Chapter Text
It was dark. The room was covered with fuzz, not just from the lack of light. Still, as Starscream's lagging processor caught up with his visual feed, there was reason to wake. Quiet pedesteps reached Starscream's audials.
Who the frag was up this early? They were too loud to be one of the cassettes. Those three at least knew how to move quietly. Skywarp's wing was pressed against his face, so obviously she was still asleep.
Slight movement caught his eye. The Emberstone, lightless yet somehow never swallowed by the dark, reflected a figure. Tall—they were tall. Only one mech in the room matched the Emberstone's height when standing.
"Jetfire?" Starscream muttered.
The figure moved, but didn't respond.
"Jetfire!" Starscream hissed. "What are you doing?"
Another step. No response. Starscream prepared to speak again—
"Starscream?"
Jetfire's voice came from beside his helm. Immediately, Starscream threw himself from the berth, activating his weapons. Uncaring of who he woke, he flung himself at the figure. With a loud thunk, the Emberstone pulled free from the wall. Starscream brushed against a long, thin wing as the ground grew increasingly close.
He activated his thrusters, catching himself. Then, he soared through the doorway. The figure was already in the hall. In the low light of the hall, some of its features were clearer. If Starscream hadn't already heard Jetfire beside him, he would've mistaken the silhouette for Jetfire's.
"Starscream—?"
Jetfire burst into the hallway, followed by Skywarp. The others—Nova Storm, Soundwave, and his cassettes—would follow soon. Starscream glanced at them before taking off. There was no time to explain. The figure had already turned the corner.
The Cybertron Revival Initiative must have finally come to take the Emberstone. In their typical fashion, of course. Starscream turned another corner. The stranger glanced back at him, optics wide, before continuing to flee.
Stupid, self-serving fraggers! Starscream would show them! The Emberstone could never fall into their hands—they would surely abuse it. Perhaps they would even use it to create more mecha for their experiments…
A bright light shone at the end of the next hall. The Emberstone glinted in the intruder's grasp. Starscream pushed even more power to his thrusters, ignoring as his fans clicked on, and launched himself at the thief. They turned to him, optics wide, at the moment of impact.
"Starscream!"
Probably Jetfire again.
The intruder was familiar. Achingly familiar. Starscream couldn't place it. Suddenly, he was swept up in something, frame swirling and twisting in nothingness. He latched onto the intruder, claws digging deep into his prize's armor—the only thing keeping him from disappearing for good.
Then, grass flew past. Dirt ground into the seams of his armor. A loud crunch echoed through the air, and the intruder yelped beneath him. The sun overhead highlighted the mech's markings.
They were a very recognizable blue, but that wasn't possible, so Starscream shoved the idea out of his mind.
"You will return the Emberstone," Starscream hissed in the intruder's face. "Or I will make you."
"I can't return it!" the mech said. "It's the only thing that can—"
"Hey!"
Suddenly, Skywarp was beside his audial. The stranger startled, optics wide and wings scraping against the ground.
"What the frag is going…" Skywarp paused, staring down at the stranger. Then, she yanked the Emberstone from the stranger's hands and ran.
With a yell, the stranger shoved Starscream off. Before Starscream could swipe at him, he was already chasing after Skywarp. As he went to grab her, she warped behind Starscream. The stranger turned, and Starscream ducked out of the way.
The stranger dove for Skywarp. Her warp drive hummed, but it didn't build up enough energy to activate before she was seized. With a yelp, she flung the Emberstone behind her.
"Run for it, Jetfire!" She yelled.
Jetfire did as he was commanded. Starscream moved to pry the stranger off Skywarp, but paused. The stranger stared at Jetfire, making no move to pursue.
"Jetfire?" The stranger mumbled.
Starscream's wings flicked. He sank his claws into the stranger's plating, but he barely reacted. So, he pushed with all his might—of which there wasn't much—and managed to loosen his grip on Skywarp.
"What do you want with my newspark?" Starscream hissed.
"Your newspark?" The stranger said.
