Two Weeks Later

Starscream

I shot through the air, gleefully patrolling my territory with two of my fellow Hell Seekers, vulture twins Tamo and Sumi, tailing me.

Tamo called after me, "So, boss, how's it feel to be the quickest Overlord to rise to power?"

I answered, "Oh, I quite expected this. After all, I had you, my elite Hell Seekers, beside me."

"Oh stop it, you're making me blush," Sumi responded. I don't know why, but she had a habit of getting flustered around me, much to her brother's amusement. Tamo always calls her a 'simp,' whatever that means.

As we were flying, the rest of my Hell Seekers flew up. Dainty, the clean-freak bat girl, Stinger, the brutish wasp man, and Lucia, the light-touting hawk girl. Dainty and Stinger paired and fell into formation beside Tamo and Sumi, with Lucia taking place beside me.

See, because there are only six Hell Seekers, including myself, there's not enough to organize us into the usual trines, or trios. Rather, to both have enough seeker divisions with no one being alone, I decided to organize us into pairs. Me and Lucia, Dainty and Stinger, and Tamo and Sumi were the three pairs.

Lucia called out, "So, partner, what's the plan for today? Wanna go visit Cannibal town, fuck the Vees up some more, or strike a deal with Carmilla for some weapons?"

"No, Lucia. I have an appointment with Baxter, and I can't skimp out on him. If I'm late or early, he'll freak out."

"Oh, right. I don't get why that little cuck gets all worked up when you're not on time." Lucia responded.

"I don't know either. He just wants me to arrive on the dot. In the meantime, Lucia, get the shipment and meet me at Baxter's. The rest of you, remain on patrol."

"Sir yes sir!" they shouted before flying to do their assignments. As they did, I flew to the location of Baxter's underground lab. Where he had his lab, you could see the Extermination Clock. The Extermination ended a while ago, but I still haven't decided to tell the others about what happened.

After a bit, Lucia came back with the box of shipments. "I got the shit!" she called.

"Good," I responded, "now, remain here. Baxter barely allows me in, let alone you."

"Got it, partner," she noted before assuming a guard stance.

After a few seconds, the allotted time of my arrival came. Baxter opened the door.

"You here? Good. Come in." he muttered.

I walked into the lab, following the light of the little inventor. As we walked, he inquisitively asked, "So, have you... told them yet?"

"About what?" I asked, seeing as there were two secrets I was hiding from the others.

He clarified, "The 'Carmine' shipment."

I sighed. "By Primus, of course not. Do you realize the chaos that would result if people knew what I did in the Extermination?"

"Good point, yeah, that would be bad," Baxter admitted.

We walked over to the main room, instruments all around. I saw computers, a radio, vials, chemical containers, a welding table, a toolbox, and a television, muted yet set to the news. He motioned towards a table, and I set the shipment down, opening the container.

Inside were two main things. One, actual Carmine guns, two, the corpse of the Exterminator I killed.

Baxter admired, "So, you really did kill an Angel, huh? Not surprising for your kind."

I regarded him as I moved on to other matters. "Baxter," I asked, "did you design the tech I requested."

"Just a sec... Aha! Got it right here!" he answered, pulling a container. I looked inside and saw the rocket propulsion boots and arm attachments. He added, "All I needed was the Carmine weapons you just brought in. Speaking of..." he held out his hand expectantly.

I obliged, handing him the weapons. He took the two Carmine weapons and combined them with the arm attachments. After a few minutes of fiddling, he was finished.

He handed me the attachments, instructing, "Now, try them on."

I did, replacing my black combat boots with the new gray and blue rocket propulsion boots. When I finished with that, I placed the attachments onto my arms.

I congratulated him, "You know, Baxter, you are quite the extraordinaire with technology. And I expected no less from the great-uncle of my old friend, Dr. Henri Arkeville."

