A groundbridge suddenly appeared amidst the whirling snow and two mechs fell out of it. Starscream fell to the ground and coughed up energon as Optimus fell down beside him.

"Stop bleeding!" he snapped.

Optimus blinked slowly and squinted at the Seeker through the snow. "I cannot control that, Starscream."

Starscream shook his helm and kicked at the snow as he stood up to his pedes. He could do this. He had been in much tougher situations before and had somehow managed to survive. He wouldn't let this latest crisis be the one to break him. He'd find a way to survive this, he needed to—for both his sake and Optimus's.

"Okay, okay, let's see here—the stupid Autobots are out to kill me, and Megatron is trying to capture, me and you're bleeding—stop bleeding!"

"That is not how this works." Optimus grunted as he sat up in the snow. The forest was dark and the whirling snow made it hard to see, but despite all of that the bright blue glow of energon was still visible in the darkness as it welled up from Optimus's midsection.

"See, okay, hold on for me? Okay? Be here for me!" Starscream said as he pressed his own servos to Optimus's midsection.

There was a strange lump in his throat that wasn't usually there. Sure, he was terrified—he was always terrified, Megatron had seen to that—but in that moment Starscream found himself experiencing a strange new kind of terror. This wasn't the usual sense of fear he felt whenever Megatron chased him; this was a stranger and yet more aching form of fear that he only felt whenever he glanced at Optimus's blood out on the snow in front of him.

The Prime grabbed ahold of his shoulder and pressed their forehelms together. "Starscream...I am here for you. I just need you to be here for yourself."

"Ooh, you're still giving me cryptic emotional advice. Good, your processor is still working." Starscream offlined his optics and ignored the way the icy wind bit into their frames.

The Autobots would shoot him on sight and take Prime away back to their base. Starscream rolled his optics and buried his faceplate in his servos as the wind blew harder. They thought he was the enemy. They were completely unaware of the anxiety he had felt for the Prime, the level of loyalty he had for the Prime, the sheer amount of hatred he had for Megatron—

"The Autobots… where are they?" Optimus said.

"I don't… I don't know. And I don't know if I can convince them that I'm not the slagger who fragged you over. They walked in on me standing over your bleeding frame with Soundwave and Megatron beside me, there's no way they won't try to kill me!"

"Not if… not if I can convince them—" Optimus began.

Starscream snorted. "'Convince them'? You fools have the thickest helms I've quite possibly ever seen in the entirety of my function. Do you think the femme will hold back once she sees me? No… I've been trying so hard to become a member of your team lately, but that's not enough for them." Starscream bit his lip. The image of Bumblebee ripping out Skyquake's internals flashed into his processor. "They'd kill me if they got the chance. I have to get you back to the Autobots, but I can't let them catch me."

"Starscream," Optimus began as he grabbed ahold of the Seeker's shoulder again. His optics flickered. "I will do my best to e-explain your innocence to them… however… I am unsure if I will be coherent enough by the time they retrieve me… and I am u-uncertain if they will even be able to listen to reason."

More energon leaked out from the wound in Optimus's midsection and pooled in the snow below.

"I…" Starscream sighed and punched the snowy ground. "Fine, let's do it your way. I'll try to convince them myself, I have to. I've been able to sweet talk my way out of tough situations before. I mean, surely they saw how Megatron yanked me up to his faceplate and threatened me, right? Surely they'll realize that he wouldn't be treating me that poorly if we were really on the same side, right? Right?"

Optimus's field wrenched around them both and a wave of static hissed over their frames. "Starscream… Megatron has always treated you poorly, even when you two were both on the same side. If they did see Megatron hurting you in the midst of their battle with the drones, then they'll just assume—

"—that everything's gone back to normal," Starscream sighed.

The cold wind blew harder as the blizzard around them increased. A vast black shape loomed ahead of them and blocked out the starlight.

His optics widened. "Starscream, is this what I think it is?"

"The snow mine? Yes."

Another harsh gale blew out of the sky and sent chunks of snow into their frames. Starscream's frame locked up as memories of an endless arctic ice sheet and a shuttle flashed into his processor. He wouldn't relieve that day, he wouldn't.

Optimus groaned in pain and fell forward into Starscream's frame. His helm landed right on Starscream's shoulder pauldron as more energon leaked out from between his digits.

"I remember this place… you promised me you wouldn't abandon me here," Starscream said softly.

Optimus said nothing. His audials perked up, though.

"You promised me you wouldn't abandon me… so I suppose I have to promise you that I will not abandon you. I already lost Skyfire to the snow, I won't lose you too."

Another icy blast of wind ripped through the trees just as a bright green light appeared in the woods. Starscream yelped and dragged Optimus's frame into a thick cluster of trees away from the strange glow.

A deep boom vibrated through the ground and made the snow shake and tremble. The trees at the other end of the clearing shook and snapped as something massive moved their way through them.

"Oh slag, that's… that's Bulkhead, right?"

Thump.

Thump.

Optimus groaned in pain. Starscream dragged him over to a snowdrift and hid the both of them behind the snow as the trees continued to snap and break apart.

Thump.

Thump.

Optimus looked up at Starscream as his optics began to flicker. "S-starscream… Bulkhead's pedes are never—"

Thump.

Thump.

"—quite that loud."

The trees snapped and bent apart as Megatron shoved his way through them. He emerged from the woods and scanned the snowy forest with an expressionless look on his faceplates. His red optics shone like two search beams and the harsh icy wind shrieked past the sharp curves of his frame as he stomped his way forward. He raised his arms high into the air and a smile crossed his faceplate, almost is if this was all a joke to him.

"I don't need you. But you need me. Oh, little wretch, where are you? Look how far your lies have brought you, Seeker. Look how much this little stunt of yours has cost you. Once you stood beside me as the second-in-command of a grand army fighting for a grand cause, and now you snivel away like a scraplet. But here is the thing about scraplets, my rogue Seeker…" Megatron scanned the woods. His frame was faintly trembling. "Scraplets are only a threat in numbers, and as of right now, you are very alone… well, except for the bleeding Prime that is. But he is of no help to you. But I… I can be of help to you. I helped you pick yourself back up after I—I mean, after the Autobots bombed Vos. Why shelter the murderer of your people when you can instead join the avenger of your people?"

Starscream stayed silent as his processor ran into overdrive. They had to leave, now, he just needed to grab the remote and bridge them to a new location.

"Starscream… your optics…" Optimus said weakly.

He blinked. Now that he really looked, he saw that there were two bright red spots shining on the snow. Starscream swore. His fear was making his optics brighten again and it was only a matter of time before Megatron spotted him and the glow of his optics, and once he spotted him he'd capture them and then—

bleeding on the ground, vents coming in harsh gasps, Megatron looming over him, raising his pede—

—Starscream shook his helm. He needed to grab the remote, type in a new set of coordinates, and flee, right now.

Something shifted in the trees behind him.

"Starscream, offline your optics!" Optimus harshly whispered to him.

"What?" Starscream breathed. "I need to see the remote so I can get bridge us out of here!"

Optimus looked at him and there was something desperate in his field. Starscream flinched. He'd felt that desperation in his own field so many times before.

Starscream took a deep vent and offlined his optics.

A bright violet glow shone through his opticlids as something walked through the snow up to him. The wind began to flow around them differently, almost as if there another frame there that was blocking the wind.

