Ch. 59

Silas chuckled from where he sat, his robot crossing its arms, "You really don't want to go through with this, do you? You're only stalling the inevitable."

Starscream glanced at Optimus, who remained firm; the Prime kept his blaster ready, "This needs to stop, Silas. No good comes to those who inflict harm on others. If you continue to push us, we will defend ourselves. By any means necessary."

"Try all you like, Optimus Prime, it won't make any difference," the robot gestured around them, "I've taken out most of your team and have you surrounded. If you have any sense left in you, you'll hand over Starscream and leave quietly."

Optimus frowned hard, "Not today, Silas," he aimed his blaster carefully, "Not ever."

The robot stepped back as the MECH soldiers aimed their weapons and Starscream shuddered; Silas stretched his hands from where he sat at his computer console then gripped the controls tightly, "Then you leave me no choice."

"No, you are the one who leaves me no choice," Optimus fired quickly at the robot and pulled Starscream along quickly to chase after the replica when it dodged.

The MECH soldiers fired their pulse rifles and the three scrambled to dodge the blasts, Silas snarling into his microphone, "You idiots, aim for them, not me!"

Starscream pulled away from Optimus to run beside him and the Prime continued to fire at the robot, "Keep on him! So long as we continue our pursuit, his soldiers will have no choice but to either cease fire or risk hitting their creation!"

The seeker nodded and added his blaster fire to the mix. The robot continued to back away and Silas growled into the microphone.

"You can't keep this up!" he taunted, "Your ability to fatigue won't allow it!"

To prove his point, Silas suddenly had the robot lurch forward with a kick that aimed Optimus's blaster to the side. The false Starscream then swung hard with its claws and knocked the Prime back, leaving Starscream to stop and glare at the robot.

He heard MECH soldiers preparing to circle again but Silas shouted quickly, "NO! If he wants to try to fight his way out of this, then let him take a beating first. He can't win anyway."

Starscream scowled, clutching his leaking arm tightly in anger, "I'm going to stuff those words down your throat, Silas!"

The seeker quickly pulled his servo away from his leaking wound and threw fresh energon onto the robot, the fuel spattering against the metal. With a swift move, Starscream lunged with his claws, trying to scratch at the other's armor. Silas scowled from his controls and the robot dodged, grabbing the seeker by the back of the neck and slamming him into the ground. The replica kicked hard into Starscream's side then dropped him, nudging him onto his back roughly.

"Still think you can win?"

The seeker hissed in pain, coughing out a chuckle, "No. I don't need to."

Silas frowned and flinched when he watched his video feed suddenly disappear. It looked as though his robot was flying. They hadn't finessed that capability yet. The man scowled when the robot's optics were able to focus and he saw that Optimus hadn't gone down as easily as he thought. His creation had been launched into the air by the Prime and Silas grimaced as it came back down hard, crashing into a factory wall.

The man pulled at the controls and the replica stood but it was too late. Optimus transformed a servo into a sword and swung quickly, aiming for the chest plate of the robot. It dodged and avoided most of the damage but the sharp metal scraped against the armor, causing a spark, and Starscream's energon, still splattered against the metal, erupted into flames.

Silas's eyes widened. Energon burned hot. His robot wasn't made of the same metals that Starscream was. His screen beeped an alarm to warn him of excessive heat damage and he snarled, the robot jumping up onto a tower, then a taller building roof to get away.

Optimus wasn't deterred. He followed after the replica and prevented it from sliding down the other side of the building by grabbing its wing, wrenching it back.

"It is over, Silas!" the Prime warned, "Shut down your creation and surrender!"

Silas growled, "It's not over yet!"

The robot turned quickly, allowing its wing to bend and warp in Optimus's servo, and lashed out with its claws. The Prime frowned and used his sword to block the onslaught, using a hard shove to throw the replica's arms back. He transformed his sword away and began beating the false Starscream with a series of punches, refusing to allow Silas the opportunity to give commands to fight back.

The robot fell back onto the roof and Silas frantically began pulling at levers to get his creation to move. The replica didn't respond and the man's eyes widened when he saw Optimus jump, his servos in a tight fist as he brought them down on the still flaming metal of the robot's chassis.

Above Silas, the roof shook and cracked dangerously. He tensed up and growled as the ceiling began to break away and the false Starscream fell through, landing in a crunch of metal and concrete dust on top of the man and the controls that guided it. Its red optics stared up for a moment, flickering, then flashed off.

Optimus sighed deeply and pulled away from the scene to look back over the ledge at Starscream, who was weakly limping in his direction; the Prime climbed down from the building and caught the seeker before he fell, "Are you alright?"

Starscream shrugged, "Better now that this seems to have been handled..." the whirring of helicopter blades in the distance could be heard and he grimaced, "Agent Fowler's doing?"

Optimus nodded, "Most likely. And I surmise that it would be better if we were not here while they perform their investigation."

The silver mech hummed, "Agreed. But you'll have to carry Bulkhead back once we find him if he's not awake already. There's nothing about my condition that says I can move him."

The Prime helped Starscream to his peds and walked him through the compound, listening for any signs of MECH soldiers as they regrouped.

"Nothing? Are you sure?"

Fowler looked agitated and stared at the bots as Ratchet tended to their wounds, the medic keeping the patients seated while he worked, "They combed the compound multiple times. The fake Starscream has been squirreled away and some of the tech that was used to control it has been destroyed. But Leland Bishop, aka Silas, hasn't been found. There's some indication that he was wounded pretty badly, most likely from the fake bot dropped on him, but there's no other sign of him."

Ratchet sighed in disappointment, but it was Starscream who grumbled, "MECH cleans up quickly. We aren't going to see him again for some time."

The seeker was quiet for a moment then he snarled loudly, "Why does this all have to be so COMPLICATED?!"

Bulkhead groaned as he reached out and took hold of the silver mech's good arm gently, "Don't get upset. We did good... Well, you and Optimus did good."

Starscream wrenched his arm away and stood, "We did NOTHING. Don't you get that?! Everything I've tried to prevent and it's still going to happen! I can't believe this!"

Arcee frowned, wincing when Ratchet began to take a look at her back, "Maybe if you told us what was going to happen..."

The seeker growled, clenching his claws into fists, "I..." he shook his helm, "No. I can't. Because there still might be the slightest chance..." he looked over at Breakdown's still resting form and sighed, "Breakdown is still alive. I didn't let them take his optic. That counts for something. So now, they don't have his chassis to study... And if Silas was crushed by his own construct, then maybe..." he quieted down, his wings low, "maybe what happens doesn't happen..."

Optimus approached the seeker slowly, "Whatever you fear is to come, please take solace in knowing we will do everything in our power to prevent it. The future can never be carved and set into stone."

Starscream crossed his arms tightly, "I know. But that's what I'm afraid of... Because if what happens doesn't happen to Breakdown... what if it happens to someone else...?"