Chapter 16: T. Cursus
A/N: WAAAAAAAAAAAH! I got my brain working again! These past few weeks I've been so swamped, and with a dead brain stuck in limbo too. It pays to right down your ideas so you get it write! XD I know I am super corny, and just realised, the chapter title's abbreviation is TC ;) UPDATE: Thanks to Syntia13 for pointing out my mistakes. I re-read my work and realised a few things that I would not have written because…because its weird!!! EWWW! XP
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"Thundercracker. Is it true that you purposely disobeyed Starscream's orders?"
"I didn't think it would work, my lord."
"It was an indirect order from me to you, you insolent seeker. Skywarp has his incompetence as an excuse, not you. Disobey me or Starscream again, and I will personally-!"
"I'M sorry, oh mighty Megatron."
The audience in the war room watching Thundercracker's mockery of the red seekers acrimony gave way to shock, and the blue seeker earned the aerial commanders disgust. Recognising a new breed of insubordination manifest in the Thundercracker, Megatron replied with intimidation, narrowing is blood red optics to dangerous slits, threatening to cut the blue jet into half. The stand-off between the grey and blue Transformer ceased as soon as Skywarp vocalisers made a sick gnarling cough, interrupting the heavy silence. Disregarding Thundercracker's behaviour as a childish fit, the Decepticon leader turned his attention elsewhere, leaving the blue jet to ball his fists tighter. A quick authoritarian hawk eye from Starscream undid Thundercracker's fingers to plant themselves back to his sides, albeit a little stiff.
"If you followed my orders, Thundercracker," Starscream paused when their leader turned his back to them, "you and Skywarp wouldn't have to do this next air raid. Collect the mission details from Soundwave…and don't come back until you've got something for us."
A whip from her hand in place of Megatron's told them to leave the room, and the two seekers did so with the remaining Decepticons. Thundercracker furrowed at the idea of Starscream staying behind solely in the company of the Decepticon leader, and paused to take a fleeting look before exiting the room in disappointment. Folding her arms to her chest, the red seeker thought she saw the reprimanded seeker look dejected, having partially understood the reason behind Thundercracker's moodiness. But like her leader, dismissed his irrational logic and gave the Decepticon leader her attention.
"Just what I need, another Starscream. Learn to hold your tongue, woman...the seekers are picking up your treacherous habits."
"Megatron, why did you go back to retrieve me in the last battle?"
"Why not?"
Starscream jerked her head back unsatisfied, already having difficulty swallowing his previous comment. "I didn't need to be saved-"
"I wasn't saving you, Starscream. It just peeves me that my second-in-command is a little slow leaving the battlefield."
"Wh-!" the femme con felt her leader's words nip at her inflated pride, and gnashed back with clenched teeth. "SLOW?! SLOW?! I'm can be anything and everything but slow! I didn't need to be picked up! I could handle them myself! It's bad enough that everyone thinks I kissed your aft to become second-in-command of the Decepticon army, but to see me looking incapable?! Tch!"
"What do you WANT Megatron?!"
The femme con had to bite back her lips to restrain herself, and to let her leader answer her demands. A nonchalant expression graced her leader's face throughout her blustering clamour, and remained in place even when she paused. The red seeker thought she hit a nerve when he casually folded his arms, his cold optics stonily fixated on her own. She felt her own flickering in consternation, and abruptly stopped when he opened his mouth.
"…What do I want?"
A good strong 'yes' screeched in retort, but Starscream's jaw was too petrified to move.
"…Come to my quarters, and I'll tell you."
"Is this some kind of joke, Megatron-? I-is this some kind of trick?"
"No, I've just been disregarding my systems needs, and it as been weeks since my last recharge cycle." Megatron placed a fist over his insignia in concern, and relaxed his fingers when the femme con scrutinised his being with a tilted head.
"…That's true. I haven't seen you inactive for-"
"Forty-seven days, thirteen hours and twenty-eight Earth minutes."
"…Right."
"Have you recharged yet?"
"No, but-"
"Come with me, and I'll tell you all you need to know."
"I say it's a trick," she snorted.
"And I say it's an order, so you either do it, or I'll have the Constructicons reassembling you, from scratch."
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The duo flew to their destination in complete silence, slowly suffocating the purple seeker. When it was not compulsory to keep their silence, they never failed to have a casual conversation, even if the other Decepticon's disagreed, especially Starscream. But their aerial commander was not present. Today was different. There was no animosity, no qualms between the two, but Thundercracker offered no response to Skywarp's desperate one-sided conversation, which quickly turned into regurgitated drivel.
"…Hey TC, c'mon…so you pissed Megatron off, Megatron pissed you off, Starscream scolded you for being a bad boy, but were Decepticons, we're always bad 'con, and this isnot our style right now! You know how it works. When I talk, you talk, when you talk, I talk, y'know…(y'know?)"
