Devil in a Cage

I wrote this oneshot for fairyerhua and my other Chinese readers! They've been translating some of my fics and are publishing a little collection of them in Chinese. I hope people enjoy this!

G1 Megatron x Starscream slash towards the end, but mostly just hinted.

It seemed, to the rest of the army, that Megatron and Starscream were doing their damnedest to make life a living hell for just about everyone.

The current bout of hell-on-Earth had arrived when, last week, the Constructicons appeared in the main throne room of the Nemesis. Each wore a particularly disgruntled expression and together dragged in a large cage, big enough to easily hold a medium-sized Cybertronian.

"Thundercracker," Megatron drawled from his throne, a smirk creeping across his aged faceplates, "take Skywarp and go drag your wretched trine leader out of the brig." The two seekers looked at each other, then with a shrug, saluted. Soundwave, for his part, eyed the new cage uneasily as the Constructicons set about attaching various chains to the purple ceiling.

Starscream was quite literally dragged by his two trine-brothers back into the room, one tugging each arm. He blinked owlishly, accustomed for the last week to the darkness of the brig. Then, his vision cleared at last, and his gaze fell with a crash onto the cage.

"You're joking," he rasped. Megatron's grin grew wider. "No. You have got to be joking."

"Not at all, Starscream, not at all," chuckled the Decepticon warlord. "You've had plenty of time to reflect on your misdeeds alone in the brig. Now, I think, everyone else should reflect on them with you."

"I am not getting into that slagging cage!" shrieked the second in command, and his wingmates automatically lowered the volume on their audio sensors. Thundercracker sighed. Skywarp rolled his optics.

With a gleeful expression and a wave of his hand, the blue and purple fliers dragged Starscream kicking, screaming and howling to his new cell. They shoved him in unceremoniously, each shrugging apologetically as the Constructicons locked him in and activated the protective forcefield around it. Together, they hauled the chains attached to the top, until Starscream dangled in his cage above them all like some sort of angry chandelier.

Then the second in command grasped onto the bars and began the longest string of insults any Decepticon could ever remember him throwing at Megatron.

Two days later, Starscream still hadn't run out of steam. Hook began throwing wrenches at the cage (a medical tactic learnt from the Autobot Ratchet - sadly, although the forcefield around the cage was designed to stop the flier taking pot shots at those below him, it also prevented the other Decepticons from shooting him, too) because doubtless, whenever Megatron decided enough was enough, the flier's vocalizer would be scratched raw and he would have to fix it.

On the third day, Starscream had taken to insulting whoever was working below him, and a particularly large argument broke out between the Seeker and Astrotrain over whose motherboard was uglier. It ended cycles later with the triple changer running out of the room, optics leaking and almost tripping on Ravage on the way out. The next argument was far more internal; Starscream versus his trine, in several different alien languages and over five thousand different curse words between them. Unfortunately for Soundwave, the three decided to stage this battle during his shift, and the telepath left the room looking decidedly teary himself.

But Megatron didn't seem to care. No, the Decepticon warlord was taking great amusement from the suffering of his second in command (and quite possibly the suffering of the rest of his army, too), and happily waltzed into the throne room to take his morning, lunch and dinner energon rations while staring intently at the raging, caged Seeker.

It never ceased to surprise the Decepticons just how many different insults Starscream had to offer; each ration brought a tidal wave of brand new curses and shrieks. Megatron just smiled, optics glowing a deep, satisfied red.

On the fifth day, Starscream's vocalizer finally broke.

In the middle of a particularly creative string of curses which scientifically and systematically compared Megatron to various species of dung beetle, Starscream's hoarse vocalizer suddenly let out a loud snap! He flung a blue hand over his mouth, optics wide and horrified.

The Decepticon warlord laughed so hard that Hook worried he would have to fix Megatron's vocalizer, too.

But the second in command was by no means done. Each poor shift worker at the main console could testify to the fact that Starscream was indeed creative when it came to psychological torture. Blitzwing was the easiest of his victims; all the Seeker had to do was sit very, very still, optics never blinking nor refreshing, staring hard and accusing at the triple-changer. Blitzwing hadn't been seen for a few days after that.

