[ti]Ep 2[/ti]Frosty like the Snowman {Open}

[Deleted]

[Week 4, Day 1]

Cold and darkness. It was all he knew. It was all he had known for a long, long time. Even in his forced stasis, he had been at least somewhat aware of the cold. The entrapment. His processor was sluggish, mostly unresponsive. He couldn’t form coherent thoughts. If he could have, he would have wondered how long he’d been in this state. Where his partner was. If there was a way out. What his true condition was. He would have wondered a thousand things, as usual. He was always wondering. Until he wasn’t.


Something had changed. His incoherent mind was aware of at least that much. He wasn’t quite as cold. Some small, far away part of him said that this was a good thing, as he was dangerously low on energon. The majority failed to see the importance of this. Nothing was important. Nothing was even worth thinking about.


Outside where his body lay entombed, the flow of the artic and the shift of temperatures over time had worn at the ice that encased him. Only a thinnest of walls lay between him and the world outside, but, he was far too weak to reach out to it. He had been trapped for too long. Any outside viewer would be able to see him with only the vaguest distortion. An impressive and once-proud figure, lost for millennia.


Finally, as the sun continued to warm the wall, a small section of it melted. The signal for help that had been trying to escape for the duration of his imprisonment finally broke free, broadcasting to the world. He was unaware of this, as he was unaware of everything else. The signal had always been and would always be. Just like the cold and the dark.


Though, he wasn’t quite so cold now….And he wasn’t so sure that the signal had always been or that the warning pertaining to his energy levels had always been either. Something had most certainly changed, this much his processor did register.

[Deleted]

There's a strange signal coming from the Arctic. That's what Skywarp had been told. Go take a look and see if it was valuable and could be recovered. Report what you find.

Command hadn't been too fussed about sending out the big seeker for a number of reasons. The location of the beacon was remote, putting to rest the usual concerns that had about sending Skywarp into the field. No humans to spot him. Or, if it was a trap - well, Skywarp could easily teleport himself out of there. Another thing was the location itself.

Cold temperatures were not exactly conducive to the continued well-bring of the average Cybertronian. But, like the mech Skywarp had unknowingly been sent to recover, Skywarp had been built for exploration and he tolerated extremities far better than most.

So - to the Arctic it was. One convenient thing about sending Skywarp meant that the instructions just needed to be relayed to him and then he could be on his way immediately. No reporting to the command deck, then waiting for a ground bridge. The seeker kicked his warp drive into gear and flickered away from the warmth of the Nemesis.

He popped out of warp at the foot of an ice shelf. Biting wind whipped over his frame immediately but Skywarp ignored it. He was peering around through the whiteness for the source of the signal that had brought him out here - the seeker had teleported himself very close to the co-ordinates. However, he did not have to look far, there was a large figure entombed within the wall of ice nearby.

Skywarp hummed cheerfully to himself as he strode up to the wall, leaving tracks behind him in the snow. Looks like someone had gotten themselves stuck. The seeker folded his hands behind his back as he peered upwards. Oooh, they were big. Really big. It wasn't often that he had to look up at someone.

And they were a flier too, judging by the wings. Still alive, giving that the signal was emanating from them. Curious and curiouser.

::Found someone!:: he commed cheerfully.

[Deleted]

Back at the Omega base, a set of instructions remarkably similar to Skywarp's were being given to a pair of Autobots. Smokescreen had been off-shift and in his room when he'd received the summons to the control centre. He'd reported in swiftly, striding through the base at a quickened pace.

He'd listened as the details were laid out. Go, investigate an odd signal in the Arctic. Be quick about it because it was going to be very cold. Be careful. Recover what you find, if you can.

Out of the corner of his optic, Smokescreen had briefly studied the other mech assigned to this mission. The base had an influx of new arrivals over the past weeks and Smokescreen was still yet to meet them all.

Hazmat was big. Bigger than Prime but not as large as Fortress Maximus. Smokescreen hadn't heard much about him but he had the look of an experienced soldier, something Smokescreen could only hope that one day, he'd reach.

He wasn't given long to dwell on his companion. Nor was there much of a chance to talk to him - as soon as the briefing was done, the groundbridge was fired up. The glowing portal to the Arctic beckoned. Every moment it remained open meant that precious energon was being consumed, so Smokescreen was keen to get on the other side sooner rather than later.

"Alrighty," he said, eager to get this mission underway. "Let's get going!"

