Ch. 212

Starscream was very unsure of the Autobot ship at the other end of the desert. He'd never seen such a construction, before this mess or in any newly appearing archives. Did the inhabitants know he had defected and had become one of them? Were these other Wreckers? Or even another team that had been brought here for Primus knows what? The seeker wasn't sure. He wasn't even sure he should be walking towards them. They wouldn't be able to see his sigil from up there and even if they could get a closer look, he was STARSCREAM. The one and only. They'd be much more likely to shoot him than rescue him...

With a pained scowl on his faceplates, the silver mech began to veer his limping gait further to the left, out into the vast expanse of the desert beyond. Moving back towards the Nemesis was a 'no', towards this supposedly Autobot ship was a 'no', and very easily a big fat 'NO' towards the screams and hellfire that was Megatron in the other direction. So the unknown wilderness it was! This seemed oddly familiar.

"Familiar... yes," Starscream grit through his dentals when he slipped and put more weight on his right leg, "the s... same? No... At least I have my T-cog this time," he grumbled.

Of all the things confusing and frustrating him today, it was more than clear to him that he would be able to manage much better at reactivating his T-cog than replacing it. At the Harbinger...

His pained optics scanned the mountains and desert surrounding him and he felt his spark sink considerably. The area was familiar. The landscape was familiar. The seeker whimpered and groaned before collapsing with a hiss to his knees. This desert was just beside the Harbinger's crash site. Something must have happened when the Decepticons blew it up.

Tears started to well up in Starscream's optics and he buckled over the earth below him so he could hide his sadness and frustration. Everything he had before, all of it was gone. Every reminder of what they all meant to him, everything that he had worked for, everyone who actually gave a frag: gone. The Harbinger would have been his last chance, his last bargaining chip, especially to these newcomers in their orange hulled ship...

An angry roar behind him made Starscream flinch and the seeker flicked his wings down. Megatron's vocals echoed amidst the pluming smoke above him from the damaged Nemesis, the hum of the ship's engines and Insecticons' wings, the rumble of hot fire exchanged between the Predacons, the tormenting sounds of a chaotic battle that was crushing the poor silver mech from all directions. Starscream shuddered and clasped his servos around his helm to help drown out the noise when the quick glint of green from under the orange ship caught his attention.

"I... I can't take this..." the seeker wheezed out, shuttering his optics tightly, "Primus, make it all stop... make this stop... Whatever I did to deserve this suffering, I'm sorry... Just make everything right again..."

A weightlessness encircled around his chestplate as Starscream exhaled. Even centered among all the crashing and snarling and blasts exchanged between mechs, Starscream felt a calmness overtake him. He felt his optics being drawn back to the orange ship, down at the base of the mountain. Down where he saw the glint of green. And now he could see someone drawing closer. Someone who's hulking form was red.

The seeker felt wave after wave of emotion hit him; shock, fear, doubt, anger, shock, fear, doubt, anger, over and over in a cycle that was refusing to break. He struggled to get back on his peds, his servos shaking as he clenched them in a silent prayer: please let this not be a trick. Starscream carefully changed his course to match the firm yet gentle stride of this approaching mech. Both were moving at a slower pace, the silver mech assumed to help lessen detection, and would eventually meet somewhere in the middle. But as they grew closer and details could be more easily translated, Starscream felt his tears fall harder and sparks ripple throughout his chassis.

The electricity crackled between his wings first, white and bright, then journeyed more enthusiastically between joints, seams, and some of it escaping through the bottoms of his peds. Each step became a small explosion of energy that grew more powerful, that slowly turned his pained limp into as much of a jog as he could muster. The red mech started running too, no blasters, no sword, no weapons to speak of. Simply himself and only himself.

"It can't- It can't-" Starscream held back a sob.

The sparks upon his chassis grew brighter until he was more than bathed in it, the explosions no longer limited to under his peds as charged bolts flew from his form and punished the earth. Megatron's gaze was finally pulled from his fight with the rogue Insecticons and he snarled in surprise.

"No, NO!" he roared, moving to aim a charged cannon blast at the red mech and missing when an Insecticon pounced on him.

Starscream heard the warlord's anger and upset and couldn't care anymore. He was going to be free of all that torment. Against all the pain in his leg and the fears that had held him back before, the seeker broke out into a full on sprint, the red mech doing the same.

And with outstretched arms and servos, Optimus caught Starscream in a strong hold, clinging to the smaller mech just as tightly as the seeker was to him.

No words were able to escape the silver mech's mouth as he cried. For all the years he had a word or answer for everything, this was the one moment where he was happy enough to let his tears of happiness do the talking for him. Optimus fell to his knees and his battle mask opened as he clutched Starscream tighter, completely unafraid of the energy sparking and cracking off the smaller mech in great bursts.

