Chapter Text
It was all Shockwave’s fault.
A lot of things were Shockwave’s fault, but this was particularly egregious. If he hadn’t been experimenting with the space bridge, if he hadn’t hit the activation right as a power surge hit the portal, and if he hadn’t been a slagging weirdo, Starscream would not have been engulfed in the wave of unstable bridge particles in the middle of an Autobot attack. Right as he’d had a clear shot at Optimus Prime’s spark chamber too. He could have ended the war.
Instead, Starscream lay face down in finely ground stone still sharp enough to cut his cheek. His joints locked up while his processor diagnosed the damage. Preliminary readings showed it could have been worse. Not that he had much frame of reference for being dragged into a malfunctioning space bridge and launched somewhere in space.
Stupid Shockwave.
Finally, Starscream rose and reluctantly surveyed his surroundings. Navigational systems were useless without a familiar signal in range. Starscream tried his comms, but he was unsurprised when they came back with nothing. No Decepticons and no neutrals they hadn’t angered or murdered.
Rocky terrain sprawled out in every direction. A high mountain range rose a few kilometers off. Gravity was about the same as Earth, though the atmosphere was thinner and dryer. Probably not much in the way of organic life, although Starscream did see a grey-ish blue shrub popping out of the ground. It looked too worn to even be worth crushing.
Starscream kicked a rock instead. He could be anywhere. Quite literally anywhere. In the galaxy. Because Shockwave hit a button.
Maybe Shockwave had done it intentionally to get rid of him to usurp his position as second in command. Or Megatron had ordered him to do it. Or one of them had wanted to steal Starscream’s glory in getting the chance to kill Optimus Prime.
He could practically hear Thundercracker’s voice chiding him. “Or it was an accident, and you’re being paranoid again.”
Starscream brushed his imaginary wing mate off. It wasn’t paranoia if mechs were really out to get him. And mechs absolutely were out to get him. Megatron ran a cutthroat ship. A holdover from his gladiator days, Starscream guessed. No one was ever secure in their position. The battle was constant to ensure only the strongest remained.
And remain Starscream would. Yes, he was stuck, alone, on an alien planet, with nothing save his wits to get him back to civilization. He allowed himself one more kick to express his annoyance at the cosmic unfairness of it all, then he set his processor to work solving the problem. Because he was going to get back.
And he was going to punch Shockwave in his dumb, creepy optic.
Since there wasn’t much else to go on, Starscream studied the mountains, magnifying his optics to their maximum doom levels. There might be mineral deposits. And if anything was alive on this rock, they might be mining it. It was as good a place to start as any.
Starscream transformed and flew towards the peaks. Halfway there something caught his sensor net. Movement. Something alive.
Perfect.
###
Optimus stared at the sky. It was light blue that faded into a pleasant almost lavender-shade. No clouds blocked the white-green sun, or the light of the other star that shone almost as brightly. It was quite pretty. Much prettier than the space bridge chamber where he’d been fighting Megatron and the rest. It took him a moment to even remember what they’d all been fighting over. Some resource extracted from Earth that could not be allowed to reach Cybertron, lest it be turned into yet another weapon in Shockwave’s labs.
Jazz and the rest of the Spec Ops team had urged him not to engage himself, but Optimus hated putting his mechs in danger. Especially when he knew Megatron would be involved. If Optimus was there, Megatron fought him. If he wasn’t he turned his fists and fusion canons on other Autobots. When he did that, mechs Optimus cared about got hurt or worse.
It was not as if they had planned to do anything stealthy. A quick “smash and grab” as Jazz had called it. Prowl had objected. They’d argued. Optimus had listened and made his decision and everyone had followed his lead. Just like always.
And now he was admiring a strange sky, back against a rock at a surprisingly comfortable angle in the valley of an alien planet. Would it be so bad to lie down for a while? He had no idea where he was nor how he’d gotten there, aside from knowing there’d been some space bridge accident. He could be on the other end of the universe. He could be anywhere.
The others would look for him. Whether or not they found him in a timely manner was another question. The Autobots being without their leader in the midst of a war…that worried him. Faces of every single Autobot under his command flashed unwillingly before his optics, and he had to offline them for a second to regain his bearings.
Optimus ex-vented. He could not just wait around for rescue. If there was a way to signal his location or call for help, he had to find it. He had to keep fighting.
And fighting and fighting and fighting and—
A scream echoed through the valley. Immediately, Optimus forced his battered frame into motion, navigating the narrowing passes, growling in frustration when he could no longer fit and had to claw his way up the cliffs.
