Chapter 118: Sky Sickness

This had to be a nightmare. This had to be a nightmare!

Cliffjumper leaned back against a wall, covering his face with his servos. How does the world fall apart in a single deca-cycle? How? How did he not see this coming? Why couldn't he stop it? Where did he go wrong that he could fail so horrifically!?

With a shuddering breath, Cliffjumper pulled away from the wall and entered an observational room in the medical hall of the Metroplex. Like an interrogation room, it had a wide window looking into a dim padded room.

Gazing into it, Cliffjumper clenched his fists to keep from pounding on the wall. Axletron, his sparklette, was in low grade engergon cuffs, mumbling and pacing in the small space, his peds sinking into the padded floor. Every now and then he would pause at a wall, and tap his helm against it, like he was trying to snap back into himself…but it didn't work. This was still happening. Why? WHY? Cliffjumper thought. What happened? What caused this sudden change!? WHAT!?

"Cliffjumper."

The minibot didn't turn away. "Anything, Perceptor?"

The microscope remained silent. No news, nothing, they didn't know what was going on…

Offlining his optics for a moment, Cliffjumper reset them and left with one final last look at Axletron. He'd had enough. If the Autobot's couldn't fix this, he'd find someone that could.

It had started perhaps 3 mega-cycles ago. Cliffjumper wracked his processor for a first incident, something to tip him into the trigger. Axletron had been hurt after what happened with Echo, who had still not talked to him for the second mega-cycle in a row. She hadn't told anyone about what happened, but she hadn't returned to the dojo either. But Axletron had been ok, sad but not sick!

That first mega-cycle had been hard, Axletron had trouble sleeping, which made him irritable and shaky. But then he lost his appetite, which seemed to make the shaking worse and messed with his stability. He suddenly became easily upset and actually lost his temper with Jazz during a meditation! He started going on rambling rants, became paranoid and then…he'd actually attacked Alpha Trion in a hallucination filled rage!

The call he'd received that day would stick in his processor forever. "Something is wrong with Axletron, he's acting like a Decepticon!" Alpha Trion had said, before telling him that Axle had had to be sedated and put in a cell!

Horrifying thoughts flew through Cliffjumper's processor as he'd run to the other side of the Metroplex. He vaguely recalled spotting a splash of yellow on his way, but whether it was actually Echo or someone else, he couldn't tell you. His focus was entirely on his sparkling. Was this Galvatron's madness manifesting in his sparkling? Was it a new disease? Something to do with Axletron's status as a spark merge sparkling? As he poured day and night over books in the archives, without success, his worries only grew.

One night, Echo had appeared. "Mr. Cliffjumper…?" she'd whispered softly, dragging Cliffjumper's heavy gaze away from the datapad.

"Hello Echo." Cliffjumper had replied robotically. "What is it?"

"…I…I'm sorry I ran away from Axle. It was really stupid and ignorant and just so…dumb of me." She said softly. "I mean, he's my best friend. He has been for ano-cycles now. I don't know what I was thinking, but I know I hurt him and I'm sorry. I've wanted to tell him so in person, but he hasn't come to the dojo all deca-cycle, and you've been here. Is…is everything alright?"

Cliffjumper wanted to scream. He'd wanted to yell and punch the table until it splintered into a million shards. "No Echo." He replied. "Axletron is sick. We don't know what's wrong. But he's not really up for company right now."

Echo looked spark broken, "He's sick?" she gasped out. "Was it…was it because of me?"

"We don't know. I'm trying to figure it out."

"I'm sorry, I'm interrupting" Echo murmured, "but um, if there's anything I can do, to help. Please, let me make up for this." Straightening her posture, Echo stood firm, finally making optic-contact. After the initial shock had passed, guilt had taken over and shame as well, for how she reacted and treated the sweetest bot she'd ever met. Axletron had never had a mean word to say about anyone, he was kind and gentle with her. So he flew, so what!? They had a flying Autobot on their side and that was all! He wasn't a Decepticon. Decepticons were cruel, warmongering monsters who didn't care who they hurt. They just wanted to control and subjugate those weaker and smaller than them. That wasn't Axle at all. If she could do something, she would.

