I am author - hear me roar! Bleargh... never mind roaring, last night I thought my eyeballs were going to explode. 'S what I get for being obsessed with a fic. Anyway, THIS IS NOT THE END! BWA! I'm planning on at least two epilogues that might stretch to three, depending on how it goes (after all, thirteen's unlucky and we can't have that...heeheeheee. ;D ) So you're stuck with me for a bit longer. Actually, now the main story bit's all sewn up I could do a few planet-exploringones...brr. Don't get carried away, 'boots... Still, that's a future thingy I may do if i can come up with anything - they'll be here instead of in a separate story. i'm too attatched to this one now. Speaking of which, let's gt on with it!
Alirion: Thanks - the Bell sort of jumped into my brain from nowhere, so that's probably why, but it just seemed such a good way to end the chapter... I had a mental image of Screamer hanging from a bellrope, so don't ask where the hammer came from. I think he wanted something to take his frustrations out on ;) Glad it didn't sound too contrived and bluetacked in. By the way, when're you going to finish 'A plague of Mary-sues?'
Soryu: I've been chained to the keyboard - wanted to finish the main story bit this week while I had plenty of free time to do it in. And as for the brothers - the twist I had in mind didn't want to work, and something...strange happened part-way through. Poor derby - this is what happens when I work solidly on one fic. I actually feel really guilty...
Hate to tell you though, Missionary only picked Starscream because he was there and an easy target for people's prejudices of the old War. But there will be stuff on bonding and snuggling - I've got myself sucked into doing epilogues. Two at least. And then I'll maybe do a sporadic exploration-on-a-planet thing, but it will be one-offs and only now and again, not like the main story. So there you go! 0 : )
Indigo-ink: There's a hobbit in Notre-Dame?! What, was he an extra for the gargoyles?
I'm kidding! I'm kidding! I know who you mean, but can you really see Megatron in a dre- Oh. Um... actually I can - and Starscream dancing round with a tambourine and a purple skirt?! Agh! (for the record, I don't know whether I prefer the manic grin or a sweet, really serious sort of look - maybe biting his lip or with the tip of his tongue sticking out. Eeee!)
Oooo! Does this mean the next chapter of 'Power cut''s on the way? YE-ES!
Skins Thunderbomb: (Can't actually reply because I'm giggling too much.) Snick. So-rry! Heeheehee. Well try this one for size - I'm still getting the guilts for this. Brrr.
Jess: Thank you, thank you - um, I'm not sure about the justice thing. It's probably all they deserve, but I still feel bad. But yeah, go Screamer!
Cyblade Silver: Yep, I like bells. Except in that bit in 'Notre Dame' when Quasimodo's swinging around between them and they're all huge and clanging and scary... But thanks, and I'm glad you like.
And now that I've completely overworked whatever-it-is that happens to the two pests so you'll read it and wonder what I was on about, let's go and get it over with... I still don't like what I did. Guilt guilt guilt...
...and Match.
Starscream stood proud and defiant in the centre of the auditorium, feet wide and arms folded as he tilted his chin and tried to hide the tremors running through his frame.
A Council member clambered to his feet, optics barely even flicking in Starscream's general direction as he intoned "Starscream, you were barred from this Academy for fighting in the grounds and severely damaging two of your fellow students." If the old mech noticed the flash of angry scarlet optics he made no sign. "There were numerous witnesses to attest to this, and yet you barge back into the grounds, disturb the piece and potentially damage a very old and priceless Academy treasure. What do you have to say for yourself that you feel can mitigate this?"
Starscream unclenched his teeth with an effort and tried to keep his voice level.
"Your verdict was biased."
He heard the gasps and exclamations of outrage fluttering around the Council's balconies and allowed himself a private smirk. Skyfire, standing behind him - with most of the Academy in the stands with him, it seemed - groaned quietly and prayed his student would manage to keep his temper.
Before the old mech could recover himself enough to stop blustering and retort, Starscream ploughed over the top of his spluttering protests and carried on regardless. "Your verdict was biased, because you simply chose to blindly take the word of those two-" He whirled and pointed straight at Derby and Combine, who recoiled slightly from the blue finger but kept their composure and sneered back at him. "-instead of considering the fact I may have been provoked beyond all possible limits and actually had a reason to fight them!"
Dropping his voice from the near-shriek to a hiss loaded with venom, he added "After all, I came here to become a scientist, not a thug. Or a seeker."
Utter silence. Starscream owned the floor, and he knew it - not even Derby or Combine made a sound. The silver jet turned on his heel and stared up at the Council, optics flashing a challenge as the fading sunlight sparkled off his plating. Eventually the Council's spokesmech gathered his dignity together and stood, saying stiffly "You have evidence to back these claims?"
"I do!"
"And a sponsor to support them?"