He simply thanked me as he instructed, "Thanks. Anyways, the boots operate by reading mind signals. You think, 'fly', and they activate. Also, the boosters on the boots have covers that fold to protect the thrusters while not in use"

I asked, "And the guns?"

"Oh, right, the guns. Well, the guns have a flip-out handle with a button to activate them. As well, the guns can fold in for a less intrusive size."

"Ah, thank you. And, you did make some for the others, didn't you?" I asked.

Baxter responded, "Yep. I made six, all identical apart from the size. However, according to your special instruction, yours is the only one with Carmine weapons, the rest are normal."

I regarded, "Very good. Now, about the other matter."

"Right," Baxter remembered, "come this way."

We walked over to the console displaying what I told him to analyze. While Baxter and I were walking, he spoke back, saying, "You know, I recognized you the moment I saw you on TV."

I chucked, "Oh how funny it is."

"What's funny?" this little angler asked.

"Oh, just that we worked together in life, and now we work together in death."

He snickered, "Yeah, that is kinda funny."

We eventually got to the console and Baxter explained, "So! These are the readings from your blood scans."

"And?" I asked.

"Well, this confirms what we've feared; being a Cybertronian in Hell is having strange effects. Particularly, your blood."

He walked over to a set of vials and continued, "As you can see, your Energon is purple, not blue. My guess is that being in Hell is making your Energon blood behave like Dark Energon. Hence the Scraplets."

"Ugh. Any good news?"

"Well," he went to a computer, "we do have this."

"And... what is this?"

"According to your scans, being a Cybertronian in Hell makes you far more durable than any other Sinner."

"Meaning?" I asked.

"That would make you near immortal at least. See, according to my calculations, the only way you could be killed is if your Spark was directly hit by a beam of Holy energy. However, the chances of that happening are close to zero, as your Spark Chamber would have to be damaged enough to have your Spark exposed for that to happen."

I noted, "Very interesting. Anything else?"

"Yeah, are you going to tell anyone else about you being a Cybertronian?" Baxter asked.

I stiffened, responding, "Baxter, you do realize that there are only three reasons I told you. One, you already knew me in life. Two, I needed someone who knew so I could get help from them. Three, I trust the Arkeville family, as they've been my allies for decades."

Baxter defended, "Dude, chill the fuck out. I didn't actually think you'd tell anyone else. But, I am asking now, are you worried about your research being found and abused? Because you made some pretty dangerous findings."

"Oh, no. I destroyed my research long ago." I answered.

Baxter seemed offended by this. "Wha- why the fuck would you destroy your research? What you found was dangerous, but it was great too!"

I reassured, "Relax. I stored all of my research in my own circuits. Plus, I have eidetic memory. Trust me, my research is still intact, but any physical or digital record of it was destroyed."

"Oh thank goodness. But, you're going to have to use your research eventually! Your findings are too great to keep them buried!" Baxter called.

"Ugh, whatever," I called back, about to walk out. However, something on the news caught my eye.

I asked, "Baxter, can you do me a favor and turn the volume on the TV up?"

"Sure, why?" he asked.

"I just wanna watch. Look." I responded. He turned up the volume, and it showed that Charlie Morningstar, Lucifer's daughter, was on the news.

Baxter and I just sat there, watching what the princess was saying. From what I could gather, she was opening a hotel. However, she didn't seem to get her point across. So, she eventually resorted to singing about whatever she wanted to say.

She softly sang, "I have a dream, I'm here to tell; About a wonderful fantastic new hotel! Yes, it's one of a kind, right here in Hell! Catering to a specific clientele! (Ooooh)"

She then jumped up and began dancing. "Inside of every demon is a rainbow, Inside every sinner is a shiny smile! Inside of every creepy hatchet-wielding maniac, Is a jolly, happy, cupcake-loving child! We can turn around, they'll be heaven-bound; With just a little time down at the Happy Hotel!"

