"I thought there would be more humans," Starscream said, his optics scanning every inch of the grungy base.
"What? How many humans did you expect?" Bumblebee beeped.
"Oh, dear," Starscream said, grimacing as he looked at the dirty couch the Autobots got for the kids. "A couple hundred or so."
"A couple hundred?" Ratchet scoffed.
"What? You Autobots just can't get enough of the little fleshbags... hmm, no, you're right. I suppose that is an unreasonable number of humans to expect you to have adopted..." Starscream sighed, stroking his chin.
"See? Thank you," Ratchet sighed.
"Three hundred seems much more likely."
"Three hundred—?!"
"That is quite enough, Starscream," Optimus said as he walked into the main room.
"So it's time for my first mission, then?"
Optimus nodded. "We want you to lead us to the mine you have decided to give us the location of. Your weapons and Decepticon frequencies have been disabled, so be careful to not get into any fights. There might be company."
Starcream grumbled and stretched his arms. His arms have felt stiff and tight ever since his missiles were pried off of them and his blasters deactivated. Arcee glared at Starscream and turned away. Ratchet watched him from the other side of the room, a cautious look in his optics.
"Be safe," Ratchet said as he activated the groundbridge, looking at Optimus. Starscream knew the well-meaning wish wasn't directed towards him.
The groundbridge lit up with a flash and sent a harsh burst of wind out into the base. Starscream looked into the green swirling depths and took a deep breath. He didn't know if this mine had been entirely abandoned, he didn't know if they had begun to mine there, he didn't know if he would be there—
The Prime put a servo on his shoulder and looked at him.
"Autobots," Optimus said as everybody transformed. "Roll out!"
"Uh, wait," Starscream said, lifting a single servo. All of the bots transformed back into their root modes and looked at him. Optimus looked curious and everyone else just glared at him.
"So, do I roll out too? I don't exactly have wheels, you know. I mean, I do have wheels, but they're just for taking off into the air. Do I just walk out into the bridge or… do I transform into a jet, or what exactly am I supposed to be doing here?" Starscream shrugged.
Ratchet just dragged a servo down his faceplate as Bulkhead snickered. Optimus thought for a moment. He turned around, his battlemask snapping shut over his faceplate once more.
"All bots, transform and head out!"
Starscream nodded and transformed into a jet. All of the bots drove out into the groundbridge with a flurry of activity, their wheels screeching as they raced ahead.
As he started up his engine Ratchet stepped closer to him.
"I'm watching you," he said, his field tight and stiff.
"I know."
He flew through the groundbridge.
He could feel their animosity. The Autobots all stood in the forest clearing while staring at him with thinly veiled contempt.
"There was a mine here, but it was abandoned after it got too unstable. Perhaps we can still harvest the remaining energon if the cave has not decayed too much since then. Spread out to make sure we find all of the deposits. Bumblebee, Bulkhead, and Arcee, you will search the west. Starscream and I will scan the east."
The rest of the Autobots nodded, glancing at Starscream before transforming and racing away. As the sound of their engines died down in the distance Optimus looked down at Starscream.
"We need to talk."
Starscream frowned. This was it. This is what he was waiting for. Optimus transformed and drove off as Starscream transformed and took to the air, whirling in the sky high above the ground as Optimus drove along below, obscuring the Prime with his winged shadow. At any moment, the Prime would interrogate him on all the locations of the mines and all the inner workings of the Nemesis, and he would be forced to provide. He didn't know how much of his information was still relevant. The location of the Nemesis was an ever changing thing and the hidden codes that kept their data locked away would surely be changed once his treachery was discovered. Optimus drove on below, his field roiling around him contemplatively as Starscream braced himself for the barrage of questions.
"How are you?"
Had he been in his root mode, Starscream would've blinked in surprise.
"...Uh, what?"
"How have you been ever since I brought you back to base?"
He thought of the cave he and Optimus had been trapped in, the rocks looming in uncomfortably close and Optimus's words looming in even more uncomfortably.
He had expected derision, scorn, a base full of hostility. Starscream got a lot of that from the other Autobots, yes, but there was something... different about the Autobot base. Something about that small and grungy Autobot hideaway made him feel differently than the way he felt when he still walked through the sleek and advanced halls of the Nemesis. When he woke up at the Autobot base, for the first time in a long, he felt...
Content was not really the word. Neither was fine, because he was most certainly not fine.
Safe. That was the word.
Safe.
Starscream gulped and flew higher.
"It has... been all right, Prime," he said awkwardly, twisting away higher into the clouds until Optimus was a blue and red metal sheen far below.
"And what is the status of the Decepticons?"
"Pffft, we've just been endlessly searching for energon, same as you are. Although we have been building a new space bridge, that should come in handy soon."
He hesitated. "I am glad to receive information about the status of their cause. How are… they?"
"I don't understand the question," Stascream scoffed. "Do you mean the soldiers themselves? The Decepticons are the same as they've always been. Rude, temperamental, cruel—"
"He was not always like that," Optimus said softly.
Starscream kept on flying, a sense of unease working its way into his spark.
"We are not talking about just the Decepticons as a whole anymore, are we, Prime?"