His alt mode was useless, and the screams were only growing louder.
“Hold on!” Optimus yelled as he heaved himself up a ledge. His spark froze when the rock cracked, but by some miracle it held his weight. He scrambled to reach more solid ground, scraping paint off as he went. Finally his pedes were under him and he could move towards the sounds of a fight.
Optimus hated how easily he could identify the sounds of a fight.
The ground beneath him shook as something was launched into the cliff wall beneath him. He stumbled. Below, two figures clawed at each other like angry turbofoxes. Optimus smelled energon and coolant.
The figure who’d hit the wall jumped back up and the shriek that escaped its throat was like a razor against Optimus’ audials.
It was a spiky, misshapen beast, standing on all fours, metal frame glinting green in the sunlight. Tendrils whipped out from its back, ending in barbed hooks. Its face was contorted with pain and rage.
And then somehow Optimus’ frame grew even colder.
Starscream snarled and lifted his arm to fire his nullray into the monster. Energon trickled down the side of his helm.
Something else crept up in the shadows behind him. It should have looked like a mech, but something in Optimus’ spark told him it was not. The limbs twitched. They were too long, and it had more of those horrible tendrils. Optimus could not clearly see its face. And he was perversely glad for that.
It extended its clawed arms and launched itself at Starscream’s back.
Most of Optimus' officers—his comrades, his friends—would have advised him to leave it. Then they would have begged him to leave it, because Starscream was an enemy, a murderer, and a treacherous glitch whose death could only help the Autobot war effort.
Sadly, Optimus was already sliding halfway down the cliff by the time he really remembered how annoyed Prowl would be with him, and he'd already started running by the time he managed to acknowledge the hint of doubt as to whether or not this was a good idea.
Starscream spun towards him, optics widening with shock. One nullray stayed trained on the four-legged beast, while the other fired at Optimus' chest. Optimus twisted as he ran, but at this range the shot couldn't miss. It burned his side, but didn't stop him.
He slammed into Starscream, wrapping his arm around the screeching seeker and dragging him out of the way the moment before the second creature’s talons would have ripped into his wings.
“Unhand me!”
Optimus turned back while Starscream clawed at his arm. He didn't loosen his hold—despite how much the scratches hurt. Instead, he focused on the sickly yellow optics of the two creatures. The one Starscream had fired on was leaking some sort of black fluid from its forehead, but it did not seem at all dissuaded from pressing its attack.
“Let me down,” Starscream stopped clawing at him. “We can fight them together!”
Optimus narrowed his gaze, risking a quick look away from the monsters to study his mortal enemy’s dubiously loyal second.
“How can I be sure you will not simply abandon the fight to me?”
Starscream scoffed. “Please. There are probably more of them lurking around. I doubt either of us wants to deal with that or an unfamiliar planet alone.”
True. This terrain effectively made Optimus’ alt mode a hinderance, and he could not fight with a wriggling bot stuck under one arm. So, once again ignoring Prowl’s voice in the back of his processor, he set Starscream back on his pedes.
“I'll draw their attention,” Optimus said. “You circle around and—”
The sound of thrusters roared behind him. Optimus glanced over his shoulder and saw scorch marks where Starscream had been standing a second before.
It was actually impressive how quickly he managed to transform and take to the air, leaving Optimus behind.
My fault, he thought. I had unrealistic expectations.
Optimus deployed his axe and cut at a set of tendrils trying to slice open his face.
###
Starscream had to laugh. Of all the mechs to get stuck in Shockwave's blunder. Optimus Prime! And Starscream had just ensured he'd be weakened and ready for Starscream for to finish off. Assuming those two horrors didn't kill him outright.
Alone on a strange world with no resources, and Starscream was about to manage what Megatron had failed to do for millions of years with entire armies at his command.
He flew higher, trying to find a good vantage point. He'd have to keep an optic on things. Make sure Optimus didn't escape or somehow manage to kill the—whatever those things were. Starscream was curious about that. A name did come to mind, but it seemed too outlandish, even for a situation as bizarre as this.
His sensors blared a warning in his HUD. Something approaching fast. Starscream tried to bank, but instead a sharp cord wrapped around his thruster. The sudden weight dragged him down. Starscream transformed mid fall, trying to kick whatever had grabbed him.
His spark sank when he saw yet another gnarled monstrosity. Its face was split in a mangled, toothy grin. Wings seemed to have ripped themselves out of its spinal struts. Its arms ended not in hands, but in segmented tentacles, one of which was now wrapped around Starscream’s leg.
