Where There's A Spark, There's A Way part 15

She walked back and forth on the table, trying to wake herself up fully before attempting to climb down. If she fell wrong and broke her ankle or sprained her leg, Starscream was sure to razz her about it. And the choices - tough the pain out, beg her Partner for help, or limp over to the Autobot medic - weren't all that appealing to her. Deep breath. You awake yet? Deciding that the answer was 'yes', Skyler dropped to her knees, turning around and sliding off the berth until she was dangling by her hands. A peek over her shoulder reassured her that the drop was manageable.
Thank heaven Sari'd needed to live at the base for so long. Not only was there a restroom, but a fully functional shower was included! Closing the door firmly behind her, the woman dug through her backpack for shower supplies and a fresh change of clothes before stepping into the shower. It had been awhile since Skyler was able to feel this relaxed. Not completely, because she still had to keep her mental shields in place. It didn't require a tremendous amount of concentration, but detracted from the calming shower. Humming to herself, she kneaded suds into her hair. Was it just the woman's imagination, or was she less sensitive to grease as a result of being around the robots? Her reverie was interrupted by the spray suddenly turning ice cold. With a loud screech, she jumped out of the shower and stood dripping on the bath mat.
Another shriek left her mouth as she felt a curious brush from Starscream, wondering what the surge of shock and anger was from. :: Outoutoutoutgetout!:: she screamed, lunging for a towel. The connection shut abruptly, like a slammed door.
I...am going to kill that kid, she thought, wrapping the towel around herself. Shutting off the water heater, that's a dirty trick. The kind of stunt a...well, a kid would play.
Skyler poked her head through the door, open just a crack, and glanced around. All she saw was Bulkhead. Feeling rather ridiculous, she called out to him. "Hey, Bulkhead?"
The large mech turned around, helm swiveling to track the source of the noise. "Huh? What is it?"
"Did you see Sari and Bumblebee just now?"
"Yeah, actually." He rubbed one tri-digit over his protruding lower-jaw. "Ran past me, just a bit ago. You want me to call them?"
"No, that's fine, thanks," she said, forcing a smile.
Bulkhead blinked twice as she shut the door forcefully, and kept walking. Maybe he'd go back to painting rather than worry his processor over the weird human. They were all strange, but not Sari.
Sighing, Skyler sat down on the toilet, clutching her towel close to her. Should've known this wouldn't be easy... And why should it? Introducing a Decepticon, however sincere his promises, and a human with closer ties to the 'Cons than the 'Bots - there should be some 'minor squabbles' expected.

---

A light flashed on the base's giant monitor, soon followed by a periodic beeping. Bumblebee startled, spinning around. Decepticons? Those weird humans? Oh. No. Just an AllSpark frag - "Hey! Boss-bot, we got another fragment that's turned up!" All the Autobots except Prowl scrambled over behind the shortest mech.
"Roll out," Optimus said, just loud enough for everyone to hear.
"Hey! You're not leaving me behind again. Not with him," Sari yelled, pointing accusingly at Starscream.
Bumblebee motioned reassuringly at her, palms out in a 'hold on' gesture.
Optimus rubbed the 'brim' of his 'cap', the helm protrusion. "While I understand your eagerness to be with us, Sari, I really can't condone -"
"What about her? It's not fair that she gets to go and not meeeee," the young girl whined, almost a quiet scream.
Nope. Not me. Nowa-
"Skyler is with me. I decide if she stays or not, as I'm responsible for her protection," Starscream said with a smug glance over at Prowl.
........Shit. :: Did you consider even for a microsecond that you might ask me?:: Course not.
Sari stayed close to Bumblebee, hopping inside his vehicle mode the second he'd transformed. The yellow mini-bot sped out of the paved area, shortly followed by the rest of the team. Brave enough to set pranks for Skyler, but when faced with the turncoat Decepticon? Not so much.
Only Starscream remained in bipedal form, glancing down and quirking an optic ridge. The older woman's arms were crossed, frustrated with where her choices had led. Still frowning, she began tapping one shoe, doing what little things she could to aggravate him.
No response, only the folding down into jet mode. "About time," Skyler grumbled, forearms straining as she pulled herself into the jet's cockpit.
"Don't see why I needed to come along," she continued as they rose into the clouds. "Or why Sari wanted to, for that matter."
Starscream chuckled, cinching the straps tightly around her body. "Why, in case the Decepticons are setting up a diversion, or simply waiting for the Autobots go go after the fragment. A single shard isn't that much of a loss, if you manage to capture a valuable prisoner in the process. It could always be tossed in on the barter. It's what I'd do, of course," he added as an afterthought.
"Of course, you would." Remind her why she was here, again? Oh, that's right, because the self-important 'Con refused to allow her a choice in the matter. "Just be careful and don't drag me into any fights."

