Fire ripped past the window.

Starscream watched with wide optics as another nearby ship was shot down by a missile. The ship and all the sparks aboard it vanished in an expanding cloud of glittery metal fragments. The shockwave from the blast shuddered through the ship Starscream was in and made the window in front of him rattle. The debris hurtled into the gloom of deep space and a sleek shape appeared silhouetted by the starlight. The cloud of smoke from the explosion cleared away and revealed the senders of the missile.

The curved hulls of the enemy starships came into view and the symbol of the Enforcers shone brightly upon their sides.

"How did they find us?" Starscream breathed out. He clung onto the window sill to support himself. Moonhalo, Sunblaze, Fireflare—all of them were gone. All of them. Starscream ran away from the window as a familiar sensation prickled in his optics. He couldn't let coolant leak from his optics, not here, not now—he had a mission to do, and by Primus, he would fulfill it.

"How did the Enforcers find our location?" Starscream asked. He turned around and looked at the other gobsmacked bots in the hall.

"How?!" he shrieked as his wings flared out into the air. "Your fellow scientists just, they just died because our location was discovered, and you have nothing to say?"

"Starscream," a voice said. "Calm down."

"Calm down?! Calm down? Who said that? Why should I calm down, why—"

An enormous pair of arms wrapped around him from behind and he felt his frame get pushed up against the curves of interstellar-grade armor. Starscream let out a high-pitched keen and sank into the embrace of the massive mech who had closed himself around him.

The arms loosened and an enormous warm servo closed over his shoulder and spun him around. Starscream looked up at the mech in front of him… and up… and up.

"We will be fine. We'll figure out how our location was discovered and we will fulfill our mission," Skyfire said.

"Pffft, and how? How are we going to find out who leaked the location of our fleet? I mean, we'll be fine, right? Right?" Starscream whimpered. He looked up at Skyfire with a sneer on his faceplate, but his frown immediately vanished upon seeing Skyfire's faceplate.

"I… don't know how."

"Oh, of course. Just our luck."

"But Starscream, everything will be fine. I'll see to it! We'll ensure that the target reaches its destination. The Council will never get their servos on the formula—never."

"I'm not worried about that," Starscream grumbled.

Skyfire's optics widened. "What?"

"I'm not that worried about losing that stupid cylinder and the stupid synthetic energon formula. I'm worried about losing you," Starscream said. The rest of the bots in the hallway had cleared away and left the two of them alone in front of the window. The shattered fragments of the other spaceship drifted through space and twirled past the glass. An enormous nebula obscured the view in front of the ship and glowed a bright blood-red color against the stars.

"Oh, Star," Skyfire said as he led Starscream away from the window. A vibration shuddered through the entire ship. Something was wrong.

Starscream wrenched his arm away from Skyfire. The shuttle looked at him in concern as he ran back over to the viewport and pressed his servos up to the window. The bright blue glow of Starscream's optics was reflected in the glass. He squinted past his reflection and looked at the bright red nebula outside the port.

"Skyfire, is it me… or is the nebula darker than usual?"

Skyfire frowned and walked up to the glass. A sleek black shape emerged from the nebula's clouds. Then another. And then another.

The intercom blared to life. "Incoming enemy fighters, incoming—" The bot who was speaking through the intercom abruptly stopped speaking. The entire ship shook and made Skyfire and Starscream lurch into the wall.

They both looked at each other. More Enforcer ships appeared out of the viewport and streaked past the window.

"Oh Primus, they were waiting for us! The cylinder!" Starscream shouted. Skyfire grabbed ahold of him and held him close as he ran to the hangar at full speed. The alarms blared and panicked scientists ran past him while they screamed and shouted. Skyfire dodged all of them and was about to run into the hangar—

The wall exploded and threw everybody back. The smoke cleared away and the silhouette of an Enforcer appeared amongst the roaring flames. He lifted his bright red blaster and sent out a volley of blasterfire at the cowering scientists as he stomped through the open hole in the ship and into the corridor. Skyfire gasped and stumbled to his pedes as the scientists were killed behind them. Starscream watched them die from over Skyfire's shoulder and he clenched his servo into a fist. He would make the Enforcers pay for this one day.

Skyfire skid into the hangar and slammed the door shut. He put Starscream back down onto the ground and collapsed to his knees. His faceplate was covered in spilt energon—and it wasn't his.

The ship shook and shuddered as it was boarded. Alarms pierced the air and the sound of shouting and shooting echoed through the halls. A large grey cylinder with a red cap sat strapped down on the floor in front of Skyfire and Starscream.

Starscream scowled at the sight of the energon on his face. "Who hurt you? Who—?"

Skyfire grabbed ahold of Starscream's fists and gently pushed them back down. "The energon is not… it's not mine," he said. He forced a smile onto his faceplate, yet Starscream could feel the grief in his field.

"I have an idea..." Starscream said. He turned around and grabbed ahold of one of Skyfire's servos. His servo was so large he could wrap both of his talons around just one of the shuttle's digits. "We need to leave the fleet."

Skyfire's optics widened and his massive wings flared out. "What—?"

"I know, I know, I don't want to leave our friends behind either. But we have a mission, slag it! If Sentinel Prime gets ahold of the synthetic energon formula, he'll be unstoppable."

Blasterfire rang out in the room next door. Skyfire frowned. "We can't just leave the cylinder behind!"

Starscream clambered up onto Skyfire's shoulder and grabbed ahold of the shuttle's faceplate. "We won't! We'll take it with us and we'll leave, we'll hide it away where it can never be found and abused. We'll get so much data, Skyfire, just you and I out in the stars. When we return to Cybertron, the Council will love us for our new discoveries. They'll have no idea we were the bots who stole the formula from them. We'll return to Cybertron and then everything will be fine!"

Skyfire's wings fell and he frowned. "Starscream… there's no guarantee we'll get treated any better by the grounders when we return."

"Well, we have to try!" Starscream shouted. The door banged as the Enforcers tried to pry their way in.

Skyfire bit his lip. "I mean, I could fit the cylinder in my cargo bay…"

"Yes!" Starscream gasped. "And we'll just drop it off on some backwater world where it will never be found, and then we'll return to Cybertron with all of our discoveries, and the Academy will have to give us the credit we deserve. They'll have to."

Skyfire frowned as his field prickled around him anxiously. The door banged again.

"OPEN IN THE NAME OF SENTINEL PRIME," a monotonous voice boomed through the door.

Skyfire looked at the door with wide optics. Starscream grabbed ahold of his faceplate with both of his servos and directed Skyfire's attention back to him.

"Please," Starscream said softly, so softly.

Skyfire gulped and looked between Starscream, the door, and the data cylinder.

"It will be dangerous, Starscream—"

The door banged again.

"We might not come back—"

"OPEN IN THE NAME OF SENTINEL."

Skyfire offlined his optics. "Oh, Primus, we could lose our home back on Cybertron—"

A dent appeared in the door.

Skyfire dragged his servos down his faceplate. "But if the Council gets the cylinder—"

The door flew open.

"—then we'll lose everything," Starscream finished.

Skyfire glared at the Enforcers as they flooded into the room. He turned around and slammed down hard on a nearby lever on a control panel. The wall of the hangar slid away and revealed the dark void of space.

He placed Starscream down atop the cylinder and transformed around the both of them. Starscream offlined his optics as Skyfire's enormous cargo bay closed around him. He fell to the floor of Skyfire's cargo bay as the shuttle activated his engines and flew out of the hangar of the exploding ship. Bright points of light streaked past the windows of Skyfire's alt-mode as the Enforcers fired a barrage of blaster fire at thrm.

Starscream grabbed ahold of the cylinder and held it steady as it shook and rattled. "You better be worth it," he grumbled to it. Everything would be fine, yes, everything would be fine. This was the right choice. Why stay with the fleet when there would soon be no fleet? He and Skyfire could handle anything the stars threw at him.

Skyfire delivered all power to his thrusters and shot away into the night. The burning ships of the scientist's fleet and the Enforcer's fleet vanished out of view until only the stars were their company.

"I have several worlds in the mind that we could drop the cylinder off on. It's best that we just program it to fly itself to one of those worlds after we finish investigating them—and it'd be even better if we just let the cylinder choose at random which of those worlds it lands on. Y'know, in case…." Skyfire's voice broke.

