A Wing and a Prayer

Chapter 4

It was the first time Fireflight had seen Ratchet speechless. Ever. He was almost more scared by that than he would have been by shouting. He wasn't allowed to hide behind Skyfire, but that table over there looked big enough to give him cover...

Then Ratchet seemed to recover; his face went through a rapid sequence of emotions and ended up in a familiar scowl that had Fireflight edging, despite himself, one step nearer to Skyfire's reassuring presence. Skyfire's hand brushed his wing lightly, his field tranquil, and Fireflight's nervous spark settled down again.

Then, to Fireflight's utter amazement, Ratchet laughed, shook his head, and cast a strange glance at Skyfire - like he didn't know whether to thank him or throw something at his head.

"You're quite a piece of work, aren't you?" Ratchet stalked towards Fireflight, paused a foot away from him, and lifted a hand to poke him in the cockpit. Fireflight tried hard not to squeak. "Want to know a secret?"

Fireflight wasn't sure if he did, but he nodded anyway, because even if Ratchet wasn't shouting, he did still look terribly fierce. Ratchet put a hand on his shoulder, leaned in to speak directly into his audio receptor.

"I've never reformatted anybody. Primus help me, but I like all of you just the way you are." He leaned back, gruff good-humour on his face, and something that was almost a smile. "Besides, if I ever change my mind, those twins are first on my list. You'll have plenty of time to get away."

Ratchet stepped back, but not before Fireflight caught the dusty taste of an unspoken apology in the momentary mingling of their fields. Startled, he would have said something to acknowledge it, but Ratchet had turned away briskly and was already speaking again.

"Now, let's see that wing of yours. Didn't anyone ever teach you that the scenery's for looking at?"

Hastily, Fireflight launched into his explanation for a second time, tumbling over the words in a rush of relief and surprise, and somewhere in the middle he remembered something he'd seen on the canyon floor, and asked Skyfire about it. And the wonderful thing about Skyfire was that he didn't seem to think there was any such thing as a stupid question, and even if he didn't know the answer he could take guesses, or suggest where Fireflight could go to find out, and he didn't mind at all if the conversation started off with lizards and ended up on whether or not turning seventeen barrel rolls in a row really could make you dizzy enough to crash, or if Air Raid had just gotten distracted.

"The five of you," Ratchet put in eventually, just as he ran a high-powered vacuum nozzle under Fireflight's wing flaps, making him giggle and squirm, "are meant to combine into one mind, not share it. I'm starting to think you've only got one processing loop between you - and Silverbolt's the only one who puts it to use!"

The words didn't sting, not when Ratchet's energy field kept making glancing contact with Fireflight's, telegraphing little currents of amusement, exasperation, and - amazingly - affection. Fireflight wondered if First Aid knew that Ratchet was really kind of nice, then decided that probably he did, because why else would he have gone back to the medbay after the first time Ratchet had kicked him out? It was a bit like the way Slingshot bristled up until he was three times his own size with nasty remarks and scowls, but Fireflight had been in his spark and knew better. He wondered if everyone was like that: one thing on the outside, something else on the inside.

"There. Done."

Ratchet stepped back, and gave Fireflight a light push. Fireflight obediently hopped off the table, and turned around with a hesitant, hopeful smile. Ratchet fixed him with a stern look and raised his spanner to point at Fireflight's nose.

"And what have we learned from this?"

Fireflight had to think about that. Don't fly into trees, seemed the obvious one, but the thing was, it wasn't like he meant to, so it didn't do him much good. Watch where you're going, was another, but he did try, honest... Don't let Air Raid dare you, was the one Silverbolt kept on about, and he supposed there was some truth in that, but then, it was so much fun daring Air Raid back... and he didn't think Ratchet would appreciate You're actually secretly nice, although Fireflight thought that was the really big thing he'd learned, even though really it was Skyfire who'd shown him that, not something he'd found out for himself...

"Skyfire knows everything," he said aloud. "Even more than Silverbolt."

"I beg your pardon?"

Skyfire sounded so startled that Fireflight was worried he'd offended him, but Ratchet's unexpected roar of laughter distracted them both. After a moment, Skyfire's expression settled isomewhere between embarrassment and surprise, while Ratchet thumped his hand on the table once or twice and finally got control of himself. Fireflight's internal comm bleeped at him.

"Oh!" he said. "I've got to go, Air Raid and Slingshot are coming to find me-"

"Primus forbid," replied Ratchet dryly. "Go on with you. Out! And I don't want to see you in here again for at least a week."

Fireflight scuttled towards the exit, but Ratchet called after him, "By which I mean I don't want you knocking over any more Earth flora, not that you're to run off and hide if you do, got that?"

