A/N: I am not responsible in any way, shape or form for how you perceive this chapter. Read at your own risk.

Synopsis: Best left unsaid for this chapter.

Disclaimer: Takara, Hasbro et al. owns Transformers. I only make a handful of readers smile and that is reward enough for me. The characters Nebula and Stealthshadow are my own. Wraith and Wraith technology are also mine, as is the tale of the Seekers from early Cybertronian history.

As always, constructive criticism is welcomed. Reviews given much love. Stealing is not.

Chapter 12 – Broken Wings

"Purple is still a femmes color, but I guess it's not that bad," Thundercracker eyed Skywarp's choice of coloring with a critical optic.

"Hey! It's still red and blue!" The now black and purple youngling had been on the defensive since leaving the clinic.

"Except we don't look like trine mates. TC and I look like -." A familiar audio piercing scream filled the busy street making Starscream's fuel pump seize in paralyzing fear. Every servo in his body froze as multiple laser blasts echoed through the neighborhood. No. No. No. Primus. No. Please no. It felt like his entire body was made of ice as he painfully turned to look across the street.

The front door was open.

No. No. No. No! He didn't feel the street under him as he sprinted through the gawking crowd, his optics focused solely on the open door. He couldn't get there fast enough. The very air around him was holding him in place, keeping him from reaching the door. His foot caught purchase on the bottom step and he lunged for it, ripping the door open. He vaguely heard it slam against the wall as he skidded to a stop in the front hallway.

Another series of laser blasts rang in his audio receptors and the acrid smell of ozone leached into the air around him.

Primus, no! His voice caught in his throat as he tried to call out for her. His mind started to race in sheer panic. He had no weapon to counter a gun and any hit could kill him instantly. All he had to fight with was his life. He would shield her with his body so she could escape. Nebula was outside. She would save his mother-creator while he bought her time to flee.

"I knew you would come back! You always came back to protect him! Now look what's it's gotten you! You think that he's safe? Well, I know where your precious Pit-spawned sparkling is." The mech's venomous voice dripped with violence, "He's just across the street with that nosy slaggin' femme. And you know what? Once I deactivate your lousy frakkin' spark I'm going to go over there and rip him limb from worthless limb!"

He could hear her pained whimpering from the kitchen. He clenched his fists in rage, ignoring the sick popping noises that came from his hands as he crushed his articulation servos. He was going to kill that frakking slagheap.

Without a second thought, he grabbed the small table that sat in the hallway and bolted into the kitchen with a feral roar. His first swing knocked the gun out of the mech's surprised grasp. His second caught the mech under the chin and sent him stumbling backwards; the back swing sent him tumbling to the floor. Starscream brought the table crashing down on the knees of his opponent, eliciting a howl of pain as he severed the power relays in the joints. He lifted the chair and bashed at the gray mech's knees again. Another howl came from his mouth, but this time the mech tried to grab the table. Starscream struck at the hands, knocking them away. He brought the table up and hacked at the knee joints of the flailing mech, nearly severing the leg from his body.

Starscream's optics flared red as all the anger and pain that he had buried inside came out in the form of guttural snarls. The table was lifted repeatedly and fell repeatedly, pounding his abuser with every ounce of hatred that the youngling felt towards the mech that had helped create him. Energon splashed him as he bashed at limbs that tried to fend off the blows. The mech swooned and fell back hard against the floor, but that didn't stop Starscream from continuing his attack. He continued to rain blows on the fallen mech until the dented table fell to pieces in his hands. He tossed the remaining pieces away and kicked the mech in the side. "You will never hurt her again!" He spat on the offlined mech.

"Starscream…"

He turned to face his mother-creator, smiling triumphantly and relieved that he had saved her from any further abuse from that mech…

She was slumped in the corner in a quickly growing pool of energon.

Abject fear gripped his spark as he ran to her and fell to his knees in her warm lifeblood. With shaking hands, he carefully eased her onto her side. Bright blue sparks flickered and danced over her laser core which he could see clearly through a wide gaping hole in her chest. "Don't move," His voice trembled as he tried to stand up. "I-I'm going t-to call a medic. J-just don't move."