"In case the Enforcers get us?" Starscream said softly.

Skyfire said nothing.

"Oh, 'Fire, we'll be fine! Just you see! We can handle any storm."

Starscream smiled and let himself slip into recharge. The only sound came from the quiet hum of Starscream's vents as he recharged and the deep boom of Skyfire's engines as he accelerated into deep space. He scanned Starscream to ensure that the Seeker really was asleep, and then he quietly turned on his microphone.

"Asleep? Good. Subspace Log 47… Oh, Starscream…"


The sharp angles of a medberth cut into his back. Starscream froze and kept his optics offlined as he intently focused on the air that flowed around his wing. Was it the warm and drafty air of the Autobot base, or the cold sharp air of the Nemesis that flowed around his frame?

Someone let out a deep sigh. Starscream's optics shot open and he looked over a dirty medbay. His processor was slow and sluggish, yet there was a faint thrum of panic there. It was always there. At any moment heavy pedesteps would resound against the floor and Megatron would stomp in, a sneer on his faceplate and a charge built up in his fusion cannon—

Starscream squinted at the brown ceiling. Brown. He could still see the damage left behind by the scraplet invasion. His optics widened and he groaned as he sat up on the medberth. A deep vent of relief left his vents as he looked out across the makeshift cluttered Autobot medbay. No Nemesis, no Megatron. He never knew that scraplet bite marks could ever look so welcoming.

The equipment of the Autobot medbay blinked on and off in the gloom. The air was cold and empty beside him and it made a shiver run through him, but not because it was cold—there was something missing, there was something that should be there beside him that was just gone—

He wracked his sluggish processor for the answer as to what was missing, and found none. Memories of red and blue armor and dim blue optics drifted up from his processor. Starscream sat up and felt his entire frame creak and groan as he jolted up. He could ignore the pain, he was good at that at least, but he needed to know and needed to figure out what in the slag was missing.

He twisted around and let out a shaky exhale of relief. Optimus was laid out on the berth beside him deep in recharge. A large energon-stained patch covered his midsection and his engine thrummed deeply in his recharge.

Starscream fell back onto the medbay with a clang. So that was what was missing. If his past self had been told that he'd feel alone and wrong without the Prime's presence, he would've just laughed. But now…

His spark ached. He held his servo over his chestplates and—wait a second, his chestplates didn't feel right.

He looked down at a dark weld line that ran right down the middle of his chestplate. Another scar to add to all of his other ones. He idly wondered if this would be the last scar he'd receive from Megatron, or the first of a whole new batch. There was something else there on his chestplates atop the weldmark, but he'd have to crane his helm to be able to look at it. He was just too tired for that.

"I'm sorry," he said weakly. He groaned and then immediately dragged his servos down his faceplate. It was warm and dark and there was not a single awake soul there in that medbay, yet those two awful and wretched words somehow managed to burst out of his raw vocalizer.

He curled back up on the berth and offlined his optics. The peace, the quiet, it was too much—at any moment it would shatter just like all his other dreams and Megatron would stomp in and take him.

"You're not here," he said to Optimus. He had no reaction and continued to shift in his recharge.

Starscream grabbed ahold of Optimus's limp servo in his shaky talon and gripped onto it as if it were about to vanish. "You are not here. You're going to disappear, and I'm going to be alone on the Nemesis again. The Autobots won't believe me when I say I'm innocent—slag, they won't even be able to look at me, they'll be so upset. I can't possibly be this lucky."

"When I asked you to return my brother… I was not referring to Megatronus—"

It was too good to be true. This had to be some illusion conjured up by his processor, it had to be—there was no way the Autobots could've looked at him and wanted him to come back.

"And yet here you are," a voice said. Starcream's helm whipped around and he saw the silhouette of Ratchet in the doorway. He had a tight smile on his faceplate and his optics twitched.

"Oh. Just you..." Starscream said numbly. Ratchet was staring at something. He followed the medic's gaze over—

He was staring right at Starscream and Optimus's interlocked servos.

"Gah! It's not what it looks like!" Starscream shrieked. He tried to pull his talon away from Optimus's, but then the Prime's servo suddenly tightened around his talons.

Starscream just stared at their clasped servos. "Um… he grabbed my servo, for the record."

Ratchet just nodded. "Sure. Starscream—" Ratchet began as he sat down on a stool beside his medberth.

Starscream internally groaned. At any moment now he would be scolded and rebuked for his actions. Ratchet would look down at him with hot vitriol in his optics and said with acid in his voice "you have failed" and "why did you have to run, Starscream?"

"Primus, Starscream, why would I say that?" Ratchet scoffed.

Starscream twitched. "Um. Did I say that out loud?"

Ratchet just looked at him. "You… say a lot of things out loud."

His spark sank. "Like what?" he asked softly. He dragged his other servo down his faceplate and turned away from Ratchet—

"—has he woken up yet—?" a voice said.

Starscream blinked and strained his audials. The Autobots were discussing his failure, they had to be. They had given him a command, and he had rejected it, so now he had to pay the price.

"—Optimus is out cold—"

"—I'm sure he'll be fine—"

"—did you see the way Starscream—?"

He tried to sit up further, but felt something tug him back down. Starscream grunted and looked down at a tube that snaked under his chestplate that was connected to a machine on the other end. A whole series of bright tubes that glowed blue with healing energon were coiled around his entire frame.

His optics widened. He couldn't be restrained, he couldn't, he gripped ahold of the tubes and desperately tried to wrench out of his chestplate—

"Starscream, Starscream, calm down!" Ratchet shouted. He pulled Starscream's shaking talons away from the tubes and made him lie down again.

"But… Megatron, and Soundwave, and the Nemesis? And then it crashed, and then—!"

"And then we found you and Optimus and brought you back to base," Ratchet finished. He scanned Starscream and squinted at him.

"Oh. Wait, Optimus is fine, right?! " Starscream shrieked. He tried to sit up again, but Ratchet forced him back down. Optimus was laid out and fast asleep on a nearby medberth. His entire midsection was covered in blue patches and a whole series of tubes connected to him pumped more energon into his systems.

"Hup hup hup, you really do have a penchant for getting hurt, don't you?" Ratchet muttered. He looked at Starscream and then quickly glanced away again as he bit his lip. "Starscream… the Autobots and I… we just wanted to say, er, well…"

Starscream looked up at Ratchet with wide optics and held his breath.

"...well we just wanted to say that…"

"We're sorry," Bumblebee said. He stood in the doorway beside Arcee and Bulkhead. Arcee just stared at him, Bumblebee rubbed his neck cables, and Bulkhead stared at him with wide optics.

Starscream's jaw dropped. "Wait… you're sorry? Aren't you angry at me?" All of them stared at him and their fields flared with surprise. It was too much. Starscream slid his servos down his faceplate and looked away.

"Look at me, don't hide!" Ratchet said. "You said that we wouldn't be able to look at you after all this. But that's not true. We see you Starscream, we see you. We all saw what you were really made of. We're not angry."

"Not angry?" Starscream repeated flatly. "What? You're not angry at Megatron?"

Ratchet recoiled. "Primus, what—? No, we're not angry at you! We saw how you protected Optimus and we later understood why you ran so much… so…"

Starscream began to shake. "You're lying."

"What?"

"You're lying, of course. You have to be. Megatron played this game with me—he'd say I'd done nothing wrong and be so kind to me, but then later he'd say to me that I did do something wrong and then he'd stop being kind and—"

"No games," Ratchet said. There was a hard glint in his optics now. "No lies. No false kindness." He took a shuddery inhale and looked Starscream right in the optics. "You… did good, Starscream."

"You did good." Those three words rattled around in his helm and played non-stop.

"I did good," he numbly repeated. Optimus's servo clenched tighter around his talon.

"Yes! That's the truth, we're not lying. We are not lying to you… so stop lying to yourself."

Starscream blinked. "W-what? What did I lie about?" He thought he'd been honest. He was honest now, right? It was hard to tell the truth from the lies and the true kindness from the false kindness.

"Stop pretending you're going to wake up in the Nemesis at any moment! You're here with us to stay, you got that?"

"To stay..."

"Yes, how many times must I repeat that?" Ratchet sighed.

"A lot," Starscream whispered.

Ratchet blinked. "What was that?" He frowned down at Starscream and somehow, Starscream knew that he had heard what he'd whispered.

