Chapter 33: The Last Odium
A/N: Sorry for the super long wait, I had a lot of things to do, trying to settle in with the new job and what not. Finally got down to proof reading the fic properly, though I know there's gonna be some mistakes. The last chapter was supposed to be a little bit longer, but then I don't know why I posted it anyway. As I would like to mention again, thank you for your support and your reviews, it's greatly appreciated, and very sorry for the long wait.
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Astrotrain leapt in recognition of Megatron's voice before their leader could end his sentence.
"Get it out of my sight," Megatron whipped his finger from the metal blue corpse to the entrance, and the triple changer did as he was told, avoiding the dazed aerial commander in his way.
"..Decepticons, there will be a meeting at 0500 Earth hours." Despite all optics focused on their leader, some of the troops snatched a glance at Thundercracker's legs, breaking the skin of semi-coagulated energon to draw a sticky trail to the exit. A flood of legs left the room the same way they came in, marching around the congealed stains blotting the floor. Megatron ventured out last with the communications officer, reserved in some small talk, leaving Starscream painfully alone.
'…He's gone.' She stared listlessly into space, aimlessly running her thoughts. 'He's gone, and nothing can bring him back…'
'Did you plan this from the start cause there was nothing else for you to do in this life? Did you remind yourself what you left behind...play a sentimental montage of your life? Was it sad and funny at the same time? Did you laugh an cry and feel that strange warmth inside what used to be your stupid thick head? Do all mechs do this before they die? …Did you see NOTHING worth living for in your life? What about your friends? What about me-?'
Starscream felt something tickling her optics, avoiding the alien response with a harsh sniff.
'It's all about me, isn't it? A femme con to ruin the empire of Decepticon legacy, nursed for generations…' she blinked herself back to the present, staring dumbly at the ground.
'…Now, I can be ultimately selfish…is that it…Thundercracker?'
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Skywarp looked frantically for what was left of Thundercracker's body shell. When his friend's untimely departure was announced over the P.A, the purple jet cocked his head not out of shock, but placid curiosity upon hearing Thundercracker's name being stated, and everyone else's despondent optics aimed at him. The general idea soon dawned upon the purple seeker, now an F-15 jet chasing the hallways for his dead wing mate. If his body was recycled for slag for more practical uses, the space bridge would have been used to reach the ominously bright smelting pools of Cybertron. The Constructicons wouldn't have been mulling around their energon cubes in the canteen, being their duty to escort the precious husks of the dead to its proper resting place. The build-up of discarded limbs in the storage rooms had not managed to create a mountain of itself yet. Disrupting it's process, Skywarp dug, scrapped, and even warped through the macabre of lifeless Decepticon anatomy if he could fit.
It was involuntarily stupid, but the purple seeker called out for his wing mate, hoping to hear that familiar voice answer back.
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The day slowly concluded, cloaking itself with the glittering night sky. The Decepticon aerial commander stealthily shifted herself up the rocky hill to espy her leader, who was pondering to himself. Darkness hides very little in a Transformer's optics, and her red torso was not exactly a passive colour either.
Megatron grumbled her presence away. "What do you want Starscream?"
'Shit.' The red seeker helped herself from the planetary mud ball and stood in full view of the grey Transformer's back, his contemplative gaze unmoving for the blinking stars in the sky.
"You know Thundercracker can be brought back." he spoke first, but Starscream snapped back with an acerbic fact. "As we all can be, Megatron."
A smile danced upon the Decepticon tyrant's lips, but he kept his amusement to himself.
"Take an empty seeker shell, bring back his spark and call him Thundercracker." Her feet started taking forceful steps along the ground, reflecting her understanding of Transformer life to Megatron. "His memory banks will be reinstalled and updated with vorns of his own battle experience, depending on when he last saved such details. Basic personality and social etiquette will be provided for self-dependence." Scuffing the dry earth, she stopped.
"…But that will not bring Thundercracker back."
"Our personal memory banks…there is no hope or right in saving them to be uploaded, in case of historical repercussion. Yet…you and me…we have that right. Not Thundercracker, not Skywarp, or any other Decepticon." She lowered her helmet to stare at her feet. "Thundercracker is not the same person anymore."
