Many many thank you guys for the amazing response we received for the prologue of this story. Here you have the continuation. We hope you will enjoy it as much as we did ;o)
Good reading people!
Chapter 1
It's alive!
Listening to humans screaming was no novelty.
The filthy meat bags did it all the time. Running and yelling was their specialty by far.
But, for some reason, Starscream's cry was horrifying, unique… It echoed through the space shuttle and irritated the sensitive audio sensors of the three Cybertronians who heard it.
"Frag, Screamer… keep it low, would you?" Skywarp said, covering both sides of his head with his hands.
Starscream didn't listen to his wingmate. He didn't even realize how different his voice sounded, how it reverberated inside his head… His glance was fixated on his hands.
Organic hands… tendons, blood and bones… hidden behind that skin that was his own… nails and veins added brutal realism to his already unbearable nightmare.
It wasn't real, it wasn't real… it couldn't be happening.
He didn't know if he was still screaming, it didn't matter.
Was he dead? Was he in stasis lock?
It wasn't real…
He wasn't himself.
"Starscream?"
Thundercracker tried to soften his potent voice as much as he could. He felt Skywarp poking his shoulder.
"Do you think he recognizes us, TC?"
Thundercracker kneeled, trying to level with the terrified human that continued staring at his body as if he were watching the end of the Universe itself.
"Starscream, please try to calm down…"
Beyond his fingers, the disgusting flesh continued. There was not a single part of his body that wasn't made of skin, soft and perishable, thin and revolting…
It wasn't possible. That wasn't him.
That THING couldn't be him.
"Slag it!! Would you quit playing the victim, Starscream?" Astrotrain yelled. "I've had enough of your screams. Would you proceed to the next phase and tell us what it feels like to be a miserable fleshling?"
"Tact, Astrotrain, tact… I bet it has always been your biggest trait."
"How did you guess, Thundercracker?"
From his spot on the floor, Starscream's organic green eyes seemed to lighten up. After the initial shock, his fury began to look for culprits.
"YOU!!" he screamed as hard as he could, still unable to recognize that voice as his.
Skywarp noticed that the furious yell had been directed to him and pointed his finger toward himself.
"Me?" he asked, confused.
"You did this to me!" Starscream cried. "I don't know how… but remove it!"
"Remove what?"
"The hologram! Remove it now, frag it!"
"Eh… Being a flesh creature has certainly affected your cerebro circuits, hasn't it Screamer? You should know I'm a teleporter, not a hologram creator."
"Whatever! Just remove the slagging thing or I swear I will destroy you! This is the last prank you will ever pull on me, do you understand? THE LAST ONE!" the young human continued as he awkwardly got up.
But he had barely sustained himself on his two feet when he returned to the floor again, unable to control the impulse of what he had intended to be his first step. His knees painfully hit metal; the steel beneath his body felt too hard, and so cold…
"Hey, relax Screamer. Don't try to walk now. You are still too weakened," Skywarp said.
Thundercracker slowly shook his head. "No, that's not it. It's the absence of his wings… Without them, he has no balance."
There was no sadder view for a Seeker than one of their own without wings. For a moment, that thought made Thundercracker feel more pity for Starscream, even more than the fact that he was a human.
On his knees, Starscream turned his head upwards to look at his shoulder again, to the place where his wings had been only a few breems ago. He felt the odd sensation of a shiver run along his spine and had the need to scream again, but the thought of hearing that horrendous, impossible sound was unbearable. His wings…
His greatest asset, his greatest pride…
And they were gone, completely and utterly.
Fragile flesh in the place where they should have been…
It was humiliating…
"The hologram… please remove it…" Starscream begged, his eyes closed in defeat and trying to get up again.
Skywarp felt a chill through his spark. Never in his life had he heard the arrogant Starscream say the forbidden word please… Maybe the situation was worse than he had thought at the beginning.
A dry sound could be heard when the Air Commander's human fist hit the floor. The pain was worse than the one in his knees, but he didn't care. It had to go… The sensation of weakness and inferiority had to go…
"This far surpasses any stupid prank you have pulled on me so far!" he found strength to scream again. "Remove the slagging…!"
"Don't you understand that it's not a hologram?! You are a miserable flesh creature now, deal with it!" Astrotrain brutally spat.
"What did I just tell you about tact…?"