"I said that… you are probably going to need to tell me that I am allowed to stay… multiple times. Because it seems too good to be true, medic. I don't entirely believe you."

Ratchet let out a heavy vent. "And why don't you believe me?"

"Megatron had said our relationship would stay kind and that he wouldn't hurt me, but we all saw how that turned out and Primus! " Starscream shrieked and abruptly sat up. "Are you drugging me or something? Why am I suddenly telling you all of this?! What kind of honesty drugs are you pumping into me?"

Ratchet snorted. "Energon." The rest of the Autobots shuffled awkwardly in the doorway.

"Drugged energon! It's the only possible explanation as to why—why I'm suddenly spilling my feelings to you!"

"You think everything is fake, don't you?" Bumblebee asked softly.

"...What?"

Bumblebee sighed. "You thought that the medbay was fake. You think that our kindness is fake. And now you think that your own honesty is fake—this is real, Starscream."

"Then why doesn't it feel real?! Why does it still feel like Megatron is looming behind me and breathing down my neck, huh? Why's it feel like Optimus and all the good things he's done for me are just not real ? Why does it feel like he's about to vanish at any m-moment?" The machines attached to Starscream began to beep and blare alarms. The screen that kept track of his sparkbeat began to spike erratically.

Ratchet swore under his breath and forced Starscream back down onto his back. "Starscream, calm down. Your spark chamber is damaged, you can't handle stress. Look at me."

Starscream stared at the concrete wall and ignored the medic shaking him.

"Look at me!" Ratchet muttered. He firmly grabbed ahold of Starscream's shoulder and tried to twist him back over and—

Megatron had grabbed ahold of his shoulder and wrenched him over to him and—

"No!" Starscream panicked and weakly kicked out at Ratchet. His optics widened and he looked down at Starscream with shock in his field. The rest of the Autobots left the medbay and left him and Ratchet alone.

The alarms on the machines continued to beep and blare, Starscream, continued to stare at the wall, and Ratchet just continued to look at him with that sad look in his optics.

"Starscream…" he began softly.

"What?" Starscream shook out.

"Look."

"What, at y-your ugly faceplate?"

"No. Look. "

Maybe it was the way Ratchet said it, or the way his field wrenched around him, or just the way he stepped back and gave Starscream some space—whatever it was, something about the way Ratchet was acting made Starscream want to turn around and look at whatever it was that the medic felt it was so important for him to see.

He turned around. The first thing his optics landed on was the sight of his and Optimus's servos clasped together.

"Starscream…" Ratchet began as he slowly stepped up to him. He pointed at their clasped servos. "Megatron is not here. He's not real. But Optimus and you… whatever you have there… that is real."

Starscream held back a sob. "How will I be able to tell when what I'm experiencing is real, and when what I'm experiencing is just… a memory?"

Ratchet let out a deep and heavy sigh. "I don't… I don't know, Starscream. I honestly don't."

Optimus's servo tightened around Starscream's slender digits. His optics onlined and came on with a flash of blue.

"S-starscream…" he groaned as he turned around to face the Seeker. "We will be there to help you tell the truth from the fiction. All of us."

"Wha—How much did you hear?"

Optimus looked over at him. "Enough."

Starscream's spark pulsed in his chestplates and his spark monitor began to beep erratically again. "O-oh…"

"No, Starscream, you need to calm down, slag it," Ratchet muttered as he gently pushed him back onto his berth.

His spark continued to pulse in his chestplates. The weld line that ran right down the middle of the plating above his spark chamber ached in pain and he shakily lifted his other servo to trace the weldline.

"Um… guys?" A voice said.

They all turned around and looked at the doorway. There was no one there.

"Down here…" the voice said again.

They all looked down. Raf stood in the doorway of the medbay and glanced between the three of them. "Can I talk to you, Starscream?"

Ratchet blinked. "Rafael? What are you doing here?"

"I wanted to talk to Starscream. Can I? Please?" Raf asked as he shuffled his feet. Miko, Jack, and Bumblebee watched from farther back with wide eyes.

Starscream snorted. "I'm surprised your human has the courage to actually speak to me."

"Well… you are kinda scary…" Raf began. "But I feel like I need to talk to you. You've got some courage too, you know."

Starscream's jaw dropped.

Bumblebee glanced back and forth between Starscream and Raf as his field flared with some unknown emotion.

"What? Still worried I'll hurt your little human, scout?" Starcream rolled his optics. "Worried you'll have to comfort him after he inevitably runs to you while screaming?"

Bumblebee just stared at him. "I think you're the one who needs comforting, Starscream."

Starscream fell silent.

Ratchet glanced between them. "I'll leave you two to it."

Starscream's optics widened. There was something about the way the little fleshbag looked up at him that made his already erratic spark begin to pulse even faster.

Ratchet and Bumblebee left and glanced back at Starscream before they vanished. Starscream watched with wide optics as the human ran up to the berth and climbed up to the desk nearby so that he was eye-level with him.

"Um," Raf said.

Starscream sighed. "'Um?' Got anything to say to the big scary bot?"

Raf shook his head. "You're not scary. You're more… uh, how do I say this? Pitiful. Not scary! You're more sad than anything else."

Somehow, the little flashbag had managed to render him speechless. Again.

"Sad…" Starscream said slowly.

Raf nodded. "Sad. You don't seem to be very happy. So, I want to tell you a story. I had a friend once." His voice was so soft only Starscream could hear it.

"Back in middle school. He was having trouble with his homework, so I helped him."

Starscream frowned.

"He would ask for help, and I'd help him," Raf continued. "We were really good friends for a while. He helped me get bullied less." There was a sniffle. "But then he became the bully. He demanded that I just do his homework for him, and then… he never took no for an answer. But one day I stood up to him, and… well, he didn't go away at first. Not really."

Raf stared right into Starscream's wide optics and continued.

"But he did go away after a while, eventually. He was no Megatron, though. And, well, I know that what I went through is really, really different from what you're going through, and that what you're going through is way worse… but still. If I can make it out… then… maybe so can you?"

Starscream blinked and just looked at the human. He looked away and bit his lip as some strange wet feeling built up in his chestplate. He opened his intake to say something—and then just shut it.

"You don't have to say anything, y'know. You don't have to always try to lie or defend or explain yourself, Star."

Starscream froze. Raf stilled beside him and looked at his tense frame with wide eyes. "Did I say something bad?" he whimpered.

Starscream slowly shook his helm and looked back at Raf—and he looked this time, he really did—and it felt like he was seeing the little human for the first time.

"You called me Star," Starscream said slowly.

Raf blinked and nodded. "Um… yeah? Is that bad?"

"No!" Starscream sputtered. "Not at all! It's just that everybody prefers to just call me Screamer, and, er, well, I don't like that. But then you came along and you... "

Raf looked at him with understanding. "I called you what you wanted to be called?"

Starscream bit his lip. "Yes. It's been a very long time since anybody has called me that, little human."

"I'll call you Star if you call me Raf!"

"Ah, I suppose that's a fair trade... Raf. I'm surprised you haven't run from me yet."

Raf looked up and down his patched and dented frame. "I used to be scared of you. But now? I just kinda feel a bit…"

Starscream blinked. "A bit what? Glad to see me get hurt? Most are."

Raf recoiled. "What?! No, I feel a bit bad for you. I just said so. Don't… don't you believe me?"

"No. I find it hard to believe anything anymore. Do you really actually feel…. bad for me?"

"Well, why wouldn't I?"

Starscream's field spasmed in confusion. "I thought you wanted something from me. A bargain. A favor. Although, I couldn't possibly begin to guess what you'd want from a broken mech like me. My frame's a disaster, I'm not of any help to anyone right now."

Raf shook his helm. "I don't dislike broken things. It's not their fault they're broken. And, I mean, I do want something from you—"

There it was. The inevitable favor, the request. People were only that kind to him if they wanted something. It was the way of things.

"—I just kinda want your company."

Starscream rebooted his audials. "Did I just hear you correctly? You want my company? "

"Um... yes?"

"Well, that's…" A strange emotion began to bubble up within him, although he wasn't sure what it was. He expanded his armor and flared his remaining wing in an attempt to look as regal as he could despite his dented appearance. "Why wouldn't you want to be with me? Of course, of course. I'm Starscream, Seeker and scientist extraordinaire—"

"You're a scientist?!" Raf looked up at him with shining eyes. Starscream had seen that look of bright curiosity in a certain shuttle's optics long ago.

