Here's the next chapter. Hope y'all enjoy. :)
Silverstorm and the Aerialbots flew around for a while, talking happily. Well, the Aerialbots were talking happily. Silverstorm was morose and silent. They noticed and Silverbolt pressed a hand to his shoulder.
"What's wrong?"
"Nothing."
Slingshot made a buzzer noise. "Try again."
"Really, I'm fine."
"No you're not. Talk to us," Fireflight said, grabbing his hand.
Silverstorm sighed. "Fine. It's Optimus. He already knows it's me and he's already disappointed."
"Why would he be disappointed?"
"Because I'm not somebody else. He doesn't want me to be a Prime. He doesn't think I'm good enough."
"He doesn't? He told you this?" Silverbolt asked.
"Well…not exactly. But he doesn't have to."
"You're making assumptions," Air Raid said, arching his optic ridges.
"Yeah. Slingshot used to think Silverbolt hated him, but they talked and now everything's fine," Skydive said cheerfully.
"Just talk to him. I think you'll be surprised," Silverbolt said with a smile.
"I…guess," he said then sighed and pressed his comm. link. "Hey Pipes. Get the medbay ready. We're heading back."
They flew fast and were soon home. Everybody looked up at them, including Optimus. Silverstorm sighed. This was going to be humiliating.
"Now remember to slow down this time," Slingshot said. "You land first."
"Crash, you mean," Silverstorm said dryly.
He came down and sure enough, he had miscalculated things again. His wings automatically went back in as he tumbled head over heels smack into a building. His legs were up the side of the building with his head and his back on the ground. Ironhide and Ratchet, who were the nearest bots, sprinted for him and helped him up.
"Dear Primus, that was bad!" Ironhide gasped.
"Actually that was one of my better landings," Silverstorm said, popping his neck joint.
Ratchet was moving his hands across the surface of the Prime's armor. Silverstorm swatted his hands as Pipes walked up.
"Wings fine?" he asked.
"Yes. They just know at this point to hide," Silverstorm said with a laugh.
Pipes smiled. "Very well. Come on."
He followed Pipes a short way, then he heard Ratchet say, "Man, that or else really works. He's nothing like Optimus."
He stopped. "Pipes I'm fine," he said, feeling irritated. Pipes spun and gave him a look that both Ratchet and First Aid had. "Is that look universal for medics?" he asked.
"What look?" Pipes asked.
"That one. The 'obey me or else' look."
"Do you want me to get Bumblebee?"
"I'm fine!" Silverstorm emphasized.
"Come on Sam," Bumblebee said, crossing his arms; he stood a short way away and had been listening the whole time, meaning Pipes didn't have to go and get him.
Silverstreak sighed and started to follow Pipes, who nodded. Rebellion welled up in him and he made a break for it. There was a blur of yellow and Bumblebee grabbed his arms, spinning him around and throwing him on the ground. The yellow youngling pinned the Prime's wrists. Now it was true that Silverstorm was bigger than Bumblebee, and quite a bit stronger. But it was the principal of the thing.
"Sam," Bumblebee said, arching an optic ridge. "Go with Pipes."
"But I'm fine, Bee."
"Oh, fine. Like the time you got hit by a wave of shrapnel and didn't tell anybody?"
"Or the time you were hit so hard your fuel tank cracked and was slowly leaking into your intakes?" Pipes asked, tapping his foot impatiently.
"Or the time the wires to your vocalizer was cut and the sparks started superheating one of your vents?" Blurr said quickly.
"Or the time—" Hound started, but Silverstorm slammed the back of his head on the ground.
"Okay, okay, fine!" he shouted. "I'll go."
"Bumblebee, if you would escort him to the medbay," Pipes said, sounding triumphant.
The yellow mech helped Silverstorm up and, looping his arm around his boy's, they began walking to the medbay.
"Nope. I was wrong. He's just like Optimus," Ratchet said to Ironhide.
Silverstorm felt a smile spread across his face. Even though this area was not a good one to be like Optimus in, just hearing himself equaled to the great Prime made him happy.
He was fine, just like he'd said, save for a dent that was quickly pounded out. He was released from the 'prison' and joined the younglings as they played music for Blaster. He listened, smiling as Blaster clapped joyfully.
"That was absolutely solid!" he exclaimed. "You messed up on a couple things, but it was still wonderful."
"Thanks," Mirage said as he and Hound put away the instruments. "We're just doing what Silverstorm taught us."
Blaster noticed the Prime and walked over. "You taught them all that?"
"I taught them what you taught me."
Blaster held up his fist. "Awesome."
Silverstorm bumped it. Mirage and Hound were interested.
"Why did you do that?"
"It's just something you do on Earth when you're happy or excited."
