Chapter Text
Soundwave recovered. Their routine truly and completely returned to normal, though Starscream wouldn't forget what had been shared. If he were gentler with Soundwave, more forgiving, then no mech needed to know. He sat on the edge of the berth, waiting for Soundwave to return from a meeting, when a ping startled him.
[Starscream! Open the door!]
Blitzwing. Starscream opened the door, coming face to face with what had to be Popshot, a grinning widely.
"We're gonna sneak out!" Popshot whispered in a voice that barely qualified as one.
"Not that I'm against it," Starscream said at a much more whisper-appropriate volume. "But where?"
Popshot walked down the hall and Starscream followed.
"A friend's home!" Popshot said. "They promised to make me something I can play MiniMon on if I got someone to help them test a project."
Starscream… didn't appreciate being an involuntary test subject.
"And what is this project?"
Popshot shrugged. "Some sort of field detector. They promised it wasn't invasive."
How much was the promise of a stranger worth?
"What do I get from it?" Starscream asked as they ducked behind a corner.
Distant voices rumbled through the hall. Both mecha froze until they passed.
"Well, you get to go out," Popshot said. "And I know you're into science, so maybe you'll think it's cool."
It was a fair point. This would be the first time Starscream had left the base since being captured. If it went poorly, he could just run. They were barely able to capture him before.
As they finally ducked out of the base undetected and took off, Starscream was reminded of something Popshot said earlier.
"So, what is MiniMon, anyway?"
The explanation lasted the entire flight and took multiple detours. Starscream retained absolutely none of it, but he didn't regret asking.
☆☆☆
He recognized the backyard as they landed in it. The pool reflected a mech much more graceful than the one it had before. Fergie stared at him from the catio. Moments later, the human emerged from the door, cubes in hand.
"Hey, Blitz! Thanks for bringing—" They paused, staring. "Starscream?"
"Human," Starscream said.
"You're okay!" They exclaimed, a smile spreading across their face. "When I found you in the backyard, I was so worried—"
Starscream waved his hands. "Yes, yes. I'm fine. Survived. Over that."
"But I'm not," the human said, glaring at him with their tiny eyes. "I haven't seen you since then."
Starscream rolled his optics. That wasn't his fault at all!
"It's not as if they'd let me leave."
The human's mouth fell open, their brow furrowing. "They wouldn't let you leave?"
Starscream knelt, leaning down toward the human until they were as close to face to face as possible with such a drastic size disparity. "How much do you really know about the war, human?"
They lived pitifully short lives compared to cybertronians. For all Starscream knew, this one had only lived after Megatron's surrender. From the human's falling gaze and fidgeting hands, he already had an answer.
"Not a lot," they said quietly. "My mom fought in it, but she never wanted to talk about it."
Starscream glanced at Popshot. The other mech stared at him, a small frown on his face.
"Well," Starscream said. "The war isn't over just because the fighting stopped."
The human looked up at him with watery optics. Starscream looked away, tapping his knee.
"Oh," the human said. "I see."
Popshot leaned in. "Enough about the war! We've got an electric thing to test!"
"It's an electromagnetic field reading device!" The human corrected.
"Yes, the field device!" Popshot said.
The human sighed, a smile slipping onto their face as they fiddled with something on their wrist.
"There!" They said. "It should be on."
Popshot stepped back. Starscream leaned closer, but the device was so tiny that he could barely see what must have been the interface.
"What is the exact function of this device?" Starscream asked.
"To detect electromagnetic fields," the human said.
"Why would you want to do that?"
The human looked up at him, nose scrunched. "To talk with you guys better?"
Oh. Oh. Starscream laughed.
"I don't know what you've been told," Starscream said. "But Cybertronians detecting others' emotions through electromagnetic fields is a myth."
The human raised their brows, gaze shifting between Starscream and Blitzwing. "Really?"
"Yes, really," Starscream said. "Just like the idea that ferrowolves have 'alphas,' or the legend of an immortal outlier spark."
"You're certain," the human said.
Starscream's wings flicked. "Why do you keep asking?"
The human looked toward Popshot again. Starscream followed their gaze.
"Starscream," Popshot said. "It's not funny."
"What's not funny? You're the one lying to the human!"
"I'm not lying to them!" Popshot said.
Starscream leaned toward Popshot, baring his dentae and flaring his wings wide. "Then what else do you call this?"
Popshot leaned back, frowning. "Starscream, can you not feel them?"
"I can't feel something that doesn't exist!"
Popshot's wings twitched. "How can you not…?"
Starscream's spark hummed painfully in his chest as he flexed his fingers. Then, the realization hit him.