"Good, then you know the facts. Well done." Megatron lifted his enormous carriage from his rocky perch and turned to face his aerial commander.
"Good for you too, and sorry to disappoint you, Megatron, but after today's events, you'd think I would be doing this for someone else." Starscream hissed, her lips parted to chill her grit teeth. "Thundercracker was mine. He belongs to ME!"
"And you belong to the Decepticon army, which, belongs to me" Megatron snubbed her last comment and paced the small rocky outpost, until a sharp sound pierced his audio receptors, and he found himself caught unaware by the full blast of Starscream's null rays striking his torso. The Decepticon leader's paralytic hands failed to grab hold of the uneven surface of the wall as he plummet to the ground. His gleaming optics recognised the red jet blossoming from the cliff with her thrusters at full power, allowing herself to be swallowed by the night sky. Rebooting his systems from the familiarity of the null ray's effects, Megatron finally caught hold of a stray rock, slamming face first into the parched ground.
'Damn this fickle female…' he picked himself off the ground, letting the loose gravel roll off his shoulders. Starscream's aerial retreat signaled her first line of defense against Megatron, a strategic instinct against a Transformer stronger than her. 'Predictable…'
"I knew it would come to this, as always…" a crooked grin crept on Megatron's face, scanning for her next appearance. "I was just waiting for it to happen…just wondering: when was Starscream going to try and fail to take over my position again? Not too soon I hope."
"That's just the beginning, Megatron!" a raspy voice bellowed from the skies as he rose to face the darkness. "And if you're not entirely convinced, here's some more proof!"
A star in the infinite sky slowly grew bigger in size, emerging as a silver nosecone belonging to the aerial commander. Firing her lasers above Megatron brought the rocky cliff to collapse, but the grey Transformer hastily dashed from the landslide into the clear opening. Perfect for a cluster bomb attack. Having no shelter, Megatron and the surrounding area was engulfed by the hail of fire she unleashed upon him. Decorated in playful hues from the explosion, the red seeker felt the warmth of her assault brighten her chassis, and she circled for Megatron's damaged remains like a vulture. A rapid streak of purple ended her scavenger hunt, hollowing her wing and grazing her thrusters. A surprised shriek escaped her communicator and the aerial commander convulsed back into her root mode, halting her descent onto the flat plains.
Stumbling to a halt, Starscream turned around to miss the aspen Transformer from her optics…a transforming sequence could be heard nearby. Her body jolted to the acute sounds playing into her audio receptors…he was nearby, but that was not her question. Suspiciously prowling around the boulders resting by the damaged cliff, Starscream chuckled; if Megatron was nicely propped in the debris to get a clear shot, that meant he was hiding, and it was not like her leader to quail so easily.
"Megatron, darling…" she crooned. "Are you that desperate?" A graveled voice from the landslide revealed the Decepticon leader's position.
"Starscream, as much as I hate to be in this situation like someone I know," the darkness surrounding the boulders growled. "…Let me assure you, it's not out of cowardice, because Megatron does not curl up into a pathetic ball to hide behind someone else's body shell."
"BASTARD! At least I don't refer to myself in the third person like some moronic sparkling!" she stamped the ground in quick frustration. "Surprise me with some original dialogue for once, because I'm tired of hearing you talk!"
"Of course Starscream! Because I love to hear myself talk," Megatron acrimony made a pair of null rays cry in anticipation for his metal.
"And if you're not entirely convinced..." he spoke mockingly, "…here's some more proof!"
Starscream's mouth gaped open to deliver another verbal repertoire, but all that came out was another startled yelp. Starscream looked up for the culprits who clobbered the back of her head, optics catching a pair of twin condors surfing the skies. 'Interjecting brown nose!' Starscream pointed her null rays to the night blue Transformer behind her, his finger conveniently resting on the eject button on his shoulder.
"SOUNDWAVE!!!" the femme con cried, her countenance turning sour with bruxed teeth. "YOU!!!"
'It's all YOUR fault! YOU did this to us! If you hadn't put that stupid faceplate in other people's business-!!!'
