Fandom: Transformers IDW AU with a dose of Bayverse and G1
Author: gatekat, starsheild, ultrarodimus on LJ
Pairing: Drift/Wing/Windswept, Axe/Dai Atlas, Aerialbots, Titanium/GoldenRod
Rating:
Codes: AU, Slash
Summary:
Disclaimer: The authors are only playing with their own twisted muses. Transformers belong to Hasbro. Fandom-side, check the inspirations page (gatekat-fics .livejournal. com/290 .html). We draw from a ton of amazing stories and authors you should read.
Notes: nanoklik = 1/8 second; klik = 496 nanokliks/62 seconds; breem = 8 kliks/8.27 minutes; groon = 9 breem/1.24 hours; joor = 6 groon/7.44 hours; orn = 42 joor/13.02 days; decaorn = 32 orns/1.14 years; metacycle = 8 decaorn/9.22 years; vorn = 9 metacycles/72 decaorn/83 years ::text:: comm chatter
~text~ hardline/bond chatter
Honors Demands 36: Aerials and Wing
Titanium stood at the top of the open cargo bay hatch of the ship, datapad and stylus in hand. He'd been overseeing the loading of the supplies that would be needed to get them at least to the spaceport, where they could restock for the return trip. The big Autobot didn't want to take any more from the city than they absolutely needed to.
Part of his attention was on the datapad in his hand. The rest was on Dai Atlas and Axe, who stood nearby. The pair were looking distinctly fidgety. Clearly they weren't happy about this. To Titanium's experienced optic, Dai Atlas looked on the verge of a full-scale freakout.
GoldenRod, in the ship's medbay checking on the Aerialbots, reached through their bond and snorted as he took in the Circle leader's twitching. ~If he keeps that up, he might need to be sedated to keep him from frying his processor,~ the gold mech commented wryly. Titanium choked back a snicker.
Axe gave him a glance at the sound, but quickly focused on his mate again and their mutual effort to keep themselves under control as their youngest and his mates entered the bay and took everything in with a sweeping gaze.
With the silent yet obvious communication of stable lovers Drift and Windswept wandered towards Titanium, giving Wing space to spend some time with his creators.
"How upset are they?" Windswept asked very softly once they were close to Titanium.
Titanium chuckled very softly. "Holding off a full-scale breakdown. I've seen it happen once or twice, a long time ago, so I can spot the signs. Goldie's commenting that Dai might need to be sedated himself before he goes into CPU meltdown." He tilted his helm toward the blue mech. "See the way his wings are twitching, and he can't keep still?"
Drift nodded, having picked up the sign of agitation, Wing and Windswept were showing it as well. What he hadn't picked up was the extent of the agitation.
Windswept tilted his helm just enough to observe Dai Atlas out of the corner of his optic, noting as Drift did the same before nodding at Titanium. "Understandable."
"Should Redline be here?" Drift asked quietly.
"He's around here somewhere... I spotted him not that long ago. Axe and Atlas will be fine. I already told them that I would keep an optic on Wing. It's just nerves. Mostly." Titanium made a note on his datapad as the last of the supplies were loaded. Tilting his helm, he watched the other two big mechs clump together with Wing.
"Which they'll be taking their stress out on me and every other Knight until you get back," Drift grimaced before schooling his features to a sort of resigned acceptance as the small family moved to join them.
Titanium thought for a moment, then leaned toward Drift. "Once you learn to duck at the right moment, it won't be that bad. Or pick up a laser pointer. Guaranteed to distract Atlas. Trust me on that one. You're tougher than you look; you'll manage."
Blue wings flicked out before Windswept regained control, the tension in the room starting to get to him. Not that he would have missed seeing his mate off for anything. "This needs to happen." He muttered, talking to himself more than any mech in particular.
"It does," Drift agreed, stepping forward to draw Wing into an embrace and heated kiss that under other circumstances would have them sneaking off to overload.
Titanium put the datapad away, turning to watch as Wing almost disappeared in a dual embrace. It was amusing in a sad way how warrior-mate and creator managed to vie for his attention in such very different but so similar ways.
It wasn't until Wing squirmed a bit in protest that the pair let the panting mech go. A second, quick kiss to Drift and Wing turned, got a step out of the way and pulled Windswept close for a goodbye blue mech melted against him, leaning into the kiss with all of the emotion and the passion in his spark, just as possessive in his own way of the white jet.
Titanium smiled at the trio, then turned his attention to Dai Atlas and Axe. "I swear to you I won't let anything happen to him. Please, relax before you fry something. Atlas, your wings are rattling so loud I wouldn't be surprised if half the city could hear it by now."
"I'll be fine," the blue giant grumbled even as he leaned against Axe for mutual support as they watched their youngest and saw how strong the bond with his lover already was.