With a soft smile, Cliffjumper nodded. "I'll let you know, and keep you updated Echo. Thanks."

As the femme left, Cliffjumper returned to his silent search, long after the sun had set and the archivists had cleared out. At some point, he registered the soft beep of a security scan being entered and a door opening, before ped steps moved towards him.

Longarm had taken to checking on him when he could. Cliffjumper had been given leave to dedicate all his time to this research. After setting a cube of hot energon before the clearly exhausted minibot, the head on intel softly asked, "Any luck?" Cliffjumper, Perceptor and Wheeljack, even Ultra Magnus were all searching like crazy for a solution. At the red bot's dejected shake of his head, Longarm looked askance, before finally speaking "…do you think it could be a weakness in his coding?" Jolted out of his concentration, Cliffjumper stared blankly up at his superior. Longarm continued speaking softly, "I mean, if it's not an Autobot illness…maybe it's a Decepticon one?"

The mini swallowed thickly, "If that's true…how am I supposed to fix it Longarm?" The head of Intel remained silent. Rubbing his optics, Cliffjumper leaned backwards, "I'll visit the prison tomorrow, see if there's anything similar in their medical records. This is a dead end."

Longarm nodded and left Cliffjumper to his research.

Now, Shockwave may be a double agent, but he wasn't a monster. Being a Decepticon, he had a strong inkling of what was hurting Axletron, but he couldn't just come out and share it. Even then, he did not have an actual way to fix it. Decepticon medical secrets were closely held, for fear of Autobots learning of some of the inherent weaknesses of military builds. Shockwave was a brilliant cerebral hacker, but a medic he was not. He didn't have a solution, and wasn't sure how to introduce one without arousing serious suspicion.

But Axletron didn't deserve this, he had military coding, was a Decepticon in energon just as much as an Autobot. The best he could do, and more than he probably should do, is steer Cliffjumper in the right direction. The minibot had surprised him before with his resourcefulness and tenacity. He hoped he would again, for Axletron's sake.

After a fruitless visit to the prison, where almost all of the prisoners showed one sign or another of Axletron's illness, without a clear source but clearly a cause of concern, Cliffjumper reached out to the only other bot that had known a Decepticon as intimately as he had. "Sunny." He greeted when the bot appeared on the terminal, back to his usual yellow plating. "Axletron is sick, no one can figure out what's wrong with him! Ever since he's alt mode activated a deca-cycle ago, he's gotten worse."

"He transformed?" Sunny asked, torn between pride and sadness. A cybertronian's first transformation should be something joyous, but it seems Axle had been dealt a poor card. "Into what?"

"A military spacecraft, similar to Megatron's from what I've been told."

"You haven't seen it?"

"He isn't exactly happy with it." Cliffjumper replied, "He's scared one of his friends and has been refusing to transform sin—."

"Hold on a second" Sunstreaker interrupted, "He flies right?"

"Yeah-"

"Did it start with shaking?"

Freezing, a spark of hope flashing in his optics, Cliffjumper nodded. Sunstreaker continued, "Shakes, irritability, then anger, paranoia, hallucinations?" Cliffjumper kept nodding.

"What is it Sunny? Please, you have to tell me what it is, I need to fix this!"

"It sounds like sky sickness."

"Sky sickness?"

Sunstreaker grimaced, "I don't know it that's its real name or not. Once, Thundercracker and I got stuck in a cave system after a battle. By the third cycle, he'd started shaking, and seeing things. It was like he was losing his mind. It's their flight coding. For Seekers, it gets especially bad, they need to fly almost every day or they become unstable. For other flight frames, I know they also get it, but it varies depending on mode. Since Axle is half-Autobot, maybe that's why it's taking so much longer to manifest? I think there's a patch or something that can help balance out the coding, TC got it after that incident, but I don't know anything about how it works. All I know is that Axle needs to fly, to appease his flight coding."