Smokescreen would turn and stride quickly down the groundbridge, assuming that Hazmat would follow him. As he approached the other end of it, he transformed his hands into his blasters before exiting. However, he would come to regret his quick pace, his momentum carried him a few steps out of the groundbridge-

Cold.

Coldcoldcoldcold!

Dear Primus, it was cold!

The young Autobot had known the Arctic would be freezing but he couldn't have comprehended how much. It simply was beyond him, Smokescreen had never been so cold before in his life. His plating clamped tight but it was in vain, the chill seeped into even the smallest gap in his amour. Unconsciously, he edged backwards towards the faint traces of warmth still spilling out from the groundbridge before he realised what he was doing.

Great, Smokescreen mentally berated himself. He'd allowed himself to become distracted -but come on, it was ridiculously cold!- instead of surveying the environment for threats. Rookie error, so not cool.

He scanned around and came up short of the sight of an enormous seeker, standing in front of a figure entombed in a wall of ice.

"Decepticon!" Smokescreen snapped, bringing his blasters up to bear-

Then stopped.

Paused.

Wait.

They had a truce.

Smokescreen lowered his guns so that they were pointed at Skywarp's feet rather than his chassis. He cast a befuddled look.

This was going to be complicated.

[Deleted]

Who has two servos and feels totally useless right now? This mech! Hazmat thought with a grumble as he finished washing out the last empty Energon cube that had been in the Cybertronian sized sink. He'd been here at the base for about a week and he still hadn't exactly found a duty that truly fit him. While he could clean the base better then any other bot the fact of the matter was that he didn't need to clean the base all the time so he found himself with a lot of free time.

Problem was that he didn't do so well when he had nothing to do, and his skill set didn't give him many options. There wasn't anything toxic to clean up here, no hazardous areas in the base only he could go, and there wasn't much call for a hauler. Sure he could do a lot of heavy lifting but that was about it. His skills as a medic were so out shined by Ratchet that he might as well bot bother picking up a welder and simply play the role of a nurse... which he could do no problem but he still felt useless.

The only area that he excelled in that hadn't quite been filled yet was science. But his skills were specialized towards toxicology, and for now there wasn't much for him to work on in that field here for now. Cybertronian illnesses were a rarity and even more so here on Earth. Those skills wouldn't be put to use unless the 'Cons started to use biological weapons again or if MECH somehow made use of them as well, though that thought made the large mech shutter.

So Hazmat once again found himself feeling useless. greenSurvived the entire war on the front lines and then survived on a dead world alone for eons... only to end up being a dead weight when I finally get on Prime's team. Figures.

That changed when he got the message to come to the ground bridge to investigate a signal coming from the arctic, and from what Hazmat understood that area's temperatures were so low that it could freeze even a bot. A hazardous mission? That had his name written all over it!

Strolling into the command center Hazmat's optics settled on a white mech that looked like he was meant to go fast and he went by the designation Smokescreen. So this was his partner for this mission? Worked for him! Speed was where Hazmat really fell short so getting paired with someone who could cover that weakness was good in his opinion. Though the big mech wished he knew the young mech better.

"Agreed. Let's roll 'em out." Hazmat responded as he followed Smokescreen through the ground bridge taking the long strides he was known for. As he did so his yellow visor lowered over his optics and a protective mask slid closed over his face plate. The mech's head was fully protected. The instant he exited the ground bridge his hazardous armor started to give him temperature warnings and activated his thermal counter measures. Hazmat's armor started to heat up as a red glow started to emerge from the seems of his armor... just in time to see Smokescreen take a step back in reaction to the cold.

As Hazmat took a step to the right so he could be next to Smokescreen, and in the process getting close enough that his partner most likely felt the heat radiating from him which was evident by the steam rising from where his pedes met the snow, the large and experienced mech's optics did a quick scan of their surroundings and saw a sight that made him wary and curious: there was a Deception standing not too far away from them, and there was another Cybertronian next to the mech trapped in ice.

He was also puzzled because when he examined the signal coming from the mech in the ice he found that it lacked any indication if this mech was an Autobot or a Deception. Troubling.