Starscream blinked. "Did I say that? It's… been a very long time. But yes, I was a scientist oh so long ago. Before…"

Raf frowned. "Before him . What did you study?"

"Everything. All sorts of subjects your little human brain couldn't even begin to comprehend."

"Ratchet's been teaching me Cybertronian! I can keep up!"

Starscream snorted. "Ah, and what dialect is he teaching you?"

"Iaconian!"

He rolled his optics. "Of course. You'd be better off learning a much richer language—Iaconian has nothing on Seekercant."

"Seekercant! Could you teach me?" Raf breathed with wide eyes and Primus, was he seriously considering teaching this little fleshling his people's sacred tongue?

Except…

"How many Seekers speak it?" Raf asked.

Starscream bit his lip. The question should've been easy, and yet…

When was the last time he'd seen another Seeker?

"...Starscream?"

"Hmpf, what? Oh, er, I suppose only I speak it as of right now."

"Oh, so it's a dead language? That's sad. Now I want to learn it even more!"

If the human doesn't speak Seekercant, who will? Someone has to keep the language of a dead people alive.

"Er… maybe a few words."

Raf smiled. "Do… do you want me to show you my computer? I mean, it's probably nothing compared to the kind of computers you have, but…"

Starscream snorted. "Show it, Raf. I'd like to see what your little human digits are capable of."

"They're called fingers!"

Starscream shuddered. "Oh, that's just weird."

"Er, can I ask you for permission to do something?"

"You are not allowed to snuff my spark in case that is what you are asking."

"What—? No! No! I just…" Raf trailed off and stared at Starscream's chestplate. "May I touch your new badge? Please?"

Starscream blinked. "I tore out my badge. There's nothing there."

Raf shook his head. "Nope, you've got a badge right there," he said as he pointed.

"The Autobots reforged my Decepticon badge for me?" Starscream scoffed. "There better not be a tracker there this time!"

Starscream sat up a bit and craned his helm down to see. A long dark grey weldline ran down the length of his chestplate. He used his talons to feel around on his chestplate and felt the angular metal curves of a new badge. The curves of his badge felt different for some reason.

Raf looked at his gleaming chestplate with wide eyes. "No, that's not a Decepticon badge."

Starscream looked closer.

A bright red Autobot badge sat right on his chestplate.

"...Oh."


"He is dead and I have accepted this. But my other brother still lives. So hand Starscream over."

"He is dead and I have accepted this. But my other brother still lives. So hand Starscream over."

"He is dead and I have accepted this. But my other brother still lives. So hand Starscream over."

Soundwave played the voice clip over and over again. He let it loop around and around in his helm nonstop. He burned the memory of Prime's every word and every syllable deep into his processor. No, he could not afford to lose this particular voice clip. He recorded everything, yes—but this special recording was meant to last for eternity . An eternal reminder of the source of Megatron's insanity. Soundwave had to keep playing it to himself over and over again, he had to. And once he finally understood what had made everything go so wrong, he would help Megatron understand what went wrong as well. And then everything would be fine.

Knock Out turned around a corner of the drenched Nemesis and he gasped. "Oh, tsk, come along Soundwave, I'll get that crack out of your visor in no time." Knock Out reached out to put his servo on Soundwave's visor.

Soundwave's thin digits lashed out and he tightly grabbed ahold of Knock Out's servo.

"Watch the paintjob!" he shrieked.

Soundwave's cracked visor flared. "WATCH THIS," he said flatly.

The entire hall was half submerged in dark ocean water. Soundwave glided through the water and stepped up to Knock Out until they were faceplate-to-faceplate. His visor lit up with a blinding flash and images began to flash across his screen in a rapid succession.

An image of Starscream standing beside Megatron appeared on the screen, then an image of Orion Pax beside him, then an image of Optimus and Starscream together, and then another hundred images after that and yet another hundred images after that.

Knock Out's optics widened and he backed into the wall. "Soundwave—"

"WATCH. SEE," Soundwave said. The ceiling above his helm broke and sent a plume of water down over his frame. He stood amongst the water and let it drip down his frame as sparks began to burst out of his cracked visor again.

"SOUNDWAVE: WILL NOT BE REPAIRED UNTIL MEGATRON IS REPAIRED."

"Sounders, you're not making sense—"

"MUST KEEP CRACK IN VISOR AS A REMINDER OF FAILURE."

"Well, that's, uh… morbid. Soundwave, are you all right?"

His helm shot forward and he looked at Knock Out. "EVERYTHING WILL BE FINE. EVERYTHING. OPTIMUS AND STARSCREAM MUST DIE FIRST, THOUGH."

"But... then why did you help save them?"

Soundwave shook his helm. "MEGATRON MUST KILL THEM WITH HIS OWN SERVOS. IF THEY DIE BY MY SERVOS—"

"—then the Big M will lose his bolts and go even more insane. Ah, I see."

Megatron would ask him why he rescued the "brothers" sooner or later. When that question did come, the only thing Soundwave could do was hope that his Lord had managed to retain enough of his sanity to see Soundwave's reasoning. In order for Megatron to accept that his brothers were dead to him, he needed to kill them. So simple. Yet it could be so difficult for him to understand...

Soundwave glided past the medic and sloshed through the water of the halls. His cables lashed out and he drifted down the vertical hallway deep into the dark wet depths of the ship. Bright red emergency lights flickered within a large room at the bottom of the upside down hall. Each flash of the emergency lights made the shadow of a mech's sharp silhouette appear upon the wall.

Megatron laid upon his throne. He stared unblinking out into the dark gloom of the wet ship and the endless hallways of the Nemesis. The emergency lights of the throne room flickered and flashed violet.

"Ah, Soundwave," Megatron said as he opened his arms as if welcoming him. His body language was warm, but there was a cold glint in his optics.

Soundwave was silent for a moment. "MY LORD…"

Megatron titled his helm. "I sense hesitance from you, my new second-in-command. Why do you hesitate to address me by my title?"

Soundwave said nothing. He'd gone up to Megatron and given the warlord a status report a million times before, so why was it suddenly so hard to do so now?

"You still remain silent. Fine then. I take it that you remember and have not yet moved on from our… squabble from earlier?"

Squabble.

Soundwave's servos clenched into fists.

Squabble.

"IS THAT WHAT IT ALL WAS TO YOU?"

Megatron languidly waved his servo. "I get into these kinds of squabbles with my second-in-command all the time."

Soundwave's optic twitched. "I AM NO—STARSCREAM."

"Do not speak the traitor's designation! He has chosen his brother and it is not me. No matter. No matter. I shall push them from my processor for now. They will never ever forget me." Megatron's optics twitched and flared violet. "Fix this ship. I tire of having to wade through saltwater. I am used to only having to wade through lies."

Lies.

"I DO NOT LIE TO YOU."

"Oh? Isn't it interesting how you automatically assumed I was speaking of your lies?"

Soundwave froze. The movement was imperceptible, but Megatron still saw it nevertheless.

"How interesting indeed, Soundwave. It was foolish of you to assume that you knew better than I. Taking the brothers captive was the only correct option."

The only correct option. There was no choice, no discussion, just Megatron's will and nothing else—

"FALSE. NOT ONLY OPTION."

"And what else was I supposed to do, my loyal second ?" Megatron said cooly. There was something about the way he said the words "loyal second" while referring to Soundwave that made a chill go down Soundwave's spinal strut.

"What was I supposed to do, Soundwave? Answer me!"

"END THE WAR."

"Clearly, the brother's dogma has somehow managed to infect your processor. I will have no more of this. Upright the ship this moment, Soundwave. I want the Nemesis in the sky and ready to rain down revenge within the hour!"

Soundwave nodded stiffly and slammed his cables into a nearby computer console. He sent every command he could think of through the Nemesis and made the entire ship lurch to life.

The room was half submerged in a pool of salty water and the pool began to slosh around their pedes as the ship moved. All of the Nemesis creaked and groaned as it shuddered and alarms began to blare as the entirety of the Nemesis began to upright itself. A deep boom vibrated out from the bottom of the ship as the thrusters were activated. The bright warm glow of the thruster's fire shone orange through the windows of the throne room and made Megatron's armor glow blood-red. Something banged deep within the ship's internals and showers of sparks fell down from the ceiling and into the water. Lightning danced across the pool of water and across Megatron's frame, but he had no reaction.

