Ch. 148

-Earlier-

Starscream huffed as he tugged on his stasis cuffs, "So, do I need to repeat anything?"

Wheeljack shrugged, "Nah, I think I got this."

"Then say it back."

"Whuh?"

The seeker growled, "I swear, you're making ME repeat myself!"

Wheeljack chuckled, "Cool your jets- er, jet. Ya hid a little something in the Harbinger under a box of old files in the clone lab. Surprise for me since you won't tell me what it is."

Starscream nodded in approval, "Yes, good, go on."

"You also want me to keep Team Prime together, don't let'em split up. And what were those last two?" the Wrecker waited for the angry scowl on Starscream to grow before he answered with a smile, "Oh yeah! I gotta get the team ready for Ultra Magnus and I gotta stop callin' ya 'Scream'," he smirked, "Scream."

The silver mech just threw up his servos in defeat, "I hate you. I slagging hate you."

"Hate me all ya want, I'm the only friend you got on this ship."

"How very observant," came a deep growl, "Wrecker..."

The door to the cell opened and Dreadwing stomped in alone, his servo reaching back readily at his weapons, "Move and you both die here. Remain still and I may allow the other to live."

Starscream's wings drooped. Well, this was something he had hoped he wouldn't have to live through again. And he didn't have access to any of Knockout's tiny gadgetry to fend the other mech off. Typical.

"Dreadwing..." Starscream forced a weak smile, "fancy seeing you visit. So, to what do we owe the pleas-"

"Silence, traitor!" the blue seeker roared, pulling his sword from his back, "This has gone on for long enough!"

Starscream scuttled away and whimpered when his wings hit the far wall, "W-wait, Dreadwing, stop!"

Wheeljack snarled as he stood, "Back off him, Con!"

Dreadwing shoved the Wrecker back down and pointed his blade at Starscream, "You... you have ruined everything! Our lord no longer sees an end to this war, only ways to prolong it! He intends to use you as a means to take everything and leave nothing left! You have caused this! His insanity is your doing!"

Starscream held up his cuffed servos shakily, trying to stop the rest of his chassis from trembling as he spoke, "Listen to me. Listen to me carefully. If you try to kill me, you will die. He will kill you. If you stop now, help Wheeljack escape, you can live to see this war end. I can promise it will be over and all will be resolved."

"WILL IT?!"

The silver mech flinched back as Dreadwing stomped forward, kneeling down to bring himself faceplate to faceplate with the smaller being, "After everything you have done, everything you have been a part of, you expect me to believe that the outcome you foretell is one I can condone?! That I would willingly be a part of?!"

Starscream glared, "It'll have to be," he hissed, "because you have no other way of surviving if this is what you decide. He will come. He will tell you to stop. And he will shoot you in the back. So stop now and get Wheeljack out of here. You still want to save him? Start by saving yourself."

Dreadwing took a step back, staring down at the silver seeker, and finally scoffed, "No. I will not betray my lord by allowing you to further corrupt him. He no longer intends the best for his soldiers, least of all himself," he pointed his blade at Starscream again, "So I will give you an honorable death; to kill you before they begin their experiments is far more merciful than you deserve."

Starscream scowled darkly and braced himself for his hiccup to move him out of the way when a deep voice echoed into the room from the doorway, "Dreadwing! Cease this display!"

The blue mech clenched his sword tighter and glanced back, glaring at the single red optic that stared into him, "Shockwave, this is none of your business."

Shockwave stepped into the cell cautiously, "On the contrary, should you intend to kill my subject then it falls within the parameters of 'my business'. Lord Megatron will not be pleased if you inflict any harm upon him."

"Lord Megatron is sick!" Dreadwing snarled, gesturing back to Starscream with his blade, "This is the culprit! His death will free our lord from this disease he has been corrupted with! His continued life remains as a constant hinderance to our cause!"

Shockwave's optic flashed, "That statement, though opinionated, is illogical. His life is valuable to the research that will immortalize our faction, our cause and our leader. Lord Megatron sees the potential Starscream harbors, potential you are blind to. Cease your actions now and our lord will spare your life."

