The snow fell harder and harder. A hot pain raced throughout his wing as energon seeped out from a long and jagged crack in it. He just needed to make it, he just needed to prove himself.
Megatron was up ahead, his sharp and silver frame bright with moonlight. His red optics burned in the night as he kept walking, his entire processor devoted to the mission. Megatron was still aware of him, though. He was always aware of him.
"Are you finished lagging behind, Starscream? The Autobots will gladly take advantage of your slow speed so that they can take you down."
Starscream shook his helm and stomped forward through the snow until he was right up in Megatron's faceplate, his wing burning in pain. The injury from the canyon had reopened again. "I won't let the Autobots get me, Master."
Megatron placed a large clawed servo atop his pauldron and looked him right in the optics, his field calm. Starscream knew what he would say next.
"Then pick up the pace. Do not force me to leave you behind again!" he shouted, making Starscream flinch as his field stormed with rage.
Starscream tromped forward through the snow. This was a dream—it had to be. He couldn't remember this specific mission. He'd gone following after Megatron through the snow on some wretched backwater world hundreds of times now. Hundreds and hundreds of times, it seemed. After a while, all of the memories just blurred together and only the pain remained.
Megatron was far ahead of him now and the pain in Starscream's wing was overwhelming. He fell to his knees with a grunt, his frame shaking as hot sparks leaped out from his damaged wing and scurried across the snow.
"Starscream!" Megatron shouted, far off and distant. His optics widened. He would not allow Megatron to abandon him again. He just had to prove himself to be strong enough.
He'd catch up to him, and Megatron would just yell at him and perhaps kick him, and then Starscream would beg for forgiveness and Megatron would just scoff and tell him to do better because that was how it always went. Megatron was a massive, terrifying mech, yet Starscream felt he mostly understood him. He could navigate and fly around Megatron's rage the same way he could navigate the skies.
Megatron was gone now and only the whirling snow remained. Starscream snarled and forced himself to his pedes, snow grinding in his joints and his energon leaking out into the snow. He would not be left behind again, he just had to prove himself—
Megatron was ahead of him, the whirling snow obscuring his frame. The blue glow from his optics lit up the snow and Megatron turned around—
And Starscream found himself facing Optimus Prime.
The massive red and blue mech stood there, Megatron long gone. Optimus stood there, tall and mighty and staring at him with those bright blue optics. He put a large servo atop Starscream's shaking snow-covered pauldron, and he leaned down and looked the Seeker right in the optics.
"Starscream," he said. Starscream didn't know what he would say next.
He stood there, and Starscream had absolutely no idea what he would do next. No clue. Prime was a mystery to him. Megatron had been a tempest, a violet storm of rage and wrath that he was still learning to fly through. But Optimus was unknowable. Whereas Megatron was a storm, Optimus was a still and cloudless sky, endless and calm. And Starscream had no idea when he'd stop being calm.
The Autobots had finally gotten him. He still wasn't sure if that was a good thing or not.
Starscream woke up from his nightmare. He felt the vibrations within the ground as the Autobots moved around in the base outside in the main room. He offlined his optics and reached into the depths of his processor and pulled out the most important files he could. A holographic projection of the Earth appeared on his HUD, the location of every major mine mapped out onto it in bright red, their coordinates all splayed out for him to see.
Optimus would want more mine locations—Primus, he had already given the Autobots several of the locations already. But how many more could he hand over to the Autobots? Megatron did not like losing, and he would most certainly be displeased by the amount of energon slipping through his talons and heading over to Team Prime. No, he wouldn't be happy at all, and when Megatron inevitably finds Starscream—a confrontation Starscream knows that must soon happen—he will not be pleased with the amount of energon he gave away.
He won't be happy. Not at all.
He dragged his talons down his faceplate as the door opened and drew up, revealing the Prime.
"Are you ready, Starscream?"
The mines glowed brightly on his HUD, each one shining with the promise of so much potential and so much pain.
"As ready as I'll ever be."
They stepped into the main room and Starscream boredly inspected the base as Prime went off to chat with his medic. The Autobots watched him, their blue optics looking right into him as he stood there and idly tapped his pede. The air was thick with tension, a sitting energy just waiting to be unleashed. Arcee watched from within the shadows of a nearby corridor, her blue and pink optics shining brightly. Starscream rolled his optics and looked away from her. The holographic Earth continued to float on his HUD, spinning on and on, the mine locations blinking on and off and filling his vision with coordinates and numbers.
"Starscream," Arcee said.
Ah, so the two-wheeler has decided to take the confrontational route. Interesting.
Starscream looked down at Arcee and tried not flinch as she stared right at him. "I know what you're doing," she hissed. Optimus was still busy talking with Ratchet at the other end of the room. Bulkhead and Bumblebee walked in closer, warily looking between Starscream and Arcee.
Oh, I am not doing this again, Starscream internally groaned, images of her sharp blades flashing in the light coming into his processor.
"And what would that be, Arcee? What am I planning?" he said as he leaned in, his voice smooth and acidic. He knew he should just walk off to the Prime and leave her be, but something in the way she tightly held herself just made his spark flare. He'd seen so many arrogant bots like this before.
"Soon Optimus will see just how pathetic you really are, and he'll stop being nice to you and just send you back to the rest of the Cons. Stop this ruse, we both know you're just here to find the location of the base."
"Hmmm," Starscream hummed, tapping his pede and casually crossing his arms. "And I suppose you'll do everything you can to convince him that he should just give me the boot?"
"Absolutely," Arcee said, her doorwings flapping behind her.
Starscream knew he should just walk away. He knew he should just let the angry two-wheeler stew in the shadows and just leave her and her rage behind. He raised his wings and took a deep vent before walking off. Maybe Optimus was ready to leave—
"I bet you killed your trine, too."
Starscream whipped around and loomed over her, his red optics brightening in the shadows of the corridor. The word trine reverberated through his audials and made his two dead trinebonds flare up in pain. He growled and loomed over her, images of purple and blue wings flashing in the light rising unwanted into his processor. He couldn't think of them, not here, not now.
"You don't even deserve to say that word! You are not the first to doubt me, two-wheeler. Cliffjumper doubted me too, and we all saw where that got him."
Arcee's jaw dropped. She stared at Starscream as he smirked and walked away, making hot rage burn in her field.
Optimus stood in the corner and frowned as he shook his helm.
"Starscream."
He turned around, his arms crossed and his optics bright. "Don't say anything. Just don't."
He opened his intake, preparing to admonish the angry Seeker. Starscream just looked at him, his field heavy with feelings of loss and fatigue.
"Don't you dare mention my trine, too." Starscream said, his frame tightening.
Optimus nodded slowly. The groundbridge activated and they both went through.
Starscream dropped through the groundbridge, his optics widening in surprise.
The Autobots stood there in a line, all of their blasters activated and pointing into the depths at—
Nobody. The mine was empty of other lifeforms. Drilling equipment sat stacked up all around the mine, hastily abandoned.
