Starscream watches the dark tetrajet flicker even as he blandly assures Starscream that his audials and optics are fine. Of course. It's a nightmare. The other figments of his imagination don't see anything wrong as he's falling apart and disappearing into irrelevancy.
"The alternative is that I've gone insane, so I'll stick with 'nightmare' as an explanation," Starscream says sarcastically. "Of course, that makes you another figment of my sadistic imagination, which seems bent on punishing me for some reason."
It is, isn't it? It's that old self-doubt and insecurity run amuck, re-writing the universe and himself as, deep-down, he believes himself and the universe to be. One generic red, blue and silver Seeker with poor judgment and no real leadership skills who can't ever get anything right, and who really doesn't matter in the big picture, in spite of all his loud and violent attempts to deny that. Couldn't even save his own partner, not even when he dug him out of the ice. What good is Starscream?
He's always hated that part of himself. It sneaks up on him and ambushes him at the worst possible times. That makes him angry.
Red optics narrow. "Figment or not, you will answer my questions, Blackstar! What are you doing here?"
"Or you could have popped in from another reality," Blackstar counters reasonably. "There's more universes than this one, after all, Commander."
Blackstar cocks his head the other direction, eying Starscream speculatively, a little shadow of irritation and anger in his optics.
"I'm not a figment, you know," he explains with deceptive mildness. "Not that what I am will do much to convince you otherwise. But I'm not just some wild bit of bad energon in your system, no glitch in your processor."
No spirit appreciates being forgotten or relegated to the ranks of "overactive imagination" or "bad fuel". Not when they aren't actually trying to be irritatingly spectral and frightening. He crosses his arms over his chest, staring evenly at the living counterpart of his Commander.
"You live. Technically, that makes you no longer my Commander, so I really don't have to answer your questions. Out of deference to who you are and who you will one day be, though, I'll make an exception. Consider yourself lucky; I used to tell old Shocky to kiss my afterburner for a lot less, back before my... transfer," Blackstar replies with a certain amount of not-quite malicious amusement. He smirks, letting his form slip to transparency.
"This is the Crypt, Commander. There's those who'd say that I belong here. Me? I've got other plans."
Starscream glares balefully at the ghost. He's pissed off now, and up to a screaming match with Megatron, if it came to it.
"You actually make more sense than anything else I've run into! I suppose my guns don't work on you any better than they do anything else," he snaps, turning and firing both arm-guns at the pathetic remnants of his shrine.
To his considerable surprise, the top of the plinth explodes where the full-strength laser bolts hammer it, the last bit of statue melting and the ceramic base cracking and shattering under the heat.
"What the-- NOW my guns work!" Starscream stares at each smoking gun barrel in turn. "What does it mean?"
Blackstar bristles as the last of Starscream's shrine shudders under the assault. New found concern and helpfulness since his death, aside, defiling the shrines of the dead, even if it is... sort of your own? is not something a ghost generally stands for.
"Well, you're half right," he growls. "They won't work on me. I'm already dead. And my guess is, since you're obviously not the Starscream from this universe, if your weapons didn't work before, it's probably because you just came from the Nexus. Most parts of the Nexus are covered by an Anti-Violence Field," Blackstar explains, that nasty little belligerent part of him perversely amused to see Starscream riled.
Is it any wonder he'd ended up booted out to Gallen sector after all?
// Commander? Can you hear me? // he tries again, seeking his Starscream's presence, somewhere, anywhere. Somehow, he's oddly not surprised to not get an answer again. There's definitely something very odd going on.
And he's seen the Nexus. His whole value of "odd" has altered significantly since then.
"Your guns work here because you aren't in the Nexus any more. You're on Cybertron, obviously. I wouldn't shoot at anything else in here; it tends to rile up the tenants. Oh, and I wouldn't take any pot shots at any Autobots if you leave here, either. There's a truce on. And my Commander will be a might bit slagged off if you go and frag that up, even if you are kinda each other."
// Commander? Please answer, // Blackstar tries one last time, frustrated. // One of your alternates is here at the Crypt, and he may stir up some trouble. Skyfire? Can you hear me? // he adds, just in case.
Starscream put his hands on his hips and continued to glare at Blackstar. "I'd almost believe that, except that the last person to tell me that was a red unicorn speaking with Perceptor's voice."
Starscream scowls; admitting to his weak side that it had gotten to him, made him feel that everything was useless and futile was out of the question. He had to get his own mind under control. The first thing--show it he didn't care what it threw at him, he could take it and give back as good as he got.
