XI - Out of the Past
I tugged on the hem of my new tire tread patterned tee and glanced back at my mom and sister. "Ready?" Melody grinned and nodded excitedly, eyes bright. My mom looked just as eager, but in a more controlled way, a hint of wariness reflecting back at me behind her pupils.
I broke into a jog down our driveway, waving them along. "C'mon!"
My toes caught the back of Will's heels, tugging the back of his shoe off. He quickened his pace, glancing back at me with a slight frown. My mom followed behind us, awestruck as we jogged through the ground bridge portal and into the Autobot base. Our base. Melody trailed behind her, a glance revealed my sister's mouth hanging open as we passed Bumblebee.
"Don't catch any stray flies." Will chuckled. The scout waved down at her amiably and deactivated the ground bridge. They had insisted on coming, I guessed curiosity had finally overwhelmed their sense of caution.
"As if we need more humans in the base," Starscream groaned good-naturedly, stepping out of the shadows.
"Those Decepticon habits die hard, don't they?" I smirked.
"Starscream?" My mom asked tentatively.
"That would be me." Seven drummed his fingers on the side of the platform to get her attention.
"In your delusional, small-minded dreams." Starscream hissed at him with the ghost of a smile.
Jack shook his head in silent laughter, "You both realize that every time you insult the other, you're just saying the same about yourself, right?" He quipped.
He earned a couple looks from the pair of Seekers at that smart remark.
Melody finally seemed to find her voice. "Giants…" her sparkling eyes fell on Starscream and Seven, "with wings!" she squealed, excitedly running over to Starscream. "Can you fly?"
All of us humans gave the jet a teasing, sympathetic look. "Yes, little human," Starscream purred, bending down to get right in her face, "so fast, you wouldn't believe." he poked her tummy gently with the tip of a talon that was so sharp he could've just as easily impaled her. She giggled. My mom looked well beyond nervous.
"Mel," she said worriedly, tugging on a strand of her chocolate colored hair, "how about you leave the nice robots alone for now?"
"Aww," my sister groaned back, turning around slowly and dramatically dragged her feet back over to our mother in the way only little kids can do.
"Seven?" Will asked, stooping over to tug his shoe back on, "Where're the–"
"Seven!?" Melody piped up, grinning with wide eyes, "I'm seven too!"
"No, you're four." I corrected, ruffling her hair.
"Shh, human," Seven crooned, lowering himself to get near her face, "or the giant robots are going to get you." He hissed, attempting to look scary. As in 'monster-under-your-bed-from-picture-books' type of scary.
Melody walked up and poked him in the optic. "Your feet are funny."
Bumblebee whirled in laughter as Seven jumped back in surprise, blinking rapidly out of reflex.
Starscream laughed, his wings vibrating. "I'll give her points for that."
"Sweetie, come here." My mom walked over to Melody, wisely tugging her away before tempers were tested.
"Where are the others?" Will asked again.
Bumblebee chirped and buzzed out a reply, and Raf translated for him as he went. "Optimus and Arcee are out doing recon, Bulkhead's scouting energon, and I'm sure Ratch is giving Knock Out an earful down in the cells, probably on where and where not to stick medical tools under Scream's hood."
"For your information, Bee, I do not possess a 'hood.'"
The yellow scout rolled his optics as if to say "whatever."
Starscream's optics narrowed slightly, "So, why are you here, pray tell?" he addressed my mom. All of us were curious as well, watching her intently.
"Just to get acquainted." She shrugged nonchalantly. "Seems we picked a bad day for it."
"Well now that you've gotten yourselves acquainted," Starscream huffed, "you may leave."
"But I wanna stay!" Melody protested, stamping her foot. I would've blamed Starscream's irritability on the virus, were it not a part of his personality.
"Oh? Did we interrupt something?" My mother pressed.
"I'm dying from too much human exposure." Starscream drawled, melodramatically feigning a swooning fit. All heads and helms swiveled to turn to face him. Bumblebee chirped in surprise.
"At least he can make light of it." Miko sarcastically whispered to Jack and Raf behind her hand. Seven's striped wings twitched and his mouth plates thinned.
"Or it's messing with his helm already." Raf suggested.
The clone hummed lightly, "Indeed, today was not the ideal one for you to drop in."
"What exactly is 'it'?" My mom prodded cautiously.
"Nothing of importance to you." Starscream shook his helm gently, a strange expression coming over his faceplates. My mother still looked unsure, but let it lie. That was the last thing any of us expected him to say. Even Seven looked taken aback. Starscream always was the first to start complaining about anything, and the last to stop.
"Hey, you!" Melody piped up, pointing at Bumblebee and grabbing the yellow mech's attention. "Why're you not talking?"
Bumblebee whirled, looking slightly hurt.
"He… can't." Will explained awkwardly.
"It might be best for you to leave, we were just tracing an energon signal after all. My apologies for the less than warm welcome." Seven shrugged, leaning on the lever which activated the ground bridge. In truth, they weren't, being that Bulkhead was already scouting energon.