"Screw tact, Thundercracker! He better accept his reality and spare us the spectacle of watching him whine like a weakling Autobot. It's pathetic."
Reality? Was that his reality now?
His wings, his powerful body, his transformation cog, his null ray, his mechhood… all gone…
Suddenly, hope invaded him like a punch.
"The well!" he yelled. "It was the Well of Transformation!"
"You are so brilliant," Skywarp mocked. "We wouldn't have realized that if you hadn't told us."
"It all makes sense now," Starscream continued, ignoring his wingmate's remark. "What are we doing in outer space, then?! Go back to the Tlakakans's planet, Astrotrain. NOW!"
"Negative. My destination is Earth," the Triplechanger replied.
A grimace of hatred appeared on Starscream's face, resembling the features of his former metallic form. There was no doubt that that young human male was the Decepticon Second in Command, or had been at least.
"Your destination will be the one I say, you idiot! And your destination happens to be the Tlakakan planet! It is an order!"
"I don't receive orders from earth germs."
"Who are you calling earth germ?!"
"Obviously neither of the true Decepticons present."
"You are terminated, Astrotrain!! Unless Megatron says otherwise, I'm still the Second in Command of all Decepticons! You will regret this insubordination, I assure you!"
"Insubordination?! Don't make me laugh, Starscream! Megatron would never allow a pathetic bag of meat like you to claim the title of Second in Command, I'm just anticipating his leadership reshuffle ahead of time."
"Astrotrain…"
"Oh shut it, Thundercracker. You know as well as I do that there is no way Megatron will let little-miss fleshy over there remain his Second. He may as well get used to it now; might even help him deal with the humiliation when he's stripped of his position when we arrive."
"Oh, so you're only thinking of his feelings then, huh?" Thundercracker spoke, his voice dripping with irony. "Ever the considerate one, aren't you Astrotrain?"
"You know it!" Astrotrain replied sarcastically.
Starscream pounded the floor with his fist again. "Slag it, you insufferable morons, I've had enough of your pathetic bleating! Need I remind you that I can still hear you, and am more than capable of defending myself! Now do you think that you could you focus your feeble minds on getting me back to the well instead of venting your annoying vocalizers?!"
"Yeah, ok, sorry Screamer."
"DON'T SLAGGING CALL ME THAT!"
"I thought your nickname would be the last of your concerns…"
"Astrotrain, honestly!"
Something like a whisper could be heard coming from the Triplechanger's vocalizer. "So… do I tell him or do one of you two fools want the honor?"
"We can't return to the Tlakakan planet, Starscream," Thundercracker said.
"What?! Why? All we have to do is wait until the Autobots retire…"
"It would be pointless."
"I will decide what is pointless and what is not, Thundercracker. Go back right now, Astrotrain!"
"Slag it, Screamer!" Skywarp yelled. "The damn well doesn't exist anymore!"
Starscream stared at his wingmate in absolute shock. Confusion was clear on his face, as incredulity and defeat.
"You are lying… YOU ARE LYING!"
"Listen to me, Starscream, and listen well because I won't repeat it," Astrotrain said, sick of preambles. "Skywarp blew the slagging well, so say goodbye to any stupid hope of that miraculous water giving you back your former body. You are an insignificant piece of meat now, and thus you will remain. So you better accept the idea that you stopped being a Cybertronian organism to turned into a fragile and pathetic animal, useless to the Decepticon cause by the way. Save yourself from continuing this humiliation and proceed to the back of my cargo unit. I will toss you into space and you will have a fast, perhaps painless, death. We will tell Megatron that you were destroyed in battle so that at least your name will keep some dignity."
"Slag, Astrotrain, you really have a fixation with tossing things into space," Thundercracker said.
"Only the things that repulse me, and you are about to be part of that list, Thundercracker."
Starscream ignored the Triplechanger's words, absorbed by the slap to the face that reality had insisted on giving him. "No… it can't be… the Well of Transformation can't be destroyed… not entirely at least… we have to go back."
Skywarp shook his head. "I assure you there was nothing left, Screamer."
"But… but there has to be something left, I mean… come on, it's a well, some of the water had to have splashed out… surely…"
"That may have been the case, Starscream," Thundercracker said quietly, "but by the time we get back there, it will have dried out. Sorry, but it really is gone."
