Ch. 19

Even if Starscream could answer, he wouldn't. The spider teasingly reached at the webbing around his mouth and tugged hard, ripping it off his faceplates and eliciting a yelp from the seeker.

Starscream snarled and tried to wriggle away from her, "Release me this instant! You are assaulting your commanding officer!"

Airachnid chuckled, "Perhaps. But I still need an answer from the future-telling mech," she set the sharp edge of one of her spider legs against his throat, "What is going to happen next?"

The seeker scowled, "I have NO idea what you are talking about! You've become as delusional as Silas has!"

The spider smiled wide, her fangs glinting in the dim light, "I never said what this human's name was."

Starscream's optics widened and he shrunk back as Airachnid leaned in close, "So he was right. You are precognitive."

The mech was caught between a rock and an unpredictable femme, as unfortunate as the situation was. If he said he was with future sight, she would demand a prediction. If he said he wasn't, he'd have to explain that he had been there the night she had an optic blown out of her helm. By him. Frag.

Starscream winced away from the sharp blade, trying to think up a lie to fix this, "Well... who else would it be?! Silas is the only human who has a group solely dedicated to advanced technology and weaponry! We have records of them raiding the sites of our battles with the Autobots hoping to find scraps!"

"And yet, you know him by name and he's the first one you jump to," the spider took hold of Starscream's helm tightly, hissing, "Now, tell me what is going to happen. Tell me where the weapon is and tell me how I can take hold of the Decepticons and rule this world."

The seeker felt the edge start to dig into his neck and he kicked his legs out in pain, digging his heels into the floor as he growled, "You... you want to know something?"

Airachnid purred, pulling the edge away, "Speak."

Starscream glared and panted softly as a couple drips of energon started to leak from his neck, "I foresee... you finding nothing but disappointment..."

The spider shook angrily and roared as her raised spider leg came down to strike him. The seeker whipped forward and hit her in the helm hard with his own, throwing her back and rolling himself onto his front so he could wiggle away. Airachnid quickly recovered and jumped back on top of Starscream to claw at him when a sound made her pause. It was the sound of pedfalls. And there was Arcee just in front of them, with the rest of the Autobots behind her.

The blue femme snarled, "Airachnid!"

Not exactly how this played out, but close enough. Starscream rolled hard to the side and tripped the spider off his back, slamming into the walls of the Harbinger as Airachnid fled and Arcee gave chase. The seeker nestled tightly against the wall, his claws tearing at little tendrils of the thread as Optimus ran after the smaller femme, then back the way they had come to get back to the surface. Good, Prime had ignored him.

Starscream smirked as his efforts began to make headway then yelped when he was pulled away from the wall by Bulkhead and Bumblebee, the pair helping him to his peds.

"Easy, Scream," the green mech warned, "let's get you topside and then you're going to tell us what's going on."

Bumblebee beeped in agreement and the seeker jumped in surprise, shuddering to himself. He hadn't had too much interaction with the yellow Autobot, but it still sounded strange hearing the beeps and whirls that made up his communication when he knew, given time, his voice would be returned.

Starscream grumbled, "This is so unfair."

Bulkhead nudged him along, sighing, "Tell me about it."

It hadn't taken long for Bumblebee and Bulkhead to lead Starscream back through the ship the same way they had entered. In a few minutes they were above ground, watching Arcee and Optimus as the Prime gently scolded and warned the femme about taking on Airachnid by herself.

As they drew closer, Bulkhead piped up, "Optimus, we got him."

The seeker rolled his optics and scoffed, "Well of course you did. It was really very little of a challenge for you since Airachnid wrapped me up after going insane."

The green mech grumbled deeply but let the comment slide.

Optimus stared down at Starscream, making the seeker feel small, "Starscream, you need to tell us where Airachnid is going."

The silver mech frowned and looked around, then shrugged, "At this point I have no idea. It's not like I was given the opportunity to tell her where she needed to go next."

