"Destroy it," Skyfire begged.

Starscream took a deep vent. "No."

The entire lab vibrated with energy. A tall cylinder full of bright green liquid bubbled and frothed in front of the two mechs.

"What we created is a monstrosity, Star," Skyfire said. He looked grimly upon the synth-en and his field shuddered around him with fear.

Starscream clenched his talons into fists. He hated sensing the stench of fear in Skyfire's field. This poor shuttle deserved so much and yet received so little.

Starscream wished he could give Skyfire this one thing, he wished he could just grant this one request.

But he couldn't.

"It could help bots," Starscream said. The cylinder of synth-en flared and for a moment all Starscream saw was just green.

"No, Star, no!" Skyfire grabbed Starscream's arm and tried to pull him away from the cylinder. Starscream resisted the shuttle's strength and dug his pedes into the lab's floor. Skyfire pulled Starscream away from the synth-en as it began to bubble more and more. Starscream thrashed in the shuttle's grip and hissed and kicked out with his pedes as the cylinder flared green and washed the lab in green light yet again.

He pulled himself free of Skyfire's grasp and fell backwards into a table full of testing equipment. Glass shattered and Starscream slid to the ground as the shards fell over him. Yet despite all this he kept his optics focused on one thing and one thing only—the synth-en, the product of his hard work, the future—

Skyfire gently grabbed ahold of Starscream's helm and forced the Seeker to look at him. "Look at me, okay? Look at me, don't look at it. The synth-en is dangerous! It will just get bots hurt! You got hurt because of it literally just now!"

"I got hurt," Starscream snarled, "because of you."

Skyfire blinked and hurt welled up in his field. Guilt instantly shot through Starscream's spark at the sight of Skyfire's crestfallen faceplate. But no. He couldn't yield to anybody—not even to his brother.

"I was trying to protect you, Star," Skyfire said slowly and quietly. His massive wings fluttered in agitation behind him.

"You were trying to protect me from something that isn't even that dangerous."

Skyfire's optics flared. "Not that dangerous, Star? Not that dangerous? We tested it! We know what it's capable of! If somebody were to drink it they would experience a heightened state of aggression and could violently act out. How is that not dangerous? Do you really want bots to drink this… this thing that we created? Do you want violent bots like that out in the world?"

Starscream looked back at the synth-en. "The world is violent enough already. Maybe it's time to fight back." His own words sounded faint to his own audials. He would never have dreamed of saying such a thing back in older times—but was that problem, wasn't it? Those were older times. Simpler times. The time back when he was still an ignorant and naive Seeker who underestimated the Council and who had died when he had his wings gouged out by them.

He fluttered his wings. They still stung where they had been cut into and if he let himself slip away a moment he could still feel the memory of his attacker's sharp digits cutting into the delicate mesh of his wings again and—

"...Star?" Skyfire's voice was softer now. "Are… are you crying?"

"No!" Starscream hissed. "I am fine, everything is fine!"

Skyfire gently grabbed onto Starscream's shaky talon and guided him away from the pile of shards on the floor. "Everybody knows that's what bots say when they aren't fine."

Starscream wrapped his arms around himself and just stared non-stop at the bright green synth-en. "We can fix it," he said softly. "Yes, it's unstable as of right now, but that can be changed. It just needs more testing."

Skyfire sighed heavily. "A lot more testing. Testing we can't afford."

"We can afford it."

Skyfire blinked. "The Academy approved it?! They're going to give us the funds?"

"No," Starscream said. He took a deep vent and forced the next words out. "Not the Academy. Somebody else."

Confusion filled Skyfire's field. He frowned and squinted at the Seeker. His optics widened and his field went cold and still as realization dawned upon him.

"I told you that if the Council were to ever contact us we were meant to ignore them," Skyfire said as cold tendrils of fear began to snake through his field.

"They are not easily ignored. Do you understand, Skyfire? We have to keep working on the synth-en—no matter how dangerous it is. Because if we throw away our research…"

"Star, did you agree to their offer?"

"No, er... well...I loathe them so much, but this new energon we make could give the populace the strength they need to overthrow them. I haven't agreed to the Council's demands, not yet at least. But I don't think they'll wait any longer, Sky. And I'm scared. I'm really really scared."

Skyfire pressed his forehelm to Starscream's. "I am too. But don't worry! No storm will separate us!"

The entire lab shook. Heavy pedesteps boomed from the hall outside.

"Skyfire…" Starscream began slowly. "I don't think the Council is going to wait for our decision any longer."

A fist pounded upon the metal door to the lab. "IN THE NAME OF SENTINEL PRIME, OPEN THE DOOR."

Skyfire and Starscream's optics widened and they looked back and forth from the door to the synth-en.

"They can't be allowed to have it," Skyfire whispered as he leaned down low so that he was optic level. "How do we stop them?"

The door shook with the force of even more fists. "IN THE NAME OF SENTINEL PRIME—"

Starscream whimpered. "I don't think we can."

"—OPEN THE DOOR."

The last thing Starscream saw was Skyfire's concerned and scared faceplate right in front of him. Smoke filled the lab and his sensors were completely thrown off balanced and confused. A large servo grabbed ahold of his wing and yanked him backwards through the pile of glass and out into the hall. The scars on his wings from where they had been cut into flared with pain. The synth-en shined again and briefly lit up the smoke and the silhouette of a prone shuttle briefly became visible through the gloom.

Then the door to the lab slammed shut.

Starscream coughed smoke out of his vents and blinked dust away from his optics as he looked up at the sight of several Enforcers who stood above him.

"What did you do to him?!"

"IN THE NAME OF SENTINEL PRIME—-"

"What did you do?!"

"—YOU WILL BE QUIET."

Starscream attempted to rise to his pedes, but then one of the Enforcer's heavy servos came down and forced him to his knees again. "Why? You said I had time to consider your offer!"

"And that time is now up," said one of the Enforcers. He ignored Starscream and looked at another Enforcer. "Go in there and retrieve the warframe's work once the smoke clears."

"Why didn't you give me more time to consider?!"

The first Enforcer looked down at him again. "Sentinel is getting impatient."

That designation made Starscream's spark freeze. He'd heard of Prime before, but he'd always seemed like some distant tyrant far far away.

"You are interesting," the first Enforcer said. "The smokebomb should've briefly knocked you offline, yet you remain unaffected. You are stronger than we first thought."

He looked down at Starscream as if the Seeker was some scientific oddity and not an actual person. A chill went down Starscream's spinal strut.

The second Enforcer came out of the lab with the large cylinder of synth-en held in his arms. It flashed bright green and vibrated with power. The Enforcer's optics widened and a hint of fear tinged their fields.

"This is everything that Sentinel ever wanted."

"Don't touch it!" Starscream snarled. "Get your dirty servos off of it!"

One of the Enforcers frowned. "Are we arresting the warframe or not?"

The first Enforcer looked down at him. "He can't create more weapons for Prime if he's in a cell. Just shove him back into the lab."

They pried the door to the lab open again and tossed Starscream inside. The door shut with a clang and he had to wait for his optics to readjust to the smoky darkness. The sight of ruined lab equipment and even more piles of shattered glass became visible, yet there was still no sign of Skyfire.

"Sky? Are you okay?" Starscream whimpered as he crawled forward through the wreckage. He fanned the smoke away with his talon and peered through the gloom for any sign of life. The faint and hazy shape of a shuttle became visible and Starscream dashed towards it.

He fell to his knees beside Skyfire's frame on the floor. The shuttle's systems onlined again with a hum and he looked around at the ruined lab with shock in his field.

"Oh, thank Primus you're okay!" Starscream said. His brother was fine and that was what mattered most. But now he had other things to attend to.

Skyfire slowly sat up and stared wide-opticed at the now missing synth-en. "Promise me you won't f-follow them."

"What?"

Skyfire reached up and tightly grabbed Starscream's cut arm. "Promise. Me."

Starscream leaned back from him and looked upon the shuttle with wide optics. "I… they took it, Sky, they took it!"

"And l-let them have it."

Starscream shook his helm. The sight of the bright green cylinder of synth-en was burned into his memory now. Every time he blinked he saw a green afterimage in his optics. "They'll abuse it, Sky!"

"Then let them, because if y-you go after them then they will abuse you."

"No, it needs to be under our control! Ours! Not theirs! I need to get it back so that it won't be used to hurt bots, it needs to be stabilized." Starscream stood up and flexed his wings. Skyfire reached out and grabbed onto Starscream's ankle.

"Don't do this! Please, you'll regret it!"

Starscream took a deep vent. "But I will greatly regret not doing this."

He pulled his pede free of Skyfire's grasp and ran out of the ruined lab as Skyfire called after him.


The bright blue glow of their energon lit up the room. Optimus and Ratchet both stood over their energon supply and grimaced down at the cubes below. Their supply had once reached up to the ceiling and shone so brightly that you had to squint when you entered the room. Now it was just a collection of meager cubes scattered across the floor.

"This can't continue," Ratchet said quietly. His field was different now. His field had always been heavy and stiff and full of repressed anger and frustration, but now there was something cold about it.

Optimus sighed deeply. "The last mission was a failure to replenish our supplies, yes, but the next one will not be."

"Oh, can you guarantee that?" Ratchet scoffed. His spark flared in his chestplate and his plating twitched as a new nervous energy raced through his lines.

"I cannot. But I can guarantee that we will try."

The lights of the base flickered and the generator in the back room that powered everything hummed loudly as the base briefly went dark for a few moments. Optimus and Ratchet both grimly stared up at the light bulbs as they flickered yet again.

It was so tempting to just nod and go along with Optimus. That was what everybody in the base seemed to do nowadays. Just nod and trust in Prime and listen to his speeches. It would be so easy to just go with the flow and trust in his leader the way he always had for thousands of years.

