there's a million&one ways Chapter 4, a transformers fanfic

there's a million&one ways

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A/N: finally! the stupid glitch went away!!! -dances- happy fat tuesday! c:

replies:

tlcoopi7,, yeah, anna's kind've like that. xD as you'll see.

dixiegurl13,, messa sorry for making you pull out your hair. -hands wig- && thanks. ^^ well, i grew up with both, so i'm able to do both; though i think i'll go with g1 since (as you said) armada jetfire is a jerk, and well, we don't need any more jerks in this story. xD && books of pranks? you will have to share it with me. -nods-

pairings: starscreamxannabelle vs. ironhidexannabelle; what a twisted little triangle of love.

disclaimer: i do not own transformers or any of them; they are rightfully copy-writed to their respectful owners.

"this is com-link, or whatever the heck it is called these days."

breem = 8.3 minutes

groon = 1 hour

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Then three years, 5 months, 12 days, 11 hours, 56 minutes, and 41 seconds ago

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Starscream stumbled backwards. POP! POP! POP! POP! POP! POP! Sharp, jagged pain traveled up his left leg, spreading through his circuits. He could feel his leg as it became unstable like organic plasma. The Seeker reached out with his left hand, searching for something to grab onto. His hand curled around an irregular object. His red eyes glanced up, and he saw that he wasn't gripping a poll at all -- he was gripping the enemy's arm! Starscream shut his eyes and released his grip, but it was too late.

The sound of his mainframe in his left arm busting and shattering filled the air. Starscream fell to the floor whimpering. The Seeker remained motionless. He just wanted the pain to end.

Horrible, toying laughter echoed through the hall. His heavy footsteps drew nearer.

He forced his eyes open. There, just a few hundred feet away was the door. He outstretched his right arm, and dug his claws into the floor. With his right leg, he tried pushing himself, and while using his arm to pull.

Deep, almost black red eyes watched as the new Lord of the Decepticons attempted to crawl his way out of the base. He smirked. "Where's your Megatron to save your pathetic exoskeleton?" he yelled. "Where is he!?" He kicked the Seeker onto his stomach. He stood looking over Starscream. His smile grew as the Seeker continued to attempt a crawl. "Where are your brothers, Screamer?" He placed a foot on his back. "I hope they come. I want them to see how pathetic you were in your last few breems. Then, maybe if I'm merciful, I'll let one live." He leaned closer now, putting more weight on the Seeker. "Or maybe, I'll just rip their wings off -- take away their very precious gift," the Cybertronian taunted. "How would you like that Screamer?"

He couldn't stand it anymore. Starscream bucked the foot off his back. He flipped himself onto his back. The decepticon raised his working nullray towards the enemy. "Go to Hell," he muttered hatefully in a weak voice.

"Gladly," he responded.

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The now

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Starscream felt a jabbing, but numbing sensation in his chest. He opened his optics and could see this very bright light. Was it day? Was he gone? The Seeker pushed himself up, raising his right arm automatically. His optics scanned around the room, searching for the perpetrator. This wasn't the base. This - this was some place else. The room was a clean white with bare walls. His optics traveled from table to table, watching with fear at the medical instruments on them. Then to his horror, he saw his chest armor sitting on a table. The Seeker glanced down at his vulnerable self. Something else was here with him. The decepticon immediately pointed his nullray at the human. Human. Humans were from Earth. Earth! Earth is where the Allspark is - was. 'UGH!!!' he screamed silently at himself for the in-coherency of his thoughts. Why was everything so hard to remember? Wait human. Humans were slightly intelligent creatures. Starscream looked back down at the human girl? Yes girl. 'Girls, like femme bots, have curves,' he told himself.

"You have really pretty eyes," Anna said neutrally. She tried to break the tension with a harmless compliment.

'Is this human stupid?' He had a very volatile weapon pointed at her, and here she was complementing him about his eyes. Of course, it would be luck that this human wouldn't be bright. "Where - " He stopped. Starscream knew he had a scratchy voice, but he didn't remember it sounding like nails on a chalk board.

