Author's note. Very, very sorry for the long wait in getting this up, I hope it's worth it.
Written as a request for tied-with-ribbons.
Suggestions are welcome.
Enjoy and please review.
Starscream staggered back, he still could not believe what he'd just seen and heard. But one thing was for sure, he needed to get back to Thundercracker and warn him about what was happening. As much as he wanted to see Skyfire, it didn't look like the Shuttle was in any danger. These thugs just had to watch him; they wouldn't interfere with the Contructicons work.
He had to be careful; he couldn't allow anyone to know that he now knew. Except Thundercracker obviously and when he had the chance, Skyfire, those two had to know. Skywarp, the dear little flyer, was in no condition to be told anything. Starscream felt like weeping, just when things had been going so well for them. Was fate determined to snatch their little brother from them?
He crept away from the Constructicons workshop, praying he wouldn't be spotted. Once he was a good distance away, he headed straight in the direction of home. However he was very jumpy, ever bot, every shadowy figure looked like an enemy ready to attack. His nerves were on fire and it actually felt like they might burn out. Oh Primus, please protect him until he reached his home.
He almost took to the skies but that would surely alert the watchers that he was on to them. So he forced himself to walk all the way back to the tower block where he and his brothers lived. As soon as he was inside, he charged up the stairs, to the Pit with anyone watching. By the time he reached their floor, he was very exhausted and could barely drag himself over that last step and stagger over to the door.
With fumbling fingers, he opened it and stumbled over the threshold.
"Starscream," Thundercracker greeted happily, seeing his brother was finally home.
He'd been sitting on the couch, half dozing but was immediately alert as the door had opened. Seeing the state Starscream was in, Thundercracker was instantly at his side and guiding him over to the couch so that he could have a well needed sit down. Starscream panted heavily, leaning into his brother's embrace as the blue Seeker sat next to him.
"Starscream?" Thundercracker asked with a slight frown as he saw how terrified his brother looked. "What's the matter, did something happen?"
He suddenly looked panicked as he said.
"You weren't mugged, were you?"
"No," Starscream said with a shake of his head. "Nothing like that."
He paused before staring into his brother's optics.
"He knows, TC, he knows."
"Who knows?" Thundercracker asked in confusion.
"Galvatron," Starscream said in a whisper. "He knows about us, about our trip and...he knows about the AllSpark."
"How?" Thundercracker exclaimed, dread welling up inside his Spark. "How could he possibly know?"
"I don't know how he found out," Starscream said quietly. "But near the work shop, I saw two thugs staking the place out. They were talking...they mentioned how they had to watch Skyfire and look out for Seekers...us."
Starscream started to shake, beads of moisture appearing at the corner of his optics. Thundercracker held him even tighter, his processor racing wildly. What in Primus's name were they going to do? Galvatron was such a powerful Mech, he could do anything he liked, kill anyone he liked and no one could do a single thing about it.
"Did...did they see you?" he finally managed to stammer out.
"No, I made sure they didn't," Starscream said, a real tremble in his voice. "I don't think anyone saw me until I was well on my way home."
"Then...them maybe," Thundercracker said slowly, clinging to a tiny pin prick of hope left in his Spark. "...There's still a chance we can make this work."
"But how...?" Starscream asked miserably, with hopeless optics.
"Because if they don't know that we know, then we can plan," Thundercracker said firmly. "We can outsmart them Star, especially if Galvatron is employing thugs. If we just act like we suspect nothing, they'll become complacent and we can get away."
"Do you really think we can?" the young Seeker questioned and Thundercracker nodded, they couldn't give up now.
"Yes," Thundercracker said firmly. "We've come this far, we can do this, Star. If we just keep the faith, we can save Warp and restore him to health."
Starscream stared at him for a long moment before slowly nodding.
"Okay," was all he said.
The blue Seeker smiled and nodded before hugging his brother close.
"Here's what we're going to do," he said soothingly. "We both going to recharge for a few joors and then we're going to get everything ready to move out of this dump. We'll make sure Warp's comfortable and we'll figure out a way to bring him to Skyfire so we can blast the hell out of here."
