Be shocked. Be amazed. It's another Star-crossed Chapter. It boggles the mind!! (Ch. 30 Part 1/2)
And honestly, I almost forgot about posting this at all!! I got myself a new computer (and my kids are now in a bunkbed, woot!) and it is shiny and capable and I just wanna play games on it all day. Writing what is this thing?
I need to turn Wednesdays evenings and every other Sunday back into my writing time. I've failed miserably at this so far. Is very sad Okami. Enough rambling, here's fic! Enjoy.
Title Star-crossed (Chapter 30/??)
Author Okami-chan
Pairings/Characters Prowl/Sideswipe, Prowl/Starscream, Sunstreaker, Skywarp, Thundercracker
Rating M
Summary
Warnings Rape (cross-faction), Torture
Author’s Note This chapter is the whooooole reason I wrote this ‘bonus chapter’ in the first place. I think I’ve been sitting on some of it since….chapter 10? trying to find a good place to put it. Gah, I can’t believe it’s taken so long!
I almost forgot about it! I meant to post this at the beginning of the month!
Again my thanks go out to autumnsparrow/vermilionbird for betaing this for me. She is awesome. -loves!- Also to Tia who had to put up with me angsting over this. I forgot to mention rogueraven/padawansponge, who has also been a cheerleader, and poking me to get this done, and Paleodex, and vixens-shadow also on the cheerleader team.
Off Guard
Vertigo appeared at the door, red optics glowing exceptionally bright. He glanced into the cell, before keying the bars down. Counterpunch stood behind him, out of the way of the guards that strode past the base commander and fanned out to shield captor from captive.
Sunstreaker rose to his feet and took an unsteady step forward to take a protective stance in front of the other Autobots.
Prowl stood, unable to stop the tremor in his knees and doorwings.
“Get those two away him,” Vertigo commanded.
The line of Decepticon guards marched forward in unison, expressions daring the Autobots to put up some resistance. Yet still more guards hovered outside the cell, waiting to be called upon.
Hands clamped onto Sunstreaker, and the golden warrior shouted, his fist snapping out to crash into the nearest face, “Let me go, you slagging Decepticreeps.” His foot slammed into one mech’s chassis, leaving dirty yellow streaks across blue paint. Edges gouged deep into the paint, revealing bare metal that bent and gave under the powerful impact.
The guard stumbled back, clutching at his damaged chestplate. “Restrain him!”
Another guard surged past Vertigo, two giant steps taking him to the two guards holding Sunstreaker’s flailing limbs. The third pressed the warrior against the wall. Their captive howled with fury, his torso bucking violently of the wall as the warrior continued to struggle. The guards smashed him back, metal plating buckling under the force.
Black hands latched onto one of the Decepticon's legs, fingers clawed at the red knee. Unable to stand and in spite of his great pain, Sideswipe had managed to drag himself to aid his brother. Prowl glimpsed Sideswipe's face, twisted with anger and pain. The Decepticon had to release Sunstreaker to strike at the attacker. Sideswipe grabbed the guard’s hand, and dragged at the arm, dental plates bared at the Decepticon.
“Get off me you fragging Autobot!”
One hand after another slapped higher on the Decepticon's arm, dragging the mech down. The guard teetered at a precarious angle, and Sideswipe pulled at him again, forcing him to release Sunstreaker. The Decepticon turned, his free hand curled into a fist.
Prowl moved then, his doorwings angled back as he went for the Decepticon's neck. White fingers wrapped around the thick cables and Prowl grunted, pulling with all his might. Sparks showered his arm and face, but he didn't release his hydraulics. Not until one, two, three, the entire handful came free, and the Decepticon screamed in agony.
One of the other guards released the golden mech and turned to assist his comrade, reaching for Prowl.
Sunstreaker lunged forward, breaking free of the final Decepticons' hold. He charged the mech standing at the entrance of their cell, his steps sure and malevolent grin on his face.
Prowl shoved the one he held away, and threw himself at the last of Sunstreaker’s guards. Low fuel warnings flashed in his HUD, and he knew that he would have no other chances. Though he could not say for certain what any of them hoped to accomplish, he continued to wail away at the head under his fist. Metal clashed together near the entrance, but Prowl couldn't spare even a moment to glance over. It took all his attention restrain the struggling Decepticon; one arm looped around the Decepticon's neck, and the other pounding and pounding at the red head. He whipped his captive around, avoiding the other guards’ reaching hands and wrenching his doorwings away from those going for his shoulders. He clenched his dental plates against the anxiety coursing through his processor, he couldn’t give into that. Not right then.
