Ch. 227
Wheeljack couldn't contain a hefty laugh as he came jogging back down the hallway with the data cylinder in his grasp, his peds carefully maneuvering between stacks of metal panels strewn about the floor, "Magnus is gonna lose his mind when he sees this!"
"I sanctioned the act of this demolition, Wheeljack," Optimus spoke up, "and any report that pertains to this will have my word on the matter."
The white mech chuckled, "Still..." he trailed off as he handed the cylinder to the Prime, "Brought this little gift back for ya. Everyone's excited to see if this'll work."
Ratchet waved the two over, "Yes, yes, over here!" he called from a point between the two rooms where an access port had been revealed, "We need to go about this carefully..."
"You mean more carefully than you did messin' up the joint?" Wheeljack smirked.
Ratchet shot him a small glare and took the cylinder from Optimus, comparing grooves on the bottom to see if they lined up accordingly with the port.
Predaking stood off to the side, loudly admiring Miko and Bulkhead's work as the pair openly did the same for him. Optimus took note of how quickly the great mech had assimilated himself into the group as a whole, how readily he had welcomed the idea of standing alongside them and how warmly he received and delivered such friendships. The Prime knew it had everything to do with how Predaking himself had been treated by one mech in particular...
Optimus's optics glanced slowly back at Starscream, who stood some distance away leaning against a window, but stopped himself from approaching him when he saw Smokescreen stand beside the lithe mech.
"Hey, Starscrimus."
"... Smokey, I swear..."
The white mech smiled, "Say you hate it all you want, I know what's what..." his smile weakened, "Um... can I talk to you...?"
The seeker's wings twitched, "Will this involve another race?"
Smokescreen shook his helm, "Nah, I learned my lesson on that one. Can't race the fastest mech I know."
"Hm, I'm glad that stuck..."
"... Starscream, I'm being serious."
Starscream frowned lightly, glancing at the mech before turning his attention back to the mess strewn before them, "I know. I can tell. You don't have to be."
Smokescreen pulled away from the wall to block the red and white mech's view, "Starscream," his voice struggled not to shake, "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry for what I did that put you-"
The seeker almost growled, hissing, "Stop. Now. You have nothing to apologize for."
"I have everything to apologize for!" Smokescreen hissed back, "It was my fault that Megat-"
Starscream's faceplates contorted into a glare that Smokescreen had never seen before. The look silenced the mech and he stood rigid, unsure of how to act or what to say.
Starscream slowly reached out and set a servo on Smokescreen's arm as his faceplates relaxed, "Don't."
The single, whispered word was a very loud command. Don't. No more. We'll not speak of this.
Smokescreen was so wrapped up in the shock of seeing Starscream in such a state that he missed the tremble in the red and white mech's form, the grip his other servo had on the windowsill behind him, how physically upset the seeker was. This was not missed by Optimus's optics.
"Starscream," the Prime began to walk forward.
The two mechs looked to Optimus in surprise but all attentions were moved back to the wall and access port when Ratchet suddenly cheered loudly.
"Primus, we've GOT IT!"
A distinct 'click' ticked away through the hall and mechanisms tight from long having been disused suddenly tickled back into life. Gears shifted, louder noises, uncomfortably growing in strength, began to rattle the doors.
Predaking's form crouched and his wings held themselves tightly against his back, "These sounds... they are normal?"
Ratchet backed up next to the Predacon as Smokescreen moved to stand beside him, "I... am not certain. Everything appeared to look in working order, I don't know if-"
A shudder throughout the ship made everyone flinch.
Predaking's folded wings opened again to help brace himself and he growled nervously, "This does not seem norm-"
Miko screamed as the Apex Armor's peds left the floor first. Bulkhead grabbed onto her as everyone suddenly became suspended in midair and then slammed into the Ark's ceiling. Predaking reached out, grabbing every bot he could manage to snag, and encapsulated them in his wings as the ship plummeted downward.
Bulkhead dug his digits into the Predacon's armor as he, Wheeljack, Ratchet, Smokescreen and Miko screamed in unison. There was a frantic voice coming from all available COMMs, Ultra Magnus issuing a state of alert as their vessel continued to fall, but it was garbled and too panicked to pick out any specific piece of information.
Ratchet grit down on his dentals to stop another scream when a bright flash caught his attention. He dared to open his optics, terrified of what else could be happening in the moments before their deaths. Because impacting the open ocean? From this altitude? Even if the ship wasn't irreparably damaged, there was no way the careening force of their descent would be so forgiving... unless...
Ratchet's optics widened when he saw Starscream, grasped tightly by Optimus's frame, begin to spark and grow alight with feverish golden cracks and small, dancing golden flames. The seeker appeared to wince and he grit his dentals as he slammed his claws into the ceiling of the Ark, his pained whine becoming audible over the groan of the ship around them. Starscream cried out as wave after wave of his energy pulsated from his chassis and bathed the walls, the floors, the hallway, in a vibrating light.
