Ch. 216

Wandering the ship turned out to be more problematic than a solution, Starscream realized too late. Instead of looking for places to sit and relax, he had unconsciously been searching for places he could duck away to. Approaching peds gave him cause for unnecessary alarm and sent him scuttling into more narrow corridors for safety. But from what? His friends? His fellow teammates? Starscream scowled at himself as the echo of pedfalls, from the weight it sounded like Bumblebee, disappeared and he peeled himself out from a doorway. He felt like kicking himself.

"Alright," he growled to himself, glaring down at his servos, "alright, you complete idiot. Are you hiding because you want solitude or because you can't actually stand seeing them right now? Which is it?"

It was no surprise that nothing answered him back but it made the seeker all the more upset that he couldn't immediately respond to himself.

"Which is it?!" he hissed, beginning to pace, "Which is it, because you're not on the Nemesis anymore. You're not captive anymore. He's not here anymore. They left him back at the remains of that slagging ship."

Whatever the answer to his predicament was, it was eluding him. There was a pain in his spark that felt like guilt... but he could only attribute that to the way he was hiding from the Autobots right now. Even if they weren't entirely aware...

"... Frag it all!" Starscream snarled at himself, scratching his servos at the back of his helm, "You have to get over this! Move on! He's not going to give you time to prepare yourselves, he's going to-"

Movement startled the silver mech and he flinched back from the wall he was using for cover. To his embarrassment it was another of his reflections staring back, the image revealing itself into a finely polished section of the metal wall that served as a sort of detail, he supposed. He glared and ducked away from the unintentional mirror but the act gave him pause as he came across another one and averted his gaze.

"... It's... it's me," he murmured, daring to glance at his mirrored form before turning away again, "I can't look at me. That isn't even me... is it?"

Silence was his answer; it was up to him to decide what that answer was.

Starscream grumbled, "Well, why not? He's taken everything else. Forced me to abandon one faction in favor of another, obviously the better choice this time around. This led to my optics change, my outlook, frag, my patience couldn't be better! And yet..."

The silver mech attempted to look at himself and winced, instead looking down at his servos as he reached out to touch his reflection, "... I don't recognize this bot. And it's not in a good way," he sighed, "The optics- my optics... they're out of place... I'm neither one or the other like this..."

The Ark creaked gently as it turned to adjust against a current of wind, which angled the sun in through another long and large window just down the corridor. The added light bounced down the hall and illuminated the seeker's form. Starscream winced at the glowing silver of his frame and cast himself into the shadows.

"No!" he hissed, "It is this, it is- it's that!" he glared down at himself, struggling to keep out of the light as it continued to crawl after him.

Starscream shook his helm and ran further down the hall, averting his gaze from the polished sections of metal so he couldn't see himself, "I can't like this! I can't!" he dove into a doorway and covered his faceplates with his servos, "I can't stay like this; I look like him!"

Ratchet shook his helm and sighed quietly, "I would, but the tests I need to run may need to be done more privately," he admitted, "These aren't results that are within any kind of range of 'norm'. Starscream has always had someone at his side, if not Knockout or Breakdown, it's Arcee or Smokescreen. Even yourself, Optimus. Anything that I would be likely to try on him would be experimental and it would be better for all the inhabitants on this ship if they were done..."

"Privately," the Prime nodded, "I understand. Have you spoken to Starscream about this?"

"Not yet," the medic sighed again, "he's been through enough. Knockout was adamant that removing those cuffs from his wrist were made a priority today."

Optimus looked from the smaller mech to Ultra Magnus, "And your study of the recording that was made?"

The blue mech frowned, "Sir, it's as I stated in my report. I've never come across anything like it. A transfer of such a power makes it akin to something of the Ancients. But in all my eons of battle, I've never seen nor heard of such destruction. The energy readings, the blast radius, your miraculous ability to have walked away from it without any burns... there's nothing in my records that could explain what this is."

"Could Starscream have been sparked as an experimental weapons class?" Ratchet offered, "Perhaps someone whose abilities remained inoperable until such a time that they were forcibly needed?"

Ultra Magnus shook his helm, "Unlikely. Any mech or femme sparked for such demolition was closely monitored. And even then, they were rare to survive long. Any experimental Cybertronians died long ago. There's no possibility of Starscream's power coming from an unnatural creation like that."

The medic frowned in thought, "If we cannot answer this, then the methods I would have to use to find a solution could be painful."

"It is something we are hoping to circumvent," Optimus agreed, "but for now, we have Starscream here to speak with. Ratchet, take some time today to clear the med bay and discuss the matter over with him. He may have more insights into what he is dealing with than we are aware of right now."

Ratchet nodded, "I'll do what I can- Bulkhead!" the white mech called when he saw the larger mech skulking about down the hallway, "What are you doing up here? I thought you were going over inventory logs with- waaaaait," Ratchet glared, "What did you do? What did you break now?"

"Nothing, Ratchet! I swear!" Bulkhead put up his servos as he approached, "I was just looking for Starscream. I think I might've spooked him while he was looking around the ship."

"He's out? On his own?" Ratchet's optics widened, "And you didn't stop him?"

The green mech shook his helm, "Didn't think it was a good idea after how he reacted to me touching his shoulder plating," he grumbled, "Decided I'd give him some space and then go look for him, ya know?"

Ultra Magnus glanced at Optimus, "Should this be a cause for concern?"

The Prime shook his helm, "Not at all. He is exploring his new surroundings. Let us allow him to do so without interruption. When he is ready," he smiled gently, "Starscream will come to us. Just give him some time."