Chapter Text
Humiliating.
To have been defeated by that crew of Autobots. Her, the second-in-command of the Decepticons. Her, who should rightfully be the leader of the Decepticons. The one who had annihilated Megatron all on her own, not that she’d expected any thanks from the Autobots for taking out their mutual enemy, expecting the Autobots to have enough sense to recognise her efforts was a losing battle.
Same way expecting any recognition for her efforts when she was still with the Decepticons was a losing battle. Those fools were blind to her greatness, no matter how many opportunities she would grant them to recognise it. Nobody other than herself was going to recognise her superiority over that pile of scrap Megatron, at least not until now that he was gone.
Though first she’d need to actually find the other Decepticons. Blackarachnia had made somewhat of an attempt to leech off of her for sake of finding the AllSpark, though she’d very swiftly rejected that. She wasn’t stupid, their goals didn’t line up. She needed someone who would be loyal, though that was easier said than done. Lugnut seemed the most likely, though she was sure that glorified malfunction of a bot would still be clinging onto a dead man.
Maybe it was a foolish decision for her to even bother searching for her peers. But for as long as the AllSpark was in the hands of these Autobots, it simply wouldn’t be justifiable for her to leave this scrapheap of a planet. That was perhaps the most humiliating part of it all: her being stuck here, her engaging in watching this primitive species’ news broadcasts for any hint of the loyal followers she was seeking. It was all so below her, but as much as she wanted to there was no denying that help would more than likely be required for this. Especially after that recent performance of hers.
Though as far as she was concerned it was simply a fluke that she was defeated. It was entirely due to the AllSpark rather than the actions of the Autobots after all.
She was practically glued to the little screen she’d “acquired” from a nearby location. It was almost astounding any of this was “news”, these organics sure had some confusing priorities. Those Autobots seemed to have absorbed that same very attitude, half of the things she saw being reported on were the Autobots stepping in to deal with some organics causing issues. Letting themselves get distracted by such petty matters while being in possession of the AllSpark–it was almost laughable. Were they really leaving that opportunity wide-open for her?
It was definitely too good to be true. Surely they’d notice her on her way there, she was rather eye-catching after all. Such was only natural for such a handsome, glorious Decepticon. For as much as the Autobots seemed all too distracted by these organic troublemakers, she’d give them the benefit of the doubt that their recent endeavours hadn’t scrambled their circuits that badly, even if it truly seemed that way.
Then again, the intelligence of those Autobots had always seemed that way to her. Maybe they really were making it that easy, but she’d exercise some caution. Go back to the drawing board and figure out an effective way to get in and out without them noticing.
Back to staring at this human device. It seemed like the report on whatever the petty squabble that the Autobots had degraded themselves to having to deal with was had ended. And it had left her no closer to finding those underlings she was searching for. She let out a groan, tapping her digits against her chin. There was no further use for observing this device for the time being, she deemed.
It seemed like the videos playing on the device now were trying to sell things. Nothing of worth, really. These organics really weren’t difficult to impress, it was no wonder they were latching onto those Autobots the way they were now.
Definitely that. Nothing to do with her own actions.
She narrowed her eyes slightly at the screen. She could have sworn she’d seen the organic in this advertisement earlier today. Maybe she’d been at that pathetic celebration for the Autobots? Not that it truly mattered. It was just fascinating, someone so insignificant that she couldn’t even remember where she’d seen this creature being used to advertise things to the public, to advertise cars of all things. Maybe it was a bit of bias, but surely the vehicles would speak for themselves, wouldn’t they?
It wasn’t worth thinking about for too long. She had more important matters to attend to, plans to make regarding how she’d acquire the AllSpark. Maybe disguising as a different vehicle? Though, she was quite content with the one she chose when she first arrived on this miserable planet. And she’d still be a bit too eye-catching in that form, she was sure of it. Any form she could take would be eye-catching. Well, there was one, but it was laughable.
The amazing, esteemed Starscream would never let herself sink that low. Even if it seemed like the most logical option. Even if it would allow her to blend in perfectly, even if it would negate any suspicion from that crew of Autobots.
Even if she was already in the process of projecting an organic form to represent herself. That would be rather difficult, after all, it was difficult for any being to match up to her greatness, let alone for a puny human (or an imitation of one) to do so. At least this one coming from her great mind would guarantee for this creation to be a bit easier on the optics than the real beings that populated this planet. That wasn’t a particularly difficult task.
Though the avatar she had created somehow managed to exceed her expectations. Not quite as tall as she would have liked to make herself, but she had to stick to a more “realistic” height for humanity. Even then, perhaps she was pushing it ever so slightly. She observed the form in front of her, this representation of herself. The being’s skin was a medium beige, with a slight cool red undertone. Dark, umber-toned hair was pulled back into a low hair-tie, trailing all the way down to just below her hips. She wondered if the outfit was too grand and eye-catching, a high-collared magenta suit adorned with shoulder pads and the like. She’d given herself an angular neck-tie that closely resembled her cockpit. Maybe it was too on the nose and obvious for her, but she simply couldn’t settle for anything less than perfection, even for this form. And this was as grandiose as she’d be able to get for this specific endeavour.