"Hey!" Miko squealed, her eyes locking onto the situation Ratchet had been unable to verbally address, "Starscream! He's doing something- GO, STARSCREAM, GO!" she screamed.
The other mechs in Predaking's grasp turned their helms to peek through the great mech's large wings, each finding strength in their voices to yell encouragements to the lithe mech. Ratchet stayed silent as he watched with wide optics.
But the seeker was shaking too hard to hear them. It was taking everything he had to stay conscious, despite knowing that the impending crash would have little effect on his overall health. That was what was driving him now, his desperate need to share that advantage to each of the lives on the ship. If he had been capable of it before with the Prime clinging to his chassis now, then why not the ship? But he was feeling tired, drained, not quite strong enough. Perhaps he had been too overzealous in thinking he could save them all in one fell swoop...
"Starscream..."
The seeker flinched and his gaze traveled down to Optimus's hanging helm, the Prime's optics gently shuttered.
"I know you can do this. I believe this in the depths of my spark. You have accomplished so much and achieved such incredible victories... Starscream," Optimus's voice was soft, the words he chose being spoken to himself more than anything else, "I have all of my trust in you that you will save the lives aboard this ship..."
Starscream's optics stared in wide realization of what he was hearing. Faith. A gift never before given to him in any fashion. Faith that what he was capable of was grand enough to do what needed to be done to avoid the ever present danger. Faith... in him.
The seeker's intake hitched as his chassis exploded in a brilliant white light, the energy coursing from him and enveloping the ship in a shimmering glow. The Ark was no longer falling.
"F... friends," Predaking panted, looking out the hallway window as his chassis began to slowly descend from its pressed position on the ceiling and hovered in midair, "the water below..."
Outside the ship, ocean waves were easily distinguishable. The clash of mighty bellowing currents were just loud enough to hear the individual rolls and thundering churns. The Ark had stopped just mere feet from the ocean below.
Miko sighed loudly, falling completely lax in Predaking's hold, "Starscream?" she called out with a tired and shaking voice, "Starscream, you're the be-"
The energy around them dissipated and the group yelped in surprise as they tumbled back onto the floor, unceremoniously piled into a heap.
Smokescreen sat himself up first, his optics wide as he stared at nothing, "... I think I leaked a little."
"Kid," Bulkhead wheezed as he sat up beside him, "I can guarantee you're not the only one..."
Wheeljack carefully felt by his waist for his grenade to ensure it hadn't fallen loose, smirking and weakly chuckling before attempting to stand, "Eh, not so fun the second time around... Everyone alright?"
Ratchet took to rubbing his helm, wishing the spots in his vision would disappear if only to relieve him of the memory of what caused them... The mech tightened his servos into fists and directed his faceplate to look towards where Optimus and Starscream were, the medic blinking rapidly.
"Optimus? Are you alright?"
The Prime kept a fixed gaze on Starscream's form beneath him, his concerned expression muddled by the slowly growing fear in his optics as he murmured, "Starscream?"
The seeker under his chassis wasn't moving, his optics shuttered and his intakes nonexistent. Optimus didn't, couldn't, think the worst. Starscream hadn't pushed so hard that... he had...
The red and white mech suddenly gasped to life, coughing as he began cycling cooling air back into chassis. He shuddered as he weakly clenched his servos into fists, struggling to online his optics. Optimus gently thumbed Starscream's cheekplate, but the relief he should have been able to tap into was quickly replaced by surprise when the seeker lashed out, smacking his servo away and shoving the Prime off him.
Starscream scuttled back until his wings were flush against the wall behind him, his now wide optics staring at the larger mech and his lithe servos clasped around his mouth to stop any excuse from escaping too quickly. Optimus looked hurt by the action, but he didn't press to move forward. He allowed the distance.
Bulkhead sighed softly as he finally dared to chance standing, bracing himself against the Ark's window, "Well that was an unexpected roller coaster, but at least we're not sinking..."
"But Bulk," Miko squealed, "did you see that?! Starscream! How did he do that, it was so cool! He totally floated the ship! That was sick!"
Ratchet flinched and failed to hide a scowl, "That was not sick. That was-" he couldn't form words.
The medic was shaking. He couldn't find a train of thought that allowed him to handle what he had just seen, another incredible occurrence that defied all forms of logic and left him grasping at the filaments of what made up his reality. What Starscream had done... what he had been capable of... Ratchet slowly pulled himself to his peds, his already fractured thoughts on the matter beginning to crack further. That was... this was...
"Guys..." Smokescreen murmured, pointing, "the doors. They're open."