Starscream clenched his fists in frustration, finding no solace in the softness of his flesh or the sensation of his nails digging into his skin.
No, it couldn't be true… he refused to believe it; something of the well's contents had to remain, it just had to…
He closed his eyes, emptied his mind… focusing only on the odd sensation of air flowing through his newly formed throat, filling his lungs. He had to think…
Suddenly, hope returned. Starscream's eyes glanced upward; toward the humid thing he could feel tickling his forehead.
"This fiber…" he said, touching his hair, "… it's damp… Quick! Take a sample."
"A sample?" Skywarp asked.
"Do your audio sensors work, you imbecile? My… my… hair… is still wet. Take a sample of the water from the well, now!"
"I don't have any equipment with me to collect samples. What about you, TC?"
Thundercracker shrugged his shoulders. "I'm not a scientist."
"For all the fragging pits in the Universe! Do I have to do everything myself…?!" Starscream cried as he directed his hands toward his stomach. But his words drowned in anguish when his hands touched nothing more than skin. There was no metal there, no hidden compartment to keep the tools of his former profession.
Thundercracker noted Starscream's frustration. It was obvious that the initial trauma of being turned into a human was far from being overcome.
"Uh… Astrotrain? You carry collection equipment, don't you?" the blue jet asked.
"Perhaps."
"Come on, you big pile of reject parts! Do you have the equipment or not?" Skywarp pressured.
"Say the magic word."
"You give me that equipment, or I will blow your slagging main console, what about that? Too many magical words for you?"
A small hatch opened in the inferior part of the threatened console, already being targeted by Skywarp's arm cannons.
"Whatever… what do I care, after all?" the Triplechanger growled.
Thundercracker grabbed the little metallic device that he remembered was used to collect liquid samples, trusting that he would know how to use it. Like Skywarp, his function was and always had been a warrior. Starscream was the only one who possessed scientific knowledge, but his current condition didn't allow him to operate any Cybertronian technology.
"Let's see… lay down, Starscream," he said as he kneeled before his Air Commander.
Starscream flinched. Thundercracker was much bigger than him now and could kill him with a single hand if he decided to do so. Never in his life had he felt so weak, so defenseless…
But he lay down on his stomach without saying a word. He felt something similar to the lubricant freezing inside his body when the device began to suck up the remaining liquid in his hair.
"Primus… you really are ugly, Screamer."
"Warp, please…" Thundercracker said.
"What, TC? I'm just telling the truth. I mean… just look at his body. His aft is divided in two… Have you ever seen something more grotesque?"
"Yeah, his exposed intimate circuitry," Astrotrain added.
"Would you shut up?! It's bad enough as it is, you don't have to remind me how disgusting I look all the fragging time!" Starscream shouted as he quickly sat up. But he knew his fellow Decepticons were right. He was barely more than a protoplasm now, an insect… One among millions of practically identical human beings, without any special characteristics, colors or shapes to make a difference…
Starscream stared at his body one more time. He was no expert in the matter, but he had been one of the few Decepticons who had marginally studied the beings that dominated the planet that hosted the richest source of energy in the known galaxies. It was that knowledge that drove him toward the next phase of his metamorphosis.
He consciously realized that he was nude, and for some reason that made him feel very uncomfortable… and ashamed.
Rapidly, he covered his crotch with his hands.
"Is something wrong, Starscream?" Thundercracker curiously asked.
Starscream didn't reply. His wingmates wouldn't understand… nobody created from metal would understand. The Transformers had their intimacy comfortably protected inside the privacy of their spark chambers. And now he was exposed, his sexuality revealed in those hideous genital organs that equaled him to any regular human being… an animal…
"Starscream?" Thundercracker insisted.
"I'm cold," the former Seeker finally answered.
"That can be solved. Astrotrain, increase your inner temperature."
"Forget it, Thundercracker. My current temperature is perfect."
"But not for Starscream. His body has no temperature regulators to protect him now. Increase ten degrees."
"But of course… Whatever it takes to make our glorious flesh leader feel comfortable. Is there anything else I can do for our squishy prince charming?"
"Don't be such a piece of junk, Astrotrain," Thundercracker spat.
The Triplechanger growled in response but increased the temperature as requested. Starscream felt an immediate relief, but he couldn't have cared less.
