Work Text:
“hello, starscream.” megatron stood before his second, optics fixed on starscream curled up in front of a small throne in the middle of the room. much like the rest of his army, his flight commander looked much the worse for wear, wings drooping and plating scuffed in a way that megatron knew the seeker probably hated.
starscream was quiet as he approached, face forlorn and optics downcast in a tired sort of depression. all the fuel burnt out of his engines.
“up.” he glared, kicking at one of starscream’s bent legs. “you’ll not find your dignity down there.” slowly, starscream rose to his pedes, face still turned away from megatron in shame. “i wish to speak with you about your tenure as leader of the decepticons.” he said, settling a servo on the throne.
he found it odd that starscream wasn’t sitting on it. it seemed more than appropriate. the seeker had a thirst for power with a level of cunning and intelligence to back it up. megatron had been more than ready to have to rip his air commander wing and claw away from the seat of power he had found himself suddenly saddled with.
but if the state of the rest of the decepticon army was anything to go by, starscream had not relished in his reign like he had so often crowed he would.
“really?” starscream’s vocaliser clicked online. he sounded exhausted. “you’d just like to have a chat about… that ?”
“three years, starscream.” megatron prodded. there was something different about this starscream. he had no bite, no spark to him. it was unnerving. the period of time that he was stuck in stasis was but a blip on his radar, merely a moment in darkness before consciousness resurfaced. but starscream alone was more than enough evidence that time had passed, even if megatron didn’t already believe soundwave’s summary of events. “three years you’ve been in command of the decepticons. you must be eager to tell me all about it.”
starscream finally turned to face him. “why are you doing this?” he asked.
“why am i doing what?” megatron looked the seeker in the optics. starscream looked truly miserable, like he was waiting for a beating. it wasn’t entirely unprecedented. violence as a tool like any other and megatron had been more than willing to use it to keep his troops in line. starscream was no exception, despite his higher rank.
“look,” starscream face twisted further into a grimace. “i don’t care, alright? i don’t care that you want to humiliate me before unleashing whatever hugely creative punishment you’ve got in mind…”
“punishment?” megatron asked, confused more than anything else. he hadn’t been expecting any of this. starscream was proud and fiercely clung to any ounce of power he got to. he’d been waiting for hissed curses and nullrays powered to their maximum in an attempt to keep his position as leader. but looking at the forlorn exhaustion that hung from his second… he felt nothing but a sad sense of pity.
“ ghh …” starscream grumbled, tilting his helm back and fixing megatron with a desperate glare. “whatever you want to call it…”
“no, i mean, punishment for what ? do you deserve punishment, starscream?”
“OH, JUST DO IT ALREADY!” starscream lunged forward in a movement so fast that megatron’s battle systems nearly crushed his helm from sheer shock. but starscream didn’t lunge for his throat cables or attempt to blast his face plates off with a nullray. he merely grabbed the barrel of the newly created fusion canon attached to megatron’s arm and held it level with where his spark was protected beneath layers of armour.
megatron stared at his second in command. starscream looked nothing akin to the terrifying force of nature he knew the seeker could be. he looked defeated, fuel deprived, and damaged mentally and emotionally beyond repair.
“starscream.” megatron said quietly, taking a step backward and gently removing his fusion cannon. he set it on the ground by the throne. “three years ago, i fell in battle and you assumed command. you did not overthrow me. you saw a gap, and you meekly stepped in to fill it. am i right?”
“... yes.” starscream flinched when he took a step closer.
“so i ask again.” megatron stared him dead in the optics. “what are you expecting me to punish you for?”
“surely you’ve seen the state of your army?” starscream’s signature sneer appeared on his faceplates for a moment. it warmed megatron’s spark just a fraction to see it. underneath the drooping wings and tarnished plating the starscream he knew and somewhat tolerated was still there.
“starscream.” megatron stepped in front of his second, narrowing his optics and gesturing for starscream to relax. his second did not. if anything starscream’s struts tightened and he took a small, meagre step backwards. “i’m not going to hurt you starscream.”