The silver and red femme grabbed his hand and brought him back to her side, "It's all right, dear-spark."

"But you need a medic! We need to stop the bleeding before-"

She reached up and lovingly caressed his cheek with the back of her fingers, leaving a thick purple trail of energon shining in the kitchen light, "Look at you with your wings."

He started to panic; Stealthshadow had only taught them basic field repairs. He didn't know how to stop serious bleeding like this. "Please, let me call a medic, it will only take a moment."

"Starscream," She smiled at him and stroked his cheek again, "You are and ever will be the brightest light of my spark. I'm so sorry. I wanted us to be a real family, one without the yelling and… I'm sorry I couldn't give you a happy family. You deserved one. You deserved so much more than I could give-"

"Don't say things like that! Don't!" He gripped her hand tightly. "We can have a happy life now. Just us! You don't have to worry about him ever again! It will be just us from now on."

Her optics focused on his silver and red wings and her smile spread, "I'm so glad to see you with your wings. Now you can fly away from all of this."

"I don't need to fly away. We're going to have a happy life now. We won't need to get away from anything anymore."

"My little Starscream… I want you to fly away. I want you to use those beautiful wings and learn to be happy." Energon trickled from the corner of her mouth as she coughed.

"STARSCREAM!" Nebula's shout made him jump.

"CALL A MEDIC! HURRY!" Starscream gripped his creator's hands tightly, "Help is coming. Everything will be fine."

She brought his hands to her energon-stained lips and kissed them. "I want you to fly, Starscream. For me? Will you fly for me?"

"You can watch me fly. Nebula is going to teach us to fly. You can come and watch us practice!" His voice broke as he saw her purple optics flicker. "You have to stay awake until the medic comes. Okay? Stay here with me. Please?"

Energon splattered his hands when she coughed again. "Promise me you will be happy, Starscream."

"What? Of course I'll be happy. We'll be happy together-"

Her optics dimmed, "Promise me, Starscream. Promise me that you will fly away and be happy."

"Stay awake!" He shook her hands, "You have to stay awake!"

"Promise me, dear-spark…"

"You have to stay awake!" Starscream became frantic. "SOMEONE HELP!!"

"Starscream…"

"I promise! I promise! I swear I will, just stay here with me! Please? The medic is coming!" His petrified voice reached into the highest octaves of pure panic, "I-I can hear them outside now! Stay with me!"

"…fly away, my little Starscream… fly away from here and be happy…"

He watched in horror as her laser core flickered with tiny blue sparks. He pulled her close to him, "Please stay with me! Please! Please, don't leave me alone!"

"…Fly away-"

Her quiet words died away as searing white pain pierced through his wing. He screeched in agony as her body went limp in his arms, his own energon spilling across her body. He turned around just enough to see the gun in the hand of the gray mech, blood red optics flashing in pure fury.

"Rotten Pit-spawn! I should have ended your miserable life a long time ago!"

Starscream glared back at the mech, shifting his body to protect his mother-creator. He would not let him harm her anymore.

A flash of purple light appeared in the middle of the kitchen and a very large black and silver mech sent a vicious kick to the chest of the gray mech. The gun went off and hit the light above, shattering the fixture and sending pieces of it raining down everywhere. Stealthshadow rushed him and sent the mech skidding on the energon-covered floor; he grappled for the gun as wild shots sprayed the entire room.

The high-pitched whine of something quickly powering up filled the room and a beam of golden light flew from Stealthshadow's outstretched arm, hitting the mech almost point-blank in the chest. The gray mech stopped fighting, his optics wide as he fell backwards, twitching. The black and silver flier yanked the gun from the shuddering hand.

"You okay, Starscream?" Stealthshadow turned to look at the youngling and cringed as he saw Starscream clinging to his mother-creator's lifeless body, begging her to wake up.

