Ch. 215

"Just this... last slice... in!" Knockout snarled, struggling to press down more firmly on his saw blade.

Breakdown gripped onto Starscream's other servo and excitedly chuckled, "C'mon, Doc! Cut that sucker off!"

"The frag did that slagger make this out of?! It's harder than the hull of this sh-" the metal cuff still bound to the seeker snapped loudly and Knockout flinched his blade back with a loud sigh, "Finally! That little glitch was harder the second time around..."

Starscream smiled in quiet relief. One of the last ensnaring reminders from his latest exploits upon the Nemesis were no longer etched into his very frame to further his abuse.

The red mech grumbled at the scratches and uneven metal left behind, pulling out his smallest grinder, "Ah, ah, not done yet," he squinted at the seeker's wrists, "If I don't touch this up, I will have nightmares. Hold still..."

Breakdown shook his helm, "Doc, the hardest part is over-"

"And it took better part of three hours!"

"-give Screamer some time to enjoy the freedom, will ya?"

Knockout smirked up at the bigger mech, "Is this about his freedom or yours?"

"Well, I have been in here for the better part of three hours assisting you with this alone..."

The red mech paused only to wave his grinder scoldingly at Breakdown, "Bite your glossa or I'll do it for you. I'm almost done," he went back to his work, "then we can rev our engines around the upper deck..."

Breakdown smiled excitedly but this enthusiasm seemed to fizzle out when he looked down at their patient who had yet to speak a single word since the beginning of this... more than cosmetic ordeal, "Screamer? Hey, you good?"

The blue mech was hesitant to pat the seeker's back, let alone show any sign of physical reassurance, but was put more at ease when Starscream reached up himself to touch his shoulder plating, "I'm... better," came the simple answer, "That's the best I can do for now."

Knockout sighed and nodded, "We'll take what we can get. This isn't going to be easy in any sense," he began to clear and set his tools aside, "As much time as you need, Psychic. We're all gonna need a bit of time to heal from all this."

The seeker nodded back in agreement while Breakdown growled, "I'm not gonna feel any kinda 'healing' until we pound those creeps into scrap!"

"Ha!" Knockout teased, "You need a healin'."

Starscream rolled his optics and sat up more comfortably so he could hold out his arms and inspect the repairs, "That sounds like another one of those meme-things the children have been exposing you to."

Breakdown shrugged, taking tools away to clean as Knockout handed them to him, "Hey, you had, well, still have, your funny gif-thingys and cat videos," the red mech smirked, "and Miko shows me those dumb video game memes. It's a solid investment, you know. I have to keep up with everything; racing, medical emergencies-"

"-now there's a surprise."

"-hush! -and of course, the memes. They're stupidly funny!"

Breakdown leaned down towards the seeker as he began to step away with an array of tools that needed sterilizing, "He's actually a few months back on the memes-"

The blue mech ducked with a laugh when Knockout made to jump at him and left the medic to scowl on his own, "I am up to date! I'm fast!" he hollered after him.

"Sonic!" Breakdown yelled back as he left the med bay.

Knockout threw up his servos in defeat and pulled himself up to sit on the med berth with Starscream, "Well, you're fitting right back into the insanity nicely."

The seeker flinched lightly and the red mech winced, "Oh, slag, I didn't mean it like that."

"No, I know you didn't," Starscream shrugged, "and it's not anything for you to get upset over. A... lot has happened since I was away," he put it gently, more for himself than for his friend beside him, "Don't be careful on my account. I... think I need to acclimate as quickly as possible. With everything that just happened," he admitted, playing with the newly smoothed metal on his wrists, "He's not going to wait for us to settle in and be at our best."

Knockout hung his helm, "Yeah, I know you're right. But I still don't want to upset you and all that. It'd just be rude!"

Starscream chuckled lightly, "Rudeness being your number one concern, doctor?"

"Oh, isn't it always?"

The seeker nodded, "As it should be," he slipped off the berth and stretched upwards, allowing his digits to dig into the smooth metal of his arm again more firmly, "I'm going for a little stroll," he announced, settling himself again, "Do I need permission from one of my physicians for that?"

Knockout shook his helm, "Not from me or Ratchet you don't. Check the place out," he smiled; the mech leaned back onto the berth and put his peds up to rest more comfortably, "It's a bit older, so the ship and your model will have something in common."

Starscream snorted in feigned hurt, nudging Knockout's peds, "Rude, doctor, how ever so rude!"

"Rude to me, shame on you," the red mech laughed, "rude to you, bonus points."

The seeker shook his helm and waved a servo as he walked out of the med bay. His optics were immediately taken with his new surroundings and how much more safe it all felt. It wasn't just the framework of the ship, the differences in rounded versus sharp design, and it wasn't just the color schemes. The whole of the ship was a far more joyous entity than the Nemesis ever had been. Arcee had told him that it was rescued from the crust of the Earth itself; certainly this uplifting attitude was also a sense of gratitude. Starscream could wholly relate.

The silver mech sighed audibly to no one but himself, following the glow of light to a large window, another feature the Nemesis never knew. Starscream paused to look out into the ocean some few thousand feet below them. It couldn't have been more than a day and a half, to him a mere servoful of hours, since he had been pulled from the grasp of a terrible monster. The seeker quickly touched his chestplate at the thought, his spark sputtering at memories he knew would best be buried and forgotten. The sting at the back of his mind was going to prove worrisome. He didn't want it to be a burden, to himself or others...

"Get it together," he murmured, resting his helm against the glass of the window, "Look where you are now and get it together. You can see the ocean. You can see the sun..."

He caught a glimpse of his blue optics in the glass and grimaced. Though they were the blue of most of the other Autobots, it was the emotion within them that sent him back. They were cold and scared, lying to everyone around him that he was stronger than he appeared. He was just lying to himself.

"No, no," he shook his helm and shuttered his optics, "keep it together. Ocean. Sun. The ship around you..." he backed away from the window, "Look again, see it all, see it all togeth-"

Opening his optics again proved a mistake. The reflection he saw cast in the glass showed nothing but a powerful lie cast and veiled as the simple truth. As much as he wished to speed up his recovery, it wouldn't go so easily. The seeker was going to have to own up to it all, every moment and scar that bored into his psyche, and face it at some point.

Staring into his reflection's optics once more, then his weakly hanging frame, his lowered wings, he didn't recognize himself. Was this what everyone else saw when they looked at him now? This shell of a mech that had been forced to believe the worst and driven to give up everything? Was this pitiful thing all they could see anymore?

"Scream? Hey, Starscream!"

The seeker was too distracted by the view of his unrecognizable self to see Bulkhead approach happily, the green mech setting a servo on his shoulder plating, "What are you up to? Has someone given you a tour yet-"

Starscream pulled himself away suddenly and the larger mech put up his servos defensively, "Whoa, Scream, I'm sorry, I didn't-"

"Don't apologize," the silver mech hissed more than he meant to, "Don't- just..." he growled at himself for his reaction and inability to remedy the situation before turning heel, "Never mind it. You didn't do anything wrong!"

Bulkhead began to follow, "Well, wait, hold on! Lemme take you somewhere you can-"

"No, don't!" Starscream said firmly, still walking quickly away, "I'm fine! I... I just want some time to myself!"

The green mech paused in his steps and tried to follow again but stopped completely as the seeker's words settled in. He decided not to press the issue and heeded to Starscream's wishes; there was little else he could do.