But now Ratchet was different. His spark thrummed with a new energy and the lethargic fog that had covered his spark for years was now finally lifted. Now he could see past the blind optimism of Optimus's speeches and now he could finally see the truth.

"How could you take him to the roof like that?" Ratchet said softly. His voice was soft but his field was hard and cold.

Optimus did not look at Ratchet and continued to stare at their meager supply of energon. "Starscream needed to look out upon the world."

"The world that he threatened and that he still threatens?"

Optimus frowned. "He is not a threat."

"Yes, he is, but just in a different way now! You saw him! He relapsed!"

"Progress is not linear nor is it instantaneous. He is trying his hardest."

Ratchet rolled his optics. "Try this, try that, that's what everyone says nowadays. We used to do things. Now we just try things."

"Ratchet—"

"You used to try and defeat Megatron? What changed?" Ratchet laughed bitterly as he threw his arms out. Yes, he felt different now. His frame buzzed with energy, but it wasn't the kind of energy that coursed through his veins when he operated on a patient on the brink of death—no, this wasn't the kind of energy of a bot who was desperately trying to save a life. This was the energy of a bot who had just begun to live his life.

Optimus squinted at him. "What do you mean?"

"You know what I mean! You could have shot Megatron while he was up on the hill, but then you didn't take the shot! Why?"

"He had Starscream within his grasp. Megatron is perfectly willing to use his own soldiers as shields to defend himself with."

"So?"

"Old friend, what are you implying?"

Ratchet's helm swam and his optics twitched but he felt more alive than ever before. "You know what I'm implying. Risking shooting… him … was worth it if meant you had a chance at taking out the warlord who started all of this suffering in the first place!"

"No. It would not have been worth it. If I am as aggressive and as reckless as you desire me to be then the remainder of our species will be eradicated by this war. Even if we do defeat the Decepticons via such a violent method of warfare, then what will be left of our kind when we return to Cybertron? Every spark is precious."

"Including Megatron's it would seem," Ratchet scoffed. Optimus frowned at him in concern and put a servo on his shoulder.

"You are… different today."

"Ohoho," Ratchet laughed as he turned to look over his shoulder at the Prime. His optics flared green. "I am not just different. I am alive."

Optimus's optics widened. "Old friend… what have you done?"

Ratchet smiled as his optics glowed green. "I will do what you couldn't."


"Oh, no no no," Starscream whimpered. This should have been easy. All he had to do was follow the Enforcers and get his hard work back. Simple.

But he had to have taken a wrong turn somewhere. These halls were strange to him and even made him feel even stranger things. A cold sense of dread settled within his tanks as he looked for any sign of any other bots.

A door was up ahead and a warm ray of orange light shone out of it. Starscream took deep vents and steeled his spark.

There was still time. He could still turn on his pedes and return to his and Skyfire's shattered lab.

Maybe Skyfire was right. Maybe he was being irrational—

The ground shook. The orange light that shone from the door flashed green.

Starscream froze. That right there was the reason that he could not turn back now.

He snuck in through the door and entered into a large auditorium and rows upon rows of empty seats stretched out before him. He moved back into the shadows and climbed his way up into the dark rafters and he slowly crept forward and looked down at the auditorium floor.

"Sir," a voice said. A familiar voice. Starscream's optics widened at the sight of one of his teachers down below. "It's not stable, it's not ready—"

"It's not ready for me, but nevertheless I am still ready for it," a deep voice said. Starscream froze. That voice was familiar too, but in a different way. He'd heard it so many times on the news and hoped he'd never have to hear it in person.

Starscream looked down and whimpered at the sight of Sentinel Prime surrounded by scientists.

"Oh, why have you failed me? Do you not care for Cybertron? For me?"

The air was thick with fear and the scientist's fields shuddered around them. Enforcers sat in the empty chairs above and kept their blasters pointed at the scientist's backs.

"Prime, we swear, we're just not ready!" Starscream's teacher said.

"Why is a warframe better at your job than you are? A warframe is creating things. This is a complete and utter perversion of what is right and what is natural. Yet here we are in this perverted world nevertheless," Sentinel sighed. "Bring the test subject in."

Two enforcers dragged in a bedraggled and cuffed soldier. They deposited the bruised mech onto the floor in front of Prime's pedes. The soldier bot stared at the floor with wide unseeing optics and couldn't stop shaking.

"You gave me the first proto-energon you charlatans created and told me that it could give me the super-soldiers I wanted. This…" Sentinel kicked the soldier and watched the mech topple to the floor with a whimper. "This is not what I wanted."

"W-we'll give you what you want, we promise!" the teacher pleaded again.

Sentinel glared at him. "So many promises and yet so few fulfilled ones. Bring the—what was this new energon called again?—the synth-en, yes. Test it on him."

The soldier bot remained unresponsive on the floor.

"Sir, he's not ready—"

Sentinel's optics flashed. "I am ready. Test it."

Starscream dug his talons into the rafter he was crouched upon and resisted the urge to scream as the Enforcers took the synth-en and injected it into the shaking soldier bot. His dim blue optics shone bright green and he sat up still upon the floor and looked up at Sentinel with wide and confused optics.

Sentinel frowned. "Nothing's happening—"

The soldier bot lunged forward and snarled in Sentinel's faceplate. Sentinel stared back unflinching as the Enforcers came in and wrangled the now-feral soldier bot away from him.

The scientists all stared at the now green-opticed soldier bot with fear in their own optics. Hot guilt shot through Starscream's spark. This was all his fault.

"Sir, this new formula is too effective. The test subject is now… rabid," one of the Enforcers said.

Sentinel sighed. "Ah. Then just take care of it."

Starscream resisted the urge to purge as he watched the soldier bot get dragged out of the auditorium and into a side room. The door shut with a clang and for a moment there was silence.

The sound of a blaster rang out.

Starscream slapped his talon over his intake in order to prevent a sob from escaping.

He would never allow himself to become a test subject like that, not now and not ever. He especially wouldn't let Skyfire become a test subject either. He needed to escape, he needed to flee and find Skyfire, he needed to escape—

One of the scientists shuffled up to Sentinel. "Should… should we trash the synth-en?"

Sentinel's optics flashed again. "Under no circumstances! No, there is potential here even though you short-sighted bots are unable to see it. We must simply continue to test this 'synth-en.'"

"But… on who?"

Starscream began to quietly inch backwards on the rafter. If he was quiet and quick about it then he could make it back to Skyfire in time—

"Hmmm," Sentinel hummed. He looked up and made optic contact with Starscream. "A warframe would be good, I think."

Starscream dropped from the rafter in shock. The Enforcers all turned their blasters on him and he found himself faceplate-to-faceplate with a dozen angry red blaster barrels.

He turned on his pede and stumbled up the steps as his spark pulsed in his chestplates.

"No, don't hurt him," Sentinel said. He smiled and held his servos out welcomingly. "Come here."

Starscream stood frozen in the aisle and stared at the Prime with wide optics.

Sentinel's smile twitched. "Come. Here."

Starscream darted up the steps, opened the door that led out of the auditorium, and took one last look back at the smiling Prime before he slipped through the doorway. Starscream practically threw himself into the dark hall and ran and ran and ran.

He ran at full speed through the halls of the academy. His fellow students creaked their doors open and popped their helms through as Starscream ran right past them.

Entire doors and hallways passed by him but the only thing that he could focus on was the memory of Sentinel. The image of Sentinel's faceplate lit by the vivid green energon was imprinted into Starscream's processor now. He could still see that warm smile that looked so much like Skyfire's—

Starscream threw the doors to the lab open and shut them with a clang behind him. Heavy pedesteps resounded behind him and he shrieked.

He twisted around, his talons extended—

And made optic contact with Skyfire.

"Starscream, what happened?"

He threw himself at the shuttle and buried his faceplate into interstellar-grade armor. "S-sky, do we still have the Ancient's formulas?"

Skyfire stroked his wings and hummed in thought. "Yes, they're hidden and it seems that the Council still doesn't know that we have them."

"Let's leave," Starscream shook out. "Put all of our knowledge away with the rest of the Ancient's work on that data cylinder. Let's take the cylinder and just… leave it all behind somewhere s-so they can't abuse it. We have it memorized."

Skyfire nodded. "I'll get started. Remember, Star. No storm will separate us!"


"...Stop staring."

Bulkhead blinked up at Starscream. "What?"

"Oh, you're not nearly as subtle as you think you are. You've been staring at me for the past five minutes." Starscream rolled his optics. "You're doing that thing where you stare at me while awkwardly scratching your neck because you don't know what to say."

"But I really don't know what to say!" Bulkhead said.

The two of them were in the outer halls of the base. Starscream sat up in the shadowy rafters above and Bulkhead stood beneath him as he looked up at the Seeker.

"You've been moping a lot more often lately," Bulkhead hummed.

"Wha—I do not mope!"

"Then why are you up in the rafters bein' all sad and sassy like that?"

"Oh, frag off! I'm just… clearing my processor," Starscream said. The small size of the base had begun to get to him and the narrow concrete walls and small dark side-rooms had worn him down. His taste of the sky last night had helped him but also reminded him of what he'd lost. He fluttered his single wing and tried to remember the last time he was airborne.

"I got you a cube," Bulkhead said softly. Starscream peered down at the Wrecker and his wing flared in relief at the sight of the cube. Any moment now Optimus would come and cut down his energon supply; it was inevitable and the only logical thing to do in order to keep a Seeker as dangerous as him under control. Until then, he had to cherish every cube he got.

Starscream moved to jump down from the rafters—

"Eh eh eh! You're not getting this until you tell me why you're moping."

Starscream rolled his optics. "Oh, come on! I'm hungry!"

"And I'm hungry for answers!"

"I am just… resting."

"In your usual moping spot?!"

"It's relaxing up here!"

Bulkhead pointed his servo up at Starscream. "It's sad up there! Now spill the beans!"

"What the frag are beans?!"

"I know that you've bean better before—!"