The air began to buzz.

Soundwave scanned the snowy woods and let his cables coil over the surface of each and every tree. Sparks flew out of his cracked visor and a trickle of energon dripped down from where the shards of glass cut into his faceplate.

He stopped walking and stood right beside the snowdrift.

Optimus held Starscream down deeper into the snow as Soundwave passed right by. His normally calm and hidden field flashed and flickered around him in agitation as he passed right by. Soundwave stopped and looked out over the snow.

Starscream held his breath—

Soundwave kept walking.

He didn't know how long he and Optimus laid there in the freezing snow while they waited for the threat of Soundwave to pass. The only sound came from the whistle of the snow and Optimus's vents as he harshly wheezed.

"We need to keep going, Prime," Starscream whispered to Optimus as he helped the Prime up to his pedes. He tried to keep the tremble out of his voice and project a confidence that wasn't there. It was normally Optimus who kept him comforted and grounded when confronted with the terror of Soundwave—but things had changed. Now Optimus was the fearful bot bleeding out. And Starscream wanted to be that bot who could comfort and ground others—but he couldn't ignore his own fear that loomed over him and the way even the mere sight of Soundwave or Megatron made his spark quicken and his vents come faster and—

bleeding on the ground, vents coming in harsh gasps, Megatron looming over him, raising his pede—

Starscream grabbed ahold of Optimus and ran until they were clear of the suffocating woods and away from Soundwave's scans.

A vast lake that was completely frozen over with ice loomed before them. Starscream skid to a stop and felt the ice creak and bend as he settled his weight over it. There was only the white icy plane that extended endlessly off to the horizon. There were no snowdrifts, no trees, no logs, no rocks—nothing but the cold white empty air.

Starscream scowled and hefted Prime up higher onto his shoulder. "Okay, we'll find somewhere to hide, and…"

"Starscream?"

His spark sank. "We can't hide, can we?"

Optimus shook his helm and looked over his shoulder with wide optics. "I am afraid we have a-already been found."

The air began to buzz. Twigs snapped and leaves rustled as something slid through the trees upon the shore. Starscream froze and slowly turned around as Soundwave emerged from the woods. Sparks flew from his visor and lit up his single blood-red optic in bright bursts of light. He stopped moving suddenly at the threshold of the woods and just stared at Starscream and Optimus.

Starscream moved. He grabbed ahold of Optimus and the two of them limped out together onto the ice as it moaned and groaned beneath their energon-splattered pedes.

He looked over his pauldron and back at Soundwave's silent silhouette upon the shore. "D-don't you remember, Soundwave? Don't you remember all the years we spent fighting together, serving together, and just being together? Don't you?

Soundwave tilted his helm and spoke using Starscream's own voice. "Don't you? Don't you remember?"

"W-well, of course I do, Soundwave!" Something cracked in the ice beneath their pedes. "I just asked you the same thing!"

Soundwave stepped onto the ice. It did not make a single noise as he glided over the cold clean white surface and began to slowly walk towards them.

"Don't you remember all the years we spent fighting together, serving together, and just being together?" he said using a recording of Starscream's voice. He patched the audio together in a way that made the recording ring and boom across the ice and right back at Starscream.

"Um, Soundwave—"

"DON'T YOU REMEMBER?"

"I do, Soundwave I do remember! So why can't you?!" Starscream shrieked as the ice beneath his pedes cracked.

Soundwave lunged forward into the air and passed right over their helms before he slammed into the ice right in front of Optimus and Starscream. It cracked and the large ice sheet Optimus and Starscream were standing upon tilted down and into the black roaring waters of the lake beneath. Starscream began to slide down and he yelped and sunk his talons into the ice to stop himself from sliding down farther into the black watery depths.

Soundwave placed a pede upon the ice sheet and tilted it down with his weight. It tilted and made Starscream slide down it even more.

He looked back over his shoulders and at Optimus. "Prime, hold on—!"

His optics flickered and went out.

"Optimus, no!"

Optimus's unconscious frame slammed into his and the sheer weight of him submerged Starscream and him down into the water.

Starscream struggled and thrashed under the ice as a bright violet lit suddenly lit up and shone upon the surface above. He desperately tried to claw his way back up to the surface and away from the black depths below—

there was a shuttle ahead of him, the shuttle was flying away from him, the blizzard was closing in and fear was closing in on his spark, he was losing him—

Is this what you felt, Skyfire? Starscream thought as he sunk down into the watery darkness.

He activated his jet engines and shot up. His frame slammed up against the bottom of the ice and he punched through it with his fist. Starscream dragged his frame through the ice and spit out the icy black water as he rolled back onto the surface. He looked around and saw a red and blue shape underneath the ice.

"No, no, I am not going through this again!" Starscream cried out as he dug his talons into the ice sheet.

"DON'T YOU REMEMBER ALL THE YEARS WE SPENT FIGHTING TOGETHER?" Soundwave said using the recording of Starscream's voice. It boomed out over the water and made the snowflakes in the air disintegrate with the sheer force of it.

Starscream wrenched up the ice sheet and grabbed ahold of Optimus's shoulder. He grunted in exertion as he heaved the Prime's prone frame up and onto the surface. Pain shot through his spinal strut and something deep within him snapped as he hoisted Prime up out of the water.

He checked Optimus over for injuries and let out a shaky vent of relief when he saw none. Two violet cables suddenly wrapped around the two of them and Starscream found himself being dragged across the ice and over to Soundwave's pedes.

Soundwave loomed over them and just watched them both with his single visible red optic.

"Don't you remember?" he said again using the recording, except this time he spoke very, very softly.

Starscream blinked ice out of his optics. "I do, Soundwave. I r-really do."

Soundwave slowly leaned down until their faceplates were only a breath away. A single cable wrapped tightly around the back of his helm and prevented Starscream from slamming his helm forward again to attack Soundwave.

Soon, their faceplates were so close that Starscream could feel the bursts of heat from the sparks that were flying off of Soundwave's visor.

"IF YOU REMEMBER—all the years we spent fighting together—THEN WHY DID YOU BETRAY US?"

Starscream bit his lip. He didn't have time for this, he needed to bridge Optimus and himself away, but there was no way he could possibly do that if Soundwave loomed over him. "Soundwave, I—"

A hot blue bolt of plasma suddenly shot into the ground right in front of Soundwave's pedes and made the ice explode in a cloud of icy fragments and water.

Optimus shakily pointed his smoking blaster right at Soundwave. His optics flickered and his entire midsection was completely crusted over with energon, yet he still kept his blaster raised.

"S-soundwave… you and M-megatron betrayed yourselves when you decided to s-stop caring about the cause."

Soundwave shook his helm and made a low metallic growling noise that burst right out of his vocalizer. He rose to his pedes and began to stalk towards Optimus—

The ice beneath his pedes cracked.

His optic widened and he glanced down just in time to see the ice underneath him snap.

The ice suddenly shattered and Soundwave fell into the cold black water below. He plummeted to the bottom and his cables lashed out as he sunk. They coiled and twisted in the water like tentacles and gave a single powerful pulse of bright violet before they dimmed and went black.

Starscream sat beside the edge of the icy hole and watched Soundwave sink. Pure silence fell over the lake until soon all Starscream could hear was the quiet groan of the wind.

