Every so often, the plans of the Decepticons required a human.

Starscream dropped the latest human on the floor. According to Soundwave's research, his name was Damon Grier, he was an owner in a technology manufacturing company, and he had certain political ties. Megatron hadn't bothered telling Starscream what the plan of the week was yet, but the Seeker could make a dozen guesses from the scant information he had.

The human bounced once then looked up, goggling at his surroundings. As well he might - he was only in the command centre of the Decepticons' underwater base with Starscream, Megatron, and Soundwave looking down at him. Starscream decided that the ugliest of human expressions was astonishment - it showed too much of their disgustingly liquid eyes, opened their wet mouths ... there was something unseemly about he stretchiness of their faces. The ugliest Autobot had more dignity in his sculpted face than this creature ever would.

Starscream settled himself more comfortably against he computer console, shifting his visual sensors to Megatron. Even Megatron was more pleasant to look at than the little pink primate. He hadn't missed any of the speech - Starscream was more than capable of dividing his attention in two directions with total comprehension. In this case, the plan of the week involved the human giving the Decepticons full use of two of his manufacturing plants. The Decepticons would upgrade them to produce parts for themselves, but on the outside they would seem like ordinary plants.

When Megatron finished, the human nodded. "What's in it for me?"

Undetectable by the human but blazingly obvious to Starscream, Megatron's aura flashed in stark amazement. His optics brightened, slightly. "Elucidate."

The human folded his arms across his chest. "Seems to me that you need me more than I need you. I don't do charity work."

Starscream took a step back as Megatron's optics brightened enough that he could see the sense-points. "You seek to bargain with me?" Megatron growled, quietly, dangerously.

"You bet I do. See, you need me ..."

There was a muffled crack, then the sound of something wet hitting metal.

"Temper, Megatron," Starscream chided, checking himself for stains. The human had hit the wall and splattered, his clothes only partially containing the mess. He would have been dead even before that, the force of Megatron's kick caving in his ribs and rupturing his organs.

Megatron snarled. "Soundwave, clean this up. Starscream, bring me the next human on the list."

The End.

Back to Worlds Apart, Worlds Away
Back to In Space, No One Can Hear Starscream