[TF] Past Impending 01
Jun. 7th, 2018 06:36 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dracoqueen22Title: Past Impending
Universe: All This and Heaven Too
Characters: Rodimus, Starscream, Drift/Deadlock, Sunstreaker, Turmoil, Original Character(s)
Pairings: past Rodimus/Drift, Starscream/Sunstreaker, past Rodimus/Turmoil
Rated: T
Warnings: implied bad things including physical and sexual abuse
Summary: A shockingly familiar face shows up at Blue Sun, and Starscream learns how and why Rodimus is so deeply in debt.
Group meetings like these were nothing new. Always boring, they were at least delightfully short, because Streamline liked making creds, and he couldn’t do that if his best merchandise wasn’t on the sales floor.
Starscream dragged Rodimus with him, because the newbie needed the experience and the knowledge Streamline intended to impart on them. Rodimus wouldn’t have gone on his own. He tended to avoid anything he deemed boring.
Rodimus grumbled the whole time, but it was pretty cute so Starscream let it be. Rodimus was still a kid in many ways. Like the younger sibling Starscream didn’t know never had and didn’t know he wanted. Probably never would, too. Starscream’s carrier had struggled enough with Starscream.
Sunstreaker, sadly, was at the front of the crowd, and Starscream couldn’t get to him. So he was forced to linger in the back. Taller than most of the other escorts, Starscream easily saw over their heads. Poor Rodimus kept rising to the tips of his feet, craning his neck to see over the crowd.
Streamline stood in front of three mechs of various coloration, though similar in frametype. They were armed, and thick armor suggested they were soldiers or mercenaries. Hm. New guards then. It had been mentioned last week Streamline was looking to expand the team. Business was booming, but their patrons weren’t always respectful or charming.
“Thanks for coming everyone, I’m going to make this brief.” Streamline paced back and forth in front of the three mechs. “These are the new guards for the manor. Look at them. Memorize their faces, their gait, their fields. We don’t want any more mistakes.”
Starscream snorted and folded his arms. Beside him, Rodimus leaned far to the right to get a look at the mechs, only to suddenly stiffen. It was a weird reaction, and Starscream shifted his attention to Rodimus instead. He could always meet the guards later.
Rodimus had gone still, his optics locked on the three new mechs. His hands had dropped to his sides and formed little fists.
“This is Broiler, this is Joyride, and this is Drift. Treat them with the same respect you give the others, and inform me at once if they try to take what they haven’t paid for,” Streamline continued, but Starscream scarcely paid him any attention.
Rodimus’ ventilations had gone rapid. His optics paled. He rocked back on his heelstruts.
“Rodimus?” Starscream murmured, unfolding his arms to rest a hand on the newbie’s shoulder. “Is everything all right?”
Rodimus slowly turned toward him, and his expression was one Starscream had never seen before. Simultaneously bleak and afraid, his face drained of color. His lower lip trembled.
“That’s not… it’s not...” He stammered, glancing at the three guards once more before he shook his head. “That’s not his name.”
And then he was gone, tearing out from under Starscream’s hand to make a break for the door behind them, running out of it as if his aft were on fire.
That was alarming.
Starscream frowned. Concern and curiosity warred. He couldn’t let this lie. Sunstreaker could fill him in on the rest of the meeting later.
Starscream slipped out of the room after Rodimus, but the other mech was nowhere in sight. He’d disappeared that quickly.
Starscream wasn’t sure where Rodimus would go. Certainly not back to his own room. He barely tolerated his roommates and wouldn’t find solace near them. There were few places in Blue Sun, in fact, that one could go for privacy and security. He doubted it would be the roof, Rodimus didn’t seem the sort, and the garden was out of the question.
Could he have…?
It wouldn’t hurt to check.
Starscream slipped into the lift and headed straight for his own quarters. It was a long shot, but one that paid off. The moment he came around the corner, he spotted the bright red and orange frame curled in front of his door.
Rodimus sat on the floor, his knees drawn to his chassis, his arms wrapped around them, head bent forward against his arms. Like a youngling hiding from monsters. His spoiler visibly trembled, his armor taut against his frame. As Starscream approached, he tasted the dark turbulence in Rodimus’ field.
He came within a few steps of Rodimus and paused, wondering how to handle this. Rodimus wasn’t particularly close-mouthed, but he’d been very vague as to his past. Starscream only knew what the rumors told him – that if Blue Sun did have the capacity to enslave mechs, then Rodimus’ situation was the nearest thing to it.
Best to tread carefully.
“It’s never polite to ask someone why they work here,” Starscream said quietly. He paused to give Rodimus a moment to absorb that. “And while it’s supposed to be voluntary, I know the world is not so moral.”
Rodimus ex-vented and looked up, his gaze as bleak as his expression. “I’m here by choice. I have a debt, and this is how I have to pay it,” he rasped, his vocalizer thick with static, like someone struggling to maintain their emotional balance.
“Because there are consequences if you don’t,” Starscream guessed. It didn’t equivocate in his head, this idea of it being Rodimus’ choice but him still claiming this was the method given to him as repayment.
Rodimus’ gaze fell again. He nibbled on his bottom lip, his hands tightening where they gripped his arms. “… I was an idiot,” he finally whispered.
Tread carefully indeed.
Starscream cycled a ventilation. “Come inside.” He reached over Rodimus to key the door open. “If you want to talk, I’ll listen. I won’t even tell Sunstreaker.” He offered Rodimus a hand.
Rodimus stared at it for a long moment, clearly indecisive, before he let Starscream pull him to his feet. He still wouldn’t meet Starscream’s optics. Instead he stared at the floor, shame leaking into his energy field.
“Even if he asks?”
“He doesn’t own me. And I can keep a secret.” Starscream squeezed Rodimus’ hand and tilted his head toward the door. “Coming?”
Rodimus nodded.
Starscream closed and locked the door behind them, putting a warning on it so Sunstreaker knew not to barge inside. Whatever it took to make Rodimus more comfortable.
Rodimus stood in the middle of the room, looking around as if he didn’t recognize anything and didn’t know what to do. His spoiler drooped lower than Starscream had ever seen it. Gone was the usual vivacious energy that tended to cloak him.
Starscream took his hand and tugged him to the windowseat, a bit disturbed by how Rodimus didn’t put up much of a protest. He curled into the small seat, frame pressed against the glass as he stared through to the streets below. Starscream sat across from him and gnawed on his bottom lip.
Well, he was nothing if not determined.
“So,” Starscream said, hoping to prod Rodimus into conversation. “Which one?”
Rodimus’ head tilted against the transsteel. “Drift.”
