Author's Note: Thanks to Starfire201 and I am Blueberry for reviewing the last chapter. Enjoy and I own nothing but my OCs
Shades of Grey-Treason
Starscream pulled himself out of recharge and stumbled out of the room to the door, leaving Shadow curled up against a more than capable Ravage that Soundwave had sent. That give the SIC no choice but to follow the third in command's orders. Starscream made it to the abandoned shipping area only to be jerked into an old warehouse. "What's he doing here?" Blackout snarled.
"On my recommendation," Soundwave said coolly and Blackout glared at him. A few other Decepticons shifted uncomfortably at the tension in the air.
"What the slag is going on here?" Starscream snapped, his voice screeching slightly.
"What happened to your voice?" Reverb questioned with a snicker.
"Megatron," Starscream snarled and the laughter stopped.
"I see why you asked him," Mainframe growled and Starscream had to hide a shudder. Mainframe was known both for his ability to drain energy from others and his bottomless thirst for power. Starscream didn't trust the other mech.
"We're going to kill Megatron," Barricade said from a dark corner of the warehouse, answering Starscream's earlier question. "And replace him with Mainframe." It took all of Starscream's self control not to wince and by the look in Soundwave's optics the other Decepticon was feeling the same way. Killing Megatron? Yes. Replacing him with Mainframe? Slag no! Still now was probably not the best time to bring that up.
"You do know that this is treason don't you?" Starscream said hoarsely, testing the waters.
"And if you say anything to Megatron we'll bring you down with us," Mainframe snarled, his massive frame looming over Starscream's; reminding the SIC of earlier in the day.
"Just making sure I wasn't going to be shot in the back by Megatron for treachery later today," Starscream drawled easily and Mainframe reluctantly backed off. "So what's the plan?" he added once Mainframe was a good distance away.
"Right now," Reverb said. "Get Megatron killed and battle and let the others think the Autobots did it. Then we can redirect that anger into winning the war. The truth never has to come out." Starscream had to grudgingly admit that it could work but there were too many factors involved in it.
"I have a few questions," Starscream said and Soundwave nodded for the Seeker to proceed. "I'm not going to ask how you're going to get Megatron in the middle of a battle because that glitch head is always in the middle of the battle fighting with Prime or the weapon specialist. What I want to know is what happens if Megatron survives and realizes that he's been betrayed? And how are we going to make it look like an accident?"
"The Autobot third in command, designation Jazz, cracked in his processor some during interrogation with Shockwave," Soundwave droned. "We only need to set him off at the right time to make it look like an accident. A planted virus could help. I do want to know what we do if Megatron survives though."
"I'll make sure he doesn't under the guise of helping him," Mainframe rumbled. There was a moment of uncomfortable silence as everyone else processed that information.
"Satisfactory," Soundwave finally said after a moment. "Now perhaps we should head back before we are missed." The group quickly dispersed and Starscream went back to his temporary berth wishing more than ever for the days before the war.