There was a soft rapping at his door the next morning. He slowly got up from the berth, trying to blink away the sleepiness from his optics.

"Come in," he said softly.

Bluestreak came in all smiles and brightness. "Good morning! Did you recharge well?"

Starscream gave a tiny smile. "Yes, thank you," he lied. "And you?"

"Oh me?" Bluestreak laughed, putting his servo behind his helm in embarrassment. "Frankly, I always sleep like a rock, so yeah it was good. Thanks for asking!" He indicated the door and walked out into the hallway, and Starscream followed right behind. Bluestreak brought out a cube of energon from subspace and handed it to him. "Hopefully you are a little hungrier today?"

Starscream slowly nodded, drinking down the energon with gusto. It was far tastier than he was used to, and his optic-ridges went up in surprise. "Your energon tastes great!"

Bluestreak looked confused for a moment. "I guess if you say so," he said with a shrug. "Never really thought about it, but the humans help us get access to the best energy sources, so that's probably why it tastes better than what the Decepticons have."

"Ah… yes. The humans… are the natives to this planet?"

Bluestreak blinked at him and then nodded. "Yeah, and they are our friends. If you see one running around, be careful not to step on them; we have a few that come to the base."

Starscream wondered how his program would interpret the humans, but he guessed it would probably be along the same lines as "property." "I have a feeling they would be safe from me."

Bluestreak smiled. "Well, that's a relief at least. I kind of like them." He worried on his bottom lip a little. "So, uh, is there anything in particular you want to see?"

Starscream raised an optic-ridge. Bluestreak actually sounded a little nervous about asking the question and Starscream wasn't sure how he should respond. "Do you have… a laboratory?"

"Oh yeah, I can take you there," Bluestreak said, sounding relieved. "There are going to be certain places that I can't take you yet."

"Why is that?" he asked gently, feeling like he knew the answer anyway. He was still curious how this Bluestreak was going to answer.

Bluestreak struggled to reply and Starscream stifled a smile. "It's not that we don't trust you, but…"

"But I used to be someone untrustworthy," he said, allowing himself to smile now. Bluestreak gave him a pained side-glance and Starscream almost laughed at how pathetic he looked. "I'm not surprised or offended. Just tell me where I am allowed to be, and I will follow your guidance."

Bluestreak's look softened. "You know, I was really upset when they assigned me to you. I really don't like seekers," he said quietly. "But you are making it easy for me, and I appreciate it."

Starscream shrugged. "I only know a little bit about what it is to be a seeker, so I'm not sure I qualify as one. Why don't you like them?"

Bluestreak looked down at the ground as they walked. "Seekers were the leading force that destroyed Praxus, my home. I… I am pretty sure you and your trine were there. Seekers have kind of terrified me ever since."

Starscream absorbed this information and tried to figure out how to reply. It was unfortunate that there were so many gaps in his historical knowledge of the war since he didn't know if Bluestreak was telling the truth (probably), if there was a reason the seekers had invaded Praxus (also probably), and if it led a whole slew of other misunderstandings (definitely).

Still. Pain was pain.

"I am sorry you lost your home," he said after a moment. "That can't be easy. And then to be assigned as my handler… well. You have had your difficulties lately, haven't you?"

Bluestreak huffed a laugh and nodded. "I know I keep saying it," Bluestreak said with a small smile, "but you are nothing like you were before. You're much better."

Starscream had the small, bitter thought that no one really knew him before, but at least he was in familiar territory with Bluestreak now. Many of the Decepticons had said something similar. "It makes you wonder how much your experiences in life affect you. Right now, I only have a month of memories and they were… mostly pleasant. Therefore maybe… I am pleasant?"

Bluestreak smirked. "You're probably right. I know losing Skyfire changed you a lot."

Starscream froze and Bluestreak had to turn around to look at him in the hallway. "…who?" Starscream asked in a small voice.

"Skyfire. You two were exploration partners."

Starscream immediately thought of the holocube he had seen in his quarters and tried to smooth his shock. "Are they… here?"

Bluestreak had that look of pain again. "Erm. No. But he might come back now that you are here. Optimus will be able to talk to you more about it."