The white and red mech? He’d been carrying two swords if Starscream remembered. Seemed to be a speedster of some kind. He was smaller than the other two, and the one Starscream had been surprised to find was a guard and not another escort. He certainly had the look of a mech others would be willing to purchase.
“Back then, I knew him as Deadlock,” Rodimus continued without prompting. “He is – or was I guess – Turmoil’s second. His most trusted Blade.”
Turmoil. Ugh. So at least that part of the rumor was true. Rodimus was here because he’d crossed Turmoil. He wouldn’t be the first, but what happened to the other victims of Turmoil’s wrath was something few spoke of. It was too depressing.
“How’d you get mixed up with his kind?” Starscream asked.
“Like any idiot does.” Rodimus ex-vented a sigh and told his story to the window. “I was cold and hungry, and Turmoil called me the prettiest thing he’d ever seen.”
Starscream scowled. “He’s a predator.”
Rodimus hunched. “I didn’t know that then.” He curled into himself, adopting the same position he’d taken outside the door. “I only knew he was charming, and I couldn’t remember ever being wanted like that before.”
Because that was how predators worked. They spotted the prey and knew exactly what lures would entrap them. Rodimus must have been so young. Naive. Likely unprotected. Unwanted, perhaps. Desperate even. Turmoil always did know how to snare the pretty ones.
“How long did that last?”
Rodimus chewed on his bottom lip. “I was trapped before I knew I should escape. By the time I realized what I’d gotten myself into, it was too late.” Another shuddery vent and he finally turned his optics toward Starscream. “I mean, I knew Turmoil was some kind of black market dealer, everyone knew that. But I thought I was special. That he was different toward me because I meant something.”
Starscream’s spark clenched. It was, sadly, a story he’d heard before. There were many mechs who’d come to Blue Sun to escape a life on the streets. If one was pretty enough, skilled enough, charming enough, places like Blue Sun were one of the quickest ways to earn enough money to start a new life.
Rodimus had yet to say how this Deadlock – Drift – fit into the tale.
“I know that look,” Rodimus said when Starscream said nothing. “That’s the look lots of people give me. That ‘why didn’t you leave’ look. Like I had somewhere else to go that wasn’t back on the street, starving and cold all over again.” His lips curved downward, into a bitter scowl. “Turmoil was rough and an aft and possessive, but there are worse things.”
“That’s not what I was thinking.” Starscream scooted closer, daring to rest a hand on Rodimus’ arm and offer his field, despite the nauseating roil of Rodimus’ own. “You’ll find a lot of mechs here know what that’s like. I’m not judging you.”
“Not yet anyway.” A shudder ran across Rodimus’ frame. “You’d think I’d learned my lesson from Turmoil. That his second in command couldn’t be much better, but Primus, I was stupid. So stupid.” He scrubbed the heel of his hand against the bridge of his nasal ridge. “Offer me a drop of kindness, and that’s all it takes, because I’m an idiot.”
Starscream’s spark clenched harder. He knew this self-deprecating tone. Had, in fact, fought against it all his life. It hurt to hear it coming from Rodimus, who always sounded so damn sure of himself, even when logic dictated he was a rookie.
“It was innocent at first,” Rodimus said, the story pouring out of him as though he couldn’t stop himself. “Turmoil trusted Deadlock, you see. Trusted him to guard his pretty pet when he didn’t think he could trust anyone else. And Deadlock was nicer than the others. He didn’t leer at me or make snide comments about what I was.
“Oh, he looked, everyone looked, but it didn’t make me feel greasy on the inside. It was more like appreciation. I felt wanted again. Like a person and not a toy.”
Rodimus sucked in a shuddery breath, hiding behind his hand. “I fell for it. Just like with Turmoil. I hated Turmoil, and I wanted to get away, and I thought Deadlock was some kind of brave hero for wanting to be with me despite knowing Turmoil wouldn’t like it. He wanted to run away together, you know. And I, spark over head, certain I’d found my hero, decided it was the best idea I ever heard.”
Rodimus’ shaking was more than Starscream could take. It was only getting worse. He could hear the clatter of Rodimus’ armor, and the way his optics stared bright and unseeing past the concealment of his hand was sparkbreaking. Starscream already knew where the story was going, but was helpless to stop it, as the words spilled out.
“We needed credits though. Lots of them. We couldn’t get away from Turmoil’s influence without it,” Rodimus paused long enough to swallow, and it was so thick that it was audible. “Deadlock didn’t have access to them. I did. What was a little theft for freedom? For love? Besides, I figured I’d earned it. I was owed it. Turmoil wouldn’t even miss it.”
Rodimus’ fans whined, and his vents made these gasping, hitching noises, but it didn’t stop him. If anything, it just spurred him on.
“Deadlock was supposed to buy us tickets and supplies, everything we needed, then come back for me. Him leaving was normal, you know, while I wasn’t allowed far from Turmoil’s berth. Not without a proper escort anyway.” His optics had a damp sheen to them, his vents coming so ragged Starscream feared he’d overheat. “Deadlock never showed. I waited, and I waited, and I even worried for that aft, but he never showed up.”
Rodimus looked up then, his face so bleak Starscream felt it down to his struts. “I kept waiting, thinking he would come, and when my door opened, the only one on the other side was Turmoil. And he knew exactly what I’d done.”
Primus.
Starscream stopped resisting. He closed the space between them and pulled Rodimus into his arms, as if his embrace could keep the rattling, violently trembling speedster together. Rodimus clung to him like a lifeline, head buried against his cockpit, still shaking.
“I stole the credits,” Rodimus squeezed out, fingers gripping so tight Starscream’s plating creaked, but he didn’t have the spark to say anything. “It didn’t matter why or that I didn’t have them anymore. I had to pay them back with interest. And Turmoil knew I had no way to do that.”
Starscream worked his intake. “You could have done any number of things,” he rasped, his optics shuttering as he already knew the answer. “Why send you here?”
“Because if I was going to act like a whore, I might as well get paid for it.”
Starscream muttered a vile curse before he could stop himself. Anger stoked itself in his belly, and every word out of Rodimus’ mouth only built the flames higher. This Deadlock, Drift, whatever he was calling himself, had quite clearly used Rodimus to escape Turmoil. Taking advantage of Rodimus’ hunger for affection and belonging.
What a monster.
“He’s wrong,” Starscream said, and surprised himself with the fierceness of it, his embrace tightening around Rodimus. “The only mistake you made was having faith in the wrong people, Rodimus. Turmoil is filth. Scum. And this Deadlock is no better.”
Rodimus’ vents hitched. “That’s not even the worst part.” He sounded absolutely miserable, static leaking into every glyph.
