"I don't remember calling for you, Starscream," the Decepticon commander murmured as his newly-appointed second in command entered without warning – more importantly, without permission. The new rank was good for the ambitious and ruthless seeker. It was for that reason alone that Megatron didn't scold him for the impertinence.
"I wanted to see the prisoner you're so proud of," Starscream wheedled, already tilting his head and examining the mech with unveiled curiousity.
"It's hardly worth the effort," Megatron drawled, retreating from where he had been kicking the chained-down mech.
"I can see why." Starscream stepped fearlessly up to the prisoner and crouched, steadfast in his examination. "This hardly looks like the feared Autobot commander."
"It is. It's been confirmed." Megatron turned away dismissively, and in doing so, missed what transpired between his new second in command and the mech who would quickly become his greatest enemy and obsession.
Optimus Prime turned his head, scraping the battered mask that covered his face against the floor. His optics focused on Starscream's and betrayed no emotion beyond stubborn determination, but flared a brilliant white-blue.
Starscream, on the other hand, was open with his expression. Curiousity and surprise mixed freely on his face, and his hand reached towards the Autobot's plating as if to confirm something.
"Starscream," Megatron called, and the seeker snatched his hand back before the warlord turned and looked at them, taking a seat to observe. "Feel free to… entertain yourself." Starscream smirked.
Optimus Prime was silent throughout, only his optics dimming and brightening with each blow. By the time Megatron called for a halt, Prime's plating was bent in multiple places. Even Megatron had not struck as often as Starscream.
The Decepticon seeker straightened from the last round of blows and stood at loose attention. At Megatron's beckon, Starscream came to his side, as loyal as any soldier programmed for the barracks, while Optimus Prime remained loosely curled in on himself on the floor.
It hurt, and ached, but Optimus didn't waver in his baleful glare, even as Starscream draped himself in Megatron's lap with casual ease; even as Megatron rewarded the seeker with a precise caress.
As disgusting as it was, Optimus did not look away. He stared, up until the point at which their chest plating loosened and parted. Then, the loathing he felt overwhelmed his pride, and he averted his gaze.
Megatron laughed. "As to be expected from an Autobot!" Optimus remained silent, and the Decepticon commander scoffed. "Ah, well. We'll see how well those delicate sensibilities hold up, won't we Starscream?"
Megatron turned his attention back to the seeker, only to see that Starscream was staring at the prisoner intently. Silently, Megatron took hold of his second's chin and turned Starscream's face toward his own.
He was unaccustomed to that blank, distracted stare, especially from the normally sharp Air Commander. Just prior, he could have Starscream's full attention by simply snapping his fingers.
When Starscream glanced back at the Autobot, it was his first act of outright disobedience.
Megatron flung the seeker from his lap with a sneer. "If you're so distracted, Starscream," he growled, standing over his startled soldier, "You only needed to ask for more play time."
"Lord Megatron-" Starscream began, but it was futile. Megatron was already leaving, the door sliding shut at his back. With a curse, Starscream kicked at the chair his Lord had vacated, but then got back to his feet and occupied that same seat, bent over with his elbows on his knees, hands folded and chin set on top of them.
Starscream's optics were bright with interest, and he was staring unwaveringly at the still-silent Autobot leader, who stared back just as steadily.
"You're interesting," Starscream blurted out after a long stretch of contemplative silence. "Why?"
Optimus merely stayed as he was: quiet, and still, but obviously conscious. Starscream responded by snarling and smashing a fist against the arm of the chair. "Say something!"
"Something."
Optimus Prime's voice was clear and deep, and completely unmarred by static or hitches from his time imprisoned or the damage he had sustained in the battle beforehand. Starscream was unimpressed and certainly not amused.
"I suppose you think you're clever," Starscream sneered nastily."And courageous, for staying silent."
"Not at all," Optimus Prime interrupted. "I'm neither of those things."
"So you think you're humble, then," Starscream concluded, looking even more disgusted than before. Optimus didn't respond. "Or worse, you're selfless. I shouldn't be surprised. The leader of the Autobots would so exemplify their disgusting ideals. I suppose it explains why so many of you are flinging yourselves into our prisons and cannonfire"
Starscream pushed himself off the chair and stood with all the inherent grace of his frame type and stalked in a circle around Optimus Prime's prone form, optics never straying from their focus on him.
"Do I know you?" he murmured.
