Well, finally I've managed to publish this new chapter; don't worry than I won't give this story up. I must thank to Naphtaly Phoenix who had beta-readied this for me wonderfully in grammar, spelling and plot holes. Thank you!
On the other hand, I have to say this story is NOT related with any other G-1/Armada X-over at all. It's totally original of mine and I have a clear intention writing this; therefore, if you see another fic with a similar idea to mine, it isn't related with mine at all.
This story is coming to its end, and here you'll find some events are finally solved and some interesting character development. I also wrote the chapter-11, but you'll have to wait to read it.
This chapter happens on Canary Islands. I found fair it would happen this after TF visited the Gran Chaco, Kamchatka and other places... I think I have the right to develop a story in my native country, after all. :-P
Well, go ahead with this story...
Chapter-10
"The Fight of the Stars"
Lanzarote is the most volcanically active member of the Canary Islands. It is also the closest to Africa and it is known for it's wonderful landscapes. It could be said that the Decepticons had taken an interest that island recently but it wasn't because of those landscapes, the little, yellow-spotted bananas that were characteristic of the Canary Islands, or those little song birds called "canaries"… Their interests lay in the areas volcanic activity
The Timanfaya region is the most active Lanzarote's volcanic region. Hawaiian-type volcanoes, also called shield volcanoes, have grown up like mushrooms all over the region. There are also geysers and lapilli, and the red and black lapilli extended inches below the earth surface, scorched by the volcanoes. If a stray Decepticon required a recharge session, he just needed to land here and take a walk around; surely he could easily make a fresh energon cube.
The Decepticon Air Commander knew all of this, and now he flew rely towards the eastern Canary Islands; beneath him he could see the big island and the two little islands located near the northern coast, Graciosa and Alegranza (1), funny names they were. Back in hid days as a scientist surely he would have been interested in Lanzarote due to its number of endemic life forms, such as those tiny white crabs that lived in an only natural pool created by volcanic eruptions. Humans, curious as they were, often visited the place with child-like fascination. Their curiosity wasn't scientist like at all.
Putting aside his thoughts on the matter, he headed up towards the Timanfaya region, the place where his plans were going on; there, if everything went according to his plans, he would get what he wanted. He had many good reasons for choosing this volcanic island as the location for his meeting with his namesake.
Soon he saw dromedary caravans indicating tourists, most of them were from northern Europe, some were from North America, and all of them were assisted by the locals. His target, however, wasn't the dromedaries or the annoying tourist with their annoying "It's exciting" speeches, but rather it was the highest point of the Timanfaya region, where there was a hill filled with geysers and an open door to the Earth's heart.
The dromedaries were the first ones to notice his approach; soon thereafter their owners saw the cause of the beasts' fear: some silver-white war plane was advancing at a worrying speed and it didn't seem as though it was going to change its path. Suddenly, the plane transformed in midair with a loud, cracking sound, and it turned into a fierce robotic form who laughed scathingly at the sight of the dromedaries that began running away along with their scared riders. The rest of the tourist filled the air with the sound of helpless cries in different languages: French, German, Spanish, English, Italian… Starscream knew them all and he found it amusing how they all sounded very much alike no matter the speaker.
Finally he landed on the top of a hill. Surrounding him was a sea of black, red, grey, orange and yellow rocks and lapilli, above him the blue sky was covered with clouds typical of Canary Islands. Now, the place was indeed a desert: the humans had run away giving him some time to be alone without interruption. Starscream smiled confidently as he walked towards the building near the top of the hill. In the middle of it, there was a big hole that opened into the belly of the volcano, here he knew he would be able to find what he was looking for. Humans took advantage of this particular energy source… to roast meat. He needed this energy source for a different purpose, so he used his big (by human standards) blue hands to open the of the building. Once that was done, he used his hands to fill a cube with magma which become bright and iridescent pink energon. Afterwards, Starscream sipped the energon with a glint of deceit in his optics before looking off towards the east coast.
He had recharged himself with volcanic energon, and now, he felt ready to carry out his plans
The day that Starscream was going to show his counterpart the abilities he gained when he powered up by Swindle, he made a surprising discovery about himself. His surprise was caused by the sight of his reflection in the mirror in the sanitary room he had for keeping his body up. He couldn't help staring at his image in awe: his reflection was now almost identical to his namesake.
In some ways it was like his blue and red paintjobs had combined into one and the result was uncomfortably similar to the Air Commander's colour scheme. His wings, face, shoulders... all the panels that had been white had revered back to his old colour scheme. The blue panels that remained (forearms, feet, etc) coordinated with the location of the blue panels in his counterpart's colour scheme, as well the red panels. Only his cockpit remained the same colour, yellow... just like his namesake's in this universe, the Air Commander. In addition, his optics, remained blue as well. However, Swindle still being blue, just like his later upgrade form; the little Minicon wasn't changed at all, and apparently, it meant this universe was affecting to him, only.
Starscream had assumed this as something caused by his entrance into this new universe, so he hadn't been to worried about it because he felt the same as always and his auto-scans didn't indicate that anything was wrong; he was just surprised by his new colour scheme. But now he couldn't ignore the fact that he looked awfully similar to the Air Commander; perhaps the process that was changing him back to his old colour scheme was only half done and he just looked like a mix of his older and newest version of him till become red again. However, his currents appearance was worrying. Swindle hadn't given him a good explanation either, he had just shrugged at this phenomenon... But now Starscream couldn't help staring at his Minicon while waiting for a good answer; he was quite sure that Swindle knew something, if not everything, about this.
"Don't try to ignore me!" answered the seeker in a sharp tone, "This isn't normal…and you know what's happening to me!"
Swindle beeped back an answer in his usual manner.
"Is this really necessary? I really would like to know what's going on here! I am pretty sure you know about it." grunted Starscream, half annoyed, half surprised. "Ok! Let's finish this."
The little blue Minicon nodded joyfully and jumped to his master's arm, connecting himself in his usual place. They both tried to look nonchalant , like nothing was going on as they stepped out of their personal room and headed towards the elevator which would conduct them out the Decepticon's HQ. During his walk, Starscream passed next to some of his new "companions" who seemed to ignore him even though he was about to leave headquarters. Apparently they all assumed that seekers needed to fly from time to time in order to keep them "sane"; thus none of them were about to stop him, especially since he had received Megatron's permission to leave.
Or so he thought.
"Report, Soundwave." Megatron ordered his Communications Officer while receiving the report about his troops' activities.
"Both Starscream have left quarters. Their codes were typed in at the main entrance." reported the masked Decepticon.
"I knew this was going to happen," answered Megatron. "Starscream always leaves headquarters to fly around after spending several days inside the base, but with both of them gone this is more than just a coincidence. You did a good job warning me about them, Soundwave. Now, let's see what is going on between those two."