When they finally parted Wing turned to give Axe a final hug and locked his wings down tightly as he joined Titanium to board the ship that was many, many times larger than the one Drift preferred.
It was only when the hatch shut behind them that the painfully tight tuck was let go and display the stress that would hurt his loved ones even more to see. "Thank you for doing this for me," he said softly.
Titanium placed a gentle hand on Wing's shoulder. "You're welcome." He tilted his helm. "Do you want to see them, or would you prefer to wait until we're out of the system and we can bring them out of stasis?"
"I ... I think I'll wait until they're ready to come out of stasis," Wing decided. "I'm a good pilot. I flew an Autobot shuttle from Cybertron as a youngling."
Titanium nodded, a faint smile appearing on his face. "One this big? This is one of the larger shuttles." He led the way to the cockpit, showing Wing the control panels as he settled into the pilot's chair, hiking his wing out of the way to give Wing a better line of sight. "Stellar Wing to New Crystal City. We're ready for liftoff."
"The one I took was the size of Drift's Wing's Spark. Not nearly this big," he shook his helm, still amused by how much he'd gotten into Drift's consciousness in the seven vorns he had the first time. "I can still fly this."
"New Crystal City to Stellar Wing. You are cleared for takeoff. Safe journey and quick return with our sparkling," a strong, familiar voice responded.
"I'll be back, Thorn," Wing chuckled slightly. "You just keep everyone sane until I do."
Titanium chuckled. "Will do. Warn Atlas that if he doesn't calm down, I'll help Goldie paint him bright pink. See you when we get back."
Turning his attention to the console, Titanium started the engines, maneuvering the ship off the landing field and heading for the top of the atmosphere. He let Wing hover over his shoulder for the best view of the console, pointing out the modifications that had been made in the vorns since he'd made the ship his. To no surprise, the small white jet was a good student and did know a fair amount about the standard Autobot configuration.
Once they broke the planetary gravity well he upped the engine power to take them out of the system on the far side of the sun.
Titanium leaned on the back of the pilot's chair, explaining the specialized systems and gauges that had been added over the vorns. GoldenRod joined them after a while, leaning against his mate's shoulder and humming softly.
"There are several sets of extra quarters near ours on the main deck, or you could stay in ours if you want to," the gold-armored mech commented after a while.
Wing looked up at him with such a grateful expression it hurt to see. The white jet was prepared to be alone until his caretakers were roused, but it didn't mean it was good for him. "I would like that, if you don't mind," he turned pleading golden optics on Titanium.
The big triple changer smiled softly, placing a gentle hand on Wing's shoulder. "Of course you can stay with us. I don't mind at all. Feel free to curl right up with us if you need to."
"Thank you," Wing purred, a bit of tension melting away. "I haven't really been alone in a long time."
Both mechs smiled. "We know, and we understand the need for contact."
Three and a half metacycles out of New Crystal City, GoldenRod stirred on the berth he and his mate had been sharing with Wing, onlining his optics. It took him a moment to fully boot up, the gold mech stretching before lifting his helm. Spotting Wing, he smiled warmly, sitting up on the berth. The white jet was curled up on Titanium's chest, right over the much bigger mech's cockpit. One of Titanium's arms rested lightly over Wing, an unconscious and protective gesture.
Several times Wing had required sedatives to calm down enough to rest. When the close quarters of the ship got too bad and Wing's homesickness flared up, the big purple and silver triple changer had taken to carrying the much smaller jet tucked into his side, in the crook of his arm as he would a youngling.
It was adorable beyond measure and a reminder that no matter how much Wing had accomplished, he was still a young mecha with almost no experience being separated from his creators.
Last recharge cycle was the worst, with anticipation of activating the Aerialbots when they came on line. GoldenRod was certain that only the heavy sedative load he'd given the young jet had gotten him to settle at all. Even now he was twitching and cooing in anticipation.
It took another few breems for Titanium to stir, ruby optics slowly warming up to their usual glow. Titanium took in the ball of jet on his chest and had to laugh softly, very carefully sitting up, bringing up his other arm to cradle Wing against the blue glass of his cockpit. The young jet barely stirred.
GoldenRod slid off the berth, fetching a cube of grounder energon for himself and two cubes of jet-grade, handing one to his mate and putting the other aside for Wing. "Once he's awake and refueled, I'll start bringing the Aerials out of stasis."
"I recommend against standing between them, you might get buried in the pile," Titanium chuckled as he sipped his cube. "I think their combined age is still less than yours."
GoldenRod laughed. "I'll get out of the way as fast as I can. If I get buried you can dig me out." He reached out to stroke Wing's helm. "He's still out of it."
"He's adorable," Titanium cooed softly, one large finger stroking Wing's hip. "Sparkling sized for me."
"He is," the gold mech agreed, watching Wing shift into the touch. "Adorable." He leaned against his mate's side, watching the young jet sleep.