“I'm so glad you have things under control, Vertigo,” a deep voice rumbled. Metal shrieked as though it bent in two, and Sunstreaker screamed.
Prowl thought he should know that voice, but he could only process that it did not belong to Megatron. Megatron would not come, as Vertigo had said. He sent envoys-flyers-in his stead. He drove his fist into the Decepticon helm, the metal giving under his blows. Slapping at the tactician’s arms, the Decepticon finally wrapped his fingers around a strut and threw him off.
“Autobot filth!” The Decepticon pulled out a weapon, and leveled it towards Prowl.
“Give me that, you idiot.” A blue hand reached around and wrenched the rifle away from the guard. “You want us to hurt you?” The rifle turned and walloped the guard upside the head.
Red optics glared down at Prowl, the Seeker's chin tucked down as he regarded the Autobot officer. Flyers. Oh, frag.
Prowl scrambled back; struggling against the fear that threatened to take his systems. He glanced over at Sideswipe, to find the mech pinned low on the wall by a Seeker’s knee in his chestplate. He glanced toward the entrance, where Sunstreaker lay pinned to the floor by a black and purple Seeker, the first to have spoken when they entered the cell. Finally he looked at Vertigo, but when he saw who stood behind the base commander, he started and smacked his back into the wall, short, sharp bursts of air puffing from his mouth.
The other two Autobots froze in their struggles, staring at the entry way.
No introductions were needed, not for this nightmare figure.
Red optics burned out of a black face. A white Seeker stepped into the room, red and white wings brushing the base commander; the white paint a sharp contrast to the dingy walls around him. An unpleasant smile lifted into an expectant smirk, and the mech glanced back at Vertigo. “'Everything's under control', is it?”
Metal ground together as Vertigo clenched his fists and stiffened where he stood.
Starscream didn't give the tank a chance to respond. “If we hadn't come in, your mech would have cost us a most valuable prize.” His attention turned to Prowl. “I never thought anyone would be able to catch Prime's tactician.” Expectant smirk twisted into lecherous leer. “I've wanted to get my hands on you for a long time.” His red optics flicked over Prowl, and they brightened with anticipation. “Get cuffs on him and take him over there.” A blue finger jabbed out to the end of the rectangular cell.
Vertigo's engine droned in surprise. “Here? Now?”
Despite their Commander’s protest, two of the guards came for Prowl. They grabbed the tactician’s upper struts and hauled him to his feet.
Prowl’s fear spiked, punctuated by fingers digging deep into his arms to twist them behind his back, and his door wings ached at the unnatural angle forced upon them. Still, his optics remained locked on the twins and the Decepticons surrounding them. The burn of energon manacles snapped around his wrists, and the guards dragged Prowl to one side of the cell, and then down on his knees.
Starscream smirked at the base commander. “Isn't that what I said?” Hungry optics turned to the two Toughlines next. A gesture from an imperious blue hand, and the Decepticon grunts dragged the twins closer to each other, prostrate before him. “We can't forget you two, either.” His lip curled into a sneer. “Tell me, can you name the Seekers you've pulled out of the sky?”
Sunstreaker glared up at the Air Commander, while Sideswipe gasped beside him. Neither answered, not verbally, not even with a twitch of their heads.
Starscream stood before the two brothers, and bent at his waist, jabbing one finger at their helmets. "I can. I can name each and every one of my Seekers that you have crashed." He thrust harder, prying at Sideswipe's audio horn, tearing down the vents on Sunstreaker's horns. "Each. And every. One." The words hissed out of his vocalizer, and he straightened to lash a kick at both of their faces. "It's such a pity that I'm not here to deal with you." He cut a sneer to the tactician. "Although.... I think I'll enjoy making you watch me with him."
Prowl stiffened, hands clenched behind his back, the worm wrapped tightly around his logic relays. Fear seared hot lines through his frame, and he could not reason it away. He gritted his dental plates, and lifted his chevron to keep from revealing the panic that revved inside him. He didn't miss Sideswipe's whining gasp, or the fierce glare that Sunstreaker shot at Starscream. But the Air Commander remained oblivious, for his optics had locked on Prowl. He went to the tactician, his steps slow and sure, each one filled with a purpose as dark as his face.
"Prowl, Prowl. Little Autobot stooge." Prowl hunched his shoulders as blue hands caressed the black and white panels on Prowl's back. He tried to shake those horrible hands off, tried to shake off the feeling that surged through his circuits, but the Seeker proved stronger, and he pulled the Enforcer up and against his chest, trailing his lips over the tactician's chevron. Air breezed over the sensors on the red metal, making Prowl shudder and recoil. "You are so beautiful, you know. Granted, you are not as beautiful as I, but for a ground-crawler...." The Decepticon's voice trailed off, his lips finding Prowl's and locking on.
