Starscream rushed quickly through the gloomy halls of the Nemesis, his large feet producing loud bangs as he dashed jollily along.
Oh, what a glorious day this had turned out be! Megatron is dying! The big brute, finally death shall have his head!
Starscream skidded around a corner, the screeching of metal-on-metal howling through the quiet air. Concerned and hushed voices were dripping from the glowing room ahead. Starscream burst into the medical quarters, and as the other Decepticons turned to investigate who had entered, he ripped his devious grin off his face. A somber frown replaced it, his yellow eyes now a soft light. Oh yes, mourning happens when someone dies.
He approached the operating table his liege was splayed out upon. Knock Out was busily tending to the intense damage committed to Megatron's face. His metal helmet was twisted strangely, making it difficult for Knock Out to pry it off and give him access to repair whatever hell lay beneath.
"How long have you been trying to get it off?" Starscream questioned.
"Dammit, Scream, I don't know. Hours."
Starscream was taken aback by Knock Out's hasty and fowl response, but, then again, the young medic was under an extreme amount of stress. Why, the life of the Decepticon lord was being held in his lovely little hands.
Starscream turned his head, observing the two others lurking in the shadows, watching Knock Out's every move, making sure no malpractice would take place.
"Soundwave, get out. Knock Out's stressed enough without you peeping in."
Soundwave's yellow visor's luminosity increased as he was addressed. A robotic sigh crackled out from beneath his mouth plate.
"I want to be here if my Liege perishes," Soundwave rebutted. Something knocked around inside his chest compartment, and the door hissed as it slowly opened. Ravage poked his head out, locking his eyes with Starscream, daring the second in command to make another stab at his master.
"Fine. Shockwave, is there anything you can do?"
The genius slipped out of the darkness, his eye a furious red amongst the violet lights of the Nemesis. He approached the table as Knock Out removed part of Megatron's helmet. The head gear was still compressed against him, naughtily holding on, desperate to kill him. Starscream never knew he could relate to an inanimate object so much.
"I can give Knock Out some time to rest."
"Oh, thank Primus." Knock Out threw down his tools before scampering off to another sector of the room, hiding away from the horror he had to fix.
Shockwave gripped one of the tools and went to work carefully removing more parts, dropping the little bits into a tin. The helmet was shattered into hundreds of brilliant little shards, all cutting into Megatron's head. One incorrect extraction would cause irreversible damage, and Shockwave's blocky hands would most definitely commit harm. They were the fingers of an engineer, not a graceful medic.
Starscream was glad.
"Is there any way I can help? Speed up the process?" Starscream reached out towards a pair of tweezers.
"No."
Starscream picked up the tool, the metal reflecting a shaft of light. "This doesn't seem too difficult. An extra pair of hands would be a major asset."
"Your proposal is illogical. This is not about speed. This is about accuracy. You are devoid of accuracy."
Starscream grunted softly to himself, dramatically dropping the tweezers back into their home. Shockwave had made considerably more progress than Knock Out had, and now the severed, sparking wires constructing Megatron's neutral network could be made out.
Knock Out slunk back out into the light, his optics dull and dead. He glanced at the war inside his lord's head, violent and wild like a jungle, overgrown and ugly. He slumped down quickly as if someone had thwacked him with a bat, shielding his eyes with his feminine hands.
"I can't do it. I can't save him."
Shockwave briefly glanced at the panicked medic before resuming his progress. "You are trained. You are skilled enough to complete a task such as this."
"I was never trained to fix something of this extent. He's gone. Our lord is gone."
Soundwave approached the table, now fixated on the anatomical trauma his leader had undergone. His minicons remained tucked away, safe against his spark. "Shockwave, do you have any knowledge regarding neural repair?"
Shockwave dropped another piece into the tin, a small segment of the complex puzzle of destruction. "I have extensive understanding of the brain, but no, I have not repaired a Cybertronian's neural network."
"Join forces with Knock Out. The combined skill will produce an agreeable outcome."
Shockwave looked to the shivering doctor. "I side with Soundwave."
Knock Out looked to Starscream, seeking a second opinion. Starscream's face remained emotionless, leaving his comrade stranded in the sea of sorrow and shock.