"I don't get it…where are the Cons?" Bulkhead asked. Starscream and the Autobots were the only life forms in the entire mine. Long towering crystals of energon stuck up all over the place surrounded by abandoned mining equipment.
"I suspect that something is wrong," Optimus said as his optics scanned every inch of the cave.
All of the Autobots had their blasters pointed out into the dusty darkness and their voices echoed into the cavernous depths. Starscream kicked a rock and watched it fly off into the void.
"Did you do this?" Arcee asked, narrowing her optics at Starscream.
"Okay, you know that not every strange thing that happens that is Decepticon-related is connected to me, right?" he scoffed.
"I don't know… you are one freaky dude, Starscream," Bulkhead snickered.
"Dude? Oh please, spare me the human terminology."
Optimus shook his helm. "Starscream, can you think of any possible reason a viable mine would be abandoned?"
"We abandon smaller mines to focus on mining larger ones that are much more profitable. Or maybe this is a trap. Really, it surprised me how easy it was to lure you Autobots into mines by just emptying them of miners. That's how we..." caught Cliffjumper, Starscream thought, shaking his helm "...Yes. That's just how we did things."
"Hey look, a computer!" Bumblebee said.
"I do not trust this place. Arcee, go through the computer records and try to find the security feeds. I do not know if this place is a trap or if the Decepticons just abandoned it to conserve their manpower," Optimus said.
Arcee narrowed her optics at Starscream before stomping off to the computer console.
Starscream scowled at the rocks. He should be out there flying and soaring, not trudging around in the dust of some mine. Although, it was probably for the best that there were no Cons here. He'd be dead weight in a fight without his blasters. He couldn't go through that again.
"At least Master—I mean, at least Megatron isn't here."
The computer console behind him lit up the dusty chamber as the Autobots turned it on.
"You have disappointed me," Megatron's voice said.
Starscream froze and turned around, his entire frame locked up as he prepared to come faceplate-to-facplate with him—
Megatron was not there. It was just a recording. The old security recording was blown up full-size on the screen. Megatron snarled on the computer, his presence on the screen just as intimidating as it was in real life. Starscream cowered beneath him in the grainy footage. The recording was glitchy and corrupted, yet the look of pure fear on Starscream's faceplate was obvious.
"Turn it off!" Starscream said. His optics narrowed and his talons clenched into fists. "Turn. It. Off."
Optimus approached, his field smooth and calm. "I am sorry, Starscream, but we need to better understand the Decepticon's movements."
Starscream rolled his optics and went stalking off to the other corner of the cave, impatiently tapping his pedes. He could feel his spark flare in his chestplates as the recording of Megatron's voice continued to berate his past self.
"I did not meant for it happen—" Starscream's past self yelled.
"Is that so? You did not sabotage this mine?"
"No, I did not, I would never even think—" Starscrean flinched as the sound of him getting thrown across the room played out in the recording. Bulkhead looked at him, glancing back and forth between the footage on the computer and the scowling real-life Seeker.
"Woah, he punted you like a lugball!" Bulkhead said and his jaw dropped as he watched the past Starscream get thrown through the air in the recording.
Starscream growled and stalked off farther into the cave, Optimus watching.
"Oh, so it was just a coincidence that the cave roof collapsed onto me, is that it?" Megatron's voice growled.
He clenched his dentae and stared at the wall.
"Yes! I didn't know it was unstable!" Starscream begged on the screen, the Autobots watching with rapt attention.
His wings hiked up high on his back as he crossed his arms and continued to glare at the wall. They did not need to see this, they didn't need to see his shame played out before them—
The sound of a fusion cannon firing went off.
Starscream's spark leapt into his throat.
"Megatron, no!" the current Starscream yelled, dropping to the floor.
Arcee paused the recording. All of the Autobots looked over.
Starscream lied down on the dusty floor, his optics screwed shut as his spark pounded in his chestplates. He could still hear the sound of the cannon's burst of energy reverberating around the cave, he could still feel the hot air seared by the blast above his helm, he had messed up again, had failed to prove his worth, Megatron was firing at him again—
"Starscream," a bot—Megatron, it had to be him—said, crouching down beside Starscream.
His talon shot out and he pushed Megatron away from him as he scrambled away through the dusty ground. Voices murmured all around him and his spark pulsed hard in his chestplates as he tried to throw himself out of the range of the next blast. Starscream pried open an optic, flinching at the sight of a massive mech looming over him again. Megatron was here, and Megatron was not happy. His blue optics were staring down at him in rage—
Blue.
Megatron did not have blue optics.
Starscream reset his optics and slowly got up and glanced around. He was still in the cave and the Autobots were staring at him, their optics wide and their jaws dropped.
A frozen image of Megatron firing with his fusion cannon at a ducking Starscream was on the computer console.
"Oh," Starscream said numbly, shakily getting to his pedes. Optimus reached a servo out to place on his shoulder.
"Starscream, are you all right?"
"I'm fine!" Starscream snarled, swatting the Prime's servo away.
He could feel Optimus's vast field crackling behind him and brushing over his wings. Optimus took a few steps back, his optics on him all the time. The rest of the Autobots began to murmur behind them.
"That sound...the cannon...that was just the recording, wasn't it?"
Optimus nodded slowly.
Starscream offlined his optics and grit his dentae. He was Starscream. He had commanded entire armies before—he would not let mere noises and memories get the best of him.
"I think it is best for us to stop reviewing the footage," Optimus said. Nobody complained.
Hot shame flooded through his frame and he averted his optics away from the team.
Optimus approached, his intake opening to say something.
"I...am... fine," Starscream hissed out.
He just frowned, his field smoothly ebbing around him.
Starscream scowled and stalked off. He couldn't use his blasters, couldn't even command any respect, and he couldn't even control his stupid impulses—
He walked off into a corner of the cave, the murmurs of the Autobots following after him.
He didn't know how long he sat there. Starscream just rested and stared out into the endless blue depths of the cavern as he willed his spark to stop pulsing in his chest. He'd felt the heat of the fusion cannon brush past his frame, he saw Megatron's massive spiked frame loom over him—
And yet, Megatron was not there. He never was.
But it felt like he was there. It always felt like that.
Someone walked up behind him. Starscream froze when suddenly Optimus came into view. The Prime just stared at him as Starscream resolutely stared ahead.
"We must return to base," Optimus said.
Starscream nodded and brushed past the Prime without looking at him. He knew he couldn't look at Optimus, just couldn't look at his bright blue optics full of concern and show the Prime just how shaken he was. He couldn't be weak because the weak get left behind.
They were the only ones left in the cave. Starscream walked through the groundbridge, the words Megatron is not here Megatron is not here repeating in his helm like a mantra.
"Did you see that? Did you see the way he just dropped?" somebot said. It was Bulkhead. Or was it Arcee? Starscream wasn't sure.
He leaned against the wall in his room in the shadows. The voices of the Autobots filtered through the crack in the bottom of the door and directly into his helm, the echoes of their voices piercingly loud in the quiet darkness.
"The way his optics just lit up…" Bulkhead mumbled.