"As you comand, Megatron," Soundwave answered in his usual fashion, showing no sign any feeling after being congratulated by Megatron. The indigo mecha opened his chest and one of his cassettes jumped out. "Laserbeak. Operation: Surveillance."
The flying robotic bird transformed in midair, and answered Soundwave with a screech, instead of words. After all, Laserbeak was almost unable to speak while the Communications Officer was unwilling to talk. Later the left the quarters and flew after the seeker.
Megatron smiled to himself, wishing all his troops were as loyal as Laserbeak was,despite the fact that he thought the cassettecon as a coward.
"Now, we will find the truth about that other Starscream," he announced turning his gaze towards his Communicators Officer.
Unaware of Megatron's gaze, Soundwave remained silent, He agreed with his leader all the same he wanted to learn more about what was happening before anybody else.
"Teletran-1 has detected the signal, Prime," exclaimed Wheeljack suddenly, "There is an energy signal matching the samples' signature we found and it's moving quickly towards Africa's west coast."
"Are you sure, Wheeljack?" asked Prime, anxiously.
"It's right. The pattern is identical, although I cannot recognize its owner," answered the Autobot technician, his ears shining. "But if it's moving with such speedthen that means it's a mecha like us. Humans' technology cannot match that speed."
"Certainly it is moving really fast," ventured Optimus as he read the data on Teletran' screen.
"I think the signature belongs to the odd seeker I met, Optimus," announced Skyfire, "We couldn't test the device we made, but it's the only explication for such speed."
"I hope you aren't wrong, Skyfire," answered Optimus. "Can you calculate the coordinates of it's destination, Wheeljack?" asked the Prime.
"I'll try, Optimus."
The technician typed something on Teletran's keyboard and, though it took awhile, some coordinates finally appeared on screen, the reflection of which could be seen in Wheeljack's optics. When this happened Wheeljack relaxed.
"Its landing could change, but according to its speed, direction and altitude ... it seems it's destination is in Morocco, West Sahara or Mauritania's coast," he stated.
"That doesn't make sense," replied Optimus. "Those human nations have little resources; the D-cons wouldn't get anything useful from them."
"Prime... I think if our target is the seeker I met, he would be looking for something different. Perhaps he even isn't interested in getting energon but just flying around."
"We cannot be sure till we meet him, 'Fire," replied Optimus. "But if we can presume his destination, we must meet him."
"...So?" asked Wheeljack.
"I shall carry all of you and we will use our new detector to determine its destination" offered Sky fire, courteously, "I'm a very fast flyer, after all."
"Thanks, Skyfire" acknowledged Prime, "Now, Autobots--transform and roll out!" cried Prime in his usual fashion.
Shortly afterwards, Skyfire transformed to his alt-mode and he allowed the Autobot leader and Wheeljack to enter his cargo hold. This wasn't the first time he had carried Autobots, Prime included, inside his alt-mode, after all.
All of this happened in front of the surprised optics of the two highest ranking Autobots, who watched the scene in wonder.
"I told 'ya this is odd," announced Jazz as he watched Skyfire fly away carrying Optimus and Wheeljack inside. "Prime certainly has been acting odd since Skyfire talked with him in private a few days ago. We did well spying on 'em."
"I know," answered Prowl laconically. "And now I'm pretty sure it's because of the armour samples than Wheeljack, Ratchet, Perceptor and Skyfire had been studying all these days."
"Oh, you've figured it out then?" Jazz teased in his usual fashion with a smile.
"You know what I mean," growled Prowl.
Jazz giggled, but soon his expression turned serious. "Did Ratchet or Preceptor say anything about what's going on?...Perhaps we should make a move, too." He ventured.
"No, they didn't." Prowl's faced turned dark, "You know how Perceptor is… and Ratchet, despite the fact that he's closer Wheeljack than we are, knows nothing."
"So…?"
"You don't need to ask twice," answered Prowl. "We shall keep an eye on them."
"Of course, but before all that…" Jazz began to say as he turned back towards the Ark's entrance, "I need a break… take care of it yourself, ok?"
Prowl snorted; Jazz always was playful.
Starscream didn't have to wait for long. He had given his namesake instructions to help him to avoid looking suspicious. The Air Commander knew Megatron would find it intriguing that his second-in-comand was leaving HQ to have a meeting with his counterpart alone...Especially since Megatron was already aware of the visits this foreign Starscream had been giving his counterpart. Apparently, and much to Starscream's annoyance, Megatron seemed to like his counterpart for some reason, so the Decepticon leader said nothing about the Starscreams' previous encounters. However this didn't stop Megatron from taking advantage of the Air Commander using his namesake as a "strike force". Starscream didn't know why Megatron acted so friendly towards his namesake except for the fact that he enjoyed using the other Starscream's presence against the Air Commander and as matter of fact, there was a lot he wasn't sure about. His counterpart seemed to obey Megatron because some bizarre mix of loyalty and fear, not because he also had sympathy for the Decepticon leader; in fact, the Air Commander remembered all those times that his namesake had sworn to him he didn't mean to be a threat to him, but he could understood his fear and he might support him… but he still called their leader, "Sir".
At this point, Starscream shook his head, trying to push away such gloomy thoughts; his objective was quite clear, and it seemed that his counterpart was going to obey him no matter what explanations he was given; that was all that mattered. But, why? Perhaps it was because that Minicon thing of his seemed to agree with the Air Commander, or maybe it was because the Minicon seemed to like him... or perhaps it was because this Starscream felt linked to him somehow.
No! Not thoughts again! Starscream tried to push away the bizarre feelings that welled he had when he thought of the possibility. His counterpart pitying him? Taking care of him? Being friendly with him? No way! He didn't want any of that! He just wanted to see how powerful his namesake was! And later…
Suddenly, his sensors indicated that something was in the immediate vicinity. Starscream raised his head and focused his optics on the west, where the signal was coming from. If those moronic tourist that had been in the Timanfaya region earlier called for help, then the Autobots might show up to chase him off.. or perhaps was some human army. Which human nation did the Canary Islands belong? Morocco? Mauritania? No, according to his data banks it wasn't any of those countries, it was Spain. And, despite its history, this European country didn't have the strongest army, either. He could wait here peacefully, or so he thought until he checked his sensors's records and found the newcomer was his counterpart.
"So, he came after all," exclaimed Starscream to himself. "Good."
His namesake was little more than a spot in the grey-blue Canary sky (it was some weather phenomenon that was unique to these islands, it seemed) which was getting closer at an amazing speed. Till now, Starscream hadn't met many mechs able to match him in the sky; Thundercracker and Skywarp were seekers like him, but neither of them were able to even keep up with him when Starscream flew at top speed. Only Skyfire could... but the big white mech wasn't as agile as the Air Commander. But now, Starscream felt a new and uncomfortable sense of rivalry towards his counterpart because he could match him in the air.
