CHAPTER 10

Megatron stepped toward the half frozen Starscream. From the look on his face the jet knew his superior wasn't happy about having to save his rear. The air commander said nothing. There was no way he'd be able to explain himself. He heard laughter and looked past Megatron. A few yards behind the gray mech stood Thundercracker and Skywarp. Thundercracker was looking at him without expression but Skywarp was laughing his head off and pointing at the red, white, and blue jet.

"Wow, Starscream, you give new meaning to the term frozen in fear!" the black and purple jet joked, holding his stomach nearly doubled over. "Hahahahaaaa!"

Mgetron looked over his shoulder and gave Skywarp a testy look. "Be quiet, Skywarp!" he ordered.

The jet shut up.

Megatron stood over Starscream who looked up at him without saying a word. There was nothing to say. Starscream couldn't explain himself anyway. "I don't want to know what this is about, at least not now," Megatron said, putting his hands on his hips. "You'd probably lie to me anyway."

The jet looked away, saying nothing. Megatron expected as much. He turned his attention on Starscream's frozen limbs. Lowering the power on his cannon he shot the ice, melting it off the air commander. "But you do owe me an explanation."

Thundercracker, ignoring Starscream, stepped around them, his optics glued on the thing Megatron had shot. He reached down and picked the Hunter up by the arm, lifting the limp metal figure up to his face for a better look. This was shooting at him?

Suddenly Skywarp was beside him, the black and purple jet leaned toward the limp from dangling from Thundercracker's fingers. "What's that?" he asked. He poked her with his finger and her body swung back and forth. "It's not moving. Do you think it's dead?"

"Stop that," Thundercracker said when his friend poked the hunter again."This is not a toy."

"But I want to know what it is," Skywarp said, looking up at the gray and blue jet.

"What does it look like?" the other jet demanded.

Skywarp looked at her again. "I don't know. A robot?"

Megatron looked up from what he was doing and stared at the small robotic figure Thundercracker was holding. Whatever that thing is it was powerful enough to take down Starscream, he smirked. Not that that's too hard to do. "Let me see that," he ordered.

Thundercracker brought the Hunter over to his superior. Megatron put out his hand and he set her in it. The gray mech turned her over so he could see the Hunter's face. It was covered with a helmet with a green face vizor. For all Megatron knew that could be its face. "Hmmm..."

"What is it?" Thundercracker asked.

The gray Decepticon flipped it over again then closed his fist around it. "I don't know," he said. "We'll take it back to the base. Soundwave can run a scan over it and see what it's made of."

The two jets nodded and Skywarp asked. "What are we going to do about Starscream?"

Megatron met the other jet's optics. "I don't trust him with you," he told them. "Not after that little stunt you pulled with his wing."

"But we weren't-" Skywarp began

Megatorn cut him off, pointing at the sky, impatiently. "Go on ahead," he ordered. "I'll bring him back myself."

The other jets nodded and flew away, transforming into vehicle mode as they did. Megatron, with the hunter's body still enclosed in his fist, reached down and grabbed Starscream's arm. He pulled the air commander to his feet. Starscream tried standing on his own but his legs felt numb from the ice that had gotten into their circitry and he nearly fell over. Luckily Megatron's grip on his arm kept him from doing so. The gray Decepticon yanked on it and brought him into a standing position again. He draped the air commander's arm over his shoulders and rose into the air.
"When we get back to the base you'd better have a good explanation for what happened," Megatron said to him again. "Because I want one."

Starscream looked away and said nothing. Right now he couldn't say anything. Right now all he cared about was getting repaired, but he couldn't help thinking. He sounds like my father when he says that...

Cybertron's second moon. Past.

Silverblade stood in front of Starscream with his arms folded. The younger robot had his hands behind his back and his optics wondered to every place except his creator's face. He didn't like seeing Silverblade when he was angry and knew better than to meet his optics anyway. Too bad for him Silverblade wanted him tomeet his gaze. "Look at me," the older mech finally commanded.

