Ch. 142
His helm hurt- no. He was NOT going through that slag again.
Starscream whined quietly as he stretched and smiled at the feel of his berth. His old berth. Ah, what a luxury. An annoying blare echoed in his helm and he pouted as he was roused from recharge, his servo reaching up lazily to activate his COMM.
"This is Starscream, go ahead."
"Ooo, someone's in a mood."
The seeker pouted as he sat up, "I am not in a mood, Knockout. Now what do you want?"
"Oh, you know. Same old, same old. Our leader is looking for you. What did you do? Spit in his morning energon? Again?"
Starscream sneered; yes, that had been funny the first time... and the second time... even the eleventh time.
The silver mech slipped off his berth and fluttered his wings, "He probably wants to go over those horrendous reports again. As if I have time to lay out the mining projects again with everything else I have to lord over. You would think I was his secretary instead of second-in-command."
"Oh, poor you. Would you like to take my queue of patients instead? I have a servo reattachment surgery in a few minutes."
Starscream snorted, "HA, no. You're on your own. Where was our esteemed leader's last ping?"
"Hmm, I think it was... th... not... rea... ru... h..."
The seeker winced as the COMM began to distort with static and he scowled. Fragging reception. There must have been a storm outside. Starscream cut the COMM and instead decided to look for himself. If the COMMs weren't working it would be all he could do to find his dear leader. The silver mech walked out of his berthroom door to find the Nemesis halls as empty as ever. Not terribly typical. But he was glad not to see any Vehicons in his way as he started to make his way around the ship. Knowing that workaholic leader, he was probably brooding on the command deck.
The seeker yawned and stretched as he came to the lifts and stepped inside. The lights flickered in the small space and he rolled his optics. Stupid storm.
"Attention Nemesis crew," came a Vehicon's voice over the ship's PA system, "We are experiencing some minor turbulence and will begin climbing in altitude shortly. Estimated time of climb will begin... ... ars... is... al... de..."
The PA shorted out and Starscream almost laughed. He was glad that wasn't his job to fix. Such tedious work with all those wires and Primus forbid anything was caught on fire.
"Not my job, not my problem," the seeker purred, leaning back against the lift's wall. The lights flickered again and Starscream sighed. A light touch against his back plate made him flinch and he felt servos clench onto his shoulder. The seeker cried out in surprise and he threw himself forward as the lift doors opened, tossing his chassis onto the floor of the ship. The shadow of a mech loomed from the lift entrance then disappeared and Starscream yelped as he activated his COMM.
"All Nemesis crew! There's an intruder aboard-"
Harsh static answered and a garbled voice tried to answer back, "-sc...m... is n... n... hi..."
The seeker snarled and watched carefully for any other sharp movements to indicate where the bot may have gone to. Now he wasn't so happy about the lack of Vehicon drones. If the damage outside was extensive enough he wouldn't be surprised if they were at the upper deck doors, waiting to go out to make the necessary repairs.
"Fine," he growled, "I'll do this myself. After all, won't that be nice to hold over everyone's helms?" he purred as he stood, preening, "Yes, they'll have so many praises for me. It'll be nice to rub that in our leader's faceplates!"
A dark shadow rushed down the hall and Starscream sneered, transforming out his blasters, "You've encountered the wrong mech!"
Before he could fire, the dark intruder turned down another hallway, forcing the seeker to give chase.
"You- stop running! Get back here!"
Starscream heard slow, heavy pedfalls echoing ahead and he cackled as he made the same turn to follow his opponent.
"Come out, come out..." he taunted lightly, "wherever you are..."
A low rumble in the ship made the silver mech hesitate and he steadied himself, keeping his blasters level. There were a few storage doors along this hallway but the intruder wouldn't have been able to enter them. They would all be locked.
Starscream stopped walking and stared at a door. How did he know they were all locked?
He growled and glanced around, "Where did you go?"
The seeker saw the end of the hall was empty and he huffed, turning back around. Had he imagined the mech going this way? Was he behind him?
Starscream whirled around but found nothing. Empty space...
"... What is going on?" he murmured to himself; he transformed a blaster away and activated his COMM, "This is Commander Starscream, is anyone receiving?"
There was static before the garbled voice seemed to answer again, "Starsc... isn... r... de..."
The silver mech winced at the sound, "I can barely hear you. Is this Knockout? Knockout, if you're there, tell your servo reattachment patient that he'll have to obtain surgery later, I need him to hunt down an intruder."
"... scr... th... real... r..."
Starscream frowned, "Um... yes, this is for real? If that is what you're asking... If they have one working servo, then they have one working blaster, tell them to get their aft on my level."
"... am... th...s... n..."
"Oh, forget it!" the seeker hissed, shutting off his COMM.
With a heavy huff, Starscream crossed his arms tightly around himself. It may not have been wise to make himself vulnerable, but he didn't care. He wanted some comfort from... The seeker frowned harder. He wanted a little encouragement... from...
Starscream slowly began to tremble. Something was very wrong. He looked around in a slowly growing panic and struggled to keep his intakes deep and calm. Something wasn't right.
With an unsteady intake, he activated his COMM again, "Hello?"
"St... this... s not... de..."
The seeker growled, "Hello?"
"...scr... is is... run..."
"Hello?"
"Sta...am... his... t re... hi..."
"Hello?!"
"...ream... is no... r... un... de..."
Starscream snarled and dragged his claws against the hallway wall harshly, "Who is out there?! Respond clearly, NOW!"
A sharp clatter from back down towards the lifts caught the seeker's attention. A low hum began to shake the air and he felt the temperature begin to drop. It was cold now, cold enough that when he exhaled he could see his intake. There was another clatter and Starscream shuddered when he heard what sounded like a voice. It was wavering, almost taunting in a sense. Was this the intruder?
"Heeeeelllllooooo..." it called.
The voice sounded broken, like it was being pieced back together. A bellow of laughter followed and the voice slowly became stronger.
"Heeelllllooooo... My. Dear. Starscream..."
Starscream's wings flattened. He hugged himself tighter.
"My. Dear. Starscream," it called, the voice deepening, "Where are you?"
The seeker stayed silent and backed himself to the end of the hall. All the doors were locked. The hallway was a dead end. The clattering noise from before snapped sharply nearby and Starscream struggled to hold in a shout. He held his servo to his mouth and bit into it.
"My dear Starscream..." the voice continued to taunt, "I'm going to find you..."
The silver mech's legs began to slowly lower him to the floor. This was not right. This wasn't the intruder was it?
Starscream was about to sit on the floor and wait for whatever this disembodied voice was when he felt servos suddenly holding him up from behind. His first thought wasn't 'who' or 'how' but of relief. He felt relieved someone was here to keep him from falling. And what an optimal time to fall, wasn't it? When something was most likely after you...
The silver mech slowly took a deep intake, then craned his neck back to see who was holding him. The intruder's dark shadow stared back, his optics hidden under the darkness. This time, Starscream was neither surprised nor afraid. This was a prime moment of strength for him...
Starscream's optics frowned as he stared, "Wait... do I know...?"
"My dear STARSCREAM," the voice suddenly snarled excitedly from just behind the corner, "READY OR NOT."
The seeker grabbed onto the shadow's servo tightly as he whimpered and watched the corner carefully, "Oh Primus, please stop this, please..."
"Starscream."
Starscream's attention went back to the shadow and he stared into just barely visible optical lights on the form's faceplates.
"Starscream," it said again, gently and reassuringly, "This is not real. Run. Hide."
The shadow offered its other servo as it started to back away, its chassis phasing into the wall behind it. This was very much an impossibility on the Nemesis. But so was this fear associated with the voice that called to him. Starscream didn't like any of it. But that didn't stop him from steadying himself and grabbing onto the servo that pulled him through the wall and into darkness, a set of claws narrowly grabbing his wings. An angry roar followed the pair and the seeker shuttered his optics tightly, feeling the shadow hold him tightly as they fell through the void.