"Just how heavy a sedative load did you give him?" Titanium glanced at his mate after finishing his cube. "He's usually at least twitched by now."
"Would have worn off by now," the gold mech replied. "I'm very good at judging how much sedatives to give a mech." He regarded the white jet for a moment. "I think he's just too comfortable to move. Try putting him down, if you can bear to let that much adorableness go." There was a teasing challenge in GoldenRod's voice and a sparkle in his blue optics.
"I think I can manage," Titanium snorted, though he didn't move right away. There was a distinct delay between his final look down and when he reluctantly shifted Wing to the berth, still warm from their frames but no longer warmed.
A tiny wing-twitch of agitation resulted as the purring slowed.
GoldenRod grinned at the reluctance with which Titanium released Wing, the grin widening at the wing-twitch. "Time to wake up, sleepyhelm," the gold mech chirped, reaching forward to lightly tickle a folded wing.
"Why?" Wing mumbled and tried to pull his wing back, not really with it.
"Because this orn the Aerialbots come out of stasis," Titanium replied, gently stroking Wing's cheek with a fingertip. "Remember? You spent all of last orn practically bouncing off the walls with excitement."
Before he'd even finished speaking Wing's framed jerked up, wide awake and focused. "I'm up. Let's go."
"Energon first, youngster," Titanium chuckled and handed him the cube. "You'll need it, I'm sure."
GoldenRod chuckled. "Drink up, little one. You are definitely going to need the energy." He chuckled again at the look that nickname got in response.
Instead of arguing, Wing complied. The reward was far too high, and he knew they were telling the truth. He managed not to gulp the energon, but he downed it as quickly as he could.
Titanium slid off the berth, leisurely stretching, flaring his armor and stretching his wings to their fullest span before relaxing them again, twitching them several times. He shook, armor plates rattling before settling back into place. GoldenRod watched his mate, making a note to help oil a few of the harder-to-reach places when they had the time.
Once all of Wing's energon was gone, the gold mech got to his pedes, giving himself a brief stretch before leading the way to the medical bay with a all-but-bouncing Wing on his pedes.
"The stasis won't have hurt them or anything?" Wing suddenly asked, needing something to occupy him more than needing an answer.
"They're fine," GoldenRod replied. "It's more like they're in recharge and I'm not letting them wake up. More like a long recharge than anything else. They might be a little groggy when they come to, but otherwise they'll be fine."
"So groggy, then pounce," Wing chuckled. "Do they know I'm going to be here?"
"They were of the opinion that we'd be landing, then they'd wake up and go to where you were," Titanium replied, bringing up the rear. "So no, they don't know that you came to them. Their reactions will be quite amusing when they find out. Might take them a minute to realize who you are, since you looked quite a bit different then you did when you left them."
GoldenRod trotted ahead, opening the medbay doors. Visible beyond it were five mechs supine on the med berths, the largest in the middle and all seeming to be in good repair and health.
"They look like I remember, Cybertronian forms, I'd guess," Wing commented, watching closely as GoldenRod began the boot procedure on Silverbolt.
GoldenRod carefully released the stasis, keeping an optic on the monitors as Silverbolt began coming online. Once he was satisfied with the readings, the gold-armored mech moved over to Skydive, then Air Raid. By the time Fireflight began booting up, Silverbolt was already groaning softly and levering himself up into a sitting position.
Titanium leaned against the wall, crossing his arms over his chest. "Wakey, wakey," He called cheerfully as the last of the five, Slingshot, onlined his optics, blinking at the ceiling.
"Hi," Wing chirped, modulating his voice to something resembling the youngling voice they'd remember.
Silverbolt's wings shot up as his optics flashed. "Wing?"
"Yes," the white jet trilled in his adult voice. "I really wasn't expecting you to do anything this crazy."
Titanium snorted. "These are the Aerials. 'Crazy' is their stock-in-trade." He waved off the chorus of denials from the fliers as they got to their pedes, shaking off the last cobwebs.
Fireflight almost faceplanted onto the deck as he tried to scramble upright too quickly. GoldenRod danced out of the way, moving to stand by his mate once all of the Aerials were fully online, albeit more than a little groggy.
"They're just really young," Wing chuckled as he walked up to Fireflight and hugged his creator. "I'm glad you came."
As if that was some kind of signal, the other four members of the gestalt pounced. Wing vanished under a flood of red and white and black and wings, all of them talking at once.
GoldenRod snickered. Sparklings. The lot of them.
"It's nice to see the war didn't completely destroy them as mecha," Titanium said quietly as he enjoyed the pleasure-joy-excitement radiating off the six smaller mecha.
"And that is what we call the 'tackle-glomp'," GoldenRod snickered, watching the swarm of wings. "Don't smother the mech, please! Drift and Windswept and Blue-aft would never forgive us!"
"Not to mention Axe," Titanium added with a twitch of wings. "He may be smaller, but he's very protective of his creation."