But he had more important things to take care of--
The Air Commander ascended into the sky, waiting for his namesake who was getting closer fast. Again, he felt a sharp pain of jealousy as he watched how good the other Starscream was. Shortly afterwards, they were facing each other in midair.
"Transform!" shouted the blue-eyed seeker, and his earthling plane form was changed into his usual robotic shape. "I've come," he announced.
"You'restupid," grunted the Air Commander as greeting. "Why do you keep saying that nonsense every time you transform?"
"That's my business," replied the other seeker in a wayward tone. "My native universe business."
Starscream, the dark-faced one, chuckled mischievously at this. "Of course. As you say." But suddenly, something caught his attention; something he found highly disturbing.
"What is the meaning of this!?" he demanded.
"...What?" exclaimed the other Starscream not understanding, "I've come here, as you requested to me."
"...As I ordered. You are still under my command," corrected the Air Commander. "And I mean that!" he exclaimed pointed at his counterpart's body, his voice sounded even more screechy than usual.
The other Starscream had noticed his counterpart's voice became more and more screechy when he was nervous, uneasy, or even he feared something. Now, he knew the Air Commander was really worried about something to do with him...
"Don't make a fool out of me!" shouted the dark-faced seeker at the lack of an answer from his counterpart. "Did you think I could ignore your colour scheme!?" exclaimed Starscream while pointing at his namesake.
Then, the blue-eyed seeker understood: his current colour scheme was almost identical to his counterpart's, as he would be some short of freak clone of the Air Commander… it made his namesake uneasy.
"What're you trying to do with that!?" the Air Commander demanded to know. "Are you trying to replace me!?" And, without any warning, he aimed his right rifle towards his counterpart.
The other Starscream gasped in surprise; he knew the Air Commander was nervous, but he didn't expected such an extreme reaction from him just because his new, and unpredictable, colour scheme. This was the first time his counterpart did something like that.
"No way!" he replied loudly, "This is the result of the same changing process I've been suffering ever since I got here. I already explained that to you!"
The dark-faced seeker lowered his arm and his red optics flashed at him, "You cheat!", his voice was painfully screechy.
At this point, the Air Commander's behaviour seemed quite unpredictable, even dangerous, so the other Starscream decided to do something drastic: he raised his left hand ,which still being azure, and grabbed his namesake's hand.
"Think what you want," he said. "But if you shoot at me, hen you'll lose your chance at finding out how powerful the fusion process between a Minicon and a common Transformer is. Besides, like I already told you , I have no interest in hurting you, or in replacing you as you seem think. Believe me!" Red optics flashed, "And besides, I don't think my little companion here will agree to collaborate in this demonstration if you hurt me!"
Starscream looked sharply at his namesake, evaluating the truthfulness of the other Starscream's words, before finally lowering his rifle.
"Ok, go ahead with the demonstration. I want to know how powerful you become with the help of that pet of yours."
"You changed your mind really fast," answered the other Starscream.
"I'm not an idiot. I still doubt your intentions, but you're right. If I hurt you, your pet won't agree to collaborate with the demonstration," snorted the Air Commander, "Now, do it."
The blue-eyed seeker glared at his counterpart for some time, feeling hurt and uneasy about his namesake behavior. Despite all his efforts, the Air Commander was still pushing him away as if he had a thing against him… or, in a bizarre way, against himself. Finally he turned to see the volcanic landscapes around them, all the while looking worried. Then, his secondary optic visor lowered and started to kick in. The Air Commander knew his counterpart was scanning the zone; somehow that visor gave him more accurate information than his normal optics sensors, but about what?
"This region is not stable," the blue-eyed seeker announced, suddenly. "The volcanic activity in this area is very high. If I do something here, a lot could go wrong."
"Really?" asked Starscream in his usual mocking tone. "Do you really think your firepower could make one of these volcanoes to erupt?"
"Yeah, I'm pretty sure," answered his namesake, trying to understand why the Air Commander had chosen such place like this for his demonstration.
"I don't care if the volcanoes here erupt or not… Or rather, it would be great if they did; we'd get tons of fresh energon without lifting a finger." explained the silver-white seeker in an over-confident tone.
"So, did you plan on this?" Starscream asked .
"Sort of, yes. Making a volcano erupt is a wonderful chance to get gallons of energon without wasting resources, thus, if it happens, everything will be fine." answered his dark faced counterpart. "Now, start the demonstration."
The blue eyed seeker glared at his counterpart, who still hovered in the air effortlessly, waiting for the demonstration. Knowing he had no other option, he let Swindle disconnect from his forearm, and he kept the little Cybertronian on his the palm, beeping enthusiastically.
"I know we haven't combined recently," said Starscream, "But I think you're getting very excited about this."
Swindle made a face and answered with another string of beeping sounds. The other Starscream tilted his head in curiosity as he heard both of them; somehow, it was clear that his namesake got along fine with his "pet", and the Minicon thing was also enthusiastic about the demonstration. A strange thought occurred to Starscream just then, it was as if the Minicon wanted to show everything to him… as if it didn't care which Starscream was his owner or not.
"This is good for me," The Air commander thought.
When Swindle finished beeping, the white faced Starscream sighed and swiftly moved his cannons to the front; then, he shouted:
"Swindle, combine!"
His words sounded more like a request than a command, but whatever it was, the blue Minicon jumped enthusiastically onto his master's back structure, just behind his helmet and in between the cannons. Once again, Starscream felt how Swindle's worrying power link to his own and the fire power of his cannons was multiplied. But instead of shooting at the ground as the Air Commander expected, Starscream's cannons pointed towards the sky, over their heads… The blue eyed seeker didn't want to cause an eruption, so he targeted something neutral.
Then, it happened. A tremendous pink blast of energy followed by a thunder, hurtled towards the stratosphere, giving everything a pink glow as clouds swirled around the energy flashes, moved by such amount of pure plasma energy, but fading away before it could reach the upper atmosphere levels. Meanwhile, the blue optics jet did his best to keep his balance by compensating for the recoil of his cannons. All the while his counterpart watched the sky in awe.
"Do you see that, Prime?" exclaimed Skyfire through their internal radio.
"…What?" asked Optimus.
"Look, Prime!" answered Wheeljack, pointing to one of the screens above Skyfire's console. There, both Autobots could see a distant pink flash, something too strong to be some Transformers's weapon, even.
"What is that?" asked the Prime in a worried voice.
"…I don't know," answered Skyfire, sounding equally worried. "I don't remember seeing anything like that last time."
"Me neither…" added Wheeljack; he made paused. "Well… perhaps in some of Megatron's recent crazy plans."