Smokescreen was quick to ready his weapons when he finally spotted the 'con but slowly lowered his weapons. So far the younger mech had given him a mixed bag to judge him on; he was quick when it came starting a mission and quick on the draw, but he was very reactionary instead of tactical.  Smokescreen was clearly a well trained bot that lacked field experience.  Everyone was there at one point or another, and getting out of it took time.  Placing a large ((And incredibly warm)) servo on the younger Bot's shoulder to help slow the mech down, Hazmat commed to his companion.  ::Easy.  You're a little over eager.  Nice quick draw though.  Gonna need that if this 'Con turns out to be unreasonable.  We need to take this one step at a time.  Jump in if you think I'm doing something stupid.  Priority is to figure out which side that frozen bot is on and then get 'em to safety.  The signal we're getting from him isn't registering him as a Bot or a 'Con.  We might have a neutral party on our servos.:: Before he took a cautious step towards Skywarp.  His field had gone completely blank so the 'Con would have trouble telling that Hazmat was a little nervous over this.  His negotiation skills weren't their best right now.

This Decepticon was big, real big.  Like Optimus Prime big, and even bulkier then the Prime too.  Hazmat however was sure that he was heavier though and that could come in handy if this got ugly.  It was the mech in the ice that catching Hazmat's attention.  The mech was even bigger then himself, but from here he couldn't see any crest to signify which side the mech was on... which went along with the signal that was being transmitted.

Taking another step towards the black and purple 'Con and leaving a large pede print of evaporating snow, Hazmat kept his shielded optics locked onto the 'Con knowing full well that sometimes there were mechs that couldn't resist the urge to shoot on sight.  "Decepticon.  Mind if I ask if you brought any equipment to get through that ice?  If not then I might be able to get the mech out the quickest.  The longer they stay in that ice the more likely they are to shut down permanently.  No one deserves to have their sparks go out like that, even a Decepticon." Hazmat began, hoping to get close enough to the frozen Cybertronian to identify which side he's on.  Though he wanted to kick himself for trying to appeal to a 'Con's better nature because he was sure nothing like that existed... he knew that from experience as one.

[Ren]

((NPCing Starscream just so Skywarp can stay out of trouble. He will be interacting with Skywarp and Skywarp alone at this time!))
-
Far away from the cold chill of the Arctic, the Decepticon second in command was pacing back and forth through the control room of the Nemesis. He seemed lost in his own thoughts but would cast the occasional and wary glance to the many monitors that littered the room.

It was almost like he was waiting for something.

There were a few reasons why Starscream had sent Skywarp of all mechs to investigate the strange signal coming from probably the most remote location on Earth.

For one? He didn't feel like putting himself through the torture of going to the Arctic himself. Two? If the signal turned out to be nothing important? Skywarp could simply teleport back to the Nemesis in an instant - which meant little to no time wasted, which would keep their Warlord happy. It also meant that he didn't have to go to the trouble of assigning Vehicons to investigate a possible dead-end in the sub-zero environment. Their kind weren't built for those kind of temperatures for any significant amount of time, so sending Skywarp out there to scout ahead was actually quite genius – especially if the whole thing turned out to be nothing. If it did turn out to be something of significance? Well, he could spend the time, effort and resources in sending out Vehicons then. For now, he was content to trust the other seeker – all he had to do was wait for him to report back.

The main, and third, reason, though? Was that it'd get Skywarp off the Nemesis for a little while and away from the second in command. The last thing he wanted to deal with today was a bored Skywarp. His processor felt like it was fried from pouring over datapad after datapad the past week or so - and he didn't have the patience, nor could he muster the effort to entertain the larger seeker who reported to him.

He stopped his pacing as Skywarp's cheerful voice was heard over the comm. Well, that didn't take long at all; then again he hadn't expected it to. For as childish as the seeker was, once he was given a task he usually did it quickly – the fact he could teleport from one place to another probably aided with that.

::You found someone? Excellent work, Skywarp!:: Starscream cooed back over the comm. Well, this was interesting and had certainly piqued his curiosity quickly. The signal wasn't a dud and could actually turn out to be something possibly important – which could hopefully work out in his favor!

He'd swivel on his heel, continuing his pacing as he mulled over his words carefully - he wanted to ask Skywarp all the right questions before making a decision on what to do next. Tapping a long, clawed digit to his chin as he thought.

::Well, I assume they are still alive, given they were able to broadcast a signal. Can you tell me anything else? Do they have an insignia?:: Even if it turned out to be an Autobot that he'd sent Skywarp to investigate, it could still work out in his favor – given they would be the heroes who saved the poor, stranded bot! Sure, it would only be because of the truce that they wouldn't harm the possible Autobot, but it'd certainly make them – and him - look good.

