From The Bottom Up
Chapter Seven-Puppet On A String.
A/N: Thanks to soaringphoenix68 for reminding me of something about the personality and likely reaction of our favourite Decepticon hacker. :)
Thanks again to Anne Clothier/MeowthTwo for allowing me to borrow her Headfixer character as well as Dr Syn for this chapter
When I write like this, this is databurst conversation between the Decepticons in the room.
Sam squeezed his eyes shut, a futile gesture that would do nothing to protect his eyes, he knew, and twisted his head to one side. Tears oozed out from under the lids, bathing Sam's already wet face with more warm, salty fluid. He felt the tip of the digit make contact with the sensitive skin under his right eye, and flinched.
Swindle kept the touch light, trailing the digit tip around Sam's eye sockets, first the right, then the left, then the right again.
"Which one shall I destroy first, fleshling, the right or the left?" he asked. The finger stopped moving, and then it was no longer touching his skin at all. Sam chanced opening his eyes again, and saw that Swindle had drawn the finger back, letting it hover in the foreground of his vision.
"Or perhaps you might wish to reconsider giving me the information I require." Swindle suggested. His voice seemed to soften a little. "Come on, human, how hard is it to tell me a small sequence of five little numbers?" he coaxed.
Sam was not reassured by the tone change at all. By now, Sam had realised that no matter how much (or how little) he told the red mech, Swindle would keep torturing him until he decided to kill him. Even if Sam told him the five-digit code to the Autobot base, he'd lose his eyes the next time he could not, or would not answer a question, or when the cruel little mech tired of toying with him. Sam was not going to endanger his friends at the Autobot base by telling Swindle the code, although he hoped a sequence of five random digits – the ends of his cell phone number, perhaps – might persuade Swindle to kill him quickly and get it over with. How would Swindle know if Sam had given a bogus code?
'Speaking of a code, or more specifically, the Code, where the Hell is Starscream when I actually need him?' Sam thought, gritting his teeth, and getting ready to close his eyes again.
A chittering sound drew both Sam and Swindle's attention to Sam's right. A silver blur was all that Sam saw, a silver blur that launched itself through the air and landed on Swindle's shoulder, next to his neck.
It was Frenzy!
Sam recognised the spindly little mech as it flipped out a lethal-looking spike from its wrist and rammed it into the back of Swindle's neck. The chittering sounded again, and although Sam could not understand the language being spoken, the tone of voice, to Sam, was unmistakeable. Sam could have sworn that Frenzy was cussing Swindle out, as the hacker yanked down hard on the spike firmly embedded in Swindle's left data port.
Swindle's reaction was swift and loud. The Decepticon torturer straightened up abruptly with a shrill electronic squeal that sounded itself like a screech of pain. His hands jerked up towards his neck but froze mid-way.
Sam took this opportunity to grab his broken arm at the wrist to steady it – the pain this caused making him cry out and threatening to make him black out again – and then get to his feet and scramble a few feet away.
Swindle's optic dimmed to just a dull red spot of light in the centre, as Frenzy's head tipped back on its neck and his chittering continued, alternating between the scolding tone used earlier and a lighter tone that reminded Sam of laughter. Swindle took two steps backwards, turned almost a hundred and eighty degrees on the spot, so he was facing away from the human boy, and took two more tottering steps away from Sam.
Sam realised at this point that the Decepticon hacker had somehow gained control of Swindle's body, as if Swindle was no more than a giant puppet. Frenzy made another jerking movement at the back of Swindle's neck, and let out a sighing mechanical hiss of satisfaction. As Swindle began toppling forwards, his optic turned as if to look at Sam, but even the dull red point had gone from the optic's centre. Frenzy yanked out his metal spike from Swindle's neck, and leaped off Swindle and landed on the floor as the door opened with a bang.
Starscream and Dr Syn came in at a run as Swindle hit the floor with a loud clanking noise. As Dr Syn headed for Sam, Starscream stopped by Swindle's inert body, drew back one foot, and kicked the insensate mech viciously.
"What happened?" asked Dr Syn of Frenzy. Frenzy let out a high-speed chittering that must have been understandable to both the medic and the Decepticon leader, for the doctor scowled, and Starscream gave Swindle another hard kick.
Dr Syn stepped towards Sam, the scowl disappearing and he crouched, holding his hands out, and gently scooping Sam into them. Sam's arm was throbbing painfully and he was getting dizzy. As the adrenaline form his ordeal began to wear off and shock began to set in, Sam began shaking, and he saw black spots swarming in front of his eyes.
"Okay, Sam, you're safe now." said the doctor. It was the last thing Sam heard before he fainted.
oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo
Dr Syn took Sam over to his work surface, and lay the human down on it. He was glad he'd read upon humans, and managed, with Barricade's help, to 'acquire' some things he might need to treat humans from a local drugstore and a nearby hospital a few days after Sam's arrival. He beckoned Frenzy over, the roles Sam and Frenzy had played out earlier that day being reversed as Dr Syn gave Frenzy instructions upon setting up a drip for Sam with nutrients and a sedative in.
As Frenzy helped the medic put Sam's arm in a bandage with fibreglass splints either side to straighten the bones so they would set properly, Starscream opened a three-way data link.