My mom flicked her hair out of her eyes, "It's fine. Can I get a picture?"
The three bots suddenly looked awkward. "Fine," Starscream said with the stiffness of a board, "so long as it doesn't find itself anywhere but on your satellite device."
A few small, white flashes of light later, she and Melody exited via the ground bridge. Will and I made no move to leave, along with the other three humans here.
"Don't you five have school?" Seven wondered.
"Not on the weekend, we get to spend all of it with the likes of you." Miko smirked.
"I'll join them." I said at once. I'd honestly spent too many hours with robots, if that was even possible.
"I'm coming too," Will added, "we can work on my car for class."
Silas watched as four humans exited a ground bridge in a park on the cusp of a small town in the corner of California so small and remote, he hadn't bothered to learn its name. He was satisfied, however, to learn that his new methods of predicting and then pinpointing where the so-called Autobots would use their portal technology were coming along well. Unlike the last few tries, this had worked like a charm. A sinister smile split his face that stretched his scars which lengthened beneath the dappling shadows of the forest; these people were certainly not very lucky today.
"Seize them," he ordered his squad of soldiers. "But use minimal force unless necessary."
The soldiers simultaneously nodded, then strode out of the woods on either side, surrounding Oliver, his mother Melody, and Will.
"What the–" Will gasped.
Silas stepped out of the shadows, "I don't believe we've formally met. I am Silas, and we are MECH."
"What do you want, Silas?" Oliver's mom hissed.
"We want the Transformer by the name of Starscream." The leader of MECH sneered. "And our efforts to obtain him have been slow moving. You four will speed things along nicely."
She opted to play dumb. "Transformer? Starscream? Are those some form of code words?" Her head cocked to the side, feigning genuine puzzlement.
Silas wasn't deterred. "So that's how it is. Then, if there is no Starscream, you don't have a ransom, now do you?"
"Ransom?" She echoed anxiously.
"Don't think so little of yourself," Silas chastised, "we shall see your worth soon enough."
"We're not going anywhere with you!" Oliver growled.
A soldier jabbed the muzzle of his pulse rifle into the boy's back. "I wouldn't." He warned.
"Don't!" Oliver's mother exclaimed, "Don't take my children! Take me instead!" She pleaded, struggling against the soldier who had her arms pinned behind her back.
Silas turned his cold, dark eyes on her. "That would be hardly logical, given that we already intended to take you in the first place."
Melody bit the hand of the soldier holding her. He released her shoulder in surprise and pain, and the girl ran to her mother.
"Run, Mel! Run!" Oliver's mother urged.
"I advise against it," Silas sneered, "on a person her size, an electric shock from these pulse rifles could very well be lethal."
"You monster!"
Silas chuckled, and a pair of soldiers grabbed her arms. Kicking and screaming, Melody tried to bite them again but this time they had firmer grips. The other three could only watch, helpless to do anything.
"We 'monsters' are the ones that keep the world turning, that is, so long as everyone runs from us. So go ahead, Melody, and see how far you make it." He nodded at his soldiers.
They released her arms. She bit her lip, looking unsure. Her mother shook her head. "I'm staying." She huffed, crossing her arms defiantly.
"Good girl," MECH's leader congratulated, like she was a puppy learning to perform tricks. "You made the right choice."
"You look like a freak!" She shot back, sticking her tongue out at the scars marring his face.
"Your cell phones." Silas ordered.
Oliver and his mother reluctantly pulled theirs out and tossed them at his feet. Will tugged his out of his back pocket at lobbed it at his face, "Catch."
To their surprise, Silas caught it and pocketed it along with the others. "Do not test me."
"There goes the picture." Oliver muttered.
"And I was just about to call the cops!" Will complained loudly, making sure the soldiers and their leader could hear him. He couldn't have, of course, the soldiers had his arms pinned behind his back. "You better not wreck my high score on Angry Birds or Clash Royale!"
The squad of soldiers roughly shoved them into a large cell while Silas watched, hands folded behind his back.
"Let me guess, all the five-star hotels were sold out." Will huffed sarcastically, brushing off his arms as they pulled their blindfolds off.
"I'm afraid so. Try to get comfortable." Silas' smirk was something one would never want to see on a dentist before pulling a tooth. He walked away, following the soldiers.
Oliver cupped his hands around his mouth, "HAVE FUN SLEEPING TONIGHT!"
His mother shushed him, pulling his arms down. "Don't!" She hissed.
"Same to you." MECH's leader replied cooly without turning to face them.
A few minutes later, Silas was alone in his "office," the light of his computer's screensaver spilling over him, shadows pooling in his scars. He grabbed one of the children's cell phones off his desk, activating it. He input a few buttons, then held it up to his ear. It rang no less than twice before he received a response.
I pressed a button on the main console's screen, annoyed. Seven hovered over my shoulder, "Who is it?" he asked me.
"What is it this time, Oliver?" I asked.
