#starwavewave

There was a brief, tense pause before Shockwave answered, “I upgraded a valued component of your frame per Megatron’s command.”  Heavily implied that Shockwave would not have performed the surgery otherwise, as the new faction was still low on resources and finances, and he had many personal experiments to resume that took precedence over Starscream’s mods.  Starscream himself, while fond of upgrading his frame back in his youth, had settled on his current appearance as the best one yet, and thus knew he hadn’t asked for any upgrades even after things settled down upon Megatron establishing the Decepticons.  And the only comment Megatron ever made about Starscream’s frame needing improvement would be that one time they were making out while drunk and high on a pile of illicit substances scavenged from the garbage…

Starscream’s queasiness returned full force as his short term memory supplied the fragment of their inebriated conversing, as it could hardly be called flirting, straight into his processor.

“Did you just install a new valve into my frame?!” Starscream shrieked.  “You did, didn’t you?!!!”  That would explain Soundwave attending the surgery, the fucking pervert.

“New valve, unused, latest model.  New forge component, new connection lines, confirmed factory fresh,” Soundwave stated tonelessly, for it had been his information gathering that allowed this set of equipment to be obtained by less than legal means from Iacon City warehouses.

With a dry mechanical laugh, Shockwave verified Soundwave’s statement. “Congratulations, Starscream.  You will become a carrier for Megatron soon enough, for the sake of the Decepticon cause.”

Familiar with their second in command’s infamous temper, Shockwave and Soundwave backed away to let Starscream scream in disgusted rage, which resulted in a few cracks in any glassware left out in the medbay.  Because Starscream did not want to be a carrier despite possessing the coding for such, he never wanted to bear sparklings for anyone, much less for the underaged grounder usurper who beat his ass in front of everyone and who he was currently trying to assassinate, in the middle of a war they were fighting on two fronts, and who was also an ugly and bulky miner tank not worthy of mixing his commoner genetic material with that of a noble Seeker beloved by the thirteen Primes.

Said usurper was not even present after the surgery to see if he had made it out alive!  Likely just watching through Soundwave’s live video feed, although to be fair, his looming around the cramped medbay would probably not improve the surgery’s success rate.  Undoubtedly Megatron would not be there to comfort him if he did start carrying, and probably would slack off on looking after their sparkling, too, not that Starscream intended on carrying, but if he did, it would not be for an absent partner, that much was certain.

“First of all, why not Soundwave?” Starscream hissed, trying to stamp his foot before recalling he had just come out of surgery still stuck on a slab, “Why me?!!!”  Starscream wasn’t necessarily too old to bear a new spark, their race was more or less immortal and fully capable of carrying a healthy sparkling to term even after millions of years online, but they had designated Soundwave as the loyal one of their trio, plus he was the natural carrier frame built for lugging little ones around. And yes his and Megatron’s sparkling would probably also turn out ugly as sin, but at least Soundwave would feel perfectly at ease grounded during the later carrying stage as an original grounder type.

His one optic narrowing slightly, Shockwave explained with care, “Soundwave did make a case for himself,” practically jumping at the opportunity to change their leader’s mind, “but Megatron chose you for the ah, privilege, Starscream.  Although we know you do not want to be a carrier, Megatron believes you would change your stance in order to ensure the victory of the Decepticons over the---“

“He’s wrong! I won’t ever carry for anyone, never, not to win the war, not to save the planet, not even if I’m the last one of our kind!”  Starscream protested in growing not-hysteria, never hysteria.  “I’ll kill the hellspawn if Megatron does spark me, before either one kills me later!” He started struggling weakly at the cuffs holding him to the medical berth before a sharp ache shot through his sensitive torso, leaving him almost glitching from the pain, and he had to lie still to recover his senses.