"Drift's here too?" Silverbolt twisted his helm around to look at them. "Is this where all the MIA mecha go?"
"Those who have no interest in fighting anymore, and know about the place at all," GoldenRod replied. He gave the Aerialbot leader that "I know something you don't" grin again.
"And were actually nowhere near the place anymore," Titanium added. "You've been in stasis nearly four metacycles. When I was talking to the leader of the place, he told me in no uncertain terms that if you laid optics on it, you would never leave short of being permanently deactivated." He flared his wings. "Consider yourselves warned."
Wings twitched in agitation from the mech pile.
"He's telling the truth. My creators will do anything to keep us safe," Wing said quietly. "The good news is that we'll have several metacycles to catch up and say goodbye before you're dropped off at a spaceport Autobots frequent enough. You really can not come looking for me again."
"Unless you plan on retiring from the war entirely, like Drift, myself, and Goldie did," Titanium added. "Dai Atlas said so. They let me arrive and leave again because Atlas and I are very old friends. But they don't trust you five."
There was protesting from the gestalt.
"They don't know you," Wing soothed them a bit. "And I ... it still comes down to if you ever see what we built, you're not going to leave. We can't risk it. If the Decepticons ever find us we're dead. I'm dead. For good this time, cause Drift and Windswept will be gone too."
"We'd never left the 'Cons know!" Skydive protested.
"Dai Atlas does not know that, nor can he be sure of it," GoldenRod pointed out. "Now, you snuck on board looking for Wing. Wing came to you, away from his creators, his home, and his mates. Leave the depressing talk for later."
"Yes, please," Wing added, nuzzling the gestalt. "Let's enjoy the next few metacycles. It's what we have."
"Yes, let's," Silverbolt agreed, hugging the adult form noticeably smaller than his own. "We haven't seen you in too long. Much too long."
"They gave you good upgrades," Fireflight latched on to the topic.
"Is that your Great Sword?" Skydive asked, his fingers twitching just short of touching it.
"Agreed. Yes and thank you. Yes, though not the same one as before. Drift has my first Great Sword," Wing answered them, well accustomed to the multi-level conversations.
"Wait ... your mates?" Silverbolt suddenly stared at him. "But..."
"But nothing," Wing flared his slender wings out in pure defiance. "My mates. Drift. He came back. He's mine."
"Mates, plural?" Slingshot's optics narrowed. His wings twitched. "As in more than one?"
"You're not one to complain," Titanium rumbled.
"No one asked you!" The aggressive Aerialbot glared at him, then winced as Silverbolt swatted him across the back of the helm.
"Yes, mates, plural, as in two," Wing answered smoothly. "Drift found a mate while we were separated. We're building a triad," he tapped the intended marker on his shoulder.
"And a fine triad they are." Titanium tilted his helm.
Fireflight had gone off into a torrent of questions: what Wing and Drift were up to, who was the third member of the triad, what life was like for the white jet, and a million other questions. Silverbolt finally had to tell Fireflight to stop just to give Wing time to answer the questions being thrown at him.
Wing just laughed happily and began tugging them from the medbay towards the rec room as he answered, all the while carefully withholding any details that would draw in mecha to look for New Crystal City and any clues as to where it was.
"Can we fly together when we get to the spaceport?" Fireflight asked after torrent of questions. He eyed Wing's nacelles and folded wings. "It's been so long since we've flown together."
"If Wing flies with you, I'm going, too," Titanium announced, his tone brooking no argument. "I promised Atlas I'd keep an optic on Wing, and Atlas would throw the mother of all fits if he found out I'd let Wing out of my sight for even a nanoklik."
"Drift said there are uninhabited worlds we can stop at," Wing looked at them, willing to bow to his elder's tactical experiance. "We could fly on one of them. It'd be nice to stretch my wings."
"Stunt frames like you are not meant to be cooped inside for vorns on end, like groundframes and some larger fliers, or even most triple changers can," GoldenRod pointed out, getting energon and passing out the cubes of jet-grade. Bodies draped themselves over the chairs and couches filling the rec room.
Titanium queried the ship's database. "There's a good spot about a decaorn from here... Uninhabited, no weird weather... Should be a good spot to stop for a flight break."
Upon hearing that Wing was a stunt frame, Fireflight was off again. This time the torrent of questions was about Wing's frame and its stats and abilities that the white jet happily answered, including what he could do of showing off his frame's special features on the ground.
Eventually the conversation turned back to sharing experiences, what the Aerialbots had been up to, and their reactions to Wing's sudden departure. He'd told them he'd had to go, but having it actually happen had been totally different than hearing about it. It had been easy to dismiss when he'd told them he was leaving, but for him to actually disappear had thrown them into a panic.