"What happened? Why did you wait so long before acting, Frenzy? Why did you wait so long to call us?" Starscream asked. The little silver mech looked up at his leader, optics shuttering once or twice before he replied.
"I had to recalibrate my communications system after the doctor repaired me in order to send communications. I could only receive at first. I also had to wait to act in case Swindle's reflexive response to my presence could have killed the flesh-boy accidentally. While he was leaning over him, to land on his neck could have caused him to increase the pressure to lethal levels. These human creatures seem fragile." Frenzy explained, as the doctor finished using a brush to apply a quick-hardening solution to the bandaging to put the lower arm and hand in what the humans called a 'cast.'
Starscream had only told Barricade, Dr Syn, Soundwave (who would have found out anyway if he'd not) and now Frenzy the real reason for Sam's presence. It was safer for himself and Sam if as few people as possible knew. It pained him to exclude even his two wing-brothers, but Skywarp's foolishness and Thundercracker's rivalry with him could have jeopardised everything with one careless sentence.
Swindle, from his position on the floor, groaned and stirred. Starscream turned his attention to Swindle, who was recovering – Frenzy had only sent him into a temporary offlined state, almost like an induced faint- and then back to the medic. The doctor held Sam's upper body upright, telling Frenzy how to wrap Sam's lower abdomen in stretchy bandaging to support the broken rib.
"What are his injuries? Will he survive?" Starscream asked, expanding the data link so Swindle could send and receive as well.
"He has three structural organs broken, some internal and external leakage, although not enough to endanger him, plus subdermal haematomas, what the humans call 'bruising.' His body's biological response to the trauma has sent him into 'shock.' My treatment, plus his body's own repair systems, means that the damage will not be permanent." Dr Syn told Starscream. "In answer to your second question, he will survive."
Starscream turned his attention back to the now-cowering Swindle.
"How very fortunate for you, Swindle." Starscream told him, dealing the still-dazed red mech a violent backhand, sending him flying backwards by twenty feet. "If he were to die, your own life would be forfeit." He strode over as Swindle picked himself up. "I told you this human was too valuable for you to interrogate, I told you to leave him alone. You disobeyed me, Swindle, and I am your Leader. Such disobedience must be punished."
Starscream reached down with one hand, grabbing Swindle around his neck. "Look after my pet, Doctor, and keep him well. Frenzy, come with me and call everyone else to assemble in the main hangar." He cut the data link and strode towards the door, half-dragging the red mech behind him.
He walked into the main hangar, striding in and marching to the middle, pulling Swindle to his feet. Swindle cringed but did not dare speak, he was not the brightest mech there, but had enough processor power to knows that when Starscream was this torqued, to only speak if spoken to.
Starscream watched as his followers assembled before him. There was Soundwave, with his Cassetticons - Rumble, Ravage, Squawktalk, Ratbat and Laserbeak - and Frenzy joined them. There, too, were Barricade, who like Soundwave had returned from his assignment, Wreckage the tank-mech, his wing-brothers Thundercracker and Skywarp, the truck-mech Payload, the dour Dropkick, plus Scorponok, the processor-doctor Headfixer, and the ever-pessimistic dark car Dead End. As he watched, Dead End noticed the cowering Swindle.
"What's he done now?" Dead End said to Headfixer. "Judging by the look on Lord Starscream's face, he's bound for the scrap-heap at the same time as I am-maybe sooner."
"Sooner, I'd say." Headfixer muttered back, also noting the fury on Starscream's face and in his optics.
Starscream reached down, pushing down on Swindle's neck, and Swindle sensibly obeyed the unspoken command, dropping to his knees. Starscream looked up to address his followers.
"Decepticons, Swindle here has put our project to corrupt the Autobot mascot to our cause in jeopardy by directly disobeying an explicit order that I, your Leader, personally gave him to leave my pet alone." He glared at Swindle. "In earlier times, I would have killed him for such disloyalty, but I have learned some restraint in becoming the permanent leader of the Decepticons, and Swindle has been useful in the past."
Swindle, who had clearly expected to be executed, looked up with hope in his optic, but Starscream had no intention of letting Swindle get away that easily: had Sam died, Soundwave could have easily revealed about Starscream and the Code, declared him Oathbreaker, and risked his leadership. He continued to speak.
"I can be merciful and fair: I will give Swindle a chance to defend himself. I will duel him, melee weapons only. I am taller than he, but he is manoeuvrable enough to make up, and his weapons are his hands. This is not as uneven as it might seem, and it is better then execution." He turned his gaze back on Swindle.
"Is that not so, Swindle? The choice is yours: I can execute you here and now as an example of what I do to those disloyal enough to challenge my orders, or you can accept my offer to duel: if I defeat you and you beg enough, I may spare your miserable Spark."
Swindle was now shaking: he was clearly regretting his actions as he realised the consequences to himself. He realised that Starscream was waiting for an answer, and spoke.
"Y-yes, Lord Starscream, it is better, and I accept your offer to duel." He said.
Starscream saw his followers spread out to form the customary circle around the two battlers. He smiled.
"Good. Take your position, Swindle, and prepare to fight, or beg, for your life." Starscream ordered, moving back and bracing himself in a fighting stance, feet apart, knees ready to spring into action, and he flexed his own razor-sharp digits in anticipation.