Starscream pried one hand from the stranger's plating to run over his face and let out a frustrated growl. "Tell me what you want with the Emberstone and Jetfire right now."
"I don't want anything with Jetfire!" The stranger said, raising his hands in surrender. "I just need the Emberstone."
"And what do you need it for?" Starscream said.
The stranger's optics drifted toward his wings. "Nothing you should know about, Decepticon."
What? Starscream searched the mech for a symbol, landing on his pauldrons. He leaned into the stranger's face and bared his teeth, wings wide.
"The war is over, Autobot."
The Autobot's olfactory ridge scrunched. He blinked and shook his head. Then, he laughed.
"Oh, if only it was!" He said. "This is quite an interesting trick. If you're going to capture me, you should just get it over with."
"Capture you? Why the frag would we do that?" Starscream said.
The Autobot glanced at Starscream's claws, which were still buried deeply in his armor.
"That's just to keep you from going after Jetfire!" Starscream hissed. "Now tell me what you're doing and why."
[Can I come back now?]
Starscream sighed and answered the comm.
[No, Jetfire. Keep the Emberstone safe.]
[I saw something. I really don't want to be alone.]
If the stupid Autobot would just talk, he wouldn't have to be. But alas, stupid Autobots were stupid Autobots.
"It's a spark splitting medium," the Autobot said. "What do you think I'm going to do with it?"
Starscream growled in irritation and dug his claws into the Autobot's elbow joint. The Autobot let out a quiet grunt as the delicate metal gave way. Starscream dug deeper, drawing a flinch from the Autobot.
"It'll be your optics next," Starscream said.
[There's someone here!]
Starscream couldn't fight the lift of his wings as his protocols engaged. The Autobot's gaze fell to them, and Starscream knew it was noticed. Claws still deep in the Autobot's joint, he called out to Skywarp.
"Go find Jetfire!" He said. "I can handle this from here."
Skywarp disappeared with a whoosh of air. The Autobot's head swiveled toward the sound. His optics grew wide.
"I think this is a misunderstanding," he said.
Starscream scoffed. "So now you're going to spin some lie, huh?"
"No, I really think—"
Starscream cut him off by digging his claws even further into the joint. The Autobot let out a yell.
"I think I know what happened!" The Autobot growled through gritted dentae. "That was Skywarp, right? And you're Starscream."
Starscream shook his claws inside the joint. The Autobot let out a pained hiss.
"You know my name. So what?"
The Autobot shook his head. "I know you. My version of you. The portable spacebridge must have malfunctioned in a way even I couldn't have predicted!"
"Portable spacebridge," Starscream said. "Now I know you're lying."
Such technology hadn't been achieved! Too much risk of scrambling the mecha being transported. Most attempts completely obliterated test subjects. The few that succeeded used harvested warp drives, which were in very short supply. If the CRI had turned to something so horrid…
[Skywarp?]
With a large whoosh of air that nearly knocked Starscream off his feet, Skywarp appeared with Jetfire. Her optics were open wide, and her wings were set at maximum height. Jetfire's plating was tensed, his wings shaking.
"What happened?" Starscream said.
"We need to get out of here!" Skywarp whispered. "Right now! There's someone watching us!"
The Autobot's plating tensed, sending a jolt through Starscream's claws. Starscream turned to him.
"Is this one of your allies?" He hissed. "Was this an ambush?"
The Autobot shook his head, taking a step backward. He dragged Starscream with him, as if he had forgotten that they were attached. His wings shifted downward—an obvious expression of fear.
"No!" He said. "We need to get out of here."
Purple light flashed in the surrounding trees. The air grew charged, electricity crackling. Then, with a bright flash, a mech appeared before them.
He was as tall as Megatron, with deep purple plating. A large crest sat on his head. Framed by sharp, grinning dentae were two bright purple optics.
"What do we have here, Skyfire?" The mech said.
Starscream froze. There was no way. It wasn't possible. Not with Jetfire…
"Nothing of interest to you!" Skyfire yelled.
