Movin along pretty well, if I do say s myself. I finally decided where this is going. Took years, but eh..

Back at Central, Ratchet had done an autopsy of sorts on a couple of the mechs or femmes that had been killed to see if he could glean more about how the elusive mech was killing others. He found the usual battering, claw marks and whatnot. So far, he'd had no answers and most of the bodies that were brought back to him weren't substantial evidence to rule out what all had been done.

Once he got this new mech, it was new enough to get more and different readings from them. His findings were unbelievable but what had him absolutely confounded still was the missing residual spark energy. How was it being taken? There was just no way on Cybertron that a known means could take spark residue so quickly. This body was proof that it's not even timing, it's just gone. And if so, the victim had to be alive for it to happen. Doing some digging and coming up with nothing, Ratchet turned to the only other computer that might have something on this. It had to be somewhere, as he had never heard of it before and it was happening now.

As he accessed Vector Sigma, it immediately showed that it had recently been hacked into. The only ones who would have to hack, would be the Decepticons. Following the information on this hack, he realized someone else was also highly interested in this killer, but the trail went cold, so he had to search on his own. After a while of trudging through the files and folders, he finally came upon something that might be a hit. It was labeled 'Myths of Sickness'. Sickness was rather unheard of on Cybertron, so of course, curious if this might have what he was looking for, he opened it up. To his amazement, he found similarities that made him think twice about myths actually being fake. Several were listed that he read up on, though none of them had the symptoms he was looking for.

Finally, he came upon what was described as a vampiric mech that fed off the energy of living sparks. It was a vile creature hated by all. The only sure way to get rid of him was to exile them to a distant planet, where it's said they eventually starve or eat their own sparks.

It was written that Charr was the planet of choice for exile, and there they were kept. Eventually they all killed themselves out, and thus started the many horror stories of Charr and why one should never go there. Charr was to be feared because it was the home of the Devourer – the stories were to ward off inexperienced younglings who wanted to go to another planet too soon – when in reality, it was somewhat a scarily true story. He turned to his data pad that he'd been keeping notes on. Gathering all of the facts, he decided to tell his leader about this.

Because of his data collection abilities, Rewind was always the mini-bot of choice to be sent on reconnaissance missions via Blaster. This time, he had been sent to the Decepticon's city of Kaon to infiltrate the Decepticons to get information on their next plans. Steeljaw had gone with him since he was much faster, though he remained on the outskirts while Rewind made his way deeper. What he had come across was something no one would have considered possible.

He'd happened upon the brig when hearing something peculiar. Hunching down in an unseen spot, the small Autobot watched and began recording at the strange sight before him. Soundwave, Megatron and Starscream were in this room and Starscream was shackled in a cell. Perhaps they were torturing him. Megatron was in there with him, taunting him then something remarkable happened.

Now, he had heard of the mystery killer a time or two, so he wasn't unfamiliar with the story, yet before him, some questions were about to be answered. It began when Soundwave gave a strange, ominous warning and Starscream started to… change.

Rewind stared in absolute stupefaction when Starscream attacked Megatron. He was even more surprised that Starscream actually had the upper hand and looked like he would kill him. It was then that Megatron fired his cannon at him. It took him a moment to see that Megatron had shot him up close with his cannon and Starscream seemed relatively unharmed by it. Just what was happening here? This was bad. No one had ever lived to tell after being shot at that range.

And he probably would have won if Megatron hadn't shot him. Slag! "Steeljaw, get away from here and contact Optimus right away! We have a big problem!"

Steeljaw, expecting this to be another one of Rewinds melodramatic calls, replied casually,"What is it?"

"It –it's Starscream! He's… Holy, Primus, get Optimus, hurry!" He frowned in revulsion when Starscream had attacked the other mech.

Shortly after, he knew he'd been spotted and quickly took off. Somehow, he knew Starscream wasn't going to tell Megatron he'd seen him – as if he wanted the Autobots to know. Rewind saw his expression; it was spiteful yet charismatic. Almost as to say: 'Now you no longer have to wonder.' He would give the Autobots an upfront view of these new developments within the Decepticons.

Creepy…

Rewind bolted to where Steeljaw had found shelter for a moment before they made their way out of Kaon. "This is Optimus, what is your situation, Rewind?"

"I'm in route with sensitive information. I can't chance it on the lines; it will have to wait till we get there. You're never gonna believe this, Optimus!"

After all of the information he had gathered on the killer, he was convinced of what was going on and he needed to tell Optimus immediately. He also had a hunch on who it was, absurd as the idea was. He'd entered just as Starscream was starting to change on the video provided by Rewind.

"The killer, it's…" he gave a long pause as he realized what he was seeing on the screen confirmed his suspicions. "Starscream…" Ratchet's voice filled from behind those still staring at the screen. He watched what happened as everyone else. What disturbed him was how sentient Starscream was and how he looked right at Rewind afterwards as if he'd known he was there the entire time. Needless to say, they discovered who the killer was. What made it worse, was that Megatron, by the looks of things, would be using him if he can control him. No one was sure whether it was good or bad that Starscream had nearly taken Megatron's spark then and there. No one linked the killings to Starscream. It was too animalistic to be someone as sophisticated as him. How could someone like him end up with such a thing? Something didn't feel right. "He attacked that mech that Hound and Sideswipe brought me not too long ago, just like the rest."

