Domain

Chapter 3

Deseeus dragged Starscream through the halls, the flier stumbling over his pedes. He did his best to stay quiet and upright, but that was becoming more difficult the further away from the cells they became. The Galvatron-Nemesis bot tailed them, keeping a careful gaze on their prisoner. The red-orange bot finally turned into a room, harshly jerking Starscream to the side. They walked into the center of the room, then Deseeus threw the flier to the ground.

Starscream barely resisted, landing with a loud CLANG. He struggled to lift himself up, weak groans being emitted from a static-filled vocalizer. At the edge of his vision, he spotted Deseeus circling him. When the flier finally managed to remain steady on his knees, he looked up. Before him, not too far away, was the throne he saw Bumblebee stand by orns before. He groaned.

"Why am I here?" He spat, "For you to taunt me? Torture me?"

Deseeus scoffed. "No. We have specialized rooms for that." They said.

They padded over and forced their prisoner to stand. Starscream was then turned towards the doors and pushed forward. He almost fell back to his knees, but somehow remained standing. As he turned to ask what that was about, Deseeus was already explaining themself.

"I need to let off some steam. You are the lucky bot." They said, "Now, it isn't any fun to immediately catch my prey, so why not let you run? You have ten klicks."

Starscream finally understood the weight of his situation. The red-orange bot started the countdown, and the flier sprinted away from his captors. The doors opened, and he immediately ran down the right hall. Deseeus' voice reverberated down the halls, getting closer to the end of the countdown. It pushed him to go faster, his weakness from lack of fuel being forgotten as adrenaline surged through him. However, as he reached another intersection – a hall to the right, left, and forwards – he shivered.

He had no idea where he was going. He would eventually get lost, or reach a dead end, then be captured and thrown back into that tiny cell. He had to find Bumblebee, and find a way out, now.

"Time's up!" Deseeus yelled, "You better run!"

Starscream didn't have time to think. He chose a hall and ran down it, hoping he'd find somewhere to hide or that Deseeus would lose his trail. He heard the former Quintesson's pedesteps approaching, like a stroll around the ship, along with banging on the walls. Still, the flier continued to run. He reached another intersection, but just kept running forwards. That may have been a stupid idea, but he was too panicked to care.

Starscream suddenly came across another room. He quickly approached the door, hoping it would open, but finding that to not be the case. Locked. He groaned in frustration and continued running. Maybe the next room he found would be unlocked? Some of them had to be. They couldn't lock down the whole ship just because he was on the loose.

He started losing track of where he was going. Right, right, left, forwards, and right again. Every door he came across was locked, and his adrenaline was beginning to leave him. Deseeus was still following at a leisurely pace, their pedesteps coming from everywhere. Starscream even saw them at some point, but he was lucky enough to be in the middle of an intersection, so he simply went down another hall.

Starscream eventually grew tired, and he collapsed against a wall. He managed to stay upright, though his legs threatened to fall under him. He rested his helm against the hall, breaths short and uneven, optics close to offlining.

Just a short break. He told himself, Just a short one.

He heard Deseeus' pedesteps. They were still circling him, waiting for this exact moment. The flier snapped out of it, forced himself to straighten, and continued. He couldn't stop now. He had to be close to an exit.