Chapter Text
Starscream landed with a heavy thump, his legs colliding painfully with the hard earth of this Primus-damned planet. He stumbled back onto his pedes with a groan of pain. He stretched his wings, grateful that they were finally free of those fragging stasis cuffs. Starscream had flown about as far as his wings could carry him, out of that cursed valley and into a forest that seemed relatively uninhabited by Cybertronians and those pathetic little fleshlings alike. Good. He didn't need even more trouble now.
There was no way that he could return to the Nemesis now. Airachnid may have returned empty-handed, but so too would he. If not for her interference, he would have been in and out of the Harbinger in less than a breem. Starscream let out a growl of frustration, sinking his claws - hard - into the trunk of a nearby tree. Then it would have all been fine! He would have returned to... To what? To everything being alright again?
What even was alright? Maybe this time he would have satisfied Mast - Megatron, but next time? With those filthy Autobots seemingly lurking around every corner, it was only a matter of time before he slipped up again, whether due to them or from some fragger like Airachnid. It was only a matter of time before Starscream would be sitting in a pool of his own energon again. The Nemesis was out of question. Megatron would terminate him one of these days!
He was insane, and Starscream didn't hate himself enough to stick around and find out when Megatron would finally snap. He was more than capable of snuffing Starscream's spark. The Seeker stiffened a little as he remembered that fragging fusion cannon digging into him. Or the pressure of a thousand pounds of earth digging into his delicate plates. A thousand moments of pain across a thousand vorns.
And the Autobots... They too were obviously out of question. That fragging blue femme had tried to terminate him! Had his servos been unbound, Starscream would have had her at his mercy in a klik. But she had nearly succeeded, and Starscream shuddered at the thought of being near her for a moment more. For all the morality that they preached, they had still tried to terminate him!
He was dead either way. Did it matter who snuffed his spark? Not really, it didn't. The thought of obeying more orders - of more bowing and groveling and kneeling for a mech who had torn him to pieces time and time again made Starscream sick. And even worse was the thought of taking orders from those fragging Autobots! He would do well to remember what he had said deca-cycles ago.
I am my own master.
It was time he lived up to that. About time. Starscream sighed, digging his claws out of the tree trunk. He had sunken them in deep enough to leave a gouge. The moon was beginning to rise rapidly. Fortunately, his silver frame was rather adept at hiding him. Although... Who was to be looking for him?
For the time being, Megatron would assume that the Autobots had taken him prisoner. He would surely not waste the resources to look for Starscream - that fragger - and simply leave him for dead. Again! Vorns upon vorns of loyal service and for what? The Autobots would assume that he had run back to the Decepticons, as he always did. Ha! Here he was, proving those fraggers wrong yet again.
At least for now, Starscream had bought himself some time. Of course, it would not be long before the mechs of both sides realized his absence. He couldn't imagine that the Autobots would search for him unless he caused trouble - which, for once, he did not intend to - but the Decepticons... Megatron would find him, if for no other reason than to punish him for his desertion. And what a punishment it would be.
Starscream wasn't stupid enough to think that he could escape his master's wrath again. If Megatron got his filthy little claws on him, he was done for. Permanently, this time. No amount of manipulation or begging would save him, and there was certainly no one in this world - still alive, at least - who cared enough about him to intervene. He would simply have to... hide.
For how long? Forever? The war had lasted so many vorns already. The thought of living like a scared mouse, skittering underfoot, on this mudball of a planet made Starscream shudder. Something would have to give, and it would probably be him. And energon! Where the Pit was he supposed to get that?
The alternatives were not exactly pretty, but what choice did he have?
It was getting late. Starscream transformed again and shot skyward, two stark lines of smoke trailing behind him in the otherwise clear sky. His alt mode was not exactly stealthy, but the dark of night helped, if only a little. He would have to put as much distance between himself and the last place any mech had seen him as possible. Where was Starscream to go? He had no idea, but the farther, the better.
He was his own master now. Really, truly. For the first time in... Since Vos.
. . .
Starscream flew through the night, until Earth's bright star rose, leaving behind it streaks of rose gold and orange. He streaked rapidly downward, his wings slicing through the air. He landed in a grove of trees, crushing the grass under him as he transformed back. Starscream had no idea where he was, but he didn't particularly care. He was free. Free from Megatron, free from the Autobots, free from everything.
No one would ever hurt him again. No one could ever hurt him again. As long as no one found him, he was untouchable.
At what cost, though? Well, it didn't matter. Starscream was free, and whatever price he had to pay for that he would gladly accept. His first order of business was to take out the tracker. Starscream groaned. Why hadn't he thought of that earlier? It was meant for his signal to be tracked easier in cases of emergency - although it had been the farthest thing from useful when he actually needed it! Above all else, he suspected that it was just another leash tying him back to Megatron.
He vented deeply. He ran a servo down his right arm, brushing past just where the tip of his missile ended. There. A tiny divot in Starscream's wrist, with a barely noticeable white scratch on the silver armor. He could hardly remember when the tracker had been planted in, but it had been buried under his armor, nearly into his protoform, for stellar cycles now. Just a little bit more pain. A small price to pay for eternal freedom.
Starscream dug one sharp, long claw under his armor, drawing energon immediately. He winced, but only dug down deeper. Blue dripped down his arms and onto the ground below. He cursed. Starscream moved the tip of his claw in deeper, until it brushed up against a small, hard piece of metal. There it was. He pinched it hard and then yanked it out in a smooth, practiced motion. The tracker was small, just large enough to transmit a signal.
He stared at it for a moment longer. The miniature Decepticon insignia burned onto it glared back at him. The last piece of Megatron still inside of him. Starscream smirked, and then began to laugh. He had won! For all of Megatron's abuse, for all the times he had planted a heavy pede over his second in command's chasis, for all the times that he had beaten him into the ground... Starscream had still escaped.
He had finally won.
Starscream tossed the tracker onto the ground and crushed it smoothly beneath his heeled pede, savoring in every crunch and buzz that came from the small piece of metal. A burst of pain snapped him out of his triumphant musings.
His wrist was dripping energon everywhere. Who knew that much energon could come out of such a small wound? He watched in a sort of morbid fascination as blue dripped and dripped, forming a small puddle beneath him. Oh. Right. Starscream probably ought to do something about it.
He pressed his armor back down where it had been before he'd pried it up. Some of the energon slowed to a trickle. A small whimper escaped him as a warning popped up on his HUD. Energon loss would kill him without a source of it. Starscream glanced around wildly as his optics landed on a patch of some sort of green Earth plant. It looked absorbent enough.
Starscream shoved his wrist against it, surprised by how soft it was. He left it there for what felt like a small eternity, until the pain started to ebb and dull. He vented a sigh of relief. He was fine. He was going to be fine.
Everything was going to be alright.