"Does that mean he's the one who's been stealing sparks all along?"

"Looks to be,"

"Okay, who else thinks this is downright bad besides me?" Prowl asked in surprise.

Was it bad for Megatron because now there's something much stronger than himself or bad for the Autobots because they won't be able to stop it either? "Bad for who? The Decepticons, or… everyone?" Jazz asked with a chuckle, knowing how serious of a situation they were in.

"Optimus, how do we stop something like that?" Ironhide asked.

"Yeah, he almost took out Megatron himself with incredible ease!" Red Alert exclaimed, "Look at how close he shot him! Starscream should be dead!"

"We start by getting all of our facts straight," Ratchet interrupted. He tossed a folder down on the table saying, "You will not believe what I found out about all of this. It's preposterous… it's wrong… it's… pure evil."

"Ya know, Ratch, if they're facts, they're not preposterous anymore."

Ratchet gave Jazz a glare.

"What facts?" Optimus then asked, wishing to know more.

"Like the fact that monster there," Ratchet pointed to the monitor, "can not be killed." He figured he'd start with the worst news first. "He's immortal in all senses of the term."

"What do you mean he 'can't be killed'?" Ironhide asked.

"No one who has encountered him has lived… What does that tell you?"

"That tells me he's deadly, not unable to be killed."

"He cannot be killed, Ironhide and he can not be controlled."

"Megatron clearly has him."

"For now," Ratchet's left the words in the air.

"What're you trying to say? That he's unstoppable?"

"Wasn't it proof right there when Megatron shot him?"

"But that's Starscream! The sniveling, traitorous coward!"

"Yes, it is. He's been cursed – infected in a way by someone of higher power than us."

"Cursed? Seriously? Ratchet, I know you go to extremes sometimes, but right now doesn't call for that."

"Stop it. I have done all the research I can. This is something only higher powered creatures not of this realm can do. Megatron has his hands on something incredibly dangerous."

"Higher powered?" chimed another, "What are you talking about? Like what?"

"Like a god."

"Ratchet, you're talking nonsense. Gods are myths, fakes even by some. You, yourself have said you didn't believe in them…"

"-I know what I said," Ratchet growled, cutting the mech off mid-sentence. "But the fact remains. Remarkable as it sounds, I am telling you that Starscream has been infected by one."

"Infected by what exactly?"

"It's known as 'The Fallen'. The Devourer. I'm sure you've heard of it. It's called such because of the one who fell out of Primus' rankings to join Unicron, only Unicron did not accept them and instead turned them into this monster, only to use it as a weapon against Primus. You also should know that this creature was supposedly the demise of Prima."

"So, this curse makes him eat others' spark energy?"

"Yes. In fact, what you saw on that feed was similar."

"That's disgusting."

"His Spark is a literal black hole for Sparks. What's strange is, I also think he's very aware of what is going on, which is contrary to the myth, as the one with this problem has no memory of doing this. They are non-sentient."

"That video showed the look in his optics, and not the evil, but the dark pleasure in seeing Rewind, which I am sure he did. It was intentional."

"So how do we get rid of him? If he can't be killed, can he be cured?"

"Unfortunately, not only can Starscream not be killed by any conventional means, but there is absolutely no cure. The only answer I found was exile to Charr. There, they starve until they feed upon themselves."

"Feed upon themselves?" Jazz echoed in disbelief, trying to picture what that might entail, "What in the pit?"

"Be that as it may…" Ratchet agreed, "I still don't have sufficient data on Starscream yet to know anything more and I need to do more research into this." He glanced at the screen, remembering Soundwave's warning. "It seems Soundwave already knows how dangerous this is."

"Well, now that we know what's wrong with him, can we capture him?"

"I don't think so."

"What we saw was only an example. I will need to get into his lab. He must have records of this somewhere. I know him. He would gather as much information as he could about his situation."

"I'll send someone right away,"

"Be careful. If what you said is true, then Soundwave is already all over this." He was wondering to himself, just as he was sure others were, what Megatron was going to do to Starscream now that he had him – or thought he did. Voicing his opinion, Prowl then said, "Megatron may try to use him against us."

The implications of this were horrible and all quickly realized just how bad it could get. "You know Megs, he'll control him somehow." Jazz added, "I'd say that's probably his plan. If that's the case, Optimus, I do believe we have a certifiably enormous problem on our hands,"

Prowl agreed, "You said yourself that to this day, no one has survived an encounter with him."

"'Cept Megatron," Jazz chuckled. There was one survivor now… He couldn't help but laugh at the thought of Megatron being beat up by Starscream. "I'm sure that's a massive hit to his ego."

Ignoring the prattle, Ratchet said to Optimus, "As soon as I know more, so will you. I'll need Wheeljack on this, along with Sideswipe. He's the only one to my knowledge who knows the latest about Starscream.

"Do everything you can, Ratchet."

Now the Autobots know...