Ch. 144

The void wasn't a place Starscream wanted to get too acquainted with so he felt far more comfortable when he saw the area beginning to change around him. There was small part of him that was upset to see the shadow disappear. The shadowed mech had said this place wasn't real... This place wasn't real? It may have been beyond strange, beyond what was normal... but it felt pretty real to him.

A bright light blinded the seeker for a moment and he gasped as he shielded his optics, waiting for the light to pass. When he found the courage to look again, he saw he was now sitting in dry, yet smooth, desert dirt. It wasn't quite sand, but the texture was silky and not terribly compacted. Starscream slowly stood, looking around in curiosity at rows and rows of thin, plastic shelves that stood far taller than him. On these shelves were cardboard boxes, each filled to the brim and bursting with papers.

"Old fashioned human files?" he wondered aloud, "Why would anyone have a use for these?"

The seeker wasn't surprised when nothing answered him and he looked upwards towards what should have been a sky. Instead, he was met with the swirling void he must have fell through. There was a light coming from somewhere, but he wasn't entirely certain as to where it was. Perhaps it didn't matter...

Starscream grumbled and started walking, following the path these large shelves had created. He almost wondered if he should transform and fly over the area but the thought disappeared when he saw a long, thin, red thread slowly weave its way towards him. The thread was wriggling along the dirt like a snake, feeling around gently before moving on. Yes, it was strange, but how could it not be real? Starscream was staring right at it.

"Now what is this?" he commented, kneeling down to look closer, "Is this some kind of... Earth-based creature that I have yet to hear about?"

The red thread stopped wriggling and the seeker looked as far ahead as he could, humming, "Now that is impressive. Whatever you are, you appear to span for miles..."

The thread slowly began to pull itself up from the ground, reaching up, and Starscream took the end of it in his claws to look it over, "Well, little thing, let's have a closer-"

The thread suddenly lurched forward and entangled itself around the silver mech's servo tightly causing Starscream to yell and try to pull back. The thread tugged and kept the seeker from standing as other parts of it fell from the shelves and grabbed onto various parts of his chassis. Starscream tried to stand again and felt the threads grab his legs, pinning him. He felt more entangle around his wings, pulling back. A single thread arched up and pulled back on his neck, the thin piece far stronger than it appeared when it began to choke him. The seeker frantically put up his other servo to stop himself from being strangled and the thread wrapped around this too, pinning it to his neck.

"My dear Starscream..."

No. Starscream began to tremble. What had the shadow said? That this wasn't real? Well it felt fragging real.

Heavy steps started to get closer and the shelves that had been somewhat narrowly placed began to part on their own, the boxes undisturbed as something drew closer.

"Where are you?"

The seeker struggled to free any part of himself from the threads that had bound him. He didn't want to meet the owner of this voice. Starscream quickly decided that he wasn't going to like them.

"Ready or not, my dear Starscream..."

As the voice drew closer, shards of metal began to emerge from the soft dirt further in front of Starscream, joining together to form walking peds. The more that gathered, the more that this bot was being created in front of him.

Starscream whimpered to himself as the form was becoming something familiar... someone he didn't ever want to see again. That was the feeling he had. The name of this mech was somehow escaping him...

Red optics stared down at their prize with a look of starvation and the mech sneered, "Oh my dear Starscream. What a mess you have made for yourself..."

Starscream tried to glare, hissing, "I don't know what you're talking about. What do you want?"

"What do I want?" the mech thought, his silver armor glinting in the odd light, "Perhaps you should be asking what you want. You've been giving me the run around all day. Don't you remember?"

The seeker frowned, "I... But I just woke..."

This place wasn't real? But then what was he supposed to remember? What was it he wanted?

"I... don't remember... I just want all this to stop," he huffed, trying to wiggle his neck and servo free of the thread, "This place, I shouldn't be here."

The mech tsked, "Of course you aren't. All you have to do is remember what it is you wanted. I would think somewhere safe, somewhere that made you feel protected, would be a fair place to start. Don't you?"

Oh, that sounded lovely. But where was a safe place? Starscream wanted to picture that in his mind but a place didn't come to mind. In fact, what came to mind was another mech. A red one.

The large silver mech scowled, "That isn't a place, my dear Starscream. Focus."

The seeker pouted, "I am! Don't tell me what to do! This mech is safe and protecting, isn't that what I want?"

"No, what you want is to think of the base, my dear Starscream. Think of the base. Now."

Starscream growled. He didn't want to think about a base. This red mech was a protective and safe individual. That's what he wanted. As long as this red mech was there, any place was safe. Even the med bay when Knockout was in a bad mood...

The silver mech snarled loudly and stomped towards him, "I am telling you," he warned, "I am ordering you," he flexed his large claws, "think of the base right now or things will become far more unpleasant..."

The seeker shook his helm. He thought of the red mech. If he was in trouble, then where was he? How could this place not be real if he was truly in trouble?

The silver mech growled and grabbed Starscream's faceplate roughly as he knelt down, holding him tightly, "Oh, you have yet to understand how much trouble you are facing, my dear Starscream... If you will not tell me where the base is located, then perhaps you would be more willing to show me your greatest fear..."

The smaller mech tried to shake his helm and pull away, but his captor reached down with his other servo and forced two of his claws into the front of his helm. The pain was excruciating. It wasn't physical but emotional. A well of fear and torment erupted from him, wracking his frame with unbridled trembling as he screamed.

The silver mech pushed harder and sneered as features superimposed themselves over his prisoner briefly and disappeared in waves, "My, such yellow optics. They seem to haunt you quite a bit, don't they?" he glanced at the seeker's wings, watching as larger, wider wings faded over them then disappeared, "A creation with flight it would seem. And what name does this monstrosity have that frightens you so?"

Starscream couldn't think about it. He wouldn't. He didn't want to. He was already in pain.

"Yes, you are. And I will make it all stop soon," his captor chuckled, "Tell me this creature's name and tell me where the base is. And then you will never have to remember them ever again..."

No. The seeker wouldn't do what he was told. He thought of the red mech again, the optimistic feeling he had when he even attempted to remember, the hope that welled inside him and primed him for whatever else he would have to endure.

"Stop thinking of him! He cannot help you! How dare you continue to defy me!"

Starscream felt the claws in his helm push in deeper and he wailed loudly. The mech cackled loudly then hollered as he was suddenly pulled and thrown away from the seeker. The pain stopped and Starscream whimpered as he panted, looking up at the shadow that had helped him before.

"Y... you..."

"Starscream," the shadow responded, but didn't look at him, glaring ahead at the silver mech, "M-"

The mech charged his cannon and fired, dissipating the shadow into dust. Starscream cried out but the shadow reformed again, color beginning to seep into the black.

"Meg-"

The mech fired again and the shadow reformed with a deeper red color after it was shot.

"Me-"

Again, the mech fired and the shadow became more detailed, transforming out a blaster, "Mega-"

The mech roared and kept firing, hitting the red mech multiple times. And each time, he reformed.

"Megatron," the red mech finally managed to growl.

Starscream felt his insides sink. He knew that name. It was the terrible, horrible name of a terrible, horrible mech. A mech that he didn't want to hurt the one Cybertronian he fully trusted.

Megatron snarled and charged his cannon again and the seeker shrieked, struggling against the threads, "OPTIMUS, NO!"

But the red mech didn't move, instead transforming out his second blaster and firing first. Megatron was thrown back into the dirt and he winced as he sat himself up slowly.

Starscream watched as Optimus backed away slowly, going to his side, "I am here, Starscream, but only as the fail safe you allowed me to create. Once I have accomplished saving you, I will no longer be needed."

The smaller mech trembled and nodded.

Optimus stood in front of Starscream, glaring back at Megatron, "Megatron. If you are seeing me here in this place, it means I have failed to keep Starscream from you. This, however, does not negate the promise I made to him. So before I remind him of all the power he truly possesses, bare in mind that you are not safe and when I come to free my friend, I will ensure you are not left to attempt his capture ever again."

Starscream watched Optimus's form begin to glow brightly, the energy burning the threads from around his chassis. Once he was free he stood, glaring at Megatron with his defiant blue optics.

"He's right," the seeker snarled, "this is my mind. You have no power here," the remnant of Optimus disappeared and Starscream roared, "so get OUT of MY helm and don't EVER COME BACK!"

A rush of air flew from behind Starscream and slammed into Megatron, tearing him apart.

Megatron lurched up from the med berth panting, his optics wide as he stared ahead at nothing. Beside him in a separate berth, Starscream coughed and struggled to curl into a ball. The seeker was bound at his wrists to the berth beneath him and he whined in exhaustion as he blearily looked around the room.

"Lord Megatron," Shockwave said from an observation terminal, "the information we sought was not obtained."

Megatron panted softer and moved to lay back down, "Then we will try once more. Run the program again."

"I am unable to do so."

"You dare to defy my orders?!"

Shockwave moved aside to show his leader the monitor, "It is the cortical patch program, my lord. It can no longer synchronize with Starscream's processor waves. He has effectively locked us from his mind."

The warlord snarled and stared down at the shaking seeker, "He... did what?"

Shockwave removed the cortical cord from Starscream's helm first, "Lord Megatron, do not underestimate my ability to recalculate a solution," he removed the cord from his leader, his optic brightening, "As I understand it, we have a second prisoner within our custody that is a suitable subject. It would appear the most logical conclusion to our predicament. All I request is some time to... get to know him better."