Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The next two weeks proved to be challenging for the Autobots. Despite no new signs of Decepticon activity, the Autobots were anxious for when and where they would pop up next, and if the Predacon would be there or not.

Energon had always been on an all-time low for the Autobots, but the past month had been especially rough on them. With fourteen Autobots on Team Prime, that was a lot of mouths to feed, even if only once a week. And Energon was getting harder to find, especially sites not currently under Decepticon control.

With both Starscream and Octane in the air again though, they had better chances at locating more Energon. But even with three Fliers at their disposal, the Autobots only managed to find small, abandoned and thinned-out mines with a few scraps here and there. Barely enough to feed even a dozen bots for one day.

As such, Ratchet decided to skip out on his own fuelling once every two weeks, and did so a week after Starscream and Octane had returned with Cliffjumper's remains. It was something the other Autobots were not happy about, but Ratchet assured them that since he always stayed back in the base and didn't move around much, he didn't need the extra energy like the warriors did.

Hearing this, Red Alert got inspired and decided to also skip out on his own fuellings, but on different weeks than Ratchet so they didn't spend more Energon one week than another. Ratchet doubted his younger brother's decision at first, but after repeating Ratchet's own argument about staying in the base and not spending much energy, Ratchet accepted the youngster's decision.

When Hot Shot afterwards decided to draw attention to himself and announce that he would also skip out on his fuellings, however, Ratchet had to protest. Ratchet repeated to the recruits that the fighters need the Energon more than the supporters, as they spend more energy on fighting and patrolling, while a medic or scientist could easily go for a month without Energon, as long as he remained in the same place. After that, Hot Shot was reluctantly convinced that it was for the best.

Fliers like Starscream and Octane usually spent more energy than Grounders due to having to stay in the air, though jets like they could reduce their energy output by letting their wings carry them over strong winds and putting less force into their thrusters.

In order to save more energy, Starscream decided he and Octane would do their flying training early in the morning, starting before sunrise and ending when the sun was high enough to call it day. Then they would return to the base and do combat training until afternoon, sometimes early, sometimes late.

The day after Cliffjumper's second funeral, Ratchet had managed to fix the dents in Starscream's head, so he was free to fly again. Starscream and Octane had immediately gone out flying in the morning, at which point Octane asked the Seeker about Dark Energon.

Having heard the term from Arcee during the funeral the previous day, Octane had quickly worked out that this must be the name for the purple stuff Starscream had put in his chest... and which was still there. So Starscream decided to just tell the Triple Changer the truth, before he asked anyone else about it.

"It's really that powerful?" Octane asked as Starscream explained about its properties.

"Yes, but also very addictive," Starscream replied. "I feel fine for now, but there's no telling how this shard is going to affect me in the long-term. As we do not possess more Dark Energon, it will likely be a painful time for me. I have already once in my life had to recover from Dark-En consumption, and it was a nightmare. The difference here is that it's in my Spark and not my fuel tank. That might decrease the pain I've felt before, but there might still be certain... abstinences."

"Such as...?"

"Aggression, anxiety, short temper, depression, mania," Starscream listed. "In other words, nothing I don't already have. The Autobots should not be able to easily detect the Dark Energon within me. At least not for a while. And I should be able to tone it down at least a little bit. Hopefully."

"Well, I won't tell them anything," Octane promised. "But you can tell me everything. I won't judge... brother."

Starscream still felt a bit embarrassed over being called brother by someone not being Sunstorm - or even just Thundercracker or Skywarp. It wouldn't have been surprising or weird to hear it from them. But from this Newspark and Triple Changer...

The next day, Starscream decided to tell Octane that he was the one who killed Cliffjumper, which unsurprisingly surprised Octane. However, as he had promised, he did not judge Starscream for it. It probably helped that Octane had not known Cliffjumper or what kind of bot he was - having almost completely ignored the Autobots' speeches to instead pay attention to Starscream.

Almost nothing that Starscream revealed to Octane ended up offending or upsetting the youngster. Instead, he treated it with fascination and thought. Starscream could tell that he was genuinely curious about him. So Starscream ended up telling Octane more things than he thought he would. He did not tell him about his early life, aside from a few examples for fighting or flying training, but he did tell him a lot about his time on Earth, as well as about the Seekers.

Octane was especially interested about the Seekers, both the faction and the body-type that had created the so-called race of the same name. Starscream told Octane all about the ranking system within the Seekers, where they started out as Cadets, got promoted to Novices and then Officers. If Seekers had potential for leadership, they would be promoted to Majors, some were lucky enough to be promoted to Lieutenants and Captains, and these were candidates to become Air Commanders.

There used to also be a Sky Commander rank, the leader of the Seekers, but since the merge with the Decepticons, the title had been abolished and replaced with Air Commander instead. In turn, former Air Commanders became Captains, Captains became Lieutenants, and Lieutenants became Majors. Everyone else stayed the same ranks though.

Starscream also ended up explaining the more racial type of Seeker, in terms of body-type. Most Seekers turned into jets, were aerodynamic, had cockpits in their chests and wings on their backs, usually facing upwards.

Seekers, as a race, were particularly agile, fast and smart, as well as surprisingly strong relative to their sizes. Even small Seekers like Starscream could pack a punch, but they also often relied on their claws and talons. Some Seekers like Dreadwing, Thundercracker and Skywarp, as well as Starscream's old body, had talons on their pedes, but they were rarely sharp and almost never used for combat. The claws on their servos, however, were. Seekers also often had great stamina but were otherwise relatively frail armor-wise, though endurance varied among individuals.

The Seeker race also had an exceptional sense of sight, being able to clearly see kilometers away that other bots could not. This was due to the fact that Seekers were great Fliers and thus needed a great eyesight to spot things ahead, below, above, behind or around them. Seekers could see with their cockpits and radars just like how Grounders could see behind them with their mirrors and in front of them with their windows.

Octane was so fascinated by the Seekers and Starscream's life, he probably wanted to become a Seeker himself. Which, technically, was possible, as the Seekers used to consist of various different flight types before the introduction of the 'Seeker body-type', but Triple Changers often did not make it to the Seekers. The Seekers were the best of the best Fliers, and Triple Changers, while often having a flight and a ground mode, usually spent an equal amount of time in both environments, thus not training enough in the sky to be good enough to become Air Warriors.

Starscream liked talking, and he liked talking about himself and his people, and to have another Flier to talk to and actually be interested in what he had to say, Starscream was starting to loosen up a little. When he was in the air, talking with Octane and teaching him techniques for flying and fighting, all of Starscream's troubles seemed to fade away. Even the constant Energon struggle became a concern for later rather than now.

While the Autobots continued to struggle with finding Energon, the Decepticons were having some time off since the outbreak. As promised, Knock Out had handed over his Synthetic Energon project to Shockwave, who ended up working on that while waiting for the Predacon Protoforms to develop. Knock Out still had to conjure the Synth-En though, often using an updated version of the formula that Shockwave had sent him, as he improved it more.

The Predacon Protoforms had been about halfway done when the outbreak happened. When Megatron requested Shockwave to 'speed things along', he likely expected it to be finished within a week or two. Fortunately, thanks to the Synthetic Energon, the Protoforms did seem to grow and develop faster than they did before.

After Knock Out had handed over his project to Shockwave, he took time to fix Skywarp's broken cockpit. It was only the middle window that had broken, and otherwise he had a few superficial scratches and bruises here and there which would heal with a good night's rest. In order to repair the cockpit properly and more easily, Knock Out had detached it from the rest of Skywarp's body, so he and Thundercracker could go watch anime or something while waiting.

They had gathered as much of the broken glass as they could, and Knock Out got to work. Rather than gluing the pieces together into an ugly, cracked and fragile window, Knock Out simply removed the rest of the broken window, leaving the middle of the cockpit empty. The top and bottom windows were still intact, perhaps with a few superficial scratches.

Accessories made of glass, rubber, plastic or other non-metallic components on a bot did not heal like metal did. These accessories were created from the non-metal elements in the Cybertronian body, mainly found in the oil that lubricated their joints and optics. And, as such, because the percentage of non-metals in Cybertronians was about the same as the percentage of metals in humans, that meant these special body parts almost never healed when damaged. Luckily, they were often easy to replace.

Knock Out took the cockpit and broken amber glass to the one forge they had on the ship, where they could do repairments such as this. He put the glass shards in the forge and waited until the fire became hot enough to melt the glass. Once melted, he poured the liquid glass into a flat, square form.

Once the glass had become solid enough that it would stay together, Knock Out used a grabber to pick the flat window up in one end, and with another grabber holding the other end, he bent the glass until it reached a tunnel-like shape.

Knock Out compared the glass to the empty frame in the cockpit and adjusted the glass until it seemed like a perfect fit. He then put down the glass and waited until it was cool enough to handle. He picked up the amber window and was able to slightly bend the flexible glass just enough that it popped into place in the cockpit.

Knock Out stepped back and admired his work. The glass was shiny and smooth, as if it had never been broken in the first place. It had taken an hour from start to finish, but the end result was worth it. He brought the cockpit with him back to the lab and called Skywarp, who was happy to get his cockpit back and delighted to see the result. After getting fixed up, Skywarp and Thundercracker went for a nice fly in the moonlight.

With nothing much to do, Thundercracker and Skywarp simply spent the next two weeks together flying - on patrol and for fun - watching anime together, taking oil baths and preening each other, and Skywarp telling the tale of his termination of Airachnid to anyone who wanted to listen, mostly the Vehicons. They knew she had been strong, elusive and dangerous, and many had been scared of her, so Skywarp ended up being seen as a bit of a savior for squashing the bug.

Thundercracker noted Skywarp's respect for the Vehicons, which was not shared by many other bots. Probably none of the Autobots viewed them as sentient beings due to their clone status and their lack of facial expressions, making them easy targets. The Decepticons knew they were sentient and their own individuals, but most of them simply did not care about the Vehicons anyway, again because of their clone status.

Even the Insecticons were regarded with more respect, despite also looking mostly identical to one another, simply because they were larger and more fearsome. The Vehicons were... not very threatening. Compared to the Insecticons, one could even call them cute.

Yet for some reason, Skywarp, as well as apparently the late Breakdown, seemed to actually respect the Vehicons, talked to them and mostly treated them like normal bots. Granted, he could not remember any of their names, as they were still clones and thus did not stand out. Thundercracker wondered if Skywarp's respect toward the Vehicons was the reason for his new odd friendship with the Predacon.

Speaking of the Predacon, it had been acting strange lately. It wasn't as aggressive or sassy as usual. It was more... lazy, and seemingly thoughtful. Rather than hissing at everything that came near it, it would observe them, especially when passersby went out for a fly and transformed. Thundercracker wondered if Dreadwing had finally gained control of the beast, or if perhaps Skywarp had helped to tame it. It seemed to like Skywarp, and Skywarp almost always gave it a scratch behind the horns when meeting it on the deck. How had that happened?

Furthermore, since first befriending the beast about a month ago, Skywarp had occasionally gone to the deck just to spend time with the Predacon. Once a week, he would even give it an oil bath, by bringing a bucket of oil and some polishing cloths, as well as a buffer for after the polishing. That had turned a few heads among the Decepticons, even Megatron's. Megatron and Shockwave used to be the only two Decepticons who gave the Predacon cuddles for a job well done or if it was injured. Skywarp did that unconditionally, and Thundercracker wondered if this was why Dreadwing was having such a tough time getting the Predacon to obey him.

The Predacon did not mind the occasional baths; in fact, it seemed to enjoy them. Skywarp was the only other Decepticon that the Predacon allowed to touch it, and he was the only Decepticon that the Predacon allowed to climb onto its back. Not that Megatron or Shockwave had ever tried that, but it was still something Thundercracker took note of.

Skywarp would start by dipping the cloth in the bucket of oil and then polish the beast's armor. Since it was too big to fit inside the ship, even in the largest of the oil baths, this was the only way it was going to get cleaned. The Predacon would lay still on its front so Skywarp had easier access to its plating. He polished the legs, the back, the neck and the face, at which the Predacon closed its optics to not get the cloth prickling the sensitive organs. While polishing, Skywarp would also examine the seams and crevices for bits of dirt, and if he found any, he would dig into them with his claws to get it out. Thundercracker was impressed the Predacon allowed Skywarp to preen it.

"Sit up," Skywarp said once he had polished the face, neck, wings and back.

The Predacon sat up without protest, allowing Skywarp access to its chest and belly, as well as the inner front legs. Skywarp would often hum while polishing the Predacon, usually theme songs from the various anime shows he watched, other times it was something he made up. Skywarp was surprisingly relaxed for someone who was handling a giant Predacon that could easily bite him in half if it wanted to. The Predacon also seemed relaxed and calm during these times, apparently finding Skywarp trustworthy.

"Stand," Skywarp said once he was done with the front.

The Predacon obeyed and rose to all four, giving Skywarp access to its inner hind legs and the underside of its tail. He continued preening its plating as he went along, making sure not to dig too deeply and hit something sensitive, as that would definitely set off the beast. Skywarp was good at preening and was usually careful and flawless when preening Thundercracker. He had accidentally hit a sore spot in Starscream's plating a couple times when the smaller Seeker had briefly returned to the Decepticons, but that was because Starscream was so concerningly thin that it took almost nothing to hurt him. The Predacon had thicker armor and stronger cables, so it wasn't as squirmish as Starscream. It didn't like the preening as much as the cuddles, but it didn't hate it either. It was okay with it.

While giving the Predacon cuddles or an oil bath, Skywarp would also often talk to it. Sort of. He mostly just told his troubles when he didn't want anyone to talk back at him and just needed someone to listen.

"Megatron used to praise me a lot," Skywarp said quietly as he had the Predacon hold up its feet so he could polish the underside. "I was his favorite Seeker. At least that's what the others told me. He liked me more than Starscream, at least. But lately he's been grouchier than usual. He's even being mean towards me. I wonder why."