Starscream swallowed his disappointment and nodded. It was likely that this Skyfire knew him. The real him. The one that everyone seemed to have forgotten about as it was covered over by an abrasive, posturing glitch that he had inherited his name and body from. "I have a lot of questions," Starscream said quietly.

Bluestreak grimaced at the look on his face. "I'm sure you do. I know I would! I can't imagine losing all of my memories and waking up in this war, it must be terrible. And you wake up disabled too, and back into the care of the faction that did it to you, even if it was by accident-" Bluestreak started babbling. He was nervous and Starscream thought it was probably because he looked despondent.

"Bluestreak, it's alright," he said calmly. "I'm… okay. Really."

Bluestreak took a deep invent and then nodded as he exvented, the tension leaving his frame. "I really want you to like it here," he said quietly. "It would mean a lot."

Starscream opened his mouth to ask him to clarify when there was a shaking BOOM that shook the walls of the base. Starscream startled and put his back to the wall.

"What was that? Are you being attacked?"

Bluestreak looked completely unfazed. "No…" he said with an embarrassed sigh. "That was our lab."

"…What?"

Bluestreak flicked his optics to Starscream and then sighed again starting to walk forward. "Yeah, that was probably Wheeljack."

Starscream absorbed that for a moment and then followed Bluestreak down the hall towards the smell of smoke.

"THAT was fun!" a white and black mech with his back to them shouted as they entered the laboratory. Two other mechs were slowly getting up from under their tables while covering their helms with their servos. An exploded device was smoking on a lab table with shards of metal embedded in the walls around them. The mechs gave the first mech withering looks and pointed at Bluestreak and Starscream at the door.

"What?" he said before turning around. "Oh boy. Uh. First impressions. Right."

Bluestreak stifled his chuckling poorly. "Starscream, this is our laboratory. These mechs are our resident scientists. You have Perceptor, Beachcomber, and-"

"Name's Wheeljack, also known as the blower-upper of things," the masked mech said. His finials lit up when he spoke, which Starscream thought was unique. "Pleasure to meet you again, Starscream."

Starscream inclined his helm in response and looked around the room. A lot of the equipment was familiar to him now, but they looked to be in much better condition than the ones back in "his" lab that Shockwave had shown him.

"Are you interested in science?" Wheeljack asked, his optics bright and curious.

"I seem to have a knack for it, apparently." He stepped in closer to get a better look at a piece of equipment he had never seen before. "I do have certain limitations though. I can't purposely break anything but running tests and experiments seemed to go well when I tried it back with the Decepticons.

Perceptor stepped closer to him, his field curious and friendly. "Who were you working with?"

"Shockwave."

And there was that same look that Ratchet had given him. It was pity, shock, and maybe a little bit of morbid curiosity. He could see the questions forming in their minds and Starscream's plating began to bristle.

"Well, he is certainly qualified," Perceptor said, quietly.

Before Starscream could quip something rude back, Wheeljack stepped closer. "You learn anything interesting?" he asked, genially.

Starscream had come to realize when he was being "handled," especially from Skywarp and Thundercracker, but at this moment he didn't mind it as much as usual. He was still trying to figure out how he fit in with everyone here and trying to clear Shockwave's name was likely not going to win him any immediate friends. "There's not much in here that I'm unfamiliar with I suppose. I think I can run most of them for analysis of samples and things, but… this thing? I'm not sure what this is."

"Oh! This is nuclear magnetic resonance spectrometer. I'm surprised the Decepticons didn't have one, but maybe they just hadn't stolen one yet. The humans got us this one since most of our stuff got ruined in the crash."

Starscream's optics widened in surprise. "You work with the natives on your experiments?"

"Oh yeah we consult with them on a lot of different projects! I imagine the Decepticons didn't do that a lot," Wheeljack said with a small chuckle.

Starscream hadn't realized how differently the two factions treated the natives. Skywarp had made it seem like they were pests, but the Autobots had clearly made alliances with them to the point of getting better energon and better equipment. As usual, the more he learned, the more questions he had.

