Disclaimer – "Transformers" and all related characters, events, and concepts belong to Hasbro, Takara, and any other related owners/distributors/producers. I get no monetary benefit from this. My benefit is the enjoyment of dealing with beloved characters.

"Independence Day"
by DragonDancer5150

Chapter 3

Within minutes, the two Seekers were closing on the south tip of the Sierra Nevada mountain range. And sure enough, Thundercracker spotted a plume of red, white, and blue sparks. Another point of light, indicating the next rocket, was already climbing fast from the launch site below.

"Hey, TC, watch this!"

"'Warp, what are you-"

VOP!

" . . . doing," the blue Seeker concluded to no one in particular, his wingmate having already disappeared with a warp jump.

"Prime, we've got incoming!"

Gears's sudden voice in Optimus's audio managed to make the great mech flinch before he recovered. Optics scanning the sky, he raised a hand to his left finial for talk-back. "Report, Gears."

Gears had drawn the short lot and been left in charge of Teletraan I while the rest of the Autobots were outside enjoying the music, fireworks, and laser light show, courtesy of Wheeljack and Sparkplug. "Two incoming jets with Decepticon energy signatures. Teletraan One's identified Thundercracker and-"

Optimus didn't hear the rest of Gears's words, reacting – as everyone else was – to the sudden arrival of Skywarp zipping out from the center of the most recent blossom of firework sparks, a bright gold sphere from which the Seeker appeared to have been born. The entire gathering dove for cover amid the rocks and foliage of the area, but shockingly, the Seeker didn't start shooting, merely veered off and disappeared with a loud pop. Optimus looked to where Wheeljack was already scrambling back over to his control device to try to shut it down, but amid blaring music, another fuse was lit, another rocket shot up into the air . . . and with another plume of sparks, bright green this time, the prankster Seeker shot from the center again as if released from imprisonment within the firecracker itself. Optimus swore he heard laughter before Skywarp teleported a second time without attacking.

The Autobots recovered quickly, weapons drawn and trained on the sky for the enemy's next appearance, but their commander could only resist the urge to plant his faceplates into the palm of one hand as he guessed what was happening. Instead, he strode out from his own cover, gesturing broadly at his mechs. "Stand down! Everyone, stand down! Hold your fire! Wheeljack, get that system shut down."

"I'm tryin', Prime!" Wheeljack was typing furiously at the control panel.

"Just sever the line, 'Jack!" Without waiting for the engineer to do so, Ironhide leveled his pistol on the cable that ran from the control box out to the collection of launch tubes just as another fuse was lit in time to the music.

"No! Ironhide, don't!" Sparkplug yelled, but too late.

Ironhide's shot blew the cable neatly in two, power flaring both ways from the target site. One shot a surge of power through the control box, making Wheeljack flinch back with his arms crossed protectively in front of him. The other crackled down the length of the cable to the launch tubes, igniting the rest of the fuses prematurely.

Optimus watched in dismay as Skywarp flew from the center of the expected firework only to be pelted repeatedly by the unexpected ones, some bouncing off his armor before exploding but others detonating against his wings and fuselage. Likely, the Seeker had been in the process of calculating and initiating his teleport and never saw the rest be ignited to know to dodge them. Optimus cursed in an undertone as the Decepticon Seeker wobbled in his flight and rapidly lost altitude, dropping out of the air some twenty meters away. "Trailbreaker, Ironhide, Wheeljack!" he barked, pointing. "Force fields and fire suppression. Put him out before that fire can spread! Ratchet, go with them. See if Skywarp needs medical attention."

Thundercracker swore hotly as he watched his wingmate go down. Skywarp had been flying low enough in order to catch the fireworks plumes that, over the open comm and between teleports, Thundercracker thought he'd heard Prime's stay orders and the argument to shut down the firing mechanisms. So the attack on his wingmate had been in error?

Not that it mattered. The blue fighter jet flexed his wing flaps and dropped his nose, descending rapidly on the Autobots. Unfortunately, Skywarp had gone down only meters from the enemy position – Thundercracker couldn't get to him before the Autobots had him closely surrounded, blocking the blue Seeker from strafing them to get them to back off. Unlike others of his faction, he was unwilling to fire on an ally. He was not about to risk his unconscious wingmate.

