Chapter 2

Starscream transformed and landed in front of the energon store. Behind him the cybertronian craft roared in to land and transformed also. Starscream stood back to allow his leader to enter first. Ducking slightly, they moved inside.

Megatron was in a good mood. He had placed Europe under Starscream's command after the humans had surrendered in December, and was visiting for a report on the progress of the Strategy. The two of them had swooped over the continent, bombing cities and enjoying the devastation. He could still hear the screams of the organics in his processor, and savoured each and every one.

"We need to remind these creatures every now and then of who's in charge, don't we, Starscream?"

The jet grunted moodily and stalked over to the other side of the store. He busied himself selecting a cube.

Megatron sensed Starscream's attitude and his optics narrowed.

"What is it now, Starscream?"

"Nothing, leader."

The last word was a sneer. Megatron growled angrily. "Don't lie to me Starscream, and don't test my limited patience". He drained one of the larger cubes and tossed it aside.

"I'm simply sick of this pitiful planet." Starscream exclaimed angrily. "We've been here too long, rusting on this damp little sphere. We should be focusing our efforts on restoring our home planet to it's former glory!"

Not this again.

"When will you give it up?" the decepticon leader mocked. "Cybertron is finished! It's dying! The only thing it's fit for is harbouring the useless defeated autobots!"

"I have a glorious vision for this world," Megatron continued, selecting another cube. "Once we've drained the oceans and stripped the globe bare of it's vegetation, then a new Cybertron can be born! And if you're not part of that vision," his optics narrowed dangerously, "Then you have no place by my side!"

Starscream let out a snarl and clenched his fists. "I have no issue in using this planet for sport or slave fodder," he hissed. "But Cybertron could still be revived and restored as the rightful seat of our empire! And I'm not the only one who thinks this!"

"I won't have that seditious talk, Starscream," Megatron boomed. "Continue with your duties, and stop this snivelling!"

Starscream let out a howl of rage and raised his guns, but Megatron was too quick. He let off his cannon and blasted Starscream in the chest. The jet staggered back, and fell to the floor, making the whole building shake.

Megatron glanced briefly at the fallen seeker on his way out, and sniffed dismissively. He didn't want the bot dead. He was useful when he wasn't whining or scheming. Soon he would come back online, and hopefully would have learnt a lesson. Megatron snorted. Some chance. This wasn't the first violent altercation between the two, and it certainly wouldn't be the last.

"I'll leave you to nurse your aching processor," he chuckled grimly. Then he transformed and shot off into the sky. The roar of his engines faded into silence.

The humans crouched in the little room. No one made a sound. After an eternity of silence, heads were raised and people stirred quietly.

"Someone should go look," whispered a woman whose name Alexis had forgotten. Alan, who was seen as the leader of the group, looked terrified at the suggestion. Alexis felt so sorry for him that she got up.

"I'll go and look, Alan."

But he licked his dry lips and shook his head. "It's all right, Alexis. I'll go."

An age seemed to pass. Then Alan appeared in the doorway again.

"There's one in there, a massive one," he whispered. "It's lying on the floor, and not moving. I… I think it's dead."

The little group shuffled slowly into the large space. Dust still hung in the air from the confrontation. They peered through the gloom and saw a huge shape sprawled on the floor. An outflung arm lay in the doorway.

Qasim had his head buried in Raheela's coat, and clung to her tightly.

"We're going to have walk right past it," she breathed. "Oh my…"

"No, no, it's alright," assured John. "It' s dead, look at it. We just need to walk past it out of the door and we can be on our way." He glanced at Alexis. "Right?"

Alexis nodded. "Yeah, of course." She laid a comforting arm on Raheela's. "Come on. We'll walk past in single file. It'll be fine."

Slowly, the group inched its way along the wall, casting frightened glances at the motionless decepticon. Alexis brought up the rear, next to John. As they approached the doorway, John drew back slightly and whispered in her ear.

"It's not dead."

Alexis was staring through the gloom at the giant figure. "I didn't think so," she murmured. Her head was whirling. It can't be…

That head… those wings… No, no no. Surely not…

Her head kept turning as they walked, staring at the fallen giant.

"I saw two of those things fighting each other last year, up in Manchester," continued John in a whisper. "When one went down it went all grey when it died, like all the colour drained from it. But this one still has it's colours." He glanced at Alexis. "Don't tell the others. I don't want a panic."

Ahead, the group were starting to edge carefully round the giant hand that lay splayed out in the doorway. They hugged the wall as they strove to avoid the cruel metal fingers. Once they were clear of that, they jogged outside into the trees.

