Ch. 107

Starscream had never been so happy to see that arrogant, wanna-be Prime in all his function. Smokescreen quickly ran from his vantage point and slid down the side of the concrete channel to the pair, lifting Starscream to his peds first before carefully getting a hold of Raf and cradling the boy in his servo.

"Let's get you guys back to Ratchet."

Starscream struggled and gently pushed against the white mech's chestplate, "No, no, get Raf out of here, get him back-" the seeker shoved harder, knocking himself away from Smokescreen and the younger mech out of the way as C.Y.L.A.S. brought down his spider legs between them.

Smokescreen held onto Raf tighter and rolled back, aiming his other arm, blaster ready, at his opponent, "Hey, c'mon Con! At least give us a heads up when you're creeping!"

Starscream shuddered in his pain and collapsed, trying to focus on his intakes so he wouldn't black out. C.Y.L.A.S. sneered as he assessed the seeker's condition, deciding to focus on the white mech before him.

"You and I have yet to be formally introduced," the disfigured seeker chuckled, "But I suppose you're the mech that comes around every once in a while. Wheeljack, isn't it?"

Smokescreen smirked, "I don't think I appreciate you using that name," he charged his blaster again, "and going after human kids is so below the plate. Why not take on a real challenge?"

C.Y.L.A.S. laughed, "Become a challenge then!" he raised his arms quickly and fired both missiles, jumping up to transform.

Smokescreen's optics widened and he dove quickly, transforming around Raf as he sped down the channel and away from the explosions, "Sorry about the ride! I'm trying to COMM Ratchet, but Optimus and the team must still be in trouble! How you doin', kid?"

Raf trembled in the back seat of the mech's vehicle mode, tears streaming down his face, "I'm really scared... Is Starscream gonna be ok?"

Smokescreen chuckled, "Well... I mean, yeah. I'll take this guy down and we'll get him to Ratchet. No worries, right?"

The boy nodded and quieted down but shuddered when he heard a jet turbine following up above them. And it was gaining fast.

"Uh oh," Smokescreen warned, "Evasive maneuvers!"

The bot jerked to the side as a rain of blaster fire began to riddle steadily behind them, only nearly missing them. Smokescreen revved his engine to go faster and C.Y.L.A.S. took the bait, his turbine pushing harder to match them. The white mech only allowed the chase for a second as he quickly hit the brakes and turned at an angle, skidding as he started driving back to where Starscream was collapsed. C.Y.L.A.S. snarled as he was forced to overshoot ahead of them and struggled to turn himself around, not yet used to his new form.

Smokescreen drove slower as he approached Starscream and stopped, letting Raf get out on his own before transforming, "Hey Scream, can you get up?"

The seeker hissed as his intakes became quick and labored, "S-Starscream, you imbecile."

The white mech smiled and reached down to help him up, "Well, it's a good thing your sense of humor hasn't died on us yet."

"No, but you will!"

Smokescreen only had a fraction of a second to turn and block a pair of spider legs that attempted to stab into him from above. C.Y.L.A.S. charged forward with his own claws and slashed at the young mech's arms, kicking hard at his peds to throw him off balance. Smokescreen stumbled back but regained his form and dodged another swipe aimed for his helm, punching hard into C.Y.L.A.S.'s side. The disfigured seeker growled in pain but used the angle to shove the white mech away from him with his lower pair of spider legs. Smokescreen fell back and landed hard into the concrete, shuddering when he felt a few deeper scrapes begin to leak energon. Sure, he knew fighting to save his species and stop the Decepticons from destroying sentient lives wasn't going to be safe or pretty. But he had thoroughly hoped his first real fight would've gone better than how it was going now.

And it got worse when he moved to get up and he felt a sharp leg kick into his gut. C.Y.L.A.S. kicked him again, even after he had collapsed, and punched him hard in the helm when he tried to get up.

Raf watched in horror, tears fogging his glasses, and he ran forward to try to do anything he could to get it all to stop, "No! Leave him alone, let him go!"

