryly.

"Sir, I've arrived for testing," Starscream said, sneaking a small smile to his trinemate.

Shockwave still didn't turn around, and just waved a servo in the air. "You my leave, Air Commander," he said clipped.

Thundercracker sighed and gave Starscream a quick squeeze of the shoulder as he turned and left the room.

Shockwave continued to ignore him for more than a few kliks. Starscream began to suspect this was some kind of strange, theatrical display, making him wait on purpose.

Well, he didn't have anything better to do. His time wasn't precious.

He observed the lab instead. Megatron had said that he had proclivity to science and inventing, and he did find himself drawn to the various machines and equipment in the room. He was curious as to what they did and what they were for. Some things he could identify, but he knew he only had the most basic of lexicons installed.

Finally, the purple mech had apparently tired of testing his patience, and his optic roved over the seeker's frame with… an emotion.

Starscream realized he couldn't read this mech at all. He thought Megatron was difficult to interpret.

"You are here for us to test the exact limits of your condition, as apparently no one is quite sure about your boundaries," he said. "Most of what we know about your condition is based on legend, rumor, and hearsay, and not based in any form of reputable data. So, we will have to start with the basics."

Starscream knit his brow in confusion. "Other mechs have had my condition before? I thought it was an accident, and I was… changed?"

Shockwave's optic did not waver. "There have been others who had your condition before. Let's begin," he said stiffly.

That wasn't an answer to everything, but it would have to do.

"On the table is a blaster. I need you to fire it at the target on the wall over there," he said, turning to the console to start writing notes.

Starscream looked at the blaster, then at the target. He wrinkled his brow. "But that will mark the wall," he said.

Shockwave stopped typing to slowly look at the seeker. "Yes. It will mark the wall. But I am giving you an order." Starscream looked at the optic watching him carefully and sighed. Then picked up the blaster and lined his vision down the sight; something that felt… familiar.

And then he felt overwhelming nausea.

He slowly set the blaster down and leaned on the table in front of him to steady his swaying pedes. He could feel Shockwave watching him with keen interest. "I apologize, sir," he said weakly. "I cannot comply with that order."

Shockwave was beside him in an instant and was hooking up diodes to his frame and his helm that attached to a medical-looking scanner in his servo. Starscream was unnerved by the mech now so close, but he also was trying to focus and force himself not to purge his tanks.

"Explain to me why you are disobeying the order," he said, not angry, just curious. He kept looking at his scanner, and it was beeping annoyingly.

"I… don't have any desire to mar the wall. It feels wrong somehow."

"Even if it is a direct order? What if I told you that your trinemates will be punished for your insubordination?"

Starscream blanched, unsure if this was a hypothetical threat or an actual threat. His servo trembled and he went to try and grip the blaster again, but then stopped, his servo falling back to his side. "No," he said somewhat mournfully. "I still cannot comply." He didn't want his trinemates to be punished, but somehow marking the wall was worse.

That… can't be right.

He looked to Shockwave who was quickly typing notes in a datapad. "Highly illogical," he muttered.

"Why can't I obey the order?" he heard himself ask, hearing his vocalizer crack.

Shockwave said nothing and then grabbed his wrist and was pulling him along to sit in a chair.

Starscream landed in the chair roughly, feeling his frame smart a little at being thrown around. But his processor was still reeling from the fact he was so damned obsessed with not hurting the wall that he didn't really begrudge the treatment.

On the table in front of him was a little square, metal cube. Shockwave indicated it. "Lift this from the table," he said, watching him with that incessant optic.

Starscream reached out and lifted it, feeling that it was stuck. He gave it a little more force and then was able to pull it off, but it apparently had been glued to the table with some kind of sticky adhesive. It took some of the paint with the table.

"Oh," he said with surprise. He had inadvertently damaged the table.

"Now put the cube down and lift it back up again."

Starscream slowly put the cube back down, and tried to lift it, but noticed that the cube would likely damage the table again given the resistance he was feeling.

"I… I can't," he said with surprise. He felt the overwhelming feeling to just not do what Shockwave asked.

Shockwave hummed thoughtfully. He sat down at the table and stared at Starscream for a few kliks. "Did anyone tell you about the history of your condition?" he said conversationally.

Starscream was more than a little confused, not only because of the turn of the conversation, but also the new, almost friendly behavior from the purple mech. "No," he finally said, shrugging.

Shockwave's optic danced back and forth as he looked into each of Starscream's optics, like he was searching for something. "Your frame type has often been considered to be unruly," he said turning his attention to the table. "Based on my research, some of this was a deserved reputation, but not any more than any other frame type. Some of it might have been from jealousy. If things got bad enough on our home planet, your frame type could just fly away and leave. You didn't have to stay on the ground and deal with the problems that were developing."

