Title: „Back in the Game"
Status: One-Shot; Complete
Fandom: Transformers: Prime
Characters/Pairing: Borderline (OC), Megatron, Starscream, Airachnid, Soundwave
Word Count: 1676
Disclaimer: I would love to own Transformers: Prime and the whole rest, but that honor belongs to Hasbro.
Rating: T
Beta: The great snare-chan! Thank you so much for your help and sorry to keep you so busy! All mistakes left are definitely mine.
Summary: Starscream is in the hand of the Autobots – who's gonna bail him out? A new player is on the field...
Warning: The dialogue in the beginning is an outtake from episode 20 and only slightly altered. This is an AU of the same episode. And: the OC in this fanfiction could seem to you overpowered or that everything is handed to him on a silver platter... I know that, did it, in fact, deliberately and I like it this way. So read it or leave it ^-^ But I would really like your feedback on Borderline, both positive and negative!
Back in the Game"You left Starscream in the hands of the Autobots? Do you have any notion of the consequences of your blunder?" Megatron's imposing frame loomed over Airachnid like the proverbial energon dagger.
The femme rocked back on her heels and met his crimson stare with admirable nonchalance. "But your lordship, it was Starscream's incompetence which cost us the immobilizer."
"Oh? So you did not decide to ditch your 'native guide'?" The absolute silence on the bridge rendered the question rhetorical. "And why should I care about some glorified trinket? My second in command is a prisoner of the enemy. Which means all Decepticon intelligence could be at the fingertips of the Autobots."
"But your lordship..."
Megatron's focus shifted instantly from Airachnid's pitiful excuses as he heard a sequence of dull and high pitched noises at the edge of his audio range. The rhythm was familiar, despite the long time he hadn't heard it, as were the sharp talons tapping it on the Nemesis wall.
Not yet rusty, as it seemed, sneaking on board and straight to the bridge, going unnoticed even by Soundwave while doing so.
"Enough! Spare me further whining, Airachnid. Leave."
Wisely, the confused femme shut her mouth plate at once. With a bow she left, not wanting to strain her luck any further, it seemed. Megatron would see to that little problem later. Now she was still of use to him.
As soon as the door had closed behind her, Borderline stepped out into the dim light – a shadow emerging from darkness. His two sensor filaments streamed out around him like crimson ribbons, gathering all kinds of data from his surroundings, no doubt.
The movement startled Soundwave, as the main screen he worked at caught the reflection. With a click of alarm he turned around, visor going blank. Seeing the 'intruder', his wings fluttered in subdued excitement and his helm inclined in respectful greeting.
"Soundwave. We'll talk about your security measures at a later time," Borderline stated matter of fact, before his six elliptic optics turned to Megatron. "I'm back, my lord."
"I wondered if you were ignoring my call – or if somebot had finally managed to offline you for good. But since that is not the case" Megatron paused, although he knew the dramatic effect was wasted on this particular mech. "welcome back."
Borderline grinned, showing the black fangs of his denta. "Thank you. But I have to admit that I'm disappointed: millennia pass and you've got nothing better to do than to make Starscream your SIC. Do you still lie to yourself that his treachery keeps you sharp?"
Megatron chuckled darkly, optics flashing purple for a moment. "Maybe. So... will you retrieve him for me?"
XXX
The Autobots had been both smart and dumb enough not to bring Starscream into their HQ for interrogation. Pity – he had special means to track down this particular jet and that way the mech could finally have been of some use to the Decepticon cause.
As it was, Borderline had simply followed the chemical signature that was unique to high quality Seeker grade from Starscream's last known position in a canyon, to an abandoned building. Made by the insects inhabiting this planet as its predominating species, its specifics identified it as a former plant used to manufacture cars.
Insult to injury for a Seeker – Borderline could appreciate the subtle irony, accidental as it may have been.
The security measures were improvised at best. Cameras, sensors and guard drones may have been high end technology by human standards. And of course, Ratchet had fiddled around with what he had gotten into his servos, cursing all the way, probably. But as an assassin, Borderline did not bother with falsified signals, visual feedback-loops or sensor blocks – he picked his way around them all. In the halls and corridors, packed with conveyer belts, half-finished cars and machinery, there were enough blind spots and shadows to make use of.
He watched as a mech approached his position. His orders had been clear on that regard. So, as Borderline dropped from his perch on an old assembly crane, he did not ready his weapon. Instead, as he landed behind the young scout, designation Bumblebee, he only knocked him out with a jab. One of his talons dug neatly into the armor seam and severed a sensor cluster.
