Chapter 22

Starscream's Master Plan, part 1

Megatron rubbed his chin as he stared at the data displayed on the computer screen of the War Room.

"What do you think, Soundwave?" he finally asked the silent mechanoid standing beside his throne.

"Probabilities of success: an enigma."

Megatron smirked. "Insanity does not compute, indeed. Starscream's plan is as crazy as Starscream himself, but that's nothing to be surprised by."

"Starscream's mental patterns: random. Conversion of his cybernetic processor into an organic brain has severely altered his thoughts. His behaviour: not reliable."

Megatron got up from his throne, still staring at the screen of the computer. "But then again, when has Starscream been reliable? At least he's aware of the Autobots' weaknesses and he's aiming for them. Weather he succeeds, however, is an entirely different matter."

The Decepticon leader's optics were shining maliciously when he turned to his Communications Officer. "So the little fragger is asking for assistance? His nerve has no limits… but I like that. It seems that his new human condition has done nothing but increase his already insolent nature. This shall be an interesting experiment to perform. Soundwave, dispatch Laserbeak to obtain the information Starscream is requesting."

"Will Starscream's petition for help be authorized?"

Megatron smirked. "In a way, yes. I'm curious about his little charade, I must admit… We will help him, but with some... minor changes to his original scheme. There's no reason why we can't have some amusement in the process, don't you agree?"

Soundwave's optic visor shone with evilness. Indeed, he wasn't against amusement.

"I knew you would approve, Soundwave. It's time to make some interesting additions to this child's game Starscream is playing. So, he requested Frenzy and Rumble… Not an illogical choice, but not the most interesting," Megatron said, giving his lieutenant an evil look. "Send Ravage."

Soundwave nodded, not exempt of satisfaction. Even though his stoic façade never showed it, one of the things he admired the most about his Commander was his twisted sense of humour, especially when it involved victimizing Starscream.

……..

Muffed voices arrived at Carly's ears as she started to succumb to the always welcomed land of pleasure. She had never understood why Spike liked to turn on the TV on Saturday nights, but she had learned to accept it, an insignificant detail in the end, compared to the unique communion of their bodies together.

Spike was tender, his caresses and kisses surpassing the slight disturbance of the sound of the advertisements spruiking an endless stream of products that Carly definitely didn't need. The lamp above them was another minor disturbance; suddenly she remembered she had been wanting to change it for weeks.

But what was house decorating compared to the proximity of her boyfriend's skin? As she moaned for the first time that Saturday night, Carly realized once again how special she was to him, how precious, how much of a jewel… Ever since the first time they had slept together, Spike had treated her like a delicate flower.

At first many things had been uncomfortable, like how he, unconsciously, discredited himself. He never said it openly, but he certainly thought that a wealthy heiress like her was too good for the son of a mechanic. More than the fact that he was younger than her, more than the immense difference of their life styles before finding each other, social gaps were heavy weights to overcome. Fortunately, the Autobots had filled those empty spaces, allowing Spike to offer her something more, something that no other human would be able to give her.

But she loved him for so much more than just his relationship with a group of marvellous alien robots. She was still too young to say it, but Carly was beginning to think that Spike was the one for her.

Her body was shaken suddenly when Spike reached the pinnacle of his pleasure. She felt his body tense above her, his closed eyes frowning at the release of his juvenile passions.

She smiled. As always, Spike arrived at ecstasy before her. But it didn't matter; they had begun their sexual experience very recently and there was still a world ahead of them to explore and discover together.

Spike grinned and kissed her on the mouth as soon as his orgasm finished, hurrying to lower his head and attach his lips to her neck, not willing to stop his labour of love until she met him on the other side of satisfaction.

His kisses were claiming her belly when Mahler's Symphony of a Thousand made him startle.

"What the… Carly, I thought you had turned off your phone."

She stretched to her night table to reach her mobile. "Mmmmh, I guess I forgot it…"

"Who is it? Not one of your ex-boyfriends I hope," he said, grinning.