"First, this particular shrine is mine and I happen to feel it needs remodelling!" he snaps, and follows up with a rapid barrage that reduces it to fine-grained rubble. "I don't know why or how it was desecrated, but it's time to clear away what's old and broken and replace it with something better. I meant to have a decent sculptor update that image to my current form anyway."
Starscream isn't altogether talking about his shrine.
"Second, where is Megatron? You at least make an attempt at comprehensible answers, unlike those others!" Starscream snarls. "There is no truce unless he's ordered it--giving the Autobots a respite now would be a fool's move. We've nearly got them driven off Cybertron!"
"Megatron? He's- Slag. You're from before," Blackstar replies, shaking his head. Strata would have smacked him. That should have been obvious, given the state of living that Starscream is currently occupying. He heaves a sigh.
"You aren't going to like this..."
Blackstar is interrupted from trying to figure out just how much to tell this Starscream when he actually gets an unexpected answer to his call.
// Skyfire? Thank the Allspark, // Blackstar replies, reaching for that faint response. // Is Starscream with you? He's got an alternate of his here at the Crypt raising smelt. An alt from before the slag hit the rotors in his history, who thinks he's having a dream. Commander isn't answering me, for some reason. //
//Blackstar, don't lose him. I'm trying to find the portal he took to get there. That is our Starscream; he got hit with a Nexus LOL that reset him chronologically to some years before... before Galvatron. From what the others have told me, he's a bit confused and thinks this is all a nightmare. Admittedly, the Nexus does closely resemble something from a bad hallucination.//
// This is- The slag you say? ...scrap. Got it. //
After a moment, Blackstar adds, his tone very dubious, // Umm... I'm not so sure you should show up here, Skyfire. He's... Well, I can explain some of what he's asking me now, but, like you said. He thinks this is a nightmare. I wouldn't lay odds that he won't take a shot at you. He already scrapped his shrine here. Anyone with an Autobrand is likely to get a fistful of laser stuffed in their face. If they're lucky. //
"You're a few years out of date, Commander," Blackstar replies slowly, thinking through everything he knows and trying to decide how much he should explain.
Starscream is relatively contained here and now, and there's no Autobots here to draw fire - yet. Blackstar is half afraid that if he explains too much about what's going/gone on in the time frame of Starscream's missing memories, much of which likely will sound somewhat... more inexplicable to the Air Commander, that Starscream will bolt to disprove it for himself.
// Do you have a plan, by the way? // Blackstar comms Skyfire.
"A few... rather important years, actually," he sighs, shaking his head. "Megatron is gone."
In lieu of any other solution for the moment, Blackstar elects to stall.
// A bit late for argument now, and I'm bringing back-up. Blackstar, Starscream could ruin everything everyone--including HIM--has worked for if he runs loose while like this. I have an antidote--or rather, Rodimus does now. He's far less likely to be incapacitated by a single shot. //
A long silence while things happen at the other end, and then Skyfire comes through much clearer and louder.
// We're here. Blackstar... he came back to make sure the Decepticons had a future. He's told me he thinks this truce is the best chance they have for any future better than oppressed and hated subjects. //
// Understood. I'll try to keep him occupied as best I can. //
A thought occurs to him, not an ideal thought, but a backup plan, nonetheless. Seeker guns haven't changed much in millenia. An arm gun is an arm gun is an arm gun. Much like most Seekers, themselves. And if there's one thing he knows, inside and out as well as he knows the feel of her spark, it's an arm gun. Specifically, which collection of circuits and relays to fry or rip out to render them inert.
// If things really go south... I think I can totally disable his guns. I don't think - no, I'm pretty slagging sure I'm not powerful enough to take him, but... worst case scenario, maybe I can trip his reset or scrap a circuit or two and dump him in stasis or something. //
Blackstar doesn't sound 100% on that, mainly because he's not totally sure. He knows where certain components should be on a Tetrajet Seeker, but the Earth upgrades... He doesn't want to lay odds that he can find the right components without totally frying the Commander's CPU unless they have no other choice.
Plus, he's still not entirely certain that Starscream can't hurt him, and hurt him bad. After all, the Commander is a much more powerful entity than he is. And he... knows things. Not all of which was likely learned from the Allspark. Blackstar doesn't want to find out the hard way just how much hadn't come from the Allspark.
He'd learned a similarly painful lesson once before, and isn't certain his spark could take a repeat.