Starscream worked his jaw. “Tell me.”
“I still believed in him, you know,” Rodimus said, barely above a whisper, a secret he couldn’t bear to tell. “Even after Turmoil dumped me here, I believed Deadlock would come back for me. So when I first saw him, for a moment, I thought I’d been right.”
Starscream ex-vented a soft sigh. His field encapsulated Rodimus, a buffer to keep out the darkness and soothe the pain emanating from Rodimus’ field.
“But I’m wrong. Then and now. He doesn’t care. He never did. And I’m still stuck here.” Rodimus’ vents hitched, his fingers digging hard into seams, hard enough to make Starscream wince. “Still stupidly hoping I’m worth something.”
To someone.
Though the latter went unsaid, Starscream knew what Rodimus meant. He’d felt the ache of that desire as well. He’d not clawed his way into an education because it was easy. He’d done it because he wanted it. and everyone told him he couldn’t.
“That’s because you are,” Starscream said, and surprised himself with the fierceness of his reply.
Rodimus shook his head, face rubbing against Starscream’s cockpit before he looked up. “I’m not like you. I’m not good at anything. I’m not smart. This really is all I’m good for.” His optics were watery, barren, and they broke Starscream’s spark. “Turmoil was right.”
“No, he wasn’t,” Starscream insisted and cupped Rodimus’ face so that he couldn’t look away. “You have potential. You just haven’t had the chance to figure it out. Those two slaggers aren’t worth it, Roddy. They aren’t.”
Rodimus vented, shuddery though it was. “I can’t do it,” he said, on the edge of a gasp. “I can’t stay here and see him every day. It’s like that moment all over again, realizing I wasn’t worth enough for him to come back for.”
Starscream swallowed thickly and let Rodimus lower his face, tucking it back under Starscream’s chin. “We’ll figure something out,” he said. “Between me and Sunstreaker, we’ll think of something.”
Though it did beg the question why Deadlock – or Drift, whatever – was here in the first place. Starscream highly doubted it was to rescue Rodimus. There was some other reason Drift had come here, to a place Turmoil and his cronies were known to frequent, similar enough to his Deadlock-self that Rodimus immediately recognized him.
Something didn’t sit quite right about it, but now was not the time to ponder why. He had to take care of Rodimus first.
The door to their suite pinged. Sunstreaker, most likely. He’d gotten Starscream’s warning and did the polite thing by requesting entry rather than letting himself inside.
Rodimus snuggled into Starscream’s arms. “I’m sorry,” he murmured.
Starscream blinked, distracted from the door. “For what?”
Silence greeted the answer. If anything, Rodimus just burrowed deeper, as though he could hide in the safety of Starscream’s arms.
“Rodimus?”
Fingers stroked along his seams. “Can I stay here tonight?” Rodimus asked, changing the subject. “After shift, I mean.”
The door pinged again.
Starscream cupped Rodimus’ head. “You can stay as long as you like,” he murmured, his spark breaking for the newbie he’d accidentally adopted. “But Rodimus, Sunstreaker wants to come in. Is that all right?”
“It’s his room.” Rodimus tensed a little in Starscream’s arms, but his iron-grip loosened. “And I know better than to think this’ll stay a secret for long anyway.”
“You’d be surprised.”
Starscream remotely unlocked the door, and Sunstreaker immediately came inside, his face lined with concern. It changed to confusion when he saw Rodimus, and he shot a look at Starscream, who shook his head and gestured Sunstreaker over.
“It’s a long story,” Starscream said and sighed. He kept idly stroking Rodimus, relieved that the gentle sweeps of his hand seemed to be calming Rodimus’ frenetic field. “I need to tell Streamline Rodimus won’t be on the floor today.”
“I can do that,” Sunstreaker replied. His expression softened as he looked at Rodimus.
Starscream almost grinned. He knew his roommate had a soft spot for Rodimus, even if he wouldn’t show it.
“No, I’ve two clients scheduled today so I have to go regardless. This is your rest day. Take it.”
“I can still work,” Rodimus said, muffled against Starscream’s chassis.
“Not in this state you can’t,” Sunstreaker said with a growl. He plopped down on the windowseat behind Rodimus, in the narrow space still available. “That field of yours is in no condition to entertain, and it’s not something you can just rein in and push down.”
“You won’t be punished either,” Starscream said, guessing part of Rodimus’ worry as well. No doubt Turmoil had left some kind of guidelines for Streamline as to how Rodimus should work to fulfill his debt. “I’ll make sure of it.”
Rodimus leaned back, looking up at Starscream, and his wrecked expression made it clear Sunstreaker’s assessment was correct. “Don’t take punishment for me either.” His lower lip wobbled.
Starscream wanted to kiss his worries away, but knew it wouldn’t work. So instead he cupped Rodimus’ face and brushed the pad of his thumb over his bottom lip.
“Oh, they don’t dare punish me. I make them too much money,” Starscream said with a smirk. “So you just stay here and let Sunstreaker pamper you.”
Rodimus’ optics widened, his mouth opened as if to protest.
“Which he will,” Starscream said before Rodimus could argue contrary to the point. Starscream had already seen the look in Sunstreaker’s optics. He was angry on Rodimus’ behalf, even without knowing the whole story. “And I’ll take care of the rest.”
Rodimus stared at him for a long, searching moment before he finally nodded. “Okay,” he said, like a youngling who’d been told the monster under his berth wasn’t real, and he believed his caretakers because they wouldn’t lie, would they?
Lies, they were. The monster was real, it just didn’t hide under berths.
Starscream smiled softly and reluctantly disentangled himself from Rodimus’ arms. The speedster had only a moment to look bereft before Sunstreaker snatched him up, folding the younger mech into an embrace Rodimus probably never knew him capable of offering.
Rodimus squawked, squirming about at first, until he found himself in the cradle of Sunstreaker’s frame. He was warm and cozy, his head tucked under Sunstreaker’s chin.
“Hush,” Sunstreaker said gruffly, his arms wrapped like a protective barrier around Rodimus. “Just this once, rookie.”
They looked adorable, Starscream had to admit. He leaned in brushing his lips over Sunstreaker’s cheek and murmured into his partner’s audial, “Comm me if you need me. And be nice.”
“I’m always nice,” Sunstreaker muttered, but his arms visibly tightened around Rodimus. His field rose up, stroking over the frazzled edges of Rodimus’ poking back at him.
“Nicer then,” Starscream said with a roll of his optics.
He hesitated, not wanting to leave Rodimus in such a fragile state, but knowing he couldn’t miss his appointments or Streamline would be furious. He needed Streamline on his side right now, to get Rodimus out of this without punishment, and without it getting back to Turmoil.
