Ch. 17

Knockout slammed down bottles of polish as Breakdown brought him a buffer, "This is going to make me PURGE!" he roared at the seeker, near shoving him back onto the med berth, "Do you know how much this tortures me?! How it pains me?!" he hissed darkly, "How I lie awake at night because of the nightmares?"

"Getting a little overdramatic there, doc," Breakdown smirked.

The red mech snarled, "I need to set him straight..."

Starscream laid himself down on the med berth, sighing, "I gather Airachnid's presence is taking its toll on our dear Knockout?"

Breakdown shrugged, "She's been messing with him. Definitely the two-facedness you described. But I know we'll get her handled, so I'm shrugging it off."

"She seriously couldn't be gone soon enough!" Knockout growled, putting tools on a tray, "When she's finally dead, I will be hitting the high grade so hard..."

Starscream nodded, "Do as you need to, doctor. But take solace in knowing she will not have anything to do with either of you until Megatron sends Breakdown to dispatch her."

"You've told us that," Breakdown grumbled, handing Knockout a tool as the red mech rolled the seeker onto his front, "but you won't tell us more."

Knockout applied a local anesthetic around Starscream's now sore and seared back wound, testing at it with his sharp implement, "That's another thing that upsets me."

Starscream tried hard not to wince, sighing, "It's not important to you right now. I need you focusing on other issues that may arise-for FRAG'S sake!" he shrieked, pulling away from the medic.

Knockout tapped his tool against the seeker's side, growling, "Don't make me perform surgery."

Starscream pouted, "Ffffine..." he settled back down, sighing when he felt the medic tend to his wound more gently, "Skyquake's twin spark brother will be coming to Earth. Shortly after he becomes one with the ranks, Megatron tests him by sending him off with Breakdown to kill Airachnid. We have some time before that happens..."

The blue mech patted Knockout's shoulder, "Better now?"

The red mech pouted but nodded, "Yeah, I guess it's better than nothing."

Starscream smiled when he saw Knockout switch tools to use a welder, "Regardless of what happens before then, I will be going to the event to make sure nothing happens to you, Breakdown, and to make sure Airachnid is taken care of."

The medic sighed, "Alright. Just don't show up too late and all that... What if we need to reach you?"

"We've been over this before, haven't we?" the seeker grumbled, "You both have a personal line to my COMM. You both have the frequency to the Harbinger."

Knockout whined softly as he set aside the welder and started to apply polish to the end of a buffer, "About that. The device Airachnid will be searching for?"

Starscream nodded, "Yes, the Immobilizer."

"Don't you think it would have been best to move that first?"

Breakdown chuckled, "We did, doc. While you were fixing up the energy displacement nodes on the inside of the ship."

The seeker pushed himself up a little to look back at them, "The room with the container holding the device was smashed up against the mountain, up at the top of the ship. It's open to the elements through a gouge above the room. That will most likely be Airachnid's point of entry."

"And the Autobots never enter the ship?"

Starscream shook his head, "Not the half we fixed up. And even so, a basic investigation would reveal nothing. They'll be too busy with Airachnid to care about exploring the Harbinger. The Immobilizer should be in the ship's labs with the guantlet and armor."

Breakdown nodded, "Yep, that's where we left it."

The seeker chuckled darkly, "And the good brawler and I left a present in the Immobilizer's place."

The blue mech smirked, "I'm the brawler."

Knockout raised an optic ridge, "What did you leave? A bomb?"

Starscream pouted, "I wish."

"We left a replacement Immobilizer," Breakdown chuckled, "It shoots a beam of light, but it doesn't do anything. While Airachnid is busy trying to get it to work, the Autobots can take care of her."

Knockout hummed, "And if she brings the device back to Megatron, looking to see why it doesn't work," he laughed, "I can tell him that he lost his second in command because of a toy!"

Starscream nodded, "Toy, flashlight, whatever strikes your fancy."

The red mech rubbed his servos together excitedly and picked up the buffer, testing it with a quick on and off action, "Well, I'm feeling better. Now hold still; I'm going to spoil you."

The seeker's wings perked then he squealed loudly, trying to get away from the buffer, "If you want to spoil me, then DON'T start by buffing the freshly tended wound!"

Starscream wondered if he should still give his long, drawn out speech to Soundwave. He had planned it carefully before, but that was to get on Megatron's good side. That was before he knew what the warlord intended for him.

So he decided to skip it, awkwardly aware of the shine Knockout had painstakingly polished into his armor. He wanted to pick at it as he passed the silent mech in the hallway on his way to the command deck.

Starscream paused in his steps and nodded to Soundwave, "Afternoon, Soundwave. I hope you're doing well."

The silent mech stared him down, then nodded once, continuing on his way. The seeker watched him go and began walking again. His internal clock was ticking down the hours now. The hours and minutes to the second. He stepped out onto the command deck to see Airachnid standing beside Megatron.

'Here we go,' he thought, making his way onto the landing.

In less than nine hours, he would be without factions.