#18 - He Strikes Yet Again
Starfeather was in recharge in her quarters. She was lying on her stomach with her head turned to face the wall. She murmured something in her sleep and rolled to her side, exhaling. Suddenly, her door quietly hissed opened. Terrorsaur stood in the doorway simply looking in, crimson optics glowing in the dark. He nodded with satisfaction before backing away, allowing the door to close, then locked it.
-x-
A few hours went by without any disturbances. The whole base was asleep, except for a dark figure who soundlessly walked down the hallways up to a certain door. He typed his own code on the lock panel and it opened. He smirked and went inside. Starfeather had moved to her other side and was loosely curled into a ball. She was blissfully unaware of the impending danger in the waking world.
Megatron now stood at her bedside, smirking down at her.
This is almost too easy, he thought as he reached a finger to lightly caress her cheek. She groaned and clumsily swiped at his hand but stayed in recharge. He chuckled softly.
Much too easy. He then eased her into his arms, careful to keep her asleep. She did stay asleep. In fact, she cuddled closer and murmured for her father. Her father must be an impressive human for her to think that was who was carrying her or the fact that she was only sleeping. In any case, he played the part by resting his head fondly on hers. He heard her muffled sigh and smirked again with satisfaction. He then exited her quarters and went toward his own, locking the door this time. He gently set her on his bed. She grunted and mumbled in her sleep as she shifted to her side, facing away from him.
Megatron began to quietly take off his armor plating. He left his pelvic plate on and set the others to the side. He then took his place at the raven's side and stroked her helm feathers. They were so smooth and silky. Starfeather shook her head groggily, her optical lights flickering, and rolled to her other side, facing away from him.
"Stoppit, I'm tryin'a sleep..."
He had to be more careful about his moves if he was going to keep her at least somewhat in recharge before he made his move. He waited several minutes until he heard her breathing coming slowly and rhythmically. She was deep in sleep again. Gently, he rolled her over onto her back. She merely sighed when he removed his hand. He smirked. He then eased his hand across her waist, feeling up and down her side until he found what he was searching for; the clasp to her abdominal plate. He unhitched it and did the same to her other side. He lifted the plate off her body to expose the softer, more pliable and sensitive metal underneath. He set it aside and smoothed his hand over her stomach. He said nothing as he bent over and touched his hungry lips to her waist. She moaned and snuggled into him.
"Thatickles..." she slurred.
"I'm sure it does," Megatron rumbled, snaking his arms around her. He saw her smile slightly and she sighed again. He captured her lips and felt around with a hand for the clasp to another plate. He fingered the clasp and worked it open as he purred with growing satisfaction.
This IS too easy, he thought. He was surprised when he felt her slim arms loosely around his neck. He pulled back enough to see why Starfeather had given in so quickly. He saw that her enchanting aqua green optics were half open and a silly smile was on her face. She must be half awake and driven senseless by his gentle foreplay. He resumed his assault, unhitching both clasps to the other armor plate. He slowly began to slip it out from between himself and her body, tossing it aside.
She knew something didn't feel right about this dream. The hands that were pleasuring her were too rough and the lips on hers were too hungry.
No... no, it couldn't be.
Suddenly, her optics shot open and her body stiffened. She was wide awake now. Megatron felt this and purred all the deeper. She gasped as best she could and tried to scream so someone would hear, but it was muffled. She started to struggle, but realized he had pinned her down. She struggled all the harder until a hand pressed to her mouth when Megatron pulled back.
"We've come this far, my dear. Don't spoil it now, yes."
She shook her head, growling. She tried to bite his hand, but that didn't work. He grabbed her neck just hard enough for it to hurt and hamper her voice. Predictably, she attempted crying for help. Suddenly, something happened that they both didn't expect. There was a knock on the door and Scorponok's voice came through the communicator by the door.
"Forgive me for waking you Megatron, but a stasis pod has crashed two hundred klicks south of here at sector 211, 53."
"Make any noise and I will make you regret it," Megatron hissed. He got up from the bed with Starfeather's throat still in his grasp hence taking her with him. With his free hand, he pushed the button to reply. "You are forgiven this time, Scorponok. Get Terrorsaur up, brief him, and tell him to wait for me. I'll join you within a few moments."
"Yes sir," came the reply and the sound of retreating footsteps. The Predacon leader turned back to her.
"You will stay here and be quiet until I come back. Then we will start right where we left off, yes." He didn't wait for a response before he thrust her to the floor and went over the where he stored his armor. She sat up and watched him, confusion taking over her fear.
"What... what're you... doing?"
"What does it look like?" He looked back after he snapped on the platting to his arms.
"...putting on protective coverings?"