"Primus…" he whimpered.

"Starscream… Starscream…" Optimus wheezed.

He shot to his pedes and ran over to Optimus as he pulled out the remote again.

"Stop bleeding, I'll get us out of here!"

"Starscream—"

He fumbled out the remote and tried to tap in the coordinates, but his frozen talons wouldn't stop shaking. Starscream grit his dentae and sharply pressed each button as his entire frame shook and trembled.

"Slag!" he swore.

The sound of a fusion cannon hummed through the air.

Starscream held himself still and offlined his optics. He felt Megatron's presence before he even saw him. A harsh sparking cloud of static brushed at his wings as Megatron's enormous field grew closer and closer.

Panic rose up in Starscream's throat and choked him as he tried even harder to grab ahold of the remote and type in the coordinates. It slipped from his wet talons and clattered onto the cold wet ice and towards the black hole Soundwave had fallen into. Starscream shrieked and swung one of his legs out. He slammed the bottom of his heel onto the remote and stopped it from sliding any further by pinning it under his pede.

"And so there we were in the Council chambers, completely and utterly surrounded by mechs who wanted nothing more than to kill us. And you were scared, and I was too, but I hid my fear for your sake." Megatron emerged from the woods with a feral look in his optics. He kept charging and de-charging his fusion cannon. Each time it charged up it let out a bright burst of violet light, and everytime it charged down it went cold and black.

"And so there we were, together, brothers, forever, and you…you ruined it all. You took the Primehood from me…" Megatron said softly, so softly that his voice was nearly as quiet as the wind itself. He continued to walk towards the icy lake and at any moment now he would soon step onto the ice itself.

Starscream's vision staticked out as raw panic filled his field.

"—And so there we were! Together! The Primehood was my prize, and you took it, you know that? You took it, I could have been Megatronus Prime, do you know that, Orion?" Megatron snarled out. He continued to walk closer and closer to the icy lake.

"Um…" Starscream said blankly.

Megatron stared off into the sky as the snow fell around him. "It would have been perfect. Me, with all of the power and control, and you there, beside me and doing my bidding, Starscream. But no, Starscream, you took the Primehood from me, you took it!" Megatron hissed. His voice cracked and growled all at once as he continued to march towards the lake.

"I… I didn't take the Primehood, Megatron," Starscream said. Megatron's field wrenched and hissed with static as he suddenly turned his blood-red optics onto Starscream.

"Yes. You did. There, beside you, upon the ice, you wretch! You took the Primehood and put it in your chest when it should've gone in mine, beside my spark, and then you took Prime with you and made him your brother and—"

Megatron stepped onto the ice. It made a piercing shrieking noise as his massive weight settled upon it. Cracks formed all over the icy surface and spat out jets of water, yet Megatron completely ignored them and continued to march on, even as the icy water began to rise and cover his legs.

The ice was already cracked and unstable thanks to Soundwave's plunge. There was no way it would be able to handle the weight of an enormous and angry warlord stomping across it. A massive crack began to form and spread towards Starscream and Optimus.

"Megatron, please, see reason!" Starscream begged.

"Reason? Reason! Give me one reason why I shouldn't take you and bring you back and make you stay there beside me! You belong beside me, you are weak without me. You are not strong enough to take the leap to leave me!" Megatron snarled.

Starscream had no idea which mech Megatron was actually talking to. It seemed that Megatron didn't know either. Starscream hid the remote behind his back and continued to shakily type in the coordinates.

"Do you ever wonder how Skyfire felt when you betrayed him? Do you ever wonder how he felt when he saw you flying off without him as you abandoned him?"

Starscream froze. "How do you know about that?"

"I know you better than you know yourself, Starscream. I know that you wonder about how Skyfire felt when he was betrayed… but I do not need to wonder about what it is like to be betrayed. I was betrayed, once by my brother, and then a second time by… my brother."

Megatron stepped forward and fell into the ice up to his hips. His optics twitched, but otherwise he had no reaction.

"You are not my brother," Starscream breathed.

"I am Skyfire."

"Don't you dare claim to be him! Don't! You! Dare!"

"I am Skywarp."

Starscream tightly grabbed ahold of the remote and activated a groundbridge.

Megatron laughed bitterly. "I am Thundercracker."

The air above the ice shuddered and wavered as a whirling green groundbridge appeared above the ice.

"And I am everybody, every mech you have ever loved and then betrayed, don't you see, Optimus—I mean, Starscream? All you need is me. No one else. No one else but me."

Starscream made a run for it. He heaved Optimus over his shoulder and ran to the bridge as Megatron roared behind him. He fled towards the bridge at full speed and in just a few moments they would be through it and safe—

Soundwave burst out of the ice. His visor flared and his vocalizer made a terrible screeching noise as his cables slammed hard into the ice all around Optimus and Starscream. His entire frame glowed a blindingly bright shade of violet and pieces of shattered glass from his visor fell and down and onto Starscream as he loomed over him.

"It is all perspective, my dear Starscream. You are the hero of your own story, but the villain in mine." Megatron laughed as Starscream shrieked. "Everybody knows that only my story, that only my grand design actually matters here. You were born nothing, you are nothing, but then I came and made you into something! And now you are on the verge of becoming nothing yet again due to your folly! Come back to me. You always do. I came back for you, so come back to me!" Megatron shouted.

Soundwave blocked the groundbridge and the path to safety using his slender purple frame. Megatron laughed behind them, deep and guttural. He continued to wade into the lake as the water level rose around his frame. A sheet of ice hit him and he snarled and fired a bolt from his fusion cannon right at it. The entire lake screeched as a huge sheet of ice flew up into the air and disintegrated up high in the sky.

The commotion made Soundwave sharply look up. Annoyance and fear flared in his field and he briefly stopped paying attention to Starscream and Optimus.

"Once we were brothers, you know," Megatron said as he looked around in a daze.

Soundwave was distracted. His optic twitched and his cables tensed up at the sight of Megatron wading around in the water.

Starscream never failed to take advantage of an opportunity. He ran around Soundwave while dragging Optimus behind him. Megatron incoherently shouted something and the groundbridge drew closer and closer as he ran towards it—

A cable lashed out and sent him and Optimus flying backwards and away from the bridge. Starscream lost his grip on Optimus and the Prime's unconscious frame slid across the ice and towards the dark watery hole Soundwave had fallen into earlier.

"No!" Starscream shrieked. Anger flared up in his field and he instinctively lashed out at one of Soundwave's cables. His talons left behind three bleeding slash marks upon the cable.

Soundwave blinked and looked down at his new wound. He looked back up again. Suddenly, Starscream found himself flat on his back with three new slash marks upon his midsection.

"Okay, okay, mistake, slag!" Starscream swore. Megatron stood half-submerged in the ice behind him. His red optics followed every single one of Starscream's movements.

Starscream let out an exhausted vent and looked up at the groundbridge. There was no way he could possibly reach that bridge with Optimus in tow, not while Soundwave was guarding it. Running back into the woods was not an option because there was a very angry and very deranged warlord blocking the way. An idea suddenly sprung into his helm. It would be awful and cold, but—

"Oh, you have an idea, don't you?" Megatron said.

Starscream froze and looked over at him.

Megatron smiled. "I have an idea too. Come back to me."

