Takes place sometime after "Heart of Fire", and probably after some other, yet unwritten stories.
Skyfire was on the final approach to Autobot City, on his way back from the Decepticon underwater base, when Starscream called him. Starscream had quietly taken over and moved into the old base that seemed to have been forgotten and abandoned by Galvatron and his Decepticons on Charr. Skyfire was a frequent visitor and occasional resident, along with a few Decepticons who'd wound up on Galvatron's bad side and Rodimus Prime's good side.
"Sky--unless you have something just critically important to get back to, abort that approach and meet me upstairs," Starscream's distinctive voice crackled over the radio.
"Starscream? Y-yes, of course," Skyfire replied over their private channel, startled by the unexpected message. 'Meet me upstairs'... That meant something, a long time ago. It meant 'I'm done planet-side, head for orbit and let me board'. Skyfire sent a hurried abort message to Autobot City Flight Control and pulled up, heading for the sky.
Starscream rose into the evening air from a canyon near Autobot City, Skyfire's immense shape painted on his sensors. Unfolding into jet form, he headed for their rendezvous. Not a fixed rendezvous in space, but a meeting of two swift fliers converging on an unknown destination.
Skyfire was ready for him, aft bay doors open. Once again, Starscream slid inside with legendary grace, a perfect match in velocity and time. He transformed as the bay doors slid shut behind him, moving forward to the narrow hatch leading to Skyfire's flight deck. It was too small a place for Starscream to venture, but that didn't stop him from opening the hatch and reaching forward to rest one hand lightly on Skyfire's controls.
A shiver ran through the big shuttle-mech. "Where are we going?" Skyfire asked.
"Someplace... private. Try the Himalayas. Short sub-orbital hop. I'm off comm now." Will you do the same? his tone suggested.
"You do know I have to file flight plans with EDC for sub-orbital hops," Skyfire replied. "That kills the privacy aspect."
"It would," Starscream agreed, a wicked smirk on his face. "Except that you're going to give them this code along with the flight plan," he said, transmitting the code to Skyfire in a short databurst. "That code tells EDC your flight plan is 'Black', strictly Need-to-Know Top Secret, and they don't need to know. After they make sure there's no traffic in your way, that flight plan disappears into a black hole, and they forget about it."
"I see," Skyfire replied as he transmitted his flight plan with the 'black' code. "This is an Autobot code even I don't have--should I ask where it came from?"
"I fished a lot of good stuff out of Red's computers before he came back and kicked me out." Starscream smirked.
"You never did explain just what you were doing near Autobot City, Starscream. What are you planning?" Skyfire's tone turned suddenly cold abrupt. If you are endangering the Autobots...
"Relax, Sky. The only thing damaged was Red Alert's piece of mind! He still doesn't know who was hacking into his systems, and I needed to know some of the information on Quintessons that Rodimus isn't making public. There are pieces missing, still, but I'm getting a better idea of the big picture."
"You still think there were things they wouldn't tell me because of my association with you?" Skyfire sighed aloud.
"I know there are things they didn't tell you--I pulled them out of Red's reports. Worry about it later. This is not a working excursion, Sky!" Starscream grinned wickedly.
Sub-orbital hop--a trivial phrase, not really conveying the reality of massive engines thundering, pushing Skyfire's body almost into orbit--then arcing downward from that climax to plunge back into atmosphere, the fierce heat of re-entry licking at his wings and tail and nose.
All the while, Starscream watched from behind the flight deck hatch, watched as flame sheeted over the viewports. One hand continued to idly caress Skyfire's controls, careful not to interfere with maneuvering--at least, not overtly. Some of the shivers running through Skyfire's hull had nothing to do with re-entry.
"We're almost there," Skyfire said, voice taut as if hold back some powerful emotion. "Opening bow door."
Skyfire's outer skin was still searingly hot from re-entry when Starscream emerged to find himself flying toward a vast mountain in a chain of vast mountains. "Not Everest, is it?"
"No," said Skyfire as he transformed and touched down, steam rising where his hot skin met the frozen snow. "K-2. Too many tourists on Everest."
"Good choice," Starscream said as he too transformed. He turned toward Skyfire--
Only to find himself tackled and thrown into the deep snow with Skyfire's immense bulk on top of him, pinning him down. Two big white hands quickly seized Starscream's arm cannon and pinned them to his arms. "Sky?"
Skyfire grinned at the trapped Seeker. "I've got you now, partner. You're pretty much helpless--you can't get the leverage in this snow to throw me off, your guns are out of action, and you can't use cluster bombs at this range without destroying yourself. What are you going to do now?"
Starscream twisted and writhed, trying--on general principles--to roll out from under Skyfire. No good--the deep snow kept him from getting leverage enough, and he wasn't strong enough to hold off Skyfire by main force. The thin, icy air of the high mountain cycled rapidly through his intakes; jet turbines whined, rising in intensity as he struggled.
Finally he slumped back into the snow. "I'm your prisoner, Sky. You have me helpless."
Skyfire's fingers ran along Starscream's arm cannon, lightly caressing the locked latch that held them in place, sending shivers of sensation along the Seeker's conduits. "Disarm."
Ruby optics blazed, but not with anger. His lips parted slightly. "Yes!" There was a slight 'click' as the latches disengaged; then Skyfire pulled the cannon away from Starscream's arms and stowed them in his own compartments. A soft whimper escaped Starscream's vocalizer.
"Now," Skyfire said, "I do believe I have one very infamous Decepticon officer as my helpless, unarmed prisoner. Shall I treat you as you would treat me, if I were laying there, unable to fight, unable to move, trembling at the anticipation of your very touch? Mmm?"
Ruby optics flared. "If you do," Starscream snarled, trembling in Skyfire's grasp, "I promise you'll pay for everything you do to me, three times over! For every whimper you force out of me, I swear you'll scream!"
"Such fearsome threats! Beware, Decepticon, of making promises you can't keep!" Skyfire said, grinding his cockpit against Starscream's, digging them both a little deeper in the snow.
"Oh, I'll keep them, Autobot! Sooner or later, you'll drop your guard, and I'll have you down, and I know your weak points all too well. I'll make use of every one of them--every sensor, every delicate joint and seam..." Starscream's voice dropped, lower, colder, more sinister. "First you'll beg, and then you'll scream. You won't stop screaming until I've finished with every single one of them--and that might take... hours, or even days. Unless your vocalizer gives out first. But I'll take good care of that--I want to hear your screams." Starscream's whole body shudders briefly, arching against Skyfire's pressing weight.
"You shouldn't threaten the Autobot who has you prisoner, Starscream!" Skyfire forced Starscream's arms away from his side, pinning them straight out against the snow. His own jet turbines rumbled and vibrated. "You won't be in any shape to carry out that threat! I hope you haven't forgotten that I know your every weakness, every sensor node, every circuit path as well as you know mine. I will use that knowledge against you, here and now--and there's nothing you can do about it!" His hands reached for Starscream's sensitive wings.
"You're wrong, Sky!" Starscream said fiercely, struggling--or was it shuddering?--in Skyfire's grip. "There is something I can do!"
"What?" Skyfire said as he grasped one wing and felt Starscream writhe and start to whimper.
"Enjoy it!"
-- FIN --
Some of you may recognize this as being a re-write of certain events in a certain RP. I rather liked my writing there, so I polished it up and re-posted it as a (mostly) stand-alone story. No, I'm not writing Skyfire 28s, but if I were, this would be "Dominant Skyfire".