Starscream had no doubts Turmoil wanted his former lover to be humiliated and degraded as much as possible. Which explained a lot actually. Explained why Rodimus had been so clueless, why his first clients for months had been such bullies, why he’d earned so little. Why he’d always returned to the viewing room looking like a banged up mess and why there never seemed to be a complaint on file against his clients.
They were, if Starscream recalled, mostly Turmoil’s cronies. Who probably didn’t even pay for their time with Rodimus.
Starscream ground his denta, anger flaring anew. He’d speak to Streamline, and then he’d see if he could find this Drift and corner him. Whatever plans Drift had, he needed to know how to behave. Rodimus wasn’t without protectors anymore. No one was going to hurt him while Starscream was around.
No one.
Mechs came to Blue Sun for all sorts of reasons. For some, it was even a haven of sorts. A hideaway from whatever they were running from. Rodimus might be one of the few who had no choice in the matter, but Starscream wouldn’t stand for seeing him suffer during the length of his tenure.
Clearly, he’d suffered enough.
“I’ll be back later,” Starscream said as he gave himself a quick onceover in the mirror. He was presentable, perhaps not polished to perfection, but his client for the evening would be fine with it.
Blurr never cared for the pomp and circumstance anyway. All he sought was his overloads, as abundantly as possible. Starscream didn’t need to look pretty for those. It took hardly anything to arouse the racer as it was. Thank Primus Starscream had energy to spare, thanks to his overlarge spark, because he was the only one in Blue Sun who could keep up with Blurr.
“We’ll be here,” Sunstreaker said.
Rodimus had finally relaxed in Sunstreaker’s embrace. “Not going anywhere.”
Good.
Satisfied, Starscream excused himself from the room, locking it behind him such that only he or Sunstreaker could enter. He headed downstairs to the reception room, contacting Streamline along the way. He might have fibbed a little, about Rodimus coming down with a virus, nothing to worry about, it would pass in a day or two. But perhaps they should screen their incoming clientele a bit better.
Streamline bought it. Of course, he would. It was a problem Blue Sun had faced a time or two. Mechs who were ill, pretending they weren’t because they wanted an overload and didn’t care if they infected their partner to get it. There were screening protocols, but if mechs lied or the screeners were lazy, nothing could be helped.
That took care of Rodimus for a day or two. Now to find Drift.
Most of the guards would be strategically posted around the reception room, keeping an optic on the browsing customers. Two would be placed outside the door, as deterrent for would-be thieves or to help discourage those who only wanted to window-shop. A few would be charged with screening customers, but Starscream doubted Streamline would assign a new hire to that important task.
Starscream paused at the top of the ramp which descended into the receiving area. Low music was already playing, and the sound of interested conversation was a murmur below the soft melody. Starscream, luckily, did not have to be available for browsing as he was already booked, which allowed him the luxury of scanning the crowd, looking for a certain mech.
He spotted Drift by the balcony, standing attentively, hand resting on one of his sword hilts as he scanned the crowd for signs of danger. Well, at least he was taking this job seriously. Though given what Rodimus had told Starscream, he wondered again why this Drift was here. Surely there were other jobs. If he were truly hiding from Turmoil, this was not the place to do it.
Everyone knew Turmoil and Streamline were business partners. It was as if Drift was here asking for trouble.
Starscream headed straight for Drift, dodging prospective clients as he did with apologetic smiles. Drift noticed him immediately, straightening as Starscream approached.
Planting a smile on his face, fake though it was, Starscream wriggled his fingers in a little wave. “Welcome to Blue Sun!”
Drift grinned in return. “Thanks!” he said, and squinted at Starscream, something sharp and assessing in the look. “You’re Starscream, right?”
His optics narrowed. “How did you know?” Starscream demanded as he crossed his arms over his chassis.
“I made it a point to memorize all the profiles of the escorts when I was hired. Best to be informed, you know.” Drift scratched at his chin, his grin easygoing. A little too calm, if you asked Starscream.
None of Streamline’s hired cronies ever bothered to actually pay that much attention to their jobs. Most made a point of memorizing the Blue Sun stamp every escort carried and that was it. Only those with the longest tenure could actually recognize the escorts on sight.
Suspicious.
Starscream barely kept from sneering. “Did you now? Then I suppose you must have recognized a familiar face among the photos.”
It was Drift’s turn for his optics to narrow. “Not sure what you mean.” His playful attitude tightened into something else.
“Oh, a liar as well as a thief,” Starscream purred. He cocked a hip, grinning without amusement. “Not surprised, given what I’ve been told about you. But since you’re feigning ignorance allow me to enlighten you.” He leaned forward, rather pleased that he had half a head over the new guard. “Rodimus.”
Drift was good, but he couldn’t hide the way his finials twitched, or the hitch in his ventilations. “It’s impossible,” he said. “There’s no way Rodimus would be here.”
“And just what did you think would happen after you stole from Turmoil and left him to take the fall, huh?” Starscream drew up straight, wings hitching high and tight. He lifted a hand, poking a taloned finger at Drift’s chassis. “He’s here because of you, slagger. And if you so much as look at him, I will tear your face off, do you understand me?”
“That should be Roddy’s decision, not yours!” Drift hissed, betraying a mouthful of sharpened denta.
Ah, there it was, the hint of a mech who had been Deadlock, a trusted Blade to a piece of scum like Turmoil. He bristled, menace rising around him, a rather dark menace as only someone who had worked with Turmoil could carry.
“You have no right to call him that,” Starscream snapped. He kept his voice low, so as not to attract attention. “Listen to me well, Deadlock. Here, I have more power than you, and here, you do what I say. And I say that you stay away from him.”
Drift cycled a sharp ventilation and reared back, his finials tilting forward. “I want to talk to him.”
“Well, he doesn’t want to talk to you. So I suggest you do him a favor, like you couldn’t bother to before, and leave him alone.” Starscream took a step back, not retreating, but dismissing Drift from his attention. “Or I’ll make you wish Turmoil found you after I’m through with you.”
He didn’t wait for Drift to reply. His warning was clear enough.
Starscream spun on a heel and strode away from Drift, holding his head up high. Blurr would be here soon, and the rest of Starscream’s evening would be spent in a haze of overloads, mostly on the racer’s end.
Starscream had no more thoughts to spare on Drift. His concern was for Rodimus alone. So when he returned to his hab tonight, curling up with Sunstreaker and Rodimus both, he could reassure Rodimus he had nothing to worry about.
Drift would upset him no more. Starscream swore it.