"Megatron really did a number on him," said Arcee.
"I feel bad for him," Bumblebee said.
He covered his audials with his servos and growled.
"I can't believe just a recording was able to make him freak out like that!" Bulkhead said from the main room.
Starscream got up and kicked the wall, making a small crack form in the concrete. "I am not something to be pitied—"
"Starscream?" Optimus said. He stood in the doorway, his bright blue optics illuminating the dim room.
"Oh, so you have decided to refrain from the gossip, haven't you? So noble!" Starscream sneered.
Optimus just blinked and stared at him.
"The way he shook..." Ratchet's voice said, drifting through the base.
"Let's go," Optimus said.
"But...to where?" Starscream said as he followed the Prime out into the hallway. Their voices were louder now.
"He was... terrified..." Bumblebee said.
"He's a liability to the team," Arcee said.
He turned down his audials until their voices were just faint whispers. He could still hear them.
"I don't know… He just looked so scared, yknow?" Bulkhead continued as Optimus and Starscream walked in.
All of the bots fell silent as they walked into the main room. Optimus wordlessly walked over to the groundbridge and activated it.
"We are headed to investigate the mine Starscream discovered earlier."
There was something off about the way the Prime moved.
"This late? Optimus—" Ratchet began.
Optimus turned around and he and Ratchet just stared at each other for several seconds.
Whatever he saw in the Prime's optics made him shut his intake.
"Stay safe out there," Ratchet finished.
He nodded as the groundbridge roared to life. He glanced at Starscream and then transformed before driving through the bridge.
Starscream stared after him. He could feel the optics of the rest of Team Prime on his back as he transformed and flew through.
"I am not something to be pitied," he mumbled as he flew into the light.
Optimus and Starscream walked silently through the snowy woods. The stars shone above and the snow crunched under their pedes as they approached the massive shape of a mountain. It loomed ahead of them, blotting out the stars.
Something was off. The way Optimus moved, the way he looked forward as they walked through the snow, all of it just read as wrong to Starscream.
"They did not like me at first," Optimus began.
"Who is 'they'? I find it hard to believe that there are Autobots out there who don't drop down to their knees in devotion to you."
Optimus shook his helm. "When I first became Prime, many felt that I was too inexperienced. Too young. Too stupid."
Starscream's jaw dropped. Optimus continued to silently walk through the woods, not looking at him. The Prime before him wasn't the stern commander he normally was. This was a different side of him, a quieter Optimus whose shoulders sagged and whose optics were dim and faint.
"I heard them talk about how I did not deserve the Matrix as I felt it burn within my chest."
"Is this going to be some feel-good story about the little bot rising up and becoming great? Did you drag me out here in the middle of the night to boast?"
He stopped walking and turned to look at Starscream.
"I brought you out here to tell you a story. I was once weak. But my friends have helped me become stronger."
Starscream rolled his optics. "Wow, the power of Autobot friendship is just so strong, isn't it?" he scoffed.
"They could be your friends too, you know."
Starscream froze and just stared at Optimus. Snow began to fall lightly around them.
"There were many bots who doubted me, but I kept pushing and pushing. They saw that I really did want to help, and so they accepted me. They helped me move past Megatronus's betrayal. Their friendship kept me going, allowing me to reach where I am today. And I know that if you stay, you will soon earn their trust and friendship as well. They will help you most past Megatron."
"Optimus… no. We're nothing alike, do you understand that?" Starscream laughed mirthlessly. "You were a good bot. You still are a good bot! I bet you didn't kill the companions of your friends."
"I did."
"What?"
The mine loomed before them now and the snow fell harder. "I walked away from Megatron on that fateful day in the Senate Chamber. I knew that he had lost himself. When the war began, I had to kill many of the Decepticons he considered to be his friends. I killed many of the Decepticons who I had also considered to be some of my friends as well, other bots who also wanted justice," Optimus shut his optics. "And who chose the worst way to achieve it. They continued to serve Megatron and would not see reason. I had no choice but to… end many of them. There's more to life than a cycle of violence. I want to see you break out of it, Starscream."
"Not again. I can't go through this again. Let's just get the energon and go—"
"I don't want to see you burn up in the stars, Starscream."
"I'm already all burnt up, all right? They won't accept me. They just won't. So get over it and help me...just help me dig up this energon. I'm not a good mech, Optimus."
"You could be."
Dark clouds drifted over the stars and the temperature plummeted as frost formed across their frames. Starscream said nothing as the frost fell and the ice and snow collected in his joints. He walked into the cave, Optimus following behind him.
They worked in silence as they mined the energon. He could feel Optimus staring at him, but whenever the Prime drew near Starscream would growl and just walk away. He wouldn't have this conversation, not here, not now.
The forest was perfectly still, but the air was with with his thrashing and staticky field. First he'd panicked at the mine, and now the Prime was trying to be all sentimental on him again. He kept his back to Optimus, unable to bring himself to look the Prime in the optics. The idea of making eye contact and staring into Optimus's deep blue optics made a burst of anxiety rise up within him.
A shot fired out from the dark. A section of the rock wall burst apart and exploded, sending fragments of rubble everywhere. Drones came pouring out of a side tunnel, wildly firing their blasters at Optimus and Starscream as they ran forward.
Optimus transformed his servos into blasters and sent bolts of plasma tearing through the drones as Starscream grabbed ahold of a nearby drone and slit its neck cables with his claws. They both transformed and burst out of the cave, Optimus driving through the trees at full speed as Starscream twisted and flew above the canopies.
"Now what?" Starscream yelled over his comms.
"We get a groundbridge, and we—"
The ground in front of Optimus exploded. He swerved to the side, flattening and crushing trees as his tires screeched and sent flurries of snow into the air. He rapidly transformed mid-roll, his blaster shooting out and firing at approaching drones. A single drone snuck up behind him, his blaster aimed right at Optimus's spark.
Starscream transformed and fell to the ground beside Optimus, slashing through the drone's neck cables with his talons before kicking the drone's frame aside. Starscream knelt beside Optimus, his optics widening upon seeing the multitude of cuts scattered across the Prime's frame.
"Oh, scrap," he swore, reaching his arms around Optimus's and wrenching the Prime up to his knees. "You just had to get blown up, didn't you?!"
"Bumblebee?" Optimus said as he brushed the snow from his faceplate, his optics widening as he saw Starscream before him.
More blasterfire rang out behind them, lighting up the dark woods and the whirling snow with brilliant flashes of blood red light as the two of them stumbled up and ran farther into a clearing within the woods.
"They have finally detected our energon deposit. I need a groundbridge, Ratchet," Optimus shouted into his comms. Static hissed on the other end.
Optimus frowned and whirled around, rapidly firing more bright blue plasma bolts into the trees. Dozens of bright red visors glowed from within the branches as the drones stepped out into the clearing.
"They must be cutting off the comms… I don't have my blasters, Prime," Starscream said. Optimus nodded, glancing over at Starscream. He moved in front of the Seeker, making Starscream jolt in surprise as he shielded him.
