Ch. 24
Knockout clapped his servos together once then held them up, "Yep, pretending I never heard that."
Breakdown glared, "He disbands anyway?! Why?!"
Starscream huffed, "The dark energon. Unicron controls Megatron through it and uses him like a puppet. Apparently, our leader didn't like wearing my peds for a change."
Knockout sighed, "So the Big M gets a taste of his own medicine and decides he doesn't like the flavor... Does that mean we should assume 'Bots over 'Cons?"
The seeker shrugged, "In the end? It's most likely. Do you still have all my datapads and notes?"
Breakdown shook his helm, "Sorry, no. We erased and destroyed them all just after you left. Good thing, too. Megatron had your room scrubbed for anything important when Airachnid said you were dead."
"That's fine," Starscream nodded, "From this point on, you won't see me on the Nemesis for another... oh, let's see, maybe week and a half? In the next couple days, you will fight with the Autobots over a data cylinder that will eventually jettison the information into space. Avoid it."
Knockout pouted, "But I thought that had the sythentic energon formula in it."
The seeker growled, "Yes, it does, but you forget, I have it too," he tapped at the side of his helm, "And if I ever have to deal with Shockwave's constant recite of that formula ever again, I'll go insane."
The red mech shuddered, "Can't believe he's still alive."
"He's worse in person, you'll see."
"What about the other one?" Breakdown asked, "The Cyber-Matter...?"
Starscream tapped his helm again, "I swear to Primus, I was hearing them in my recharge. So regardless of what happens, I still have them tucked away. Don't fret too much over the next event and... don't use lethal force. We may end up siding with the Autobots when all this is over."
Knockout checked his internal clock and grimaced, "We can only spare a few more minutes, anything else we should know?"
The seeker smirked, "If Ratchet gets enough of the synthetic energon formula, he's going to test it on himself and knock Breakdown out," the blue mech glared, "but then he punches Megatron square in the jaw plate and I think that will be satisfying to watch, if anything."
The red mech rubbed his servos together excitedly, "Well, well, I'll have to make mental stills."
Starscream nodded, "Please do. And just after that event, the whole 'Unicron Awakening' event begins. Let Megatron and Soundwave do their bit in all this. You two will not be needed, just stay aboard the ship."
Knockout and Breakdown nodded, turning as the blue mech started typing into his ground bridge remote.
"If I may ask," the seeker inquired gently, "why the rush to get back to the ship?"
The red mech sighed, "Besides the whole step up of security, Megatron beat up Airachnid pretty badly. We have to tend to her."
A bridge opened and Starscream nodded, "She will die. I promise you that. But now is not the right time. If I have to do it myself, I will."
"That's good to know," Breakdown smiled, "... Do you really think we should side with the 'Bots?"
The seeker nodded slowly, "I do. I don't want to, but I know we should. But I won't push that decision if neither of you agree. So think about it. Talk it over when it's safe to. When we meet again, we'll discuss it further. But we need to make this choice before anything more... unexpected happens."
The two nodded and rushed through the ground bridge, the portal closing behind them. And then Starscream was alone again.
Before, or now, whichever was proper, the seeker had enjoyed the solitude. He had become his own mech, aligned with no one, giving servitude to no one, he left empowered by his own defection. Now, he was just alone.
Starscream sighed and shook his helm, transforming and flying off. He was about a day's flight from the Harbinger and he had done this on purpose when going through the Autobots' ground bridge. He had left his ground bridge remote in the ship's lab so it wouldn't be lost or broken. And he wanted the long flight. The seeker also needed to think.
Knockout and Breakdown emerged from their bridge in a corner of the med bay storage room, the only place in the ship that didn't have surveillance. The two looked at each other for a moment, then out into the med bay, grimacing when they saw Airachnid was still unconscious and still in need of attention.
Breakdown grumbled quietly, almost whispering, "Why not just end it now?"
Knockout shook his helm and fixed a new energon line to the spider's arm, "Starscream is right about a lot of this, Airachnid included. She needs to be alive a little while longer."
The blue mech sat heavily in a chair, "Why?"
The medic shook his helm again and kept his mouth shut. Breakdown took the hint and when Knockout was done finessing the minor details, he motioned for the blue mech to follow him out of the med bay to take a walk.
"It's all a delicate weave," the red mech murmured gently, "Suppose certain things don't come to light? Or other things stay in the dark? There is an event coming up, something I skimmed over while we were clearing up the datapads. Arcee is going to engage in a solo fight with Airachnid and trap her in an Insecticon stasis pod."
Breakdown shuddered, "Nasty... so, can we kill her then?"
Knockout shook his helm, "There is one more event that includes Airachnid after that. I didn't get to read it, but I'm sure Starscream will let us know when it's safe to finish her off."
"It better be soon," the blue mech muttered, "Closer we get to D-Day for me makes me more and more nervous."
The red mech chuckled, patting his side, "You know, I have just the cure for that."
Breakdown rolled his optics and smirked, neither noticing that as they continued down the hall, Soundwave's faceless mask watched them from the shadows. And he had recorded everything.