The wind whistled, Soundwave loomed over him, Megatron watched him expectantly, and Starscream laid frozen on the ground.

Starscream took a deep vent and shouted.

"No!"

Starscream got up and ran… away from the groundbridge. Surprise flared in Soundwave's field and he watched Starscream run right towards Megatron.

Megatron smiled and stretched out his servo welcomingly to Starscream. Satisfaction thrummed in his field and he laughed as he stretched out his arms.

Starscream skid to a halt and knelt beside Optimus's frame. The two of them were right on the very edge of the black watery hole Soundwave had fallen into earlier.

"I apologize for this, Prime," Starscream said. He knew Optimus couldn't hear him, but it still felt like something that had to be said.

All of the victory in Megatron's field vanished in a single instant and he snarled at Starscream from across the ice. He raised his fusion cannon and charged it up—

Starscream pushed Optimus's frame into the water. He stood up and took one last look at Megatron's shocked and enraged faceplate before he plunged in himself.

Darkness consumed his vision. The only light came from the bright red glow of his optics and the glow of the energon bleeding away from Optimus and floating in the water. The two of them sunk to the lakebed as Starscream scrambled to pull the remote out again. The cold water rushed into his vents and static popped and peppered his vision as the image of the remote in his shaking talons blurred in front of him. He slammed the activate button and a new groundbridge yawned open beneath Starscream and Optimus's sinking frames.

A violet cable shot into the water and snatched ahold of Starscream's legs. He shrieked and tried to kick it off when he suddenly felt a burst of heat by his pede.

He turned around and saw the dim blue glow of Optimus's optics staring at him. His blaster was extended and Soundwave's cable had a dark singe mark on it. The cable spasmed and the bright glow of a visor shone from the surface above. Megatron's shadow fell over the two of them and his bright red optics blazed like twin suns from up high on the surface as he watched them sink.

Optimus and Starscream shared one last look with each other as they fell through the watery groundbridge.


Optimus and Starscream fell out of the groundbridge. Cold black water and chunks of ice poured out of the bridge and over their frames as Starscream scrambled to grab ahold of the remote and shut the bridge off.

The bridge vanished in a burst of light. The two of them just knelt there in the forest and let the water that had gotten caught in their armor leak from their frames and onto the ground in little waterfalls.

"Starscream…" Optimus blearily said.

Starscream cracked a single optic open and looked at the very wet and very confused Prime. "Hmpf, yes?"

Optimus blinked. "Did...did you just—?"

"Shhh, shhh! We took a dive, Prime, that is all that you need to know."

"But—"

"Stop panicking, okay?!" Starscream leaned over Optimus and shook the Prime's shoulders. "Stop panicking, everything will be fine! I just need a plan, I've come up with plans on the fly before, I just need to quickly make up a plan. So stop panicking, stop—"

Optimus's shaky servos came up and he gently grabbed ahold of Starscream's talons. He held his small talons in his much larger servos and looked at Starscream.

"Stop panicking. Everything will be fine," Optimus said.

Starscream took in a deep shuddery vent. "But—"

"Everything will be fine," Optimus repeated.

Starscream shook his helm and his wings fluttered behind him agitatedly. "Slag it, Prime, I'm the one who should be comforting you, not…"

"The other way around? Perhaps."

Starscream sighed. "Frag, this isn't—"

Optimus's helm shot up. "Do not finish saying that sentence. You were about to say that this was not 'the way of things,' w-weren't you?"

Starscream shut his intake.

"Is that what Megatron told you to justify his abuse of you? That it is just... 'the way of things?'"

Starscream just stared into space and fluttered his wings behind him. "Because it is the way of things, Prime. It just is. Megatron has taught me many lessons over the years and that was one of them."

"A true lesson is meant to educate you and reveal the truth to you, not blind you and miseducate you. Everything he taught you… is wrong, Starscream."

Starscream scoffed. "What, oh, so you've decided that right now is the perfect time to have another big chat, is that it? What is with you Autobots and feelsy conversations? Sometimes emotions don't matter and only the plan matters—the plan which, by the way, I am currently trying to create to save our lives!"

"Emotions do matter. I know why you're so scared and emotional right now."

Starscream rolled his optics. "Oh, well forgive me for feeling a bit agitated! It's not as if an insane warlord and a group of raving Autobots are trying to hunt me down and all, pfft, that's no reason to get emotional, not at all!"

"I can tell that those things are scaring you, yes—" Optimus suddenly stopped speaking and groaned in pain. Starscream rushed over to him and looked over his bloodied midsection.

Optimus just stared at him. "That is why you are scared right now."

"What are you even saying, Prime?"

"What I am saying… is that you are scared that you will lose me. Megatron taught you to never get attached to anything, did he? He taught you that detachment and abuse was normal, that it was 'the way of things.'"

"How is this relevant right now?" Starscream asked softly.

"Because you have grown attached to me and my 'feelsy' conversations, even though you continuously deny growing attached to me."

Starscream scoffed. "Gah, I'm not attached to all of this emotional nonsense you keep heaping on me! But fine, I'll play along. Let's say that's the case. Let's say that I…. enjoy having my past with Megatron dissected and discussed, hmm? Why is that suddenly relevant here in this moment?!"

"I fear that Megatron will capture you and try to miseducate you again. That is an unacceptable outcome and I refuse to allow all of your progress to vanish under his manipulations."

"What 'manipulations'? He didn't manipulate me!"

"He manipulated you into never realizing that you were being abused and manipulated."

Starscream shut his intake.

"Starscream… I can feel my systems shutting down. I will go into shutdown mode again due to my injuries and I am uncertain if we will reach Ratchet and the Autobots in time. I am telling you this because I need to warn you that Megatron will try to undo the change you've gone through."

"I…"

"Starscream, you are still not an Autobot. Not yet. You haven't changed enough. You are still not ready to take that leap. Do not allow Megatron to undo all of the changes you have gone through. Remember all of our conversations in the event that you are captured."

"I can change! I can take that leap!" Starscream shook out.

"Can you really, Starscream?"

"Don't go into shutdown on me! I need you!"

"Starscream, you only need yourself. You can still become an Autobot, even if I do shutdown."

"What—but how?! How can I know when I'm an Autobot if the head of the Autobots is too stuck in a coma to be able to tell me?"

"You will know."

Pedesteps sounded out from behind them. Starscream slowly turned around and looked up.

"Very sorry to interrupt this touchy-feely moment, but the big M wants us to bring you in," Knock Out said.

"Frag!" Starscream swore. He lunged forward at Knock Out and his optics widened as Knock Out drew out his electro-prod. He swung it at Starscream and the sheer shock of it threw Starscream through the air and back into Optimus's frame.

"How shocking!" Knock Out laughed.

Starscream tried to get back up again. Something closed around his ankle and he looked down to see Optimus's servo on his leg.

"Prime, what—?"

"Remember what I have taught you, Starscream."

Starscream blinked and looked away. "I will."

"Do not… do not allow Megatron to capture you."

"Yeah, well, I can't allow him to capture you either."

"What, so this is the 'brotherhood' Megatron has been raving about so much?" Knock Out laughed. He looked at something behind Starscream and smiled. "What do you think, Breakdown?"

Breakdown emerged from the trees behind them and smiled at the shock on Starscream's faceplate. "Huh, yeah. They're not much to look at."

