Megatron was pretty sure he expected something very different from this call with Prime.
"Can you… repeat that?" the warlord said, shifting in the throne.
"It has come to my attention that you are mistreating Starscream, and we are demanding his release into our custody," the Prime said with his full matrix voice.
Megatron looked to Soundwave with confusion, and the tape deck replied with a shrug. Megatron then turned back to the display. "This is the first I'm hearing of any mistreatment," he said with curiosity. "Didn't Jazz tell you-"
"Jazz has been removed from command," Prime said, short. "As I said, we demand-"
"In what world," Megatron said, snarling, "would I willingly give the Autobots my own soldier because they demanded it of me? Especially after they were the cause of his disability?"
Prime straightened up in his chair. "Starscream is not a solider nor a Decepticon. I doubt he could even say the oath," Prime spat. "And we admit our part in his disability without qualms. But keeping him cooped up in the Victory-"
Megatron started laughing. Prime was clearly irritated by this reaction and huffed his vents.
Megatron's laughter died down and he turned a fanged grin to the display. "Clearly you are under some… pressures from within your faction, Prime. Or, you are being manipulated," he said. "It couldn't have happened to a better leader, I assure you."
The Prime affixed Megatron with a cool stare. "We will help Starscream; take him back if necessary. You have our promise on that."
"And you cared for him so much before?"
Prime was about to retort, but Megatron waved a servo dismissively. "I get the gist," Megatron replied. "But make no mistake: Starscream is mine, no matter what state he is in. And I will not be giving him to you. But you are free to try," he said menacingly.
The Prime pointed a digit at the display. "Your faction and base are not the place for a mech in his condition. We did not realize you would be so cruel, but I suppose we shouldn't be surprised."
Megatron narrowed his optics. This sanctimonious slag was really getting old, and the more Prime talked the more it sounded like flagrant hypocrisy.
"Tell your new faction that I'd love to talk to them," he said with a dangerous smirk.
He indicated to Soundwave to cut the feed.
"Interesting development," Megatron said. "Seems they are even more unstable than we thought."
"Laserbeak: Reports most complaints are from flightframes Powerglide, Aerialbots, and Skyfire."
"Interesting," Megatron said again. "I wonder if he is trying to appease them or cut them off. See what else we can find out." Soundwave nodded.
Megatron commed Thundercracker to meet him on the bridge and bring his pacified trinemate with him.
Megatron stroked his chin in thought. The loss of Starscream as a warrior had certainly been detrimental to his cause, and the loss of Starscream's scientific and inventive contributions could not be ignored (though Megatron had tried). But it appeared the troublesome seeker still had something to offer the Decepticons, even if it was simply throwing off the balance of the war.
The two seekers arrived. Both bowed forward slightly; obedient, ready, willing.
Boring.
He sighed. That was an errant thought and should be purged.
"It seems that the situation with the Autobots grows more troubling by the day," he said frowning. "Prime was not penitent as we expected and still thinks he is their property."
Thundercracker looked incensed. "The least they could do is promise to leave him out of our war," the blue seeker said, glancing at his trinemate sadly.
Megatron also regarded the tri-colored seeker. He looked troubled.
"He cannot be left alone and must be guarded at all times," Megatron said his optics still trained on the red and white seeker. "I will let you be in charge of whom you trust to be his guardian when you are not able."
Starscream's wings drooped.
"Is that not amendable to you?" Megatron said, irritably.
Starscream bowed his helm. "My lord," he said. "I hate to be a burden-"
"You are just as much a burden now as you were before," Megatron said, keeping most of the irritation out of his voice. "Just now, it seems your pacification has… tilted things. In our favor. The Autobots are unsettled and it seems power is shifting there," he said.
Starscream looked up at him with pained optics but nodded.
Megatron thought him strangely endearing.
"You are dismissed for now," Megatron said. "Starscream staying in Decepticon custody is of the utmost importance."
Thundercracker and Starscream bowed again, and left, leaving Megatron and Soundwave alone in the dim room.
Ramjet was being particularly surly, and he knew it.