Prowl shook, unable to look at Sideswipe, not wanting to look at Starscream. He shook, wanting to scream and kick at the Decepticon, but he couldn't. He wouldn't. He wouldn't give Starscream that satisfaction. Instead he clenched his jaw, frightened pants wheezing out of his vents. He glared at the floor, running calculations through his logistics program, seeking some way out of the situation. The worm ate up processing power, clogging up his battle computer, creating glitches that seized his CPU, and stalled the programming. He had access to his battle computer, in a situation where he needed it, and it was as useless to him as though he didn't have it. He uncurled his fingers, not even aware that he had balled his hand into a fist. He didn't want to just submit to this. He couldn't fight it, but slaggit if he would just take this without any objection.
Starscream's tender, almost loving kiss soon turned all-consuming. When Prowl's mouth refused to give, the Air Commander simply wrenched the Autobot's jaw down, pinching the mandible between his fingers. His hands then clenched on the white doorwings, hard enough that the metal bent under the Seeker's fingers. "I have wanted to do this for a long, long time, little Seeker-wannabe."
The tactician's engine growled, and he scraped his dental plates on Starscream's lips in warning before biting down.
Starscream jerked his head back. His sneer turned into a victorious smirk, and he placed another mocking tender kiss on Prowl's helm, right in the middle of his chevron. "You will press against me, and tell me just how much you want it.”
With those words, Starscream curved his fingers into claws and proceeded to systematically shred the tactician's door panels.
Prowl's mouth sagged opening, but the scream never made it past his vocalizer. He wouldn't let it. Couldn't let Starscream have that satisfaction. Knives of fire in his doorwings drove him against Starscream, but not out of any sense of need, but rather in an overwhelming desire to move away from the pain. It overrode everything else, even the terror that threaded through every system. The explosion of hundreds of sensors as they screamed online, only to vanish lanced through his processor. The worm couldn't counter such overwhelming sensation and its sporadic control under the face of such torment gave Prowl a shred of hope, but his battle computer fritzed when the agony swept over it, the processing cycles dedicated to finding a way out disrupted and shattered by the desperate and most base need to escape. He arched himself away from the Seeker's torturous hands, heedless of Starscream's deprecating laugh. Yet a small part of his battle computer could appreciate that Starscream had achieved at least one goal. Fire coursed through his circuits, burning in his shoulders as Starscream ripped his doorwings apart, wire by wire. Prowl's battered chestplate banged against Starscream, and his helm scraped against the Decepticon's shoulder vents. He buried his face against the mech's chest and bit down seeking some form of release from the pain.
Starscream yelped, jumping in surprise, but he didn't stop his torment.
He could feel every rip, every pull, every time Starscream's fingers bit into him. He found no release in screaming silently in his mind, his optics fritzing in shock, filling his world with static. The torture seemed to end as suddenly as it began. Overloaded by the sensory data, the worm was slow to take hold again. He sagged against Starscream, his legs unable to hold him any longer as they shorted out.
Starscream shoved his victim away, sending the tactician sprawling on his broken door panels. "Stand up," he shrieked. "Stand up, and take it. Or shall I turn my attentions on one of your two companions? They both have earned it, if only because it'll show Prime how weak you are, unable to protect your soldiers."
Prowl's engine betrayed him with a soft whine as he rolled to his knees. He curled in on them, his frame shaking with the agony radiating from his doorwings. The worm recalibrated itself slowly, and he knew that he needed to gain his feet before fear locked all his processes again. He couldn't find his balance with his hands tied behind his back, and his fuel tank churned at the thought of Starscream laying his hands on Sideswipe. The red twin had suffered enough, both his own and his brother's pain. Prowl couldn't allow Starscream to touch him.
But he couldn't find his balance. His doorwings! They were throwing him off. He had to recalculate, and re-evaluate his center of gravity. The useless panels hanging limply at his side would do him no good. And still the worm laced itself through his processor, overriding firewalls and security blocks to gain control once more.
Apparently, he took too long for the Air Commander's taste.
A booster heel crashed into his shoulder. "Stand up, you slagging Autobot heap of scrap! Stand up, now!" The foot came down again and again, crushing the tactician's shoulder magplate and landing on the shredded doorwing. "If you don't, I'll let my Seekers have at your two pretty mechs over there."
Skywarp positively leered down at Sunstreaker, while the other simply crossed his arms over his chest and smirked.