The mech stared past him, toward Jetfire—and the Emberstone.
"I find that hard to believe," the mech said, grin somehow growing wider. "I've been tracking your little spacebridge, and today it let off a very interesting signal."
[Get us out!]
The message was labeled with his name. Skyfire, Skyfire, Skyfire. Starscream's plating crawled. He flexed his claws, forgetting where they were at the moment. Skyfire flinched.
Frag. Skyfire. It couldn't be real.
A set of coordinates. The world twisted, melting away into white walls with orange accents. Starscream pulled his claws from Skyfire. In the corner of his vision, there was a flash of blue. He followed it.
No. None of this was possible. Had he rejoined the allspark? He glanced at Skywarp. Her wings were pinned in their lowest position. She saw this, too.
Then, blue optics behind Thundercracker's caught his, and it all made sense. The mech hiding behind Thundercracker was red and blue—colors eerily similar to Optimus Prime's—but it was unmistakable. Starscream slumped.
"Skyfire," the mech that was undoubtedly himself asked. "What is this? Why did you bring Decepticons here?"
"I didn't have a choice," Skyfire said, lowering his wings.
Thundercracker walked past both of them. Wings set firmly in neutral position, she leaned over as she reached toward Skywarp. Skywarp flinched backward, a surprised squeak exiting her vocalizer.
"You're real," Thundercracker said.
"You're… alive!" Skywarp yelled.
Upon closer inspection, Starscream saw it: small, purple highlights hiding in Thundercracker's armor that were an exact match to Skywarp's paint.
"Your Skywarp is dead," Starscream said.
Thundercracker pulled away, wings lowering as she met Starscream's optics. "Yes, she is."
Thundercracker's optics examined his frame, falling on the blue of his gauntlets. Searching for a familiar but long-unused comm signal, Starscream flicked his wings.
[Don't say it,] he sent to Thundercracker.
"Jetfire, was it?" The name was pronounced awkwardly, as if Skyfire was tempted to say something else. The mentioned mech startled, Emberstone nearly slipping from his grasp. "Would you mind giving me the Emberstone?"
Starscream inserted himself in front of Jetfire, fanning his wings out to block him from sight, and hissed, "You still haven't told us why you want it. And, perhaps, you could also tell us why the frag we're here and how to get home while you're at it."
Skyfire thumbed the projections on his elbows—an upsettingly familiar nervous habit. Starscream had memory files upon memory files of small moments where his Skyfire did that.
"It was an accident," Skyfire said. "I've been searching for two items: the Enigma of Combination and a spark-splitting medium. I was opening portals to look for signals, since my scanner's range is small. I finally found a medium, but I didn't realize I'd stepped into another world."
The Enigma of Combination and a spark splitting medium… such a set could only mean one thing: Skyfire was attempting to build a combiner team. All of them had been wiped out in the war—at least in Starscream's universe. If Skyfire was attempting to create more, they may have been destroyed in his world, too.
Starscream glanced at Jetfire. His newspark clutched the Emberstone as if it were his lifeline, joints creaking from the strain. A painful buzz crept over Starscream's frame, disgust squirming inside of him.
"Send us home," Starscream said.
Skyfire shook his head. "The portable spacebridge was broken in our fall. Even if I know how it created a portal to another universe, I can't even attempt to reproduce it."
Starscream tapped his pede. "What do you need to fix it?"
"A warp drive," Skyfire said. "A genuine one. We… don't have any spares."
Skywarp's warp drive began humming before Starscream himself grasped the implications.
"No!" Thundercracker yelled, latching onto Skywarp with enough force that her plating creaked.
Startled by the sudden yell and intense contact, Skywarp's warp drive stuttered to a stop.
"Don't warp!" Thundercracker said. "Galvatron has your signature. He can track it."
Galvatron. That must've been the name of the mech that stalked them.
Skywarp's wings flicked. "How would—"
"Thunder is right," Skyfire said. "We have a scrambler in this room so that I could use the portable spacebridge, but if you leave its range, he'll know where we are."
