Starscream tried not to think of how ironic his situation was; on the bottom of the sea at the bottom the world as he tried to reach the top. He tried not to think at all, lest his incessant processor take away power from his legs as they forced their way through the water. Even with the Apex Armour it took all his strength just to take a step forward, and even more to convince himself the effort was worth it.
Here he was, stronger than even Optimus Prime, and he was about to be crushed by water. It was a fate so humiliating he wouldn't even have wished it on Megatron.
...He was extending hypothetical mercy towards Megatron. He really was going crazy with all the icy blue and gloom.
The rush of the waves past him was muted by the glass over his helm, the only thing protecting him from a slow and painful rusting. Even now he could hear the armour's joints creaking as the metal started to oxidise- clearly Solus Prime hadn't intended her creations to go underwater.
If stasis lock didn't get him first, the damnable laws of chemistry would.
"Hello!"
His slow progress halted. Either he just heard a voice, or he'd finally blown a logic core after all the centuries' strain.
"Over here!" Against all better judgement, he actually looked to the source of the surprisingly light noise. A shadow danced in the near distance, looking like a Driller with an agile body and menacing presence. Starscream might have shrieked if his wires weren't all stiff and lagging, both from fear and fierce cold.
The shadow flicked itself nearer to him, and filtered light illuminated blue and silver metal plates dotted with pink biolights over a rose protoform. Green optics blinked curiously through the tide down at him. It would have looked like a regular Cybertronian, if not for the long segments of interlocking sheets and cords replacing standard legs and swishing around as if the water wasn't even there.
"You seem lost," the creature mused with a femme's voice, still blinking away. Starscream noticed jagged denta as she spoke, still remembering her initial resemblance to a Driller (and those helm crowns were strikingly similar to Airachnid's…). He kept his distance, leaning slightly away from her.
"What in the Pit are you?" he hissed, unsure if his voice would even carry through the water. The femme-thing seemed to hear him fine though, orienting herself so she was optic-level with him while her tail floated upwards.
"I'm Navico, what's your name?"
That didn't really answer his question, but he thought better of asking again. "S...Starscream," he answered, blaming his stutter on a frozen vocaliser. He forced some fire into his ego, setting himself into a proud stance that made his wings stand erect despite them being shielded by the Apex. "Progeny of Windscythe and Cloudchaser, heir to the Winglord of Vos and former second in command of the Decepticons. And I command you to tell me how to get to the surface!"
Navico blinked and cocked her helm to one side. "That's a long name, I'll just call you Screamy. What's the surface?"
Starscream was starting to feel like he was the victim of some sort of intricate prank. "It's what's above this aquatic wasteland, you-"
Her tail snapped against a bubble of air as she realised. "Oh, you mean the Iceworld!" She gestured upwards and beamed at him despite his scowl at being interrupted so rudely.
"Yes, yes, whatever, how do I get there, dammit?" He'd worry about whatever race of robotic she was after he was out of danger, even if it was tempting to find out how on Cybertron metal managed to survive down here- let alone living metal.
Navico hummed to herself and placed a digit on her chin, optics looking up at the ice above them. "Well, I haven't been up there in a while- Nautilator doesn't like when we have to leave the water. His sister Nautica likes collecting things frozen in the ice though, and Thunderblast likes coming up to see if there's any mechs nearby-" She paused and cocked her helm again, peering at him with a grin. "Should I tell her you've come to sweep her off her tail?"
Starscream couldn't tell if she was mocking him- a pervasive flaw of his that earned him more than a few public humiliations on and off Cybertron. He cleared his vocaliser and turned his attention to the dead seabed under his armoured peds. "That… won't be necessary. I just want to get out of here already." His denta were gritted as his energon levels and patience dropped in sync with each other. He loathed having to beg help from something that probably wasn't even on the same rung of the evolutionary ladder as him, but he didn't have much of a choice. Besides, it wasn't like anyone was watching to hold it against him.
Navico got that searching look again, rolling her optics to her side as her tail absently twirled with fins fluttering, as if thinking made them itch. "Well… you could use the east caves... they lead down to a little grotto that'll take you up to the base of the mountains." Her mouth compressed into a pout that made her look like a sparkling with optics narrow and servos folded over her chest. "But don't tell anyone else about it, that's where I keep all my trinkets so Nautica doesn't steal them!" she warned with a huff.
Starscream fought the urge to roll his optics as what was left of his tolerance condensed into a deadpan expression. "My lipplates are sealed, dear. Which way is east?"
She flicked her tail to her left, and Starscream went on his way with a grumble.
"See ya, Screamy Scythe Vos Command Con!" she called, but he didn't turn to see her waving farewell.
'And I thought Airachnid was a weird femme...' he sneered to himself.
Navico herself had some thoughts she only voiced after Starscream was a speck in the distance and her servo got tired from waving. "What a strange mech. Kind of cute, though." She shrugged, and went on swimming.
xx
To those that don't know her, this here is Navico: /mediawiki/images2/thumb/0/0d/YDSB_ /180px-YDSB_
Ain't she a sweetie. She turns into a dolphin usually, which I figured was just one step away from a robot mermaid.