[Deleted]

The bot encased in ice was still unresponsive, and mostly incoherent. He had just begun to fade back into oblivion when yet another alert pinged at him. His processor slowly computed what this meant. It wasn’t the same as the one that had been alerting him of his frozen state or low energon levels. That one had been going for a long while. He could sense it now, as his consciousness inexplicably began to return. The way his hydraulics and joints were mostly frozen. Vaguely, he congratulated himself on the success of his modifications. They were most likely the only reason he was still alive.

Groggily, he focused again on the new alert. It took him a long moment to understand it. Ah, yes. There were others of his kind about. There was a pause. Then, when the importance of this connected with the event itself, a jolt ran through his system. Others of his kind. An end to the isolation and cold darkness. Was it his partner? No, as his steadily more alert processor focused, he could see that these signals were unfamiliar. They felt…off. There were three, he could see now, one distinctly different from the other two. Never before had he picked up anything like them.

In response to his restlessness at sensing the other signals, his optics flickered, flashing blue beneath the translucent ice that encased him.

[Deleted]

Skywarp had beamed at being told he'd done excellent work by Starscream. Not that he'd done much work really - all he'd done was warp to the location provided and look around. The entombed mech was pretty easy to find. But still, even with the miniscule amount of effort involved, he was going to take that excellent.

The seeker wasn't given time to bask in it, Skywarp's head twitched involuntarily -wait, there was-

A ground bridge opened as he half listened to the instructions Starscream was trying to give him over the comms. He'd felt the disturbance a scant moment before it happened, as space got all weird and distorted, like it always did whenever a bridge that wasn't his got opened nearby.

Starscream was asking him for something and while Skywarp usually gave his Air Commander highest priority on a mission, that a pair of Autobots had decided to bridge into the area completely distracted him.

Oooh, Autobots. It had been a while since he'd had the chance to squish one. This was turning into an exciting day. The first Autobot, the smaller one, whipped his blasters towards the seeker -Skywarp's warp drive hummed in readiness - only, the Autobot stopped and pointed his weapons away.

Skywarp blinked. Aw come on, what was happening? Why weren't they shooting?

Well, their loss. He'd more than happy to make up for it.

The seeker raised one hand and transformed it into a cannon. While he didn't remember about the truce in all that it encompassed -or as a thing that existed at all- he did vaguely recall that there was some reason why he shouldn't attack and kill Autobots on sight.

Skywarp hadn't expected to run into Autobots hence why the truce was very far from the seeker's mind. While he knew it was a thing, it kinda was a distant concept to Skywarp. That it applied to other Decepticons but not really to himself. He hadn't been involved in any truce activities nor had he expected to. Skywarp just assumed that he'd be kept far from the Autobots during this period of cross-factional weirdness.

He pointed his cannon at the big one who had taken a step towards him. The seeker didn’t really care for any questions an Autobot asked him. "Nuhuh!" Skywarp said lazily, though an edge of warning laced his tone. "I don't care what you can do, this one is mine, I got here first, go find your own frozen mech."

The words were juvenile but the seeker meant every one of them. As far as he was concerned, this was his mission and no one was going to interfere with that. Another mech might have been intimidated to face down two mecha at once, one of which rivalled him in size, but Skywarp's sense of danger was seriously damaged.

"You want to stay riiiight where you are or I'll have to shoot. I'm happy to break a few limbs too, that's always fun."

Starscream's instructions finally penetrated Skywarp's processor. He hummed thoughtfully to himself but didn't risk turning around to check the frozen mech for an insignia. ::Haven't looked:: he answered distractedly. His free hand rose to the side of his face, a sign that the seeker was using his comms.

::Anyway, got two Autobots poking around. Can I shoot them?:: Skywarp asked the question with a tone of pure idle curiosity.

[Deleted]

Among other things, Smokescreen was resolutely trying to ignore the immutable fact that the Arctic was a very cold place.

He was failing.

Adding insult to injury, it seemed like he was the only one feeling it. Hazmat -of all things- was practically radiating heat. The hand the other Autobot placed on his shoulder was completely at odds with the environment they were in.

The cold aside, Smokescreen was quickly taking in the situation. Big Decepticon seeker? Check. The source of the signal was a big flier trapped in the ice? Check. Which faction the frozen mech belonged to…that was unknown. Smokescreen disengaged his blasters, frowning to himself as he listened to Hazmat, his mind turning their circumstances over at the same time.

The young Autobot had already berated himself, so he took the other mech's criticism with a bit of resignation. But Hazmat had a point, the Decepticon wasn't their priority, it was the unknown mech stuck in the ice. Though what was a neutral -if that's what he really was- doing out here?