As Skywarp finished up the last foot and claw, he put down the polishing gear to instead grab the buffer and started smoothening out the various superficial scratches and dents on the Predacon's armor. It really seemed to like the buffer, emitting purring noises and leaning towards the touch.

"Yeah, you like that, don't you?" Skywarp cooed with a smirk. "Feels nice, doesn't it? I bet Dreadwing doesn't do this for you. Or anyone else, for that matter."

The Predacon rattled lowly, but continued its purring. Skywarp hummed.

"I wonder if you can really understand what I'm saying," he said. "I'd like to think you do. Dreadwing's just a big old boring lugnut, isn't he? He never smiles unless explosives are involved. What a loser."

The Predacon moaned lowly, as if responding to Skywarp's statement. Skywarp chuckled.

"You agree, don't you?" Skywarp assumed. "But even though he's a boring, mean hypocrite and everything, Dreadwing's not all bad. I mean, he did save me from Airachnid. And then he got himself trapped by her. He's kinda useless, actually." Skywarp chuckled again. "If only Dreadwing would loosen up a little and try to be nicer, maybe everyone would like him more. But he might be too serious to loosen up. I don't know. Down here."

Skywarp waved down to himself, signalling the Predacon to lower its head so he could buff it. It obeyed and closed its optics while feeling the vibrations over its face. It rattled softly, which became more rattling because of the vibrations. Skywarp chuckled at the sound.

"You're funny," Skywarp said and scratched the Predacon behind the horns, earning a purr. "You're not so bad when one really gets to know you, you know. And you're a great listener. Even better than Thundercracker. I love the mech, but he keeps interrupting me when I'm talking to him, and he keeps leading me away from what I wanted to talk about. It's nice to have someone to talk to who won't talk back."

Skywarp finished the buffing of the face and started buffing the underside of the jaw. The Predacon eagerly gave him access by facing up.

"Someone who won't insult me or make me contradict myself, or call me stupid or something," Skywarp continued, softer this time. "I never thought this someone would be a Predacon. But this is pretty cool."

Skywarp moved on from the head to the wings, which didn't spread out entirely, but enough so he could reach the webbing in-between the membrane, even if it was folded.

"You know, the humans have a word for a big guy like you," Skywarp said. "I see organic versions of you on their TV-shows often. They call you dragons. That's a pretty cool word, don't'cha think?"

The Predacon looked down at Skywarp as he finished buffing the wing and moved on to the other wing. The Predacon turned around to give him easier access.

"Your wings are so pretty," Skywarp complimented. "You're a big, pretty fellow. And soon you'll be shiny and clean."

The last few minutes went on in silence, with some occasional humming from Skywarp.

"Aaaand... done," Skywarp declared and stepped back to admire his work with crossed arms. "Let's see here. Turn around."

The Predacon stood and turned around itself, partly spreading out its wings, to let Skywarp view it from all angles. It was shiny, glittering, and its colors seemed brighter and darker than before at the same time, having been cleaned off dust from earlier battles. Skywarp grinned and spread his arms out.

"You're so handsome!" Skywarp judged. "Terrifying! You're a big, terrifyingly handsome dragon-Predacon. The others will be so jealous of your armor."

The Predacon turned its head to each side, trying to get a look at itself, whilst rattling softly. It curled its tail up so it could see its shiny, sharp spikes. It looked back down at Skywarp and moaned. It lowered its head and closed in on the black Seeker. For a moment, Skywarp felt a twist in his tanks, wondering what the Predacon was about to do.

The Predacon rattled... and bumped its head into Skywarp's chest. It wasn't a hard push, but enough to make Skywarp about to fall back. He yelped but regained his balance by taking a step back. The Predacon pulled its head back and moaned.

Skywarp chuckled. "Oh, you want more head scratches?" he asked and stroked it down the cheek plates. "Alright, I give in."

Thundercracker and Dreadwing had both occasionally observed how easily Skywarp got the Predacon to follow his commands. He didn't use a sharp tone like Dreadwing always did, he usually gave it compliments and praise in a calmer though slightly annoying tone, talking to it like a bot would talk to a Newspark. The Predacon didn't seem to mind the tone much though. Dreadwing did not like how Skywarp seemed to be doing so easy with the Predacon while Dreadwing barely could make it do anything other than retrieve bones. He always yelled at it, growling and insulting it to try and intimidate it into obeying him, but it had lost that kind of respect for him a long time ago.

Megatron did not care much about Skywarp's strange new friendship with the Predacon and simply told Dreadwing to do better at commanding the beast. Which, of course, annoyed Dreadwing even more. Despite this annoyance with the Predacon though, Thundercracker noted that Dreadwing was not being as spiteful towards the black Seeker like he used to. Perhaps the commander had gained a newfound respect for Skywarp since the battle with Airachnid.

In fact everyone seemed to view Skywarp with greater respect because of his killing of Airachnid. Thundercracker wondered if that might have been the reason for why Megatron had only punished Skywarp with a slap across the face, despite the outbreak having been so devastating. Had the Insecticons been under Airachnid's control, they would have had to get rid of them, and then the ordeal would have been even more devastating.

Throughout the two weeks since the outbreak and Airachnid's termination, Megatron did not bring up Skywarp's mistake and mostly just left him alone. One day though, Megatron ordered all three Seekers to the bridge.

"Dreadwing, Thundercracker, Skywarp, come with me," Megatron ordered and went for the exit. "There is something I want to show you."

As such, all four mechs went out to the deck in silence, Skywarp giving the wake Predacon a quick stroke on the muzzle, where they transformed to jet mode and took off. It was raining heavily, and the clouds were so thick it was hard to know if it was day or night. It was early morning though, around dawn.

The Nemesis had parked just above a cliff range by a forest, and Megatron was leading the three Seekers down to a cave by the foot of the cliffs. Once descended, he and the Seekers reverted to bot mode, the rain pelting their armor with small yet thick droplets.

"An abandoned mine, Lord Megatron?" Thundercracker questioned as they stood in the rain, before the entrance.

"Come, Seekers," Megatron ordered and stepped into the darkness without waiting for them.

The Seekers were hesitant at first, even the mostly hardcore Dreadwing. It was in their nature as Fliers to avoid entering caves or otherwise dark, narrow and enclosed spaces where they could not manuever well in flight, or even fly at all, and where escape was difficult. Their hesitation lasted for only a couple of seconds before they shook it off and entered the dark but dry cave, following their leader.

They walked through a dark corridor with no Energon or other lightsource, relying only on their keen night vision. Even with their resolution, the Seekers found themselves having stings of discomfort and anxiety over the narrow passageway, despite the tunnels being pretty roomy actually. Skywarp found himself thinking back on the outbreak and felt concern rising inside of him.

"My liege, I'm really sorry for what happened," Skywarp apologized all of a sudden. "You know I didn't mean to harm anyone, right? I-"

"Yet you managed to cost us half our remaining troops," Megatron snarled with a side-glance at the black Seeker. "That is not something I can forgive quite easily, Skywarp."

Skywarp's wings dropped in shame. Thundercracker and Dreadwing kept quiet. They kept walking.

After about a minute of walking, the Seekers spotted a faint source of light from a corner up ahead. They turned the corner and found themselves in a huge chamber that was anything but empty; two long rows of large tubes filled with a yellow fluid and dark objects inside were lined up, with a path in the middle of the two rows so they could walk between them. In the far end of the chamber, a bunch of machinery had been set up, to make out a temporary lab.

"Shockwave's offsite laboratory," Dreadwing remarked. "Most impressive."

They walked between the large tubes, which they now realized contained Predacon Protoforms. The Protoforms seemed to be about the same size as the Predacon they already had, and their armor was spiky and seemingly fully developed. They could not be far from emergence.

Skywarp silently counted the tubes as they walked on. "Twenty-four," he observed. "That's a lot. But didn't we get more bones?"

"Shockwave only has so many tubes, I bet," Thundercracker said. "I'm sure once these ones emerge, he's gonna prepare the next batch."

Skywarp felt himself smile at that. "I wonder if the new Predacons are gonna be as cuddly as the one we have," he said.

"I think you're the only one who'd wonder about that," Thundercracker replied.

"You should stop spoiling the Predacon, Skywarp," Dreadwing said. "You're making my job harder than it should be."

"Maybe you should just stop being a meanie, Dreadwing," Skywarp countered. "Predacons need love and cuddles, not threats and insults."

"I will never understand how you managed to get that thought process, Skywarp," Thundercracker commented. "Or how you managed to befriend that Predacon."

"Have you not seen the new movie, How To Train Your Dragon? They literally do everything I just said."

"When did you even have time to watch that?"

They silenced as Shockwave approached the group and addressed Megatron.

"The Predacon clones have almost fully evolved," Shockwave informed, "and will be combat ready within three solar cycles."

"That soon?" Thundercracker remarked. "Impressive."

"Well done, Shockwave," Megatron praised and opened a comm.. "Knock Out, I'm waiting."

"On my way, Lord Megatron!" Knock Out replied through the comm..

The mobile elevator contained in the ship had lowered into the chamber before the group had arrived. It lit up, and within a few seconds, Knock Out arrived on it with a pile of boxes on the floor emitting green light, as well as one in his arms.

"Synthetic Energon," Knock Out announced as he exited the elevator with one box in his arms. "Troops will be delivering my remaining supplies to you."

"I will determine its value after Lord Megatron's Predacon army is ready for deployment," Shockwave said and gestured an empty space where the Energon could be stacked. It was probably a new batch of an updated version of the substance.

Knock Out placed his box down behind Shockwave, when suddenly a loud screech sounded from the corridor. The Decepticons looked around for a moment before gazing at the entrance, where the Predacon emerged from the darkness. It stopped before the first tubes and let out a loud screech.

"What's he doing here?" Thundercracker wondered.

"Maybe he wants another oil bath?" Skywarp speculated.

"You just gave him one yesterday."

"It's raining."

While the two argued amongst themselves, Dreadwing approached the Predacon and scowled at it.

"Unruly beast," Dreadwing snarled as he walked up to it, gaining the other two Seekers' attention. "You dare to roam freely without permission?"

The Predacon let out a roar at Dreadwing. Dreadwing remained steadfast and growled back. "Go back to your kennel, now!" he shouted and pointed to the entrance.

The Predacon stepped closer to the royal Seeker, making Thundercracker and Skywarp feel uncomfortable. "This won't end well," Skywarp predicted.

The Predacon took a few more steps... and then in the next moment, its body broke apart and rearranged itself, until a bot stood before them. Smaller than the beast itself, naturally, but probably well over a head taller than Megatron. The bot had four large horns on his head, one in the middle front, one in the back and one on either side of his helm. His shoulders had even longer horns or spikes coming out and pointing up, and his servos each had four very long, very large and very sharp talons, as had his massive pedes. The Predacon insignia unique to the race was displayed on his bulky chest, as it had in beast mode. The wings on his back had shrunk and were pointing down. His optics, as well as his bio-lights shone in a yellow color, just as they did in beast mode.

"What...?" Dreadwing uttered, his snarl and scowl having entirely disappeared. Megatron's optics widened, his long optical ridges rising in surprise. Thundercracker, Skywarp and Knock Out all stared with huge optics and open mouths. Even Shockwave's single optic narrowed in shock for a moment.

The Predacon had the ability to transform. And its alternate mode was a bot. But that was not the end of the shock.

"Yell at me again, and I will give you something to scream about," the Predacon growled at Dreadwing, looming over the dark Seeker.

The group in the back kept staring at the scene.

"Huh," Skywarp commented. "That's new."

"You think?" Thundercracker hissed.

Now, all the confidence and bravery that Dreadwing had displayed before seemed to have faded. For once, he backed away from the Predacon, still in disbelief over what had just happened.

"I... I did not realize that the beast was capable of transformation..." Dreadwing said concerned as he backed off from the newly transformed bot.

"Nor did I," Megatron said and glanced back at Shockwave, whose optic had returned to normal dilation, the shock having settled.

"I am no beast," the Predacon protested and stomped past Dreadwing, who quickly stepped back, not wanting to mess with him anymore. The Predacon stepped over to one of the tubes and gazed at the Predacon Protoform inside with curiosity.

"The ability to transform is a fundamental part of Cybertronian biology," Shockwave informed. "We simply possessed no evidence that the Predacon species ever reached that evolutionary stage, since they became extinct in the Great Cataclysm."

"And now we know," Thundercracker commented.

Skywarp gazed at the Predacon in interest. Even in bot mode, he still had the shine from the oil bath the previous day, despite the rain outside. It was high-quality oil. Skywarp wondered if he should say something to the bot.

"So, the rumors are true," the Predacon said to no one in particular, still staring at the Protoform. "I will no longer be alone."

"And I see you've been keeping secrets," Megatron commented as he approached the Predacon.

The Predacon turned away from the tube to focus on Megatron. "It was not my intention to deceive you, Lord Megatron," he assured, now calm. "I only recently became aware of my abilities. All I remember of my beginning is hunting, and battle... and the wounding of my pride." He glared briefly at Dreadwing before looking away.

His gaze became softer. "But also... kindness." The Predacon glanced briefly at Skywarp, who smiled and waved back, before the former looked back at the thin air.

"Thus I had begun to burn with questions," the Predacon continued. "Who am I? Where did I come from? The warship's databanks provided historical facts, but still I possessed no memory of my own past. So I had begun to reconsider my place in the present, and wondered... Could I be like the others?" He looked back down at Megatron. "And now I know."

"Yet you are unique!" Megatron said intrigued. "A miracle of science. Cloned by Shockwave from cyber-nucleic acid, recovered from the remains of your mighty ancestors."

Megatron gestured the tubes containing the Predacon Protoforms, and the Predacon gazed back at his brethren. He seemed thoughtful.

