Earth; September 1985

     Through a dim red haze of fury and grief, Megatron lashed out, slamming
his fists into Starscream's body.  He had lost awareness of all else, and knew
only how the jet's metal plating dented and tore under the incessant pounding.
On some level of awareness he relished Starscream's cries of agony, gorged
himself like a beast at the kill on the feeling of physically tearing him
apart.
     The image replayed itself relentlessly in his mind's eye:  Starscream
shooting Nightbird in the back and laughing as she collapsed lifelessly among
the Autobots...he let it nurture his hatred, let it drive him to ever-more-
frenzied heights of violence.  He raked his hand like a claw across
Starscream's face, catching the edge of an optic lens and tearing it off, then
gouging his fingers into the exposed circuitry underneath.  Lubricant seeped
over his hand.  He used the socket as a convenient grip for slamming
Starscream's head repeatedly into the wall of wooden crates.  How he hated this
creature, who had for so long tried to undermine his authority -- who had tried
to turn the other Decepticons against him -- who countered and contradicted him
at every turn -- but all that he had been willing to let go, for reasons he
himself did not care to specify.  But this time Starscream had crossed an
invisible barrier, beyond which there was no forgiveness.  He had destroyed the
only female Megatron had ever....
[begin flashback]

     He didn't quite know what to do with her, after they'd gotten her back to
their largest land-based headquarters.  Sure, it had been amusing to watch her
strike out at Starscream for his insults, but he had quickly called a stop to
that; he had work to do, awar to win, and didn't want to be bothered with his
underlings' petty squabbles.  He had to find a way of removing that info chip
from the Autobots' main computer, which listed the exact locations and
compositions of all the Earth's known energy sources.  And since this
mountainous land-base was relatively close to Autobot headquarters, this was a
convenient vantage point from which to make plans.
     So, he'd pretty much left Nightbird to her own devices, trusting that
Soundwave would show her to a room and see that she was comfortable.  She would
make a useful warrior in the future, but at the moment he had other things to
think about.
     He'd been at the central computer for some time, directing a combination
of long-range sensors and satellite spy-cams toward the Autobot base, when he
looked up and found her sitting quietly very close by, watching him.  "What are
you doing here?" he virtually snapped, annoyed that he hadn't heard her come
in, and had no idea how long she'd been sitting there.
     She seemed momentarily taken aback by his tone, but then scooted her chair
closer to the computer console and peered at it intently.  She brushed her
fingers lightly over some of the buttons and touch-pads, then looked back up at
him curiously.  "What's this?" she seemed to be saying, though she made no
sound.
     Megatron scowled at her.  He had things to do.  But she was so beguiling,
so obviously lacking any malicious intention other than an honest quest for
knowledge, that he decided he could afford to take a few minutes and teach her
a few essentials.
     "Here," he said, touching a flat rectangular button that lit in response
to some light pressure.  "This activates the satellite camera.  This," he
turned a large red knob, "directs the viewfinder, and this," he turned a blue
dial, "focuses the picture.  Now watch closely."  He directed the camera and
zeroed in on the entrance to Autobot headquarters.  A number of small-to-mid-
sized robots were cavorting around in front of the mountainside that housed
their deactivated spacecraft, the Ark.  Darting around them and between their
legs were a pair of young humans, a male and a female.  They appeared to be
engaged in trying to keep a round, bouncing object away from each other.  A
game of some sort, Megatron supposed.  It was unimportant.  He looked
significantly at Nightbird.  "Those robots are Autobots," he said.  "They are
the ones we freed you from, at the scientific conference.  They are our
enemies.  You can recognize them at a glance by this symbol."  He zoomed in
very closely onto the red Autobot symbol on Jazz's chest, so that it filled the
whole screen.  "On closer inspection, you can also recognize them by their
spinelessness and ineptitude as warriors," he added with a chuckle.
     Nightbird tilted her head thoughtfully.  Turning toward Megatron, she
reached out tentatively toward the purple Decepticon symbol on his chest,
stopping just short of touching it.  "Yes, a different symbol," he said.  "Keep
the difference in mind."
     He zoomed back out, so the moving Autobots and humans became visible
again.  In the background, several larger robots stood and watched.  Megatron
focused onto the largest.  "That's Optimus Prime," he said, unable to keep a
trace of disdain out of his voice.  "He's their leader.  He's the worst of the
lot.  Keep him in mind, too."
     A yellow light flashed up, off to the side, and snagged his attention.
"You can go now," he dismissed Nightbird brusquely, as he fiddled with the
long-range sensor and tuned in the energy reading.  Comparing it to his
reference scan of Autobot perimeter security, he came up with a totally
different energy reading.  "Damn!" he snarled to himself.  They had put in a
new security system of some kind.  Soundwave should get a look at this....
     As he rose from the computer and began to turn away, he saw that Nightbird
had not budged from her place.  She was watching him intently with her hooded
amber eyes.  Megatron paused, a little puzzled, and held her gaze for a moment.
Then he turned away to find Soundwave...
[end flashback]