Starscream turned again and gave a small, relieved smile as Skyfire stood and said clearly "I am his sponsor."
A flicker passed across the face of the councillor. "That is impossible."
"What?!" Starscream yelped. "Why?" Skyfire said nothing, but the look on his face said it all. A loud murmur of exclamations and dismay rose from the audience, those near to Skyfire offering quiet sympathy and shock.
"A sponsor cannot be a teacher or official close to the supplicant" the councillor reeled off. "The sponsor must know as little as possible of the grievance, in order to retain impartiality."
"Impartiality?!" Starscream yelled. "If you'd been impartial to start with-"
A voice cut sharply through the tumult, interrupting before the flier could say something he'd regret.
"I will be his sponsor."
Starscream stared and the noise dipped in a sudden hush, before excited chatter filled the room even louder than before. Skyfire gaped, the planet spinning crazily under his feet.
"Ripplewing?" the councillor gasped. "You would sponsor him?"
"Yes, yes, that's what I said." she snapped, forging through the mass of bodies to jet up to the platform where Starscream stood goggling at her. "Do I qualify?"
"Ah..." The spokesmech dithered for a long moment and the audience held its metaphorical breath in the pause. Eventually he was forced to reluctantly say "Ah...yes. Yes, Ripplewing is Starscream's sponsor."
The grey mech nodded crisply and snapped a glance to Starscream, still completely thrown and gaping at her. "Oh, for... Close your mouth, flyboy." she said gruffly. "I knew something was up with that ray of yours when it blew, and I've got a feeling you know why. Now stop staring and get on with it! Learn to think on your feet instead of rushing into things!" Starscream's mouth shut with a click and he nodded. "Thank you."
"Thank me later if we pull this off" was the acidic reply. The silver mech grinned and turned to face the Council once more, squaring his shoulders as if preparing for battle.
In a way, he was.
o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o
The Council were in a state on the far side of shock and out the other side of disbelief. The flier was claiming that two of their students were practicing Converters, and had actively tried to kill him - there were half-stunned murmurs in the balconies that he was insane, resentful, possessed...and now he was calling up a witness to add to his delusions. And the terrifying thing, the part that unnerved the most Council members and their assurance that they had done the right thing barring the flier, the one thing that rocked the Academy as they had always known it under their feet, was the growing, sickly conviction...that he was right.
And if he was, then they had failed miserably in their duties as guardians of both the students and the Academy.
o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o
Starscream gave Lander a quick flash of a smile as she wobbled up onto the platform, knees and hands shaking ever-so-slightly as she stood facing the Council. The purple femme's voice trembled a little as she stated her name, but she recounted what she had seen steadily and clearly as her optics glowed bright in concentration. When she had finished, the Council cross-examined her as intensely as Skyfire had warned her, but her conviction never wavered and her gaze was locked on the face of the spokesmech as she answered their questions with all the frankness and emphasis she could muster under the gaze of so many people.
Starscream, told to stand behind her so he couldn't "influence her answers", flashed a quick glance over to Derby and Combine standing near the front of the crush of people. He had to hold in a grin when he noticed the wide, empty ring surrounding them despite the thick crowd in the sweeping auditorium - it seemed that Lander had been right about their popularity. He couldn't quite resist flashing them a dazzling smile when they saw him watching, and the pair scowled ferociously at the cheery flier. Starscream gave them a tiny wave and watched them fume.
The red mech flicked his attention over to Skyfire as Combine started to foam at the mouth.
-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-
The scientist had never taken his optics from the slight silver figure ever since his outburst, and the terrible, nauseating feeling that had gripped him at the brief flash of panic in Starscream's face hadn't let him go. A part of him felt that, ridiculous as he half-heartedly thought it to be, if he kept his optics on Starscream and didn't look away, the flier would be fine. He met Starscream's shining red optics and, suddenly, was totally convinced that they'd both be fine, whatever happened.
-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-
Meeting the brilliant sapphires in Skyfire's face, Starscream couldn't hide the small, almost shy smile that crept unconsciously across his lips. His internals gave a strange lurch as their gazes met and Skyfire's optics sparkled at him across the room...
The young jet jumped and broke the contact as the Council spokesmech harrumphed and dismissed Lander from the platform. She let out an explosive sigh and trotted past Starscream to the edge of the stage, giving him a swift grin and a whispered "good luck!" as she vaulted down into the crowd. Starscream flashed his teeth in a fierce grin back before turning to face the Council one more time.
