Ch. 112

Ratchet scowled as multiple warning signs began to scream at him. Starscream was in trouble now. It had started almost immediately after the seeker had begun moving about the ship. Soundwave was frantically typing into a secondary console beside the medic and Knockout and Breakdown were scrambling to give medical aid to Starscream's chassis. Whatever was going on, the seeker was not handling it well. His frame tensed at random moments and convulsed only once since the alerts began blaring.

"What is going on up there?!" Ratchet snarled, "They shouldn't be able to touch him!"

"Decepticon security team: has regained control of projection systems," Soundwave stopped typing and expelled his cables, latching on tightly to the console, "Remote isolation commencing: Operation: Bait: compromised."

Ratchet read the screens as they quickly bustled with information and the blue mech began countering actions with his own codes, "Scrap... he's on his own..."

Knockout huffed from the seeker's berthside, "He'll be fine. He always is."

Ratchet glared at him, "His MIND is essentially trapped on Megatron's ship! They may not be able to drill into him physically, but they could lock him away up there until they get a hold of his chassis! He is at their mercy for whatever torment they can concoct through the use of downloadable viruses!"

"Call Optimus!" Breakdown quickly suggested.

Knockout grumbled, "We can't, no communication with Team O until they call us first. Covert operations, remember?"

Breakdown stared down in concern at Starscream's chassis as it tensed again, "So... so what do we do then?"

"Exactly what we're already doing," Ratchet sighed, "As soon as Soundwave can loosen the Decepticon's grip on Starscream's psyche, we'll pull him out. We just need a few more minutes."

Starscream cried out in pain as he felt Megatron's claws dig in. This wasn't supposed to happen. This wasn't supposed to happen. He tried thinking the phrase over and over, but it didn't help. Laws of reversal: if he could inflict damage, they could certainly attack back. And now that Megatron's troops had control over the system that had brought his mind onto the ship, he was at their mercy.

Megatron lifted the seeker from the wall and threw him roughly onto the berth. Starscream felt his intake wheeze out of him and he scrambled to slip away but the warlord was on his hologram again, pinning him down as he examined the back of his helm.

"So, it would seem C.Y.L.A.S. was correct," he mused, "MECH did try to patch you themselves. How pathetic. Regardless..." Megatron leaned over and snagged the end of the cortical patch cord, "let's test these physical limits you possess..."

Starscream squealed and squirmed when he felt the proximity of the cord draw closer. Now that he was sure he was going to be maimed, he was wary of how truly little effect the cord could have on him. What if it spirited his mind somewhere else? What if it downloaded his mind into their systems? What if it pulled him completely from his chassis? Would he die then?

The seeker struggled harder and dug his claws into the berth. Megatron lined the plug at the back of his helm and pushed it forward, but the plug phased through and the warlord scowled.

"Now that is disappointing, isn't it?" he huffed, tossing the cord aside, "It would seem I will have to invent a new game to play with you while my security team fully separates you from the Autobot's programs. Won't that be a fun hunt, my dear Starscream? Searching for your frame while your disembodied mind becomes a slave on this ship? Don't think I won't hesitate to use that against you," he leaned down against him, hissing into his audials, "I could keep you separated for the rest of eternity. I don't need your mind to harness your power. But it will amuse me to watch you suffer, to watch you wither in agony as I take it from you. That is what all this is about now. You. Your existence here is impossible. I had the answer to all of life's beginnings and ends right in front of me and you played well in your sniveling role. You cast the perfect smokescreen in front of my optics. I never even knew..."

Starscream whimpered and gasped when he felt Megatron's claws slowly snake around his throat. They gently began to squeeze and he started to tremble, his own lithe claws desperately tugging on the one giant servo that began to choke him.

"Do you know what power you truly possess?" the warlord continued, "Do you know what harnessing this power could create? What you could be capable of building or destroying with the wave of a servo? Primus dictated this power to the first of the Primes, the purest forms of our species, and you have ended up with this limitless expansion of opportunity."

The seeker shook his helm, tears forming in his optics, "I-it's n... not limitless... It... doesn't work... like..."

Megatron turned him over, his grip never leaving his throat, and slammed him back into the berth, "Doesn't it?!" he roared, "You have yet to fully harness such possibilities! I have the advantage! I will always have the advantage! Unicron perished, leaving me with the knowledge he bore since the beginning of his existence! You are a legend! You are a tale made of the fantastical! A creation that no Cybertronian could ever have dreamed of, let alone create on their own! I will enslave you, my dear Starscream! Your powers are MINE to control! Even before you became aware, you served me, and you will continue to serve me until I rule not just our home and this pathetic planet, but ALL OF THIS UNIVERSE!"