"Got it!"

Just as he darted through the door, he heard Ratchet say to Skyfire, "Well, that's two of them. Which are you going to bring me next?"

"I'm sorry?"

"You seem to be collecting jets." Ratchet sounded like he was grinning, but Fireflight didn't have time to turn around and check. "Or are they collecting you?"

:So, what, we need a minder now?: Air Raid grumbled over the Aerialbots' private frequency as they reached cruising altitude.

:I'd like to see him try,: retorted Slingshot, hostility bristling in his voice. :If he thinks he's gonna tell us what to do...:

:Silverbolt's in command,: said Skydive, and it was only the faintest inflection on the words that made it clear he was reminding Silverbolt of that fact. :Not Skyfire.:

:Just so long as-:

:Get off the private comms,: Silverbolt cut in. :Public frequencies only when we're on patrol.:

Air Raid tilted his wings this way and that, letting the slipstream play around the flaps, and chewed on his resentment in silence. A small part of his mind was aware that not only was Silverbolt right about the regulations, but that it was slagging rude to have a conversation on a private channel like that; thing was, normally it didn't matter when they were on patrol, because normally it was just the five of them.

He didn't know exactly why Skyfire was tagging along. Silverbolt had said they needed to get used to working with other people in the air, but since Skyfire was the only other Autobot jet (if you didn't count Powerglide, which Air Raid, personally, didn't), Air Raid figured what he really meant was that they needed to get used to working with Skyfire. Which presumably meant that the shuttle was going to be around a lot more. Great. Just great.

Air Raid gained a little height, and shot a quick, glancing scan at Skyfire, who was flying above them (and Air Raid didn't like that much, either; it made him feel pinned down and claustrophobic). The larger flyer gave no indication of noticing, or that he'd been aware of the conversation going on around him. Watching him easily keep pace with the Aerialbots, engines thrumming unhurriedly, Air Raid's spark twitched with something between envy and resentment. They were the Autobots' air force; they were the wings of the Ark; they were the kings of the air. Omega Supreme was powerful but awkward in atmosphere; Cosmos useless for anything but surveillance; Powerglide had too short a range for more than quick reconnaissance. It had been easy to dismiss Skyfire when they could laugh at his size and mock his alt-mode, but now they'd seen him fly, Air Raid was too honest a 'bot to ignore the fact that he was at home in the air as they were.

Thing was, Silverbolt liked him. Fireflight liked him too - wouldn't shut up about him, in fact, ever since Skyfire had engineered some mysterious cure for Fireflight's fear of medbay. Fireflight hadn't really explained what exactly that had been about, but the part that struck Air Raid was that Skyfire, somehow, had been able to do what none of Fireflight's brothers had. And Air Raid was torn between wanting Skyfire to butt out of their lives, and wondering what was so great about the guy. He just seemed... dull. Too bland and mild-mannered. Probably a stickler for the rules and bound to disapprove of any playing around while on duty.

Well, let him disapprove.

:Hey, guys,: said Air Raid, :bet you I can reach the edge of the cloud bank before the rest of you!:

He shot off out of formation without giving them a chance to respond. Slingshot gave a spluttering yell of protest and was on his tail in a second. Skydive was barely a wing length behind.

:Air Raid!: snapped Silverbolt. :Cut it out!:

Air Raid waggled his ailerons defiantly at his gestalt leader. Stupid Skyfire, messing things up. Normally Silverbolt would race with them. Normally he wasn't so uptight about things like staying in formation. Not when it was just the five of them.

Slingshot was nosing up under one wing, trying to make him lose speed by altering course. It didn't work so well on Air Raid as it would on another flyer - the gestalt link gave him too good an awareness of just how close Slingshot was to let him get spooked - but all the same, it meant he had to concentrate harder on his flying, and before he knew it, Skydive was level with him.

:Should've given yourself a bigger headstart.:

Slingshot suddenly side slipped, tilted up on one wing, and flipped right around Air Raid in a barrel roll. Gestalt link or no, Air Raid was startled enough to duck away from the unexpected shadow that flashed across his canopy, and the precious few seconds he lost gave Skydive more of a lead, and allowed Slingshot to slip back into position just a fraction further ahead.

:That was impressive,: remarked someone, and it took Air Raid a minute to realise that it was Skyfire - he'd all but forgotten they were talking on the open channel.

:That was cheating,: Air Raid retorted, pushing his afterburners to their limit and chasing after his brothers.

:Hey, now, cut him some slack - it's not like Slings is going to win an outright race,: Skydive put in.

:Frag you!:

Two brothers ahead of him, one a good long way behind, refusing to play - but what had happened to the fourth?

:Hey, Fireflight? Where are you?:

:Winning,: came the prompt, cheerful response.