Miraculously, the Autobots did not appear to be attacking Skywarp – no one was firing, and only their medic was close enough to do any unarmed damage. Neither did they open fire on Thundercracker as he closed on them, though they were certainly prepared to. The blue Seeker pulled up, wing flaps flaring. He transformed and dropped the last few meters to the ground, arms extended so his rifles covered the closest Autobots. "Release him," he demanded. He frowned inwardly at the tense note of his own voice, but he couldn't deny it – he would fight if that's what it took, but he knew he could not take on the entire group alone, especially not with Optimus Prime himself standing there.

Prime, however, was not bearing his fearsome ion rifle nor any other visible weapon as he moved forward through the ranks of his men. "Easy, Thundercracker. Skywarp has sustained quite a bit of damage. Ratchet is working on him now."

The medic, Ratchet, sat back with a shake of his head and shifted to look over his shoulder. "Need to get him back to the med-bay, Prime. I don't want to open him up out here-"

"No!" The shot of something akin to panic startled even Thundercracker as the reaction jumped from his vocalizer of its own accord. Besides being a part of his trine – which in itself had a great deal of meaning to a Seeker – Skywarp was the closest thing to a friend that the blue jet-warrior had. Letting these Autobots take him into their med-bay meant letting them take him into their base . . . and it'd be a short walk from the med-bay to the brig. If they didn't just drag his sorry chassis there to start with. The Seeker shifted, keeping his weapons trained on the nearest threats. "Give him to me. I'll take him back to the Victory for repairs." He held no illusion that they'd actually do so, nor was he sure how he'd manage his part, but . . . what choice did he have?

Ratchet huffed and stood to face him more fully. "Look, I get the 'can't let the enemy take my buddy', Thundercracker, but if you wanna come over here, I'll show you where a vital coupling got shoved deeper into his substructure where it doesn't belong, and if the amount of energon he's leaking is any indication, you don't have time to take him back to your own base."

"I am sorry that your trinemate was injured, Thundercracker," Prime rumbled in that conciliatory tone that the Seeker found so irritating. "I swear to you that it was an accident. If you'll stand down, you may come with him to the med-bay and see for yourself that he is properly cared for. If you do not give us reason to, no one will hinder or harm you." He glanced at his mechs to make sure they were listening. Many looked decidedly unhappy – or at the very least, uncomfortable – with that order, but Thundercracker had dealt with these mechs for long enough to recognize that Prime was a mech of his word and that the others would obey him even if they strongly disagreed. Unlike his own faction.

"I will not be taken prisoner," he asserted even as he began to slowly relax his stance.

"Give us no reason to," Prime reiterated, "and you will not be. I don't know why you are here, but I recognize that if Skywarp had meant to attack us, he would have."

"Thundercracker," Ratchet grated, glancing down at his patient, "I don't know if we're running out of time for him, but I don't want to find out the hard way any more than you do. Now stand down and let us help him!"

Skywarp chose that moment to begin to reboot, though he seemed heavily disoriented. "O-oww . . . TC . . . " His voice was weak and riddled with pain.

Something twisted in Thundercracker at the thought of losing his wingmate. "If he doesn't make it, medic . . . "

"He'll make it."

There was a stubborn certainty in Ratchet's tone and stance that Thundercracker found oddly reassuring. He nodded and lowered his arms, rifles powering down.

x

AN: Okay, yes, I realize, well after I'd committed to the idea, that fireworks of the size Joe Shmoe can buy on the corner would not normally be enough to damage a Cybertronian. I tried to think how to fix this – and normally I would – but this wasn't ever meant to be one of my more "serious" fics, anyway. For G1, it's canon for wacky crap to happen to everyone, on both sides, and have it be more effective than it should have, so for this, I decided to just go ahead and run with it. Yes, I'm aware it's a big plot flaw, but I wrote this for pure fun, so I'm not going to worry about it. We'll say close proximity and some seriously lucky strikes to key seams and other weak points are what did the job. :grins: