Striking Back

After suffering one too many beatings at Megatron's hands, Starscream is finally set free. How does Megatron cope with what he's done to the Air Commander, and what is he to do with this strange Sparkling that shows up?

Chapter One: The Final Blow

Starscream sat on the edge of his berth, finishing yet another self-patch job. He was more patches than original framework now. He would have to see Hook before the end of the active cycle…if he was online to see it. His tired Spark was struggling to remain pulsing, keeping the energon flowing through his patched fuel lines, to keep his systems running and appear normal to all observers. He sighed, and set his first aid kit to the side, and got to his pedes, swaying a little as the room tilted sickeningly to one side, then the other. Like a human ship of old caught in a storm.

The scarlet and white Seeker automatically reached for the wall to steady himself, powering off his optics for a second, then bringing them back on. The room stayed steady…Good. Starscream breathed a soft sigh of relief.

::Starscream.:: Megatron's voice growled through the internal comm.-line ::Get your aft to the Command Room. Now!::

"Of course, O Mighty Lord." Starscream sighed, but headed out to begin his shift anyway. Leaving his quarters, he walked the familiar halls, and let his mind wander where it willed. He'd contemplated the idea of leaving…many times, in fact! But, he couldn't simply run away! He couldn't leave his Trine behind! He also couldn't leave Megatron. As much as his commander beat him, he couldn't bring himself to leave, even if he had somewhere to go. Even if…No! He couldn't let himself think of Skyfire. He couldn't run to the Autobots, no matter how fiercely he longed for his old friend. He couldn't do—

The first thing he met upon opening the door was the silver tyrant's fist. It connected with his shoulder so unexpectedly that he was actually sent crashing into the wall!

Confused, he looked at Megatron for an answer. He could read nothing in those blood-colored optics. "I think that was entirely uncalled for," he quipped, ducking another blow. "I'm not late this time." He added, sitting down in his spot before the row of monitors; one for each of Soundwave's 'patrolling' Cassettes, one for the front entrance to the Nemesis, one at the Space Bridge, and one – currently covered in static – that was a direct channel to Cybertron. Only Shockwave showed up on that one, and very rarely, and the connection was so terrible, he was only able to talk – very quickly – for a few seconds at a time before white noise would cut out his words, his image or – more often than not – both entirely.

"Still no word from Cybertron?" he said, almost sadly. A statement that came out sounding more like a question.

"There is no need to concern yourself with Shockwave's actions, Starscream." Megatron snapped.

There was more hostility than normal in the Decepticon leader's tone, and Starscream didn't want to press his luck, not today. Not before he had a chance to see Hook.

"I am not concerned," he said, for once choosing his words carefully, "Only making an observation. This channel has been quiet for a few weeks. Ever since we got the Space Bridge in place, we've heard from Cybertron more frequently." He turned to look at Megatron, "I just find it a little unusual. We should have heard something by now." A movement on Ravage's monitor caught his attention, and he turned…to see the panther chasing down an organic life form. A jackrabbit, a quick scan of the animal told him. It's putting up a good effort. She'll catch the thing, of course.

And exciting ten seconds later, Ravage pounced, landed on the rabbit – which screamed and struggled – then released it. The rabbit took off, and Ravage gave chase again. This time, when she caught it, she crushed its spine beneath her paws. It was just the thrill of catching her prey that made Ravage purr smugly to herself. She left the carcass there, after all…she had no use for the thing. Let the other organic creatures take care of it!

Starscream watched this all go down, detached from the surrounding world. He was brought back as a silver hand grabbed his wing, wrenching from his seat and throwing him to the floor. Clearly, Megatron had been talking, and was now hacked off about being blatantly ignored by the Second-in-Command.

"Did you hear a word I just said?" Megatron growled, but before Starscream could open his mouth to speak, the Decepticon leader had answered his own question. "No. Of course you didn't. You were far too busy watching the worthless creature Ravage was chasing."

Starscream remained silent, and on the floor. Even after all this time, he was still a scientist at spark, and he was eager to learn things that did not relate to the War at all. Seeing Ravage mimic the creature she looked like while it was hunting…it was something of interest to Starscream. He wondered how she would take down a life form larger than her.

Though – in truth – Starscream remained on the floor due to all the warnings flashing across his view. Lesser systems were taken offline altogether, major systems cut to half-power, all in an effort to keep the Seeker alive!

"None of your usual taunts? A welcome change, to not have to hear your grating voice every time I speak." Megatron stated, crossing his arms over his chassis as he glared down at Starscream. He almost seemed to be waiting for his Second's snarky response to that. Instead he got…silence. Starscream wasn't talking. At all. "Get up." He sighed, turning away, not bothering to wait and see if something was wrong with the younger, more fragile Seeker.

Not wanting to receive more damage, Starscream struggled to rise. But his vertical support balancer had been powered down to ten percent. It was not a key component to keeping him alive after all. Cursing inwardly, he gave the master-override code to boot the balancer up to a minimum sixty percent. Just enough to get him up.

Or not.

Sixty percent seemed to be not enough.

Starscream was still on the ground when Megatron turned around. "Get. Up." He snarled, charging back to the downed Seeker.

"I…I can't." was the weak, whispered answer.

Starscream didn't give up! Never admitted he couldn't do something! He had to be faking, trying to tell Megatron something using the skewed logic the Air Commander was so known for.

"Starscream, get up. Now!" he commanded, cuffing the Seeker on the side of the head.

Starscream stayed down.

Snarling wordlessly, Megatron backhanded Starscream across the face so hard, the younger mech was spun halfway around before striking the floor again, his face hidden by one arm, his left wing scraping along the metal floor. The flier didn't flinch at what had to be truly agonizing.

Starscream didn't let his wince show as his wing's armor was torn from the thin, delicate metal. Exposed wiring sparked, and shorted out. He kept his face hidden, listening for the soft crackling of his spark. He had to strain his audios to hear the faintest…whirring! There was no familiar crackling.

"Starscream. Stop mucking about, and get…up!" Megatron's pede smashed into Starscream's chest plating.

Starscream curled around the new pain, biting back a whimper…

…

Megatron glared down at the prone Seeker, waiting for Starscream to listen to him and get up. But he didn't get up.

"Starscream, what are you waiting for? Get up, you useless fool!" he snarled.

Starscream still didn't move, though.

"Starscream?" Megatron really didn't like how Starscream wasn't answering, wasn't even moving. This was so unlike the Seeker!

Fed up – not to mention worried – he gripped Starscream's shoulder, and flipped him over. The flier was limp as he was moved, his red optics darkened.

For a moment, Megatron only stared at his Second in either shock, or incomprehension. But then his processor caught up. He'd offlined Starscream! He hadn't meant to do so but…it had happened. There wasn't any way he could bring him back.

What had he done?

Note: So, that's how it begins.

Please read and review. I'll get a new chapter up when I'm able