Starscream grumbled as he sat atop the snow. The Rocky Mountains weren't pleasant, with winds that could knock the trinket from his grasp, but the avalanche from who knew how long ago had provided a nice cave for him to hole up in. Inside he counted six energon cubes, each being about two rations (three if he was desperate enough to need to lengthen his stores). Taking one, he pried open the top of a frozen dispenser and placed the glowing pink cube inside. A tap at the bottom filtered the powerful liquid into a cannister, Starscream taking the filled glass and downing the ration in just a few gulps before turning it upside-down. 

     Placing the ridiculously small device on the overturned cup, the mech scanned it. His processor filed through multiple doomsday devices that the Decepticons and Autobots had made throughout the war, but none matched the size of this strange- thing. He decided to search by energy output instead, but the trinket didn't have a prominent enough signature to identify as anything he knew of. Scaling down his search was the only option, so Starscream filed through weapons, energy sources, battery banks and even parts for bigger items.

         'Where is Soundwave when you need him?' The Seeker growled, slamming his fist into the ice behind him. 

     He guessed Megatron, curse his spark, would have known what this strange device was. All it did was call to the sparks of Cybertronians, and even those of their colonies. 

         'Though it did react strangely to the human femme.' He pondered. 'Why would it react as it does? A spark of power, but nothing to attract attention or even harm the fleshling? Nothing about this makes sense.'

     Hearing an echo, a moment passed before Starscream realized he had spoken out loud. Rolling his optics, he guessed he had become used to talking to the human already. The Seeker stared at the snow below him.

         "She's a strange breed." He admitted. "Hardly someone to be noticed. Definitely has the makings of an Autobot." The faction's name left his glossa like liquid acid. He didn't seem to register he was talking out loud anymore.

     His ruby optics flicked to stare at the device on the cannister, tilting his helm as he realized its glow had brightened. The fluttering plasma had quickened its pace, and its light ebbed and grew slowly. He wondered what was so calming about the sight, realizing that it was the ebb and glow of his own spark beat. His stare remained as silence enveloped the cave, aside from the beating winds outside. Only when he heard the scraping of metal digits at the mouth of his cave did his attention snap. 

     His pedes moved to stand, and he hid the cannister from the sight of this newcomer. He didn't know if it were some advanced Autobot, to be able to slip by his superior senses, or another Decepticon, but something in his spark said both possibilities were dangerous. Starscream didn't think another Decepticon would be all that bad, considering he had sent an Earth-wide call to action, but that pricking of a doubt remained prominent.

         "You're the one nagging at sparks?" Came a doubtful and irritated voice. Recognizing it, Starscream relaxed his battle-ready stance, though still hid the mysterious device behind his pede.

         "Sideways." He greeted. "So, there are more of us on this putrid rock."

         "Indeed." He nodded, crossing his arms. "Though I haven't seen anyone else other than you. I've tried a Decepticon centered frequency, but not a spark has answered."

         "Have you considered your frequency being outdated?" Chuckling, Starscream crossed his arms as well. "Little has been heard from you since Cybertron went dark."

         "I've considered it." Sideways admitted with gritted denta. Starscream had always been one to grind his gears, and clearly, nothing had changed. "You must have a similar problem if you've resorted to finding some way to pull at sparks rather than simply calling whatever Decepticons are on this dirt planet."

     The reminder made the Seeker stiffen. He wanted to hide the trinket in his subspace again, but that was obviously impossible. Common law was that no Decepticon could be trusted, though Barricade was a close exception, but it was two against six. Another ally was perfect at that moment. So why did he feel a rising unease?

         "I've found a power." Came the Commander's answer. "An unexplainable power. It doesn't match any doomsday device or weapon either faction or even neutral parties have created through the war."

         "A vexing situation." 

         "Indeed." Starscream parroted Sideways' earlier statement. He watched for body language that suggested hostility, but the newly arrived mech simply stood with an air of indifference. His EM field was clearly guarded, red optics bored. He was either planning something or truly was not interested in what Starscream had to say. He only wanted the annoying pull on his spark to cease.

         "Well," Sideways droned, "what does it do?"

         "I don't know." The other answered truthfully.

     Apparently, that was an interesting point as an expression of intrigue appeared on Sideways' faceplate. His folded arms relaxed to dangle at his sides.

         "You don't know?" He repeated. "You find a power and you do not know what it does?" He examined the Seeker warily. "Are you losing your touch, Starscream?"

     He didn't answer either question. He didn't know how to. The more in-character response would be to insult him for claiming he was 'losing his touch', but the officer was more concerned about the growing unease that refused to leave him be.

         "I'm sure you know by now, that our esteemed leader is offline." 

         "A tragedy." Sideways noted the change in subject. He didn't plan on letting the Seeker knock the conversation off track so easily. "Is this device something he left behind?"

         "Not- exactly." His unsure tone only made the other mech even more interested as his pedes shuffled beneath him. 