"Oh no, stop stop stop, I'll tell you, okay? I just…" Starscream trailed off. When he offlined his optics he could still see the bright glow of the city's lights. The city he'd saved at the price of so many lives.

"Ohhh… so that's what you're upset about," Bulkhead said softly. "Leave it up to you to get your wings—er, wing—in a twist about something positive!"

"What I did was not good!"

"Do you regret saving the humans?!" Bulkhead shouted back up at him.

Starscream froze. "I…"

"Do you?"

He bit his lip and fluttered his wing as he mumbled his response.

Bulkhead squinted up at him. "Couldn't catch that."

"I said no! I don't regret saving them! Can't you hear me?!"

"Don't you hear how silly you sound? You sound as if saving a whole city is the worst thing in the world!"

Starscream curled up in a ball up on top of the rafter. "I still couldn't save the city that really mattered to me," he mumbled.

Bulkhead's optics widened. "...Oh. Listen Star, sometimes…"

Starscream listened to the Wrecker trail off. He snorted. He was a fool to think that Bulkhead could really help him with this.

"Sometimes the bots you save aren't the bots you really want to save. So when that happens, you just gotta be grateful you got to save anybody at all. Ya hear me?"

Starscream's field wavered around him. "I am saving you by distancing myself from you."

Bulkhead sighed and shook his helm. "But I'm still here, aren't I? You can distance yourself from me but you are fragging wrong if you think I won't shuffle up right beside you and close that distance right away!"

There was no response.

Bulkhead just stared up into the shadows of the rafters for a few moments and then sighed. Maybe the stubborn Seeker would come down later. He turned around and began to walk away—

The sound of pedes hit the ground behind him. He whirled around and his optics widened.

Starscream stood there in the hall. He refused to make optic contact and stared at the wall as he held his talons out. "Food. Now."

"If you really wanted to distance yourself from me then why did you just jump down to meet me?" Bulkhead said as he smiled smugly.

"Oh, you little—!" Starscream swatted at Bulkhead as the Wrecker held the cube out and away from the Seeker's grasp.

"Fine, fine, since you've been 10% less mean than usual, I'll let you have it."

Starscream sighed in relief. He reached out to pull the cube free of Bulkhead's servos, but the Wrecker's grip on it didn't budge.

"Uh…"

Bulkhead stared right at Starscream. "Now promise me that you'll be less mean to yourself."

"W-what?"

"Drink it. Drink it and promise me you'll be kinder on yourself."

"Er…"

"Promise. Me."

Starscream clutched the cube to his chestplate. "I… will."

Bulkhead smiled and clapped his servo over the Seeker's shoulder. "Ha! That's more like it! Are you going to come visit us in the main room?"

His optics widened. The main room. The main room was full of people, the people he could hurt.

"Um…"

Bulkhead sighed. "Oh, you gotta mope some more? Seriously? Okay, fine, fine, you're slow to adjust, you gotta mope for just a few more minutes, that's fine—"

"I do not mope, I just contemplate… the…"

Bulkhead turned to look at him. "You don't even fully know why you're hiding from us, do you?"

"To protect you," Starscream said softly. His grip on the cube tightened and his claws left grooves on its sides.

Bulkhead just stared at him. "I think that you are distancing yourself to protect us from… yourself, yes, but I also think that you're hiding from us because you're trying to protect yourself from us."

Starscream went silent and just stared at the Wrecker. The two of them locked optics. Then Bulkhead turned and walked down the hall.

The sounds of large pedes vanished and Starscream darted down the dark halls to his room. He threw open the door, shut it behind him, and practically threw the crate underneath his berth to the side. He craned down under his berth and ignored the way his tank begged for energon. He shoved the cube underneath the berth as a weight settled down on his spark, the same kind of weight he always felt fall over him whenever he broke a promise. But he had broken many promises and would probably break many more in the future. It was just the way of things.

He could fulfill his promise to Bulkhead and just drink the fragging thing, but that would leave him with one less cube to fuel himself with when starvation inevitably returned to him. No matter how hard he tried to keep himself fueled it seemed that starvation always awaited him in the end. Besides, it wasn't like he'd be running from anybody or anything anytime soon. He'd be fine, he didn't need the extra energy.

Starscream crawled out from under his berth and lifted his helm—

And then promptly smacked the back of his helm up against the edge of his berth.

His optics widened and his frame went still. He looked up at the low ceiling as the familiar grip of claustrophobia grabbed ahold of him.

Megatron was angry with him, so angry, he swung out with his talon and smacked the back of Starscream's helm—

Starscream slammed his fist onto the concrete floor. He bit his glossa and felt energon well up in his intake as he willed the memory of Megatron to vanish. But it was still there. The memories were always still there.

He sat there and vented heavily on the floor of his room. Something wet dripped down his neck. Starscream reached behind him and swore when his talon came back covered in droplets of energon.

"Oh, of course, I shove energon away for safekeeping and then promptly bleed energon all over the place!" Starscream scowled. It would be hard to reach his new injury. "I should go to the medic," he muttered.

The memory of bright green optics flashed back into his helm and made Starscream go still again. No, there was something wrong with Ratchet. Something had changed about the medic. He smelled that same kind of energon in the breath of many other mad mechs before and had hoped to never have to smell it again.

An angry soldier was a terrible foe to deal with, but an angry medic? No, he remembered the last time he foolishly allowed himself to be put into stasis for surgeries under the control of a foreign medic, long ago in the days before Knock Out. No, he wouldn't allow Ratchet to even touch him.

Starscream sighed and reached behind his berth and pulled out a small welder he had stolen. He knew a day would come when the medic's hostility would grow so great that Starscream would have to repair himself, but he had hoped it did not have to come so soon.


"Where the frag is everybody?" Starscream asked.

He scanned the main room with wide optics. Raf looked up at him from the mezzanine and shrugged.

"A mission!"

"Hmpf," Starscream grunted. He knew that Prime didn't want him to go on missions anymore, but he wasn't expecting to be excluded from them so soon. His spark flared in his chestplate. Optimus hadn't even bothered to say goodbye. For some reason that thought disturbed him. Prime was the leader here and had no reason to tell him where he was off to, but there was still some part of Starscream that wanted to keep an optic on the Prime the same way he had needed to keep an optic on Megatron.

Prime is different, Starscream thought to himself as he stared into the dark groundbridge. Optimus didn't lunge at him from the dark. Optimus didn't beat him. Starscream didn't need to keep constant tabs on his locations so that he could avoid him.

But he couldn't help it; a thousand years of instinct told him to be aware of where Prime was at all times so that Optimus could never get the drop on him, ever.

"Where did your medic go?" Starscream asked. He fluttered his single wing and felt his other wingless shoulder blade ache with the memory of flight.

"The mission, actually. Something went wrong, I think Arcee got separated and surrounded by Decepticons, so he went to go help her. Hey, Star?"

"Yes, fleshie? Er, I mean, human?"

"Well," Raf said softly as he pushed up his glasses, "I think something is wrong with Ratchet."

Starscream snorted. "Of course there is something wrong with him. He's got a wrench up his aft!"

Raf blinked. "Uh, you're not… wrong, but there's something else wrong with him now."

Starscream sighed. "Oh dear, now the cranky medic has a new problem to be angry about."

"It's you."

"What? Well, I'm not that surprised. I seem to cause problems wherever I go…" Starscream trailed off. The memory of Bulkhead's blank and unfeeling stare returned to the forefront of his processor and made him shiver. "But why is he only getting angry with me just now?"

"Because he's only gotten access to the synth-en just now."

Starscream's frame went cold. Raf continued to talk but all of his words went in one audial and out the other. The name of that terrible substance echoed around and around in his helm.

Synth-en. His spark froze. It was a name Starscream had hoped he'd never have to hear again.

"How much did he drink?" he asked suddenly.

Raf blinked. "I don't—"

"How. Much?"

Raf shakily shut his laptop. "I d-don't know the precise amount he drank. It was a lot, though."

A lot.

Starscream crouched down so that he was optic-level with the boy. "You need to get out of here, do you understand that?"

"Starscream… what is about to happen?"

He wanted to be wrong, but his instinct told him otherwise. He'd seen the horrors of synth-en and there was no way he'd allow this small fleshie sparkling to have to see them as well—

A shrill beep echoed into the air.

Raf's eyes widened when he saw a signal appear on the screen. He ran over and reached over the railing to press a button on the console. The bridge came to life and sent a cold blast of air over the entire room. The Autobots stepped through as the bright light of the bridge backlit them and cast their silhouettes into dark shadow. Optimus stepped through first and Starscream felt relief spread through his struts. Then came Bulkhead, then Arcee, then Bumblebee, and—

Ratchet stood frozen in the bridge. A chill went down Starscream's spinal strut.

He stood within the bridge upon the threshold into the base and glared into the main room with bright green optics.

Starscream's spark flared yet again. Green optics. It just had to be a trick of the light; there was no way that vile substance had somehow made its way to the Autobot base.

Starscream still instinctively stepped back, though. Optimus watched the Seeker slowly retreat from the bridge and frowned. "Are you okay?"

Ratchet snorted.

"Ratchet, will you be entering the room?" Optimus asked as he turned to look back at the frozen medic.

Ratchet took another step forward and out of the blinding light of the bridge. He continued to glare at the subject of his disdain and didn't even spare a glance at Prime.

Starscream stared at Ratchet.

And Ratchet stared right back with bright green optics.

Starscream cleared his intake. The urge to purge rose within him but he forced it down. "See something you like, medic?"

"No. I don't." Ratchet continued to glare at the Seeker as he took several heavy steps into the main room. Starscream's optics widened. He'd never seen Ratchet walk this way before and he'd never seen the medic stomp towards him as if he were some predator.

"Ratchet, I cannot help but be concerned by this new experiment of yours," Optimus said.

"Concerned?" Ratchet laughed as he continued to glare right at Starscream. "You seem to be much more concerned about some things more than others, Prime."