Prowl ground his dental plates. The worm dug into coding, tearing down the suppression programs that blocked the pain. "Ca-“ Another bout of pain surged through his back, and he cut his vocalizer off against a whimper. “I can’t." He wavered on his knees, demonstrating his imbalance. "Don't hurt them. Help me up, and I'll stand."
Starscream laughed, short and sharp, delivering another kick into the tactician's side. He reached down and grabbed Prowl by the elbow, lifting him up as easily as one would a minibot. "Don't make me help you up again, my little wannabe," Blue fingers tenderly trailed down Prowl's cheek seam, only to find the bottom of his jaw and dig into the opening that allowed the neck cabling through. He forced Prowl's head up, burning red optics meeting flickering blue. "I promise that they" and he looked meaningfully over at the two twins, "won't appreciate it."
Prowl refused to look toward them, refused to look up at Starscream. He stared evenly at the vents in Starscream's chest. He struggled through the pain, struggled to shut down his pain receptors, fighting against the worm that infiltrated every system in his body.
Starscream tilted his head, optics narrowing. "Is there something wrong with you? You’re barely fighting.” Blue hands seized Prowl’s chin, forcing the blue optics to meet red once again. “Is this the best that you can do?” He turned a glare on Vertigo. “Is his slagging battle computer online? I told you I wanted it left on.”
The worm had control again, locking Prowl’s vocalizer against any response he might have given; his ventilations rushed harshly out his mouth, panting gasps of unfettered terror.
“Perhaps, Starscream, even the Autobot Second-in-Command is terrified of your reputation,” Vertigo commented, dryly.
Starscream stared down at Prowl, seemingly ignoring Vertigo's thinly veiled insolence. He turned the tactician's head as though examining him from every possible angle. “Are you afraid?”
Prowl’s optics flashed his defiance, stifling the terror that sought to sink into his spark. His vocalizer hissed with static, words broken and unintelligible, distorted by the worm. 'I am not going to tell him,' he told the viral construct. Thousands of lines of code ran through his processor as the worm seemed to contemplate his words. Another thousand lines and Prowl’s vocalizer finally clicked on, under his command. “No.”
Starscream laughed then, throwing his head back to howl at the ceiling.
Prowl took the opportunity to glance at the two mechs on the floor. Sunstreaker glared, ignoring the sparks that arched from his damaged arm. Sideswipe's attention wavered as pained flickered in his optics, but his gaze didn't leave the two mechs near the entrance of the cell.
A blue fist crashed into Prowl's helm, sending the tactician down to one knee. “Pay attention to me, not those sniveling cowards. They're not the ones who have you on your knees.” The air commander smashed the tactician's other knee to the floor, grinding his heel into the thigh plating. “They're not going to have you writhing and screaming in pain.”
Prowl bent over the mech's foot planted in his thigh, ventilators hissing as he strained against the scream lodged in his vocalizer. His leg refused to respond, air hissing from damaged hydraulics. He threw more lines of code at the worm in his systems, trying to control the fear it poured into his emotion protocols. “You won't get even a moan,” he finally managed to spit out.
Starscream's dental plates squealed above Prowl's head, and the tactician turned his head to look up at the Air Commander. He forced his mouth into a smirk, knowing how the gesture would rankle the Decepticon.
“We’ll see about that!” Starscream snarled, grinding his heel down. Then he stepped off Prowl's leg, and wrapped his fingers around the red chevron. The metal buckled in the blue fist, and he yanked Prowl to his feet. He wrenched the tactician’s head back, glaring down at the blue optics. "Does it bother you, little wannabe? Does it bother you to be so humiliated in front of your soldiers?" Starscream whispered secretively, his lips brushing against the tactician's. The Seeker's optics narrowed, and his voice rose in decibels. "Are you two enjoying this over there?" He dropped the tactician's chin, and kicked Prowl's feet out from under him. Prowl landed on his damaged doorwings, arcing over to his side to relieve the pain.
Starscream stood over Prowl, the tips of his toe joints digging into the tactician's aching canopy. The Seeker shoved his feet even more into Prowl's back, widening his stance, though Prowl couldn't detect any more than that of the Decepticon's posture with his doorwings broken as they were.
Prowl faced the twins, and he didn't want to look at them, didn't want to see the pity in their optics, but Starscream leaned forward and hissed for Prowl to keep his optics online in a low tone.
"Look at your superior, see how he trembles at my touch." Starscream reached down, and caressed his hands over the broken and sparking door panels. He grabbed a handful of wires and ripped them out, making Prowl's vocalizer glitch with pain.
Sunstreaker bared his dental plates, grinding them together, but he didn't look away. Neither of them did. Even Sideswipe who wavered between consciousness and stasis kept his focus on Prowl. They gave him the same focus they dedicated to each other.
