My Madness, My Saving Sanity

Chapter Eight: Collaboration… or Co-operation?

By: Nightelfcrawler

Author's note: While this is G1 based, I've made Starscream a blend of his G1 and Armada personalities just because I find the dichotomy of it fascinating. It takes place in no particular timeline, following no particular events. Also, please review politely. If you haven't something nice to say, keep it to yourself please.

I was awakened abruptly by a sharp tap on my shoulder. Startled, I on-lined an optic to see Prowl's somber face staring down at me. "What?" I croaked in my gravely rough voice, wincing at the pressure on the vocalizer. It was going to take some time to get used to the sound of my new voice.

"Up." Prowl said in a commanding voice, though instantly I detected a hint of strain in the normally cool façade of the tactician. "There's a situation. You're needed in the control room."

"Me?" I rasped, optic ridges lifting. What could possibly be requiring MY attention? However, despite my intention to thwart anything Prowl had to offer me, my curiosity got the better of me and I bit off my sarcastic reply rising to follow him out of the cell.

Wazzat? What're they goin' on about?

Go back to sleep 'Warp. Thundercracker sent idly watching the two of us as we headed towards the door. I heard alarms go off…keep us informed?

Of course. I sent wryly. As if I would not inform my wing mates of anything going on at the base. No matter what the Autobots offered us, my first priority was my compatriots. However, as I entered the control room and kept my internal com open for them to listen in on whatever was said, a chill went through my spark.

Megatron.

He did NOT look happy… and neither did the rest of the Decepticons who apparently were just outside the base, guns loaded and locked right on the poor hapless sentry that happened to have been caught outside. Bluestreak looked positively terrified, but then who wouldn't when faced with Megatron's cannon rammed up against his chassis. I'd been there plenty of times, I knew what it was like first hand, and just watching someone else at the receiving end sent chills of ill memories down my spine. "I will not repeat my request, Optimus." Megatron said smoothly, his face as placid and calm as ever, though his optics blazed bright and angry. "Turn over the prisoners you are holding and I will release your officer unharmed. If you fail to comply, his head will don my wall as a decoration."

"He must really want them back." Muttered Red Alert, staring at the display with unblinking optics. "I say we give them to him."

"Three for one? Not a fair deal." Ironhide growled crossly.

"Ironhide! That's BLUE they've captured!"

"I know. He's a soldier. This is a prisoner of war exchange only."

Optimus frowned watching the screen thoughtfully, not having noticed Prowl arrive with me. "Megatron, under good faith we cannot negotiate the release of more than one of our prisoners for the life of one of our soldiers."

Megatron just grinned darkly. "Oh you will Prime… or my forces will blast you out of that hole you're hiding in."

"What's so important that you would risk an all-out assault?"

"That is none of your concern. You have one breem to send them out before I execute your man."

That got everyone reacting. "Close the com." Optimus demanded quietly. Red Alert put the display on hold. Optimus then turned around to face me, a thoughtful expression on his face. "Is it entirely possible he is not aware you are alive?"

"Possibly." I rasped softly, everyone's optics turning to stare at me with hostile intentions once more. They probably just wanted to hand me over to him and get me out of their hands, but their code and my usefulness discarded that option. "Though my wing mates think he suspects something. It was the reason they were driven out. I would not put it past him to think I am alive still." I broke off, wincing uncomfortably as I rubbed my throat trying to dull the aching burn of the calibrating vocalizer.

Aware of my vocal limitations, Optimus directed his questions to a simple yes or no format. "He is the one who attempted to offline you permanently? And as a result your wing mates fell ill in his favor to help you?" I nodded, crossing my arms in defiance as if daring him to challenge their decision. He was stating this for the benefit of the others, as we had already discussed it at length. "They returned to his forces, from what I can gather, and fell ill of his favor again, forcing them to seek refuge here?" I paused, waiting for an internal confirmation from Thundercracker before nodding. "Then at the moment Megatron isn't certain you are here with us at all. He knows that your wing mates are, however." He looked thoughtful. "Do you know what his intentions for them are?"

Probably to frag us up. Came the wry response in my head from Thundercracker, who apparently was amused as the two of them listened in to the conversation. The irony… imaging being safer with our enemy than with our own team.

I smirked. There was no way to explain the situation without a long winded approach that would strain my vocalizer, so I decided to simply pass on TC's statement to the Autobot commander. Optimus blinked at the message but then nodded. "So I am to believe that if we release the two of your wing mates to his custody their lives will be in danger?"

I nodded with a wry smirk. "Ironic…" I rasped out.

Awww the widdle Awdobots are pwotecting ussss.

Careful 'Warp… he might broadcast that to the others.

You wouldn't!

Try me…

"Therefore we must consider other options." Optimus said slowly. "Starscream, is there anything you can tell us that might help in this situation?"

"Sir, you can't honestly be able to TRUST him to help us?!

"Enough, Sunstreaker."

