A/N: Long wait... . Thanks for sticking with it. One more after this, then the epilogue. :D I have no excuses! But I have the ending written so don't attack me. It'll be up soon.


Megatron and his troops emerged from the sub to see the grinning faceplates of the preening seekers. The ground was covered in the blood of the organics, as well as their crushed corpses that had tasted the seeker's wrath earlier. But they were a little taken aback by the amount of them still alive.

Starscream landed gracefully next to his leader, his thrusters purring softly until they cut out. "Their reaction to our attack did not go as expected..." Starscream said, amused. "But they will be of no threat to us."

Megatron looked at the still enthralled beings as they lovingly drank in the frames of the Seekers. It was going to take weeks of berating to get rid of the Seekers' developing god-complex.

"...Satisfactory, then." The gunformer could not help but notice the red and white Seeker as he beamed under the meager praise. The submarine trip seemed to have done wonders for his efficiency, and Megatron's willingness to reward.

Still, the SIC stood a noticeable distance away, and even as Megatron began to walk to inspect their conquered world, the Seeker gave him a wide berth. Megatron felt his servos itch to hold the seeker close, but it was obvious the Seeker did not need him. At the moment. Obviously his conditioning would need to be more intense to make it last.

"Where is their leader?" He quipped, walking quickly on the dock for shore. Starscream picked up the pace to fall in behind him: another confusing consideration that Megatron felt might have been mere posturing on the Seeker's part. But what if it was sincere?

"He has holed himself up in the catacombs. We were awaiting your arrival so that you could interrogate him yourself."

More consideration. Interesting.

"We will go down there together. Your presence will doubtless have an effect on him that might make him more willing to explain his abundance of energon himself."

Starscream felt his intakes lurch. True, he had waited to allow the warlord a glory in exploring the catacombs, but the truth was it was a decidedly cramped space. He wasn't ready for such confinement; not after his experience before. Still... he felt confident that he could handle it. Especially with his plan waiting for him.

"Starscream, is that a problem?"

"No, Megatron. I will follow you down."

Megatron frowned a little, half expecting some protest. But he reminded himself, this is what you wanted, right? An obedient second. Yet, he could not help but feel cheated.

They went through the entrance that glowed softly of the pink liquid that ran through clear pipes. It was a sickly light that muted Starscream's paint but practically made Megatron shine with unholy vibrance. He looked over his shoulder at his second who had noticed the small space but was taking it relatively well. Perhaps it was his proximity that kept the seeker calm?

They went around a bend and found the organic leader with his back against the wall, slumped on the ground. He was bleeding at an alarming rate, but both Decepticons regarded him with a sneer.

"I'm afraid I have a small confession to make," Megatron said to the green Europan, eliciting a small chuckle from Starscream.

"I knehw your intentions frohm the stahrt, Megatron..." The organic's breathing was labored and slow.

"Curious species you are then, with no self-preservation," Megatron observed, bending down to crouch in front of the organic. He narrowed his optics. "Still, you made a comment earlier that has sustained my interest, and could sustain your life should you choose to elaborate." Starscream couldn't help but look at his leader with a confused expression on his faceplates.

"You whant to knohw about Primus."

"How is it you know of Primus?" Starscream blurted out, as his arms folded across his chest.

The leader took a long breath. "Primus gave us everything we have... ouhr technology, ouhr freedom, ouhr world. For many a generation, we craved more, and Primus saw fit to give it to us.

"But then his children came to steal from us. So he allowed his brother Unicron to destroy them."

Megatron couldn't help but give a furtive look to his second. It was no mistake. Their mythology was oddly present on this planet, and it couldn't be coincidence. They had definitely seen Cybertronians before.

"Destroy them?" Starscream asked, bending down to crouch beside Megatron. His wingtip glanced off the gunformer's back, and Megatron repressed a smile despite himself. "I don't quite understand."

"Unicron, as the God of chaos and death, deactivated your ancestors and used their bodies as a protective shell around our civilization..."

There was a second before recognition. "The debris..." Starscream said quietly.

"And... the energon," Megatron finished. Starscream felt his tanks turn as if he was going to purge.

"Ah yes... the very lifeblood of your bodies has... sustained us."

Starscream began to back up slowly. "And most of the mechs who died..." Megatron said.

"Were seekers. Hence our adoration."

Starscream's vents began to cycle rapidly. "So we are enclosed on this planet, with the bodies of seekers?" he screeched. Suddenly even the fake sky had lost its sweetness; he felt as if he were back on the sub with the walls closing in.

"It can't be true," Megatron said, standing up, his face becoming dark.

"This energon... is the blood..." Starscream looked horrified.

"Starscream, calm down," Megatron snapped, glaring over his shoulder. The seeker was shivering like a car-alt out of gear.

"You cahn takhe the energon, Megatron... we glahdly give it to you..." the organic coughed and sighed when he spit up blood.

Megatron snarled and powered up his cannon. "We're not accepting it as a gift you moronic squish bag, we're taking it as spoils! Die, you fragger." He fired a shot and smirked at the black mark on the floor that used to be the dying leader.

"Megatron... I can't do it. I can't go back up awake."

Megatron turned and looked at the seeker thoughtfully. "Even if I'm with you?" he said it in a flat voice.

Starscream felt his digits twitch with need. The catacombs were getting cramped. "I... it will be different. I'll know what we're maneuvering around." Starscream attempted to steady himself on his pedes, but when his servo leaned on a pipe of coursing energon, he pulled back as if burned.

"Starscream..." Megatron purred, going to his second slowly, as if he had a wounded organic he was trying to soothe. Starscream regarded the tyrant with crazed, distrustful eyes.

"Why would it matter if you know what they are? Even what the energon used to be. We're Decepticons, Starscream, and we can use whatever we find to crush our enemies into the dust." He reached out a servo for the seeker to take.

Starscream looked at the hand and shivered. He shuttered his optics and forced himself to relax. "No. I'm... fine. I will attempt to fulfill your wishes, Megatron."

Megatron let his servo hang in the air for a moment longer before he closed it into a fist. He was irritated by the seeker's brush off. But, still, Starscream was obedient. Setting his jaw, he began to stalk out of the catacombs, not waiting for the seeker to follow.

Starscream shivered one more time, then followed the tyrant out. Despite everything, a small smile tugged at his lip components.