Chapter Text
->SS<-
Starscream woke up slowly. His processer onlined in stages, like he was waking up from a deep recharge. He basked in the feeling and frowned when he noticed the deep ache infusing the back of his processer—the only discordant note present. He tried to stretch to relieve the gentle ache of stiff components, but he didn’t get far. Metal cuffs held his limbs in place.
He onlined very quickly after that.
A truly appalling shade of orange met his optics. Cybertronian design, and not one he recognized
He jerked harder, scratching at the metal with his claws. The cuffs rattled but didn’t give. Then strange hands pushed down on his shoulders, pressing him back against the berth. They belonged to a small red Grounder, hidden by a visor and mask. He was talking, trying to be soothing.
“—relax. I know you’re confused, but you’re safe now. Just calm down, and we can-”
Senseless drivel. Starscream snarled at him. “Let me go!” he tried to shout. Instead, his vocalizer gave a disturbing wheeze as newly integrated parts struggled, and he coughed.
The mech started—was he petting him? Really? Eventually, glaring at the Grounder the entire time, Starscream regained control of his vocalizer. His voice still rasped when he tried speaking again, but it worked.
“Where is he,” Starscream growled. His throat ached, but he forced the words through.
The Grounder’s hand paused, and he tilted his head. “Where’s who?” he asked. “You were alone when we found you.”
Starscream bared his teeth. “My partner, slaggit!” Skyfire had been right beside him before the storm had torn them apart. “We crashed together. What did you do with him?”
The Grounder’s hands froze then fell to his lap. “Oh,” he said quietly. Fiddling with his fingers, “We stumbled upon you in this planet’s Arctic Circle. After we found you, I’m afraid we…” He trailed off with a sad little mumble. If Starscream were a kinder mech, he might have felt sorry for the mech. Instead, he was only irritated.
“You what?” he asked. “Spit it out already!”
If anything, the Grounder seemed to shrink even further into his seat. “We scanned the rest of the sector afterwards. There were no other life signals.” A pause. “I’m sorry.”
Starscream froze. His spark twisted in his chest, and his vocalizer emitted a deep, guttural sound of pain and disbelief. It took two tries before he managed to voice the words. “You’re wrong,” he said. “You… you messed up the scan. Skyfire has thicker armor than mine. He wouldn’t have been offlined by some slagging storm!”
The Grounder’s visor dimmed with something disgustingly like pity. Starscream snarled as he reached out to touch his plating again. “I’m sorry,” he said, voice absolutely dripping with sorrow. “This must be horribly difficult for--”
“Shut up!” Starscream howled, jerking as far away from the lying slagger as possible. “I don’t need your pity!” He could keep his softsparked sympathy. Skyfire wasn’t dead. He wasn’t. These incompetent slaggers had just screwed everything up. Starscream just… He needed to go back. He’d find the crash site, get Skyfire back, and throttle the Shuttle for daring to do this. Then the world would go back to normal again.
Mind made up, Starscream tore at the cuffs with his claws. The metal bit deep enough to draw energon, but Starscream didn’t even feel the pain. Beside him, the Grounder’s voice was high with panic as he tried to pin him back against the berth. Starscream retaliated, digging his claws deep into the mech’s plating, and he pulled back with a gasp of pain, cradling his arms to his chest.
A new voice cut in, deep and harsher with age. “That’s it. I’m putting him back under,” he said. Something stung Starscream’s neck, there and gone just as quickly. Starscream’s processer slowed, and he slipped gratefully back into unconsciousness.
~.*.~