Ch. 116

Ratchet smiled gently as Optimus came walking through the ground bridge, Starscream idling behind him tiredly, "Almost the full two hours. Did you enjoy yourselves?"

The Prime nodded, "Yes, thank you, old friend. It would seem Starscream took to the much needed distraction better than expected as he fell into recharge after our talk."

The seeker's wings flared and he frowned, "You swore you wouldn't say anything."

"That is something I did not promise to, Starscream."

Ratchet rolled his optics, "Oh, puh-lease, it's like dealing with younglings all over again..."

"Moving on," Starscream huffed, "How is training going?"

The medic gestured to the med bay, "Well, actually. Bumblebee and Smokescreen finished up rather quickly on the first couple runs, so we had Arcee and Knockout logged in for about as long as those two. We're still waiting for Wheeljack to respond, so Bulkhead and I went for a test through."

Bulkhead poked his helm in from the side hallway, but hid again when Ratchet growled and pointed at him, "You know what you did!"

Optimus hummed, "I take it that each experience is different?"

The medic nodded, "Very. Soundwave is recording each session and reviewing them carefully, but so far the techniques to keep the other bot out has been unique to each of them."

Optimus smiled, "That is good to know. It will make the challenge that much more difficult for Megatron and his forces," he glanced at Starscream, "If you have no one else performing a session, perhaps Starscream and I could give it a try."

The seeker's optics widened, "No."

The Prime turned to the silver mech, "We must begin our training sooner rather than later."

Starscream shook his helm, "I don't want to."

Ratchet sighed, "It doesn't have to be for very long," he admitted, "even a few minutes can establish a fair amount of damage..." he leered at the hallway, "Can't it, Bulkhead?!"

The green mech poked his helm out, then hid again quickly.

Starscream grumbled, "I'm not ready for this sort of training."

Optimus nodded, "I understand your hesitation, but this will be a preliminary trial. I promise to go easy against any of your prepared attacks and defenses."

"You have to start sometime, Starscream," Ratchet pointed to the med bay, "Better to start now, we can get a feel for where your mental levels are."

The seeker didn't need anyone to tell him that his mental health was plummeting but he knew they would once they saw a readout. He wasn't in any state to do this. Even seeing the cord would aggravate him.

But what could he do?

Starscream relented with a hiss, "No more than a few minutes. That's it."

Ratchet shrugged as he walked into the med bay, "Fine. And if you can spare a little more time, we'll take it."

Optimus and Starscream followed the medic into the med bay, the seeker pausing when he saw the cortical psychic patch waiting for them. A cringe ensued.

"Oh, now don't be like that," Ratchet frowned, "it's not as bad as it looks. I'll set you up on a neutral field so you two can get a lay of the situation."

Starscream went to the berth, sitting down, "I've been patched before... I know what to expect, at least."

Optimus sat beside the berth, leaning forward to allow Ratchet to attach the patch to him first, "You have not mentioned this before. Who was the bot you patched with?"

The seeker winced as Ratchet went to him next, the medic pushing the cord into the back of his helm. He didn't have time to say it aloud, but the name reverberated loudly in both of their now shared minds.

Megatron.

In the black void that was this neutral field, Optimus stared out into the darkness. Starscream should have been standing in front of him. The seeker was hiding himself.

The Prime tried to look further out into the shadows, "Starscream!" he called, "I cannot begin any test without seeing you first! We must size our mental strength before we begin."

A gentle hum, a noise that said 'I am thinking', answered back; Starscream's voice sighed out in the void, "No, it's best we just complete the exercise this way. It'll be easier on the both of us."

Optimus frowned, "Starscream, if something is wrong, allow me to help you assess the problem before we end this session. I do not want to cause you more pain and damage if something is amiss."

"Amiss?" the seeker laughed loudly and sadly, "Yes... this is amiss... Actually, more of at an angle, a little off to the side as it were. Quite crooked..."

"Starscream," the Prime's voice became more firm, "I do not want to press more stress upon you, but I do not wish to play games or waste time waiting on your decision. Shall we proceed or end this now?"

"I-" Starscream paused, grumbling, "I... think you should see this..."

Optimus looked around, waiting for the seeker to appear. What he saw he had a hard time staring at, coupled with the difficulty of hiding his look of shock. Starscream slowly became visible, albeit in flashes of quick static. His form at a quick glance seemed fine, if anything, a bit tired and ragged, but a sterner look showed a great amount of damage done to the silver mech's mental portrayal. His chassis was completely split in two sections, one that went from his right hip up nearly through the left side of his chest plate and the other was a smaller incision that almost looked to take his helm off at the neck. There was no leaking, no spilt energon, and despite being unable to see any exposed inner workings the seeker still looked greatly uncomfortable.

Starscream looked back with pained optics and Optimus gasped out quietly, "Starscream... what happened?"

The silver mech winced as he shrugged, "I... I already told you... Megatron, he broke me..."