Soon only John and Alexis were left inside. John swallowed and prepared to ease himself past the hand. There was only a couple of feet between that and the wall. "Here goes," he muttered, and glanced behind him to grin reassuringly at Alexis. But she wasn't there.

He looked around wildly. "Alexis!"

Then he spotted her. She had run up to the fallen robot, and was clambering onto the shoulder, swinging her legs up onto the arm…

"Are you insane?"

John half ran, half crept as close as he dared to the giant. She was perched on the thing's chest, reaching into her bag for her tools.

"Alexis!"

She turned her head. "Just give me a second..."

"No! NO! What are you doing? That thing could wake up any second!"

"I know." Alexis was breathing very fast. "I know. I just need to do this…"

"No." John was backing away. "You're jeopardising all our lives. Come down now, or... or you're on your own!"

A loud bang made him flinch. Alexis was bashing at the cockpit with a crowbar, trying to prise it open. The sound reverberated through the warehouse.

"That's it." Through gritted teeth, John turned and ran from the building. "If you want to die, then go ahead."

Alexis watched him leave with a stab of regret. Then turned to the task at hand. She knew she didn't have long… As she pummelled at the cockpit, it suddenly whooshed open, making her jump. She glanced at Starscream's face… the optics were still cold and vacant.

"Hello again."

She jumped in, and began searching. She wasn't sure what for. "Anything I can meddle with is fine by me," she muttered. After a few minutes in the cockpit, she hauled herself out, and turned her attention to the plating on his chest, higher up. She began to prise the plating open… casting anxious glances every few minutes… he was still out cold. Eventually she succeeded in opening his chest. Inside a tangle of wires lay coiled together.

"Don't mind me," she smiled grimly, and plunged her arms in up to the elbows.

After a few minutes, she fished her iphone out of her pocket. It hadn't worked for months. Some deft work with a screwdriver, and she plugged it into Starscream's circuitry. To her amazement, the battery bar zoomed up to 'full', in a matter of seconds.

"Wow. An unexpected perk. I can listen to music again!"

But what she had really been searching for was some useful information. If she could just find something she could take, something that would be of use, something to give the humans an advantage… God knows we need that, she thought darkly.

She glanced up at Starscream's face, still offline from the cannon blast. It was risky. Stupid. But she knew what she had to do. She stood up, and gingerly tip-toed across his chest. She clambered up and crawled onto his chin. His mouth was open, frozen in a snarl. Swallowing hard, she leapt across his open mouth onto his top lip, then scrambled over his nose to rest on his forehead, between his optics. The last time she had looked into those glowing eyes, she had writhed in his grip, not knowing if she would live or die.

Heart hammering, she prised open the plating on his head with trembling fingers. She fumbled with the wires, and plugged her iphone in again.

Strange symbols filled the screen. Alexis groaned quietly. She couldn't make head nor tail of it. As she knelt, Alexis realised that even if she had extracted some information, it would be of no use to her. She sighed, and reached down to extract the phone.

His fist clenched and unfurled…

Alexis caught the movement out of the corner of her eye. Time to go. She scrambled to extricate the phone from the wiring… but it was tangled. In her panic she tugged furiously.

A burst of red light made her jump and cry out. Either side of her, Starscream's optics blinked and came back online.

For a moment their gazes locked, the human girl kneeling on the robot's forehead. Alexis was frozen to the spot. Starscream's optics widened in shock.

"...Hi..." she whispered weakly.

Then he shifted and a deep growl rumbled in his throat. Alexis squealed in fear and tumbled backwards off of his head, onto the floor. As she scrambled to her feet she was aware of Starscream rising, with a shifting of metal… she dashed for the corridor as his fist slammed down, just missing her.

Starscream straightened up to his full height. The human girl from before... the one to whom he had shown a smidgen of mercy... she was here!

"What have you been meddling with, little girl?" he roared. "You think you can hide from me?"

He blinked his optics once to activate his heat seekers. Nothing happened.

He tried again. Still nothing. In a rush of dreadful realisation, it dawned on him. She had disabled his infra-red. A bellow of rage echoed through the building.

Alexis sprinted down the corridor. The iphone was clutched in her hand. The building shook and she screamed as the tremor threw her to the floor. She jumped up and wriggled through a small window. Outside were shipping containers. She ran along each one, until she was able climb up onto broken palettes and drop inside a container... She had run out of ideas, there was nowhere else to go…

Starscream stormed outside, shaking his head to clear the fog, fury coursing through his circuitry. Her again! The whole of her nation broken and cowed under his command, and yet… she shows up, meddling, creeping! Like a stubborn insect that refuses to be squashed!

"This isn't over, human!" he bellowed. "I promise!"