Such questions would have to wait for later though, Smokescreen watched as Hazmat took a step towards the seeker, without even consulting the young Autobot on what they should do. It stung a little, that Hazmat had not sought his input, probably assuming that as a rookie, Smokescreen didn't have much to offer. Sure Smokescreen had been quick to overreact and he knew he was inexperienced, but they were here as a team and needed to function as such. Things were different here on Earth and in that regard, Smokescreen had a small smidgen of seniority and knew a little bit about what they were dealing with. 'Jump in if you think I'm doing something stupid' was not a good game plan and this was a delicate situation as it was.

Smokescreen's optics flicked between them, he'd made the decision to stay where he was as he wracked his processor for every detail he'd read in the mission reports. Because he could have sworn….

Yeah, he remembered now, a seeker matching the description of the one they were facing had been seen a few times by the Earth based Autobots. If there was one thing they agreed on-

::Uh Hazmat?:: he commed when the other Autobot tried to appeal to the Decepticon's surely non-existent better nature. ::You might not want to get too close to this one, our field reports indicate he's…a little unhinged.::

There had been more, Smokescreen remembered but he hadn't had the time to go through the personal bio of every Decepticon. It was a pity he hadn't read more because otherwise the young Autobot would have been armed with the knowledge about Skywarp's unique ability.

Half a moment later, the seeker had a cannon pointed at the other Autobot. ::Very unhinged:: Smokescreen amended belatedly.

This was bad. Didn't the Decepticon care at all about the truce? Smokescreen felt like they were poised on a precipice and all it would take was one wrong move and everything that Prime had worked for would fall apart. That couldn't happen, Smokescreen wouldn't allow his idol's hard work to be wasted like that by anyone, even if the person in question was a Decepticon.

He took a step to the side, not closer, so that the Decepticon had clear view of him. Smokescreen noticed that the seeker was comming someone and he hoped that whichever Con was on the other end of that line, they were reasonable.

"Hey pal," he called out firmly. "Shooting us violates the truce. Remember that? The one that Megatron himself called us up and asked for? I'm sure he'd love it if one of his own was the one to undo it."

The truce had been announced only a week ago and most of the base's focus had been more on what it entailed rather than how it had come about. Smokescreen however had been the one to take Megatron's call a few days prior. While at the time, the warlord had only stated that he had a proposition for Optimus, one regarding travesties committed against Cybertronians, it wasn't too hard to make the connection between that and the truce that had come later to deal with the MECH threat.

Now, hopefully, he'd made the right call, invoking Megatron to try and make the seeker see sense. Most Decepticons would not rather not incur their master's wrath. It seemed a safer bet than trying to get them to care about an unidentified mech, who might not even belong to their faction. Unless this was one of the ambitious, rebellious Decepticons that would take any opportunity to go behind their master's back if they thought it'd get them ahead.

[Deleted]

Within in moments of acting and speaking Hazmat realized he made a plethora of rookies mistakes... ones that they had been made by a soldier under his command he would've smack them across the back of the helm... hard. The large green and black mech had taken the command role without even saying anything to Smokescreen to see if he was alright with it, he acted without forming a plan with his comrade, and he didn't even take stock pf the territory to his full abilities before acting, but instead he focused on the seeker before him and only the seeker. They could've been standing on a mine and he wouldn't of known it. Having to survive on his own for so long really affected him, more then he thought! If Smokescreen was close enough to pick up Hazmat's field he'd pick up the hint of embarrassment and momentary self-loathing before it shifted back to being undetectable when Hazmat forced his feelings to the back of his processor.


However apologies were going to have to wait till later. Reason being Hazmat was looking down the barrel of a cannon that looked like it packed enough punch to hurt even him. It was time for a big change in attitude and start acting like a team member.


::Unhinged is putting it mildly. We have another problem Smokesceen; my only ranged weaponry is non-lethal. The most I can do is bluff with my decontamination emitters since they can be mistaken for cannons. Armor's tough enough to make up for it though.:: Hazmat transmitted to his fellow Autobot as his optics locked onto the 'Con before him. However just because his optics were locked onto the mech didn't mean he was oblivious to everything else that was within his field of vision. Having functioned as a custodian required him to spot the smallest smudge to make sure the project was completely clean, and as a toxicologist he had to spot the smallest detail in a bot's biology to figure out how to treat their affliction. This skill of seeing the slightest details was nearly perfected when he worked in the artillery unit during the war, needing to spot the one vulnerable spot of the enemy's defenses from a distance so they could hit it with cannon fire. Spotting find details was what Hazmat had been built for and he was sure he was gonna need to put that skill to use today...even though he hadn't spotted anything out of the ordinary yet.


