Ch. 11

Starscream lightly hit his helm against the berth in his room, unable to find rest. He had screwed up so badly this time. Not only had he not killed Airachnid, but he had to save Jack and his mother, nearly blowing his 'knowing the future' cover. He was mortified at himself.

"Why did I have to save that stupid human child?" he grumbled, "Why couldn't I just let him splat?"

A knock at the door of his quarters pulled him from his misery, but he knew that wouldn't last long when Knockout and Breakdown came into his room, both beaming.

"Morning, Psychic!" the red mech chuckled, poking at the seeker's side, "Things are moving pretty slow today, so Breakdown and I thought maybe we could do a little more Harbinger prepping."

Starscream curled in on himself, just whining tiredly.

Knockout frowned in surprise and stepped aside, Breakdown moving in to shake the silver mech's shoulder armor, "Wakey, wakey! C'mon, I'm ready to bring some heavy lifting!"

"Not. Today."

Knockout huffed, "Not today? Today is the perfect day! Reports are set and filed, Megatron is overseeing the deck, Soundwave is busy updating the servers, I have no one in the med bay, alright, frag it, what did you do?"

The red mech sat on the side of Starscream's berth, crossing his arms and legs as he glared.

The seeker refused to look at them, "I... didn't take my own advice..."

Breakdown's optics narrowed, "The event that was supposed to take place last night?"

Starscream nodded, "Yes..." he let out a raspy laugh, "and I fragged it up so hard..."

"How bad are we talking here?" Knockout murmured.

The seeker finally sat up, scratching the back of his helm, "Ahh... well, MECH seems to think I am... precognitive..."

Breakdown blinked, "That's not good."

"I'm pretty certain I was, er, ... seen by humans."

Knockout covered his optics with a servo, "I'm pretending I'm not hearing this..."

"But I managed to hit Airachnid with one of my missiles."

Breakdown perked up, "Hey, that's great!"

"Except she is still alive."

Breakdown's shoulders fell, "Nope, sad again."

Starscream slowly turned away from them, "And the humans who... saw me... I... had to rescue because they're part of the Autobot collective..."

Knockout glared and laid back hard against the seeker's legs, eliciting a yelp, "So what DID go right last night?"

The seeker glared back at him, "I was not captured."

Breakdown nodded, "That is always a bonus."

Knockout shot him a disapproving look and sighed, standing, "Fine, so this whole 'knowing when it's going to happen' stuff isn't as easy as you thought. That can't really be a surprise."

Starscream didn't get off the berth, so the medic put a servo on his shoulder, pinching to get his attention, "Hey. Right now, that doesn't matter," the seeker finally looked up, and Knockout smirked, "So, Psychic, where do we go from here?"

Jack rode into the Autobot base with Arcee, smiling softly when he saw Miko and Raf wave from the gaming area they had set up.

"Finally!" he heard Miko cheer as Arcee came to a stop, "I thought you were never going to get away from your mom long enough to hang out!"

Ratchet came walking into the room with a tray of tools, "Now Miko, you be polite. I find Nurse Darby to be quite pleasant."

Miko rolled her eyes, "You would, you're both practically in the same field."

The old medic scowled and grumbled as he set his tools down, patting his servos clean of dust, "At least Nurse Darby gives me a little respect."

Arcee transformed and lightly patted Jack on the shoulder as the boy put his helmet away, striding over to Ratchet, "Things been quiet?"

"Quiet-ish," the medic admitted, "But I'm sure when Bumblebee and Bulkhead are done logging the rest of my equipment they'll be sure to cause just as much ruckus as Miko does."

"Woohoo! And proud of it!" the girl cheered, running down the steps to meet Jack.

Arcee looked to Jack and nodded, "Good. Seems my partner has something he wants to tell everyone, especially Optimus."

"Oh?" Ratchet hummed, "And what would that be?"

The femme shrugged, "Beats me. He's been thinking it over the passed couple of days."