"Ass," Knock Out muttered before turning to the scientist, who was staring intently at him, awaiting a response. "Fine. Just get the rest of that helmet removed. I am going to get some more tools."
As Knock Out left them alone again, Starscream pulled up a chair, placing himself in a makeshift theatre. What a glorious play this was! The drama, the fear! Oh, they cared so dearly. What a shame the gladiator was going to perish. Starscream pulled a long, spear like tool off the overbed table, and he used it to clean some dirt out from between his blue knuckles. He needed to look respectable for his coronation.
Knock Out reappeared, clutching a small satchel full of various tools. Starscream watched him pull every shape of gizmo that could be imagined out of the bag. The helmet had finally been removed, exposing Megatron's disaster of a brain.
Knock Out turned to Starscream. "What happened?"
"We were in retreat from the Autobots. All the vehicons we had brought along had been struck down, and Megatron had already suffered damage to his shoulder." Starscream gestured to the wreckage. "We were trying to escape through a deep ravine, stay protected from being fired at, but someone managed to make boulders fall down around us. I sped up, avoiding the rocks, and I expected Megatron to do the same, but when I turned around, he was trapped under the boulders unconscious. I brought him back to the ship. He is strong; I never expected the damage to be this extreme."
Knock Out shook his head, disappointed about his lord's predicament. "Why did it have to hit him in the head?"
Shockwave prepared the gadgets Knock Out had brought, warming them up for soldering. Knock Out began to instruct him on how to wield the tools correctly, and as the engineer listened intently, Starscream zoned out, staring at the dark ceiling.
Even if he does live, he is going to be a wreck.
The stench of burning filled the air, so putrid and rank.
Even if he doesn't die, I will have to take over. He's going to be paralyzed or something. He won't be able to think straight. Ugh, like he ever has.
Smoke unraveled into the air like phantoms, watching over the surgery unwinding below them. Soundwave kneaded his hands in the corner, watching and praying to Primus.
Starscream watched the communications leader, feeling a small pang of guilt that was immediately shoved down. This was not Starscream's fault, and it wasn't like he cared for Soundwave anyways. Or anyone in the room for that matter. Maybe Knock Out. Starscream was his own number one, but he could not hide his own hatred for himself. He wished he cared for his dying master. But he cared more for the throne.
. . .
Soundwave affixed a makeshift helmet atop his master's head, clicking it into place. Megatron's expression was contorted into a sneer of distress, like he could feel the agony behind his forehead. Starscream dismissed himself from his perch on the chair, and he approached the patient. Knock Out initiated tests, placing probes on Megatron.
Starscream observed the screen, and Megatron's brain burst into activity.
Dammit.
"He's...alive," Knock Out breathed, on the verge of tears. "We did it, Shockwave."
Shockwave nodded, as if checking off yet another seemingly impossible scientific feat. Just yet another day in the world of Shockwave. He fired up another computer, raking his gaze over scans of Megatron's brain, comparing the aftermath of the surgery to images of what their leader's disturbed mind looked like before the accident.
Knock Out looked over. "Anything major?"
"Surprisingly, no damage to the interior. The cortex took most of the trauma. Most of my concern is regarding expansion in the jurisdiction region."
Starscream fixed his gaze on Shockwave's screen. "What's that?"
"The region of our minds that determines our decisions and finalized actions."
Knock Out ventured over, his optics absorbing the information spread out before him. "What would this do to him?"
"More control over emotions. Less...outbursts."
"But will he still be Megatron?" Starscream asked.
"From what I can tell, yes."
"My liege..."
The trio whipped around. Soundwave was hunched over Megatron, who was attempting to sit up.
"My liege, please, stay down." Soundwave gently pushed his lord down, and Megatron struggled to push him away.
"Weak," Megatron muttered.
Knock Out scampered over, joyous. "Yes, you will have to recover, but welcome back."
Starscream stared at the resurrection happening in the operating room, and his optics darkened. He should have just taken those tweezers and stabbed Megatron's brain. The witnesses didn't have to remain. He could have taken down these Decepticons.
