Work Text:
He was tricked! Fragging tricked by that geeky, slagging excuse for a seeker. How could the failure of their mission be entirely all his fault? Screamer had set him up to avoid another slagging from their Great Leader for failing what was his job.
Thundercracker's circuits still buzzed from humiliation after having the enraged Decepticon leader knock him off his feet. Megatron didn't even question the validity in Starscream's claims about the shoddy steel they found to build the weapon. Maybe it was because of the Air Commander's suspicion about his wavering faith for the Decepticon cause? Thundercracker usually was able to lay low when it came to the blame game before.
The blue F-15 jet was so done with this, to the point he didn't even want to return to base. Apprehension ebbed in and out of his processor, fearing what really would be waiting for him if he did go back. His last parting words to Megatron were very rude and not like his usual demeanor. In most cases, Thundercracker's respectful fear of Megatron had kept his meddlesome thoughts in check. But this time… this time he couldn't just shut up and take orders like a mere soldier.
It... really wasn't all Screamer's fault that they failed due to his meddling.
He didn't want Megatron to destroy that ancient civilization and its inhabitants to fuel a practically useless weapon. Otherwise, he would have made sure Starscream brought back good steel. Thundercracker's circuits relayed this horrible truth about himself as a traitor until it haunted him. The blue jet decided to fly higher into the cold, blue atmosphere in his attempt to replace this chilling feeling with one of revived yearning to be able to do whatever he wanted.
Why did he have to comply with such confines of this planet and his rank? How easy was it to go rogue?
Prior to beginning this mission, he and Starscream had an argument about the whole purpose of the new energy weapon. What would Megatron be doing with it after it was made? Even though it sounded like the ultimate weapon of mass destruction, the device could not be moved from that source of energy. The Autobots were stationed up in the United States, and there weren't any highly developed human civilizations in that area to destroy. The ruins there were also quite old and possessed great mythical power. Thundercracker thought it made more sense to obtain energon stores from this location to send back to Cybertron. Starscream told him he was thinking too much again and should do just what he was told.
Starscream was somehow onto his secret plan to get Skyfire to take the weapon after that had failed. Thundercracker felt put off most by Starscream's renewed sense of duty for Megatron's wishes. The Air Commander's unpredictability like this drove him nuts as it often confused his understanding of who's orders he should be following.
Thundercracker noticed again the broad colors of the ever-present sunrise on the horizon before him. It served as another bittersweet distraction from his misgivings. The variety of increasing color in the sky never ceased to amaze him though. Especially how blue it would look during the day's light, blocking all view of the dark star-filled expanse of outer space. The air of this planet also felt thicker as it swept over his fuselage and wings. Such an unusual sky like this was one thing he would definitely miss upon returning to Cybertron.
The blue jet had circled around the lower southern hemisphere near Antarctica, an area mostly void of human interference, before that other familiar dark jet begun to shadow him. Thundercracker particularly wasn't in the mood to be heckled, yet Skywarp often took it upon himself to bring him back whenever he flew off in a funk. Why can't the idiot just let him be? This only made him feel all the more conflicted.
"I'm surprised your mad treks around the globe have not attracted the squishy squad yet," Skywarp's voice came in over Thundercracker's com link.
"You know the protocol for that: Lead them to the Bermuda Triangle area, and then incinerate them. They'll just blame the sudden disappearance on their own crazy superstitions," Thundercracker sounded irritated as he distanced himself from Skywarp. The human military posed a real threat to them, unlike the innocent civilian humans, and he wasted no time dispensing of them. Oddly enough.
The black jet took bait and teleported ahead so that he was now flying toward Thundercracker. This risky maneuver gave Thundercracker a start, and the blue F-15 banked up and to the left to avoid a collision.
"Get lost, Warp!"
"And listen to Megatron rant about how we got slagged by a bunch of Minibots some more? Pass– This sounds like more fun," Skywarp caught up again, flying directly under his friend now. The undersides of their jet forms faced each other, with only a meter width between them.
"Just leave me alone–" Thundercracker rumbled loudly. He rolled off to the right, hoping that Skywarp got the point, but the dark F-15 gracefully mirrored his motion so their wings did not collide.
"You've been alone long enough," he fell back from Thundercracker just enough to surge back over him, canopy to canopy. "Or are you still trying to figure out Screamer's half-baked equation for making the perfect high-grade energon from ocean water?"
A deep, resonating snarl of disgust erupted from the blue jet. If he wasn't agitated enough already, Skywarp's flippant antics had ensured that he was now. Taking on Skywarp's challenge, his afterburners flared brighter and he rumbled away.
Skywarp's ability to teleport made this improvised game of keep-away harder to play, however. No matter how many slick high G maneuvers Thundercracker used, he could not successfully lose his wing-mate. Skywarp didn't seem to show any signs of distress from the blue F-15's thunderous sonic booms either. His friend was probably used to them by now, for all he knew. As a last resort, Thundercracker looped back on the sporadic black one with his incendiary guns a-blazing.
