Ch. 74

Out of the four of them, Starscream was honestly surprised that Soundwave was picking at his new emblem more than Knockout was. The normally silent mech was releasing a low humming buzz as his lithe digits twiddled around the mark on his arm, poking and prodding in a way that the seeker could only assume was Soundwave's method of becoming familiar with it. At least, on a more positive level.

"This is so weird," Knockout finally whined into the silence and he was quickly hushed by Starscream, who flicked his wings.

"You knew this was a possibility and you had plenty of time to mentally prepare for it," the seeker grumbled.

The red mech scoffed, "That doesn't make it any less weird!"

"I am sorry if this is uncomfortable," Optimus apologized from somewhere further back from them, "but the sooner this is done, the sooner we may allow our two teams to work together more efficiently."

Starscream rolled his optics as he watched the large mech climb over some boulders to join them and waited for the other Autobots to show their faceplates before gesturing with an arm, "This way, just through here."

Arcee landed quietly beside Optimus and walked over to the former Decepticons, frowning, "Was there really a problem with just bridging us directly into the ship?"

"Uh, yes!" Knockout said immediately, "We put a lot of work into this, the least you can do is see it from the beginning!"

Breakdown nodded in agreement, "Gotta appreciate the finesse, Arcee. Knockout and I did good work."

"So did I!" hissed Starscream as he scowled and slipped into a large crack in the Harbinger's side.

The seeker was mildly annoyed but at the same time excited, a realization he was only comfortable admitting to himself. 'DEAD' seemed less and less possible by the minute. He had the Autobots and most of the higher ranking Decepticons following behind him not only in the literal sense but in a, dare he confess, 'friendship' sort of way.

"Loyalties protect in the oddest of ways," he mumbled to himself, shaking his helm.

Arcee nudged him as she walked passed, smirking, "Say something, Scream?"

Starscream frowned, "You know I didn't. Now let's get this over with," as the large group of bots filed in, he started to point around the hall they had entered, "This area is laid out with sensors that notify myself, Breakdown, Knockout and Soundwave directly if someone wanders in. They also force a lockdown of certain areas of the ship in case whomever wanders in is... unwelcome."

Breakdown chuckled, "The big boom ten minutes later is more fun."

The seeker huffed, "Yes, but to put all of you at ease, the detonation is overridden should we ask for it. Moving on."

Starscream shuffled down the hall, the group in tow, and he pointed out rooms as he passed them, "I have extra energon reserves hidden here. Working spare parts over there. The medical wing isn't in this hall, but it's behind this room here, which is nice to know... Ah, the best part of the place," he stopped in front of a door and opened it, "this is the lab."

Ratchet grumbled as he walked in to inspect the room first, "You have adequate security for this room as well?"

Knockout smirked, "I installed the system in here myself. Lots of shiny things to protect, you know."

Starscream walked in after the medic and gestured around, "I keep the relics in here. Aside from the Spark Extractor, which I assume you still have."

Bumblebee beeped in response, telling the seeker that they had locked it away deep in their bunker.

Ratchet continued to inspect the room, scowling, "You call this safe? You're leaving sensitive and powerful relics just out on shelves and tables and-and..." he paused, then pointed at an object sitting against a wall, "Is THAT the Forge of Solus Prime?!"

Starscream teetered on his ped tips smugly, "Oh that? It is. Wasn't an easy feat to attain, but I still managed to get a hold of it."

Optimus looked at the relic from the front of the room and nodded, "I am impressed, Starscream. With each of you. You have managed to collect all the relics from the Iacon database."

The seeker shrugged, looking a bit disappointed.

Arcee glanced at him as she lifted the Phase Shifter to look it over, "Something wrong?"

Starscream grumbled, "Most of them are here, not all of them. I'm not speaking, of course, about the Spark Extractor, but there are two more relics I've been unable to get to myself."

Bulkhead peeked in from behind Optimus and chuckled, "Really? Which ones?

The seeker crossed his arms, scowling, "Don't think this any fault of mine. One we would need a Prime to acquire and the other isn't even on the planet yet-"

A loud alarm cut Starscream off and echoed throughout the ship, surprising the bots as they transformed and raised their weapons up.

"What IS that?!" Arcee shouted over the noise.

Starscream scowled, pressing his servos hard into the sides of his helm to muffle the sound, "I don't know! It's not one of ours!" he stumbled over to a computer and typed quickly, near smashing the commands in for the alarm to shut off; when it did, he sighed heavily and continued to type, "Now why are you making that sound?"

Knockout shuddered and frowned, "That could have made my paint peel! Starscream? Did you hear me?"

The seeker huffed, "I did, unfortunately..."

Optimus slowly transformed his blasters away and came up behind Starscream, "Is everything alright?"

The silver mech let his wings flatten out as he focused, "I'm not entirely sure. I've never heard the Harbinger make that noise before. It's not a proximity alarm, I know that much."

Soundwave silently walked up beside the two and lightly coaxed Starscream's clawed digits away from the panel and began typing himself, a map of the Earth projecting itself on the screen above them.

"The Earth?" Bulkhead blinked in confusion, "What does that have to do with the alarm?"

Soundwave continued to type then paused as a pointed location came up on screen.

Starscream glared, "That's- impossible! It must be wrong!"

Optimus carefully set a servo on the seeker's shoulder, "What is happening?"

"This... this," the seeker growled, trying to find the words to describe his frustration, "this data being sent to us- it's from the Nemesis! I know this ship is still linked in one-way, but this shouldn't be possible! It hasn't happened before!"

Another location on the global map became highlighted and Starscream audibly whined, his optics wide, "What is he DOING?!"

Arcee frowned and grabbed the mech by the arm, spinning him around, "Ok, talk. What is the Harbinger telling you?"

"Telling us?" the seeker huffed, "It's telling us nothing! Megatron has bridged troops into two- three locations now, but it doesn't make sense!"

Optimus stared at the map, "Why does it not?"

Starscream pointed at the first location point that set off the alarm, "Here, New York subway, right? That's near, but... not quite where I retrieved the Phase Shifter. And here," he pointed towards the side, "this is a mountain range, yes, but this is nowhere near where the Resonance Blaster was hidden away. And that island? Hawaii?" he pointed to the third location point, "It may have a volcano, but that is not where the ToxEn was."

A fourth location point came up on the lower end of the map and Starscream growled loudly, "Great. Wonderful. Thank you so much, ever changing universe!" he snarled.

Ratchet frowned, "Starscream, what is all this then?"

The seeker shook his helm, "I'm... not entirely certain. But I can say this: two of these locations once had relics nearby. Visually, these four locations are wide spread and each hold different terrain. I can't tell you his thought process, but it appears that Megatron is bridging troops to each of these locations. I don't know the significance... other than each location has a sufficient number of humans nearby to cause quite a bit of panic."