"It's fairly normal for younglings to say things like that, but for them to actually go through with it is a different cube of energon entirely," Titanium commented, interrupting a brewing argument between Slingshot and Air Raid.
"I prepared you as best I could," Wing murmured, miserable that he'd caused such distress. "I never wanted to hurt you. I just needed to get home."
Wings twitched sheepishly. "We have to admit we didn't believe it," Silverbolt confessed. "Until you actually left." He leaned over to embrace the smaller jet, stroking his back gently. "We were so worried about you."
"Every time one of the roaming hunter ships came in, we'd ask if they'd seen you," Air Raid added, sidling closer.
"We can vouch for that," GoldenRod confirmed.
"And they didn't, until this one," Wing sighed though his vents and nuzzled his second family. "Because I wasn't roaming, and we guard our safety jealously."
The Aerialbots converged on him in a group hug. "So many things could have gone wrong..."
"First one of you who works himself into a panic gets ice water dumped on them at the first available opportunity," Titanium interrupted, getting dirty looks from one or two of the Aerials. "Having grown up around you five, I'm certain Wing was well aware of the dangers."
"I was," Wing assured them, snuggling into the group. "I knew where I was going too. I really did have that lifetime of memories I told you about."
"We believe you now," Skydive replied.
"But we had to see for ourselves that you were all right," Fireflight jumped in. "We had to know for sure."
"Did you tell anyone where you were going?" Wing asked, slightly concerned for them on their return.
The gestalt members exchanged sheepish looks. "No... We didn't know how long Titanium would be remaining on Cybertron. We only just had time to figure out what we wanted to do and collect the supplies we would need as stealthily as possible before sneaking aboard and finding places to hide."
Titanium winced. "You five are in for the worst lecture-slash-rant you'll ever hear in your lives when you get back to Cybertron."
"And brig time," GoldenRod added quietly. "Desertion is something Prowl's never going to tolerate."
"We didn't desert!" Slingshot snarled, his wings flaring wide and high.
"But he doesn't know that," Silverbolt reminded him. "We are AWOL."
"And have been for over a vorn now," Titanium added. "It'll be a couple vorns before you get back to Cybertron."
The five exchanged glances. "...oops?"
Titanium shook his helm. "Seeing your sparkling again would be worth the price, I would think... I know it'd be a price I would pay were I in the same situation. But you're still going to be in a slagload of trouble."
Three pairs of optics zoomed in on Fireflight and Silverbolt. "You two are talking to him first."
"We are all going to face him, together," Silverbolt rumbled, flaring his wings in a dare to challenge his authority.
GoldenRod smothered a chuckle, turning it into a cough. "Sorry," he said as five pairs of optics fixed on him. "A little energon in the intakes." He waved his cube at the suspicious looks.
Titanium's amusement trickled along their bond, the bigger mech shaking his helm at his mate.
"Prowl's a good mech," Wing cooed soothingly. "He won't do anything too bad."
"Might lecture you until your audial receivers fall off, though." Titanium's shudder was clearly born of personal experience. "You five have my sympathies in advance."
"Is he worse than Dai Atlas?" Wing glanced over. "He was never hard on me."
"You never met him when the sparkling protocols didn't protect you," Silverbolt chuckled. "We caught plenty of it for you."
The big ex-Autobots reply was to send a databurst of part of one of the worse lectures he'd endured from Prowl, many millennia ago. The Praxian had been nearly spitting mad.
GoldenRod winced as he too reviewed the databurst. "Ouch... What the frag did you do?"
"I was younger then, and a nowhere near as restrained as I am now. One thing Dai Atlas and I have in common is a very headstrong nature." The older mech shrugged.
"Wow," Wing's golden optics were wide and bright. "No wonder everyone's afraid of him."
"Except Jazz," Fireflight snickered.
"Jazz is his mate," Wing chuckled. "They settle things in private."
"Even Drift stepped lightly around Prowl when Prowl was in a temper," Titanium agreed. "Prowl's even more of a stickler for rules than Dai is, sometimes. These five are in for one Pit of a slagstorm when they get back."
"Worth it, to see our sparkling again." Slingshot raised his chin defiantly.
"Yes, worth it," Silverbolt agreed, though his wings spoke of less willingness. He knew his punishment would be far worse as the gestalt's leader.
"I do wish you wouldn't get in trouble over me," Wing murmured. "But I'm glad to see you again."
"And we're so glad to see you again." That initiated another group cuddle.
"Prowl should have been aware of how panicked you five were when Wing left," Titanium commented after a thoughtful moment. "He might better understand why you went AWOL. Slim chance, but you never know." He shrugged.
"He knows what panic is," Wing said thoughtfully. "I remember one time when Jazz didn't come back from a mission. I saw him sneak out of the base to get him back by himself. Or maybe with Mirage. I wouldn't have seen him if he was there."