Skywarp pried Thundercracker from her, growling when the mech refused to let go. Her wings twitched, and her plating snapped close—obvious signs of irritation.
"So, I can't warp?" She asked.
"Not if you want everyone in this base—including you—to live," the other Starscream said.
Skywarp's wings trembled and Starscream realized the truth: she was terrified.
"You mentioned a scrambler," Starscream said. "Is there any reason she can't wear one?"
Skyfire scrunched his olfactory ridge. "Well, no, but it makes warping a lot more costly."
Skywarp took a step forward, finally shrugging Thundercracker off.
"I don't care!" She said.
Skyfire grimaced. "Then we'll ask for one to be placed—"
"When you explain to Commander Elita why they're here!" The other Starscream said, putting her hands on her hips. "I am not covering for you again."
Elita? Starscream glanced at the other Starscream again. Was Optimus dead in this universe? Had she taken on his colors?
"I already sent her a message," Thundercracker said. "She's in her office."
"Then let's go!" The other Starscream said, heading toward the door.
Thundercracker and Skyfire followed after her, carefully herding the others—not that they needed to. Starscream wanted to see just what this world had to offer for himself. Unless Skywarp was going to give up one of the most important parts of her (impossible, unsafe) or someone figured out how to fabricate an artificial warp drive (also impossible), they were stuck here. Unless…
Galvatron had definitely warped while he was stalking them. Was he in possession of a warp drive? What would it take to procure it?
As they passed through wider halls, Autobots stopped to stare. Some whispered, while others chattered like idiots. The other Starscream paid them no mind, while Thundercracker merely twitched her wings. Skyfire let out an exasperated sigh.
Beside Starscream, Skywarp's wings flicked. Her plating rattled quietly. Starscream glared at her, and she silenced it. Behind them, Jetfire fidgeted so intensely his joints creaked. Flexing his claws to rid himself of the nervous irritation that infested his body at the thought of his newspark so anxious, Starscream settled for glaring at the loudest of the onlookers.
Interestingly, they didn't focus on Jetfire at all. Mutters of, "Seekers! Seekers!" and, "Decepticons? In the base?" passed through the air, but none about the anxious warframe that trailed after them. Jetfire hadn't taken a brand, and Starscream had never asked him to. Perhaps, in this strange world, it would be a blessing.
"You know prisoners belong in the brig."
Starscream startled at the voice, whacking Skywarp with his wing. Skywarp shoved him. The other Starscream glanced at them before replying to the interloper.
"These aren't prisoners," she said. "Not the traditional kind, anyway."
The mech furrowed his brow, arms crossed. He seemed familiar, but Starscream couldn't place it. In his own universe, this Autobot was probably dead. Though, with the familiarity, Starscream should recall him. Perhaps Hook's insistence that his memory files were corrupted from copious processor traumas wasn't unfounded. Oh, well…
An irritated flick of a wing caught his eye. Wings? On an Autobot? That narrowed the list considerably—
On second glance, no. Glass shone at the tops of them. They were stupid, fake doorwings. This mech was an Enforcer drone—one of those Praxus-designed models that were all the rage when Starscream was purchased.
Skywarp shuddered beside him.
[What's your problem?] Starscream sent to her.
[He's sizing us up,] she replied. [His field is all over me. It's creepy.]
For once, Starscream was glad he couldn't sense it.
"I suppose I haven't seen these Decepticons before," the mech said. "I'll help you escort them."
Skyfire jumped. "It's really not necessary, Prowl. We can handle this on our own—"
Prowl. Starscream's memory files were finally summoned. The Autobot third in command turned second after a tragic incident permanently separated Elita from the Autobots. Starscream grinned as their final fight came to him.
Both of them, plating marred beyond recognition, in a standoff. A mission gone wrong at its worst—someone had blown their cover, but the bomb still activated, turning the base to rubble. Starscream took cover behind a collapsed beam, dragging his barely functional legs behind him. That fragger had survived, the tips of his stupid doorwings sticking out from behind what used to be a wall.