"I should hope so," Optimus Prime replied. "It wouldn't say much for your processing power if you couldn't remember who I am." It earned him another kick in the side, one he bore with little more than a flinch.
"I meant before the war, you moron," Starscream spat. His ever-mercurial mood shifted again and his voice was slightly smoother, less of an indignant and angry squawk. "You seem familiar."
"Never met you before," Optimus Prime answered truthfully. Starscream hummed thoughtfully and continued his circuit around the Autobot.
"You're being rather forthright," the seeker noted. "You weren't as talkative with Megatron." A smirk. "I suppose I am more persuasive."
"You didn't seem as much of a threat. Who are you again?"
A low groan crawled from his throat after one of the many resulting blows hit a dent in his plating that had been deepened twice before.
"I am more of a threat than Megatron ever will be!" Starscream seethed, absolutely livid even after the beating stopped. His vent slats were wide open to exhale angry heat, optics bright as he loomed over the Autobot prisoner who looked up at him impassively. He crouched suddenly, his face close to Optimus Prime's, and continued in a low hiss.
"I could kill you right now. You may be stupid, but you're not that stupid. I could kill you, and Megatron will be angry with me for robbing him of that pleasure, but I think I'd be doing him a favor. You're not worth his time. You should be begging me to allow him to kill you instead of me, Autobot."
Starscream's words were laced with dark promise, his optics the sharp, bright red of cooling slag from the deepest smelters and his mouth quirked in a smirk that could cut armor. Every gesture was a weapon, every puff of spent heat was the recoil on a hot blaster. Heat, and death.
"You think you hurt now," Starscream cooed. "Megatron is all brunt, brute force. Cold, efficient. Clean. I bring a certain… creative flair to the process, that I'm sure you'd appreciate."
"Starscream," Optimus Prime interrupted, unaffected by the visions the seeker was creating. "You're beautiful."
It was more effective than anything else at getting Starscream to shut up. The Decepticon stopped, mouth closed, optics wide and refocusing in shocked confusion, the smirk wiped away. Just as quickly, those optics narrowed again in suspicion and Starscream leaned back.
"If you think that flattery will earn you leniency, you're stupider than I thought." The armor-cutting smirk returned. "Though you can certainly keep complimenting me while I slowly offline you."
"Won't Megatron offline you for robbing him of that pleasure?" Optimus Prime asked, his voice even, as if they weren't discussing who would kill him. It gave Starscream pause again, and Optimus could see the seeker processing the possibility of just that scenario.
"You're not worth killing," Starscream finally decided, looking down at Optimus Prime with a sneer. "Not how you are now." He laughed gratingly as Optimus watched the hysterics with cool, blue optics. "Here, I have a great idea!"
And Optimus was confused, but calm, as he was dragged bodily from the room by a tank Starscream called in. It was a long, and rather painful trip to their destination – a door leading to the blasted and barren landscape of Cybertron outside of the makeshift Decepticon bunker, where Optimus Prime was thrown to the ground like a limp drone.
"The scrap pile," Starscream purred, looking down at the Autobot commander. "A fitting place for you." Optimus Prime merely looked around, taking in the gray, dismembered limbs of countless Cybertronians, spare parts, stripped gears and the ilk; he looked up at the black sky and then lowered his gaze to stare into Starscream's optics.
"Thank you," he said. "I won't forget this."
Starscream's laughter echoed as he left the Autobot leader there to rust amongst the rest of the junk. Each thought the other crazy, and paid no more mind to it.
Starscream was no stranger to Megatron's disciplinary tactics, even so early in his military career, but he was subjected to first one, then another more vicious session, when Megatron found his prisoner taken outside without his permission, and then found that said prisoner was simply gone. Escaped, or rescued by one of his Autobots. In Megatron's mind, this was Starscream's first of many betrayals, intentional or not. For Starscream, this was the first of many unjust punishments, and as such, the first of many reasons why Megatron's leadership was beginning to falter.
Optimus returned to the battlefields of Cybertron restored to all his holy, thunderous glory, and led the Autobots through their defeats and handful of victories, all the way into space and to their accidental base on Earth.
Starscream clung to his power jealously, fought viciously to retain it with one hand while reaching for more with the other, wings spread wide to guard over it all. He made the aerial corps a magnificent and terrifying thing to behold, earning an awed fear the flight models had not received since the ancient, massive flight formations Ate The Sky above groundpounders' heads on a semi-regular basis.
Their first encounter turned the course of the war. Earth would lock it into place.