His spark was frozen in his spark chamber. He watched the drones approach as if in slow motion as they closed in all around them. Snow fell, Optimus's heavy frame heaved beside him, and Starscream watched as the drones closed in.
The Prime rapidly fired off shot after shot as Starscream stood there behind him, his frame frozen as blasterfire went off all around them. He couldn't do a thing.
"Useless!" Starscream hissed as he stared at his arms. They were completely devoid of missiles and blasters and any of his weaponry. He only had his talons, but none of the drones were close enough for him to slash at them. As Optimus fought on behind him, Starscream just stood there, the only thing he could do just avoid being shot. He clenched his useless talons into fists and his frame rattled around him as hot shame bubbled up through him.
"—I will not waste my time salvaging scrap—" a voice said from within his memories.
One of the drones Optimus shot was laid out half-buried in the snow not far from him. Starscream stared at it, his energon pulsing loudly in his audials.
"Prove to me why I should not just leave you here, Seeker," Megatron's voice said, drifting through Starscream's helm as more blasterfire rang out.
Optimus wildly fired off round after round of plasma fire into the woods, felling one drone one after the other as he shielded Starscream with his massive frame. All Starscream could see was the dead husk before him, the dead drone, the dead bot who was too weak to defend himself and he just stared at is, his spark pulsing and his energon pumping in his audials as a violet light shone in the woods to his right and pain burst in his helm—
Optimus fell to his knees beside him, smoke curling from the barrels of his blasters as he scanned the woods. A dozen drones laid dead in the snow all around them, their bright blue energon spilt out onto the ground in large puddles that lit up the dark.
"Are you all right?" Optimus said, turning around.
Starscream just stared blankly at the drone.
Optimus got up and walked around him, inspecting him. His breath hitched in his vents.
"When did you get shot?" Optimus said, his field flaring out. Starscream blinked slowly, a shower of sparks escaping from his helm. He shakily lifted a servo to his helm and rubbed it along the side of his helm before removing his servo. It was wet with energon.
"Oh, the shot, i-i-it grazed me… oh."
"Starscream you need to stay awake, do you understand? Ratchet, I need a groundbridge now," Optimus said sternly as he wrapped a large servo around the gash in Starscream's helm. The shot had only grazed his helm, but he still twitched and shook beside Optimus and his optics still flickered as energon leaked out from the wound in his helm.
The snow fell harder and his optics flickered. He saw falling snow and felt the cold creeping into his frame and he saw a massive frame kneeling before him—Skyfire, it had to be Skyfire, right? Except it couldn't be because Skyfire was dead and buried under a hundred tons of ice and the ice kept on freezing onto his frame—
"I had to leave him behind…" Starscream slurred as his knees fell out from under him.
"Starscream, stay with me!" Optimus shouted as he fired off another plasma bolt at an approaching drone.
"Don't lie," Starscream muttered, his vision blurring as more drones came closer and closer.
"Stay there," Optimus commanded as his battlemask snapped shut over his faceplate and he leaped into the battle, blaster firing and sword flashing. Starscream laid on the ground as Optimus killed the drones all around them, his vision blurring until Optimus and the drones were nothing but purple and red blurs swimming before his optics.
Shame ran through his systems as his wings lowered to the ground. He got shot, couldn't use his weapons, was too weak to stand, couldn't even use his talons—
Starscream laid there and punched the ground, making a jolt of pain run up his arm. A wave of nausea hit him, making his vision blur and crackle with static, the sound of Optimus's blaster firing a dull thudding noise in the background.
"Pathetic," Megatron's voice was saying. "Just pathetic."
Optimus killed two more drones, his sword flashing as he sliced through them.
—he could still feel the cold glint of the sword as it sliced upward—
Optimus glanced over at Starscream as he shoved his sword through the spark chamber of yet another drone.
"Prove to me that you are worth saving, Starscream."
Another drone dropped dead beside Starscream, no thanks to him.
"I will not waste my time salvaging scrap."
"Starscream?" Optimus asked. Starscream flinched. The Prime was crouching beside him, both his sword and blaster transformed back into his servos. All around them laid the smoking husks of drones and puddles of spilt energon.
"—we need to leave here—" Optimus was saying. The pain in Starscream's helm was so hot and intense it befuddled his audials, making everything sound like static.
"The Decepticons—we need to leave—" Optimus repeated, holding onto Starscream's shoulders with his servos.
"—need to leave—"
His optics widened. "Do not leave me here," he mumbled.
Optimus blinked. "What—?"
"I-I am worth saving!" Starscream blurted out. His HUD flickered and flashed and his spark pulsed hot and hard in his chestplates and the air was thick with the hot acidic smell of energon and—
"Starscream! What are you talking about?" Optimus said, leaning down so he could look the Seeker right in the optics. His red optics flickered and flashed as more sparks burst out of his helm.
"I—I am worthy," Starscream choked out, his voice thick with static. Optimus's faceplate swam before him until all he could see was a massive figure of bright red and blue crouched before him. For a split moment, he saw red optics staring at him. Optimus wanted something from him. Yes, he wanted something, but Starscream wasn't sure what he wanted, but he was running out of time and he could not afford to be left behind, he had to prove himself—
"I won't scheme anymore, at leas-t-t, not in a treacherous way, I can help—"
"Starscream—"
"I can seek energon, y-you shouldn't leave me behind because I am g-good at that at least!"
"Why are you acting like this? Did the shot hit your processor?"
"Do not—Do not—" Starscream glitched out as hot sparks and energon spilled out of the burning cracks in his frame.
"Starscream, what—?"
"I am w-worth saving! Please don't crush me! Do not leave me here the same way he left me behind!"
Optimus's optics widened and his plating flared open. Starscream's staticky field crashed over him while radiating waves of pure terror and desperation. His red optics flickered and flashed before he fell forward, his small frame stumbling against Optimus as he jolted and shuttered violently.
"Starscream—"
"I'm worth k-keeping a-ar-around, Meg—" Starscream glitched out, his sparking helm buried between Optimus's windshields.
"Stay with me here, Starscream," Optimus said as he pulled Starscream's sparking frame closer. He sent out another comm into the wind. Do not finish that name. Do not say the name I think you are about to, Optimus thought as Starscream's helm bled out before him.
"—Megatron. I'm worth k-k-keeping," Starscream said, his voice so soft and so staticky Optimus's audials had to strain to hear it.
Optimus stayed silent and held Starscream closer. He offlined his optics and rested his helm on top of Starscream's.
"Oh, Megatron, what did you do to him?" he mumbled.
The drones were dead. The few that remained drove off into the night, their engines revving off in the distance. A violet light glowed in the trees.
The air rumbled as a groundbridge opened and Ratchet rushed out of it. His optics widened as he looked down at the bleeding Seeker on the ground and the energon dribbling out of his helm. Optimus and Ratchet helped Starscream to his pedes and through the groundbridge as Starscream's optics began to grow dim.
A violet light glowed within the woods. Soundwave watched everything.
