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[Chapter Three: Access Granted. Displaying Contents.]
. . . . .
I cannot believe I'm thinking this... but I wish Megatron were still alive.
I knew Shockwave would be a problem from the first time I encountered him. Oh, he was a problem even before as a member of the Senate, but at least then, he was their problem, always shooting his mouth off about tyranny and injustice done to the lower castes. He was a Decepticon before the term ever existed; I remember watching him pace the floor from my place at Zeta's side, raging against the injustices done to the "outliers", until the Triorian guard had to drag him out in chains. The Senate was in an uproar, and it took some time to bring things into order after he had stirred them to chaos. Back then, I had considered him nothing more than an overly emotional bleeding-spark academician, someone who had desired permission to push the boundaries of what research he was allowed to do in pursuit of a "better tomorrow". I had no inkling of what lay beneath the surface of that winning smile and constantly changing paint job.
I suppose when it comes down to it, I can lay the blame for what he has become at the feet of the Senate; after all it was they who turned on their own and sent him to the Institute. I can take some small satisfaction in having ended so many of their lives personally. It is the only satisfaction I can savor at the moment inside my cage.
Shockwave said he has plans for me, and after having witnessed personally the sort of experimentation he carries out, I think death would be preferable to being strapped down to one of his tables.
I had also foolishly looked down on Megatron when he was nothing more than a political dissident and Kaonian gladiator. Oh, he had a certain charisma that could whip the lower masses into a frenzy that I could not, but I had not forseen what that pawn could become. I wanted to use his uprising to change the Senate, to remove Zeta, and to establish order for Cybertron... my way. I am certain that if I had been the one to lead the Decepticons, Cybertron would not be in ruin, and we would not now be at the mercy of Shockwave's machinations.
How vain you truly were, my former master. You had built yourself an army of monsters, capable of anything and everything, to carry out your will at any cost. You believed that when you had ascended to power, those forces you held in check you would then destroy. Now the demons your power held at bay have been unleashed on us all, because you could not conceive of your own premature demise.
How foolish I have been, for misjudging those I thought I would one day put under my heel.
. . . . .
TEN HOURS BEFORE:
"Where are we going?" Starscream demanded, squirming to find a comfortable position against Shockwave's bulkier form. The escape pod was meant to hold one average sized Decepticon comfortably, but lack of other escape pods meant that the two bitter rivals were now crushed up against one another. The Air Commander was already chafing in such tight confinement; Seekers enjoyed wide open spaces, and this was anything but.
"I have already taken the liberty to of adjusting the pod's trajectory to a specific landing point," Shockwave stated with a calm that only further irritated the jumpy, mercurial Starscream.
"How long will it be before we land?" Starscream quickly questioned, eager to begin counting down the minutes to freedom.
"Half a cycle. We are in close range to Decepticon facilities beneath Tarn," Shockwave replied.
"Half a cycle?!" Starscream whined. "My wings will be bent by the time we reach the surface!"
"You are being ridiculous," Shockwave stated. "Furthermore, I refuse to tolerate your hysterical behavior for one nanosecond longer. I am assuming command of our remaining forces."
"What?!" The Seeker shrieked, suddenly furious. "I was Megatron's lieutenant and second in command, you were nothing more than a scientist tinkering away in his lab! I am next in line to power-!"
Starscream was cut off as a set of purple digits closed tightly around his throat, clamping energon lines in his neck, choking fuel away from his processor and dropping his protests into a screeling wheeze. He struggled to claw helplessly at Shockwave's arm, optics widening in shock and fear as the baleful red of that single optic burned brighter in the relative dark of the escape pod's interior.
"Predictably, you do not understand," Shockwave deadpanned, the actuators in his forearm ratcheting in further, squeezing Starscream's neck a little harder. The Seeker gagged, his servos digging only scratches into Shockwave's thick armor. Damage, core heating and lack of energon warnings were lighting up his sensor array like fireworks, causing him to panic. Starscream couldn't think properly, and in such a confined area, his talons – the very thing that could save him from potential death – were all but useless, his limbs confined against his body. "You are only suitable to govern a single polity, assist me in my research, or command a fleet of cannon fodder. I have been a Senator, responsible for governing the whole of Cybertron. I have been the head of the Jihaxian Academy of Advanced Technology, responsible for advancing our species' scientific understanding. It was I who discovered the CNA of the Primes in Orion Pax, and I who made certain that D-16's manifesto reached the librarian's desk. You have been nothing but a pretender to the Primacy from the start, and because you have been so narrowly focused on your own gain, you have failed to see the larger plans unfolding around you."
"No, I will not extinguish your spark here and now," Shockwave continued, pushing Starscream hard against the back wall of the escape pod and answering the unspoken but obvious question that he knew would be crossing the Seeker's mind. Cybertron was rising in the viewing portal over Shockwave's shoulder, brilliantly reflecting the lighting of its sun, as the pod drew ever close to its surface. The interior lighting switched to a minimalistic red, shifting power from luxury systems to protective shielding, painting everything inside with the color of a smelting furnace's glow. Imminent stasis warnings screamed at Starscream's mind as the corners of his sight began to fade, his spark pulsing madly inside its frame. "Despite your many flaws, I still have a use for you, even if it is only as... raw material."
Starscream could see his own terror reflected in Shockwave's eye before he slipped into the dark of unconsciousness.
. . . . .
PRESENT:
He could not be sure how long he had been out, or exactly where he had been taken. Shockwave had told him that they would be landing near Tarn, but there was always the possibility that the monoptic scientist had simply lied to him.
Was Shockwave capable of lying? Starscream pondered this. The absence of emotions did not mean that Shockwave could not simply falsify or omit truth as it suited him. If anything, the inability to feel shame, guilt or even fear about telling lies to Megatron's own face would have have been more of a guarantor of success than a liability.
Starscream rubbed his dented neck, tracing the outline of Shockwave's digits against his mesh, as he looked out from between the bars of his cell.
It was cramped as the holding cells beneath Kaon had been, where Autobot prisoners had been herded into en masse during the main thrust of the war. A forcefield hummed around the perimeter of the cell, preventing the use of weapons, tools or even body parts to find a means of escape. A harsh white light shone down from above into Starscream's cell; combined with the sensor eye and its unblinking stare that had no blind spots, he would be unable to do or say anything without security systems knowing about it. Outside in the hallway it was dark. He could dimly make out the shape of the prison's interior: a huge cylinder composed of rings of cells bordered by walkways that connected to a central elevator and security tower. He would be eternally watched inside his cell, but unable to see those in cells nearby, or those who were doing the watching.
An energon dispensor in the back of the cell would feed him, but there was little else inside the smooth dull gunmetal gray walls of his new home. Shockwave could effectively leave him here to rot for eternity, watching him slowly go mad from isolation and confinement.
Starscream did not believe this would be the case. Shockwave had said he had a purpose for the Air Commander, so he would eventually be coming for him.
Eventually.
Until then, the Starscream would be left alone with the most ruthless torturer Shockwave could have ever devised: The Seeker's own mind.
. . . . .
[Chapter Three: Complete.]
[End of Transmission.]