Starscream startled awake, his optics flashing online as his vents sputtered, rapidly taking in and pushing out air. For a moment, all he felt was phantom pain, the tearing of his wing being torn from his back, the energon blast searing through his knee, his vocalizer crushed, energon spilling form his frame, he could feel himself fading, feel his systems shutting down one by one without the energy to keep themselves running.
But something caught his attention, pulling him out of his panic. There was a warm presence nearby, someone very close. He tensed instinctively. It was on top of him, small, and breathing? He shuddered his optics, trying to get a look at where he was. Someone was on him.
He looked down at the body… It was the human. Danny. Starscream almost laughed; he should have known. Who else would dare treat the great Decepticon second-in-command as a berth other than his stubborn human? Danny was fast asleep, chest rising and falling slowly, arms tucked under his head as a makeshift pillow. His expression pulled almost into a pained frown.
Starscream narrowed his optics and tilted his helm. He shifted slightly on the berth, uncomfortable with the weight, both physically and emotionally, but still trying not to jostle the human. As he moved, the seeker arm caught on a restraint.
He suddenly jolted at the sensation, systems kicking up with a fight-or-flight response as he looked at where he was. A medbay… But not Knockout's medbay. Right… He groaned. Autobots. The conversation from yesterday. Was that yesterday? Starscream's chronometer hadn't been working when he last woke, so he didn't know how long ago that was. But either way, he was still trapped in this accursed place with no idea what those fraggers planned to do with him now.
He frowned at the cables running out from an opening under his chestplate and right into his spark chamber. He didn't want anyone going in there; he didn't even open his spark chamber for Knockout. Anything to do with his spark, he could deal with on his own. He hasn't opened it for another mech since… He paused, shaking his helm; there was no reason to dwell on the past.
Danny shifted slightly, and Starscream froze, almost forgetting he was there for a moment. But the human didn't wake. With Starscream's focus redirected, he decided to think. How long had they been held prisoner here? The human had mentioned trying to convince the Autobots he was 'worth helping' for a week. But then again, humans do tend to exaggerate.
But it didn't seem like Danny was a prisoner like Starscream. Or if he was, he was getting a lot more —how would Danny say it… 'Wiggle room?'— Maybe that was why Danny was locked in the medbay with Starscream. It was secure and guarded. Starscream doubted the Autobots would leave him alone with a human after he interrogated their other human pet, Agent Fowler, on the Nemesis. He rolled his optics. He didn't like that human.
But… Starscream's optics wandered the medbay, paranoia creeping in once again. The Autobots had clearly gained the boy's trust while Starscream had been unconscious. Danny defended them. Argued with him about Ratchet. Cared about that scout. He almost acted… like he belonged here. And worse… He fit in with them. The Autobots were friendly with humans. Fought for them. They seemed to have similar morals to Danny.
Was that what Danny wanted? Someone… like that?
He already seemed more comfortable around them. Would he want to stay with them?
Starscream's processor spiraled, static buzzing in the back of his helm. If Danny left with them—if he chose them—Starscream would be alone again. Trapped. Without a single ally left… Starscream paused. He shouldn't be caring about that. The Human was only going to be around for a minuscule fraction of the Seeker's life, anyway. It's not like he… expected him to stick around.
Suddenly, Starscream jumped at the sound of the medbay doors opening. He quickly looked up in time to see the Autobot medic enter the room with a datapad in his servo. Ratchet's optics quickly landed on Starscream, Browplate rising slightly as if he were surprised, but he continued into the room slowly.
"You're awake," Ratchet said as he cast an almost skeptical glance down towards the human and then back up to Starscream. "I wasn't expecting you to come out of recharge for another eight hours." The medic took a few almost-cautious steps closer.
Starscream tried to respond, but his vocalizer popped and glitched, static crackling before it reset itself. "I aim t-t-to please."
Ratchet hummed, keeping his voice low so as not to wake the sleeping human. "How long have you been awake?" He waved his medical scanner over Starscream's frame.
"Why, D-Doctor, worried I was trying t-to escape?"
"No. Just concerned as to how much energon you burned through in order to online your systems so quickly." Ratchet said simply. Starscream turned his helm away with a huff. If he had the capacity to, he would have crossed his arms.
