Further Complications.
Chapter Seven.
As the group came closer, one of them pushed to the front with a sneer and a swagger. Starscream presumed that this human with the obnoxious attitude was Trent, and was far from impressed.
He walked with the cocky assurance that Starscream had seen in many Decepticons, though only the most foolish or suicidal approached him with the same assurance and arrogant stance. The human's head hair was cut short and scrunched under a cap that Starscream suspected had not seen a washing machine for too long. He wore a sleeveless vest and loose pants, and much to Starscream's barely concealed revulsion, was slightly moist from his own dermal secretions – 'sweat' Starscream believed it was called.
"So, Mikaela, the vacation must have been enough for you to find out that wimp-boy there isn't your type. It's okay, Mikaela, I'll forgive you, I'll let you come back to me." He held out a beefy, hairy arm. "Come back to a real man." He looked at Starscream and Miles as if they were something he had wiped from his shoe.
"You can piss off, you're not cool enough to hang with my crowd. Who wants to hang around with Mr Sucks-at-Sports and Mr Weirdo?" Trent said snidely.
"Sam and Miles are each worth two of you, Trent." Mikaela said, going around to Starscream and leaning against him, putting her arm around his waist. It was second nature for Starscream to loop his arm around her shoulders and pull her closer: Cybertronians and humans had some things in common, and signs of affection were just one of them. "I prefer their company to yours or any of your cronies, Trent." Mikaela said, and tired to pull Starscream past, but Trent blocked her path.
"Ah, come on, 'Kayla, you don't need to play hard to get with me." Trent said, giving Starscream a shove. "You. Witwicky. If you know what's good for you, take a hike with your greasy friend."
That was Trent's first mistake.
If this had been Sam, he would have come up with a witty comment, or backed down and tried to go around the other way, but this was not Sam, but Starscream. Starscream had never been spoken to so disrespectfully in his long life by anyone other than Megatron. From Megatron, Starscream had taken it, although with much hidden grinding of derma. He wasn't about to take it without comment from this jumped-up, self important little brat of a squishy! He drew himself up to Sam's full height, and despite being shorter than Trent, still gave the appearance of looking down his nose at him.
"No, I am going nowhere, Trent." Starscream said, and the name oozed Starscream's dislike of the jock. "You can get out of my way, and you might want to learn to have a little more respect for females Perhaps if you had learned that lesson, you would by now have your own mate, instead of desperately grabbing after mine. Now, get out of my way!"
Starscream used the same tone of voice he had used on some of his Decepticons that he had felt compelled to take down as peg or two, a voice that dripped with the contempt for the individual in question. Although Trent was a jock, he could tell that the tone of Starscream's voice was derisory. Curling his lip in an angry snarl, he stepped forward, grabbed a handful of Starscream's sweater in one hand, flexed his fist, and used the hand to lift Starscream off the ground slightly. As always happened at the school, people could almost smell a fight brewing: a crowd had started to gather.
Again, if this had been Sam, even Mikaela's intervention wouldn't have stopped Trent, but once again, this was not the timid Sam, but the confident Starscream that Trent was dealing with.
"I'm giving you just one chance to put me down." Starscream said, still in a tone of disdain.
"Or else what, Witwicky?" Trent sneered. "I am so going to pound you into the ground. You need to be taught some respect for your betters." he said, raising his arm and cocking his fist.
That was Trent's second mistake.
Sam would have tried to talk his way out of it, and probably ended up on the ground with a bloodied nose, but Starscream had not got to the position of Megatron's second by brains and talk alone. No, Starscream has risen through the ranks at some points by fighting, Starscream had no compunctions about fighting, and fighting dirty more often than not. Starscream had researched human weak points from the Internet, and had absorbed enough to apply what he had used.
Extending the first two fingers of one hand, Starscream jabbed them at Trent's eyes. Reflex made him pull back, meaning he had to release his hold on Starscream, who was ready for it and steadied himself as he landed. Starscream balled both hands into fists, and drove one into Trent's stomach before the jock had recovered himself: Trent doubled up as the wind was driven out of him by the sheer force of Starscream's punch.
By then, Starscream's other fist was on a trajectory that brought it into connection with Trent's jaw. As the punch connected, Starscream had already brought his first fist up again. This one hit Trent squarely on the nose a few seconds later, and the jock fell backwards into his friends with red pouring from both nostrils. He stared up dazedly for a few seconds, and then his head rocked back and he went limp.
Starscream just ignored the group, stepping out with his arm round Mikaela, until one of the others spoke to him.
"What…have you killed him?" they asked, panicked.
"No, if he was dead, he would not be bleeding." Starscream said. "I merely thought he would make a better example if I left him alive." Then he turned away and walked off again with Miles close behind.
The crowd around them parted before Starscream like the Red Sea before Moses, but there were a few cheers and grins for Starscream from the crowd: it seemed Trent was feared but not liked by more than one of his peer group. Mikaela giggled, but it was as much a giggle of fear as much as humor. She was pretty sure Starscream had meant every word of what he had said back there: Trent was only still alive because Starscream had chosen not to kill him.