The fate of all Decepticons, ultimately? Scrap. No pressure.
Blackstar sighs and eyes Starscream, a thoughtful frown on his features.
"I'm not sure how many years yet. At least two. When do you think it is, Commander?"
Just keep him talking, keep him here, hopefully long enough for the others to arrive with that antidote.
Starscream's optics narrow. Ghost-jet is being rather evasive... and the Air Commander is really fed up with being jerked around by his nightmare. Mock him with his supposed invulnerability, will he? That could be corrected.
Starscream fires his right arm-gun in one long burst aimed at the floor--which scribes a neat circle around Blackstar*.
"You can stop being so evasive now," Starscream snaps. "Answer the question: what do you mean, Megatron is gone? If it helps you recollect the answer, it was 2002 last time I checked."
--- *Blackstar has just been temporarily trapped in a magic circle. It'll fade when Starscream is no longer in the area or cares to maintain it. Or until someone breaks it, of course.
Blackstar had been half expecting to be fired upon, and had been counting on his spectral nature to spare him any ill effects. Starscream is halfway through inscribing the circle when Blackstar sees the error of his assumption. He'd been right in his guess; enough of that knowledge hadn't come from the Allspark to seriously screw up any half-formed plans Blackstar had contrived. Before he can even put though to action in attempting to escape, the wall of containment - complete with roof and floor, unlike the bungled attempt to ward him out of Castle Destro - springs up around him, trapping him in place.
// Slag! Skyfire I- //
Optics widen as he feels his thoughts slam up against that wall, preventing him from even warning Skyfire and the others.
Unlike the last time he'd been trapped and imprisoned against his will, this little cell doesn't hurt him - yet. However, the memory of his helplessness is too fresh, and it takes him a second or two to swallow back the panic he can feel rising inside.
A second or two, which is what Starscream requires to ask his question, the question about Megatron, asked for the third time.
Blackstar freezes as he feels his own nature constraining around him like a vise, pressing the words out of him, will he, nil he. He will speak, and he will answer that question, regardless of his own desire to continue stalling. And if he doesn't shape the words himself, direct their flow, and soon, the words will shape themselves before leaping from him all unwilling, disgorging the truth.
Twice trapped, once by Art, and twice by his very manner of existence. He has no one but himself to blame for this lapse in judgment, but he cannot help but feel betrayed by his Commander. He is, even in death, however, a Decepticon warrior, a Seeker of the Decepticon Air Command.
Betrayal gives rise to hate, and hate... is his ally, his strength. Panic is subsumed under the baleful glare of the ghost, and he turns the stare defiantly at the living Starscream.
"You've come to 2007, Commander," he spits out, "and Megatron is dead here and now. Then again, so are you, and most of your Air Command."
Starscream did not expect that his nightmare would tell him very good news. It was, after all, a nightmare. But, by the melting shells of the condemned, he was taking control of this nightmare! He would not be beaten down by this, he would not give up, he would come out on top and he would rule!
"I suppose you'll tell me Megatron finally blasted me for trying to take over and then fell dead of grief at what he'd done," Starscream says sarcastically. He frowns at the last bit. "What happened to my Air Command?"
"The alternative is that I've gone insane, so I'll stick with 'nightmare' as an explanation," Starscream says sarcastically. "Of course, that makes you another figment of my sadistic imagination, which seems bent on punishing me for some reason."
It is, isn't it? It's that old self-doubt and insecurity run amuck, re-writing the universe and himself as, deep-down, he believes himself and the universe to be. One generic red, blue and silver Seeker with poor judgment and no real leadership skills who can't ever get anything right, and who really doesn't matter in the big picture, in spite of all his loud and violent attempts to deny that. Couldn't even save his own partner, not even when he dug him out of the ice. What good is Starscream?
He's always hated that part of himself. It sneaks up on him and ambushes him at the worst possible times. That makes him angry.
Red optics narrow. "Figment or not, you will answer my questions, Blackstar! What are you doing here?"
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Blackstar cocks his head the other direction, eying Starscream speculatively, a little shadow of irritation and anger in his optics.
"I'm not a figment, you know," he explains with deceptive mildness. "Not that what I am will do much to convince you otherwise. But I'm not just some wild bit of bad energon in your system, no glitch in your processor."
No spirit appreciates being forgotten or relegated to the ranks of "overactive imagination" or "bad fuel". Not when they aren't actually trying to be irritatingly spectral and frightening. He crosses his arms over his chest, staring evenly at the living counterpart of his Commander.
