"OPTIMUS!"
One day Perceptor had gotten into a conversation with Chip about names - their meanings, cultural roots, nicknames that came out of it, how names should suit the named, how some changed meaning over time and culture (Chip's Japanese exchange student roommate Yu had a tough time in the beginning, until he went by his new nickname "McFly"), how a name DEFINED WHO YOU WERE. For some reason, Optimus had been a silly name in Perceptor's corner of Cybertron. He'd learned to overlook it, but hearing Spike scream it liked that seemed to highlight the ridicule-
"PRIME!"
"I'm right here, Bumblebee, Spike," Optimus replied, standing up from the smoke and sand eddies that were quickly clearing away. There were patches of glass everywhere from the heat and fire and energon. Spike slipped a little on one as he hurried to check on Prime. "This is a dangerous zone, one that we must retreat from immediately." To punctuate that point, Megatron had opened fire on the sitting ducks that they were. Prowl made a move to grab Dr. Arkeville and failed when Starscream sat up and blocked the way. Prowl would have tackled him, but Skywarp got a good one in on him, immobilizing his arm. How were they going to roll out in this condition?
"Prime, use your trailer!" Spike called. Optimus paused for a moment.
"The...explosion must have hit me harder than I thought," he apologized, transforming. His trailer emerged from subspace and Ratchet shooed as many of them in as he could. Soundwave sent Rumble and Frenzy to chase them all the way back to the Ark, and Skywarp followed along. Megatron had other issues.
The human was awake. "WHAT HAPPENED!" he screamed, terrified. He couldn't stop scratching the parts of him that had skin.
Starscream grabbed him by the shirt, hoisted him up to optic level, and stared. "Which one are you?" he asked. Wings felt foreign to him, like a slight weight in a new place that wasn't uncomfortable, but strange nonetheless.
"What do you mean, which one! There is only one! Release me at once and GIVE ME MY BODY BACK!"
He was going to expose all of them, and then Megatron would get two enemies killed at the same time. That would be perfect, his birthday was coming up-
"HELP ME!"
Sigh. "Dr. Arkeville, I need to figure this out. To do that, I need Starscream's lab. How do you think we're going to get there if we're taken out of commission when Megatron realizes what you're saying?"
"Starscream, report!" He was still in the air, assessing the damage below him but too lazy to take a closer look or help out. Megatron delegated.
The note of panic dried up like a mud puddle in July as Dr. Arkeville's eyes widened in realization. He glanced around and took a quick inventory. "It would appear that the human appropriated parts of the space bridge to build this...carbuncle."
Starscream glanced at his hated enemy. ""It would appear that the human appropriated parts of the space bridge to build this...carbuncle."
Dr. Arkeville chuckled. "Not bad. The extra note of contempt was a nice touch."
Megatron was unimpressed. "Estimated time of repair?"
"What, did you order something from ebay?"
Starscream suppressed the urge to shake the human nesting in his fist. "I will get the information out of this human to accelerate my anticipated recovery time to-" Dr, Arckeville muttered something. "-One hundred astro-minutes."
"That is not acceptable!"
Maybe he HAD ordered something from ebay. Collectible My Little Ponies, if Sideswipe were right. There had been rumors...
"The human has been stubborn in the past, mighty one!"
Megatron grunted to Soundwave to "read his mind and get this over with!"
Oh, slag.
"Previous attempts: failed. Brains can be read when smashed against a rock." Soundwave would do it, too. His wrath over what had happened to Ravage would jeopardize more than one individual, if Starscream allowed it. Dr. Arkeville started howling.
Well, he was Starscream now, he might as well act like it. "GET HIM AWAY FROM MY PROJECT! I WILL REPAIR THE SPACEBRIDGE, I BUILT IT! THE HUMAN WILL BE NO USE TO US IF SOUNDWAVE IS ALLOWED TO COMPRESS HIM INTO COMPOST!" For extra dramatic effort he stood up and brandished his weapons, flinging Dr. Arkeville around in his hand as Starscream became more demonstrative. Dr. Arkeville vomited.
Megatron signaled Soundwave to return. "You have FIFTY astro-minutes. Do not disappoint me." They flew off and left a Seeker and a human to sort out the damage.
Starscream put him down gently and found a place to wipe off the stomach contents that were more than likely going to seep into the cracks and corners of his joints. Ugh, humans smelled terrible. He'd never noticed that before.
Dr. Arkeville looked over what used to be the machine that had done this, but was now respectfully classified as a 'melted heap of nothing' "What kind of mechanical training do you have?" he demanded.
Starscream pondered the best way to reveal his level of knowledge to one who shouldn't know. "I have had an adequate amount of training."
"I'll be the judge of that," Dr. Arkeville retorted. "In the meantime, Optimus, go get me what used to be the atom stabilizer while I see what is salvageable from this melted heap of nothing."
Starscream complied, heaving a large box over his shoulders before realizing that this did not work with wings, and coming up with a better way to carry it. "I think, for our safety, that we should address each other as the forms we currently inhabit."
"I agree," Dr. Arkeville replied, allowing his mechanical hand to change into a screwdriver. "Forgive me if I fall out of habit of calling you such."
The former Starscream asking for forgiveness? Odd. This would take some getting used to. So would this body. And how would the new Starscream be covert enough not to rouse suspicion, while trying to find a way to reverse this? He'd have to act like one of his most despised enemies. He'd have to pretend to work to exterminate the very beings he loved the most. He'd have to pretend to try to kill Megatron. He'd have to be loud, obnoxious, have a superiority complex, be a smart-alec know-it-all, not know when to shut up-
"Retreive the projection initiator laser and adjust it 32 degrees acute," Dr. Arkeville ordered. Starscream moved to comply, although the realization of the potential he now had in this new position had struck him immobile the moment the impulse hit him.
He was now in the perfect position to kill Megatron.