She giggled at his horrible voice. Annabelle immediately stopped when he glowered at her.

The Seeker sneered at her giggles, finding them rather painful to hear. "Where am I?" he demanded. He no longer cared how his voice sounded so long as he got what he needed. "And answer truthfully or they'll be your last words." Starscream put the nullray closer to the human.

Anna watched as he put the weapon closer to her. She gulped, hoping that by swallowing her fear would disappear. "You're in the Autobot base," she answered. "You're safe . . . for now."

"What?" he said aloud. The Seeker's eyes looked around the room fearfully. This was not good. No, this was the worst situation he could be in. Hell, he'd rather be receiving a punishment from Megatron then be here. 'Get out of here, Screamer,' he told himself. Starscream shifted his weight over, and attempted to get off the table.

She stood up, and ducked underneath his moving leg. The girl straightened herself up and watched as the Seeker sat on the edge of the table. "Where the hell are you going?" Annabelle asked loudly.

Starscream ignored the human. He placed both of his hands the edge of the table to support his weight. Instantly sharp, prickling pain surged from his left arm and into his chest. He winced at the pain, but kept himself from groaning. The Seeker slowly lowered his right leg down. Then, he carefully placed his limp leg down on the floor. This time he whimpered at the pain.

Annabelle stayed back, unsure of how he would react to the pain he was feeling. Pain made people, or in this case robots, highly unstable. "You shouldn't do that," she said wearily. "You'll injure yourself more."

"There's a lot of things I shouldn't do, but I do them any way," Starscream sneered.

She crossed her arms at his witty comeback. "Dick head," she muttered.

He once again ignore Anna. Starscream looked down at his busted leg. Shame and failure boiled in his spark. He had handled pain before on a daily basis, so he didn't understand why it was affecting him so much now. 'Don't be a weakling,' he told himself. 'You're the new Leader after all, and leaders have to be strong.' The Seeker placed the rest of his weight on his two legs. For a moment he stood balanced, but then an erie creaking noise crackled through the air. His fingers tightened and arms became stiff as he legs buckled beneath the weight. Starscream groaned loudly as pain filled his body. Every part of him felt as if a sword was being pushed into his exoskeleton; especially his wings -- they felt as if they were burning from the inside out.

"Maybe you should sit back on the table," Anna suggested.

Starscream glowered towards Anna. "Don't tell me what to do, fleshling," he snapped.

"Fine," she said slyly. "Go ahead and fall. See if I care when your fall wakes up the entire base, and brings all of the trigger happy Autobots to this room." Annabelle smirked as she talked. "I'm sure the twins would just love to practice their jet judo."

He grounded his teeth together. Even the Seeker knew that he wouldn't be able to take on so many autobots by himself. He let out a deep breath as he prepared to lift his right leg back onto the table. Starscream raised himself, and swung his good leg back onto the table. He then used his right hand to drag his injured leg back onto the table. Starscream rolled his head back as the pain came again in another wave.

"You're pretty beaten up, huh?" she said, just trying to make small talk.

The Seeker turned his head towards the human. "What's it to you?" he retorted.

"Nothing if you keep up that attitude, slag," Anna said coldly.

"Please, spare me your pity, squishy," Starscream replied demeaningly.

She stared him with a threatening look about her. "My name is not fleshy, squishy, meat bag, or whatever decepticons call humans," she explained sternly. "My name is Anna, and you will address me as Anna. Anything else, and I'll torch your vocal processors."

Starscream mockingly laughed at her. The Seeker casted a glance towards her. He analyzed how she stood tall and upright like a dominate figure. "You don't scare me," he stated bluntly. "You're just a human." The Seeker became unnerved as the human named Anna met his gaze and glowered at him like he was an idiot -- it was exactly how Megatron would glare at him.

"Don't make me have to teach you the same lesson I taught the twins when they arrived," she replied venomously.