"So, all you junkies, freaks and weirdos, creepers, fuck-ups, crooks and zeroes, And downfallen superheroes, help is here!" she belted, "All of you cretins, sluts and losers, sexual deviants and boozersx And prescription drug abusers, need not fear! Forever again, we'll cure your sin! We'll make you well, you'll feel so swell Right here in Hell at the Happy Hotel!"

She somehow got more energetic. "There'll be no more fire and no more screams, Just puppy dog kisses and cotton candy dreams, And puffy-wuffy clouds, you're gonna be like, wow! Once you check in with me! So, all your cartoon porn addictions, vegan rants, psychic predictions, Ancient Roman crucifixions end right here! All you monsters, thieves and crazies, cannibals and crying babies, Frothing mouth is full of rabies, filled with cheer! You'll be complete, it'll be so neat, Our service can't be beat, you'll be on easy street, yes, Life will be sweet at the Happy Hotel!Yeah!"

I initially thought that her singing was a bit frivolous, but her song got her point across better than any speech I've ever heard. Looking at her reminded me of myself when I was younger; the bright-eyed dreamer who snuck out to flying and science lessons his father never let him go to; the enthusiastic young bot who snuck out with friends his father didn't approve of; the amateur explorer who adored his mother and always went with her on expeditions. I don't know if I was projecting or what, but I felt this connection with her, like the one I felt... Long ago.

Immediately, someone called her song shit. The audience began either booing or laughing at her. Even the news anchor, that Katie Killjoy-whatever, began belittling the Princess, mocking her for thinking that any Sinner in Hell could or would redeem themself. Watching this made me furious, more furious than I realistically should have been watching this. Maybe it was because the princess reminded me of Alexis, a human girl I knew dearly.

In response to the mockery, Charlie called upon Angel Dust as being her example of a Sinner redeemed, claiming that he had been clean for two weeks. For some reason, that name sounded familiar. It took a second for it to click in my head, but I eventually realized why it was familiar.

"Angel Dust..." I asked, "That's one of Valentino's top, well, 'actors', right?"

Baxter responded, "I dunno. Although, why would you know?"

"I kept on seeing his name on the posters around Valentino's studio when I attacked." I defended. Obviously, I would never dabble in such depravity.

"Oh, right. You kicked the Vee's asses, obviously, you'd see stuff like that." Baxter agreed.

I brushed him off as I turned my attention back to the news. At this point, live footage was showing Angel Dust participating in a battle between Sir Pentious, another inventor, and Cherri Bomb. The audience began laughing even more in response, with Killjoy mocking Charlie even more. I began snarling in response.

"That bot-fragging whore is fragging it up for her!" I yelled.

Baxter reasoned, "Dude, relax. Do you even know her? No! So why the fuck do you care so much?"

I didn't have any response. Rather, I grabbed Baxter and began running to the door. I barely registered him shouting at me while I left the lab. I quickly ordered Lucia to follow me and have the others converge on the location of the hotel, along with giving her a brief explanation of what the hotel was.

She yelled after me, "Hold on, you want us to go to the Princess' 'Happy Hotel'? Why?"

I excused, "Because I think what she's doing could actually work!" However, in truth, I didn't know if I actually believed what she was trying to do would work. What actually made me want to go help her was this strange feeling I had.

This feeling... I only felt it three times before, and it always made me do stupid things. The first time I felt this was with Jetfire, and it made me fly all around the Arctic to look for him when he got lost, nearly getting myself frozen in the process. The second time I felt this was with Windblade, and it made me step down to let her lead. The third time I felt this feeling was with Alexis, and it made me jump at Galvatron to destroy him, getting him and myself killed. And now, this feeling was making me fly off to help a Princess I barely knew with a project I wasn't sure would work.

Just to clear any confusion, in this AU, Baxter is Baxter Arkeville, and his great-nephew (the son of his nephew) is Henri Arkevile, AKA Dr. Arkeville from the G1 Transformers cartoon.

Also, Starscream did eventually save Jetfire, and he did save Alexis and destroy Galvatron. So he didn't die in vain.