Ch. 9
"How many more hours?" Knockout groaned, shoving a rock out of the way of his path, "What's it... like two?"
"Fifteen," Starscream responded, taking a moment to survey everything, "And even so, I don't think we'll want to interfere with any of it. Establishing this half of the Harbinger and retrieving as many of the relics as possible should be our priority."
Breakdown growled from somewhere underneath the hull, popping out from a gash in the side of the ship to yell, "If Airachnid is going to be there, I think we have to get her first!"
"No, no rushing!" the seeker scowled, "That's what ultimately gets you killed. She uses your anger to separate you from your partner and then she rips you into pieces," Starscream slid down from the top of the ship to join Knockout and Breakdown, smiling a little, "No, if we plan this right, then in less than three weeks time I'll be established here. I can ready everything before the big, dark energon bang, and then we can... and yes, I do mean all three of us, can decide how to proceed..."
Knockout shrugged, sitting on a boulder, "Fine, then what's supposed to happen after this whole... MECH-Airachnid thing?"
Starscream thought, remembering back, "Well, Mrs. Darby becomes a part of team Prime, somewhat... ah, Breakdown and Airachnid have a scuffle over an ancient Cybertronian relic. It's how you catch her and bring her on board the Nemesis."
Breakdown hissed, "And I keep the relic."
The seeker frowned at him, "No."
Knockout hummed, "Well, I need a break. Do you remember where that relic is?"
Starscream nodded, "But of course. If you want, I can bridge you there and you can bring it back here. It's a giant magnetic gauntlet," Knockout rolled his optics, making the seeker huff, "Well think of it this way: you would be able to use it to repel away the Autobots or Airachnid or... any mech really."
Knockout's optic ridges slowly raised and he rubbed his servos together, "And do I get to keep this relic?"
Starscream scoffed, "We'll see. None of use are really going to keep any of these relics to ourselves... But I know how much the Decepticon cause has meant to you, Breakdown," the blue mech nodded, "even if you do eventually switch sides, Knockout," the medic rolled his optics again, "so I find the best solution is to see how much these changes alter the future, if much at all. And if they change drastically enough, we can side with the more powerful entity."
"Ultimately ensuring 'DEAD' doesn't happen," Knockout smirked, crossing his arms.
The seeker sneered excitedly, "Yes, that would be preferable for me. Along the way, we avoid Breakdown's demise and keep this little band of..."
"Rebels," the red mech laughed, "I feel so naughty doing all this behind Megatron's back. But I like it."
"Remember," Starcream scowled, "Megatron is pretty much responsible for most of this. He's the one who chases me off, he's the one who puts Airachnid among our higher ranks and he's the one who gets Breakdown killed..." he sighed, leading the two into the side of the Harbinger, "and that will all just be in the next few months. Yes, you two will know where I am, and yes, we will try to kill Airachnid before hand... but for now, we must focus on the next couple weeks. While I am supposed to be running around rogue, you two will have to keep up appearances on the Nemesis. Act out your roles, pretend nothing is wrong..."
Starscream paused, "... I'm going to do everything to make sure that things happen the way they're supposed to. No one dies prematurely..."
Knockout smirked a little, "No one dies at all."
"That would be nice," Breakdown grumbled.
The seeker led them into the laboratory of the Harbinger, waving at the protoforms in their clamps, "And no thinking about using these just yet. They come into play further down the line."
Knockout scowled, walking up to the protoforms, "But couldn't you just imagine it? A team of nothing but Knockout? Nothing but me?" he shuddered, "That's a lot of handsome."
Starscream scoffed, "No, too much," he fumbled around at one of the desks, sighing when he pulled out a remote, "Ah, here we are, the ground bridge remote."
Breakdown stared at the device in the seeker's servo, "So, it opens up bridges?"
"Observant as ever, Breakdown," Starscream smirked, "This has the capability of opening up a bridge anywhere you need one. And more importantly Megatron doesn't even know it exists."
