Chapter Text
Knockout was furious. It was rare to see the red sports car doctor irritated at anything other than someone who had ruined the paint on his chassis, but the anger he was feeling was of a completely different level. His servos, stained with still warm energon, currently held another bot bigger than himself against the wall of the doctor's room he commanded. The red eyes glow in the reflection of Soundwave's mask. Silentbot wasn't fighting back.
"It's your fault!! All that it's your fault!!"
Soundwave didn't say anything, as usual, and neither did he move; Not even when the red bot placed his saw dangerously close to Soundwave's face. The lilac bot just lowered his head in silence. Nothing he could say would change the fate of the silver bot that lay in the berth of the medical wing; Fresh Energon dripped from his long claws, further deepening the puddle that had formed beneath it.
"Leave!! All of you leave now!!" Knockout barks as he releases the lilac bot and retracts his saw, "I have to clean him up and see if there's any more wounds that went unnoticed during the emergency treatment."
The two Vehicons and Eradicon who were there and helped before that event were the first to leave. They didn't even say anything or raise their heads. The second to come out was Breakdown. He knew better than anyone knew when K.O. was that way, there was nothing or no one that could change his mind. Soundwave was the last to leave, and before the iron door of the medical wing closed, he looked at the pair of high heels that belonged to the bot on the berth, immobile, but Soundwave didn't even have time to process his thoughts before he an arm slamming into the all next to him stopping him in his tracks. It was Breakdown who struck the wall right in front of him. The strength he must have put into punching the wall instead of Soundwave seemed phenomenal.
"I hope it was worth it."
Breakdown withdraws his arm, freeing the passage to Soundwave as he walks out of that corridor accompanied by the Vehicons and the Erradicon. Soundwave knew what Breakdown was talking about since he was the culprit in all of this. He was the one who told the bot what to do, and now, that same bot was on that berth. The Decepticons' T.I.C clenched his servo so tightly that Energon began to ooze out from one of his long, thin fingers, but he didn't care. None of it mattered. If he hadn't said that, maybe, no, certainly, what happened to Starscream wouldn't have happened.
A few days ago, the seeker and Soundwave were working. Starscream complained about something, and Soundwave just listened without saying anything. The aircraft commander and second-in-command did this whenever he worked late organizing data. Soundwave never complained. Sometimes he even seemed grateful for the company, although he never showed it. One night, everything changed when Soundwave decided to give his opinion. No, when he decided to provide the best solution to the story that Starscream had told him. The seeker had found it absurd and at the same time hilarious: the Prime wanted to meet him to "talk".
"Starscream: must go."
Soundwave stated, stopping typing on his keyboard with his long fingers, seeming to stare at the seeker behind the mask he always wore to hide his emotions. As always, he communicated using recording bots' voices to form his sentences.
"Ho. Could you elaborate on what you mean by that? Why should I meet with Prime? It could very well be a trap to for my capture."
"Prime: he would never do something like that. Meeting: advantageous to get information."
"If you think that's the best course of action then I see no reason why I should be against it. I will contact Prime and arrange the meeting."
Neither of them could predict what would happen next. Not even Soundwave, with all his data, could know that the worst was yet to come; and that he would be blamed for it, internally.
Starscream met with Optimus Prime one night, willing to listen to what he wanted with him. The meeting lasted less than ten minutes because the seeker could not believe what he was hearing: Optimus was trying to recruit him. The great Autobot leader was trying to convince Starscream that he still had a good Spark and that he knew deep down that Megatron was no longer the same mech as before. The seeker couldn't take it and tried to hide his laughter, but chuckles escaped his mouth. At the end of the conversation, Optimus put his hand on Starscream's shoulder and asked him to think about it, and he left. The only Decepticon seeker didn't care much for this and transformed into Raptor 22 and flew off into the sky, unaware that a pair of red eyes were watching the whole scene full of fury.
Megatron destroyed a nearby rock with his arm cannon. He saw his Second-in-Command and Decepticon Aeria Force Leader have a meeting with his greatest enemy, and Starscream was...was laughing. It had been years, if not centuries since the Warlord had seen the seeker laugh like that. Perhaps the last time was when his Trine companions were still alive. Optimos had already taken everything that was rightfully his, and now he was trying to take the seeker FROM HIM. His seeker! Megatron had always had feelings for Starscream, but he never showed them because he saw feelings as weakness. And, as a narcissist, he showed in the worst way possible that he seemed to have feelings for the silver seeker to the point where everyone thought that the Decepticon leader hated Starscream and the beatings the seeker got were because he pissed off the Warlord somehow. The truth was that Megatron, amid his delirium and obsession, was making Starscream's head spin, saying that he only had him and the Decepticons and that apart from him, the seeker would be nothing and could not survive. Through his beatings, he showed Starscream how weak Starscream was and that he couldn't survive without his help, and now Prime was ruining Warlord's years-long plan of keeping Starscream close to him forever. It wouldn't stay that way. He wasn't going to lose Starscream to Prime; he wasn't going to lose anything else to him, ever again.