The custodial bot wasn't moving so the heat radiating from his hazardous armor was making the snow under him melt rapidly. As a result he was standing in a slowly expanding pool of hot water that was letting off steam, which was slowly obstructing the others few of Hazmat as it enveloped him. However it condensed and fell back to the ground before it could reach the level of his optics so tue big lug's view of the situation wasn't blocked. He was also slowly sinking so at the moment his pedes were fully submerged.


But the steam did give him an idea. ::I can use my decontamination emitters to spray a hot cloud of particles on the snow, melting it and turning it into stream, it wouldn't hide me but it might obscure you. That way if this does turn into a fight you can strike this buffoon from under cover, or you can run over to our frozen friend and start chiseling him out while I keep this guy occupied. Your call if we do either of those or not at all.::


Hazmat finally stopped talking to Smokescreen in secret when out of the corner of his optics he saw the frozen mech's optics flicker. Seeing that made his optics go wide behind his protective visor. Was that mech trying to being himself back online even when his was still frozen?!? He had to be equipped for handling harsh environments to do that, and the black and green mech could rule out the frozen mech having hazardous armor like himself or he never would've become frozen in the first place... the hazardous armor of custodial mechs heat up in the cold. This frozen mech had to have insulated armor to survive this.


From that Hazmat extrapolated that this frozen mech could be an interstellar explorer. Such a bot would need environmental protection and would need to be a flier... and since the mech was large he could have a large Energon storage to allow him to survive a long period of time frozen. However it was all speculation, so he didn't voice it... not yet.


Hearing what Smokescreen said the big bot nodded in agreement. "Agreed. If you break the truce you'll have not only the Autobots descending on you but if Megatron wants to keep the truce going he might declare you a traitor. How long do you think you'll last if you have both factions after you? Or we can work together to get the snowman out of his tomb. Considering that I just saw his optics flicker I'd say he wants to get out as fast as possible as well. Either way the choice is entirely up to you."

[Ren]

There was more than one reason why Starscream had given his praise so freely to the Seeker. There was, of course, the fact that when the day came that he finally got the chance to overthrow Megatron once and for all, he'd need all the friends he could get. While that day was... Sadly nowhere in sight, it was always good to plan ahead.

There was also the fact that the other Seeker was, ah... Easily distracted, somewhat akin to a puppy. Keeping him on the task at hand through praise and other niceties were the least Starscream could do. He felt if Skywarp was told he was doing a good job, he would continue to do said job – which meant Starscream wouldn't have to go through the drawn-out process of trying to get Skywarp back ON to said task.

Either way, it was for Starscream's benefit – both long, and short term.

Sadly, it seemed that the second reason for the compliment had failed to work – as there was a rather long delay in a response back to the very simple question. Maybe he'd been distracted by a polar bear or whatever animal lived out that way. Not that Starscream minded too much - he was up here on the Nemesis, rather than freezing himself to death down there.

Eventually, though, the reply came.

::So look?:: He sighed, a clawed servo would raise to his faceplate and smear downwards in a tired facepalm. Did he have to talk Skywarp through this entire thing? He may have sent him down there to get out of the way for a short while, but he'd sort of been hoping that Skywarp would at least have the common sense not to report back till he'd at least looked for an insignia, or other sign of whatever faction this random stranger was.

That second part that sounded over the comm moments later, though? Made Starscream abruptly stop his pacing once more. His wings twitching some in alarm, servos curled into tight fists.

Autobots? Out there already?! Damn, and he thought that Skywarp was fast!

::What?! No!:: He squawked quickly – wanting to get that out there before Skywarp took some random initiative and shot them anyway. While it wouldn't be his fault if Skywarp did – their Lord would find some way to lay all the blame onto his Second in Command. Either through the fact that Starscream had sent Skywarp down there to begin with, or wasn't fast enough in relaying orders to stop him.

::There is a truce in effect and you would do well to remember that! Just ah, play nice – they will be there to investigate the signal, I'm sure. You could work together to find an insignia on whoever it is you found?:: He grimaced. Working together with the Autobots. Still, it was for the greater good – the mystery Cybertronian that'd been found could be a Decepticon, and if not? Well, then he could fall back on the fact they'd helped save an Autobot – which could be the trump card needed in a nasty situation once both factions weren't on... More friendly terms.