"I am sorry..." the Prime kept murmuring, "I am sorry..."

"No, don't!" the seeker whimpered, choking back another sob as he shook his helm, "Don't ever say that! You didn't leave me, you didn't abandon me- but you came back!"

Starscream's blue optics brightened until they became completely submerged in the white energy, the electricity spilling forth and traveling from the seeker's frame into Optimus's.

Megatron growled as he blasted another Insecticon away from him, leaving Shockwave to fend for himself as he sprinted quickly towards the Prime and his treasure. His cannon was already charging up for another blast as he approached, watching the seeker, HIS dear Starscream, move beside the red mech as they stood.

"Prime," the warlord seethed, gesturing to their still clasped servos, "Let. Him. Go."

Optimus's battle mask slid back into place and he shook his helm. He transformed out his own blaster and rested it gently by his side.

Megatron looked from the red mech to Starscream, the seeker's form hardly distinguishable from the light escaping his chassis. That was his treasure, his power. How dare his dear Starscream show even a piece of it with someone so unworthy, a disciple who knew not how to wield such possibilities.

The warlord leveled his cannon as he snarled, "I will not hesitate to-"

Optimus quickly aimed his blaster, "Nor will I, Megatron," he stated firmly, his optics in a tight glare, "You have only two options, as have I. And should you choose not to let him go, I get to choose whether or not to kill you right now..."

The red mech's grip increased on Starscream's servo and the seeker squeezed back. When Megatron braced himself, then fired, the energy sparking and traveling through the two mechs only displaced them slightly, the blast exploding some distance behind them. Optimus adjusted his aim as his optics lit up in a bright white, the energy from the silver mech beside him charging him. The shot from his blaster fired a caustically bright white ball of plasma that rocketed passed the warlord and far out into the desert. Megatron turned to scoff at the missed shot when a trembling quake shook the earth and a small thermo-mushroom cloud of fire and rock billowed upwards miles away. It was only a second later that the force of the blast wave came rushing through, pushing the Nemesis dangerously and sending any bot in flight swirling through the air. Megatron tried to shield himself but was thrown to the ground hard, the spray of hot rock and embers scratching his plating. The area stilled...

"Today," Optimus said firmly, transforming his blaster away, "I have decided to spare your life. But this will not be the case in the future," the glow of energy coming from Starscream stopped flowing into the Prime, "You will cease all of this madness. You will surrender and end this war," as the energy began to dispel from the seeker, the red mech wrapped an arm around him to keep him standing, "If you do not, know that I will not need Starscream's assistance to make the decision for you."

A bridge opened behind the pair and Optimus picked the seeker up carefully, backing into the portal as Megatron's fuming red optics glared into his own.

"Ratchet?"

Smokescreen trembled from his seat at the Ark's controls, his gaze fluctuating from the old medic's disbelieving optics to Ultra Magnus's, "U-um... Magnus, sir? Can... anyone explain-"

"No... soldier," Magnus finally managed, pulling himself from the captain's chair, "... Optimus has disengaged from the enemy, reacquired our target and entered our bridge," he cleared his throat, "Set a course southeast, over the ocean. Engage our hull's camouflage shielding. Set altitude to eighteen hundred feet..."

Smokescreen nodded as he began typing in the commands. Ratchet shakily stood from his seat, struggling as he walked off the command deck to the hall way.

Ultra Magnus followed, "Ratchet, what Smokescreen was asking-"

"What was that?!" the white mech hissed quietly, "I don't know! No one knows! Is he even Cybertronian? What he just did for Optimus is completely impossible, there's no explanation for such an immense amount of power and energy out of one mech, it's imposs-"

He stopped himself, a shaking servo clasping around his mouth to stop himself from saying more.

Magnus nodded slowly, "What he just did... you recorded it?"

The medic nodded, catching a quick intake before speaking, "Just as Optimus bridged out. The situation was stressful enough that I thought I could record some of the energy he displayed before, but this-" he shook his helm and waved a servo, "this was nothing like the other times. I can't explain it. Knockout won't be able to explain it, I doubt the Ancients could explain it. Even with all of his collected wisdom of the Primes, Optimus wouldn't be able to explain it..."

Bumblebee whirred and whirled excitedly as he came from down the hall, beeping that Optimus had Starscream down on the lower deck, getting a checkup from Knockout.

Ratchet flinched and grumbled, slowly making his way to a lift. The yellow mech bubbled quietly, asking Ultra Magnus if he had said something wrong.

The larger mech shook his helm, "Not at all, soldier. This day has been a bit stressful for all of us. And I'm afraid it has left us with more questions than answers. But it's not something for us to worry about. We did exactly what we came here to do. Now we have to regroup and take care of our seeker; I have a feeling he's going to need a lot of support right now..."