Jack shook his head. "I still think think you should just get rid of Starscream, guys."
Arcee scoffed. "Optimus should see reason eventually. He'll soon learn that we just need to drop Starscream."
"Are you sure he's really a bad guy? Maybe he really wants to reform. It looks like Megatron put him through a lot of pain."
"I doubt it," Arcee said as the groundbridge came to life. "I'm sure that any day now of us is going to come home bleeding and injured, all thanks to him. I doubt Megatron ever really hurt him."
The groundbridge activated and a bright burst of light lit up the base.
Rafael's eyes widened. "Are… are you sure about that, Arcee?" he said as he stared at something behind her.
Arcee turned around and her doorwings flared in surprise. Ratchet burst through the bridge as Optimus and Starscream stumbled through, a long stream of energon dripping down Starscream's helm. As Optimus walked by while supporting the Seeker, the Prime looked over at his shocked team members and narrowed his optics before heading into the medbay.
"Are you really so sure?" Rafael asked softly.
"Seriously, again? This is the second time I've found you holding him as he bleeds out!" Ratchet shouted as he prepared the medbay.
"Ratchet—"
"Hep hep hep! I'm working on him."
The entire world shifted and blurred before Starscream as he was laid down on the berth. He saw Ratchet saying something as he moved around the medbay grabbing tools, the only sound Starscream he heard the thump of his spark in his chestplates and the unbearably loud sound of his energon as it pumped through his lines. Somewhere off in the distance, Megatron was laughing.
"—scream, Starscream, I need you to stay awake. The shot grazed the side of his helm but didn't burn away his processor," Ratchet was saying, attaching… something to him. He couldn't tell.
"Knock Out, not now," Starscream mumbled. For a split moment, he thought he saw a flash of brilliant red paint.
Ratchet shook his helm and grumbled under his breath. Hot sheets of energon poured down Starscream's helm, not enough to be deadly, but definitely enough to be a concern.
Megatron laughed again in the distance, cold and cruel, his laughter clattering around in his helm.
"You just had to go and get into trouble, didn't you? Just had to cause more problems for us," Ratchet muttered above him.
"I aim to please, A-autobot," Starscream snarled out before wincing, a sharp pain bursting in his helm. Ratchet grumbled something indecent above him as he flipped Starscream over onto his stomach to access the back of his helm. Ratchet froze.
Starscream sighed, wincing as a fresh rivulet of energon flowed down the side of his faceplate. "What's the problem, Doctor?" he slurred. "I thought you were the best medic around—"
"When did you get this bruise?"
Starscream blinked, squinting at the berth as he crossed his arms under his helm. "I… I don't know…" he mumbled out, the medbay spinning around him.
Panicked shouts and the sound of pedes clattering against the floor drifted from the main room into the medbay. The computers surrounding Ratchet kept flashing and flashing, the computers whirred as hundreds of symbols scrolled across them, the high-pitched thrum of Starscream's sparkpulse beeped loudly in the medbay, and all Ratchet could focus on was Starscream's back.
Hidden beneath a section of plating that had been shifted to the side laid three long gashes. The gash was old, a dark blight upon the grey of Starscream's protoform, but it was there nevertheless, an old wound from the past.
"What, so this isn't the first time you got yourself in trouble?" Ratchet muttered, staring at the long gashes on Starscream as he patched his helm.
The Seeker shifted beneath him, tilting his helm slightly and looking up at Ratchet with a single flickering red optic. "I thought medics were supposed to be c-comforting," he snapped out.
Starscream's annoyance and confusion blared through his distorted field and hung thick in the air like a hot blanket of snark. Ratchet's servos worked with a will of their own, patching and welding and clearing away the wound in Starscream's helm, but his optics drifted back over to the old gash in Starscream's protoform.
"How did you get that?" Ratchet asked, something cold sinking into his gut.
"Why d-do you care, Autobot?"
"Because this Autobot is your new doctor! And I can't treat you if I don't know what's wrong with you. Now out with the truth, hup hup! How did you get that? I need you to tell me because I don't have your medical files."
Starscream mumbled beneath him and his field pulsed again, a hot miasma of pain and sluggishness and—for split moment, an emotion projected itself into Starscream's field, hanging in the air for a split moment before Starscream snapped his field tightly against his frame again.
Hot rivulets of energon dripped out from the crooked gash in his helm, but besides his flickering optics and slurred speech Starscream seemed unfazed as he laid there inspecting his talons.
Ratchet shook his helm, gritting his dentae, that sinking feeling in his gut growing colder. "You don't seem to be in that much pain."
"Mmmm," Starscream mumbled out, fluttering his wings as his optics flickered on and off, "I got used to it."
Something about the way he said it so casually made Ratchet's armor lock up around him. "Right. I guess causing problems for yourself is something you do often—"
Ratchet broke off, the words dying in his intake. Starscream had shifted beneath him again, his plating rippling across his frame, and for a split moment another bruise showed itself. Ratchet placed his servo into one of Starscream's transformations seams and pushed a piece of dented plating beside. His protoform was laid bare, revealing dark grey mesh mottled with dark blue spots and scratches.
"A scar from an impact injury? I thought your doctor aboard the Nemesis was supposedly the best around."
Starscream sighed, lazily tapping his talons against the metal of the berth. "H-he is, it's just that it was another doctor who treated that… unpleasantness," Starscream said, a harsh shiver coursing through his frame before he stilled himself and continued to stare at the berth.
"Primus, you must've only been a few vorns old when you got that injury in order for it to leave a scar like that. Did you go off and fly into something?" Ratchet muttered, irritation coursing through his field. They were low enough on energon already. Having a clumsy, traitorous Seeker around constantly in need of repairs would compromise their already low reserves.
"No, Megatron gave me that injury. A mission went wrong, but it's not like it was my fault, though he didn't careee," Starscream hiccuped.
"Primus, the amount of messes you've gotten yourself into," Ratchet said, working quickly to weld the wound in Starscream's helm. The shot had grazed the side of his helm and exposed the blinking lights of his processor.
Ratchet pried off another piece of burnt plating, his optics widening.
Starscream was a Seeker, and so his frame was very different from the rest of theirs. His wiring was meant to navigate the skies and not the ground, so his internals were built to withstand the tremor of sonic booms. Ratchet looked at the strange wires and internals and tightened his fists. He understood how the systems worked to an extent, but it had been so many years since he'd worked on a flightframe, and so many little ways in which they were different from grounders—
Ratchet swore. Starscream looked up at him, somehow managing to look arrogant despite being frosted all over and having energon leaking from a gash in his helm.
"S-something wrong?" Starscream said, smiling as his optics flickered and how in Primus has he not passed out yet?
"No, everything is fine," Ratchet said, scowling as he pushed a wire aside to reveal another strange set of cables he didn't even know Seekers had.
Starscream shifted on the berth, his wings lazily bobbing up and down on his back. "What, can't you r-repair me?" he said, a faint tinge of fear and resignation working its way into his field.
Resignation.