Air Raid quickly cast a scan ahead and on both sides, but there was no sign of Fireflight.

:What the frag...:

:He's away over to the west,: came Skyfire again, sounding puzzled but amused. :Flying almost at right angles to your course.:

Air Raid exchanged a wordless burst of static with Skydive and Slingshot.

:Um, Fireflight? Did you get your nav system scrambled or something?:

:Nope,: replied Fireflight, indecently smug, :but you never said which edge.:

Aw, wingnuts... Sure enough, the cloud bank was longer than it was wide, and while Air Raid and the others raced for the still distant clear air directly on their flightpath, Fireflight was bare seconds from the closer edge to their left.

:That doesn't count-: Slingshot was yelling, even as Fireflight shot out into space, crowing with triumph.

:I think, technically, it does,: said Skydive, resigned. He slackened his speed, letting Air Raid and Slingshot barrel past him. :Guess that's the race to Fireflight...:

:Nah, it totally doesn't count,: Air Raid replied, gunning his engine harder now that he had a clear run. :You knew what I meant, 'Flight!:

:Hey!: Fireflight had been doing victory loops; now he spun around on an intercept course, though he had no hope of catching up while they were at full burn. :It does count! You just said 'to the edge'! I figured you meant the nearest edge! It wasn't my fault you all went off the other way-:

:Knock it off, Fireflight,: said Slingshot, still hassling Air Raid's slipstream.

:No fair!: Fireflight whined. :Hey, Silverbolt, it does count, right?:

:I think it does,: Silverbolt replied. There was unexpected amusement in his voice. :If you don't state your terms clearly enough at the start, Air Raid...: Oh, so that was it - Silverbolt wasn't above a little payback. :I say the race goes to Fireflight.:

:Silverbolt...:

:Don't be a sore loser, Air Raid.: Skydive had dropped behind; he was practising solo manoeuvres as he waited for the non-racers to catch up. :It's not like you were going to win anyway.:

Over Air Raid's protests and Slingshot's renewed complaints that it hadn't been a proper race, Skyfire unexpectedly cut in: :I don't know, I think he might have surprised you, Skydive. His alt-mode is-:

:Nobody asked you!: Air Raid snapped.

There was a startled silence on all sides, and it was only then that Air Raid registered what Skyfire had actually been saying. He felt like a total, utter moron, but what the Pit was he supposed to do about it? Skyfire had shut up without further comment, and Air Raid couldn't quite seem to get any of the possible apologies out of his vocaliser.

:That's enough messing around,: said Silverbolt. The light-heartedness had gone; he was back to sounding distant and stern, and Air Raid knew that was mostly his fault, and felt even worse. And even more annoyed. :Air Raid, Slingshot, slow up and wait for us. Fireflight, keep on your course. Skydive, stop doing that.:

They obeyed in mostly-silence, except for Fireflight, as he drew level with Air Raid, saying meekly over the comms, :We don't have to count it as a real race if you don't want to.:

:It's fine,: said Air Raid. :You won.:

He could feel Fireflight's uncomfortable uncertainty through their link, but he ignored it as Silverbolt and Skyfire finally caught up. Skyfire settled back into place above them, his shadow falling across Air Raid's wings and making him want to tear off again. He hated having someone over his head like that. He hated people trying to get in between him and his brothers. He hated stupid patrol duty when Silverbolt was in an uptight mood. He hated the slagging cloud bank for being narrower than it was long.

:We need to head north two degrees, and then go on up over the mountains,: Silverbolt was saying. :Hound and Trailbreaker reported traces of past Decepticon activity on the plateau there. It's been abandoned, but we need to go in and do a sweep.:

:Boring,: Air Raid blipped to Slingshot, who gunned his engine in sulky agreement. :Bet we find absolutely nothing.:

As it turned out, he was right, in a way. The Decepticons found them first.

You had to hand it to the 'Cons, Air Raid thought, somewhere in between dodging Thrust and whipping around to try and shoot Ramjet off Fireflight's tail: their timing was perfect.

Or, from the point of view of the Aerialbots, really, really bad.

Ten minutes earlier, and they would've been fine. Ten minutes earlier, and they would still have been flying in a group, before Silverbolt decided to split them up to cover more ground. They needed to get on with the rest of the patrol, he'd said, so they wanted to check this area over as quickly as possible. Skyfire had disappeared up a few thousand metres to do something or other - Air Raid wasn't clear what, but Silverbolt seemed to think it would be useful - and then Air Raid and Fireflight had headed up an interesting canyon to the north-east while Silverbolt took Skydive and Slingshot with him to the plateau Hound and Trailbreaker had mentioned.