I considered the situation, staring up at the screen where Bluestreak unfortunately looked about as terrified as his programming would allow before shut-down. There was a back door to the base I knew, but it would probably be hard for any significant forces to sneak out in order to mount an attack. On the other hand…

Warp, you feeling up to doing a quick teleport or two?

Huh? You're joking right? They'll never let us out.

If it means saving their officer, they might.

Uh… I'm guessing you've got some half-baked plan you think will work?

Yes, or no?

Yes then… but only one, I don't have much energy for more… and I'm not sure I can stay airborne long on my wings, they're still fragged up.

That's fine, Thundercracker will help you.

I will?

Yes.

Ok then… I hope you know what you're doing, Screamer.

I smirked and turned my attention back to Prime who was still waiting for my response. "Mirage?" I rasped quietly.

"He is here." Optimus said frowning as he glanced over at the mech in question.

While I didn't recognize some on sight, Mirage being one as we rarely saw him in battle, I did know the abilities of each and every one of the Autobots. We made a point of studying enemy details, as I'm sure did they for the Decepticons. I glanced over to the mech who stared back at me with an indifferent look. I sent a query to him through data burst, he accepted the transmission after a wary pause and looked over the data I sent. After a moment he nodded slowly. "Sir… I believe this plan Starscream suggest just might work long enough as a distraction." He glanced at me as I smirked and folded my arms confidently over my chassis. "However it involves freeing our other two 'guests'."

"Absolutely not!" Prowl growled in protest, the same time Ratchet cried out the same words for a different reason.

"No! Skywarp is not fit for battle of any kind in his condition, it could kill him making any attempt to use his ability!"

"Starscream informs me he feels confidant he can make one attempt." Mirage said slowly. "He would not be directly involved in the fighting, only responsible for getting the three of us out there."

"Three of you?" Optimus frowned in disapproval.

"Thundercracker, Skywarp and myself." Mirage supplied. "The idea is to secretly get us onto the other side of the ridge, my power will mask them detecting us. It also involves a little… ah… creativity with paint on Thundercracker's behalf."

WHAT?!

I involuntarily cringed, drawing everyone's attention as my hand went automatically to my head at the bellow within. Pipe down!

"Since Megatron believes Starscream to be dead or severely disabled… he should be puzzled long enough to allow a team to attack the Decepticons from the main entrance. But I must point out this could still go very wrong… Megatron could not be fooled."

"He will be." I croaked confidently. Everyone turned to stare at me. "I'm the only one he fears." I smirked. While 'fear' might not be the best way to describe how threatened he felt my constant attempts to wrest control, he WOULD be concerned, especially if I appeared whole and undamaged. The only catch was Thundercracker sounded nothing like me. Tell me you still have some recordings saved of some of my mission briefings?

Uh yeah I think I have enough to piece together some phrases… but it might not sound naturally spoken and I won't be able to reply to any questions…plus I'm not that good at mimicking how you talk back to him.

I glanced at Ratchet, quickly asking him if he could assist in altering Thundercracker's vocal processors. "I can't do anything in this short of notice. It would take too long, time we don't have."

I sighed in frustration. We'll just have to make do and hope you're far enough away he won't notice.

"Better get some paint boys…" Sideswipe smirked slightly. "Seems we've got a ghost to create."

Thundercracker was NOT happy in the least bit, and did not attempt to hide his displeasure as several Autobots on all side began splashing white paint all over his blue body. "I hate you." He growled directly at me, as I stood watching the procedure. I had to make sure they got the details right, if it was to look convincing. "You'd BETTER have some blue paint ready when I come back."

"I dunno… you're beginning to look the part, TC." Skywarp snickered from the side, watched over by two Autobot guards, though he was obviously under no hurry to escape as he watched his wing mate turn into their wing leader. "Too bad you don't have his annoying screechy voice down pat."

"Hey!" I growled. "I AM still here."

"Huh? Who said that?"

My hand twitched, tempted to hurl something at him out of spite. Fortunate for him, nothing was in reach.

"You do realize that Megatron's not stupid, right?" Thundercracker eyed me bitterly as someone started carefully detailing the red and blue on still drying white paint. "He gets one good look and is going to see the sloppy job you morons are doing… and he KNOWS my vents look different from yours." He pointed out with a significant glance to his shoulders. "They curve, yours are more blocky."

"He'll be far enough away and too creped out to give a slag." Skywarp offered helpfully. "Just laugh like you have a glitch in your throat."

I grit my teeth and shot a murderous glare at him. Oh my patience was wearing so thin right now. And he knew it.

"One more problem, I don't have your weapons." Thundercracker pointed out, frowning as he glanced at his own cannons. They were shorter and differently designed, and no matter how you looked at them there was no way that they would be mistaken for my infamous Null Rays. I had specially designed those myself, and though I was an expert in their design, Megatron had seen them work enough times that he too would know. Unfortunately for us all, they had been completely destroyed long before I had taken residency up with your friendly neighborhood do-gooders. I would have to build new ones from scratch if I wanted them again.