Optimus was silent below.
"I wish to know what Megatron is like nowadays. I only ever seen him upon the battlefield now. I do not know how much he has changed and if this war is affecting him as much as it has affected us." As much as it has affected me, Optimus thought, the words unspoken. "Do you think he could ever see reason?"
Starscream did not say anything. He thought of Megatron standing imperiously at the helm of the bridge, angrily growling the word Prime under his breath as the Nemesis cruised on and on in their endless war.
"You do not need to speak. I already know the answer."
"...He was better, once," Starscream admitted, because Primus, there was something off in the way that Optimus spoke, a hint of melancholy and longing that should not be there and that Starscream just didn't know what to do with.
"Once. But what is he like now?"
"What do you really want to know about Megatron, Prime?"
A massive mining complex loomed before them, completely surrounded by rusting and decaying mining equipment.
The sky darkened as storm clouds blew in. A massive basin loomed ahead of them, Optimus's engines straining as he struggled to drive up the hill. Starscream twisted and twirled in the air like a vulture circling dead prey.
Starscream snorted. "Seems we put in all this effort just to find a bunch of scrap. And I'm not sure why you care so much what Megatron does to discipline his soldiers. I was expecting you to be more interested in the good stuff, the locations of the working mines."
"I care because I want to know how he treats those who have pledged themselves to him. I want to know how he treats you."
His engine sputtered and his wings wobbled as he flew away farther into the clouds.
"I... uh, I see."
Optimus drove over the crest of a hill and transformed. Far down below were even more abandoned remains of a mine. Drilling equipment was scattered all over the ground and the air smelled of spilt and expiring energon.
"I just want to know what has become of—" my brother "—the Decepticons in all these years."
Starscream drifted in and out of the dark grey clouds, the red biolights on his wings glowing like red stars in the darkening sky. "Are you sure you really want to know what has become of him, Prime?"
Megatronus had been a good mech. He remembers how he and Megatronus had looked out over Cybertron—
"He's cruel, Optimus. What did you expect me to say? Just an angry warlord who wants to see the Pits rise up with strong soldiers at his beck and call who can meet his insane demands."
"And… what does he do with the soldiers who have difficulty meeting his demands?"
He fell down from the sky and transformed in mid-air, landing down hard atop the ridge beside Optimus. Starscream frowned and turned around while pointing a talon at his back. A long gash ran down right between Starscream's wings.
They stood there in silence.
"...I see," Optimus said, shaking his helm as he walked over to the mine. Starscream began to walk down into the mine and his leg slipped, making him slide down a few feet. Starscream yelped as Optimus put a servo on his shoulder and steadied him, guiding him forward.
"Let's see what you've found, Starscream."
Optimus helped him down and looked out over the mine. He walked past the abandoned and rusting mining equipment and retraced the steps of the miners.
"There is nothing here," Starscream said.
The corpse of a dead drone was splayed out on the ground, a long gash across his chestplate.
"What happened here, Starscream?" Optimus rumbled. He did not kill this drone. Neither did any of the Autobots, either. These lands were new to them. All of this was new to them.
Starscream looked over at the corpse and shrugged. "Nothing," he repeated.
"Who deactivated this drone? Something happened here, Starscream, and I would appreciate it if you cooperated. Did you deactivate this miner?"
"No, no, not me," Starscream said, something strange in his voice. "Megatron killed him."
"But why?"
"Why not? The drone had made a mistake as we were clearing out the energon here. He had to prove himself worthy to the Decepticon cause, and he messed it all up. So…" Starscream said, brushing the dust off of his frame as he approached the prone gray frame of the drone. He frowned, his field buzzing with boredom and some other emotion Optimus couldn't make out.
"He killed him," Optimus said. Not a question. A statement.
Starscream rolled his optics. "Yes, Prime, we've covered that."
Optimus turned to look at Starscream. "What did he do wrong? And why do you consider the death of one of your own soldiers to be nothing, Starscream?" he asked softly.
Starscream crossed his arms and grimaced. "I don't remember what he did wrong. All I know is that it was enough to irritate Master—I mean, Megatron."
"You do not seem to care. You consider this to be nothing."
"Because it is nothing, Prime! This kind of thing happens all the time on the Nemesis. Those who do not prove themselves worthy are disposed of. That's just how it is. It is the way of things."
He frowned behind his battlemask. The wind blew and stirred up the leaves, making them drift through the air and settle atop the greyed-out husk of the drone. Starscream tapped his pede impatiently and stared at the drone, his field roiling around him with impatience and boredom—
—and anxiety. That was the emotion Optimus felt earlier. Once upon a time, it could've been Starscream who made that mistake and who ended up getting covered up by time and nature on the ground.
It is the way of things.
Optimus shook his helm and looked out into the abandoned and caved-in mine. He activated his comm. "Autobots, have you found anything?"
"Nothing," Arcee said.
"Come to my location. This mine had decayed too much to safely mine from. The Decepticons have failed to clean up their remaining mining technology. We cannot let it fall into human hands."
"Why did you send your other soldiers away, Prime?" Starscream said.
