Language Most Foul Chapter 3
Prompt: Bunny by yamiyouka on the bunny farm
Pairing: Starscreamx?
Rating: T
Summary: Starscream hates English. It has none of the elegance of Cybertronian, and, deciding to ditch English and speak only in his native tongue, the SIC has reminded the troops that his screechy voice wasn't always so screechy... much to his mates' chagrin
The auditorium was silent. It was the kind of silence that was usually reserved for Megatron's speeches about the Glory of the Decepticon Cause. But every mech in the room was quiet for a different reason. Starscream and Soundwave were both present. Everyone was hoping that one - or both - would give a speech. Starscream radiated smug satisfaction. Soundwave, although he didn't show it, was very unnerved. He was also amused, however, as Starscream's mates had taken to flanking him wherever he went. Skywarp had actually snapped at Megatron when the gunformer had tried to order him off the stage. Megatron had been so surprised that he'd actually taken a step back and was unable to reprimand the seeker before he had slipped back into his position at Starscream's left wing.
Soundwave had to admit they had a surprising friendship. He had never gotten along with the Air Commander, even on Cybertron. But their shared interest in reviving their beloved language had opened the door to friendship. They found that they actually had a lot in common; both were scientifically inclined, albeit in different fields; they both had a great love of literature and art, and valued family above all else (yes, Soundwave could admit to himself if he had to choose between Megatron and his creations his mechlings would win every time). The third-in-command enjoyed their debates, and was rather surprised to learn that Starscream was tactically brilliant, and had valid points about the operation of the army. His screechy English often drove mechs to cut conversations short or tune him out, so the seeker would yell, which made him look foolish. It was a vicious cycle. Or had been. Now mechs went quiet whenever Star - or either of them, really - even looked like he was thinking about speaking.
"This is a waste of time," Starscream hissed softly. "They won't be able to understand our reports. None of these imbeciles have bothered to relearn Cybertronian."
"Agreed. But Lord Megatron wills it."
"Frag Megatron." Improved though his relationship with the third-in-command and the crew may be, Starscream still despised their Lord.
Lord Megatron was watching the proceedings with anger. He was not used to being usurped. Starscream's ploy had worked brilliantly. They tyrant was tempted to slag the seeker, but Soundwave was endorsing his foolishness. The pair were unreasonably close now; the only others they spoke to outside of each other were the cassettes and Starscream's trine mates. Hurting the Vosian would upset Soundwave, who had never approved of beating the fool nearly to death. And while he could handle his treasonous 2IC, he was not entirely sure he would survive an alliance between his top two officers. Besides, he would look like fool if he assaulted Starscream for speaking their native language.
Noting the restlessness of the crowd, Megatron pushed those thoughts aside. He had a plan to deal with his officers, one that he would start enforcing right now.
"Decepticons! The time has come for another raid! With our new weapon completed we will easily defeat the Autoscum and take this miserable planet for our own!" The Decepticons cheered. Energon had been getting low, and they had feared that they would have to start rationing. "Unfortunately, as no one can understand Starscream currently all fliers will report to Blitzwing for their orders. Soundwave, give control of the comms to Reflector." Shocked grumbling broke out in the crowd. Only once, after one of Starscream's assassination attempts had almost succeeded, had Megatron revoked the flier's command. He had never taken away Soundwave's. The mechs in question were the only ones who seemed unfazed.
"Yes, Lord Megatron." A collective shudder raced through the gathered mechs. They all recognized Megatron's designation, and it made them think of how sweet their voices would sound, calling out the own names. Even the warlord seemed affected. Skywarp and Thundercracker looked murderous.
"Decepticons, move out!"
Starscream sat quietly in the Autobot brig. The last battle had gone poorly and a lucky shot from the little sniper had knocked him out of the sky. Thankfully, the Autobot medic had some compassion and his damaged thruster had been repaired. Now all he had to do was wait for Megatron to barter for his release. He had a feeling he was going to be here for a while. Hopefully his mates wouldn't do anything stupid, like try to retrieve him on their own.
The door to the brig opened, admitting the large red weapons master. The mech didn't spare him a glance; his simply told the guard on duty, Blaster, that his shift was over and that he was to be relieved by the twins. Joy. Two mechs with one spark and half a CPU between them.
The mentioned pair entered the brig shortly after. Ironhide gave them their instructions - don't let him out, don't watch videos while on duty, don't make prank calls to the Chief of Police again unless you want to spend time in the brig - before he and the tape deck left. It was silent for all of two breems.
"Sooooo, how's it going, Screamer?" The Air Commander looked at the red hellion with disinterest.
"It was much better before you two numb nodes came in. Not only am I imprisoned, but I am to be tortured too? I thought Autobots were above that." The two mechs stared at him blankly. Sideswipe turned to his brother.
"Any idea what the frag he just said?"
"No," Sunstreaker scowled. He recognized some of the words, but Starscream had spoken too quickly to catch them all.
"I'm not surprised. After all, having only half a CPU must make simple things like polishing oneself difficult. Judging from the looks of you it has been a long time since either of you saw a polishing cloth." Sunstreaker growled. He knew there was an insult in there about not looking his best.
"What the frag Screamer? Speak in English for Primus' sake!" Sideswipe was irritated. He had been looking forward to baiting the volatile seeker, but they were the ones getting riled up. It wasn't fair to insult them in a language they couldn't speak!
Starscream smiled. It was a beautiful smile, one that they had never seen before. It lit up the seeker's face, turning him from gorgeous to extraordinary. He purred a single word.
"No." Both brothers recognized that word. They were slightly embarrassed to realize that they no longer understood most of their home language. Pit, they hadn't even realized that Starscream had been speaking Cybertronian in the first place!