"I'll fix you," Ratchet said, grabbing the welder again and getting to work. "Don't look at me like that, I'll fix you."
Starscream scoffed and shook his helm, feeling his processor throb in pain and the world grow slow and hazy around him. He grimaced as a familiar feeling worked its way through his struts. Fear coursed through him. Ratchet was muttering above him, his servos slick with Starscream's energon. The sound of Megatron laughing echoed in the distance, cold and clear—
Through the haze and fog, he could still remember the way the Autobots stared at him, the piercing glow of their blue optics as he was hastily rushed through the base.
A fresh rivulet of energon poured out of his helm and Ratchet's field tensed.
Starscream's processor was slow and sluggish, yet he could still tell something was wrong. He felt the berth falling away below him as Ratchet scoffed.
"W-what's wrong now?"
"Everything is fine. I'm still just getting used to your frametype."
Ratchet kept on muttering and part of Starscream wanted him to keep on complaining and swearing. It kept out the harsh noise of Megatron laughing and the muttering of the Autobots in the main room.
"Don't—" Starscream said suddenly, one of his talons suddenly reaching out and gripping Ratchet's wrist. Ratchet's servos were bright blue with his energon. His spark pulsed hard in his chestplates.
"Starscream, calm down," Ratchet said, his voice calm as concern worked its way through his field. "You'll be fine."
Fine.
That's what Megatron had said when he gripped Starscream's servo and shook it as he joined the Decepticons. Where had that gotten him?
—bleeding on the ground, vents coming in harsh gasps, Megatron looming over him, raising his pede—
"—I can assure you that even if I am not entirely sure how your frametype works, I can still fix you. I've been able to repair mechs with foreign frametypes with much less information to go on before," Ratchet said above him, slicing through Starscream's wiring and heading deeper into his internals so that he could remove the burnt wires. Starscream got the feeling that Ratchet was talking more and more to himself, and Primus did it hurt as Ratchet dug deeper into his helm.
"You need to stay awake. I know it hurts, but you need to stay awake—" Ratchet was saying something, his voice faint and hazy, "—and if only I had your medical files I'd be able to figure out your accursed wiring! Why are Seekers even wired this way at all?"
Files. Ratchet wanted the medical files. Starscream had the files. He'd prove himself useful.
"Pfft," Starscream scoffed. Ratchet was looking down at him, his optics bright, the harsh light of the medbay glinting off of the sharp tools surrounding him and—-
"Prove to me that you are worth saving, Starscream. I will not waste my time salvaging scrap," Megatron's voice said, echoing in his helm.
"I have—" for a split moment he saw Megatron leering above him, the light reflecting off of the sharp curves of his armor. He froze, his plating pulled tight—
And then Megatron melted away, replaced by Ratchet looking at him.
"—the files," Starscream blurted out. Primus, his helm hurt. Why did it hurt so much? "I'll give them over, just please don't…" he continued, his helm and wing throbbing in pain, the harsh light of the medbay continuing to shine over all the sharp, deadly, painful tools surrounding the medic, the tools Ratchet knew how to use very, very well.
"Starscream?" Ratchet said, concern filling his field.
Starscream blinked, the world hazy and slow around him. As Ratchet said… something… Starscream dug into the depths of his processor and pulled out a rather painful set of files. He sent it pinging over to Ratchet, making his helm swim and his vision static out. The pain in his processor made the world sway as he lurched forward in pain, just barely being caught by Ratchet in time. Had he been more coherent, Starscream would've noticed that there was someone watching him from the doorway.
"Starscream, what did you send me? You're in no condition to sit up, much less—" The datapacket burst in Ratchet's helm, sending schematics and logs of information racing over his HUD.
"You wanted it," Starscream mumbled, falling forward into Ratchet with a clang as a thousand files skipped over to Ratchet's processor.
Ratchet froze and skimmed through the files, his spark pulsing in his chest.
STARSCREAM: MEDICAL LOGS
LACERATIONS TO BACK
CROOKED WING
SNAPPED SHINS
Ratchet's intake dropped as the files continued to load into his helm, displaying a plethora of grisly injuries and damages to his frame.
"Starscream, what is this?" Ratchet said, a history of thousands of files and thousands of ugly wounds loading themselves into his processor.
"You asked for it," Starscream mumbled, cracking a flickering optic open and sneering at Ratchet. The smell of energon filled the air, hot and acidic as more files skipped over to Ratchet's processor in brief bursts of data.
"Starscream," Ratchet said, his frame shaking slightly as he laid the disoriented Seeker back onto the berth.
DISLOCATED SHOULDER
BROKEN OPTICs
CRACKED SPINE
"How in the world did you get so many injuries? Are you that clumsy?" Ratchet scoffed, static hissing in his audials as the sheer amount of medical data being sent to him poured into his processor. Ratchet could feel a sinking feeling overcome him as the medical logs rapidly downloaded themselves into his helm. He shook his helm and bit his glossa as he flipped Starscream over and returned to welding his helm. Starscream smiled tightly beneath him, staring at the wall as Ratchet frantically patched over the gash.
"Clumsy? No. These injuries were—" Starscream's optics briefly flickered. His EM field wavered around him, hot and staticky and filled with a bitter mirth.
"These injuries were what?" Ratchet said softly, sparks flying into the air as he finished another weld. The catalogued injuries poured into his helm, one after the other.
TWISTED NECK CABLES
CONCUSSION
ARM TORN OFF
Starscream hiccuped and laughed, his wings fluttering behind him, making the gash in his wings open back up and spill out energon again.
"Intentional."
RUPTURED MAJOR ENERGON LINE
COLLAPSED ENERGON TANK
SPARK CHAMBER DAMAGE
The last file made Ratchet freeze for a moment. Ratchet opened the file back up onto his HUD and stared at it.
SPARK CHAMBER DAMAGE
A long list of information followed, facts and figures detailing the extent of the damage and the way it was treated and who caused it—
Ratchet flipped Starscream over. He opened up the medical port in the back of his helm and hooked him up to a nearby computer console. Starscream watched him as he turned the computer on, his red optics tracking his movements.
Ratchet overrode his firewalls and immediately send a command to have him open up his spark chamber.
Starscream's chestplates flew open, the blindingly bright glow of his spark lighting up the entire medbay. Starscream watched Ratchet, his blurry red optics locked onto him. He blinked again, hiccuping as a fresh rivulet of energon poured out of his helm. He should probably be concerned about Ratchet opening up his chestplates. Probably.
Ratchet leant over Starscream, looking down at his spark chamber. Old bruises lined the inside of his chest cavity and dark weld marks criss-crossed his interior plating. Tubing covered in thick patches snaked all around Starscream's spark chamber, coiling around it.
"Are you… going to do it?" Starscream mumbled, his field briefly flaring out and emitting fear. He reached out and weakly wrapped his talon around Ratchet's hovering servo, making Ratchet pause.
"No," Ratchet said, the word out of his intake before he knew it. The vast expanse of energon lines that kept Starscream alive were right in front of his servos, wrapped protectively around his spark chamber. His spark chamber had thick extra layers of metal wrapped around it, covered in bruises and faint dents.