The others looked on with mixed feelings. They didn't know whether to be excited or concerned over this new development. They knew one thing for certain.

This would change the entirety of Project Predacon.

Starscream found himself standing in the middle of a desert. It was completely flat, with no bluffs, hills or rocks surrounding him. There was flatness as far as his vision went, even far out in the horizon.

Starscream turned around, looking everywhere, until he spotted a figure in one direction. It was far away, but he could tell it was a bot. Tall, bulky, spiky and seemingly with orange and black plating and yellow optics. It didn't seem like anybot he had seen before.

"Hello?" he said weakly in the bot's direction.

As soon as he said that, the bot suddenly grew larger, until he transformed into... the Predacon. The beast screeched and started running towards him.

Starscream turned around and ran as fast as he could, but he felt his body getting heavy for every second that passed. He jumped and tried to transform, but it didn't work, and he only felt himself getting more exhausted. Behind him, the Predacon was closing in, fast.

Just as the Predacon reached him, he fell into a hole in the ground. Underneath him, he saw planet Earth. He looked up, but the hole he came from was gone.

He looked to his right. Megatron was falling right beside him, with black optics and no life in his body.

Starscream looked down. Planet Earth was gone, and instead there was a gigantic head, with horns, purple eyes and sharp teeth. The sight filled Starscream with dread.

He looked to his right again. Megatron was gone. He looked down again. The monster's face had opened its giant mouth, leading into darkness.

Starscream tried to transform again, but it still didn't work. He couldn't stop himself from falling.

Starscream fell into the mouth and entered the black void.

He stopped moving, and everything went quiet.

He looked around him. Up. Down. Left. Right. Behind him. In front of him. There was nothing but darkness and an eerie silence.

It was quiet. Too quiet...

And then...

The Predacon jumped out at him, fully lit up, screeching, its claws out and its teeth ready to chomp his head off.

Starscream jolted awake with a shriek. He looked around in the dark and relatively empty hangar. It had been a dream.

Most of the Autobots were out on night patrol, searching for Energon or Decepticon activity. Ratchet and Red Alert were both recharging for once, as was Octane. The only one awake and present at the moment was Starscream himself, having promised to be on nightwatch duty this night. Apparently he had fallen asleep on the job, however.

"Great sentry I am," Starscream muttered sarcastically to himself. "Hopefully nothing happened while I was asleep. How long was I out?"

It was still dark outside. It was probably not long until dawn. It was almost time for Octane's flying training. Starscream preferred training Octane before sunrise, both so he could train in flying in darkness, and also because they could watch the sunrise together while flying.

Being the only bot currently awake at the moment, however, it was uncertain if they would be able to make it in time. He could wake up Ratchet or Red Alert, but at the same time they rarely got any sleep at all, Ratchet less so than Red Alert.

Starscream waited and guarded for another hour in darkness until he lost his patience. He went to Red Alert's pod and knocked on the glass, almost immediately waking him up. He was a very sensitive bot, and sleeping seemed difficult for him. He opened his optics and looked confused at Starscream.

"Octane and I will head off for our flying session now," Starscream informed the young medic with a low voice, so as to not wake up Ratchet. "You will watch over the base until Ratchet wakes up or the others return."

Red Alert yawned and opened his pod. "But... you're the one on nightwatch duty tonight, aren't you?" he asked uncertain, also quietly. "Or... did I misunderstand? Am I wrong? Wait, Octane is not even awake right now..."

Starscream went over to his student's pod and knocked on the glass, waking him up within a few seconds.

"He is now," Starscream pointed out. "Watch the base for me, will you?"

Octane got out of his pod and looked around at the empty space, then at the sleeping Ratchet and awake Red Alert.

"Good morning, Red," Octane greeted drowzily. "You're up early."

"Uh, yeah, Starscream woke me," Red Alert said quietly. "But alright, I'll watch the base. Not like I'll get back to sleep anyway..."

Red Alert sat down by his desk and started reading his datapad. Before Octane could ask, Starscream was already pushing him in the back towards the door. They carefully opened it and went outside before carefully closing it again. The humans had yet to wake up.

They reverted to jet mode and set off into the sky. It was still dark, the stars and moon still visible on the sky, but Starscream's internal clock told him it was almost dawn.

"Did you wake up Red Alert just so we could go fly earlier?" Octane asked as he was starting to wake up more.

"Yes, do you have a problem with that?" Starscream snapped.

"No, no," Octane replied. "I'm just surprised that you gave up nightwatch duty so soon. Did you fall asleep?"

"So what if I fell asleep?" Starscream hissed. "I'm used to sleeping every night! I'm tired! What's wrong with falling asleep?"

"There's nothing wrong with that," Octane assured offended. "You don't have to bite my head off. I just asked."

Starscream took a deep vent and let it out his intakes. "I-I'm sorry," he said. "I had a bad dream. And I'm not really sure what it meant."

"What was it about?" Octane asked curiously. "If you want to talk about it, I mean."

Starscream sighed and told Octane about the dream. The Predacon, Megatron and the ominous dark floating head. Octane hummed.

"It was probably just a nightmare," he assumed. "Maybe you're worried about the new Predacons that are being developed?"

"That is a big concern," Starscream admitted. "Since the Decepticons haven't been doing anything we've detected lately. Megatron might have gained enough fossils to create his army. That thought scares me. It's just a matter of time before we get overrun by those massive, bot-eating monsters."

Octane hummed concerned. Starscream sighed.

"How are you doing lately, Starscream?" Octane asked. "You seem a bit more edgy than usual. And not just now. Are you alright?"

"I don't know, Octane," Starscream said. "I feel like I can only calm down here in the air. I'm trying my best to control myself on the ground, but... it's getting harder."

"Why don't you just remove the crystal from your Spark chamber? You said you had done it before without a problem."

"Back then I had barely had the shard in my Spark for fifteen minutes before I took it out," Starscream reminded him. "Not enough time for the connection to settle in entirely. And back then I was also able to insert it in a way so I could easily remove it afterwards. But back at the mine... I was trapped in an awkward angle for another several minutes before getting loose. I wanted to take it out just as you arrived with Cliffjumper's remains, but I didn't want you to see it, much less know the truth."

"And afterwards?"

"Well... afterwards we were back with the Autobots, and I couldn't remove it with them watching. Once the funeral was over... I didn't feel like removing it anymore. I still don't, now. I just can't."

They fell silent for a while.

"I hope... you'll eventually be able to take it out," Octane said quietly. "And I hope I can help you with it."

Starscream sighed. "Let's not worry about that now," he said and tried to put a bit more energy into his words. "Let's focus on your training."

They did the usual darkness training, learning to navigate with little or no light, getting through obstacles like bluffs and using the stars to know which way they were going. Octane was a quick learner and was already able to navigate in the darkness without ramming into anything anymore, though he still moved slower than Starscream did, as flying in the dark was still new to him.

Eventually, the sun started rising in the horizon. The darkness made way for rays of sunshine, coloring the sky in orange, and the few present clouds in pink. The two Fliers paused their training and flew slowly, mostly just hovering in the same spot, to enjoy the view.

"I will never get tired of seeing that," Octane said breathlessly. "It's so beautiful."

"It is," Starscream agreed. "The sunrise and sunset is one of the few things I've always liked about Earth. Plus the vast skies and colorful landscapes below. I always seem to find something new to look at when I fly across this rock."

"What are Cybertron's sunsets and sunrises like?" Octane asked. "What do the landscapes look like there?"

"The sun cycles are pretty much the same," Starscream said. "They're beautiful too, though the landscapes are not as colorful. Lots of barren and desolate areas, many cities and pretty much no plant life. What little plant life might remain is gray like everything else on Cybertron."

"Sounds a bit dull."

"Yet I cannot say Earth sunrises and sunsets are more beautiful than Cybertron's. Cybertron is our home, and for that reason, it is beautiful to us. This planet has its own aesthetics, but nothing beats home. And while Cybertron doesn't look like much now, it can be beautiful again, like it used to be. Before our war destroyed it."

Octane hummed in thought. "Regardless of what Cybertron is like, I still want to see it," he said. "I want to see where we came from. I hope we can go to Cybertron soon."

"Maybe not soon," Starscream said, "but at some point in the future, maybe. If you survive that long, that is. And... if I survive that long, too."

Octane took his gaze away from the sun for a moment to gaze at Starscream instead. "What are you talking about?" he said, trying to sound optimistic. "You're not gonna die. That thing in your chest will go at some point, and you'll be safe again, I know it. And you're the best Flier in the universe, right? You're not gonna die so easily."

Starscream looked back at Octane, away from the sun.

"You're taking me to Cybertron, and we're going to experience both sunsets and sunrises together," Octane said. "And you'll show me all over Cybertron. And I'll follow you wherever you go. You can count on me, no matter what, Starscream."

Starscream smiled mentally. They both gazed back at the sun for a while before they started moving again, picking up speed.

"Octane, here's a trick you can use for dodging in jet mode," Starscream said and flew ahead a bit for more space, and so Octane could better see him. "Watch this."

Starscream leaned hard to the right to perform a spin, whilst keeping his altitude in check. Octane watched intrigued. After a few seconds, Starscream stopped spinning and continued his effortless hovering.

"Now you try," Starscream encouraged.

"Okay," Octane said and flew a bit ahead of Starscream to have more space for his bigger form.

Octane leaned to the right, but could not tip himself over enough to make a spin. He tried to the left, but all he did was lean.

"This is hard," Octane said as he waved from side to side across the sky.

"You need to put more force into it," Starscream said and flew ahead again, demonstrating with another quick spin. "Like this!"

Octane observed as Starscream actually leaned a bit to the left first, then hard to the right which put in more force and caused him to spin. He hummed in understanding.

Starscream fell back again to watch Octane's next attempt. Octane tried the same, leaning a bit to the left first, and then put more force to the right. This time he managed to tip over to make a single spin, but doing so caused him to lose altitude, almost making him fall down.

"Whoa!" Octane exclaimed but managed to regain balance by leaning to the left, stopping himself from falling before losing too much altitude. "This really is hard! You make it look so easy."

Starscream descended to catch up with him. The Seeker chuckled.

"My bad, I forgot you're not as thin and aerodynamic as I am," Starscream said in amusement and spun playfully. "You big clumsy jumbo jet."

Octane chuckled back. "Wait, wait, I can still do it, look!" he said and tried again, managing to spin a bit beside Starscream, this time not losing as much altitude as before, but still a lot slower than the smaller fighter jet.

"You're doing better, Octane," Starscream praised and spun again energetically. "But you could do with losing a few pounds, especially if you want to be as fast as me!"

They laughed and spun around for a while, until Octane seemed to have gotten the hang of it and didn't lose altitude anymore. He simply put more energy into his thrusters to keep himself up, but he definitely needed more training.

Starscream showed him one more trick that he could work on before deciding that they had done enough flying training for the morning. The sun had risen a good distance in the sky, and the other Autobots were probably back in the base by now. They turned around and headed back to the military base, descended and transformed before the entrance to Hangar E. Starscream noticed in the corner of his optic Wheeljack by Ultra Magnus' ship, seemingly working something on it, as his servos were soaked green with coolant.

Starscream and Octane opened the door to Hangar E and stepped inside, just in time to see Ultra Magnus talk to Arcee, Bulkhead, Bumblebee, Hot Shot, Ransack and Crumplezone about something. He didn't seem pleased. Ratchet stood by his monitor, now awake, and Red Alert still sat by his own desk, but now worked on repairs on some devices. Optimus had not returned yet.

As soon as Starscream and Octane entered the hangar, Ultra Magnus' attention was drawn away from the Grounders and focused on their two Fliers instead.

"Soldiers, where have you two been?" Ultra Magnus asked with a stern and judgmental tone. "I did not give you permission to leave the base."

Starscream frowned at the bigger blue Autobot. "I do not recall ever having to ask for permission to leave the base in order to train my student here," Starscream hissed.

"Ratchet reported that you were not present when he woke up," Magnus informed. "Despite the fact that you were on nightwatch duty. By leaving the base unsupervised, you put us at risk of missing important calls, and you put us at risk of being noticed by the Decepticons for flying off without notifying us."

"Like you Autobots don't leave the base directly via the roads," Starscream snapped. "And I didn't leave the base unattended. Red Alert was awake, and I always check if the sky is clear before I take off, so I didn't jeopardize any of us, I never do!"

"He's right," Red Alert peeped, drawing attention to him. "I looked after the base when they left. Everything, uh, was quiet. You, uh, don't need to scold him... sir..."

Ultra Magnus gazed from Red Alert and back to Starscream, who now had crossed arms and a smirk on his face. Magnus looked up and behind the two Fliers, spotting Wheeljack entering the base, covered in green fluid.

"Soldier, I don't recall giving you permission to leave the base either," Ultra Magnus said sternly and passed between Starscream and Octane, who stepped aside.

"Because you didn't, sir," Wheeljack replied and wiped his arms to get the fluid off. He was filthy as heck.

"Why are your hands smeared with coolant?" Magnus asked skeptically and curiously.

"I... recalibrated your ship's engines," Wheeljack drawled out while wiping his servos in vain and smiled. "You can expect a ten percent increase in vector thrust."

Ultra Magnus' optical ridges rose in surprise, apparently not expecting Wheeljack to do something so... nice for him. The roar of a jet pack sounded outside, and Optimus Prime landed right at the entrance with grace, his wings withdrawing into the jet pack before the mighty mech rose and entered the hangar. Everyone immediately left their spots to walk over and greet Optimus. Starscream and Octane had to press themselves against the walls to make room for the flood of Grounders approaching their leader.

"Welcome back!" Ratchet greeted.

"Good to see ya," Smokescreen said.

"It's good to have you back, Optimus," Arcee greeted.

"So glad to see you, Optimus," Bumblebee bleeped.

"Ey, OP's back!" Ransack greeted.

"Glad you're here," Crumplezone said.