Megatron continued to stare blankly into the darkness. The ship tilted and righted itself and went from being vertical to horizontal again. The water within the throne room sloshed around and massive waves slammed around the throne and into the ceiling and walls as the Nemesis moved back to its horizontal position. Megatron's throne tilted upward and he went from laying on the floor to sitting upright.

The Nemesis resettled back into the ocean floor with a boom and the water in the throne room stopped sloshing around.

Knock Out panted as he ran up to Megatron. "My Lord, thank Primus Soundwave has successfully righted the ship! It's horizontal again, oh thank the buffer gods! No more having to climb up to the medbay! All is fine!"

Megatron said nothing and just continued to stare off into space.

Soundwave blinked at the Nemesis's thruster readings as they skittered across his HUD. The thrusters were functioning, they had power, yes… but not enough. A chill travelled through him.

Megatron made a deep growling noise and tightened his servos around the armrests of his throne. His talons left deep slash marks behind. Knock Out blinked and shuffled his pedes. "My Lord?"

"You say all is fine, yet we are still imprisoned in this wretched planet's sea. Why is that the case, Knock Out?" Megatron asked. He slowly turned his helm to regard the doctor.

Soundwave shook his helm. The thruster readings on his computer were wrong, they had to be. Except they weren't wrong and that was what was making a sense of dread grow in Soundwave's gut. He had been given an assignment by Megatron—

"NOT POSSIBLE TO REACH SURFACE. THRUSTERS TOO WEAK," Soundwave intoned.

—And he was going to fail it.

"What?" Megatron growled as his helm snapped around to look at him.

Is this how Starscream had felt?

Knock Out peered at the computer readings with wide optics. "My Lord, extracting the Nemesis from the ocean floor will… prove more difficult than first thought."

"Is that so?" Megatron asked softly. A deep growl began to vibrate through his frame and his field thrashed around him. "Soundwave, explain the meaning of this folly!"

Soundwave tilted his helm up and looked at Megatron. The two bots just stared at each other as alarms blared and as the entire ship creaked and groaned around them. Water sloshed and splashed around their pedes as the ocean water began to pour back down into the ship's throne room.

"Soundwave," Megatron said so, so softly. "You will obey. Answer me. Answer me."

Knock Out blinked. "My Lord, Soundwave just did answer your question. He just told you that the thrusters aren't powerful enough to bring the Nemesis to the surface!"

Soundwave said nothing and continued to stare at Megatron with his blank and expressionless visor.

"Oh, I know that. He answered that. But what I want to know is the answer to a different question."

There was silence. Megatron's optics grew brighter and brighter and his field began to thrum and hum with energy. Soundwave knew that look in Megatron's optics. He got that look on his faceplate back in the pits of Kaon, right before he was about to enter a gladiator match. Soundwave stepped back and tensed his frame. If Megatron wanted to fight him, then so be it. Any moment now Megatron would lunge forward and—

"You saved them," Megatron rasped.

Soundwave twitched. That wasn't supposed to happen. Megatron was supposed to be trying to attack him—but instead, the warlord just stared at him with an unreadable look on his faceplate.

Knock Out blinked. "Are you talking about the thrusters? Of course Sounders saved them, why wouldn't he?"

"No, not the thrusters! Why did you save… them? The brothers? " Megatron asked.

Soundwave tilted his helm. "YOU MUST LEARN."

Megatron growled. "Do not presume to educate me on anything, Soundwave. I understand what's going on here far more than you do! You had an opportunity to claim the brothers and take them captive, but instead, you helped them escape. Why?"

"YOU MUST LEARN."

Megatron stood from his throne and made a massive wave crash through the room as he slammed towards the water and at Soundwave. "Learn what, my loyal second ? Learn what ? You dare to try and teach me a lesson?!"

"I AM TRYING TO TEACH YOU A LESSON. TRIED TO GET YOU… TO END WAR. BUT YOU REFRAINED FROM DOING SO. SO I MUST TEACH YOU."

Megatron tightly grabbed ahold of Soundwave's shoulder and pulled him in so close that their helms were only a breath apart. "Oh, and what lesson must I learn so badly, my oh so loyal second ?"

The entire Nemesis tilted all around them and another massive wave of water slammed into Soundwave's back. He stood unflinching as the wave crashed over him and his visor shot up to look right at Megatron. "YOU MUST KILL THEM."

Megatron snarled. "Were it not for your meddling, Orion and Starscream would both be beside me!"

"THE BROTHERHOOD IS DEAD. YOU MUST ACCEPT THAT AND DEACTIVATE THEM YOURSELF."

"I think not, Soundwave. I think not." Megatron's optics blazed red. Sparks jumped out of the damaged walls of the throne room and fell into the water. The pool of water lit up with electricity and a bolt of lightning ripped across Megatron's frame and left behind a black scorch mark. He didn't even flinch. "I will have them beside me once more. They will pay for their treachery!" Megatron growled.

"YOU HAVE ME ," Soundwave said.

Megatron looked at him as a wave of water crashed over his throne. "Is that so? You will be beside me? Where were you when I confronted the brothers?"

"FIGHTING THE AUTOBOTS. SOMEONE HAD TO."

Megatron snarled. "Do not talk down to me—!"

"YOU NEED ME," Soundwave said softly. He mixed voice files of Starscream and Optimus together and spoke with their tandem voice. "You—are—NOTHING—without—me."

Megatron roared and tried to charge up his fusion cannon. Soundwave's arms slammed down onto the cannon and forced it into the waves. It filled with water and let out a burst of flame as the water submerged its internals.

Knock Out ran. Megatron and Soundwave stared at each other over the smoking and flashing fusion cannon. The cannon burst into flames and blazed between the two of them.

Megatron took a deep breath and submerged his cannon into the water. The flames extinguished themselves and let out a cloud of steam. Megatron's optics shone bright violet through the cloud of mist. Anger coiled in his field and Soundwave could tell that he was half a second away from battling him.

Megatron's shoulders loosened and the violet glow in his optics vanished. "I do need your assistance, Soundwave… you can repay me for your insubordination by seizing ahold of the brothers again for me."

Soundwave shook his helm. His Lord was not seeing reason—but that was fine. It was fine. Everything was fine. He would make him see reason. Until Megatron gained his sense back and could think clearly again, Soundwave would just have to do all the thinking for him. Megatron would soon regain his past glory and splendor—he was just distracted at the moment. Soon he would realize just how important Soundwave was to him and soon he would end the war by killing the brothers. Megatron was just biding his time. And when the time came, Soundwave would be there beside him. He had to be.

"SHIP: CANNOT REACH SURFACE. THRUSTERS TOO WEAK. NEMESIS MUST REMAIN IN THE OCEAN FOR NOW."

A schematic of the Nemesis buried in the sea floor appeared on his cracked visor. Megatron growled and fired a blaster bolt into the body of water that was pooled around their pedes. The water lit up with a blinding flash and bolts of lightning danced across the entire room. Megatron raised his helm and looked up into the shadows of the Nemesis as lightning flashed and blazed around him.

"We cannot reach the surface! But that does not mean that we can't bring the surface to us. Soundwave, get to work. I have an idea . "

The lightning flashed and lit up Megatron's sharp and jagged smile.

Megatron would understand sooner or later. Soundwave was patient. Megatron had always gone through brief lapses of mental instability—this was just the latest lapse. This wasn't permanent or anything like that.

Soundwave dipped his helm. "SOUNDWAVE: SHALL SERVE."


He stalked out of the throne room and briskly walked down the hallways. The drones stared at him with bright red optics and jumped to get out of Soundwave's way as he strode forward. There was something wrong. No, not with the ship and not with Megatron—although both of those things were definitely broken. The schematic his warlord had showed him was crude, but Soundwave could easily build the structure he desired.

No, something else was wrong. It was almost as if something vital to him was gone and had just vanished.

Soundwave stopped walking. He slapped his servo onto his chestplate.

It was bare.

He sent a pulse out to Laserbeak across their bond. He had felt her chittering away, but now their bond was cold and silent. The thrum of her spark pulsed in time with his, so she was still online. She had to be. He couldn't bear to lose his last symbiote.

