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“A nuclear warhead?” Megatron repeated, incredulous.
Starscream, already flight-ready and just passing through the command centre to make Megatron aware of the errand he was off to run, shifted impatiently. “Yes.”
“Why?”
Starscream rolled his optics, “For an experiment. What else?”
But Megatron was determined to interrogate him like the suspicious parent of a delinquent offspring. “What ‘experiment’ is this that requires nuclear warheads?”
“Not ‘heads’.” Starscream snapped. “‘Head’. I only need one.”
Megatron leaned back in his seat, scrutinising him, “And where, exactly, will be going to find this nuclear weapon you so desperately need, at,” he paused to check his chrono, “two AM?”
Starscream sincerely regretted not just leaving the base without telling anyone. Yes, Megatron blew a gasket every-time he went awol, accusing him of all sorts of nonsense, like trying to defect, or plotting to kill him, but at least then he got things done. Since not long after arriving on Earth, Megatron had developed this irritating habit of refusing his solo assignations. Like he couldn’t be trusted.
Or wasn’t capable.
“It’s a human facility.” Starscream waved a servo, flippant, “The guards will be asleep.”
“Oh, will they?” Megatron’s optics darkened.
“Of course they will, humans are diurnal,” Starscream drawled. “Don’t you know anything?”
Megatron huffed in amusement, tilting his helm back, “I know you’re not going.”
Starscream’s mouth fell open, “What!?”
“It’s the middle of the night and I do not have enough mechs on duty to cover both night patrols and a pointless expedition to steal a human weapon.” Megatron growled.
“Then I’ll go on my own-“
“Like Pit you will.” Megatron’s vocaliser rumbled. “You have no idea what you’d be up against. I’m not sending you anywhere without backup.”
Anger swelled in Starscream’s chest. “They’re humans.”
“Humans are not be underestimated.”
“Yes, they are!” Starscream raised his voice. “They’re insects! They’re weak! They can’t hurt me-“
“Their Autobot allies can.”
“That didn’t stop you from sending Soundwave into that squishy military base last week, alone.”
“We’re not discussing Soundwave’s intelligence work-“
“No, we’re discussing your attempts at sabotaging my work!”
“Watch your tone.” Megatron warned, voice deepening. “I’m doing nothing of the sort. You will have the opportunity to run this ridiculous errand, when I can next spare another trine as support.”
Starscream snorted, taking a step towards the door, “You think you can stop me?“
Megatron stood suddenly. Starscream flinched.
“You think I can’t?” He rumbled.
Starscream scowled, but shrank back, his helm low, “You think I’m weak.“
“You are not going alone.” Megatron stated firmly, ignoring the accusation, but Starscream knew, knew that was it. Why else treat him like this?
Starscream pursed his lips together, fighting back the curses he wanted to shout, the insults he was desperate to sneer.
“…Fine.” He spat.
Megatron stared at him.
“I said fine!” He burst out, servos clenched into fists. “I’ll wait.”
Satisfied, Megatron nodded, easing himself back into his seat, turning to view the monitors once more. “Good. Get some recharge.”
Starscream stamped out of the command centre, his shoulders tense and his wings trembling with rage. Like Pit was he going to recharge.
He wasn’t weak, and Megatron couldn’t stop him.
Starscream’s intel told him that the facility where the warheads were being built was an hours flight from the Decepticon base. One hour there, ten minutes to raid the facility and take what he needed, and one hour back.
He’d be home before dawn, and Megatron was any the wiser.
He needed clearance to use the tower after midnight, so he keyed in Soundwave’s codes (stolen), since the communications officer never had any restrictions on his comings and goings. It worked. The control panel for the elevator flashed green and opened its doors. Starscream stepped inside, feeling smug.
He couldn’t wait to see Megatron’s face when he got back. His stupid mouth hanging open, his optics sparking with rage, steam coming out of his vents- good. Megatron’s fury was a price worth paying to prove him wrong.
The elevator pinged and opened its doors to a cold, dark night. Waves crashed noisily against the tower and the wind blew a freezing spray of saltwater across Starscream’s armour. He shivered, and part of him wished he could return to his berth for the night. If only that idiot Megatron hadn’t provoked him into doing this.
He grit his denta, determined, and took off with a blast of his thrusters.