They'd been due to rendezvous in five more minutes. Seriously, couldn't the Decepticons have waited?

Because right now Air Raid and Fireflight were pinned by the Coneheads - and slag, were the sons-of-glitches ever crowing about it - while the brief transmissions he'd gotten from Silverbolt, before they'd been drowned out by the crackle of jamming static, had indicated that they were up against Starscream's wing, and coming off just as badly. Maybe worse - Silverbolt's last comm had cut out suddenly, and Pit, he wasn't built for flying down low in these canyons, but he had to be okay, just had to, Air Raid would've known if he wasn't...

"We've gotta get back to the others," he shouted to Fireflight.

Ramjet was still doggedly on his brother's tail; Air Raid gave up shooting at him, put his nose down, and accelerated. Ramjet might like crashing into others, but he wasn't so keen to be on the receiving end - his nerve broke just before Air Raid's, and he twisted away with a torrent of foul language and a couple of desultory laser bursts.

"How?" Fireflight sounded panicky, but still in control, and he was flying well. "They've got us pinned down! We can't get enough height to reach that plateau..."

Over the shared comms, Skydive suddenly cut in loud and clear, though he wasn't talking to them - :For Pit's sake, get them off Silverbolt!:

:Trying,: snarled Slingshot. :Fragging Skywarp...:

"Air Raid, look out!"

Fireflight's yelp and the warning shriek of proximity sensors came at the same instant. Ramjet had rolled around until he had a clear run at Air Raid - "Turnabout's fair play, Autodolt!" - who was already too close to the rocky wall. There was nowhere for him to go - Ramjet was going to slam him into the cliff, and while the Seeker's reinforced nosecone would probably cushion him from the worst of the impact, Air Raid's unprotected fuselage wasn't likely to come off so lucky...

Then all at once Ramjet was engulfed in a barrage of laser fire that came from somewhere directly overhead. Taken by surprise, the Decepticon had no chance to dodge, and several of the blasts pierced sensitive wings and scored deep black scars into his cockpit. Ramjet howled in equal parts rage and pain, and dropped out of the air like a stone. Air Raid was so startled that he almost flew into the wall on his own.

:Skyfire!: Fireflight sounded like he'd never been so glad to see anybody in his life, and Air Raid was inclined to agree. :We've got to get to the others, I think something's happened to Silverbolt-:

:My long-range scanners are being jammed,: Skyfire replied, and although he sounded grim, his voice was still remarkably calm. He was well above them, free of the canyon trap, and even as he spoke, a few more well-placed shots forced Dirge to abandon the attack he'd just started and peel away. :I saw you two were in trouble, but I couldn't spot the others anywhere.:

:We can find them,: Air Raid said, heading for the window Skyfire had opened up, feeling a surge of relief and fierce joy as he pulled away from the deadly cliffs, back to the clear night sky. Fireflight was hot on his tail. :Through the link. We always know where we are.:

He wasn't sure that made sense, but Skyfire seemed to understand.

:I'll follow you and try to keep these three off your backs.:

:Two,: Fireflight piped up, and Air Raid could feel his surge of renewed confidence. :I think you took Ramjet out for the count.:

:Ha! One down, five to go.: Air Raid concentrated on his innate sense of his brothers' sparks, turned in that direction, and opened his engines up to full burn. :We'll make them think twice about cowardly sneak attacks! I bet it was Starscream's idea. Leave him to me!:

:No,: replied Skyfire with such unexpected venom that Air Raid would have turned to stare if they'd been in root mode, :I think you had better leave Starscream to me.:

When Silverbolt snapped back into consciousness, the first thing to draw his attention was that he was on the ground, which was never a good sign in the middle of an aerial battle.

The second thing was that he hurt.

The third was that there was an awful lot of laser fire splashing across the rocks to either side of him, he was still in his alt-mode, and he had no idea how long he'd been offline. Instinctively, he transformed.

... now he hurt a lot.

:Slingshot? Skydive?:

:Oh, thank Primus,: replied Skydive at once. :Can you get back in the air?:

Diagnostics had finally kicked in, red flags scrolling down Silverbolt's peripheral vision. Even without the cascade of bad news, a glance at the steep terrain around him negated any possibility of take-off from his current position.

:Don't think so. What's your status?:

:Fragged off.: Slingshot certainly sounded it. :I'm gonna weld these slaggers' nosecones to their afterburners...:

:Starscream's wing are on us,: Skydive interrupted. :They've been trying to take you out since you crashed, we've been keeping them off. Sounds like Air Raid and Fireflight are in trouble too.:

:Skyfire?:

:No clue.:

Overhead, Thundercracker roared suddenly into a dive directly at Silverbolt, cannons blazing. Silverbolt ducked into the meagre shelter of a small overhang, pulled his gun from subspace, and fired off a couple of bursts that made the blue Seeker think twice about his assault. He peeled off and shot out of sight.

