Ch. 81
One beat, two beats, three beats, four...
Starscream counted rhythmically as the energon dripping from his side fell into the snow, unfortunately making a clear path to where he was going. He tried to keep his pedfalls light, but the energon made it obvious.
One beat, two beats, three beats, four...
The seeker scowled. Every quick few steps was another nice sized drip. And he was sure at this rate that he would be out of energon before he could get help. He heard Optimus and Dreadwing still scuffling, but the fight was following him as he tried to escape it.
One beat, two beats, three beats, four...
Starscream felt a heavy twinge in his side. Little bits of frost were beginning to form around the wound. The energon may have had a lower freezing point than water, but when Optimus cauterized his wound, the snow had melted and now...
One beat, two beats, three beats, four...
The silver mech snarled. He was sick of counting. Sick of feeling the dig of the newly forming ice crystals in his wound. Sick of running hither and yonder from every new mistake he created by changing everything-
One beat, two beats, three beats, four...
"Stupid, fragging-" Starscream cut himself off and snarled, slowing himself down as he ran into the center of the little human exploration outpost.
One beat... two beats... three beats... four...
The seeker shuddered as the cold bit through him. He remembered from before, how he had tried to use the lower temperatures to escape Optimus. The Prime had shrugged him off and told him how the cold was apparently not cold enough to cause damage.
One beat...
Starscream scuttled over to a small building and sat himself behind a wall embanked with snow. The pain in his side was worse now. But if he hadn't even been able to perform his own T-cog replacement, how could he even begin to think...
Two beats...
The energon was still flowing steadily enough in those long, thick drips. Eventually his levels would read low enough to register his declining core temperature. He would end up freezing faster than from the actual fuel loss.
Three beats...
With an unsteady intake, Starscream transformed out his blaster and aimed into the snow as Optimus had. He could still hear the pair fighting close by, an exchange of plasma fire here, the clash of metal there, but the seeker was still far enough away that he could perform his own... brand of treatment.
Four...
Starscream made up his mind. Freezing to death was not an option, nor was leaking out. He fired a few wild shots into the snow, hesitating as he moved to set the hot metal tip against his sore and leaking wound.
One-
A familiar sound caught his audials and he paused, looking back as the glow of a ground bridge entranced him. Perhaps he was going to be saved! Starscream scrambled to his peds and lunged for the bridge, a sneaky feeling of guilt at leaving Optimus behind quickly being washed away by the thought of Ratchet tending to his poor, aching chassis. The thought came double as he crashed helm-first into something large and metal that sent the silver mech's frame sprawling back into the snow.
Two...
The ground bridge closed as an angry snarl emitted from the mech now standing before the seeker. Before Starscream could fully register who it was, long, sharp claws ensnared around his throat and the weight of this much larger mech shoved him hard into the snow and the compacted dirt below that. He felt the claws dig in. He felt lubricant well in his optics as his intakes stopped cycling and his own claws couldn't pry himself free.
"Starscream," Megatron growled, releasing his grip slightly only so his prey could intake lightly, "did you think you could hide from me?"
The seeker took in as much of the frigid air as he could. He was unable to respond and yet, that didn't matter in the slightest. Optimus wasn't close enough to help him. He was still leaking energon. The tear in his side made him unable to transform and his COMM was damaged. Starscream was outmatched and on his own.
Three...
An amused grunt, then chuckle, came from the warlord as he reached down and felt the cauterized yet torn wound on Starscream's side; when the seeker hissed, he sneered, "Been busy, have you? Losing energon and parts for our enemy faction? You are far too generous, Starscream. There is little doubt in my mind that you will share this generosity once you are returned to the Decepticon cause."
Starscream glared painfully as he still struggled to pull Megatron's single servo from around his neck, "Y... You're in... sane..." he choked out.
The warlord glared darkly and powered up his cannon loudly. The seeker's optics widened in a frantic panic as he realized all too late his mistake in calling names. Megatron growled and shoved the cannon into the snow beside them, deep into the ground, and a powerful explosion from said weapon shook the ice beneath them and showered them both in a wave of snow. The shock of the cold made Starscream tremble and gasp, but it was the searing hot pain from the end of that Pit-spawned cannon against his now twice cauterized wound that made him scream into the open air.
And the pain didn't stop. Megatron pressed the end of his cannon in deeper, irritating the wounded metal and continuing to make the seeker wail and writhe in agony.
"Is this enough of a warning for you, Starscream?! Is this enough of a glimpse, a taste, of what is in store for you once you return?!" the larger mech snarled, "You have been generous to Optimus and his troops," he spat, "and I have been far too generous to you. Your confidence and wit made me hesitate from keeping you in check. I had believed you had earned some peace. But now that I know what you have done, what you may be capable of doing," he finally pulled his cannon away, but only to scratch down Starscream's chestplate roughly, gouging into the new sigil that had replaced his own, "you will not escape every planned punishment I have awaiting you aboard my ship."
The seeker felt light trickles of energon forming from the marks on his chestplate. He was in too much pain to register these wounds yet. Megatron seemed to grow more irate with Starscream the more he glared into his Autobot sigil, his altered-to-blue optics, these changes that made him far more free and far less under his dominating control in only one respect: they made the seeker less like him.
Four.
A blue plasma blast pierced loudly into Megatron's back, throwing him off Starscream as he fell into the snow. The smaller mech wasted no time in diving into the opposite direction with great heaving and thankful intakes of the cold air, his weakened blaster charging despite a tremor throughout his chassis.
Optimus stood defiantly as smoke gently wisped from his blaster and he frowned firmly, though his frame had been battered by Dreadwing's assaults, "Megatron," he shouted, "you will not be taking my soldier with you anywhere."