****
a/n: There are seven chapters and this fic is complete, I'm just editing as I go. Cheers!
Universe: All This and Heaven Too
Characters: Rodimus, Starscream, Drift/Deadlock, Sunstreaker, Turmoil, Original Character(s)
Pairings: past Rodimus/Drift, Starscream/Sunstreaker, past Rodimus/Turmoil
Rated: T
Warnings: implied bad things including physical and sexual abuse
Summary: A shockingly familiar face shows up at Blue Sun, and Starscream learns how and why Rodimus is so deeply in debt.
Part One
Group meetings like these were nothing new. Always boring, they were at least delightfully short, because Streamline liked making creds, and he couldn’t do that if his best merchandise wasn’t on the sales floor.
Starscream dragged Rodimus with him, because the newbie needed the experience and the knowledge Streamline intended to impart on them. Rodimus wouldn’t have gone on his own. He tended to avoid anything he deemed boring.
Rodimus grumbled the whole time, but it was pretty cute so Starscream let it be. Rodimus was still a kid in many ways. Like the younger sibling Starscream didn’t know never had and didn’t know he wanted. Probably never would, too. Starscream’s carrier had struggled enough with Starscream.
Sunstreaker, sadly, was at the front of the crowd, and Starscream couldn’t get to him. So he was forced to linger in the back. Taller than most of the other escorts, Starscream easily saw over their heads. Poor Rodimus kept rising to the tips of his feet, craning his neck to see over the crowd.
Streamline stood in front of three mechs of various coloration, though similar in frametype. They were armed, and thick armor suggested they were soldiers or mercenaries. Hm. New guards then. It had been mentioned last week Streamline was looking to expand the team. Business was booming, but their patrons weren’t always respectful or charming.
“Thanks for coming everyone, I’m going to make this brief.” Streamline paced back and forth in front of the three mechs. “These are the new guards for the manor. Look at them. Memorize their faces, their gait, their fields. We don’t want any more mistakes.”
Starscream snorted and folded his arms. Beside him, Rodimus leaned far to the right to get a look at the mechs, only to suddenly stiffen. It was a weird reaction, and Starscream shifted his attention to Rodimus instead. He could always meet the guards later.
Rodimus had gone still, his optics locked on the three new mechs. His hands had dropped to his sides and formed little fists.
“This is Broiler, this is Joyride, and this is Drift. Treat them with the same respect you give the others, and inform me at once if they try to take what they haven’t paid for,” Streamline continued, but Starscream scarcely paid him any attention.
Rodimus’ ventilations had gone rapid. His optics paled. He rocked back on his heelstruts.
“Rodimus?” Starscream murmured, unfolding his arms to rest a hand on the newbie’s shoulder. “Is everything all right?”
Rodimus slowly turned toward him, and his expression was one Starscream had never seen before. Simultaneously bleak and afraid, his face drained of color. His lower lip trembled.
“That’s not… it’s not...” He stammered, glancing at the three guards once more before he shook his head. “That’s not his name.”
And then he was gone, tearing out from under Starscream’s hand to make a break for the door behind them, running out of it as if his aft were on fire.
That was alarming.
Starscream frowned. Concern and curiosity warred. He couldn’t let this lie. Sunstreaker could fill him in on the rest of the meeting later.
Starscream slipped out of the room after Rodimus, but the other mech was nowhere in sight. He’d disappeared that quickly.
Starscream wasn’t sure where Rodimus would go. Certainly not back to his own room. He barely tolerated his roommates and wouldn’t find solace near them. There were few places in Blue Sun, in fact, that one could go for privacy and security. He doubted it would be the roof, Rodimus didn’t seem the sort, and the garden was out of the question.
Could he have…?
It wouldn’t hurt to check.
Starscream slipped into the lift and headed straight for his own quarters. It was a long shot, but one that paid off. The moment he came around the corner, he spotted the bright red and orange frame curled in front of his door.
Rodimus sat on the floor, his knees drawn to his chassis, his arms wrapped around them, head bent forward against his arms. Like a youngling hiding from monsters. His spoiler visibly trembled, his armor taut against his frame. As Starscream approached, he tasted the dark turbulence in Rodimus’ field.
He came within a few steps of Rodimus and paused, wondering how to handle this. Rodimus wasn’t particularly close-mouthed, but he’d been very vague as to his past. Starscream only knew what the rumors told him – that if Blue Sun did have the capacity to enslave mechs, then Rodimus’ situation was the nearest thing to it.
Best to tread carefully.
“It’s never polite to ask someone why they work here,” Starscream said quietly. He paused to give Rodimus a moment to absorb that. “And while it’s supposed to be voluntary, I know the world is not so moral.”
Rodimus ex-vented and looked up, his gaze as bleak as his expression. “I’m here by choice. I have a debt, and this is how I have to pay it,” he rasped, his vocalizer thick with static, like someone struggling to maintain their emotional balance.
“Because there are consequences if you don’t,” Starscream guessed. It didn’t equivocate in his head, this idea of it being Rodimus’ choice but him still claiming this was the method given to him as repayment.
Rodimus’ gaze fell again. He nibbled on his bottom lip, his hands tightening where they gripped his arms. “… I was an idiot,” he finally whispered.
Tread carefully indeed.
Starscream cycled a ventilation. “Come inside.” He reached over Rodimus to key the door open. “If you want to talk, I’ll listen. I won’t even tell Sunstreaker.” He offered Rodimus a hand.
Rodimus stared at it for a long moment, clearly indecisive, before he let Starscream pull him to his feet. He still wouldn’t meet Starscream’s optics. Instead he stared at the floor, shame leaking into his energy field.
“Even if he asks?”
“He doesn’t own me. And I can keep a secret.” Starscream squeezed Rodimus’ hand and tilted his head toward the door. “Coming?”
Rodimus nodded.
Starscream closed and locked the door behind them, putting a warning on it so Sunstreaker knew not to barge inside. Whatever it took to make Rodimus more comfortable.
Rodimus stood in the middle of the room, looking around as if he didn’t recognize anything and didn’t know what to do. His spoiler drooped lower than Starscream had ever seen it. Gone was the usual vivacious energy that tended to cloak him.
Starscream took his hand and tugged him to the windowseat, a bit disturbed by how Rodimus didn’t put up much of a protest. He curled into the small seat, frame pressed against the glass as he stared through to the streets below. Starscream sat across from him and gnawed on his bottom lip.
Well, he was nothing if not determined.
“So,” Starscream said, hoping to prod Rodimus into conversation. “Which one?”
Rodimus’ head tilted against the transsteel. “Drift.”