"To look for any other potential mining sites."
"I know there aren't any, Prime. I've been here a hundred times. It's very unlikely that there are new mining sites we didn't already detect. So why did you send your soldiers away?"
"Because I needed to talk to you and I needed to find out just what has happened to Megatron."
"Are you surprised to see what Megatron has done, Prime?" Starscream said, his red optics piercingly bright in the coming gloom.
Optimus looked at the husk. He knew Megatron was a tyrant. But to see the evidence of his tyranny laying before him…
"It is the way of things, Prime," Starscream repeated softly, his field hissing with static and a tiredness that goes back centuries. The headlights of the Autobots reflected across the curves of his frame as they arrived and all transformed.
"Autobots, we must destroy this mine. It is far too unstable to let remain," Optimus said, stepping past the drone's frame and giving it a wide berth. Their optics widened once they saw the drone.
"Are you sure we should destroy this place, Optimus? There really is absolutely nothing here we salvage?" Bumblebee blooped.
Optimus looked out over the rusting equipment. The drone's rusted pedes lingered in the corner of his vision. Starscream nervously looked around, his frame tight with anxiety as he relived old memories. Optimus could tell that they were not happy ones.
Megatronus had been a good mech. Optimus remembered the way he looked down over Cybertron, bursting with ambition and ideas for a better future—
He looked at the abandoned and rotting drone, killed by Megatron's servo for a minor and forgotten mistake.
"There is nothing left here," Optimus said. And there is nothing left of Megatronus, either, he thought, grief filling his field.
He and all of the Autobots transformed their servos into blasters and fired as one into the dark depths of the cave, bringing it crashing down. Past the cacophony of blaster fire and the sound of rocks tumbling Optimus saw Starscream standing off to the side, his optics wide as everything was turned to dust.
"This mission is over. It is time to return to base," Optimus said as he commed Ratchet. A brilliant green groundbridge appeared over the ground, sending clouds of dust flying everywhere. The Autobots ran through it, looking over their shoulders at Optimus as he stood silently by the collapsed mine. Soon it was just him and Starscream.
"What are you waiting for, Prime? There's nothing left here."
Optimus thought of Megatronus and the way he had laughed—
"No, you are right. There is nothing left."
They walked through the groundbridge together.
The image was frozen on the screen.
A blurry picture of a white mech standing beside a larger red and blue one was blown up full-size onto his computer console. Soundwave had been through this routine a hundred times before. Starscream would go run off, and he would have to go slinking after the wayward Seeker and reign him in before his Lord. That was how it had always been. This was nothing new.
In the picture, Starscream was trying to walk up the hill while looking out over the abandoned mine. Yet the other mech in the picture—
—was Optimus Prime. He leaned over Starscream...
Not attacking him.
But helping him.
That was new.
Soundwave tilted his helm and continued to stare at the strange picture, his long thin digits frozen above the keyboard.
Lord Megatron would not be pleased.
He always got in a bad mood whenever he and his second-in-command got into one of their little spats, but Soundwave could always tell his Lord enjoyed it when the pathetic Seeker inevitably came crawling back to him.
Except, this time—
Optimus Prime held Starscream's shoulder in the picture, stopping him from sliding farther down the hill, his servo stabilizing Starscream's back.
Prime just never made things easy.
He got up and walked down the hallway. The bright violet glow of the main room poured out into the hallway. Lord Megatron's massive spiked shadow loomed on the hallway wall.
Soundwave had given him status updates like this a hundred times before. He'd show Lord Megatron a picture or a video of Starscream, he would clench his talons and shout something, and then he'd sternly stare outside into the void of space as he waited for the opportunity to beat some sense into his rogue second. He walked up to Lord Megatron as he stared intently at a group of computer consoles. All of the drones around him tensed up, their anxiety pouring into the air like hot static.
"Soundwave, come. What have you found?" his Lord said, turning around.
Soundwave internally sighed and brought up the image onto his visor.
"Ah, yes, there is the fool. What has he gotten himself into this time—" Megatron abruptly stopped talking, his optics widening and his field flaring out in a hiss of static.
Megatron just stared at the image.
And stared.
And stared.
"...Soundwave," he said very, very slowly.
The drones all around the bridge were looking at them now, their red visors bright with surprise as they looked at the image on Soundwave's visor. The unmistakable forms of Optimus Prime holding their second-in-command burned itself into their processors. They nervously glanced over at Lord Megatron.
The warlord was frozen. He just stared at the image, his optics impossibly bright.
"He…" he began, his talons clenching and unclenching at his sides. "Traitor," Megatron whispered, his voice so soft only Soundwave's audials heard it. "Traitor! That wretch!" Megatron shouted.
His fusion cannon lit up with a hum and all of the drones in the room fell to the floor as one as Megatron blindly fired out onto the bridge. A single drone was not so lucky and collapsed as the bolt tore through him, his smoking husk falling to the floor.
"That pathetic fool is with him, how dare he go crawling to Prime, and not to me!" Megatron seethed, his voice dripping with acid as he sounded out the word "Prime."