---

Just how many fragments had the Autobots missed or been unable to gather, simply because they were restricted to the ground? Honestly, it was a good thing they had him there. What if it was stuck up a tree? For tiny organic creatures, some of their plant life could grow rather tall. Stupid Autofools probably would bicker about how best -and whether- to knock the tree down for the fragment. Precious time, during which Megatron or his lackeys could fly in, snatch the slagging thing, and disappear back to their base. Starscream only had to wait until such a thing happened, force the Autobots to realize their cause was hopeless without him. And then bask in the much-deserved, so rarely enjoyed, praise.
His organic grumbled something about egos as the Seeker pulled up a specialized scan for AllSpark energy. The human they had with them was rumored to be able to detect the fragments, but only when they first emerged or she was in very close proximity to them. For more detailed scans, they needed the equipment back at the base...or inside his secure databanks. He hadn't discarded all of his time as a scientist; so much of it had proved useful during the War or for personal gain. The Autobots were already deviating from the signal, forced to remain on cleared paths through the city and now the forest. Chuckling to himself, the red mech banked closer to the mountainous region, a small bubble of worry growing. The further he was from the Autobots, the harder it would be to scrape that slagging trio off on the doo-gooders. Frag. He'd just have to do this as rapidly as possible.
The signal led Starscream up to the mountainside, a sheer cliff. More caves? he wondered. Fortunate he'd insisted on - no.
Transforming for a better look, he saw that it had embedded itself solidly into the rock, and wouldn't come out easily. Flexing the claws on his right servo, he plunged them deep into the surrounding material, wrenching a large chunk free of the mountainside. From there, it was a simple matter to slowly squeeze, reducing the organic matter to mere gravel. Nothing of Cybertron would break that easily. Now, what to do about the shard itself...

---

Sighing, Skyler let the back of her head hit the metal panel behind her. Heights. She hated them. And for some reason, she was reminded of the long distance between herself and the ground more when Starscream was in bipedal mode than in jet form. Just why was that? The brunette was still puzzling over it when she saw the glass hatch in front of her, the only thing keeping her safely inside, begin to retract. Oh, nonono. Shoulderblades pressed against the rear of her little chamber, hearing her heart pound in her ears. I don't want to fall! Letting out a small 'meep' noise of mixed surprise and shock, one hand reached out to take the object Starscream's servo had inserted. She clutched it tightly as the hand withdrew and the hatch closed once more. What am I supposed to do with this thing? Skyler shrugged and dropped it into her backpack.
Starscream smirked, optics glinting. That was all the proof he needed; her storage compartment was perfectly useful to him. Now that he had the fragment, what to do? Head back to the base and wait for the Autobots to return, mocking them for the delay? He couldn't remain here...so he ran a quick scan for Cybertronian energy signatures. When two popped up on his visual overlay, his Spark skipped a beat before the scan registered them as Megatron's lieutenants, not the warlord himself. Even more interesting was the cluster of Autobot signatures nearby. Perhaps he should do something about that...
"Starscream, you sonofabitch don't you dare!" Skyler shrieked, picking up on his thoughts. Transforming, he let out his trademark cackle and banked sharply towards the dual Decepticon energy signatures.

---

The axe was nearly ripped from his servos as a blast of ice coated it. Optimus had held his axe out from behind the tree, tilting it to try and catch a glimpse of the Decepticons in the reflection. Blitzwing. The mech's assault had forced all the Autobots to shelter behind trees and, in Bumblebee and Sari's case, a large rock. They needed Sari, as the AllSpark signal had vanished just as the Decepticons turned to confront them. Blitzwing's and Lugnut's sudden confusion had given Optimus' crew just enough time to seek cover. Still, fragment or no fragment, they had to get Sari out of there. The Prime glanced over, seeing that Bumblebee had curled himself protectively around the girl, with the added benefit of making himself a smaller target. But how? The moment any of them poked a faceplate around to check on the 'Cons, Blitzwing blasted them with ice. Thus far, only Prowl was able to dart from tree to tree, keeping the triple-changer focused on him and not on driving the others into the open. He wondered why Hothead hadn't appeared, or Random using his flamethrowers to burn down the forest. That would only make searching for the fragment harder, as well as endangering some of the more fragile components in a Cybertronian, but the two less-stable personalities had never seemed to take such things into consideration.
/Bumblebee, how is Sari?/
/Scared, Prime. She wasn't really expecting the Decepticons to show up here./
/I know, but we have to get her out of here. We will make a diversion, then you and Ratchet will get back to base. We'll follow you as soon as we can. The fragment's not worth risking Sari over. Prowl? Bulkhead? Get ready. We've got to buy them some time. Don't worry about Lugnut; he's still searching for the fragment. On three. Ready?/
Prowl was the first to hear it, the dull roar of a third set of thrusters. The others present also glanced up, with Lugnut following after a blast of ice from Blitzwing splattered across the cliff-face next to him.
"Still wasting your time fighting those pathetic Autofools?" Starscream sneered, a blast from his cannons sending a cloud of dust around the two. Blitzwing transformed as soon as the Seeker emerged from the cloud.
"Just vating for joo, traitor!"
Excellent, he'd coaxed Hothead out. Lugnut blasted off shortly after Blitzwing.
"About  time," Optimus muttered, motioning for his crew to retreat. The signal  was gone; either it had been a decoy, some accident of the air-waves, or  it had been retrieved by Megatron, as the possibility of human  intervention was almost negligible.
As  the Autobots rolled out, they could hear the near-constant crackle of  Starscream's laughter, Lugnut's enraged roars, and the blasts of  Decepticon weaponry.