"How dare you," he said disgustingly. "Talk to me like that."

"How dare you challenge my authority," Anna snapped.

He turned his head towards her at her last remark. She was spitfire all right, and had a witty attitude to back it up. "Think your pretty smart, don't you?" Starscream answered sarcastically.

"I must be if that it's your comeback," the girl explained.

He kept his mouth closed, trying to think of a comeback that would leave her speechless, but with his mind still clouded, thoughts were hard to process. The Seeker sighed at his predicament. It felt like the universe was beginning to conspire against him. 'Where is Thundercracker and Skywarp when I need them?' he asked silently. 'And where is that fraggin' Barricade anyway? He should have received my message.'

She sat down on the table, watching him as he went into deep thought. It had never ceased to amaze Annabelle how complex the actual Transformer body composition was. With the Seekers chest armor off, she watched as some of the wires twitched with impulses. She looked towards his face; though their faces were harder to read, Anna could see a tired look on his face. "You can recharge," she said. "You're safe here."

"Safe?" he asked sarcastically. "Safe inside the enemy's base?" He laughed at her naiveness. "Being in here is the least safest place in the universe for me." The Seeker turned his head and looked at her as if she were a child. A thought occurred to him. "I'm surprised those slags would let one of their precious humans come near a decepticon. Their so attached to their humans after all," he explained.

"Well at the moment, they don't exactly see you as a threat," Anna informed him.

A fury began to build inside him at the human's words. "Not a threat!" he exclaimed in a shrill voice. Starscream's right hand clasped into a fist. 'Those slags have forgotten why they should respect me,' he thought angrily. He didn't understand why the Autobots would think so little of him. He, Starscream, had single handily taken out Ironhide and Ratchet at the same time. "How could they forget me so easily?" he asked. The Seeker wanted answers, and he wanted them now!

She broke away from his gaze, and looked down at the floor. "They don't exactly think you're alive," Anna spoke. The girl bit on her lip, trying to think of the best way to explain this. "You're suppose to be dead."

'Dead?! DEAD?!' he repeated. He felt a wave of panic overcome his emotions. 'Get a grip on yourself,' he shouted to himself. 'It's not like your actually dead.' His red optics widened with curiosity. "What did you mean by 'suppose'?"

Anna kept looking away from him. She hated being the one being questioned, or hated being in the spotlight for that matter. "It's kind've a funny story," she told him. "A really funny story with a probably not-so funny ending."

"You didn't answer my question," he informed bitterly.

"You might not want to hear the answer," Anna replied. She glanced towards him. His face was much less scary now, more relaxed and calm. 'Very Jetfire like,' she thought.

Starscream's anger began to rise again with his frustration. "Well, are you going to tell me or not?" he asked bluntly. "I don't like to play mind games."

'And very unlike Jetfire at the same time,' Anna told herself. "Let me ask you this: did you ever know someone by the name of Skyfire?"

Starscream didn't know where she was going with this, but decided playing along with her game might be the only way to get some valuable information out of her. "Yes," he answered. "He used to be my best-friend long ago before the war."

"You're Jetfire's friend?!" she exclaimed. "The one who traveled with him to explore worlds?"

The Seeker nodded. "That very one."

Anna shook her head as she tried to make sense of what she just heard. "That can't be," she replied. "Jetfire told me his best-friend was dead -- that he died in the war long, long ago."

He looked at the human with a surprised expression. "I don't know why Skyfire would tell you such lies," he stated, sounding confused. Starscream had never remembered Skyfire as one to tell lies. "He's known that I've been alive and well for the most part. Most autobots should be able to tell you that."

She looked down at the ground. "I can't believe he would do that," Anna whispered mainly to herself. She felt a sick pain in her stomach. It felt as if someone had stabbed her.

"He would do what?" asked Starscream impatiently.