Prowl wished they would look away for him. He didn't want his soldiers- didn’t want Sideswipe-to see him like this.
Part 2
I need to turn Wednesdays evenings and every other Sunday back into my writing time. I've failed miserably at this so far. Is very sad Okami. Enough rambling, here's fic! Enjoy.
Title Star-crossed (Chapter 30/??)
Author Okami-chan
Pairings/Characters Prowl/Sideswipe, Prowl/Starscream, Sunstreaker, Skywarp, Thundercracker
Rating M
Summary
Warnings Rape (cross-faction), Torture
Author’s Note This chapter is the whooooole reason I wrote this ‘bonus chapter’ in the first place. I think I’ve been sitting on some of it since….chapter 10? trying to find a good place to put it. Gah, I can’t believe it’s taken so long!
I almost forgot about it! I meant to post this at the beginning of the month!
Again my thanks go out to autumnsparrow/vermilionbird for betaing this for me. She is awesome. -loves!- Also to Tia who had to put up with me angsting over this. I forgot to mention rogueraven/padawansponge, who has also been a cheerleader, and poking me to get this done, and Paleodex, and vixens-shadow also on the cheerleader team.
Off Guard
Vertigo appeared at the door, red optics glowing exceptionally bright. He glanced into the cell, before keying the bars down. Counterpunch stood behind him, out of the way of the guards that strode past the base commander and fanned out to shield captor from captive.
Sunstreaker rose to his feet and took an unsteady step forward to take a protective stance in front of the other Autobots.
Prowl stood, unable to stop the tremor in his knees and doorwings.
“Get those two away him,” Vertigo commanded.
The line of Decepticon guards marched forward in unison, expressions daring the Autobots to put up some resistance. Yet still more guards hovered outside the cell, waiting to be called upon.
Hands clamped onto Sunstreaker, and the golden warrior shouted, his fist snapping out to crash into the nearest face, “Let me go, you slagging Decepticreeps.” His foot slammed into one mech’s chassis, leaving dirty yellow streaks across blue paint. Edges gouged deep into the paint, revealing bare metal that bent and gave under the powerful impact.
The guard stumbled back, clutching at his damaged chestplate. “Restrain him!”
Another guard surged past Vertigo, two giant steps taking him to the two guards holding Sunstreaker’s flailing limbs. The third pressed the warrior against the wall. Their captive howled with fury, his torso bucking violently of the wall as the warrior continued to struggle. The guards smashed him back, metal plating buckling under the force.
Black hands latched onto one of the Decepticon's legs, fingers clawed at the red knee. Unable to stand and in spite of his great pain, Sideswipe had managed to drag himself to aid his brother. Prowl glimpsed Sideswipe's face, twisted with anger and pain. The Decepticon had to release Sunstreaker to strike at the attacker. Sideswipe grabbed the guard’s hand, and dragged at the arm, dental plates bared at the Decepticon.
“Get off me you fragging Autobot!”
One hand after another slapped higher on the Decepticon's arm, dragging the mech down. The guard teetered at a precarious angle, and Sideswipe pulled at him again, forcing him to release Sunstreaker. The Decepticon turned, his free hand curled into a fist.
Prowl moved then, his doorwings angled back as he went for the Decepticon's neck. White fingers wrapped around the thick cables and Prowl grunted, pulling with all his might. Sparks showered his arm and face, but he didn't release his hydraulics. Not until one, two, three, the entire handful came free, and the Decepticon screamed in agony.
One of the other guards released the golden mech and turned to assist his comrade, reaching for Prowl.
Sunstreaker lunged forward, breaking free of the final Decepticons' hold. He charged the mech standing at the entrance of their cell, his steps sure and malevolent grin on his face.
Prowl shoved the one he held away, and threw himself at the last of Sunstreaker’s guards. Low fuel warnings flashed in his HUD, and he knew that he would have no other chances. Though he could not say for certain what any of them hoped to accomplish, he continued to wail away at the head under his fist. Metal clashed together near the entrance, but Prowl couldn't spare even a moment to glance over. It took all his attention restrain the struggling Decepticon; one arm looped around the Decepticon's neck, and the other pounding and pounding at the red head. He whipped his captive around, avoiding the other guards’ reaching hands and wrenching his doorwings away from those going for his shoulders. He clenched his dental plates against the anxiety coursing through his processor, he couldn’t give into that. Not right then.
“I'm so glad you have things under control, Vertigo,” a deep voice rumbled. Metal shrieked as though it bent in two, and Sunstreaker screamed.