Soundwave said nothing as Megatron stomped across the bridge, his fusion cannon smoking and his optics blazing as his field writhed and coiled around him like an angry hurricane.
"First Optimus takes the Primehood from me, but now he has taken my second. And Starscream, that… traitor… I had tolerated his mischief and disloyalty before, but this treachery goes beyond that." He shook his helm, his entire frame shaking with rage as he stood at the peak of the bridge and looked down over the earth below, perhaps hoping to catch a glimpse of Starscream flying down below.
He would not see Starscream. He wouldn't see reason, either.
"No, no maybe this was a mistake. Perhaps Prime has seen it fit to abduct Starscream for his own purposes. Perhaps he plans on using him in some way..." Megatron continued, his frame twitching as his optics turned a deeper and darker shade of red.
Megatron whirled around. His optics had a bright and savage look to them.
"Figure out if he was captured or if he went to Prime willingly. Find him," Megatron commanded, his optics twitching as his fusion cannon lit up again. "Find. Him."
Soundwave nodded and stepped off the bridge. The sound of Megatron screaming in rage as he fired off round after round from his cannon echoed after him as he returned to his computer console.
"This is a mistake," Bulkhead muttered as he drove into the base. Miko leaped out of him as he transformed back into his root mode.
"Starscream just isn't a good idea, 'Cee." Jack sighed as he walked up to the mezzanine. Arcee shook her helm and crossed her arms as she looked out into the hall where Starscream's room was.
"Optimus is just too nice for his own good. For our own good," she muttered.
"He's not too scary… right?" Rafael asked quietly. Bumblebee beeped reassurances as he patted him on the back.
"Oh, he's bad all right! He's tall! He's got missiles! He's got claws!" Miko shouted, wildly waving her arms.
"He's killed," Arcee hisseed as she nodded along, her gaze locked onto the hallway she knew Starscream was in.
"—and he's got these insane Louboutin heels—"
Arcee blinked.
"Wait, what?" Jack asked, twisting around to stare at Miko.
"He has high heels!" Miko yelled.
"What's so special about having heels that are high?" Bulkhead asked.
Ratchet just sighed.
Rafael walked up to Arcee and poked her leg. "But you'll get him to be better, right? You'll convince him that what he did was wrong?" Rafael asked.
Arcee just growled. She wanted Starscream and his murderous talons out of the base as quickly as possible. She remembered burying Cliffjumper, the way the dust just blew away into the wind as she dug his grave and put him there so that he could become dust too. But there was something strangely hopeful about the way Rafael looked up at her. Bumblebee made a quiet clicking noise and glanced between her and Rafael.
"...Maybe," he finally beeped, his wings fluttering. "Or maybe not. I trust Optimus! Maybe he'll get Starscream to become an Autobot."
Arcee tensed up. She had seen Cliffjumper's corpse, all cut up and spilling violet energon, glowing with death —
Bulkhead shrugged. "I hope so! I don't want us to waste our time on that Con—er, former Con, for nothing. I don't know what Optimus was thinking… I think he'll just betray us."
"Once a Decepticon, always a Decepticon," Ratchet muttered.
"Is that so?"
Everybody's heads whipped around. Starscream was watching them from the hallway, his bright red optics shining within the shadows. Optimus stood beside him, watching the Seeker.
"I did not know the children would be here so soon," Optimus said, caution filling his field as he tensed up.
"They got to leave school early," Bumblebee beeped.
"Afraid I'll hurt them, Prime?" Starscream said.
Optimus narrowed his optics.
"Relax, I'll leave them alone," Starscream said as he walked past them, Optimus's optics locked onto his back. "What's so weird about my heels?" he muttered.
They walked back to the large storage room the Autobots had converted into his bedroom. They called it his "room," but Starscream knew a cell when he saw one. The door was always locked, they brought him his energon, and he wasn't allowed to leave it without an Autobot present.
"Good night, Starscream," Optimus said.
"I didn't traumatize the humans too much, at least," Starscream mumbled as he kept on walking back to his room, his wings twitching behind his back.
"They are not as bad as you think—"
A loud noise rang out.
Starscream whirled around, his optics blown wide and his vents coming in harsh gasps. His arms strained as he struggled to transform them into his blasters, error messages appearing all over his flashing HUD telling him his weapons were disabled.
"What is wrong?" Optimus said, leaning into his vision. He raised a servo to place it on Starscream's shoulder and the Seeker flinched away, jumping backwards. Optimus froze.
Starscream stared off into the shadows where the noise had originated from. Megatron couldn't have found him, could he? The Autobot base was hidden, not even Starscream knew where it was, there was no chance Mega—no, he would not even let himself think his designation—his former Master could find him here, right? He couldn't possibly be here, he couldn't possibly—
"Sorry, sorry," Bulkhead said, awkwardly shuffling into view. He was holding a tower of wooden crates leaning precariously to one side. A single crate sat on the floor, scraps of metal spilled out all around it.
"I needed that, Bulkhead! Stop dropping stuff!" Ratchet growled as he ran up to him.
"It was just… it was just you?" Starscream breathed out, his wings fluttering behind him as his spark continued to pulse in his sparkchamber. Optimus just watched him, silently observing him.
