Raf walked into the base, his backpack swinging in his hand and he saw Starscream bent over a desk, the sound of a pen scratching against paper. He looked over to where Ratchet was, and saw Ratchet was in recharge. It seemed that everyone was more at ease lately. With the Nemesis crashed, it was highly unlikely that anyone on board survived the crash, so it meant Megatron was gone, and so was the distributor. It's not like Megatron could have used it, with Starscream being cured. Though it was still a mystery why Megatron had the cure on board. Optimus didn't seem too concerned with it, as he didn't push Ratchet to research it.

He was confident they would have no more Decepticon problems.

Raf placed his backpack on the ground, and walked over to Starscream, "Hey Starscream, what are you doing?" The Seeker looked down at the boy.

"Working on schematics for something I'm building," he said, and Raf frowned.

"You like to build stuff?"

"It's for an experiment," Starscream explained, "Before the war broke out, I was, well, I am a scientist," Raf raised his eyebrows. He was surprised at this piece of news. Starscream held out his hand, and Raf climbed up. Starscream placed him on the desk, "Why aren't you with Jack and Miko?"

"They're out driving the sand dunes," Raf said, looking down at Starscream's drawings and equations, "It's not really my thing. I like being in here with Ratchet when he does research. It interests me," he explained, still examining the schematics. Starscream tapped his talons on the desk, and suddenly began writing again. Raf watched him as he muttered to himself in what he assumed was Cybertronian. Ratchet stirred slightly, and rubbed his optics.

"Oh Raf. I didn't realize you three would be here so soon."

"We have no school today. It's a professional development day for the teachers," Raf said. Ratchet nodded, and the alarm began to sound. Ratchet walked over to the monitor, and frowned.

"That...that doesn't make sense," he said, his optics wide, "There shouldn't be any energon readings from the Decepticons," Starscream walked over, and looked at the screen.

"The ship...it was destroyed. There's no way Megatron or anyone could have survived that crash," Starscream said. Ratchet opened a com link with Optimus.

"Ratchet to Optimus, do you copy?"

"Optimus here. What is it?"

"I got energon readings from the Decepticons. They're on the move mining energon."

"That's impossible. Their ship was destroyed I'm staring at the wreck right now."

"Is there any sign of any Decepticon?"

"Negative. How could they have survived the crash?" Ratchet frowned.

"I don't know, but I have a bad feeling about this," Ratchet said, "I want to know how they survived," Starscream stared at the monitor, and walked over to the ground bridge. He looked over at Ratchet.

"Ratchet, what are the coordinates?" Ratchet looked over at him, "They're doing this on purpose. They don't want energon, they want me," Starscream said.

"You can't. It's suicide!"

"Ratchet, if I don't, they'll torture whatever bot they get their hands on until they found out where I am. I'm not having anyone suffer because of me," Raf looked over at him, and jumped off the desk. Ratchet sighed.

"You're right," Ratchet plugged in the coordinates, and the ground bridge came on, "Starscream," The Seeker looked at him, "Be careful," Starscream nodded, and walked into the ground bridge, unaware that Raf was behind him.

Ratchet shut it off, and walked over to the desk Starscream was working at. He looked down at the schematics, and his optics went wide, "Impossible."

Starscream walked out of the ground bridge, and looked around. He saw the drones mining in the side of the cliff, and walked a bit closer to them, "Well, well, well. If it isn't Starscream," Starscream turned around and saw Knock Out standing behind him, "It seems that...you've been cured."

"Knock Out, you're alive," Starscream said, crossing his arms.

"And so is Lord Megatron, and he's looking for you," Knock Out said with a smirk. Starscream said nothing, and followed Knock Out to where Megatron was watching the mining.

Megatron turned around, and saw Starscream, "Well, the prodigal son returns," Megatron said with a smirk, "What brings you here?"

"I'm returning to you," Starscream said, "Returning to the Decepticons so that we can continue our mission," Megatron walked over to him, and examined him.

"You've been cured. No matter, we have some of the tainted energon on board," Megatron said, and two drones grabbed Starscream by his arms, "Take him to the brig," Starscream looked up at Megatron.

"You...you tricked me!" he snarled, trying to break free. Knock Out waved to Starscream, Breakdown behind him, "I'll kill you for this Megatron!" Megatron chuckled, and turned back to the mining site.

"HE WENT WHERE?"

Bumblebee covered his auditory receptors, and looked at Arcee, "Why would he do that?" Bumblebee looked at her.

You two have past together, don't you? he asked in beeps. Arcee looked at him.

"You saw that," Bumblebee nodded. Arcee sighed, and sat down, "It's a long story Bee. I just can't believe he would leave again," she said, shaking her helm. Bumblebee sat down next to her, and placed a hand on her shoulder.

So, what's the story? Bumblebee asked again in beeps. Arcee looked at him, and chuckled.

"Well, it happened shortly after I became a scout. This was before the war officially broke out. There was tension among the Autobots and Decepticons, but no one was really acting on it. It was my turn for patrol one night, and I had to do it by myself. This was my first one by myself, so I was a bit nervous. I left the base after having a chat with Tailgate, saying how I would be fine. So, I left and began patrolling."

"About a few hours later, I had stopped to take a break, and decided to lean against a tree. I leaned against it, and I felt someone's hand touch mine. I jumped up, my blaster out, and saw Starscream staring at me. For some reason, I didn't want to shoot him, and he didn't want to shoot me. 'What's your name?' he asked me. 'You tell me first,' I said. He chuckled, and crossed his arms, 'Starscream,' he answered, 'Arcee,' I answered, and soon we began talking. I found out he was a scientist, which kind of interested me. We spent the rest of my patrol talking, until I realized my patrol was done and had to go. Before I left, he asked me if we could meet again, and I said yes."

"That's how we spent our nights, just talking about whatever. Soon, I started to have feelings for him. I enjoyed talking with him. One night, he asked me if he wanted to go for a walk during the day. I agreed. The next day, we went for a walk, and well, we held hands. We walked in silence, just holding hands. After our walk, we stopped, and just stared at each other. Then he said he had feelings for me, and I said I had feelings for him as well. Then, he kissed me," Arcee smiled, "And we started to see each other more. Then, one day, when I went to our meeting place he never showed up," Bumblebee wrapped his arm around her, "I thought he had lied to me, but, weeks later, he showed up and said he was sorry he couldn't meet me, but something had come up and he had to go on board the Nemesis. Megatron wanted him for something. That was the last time I ever saw him, until the Decepticons attacked our base. He pulled me aside, kissed me and said he loved me, but with the war going on, it would be hard for us to see each other. I said I loved him back, and that I'd wait until the war was over. So, now you know," she said quietly. Bumblebee looked at her, "After I lost Tailgate and Cliffjumper, I was terrified that I was going to lose Starscream as well."

You won't, Bumblebee said, I'll make sure of it.

Arcee smiled at him, "Thanks Bumblebee. I know I can always trust you," Bumblebee smiled back, and looked up as Miko walked in the room.

"Hey Bee. Have you seen Raf? He was supposed to help me with my science homework," Bumblebee shrugged. The truth was, he hadn't seen Raf since this morning. Ratchet entered the room, "Ratchet, have you seen Raf?"

"I saw him this morning with Star...scream...oh no," Ratchet said, and rushed over to the ground bridge controls. He locked onto Raf's cell phone, "He went through the ground bridge with Starscream."