Prowl thought he should know that voice, but he could only process that it did not belong to Megatron. Megatron would not come, as Vertigo had said. He sent envoys-flyers-in his stead. He drove his fist into the Decepticon helm, the metal giving under his blows. Slapping at the tactician’s arms, the Decepticon finally wrapped his fingers around a strut and threw him off.
“Autobot filth!” The Decepticon pulled out a weapon, and leveled it towards Prowl.
“Give me that, you idiot.” A blue hand reached around and wrenched the rifle away from the guard. “You want us to hurt you?” The rifle turned and walloped the guard upside the head.
Red optics glared down at Prowl, the Seeker's chin tucked down as he regarded the Autobot officer. Flyers. Oh, frag.
Prowl scrambled back; struggling against the fear that threatened to take his systems. He glanced over at Sideswipe, to find the mech pinned low on the wall by a Seeker’s knee in his chestplate. He glanced toward the entrance, where Sunstreaker lay pinned to the floor by a black and purple Seeker, the first to have spoken when they entered the cell. Finally he looked at Vertigo, but when he saw who stood behind the base commander, he started and smacked his back into the wall, short, sharp bursts of air puffing from his mouth.
The other two Autobots froze in their struggles, staring at the entry way.
No introductions were needed, not for this nightmare figure.
Red optics burned out of a black face. A white Seeker stepped into the room, red and white wings brushing the base commander; the white paint a sharp contrast to the dingy walls around him. An unpleasant smile lifted into an expectant smirk, and the mech glanced back at Vertigo. “'Everything's under control', is it?”
Metal ground together as Vertigo clenched his fists and stiffened where he stood.
Starscream didn't give the tank a chance to respond. “If we hadn't come in, your mech would have cost us a most valuable prize.” His attention turned to Prowl. “I never thought anyone would be able to catch Prime's tactician.” Expectant smirk twisted into lecherous leer. “I've wanted to get my hands on you for a long time.” His red optics flicked over Prowl, and they brightened with anticipation. “Get cuffs on him and take him over there.” A blue finger jabbed out to the end of the rectangular cell.
Vertigo's engine droned in surprise. “Here? Now?”
Despite their Commander’s protest, two of the guards came for Prowl. They grabbed the tactician’s upper struts and hauled him to his feet.
Prowl’s fear spiked, punctuated by fingers digging deep into his arms to twist them behind his back, and his door wings ached at the unnatural angle forced upon them. Still, his optics remained locked on the twins and the Decepticons surrounding them. The burn of energon manacles snapped around his wrists, and the guards dragged Prowl to one side of the cell, and then down on his knees.
Starscream smirked at the base commander. “Isn't that what I said?” Hungry optics turned to the two Toughlines next. A gesture from an imperious blue hand, and the Decepticon grunts dragged the twins closer to each other, prostrate before him. “We can't forget you two, either.” His lip curled into a sneer. “Tell me, can you name the Seekers you've pulled out of the sky?”
Sunstreaker glared up at the Air Commander, while Sideswipe gasped beside him. Neither answered, not verbally, not even with a twitch of their heads.
Starscream stood before the two brothers, and bent at his waist, jabbing one finger at their helmets. "I can. I can name each and every one of my Seekers that you have crashed." He thrust harder, prying at Sideswipe's audio horn, tearing down the vents on Sunstreaker's horns. "Each. And every. One." The words hissed out of his vocalizer, and he straightened to lash a kick at both of their faces. "It's such a pity that I'm not here to deal with you." He cut a sneer to the tactician. "Although.... I think I'll enjoy making you watch me with him."
Prowl stiffened, hands clenched behind his back, the worm wrapped tightly around his logic relays. Fear seared hot lines through his frame, and he could not reason it away. He gritted his dental plates, and lifted his chevron to keep from revealing the panic that revved inside him. He didn't miss Sideswipe's whining gasp, or the fierce glare that Sunstreaker shot at Starscream. But the Air Commander remained oblivious, for his optics had locked on Prowl. He went to the tactician, his steps slow and sure, each one filled with a purpose as dark as his face.
"Prowl, Prowl. Little Autobot stooge." Prowl hunched his shoulders as blue hands caressed the black and white panels on Prowl's back. He tried to shake those horrible hands off, tried to shake off the feeling that surged through his circuits, but the Seeker proved stronger, and he pulled the Enforcer up and against his chest, trailing his lips over the tactician's chevron. Air breezed over the sensors on the red metal, making Prowl shudder and recoil. "You are so beautiful, you know. Granted, you are not as beautiful as I, but for a ground-crawler...." The Decepticon's voice trailed off, his lips finding Prowl's and locking on.