"Oh scrap," Bluestreak said. "Sorry, Starscream, we gotta go. Red Alert is gonna kill me if we're late."

Bluestreak was pushing him out of the lab, and Starscream looked over his shoulder to see Wheeljack giving a funny wave goodbye. Starscream waved back.

"So you don't remember anything? Nothing at all?"

Starscream tilted his helm and looked at this Red Alert whose field was quite angry and suspicious, and with a faceplate that matched. "I really don't remember anything from before I woke up a month ago. Sometimes it seems my frame remembers some things, like flying, but honestly, nothing else."

At least he was being nicer about his suspicions than the Combaticons had been.

"What did the Decepticons make you do while there?"

The question was phrased… oddly. "They didn't make me do anything," he started, confused. "I tried to find ways to be useful which was mostly monitor duty and observing trainings."

"What were some of the tactics that were used during these trainings?"

Starscream hesitated and looked to Bluestreak, but he didn't have much guidance.

"I'm… I'm not sure I want to answer this question."

Red Alert's optics flicked from his data-pad and looked up at Starscream. He narrowed his optics and glared for a few moments. "I need you to answer this, Starscream. It's a matter of security."

Starscream swallowed. "I'm… sorry, but no."

He sighed and then commed someone. "Bluestreak, you can go."

"What? No, I'm good, I can stay." Bluestreak looked to Starscream with concern.

Red Alert affixed him with a glare. "Fine, just… don't get in Jazz's way."

"Jazz?" Bluestreak said, worriedly.

The door opened and Jazz strode in with a calm smile. "Relax everybody, no need to get worked up over little old me," he said cheerfully. He sat down across from Starscream, after flipping the chair around to sit in it backwards.

"Heya 'Screamer, how you doing?"

Starscream's optics flitted around the three mechs who were staring at him and his wings twitched nervously. "Did… did I do something wrong?"

Jazz drew back for a second before finding his composure again. "No, no, you're fine. It's all good so far. But we have to ask you some questions that you might not feel comfortable with, but it's really important that you answer them to the best of your ability."

Starscream's spark had begun to flutter in his chest. "I don't want to say anything that would put someone I care about at risk."

"But you defected," Red Alert ground out. "We need this information in order to protect you."

Starscream stared at them for another moment and then shook his helm. "I'm sorry you were under the impression that I defected for political reasons. That's not why I'm here." He tried to relax his wings behind him with moderate success. "I don't know or understand the war enough to have a political opinion, so I'm not going to give you information that could be used against them. I defected mostly because you didn't give me much of a choice, but also because maybe I'd… fit in more here in a cultural sense."

The corner of Jazz's mouth twitched with a small smile, but Red Alert looked like his optics were going to burst out of his helm. "This is RIDICULOUS. You decide to be loyal now? After how they treated you? Starscream, you need to give us some information, please! It could mean life or death for one of ours-"

"I'm sorry," Starscream repeated. "I truly am, but I can't talk about tactics or the war effort of the Decepticons if it would lead to the death of one of them."

"Is that the program talking, or you?" Jazz asked with a smirk.

Starscream coolly looked back at him. "They are one in the same, Jazz."

Jazz nodded. "Fair enough," he said. "Let's continue with the debrief, Red."

Red Alert sighed. "You're still so stubborn," he said under his breath. "Starscream: you will need to be escorted by Bluestreak around the base at all times when you are not in your quarters until you have been properly evaluated for your own safety and the safety of others. In addition, you will not be permitted in certain areas of the base, outlined here on this map. You will not be permitted to wield weapons-"

"I can't."

Red Alert paused, irritated. "Regardless, you can't wield any weapons. You also cannot have any contact with any Decepticons during your stay here."

Starscream turned a glare to Jazz who just stared impassively back. "None whatsoever?"

"Not unless sanctioned by Prime," Jazz said.

Starscream clenched his fist a little, trying to maintain his composure. Had he known he would never be able to speak to Skywarp and Thundercracker ever again, he might have made a different choice. "You could have at least let me say goodbye to my trine."