"Yeah, I just dropped this junk."
"Bulkhead, it's not junk! It's…" Ratchet began to say until he looked over to Starscream. His words died in his intake when he saw Starscream standing there, his wings shaking slightly.
"Starscream—" Optimus began.
He ran into his room, dropping the door shut behind him.
"—there is nothing to fear," Optimus finished, sighing.
Bulkhead shuffled nervously. Ratchet and Optimus just stared at the door.
"Let's go," Ratchet said softly as they continued walking.
Optimus stood there, his entire frame drooping as a heavy sigh left him. "There is nothing to fear," he quietly repeated.
Starscream sat in his room and stared at the wall. His spark still pulsed in his chestplates as he brought up the map of the globe onto his HUD. Ten locations of ten mines hovered over the map, their coordinates strewn out for him to see. Starscream bit his lip.
"I can't just give them all the mines, can I?" he mumbled to himself. The vast mine D-16 shone brightly on his map. "Megatron would know. Megatron would be angry. And if he finds me…"
—bleeding on the ground, vents coming in harsh gasps, Megatron looming over him, raising his pede—
"...No. No," Starscream mumbled, shaking his helm, "If he finds me, he'll be angry at me for giving the Autobots the mines I have already given them… but if I give them the location of one of our largest mines, and Megatron then finds me afterward—"
Starscream stared at the ceiling, his mouth opening and closing.
He stared at the map deep into the night.
"Do not disappoint me," Megatron said.
Starscream fluttered his wings as he walked beside Megatron. His arms still ached from when Megatron had grabbed it and wrenched it behind his back. That was in the past, though. It was just a simple punishment for a little mistake he made, a mistake he definitely would not make again. Starscream couldn't remember what he had done wrong to anger Megatron, though. It seemed he did a lot of things to make Megatron upset. Megatron couldn't remember what he did wrong either. But the war had just gotten started for real, and Megatron was just stressed out a bit. That must be the answer. He knew Megatron wouldn't hurt him anymore.
The snow kept falling down and freezing in his plating. The last time he'd been on such a cold planet, he'd been with a certain shuttle—
He would not think about that.
"I won't disappoint you again, Master," Starscream said, his optics scanning the dark snowy horizon as he looked out for Autobots. It was pitch black and a thousand stars shone above. Only their red optics lit up the cold dark night. Another day in the war, another battleground. He couldn't remember the name of this planet—all he knew was that it was just some icy world where the Autobots had landed. This would be the world he'd prove his worth to Megatron on, he just knew it.
"Master, I have several ideas on how to improve your fusion cannon—"
"Not now," Megatron ground out, his talons clenching into fists.
Starscream shut his intake and continued to scan the snowy horizons for signs of life.
Something shifted off to his side. Starscream whirled around and pointed his arm at it. "There!" he shouted, running toward it.
Suddenly, the ground collapsed beneath him. Starscream yelped as he tumbled down an icy slope. Something sharp slammed into his hip, making him cry out as he came to stop at the bottom of the snowy hill. Hot wet energon seeped out from his wound and onto the snow, making it steam and hiss in the dark night.
He could only see the snow. Everywhere he looked he saw snowflakes whirling around him and vast sheets of ice stretching out as far as his optics could see.
Fear closed in around his spark. "No, where did you go?"
His optics darted everywhere, desperately trying to catch a glimpse of Megatron.
Megatron suddenly appeared out of the dark snow. Starscream felt a massive sigh of relief blow out of his frosted vents as Megatron came and loomed over him in the gloom.
"A-about time! Where were you? Get over here and help me, this s-snow is clogging up my wings and I think my hip—"
"Prove it."
He blinked. The snow whirled around him. "What?"
Megatron leered down at him, his shining red optics burning piercingly bright amidst the dark whirling snow. "Prove to me that you are worth saving, Starscream. I will not waste my time salvaging scrap."
His jaw dropped. "But… what?"
Megatron crouched down in front of the shaking Seeker.
Oh, he's going to help me get up, Starscream thought.
Megatron's talons reached out and he grabbed ahold of Starscream's faceplate before violently wrenching him forward until all their faceplates were just inches apart.
"Prove to me why I should not just leave you behind here, Seeker."
Starscream felt his spark leap into his throat. "No! Don't, don't leave me here, I am worth saving!"
"Then prove it!" Megatron shouted as he stood and kicked Starscream hard in the side.
The snow flew everywhere as he went tumbling over the ground, his energon leaking out onto the cold white snow. The snow was closing in, he couldn't see anything through the storm, just like the time he couldn't find the other bot he once explored icy worlds with—
He laid there on his side, his vents heaving as he bled out. This can't be happening, this can't be happening—
The red glow of Megatron's optics lit up the snow. The red glow came near Starscream, making his entire frame freeze as Megatron approached. Starscream whirled around, his entire frame shaking as he scrambled backwards from Megatron's massive pedes. Megatron pinned Starscream down under one of his massive pedes and Starscream felt his chestplates creak under the pressure.
"I—I can help you with your weapons, I can seek energon, just please don't leave me here!"