Controlling this form certainly felt odd. How was she supposed to move this avatar? How was she supposed to generally act? She’d try to avoid encountering the Autobots for now, just make this a test run so to say. She’d like to observe this species a bit to figure out how to blend in perfectly. Figure out their habits, how they operate and move their bodies, how they behave in social situations. Though she’ll avoid that as much as possible, lest she have to actually come up with a false identity for herself so her enemies won’t catch on to her presence. She’d have a think about it before the next time she sunk herself so low as to present herself like this after her observational period.
She attracted quite a few stares on the street. It was only natural for these beings to acknowledge and recognise the greatness of the one and only Starscream, even stuck in this form trying to get used to moving this representation of her being. Oddly, the stares seemed to stop as she got more comfortable with navigating.
No clue what that’s about.
There was quite some noise nearby, a crowd of people talking. She turned the corner to the source, a group of organics blocking the path ahead. They seemed to be forming a circle of some description around something, though their gathering was lacking precision in the shape and order they were standing in. It seemed the outside of the circle were trying to worm their way towards the center, if anything only making the matter of how much space they were taking up worse. It was inconvenient, yet rather curious. She stepped forward towards the circle, fortunately even in this form she was a bit taller than the majority stood in front of her, that should make it easy enough for her to get a good look at what was being gathered around.
Another organic. An answer that only gave her even more questions. Oddly enough, the very same insignificant organic she’d seen being used to advertise things on that television. Perhaps less insignificant than she’d originally believed the human to be, considering the way those around her were asking her questions and hurriedly taking extensive note of every single word she spoke. Practically worshipping her word and the ground she stood upon, the same way those pathetic “allies” of hers would act about Megatron.
She stared at the leader of the group. That’s what she must have been, the leader of this crew of organics. To think, they had these factions like the Decepticons and Autobots. And the crowd seemed to only get larger and larger, this organic had quite some many followers awaiting her command. Fascinating, seeing such an insignificant creature manage to attract this much influence. She’d need to observe and speak with this one at some point, she was sure there was quite a bit to be learned here. A curiosity was sparking about how exactly this was the leader of this faction. This leader of theirs didn’t particularly strike Starscream on the surface as a warrior, or at least if she was, not a particularly powerful one. The more she thought about it the more appealing the prospect of looking into this group became. Though, it was less the group itself and more the unlikely leadership position this organic held. Embarrassingly to admit, she knew very well she needed some pointers on gaining followers the way this one had, and it was worth taking the opportunity, even for as little chance it had of carrying over and being fully effective with allies. Any preparation for establishing her leadership on that reunion was better than none, even if that meant she’d have to stoop even lower than she already had using an avatar like this to scout out the AllSpark’s location.
“Oi, posers!” Starscream’s thought process and the gathering crowd was rather abruptly interrupted by a rather grating voice. She turned to stare in the direction it had come from, being greeted by an organic approaching the gathered following with quite a significant amount of confidence. Her optics were fixed on him, trying to make heads or tails of what exactly his relation to all of this was, especially for him to be so confidently approaching what appeared to be this esteemed leader. “Clear off, will you? Raina has better things to be doing.”
And now he was making commands of his own. She had to hold back a scoff, had she done that sort of thing in front of Megatron, she’d have been in for a near disassembly for her disrespect of his authority despite her role as second-in-command. Still, this human leader certainly seemed more gracious towards her underlings. The way she’d happily answered whatever insignificant line of questioning they had for her, the fact she wasn’t scolding this underling for his disrespect. Things certainly were different on this planet. The crowds were beginning to slowly dissipate following the command from this newcomer, eventually leaving only the two organics in that spot.
Starscream had taken the courtesy of joining the group in making themselves sparse. She could continue her observations from a small distance like this. In fact, she’d probably get a better explanation of the dynamics at play here when they weren’t aware of her presence. Though she had complete confidence in her deduction so far:
That was the leader, and this other organic was her second-in-command. He was nowhere near as apt for the role as Starscream had been when part of Megatron’s crew, but she supposed that these beings had to make do with what they were given. It wasn’t as though every species and every faction could have anyone who measured up to her greatness, in fact, as far as she was aware, there was no other close to being even half as capable as herself.
Still, when they eventually had that conversation she was planning out, she’d be sure to ask about that second-in-command. Figure out what he contributes, why it was necessary for her to have a second-in-command to begin with. Though it felt unnecessary for Starscream. After all, she had been Megatron’s second-in-command, and look where he ended up. Offline. She certainly wasn’t going to allow any followers who didn’t realize her rightful leadership that she had worked so hard to claim to do the same to her.
The expedition to this worthless planet was shaping up to be rather interesting now, for as fruitless an endeavour as her first attempt to stake a claim on the AllSpark.