Multiple footsteps were rushing up the steps and a flurry of medics spilled into the violence stained kitchen. Nebula was on their heels, her wild optics searching for Starscream.

Stealthshadow caught her gaze and shook his head. Anger flashed across her features and she shot a poisonous glare at the still twitching mech.

One of the hovering medics knelt by Starscream. "Let me see your wing."

"I'm fine! Help her!" He shook his mother-creator's arm trying to wake her. "Wake up! Help's here! Open your optics!"

The medic put his hand on Starscream's shoulder, "She's gone. There is nothing we can do to help."

"You're not even trying to help her!" He shrieked at the medic. "HELP HER!"

Another medic sat down by Starscream, "We need to look at your wing. Why don't you come with me-"

"NO!" He screamed grabbed his creator's graying hand. "WAKE UP!! PLEASE! Wake up!! Help's here, please wake up!"

The medic leaned in and tried to assess the damage in his new wing, but Starscream yanked it out of his grasp. "DON'T TOUCH ME!"

"You need to let me look at your wing," The medic scanned the youngling for any other damage and gasped when he saw the destroyed servos in his hands.

He pleaded with the medic, "Please, help her."

Nebula pushed her way past the medics and grabbed Starscream, sweeping him into her arms and holding him tightly. "I'm so sorry, Starscream…"

He pulled back to look at her, "Make them help her."

"Starscream…"

"I- I didn't-" tears spilled down his energon-stained cheeks, "I didn't- I couldn't- I couldn't protect her." He glanced at his mother-creator's graying form. "I couldn't-"

He buried his head in her shoulder and sobbed in agony. Nebula scooped the anguished youngling up and pulled him away from the medics, rubbing the back of his head and cooing softly into his audios. "It's okay. It's okay, Starscream." She tried to comfort him as best as she could, "Let's go outside so the medics can work."

"Wait. Wait!" He struggled in Nebula's arms, "I need to see her!"

She set him down and he wiggled through the medics who were lifting her body onto a stretcher. He reached out to touch her face, his fingers tracing over her stained lips, "I wanted you to see me fly…"

--

Stealthshadow leaned against the energon-splattered wall of the kitchen watching the still twitching mech on the floor. He smirked wickedly, admiring Starscream's work at beating the slag out of his tormentor.

He stretched his massive wings and checked his chronometer. The medics had left a breem ago, leaving the warrior alone with the gray mech. In a matter of kliks the null-ray blast would wear off and the black and silver flier wanted a few moments alone with the slagger before he put him under citizen's arrest. The looked over the room and scowled. The kitchen table and chairs were covered in dents and there were old energon stains over most of the kitchen. The newest were still dripping slowly down the walls; the older ones still held the faint shimmer of life.

The gray mech groaned as tried to roll on his side.

Stealthshadow pushed himself off the wall and walked over to the fallen mech. He stopped next to his head and leered down at him. "How's the view from down there?"

Red optics flickered as the mech's systems came back online, "Frag you."

The black and silver flier nudged the gray mech's head with his foot, "Tsk. Tsk. That wasn't very polite."

Burning blood red optics glared at him and Stealthshadow smirked maliciously back, "So, I've been wondering what kind of mech beats on femmes and sparklings, and you know what I think?"

The mech just continued to glare at him.

"I think that a mech is a coward."

Red optics flashed in anger, "Frak off. When I get up I'll-"

Stealthshadow snorted loudly, interrupted whatever nonsense the mech was going to say, "When you get up I'm going to slam that ugly face of yours into the wall a few times, just to appease my disgust in having to deal with you, and then I'm going to drag your aft to the Precinct Warden and, hopefully - if we're really lucky, they'll drop your smelted carcass into the darkest hole they can find on Charr." He crouched down next to the gray mech and rubbed his chin, an evil glint filling his green optics. "Or maybe they'll let me play with you for awhile. Drop you off in the middle of the badlands. It's been a looong time since I've hunted. Though, I doubt you'd be much of a challenge, I'm sure I could find you in under a breem."