If there was anyone to blame for her shortcomings, Soundwave was the obvious choice, but the clairvoyant Decepticon didn't waste his time reading her manic thoughts. Instead, he made a late gesture for Starscream's inconvenience.
"Look behind you." Soundwave's vocals chimed with his plaintively raised finger at the aerial commander's shoulder. Skipping to face her primary opponent, Starscream tensed in white fear at Megatron's weapon. Indigo sparks hurriedly collected themselves into the arm cannon's barrel, and the second-in-command's thoughts clicked in revelation of her leader's cannon lagging in comparison to its regular speed; it was his way of prolonging the stupefied look on his victim's face. The flurry of emotions challenging her fight-or-flight instincts grabbed her spark in a vice, forgetting her opponent's loyal subordinate; Starscream felt the dual shot singe her wings, bringing her knees to the ground. A large black hand forced her forehead to accompany her feet, punching the back of her neck to bring the seeker to a subdued position. A second pair of arms locked her own as Megatron helped her from the ground, flicking her chin with a hearty slap to accompany the second punch. It was not the first time the tyrant administered his barbaric discipline, but facing their leader was terrifying enough. Taking a cue from his leader, Soundwave shoved the female Decepticon back to the earth, banging her head against a grey foot in the process.
It was not fair.
"M-MEGATRON-!!!" Starscream gasped from her energon stained mouth. "N-No, NO MORE, PLEASE!!! NO-! I-! STOP!!!"
Her gargled pleas was a reminder of how Megatron and Soundwave shared their callous jokes, laughing at her wretched state. The communications officer took a few careful steps away from the duo, before flying back to the Nemesis to his leader's orders. Her wailings grew sharp as his foot grated her wings into her scoured back, tearing her internal systems apart. Her clawed fingers amused Megatron when his heel stopped them writhing…it was just like the old times. Her begging sounded sentimental compared to the past few months, fulfilling his sentiments in pain without lust. Ever since her change, Starscream made him feel as if these moments of abuse was geared to satisfy their lustful cravings. It made him feel awkward to have one female introduce this perverted sensation. It made his every cog grind their teeth in abhorrence, and Megatron grew bored of it.
The Decepticon leader raised his foot when it felt sticky, scuffing his heel onto the edge of her wings to wipe the energon from his foot. Her lament died to a speechless breath. Now that they weren't under observation from prying eyes, he scooped her from the ground with his hand clamped around her neck, and spat on her body in revulsion.
"Stupid female, this isn't your first time. So why do you always beg?" she left Megatron's question alone, having no breath or strength to shake her mouth open fast enough. There was something different about her now. She looked pitiful, for reasons they both knew.
"(Y…you…k-…killed…)-ukh!" Wrong answer, wrong topic. If he let go of her, her legs would fail to keep her frame vertical. She managed a small inaudible mewl. "(…Why…?)"
"…Why what?" he grunted. Her wet optics tried to plead with his own, but Megatron did not register that either.
"…D-…Does…Megatron, not-…feel…(anything…)" a small sob escaped her crushed vocal chords. "(F-…for…me?)"
He could hear his troops arriving to the scene. Two triple changers were enough to escort this seeker to a place befitting of such contumacious behaviour. She glanced at them through broken optics, their feet thudding ominously to her broken frame, shadows looming in mock intimidation. Bringing her to an intimate distance, Megatron cradled her head to his shoulder in false affection.
"(My dear Starscream…have you not learnt anything?)" he whispered quietly. Her fuel pump skipped a beat in desperation to hear some words of hope, or at least, some contrived sense of security while it lasts. "(Always begging for me when the stakes are low and everyone's against you. Do you know why you're still alive today? You don't have to say anything. I know your excuses. Is Megatron capable of feeling for someone else? Doesn't matter.)"
"To me, my dear…everything is fodder."
Megatron thrust the broken seeker to the unwilling tank. "Blitzwing, Astrotrain, send her to the detention cells on Cybertron. When the device to rid ourselves of the accursed Autobots is complete, dispose of this sordid excuse of a Decepticon."
Not fair.
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A/N: Evil bastard. That last quote was his own quote from his original bio. For a while I planned to use it…