Starscream screamed out and slashed his claws up, slamming them into the side of Megatron's helm. The warlord dropped him with a yell and pressed a servo against the leaking metal Starscream had stabbed into, a slick grin and chuckle escaping him.

"You... are going to make this fun for me, aren't you?"

The seeker stayed stock still, panting his intakes quickly as he recovered. Megatron flicked fresh energon from his servo then dove at Starscream with a snarl. The seeker shrieked, sliding under the berth and throwing himself over the equipment that the warlord intended to one day use upon him. Megatron followed excitedly, cackling as he dove after him. His large claws slashed away at the machinery, the chase being more important than the tools, and lunged suddenly when he saw even the most remote amount of space with which to grab Starscream. But the seeker was just as frantic to get away, his terrified form running about the room as the warlord followed close behind. This plan wasn't happening the way it should anymore. He prayed to himself. He prayed that Optimus had already retrieved the Star Saber and that Ratchet and Soundwave could get him out of here. He prayed that he wouldn't be damaged through all this, that he would wake up being angry and not scarred with pain. He prayed that Megatron wouldn't catch him. But he prayed hardest that the warlord's lunacy was just simply that: lunacy. He couldn't be right. Not about him. Not about what he was. He died. He was thrown through an expanse of time that brought him back. He changed things. He messed everything up. Truly, with a wave of his servo, he had created the monster that intended to swallow him up, chassis and spark. So, did that make him... right?

Distraction finally became Starscream's downfall. Megatron tackled the hologram to the floor and caught the seeker's helm in his arm as he lifted him, his other arm firmly grasped against his chestplate. Starscream screamed and thrashed as he tugged to free himself but it wouldn't matter how hard he struggled; Megatron had always been bigger and stronger than him.

The warlord panted and laughed as he crushed the smaller chassis against him, tsking, "You play well but not hard enough, my dear Starscream," he purred; he sat heavily on the berth, not allowing the seeker any chance to escape as he dug his claws in, "I have your mind caught here. I will soon have your chassis. Should you behave, I may even reward you by ensuring you are returned to your frame..."

Starscream shook his helm, "N-no... I won't help you..."

Megatron smirked, "You will. At the end of it all, you will. Because it is in your nature, my dear Starscream. The Autobots, the soldiers you stole from me, they are not your friends. They are not your allies. They are only the stairs you have made to put yourself higher. But you will not get higher than me, my dear Starscream. I am where you stop. So, if you wish to live out your existence with any hope of peace, I would suggest reaffirming your allegiance to your true master. I caught you once. I will keep doing so. You will never escape me. So, swear again the oath you made to me when you joined the Decepticons. Swear it now, right here, and I will make sure your suffering is a pain that will never linger."

The seeker trembled and shook his helm and the warlord smirked; he leaned in close and whispered quietly, "Then I have no choice."

With a swift tug with one arm and flick of the wrist with another, a loud and sickening crack echoed out into the room. Starscream couldn't feel the pain but he could feel the pressure. He was breaking. His mind was breaking.

Megatron's COMM ignited again with loud voices and the warlord scowled, gripping tighter on the hologram he still held, "NO!" he shouted into his COMM, "Fight back! KEEP HIM HERE!"

But it was too late. Starscream's hologram flicked and disappeared, Megatron snarling angrily at how close he had come to winning.

Knockout sighed gently as he unplugged the seeker's arm pieces, "All limbs free."

Breakdown pulled the cables from the chestplate armor, "Chestplate free. Vitals are leveling out again."

Ratchet huffed in relief, "Thank Primus... Helmet?"

Knockout nodded, "Yeah, I got that one."

The red mech reached up, his servos delicately unplugging the helmet, when the seeker suddenly lurched up with a shriek, lashing out at the medic.

"DON'T TOUCH ME!"

Breakdown pulled Knockout back before another strike could hit him and Starscream scrambled to rip the armor pieces off him, transforming out a blaster.

"Don't touch me, DON'T GET NEAR ME!"

Ratchet cried out and dove as the seeker began firing wildly at all of them. Soundwave moved carefully and quickly behind the silver mech and ensnared him with his arms and tentacles, aiming the blaster away from the other mechs as Starscream shrieked and kicked to free himself.

"Starscream: please desist. Starscream: safe."

"I'm not safe! I'll NEVER BE SAFE!"

The seeker's struggles slowly turned to trembling wails as Soundwave kept him tightly cradled. The rest of the mechs watched carefully and Knockout pouted at the scratch on his chestplate, but Breakdown hushed him quietly.

"This was a bad idea, doc," the blue mech murmured, "Something bad happened..."

Knockout shrugged and Ratchet stared sadly, "Yes, Breakdown... It would seem they did something to Starscream..."