"Frag you!" Starscream spat. He reached under his chestplate to grab the groundbridge remote—

Breakdown grabbed ahold of Starscream's grip and pulled his servo away from his cockpit. "What are you reaching for, Screamer? We thought you had no weapons."

"Hmpf, I thought the Autobots declawed you!" Knock Out scoffed as he looked at Starscream's scratched and bruised frame. "Come back to the Nemesis, I can buff those dents out."

"What, so Megatron can give me more dents?" Starscream laughed bitterly. "I don't think so!"

He tried to pull himself free from Breakdown's grasp, but the ex-Wrecker just tightened his grip on the Seeker. "Do you know just how insane Megatron has been lately because of this stunt you've pulled?"

"Insane. Just absolutely insane. But we can fix that, can't we, Breakdown?" Knock Out smiled.

"Once Megatron has you two…. brothers… back in his grasp, then things can get back to normal," Breakdown nodded.

Starscream froze. Normal.

"Megatron taught you to never get attached to anything, did he?" Optimus's voice echoed through his helm. He looked down at the prone Prime on the ground and felt his spark clench up. Optimus's vents breathed heavily and he stared at Starscream. His optics flickered.

"Oh, Primus, look at them Breakdown! They went and got attached to each other!" Knock Out said as shock filled his field.

Breakdown shook his helm. "Weird. So weird. You make, like, the worst pair of brothers."

Optimus's old words drifted back to Starscream. "He taught you that detachment and abuse was normal, that it was 'the way of things.'"

"Out of all of the bots to go and become brothers with, you chose the Prime?" Knock Out scoffed.

Starscream looked at Optimus. His optics were shut and more energon had begun to leak out of his midsection.

Starscream looked back up and at the two of them. "It's just... the Autobot way of things."

"Pah, leave the Prime behind and get back onto the Nemesis with us. We miss you, you're amusing," Knock Out said.

Starscream looked behind him and back at Optimus.

Optimus's voice drifted through his helm. "I saved you because it was the right thing to do. I came back for you in that canyon—"

His talon clenched into a fist by his side.

"—and I'll keep coming back for you as you become the mech I know you can be."

"He did not leave me behind," Starscream said softly. "So I will not leave him behind."

Knock Out and Breakdown blinked and looked at him with wide optics.

Starscream lashed out with his other set of claws and raked them down Breakdown's arm. He cried out and let go of Starscream's other servo. Starscream jumped away from Breakdown and ran back over to Optimus.

"Hold on Prime, just let me get the remote and—"

Starscream shrieked as bolts of electricity raced through his frame.

Knock Out stood over him and held the tip of the electro-prod right over Starscream's chestplates. "You hurt Breakdown," he said.

Starscream snarled back. "Go. I have a new doctor."

Knock Out's jaw dropped. "What? Why, you little—!"

"Starscream," Optimus said. He reached up and grabbed ahold of Starscream's shoulder. "I am not worth it. Do not risk getting yourself captured. Run. Y-you could get hurt."

Starscream froze. He could do that. Just create a new bridge and leap through it, but without the Prime's heavy frame in tow. He could just escape and go rogue in the wilderness, away from Megatron, away from the Autobots, away from Optimus—

—Away from Optimus. He frowned.

Starscream flinched as an image of Vos's spires burning in the night flashed into his processor. He flinched as another image appeared—he saw a shuttle's faint silhouette disappearing amongst the snow of a blizzard, growing fainter and fainter.

He had to leave the dying Seekers of Vos behind and he'd had to leave him behind and—

Starscream instinctively put his servo on Optimus's arm.

"You know, I never was one for following orders." He looked down at Optimus and watched the Prime's optics widen in concern.

"Starscream—"

"Shush!" he hissed at Optimus.

Knock Out and Breakdown glanced at each other.

"You'll never be able to leave the Decepticons, stop fooling yourself. You can't take that leap," Knock Out scoffed.

"Get back here!" Breakdown shouted as he ran right at Starscream.

Starscream shrieked and jumped back as the Decepticon barreled towards him. "Breakdown, no, y-you were an Autobot once!"

The Breakdown stopped running and he stared at Starscream.

"Do not hurt me for committing t-the same crime you did!"

"I've done nothing wrong, traitor!"

"You were once one of Optimus's soldiers! But you left, you l-left, surely you understand that sometimes you need to switch sides in life!"

Breakdown glared at him. "We are nothing alike."

"Are we, though?" Starscream shook out. He looked around for where the remote had fallen and saw it sitting off on the ground. He reached his leg out and slowly dragged the remote back to him with his pede as the ex-Wrecker just continued to glare at him.

"Surely you know what it's like to look around at all the bots amongst you and to realize that… that you don't belong amongst them… I looked at the Decepticons, and I knew I couldn't stay with them!"

Breakdown froze. "Okay, at first I just wanted to smack you around a little bit. Now I'm trying to resist smashing your helm in."

"But you understand w-what I'm saying, don't you?!"

Breakdown snorted. "Kind of. You're claiming that you don't belong amongst the Decepticons, but that's just not slaggin' true. You're the definition of a Decepticon. What, are you seriously telling me you looked at all the Autobots who hate you and said 'I belong here'? Don't kid yourself."

"I… No. I did not look at all of the Autobots and felt that I belonged beside them all—

Breakdown laughed. "Hah! See?"

"—but I feel that I belong beside by one Autobot in particular."

Breakdown's smile vanished. Starscream dragged the remote close enough to slip it into his servo behind his back. Just the press of a few buttons and—

Something cold pressed against his neck cabling. "Don't make me electrocute you again, Starscream," Knock Out said.

Starscream froze.

"Drop the remote. Drop the Prime. Come back. Everything will be fine." Knock Out said slowly and calmly as he poked the remote with the tip of the electro-prod.

The tip of the electro-prod hovered right beside his back and sent out hot sparks that skipped and danced across Starscream's back plating. He offlined his optics and tried to ignore the way the heat of the prod washed across his frame and tried to ignore just how similar it felt to the warm heat of a fusion cannon—

"Throw it."

Starscream took a deep vent. "What?"

"I will have to electrocute you if you do not do as I say. Throw the remote where you can't reach it," Knock Out said.

Starscream looked over his shoulder and glared at the medic. He held up the remote in his shaky servo and took one last look at it.

"Now now Starscream, you never were the sentimental sort. No need to get attached to the remote—or to Prime. Once you're back on the Nemesis, we can forget this all happened."

Starscream offlined his optics and threw the remote off to the side. It clattered against the rocks and shone faintly from across the forest clearing.

Knock Out smiled. "Oh, perfect…" He twirled the prod around and shoved Starscream away from Optimus using the blunt end of it. Starscream turned around just in time to see Knock Out hold the prod over Optimus's prone chassis.

"You said you wouldn't electrocute us if I did what you said! And I did what you said! Traitor—!"

"I said I wouldn't electrocute you. Prime was not included in our deal."

"What? Why would you go and hurt him for?!"

Knock Out frowned and all of his fake mirth left him in a single moment. "Lord Megatron said that Prime needed to be kept in shut-down mode in order to prevent you two from getting all buddy-buddy with each other. Stop worrying, none of the sparks from the prod will shoot out and hurt you. Unless…" Knock Out's optics widened and he looked at Starscream as if seeing him for the first time. "Unless you actually care for Prime's wellbeing?"

