Rules of the Game: PG (mild violence)

A/N: Nothing great; just something I threw out. Takes place before the TV show, some time early in the war on Cybertron.

Starscream's grin was best described as "shit eating". He felt like he was on top of the world, so very, very proud of himself. And to think, only an hour ago, he was at his wits' end with everything.

Megatron had given Starscream orders to deliver to a group of Eradicons of Starscream's choosing. He had that much say in the matter. The orders were clear and firm and the Seeker was to carry them out or suffer grave consequences. So Starscream picked a few of the more competent drones, gathered them in a row and debriefed them. They were to be tasked with a small but potentially dangerous recon mission. However, something about Megatron's plan didn't sit quite well with him - it was a minor flaw and Starscream knew he was wise to ignore it. However, instead, he decided to... fix it up a bit.

So when the Eradicons returned successful and relatively unscathed, Starscream chalked it up to his addition and repairs to Megatron's scheme. If the Eradicons had followed the plan in all its original orders, most likely one of them would have not returned. After gathering their reports, he sent the Eradicons back to their usual business and retreated to his temporary chambers - a small hut on the outskirts of Iacon's remains. All the while, practically bouncing in his stride, nearly on the verge of humming.

However, all good things eventually come to an end.

It had been only ten minutes after Starscream patched the Eradicons' mission reports to Megatron did the tyrant suddenly appear, storming inside his tent like a wild hurricane. Starscream whirled around with shock. "Lord Megatron?" he breathed, wide-eyed at the look of pure rage and betrayal on his leader's face. "Is there something the-"

"Why did you tell the Eradicons to change their position!" Megatron interjected with a furious snarl. He threw himself forward, one heavy footfall enough to nearly knock the entire place down.

The Seeker recoiled, wing clipping the edge of his tent. He crouched, attempting to appear humble and harmless - it was working. "L-Lord Megatron, there was a small fallacy in your scheme and what the drones were expected to do, and I-I," he gulped, wringing his hands nervously together, "only wished to-to fix it." He risked a frightened look up at Megatron, who appeared about ready to explode.

"You fool!" Megatron shrieked. He backhanded the Seeker, sending him flying into the tent. "I did not give you permission to tamper with my orders!"

"M-Master, please!" Starscream pleaded. He scrambled against the wall. "The change was harmless! I had no intent of ruining your plans!" He threw open his arms as he finally stood, optics wide. "Had I not corrected your mistake, we-" Megatron reached out and grabbed the Seeker by a wing. Starscream winced and suddenly went stiff and rigid. "Please, commander," he swallowed, trying to remain calm, "if you will only listen-"

"I am the one giving commands here, Starscream!" the Decepticon tyrant snarled, spittle hitting Starscream's face. He winced. "Not you! And you defy me by going behind my back and altering my plans!"

Starscream was completely dumbfounded. What had he done wrong? If anything, he had only improved his leader's commands.

Megatron swept forward, getting face to face with Starscream, still clutching his wing. "Tell me, Starscream: was my flaw an error with possible disastrous conclusions?"

Starscream's brain scrambled for answers. "No," he said quickly, claws clicking together, "it was merely flawed, but it was not an error of considerable propor-"

"Flawed, but not an error. Therefore, it did not necessarily need to be 'corrected', am I right?"

"Y-Yes, I sup-"

Megatron growled.

"-Yes, yes you are right."

"You knew all of this, and yet you still felt the need to meddle," Megatron growled. His grip on Starscream's wing tightened; pushing hard enough to dent metal. Starscream grimaced, his free wing hiking with shared agitation and fear.

"My Lord," Starscream murmured, "I only... wanted to help..."

Megatron's face was close, much too close. "If I had wanted your help, Starscream, I would have asked for it," he said, voice sickly, mockingly sweet, but extremely dangerous. The Seeker gulped. "Perhaps you may not understand, for you are not in my position: error or flaw, no matter your excuse, you must remember where you stand. You have, even with your reason of simply wanting to 'help', defied me. A small, very small step out of line with harmless intent, but nonetheless, you crossed into territory where you do not belong."

Starscream thought he understood, but kept quiet instead. "Remember this, Starscream," Megatron grumbled, pressing the tip of one claw beneath his second's chin, forcing it to tilt back. Starscream shuddered. "I make the rules, and you follow them, no matter your opinion of my methods," he said darkly. "I rule the Decepticons, and thus, I rule you."

Megatron drew back his face, just a few inches. He smiled something terrible. "Do you understand?" he asked, voice almost a purr.

Starscream shuddered. Though Megatron had lowered his hand, Starscream's head still remained tilted back, frightened optics staring down at his leader's cruel grin. "I understand, Master," he reassured after struggling to find the ability to speak.

"Good," Megatron cooed. He stepped back, and sized his second in command from head to heel strut. Starscream tried to keep calm, though some of his armor was rattling. "I'm glad we can see eye to eye, Starscream," the Decepticon leader said a moment later, giving a friendly pat to the wing he had dented. "I hate for you to have to slip up again. Very minor, of course, but it's no fun for anyone when I have to go about... correcting your little mistakes."

Starscream's grin was wide but forced. "Yes," he tittered, "no fun... for anyone..."

With that, Megatron turned, hands behind his back, strolling outside the tent. Once he was gone, Starscream reeled back with a huge, somewhat irritable sigh of relief. However, he hadn't been watching where he was going, his back colliding with one of the poles holding up the tent-

A few Vehicons stopped their work to watch their commander thrash beneath his collapsed tent, cursing and yowling like a very wet and very pissed off cat.

END