Chapter Text
Starscream fumed, because what else could he do? He paced the tiny cell, fingers clenching into fists and the acrid scent of burnt paint nanites flooding his senses as he scraped a wing along the energy field at the front of the too small cell every time he turned. His subspace felt empty, collapsed, and he knew it was psychosomatic, knew that the generator hadn’t been removed or damaged, but that enforcer had robbed him of everything .
The credits, chips he’d scrimped and saved, surviving on the bare minimum to build up his savings, all taken in as evidence of his crime. His papers, the ones he’d been trying to have altered, also taken.
And most alarming of all, his datapads.
He only had a few to his name, and he never let them out of his sight. Filled with his thoughts, his ideas and ‘research’ as it were, they were his most precious possessions, and they, too had been confiscated without a second thought. Oh, he’d raged at that, snarling at the officer, the massive red and blue bot that towered over him, going through his subspace with a professional, blank expression and a calm, even field.
A door at the far end of the room opened, Starscream could just barely hear it over the hum of the generator powering the containment field of his cell, and he stiffened. Heavy pedesteps echoed as more than one bot made their way towards the center of the round room, where a single officer sat behind a circular workstation, where he could turn in his chair and see any of the multitude of cells at a glance. He was tired , down to his struts, but the possibility of allowing a forged bot to see him brought low kept him moving long after his frame wanted to collapse, and so he continued to pace.
The steps stopped at the workstation, and a familiar voice spoke up.
“Go take a break. I’ll keep watch for a while.” The mech who’d brought him in, taken his things, crammed him into this tiny cage with an unreadable expression, dismissed the guard, and his tank started doing little backflips inside his frame as he gnawed on his lip and wondered what sort of tortures he was in for.
After all, a cold construct trying to buy his way into the most prestigious academy in Iacon was an insult to them all, no matter that he deserved to be there!
Instead, the mech who had accompanied him in waited until the guard was gone, door shutting firmly behind him. The hum of generators being turned up surrounded him, and he could see as he turned in his little circuit of the ‘room’ that the fields containing other prisoners had been strengthened, the energy walls turning opaque and dampening sound and sight alike to those inside.
It was only then, after all others had been robbed of witnessing his punishment, that the visitor stepped up to his cell, optics deceptively open and friendly as he studied Starscream. The seeker bristled, wings hiking high up on his shoulders, high enough that his actuators whined, straining to hold the exaggerated position for any length of time.
“Starscream, correct?” The voice was familiar, and it took him a moment to put two and two together, to realize that this mech was the same as the one he’d seen on vid screens while he was on the job for years now. Senator Shockwave stood before him, separated only by the thin wall of energy. He ignored the question, spinning again on a thruster heel and stalking back and forth, back and forth. There could be no good reason as to why the mech was here, and he obviously already knew his designation, so there was no need for him to respond.
“That was the name on his file, Shockwave.” The enforcer spoke up, and wasn’t that odd? The mech didn’t address the senator with the level of deference and respect that he ‘deserved’. Starscream rolled that little tidbit over and over in his processor, and could only come up with ridiculous answers to the question of why?
Lover perhaps? But that would be scandalous , beneath such an esteemed mech as the Senator to dally with a mere enforcer.
Bought off, then? But he’d have to show more respect than that to a senator who was keeping him in their subspace.
Friends then. That was nearly as ridiculous as lovers, but at least a little more plausible, he supposed.
“Starscream, my name is Shockwave, and I’m so very excited to meet you.” Starscream snorted, turning to face the back wall and dropping down to sit in the middle of the floor. It was the only place he could sit, his wings and flight kibble enough bulk against his back to make sitting on the narrow bench of a ‘berth’ nigh on impossible, and extremely uncomfortable.
The senator was quiet behind him, and he kept his wings up high, both as a display of his anger and distrust, and a way to hide his face as he peeked over his shoulder to see the two mechs sharing a look he couldn’t decipher.
Finally, “Orion, show his bail as posted, please.”
“What?”
“You heard me. Take it from my account. He can come back with me, and stand trial when his lot comes up, without having to remain in this woefully undersized cell during the interim.”
“Shockwave.” The enforcer’s tone was . . . exasperated . As if they’d argued over this before. How many mechs had the senator bailed out of jail before? Bailed… or bought?
Oh Primus .
His plating clamped down tight against his frame, and he fought fiercely to keep the panic and disgust from his field as he came to the only possible conclusion that made sense.
This enforcer clearly picked up down on their luck cold constructs, and kept them for the senator to purchase as toys. That had to be it, and it took every ounce of his control to keep his wings from clattering against his back at the thought that the forged mech was purchasing him now, and where had his last purchase disappeared to? Would he find other mechs like himself, beaten, used, abused? Or would he be alone to face the mech’s twisted desires?
He worked himself into such a panic that it took him long moments to realize that the Senator was holding something up near the bars. A datapad.
His datapad.
He rose to his pedes and lunged at the wall separating them, optics locked on his only valuable possession, handled so carefully by the other mech and kept just out of reach.
“I’d like to discuss your research with you, in more comfortable accommodations.” The Senator explained with a congenial smile on his faceplates. There was no derision, no audible quotes around the word research, as if the mech truly believed he was speaking to a scientist .
The energy wall dropped, and the enforcer stepped up beside the Senator, a warning in the cool blue optics above the blast mask.
“Your bail has been posted, Starscream. Your effects will be left here, evidence for the trial, but you’re being released to Senator Shockwave’s care until the day of your trial.” He spoke as if from memorization, off a script, as he reached out and took Starscream’s hands in his. When he jerked them away, he was surprised to find several credit chips, and a data slug pressed into them.
“Come on then, you heard the officer!” The Senator shot him another of those camera ready smiles, and turned to leave without a second glance.
Starscream, stunned and confused beyond reason, found himself following along mutely. He supposed he could always outfly the Senator, judging by the bulky flight kibble jutting up from his shoulders. But his curiosity outweighed his sense of self preservation. He had to know what the Senator wanted to talk about.
After all, it was his research. He wouldn’t let the Senator claim it as his own, if he could help it.