Knockout chuckled, "Which means they can't log our movements and track what we're doing."
"Exactly," the seeker nodded, "This device has saved my aft more times than I can count. Unfortunately, it's the only one we have..."
The red mech smiled, "That can easily be fixed," he purred, taking the remote from Starscream, "but, and no discredit to my fabulous and perfect work, let's use it a few times to get scrap done before I deconstruct to reconstruct. Then I can make remotes for each of us."
Starscream nodded, "Agreed, now, hold on let me input the coordinates," he fiddled with the remote, then pointed at a button on the side, "that activates the bridge and if you simply push the switch on the other side, it'll reopen a bridge to the location you left from."
Knockout smirked, "Very nice-" Starscream suddenly pulled the device out of his servo and he growled, "Hey!"
"Oh, don't get your metal in a heap..." the seeker frowned, "Look, you'd have to do a lot of digging to get the gauntlet out from where it's trapped. And we've already put in a lot of work here. You're right, the next major event doesn't take place for another fifteen hours, why don't you both take a break?"
Knockout glared, his optics narrowing, "You just don't want us to go after this relic."
Starscream knew that was somewhat true. He was more nervous about letting Knockout out of his sight. What if in saving Breakdown he had doomed Knockout? Or some other bot? He was uncertain of any repercussions for what had already been done.
The seeker grumbled, shifting his shoulder plating, "I already have the pair of you on my side. I don't want to lose an ally on a retrieval mission such as this one, especially since as soon as it's unearthed its signal will be read from both the Autobots and Decepticons."
Knockout clicked his glossa on the top of his mouth, "Aww, you really do care."
Starscream glared at him.
"So why don't we all go?" Breakdown shrugged, "I can dig it out the fastest. We get it out and bridge before either side knows what's happened."
"And when we get it back here, the signal dampeners we've fixed will keep it hidden," Knockout preened, puffing out his chest plate a bit, "It was no easy task, but I think I did an excellent job."
Starscream rolled his optics, but it was only to hide a smile, "Yes, yes you did. And do you know how I know that?" he asked, activating the ground bridge remote.
The medic's optics widened, "How?"
"We haven't been attacked yet," Starscream led the two through the portal, "If they weren't working, we'd probably be scrap."
They didn't know he was doing this. He knew they would have either objected or tried to come with him. Starscream thought this was stupid, but he was sure his end was indeed in two years time. Therefore, he could afford to take a risk or two.
So, after they had successfully and quickly taken possession of the gauntlet, stashing it away safely in the Harbinger, he had taken them back to the Nemesis. He had told them he would see them in the morning. The seeker had told them not to worry too much for the next few days. And that to ensure major events still progressed as they needed to, they would find a way to lure Airachnid and the Autobots into the area like they were supposed to. And true to his silver tongued glossa, he had lied.
He hadn't dared flying over the abandoned factory just outside Jasper, Nevada. He knew just enough, but not everything, about this event. He didn't know when MECH or Airachnid arrived at the location, only where they had stayed to wait. And there was an hour to go.
Starscream dove from the sky almost a mile away from the facility and transformed, his peds crushing into the soft dirt beneath them. At a light jog, he could be at the facility in a few minutes. Then, he would wait again.
It was dark and cold and he ruffled his wings as he rushed to get to the factory before Jack and Arcee did. He knew three important things: one, the boy and the Autobot arrived on location just after 11:50PM; two, Airachnid began her actual assault and fight with Arcee at midnight; three, Agent Fowler arrived with human reinforcements soon after. He knew the last part wouldn't matter much though, as MECH escaped without a trace anyway.
Starscream frowned and ran hard as he approached the factory's chain link fence, jumping over it and landing as quietly as possible on the other side. He listened carefully, his missiles ready to launch, then slowly slipped into the shadows, trying to find the best position to try and end a great deal of this before it begun. He was going to try to kill Airachnid.