         "We need only activate it, then." Came the obvious suggestion. "There's no reason in delaying finding out what this device is, and what it can do. Why do you seem so reluctant to do so, Starscream?"

     His name never sounded so accusatory, dripping of suspicion. The Seeker wasn't sure how he would be able to escape the situation. Why he felt escape was the only option, he wasn't sure. This was a fellow Decepticon, and not the tyrannical Megatron who would more than likely beat him if he were still alive. The memory of such a moment bubbled up, and a melancholic, apologetic feeling seemed to tickle Starscream's spark. It wasn't his own feeling, he knew, as he usually felt quite angry when he recalled Megatron's punishments. 

         What was this little trinket?

     His silence was beginning to irritate the other Decepticon. Sideways huffed and stalked past the mech, making him trip over the cannister and lose the bracelet in the loose snow that had blown in from the cave's entrance. Starscream snarled at him as the grounder filled another cannister to partake in the energon stores. He dared not look for the trinket, so placed another cube in the dispenser and filled the first cannister again. He sat down across from Sideways, where he calculated the bracelet had fallen off to. 

     If he focused hard enough, he could just about pinpoint roughly, where it landed.

         "It is not that I am reluctant to test it." Starscream admitted. "It is that I don't even know if it does anything at all. As I said, it's an unexplainable power. There is obviously an amount of energy hidden within, but it doesn't seem to be enough to power anything, nor be a weapon."

         "Then why keep it at all?" Sideways chuffed over his ration of energon.

     The question made Starscream think of Marissa. Why keep her around at all? Neither device nor human seemed of any use. Destroying both just to keep them away from the Autobots was a completely feasible option. Yet he couldn't bring himself to do it. 

     His spark wouldn't let him.

         "It interests me." It wasn't a complete lie, but it wasn't the whole truth, either. "If you do not share such an interest than leave me be."

         "A little hard to do that when this ridiculous pull on my spark refuses to end." Sideways replied, downing the rest of his energon and standing. "So, if you will stop whatever beacon or SOS you have somehow manufacture, I'll leave you and your mystery device."

     Standing, Starscream grabbed a servo full of snow, knowing the trinket was now in his palm before transforming and exploding the energon left in the cave with his heated engines. Ice flew and the avalanche was renewed, the Seeker escaping the onslaught of snow by climbing higher into the atmosphere. 

     The prickling feeling in his spark ebbed away the farther he flew, so the mech relaxed. 

         "What are you?" He growled, wanting answers. "I will not be made a fool of; you are something! I know you can understand me. Whatever you are, you want to live."

     Transforming and coming to a halt in the sky, Starscream held the bracelet in his palm again, the snow having melted from his natural warmth. He hovered as his engines kept him airborne, a sneer remaining on his derma as he stared harshly at the trinket in his palm.

         "You're the reason why the human is so comfortable around us, why she was so willing to simply give you to me! You assumed safety was with me, but you assumed wrong." He tilted his palm, the bracelet slipping to one side. "If you can so easily connect to my spark, then tell me what you are, or face the gravity of Earth and risk shattering."

     There was only silence, and that incessant pull on his spark. It was not as strong as long as he was close to the device, but the calming, nearly familiar feeling of its closeness enraged him with the frustration of not knowing what it was. What could hold a power that could synchronize with his own spark beat, and spike an uncharacteristic feeling of unease and urgency? No relic, no device, no weapon he knew of could do these things. This unknown device could manipulate the mind of a human, something that didn't even have Cybertronian origins, into being comfortable around two titans who had threatened her on more than one occasion. It likely was the cause of her muttering as well, as it had somehow coerced Starscream into speaking out loud.

     Starscream tipped his servo to further his threat, watching the bracelet slide closer to the edge. It remained ever silent, and the uneasiness in his spark refused to return again. His sneer deepened as he watched his servo begin to shake with rage.

     He knew for a fact he wasn't wrong. 

         How else could he explain being comfortable enough around Marissa to speak so idly about his home? 

         How else would she be so willing to ask questions and not feel the fear humans were plagued with when facing a metal giant?

         How else could Barricade act so friendly, even by circumstance, for so long without his well-known temper snapping?

     It made no sense, unless the power within the bracelet was sentient and knew how to manipulate the sparks and souls of those around it. He could never be so friendly toward a mere human. It wasn't in his nature nor was it in Barricade's. At least, he didn't think it would be in Barricade's nature. They had only met once the war had taken over most of the planet. 

     Perhaps, at one point in history, Starscream might have appreciated the life Earth held. A human's level of free will and unpredictability could be quite intriguing at times. Their ability to use nearly anything as a form of power or energy for themselves, while it was a disgusting process, was enviable, since they did not rely on one sole energy source such as Cybertronians.

     Starscream let his servo return to its original position, cradling the trinket carefully after sliding it to the middle of his palm with a digit. 

         "I see." He sighed. "Then the hard way it will be."

     Transforming once more, the Seeker's engines roared as he sent Barricade a quick message of where he wanted to meet him.