"Sideswipe to Prowl."
"What is it, Sideswipe?"
"Can you still speak Cybertronian?"
"Of course," the tactician sounded irritated. "Is there a point to this?"
"Yeah, we have no idea what Starscream is saying."
Prowl was a no nonsense mech. Starscream appreciated it. He also enjoyed the fact that the Autobot was fluent in Cybertronian. He had an almost unnoticeable Praxian accent. It was a nice change from his own Vosian and Soundwave's Kaonite. That did not mean, however, that he was willing to give up any information.
"It is good to hear our home language again. Not many still speak it," Prowl confessed. Starscream snorted.
"The Decepticons have all but abandoned it. Pit, they can't even understand us when we speak now."
"We?"
"Soundwave and I. It's pathetic."
"Ah. That explains why Blitzwing was in command. Flyer though he is, he has no understanding of seeker flight patterns and tactics. What was Megatron thinking?" Starscream relaxed slightly. Prowl wasn't asking him anything incriminating; instead he seemed to be just as disgusted with Megatron as Starscream was. The disdain in his cultured voice amused the Air Commander.
"It was to spite us. I suppose you noticed how uncoordinated our ground troops were? Soundwave is a comminucation specialist; Reflector is not." The conversation continued in that vein, both mechs noting the crowd that had gathered in the brig but deemed it unimportant. Jazz was watching - if it was an issue he would take care of it.
The saboteur was amused. Word had gotten out about Screamer's exotic voice. Prowl's usual monotone had also gained a pleasant tenor, but no mech as foolish enough to let their optics linger on the SIC with Jazz nearby. They enjoyed living, thank you very much.
Starscream, on the other servo, was a novelty. Even Jazz had to admit he enjoyed the smooth vocals, even if he did think his Prowler had a much sweeter voice. But a number of these mechs were supposed to be on duty. Better wrap this up before they started defecting.
"All right mechs, get outta here. I know some of y'all are on duty. I'd hate tah have tah cancel the party next orn." A few of the Autobots seemed to be weighting the pros and cons of staying anyway. A flash of Jazz's blue visor had them reluctantly shuffling out of the brig and back to work.
"Got yerself a fan club, Screamer." Jazz's Polyhexian accent caught the Decepticon's attention.
"Off course I do," the seeker purred. "There is a reason Megatron rarely let me speak to anyone other than my seekers on Cybertron. And don't call me that." The saboteur moved to stand next to his mate. Enemy or not, it was nice to see Prowl enjoy himself. Of the Autobots, only he, Prowl, Mirage and Optimus still fluently spoke Cybertronian.
"Then I assume you are going to be our guest for a while longer? The crew will be thrilled." Prowl's voice was dry.
"Mmm, no, I don't think so."
"Oh?" The seeker just smiled. Prowl, sensing he would get nothing further from the seeker, summoned Huffer and Gears for guard duty. The twins volunteered, but that would be a disaster. They already had a fetish for seekers.
"Well," Jazz said after they had left the brig, "that was interesting."
"Indeed." It wasn't the superficial conversation that had mattered; it was the subtleties, the things the Air Commander probably hadn't even realized he'd let slip.
Soundwave was annoyed. The battle had been a spectacular failure, his friend had been captured and his Lord was obtuse. The seekers were close to mutiny if their Prince wasn't retrieved - and that wasn't taking into account said Prince's mates - but Megatron actually seemed delighted to be free of his Air Commander, and in no hurry to get him back. On top of that mechs kept leering at him and his own creations wouldn't stop snickering!
Reaching his destination, Soundwave waited patiently for the occupants to answer. Thundercracker appeared, ugly scowl marring his beautiful face. It softened when he saw the cassette player. Stepping back, he motioned for the sapphire mech to enter.
"What can we do for you, Soundwave?"
"Mission: Retrieve Starscream."
"How?" Skywarp asked from where he lay sprawled, sulking on the berth. "What can we do? They have antiwarp technology around the ship."
"Soundwave: Will provide distraction. Demand to speak to Starscream. Ravage: will monitor hallways. Watch for Starscream's transfer. When signal is received, Skywarp will intercept."
"But won't the antiwarp shields keep Sky from getting in?" Thundercracker asked.
"Negative. Damaged. Currently only around Brig, Command Center and personal quarters." The purple seeker nodded his understanding.
"Why are you helping us? I mean, I get that you're friends with Star, but you never disobey Megatron." Thundercracker couldn't help being suspicious.
"Lord Megatron: irrational. Morale: suffering."
"Che, yeah. Buckethead's pissed that the mechs actually prefer listening to Scree now," Skywarp smirked. As much as the lustful attention directed at Starscream irked him, Skywarp was insanely proud of his mate. They both were. Soundwave smiled slightly.
"Yes." A telepathic call from Ratbat had Soundwave cut the conversation short. "I am needed. Be ready at 0600 local time," he said, slipping into a more natural pattern of speech. He could trust these mechs not to reveal that he could do so.
"Yes sir." Thundercracker showed the mech out. Before he left a hand on his arm stopped him.
"Soundwave? Thank you."
After fishing Ratbat out of the vents Soundwave headed for his quarters. The young cassette, sensing his creator's weariness, volunteered to go on patrol with Ravage, meaning he'd have the room to himself.
"Soundwave! May I have a word?" Sighing internally, the telepath turned to face Blitzwing. He inclined his head, giving permission.
"What I have to say is rather…sensitive. Is there somewhere we can speak privately?" his room was empty. He was extremely uncomfortable with bringing anyone into his private space but he was tired and wanted to recharge. Perhaps if he had been more aware he would have picked up the other mech's intent.
"Blitzwing. Follow."