Ratchet pulled back his scanner and frowned at the readings. "You need energon in your tanks. Desperately. We've kept you stable through direct injections into your energon lines, but it's not sustainable. Your core systems need internal processing through your filtration unit, or you'll start breaking down and rejecting the repairs."
Ratchet turned around to his medical table, grabbed a half-full energon cube, and showed it to the seeker. Starscream narrowed his optics, but a quick glance at his own HUD confirmed it. His tank levels were reaching near critical.
Still, he eyed the energon cube warily as Ratchet held it out to him. "What-t exactly have you l-l-laced it with?" Starscream rasped, voice full of suspicion.
Ratchet groaned dramatically. "If I was going to offline you, do you really think I'd waste our dwindling energon supply to do it? We barely have enough for ourselves! And after spending five —no, six cycles fixing your slagged-up frame, do you honestly believe I'd ruin all that hard work just to poison you?"
Starscream scoffed, a garbled crackle interrupting his sarcasm. He bared his fangs in a faint snarl as Ratchet moved closer.
Then, the medic had the audacity to hold the cube toward his mouth.
Starscream recoiled, bristling. "You expect me to drink from your servo like a malfunctioning sp-p-arkling?! "
"You're the one who's acting like one." Ratchet didn't flinch. "And I'm not freeing you so you can do it yourself, Starscream. You and I both know what kind of damage those talons of yours can do to my plating."
The Seeker's wings twitched irritably behind him. He turned his helm away, refusing the cube outright. "I —.. kssst –/ would rat-t-ther st-t-tarve," he hissed, vocalizer cracking louder than before.
Ratchet rolled his optics with all the patience of a mech who had been doing this far too long. "Fine. Go ahead. Be dramatic." He set the cube down on a tray beside the berth. "It'll still be here when you stop pretending you don't need it."
Ratchet grabbed a tool from his bench. "In the meantime, while you're awake, let's take a look at that vocalizer." Starscream snarled again, but Ratchet didn't even dignify that with a response. They both knew that Starscream couldn't do anything.
The seeker huffed as the medic started re-calibrating some of the systems. Maybe this time, the medic would do a good enough job that it wouldn't keep popping and blowing out. Not that Starscream could voice that opinion right now, but it seemed as though the medic could sense it.
"It only keeps blowing out because of your screeching. Any time you talk excessively or raise your voice, it will keep wearing down. You need to take more breaks."
Starscream rolled his optics but said nothing. He looked over at the wall as the medic worked, venting slowly, but every time he tried to retreat into the thoughts of his own processor, he was pulled back by the steady rise and fall of the human's chest, still noticeable against his own.
Starscream lifted his helm and glanced down at Danny, who was still curled up on top of him. He hadn't moved in a while, save for the occasional slow shift of breath or unconscious twitch. His presence was… irritatingly warm. Grounding. He didn't understand it.
"Kid was right," Ratchet murmured from beside him, breaking the silence.
Starscream's optics narrowed, intending to scoff or demand an answer, but he couldn't with the medic working on the vocalizer. All he could do was hope Ratchet elaborated or was spurred on by Starscream's confused glare.
Ratchet let out a dry chuckle, turning one of his tools to the side. "You care about him."
Starscream's attention snapped away from the human immediately. "I —. ksst – do n-n-n not! " His vocalizer sparked wildly from where it ground against the medic's tools; Ratchet had to pull them out of the way suddenly in order not to damage Starscream's vocalizer any further. Starscream didn't care about the sparks, though. He wouldn't take such accusations, especially not from an Autobot .
Ratchet knocked the back end of one of his tools on Starscream's helm with a glare that momentarily stunned the seeker. "Watch it. If you want permanent vocalizer damage, that's the way to go about it."
Starscream wanted to snark back something like, 'You were the one to put those there in the first place.' But he couldn't, so he landed on another heated glare. Ratchet again ignored him and finished the last three movements of the calibration.
He waited until his tools were moved well away from Starscream's vocalizer before speaking up again. "There, you should be less glitchy for now. But I'll need to work on that at least one more time before you're back in screeching shape, so avoid any higher decibels."
"Whatever you say, Doctor," Starscream said sarcastically, but he paused. His vocalizer sounded significantly better than before, with only minute static and barely a glitch. He eyed the medic quietly, but refused to admit that the Autobot did anything useful.