It would be too easy, to just reach in and nick an energon line—
"No. I won't kill you. I'm better than that. Better than him," Ratchet growled. Old scars and bruises covered Starscream's internals, a particularly dark weld running across the smooth sphere of metal that housed Starscream's spark.
Starscream nodded once and his optics flickered, his field hazy and blurry around him as he let his talon drop back to the berth.
Ratchet sighed and took one last look at the dark bruises and scars covering Starscream's internals. He sent the command to close Starscream's chestplates and they snapped shut.
The only thing Ratchet could think about as he patched Starscream up was the deep scar running down the side of his spark chamber. Starscream finally offlined his optics and fell limp. Something shifted behind him and Ratchet sighed, putting the welder down and turning to face Optimus.
"How long were you there?" Ratchet asked.
"Long enough," Optimus said softly, looking down at Starscream. Dark weld marks covered him all over. "He's small, isn't he?" he said, narrowing his optics at Starscream.
Ratchet glanced back over at him as he recharged and stared at his closed chestplates and what he knew to be hiding under them. He put the welder to the side, revealing a long dark grey weldmark across the side of Starscream's helm.
"Smaller than I first thought, apparently. But… stronger as well."
Optimus nodded, his field dark and heavy around him. "Indeed. Do you see now why I wanted to try and save him?"
"But the ambush! It had to have been his fault. How else would the Decepticons have known where you were? How could you trust him?"
"There is no way he could have possibly contacted Megatron while out in the field. We closed off his Decepticon frequencies," Optimus said, looking off into the distance. His field shuddered around him and a brief pang of grief spiked into his field, raw and hurting, before fading away with a hiss of static.
Ratchet opened his intake to say something, but then shut it. There was something in the way Optimus was holding himself, something in the way he stared off into space and the way his plating was held stiff around him that made Ratchet stay silent.
He turned around and looked at Ratchet, his field sadder than it had been in a long, long time. "How is he?"
"He has spark chamber damage," Ratchet said, sighing.
Optimus's helm shot up to look at him. "What?"
"From pressure," he said softly. "It was crushed in."
"—Please don't crush me—" Starscream's voice said as it drifted through Optimus's helm.
Optimus clenched his servos into fists and narrowed his optics. Puffs of steam shot out from his smokestacks and his entire frame creaked as his armor flattened against him. His field lashed out around him harshly and hissed with hot static.
Starscream flinched in his recharge, slightly shifting on his berth and moving away from Optimus's enraged field.
Optimus froze. His armor loosened and his servos unclenched themselves. He sighed and just stared at Starscream.
Ratchet stayed silent. The machines of the medbay whirred on in the background and Starscream shifted in his sleep, his wings clanking against the edge of the berth.
"Do you understand why I wanted to save him?" Optimus said, staring at Starscream.
"I… think I do," Ratchet sighed, shaking his helm. "I don't understand, yet at the same time—" He broke off and stared at Starscream's chestplates as they rose and fell in his recharge. "I haven't seen injuries like that in a long time. I don't want to see them ever again. I must admit, I'm still uncertain if this was the right thing to do, if Starscream can ever truly walk away from Megatron for good and join us—but after seeing what Megatron did to him—" Ratchet walked over to Optimus, lowering his voice. "Did you know?"
Optimus offlined his optics, screwing his servos up into fists by his sides.
"I rarely saw Megatron actually hurting him. I was able to tell what was going on, though. I saw it in Starscream's optics. But I was unaware of the... extent of the abuse," Optimus said, narrowing his optics at Starscream. A puff of smoke escaped from each of his smokestacks, curling away into the air.
Ratchet nodded, feeling his entire age hit him all at once.
"It's not your fault you didn't notice earlier. Starscream has been being hit… and crushed... for probably, Primus, probably thousands of years. He's... stronger than I first thought," Ratchet said, the two of them looking over at Starscream as he recharged. Under the dimmed lights of the medbay and the faint glow from the computers, Starscream appeared smaller than ever, a small and sharp frame curled up on the berth, his back always to the wall.
"If we can get him to defect, Ratchet, I have no doubt he will be of great help to us. And that by joining us, he can help himself, too."
Ratchet snorted. "I'm still not sure how adopting a snarky Seeker will help us win the war, but sure. Optimus, do you think Megatron will ever stop trying to find him?"
Optimus sighed and stared out into the main room of the base. "I must admit, I am not sure. I doubt he will let him go without a fight. When I was still Orion and he Megatronus, and I left his side, he was not pleased and fought hard to bring me back. Having others underneath him gives him a sense of power and of control. To have those whom he subjugates betray him… he will not respond well to this, Ratchet. He is a vengeful mech. Prepare to treat Starscream many more times in the future."
"But what if he never stops hunting him? What if he's just a liability?"
"Then that is a risk I will take, Ratchet, because freedom is the right of every sentient being and Starscream has chosen to seek freedom by choosing to try and join us. And by Primus, I will help him escape from Megatron, not only because it is the right thing to do, but because I know that if he puts his processor to good use, he can do great things."
"I'm just worried he'll be a liability to himself. I don't know if he can just, just walk away from Megatron after a thousand years of loyalty."
"Prime?" Starscream weakly asked. Optimus and Ratchet's helms shot over to Starscream as he slowly and shakily turned over. The Seeker blearily looked up at him.
"W-why didn't you leave me behind?" Starscream asked, his optics flickering. Ratchet cursed as he tried to load more anesthesia into his systems.
Optimus's shoulders sagged and his optics darkened. "Because saving you was the right thing to do."
"I—I was weak, I couldn't endure the pain, I couldn't even stand. The weak are meant to be left behind. You had the power to just… to just leave me there. Why didn't you?"
Optimus stared at him. And stared.
Starscream began to fidget under the Prime's gaze.
He looked at the wall and let out a deep sigh, his entire frame drooping. "How many times did he abandon you?"
"...What?"
Optimus and Ratchet just looked at him.
"You know what I am talking about."
Starscream looked away. He thought of the dark snow and the sharp pain in his hip, the cave walls closing in around him as Megatron yelled at him back in the cave.
"Too many times," he said softly.
"He left you behind again. But you'll never be left behind again, Starscream. Never. I saved you because it was the right thing to do. I came back for you in that canyon, and I'll keep coming back for you as you become the mech I know you can be."
Starscream jaw dropped and he just stared at Optimus. He looked away suddenly and felt a strange prickling sensation in his optics.
Optimus's comm pinged. A databurst arrived in his helm. Optimus tilted his helm and examined the file on his HUD. "Starscream, what is this?"
"Coordinates," he said softly.
Optimus opened them up.
MINE D-14, COORDINATES 57.977945, -99.364877
"Thank you, Starscream," Optimus said, getting up and leaving the medbay alongside Ratchet.
"T-thank you," Starscream mumbled quietly as they neared the doorway. They turned and looked over at the Seeker again, but Starscream was already recharging.
