Ch. 87
Starscream was frightened.
It didn't take at all long for a horrid grunt of pain to make the seeker hesitate in his escape, the sound clearly Optimus in some sort of distress. Starscream only managed a glance at the Prime with Dreadwing's blade firmly planted in the back of his shoulder and the blue seeker forcing his arm back as he pushed him to his knees. This hesitation brought on a second capture, his own, when he felt Megatron grab one of his large wings firmly and wrench him back hard into the middle of the compound. There was no time to regroup as the warlord jumped him and punched him hard in the faceplates to daze him, then again in the cockpit to force him down.
Optimus watched in agony, both at Starscream's pain and his own, and weakly struggled to pull free from Dreadwing, "Megatron, stop-"
Dreadwing kept him in place and scowled as his leader stalked around the small seeker, the warlord finally laughing, "This moment gives me no pleasure, my dear Starscream! I had expected far more from a creation of your caliber! Yet here you are, beaten, and it is I who have conquered you. You can't handle much more. You are finished!"
Starscream struggled to stand but couldn't. His legs were giving out. The mech softly wiped a small trickle of energon from his faceplates as he took intakes in hard pants. The opening of a bridge behind him as the warlord laughed loudly made him shudder and hang his helm in defeat. Megatron was right. He couldn't handle one thing more.
The seeker didn't bother looking up when he heard rushed, yet heavy, pedfalls coming from the bridge. He didn't look up when he felt something jump over him, landing between him and Megatron. But his gaze finally did wrench up when he heard the warlord yell in surprise and the hard clang of metal drive the silver leader back. What he saw astounded him.
The Apex Armor. HIS Apex Armor. Because Primus be damned if he was going to let anyone else claim otherwise. And the wearer turned, his expression emotionless and at the same time... graphic.
"Starscream: rescued."
The seeker huffed in surprise, unable to intake fully nor stand, "R-rescued? Soundwave, you're wearing MY armor!"
"Correction: Soundwave is wearing jointly owned armor."
Soundwave reached down and helped Starscream to his peds, the smaller mech pouting, "But you knew I had my optics on it."
Megatron pulled himself from a stiff embankment of snow and snarled, baring his sharp dentals, "Soundwave... SOUNDWAVE?! How DARE you betray your master!"
Soundwave took a defensive stance between the warlord and the seeker, his newly acquired bulk hiding the small mech, "Lord Megatron: please desist."
Dreadwing scowled, "Soundwave! You cannot arrive on this battlefield and tell your true leader to cease his actions!"
Soundwave rolled the Apex Armor's shoulders gently, still getting a feel for the casing around him, "Soundwave: has only come to retrieve Starscream and Optimus Prime. No battle is requested."
Megatron huffed, stalking around Soundwave as the bridge behind the former Decepticons closed, "If you dare to come here, to face me, then you have asked for a fight, Soundwave. You know what I am capable of. You know what I will do to you."
The blue mech nodded and put up his fists tightly in defense, "Soundwave: knows."
Starscream trembled as he tried to lean against the armor he had once been very familiar with. He could barely stand otherwise. His gaze traveled over to Optimus and he felt himself cringe. Those blue optics. Staring back into his. The Prime was clearly in an agonizing amount of pain; the end of Dreadwing's blade still protruding grotesquely out from Optimus's shoulder, his chest plate beaten in by Megatron, and small scratches and marks marring the frame of his chassis all over. But the look in those optics... the words unspoken and simply said with those two, blue optics, told Starscream that what Optimus was seeing far worse upon the seeker's frame.
Soundwave moved slightly and Starscream was pulled from his thoughts when the blue mech's arm grabbed him and held him out of the way, the pair dodging a taunting lunge from the warlord.
"Give him to me," Megatron hissed, glaring at Soundwave.
The mech only shook his helm, keeping the seeker behind him, and Megatron lunged again, reaching to grab Starscream and missing once more.
"I said GIVE HIM TO ME!"
"Soundwave: cannot comply. Lord Megatron: please desist."
"YOU CANNOT COMMAND ME!"
The warlord suddenly slammed into Soundwave and threw him over Starscream with a roar, the silver seeker collapsing into the snow with a yelp. The Apex Armor would make sure Soundwave was protected, but that could only do so much at a distance for anyone else. Megatron grabbed Starscream by a wing and dragged him along despite the smaller mech struggling and whining in pain, and snarled at Dreadwing.
"Optimus is of no value to us alive. Finish him."
The blue seeker nodded and pulled his sword from the Prime's shoulder, letting Optimus drop into the snow with a pained gasp.
Starscream clawed at Megatron's servo, his optics wide as he watched, "Dreadwing, stop! Don't do this, it won't change anything! It won't save you, or the Decepticons! It won't matter in the end, I know it! Just stop! Just stop and listen to me!"
"NO!" Dreadwing growled, "You have done enough with your words, traitor," he raised his blade high, huffing, "I am giving the Prime all he deserves: an honorable death at the servos of an honorable opponent."
"I WON'T LET YOU!"
Starscream felt the static begin to build even before he wrenched his wing free of Megatron's grasp. His wing buckled and bent, tearing on the underside in a way that curled the metal on a point. He was leaking more energon now. But that didn't matter. In the slow feeling that enveloped him, Starscream felt Megatron move to grab him again and miss, Soundwave's heavy pedfalls behind them. The blue mech must have been holding him back. Dreadwing's optics widened as his blade began to come down, aiming to remove the Prime's helm. But he would never get the chance. Starscream threw himself over Optimus's chassis as the static charged to its final point and the pair hiccuped hard, both seeker and Prime thrown some distance away next to one of the buildings.
Dreadwing stared at where his blade ended up, deep in the snow. Megatron's optics widened in surprise. Soundwave didn't move, holding the warlord back from where Starscream and Optimus had once been. The blue seeker was the first to look up at where his would-be victims were now, his astonishment only rivaled by the awe Optimus had at what had just transpired.
"I... this..." he murmured.
The seeker shook softly, panting, "Shut up... just be quiet..."
Megatron's optics locked with Starscream's and the warlord sneered darkly. He began to cackle loudly, maniacally, even with Soundwave holding him back with the aid of the Apex Armor. Starscream cringed away and dug his trembling claws into the snow. And then Megatron broke lose from Soundwave's hold.