"You live. Technically, that makes you no longer my Commander, so I really don't have to answer your questions. Out of deference to who you are and who you will one day be, though, I'll make an exception. Consider yourself lucky; I used to tell old Shocky to kiss my afterburner for a lot less, back before my... transfer," Blackstar replies with a certain amount of not-quite malicious amusement. He smirks, letting his form slip to transparency.
"This is the Crypt, Commander. There's those who'd say that I belong here. Me? I've got other plans."
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"You actually make more sense than anything else I've run into! I suppose my guns don't work on you any better than they do anything else," he snaps, turning and firing both arm-guns at the pathetic remnants of his shrine.
To his considerable surprise, the top of the plinth explodes where the full-strength laser bolts hammer it, the last bit of statue melting and the ceramic base cracking and shattering under the heat.
"What the-- NOW my guns work!" Starscream stares at each smoking gun barrel in turn. "What does it mean?"
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"Well, you're half right," he growls. "They won't work on me. I'm already dead. And my guess is, since you're obviously not the Starscream from this universe, if your weapons didn't work before, it's probably because you just came from the Nexus. Most parts of the Nexus are covered by an Anti-Violence Field," Blackstar explains, that nasty little belligerent part of him perversely amused to see Starscream riled.
Is it any wonder he'd ended up booted out to Gallen sector after all?
// Commander? Can you hear me? // he tries again, seeking his Starscream's presence, somewhere, anywhere. Somehow, he's oddly not surprised to not get an answer again. There's definitely something very odd going on.
And he's seen the Nexus. His whole value of "odd" has altered significantly since then.
"Your guns work here because you aren't in the Nexus any more. You're on Cybertron, obviously. I wouldn't shoot at anything else in here; it tends to rile up the tenants. Oh, and I wouldn't take any pot shots at any Autobots if you leave here, either. There's a truce on. And my Commander will be a might bit slagged off if you go and frag that up, even if you are kinda each other."
// Commander? Please answer, // Blackstar tries one last time, frustrated. // One of your alternates is here at the Crypt, and he may stir up some trouble. Skyfire? Can you hear me? // he adds, just in case.
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Starscream scowls; admitting to his weak side that it had gotten to him, made him feel that everything was useless and futile was out of the question. He had to get his own mind under control. The first thing--show it he didn't care what it threw at him, he could take it and give back as good as he got.
"First, this particular shrine is mine and I happen to feel it needs remodelling!" he snaps, and follows up with a rapid barrage that reduces it to fine-grained rubble. "I don't know why or how it was desecrated, but it's time to clear away what's old and broken and replace it with something better. I meant to have a decent sculptor update that image to my current form anyway."
Starscream isn't altogether talking about his shrine.
"Second, where is Megatron? You at least make an attempt at comprehensible answers, unlike those others!" Starscream snarls. "There is no truce unless he's ordered it--giving the Autobots a respite now would be a fool's move. We've nearly got them driven off Cybertron!"
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"Megatron? He's- Slag. You're from before," Blackstar replies, shaking his head. Strata would have smacked him. That should have been obvious, given the state of living that Starscream is currently occupying. He heaves a sigh.
"You aren't going to like this..."
Blackstar is interrupted from trying to figure out just how much to tell this Starscream when he actually gets an unexpected answer to his call.
// Skyfire? Thank the Allspark, // Blackstar replies, reaching for that faint response. // Is Starscream with you? He's got an alternate of his here at the Crypt raising smelt. An alt from before the slag hit the rotors in his history, who thinks he's having a dream. Commander isn't answering me, for some reason. //
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//Blackstar, don't lose him. I'm trying to find the portal he took to get there. That is our Starscream; he got hit with a Nexus LOL that reset him chronologically to some years before... before Galvatron. From what the others have told me, he's a bit confused and thinks this is all a nightmare. Admittedly, the Nexus does closely resemble something from a bad hallucination.//
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"So far, I haven't seen anything I do like," he snarls, his voice cold and icy. "What about Megatron??"
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After a moment, Blackstar adds, his tone very dubious, // Umm... I'm not so sure you should show up here, Skyfire. He's... Well, I can explain some of what he's asking me now, but, like you said. He thinks this is a nightmare. I wouldn't lay odds that he won't take a shot at you. He already scrapped his shrine here. Anyone with an Autobrand is likely to get a fistful of laser stuffed in their face. If they're lucky. //
"You're a few years out of date, Commander," Blackstar replies slowly, thinking through everything he knows and trying to decide how much he should explain.
