Chapter 5: Recovery

Upon waking that day, Elaine realized with a headache that yesterday's bizarre occurrences were not a product of some strange dream, likely induced by sleep deprivation. Which meant that there were gigantic metallic aliens in her barn. Three of them. Groaning, she rolled out of bed and started to prepare for the likely exhausting day ahead. Titan had already wandered up the stairs and barked upon seeing her wake up.

"Yeah, I know this threw off your schedule, but I'm tired. I don't need any shit from you today. We both had a rough night."

The dog let out an exasperated scoff, as close to a scoff as a dog could get anyway, and walked back down the stairs.

Elaine decided on skipping breakfast in favor of some strong coffee. It was unlikely she'd be able to keep anything down anyway with how nervous she was. Although Starscream and Skywarp had done nothing to harm her as of yet, she had read the various articles concerning Decepticons and their openly hostile view of human beings. Needless to say, it kept her on her toes at all times. She didn't carry the shotgun anymore, but she'd be damned if she would be caught without her Glock, now tucked neatly under her jacket on her right side. Though it probably wouldn't do much, she might be able to take one of their 'eyes' out and make a run for it. To make matters worse, she was meeting Thundercracker today, provided he had woken up. Despite the neutral, non-threatening behavior the other two displayed, she was downright sick to her stomach about their large friend waking up.

By the time she and Titan arrived at the barn, Starscream was already out front walking around the property. He seemed to have gained a bit of momentum after fueling up the day before, and his optics looked much brighter than they had been the previous night.

"Human, -" He began.

"Elaine." She growled. Her coffee had not yet kicked in. She was, as she so delicately put it, in no mood for anyone's bullshit this morning.

"Elaine. I detected a small amount of already filtered energon coming from the trailer over there. Is there anything you'd like to share with me? I'd hate to assume you were hiding something from us." His voice grew lower in pitch, his tone accusatory.

Titan growled at him and took a couple steps forward, putting himself between the large mech and his owner.

"I planned on telling you about that after you were done working on your friend." Elaine tried to hide her unease. "Obviously, I was downright exhausted after dealing with last nights unexpected events. I have an acquaintance who owns a scrapyard. He found a wreck at the far end of his lot that was leaking the fluid. Not knowing what it was, he saved it in some glass containers he had. They're sitting in the trailer that was attached to the truck when I arrived home last night. I still don't know why he gave it to me; he's weird like that. If he finds something out of the ordinary, he brings it to me hoping I can find out what it is."

Starscream nodded his helm and thought for a moment. Her heart rate had gone up, but there were no indications that she was lying to him. Elaine, despite her annoyance with their presence, had been a good host to three very unwelcome guests. He'd never outright thank her, but he was hesitant to cause her any harm. She should be thanking him though, for not stepping on her as of yet, but she had a stubborn air about her and he doubted that would ever happen.

"Could you describe the wreckage? Any colors or details you can remember would be helpful."

"I saw some blue in there. A lot like your friend's color, only darker. And yellow, but by the time we were done working in the yard, a majority of the color had...faded, I guess. Most of it was gray when I left. I swore I spotted a couple nose cones in there, but I couldn't be sure. The wreck itself was about the size of a few jets going down in one spot. It was a really odd find for a scrapyard; any planes or jets are usually dealt with by our military. You wouldn't find one in a junkyard unless something illegal was going on, much less more than one." She replied.

If Starscream could have paled, he would have. Elaine swore she saw a look of shock and horror on his face as she relayed what she had seen. It frightened her to see this giant so disturbed; if something could scare him, massive and intimidating as he was, what could it possibly do to her or other people in the area?

The red seeker was troubled, for lack of a better word. Dirge, Thrust, and Ramjet had gone missing before Megatron had set his sights on offlining the elite trine. While Starscream didn't want to think that he had ordered his own mechs to be slaughtered, he couldn't be sure anymore when it came to his ex-leader's behavior. The former gladiator was slowly losing his mind; his plans had become more erratic and irresponsible and his treatment of the soldiers under his command had become more cruel and uncaring. What disturbed him most was the irrationality of the decisions the tyrant was making; by offlining or attempting to offline his flyers, what was he hoping to gain? He would lose one of the only advantages the Decepticon's had over the Autobots; superiority in the air.

The only mech who was mostly exempt from the harsh conduct was Soundwave and his cassettes, but even they were beginning to come to terms with the situation at hand. Many of the Decepticons had stayed out of fear, not loyalty. If they could've defected, they would have, but there was no guarantee that the Autobots would take them in. The aggressive frontliners of the opposing faction, mainly those like Sunstreaker, harbored especially hostile attitudes toward the 'cons, and would be far from welcoming toward them if they chose to go that route. Despite the rumors of the kind leader, there was also no guarantee that Optimus wasn't also a complete psychopath. It was unlikely, as many Decepticons described being treated well as prisoners, but one never knew. Starscream never judged a mech by their appearance and public displays; it was what went on when no one was looking that was far more important.