"You did not know you could remove them? Then, just look at yourself." He looked at her questioningly, snapping on the plates for his legs. She did so and gasped, crossing her arms over herself and glared up at him.
"What did you do?!"
"Such sweetness underneath the wrapping," he said with a smirk, fixing on his back covering.
"I'll show you sweet!" She hissed.
"I'm sure you will," he muttered. Checking the clasps, he left the room, locking the door and turning on the sound proofing system. Starfeather sat there, scared to death, locked in the Predacon leader's room. Seeing she was by herself, she slowly moved her arms to study her body.
"Oh my god," she whispered. She honestly hadn't known that she could take her armor off. No one had told her so. She glanced to the side and saw her abdominal armor piece and breastplate. She got off the bed, retrieved her plating, and clipped the waist plate back on. She went to reclasp her breastplate only to find she couldn't. She tried and tried again, but she couldn't get it to stay.
"Come on," she growled. "Lock... Argh! This is worse than a fucking bra."
-x-
"Couldn't you have gotten Waspinator up instead?" Terrorsaur complained with a yawned.
"No," Megatron snapped. "Now focus on the mission or there will be consequences."
There was no further gripe from the pteranodon. The two were in beast mode and just setting out for the fallen pod. Forty-five minutes later, they arrived at the crash site, but the protoform inside was dead. The life support systems had been hit by a small meteor. The mission was automatically a failure. They returned to base. All Terrorsaur could think about was going back to recharge as he walked behind Megatron down the hallway, but as he passed Starfeather's door, he slowed down.
It wouldn't hurt to check on her, he thought and stopped. He looked up and down the hall to make sure Megatron had gone. Coast clear, he put in the code she gave him and opened the door a crack. He couldn't really see anything so opened it a little more. There wasn't anyone on the bed. He went all the way inside, even turning on the light. She wasn't there... but he had the sickening feeling that he knew where she might be. A muffled shout confirmed his suspicions.
-x-
Starfeather, still unable to attach her breastplate, was stuck keeping a hand pressed to it, looking like she had her hand over her spark.
While Megatron was gone, she hadn't sat and moped about. She came up with a little escape plan. She wasn't going to hold back this time. She was going to shoot as many throwing stars as it took to get him down and she would kill him this time. She crouched off to one side of the door and waited. She waited for over an hour. She nearly fell back asleep before the door hissed open. She snapped up her arm and shot several stars at him, but all she hit was his arm, held in a defensive position.
"You cheated!" she shouted.
"You have no idea," Megatron replied. "And I might call you a cheater as well."
"Why? I play fair," she snorted.
"And how's that?" he spat.
"You're still in the doorway, right? You called Terrorsaur to go with you, right?" she questioned.
"Not for long," he growled.
"Couldn't have said it better myself," a new voice spoke. Before anyone could react, there was a clang and Megatron fell to the floor. Terrorsaur peeked inside.
"You okay?"
"I'm fine now," Starfeather answered, standing up.
"Good." Her wing mate nodded. "Now's our chance, let's finish him," he said and flipped his blaster around from holding the barrel to the handle with his finger ready on the trigger.
"Wait!" she blurted out. When Terrorsaur looked at her strangely, she recoiled. "Don't kill him... yet."
"Give me one good reason not to," he said darkly.
"Well..." She stopped to think for a second. "Well, if you kill him, what would Scorponok, Tarantulas, and Blackarachnia do if they choose not to follow you? That's three against three... and... we might not..." She didn't want to say that she, Terrorsaur and Waspinator might be weaker than the others, but they both knew that it was true. Scorponok had missiles in each claw, Tarantulas had all those inventions that he could use against them, and he and Blackarachnia both had cyber venom.
Terrorsaur knew all this and he could see what Starfeather was trying to say. He didn't like the thought of it, but he didn't like the outcome of the other option either. Punishment. Severe punishment. For both of them even. Even so, he knew she was right and lowered his blaster.
"Megatron is so fraggin' lucky tonight," he growled.
"We can at least tie him up and lock the door from the outside," she reasoned. He did like this idea.
-x-
Task accomplished, they exited his room, locked the door, and Terrorsaur escorted Starfeather to her quarters. Once there, he noticed that she hadn't removed her hand from her chest over her spark. Seeing that didn't make him feel very comfortable. He felt a white hot rage building inside him as he thought of the possibility.
"Megatron didn't sparkbond with you, did he?" he asked as calmly as he could before he let her go into her room. She stared at him, confused.
Sparkbond with me? What is a sparkbond? she wondered.
"No, I don't think so. He didn't do anything, but... he undid..." She glanced up to see him giving her a weird look and swallowed before rushing it out, "Ican'tgetmybreastplatebackon."