The other two Autobots shut their mouths to keep from mentioning what they thought about Wheeljack's wacky experiments.
"It could be that too," agreed Skyfire.
"This may be troublesome. Perhaps we should try a slower approach," announced Optimus.
"I know this is a problem, but why do you want to fly slower?" inquired the big white plane.
"This is obviously dangerous, 'Fire," explained Wheeljack in a matter-of-fact tone.
"I know… but I've calculate the coordinates of our destination and compared them to the place where the flash originated and they're the same."
"What!?" exclaimed Optimus.
"I'm sorry about this, Prime," answered Skyfire. "But our seeker-friend and that amazing beamers at same place… the Canary Islands, just off Africa's west coast."
"The Canary Islands?" exclaimed Prime. "Isn't that some deserted archipelago?"
"No, Prime," answered Wheeljack. "According to my records, it's a touristy region; hundreds of humans live there. And it's volcanic, too."
"That's troublesome," answered Prime in a worried tone, He paused as if he were thinking about something. "Skyfire, sent out a warning to the human's authorities' in the Canary Islands… They need to know there is Decepticon activity in the area and that it may be dangerous." He ordered finally.
"As you order, Prime," answered the mech.
When the flashes faded away and the sky returned to its usual grey-blue colour, the dark faced seeker was still gapping like a fish at his counterpart. Starscream couldn't believe what he just had seen: he knew the other version of himself could gain some amazing firepower because of the Minicon thing; but he never expected anything like this, something far more powerful than even Megatron's fusion cannon.
His counterpart turned to him, a serious expression on his face. At the same time, his cannons returned to their to usual position, just as swiftly now as when they had activated. The Minicon jumped from his neck back to his left shoulder, somehow he little thing seemed to be puffed up with pride.
"…Well?" inquired the blue eyed seeker, "Is that enough?"
"I--I , I am truly impressed!" exclaimed the Air Commander in a tone of genuine admiration. "I didn't expected something like this at all!… This firepower is strong enough even to knock out somebody like Omega Supreme!"
The other Starscream he tilted his head, wondering about this Omega Supreme. He didn't know who that mech, but apparently he was a terrible and powerful foe, given his namesake's reaction.
"I don't know if I could defeat the guy you're talking about, but certainly this is the power we Transformers can get from Minicons." He announced.
Starscream tried to recover his composure so he could focus his mind on the matter.
"And you're the only one who has that Minicon thing?" he asked, still shocked.
"Yes… As I explained some days ago, Galva--Megatron kept all the Minicons we could collect as his own." The other Starscream made a face at the memory; it seemed Megatron was same, no matter in which universe. "… But I kept three of the most powerful Minicons ever for a while."
"That's… interesting," the Air Commander managed to say. "More powerful than yours?"
"…Yes." answered his namesake with a nod.
The dark faced Starscream was still in shock from his counterpart's demonstration. It had turned out nothing like he had been expecting, however he tried hard to look calm and clear minded in front of his namesake, in spite some warning bells about the other Starscream's behavior. Inside his mind was a storm of emotions, wishes, fears, curiosity and concerns stronger than ever before. On one hand he knew this was the perfect chance to win the Great War against the Autobots, and to get enough energon resources for reviving his home planet Cybertron… and, eventually, to defeat Megatron once and for all. Perhaps this Minicon was the most wonderful thing he could ever find, an amazing tool that would get him get what he had always wished for.
But, on the other hand, the part of his mind that still thought like a scientist warned him about the oddities of the whole thing: why was his namesake always so prudent about the Minicon? Why had he hidden its existence the way he had and not just from Megatron? Why didn't he want to show anybody such a powerful weapon like that? And what about the unseen side effects? How could that creature affect to a Transformers body, lasercore or even one's spark? Perhaps it wasn't dangerous for Transformers from the other universe, but what about this universe? And, and his reality? Why was the Minicon o interested in showing him its power?
In his usual sharp and critical mind, Starscream would have noticed the whole Minicon thing was weird and unclear. Something important was being hidden from his optics, something more than meets the eyes… But now, he was nothing short of enthusiastic. Finally, he had the perfect chance to get what he had always wished for; his emotions were clouding his judgment, him reckless. If their roles had been reversed ,and instead of himself and his own whereabouts, if had been Megatron who learned about the Minicons and not him, Starscream would have pointed out how strange all was. But now, in spite of himself, Starscream was blind with joy that inundated his spark, and his optics devoured the Minicon covetously.
But the Minicon was still his namesake's property.
The other Starscream was also torn between conflicting thoughts, but they were very different of his counterpart's. He knew really well what were the Minicons; he knew who created them and why, as well the consequences of the Transformers interaction with them… He didn't hate Swindle for that, or the trio than formed the Star Saber, or Sureshock… but he just knew what he had just done could be really troublesome for the Decepticons (and the rest of the Transformers) of this universe.
"Why, Swindle?" he asked to the little and blue Unicronian robot. "Why did you want to show him your nature?"
The Minicon beeped a reply and shrugged, making his master even more confused.
"Necessary?" exclaimed, "Why do you keep saying that? Can't you give me a more precise answer?"
Then, a silver-white barrel was aimed at him; it was the barrel of a laser-rifle. Starscream, turned slowly his optics towards the weapon and his owner, the Air Commander.
"Give me your Minicon," he ordered. "Now."
"…What?" Starscream exclaimed unsure of what his counterpart was doing.
"Give it to me!" he ordered, his voice was getting screeching again.
The white faced seeker flew back in order to put some distance between himself and the weapon that was aiming at him.
"I can't," he answered. "Swindle belongs to me." He felt uneasy; his counterpart's face was dark, and his red optics were glowing dangerously, as if something strong and dark was moving inside him.
"Don't cheat me!" exclaimed the Air Commander. "I know that pet of yours wanted me since the very beginning." He lift his chin. "I am the only Transformer of this universe who your pet actually wants to be around. Don't try to fool me now. It's obvious the Minicon want to be at my side."
"Don't be so sure…" replied the other Starscream cautiously, "It's true that Swindle wanted you know about him and the power I gain thanks to him… But I won't give him to you if he doesn't want to cooperate with you…" his white face darkened . "Or if I don't know about your true intentions."
The Air Commander was getting nervous; his rifle shook and his voice trembled and became even more screechy. It was as if something was tearing him apart; deep inside he knew what his counterpart was saying was true, he was also hesitant to shot himself sangfroid because he didn't want to fight against himself… But this was the best chance he would ever have for getting what he wished for the most.
"I don't have to explain myself to you," barked the Air Commander. "But you must to give it to me once."
"--Otherwise?" asked his counterpart.
"Otherwise I'll shot you."