Smokescreen winced when he saw the boy getting closer and coughed in surprise, "R-Raf... stay back..."

Starscream heard the commotion and struggled to focus his optics on the other mechs, "Raf, get out of here!"

C.Y.L.A.S. turned and sneered down at the boy, his glare freezing Raf in his tracks, and he transformed out a blaster, aiming it down at the child as it charged. Smokescreen growled and forced himself to move, his chassis bumping into the disfigured seeker's legs as he dove to shield the boy. The act annoyed C.Y.L.A.S. It bothered him. And instead of letting the blaster's charge go to waste, he aimed into Smokescreen's back and fired.

Starscream didn't hear the actual shot. He saw it. From his prone position, he could see energon pooling underneath the young mech's now very still chassis. And after a few moments, he did hear something. He heard crying. It was Raf, hiding under Smokescreen's frame, and his wails drew C.Y.L.A.S.'s attention to the white mech's very short and quick intakes, barely enough to show he was still functioning.

"Clinging to life, are we?" the mech chuckled, "It's a hard thing to hold onto, especially when you're teetering so close to the edge. Here, let me make this easier for you..." he charged his blaster again, "Let me take the edge off."

C.Y.L.A.S. aimed carefully, poised to shoot into Smokescreen's helm, when a hard force slammed into him from the side, crashing him into the concrete side of the channel. The mech coughed at the pain and looked up, Starscream's form standing in front of the collapsed Autobot he had been so eager to eliminate. But something wasn't quite right.

Starscream's optics were blank. He was looking ahead, but staring at nothing. His mind was blank, too. Or at least, he thought that it felt just so. All he could hear and think about was this, these horrible moments C.Y.L.A.S. had created and the fear and the anger and his optics felt as though they were shorting out and there was nothing but red and the terrible feeling of his chassis being out of control and spiraling into something he'd never quite-

Starscream roared at C.Y.L.A.S. and charged forward, his frame hiccuping wildly as sparks channeled in between his wings at an alarming rate. C.Y.L.A.S. was only barely able to move out of the way before the enraged seeker's fist went into the concrete, blowing a hole into it. But the silver mech wasn't finished. He tore after his fleeing opponent, his hiccup throwing him in front of the abomination, and he punched and slashed with everything this power was giving him. C.Y.L.A.S. had never witnessed such an extension of Starscream's capabilities and no matter how much he wanted to sit in awe of its raw brutality, the pain from being on the receiving end made it a bit too hard to cope.

C.Y.L.A.S. threw up his arms to block the barrage of punches that flew at him like bullets from what felt like every angle. One second, Starscream would be in front, the next his hiccup would throw him to the side and the attacks would become more damaging. C.Y.L.A.S. snarled at the amount of wounds that began to form on his frame, some ranging from dents to gouges to broiling burns where metal was beginning to drip off of him like rain off a house. Starscream's hiccup was moving him so fast, he was melting his opponent.

C.Y.L.A.S. jumped back in an attempt to escape and even transformed, his turbine ready to get him the frag out of this horrible mess. But Starscream's claws dug roughly into one of his wings and the seeker began to turn, spinning with every ounce of strength he could find within himself. When he felt he could give no more he finally released, C.Y.L.A.S.'s jet mode hurtling into the air and into the dark of the night. Away from him. Away from the mess he'd made. Away from Raf... from Smokescreen...

Starscream shuddered and fell to his knees, his first instinct to dry heave as the sparks between his wings stopped and his chassis settled, the hiccups slowing to a rapid vibration and then ceasing altogether. The seeker felt his whole frame burning, like he was being cooked from the inside out, and when he did finally collapse he found himself staring into thankful blue optics, not too far away from him.

"Scream... ... Starscream..." Smokescreen whispered quietly, "Thanks... for..." he trailed off, then smiled, "Team's on the way... They'll get us patched up..."

Starscream only stared back quietly then shuttered his optics, listening to the quiet and Raf's tired breathing as a ground bridge opened up near by.