     ...Megatron tore the remaining glass out of Starscream's cockpit and dug
his fingers into the hinge, ripping it loose.  He shoved the jagged edges of
the metal back into the jet's chest, and black fuel seeped out between the
wounds.  Starscream made a sound that was half cry and half strangled gasp; he
tried to raise his arms and ward off Megatron's blows, but Megatron batted his
defenses aside.
     "No more, Megatron," Starscream gasped.  "*Please*, Leader...!"
     Megatron slammed a fist across his face...

[begin flashback]

     "...So, Leader," Starscream said, sauntering casually into the control
center.  As always he emphasized the word "Leader" with his own unique brand of
sarcasm.  He regarded Megatron smugly and continued, "I understand the Autobots
have installed a new security system -- and *you* can't figure out a way past
it."
     "Not *yet*, Starscream," Megatron growled.  "But it's only a matter of
time."
     "Sure, sure," Starscream replied, folding his arms and leaning back
against one of the columns.  "The question is, how *much* time?  A week?  A
year?  A lifetime??"  He laughed, and his eyes danced with malicious pleasure.
"Maybe you should let *me* try.  I mean, you've had your turn, and not much to
show for it."  Starscream's tone made clear that he was referring to more than
just the breach of current Autobot defenses.
     Megatron drummed his fingers impatiently on the computer console.
"Starscream," he said without looking at him, "if I thought for one moment that
you could figure out how to neutralize this new security system, I would assign
you the task.  But the last time I let you loose on our computers, you nearly
burned out the whole network."
     "Oh really?" Starscream demanded.  "That's because I was working with
defective circuitry to begin with.  And who was it that blew the entire
antimatter generator to hell because you hadn't bothered to check on its
electrical input requirements?"
     "That's because I was working with defective *mechanisms*," Megatron
replied evenly.  "Like *you*.  Now get lost, I'm busy."
     "Yeah -- I can *see* that," Starscream said with a pointed look at
Nightbird, who was sitting quietly at the computer next to Megatron.
     Megatron glanced at him sharply.
     "Helps you a lot, does she?" Starscream taunted.
     Megatron sensed rather than saw the movement at his side; at most he
detected only a dark blur.  But a pair of sharp-edged throwing stars were
suddenly embedded in the column to either side of Starscream's head.
     Starscream's eyes went blank with surprise.  Slowly he stepped away from
the column and looked back at the razor-edged blades.  Megatron took the
opportunity, while he was off-balance.  "She helps me a lot more than you do,"
he said.  "Maybe *she* should have *your* job."
     Starscream's optics narrowed and he stalked out of the room.
     Megatron grinned appreciatively at Nightbird, who regarded him with utter
composure.  She sat at the computer as though she hadn't even moved.  But
something in her eyes seemed to smile...

[end flashback]

     ...He wrenched the air-intake planks from Starscream's shoulders and tore
the outer plating in great flat sheets from his wings, holding him down with
one foot as he gouged at the metal.  Then he clawed at the infrastructure,
grinding and mangling it together into a twisted mesh of struts and wires.  The
jet's audio-splitting screams shattered the silence of the night...
[begin flashback]