Skywarp did not hesitate and teleported out before the hot flames from the bomb shells could inflict damage. "Ooo... now the heat is on!" echoed the taunting voice over Thundercracker's com link.
Thundercracker continued to fly in a horizontal circle, his sensors fully alert for any sudden movement in the air around him. Despite his anger, he somehow felt a twinge guilt for shooting at his friend. Skywarp never was one to play by the rules much anyway. But to make matters worse, Thundercracker's fuel levels were chirping at him again about reaching unsafe levels. This game had been a terrible drain on his waning energy.
"Actually, this is what you need to do to lose me–" were his last words before rocket fire was heard.
Thundercracker did not respond, as he had detected the heat-seeking missile heading straight for his afterburners. Silently cursing about Skywarp's bad sense of humor, he took off at top speed while banking right, to get ahead of the missile. Then he suddenly lifted straight up to loop over the missile so he could lock onto it as a target, and fired. The blue jet flew through the explosion of shrapnel without breaking pace.
"Hold still for a click, you dirt-crawling... toilet-flusher!" Thundercracker opened fire on Skywarp's jet form as soon as he re-appeared, speeding straight at him head on.
Skywarp quickly nosed upward to climb high over Thundercracker as the blasts exploded near his tail wings. "Hah- you do need to work on your aim more, Thunder-bum."
Despite what he still thought was an unfair advantage, another realization formed inside Thundercracker's processor. It had baffled him before with just how Starscream and that Autobot transport jet, Skyfire, had been friends. Of course, Skyfire had gotten lost in the ice up north in the Arctic. Perhaps they had a dispute for some reason and got separated, and Starscream just gave up on looking for him. The haughty seeker refused to say anything more in great detail about what happened though.
His alarms started going haywire again about low fuel. Thundercracker groaned, then transformed to robot mode to call off the aerial combat games. He now hovered several kilometers above the dark ocean waters near Antarctica, the sky still glowing orange from the longer sunset.
Skywarp transformed back as well. "Giving up so soon?" he crossed his arms in disappointment.
"No– getting low on energy," Thundercracker glared at him. He hadn't been to base to recharge since leaving the battle in South America. That excuse also sounded better than admitting his dubious concerns about 'other things', like deep sixing underneath a glacier sheet.
"Mhh, great– now we have to go back," Skywarp's optics glowed brighter for a moment, as if suddenly realizing the new dilemma. He also tended to lack the common sense about some things many of the other Decepticon warriors had. Maybe that was why he had such a loyal disposition to the Decepticon cause. He had no sense to disagree.
Thundercracker parted his lips in disbelief when he noticed flecks of silver-white paint on the joints and edges of Skywarp's knuckles. He quickly assumed that Skywarp had beaten the slag out of Screamer back at base. Especially since they hadn't really had the chance to get their hands on Skyfire or any of the other light colored Autobots earlier.
But how could he return to base now, if the both of them are going to be scrapped for their actions? While it was acceptable for a mech to use force to move up in the Decepticon ranks, unnecessary aggressive threats were not favored. Skywarp was just getting even, and Thundercracker knew it. As much as Skywarp respected Megatron, he doubted his comrade could take on the enormous responsibilities of being an Air Commander for long.
"Thunder..?" Skywarp sounded more concerned about his friend's long silence, and dropped his arms from their crossed position as he leaned in closer to look at him. "Hey, you still with me?"
Thundercracker's optics grew bright and stayed that way as he focused on Skywarp again. "Why do you have to do things like that?"
Skywarp looked very confused now, "... like what?"
"Beat the slag out of Starscream!" he held his hands out in exasperation
The dark jet just laughed, more or less proud of himself now. "Well, he had it coming for him, the slag-sucker."
"I could have taken care of the geek myself- it was my problem," he grumbled, crossing his arms.
"Right, you were handling the situation very well back there, Thunder," Skywarp pointed at him, shaking his finger.
"I would have..." Thundercracker muttered, looking elsewhere as shame set in again. While he was grateful to have a wingmate as steadfast as Skywarp, the Decepticon in him felt weak that he had to be so dependent upon others. The blue seeker also felt bitter again for the plan that failed, and how it now gave him a bad reputation.
"But if you'd stop jumping to conclusions for once, I could explain-"
Thundercracker looked sideways over his shoulder to the dark seeker, now curious.
"Really... what you said before leaving made Megatron get mad at us. All of us... especially Screamer. He ordered him to raise our training standards and to restrict our rec time. Which, of course, gets Screamer in a fritz, cause he's been pressured to make sure we're not going to slack off anymore. I really got tired of him fragging me about this and that, and wondering where you were, so..." Skywarp did his best to suppress a smile as he finished. "He got a 'friendly reminder' to shut up."