The two younglings immediately turned and did it. They laughed.
"Neat. You have to take us there someday."
Silverstorm smiled, but it was guarded. "Maybe."
The two younglings smiled and hurried off to work on a building when Blurr waved them over. Blaster turned to Silverstorm.
"So…Prime eh?"
"Yep. Prime," Silverstorm sighed, pressing his hands up to where his temples were supposed to be if he were human. "And even though I enjoy my younglings, I can see why Optimus sighs so much. Sometimes I just want to…Well, let's just say it's harder than you think."
Blaster looked at him. "You kinda sounded like Optimus when you said that. You know, world weary."
"Did I?" Silverstorm asked.
"Yeah."
There was a scream, a sound so full of abject terror that it made Silverstorm's energon freeze. He and Blaster sprinted for the sound. There was a crowd gathered around something on the ground near the building that was under construction. The young Prime shoved past everybody and froze, horrified. Mirage was on the ground, energon pooling around him. His optics were dim and he looked…broken. Ratchet and Pipes were let through and even they stopped, gaping for a moment.
As they assessed the damage, Silverstorm looked around. Ultra Magnus was by the ropes that kept his younglings safe as they scaled the heights of the buildings. Rage filled him, but he calmly walked over to the blue and white mech. Everybody watched him.
"I will ask you this only once, Magnus," he said evenly. "What happened?"
"You didn't listen, that's what happened! I told you to stop cleaning up the buildings three months ago! This is your fault!"
"That," he said coldly. "Was the wrong answer." He turned to look at Red Alert. "What happened?"
"Magnus was yelling at the ones on the building. When they didn't come down, he pulled on Raj's rope. It jerked him back off the building and Magnus dropped the other end. The whole system came undone and Raj…R-Raj fell."
"I see. Magnus, let me tell you something," Silverstorm said coldly, turning to face the mech again. "You are the biggest child I have ever met. If you don't get your way, you lash out. This time, you've severely damaged a mech. A youngling. All these years you've been 'protecting' these younglings by oppressing them and forcing them into a life of fear. You're power hungry. You're malicious. You're selfish. You don't deserve to be called an Autobot."
"You have no right to tell me that! You're not a Prime!" Ultra Magnus said angrily.
There was a bright flash of light into the sky and Ancient appeared. Silverstorm read it then turned to Bumblebee.
"Bee, please escort Ultra Magnus to the temple. Primus wishes to have a word with him."
"Oh, now you talk to Primus, too?"
"And Bee? You have my permission to use as much force as you need."
Bumblebee looked at Mirage then up at Ultra Magnus, jolting his gun out and pointing it directly at his head.
"Start walking."
"Why you little—!" he started, but stopped when Optimus put a hand on his shoulder.
"Magnus, go. Now."
"Yes Prime," he said, looking frightened at the deadly tone in his leader's voice.
Silverstorm watched them walk off then knelt down next to his downed SIC. "Is he even alive?" Why was his voice so steady?
"He's got a spark pulse, but it's weak," Pipes said, voice shaking.
"Is there any way we can save him?"
"There's a device I could use to stabilize his spark. But…I don't have one," Ratchet said sadly.
"Take him to the medbay."
The crowd followed, but Silverstorm stayed staring at them energon on the ground. He felt hollow. Silverbolt walked over to him.
"Silverstorm…" he said then paused. "I know where you can get one of those spark stabilizers."
"Where?"
"Don't be mad, but the Aerialbots have been scouting for Shockwave. He's moved to a compound about a hundred miles from here. He has at least five of them. He used to use them on us all the time."
Silverstorm stared at them. "Thank you."
The Aerialbot nodded then walked away. There was silence for about a minute.
"So when are we going?"
Silverstorm turned to see Optimus. "What?"
"Well you're obviously going to go get it, and I'm not letting you go alone. When do we leave?"
"Now."
Optimus nodded and they walked in the direction that Silverbolt had pointed to. They were silent for a while.
"It would be faster if you were a flier," Silverstorm said softly.
"You're as big as me, and I bet just as strong. You could carry me."
They decided to try and Optimus was right. Silverstorm easily carried him through the air. They spotted the compound and Silverstorm landed, ahem, crashed a little way away. He brought his weapons out, Optimus doing the same.
"Ready?" the elder Prime asked.
"For Mirage," Silverstorm hissed.
They stormed the base, killing Decepticon after Decepticon. Both of them noticed how natural it felt to fight together. They checked every room and finally came to a lab. Optimus snapped his fingers and pointed at what looked like an empty box that was see through.
"That's what we're here for."
They took three of them, Optimus subspacing two and Silverstorm the other one. They were hurrying toward the door when a voice spoke.
"Both Primes in one room. How delightful."
