Ch. 51

The Prime led them carefully back into the showers where Bumblebee was sitting with Starscream, gently patting the seeker's back. Bulkhead was leaning against the wall next to the two but upon hearing Optimus walk in, stood up straight.

"He's fine, Optimus," the green mech quickly reported.

Optimus nodded, "I can see that. Both of you are doing fine."

Ratchet frowned a little as he knelt in front of the tired seeker, gently taking a look at Starscream's optics first with a light, "Did something happen?"

Bumblebee whirled gently, saying that the seeker had been very upset earlier and that he had collapsed from exhaustion.

The medic hummed, watching Starscream's optics shutter slowly, "He's been pushing himself hard. Still a gold ring discoloration and his optical contraction response time isn't the best."

The seeker finally growled and lightly pushed Ratchet's servos away, "I don't need a doctor to tell me that."

The white mech huffed, "Well you need someone to tell you what's wrong. Like you you need to tell us what's going on-"

Arcee nudged Ratchet's shoulder and Miko took the chance, rushing forward, "Hey, Starscream! Wow, you're a lot taller when you're not on the med slab. Do you think you'd be as tall as Bulk if you stood up straight standing next to him? What model jet did you scan when you first came to Earth? How fast can you fly? Is it faster than jets that can make a sonic boom?"

Starscream stared down at the girl with wide optics and leaned away, trying to frown, "Ah... is she always this...?"

"Loud?" Ratchet scoffed, "Yes, and she has no off switch."

Miko frowned, "Oh, come on, Ratch, I just want to get to know the newest member to Team Prime! And when Breakdown wakes up, we'll have to welcome him in, too!"

The seeker looked up at Optimus, then leaned down towards the girl, "He's alive? Are you sure?"

Miko smiled, "I watched the surgery myself! Ratchet and Arcee totally kicked butt!"

Starscream glanced up at Arcee, then looked at Ratchet, "... He'll live...?"

The medic nodded, "The damage was extensive, but yes, he'll be fine."

The seeker slumped in relief, rubbing his helm tiredly with a servo, "At least something went right..." he gazed around slowly, frowning, "Are you now expecting me to tell you something?"

Miko giggled, "No, no, you relax! Doc Ratch is going to look you over, then you get to chill for a bit."

Starscream shook his helm and moved to stand, "I can't. I have to go."

Ratchet and Bumblebee sat him back down, the medic scowling, "Easy, easy. You're not going anywhere. You have minor cuts and injuries that need to be looked at, you can't just leave."

The seeker snarled, "I have to be somewhere!"

Arcee crossed her arms, "More precognitive stuff?"

Starscream's optics widen and he looked at Bumblebee, "You- you TOLD them about that?! You seriously can't believe-"

"It's hard to process," Ratchet admitted, sealing a cut on the seeker's arm, "but it explains a lot."

The silver mech pulled his arm back, "It doesn't explain anything! MECH and Airachnid have both gone insane because of this ridiculous theory!"

Miko climbed up on Starscream's ped to sit, "O.K., so let's forget premonition or precognition or whatever. Why do you have to leave again? Why can't you just stay?"

The seeker stared down at the girl, grumbling, "I don't belong here."

"And yet here you are, sitting in the showers, surrounded by Autobots and about two seconds away from a lecture from one of us," Miko crossed her arms; she smiled and whispered to him, "Just hope you get that lecture from me. I'll make it fun."

Starscream frowned, letting Ratchet work on another cut, "All of this is... complicated."

The girl shrugged, "It doesn't have to be. Let us help."

The seeker held his helm in his servos, thinking quietly. He peeked out to see Miko's smiling face beaming up at him and he felt a small pit inside him begin to grow. This child had no idea what was coming and yet she had every confidence in him; she trusted him. Starscream groaned at her innocence, both disturbed and flattered by it.