Starscream bit his lip as Thundercracker rubbed his back and wings soothingly.
"How are we going to do that? As soon as they see us with Warp, they'll know we're leaving."
"That's the part we've got to figure out," Thundercracker said softly. "They'll be watching us and they likely believe we'll transport Warp close to take off. So perhaps if we move him much sooner..."
"Move him sooner?" Starscream exclaimed. "I don't know if he can cope with that Tc, especially if we have to hang about that workshop all cycle."
"What if we put him in Skyfire?" Thundercracker argued. "He's going to be there for quite a while anyway, if we sneak him aboard then no one will know. You'll pretend to go home and then a few joors later, you'll return and look after Warp on board Skyfire. Once Skyfire is space worthy, they'll expect us to go back for Warp but instead, we'll blast off. That'll buy us a little bit of time and we'll get a head start on them."
"That...that could work," Starscream said slowly. "Maybe."
"We can," Thundercracker said earnestly, knowing he was trying to convince himself as much as his brother. "We will do this Starscream, we will."
Starscream nodded slowly as Thundercracker now said.
"Come on Star, let's get you to bed, we'll talk more in the morning."
As the white Seeker started to protest, Thundercracker said firmly.
"No Star, you need your recharge, you're going now."
"Bossy," Starscream muttered with a pout.
"Elder brother's privilege," Thundercracker replied with a smirk.
"And you never let me forget it," Starscream sighed as he was led to their berth were Skywarp was sleeping peacefully.
Both of them hugged their brother close, glad he was having a good night but knowing it wouldn't last. Thundercracker sang a little lullaby in order to lull Starscream off into recharge and also to keep Skywarp in his current good state of rest. He hugged his brothers close to him, his Spark full of worry for the next cycle.
It would have been stressful enough as tomorrow was the cycle they left Cybertron and headed for the mysterious planet but now they had to worry about Galvatron and his goons. The blue Seeker knew that the tyrant would only want to use the AllSpark's wish for himself, probably to garner even more power. This made Thundercracker shake his head in disgust; Galvatron already had so much, why did he need more?
It wasn't as though he had to worry about starving, being fired, being attacked or anything like that.
"We will prevail," Thundercracker muttered to himself, quietly so as not to disturb his brothers. "Galvatron may control just about everything on this world but he doesn't control our destinies. We are going to do this."
With this thought in mind, he slowly slipped off into recharge.
The next cycle
"Are you sure he'll be alright?" Starscream questioned worriedly as they carefully packed Skywarp into a long container.
"He'll be fine," Thundercracker said soothingly. "Once he's in Skyfire, we'll put him in one of the foldout berth and he'll be comfy. Skyfire will be able to monitor him and if there are any problems, I'll go and look after him."
Starscream nodded but he still looked very worried. Thundercracker forced a smile on his face and said.
"Hey, by tonight, we'll be flying among the stars."
This made Starscream half smile in dreamy fashion, he really was looking forward to that. Seizing the moment, Thundercracker added.
"Soon, we'll be flying free and happy, all four of us. Full of Energon and free of any worries, won't it be glorious Starscream?"
"Yeah," Starscream admitted with a smile. "That will be nice."
"Warp's doing well at the moment," Thundercracker said encouragingly, smoothing the black and purple Seeker's brow. "And hopefully, he'll remain good for the rest of this cycle, until take off."
Starscream nodded slowly, lightly stroking one of Skywarp's arms.
"Remember," Thundercracker continued. "You'll be in charge of moving all our belongings to Skyfire and then you must stay here as though you're looking after Warp. Then near the time for takeoff, you can come back as though checking that everything's ready and that's when we'll go. It should give us some sort of head start on them."
"Not much of a head start," Starscream couldn't help but point out.
"Perhaps not but after all, they don't know where we're going," Thundercracker pointed out. "We can have a go at losing them and if we do, we'll be fine."
