Title: Facing War
Warnings: gen, dark, implied genocide
Continuity: G1 (part of ultharkitty's Dysfunction AU)
Characters/Pairing: Onslaught, Blast Off
Rating: PG
Disclaimer: Sadly, nothing is mine.
Summary: War comes closer, but Onslaught has a plan.
Beta: ultharkitty :D
Note: Written for the tf_rare_pairing 5 Firsts challenge.
Facing War
Blast Off didn't like war. Onslaught knew that.
It wasn't for the reasons ordinary people disliked or feared war, it was because for the shuttleformer, it was the beginning of extinction.
Blast Off saw the bigger picture, a far bigger picture than even Onslaught saw or understood. And that was the reason Onslaught wondered why Blast Off hadn't left already.
He found the shuttle on a balcony.
Blast Off stood at the railing, staring at the horizon where another city surrendered to the unrest of battle. It looked like sunset, only at the wrong side of the horizon line, and it caused a sensation of wrongness.
Blast Off acknowledged Onslaught's presence with a brief nod, but kept quiet.
Onslaught returned the gesture, offering one of two cubes of midgrade.
Blast Off took it wordlessly.
With the fire so close, Onslaught expected the scent of scorched metal as he vented deeply, but the wind dragged the smoke in another direction. It'd been a long time since Onslaught had smelled it. It'd been a long time since he'd fought in a war, and he found himself disliking that as well.
It messed with his plans and his business. It was inconvenient.
Soon, he'd have to forge alliances. He didn't want to see his city fall.
He'd thought about approaching the Autobots, but their former interactions indicated it wasn't a good idea.
Megatron came from the Kaon pits. He'd be more receptive for a federation; and it wasn't as though Onslaught had nothing to offer.
"I'm going to meet Megatron in two cycles. You'll come with me."
Blast Off didn't turn to glance at him, nor did he shrug or show any other sign that he'd heard.
More than three kliks passed, before the shuttle answered. "Then stop Vortex and Brawl from fidgeting or they'll sit in the cargo hold."
So few words to say so much. Onslaught hadn't mentioned the others, but Blast Off understood nonetheless.
A grounder, a flyer and even a shuttleformer to show Megatron Onslaught's capabilities. To show how stupid it'd be to attack Kaon, only to let a third party raise and join the battlefields.
Onslaught had an advantage.
Shuttleformers were rare after Altihex had become one of war's first victims. Many shuttles died, and the rest left the planet. There was no reason for them to stay.
Merely a few triple changers had remained, but none of them was equipped with cannons like the mods Blast Off had. They'd been expensive at the time the shuttle had got them, but worth their money.
Blast Off owed Onslaught something. Although he knew the shuttleformer didn't care about that.
"We can put them into the cargo hold to begin with," Onslaught said, then sipped his energon.
Blast Off just nodded again. But it wasn't a 'yes'.
Suppressing a sigh, Onslaught stared at the burning horizon. In two days, he would know if Blast Off followed the rest of his subspecies.
Onslaught hoped not.