"Starscream" the mech intoned, "your witness states she saw the two mechs in question tamper with the, ah, 'null ray'-" the flier's optics narrowed as the apostrophes dropped around the name like tongs, to be held at a distance and examined "-but you have no proof that they caused the explosion or actively tried to damage-" He was abruptly silenced and the Council sat back in shock as the audience exploded in an uproar. Students and staff alike were yelling incredulously, gesturing and shouting their loud, passionate disapproval and furious challenges. Every transformer there was a scientist, but unlike the Council the audience knew precisely how slim the chances were of any physical interference in an experiment not resulting in failure at the very least - as students themselves the two mechs knew precisely what they were doing, and there was no way they or the Council could excuse themselves.
"I helped repair the kid! No way that was an accident!" yelled a certain Med Bay tech.
"They'd need to work it all out - search their quarters! There's your proof!" someone else shouted.
Starscream stood raised above the melee, elation surging through his circuits until he could shut off his optics and swear he was flying. He scanned the horde and found Skyfire again - the delight in the scientist's face shone out over the crowd and drew Starscream's brilliant gaze like a beacon. Ripplewing followed his gaze and saw the look - she gave a nod, and an uncharacteristic slow smile. It was always nice to have your suspicions confirmed.
Eventually the Council managed to calm the crowd - they settled down and waited, the expectation like a living organism lying heavy in the air. The spokesmech stepped up once more, looking much less pompous than he had done for some strange reason...
"We - ah - The Council has decided to allow Derby and Combine to take the platform and defend themselves against the allegations-" He motioned to the brothers to come forward to a dark murmur from the crowd. They looked at each other - Derby with a tight-lipped look of deep, icy fury, and Combine's face a skewed, almost demented look of boiling panic. They stepped forward together, Derby striding ahead with his nose in the air - the transformers he approached on the way to the stage drawing back as they came near, expressions ranging from disgust to horror and disbelief as the two brothers passed. They clambered onto the stage, Combine nearly falling as he staggered to his feet but Derby ignored him, staring frostily around the waiting audience like an emperor above his lowly subjects who have dared to rebel against him. Combine saw all optics turn his way and shivered.
Silence.
"Well?" the councillor prompted. "Can you defend yourselves against these charges?"
Combine looked at his brother with an expression close to despair on his face. He was a genius with formulas and equations, which was the only reason he got into the Academy at all with his scientist brother, but when a new, unfamiliar situation came up that he couldn't either compute or bull his way through, he froze up. When he didn't have any previous experience to draw from or his brother to rely on, Combine was a sitting duck - a frightened drone with no idea how to save himself.
Derby, however, was too angry to notice his brother's pleading gaze. He stared round the auditorium, his head held high and ice-blue optics blazing with condescending fury. When the old mech prompted them, he drew himself up and, in the most regal tone he could muster snapped "Of course I could, but since it's true and you're all too blinkered to see that we were doing you a favour, then there isn't much point in wasting my time."
A collective gasp from Council and audience alike, but Combine looked at his brother with relief shining in his optics like a mad beacon. Derby always knew what to do.
"That," his finger shot out and pointed viciously at Starscream, whose optics narrowed and looked like he was trying not to snap back, "is a seeker. And you let him in! Here! What he learns here today will kill us tomorrow, and none of you could see it!"
Derby whirled and saw a familiar face in the horrified crowd. "Skyfire was holding his hand the whole time, extra lessons and special treatment, making the Decepticon feel welcome so he could say his precious ethics and his hands were clean. Well, how clean will your spark be when he kills someone, Professor? What will happen when the things you taught him are used to destroy cities and murder innocent people? We stopped that! We almost managed to get rid of him, but you want him back. You fools! We saved you! We protected you, and now you bring back the poison!"
Derby was ranting violently now, his optics burning feverishly and his composure vanished as he spilled out the truths of their crusade. Starscream was staring, his face an essay in shock and disgust - and as he listened to the groundbot growing ever more fanatic and saw the strange, relieved expression on Combine's face, the more disturbed and afraid he became.
The audience seemed to recover slightly and began murmuring between themselves, the sound reverberating around the chamber like a horde of angry metallic bees. Derby noticed through the haze of anger and despair - why couldn't they understand? Why were they so blind to a cancer he could see as clearly as he could see them? He snarled, the last shreds of his ruined mask of urbane superiority ripped away to reveal the infection seething beneath. His ranting became unintelligible, losing all hope of sense and any clarity he had left, dragging the young mech into a pit of madness and shadows he had been courting from the day he was sparked. Derby's mind fell in on itself, and he was blind to what everyone else could see as clearly as they saw him.
Derby went insane.
Combine yelped and started as Derby lunged for Starscream, the only thing he had left in his rotting mind was the seeker - the flier, the destroyer, the smirking shining angel of death he had to destroy, kill rip rend tear save the rest stop the evil spreading cut out the badness-
Starscream was caught completely off guard and fell backwards with all of Derby's weight on top of him, deaf to the screams and cries of both Council and watchers alike as the ice-cold optics burned into him and dark hands scraped and tore across his plating...
"Starscream!"
