"You weren't kidding when you said 'risky,' were you, Screamer?" Mikaela hissed, flattening herself against the dirt, the pine needles and sharp thorns feeling like gentle caresses against her armor.
Beside her, Starscream shifted his position, lying on his stomach, not saying a word. He, too, was focusing on the looming structures ahead, no doubt crowded full of Cybertronian-hating humans who seemed to spend a great deal of time doing nothing.
It was the Brotherhood of Man's main headquarters, owned by the all-knowing, all-powerful Caine Fisher himself. It wasn't just one building – it was a cluster of them, all fortified and secured so nothing got in, or out. It was like one giant, guarded asylum full of insane people with even more insane methods.
"You think my Dad is in there?" Mikaela whispered. They were far away - so far that the security camera's and guards had no chance of spotting them – but even then, Mikaela felt as if someone were watching her. And it wasn't just Starscream that was making her uncomfortable, as he inched closer and closer, heat radiating off his motionless frame, it was the fact that they were out, alone, in the middle of the night, in a place where they weren't wanted.
"If he was, we would know," Starscream replied, his red optics trained and unblinking. "If it makes you feel any better, I can assure you that Megatron had been tracking your fathers whereabouts for quite some time."
"And?" Mikaela urged softly.
"You have to give the little fleshies some credit," Starscream shrugged. "They move him almost every other day, to a different hideout, in a different location, undetectable even to our most innovative trackers."
"They're expecting you."
"They're expecting you," in the dark, Mikaela saw Starscream's lip plates curve upward in a nasty smile. "Fisher is becoming even more paranoid, especially after what happened last time he underestimated you."
He laughed, the sound sending a cold shiver down Mikaela back. She dug her elbows into the dirt and scooted closer to Starscream, careful to go slow and soundless. She knew that the guards couldn't see them with the naked eye, but if they had some sort of long-range, night vision goggles….
"Starscream?"
"Hm?"
"Tell me one thing," she stopped for a moment, her processors trying to come up with the best choice of words. Finally, after cycling her vents, she said softly, "did Megatron send Barricade to kill me?"
Starscream didn't respond, the stretching silence unnerving. Mikaela began to aimlessly pick at the dirt, her large finger digging holes big enough to fit a human's foot, trying to shut out the sound that were roaring in her head. Metal against metal, screams, fire and blood, so much fire and blood...
"Barricade never made it to the battle of Mission City," Starscream finally snarled. "The little glitch missed that fight. Megatron has been searching for him – we all have – but we've all come up with the same results."
"Gone," Mikaela murmured. "Comes, strikes once, and then disappears."
"It wasn't by Megatron's orders that he attacked."
Mikaela was silent, and she found her optics drifting back and forth from the ground to the guards standing by the gate that would, ultimately, lead into some type of hell. Starscream noticed the little dance her eyes were doing and snorted.
"Stop worrying, Mikaela," Starscream said, sounding even more disgusted than his expression portrayed. "They're just humans."
Mikaela snorted but did not say a word. The way he said her name sickened her, the way it rolled of his tongue sounding to soft, too sweet, too tempting….
"So," she finally said, shoving the thought away, "why exactly did you bring me out here?"
"Call it a short field-trip," Starscream waved one hand as if the wording wasn't important. "An escape, if you will."
"An escape from what?"
"Prison," Starscream smirked and leaned on his side, propping himself up on his elbow. On any other day, Mikaela would have laughed at the pose, but the dangerous gleam in his red optics was enough to make her keep her mouth shut. "Having Prime and the rest of those buffoons hounding you all day….it must make you quite anxious. Am I right?"
"Wrong."
"You enjoy spending time with them? If you had originally been in the Decepticon ranks, you would have been trailed for perfidy."
" 'perfidy' seems like a pretty big word coming from you," Mikaela smirked. "I'm not lying to anyone in the Decepticon army."
Starscream raised one optic ridge, and Mikaela felt her confidence drain away.
"How did you know?" she muttered.
"About the dreamer?" Starscream barked a laugh, sending several birds fluttering away into the sky. "Because I know Prime. The little rat went hysterical after her death. And I knew, the moment I placed that little device into your palm that you were going to do something unbelievable stupid and have it confiscated. Optimus doesn't like to play with toys whose minds are permanently offline."