---

Starscream flew in quickly; he didn't want humans to know of the base location any more than the Autobots did. Transforming, he walked over to stand against the wall near the main entrance, waiting on the Autobots. They were several cycles behind. Easily 15, assuming they burned rubber the whole way back. As an afterthought, he retracted the cockpit glass.
Skyler tumbled out of the central compartment, and from there to the ground as the Seeker stooped down. Limbs trembling, she stood up and glared at the mech. "You..." When had oxygen gotten so hard to come by? "...are a slagging...ass...hole." Whew. She leaned her hands on her kneecaps, still gasping for breath. ::I hate you,:: the woman said, deciding that actual speech was too difficult at the moment.
::No, you don't,:: Starscream replied, smugness resonating through their Bond. He crouched, hooking two digits under her body and scooping his Partner into the other servo. Skyler made a half-hearted attempt to push the restraining digits off of her before sagging against his servo with a weary grumble.
::Yes, I do.:: Why did she still feel the need to protest? Not like it ever did a single damned thing besides amuse the bastard. Ugh. He didn't even dignify her sullen statement with a reply, only brushing a digit down her back. "M'not a pet," Skyler grumbled stubbornly, shifting under the stroke.
Starscream lifted her up, setting her gently down on his shoulderplate. She caught a strange feeling coming from his mind, difficult to tell whether he was deliberately sending at her or not. A nonverbal...prove it? Coupled with the sensation of being surrounded. The bastard never could give her a straight response, could he? "Do you still have the fragment?"
The brunette sighed, reminded that she was caught between the titles 'pet' and 'tool'. "Yeah," she ground out reluctantly, producing the shard from her backpack.
What would the Autobots make of that? The signal only now reappearing. Starscream mused. His human shifted around on his shoulder armor and he held up a servo in front of her. "No. You're staying right there."
"But -"
"It's high time the Autobots knew just how...devoted to me you are. Hand over the fragment."
Skyler wondered if the Autobots would be able to hear her teeth grinding. ::Here. Take the damned thing. They've brought me nothing but trouble.::
The Seeker held the softly-glowing blue crystal up to the light, turning it back and forth as the light reflected off its facets. Tires screeched on the road just next to the abandoned plant, and he lowered his arm, concealing the shard in a fist and leaning casually against the wall, adopting a bored expression on his faceplate. "You Autobots really are slow," he snarked.
The tired and rather scuffed team shot various intensities of glares at the taller mech.
"I had plenty of time to fly circles around those two and still beat you back here."
Bumblebee's shoulder-mounted tires spun angrily, about to fire off a snappy comment before Optimus cut him off. "The fragment's signal is gone. Must have been an attempt by Megatron to lure us out."
"Fragment?" Starscream said innocently. "You mean this one?"
"How the frag did you manage that?" Ratchet snapped.
The Seeker flicked the shard to Optimus in an under-servod toss. "Because you couldn't stand a chance without my help." Once again, Starscream wondered why he'd never tried this before. Aiding the Autobots. Funny how it took Megatron's uncovering of his schemes for this new one to work so well. He almost was grateful it had happened. No more bowing and scraping, dreading every moment Megatron's servos were within grabbing distance of his wings or helm. Never again.
As the others trudged into the base to clean off and buff the damages out, Optimus sent a secure transmission, /We are grateful for your assistance./
Watching the red and blue mech walk away, Starscream purred, absolutely radiating contentment. It was good to be appreciated.