"And a mech as old as Prowl is should know by now that sparklings trump factions," GoldenRod added. "At the least he'll give you five a chance to explain yourselves before you get reamed."
"He probably won't punish you like you're true deserters," Titanium added. "Just focus on 'our sparkling' and he might calm down enough."
"And ask Sideswipe for survival pointers," Wing piped up with a grin. "He's always getting in trouble with Prowl."
The five Aerialbots seemed to be really thinking about that, muttering amongst themselves.
"So what have you mecha been up to, besides worrying about me?" Wing broke it up a bit, snuggling into the group with a contented purr.
The whole gestalt began talking at once, sharing stories of the missions they'd been on and the places they'd been to, arguing over details and annoying each other by adding in the stupid stunts that various members of the group had gotten into. Once or twice it took a bark from Titanium to head off a physical fight.
All the white Wing laughed joyously.
It had been just over a decaorn since the Aerialbots had come out of stasis aboard the Stellar Wind. Every orn had been spent with Wing and the two older mechs, either swapping stories and experiences or just basking in their sparkling's presence while they enjoyed other forms of entertainment.
In the slightly crowded set of quarters the Aerialbots had been assigned, Fireflight was sitting off to one side, looking unusually thoughtful for the normally easily distracted mech. It was enough to get the attention of his gestalt-mates, who weren't used to Fireflight being that contemplative of anything.
"What's the shiny?" Silverbolt was the first to ask.
"Just thinking about something," Fireflight replied after blinking at Silverbolt for a moment, startled out of his thoughts. "Something Titan said after we were brought out of stasis. He and Goldie and Drift, they left because they didn't want to fight anymore. They found a place where they wouldn't have to fight anymore." Fireflight shifted. "I don't like this war, and I know you don't, either. Just leaving it behind, going where no one can find us... Sounds like a good idea."
Silverbolt cocked his helm, his wings twitching as he gave that real thought.
"I wouldn't mind," Skydive spoke up. "I've never liked fighting."
"I don't, either," Air Raid added after a long moment. "I hate it."
Slingshot stared at the other four. "Give it up? Leave? It's what we were built for!"
"You don't have to join those who leave," Silverbolt remained him. "We're a gestalt, not a single mech."
That stunned the entire room to silence.
Slingshot gawked at Silverbolt for the better part of a breem before he managed to get his vocalizer working again. "But... but that would be worse! I couldn't just leave you guys!"
Air Raid's wings twitched. "This war is never going to end, Slingshot. It's an endless cycle of death and pain and destruction, and I don't want to be part of it anymore."
"Neither do I," Fireflight agreed softly.
Silverbolt turned his optics to his gestalt-mates, judging them one at a time with bond and experience as to just how serious they were. If they spoke to Wing, there was no going back. This wasn't like their jaunt into the past. This wasn't like when they'd been barely a metacycle old and lured to joining the Decepticons for a time.
Prowl might forgive them, but Wing would not, and the command element of Wing's city were far more intent on killing deserters than the Seekers ever were.
"This means we'll never see Cybertron again, or Earth, or anyone we've known. Not even our creators," Silverbolt said softly.
There was a long silence as the group contemplated that. The other four exchanged glances.
"If we want to avoid having to fight again, it might be for the best," Skydive said finally. "There are a few people I'll miss, though. But I don't want to have to fight anymore."
"We'll be labeled deserters, traitors," Slingshot reminded them.
"Not if we transmit our resignations when we reach a spaceport," Silverbolt said quietly. "Prowl will still be furious, but we do have a right to resign."
"We can ask Titan how he dealt with Prowl, if we have to," Fireflight suggested. "He and Goldie and Drift resigned."
"They weren't created as Autobots," Skydive murmured. "They weren't Prime's."
"But they did it, and they're going where we want to," Fireflight said stubbornly.
"Yes, we can ask Titan," Silverbolt agreed. "First I want to know if Wing even wants us around. He has his real creators. He doesn't need us around."
"Why wouldn't he?" Fireflight blinked at Silverbolt, his wings hiking up higher. "He's as much ours as he is theirs. We raised him as a sparkling."
"As did they, all the way to an adult, and from youngling to adult a second time, and they are the ones he left us to return to," the large jet said with a grim sadness. "He left us for them."
The other four were silent for a long moment before admitting that Silverbolt had a point. They would have to talk to Wing before deciding one way or the other.
"He said he left us for Drift, didn't he?" Fireflight's voice was soft, as of trying to convince himself.
"Not to leave that young," Silverbolt sighed. "We can only hope that his spark is open enough to have us all."
Silverbolt received nods from the rest of his gestalt. Air Raid looked from one to the other, his wings twitching. "So... should we go talk to him?"
"Now," Fireflight couldn't stand not knowing.
"Yes, let's," Silverbolt agreed as he turned to lead the group to the common room to find their sparkling.