Starscream lifted his head and met his creator's optics. Silverblade glared at him, disappointment clrea in his features. "You had better have a good explanation for what happened," he said, his voice impatient. "and don't even think of lying to me. It's bad enough you're always messing up things but sneaking to Cybertron?! What were you thinking?"

Starscream tried to speak. "I-"

Silverblade waved him off. "I don't need your excuses. Starscream," he said. "You're lucky Skyfire saw you and brought you back before anything could happen to you. I have enough to worry about without you sneaking off like that. Why can't you be more like the others?"

Because I'm not like the others, he thought and wanted to say. I'm me.

Silverblade paced for a moment, lecturing the younger mech the whole time. "I warned you many times that Cybertron is a dangerous place for Neutrals to be hanging out by themslves and yet you keep on trying to get there. I told you, if you want to go you can come with me the next time I go."

"But you hardly ever go," Starscream blurted without thinking. "and when you do you always take somebody else!"

His creator glared at him. "I take others because you always do something to make me not want to take you," Silverblade snapped, his voice more cutting than he meant it to be."Like what you did today. Why should I take somebody that likes to disobey orders? That just shows me that you're irresponsible and would likely wonder off on me if I told you to stay close." he unfolded his arms and walked over to his creation who had looked away. "Now don't be that way. I'm just looking out for you. I don't want anything to happen to you but it's going to if you keep disobeying me."

"I just wanted to see what it was like down there," Starscream said in a small voice.

Silverblade sighed. This was his own fault. He should never have taken Starscream to the planet in the first place. Now the younger mech wanted to see more of it. Even a taste is not wise...because then they just want more!

He put a hand on the younger mech's shoulder. "Starscream look at me," he said. When he did so the older mech said, in a soothing voice. "I have reasons for not letting you go again. Aside from you constantly depriving yourself of that privilage there are many many reasons why you should stay here."

"Like what?" Starscream asked, his voice not disrespectful. He really wanted to know.

"Like staying here will keep you from being harmed," Silverblade explained. 'There are many down there that would take advantage of you in more ways than one. They could beat you, take out your spark and crush it while you're forced to watch, and kill you in that order without giving it a second thought. Or they could do something else. Something a lot more painful." he looked right into his creations red optics and said. "I don't want the same thing that happened to Renagade to happen to you."

Starscream remembered the fate of Renagade. Renagade was his older brother so to speak. The older mech was fearless, strong, and over confident. He'd gone to Cybertron by himself to prove to his creator that everything would be fine. He'd also promised to come back soon. Weeks had gone by and he hadn't returned. Silverblade had grown frantic and eventually went to Cybertron himself to look for him. When he'd returned he'd been carrying what was left of Renegade's formerly perfect body.

"I understand," Starscream said, shivering at the memory. "I am sorry. I won't do it again."

Silverblade looked relieved. He pulled Starscream toward him and hugged him. "That's all I ask for."

"Starscream!" Megatron's voice brought Starscream back to reality. He turned his head toward his superior. The gray mech was looking at him impatiently. "Have you even heard a word I said?" he demanded.

"I.." was all Starscream could say. He couldn't really tell Megatron that he hadn't been paying attention because then the mech would just get mad at him and scold him and make him feel even worse. Instead he tried to sound like he had heard him. "What was your last question again?"

"I asked you why you didn't contact the base?" Megatron said, giving him a look. "If you were in this much trouble why didn't you report in?"

"I tried," Starscream told him. "My comlink is broken."

"Oh." well that explained things. But then again he had said something earlier about running into trouble. Megatron had though it was just the usual over reacting, though he had sent Skywarp and Thundercracker to assist him anyway so the Decepticon would stop whining. He sighed. "When it was working and you contacted the base you should have been more specific with your problem."

"Would you have believed me if I had?"

Megatron knew that answer. No he would not have. He would have thought Starscream was being dramatic and the situation wasn't as serious as he said it was. "We'll discuss this further when we get back to the base and you're repaired," he said after a moment of silence. "Then you will tell me everything."