The girl looked up at Starscream with a disturbed expression. She didn't want to believe it -- she couldn't believe it. Anna had known Jetfire since she was little, and never in those eleven years had she never thought that he could have a malicious intent inside of him. "Jetfire was the one who decided that you should die."

He didn't remember dying. Truth be told, he really didn't remember much except that one moment he was floating in space, and the next he was landing on Earth, almost out of energon. His head leaned forward, and stared at the table. Starscream took his right hand and touched his cockpit; where, buried somewhere underneath, was his spark. He closed his optics, trying to scrap together any memories of dying, but he found none. "Are sure they killed me?" the Seeker asked.

Anna nodded slowly. "I overheard Optimus and Jazz discussing with Simmons where they should move the body," she said neutrally. Her solemn eyes looked at his face. "But that doesn't matter since you're alive now."

"Ah, thank you," Starscream said sarcastically. "At least this time I'll be able to remember my death." He looked over at Anna with a displeased face. "Do you really think me being alive now will stop them from killing me again?"

"If they do, then I guess the Autobots have forgotten what they once stood for," she said solemnly.

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Jazz sat in the chair next to Optimus in the command room. His fingers raced across the digital keyboard at fast and steady pace. They had spent the past seven hours searching through file after file, checking every lead they could find on Starscream. So far the search had amounted to roughly nothing. Sure there was the basic files about Starscream from before the war and old reports that he and Jetfire had published about their scientific findings, but it did not aid them. The lieutenant sighed at the lack of progress. He placed his head on his right hand, and used his left hand to scroll down the page. Something caught his eye. "Yo Optimus, check dis out, big dawg," he said.

Optimus spun around in his chair. "What is it, Jazz?" he asked.

"It's Starscream," he explained. "He was spotted by our two dawgs, Mirage and Hound, fleeing from K5-62 five years ago."

"What would he be doing in an autobot base?" he asked mainly to himself.

"Dunno dawg," he replied. "But some serious shit went on there cause three groons later it blew sky high. And get dis, after it blew up, a half autobot, half decepticon symbol was found carved into the ground." From behind his optic visor, his optics scanned the rest of the page. "Wheeljack and Perceptor's bodies were never found."

Optimus was disturbed by what he heard. "Prowl never reported it to me," he stated.

"He didn't?" asked Jazz, stunned that his bondmate would keep something like this from their leader. It wasn't in Prowl's disposition to be deceptive like this. "Maybe it just slipped his mind. You know how the guy gets busy."

"Possibly," Optimus said, mauling over the idea. His blue optics looked at the screen. "What else does it say? Who filed the report?"

Jazz turned back to the screen, and read on. "It don't say which dawg filed da report," he stated. "And it don't say no more." He turned back to Optimus. "Maybe it was some rogue bots opposing da war? That would account for da weird symbol."

Optimus nodded. "That's very plausible. And if it was a rogue bombing, then Prowl may have dismissed it as nothing," he replied. "But it still doesn't account for not telling me why two of our brightest minds were not found."

The Lieutenant shrugged. "I dunno, dawg," Jazz said. "When do you talk to him next?"

"He's scheduled to talk to me in three days," their leader answered. "I'll bring it up then. In the mean time, see what else you can find."

"Yes, sir," the small autobot said, trying to be cheerful. Deep down in his spark, he felt something was wrong, very wrong.

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The human had gone quiet for quite some time. She had sat in an indian style with her back slightly hunched as she leaned forward. Starscream didn't complain since he enjoyed silence. He had kept his optics closed because he found the light in this room to bright for comfort. He let out a deep breath. Fatigue and tiredness were tempting him to go recharge, but he couldn't recharge -- not here in the enemy's base.

"You know, Jetfire always spoke of you," Anna said quietly. She looked towards the decepticon. "He'd at least mention you once a day when he used to help me with my school work." She turned her head towards the door. "He never once said anything bad about you; other than you would bite of more than you could chew."

The Seeker groaned as she began to talk again. His red eyes flashed tiredly towards her. "What's your point?" he asked bitterly.

