PREDATORY (Megatron x Starscream)

Chapter 10

"Starscream!"

The seeker queen was snapped out of her stupor as the sound of Switchblade's voice pierced the now quiet air, accented by the frantic hum of thrusters. Behind the collapsed form of the two Predacons the figure of a flat Cybertronian jet hugged the earth, kicking up clumps of dirt and plant matter with the blast of its engines, hovering for a moment before finally slipping out of gear and landing with a definitive CRUNCH! on the earth. Switchblade emerged from the mess of plates and panels, racing fanatically towards her. She flinched away instinctively, but he arrived at her before then, crashing into her with an unexpected sweeping hug and a tight squeeze. His ability to sweep her off his pedes was never previously established, so she was able to do nothing but squeak in surprise while he clung, ensuring her delicate safety.

"Switchblade—" she managed to gasp. "Switchblade! Cut it out—you're going to crush me!"

While she flailed, she spotted, behind him, the sturdy figure of Shockwave, and the spindly specter of his ghostly companion immediately behind. Shockwave didn't look at them, drawn instead to the unconscious beasts sprawled below, stirring in their sluggish, unnatural slumber. When he reached Solus, he fell directly to his knees, bowing overtop her unnaturally flayed limbs.

Switchblade finally released, dropping her back on the ground. Starscream struggled to reorient herself and scowled at him. What had gotten into him? She brushed herself off pointedly, like he'd left some sort of dirt or grime on her scratched plates, appointing her gaze back on Shockwave. He stood away from Solus and had moved on to the second, much more mystifying Predacon—unlike with her, however, whom he'd felt comfortable resting his servos upon, he kept a warding distance from the slumbering beast. Starscream frowned and scoffed.

"I apologize, my liege," Switchblade finally spoke, his voice returning to its regular flat affect. "You were in imminent danger, from what I'd gathered—I was fearing the worst."

"Well, I handled it, didn't I?" she snarled, gesturing at the unconscious beasts. He didn't have an edgewise word for that.

Behind him, Shockwave rose again. "Handled indeed. That could have gone much more smoothly."

Starscream felt a frantic rage bubbling in her gut. The freezing terror had formerly suppressed it, but his smugly calculating tone threatened to spill her over. "Could have? This was your idea!"

"If you had held off the second squad a little bit longer..."

"If I had—?! I didn't have any say in this! They went off by themselves! If anything, it was your fault for not giving them better instructions!"

"MY fault?"

She balled her servos into fists and exhaled a quaky seethe. "If you're going to take responsibility, then you can't shoulder off the blame when your stupid plan goes wrong, again! YOU didn't chain him up properly, YOU came up with this stupid idea, and YOU were the one that fragged it up! I'm sick of all your retroactive excuses!"

"I am operating with the aid of logical data. It is not my fault that one of the confounding variables was your incompetence."

"Do you even listen to yourself?! You dreamed up a ridiculous scheme. It almost got us all killed. I was nearly eaten because you can't keep your stupid pest problem in order!"

Shockwave started to bristle. The little antennae on the sides of his helm stood up and quivered. "Maybe this wouldn't be such a problem if you weren't so disrespectful!"

"Me? DISRESPECTFUL?! I'm sorry, but my respect is reserved for the people who have earned it, and not ungrateful, whiny, self-obsessed MORONS like YOU!"