Prowl shook, unable to look at Sideswipe, not wanting to look at Starscream. He shook, wanting to scream and kick at the Decepticon, but he couldn't. He wouldn't. He wouldn't give Starscream that satisfaction. Instead he clenched his jaw, frightened pants wheezing out of his vents. He glared at the floor, running calculations through his logistics program, seeking some way out of the situation. The worm ate up processing power, clogging up his battle computer, creating glitches that seized his CPU, and stalled the programming. He had access to his battle computer, in a situation where he needed it, and it was as useless to him as though he didn't have it. He uncurled his fingers, not even aware that he had balled his hand into a fist. He didn't want to just submit to this. He couldn't fight it, but slaggit if he would just take this without any objection.
Starscream's tender, almost loving kiss soon turned all-consuming. When Prowl's mouth refused to give, the Air Commander simply wrenched the Autobot's jaw down, pinching the mandible between his fingers. His hands then clenched on the white doorwings, hard enough that the metal bent under the Seeker's fingers. "I have wanted to do this for a long, long time, little Seeker-wannabe."
The tactician's engine growled, and he scraped his dental plates on Starscream's lips in warning before biting down.
Starscream jerked his head back. His sneer turned into a victorious smirk, and he placed another mocking tender kiss on Prowl's helm, right in the middle of his chevron. "You will press against me, and tell me just how much you want it.”
With those words, Starscream curved his fingers into claws and proceeded to systematically shred the tactician's door panels.
Prowl's mouth sagged opening, but the scream never made it past his vocalizer. He wouldn't let it. Couldn't let Starscream have that satisfaction. Knives of fire in his doorwings drove him against Starscream, but not out of any sense of need, but rather in an overwhelming desire to move away from the pain. It overrode everything else, even the terror that threaded through every system. The explosion of hundreds of sensors as they screamed online, only to vanish lanced through his processor. The worm couldn't counter such overwhelming sensation and its sporadic control under the face of such torment gave Prowl a shred of hope, but his battle computer fritzed when the agony swept over it, the processing cycles dedicated to finding a way out disrupted and shattered by the desperate and most base need to escape. He arched himself away from the Seeker's torturous hands, heedless of Starscream's deprecating laugh. Yet a small part of his battle computer could appreciate that Starscream had achieved at least one goal. Fire coursed through his circuits, burning in his shoulders as Starscream ripped his doorwings apart, wire by wire. Prowl's battered chestplate banged against Starscream, and his helm scraped against the Decepticon's shoulder vents. He buried his face against the mech's chest and bit down seeking some form of release from the pain.
Starscream yelped, jumping in surprise, but he didn't stop his torment.
He could feel every rip, every pull, every time Starscream's fingers bit into him. He found no release in screaming silently in his mind, his optics fritzing in shock, filling his world with static. The torture seemed to end as suddenly as it began. Overloaded by the sensory data, the worm was slow to take hold again. He sagged against Starscream, his legs unable to hold him any longer as they shorted out.
Starscream shoved his victim away, sending the tactician sprawling on his broken door panels. "Stand up," he shrieked. "Stand up, and take it. Or shall I turn my attentions on one of your two companions? They both have earned it, if only because it'll show Prime how weak you are, unable to protect your soldiers."
Prowl's engine betrayed him with a soft whine as he rolled to his knees. He curled in on them, his frame shaking with the agony radiating from his doorwings. The worm recalibrated itself slowly, and he knew that he needed to gain his feet before fear locked all his processes again. He couldn't find his balance with his hands tied behind his back, and his fuel tank churned at the thought of Starscream laying his hands on Sideswipe. The red twin had suffered enough, both his own and his brother's pain. Prowl couldn't allow Starscream to touch him.
But he couldn't find his balance. His doorwings! They were throwing him off. He had to recalculate, and re-evaluate his center of gravity. The useless panels hanging limply at his side would do him no good. And still the worm laced itself through his processor, overriding firewalls and security blocks to gain control once more.
Apparently, he took too long for the Air Commander's taste.
A booster heel crashed into his shoulder. "Stand up, you slagging Autobot heap of scrap! Stand up, now!" The foot came down again and again, crushing the tactician's shoulder magplate and landing on the shredded doorwing. "If you don't, I'll let my Seekers have at your two pretty mechs over there."
Skywarp positively leered down at Sunstreaker, while the other simply crossed his arms over his chest and smirked.
Prowl ground his dental plates. The worm dug into coding, tearing down the suppression programs that blocked the pain. "Ca-“ Another bout of pain surged through his back, and he cut his vocalizer off against a whimper. “I can’t." He wavered on his knees, demonstrating his imbalance. "Don't hurt them. Help me up, and I'll stand."