Dreadwing glared, but said nothing. Stillness settled over the room like a fog over a mountain pass, the safest path hidden away from those who needed it. Starscream knew Dreadwing wouldn't stop. He didn't before and Megatron was the one who had ended him. The blue seeker had been given two chances now. Two. If he was lucky enough for a third, the silver mech had a feeling it would be the last.

"Dreadwing," Starscream murmured quietly, "just stop. Walk out of this cell like nothing happened. If you do, you'll live."

The blue mech's clawed servo clenched the handle of his blade tighter and he growled, "I cannot... I cannot stand here and allow you a moment more," he began to raise his sword, "I won't let you plague him any longer!"

"DREADWING!"

Starscream felt his spark sink. Of all the mechs to arrive to save him, he hated that it was this one. Again.

Megatron snarled darkly from behind Shockwave, shoving the purple mech aside as he stomped into the room, "You dare to attack Starscream?! On my ship?!"

"He has corrupted you! He's destroying you from the inside out!"

"He has done NOTHING of the sort! I am more alive now than I have EVER been! His existence here is nothing short of legendary and you DARE TO TAKE THAT AWAY FROM ME?!"

Starscream saw his opportunity to slink away as Dreadwing and Megatron continued to argue. He wouldn't be able to escape, certainly not without Wheeljack who had been patiently observing each opponent as they made their way into their shared cell, but now that Megatron had taken Dreadwing's attention their only real concern was Shockwave. The purple mech's single optic was watching him move out of the way and towards the Wrecker, ever present to each move the seeker was making.

Wheeljack nodded to Starscream gently, then glanced at the doorway as if to ask if they should move but the silver mech shook his helm. Cuffed and without their weapons they'd hardly get farther than down the hall. Starscream knew he couldn't be killed and he wouldn't be killed, not on this ship, but Wheeljack had to escape, now. There wasn't anymore time to waste.

"I am done trying to convince you!"

Starscream's helm snapped up when he felt Dreadwing move towards him again.

The blue mech aimed his sword at him and Megatron's optics widened lividly, "DREADWING, I SAID STAND DOWN!"

"I am sorry, Lord Megatron," he murmured, growling as he raised his sword, "I CANNOT-"

A loud blaster shot rang out into the small room and Wheeljack and Starscream covered their audials tightly. Dreadwing's chassis froze up, a giant hole burned through from his back out to his front as energon leaked and singed from the wound. With a final exhale, the blue seeker dropped and Megatron scowled as he lowered his arm, his cannon breathing out exhaust from the single shot it had expended.

"Miserable fool," the warlord growled, his optics ghosting from his fallen warrior to his prisoners, "but whatever I must do to protect you, my dear Starscream. Your value to my plans is unsurpassed. Don't ever forget that..."

The silver seeker trembled and glared, running towards Dreadwing's chassis. Megatron ran at him and grabbed his arm as Starscream pulled off the dead mech's blaster from his back. Wheeljack jumped up to help but was kicked back down by the seeker's flailing legs when he was lifted up by the warlord. Shockwave also moved in to help but was stopped when Megatron snarled.

"NO! This is between me and my second!"

Starscream struggled to keep the large weapon in his grasp and flailed harder as he turned the blaster towards his own chassis, "I am NOT YOUR SECOND!"

He fired and was pleased when he felt his hiccup begin displacement before the hot plasma left the chamber. The shot was somewhat on an angle that lead to his left but if the hiccup was charging, it meant that the blast would have been close enough to hit his spark chamber. Megatron was clinging to his arms as the displacement started. Good. This was exactly what he wanted.

Starscream yelped in shock as the hiccup picked himself and Megatron up, throwing them backwards into Shockwave and out into the hallway wall outside the cell. Shockwave's optic dimmed as he passed out from the impact and Megatron groaned in pain, his servos refusing to loosen the grip he had on the silver seeker.

Wheeljack looked on in horror as he tried to process what he had just seen and Starscream used everything he had to hiss, "Run... get out now and tell them what I told you... Run..."

The Wrecker didn't move. The shock was more than evident on his faceplate.

The silver mech trembled as he felt Megatron begin to move from under him and he shrieked as he did his best to hold him down, "What the FRAG are you doing just standing there?! I said run, now RUN!"