The blue Seeker shook his head with some disbelief. But the story did sound sincere and he had turned his external com-link off so he couldn't get any calls from base.
"You have been gone longer than usual…" Skywarp stated, more solemnly. He gave him that suspicious, prodding look.
The blue seeker turned to face Skywarp, their optics silently reading each other's expressions. Thundercracker still hovered with his arms still crossed, faintly aware of the roar from their afterburners as they held their position in mid air. While it had become Thundercracker's trademark, per say, to be the seeker to question everyone's actions and morals, he rarely ever carried through with his reservations to leave the group.
Thundercracker realized then, that despite this show of banter, his wingmate actually was worried about him. His processor spun, and he debated whether or not to admit what else had been burdening him. Or would Skywarp just mock him for being so mixed up, and as Starscream had threatened, they would use his rebellious actions as blackmail.
Often it was Decepticon nature to turn on one's comrade after a time. Long-lasting loyalty between their kind was rare, as the desires for power and stature often changed their outlook. Thundercracker had seen it happen many times already, and he silently feared that day when it would happen to him. The most recent case between Starscream and Skyfire was proof of that. For this reason, the blue seeker was not as inclined to rely on Skywarp if he had a concerning problem. Getting sent back to a prison on Cybertron for treachery didn't sound any better though.
Since he didn't say anything yet, the darker seeker verbalized his question. "You were going to come back, yeah..?"
"I.. don't know..."
Skywarp narrowed his optics as he focused back on him.
"Who will believe me..?" Thundercracker asked, still avoiding his real burden. He never really told anyone though, what it was that made him hesitant at times. The last thing he wanted was to be compared to a land-lumbering Autobot. A mech who despaired at seeing innocent humans getting killed, even if those humans were the very things he had sworn to hate since they infuriated Megatron.
The purple seeker shrugged, because Thundercracker knew it was not something his comrade really thought of. Being deeply profound and feeling certainly wasn't one of his better traits. "Was it really your fault?" The dark seeker narrowed his optics.
"No, it wasn't…" Thundercracker scoffed. He clenched his jaw, opics glowing as he debated again on how to explain this. He didn't want to say so much that it came back to bite him, because he just didn't want the people in that area destroyed. "You want to know what I really was trying to do back there? I was hoping that Skyfire would want revenge on Starscream, for turning on him. So I was going to have Skyfire destroy what was left of that new weapon. Then Megatron would have blamed Starscream for not guarding it!"
"But no… Screamer actually got there early and ended up shooting at me for trying to set him up– but because I ducked, he shot down Skyfire!"
Skywarp laughed at that. "All the more reason why I wouldn't trust Screamer for an astro-second. I still can't believe he said he and Skyfire were comrades once. Makes my logic circuits hurt."
"Thinking makes your processor crash," Thundercracker looked disappointed by Skywarp's giddy behavior. But 'Warp at least did not ask why he wanted Skyfire to be the wrench stopping Megatron's plans.
The blue seeker pressed his lips together, optics dimming as he tried to keep focus in his drained state. He had only known Skywarp a short while before the Nemesis had launched for Earth. While the other seekers were allowed to go back, he and Skywarp were ordered to stay. They were the best of their kind, next to the Coneheads. Starscream was a seeker not to be trifled with long before they had left Cybertron. Skywarp was right about that. All of the seeker designs were made and programmed for war. Starscream must have been an earlier creation, when they thought that science and the exploration of other worlds was more important than conquest. Perhaps it was to find energy, first and foremost. Thundercracker decided Skyfire was a neutral, baited from the start to think what he was doing was for a good cause. But Skyfire was actually helping the Decepticons look for other sources of energy, since the wars had depleted so much more than imagined.
"No... Starscream was tricking him from the start..." Thundercracker's optics blazed to life again. "He might have become friends for a short time, but he still had to keep to his own agenda. Blasted Skyfire and left him here after discovering that the Earth was a good source to mine energy!"
Skywarp slapped Thundercracker's shoulder, a refreshed grin on his face. "Hey... I'm glad you figured that out, TC. Does this mean we can go home now?"
"Hell- no…" he mumbled. Thundercracker was feeling more delirious, and hovering in mid air was only adding more to his drained state. His thoughts wandered too easily when he was like this. He wondered now how it was that he was so easily swayed by Starscream's treachery, and that Skywarp seemed immune to it. Thundercracker and Skywarp were practically opposites, and it sometimes made him wonder why he let Skywarp befriend him. Maybe it was because the dark seeker's simple and direct approach to life just helped him cope.
"Hello?" Skywarp questioned him again, visibility concerned about his wingmate's frequent bouts of silence. The idea of finding a near-by source of energy for them to raid was sounding more and more enticing, if this kept up.