"LASERBEAK: REPORT LOCATION," he commanded over their bond.

No response.

Soundwave's visor flared.

"LASERBEAK—"

A chittering noise erupted from the other end of the bond. A strong sense of determination and pure willpower echoed across the bond and over to Soundwave.

His shoulders sagged in relief. "REPORT LOCATION."

Laserbeak went silent again. A sense of stubborness skipped across the bond along with that same sense of determination.

"LASERBEAK: CURRENT ACTIVITY?"

She chittered over the bond again and sent Soundwave a voice clip of... himself.

"ENDING THE WAR."

Soundwave froze. "NEGATIVE. REFRAIN."

"NEGATIVE. CANNOT REFRAIN. IN THE MIDST OF A PLAN," she said. Then she closed the bond and went silent.

Soundwave just stared at the wall with wide optics.

He punched the wall with all of his might and watched it shatter into shards of metal. Water from the ocean gushed in and spurted across his frame. Nothing made sense anymore and he was rapidly losing control of everything—the Nemesis, Megatron, the brothers, the war, Laserbeak, he couldn't understand any of it, none of it made sense—

But he would understand where everything went wrong. He would .

"He is dead and I have accepted this," the voice recording of Optimus spoke. "But my other brother still lives. So hand Starscream over."

He didn't understand Megatron's insanity anymore. But at least he could try and better understand the mechs who drove him insane in the first place.

"He is dead and I have accepted this. But my other brother still lives. So hand Starscream over."

"He is dead and I have accepted this. But my other brother still lives. So hand Starscream over."

"He is dead and I have accepted this. But my other brother still lives. So hand Starscream over."


Skyfire looked up into the bright red sky with a grimace.

"They found us," he said. Not a question, but a statement. A declaration.

Starscream let out a shuddery vent and clutched the cylinder closer to his dirtied frame.

The alien sun of the world they were on lit the sky up in bright reds and oranges. A harsh yellow light burned in the east like a false sun. The light dimmed and the silhouette of an Enforcer spaceship hung suspended against the dark clouds. Rain fell down in a light shower and sprinkled over their frames.

"We need to fly away!" Starscream said. He grabbed ahold of Skyfire's digit—the shuttle's servo was just too big for him to get his talon around—and he tried to pull Skyfire out to the open field. The Council had come, yes they had, but he had Skyfire and they would always have each other, forever and ever. They just had to transform and fly away and—

"No," Skyfire said. A deep boom shook the air as the Enforcer ship broke the sound barrier.

"What?!" Starscream gaped. "We have to leave, we need to escape!"

"We need to hide. If they saw us, they'd shoot us down."

Starscream frowned. "But we're faster than them, and besides, I just want…"

The Enforcer ship arced through the sky and left a trail of flame behind in the rain clouds.

"You want what, Starscream?" Skyfire said as he crouched down.

"I'm tired of hiding," Starscream said.

Skyfire let out a deep vent and pulled Starscream away from the open field and its promise of freedom. He hated hiding, but it was the only thing they could do. He hoped he'd never have to hide from anybody ever again.

"This cylinder is our secret meant for trusted bots only," Skyfire said as he looked at the cylinder reverently. "Nobody can ever be allowed to know about it. Who knows what the Council would do with this information?"

"Why are you explaining this? I know that already."

"Do you?" Skyfire said as he looked up. "I worry for you and sometimes I feel like I need to remind you what's important here. Because..." Skyfire bit his lip.

"Because what?"

"I worry what might happen to you if we fail."

Failure. That awful, awful word. The rain fell harder.

"We won't fail. Not if we're together, Skyfire," Starscream said as he flapped his wings.

Skyfire smiled, but it was weak. "We won't always be together, Star. And I worry that if we fail this mission, that if I don't make it—"

"Don't talk like that!"

" I worry that you'll burn up."

Starscream scoffed. That chill that went down his spinal strut just now meant nothing. It was just cold. Primus, it was cold. Hopefully they'd be able to leave this world behind and go back to warm Cybertron. Unfortunately, he and Skyfire had to visit this planet's polar ice cap to see if they could deposit the cylinder there first.

" Are you listening?" Skyfire said.

"Er," Starscream began. "Yes?"

Skyfire said. "And that's why I worry! You lose yourself so easily, I worry that somebody might come along and take advantage of that."

"Pfft, I won't be taken advantage of. I'm used to the Council's tricks!" Starscream said. "Stop… stop being so pessimistic. You're scaring me."

"...Good. Primus, Star, you're so optimistic, you sometimes scare me. "

The air boomed. Something heavy landed on the ground and made it shake under their pedes. The muddy ground under Starscream's pedes fell away and he slipped down the edge and deeper into the wet forest.

Skyfire reached his servo out to Starscream and caught onto the Seeker's talon just in time. Starscream clung onto Skyfire's outstretched servo and hung suspended over the ground.

"We're not alone anymore, are we?" he whispered. Skyfire looked over his shoulder and his optics widened.

"Star… there's someone else here with us."

Starscream's optics widened and he looked up into the sky. A sleek dark silhouette covered the skies and drifted over their helms.

His jaw dropped. That silhouette, those cold angles, the silent thrum of its engines—

Skyfire grabbed ahold of Starscream and dragged him into trees as the shape floated by overhead.

"What?! That's one of the Council's personal drones! Why would they send a drone after us? They said they only use their drones for peaceful purposes, n-not to hunt people down!"

"He lied, Starscream. The Council lied."

"Don't say their name! I don't want to even think about the C-Council anymore. Don't say their name," Starscream moaned.

Skyfire sighed. "The Council lies, Starcream. It lies and lies and lies—"

The two of them sat hidden in the foliage as the Council drone flew by past them.

"Why… why are they hunting us?" Starscream whimpered.

Skyfire's engine rumbled behind him. "You already know the answer. We have wings."

Starscream grumbled. "One day this'll stop."

"What will?"

Starscream grit his dentae. A shadow fell over his frame as the Council drone passed overhead. "All of this. The hunting, the terror, the oppression—we'll end it all!"

Skyfire just looked at him. "...No."

The rain began to fall harder. Starscream blinked the droplets out of his optics and looked behind him at Skyfire. The shuttle had always supported him and his grand dreams, always, but instead of being eager to support him this time, Skyfire just seemed… sad.

"Starscream, we can't fight them," Skyfire sighed.

"That's what they want you to think! One day we'll take the Council down and we won't be judged for having wings anymore!"

"Oh, Starscream." Skyfire dragged him closer. "We can't overthrow the government."

"Well, somebody has to. It's only a matter of time before somebody takes the Council down! And when somebody does do that, we'll be there beside them. Together," Starscream said. His optics shone bright with anticipation and his wings fluttered behind him as his field flickered in excitement.

Skyfire took in a shuddery breath. The drone above their helms sent out another bright pulse of light and scanned another cluster of trees right beside the one they were hidden in.

"I…"

"Promise me," Starscream said. He clambered up to Skyfire's shoulder and spread his wings out to stop the rain from falling onto Skyfire's helm. "Promise me you'll be beside me through every storm. You're… well, you're the only friend I have."

Skyfire let out another heavy sigh.

"I'll be beside you." He looked up into the rain and frowned. "If the Council doesn't get me, that is."

"They won't. I won't let them take you. I'll stop them."

The wind blew harder against their frames. Skyfire blinked and looked up at Starscream perched on his shoulder. "You can't stop everything."

"Well… not everything… but—"

"I'll be with you always Starscream. Always. Never forget why we're doing this."

"I won't forget!"

"Will you? Don't get caught up in your revenge, okay? I know they've mistreated us a bit—"

"A bit?!" Starscream shrieked. The drone up ahead swiveled over to them.

Starscream and Skyfire watched as it quietly floated up to the trees in which they were hidden. It hovered unmoving across the tops of the canopies.

"Starscream… I know they've mistreated us… but—"

The drone began to scan.

" it's just the way of things."

Starscream offlined his optics and clenched his talons into fists. Skyfire's optics widened.

"Star, whatever you're thinking of doing—"

Starscream took one last look at Skyfire and jumped out of their hiding spot.

" don't do it!"

He jumped right in front of the drone. It turned around and focused a single red optic right on him.

It was trying to hurt not only him, but Skyfire as well, and that was completely unacceptable. He had to destroy it, he had to take it down—

"Come back!" Skyfire called from the trees. The rain fell harder.