"We missed ya, big bot," Hot Shot said.

Bulkhead just laughed with joy. Red Alert didn't get up to greet Optimus, perhaps because he was too shy. He just smiled and waved, then continued his work. After the other bots had crowded Optimus, Octane and Starscream walked up behind them to also greet Optimus.

"About time you got back," Starscream said, a bit exasperated.

"Did you find anything?" Octane asked with a smile.

"Decepticon activity is at a lull," Optimus reported and looked around at his fellow Autobots. "I fear that Megatron may have collected the specimens he requires... to..."

Optimus paused as his gaze fell on Ultra Magnus, standing all alone in the middle of the room with no one around him, despite the crowd around Optimus.

"...clone his army," Optimus ended, with an almost saddened look at the lone Magnus.

Starscream gazed between Optimus and Magnus and scoffed. He grabbed Octane by the arm and pulled him along as he waved his other servo between the crowd to usher them aside.

"If that is all, Octane and I shall go train in Hangar F," Starscream announced with hiked wings, as he and a dragging Octane passed the crowd and Optimus. "Now stop bothering Prime and go make yourselves useful, Autobots."

Without looking at the others' reactions, Starscream dragged Octane out of Hangar E and headed for Hangar F.

"We're doing combat training already?" Octane asked surprised and caught up so he got out of Starscream's grip. "We usually rest first..."

"Enemies will not let you rest in combat," Starscream pointed out with irritation and opened the doors to Hangar F. "You should know that by now. Now come on, get a move on!"

After recovering from the shock of the Predacon's transformation, the group departed from Shockwave's lab to return to the warship. Megatron had Soundwave GroundBridge them all back to the deck, as they were uncertain whether to take the elevator or fly back to the ship. They entered the hangar, and the Predacon walked through the ship's hallways for the first time in his life. Skywarp took a deep vent and left Thundercracker's side, instead pacing up to walk beside the Predacon, who walked beside Megatron.

"Hey, uh," Skywarp greeted, earning the Predacon's attention. "So, uh... what do I call you now?"

The Predacon remained silent for a while, but instead of answering Skywarp right away, he turned his attention back to Megatron.

"It is with deepest gratitude for my creation that I pledge undying obedience to you, my one true master," the Predacon said. "But with more of my species soon to stride among us, I beg your permission to, in turn, lead them. As Predaking," he added and placed a taloned servo on his chest.

"Your vision... is boundless," Megatron said quietly and looked concerned at 'Predaking', as the beast had now apparently named himself.

There was silence for a moment, as the Vehicons stepped back and stared in shock at the sight of the bot mode Predaking. Skywarp decided to break the ice.

"Predaking, huh?" Skywarp said and grinned. "Mind if I call you Preddy? Because you're... pretty?"

Predaking glanced down at Skywarp with a face that signaled clear disgust at the nickname. "Hmph," Predaking humphed and turned away.

Skywarp's smile faded, and his steps became slower, until he walked beside Thundercracker in the back again. His wings drooped a bit in disappointment and embarrassment.

"Predaking..." Megatron said slowly. "Why don't you go take a rest upstairs? I have some matters to discuss with Shockwave."

Predaking nodded and paused in his walking. "As you wish, Lord Megatron," he said. "I shall await further orders."

Predaking turned around and headed back for the hangar, presumably. The other Decepticons stepped to the sides to allow him passage. Skywarp tried to gain optic contact with Predaking, but the Predacon ignored him completely.

"Is he still mad over my nickname for him?" Skywarp asked uncertain as Predaking disappeared from sight. "He's usually nicer than this..."

"Maybe he just needs some time to adjust to his new state," Thundercracker suggested and smiled. "Hey, at least you won't have to give him oil baths anymore, now that he can walk through the halls by himself."

Skywarp's optics seemed to widen for a moment, then followed by a slump in his frame. "Oh... right," he said, sounding disappointed. "I guess he can bathe himself now..."

Thundercracker's smile faded. "Are you... Do you actually like bathing him?"

"N-no," Skywarp lied and turned away. "Not at all. I just-"

"Dreadwing, Skywarp, Thundercracker, Knock Out, Soundwave, Shockwave," Megatron called, and everyone perked at their names. "Come with me to the storage. We have matters to discuss. Important matters."

The Seekers shared a glance before following Megatron along with the rest to the storage room, which was empty aside from themselves and a lot of boxed Energon cubes. The elites gathered around Megatron, who folded his servos behind his back.

"Our former beast may fully believe himself to be a loyal servant today," Megatron said. "But trust me. The moment our royal highness realizes that his army possesses greater might than what currently remains of the Decepticons..."

"Evolution will give away to revolution," Thundercracker said, understanding Megatron's concerns.

Megatron sighed and gazed at the floor in defeat. "I am left with no choice," he said quietly, "but to eradicate the Predacon clones. Before they are provided the opportunity to eradicate us."

The Decepticons shared concerned glances amongst themselves. It sounded easier than it was going to be. Even if they were not fully developed yet, the Protoforms likely already possessed thick and durable armor. They were only three days from emergence, after all. But even if they managed to fully destroy them before waking up at their full might, there was still the problem with the Predacon they already had. Not to mention that all that work to rebuild their military might would have been for nothing.

"Lord Megatron, you're not saying you intend to pull the plug on Shockwave's beloved Project Predacon?" Knock Out asked with doubt and looked at Shockwave for a reaction.

Shockwave's demeanor remained neutral and cold. "Your conclusion is most logical, my liege," Shockwave replied to Megatron.

"I shall provide explosives for the termination of the clones," Dreadwing offered with little hesitation.

Knock Out looked surprised at how easily Shockwave and Dreadwing were convinced about the plan. Soundwave remained silent, as always, but likely recorded everything that was being said in the current moment.

"But what happens if that fire-breathing brute discovers our treachery?" Knock Out pointed out.

"He doesn't need to know we did it," Skywarp said, drawing attention to him. "We'll just blame it on the Autobots."

"Yes, you're right," Thundercracker said and smiled in thought. "We'll lure the Autobots to Shockwave's offsite lab, and as soon as they see the Protoforms, they will want to eliminate them, to keep themselves safe. And, unbeknownst to them, us."

"And if the beast is informed of the Autobots' deed," Dreadwing continued, seeing the plan, "he will want to get his revenge on our enemies."

"And he'll take out the Autobots for us," Skywarp said with a smirk.

"Or, they him," Dreadwing added with a faint smirk.

Megatron's frown turned into a smile, seemingly approving of the plan. Knock Out hummed.

"Now, the only question left is," Knock Out said, "how are we going to lure the Autobots to the lab?"

The Decepticons thought for a moment. Skywarp broke the ice. "What about Energon?" he suggested. "They don't have easy access to mines like we do. We could plant some cubes near the cave entrance so they'll detect it, and then maybe they will go inside to look for more. And then they'll find the lab."

"Illogical," Shockwave countered, taking Skywarp by surprise. "Planting unguarded Energon cubes will be too suspicious, and there is no guarantee that the Autobots will look further inside."

"But using Energon as bait is a good plan," Thundercracker pointed out. "How about this: We get a squadron of Vehicons to take a few carts of freshly mined crystals to the cave, the Autobots will show up and think they have just mined it from the cave itself. They'll take the Energon and go investigate for more, and that's when they will find the lab."

"That method is more logical," Shockwave said in approval.

"What about the Vehicons?" Skywarp asked with slight concern.

"They will just have to play dead if they wish to survive," Dreadwing pointed out. "We may have lost more than half our remaining troops, but we still have the Insecticon hive. A few Vehicon lives are worth sacrificing to save our cause from the Predacon threat."

"It's not like they'll be able to take out any Autobots anyway," Thundercracker said. "And if they should, by some miracle, do just that, it will only benefit us."

Skywarp opened his mouth to respond, but decided not to say more, instead sighing. Megatron nodded and hummed.

"If that is the plan we are going with, then let us proceed," Megatron declared. "Immediately."

"Stupid Ultra Magnus," Starscream hissed as he dodged a fist and missed a swipe on Octane. "Thinks he's better than me!"

"I'm sure - he only means well!" Octane replied, also dodging and missing attacks.

They had been going for about ten minutes on the first fight, where Starscream managed to blow off a bit of his steam. But after their usual five minute break, by resting up, his thoughts had then returned to Ultra Magnus' condescending words earlier and a month ago, and the rage rebuilt within him. His attacks, at first being at normal speed, became faster and more forceful as the second fight dragged on for another five minutes before Octane noticed that the workout wasn't calming his 'brother' down this time.

"That doesn't give him the right to question my actions," Starscream snapped as he dodged a punch and missed a punch of his own. The more he missed, the more frustrated he grew, and his attacks became even faster and more forceful. Octane found himself attacking less and dodging more now.

"I don't think he-" Octane began.

"I have - hundreds of thousands of years - of military training - experience!" Starscream hissed and swiped furiously at Octane, who did his best to not get cut up. "I know - how to be - careful!"

Starscream screeched and launched a hard, velocious slash, which made a similar shrill noise. As Octane leapt back with a grunt, Starscream took a step forward and prepared his next attack, spreading his claws and-

"Stop!" Octane shouted all of a sudden.

Starscream promptly stopped in his spot. Octane held out a servo facing his mentor, signalling him to stop, while the other servo was holding his chest, upon which four long, sharp claw marks had suddenly appeared, going from his top left to his bottom right. The two middle ones were slightly blue, but only just not leaking.

"Calm down, Starscream," Octane gasped and started shuddering all over. "L-let's take a break. You're too angry right now."

Starscream was still frowning, shaking and venting deeply in anger as he eyed Octane's wounds and shaking frame. It took a moment before he realized he had harmed Octane, his student, his wannabe-'brother'. Starscream lowered his arms and stood straight, taking several deep, shaking vents, trying to calm himself down. As the anger slowly began to dissipate, his gaze flickered between Octane and anywhere else.

"I... I'm... Octane, I..."

"You don't have to say anything," Octane huffed and lowered his outstretched servo, seeing as Starscream had calmed. "I'm alright. They're not deep, just superficial. I managed to jump back in time to only get brushed."

Starscream made incoherent sounds of distress, not knowing how to respond. "I... G-glad to... hear..." he decided on. "M... Maybe we should conclude combat training for today. I'm... not really feeling up to it right now..."

"No kidding," Octane replied and looked down at his chest to examine the wounds beneath his servo. The sight didn't seem to faze him much, not like back when he had been mauled by the Predacon. His shuddering had slowly disappeared, as had Starscream's trembling. "I'm glad I didn't get hit harder than this. That was scary."

Starscream hummed. "Come on," he said softly. "Let's return to the others and get you patched up."

They exited Hangar F and returned to Hangar E, Octane still covering his wounds with his servo, just to prevent them from getting dirty from the surrounding wind. Most bots just minded their own business and ignored the two Fliers' appearance, though Arcee, Bumblebee, Smokescreen and Hot Shot did spare Starscream a quick glance. Optimus and Ultra Magnus were standing in a corner and talking about something. Ratchet and Red Alert worked in the 'science corner' on each their own things. The Fliers approached the medic.

"Ratchet," Starscream addressed quietly, trying not to draw attention to himself. "Octane had a little... accident."

Ratchet looked up from his monitor and gazed from Starscream to Octane, then at the Triple Changer's wounded chest. Octane removed his hand from it and let Ratchet have a better look.

"Again?" Ratchet grumbled. "You need to be more careful in your training with him, Starscream."

Starscream's mouth contorted into a hard line, neither arguing nor agreeing with him. He had just said that he knew how to be careful, and then the next second he had inflicted a possibly serious wound to his pupil. Ratchet was right, but Starscream didn't want to admit that.

"Just fix him up, doctor," Starscream almost hissed. "Please," he added and put on a forced smile which looked rather annoying, but Ratchet simply sighed and brought out his blowtorch to fix the wounds.

While Ratchet was working on Octane, Starscream stepped back and looked around at the others. Most were just chatting with each other, some were planning their next patrols and some were simply resting against the walls. Understandable, as the Autobots had not acquired any new Energon for a while now, and they were almost out of it.

Several bots had chosen to fast like Ratchet and Red Alert had, namely Optimus Prime, Ultra Magnus, Arcee, Bulkhead, Bumblebee, Wheeljack and Smokescreen. Even Hot Shot had chosen to fast after all, despite what Ratchet had said. They all had skipped their weekly Energon from the last fueling, while Starscream, Octane, Ransack and Crumplezone had chosen to fuel. They spent much energy every day, the Fliers especially so. Hot Shot didn't feel so hot lately, as he also spent a lot of energy every day and didn't consume enough back to replenish.

They only had a few cubes left, enough for a few more trips via GroundBridge, and barely enough for even two bots to refuel. They needed to find Energon very soon. They desperately needed it. But Starscream could not think of any Energon mines lately; the Dark Energon made him more anxious than normal, and he could not concentrate enough to remember any coordinates. He brushed it off by telling them he didn't remember if there were any free mines left, which he knew wasn't true. There were several mines left they had not gone to yet, but while he had the picture of the mines in mind, he couldn't connect them to any coordinates. They may as well be empty, but considering how long they had been fighting on Earth and that there were still big mines around, it was unlikely they had emptied the Earth's resources of the substance.

Starscream's thoughts were interrupted by a beeping alarm from the command center. Everyone else ceased their chat and whatever else they had occupied themselves with, and they all looked over at the computers. On the radar, there seemed to be a signal.

"Optimus, our scanners have detected exposed Energon," Ratchet reported.

Everyone shared gazes before settling their optics onto Optimus for instructions, though they all knew what they had to do. Exposed Energon could only mean Decepticon activity.

"With our reserves at a critical low, we cannot afford not to investigate," Optimus said and put on his battle mask. "Autobots, roll out!"