The bright yellow frame jerked once and fell forward with dark optics, without ever uttering a beep. Borderline caught the little bug before he could hit the ground with a resounding crash; there was no need to have the other Autobots come running. He slung the weight over one shoulder and carried him to a former storage room. Fitting, to drop him there.
Borderline's filaments picked up the air displacement even before he heard the noise of a small body moving: warm-blooded, composed of chemicals, hormones; a heartbeat and respiration. A human child.
Borderline reversed the flow of electrons on his armors surface and the special coating began to absorb all light, allowing him to melt into the shadow of a container.
"Bee! Come on – where are you?"
Kill it or not... His orders had not covered potential Autobot mascots. Borderline felt tempted to just do it, to rip that fragile organic to shreds for the Prime to find. That would be a message Orion would not be able to ignore, but better not to tip his hand early on in the game. No need for them to know – yet – that he was back on the field and ready to play.
So Borderline kept still and only watched the child go – in the opposite direction of the bug. He expected that ten minutes would pass before the boy grew suspicious and called the other 'bots. Well, keeping a tight schedule was fine by him.
XXX
Starscream squirmed again, but neither the clamp on his wings nor the cuffs bent to his efforts to dislodge them. His spark pulse quickened – the cell they had thrown him into was too small and dark, in a humid cellar, no less. It made his wings itch with the need to stretch out and feel the air streaming around them.
Of course, at this point, the humiliation still outweighed that longing. Him – captured by mere Autobots!
"That three-rejected Pitspawn Airachnid and her backstabbing –"
A looming presence appeared suddenly in front of the enhanced steel bars. Starscream would have recognized the frame and six optics anywhere. Primus be damned, but he flinched back. Under that steady gaze he had no choice but to struggle up to his pedes, balance thrown off by his cuffs and back-forced wings.
Starscream had to reboot his vocalizer twice to speak. "Borderline. Why... ah, fancy meeting your here, of all places." Not even the sweetest, self-deceiving lie could have sugarcoated the fact that he sounded pathetic – scared.
Borderline did not react at all. He didn't gloat, nothing: he just observed him, his long sensor filaments ghosting eerily behind him. Starscream vividly remembered that silence had always been the assassin's chosen weapon when dealing with him.
"I'm here to retrieve our wayward TIC," Borderline finally said, voice as smooth and oddly gentle as the Seeker recalled it.
"SIC!" Starscream bristled and took a step closer.
"Hn... I fear that you got demoted in absentia, for both incompetence and treachery. And I can assure you that Soundwave was especially delighted to see me return to duty."
"Preposterous! How dare -" Starscream cut himself off as servos gripped the bars right in front of him and ripped them out of their concrete foundations with ease. He shrunk away, compelled by his base programming, as the same talons reached for him to pull him out.
"Try not to trip."
XXX
Borderline could almost see the data being processed as Starscream stumbled forward awkwardly. He lashed out, seizing the light-build Seeker by the throat and lifted him off his pedes.
"Tripping the silent alarm wouldn't be a wise move, Starscream," he cautioned with chilly friendliness. He let his talons rake over the dark gray metal, right beside vital energon lines.
Crimson optics dilated in panic and servos clawed at his own, as much as the cuffs would allow. Borderline watched as the memories of former punishments resurfaced, visible in the twitching faceplate.
Surely the jet remembered the darkness - the endless nothing, which turned into the pressure of barriers on all sides. It was a method of utter simplicity in disciplining a Seeker, one Megatron had always lacked the patience for. It was a lesson that could be suppressed, but not forgotten. - Especially when choked in a powerful grip and in a dark underground cellar.
"You reek of fear, Starscream. Shall I end it here or would you rather crawl before lord Megatron and beg his mercy, yet again?"
Starscream stilled his useless struggle and hung limply from Borderline's servo like a puppet with its strings cut; optics dimmed.
"I... I won't do anything to make this escape more difficult than it has to be."
Borderline appreciated the wording. It never ceased to amuse him, the folly that was Starscream.
"Good enough," he growled – and let go.
The Seeker's frame hit the bare concrete with a sharp clank and the screech of delicate wing plating being bent.
"Then let us leave."
XXX
Onboard the Nemesis the door to Megatron's private quarters was closing. Were one to pass it in that moment, one would have seen the image of a Seeker, lying crumpled on the ground and spattered with energon. And one would have heard a haughty whisper, full of dark promises.
"Borderline will soon... attend to you."
Swishing shut, the door sealed itself with the turning of gears and the hissing of pressure.
XXX
Soundwave subtly leaned into the absentminded petting of his left wing. Borderline sat sifting through his accumulated data and seemed pleased with his efforts.
Very soon, things would start to change in Lord Megatron's favor. The Decepticon's SIC had returned – and the Autobots would never know what hit them.
Soon.
End
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