Yeah, yeah, I know I promised a whopper, but this came out instead. I'm working my way up to it, so this chapter's a little short, but no less good. I hope... you tell me. Apologies for the reposting of chap. 3, but it vanished on me while the editing thing insisted it was still there. Eh?! Nnngh...oh well. Thank you to all those who reviewed - it must have been up for a minute or two then; that or my computer's going wonky - and here's the next chunk. Enjoy.
Reaction
All Skyfire could see was a bright, dazzling smile, a flash of a dark face shining with promise - a brilliant sprite turning in an instant to a screaming, writhing inferno of purple fire. His hands felt numb, huge and clumsy as he fumbled for the catch of Starscream's canopy, white fingers hovering over the flier's mutilated internals as he stared at the chaos sparking in the younger mech's chassis. Relays burnt out and hissing as they melted into the sputtering wires, sensors either frozen by the ray or splintered by shards of Starscream's plating forced into delicate circuitry, fuel lines slashed and mixing into mech fluid as sparks flew... Skyfire sat back on his heels and caught sight of the flier's shattered arm. The scientist quickly looked away, but grimly forced himself to grope in the oozing, shattered mess of wires and pieces of plating for the shutoff points in Starscream's shoulder. Looking back at the mess of what had been his student's chassis Skyfire felt sick. There was no way he'd survive long enough for the techs to reach them, and there was absolutely nothing Skyfire could do.
He jerked as Ripplewing poked her head into the room, her irate expression suggesting she'd heard the explosion and come to complain, but her optics went wide with horror as she saw the mangled flier lying still on the floor.
"What the-!" Darting into the room she wasted no time on exclamations, cutting off Skyfire's shaken, half-formed explanations with a curt command to "Keep the class out and get the techs!"
Already they could hear curious voices murmuring outside the door, and Skyfire stumbled shakily to his feet as the door trembled, about to open...he slammed his fist onto the panel and froze out any commands to open from the other side, at least temporarily. He turned to see Ripplewing bent over the shattered flier, her thin fingers wedged between crushed plates to reach the shutoff valves in Starscream's wing. She quickly snapped the valves and worked her fingers free, all the while examining the flier's ruined torso and muttering to herself. Her hand shot out with a jerk - Ripplewing swore sharply and shook it before leaning forward again to pore over Starscream. Skyfire took a step towards them and her head whipped round, glaring at him as the flier's fluids dripped from her fingertips.
"Get out, get the techs and keep an optic on the class" she snapped. "You're no use here, and I can't concentrate if you're standing around panicking."
"He's my student, Ripplewing! I won't just-"
"You will if you want him functional again!" she retorted, flashing a final scathing glance before ignoring him and picking through torn fuel lines to salvage some of the flier's remaining power. "If I can patch some of this he'll have a chance of surviving until the techs get here - so get out and let me work!"
Skyfire opened his mouth to argue...then turned and moved to the door. Laying his hand on the panel he could hear Ripplewing working feverishly - sputtering wires twisting and sparking in her grasp as she reconnected battered circuitry, rerouted and salvaged what she could of the systems that kept Starscream alive.
Feeling as if he was betraying his student - No, Skyfire thought immediately. Starscream was - is - more than my student... my friend - the scientist steeled himself and left the room, with a dull ache in his chest that moaned hopelessly that he would never see Starscream again.
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Only Ripplewing and the story are mine, nothing else. Don't sue, but tune in later for the next bit. I'm thinking up a little background here for Ripplewing - a cookie for anyone who guesses what she was before getting into teaching. If it's as obvious as my equally impulsive challenge to readers of my Dinobot/Terrorsaur slash, I'll be giving out a lot... Ah well. Read and review!