:Okay,: Silverbolt said, though the situation was far from it; the word just gave him a second's pause, time to pull himself together. He ran a cursory scan of the terrain, checked for incoming Seekers, then scrambled painfully up the slope until he reached a handy fold in the rock that gave him a bit more cover. :I need you two to force them this way so I can-:

:We're not forcing them anywhere,: Skydive cut in, :they've got us pinned - they're not coming down below the cliff tops and we can't get above.: The spatter of laser fire punctuated his words. :We shouldn't have come down into the canyons.:

:I know that. Shut up, I need to think.:

Silverbolt tried his hardest not to snap, wishing that just for once Skydive would keep his advice to himself. It wasn't any use now, and Silverbolt had known he'd made a mistake the moment they came under fire. He just hadn't expected to find anything of interest, let alone two full Seeker wings. Primus. He was going to have words with Hound and Trailbreaker when they got back.

Assuming they did get back.

No, that was ridiculous and panicky and not helpful. The first thing they needed to do was break this carefully laid trap, and while Silverbolt getting grounded wasn't a good thing by anyone's standards, it did at least present him with the possibility that he could climb up to the top of the canyon, which the Seekers probably hadn't anticipated. Possibly. Hopefully. He shifted, trying to see a good route up the slope, and bursts of pain from various parts of his body jarred his processor. More diagnostics flashed up. Silverbolt did his best to ignore them.

:Keep them distracted,: he said. :I'm going to try and climb-:

:Hey guys!: Air Raid's voice rang out over the comms, disgustingly cheerful. :Miss us?:

:Oh, you decided to turn up, did you?: replied Skydive, managing to sound bored right in the middle of a roll that took him perilously close to the canyon wall, but threw Starscream momentarily off his tail. :Thought you'd found something better to do.:

:Yeah, well, you know how it is, places to be, people to shoot in the tail...:

Relief washed through Silverbolt as Air Raid and Fireflight came barrelling down madly from on high, scattering Thundercracker and Starscream, and forcing Skywarp to teleport out of combat range. Slingshot took immediate advantage of the opportunity to gain height, while Skydive stayed low for long enough to pay Starscream back with a few shots that grazed his wings. Less welcome was the sight of two more Seekers coming in after Air Raid and Fireflight, but at least they were evenly matched now, five on five, even if Silverbolt was on the ground...

One of the pursuers suddenly side slipped and lost height as he struggled to evade a volley of shots from higher up. Skyfire swooped down, harrying the unfortunate Seeker almost into the ground, then pulling up to go after the other one.

:Silverbolt? Are you okay?:

:I'm fine,: Silverbolt answered, trying not to let his nearly overpowering gladness into his voice. :Where's Ramjet?:

:Down, I think. Can you fly?:

:No, but I can shoot. Stay high and make sure the others don't get boxed in again.:

:Copy that.:

Overhead, Silverbolt's brothers had come together in a rough formation, a moment of unconscious synchronisation, and they didn't need the joking back-and-forth to show their relief: it pulsed between all five joined sparks. Silverbolt caught sight of Skywarp flashing out of existence, and snapped off a warning. When the Seeker reappeared a few seconds later, he was very nearly in Air Raid's direct sights. The undignified squawk that accompanied his hasty warp to safety had Air Raid, Slingshot, and Fireflight howling with laughter. They weren't out of the slipstream yet, Silverbolt thought, but even the steady drone of increasingly urgent diagnostic warnings couldn't stop his spark lifting. He ruthlessly shut out the alarms, braced himself against the pain, and began to climb up the steep slope to get a better view of the battle overhead.

:Hey, Slingshot,: Air Raid was saying, :why don't we do that thing?:

:What thing?:

:You know, that thing.:

:Oh. That. Yeah, sure, whatever.:

Silverbolt didn't see what manoeuvre they pulled, but it was punctuated by a gleeful holler from Air Raid, a roar of overtaxed engines, and a trailing yelp from whichever unlucky Seeker they'd caught in their crossfire.

:You should really keep your ailerons level for that last part,: Skydive commented.

:It worked, didn't it?: retorted Slingshot. Then, :Watch your left wing!:

:Skydive, roll windward!: Silverbolt snapped, seeing the danger - Thundercracker sliding in from seemingly nowhere, guns trained on Skydive's fuselage. Slingshot and Air Raid were still looping back from their run, Fireflight was playing catch-as-catch-can with Thrust... :Skyfire, get Thundercracker off him!:

:Got it.:

Skyfire didn't so much as hesitate, going into a smooth dive that was spark-stoppingly graceful to watch. Just for a second, Silverbolt forgot the battle - forgot how much he hurt - in the awareness of how beautiful Skyfire's alt-mode was, gleaming silver in the moonlight, diving like a swan into the battle.