As it was going to be a raid, every combat-ready Autobot except for the medics would depart. They never knew how many Decepticons would be stationed at the mines they were raiding, so they had always sent out as many Autobots as possible to collect Energon. Normally this number was a mere four bots, but this time they had a total of twelve Autobots sent out on the raid mission. Even though four of them were Newsparks, the Autobots had trained them hard over the last month and a half, and with these numbers, they had a much better chance of securing the Energon they needed without anyone getting seriously hurt.

Despite his injuries, Octane went along, as Ratchet's quick handiwork was enough for the Triple Changer to return to the battlefield right away. This would also be the first raid that Starscream joined the Autobots on since he first got captured by them. This was quite a strange realization he made, as whenever there had been a raid, Starscream had either been locked in his cell, injured or out patrolling on his own. In fact, even after becoming an official Autobot, he had not fought against the Decepticons very often. It was always a bit strange when such fights were about to happen, especially now after he had just been back with their enemies for a week.

Soon, the Autobots, led by Bumblebee, Arcee and Optimus Prime, arrived at their location through the GroundBridge portal, a cliffside in a forest. Once everyone had exited and the portal disappeared, they looked down from the cliff and spotted several Vehicons on the ground below by the entrance to a mine. Three of the Vehicons were rolling mine carts filled with glowing blue Energon crystals.

"Stealth Team, engage from the forest," Optimus ordered quietly. "Fliers, engage from the air. The rest of you, with me. We will initiate the attack."

As such, Arcee, Bumblebee, Smokescreen and Hot Shot departed from the others to sneak down through the forest to launch a surprise attack on the Decepticons. Starscream and Octane stood back and prepared to take off as soon as Optimus gave his signal. Ultra Magnus, Bulkhead, Wheeljack, Ransack and Crumplezone, as well as Optimus himself, stood near the edge of the cliff and drew their weapons.

"Decepticons," Optimus yelled, annoucing their arrival to the startled Vehicons below. "Step away from the Energon and surrender!"

The Vehicons stepped away from the Energon, drew their blasters and started firing at the Autobots on the cliff. Optimus' group fired back, and they started making their way down the cliff, sliding down the cliffside, hopping a bit from side to side to dodge the lasers. As they made their final jump for the ground, the Autobots switched to their melee weapons and struck down the Vehicons below; Wheeljack slicing with his swords, Bulkhead pounding with his wrecking ball, Ultra Magnus hammering with the Forge of Solus Prime, and Ransack and Crumplezone with their arm-blades.

Starscream and Octane took off into the sky as the Stealth Team appeared from the forest and fired their blasters at the Vehicons, Arcee using a long perpetual laser that sliced three Vehicons in half by the waist, killing them. Smokescreen used the Phase Shifter to knock a Vehicon into a boulder and trap him there, motionless.

Starscream and Octane turned in the air and fired a few lasers of their own on the ground, Starscream moreso than Octane, as he had a better aim while Octane was worried he might hit the Autobots. They managed to down two Vehicons, one each.

The Fliers transformed and landed as the Grounders put away their weapons and looked around. All the Vehicons had been defeated, some dead and others unconscious. After confirming there were no others, the Autobots turned their attention to the three mine carts full of small Energon crystals.

"Look at all that sweet fuel," Smokescreen commented and picked up one of the crystals, weighing it in his servo.

"Should last us another week or two," Starscream assumed, looking around at his group. "Assuming nothing out of the ordinary happens soon."

Optimus gazed from the Energon to the cave entrance. "Stealth Team, transport our cargo back to base," he ordered. "Wreckers, reconnoitre the mine."

"I've always wanted to roll with the Wreckers!" Smokescreen piped up, drawing attention to himself.

"Me too!" Hot Shot exclaimed. "Can I go as well?"

"We wanna go too," Ransack and Crumplezone said in choir, as if sharing thoughts.

Optimus and Ultra Magnus looked a bit astonished at the young bots' eagerness to explore the mine. Magnus sighed. "Let's move, soldiers," he said.

Optimus hummed and nodded as the Wreckers and youngsters moved in. He turned to Starscream and Octane. "Fliers, patrol the sky, in case the Seekers or Predacon are nearby."

"Of course," Starscream replied and immediately transformed again, followed closely by Octane. "Prime."

The exploration team moved cautiously through the cave tunnel, which had a surprisingly large space to the ceiling. Their blasters were out, and they gazed around in the dim light as the entrance got further away from them.

"No Energon signals," Bulkhead reported, holding a scanner in his servo.

"And no additional security," Wheeljack replied. "Somethin' doesn't smell right."

Eventually the group arrived at a fork, leading to the right and left. Ultra Magnus looked back at the others.

"Split up," he said.

Ultra Magnus, Wheeljack and Crumplezone went into the right tunnel, while the rest went left. Ransack went with Bulkhead, Smokescreen and Hot Shot, not realizing Crumplezone wasn't with them until they were a good distance into the tunnel.

"Strange that we haven't found any Energon yet," Ransack noted. "Considering how loaded those Cons were. Right, Crumplezone?"

As he didn't get an answer, Ransack looked behind him to find nothing except darkness. He let out a hum that sounded a bit like a gasp. The others ahead of him looked back.

"It's fine, Ransack," Hot Shot said and got the two-wheeler's attention. "We'll meet up back there again soon."

"Yeah, and besides, we took care of the troopers," Smokescreen assured. "It's just another mine. You can hang with us for a bit without your big buddy."

"Right," Ransack replied and took another gaze back before moving on again with the others through their tunnel. "It's just... we've never been apart before. We always stick together, the two o' us. This feels weird, 's all."

"You'll get used to it," Bulkhead replied without looking back. "At some point, you gotta learn to look out for yourself. We can't always rely on others."

"Yeah, I guess you're right..." Ransack drawled and fell silent. I wonder if he walked away from me on purpose? Is he getting tired of me? Does he think I'm weak or annoying?

Meanwhile, in the right tunnel, Crumplezone also had not noticed his companion was not following him.

"Man, I thought this place'd be full of Energon," Crumplezone complained. "Are these caves normally this empty?"

"Not usually," Wheeljack replied without looking back. "But hey, could've been the last Energon here."

Crumplezone sighed. "Hey Ransack, when we're done here, wanna race outside?" As no answer was given, Crumplezone turned to the side and looked down around him, a bit clumsily and bumped into a rock, almost tripping. "Whoa-hoh!" he exclaimed. "Little buddy?"

"Guess he went the other way," Wheeljack concluded.

"But why?" Crumplezone wondered and looked back where they came from. "We're always together! We never go alone! Why now?"

"Maybe he thought it was time the two of you tried being apart for once," Ultra Magnus assumed. "Which I approve of. You may be a good team, but you can't always rely on each other. There may come a time when you'll be forcefully separated and you will have to work it out on your own."

"Aww," Crumplezone whined and turned back to his two companions, who had temporarily stopped to let him catch up with them. "I hope it's not 'cause he thinks I'm stupid or annoying."

"You're both kind of annoying," Wheeljack said bluntly. "But you do have your moments, I'll admit."

Crumplezone hummed, whether in offense to Wheeljack's words or concern of what Ransack actually thought of him.

"You are correct though, Crumplezone," Ultra Magnus uttered. "It is strange that we have not seen any Energon yet. If there was that many crystals in the carts, it would usually mean there are still many more left, right?"

"Somethin's not right here..." Wheeljack repeated in agreement.

As they moved on, they spotted light coming from around a corner, but not blue as indicative of Energon, instead being yellowish.

The group made themselves flat against the wall and had their weapons ready, then slowly moved into vision of the cavern around the corner...

It was indeed not Energon that met their sight, but instead a lab, with two rows of large glass tubes lined up in the middle of the chamber, a walkway just between the two rows. The threesome stepped away from the wall and walked into the chamber, looking around at the large tubes. The tubes contained a strange yellow fluid, and sitting in the fluid were large, dark metallic creatures with sharp claws, teeth, spikes, some with beaks, some with wings, but they all seemed dangerous.

"Are those...?" Crumplezone began but gulped, silencing himself.

"Well, that's a whole lotta ugly," Wheeljack commented on one of the creatures.

"It would seem Megatron's Predacon cloning project is further along than we thought."

As they looked around the lab more, they saw a pile of boxed green Energon, and a bunch of machinery by the end of the walkway... and by one of the machines stood none other than Shockwave himself, typing at the machine. Almost as soon as the Autobots laid their optics on him, Shockwave too turned and spotted them. He drew his fusion cannon and started firing at them.

The Autobots took cover behind the large tubes and fired back, though Crumplezone had a hard time hiding efficiently behind his because of his width.

"Great time to not have my buddy with me," Crumplezone grumbled. "I can't even think of a good joke to insult this guy with!"

On the Nemesis, Dreadwing, Thundercracker and Skywarp stood in the bridge when Shockwave pinged them over the comm.

"Dreadwing, the Autobots have arrived," Shockwave's voice sounded. "You did not inform me that the plan was already set in motion!"

"Hey, we want this to feel realistic if we're to fool Preddy, right?" Skywarp answered instead of Dreadwing.

"I agree with Skywarp this time," Dreadwing replied.

"I have yet to purge my lab of sensitive material," Shockwave stressed.

"Then let us not keep you," Thundercracker replied and turned off the comm. "See you soon."

"Or not," Skywarp added with a smirk as the comm. ended. "Who knows?"

"I have never liked that Cyclops or his immoral experiments," Dreadwing grumbled. "Now, you two, let us continue with this performance."

"Aye-aye, sir," Skywarp said and saluted sarcastically, but Dreadwing decided to ignore it and went on ahead, leaving the bridge. The two other Seekers remained behind a bit longer as Skywarp seemed thoughtful.

"Is something wrong, Skywarp?" Thundercracker asked curiously.

Skywarp hummed. "I feel kinda bad for having to lie to Preddy like this," he admitted. "I hope he doesn't figure out that we planned this. I don't want him to be mad at me."

"He'll be mad at all of us if he finds out," Thundercracker pointed out. "Which is why we don't tell him. Now come on."

Skywarp nodded, and they left the bridge just in time to see Dreadwing approach Megatron and Predaking, walking together, and deliver a rather painfully staged exchange of words. The two Seekers hoped they didn't have to act as well; they were both terrible liars, and worse at acting than Starscream.

"Lord Megatron!" Dreadwing exclaimed. "It appears that Project Predacon has fallen into Autobot hands!"

"What?!" Predaking exclaimed, genuinely shocked.

"Dreadwing, send out the Seekers and troops immediately!" Megatron ordered, sounding equally staged, perhaps a bit nervous if the beast would be fooled.

"At once, my liege!" Dreadwing replied and turned to his fellow Seekers, standing by. "You two-"

"No!" Predaking exclaimed, making Dreadwing pause and everyone look at the beast. "If my brethren are in peril, I will confront the enemy."

Back at Shockwave's lab, the Cyclops continued firing at the three intruding Autobots in defense, all while desperately tapping buttons at the command board to erase any data that could benefit the Autobots.

"Soundwave, I require a GroundBridge," Shockwave called over the comm. as soon as he had purged the rest of his sensitive material in the lab. He also pressed a button to drain the tubes and awaken the Predacon clones. Though it was still three days too early, they were basically ready to emerge. If the Newsparks got out in time and killed some Autobots before their certain doom, it would only benefit the Decepticon cause. If there were any survivors, they would have to track them down and either bring them in for training to ensure loyalty, or euthanize them, if that was even possible at this point.

It only took a few seconds for a green portal to open by the wall behind him. Shockwave kept his optic on the Autobots hiding behind the tubes, fired off another three blasts with his cannon, and then leapt though the portal that closed right behind him, getting him to safety on the ship.

Ultra Magnus, Wheeljack and Crumplezone stepped out from their hiding spots as the mad scientist had left the place. They observed as strong electricity coursed through the cables connecting the instrument panel to the many glass tubes containing Predacons.

"Uhhhh, what's happening now?" Crumplezone asked nervously as he gazed at one of the tubes, getting drained of CNA, which spilled out all over the floor.

The veterans looked around at the tubes as well, stepping back to avoid getting their pedes wet from the yellow fluid, not knowing what it was. The Predacons inside the tubes twitched and opened their optics. They even began murmuring and squealing.

Wheeljack looked to one tube where the Predacon inside started banging on the glass, cracking it, trying to get out. It was a no-brainer. He drew a grenade from his waist.

"Permission to fire a bomb within closed proximity, sir?" Wheeljack asked almost mockingly to Ultra Magnus, recalling the last time he launched one in a cave and they almost died because of it.

"If we are the only thing standing between these beasts and the natives of this world," Ultra Magnus said. "Then by all means... blow these beasts back to the Rust Age!"

Wheeljack cracked a smile at that and threw the grenade at a stack of Synthetic Energon.

Without wasting any time, the three Autobots immediately turned into their alternate modes and drove off at full speed the way they came in, whilst the grenade ticked loudly behind them, signalling they did not have much time left to escape.

"Wait 'til Ransack hears about this!" Crumplezone said excitedly. "Those big mean beasts, taken down by us! Me included!"

"Yeah, sure, you were a big help, big guy," Wheeljack replied sarcastically.

Before they could make it to the fork where they separated from the other group, a GroundBridge portal suddenly appeared right in front of them, prompting them to stop and transform back to bot mode.

Out from the portal stepped one of the tallest, biggest bots they had ever seen, bigger even than Megatron or the Insecticons. Magnus and Wheeljack had, of course, seen bigger on Cybertron, but not for many milennia. This bot was black and orange with many spikes, horns and long sharp claws adorning his frame, and his optics and bio-lights were glowing yellow.

"Who are you?" Ultra Magnus questioned.

"The same one who has continued to let you live thus far, Autobots," the large stranger replied.

Ultra Magnus looked closely at the bot's chestplate. There was an insignia on it, but not the Decepticon sigil. It seemed to resemble the face of a...

"He's the Predacon!" Ultra Magnus exclaimed in realization.