Everybody's fields flared with unease as Ratchet finally looked away from Starscream and turned to glare at Prime. Optimus resolutely stared back.

"And what do you mean by that?" Optimus said slowly, cautiously. Starscream knew that tone of voice. It was the cautious tone of voice Starscream himself had had to use whenever Megatron went on another one of his dark-energon induced rampages.

"I'm just saying that you seem to have a... misplaced sense of priorities."

"Oh?" Optimus said. The rest of the Autobots glanced between each other.

"Hey, calm down Ratch," Arcee said. "I'm fine, you saved me, it's all over—"

Ratchet whipped around and glared at her. "It is not over. This is still just the beginning!"

Arcee's winglets instinctively rose up on her back as she narrowed her optics at him. "The beginning of what? What's wrong with your optics?"

"What's wrong with me? What's wrong with me? The question you should instead be asking is what's right with me! I'm stronger now and I feel more energetic than I've felt in years. Years, Arcee, years! The synth-en is the key to everything."

Bulkhead leaned down to look at Ratchet's optics. His own optics widened. "Dude, I don't like this new look of yours. You look… crazy."

"Crazy? Insane?" Ratchet scoffed. "I'm not in sane, I am sane . Optimus is the insane one here!"

Optimus frowned. "Old friend, what do you mean?"

"Gah! 'Old friend'! I'm no longer just your old friend, I'm your forgotten friend. You seem to have a new friend now." He glared at Starscream.

Starscream's wing fluttered. "'Friend' is a bit of a strong word—"

"Oh, stop lying! You're practically brothers with Optimus now. But let's face it! The only reason you now have such a prominent role by the Prime's side is because you're a placeholder. He wants his old buddy Megatronus back, but he's insane as of right now, so you'll just have to occupy that space in the meantime."

Starscream's jaw dropped.

Optimus's field grew cold and hard around him. "Do not drink anymore synth-en. It has improved your fighting skills but seems to have also decreased your social skills, my old friend."

Ratchet spun around and pointed a shaky digit right at Optimus. He pressed the tip of his digit onto Optimus's chestplates—right atop where the Matrix of Leadership was.

"Primus gave that to you so that y-you could bring justice," Ratchet said softly as his field writhed with desperation. "So do that. Bring justice."

Optimus gently placed his servos on Ratchet's shoulders. "And how do you think I should do that?" he said. He gently steered Ratchet away from Starscream.

Another wave of desperation wracked Ratchet's field again. Starscream didn't know what the medic was so desperate for. He claimed that he wanted justice, but what did that even mean?

Starscream felt dread close around his spark like a cold talon. Oh, he knew exactly what Ratchet meant by 'bringing justice.' He looked at Ratchet.

And Ratchet stared right back again. He shrugged himself free of Optimus's grasp and stumbled backwards.

"Do something about Starscream!"

"I am doing something about Starscream," Optimus rumbled. "I am helping him."

"At our expense! Pah! The only reason Starscream is even here is because you felt bad because you couldn't save Megatronus, because you couldn't save Cybertron, and especially because you couldn't save her ."

Optimus's optics widened by a fraction—it was a small change, so subtle that Starscream doubted anybody else had even seen it—but it was there nevertheless.

"You are correct in that I failed to save Arcee from the surrounding Decepticons."

Ratchet shook his helm as his plating and optics began to twitch. "Oh, Optimus, you and I both know that I was referring to a different femme."

Optimus narrowed his optics at Ratchet. "Do not speak of her—"

"Elita-One was just one of the many bots you couldn't save. "

"Ratchet!" Bumblebee shouted. "What are you doing? What is the point of this?"

"The point of this," Ratchet hissed, "is to make you see. "

"See what?" Arcee scoffed.

"What is really happening here!" Ratchet shouted. Everybody except Optimus flinched back at the volume of his voice.

Starscream took a deep vent and began to slowly walk backwards. If he was stealthy about it then he could just slip away. He was practically a pro at running from trouble. The angry glint in Ratchet's optics was a familiar sight to Starscream, although he was much more used to seeing that same angry look in the red optics of a certain warlord rather than in the optics of a medic.

He was right upon the threshold of the hallway, once he slipped out of sight he could make a run for it back to his room—

"Don't think I haven't noticed," Ratchet growled as he turned to look right at Starscream. "I've seen the way you look at Optimus. The way you cling onto him. The way you've become dependent upon him."

Starscream's wing flared. "Do not speak of me as if I am some clingy sparkling!"

"Ah, but that is what you are. Deep down you are a bot deprived of a proper childhood and trying to relive it by clinging onto the first kind f-fatherlike figure you meet—"

Optimus stepped in front of Starscream and blocked the Seeker from the angry medic's view. "I do not appreciate your new behaviour. Refrain from consuming more synth-en in the future. This new version of you is detrimental to the wellbeing of the team."

Ratchet scoffed. "Oh, 'detrimental to the wellbeing of the team' my aft! If there is anybody here who is being a detriment, it's him. "

Starscream was suddenly grateful for Optimus's presence. The Prime's large frame blocked the angry medic from his view. If he offlined his optics then he could pretend that Ratchet wasn't there and that everything was fine as long as Optimus continued to shield him.

"He is not the problem here, Ratchet. The problem here is the cycle of abuse and violence that Megatron constructed in order to keep Starscream buried under his control. Do not allow yourself to fall into that same cycle of violence."

"Oh, and you like to play savior, don't you? You like t-to imagine that you rescued him from that cycle, don't you? "

Starscream's talons clenched into fists and he felt the tips of his digits pierce the soft inner mesh of his talon. He couldn't help it—he had to do whatever it took to distract himself and resist the urge to slash at Ratchet.

"He did help me escape that cycle!" Starscream snapped.

"You're not free of Megatron," Ratchet whispered hoarsely. "You're not free at all. You will return to him o-one day. And when you do… he will show up right on our doorstep—all because Optimus saved you because he wanted to feel better about himself!"

Optimus frowned down at Ratchet and squared his shoulders. Starscream only ever saw the Prime adopt such a stern and firm stance whenever he was facing down an enemy. The rest of the Autobots sensed this change and all stepped backwards.

"I did not rescue Starscream because I wanted to feel better about myself. I rescued him so that he could feel better about himself. "

Ratchet's green optics flashed. "Pfftt! Whenever we talk about this you always say that you saved Starscream because you were genuinely concerned for his wellbeing and also because you know that he has 'knowledge of the inner workings of the Decepticons that can be used to win the war'!"

"He has helped us. We would not have as much energon as we do now if I had not rescued him."

"What energon? What? Energon? We are starving!" Ratchet reached behind him and grabbed a small vial of synth-en off of the work desk. The sight of that bright green bubbly liquid made Starscream's tanks lurch. He'd hoped to never see that terrible substance ever again, and yet there it was being paraded around like it was some trophy.

"We no longer need him to seek out energon for us. I have all the energon we could ever need right here," Ratchet said. He stared at the synth-en as it sloshed around in its vial. It flared green and made a smile appear on Rachet's faceplate.

"Put that slag down, Ratch! It's not engex, is it?" Bulkhead said. Ratchet's helm whipped over to look at the Wrecker.

"You don't understand. None of you do. But you will."

"And what will we understand, Ratchet?" Arcee asked sternly as she crossed her arms.

"That there's another reason Optimus unburied Starscream," Ratchet turned and stomped back up to the Prime again. "And I don't think it's a reason that even you are aware of, Optimus. You couldn't save Megatron and you feel personally responsible for that, oh yes you do! You feel l-like the war wouldn't be happening if you had just stopped and seen the signs that Megatronus was becoming just as tyrannical as the Towersmecha that both of you had promised to overthrow!"

Optimus's optics widened.

Ratchet growled and continued. "No, no no no, you failed to redeem Megatron, so you said to yourself, 'I'll just redeem the next best thing,' and then in comes Starscream, the next best thing. T-this mech, this creature responsible for so much death, but you felt he was worth redeeming because oh, he's not quite as bad as M-Megatron is!"

Starscream's wing fell and he held his plating tight to his frame. "Optimus, stop him! "

Optimus looked down at Starscream and his gaze softened.

"You know I'm right! Deep down, you alllll know that!" Ratchet shouted.

Optimus turned his gaze back to Ratchet and his field hardened around him again. "Ratchet—"

"A-and you feel good about having saved him, y'know that? You feel a big swell of pride in your field every time you manage to teach him to be a slightly less terrible person. He's your trophy, your scarred one-winged trophy you drag around c-cause hey —"

"That is enough ."

"—he's second-best and helping him helps assuage your guilt over failing Megatron! Which, by the way, if you had just bothered to listen to my warnings back when you were still just Orion, then maybe you could've stopped Megatron's rampage and the eventual darkening of Cybertron—"

Ratchet began to encroach upon Optimus and Starscream. Bulkhead jumped forward and pulled the angry medic away.

"Ratch, Ratch, calm your cogs!"

"The time for calm is over and the time for action has come. I'm empowered now, you know that? I'm strong now. I no longer h-have to sit by and listen to you preen your pet! I'm taking action and my first action will be to get rid of him—"

Optimus rushed forward and slammed Ratchet up against the work desk. He held him back with his servos and the two mechs locked optics with one another. Optimus's stern blue optics stared down at Ratchet's angry and vivid-green ones.

Starscream stood frozen and watched the two Autobots stare each other down.

Ratchet blinked up at Optimus. "You're hurting me."

Optimus looked down. His grasp upon Ratchet's arms was so tight that his digits had left faint imprints behind in the metal of the medic's arms.

Optimus recoiled as if burned and shakily stepped back from Ratchet. He suddenly turned around and looked right at Starscream.

"Er," Starscream said as the Prime's intense gaze fixed onto him. "What are you doing—?"