“yeah right.” starscream snarled, fists clenching. “not like you haven’t said that before.”
megatron sighed. it was difficult to get through to starscream when he was acting so neurotic. his second’s anxiety wasn’t without precedent but a bit of corporal punishment kept the troops in line and it wasn’t as though starscream was above throwing punches to keep his own soldiers under his thumb. megatron had made promises of pleasure instead of pain and like cracks in armour he had broken those promises one by one.
but this was one he intended to keep.
“if it was not already clear to you starscream, i have no reason to punish you for doing your job. i expect that anyone would crumble under the weight of the pressure. frankly speaking it’s admirable that you managed to keep this ragtag group of soldiers together as long as you did under such miserable circumstances.”
“i still failed you.” starscream said in shame. “you told me that i would someday lead and yet when given the opportunity, i burnt it to ash.”
“and you expect anyone else would have had different results?” the laugh that left megatron’s intake surprised even himself. he was not one for humour, even in the earlier days of the war but something about starscream managed to unravel all his defences. “starscream, i commend you for your ability to keep it together for as long as you did. when soundwave informed me that you had assumed leadership, i had honestly expected the rest of my army to have been destroyed.”
“ hmph.” starscream glowered. “you really have such little faith in me lord megatron?”
“not at all.” megatron assured him. “i am merely stating the truth. this army is in shambles and the leader must always take the fall for such things.”
“why do you keep me around?” starscream asked suddenly. he did not look curious, merely calculating, optics shuttered in scrutiny as he stared megatron down.
“four million years and now you ask me this?” megatron asked. “why do you care now?”
starscream’s intake twisted into a devious sort of grin, familiar in a way that both comforted and unnerved megatron. starscream never smiled out of happiness, not in the nearly four million years that megatron had known the seeker. maybe once, before the war, before the fighting, and before the abuse, starscream had smiled out of genuine joy, but that starscream had died a long time ago. now all that megatron knew was a smile that meant nothing but malice.
“i’m merely curious my lord. you’ve gotten rid of others for far less.”
megatron looked at starscream, past the coy smirk and the drooping wings and the bravado that covered up a mech who he knew once idolised him with a fervour. “i keep you around because it sets an example. you can work your way to the top, you can even become leader, but you will always be beneath me.”
“why am i not surprised.” starscream sighed.
“did you expect anything different?”
“no. but perhaps i foolishly thought that another near brush with death would be enough to make you reconsider how you treat those beneath you.” that same eerie smile returned. “but that would require you to actually start caring, and we both know that won’t happen anytime soon my lord.”
“watch your glossa seeker.” megatron growled. there was something about starscream that always managed to bring out the worst in him. a past version of megatron might have been concerned with how easily he was to anger at what could be described in starscream standards as mild teasing, but present megatron was used to the burn of rage bubbling beneath the surface. it was comfortable, their back and forths, and megatron relished in knowing that he could still bring out the spark in starscream even after all the seeker’s failures. “i may not intend to punish you for the state of my army, but backtalk will not be tolerated.”
the seeker turned so abruptly that his wings nearly smacked megatron in the face plates. “ fine.” he snarled. “see if i care when you dig yourself into the grave again.”
“where are you going?!” megatron snatched his fusion canon from the ground, reattaching it and storming after his second.
“i haven’t been able to refuel in nearly a mega-cycle. shockwave surely has stores in his lab, that greedy scientist has been hoarding resources, i just know it.”
“starscream.” megatron caught him by the arm. a full frame shudder rattled the seeker’s plating. some part of megatron took satisfaction in the fact that a light fisted grip could so easily cause starscream to flinch. “i still trust you.” it wasn’t true, at least not fully but the way that starscream’s wings hiked upwards in pride was enough to tell megatron that his charisma hadn’t faded and even the seeker who so vehemently opposed his every word could still be swayed.
“that will be your mistake.” starscream wrenched his arm out of megatron’s grasp and then stalked off down the hall.
“megatron: will not punish starscream?” soundwave asked, stepping out from the shadows. he had been listening the whole time, megatron could tell.
“what would be the point? he’s never responded to it before. and besides. “megatron gave soundwave a wicked smile. “i far prefer starscream’s energy focused on the coming war my old friend.”