"Stand up."
"It hurts!"
"Stand. Up."
Megatron removed his pede and Starscream whimpered as he rose, the snow crunching beneath him and his hip burning in pain as he shakily stood before Megatron.
Megaron just stared at him, disgust wafting through his field. "I do not care if it hurts. Power is pain. In order to earn power, you must first learn to endure pain. Only the strong will prosper amongst the Decepticons. The weak will be left behind. Do you understand that, Starscream?"
He clutched his bleeding hip, his optics wide and bright as pain shot through his hip. "I—I do," he stuttered out.
"Good," Megatron said. He grabbed Starscream's shoulder tightly and forced Starscream to walk ahead of him. Starscream marched forward, his hip hurting more with every step.
"Do not make me leave you behind again, Starscream."
Starscream nodded. He took a deep vent, ignored the pain blooming in his hip—
He fell to the ground and gasped as a sudden burst of agony hit him.
Megatron's helm whipped around and he growled at Starscream.
"No, Master, I can make it! Don't leave me behind, I can make the distance!"
"You will either stay strong, or you will stay here."
Starscream shakily rose to his pedes again and limped forward. "Don't you dare consider leaving me here."
Megatron leaned in, his breath frosting in the freezing cold night. "I learned long ago that being compassionate is just being weak. I will not be weak. I cannot allow Prime to gain the upper servo, do you understand that? You are just a liability in battle! And you will have to be left behind."
"What? But then how will I get back to the Nemesis?" Starscream cried out, more energon leaking from his hip.
Megatron's engine growled. "That is not my concern. My only concern is the upcoming battle."
Megatron began to walk away, leaving the gawking Seeker behind in the whirling snow. Starscream's processor blanked out with panic. Is this how Skyfire felt? Is this how he felt as he'd walked away and left him behind?
He forced himself to his pedes again and felt something tear in his leg. Megatron was just a distant and grey silhouette walking off through the whirling snow. He vanished.
Starscream was alone. He bit his glossa and tried not to curse as more snow fell down around him. The location of the base beeped on his HUD. He just had to get there, with or without Megatron.
"Is this how you felt, Skyfire?" Starscream moaned as the ice collected in his joints and the wind blew harder. "Is this how you felt?"
He dragged himself across the snow while leaving behind a long stream of energon behind him. As Starscream pulled himself along across the freezing ground he grit his dentae.
"I won't let myself be left b-behind ever again, not ever. I'll prove myself. I'll prove myself."
He continued on, completely alone.
Starscream whirled through the air as Optimus drove along through the woods down below. This was his second mission with Prime. He only had to find the energon, that's all he had to do to prove himself worthy to the team.
"Once a Decepticon, always a Decepticon," Ratchet's voice said as the memory returned to him.
He growled. He wouldn't let his pathetic nightmares get to him and he certainly wouldn't let the team medic's insults get to him either. He just had to prove himself.
Starscream let his senses go wide and he scanned the ground far below, feeling every shift of the air and every change in the sky's currents as he flew.
He felt it. A powerful signal pulsed in his processor and a tingling sensation went through his frame. Somewhere nearby was energon. He could feel the energon's signals crackle through the air and light up his EM field like a beacon.
"There's energon nearby!" Starscream yelled out, Optimus revving his engines and racing after him as he burned his engine and flew off into the night. It was dark and cold and only the moon provided any light. A light snow fell from the ground and made everything appear white and grey. Far ahead of them loomed a large hill, its black silhouette towering over the forest floor in the dark.
Starscream transformed and landed right beside Optimus, his entire frame vibrating with energy. This was how it should be. Just him, Optimus, and the thrill of flight and energon-seeking. All of the other Autobots were off on their own little missions. There were no clumsy wreckers, mute scouts, or seething two-wheelers to worry about. And no Megatron—that was always a bonus.
"About time we found something! This snow is ruining everything. Let's just get the scrap and go."
Optimus nodded and the two of them began to walk to the mine when suddenly Optimus froze. He looked out over the woods, his audials pricked up and his optics bright as he scanned the trees. Starscream stood nearby and tapped his pede impatiently.
"We are not alone."
Starscream looked into the trees. The only sound was the quiet moaning of the wind and the shaking of thousands of leaves in the dark night.
A blaster bolt slammed into the snow right beside them and made it explode in an expanding ball of violet flame. Optimus shoved Starscream into the treeline as he fired out into the woods with his blaster, killing a drone and making its frame drop dead to the ground as more drones rushed out from the trees.
"Stay back, you have no weapons! I will take care of them. You stay here."
He opened his intake to protest. There was no way in the Pits he would just stand by and do nothing as Optimus fought the drones down. Optimus transformed his servo into a sword and shoved it through the frame of another drone, his optics looking out at him from across the snow as more drones rushed in. He pulled his sword out and sent a spray of energon out into the air. All of the protests Starscream had planned died in his intake once he saw the determined and deadly look in Optimus's optics.