Optimus gently grabbed onto Starscream's shoulder and steered the frightened Seeker over to the groundbridge. He tapped in a set of coordinates into the computer console, took one last look at Ratchet behind him, and then pulled Starscream through the new groundbridge that opened up.

The last thing Starscream saw was the angry green gaze of Ratchet.


Starscream's spark pulsed in his chestplates. He ran across the cold campus grounds and under the watchful glow of the Academy's high towers. His HUD told him that his energon and energy levels were low and that he needed to recharge, but he just couldn't. Not until he found Skyfire.

"Frag, where are you?!" Starscream shouted into his comm. Static crackled in return. His wings fluttered agitatedly and he turned in a wide circle and whimpered as he looked out over the vast expanse of the campus grounds. Skyfire was big but the campus was much bigger.

Skyfire was more responsible than this. He never spent too much time out in the city, ever. He was just supposed to meet up with an old friend from Vos out in Iacon, not just completely vanish. Yet that was what had happened.

Maybe he just ran into trouble. That wasn't uncommon, he was a shuttle in a city of xenophobic grounders after all.

Starscream skid around another corner and ran down a wide and deserted street. But Skyfire had always returned to Starscream after his rare excursions into the city—sometimes bruised, sometimes beaten, but he'd always returned nevertheless. Until today, that is.

"What happened to you?" Starscream harshly whispered into the dead comm. No, something had happened to Skyfire. He just needed to figure out what.

A bright red light lit up behind him. Starscream felt a chill go down his spinal strut and turned around. The bright red visor of an Enforcer glowed hot in the night and stared him down. Another Enforcer stepped into view and the two of them stood and stared at Starscream as they both stood in front of a door.

The first Enforcer pointed at the door.

Starscream gulped. "You want me to...?"

Their visors flashed.

"Okay, okay, I'm coming!"

Starscream walked past their watchful gaze and through the door and into one of the labs. The door shut with a clang behind him and the only light in the room came from a bright green vial of synth-en. Starscream's optics adjusted to the darkness and he instinctively stepped back in fear. His wings clanged against the now-shut door and he glared at the synth-en and the mech who had it in his grasp.

"Don't you have better things to do than harass scientists?" Starscream grit out.

Sentinel hummed and continued to stare at the synth-en as he held it up into the air. "Plenty of things. But I am not harassing you. I am helping you."

"Where is Skyfire?"

Sentinel continued to stare right at the synth-en and didn't even bother to glance at Starscream. "Who?"

The urge to cower was strong but his urge to find Skyfire was stronger. Starscream took a deep vent and marched right up to the Prime.

"My partner!"

"Ohhh, the shuttle. He's ours now."

Starscream's energon froze in his lines. "What… what does that mean?"

Sentinel finally turned and looked at Starscream for the first time. "I think you already know what that means, Seeker."

"Give him back," Starscream whimpered. He tried to make his voice sound intimidating but it came out as desperate.

"Do you not wish to further the glory of Cybertron? If you continue to hoard your magnificent creation then I am afraid the Academy will have no choice but to expel you and your greedy shuttle friend."

Starscream's wings flared. "You can't do that, we've worked too hard for this and…"

Sentinel raised an optical ridge. "And what? Take your time, warframe."

Starscream dragged his talons down his faceplate as he began to shake. They'd worked too hard to just end up having all of their progress snatched away by the Prime. But he couldn't work with this mech, he just couldn't. This was Sentinel, the oppressor, the functionist—but also Skyfire's last hope.

Maybe the Prime was right. Maybe Starscream was being greedy. Yes, the synth-en was dangerous at the moment, but if Sentinel gave him the time and equipment necessary to fix it then Starscream and Skyfire could ensure that there would never be another energon shortage again.

"I…"

Skyfire would hate him for this. The shuttle was not a hateful mech but he would find it within his spark to hate him for allying with Sentinel. But if that was what Starscream had to do in order to save all of their hard work and accomplish their dreams, then so be it.

"If I don't join you, what will you do to him?"

"We will return the shuttle to his rightful place in life. He will deliver cargo like the rest of his kind."

"He's not transportation, he's a person!" Starscream snarled. His entire frame shook as a million thoughts raced through his helm. "Promise me you won't hurt him if I join you. Promise. Me."

Sentinel sighed. "Fine then. The misfit shuttle can continue to pursue his delusions of grandeur if that is what it takes to acquire your cooperation." He smiled and clapped a servo over Starscream's shaky shoulder. "Good! It is nice to see that there is some intelligence and rationality in that warframe processor of yours. We will have you improve some weapons for us, oh yes, and help us run some… experiments."

Sentinel's grip on his shoulder tightened and he led Starscream down hall after hall. Starscream pressed his plating flat to his frame and followed Sentinel farther and farther into the hidden halls of the Academy. He was making the right decision, he knew he was. But why did the right decisions always have to be so hard to make?

They passed through hidden corridors Starscream had no idea even existed. Strange technology and weapons covered the wall. They walked past a large and half-finished fusion cannon.

"Oh, is this what you wanted me to fix?"

Sentinel's smile faltered for a moment. "That is for later, little Seeker. We have other experiments to do for now."

They both arrived at a tall door and Sentinel kindly smiled and pushed it open. Starscream looked through it and his spark sank.

"Why is there a medical berth here?"

"Why wouldn't there be?" Sentinel said as he led Starscream into the room. Scientists he had never seen before stood all around the berth and stared right at him.

"You said that I would help you with the experiments, so where are they?" Starscream said. He looked over his shoulder at the door. It wasn't too late to run, he could still escape—

But if he escaped then Skyfire never would.

One of the Enforcers shut the door with a boom.

"I did not lie. This is the experiment," Sentinel said as he stood beside the berth. "You are the experiment."

"What?! No, no no no!" Starscream whimpered. He'd heard what Sentinel said earlier, he knew that the Prime was intending on testing the synth-en out on a warframe—but somehow it had never occurred to him that he would be the test subject. Starscream rapidly shook his helm back and forth and pointed his talon at Sentinel. "This isn't what I agreed to!"

"But it is, Starscream. It is. And if you choose to not be our test subject, then, well, I suppose the shuttle will have to take your place." He held up the vial of synth-en as a scientist with a needle drew near.

He needed to do this for Skyfire. Starscream turned and looked back longingly at the door. It would be so easy to kick it down and run away as if that would somehow solve his problems. One day he would make the Council and Sentinel pay for all of this. One day. But he was just one mech. No, Starscream would need help and would have to achieve his revenge after finding like-minded bots to stand beside him. He knew they were out there.

He just needed to find them.

Skyfire. He had to do this for Skyfire, not Sentinel.

Starscream shuffled up to the medberth and stared at the synth-en. "Will it h-hurt?"

Sentinel shrugged. "I cannot guarantee that. So let's get started, shall we?"

Starscream shakily climbed into the medical berth and pretended that it was Skyfire who stood over him and not Sentinel.

Skyfire, Skyfire, Skyfire—

Something pricked his arm and all he saw was green.


A blast of dry air hit Starscream's frame the moment he stepped out of the groundbridge. Bright orange canyon walls rose up into the sky all around him. A jolt of familiarity struck him as he looked up at the starry sky beyond the canyon's sheer walls.

"Optimus, is this the place you rescued me in?" Starscream began to ask. Optimus still tightly gripped his servo and continued to guide him forward across the rocky ground. He kept his back to the Seeker and Starscream couldn't see his faceplate, but Starscream could still tell that the Prime was distressed.

"No. This is not the canyon I unburied you in. This is just a location we needed to scout anyway."

Optimus's field was normally calm and steady, but not anymore. It fizzled and popped around him and shuddered with the weight of hidden emotions. Starscream remained silent and stared at the back of Optimus's helm. He could count on one talon the amount of times he'd seen Optimus be distressed like this.

His own spark continued to pulse in his chestplates. He'd known that the medic was upset with his presence, yes, but Starscream had never thought that the medic would ever act out like that.

Why would Ratchet do that? Did the grumpy Autobot just not understand the vital importance of serving your leader at all times? You were always supposed to obey your leader, always, even if you disagreed with them.

"That, right there, is the problem," Optimus said suddenly. He stopped walking and turned to look over at Starscream.

Starscream froze. "Er, did I say that out loud?"

"Yes, and perhaps that is my fault," Optimus said. He stared up at the starry sky and narrowed his optics up at the distant patch of stars Cybertron was in.

"And how is my inability to control my own glossa somehow your problem?" Starscream scoffed. His tone came out more sarcastic and mocking than he intended it to, but he couldn't help it. His frame vibrated with energy as feelings of indignation soaked into his field. How dare that upstart medic accuse Prime of such selfish ambitions for saving him!

"Perhaps it is my fault that you constantly feel a subconscious need to vocalize your innermost private thoughts out loud. I know why you constantly talk out loud by accident," Optimus said. He turned around to face the Seeker. Starscream instinctively flinched back at the sudden movement.

The two mechs just stood there in silence.

"That flinch you just made… that is part of the reason you always vocalize your thoughts," Optimus said.

"You're not making any sense! Enough with the riddles!"

"There are no riddles here. Just the clear truth. You are worried that I will grow distrustful of you the same way Megatron grew distrustful of you. You constantly speak your private thoughts out loud because you feel this need to prove to us—to me —that you are not scheming and that you're being honest and open. You are terrified that we will begin to see you as a treacherous and untrustworthy mech, so you subconsciously tell us your thought processes. And you hate this because you hate sharing your thoughts with the world, but you cannot help it because your deep-rooted instincts of total obedience take over your processor when you are stressed."

Silence fell again.

Starscream stared at the desert floor. "I don't like you that much right now," he said softly. "Did I say that out loud?"

"Yes. Ratchet is partly correct in that it is my fault that this keeps happening to you. I have understood the reason you vocalize your thoughts out loud for quite a long time now but never approached you about it because I was waiting for the right time to do so. Perhaps… " A dozen emotions flickered across his faceplate. "Perhaps I secretly enjoyed having a bot under my control—"

"No."