"I'm telling you, Prime, we should have sent somebody to watch her," Ironhide was saying to Optimus. "She said she was paid to capture Starscream for somebody and she's likely to go after him again."

Optimus looked at him. "She told us not to interfere," he told the other mech. "We have to respect her wishes."

"If that's true why did you send Mirage to spy on her?" Ironhide wanted to know.

Prime didn't answer. At that moment the blue and white Ford rode into the Ark and stopped in front of the two other robots. He transformed and looked up at Prime. "What happened?" Prime asked.

Mirage looked nervous as he related what he had seen. "That hunter went after Starscream again like she said she would," he replied. "She got into it wtht him and for awhile it seemed she wasn't doing much good. He had her running in circles." he folded his arms. 'Then she uses some kind of ice beam on him that freeze his limbs-"

"Wait!" Ironhide cut him off. "An Ice beam?"

"That what it looked like," Mirage told him. "Anyway she shoots him in three places with it and has him completely imobilized. just before she gets to finish him off Megatron and his cronies sneak up from behind and blast her."

Optimus stared at him. "Megatron shot her?" he asked.

Mirage nodded. "But, from what I saw, her powersuit is still intact so maybe she is still alive."

Optimus shook his head, turning away from the blue and white bot. "I knew this would happen," he said.

"There's something else," Mirage went on.

Prime looked back at the shorter mech. "When Megatron left with Starscream he took the woman with him." he met Optimus' optics. "What are we going to do?"

"Nothing," the Autobot leader replied. He noticed the looks on their faces. "If Megatron took her to their base there is nothing we can do to help her."

Megatron took it upon himself to repair Starscream. He didn't trust Thundercracker and Skywarp with it anymore and he had some questions he needed to ask him anyway. After he'd handed the Hunter over to Soundwave with specific instructions he lugged the half limp air commander to the repair bay. So far Starscream had said little to nothing which was a surprise and a not so unwelcome change, but that would change soon enough. Megatron made sure nobody else was in the repair bay. He wanted to talk to Starscream alone and he figured the jet would be more comfortable with a one on one, not that that was possible. This was Starscream. Starscream and him didn't really get along, not after that incident so long ago when Megatron found out the jet's true intentions for the very first time...

"Now, Starscream," Megatron said, picking up some tools. "Why don't you tell me about your little encounter with that thing I shot down."

Starscream wouldn't even look at him. The jet kept his mouth shut and didn't make a sound. Fianly he said, his voice still sounding sarcastic and disrespectful, even in his weakened state. "What importance is it to you, Mighty Megatron?"

Megatron was running low on patience and was getting tired of Starsceram's attitude. He set the tools down and walked over to his second in command, grabbing his head and forcibly turning it toward him. "You have stone walled long enough and I don't have time for anymore of your childish games," he said, locking optics with the other Decepticon. "I want to know why that thing was after you and you had better have a good answer."

Starscream put his hand on Megatron's arm and tried to yank it free. It was bad enough he'd been thrashed twice by a bounty hunter no bigger than a human but now Megatron was going to do it. He couldn't tell Megatron the truth anyway, because he wasn't sure if he was even right! "I don't know why it was after me," he said only half honest because of his hunch. "I have never even seen this person before last night."

Megatron wasn't buying it. "You're lying," he growled, shoving down on the jet's neck. Starscream grunted as he fell back onto the table. "I think you know something about this person and you're not telling me."

"I don't know anything," the jet gasped, now using both hands to try to pry his superior's hand loose. "I'm telling the truth!"

"Then why in Vector Sigma would it be after you?" the gray mech growled, leaning over him.

Starscream thought fast, not wanting Megatron to pummle his already heavily damaged body until he recieved the answer he wanted, and shouted. "Maybe they were paid to do it!"

Megatron leaned closer, invading Starscream's personal space even more and making him sqiurm uncomfortably. Now he was getting somewhere. "Why would somebody pay a hunter to come after you?" he demanded.