Starscream snarled. "I am not attached—"

"Oh, but you are, but you are! And here I was thinking you could only get attached to your own spark!" Knock Out laughed.

Starscream laid sprawled on the ground and rapidly glanced between Knock Out, Breakdown, and Optimus. Breakdown just stared at Prime with a cold glint in his orange optics, Knock Out was getting ready to bring the electro-prod down onto Optimus, and Optimus…

Optimus took a wheezy vent and looked over at Starscream. He blinked sluggishly and mouthed a single word.

Run.

They were distracted. He could escape, he could—

"I saved you because it was the right thing to do. I came back for you in that canyon—"

Starscream choked back a sob. He knew what he had to do, but it would be so painful.

"—and I'll keep coming back for you as you become the mech I know you can be."

But not as painful as leaving Optimus behind.

Knock Out put a single pede on Optimus's energon-covered chest and activated the electro-prod. "Now hold still 'big brother,' just one little shock and you'll peacefully slip away into shut-down mode—"

Starscream rammed into Knock Out at full speed. A hot burst of electricity arced out into the air and across the curves of Starscream's frame as he and the medic tumbled over each other and down into the trees.

Stray bolts of electricity raced over Starscream's wings and he fell down as the pain tingled through him. Optimus shakily reached out a servo at Starscream and tried to drag his bloodied frame over to Starscream's sparking frame.

His circuits felt as if they were on fire—every cable, every strut, every piece and bit of Starscream felt as if it was aflame. He let out a shriek and grabbed ahold of the sparking electro-prod under him. The electro-prod sat wedged under his back and between his wings as it sent out pulse after pulse of tangled lightning over and cross his entire frame. Knock Out stumbled to his pedes from where he had fallen as Breakdown ran over to the two of them.

"Why you little—!" Breakdown swore and lunged forward at Starscream. Starscream shrieked as he reached under the electro-prod and chucked it at Breakdown. The ex-Wrecker stumbled to the side to avoid the sparking and hissing prod. Starscream barrelled past him and grabbed ahold of the remote in his burnt servos as Knock Out shouted behind him.

"You know we're going to find you again, right?" He gritted as he rose to his pedes. Breakdown and Knock Out's optics shone like searchlights in the gloom of the forest. "You can keep running, and we'll just keep finding you until you can't run anymore."

Starscream punched a new set of coordinates into the remote and flung his frame over Optimus's as a groundbridge opened up beneath them. Optimus twitched underneath him and Starscream hooked his talons over him protectively.

Optimus smiled a sad smile. "And yet you continue to deny getting attached."

Starscream's mouth opened and closed as he tried to find something to say. No words sprang into his helm.

Breakdown roared and charged towards the two of them at full speed. The groundbridge opened up beneath Starscream and Optimus and swallowed them whole just as Breakdown swung his hammer into the empty air where they had once been.


"I'm not getting a signal," Ratchet scowled at the screen.

Bulkhead growled and punched the wall. "We should've seen this coming!"

"Hep hep hep, don't break anything! It's not what Optimus would've wanted!" Ratchet grumbled.

Arcee had been staring at the wall, but then suddenly turned around. "You speak about him as if he is dead."

"He may as well be." Ratchet shook his helm and went back to trying to get a signal.

"Uh, what's happening?" Jack said. The children all stood on the mezzanine and stared up at the bots.

Ratchet dragged a servo down his faceplate. "Optimus has been captured by the Decepticons, all thanks to him!"

"'Him'? Do you mean Starscream?" Raf asked.

"Yes, yes, who else? Who else could possibly have been behind this?"

Raf shuffled his feet and looked away. "Well… he'd been making so much progress, I just thought Starscream—"

"I'm getting a signal!" Ratchet shouted as he activated the groundbridge. The Autobots wasted no time and rapidly raced through the bridge.

Raf just stared at the bridge they had disappeared into it and sighed.

"I thought he was our friend… and I think he still might be..." he finally finished.


The Autobots emerged onto the other side of the groundbridge and extended their blasters as their optics scanned the dark woods for any sign of life.

Movement shifted around in the trees and Starscream came into view. His frame was banged in, dented, dirtied, and smeared with energon, but despite all his injuries he still managed to haul the bruised and bloodied frame of Optimus behind him. His field shook and shuddered around him and sparked with so much energy that even the Autobots could sense his distress all the way across the trees.

Bumblebee's optics widened and his extended blasters began to shake. He knew what would happen next. Starscream still hadn't noticed them yet, but when he did—

Starscream collapsed into the ground and vented heavily as the Autobots just stood and watched him. His field flickered around him and projected a dizzying array of emotions that flickered through his field like a storm—pain and grief and betrayal, but worry, so much worry—

He blinked and just stared at the bleeding Seeker as the world seemed to move in slow motion. Worry, that was worry flickering in Starscream's field, hot cloying worry mingled with grief that looped around his bleeding frame and choked him—

Bumblebee stood there and wondered whether Starscream was worrying for himself, or for Optimus.

Starscream's optics shot wide open and his frame stiffened. He turned around and his breath left him in a harsh vent as he laid optics on the Autobots. His servo instinctively moved over to clutch onto Optimus. That was a mistake.

"Let him go, Scream!" Bulkhead growled as he slammed his wrecking ball into the palm of his servo.

Starscream snarled. "I think not, Wrecker. I have to protect him, after all!"

"What? From us?" Bulkhead scoffed.

"From the Decepticons! From him!" Starscream growled. His wings flared behind him and his optics began to grow brighter as anxiety rose up within his field again.

"From Megatron?" Bulkhead laughed unhappily. "You're Megatron's little pet, there's no way we're leaving Prime with you!"

"I am no pet! I am my own Mast—" Starscream's optics widened and he bit down on his glossa. His optics widened and he stared at the Autobots as raw field sprang up in his field.

"You're your own Master. We know, oh, we know!" Bulkhead choked out. "You've made that clear to us, and you made it clear to Cliffie!"

Arcee's optics flashed. "We know how you killed him. How you stood over him and leered down at Cliffjumper as you drove his claws right into him and—"

"What? How do you know about that?!" Starscream shouted.

Bumblebee's optics widened. "The footage Soundwave showed us… it was real. All of it."

Starscream's breaths left him all at once. "What? No!"

"You just confirmed that the footage we saw was authentic, Starscream. You really… you really did shove your claws into him…" Bumbleebe warbled.

"We saw what you did to Cliffjumper with our own optics!" Arcee snarled.

He dragged Optimus closer to him and offlined his optics. The familiar feeling of panic clawed its way up his through and he took a deep veent. He looked to Optimus for comfort and received none. The Prime was unconscious and his frame was smeared over with energon. Starscream took a deep breath, thought of every conversation he ever had with Optimus, and responded.

Starscream shut his optics and his field fell around him with grief. "I... will not deny what I did to Cliffjumper, Autobots. I have denied committing many crimes before, but I won't try to convince you I did not commit a crime that I absolutely did commit and that I enjoyed committing. But I will deny hurting your precious Prime! Slag it, if I wanted to hurt him, why did I run from Megatron, huh? Why didn't I just shimmy up to Megatron and just hand Optimus over to his greatest enemy?! I could've! I could've! But I didn't!"