He had to fight, he had to. He just needed to leap forward and end this threat with a slash of his talons. Just one leap and one slash of his talons and that would be it.

"Oh, Starscream!" Skyfire moaned.

He shook his helm. Just one leap and one slash of his talons and that would be it. The Council's drone could die, right here, right now—

Starscream froze. He could still run, he could still take cover and go find a new place to hide, yes, but on the other servo…

The drone began to scan him.

"Starscream!" Skyfire called again.

He wasn't doing this for himself. Starscream flared his wings. He was doing this for Skyfire.

He leaped forward and slammed into the drone. The drone and him went down in a tangle of limbs and metal. They wrestled with each other in the dark wet mud of the forest. His talons sunk into the metal plating of the drone and ripped out thick fistfuls of sparking wet wires. He sunk his talons in deeper and deeper and felt something within the drone rip—

"—Don't get caught up in your revenge—"

Was Skyfire saying those words, or was Starscream just reliving the memory of them?

"This isn't revenge," Starscream shook out. He kicked the drone's body away and stood above its smoking husk. "It's justice."

There was a moment of silence. He looked behind him to see Skyfire and saw nobody.

He fell to his knees.

"Sky… are you there?"

There was only the sound of the rain.

"...Yes," Skyfire said very softly.

"Come out, it's fine."

He heard Skyfire take a breath. "Starscream.. Are you fine?"

Starscream blinked the rain out of his optics. "Why wouldn't I be?"

Skyfire emerged from the trees and looked back and forth between Starscream and the dead drone. "Star…"

"Why wouldn't I be fine, Sky?" Starscream shook out. His frame was already shaking due to the rain, but now it shook even more.

Skyfire opened his intake to say something. The rain fell harder and lightning flashed. He closed his intake.

"Why wouldn't I be fine?!" Starscream laughed bitterly. "Why wouldn't I? Why… why wouldn't I—?"

He turned around and looked at the torn and mangled drone. His optics widened.

"I didn't think… I didn't mean for this to happen, I—"

Starscream knelt over and made a choking noise. He killed it, and he barely even remembered it. There was so much energon. Where did that murderous urge even come from? It just angrily burst out of him.

Heavy pedesteps shook the ground behind him and a heavy servo rested atop his shoulder. He wasn't sure, but it seemed like Skyfire was shaking. Skyfire stared at Starscream with wide blue optics.

"I might not survive this mission and if I don't, I won't be able to hold you back anymore. You'll have to hide the cylinder and the knowledge of the ancients away without me. If you ever feel like you're losing your way, just look at the cylinder. I put something there for you."

Starscream fluttered his wings. "What's on the cylinder? What did you add?"

"Look at the data hidden on the cylinder if you ever lose your way. Don't freak out again. We'll be fine, Starscream! Just you see… just please… don't do that again. Okay?"

Starscream took a shaky vent and nodded as Skyfire began to rub his back. "I promise. I don't know what got into me. I promise I'll never kill anyone else ever again."


"Wake up. I'm bored."

Starscream laid on his berth and stared at Optimus's unconscious frame. He nudged Optimus's limp servo and sighed.

"Don't poke my patients," Ratchet grumbled as he entered the medbay.

"About time! When can I fly again?"

Ratchet looked up at him and his faceplate tightened. Starscream's spark froze.

"You can fix my wing, right, Doctor?"

Ratchet sighed. "I can, but it's not going to be easy. That blast tore right through your inner skeletal structure. I'm going to have to weld it from scratch."

"Scratch?" Starscream's remaining wing flared out and he lost his balance and leaned heavily against the wall. Ratchet moved forward to support him.

Starscream's optics widened. "Why are you helping me?"

"You're my patient! Now back on the berth, hep hep!"

"No, I mean, why are you even bothering to rebuild my wing at all?"

"Because you're my patient, why is that so hard to understand?"

"Because…" Starscream bit his lip. Why was that so hard to understand?

Ratchet sighed. "I welded your chestplate, but you'll still experience some pain. The damage to your chestplate was rather… extensive."

—Soundwave loomed over him and his single visible optic narrowed and he dug his digits deeper into Starscream's chestplate—

"You need to get up and move more," Ratchet said.

"I can finally leave this medbay? Thank Primus, I think the ceiling's going to collapse on me at any time, it's so low—"

"Starscream," Ratchet said. He said his name with such intensity that it made Starscream stop and turn around.

"After we all got back to base, Optimus talked to me and…"

Starscream's spark sank.

"...he mentioned that Megatron had said some interesting things."

He tried not to flinch at the mention of his name. "I'm not sure why you find the rambling of a mad mech to be interesting, but each to their own I suppose."

Ratchet sighed. "Starscream, Optimus told me what Megatron said to you in the canyon. He said that Megatron designed your frame. Did he really…?"

"None of your business!" Starscream snarled.

"I've seen your medical files."

"What? When did you get those?"

"You sent them to me, remember?"

"What—? Oh. Oh. "

Ratchet just sighed. "Yes. Oh. Starscream, we can talk about it later. But we do need to discuss what Megatron did to your frame."

"I… I see." That was a conversation he intended on never having. "Well, if you'll excuse me—"

Bulkhead suddenly appeared in the doorway. "Screamer! You ready?"

"I… huh?" Starscream stuttered.

"You need exercise in order to get your new energon flowing again. You're going to scout out a small cave with Bulkhead," Ratchet said.

It was the opportunity to escape that he had wanted. Yet now that he finally found himself leaving the medbay, he couldn't help but glance back at Optimus's prone frame. Ratchet noticed and frowned.

"The mission shouldn't take more than half an hour," Ratchet said.

Starscream nodded. He began to walk away when suddenly a servo fell on his shoulder. Starscream yelped and slapped the servo off of him.

Ratchet looked at him with wide optics.

"Oh, uh," Starscream began. "Was that your servo?"

Ratchet's armor drooped. "Oh, Starscream. We need to talk about what Megatron did to you."

"Not now!"

"No, not now. But soon. Soon."

Bulkhead glanced between Ratchet and Starscream before he cleared his throat. Arcee glanced at Starscream and then quickly looked away as she activated the groundbridge. Bulkhead, Bumblebee, and Starscream all walked through the bridge. Starscream didn't need to look behind him to know that Ratchet was staring at him as he left.


"I hate this planet."

"You hate everything!" Bulkhead said.

"True. I don't hate flying, though."

"Sucks to have a missing wing, doesn't it?"

Starscream fluttered his single wing. "Yes, I supposed it does 'suck' as you so eloquently put it, Wrecker. I can't sense anything to the right of me!"

The mine loomed before them. Starscream abruptly stopped walking and looked into the mine's deep dark depths. He felt a breeze of air blow past his left wing, but on his right side he felt nothing but cold air where his other wing should've been. He was going into this half-blind.

"You gettin' the heebie jeebies?" Bulkhead whispered.

"The what? " Starscream hissed.

A cold draft of air blew out of the cave and across their frames as they walked inside the cave. Starscream's chestplate pulsed in pain as he walked inside. Something purple glinted high up on the cave's ceiling.

"Oh, Starscream," a voice whispered from the shadows. Starscream froze. He'd recognize that rich timbre anywhere.

"Who said that? Did you say that?"

Bumblebee looked at him. "I said nothing. Starscream, are you…?"

"No! Don't finish that sentence!"

"...Are you seeing things again?"

"I see nothing but an annoying scout, a Wrecker, and a dead mine. Let's go back to base," Starscream scoffed. The walls seemed as if they were closing in on him. Normally he could sense all of the airflow in any room he was in, but he was completely missing a whole wing, and now? It felt like he could see with only a single optic. He was half blind, and who knew what could be waiting for him in the darkness that he couldn't sense?

The voice laughed again. "Oh, Starscream," Megatron's voice said.

"He's here! " Starscream hissed.

"Uh, who is?" Bulkhead asked.

Starscream whirled around to face them and looked into their wide optics. "Him." He didn't dare to speak his designation because that would make it real, would make it feel like he was really actually there.

"Do you mean Megs?" Bulkhead said.

"Don't say his name!" Starscream hissed and Primus, why was the ceiling so low? It shouldn't be that low, it shouldn't, and he should be able to sense all of the air flowing around him, but he was down a wing so he could only sense half of it and he was stuck with two grounders who couldn't sense a thing and Primus—

"Once we were brothers," Megatron's voice echoed through the shadows.

