Seeker log: Leader Seeker away on a mission. Log entry 126.
Thundercracker froze upon hearing the two recognize each other. Then he, too, recognized Swiftwind despite of how much he had changed.
"What are you doing here?" Silverwind asked. "Why... where have you been all this time?"
"It's a long story," Swiftwind told. "Too long to be told on a battlefield. To cut it short, a corrupt Decepticon officer took me in, telling me you all had died. I eventually learned that he had lied to me and I escaped, ending up among the Shadows. Now I am here now that I finally found you."
"Why... why didn't you tell anyone? Why didn't you try to contact any of us?" Silverwind asked.
"I wanted to... but I was scared. I'd been gone for so long that you had to think that I was dead especially since Thrust – the Decepticon officer – made sure that I had absolutely no contact to the outside world other than him. I thought that if I tried to reach you, you'd just think that I was a fraud or something especially since I became a Shadow before getting back on my feet," Swiftwind explained.
"Swifty..." Silverwind breathed. "I wish I'd known you were still out here..."
"It's ok, Sis. You couldn't have known," Swiftwind told. "The twin spark is strange with grief. It could have easily fooled us."
"Why are you here now?" Thundercracker asked.
"To warn you. This is going to be a trap. You have been given wrong intel and brother Swiftwind was adamant on getting you out of harm's way," one of the biggest Shadows told. "Get your troops out of here. The Autobots – and the backstabbing Decepticons behind orchestrating this – will be here soon."
"Who has given us wrong intel?" Silverwind asked.
"We don't know," Swiftwind told. "Please, sister, leave at once. There is no time to lose."
"But... what about you?" Silverwind asked.
"Now that we both know we're alive, I know I can contact you. Go, I'll find you later so that we can catch up," Swiftwind told. "Trust me, please."
Silverwind nodded. She could not stand to leave her twin brother just when she had found him after ages of missing him, but she knew she had no choice. "Very well. We'll go."
"Swift... Please do come see us later," Thundercracker asked.
"I will. That's a promise. Now go," Swiftwind told.
With those words, the two Seekers returned to their comrades and told what they knew. Despite of suspicious glances and objections, the troops retreated.
The scout who remained in the area later returned with news that the Shadows had been right; they had been set up. Now they also had the names of the traitors. Silverwind just watched as the traitors came in for their report, unknowing that they were walking into a trap set against them. Even if they had suspected anything, they could not afford missing the report time; that would definitely let them know that they had something to hide, which would automatically paint them as traitors who were to be terminated immediately.
Now, they thought that they had a chance while in reality they did not.
And it was all thanks to the Shadows, especially Swiftwind.
"They won't make it back out of there," Silverwind heard a familiar voice say. She startled and turned to look at the mech behind her. Her long-lost twin.
"Swifty..." she sighed. "I've missed you."
"I know," Swiftwind said, his voice soft. "I have missed you too."
"How long have you been a Shadow?"
"Too long to turn back anymore."
Silverwind fell silent. She had wanted to ask her brother to come back to her, but it sounded like he was not coming back.
"Please understand," Swiftwind whispered.
"I'll try," Silverwind replied. She could feel her half the spark break as she said it. She was not sure if she could ever understand.
"Little Sister?" Thundercracker's voice carried out into the area. The mech stopped upon seeing that his trine mate was not alone. "Swiftwind. I didn't know you were here."
"I arrived just a moment ago," Swiftwind told. "I snuck in here."
"Why didn't you call us beforehand?" Thundercracker asked.
"Your comm. channels are under more surveillance than usually because of our intervention. The Autobots are aware that something's amiss since the group they were supposed to ambush wasn't where the traitors told it would be," Swiftwind told. "And since the traitors won't return, the surveillance won't go down on their part even if your own monitors relax."
Thundercracker nodded. He had not been able to process all his emotions about this revelation yet. "We should've looked for you more, the Orn you disappeared."
"It's not your fault," Swiftwind told. "I was severely injured. Thrust told me that I'd been buried under rubble and that I was lucky that he noticed my flickering spark from a gap. Whether that's true or not is another case, but I know that I nearly died back then and that something huge fell on me just before I lost consciousness. There was no way you could've found me." He looked at the horizon. "It looks like I'll be spotted soon. I have to go." He hugged his twin and his former mentor. "I'll come back to you when I can. Until then, hold on. You can get through this until Starscream returns."
"Take care, my brother," Silverwind said.
"I will. Don't worry about that," Swiftwind said.
"Don't... don't do anything stupid out there, ok?" Thundercracker said.
"The same to you." Then Swiftwind faded and disappeared into the skies as he took off.
Silverwind looked at Thundercracker. "This whole thing has spiraled out of our control. We need to get Starscream sir back soon."
"I know," Thundercracker said. "Let's head back inside and see what we can do."
"I don't think we can reach him."
"Let's try again. One more time."
"Alright. One more time."
/Transformers Armada (c) Hasbro, Thundercracker has basing on G1 Thundercracker, which is (c) Hasbro, Skywarp has basing on G1 Skywarp, which is (c) Hasbro, Silverwind and other characters you cannot find on TFwiki (c) Me/