Starscream is relatively contained here and now, and there's no Autobots here to draw fire - yet. Blackstar is half afraid that if he explains too much about what's going/gone on in the time frame of Starscream's missing memories, much of which likely will sound somewhat... more inexplicable to the Air Commander, that Starscream will bolt to disprove it for himself.
// Do you have a plan, by the way? // Blackstar comms Skyfire.
"A few... rather important years, actually," he sighs, shaking his head. "Megatron is gone."
In lieu of any other solution for the moment, Blackstar elects to stall.
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A long silence while things happen at the other end, and then Skyfire comes through much clearer and louder.
// We're here. Blackstar... he came back to make sure the Decepticons had a future. He's told me he thinks this truce is the best chance they have for any future better than oppressed and hated subjects. //
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"Gone? What do you mean, gone??" Starscream demands. "How many years?"
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A thought occurs to him, not an ideal thought, but a backup plan, nonetheless. Seeker guns haven't changed much in millenia. An arm gun is an arm gun is an arm gun. Much like most Seekers, themselves. And if there's one thing he knows, inside and out as well as he knows the feel of her spark, it's an arm gun. Specifically, which collection of circuits and relays to fry or rip out to render them inert.
// If things really go south... I think I can totally disable his guns. I don't think - no, I'm pretty slagging sure I'm not powerful enough to take him, but... worst case scenario, maybe I can trip his reset or scrap a circuit or two and dump him in stasis or something. //
Blackstar doesn't sound 100% on that, mainly because he's not totally sure. He knows where certain components should be on a Tetrajet Seeker, but the Earth upgrades... He doesn't want to lay odds that he can find the right components without totally frying the Commander's CPU unless they have no other choice.
Plus, he's still not entirely certain that Starscream can't hurt him, and hurt him bad. After all, the Commander is a much more powerful entity than he is. And he... knows things. Not all of which was likely learned from the Allspark. Blackstar doesn't want to find out the hard way just how much hadn't come from the Allspark.
He'd learned a similarly painful lesson once before, and isn't certain his spark could take a repeat.
The fate of all Decepticons, ultimately? Scrap. No pressure.
Blackstar sighs and eyes Starscream, a thoughtful frown on his features.
"I'm not sure how many years yet. At least two. When do you think it is, Commander?"
Just keep him talking, keep him here, hopefully long enough for the others to arrive with that antidote.
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Starscream fires his right arm-gun in one long burst aimed at the floor--which scribes a neat circle around Blackstar*.
"You can stop being so evasive now," Starscream snaps. "Answer the question: what do you mean, Megatron is gone? If it helps you recollect the answer, it was 2002 last time I checked."
---
*Blackstar has just been temporarily trapped in a magic circle. It'll fade when Starscream is no longer in the area or cares to maintain it. Or until someone breaks it, of course.
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// Slag! Skyfire I- //
Optics widen as he feels his thoughts slam up against that wall, preventing him from even warning Skyfire and the others.
Unlike the last time he'd been trapped and imprisoned against his will, this little cell doesn't hurt him - yet. However, the memory of his helplessness is too fresh, and it takes him a second or two to swallow back the panic he can feel rising inside.
A second or two, which is what Starscream requires to ask his question, the question about Megatron, asked for the third time.
Blackstar freezes as he feels his own nature constraining around him like a vise, pressing the words out of him, will he, nil he. He will speak, and he will answer that question, regardless of his own desire to continue stalling. And if he doesn't shape the words himself, direct their flow, and soon, the words will shape themselves before leaping from him all unwilling, disgorging the truth.
Twice trapped, once by Art, and twice by his very manner of existence. He has no one but himself to blame for this lapse in judgment, but he cannot help but feel betrayed by his Commander. He is, even in death, however, a Decepticon warrior, a Seeker of the Decepticon Air Command.
Betrayal gives rise to hate, and hate... is his ally, his strength. Panic is subsumed under the baleful glare of the ghost, and he turns the stare defiantly at the living Starscream.
"You've come to 2007, Commander," he spits out, "and Megatron is dead here and now. Then again, so are you, and most of your Air Command."
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"I suppose you'll tell me Megatron finally blasted me for trying to take over and then fell dead of grief at what he'd done," Starscream says sarcastically. He frowns at the last bit. "What happened to my Air Command?"
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