The Price Of Power.

Chapter Eleven: Another Landing.

Two weeks later.

Starscream was flying, at dusk, when he saw the bright trail flash across the darkening sky. Of course, it could just be a meteor, igniting as it hit the planet's atmosphere, Earth was under permanent bombardment by debris from space, but Starscream had a feeling about this one. Anyway, he was unused to flying without his wingbrothers: although flight was helping him cope with his loneliness, he was unused to not having Thundercracker and Skywarp nearby, and the severed bond was still a too-recent pain in his mind. This could be a further distraction.

He followed at a distance, and saw the cometary form land.

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The heat cooled, and the protoform gracefully unfolded from its protective configuration, standing on thin silver legs. It turned, scanning for the primitive drone forms it expected to be able to find, and set off swiftly and stealthily towards the road. Upon reaching the road it hid, waiting for the right vehicle to come by. That one would do: the protoform extended a hand and trans-scanned the car. A few moments later a similar pink car swung out onto the road and headed for the Autobot base.

At one point, the new arrival saw that the trip to the base could be much shortened by going across country: the car swung off the road and under some bushes, and a few moments later, a pink femme stood and began swiftly moving, using the dark to conceal her form from prying human eyes.

Elita had not been in a fight on a planet for some time, her senses and instinct had been dulled by the long trip through space, so by the time she realised what the high engine sound signified and had turned, pulling out her blaster, it was too late.

Starscream's first pass served to allow him to pluck the weapon from her hand. As he turned, she realised her best chance lay in dodging and swerving, using the only weapon available to her against fliers, the sensor-blinding metal 'confetti' in her arms. This would, she hoped, confuse her opponent long enough for her to get to some sort of shelter, where she could have a chance of defending herself. She ran, shooting out bursts of the reflective and sensor-reflective material as she went, but as she felt large hands grab her about the waist and pull her up against the jet's body, she realised she'd been second-guessed and outmanoeuvred by her opponent.

She twisted in his grip and deployed her claws and knuckle-spikes, swinging and slashing at the jet that held her.

In the end, she risked causing Starscream so much damage he was forced to stun her with her own blaster, which gave him enough time to get her to his base.

He had finished his work on securing the cell, and had even found some polystyrene blocks that could serve as a makeshift berth, and he carefully lay her down upon them before locking the door after leaving her blaster and his own loose weapons outside. He had adjustable magnetic bracelets that he put around her wrists, then used them to fix her arms to her sides: that would take care of her melee weapons.

Unwilling to take any risks, he then frisked Elita, removing the canisters of sensor-blind in her arms, the spare blaster on her back, and the caltrops in her legs. He looked her over, turning her head first to one side than the other, and then sat back, by her side, and waited for her to recover from the stun blast.

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As Elita's processors went through reboot and brought her back to consciousness, the events that had culminated in her stunning came back to her. Her optics flew open and she tensed, readying her melee weapons and rolling over as the precursor to jumping to her feet. At least that was her plan, but the magnetic bracelets that held her wrists to her hips put a stop to that, getting to her feet without her arms was difficult: she only got onto her knees before Starscream shot out a hand, grabbed her upper arm, and pulled her back down on to the polystyrene.

She kicked, trying to both catch him a blow with her feet and flip herself into a position where she was not so vulnerable, but Starscream twisted aside to avoid her feet, then used his other arm to push the smaller femme's legs down long enough to enable him to straddle them, and then placed both of his hands on her shoulders, effectively restricting her movement. He smiled down at her.

"Greetings, Elita, welcome to my Base."

Elita blinked as she fully took in her view of Starscream. He seemed slightly dented and dirty, had scratches, scrapes and grubby marks on him. Some of it must have come from her own struggles, but not all of it was from that. His optics shone brightly, a little too brightly for her liking, and she wondered what was wrong with him, for Starscream was almost as careful with his appearance as Sunstreaker was, something had to be wrong for him to look this shabby.

"Let me go, at least allow me to fight you fairly," she said, not convinced that her demands would make a difference, but determined not to go quietly. He continued to speak as if he had not heard her, gesturing around the cell.

"I apologise for your current accommodation, and the precautions I have taken, but I did not want you running away or attacking before we have been properly introduced, and have talked. I know that you are Elita-One, I am Starscream, but I'm sure that you are aware of that, so, now that we have gotten the introductions over, we can get down to business. Now, we can do this in a civilised fashion, or we can continue as we are," he said. "I dare not release your arms, I don't trust you not to use your weapons, but if you promise not to attack me or try to escape, I can let you sit up and we can both talk on a more equal footing."

"Okay, Starscream, let me sit up then," she said, not expecting him to keep his word. To her surprise he did dismount from her legs, and swung back to the side, shifting his hands to help her sit up.

"How much do you know about what has happened here?" he asked her. "Do you know, for example that Megatron still lives and that the AllSpark has been destroyed?"

Elita stared at him stunned: it was quite clear to Starscream that she knew little, but as the Government were trying to cover up the events of Mission City, and as she had just landed, it was only to be expected. Then she abruptly tried to throw herself to one side, and he grabbed at her and pushed her down again, resuming the straddle over her legs. She glared up at him, her optics glittering, her mouth twisted into a grimace of either hatred or fear, Starscream couldn't tell which.

"So, now I think I understand just what this is all about," She said, and Starscream could hear both emotions in her voice. "So this is why you've locked me up: femmes will be in demand now, and it'll all be done in the name of preserving the race."

"I honestly wish I could say you've misjudged me, unfortunately that was my initial thought, but two weeks on my own, rejected by my own trine, and having been given some hard truths, have given me a chance to rethink my position, which is fortunate for you, Elita. No, I won't force you, though I would welcome a chance to court you."

"Oh, I see, so this is Decepticon courtship, is it?" she asked with a shaky laugh, and Starscream wasn't sure if she believed him or not.

"No, not at all," He replied. "However, you promised not to try and attack me or attempt to get away if I let you sit up. You broke that, so I was forced to restrain you again."

"Okay, can we try that again?" she asked. "I tried to escape, because when you mentioned the AllSpark was gone, I thought you intended to force me: if you promise you won't, I won't try to run away."

"An understandable assumption, I admit," Starscream said. "Okay, I will trust you again." He again got off her legs and sat her up.

"So, how did the AllSpark get destroyed?" she asked.

"Well, I will explain it all from the beginning," he said. "I must first inform you that what you are going to hear will likely come as a shock, but that I can assure you of one thing: Optimus Prime is still alive, but is…changed."

"Changed?" Elita said. "Explain."

"As promised, I shall start from the beginning…" he said.

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"My beloved is a femme?" she said once he'd finished. "Carrying Thundercracker's child?" She laughed. "I think you're lying, I don't believe you!"

"Oh, Elita, denying it won't make it untrue," Starscream said sorrowfully.

"I only have your word for it." She said acidly. "You're a Decepticon, lying and twisting the truth is your business, why should I believe something based only on your say-so?"

"Oh, I see, in that case there's only one thing for it," The Seeker said.

Leaning forward, he surprised Elita by scooping her into his arms.

"Hey, what do you think you're doing? Let me go!" she protested, wriggling and kicking as he unlocked the cell and walked out of the base with her.

"Why Elita, I'm going to give you proof so you don't just have to take my word for it," He said. He paused while taking off, then spoke again.

"I'll prove it to you by taking you to see for yourself."