Ch. 35

Megatron waited as the rest of the 'Bots came through. He hadn't given Starscream any reprieve; the warlord's claws were wrapped so tightly around the seeker's arm he was sure it was eventually going to break. Optimus didn't look too pleased by the situation, but Starscream had told them to leave it alone. So he would.

"Where do we go from here?" the Prime asked.

Megatron gestured behind him, "It's going to be quite a walk. We'll need to keep our guard up."

Arcee already had her blasters transformed and charged up, "How do we even know Unicron knows we're here?"

"Make no mistake," Megatron growled, turning and dragging Starscream along as he walked, "he already does."

The seeker still tried to pull his arm away. Not only was this meaningless, honestly, where could he go? But it was embarrassing. He was being led around like a naughty sparkling!

Megatron had put a bit of distance between himself and his second and the Autobots behind them, so the warlord took the opportunity to growl at him, "You are going to start talking. Now. Or by the time we find Unicron's spark, I will shoot you in the back myself."

Starscream scoffed, "Your threats mean nothing to me. And no, you won't do it."

"You are willing to test that theory?"

"Try me," the seeker hissed, "I'm not afraid of you... anymore."

The addition of the word made the warlord frown darkly. This almost prideful confidence in his second was both admirable and alarming. It gave him no control over him anymore.

Megatron pulled Starscream along harder, scowling, "If I need to reiterate who is in charge, dear Starscream, I doubt you will live through it."

The seeker glanced back at the Autobots, "Go ahead. I find myself doubting they'll let you get away with it."

The banter was excruciatingly pleasant to Megatron. So much more thrilling than the begging Starscream was known for. It was a challenge, a threat laced with a goal at the end. He didn't want to have to beat Starscream into submission. He rather liked the idea of a challenge now and then. But he needed the seeker back on his side for that. And if he had to remind him what was what, in the end it wholly justified his means.

The group made their way into a rigid tunnel, another bridge just out on the other side. As the group got closer to the bridge Megatron suddenly stopped and grabbed his helm in pain. Starscream whimpered then cried out, collapsing as the warlord's grip started to crush his arm.

The Autobots were on the pair immediately, Optimus and Bumblebee grabbing Megatron to pull him away while Arcee and Bulkhead pried the large mech's claws open, freeing the seeker. The damage was unsightly, the metal clearly holding a perfect impression of Megatron's servo. As the warlord came to, the Prime and scout let him go.

Megatron shook his helm, "Unicron grows ever stronger..." he paused when he saw Bulkhead and Arcee looking over Starscream's forearm; the warlord's optics narrowed, "Something happened."

The seeker winced as Arcee delicately tired to pry some of the metal open, Optimus getting in between them and Megatron, "Yes. And for his sake and the sake of others, he will continue the journey walking on his own, without your help."

Megatron only scoffed and walked ahead.

Starscream glared at him as he continued on, muttering to Arcee, "As long as I can transform it, it's fine."

The femme sighed, "We'll have Ratchet take a look once we get back."

The seeker nodded and they followed after Megatron, Optimus intentionally keeping Starscream behind him. The bridge they were standing on was attached to a large ledge at the end and what appeared to be a door behind it. Something told the seeker that was where the spark of Unicron was residing.

Bulkhead groaned and rubbed his helm, "Hey, anyone else feeling a little off?"

Starscream grabbed him as he wandered close to the edge, "It's the dark energon. It's starting to drain you."

Megatron stopped, growling as he charged his cannon.

Optimus frowned, "Something amiss?"

The warlord looked to the side, "Company."

A loud whirring noise reached their audials and they looked out into the cavern.

Bulkhead struggled to focus, "What's that?"

Megatron growled, "This is the chassis of Unicron, so it stands to reason we are a virus."

Optimus transformed his servos into blasters, "He has sent anti-bodies to get rid of us. Autobots, prepare to defend yourselves!"

Starscream transformed out a blaster as a large torrent of flying robotic anti-bodies flew in from the deepest part of the cavern, closing in fast. The anti-bodies stayed high at the ceiling of the cavern then split, creating two groups.

Arcee growled, "What are they doing?"

Starscream's optics slowly widened as he watched a large group of the robots split off and begin to circle, "They're creating a plan of attack."

The circling anti-bodies suddenly dove at the Cybertronian invaders, rapidly firing their blasters. The bots returned fire, taking down quite a few of the robots. Starscream felt some relief in knowing the anti-bodies were more about quantity, not quality. But the relief subsided when the seeker backed up for a better shot and tried to transform out his second blaster, but the transformation sequence refused to respond. Megatron had crushed his arm too tightly; the more detailed mechanisms weren't working.

Arcee saw Starscream's distress and ran to cover him, "What's wrong?!"

The seeker knelt low and slammed his arm against the ground, trying to force it open, "My arm took too much damage, I can't use my second weapon!"

The second group of anti-bodies suddenly locked on and dove, aiming for Starscream. The seeker looked up at the oncoming assault and yelped, shoving Arcee out of the way as he was swarmed. Starscream scuttled out of the way of the anti-bodies and fired with his only blaster, jumping over the side of the bridge.

Megatron watched the seeker fall and roared, "STARSCREAM! GET BACK HERE!"

Starscream ignored the order and transformed, taking off as fast as he could. He turned back hard at the anti-bodies attacking the bots and fired, the robots that he missed flying after him as he sped off.

Bumblebee beeped as a majority of the attackers left them to follow the seeker, asking what was happening.

Megatron huffed, "It seems Starscream's gift of flight makes him the more dangerous target."

Arcee smirked, "It also makes these things easier to shoot," she fired rapidly, the rest of the Autobots taking her cue as Starscream flew in a large circle around them, allowing them to pick off anti-bodies at will.

The seeker growled to himself as he continued to fly. The anti-bodies were tracking him now and he couldn't land with this many enemies on his tail, no matter how many robots the bots shot down. He tightened his turns to make the circle smaller until he found himself flying into some of the robots, blasting them down if they got too close. When he had a clear shot he fired a missile, taking out a large group of anti-bodies.

Megatron had led the Autobots to the door now. Arcee, Bumblebee and Bulkhead continued to deliver cover fire even as Starscream landed to aid them, the warlord opening the door for them.

"Autobots," Optimus ordered, "I will need you to keep our attackers at bay for as long as you can!"

Bulkhead nodded, firing shot after shot, "We gotta hold fast! For Optimus!"

Starscream took down a couple more anti-bodies then dove in through the door after the Prime before it could close. He heard Bumblebee whirl in protest but ignored him, running after Optimus and into a large chamber. He skidded to a halt beside the surprised Prime and felt his optics widen at the sight. A giant, swirling purple orb of light. The spark of the Chaos Bringer himself, Unicron.