"Whether or not you intended to, the fuel you drained was from offlined seekers. The colors you described match those of a mech designated Dirge. His trine, three seekers total, went missing before we were forced out of our base. I suspect our leader had something to do with this as well, though why he's eliminating his fliers is beyond me." Starscream spoke. "The fact that you even saw his coloration meant that he was alive when you took the leaking energon; the external armor fading to gray signified his death."

Elaine's mouth was slightly agape as she processed the information she was just given. It hit her like a ton of bricks. Disturbed was a mild way of putting how she felt. She looked back up at Starscream, tears almost forming in her eyes. Almost. She didn't cry in front of people; her father had been dead set against that when she was young, and it was still fresh in her mind.

"I'm so sorry, Starscream." She replied softly. "I had no idea he was alive, or what he even was when we were loading up the fuel. If I did, I would have done anything to help…Did we...did we kill him when we took the energon?..."

"No. Without a medic's help, he would have offlined anyway. There was no way one would have gotten to him in time to make a difference. Without his trine stabilizing him, he would have likely offlined even after being repaired, or gone insane without his trine mates." Starscream answered her.

The seeker had no intention of making her feel any better, but he wouldn't lie to her either and make her feel worse.

"The extra energon will help get Thundercracker to a better state faster. It'll get Skywarp and I running at optimum levels again if there's enough to go around. Harvesting the fuel may have bought us more time. You've proven very useful; no need to feel bad about making use of something when the owner is gone."

Starscream began walking back to the barn to check on his trine mates. Elaine stood in the field for a few moments, letting it all sink in before following him. She came to a conclusion in a matter of minutes; if their previous leader was killing them off, perhaps their aggressive reactions to humanity had been a matter of necessity to appear strong in front of a heartless tyrant, rather than out of spite. Starscream, despite his reputation and previous actions, may not be the monster everyone made him out to be; she had seen a range of emotions from him, albeit limited, since his arrival. If he could feel remorse for his comrades and take care of friends when they were injured, maybe he wasn't as awful as everyone said he was on the news or in conversation. If she were faced with the same situation, she wasn't sure how much differently she would have acted to save her own ass.

When Starscream entered the building, Skywarp was sitting beside Thundercracker, talking to him and checking him over for what seemed like the 100th time in less than an hour. Thundercracker seemed to be doing ten times better than he was in the early hours of the morning; his optics were brighter and the coloration of his outer armor was regaining it's normal luster. When the two mechs noticed Starscream's present, along with that of two small organics, they ceased their conversation and turned their attention to their trine leader.

"Thundercracker, this is the human who owns the building we've been staying in. Beside her is her filthy canine companion who is very lucky to be alive."

The blue mech looked down at the two and Elaine visibly shivered a bit. She wasn't sure why, but his gaze was a bit more intense and analytical than that of the other two. At the very least, he was calm, but she knew nothing about him other than that. Deciding to speak up, she looked directly into the red orbs of the machine in front of her.

"Thundercracker, it's nice to meet you. I'm Elaine, and the filthy creature Starscream spoke of is my surprisingly clean dog. His name is Titan."

Starscream scoffed at her and Titan grunted at him in reply. In Titan's honest opinion, his actions were justified and he was surprised that no one had pissed on the screechy one sooner. His attitude was horrendous and his manners were lacking. The doberman had seen jittery chihuahuas with more social decency. To top it off, his voice hurt the ears of those around him; how could someone go through life talking like that? It sounded like someone shoved a bird in a blender.

"Thank you for your hospitality."

The young woman almost jumped at the sound of his voice. Thundercracker was a fitting name for him; the deep pitch he had spoken to her in was enough to leave her speechless. What floored her more was the fact that he had thanked her; Starscream was too proud to and Skywarp was...Skywarp.

"You're...quite welcome." She softly replied.

"Starscream, what is this red patch on my side?"

Skywarp groaned and cut in before the red mech could answer Thundercracker's question.

"Don't get anyone started on where it came from! Elaine will get mad again and shoot 'Screamer in the hand again for breaking her...thing."

The larger flier looked confused. Elaine sighed.

"It came off of my tractor. My once-beautiful, magnificent, now-ruined machine. That needs to be replaced at some point because my truck will not pull all the things people ask me to fix for them into this barn without being torn in half."

"See? Told you so! You shouldn't have asked!" Skywarp yelled.

"Is it particularly difficult to get a new one?" Starscream asked her.

"It's expensive. Fixing this one would be ideal, but...parts are pricey too."

"Well, can't you steal one? Or the parts off one? Other humans must have them in an area like this."

"Starscream, are you serious?" Elaine was flabbergasted at this point. "For as smart as you are, that's a pretty damn stupid idea. How the fuck am I supposed to steal something that big without someone noticing? They'll arrest me! You can't just steal things; it doesn't work that way around here!"