"Shockwave," Silverstorm growled. "We were just leaving."
"This is a rather stupid move for you, Optimus," Megatron said, lazily stroking the barrel of his gun. "Why break into Shockwave's compound? And where are the rest of your Autobots?"
"We were just looking for something," Optimus replied tersely.
"What did you take?" Shockwave demanded. "Something's missing."
The two Autobots didn't answer. Shockwave seemed to be cataloguing everything mentally, looking around slowly.
"Stabilizers. You took some stabilizers. Somebody dying on you?" No answer. "Well, I need those, so I guess I'll just have to rip them out of your corpse's subspaces."
Silverstorm dodged as a sword was thrust at him, then spun with his own blades sparking. Optimus and Megatron faced off, circling each other for a minute before lunging together. Silverstorm fought hard, but Shockwave was horribly at home in this place, pulling weapons from hidden places. The younger Prime noticed a needle with a purple substance in it. That was what the purple mech had used to drug both him and Optimus. He kicked Shockwave hard then snatched the needle up and plunged it into Shockwave's neck. He drained half the liquid into the mech, whose movements immediately started to slow, then whistled and tossed it to Optimus, who managed to get the rest into Megatron's throat. The two Primes panted then looked at each other and ran. An alarm suddenly went off and they ran faster.
Sheathing his swords as they ran outside, Silverstorm grabbed Optimus and took off into the air. He was just celebrating how easy that had been when gunfire reached his audio receptors. He looked back then swore as he saw about ten Decepticons fliers on his tail. Optimus looked up at him.
"Throw me in the air then transform. I'll shoot at them from on top of your jet form."
Silverstorm spun, tossing Optimus at an angle, then transformed quickly, righting himself in time for the elder Prime to land on top of him. Optimus magnetized his feet and began shooting at the incoming Decepticons. He had hit five of them when something slammed into him and he fell hard, putting a large dent in Silverstorm's wing. The younger Prime yowled as his vision blurred. Optimus screamed something at him and his sensors screamed at him that there was a very large object in front of him. He got his sight back just in time to see a huge wall of looming glass.
"Frag!" he yelped, trying to miss it, but there was no way he was going to.
The super thick Cybertronian glass shattered as he hit it at top speed. The impact slowed him to a stop almost instantly, and he and Optimus skidded across the floor. Silverstorm transformed after the older Prime leaped off of him, wings going into their compartment. Optimus had his gun poised as the fliers landed just inside what had been a window.
"Newbie can't fly right!" one of them laughed.
Silverstorm pulled his swords out, electrifying them. Within three minutes all five of the remaining fliers were dead. The younger Prime let out a moan, sinking to his knees. Now that the battle was over, he felt the aches from the crash. That was simple soreness, but the dent in his wing was causing him a lot more pain. Optimus knelt next to him.
"Let me see it. I know how to fix it."
Silverstorm was immediately wary. Optimus was not a flier. He had no wings. He would never, ever understand the pain caused by the dent in his wing. But…he was Optimus. Silverstorm released his wings and Optimus gave a low whistle.
"I'm sorry," he said as he placed one hand on either side of the dent.
Optimus began gently manipulating the metal back into place. Silverstorm kept silent, fighting off the nauseating ripples of pain that came from his wing. A thought occurred to him and he looked over at the elder Prime.
"Optimus?" He got a soft hum in response. "Why did you come with me?"
"You're my friend, Silverstorm. I knew I wouldn't be able to talk you out of it, so I came with you."
"To make sure I wasn't captured or killed?" Silverstorm asked bitterly.
"Well, there's that, too." There was a pause. "Did I make you angry?"
"No. Why?"
"You sound upset."
"Oh, it's, um, nothing."
"Are you going to refuse to talk to me again?"
Silverstorm considered the hurt in Optimus' voice. Well, Silverbolt had told him to talk…
"It's just that I know you don't approve of me being a Prime," he muttered, looking at his hands.
Optimus' hands stopped. "What? What makes you say that?"
"All the times you got on to me, the way you just would stare at me, upset. You don't think I'm good enough to be a Prime."
Optimus knelt down and lifted Silverstorm's face up so he could look in his optics.
"Silverstorm, I'm not good enough to be a Prime. I make mistakes. I screw up. But I keep going. I should have seen the potential in you. You have that magic combination that all the Primes seem to have, but that by itself doesn't guarantee you'll live the perfect life and do everything exactly right. You're a good pick for a Prime, and I can see how much you've learned since you became one. You're getting better. I'm getting better. And now we can learn from each other. Okay?"
Silverstorm smiled and nodded. Optimus returned to his work on the flier's wing. By the time it was its proper shape again, they were both exhausted. They pressed together for warmth and drifted into recharge.
