Title: Metamorphosis
Description: The death of their race was sealed with a single rash action ... and the only thing to come of it had no idea what was going on. G1 (AU), told from the perspective of several canon characters.
Disclaimer: I do not own Transformers. That's why this is fanfiction. All original characters are not to be used without permission, which I will probably give if asked nicely.
Author's notes: Here is the rewritten prologue. For those of you already following this story, what was previously the prologue has become the first part of chapter one, so it's not gone. For those of you new to this, you've missed the hack-slash inconvenient that is rewriting, so enjoy the story!
Also, adding quotes to the chapters now. Vaeru please forgive me for shamelessly imitating you like this. You've just got your shit so together ...
As always, reviews are love.
Prologue: Dead Zone
Nothing fixes a thing so intensely in the memory as the wish to forget it.
- Michel de Montagne
He made what felt like his hundredth circuit of the city, his sensors at full power and radar array expanded to maximum. Both came up blank on every frequency. The F-15 Eagle dipped low to weave between two skyscrapers, surveying the landscape not so far below and feeling a strange sense of isolation. He'd never thought much of human cities before, but flying low in the dark he could almost pretend he was among the spires of Iacon. It had been mostly black and still the last time he'd seen them, too.
He banked around a glass building, his reflection rippling across what was left of the mirrored windows. Transforming in mid-air, he alighted near the only reading his sensors could detect. His night-vision picked out the other winged form easily, hunched over something in the wreckage.
"Skywarp," he called.
"Hey TC," the purple jet grunted distractedly. "Didja find it?"
"No. It's gone." Thundercracker kicked aside a twisted steel beam in his path. "It must have dissipated without the containment field."
"Bummer."
"Bummer is having to tell this to Megatron."
Skywarp snorted, his back still turned. "We've been offline for, like, two days. Megs probably knows already. You reach anyone on the comms?"
"No. The area is a dead zone." He peered over Skywarp's shoulder and frowned. "What the Pit are you doing?"
Skywarp didn't answer. He was crouched over one of the twisted, misshapen heaps that littered the streets, happily tinkering with its innards. His right hand held a soldering torch, and beside him was a pile of salvaged odds and ends. He had an uplink cable running from the data-processor in his left arm, the small screen scrolling with code.
Thundercracker felt his thin veneer of composure snap. He snatched the thing from the ground, ignoring Skywarp's yelp as the connection was severed, and tossed it into the front of a nearby building. Glass shattered on impact, and a blast from his shoulder cannon reduced the storefront to rubble.
"What did you do that for?" Skywarp sputtered indignantly.
The blue Seeker rounded on his companion. "What in the Pit did you think you were doing?" he snarled again.
The other cringed. "I was just messing around. I got bored waiting for you, and there's tons of this stuff lying around."
Thundercracker's hands were on his throat in an instant. "'Messing around'? Messing around? That is sick, Skywarp. Even for you."
Skywarp sputtered as sensitive wires in his neck were squeezed. "What is your deal, TC? It's all just scrap. Who cares?"
The inside of his armour crawled, as if Earth insects had gotten into his systems. "We were right in the middle of this, you fragging glitch. And you can just go off poking and tinkering around like ... like ..." his vocalizer rasped and stuttered with disgust. His grip tightened and Skywarp's pistons strained frantically, trying to break free.
Both their sensor nets pinged at the same time. Thundercracker let go of his partner, and the two Seekers shared a glance of surprise.
"Autobots," Skywarp said.
Thundercracker grimaced. "Wondered when they'd get here."
"Guess that's our cue."
Thundercracker turned, preparing to launch himself into the air. He caught sight of Skywarp poking his foot through the pile of salvaged debris.
"Leave it," he snapped.
"But —"
"I said leave it. You've got all the scrap you need back at base already." His optics flared bright red, then dimmed again. "Just leave it," he said again softly. "Let's go."
With a last look of disappointment, Skywarp abandoned his spoils and joined his trinemate in beating a hasty retreat. The two jets circled through the dark skyscrapers, the glow of their thrusters dancing over the black glass and steel.
Skywarp pulled in close so his friend could hear him. "You know, I didn't think they had the spinal struts for something like this."
Thundercracker didn't answer. The sooner they were away from this place, the sooner he could drown himself in Mixmaster's corrosive high grade.
Dead zone, he thought. That was an apt term.
He fired his afterburners and pulled out of the steel valley into open sky, his sonic boom shattering the glass behind him. Skywarp followed.
End Prologue: Dead Zone
A/N: There's a subtle symbolic reference to why TC is acting so OC here. Cookie if you can spot it.