You scratch my back, I scratch yours.

Starscream: Decepticon, SIC to Lord Megatron, coward. Former Commander to the Cybertronian Armada and ruler of Vos, now the right-hand Con to a tyrant. //tracking the tag #second incommand//

[second-incommand-blog]

+ when did you interface last time? And with who?~

Several months ago. With... Megatron.

But let’s keep that between us.

[second-incommand-blog]

+ biggest spike you've ever taken, GO

Hilariously, it’s a tie. Wouldn’t you know it, a shuttle and a gladiator, being about the same build?

I’ll never forget Skyfire’s relief when I told him he didn’t need to worry about hurting me.

[second-incommand-blog]

+ what's the furthest you'd go to protect your own interests? What's your line in the sand, in other words?

Short of murdering the few mecha I hold dear? There is no line in the sand.

[second-incommand-blog]

+ what's the WETTEST you've ever been and with whom?

With Megatron, when he still went by Megatronus. Our second time interfacing. I was... wholly unprepared.

[second-incommand-blog]

+ have you ever had any thoughts about Cavalry that you would now be ashamed of?

Only the positive ones, from before I knew what he was really like. To recall that I ever felt anything genuine for him that wasn’t hate and revulsion still makes me sick.

[second-incommand-blog]

+ So what would you do if Megatron did take your alternatives' bitlit out from under your nonexistent nose?

Mostly be incomparably furious, to a level of which could not assuaged by any force in this galaxy, I imagine.

Good thing he would never do something so foolish.

[second-incommand-blog]

+ Do you care when your bondmate invites other mecha to berth or do you get jealous?

I couldn't care less who he’s interfacing with--so long as it’s not another organic.

[second-incommand-blog]

+Will you and Megatron ever have any kids? He might adopt that Ark kid right under your nose!

I have absolutely no intentions of ever spawning anything with Megatron. Nor am I fond of him taking our alternate’s mechling--he’s THEIR offspring.

[second-incommand-blog]

+ do yu ever think about the clone you painted to look like skywarp? was there one for thundercracker?

I do, and no. Only one clone returned alive after that assassination attempt, and that meant there was only one corpse for me to... paint.

If there had been blue paint to be found, I might have painted that clone differently.

[second-incommand-blog]

+ Will you ever attempt to backstab Megatron again and take power for yourself, or are you content to just share and play nice with him?

That depends on him, and if he keeps all the promises he made me. I won’t abide any more lies from him, because I’m starting to get tired of scheming his demise. I’d rather this all stay the way it is now.

[roleplaymmemes]

Anonymously send me '+' and a question and my muse has to answer honestly.

[therisingdarkness]

+ How about alternate versions of Starscream? Do they also come first?

I don’t care about any Starscream except my own.

[second-incommand-blog]

Debt Doctor

[therisingdarkness]

Hearing his personal mantra repeated at him by Starscream felt like standing at the edge of a cliff with an impossibly steep drop, but the way the Seeker reassured kept him grounded. Megatron didn’t know if he’d be crippled for life, but he knew that if he was, he trusted Starscream to fix it.

Wrapping himself in the comforting pull of the bond, Megatron felt himself begin to relax.

[[I wanted to apologize for putting you through this,]] he said. [[For all of it. If there was anything of myself and my past I would have spared you from, it would have been this, and all the associative memories. I’m…still grateful you saw me through the worst of it. It…was more than I would have asked of you.]]

[second-incommand-blog]

The Seeker cracked a wry smile. He even started to laugh, before he got himself under control. 

Hindsight, from Megatron? He never thought he’d see the day. Maybe Megatron was getting old. Apologizing? Expressing gratitude? Was this really the same genocidal revolutionary he’d followed through burning cities, trampling the dead and dying underfoot?

I’ve always heard it said that there’s nothing so inconsistent as the spark. Perhaps binding two together makes them twice as unreliable.

[This isn’t the way you expected to be repaid after you saved my miserable plating, I’ll wager?] Then he did laugh, mirthlessly but deeply. [I told you I wouldn’t let you regret it.]

A beat passed, and he caught himself thinking that he truly was, without a doubt, in too deep with no way out. It was a content prison.

[What’s that thing you’re always saying? Ah yes, ‘a bondmate provides’.]

[wnq-anonymous]

Sometimes you don’t get closure. You just move on.

Unknown  (via wordsnquotes)

[second-incommand-blog]

Debt Doctor

[therisingdarkness]

[[I think I’ll get to keep the leg….]]