Swindle, who had kept calmed all this time, as if this wasn't something to be worried about, walked to his master's shoulder, near the place that Starscream's rifle was aimed at. Swindle's master noticed the movement, but he didn't say anything neither made any move.
"You, thing!" exclaimed the Air Commander, "Separate yourself and come here!"
Swindle beeped, and though the Air Commander didn't entirely understand binary language yet; he still some idea of what the Minicon had said, which was corroborated by his master.
"Swindle will not cooperate with you if you hurt me." He announced in calm voice. Though reassured by this, the blue-eyed seeker still wasn't pleased with his current situation, he wasn't sure about his counterpart's behaviour: somehow, he was convinced the other Starscream was just bluffing and he didn't mean to hurt him, really.
"That's nonsense!" the Air Commander exclaimed loudly. "Why would he have done all of this if didn't want belong to me?" he demanded to know, "Don't you know why I--why we need that wonderful weapon so badly?"
"I ?" repeated his counterpart, a look of surprise on his white face. "What do you want with him?" he asked, "It's obvious my Minicon will be a wonderful weapon to win the War here since there aren't Minicons on this universe… But, why do you want him?"
"It--It's none of your business!!" barked the Air commander, overexcited
Starscream was looking at his overexcited counterpart when it dawned on him: he remembered everything he had learned about the Air Commander since he arrived here and woke up in the repair bay. He realized this version of himself was very high ranking… but in spite of that the Air Commander wasn't respected at all. The Megatron of this universe gave his second-in-command the same regular beatings that Starscream got back to in his own universe, in both cases they happened for no good reason or punishment, just for the sake of it. He learned from the Thundercracker of this universe that his counterpart was treacherous, backstabbing and power thirsty, somebody that nobody seemed to like despite his efforts to maintain a high image of himself. At least that was Starscream's the first impression of his counterpart. In just a week the foreign seeker had learned many things about his counterpart here than vice-verse. Perhaps his counterpart refused to admit what was right in front of his optics.
It didn't take long to put two and two together.
"I understand." He replied in calm voice, at least he was trying to sound calm. "I understand now why you want Swindle for yourself."
The Air Commander, as emotional as he was, grunted in response, upset by his namesake's words.
"Stop babbling and give it to me once!"
"No! I cannot do that!" answered the other Starscream. "I know why you're doing this, but I cannot allow you to have it your way!"
Despite the seriousness of the situation, Starscream couldn't stop himself, without warning he fired his lasers. However, the Air Commander's target was faster he tossed Swindle into the air and transformed into his alt-mode before opening his cockpit and the Minicon landed on the pilot seat. It was the first time that Starscream allowed anybody to fly inside himself, the human children that befriended him back in his reality never did, even Alexis herself never had such an honor… but now he had not other choice, his propulsion turbines powered up and he was catapulted out of there.
Meanwhile, the Air Commander was completely shocked by this. He hated the idea of shooting himself like that, his laser-shot had only been a warning,… but now his namesake was flying away with his precious treasure. Starscream realized now that his counterpart was as fast as him, indeed.
"I won't allow you to hide from me!" he shouted, blinded by the emotions fuelled him.
And then, with the characteristic cracking sound, he transformed into his usual F-15 move and flied after his namesake.
The race was on. The two seekers were the fastest in their class and now they were flying towards the south of Lanzarote island, out of the volcanic region. Soon they went by it and headed towards the bigger island called Fuenteventura. Then the foreign seeker jumped over the clouds, out of view, and his turbines reached mactch-1; the sound barrier had been broken and a strong thunder cracked around himself. Over the clouds, he felt free for escaping of his counterpart without causing any damage, but the white-grey clouds over the Canary islands were to thin for hiding his moves, really… just in the west horizon he could make out a big peak mountain over some white clouds sea; according with his shape, it was a volcanic mountain, and it should belong to some bigger island. Teide Peak was its name?
His namesake was catching up with him…
The seeker flew faster now and reached mach-2, which was matched by his counterpart; it was a dead race because Starscream didn't know where to head to: to the East was Africa's coast, which wasn't a safe since it had of humans…and the same went for the west, towards the volcanic archipelago. His sensors told him many humans lived there; so now the only option he had was to head out to open sea, and that wasn't a good idea either. He was better off trying to lose the Air Commander…or trying to distract him by talking with him and making him understand it was worthless.
Suddenly a laser beam flew over his cockpit.
"Stop!!" barked his counterpart." I can match you no matter how fast you fly!...Stop trying to fly away from me!"
The other Starscream accelerated to his top speed and soon he reached mach-3. His counterpart imitated him and now they were almost flying wingtip to wingtip.
In other circumstances it would have be a fascinating show: the two fastest seeker ever were trying to overtake the other in a flight full flight full of barrel rolls, sharp turns, zigzags, dodges…in some sort of hunt. It could be said that the only one who would had a good reason to not enjoy the race was Swindle because he wasn't made to handle the maneuvers his master was performing in order to keep him away from the Air Commander. But even so, the little Minicon's love for taking risks was helping him enjoy the race.
But the race was getting painful for them both; the foreign red jet hadn't wanted something like this to happen. The red and silver-white jet didn't want to loose his chance because his counterpart's twisted judgment…however, the race made it feel like he was fighting against himself.
"I--I know why you're doing this!" exclaimed Starscream throw the common link." I know why you want Swindle so badly. But I cannot allow you to use him!"
"Stop talking nonsense!" replied back the Air Commander. "If you truly know it, then why you won't you give it to me?"
"Because I know the consequences. I cannot trust you with him!"
"What consequences!?" exclaimed the Air Commander with a screech. "You know we can gain victory over the Autobots once and for all, so why do you refuse to let me use it!"
The first jet dove into a sea of white clouds, the Air Commander followed him without missing his path.
"Because you don't want to defeat just the Autobots!" he replied, before adding hesitantly, "You want Swindle to beat Megatron, too!"
Starscream, the silver-white one, trembled; he felt insulted: was his counterpart questioning him?"
"So what if I want to take over him?" he replied back. "It IS my destiny!...I must win over Megatron and the Autobots!"
"That's what you think…what you say!"
"So what!?" exclaimed the Air Command in an upset tone. "If you're truly me, you should know my reasons are right!"
"Yes, I am you!" he flew over the Teide's crater, and evaded as he run over the volcano's gullies. "Indeed, I know why you want to beat Megatron so badly!!" Starscream just grunted in anger, "Because--because… I also wanted the same back on in my universe! I also wanted to be the supreme leader of the Decepticons!" he confessed loudly.
Had the Air Commander's optics been visible they would have widened in amazement. For as he could remember, this was the first time that his namesake truly seemed to resemble him in a more meaningful way.
"Did you also want to?" replied in upset tone, "Then, help me to do so here!"
"I can't," was the immediate response. "I don't want it anymore."