Laser fire crackled across the ground behind him and scored agonisingly over his wing. Silverbolt threw himself to the side, but the shots kept coming, hounding him into a frantic scramble for the cliff top as his attacker roared closer. There was no time to turn and shoot back; Silverbolt made one final effort, hauled himself over the cliff edge, and barely managed to roll out of the way as his pursuer fired what would have been a direct hit if Silverbolt had been a few seconds later. Then Starscream flashed overhead, a streak of red and silver, and Silverbolt kept rolling, coming up on his knees, readying his gun. Starscream spun on a wing, throwing out Silverbolt's first shot, but the second hit him under one engine - not enough to bring him down, but certainly enough to put a wobble in his flight. In a few seconds he'd be in position to strafe Silverbolt again, but if Silverbolt could just get off a couple more shots...

Except then Starscream did something completely, utterly insane - he transformed in mid-air, letting his momentum carry him forward and down. Silverbolt's shots went wide - he'd been aiming where Starscream would have been if he'd still been flying in jet mode - and before he could register what was about to happen, Starscream had crashed bodily into him, throwing him to the ground with the force of a gestalt's fist.

The impact made Silverbolt's systems momentarily glitch out. He came back online a split second later to the feeling of Starscream's hands on the fuel lines in his throat, and mocking red optics boring into his. He struggled, but although Starscream was smaller than him, he was deceptively strong, and Silverbolt was injured. His gun was on the ground some metres away.

"Let's see how well they fly without you playing ground control, shall we?" Starscream's hands tightened crushingly, fingers seeking out weak spots with clinical accuracy. "Or how Superion does without a body..."

Warnings were screaming in Silverbolt's audio processors, and his vision was crackling as vital relays were interrupted, but somehow, he managed to get his hands up to scrabble at Starscream's forearms. Starscream sneered at the effort, but Silverbolt wasn't trying to throw him off.

He just needed a conduction loop.

Lightning leapt and crackled between them. Starscream's high-pitched shriek almost deafened Silverbolt. The Seeker's grip slackened and he threw himself backwards to break the circuit. Silverbolt cut the electrical surge immediately. His root mode wasn't designed to handle the volts that he normally channelled through his nosecone: he could feel his circuits scorching from the current. Awkwardly, he started to scramble to his feet - only to be met with a blast from Starscream's null-rays that threw him straight back to the ground.

"Wretched little upstart," Starscream spat, dragging himself onto his knees and keeping his weapons trained on Silverbolt. "You dare call yourself an Air Commander?" He got to his feet, not without some effort, and stalked slowly forward. Silverbolt could hear the whine of his weapons charging. "I'm going to start by nullifying all your primary relays, and then, when you're completely helpless, I'm going to tear those ugly wings right off your-"

Whatever other delightful entertainments Starscream had planned, Silverbolt wasn't destined to find out. Just as Starscream raised his arms to make good the first part of his threat, laser fire exploded at his feet, forcing him to leap backwards. A split second later, the ground shook as Skyfire dropped out of the air in root-mode to land bodily in front of Silverbolt.

Silverbolt fully expected Starscream to beat a hasty retreat. Instead, the Seeker made a hissing, furious noise, raised his null-rays, and fired directly at Skyfire's spark. Silverbolt choked out a warning, but Skyfire had already side-stepped; his gun was in his hands, and the next thing Silverbolt knew, Starscream was sprawled on the ground spitting curses.

Somewhere above them, two of Silverbolt's brothers whooped gleefully and there were the sounds of a Seeker getting thoroughly shot to pieces. Silverbolt could feel his damaged systems preparing for an involuntary shut down, but he struggled to remain conscious. At least Starscream was out of the battle - Skyfire could disable him easily with a couple more shots.

Except Skyfire didn't shoot. He seemed frozen, watching Starscream struggle into a sitting position. He only moved when Starscream started to raise his null-rays - a pointed gesture with his gun that made Starscream subside, glaring furiously.

"Ill met by moonlight," said Skyfire, a sad sort of whimsy in his voice. It was gone when he spoke again. "Are you going to leave, or are you going to make me shoot you?"

"You wouldn't dare!" Starscream retorted, optics flaring.

"Try me."

Starscream hesitated, but self-preservation seemed to win out over defiance. A sly look came over his face, and when he next spoke, his tone was almost conversational.

"What's dragged you out of your lair, traitor? Did you finally get tired of Autobot drone-work? Or are you demeaning yourself as their taxi again?" He smirked, openly provocative. "Do tell."