"You're trying to humiliate me," Starscream hissed.
Popshot's optics met his. "I'm not."
"Then what else could you be trying to do?" Starscream yelled, stomping a pede.
Popshot and the rest of Blitzwing had gained his trust, only to turn it back on him! Just like Skywarp! Just like—
The machine on the human's wrist beeped.
"Woah," they said. "Maybe we should take a moment and—"
"You're in on this too!" Starscream screeched. "Why did I ever trust you?"
A hand closed around his arm. Starscream's spark froze. He flexed his fingers, claws at the ready, and swung. The mech that stared back at him was not Popshot.
Energeon leaking from a cut on her cheek, Flamecrash glared at him. She grabbed him by the wing and yanked him backward, pulling him to her chest.
"Enough!" She spat. "Calm down or I'll fragging make you!"
Starscream sank his dentae into her hand, forcing her to drop him. Spark pounding in his chest and cooling fans whirring, he glanced at the human one last time before taking off. As he reached the sky, they stared up at him, eyes wide.
Starscream flew. He didn't care where he ended up—he just needed to get away. Eventually, he landed, tucking himself behind a set of rocks.
How dare they? Whatever prank this was, he wouldn't—couldn't—be a part of it. They'd just have to find some other poor mech to lie to. He'd had enough of being dragged around, manipulated and laughed at—
Popshot's face came back to him, brow furrowed in a seemingly honest gesture. What if they weren't lying? The memory transfer with Soundwave… that energy… Starscream had just assumed the mech was an outlier. Was that what EM fields felt like?
He needed to know.
[Soundwave,] He sent. [You can sense EM fields, correct?]
Even if it was a stupid question, Soundwave wasn't the laughing type.
[Affirmative.]
Starscream gnawed at one of his arm guards, plating tingling. He had to choose his next words carefully.
[That's normal.]
[Sensing EM fields—typical. Query: Why ask?]
He should tell the truth, but the very idea made his spark hurt.
[Had a disagreement with someone.]
It left out the most important details, but hopefully Soundwave wouldn't question it. If Soundwave agreed, then the energy in those memories must have been EM fields. In Soundwave's processor, they were all-consuming. How hadn't Starscream ever sensed them? Why hadn't he ever sensed them?
Was it yet another thing he couldn't do?
How could he have hoped to amount to anything when he couldn't even be a functional mech? When his own body turned against him and his sensors refused to pick up vital information? When in every single interaction he had, there was an entire layer of communication he wasn't privy to?
Had he put intentions into others' processors the same way Megatron had in his, unable to tell truth from his own fiction?
Worse yet, was Megatron right about him?
There was one thing he knew for certain: he had treated Blitzwing—one of his few allies—unfairly. This had to be rectified, or he risked losing their relationship. He opened Blitzwing's communication frequency.
[I was wrong. I shouldn't have hurt you.]
The response was swift.
[Where are you?]
Starscream steeled himself and sent his coordinates. A few moments later, Blitzwing landed nearby. The mech had the scowl of Flamecrash on his face but the fuzziness of Popshot in his optics. It was impossible to tell which out of the two were in control—though with all Starscream knew, it could've been both.
"I'm sorry," Blitzwing said.
"For what?" Starscream asked. "I'm the one who hurt you."
Blitzwing shook his head. "I grabbed you when I knew you would react poorly."
"That doesn't mean I should hit you."
Blitzwing shrugged and sat next to him. "You were afraid."
"I was angry," Starscream corrected. "I thought you were lying to me."
Something in the back of his processor whispered that it wasn't the full story, but what else could it be? If he struck at the first sign of deceit, he would never be deceived. That he had misidentified the situation was a whole other—and much more relevant—issue.
"I didn't want to upset you," Blitzwing said quietly.
Starscream tapped his fingers against his knees. "I should have known."
Blitzwing—especially Popshot—had been nothing but kind to him. The mech was nowhere near a master of deception. If he were trying to trick Starscream, he would've figured it out at the start. Starscream was foolish to risk throwing away such a beneficial relationship, even if he did—erroneously—suspect deceit.
Blitzwing's face changed, but the fuzziness in his optics remained, as if Flamecrash were retreating back into his processor. She may have been, since the mech that faced Starscream now was certainly Popshot. Popshot blinked, staring blankly for a moment.
"You really can't read EM fields," Popshot said.
Starscream shook his head. "I guess not."
"It explains a lot," Popshot said.
"I'm sure it does," Starscream muttered.
How much had he missed in every conversation?
"Let's go back to the base," Starscream said. "Before they notice I'm gone. Tell the human I was wrong next time you see them."
Popshot nodded.