The Autobots glanced between one another as uncertainty began to waver in their fields.

"Let him go, Starscream," Bumblebee beeped.

Starscream clutched onto the Prime even harder. He still wasn't entirely certain why, but the idea of Optimus leaving him and being out of his reach made his spark lock up in him.

"I can't," he said as he looked at Optimus. He was completely unconscious at this point and his midsection was covered in congealed energon.

"Why not?" Bumblebee trilled. There was something familiar about the way Starscream's optics lit up and the way his terror inundated his field.

"Because, because—" Starscream tried to grit out. He'd been able to use his silver tongue to escape so many situations before; yet there he was in one of the worst situations he had ever been in, and completely unable to say a word.

Bumblebee beeped softly. "Let him go."

"I can't, slag it!" Starscream punched the ground. It was happening all over again. He was getting too attached and that was completely unacceptable. One of his main rules he had followed was to never allow himself to get too attached to a bot, never again—he'd been attached to Skywarp and Thundercracker and Skyfire and Megatron, and then Starscream had always fragged up—

"How can I trust you?!" Starscream snarled.

"We'll take care of him! I promise!"

"How do I know you won't just shoot me the moment I loosen my hold on him, huh?"

Bumblebee froze and went silent.

"You'd dare use some bleeding bot to shield yourself?" Bulkhead growled at him.

"You leave me no choice," Starscream growled right back. "I'm running out of choices here, you idiots! And when bots run out of choices, they m-make stupid decisions and they go and j-join armies they shouldn't join and follow Primes out of cave-ins, even though it'll all probably just end in disaster, and—" Starscream let out a hitched sob and held Prime closer.

They said nothing and all just stood there in silence.

"What do I have to say to convince you of my innocence?" Starscream asked softly, so softly.

"I…" Bumblebee began to say. He didn't know why he wasn't angry at the Seeker. Everything seemed too right, it all just made too much sense—the sight of Starscream kneeling over Optimus's bleeding frame as Megatron and Soundwave stood, no, loomed above him—it made sense that things would look like that if the Seeker double-crossed them, and yet…

And yet it made no sense at all because there it was again—another flare of hot worry suddenly sparked up in Starscream's field. Bumblebee blinked and offlined his optics as waves from Starscream's distressed field washed over his doorwings.

No, that worry in Starscream's field wasn't for himself. Starscream was worried about Optimus.

"I…" Starscream began to say something and he grimaced as if it took all his effort to force out each word. "Don't make me say it!" Starscream spat out.

"Say it. Say what you were going to say, traitor," Arcee hissed.

"I…" Starscream looked back down at Optimus's bloodied frame. "I care for him." He spoke so softly his words were hardly audible, yet he still spoke them nevertheless.

"Then why are you clutching onto Optimus's bleeding frame if you care for him?!" Bulkhead shouted.

"To protect him, not to hurt him!"

"The only bot here Optimus needs protection from is you." Arcee snapped.

"I, I don't—" Starscream began to say and then stopped. The Autobots coldly stared down at him and he heard the quiet whir of their blasters charge up. He'd been able to free himself from tense situations before by using his words to manipulate others. But what was he supposed to do now that his words had lost all meaning? In what way could he possibly proclaim his innocence when they claimed every single one of his words was a lie?

"It is all perspective, my dear Starscream," Megatron's voice said. Starscream punched the ground and tried to will away the phantom voice of Megatron laughing in his helm.

"The only reason I'm not shooting you right now is because I think you'll just use Optimus as a shield!" Arcee growled. "Prime has done so much for you. He's shielded you from so many things before, and even now he continues to shield you—"

"Don't make me do this, Autobots," Starscream shook out. He reached a shaking servo behind his back and clutched ahold of something. Bumblebee's spark froze and somehow, he just knew that the Seeker was holding on tightly to something that wasn't Optimus.

"What?! Kill him?" Arcee scowled.

"No… don't make this harder than it has to be. Just let us both go home. L-lock me up if you have to, and just… just wait for Optimus to wake up, and he'll explain everything to you!"

Bulkhead scoffed. "And bring a traitorous Con back to base? To the kids? I don't think so. Hand Prime over right now!"

"I can't! He's my only ticket back, don't you understand?! The only bot who can help me escape Megatron—"

"You haven't 'escaped' Megatron. You never did and never will. You've been allied with him all along!" Arcee said.

Bumblebee put a servo on her shoulder. "'Cee… something's not right here. This is what Megatron wants us to do, he wants us to get mistrustful and leave Starscream behind for Megatron to come and find. Don't fall for it. Stop and think! I mean, why else would Soundwave send us a bunch of footage of him killing Cliff if not to anger us, huh?"

Arcee scowled. She kept her optics locked onto Starscream and Optimus and gave no indication at all that she even heard what Bumblebee said.

"Starscream, you and I both know this was all a ruse. Don't try to lie to us. We all know you're unable to take the leap to leave the Decepticons. Don't make me shoot you," she said.

Starscream frowned and resignation coiled around him. "No, don't! Don't, just…" He clutched even tighter onto something behind his back. Bumblebee squinted and he swore he saw Starscream trying to type something onto some device hidden behind him.

"Well… wait, I'm confused. If Screamer betrayed us, why'd he go off and run from Buckethead?" Bulkhead asked.

"This all has to be some scheme cooked up by him and Megatron, it has to be!" Arcee growled. Her blasters charged up and Starscream yelped and ducked.

"Arcee, no, we've already lost too many bots in this war. We need to think about this—"

"I can contemplate his betrayal after he's dead."

Bumblebee darted forward and pushed her blaster down. "I don't like him either. And I especially don't like what he did to… to Cliffjumper. But if we kill him in cold blood, are we really much better than him?"

Arcee's blaster wavered and she looked away.

"Scream…" Bulkhead stepped forward with his servos out placatingly. "So, uh… you killed Cliffjumper."

Starscream blinked. The urge to make a snappy comment about how obvious that was suddenly rose up within him… but there was something about the way Bulkhead awkwardly stepped forward and said the obvious that made the Seeker shut his intake and listen.

"You killed him," Bulkhead continued. Confusion, anger, and pain flashed through his field. "You killed him. And we all saw the look in his optics, we all see the moment Cliff realized what you were going to do to him… and he looked real scared, Screamer. Really really scared."

Bulkhead took a deep vent and his snarl loosened. "And then there we were, back in the mines when Megatron passed by us all, and...well. You were scared. Really scared. As Megatron walked past, you got the same look in your optics that… that Cliff had right before you killed him. And then you got that look in your optics again when we walked in on you kneeling over Optimus beside Sounders and Megatron. So..."

Starscream was silent and just stared at the Wrecker with wide optics. Bulkhead's wrecking ball shook and a spasm of anger passed over his faceplate as he began to speak again.

"I don't… really understand all of this slag—but I understand enough, frag it! Don't make me bash your helm in, Scream. 'Cause I'll do that if I have to. We can do this the easy way or the Wrecker way. I just wanna wreck things. But I can tell that… that you're already wrecked up. I don't deal with all of this… sad emotional stuff. And I really am resisting the urge to just smash your helm in, I really am. But that's now what Prime would want. So… just get your little aft back to the base, and when Prime wakes up… then we can all decide if I should bash your helm in or not."