Wheeljack and Crumplezone both widened their optics in shock and stared back at the Predacon in bot form.

Before anyone could make any further comment, an explosion sounded from behind the Autobots, making the cavern tremble around them, dust falling from the ceiling, but the small chamber they were in did not collapse.

Once the tremor had settled, the Predacon, unbeknownst to the Autobots known now as Predaking, stepped forward and looked at the collapsed tunnel in horror.

"What have you done to my brethren...?" Predaking growled in fury and charged at the Autobots. "WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?!"

Outside, Starscream and Octane had taken to the sky to patrol the surrounding area, not just right around the mine itself, but also the air above the forest it resided within. To make the patrol more efficient, the two Fliers had gone off in opposite directions, so they could cover more air.

"It doesn't seem like the Decepticon warship is nearby," Octane sounded over the comm., currently only open between himself and Starscream.

"I don't see anything on my end either," Starscream reported back. "But with Soundwave and Fliers of their own, the Decepticons can very quickly appear out of nowhere even if the area is clear a moment before."

"Hey, you said something earlier about having great vision because you're a Seeker, right? How do I know if I have good eyesight too?"

"I don't know, you can test it later," Starscream sighed. "But since you're a Triple Changer with a flight mode, you should have good long-distance vision as well. It's not just a Seeker thing, it's a general Flier thing. For actual Fliers like you and I, and not those who have been modified into Fliers, like Prime, Megatron, Soundwave or the Vehicons. Though maybe Shockwave, since I do believe he used to be able to fly..."

"The Vehicons aren't true Fliers? Why not?"

"All the Vehicons are clones stemming from the same original bot, except for the Miners. They all start out as Grounders, with wheels, but some of them get modified into Fliers by gaining wings and have their T-Cogs altered."

"Wait, that's possible? I thought it was impossible for a Grounder to become a Flier and the other way around."

"Not with Decepticon science. Besides, there is at least one way for a Grounder to become a Flier, and that is by scanning something with rotor blades, like a helicopter." Starscream immediately thought about Vortex and how he had ripped off his wing almost two months ago. He mentally shook his head. "If you have the kibble for it, you can become a Flier even if you're naturally a Grounder. But you cannot turn into a jet like us unless you have the thrusters for it."

"What about Fliers into Grounders?"

"That is trickier to do. But it requires the same anatomical parts as with Grounder to Flier. If you have wheels or anything that can be used to ride the ground with, you can become a Grounder even if you're a Flier. Though honestly I don't see why anyone with the power of flight would lower themselves to be stuck to the ground. After all, you can go anywhere if you have wings."

"What about moving inside a mine?"

Starscream silenced for a moment and then scoffed. "W-well, for that you would rather use your bot mode anyway," he said flustered. "Look, wings are better than wheels, okay? I don't know how to explain it, I don't even know why it's a question. Flight is obviously superior to driving."

"I don't know, I like driving," Octane said. "I was able to navigate through more than one cave tunnel pretty well in truck mode."

Starscream's sigh was very loud and exasperated.

"But, uh, I do agree that flight is really cool and definitely better for travel than driving!" Octane assured nervously. "I can't really think why driving is better than flight either."

"Maybe I just don't understand because I'm built different," Starscream admitted. "Someone like Bumblebee will never understand why I think flight is better than what he can do, because he too is built different... or maybe he can, because how can anyone not understand how amazing flight is?"

"Uh, yeah, flight is the best!" Octane said uncertain.

"Though... I suppose a Triple Changer like you, who are capable of both flight and driving, would better be able to understand both worlds," Starscream wondered. "Your kind is pretty rare in nature. And you're a quick learner too. You've grown very strong and skilled over the last two months. I'm impressed with your progress."

Starscream spotted Octane to the side as they were starting to reach the border of the forest and thus meeting up to prepare to return to the others. He noticed Octane swaying a bit, perhaps flustered by Starscream's words.

"A compliment? From you? I'm so flattered!" Octane voiced.

"No need to sound sarcastic about it," Starscream said irritated.

"I'm not sarcastic, I'm serious! Is it because of the way I speak?"

"Yes, please stop trying to sound like me. It doesn't suit you. Find your own voice."

"Easier said than done," Octane replied, his pout audible. "Or... easier said than said?"

Starscream chuckled at the bad joke. "Come on, let us return to the others," he said as they met up at the border of the forest.

"Alright," Octane replied, and they circled each other once before flying side by side straight back. "But hey, Starscream. You seem to have gotten stronger and faster too recently. At least compared to the beginning of this training."

"I've always been this strong, Newspark," Starscream replied. "I just have to hold back so you don't die. Or do you want me to go all out on you?"

"Uh... no, on second thought, no I don't."

"Thought so," Starscream snickered. "Though if I actually have gotten stronger lately, I believe it may be because of the Dark Energon. It hasn't been as painful lately as I thought it would be, but I do still feel the effects of withdrawal. It may get worse soon though. Here we are."

They ceased their talk as they returned to the mine, where Optimus stood and watched Arcee and Bumblebee push the mine carts containing Energon crystals through a GroundBridge, going back to their base. They seemed to have moved the last ones through. Perhaps there had been more carts than the three had initially found with the squadron?

Starscream and Octane waited with transformation until they were a few meters above ground. Starscream landed gracefully as always, and Octane managed to land flawlessly for once as well, having gotten the hang of landing.

"Perfect, Octane," Starscream praised, after which they approached Optimus, at the same time with half the exploration team exiting the mine. "Prime, we have patrolled around the forest and found no sign of the Decep-"

Before Starscream could finish, an explosion sounded from within the mine, making the ground under the bots outside tremble a bit. Everyone silenced and turned their attention to the mine. Now Optimus, Octane and Starscream could see that the bots having exited were Bulkhead, Smokescreen, Hot Shot and Ransack.

Suddenly, Ransack transformed and went back inside the mine, before anyone could stop him.

"Ransack, wait!" Bulkhead exclaimed and was about to transform himself.

"Wait!" Optimus exclaimed himself, making everyone stop and look at him.

Starscream looked from Prime to the mine. Something's not right here, he thought. Why are Wheeljack, Ultra Magnus and Crumplezone not out yet? What's happening in there...?

Ransack raced through the corridors of the cave, desperately searching for Crumplezone and the others. There was no way that explosion meant anything good.

Please be okay, Zone, please, Ransack thought anxiously as he reached the fork and turned the opposite direction of the one he had gone through.

It didn't take long before he reached a cavern, in which he saw Ultra Magnus, Wheeljack and Crumplezone fight a bot he had never seen before.

Ransack hit the brakes and paused at the entrance to the cavern, unnoticed by the combatants. The stranger was huge, with long, large spikes coming out of the shoulders, color scheme seemingly black and orange, and more sharp spikes, horns and claws sticking out of the arms and legs, servos and pedes, and the small head at the top of the huge body. A pair of what resembled wings protruded from the back, currently folded down.

Wings? Spikes? That color scheme... Ransack observed in thought. No way... is that... the Predacon?! He's a lot smaller than last time I saw him.

Having been on quite a few outings the past month to hunt for Predacon fossils, all the recruits sans Red Alert had seen the Predacon personally. Ratchet had yet to meet the Predacon as well, but he knew more about the Predacons than the new recruits, having lived for a very long time.

Ransack found himself just staring at the fight scene in front of him, Ultra Magnus swinging his hammer, Wheeljack lashing out with his swords, and Crumplezone clumsily trying to slice with his own arm-blades. Heavy bots like him usually did not have this type of melee weapon in them, normally reserved for sleeker and more agile forms, but he had them, apparently, so he wanted to make them work. Which was a challenge, naturally, even with help from Ransack and the other blade wielders.

After a moment of thought, Ransack got an idea. He flashed his bike lights while Predaking's back was turned. Crumplezone jumped back after a failed hit. He looked behind Predaking and noticed Ransack's signal. Though far away, Ransack could see his friend nodding.

Ransack stopped flashing his lights and turned them off. He revved up his engine... and set off.

"Hey ugly!" Ransack shouted. "Over here!"

After knocking back Ultra Magnus and Wheeljack, Predaking gazed behind him to see who had shouted. Crumplezone took advantage of the distraction and leapt forward despite his size and weight, swung his arm-blade and hit Predaking across the chest. Predaking grunted and took a step back, now with his attention on Crumplezone. He swung out with his left arm, knocking Crumplezone back as well.

In the next moment, he heard a loud motor revv behind him, and before he could turn around, Ransack rammed his front wheel into the back of Predaking's left knee, still spinning, which caused the Predacon to gain overbalance and stumble. Ransack kept going and went under the leg, knocking the pede up and knocking Predaking onto his back. Ransack, with his small, aerodynamic shape and fast speed, had acted like a torpedo, and by going for one of the weak points, the kneepit, on a huge, very heavy individual, even a powerhouse like Predaking could not resist the attack.

Ransack transformed as soon as Predaking fell onto his back, standing beside Crumplezone and looked down at their downed opponent. Everyone were silent for a moment, taking in what just happened.

"He's down!" Crumplezone shouted. "Get him!"

Without further hesitation, the others snapped out and set off to continue the attack before Predaking got up, which the Predacon found difficult. Though smaller now in stature, Predaking was still as heavy as he was in beast mode, but now more compact and well-armored. He was only about a head or two taller than Megatron, but weighed at least five times as much. This weight proved to have its advantages and disadvantages, this situation being one of them. He could not leap up quickly to his pedes like most bots his size or smaller could. He was too heavy.

Furthermore, he could not roll over because of his large, long shoulder spikes, and could thus not roll over the easy way on the front. Getting up while on the back was more difficult and required more effort and strength, than simply stretching one's arms and legs below oneself when one is lying on their front.

Without realizing or thinking about it, the Autobots had just found one of the weaknesses to Predaking's bot mode.

Just as Predaking sat up, Ultra Magnus went in and swung his hammer against the beast's face, knocking him further along the floor with loud crashes. Predaking landed on his front this time, and he wasted no time in getting up, much easier this time. However, he stumbled upon getting up, feeling weak in the left leg, due to the spinning wheel attack from Ransack, wearing on the metal joint.

Barely could Predaking recover before he found himself charged by the Autobots again, having spread out to cover more ground. Predaking spread his arms and swung out at the Autobots as they went in to attack, but they managed to dodge and hit most of their own attacks. Magnus rammed his chest with his hammer, Wheeljack cut his right side with his swords, Crumplezone sliced him on the left arm, and Ransack darted between his legs and used his own arm-blades to cut at the shins. Predaking struggled to block the attacks, both due to inexperience with fighting in this mode, and due to the sheer amount of attackers on him at once.

Predaking lashed out with both arms at the same time, knocking back Wheeljack and Crumplezone, and kicked Ransack away with his wounded left leg, but he could not act in time to avoid another hit from Ultra Magnus' hammer. He was knocked stumbling back, and before he could recover, Ultra Magnus hit him once again, much harder this time, and flung the Predacon into the wall.

A few rocks fell from above, which Wheeljack took notice of. He spotted a large stalactite in the ceiling and put away his swords, instead drawing his blasters and started shooting at the ceiling. Noticing what he was doing, Ultra Magnus also put away the Forge of Solus Prime and started firing at the ceiling with his cannon. Ransack and Crumplezone followed suit, firing their own blasters at the ceiling to help bring down the stalactite exactly above the Predacon.

With the combined power of the four Autobots' lasers, the stalactite broke from the ceiling within seconds and landed right on top of Predaking, who looked up just in time to see the world go black.

Outside, the Autobots were still waiting for Optimus to give them orders.

"Wreckers, return to base," Optimus decided. "Fliers, remain here. I will go retrieve Ultra Magnus and the others."

The Wreckers - being Bulkhead, Smokescreen and Hot Shot - looked uncertain for a moment at the mine, but nodded in understanding.

"Ratchet, we need a 'bridge," Bulkhead said, turning on his comm. link to the base.

"On it," Ratchet's voice replied over the comm.

Within a few seconds, a portal opened where Arcee and Bumblebee had just left. Optimus gazed at his soldiers and nodded.

"I will be back soon," he assured, put on his battle mask, activated his jetpack and charged into the mine, effortlessly.

Hot Shot looked back at the mine with uncertainty. "Is he gonna be okay?" he asked concerned. "Are the others gonna be okay? Shouldn't we stay here too, for backup?"

"Prime's orders," Bulkhead reminded the recruit.

"Besides, no need to worry," Smokescreen assured with a smile. "He's Optimus Prime. He can handle anything. If there's anyone we can trust to handle things alone, it's Optimus."

"True," Starscream added and crossed his arms. "There's no getting rid of Prime. Trust me, I've tried."

As the other Autobots stared at him, he coughed. "Er, I mean, the Decepticons have tried," Starscream corrected. "Many times. He won't die. Or stay dead. So, uh... no need to worry."

There was another moment of awkward silence. "Aren't you supposed to return to the base already?" Starscream hissed.

"Right, right," Smokescreen said.

"We'll... see you soon," Bulkhead replied sheepishly.

"Stay safe," Hot Shot said, more directed at Octane than Starscream.

"We shall," Octane replied, again trying to imitate Starscream's tone of voice.

The three Grounders disappeared through the portal, which soon closed after them. Starscream sighed.

"Didn't I tell you to stop that?" Starscream snarled.

"Sorry, sorry," Octane apologized. "I just... really like the way you speak. You just sound so full of authority, like you know everything."

Starscream's scowl soon turned into a snicker. "I do have millions of years of leading experience, after all," he said, trying to sound casual. "Being leader of the Seekers and Winglord of Vos and everything."

Octane smiled widely at the mention of Starscream's titles. "You're so cool, I feel so lucky to have you as my teacher... and brother."

Starscream's smirk faded, instead turning into a crooked, nervous smile. "Uh, eh, yes, that too..." he replied with a nervous chuckle, scratching the back of his head. "But, uh, I would still appreciate it more if you just found your own voice instead of trying to be like me."