The gray mech growled and tried to sit up; Stealthshadow shoved him back down. "Or maybe I should just execute you now. Save the Precinct Warden time and energy that would be spent on your sorry aft. Decisions, decisions."

The mech started to laugh, "You're all talk. All you can do is drag me down to the Precinct Warden and I'll get a trial. And even if they convict me, I'll be out of prison in less than ten stellar cycles. Tops. And you want to know what the first thing I'll do when I get out is? I'll find Starscream and-"

Energon bubbled from the surprised gray mech's mouth, effectively silencing him. Stealthshadow stood up and shook the lifeblood from the softly pulsing energy dagger. "Now see what I had to do? You should have just kept your mouth shut and let me drag you off to the Warden. Now I have to call the medics back in and explain to them that you must have bled out from all your wounds." He lifted one of his large feet and stepped on the mech's chest forcing a strangled gurgling noise from his mouth.

"I hear choking on your own energon is one of the worst ways to die. I can't imagine how awful it would feel having your entire system flood with it, freezing your servos in place, watching it bubble up inside your optics as the warnings flash about energy depletion, filling your air filters until you finally suffocate." He ground his heel into the mech's chest. "I could be merciful and end your suffering quickly, but I think I'd rather ramble on about nothing in particular and watch you die a slow and agonizing death. Morbid, I know. But then again, I am doing a service for Iacon's legal system. How many kliks has it been since I severed your main energon line from your fuel pump? I forgot to look. Are your systems flooding yet? Hmm? What? Turbo-fox have your tongue, or are you just being rude again?"

Blood red optics bulged out of the gray mech's faceplate and Stealthshadow leaned in to peer at him. "So what's it like? Any words of wisdom on what dying slowly is like? Come on, now. You were blustering a few kliks ago about silly things like a 'trial' and 'prison time'. No last words for posterity's sake? Well, you're no fun."

There was another sick gurgling sound from the mech as more of his lifeblood bubbled from his mouth. Stealthshadow put more pressure on his chest, "This is boring. And you're not helping time pass by since you're refusing to talk to me. Eh, I don't have the patience anymore to deal with slag like you."

He prodded the mech's chest with his foot, watching as more energon bubbled with his movement. "Oh, wait. Before you go and die on me, I wanted to give you a heads up about your trip to the Pit. You see, the Unmaker has a special section of the Pit just for mechs like you. It would be really dark and scary with all the disembodied screaming, except it's got this huge smelter. It glows with light that burns your optics just to look at. And the smell. I hear the smell is unbearable. All the rotting mechs in the pools of acid. And here's the best part. I hear, now don't quote me on this since it's second hand knowledge, that you go through the same torture every day, it's like a never ending loop in time."

As the gray mech's optics finally started to dim, Stealthshadow slammed his foot into his chest, holding it there until he felt his spark beat stop. He lifted his foot and kicked the mech across the floor, turning away as the body rolled to a stop against the wall. "Say 'hi' to the Unmaker for me."

--

Starscream sat huddled in on himself as a medic worked on the hole in his new wing. People were talking around him, but their voices sounded far away. His optics were unfocused and cast downwards, staring at nothing.

One of the other medics took his hand and started to clean up the crushed servos. The pain must have been unbearable for the youngling, but when she glanced up to look into his face there was no pained expression. No expression at all. "He's gone into shock."

Nebula stood off to one side, her hands on Thundercracker's and Skywarp's shoulders. She knew they were frightened, but she also knew that they should see what had happened, if only to keep from questioning Starscream about this later.

Stealthshadow walked out of the house and down the steps searching the crowd until his optics fell on Nebula's silent vigil. He moved to stand at her side, placing a strong and calming hand on her shoulder, "How is he?"

She shook her head and squeezed the two youngling's shoulders.

He frowned, "Keep me informed? I need to report to the Precinct Warden about this."

Nebula turn to face him, "Why?"

Stealthshadow's faceplate became unreadable. "I have to tell him that the slagger bled out before I could arrest him."

--

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