Arcee crossed her arms, "She took off, heading north. So make an educated guess."

Starscream grumbled, "Well, it would appear she is going to find the other half of this ship."

Optimus's expression didn't change, "Tell us why."

The seeker's optical ridges frowned in confusion, "And... why would I do that?"

"Your help in the past-"

"Whoa," Starscream interrupted, backing up, "what did I say about all that? No mentions ever, EVER, and I thought I was clear on that. Simple direction, that is all I gave you for those 'unmentionable events' and that is how they are to remain!"

"But you saved Jack twice!" Bulkhead said, walking up to stand beside Optimus, "You saved Arcee and Miko and even me! Megatron was right there, you could have said we were behind him and then 'splat'!"

The seeker groaned, "But I didn't and now let's just drop this-"

"Starscream, are you trying to passively defect from the Decepticons to join us?"

Optimus's question made Starscream's wings stand straight up, despite the webbing; the seeker's voice came out in a whisper, "I think I'm having what humans call a stroke. I'm not dealing with this. I said 'no' before and it seems you just don't want to listen."

"How can we when you've gone against what any Decepticon would have done?" Arcee murmured.

Starscream scowled, "Unfortunately, I had my reasons..."

Bumblebee beeped that it was alright for the seeker to admit what he had done and Starscream jumped again, growling.

"Well no, it isn't alright," the seeker grumbled, wiggling under the webbing, "Look, I'll tell you what I think Airachnid is doing and then I'll be on my merry way."

Arcee's optics narrowed, "Back to the 'Cons?"

Starscream smirked, "No, actually. Vacation. I'll send postcards."

Bulkhead blinked, "So you are defecting?"

"Starscream, if you plan to leave the Decepticons freely, I suggest you join with us," Optimus smiled softly, "With our combined efforts, you could help end this war and bring peace sooner."

The comment took the seeker off guard and he laughed loudly, doubling over. The Prime had no idea how true it was and how their blissful unknowing of what Starscream knew could end all of this, every bit of it, in one fell swoop. But that wasn't the plan. That wasn't the deal. Starscream knew changing 'DEAD' was the ultimate goal. Knockout and Breakdown, though benefitting from his pre-knowledge, knew that was what he was striving for.

The seeker finally stopped when he needed to intake and saw Optimus's expression hadn't changed from that gentle smile; Starscream grimaced, "Oh scrap, you're serious."

The Prime nodded, despite the worried looks on the others' faceplates, "I am. It would take time to build trust between us, but I am certain the end result would be beneficial for both Autobots and Decepticons."

Starscream grumbled. He hadn't wanted to think about this part. He hadn't given Knockout or Breakdown any of the details about what had happened that day. The day Knockout betrayed Starscream, the seeker had died, and the Autobots officially won. They had gotten everything. And yes, it would have been easy to jump aboard the 'Bot train and ride it all the way to victory... but what if that fixed nothing? What if it killed him sooner? Especially when Megatron found out.

The seeker teetered back and forth on his peds, thinking. If he did side with the Autobots, he would have to get places in the faction for Knockout and Breakdown, too. More chassis' between him and 'DEAD' was ideal but there was barely enough space in that old missile silo for Optimus and his team, how could they take on three more? And the fights that would break out? What would happen when Arcee found out he had killed Cliffjumper? So many risks for so little reward, how could he choose such a thing?

Optimus set a servo on Starscream's shoulder armor, gently bringing him out of his thoughts, "Starscream. End this cycle. You and the Decepticons, even the Autobots, have dealt with this for too long. Please."

The seeker sighed, hanging his helm low, "... Airachnid is heading towards the other half of the Harbinger in search of what she believes to be a weapon prototype. A couple clicks north, passed a stone arch, in between the stones... That's all I'll give you. I need to think..."

Starscream pulled away from the Prime and quieted down. And even though he wasn't looking up at Optimus, he could still feel the red mech's sad stare making him feel smaller and smaller.