Transformers: Starscream/ Tracks

Title: Mood Music
Author: Tinpan
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: slash, voyeurism
Prompt: - Transformers (G1), Starscream/Tracks: fuck or die, snark -
"If the interfacing doesn't kill me, the whining will

Word Count: 702

Author's notes: Think of this as a deleted scene in the episode 'Make Tracks.' A quick plot summary: Soundwave and Starscream hatch a plan to hypnotize humans using ultrasound messages hidden in the music of Discotron, the swankiest new dancefloor in town. Tracks investigates, only to be ambushed and crucified to Discotron's massive sound system.

This story started out more in tune with the prompt, then shrieked and collapsed like Michael Jackson in a Pepsi commercial...and that's pretty much the tone of the story. It's also one day late. Apologies!

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MOOD MUSIC

"Soundwave, you absolute bastard! That was not what I meant when I radioed you for back-up!" Starscream stomped into Discotron's second-floor video lounge and slammed the door shut, causing Frenzy to wince.

Soundwave glanced up briefly from the video console. "Clarification requested."

"I told you to cover me while I checked whether Tracks was truly offline. That Autobot's a trickster…and I was right! He was playing robo-possum, just waiting until I got close enough to shoot! What's more, he would've destroyed the entire sound system if I hadn't—hadn't…" Starscream flailed balled fists in the air, couldn't find the words, and returned to accusation. "You're only lucky my stamina proved superior! Ultimately it doesn't matter what he did. The issue here is your failure to assist me in battle!"

"Risk assessment of a close-quarter laser fight showed eighty-eight percent probability of irrepairable damage to Discotron's equipement," Soundwave replied, retruning his attention to the console screens. "My method of pacification for target autobot: Tracks proved more… efficient."

"Pacification!? PACIFICATION?" Starscream sputtered. "I don't think you grasp the severity of this matter-- Tracks was anything but pacified. And I have the bruises to prove it!"

"Yeah, we noticed," snickered Frenzy. "Nice action on the dance floor, boss. You sure went above and beyond the call of duty--"

"Shut up, you analog-accursed midget!" Starscream turned back to Soundwave. "I'm going to file a full report on this. Seeding the disco music with your subsonic lust-inducing ultrasounds during a critical combat situation—the nerve! You're going to spend three hundred vorns in the brig for insubordination once Megatron—"

"---watches the video?" Frenzy smiled, holding up a black videocassette.

Starscream gasped. "You taped us!?!"

"Wanna bet it's gonna make a killing back on Cybertron's cyberporn black market? That was hot, hot hot, baby!-- Ah-ah-aaaah!" Frenzy ducked, easily evading Starscream's frantic grasp, and tossed the tape into the air where it was promptly retrieved by Laserbeak.

"Hey Soundwave! Maybe we oughtta send the Autogeeks a copy. I hear Tracksie's pretty popular around the circuit. You should be happy, Screamer, the Corvette's a real looker—eeeeck!" Frenzy screeched as Starscream finally caught him and wrapped his arms around the casseticon's throat.

"Listen here, you pint-sized malfunction," Starscream growled," I want that tape, I want it now, and if I don't get it I'm going to rip your tape inch by wretched inch. What say you, Soundwave?"

"Release Frenzy. Laserbeak: surrender the recording."

"Excellent." Starscream tossed the video in the air and vaporized it with a graceful shot from his shoulder cannon. "Furthermore, I expect that not a single word of this….incident…leaves this room, is that clear? The Autobot witness will be terminated, and if the story leaks, I'll do the same to you. "

"Affirmative, Starscream."

"Good. Now I'm going for a quick recharge. I'll be back in ten astro-minutes, presuming that's not enough time for even you bumbling idiots to mess things up with our prisoner..." Starscream paused and looked out the window.

The other mechs followed his gaze beyond the video lounge's glass panes, across the Discotron dance floor, over the heads of entranced human dancers and onwards to where it finally rested: the massive floor-to-ceiling speakers to which Tracks-- spread-eagled, bound, and cruelly blasted with Soundwave's signature torture-soundtrack-- writhed in helpless ecstasy.

"…You're right about one thing, Frenzy. He really is a looker."

They continued watching in silence. After several energon cycles, Frenzy cleared his throat.

"So, uh….what was it like?" His voice sounded imperceptibly hoarse around the edges.

Starscream, halfway through the door, turned and smirked. "You watched the video…you tell me."

Frenzy waited after the Starscream left the lounge. "Soundwave, tell me that wasn't the only copy!"

"Affirmative. The only videocassette recording." Soundwave produced a shiny silver disc from his palm. "Alternative scanners: undetected by Starscream. Covert digital recording: enabled. Image quality test: imperative." He fed the disk into a slot in the console.

The image of two blissfully intertwined mechs flooded the video monitors set up above Discotron's various darkened nooks and crannies. Frenzy, Laserbeak and Soundwave's optics remained glued to the main screen. If Discotron's hypnotized dancers notced the wanton display, they didn't show it.