Starscream's breath came out in quick bursts, making his chest burn. The seeker stared at himself in the mirror, optics wide with a mixture of crippling fear and burning shame. Damn.

At that point, it didn't really matter - he was alone, back in his own quarters, away from prying gazes and swift judgement. He didn't care that he burst out crying like a sparkling. He was afraid, fraggit. So he sobbed hysterically over his bedside table. He was fragile.

He didn't want to think about fragility. That just made him feel worse, the gaping pit in his gut growing larger and threatening to envelop him entirely. A sad, miserable way for his sad, miserable life to end. Okay, maybe he was dramatizing his situation a tad much. But that didn't make him feel any better.

After he was all out of tears and breath, the seeker shakily wiped the fluid away from his optics, hiccuping. That's it. Let it all out. His lower lip trembled along with the rest of his small frame.

As it turned out, Starscream was all about worst-case scenarios. Fitting. He wondered if it was possible to be impaled by one of Megatron's spiky deco-bits. Not to mention his claws. And those slicing dentas...

He shuddered, creasing his optic ridges and taking a deep breath. His engines were speeding along at a million miles per minute, and he could feel himself heating up. Any hotter and he would've started giving off steam. It was good to let it all out, but there was such thing as too much of a good thing.

Let me make myself clear, the warlord had started with a rumble, holding the seeker close to him and lowering his helm. You will be my pet for as long as it appeases me. You will follow my orders to the point. If you disobey me, I will kill you. The sight of Megatron's voracious grin still remained fresh in his processor. He wanted to retch. Why did he always manage to work himself into these things? Was bad luck naturally attracted to him, or did he just have a habit of looking for it?

Of all emotions he could've been feeling right then, the dominating factor had to be hunger. He was starved. And nobody thinks clearly on an empty stomach.

The seeker just finished his second cube, devouring it ravenously, when he was rather rudely interrupted by a fairly irritated looking Soundwave. The muted mech tapped him on the shoulder three times with his tentacle-probe to capture his attention. Starscream turned around slowly, scowling once he realized who it was and that they had interrupted his breakfast. "What do you want?" He spat, wings raising so the tips stood up above his helm. Aggravation and suspicion shot through his systems, rocking him from his peds to his digits.

Soundwave gestured to the other room, giving him a blank stare (literally). Starscream scowled and peered over the mech's shoulder pad. A group of vehicons were gathered stubbornly in the center of the walkway, having a heated discussion amongst themselves. At first, the seeker was confused. Then Soundwave jabbed him sharply in the exposed area below his chest plate and pointed his probe back at the flock in a swift directory motion. He supposed this meant he was supposed to do something about this uprising. The seeker groaned in impatient aggravation and moved past the muted mech, stalking over to the group.

"Okay, what's the problem here?" Starscream snarled, breaking up most of the discussion. Most of the vehicons just stared at him. One pointed a claw in his direction.

"Hey, commander," one of the droids hissed in a particularly cocky attitude. The owner of the voice walked right up to him. "Thanks a lot for nearly getting me scrapped!"

Starscream stared at the droid in disbelief, brooding over his sharp attitude. "Excuse me? What?" He shot back.

"You heard me! Lord Megatron sentenced me to a lifetime of maintenance duty in the lower wing - after you bumped into me and spilled paint all over him!" The vehicon snarled, red visor burning with rage.

Starscream glared furiously at the defiant droid. "Watch your tone, you ungrateful scrap!" He ordered. "Return to your post, before -"

"Before what, Lord Megatron beats my aft for talking back to his little seeker?!" The vehicon spat, mechanical voice lined with a poisonous edge. He took a threatening step forward and shoved the seeker. Starscream stumbled back, skidding a little on his heeled peds. A mixture of combined shock and approval rippled through the vehicon spectators.

Starscream looked back up, chest heaving. "Why, you little -"

Before he could finish, the vehicon pivoted forward and socked him squarely on the left optic. He yelped in surprise and recoiled fearfully, stinging pain wracking his entire faceplate. He covered up the wounded area with his servos, lower lip trembling. He heard a gasp, and another cheer. Hot tears prickled at the corners of his optics, and the seeker was utterly humiliated to find himself on the verge of sobbing. Again. He cracked open his undamaged optic, staring hatefully at the despicable droid.

"Not so tough now, are you?" The droid laughed spitefully, robotic voice reverberating around the bowl-shaped walls of the walkway.

"How dare you!" Starscream snapped, though his voice cracked and he just sounded pathetic. This earned him a few laughs.

"If I had known teaching you a lesson was this easy," the mech rumbled, stalking over and staring down at him, "then I would have done this a long time ago." His visor glowed with piercing rage and he curled his servos into fists. The seeker flinched away, dread pooling in his stomach.

"WHAT IS GOING ON HERE?!"

Starscream felt his spark do a jittery flip in its chamber. He turned his gaze, fear increasing a tenfold.

Lord Megatron stood at the entrance to the walkeway, looking down at the vehicons with a glare so fierce it made the rebel droid look like a frightened sparkling. His features were contorted into a mixture of fury and alarm.

The vehicon terrorist raised his visor, voicebox faltering. "Lord Megatron! He -"

The warlord grabbed the droid by the helm, lifting him into the air and hauling him at full force against the wall. The mech collided with a sickening THWACK!, falling to the ground and curling up into a crippled ball. Starscream cringed. The other droids took the hint very seriously and swiftly scattered before Lord Megatron decided to relay any further punishments.

After he took a second to catch his breath, the warlord turned back to Starscream. The seeker instinctively cowered, raising his servos above his helm in a defensive stature.

Megatron scoffed at the gesture and knelt down, hauling the seeker up by the wing. He was very careful, grasping him firmly by the flat segment and placing him on his peds. Starscream gave a little mini-yelp, balancing out and hugging himself fearfully. He didn't want to look up at the warlord, because all he could think about was the mech's menacing grin, and his servos trailing down his chassis...

Primus.

"That's some pretty nasty swelling," the warlord mumbled, grasping the seeker's lower jaw and tilting his helm up. Forced to meet the warlord's gaze, he looked up, breath catching in his respiratory canal. His gaze was hard, but laced with concern... or some lowlife equivalent. "You should go see Knockout, for..." he trailed off, staring long and hard into the seeker's optics. Starscream grew slightly frightened, afraid even to blink.

After a moment of this apparent trance, Megatron snapped back into reality, releasing the seeker and pushing past him, walking down the hall. Once he was gone, Starscream finally found he could breath again and took a huge gulp of air. The burning pain over his left optic was still intense, but nowhere near the heat of the rest of his faceplate, leaving him bright blue with blush.

This was going to be a long day.