It was only when Skyfire's panicked voice whipcracked over the blurring tumult that Starscream snapped out of his millisecond of frozen shock, grabbing at Derby's hands - kicking and bucking as best he could under the dead weight but the mech was snarling and biting like a berserker. He snapped and tore at red plating and pinned a sky-blue hand under his weight, raking his fingers across sensitive wings and slashing at sensors, hacking at the plating, trying to dig out a fuel line. Starscream howled and thrashed violently, damage warnings flashing sirens across his optics as he threw Derby back with an anguished cry.
The mech landed heavily but was up on his feet in an instant, snarling mindlessly as his optics flared with the same dark hate as a crazed, wounded animal. Starscream lurched to his feet, eying him warily and trying hard not to think about what could happen if he was pinned again...
"Dar...?"
The shaking quaver was Combine. He stood trembling, forgotten, still to the side of the stage and staring at Derby.For a brief, fleeting moment, something like recognition flickered in the feverish optics, a tremulous spark of sanity.
Combine took a step forward. "Dar, wh-"
The spark drowned in the swell of black insanity - Derby sprang back and away, darting a swift look at Starscream who was still trying to get his balance leaning on a nearby wall. The mad blue narrowed with rage and he dived forwards as Starscream was hurled back again with a yell-
-and suddenly Derby was spitting and kicking in an immovable mountain of white.
Starscream looked up in pure shock for the second time in as many minutes, staring at Skyfire as he held the writhing mech jerking and frothing in his arms. Their optics met, and the world stood still.
For the third time in half an hour.
-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-
Starscream sat and stared out across the cityscape, watching the last of the sun disappear into the horizon and the lights glint rippling over the spires. No-one could blame him for wanting somewhere quiet to sit and think, to sort through the events of the past hour or so in peace, and the view was certainly exceptional from where he was sitting.
They may have objected to him sitting on top of the cupola, but Starscream wasn't bothered. He'd thought that, since he'd already been blown up, kicked out and mauled by a crazymech, there wasn't much else the world could throw at him today.
(It may be worthwhile here to point out that the jet was, understandably, a little frazzled at the moment, and was sitting out there mainly to get his mind back intact from wherever it was floating at the minute.)
Skyfire stood and watched him from the wall for a moment before quietly going over. The last glimmers of sunlight played on the sharp angles of the silver form, softening the strong lines of his face and illuminating the thoughtful expression. The scientist leant on the cupola, and they remained in comfortable silence for a while watching the sun go down.
The first stars were starting to flicker experimentally in the sky before either of them spoke.
"I don't think I got the chance to thank you, did I?"
It wasn't really a question, despite the considering tone. Skyfire looked up at his newly reinstated pupil, slightly surprised.
"Whatever for?"
"Everything" Starscream shrugged, not taking his optics from the sky, "but at the minute I mean for grabbing Derby."
Skyfire huffed quietly and gave a wry smile. "You don't need to thank me for that - I thought he was going to-" He broke off and the silence returned, this time a little awkward and tremulous.
"To be honest" Starscream said, slowly and quietly "for a minute, so did I." Skyfire heard the slight hitch in his voice and looked up at him.
"I - never thought he was crazy. One of the techs said he must have been losing it, slowly, from the minute he was sparked - something his creator did wrong or didn't do, and it made him go-" Skyfire didn't need see him to know he shuddered. "And he didn't know about it! It all made perfect sense to him, there was nothing wrong as far he knew, and they think Combine's going to go the same way - totally insane and not knowing why!"
The voice fell silent, and Skyfire hovered up to carefully perch on the rooftop next to Starscream. The jet glanced at him, a tinge of horror tainting his optics, and Skyfire knew he felt the same fear that had touched every other mech and femme in the Academy - the haunting dread of falling into insanity and not knowing it, not comprehending why the world didn't see what you saw and unable to understand why...
"I know... I know."
The scientist put an arm around his back and felt the flier trembling, ever so slightly all through his form. Starscream let out a sigh and leant against him, gazing back at the stars and quietly relieved that someone else understood - he said nothing, left it unspoken, but still felt that Skyfire heard.
Thank you.
Any time.
They stayed there as Starscream's shaking gradually slowed, then stopped completely; contentedly unnoticed on top of the wall, they watched the night draw softly in to cloak them with shadows and dapple them with stars.
I've now successfully turned Derby into Galvatron. Blugh. Still, it always leaves room for a comeback if he's been carted off to a loony bin. Actually, that gives me an ide- No. No, bad 'boots - I am NOT starting another fic when I'm halfway through three!
Hmm.
Ac-tua-lly... I could work that into...hmm.
Ignore me. Read and review while I go and work on the next bits. Byeee!
Starscream and Skyfire are © Hasbro. All other characters are © me, as is the story.