"He needs to fly, ok, I can do that, yes. Thank you Sunny!"

"Take care of the kid Cliff." Sunstreaker said, logging off.

It seemed Cliffjumper spoke a little too soon however. When Cliffjumper explained what Axletron had to do in a medicated moment of lucidity, he flatly refused to transform. In fact, he largely swore he'd never fly again, much to Cliffjumper's horror. "Sweetspark, please, it doesn't have to be for long, just try it, you'll feel better!" he pleaded, trying to coax Axle into transforming.

"No!" Axletron shouted back, "Autobot's don't fly!"

"But you do!" Cliffjumper responded, "And you need to fly! It's a part of you and ignoring it isn't going to make it go away!"

"I don't care!"

There was no reasoning with him after that. He didn't listen to him mom, any of his mentors, even Ultra Magnus was ignored! Having had enough, Cliffjumper decided it was time to pull out the big guns, he called for Echo.

When the femme was lead to the room, her first reaction was shock. Axletron looked awful! "What happened to him?"

Sighing, Cliffjumper explained the situation, "It's Sky Sickness, something that happens to flight capable Cybertronians when they stay grounded too long. He'll get better if he flies, but he's refusing to, keeps saying Autobots don't fly."

Echo gulped guiltily, recalling her words. Only Cons fly.

"He won't listen to any of us, I'm hoping he'll listen to you." Cliffjumper added, "You willing to give it a shot?"

"Yes!" Echo exclaimed, "Absolutely!"

As she was escorted into the other room, Echo thought about the last few cycles. The guilt, the loneliness, the feeling that she'd lost something important when she'd walked away from Axle. Even though she was nervous now, she was also so relieved to get the chance to tell him how sorry she was, and hoped he would accept it. When she stepped into the padded room, Axle had taken a seat in the far corner and was rocking softly back and forth. "Axletron?"

Pausing in his movement, Axle looked up, "Echo? Wha-what are you doing here?"

"I came to see you," Echo explained, approaching slowly but without wavering in her steps. "I wanted to apologize, for being such a jerk. I've been trying to catch you at the dojo, but it seems you've been here. How are you feeling?" Finally next to him, she sat down in front of him, like their entire fight never happened.

"I'm…I could be better" Axletron admitted. His processor hurt, he felt so jittery and stressed, why didn't it stop!?

"Your mom told me that flying would help." Echo said softly.

Shaking his head, Axletron asserted, "No. I promise I won't transform into that thing again. I'll get better without it."

"No Axle, please don't say that!" Echo exclaimed. "I shouldn't have reacted the way I did. I know you would never do anything to hurt me and just because you can fly doesn't mean you're a different person. You're still my best friend. And I want you to fly."

"…You can't mean that. You were so…scared of me."

"I made a mistake. I was wrong and I'm so sorry I hurt you like that. But I promise, I'll never judge a bot by their alt mode again." Echo declared, "Please Axle, would you fly for me?"

After a few moments of tense silence, Axletron finally nodded. Cliffjumper let out a huge sigh of relief.

It worked like a charm. Axle couldn't fly outside, but made loops around the largest room on base. Considering how much of a struggle it was getting him to even transform, once he did it was like a switch had been flipped and as he touched land again, his smiling and sane baby was back! The deca-cycle from the Pit was over.

But Cliffjumper knew that making sure Axletron flew everyday was a band-aid solution. This couldn't happen again. Cliffjumper needed that patch. He'd been able to play off his discovery of sky sickness itself from interviewing a few prisoners. But all of the flyers in the prison were patched. They wanted to fly, and it helped them remain balanced, but it didn't destroy them if they didn't. Regardless, they were getting more outside time in the future. Just another measure in prisoner reform. It seemed every new thing he discovered about his son, or the Decepticons lead to him trying to fix something the Autobots had instituted out of ignorance.

Cliffjumper already knew the archives were useless as well. He'd run through all his legitimate options. But there was no line he wouldn't cross for Alxetron. So he made a call…

"Well, well, well" Swindle greeted with a glowing grin, "What an unexpected surprise! How can I help you today, Intel Deputy Cliffjumper?"