It wasn’t any warmer flying over land, and he could see the ground beneath was frozen in places. Snow dusted the tops of trees and buildings, and shone out against the dark landscape in the moonlight.
Starscream cranked up his internal heater, and pushed on.
Then the facility finally came up ahead of him.
There was nothing remarkable about it. A bunch of square buildings all connected to each other, surrounded by a tall steel fences and barbed wire. Humans were awake though, and guarding the facility. Some patrolled the perimeter on foot, others watched from guard towers. It was all so… primitive.
Another wave of anger washed over Starscream at Megatron’s insulting insinuation that he couldn’t handle this- this!- on his own. A bunch of useless humans and a fence!
He chose his line and descended on them rapidly, arming his null-rays and firing down, shooting out the main gates, a watch tower, and blowing an unoccupied jeep up into the air all in one burst of fire. He laughed victoriously as the humans scattered, transforming midair to land on his feet, skidding through the gate he had blasted open, the ground slippery with ice.
Humans were shouting and shooting, their bullets pinging off Starscream’s back with no more harm to him than raindrops. He ignored them, consulting his intel and heading to the main building, where he knew the warheads were stored.
Perhaps he would take more for future experiments, he thought to himself as alarms started to blare, seeing as this was so easy. Really shove it in Megatron’s face just how-
“Fire in the hole!” A human voice bellowed.
Starscream frowned, glancing over a wing to watch a human kneel on the tarmac behind him, aiming a rocket launcher at his head. It fired.
Starscream yelped and twisted to the side, but his pede slipped on a patch of ice. His wing swung into the line of fire. Cybertronian armour was no match for most man-made weaponry, but his wings were his most delicate appendages.
He howled when the rocket hit the centre of his wing, blowing past the paneling and burning the circuitry beneath.
He clutched at the damage with a snarl, baring his denta at the humans already reloading the rocket launcher to strike again.
He lunged forward, claws unsheathed, ready to sever stubby limbs from squishy bodies, when the clunking sound of tank treads on tarmac caught his attention. He swung back the other way, just as a turret rose to aimed for him.
He ignited his thrusters, ready to fly up and take it out from the sky, when the roar of an engine filled his audials and out of nowhere, a military jeep ramped into the back of his legs. It knocked him off his pedes. He fell to a knee, but with shout of fury, kicked back with enough force to send the jeep rolling.
Gunfire sprayed, and it couldn’t hurt him but it was distracting. He was already disoriented, wing throbbing and his gyros knocked off balance. He lifted an arm to fend off the flurry bullets, when he should have been paying attention to the tank, aiming for his chest.
Boom.
After a long night spent reviewing the footage from Soundwave’s last reconnaissance mission, Megatron had only just retired to his quarters. He spread himself across his berth indulgently, shuttering tired optics-
When the door to his quarters swept open.
His optics snapped back online, fusion cannon primed and ready to fire before he even sat up to find himself aiming at Soundwave, the only other mech with the access codes for his quarters.
He lowered his weapon with a heavy sigh, “What is it n-?“
“Starscream” Soundwave stated from the doorway.
Megatron’s mood soured.
“…Had better be in the quarters, recharging.” He continued for Soundwave, through clenched teeth.
“Negative.”
Megatron threw the berth covers away. He didn’t need to ask to know what had happened. “I’ll kill him.”
“May not be necessary.” Soundwave said ominously, leading the way down the corridor, heading towards the tower.
Megatron’s rage was not dampened by his fear. If anything, it was fuelled by it.
The intruder alarms were shrill, piercing through Starscream’s throbbing helm as he reset his optics, again and again, trying to get them to focus.
He had dampened what pain sensors he could afford to, namely the ones in his wing, and the shoulder of the arm that had been… well, the arm that wasn’t there anymore. He avoided looking at the empty space were it had been, at the twisted metal and sparking circuits sticking out of his shoulder.
Tucked between two of the buildings, hiding as best he could after a desperate but failed take off, he struggled to find his focus. He needed help. He needed to call for help. Activate his comm. Megatron. Comm Megatron. He shouldn’t have done this. Shouldn’t have come here. He didn’t care that he was wrong and that Megatron would never let him hear the end of it, he was in pain! He was going to be killed-!