Octane hummed and shrugged. "I'll, uh, try my best, I guess," he said. "But I don't know how to find my own voice."

"It'll come, eventually. But you will also appreciate yourself more if you have your own trademark, to make yourself distinguishable and different from the rest of us. So others will know who you are, and not assume you're just like everyone else that looks like you."

Octane tilted his head in confusion. "What do you mean? Are there others that look like me?"

Starscream fell silent for a moment in deep thought. "You don't want to be seen as a mere clone," he replied after a while. "Whether in looks, voice or personality. If that's how people see you, they will show you less respect, see you as merely an object rather than a person. And you'll hate that. You might even end up hating yourself for that."

"Uh, what are we talking about right now?"

Starscream shook his head. "...Nothing," he replied and looked back at the cave entrance. "I'm just rambling. Prime should be back soon. Let's be quiet and listen for his return, so we can go as soon as we hear him."

"Oh, okay," Octane replied and looked at the cave entrance as well. "Do you think we'll need to go as soon as he gets out?"

"Yes," Starscream said and focused on the cave and sounds from it. "I have a bad feeling about this."

Everything was black. Silent. Unmoving. Predaking wasn't sure how much time had passed since he lost consciousness. But he couldn't move, and he could barely open his optics. He was tired, hurting, crammed. Despite this, he felt strangely... relaxed. The fury he had before had seemingly faded, instead he could only think about the pain and exhaustion. He never expected the Autobots, or anyone for that matter, to pose such a threat to him, driving him to the point of unconsciousness.

What was he even fighting for here? Risking his life for? It felt humiliating just lying here, letting the Autobots win, waiting for them to leave so he could leave safely as well. But he did not want to get hurt further, nor die, just for the sake of his pride.

He could remain there, pretend he was dead, fool the Autobots, and then live to fight another day...

Help...

Predaking opened his optics, though could still see nothing. What was that voice just now? It wasn't a voice he had heard before, and yet it sounded oddly familiar...

Avenge us...

Don't give up...

Brother...

The voices were quiet yet loud and clear. Predaking suddenly remembered the Protoforms in the lab. The innocent lives of his brethren, taken before they even had a chance to defend themselves. They had done nothing to deserve to die, yet they had been brutally murdered. The thought of their deaths enraged him. The thought of the Autobots, standing in front of him right now, gloating over how they had slain his kind, having buried him under these boulders. They thought themselves stronger than the Predacons.

"They're wrong..." Predaking hissed to himself and started pushing the boulders away from him. "No one... No one... stands against me!"

Avenge us, brother!

Fight, brother!

Show them, brother!

Predaking felt a strong surge of energy flow through his whole body, making his arms and legs stronger than before. The pain disappeared, and the fury returned, now stronger than ever. The boulders felt lighter, and even the huge stalactite felt liftable now.

"I - WILL - NOT - DIE!"

Predaking bashed the surrounding boulder away, creating a dust cloud. He grabbed hold of the stalactite, found his footing and got onto his legs. He lifted the giant boulder into the air, causing an even bigger dust cloud. It took all of his strength to keep the giant boulder in the air, but he felt no exhaustion this time, only rage.

Spotting the Autobots in his peripheral vision closing in on him, he swung with the stalactite, making the bots jump back, except Wheeljack who didn't move in time to avoid getting hit. Wheeljack was flung into the wall, after which Predaking ran full speed and strength, roaring and throwing the stalactite into the wall where Wheeljack sat. The impact from Predaking's strength caused the stalactite to shatter, and Wheeljack was knocked unconscious among the boulders.

Predaking immediately turned and gazed at the remaining three Autobots, all still running towards him to attack. But he had no intention of letting them win this time.

Ransack was the fastest to approach and tried to dart between the Predacon's legs again, but Predaking had learned from before and stepped back, his gaze fixed on the tiny two-wheeler like a cat would a mouse. He kicked out just as Ransack made a move, but Ransack was quick to react and dodge out of the way. Predaking lashed out with his claws, but again Ransack jumped back before getting caught. Predaking's rage welled up further, frustrated that he could not hit the small and agile bot.

There was a shout, and Predaking looked up, forgetting about the two bigger bots. Ultra Magnus had closed in on him, but this time Predaking managed to block the hammer in time with his left arm, followed by a kick with his left leg, knocking the commander back.

Crumplezone swung his arm, going for a hit, but Predaking managed to catch the arm in time to stop him. Crumplezone stiffened as he found himself caught and unable to move away. Predaking ignored Ransack's assault at his legs this time, instead lifting Crumplezone's arm up and grabbed hold of his arm-blade. With a swift, strong movement, Predaking broke off the arm-blade, causing Crumplezone to cry out in pain.

Ransack immediately stopped his assault by the sound of his friend in danger. "Crumplezone!" he exclaimed.

But he shouldn't have stopped. Predaking took notice of this and immediately kicked the small Autobot away from his legs, the latter falling flat onto his front.

Before Ransack could get back up, Predaking made it over to him, still holding Crumplezone in the air in one servo and his arm-blade in another. Crumplezone grunted while trying to pry the claws off him.

"Ransack, run!" he grumbled.

But barely had the words escaped his mouth before Predaking had lifted his right pede, and with enormous strength, stomped hard down on Ransack's tiny body. Ransack screamed in pain, cracks and crunches being heard from his frame as armor and bones broke.

"RANSACK, NO!" Crumplezone yelled in fear.

Predaking's pede covered Ransack's entire body, and the rocky floor beneath it cracked too as he put more strength in the stomp. His pede rubbed the floor underneath from side to side, making further cracks sound. A pool of Energon started forming under the pede.

"Get your foot off him, you monster!" Ultra Magnus shouted and charged at Predaking again, preparing to swing his hammer again.

Predaking threw Crumplezone at Ultra Magnus, who couldn't dodge in time and was knocked over, while Crumplezone landed behind him. He lost his grip on the Forge of Solus Prime, which landed several meters away from him.

Predaking finally took his pede off Ransack and gazed down at his work for a moment. Ransack lay with his green eyes and mouth slightly open, but he made no movement or sound. His entire frame had been crushed, the longest and thinnest parts having broken off and lay beside him. He lay on his right arm, but his left arm and legs were broken and barely hung on, Energon leaking heavily from them.

Crumplezone sat halfway up, leaning on his arms, but could not muster the strength to get all the way up. He stared in disbelief at his small friend, just barely able to see his open, lifeless optics. He had fought so well against the Predacon, dodging all his attacks and slowly chipping away at him by cutting up small, leaking wounds. But because of Crumplezone getting caught, Ransack had stopped attacking out of concern for his partner. And now, Ransack was...

"No..." Crumplezone uttered quietly as Predaking approached him, gaze still fixed on his friend. "No, it can't be... Ransack..."

"Do not worry," Predaking said above him, as he lifted the broken arm-blade in the air. "You will see him again soon."

Before Crumplezone could react, Predaking shoved the arm-blade into the Autobot's chest, piercing through his thick armor and making it to his inner works. Crumplezone screamed in pain as he was knocked back onto the ground and found himself unable to move again, and leaking heavily. It was not long before the big bot too lost consciousness.

Having disposed of another Autobot, Predaking looked over at Ultra Magnus, still lying on his front, regaining consciousness. Predaking stepped over to prevent him from getting up. He stomped down hard on Ultra Magnus' right servo like he had with Ransack, causing Ultra Magnus to scream in pain as well.

Predaking slid his pede from side to side, and as he removed it, the servo had been completely destroyed, the digits having broken off completely from the palm. The pain weakened Ultra Magnus further, and he could only watch as Predaking picked up the Forge of Solus Prime, held both servos on the handle, and broke it in half.

Ultra Magnus' gaze went from Predaking to Crumplezone, lying on his back with a blade deep in his chest, possibly having pierced his Spark chamber. His gaze went to Wheeljack, laying against the wall, buried in boulders, unconscious but probably alive. His gaze went to Ransack all the way to the left, lying in a pool of his own Energon, crushed and with his optics wide open. Definitely not alive anymore.

Ultra Magnus gazed at his lost hand, then up at Predaking, who threw away the remains of the Forge, and lifted his pede once again, preparing to crush Ultra Magnus' head and finish him off as well. Ultra Magnus closed his optics, waiting for the inevitable, having little hope left in him.

A blaster sounded, and Predaking was knocked back. Optimus Prime arrived just in time to save Ultra Magnus, and delivered a powerful punch, boosted by his jetpack, to Predaking's abdomen, and flung him into one of the walls. Optimus fired his machine gun against the surrounding pillars and ceiling above Predaking, causing large boulders to bury the beast once again.

Once the Predacon had been hindered, Optimus put away his weapon and wasted no time in picking up Ultra Magnus and Crumplezone, hauling them over his shoulders, after which he leapt over to the wall where Wheeljack sat, and picked him up as well. Crumplezone grunted lowly, gaining Optimus' attention, apparently not dead yet, and regaining consciousness.

"Ran...sack..." Crumplezone faintly said, before losing consciousness yet again.

Optimus looked over and spotted a glowing blue pool, in the middle of which Ransack lay, crushed, leaking and looking very dead. The sight filled Optimus with horror. But Autobots did not leave anyone behind, even the dead. Optimus leapt over to Ransack and adjusted Wheeljack in his right arm, so he could pick up Ransack with his left hand. The small two-wheeler dangled in his grip, the arms and legs barely holding on, but Optimus made sure to carefully hold onto the tiny, broken frame.

In that moment, Predaking had finally dug himself out of his own pile of boulders, and got back up just in time to see Optimus Prime, holding two bots in his arms and another two on his shoulders, fire up his jetpack and took off out of the cavern, heading for the exit. The sight filled Predaking with rage once again.

"What?! Nooooo!" Predaking roared and ran after Prime.

Even running as fast as he could, Predaking could not catch up to Prime before the latter left the tunnel and reached outside, where Starscream and Octane stood and waited.

"Retreat!" Optimus shouted as he passed the two Fliers, who immediately transformed and flew after him. "Call the base immediately!"

Starscream was quick to open his comm. "Open a GroundBridge, now!" he ordered hastily. "We have wounded!"

"On it!" Ratchet replied through the comm.

Before the GroundBridge appeared, Starscream changed his field of vision to look behind him, and spotted a bot on the ground, exiting the mine. With his great sense of sight, he zoomed in and saw the bot in detail. He cringed at the sight. It was the same bot from his nightmare that morning. Big, spiky, and soon that bot transformed into the Predacon, leaping into the air and following after the Fliers.

"The Predacon," Starscream remarked anxiously. "That's the... Predacon?! It can transform?!"

There was a shriek next to him, and Starscream moved his vision back to Octane, who swayed anxiously back and forth. That was when Starscream remembered the trauma the Triple Changer had suffered from the very same Predacon that was chasing them now.

"Keep it together, Octane!" Starscream exclaimed, but he was just as frightened as his student. "S-stay calm and keep flying straight!"

"How do I stay calm when we're being chased by a Predacon?!" Octane replied fearful over the comm.

"I DON'T KNOW, JUST STAY CALM, OKAY?!" Starscream screamed into the comm., definitely not calm.

"Be quiet, both of you!" Optimus shouted, silencing the Fliers. "The portal is here!"

The Fliers both looked in front of them, where a green portal had appeared. Starscream turned quickly back to Octane.

"Octane, go in front of me and directly behind Optimus. As soon as you go through the portal, transform!" Starscream instructed. "Don't crash!"

"O-okay!" Octane stuttered.

Anxiously and reluctantly, Starscream slowed down a bit so Octane could get in front of Starscream and behind Optimus, who went into the portal first. Flying through a GroundBridge portal back to base was always risky and depended entirely on the Flier's timing, and the receiving bots' preparation, if possible. Starscream would rather have gone first, but did not want Octane crashing into him from behind, and the Triple Changer would definitely feel safer not being last and abandoned.

Octane went through the portal next. Starscream felt and saw the Predacon right behind him, closing in dangerously. He screamed and increased in speed again, now no longer having anyone in front of him.

The Predacon lifted his claws, reaching out for Starscream... and hit thin air, as the jet disappeared into the portal, which immediately closed behind, leaving the Predaking alone in the air.

Predaking stopped midair and hung still in the air for a moment, taking in what had just happened.

His Predacon brethren had been murdered by the Autobots.

The Autobots had almost killed him as well, only to be brutally maimed by him.

The Autobot leader had swooped in and saved his wounded soldiers, hindering Predaking further from achieving his revenge.

The Autobots had flown away and escaped through a portal before Predaking could catch up to them, not even able to catch the smallest of the Fliers, who he could easily have crushed in his claws as well.

The Autobots had gotten away with murder. And Predaking had been unable to stop them.

Predaking's fury reached its peak, and he let out a sky-quaking roar, vowing to never let the Autobots win again.

As soon as he touched the portal and saw the base, Starscream reverted back to bot mode, but found himself flying forward into Octane's back, knocking him over, the two Fliers lying on top of each other on the floor. Ratchet immediately closed the portal as soon as Starscream had come through, and they were now once again safe from the Predacon.

Starscream and Octane both moaned at the impact with the floor. "Starscream... you're heavy..." Octane huffed.

Starscream pushed his servos against Octane's back, earning another huff, and got back onto his pedes. "No, you're just weak," Starscream huffed back. "And you're stupid, standing in the path of an incoming jet."

"Wasn't it you who said not to crash?" Octane retaliated as he got himself back onto his pedes.

Starscream scoffed but didn't reply back. Their attention fell to the wounded on the floor, the other Autobots paying no mind to the two Fliers. Starscream and Octane's scowls fell and their faces fell at the sight of Ultra Magnus' crushed servo, Crumplezone with a blade stuck in his chest, leaking heavily from it...

