Chapter 53

Tronco

The past…

Only Senators wore capes, one of the many symbols that the Decepticons associated with corruption, but in Starscream's opinion a cape would have come in handy. The moment was worth it; it wasn't every day that he was promoted to Aerospace Commander of the Decepticon Armada.

Just the first of many important steps he planned to take on his inevitable rise to power, he thought as he contemplated himself in the reflection of the polished steel door. No, a crown… a crown would be even better than a cape. One day I will have a crown on my head. Golden, like the new era I will create in my image.

The door hissed open, also opening another set of possibilities to his dreams of glory. A conqueror would need a consort…

His optics traveled over the curves of the femme, his lust approving. Vita was a magnificent piece of engineering indeed, a proper queen for a king.

"You missed the ceremony," he announced his presence when he realized that his arrival had gone unnoticed. As always, the female scientist was lost in her own world, which looked more like a war zone than a laboratory.

Starscream couldn't help but chuckle as Vita jumped at the sound of his voice; beautiful and intelligent as she was it was always a pleasure to one-up her in something, even if it was rather childish.

"Oh, hey Screamer," she said briefly, regaining her composure and heading for the large workbench at the back of the room. "Sorry, did you say something?"

"I was just wondering where you were," he replied, still watching those curves as he followed behind. "Your presence was missed today."

By the look on her face, he could tell she had no idea what he was talking about.

"My promotion," he explained, embarrassed. "I was named Air Commander today."

"Oh, that!" she said, smiling. "Was it today, really?"

Starscream folded his arms across his chest, feeling offended. "It was today, as I had informed you myself."

Vita slapped her forehead with one hand and continued rummaging through the disaster that was the workbench. "Yeah, you told me alright… Sorry Screamer, I completely forgot. How did it go? Did you wear a beautiful cape?"

Being read like that should have been very uncomfortable, but Vita knew about his fetish for certain symbols of power.

"Like the ones I wore when we used to interface?" he said, smirking. "No, not yet at least. I have this badge, though."

Finally, Vita left whatever she was doing to give him some attention. "Nice…" she said, looking at the small badge on his shoulder that indicated his high rank. "So Air Commander, huh? I have to admit, Screamer. I never thought you'd make it this far. You always sounded like a dreamer to me, rather than anything else. But don't get me wrong, I'm happy for you."

"And it's only just the beginning," he said, taking a step closer to Vita's warm frame. "I am on the path to glory now, no one can get in my way."

Vita smirked, reaching her hand up to circle a finger around the badge emblazoned on the Air Commander's shoulder. "Except perhaps our Lord Megatron," she cooed playfully.

Starscream opened his mouth to reply, but suddenly thought better of it. He had never considered himself to be treasonous as such, yet he couldn't deny the fact that that simple thought had been invading his mental processes for a number of vorns now. There was no such thing as a supreme leader if the position had to be shared...

"Still," Starscream finally whispered, pressing himself against Vita's curves. "It would have been nice if you'd been there today."

"I'll make sure not to miss your next promotion," she said smiling, putting one finger on Starscream's cockpit. His growing smirk came to a halt when she pushed him away slightly, instead of running her finger over his fuselage as he had anticipated.

"It's all well and good for you to promise that," Starscream said as he caught the offending hand in his own and stepped forward again, "but personally, I'd say you owe me for missing this promotion. I saw the masses cheering for me, Vita, I stood above them as their leader for the very first time and felt the power that my position brings and felt exhilarated. I wanted you to see me in my moment of glory, Vita, and you missed it."

"Screamer…"

Starscream could feel Vita beginning to back away as he pressed her hand to his cockpit and leaned into her neck, allowing his warm ventilations to wash over her nape. She had always been a tease, always known what to say to both frustrate and delight; and in that moment of glory all he wanted to do was reignite that passion they had shared before he had been sent away.

