After some screening, Bella actually had very few options to choose from.
Cybertron had been at war for many years, and countless scientists from the old days had been killed or wounded. There were only two scientists Bella could currently reach: Sentinel Prime and Starscream, who was standing right in front of her. Every damn one of them was a bad guy...
Back then, even brainwashing Shatter had barely worked. Bella had even less confidence when it came to Sentinel Prime and Starscream.
Reviving Sentinel Prime was difficult, and brainwashing him would be even harder. As a former faction leader who had once possessed a Leadership Module, brainwashing Sentinel Prime was almost impossible. That left Bella with only one target: the treacherous and cunning Starscream, who was also cowardly and afraid to die.
"What are you trying to do? Stop! Stop right now!" The moment Starscream saw Bella pull out a golden sphere of energy without saying a word, a terrible premonition rose in his mind. He shouted desperately.
Bella did not bother explaining. Talking would not help anyway. Brainwash him first, then talk afterward!
She activated the Apple of Eden. Countless golden threads wrapped around Starscream's spark layer after layer, then slowly began pouring new thoughts into it.
"Don't even think about making me submit! I am Starscream!"
"No! Don't humiliate me! I will never surrender to you!"
"Aagh!! My will is as hard as steel!"
Starscream really was much stronger than Shatter, that melodramatic teenage girl. Beneath his cowardly shell that feared death, he hid a proud heart.
He would not even submit to Megatron, who shouted, "My fate is mine, not Heaven's!" He wanted to rebel against Megatron, so there was even less chance he would submit to Bella, an Earthling! As their minds clashed, he saw Bella's purpose. Once he realized his life was not in danger, his behavior became even more arrogant and completely unrestrained.
The brainwashing continued for a full hour. Energy poured continuously from the Apple of Eden, which was now hot enough to burn her hand, but Starscream still showed no intention of yielding.
"Idiot. Raise your head and look at me!" Bella had no choice but to try another method. Her voice was full of hypnotic suggestion. Starscream instinctively raised his head and discovered that the figure before him had changed from an Earthling into The Fallen.
Huh? He froze for a moment, and his determination to resist instantly dropped by half. If he was surrendering to The Fallen, maybe that would not be so bad?
No! He suddenly snapped back to awareness. This was all fake! The Fallen was dead. He knew that!
Bella clicked her tongue. As the Decepticons' second-in-command, Starscream was highly capable and cruel, but his weaknesses were equally obvious. He lacked patience and finesse, and he did not know how to hide his ambition.
To make use of his talent, Megatron had to pretend he did not know Starscream wanted to rebel. Megatron really had his hands full, coaxing Starscream every day like a child.
Now, to break through Starscream's psychological defenses, Bella could only try another story.
Her figure began to blur, while the outline of a planet gradually appeared behind her. It was Earth, but in Starscream's eyes, the familiar planet began to look alien.
Enormous metal horns thrust up from the ground. Unmatched energy surged from deep inside the planet. Vast quantities of rock transformed into metal, and an enormous face faintly emerged across the planet's surface.
Starscream was completely stunned. He pointed at Bella, unable to speak.
"You've already guessed the answer, haven't you?" Bella asked in a grave tone.
What have I guessed? Starscream was utterly confused, but the guy had a habit of trying to look clever no matter the situation.
He refused to admit that he did not know. Instead, he put on a panicked expression and waited for Bella to explain it herself.
"I am Unicron! Of course, I'm only an avatar of a psychic projection. I'm here to trick... no, I'm here to help you!"
Bella made her voice grow deeper and heavier. "I am Unicron. My battle with Primus long ago left me somewhat weakened. Now I'm trapped within the barrier between Earth's reality and unreality. Starscream, you are a talented individual. As long as you help me, once I escape, I'll make you leader of the Decepticons!"
Her little "trust me, I'm Unicron" scam pitch would not have been very effective on most targets.
Ordinary Decepticons did not know who Unicron was at all. Who was that? Never heard of him!
If she had run into some hotheaded Decepticon like Clamor or Brawl, they would definitely have raised their head proudly and said, "Unicron? Never heard of him. Die!"
Starscream was one of the few Cybertronian scientists still alive in the present era. He had already held a high position before the Cybertronian civil war, and after the war began, he had spent years as the Decepticons' second-in-command. He knew who Unicron was.
Combined with the promise that he would become leader of the Decepticons, his psychological defenses loosened instantly.
Bella had not expected this guy to be so obsessed with rising through the ranks. The Unicron persona was only secondary; the promise to make him the boss was what really clinched it.
"You really can make me leader of the Decepticons?"
"I can, but first you have to finish the research on the Tachyon Propulsion Chamber for me."
"You really can make me leader of the Decepticons?"
"What? Didn't I just promise you? Of course I'll make you the leader! I need you to use metallic materials currently available on Earth to create a hull that can remain flexible on the outside while staying rigid on the inside during faster-than-light travel."
"You really can make me leader of the Decepticons?"
"What the hell! You haven't listened to a word I've said, have you? Smaug, beat him up!"
After half an hour of brainwashing and half an hour of beating, it could not really be called brainwashing anymore. At most, Bella had made Starscream accept the idea that she was an Avatar of Unicron. The idea had been planted very deeply, and in the future Starscream would speak and act on the basis of that belief.
Earthlings were currently very useful to Unicron. Starscream needed to help the Earthlings build a spacecraft and defeat the Decepticons. Only then would Unicron return to Cybertron, and at that time Starscream would be appointed leader of the Decepticons!
There were more than a few problems with this chain of logic, but Starscream was practically insane with his desire to become leader. Blinded by ambition, he automatically ignored the flaws.
He had sided with The Fallen in order to become leader. Naturally, he felt little resistance to now siding with Unicron, a far more formidable figure with a much longer history.
Starscream thought the logic made perfect sense, and Bella naturally had no objections either.
Starscream's decision to serve Unicron had nothing to do with his identity as a Decepticon. The Decepticon emblem still hung on his shoulder. He was clearly still quite attached to the organization.
So what if he was still a Decepticon? Bella did not need him to switch factions. He was fine exactly as he was.
"You need to prove your abilities and prove that you are capable of becoming leader of the Decepticons. This is the data from the AllSpark. Go recreate the AllSpark."
Bella unfolded all the data recorded inside the Apple of Eden and spoke in a tone that allowed no argument.