"It's nice to get out once in a while," Skyfire said, with that deceptive mildness that Silverbolt had learned was a sign of suppressed anger.

Apparently Starscream knew it too; his smirk broadened. He seemed no longer aware of the battle around them: his entire attention was on Skyfire in a way that sent prickles of unease all through Silverbolt's field.

"And do you enjoy the company? Don't think I didn't see you taking orders from that newsparked brat behind you." Starscream darted a malicious look in Silverbolt's direction. Silverbolt wished he could reach his gun. Or he'd settle for standing up, actually. "You should stay in the lab. It's pathetic, seeing how far you've fallen."

"You've spent enough time in space to know that direction is relative, Starscream." Skyfire's gun arm tensed, his finger tightening on the trigger. "Go."

"Or what?" Starscream's voice was poisonously sweet. "Would you really shoot an old friend?"

Silverbolt's optics were starting to lose power; he thought distantly that he needed to check up on his brothers, but he couldn't seem to make his comm work. Even speaking - or reaching out to Skyfire, who looked, at that moment, so very alone - was beyond him. Almost unconsciously, he opened himself up through the gestalt bond and tugged. There could be no words in that spark-deep communication - no commands or requests - only a formless, intense burst of feeling shared with the four sparks linked to his.

"Silverbolt?" gasped someone over the comms, but Silverbolt couldn't reply in words: his systems were going into shutdown, warnings telling him to conserve power until he had been properly repaired. All he could do as he slipped into darkness was hold onto that one imperative: help him!

"...is he waking up?"

"I dunno, that burn damage looks bad..."

"Guys, maybe we should back off and give Skyfire some room."

"I'm done, I think. He should be fine as long as he stops fighting full stasis."

"Why would he do a stupid thing like that? Hey, Silverbolt, can you hear me? Shut down already!"

"Yeah, we've got things covered - the 'Cons have run home with their tailfins between their thrusters, nobody's hurt-"

"Hey!"

"Okay, nobody's hurt except the guy who got himself shot in the aft..."

"Hey!"

"Oh man, you've got actual scorch marks all over your scrawny-"

"Frag you!"

"Guys-"

"Wow, he really has got scorch marks-"

"It's okay, Silverbolt - you can shut down now, I'll carry you."

"How are you feeling?"

"Better." Silverbolt lowered his datapad and, rather guiltily, blanked the screen so Skyfire wouldn't see the report he was working on. It was all very well for Ratchet to tell him to relax and get some rest, but his subroutines were still firing on their highest level after the battle, and he knew he wasn't going to be able to get any satisfying defrag until he'd put down some of his observations and conclusions from their encounter with the Decepticons. "Are you okay? I know you got hit a few times..."

"Nothing major." Skyfire crossed the medbay after a quick glance in the direction of Ratchet's office, and from the cursory scan Silverbolt was able to make, he was telling the truth. "It's been seen to. It was you we were worried about. The others said you fell pretty hard."

Silverbolt looked down to hide his grimace. There were few things more humiliating for a flyer than being shot right out of the air, and he had hardly even had time to react when they'd come after him. They had concentrated their attack on him deliberately, he was pretty sure - even before Starscream had cornered him on the cliff, the three Seekers had been going out of their way to separate Silverbolt from his wingmates and disable him in any way possible.

Thinking of Starscream stirred a question in Silverbolt's processor, but he squashed it down before it could escape, something uncomfortable and heavy settling his spark.

"It's mostly damaged wiring and an overloaded circuit or two," he said, watching Skyfire come closer out of the corner of his optics. It was amazing how lightly he moved - not as graceful on the ground as he was in the air, but Silverbolt had never seen him knock against anything, nor make any more noise than the average mech. "Ratchet's running an overnight diagnostic to check there's no incremental damage, but he says I'll be fit for duty within twenty-four hours."

"I think you've probably earned more of a break than that," Skyfire replied with mild reproof, but there was a smile on his face as he took a seat by Silverbolt's berth. "Besides, I gather that Prime wants to rethink the air patrol patterns to prevent a repeat occurrence."

"He does?"

"Well, you did make it pretty clear that you didn't appreciate being ordered straight into a trap..." Skyfire's optics slid to the monitoring equipment hooked up to Silverbolt's body, and though his voice was still light, Silverbolt thought there was a trailing tension in his wings and hands. "Right before you passed out the second time, which I think may have emphasised your point."

"I. Uh." Silverbolt fought a losing battle against the embarrassment that coloured his voice. "It really wasn't intentional - I can think of more comfortable ways to make a statement..."

Skyfire laughed, then, and the tension eased out of him. Silverbolt cast a glance at his discarded datapad with a small frown.

