"Skywarp, Thundercracker, report for duty." The two Seekers glanced at one another.
"@$#! you," Skywarp replied. Thundercracker bit his lip to hold back his urge to laugh.
"I am your commander and you will address me as such," Starscream said sternly.
"Excuse me. @$#! you…SIR." Thundercracker burst into hysterical laughter.
Starscream remained stoic, his eyes fixed on Skywarp's grinning face. He could not tolerate their insolence, but he knew better than to push the issue. "They wouldn't think twice about roughing me up," he thought to himself.
He left them there in the cargo bay. As the doors closed behind him, he could still hear their laughter. "I'll get my revenge someday. Those two will learn to respect me."
Starscream was so deep in thought of how to get back at Skywarp and Thundercracker that he almost ran right into Megatron.
"Starscream, where are Skywarp and Thundercracker?" Megatron boomed.
"They're hanging out in the cargo bay. I told them to stop lolly-gagging around and report for duty, but they just laughed at me." Here we go. Now they're in trouble.
Megatron entered the cargo bay. Starscream could not make out what was being said behind the closed doors. The voices were muffled until Skywarp shouted "Sir", which was immediately followed by laughter.
The three exited the cargo bay together and as Skywarp passed Starscream he said, "C'mon Thundercracker. We'd better stop 'lolly-gagging' around and get to work." That was it. Even Megatron was poking fun at him now. How could he possibly be respected by his fellow Seekers without Megatron's support?
Starscream knew that part of the problem was age. Skywarp and Thundercracker resented Starscream because he was younger than they were. "Ambition, that's all it takes," he thought proudly. "There has to be something I can do to make them respect me. I'm so much smarter than they are," Light bulb moment. "That's it! I must stoop to their level."
The next morning, as Skywarp and Thundercracker reported to their stations, they noticed crude name plates that read "Beavis" and "Butthead". "Oh, now that's just not right," Skywarp protested. "Everyone knows I'm Butthead."
"Hell no," Thundercracker exclaimed. "You are so Beavis. You're the spazy one." Their laughter and sarcastic glances infuriated Starscream, but he wasn't finished yet. Low brow was not Starscream's forte. He would have to use his wits to get under their sheet metal.
"Starscream, Lazerbeak has located another power plant. I want you, Skywarp, Thundercracker and Soundwave to go there and collect energon."
"But, Megatron," The look on Megatron's face told Starscream not to finish that sentence. "Right away, sir," sounded like a better way to end it.
Great. He had just attempted to humiliate his Seekers, and now he has to lead them on a mission. At least Soundwave would be going too. "He's so spineless. He'd eat Ravages droppings if I told him to," Starscream chuckled to himself.
The flight to the power plant was uneventful. Starscream flew ahead of the other three which made it easier to ignore Skywarp and Thundercracker's jokes and laughter. "There will be humans there," Starscream told himself. "They always run in fear of me. I kind of like humans."
He was right. There were a handful of humans at the plant. Not as many in past years due to the evolution of human technology. "How ironic that they replace themselves with robots and computers," Starscream thought.
The job went quickly. Skywarp and Thundercracker actually did what Starscream told them to without protest or hesitation. They were filling the last few energon cubes when, "Do you hear that?" Skywarp stood frozen, his head cocked to the side like a dog that hears noises inaudible to human ears.
"Autobots," replied Soundwave.
"Here we go. I will prove myself to these two. I will vanquish these Autobots and show them what a real warrior is," Starscream gloated to himself.
"Autobots transform and prepare to kick some Decepticans!" exclaimed Prowl.
There were only three of them. The ones called Prowl, Buestreak and Brawn. They were outnumbered by the Decepticons, but that Brawn had gotten the best of Starscream in the past.
"I'll fight Prowl," he silently decided. "Annihilate them!" he barked to his already battle engaged Decepticons.
Soundwave had made sure to bring Rumble, Frenzy and Ravage. The three of them kept Brawn rather busy as Soundwave secured the energon cubes.
Skywarp and Thundercracker had no trouble overpowering Bluestreak and were taking turns holding him and generally kicking his ass.
That rather ridiculous human song "All By Myself" came to Starscream's mind. "Stupid human pop-culture," he muttered under his breath, as he dodged blasts from Prowl's weapon.
Starscream and Prowl exchange fire never really hitting anything but the inner walls of the power plant.
Thundercracker and Skywarp laughed and bantered as the pummeled Bluestreak.
Brawn briefly overcame the onslaught of the Cassettes and fired at the neatly stacked energon cubes. The blast sent Soundwave sliding backwards on his rear end and left both Autobots and Decepticons temporarily stunned.
Suddenly, Starscream saw a burst of light and his cockpit and shoulder became hot. He looked down at himself and realized that Prowl had shot him as he was taken off guard by the explosion.
He sank to his knees and began to lose consciousness. Voices seemed distant. He heard Soundwave command the Decepticons to retreat. He felt as if he were floating through the air. He thought, "They left me here to die. At least I feel no pain." No pain. Just heat and that floating sensation.
Starscream reluctantly opened his optics. At first, there was a blast of light, but as they adjusted the light dulled. The heat was gone and pain had taken its place. The floating sensation had stopped as well.
"Where am I? Is this Hell?" he thought to himself. He heard disembodied voices and saw flashes of shadows pass by.
"He's awake!" Thundercracker exclaimed. "Don't move. You've been hit pretty bad," Thundercracker said quietly as he put his hand on Starscream's uninjured shoulder.
"I'm in repair bay?" Starscream asked. He was sure this was either a dream or hallucination.
"Yeah, that Autoboob got you pretty good. Have you gained weight? It just about killed me and Thundercracker draggin' your ass back here!" Skywarp joked.
"You didn't leave me to die?"
"Why would we do that? You're our commander," the tone of Thundercracker's voice was so matter-of-fact that Starscream knew he had to be dreaming.
"Do you know why we give you a hard time?" Skywarp whispered as if he were divulging the secrets of the universe. "Because we can and because you make it fun. You're so damn pompous and arrogant. Tone it down a notch or two and someday…Ya know. Oh yeah. Beavis and Butthead? C'mon Screamer, if you're gonna insult us, at least pick something a little more up to date. They are so ten years ago."
"Does that mean you like me?" the words sounded absurd even to Starscream.
"Listen ya little son of a bitchbot, don't think this changes anything. Now, shut up and get some rest." Thundercracker tried to sound stern, but he was sure it didn't come across that way.
"I did it," Starscream thought to himself. "I almost died, but I finally earned their respect."
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