Both Red Alert and Bluestreak looked like they wished to be anywhere else but here. Jazz looked up to the ceiling and then returned his gaze back to Starscream. "You are right; I should have. I'm sorry."

Starscream felt a slight tingling sensation that told him he had been attempting to be purposefully mean to Jazz, but honestly, he didn't care. His optics pricked with some cleaner fluid at the unfairness of the whole thing, but he blinked it away in embarrassment. "Anything else?" he croaked out.

"The humans are our allies, so treat them with respect. And finally, you may not be taking the Autobot oath, but you cannot do anything that would undermine our goals or aide Decepticon ones."

Starscream narrowed his optics at the vagueness in that rule. But he nodded all the same.

"I will send you a copy of the rules. I've reactivated your comms. Welcome to the Ark," Red Alert said, standing and opening the door like he couldn't stand to spend another moment in the same room as Starscream.

Jazz slowly got up from his seat too. "I… am sorry, Starscream."

"So you keep-" but he had to stop as the tingling flared, silencing him. He just simply looked at the table and waited for Jazz to leave. He hesitated a moment longer, and then left.

Bluestreak was the only one left with him in the room, and Starscream was actually happy for the mech's presence in companionable silence. Bluestreak wasn't pushy or suspicious. If anything, he was empathetic and kind.

"I… didn't realize you were that close with Skywarp and Thundercracker."

Starscream huffed a bitter laugh. "I don't think we had been until recently. But they have been the best thing to happen to me since I woke up, and I… walked out on them."

Bluestreak winced. "That… must have been hard." He paused a moment and then tilted his helm thoughtfully. "You didn't sleep well at all, did you?"

Starscream's wings betrayed him by dipping low.

"Come on," Bluestreak said, standing. "You have one more meeting and then… we are going to get drunk."

Thundercracker opened his optics, staring up at the ceiling of the medical bay. Nestled up beside was the warm and familiar frame of Skywarp, recharging softly in the berth that was far too small for both of them.

He leaned down and pressed his lips to the top of Skywarp's helm.

"He's gone, TC," Skywarp murmured quietly, clearly not as asleep as he had seemed. "He left us for the Autobots."

Thundercracker closed his optics and keeps his lips kissing his broken trinemate. He heard it in his voice and felt it in his spark that Skywarp was despairing. Thundercracker has his own pain at the words, but he knew Skywarp feels things much stronger than he does.

"It's not that simple, is it?" he said against Skywarp's helm.

Skywarp sighed. "No." The word is a small concession, and Skywarp shifted to turn around to look at him in the face. "He left after he saw you were hurt. And he made the Autobots leave with him."

Thundercracker frowned but knew it was perfectly in character for the "new" Starscream. He had walked into the gaping maw of unknown dangers to save TC and the rest of the Decepticons. It didn't surprise him.

"What is Megatron's plan to get him back?"

Skywarp's shoulders fell and he looked away. This was disturbing because he looked… angry. At Megatron.

"I don't think he intends to get him back. I just have… a feeling."

Thundercracker looks down at his servos. "Then frag Megatron. What are we going to do?"

"I might have an idea," Shockwave said from the doorway to Thundercracker's recovery room. Skywarp flinched and primed his null-rays, but Thundercracker placed a servo on his shoulder to try and calm him.

Thundercracker winced as some pain shot up his back but he got it back under control before affixing Shockwave with a stern look. "Not sure we want to be talking about this with you, Shockwave."

"Under normal circumstances, you might be right. But these are not normal circumstances." Thundercracker noticed Shockwave did not look good. His frame sported some fresh welds and his optic glass looked impossibly shiny, like it had recently been replaced. "I leave for Cybertron tonight, so if you want my help, I will need to know soon."

"Why do you want to help?" Skywarp said suspiciously.

Shockwave sighed, folding his arms. His optic looked away. "If Starscream wants to leave the Autobots, then he should have the chance. I don't think they are going to let him choose. Please don't force him though."

Skywarp opened his mouth to protest but Thundercracker cut him off. "We wouldn't. If he wants to stay, he can. We just need to find out for sure."

Shockwave bowed his helm in agreement. "Then I think there is someone you should speak to."