The dirty canyon lit up with a brilliant green glow. Dust blew into the air in billowing clouds as Megatron emerged from the groundbridge and stepped out onto the canyon floor. A dozen drones stood behind him and the red glow from their visors shone across the scattered rocks and sloping walls of the canyon.
"Search."
The drones split up.
Megatron walked forward and sneered at the dust as he blasted a rock away with his fusion cannon. He squinted at the collapsed rubble and the canyon walls that towered above him. The sky rumbled as a dark cloud floated in front of the moon and blocked the light, plunging the dirty canyon into even more darkness.
The bright red glow of Megatron's optics shone over the boulders strewn about like two search beams, his talons curling and uncurling at his sides.
The cloud drifted away and the light returned, revealing a black scorch mark sizzled into the canyon wall.
"So there was a fight," Megatron chuckled, placing his servo on the black mark. It crumbled to dust in his servo, slipping through his digits.
"Milord, we have found something."
Megatron nodded and followed the drone. A strange feeling spread through his struts, a cold sinking feeling that coiled in his tanks and stayed there. Megatron walked past a bend in the canyon and came face to face with a massive landslide.
A huge mound of rocks of all sizes covered the canyon, completely blocking the way forward.
Megatron growled. "Of course there is an obstruction. Of course."
Megatron turned around, his intake opening to give a command—
And he felt his pede slip into something. He looked down and took a step back.
For a split moment, all he could see was red.
The night was dark and the moonlight was faint, but he could still see it. Optimus Prime's pedeprint sat indented into the dusty canyon floor. A whole trail of pedeprints led through the canyon, winding across the ground right to where Megatron stood.
"This is the place."
"Milord?"
"This. Is. The place." Megatron's helm swung around and he stalked down the dirty canyon, his energon pumping loudly in his audials as he followed the pedeprints. He'd seen those pedeprints before and would see them again. The last time he'd seen those pedeprints so clearly, Optimus—no, Orion, had been walking away from him, way back in the fine halls outside the High Council's chamber. That was on the day Orion was offered Primehood and Megatron was not, the same day Orion became Optimus and left his pedeprints behind in the carpets of the halls as had he walked away, as he had walked away—
These were no fine halls. The dusty and dirty canyon walls stretched out all around him. Before Megatron sat a huge pile of collapsed rocks.
Megatron took a step forward and felt the soil beneath his pede collapse in on itself. He looked down at a faint indent in the ground, a small and slightly curved pedeprint lightly imprinted in the dust. It was small, but Megatron recognized it nevertheless.
The harsh twang of spilt energon hung thick in the air. Optimus and Starscream's pedeprints snaked around him, the canyon wall scorched with blast marks from some battle between them.
And yet—
Megatron followed the pedeprints.
Optimus's huge and heavy pedeprints weaved and curled around Starscream's small and graceful ones, twisting together—
Their pedeprints mixed together in a jumbled mess of disturbed dirt and spilt energon right before the collapsed pile of rocks.
"You have betrayed me so many times before," Megatron began, a deep growl working its way up his intake. "I have tolerated your treachery. But this—"
Optimus and Starscream's pedeprints swirled around each other.
Joined each other.
Megatron activated his fusion cannon and incinerated the ground. The air was split apart with the deafening roar from his cannon as the dirty rocks melted away and vaporized beneath him, sending out enormous clouds of billowing smoke and filling the air with the hot stench of melted rock and burnt plasma.
"But conspiring with the Autobots. That, I cannot accept."
The clouds stretched out for as far as he could see. The wind rushed past Megatron's frame and blew across the sharp curves of his armor and across the deck of the Nemesis. The setting sun shone brightly, casting a deep black shadow onto the sharp ridges of the deck.
Megatron stared at the sky and the sky stared back. Towering clouds rose around him, blowing past in the shrieking wind and lit by the cold light of the sun.
Soundwave stood in the doorway of the ship, a dark violet shadow hidden by the curve of the door.
"You know," Megatron began, his talons curling and uncurling at his sides as a large cloud floated past. "I had thought his whining to be annoying. Bothersome, even. But now that he is gone—"
The wind blew again and the towers of cloud shifted around them, sending a wispy cloud floating over the deck and completely covering it. Megatron continued to stare out into the clouds, his bright red optics sending two beams of blood red light into the fog as it drifted past.
"But now," he continued, slowly and carefully. Megatron clenched his talons into tight fists. "But now he is gone. We have done this song and dance a million times before and will inevitably do it a million times again. He escapes, swearing vengeance, scheming and plotting against me—" Megatron turned around, the clouds around him suddenly drifting away as if fleeing. "But this time… he joined them. He joined them. Normally when he was treacherous, I'd let him walk away alive—with a good beating, of course, but still—but when he returns from wherever he and the Autobots are hidden away, this time... this time, I won't be so lenient."
Soundwave stood in the doorway, cold and silent. The sun drifted behind a dark grey cloud. The only light came from the red glow of Megatron's optics and the violet landing lights running all across the deck.
"When is too much too much, Soundwave?" Megatron said.
Soundwave inclined his helm. Where he had once always detected Starscream's sparkpulse, an erratic and harsh beat, there was now silence. A hologram of the globe drifted across Soundwave's HUD with the location of every Decepticon marked.
Except for Starscream's.
The footage spoke for itself. Starscream walked alongside the Autobots as one of their own. He was not happy about emptying the mines of workers to lure the Autobots inside, but it was the only way he could obtain the security footage he needed to prove to Megatron Starscream's treachery. An image of Optimus kneeling concernedly over a prone Starscream was on his visor. The mere sound of Megatron's fusion cannon was enough to drive the rogue Decepticon into fear and terror. That normally pleased him.
Megatron's fusion cannon thrummed.
Rapid pedesteps sounded from around the corner. A drone suddenly ran out onto the deck and Megatron snapped around, narrowing his optics at the running drone.
"Milord," the drone said, his voice as flat as all the other drones. And yet, there was something in his voice, a waver in the syllables—
"Speak."
"Milord, we have lost another mine to the Autobots."
Silence reigned.
"Which one?" Megatron said, slowly and carefully. He stared out at the dark grey and black clouds, his red optics burning like two coals in the oncoming night.
"D-14—"
The drone died.
Soundwave blinked. Energon dripped off of Megatron's sword, glinting in the red glow from his optics. A jagged gash ran down the front of the drone, his frame laid out on the deck dripping energon and sparking. His field twitched around him, shuddering and hissing static, sending out one last emotion—and that was it, that was what Soundwave had heard in his voice—fear.
The drone twitched, then stilled.
Megatron let out a deep sigh as he transformed his blade back into his servo. "Alert me when he is found. Hopefully that warning shot you fired at his helm should be enough to warn him to stop trying my patience with this pathetic Autobot ruse."
Soundwave gave a slight nod and walked back down the corridor, sending a ping to the clean-up crew.
"I know where he is going next. And when I find him," Megatron continued, "I will find out exactly why he has betrayed me."
The door to the deck shut, leaving Megatron staring out at the clouds alone.