A chill went down Starscream's backstrut. He'd recognize that smooth and kind voice anywhere. Except the kindness was a lie, it had always been a lie—

Starscream looked off into the shadows of the cave and darted his helm around.

"Get your blaster ready," he hissed to Bumblebee. He tried to transform his own servos into his blasters, but an error message that said they were deactivated appeared on his HUD.

"No, no get away you stupid error message!" Starscream shook out. If Megatron was really here, he needed to be able to see him and couldn't have his vision littered with error messages. Starscream tried to dismiss the image off of his HUD and held his helm in his servos. "I need to see, I need to see—"

"Starscream!" Bumblebee reached forward and grabbed ahold of Starscream's wrists. "Calm down—"

—Megatron had grabbed ahold of his wrists whenever he disobeyed, he'd grab on so tightly and squeeze until the delicate plating across Starscream's servos split and bent and—

Starscream jerked backwards and wrenched his servos out of Bumblebee's grasp.

"Don't touch me!" he hissed. Bumblebee's optics widened and he backed off.

"Starscream… you're having another memory lapse."

Starscream bit his lip. On one hand he desperately hoped with all his spark that it was really just him, the Wrecker, and the scout in that cavern—but on the other hand, a small part of him wanted his fear to be valid. He really wanted to know he wasn't jumping at shadows for no reason. It was getting harder to tell the past from the present and Primus, he wasn't saying any of this out loud, was he?

"Did I say any of that out loud?" Starscream breathed out as he dragged his servos down his faceplate.

Bumblebee was silent.

"Well, did I?!" Starscream snapped.

Bumblebee let out a heavy sigh. "You mumbled all of that, yes."

"Oh, lovely!" Starscream laughed. He kept turning in a circle and kept scanning his optics over the cave for any sign of silver armor and red optics. "Just great, just great. Let's just get the energon and go, how about that? Away from this stupid cave and the stupid low ceilings and everything!"

He looked up at the ceiling and a wave of nausea hit him. Mistake, mistake, mistake—

"Starscream! Calm down, Megatron is not here, he's not ." Bumblebee said as he approached Starscream. Bulkhead watched with wide optics.

Bumblebee moved forward to place a reassuring servo on his shoulder. He didn't want anybody but Optimus to touch his shoulder, Megatron—

"Megatron would crush my shoulder in," Starscream said. His optics widened. He shouldn't have said that, but the words just blurted out of his intake.

Bumblebee's optics softened and he stepped back. "Starscream…"

"I didn't mean to say that!" Starscream snapped. "Pretend you didn't hear that. Let's just…"

"Why'd he do that?" Bulkhead blurted out. "Crush your shoulder, I mean? I knew he was nasty, but…"

Starscream just stared at the Wrecker. "You didn't hear me say that."

Bulkhead blinked. "But we did. The team and I, we hear all of it—"

Bumblebee reached out and grabbed ahold of Bulkhead's shoulder. He looked the Wrecker in the optics and rapidly shook his helm back and forth.

This was too much.

"It is? Do you want us to leave?" Bumblebee trilled.

Starscream whirled around. "Wha—Did I say that out loud?!"

Bumblebee nodded slowly. "It's okay—"

"No, it's not. " He wanted to be alone, but he didn't want to be alone, he wanted to be free of the Autobot and their pitying stares, but he wanted to be free of the aching silence—was he saying any of this out loud? It was hard to tell—Starscream moaned and held his helm in his servos.

Bumblebee trilled in pity. "Oh, Starscream."

A laser bolt shot into the ground between their pedes. They all jumped back and away from where it collided with the ground as a large cloud of dust whirled up into the air. Starscream's optics shot open and he scanned the dirty dust cloud for any sign of the Autobots.

"Uh, scout? Wrecker?" He said as he rose to his pedes.

The last time he was in a thick cloud like this he was desperately chasing after the silhouette of a vanishing shuttle—

The whirling dust confused the sensors on his lone wing and he felt his unbalanced frame begin to tip to the side. Starscream grunted and clung onto the wall as he scanned the clouds. The Autobots would appear, they would, they had to. He couldn't afford to lose more bots in yet another blizzard.

Panic began to claw its way up his throat. "Autobots?"

His chestplate pulsed with pain and it felt as if somebody was trying to dig their talons into it all over again.

Something chittered up above him. "Oh, Starscream," Megatron's voice whispered through the dust.

"No, no, you get away!" he shouted into the gloom. "Bumblebee? Bulkhead?"

He tried to wave the cloud of dust away with his servos, but that just made it worse. His single wing twitched in fear, his gyros were destabilized and he leaned heavily against the wall—

Somebody grabbed him. Starscream yelped and tried to kick them away, but whoever they were they had a heavy servo that he couldn't dislodge. The servo was so warm and heavy, just like Skyfire's was.

He stumbled out of the dust cloud and looked up and into the optics of Bulkhead. "You okay there Screamer?"

"Oh, Starscream," Megatron's voice whispered. "Oh, Starscream, oh Starscream, oh Starscream, Starscream, Starscream—"

"I'm fine."

Bulkhead and Bumblebee looked at him warily. "We should go back to base. We have no idea where that shot came from, so let's get the heck outta dodge."

Bumblebee called for a comm and Bulkhead held tightly onto Starscream.

"You know you can let me go right?" Starscream said.

"Yup," Bulkhead said.

Starscream blinked. "So why aren't you?" He tried to wriggle out of Bulkhead's grasp, but the Wrecker just tightened his grip.

"Just let me hold you, Screamer."

"I—"

"Just let me, okay? You need it."

"I… I don't…" Starscream let out a sigh. "Okay."

A groundbridge appeared and the three of them began to walk to it. Bulkhead led Starscream to the bridge and cast a glance back over his shoulder and into the darkness of the cave. For a split second he thought he saw something violet flash up in the darkness of the cave.

"Huh…"

Bulkhead turned around through the bridge and never looked back.


How interesting. Firing a laser bolt into the dust to make that little cloud appear was a good trick. It resulted in all sorts of delightful panic. The traitor didn't like the low ceilings and was apparently hearing voices. Laserbeak clung upside down onto a stalactite and recorded everything from above. What voices was the traitor hearing? Did he hear Megatron's softer and kinder words? Or was the traitor hearing Megatron's voice scolding him the way he deserved?

She wasn't sure. She would have to look into this. An idea began to form in her processor and she chittered in delight. Her Creator opened the bond and sent out a pulse to her.

"LASERBEAK: REPORT LOCATION," Soundwave commanded.

Laserbeak said nothing. Her Creator would definitely disapprove of this mission of hers and she could not allow him to compromise it.

"LASERBEAK—"

No, she would prove herself to him. She just had to reassure him and get him off of her back from now. She finally had an opportunity to avenge her dead fellow symbiotes and she could not allow her anxious Creator to rip that opportunity from her.

She chittered and sent a strong sense of determination and pure willpower across the bond and over to Soundwave.

"REPORT LOCATION," he said.

No.

She went silent again and her stubbornness skipped across the bond.

"LASERBEAK: CURRENT ACTIVITY?"

She chittered over the bond again and sent Soundwave a voice clip of himself.

"ENDING THE WAR."

"NEGATIVE. REFRAIN."

"NEGATIVE. CANNOT REFRAIN. IN THE MIDST OF A PLAN." she said. There would be no refraining, no hesitation, no moment to pause—just action. She was tired of waiting. Laserbeak shut the bond on her Creator and flew off into the dark shadows of the cave as she trilled in excitement.

Her frame glowed bright violet as she shut off the bond to Soundwave. He didn't need to see this. None of the Decepticons understood what had to be done—except for her, of course. The Seeker was breaking apart at the seams and lost in his own memories. The solution to the Decepticon's problem was obvious. Manipulating Starscream would be easy. Megatron had even used this exact same technique on Starscream before.

This plan had helped Megatron get the trinemates out of the picture.

It had worked flawlessly.

Now Laserbeak just had to repeat the plan again in order to get the Autobots out of the picture.

Since she now understood just how to manipulate Starscream, she could move on to phase two of her plan. Laserbeak ran a scan right over her systems and she saw that her holoform generator was working perfectly.

Good. She would have to use that to her advantage.