     ...A fairly common and perfectly legitimate way of rising in rank among
the Decepticons was to assassinate one's superiors, and so Megatron never
entirely let his guard down, even in his private quarters in the dead of the
night.  When the slight metallic sound broke the silence, he was up from his
recharge bed, fully awake, and ready to fire his laser cannon.  Faint starlight
from the window showed a dark silhouette, and Megatron aimed -- but there was
something familiar about the shape that gave him an instant's pause; long
enough for the dark figure to touch the control pad by the door and key up the
lights.
     "Nightbird!" Megatron exclaimed, lowering his cannon.  After his initial
surprise, a flicker of anger stirred in him.  "How did you get in here?" he
demanded.  "That door is keyed to my personal security code!"
     Nightbird slid open a panel in the side of her right thigh and extracted
something that she held out to him.  At first glance it looked like a very
short dagger, small enough to be concealed in one's hand.  But Nightbird
touched one of the edges, and a series of picks and wires of varying size slid
out from the base of the blade.  She touched the flat upper surface of the
handle, and Megatron saw the faint blue crackle of a magneto-electric field
that danced across the tips of the instruments.
     Intrigued, he took the object from her for a closer look.  "All-purpose
lockpick, hm?" he mused.  "You *are* talented."  He handed it back to her.
"Just don't sneak up on me again.  I'm likely to blow you away -- and we
couldn't have *that*, could we?"  He smiled at her conspiratorially.
     Nightbird's eyes gleamed a soft amber.  She had been his constant
companion for the past few days, at least in the daytime.  At first he'd found
it a little aggravating that he nearly tripped over her any time he turned away
from his work.  Once or twice he'd stopped himself just short of yelling at
her.  It would have been a mistake.  She always looked at him with such trust
and earnest attention that he would have hated himself if he'd hurt her.  And
in truth, he found her interest in his work a bit flattering, and quickly came
to appreciate her constant, quiet presence.  It was almost as though she had
imprinted herself onto him -- as though there was something in Megatron's
presence that she needed and sought to emulate.  In all honesty, Megatron found
that thought a bit flattering as well.
     Now she looked observantly around his room, moving toward the window and
back again, skirting the perimeter of the recharge bed, as though trying to get
a feel for the place.  It was not as spacious or well-furnished as his quarters
at the undersea base, his main headquarters -- but there were a few comfortable
chairs in addition to the recharge bed, a small store of energon cubes and a
desktop computer outlet through which he could access the main system.  Above
the computer hung the only wall decoration, an old, heavy Cybertronian scimitar
with a broad, polished blade, from his days as a gladiator.  Nightbird seemed
to regard it all with intense interest, particularly the scimitar.  She touched
it lightly, then turned to look at him questioningly.
     Maybe some day he would tell her about it.  At the moment....  "What is it
that you want, Nightbird?"  he asked.  "What do you need, at this hour?"
     Watching her move gracefully and soundlessly around the room, he'd begun
to be increasingly aware of what *he* wanted -- but of course that was
ridiculous.  She was an Earth-robot, an alien, built by mere humans.  She
probably didn't even have a pleasure interface.  But she *was* beautiful, he
had to admit, standing silhouetted in glossy black and gray against the light
wall, with the scimitar glistening in the background....
     She moved toward him, holding his gaze.  She reached up and touched the
Decepticon symbol on his chest, tracing it lightly.  Then she brought her hand
to her own chest, looking up at him expectantly.  For a moment Megatron didn't
understand.  Then he smiled.  "Of course!  We'll see that you get one.  The
equipment for branding and paint is back at our undersea base, but we won't be
here that much longer.  Then you'll have your Decepticon symbol.  Satisfied?"
     Her eyes smiled.  She nodded.
     "Good."  Megatron put an arm lightly around her shoulders and steered her
to the door.  "Now you can go back to your room and...."
     He trailed off when she hung back from the door.  She was looking at him
again, with that same intensity that she watched him with at work, only --
*more* intense.
     "What now?" he asked, beginning to feel a little uncomfortable under her
unflickering scrutiny.
     She reached up and touched his Decepticon symbol again, only this time she
placed her hand flat against his chest and slid it upward over his shoulder,
then up along the side of his neck to caress the edge of his helmet.  The
sensation was like a warm current of electricity.  Great Cybertron, but she was
beautiful!  Seemingly without intending to, Megatron wrapped his arms around
her waist and pulled her close.  She reached up with her other hand and slid
her arms smoothly around his neck, pressing herself against him.
     He disentangled himself from her just long enough to snap off the light
switch -- then led her toward the bed...
[end flashback]
    ...He slammed Starscream up against the wall of crates, so hard that the
wood cracked and styrofoam packing materials burst from the fissures.  He
wrapped his fingers around Starscream's throat and shook him savagely.
Droplets of leaking fuel and lubricant sprayed in all directions.  Megatron
slammed him back against the broken crates again, into the splintered boards,
and held him there.  Slowly, inexorably, he began to tighten his grip on the
jet's throat.
     Starscream clawed weakly at the vise-like hold.  Lubricant streamed from
his empty eye socket and his one remaining cracked optic sensor, which
brightened sporadically, then dimmed.  His mouth gaped open as he struggled for
air.
     "You're...killing...me," he managed to rasp.  "Don't...kill...me...
don't--*!"
     "Why shouldn't I kill you?" Megatron snarled through clenched teeth,
relishing the feeling of his fingers gouging into the pliable metal of
Starscream's throat.  "*You* killed *her*, after all."
     The one optic sensor brightened a little.  "I didn't!" he choked out.  "I
used..."  The faint red light dimmed.  "...null ray," he whispered.  "Stun
setting...."
     Almost involuntarily Megatron's grip loosened a little.  Starscream's head
came up and he gasped for air.  "What did you say?" Megatron demanded, shaking
him.
     "-- hit -- her -- with -- a -- null -- ray," Starscream managed
sporadically between shakes.
     Megatron stopped, and stared at him intently.  "You're lying," he
insisted.
     "No.  I used a stun beam, I swear it.  She was already surrounded by
Autobots...."