A fiery thruster-blast to the face did nothing to stop it from trying to climb up his limb.
Towards his chest.
His spark.
Slag.
###
Whatever these things were, they were intelligent enough to work together.
As Optimus cut off one tendril aiming for his chest, the fox-like creature darted towards his wounded side and unhinged its jaws to bite his leg. He spun away from the attack as he reached for the rifle in his subspace. He fired, but the fox danced aside, and Optimus grimaced as the mech latched an arm around his neck.
Its weight caused its spines to dig into Optimus' frame. He dropped his rifle to try and dislodge it, which gave the fox yet another opening. He managed to kick it into the rock wall, but it shook its head and growled.
“Prime!”
Optimus looked up and was not sure if he was more shocked to see yet another creature or by the fact that Starscream had not made it halfway across the planet by now. Starscream was wrestling with a winged beast, trying to tear away the tendrils coiling around his legs and his arm.
Starscream pointed his nullray. Optimus flinched, until he saw where it was aimed.
Their optics met and Optimus nodded in understanding.
He reached back and. wrapped a hand around the snapping head of the creature lodged against his back and tore, heedless of the damage to his own plating. The thing must not have expected the sudden show of strength. It lost its grip. Optimus threw it at its compatriot and they crashed together in a tangle of spines, spikes, and whips.
Just below the ledge where Starscream had aimed his nullray.
He fired. Stone cracked and shattered, and before they could move the two monsters were buried under a pile of rock.
A second later Starscream and his attacker slammed into the ground and slid, the bat-like creature on the bottom. Somehow that wasn't enough to kill it. It snapped its jaws at Starscream's chest, as the seeker cried out in shock.
Optimus yanked the bat-thing off, tossed it back down and buried his axe into its spark chamber.
For a second, things were quiet.
“W-well done,” Starscream stammered, apparently unable to stand silence for long. “You see? I had no intention of abandoning you. Simply had to lure out that third one, and line up a shot of course.”
Optimus glared at him. Starscream shrank as if he was trying to hide in the furrow he'd left with his landing.
“Don't kill me!” he wailed from behind upraised arms. “I—we don't know where we are. Or where those sparkeaters came from. We're trapped, so surely it's better to—”
“I'm sorry. Sparkeater?”
Starscream scowled at the corpse and rubbed his chest, which was even more scratched up than the rest of him.
“Call it an educated guess.”
“Sparkeaters are a myth,” Optimus said. “Twisted nightmare tales told to frighten newsparks.”
“Fine then,” Starscream folded his arms. “We can call these twisted nightmare creatures that were trying to get to our spark chambers something different, since sparkeaters aren’t real.”
Optimus sighed. “Fair enough.”
Slowly, Starscream started to rise. Optimus made no move to stop him, mostly because it was clear looking at his left thruster that he would not make it the whole way.
Starscream tried to hide his wince as he sank back down, muttering a string of curses.
“You can't leave me here,” Starscream said. “I know your spark won't let you abandon a wounded mech—”
Optimus stopped listening. Because there was nothing Starscream could say to change his mind. And he would prefer to assess his own injured frame while he had the chance. Luckily it did not seem like any of the injuries would inhibit his function. Ratchet would be annoyed with him for not stopping to do at least some repairs, but given the circumstances he hoped his old friend would cut him a little slack.
His spark chamber pulsed. The foreign power of the Matrix charging his self-repair protocols. He let his fans run to cool his systems. A small amount relief to the burning internal mechanisms.
His audials pinged. Though he was shocked he could hear anything over Starscream's prattling.
“Be quiet,” he said.
Mercifully Starscream obeyed, and Optimus was able to focus on the sound of…
Scratching.
Beneath the rock pile.
“We need to go,” he said. “Now.”
“We?” Starscream smirked. “I knew you'd see reason.”
“Right.” Optimus picked up his rifle from where he'd dropped it and stowed the weapon. “Disarm your nullrays. I'd prefer not to be shot in the back.”
Starscream huffed, but obeyed.
Which made it easy for Optimus to grab his arms and lock the stasis cuffs he removed from his subspace around Starscream's wrists.
“Wh—how dare you?” Starscream yelled.
“As I said,” Optimus tested the lock. “I'd prefer not to be shot in the back.”
Starscream's face twisted in rage. Which then became confusion and he asked,
“ Why do you just have stasis cuffs in your subspace?”
Whatever answer Optimus might have given was interrupted by a shifting of stone and increasingly frantic scratches.
He hoisted Starscream over his shoulder and bolted.