That part Starscream wasn't about to say. He had never told Megatron about his problems with his creator even at the beginning. He had always said he had something to prove but didn't specifie to who and why. He still wasn't about to tell, even if Megatron decided to beat him to a slag heap. "I don't know," he replied. "Maybe the Autobots were behind it? Maybe they think capturing me will get to you."

"If the Autobots wanted to capture you they wouldn't need to hire a hunter to do it," Megatron snapped. "Tell the truteh or your wing won't be the only thing ripped in half."

"That is the truth!" Starscream shouted in desperation, wanting Megatron to just let him go and get off. "I don't know! I can only guess because I honestly don't know! There is nothing esle I can think of besides that!" and then he closed his mouth and said no more, lest he give away his own theory.

Megatron waited but Starscream refused to say anything else. For a moment the gray mech considered getting him to say more the old fasion way but changed his mind. He let the jet go and moved away from him, turning his back on his second in command. "It doesn't matter anyway," he told him. "What I can't learn from you I can learn from him."

Starscream, his hand on his neck, sat up instantly. "Him?" he asked, his voice cracking.

Megatron turned back to him, a blow torch in his hand. "You're little sparring buddy," he said, before grabbing Starscream's wing and yanking it toward him. "I brought him back with us. Now hold still."

Starscream yanked away from him and stared at him with horror filled optics. "You brought that thing here?!" he exclaimed. "Why would you do such a thing?"

Megatron gave him an impatient look. "That is no concern of yours," he said yanking him around again.

Starscream once again pulled away. "It does too concern me!" he shouted. "That thing tried to kill me, twice! How could you even think of bringing it here?!"

The gray mech regarded him coldly. "I have reasons," he told the jet. "Ones that you should not be concerned about." he took hold of Starscream's wing once again and started working on it. "I can assure you, Starscream, that it won't come after you."

Soundwave set the Hunter's body under a scanner and sat down in front of the large computer in the control room. He tapped out some commands and let the computer run a scan of the hunter's entire body. Since the thing was so small it wouldn't take long. He waited, staring at the screen as an X-Ray like image slowly pixalated itself onto the screen. He leaned forward, his optics taking in every detail as is came.

When the image reached total clarity the blue Decepticon stared at the image with his usual blank expression but his mind was already running. What he saw surprised him because it hadn't been what he had been expecting to see and he knew Megatron would want to know about it. At the moment his superior was repairing Starscream so he wouldn't have access to a screen. No matter Soundwave could contact him and so he did.

Megatron had just finished properly repairing Starscream's wing when Soundwave's voice entered his Audio receptors."Megatron." Pausing, he pressed the flashing light on his chest. "What is it Soundwave?" he asked.

"Megatron," Soundwave's emotionless voice said. "Scanning complete. Strange readout shown."

Megatron stopped what he was doing, startled by the answer. "What do you mean strange readout?" he demanded.

"Unable to explain," Soundwave replied. "Must be shown. Urgency level. Ten."

"Fine," the Decepticon leader said, sighing. "I'll be right there." He cut the connection and looked up. Starscream was staring at him, his optics curious.

"What was that about?" he wanted to know.

"That does not concern you," Megatron said, stepping away from the repair table. He threw the tool he'd been holding at Starscream who caught it before it hit him in the face. "You will have to finish your repairs yourself. I have something I need to do."

Before Starscream could ask what that was the gray mech stepped out of the room. Starscream watched him go then started on the damage to his left arm. "and I know exactly what that is..."

A/N

None of the flashbacks are in chronological order. I hope that won't bother you. When I think back on things it's not usually in the order of how it really happened either so it's not so weird. If you want to know Starscream had about six siblings in this story at least. Yes Mirage is acting OOC. I couldn't remember his persona very well. Sorry about that. I also apologize for the weirdness of this chapter. My brain was half way in the Transformers Animated Universe near the end. That incident I mentioned will be explained later. Whether they're in character or not I could hear their voices in my head whenever I made them saying stuff which is really weird. All well. I hope it made some sense.