"I didn't mean to shut you out, 'Cee."

Arcee smirked, "I can tell when a partner needs time."

Jack smiled a little, "Thanks. And believe me, I needed some time to think this over. Especially since I... couldn't really scare my mom over it."

Heavy pedfalls met the group as Bumblebee and Bulkhead rushed passed Optimus from down the hall, the two younger mechs cheering as they made it into the room.

"Made it!" Bulkhead laughed, Bumblebee giving a whirl of delight, "HaHA! You said it! Fastest login we've ever done!"

The two high-fived then stretched as Ratchet grumbled, "Never a moment's peace..."

Jack took in a deep breath as Optimus walked in, walking up to meet him, "Optimus, do you think we could call a quick meeting? Before you guys have to, you know, go out and save the world?"

The Prime nodded, "Of course, Jack. What is on your mind?"

Jack sighed, "What happened a couple nights ago, actually. It's been a little hard with my mom."

Miko groaned loudly, "Of course it is! As soon as you get parents involved, fun goes from sixty to zero in a flash."

"It's not that," the boy pinched the bridge of his nose as he spoke, "I mean, I can't even believe what I'm about to tell you. I wasn't even sure until mom wanted to talk to me about it."

Optimus knelt down to see Jack better, "Is something wrong?"

The boy seemed unable to get the words out, as hard as he tried, "That's just the problem, I don't know. I'm not sure what to make of this."

Raf slowly came down the steps, putting his computer in his bag, "Well, talk about what happened before then. That sometimes helps."

Jack nodded, taking another deep breath, "Alright, here goes. And... no one shoot the messenger."

Optimus nodded back, "I can assure you, Jack, that no one will be shooting."

"Ok. So, when I was trying to get mom off the ledge and Fowler was just starting to fire on Airachnid," the boy started, "there was this loud blast that shook me off the platform and I fell. I grabbed onto the webbing that was holding my mom but we must have been too heavy because the next thing I know, we're both falling."

Miko's eyes were wide with excitement, "Wow, epic and suspenseful..."

Jack frowned as he chose his words carefully, "Yeah, you'd think so. Especially when mom and I were caught in midair. And I thought 'yeah, great, it's Optimus or Bumblebee'... except it wasn't any of you."

Optimus remained silent as Jack crossed his arms, "I just... I couldn't believe it, which is why I was wondering if it had even happened at all. But last night, mom asked me why the robot who had saved us wasn't here to formally meet her," he frowned hard, almost angry, "I mean, how am I supposed to tell her that we were saved by Starscream?!"

Ratchet toppled over his tools in surprise, "WHAT?!"

Bulkhead growled, "What?!"

Arcee's optics narrowed, "Starscream?!"

Bumblebee whirled loudly and beeped that it couldn't be true.

Miko and Raf gasped, too shocked to say anything.

Optimus was the only one who offlined his optics to think, saying nothing at all.

"I was looking right at him," Jack said shakily, "I know what he looks like. I think he fired one of his missiles at Airachnid and when my mom and I fell because of it, he saved us..." the boy looked up at the Autobot leader, "Optimus, am I going insane? What's going on?"

The Prime slowly onlined his optics, humming lowly, "That I am uncertain of, Jack. All I can guess is that something within Starscream has changed and that he does not yet know how to proceed with such acts."

Miko rushed over to Bulkhead, "Like with the whole 'Skyquake Terrorcon' thing?"

Bulkhead coughed lightly, "Oh yeah, that was beyond weird and a half."

"So, if Starscream is trying to be good, does that mean he's not a Decepticon anymore?" Raf asked quietly.

Optimus looked down at the children, then his Autobots, "Until we know for certain exactly what Starscream's intentions are, we must remain suspicious and alert. I can only hope in my spark that he is deciding to travel a different path from Megatron's tyranny. And if he so chooses to escape from the Decepticons, he may prove an invaluable ally."