Ch. 2
The past. But how? The explanation before the question only made his helm hurt and his spark ache. He didn't want this realization. He wanted to be at peace. But if this was the past, perhaps he could effect the future. It was a great thought until he remembered his predicament. Whatever brought him to this past could irreparably destroy the coming future, perhaps even himself.
As Optimus cautiously approached him, Starscream sunk to his knees, still gripping his helm, "I won't, I won't relive all this again!"
The Prime reached out to the seeker then jumped back when Skyquake's arm broke through the dirt and rock, pulling his mangled chassis free of his tomb. Starscream's optics widened and he grabbed his mouth to prevent a scream from alerting the Terrorcon to his location. Behind the Autobots, a bridge opened up, its glowing light illuminating the human children's forms as they rushed to it. Yes, this is somewhat what had happened before, but the bridge had come earlier and Starscream had called for his escape at the same time. If this was his timeline, it was already messed up.
Skyquake saw the light of the ground bridge behind the Autobots and roared, lumbering his way towards them. Optimus transformed his servos back into his blasters and fired, a shot hitting Skyquake's arm and blowing it clean off. The Terrorcon remained unphased and continued on, grabbing for the Prime first.
Starscream just watched, trying to remember sequence by sequence. By this point he would have been back on the Nemesis, having lost his right arm now twice: once from Optimus's blaster fire and again when he went through the bridge. He wasn't supposed to be here now.
A loud clang brought him back to the fight at hand. All of the Autobots were trying their best to damage Skyquake from a distance, the dark energon flowing within him being potent enough. Their blaster fire was hitting their marks, but it wasn't causing enough damage. Bulkhead and Optimus transformed their blasters into their secondary melee weapons and charged forward while Bumblebee held back and continued to fire in rapid shots when he could get a clear target.
Ratchet was about to throw himself into the mess, his surgical blades ready to turn this Terrorcon into tiny pieces, when something hit him hard from behind. Skyquake's detached servo scratched and ripped ravenously at the medic's back plating, leaving painful gashes. Bumblebee saw Ratchet fall and beeped in worry, but as the scout ran to help him, Skyquake's large form slammed into him, throwing him back and leaving him unconscious.
Ratchet rolled over and struggled to push the servo off him, the sharp digits cutting up his chest plate and grabbing his throat.
And Starscream watched. This never happened. This wasn't supposed to happen. He remembered what had happened. Soundwave had taken the report off of the Autobot database, or what was left of it, when they destroyed their secret military silo some time ago... or not yet... or, at least, not yet in this timeline. The human children had been trapped in an alternate dimension, a shadow zone, where Skyquake was supposed to be right now, chasing them. But because Starscream hadn't been injured, he had never called for the second ground bridge that had created it.
Ratchet choked as Skyquake's detached servo started to strangle him. It was a lot stronger than he anticipated, even removed from the rest of the chassis. And the sharp digits were cutting into his throat. At this rate, he could be decapitated. As his optics began to short out, a sound caught his audials and the pressure and pain around his neck disappeared.
Starscream wrenched quickly and threw the detached servo as far as he could, aiming his blaster at it as it fell from the sky. One blast turned the limb into pieces and the scrapped metal fell harmlessly to the ground. The bright explosion and noise made Skyquake groan and he turned to see what it was. The small, lithe seeker stared back, panting hard in pain and in surprise at himself. But he knew if Ratchet died, so many things wouldn't happen: the creation of synthetic energon, the attack he made on Megatron, which he had heard had been rather humorous, but by frag, the most important of all! Who would repair him if things indeed went very, very south? So there Starscream stood, righting one thing in this mess of messes for the day, transforming his blaster away and keeping his remaining missile trained on Skyquake and Skyquake alone.
"This is already too unreal," he snarled at the lumbering mech, "but I know you're not supposed to exist anymore!"
The Terrorcon groaned and stomped towards him, the scuffed shine on the seeker attracting him. Starscream felt fear rising within him as the beast drew closer but the missing limb made predicting his moves easier. Skyquake lumbered forward with his good arm and missed as the seeker side stepped, using his claws to rip the digits right off the Terrorcon's servo.