Ratchet glanced down at the human and back up at Starscream again with a slight hint of amusement in his field. Starscream puffed up again in indignation. "I do not care about the human." He insisted.
Ratchet placed his tools down. "Uh-huh. He is fast asleep on your chestplate right now, and you haven't made a single move to knock him off. And you're purposely trying not to wake him up." He pointed at Starscream.
"I am not— "
Danny stirred.
Starscream's voice cut off immediately, vents hitching, optics snapping downward. The boy groaned faintly, shifting positions, one arm draping across Starscream plating as he flopped onto his side. Still asleep.
When Starscream looked back up, he saw Ratchet smirk. The smug, knowing, insufferable little expression that made Starscream want to claw out his optics and toss them into a waste compactor.
"Never thought I'd see the day when a Con wouldn't hurt a human." Ratchet hmmed to himself, before he sighed. "You know," Ratchet said, tone softening slightly, "that human really cares about you." He pointed at Starscream.
Starscream scoffed. "That's what those humans do. They bond with the most useless things. It's nonsensical. You could set a potted plant in front of them, and they'd name it, talk to it, and mourn it when it dies. He doesn't know what he's doing."
Ratchet raised an optic ridge. "Are you calling yourself useless?"
Starscream sputtered. " No!" He felt the human's breathing hitch again and quieted his voice. (If the medic asked, it was to save his vocalizer.) "I was just—adding to my point. He would care about any Cybertronian placed in front of him." Even the Autobots, it seemed.
"He said that he made you take him in, that you didn't have a choice… Also that you threw him off a roof," the medic said. Starscream momentarily grimaced. Great, so he told them about all that. "But I know that you, of all mechs, could get rid of a human easily. We both know you're capable of much worse."
"This one's not so easy to get rid of," Starscream said simply.
Ratchet glanced at him. "Do you want to get rid of him?"
That gave the Seeker pause. He stared down at Danny again, still nestled peacefully against his armor. The answer should've come easily. It should have been a confident "yes."
But it wasn't.
Starscream scowled. "I don't have to explain myself to an Autobot! My needs for him don't concern you."
He tried to flare his wings defensively, but they only managed to twitch awkwardly against the berth he was strapped to, barely able to rise before settling again with a faint tremble of strain.
Ratchet watched all of it calmly. "So you need him for something."
"No," Starscream hissed instantly. "The human simply… provides …" The words caught in his vocalizer. What did the human provide? Certainly not strategic value. No tactical edge. He wasn't an engineer or a fighter or even particularly obedient. The Decepticons would've discarded him as a liability.
There was no practical reason to keep him.
And yet…
He let out a low, frustrated growl, turning his helm sharply away.
Ratchet sighed, leaning closer. "The kid cares about you more than I personally think you deserve," the medic said bluntly.
Starscream bristled, ready to snap back but… the words didn't come. Because deep down, he knew it was true. He hadn't earned this loyalty. He hadn't done anything to deserve the stubborn, irrational trust Danny had placed in him. No one trusted him anyway. And he deserved that. He was a selfish mech, a stubborn and prideful mech, and it got others killed. Whether it was by his servo or another's, it was all the same.
"Don't hurt the kid, Starscream," Ratchet said, voice quiet but firm. "I may know his trust in you is misplaced, but he does not," Ratchet added. "Because if you do, I'll be the one hunting you down. And I'll make sure you never get the chance to betray someone like that again."
Starscream slowly turned his head, meeting the medic's hard stare. Then the Seeker tsked, optics narrowing as he looked away once more. "Whatever."
Ratchet shifted back to his workbench, resuming his scans and calibrations. After a moment, he spoke up again. "You going to try that cube now?"
Starscream sneered. "Go frag yourself."
Ratchet didn't miss a beat. "Charming," he muttered. He didn't argue. Didn't scold. Just shrugged and went back to his work, leaving the energon cube untouched on the tray nearby.
Starscream lay in silence again. The boy above him shifted slightly, curling into the smallest ball against his chassis.
And Starscream… didn't move.
Authors Notes:
Ratchet knows what he's doing. :3
Also, less glitchy and Screamy now! At least for now.
Love you all! See you next Friday. :D