The Good, the Bad and Starscream

Chapter 25: Scattered

"Lord Megatron," Shockwave greeted and bowed in respect.

"Shockwave," Megatron greeted with joy. "This is quite an unexpected turn. I thought you'd perished on Cybertron."

Megatron glared at Starscream behind him, whose wings flicked down by the snap.

"Yes, yes, as did we all," Starscream said nervously and tried to stay cool.

"Reports of my demise were greatly premature," Shockwave said darkly while staring ahead. "A pair of Autobots infiltrated my facility on Cybertron, sabotaging my Space Bridge. I gave chase, but failed to accurately calculate the outcome."

Starscream remembered very well how Shockwave had stormed into the Space Bridge portal, moments before it exploded, leaving his fate unknown but at the time seemingly obvious.

"I awoke in the rubble, blinded," Shockwave continued. "It soon became clear that I was marooned on our dead planet, with no means of communication. In time, I repaired my wounds and resumed my experiments. The solitude enabled me to make tremendous advances in my research. Until one day, my instruments detected a massive surge of unidentifiable energy. I travelled to investigate its origin, at the edge of the Sea of Rust, where I encountered your salvage team and the smoldering wreckage of the Omega Lock. But this was not the search party I had anticipated so long ago."

Shockwave turned to look at Starscream, along with Megatron, Dreadwing, Knock Out and Soundwave.

"Leaving one, unanswered question," Shockwave said and began approaching Starscream, while staring deeply into the Seeker's optics. "Why was I left for scrap? Abandoned? Why?"

Starscream's wings drooped in fear as Shockwave got uncomfortably close and stared deeper into Starscream's face, staring into his very Spark. Shockwave didn't have a face he could express his emotions with, but Starscream knew the Cyclops was mad. Furious. He had to be quick if he wanted to stay alive.

"The-the-the explosion, it," Starscream stuttered, "it collapsed the power core chamber! The last thing anyone witnessed was you charging into the Space Bridge portal! No one saw you come back out!"

Starscream stared anxiously at Shockwave's single red optic, waiting for his answer.

"I find your reply to be..." Shockwave drawled out and flicked with his audio receptors. "...logical."

Starscream let out a sigh of relief, but his wings remained drooped. Shockwave had committed himself fully to logic, so he was only really understanding of your actions if they were logical.

To be honest, Starscream could understand Shockwave's anger here. Starscream had just recently been abandoned by his Autobot comrades, left for scrap. He had been asking the exact same questions to himself as Shockwave had just asked right now. At least they had that in common.

Shockwave, Megatron and Dreadwing turned away from Starscream, heading for the exit of the conference room. Starscream stepped forward, his wings shooting back up again, as he remembered something.

"But you will be pleased to know that I avenged your seeming demise," Starscream said in a brighter tone and fluttered with his wings, "by personally terminating the Autobot Cliffjumper, haha..."

Shockwave stopped, his audio receptors pointing backwards, seemingly listening to Starscream's words. Truth be told, Starscream had been the last Decepticon to kill an Autobot for quite a long time now, at least within the last three years. It was a big deal, and Starscream hadn't had enough chances to brag about it, having had to keep it a secret from the Autobots for three months. Now that the secret was out and he was back with the Decepticons, though, he could once again brag about it all he wanted.