A heavy ‘but’ hung in the void between them, swallowed by uncertainty and tainted with a brief pulse of fear Megatron didn’t know how to control.

He had lost limbs before, had been out of commission for extended periods of time during the war, and he had never felt what he did now, because in the before, there hadn’t been any question as to whether or not he’d be returned to perfect working order. Before there was never any doubt.

Now, however…now there was a very real possibility that he’d never be the same.

[[I don’t want to be a cripple,]] he admitted, and the fear latched onto that idea, defining itself with the spoken word he had dared utter behind the privacy of their shared minds. [[I’d rather die than–I don’t…I’m not weak. I don’t want this to…change how others perceive me.]]

[second-incommand-blog]

[If she’s any sort of surgeon, your leg will survive,] he said, wanting to hiss it but keeping his vitriol to himself for once. This wasn’t the time to doubt the prowess of the medic currently operating on his bondmate.

Megatron was... afraid. It wasn’t an emotion Starscream had dealt with often in the other, most of it having happened long before the war when the warlord had been called Megatronus and had feared what the next day of revolution would bring. Starscream had seen fear in Megatron so rarely that even now, after seeing it twice before, he still took far too long to form a response.

[You are not weak, and even if you do end up permanently maimed from this, I’ll find someone in this useless universe that can replace your entire body if need be. You’ve overcome worse, and you’ll overcome this.]

[anominouswind-deactivated201811]

Simply Routine

[anominouswind-deactivated201811]

Zephyr had made a point to reserve one of the more isolated stations for the Commander, impeccably organized and clean with no other patients within prying distance. If Starscream was anything as she imagined, he would prefer his privacy, and that, at least, she could offer.

»Now, if you’ll get comfortable on the medberth we can get started.« She stated simply as she thoroughly sterilized her hands. The femme turned back to Starscream as he finished settling, her holopad appearing from her visor. »A few routine questions first.«

Quick as she was to rattle off the questions, Starscream was equally swift in responding, thankfully speeding up the rather mundane process. She recorded his responses, simultaneously updating his medical chart where it was needed. It didn’t take long, the medic giving an appreciative nod for his cooperation. While regarding the hole in his cockpit she ran a comprehensive scan of his entire frame, gradually narrowing it down toward the area of obvious injury as little else was revealed. A tray was set aside, dexterous claws wielding a pair of tweezers.

»Hmph. The damage has been aggravated…you should know better than to fly with a broken cockpit.« Her tone was flat, somewhat chiding and irritated. »There are quite a few glass fragments embedded in there, I’ll have to remove them manually to avoid exacerbating the wound.«

[second-incommand-blog]

A part of him, even now, couldn’t help wishing this was Knock Out. It would have been so much easier. So much more natural. There would have been so need for inquiries; the red medic had always possessed a talent for knowing the problem before he analyzed a patient, and when it came to his oft-damaged Commander, Knock Out knew him inside and out.

It would have felt so much less like a forced visitation, as well. Almost as if he’d wanted to swing by anyway, and all of his maimed extremities were just a random happenstance of coincidence. Knock Out would have quipped snarky banter at Starscream at the same time that he dug shrapnel out of his chassis, and they would both laugh the horror of war off as they mocked Megatron behind his back.

That was so long ago. The war was done, Knock Out was gone, and Megatron no longer required mocking. At least, not as often. Starscream lay on his back to give Zephyr better access to his internals and popped the seal of his cockpit, wondering how long before, or if ever, the two of them might reach familiarity. He wondered if he was even ready for that.

“We all do foolish things from time to time,” he replied, crossing his arms above his head to give her all the room or light she might need. His cockpit rose fully open and he left it to her to disengage it. Starscream had a feeling if he touched it again more glass would just break off.

[second-incommand-blog]

Debt Doctor

therisingdarkness:

[[…..]]

An emotion forced its way through the bond–rough, as was Megatron’s way, and tinged in desperation. It grasped and squeezed and clung in a way that belied the patience of the initial ping, and only after it latched did Megatron seem to be able to make words.

[[I’m in the medbay. Zephyr is working at my leg.]]

Ah, so that explained why his entire pelvic span had gone briefly numb.

[It’s about slagging time,] he sent back. His own emotions in response were too tumultuous to send along the bond, but he let Megatron’s feed into him, and he gave them a place to grab hold. If Megatron needed an anchor, Starscream would be his weight.

[So, what’s the prognosis?]