The two elder mechs were there as well, GoldenRod reading something on a datapad, curled up on one end of a couch with an energon cube in hand, while Titanium was working on what looked like an oversized flute. Wing was with the large triple, watching with interest.
As the Aerialbots entered the common room, three pairs of optics turned in their direction.
"What's wrong?" Wing asked almost immediately.
The five Aerialbots exchanged glances, not sure how to broach the subject. "Nothing's wrong... We've just been doing some thinking..."
"About?" Wing prodded, not about to take that for an answer.
"Something he said got stuck in our processors." Skydive flicked his wings at Titanium, who lifted an optic rim.
"Would that something happen to be the comment I made about not being able to see where we were going, where Wing lives now, unless you leave the Autobots permanently?" Titanium asked casually, huffing softly at the resulting twitching of wings and shifting of pedes.
Wing's optics narrowed. "Why would you want to leave? They're your family."
"For the same reason those two left... We've never liked fighting. We just never saw a way out." Air Raid shifted his pedes, pulling his wings in closer. "As far as we knew, there was nowhere we could go that the war couldn't find us. Now..."
"Now you have an out," Wing murmured, his wings relaxing a bit as he focused on Slingshot, knowing that if any of them resisted, it would be the most ill-tempered of them. "All five of you agreed?"
Even Slingshot nodded. Then Fireflight shifted his wings. "But we weren't sure if... If you'd even want us around. You're back with your real creators... You left us for them."
"You're still family," Wing stood and walked over to hug Fireflight, his wings and field extending the offer to them all. "Caretakers, creators. If you want to join me in New Crystal City, if you're sure," he met each of their optics, trying to express the full ramifications of what he was saying. "I will vouch for you."
Wings relaxed, and tension eased out of airframes. The five mechs clustered close to Wing, practically hiding the small white jet.
"We know what we'd be getting into, what the consequences would be," Silverbolt murmured.
Titanium snickered very softly. "Can't wait to see Little Blue's expression when he finds out about this..."
"Not nearly as thunderous as when I brought Drift home," Wing snickered from the middle of the pile.
"Still going to be a 'bang-helm-against-wall' type reaction," the big triple replied.
Fireflight was momentarily distracted. "'Little Blue'?"
"He means Dai Atlas," GoldenRod explained, looking up from his datapad. "They're the same height but Titan's got a larger flight mode. Dai got stuck with that nickname a very long time ago and has yet to convince Titan to drop it."
"They were in the military together, before the war," Wing added. "Titan's actually a lot older than Dai Atlas."
"I was there all through his youthful stupidity," the old mech agreed cheerfully. "And I remind him of that when he gets a little too full of himself. One of these orns I'll have to remind him that I can still hold my own against him in a sparring match." He snorted. "Drift's going to be more than a little annoyed, though..."
Wing cocked his helm. "Why?"
"Drift and Titan sparred in Iacon," GoldenRod explained. "Were at it for joors, until Titan here was almost literally dropping from exhaustion. Thing is, Titan was actually holding back. He wasn't fighting Drift with all his ability, to draw out the match. So Drift doesn't know what Titan here is really capable of. Imagine how Drift will react when he sees Titan crossing swords with Dai Atlas and actually matching Little Blue's skill."
Wing's optics went wide, not from the idea that Titanium and Dai Atlas were a match, but that Drift thought he could hold his own against the giant purple and silver triple changer.
Titanium snickered at the thought. "He's going to be pissed."
"Yes, he will be," Wing agreed. "Fortunately I believe he's been civilized enough not to do more than grumble and glare."
"Still going to be funny to see his reaction." Titanium smirked. "Probably going to unnerve every other mech in the Citadel, too."
"Sounds interesting," Skydive commented after a moment. "We heard about that sparring match in Iacon. And something about both you and Drift sparring with Prowl later?"
"Oh yes, now that was educational," Titanium grinned. "Not that sparring with Drift wasn't, but Prowl's a true Master of Circuit-Su with nearly as much variance in his additional moves as I have. It's been a long time since someone beat me that solidly when I was really trying to win. It had nothing on the post-resignation match, though," he grinned even more. "You could hear Ratchet's cursing in Kaon."
"Gave the mates of the combatants a good chance to compare, too." GoldenRod winked at his mate cheekily. "And not just comparing technique, either."
Titanium mock-scowled. "So that's what all the snickering over there was about."
Fireflight giggled.
"Did you ever get Jazz in the ring?" Wing poked his head up from the circle of happy wings surrounding him. "He's scary in a fight."
Titanium shook his helm. "Never got the chance. Prowl and I pretty thoroughly shredded each other that last time. I've seen Jazz practicing, but I've never sparred with him."
"It's a very different thing," Wing nodded. "Who was he sparring with?"
"One of the other Ops mechs... Not entirely sure which." Titanium flicked his wings in a shrug. "Was impressive to watch. Looked like a derivative of Pit Fighting, the style I master in. Quite a bit of difference, though."