Carly mirrored his gesture whilst she checked the message on the screen of her slim cell phone. "Mmmh, nope. It's from the guys at the Mayor's office, actually. They want to confirm the Autobots assistance with their charity event tomorrow night."

"Oh yeah, tell them Bumblebee and Hound are going. They were pretty enthusiastic about the idea."

Carly laughed. "You would think that Bumblebee is somehow tired of signing so many autographs, but he seems to like it."

"You know Bee, he enjoys being a superstar… Hey, why don't you hurry up and send that message already? We're not done here…"

Carly shook her head and hurried to comply, not worrying about a couple of typos. Her phone fell to the carpet as Spike got on top of her again, kissing her mouth and putting his hands into motion. Both young humans surrendered to their passion again, completely unaware of the robotic condor that took to the air once his mission was fulfilled.

……….

Starscream opened his eyes slowly, darkness dissipating to give way to the dull light of the urban night. He wasn't sure what had woken him, perhaps it was the chill of the air on his bare skin where the bedclothes had been pulled away, or maybe it was dull ache in his shoulder, the same spot where Stella's hand rested. Not that the cause really mattered; it was a pleasant feeling knowing he was considerably safe in that human's dwelling, one of the rare occasions where waking unexpectedly wasn't a precursor to pain.

A satisfied smile crept across his face as he glanced down at Stella's sleeping form, her naked body resting on his, her arms embracing him warmly. For a moment he felt compelled to caress her, to feel her soft skin beneath his fingers...although disgust was never far from his thoughts he was grateful he'd found this little object of pleasure... Even as a human, he still had it.

But this fleshling was much more than a toy, as much as he wished it could be otherwise. Watching her repair his wounds, having her prepare his food, even the way she had bathed him the first night they had met, Starscream began to realise that he knew nothing about living in the human world. It wasn't so much the routines but the little things; the way clothing was folded, how cutlery was used, dishes stored, beds made...all such subtle things that seemed unimportant yet contributed so much to 'being human'.

Indeed, he had learned much already from observing his fellow humans out on the street, even in his true form he had discovered a great deal about their behaviour – although he hoped reacting to termination wouldn't be required – but still, he needed to know more. And the only way he could gain that knowledge was to spend time with a human in a domestic setting.

Starscream grimaced; was pleasure worth the indignity of spending time in close proximity to this human? His mechhood certainly thought so, but his mind wasn't so sure...

A strange buzzing in his ear brought Starscream out of his thoughts, instantly alerting him to the horrible fact that one of his fellow Decepticons was about to hail him through his comm. link. The metallic, monotone voice that reverberated through his head did nothing to ease his sudden feeling of dread.

"Attention, Starscream."

The grimace was automatic. Starscream never had a list of his favourite comrades, but if he had had one, Soundwave would have never been part of it.

"Wait," he whispered. "I can't talk right now, let me move to a more proper place…"

"Attention required. Message won't be repeated."

Starscream cursed the Communications Officer in silence whilst he hurried to get up from the bed, carefully escaping from Stella's embrace. The last thing he wanted was to wake her up and ruin his communication with the Nemesis.

He reached the kitchen right as Soundwave spoke again.

"Your petition for assistance has been granted. Strategy will be put in motion in one solar cycle, exactly at 2045 terrestrial hours."

"It was about time you gave me an answer. There are still things I need to discuss with you in order to guarantee the success of my plan," Starscream spat, closing the kitchen door behind him. "I was hoping I'd get more warning than this, a cycle doesn't give me a lot of time to prepare!"

"You devised the plan, preparations should be complete already."

Starscream repressed the urge to tell Soundwave where to shove his cold, oh-so-perfect-loyalist response, but decided against it. For once his plans were being taken seriously, he didn't want to risk losing Megatron's support simply because he couldn't keep his mouth shut.

"So you can guarantee that the Autobots and their human pets will be in the city at the time you specified?"

