The devil within

Chapter 1

"My liege, our scanners have picked up- my liege?" Starscream tilted his head when he noticed that Megatron wasn't listening to him. "Are you okay?"

Megatron was staring off into space, seeming like his mind wasn't even there. Suddenly, he gripped the edge of his throne and took in a sharp breath as his optics turned a dark purple.

Now Starscream was a little scared. "Umm.... Lord Megatron?" He edged backwards as Megatron continued to stare.

As soon as it started, it was over. Megatron snapped out of his trance and his optics changed back to their normal red. "What do you want?" He demanded, banging his fist on the arm of his throne. It was weird, it didn't seem like he was talking to Starscream.

"A-Are you talking to me?" Starscream stuttered, starting to shiver.

"Shut up! Get out of my head!" Megatron snarled, holding his head in his hands.

"I think we better have Knockout check you out later...." Starscream continued to back up, his wings flattened.

"Starscream, What is it?" Megatron hissed, leaning forward.

Now Starscream was utterly confused. A few seconds ago, Megatron was talking to an invisible thing. Now he seemed to be back in the real world. "Well... our scanners have picked up Autobot signals in one of our energon mines. Would you like me to-"

"Then drive them out! We can't just let them waltz in and take what is ours!" Megatron growled, rising from his throne to his full height.

Starscream nodded and stood up straight, doing a quick salute before darting off. His mind was racing as fast as he was running. What was wrong with Megatron?

-Energon mine-

"Be careful you idiots! One blast to that energon and we'll all be blown to scrap!" Starscream shouted amidst the sound of gunfire, caught in a firefight with the Autobots.

The vehicons were trying frantically to protect the energon, but it was no use. The Autobots were too powerful and quickly overwhelmed their forces.

Arcee snuck up behind Starscream and tackled him to the ground, pinning him and putting a blade inches from his neck.

Starscream shrieked as he was surrounded by Optimus, Bumblebee, and Bulkhead. He tried to wrestle free, but he decided against it. "W-What do you slagheads want?!"

"The energon, give it up." Arcee snarled, pressing the blade closer to Starscream's neck. She was still holding a grudge against Starscream for killing Cliffjumper a while back.

"Arcee..." Optimus warned, taking a thundering step forward.

"But I can't! Megatron will have my head!" Starscream whined, holding up his hands. He felt the blade scrape his neck and he gulped.

"Not our problem, now give it up!" Arcee snarled again, wanting to slit his throat so badly.

"You don't understand! Megatron isn't the same! He'll really kill me this time!"

"Wait a minute.. what did you say?" Bulkhead chimed in, leaning over to look at Starscream.

Starscream realized his mistake and kept his mouth shut. "Oh scrap...." he thought.

"What do you mean Megatron is not the same?" Optimus asked curiously, raising an eyebrow.

"Nothing! I mean nothing! Now let me go and you can have the energon!" Starscream shouted, fear rising in his chest.

"Arcee, let him go. We have what we came for." Optimus said sternly, forcing Arcee to let go of Starscream.

Starscream bolted as soon as Arcee let him go, transforming into a jet and flying as fast as he could out of the mine entrance.

"What was that about?" Bulkhead asked, scratching his head.

"Not sure, but at least we got the energon." Arcee sighed, retracting her blade back into her arm.

::Why was Screamer so spooked? More than usual, of course.:: Bumblebee buzzed in confusion.

"I'm not sure. Something tells me that Megatron is growing darker and darker by the minute...." Optimus sighed, rubbing his chin thoughtfully.

-Nemesis-

"YOU WHAT?!" Megatron roared, slowly stepping threateningly towards Starscream.

"I'm s-sorry my liege! We were overpowered and I couldn't do anything!" Starscream tried to calm him down, but to no avail. He started choking when Megatron lifted him by the throat.

"You let the Autobots take all of OUR energon without even trying to stop them?!" Megatron snarled, his optics turning a shade of purple again.

Starscream, seeing Megatron's optics turn purple again, was absolutely terrified. He tried prying his hand from his neck, but he couldn't break the extremely strong grip. "M-My liege, please! Have me-mercy!"

That's when Megatron froze, realizing what he was doing. "No! Stop it! "I-I don't want to be like this!" He shouted loudly, tossing Starscream aside and clutching his head.

Starscream scrambled away, trying to catch his breath. He watched in horror as Megatron stumbled around, holding his head and growling like a primitive beast.

"Get out of my head!" Megatron screamed, purple fire radiating from his grey armor. He fell to his knees and bent over, pressing his head against the floor.

"Megatron!" Starscream forgot his terror and raced over to him, placing a hand on his shoulder. It felt like fire was burning his hand and he yelped in pain, jumping backwards.

The fire soon disappeared and Megatron collapsed to the floor. Seeing such a large mech be taken down by something invisible terrified Starscream, but he knew he needed to get help.

-Knockout! Get your aft down here, there's something wrong with Megatron!- he shouted through the comm link, hoping Knockout heard him.