"You... what?" He continued to stare at her.
"He took off my chest plate and I can't clasp it back on so I have to hold it here like this." By now, her cheeks, not to mention her whole body, was hot. Terrorsaur still stared at her.
"And you're telling me this... why?"
"Could... could you, maybe... kinda, sorta... help me latch it on?" she pleaded. Of course, she realized how very awkward this was to ask of him, but she couldn't go to sleep like this. It might fall off again. He or Waspy came in just about every morning to get her up and she did NOT want anyone to see her topless.
"Uhh..." Help her attach her breastplate? Was she nuts? Correction: was he nuts? Just the thought sent a foreign sensation flowing through his circuits. "...are you sure you can't do it? It is your thing..."
"I've been trying to get it back on since he left the room," she whimpered, almost sobbed. This was so embarrassing. "I didn't even know these things could come off before now."
He did not want to be anywhere near where his hands shouldn't be. The last thing he wanted was for his thoughts to get the better of him. Speaking of which, things were already coming to him.
Primus, help me...
"Oh... a-alright." He couldn't say no to the pitiful, pleading look she was giving him. He pushed her ahead of him into her room, allowing the door to close. At least he could do this in private. Starfeather also got the idea and cooperated. He felt gingerly with his fingertips to find the clasp. She had to suppress quivering as she could feel his fingers barely touch her side and finally find the lock. He fiddled with it before there was a click and it was on. He immediately stepped back and she didn't lookup.
"Thanks," she said, barely above a whisper. He nodded and there was a tense silence. Neither knew how long this lasted. It seemed to stretch long into the early morning hours when in reality, it was only less than five minutes. Finally, Starfeather spoke.
"Well, uh, th-thanks again, but... I-I think we should be getting back to bed."
"Yeah... I guess this is goodnight then." Terrorsaur remembered how tired he was and had to agree with her. She nodded, but surprisingly found it inside herself to say something clever.
"More like good morning."
"Alright then, good morning." He managed a smile.
"Good morning." She smiled back and watched him leave. When she heard the lock activate, she sighed. "I am in so much trouble," she moaned. What she meant by this was she was in trouble with the Maximals. She thought this because one sentence was now dominant in her mind.
I think we're in love.
Her crush had been growing, growing from the little sprout to a sapling. But that sapling could still be cut down. What if he didn't want to take it any further? He was already obviously uncomfortable around her as it was.
"Nuuhhh... I'm too tired to think..." She put her hands to her face and slowly rubbed up and down. She wandered over to her bed and fell onto it. She stared up at the ceiling for a long time, keeping her mind as blank as she could until her systems powered down to recharge.
-x-
Meanwhile, Terrorsaur didn't have as easy a time going back to sleep. He stared from the wall to the ceiling and back again. What was he going to do with himself? Tonight, it was even harder to get her out of his head. He tried drowning her out with planning how he was going to smash Megatron and beat the other three arachnids into submission to follow him, but this was in vain. This went on for a few hours before he gave voice to his frustrations.
"Why can't I get her out of my head?!" he hissed. The effort of talking finally exhausted him as it became increasingly harder to keep his optics open. Soon, he was out like a light., though his sleep was restless.
-x-
For the next few days, things were rather quiet around the base. Terrorsaur and Starfeather both made it obvious that they had nothing much to say to each other and tried not to stay in the same room. Waspinator was growing concerned about why they didn't talk much anymore. He took the liberty of approaching the raven a week after the incident, which he still didn't know about.
"Izz Bird-bot angry with Terrorsaur?" he asked. Starfeather looked up from checking the perimeter radar.
"Of course not, Waspy. Why would you think that?"
"Well, Bird-bot never in zzame room azzz Terrorsaur for very long," Waspinator said.
"Oh, well, uh, we just, erm, I... I really don't know," she replied, looking away and back to the screen.
"Not love birdz anymore?" he wondered, looking disappointed. He thought that they were cute together and, though it made Terrorsaur snippy whenever he would point it out to him, he had seemed happier. He wanted his friends to be happy. It made him happy.
"Well, I wouldn't say that," she said, but still watched the radar line spin around the screen. "We just... need some personal space for now." The memory of how physically close they had been caused her to want to giggle like a schoolgirl, but she just coughed instead.
"Oh, okay." Satisfied, Waspinator left her to finish the radar perimeter check before she was moved to monitor duty. Now that she was alone again, Starfeather sighed. What was she going to do with herself? This was the first time she had had feelings for an alien robot while they fought a mini war besides the fact that she was a secret agent. A Maximal. How could she make it work with a Predacon, especially one like him? She had no idea what to do.