...and Ransack, whose entire body was crushed, his arms and legs broken and leaking heavily. Several pieces of his kibble was missing, having broken off inside the mine. His optics were wide open and dark, his mouth slightly ajar. There was no sign of life in him. The sight filled everyone with horror and dread.

"Is he...?" Arcee said quietly.

Ratchet put two digits on Ransack's neck. "He's... alive," he replied. "Barely."

Everyone felt relief washing over them, knowing Ransack was not dead... yet. Ratchet wasted no time in getting Ransack onto the operating table and hooking him up on IV, activating his blowtorch to seal the leaking wounds, especially reattaching the broken limbs to stop the major leaking.

"Red, take care of Crumplezone!" Ratchet ordered without taking his optics off Ransack.

Red Alert flinched at his name, but had Bulkhead and Bumblebee help him get Crumplezone onto one of the other tables, cleared by Hot Shot and Arcee for use. Red Alert examined Crumplezone's wound in the chest.

"What's his status?" Ratchet asked from the medbay.

"He's alive too," Red Alert reported and gazed further at the chest. "The blade just barely avoided his Spark. But taking it out will still cause major leakage."

Starscream stepped forward. "How can you tell? You're not even holding a scanner."

"I can see the damage," Red Alert said. "I can see through his armor and his organs."

Starscream flinched, and some of the others seemed surprised at this too.

"You have x-ray vision?" Hot Shot commented. "That is so cool! I have infrared vision too!"

"Infrared and x-ray are not the same thing, moron," Starscream hissed.

"Don't call me a moron, Screamer!" Hot Shot snapped offended.

Starscream turned hard to Hot Shot. "Don't call me Screamer, brat!" he shrieked, only proving the point.

"Everyone, QUIET!" Ratchet shouted, making everyone silence, and startling Red Alert. "Red and I need silence, so we can save these two's lives! If you can't be quiet, then leave!"

Starscream and Hot Shot gazed uncomfortably between Ratchet, Red Alert, whose normally timid gaze had turned into a scowl, directed at Starscream specifically, and to each other. Starscream flicked his wings in annoyance and walked away, heading over to his corner. He sat down and took forth a blank datapad and a pen and started scribbling on it. Everyone else decided to leave him alone, even Octane who had a bitter expression on his face, though over what, Starscream was uncertain.

Was he mad that Starscream had called his friend a moron? Was he mad at Hot Shot for making his 'brother' mad? Was he upset over Ransack and Crumplezone's situation?

"Stay with me, Ransack, stay with me," Ratchet's voice sounded quietly from the medbay as he started using a pair of defibrillators on him, his pulse seemingly disappearing. "Don't you dare give up now, you hear me?"

Starscream gazed back at Red Alert, who prepared to remove the blade from Crumplezone's chest, having Hot Shot and Arcee stand by his side with a blowtorch and spare IV ready. As soon as the blade was removed, the chest started leaking heavily, but Red's two assistants covered the wound with their servos while Red used the blowtorch to slowly seal the wound, while the IV provided Crumplezone with more Energon, trying desperately to prevent him from leaking out.

Starscream's gaze fell on the remaining two bots on the floor. Wheeljack wasn't terribly wounded, and he seemed to be about to wake up, twitching a bit now and then. Ultra Magnus was out cold, but other than his broken servo, he didn't seem to have any serious wounds, at least not on the outside. The two recruits were in the biggest danger right now. They had top priority.

Starscream's gaze fell back on Octane, who had gotten into a conversation with Optimus and Bulkhead, perhaps talking about the Predacon's transformation and worried that this situation will turn out worse than when Octane had been the one who was maimed by the Predacon.

"I should've gone in with them..." Starscream heard Octane quietly say.

"You couldn't have known," Bulkhead assured him with a servo on the other's shoulder. "None of us could. You would just have ended up like them."

"I couldn't even look at that beast when we fled," Octane replied. "I was terrified. I'm such a coward..."

"Octane, they are both in safe hands," Optimus assured. "If they have held on this long through that much punishment, they must still possess the will to live. And as long as they have that will, they will survive."

Starscream sighed and looked away from the other bots. No one was paying attention to him at the moment. Everyone was busy with the wounded and traumatized. He had been terrified of the Predacon too, yet for some reason he had decided to risk his life and let Octane go first back to base, slowing himself down enough for the Predacon to catch up and nearly catch him.

If it had caught him there, he would have been done for. The Autobots would have closed the portal, abandoning him, just as they had before. No one would be there to save him. He would be ripped to shreds, possibly devoured by that vile beast. And no one would miss him.

Except, maybe... Octane. Starscream wondered how Octane really felt about his mentor. Did he hate him? Fear him? Like him? Even love him? Surely not. No one loved Starscream. And Starscream loved no one. No one... except Jetfire. Jetfire had been special, and there would never be another like him.

Yet... Octane was starting to grow on Starscream. Somewhat. He used to hate the Triple Changer, but now, having another Flier living with him with the Autobots, he felt less lonely and depressed than he was before. It wasn't as enjoyable as when he had reunited with Thundercracker and Skywarp recently, but it was still better than when he was the only Flier on Team Prime.

Octane kept calling Starscream his brother, but Starscream did not know if he felt the same way about Octane. He had only one brother, Sunstorm, and he stopped caring about him millions of years ago, when he was banished from Cybertron for something awful he had done. Regardless if it had been an accident or not, Starscream despised Sunstorm for losing control of himself and bringing shame onto Starscream himself, as many of the Seekers had learned they were brothers. But after Sunstorm's banishment, Starscream felt park of his Spark crack, as if he had made a big mistake.

Jetfire had been the love of his life, but then they fell apart, and when the Decepticons took over Trypticon Station and Jetfire left the Seekers behind, Starscream had felt his Spark crack once again, as if him not defecting with Jetfire was a big mistake.

Thundercracker and Skywarp had since then been the bots closest to him, his Trinemates, but he could barely stand Skywarp, and Thundercracker was annoying too with his commentaries and pretending he was a smart scientist when he was not. None of the three were scientists, they only had scientific curiosity and basic scientific knowledge.

It was only recently that Thundercracker and Skywarp had felt like they were closer to him than mere Trinemates, though what exactly, he was not sure.

A groan was heard from the floor, and Starscream looked up from the screen that only had a few circles and lines drawn on it. Ultra Magnus was waking up, having been placed on a third cleared table. Wheeljack had woken up and was sitting at a forth, waiting for treatment, but being the one who got off the best. Ratchet had put away the defibrillators, apparently having gotten Ransack's pulse back. With Ransack stabilized and his most serious wounds closed, Ratchet went over to check out Ultra Magnus, trusting Red Alert had control over Crumplezone.

Ultra Magnus gazed down at his right servo, still leaking a bit, but not as terribly as the recruits. He sighed, almost sounding like a grumble.

"Ratchet will take good care of you," Optimus said, as Ratchet started blowtorching the servo to close the wound.

Wheeljack held a servo on a sore shoulder, letting his more wounded teammates get treated first. "Magnus fought like a Wrecker," he remarked. "As did the rookies."

Ultra Magnus gazed up at Prime. "Optimus..." he said. "When we spoke earlier, what could be greater than an army?"

"A human concept," Optimus replied. "One I have learned since coming to Earth."

Ultra Magnus waited with anticipation for the answer. Starscream sharpened his audio receptors, also curious what Optimus thought was more powerful than an army.

Optimus looked back at the other Autobots, and softened his expression. "Family."

Starscream was taken aback by the answer. Ultra Magnus wasn't the only one who looked around at the rest of Team Prime, following Optimus' gaze. Red Alert seemed to have gotten control of Crumplezone's wounds, having closed it with a thorough smelting with the blowtorch, and he seemed stable for now, as did Ransack. Wheeljack stood up on his own two pedes again, seemingly having recovered rather quickly despite his earlier display of soreness.

Starscream observed the Autobots, standing close together, including Octane, who seemed to crack a small smile at the word. Starscream didn't smile; he was thoughtful.

Family is greater than an army? Starscream thought. That can't be possible. My family... whatever little family I had... always broke apart. And always breaks apart when I try to get a new one.

Starscream shook his head and went back to focus on his sketch.

"Do not despair, my Predaking," Megatron said calmly later, as Predaking had returned to the Nemesis, alive and furious. "For I vow to you, that the Autobots will pay deeply for the outrage against your kind."

The Seekers and Knock Out shared glances with each other, everyone but Skywarp smirking.

"Shockwave, report," Megatron called over the comm., as Shockwave had returned to the offsite lab to assess the damage.

"It is true, my liege," Shockwave replied. "Project Predacon has been rendered null and void. At least, I was unable to recover any beast forms. However, there is something you must behold for yourself."

With that, the comm. ended, and Megatron gazed at the fuming Predaking. Megatron looked at the Seekers. "Dreadwing, accompany me," he said.

Dreadwing nodded and followed Megatron through the GroundBridge portal opened by Soundwave, leaving the rest with Predaking. Predaking in question glared at the remaining Decepticons for a brief moment before turning around and leaving the bridge. Skywarp glanced at Thundercracker, who sighed and nodded, before the former went after Predaking.

Predaking walked alone through a hallway, heading for the deck, thinking about what had happened. His brethren had been in danger, and he was too slow to save them in time. He arrived too late. Ever since learning of the Predacon clones' existence, he had dreamed of soaring the sky with them behind him, battling with him, just being there. He had been so excited to get to know them, have a family of his own. No longer being alone on this dark and cold warship.

Now, that dream had been shattered. They had even lost the fossils they had uncovered, for they had also been kept in the lab. It seemed Project Predacon would never be brought up again. Predaking was destined to be alone, forever. The thought of this loneliness, as well as simply the loss of his brethren, replaced his anger with sadness.

"Hey, Predaking!" a familiar voice sounded behind him.

Predaking stopped and turned his head to gaze at Skywarp, the black and purple Seeker who spent the most time with the Predacon on the warship, even longer than the beast did with Dreadwing on the battlefield. Predaking's sadness was now laced with annoyance.

"Leave me," Predaking growled. "I wish to be left alone."

Skywarp stopped in place, being just a couple of meters from the big bot. Predaking looked the Seeker in the optics. He did not seem afraid, but he did not seem happy either. He seemed... concerned.

"You're wounded," Skywarp observed. "You have cuts all over you. And you're limping."

Predaking blinked in surprise. He had forgotten about his wounds, aside from the left leg, which he had tried to stifle as best as possible, and none of the other Decepticons seemed to take notice of it. Yet this one Seeker had noticed. Had the others chosen not to comment, or was this one more observant than he let on?

"I am not weak," Predaking snarled.

"I'm not saying you are," Skywarp replied. "But you are leaking. You need medical help. I can help."

"You are not a doctor."

"But I do know how to mend wounds. I've done that plenty of times for Thundercracker. My partner, I mean. And I like you, big guy."

Skywarp stepped closer to Predaking, who was two or three heads taller than him, almost the same proportion as Starscream and Megatron, lowering his gaze from Predaking's face to his left arm, which had a deep, leaking cut on it. Skywarp reached out a servo for the arm, expecting Predaking to shove him away. But Predaking did not move, and let Skywarp touch his arm.

"It must hurt a lot," Skywarp said quietly.

"These wounds are nothing," Predaking replied, softer this time as well.

"Not these wounds," Skywarp corrected. "The ones in your Spark."

Predaking quirked a brow in confusion.

"I'm sorry for your loss," Skywarp clarified. "I know what it's like to lose your family."

Predaking tilted his head in curiosity. "You mean..."

"The Seekers are basically wiped out," Skywarp replied softly. "We were many in the start, but the war quickly took us out. And slowly, the Seeker army went from thousands to dozens. And now... the only ones I know are still alive are me, TC, Dreadwing and Starscream. Just the four of us. And Starscream's with the enemy. We used to be close. Almost like brothers. We were family. But he never realized. He's lost and confused, just like you are right now."

Predaking became thoughtful over Skywarp's words. Skywarp looked up from the arm to Predaking's face again.

"You're not alone," Skywarp assured with a smile. "You still have us. I'm here for you. You can trust me, as my name is Skywarp."

"Skywarp..." Predaking repeated. He hummed.

Skywarp looked down for a moment, then glanced briefly back up at Predaking.

"An oil bath usually helps on wounds," he said quietly. "After I've fixed your wounds... can I give you a bath? Like we used to?"

Predaking gazed at Skywarp for a long while, thinking about the offer. Being treated like a beast, whether being yelled at, pampered or pet, felt shameful now that he knew he was more than a beast. And yet... the positive attention he had received from Skywarp was not something he held ill in his memories. It had been relaxing times then, and he did feel a strange trust towards this one Seeker, a trust he didn't feel with any of the other Decepticons, not even Shockwave, his creator.

Predaking's gaze softened, and he made a faint smile. "You have my permission," he replied calmly.

Skywarp's face lit up like the sun, and his smile went above his optics. He struggled to restrain a giggle. The two of them walked together through the hallway now, side by side, towards the medbay, not waiting for Knock Out to arrive. The actual doctor would probably be too scared of the Predacon anyway, for all Skywarp knew.

Predaking side-glanced at Skywarp while they walked, the Seeker having assumed a more neutral expression on his face now. Predaking looked forward again.

"...You can call me Preddy if you want," Predaking said suddenly, blushing slightly.

Skywarp looked up at Predaking in surprise, then smiled, winked and relaxed his frame again. "Got it... Predaking."

Predaking smiled back. I can trust him, he decided. I am not alone after all.

Back at the bridge, Thundercracker exited and went the other hallway in a hurry.

"Skywarp? Where are you?" Thundercracker called, but found his partner's comm. turned off. "Drat, why did you turn it off now of all times? And just when I want to tell him the great news!"

Thundercracker gave up on the hallway and went the other way, heading for the medbay and flight deck.

"I can't believe this..." Thundercracker said to himself with a shaky voice and wavering smile. "We're going home..."