When We Seared The Sky

Chapter 17

Chapter Seventeen

Departure of a Friend

Tick. Tick. Tick.

Whatever was making that ticking noise really ought to be shot at point-blank range, Ratchet mused as he sat in uncomfortable silence opposite Starscream with Alexis between them. The sound was only emphasizing the silence that was growing between the two of them, and he struggled uselessly for something to say, keeping his eyes fixed on a spot on the wall.

He felt better now that Alexis was tucked up in a proper bed and her temperature restored to its optimum level, and the colour was slowly returning to her cheeks. Luckily, she was not suffering from medical shock, and had fallen into a sleep that she refused to be wakened from. Her eyes were closed and her body perfectly still; she might have been dead.

But the two machines watching over her determinedly, refusing to rest, knew better. And Ratchet, for one, would not leave until she woke.

“So,” Starscream finally spat from his position.

Ratchet clenched his jaw and folded his arms. “So,” he shot back, almost as poisonously, keeping his voice low. Starscream narrowed his eyes and turned away haughtily, nose in the air. “What have the Decepticons been doing whilst you’ve been away?”

He tried to say it casually, as if he were asking what some old friends had been doing whilst the two of them shared a cup of tea, but it came out as sounding as grave and serious as it truly was. Well, he had never expected to be able to hold an everyday conversation with someone who had been his enemy for almost ten million years.

Starscream folded his lengthy arms and glared at the floor. Ratchet imagined that he would burn a hole through it if he did not stop soon. “That cone-headed slagger Thrust has claimed himself as leader,” he muttered bitterly, his fists tightening. “I can’tstand the little fraghead.”

The medic could not help but smirk. “No,” he agreed, “I don’t think anyone can.”

Thrust really was a supreme pain in the aft; even the Decepticonshad hated him, as Starscream was proving so beautifully. One of the ConeheadDecepticon air vehicles - those of different design and ability than the Seekers, such as Starscream - Thrust had an unbearable voice, an infuriatingly arrogant attitude, and was likely to make a mech want to short-circuit himself out of general disgust at his appearance.

But he had been clever. As the Decepticontactician, he had always had far more sense than the others, and was usually the first to leavea battle when things began to look difficult. Cowardly, yes, but it had kept him a live throughout the war, and in a good position in Megatron's army.

Looking suddenly livid and hurt, Starscream looked up at him. “Skywarp seems to be quite keen to serve him,” he snarled, though his anger was with Skywarp, not the medical officer. “And with the All Spark fragments, he will be able to create more like the new Decepticon he created only a few hours ago…” he paused. “Bloodbringer.”

“They must be primitive,” Ratchet scoffed, waving his concerns away. “Newborns are never particularly intelligent.”

“But they are brutal,” Starscream reminded him in a hushed tone. “Bloodbringer obeys Thrust absolutely. He’s stupid, but he would still be a worthy adversary in battle, mark my words. And once there are more like him, they will have strength in numbers that we do not have.”

Ratchet felt his spark tighten with his fist upon hearing this. That sounded ominous.

At that moment, there was a light knock on the door and two familiar faces peered around it. He felt his spark lift a little when Sam and Mikaela offered him their best smiles.