"Still, I'd thought he'd want my report before he made any sort of decision..."

"Prime trusts your judgement," said Skyfire, and cocked his head at Silverbolt's startled expression. "What? Do you think he'd have given you command if he didn't?"

Before Silverbolt could reply, Skyfire reached over and picked up the discarded datapad, flicking the screen on to reveal the incriminating report. Silverbolt snatched futilely at it, but Skyfire held it easily out of reach, with the sort of faint smirk that Silverbolt was more used to seeing on Air Raid.

"I thought you were supposed to be resting?"

"I am resting," Silverbolt grumbled. "I can't relax until I've got it all out of my processor..."

But Skyfire was reading the report in earnest, now, the laughter going out of his face, and Silverbolt remembered all at once what he'd been writing about just before Skyfire came in. His description of the trap and how he suspected it had been set up specifically to disable the Aerialbots, and Superion, had digressed into half-formed thoughts on Starscream and the threat his Seekers represented to the Aerialbots - the kind of thing Silverbolt would edit out of the final report, but needed to put down in words to get it straight in his own mind.

"I was just, er..."

"Yes," Skyfire said slowly, without raising his optics, and Silverbolt took a moment to realise that he was responding to the words on the screen. "I think you're right. Starscream does not like to be challenged on his own terms. He rarely has the patience for such involved strategy, but I suspect he considers your existence a personal insult. And he can be... extremely persistent when he feels his pride has been assaulted."

He didn't sound overly bitter, but there was a tightness to his voice that Silverbolt didn't like. He found that he really didn't want to go any further with this - didn't want to know what it was, exactly, he'd witnessed - but the next words seemed to line themselves up inexorably in his vocaliser until he had no choice but to speak them.

"You... you seemed to know each other. More than, I mean, not like..."

Skyfire sighed, and put down the datapad, gaze straying to a far point on the wall and staying there, as if fascinated by the pipework. Silverbolt almost thought he wasn't going to answer, and he was almost glad. Then Skyfire seemed to make up his mind.

"We knew each other before the war," he said. He was picking his words with exquisite care; Silverbolt wondered how many others he was discarding. "It was... it was Starscream who freed me from the ice."

"Oh."

The implications of that sank in slowly. Skyfire's earlier explanations came rushing back - he'd been misguided, he'd said, and not properly understood what was at stake when he'd initially joined the Decepticons. Silverbolt had wondered, at the time, what he wasn't saying; someone as good as Skyfire couldn't have made such a huge error in judgement lightly, he'd thought. Now here was the answer, so obvious Silverbolt could have kicked himself: wicked, treacherous Starscream, who'd so easily bewitched Silverbolt's own brothers, who could talk his way out of anything up to and including treason, who was, despite everything, so fascinating to Autobot and Decepticon alike that neither side had ever put an end to his sly existence...

"So you were...?"

"We were research partners." Skyfire dropped his optics to his own hands, flexing the fingers lightly. "He was a scientist, once. We explored the galaxy together. That's how we ended up here. How I crashed."

"... oh."

"He wasn't always so..." Skyfire gestured helplessly, lacking words to describe Starscream. "We used to be friends. But not, I think, any more."

Well, of course not, Silverbolt almost blurted out, but the sadness in Skyfire's voice stopped him. He couldn't imagine how his clever, kind, generous friend could ever have tolerated Starscream's grating personality - but then, it had been so many millions of years ago... Silverbolt felt, all at once, very young.

And he wished he'd put a few thousand volts more through Starscream when he'd had the chance, self-preservation be fragged.

Skyfire was sitting just close enough that Silverbolt could touch him, if he stretched. His hand landed rather awkwardly on Skyfire's knee; Skyfire's gaze snapped to him, startled, but then he relaxed minutely, and shifted his chair a bit closer, taking Silverbolt's hand in his own.

"It was a long time ago," Skyfire said, with an air of finality.

And Silverbolt could have let it go at that, knew the door was being held open for him to make his escape, but the look on Skyfire's face just then had gone straight to his spark and stirred up something that was half the protective instinct he felt for his brothers, half something new and strange. He made himself push his own feelings about Starscream aside, and tightened his fingers on Skyfire's.

"Was it?"

"What?"

"It can't have been a long time for you," Silverbolt pressed on. Skyfire hardly ever said it aloud, but ever since Fireflight had pointed it out, Silverbolt had started noticing that particular expression on his face - the look that said he didn't feel he belonged. "That must be hard."

Skyfire gave a surprised half-laugh; his field, curling against Silverbolt's, flared an odd mixture of pain and relief.

"Yes," he said, optics meeting Silverbolt's, "but it's getting easier."