Optimus blinked. "Excuse me?"

Starscream stomped his pedes and flared his wing. "No! You don't get to stand there and mope, okay? Because you're the most morally righteous bot I have ever met and there is no need for you to mope about your crimes. Because why? Because you haven't committed any! Don't guilt yourself just because some grumpy old cog got high and decided to mouth off at you!"

Optimus sighed and shook his helm. "I fled. But not only that, I decided to take you with me. That will only prove Ratchet's theory that you are my… trophy… correct."

"Excuse me, " Starscream said as he fluttered his wing, "but I am no one's trophy."

"You were Megatron's," Optimus said softly. "You were a symbol that represented his ability to oppress and control his own soldiers."

"Hmmpf," Starscream snorted. "Eh, that does sound about right. But even if Ratchet is right, even if I am your trophy, I am… ugh… proud to be so. If what Ratchet said was true… if you really did just save me just so that you could lug me around and say, 'look at this Seeker I rescued,' then is that really a bad thing? I am proud to be your success story."

A small smile appeared on Optimus's faceplate. "I suppose you are right. But still..."

Starscream rolled his optics. "Oh, you're the most self-sacrificial bot out there, you know that? You're a good bot, Optimus, and you're much better than I am or will ever be."

"I am not so sure about that," Optimus hummed. "You are rapidly improving despite your recent relapse."

"Uhh, let's not discuss that." Starscream knew that the Prime would confront him about his recent distancing behavior sooner or later, yes, but Starscream had hoped it wouldn't be like this.

They walked forward through the ashen and boulder-ridden landscape. Starscream frowned at the sight of the canyon around them. He didn't care much for this backwater planet, but he could definitely recognize that this canyon wasn't natural.

"Is this one of my mines?" Starscream asked.

The two of them turned around a corner and saw a bunch of rusted over drills and mining equipment.

Starscream's wing fell. "I remember this place," he said. He'd torn so many holes into this planet's crust that now he couldn't even remember many of the mines he'd made. Starscream looked out over the scarred and barren landscape pock-marked with holes from the mining that had taken place in it.

"There does not seem to be any energon left here," Optimus frowned.

"This was my fault."

Optimus turned and looked at him as concern filled his field.

"Starscream…"

"It's my fault that this place is a ruin," Starscream said as he slid down into the ruins of the abandoned mine and walked underneath a rusty drill. "When I made this mine I didn't care much for the damage I caused when I made it. I just… dug."

"Yes. You did not have any concern for the consequences of your actions back then. But you understand the consequences now."

Starscream glared up at the drill that loomed over him. "Did you bring us here to this canyon because it reminded you of the one you rescued me in?"

Optimus paused under the drill and looked up at it with wide optics. "Perhaps. There are not many things I am sentimental about. I suppose that canyon is one of those things, though."

Starscream clenched his talons into fists. "Everything is my fault, isn't it? Maybe he's right."

"No."

"Yes! What happened to Bulkhead was my fault and what happened to this land is also my fault. I blew this place to bits and I'm sick and tired of constantly running into all of the remnants of my past mistakes." Starscream groaned and rested his forehelm against the jagged and rusted surface of the drill. He kicked it with his pede and the entire drill shuddered.

Optimus's optics widened. "Starscream?"

"Can I just mope for a couple of minutes? A two-minute long mope period, please—?"

Optimus jumped forward and shoved Starscream out of the way as something cracked overhead. Starscream fell hard into the dirt and coughed dust out of his intake as he turned and looked back up at Prime. "Why did you do that?!"

His voice died in his intake. The ground before him was now covered in energon, and not the good kind. Starscream blinked and slowly looked up. His spark sank once he saw just whose energon it was. Optimus's field rippled in pain and he stared grimly down at the sharp tip of the drill that was now embedded in his abdomen.

"I… I didn't mean to make it snap off, oh Primus!" Starscream whimpered as he ran up to Optimus. "Oh, frag! I just went and ruined everything again, didn't I? I shouldn't have kicked it, I shouldn't have"

Optimus winced and held the gash in his side. "No, you did not ruin anything."

"Look at yourself!" Starscream hyperventilated. A cold blast of wind shook the air and a green glow appeared farther down in the canyon.

A distant boom thudded through the air as a groundbridge opened up far away.

"Optimus?" Ratchet's voice called.

Starscream scowled. "Of all the Autobots to come marching through, it just had to be him —"

Optimus reached out and tightly grabbed onto Starscream's shoulder. "It is tempting to lower yourself to his level. Do not allow yourself to become as angry and blind as Ratchet is at the moment. Rise above him."

"I'm already angry!"

"Rise above him. Rise. "

"Optimus, where are you?!" Bumblebee shouted.

Starscream dragged his talon down his faceplate. "Fine, fine, okay!"

"You are not second best, do you understand that?"

"What? Now is not the time for an emotional chat! Tourniquet now, chat later!" Starscream whimpered.

Optimus sat down heavily as energon leaked out from under the servo he kept held over his wound. He reached out and tightly gripped Starscream's shoulder. "But do you understand that?"

The sound of an ambulance siren pierced the air.

"Um…"

"Do you understand that you are not second best?"

"Primus, Prime! I…" Starscream stuttered. He should just say yes and get this over with in order to sate the Prime. "Yes, of course I know that!"

Optimus blearily narrowed his optics. "Do you really? I know when you are lying to both me and to yourself."

"I am not lying! "

"Stop thinking of yourself as second-best to Megatron. You were not the first mech I tried to redeem, no. But you just might end up being the most important mech I've redeemed."

Starscream's jaw dropped. He and the Prime just stared at each other as the wind whistled through the canyon and as the old drills creaked and groaned all around them. Optimus's optics flickered and Starscream stared down at the Prime's wound in horror. It was so much worse than he first thought, so much bigger than he first realized.

"Optimus…"

Somebody transformed and the sound of their pedes pounded towards them. Ratchet skidded around the corner with the rest of the Autobots behind him. His bright green optics widened at the sight of Starscream knelt over Optimus's frame.

"You…" Ratchet said as he began to shake. "You bastard! "

Bumblebee lunged forward and held Ratchet back. "Calm down, calm down! We know better than this! You know better than this! We've already been through a disaster like this once, we cannot afford to relive it!"

Ratchet shakily pointed his servo right at Starscream. "I know what happened. Optimus sacrificed himself for you, didn't he? He put himself in harm's way for your sake. This is your fault!"

Starscream instinctively shuffled back and spread his wing over Optimus's frame. "Oh, frag you! I've had enough of your temper tantrums!"

"Starscream…" Optimus wheezed. He reached up and grabbed on tightly to Starscream's energon-covered talon. "Rise above him."

"I…"

Optimus's optics flickered and his field shuddered confusedly around him. "You're better than this, I know you are, Megatronus—"

Optimus stopped talking. His optics widened.

"Oh, no no no, forget you said that!" Starscream shrieked.

"I called you by his old n-name," Optimus whispered to himself as horror filled his field. "Ratchet was right. I am trying to replace him with you."

Starscream rapidly shook his helm. "I am no placeholder!"

"Y-yet you have taken his place, nevertheless."

Ratchet shook his helm. "I don't want you walking, Prime. I have no idea how deep your wound goes." He turned and glared at Starscream. "And I also have no idea how deep your treachery goes, either."

Bumblebee and Bulkhead both helped Optimus rise to his pedes and helped support the Prime. Starscream whimpered at the sight of the spilt energon all along Optimus's side. He felt a pair of optics on his back and slowly turned around. Ratchet glared at him and his field shuddered around him with rage.

He walked right past the traumatized Seeker and went up to Optimus and sighed. "You'll be fine. But getting hurt is all your fault!"

Starscream's jaw dropped as Ratchet turned and stomped through the bridge. Starscream growled and his wing flared as he chased after the medic and ran through the bridge after him.


"Oh, stop being an idiot!" Starscream snarled as he stomped through the bridge and back into the main room.

Ratchet stood frozen up ahead and didn't react at all.

Starscream rolled his optics. He was not the kind of mech you could just ignore. He'd been ignored enough by Megatron and there was no way he would let some upstart medic begin to mouth off at him and ignore him now.

Starscream stepped forward and right in front of Ratchet. "Your behaviour is completely unacceptable! How could you say that to Optimus?"

Ratchet's wide green optics continued to stare ahead into space. His plating twitched and his field shuddered around him, but otherwise he remained still. Starscream frowned and waved his talons in front of his faceplate.

"Oh slag, Ratch has lost it for good!" Bulkhead grunted as he helped Bumblebee guide Optimus into the base. Optimus looked at both Starscream and Ratchet as he was carried by.

"Listen to me, Ratchet," Optimus wheezed. "Listen to me, listen— "

Ratchet continued to stare into space. Bumblebee and Bulkhead carried Optimus by and he looked over his shoulder at his frozen friend as he was carried off into the medbay.

The stench of Prime's spilt energon infused the air and made Starscream shudder. That was not a normal smell, that was the wrong smell. He'd spent so many years revelling in the smell of spilt Autobot energon and now all that smell did was make him feel sick to his core. He stumbled back and leaned heavily against the mezzanine as Ratchet continued to stare blankly into space.

"You need to fix him," Starscream said hoarsely. "I know that you just threw a fit and that y-you're angry at him, but Ratchet… you need to fix him. "

Ratchet's plating twitched. He said nothing.

"Slag it!" Starscream shouted. He shot back up to his pedes and pointed his talon right at Ratchet's faceplate. "You couldn't shut up earlier and now in the moment when you're really needed, you decide to go silent? Really?!"

"Calm down, calm down," Arcee said as she ran up to them and put herself between the two mechs. "Just… just breathe. Relax."

Starscream's helm snapped around to look at her. "Breathe? Relax? Do I look like the kind of mech who can relax? I haven't relaxed in thousands of years and I can't relax now, no, especially now that there is someone who is repeating my mistakes!"