☆☆☆
Somehow, they weren't caught. No one questioned it as Starscream headed back to his room. He spent most of the day pacing, lost in thought.
When Soundwave came back to the room, Starscream expected their usual routine. Instead, Soundwave sat on the edge of the berth. Starscream sat beside him, tapping his fingers on his knees.
"Query: Starscream—left base. Where?"
Starscream's wings shot up. How did he know?
"Nowhere important," Starscream said. "Popshot wanted me to meet a friend."
"Starscream, this friend—had a disagreement."
Starscream flexed his fingers. "Not exactly."
"Query: Starscream—asked about EM fields. Why?"
Starscream turned away. Soundwave already knew about his dietary restrictions, but this was a completely different matter. He didn't know how the other mech would react, and that fact made his spark pulse.
But he couldn't run away from this. Within his own body, there was nowhere to go. And if he wanted to keep his allies, he couldn't leave them in the dark.
His vocalizer refused to start. He fought against it, eventually forcing out the words.
"I can't sense EM fields."
Soundwave's visor stared at him—a bright, gleaming red.
"Unexpected," Soundwave said.
Starscream laughed, nervousness pressing his plating tight. "I know, right? It sounds impossible—"
"Sensible," Soundwave said. "Explains your behavior."
"And what behavior is that?" Starscream asked.
"Starscream—always looking everywhere but optics. Starscream—always watching body language. Starscream—has no control of his EM field. Starscream—does not respond when others brush their fields against his."
Starscream forced himself to stare Soundwave in the visor. "I really do all of that?"
Soundwave nodded.
"I—"
Starscream didn't know what to say. What was he going to say? He brought his knees to his chest and hid his face.
"I'm stupid," he muttered. "So, so stupid. How did I never notice?"
"Starscream—far from unobservant. Starscream—did not know."
"I should have!" Starscream hissed, pulling his head up. "Everyone around me was so confusing, and I thought it was their fault, but I'm just defective!"
Soundwave lifted a hand. It hovered over Starscream's shoulder. Starscream sighed and nodded. Soundwave slung the arm around his shoulder, carefully avoiding his wings.
"Soundwave—also defective."
What? Starscream stared into Soundwave's visor.
"Soundwave—oversensitive to EM fields. Soundwave—cannot communicate. Soundwave—easily overwhelmed by other mecha."
"But—"
Soundwave pulled Starscream closer.
"Starscream—not alone."
Starscream returned the embrace.
"Thank you, Soundwave."
☆☆☆
Knock Out withdrew the needle. As he transferred the energeon sample into a container, he turned to Starscream.
"That should be it," he said. "I'll send you the results when we have them, but I'm quite confident that things are working as they should now."
As Knock Out moved to leave, curiosity struck Starscream. Knock Out was a medic, so if any other mech had suffered his strange affliction, he could know about it.
"Is it possible for a mech to not be able to sense EM fields?" Starscream asked.
Knock Out raised his brow. "In some cases. Why are you asking?"
Starscream fiddled with the edges of his arm guards. "I don't think I can."
Knock Out came back toward him with a hum.
"Well," he said. "Your electromagnetic sensors could be miscalibrated, or even disconnected. Were you able to sense EM fields before?"
Starscream shook his head. "I haven't felt one since I was constructed."
"I can run a scan…"
Starscream took off one of his guards and offered his arm. Knock Out took it, connecting his cable to Starscream's port. Medical scans were surface-level connections that could only be done through medic-specific overrides, so all that appeared for Starscream was a notification that a scan was ongoing. He could choose to reject the process, but it did not require his consent to start.
Knock Out hummed, his olfactory ridge crinkling.
"What is it?" Starscream asked.
"It says your sensors are connected," Knock Out said. "And they're properly calibrated, too."
"Then why can't I feel anything?"
Knock Out stared for a moment. "I don't know. Everything is coming back as normal."
"Well, obviously, something isn't!" Starscream hissed.
"Don't snap at me," Knock Out grumbled. "I'll see if Ratchet knows anything."
Knock Out disconnected from Starscream's panel and walked through the curtain. Moments later, he returned, Ratchet by his side. Starscream offered his arm as Ratchet proceeded to do his own scan, which returned the same results.
"You weren't exaggerating," Ratchet said to Knock Out.
"Of course I wasn't!" Knock Out said. "What do you take me for?"
Ratchet stared at him pointedly. Knock Out sighed.
Ratchet turned to Starscream. "This is a processor problem."
"What?"
"There is something not working correctly in your processor," Ratchet said slowly. "Your sensors are fine, and they're sending data, but your processor is discarding it."
"I didn't know you were a processor expert," Starscream snarked.
