CHAPTER 37 - RYLEE (Death)

Starscream flew at Knockout, and with nudge from Knockout she dove toward the trees. She could barely comprehend the situation they were in, but seeing Starscream made her freeze in fear. He is the terror she thought Thundercracker was. He was the one she saw in her nightmares. He is the Decepticons. He is Death.

Rylee fumbled through the forest as Knockout and Starscream threw down. She ran into trees, the only light to guide her way being the shining red optics of Knockout and Starscream. After tripping over the third tree, she finally stumbled onto the floor, hands grasping the leaves and hyperventilating. This couldn't be real. This was the night Knockout and her were supposed to be happy, to enjoy one last victory. She was supposed to peacefully say goodbye to Knockout as he left to Cybertron - not wordlessly lose him forever to a vengeful megalomaniac. In between her frantic tears, she focused on the device on her hand with a gasp. The communicator! Maybe I could call the Elite Guard? Being locked in jail was better than being dead by Starscream's hands. For the both of us. She frantically pushed buttons on the device, but it seems it was shorted out by the EMP blast as well. She threw her hands to the ground and curled up in despair. In the moonlight's shadows she could see them still fighting, but it seemed Starscream majorly had the upper hand.

He was probably trying to distract Starscream from her, by letting himself get beat up to allow her time to escape. But she just couldn't. She couldn't let him do that to himself, she couldn't abandon him. Not like she'd been abandoned before.

She finally turned and looked back up at them fighting, and instantly regretted it. It appeared she was no longer camouflaged when the reflection on her eyes were visible, because Starscream's head snapped to look at her.

With a sinister smirk, he got off Knockout. "Oh, there's the creature. If you'll only give me a moment." He took off the ground toward her with jet propulsed boots, arm outstretched toward her. She crawled backward as much as she could, but then Starscream fell inches from her face.

"No!" Knockout screamed, having grabbed Starscreams boot and chained him to the ground. "I told you, your fight is with me ."

"Hmm," Starscream mused, slightly lifting himself up. "Not yet." He kicked Knockout in the face, who stumbled backwards, energon leaking from his mouth. Starscream then redirected his attention to Rylee. But she had a headstart first. She took off running - not down the forest, no. She couldn't bring the fight to populated areas. She ran higher up the forested hill - she found herself instinctively missing every hole in the ground and slippery rocks, and soon realized she'd been here before. This was Phoenix Ark. The same place she'd visited with Knockout many times before. And now she was running from his past.

She caught sight of a familiar boulder - the one her and Knockout had sat on to watch the cityscape. It wasn't the best hiding spot, but there was no such thing as hiding when going against a killing machine. It was at least the best place to die.

"Oh, stop running," his grating voice echoed through the trees, stirring the slumbering birds from them. "We know how this is going to end. Don't make it more difficult."

Starscream didn't see her yet, crouched on the boulder. She clenched her hand so tightly that her nails dug into her skin, and she fought tears. She didn't want to die. She was only nineteen. She thought of her mom, her dad, Jack, Miko, Raf, Thundercracker, Smokescreen, Ratchet and even Agent Fowler and June. And she thought of Knockout. She looked up at Cybertron in the sky - the place neither of them would see after today. The bushy leaves of the grand oak tree beside her obscured the view at times. But even if she couldn't see it, she knew it was still there.

Rylee perked up. That was it. She'd spent time climbing trees with her dad while younger - she was somewhat decent at it as long as she didn't fall. If she could just reach the foliage, she could be somewhat disguised from Starscream.

She crawled to the backside of the tree and gripped the bark, lifting herself up. She'd never climbed a tree this tall, but the adrenaline of this life-or-death situation certainly helped. At last she reached the top, and she peeked through the branches. Starscream was now headed toward the boulder where she once sat, and he looked especially agitated.

"Despicable organic," Starscream spouted it as if it was a curse. "Where are you? You can't hide for long. Reveal yourself and I'll make it quick." He paused and then tilted his head to the side. "Or maybe I'll drag Knockout over here and have him die slowly before your eyes."

Rylee gasped, then quickly put her hand over her mouth. Before Starscream could gauge where she was, he was tackled by Knockout.

"I… told… you!" Knockout panted, obviously beat up already. "Your… fight .. is with me!"

"And I told you not yet ."

With some effort, Starscream was able to throw Knockout off. He then scanned the trees, and set burning red eyes on Rylee with a smile.

She couldn't help it - she screamed. And it turns out Knockout screamed as well - a thundering "No!" came through the air. But as Knockout dove at him, Starscream used his own force against him and with a critical hit, Knockout now laid on the floor, slightly incapacitated. Even though Rylee tried to scurry away, Starscream was able to grab her from the tree - his cold metal grip tight. She squeezed shut her eyes - this was it, this was the end. But it wasn't. He hadn't killed her yet. Why?
"Oh, Knockout," Starscream crooned, while Knockout tried to lift himself up with effort but failing. "You must learn to stop finding weaknesses. First Breakdown, now this creature? This Rylee? You'd think you would have learned by now." Starscream tightened his grip, and she whimpered. Her arms were free, but that didn't help. A bit tighter and her ribs would be damaged.

"Just... kill me," Knockout huffed. "Let her… go."

"I don't think you understand that there's no fun in that," Starscream smiled deviously at him, bending down and holding Rylee out almost as if she were bait.

"I kill her, then I get to emotionally devastate you, get a true all-out battle and I get to kill you." He smiled. "Three in one package."

"Starscream-!" Knockout raised his voice. It was at that moment that her bracelet communicator came back online - the EMP's effects had worn off on Cybertronian tech much faster than human. She widened her eyes and quickly grabbed for it. She unlocked it, and was one little press away from calling the Elite Guard - their saviors - until Starscream noticed.

"Nuh uh uh. You don't think I know what that is? Was I forged yesterday?" With his other hand, Starscream lifted the bracelet's arm up and crushed it - with Rylee screaming in pain the whole time. The bracelet was still intact. Her bones were not. "What I really want to know is, how did some fragile thing like you get something so important?"

"Starscream… stop." Knockout almost whimpered.

Tears went streaming out of her eyes - she took it back, not even the car crash was nearly as bad as this. She didn't think she could handle sitting there as he broke every bone in her body, especially seeing the pain in Knockout's optics as well. She frantically grasped for the bracelet with her other functioning arm, but Starscream was ready for that as well.

"Tch. Don't you ever learn?" Starscream lifted up the functioning arm, so that she was eye level with him. Not an ounce of sympathy lied in his eyes - not one bit of reservation. The cold blooded careless stare chilled her as well, as she hung in the view of this psychopathic machine.

"I... don't understand," Rylee heavily breathed, holding her head high. "How… you and Knockout… can be the same species. Despite… you… he has a heart. And he's… a better Cybertronian… than you'll ever be." The last part came out sharply, and for a moment, Starscream looked almost perturbed by her outlash.

"Hmm…" Starscream tilted his head, unamused. "Your creature has an attitude." Starscream looked at her a little while longer, and Rylee met his gaze with fire. "Oh, that's too bad." He finally said, and forcefully flicked her aside as if she were trash. About twenty feet in the air, she impacted with the huge trunk of the tree, her back arching with unbelievable pain.

And then everything went dark.

Author's Note

Hi all :)

I have the next 2 chapters fully written, and they're sorta long. I only have the epilogue left to write, which will be released on November 11, so that I completed my story exactly a year after I started it. I'll release the next 2 chapters over the next 2 Mondays. The whole story will finally be complete soon, only 3 more chapters in 3 weeks! I've had a lot of fun writing this fic, and hopefully you've enjoyed it too.