When Megatron returned to the base, he had fury emanating from his EMField as he entered the Bridge, already shouting the seeker's name. The Vehicons and even Soundwave stopped what they were doing and knew what was going to happen. Starscream didn't even have time to say anything as he already went to the ground, being held down by the rough servo of the Warlord.
"You are nothing but a traitor, Starscream! Did you think I wouldn't find out about your secret meeting with Prime?
"L-Lord Megatron n-not so! Let me explain!"
Megatron, even more enraged, threw the seeker against the wall hard. Soundwave tried to calm the Warlord down, but it was useless.
"Everybody out! Except you, Starscream...it's time to learn a lesson. A lesson I should have taught you a long time ago..."
They all came out, including Soundwave. He knew better than anyone that when Megatron was like this, he didn't listen to anyone, not even him, his right-hand man. The silent bot would wait for the Warlord to give Starscream his usual beating, which was usually quick, and then explain everything to him. As he left, the purple bot sent a message to the Decepticon doctor explaining everything and to prepare the usual equipment that Starscream would need when Megatron was finished with him and told him the reason this time. Knockout answered the message with a simple OK.
Megatron grabbed Starscream by his neck, almost too tightly as the seeker wriggled around, trying to free himself.
"Will you abandon me,Starscream? Like all the others?"
The seeker was surprised by the Warlord's question; this had never happened before. Usually, Megatron didn't say anything and just beat him up and left him alone soon after, but it didn't seem to be the case this time; something deeper; and this terrified the seeker.
"I will not turn you over to Prime. You are mine and mine alone!!!"
Starscream was about to say something, but the only thing that came out of his voice box were screams of pain that echoed through the halls of the Nemesis. A scream that made everyone realize that this time there was something wrong with that beating. Megatron had gripped one of Starscream's wings so tightly that it had crushed it. A seeker's wings were extremely sensitive. Never before had Megatron touched Starscream's wings, even he knew how important they were. The cries of pain became louder and louder until Starscream let out a high pitched sound when Megatron, with his bare hands, ripped the wing off his back.
Starscream began to feel the hot Energon coming down his back amidst the error messages he was getting on his HUD, but he didn't even have time to process what was happening when he felt the other wing being ripped off him. The seeker lived up to his name. The cries of pain mixed with the pleas for forgiveness seemed to meld into one. From the eyes of the silver, seeker came tears of pain and despair. The Warlord smiled as he saw Starscream's almost subdued state and wiped away his falling tears.
"Oh, my Star... we are just getting started."
Megatron threw Starscream to the ground and stood over him, and for the first time, the seeker felt pure fear and terror.
When Megatron finally finished, he left the scene as if nothing had happened. Soundwave and Knockout were already standing by to collect the seeker and take him to the medical ward. Soundwave was the first to enter, and the scene he saw made him stand paralyzed in the doorway.
There was Energon all over the floor in various puddles. The seeker's wings were lying on one side, but it wasn't this image that made the spy bot petrified. It was the state the seeker was in on the floor. Starscream lay on the ground in stasis amidst a puddle of energon and transfluids; there were also transfluids all over Starscream's body, and there was Energon still coming out of his wounds from having had his wings ripped off. On the handles of the seeker's neck, there were bite marks in addition to several dents all over Starscream's body. Soundwave only "unfroze" when Knockout, upon entering and seeing the scene, immediately began to treat the seeker's wounds and started to stop the bleeding coming from his back.
It took Starscream days to wake up, but the worst was yet to come. When Starscream saw how Knockout looked at him, he knew immediately that he already knew what had happened to him and, if Knockout knew, everyone on the Nemesis aircraft knew too. As hard as Starscream tried to be strong, he couldn't hide the tremors. When he noticed he was missing his wings, he started to scream in a desperate hysteria. Calmed by the red doctor when he showed he was working to fix his wings. It was only when Knockout hugged him, a worried friend's hug, a real worried hug, did Starscream give in to the tears and released everything he'd held inside him for so long. When Starscream finally calmed down and went into recharge, Knockout left the medic wing and went to the bridge where Soundwave worked and where the other bots were. Luckily Megatron wasn't there, and the medic got right to the point.