Dozens of heavy boots ran past his hiding spot, with the clatter of the body-armour and weapons the soldiers were carrying. Starscream shrank back into the shadows, the damage of his shoulder scrapping painfully against the wall.
His comm. Focus. Comm for help.
He searched for Megatron’s frequency, but was too panic-blind to find it.
Humans shouted. Someone bellowed something about ‘alien blood’. Following a trail of it.
Starscream’s spark was hammering out of his chest. They were going to find him. He was damaged, a null-ray down, he couldn’t fly away-
He went back to his comm, scanning the frequencies again, forcing himself to focus, then gasped in relief when he finally caught sight of it. He scrambled to input it, and barely dared to breathe as he waited for it to connect, praying Megatron would answer, that he was still awake, mindlessly watching the intel footage he obsessed over.
The comm connected on the first dial tone-
“Megatron!” He cried, vocaliser catching.
“Stay where you are!” Megatron’s voice boomed furiously. “Don’t move-“
“They shot me!” Starscream rambled, voice high and shrill with panic, “I can’t fly!”
“Don’t move, Starscream.” Megatron ordered firmly. “I’m coming. We’re almost there-“
The human voices were getting closer. Starscream could hear the jeeps speeding around, searching, and the clanking of the tank.
“Megatron, please-!”
“It’s alright,” Megatron’s voice softened, but it was tense with stress, “It’s alright, Starscream.”
It wasn’t alright. He’d gone and gotten his arm blown off. He’d made a complete fool of himself, allowed humans to get the better of him-
He was about to say so to Megatron, in a babbling rush of words, when a sudden explosion rang out. Too deep to be the tank. Too neon purple to be anything human.
Megatron.
Starscream stood up, legs stiff and shaking, and poked his head around the side of the building.
Decepticons were landing inside the facility grounds, matching the humans for numbers and outgunning them with their weapons. Megatron’s fusion cannon made quick work of the tank, blasting its front open, turret and all, as easily as one swatted a static-fly.
Starscream didn’t have the emotional strength to resent such a casual show of power. He waited for Megatron to come to him, still cowering against the building.
“You dim-witted brat of a seeker!” Megatron snarled, spotting him immediately and stalking towards him. “What did I tell you?!”
Starscream couldn’t remember what he’d been told. He just knew he was in pain. He slumped against the building, his vents hitching. “My arm-!”
“Look at what you’ve done to yourself.” Megatron hissed, and his servos were on Starscream as soon as he reached him, taking in the damage.
“I didn’t ask to be blown up!” Starscream burst out, leaning into his touch. He wanted to be close to Megatron, to use him as a living shield, he told himself.
“Alright, enough,” Megatron soothed him gruffly, his brow furrowed as he took in the damaged wing next. “There’s no need to cry-“
“I’m not crying!” Starscream hissed, though his vents were hitching and his face was wet. He rubbed his servo across his optics, trying to clear his vision.
“Of course not,” Megatron muttered, and cupped his face to thumb away a drop of moisture tracking down his cheek.
Starscream sniffed loudly, turning his face away. “Don’t touch me-“
“I’m getting you out of here.” Megatron told him briskly, and left no room for argument by dragging Starscream’s remaining arm up over his shoulder, hoisting him to his pedes.
Starscream hissed when his injuries were jostled, but slumped against him, exhausted from energon loss and pain. He let his helm drop to Megatron’s shoulder.
“…Can’t you just carry me?” He asked quietly, since there was no salvaging his dignity now.
There was a moment of silence, before Megatron relented with a sigh and bent to pick him up, scooping his legs up with his other arm. Starscream kept his remaining arm wrapped around Megatron’s neck, his spark pulse finally starting to calm. He was still in pain, but he knew now that he was safe.
“Why do this?” Megatron demanded, carrying him towards the perimeter fence, away from the escalating fight between humans and Decepticons.
Starscream avoided his gaze. “You though I was weak…”
And he had done a fine job proving Megatron wrong, obviously.
But Megatron blew air from his vents in a loud sigh. “No.”
Starscream looked at him.
Megatron’s lips twitched, “I just think you’re stupid.”
Starscream went to slap him across the face with a servo that simply wasn’t there anymore.
Seeing as that didn’t work, he leant forward to kiss him instead.
Taken somewhat by surprise, Megatron tripped over his own pedes and stumbled into the barbed wire fence.