"…Stop it. C'moooooon. Please, I hate it! Even the sound of my engine's gettin' boring! Pleasepleaseplease-"
Nothing.
"…TC. 'Yo, Thundercrackerh-rerh-rerh-rerh! Thundercrackeeeeeeer. Thunder, thunder, Thundercracker, HO-------!"
The human slang, 'spaced out' was an underrated description of the blue jet's mental state. Still, his purple friend did not give up.
"(Slag)…'Think Megatron and Starscream's making sparks-?"
"WHAT?!"
"'Kidding man, but that got your attention."
"They are not. They can't! I mean, they can, but they can't and they shouldn't-! The war has limited our resources, and raising a sparkling is a time and energy consuming matter, that's why we have new Decepticons made into fully formed Transformers, to eliminate the physical and mental growth process-! They can't because it's just too-!"
"Look 'con, I don't need you to tell me about the robo-birds and turbo-bees! Slab, 'bet you wanna make sparks with her-OW! SLAG TC, I'm only speaking your mind for you!"
"Shut up. I don't see her like that."
"Yeah, but still. Wouldn't it be nice, you know, to connect with her system? Aw man, if I could, I'd link my wires with her legs first 'con, that'll be great-"
"SHUT. UP."
"Okay, okay. 'S not like she's your girlfriend or anything."
"I don't understand."
"Me neither, you're being so-"
"No, I don't understand. She's with Megatron, and the Autobot."
"So?"
"……Why can't she be with me?"
"Hey, you said it yourself, TC. She's with Megatron 'cause she wants ta' use him and dump him to become Super-Duper Queen Starscream (ruler of the Decepticons), and the Autobot 'cause she wants info or whatever the slag he can offer us. She's doing it for herself, and she doesn't see anything in those two. I guess…the 'Screamer don't wanna do stuff to us that'll hurt us, you know? We're her wing mates."
"(…She already has…)"
"What?"
"'Warp…what if she falls in too deep in her own plans? What if she starts liking one of them? Or-"
"Ew. Starscream liking Megatron like that. Ew, ew, ew. Gross, TC. I mean, sucking face with ol' Megs-"
"Primus, why must you say that?! Slag, now it's stuck in my head-! Primus SLAGGIT!"
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She was a scientist and an explorer in her previous occupation, yet the femme con found her blue fingers fumbling inexpertly with the various coloured wires and circuits pouring from a small opening in her and her leader's chassis. Distracted from her original train of thought, Megatron watched in muted enthrallment at Starscream's slender digits trying its best to configure the compatible circuitry, slowly connecting them both together in a physical bond. Megatron waited patiently on his side like a reclining Buddha, never failing to exuberate an elevated mien from his carriage. This made his subordinates nervous when he allowed them to work on his internal machinery even without his cannon, and the medical team would spend a few seconds hovering in contemplation over their approach to his circuits, whether they were familiar to his systems or not. Starscream made herself an exception, being blatantly forward and crass with him, and when Megatron told her to connect their systems, she displayed no signs of lingering doubt and went straight to the task, laying on his recharge bed while they waited in their immortal bodies for time to stop.
"…There, I've sorted that out," she looked up from his chest. "Now, what's so secret that we have to leave our circuits in tentacles like this-?"
A rush of data streamed into her thoughts, instantaneously enveloping her mind as her head jolted from the mental impact, her optics flickering as if the information was going to flood her entire body. Opening the ports to their thought processors, both Transformers unconditionally allowed each other to invade the latter's consciousness, burying themselves in the core of their raw sentiments. Megatron braced the mental impact with squinted optics and revealed his latest plans on Cybertron, but the female seeker would fully rehearse it later, currently too preoccupied with the other emotions the grey Decepticon siphoned to her. Unable to control her mindset, the seeker's reciprocated spontaneously, making Megatron soften his expression. He grabbed her arm and pulled her closer as her head wilted to his chest, letting Starscream know that her body was securely poised even though her mind was uncontrollably spinning.
Half a breem later, the red seeker's mind went blank, and she looked up at her leader, a little shaken from the mental reel. Having nothing and nowhere to hide, Starscream was visibly upset as a small wave of irresolution and remorse drifted to her unsound senses.
"(How)…How could you feel this way…" Starscream breathed her whispers, trembled in Megatron's tightened grip. '…I-…It's not fair…'
"…And what about you, my little seeker?" Megatron picked up her head in his fingers, and saw Starscream grace a rare expression never before seen on her countenance.
"…I-…" Starscream choked back her words. She didn't need to say anything more.
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A/N: Comparing Megatron to Buddha…I felt my moral alarms going off like crazy 8I 'Probably going to correct the chapters again, 'cause I'm so shmart! XP Which I did:) Yeah, if Megatron did not hold onto her there and she fell off, he'd go down with her! I'd like to see that! XDDD