"I'm not," Ratchet said flatly. "But I have experience, and I've seen this before. Factory errors were a lot more common before they implemented testing."
"Factory errors," Starscream repeated.
"The spark-frame integration of constructed mecha is rarely perfect."
"What was done with these… errors?" Starscream asked.
He was tested after he onlined, and passed gracefully. Though he knew others had failed, he never saw them nor knew their fates.
Ratchet looked away, plating tightening just enough for Starscream to notice the tension. Beside him, Knock Out glared.
"They… were disposed of," Ratchet said. "Ethically."
"But that fell out of practice!" Knock Out exclaimed, volume slightly too high. He stepped sideways, putting his hip between Ratchet and Starscream. Quietly, he added, "Not that there's any way to construct new mecha right now…"
Starscream picked at his arm guards and stood up, numbness settling over his frame. Knock Out stared at him, brow furrowed and mouth agape. Ratchet's optics were more distant, his lips pressed thin.
"Thank you," Starscream said, the tone simultaneously flatter and more biting than he intended.
Knock Out flinched as he passed him.
When Starscream entered the halls, a friendly bark greeted him. Buster danced at his feet as pedesteps from across the hall grew closer.
"Starscream," Icebeam said calmly. "It is good to see you. Did your appointment go well?"
"As well as it could have," Starscream said.
Icebeam hummed. "Did you remember that it is movie night?"
He… actually didn't. Had the time passed so quickly?
Icebeam smiled. "It is fine if you did not. I came to get you, if you still want to go."
"Sure," Starscream said.
The world was slowly growing fuzzy, but that wouldn't keep him away from his allies.
☆☆☆
Starscream was jolted from recharge by the sound of shouting. He rolled his optics and went to the door, fully prepared to give the yelling mecha a piece of his processor. The door beeped at him, citing an error. He tried again. Same error.
He grumbled in frustration and sent a message to Soundwave.
[Door won't let me out.]
A few moments passed. No response—not even a 'read' indicator. He must've been busy, then. Starscream sighed and sat on the berth, fiddling with Ulchtar.
The yelling did not cease. It got louder, blaster fire and thumps joining it. Was someone seriously fighting outside of his room? Fights in the halls weren't uncommon during the war. After he was appointed second in command, he had his quarters moved to a less traveled area because of it.
But this wasn't the middle of the war, so what was the issue?
Something crashed against the door, sending an echoing clang throughout the room. Then, it crashed again, and again, until the door was more dent than door. Had they finally—
Starscream's dorsal strut slammed against the wall, sending a stab of pain through his body. Large hands pinned him down as burning scarlet optics stared into his. Megatron scowled at him, grip tightening as he spoke.
"What did you do?"
"Me?" Starscream said. "I didn't do anything! Some hooligans were fighting outside my room!"
Megatron slammed him against the wall. "Don't lie! I know you planned this!"
"Planned what?" Starscream yelled.
He squirmed, and Megatron's grip tightened as he leaned more of his weight into Starscream, forcing him still. Starscream stared, fans clicking on. There were scuff marks all over the brute, and a thin scratch on his cheek that had barely stopped leaking energeon.
This wasn't just a fight in the hall.
"I don't know what's going on," Starscream said.
"Don't give me that slag—"
"Listen to me for once in your fragging life!" Starscream screeched. "I couldn't open the door! Obviously, this isn't my fault!"
Megatron leaned close, dentae bared. His grip tightened further, metal creaking beneath his hands.
"Then whose fault is it, Starscream?"
A red visor shone from the door. That was all the warning Starscream received before the room was swathed in sound. Megatron was blown away from him. As the brute attempted to rise, a dark gray blur flew at him, claws sinking into his plating.
"Query: Starscream—alright?" Soundwave said.
Starscream pushed himself up using the wall and hissed, "What is going on?"
Soundwave tilted his head slightly, near imperceptibly. "Revolution."
"That barely tells me anything," Starscream muttered.
Soundwave stepped forward, a hand outstretched. Starscream paused, glaring at it. There was something inside…
His rays! Starscream swiped them and reattached them immediately. And not a moment too soon—Ravage flew across the room as Megatron dislodged the cassette.
Starscream shot before he could think. Soundwave joined him, the combined attack sending Megatron into the wall. When the brute didn't rise, Starscream turned back toward Soundwave.
"Why?" Starscream asked.
His comm pinged. It was his own message, sent back to him.
[We are in this together.]
"We are," Starscream said.
Soundwave offered him a hand. Starscream braced himself and took it, ready to plunge back into the pits. Whatever became of this, it would be better than rotting with the Autobots.