Arcee's optics widened.

"Er." Starscream fluttered his wing. "You did not hear that."

"I did," Arcee said softly.

A familiar and achy feeling descended over Starscream's spark. Exhaustion. Not the kind of exhaustion that spreads through your limbs and wings after a hard flight, but the kind of exhaustion that settles upon you after you've had a hard life.

"Ratch?" Bulkhead shouted from the medbay.

"What's wrong with Ratchet?" Arcee asked.

Starscream opened his intake to respond, but then shut it. He knew precisely what was happening to Ratchet, oh yes, he'd even been a victim of this madness himself once. But to finally say that out loud, to finally knowledge and admit that the reason he knew of this madness was because he created it—

Arcee stared at him with shock in her field. Maybe he'd said that out loud. Maybe he did not. Maybe Optimus was right and deep down he was still paranoid and obsessed with pleasing everybody and proving his loyalty.

"The synth-en is consuming the normal energon in his frame. He will act… erratically."

Ratchet twitched and began to awkwardly stumble forward. He stared wide-opticed at a sight that only he could see as he shakily stretched his servo out to the air. "Come back, come back," he moaned.

"Oh, that's it. Now he's seeing scrap!" Starscream sighed.

"Come back to me, come back ."

Arcee's winglets rose cautiously. "Do something. You said you understood this, so then use your understanding of what's going on to fix this!"

Ratchet continued to stumble forward. Not towards the medbay, but towards the groundbridge.

Arcee's field flared in alarm. "The controls, the controls—"

Starscream took a deep vent—hoped the medic wouldn't decide to lash out and kill him—and lunged forward. He wrapped his arms around Ratchet and held him from behind as he yanked the disoriented medic away from the groundbridge.

"W-what are you even doing?!" Ratchet grunted as Starscream pulled him back.

"Helping!"

"By grappling me?" Ratchet shouted as they both collided with a work desk.

"By stopping you from making a mistake! You're hallucinating!" Starscream grit out.

"Oh, you would know a lot about making mistakes, wouldn't you Starscream?"

Starscream's field flared. He forced Ratchet to his knees and stood over Ratchet and held the angry medic's shoulders down with his talons. Ratchet glared up at him. He knew he should look him in the optic, but he wasn't sure if he could handle the sight of those vivid green optics again. Something blue shone out of the corner of his vision and Starscream stared at Optimus's spilt energon on the floor.

"Look me in the o-optic. Stop looking away from me like a coward and look me in the faceplate!"

The urge to just dig his talons into the medic's shoulders and slash them to bits was so so strong. He saw something blue out of the corner of his vision though and Starscream looked behind him with wide optics.

"Optimus?" he whispered.

Arcee stood there grimly. "Just me," she said quietly. "Just you. Just us, the only bots who can fix this."

Starscream took deep vents and resisted the urge to extend his talons. Optimus wouldn't want him to hurt him. He had to think like Optimus.

"Let this be the end of this feud." He wanted this to be over and just wanted to take this one terrible day and sweep its failures under the rug so that he could crawl back into his room.

Ratchet's optics flared. "Y-you, you little—"

"Do not drink anymore ever again. Ever. "

Ratchet's field thrashed and roiled angrily around him.

Starscream tightened his grip. "Promise me that this will be the end of this feud! It's what Optimus would want."

Ratchet leaned back, made optic contact with Starscream, green optics met dim and tired red ones—

"You don't know what Optimus wants."

Starscream's spark sank. Arcee buried her helm in her servos.

Why did he expect otherwise? His life was just a long string of disappointments, so why did he think that everything would go right for once?

"Ratchet, come on!" Bumblebee shouted from the medbay.

"Then what does Prime want?" Starscream hissed out. He should just step back and leave the mech alone, but he couldn't help it. There was a small and cruel and vengeful side to him that wanted to rip the medic apart and analyze him so that he could break him.

He took a deep vent. That angry vengeful part of him needed to die. But for now it would get to live on just a little longer.

Ratchet grumbled and stared at the floor.

"No, what do you actually mean by that? What does Prime actually want?!" Starscream hissed again.

Ratchet looked up at him. "He wants you. And not me."

Starscream blinked. "What...what does that even mean? "

"It means," Ratchet took a deep vent, "that you are blind. He's got a hole in his spark and he thinks he can fix it by cramming you into it."

Starscream's jaw dropped. "Uh… I don't know what that means."

Ratchet snorted. "Oh, of course you don't."

"I don't know what you mean by all of this 'hole in the spark' nonsense, but what I do know is that Optimus has a very real and very urgent hole in his body. So then fix him. "

Ratchet growled. "I'm not done with you yet, I'm not even close to being done with you!"

Starscream offlined his optics and took a deep vent. He'd already made so many enemies over the years. What was one more?

"I wouldn't want it any other way, medic."

Ratchet extracted himself from Starscream and glared at the Seeker before he turned and ran into the medbay. Starscream stood there in the main room and just stared at the doorway to the medbay. Arcee shuffled up beside him and the two of them both stared at the droplets of Optimus's energon spilt onto the floor.

She sighed. "Starscream…"

He turned and walked down the halls of the base and into his room.


"I am so very proud of you," Sentinel said. Sentinel. Right. That was who was in front of him.

He smelled smoke behind him and turned his helm to see. Sentinel gripped his helm and forced him to look right ahead. Sentinel didn't want him to see something, but what?

The synth-en made it hard to think. The synth-en made it very very hard to do many many things—but it did make him good at some things. Violent things. He twitched his talons. They were covered in something wet. Maybe not energon. That's what he hoped for at least. Oh, Skyfire.

Starscream placed a shaky servo on Sentinel's arm. "What h-happened? What did I do?"

Sentinel shook his helm. "No need to worry yourself over that."

"Over w-what?" Starscream shook out. The synth-en was still within him, still within his frame and his processor and his spark. Everything was tinged hot vivid green. He felt like there was now a green fire in his spark that was keeping him alive but also burning him alive.

"G-get it out," Starscream slurred. Something wet dripped from his talons. Maybe energon. Hopefully his and not someone else's

"Get what out?" Sentinel said so so softly.

The Prime pretended not to know what Starscream meant, but somehow he knew that Prime knew exactly what he meant.

"Out. Of me. The synth-en," Starscream said. There was that smell again, all hot and acidic that reeked of death—he'd done something while under the influence of the synth-en, something bad, but what did he even do? He couldn't quite remember. He just remembered the screaming.

"Don't worry," Sentinel said. Worry flared in Starscream's spark. His vision grew blurrier and his consciousness faded back into the green fog. It was easier to sit back and let the synth-en take control. It did his thinking for him.

It did his killing for him.


Starscream sat in the rafters again. Maybe if he offlined his optics and didn't think a single thought then just maybe he would be able to cease to exist. He couldn't find peace, though. Not today. The pulse of his own sparkbeat thrummed in his chestplate. It didn't make any sense. He shouldn't be scared of the medic, he shouldn't—

Pedesteps echoed down the hall. He peered over the edge of the rafter and saw a pair of green optics shine in the dark below.

His spark pulsed again. That vile shade of green, that wretched color, that—

He took a deep vent. The past was the past and there was no need to dwell on his many past mistakes concerning the synth-en. Ratchet walked by as he muttered, completely unaware of the terrified Seeker right up above him in the rafters.

Starscream took a deep vent. He needed to end this right here and right now, regardless of his fear. He leaped down from the rafters as gracefully as he could and followed Ratchet down the hall. The medic ducked into a side-room and Starscream followed. A nervous energy arose in his spark, the kind of nervousness that you feel when on the verge of doing something that will either make your life better or so much worse.

He looked through the doorway and froze. The bright green glow of synth-en spilled out of the lab and into the hall. Ratchet stood there and held a vial of the synth-en up in his servos. His entire frame shuddered and he slowly and carefully unscrewed the lid.

Starscream lunged. He leaped forward with his talons extended, he was going to smash the synth-en and spill it and ruin it so that it could never hurt anybody ever again—

Ratchet jerked at the last moment and the tips of Starscream's talons grazed the air as he fell forward. Starscream fell hard onto the floor and scowled up at Ratchet.

Ratchet looked down at him—

—Megatron looked down at him, a scowl on his faceplate and said—

"What have you done?"

"I did what I had to do!" Starscream shouted.

—Megatron snarled, his optics flared, and then he pointed his talon right at Starscream and—

Ratchet pointed his shaky digit at Starscream. Starscream flinched.

"What, do you seriously think that you deserve to be a part of the Autobot's legacy? True Autobots don't destroy, but that's exactly what you tried to do. Oh, I know what you did! I know how you tried to destroy your own masterpiece back then! You created something beautiful, brilliant, and amazing!"

"And something very very dangerous. There's a reason my partner and I hid our knowledge and work away."

Ratchet's green optics flared and another burst of fear shot through Starscream's spark. "Ohoho, you mean this work?" he said as he picked up a metal plate with an equation scrawled onto it.

Starscream flinched. He'd recognize Bulkhead's scrawl anywhere. The faint and small words of a relived memory log were shakily painted onto the metal.

"No, you had a powerful tool you could've used to stop the war before it even began. To stop all of this suffering before it even began," Ratchet breathed. He stared off into space with wide optics. Starscream knew that look well. He'd seen that same wistful facial expression on the faceplates of so many bots who yearned to return home and who knew that they probably never would.

Starscream took a deep vent. Maybe there was hope after all. If he could just reach out to the medic and make him see reason...

Ratchet stomped towards Starscream—

—Megatrons stomped towards him, accusingly, loudly, angrily, and said—

"This is your fault!"

Starscream yelped and scrambled out into the main hall. His back collided with the concrete wall behind him and he leaped out of the way of Ratchet as the medic stomped towards him.