Starscream huffed and moved back up the hill and behind the trees as he watched the Prime fight far below. The sound of firing shots rang through the night air and the bright flashes from the glowing blue barrel of Optimus's barrel left bright afterimages in Starscream's optics. He sat there and sighed, rolling his optics as Optimus plowed through Decepticon after Decepticon. He was far away from the awful fight and for that he was glad; he wouldn't have to dirty his talons with more spilt energon. Something felt wrong, though.
Something shifted behind him. Starscream froze. The trees rustled and the ground crunched as something moved through the foliage behind him. Starscream leaped up and into the air before landing down atop the approaching drone and killing it, digging his talons deep into its neck cables.
The drone twitched and then died, its' bright red visor dimming and going black. Starscream sat atop the drone, breathing in harshly as energon coursed through his frame. He stepped off the frame and kicked it away before walking off to the edge of the trees.
"Only a scout, then," he mumbled. The sound of the fight below was fading away as the fight between Optimus and the drones drifted away farther and farther into the woods.
Starscream lounged back against a tree as he waited for the Prime to finish his fight. The signal he had detected still glowed brightly on his HUD.
"Just finish them off so we can get away from here," Starscream spoke to nobody, stretching his wings as he complained. He began to get that feeling again, that sinking creeping feeling that something was wrong.
Starscream looked out into the woods and craned his helm to see where Optimus was. Faint red and blue lights flashed from far off in the woods, and even those were fading quickly. Optimus would come back, though. He had come back for him in the canyon and would come back for him again.
He lied there and clenched his fists. As the sound of the frenzied battle faded away he sat there with only his thoughts and the cold snow to keep him company. Icy lakes and snowy forest stretched out for as far as his optics could see, an icy slope right ahead of him. This was just like that planet he'd been on so many vorns ago when the war was young and he was even younger.
Starscream growled in frustration. He was doing nothing. He couldn't fight, couldn't go and see what the signal was, couldn't do a thing.
—Prove to me that you are worth saving, Starscream—
The words drifted through his helm.
—If you prove yourself to be trustworthy, then you can become an Autobot—
He couldn't just sit there anymore. He had to prove himself. He had to, this was his last chance at… at life, he supposed. He could not afford to be left behind. He wouldn't be left behind, not like how Skyfire had to be left behind because he couldn't handle the storm.
Sighing, he got up and scrambled down the side of the snowy cliff and into the clearing, his wing banging against a jagged boulder as he slid down the slope. He flinched as a tearing sensation shot through his wing. Energon slowly dribbled down his frame and he twisted around to see it.
"Slag it!" Starscream cursed. His wing injury had reopened. "Of course I somehow manage to injure myself while doing nothing at all," he groaned.
"The weak will be left behind," the memory of Megatron's voice whispered.
The snow kept falling all around him as he strained his optics for the massive red and blue frame of Optimus Prime. He was supposed to stay put, but he had to find the Prime. He couldn't be left behind again. He saw no red and blue, only the cold white of the falling snow and the dark greens and grays of the forest stretching on and on. He had to find Optimus, had to do something—
There was nobody there.
There was just him and the endless whirling snow, not another bot to be seen. The air was devoid of signals of any kind.
A tree shook.
Relief flooded through Starscream's frame. "Optimus?" Starscream said as he got up, his wing burning with pain. "My injury reopened, slag it! You Autobots better patch me up, because I swear, if my wing gets scratched again—"
No response.
The tree shook again as the wind blew harder. Starscream froze and looked out into the whirling snow. All he could see was the vast shape of a mountain looming before him and blocking out the starlight. He shakily lifted a talon to his helm and activated his comms. "Hello?" he asked.
No response.
"Slag it," Starscream cursed. Right when he finally decided to get up and try to help, the Prime just had to vanish.
Optimus was just gone, almost as if he'd left him behind.
"Oh, no," he whispered to himself as dread coiled around his spark. He'd gotten left behind. He couldn't prove himself, couldn't stand up before Optimus, and now the Prime was gone and he'd have to find his way back by himself. Starscream activated his comm.
There was no response. He was alone.
The corpse of the drone he killed laid behind him, already covered in a thin layer of fallen snow. The drone had been alone and nobody's come by looking for him yet. The snow blew harder and the air grew colder. Starscream turned and looked up at the drone and the dark shadow it cast. "Did you prove yourself worthy, drone? Did they leave you behind, too?"
He shook his helm and kicked the ground as he walked into the cave, anxiety closing in around his spark. The signal he had detected grew stronger and stronger as he approached the mountain. A blue glow shone out from within the dark cave. Crystals of energon shone from within, but the sheer anxiety he felt closing around his spark made the discovery worth nothing. He stared at the bright blue glow of the energon and thought of the blue light of Optimus's blaster firing as it had faded away.
He was alone and abandoned and Primus—
"I should have known better. It might have just have all been a ruse," he mumbled to himself. Get him away from the rest of the Decepticons and leave him dependent on them, and then leave him. What was he thinking back in that cave? Paranoia consumed him. He did not like the cold, the freezing sensation of snow in your joints and in your plating.
The last time he'd been in the snow was when he was Megatron abandoned him. And the time before that he'd been desperately searching for Sky—
No. He wouldn't think about them. He wouldn't. And he certainly wouldn't let some snow and cold get to him, no matter how many memories it brought back.