"Hopefully you won't be close enough for him to spot that either. All we need is a moment's distraction for this to work." Mirage was saying as he backed up from their paint job. "I'd say from a distance it will fool them."

Thundercracker grunted as he glanced down at himself, turning his arms over with a disgusted look on his face. Though the paint lines were a bit jagged on his wings, the rest was decently done for a five minute's slap job. He looked eerily like myself, enough that I gave a small shudder. "This had better come off later." He muttered sourly.

"No time to think about it, we need to go. Our times' up." Mirage said quickly glancing to Skywarp who was finishing downing a fresh cube of energon to boost his energy. "Ready?"

"Ugh… I'm going to have to vent fumes after chugging that…"

"Not around ME you don't." Thundercracker growled.

Skywarp smirked and stood flexing his wings. "Well lets' give it a try then." The three of them scrambled up the back entrance to the outside in preparation to execute their plan while the rest of us hurried back to the control room.

Megatron was just about ready to blow a fuse. "Your time is up Prime." The cannon's mouth was glowing the roiling purple energy that foretold it's expulsion to doom quickly. "Will I get my men back or not?"

"Megatron…" Optimus never so much as glanced at us as we entered, though his hand twitched a bit indicating he knew we were there. "I cannot in good faith release both prisoners to you. I will however consider a fair one on one exchange."

"No deal." Megatron growled darkly, pushing the cannon closer with a feral grin. "I care nothing for your soldier, Prime. It matters naught if he lives or dies and I storm your fortress later."

I ignored their drabble and let Optimus organize his little rescue operation on his own. Instead, my optics focused on a point over his right shoulder where I saw a small distortion of air, the only indication of anyone's presence, something everyone would have missed unless you knew where to look and what to look for. They were in place. Good then. My optics slid to the other panel where a squadron of fighters were positioned by the door waiting to storm out at the signal. It was time.

Right on cue, I heard my old voice ring out challengingly across the com, causing all the Decepticons to whirl about in complete confusion. "MEGATRON! DON'T TURN YOUR BACK ON ME!"

I smirked. Nice choice on Thundercracker's part. I noticed several Autobots watching me and I smirked wider. "What?" I rasped innocently. They turned back to the screens to stare at the scene unfolding. True to his part, Thundercracker had appeared out of literally nothingness, Mirage and Skywarp hidden behind him as he stood tall on the cliff, a marvelous impersonation of me from a distance. Even his head was lifted cockily in the right way. I made a mental note to myself to try not to remember how ridiculous of a performance I thought he was giving… was I really that outlandish?

"Starscream!?" Megatron sputtered, the expression on his face priceless. "How in Unicron's name…!?" He snarled darkly. "I thought I left you to rust at some backwards planet!"

Thundercracker pulled up an appropriate reply, given the situation. "You'll never stop me!"

"God you're way too over-dramatic, you do realize that." Ratchet muttered at my elbow. I snorted in response.

"We'll see about that. Get your aft down here and help us out and I may forget your little treacherous endeavor."

I frowned. Treacherous endeavor? What was he going on about? I hadn't tried to overthrow him lately… in fact, that brought about the point as to why he'd tried to do away with me in the first place. Those files… it had something to do with those files I'd found.

Fortunately my thoughts were distracted long enough to watch the Autobots start their assault. In a flurry of weapons fire they burst out of the doorway and stormed the unaware Decepticons, giving Thundercracker the cue to split with Mirage and Skywarp. It was splendid chaos as weapons fire splattered everywhere, Megatron was distracted enough for Bluestreak to slip away, and the operation went on without a hitch.

Almost.

"Sir…! Where did Starscream go?"

Megatron frowned, staring at the place where Thundercracker had been standing, seeing nothing there, as Mirage and Skywarp had made their retreat with Thundercracker. "Peculiar." He growled, clearly irritated that he'd lost his quarry. "Almost as if it were a ghost… or was it…?"

I should have realized what would happen next, should have been prepared for it. I knew them so well, that I was a fool for not realizing what Megatron would do next. Frankly it spoke to how comfortable and soft I'd grown over the few weeks spent surrounded by fragging Autobots. But sadly I'd forgotten a few very important protocols.

I'd not disabled my Decepticon com frequencies, and they were only meters away.

The high-decibel sound slammed into my head with the force of a hammer on glass. Everything within my processor erupted in splitting agony, and I was completely unaware of anything around me as the ground slammed into my knees, my hands tightly grasping at my head as a bloodcurdling scream ripped from my vocalizer, no doubt causing aggravated damage to the calibrating receptors. There was movement, sound, voices around me in a flurry of noise, but that was drowned out by the intense shrill penetrating sound that drilled through my head at a destructive rate. I knew an attack when I felt it, but this kind of attack I could do nothing against. Oddly enough, I could hear echoing screams from somewhere else, and a brief realization that it was my wing mates howls of pain in response to my own tickled my curiosity for a brief nano-click. I felt something deep within my processor shatter.

Oh… that can't be good.

Then everything shut off with a click, as someone slammed a fist into my skull and I abruptly off-lined into blissful silent blackness.