Chapter 62
-0-On a promontory at a Decepticon base outside the Sol System
He watched the night sky through a window in their infirmary, nursing his hurts and his fury. Here at their main base outside the reach of the Autobots, Starscream was sorting through memories that were blurry and seemingly out of order. It seemed the more he searched the fainter they became. Many were the entire stretches of his life that he couldn't recall. It was like looking through shattered glass or an ever turning kaleidoscope.
He remembered that he had accomplished one of his goals, capturing two of the family of the Prime. Then he had them taken away. Or he was taken away. There was little in his memories that made sense.
Thundercracker had explained it to him when he had come to sentience again. He had watched Starscream rage, breaking things, making threats in his near delirium but he hadn't offered more than a cursory explanation.
Starscream had Springer where he wanted him. He was going to extract his pound of flesh as the Earth insects called it. He'd given the daughter away to be dismantled and was going to punish the bond. Then the unthinkable had happened.
He'd heard the sounds of fighting, shooting and yelling. He had risen, turning from the body of Prime's bond to move to the steps with gun in servo. As he turned the corner to look up, a blast had hit him. He'd staggered back, shocked and stunned. Then a light filtered through the darkness, a bright and overpowering light. Two more shots and he was felled, landing on the ground in a great heap.
He thought he was dead, that he was going to the Matrix. He could feel things but not touch them. He sensed others but couldn't see them. It was as if his spark, his sentience was knocked clear from his body. He wondered if he would see the light again as all was dark around him.
Then he felt himself rising, coming to his senses and when he did he was lying on a med berth in their fortress, the anxious expressions of his trine and a medic staring down into his face. He had gasped, his optics struggling to focus and when they did he was aghast.
"You were hit by null weapons. Three times you were hit," Thundercracker said. He shifted, looking at Starscream with something akin to embarrassment. "You were nearly killed."
"What happened? Where is he? Prime's bond?" Starscream stammered, trying to rise with little luck. Servos pressed him down and he relented, the swirl of color and sound in his processor making even slight movement nauseating.
"He was killed or he's taken, we don't know. We had to fight our way out of there carrying you. I believe a team of Autobots came to rescue him," Skywarp interjected quickly, his optics flicking to Thundercracker who looked at him with intensity. "We nearly didn't make it out of there alive, Starscream."
Starscream felt an anger rising inside of him, choking tightly, nearly burying him with its enormity. He didn't want to hear another word, see another thing, feel anything. He wanted to fall into that anger and let it permeate every cell and corner of his body. It was all he had left from his carefully planned operation. "I want you to tell me again," he said, off-lining his optics once more.
Thundercracker and Skywarp looked at each other, the truth hanging between them unspoken.
-Far away some time before the operation
"I don't like it," Skywarp whispered as he paced in the courtyard outside the rundown fortress built in the long ago past by a species that had left nothing behind but its finely hewed walls and well made underground rooms. "It's abuse!"
Thundercracker who was leaning against a wall staring into space nodded. "He means to do it."
"And if we did something like that he'd have a fit," Skywarp said. He paused, then turned to regard Thundercracker evenly. "We're a trine or we aren't. We've survived Megatron and all the grounder slag for eons to end up in control. Now he becomes obsessed with Prime and his family. I don't like it."
"What are you prepared to do about it?" Thundercracker asked, regarding his trine mate evenly. "You know he'll merge with that grounder and that will be that."
"And we'll have his thoughts and experiences in our processors forever. Can you live with Wrecker nonsense in your helm? Can you live with the betrayal he presents with his actions? The danger it proposes to control of the faction? Seekers are in control. We're leading. He could endanger everything with his obsession."
"Prime will hunt him down and never stop if he hurts his bond. He'll do it until he dies and I wouldn't put it past him living so he can," Thundercracker commented as he shook his head in disgust. "We're going to lose everything if he makes it too personal. If Springer dies in battle that's one thing. To have this happen, to create this, it'll change things and there will be no turning back."
"Then we make sure it doesn't happen," Skywarp said, glaring at Thundercracker. "You have to be ready to make sure Starscream never finds out."
"How? He'll know," Thundercracker said quietly.
"Bury it," Skywarp said, walking toward the big jet. "Send it so deep in your processor that he can't find it. Build a firewall around it that he can't cross."
"And then what?" Thundercracker asked.
"Then we fake an attack. He's down there. We'll shoot up the place, then go down and hit him with null rays. Two or even three will take him down. Then we carry him away and leave the Autobot. If they find him it'll be well and if they don't, even better. Either way, he won't be in our processors. He won't be there."
With that, they went inside, checking to see where Starscream was. He was in the lower chamber, in the cell room. They could hear him talking, taunting the Autobot and that's when they staged the fight with Skywarp waiting in the hallway hidden in shadows for Starscream to appear. When he did, Sky shot Starscream. Then Skywarp went inside the room and shot him twice more.