The voice that answered was cold, condescending, and much older, far from the one I expected. "Starscream, have you no regard for your health? You should be in bed."
"Silas!" I exclaimed, "You better pray that I am the next time we meet, because the things I'm going to do to you–"
Seven shushed me, jerking his helm at the children on the platform and Bumblebee behind them, staring at their television screen. I lowered the comm's volume until it was nearly a whisper.
MECH's leader chuckled darkly, "All in due time. Hear from your human friends lately?"
"They are not my 'friends,'" I snapped quietly. My clone awarded me with a sarcastic nod. "… why?"
He tsked, "I thought you Autobots would keep better tabs on your humans than this, as they are currently in my custody."
"How!?" Seven gasped.
The leader of MECH ignored him, "Fortunately for you, I have a proposal. Turn yourself over and we will not only cure you, but allow your four… acquaintances to go free. Everyone wins."
"Four?" I was confused.
"Did I not mention the others? Oliver's family and Will, is it?"
"No!" Seven hissed quietly.
"You–have they been harmed?" I growled.
"Not yet. But Starscream," he said through a crackle of static, "what is the right decision?" The line went dead.
"Frag!" I spat, slamming a fist down onto the console. The screen flickered. "This is between us." I glared at Seven, making sure he understood.
"Was I going to tell anyone?"
"One cannot be too careful," I muttered, "we need to act fast, and the others would only be a burden."
"You're not going to surrender, are you?" Seven gasped. I glared at him some more. "Right."
"Not a word about this, to anyone!" I snapped feverishly, beginning to pace back and forth.
"I heard you the first time!" He shot back. "But how will we rescue them?" My clone's optics were tumultuous.
"You could make a diversion and I could sneak in and free them–"
"We don't even know their base's location!" Seven reasoned.
"Then we have to find it, don't we?"
"Of course we do."
Ratchet walked in from the hall, leading Knock Out behind him in a pair of cuffs. "What is going on here?" The old bot asked suspiciously.
Seven and I exchanged looks. "Nothing," my clone covered hastily.
"Oh? It sure sounded like something." He pressed. Knock Out simply stared at me, not even complaining about the long, thin scratch across his front. I faked a cough into my fist and he flinched. Seven cast me a sideways glance. I winked at him. A smirk ghosted his faceplates, so faint it might've been my imagination. But then it fell into a somber frown and he broke optic contact, unintentionally ruining the moment.
"So it's true then, isn't it?" The red mech breathed.
Seven glared at him, "Was last night not evidence enough for you?"
I looked to Ratchet pleadingly.
"All right, Bumblebee, Seven, please acquaint our 'guest' to his workspace. Starscream, come with me. I'd like to show you something." The white medic said.
"Why can't I come?" Knock Out challenged. Seven's wings twitched as if he was thinking the same thing.
Ratchet stopped, turning to face the other bot. "Unless you would rather play with your chemistry set in a cell…"
I heard Seven hiss to Bumblebee, "He was looking at me too! Me! And after all I've done for you…" Ratchet and I turned around a corner and his voice faded away.
We finally entered the section of our base housing the Iacon relics we had managed to recover from Decepticon servos. To my surprise, Bulkhead and Arcee stood in front of one of the doors. The green mech held it open while Optimus carried an armload of something glowing red over the threshold.
"That's the last of it?" Bulkhead affirmed, none of them seeing us just yet.
"Indeed." Optimus answered with a grunt as he lowered whatever-it-was into the storage vault. Clearly it had some weight to it.
"Shame that it is," Arcee said, "we could've really put that to use."
"Put what to use?" I queried, walking over to them.
"Bulkhead found a cache of red energon." Optimus answered, stepping out. Bulkhead smiled proudly, lowering the door.
"The 'Cons will never see us coming!" Arcee smirked.
Ratchet choked, "Did you say red energon?!" Optimus motioned for us to look in through the small windows on the door. The medic and I ran over, nearly pressing our faceplates against the frosted glass to afford a better look.
My optics were met with glowing and unmistakably red hued energon. A massive chunk of the pure, unrefined crystals.
"An extremely rare and volatile form of energon," I breathed, optics wide in awe, "when processed into fuel, bestows hyperspeed upon the user." They all looked at me as if wondering how I had learned of that. "Or so I've been told." I added.
"Do not disbelieve it," Optimus said, "we must never allow this to fall into the servos of the Decepticons. At all costs."
"This very well might just turn the tide of this war," Arcee reasoned, "with the red energon and Apex Armor, you would be virtually invincible!"
"I would steer clear of this one altogether, Primus knows what–" I dropped the rather large saw I was showing to Knock Out as Starscream dashed into the main atrium of our base.
"Careful, Turbo." The red mech drawled.
Starscream faced the three humans, "Rafael, might you be able to pinpoint the location of MECH's base of operations?"
The boy set his controller down and straightened his shirt. "I might, if I had access to a government database… why?"
My double didn't answer him and instead looked at me. His optics and the determined smirk on his faceplates said enough.
A/N: Starscream has plans too.