"Warp... I could still.. trust you.. right?" the words tumbled out before he could stop himself.
Skywarp's optics flickered, feeling challenged. "Yeah, of course."
"Seriously?"
"Seriously," Skywarp gripped Thundercracker's blue shoulders and looked him square in the optic. "Look at it this way... we are Megatron's elite seeker triad. Well, we were until Dirge had to make a big deal about his triad. But it's just us here, and Megatron hasn't made any effort to bring anyone else in to replace us. They are too hung up on their pyramid fins to even want to come over to this pathetic little mudball to be Starscream's wingmates."
His friend was rarely open with his feelings, but Thundercracker could sense that Skywarp would not be happy at all if he were to drop out. Thundercracker's motor controls were drifting more into autopilot and the front of his helm fell on the front of Skywarp's helmet with a soft clank. He off-lined his optics as he hooked his hands on Skywarp's purple elbows. This silence lasted for a couple seconds more until the black and purple seeker shifted uncomfortably from Thundercracker's lame attempt to conserve energy. At least Skywarp was nice enough this time to not teleport out from under him.
"Hey TC- Thunder... leggo. I'm not Astrotrain," Skywarp clapped him on the shoulders to get his focus back on the 'here and now'. It was something of an embarrassment anyway for a Decepticon to go empty while away from base. "Let's go raid one of the squishy squad's fuel planes."
"I guess that's better than crude oil," he muttered, not feeling motivated at all about having to hunt for his food at the moment. Having it served on a platter, already converted into palatable energon cubes would be better. Getting tanked with some high-grade energon sounded really good.
But… that meant going back to base. Slaggit.
"Anything to keep you from kissing dirt," the seeker transformed to lead the way.
Thundercracker grumbled. He hated the thought of that, or anything pertaining to being grounded. It was enough to muster up some of his reserves to appear more alert as he followed after Skywarp.
"I have to ask: Was all this about the fact you didn't want Megatron to blow up the Andes? Cause you like humans?" Skywarp asked across his personal com-link to Thundercracker.
Thundercracker did not reply. His muddled relays were too busy trying to make sense of this new question, and wondering if he heard that right... or if he had said something to him earlier and forgotten that he had. Or.. was Skywarp nosing around in his datapads or talking to Soundwave? "How…? I never– I don't like humans! I just... don't like... killing innocent civilians."
Skywarp laughed, only because he couldn't help it. Thundercracker's stunned reaction was so not expected. "But you don't like Autobots or even the non-flying Cybertronians?"
"Yeah, cause they are involved with the war. Who told you this?" he was still on the defense.
"You did. Some time ago, when we were overcharged with Energon. You get really talkative when you're tanked. Thank Primus it doesn't take much before you off-line. Some of your ideas get really weird."
"Slag... what else have I said? Were Starscream and Megatron around when I said something really... bad?"
"Eh, nothing that proved you wanted to be the next Decepticon leader. Just weird stuff... like how you like sunsets, whales, or how stupid it is that penguins are birds that can't fly," the darker jet chuckled.
"Primus..."
"You still trust me?"
"No!" Thundercracker was feeling anything but drained now. He never felt so mortified, and at the same time, on fire with anger at himself for being so loose of voice. This would not store well in his processor if they ever got captured for interrogation. The blue seeker transformed into jet mode and locked his guns on Skywarp's afterburners.
"Aww... c'mon, I never told anyone about how you like humans! Honest!" Skywarp laughed nervously after his radar picked up on his wingmate's lock. "You only told me that one night when you were hanging out in my quarters, and I had randomly played some human music I found on their Internet."
Thundercracker still tailed him, but didn't shoot. He rather just think of himself as a seeker with a conscience. "Let me get this clear, I do not like humans. I just don't want to waste my energy killing the harmless ones-"
"Now you're changing your story."
"No, I'm not!"
"And you were this close from shut-down too," Skywarp continued to tease him, regardless.
Thundercracker rumbled, deciding to go for a change of topic then. "So, have you found anything we can raid for fuel?"
"No, not yet–" Skywarp had a hint of mock pity in his voice. It was like he was milking every bit of amusement from this as much as possible, since the dark jet more or less promised Thundercracker he wasn't going to tell anyone else. "Or should we check in with the Autobots for Energon so we aren't harming the humans?" because Skywarp wasn't done yet with the mockery.
"For the love of– shut up !" Thundercracker rumbled in disgust at that suggestion. Skywarp's only saving grace was that the blue jet didn't have the energy to give chase. He really hoped they found something to raid soon. And then, maybe then he might concede to the idea of returning back to the base. Then he could lock himself in his quarters to escape until the fuss died down– aka until Skywarp got bored and found someone else to pester. But if that sadistic seeker ever slipped word to anyone else about this secret, there will be payback!
Slag…