Starscream aimed and fired just as he moved to do the same. Two shots: one to the processor and the other to the spark. His landed first.
Vision fuzzy at the edges, Starscream laughed, knowing that in his final moments, he had accomplished something truly valuable. Then, strong hands seized him, and he stared at Megatron's face. The rescue seemed perfectly timed and valiant back then, but Starscream knew the truth now: his ex-leader had placed a tracker in him.
Still, that didn't negate his accomplishment. It was the first of many times he'd survived impossible odds and come out the other end utterly victorious.
[Screamer?]
Starscream glared at Skywarp.
"We're here," she whispered, motioning to the door ahead of them.
Oh. Had he spent that long reminiscing?
Prowl entered a code on the door, and it slid open. The office was small, but they all managed to fit—even if Jetfire's wings were entwined with his own to make it work. They'd worry about that when it was time to leave.
Elita sat, arms on the desk. It was clear, save for a small pile of datapads, which were loosely stacked in the corner. She must have been working on them before the call came.
"Skyfire will explain!" The other Starscream said quickly, motioning toward the mech.
"I sure hope he does," Elita said.
Skyfire flinched. "Um, well… I was searching for resources for our project when I finally found a spark-splitting medium. I recovered it successfully, as you can see here—" He gestured to the Emberstone, which was still held securely in Jetfire's hands. "These mecha were guarding it, and managed to follow me back through the portal. My portable spacebridge must have malfunctioned, because, as you can tell, they are not from our world. It was destroyed in the confrontation, so I couldn't send them home."
Elita's optics narrowed. She scanned the gathered mecha, and Skywarp shuddered again.
[Are you going to flinch like a scared newspark every time someone reaches for your field?] Starscream sent.
[It's so creepy!] Skywarp ungracefully retorted.
[One would think you haven't been sensing EM fields your entire existence.]
Skywarp glared at him. [It's different! They're… wrong, somehow.]
Starscream rolled his optics. He tapped a pede, waiting for the conversation to resume.
"You're… Skywarp," Elita said, motioning toward the aforementioned mech.
Skywarp fluttered her wings, whacking Jetfire and the other Starscream in the face. "Y-yes. I am."
Elita pointed to Starscream. He beat her to the punch.
"I'm Starscream," he said.
She nodded, moving on to Jetfire.
"You must be Skyfire."
Jetfire shifted in place, wings flicking downward. Starscream stealthily reached behind him, rubbing the spine on his elbow.
"N-no, actually," Jetfire said. "My name is Jetfire."
"Jetfire," Elita repeated, optics drifting briefly toward Skyfire. "How interesting."
Jetfire straightened himself to full height.
"Starscream gave it to me," he said.
Something about his newspark's tone was off, but Starscream couldn't place it. Whatever. He needed to get her attention away from Jetfire.
"I have a proposition," Starscream said.
Elita turned to him. "Go on."
"Skyfire needs a warp drive to repair the portable spacebridge and send us home. You need more soldiers to win against the Decepticons. We can be those soldiers."
She wasn't reacting, but a lack of reaction was better than a negative one. Starscream steeled himself and continued.
"Galvatron has a warp drive. If we take out Galvatron, we'll have what we need to go home, and you'll be one step closer to winning the war. Working together benefits all of us."
Elita hummed. "Galvatron is a powerful enemy. We'll take any aid we can receive, so long as you prove trustworthy. What do you have to contribute?"
"I was Air Commander during my world's war, and eventually leader of my faction." Starscream specifically avoided using the word Decepticon, not wanting to remind Elita of his allegiance. He motioned to Skywarp. "She is a competent fighter and led alongside me when I assumed leadership."
Starscream glanced at Jetfire. His newspark wasn't a warrior—far from it. He was one of the most nurturing mecha Starscream had ever known. There was no way he could offer Jetfire as a soldier.
"Jetfire was created after the war ended," Starscream said. "He is training to be a medic, and just completed his basic classes."
Elita glanced at Prowl.
"How likely is this to go wrong?" She asked.
