1984

Thundercracker stared blankly at the energon chains shackled around his wrists. The Autobots hadn't put them on when they'd first thrown him in the meager cell; they hadn't felt the most docile member of the leading Decepticon trine had needed them.

The Autobots had reconsidered this stance when he'd nearly clawed Sunstreaker's optics out.

"Hello, Thundercracker," came a rumbling baritone voice from the other side of the bars.

The seeker raised his head and saw Optimus Prime himself sitting placidly in a chair in the hallway outside of his cell. Thundercracker blinked, surprised. 'Megatron would never have come down here if positions were reversed. He'd have sent one of us to do it for him, if he even bothered to do it at all.'

'Asshole.'

Thundercracker raised his hand to his mouth to hide his smile, but the Prime's sharp eyes caught the expression. He quirked an eyebrow. "Something funny, Thundercracker?"

"Ah," Thundercracker said, quickly suppressing his smile. "Just…I didn't expect to see the leader of the Autobots here. And not…you know, sitting here in the dark with me, actually looking me in the optics."

"Yes, I can see how that might surprise you." He leaned back slightly, clearly making himself more comfortable. "I take it Megatron doesn't often grace the dungeons with his presence?"

Thundercracker snorted in amusement, then tried to cover it by clearing grit from his voicebox. "That was more or less what I was thinking."

The two shared a moment of silence, each considering the shared observation on Megatron's habits. It didn't last long, however. "I take it you're not here to talk about Megatron's prison visiting schedule," he said, guessing at the reason for Prime's presence.

"Unfortunately not." Prime put his elbows on his knees, his posture pensive. "Thundercracker, I wanted to talk to you about Sunstreaker."

"TC," Thundercracker interrupted.

Prime blinked. "What?"

Thundercracker vented. "Call me TC. Everyone else does." Prime tilted his head to the side inquisitively, and Thundercracker plowed on. "It just saves time. Really the only people who call me Thundercracker are people who are mad at me or giving me orders."

After a few moments, Prime said quietly "I don't know that I feel comfortable calling you that. Given the circumstances."

"Oh. Right." He really should have thought of how awkward it would be to call an enemy prisoner by a somewhat affectionate nickname. He didn't even know why he'd said it, he'd just sort of blurted it out. He was nervous, and having serious second thoughts, and the cell was too small, too cramped, claustrophobic and oppressive in its restriction.

'Nice going, there, crackpot. REAL smooth - '

'Shut up. I didn't ASK to - '

"Thundercracker," Prime was speaking again and Thundercracker had to listen. "I'm concerned about your outburst earlier today. It seemed very unlike you. Many of my chief officers were all for sedating you and cutting you open to make sure you were not infected with something. I managed to convince them to let me talk to you first. I . . . need to know what was going on in your head at the time."

The unspoken hung between them: If Thundercracker didn't explain himself satisfactorily, they were going to cut him open anyway.

'Over my dead body.'

Thundercracker's expression was grim. "Prime, do you know what the difference is between a seeker and a Cybertronian who turns into a jet?"

The Prime took a moment to consider that. "Seekers tend to be faster, don't they? They're also…how to put this delicately…?"

"Don't be delicate. I'm a 'Con, sir. I'm used to it."

"Well…they tend to be pretty nasty fighters."

Thundercracker snorted. "That's your worst? You Autobots are tame." For a half-second, Thundercracker was afraid he'd just offended one of his jailors. But Prime merely quirked an optic ridge, and Thundercracker relaxed slightly.

"That may be true," Prime said wryly. "But then what does it say about you Decepticons that we can force you to retreat so easily?"

Thundercracker allowed himself a tiny and fleeting smile. "You're alright, Prime. For an Autobot."

"I have often thought the same of you. But that incident with Sunstreaker - "

"Alright, alright," Thundercracker said. "Point taken." He looked at the chains on his wrists again. They were heavy, and he didn't like having them there. "The difference between your run-of-the-mill jet and a seeker is the trine."

There was a silence, and then, "Thundercracker, I don't understand what this has to do with - "

"I swear it's relevant," Thundercracker cut in quickly. "You really have no understanding whatsoever about what it means to be a member of a trine. At all. And seeing as you're a grounder, you're never going to understand it. So, frankly, I'm not gonna waste my time trying to explain.