His brother didn't reply, it seemed he just wanted to continue before his fear overwhelmed him. Thundercracker checked their young brother's condition, making absolutely sure he'd be able to cope with the journey to the workshop. He was in a very deep recharge, helped by some sedatives and painkillers. After only a few joors of peaceful sleep, he'd become agitated as his body struggled to cope with the devastating virus within his systems.
Both Starscream and Thundercracker hadn't had the best of recharges either but they could last the cycle. Once they were safely in space, they could relax and rest a bit until they reached that planet. This was keeping them better than Energon could at the moment; they were running on hope and the promise of proper rest later on.
"There we go," Thundercracker said soothingly as he closed up the container Skywarp was in. It had to look like they were merely moving their possessions and not their sick brother. "Let's get going."
It was early, one of Cybertron's moons still glowed a sickly pale colour in the dawn sky as they set off from their tower. They were alert, knowing that they could be a tempting target but hoping most of scum out there would be recharging. Late night was the time to be more wary; dawn was far too early for everyone. It was slow going but that was why they'd set out so early.
They both knew that this was all or nothing, the trick might work and it might not. So far, it was going well while they felt that optics were on them, none of them seemed suspicious or ready to act. It gave them confidence and they carried on resolutely, barely stopping for any breaks. The container was heavy but both were used to hard work so they managed. However, they had to admit they were exhausted by the time they reached the Contructicons workshop.
They found Scrapper leaning against the wall outside, nursing a smoking cube of Energon. It wasn't quite standard grade Energon, it had sedatives and other extras which gave it that smoking appearance. It meant the Constructicons made enough to be able to afford it which the two Seekers were actually happy for them. The five Mechs had so far done a great job on Skyfire without trying to rip them off, they somehow felt those Mechs would be okay.
"You're early," Scrapper said gruffly, eying them up and down, especially the container they had.
"We wanted to make sure we got this here safely," Thundercracker explained with a small smile. "Will it be alright to store this aboard Skyfire?"
"Sure, we're concentrating on the outside now," Scrapper replied with a slight nod.
"Thank you," Thundercracker said gratefully. "Once this is on board, I can start work whenever you want."
"Fine," Scrapper said with a shrug, taking another sip of his cube.
Gratefully, the Seekers headed into the workshop and over to where Skyfire was.
"Starscream...Thundercracker?" came Skyfire's voice as his senses registered their presences.
"It's us," Starscream confirmed. "Can you open up; we've got some things to load into you."
"Of course," Skyfire replied, his hatch hissing open a moment later.
They quickly hurried aboard and Starscream hissed to Skyfire.
"Skyfire, can you close your hatch, we need to talk quickly."
Skyfire did as they asked although they could sense his curiosity.
"We've been rumbled," Starscream explained as they opened up the container to reveal a slightly moaning Skywarp who was twitching in his sleep.
"Galvatron knows about us Skyfire but we've got a plan to stop him."
"How did this happen?" came Skyfire's shocked response.
"We don't know," Thundercracker said quickly as they started to lift Skywarp out. "But what's important is that they don't know we know. We can still do this but we must pretend that Skywarp is still at our flat and that we still have to collect him. Starscream will come back with more stuff and then remain at our flat until we're ready to blast off."
"They will think we will be going back for Warp," Starscream continued as they took their brother to a berth. "When really we are going to go for it, take them by surprise and with any luck, out fly them. They don't know where we're actually going after all. But you must hide the fact you are carrying Warp on board, we do not know who is listening or watching."
"I...," Skyfire said, sounding a little overwhelmed before saying firmly. "I will do as you say but please stay safe."
"We will," Starscream said as they carefully made Skywarp comfortable in a berth.
He know looked at his brother and said softly.
"I'd better go now, they will wonder otherwise."
"I know," Thundercracker said sorrowfully, hating the fact he wouldn't be able to watch over his brother. "Stay safe, as Skyfire says."
"Always," Starscream whispered and then he was gone, out of Skyfire's newly opened hatch.
Author's note. Can the Seekers and Skyfire make it off Cybertron? Who will be following them? Find out next time, until then.