"Screamer, I –"

"You owe me…"

Her rejection was not a stranger to him. Their relationship had always been volatile, mostly because of her wayward personality, but playing the game was part of the enchantment. It always ended the same way: in a berth, or on any surface that allowed them to unleash the lust that invaded every part of their neural nets. Vita was maybe a bad choice for an official consort, but at the same time it was perfect for him.

He had begun to explore the soft circuitry of her neck when he felt her hand on his cockpit again, firmer than ever, the same as her rejection.

"I have taken a bondmate," she said simply.

He would have laughed, had he not found her words so utterly ridiculous. Such a big word coming from such a sinful mouth… Vita had been built for pleasure, not for compromises.

"The slag you have," he said incredulously, offended by her unusual attempt to tease. For surly that was what it was, just part of her game; perhaps tempered by her guilt for missing the ceremony.

He expected a response as his hand reached for her waist, his optics fixed on the delicious curves of her chest: a laugh, a sarcastic comment intended to seduce... But as the distance between them increased once again, all he received was silence.

No…

Starscream found himself moving forward again, the red femme remaining out of reach as the sense of rejection came flooding home. Suddenly, the newly named Air Commander found himself afraid to look at her, afraid of those playful red optics that had never been able to hide the truth from him.

"The slag…" he muttered again as he forced himself to face her.

The sudden wave of discomfort in the core of his spark changed only to increase. Her finger felt sharp when she touched his face, the touch so delicate that it brought now painful memories.

"I've taken a bondmate. Is that so hard to believe?"

"You're not the bonding kind," he said, his voice not scarce of anger.

She laughed. "I changed, Screamer. And so did you. Look at you now, Air Commander."

"Who is it?" Starscream asked, still refusing to look at her. He found the disorganized table to be a better sight. At least there he wouldn't find rejection.

"Come on, Screamer, don't make this harder for yourself. You know who it is."

Starscream felt her move closer to his frame, her hand touching his face again as she leaned into his line of sight. He bit his lip components and looked away yet again, refusing to acknowledge the truth he could see written all over her smiling face.

He had never been one to accept rejection, his path to glory clear even as he had fallen from grace, accusation and loss filling his darkest days. Yet despite those setbacks, she had always remained his constant, the one unstable element that kept him focused, the one he knew he could always claim.

And now she was bonded… It was such a ludicrous idea, so impossible…

Starscream offlined his optics for a moment, gathering himself before daring to look at her again.

"It's Soundwave, isn't it," he said, the words sounding so wrong.

"Obvious, and at the same time hard to believe… but yes, it is him."

Hard? More like impossible to believe, and yet the image came so easy to Starscream's mind. He didn't even know why he had said the name, if he had been moved by hate or by the primal fear of losing the one femme that had been in his berth more than once. He would have never gone so far as to involve the world 'love', but he knew that just the thought of Vita, his femme, having anything to do with Soundwave was something painful enough to be called jealousy.

He smirked, one of the many faces he had to disguise his true feelings. "So, Soundwave… I would find it more natural if you'd said you were bonded to a bulkhead. If this is a joke, Vita, I have to say that it's the sickest, if not the poorest, of your repertoire."

It was his jealousy talking, and he knew it, but he wasn't willing to show how disappointed he was.

And Vita seemed to know better, because she only smiled softly in response. "Just a few joors ago I too would have considered this a joke. But that's not the case, Screamer. You're not the only one who has changed, matured if you want to call it that."

Starscream glanced around the messy laboratory. What was there that could be called maturity? Vita seemed to be the same careless, somehow crazy, and yet brilliant scientist he had met so many vorns ago at the Science Academy. But deep inside she had matured, right in the part that mattered the most, the same part that would never belong to Starscream.

The same part that now belonged to Soundwave.

To be continued.


First Cantabile update of the year!

As 2012 was finishing, we came up with some nice inspiration as the year was agonizing, and we wrote two updates. Don't be surprised if we update really, really soon!

We wish you the best for this new year. Many thanks for your support. We hope you'll stick with us for another year. We happen to have a ton of surprises hidden under our sleeves.