"What you can understand is this: I can't stand Starscream." Prime frowned in confusion, but Thundercracker pressed on, ignoring him. "But as his trine mate, I reserve the right to dislike him as long as I can fly with him. Trines are all about flight, Prime. They evolved simultaneously with our need to fly. And even though I can't stand the aft, he is still part of my trine. So I don't particularly like it when people threaten him."

"And is that what Sunstreaker did?" Optimus asked.

Thundercracker nodded. He clipped a section of the recording he was making of everything going on around him - Soundwave would have his head if he didn't turn it in upon his release. He sent the clipping through the external speakers he used when he was in vehicle mode. It was a bit odd hearing an Autobot's vocal tones coming through his speakers, and he gritted his denta as he again heard what had set him off in the first place: "The next time I see your cowardly boyfriend, I'll be sure to give the gray and red bastard an extra special pounding from you. He likes it in the aft, right?"

It was unmistakably Sunstreaker's voice, mocking and crude. Prime looked taken aback by this, but Thundercracker was staring at his manacles again, his hands clenched tightly, and didn't take notice.

"That was out of line," Prime said, sounding genuinely angry now for the first time. "I will have a talk with Sunstreaker about that." After a moment, the Autobot leader spoke again, and he sounded much calmer. "Thundercracker, I am truly very sorry that you had to experience that. I shouldn't have put you in that position."

"No," Thundercracker agreed, looking up to stare straight into the Prime's optic. "You shouldn't've."

Prime winced slightly. Thundercracker felt no remorse at this; he remembered the last time he'd encountered the lambo twins. They'd used their so-called 'jet judo' to bring Skywarp down. For what felt like an eternity, Thundercracker felt the terror and pain the other mech was feeling through their spark-bond, and the only thing he'd been able to think was 'He's going to die. He's going to die, and there's nothing I can do to save him.' Thank Primus there were always three members of a trine.

They stared at each other for a long while. Finally, Prime rose. "Thank you for your honesty. Cooperation is always appreciated." Thundercracker just nodded. "If there's anything you need, don't hesitate to call. We've disabled your comm system for security reasons, but there's an external comm system in your cell. Red Alert reserves the right to turn it off at any time, so don't abuse that privilege."

"Prime?" Thundercracker asked as the mech was leaving.

'Just what the fuck do you think you're doing?'

'Will you please shut up?'

'No, I will not shut up. You're about to blow absolutely everything! If anyone should be shutting up, it's YOU!'

"Yes?" Prime asked, turning to look at Thundercracker.

The blue mech looked away guiltily. "I uh…I just wanted to thank you. You know. For...for not immediately cutting me open. For giving me the benefit of the doubt."

Prime offered him a small smile. "We do things a little differently here, Thundercracker. I have a feeling we could get along well, should you choose to join us."

Thundercracker shook his head. "You can't ask me to leave my trine, Prime."

The Autobot leader only nodded. "I thought that would be your answer. But I also thought it would be only fair to ask, should I be wrong.'"

"Yeah. Um, look, speaking of asking things you shouldn't," Thundercracker went on quickly, "I want to ask you to take the night off. In like...a couple days?"

Prime turned to face him. "What?" he asked a little incredulously.

"I just…nevermind. Forget it." Thundercracker mumbled and looked away.

'Oh, you IDIOT!'

'What?'

'Not YOU, you moron, the OTHER moron!'

Prime kept talking, but Thundercracker just tuned him out. He'd gotten quite used to tuning out people talking. He'd had to – he was trine-bound to Skywarp and Starscream, after all.

Eventually, Optimus Prime realized that Thundercracker wasn't going to answer, and left. Thundercracker relaxed against the wall, and shuttered his optics. It was common knowledge that trines tended to sparkbond – so common in fact, that most grounders thought it was the rule. This was an assumption that Thundercracker capitalized on now. Sparkbonds allowed the individuals to feel what their partner or partners were feeling, but not to speak with them. As far as the Autobots were concerned, with his comms off, TC was well and truly cut off from his team.

They had no idea what trinebonds actually were.

He accessed his HUD, his trine-mate's vitals streaming steady in a side window. 'Guys' he sent. 'It's time to start the party.'

Starscream's voice replied, sour. 'You mean the headache.'

Thundercracker smirked. 'Yeah. That.'

Everything was going according to plan.