"That's just nonsense!" said the Air Commander. "If you truly are me, then you should be on my side, helping me… and you should understand why!"
The blue and red silver sighed; indeed, he knew why his counterpart was acting the way he was, why he wanted to be the leader.. but he agree with that anymore, not after he had found out certain truths of his universe. That was the greatest difference between them both: this Starscream hadn't learned about the real meaning of behind this war, and now the damn Minicon's presence was making them fight, just like Unicron wanted. In Starscream's optics, his counterpart was ignorant and immature because he hadn't learned the true truth… yet.
And while they were fighting he couldn't do anything about that…
"Optimus, I got him!" exclaimed Wheeljack as he looked at his radar device "Right now he's flying over Tenerife Island, in Canary archipelago."
"Are you sure, Wheeljack?" asked Optimus.
Somehow, the engineer felt hurt by the Prime's question; it seemed as if he was questioning the capabilities of Wheeljack's latest device.
"I know my devices sometimes experience technical failure time to time… But I'm not that clumsy, Prime," he groused.
He's right, Optimus," Skyfire interfered interjected. "I can see him in though my long distance sensors. He's flying over the island in zigzag, but heading towards the south."
"Show me on screen," Prime ordered.
Once again Skyfire's internal viewing screen flickered on, showing his passengers what Skyfire himself was seeing.
"That's Tenerife Island,. But why's he flying like that?" wondered Wheeljack. "He's really fast!"
"He isn't alone, 'Jack," replied the big white-mech in solemn voice. "It seems somebody else is flying next to him."
"Who?" asked Prime, who had expected to have a meeting under different circumstances. "I had hoped to have a private meting."
"Starscream… I can recognize his flying pattern and energy signature."
"I see," Optimus answered in low tone. "I sorry, 'Fire, but we must finish this somehow."
"As you say, Prime."
"You are like me! We're both the same!" exclaimed Starscream to his namesake, the Air Commander. " I know why you want to take over Megatron!"
"Of course you know," replied the Air Commander as they ascended towards the upper atmosphere again, "Under my rule, Cybertron will experience a new Golden Age, and the Decepticons will rule our home planet along with the rest of the universe as we deserve to do!"
"You lie!!" spat back the other Starscream, "You say so, but that's not how it will be truth!"
"How dare you question me!?"
The blue-red seeker knew he had hit a circuit with that one his counterpart; he didn't like what he was about to say, he knew it hurt like hell in his spark, but he should try. He couldn't keep being in a cat's fight like that for that long; he had to stop this at ONCE.
"Because it's truth!" answered the seeker. "I have seen it since I came here only a week ago!… Even though I come from a different reality, we're both still the same! Equals!… We both search for power and respect overall things! We're both tired of Megatron's tyranny over us! Both of us are alone in the middle of our chosen war sides!… We've wanted to destroy Megatron and win the war by ourselves because we both think that's the only way to get it all done!! No one believes in you and you want to prove them all wrong!" cream' words burned his counterpart's audio receptors like acid. It was true, completely true; this version of him was totally right… and despite that fact he didn't dare own up to it. He had listened to his counterpart speak the real truth about himself, but he hadn't stopped yet.
"I have seen you plead to Megatron for your life! I saw how he blamed you for his own failure when he was shot by that big white mech!… And surely it wasn't the first time! You were reduced to your knees as if you were a lame warrior… and you knew it wasn't fair at all! But you couldn't do anything about it except to plead for your life! I also was used and abandoned and surely you've also been abandoned like that!" Starscream took a deep breath, "I know all of this because I suffered the same humiliation, the same fear and the same frustration followed by regular beatings like you! You just want to stop like I did! But using Swindle to stop that won't help you in the end!"(2)
"Aaaaaaaaargh!" shouted the Air commander in response and he fired his lasers again. Earlier he just wanted to stop his counterpart's flight, but now, his words had hurt him so badly that his judgment was completely clouded. Starscream was--no matter universe--very emotional, his feelings jumped from one side to other end of the spectrum with amazing speed and now he was blinded by his rage and fears. Nobody, even to himself, had dared to say something like that previously… and the recognition had made him crazy. Now, he just didn't want to stop his counterpart, but hurting him.
"Liar! They're all lies and false beliefs!!"
Skyfire was flying slowly, just above the land's surface in order to avoid radar detection. Then he headed over the green and luxuriant Orotava's valley till he reached the half south region of Tenerife island. There he landed over the dry sand that covered everything; the southern region's landscape was drastically different from the north, here the land was dry, brown and everything was covered by volcanic ashes and lapilli; it was a desert all right.
"This is a very interesting place; I'd like to investigate it someday." he thought. But he had more serious matters to take care of to act on such a thought.
The big and white mech allowed Optimus and Wheeljack to to exit; and later, he transformed into his robotic form as his two companions scanned the area. Feeling uneasy, Skyfire made sure his rifle was easily accessible even though he didn't like the idea of getting involved in a fight.
Suddenly, Optimus made a gesture and the three of them ran to hide behind a big basalt rock formation, something that perhaps was expulsed by the volcano in one of its old eruptions. Fortunately for all of them, it was big enough to hide them from the two seekers' attention. After a moment Optimus checked around the corner to see what was going on.
He could barely believe what his optics found…
There, above their helmets, were two seekers that were were engaged in a dogfight, flying around each other in a crazy war-like style. Each seeker was trying to defeat the other but their skills were so matched that neither one could win over the other… Which explained why neither of them noticed the Autobots' arrival, they were both so immersed in their fight that their proximity sensors didn't warn them about the Autobots' presence. Optimus was also amazed: he had seen Starscream flying in combat many times before, and he was well aware about how hard it was to fight him in the open sky; but now he was fighting somebody who was like him. Indeed, the other seeker, the one Skyfire had allegedly met, was like some short of clone of him: his flying skills matched the Air Commander's perfectly, and--as far as he could see--his color scheme also similar, which was a change from their previous encounter in Russian's tundra. At that time the seeker had a mostly blue color scheme, if he remembered correctly. It fit the data records of the armour samples they had found in Gran Chaco; certainly his owner changed his coloring.
But the Autobus Prime had to do something, somehow and soon. He didn't like the idea of dealing with the Air Commander in such a place especially with that seeker. Despite that, Optimus' reasons for being here were strong enough to keep him from leaving. After a quick evaluation, he turned towards the other Autobots that were with him.
"…I cannot believe this," muttered Skyfire. "I never saw Starscream flying like that…"
Wheeljack tilted his head and looked at him. "I thought you knew him," he said softly.
"--Yes." Skyfire answered just as softly. "But he's flying as if he were crazy…And the seeker I met is identical to him. I don't understand what's going on here between them."
"So… that's him, then?" asked Optimus.