"We all know it wasn't Starscream or Soundwave's fault."
The bots stopped what they were doing and looked at the red bot intently.
"It's Optimus Prime's fault."
Knockout's eyes glowing bright red joined the other glowing red eyes of the venue.
The days went by quietly on Nemesis until Starscream was finally released from the medical ward, still without his wings because Knockout would take months to rebuild them. The doctor wanted the wings to be perfect, if not better than before, so that the seeker could return to flying better than ever before and, just as Starscream seemed to be starting to feel better, he took another knock.
As soon as the seeker opened the door to the medical ward to leave, he ran into Megatron. Immediately Starscream let out a small sound of fear and winced. Knockout ran towards him, but Breakdown held him back, preventing him from going, his optics almost begging him not to do anything. Breakdown didn't want Knockout to be Megatron's next victim.
The Warlord just looked at the small figure of Starscream that was trembling before him, without saying anything, took the seeker by the arm and started dragging him through the corridors. Starscream followed him haltingly, being carried by the Warlord as he trembled with fear. He knew that there was nothing that would stop him from doing what he had planned. The bots began to follow the Decepticon leader at a safe distance, many concerned for Starscream's well being.
Megatron stopped in front of what used to be a badly used warehouse and launched the seeker into it. It had been cleaned out at the behest of the ex-gladiator, and now it was nothing more than a simple room with nothing inside. When Starscream fell to the floor and felt Megatron again putting himself on top of him, he shut off his optics. He heard a click which made him open his eyes again. An anti-stasis chain was attached to his ankle, A common thing for prisoners to prevent them from escaping, and that's what Starscream was now, a prisoner.
Megatron left, the seeker alone in the dimly lit room and, knowing that bots had followed him, he turned his head slightly to give his new orders.
"As of today Starscream will no longer have rank in my army. He is now a prisoner, MY prisoner."
"Anyone who helps Starscream in any way, or who sees him, or does anything without my permission,will be punished accordingly,"
Megatron started to walk away when he was interrupted by Knockout, who summoned all the courage that even he didn't know he had to speak.
"With all due respect,my Lord, Starscream is fragile at the moment especially with the loss of his wings. I,as the only doctor,need to come to his state of health several times to know if everything is alright with him since,after all,you don't want to lose him,do you?"
Knockout looked into Megatron's eyes that glowed a brighter red for a few seconds.
"Make sure he stays alive. I have plans for him."
When Megatron's figure left the field of vision, Knockout's legs finally gave out, and he went to the ground,
"K.O, are you okay?"
Breakdown was the first to help the doctor up.
"I'm fine Breakdown but Starscream won't be fine for a while. I recognize the tone Megatron used, he'd heard it many times when I had to treat bots on Cybertron whose job...well...was unconventional, when their boss had been telling me to leave them alive and functional."
It didn't take a genius to know what the doctor was referring to; it didn't take long to find out either since Megatron would pay certain visits to the seeker whenever time seemed to pass too slowly. Until, one day, Knockout rushed out of the medical ward after looking at some data on his datapad and left everything behind and rushed to where Starscream was. As soon as he arrived, he was greeted by a gentle smile from the seeker.
"Took you long enough to notice, dear doctor,"
Knockout knelt on the floor, passing his hand and squeezing at certain places on Starscream's body gently.
"Since when do you know?"
"A few weeks, we seekers are sensitive to change in our programs and bodies."
"Do you need anything? Do you feel any pain? Would you like me to... well... I can, you know... if you don't want me to..."
Starscream took Knockout's hands gently and shook his head negatively.
"I'm fine. I always wanted this moment but I thought it would be with Jetfire or my Trine. Nothing is their fault."
"They?"
Knockout looks surprised at the silver seeker; Starscream no longer took care of his body used to be always clean and shiny. With a smile, he opened his chassis showing his Spark of such vivid blue where now two tiny sparks were circling his, one larger than the other. Knockout thought Starscream didn't want them, but he was wrong. The seeker wanted them and was happy.
Knockout could only smile for Starscream, and as he left, he punted a metal box outside. Megatron finally got what he wanted so much: to break Starscream.
The doctor had no choice but to personally break the news to The Warlord and have to swallow his anger when he saw Megatron smile in victory, but Knockout would not give up, he would still help his friend in whatever way possible, and it would start now.
"Lord Megatron, if I may say a few words..."
Things on the Nemesis aircraft were about to change.