Starscream just made a dismissive motion with his hand, choosing not to answer the raging woman next to his foot. Thundercracker watched the two, still confused by the entire situation, but slightly amused at the small human yelling at their trine leader. Titan walked slightly closer to the offensive, screechy mech with his ears folded back.

"Don't you even think about it, you vile little organic! Get away from me!" Starscream screeched.

Titan growled and walked back to Elaine.

"Titan, please behave yourself. I don't want to wash his foot off again. I can't afford the wax and you know it. That stuff is expensive."

Starscream visibly shuddered at the thought of that disgusting quadruped urinating on his leg again. He couldn't understand what possessed Elaine to keep the thing around. Thundercracker's voice cut through the conversation.

"What's our next move, Starscream? We can't just stay here forever."

"I'm not sure. We need to take shelter here until something is figured out." He replied. "There's no secure place around that could be considered a suitable place to stay. Remaining neutral isn't going to work; we will be hunted by both factions."

"We can't go back to the other Decepticon's anymore, can we 'Screamer?" Skywarp asked quietly. He was upset again, and no one could blame him a bit.

"No, Skywarp." Starscream cycled more air through his vents. "Megatron would attempt to get rid of us again. I also have more unsettling news."

The two seekers waited for another bomb to drop, so to speak. The entire situation was bad enough already.

"Dirge, Ramjet, and Thrust went missing before Megatron went on a rampage and attempted to destroy us. I'm relatively certain they've been found, offlined, in a scrapyard nearby." Starscream broke the news. "Elaine and the yard's owner stumbled upon the wreckage of their trine and gathered the leaking energon because they were curious as to what it was. They were already in a critical state and likely wouldn't have been able to survive even with the help of a decent medic."

Skywarp looked terrified. Thundercracker moved closer to him in an effort to provide some form of comfort. The large blue seeker was also troubled by the news, but was taking it the best out of the three, mainly due to his calm demeanor.

"So, it's a possibility that Megatron is killing off his seekers. But, why? That would leave him at a huge disadvantage." Thundercracker tried to make sense of everything, but couldn't reach a logical conclusion.

"His actions have been illogical since his processor started going haywire, Thundercracker. I suppose he has some twisted reasoning behind it."

"What about the Autobots?" Skywarp cut in.

"What about them, 'Warp?" The large blue seeker began. "I doubt they'll be welcoming of the three of us, least of all Starscream."

"It's one of the best options out of all of them."

Skywarp and TC stared at Starscream.

"Think about it. We have knowledge that would be of use to them; the layout, location, and access codes to the Nemesis. I had higher security clearance than most of the mechs on that ship. The Autobots have the best medic, more energon than we do, and could potentially provide a safe place for us to stay. Even if we were kept as prisoners, we'd be in a better position there than we would be if Megatron found us. Optimus may not welcome us with open arms, but he's not Sentinel; he won't outright offline us without good reason to. Every Decepticon who's been a prisoner of the Autobots came back with more energon and in better shape than they were in when they left."

While Starscream had a good point, it did nothing to put Skywarp at ease. Thundercracker, was skeptical, at best.

"We will stay here for another night and seek out a way to contact the Autobots tomorrow."

Elaine's voice startled Starscream.

"Don't I get a say in all of this?"

"...Did you have anything useful to contribute?"

"Not really. Just got sick of being quiet. It's awkward standing there with nothing to say."

Starscream shook his helm and walked back out of the barn. Elaine glanced at the two remaining cybertronians. Thundercracker was mulling everything over, while Skywarp just looked more worried than before. She felt sorry for the youngest one; he wasn't taking this very well.

"Hey, Skywarp?"

The black and purple mech turned his attention to the young woman standing near his leg.

"Would you like me to get some wash and wax together? You guys look like you've seen better days."

"Are you calling us dirty?"

"Absolutely."

Skywarp grinned at her.

"That'd be great! TC's a mess!"

"'Warp!" Thundercracker was offended. "It's not like you look any better."

"I always look better."

She laughed and went to get supplies for the two of them. On her way towards the barn door, she glanced out and looked at Starscream. He was staring at the sky, thoughtful expression on his face.

Elaine sighed. After learning how awful their situation was, she wished she could do more to help them. Even though it was going to cost her a fortune to replace all the fuel and repair her tractor, she didn't mind as much when she thought about what kind of spot they were in. She didn't have nearly as many worries; after her father passed away, he left her enough money to pay the bills for years to come. The equipment was already at the farm, so she hadn't needed to buy anything major. She still made decent enough money to live on when she was repairing various things for the locals, so she didn't have to delve into much of her savings or inheritance. All in all, her troubles were second to none. She would take her lonely life on the quiet farmland any day over what these jets were going through. For now, she'd do her best to offer any assistance she could provide and try to keep Skywarp in good spirits. She hoped the Autobots wouldn't be too hard on them when they did seek them out; it was a war, after all. Wrong had been committed on both sides. Nothing was ever just black or white.