"Don't run again, Starscream. We all understand something isn't right here—we know if you're really guilty of anything here, we're just not sure how guilty you are or what you're even guilty of," Bumblebee warbled. "Don't run again."

"I don't… I'm tired of running, slag it, but how do I know you won't just shoot me the moment I walk back into base?!" Starscream choked out.

"How do we know you won't do the same?" Arcee asked cooly.

"I don't—" Starscream punched the ground in frustration. "You took my weapons away, how can I shoot you in the back if I can't even shoot? I can't fight back, slag it, so stop trying to fight me!"

A bright green light shone through the woods and the air shifted. The air began to buzz.

"Oh, no. No, no, no!" Starscream panicked. He knew what that shift in the air meant and where that buzzing noise came from—

"Oh, Starscream, oh Optimus!" Megatron's voice boomed through the trees. The trees snapped and bent to the side as Megatron heaved his massive frame through them. His two red optics shine like miniature suns deep within the woods as he barreled towards them at full speed.

"I need to go—" Starscream yelped. He stood up and hefted Optimus over his shoulder as he reached his servo back under his cockpit to grab ahold of the remote again.

Bumblebee darted forward and grabbed ahold of Starscream's wrist. His spark flared and his wings snapped open as he suddenly turned around to face the scout.

Bumblebee transformed his blaster away and just looked at Starscream.

"Please," he began with raw desperation in his voice, "don't run from us again. You can take this leap."

"I have to! I don't know if you'll hurt me—"

"You're hurting yourself by running—"

"Once we were brothers!" Megatron shouted as his frame crashed through the trees. He burst into the clearing and shot out a massive bolt of pure energy from his fusion cannon. It ripped through the air and slammed into the ground between Starscream and Bumblebee's pedes. The two of them jumped backwards and away from the sizzling blaster mark in the ground. Starscream and Bumblebee looked at each other from across the smoking ground.

"Please, just jump over the burning ground, come on, come to me—!"

Starscream bit his lip and felt blood well up. "I'm not ready to take that leap yet, Bumblebee!"

"Once we were brothers. Once. Now we are just enemies." Megatron stalked into the woods and transformed one of his servos into a sleek sharp blade.

Bumblebee looked at him pleadingly, the Autobots watched with wide optics, Megatron stared at him with a mad glint in his optics—and Starscream looked away from all of them. He grabbed ahold of the remote as Megatron began to run towards them.

"Stay back!" Arcee shouted as all of the Autobots began to fire upon Megatron. The blaster bolts harmlessly sizzled across his armor. Megatron ignored every single one of them and continued to run right at Starscream.

"Starscream, Starscream—!"

Starscream punched the activate button on the groundbridge and opened up a groundbridge.

He shrieked as he clutched ahold of Optimus's arm and dragged both of their frames through the groundbridge. Megatron ran right up the groundbridge as it closed and swiped his arm through the air where it had once been. He stumbled backward and roared as smoke curled away from his singed arm.

"We need to go!" Arcee said as she commed Ratchet. A new groundbridge opened up.

"You!" Megatron snarled as he stomped towards them. "You just had to go and chase him off again, didn't you?"

"We wouldn't need to be chasin' them down if you didn't scare them off in the first place!" Bulkhead shouted.

Bumblebee looked up at Megatron's massive hulk of a frame and took a shuddering vent. It would be easy to just run through the bridge and leave the warlord behind, it would be so easy—but if he did that, he would also leave answers behind.

"Megatron," Bumblebee shook out as he stepped right in front of the warlord, "Did Starscream betray us or not?"

Megatron just stared at him for a moment. Then he laughed.

"Oh, he has betrayed all of us! He has betrayed you, he has betrayed the rest of the Decepticons, but most of all, he has betrayed me."

"But then why were you standing with him besides Soundwave?"

"Standing 'with' him? You have much to learn, little scout. I was standing over him, not with him. Starscream shall never again stand beside another mech who is not me, never. He dared to stand beside Optimus—" Megatron clenched his talon into a fist, "—so he must therefore withstand my punishment."

Arcee's jaw dropped.

"'Bee, Arcee! We gotta go!" Bulkhead called from the bridge.

Bumblebee ran away from Megatron as the warlord laughed behind him.

"Oh, flee, flee, flee! Everybody runs from me, but when Prime is dead and the Autobots decimated, you will run to me. Soon, everybody will learn that. But first, I must ensure that my rogue second understands that."

Bumblebee leaped through the bridge and took one last look back at Megatron as he jumped through. Megatron just stared at him with a sharp smile on his faceplate and a twitch in his optics. The bright green light of the bridge overwhelmed everything, and then Megatron was gone.

It still felt like he was there, though.

The Autobots stumbled back into the base.

"Track him, Ratchet!" Arcee snarled. "Find Starscream. Find. Him."

Ratchet looked at them all with wide optics and then silently turned back to the computer console. Bulkhead stomped off into the shadows of the hall and the sound of something breaking crashed through the air. For once, Ratchet didn't say anything.

"Did you find him?" Jack asked from the mezzanine.

"We did, but… he would not allow himself to be caught," Arcee grit out.

"Is Starscream okay?" Raf asked.

"What, you're concerned about him?" Arcee said as she crossed her arms. "Optimus could very well be dead because of him!"

"Well, it's just… what you've said… it seems like a trap." Raf spoke so quietly her audials strained to hear him.

"Of course! Starscream led Prime right into a trap… I think."

"No, I mean…" Raf looked off to the side and bit his lip as he tried to find the words. "I think the trap is meant for you, Arcee."

She blinked. "What?"

Bumblebee held his servos up appeasingly. "'Cee, it's just that… Bulkhead and I talked about it, and doesn't it seem strange that Soundwave showed us footage that he knew would make us angry at Starscream, and that he would then give us a perfect opportunity to hurt Starscream?"

Bulkhead walked back into the main room while breathing heavily. There was a dent in his wrecking ball. "Seems an awful lot like Sounders just wants us to beat the Seeker into the ground for us," Bulkhead said as he awkwardly scratched his neck cabling.

"What, so even if Soundwave is trying to manipulate us into hurting Starscream, what's so wrong with that? That Seeker's got it coming!" Arcee scowled.

Bumblebee shook his helm. "No, 'Cee… you're sounding like a Decepticon."

Arcee's jaw dropped. "Me? A Decepticon? You're saying I sound like a Decepticon right after a Con just snatched up Prime, is that what you're saying?"

Bumblebee drew himself up to his full height and locked his armor together. "Yes."

"Well, Starscream needs to be offlined. He hurt Cliffjumper, he's hurt so many over the years—"

"—And now Soundwave is taking advantage of your anger to manipulate you."

Arcee went silent and just glared at Bumblebee.

"Just… think on it, okay? Please?" He trilled sadly.

Arcee's armor locked up. "The only thing I can think about at the moment is saving Optimus."

"But did you not hear what he said? Megatron said he wants to punish Starscream. They're not aligned in any way at all. Starscream didn't betray us and you know that."

Arcee went silent and bit her lip.

"You know that, don't you? You just want to kill him for Cliffjumper."

Arcee crossed her arms and looked away.

"We need to find him! And if Starscream is there, and he is really innocent—"

She scowled and walked off into the shadows of the base.

"—Then we risk making a terrible mistake." Bumblebee let out a heavy vent and watched her walk off.