He could lunge, he could sink his talons into this upstart wretch's plating and make him bleed out the synth-en he held so dearly.

The image of Optimus's pained faceplate flashed back into his processor.

"Rise," Optimus had said as he bled out from the wound that he received while rescuing Starscream. There had been so much blood.

He had to do what Optimus wanted. And Optimus wanted him to be kind—no matter how hard it was.

"Ratchet, calm down!"

He stopped and just looked at him and the two mechs just stared at each other. Then Ratchet laughed. It was a loud and shrill and pained noise that made Starscream resist the urge to clap his talons over his audials. Ratchet encroached again and Starscream had to walk backwards in order to stay away from the angry medic.

"You had everything. You were a Seeker in Vos, you never had to descend from your lofty towers, yet you did. But why? To antagonize us? To fool us into t-thinking that you're some weak and helpless victim?"

"I fooled nobody! I don't lie anymore!" Starscream growled.

"That's what cowards always say, yes. When confronted about why they cower, they hide the truth behind more cowardice. Y-you always knelt before Megatron, and you claim to have hated it, but some part of me thinks that maybe you enjoyed bowing before him. Do you t-think you can make up for what you did? Do you really think that apologizing will somehow make up for stealing the life from Cliffjumper's frame?"

Starscream froze and held his breath in his vents.

"You do think that, don't you? Don't lie. T-this war started because of bots like you, bots with no foresight, bots who saw something shiny and pretty in front of them and just snatched it up. You joined Megatron because you wanted the shiny title of second-in-command, don't lie, and you never were able to see past his shiny lies."

"If you think you can intimidate me, then you're wrong. I have been brought low by some of the greatest mechs to walk Cybertron. You're nothing compared to them. If I could handle M-megatron then I can handle you! What is even happening to you?" Starscream said. He tried to make his voice sound strong but couldn't help but shake out Megatron's name. Ratchet was nothing compared to the warlord or the old Prime, he was nothing—

But there was something familiar, something very very familiar about the way Ratchet angrily stomped forward with those green-tinted optics like some monster. Once upon a time, Starscream had been the monster.

"You know what's happening to me! Every once in a while s-somebody will get sick of you and call you out for it! It's a cycle and I'm just the latest bot to come in and tear you apart. I a-am not the first bot to tell you what a failure you are and I won't be the next."

"And who is the next?"

"Prime."

"He won't betray me!"

"You're right. He won't betray you. You'll betray yourself. You're t-too stupid to realize when you've got something good going on in your life so you don't even realize what you have until you've thrown it away.

"I do not throw things away—"

"You've thrown away so many opportunities to kill Megatron! A-and you claim that you failed because Megatron sabotaged you or because Soundwave sabotaged or because sheer chance itself sabotaged you—but we both know that you're the true saboteur in your life. How many times have you stood over him with your talons extended, ready to stab his spark out the same way you did Clifjumper's, and then hesitated? Ohohoho, you c-claim to hate this war and want it to end, b-but you had so many opportunities to end it, but you didn't! You like the war, you need the war, because violent bots like you need war like a plant needs water because it helps you grow even more v-violent."

Starscream scowled. He should just run to his room, lock the door, and hug his hidden energon tight to his chest as he prayed for Optimus's recovery. He tried to move his pedes—

But just couldn't bring himself to walk away. Maybe the medic was right and he really did just want to start a fight, or maybe Starscream saw something of himself in those green optics. He took a deep vent. No, he was going to stay here in this dark hall with this insane mech and face him down. He wouldn't prove him right.

"This is pointless," he scoffed.

"Exactly. Pointless. Y-you'll learn nothing from this! I'll fix your wing, but not because I like you. I want to see you fly far far away."

Starscream pointed his talon right at Ratchet's chestplate. "You're projecting. You're angry about the war and the Decepticons so you've decided to make the local ex-con your target. But you're not going to get a bullseye on me!"

"I already have! I already hurt you where you're most sensitive!"

"Oh, really?" Starscream crossed his arms and rolled his optics. "Where?"

"Optimus. He's now the number-one thing you're most sensitive about."

Starscream's optics twitched. "You hurt him," he hissed out. "He was so broken by your words."

"He's already broken and he thinks that he can use a S-seeker to glue himself back together… Why didn't you see who he truly was?"

"Oh, who are you harping on about now? Megatron or Optimus?"

"Both! W-why didn't you see what a monster Megatron was or what a hero Optimus was? Y-you only began to appreciate him and see him as the hero he was once he had something to offer you!"

"Let me correct you. You just said that Optimus 'was' a hero. He still is one." He should turn around and check on Prime and should just sit beside Optimus and sleep the whole night by the unconscious's Prime's side. Ratchet would never hurt him if he were right beside his beloved Prime. A bitter laugh rose out of Starscream. He was so weak now that even a sleeping mech could shield him.

"Optimus is not on my list of heroes as of right now, no. No mech who harbors murderers is a hero on my list," Ratchet grumbled.

"You don't mean that. He's a hero to you and always will be, slag it! You're all murderers too!"

"But we never got our own cities killed."

Starscream's optics widened and he stepped back. Ratchet's green optics widened as well and he took a deep vent. For just a single moment a tinge of an emotion snuck into his field—but then the rage returned and the hidden emotion vanished in a haze of static.

"Why didn't you see what kind of bot Megatron was?"

Starscream heard his sparkbeat in his own audials. He needed to ignore what Ratchet said, just ignore it, ignore it, because once he thought of Vos again he'd fall into a hole again he couldn't get out of—

"He said all the right words to me."

"A-and I bet that's what Optimus did to you too, huh? He went up to you and just said all the right words, didn't he?"

"He spoke the truth in the cave."

"I don't know what happened in that cave. But what I do know is that you caved in before him because he was the first mech in eons to pity you a-and you liked that! You like his soft and sad gazes and his softer words."

"...Maybe I do. What's wrong with that?!"

Ratchet laughed. "You enjoy being pitied because you know that you're such an unlikable bot that pity is the only way to get somebody to like you. That's why you cower, because what's more pitiable than a cowering little abused mech?"

"Are you implying that I was acting?"

"Wouldn't be the first time you pretended to be something you weren't. Y-you pretended to want justice."

"I still want that," Starscream said softly. It was a distant and lofty dream that grew loftier as time went on, but it was still a dream nevertheless, a faint feeling of hope that burned like a dim flame in the back of his spark.

"If you really wanted justice you would've stayed far away from us and let us bring justice under our own power. Instead you just decided you had to be a part of your lives and decided to just barge in and make Bulkhead's processor rot away." Ratchet's optics rapidly dimmed and brightened and his entire frame convulsed as if in pain.

"I didn't barge in here. I was carried in here," Starscream grit out. He still remembered the way Optimus had lifted him up as his world fell down around him. "I'm trying to distance myself from you all in order to protect you, don't you see that?! D-don't you see how utterly terrified I am of Optimus's processor rotting away too?"

"It's already begun to rot. Because of you."

"Do not bring Prime back into this mess! He's not rotten, he's perfect and—"

"Optimus is a part of the mess. Your mess. This mess that you created. Don't lie and say that it was Optimus who did all the work, that it was because of Optimus alone that you chose to come back to base. I bet you flung yourself at him, I b-bet deep down you wanted to come back to base to see if you could find a new group of bots you could t-trick into pitying you."

"I'm not something to be pitied."

"I don't pity you, but you're still oh so pitiful nevertheless. Do you seriously think you're Megatron's only victim?!"

Starscream rapidly blinked his optics as they began to sting.

Too much. Too much. Starscream turned around and began to walk back to his room. Ratchet followed after him. That same small emotion from earlier suddenly reappeared in Ratchet's angry field, but then vanished just as quickly as it had come.

"Do you? We've all suffered under his wrath, but who does Optimus choose to comfort. You. Not the bots who have been through his side and thick and thin, oh no, he has a new favorite pet, a new little Seeker who tremors at the slightest mention of that warlord's name and now that Seeker is the priority."

"I don't tremor!"

"You do and you don't even realize it. You tremor and shake and flinch a-and you're not entitled to our pity just because Megatron was mean to you."

"No, I'm not. And neither am I entitled to a second chance. But here we are," Starscream grit out as he stomped down the hall.

Just a couple more corners and he'd be at the door to his room, his safe room, away and shut out from him—

"Pfft, here we are! I always knew we'd end up in a situation like this sooner or later—you and I, or some other Autobot, duking it out with you on some backwater world. But I never imagined that you would ever be wearing the Autobot badge during our confrontation. The badge that you don't deserve."

"You gave it to me!" The door to his room was up ahead now, so close, so near.

"I gave it to you so that… so that… oh, scrap this! You're a fool, you know that? You claim that Megatron is your greatest enemy but we all know that you're your own greatest enemy. Who dismantled most of your plans?" Ratchet waved his servos around.

"Do not change the subject!" Starscream refused to look at the medic and stared hard at the floor ahead of him. Just a few more steps and he'd be at his room.

"Who always ruined your schemes at the last moment? Who chose to cower before the warlord instead of stand up and fight? You, Starscream. You've always ruined your own life and you always will. It's the way of things."

Starscream slammed his talon down onto the heavy metal door to his room. He should just throw it open and duck inside, but some force within him made him continue to speak. "If I stand up and stop him from hitting me then Megatron will just hit me ten times harder."

"Don't think I d-didn't notice what you just did."

"What? What did I just say?"

"You talked in present tense as if Megatron is still actively hitting y-you."

Starscream clenched his fist. The tips of his talons cut into the metal of his door as his optics prickled.

He slowly turned around and faced Ratchet. Coolant dripped down from Starscream's optics.

"You're the new Megatron."

Ratchet's optics widened. There it was again. That little emotion from earlier suddenly reared up within Ratchet's field again, but this time it was hot and acidic and all-consuming.

Starscream knew regret when he saw it.

But he didn't care. He opened the door to his room and shut it loudly behind him.