He finally sighed loudly, "Before I tell you anything," he hissed, "you have to know that I tried," he glared at Ratchet, "I TRIED to talk to you. But I ended up getting my advice from Knockout, so congratulations, that's what spiraled everything."

The medic glared back, huffing, "No please, do go on."

The seeker growled, then looked down at Miko again, her face still smiling reassuringly; she gave his ped a light pat and he rolled his optics, "Fine... Just so you'll believe me..." he checked his internal clock, then nodded, "In the next few minutes, Airachnid is going to find an Insecticon scout."

Arcee's optics widened, "An Insecticon?!"

Bulkhead growled, "Here? On Earth? How?!"

Starscream hushed them quickly, "Story for another time! We're focusing on this one!"

Optimus knelt beside Ratchet to look into the seeker's optics, "What happens?"

Starscream grumbled, "Well, two things: one, she wants revenge on Megatron for trying to get her scrapped tonight. That's what I can guess will happen since I'm not exactly there to implant that thought in her helm..."

"What's two?" Miko asked excitedly.

"Two? Well, Megatron accepts and she tries to get the Insecticon to kill him," the seeker shrugged, "That doesn't work out so well. That's when she ends up finding the rest of the hive."

Ratchet shuddered, "Hive as in...? Fifty? Sixty?"

Starscream stared back at him, slowly shaking his helm, "Add a 'zero'."

Bumblebee beeped and chirped, asking what they should do about it.

The seeker shrugged, "I've been thinking about that for a while. If we let them fight, Megatron will be weak. You could go ahead and finish this. But he's become... 'really creepy' the past couple weeks. Knockout's words, not mine. He might be prepared to do anything."

"Do we have any other options?" Optimus asked softly.

Starscream sighed, "Not really. If we prevent the fight, the Insecticon will just lead Airachnid to the hive anyway. I've been trying to kill her to prevent this, but she keeps slipping away."

Arcee frowned, "Well, at least I can start to like you for that."

The seeker watched her warily, "And I will take that as a compliment."

Ratchet touched up a scratch on the silver mech's servo, "So, how do we go about this then?"

Starscream waved him off, "I gave you the information, you can do as you like with it. But I need to get a hold of Knockout. I have to let him know Breakdown is all right."

Optimus nodded and stood, "Very well. Bumblebee will help you make contact. The rest of us need to discuss the situation."

The seeker gently helped Miko off his ped, standing with Bumblebee, "You can go ahead and tell me I'm insane now. Breakdown nearly beat me to death when I told him. Knockout was more verbally abusive. Soundwave was nice about it. Quiet, but nice. Everyone seems to accept it in different ways..."

The yellow mech beeped softly and led Starscream out of the room, taking him back down the hall as Miko followed after them.

Arcee watched them leave, then hissed lowly, "Optimus, this made less sense than the dark energon vision."

"Patience, Arcee," the Prime murmured, "Starscream has begun to open up. We should be grateful he has. We will approach this situation cautiously and handle it as it comes."

Ratchet shook his helm, "I should really do a more in depth examination. He could be suffering some sort of long term effects from the dark energon exposure."

"But think about it! All the places he's been in where it was the right time to do something about it. Saving Breakdown, saving Jack and June, us in the cave, even with 'Bee and MECH!" Bulkhead thought hard, "Like Optimus said, he's starting to open up. Well, after this we can ask him to tell us everything!"

"Would it even be wise to know?!" Ratchet scowled, "I should have let him talk to me first. If Knockout suggested he change things based on precognitive knowledge, as insane as that already is, he may have irreparably damaged future outcomes!"

"I highly doubt there is much we can do now," Optimus said gently, "In most of these events, Starscream put himself at risk or added to situations that I am more than sure had different outcomes..."

Arcee sighed quietly, "You're thinking about Unicron and the Spark Extractor."

The Prime nodded, "Indeed. Whatever events have already taken place, it is likely Starscream has taken action and adjusted them to fit his needs or the needs of others. Now, we have an opportunity to help regulate and manage which events he gets to change."