Skyfire turned to him and nodded. "Yeah.. But he looks different now. When I met him last time he was blue like the other seeker, Thundercracker. Somehow, his colour-scheme seemed to have changed." He corroborated.
"It makes sense," affirmed Wheeljack, "If what he told to you is true, then his colour scheme was changed, too. Besides, my radar device shows the energy pattern of the samples we got and the one of that seeker are identical."
The big and white mech glanced at the engineer and then towards the two seekers, who were still flying over their heads trying to attack one another. At this point, Skyfire sighed heavily and muttered, "I don't understand anything."
"Wheeljack, Skyfire… we need to isolate the odd seeke." Optimus interrupted them. "I would rather not interfere with Decepticons' issues, but we need to put the Air Commander out of action before trying to talk with the other seeker."
"Prime…" exclaimed Skyfire with a look of alarm.
"I know, 'Fire," answered the Prime. "That's why you will take care of him and try to immobilize him." Then, surprisingly, Optimus sighed. "This also concerns to Decepticons…I don't trust in Starscream, but we need to take advantage of this chance."
The two Autobots looked at him with surprise, but the Prime ignored them. Certainly, whatever it was that had bothered Optimus since Skyfire told the seeker's message was really important.
"Now, go on." He added.
Quietly, he stepped out from behind his hideout and headed to another safe place where to carry out his plans.
"Wheeljack, cover me…Skyfire, take care of Starscream as soon as you see the opportunity to stop him." He ordered as he left.
"Well…I'm not sure about this but I'll try my best," muttered Wheeljack when Optimus was out of their hideout.
"Hmmm?" wondered Skyfire, not sure about what the engineer was talking about.
"I can fly… But I'm really clumsy in the air," explained Wheeljack unhappily, his shining ears as he spoke.
"Oh…"
Skyfire understood. If there was anybody who could take care of Starscream it was him; no one else could match him in the air, and now he should stop him, even though he hated the idea.
Unaware of the Autobots' presence, both seekers were still flying around the south of the Tenerife island as they tried to hit the other. Then, the Air Commander's fire hit their mark making his counterpart wince, but soon he recovered his equilibrium and flew at the Air Commander, flipping over his counterpart as he transformed to his robotic form; his left wing spread out into the characteristic saber-type weapon and he used it to attack his counterpart. The Air Commander rolled roughly to the side, and like his counterpart had done, he also transformed into his usual silver-white mech; then, he aimed his rifles towards his foreign self.
"What…what you said about me is totally false!" he barked, his voice screechy and trembling, a mix of fear and fury. "I am Starscream-the Mighty, I'm the pride of Cybertron War Academy, I am the Second in Command of the Decepticons' Army… And thanks to me, Cybertron will return to another Golden Age." His jaw was tight, "You have no right to insult me like that!!!"
The other Starscream sighed heavily but didn't release the deadly weapon he held in his hand, as Swindle, being inside his cockpit yet, beeped angrily because such manners.
"I'm sorry you think so," he replied. "I know you don't want to listen to this…me neither. But I never meant to hurt you. I'm just trying to keep this universe safe."
Unable to understand what his counterpart was saying, the dark-faced seeker couldn't hold back anymore, and he fired his rifles which gave off a purple flash; the other Starscream powered up his sword and used it like a shield to block the fire as he had done many times before. But something was wrong : Starscream felt all the mechanisms in his hand become numb, as if they had been frozen. Finally he lost control over his sword-wing, it didn't respond to his circuits.
"Surprised?" asked Starscream in a mocking tone when he noticed the confused look on his counterpart. "This is my special power, the Null Ray." His namesake glared at him. "I made it my personal power…I am very skilled inventing new procedures and tools" he giggled unpleasantly. "My Null Ray makes any machine, no matter what kind, cease to work because it stops the flow of energy fluid. It becomes frozen, so you can't move that freak sword of yours against me."
The other Starscream clicked his tongue in disgust, as much as he could, as he realized he had been careless: both incarnations were so matched to each other in their skills that neither could win over the other… except if one was careless, or, like him, had a Minicon. He had been a fool trying to convince his counterpart telling him about something Starscream truly hated to the very bottom of his spark all the while convincing himself that his counterpart wouldn't be hurt by it. Now, his counterpart truly wanted to hurt him, possibly enough to kill him.
Then, suddenly, a yellow-plasma bolt burst between them. It was entirely unexpected and oddly enough the energy signature of the bolt was awfully familiar. Both Starscreams flew away from each other, avoiding another shot turning their attention towards the source of the fire.
"What??" exclaimed the Air Commander, "Optimus Prime is here!?"
Fear and fury burned in his lasercore: His counterpart refused to cooperate with him, launching scathing words at him…and now, Optimus was interfering in his business. Could things get any worse?
His namesake, however, could only stare at Optimus in awe. He wasn't shooting directly at them, instead, Optimus seemed to be trying to stop the fighting between him and his counterpart without hurting them. But even if that wasn't the case, he had to try to talk with Prime and stop the nonsense this fight was.
"Optimus…" he exclaimed in awe.
The Prime fired again and both Starscream's found they were forced to fly away from each other to avoid the Prime's attack. The Air Commander glanced to his counterpart who seemed to be involved in the same Prime-problem as him, and growled to himself, displeased. Starscream had faced Prime enough times in the past, he knew the Autobot Leader was a very powerful adversary. He could hurt Starscream but The Air Commander (wasn't strong enough to defeat the Autobot Prime easily; fight a direct assault would be quite dangerous. With that in mind, he tried shooting Optimus a burst of null-ray discharge in the hopes that it would hurt Optimus at least, avoiding a direct confrontation. Somehow, Optimus knew this and he avoided the seeker's shots, before firing on the Air commander again.
"NO!" shouted the other Starscream nervously as he flew towards the Autobot Prime, "Don't hurt him!" he pleaded.
Optimus didn't hear the seeker, but Wheeljack did and looked at at the unknown seeker with amazement; as far he could remember this was the first time he saw a Decepticon worried about a companion. Plus, from what he had seen earlier, the Air Commander and him had been fighting each other; it didn't make sense to him. Wheeljack covered Prime and shot two bombs from his shoulder cannon, so both Starscreams backed up, surrounded by fires.
The Air Commander looked around frantically, trying to find a safe place, but instead he found himself surrounded by foes. In spite of his namesake's cries, he felt abandoned in front of two powerful adversaries…besides, why didn't his counterpart used the damn Minicon thing of his to blow up Optimus? Why did he only want to stop the fight? Starscream was already quite hysterical by all the recent events that he found himself unable to think clearly about what to do next: of course he could fly away and leave his counterpart alone to face Optimus…but hat could give the Autobots the chance to catch the Minicon. He could also fight back and try to defeat Prime in case that foolish counterpart of his stopped to talk nonsense and dared to use his pet for blowing up the Autobots. Later, he will settle things with his stupid counterpart, but now the priority was to finish the Autobots.