"Ops mechs tended to be small, I think," Wing suggested. "Isn't Pit Fighting more for big, strong mecha, not the small, fast kind?"
"It wasn't pure Pit Fighting, but I could see that it evolved from it, to some degree. It's a fairly adaptive style," the big triple replied. "Still, very impressive to watch. And yes, pure Pit Fighting is for big mecha, like myself and Grimlock, even Megatron. Ask Atlas how many times I threw his sorry aft around the training arena before he left to study Metallikato."
Wing giggled. "I'd rather hear it from you. Much more entertaining."
Titanium laughed. "Because I make no attempt whatsoever to spare his pride. I'll tell you the highlights later." Red optics shifted to take in the five Aerials, listening with interest. "Any thoughts on what you five would do for a living in the city?"
The group looked at each other, confusion clear in their fields, faces and fields as they tried to even work out what that meant.
"You really have been Autobots your entire existence," Wing murmured. "Turn your hobbies into a function. You don't technically have to work, but it'll look bad on me if you don't at least try."
"I plan on setting up as an artist and armor-painter, Titan as a flight trainer," GoldenRod added, indicating himself and his bonded. "You could find work as couriers, or search and rescue, or many other options."
Silverbolt looked between his gestalt mates. "Skydive is the only one of us with a hobby."
"I study military history," the black jet ducked his helm a bit.
Titanium looked thoughtful. "There are plenty of options available in the city. You should be able to find something that appeals to you. It's just a matter of looking."
Silverbolt nodded, but didn't say anything when Wing's field flickered.
"Since you haven't had an education and you're friendly, we can start there," Wing smiled at them. "They'll love having sparklings, even adult ones, around to teach."
"I'm guessing you five will be transmitting your resignations when we get to the spaceport, if you're serious about wanting to leave the war?" GoldenRod put his datapad aside.
"If Prowl will accept them," Silverbolt nodded, hugging Wing tightly. "You had to face him."
"For him to not accept them would be against Autobot ideals that every being has freedom of choice," Titanium pointed out. "The protests around our resignation were more about mechs believing we were defecting. I explained that we were leaving the fighting behind entirely; we would not fight against Autobot forces should we encounter them. Which is not likely to happen. We are going Neutral, not 'Con. Never 'Con."
Silverbolt nodded. "We'll transmit as soon as you let us. I want to wait for the acceptance ... I want to know we aren't listed as deserters."
"When we reach the spaceport we'll be in easier range... Won't have to wait forever to know the transmission has been received and get a reply." GoldenRod checked the computer console. "We should be able to transmit within the next metacycle or so, but I'd prefer to wait till we're closer to the port. Put more distance between us and the city, less likely for anyone to get ideas."
"All right," Silverbolt drew in a deep vent. "We'll wait. So ... tell us about living in New Crystal City."
"Wing's better to ask that question to... We haven't been there all that long," Titanium admitted. "But it's a beautiful place. We've mostly been hanging around the Knights Citadel, driving Atlas right up the wall and back down the other side."
Wing giggled. "Even if you don't work, minimal energon and shelter is provided by the city, though if you don't work, you won't have the fuel to fly often. My function as a Knight is my primary job and I have a stipend from that for the joors it takes every orn in training and chores. I also have better energon and quarters as part of the dead. It's really like being an Autobot that way. It's plenty, really, but sometimes I do errands for extra credits. I've been doing that a lot lately, so I can treat Drift and Windswept."
"Silverbolt's afraid of heights, so that probably wouldn't bother him as much, but the rest of us practically live in the air," Air Raid pointed out, ignoring Silverbolt's reaction to that.
"Fliers make fine, quick couriers and are best at city maintenance in high places," Titanium pointed out. "Just watch out for Fireflight."
"I'm not that bad," the red jet objected. "I haven't fallen out of formation in over three metacycles."
"New traffic patterns, more fliers in the air than you're used to, windstorms, and sand dunes," Titanium replied. "A good half to two thirds of the city's population, I think, have flight capabilities. There aren't nearly that many flying Autobots. You'll have to be very careful about avoiding collisions while you're learning the rules of air roads."
"I can't say we've ever had air roads," Silverbolt admitted. "Just the basic rule of 'don't run into people or buildings.'"
"It's not that hard, and really, that's the big thing," Wing reassured them. "It's just more formalized since there are usually a couple thousand fliers in the air at any given time during the day."
"I don't think there are that many fliers on Cybertron." Fireflight gasped.
"Like Earth roads, just in the air. Takes some getting used to. I've seen it before, so it wasn't that hard for me to adapt." Titanium shrugged. He sent the five a databurst with the basic rules of the air roads.
All five took a moment to processes that. "So mostly common sense," Silverbolt said. "Though we'll probably need some transponder upgrades for it."