"You're going to catch it later!" she said to Starscream. "You'll get suspended for a few days but don't worry, it I think it was worth it."
They went into homeroom, and Mikaela guided Starscream to his seat. The lecturer came in, took attendance, gave out the notices, and then they filed out for their first class, which was Math. This time it was Miles who guided Starscream to Sam's customary seat, which was next to him. Starscream found the lesson easier than Miles, but Miles was sure Starscream would help him out a little later. Then they went to second period, which was chemistry, but they had been there barely ten minutes when there was a knock on the door.
A student principal worker came in, went over to Starscream, and handed him a slip of paper. Miles recognised it as a call slip: news of the fight had obviously filtered through to the principal. He leaned over towards Starscream, because of course the Decepticon did not know the layout of the school.
"Go out of the door, turn left, follow the corridor round, second door on the right." she hissed. Starscream nodded, rose, and went out of the door.
The rest of that day Starscream spent attending the rest of the day's classes, and collecting the assignments he would otherwise miss due to the three-day suspension he had received over the incident. Starscream wasn't that bothered: he knew Miles would keep him updated about half the stuff, and the other half was stuff that was so basic to him that "Sam" could catch up easily.
At the end of the day they went back to Bumblebee, who first dropped off Mikaela at her house. She checked the status of Miles' junker with her father: it would be ready tomorrow, and Mikaela would drive it around to him in the morning. Miles nodded: he was cool with that. He knew Bumblebee could drop him off at his home.
Bumblebee then dropped Starscream off at the Autobot base, sending a comm to Optimus to explain what had happened at the school between he and Trent.
Miles had gotten out of the car to walk Starscream into the base: he came back out and got back into Bumblebee. He patted the dash much as he had seen Sam do. Much as he loved his old-new car, he couldn't help but wish that he had a car that changed into a cool alien robot as well.
He leaned back as Bumblebee quietly drove back towards Tranquility, to drop him off at his own place. He closed his eyes, relaxing, but he wasn't so out of it that he didn't noticed Bumblebee suddenly speed up.
"Huh-wha?" His eyes shot open and he turned his head as he suddenly heard sirens behind them.
"Hold on tight, Miles. We have company." Bumblebee said shortly. Looking back, Miles could see a black and white police cruiser was in pursuit, lights blazing, sirens at full volume.
"Hey, Bumblebee, what's up? Pull over, man, the cops are on our tail!" he said, trying to pull on Bumblebee's steering wheel. It didn't budge.
"That is not the police!" Bumblebee said tersely.
Bumblebee began swerving as the black and white began to catch them up. To Miles's shock, it rammed them, an act repeated by a small red car just behind them that seemed to come from nowhere. Despite Bumblebee's best efforts, they were edged over to the side of the road, a side of the road that was ten feet above a field of maize. With a final heavy ram, the police cruiser managed to knock Bumblebee off the side of the road. Bumblebee turned over and over, Miles screamed in shock, and as Bumblebee hit the bottom he felt the seatbelt release and felt Bumblebee's doors fly open, and he went flying out into a sea of maize crop.
He was dazed, heard a racket behind him that suggested that Bumblebee wasn't the only car that had gone off the edge, heard the transforming sound. Was there more than one transformation going on or were his ears playing tricks on him? He heard clashing sounds, yells, engines, what sounded like shots, and then suddenly something red and mechanical was bending down, picking him up around the body, he struggled, the grip was tight, it pinched and he yelled. He felt himself lifted into the air, felt that his T-shirt had ripped almost right open as it flapped in the wind, and he felt chilled.
A voice coming from the one holding him said "This doesn't look like the Witwicky fleshling, Barricade."
"That's because he isn't, Swindle." said another harsh-sounding voice. "I don't recognise him at all. My scans indicate there is nobody else around, he must be some insignificant friend of his. Where the Witwicky boy is, I do not know but that creature is not him."
Miles looked about dazed, raised a hand to push his blond hair out of his eyes. The black and white was obviously a car that became a robot much like Bumblebee, the red car-robot holding him too, although it was smaller. However, for some reason Miles feared it more than the police car-robot. His fears seemed to be founded as the red car-robot looked from Miles to the police cruiser robot - Barricade? - and then back, and its fingers tightened further around him. To one side he spotted yellow armour, and movement, but he was not at the right angle to see Bumblebee properly.
"The Autobot scout will obviously be wanted for questioning. If this creature, however, is a nonentity, then nobody should miss him for a while." it stated. Miles wanted to speak, but the breath was being slowly squeezed out of him.
"Lord Starscream will likely have no interest in him and he is a witness to our presence and actions, an unwanted one." stated the red mech that Barricade had addressed as Swindle. "I have not found out the endurance level of this world's fleshies yet." the red mech stated. "I will dispose of the witness, and find that out for myself, by finding out how much damage it will take to kill him."