"And stealing it back? How did the ever-so-brilliant mind of Air Commander Starscream possibly predict that I would - "
"You're a Decepticon. You tell me."
"I'm not a Decepticon."
"You think like one," he tapped the side of his helm. "It's your basic programming. Her basic programming."
"I've not giving in."
"You'll have to, eventually," Starscream's words were laced with so much malice that Mikaela found herself gulping down air. As he inched closer, one talon going to stroke down her back, she squirmed under his grip. Already she could feel her cooling fans kick on, and, as Starscream's gestures became rougher, Mikaela willed herself not to pounce.
It would be a fair fight. Mikaela was agile, slim and built for nothing but speed. Evading his attacks would be easy….
"Listening to the callous remarks of the humans must irritate you in some way."
"You irritate me in every way," Mikaela snarled, finally finding the strength the roll out of his grip. She came up, sitting on her knees, cheeks flushing when she saw Starscream's optics roaming over her frame.
He reached for her.
"Don't touch me," she snarled.
"I can touch you if I want."
"Touch me, and I'll kill you.
His razor laugh sliced through the air, the noise so hideous that it made Mikaela want to vomit right then and there. Already, her joints were creaking, fist clenching and unclenching. It was as if her body was looking for a fight. Like men lusted for women, Mikaela inner demon lusted for violence.
"I was just stating the facts," Starscream spread his arms wide, as if he were accepting Mikaela's silent invitation to do battle. "You honestly don't believe me?"
"Me? Believe you? Starscream the traitor?"
"Traitors are can only be identified as traitors if they've committed the crimes. Humans, on the other hand - ."
"Enough with the human this, human that shit," Mikaela raised her hands, her optics wide. "I…I can't take it…you sound like Fisher."
"Fisher and I share many of the same beliefs. His are just a bit more….radical."
"Say's the Decepticon who wants to overthrow Megatron and claim the Decepticon army for his own. You know, it was really stupid telling me your whole master plan. Megatron would love to hear it from - ."
It was as if she had been hit with a billion pounds of steel. She went sprawling out onto the dirt, limbs askew, cheek slamming into the dirt, and all the while, Starscream, straddling her to the ground and raising his fist.
"Speak one word of this to Megatron," he hissed into her audio receptors. "And I will personally put an end to your miserable existence."
Mikaela struggled under the weight of a mech ten times her size.
"Whatever. Do what you want to me…." she managed.
"Pah!" Starscream barked. "As if your existence matters to you anymore. You're a fool, Mikaela Banes, a fool."
He reared back, slapped her hard, and she saw stars.
"Wake up," he snarled. "You are not a human anymore, Mikaela. Acting as if you are will only add to the distress."
"I'm not distressed."
A knee dug into her stomach and she wheezed.
"Roadrunner always was a foolish little femme. Monogamy meant nothing to her. Her choices mirrored her demeanor – harsh, daft, indiscreet."
Mikaela was silent.
"It's disappointing to say that you share some of those same traits."
He lifted himself off her, gently, way to gently, standing above her. Mikaela's spark thrummed wildly as his words replayed over and over in her mind.
Foolish little Mikaela. Foolish little girl.
"Get up," he ordered. "And let's go. It was a nice chat, while it lasted."
Hands shaking, knees banging together so hard that she was sure the guards at the Brotherhood HQ would hear, she stood up, trying to act dignified by brushing a few leaves off her armor. It only made her look more like an idiot.
Starscream was busy staring off into the sky, up at shining stars that seemed way too bright, and a moon that seemed way to full.
"I should be able to help you get back in. We weren't gone long, so I'm sure no one noticed your absence." Starscream said, pursing his lip plates, his frame hunched and exhausted, the most vulnerable position Mikaela had ever seen him acquire. Then, straightening up, he placed one hand on her back and shoved her forward.
"Drive," he commed, thrusters kicking into action as he leaped in the air, joints shifting, parts rearranging themselves in one miraculous display that would have left anyone else speechless.
But Mikaela was used to seeing the Decepticon transform. And that in itself was frightening.
She transform and drove away without looking back, leaving that horrible building behind her.