Ch. 54
It had been a long night. Starscream hadn't recharged well. He had decided, despite protests from the other bots, that he would recharge near Breakdown while the blue mech was still in stasis. Ratchet had been kind about quickly throwing an extra berth together, but the accommodations were less than desirable.
The medic hummed lowly as he looked Starscream's optics over, sighing, "That ring still hasn't gone away. I may need to check the pixelated pigment tones in your optic..."
The seeker grumbled, but shrugged, "Really, it doesn't bother or hurt me. But if you so insist..."
Ratchet huffed, "I insist for a reason..." he took out a delicate instrument, a handle with a long, thin wire and small plug at the end, "You underwent a seriously dangerous procedure that Silas had no business trying to perform. I need to make sure there isn't an underlying problem behind this simple discoloration..."
Starscream stared warily at the tool the doctor held and flinched back when Ratchet held it close to his optic, "N-now wait just a second!"
The medic frowned at him, "What?"
The seeker's wings dropped, "... What exactly is that going to do and where are you trying to put it?"
Ratchet frowned harder and scoffed, "Oh, puh-lease. Hold still and stop being such a youngling!"
Starscream squealed as the medic pinned him down and expertly inserted the end of the tool into his optic's lubricant duct, grumbling as he looked over the readout, "Well, no extensive damage. Some pixelation rearrangement, a couple node blowouts. That explains the color change..."
When the seeker finally relaxed Ratchet loosened his grip, typing carefully into an adaptor pad on the handle of the tool, "Sit up slowly... Good, now just stay still. I'm going to balance the pigments and blend them again."
Starscream stayed still, muttering gently, "Thank you, Doctor."
Ratchet smiled softly, "You're welcome. Give me a moment..."
The medic paused in his work and the seeker hummed, trying not to move too much as he spoke, "Is there something I should be concerned about?"
"No, no, not at all," Ratchet typed into and adjusted the tool slightly, then removed it, "I'd like to check the integrity of your right optic now. Stay still as before..."
Starscream sat up straighter as the plug of the tool attached to his right optical duct and the medic began to adjust and type into the tool again, "Mhm... yes, that looks much better," Ratchet removed the tool and chuckled, putting it away, "You can stand now."
The seeker shuttered his optics slowly and stood, stretching, "That's it?"
The medic nodded, "Oh yes, that's it."
Starscream watched him carefully for a moment then shrugged, "Well, alright then," he moved over and sat beside Breakdown's recharging chassis, sighing.
The seeker rested his arms on the medberth and leaned forward to rest his helm when he noticed an odd, blue glow on the resting mech's arm. He flinched away and the glow disappeared.
With a frown, Starscream looked over at Ratchet, "Ah, Doctor? There seems to be some sort of... I don't know, an energon leak or something over here. I can see the glow from it."
Ratchet glanced at him and laughed, shaking his helm, "No, he's fine. Don't worry about it."
Starscream frowned and stood, "How do you know? You're not even going to check?"
The medic waved him off, "I know where the glow is coming from. Nothing to get overexcited about..."
The seeker grumbled and followed Ratchet as he walked out into the main room, "Overexcited about?" he glanced quickly at the ground bridge control screen when the medic leaned over to inspect it, "Why would anyone-" he stopped and glanced again, a loud gasp escaping his mouth.
Ratchet laughed as Starscream tripped back into the med bay and looked at himself in the glass of the repair station, screeching loudly, "My optics! You didn't- they're not- what did you do?!"
"What does it look like? If you're going to be an Autobot, you may as well have the blue colored optics to match!"
Starscream wailed at the glass in horror, touching his reflection with a shaking servo, "Fix it! Change it back!"
Ratchet shook his helm, "Not until after you and Arcee have your little talk. Optimus should be here in a moment with her."
The seeker hissed, "You did this to me over that?!"
The medic shook his helm, "Oh, no, consider it payback for giving us the run around with all your vision-talks. Omitting facts indeed..."
Starscream scowled angrily then flinched when he heard Optimus's heavy pedfalls coming from the hall, Arcee's small steps following him.
"Please, Optimus," he heard her say, "this isn't going to help."
Optimus spoke to her as they entered the room, "This will help you, and Starscream, more than you know. The gift of communication between others is one of the greatest healing techniques I know of..." he smiled at Ratchet, "besides the diligent work of our resident doctor."
The medic waved him off as he tended to the ground bridge, "Well, as of the moment, I'll accept the title of 'magician'," he gestured to Starscream, who was covering his faceplates with his servos; Ratchet smirked, "I leave you to wonder how I managed to achieve it."
Optimus only nodded and turned to the seeker, "Starscream? Would you care to join myself and Arcee on a recon mission for energon?"
Starscream grumbled as he shook his helm, keeping his optics covered, "Now is really not the best time."
Arcee crossed her arms, "The both of us really aren't being asked. You know it's a ploy to get us to talk amicably."
The silver mech shrugged, "Oh yes, that wasn't hard to spot."
"I think a neutral area for the pair of you to talk," Optimus explained, "would help very much in settling these differences."
Starscream shook his helm again, "Ratchet has abused me. I cannot leave this base until he's fixed what he's done or I will face utter humiliation."
Arcee smirked, "Wow. This another one of your lies?"
The seeker growled, "No. And those weren't lies, those were omissions. To protect the lot of you from an untimely demise."
The femme scoffed, "Sure they were."
"Both of you, enough bickering!" Ratchet huffed, looking up from the ground bridge controls, "Optimus, why don't we scout a new location? Now that we have Starscream, scouting for energon from above would be easier."
Optimus nodded, "So long as the three of us can work on this," he looked at Arcee and Starscream, "together," he emphasized gently, "I see no problem with scouting on a larger scale."
Ratchet nodded and typed into the ground bridge control panel, "There are some isolated islands in the Pacific that may be a good place to try. Rafael said he noticed some sites dedicated to geological excavation around there. Fortunately, no human petitions to begin mining have passed through, so the islands should be uninhabited."
Starscream's wings perked and he dropped his servos to his side, forgetting momentarily why he had them up in the first place, "Untouched islands are always speckled with hints of energon. And if they were molded by volcanic activity, we can see if any of the dead dark energon flow has changed or created other sedimentary formations."
Arcee stared at the seeker and smirked to hide a laugh, the silver mech gasping as he covered his optics again, "Ratchet's a creature of pure evil!"
The medic nodded, "I do what is necessary," he pulled the lever down on the ground bridge, activating the portal, then pointed at it, "Now, I expect to have you two come back with some sort of peaceful arrangement made. If not?" he glared at Starscream, "I may as well forget there was ever a color called 'red'."
The seeker scowled and walked through the bridge, Arcee chuckling as she followed behind him.
Ratchet sighed as Optimus stepped forward, murmuring to him, "Get them sorted out. Starscream may not have told us everything but... I fear greater things are to come. And we need a working team to get through anything that might befall us."
The Prime smiled, "Agreed, old friend. I will make sure they work through this."
The medic smiled back as Optimus walked through the bridge; he closed the portal once they were gone and sighed, "If anyone can do it, Optimus, it's you."