Cliffjumper scowled at the title and the syrupy tone, "Why does anyone willingly talk to you?"

"Ah! So you're here for business!" Swindle said gleefully, "I knew I saw something in you. Let me guess, gun enthusiast? I can cut you a great deal on Glass Gas, direct from the planet Dahros, the real deal!"

"Save it." Cliffjumper growled, his tanks churning at what he was about to do. There was no coming back from this, but for Axletron, he didn't care. "…I need textbooks."

His response seemed to throw Swindle for a loop, "Sorry, don't think I heard you right. Did you say textbooks? You don't really seem like the reading type if you know what I mean, but hit a library if you want some so bad."

Shaking his head, Cliffjumper continued, "I need Medical textbooks, about Decepticons."

Swindle remained silent, contemplating. "Hmm. Now that is a big request. I mean, knowledge is power, what exactly do you intend to do with Decepticon Medical knowledge?" Swindle had heard, like the rest of the universe, of Cliffjumper and Longarm's prison reform. It had surprised the majority of the Decepticon faction, even those that knew about Shockwave. Even more surprising was that it was triggered by the mini himself, and not the Head of Intel. Did this have something to do with that, or were the Autobots plotting something dangerous? But if they were, why send Cliffjumper?"

"That's my business."

Hmm, 'my,' not 'our.' He was acting alone. The Autobots didn't know about this? Swindle mused. "I suppose I can get a nice course set, but it won't come cheap."

Another niggling doubt tugged at Cliffjumper's processor, but a flash of Axletron, in that room, smashed it down as Cliffjumper spoke again. "You're looking for Megatron. Right?"

It was only his eons of practice that kept Swindle's poker face up, the only motion an arched brow, urging the mini to continue.

"The Autobots have a lot more data about his and the All Sparks disappearance than you do, I'm sure. I'm offering a trade, Decepticon medical information in exchange for everything the Autobots have on Megatron's interaction with Optimus and the All Spark on that cycle."

"And what does 'everything' entail exactly?" Swindle asked sweetly.

Sighing, the minibot elaborated, "Energy scans, vapor readings, on ship video and audio recordings, the investigation report, and…" again Cliff hesitated, but he knew he had to make this worth Swindle's while to get what he needed.

"And?"

"And…space bridge network readings, linked to spark scans at the time of disappearance." Cliffjumper finished, feeling completely drained. He knew he was giving the Decepticons an edge with this, a chance to find Megatron stronger than before. But what choice did he really have? To let Axletron live with a constant threat of Sky Sickness looming over him? To watch his son be smothered to death under His and Alpha Trion and Ultra Magnus' protective instincts? He refused. "The space bridge network flared during the event, the data could drastically narrow down your search scope. But when you combine it with the residual spark energy scans you'll be able to track down specific energy signatures if you're close enough. We don't have Megatron's spark signature, but you do."

After a moment of silence, Swindle smiled, "Any particular area of study?"

"I need all of it. For all models, from the smallest tank to the biggest jet."

"What? Considering a career change to Decepticon Doctor?" Swindle teased.

"Sure."

"You've got a deal, gather everything together. I'll be in touch."

When the minibot nodded in understanding, Swindle disconnected the call, leaning back in his chair. This had been an unexpectedly productive evening! He couldn't wait to share the good news with Galvatron, and Lockdown would be happy for the updated Intel as well. Before that however, he had to make good on his word. Dialing a new number, he listened to it ring a few times before a smooth voice answered, "What do you want Swindle?" An aristocratic faceplate with bright red optics sneered at him.

"Knockout!" The smuggler greeted cheerfully, "Lovely to see you, as always!" In the background he could hear grumbling, no doubt Breakdown. Normally he'd love to tease, but he had business after all. "You wouldn't happen to have your old set of medical textbooks laying around would you?"

As Knockout looks at him confusedly, he spotted Breakdown also peeking out look at him. Another grin broke out, oh he loved his job.

End Chapter 118