Prowl twitched a doorwing—the one near the wall, thankfully.
"I don't know enough about these mecha to say anything with certainty," Prowl said. "But I believe the risk is low."
Elita nodded and turned back toward the group.
"They'll stay with you," she said to Skyfire. "Since you brought them here, you'll supervise them. Don't let them out of your sight."
Skyfire nodded. "Thank you, Commander Elita. I'll do my best."
The meeting ended, and soon the group made its way back down the halls. The trip was cut short before it could even begin, as Thundercracker paused in the middle of the hallway. She grabbed Skyfire's elbow as Skyfire let out a pained hiss.
"You're injured!" Thundercracker said.
Starscream snickered, recognizing the elbow as the one he dug his claws into. "That's generally what happens when you get into a fight."
Both Thundercracker and the other Starscream glared at him. Starscream rolled his optics. Though, that did remind him—Skywarp was involved in the altercation. He turned back to check her for injuries…
…and found her staring at him.
[Frag off,] he sent to her.
"We're going to the medbay right now," Thundercracker said.
Starscream grinned. "Well, we can't go anywhere without supervision, so I suppose we'll have to come along. We can ask them about getting a scrambler for Skywarp while we're there."
Behind him, Skywarp stiffened. Then, she wore a grin of her own.
"Yeah," she said. "And we can get a checkup for Screamer while we're at it."
Starscream's wings shot up. "I don't—"
Skywarp reached over and flicked him in the olfactory sensor.
"Since you started keeping track of mine, I started keeping track of yours!" She said in a sing-song voice. "Different universe or not, you're overdue!"
[And I want to keep an eye on your… issues,] she added in a private message. [Especially with the chase this morning.]
Starscream flexed his fingers, digging his claws into the guards on his arms to hide the irritation that coursed through him. Skywarp was so… condescending! It was as if she didn't think he could care for himself!
He didn't speak for the rest of the trip, rolling his anger around until they reached the medbay. It was much emptier than the one in their universe, and even the Decepticon medbay during the war. Hollow cabinets hung open, and most of the medical berths were pushed together against the wall.
"Oh! Hello!" A quiet voice from the corner of the room said.
Starscream searched the area, nearly missing the mech. He was a white that matched the walls with red highlights, but his colors weren't what made him so difficult to detect. It was his height. As the mech approached the group, the top of his head barely reached Skyfire's hips.
Next to Starscream, the mech would've been up to his chest. He was very close to Rumble and Frenzy's height, which made Starscream wonder: was this mech a cassette? If so, what happened to his console and other cassettes?
"Skyfire is injured," Thundercracker said, grabbing the injured arm and holding it up.
The mech took the arm from her and hummed, gently examining it. "It almost looks like…"
His optics drifted toward the rest of the group, falling on the other Starscream, then Starscream himself. His optics narrowed as they rested on his wings. Then, as they reached Skywarp, he quickly looked away.
"Can someone explain what happened here?" He asked.
Skyfire gave him a brief rundown. Luckily for Starscream, he addressed the mech by name during the explanation, so he now had something to call the medic: First Aid. After receiving the explanation, First Aid immediately got to work, cleaning the wound and sealing the leaking lines that Skyfire's self-repair had yet to reach.
As he worked, Starscream caught Jetfire creeping closer. Whenever First Aid turned in his general direction, Jetfire quickly froze, but it was undeniable. It was a good sign that Jetfire wanted to approach, knowing the newspark's history with strangers.
Just as First Aid finished up, Starscream stepped forward.
"We have a request," he said. "If you're willing to grant it."
First Aid looked up at him, a pleasant smile on his face—the caution had drained from the mech after Skyfire explained the situation.
"What is it?" He asked.
"Skywarp's signature is trackable, but we know you have scramblers. We were wondering if you could place one on her somewhere to protect her when she warps—"
"And also give him a checkup!" Skywarp said, shoving past Starscream.
Starscream yanked her backward by the tip of her wing. She let out a startled yelp.
"Yes," he hissed. "Though that one is a lot less important."