Then there was the swinging. The steady creak, creak, creak as Starscream moved his weight backwards and forwards, the cage swaying from one end of the ceiling to the other, dangling his legs through the bars like a human protoform. Mid-shift, Skywarp screamed with frustration ("I CAN'T TAKE IT ANYMORE!") and ran out of the room. Thundercracker spared his superior a withering glare before following his trinemate out the room.

Primus only knew how (or when), but when the Coneheads reported for their next shift, Starscream had somehow constructed a small speaker seemingly out of his own circuitry and insisted on playing irritating German pop tunes on repeat.

The seventh day found the entire army tired and irritable; but, stubborn as they were, neither Megatron nor Starscream would concede.

Inevitably, two weeks since he had been shoved into the cage, Starscream's energy levels started to drop.

The fourteenth day saw the Seeker collapsed against the corner of the cage, recharging with a frown plastered over his faceplates. The Decepticon warlord looked like a child on Christmas day when he saw the sight, grinning up at the flier and inspecting the cage from all angles.

"Are you planning on killing him, Lord Megatron?" Scrapper asked exasperatedly.

"No, no," the silver mech replied, waving off the question. "I'm sure the screaming one can survive a few measly weeks without energon."

Hook buried his face in his palms, while Scavenger petted him reassuringly on the shoulder. The Constructicons would never understand why Megatron took such pleasure in half-destroying their second in command, then demanding the gestalt team fix him.

"Starscream."

The flier growled, snapping awake with a petulant expression. What was the use of trying to conserve energon if people kept waking him to see if he was alive?! Then his tired optics settled on the glowing, pink object in front of him. He realized, belatedly, that the cage had been lowered, and Megatron stood in front of the cage with an energon cube in hand. The throne room was empty, save for them, and the energon glowing between them.

His processor exploded with new insults for the Decepticon warlord - but his optics merely twitched with rage.

"None of that, Starscream," Megatron chided, deep voice smooth as he grinned devilishly. "All I want is a little apology. We both know you've been in this cage quite enough. Just a little apology, and then you can come out and have this energon."

The flier's optics narrowed to slits as he grasped at his throat pointedly.

"No, I suppose you can't apologize with that broken vocalizer, can you?" the warlord said thoughtfully, smirking as he did so. He sighed melodramatically, making as if to walk away. "Oh well."

Starscream let out a panicked burst of static as the energon was moved away from him. Megatron turned around, raising an optic ridge in mock confusion, even as his smug smile gave him away.

It was humiliating. It was undignified. It was so worth it for that energon. Starscream widened his optics, making what Skywarp referred to as "the kicked puppy expression". Megatron howled with laughter, and the victory he felt was enough that he passed the cube over to his second in command's outstretched hands. The Seeker snatched it up eagerly, downing the entire cube in one go.

"Oh, but I can't let you out of this cage just yet, dear Starscream," Megatron cooed as his laughter died down. "You haven't apologized."

Starscream rolled his optics, then gave Megatron a hard stare that said, can't I apologize afterwards? The Decepticon warlord smiled, lifting a dark hand to run his fingers gently against equally dark cheeks. The flier leaned his helm into the touch, gaze half-pleading, half-seductive.

"Mmm," he hummed thoughtfully, "I suppose it is nice to hear you say these things out loud. Very well; I'll let you out so Hook can fix your throat." He squeezed his fingers hard against the flier's face, denting the metal. "But you are to report to my chambers the moment Hook is done, do you hear me?"

Starscream purred, mouth cracking into a twisted smile. Megatron stood back to unlock the cage, and the Air Commander stumbled out, stretching his wings and loosening joints. The silver mech leaned back against the cage, watching, waiting patiently, until Starscream finished, smile growing as his optics met the warlord's. He tiptoed forward elegantly, and leaned up to plant a kiss on Megatron's mouth.

"If that's how you apologize," Megatron chuckled wickedly, "then you can apologize to me all night."