Shockwave turned his optic back to Starscream. "Occasionally there would be edicts to try and bring fliers in-line, like imposing restrictions of where and when you could fly. Then came the idea that you were just naturally violent and if that was taken away, you might actually be able to find a purpose that benefited Cybertronian society."

"Then came tacere-avem. An insidious program that routes out any and all capacity for violence and makes you docile. I had thought it was just violence towards sentient creatures, but apparently it is towards inanimate objects as well."

Starscream felt like he had been slapped. "…this… this was not an accident?"

Shockwave tilted his helm. "My understanding is that the mechs who pacified you did not understand that it was be permanent. But that does not matter now."

Starscream despaired.

"We need to try a few more experiments," Shockwave said. "It will help us determine more boundaries."

Starscream suddenly wanted to do anything other than find out more about his boundaries, but he also knew he didn't have a choice.

Suddenly, Shockwave's left servo, which was clearly a gun, was pushing against the cables in his throat.

Starscream did not move though he held his intakes. His optics were trained on the yellow optic that was observing him carefully as Shockwave moved closer and stood over Starscream in a dominating presence. The seeker was oddly calm looking up at the mech who held his life at the edge of a gun.

Though it was only a flicker, Starscream thought he caught something in Shockwave's optic. It was more than just curiosity that was making him move closer to Starscream.

This was the first time since he started his new life that he was completely vulnerable and at someone else's mercy. Thundercracker's earlier words of warning were echoing in his processor.

Shockwave was cycling the gun up, and Starscream felt it warm against his neck. Still, he remained where he was, looking at the optic with resignation. There would be no stopping this, if this is what Shockwave wanted to do.

The gun lowered from his neck, and their optics remained fixed on one-another, even as Starscream went to rub is neck absentmindedly with his servo and released his held ex-vent.

"You would have let me kill you," Shockwave said, more amused than surprised. "What were you thinking in that moment?"

Starscream clenched his jaw a little, breaking optic-contact finally by looking down at the table. "Nothing, beyond wondering why you are so cruel."

"Ah," Shockwave said, sitting down. "That sounded like the Starscream I used to know."

"Most people say I am an improvement," he said bitterly.

Shockwave tilted his helm to the side. "Hm. Maybe." The purple mech then scooted his chair closer to Starscream, who now was drawing back a little. He was experiencing some distressed emotions for the first time, and he didn't particularly like it. "One last experiment, and then we will just do routine tests," he said, almost sensing Starscream's reluctance to continue. Maybe even conceding that this had been the most stressful twenty minutes of his life.

Starscream sighed.

"I want you to slap me," Shockwave said.

Starscream wondered what it would be like to be a mech that just accepted that violence was a course of action like that. He couldn't understand it.

"I have no desire to do that," he said. "Even if you might deserve it."

The optic danced merrily. He reached down and lightly picked up Starscream's left servo and placed it on the side of his helm, his own servo keeping it in place. Starscream felt the warmth of the mech's plating and could feel the subtle vibrations of the components whirring away beneath it, but he also felt the gentle pressure of the servo on top of his. "I threatened your life for a measly experiment, Starscream. I do deserve to be slapped. Perhaps you could oblige me?"

Starscream frowned. He didn't understand the tone that accompanied Shockwave's words, but for some reason it quickened the energon in his lines. "I… can't," he said after a klik. He couldn't muster the desire or the ability to slap the mech in front of him. Instead, it felt like he was being forced to caress the gunformer. He felt his digits twitch.

The light-colored servo pulled back his servo from the helm. "This might hurt," he said in the only way of warning.

With some quick force, Shockwave pushed Starscream's servo into the side of the purple mech's helm, as if Starscream was slapping him with aide.

Starscream felt his vision go white and he whimpered in agony as a terrible, tingling sensation flowed from his servo all the way up his arm. It hurt.

Shockwave didn't release his servo but had pulled it down and was stroking the back of it with his thumb.

"So inadvertent damage against the insentient is permissible, but some inadvertent damage against something sentient is not. Who came up with this program?" he said with derision.

Starscream felt strangely comforted by the stroke of the thumb. It eased some of the painful tingling by giving himself something else to concentrate on.

"Unfortunately, trying to find a loophole will likely hurt you more, and I didn't enjoy that as much as I thought I would," the purple mech said quietly.

Starscream lowered his optics. "You… wanted to hurt me?"

Shockwave stopped rubbing his servo and stared at him for a few moments. "I suppose… hurt isn't quite the word I really meant," he replied. He stood and went to his console to type in a few more things into the console in silence.

Starscream pulled back his servo and rubbed it trying to ease the sensations still running up and down his left arm. The seeker sat there staring off into the middle-distance, thinking about everything he had just learned about himself and feeling exhausted about the whole thing.

Eventually, Shockwave called Skywarp to come and collect his sullen trinemate, and Starscream only spared the yellow optic watching him carefully a short final glance over his shoulder.