Starscream laughed, short and sharp, delivering another kick into the tactician's side. He reached down and grabbed Prowl by the elbow, lifting him up as easily as one would a minibot. "Don't make me help you up again, my little wannabe," Blue fingers tenderly trailed down Prowl's cheek seam, only to find the bottom of his jaw and dig into the opening that allowed the neck cabling through. He forced Prowl's head up, burning red optics meeting flickering blue. "I promise that they" and he looked meaningfully over at the two twins, "won't appreciate it."
Prowl refused to look toward them, refused to look up at Starscream. He stared evenly at the vents in Starscream's chest. He struggled through the pain, struggled to shut down his pain receptors, fighting against the worm that infiltrated every system in his body.
Starscream tilted his head, optics narrowing. "Is there something wrong with you? You’re barely fighting.” Blue hands seized Prowl’s chin, forcing the blue optics to meet red once again. “Is this the best that you can do?” He turned a glare on Vertigo. “Is his slagging battle computer online? I told you I wanted it left on.”
The worm had control again, locking Prowl’s vocalizer against any response he might have given; his ventilations rushed harshly out his mouth, panting gasps of unfettered terror.
“Perhaps, Starscream, even the Autobot Second-in-Command is terrified of your reputation,” Vertigo commented, dryly.
Starscream stared down at Prowl, seemingly ignoring Vertigo's thinly veiled insolence. He turned the tactician's head as though examining him from every possible angle. “Are you afraid?”
Prowl’s optics flashed his defiance, stifling the terror that sought to sink into his spark. His vocalizer hissed with static, words broken and unintelligible, distorted by the worm. 'I am not going to tell him,' he told the viral construct. Thousands of lines of code ran through his processor as the worm seemed to contemplate his words. Another thousand lines and Prowl’s vocalizer finally clicked on, under his command. “No.”
Starscream laughed then, throwing his head back to howl at the ceiling.
Prowl took the opportunity to glance at the two mechs on the floor. Sunstreaker glared, ignoring the sparks that arched from his damaged arm. Sideswipe's attention wavered as pained flickered in his optics, but his gaze didn't leave the two mechs near the entrance of the cell.
A blue fist crashed into Prowl's helm, sending the tactician down to one knee. “Pay attention to me, not those sniveling cowards. They're not the ones who have you on your knees.” The air commander smashed the tactician's other knee to the floor, grinding his heel into the thigh plating. “They're not going to have you writhing and screaming in pain.”
Prowl bent over the mech's foot planted in his thigh, ventilators hissing as he strained against the scream lodged in his vocalizer. His leg refused to respond, air hissing from damaged hydraulics. He threw more lines of code at the worm in his systems, trying to control the fear it poured into his emotion protocols. “You won't get even a moan,” he finally managed to spit out.
Starscream's dental plates squealed above Prowl's head, and the tactician turned his head to look up at the Air Commander. He forced his mouth into a smirk, knowing how the gesture would rankle the Decepticon.
“We’ll see about that!” Starscream snarled, grinding his heel down. Then he stepped off Prowl's leg, and wrapped his fingers around the red chevron. The metal buckled in the blue fist, and he yanked Prowl to his feet. He wrenched the tactician’s head back, glaring down at the blue optics. "Does it bother you, little wannabe? Does it bother you to be so humiliated in front of your soldiers?" Starscream whispered secretively, his lips brushing against the tactician's. The Seeker's optics narrowed, and his voice rose in decibels. "Are you two enjoying this over there?" He dropped the tactician's chin, and kicked Prowl's feet out from under him. Prowl landed on his damaged doorwings, arcing over to his side to relieve the pain.
Starscream stood over Prowl, the tips of his toe joints digging into the tactician's aching canopy. The Seeker shoved his feet even more into Prowl's back, widening his stance, though Prowl couldn't detect any more than that of the Decepticon's posture with his doorwings broken as they were.
Prowl faced the twins, and he didn't want to look at them, didn't want to see the pity in their optics, but Starscream leaned forward and hissed for Prowl to keep his optics online in a low tone.
"Look at your superior, see how he trembles at my touch." Starscream reached down, and caressed his hands over the broken and sparking door panels. He grabbed a handful of wires and ripped them out, making Prowl's vocalizer glitch with pain.
Sunstreaker bared his dental plates, grinding them together, but he didn't look away. Neither of them did. Even Sideswipe who wavered between consciousness and stasis kept his focus on Prowl. They gave him the same focus they dedicated to each other.
Prowl wished they would look away for him. He didn't want his soldiers- didn’t want Sideswipe-to see him like this.
Part 2