They were practicing hand-to-hand combat in their regularly scheduled training exercise. Skywarp had started leading them through drills, which had only worsened Ramjet's bad mood. Where the frag was their actual Air Commander? Skywarp couldn't lead a seeker to the sky.
When he finally showed up, late, Ramjet had been about to give the distracted Skywarp a particularly bad reminder as to why you never take your attention off of the conehead, but then he saw… him.
Starscream.
The Elite Trine were discussing something, and the red and white seeker was just staring blankly ahead, clearly not listening to anything his trinemates were saying. Ramjet wondered if he was still shaken after his kidnapping. He had to be.
"Air Commander?" he barked. "We gonna keep going or what?"
Thundercracker gave him a glare, and then turned to Starscream giving him a pat on the shoulder. The seeker nodded and went to sit down at his usual spot, his helm hanging just a little lower than usual.
"Apologies. We had a summons from Megatron that could not be avoided," the blue seeker said, his voice rumbling through the training room.
Ramjet sneered. "Then maybe you should have informed us that you were going to be late, that way we too could blow this training off."
Thundercracker didn't even bat an optic at the taunt. "Fall into sparring partners," he said, looking around the room to the other seekers. "Ramjet, you're with me," he said, his optics hard.
The conehead glared but followed Thundercracker over a corner and assumed a fighting stance.
"You have a problem?" Thundercracker said, taking the first swipe, which Ramjet avoided with ease.
"Yeah, actually: why are you the Air Commander now?" Ramjet spun to do a high kick. Thundercracker met it with his shoulder and braced arm, pushing the leg back with force.
Thundercracker lunged forward for a series of punches. Ramjet blocked most of them. "You don't think I'm fit?"
Ramjet snarled as a well-placed punch dented his plating on his chest. Ramjet turned to the side as another punch almost landed in the same spot. The sudden disappearance of his target caused Thundercracker to be slightly off-balance. This gave Ramjet the opportunity to land a hard punch to the abdomen, knocking the air out of the blue seeker.
"I don't think your trine is fit anymore; do you?" he snapped.
Thundercracker surged forward, clipping his shoulder into Ramjet's chest, knocking the conehead to the ground. He was angry now and growled as he got up, pulling up his shoulder-mounted gun and aimed it right at Thundercracker's spark chamber.
Thundercracker narrowed his optics but put up placating servos. "You're breaking the rules of the training, Ramjet."
"Frag the rules, I'm challenging you for Command," he said through clenched denta.
The entire training room went silent and all optics were on the pair. Ramjet felt Dirge and Thrust come to him on the periphery to back him up.
Skywarp slid in behind Thundercracker, his plating ruffled, and his gaze angry.
Ramjet threw a glance to the sidelines where he saw Starscream had stood with clenched servos. His face was contorted in concern, confusion, and maybe a touch of irritation. It seemed to be self-directed.
"I suppose it wouldn't be fair to challenge the full trine," Ramjet said his optics moving from Starscream and settled on the blue seeker before him. "I would just challenge you, solo then."
Thundercracker threw his chin out. "This is not the time for a challenge, Ramjet. The Autobots just infiltrated our base and plan to increase their attacks in the coming months."
"All the more reason we need a competent leader and a competent trine at the helm of the air command, hmm?"
Thundercracker looked the part of imperious Air Commander, but Ramjet could see the undercurrent of insecurity. Starscream had weathered countless challenges from Ramjet and many other seekers under his command, and the whole trine had fended off a few challenges in their tenure at the top. But Thundercracker had never done this alone. Not without Starscream.
"I accept. Tomorrow at dawn."
"Acceptable," Ramjet said, his faceplate glowering.
Skywarp and Thundercracker sneered in their best "old Starscream" impression and turned to speak to one-another. Ramjet smirked and turned around and walked out of the training room, deciding that training must be over.
To his surprise, Starscream was waiting for him in the corridor.
The seeker was still as gorgeous as the day Ramjet had met him, but he had lost all of the sharpness and cruelty that had defined him. He looked pensive and worried, and Ramjet had to steel himself to keep his face hard.