The white and red mech? He’d been carrying two swords if Starscream remembered. Seemed to be a speedster of some kind. He was smaller than the other two, and the one Starscream had been surprised to find was a guard and not another escort. He certainly had the look of a mech others would be willing to purchase.
“Back then, I knew him as Deadlock,” Rodimus continued without prompting. “He is – or was I guess – Turmoil’s second. His most trusted Blade.”
Turmoil. Ugh. So at least that part of the rumor was true. Rodimus was here because he’d crossed Turmoil. He wouldn’t be the first, but what happened to the other victims of Turmoil’s wrath was something few spoke of. It was too depressing.
“How’d you get mixed up with his kind?” Starscream asked.
“Like any idiot does.” Rodimus ex-vented a sigh and told his story to the window. “I was cold and hungry, and Turmoil called me the prettiest thing he’d ever seen.”
Starscream scowled. “He’s a predator.”
Rodimus hunched. “I didn’t know that then.” He curled into himself, adopting the same position he’d taken outside the door. “I only knew he was charming, and I couldn’t remember ever being wanted like that before.”
Because that was how predators worked. They spotted the prey and knew exactly what lures would entrap them. Rodimus must have been so young. Naive. Likely unprotected. Unwanted, perhaps. Desperate even. Turmoil always did know how to snare the pretty ones.
“How long did that last?”
Rodimus chewed on his bottom lip. “I was trapped before I knew I should escape. By the time I realized what I’d gotten myself into, it was too late.” Another shuddery vent and he finally turned his optics toward Starscream. “I mean, I knew Turmoil was some kind of black market dealer, everyone knew that. But I thought I was special. That he was different toward me because I meant something.”
Starscream’s spark clenched. It was, sadly, a story he’d heard before. There were many mechs who’d come to Blue Sun to escape a life on the streets. If one was pretty enough, skilled enough, charming enough, places like Blue Sun were one of the quickest ways to earn enough money to start a new life.
Rodimus had yet to say how this Deadlock – Drift – fit into the tale.
“I know that look,” Rodimus said when Starscream said nothing. “That’s the look lots of people give me. That ‘why didn’t you leave’ look. Like I had somewhere else to go that wasn’t back on the street, starving and cold all over again.” His lips curved downward, into a bitter scowl. “Turmoil was rough and an aft and possessive, but there are worse things.”
“That’s not what I was thinking.” Starscream scooted closer, daring to rest a hand on Rodimus’ arm and offer his field, despite the nauseating roil of Rodimus’ own. “You’ll find a lot of mechs here know what that’s like. I’m not judging you.”
“Not yet anyway.” A shudder ran across Rodimus’ frame. “You’d think I’d learned my lesson from Turmoil. That his second in command couldn’t be much better, but Primus, I was stupid. So stupid.” He scrubbed the heel of his hand against the bridge of his nasal ridge. “Offer me a drop of kindness, and that’s all it takes, because I’m an idiot.”
Starscream’s spark clenched harder. He knew this self-deprecating tone. Had, in fact, fought against it all his life. It hurt to hear it coming from Rodimus, who always sounded so damn sure of himself, even when logic dictated he was a rookie.
“It was innocent at first,” Rodimus said, the story pouring out of him as though he couldn’t stop himself. “Turmoil trusted Deadlock, you see. Trusted him to guard his pretty pet when he didn’t think he could trust anyone else. And Deadlock was nicer than the others. He didn’t leer at me or make snide comments about what I was.
“Oh, he looked, everyone looked, but it didn’t make me feel greasy on the inside. It was more like appreciation. I felt wanted again. Like a person and not a toy.”
Rodimus sucked in a shuddery breath, hiding behind his hand. “I fell for it. Just like with Turmoil. I hated Turmoil, and I wanted to get away, and I thought Deadlock was some kind of brave hero for wanting to be with me despite knowing Turmoil wouldn’t like it. He wanted to run away together, you know. And I, spark over head, certain I’d found my hero, decided it was the best idea I ever heard.”
Rodimus’ shaking was more than Starscream could take. It was only getting worse. He could hear the clatter of Rodimus’ armor, and the way his optics stared bright and unseeing past the concealment of his hand was sparkbreaking. Starscream already knew where the story was going, but was helpless to stop it, as the words spilled out.
“We needed credits though. Lots of them. We couldn’t get away from Turmoil’s influence without it,” Rodimus paused long enough to swallow, and it was so thick that it was audible. “Deadlock didn’t have access to them. I did. What was a little theft for freedom? For love? Besides, I figured I’d earned it. I was owed it. Turmoil wouldn’t even miss it.”
Rodimus’ fans whined, and his vents made these gasping, hitching noises, but it didn’t stop him. If anything, it just spurred him on.
“Deadlock was supposed to buy us tickets and supplies, everything we needed, then come back for me. Him leaving was normal, you know, while I wasn’t allowed far from Turmoil’s berth. Not without a proper escort anyway.” His optics had a damp sheen to them, his vents coming so ragged Starscream feared he’d overheat. “Deadlock never showed. I waited, and I waited, and I even worried for that aft, but he never showed up.”
Rodimus looked up then, his face so bleak Starscream felt it down to his struts. “I kept waiting, thinking he would come, and when my door opened, the only one on the other side was Turmoil. And he knew exactly what I’d done.”
Primus.
Starscream stopped resisting. He closed the space between them and pulled Rodimus into his arms, as if his embrace could keep the rattling, violently trembling speedster together. Rodimus clung to him like a lifeline, head buried against his cockpit, still shaking.
“I stole the credits,” Rodimus squeezed out, fingers gripping so tight Starscream’s plating creaked, but he didn’t have the spark to say anything. “It didn’t matter why or that I didn’t have them anymore. I had to pay them back with interest. And Turmoil knew I had no way to do that.”
Starscream worked his intake. “You could have done any number of things,” he rasped, his optics shuttering as he already knew the answer. “Why send you here?”
“Because if I was going to act like a whore, I might as well get paid for it.”
Starscream muttered a vile curse before he could stop himself. Anger stoked itself in his belly, and every word out of Rodimus’ mouth only built the flames higher. This Deadlock, Drift, whatever he was calling himself, had quite clearly used Rodimus to escape Turmoil. Taking advantage of Rodimus’ hunger for affection and belonging.
What a monster.
“He’s wrong,” Starscream said, and surprised himself with the fierceness of it, his embrace tightening around Rodimus. “The only mistake you made was having faith in the wrong people, Rodimus. Turmoil is filth. Scum. And this Deadlock is no better.”
Rodimus’ vents hitched. “That’s not even the worst part.” He sounded absolutely miserable, static leaking into every glyph.
Starscream worked his jaw. “Tell me.”