He lay sprawled, the Autobot next to him. The Autobot's spark chamber was open and the light illuminated the darkness. Skywarp stared at it, at the spark that Springer shared with the Prime himself. A part of him wanted to extinguish it, to end forever the threat of Starscream's obsession. But he didn't. Prime would follow them. He would hunt them. He would survive the loss of his bond, of this Skywarp was convinced. He knew this to be true because he believed he, himself, would also in his place.
Thundercracker who was shooting up the upper rooms and breaking things to bits finally entered the cell space, pausing to stare at the two bodies on the floor. He looked at Skywarp and then Starscream, shaking his head with emotion. "He'll be angry."
"But he'll be alive and that Autobot won't be living in our minds day and night." Skywarp subspaced his weapons, then gripped one of Starscream's servos. "Help me get him out of here. We have to be far away before he comes to himself."
Thundercracker nodded and they bent to their work.
-Now
"They came, a shuttle with a couple of Autobots. I didn't recognize them. They came and began to shoot." Skywarp paused a moment to gather his wits. "We were able to hold them off until the shuttle began to fire upon us. We were in dire straights and you came up to assist. They hit you repeatedly with a null ray and we were able under fire to pull you away and effect our escape," he concluded.
"And the Autobot? Springer?" Starscream asked as his expression soured. "Did he die or is he alive?"
"I'm not clear. I didn't see him die. He may or not be alive," Thundercracker replied.
They watched him, considering that saying very little and getting less wrong was better than saying a lot and paying for it in indefensible errors later on was the safest route through this swamp. They watched as Starscream fell into a restless recharge.
-0-Autobot City, Mars
He stepped off the shuttle at the makeshift airfield near The Fortress. Cosmos was heading back to Earth as he walked toward the settlement that was some distance down the road. The massive stone walls of the colony were tall, imposing and at each end of the long curtain walls that formed the sides was a huge gun mount. There were two guns already in the turrets with four more to be made and installed.
He walked past stakes that were laid out for a city, one that would be able to hold families and businesses, soldiers and civilians who would someday make a world that was supportive and peaceful for all their people. Right now, he was in charge of security and the well being of all the mechs here. And the femme. Arcee was here. He would find her and see how she was.
As he walked along, the sun shining brightly during the early afternoon, Springer felt right at home.
-0-Prowl and Prime
It was late and they had retired for the evening, the relief of Springer resonating. Sitting on the couch with Prime's feet crossed on the low table before them, Prowl sat reclined in his lap, relaxing against Prime's broad chassis. "I still think Prowl is a good name," he said, smiling slightly.
"You won't get an argument out of me," Prime said with a smile. "I love it."
"I was asked by Bluestreak if they could have some kind of party function for Ratchet and Ironhide. The humans call it a baby shower."
They thought about it a moment, then Prime asked. "Bathing a sparkling is an occasion for celebration?"
"I'm not sure. I thought perhaps it was some sort of ritual event for the sparkling's first bath. But apparently you don't need water. You eat, dance, play games and give the carrier gifts for the sparkling."
"Sounds wonderful."
Prowl shrugged. "Sounds painful."
"You need to get out more. Dancing is lovely and so are you. Your wings are a wonder," Prime said. "I find you graceful and elegant."
Prowl grinned as he pulled Prime's arms more tightly around his chassis as he did. "Thank you."
"You're welcome," Prime replied, kissing Prowl's helm. "What do we do, how do we do it and when?"
"We just come. We just arrive and enjoy the event which the younglings will be putting together. It'll be in three orns, this Saturday as the soldiers call it. Ratchet and Ironhide are not supposed to know and Lennox and Epps have been invited. They must swear to secrecy or face the wrath of Ratchet."
"It would be incomprehensible what might happen if Starscream finds out about a sparkling," Prime replied.
Prowl nodded. "You've spoken to Springer? He has assistance?"
"I have. He does."
"Good," Prowl said as he relaxed, his thumb rubbing Prime's servo as it rested on his chassis. They sat together in companionable silence. "I have to chaperon Bluestreak and the twins tomorrow at shift change. They were supposed to go to the beach earlier with Ironhide but it was canceled when Springer and Arcee disappeared."
Prime nodded. "How do you feel about the idea of Bluestreak with two mechs?"
"It's archaic, old fashioned and strange. I have high hopes for Bluestreak's happiness. I'd like him to be happy and the idea of being a part of a trine was not in that calculation. I'm unsure if my reservations are about a trine or about that pair with Bluestreak in a trine."
"The spark wants what the spark wants," Prime offered gently.
Prowl nodded. "My spark wanted you. From the moment I saw you that first day, I knew you were the one."
"You were very crisp and business-like. I was rather put off by your professionalism. I did not know anything and you knew almost too much."
Prowl smiled, looking up up at Optimus, a good eight feet taller than he was even sitting. "Perhaps," he said. "But I knew I loved you. Even then."
"It took you long enough to tell me that," Prime replied, smiling with a look of contentment and appreciation.
"I'm slow," Prowl said with a smile. Then he didn't say another word.
For a while.