"What?" he barked.
Starscream didn't flinch like he had expected. "Ramjet, why are you challenging Thundercracker?"
The conehead took a step towards Starscream, invading his space. Starscream didn't move but met his optics unwaveringly.
"Did Thundercracker tell you to convince me to back down?"
"What? No-"
"He can't use his wounded little trinemate to get out of this. That's a low tactic, and it isn't going to work."
"Ramjet, no, this is just me, me. Not Thundercracker. This is… my fault. I'm just trying to understand."
"Your fault?" Ramjet sneered. "What's there to understand? You are weakened, and so his trine is weakened, and so we are all weakened. He should never had accepted Megatron's commendation."
Starscream grimaced at the words as if they had been blows. "Ramjet, I-" Starscream started, his helm falling forward a little. "I'm not fully aware of the nature of the challenge, but I'm asking you to reconsider-"
"Why does it matter to you? What do you care if he's the Air Commander or not? If he's demoted, he'll have more time to protect you."
Starscream sighed. "He's trying so hard, Ramjet. He wants to lead, and he has potential! He's so much calmer than you are and he doesn't try to challenge every mech he sees. You know this. Please rescind-"
"Absolutely not," Ramjet said, jamming a digit in Starscream's chassis. "Stay out of things that don't concern you, little seeker. This is how command works, and he should have been prepared for it."
Starscream looked up with him with those red optics, full of sorrow. It honestly made Ramjet's intakes hitch, but he couldn't admit that. No. No, he couldn't-
"But… maybe you could convince me."
Ramjet hated himself.
Starscream had always been a smart mech. He was still so fragging smart. The red and white seeker's optics were calculating the meaning behind what Ramjet had said, but he had to already know. Ah, there was a look of incredulity mixed with disgust. That was the look. That is what he had been missing.
The old Starscream was still there, buried deep beneath this soft veneer of vulnerability.
"How about it, 'Screamer?" Ramjet said, taking another step forward, and Starscream took a step back, close to the wall. Ramjet hated himself for doing this. But he felt out of control. Ramjet's servo came up and slammed into the wall right next to Starscream's helm, and the conehead leaned forward, blocking the seeker in. His obsession with Starscream had only increased since the accident, so much so now it was clouding all of his judgement.
"How could you convince me to take back my challenge?" His optics roved over the dark faceplate before him. The thick bottom lip, the well-formed nose, the optics that stared back at him with a small amount of revulsion were all easing Ramjet's roiled processor. Starscream was there. Starscream as he had known him wasn't completely gone.
He… he couldn't be gone.
But then the optics before him weakened, and it was with absolute fear that Ramjet realized that this Starscream was different, and that he would back down, he would… acquiesce…
"I'm not sure you actually want this," Starscream said.
Ramjet froze, his mouth twisted, his frame tense. "How would you know?" he said quietly.
Starscream raised an optic-ridge. "A hunch," he said. The seeker frowned. "I can only ask that you give Thundercracker a little more time before you challenge him," he said. "If you won't do it for him… I would ask that you do it… as a favor to me."
Ramjet found himself again and pulled back from crowding Starscream up against the wall. "Why would I do a favor for you?" he asked scornfully.
Starscream was watching him carefully, as if he were the one broken. "I think you do want something from me, but you don't know what it is yet. And so, when you figure it out, I would owe you."
So fragging smart.
Ramjet relaxed.
There was movement behind him as he heard Thundercracker and Skywarp run into the corridor, and he could feel their gaze quickly assessing the situation. Skywarp quickly went to Starscream, talking lowly into his audial, to which Starscream replied by shaking his helm.
Ramjet turned to Thundercracker. "I've decided to rescind my challenge," he said. "Cooler helms have convinced me, and I might have been too quick try and take you down a size," he said, surprising himself with how genuine he sounded.
Thundercracker looked to Starscream with a searching look and then back to Ramjet. "I… accept. I look forward to proving my worthiness to lead to you."
Acceptable. If not boring.
Ramjet turned to walk back into the training area without sparing the weakened elite trine a second glance.