[begin flashback]

     "...Say whatever you like," Starscream said, leaning insolently against
the computer console, "but you'll never find a way to deactivate those new
Autobot defenses.  You'll *never* get that world energy supply chip."
     "Think so, do you?" Megatron responded smoothly.  "Well, how's this --
when we *have* it, I'll see to it that you gain no benefit from the knowledge
it holds."  He offered Starscream a calmly superior smile.
     Starscream seemed disappointed that he'd been unable to incite his leader
to anger.  For a moment he looked like he was going to say more, but casting a
wary glance at Nightbird, he apparently thought the better of it.  He left them
alone in the control center.
     When he was gone, Megatron turned to glare accusingly at the computer
screen.  "I'll never get that chip, he thinks," he muttered to himself.  "Just
wait and see."
     "I'll get it for you," a soft, resonant voice said beside him.
     Megatron whirled and stared at her in amazement.  "What?" he said.
     "I said I would get it for you," Nightbird repeated.  "This world-energy-
chip thing that you've been carrying on about."
     He reached out and grabbed her by the shoulders.  "You can talk!" he
exclaimed.
     She smiled.  "Yes.  It just took a few days for me to gather enough
samples your language, to be able to use it."
     Megatron was delighted.  Now they could *really* communicate.  He cupped
her face in his hands, tilting it slightly upward, and kissed the dark mask
that lined her mouth.  It was only then that the meaning of her words reached
him.  "What do you mean, *you'll* get the chip?" he asked with a slight scowl.
"Do you expect to just stroll into Autobot headquarters and walk out with it?"
     She pulled back from him a little and took hold of one end of her
nunchucks, spinning the other end in a swift, confident arc.  "That's exactly
what I expect," she said.  "I'm a ninja, remember?"
     Megatron only stared at her.  Warring impulses rose in him:  he didn't
want to let her out of his sight, didn't want to subject her to the danger.  On
the other hand, he did want to see the full extent of her powers in action --
and if anyone had a chance of success, it was Nightbird.  Slowly a grin spread
across his face.  "You and I are going to make a wonderful team," he stated.

[end flashback]

     "...I knew if I stunned her and she fell, the Autobots would re-capture
her," Starscream continued hurriedly.  "No need to waste full power on a lethal
setting...."
     "You're just trying to save your own worthless hide," Megatron cut him
off, and tightened his grip on the jet.
     "N-no really, I swear to you!" Starscream stammered in panic. "Ask -- ask
Soundwave!"
     Megatron glared at him motionlessly for a long moment -- then suddenly
flung him away to the side and head-first into a stack of crates, in the
general direction of the other warriors.
     "Soundwave!" Megatron snapped, and the big blue Decepticon stepped
forward.  "Tell me if he's lying."
     He detected the very slight brightening of Soundwave's eyes as he probed
Starscream with a mental scan.  Then he looked up to meet Megatron's gaze.
"Starscream speaks the truth," he said.
     Megatron took a step toward him, hardly daring to hope.  "You're
*certain*?" he insisted.  "She's alive?"
     "Starscream did not kill her," Soundwave replied.
     Megatron's thoughts whirled.  So the Autobots had taken her captive.  She
was out there somewhere, a prisoner, but alive -- *alive*!
     One last burst of anger surged through him, and he kicked out viciously at
Starscream.  He struck at the jet's head and chest, flinging him backwards into
more broken boxes.  He lay in a crumpled heap, moaning and whimpering in pain.
The others stepped aside as Megatron moved past them, and into the maze of
crates and aisleways that led out of the warehouse.

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