“I still believed in him, you know,” Rodimus said, barely above a whisper, a secret he couldn’t bear to tell. “Even after Turmoil dumped me here, I believed Deadlock would come back for me. So when I first saw him, for a moment, I thought I’d been right.”
Starscream ex-vented a soft sigh. His field encapsulated Rodimus, a buffer to keep out the darkness and soothe the pain emanating from Rodimus’ field.
“But I’m wrong. Then and now. He doesn’t care. He never did. And I’m still stuck here.” Rodimus’ vents hitched, his fingers digging hard into seams, hard enough to make Starscream wince. “Still stupidly hoping I’m worth something.”
To someone.
Though the latter went unsaid, Starscream knew what Rodimus meant. He’d felt the ache of that desire as well. He’d not clawed his way into an education because it was easy. He’d done it because he wanted it. and everyone told him he couldn’t.
“That’s because you are,” Starscream said, and surprised himself with the fierceness of his reply.
Rodimus shook his head, face rubbing against Starscream’s cockpit before he looked up. “I’m not like you. I’m not good at anything. I’m not smart. This really is all I’m good for.” His optics were watery, barren, and they broke Starscream’s spark. “Turmoil was right.”
“No, he wasn’t,” Starscream insisted and cupped Rodimus’ face so that he couldn’t look away. “You have potential. You just haven’t had the chance to figure it out. Those two slaggers aren’t worth it, Roddy. They aren’t.”
Rodimus vented, shuddery though it was. “I can’t do it,” he said, on the edge of a gasp. “I can’t stay here and see him every day. It’s like that moment all over again, realizing I wasn’t worth enough for him to come back for.”
Starscream swallowed thickly and let Rodimus lower his face, tucking it back under Starscream’s chin. “We’ll figure something out,” he said. “Between me and Sunstreaker, we’ll think of something.”
Though it did beg the question why Deadlock – or Drift, whatever – was here in the first place. Starscream highly doubted it was to rescue Rodimus. There was some other reason Drift had come here, to a place Turmoil and his cronies were known to frequent, similar enough to his Deadlock-self that Rodimus immediately recognized him.
Something didn’t sit quite right about it, but now was not the time to ponder why. He had to take care of Rodimus first.
The door to their suite pinged. Sunstreaker, most likely. He’d gotten Starscream’s warning and did the polite thing by requesting entry rather than letting himself inside.
Rodimus snuggled into Starscream’s arms. “I’m sorry,” he murmured.
Starscream blinked, distracted from the door. “For what?”
Silence greeted the answer. If anything, Rodimus just burrowed deeper, as though he could hide in the safety of Starscream’s arms.
“Rodimus?”
Fingers stroked along his seams. “Can I stay here tonight?” Rodimus asked, changing the subject. “After shift, I mean.”
The door pinged again.
Starscream cupped Rodimus’ head. “You can stay as long as you like,” he murmured, his spark breaking for the newbie he’d accidentally adopted. “But Rodimus, Sunstreaker wants to come in. Is that all right?”
“It’s his room.” Rodimus tensed a little in Starscream’s arms, but his iron-grip loosened. “And I know better than to think this’ll stay a secret for long anyway.”
“You’d be surprised.”
Starscream remotely unlocked the door, and Sunstreaker immediately came inside, his face lined with concern. It changed to confusion when he saw Rodimus, and he shot a look at Starscream, who shook his head and gestured Sunstreaker over.
“It’s a long story,” Starscream said and sighed. He kept idly stroking Rodimus, relieved that the gentle sweeps of his hand seemed to be calming Rodimus’ frenetic field. “I need to tell Streamline Rodimus won’t be on the floor today.”
“I can do that,” Sunstreaker replied. His expression softened as he looked at Rodimus.
Starscream almost grinned. He knew his roommate had a soft spot for Rodimus, even if he wouldn’t show it.
“No, I’ve two clients scheduled today so I have to go regardless. This is your rest day. Take it.”
“I can still work,” Rodimus said, muffled against Starscream’s chassis.
“Not in this state you can’t,” Sunstreaker said with a growl. He plopped down on the windowseat behind Rodimus, in the narrow space still available. “That field of yours is in no condition to entertain, and it’s not something you can just rein in and push down.”
“You won’t be punished either,” Starscream said, guessing part of Rodimus’ worry as well. No doubt Turmoil had left some kind of guidelines for Streamline as to how Rodimus should work to fulfill his debt. “I’ll make sure of it.”
Rodimus leaned back, looking up at Starscream, and his wrecked expression made it clear Sunstreaker’s assessment was correct. “Don’t take punishment for me either.” His lower lip wobbled.
Starscream wanted to kiss his worries away, but knew it wouldn’t work. So instead he cupped Rodimus’ face and brushed the pad of his thumb over his bottom lip.
“Oh, they don’t dare punish me. I make them too much money,” Starscream said with a smirk. “So you just stay here and let Sunstreaker pamper you.”
Rodimus’ optics widened, his mouth opened as if to protest.
“Which he will,” Starscream said before Rodimus could argue contrary to the point. Starscream had already seen the look in Sunstreaker’s optics. He was angry on Rodimus’ behalf, even without knowing the whole story. “And I’ll take care of the rest.”
Rodimus stared at him for a long, searching moment before he finally nodded. “Okay,” he said, like a youngling who’d been told the monster under his berth wasn’t real, and he believed his caretakers because they wouldn’t lie, would they?
Lies, they were. The monster was real, it just didn’t hide under berths.
Starscream smiled softly and reluctantly disentangled himself from Rodimus’ arms. The speedster had only a moment to look bereft before Sunstreaker snatched him up, folding the younger mech into an embrace Rodimus probably never knew him capable of offering.
Rodimus squawked, squirming about at first, until he found himself in the cradle of Sunstreaker’s frame. He was warm and cozy, his head tucked under Sunstreaker’s chin.
“Hush,” Sunstreaker said gruffly, his arms wrapped like a protective barrier around Rodimus. “Just this once, rookie.”
They looked adorable, Starscream had to admit. He leaned in brushing his lips over Sunstreaker’s cheek and murmured into his partner’s audial, “Comm me if you need me. And be nice.”
“I’m always nice,” Sunstreaker muttered, but his arms visibly tightened around Rodimus. His field rose up, stroking over the frazzled edges of Rodimus’ poking back at him.
“Nicer then,” Starscream said with a roll of his optics.
He hesitated, not wanting to leave Rodimus in such a fragile state, but knowing he couldn’t miss his appointments or Streamline would be furious. He needed Streamline on his side right now, to get Rodimus out of this without punishment, and without it getting back to Turmoil.