Anna looked towards him, ignoring the bitterness of his stare. "It just surprises me that Jetfire's best-friend would be a decepticon," she replied. "I always thought his best-friend would be an autobot."

Starscream laughed lightly at her. "Me? An autobot?" he repeated mockingly. "I would rather be dead than be one of those slags."

"You're just saying that because you're pissed that your their captive," Annabelle stated plainly.

"No, I'm pissed off because there is a brat who won't shut up," Starscream corrected.

"You aren't anything like Jetfire said," she commented.

"I'm glad that I'm not," he retorted. "Knowing him, as I do, he probably portrayed me as some tree-hugging scientist."

"You're wrong," she sneered. "He portrayed you as an intellectual scientist whom could have been one of the greatest to live." Annabelle's blue eyes narrowed down on Starscream. "I think he should have mentioned how much of an egotistical jerk you are. Primus! I would've let you stay dead then!"

"What did you think you were gonna get out of me by bringing me back to life?" he asked coldly.

She looked away. Anna didn't know how to answer the question.

"Well?" he demanded.

The girl pulled her legs close to her chest. "I do have a reason for doing this," she said quietly. "I just don't know if it's the right reason."

Starscream looked at her curiously. "If you have a good reason, then your actions are justified," he stated.

"You must rehearse that line a lot to yourself," Anna commented.

"What are you a shrink?" the Seeker asked bluntly.

"No, " she said. "I'm the kid who decided reviving an alien might be fun to try."

The Seeker stifled a laugh. "You got a weird sense of humor."

"That's what my dad says," Anna replied. She smiled softly towards him. "Hold tight for a sec, kay?"

"Alright," Starscream responded weakly. He watched as the human got up and walked over the side of the table. Then all at once, she disappeared. The Seeker stood up straighter. He could barely make see her shadow. He could hear the sound of metal being pushed around. "What are our you doing?" he demanded.

"You'll see!" Anna called back.

The Seeker grumbled in frustration. He hated not knowing what was going on. He hated not being able to fold his arms; it felt so unnatural to not show his frustration. The Seeker slouched, as he thought what the human could be doing. 'She's probably summoning her slags,' he told himself. 'Or getting a gun of some sorts.'

"God dammit," she muttered loudly. "Where the hell did you put it Rat?"

"What are you looking for?" the Seeker asked.

"You'll see!" she answered. "Ah, there you are."

The Seeker anxiously watched for her to return to the table. A sense of relief washed over him, soon followed by shame as he saw the human lift herself off the table. 'How sad, Screamer. You're scared of a human now,' he criticized. His eyes looked suspiciously at a bag she held in her hand. "What's in your compartment?" he asked.

"You're really demanding," Anna said bluntly. "And you'll see." She cautiously walked towards him, still unsure about being this close to a decepticon. She moved towards his left leg, and took out one of the lumps from her plastic Walmart bag. It was a tiny black, circular object with a flat bottom. On the bottom was a cluster of sharp needles.

He eyed it cautiously, not sure of what it was. "What is that?" the Seeker asked.

"Why? Are you scared?" Anna mocked.

"No," He lied bluntly.

"Good," she replied. Anna was now near the inner part of his left thigh.

Starscream growled as the girl touched up his bad leg. He shot her a painful glare. "What are you doing?" he demanded through gritted teeth.

Anna looked back at him. "I'm not gonna hurt you," she explained. "That would defeat the purpose of being you back to life." She held up the black object. "Ratchet invented these little things just for Ironhide. They help block out the pain by stopping electrical charges and impulses. It'll disable you from using your leg, but -" She glanced down at his leg. "It's already useless, so this thing won't hinder you."

"You swear that's what it does?" Starscream asked.

"I swear to Primus that is what it does," Anna reassured. "I swear on my honorary spark bestowed on me by Rat." She looked down at his leg, searching for the main circuit. The human tried to gently move move past the wires in front of the circuit. "This is gonna sting," she warned. Anna lifted one of the wires before jamming the energy breaker into the main circuit. She quickly took out the other energy breaker, and jammed it into the circuit as well.

