Ch. 7

Lies, lies, lies. Starscream would have said it was his most amazing quality, being able to whip up a story with little motivation to get out of trouble. But what happens when the lie is far more believable than the truth? A spark that knows the future? That knows what can, could, would and will happen? That seemed like the lie. That seemed like the deceit. Too bad it was the truth.

But he couldn't say that now, he hardly had any proof to back up the strange and albeit unbelievable claim. So, Starscream sighed. He fidgeted his wings. He looked Breakdown straight in the optics. And he lied.

"What do you want me to say?!" he snarled, "I did everything in my power to save you! I called in to you for a status report and when I heard nothing, I scouted your last location! Sheer luck came to me when I saw them hauling you away to their base and when I got here, I cut the power and rigged the place to blow!" he shoved Breakdown, trying to reassert who was in charge, "Megatron didn't even want to send a team to find you, so you are going to transform, drive out to a better location and call for a bridge. You are going to tell him you escaped on your own and you are going to accept whatever punishment he has for you. Clear?!"

Breakdown scowled, but transformed and drove off, his engine revving loudly.

Starscream huffed and moved to transform too, but Optimus grabbed his shoulder, "You are going to explain to us what happened."

The seeker froze then glared, smacking the Prime's servo off him, "Explain WHAT?! You heard what I said to Breakdown. If you can't accept-"

"That is not what happened, Starscream," Optimus rumbled deeply, "and you know it. The coordinates you sent us were given just after Breakdown was attacked. And yet the coordinates you sent us were to this base, not his present location. Why are you lying?"

The seeker tried to glare harder but he couldn't. He looked almost hurt. Arcee watched him carefully, fully on guard for whatever trick he might pull. Bumblebee's blasters hadn't been transformed away, so he was on guard, too. Ratchet just growled softly at him. And Prime? Prime just looked like he pitied him.

Starscream snarled and jumped away from Optimus, "Because you would never believe me anyway!"

The seeker transformed and shot off into the sky.

Arcee shrugged as the jet flew off, "Maybe next time, we should pull his wings off so he can't get away."

Bumblebee beeped in agreement as they began to walk off, but told her they could just use wing clamps instead.

Ratchet followed them, "And then what would we do with him?! You're not keeping him in the base with me, I can tell you that much!"

Optimus held back, staring up at where Starscream had flown off to. He knew there was more to what the seeker was telling them, believable or not. He also knew that Starscream would never tell them. They had had that chance once. And the Prime, while hopeful, was sure they would never get that chance again.

"Ugh, did they touch you? I hope you weren't transformed at the time, then they would have ridden inside you!" Knockout gagged, "Can you imagine that?! Some greasy, gassy human sitting its aft in your seats and turning your wheel? Switching your gears? Working your pedals?!" he shuddered, "Turning your lights and blinkers on and off?!"

Breakdown shook his helm as the red mech finished his examination, "No, I was still in bot mode. They never got a chance to look me over."

Knockout shuddered again and typed the results into his computer console to update his companion's medical file, "That's still so grody."

Breakdown raised his optic ridges in amusement, "Grody?"

The medic smirked, "I'm trying it out..." he paused in his work to sit on a table top, "So... the report you filed to Megatron?"

"Fake, all of it," Breakdown sat up, looking confused, "and what's worse is... I don't even know what the truth is."

Knockout hummed lightly, "Tell me."

The blue mech in front of him looked to the med bay door carefully, looking for any signs of anyone watching, then spoke quietly, "Starscream was the one who saved me. He says he cut the power, set the place to blow, then got me outta there before anything happened. At least, that was supposed to be his plan, but I think that's a lie, too."

Knockout sighed, "Well, Starscream was never really truthful. Even in his medical records! Seriously, what's in there is-" the medic saw the unamused look in Breakdown's optics and chuckled lightly, "Ah, sorry, continue."

"So," the blue mech grumbled, "in the middle of him trying to rescue me, the Autobots show up. All except ol' Bulkhead."

"And that's significant?"

Breakdown scoffed, "Yeah! Cause Screamer asked where the green lunkhead was! Like he was supposed to be there or something!"

Knockout tapped his chin, "Yes, odd."

"That's not all."

The red mech cooed, "Ooo, there's more?"

Breakdown spoke quieter, "This is the part that freaks me out, doc. Starscream knew, he KNEW what MECH was going to do to me. Before they even started!"

Knockout slowly frowned, "... Do you think he's working with them?"

The blue mech shook his helm, "No, no, nothing like that. But I think he found out something and then came to help me so it wouldn't happen. And don't ask me how. Thinking about all this makes my processor hurt."

Knockout pouted, patting Breakdown's shoulder armor, "Thinking usually makes your processor hurt."

Breakdown frowned at him, still unamused, but the red mech smiled, "So, what should we do about this then?"

The blue mech shrugged but finally slipped off the berth, "I think talking to him would be a good idea. Cause Primus knows, Starscream's not telling me everything," he pounded a fist into his servo, "And I don't like that."

Knockout chuckled, "No, you usually don't," he stood as well, "Then I suppose we should give dear Starscream a surprise visit! I rather like the idea of making an impromptu house call," the red mech took his electric prod out from under his desk, attaching it to his hip, "You break the door down."

Breakdown smirked, "You knock it out of him."