Ch. 33

Starscream sat comfortably in his lab chair, letting it spin. Done. He was finally done. Well, at least for now. Every time he came full circle, he would see Solus Prime's forge sitting in the corner and he smiled.

"How much better could this get?" he smirked, stopping the chair, "Forge of Solus Prime? Check. Resonance Blaster? Check. Omega Keys, one through three? Check, check and check," he nearly giggled when a red glow caught his optics, "Even that nice haul of red energon! Because who needs to wait for humans to find anything anymore?"

The seeker held up the Phase Shifter, sighing, "All I need is you! ..."

He looked around at the empty lab slowly. At the cloning protoforms still hanging on the wall. At the dark and shadows around him.

Starscream sighed again, but it was sad, "All I need is someone to celebrate with..."

The past few days had come easier for the seeker. He had finished collecting relics and spent some of the time sneaking into active energon mines, taking refined cubes to use for himself. He had quite a nice haul of it now, enough to last months if needed.

The seeker slumped in his chair, not so ecstatic anymore, "Well... now I'm done..."

A pit in Starscream's chest began to weigh him down. He had done so much, accomplished so much, and yet had no one to tell, no one to share it with. No one that was there with him anyway.

"This is so unfair-"

Starscream was thrown to the floor, objects around the room falling over and crashing, as a terrible earthquake shook the Harbinger. The seeker scuttled beside a desk and hid there, diving for the Spark Extractor with a squeal when he saw it falling from a shelf. The last thing he needed was for this thing to activate now of all times. The quake stopped and Starscream panted, slowly standing and returning the relic to a lower shelf as he looked around.

"Unicron," he murmured, "It's starting now... I only have a few hours until-"

The seeker trembled, quickly running around to pick all the relics up and secure them to their places. He remembered what he did during the whole Unicron fiasco. He had flown high up into the atmosphere. Starscream may as well have been orbiting the planet as it fell into chaos. He stayed as far away as he could to avoid the torrential storms, hurricanes and tornados. But did he want to do that now?

Starscream thought hard. If he helped... if he went with the Autobots... and Megatron... he could get rid of Unicron. That could fix, and stop, so much from happening. If he were also to side with the Autobots, it would give him quite a few more positive points... The thought sunk in and he grumbled, sitting on the floor. But how? How could he, Starscream, accomplish such a feat?

The seeker sighed, "Well... if I can go back in time... or get future sight or whatever this is..."

Starscream ground bridged in to where Megatron had last been reported. He regretted it immediately. At a distance, he could see a towering rock incarnate of Unicron fighting the Autobots. Megatron would be here any second to save Optimus. But he knew he had to get to them before they left so he could travel with them. As much as he knew, he didn't know how they had traveled to the center of the planet. That must have been because of Megatron's aide.

The seeker watched as the Unicron incarnate had a chunk of its helm blown away and it collapsed into rock. That must have been the Decepticon leader, coming in for the rescue.

Starscream took a deep intake and started walking. By the time he got there, he was sure they would be done discussing all this. And hopefully, they would take him along for the journey.

The seeker watched Megatron land, putting the rest of the Autobots on edge. He watched as the warlord pulled Optimus from the rubble and began his case for their alliance. Starscream became nervous the closer he got to the group. But he hadn't been noticed yet. Not yet.

"Optimus our past alliances, Autobot, Decepticon," he heard Megatron preach, "no longer matter, not while Unicron lives."

The warlord looked ready to say more when the seeker heard Ratchet explode over a COMM angrily but he stopped, locking his newly tainted purple optics onto the smaller mech's form as he approached.

"Starscream."

Starscream winced and froze in his tracks, the rest of the Autobots turning to face him. More regret. And not because there was a giant Unicron running around, treating the Cybertronians like they were meaningless action figures during a child's tantrum.

The seeker almost cringed away but found himself standing a little taller instead; whether or not he was sure this would work, he still had to try, "So, I'm not the only one experiencing the earthquakes and storms then?"

Optimus smiled under his mask. Not only was he pleased to see that Starscream had come back, but that what he had told them had come true. And if what he said was true, then he didn't need to have an argument over alliances. Megatron would be a guide, just as Starscream had told them.

"Megatron, we will consider your offer," the Prime spoke confidently, "but I must first return to base to discuss this over with my team. We shall not take long."

He held up his servo before the rest of the 'Bots could protest, "Ratchet, send us a ground bridge."

A portal opened a moment later and Arcee quickly put up a defense, "Wait, we're going to open a bridge straight to our base with Megatron standing right here?"

Optimus didn't want to let them argue as he started walking towards the bridge himself. The warlord was already distracted by the fact that Starscream had shown up. The seeker kept his gaze away from Megatron. He didn't want to see the confusion and anger in his optics.

The Prime looked back at Starscream as his Autobots went into the bridge before him, "Starscream, would you care to join us?"

The seeker hid his relief. Good, he was most likely going to be a participant in all this.

Starscream walked towards the bridge, then yelped when a clawed servo grabbed his arm and spun him around, "Actually Optimus," Megatron growled, "I think Starscream will wait here with me."

Optimus glared, "He will be joining us on this mission, Megatron. Let him go."

The seeker stared at Megatron's fuming and angry faceplates, trembling when he hissed lowly, "We'll talk later then."

The warlord released Starscream's arm and the mech stumbled back, rushing into the ground bridge. Optimus was right behind him. Phase one? Complete.