The Seeker winced as she touched his wires. He growled at the sharp pain. His read eyes narrowed down at the girl. He started to raise his right arm, and Anna began to back away at the same time. Starscream had his nullray at a fearful Anna. "You lied," he snarled.

Anna backed away slowly, preparing herself to run when needed. "I did not!" she protested. "Just give it a minute!" A strange humming sound filled the air. Her blue eyes became large as she realized the sound came from his nullray. She felt a scream begin to build in her throat.

Starscream lowered his nullray. "Fine," he said. "I'll give you the benefit of the doubt only because you revived me." His red eyes looked down at his leg. "Why does Ironhide need these in the first place?"

"Because he's the biggest pain in the ass to treat," Anna said wearily. "Plus he's older, so he's got some old scars that still bother him. But mainly Ratchet made them to disable Ironhide's injured limb or limbs since he's got a bad habit of ignoring Ratchet's directions."

"Sounds like him," he said unenthusiastically.

Her eyes lit up at his words. "You knew 'Hide?" Anna asked eagerly.

The Seeker nodded. "Met in the Crystal City Medical Bay after a failed mission."

"That must've been before the war then," she said.

"It was," Starscream replied in a monotone.

"What was he like?" she asked.

"The same," he replied. "Only now he has an excuse to kick my ass."

She laughed lightly. "I didn't know you had a sense of humor."

"There are a lot of things you don't know about me," he stated.

"Like what?"

"Like things you don't need to know," he snapped.

She opened her mouth to talk, but the sound of the door opening stopped her. Anna spun around to see Ratchet standing in the door way with a shocked expression. "Annabelle!" he yelled. "Ironhide! Optimus! Jazz! Someone!" The medic reached for his saw.

Starscream raised his nullray, and aimed it at the medic.

She looked over at Starscream, then back at the autobot. "Ratchet! Stop!" shouted Annabelle.

The sound of hurried footsteps echoed down the halls. Ironhide and Jazz appeared instantly behind, followed by Optimus and the twins.

"Get your grabby li'l claws off of her, deceptipunk!" shouted Jazz.

Ironhide aimed both of his canons at Starscream. "You bastards just don't die," he growled.

Optimus aimed his own gun at the decepticon. "Put it down Starscream," he said sternly. "You're out numbered."

The twins raised both their guns towards Starscream. "Bring it on, sky bitch," they shouted together.

Starscream glare at them, but refused to surrender.

"Just put it down Starscream," said a familiar voice.

The decepticon's optics flashed disgustingly and hatefully towards the largest among the autobots. "Skyfire," he sneered. "What a pleasure to see my old friend."

The black autobot moved past the small crowd of 'bots, and into the room. He raised his own gun towards Starscream's cockpit. "I'm not your friend," the autobot retorted. Jetfire extended his free hands towards Annabelle. His hand curled around her protectively as she stepped onto him. Not once did the deep, murky blue eyes leave Starscream. Jetfire backed away slowly until he was safely behind Ratchet.

"You two watch him," ordered Ironhide. "And if he tries any funny business, shoot his ass till he looks like hamburger meat."

The twins nodded with wide and devilish grins. They walked inside the room, each one taking a spot on the other side of the door frame. The door closed behind them. Both of them gripped their weapons tightly as they eagerly waited for an opportunity to shoot him.

Starscream regretfully lowered his nullray, and stared at them with a smirk on his face. Even in his battered condition, he wouldn't let them have the satisfaction of knowing how much his body hurt.

On the other side of the door, Ironhide and the rest of the autobots looked disappointingly at Annabelle. She turned her head away from them, and looked down at the ground. Staring at their shadows was so much easier than looking them in the face. Her eyes closed as she heard Optimus speak.

"Annabelle Leann Lennox," Optimus Prime lectured in an forbiddingly calm voice. "What have you done?"