But he was too overwhelmed by everything he could only dodge Optimus' blast, and then one of them made him recoil in the air; when he tried to get back his balance he noticed a very big white thing appear from nowhere placing behind him, and catching him by his waist, tightly.
"…Skyfire!?" exclaimed the other Starscream when he recognize the big transformer who had caught The Air Commander in such an unceremoniously way.
"You got him, Skyfire!" shouted Optimus after he stopped firing . "Now, land here!"
"You too!" ordered Wheeljack, who, in spite of himself, had managed to lift up into the air when he aw that the other seeker seemed to be so distracted by what was happening to his Air Commander.
Starscream turned back and found an unknown Autobot: he was shorter than Starscream, with a gray face mask and "ears" that shone every time he spoke; his alternative form seemed to be some sort of earthling land vehicle (something typical among Autobots on this universe, it seemed)… and basically, Starscream couldn't recognize the Autobot at all.
"Stand down, Decepticons," ordered Wheeljack as he aimed at him with his rifles on his shoulder. "Prime wants to talk with you."
Starscream opened his mouth when he realized that perhaps the Autobots' attack was something against them, but some crazy ploy for a meeting between him and Optimus. But his counterpart's loud cries caught his attention and he couldn't help turning towards what was happening to the other Starscream.
Skyfire, the big white and, apparently, very strong mech that he met some days ago, was holding his counterpart by his waist from behind. It was quite obvious the other Starscream wasn't strong enough to release himself from such big mech so now he was detained. Certainly, seekers like him went crazy every time they were touched on their wings, or were enclosed…But his counterpart was practically hysterical and his cries and yells sounded like he was being tortured.
When the Air Commander realized what had just happened it was too late, Skyfire had found Starscream and had managed to catch him by grabbing him around his waist. His old and lost friend was far bigger than Starscream was and the Autobot was strong enough to deal with Megatron and could even beat the Decepticon leader. Starscream had no chance of of releasing himself from such a strong grip. Besides that, his mental state wasn't the best: he had been fighting against "himself" because his counterpart had betrayed him, he had suffered the worse revelation about himself that he could possibly imagine, and now he found himself surrounded by enemies… and on top of that, the only person he had considered to be his friend, was against him. It just was too much for him, it was enough to make him go mad.
"Let me go!!" he shouted loudly at the top of his screeching voice. "Get off of meee!! You, traitor!! Don't you dare touch me!"
"….Starscream, please," pleaded Skyfire; he wasn't enjoying this, either. "Be quiet."
"How dare you to do this to me, you traitor!??" barked Starscream as he waved his arms and legs wildly trying to strike his captor. "You shall pay for this, Skyfire!! I do swear!!" Only the Air Commander couldn't shoot his rifles because Skyfire was behind the seeker if the null rays blasted Skyfire then wouldn't be able to let go. The realization of that was making Starscream become hysterical, he knew he was defenseless and his life could reach an end in matter of minutes.
"We wont' hurt you, Starscream. Please, don't make this difficult!" in spite of his trembling voice the big, white maintained his grip on the seeker as he dropped to the ground.
"NOOOO!!" the dark faced seeker seemed to be getting more and more hysterical when he realized he was going to be forced to face Optimus. "Don't Kill me, you traitor! Don't leave me with Optimus!!"
"Stop that, Starscream!" demanded Skyfire again. "I swear this isn't what you think."
"How can I trust in your word, 'Fire!?" answered Starscream, his voice was a mix of fear and sadness. "You betrayed me! You turned your back on me!!… And you'll pay for thiiiiis!! You shall pay for all the punishments I've received from Megatron because of you!! I swear you'll taste them!!"
Skyfire frowned, he didn't know what Starscream was talking about, but it sounded like his change of affiliation had affected Starscream in more than one way. However, he didn't release his grip and kept landing.
The other Starscream looked at what was happening to his counterpart, completely speechless. Certainly this Skyfire guy was really strong, perhaps even as strong as Tidal-Wave, but what caught his optics most was his counterpart's behavior: Somehow, someway, he seemed to have a personal thing against Skyfire because the Air Commander wouldn't stop to calling the Autobot a traitor, The Air Commander also blamed the big mech for the fierce punishment he received a few days ago, and they both addressed each other as if they were familiar with one another. But whatever it was, he should do something soon, and make things clear for the Autobots and his counterpart
Wheeljack gasped as he saw how the other seeker fly resolutely towards the Prime, who remained still, waiting for Skyfire's landing.
"Optimus!" shouted the blue and red seeker with blue optics. "Stop that!"
The Prime turned his attention towards the seeker, who was approaching slowly; the Prime's soft blue optics widened as he realized how stranger this seeker's body was.
"I'll talk with you!" the seeker said. "But do not hurt Starscream, please," he asked.
That was something the Prime didn't expected, the other seeker seemed to be truly worried about his Air Commander' safety.
"So you are the one that Skyfire mentioned," exclaimed Optimus. "Did you really want to tell me something…important?"
Starscream stopped himself in the middle of air and looked back and forth to from Optimus to Skyfire, when he realized what was happening here, he nodded.
"Yes, I am… And I have a very important message for all the Transformers species." He paused, "But I won't tell anything if you hurt Starscream."
Optimus looked to Skyfire, and later to his prey, as if he was considering something. This was the first time he had been able to capture one of the most important high ranking Decepticon… one who was especially hated by all the Autobots. But, as far Optimus knew, he was also a former friend of Skyfire's , and now, the other seeker demanded the Air Commander's safety. And, as he had explained to Skyfire just a few days ago, Autobots don't use hostages.
In spite of himself and the dark events that involved the war, Optimus answered "As you wish. Your Air Commander will be safe."
"Thanks, Optimus."
Skyfire landed in front of Optimus, still holding Starscream, who didn't struggle anymore; he seemed to be exhausted and totally broken, so much that he was almost lifeless. He was followed by the other seeker, and finally by Wheeljack, who stood behind the other seeker in order to keep him from flying. Now, under the torrid and dry atmosphere of south Tenerife, three Autobots, two Decepticons and someone else were going to have a very revealing chat.
At least that was Starscream's intention.
Author Notes:
Just a couple of explications about this chapter.
(1) "Graciosa" and "Alegranza" names mean "Lovely/Funny" and "Happiness" respectively.
(2) This is MY interpretation about Armada Screamer and G-1 Screamer. I think they both are the two sides of the same coin, they're the same and their behavior has the same motive in each other: they both demand attention and respect, nothing else. That's because the seek Megatron's rank, but not because by they're power-hungry. Again, I'm talking about their cartoon incarnations and not their bastards comic counterparts.