"Affirmative. Autobots Bumblebee and Hound will be present at a charity event, the humans will be accompanying them."

"Bumblebee and Hound? There aren't any others that you're not telling me about? Like Prime? I know what you're like, Soundwave."

"Negative. Information received indicates they will be the only Autobots in attendance."

"Good... Ok, now I need you to make sure that Rumble and Frenzy know exactly what I'm planning, if they go after the wrong humans..."

"Your plans have been made clear, further discussion: unnecessary."

"Unnecessary?! I want it made clear that I want mayhem and destruction, not a slagging massacre! If they don't understand what I want them to do..."

"Do you want assistance, or not?"

"Fine...fine. But if they kill the targets, I swear I will make you pay for it."

"Threatening a superior officer: unwise."

That was it. It was one thing to mess with his plans, but to assert his 'authority' like that...

"You listen to me, you slagging freak: if you think I'm going to fall for that slag you're sorely mistaken. I am the superior officer and you know it. Your little 'promotion' is worthless, you will never be second in command, even when I am Supreme Commander. If you dare speak to me like that again, you won't live to regret it. Understood? Now make sure your stupid runts know what they're doing or..."

"The coordinates of the selected location are being sent to the specified email address. Succeed, or be terminated."

Soundwave ended the communication before Starscream had the chance to reply. If it weren't for the human sleeping in the next room he would have shouted in rage, instead he settled on slamming his fist into the table top.

Damn Soundwave...damn him to the Pit.

……….

Stella let her head rest on Starscream's shoulder, panting and with a smile that reflected absolute satisfaction. The water coming from the shower continued falling freely on both humans.

"Wow… that was amazing, Sean… even better than last night…"

"It wasn't that bad," he replied, separating from her and lifting his face to receive the warm water.

She turned him around and carefully spread liquid soap on his shoulders, beginning to rub his back with a washcloth.

"Are you sure your bandage didn't get wet? I'm not so sure about that plastic I put on it to protect it…"

"It doesn't matter. It doesn't hurt so much anymore," he replied, closing his eyes and allowing her to wash him the same way he would have allowed a cleaning drone to polish his former armour.

"You know what? I knew you would come back," Stella said as she kissed Starscream's nape very delicately.

"Is that so?" he asked, resting his forehead on the wall. "And why is that?"

She smiled. "Because you couldn't stay away from me."

"Ha… you silly femme… You're an acceptable pleasure provider, I give you that, but the truth is that if I hadn't been stabbed last night, your dreams would've been the only place you'd ever seen me."

She didn't seem to be discouraged by his words. "Maybe… but you're here, that's what matters."

"Well," he said, turning around so she could wash his front, "don't get used to it."

She started rubbing his chest with the washcloth, also spreading the soap with her free hand. "I won't… but I hope you'll consider returning… There are still fifty six positions of the Kamasutra we haven't tried."

Starscream didn't have any idea of what that 'Kamasutra' thing was, but the word 'positions' aroused his interest. It had been a while since he had last had intimacy with a femme as passionate as this Stella specimen. He wondered if all terrestrial prostitutes where that way, or if he had been lucky enough to find one that didn't have any self-restraints concerning pleasure.

He pinned her to the wall, grabbing her wrists and immobilizing them above her head. The washcloth fell to the floor and slipped toward his feet. Her anxious mouth looked for his lips but he didn't allow her to kiss him.

"I may return Stel, if you continue being such an ill-behaved femme."

"Mmmh… you haven't seen anything yet…"

And then he kissed her, ready for another assault, the last one before he faced his destiny. Who knew? Perhaps interfacing with this female would be the last moment of pleasure of his life. If the Autobots discovered him, perhaps he wouldn't have life left at all.

To be continued.


You've probably noticed that this was a fairly short chapter, but trust us, it's an important one. As the title suggests, Screamer's plans are now in motion, which means more action is on the way. And so are the Autobots...

As always we thank you all for taking the time to read and review, it means a lot and keeps us going even when inspiration is lacking.