"You need a friend, Starscream," the memory of Optimus's voice said as the memory of the cave-in returned to him. He remembered the way Optimus looked at him, the way his field washed over his much smaller one and glowed with concern.
...No. Optimus wouldn't leave him behind. This was no ruse. The other Autobots would, but not him. Right? He thought of Megatron's storming rage and the wrath he's been accustomed to for millennia now. He thought of Optimus, and all he could see in his processor was Optimus standing there in the cave, vast and tall and a millennia old mystery to him.
Starscream offlined his optics, and he waited for the Prime. He would not be left behind the same way those drones were. Optimus would come back. He had to come back.
Because Starscream had no one else to go back to.
He stared off into the night, the snow falling around him and into his plating. He shook it off and kept on staring at the glow of the energon until it left behind a bright blue afterimage in his optics.
Megatron had kept walking. He'd just kept walking, he left him there kneeling in the snow, alone—
He would not think about that.
He couldn't see the shuttle anywhere he looked. He'd had to leave him behind. There was just snow and ice and pain—
"Starscream, are you all right?" Optimus said as he walked out of the trees, his battlemask retracted.
He shot to his pedes and his field flared out. "Of course I'm all right! I'm perfectly fine! Perfectly capable!" Starscream snapped, forcing down the anxiety that he had felt. "Where did you get off to? It's been hours!"
"It has been 30 minutes. The Decepticons kept on attacking and it took awhile for the rest of the team to arrive. I apologize."
"I see," Starscream said, shaking the snow off of his scratched wings. The hot acidic smell of energon wafted through the air and into his vents. He shook his helm and walked toward the cave, away from the corpse of the drone he'd killed and the memories that came with it. Optimus was saying something into his comm, the snow kept falling and he could still smell the hot stench of energon. Starscream turned around to look back at the Prime when he saw the drone again.
The corpse of the left behind drone laid there on the ground, all greyed out and stinking of spilt energon.
"Prove to me that you are worth saving, Starscream. I will not waste my time salvaging scrap," a voice whispered to him, floating up from his memories.
Starscream stared into the dark woods, his frame frozen, his field thrashing with pure grief.
The trees shook, clouds floated overhead, and the world was plunged into darkness.
"Have you found anything?" Optimus said as he came up behind him.
The trees stopped shaking. The air stilled. The clouds moved past the moon, lighting up the woods.
"...A cave full of energon," Starsceam said.
There was no need to focus on the drone anymore, the dead and frozen drone that had been left behind. Starscream was not him. He was alive, and the drone was not, and that was what mattered. He hadn't been left behind. Relief poured through his frame. He had proved himself and shown that he was useful. He would last another day at least.
"This is good, Starscream," Optimus said, his optics widening as he stared into the glowing blue depths of the mine.
A strange tingly feeling rose up within Starscream. "Uh, yes. Just doing my job. I am quite good at seeking energon, you know."
The sounds of engines revving vibrated through the forest. The Autobots drove up to the cave and walked inside, their fields flaring with shock.
"This place is great!" Bulkhead laughed.
"I guess you aren't all bad, Starscream," Bumblebee beeped.
Arcee said nothing as she stiffly walked farther into the cave.
"This mine remains undiscovered by the Decepticons. It seems that they detected us, but not the energon. It should last us for a long time. It is getting late. We must return to base for now, we can harvest it later."
He was faintly aware of the sound of Optimus calling for a groundbridge and the forest clearing lighting up with a blast of light and air as a groundbridge opened up. Starcream gulped and walked toward the bridge. He froze at the threshold of the groundbridge and stared back into the darkness. The trees shook in the wind and the clouds floated overheard.
Starscream's helm whirled around. Something was there. The air currents shifted, the breeze lifted. Something stood there. Watching. Waiting.
"What is wrong?"
Whatever it was, it left.
Starscream kept staring off into the darkness as a shaky exhale left his vents. Optimus's piercingly bright blue optics stared at him with concern.
"I'm fine," Starscream said, walking into the bridge. He hadn't been left behind. Not yet, at least.
Soundwave watched from the trees. A single red light glowed on his visor as he recorded everything. He hummed as he watched Starscream and the Prime move along through the forest. Megatron breathed heavily on the other side of the comm line, his angry growls drifting through.
"He must be a prisoner. He understands that the punishment for fleeing to Prime is severe. He always understood that. What a fool he is to let himself be captured... Keep observing," Megatron spoke over the comm.
Soundwave nodded. He did not need to see Megatron standing before him to know that Megatron was shaking with wrath.
The Seeker was a traitor. Soundwave knew this. Yet Megatron was in… denial. The last time Megatron had been in such denial over a betrayal was when a certain archivist had walked away from him after a certain Senate meeting. Soundwave shook his helm. Megatron would soon see reason soon. Soundwave would help with that. And when Megatron did see reason, he would help bring the rogue Seeker in to face his Lord's wrath. No, he would not allow another betrayal to hurt his Lord again. Not after the last time.
Soundwave zoomed in on the image of Starscream's worried faceplate, recording all the while.