Starscream had no doubts Turmoil wanted his former lover to be humiliated and degraded as much as possible. Which explained a lot actually. Explained why Rodimus had been so clueless, why his first clients for months had been such bullies, why he’d earned so little. Why he’d always returned to the viewing room looking like a banged up mess and why there never seemed to be a complaint on file against his clients.
They were, if Starscream recalled, mostly Turmoil’s cronies. Who probably didn’t even pay for their time with Rodimus.
Starscream ground his denta, anger flaring anew. He’d speak to Streamline, and then he’d see if he could find this Drift and corner him. Whatever plans Drift had, he needed to know how to behave. Rodimus wasn’t without protectors anymore. No one was going to hurt him while Starscream was around.
No one.
Mechs came to Blue Sun for all sorts of reasons. For some, it was even a haven of sorts. A hideaway from whatever they were running from. Rodimus might be one of the few who had no choice in the matter, but Starscream wouldn’t stand for seeing him suffer during the length of his tenure.
Clearly, he’d suffered enough.
“I’ll be back later,” Starscream said as he gave himself a quick onceover in the mirror. He was presentable, perhaps not polished to perfection, but his client for the evening would be fine with it.
Blurr never cared for the pomp and circumstance anyway. All he sought was his overloads, as abundantly as possible. Starscream didn’t need to look pretty for those. It took hardly anything to arouse the racer as it was. Thank Primus Starscream had energy to spare, thanks to his overlarge spark, because he was the only one in Blue Sun who could keep up with Blurr.
“We’ll be here,” Sunstreaker said.
Rodimus had finally relaxed in Sunstreaker’s embrace. “Not going anywhere.”
Good.
Satisfied, Starscream excused himself from the room, locking it behind him such that only he or Sunstreaker could enter. He headed downstairs to the reception room, contacting Streamline along the way. He might have fibbed a little, about Rodimus coming down with a virus, nothing to worry about, it would pass in a day or two. But perhaps they should screen their incoming clientele a bit better.
Streamline bought it. Of course, he would. It was a problem Blue Sun had faced a time or two. Mechs who were ill, pretending they weren’t because they wanted an overload and didn’t care if they infected their partner to get it. There were screening protocols, but if mechs lied or the screeners were lazy, nothing could be helped.
That took care of Rodimus for a day or two. Now to find Drift.
Most of the guards would be strategically posted around the reception room, keeping an optic on the browsing customers. Two would be placed outside the door, as deterrent for would-be thieves or to help discourage those who only wanted to window-shop. A few would be charged with screening customers, but Starscream doubted Streamline would assign a new hire to that important task.
Starscream paused at the top of the ramp which descended into the receiving area. Low music was already playing, and the sound of interested conversation was a murmur below the soft melody. Starscream, luckily, did not have to be available for browsing as he was already booked, which allowed him the luxury of scanning the crowd, looking for a certain mech.
He spotted Drift by the balcony, standing attentively, hand resting on one of his sword hilts as he scanned the crowd for signs of danger. Well, at least he was taking this job seriously. Though given what Rodimus had told Starscream, he wondered again why this Drift was here. Surely there were other jobs. If he were truly hiding from Turmoil, this was not the place to do it.
Everyone knew Turmoil and Streamline were business partners. It was as if Drift was here asking for trouble.
Starscream headed straight for Drift, dodging prospective clients as he did with apologetic smiles. Drift noticed him immediately, straightening as Starscream approached.
Planting a smile on his face, fake though it was, Starscream wriggled his fingers in a little wave. “Welcome to Blue Sun!”
Drift grinned in return. “Thanks!” he said, and squinted at Starscream, something sharp and assessing in the look. “You’re Starscream, right?”
His optics narrowed. “How did you know?” Starscream demanded as he crossed his arms over his chassis.
“I made it a point to memorize all the profiles of the escorts when I was hired. Best to be informed, you know.” Drift scratched at his chin, his grin easygoing. A little too calm, if you asked Starscream.
None of Streamline’s hired cronies ever bothered to actually pay that much attention to their jobs. Most made a point of memorizing the Blue Sun stamp every escort carried and that was it. Only those with the longest tenure could actually recognize the escorts on sight.
Suspicious.
Starscream barely kept from sneering. “Did you now? Then I suppose you must have recognized a familiar face among the photos.”
It was Drift’s turn for his optics to narrow. “Not sure what you mean.” His playful attitude tightened into something else.
“Oh, a liar as well as a thief,” Starscream purred. He cocked a hip, grinning without amusement. “Not surprised, given what I’ve been told about you. But since you’re feigning ignorance allow me to enlighten you.” He leaned forward, rather pleased that he had half a head over the new guard. “Rodimus.”
Drift was good, but he couldn’t hide the way his finials twitched, or the hitch in his ventilations. “It’s impossible,” he said. “There’s no way Rodimus would be here.”
“And just what did you think would happen after you stole from Turmoil and left him to take the fall, huh?” Starscream drew up straight, wings hitching high and tight. He lifted a hand, poking a taloned finger at Drift’s chassis. “He’s here because of you, slagger. And if you so much as look at him, I will tear your face off, do you understand me?”
“That should be Roddy’s decision, not yours!” Drift hissed, betraying a mouthful of sharpened denta.
Ah, there it was, the hint of a mech who had been Deadlock, a trusted Blade to a piece of scum like Turmoil. He bristled, menace rising around him, a rather dark menace as only someone who had worked with Turmoil could carry.
“You have no right to call him that,” Starscream snapped. He kept his voice low, so as not to attract attention. “Listen to me well, Deadlock. Here, I have more power than you, and here, you do what I say. And I say that you stay away from him.”
Drift cycled a sharp ventilation and reared back, his finials tilting forward. “I want to talk to him.”
“Well, he doesn’t want to talk to you. So I suggest you do him a favor, like you couldn’t bother to before, and leave him alone.” Starscream took a step back, not retreating, but dismissing Drift from his attention. “Or I’ll make you wish Turmoil found you after I’m through with you.”
He didn’t wait for Drift to reply. His warning was clear enough.
Starscream spun on a heel and strode away from Drift, holding his head up high. Blurr would be here soon, and the rest of Starscream’s evening would be spent in a haze of overloads, mostly on the racer’s end.
Starscream had no more thoughts to spare on Drift. His concern was for Rodimus alone. So when he returned to his hab tonight, curling up with Sunstreaker and Rodimus both, he could reassure Rodimus he had nothing to worry about.
Drift would upset him no more. Starscream swore it.
a/n: There are seven chapters and this fic is complete, I'm just editing as I go. Cheers!