Bulkhead rushed in with his wrecking ball weapon and punched hard to throw Skyquake into the canyon wall while Optimus ran beside Starscream, blades ready.
"Starscream, we need to destroy him," the Prime stated, looking to the seeker.
Starscream's faceplates held a look of turmoil; he felt like he had already done enough. He could leave the Autobots on their own, couldn't he? What if he screwed something else up? What would happen then?
But that was what he had to know. And the only mech he trusted not to exploit that outright was the medic he just saved. He would be the only one he could ask in hypotheticals about this whole... mess.
Starscream frowned, "I can't believe I'm saying this, Prime," he grumbled in admittance, "but just keep your attacks aimed at the Terrorcon and we'll be sure to have a quick end to this."
Optimus nodded, "I will be sure to have your back."
Primus, had he just formed an alliance with Optimus? He had. Frag. Well, there was no going back now.
The seeker rushed forward and wrenched Skyquake's wrist off its joint, the piece twitching then dying as he dropped it. Prime was right behind him, too, using his blades to sever the Terrorcon's arm at the elbow joint and then again at the shoulder. The beast stumbled, then growled, lunging at Starscream and slamming him into the ground. The seeker felt some of the still freshly tended wounds on him split open and now he was leaking energon. Frag, he should have left the Autobots to this.
But Optimus was there again, wrenching the beast off him and getting between Starscream and Skyquake.
"Starscream," he said, watching the Terrorcon closely, "if we can remove his helm and cut into his spark chamber, I believe that will finish him."
The seeker nodded as he stood, hardly believing the words that he was about to use, "A-alright, we can do that. Just follow my lead and make sure he goes down."
Optimus looked back at the seeker and nodded, "I am ready."
Starscream felt his wings twitch as he rushed forward, glaring the lumbering and dismembered Terrorcon down as he artfully twisted himself around at the last moment and snagged an arm around Skyquake's neck cables. The act slammed the smaller seeker's chassis against the Terrorcon's back and stumbled the brute forwards, but Skyquake regained his footing and roared, shaking wildly to remove the offender. Starscream snarled at his own stupidity. This wasn't worth the answers he wanted! He should have left when he had the chance.
Skyquake continued to thrash around and Starscream gripped tighter, his arm beginning to crush the metal beneath it. The seeker continued to tighten his grip when a flash of red and a powerful voice suddenly came at him and the Terrorcon. Starscream yelped as Optimus thrusted his blade forward and into Skyquake's chestplate, the sword slicing deep into the metal and puncturing his spark, and the assault pushing both seekers back.
Starscream felt the mech's form underneath him buckle and as he fell with him he tore frantically at the Terrorcon's helm, ripping it to pieces. Skyquake's mangled chassis let out a final groan as its purple optics crackled angrily and fizzled out and Starscream rushed away from the chassis as its form sunk into the dirt heavily. When the seeker was sure the Terrorcon wasn't going to rise again, he waved and flicked contaminated energon from his servo in a quiet scowl.
"Starscream."
The seeker flinched and shook his helm. No. He was done helping. He wanted to be done talking, too, but he saved Ratchet so he figured the medic owed him enough to at least play the hypothetical game.
Optimus's servo reached out and heavily rested on his shoulder armor, "Starscream, we need to talk."
"No," Starscream said shrilly as he pulled away; he coughed, trying to regain some composure over himself, "No, if I speak to anyone, it will be Ratchet and no one else."
The Prime tried to start again, "Starscream-"
"Ratchet," he hissed, "and no one else. I'll give you a moment to think about it before I simply fly my way out of here."
Starscream knew he was bluffing. All these cuts and reopened wounds on him, he was unsure if he could transform in this state. But he gave Optimus a rather good deal, so he was sure he wouldn't have to worry.
After a moment, the Prime nodded, "I will consult with Ratchet and see if he will speak with you."
The seeker watched the red mech go to check on his team mates, his wings resting high on his back as he crossed his arms. Science and human movies on the subject had taught him one major thing: messing with the past was always dangerous and violently destructive. Right now, he needed to know by how much.