"So… are you going to tell us what happened back there, Screamer? Why did you choose the form of a human when you fell into the well?" Skywarp asked.
"I didn't choose anything! All I can remember is that it was precisely that that I saw just before falling… humans… those filthy Autobot pets… that kid and the golden haired female… I would crush them… I would crush them if I could…"
"You guys know what the funniest thing of all this is?" Skywarp continued. "That the reason for the Autobots presence on the Tlakakan planet was purely social! I bet you feel so stupid, don't you Screamer?"
Starscream closed his eyes in frustration. "Damn Megatron… a zillion times damn! I told him it was pointless to follow the Autobots. It was obvious that their visit to that dirty planet was only to socialize with their stupid Tlakakan friends… but no… he had to make sure they wouldn't use the Well of Transformation against us…"
"Well, you could say they did. Though I would say it was you who used it against yourself."
Thundercracker strongly elbowed Skywarp. "Warp, that's enough."
"Enough of what?" the black Seeker asked.
"So squishy one, you still haven't told us what it's like to be a worthless bag of meat," Astrotrain said totally indifferent to his comrade's devastation.
"Shut you slagging mouth you afthead," Thundercracker spat as he watched Starscream's shoulders slump further, "I doubt he'd want to tell you of all idiots how he's feeling right…"
"No, Thundercracker…" Starscream interrupted him, his voice low. "If Astrotrain wants to know what it feels like, then I'll tell him…" He lifted his head and glared directly at Astrotrain's main console, "Imagine having every layer of your metallic armour stripped away, slowly and painfully. Then, imagine having your circuits torn out, one by one, so that you can feel the burn as they arc in protest… can you imagine that, Astrotrain?"
"Ahh… not really, but do go on…"
"Well, now imagine that happening to you… Because that's what I'm going to do to you when I've got my body back! GOT IT?!"
Astrotrain's cargo unit began to tremble as a laugh erupted from his vocalizer, "Oh get real Starscream! You need to get it through that pathetic squishy brain of yours that you aren't getting your body back, it's gone, and there's nothing you can do about it! So your threats… well, if I were you, I'd stop wasting my breath."
"ASTROTRAIN!" Skywarp bellowed, planting a vicious kick into a nearby bulkhead.
"Ow, you slagging piece of junk! I'm gonna throw all three of you out into space…"
"I'll fragging kick you again if you don't shut the slag up!"
"Just you try it slagger, and you'll be dead before..."
"ALL OF YOU…!!" Starscream roared, his hands pressed firmly against his ears, "just shut the slag up!!"
The three remaining Cybertronians silenced themselves immediately, all optics fixed on the quivering human form in front of them.
Starscream's hands remained fixed over his ears as he spoke again, his voice barely above a whisper, "You need to realize… your voices… are so much louder, and far, far more irritating to me in this current state… so please, shut up."
Skywarp shot a concerned glance at Thundercracker; that was the second time their leader had said the forbidden p-word. "Sorry Starscream, we weren't thinking," he apologized sincerely.
"So nothing has changed then," Starscream replied, his sarcastic remark lacking his usual acid tone.
A strong shock sent Starscream bumping around backwards. Skywarp and Thundercracker, very used to that kind of movement, barely felt the tremor.
"What the slag was that, Astrotrain?!" Starscream complained.
"And just what do you think it was? We just entered the terrestrial atmosphere. If you believe in Primus, I recommend you to entrust your spark or whatever you have now to him, because I really doubt Megatron will find all this funny. But who knows, maybe he will chain you to the launching platform as a decoration. After all, you were always a joke."
Too frightened of his immediate fate to retort to Astrotrain's rough words, Starscream felt a cold sweat running down his forehead. Was the end approaching, then? Would the Tyrant of the Firmament end his glorious life as a bloody pulp under his leader's foot, or any other of his comrades in arms for the matter?
It couldn't be… He was so young… still had many things to do, many goals to achieve… His destination was greatness. But how could a fleshling reach greatness?
Suddenly his life was locked inside a very reduced space, and there was not a single door to release him. The terrestrial ocean was already visible and, along with it, the omens of disgrace.
To be continued.
Mmhh… Astrotrain can be such a jerk. But well, there was no love between him and Starscream for sure.
Thanks for your reviews guys, always a pleasure to read your feedback :o)